Rose Ashfort
I clearly made a mistake. I realize that now. It took me some time for my head to cool down before I realized how overzealous I had been.
I had seen the girl riding that powerful wooden horse covered in spikes, but when she mentioned how her parents had tried to murder her it sounded like a cry for help. After that everything else seemed to vanish.
I let my emotions get the better of me and rushed over to hug her because she was so young and in pain.
Now we are all walking out of the forest together with us three at the front and her trailing far behind. That was one of her conditions, we were not allowed within 5 feet of her. Though that is obviously directed at me more than the other two.
I am usually the one keeping everything together in the party, so it is quite embarrassing that I am the main culprit this time.
I just couldn’t help myself. I had my own issues with terrible parents when they discovered my relationship, and ended up having to flee from them for both of our safety. As a result I ended up scaring the poor kid, I mean, young woman.
That was her second condition, to be treated like the Class 2 that she is, and not as a child.
She looked ready to kill Helimos when he said there was no need for her to act tough. I ended up smacking him on the back of the head rather hard for nearly scaring away the girl just when things were finally getting somewhere.
After several hours of walking in awkward silence, we finally decided to set up camp for the night.
We made a small clearing, placing down a simple magic tool to replace a fire, and our sleeping bags around us. I wanted to try giving my pack to the girl for her to use but I thought better of trying to interact with her again.
“So, what is your name? I don’t think we have all properly introduced ourselves. I am Helimos by the way.”
Helimos can’t take the quiet anymore and finally breaks the uncomfortable silence that had been going on since we sat down around the heater.
“Lua.”
That is all the response we get as Lua narrows her eyes from her place on the opposite side of the heater from all of us. It will clearly take some time for her to warm up to us.
“A-As you know I am Rose Ashfort and the girl to my left is Jeniveve. It is nice to meet you Lua.”
I really don’t know how to act around her now. When I look into her light blue eyes they just seem kind of empty, artificial even.
Jen raises her hand in a slight wave. “Call me Jen. Sorry about these idiots.”
“Hey!” Both Helmios and I shout at once.
That quip manages to get a small smile from the girl.
I am not sure how I feel about my wife calling me an idiot being the first thing that gets the girl to smile at us…
I am glad that she is finally smiling a bit though. Her cold cautious gaze, like she was always preparing to fight back, was sad to see from someone her age.
“So Lua, I have been wondering. There is a strange presence on your shoulder that I can’t quite make out, what is that?”
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And just when it seemed like Lua was about to open up a bit, Helimos had to open his big mouth. His statement immediately getting a reaction out of the girl. Her horse goes into battle mode as she raises her spear and points it as us with her face morphed into a scowl.
“woah, woah, woah! I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I was just curious!”
I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickle, like I am suddenly being sharply watched by dozens of eyes. The trees rustle as if preparing to attack us themselves.
I start to reach for one of my knives out of instinct when the space around Lua’s shoulder distorts and reveals a small green girl with glowing wings of light and a matching scowl on her face.
“A Fairy?!”
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Lua Knight
All three of them shout at the same time, further raising my alert. Alice and I had been talking through my little message system the whole time and decided it best to reveal her now that she has been found out.
However, I have all of my golems and their spears stationed around us prepared to strike the second I see a reaction I don’t like.
I don’t know how the rest of the world will react to Alice so this will work as a good test run before I make it to the city. I know these people won’t attack me which I am going to use to my full advantage.
“I have been watching you all for a while, and I must say I am amazed that people as terrible at reading the room as you are have managed to survive to Class 3.”
Alice opening with a rather blunt observation, immediately cowes the three adventurers into sitting down with their heads hung.
I get a feeling like that hit a serious sore spot for them. I don’t want to be too mean, but these people just can’t seem to understand the meaning of personal space. I am glad Alice said it before I said something far less kind.
Now that they are no longer trying to “break down my walls” or whatever garbage I am sure was in their heads, I take the chance to fish for info.
“How much do you know about Fairies?”
Technically, Alice is not really a fairy. Her body is still just a bunch of wood merged together, but the rest of the world will clearly assume she is one. I had not read much about fairies in my studies so I need to make sure I know what precautions to take depending on the public perception of fairies.
Helimos decides to take the lead in answering my question. I can see a bit of reverence in his gaze towards Alice which I don’t take as the best sign.
“I know that they are a rare type of fae that don’t interact with humans much. I have met a few before but they were already bonded to someone else.”
I tilt my head at the mention of fairies bonding with others, confused as to what that means and why he seems so disappointed.
Seeing my head tilt Rose speaks up, answering my unspoken question.
“Fairies only bond to those who are pure of heart, such people often go on to do great things. This has caused many people to revere fairies and those who they bond with.”
That comment elicits a rather rude snort from the fake fairy on my shoulder.
[ You, pure of heart. Now that is the joke of the century. ]
I do my very best to maintain my poker face and not grumpily cross my arms at the message that appears in my vision.
“I want to know how people will react to seeing her. Will she be safe if I bring her into the city?”
“No one would ever dare to harm a fairy!” Helimos shouts only to get smacked on the head again by Rose.
“That is not true at all. Plenty of people could try to kidnap her depending on where you are and who you meet. The Dragon Empire however should be quite safe for her. The laws there are strict and I have seen many fae moving around safely.”
That has me almost sighing in relief only to stiffen a bit when Jen finally chimes in.
“I would still recommend keeping her hidden, one greedy merchant or noble passing you by and they might think they can take advantage of you because of your age.”
I narrow my eyes for a moment at the thought. One side effect of ascending so young is that now I will take quite a while to age any further. I look about 15 now but if I ascend again any time soon I will likely end up stuck as an eternal 15 year old. That would make life a lot more difficult.
I sigh as I finally put down my spear, taking my seat once again.
“Sorry… about all this. I just really can’t trust anyone right now. Especially not three people who are a Class above me that I just met.”
I see them relax a bit at that.
“It is fine, I can understand your apprehension to trust us. I am really sorry for how I acted when we first met. I shouldn’t have tried to hug you.”
“It's fine, just please don’t ever do that again.”
I can see a rather sad look on her face when I ask her to never do it again, but she eventually smiles a bit and nods.
“How long would you say it will take until we reach the empire?”
I can’t help but ask, still not really wanting to spend more time with these people than I have to.
Helimos and Rose both look towards Jen indicating that they both clearly are not good with directions.
“It should take us about two weeks if we travel at the same speed that we did today.”
Humming to myself I contemplate the distance that must mean we are from the first ring. I can’t see the cliff face from here but I assume we must be getting close. I wonder how these people managed to get down it and how we are supposed to get back up considering it is nearly 50 stories high.
They must have a way to do so without climbing equipment, as I don’t see any on them. Actually that makes me curious about something else now.
“Say, why were you in the second ring in the first place?”
I can also see Alice raise an eyebrow showing that she is curious as well.
“Oh, that.” Helimos says now puffing his chest up with pride. “We were out here searching for any signs of that Demon Lord on request of the Guild.”
…
..
.
Shit.