When they were about halfway to the orphanage, Ione smacked her head.
“I forgot something, I’ll be back!” Then immediately hauled ass back to the church, leaving Coranne and Fellis to both go, “huh?” In response.
Ione made very short work of the distance and soon found herself back in the desecrated building.
Belan told her she would give her a map after her choosing and the white-haired girl still held out hope that she had the map on her, otherwise she’d have to raid the nun’s study, traps abound.
She came across her body, just the same as she had left it, an unrecognizable mash of body parts and gingerly sorted through it. With bits of flesh and cloth peeled away, she unfortunately found no map, and figured Belan’s plan was to bring her back to the orphanage after her Choosing and give it to her there.
Though, she did find a key, presumably to her office that she promptly put in her tunic pocket.
Goddammit. Time to go through a booby-trapped room.
Her gaze focused on the brothers she killed, just two random dudes who got caught up in unfortunate circumstances. Negative emotions bubbled up, and her first instinct was to use her skills to subdue them, but she deeply breathed, in, and out. She took in the scent of drying viscera, and paid her respects. Then promptly started to loot them. She took the shield off of Kores, then searched his headless body for some sort of spatial ring, because he certainly did not pull the huge shield out of his ass. A ring was found on his left pinky finger and she threw it on and squealed. It automatically adjusted itself to fit her finger and it gave a whopping 5 dimensional storage slots, pre-filled with food, another shield, enchanted boots, and a document. While not the biggest, she assumed, she was happy with having another dimensional ring added to her repertoire.
The food seemed to stack, at least to 5, as she had seen the number in the top left corner of the item. Her musings were confirmed by brief experimentation by taking the food out and putting it back in, and saw that the number increased and decreased. It also didn’t seem to go bad, so that bode well for rations.
Other miscellaneous items were found on the bodies: a yora pouch, some armor which included a sort of stretchy black fabric, the knife that Kores tried to kill her with, and a necklace of Mana Recovery, courtesy of Jakis.
She started to create a pile of what she wanted to feed her…mouth stomach, Harold. The black fabric, a piece of yora, the enchanted boots that gave 5% run speed, the shield and the knife. She had tried to put the armor on, but it didn’t magically fit her like the ring did, so that was a dud. She put it into the storage ring to sell for later, if possible.
Then she started to feed Harold. The fabric, yora, the knife and shield were fine, but she had some…gastrointestinal issues after eating the boots, and Harold threw up.
It smelt awful, and the boots were no longer wearable because they became a mass of black fleshy material. “Oh, c’mon! You destroyed them?”
Harold didn’t react.
“Fuckin’ asshole.” She murmured. Ione still didn't know how to feel about her stomach-mouth, and she believed her mind was shutting out the eldritch-ness of it all. Besides, she had had been worse forms, she reasoned.
At least now she knew she couldn't eat enchanted items. It would have been nice if her class told her that, but whatever.
She walked back to Coranne and Fellis, and thought, how did Fellis grow up so fast? The young girl talked to her as if she was talking to a therapy patient, and she was curious about how fast she had matured. She knew Fellis was more perceptive, and had more people skills than her, but the way she spoke to the white-haired girl was strange, and a little unempathetic. She didn’t mean to use her skills to fuck with her own mind, she had used them, or at least, attempted to, as a bandaid to help her overcome her more scrupulous morals, i.e., not killing people. The people she had killed definitely deserved to die. There was no doubt about that. Yet, her skills also seemed to turn her into a torture machine, where she didn’t care if she drew out her victims pain in the moment.
Ione did see Fellis’ reasoning, despite how hamfisted it seemed to be, but The taller girl supposed the red-haired girl knew knew that she would be leaving soon and wanted to get as much off her chest as possible before Ione went out and potentially tortured more people. A feeling of amusement burst through her chest when she realized that despite the knowledge Fellis had now, she still wanted to be her sister.
A thought also came unbidden, did Fellis even know how many lives she’s lived? Their conversation seemed to imply that, but she had never told Fellis herself, and Fellis never asked, even if she suspected it. Did Coranne tell her, after she had told her not to?
Annoyed, she met them at the side of the road, with questions of her own.
“That didn’t take you long,” Coranne said with a smile.
“Yeah, cause she was looting.” Fellis said with a knowing smirk.
Ione asked, “Fellis, how do you know so much?”
“It’s a skill,” she coyly said.
“Oh, so you’re not going to tell me? After I told you about my skills?” The white-haired girl challenged.
Her golden eyes lit up with mirth. “Fine, especially after you dropped that bomb about pain resistance. It’s called ‘A Knowing Mind,’ and helps me gain a general insight into people.”
“How did you get that?” A befuddled Ione asked.
Fellis laughed. “Because I'm always surrounded by people. I ask them personal questions, I get to know them, even if I never see them again. I like learning about people and eventually I got the skill. Also helps with my Arcane skill.”
Even though Ione wanted to question Fellis on her arcane skill, she had more pressing issues to have answered.
“Good to know, thanks for telling me.” Fellis nodded her head. “So you know that I'm reincarnated?”
The red-headed girl snickered. “Kinda hard not to tell, my skill helped me with that.” Then she adjusted her footing.
“Do you know how many lives I've lived?”
Fellis started to look nervous. “Uh, not really? I suspected a couple.”
“Okay, try a couple thousand. And more. Listen I get what you were trying to say and I know what you said has reason and I'm going to follow it to the best of my ability, but I think you should understand that my identity is kinda fucked right now. I've been many different beings and it's done a number on my psyche. So you're just going to have to bear with me while I sort my shit out.” She explained in an effort to produce some empathy from the other girl. Fellis was smart, but she also harbored that, ‘I know everything,’ attitude some young people seemed to have.
Her eyes widened. “I- I didn't realize.” She scratched the back of her head. “I guess I should have asked you that instead of just relying on my skill.”
“Yeah, cause now your skill is turning you into a know-it-all.”
Fellis frowned at that, but otherwise looked contrite. “Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. And I thought about it while you were gone and I feel like I should have been more curious about why you use the skills you use. I think I'm a hypocrite. My skill told me you use them so that you don't feel anything, but that isn't it? Is it?”
Ione shook her head. “I used them because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. Now that I know they effect me mentally the way they do, I know not to use them all the time. But after I kill someone, I'll probably use it, for just a bit so that I don't have to feel what I normally feel. And who knows, maybe it'll go away with time anyways.”
“I think that's okay, just please don't keep them going forever. Allow yourself to feel the bad feelings, even though they're not bad. You have to live with the bad to appreciate the good. At least, that's what Sister Amahn tells me. And… I'm sorry. For earlier. Also for calling you an asshole, that was uncalled for.”
“Apology accepted, but…wait, Amahn? I didn't think she was at the orphanage anymore.”
“She came back a couple weeks ago…cause Sister Vanria... left. I don't think she's the same person you'd remember Ione.” Coranne said. “She- I think she was mind controlled. Extensively”
The woman gestured for them to keep walking.
“She hates elves now. With a passion. It's beyond the initial distrust she had of you, it's full blown, ‘they should all die,’ sort of deal. I'm sorry.”
“Don't apologize, not your fault,” she said dismissively. Amahn was obviously mind controlled because of her and it made her feel bad. Resisting the urge to use her skills, she replied, “hopefully, in the future, me and her can reconnect. I'll find a way to fix her.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Coranne smiled and nodded. “I hope so as well. And I'll try to steer her in a better direction while I'm here,” she said, just as they arrived at the orphanage. “Okay, go get clean, Ione. Fellis, you can play around at back, I suspect that's where Ione has some things stored.” She gave a knowing look.
“I'm gonna try and find them,” Fellis said with a sly tone.
“Hey!” Ione protested.
The red-haired girl zoomed around the building and was out of sight.
The younger girl sighed and turned to Coranne.
“Don't worry, I don't think she's actually going to do it. I think.” The nun said with a laugh.
Ione knew she wouldn't either, little turd was just trying to rile her up, but her mind pivoted to something else.
“Did you tell Fellis to tell me some of the things she did? About me being mind controlled by my own skills and fucking myself mentally?”
Coranne sighed. “Figures you'd catch on. Yes, I did. Because I knew you'd listen more to Fellis than me.” She laid a hand on her shoulder, although it looked forced because of the height difference. “That girl has wormed her way into that iron heart of yours, more so than I have and I knew if she came to you with these issue that you'd be more willing to hear her out. Don't get mad at her, she just wants the best for you. I do too. I don't want to see you chip away at pieces of yourself, until you become an unfeeling husk.”
The girl nodded. She understood and wasn't mad, but she realized how adept Coranne was with manipulation.
“Did Fellis come to you about it first?”
The nun nodded. “And then I told her some of my suspicions and directed her to tell you about them.”
“You're devious.” She plainly stated.
Coranne gave a bark of laughter. “I guess so. I was going to tell you, just so that you were aware, but you caught on quick. I don't want to hide important things from you, Ione. But you hide a lot of things from us. We're not your enemies. And we're not going to betray you. I don't know why you feel the need to keep as many secrets as you do, but I just want to say, before we say our goodbyes, that we're here for you.”
The white-haired girl smiled. “I know. And I think it's just because I'm afraid of people knowing me. Know who I really am. I mean, you guys do now, there's not really that many secrest left between us, but there's some things I haven't yet said. That are just for me, right now, at least.”
The woman gave her should a squeeze, then drew her in for a quick hug, she remarked, “look how big you've gotten!” With the inflection of someone who was talking to a kid
Ione felt uncomfortable. “Coranne you say that stuff to kids, not someone who has the mind of an adult.”
The woman immediately hid her face. “Ah sorry, sorry. A habit.”
The girl laughed while Coranne urged her to take a shower, promising that she would leave her clean clothes and that she would meet her outside with Fellis.
~~~~~
The shower was a quick affair, intentionally so, so that she'd have enough time to raid Belen's office before she needed to get the fuck out of dodge.
She needed that map and if the dead nun had any extra goodies, well, those would also be hers for the taking.
With quick steps and [Spatial Awareness], she made it to Belan's office with nary a hiccup.
The room was the same as it was the last time she was here, except with a new chair standing in front of her desk. Ione quickly searched the desk drawers, but found nothing of note. Then she started taking down paintings and that was where the money was at. Behind one painting was a map, the exact one she had been looking for, but behind other paintings were actual money. Pouches of Yora were lying in wait, nestled in tiny crevasses built into the wall.
Fuck yes! I'm getting rich!
She didn't even bother to count yet, she knew she'd have time later, but there was hefty sum sitting in her pockets that she knew she'd have fun getting to know.
There was a dimensional storage ring that was lying in wait behind a painting that, as soon as she'd grabbed it, she was launched against the opposing wall. The other paintings rattled and she clambered to her feet whilst rubbing her back. It took 150 points of health.
Ow! Well there was a single booby trap.
She quickly activated [Arcane Flesh healing], and then methodically, but quickly took care of the rest of the paintings. She knew that caused a ruckus, so Ione had to hurry up before any wayward nuns found themselves in the cross hairs of an irate Ione.
No. She wouldn't kill them, but she'd have some very strong words.
With a few more traps later, Ione had ransacked the place. The second dimensional storage had 10 slots, and was empty, so she stacked the 7 money pouches and the Scroll of Remembrance she found. She didn't examine it yet, but she knew it must have something to do with regaining lost memories. A novel thing to have in a world where mind control was as prevalent as breathing.
Ione stopped short. There was a person that jogged towards Belan's room and started to frantically knock on the door.
“Mother Belan? I'm here, just as you'd requested.” The unknown voice announced.
Well, shit.
Though, they didn't sound like a nun.
She quickly opened the doors, grabbed the man by the lapels and jerked him inside.
“Ah! Who are you?” The man exclaimed. He was approximately in his early 20s, with light brown hair and brown eyes. She looked at his attire and saw that he wore some sort of clothes that allowed for loose movement. He carried a bag strapped to his chest and there were bits and pieces of folded parchment sticking out.
Perfect.
“Are you a courier? She asked.
“Uhhhh should I answer that?” His frightened eyes looked into hers.
Ione nodded.
He gulped.“Yes? What-what are you doing in Mother Belan's office?”
“I'm here because I am. You're here because Belan told you to be. Where did Belan tell you to go after this?”
He sucked in a loud breath and she immediately covered his mouth with her hand.
“Alright, if my words don't work, does yora do it?”
She procured a bag of yora.
Money signs flashed in his eyes and he frantically nodded.
“Wonderful. Now answer the question.” She demanded.
“She told me I would have to deliver a letter to Golden Heights, after a Choosing Ceremony. That's all she said!”
“Hm.” The girl slowly let him go and stood back, then tossed him the yora.
“Are those in Golden Heights expecting a letter?”
“I dont think so.” He shook his head.
Ione laughed. What a stupid woman.
“How's about I make you my personal courier?”
“Ahhhh…I don't know…” He looked like he shit himself at her proposition.
She tossed him another bag of Yora.
He brightened. “Alright! You have a deal!”
He, or rather Prose, an apt name, gave her all of his details and where to find the company he was associated with. She quickly stored the information for later, knowing that she would have need of it and sent him on his way, but not before he requested to have his seal placed on her. Suspicious, she questioned him on it, and it had something to do with his class, to be able to find her if she pressed on it.
Interesting.
She didn't like it, but she knew that it would be better to have it, than not. He assured her that he would only have her location once she pressed on it, not all the time, so she allowed it. Prose did question Ione if she was an elven spy, but she assured him that she wasn't and the man quickly pivoted back to the topic at hand: money.
The man was a fiend for it. She didn't know how much she gave him, but knew it was a lot based on how gleeful he became after tossing another bag, because she informed him that he would have to go outside of Whisperwind at some point. They spoke about rates, which she was sure he jacked up, but at that point she needed to have someone run her letters back and forth, privately.
Fuck. I'm getting poor again.
Though, she had gained something equally as valuable: her own personal courier. Someone who wouldn't question her beyond the money she had in her pockets. It was the start to a lovely business relationship.
With that, she quickly made her way outside and noticed the sky had grown a bit dim. Ione spotted Fellis and Coranne near the tree line and stood in front of them.
“I hate goodbyes so I'm going to pretend this isn't one. I'll miss you, I love you both and I'll see you guys again. Prose is safe, he's a courier I just bribed, so make sure to request him for any letters.” She made to leave, but fellis stopped her with a hug at her middle.
“Uh uh. You're not leaving that quickly.”
Ione sighed, but otherwise wrapped her arms around her sister. “I do have to get going though, I've lingered long enough and I'm sure people will figure out what happened soon enough. I'll be a fugitive soon enough.”
“Yea, yea.” Fellis released her. “I'll be here rooting for you. Beat the bad guys and ‘Prose?’ Was it?” Ione nodded. “I'll make sure to ask for Prose.”
Coranne stood, bemused. “I didn't think you would swipe Belan's courier, but here we are.” She laughed.
“Well he definitely wasn't her personal one, else he would've known that she was dead.”
The nun became confused. “No, he was definitely her personal courier. I've seen him enough times to know that at least.”
Ione thought for a bit, then burst out with a, “motherfucker!”
He knew. He fucking swindled me out of my money!
There was no doubt that the man had come to Belan's office to see about whatever stash he could get his hands on. Devious turd, but she liked it. She would get her money's worth, however.
“Ugh. Well whatever. I'll talk to him about it at some point, I imagine he's probably long gone by now and I can't call him back this soon.” She huffed. “But I do love you guys. I know your Choosing is coming up Fellis and I'll try to make it, but no promises. You have plans after?”
The red-haired girl smiled. “I do. I'm going to go to the nearest town and I'm gonna try to find the rest of the gang.”
Ione brows rose. “You will?”
She laughed. “Of course!”
“Well, okay then, if you're sure.” Who was Ione to try and talk her out of danger? It was Fellis’ life and despite her misgivings on the decision, she wanted to support her in her ventures. “I'm not sure how soon I'll meet up with them, but it'll be soon, so maybe it won't be that long.”
The girl's gold eyes lit up with excitement, but then dimmed. “Before you go…there's something I wanted to tell you.” She shifted on the spot.
Ione, confused, gestured for her to continue.
“Because you shared your skills with us, I think it's right that I tell you this.” Fellis took a deep breath. “My Arcane skill is called ‘Judgment of Potential.’ It allows me to see the potential of others based on how bright they shine…and in the beginning, I only talked to you because you shined…so bright. It was like looking directly at the sun. And in the years that passed, that light only grew. I-I'm sorry…” she trailed off. “I feel like I only became your sister because I was so curious about why you shone that bright and I got closer to you to figure out why. I feel like I used you.”
Ione, knowing only an hour and half ago that she contemplated if she used Fellis to abate her loneliness, gave her a hug and simply muttered, “it's fine. I forgive you.”
She wrapped her arms back around her. “You do?” The red-haired girl said, with a watery breath.
The taller girl nodded and patted her back. They soon parted and Coranne brought her in for a hug as well. She whispered in her ear, “don't forget to visit once you become rich and famous.”
With an unexpected laugh, they parted and with a mind that was clearer than any time before it, Ione bid them a, “see you soon!” Then went into the woods to collect her stashes.
Coranne's Perspective
As she watched Ione's form disappear into the darkened forest, all she could think was: these were a long 15 years. She knew Ione was something special when she had received her quest, but she really couldn't believe how special the girl truly was.
“Do you think Ione would be mad if I had told her the reward I got for completing the quest was a class changing item that lets me keep my current levels and tiers?”
Fellis’ jaw dropped. “No, she would be happy for you! Why didn't you say anything?”
“I think I'm going to surprise her. Once you get your class, I'll change mine afterwards, and we can forget this cursed place ever existed.”
“Sounds good,” Fellis said.
They watched until the moon rose high in the sky.