Instantly, the thrust met something hard. Now, standing in front of the mage girl was a broad-shouldered teen. Clearly taller than Alisson but he looked around the same age as him with his hazel hair and sharp blue eyes. What had interrupted Alisson’s thrust was a massive set of shiny steel plate; His rapier had impacted one of the huge and squared palindromes.
This must be the girl’s Hero. I’ll kill both of them and make up for my defeat at Qutrya!
A little delayed, but still expected, came the massive swing of the Hero’s sword.
That’s way too powerful! It’ll snap my rapier in half if I try to parry!
Alisson stepped back, the Hero’s blade just barely missing him. The Hero now had his back turned to Alisson, it seemed like he put everything into one swing and his body had followed.
He is a new Hero, so I wouldn’t think that he has any experience to speak of. But if he hits me, it’s over. I think even Celis would be able to handle him.
Alisson grabbed on to the Hero’s shoulders and threw him towards Celis with a roundhouse kick; the Hero stumbled, almost falling.
“Celis! Take him!”
Now with the Hero out of the way of the mage girl, Alisson could see what she had done; she’d launched a flare into the sky.
They have allies!
By this point, the crowd had dispersed in a remarkably short time, leaving the once dense road, empty. The mage girl, finished with calling her allies, turned her staff at Alisson.
You're too close for that.
Alisson, who was only a few feet away from the magician, simply grabbed on to the staff and pulled it out of her hand. He threw it away and charged with his rapier. Unable to dodge or prepare a spell from so close a distance, the girl’s shoulder is pierced cleanly through. To her credit, instead of recoiling from the pain, she lifted her hand against Alisson’s flank.
“Eiar-!”
Sorry, I commend your attitude but…
Alisson let go of his rapier and grabbed on to the girl’s wrist; and he twisted it. Alisson heard a snap as her wrist bones shifted out of place. The mage girl shrieked and attempted to step back; Alisson spun his body around and kicked her squarely in the stomach while pulling his rapier out of her. She flew backward and landed on the ground a few meters away, unmoving. Alisson careened his head over to the fight that was ensuing behind him, hoping his apprentice wasn’t having any trouble. To his pleasant surprise, his apprentice, was in essence, kicking the crap out of the Hero. The Hero simply couldn’t hit her, she’d evade, deflect and feint, and he’d fall for her every ploy. Of course, the Hero had extremely tough armor, so any hit’s Celis had gotten in hadn’t pieced too well. Alisson could spot a multitude of dents and only one good spot where Celis had completely pierced his armor and had drawn blood.
Just as he was about to end the farce occurring in front of him, two new opponents rushed around the corner; it was that old man from before and a supposed female Hero with a shield and spear. As opposed to the cluelessness of the first Hero, Alisson got a completely different aura from the female one: She seemed like a competent fighter.
A spear and shield user too, I don’t see much of those. Her armor also looks odd, it looks like an old design of sorts.
…
Ah! Finally. Took them long enough to get here; I’m getting done in by a little girl! I break off as best I can to get back with Epsilon and Clarke, the little blue haired girl lands some hits in retaliation, but I shrug them off. This armor is really like cheating, she’s hit me tens of times, but I’ve only been wounded once. I run over to Epsilon who’s in front of the downed Arciel with her shield up in a tense stance. Clarke crouches next to Arciel, a blue aura radiating from his hand. Jesus, what happened to her?
“Celis, stay back for this.”
I hear the girl-boy say. I really don’t know if that’s a guy or a girl. Maybe it’s a queer or something. I take up position next to Clarke, I’ll let Epsilon fight the girl-boy; I’m clearly at a lack of prowess when even that little girl can put pressure on me.
The kid with yellow hair runs toward Epsilon with his rapier and hand raised.
“Pict!”
Great, he can use magic, without a staff. I’m really getting confused about the whole magic situation; the little guidebook didn’t have anything written down about it, so I don’t know it’s rules.
Epsilon raises her shield and blocks the small bolt with a little swipe. Epsilon then thrust with her spear at the approaching boy. The boy-! How’d he dodge while moving forward like that!? Before I’m able to discern what he did, the boy thrusts right, left and then straight in from the top with a jump. Epsilon, not haven taken the two feints as I would of, raised her shield and prepared to riposte with her spear. The boy did something incomprehensible again, he let go of his rapier.
…what the hell? Who let’s go of their weapon in the middle of fight?
The boy, without his rapier, easily evaded Epsilon’s riposte and closed the distance between them even more. The boy grabbed on to Epsilon’s spear-hand, and pulled. Her own momentum from her riposte, as well as the boy’s pull, sent her stumbling into the ground. She attempted to get to her feet but…the boy raised his hand and two blots of red formed at his middle and index fingers.
“Pictunee!”
Two needle thin streams pierced Epsilons shoulder blades and she let out a shriek. The boy turned toward us, rolled, and grabbed his rapier off the ground and charged at me and Clarke. I was about to step in front of Clarke, but he looked up from healing Arciel and raised his staff.
“Reysar.”
The boy dives forward, narrowly avoiding the ball of blue.
Jesus. Christ. Does this guy do anything but dodge? The boy scrambled to his feet and continued his rush.
“Megakaszt!”
A green film appeared in front of the boy and green plant-like roots reached up and attempted to grab his legs.
It worked! He’s restrained!
The boy turns and fires off two of those ‘Pict’ spell at the roots, freeing himself. He then breaks right through the green barrier with a thrust to end up right in front of me. I love jinxing things. I swing, aiming for his hip. Let’s see him dodge this. He crouches and raises his rapier. Is he actually going to block for once? The boy tilts the rapier and lets my blade deflect right off it. He steps forward past me and thrusts backward. I feel very hard dent form in the center of my spine. Before I can turn, I hear Clarke try to launch off another spell.
“Eiar’du-! “
Man, this guy really likes interrupting magicians. I turn just in time to see the boy throw a knife straight into Clarkes shoulder. Clarke winces but keeps his cool. Fuck. How tough are people in this world?
The kid tries to finish Clarke off with a thrust, but Clarke was faster.
“Dividen!”
A small hexagon appears right in front of the kid and his thrust is stopped in its tracks. The boy takes a massive leap backwards, putting distance between himself and us.
“Shepard. Get Epsilon. We have to run; we cannot win this!”
Well. That’s a wrap. I sprint over to Epsilon and hoist her over my shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Kinda hard in this armor and with this huge sword. Just as I about to run over to Clarke, who now has Arciel in his arms…
A soundless blade impacts on my wrist. How was he so silent, to the point where even I, full of adrenaline, didn’t notice him?
Shit. I’m bleeding in wrist now too, his rapier pieced my armor! Now’s not the time to care, I need to get Epsilon outta here!
Thankfully, he didn’t give chase. Instead he’s…
…raising his offhand for magic!
Come on! I need to make it around the corner and out of his line of sight before he-!
“Pict!”
A barrage of five bolts comes slamming into the surroundings. Two hit my back, but don’t pierce. Me and Clarke, with the wounded in our hands, book it around the corner.
…
“…wow…”
I can’t stop myself from uttering under my breath as the group of humans flee. As I was sitting here, peeking out of the alley like a scared child, Alisson successfully beat four humans on his own. Not just regular humans, but Hero-summoner pairs. Granted, even I could tell that they we’re green, I mean, I put up a pretty good fight against the sword guy; but still, those summoners would’ve eaten me alive.
I trot over to Alisson, who’s picking up a bloodied throwing knife of the ground. He turned to me and deftly and lazily tossed it into the air. He caught it and sheathed it within his cloak in a single motion.
“It’s a good thing that old man pulled out my knife or I would’ve been down a weapon. The downsides of non-magical projectiles…”
He shrugged and turned with a beckoning wave of his hand. I look across the road, it seemed completely dead. It looks like that staff that Alisson disarmed taht mage gir of was retrieved by the fleeing Andestinians.
“Let’s keep on towards the infiltrator we’re supposed to check on…I sense something bad is happening to our frattello…”
Now that he mentions it, despite the victory…my stomach is a little tight… that’s a prelude to something bad. As we walked through the street, it slowly returned to normal from being deserted because of our fight. I’d imagine guards would come and help to break up a fight like that…
Soon, we neared a large warehouse on the coast of the town. Alisson stopped, and slowly turned his head toward the brownish and metal warehouse.
“We’re supposed to go a few blocks more down this road but…”
Yeah. I feel it too. Something unpleasant is in that warehouse. Unlike humans, we Nekomata actually care for our fellow members of our species. Alisson cautiously approached the door of the warehouse, but then stopped.
“Let’s not go in through the front door…”
If we went in through the front door, somebody might take that as breaking and entering. Or, worse, people might be waiting for us at the front. Alisson and I shuffle along the side alley of the ware till we get to a back door, much more hidden from view. Alisson looks at me,then draws his rapier. I draw my stilettos in turn. He breathes in deeply, then kicks the door in. The handle snaps right off and he pushes the door open while rushing inside. Instantly after the door opens, a disgusting smell fills my nose. Alisson’s rapier fell to the ground.
“Celis don’t look!”
It’s too late. In the corner of the small room lay a torn up Nekomata. It was boy with caramel hair and seemed to be Alisson’s age. The Nekomata’s intines we’re strung up along the walls and his fingers were mangled. His eyes were wide open in shock, and dried blood streamed from his still-open mouth.
I lay my hands on my mouth and collapse.
What hell!? Who w-would do this!? I think I might throw up…
Alisson advances, and closes the door behind him without a word.
…
Fuck! We didn’t make it!
The scene before Alisson was one of horror. At the entrance rested a horribly mangled Nekomata. According to the list he was given by ‘Lily’, he was supposed to be a bartender at family-owned restaurant; one that was a few blocks away. That wasn’t all. On the other side of the sub-storage room was a surprised man wearing extremely low life looking clothing. The man had his jaw dropped in shock; he was pinning little a Nekomata girl with short red hair and yellowed eyes to the side of a wall.
Alisson blurred into action. The fastest and most powerful he ever was in his life it seemed, was when his fratello needed him. Alisson tackled the man and had thrown a trio of punches down at him before Alisson had even realized it. The man tried to retaliate by throwing a punch of his own. Alisson grabbed on to his wrist and snapped it instantly. Before the man could let out a scream, Alisson grabbed on to his throat and tightened it with one hand while his other unsheathed a knife. Alisson slid the knife across the struggling and man’s neck roughly and quickly.
After catching his breath for a second, he looked over at the little girl, who was silently crying. If Alisson were to guess, the Nekomata in front of him was only a few years old, perhaps only 10 or so. Alisson walked over and laid his hands on the trembling Nekomata’s shoulders while kneeling. Her clothes, a middle-class dress, seemed to have been in the process of being ripped apart; her shoulders were exposed and her chest was almost showing. He gave the little girl a soft hug.
“You’re going to be okay. Alisson Vi Nuam will protect you now.”
He didn’t like to brag, but the top ten Nekomata fighters in Sidonia were like child idols. Everyone knew and felt safe around them, Alisson hoped he could ease the little girl’s senses by exposing who he was, and drawing from his supposed fame.
She looked up, with tears in her eyes, but seemingly a little more comfortable next to Alisson.
“B-big sis and bro are…they’re…”
Big sis!?
Alisson frantically looked around for another Nekomata, the only other thing he could spot was a pool of blood opposite to the side him and the little girl were on.
“Where’s your sister?”
The little girl looked down and mumbled.
“They-they-! …then they took her away…”
Alisson could imagine what happened. They’d ambushed or rounded up this family and killed the older brother. The older sister was defiled or tortured and then taken away while one person was left to guard the little one.
The thought of human scum laying a single hand on my frattello is disgusting!
Alisson hoped they could find that missing older sister. She’d be saved by having her defilers killed, and having her life, ended.
Capturing was highly sought after for humans, for the right collector would pay exorbant prices...
Alisson took some relief in the fact that this little one would have been defiled if it he hadn’t gotten here in time. Alisson unclipped his cloak and wrapped it around the girl. Alisson lifted the little girl up in his arms and started off towards the door. He would like to bring the older brother’s body with him too, but in its state…he’d have to ask Lily to send some Sidonian’s to recover his corpse so that it could be buried in Sidonia.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Celis stood against the warehouse wall outside, wearing a gloomy expression with her arms crossed. Her face shot up as she saw the little girl. Alisson dropped her down next to Celis. Side by side, Alisson could see that his apprentice was much more developed physically than the little girl, however Celis was only a few inches taller.
“Can you walk?”
Celis asked.
“Y-yes...”
“What’s your name?”
“Tohru Oyil Grafton.”
Alisson stood in momentary shock. Celis had just spoken to this little girl as much as she did to Alisson in a whole day.
Is there something wrong with me?
Self-doubt shot through Alisson’s mind. Although, given the unusual situation, Alisson promptly pushed it out of his mind.
...
“So that’s how it is then…”
Lily, sitting at the table, rubbed her chin while thinking. In the first floor of the inn me Alisson were staying in; the innkeeper, Lily, Tohru, me, and Alisson were sitting around one of the tables discussing the events of the day. Tohru silently sipped on a cup of hot chocolate. I want some. But I don’t wanna look childish and needy in front of Alisson.
It was dark outside, and only a few candles were lit in the sitting room of the inn.
“Yes, it looks like someone had an eye out for your infiltrators, I highly doubt those thugs ambushed them specifically and were able to do so without incentive.”
Lily furrowed her brow.
“Then I think we can assume some inquisitors or high-ranking officials were behind it. I’m also curious where Deila Grafton ended up, but we don’t have the leisure to mobilize to find out. Right now, I’m going to have my people to stay low; we can’t take risks while Andestine is serious about sniffing us out.”
Alisson nodded. Lily leaned in.
“Please, kill the bastards who’re hunting us down before anything like this happens again, right now, you and your apprentice are the only combat capable Sidonians in the city.”
Alisson nodded sternly.
“We’ll try our best.”
Lily stood while pulling on an ivy cap, she then wrapped a grey scarf around her neck with a little throw.
“Well, if there’s nothing else, then I should be on my way, shop opens early tomorrow…”
She yawned as she walked through the inn door with a little wave.
“So does that girl really have no one else?”
The inn keeper, a man in his mid-20s, asked while eyeing the silently sipping Tohru. Alisson nodded with his eyes closed.
“I’m afraid so, I hope you don’t mind housing her here until we leave the city?”
“That won’t be a problem, I’m happy to have the company. But really, doing all this for a child you’ve never even seen before? You Nekomata are pretty amazing.”
Alisson smiled a little pridefully.
“We’d do the same for a Sidonian human such as yourself, please don’t think we see ourselves over you, we’re in this together for Sidonia.”
It’s really annoying having a country and person named the same thing; I can’t imagine how the residents of the Capital felt when the city was named Sidonia too, that must’ve been horrible. That reminds me of a family that had a dozen fraternal twins, they were all named really similar names…I didn’t like playing with them, it fried my mind.
“Well,” Alisson stood, adjusting his collar, “We’d better head to bed for the night, we’re up early tomorrow for patrol.”
He flicked his head at me. Jeez, you’re not my mother. I stood out of the chair. Tohru leapt off the to-high-a-chair for her and followed me and Alisson upstairs.
“You…don’t wanna sleep alone?”
Alisson asked quizzically when we entered our room, still followed by the doting Tohru. She shook her head up and down. Is she really so young that she can’t sleep alone…? Ah well, it’s a good excuse for a snuggle toy. I grab onto Tohru’s shoulders, which are only a little bellow mine even though she’s thirty years younger.
“Wanna sleep in my bed with me?”
She shook her head with a pleasantly surprised grin, her eyes lighting up. Nice.
…why is Alisson staring at me so suspiciously?
…
It’s pretty chilly out this morning. The wind was still, the streets we’re sparsely crowded; and the sky is a steely and dark blue, it’s pretty early alright. Thankfully, I have something called a cloak, and super-hot armor that’s a pain to wear during hot day’s because of all the layers. I mean, I’ve got gambeson, some chainmail, and some steel plates, I’m gonna turn into a frying pan when it warms up later. Ah…whatever happens is okay, because I had a good night’s rest!
Trailing behind Alisson, we made some rounds on the 14 odd infiltrators in the city. We so far have accounted those siblings of Tohru, Tohru herself, Lily, and 3 others we’ve checked on this morning and yesterday. We’re now heading over to another infiltrator posing as government official, and probably the most important one next to the director of the network, Lily. I’m curious what her real name is, what family has such pretty green eyes and hair color I wonder? She also has some eyepatch for some reason.
As I was thinking about random things on our morning patrol, Alisson stopped dead in his tracks. It’s a good thing I was looking up or I would’ve bumped into him. He slowly drew his rapier.
“Somethings not right.”
He pointed down the alley adjacent to us. It was really dark, Alisson looked at me, and flicked his head. Phew, I thought he was gonna make me stay outside the alley like a dog or something. I draw my stilettos and follow his cautious creep into the black of the alley. I mentally steel myself just in case this is something like yesterday; I don’t wanna throw up in front of Alisson.
As we paced down the pitch-black alley, Alisson stopped, and placed his ear on the wall. Wait, that’s not the wall, it’s a horribly rusted door, I can’t see much in this light. Alisson gently tapped on the door with his gauntleted hand. The door slowly moved inwards in response with a low and annoying creak. It’s not locked or closed, someone was here. How in the hell did Alisson know this was here? I’m really curious; what’s up with high level fighters just ‘sensing things’? Maybe I’ll-
Alisson fell to his knee’s in front of me, slamming the ground with a closed fist.
I hurriedly trot up behind him.
“Are you oka-!?”
I see what’s inside the pitch black and small room. Blood, and a horrible smell. I could just barely make out five destroyed and cut up corpses. I didn’t know any of them, but it was evident they were Nekomata from their looks.
We sat in silence, as if offering a vigil of mourning to our comrades. Suddenly interrupting the silence, was what sounded like a gurgle. Alisson’s head shot up. One of the Nekomata were alive.
“P-ple…se…in…qusi…to…rs…”
One of the Nekomata, a young man with his eyes gouged and his legs crushed like tinfoil, shakily rose his hand. Yeah, if I used my second-tier healing magic, it’d be like trying to fix a broken bone with a band aid. Alisson stood. He rose his rapier with both of his hands. He stabbed down. The pleading hand fell instantly. I recoil in a mild shock. I understand that there was no way to save them and that Alisson was just ending his pain but…
I didn’t know Alisson could do that so easily.
“We know who did this: Inquisitors. We’ll hunt them down, and make them pay.”
Alisson said, his back turned to me, while clenching his free hand.
…
That’s another five of our fratello dead…including the government official poser.
Walking down the street, silently patrolling, Alisson was silent in thought.
That makes 12 accounted Nekomata, two were still needing to be checked on; but by this rate, they’d need to evacuate the city of Sidonian presence. The humans had simply worked too fast, already half of all the Nekomata in the city were dead. If he knew where and who these Inquisitors were, then he’d have killed them already. The most practical guess would be to assume that they’d be operating and residing in the citadel of the city, the Governmental Bureau. The Bureau was a staple in large towns like this; for large nations to exert control they needed to have pseudo-fortresses within many of their cities. Even if him and Celis penetrated the Bureau, it wasn’t a guarantee that the Inquisitors would be there. The Inquisitors were most certainly from Andestine, as shown by their actual effectiveness. Other inquisitor groups made by the Caliphate or Principality were ineffective knockoffs that didn’t accomplish much from Alisson’s experience. So, since this group was from Andestine, and Andestine was basically sticking it’s nose into another country’s city, Alisson doubted if any unity or communication was occurring between the government of Foksly and the Inquisitors from Andestine. They could be operating without the bureau’s permission or notice for that matter.
If only they had more information; Lily’s intelligence had drawn a blank to any truthfulness.
There was also the issue of those Heroes, only Andestine mobilizes Heroes. So what were they doing by sending combat specialists to Foksly when the Inquisitors already had it under control with their behind the scenes specialties? Alisson could only take it as a counter to any combat capable enemies attempting to defend the infiltrators: himself and Celis.
“Um. Master.”
Wrapped up in his thoughts, Alisson wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings by any means. He turned to his apprentice.
“Hmm?”
She pointed to the alley adjacent to them. There was a circle of four men, similar to the thug that was trying to defile Tohru yesterday.
What’s up with humans and alleys…well, I’m not going to let those men go, they look like the ones responsible for what happened to Tohru’s brother and sister. Finally, revenge.
Alisson strode towards the group, who were faced away from him and seemed to have their attention on something deeper within the alley. Alisson laid a hand on his rapier’s hilt.
“Ah! Can’t we just talk this out guys? I thought Grand-dad already payed you all!”
A seemingly clueless and airheaded female voice reached Alisson’s ears. He lifted his hand off his rapier.
I can’t very well kill them if there’s a witness. I don’t wanna take any risks.
“You’ve got a misunderstanding Sophi, Davy’s paid, but we haven’t bee-?”
Finally noticing the striding Alisson, what seemed to be the leader turned with a vulgar expression with his hands on his hips.
“Who the hell do yo-!?”
A cobra-quick fist slammed into the man’s jaw. He fell to his knee, the other belligerents readying punches of their own.
“Ahrgh! Shit! You’re gon-!?”
The leader, clutching his face whilst on the ground, was interrupted by round-house kick to the shoulder. He fell over to the ground. Alisson deftly bobbed under one of the subordinate’s punches and pushed him into another belligerent. With three already momentarily stunned, Alisson focused his attention on taking the last one out while he had the luxury of a 1 to 1. Before the last one could move, his shin was slammed into by Alisson’s boot and he fell to his knees. Alisson spun around into a round house kick on the man, knocking him headfirst into a wall. Regaining their stance, the two he’d stunned with his little throw charged at him, small blades in hand. Alisson sidestepped behind the men, tripping one in the process. He grabbed on to the other man’s collar from behind him and threw him into the dirt. Alisson raised his foot, and quickly stomped down at the backs of the two men he’d downed.
Confident that he’d successfully, taken care of the leader’s subordinates, Alisson glanced at the first man, who was wiping away blood that’d fallen from his nose. The leader shot a glance at Alisson, then at the one standing next to him, Celis. Alisson didn’t know what he hoped to accomplish, but the leader ran at Celis with his fist in the air.
Alisson’s chest momentarily flared at the sight of his apprentice about to be in harm. But even if he wanted to, it was too late to intervene.
Celis instantly shifted into a low stance with her fists by her face; she launched 3 lighting quick jabs at the leader and then sidestepped, slamming a hammer fist straight into his gut as she did so. The man collapsed past Celis. Alisson’s brow piqued in pleasant surprise.
She actually sidestepped, just as I taught her to.
With the wind thoroughly knocked out of him, the leader shakily stood, stared at Alisson and Celis for a second and then ran. His companions followed suite, all slowly stumbling and limping out of the alley.
Well, that’s enough of a detour.
Alisson turned, adjusting his collar. As he started to walk out the alley however…
“W-wait! T-thank you!?”
The girl that was being harassed by the men seemed to be a little confused why Celis and Alisson just started walking away after they’d saved her.
Sorry miss, but I couldn’t care less about helping you.
Alisson lifted his hand in a wave without looking back. Alisson then heard rushed footsteps behind him. Alisson could guess what the human girl was going to do; Lady Salchyon did it all the time, scaring the crap out of him by grabbing on to him from behind. So, not wanting to let the human lay her hands on him, Alisson turned with a sigh before she was able to get any closer. The human girl in question looked like nothing special; long and wide black hair, droopy green eyes.
“My name is Sophia Blacksen, what’s yours?”
I hate conversing with humans if I don’t have to, but it’ll be suspicious if I don’t answer.
“I am Alaveir Euwald, and this is my sister, Ferris. We are exiled nobles from Halaruth, now we really must be on our way…”
Alisson said without hesitation. The cover story him and Celis had agreed upon sounded quite convincing in his opinion. Of course, the only iffy part of the story was that Halaruth was the northernmost human kingdom, it’d take years for normal humans to make it all the way up there. The good thing about that was, that since it was so far away, people down in the southern part of Aleeze wouldn’t have the wherewithal or knowledge to challenge their claim.
“Well, the least I can do for you helping me is invite you over to my Pa’s shop.”
Sophia blurt out, as if forced.
That isn’t ‘The least’ by any means.
Alisson was about to open his mouth to deny her request, but she was faster.
“If you want to know anything about those bad-guys then my Pa will surely tell you too, he employed them.”
A realization dawned on Alisson, he could find out more about those thugs, and thus possibly the Inquisitors who’d slaughtered his fratello.
“Sure, we’ll stop by, where is it?”
Celis looked up to Alisson in a slight shock, but coolly reassumed her stony face.
“It’s Blacksen’s Butchery of course!”
That rung a bell. Now that Alisson thought about it, the man who called out to him and Celis about being a ‘couple’ was advertising meats and was standing outside a building named ‘Blacksen’s Butchery’.
“Hmm. Yes, I know where that is. I’ll stop by after I make some rounds.”
Sophia shook her head up and down enthusiastically.
…
After we returned to the inn, checked up on Tohru and the inn keeper, we walked over to this ‘butchery’. The inn keeper said he was running low on some meats as well so it’s more of an evening errand really. I was surprised why Alisson accepted some random girl’s offer like that, but he told me we may have a chance at tracking down the Inquisitors if asked the girls ‘Pa’; since he’s apparently in pseudo-cahoots with them.
After Alisson had knocked on the door, what appeared when it opened, sent a shock down Alisson’s spine. It was the man who called out to them a couple days ago yes; but up close, he was far different. His tall and giant figure took up the whole doorway, and he stood far above Alisson in height. His arms were also humongous, it seemed like his biceps were a foot in diameter. The sight of this giant, made Alisson’s stomach clench. Alisson even heard a faint gasp from Celis.
“Hmph.”
The giant’s stony face turned into an oddly friendly and gentle smile.
“Please come in, come in.”
His voice was deep, and for his age, strong. He beckoned them in through the door. Alisson faked a smile and tall posture as best he could, and to his credit he did so perfectly, even under the invisible pressure of this giant.
“I’m Davy Blacksen, I’m the best damn preparer of meat your gonna find this side of Aleeze; Please, sit down, sit down, let me reimburse you for roughing up those idiots.”
Alisson put up his hand in a little wave, as if to whisk away Davy’ words.
“Well, I really just wanted to pick up some commodities and ask a few questions…”
The giant gave him a dark stare.
“…That’s dam rude of you, don’t deny something somebody’s offering you’ son..”
Davy’s voice was low, and filled with malice. Alisson flinched; for a brief moment his façade broke, and he was in pure terror and shock. He quickly stumbled out words to amend his mistake.
“Er-Yes, w-we'll stay for a meal. That’s very gracious of you…”
The man turned away wordlessly while motioning to sit. Alisson and Celis, reluctantly did so. As Davy started preparing dinner, Alisson steeled himself to attempt to wrangle out some info.
“So, your daughter said you employed those guys?”
“Yeah, but it’s more like I was paying ‘em to stay the hell off my street and to not mess with my daughter, but the idiots still did it anyway.”
Davy replied while not looking away from dicing food. Davy seemed quite adept at cooking, even though he was a man. Though, now that Alisson thought about it, he hadn’t seen a housewife.
“Do you anything about those guy’s past employers?”
“Oh yeah, shady bunch, they came into town a week ago and started flooding the boards with bounties and hits on random people.”
Then that confirms it, Inquisitors are responsible for the deaths of Tohru’s siblings and those five Nekomata they’d seen earlier today.
“Do you know anything else about them?”
After a brief moment of silence, Davy replied.
“Hell if I know. All we common people know is that there’s a new group in town and that they’ve got it in for some poor souls. I’m sure you nobles know a lot more than me, right?”
Sophia must’ve told him about us.
“Not at all, we’re from Halaruth, so even if weren’t excommunicated, our noble status would mean nothing here.”
After another moment of silence passed, Davy replied.
“That’s pretty humble of you…reminds me of some people I know…”
Davy seemed to doze of in thought.
“Oh, so you really did come huh?”
Turning into the kitchen was Sophia, smiling proudly.
Alisson just nodded his head. Once dinner was prepared, Alisson, Celis, Sophia and Davy sat around a small table. It was perhaps the most uncomfortable and awkward time he had eating in his life. Which was a shame, because the food was incredible for a human town. Though that was probably a given seen as they were in the house of a butcher, one who always a supply of fresh food. After Alisson had finished, he handed Davy a small note the inn keeper had written about what the inn needed to be re-stocked.
After paying Davy for meats and food the inn keeper requested, they hastily left, but behind them, in the door way, Alisson heard a chilling voice.
“Do come back…my little things…”
Davy’s voice, chilled Alisson to his core.
…
“Do you know how many sub-humans we have cleansed from this city?”
Arciel pouted at the man’s words.
“Seven confirmed. We’re just about to launch another raid on the remaining few as well; So, what have you been doing in this city?”
A guy, in his late forty’s, sat in a luxurious red velvet chair. He’s wearing fucking Spanish Inquisition robes. They’re grey, and look a lot tighter and more wound, but he looks like down to earth Inquisitor to me; He even has a massively wide and thin hat. Surprisingly, he doesn’t look as stupid as I thought an inquisitor would look, he’s actually pretty imposing with the dull grey and dull silver coloring. His voice is pretty imposing to, it’s really sharp in volume yet pretty crackly. The two people standing by his side are wearing the same thing, only fully red and their faces were covered by thin red scarves.
We’re in the city’s governmental bureau, it’s just were the mayor lives and where government officials do their business. For being just a ‘bureau’, it’s built like a fucking fortress. A small outer stone wall then a garden, then the main structure, a wide and domed building. All of this was complete with guards in steel plate, of course. We’d been staying here for the past couple days. It’s surprising how the Hero’s Chapel is more luxurious than this place; I don’t know if that’s a testament to Andestine or one to Foksly.
“Well, we got our asses kicked.”
I say jokingly, but I’m not lying. One guy. One fucking guy crushed us.
The head inquisitor, ‘St. Yulick’, gives me a curious stare, but ignores me. Yeah, I'm starting to see that heroes are treated like objects here.
“Yes, I heard about that, I’d like to ask who it was who beat you, before I forget.”
Arciel, sitting down in a chair with Clarke, snapped up from her pout. Me and Epsilon weren’t offered seats. Poor us.
“It was…a boy?”
Her head sunk in thought for a second, she then shook it.
“Y-yeah, a boy with yellow hair and yellow eyes; he used a rapier and magic; and he had an orange hairclip on his hair.”
St. Yulick sighed.
“So then my info was true… The one who beat you was Alisson Vi Nuam, a high ranking noble and commander in Sidonia. We’ve been meaning to assassinate him for some time including that elite unit of his.”
So, a great noble, fighting behind the lines, protecting spies. What.
Arciel furrowed her brow.
“Yes, I think I’ve heard of him before.”
“Speaking of his unit, was there anyone else with him?”
“There was one, but she was just a little girl, your subordinates would be overkill for her.”
“Ah. That must be an apprentice, if you get the chance, kill her. She’ll be as much of a threat as Alisson is if he’s the one training her; Demons create demons after all.”
Great. We’re gonna slaughter a little girl. I’ve been pushing my morals out of my head since I got here to keep myself alive but…Gah, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
“Well about getting rid of them, I actually wanted to meet you here about that…”
St. Yulick’s brow piqued.
***