Chapter 398 - The Flames of Dispassion IV

“Sylvia.”

Though not quite as shaken as the fox, Claire paused briefly before she opened her mouth again. Her throat was awfully dry. Though she knew exactly what shape she wanted them to take, the words resisted when she tried to voice them. The longer the silence persisted, the more difficult it was to raise her voice. An awkward air set in, a strange sense of hesitation that grabbed her by the throat.

“H-hey,” said the fox. “S-sorry I didn’t catch up earlier. I was checking in with Al to make sure he wasn’t gonna cheat me out of my 200 charges.”

“Did he?” asked Claire. Floating over lethargically, the tiny qiligon pressed her head against the vixen’s. She didn’t know why she did it. Perhaps because they were the same size, or perhaps because of the form she was in, it simply felt like the right way to give a greeting.

“Nope! I harassed him until he gave me all two hundred,” said Sylvia, with a huff. “You were already wrapping up by the time I came back, so I thought it’d probably be better for me to wait.”

“I see,” said Claire. Though still a little hesitant, she floated on top of the fox and planted herself on top of her. She gently gripped her with her talons and gave her a makeshift hug. It felt right. It was the same thing as usual. But at the same time, it almost didn’t. At the very least, the interaction was foreign enough that it took a few seconds for her to fully relax, to conclude that nothing had changed.

Soon, Sylvia followed suit. She allowed the tension to drain from her shoulders as she lowered her body to the ground and yawned.

“Uhmmm… are you doing that weird temperature thing on purpose again? You’re so cold that you’re making me want to sleep.”

“No,” said Claire. She reined in her aura after taking a moment to look at the freshly frozen grass beneath them. “I just forgot to disable it. I was using it to protect against the fire.”

“Oh yeah!” Sylvia’s ears twitched. “That reminds me. Did you ever check in on Ciel? I think I told her that I was gonna leave some echoes around but I totally forgot. Since uhmm… I had to go check on Al and stuff.”

“I haven’t seen her,” said Claire. “I just finished my first run through the dungeon.”

“Oh… Wait, really? Isn’t it like, only ten floors? I thought you’d be done like three times already.”

“The fifth floor sucked,” said Claire. “But my quest is done now.”

“You mean the one that the god of the depths gave you?”

Claire nodded. “He gave me a minor blessing.”

“What kinda blessing?”

“I’m stealthier now.”

“Uhmmmm, I guess that might kinda help if I’m not around,” said Sylvia.

“It should,” said Claire.

“Are you gonna head into town and get a new quest to replace the one you just finished?”

“Maybe. Rikael already gave me something, but it doesn’t really seem like anything I can work towards.” She buried her face into the back of the fox’s head. “I probably should.”

“Want me to come with you?”

Claire paused. “Yeah.”

“Mmk, one sec.” Sylvia stood up on her hind legs and pressed a paw to her chest. The lyrics she sang were quiet and brief, but a series of ghastly foxes appeared around her nonetheless. Each sang its own song and opened its own portal, vanishing immediately into the dungeon’s depths. Only then, once they all departed, did the original perk up again. “Okay, let’s go!”

Claire detached herself from the fox’s back with a nod and floated her way towards the glimmering city off in the distance.

The trip was much quieter than usual, but it wasn’t anywhere near as awkward as their initial reunion. Though neither said much, though they refrained from the usual game of tag, the mood was more cheerful than not. They enjoyed each other’s company as the scenery continued to change.

For Claire, it was the norm, but being the more excitable of the two, Sylvia’s tranquility came as a rare exception. Curious, Claire occasionally opened the eyes buried in her tail and checked on the fox following behind her, but for the most part, she seemed normal. She hummed a familiar, light tune under her breath and returned each look with one of her usual, silly smiles. Somehow, she was calmer after recovering from the attack on her psyche, even though Claire had expected the opposite.

Her casual joy was frighteningly infectious. Claire found her own dour spirit abated after just a few minutes of travel. She still didn’t feel like starting another conversation, but she was happy to join the fox in humming her song. And for a while, that was all that they did.

The haphazard choir continued until they stopped in front of the city’s shuttered gates. For Kryddarians, three in the afternoon was precisely the hour where most people were sound asleep. It was a phenomenon that manifested as clearly among the guards as it did the regular townsfolk. Only one of the two was awake and even she looked like she was on the verge of passing out.

She groggily looked upon the halfbreeds, who waited silently in front of the checkpoint, before rubbing her eyes to check if they were real. When they failed to go away, she immediately drove an elbow into her partner’s ribs whilst fighting back a yawn.

“Ey Beckard, you lazy bastard. Wake up.”

“Huh? What?” It took the second guard a moment to collect his wits.

“Look at the gate, moron.”

“The gate?” The cat-sith guard fought back a yawn as he looked past the glass that adorned the checkpoint’s booth. “It’s just a pair of animals. They’ll go away on their own if you leave them.”

“The weird-looking one that isn’t a fox has got some jewelry on its ears. Looks like a Cadrian design. Not to mention, they’re kinda being awfully patient for what they are.”

Though they could have easily broken down the door or warped beyond it, neither Claire nor Sylvia had opted to do anything but stand in front of the checkpoint. There wasn’t any particular reason for them to wait. They had simply been in the mood.

“Probably some rich kid’s pets then. Just let ‘em through,” said Beckard.

“You should really go talk to them,” said the female guard.

“You do it. I’m sleepy.”

“Are you still fucking dreaming? How the fuck am I supposed to talk to them when you’re the one with four legs!?”

“I don’t see how that has anything to do with anything.” Despite grumbling, Beckard slowly pushed himself out of the booth and approached the pair sitting in front of the gate. He couldn’t help but think back on the past as he saw the fox standing next to the gate. It had been about a year since he had become one of the town’s guards, and a little longer since he finally left Llystletein, but the sight of such a critter still put him on edge. The problem lay in its colouration. Local foxes had either grey or white fur, depending on the season. But the individual sitting in front of the gate was just as orange as the demons that reigned over his nightmares.

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He quivered in his boots, but the former priest, the former Llystletein captive, shook his head before squatting down in front of the visitors. Being a cat sith, he was just short enough that he happened to match their eye level as he spoke in as gentle of a tone as he possibly could.

“Hey there, you two.” He flashed a well-intentioned smile. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you trying to get home?”

Sylvia opened her mouth to offer an explanation, but Claire cut her off with a sideways glance.

“Mreep,” said the lyrkress.

“Weird. Normally I at least have some idea what they’re trying to say.” Beckard scratched his head and muttered a few words under his breath before returning his voice to its previous volume. “Well, either way, if you were a pet or something, you probably know enough Marish to understand me, right?”

“Mnnreep?” Claire tilted her head.

“Hmmm… no dice with that one, looks like.” He looked over to the fox. “What about you? Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“U-uhh… m-meow?” said Sylvia.

A tingle shot up the length of Beckard’s spine. He could feel the saliva forming a ball in the back of his throat as he processed the fox’s strange cry. It was a fox’s fault that Zelos had betrayed them. It was a fox’s fault that two of his best friends, the paladins that had once served his goddess alongside him, had fallen in battle. And it was a fox’s fault that he found his own faith wavering.

As he looked a little closer at the animal, he almost found that it looked familiar, that it resembled the sadistic deviant who had jailed his old friend’s heart. There were a few stark differences, like the length of its snout and the shape of its cheeks, but overall, it was similar enough that he began to tremble.

“Ain’t working on you either, but I mean you did respond when I talked to you, and you do seem tame enough…” Still, he forced a smile and replied in a steady voice. It couldn’t have been Daisy, and her daughter was out traveling with the psychopathic freak that was her companion. He was just projecting because he was tired. Either that, or it stemmed from his earlier encounter with Carter and Marleena.

“Mreep.”

“Alright how about this, if you understand me, then make three sounds.”

“Meow mermph!” Sylvia meowed twice, but a vector shut her mouth before she could do it again.

“Was it just a coincidence the first time? Or are you just saying stuff back ‘cause I’m talking to you?” The cat sith rose to his feet and yawned before massaging his face. “Sorry, but I can’t let you in unless someone vouches that you’re safe. No exceptions, sorry. You’ll have to wait for your master to pick you u—what the!?”

When he finally took his palms off his face, he found that both the critters were gone. The weird snake-like thing had already made it onto the other side of the gate, while the fox was in the middle of squeezing its way beneath the pickets. Its head fit right through, but its hips were wider, and it didn’t manage to squeeze past the bars until the floating snake gave it a bit of a helping hand.

He nearly gave chase, but he stopped himself after just a few steps and returned to his station. There was no point. He doubted that he could catch up, and it wasn’t like a few mischievous critters would do much to threaten the city’s security. And if they really were someone’s pets, he would likely hear no end of complaints from the person in question, even if he was able to keep them detained.

Upon his return, he turned to his partner, only to find her already in the midst of snoring—a discovery he met with a tired sigh.

The rule they had agreed upon was that only one of them was allowed to sleep at once. And though he had won the race earlier, she had, predictably, taken advantage of the task at hand to steal the march and pass right out.

It was a cheap trick, but he did have to admit, it was sinfully effective.

With no other choice, he rested his face into his paws, cast his eyes back on the road, and resigned himself to doing his job.

He wasn’t nearly as cross as his miffed expression might have implied. After all, having spent months wandering without purpose, it was in his new job that he had found himself again.

___

Elsewhere in the city, a tired moth suffered the exact opposite experience. She lethargically slumped into her chair as her traveling companions made their plans in broad daylight. Lova wasn’t tired per se. She had long grown used to rising with the sun and sleeping at night with all the others. Though it was certainly convenient for the Ortona Company, she had made the choice entirely on her own accord. She would soon be wed—they were in the middle of visiting her hometown so her groom could greet her parents—and she wished for nothing more than for them to spend more of their time together.

Carter had volunteered to become nocturnal so she could keep her schedule as it was, but Lova was twice ascended. Her body was capable of bearing more burden than his fragile form. And thus, the compromise was decided. He would engage in activities that made him more likely to become a nightwalker in another twenty levels. In the meantime, she would invert her schedule.

He was making progress, but truth be told, it was a little slow. Lova had hoped that he would reach level 250 before the day of their wedding. She wasn’t quite sure as to what would happen with halfbreeds, but Kryddarian children developed best during the night, and she was concerned for their kids’ futures.

Alas, Carter remained cautious and often refused to fight anything not clearly within his means. She couldn’t really blame him. His peculiarities drove half her affections, and it wasn’t like she wanted him to put himself at risk. At least not entirely. There was a small part of her that wanted him to go out of his way and push himself beyond his comfort zone.

Logically speaking, she knew that it was a terrible thing to hope for, but she secretly prayed for it nonetheless. Oh so delighted she would be if he manned up only once in his life, entirely on her account, but such an act was not Carter-like in the slightest. In the first place, his attempts to level up were already a demonstration of his dedication. He had no such need. Unlike his partner, it wasn’t like he was hired for his ability to fight.

His role on paper was still that of bodyguard, but functionally, he was more akin to Marleena’s aide. If anything, he was more skilled when it came to negotiating deals. His passive demeanour left a better impression on many of their business partners than Marleena’s hot-headed aggression. That, however, was only applicable beyond their homeland’s borders. In Cadria, most preferred her frank nature by far, and together, the pair was able to strike solid deals regardless of where exactly they were.

In truth, she hadn’t always thought too much of their abilities. After all, it didn’t seem like they were doing anything special, just bartering as usual on a slightly larger scale. But after making that opinion known, and trying it for herself, she realised that there was far more depth than she had ever imagined. Both Carter and Marleena had robbed her blind when she tried, and it wasn’t until they broke down the numbers post mortem that she understood her mistake to begin with.

And thus, she was returned to the very same boring guard duty that happened to plague her in the present. A more motivated and proficient sentinel likely would have listened in on the party’s plans whilst keeping an eye out the window, but Lova couldn’t be bothered to do any more than the latter. Perhaps she might have, had they been in another land, but as a native Kryddarian, even one who had spent some time away, she remained perfectly confident in the city’s safety.

Kryddarian nests were notoriously difficult to attack. It was precisely because they were so robust that the nation’s relationship with Cadria had remained so largely stagnant. Of course, the nests fell second to King Ragnar’s ultimate ability, but the king had not even reigned for a thousand years, even though the two nations had been neighbours for what was generally estimated to be twice that time.

A sigh on her lips, she allowed her mind to wander, until she caught the bell that came with the tavern door’s opening. It was odd enough given the time of day that it drew her eyes immediately. Turning towards it, she found a pair of curious critters. One drew her eye immediately for its strange shape. It almost looked like a snake, but it had two pairs of legs, neither of which it put to use. The tiny bluish-white creature was floating in the air courtesy of the fluffy wings that grew from the sides of its head. It was accompanied by a peculiar fox, an especially fluffy one at that.

“Lova? Is something wrong?” asked Carter, as he raised his eyes from the map.

“I see a really cute fox.” She twisted her lips into a smile as she released her weapon and sank back into her chair. She, however, was the only one. Her fiance, however, was not quite as relaxed.

“A-a fox, you say?”

“Calm down, Carter,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not one of the dungeon’s. There’s no way it is.”

She was confident in her judgement. Llystletein’s foxes, after all, were all fearsome monsters. Their freakish, life-hating nature was reflected in the terrifying looks that often crossed their faces. The fox at the counter lacked any of those traits. If anything, it was the most adorable specimen she had ever encountered. Through its cute, almost cat-like noises and its big puppy-dog eyes, it managed to convince the tavern’s owner to grab a pair of keys and lead it upstairs, in spite of its inability to speak.

Everything seemed to point to the conclusion that they were a pair of pets, likely belonging to one of the other customers.

Whatever the case, it made no difference to Lova. She turned her eyes back to the map and fought back the urge to yawn as she pondered the words with which she would greet her parents. They were unlikely to accept a centaur so readily. But Lova had already made up her mind. No matter what they said, she would make them acquiesce.