Vienessa and Madeleine enter a spacious room, a lone table in the middle flooded with documents. Behind it stands the Guild Master with his back turned to the two girls, looking outside his window. The sun will only be red for about 10 more minutes before it fully sets, but for now it still casts its rays on the office´s wooden floor. Small particles of dust can be seen floating in the light. Distant murmurs of people on their way home can be heard from outside. A weak breeze blows in the room at the moment the man turns around. He takes a step forward, then another and a third. The old floor beneath him creaks as he slowly makes his way forward until his silhouette looms above the young woman and girl. He stares down at them. The Demon raises one of her hands and flashes her claws, sweat quickly accumulates on her forehead.
But the guild master remains standing in front of them. Then he takes his forehead and slams it on the ground:
“I AM SO INCREDIBLY SORRY MADELEINE-SAMA!!!”
“Eh?” the Demon girl blinks
“Shhh, not so loud. It´s fine, Donn, please raise your head and–”
“How could I possibly raise my head after what happened this morning?! To think that I allowed your life to be threatened after you made all your way here from the capital! I have failed my duty as the guild master. Please, at least forgive my staff, I will take any punishment you see fit!”
“Hey, Madeleine. What´s going on here?”
But Madeleine ignores the question “The situation has been dealt with. It wasn´t your fault anyways, if somebody´s at fault then…” her gaze slowly shifts to the Demon. She clears her throat “Nevermind. Onto another topic, I hope the room is equipped with |Sound Obfuscation|?”
“Certainly, Madeleine-sama! Nobody will be able to eavesdrop on us!”
“Madeleine!” the Demon cuts in again, this time making sure that she´s heard.
“What is it?” Madeleine finally gives the girl her attention
“Uhm, I mean... What does ´Sama´ mean?”
““…””
“You really can´t read the mood, can you?” the receptionist rolls her eyes. But then she sees how the girl patiently waits for an answer “Uhh, you were serious about that?”
Madeleine sighs “Sama is an honorific used for people of a higher rank than oneself. It´s usually attached at the end of a name out of respect” she explains
“Ah is that so?” Vienessa puts a finger to her lip and seemingly falls into deep thought
A moment of silence drapes the air
“Haaa, anyways” Madeleine faces the guild master again “I actually do have a favor to ask of you, Donn. I want to register this girl as an adventurer” Madeleine points at the Demon by her side with her thumb “I can guarantee her strength, let her skip E-Rank and promote her to D immediately”
Donn lifts his head, his knees and hands still on the floor “I sincerely apologize, but... Even by your command, Madeleine-Sama, I can´t go against–”
“It´s fine, I´ll settle all the paperwork once I return to the Center Guild. See it as making amends for what happened this morning. Also, bring me all documents concerning dungeons in the surrounding area”
“U-Understood, I´ll get them at once!”
With these words the guild master jumps to his feet and hastily storms out of the room, yet as he leaves his ´guests´ alone he carefully closes the door behind him.
…
An awkward silence fills the room as the girl and young woman can´t seem to find the words to start one of their usual conversations. After a while the Demon starts fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable
´Well that´s unusual´ Madeleine thinks
“What? Is something wrong? Where´d your confident attitude go?” she tries to loosen the mood
The girl almost flinches at her words “No. It´s just… seems you´re actually quite the big shot, huh?”
Madeleine sits down on the sole chair in the room and lets her body sink into it “What are you talking about? Of course I am. Isn´t that the reason you took me hostage?”
The Demon seems bummed for a moment “Uhm, no? Not at all actually” she then says after thinking for a while about it
“Wait, really now? Even though my Level–”
“Your level?”
“Well, yes? You used |Absolute Appraisal| on me, didn´t you?”
The Demon pauses again. “To be honest I only gave your name a quick glance, I never actually looked at your |Status| since you seemed pretty weak”
“Uh. Rude?”
Name Madeleine van Reijn – Sub-leader of the Nikites Guild Class Sub-Guild Master – Lv: 231 Stats
HP
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
MP
??
?? Vitality ?? Strength
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Intelligence ?
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?? Endurance ?? Agility ??
Skills Cannot be appraised
“231??!” the Demon´s voice comes out a little too loud “Then how are you so weak?? Don´t tell me you have been hiding your true strength all along!”
Madeleine visibly depletes “You´re really making my head hurt, you know? I haven´t been hiding anything, it´s just that my Class doesn´t focus on fighting”
“What good is a Class if it doesn´t make you stronger–”
“Because without people like me, Humans wouldn´t even have the chance to get stronger, to acquire Classes” Madeleine butts in.
The Demon ponders Madeleine's words intensely. The silence from before resumes, but at least the discomfort seems to have disappeared.
--
Not long and the Guild Master returns and presents Madeleine with a bunch of papers. The young woman flips through them as a pleased look appears on her face. She explains she will be filling out her ´sister´s´ guild registration in private and asks to keep the contents of the talk secret. The two then excuse themselves and leave the guild master alone in his office. On their way out, they pass Jack and Nathaniel who quickly bid them farewell and return to their work again.
The way back proceeds in quiet, only as they reach Madeleine´s home the girl speaks up right after she closes the door behind her:
“Madeleine?”
“I know I know. You want to hurry and fight already, but just listen to me for a second.” She lifts the papers she received from Donn “We need to register you first. And here's a list of all dungeons in the surrounding area. Usually adventurers would form a party and divide roles to fight monsters with various strategies, but this won´t work for you. So we have to pack you with the right equipment and carefully choose a dungeon that´s neither too difficult nor too easy. Furthermore, it would be better for you to sleep and recover a night before you go or else–”
“Madeleine!”
“W-What is it? You don´t have to shout all of a sudden”.
Only now does Madeleine notice that something appears off about the Demon. In a matter of seconds the atmosphere turns weird. Tension accumulates in the air, making it hard to even breathe. Madeleine sees how the Demon´s face darkens and an intimidating aura is released from her body, the receptionist takes a few steps back in response. The Demon finally speaks up;
“I, I just can´t understand. Why are you helping me so much? You barely even know me and still… At first I understood, it was out of fear, I forced you to help me or else I would´ve taken your life. That is only natural. But now you had plenty of opportunities to get rid of me. The Class Acquisition, all the guards we passed outside…When you said to go to the guild I was prepared for an ambush, I thought you would reveal me to the guild master and was ready to flee at any moment, you know?”
Madeleine, not knowing what to say, opens her mouth only to close it again. She didn't think about betraying the Demon, she didn't even notice that the girl was so suspicious of her. Now that she thinks about it, the girl´s previously quiet behavior makes much more sense.
Before Madeleine come up with something to answer, Vienessa continues: “You didn´t do any of that. No, you even covered for me, you protected me. You could´ve just let me leave for a random dungeon and that would be the end of it all. And yet you concern yourself with me. You want to teach me, to prepare me, to improve my chances in any way possible. You know, I heard some rumours about Demons, I´m aware how your race hates mine. Are you aware of the troubles you will have if they find out you´re in cahoots with a Demon? Why risk what you have now, your position? There´s no reason for all that!” the Demon closes the distance to Madeleine, her voice rises with every word that comes out of her mouth “Your actions make no sense! What do you gain from helping me? What is your goal here?! Madeleine! Explain! How can I trust somebody who is doing all this for nothing in return?!”
By the time the girl notices, she has grabbed the receptionist by her collar, flashing her own fangs. The thoughts spinning in her mind make everything appear in a blur. Only as she looks into Madeleine´s warm blue eyes the girl realizes what she´s doing. The fog on her reason blows away. Quickly she releases the woman
“S-Sorry. I didn´t mean to…”
“Vienessa”
The Demon twitches as she hears Madeleine say her name. Her voice seems almost tranquil, devoid of fear, as if she is the one leading the situation.
“Listen to me. It is true that I was scared. I was horrified of you just earlier this day, but this was only until I got to spend the littlest of time with you” Madeleine takes a deep breath “I still don´t approve of how you killed those adventurers, but after you talked about your reasoning I realized just how much our morals differ. In your eyes, you had the full right to defend yourself. It would even be weird if you didn´t. That´s just how it always was for you, right? Yes I was afraid, but now I see that you aren´t a malicious or evil monster. No, you just have different beliefs, a different upbringing. Still, you came to this village, to a human settlement. You want to know what Humans are like, you want to learn from a different race or maybe even become friends them. Isn´t that true?”
The Demon reaches for her own elbows, hugging herself while she averts her gaze
“I think that´s commendable. Honestly, I would have never dared to walk into a Demons´ village, I wouldn´t want to find out out what life for them is like even if I could. If I were in your shoes, I would be totally lost without somebody to support me. So... let me be the one to support you, okay?”. Madeleine shows the little girl a warm smile as she gently pats her head.
The Demon´s face turns slightly red as she immediately brushes off Madeleine´s hand. “Hmph, you say some pretty good things every once in a while.” She slips into the bed in the room´s corner and pulls the sheet over her head “I will sleep in your bed tonight. Don´t bother me, I´m... tired" she says
"And good night, Madeleine.” Her last words come out as a whisper
“Good night, Vienessa” Madeleine replies.
The receptionist sits down on an old chair near the window and casts her gaze on the stars that sparkle into view one after another. She watches the night sky as the smile on her face turns slightly bitter.
´Sorry, Vienessa. I'm sorry to lie to you. Learn and become friends with us? That much wouldn´t be enough of a reason. I'm not that kind or noble, not enough to help you just like that´
Madeleine turns her head to the gently sleeping girl on her bed ´You just remind me so much of her. So much that it starts to hurt again. Why? Why do I still feel like this after so many years?´ She tries to suppress her tears, but a single one still flows down the sub-guild leader´s face. She wipes it away, but new ones follow ´If I just had... I´m sorry, I'm so sorry´