Mazeline woke up hacking and coughing, her skin was prickly, and her throat was burning, like the sensation of reflux but magnified to an extreme. Her mind was hazy and her body was sluggish, resisting her desire to move.
Her eyes darted around, to regain her bearings. A murder of crows surrounded her, and a trail of goop extended from where she was to the remains of the now very much dead slime creature. Away from the masked agents, she saw an idiot boy, two very worried dog-eared girls, and one last woman, almost in a state of undress, with short black hair and burns over her pale skin.
Must have been that one agent who almost kicked it.
This made Maze worried since the woman was almost naked from just that, then was she...?
Nope. She was wearing Qull’s poncho and shorts from... someone. As she took inventory of her body and limbs, she noticed some silver lining, all of that annoying body hair was gone. Her skin was smooth as it recovered from the acidic burns, it was also a bit bleached and sickly pale, which was bothersome because she doubted she would get the sunlight time necessary to regain her healthy tan.
Alana jumped and hugged the wolf when she got up. The other dog squatted by their side, apparently Qull thought she was too cool for hugs.
“Hell of a close call. You fool.” The merc said.
“Wouldn’t have happened if you two hadn’t put up so much pressure with your little selfless heroics.”
“Your poor, poor tail.” Alana picked up the damaged, not as fluffy, tail, which caused Maze to eep in shock.
“Don’t touch a lady’s tail without permission!” Maze barked.
“I will keep that in mind, good thing today I am touching yours” The witchling teased with a cheeky chuckle.
Mazeline pouted. Somehow, her tall, athletic self, was at the bottom of the food chain in a group with two weak dogs she had easily beaten just earlier today.
“Ahem.” the shield boy cleared his throat.
Oh, there it was, Maze was wondering when the Tengu’s crowd would ruin the moment.
“Are you done with your little mutt harem, dusklander?” he said in a poisonous tone, even more than before, it was like he was pissed Maze had saved him. “In case you forget, we still have the mandate to bring you to the corporation on a leash.”
This was, of course, the logical conclusion of it all. There was a reason why good guys only really existed in TV shows, no good deed was left unpunished in real life. This was the law Maze knew. But, perhaps, for the sake of the innocence which both Alana and Qullqi seemed to cling to, she was willing to make this one sacrifice...
“We cannot apprehend them.” one of the Tengu agents told. “The Terms of Service, page 132, clause 8. Clearly state that agents may not break a truce once established.”
The boy tilted his head. “There was no formal truce at any point. And whatever, even if there was one, it was to defeat the slime. The slime is dead.”
The half-naked, half-digested agent nodded. “That is true. The terms of the truce are highly unclear, as it was first decided in a tense and informal moment without proper conditions set. This type of situation, therefore, requires us to make a formal request with the Public Relations department and let them decide if apprehending Mazeline Solene would count as truce breaking or not, and how it might affect the brand image of the Tengu Zaibatusu.”
“Are you insane? Is this what is really happening here? You are being soft and weak; we have an advantage, and we should take it.” the shield boy raged. “I am the superior here. I command you. I will not let some paperwork turn our victory into defeat.”
“Aspis.” the senior of the agents, who had been observing the situation, was the first to speak. “You are, indeed, as a hired lieutenant, our superior. You are, however, still under the absolute rule of the Terms of Service. Breach of contract will NOT be tolerated.”
Maze was blinking rapidly at all that, head tilting from one side to the other as the argument progressed. Did the agents just... conspire to let her go? If anyone was going off-script, she would have thought it would be the boy, not the corporate drones.
The agents flocked to the hurt woman and helped her to walk away, keeping her from using her limbs too much, as unlike Maze, her body would take much, much longer to deal with those burns. The werewolf tilted her head as she observed the looks of worry, of gratitude, towards their comrade.
The senior agent turned back one last time. “Understand that this is a temporary truce. You are still wanted by the Tengu. We recommend you take a more simple and proactive approach and reach out to our customer service team.”
The trio was left in silence, all alone on the bridge. Somehow, they had won, they had managed to evade their pursuers, in a way.
One thing stuck in Mazeline’s mind.
“That idiot’s name was Aspis. ASPIS. And he uses a shield with a viper on it.” Qull barked before Maze could voice it.
“Saints, I know right? Some people have no sense of shame.” The werewolf nodded solemnly.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
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With each step closer to the city, Maze’s heart grew a bit more anxious. Today had been what scientists and mystics would call 'one of those days’, and it was still not over. Or was it? They had sparred by sunset, so it was late into the night. How long had she been down?
Thankfully, nothing more happened, and the group, now getting to use the proper underground route, got to walk straight into the city quite quickly. It didn’t take long before they started spotting guards, which meant they were officially within the city’s boundary.
The guards wore turquoise plate armour, and in a way, it really reminded her of Rumi, so she guessed there had to be some cultural common ground in both outfits. Qull probably knew, but Maze wanted to enjoy some peace and quiet without history lessons.
“So... Are we still going to my place?” Alana asked as they entered the proper ‘underground’ city, shacks starting to appear all over the nooks and crannies of the tunnel system, the entrance, of course, being mostly stalls where people sold all the loot they had gotten out in the wilds.
“Yeah. I don’t have a place at the moment and Qull’s rented room is surely compromised. We really need to sit down and think a bit.” Maze said.
The other two nodded, their expressions not hiding how tired they were either.
The underground village was a massive extension of makeshift wooden and metal platforms where many shacks had been built. Without any worry, it had crawled around all the areas that were left somewhat dry from the water drainage of the city above, and some even dared to build houses on stilts above the raging currents that travelled in the water channels and ravines of the subterranean chambers.
Tunnels spread about connecting the atriums, some looked like old mining tunnels all makeshift and barely held by wooden planks, others were service tunnels of the city above, with stern-looking guards making sure nobody messed with important cables and connectors. It was a mess, compared to how organized the city above was, with its grid-like city blocks and hurricane-proof covered walkways.
Maze kinda preferred this place to the one above. It was also nice to hear the local language for once, instead of the Babelish that dominated all the trade centres.
“Over here.” Said Alana rushing past a crowded tunnel, for some reason, it was filled with curtains, but all the stands were selling was fish and seafood. When they brushed away the last few hanging clothes, they understood why.
In the middle of a massive underground lake stood a pillar-like structure going from the water down below to the metallic roof above. It looked like a lantern and a water turbine had a child. It was emitting a lot of light as it spun at a very slow pace. It illuminated the entire cavern like the midday sun, despite being at least midnight.
There were many questions to be asked, but Maze's first thoughts were if this light would be enough to tan her skin. But the whole area seemed crowded, lacking the privacy she'd need for full-body tanning.
“So, this is the heart of this nation’s Thaumaturgical Industry.” Qull whistled. “Grade 9 electricity is produced there.”
“Should we be here with our bad luck?” Maze chortled. “Don’t want to mess that one up. That thing looks dangerous.”
Qull shrugged. “If they let people build up fishing docks in this lake, I don’t think it's that delicate.” she tilted her head towards the fisherman village that rested on the shores of the lake. There were even some farms and orchards, probably growing some very unusual plants.
Alana waved at them and pointed at a neat little houseboat beneath some wooden platforms, floating in the lake. It had a duck pattern and looked like it was from Eastern Aeolia. It was easy to guess that was the amulet-boat-thingy she had shown them before.
Just before Maze could finally rush in there and for once relax, something swung towards her and stopped right before hitting her face. It was a hand in chopping position, electricity swirling around it, clad in turquoise gloves.
“What are you doing here.” Questioned the magical girl Rumi. A stern looks on her face. “Was last time not befriending enough for you? And you two, hanging around with Mazeline? I expected...”
“Burn in hell thunder brat, I am NOT doing this. I am NOT fighting. I am NOT quipping or making little jokes. My ass is TIRED, and I want to SIT in a COUCH.” Maze's tone was weird, she wanted to yell in rage but was way too tired for that effort.
The thunder shaman retracted her hand with a blush on her face, a lost expression Maze had never seen her do before.
“S-Sorry?” she looked at the other two with a puzzled look, Qull and Alana just sighed.
“It was a long day,” Qull said. "We just came here to rest. Alana lives here."
“Oh. I am sorry.” she nodded. “Sorry, for certain reasons I do not want any Tengu agents in this area, so I thought..."
"We are no longer associated with them, to say the least." Qull sighed. "In fact, we are in this state because of them."
"Oh. I see. If you girls are clear then we have no beef."
“Ah, that is good. It would be bad if I couldn’t go to my own home over there.” Alana laughed nervously which just made the magical girl even shyer about her mistake.
“Uhm... Sorry if I hurt you the other day.” Rumi looked towards the witch.
“Ehh that was my fault. I messed up my warding. Do not worry.” Alana giggled and waved a hand dismissively. “Do you want to go to my place as well? Do you like tea?”
“On a mission. Sorry for that. Gtg." after outright using ethernet lingo in real life, the magical girl jumped off and left them.
“Oh. Okay! Bye bye Rumi, the offer still stands!” Alana waved off the magical girl, Qull gave her a single nod of farewell, and Mazeline scoffed.
“She kicks your ass and suddenly you two are all friendly with her?” Maze said, rolling her eyes. It was a weirdly common way magical girls made friends, if the stories were to be believed.
“Hey, she didn’t kick my ass, I kicked my own ass.” Alana giggled.
“Yeah, and though I was losing hard, she didn’t get a single hit on me,” Qull added. “I guess that means you were the only one who got their ass kicked, wolf.”
Maze puffed her cheeks. “I should have thrown you two into the slime.”
The trio continued to banter as they walked to the shore, Alana’s home was a little shack just by the side of the houseboat.
“So, initially I was living on that hut above the boat. Then I met a girl who said she’d look after the boat for me if I allowed her to sleep in the hut.” Alana explained.
“I am impressed that wasn’t a scam, and that the boat is still here at all.” Maze chuckled.
“Oh, she is a nice girl! I met her... about a week ago? She also kinda just showed up just like I did, that makes us buddies, I think? Qullqi said so at least, something about us three being friends because we are all friendless and desperate.”
“Ohoho, wow. That is uh, brutal. But honest I guess.” Maze doubled over, half from laughing, half from her the aches of a tired body.
Qull tried to do that thing she did where she hid her smile with the collar of her poncho, then her smirk and blush deepened as she remembered she had given it to Maze.
Alana went to the ornate wooden door of the houseboat and knocked on it, the door opened by itself and revealed the cosy, if a bit messy interior.
Maze would typically analyse someone’s room as soon as she saw it, and there was a lot to investigate in the area, from old devices from the 40s and 50s to collections of plants, but the werewolf didn’t care, she saw pillows on the ground and dove into them.
She heard someone talking, someone giggling, but when she finally could let go, there was no pulling her back from her hard-won sleep time.