Aralen released a deep sigh of relief at those words, his worries alleviated for the moment. Only for a moment, though, as they all came rushing back when he remembered some of the details of his encounter.
“Wait, how can I be immune when her, um, charms clearly had an effect on me?” he asked the Auralin healer.
She simply smiled and said, “This is a common misunderstanding. The charms that monster girls use to captivate their prey are the same as any other spell that you or I could cast, and as such, you are not any more immune to that than anyone else. However, monster girl corruption goes deeper than that, and affects your Aura.”
A transparent diagram of a person floated out of one of Selene’s outstretched palms, colored in bright green. As she spoke, it filled halfway with a blue color instead.
“This represents the average person’s body, and the blue coloring is their Aura. When such a person encounters a monster girl, their demonic energy starts to drain into their Aura.” The blue part of the figure started slowly filling with a harsh red.
“When the corruption is complete, they get monsterized, as they have no Pure Aura left. For men, that means becoming an incubus, and for women, they become monster girls themselves.”
The entirety of the blue part of the floating diagram had been transformed to red, and two horns and a tail appeared on the tiny person.
“Now, this can be fixed, as you know. De-monsterization is a possibility for anyone who’s been influenced by this Demonic Aura, though it can be dangerous for whoever is performing the procedure.” The figure lost its monstrous additions, and the red drained away to a pure blue once again.
“In your case, however, the Demonic Aura is added to the Pure Aura, rather than replacing it.” This time, the red filling up the figure didn’t replace the blue, instead filling the green section until the figure was half blue, half red.
“If you had spent enough time with that dryad, this would have been how your Aura looked. The entirety of your self would still remain, alongside whatever demonic influences they added. However, very little Demonic Aura is inside you now, since you escaped after only a brief encounter with the dryad,” she finished, the figure vanishing into dust.
Most of this was new info for the young elf, but he felt he understood it well enough. However, he did feel confused about one thing in particular.
“If I still have Demonic Aura inside me, won’t it still have an influence on me?” he asked.
She smiled at his question before responding. “Yes, it will. You already mentioned some strange thoughts that you were having, right? Well, that’s likely a result of the Demonic Aura within you. However, your Pure Aura is still completely intact, leaving it strong enough to counteract a majority of the influence it has over you. In fact, even if you were filled to the brim with both Demonic and Pure Aura, your Pure Aura would still win out, though you would likely be significantly more changed.”
“But you can remove it, right? I don’t want to be changed at all.”
“Of course I can, if that’s what you really desire. However, before I do, I’d like to run some more tests on you. It’s not every day that I run into a patient who is immune to monster girl corruption, and I’d love to figure out why that is. Also, I’ve already invited some people who would like to speak to you before you make your decision.”
As she said that, the red, swirling portal at the front of the room sputtered and flashed, and a heavily armored boot stepped through, followed by a leg, then an entire, massive body covered head to toe in shining, cobalt-blue armor. Silver engravings covered every surface and two curved, ridged horns sprouted from the helmet. A huge war pick was equipped on their back, with a black stone handle and a head made out of what looked to be ice, the blue and white blunt end tapering down to a sharp spike. The only part of the person’s body visible through the thick defenses was a single green eye peeking through the thin visor, right in the center of their face.
Another person followed the first, though they were not nearly as well protected. He was tall and skinny, and he wore well-fitted leather armor, with fur trims and a long, blue cape, with two short swords strapped to either side of his hips. However, most of that barely registered to Aralen as he looked at the man’s eyes, partially hidden away by his thick mane of brown hair. They were pitch black, with no discernable pupil or sclera, reminding Aralen of a spider.
Though Aralen tried to hide his surprise at the two figures entering the room, the man still noticed and grinned. “Never seen a drow before, huh, kid?”
The armored figure let out a hearty chuckle as it, no, she, took off her helmet, revealing short black hair and a scar-covered face, though the single, large eye right above her nose was still the most attention-grabbing feature.
“Don’t tease the elf, Jyce. You know how they are around here. They’ve never seen anyone without pointed ears, let alone someone with our creepy eyes.” Her voice was deep and gravelly, like listening to sandpaper, but it still had a touch of lightheartedness to it.
Aralen was still a bit stunned by the appearance of the two adventurers, and the outstretched gauntlet of the cyclops escaped his attention, focused as he was on their faces.
“Hey, elf, don’t you think you’ve stared enough?” she joked before shaking her arm again to bring his attention to it. “My name is Rylei, and this here is Jyce. Nice to meet you.”
He hesitantly grasped her hand before his arm was almost ripped from its socket by her forceful shake. He was still recovering as he shook Jyce’s hand also, though it was much less damaging to his arm.
“Wonderful. Now, I need to get back to my other client. Splitting my attention like this for so long has given me a headache. If you need me, you know how to find me,” Selene said from behind him, and Aralen turned around in time to watch her slowly disintegrate into smoke.
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Rylei and Jyce are a little too energetic for my liking, he decided as the trio, led by tiny Sam, made their way through Selene’s tower. After a quick trip back through the portal, they found themselves in a room that looked much more like the exterior of the tower, with slate bricks and dim, cold lighting from the lightstones embedded in the walls.
Jyce decided this was a perfect time to practice juggling knives, and the metallic twang of one sticking into the floor made Aralen flinch every time. Meanwhile, the small summon marched them through hallway after hallway, chatting animatedly with Rylei the whole time about some nonsense, until they reached a large bedroom with a table and some chairs for them to sit at.
“Now,” Rylei said as she sat in one of the chairs, causing it to creak ominously under the weight of her armor. “We haven’t properly introduced ourselves yet. I’m Rylei Lisai, cyclops warrior, knight and guardian, as well as two times winner of the Inverbanc Royal Festival Eating Competition.” She grinned, clearly proud of her accomplishment.
Jyce rolled his eyes at this before speaking. “And I’m Jyce Stoneborn, drow ranger. We’re both Monster Girl Hunters, though, employed by Lady Selene and various kingdoms to find, hunt, and research monster girls of all types.”
Aralen’s eyes slowly widened in shock as it dawned on him what they had just said. Wait, these two people are monster girl hunters? But they’re so rare and powerful. What is a beginner guardsman like me doing talking to these two legends?
The pair noticed his awe and grinned, with Rylei speaking first. “Yeah, we’re monster girl hunters. Pretty damn good ones too, if I do say so myself. Which brings us to the point of this little meeting.”
“Based on what Selene told us, we, and her, think you should train to be a monster girl hunter, like us,” Jyce finished.
It took a moment for Aralen to process what the drow had said, but when he did, his jaw dropped. Before he could sputter out something incomprehensible, Rylei spoke again.
“And yeah, we know what you’re gonna say. ‘I’m not experienced enough to do that, I don’t know how to, I’m just a beginner,’ and yeah, we agree. But it’s a long road to becoming a monster girl hunter. We’d start you off with simple jobs, normal adventurer shit, you know. But we’d also be training you, maybe bring you on some simple missions.”
“Your immunity to MG corruption is a pretty rare and valuable trait you have there, and I figure it’d go to waste in any other job. Plus, Selene really wants to figure out why you are immune. Maybe if you give her enough time, she can give it to other people, and with enough time, maybe we can retake Rosia. Obviously, that could be a huge stretch, but the possibility is there,” said Jyce. “So, what do you say?”
It was difficult for Aralen to wrap his head around it, but the actual decision was rather simple. For the last ten years of his life, it had been his dream to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become an adventurer. Becoming a monster girl hunter had never been part of those dreams, but it seemed like an easy way to build experience, especially with training from these two experienced adventurers.
Selene’s research added an additional aspect as well. The potential to spread the immunity to others somehow would be a huge boon for the Kingdom of Estelia, or even Eteri as a whole. Aralen wasn’t super keen on the idea of becoming a lab rat for the Auralin, but he also felt a responsibility to help, if he could. Plus, retaking Ardenia from Rosia the Demon Queen’s clutches, regardless of how far-off a prospect it was, would be a massive step forward for Eteri as well.
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“I’ve wanted to be an adventurer for a long time now, so I can’t really say no, can I?” he said, a fire in his eyes that caused the two experienced questers to smile broadly.
“That’s the spirit,” Rylei said, moving to clap him on the back, though he dodged it, fearing a potential visit to the hospital.
“That’s great to hear, kid. So, we heard the basics of your encounter from Selene, but I would like to hear the details from you myself,” Jyce said, lounging back and putting his feet on the table.
Aralen didn’t remember hearing Selene saying a single word to the adventurer duo about his experience, but he supposed there might have been some magic involved. Regardless, he began to recount his story yet again to the pair of adventures.
Initially, they were simply listening and nodding intently. However, when he mentioned Penora’s name, as well as the second name he heard in the forest, Nylia, Rylei’s face turned white, and Jyce nearly fell backward off his chair.
“Wait, did you say Nylia?” Rylei said, her normally confident voice shaking slightly. “Are you sure it wasn’t something else?”
“No, I’m pretty certain she said ‘Nylia’. Why?” Aralen asked, startled by the sudden reaction to his story.
“Did you see her?”
“No, I didn’t see either of them until I woke up in Penora’s house.” Jyce was sweating at this point, and Rylei was gripping the table so hard it had started to split where the metal claws of her gauntlet touched it.
“Rylei, relax. He said the pollen was affecting him. It’s entirely possible that he misheard. Don’t overreact,” Jyce said, trying to reassure her despite the sweat dripping down his brow.
“But with another dryad? Targeting alone travelers? You know as well as I do, Jyce. This has all of her signs. But for her to be here, so close to the capital…” Rylei started pacing around the room, arms crossed.
“Nylia isn’t stupid, Rylei. She’s not going to go after the capital, not now. If she’s resorting to targeting people like Aralen here then we still have time. And there’s still a chance we can track her down and stop her.” Aralen had no idea what they were talking about, but it sounded serious.
“What are you two talking about? Is there something wrong that I don’t know about? What’s the deal with this Nylia person?” he asked.
Rylei stopped pacing, and the pair looked at each other, wordlessly debating something before Rylei let out a sigh.
“Nylia is a particularly strong Greater succubus, known for corrupting dozens of people across Eteri. We’ve been tracking her for a long time now, but she’s smart and hard to find. I had no idea she was here in Estelia, but it’s bad news since the last time we heard of her she was way up north in Nebe. For her to be here, well, we’re not sure exactly what will happen, but we certainly don’t want such a powerful monster girl roaming around these parts,” Rylei said, her voice grim.
“Plus, we think she has connections with Queen Rosia. Some of us in the monster girl hunter community believe she’s part of the next step in Rosia’s plan, especially since Rosia has been so quiet for the last 200 years,” Jyce added, his serious posture a far cry from the relaxed stance he had just moments ago.
This was all a lot to take in, especially since Aralen had just taken his first job only a few days ago. The worried expression on his face must have grabbed the cyclops’s attention because she jumped to reassure him.
“Look, kid, you’re new. We’re certainly not going to drag you into this whole ordeal, not now. And I’d understand if this has scared you away from-”
“I’m not going to change my mind, Rylei. If anything, I want to help you more now. This seems pretty serious, and I want to do my part to help,” Aralen said, the determined expression on his face replacing the worried one, as well as giving Rylei reason to smile.
“Good kid. Us two pros are going to discuss a bit, figure out our plan of action. You can go now, though you’ll need this. We’ll contact you when we’re ready for your first training session, though don’t be afraid to reach out to us first if you need something.” She pulled a polished, black stone out from a pouch on her waist and handed it to the elf, explaining that it was a speakstone, and how to use it, before tiny Sam, who had been sitting in the corner the whole time, led him back to the foyer.
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Late at night, as Aralen lay in his bed at the inn, listening to Eirik’s loud snoring from the bed beside him, he ran through everything that had happened that day.
First, I’m immune to monster girl corruption. What that means, I’m not sure, but it’s apparently a rare and useful ability. Second, some succubus is roaming around, monsterizing people, and she’s more of a problem than the other monster girls doing that. Personally, I think any monster girl doing that is a problem, but whatever. Third, I’m going to be trained by those two to become a monster girl hunter. A real, actual monster girl hunter. Even in my wildest dreams, I never expected to get this sort of opportunity.
Even the thought of it was making Aralen giddy. That happiness was tempered a bit when he remembered his encounter with Penora, and how much she had utterly outclassed him in combat, let alone mentally. If he was going to get strong enough to deal with that regularly, he would have to train, and hard. Maybe it’s time I go back home. I’m sure Mom would have some advice for me.
Then there was the deal with Lithael. When he had returned to the inn, the elf merchant had sought him out, and he had agreed to search for the captain in the coming week. Now, though, laying in bed, he wondered if that had been a mistake. From what Rylei and Jyce had said, Nylia was strong, and if she had been the one to take Lithael, he didn’t see how they could possibly rescue her. I definitely will need to ask for help from one of them before we set out to find her, he decided, Maybe that can be the start of my training.
Those thoughts ran circles in Aralen’s head as he slowly drifted off to sleep. The next morning, as he ate breakfast in the tiny dining hall at the inn, he decided to fill Eirik in on what he had found out.
“So not only are you invincible against monster girls, but you’re being trained by two monster girl hunters to become a proper adventurer? That’s amazing!”
“No, I’m not invincible to anything, let alone monster girls. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I were more at risk of dying to them than anyone else. They’re really strong, and who knows how one would react if they learned I couldn’t be corrupted,” Aralen responded, shoulders slumped in exasperation. Eirik maybe wasn’t as bad a companion as he had first thought, but he still said some incredibly naive things.
“And I won’t be a monster girl hunter for a long time. I still am barely competent with my spear. You should have seen the dryad I ran into. She was a class apart.” Annoyingly, the thoughts of Penora were bringing back memories of their passionate night. If I’m going to keep this Demonic Aura in me, I need to ask Selene to cure this stupid side effect, he thought as the blood rushed down to his crotch.
“Well, it sounds like an easy road to fame and fortune to me. You’ve been blessed with some kind of anti-monster-girl superpower and two incredibly skilled mentors to guide you through it? Plus, you seem like the kind of elf who will really become something in the future, you know?”
Even though the support was appreciated, he couldn’t help but think Eirik was oversimplifying it. He didn’t say anything, though, instead just sighing and taking another bite of his eggs.
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The day passed by slowly, made more excruciating by the lack of activity from his speakstone. The hopeful part of him caused him to check it often, only resulting in more boredom as it remained silent. If only I was back in Alugala, he thought, I could at least train right now. Instead, I’m stuck in this inn waiting for some sign from Rylei or Jyce.
Luckily, his boredom was relieved from him a bit after noon when the elf merchant, whose name he learned to be Alae, gathered the guards who had agreed to search for the captain. That amounted to himself, Eirik, a raven-haired guard named Aladwan, who stood out from the massive war hammer she used as a weapon, and a guy named Caelan, who similarly to Aralen used a shortspear and shared his straight blonde hair, though Caelan’s was considerably shorter.
“Welcome, everyone, and thank you all for agreeing to help. I contacted Kaevs last night about our situation, and it’s not as dire as we initially thought. While Captain Lithael is a tremendous boon to the company, she is not necessary for the trade deal. However, she was carrying a letter that is necessary, so your objective is instead to find that letter. While it is entirely possible and even likely that the letter will be found on the captain’s person, the letter is the most important part of this retrieval mission,” Alae said, Aralen scowling at the implication that Lithael was the least important part of this quest.
“As I mentioned before, your pay will be increased substantially upon a successful return. You will be going tomorrow at dawn, so prepare yourselves for that. I also have heard that guardsman Aralen here has information on the last known location of Lithael, so for the time being, I will be assigning leadership of this mission to him.” She gestured towards him, ignoring his shock at the sudden, albeit temporary, promotion.
He wasn’t the only one who was surprised, as though Eirik gave an appreciative whistle at the announcement, Aladwyn let out a cry of indignation.
“Miss Sylion, if you would please reconsider. With no disrespect towards Alaren, he is an utter rookie. I have been with the company for over two years, and I believe that I would be best suited for the leadership role,” she said firmly, and Aralen had a hard time disagreeing with her.
“I understand your concerns, guardsman Aladwyn, but your recent performances, especially the incident last month, have raised questions by the company. Perhaps a comfortable compromise would be the two of you working together in a leadership position, with your experience and Aralen’s knowledge of the situation helping raise the chance of success,” the merchant countered, and though Aralen found that option entirely agreeable, Aladwyn clearly did not, the grind of her teeth audible from across the room, but she nodded anyway.
“And with that, I’ll be expecting you back, with the letter, by the end of the week. Good luck,” Alae said, and with that, left the room.
Aladwyn immediately turned to Aralen, her frustration evident. “Look, rookie, I’m going to be straight with you. I believe I have the skills to lead this mission, and as such, I will be taking up the role of leader for this mission, whatever the merchant says be damned. You can be the navigator, I have no issue with that, but you lack the skills to lead us effectively. I hope you have no issues with that.”
Eirik angrily opened his mouth beside Aralen, but he quickly moved to silence the snow elf. “That’s fine. To be honest, I agree with you. I don’t think I have the skills to lead us, yet, either,” he responded to the female guardsman, and he was rewarded with her backing off a little and nodding.
“I’m glad we could agree,” Aladwyn said before she and Caelan walked out of the room, but the snow elf stayed by Aralen’s side.
“Man, you can’t just let her walk all over you! You heard Alae, she gave leadership to you, plus you’re a monster girl hunter in training! Aren’t you training to become an adventurer? This would be the perfect place to get in some practice leading people!”
Aralen only shook his head in response. “That’s exactly why I’m letting her lead. I don’t have the experience, but I think the best way to get it is to watch someone else in action. Maybe I can pick up some pointers.”
“I don’t know, Aralen. She’s not the best role model. I know you’ve not been here for long, but she’s got a history of being a bit hard-headed, and most of the missions she leads have gone wrong. Like, I know she’s got 2 years on you and I’d still rather follow you into battle, and I haven’t even seen you in battle yet,” Eirik said as he shot dirty looks towards the empty doorway the other elf had just walked through.
“Oh, come on, Eirik. There’s no way she could be worse than me,” Aralen said, shaking his head and leaving his friend alone in the meeting room.