Chapter 116
What the Cat Catches
After resting at their hotel room, Erin and her companions were ready to continue on their journey, but there was one issue they needed to solve. While overall they had been able to get through their battle against Gotzmeyer with only minimal injuries, it had still taken its toll on them. Namely, a lot of their equipment needed to be replenished. This was especially true with Lexton, who had used almost all of his vials of golems, potions and other such things in the battle against the warlord. The kobold would need some time in order to gather the necessary ingredients and build back his stock of vials.
However, one of the biggest losses was that of Durge’s weapon. The orc had left behind his hammer before using his berserker state to battle Gotzmeyer’s numerous puppets. Due to the group being in a hurry to get out of the military base as it was sinking into magma, no one had remembered to pick up the weapon either, leaving it behind to be destroyed along with everything else.
It was only now that the group had a good amount of rest did Erin realize their mistake. With an ashamed look like that of a child that was about to confess misbehavior to their parents, the redhead walked up to the orc while looking down at the ground.
“Hey, Durge… I just realized that we forgot to pick your weapon before we escaped Gotzmeyer’s base,” Erin said in a meek tone. “I’m sorry about that. I should have realized that it was still missing before we left.”
“...Huh? Is that what was bothering you?” Durge asked to which the redhead nodded. This in turn caused the orc to burst out in laughter. “That’s what has been eating at you this whole morning!? Don’t worry about it! That’s not a big deal at all!”
“But… It was your weapon, wasn’t it? You had it even before we met,” Erin asked awkwardly, surprised by the orc’s reaction. “Wasn’t it important to you?”
“What? You think I was in love with a hammer or something?” Durge asked jokingly. “It was just like any other piece of metal I’d use to bash skulls. There was nothing special about it. I can just get a new one when the chance arrives.”
“You don’t have to. I can make a new one for you,” Lexton said with a smirk, happy that he would get a chance to show off his talents once again. “I’ll make sure that you get something that is far better than what you’ve been using so far.”
“Really? That’s great! Seeing all the other stuff you’ve made, I’m honestly excited to see what you can come up with!” the orc said happily, before turning towards Erin again. “See? The loss of one weapon isn’t that big of a deal in the end. It’s something that can be easily replaced, especially with a guy like Lex around. Hell, knowing what he can do, I kind of regret not getting rid of my hammer earlier just so he can make me a new one!”
“...I see. That’s good,” the redhead said with a sigh of relief. “I was afraid I had messed up with another one of my friends…”
Durge immediately picked up on what Erin was referring to and gently patted her head in a comforting manner. The redhead looked up in surprise to see the orc give her a warm smile.
“You can already stop worrying about that, you know? We get why you chose to do it. It’s all in the past now, so there’s no need for you to keep beating yourself up over it,” Durge said. “Besides, no one here is upset with you about it anymore.”
“I AM!” Zeldana chimed in.
“...Well, she might be, but who cares about her opinions?” the orc said with a frustrated sigh. “Point is that you should move on from what happened already. What’s done is done and we can all learn from it now. Clinging to it will only prevent you from moving forward.”
“You’re right. Thanks, Durge,” Erin said with a smile. “That really helped me.”
“Hey, that’s what we are here for, aren’t we?” the orc asked jokingly. “Anyways, we should focus on what we are going to do next.”
“That’s right. Hey, Lex,” the redhead called out to the kobold. “How much time do you need to make your preparations?”
“Honestly, I just need one day to gather all the materials I’ll be needing for my golems and potions. I can then work on them inside the van as we travel,” Lexton replied. “But if we want to get Durge’s new weapon ready before we leave, that’s going to require a few days, as I don’t even have the blueprints ready.”
“I’m personally okay with just continuing on our way,” Durge said. “While it would be better to go around armed, it’s not like I can’t handle myself unarmed. The hammer just makes things easier for me.”
“That might be true, but I’d still prefer for all of us to be at full fighting capacity before we head out. You never know what you might encounter out there,” Erin said thoughtfully, before looking at the rest of her companions. “What about you guys?”
“While I’m not in the need of anything special, I’d like to have some time to rest!” Ryle said while laying down on her bed. “It’s been on insane thing after another for days now and I seriously want to have some time to kick back and relax for once! I get what we’re doing isn’t some luxury vacation, but rest is necessary for me as well!”
“I’m fine either way,” Zeldana replied with a shrug. “If you decide to stay here for some time or continue on our journey, I’m okay as long as a certain someone doesn’t go around screwing things up.”
“...You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” Erin asked.
“What could ever give you that idea?” the elf asked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
“You know, Zeldana, you might want to tone it down with the sassy attitude,” Durge said as he glared at the elf. “Unlike you, Erin is actually liked and respected by the rest of the group here, so attacking her needlessly is only going to antagonize the rest of us. If you’re not careful, you might end up finding yourself surrounded by quite a few people upset with you. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“No, because I don’t care,” Zeldana replied. “You keep forgetting that I joined up with your little circus show for my own reasons and not because I necessarily share the same vision with you all. The moment I feel like it, I can easily just drop out of this circus show and go my own way.”
“You say that like it would be a bad thing,” Ryle muttered sarcastically.
“It is as far as having a skilled healer leave you on your own. Considering how there aren’t that many people willing to fight the Five Overlords and how hard it is to find people with my level of skill, I’d say it would be a pretty big loss for you all,” the elf explained. “But you’re free to disagree with my assessment all you want. It’s no issue for me at all.”
“I’ll give you an issue, if you need one…” the blonde said as she started to get up while glaring at Zeldana.
Seeing how things were beginning to heat up in a terrible manner, Erin quickly decided to play the role of referee and prevent any actual fights from breaking out. The redhead stepped between Ryle and Zeldana in order to keep the two from going at each other.
“Alright, no need for any of that! Let’s keep things calm and civil, okay!?” Erin said, hoping to ease up the tension that had just built up. “How about we all just focus on our preparations for when we set out from here? Whether it’s relaxing or working on something, I say we take some time to do that and keep our minds off anything negative. Does that sound good?”
“...Fine,” Ryle said, laying down on her bed again. “I could use some beauty sleep anyways.”
“I think in your case you need a beauty coma,” Lexton joked with a snicker, which earned him a pillow thrown at him by the blonde. “Fair enough. It was completely worth it.”
“Same thing, different day…” Erin mumbled unhappily as she shook her head. “Anyways, Ryle and Zeldana seem to be fine with my suggestion. What about the rest of you?”
“Works for me,” the kobold said. “Like I said, I’ve got some work to do that will keep me bust anyways.”
“I’m fine either way,” Durge said with a shrug. “I could use this time to listen to any interesting news. I’ll tell you what I’ve found later tonight. Sound good?”
“Perfect,” Erin said with a smile, before turning to the last member of their group. “What about you, Arnie?”
Instead of hearing an immediate reply from the youngest member of their group, the redhead was surprised to only get silence in response from the cat boy. Arkay seemed to be lost in thought, as he sat at the table with a book in his hands, but it was obvious that he wasn’t reading it at all.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Arnie? Did you hear what I said?” Erin called out to the cat boy, who jolted out of his thoughts and turned towards her. “Is something wrong? You seem to a little distracted.”
“M-Me? I-I’m okay!” Arkay quickly said, trying to not sound nervous but failing. “I-I was just immersed in my book! That’s all!...What was the question again?”
“I was asking if you were alright with the idea of us staying in this city for a couple of days, before moving out,” the redhead said. “Lex has some stuff he needs to work on and Ryle wants to have some time to rest. Durge and Zeldana didn’t have an issue with it, so they agreed. Are you okay with this idea?”
“Y-Yes! I’m completely fine with it!” the cat boy replied, still sounding nervous. “In fact, I could use some time to rest myself!”
“...Yeah, that does seem to be the case,” Erin said, a bit bothered by her friend’s odd behavior. She knew that he was shy and awkward by nature, but normally not to this extent. “Are you sure that you’re alright? You’re behaving a bit strangely.”
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Arkay said, trying to put on a strong front, but failing. “Really, there’s nothing wrong! Honestly! I swear!”
The redhead was obviously still not convinced and wanted to press on. After all, if there were issues in her group, she wanted to solve them as fast as possible.
However, Ryle had realized what was most likely bothering Arkay and decided to step in. She needed to drive all the suspicion away from him or the redhead might find out that she had sent him to spy on her and Zeldana, when they had their private conversation.
“Hey, let’s not beat him up like that, okay? You’re really gonna make him into a nervous wreck at this rate!” Ryle said as she got up and walked over to Arkay, where she proceeded to put a comforting arm over his shoulders. “He’s probably just a bit overwhelmed from everything we’ve been through, mixed with some understandable exhaustion. Not only did we go through hell not too long ago, but judging by the smell coming from the bed he used he probably didn’t get to sleep all that well either!”
“Hang on, what?” Zeldana asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’m saying that you might have some unhealthy issues that come out at night in a not so pleasant manner,” the blonde explained as she pinched her nose and smirked. “Honestly, what have you been eating?”
“Is this true, Zeldana?” Erin asked with a wide eye.
“Hard to say… This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say such a thing about me,” the elf said thoughtfully. “Not to mention, considering how I’m asleep at that time, I can’t really deny it either.”
“You’re just one big mass of issues, aren’t you?” Lexton said as he shook his head. “Honestly, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Oh please. Like any of you guys are ones to judge,” Zeldana said nonchalantly. “I’m sure a psychiatrist would have a field day trying to get through any of us.”
“Hey, I think I’m pretty stable and normal!” Ryle exclaimed, only to receive stares from everybody else in the room. “...What?”
“Sure, whatever you say,” Erin said with a sigh, before turning her attention back to Arkay. “Anyways, if you say that you’re okay, I’ll go with that. However, if there is anything wrong, I want you to tell me right away, okay?”
“Y-Yes. I’ll be sure to do that,” the cat boy replied.
“Good. I’m glad we got that taken care of,” the redhead said, before heading towards the door. “I’m going to go outside for a walk. Anybody else want to come along?”
“Well, I could-” Durge began to say, only to be cut off by Ryle all of a sudden.
“Actually, I need to talk with you, Durge, so could you stay back?” the blonde said. “It’s kind of important.”
“Uhh… Okay, but shouldn’t we go outside, in order to have some privacy?” the orc asked. “I’m sure we could find a good spot on the outskirts of the city, where we could talk.”
“It’s not that secretive. I just want to get some pointers in regards to using ki and such,” Ryle quickly explained. “I’m sure no one here would mind us talking about that stuff.”
“I see. I can do that,” Durge said, before looking back at Erin. “Sorry. I’m guessing you’ll be going on your own.”
“No worries. I could use the time alone to clear my thoughts, so no harm done,” the redhead said with a smile. “See you all later.”
Almost as soon as Erin had left, Durge turned his attention to Ryle.
“Okay, so what kind of pointers did you want me to tell you about?” the orc asked, ready to start teaching.
“Just a moment, Durge. I gotta take care of something first,” the blonde said as she walked up to Lexton. She then whispered to the kobold. “Hey, you think you can help me get rid of Zeldana? I can’t really have my talk with her around.”
“I see my assumption was right. This is about what Arnie heard, right?” Lexton asked to which Ryle nodded. “Very well. I think I might have something for that. Let’s see if it works.”
The kobold went to Zeldana. The elf turned towards him, wondering what he wanted.
“Hey, Zeldana. You wouldn’t happen to still be upset with Erin, would you?” Lexton asked.
“Still pretty pissed off,” the elf answered. “Why?”
“Well, I was wondering if you would be interested in out a new product of mine,” the kobold said as he pulled out a vial of liquid. “I call it the stealth golem. This one is designed to move quietly as a transparent liquid to take enemies by surprise. I’m sure you could use it to prank Erin in order to get back at her, while also providing me with results from testing it out.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/PYZJK07/Ch-116-Pic-1.jpg]
“Now that does sound fun!” Zeldana said as her eyes lit up with excitement. “Although, why do you want me to go and prank her? I thought you guys were all okay wither despite how badly she screwed up.”
“That might be so, but I’m a merchant in the end, remember? What’s most important for me is my business and this is part of that,” Lexton explained. “Besides, I’d be lying if I said that Erin’s bad call didn’t piss me off at least a little.”
“Works for me!” the elf said as she grabbed the vial and ran to the door. “See you all later!”
“...Did you really have to do that to Erin?” Ryle asked as she glared at Lexton. “I get that you needed to do something to get that crazy elf out of here, but was that the only method you could think of? It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“Hey, life isn’t fair. I thought you’d be aware of that by now,” the kobold said with a shrug. “Not to mention, you shouldn’t be getting all that upset with me anyways.”
“Why is that?” the blonde asked. “Just because you managed to do what I asked you to do?”
“Well, there is that, obviously, but it’s not what I was referring to,” Lexton said with a smirk. “You see, that vial I gave Zeldana? It’s not what she thinks it is. When she pours her magic into it in order to activate it, the liquid will blow up in her face. And considering how I used materials that will cause uncontrollable itching to just about anyone that gets into contact with them, I’m sure she’ll be scratching herself for quite some time.”
Ryle burst out into roaring laughter upin hearing the kobold’s explanation. Even Durge and Arkay couldn’t help but chuckle at the prank Lexton had just pulled off.
“Oh my God… That’s awesome!” Ryle said while still laughing. “Although, did you prepare that thing just now or were you planning to use that on her sometime later?”
“That, I’m afraid, is a trade secret,” Lexton replied. “Anyways, I think we should get to business at hand, considering that we’ve got all the necessary people here.”
“That’s something I wanted to ask about,” Durge said with a confused look on his face. “Just what is going on here? I can see now that what Ryle said about wanting pointers in regards to using ki was obviously a lie, but why did we need to get rid of Erin and Zeldana? What is it that you three want to talka about and how does it involve me?”
“It’s about Erin and Zeldana,” Ryle said. “You’ve probably noticed by how they seem to have something going on between them that the rest of us don’t know about at all, right? When we got out of Gotzmeyer’s base, while you were still unconscious, those two went to have a private talk between each other. We couldn’t help but get curious, so we sent Arnie to spy on them.”
“I see.. I’m not sure I approve of that, though,” the orc said with a frown. “We all deserve at least some level of privacy and I don’t like the idea of breaching it just like that. I’d hate to think that any of you was spying on me while I think I have some time alone.”
“Hey, we get that! Trust me!” Lexton quickly said. “However, you have to understand that we aren’t just your average traveling band of misfits. There’s a high level of danger involved in everything we do, so we have to be able to trust one another. If anybody is having secret meetings behind everybody else, I think we should find out about it just for our own sake. It’s that simple.”
“Sounds to me like you don’t trust Erin,” Durge said with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, don’t you start talking like that! I’ll have you know that I’ve known her far longer than any of you and I would trust her with my life!” Ryle said defensively. “I just want to know what’s going on. I don’t think there’s anything nefarious being plotted, like this paranoid bastard seems to think.”
“Oh, thanks a lot,” Lexton said sarcastically.
“What I’m afraid of is that Erin might be manipulated by Zeldana in some manner,” the blonde continued, ignoring the kobold. “If Erin’s in trouble, I want to know what is causing her issues, so I can help her. And I want to know if it involves any of us.”
“While I understand your feelings, the sad fact is that there are a lot of things that others can’t help with no matter how much they want to,” Durge said, thinking about his own internal issues. “Some problems can only be handled by those who deal with them on their own. And some cannot be helped at all.”
“Yeah, but we won’t know until we try!” Ryle argued. “How can we simply sit here and say “can’t help ya” to whatever Erin’s plight is, when we haven’t even really tried!? Considering all the things she has done for us, I’d say it’s only right that we try our hardest to at least do something!”
“...Fair enough, I suppose,” the orc said with a shrug, before turning towards Arkay. “I suppose we might as well hear what Arnie learned when he listened to Erin and Zeldana’s conversation. So would you mind and tell us what happened back then?”
“Well… At the start, Zeldana was simply angry at Erin for not simply killing Gotzmeyer back when she had the chance,” the cat boy began to explain. “She said that Gotzmeyer wasn’t someone you should hesitate to kill, considering how he was willing to kill even his own soldiers.”
“Can’t believe that I’m actually agreeing with that sick elf for once,” Ryle said.
“Now you know how I feel when I agree with you,” Lexton said, earning a glare from the blonde.
“Hush both of you,” Durge said before the two could get into another argument. “Please continue.”
“Zeldana also stated that the reason she was upset wasn’t necessarily because what Erin did was wrong, but rather because she didn’t find it entertaining,” Arkay continued. “According to her, Erin and her travels are pretty much just a show for her.”
“Sick twisted bitch,” Ryle muttered with a frown on her face. “What kind of a person sees everything we’ve been through as entertainment?”
“Well, we kind of knew that about her already,” Durge said with a sigh. “At least she can be helpful to us.”
“But the really shocking thing came after that!” Arkay exclaimed, getting everybody’s full attention. “Zeldana also added that she was now worried that Erin might repeat the same mistake again and let somebody else off the hook!”
“I wouldn’t fear that too much,” Lexton said. “Unlike the blonde savage, Erin isn’t someone who doesn’t learn from their mistakes.”
“Yeah!” Ryle said enthusiastically. “...Hey, wait a minute!”
“That might be so, but Zeldana had a reason to fear that!” Arkay continued. “She said that some of the people we are going after are actually Erin’s old friends!”
Silence fell over the room as Ryle, Lexton and Durge stared at Arkay with wide eyes. All three were processing the new bit of information they had just learned about their friend and had a hard time believing it.
“Are… Are you sure that’s what you heard?” Lexton asked to which Arkay nodded. “Holy crap… To think that Erin would actually know people that are part of the forces of the Five Overlords…”
“Who do you think they are?” Durge asked. “Considering how she acted towards Gotzmeyer and some of the assassins we’ve faced, none of them were those people.”
“That is the billion credit question,” the kobold said thoughtfully. “Whoever they are, they have to be pretty high up. All the people she has been going after have been high-ranking officials, so they would have to be some type of officers…”
“But… Isn’t she specifically going after the Overlords themselves?” Arkay asked. “You don’t think she…?”
Silence once again fell over the room, as the group began to ponder the possibilities. The thought of their friend actually knowing people like the Five Overlords personally seemed like such an absurd idea, yet all the evidence seemed to be pointing towards it.
“...So what if she does know some of the people we’re fighting against!? Isn’t she herself doing so!?” Ryle suddenly shouted. “The way I see it, Erin hasn’t done anything to earn our distrust, so why should we start doubting her now!? I’m sure that she isn’t going to just suddenly betray us over some of our enemies being her old friends! So let’s not even think about this and just trust her! Okay!?”
The others nodded in agreement, but none of them could deny that this new revelation had just placed a small seed of doubt in them.