19 - Transfer Order

“Congratulations,” said the Guildmaster. “This is your transfer order. The advanced second tier [Class] of yours is said to only exist in the Elven’s Kalahan Empire and the Craste Trade City, and now it is among us in this humble kingdom of ours,” the man laughed.

Anyone could tell that he was very pleased with the news. She didn’t know if he would change his mind if he knew it was already a week since they got this ability.

“The Trade City too?” Liara asked, a little perplexed.

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn all the details in the main branch, my dear, but for you to somehow run into one of these elusive people is simply remarkable. Your karma finally paid its due, if anyone had asked me,” the man winked at her.

Liara smiled as her cheeks felt warm.

Something about the man had always made her heart race a little despite the fact she was sharded and already had someone dear to her. If she was to guess, this was what the rumor had called the noble’s charm, a [Skill] only a noble could get.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasant feeling to have. Anthon was being nice to her once again as Sila didn’t show any sign of being charmed.

“But I doubt the man is from the Empire,” Sila added. “Is it too far away?”

“The benefactor is a man, is he? What a very, very lucky unlucky man,” the tall handsome man wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled.

Liara’s cheeks flared hot when she realized what the man had suggested. Sila also was blushing hard as she understood the implication. She probably would have, no, they probably would gladly have slept with the man if any of it really happened.

It was just natural. There was very little risk involved and both would have enjoyed it. Many had tried but even the most elite sharded could get another sharded pregnant.

“But for your sake, I’ll tell you that the Empire’s loyal agents are everywhere,” the charming nobleman continued. ”No one knowledgeable would be surprised if you say that perhaps you’ve met one of them on your travels, in dire need of help or not.”

The Guildmaster gave them that slow wink.

Liara wasn’t that surprised that the man knew without being told, but he was on their side, at least, at this time. They also needed him as he was very convincing, probably thanks to his nonchalant but confident demeanor. Thanks to this, she and Sila didn’t need to worry about explaining everything to whoever would be asking.

The people above would take his word as facts despite it being the truth or not. They would take his word over her as she was just a commoner and half-human.

Of course, they couldn’t avoid trading the [Ability] around but it would be under the blessing and watchful eyes of the fair Queen of the land. It also would cost those people their fortune to make an Ability Tome out of this ability and no one in the Kingdom could hope for more assurance than these two reasons.

And perhaps the Guildmaster was right. Perhaps this was her karma paying its long due after all these years she had struggled to be simply accepted.

Her fate was similar to Sila's, being born from a sharded womb before being mostly raised by her human father alone. This was the main reason why she had to interfere when those dogs in the skin of men began to try and take a bite out of the poor girl. She called them dogs because the men had only dared because their sharded mothers were absent.

It was tough luck that they had a [Seeker] among them. Sila could have hidden for months if there was none as the shard her mother had left for her was quite the treasure.

The call of adventure was too strong for their Deep-Sharded mothers, and the only difference was Liara’s mother was a Halfling. She didn’t resent her wayward mother as it was already known that any sharded person could never stay in one place for too long.

Liara could actually tell now. They would feel like they had been caged.

Both sharded men and women had displayed this quirk plenty of times. They would become restless before they started to become easily agitated. She had only two shards, the [Claw] and the [Flesh] in her and already she could feel the urge.

Sila joined hands with hers with a huge smile on the girl’s pretty face. The girl was still red from the Guildmaster’s offhanded comment for whatever reason.

Of course, Liara was lucky to have her. The human girl only had her inherited [Veil] shard in her as she was saving her second, especially for an elemental. Liara could imagine the call in the girl was a lot weaker than hers with only one shard.

They were lucky that an [Astral Transfer] did not require the blessed to have the intricate know-how of the ability or had absorbed the shards which it had crystallized from. The only downside was it was weaker because of the lack of shards and understanding.

Nevertheless, Sila had vehemently claimed that the Lover had probably sent Ake into their care during their pillow talk. That was one part of her that Liara didn’t share but she wasn’t really against that statement.

The mysterious stranger chose to stay behind as if he had nothing to do with them. After his level-up, the tribal boy had become taller and grew closer to his soul age. Now she couldn’t say she was not physically attracted to the man himself.

And their story was more believable thanks to his clever plan. They took a huge risk and had delayed a whole week before reporting to the Guild, but the Guildmaster was not suspicious at all. Anthon probably had his personal reason to be on their side, but she would take him as an ally rather than as an enemy at any time.

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Thankfully, no one else was wiser or had suspected anything. She and Sila used the period of time to head outside in a quest to mask the coincidental meeting with their supposed benefactor. They had stayed outside in a mostly safe hidden location for a few days whilst having the best time of their lives.

Liara had hoped Ake had joined them but his reasoning made sense. He had stayed mostly in town to further disguise the fact he was the source of their unbelievable fortune.

She still could not believe any of the things were happening.

“And this is Ake’s invitation to the Academy as their guest,” the Guildmaster added to both of their surprise. “I know a man like him won’t trust me, but I’m sure you’ll help me to explain to him how it will be better for an initiated soul from another world to spend his time in the capital city. Despite his opinion on this, I believe his talents will not grow here, in a worthless border town that doesn't have a name or even a dungeon.”

The statement was a little odd but Liara accepted it as it was. Sila turned to look at her with wide-open eyes and a gaping mouth.

She might not realise this herself but Liara could tell that the girl had a change of heart. Sila, the daughter of Mars, had begun to stare at his back whenever she had the chance as if she was trying to figure the man out.

“But why don’t you think he won’t trust you?” Sila asked the very question lingering in her mind.

“I can’t hope for you two to see it as he wore distrust like a shield, but what I can tell, is the soul had a terrible experience with the authorities. Perhaps someone in the seat of power in his world had used his talents for their cruel means, and without magic, I fear no one could dream to pose a challenge,” the man sighed. “His old world might even have used the oldest trick in the book to earn his terrible disdain.”

“What kind of trick?” Sila asked.

The Guildmaster chuckled. “I won’t spell it to you, but they probably had used the same trick to keep men like me anchored here without leaking any secrets,” the tall man shook his head. “[Spellblades] might run in the extended family but no one finds it remotely beneficial to cut such a deep wound on one of their own.”

“Who is this ‘they’ you are talking about?” Liara’s turn to ask.

The Guildmaster smiled, “You’ll figure it out soon enough. Now go, move along, I have many other things to do, and other people to see.”

Liara and Sila hastily gave their respect to the nobleman and wondered what he said as they made their way out of his office. The man's penchant to speak in hints and riddles had always annoyed everyone around him but she always found it more meaningful when she figured it herself.

They were holding hands as they walked down the stairs. It was already late in the afternoon and that meant not many Guild members were around other than those who returned from their quest.

As always, Sila, without her usual armor, pulled every man's attention towards her. Some of them were more reserved but others were clearly salivating at the prospect of pushing her down for their own satisfaction.

One even was openly licking his lips. A few were actually waiting for this chance as a thick gruff hand landed on her shoulder. The man chuckled when all of Sila’s attempt to move was easily stopped by his thick muscular arm.

A thin blue line glowed on her shoulder, and before anyone realized it, the huge man was thrown off his feet and onto the floor. Sila held the man down using only one leg and said something that paled the man's face.

A simple kick to the man’s huge body sent him flying out of the Guild’s building. She had treated such a weight as if it was nothing to her.

That was the testament to the ability the man had crystallized. It left everyone in awe whilst many others pulled their thirsty look away in fear.

Luckily, such a brawl was not something unusual between the Guild members.

Sila had instinctively turned towards a certain man for help, well, until she realized that he had already helped her in more ways than anyone could have hoped for.

The same man wasn’t even looking at them as if he wanted nothing to do with the very people he had personally turned their lives around. Liara couldn’t really blame him when there were a few opportunistic wenches who had been distracting him from what he had personally achieved.

The man gained his first level, not two weeks after he found himself here, and moreover, he had done it all alone while fighting horned rabbits. Liara didn’t tell him but that was something unheard of, at least this far off near the border.

And unlike others, he didn’t choose to be bulky but his height and leanness made him a lot more approachable. His unnecessarily humble attitude also made it easy for others to try and push him around just like the girls trying to do.

But perhaps the news that he had paid the most expensive brothel a huge sum had spread unwanted rumors around them. The thirsty wenches were practically shoving themselves at him and it somehow stung her for whatever reason.

Something in her wanted to step on the dirty whores’ faces until they flattened and be done with the day. Liara shook that thought away. Ake did not belong to her or anyone.

The red-faced young man, of course, was trying to politely refuse, but perhaps that was her fault. Liara knew that she should have told him all about the sharded.

She hadn’t told the whole truth as she feared the man would hate her for it.

But to her surprise, Sila had marched toward him and pulled him out of the predicament.

“I’m sorry but he has already been accounted for,” she said as the girl pulled and hugged his arm as if he would fly away.

The girls giggled mockingly, “Are you sure about that? Or are you planning to leave the man hanging around while the two of you fucked?”

The statement had taken the man aback as he looked at the girls agast.

This was what Liara was afraid of.

Sila’s face became red from both repulsion and embarrassment.

“The man needs to handle both of us together, or why do you think he pushed himself so hard to get to the first level?” Liara said as she joined the two.

She grabbed his arm and buried him in her chest. It was not like he hadn’t touched her intimately. It was not a huge leap considering that the three were sharded.

And it was not like they were normal people.

“Come on, let go,” Liara added as she pulled them both out of their shock.

And then she realized what the Guildmaster meant.

Ake was scarred and still bleeding inside. Of course. Now everything he had done made more sense than the excuses he gave.

He had refused her because he could not trust her enough. She had to do something about it or it would rot. Liara gritted her teeth.

She had no choice now. It was not just about her anymore.

She needed to tell him the ugly truth about the Sharded.