She saw that there were only 10 or so left. The man that appeared to be their leader was fighting Adrest on his own, desperately blocking stabs from every angle, while the last of the mages were healing the few remaining knights and slinging spells at the demon.
Happy to see Adrest fine, Alissa left the barrier to the astonishment of the mages who hadn’t seen her enter.
They quickly aimed their magic circles towards her, who simply flicked her finger at them with cold, imperious eyes. All in front of her were reduced to ash. This mighty display distracted the captain who then lost his life to one of Adrest’s talons slipping into his neck through a gap, making blood shoot out from the armor and his body slumping forward.
Seeing another figure, his instincts wanted to attack the challenger, but he paused and struggled to not injure the woman in front of him. Alissa ignored the man fighting himself to avoid hurting her and hugged him. Alissa whispered into his ear.
“It’s okay now. Belle is safe and the people who hurt her are gone. It’s time to sleep.”
The rampaging Adrest fought for a second more under her iron grip, but soon his heartbeat slowed and quieted, his appearance returned to normal, the chitin and horns sinking back inside his body, soon all that was left in Alissa’s arms was a passed out, bloodied Adrest.
Alissa’s lips formed a gentle smile as she let the unconscious man fall into her and she gently set him down on his back, giving him a pillow from nowhere too. Sitting up and looking at the scene around her Alissa’s smile disappeared entirely, replaced by an icy placid mask. She waved her hand, and the gore surrounding her turned to ash. The only evidence she left was the chest plate of the leader, a black bat in the center of a red circle.
Sending the sigil to her spacial bag, she carved a complex rune in the air, and the barrier of wind instantly died down and revealed a weary and confused Belle who was sitting up and looking around wildly.
When she locked eyes with Alissa, Belle sprung up and sprinted into her as fast as her legs would carry her. The two embraced, with Belle crying into her sister’s dress.
Alissa tightly hugged the girls back, while stroking her head softly saying “Its okay, Big sister is here. You’re safe now.”
They stayed like that until the crying sounds came to an end, and a bloodshot and slightly puffy eyed Belle looked up to Alissa, “Thank you big sis Ali.”
Alissa smiled at the cute girl and patted her head replying “I’ll always be there to save you Belle. And don’t forget to thank big bro Ady whenever he wakes up, he worked hard.” She pointed to the blood soaked Adrest peacefully sleeping behind her.
Seeing the dreadful looking Adrest, Belle paled and was about to rush over to check on him but was grabbed by Alissa who told her, “Don’t worry, he’s just sleeping. Ady did something stupid and tired himself out in the process, I’ll tell you all about it later. But first, how about I keep you company and we head back to the cabin, you’re starting to feel jittery right?”
Alissa asked the question with a grin, she had seen the young girl’s hands start to twitch and she was bouncing around on her heels. The elixir Alissa had taken out earlier was made with a variety of high-level ingredients, it was something that could heal even A rank dragons like herself after all. It was only natural for a barely D rank rabbit girl to have an excess of energy after drinking it.
“Because of the medicine I gave you, you’ll be full of energy for a day or so. I’ll be carrying Adrest back, he won’t wake up for anything anytime soon, so we can take our time. I’ll make sure nothing comes near us, run around as much as you like and burn off some of that energy.”
Belle smiled and began sprinting to the nearest tree and used its trunk as a base to springboard from one to another. Alissa smiled at the obedient rabbit and effortlessly lifted Adrest onto her back and began the hour or so walk home.
It was peaceful as Alissa had said it would be, and Belle ran circles around the older two the entire time, trying to no avail to burn off energy. They arrived back to the house and Alissa had Belle wait outside as she tucked Adrest in and left him a note with instructions for when he woke up.
She stepped back outside and sat down at a bench that had popped up a few days prior. Patting the seat next to her, Belle obediently sat as directed.
“What happened Belle?”
Upon hearing the gentle question, Belle took time to organize her thoughts. And started from the beginning.
“The first day was fun. I had to fight a few things, but nothing that scared me. I got up super early the next day, and took my time going back like you taught me and set up a small fire at the base of a hill to stay the second night. It was quiet almost all night, but just before the sun came up and i was getting ready to leave, I heard them coming from the other side of the hill.”
She took a nervous breath remembering the experience, and Alissa took the delicate hand in hers to reassure the young girl. Belle relaxed somewhat with the gesture and continued her tale.
“When they saw me running, they shouted at me to stop but they looked scary so I ran as fast as I could. But they didn’t stop chasing me, some of them were fast, so they would catch up and attack me trying to slow me down while the others caught up. I was scared and they kept hurting me. I ran for hours and they wouldn't stop trying to get me, so I had to, I ki-killed some of them. Then the big really strong guy got really mad and said that it didn’t matter how much I worth, the buyer would have to settle for a body. I was so scared, then everything went black, and you saved me.”
Alissa knew that Belle was only just processing the fact that she had killed a person for the first time. The poor girl looked pale, her skin, normally a glowing porcelain was now a waxy white, like a corpse. She had a lot of guilt and helplessness in her red eyes trying to hide behind a smile.
Pulling the girl to her side and stroking her shoulder comfortingly Alissa said, “Its normal. Just let it out, there was nothing you could do. They came for you, and you fought back. It hurts to admit, but I can’t promise you’ll never need to do that again. But I can promise that you can always come to me for help afterward.”
Belle grasped the older sister who had easily broken through the façade, her face crumpled into the pure white dress in front of her, and began silently weeping. Slowly working through her sorrow, guilt, and fear.
Later, after Belle had calmed down, the two played physical games like catch and kicked around a sturdy leather ball Adrest had sewn together. Four hours of this, and Belle was finally able to settle down in the same spot for more than a few minutes.
As luck would have it, Adrest came out of the house shortly after they had finished and Belle realized how hungry she had gotten,now that the effects of the potion were mostly gone. Adrest was dressed in his everyday white linen shirt, and tan pants. If Belle had not seen his state just several hours ago, she would have never known he was injured.
“Welcome back Belle!” Adrest came over and scooped up a blushing Belle in a hug before spinning her in circles with her feet well over a foot off the ground. After a few rotations he set the red and slightly dizzy bunny girl on her feet.
“You really made me worry Belle, are you okay? Was Alissa mean to you?” The latter question earned himself a fierce swing from Alissa, which he just barely managed to dodge. The exchange made Belle giggle, feeling like she was truly back home.
Once Alissa stopped her assault, Adrest said to Belle, “Now, we got a little sidetracked and it wasn’t exactly what we planned, but why don’t we have dinner?”
Belle’s stomach answered for her, as she had not eaten since that morning, and it was well into night now. Her face turned nearly as red as her irises, and she refused to look away from the ground as Adrest laughed and Alissa giggled.
They got either side of the blushing rabbit and grabbed a hand, before leading her to the stone house. While she didn’t feel ready to look up, neither adult missed the smile on Belle’s face.
Coming to the door, Adrest had Alissa go in first as he covered Belle’s eyes. She went in and set up both the table of desserts Adrest had bought and set another with the armor and weapons she bought, covering it with a white cloth. After making sure everything looked perfect, she let the two waiting at the door inside and Adrest let Belle open her eyes.
She looked around in curiosity and wonder while Adrest explained “We wanted to do something special, so we went to town and got some desserts we thought you’d like and Alissa picked out the other gift.”
He gestured to the dragon waiting by the white cloth covered table, and with a flourish, she pulled the cloth off without disturbing the items below. Belle gasped as she saw the pitch-black armor, adorned with some fine silver lotuses sewn in with the same silver thread used to stitch the leather together. The decoration was not eye-catching, but enough to make the armor look fashionable. With it, was matching black leather bracers and flexible looking gloves, a matching set of pants with built in armoring at the thighs and calves. Also, there was a pair of brown leather boots and an assortment of sheathed weapons.
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Belle was stunned and Alissa smiled brightly saying “Surprise! Although it feels a little late now, we got a new set of armor, and a set of swords perfect for you.”
Belle had walked up to the table and seeing the flawless beast leather and stitching, she couldn’t imagine how much it had cost, and nearly started crying, but Alissa interrupted her by grabbing her cheeks and insisting that she would spoil her little sister.
With that, Belle gave a radiant smile, “Thank you Big sis Ali!” and gave Alissa another hug.
Smiling, Alissa continued “That’s more like it. I’ll help you try it on tomorrow and make sure it fits right. But for now let’s eat!”
Adrest nodded, adding “I was a little short on time, so it isn't exactly as planned, but close. I made some chicken soup and bread.” As he spoke, he also skillfully balanced a large pot on one hand. In the pot was a golden liquid filled with an assortment of vegetables and herbs swirling around large juicy chunks of chicken. On his other hand, was a platter of light brown bread sliced generously, each with a shell of crispy crust.
Before he could even set the food down, Belle was at her spot and looking on with anticipation clear in her eyes. Adrest decided to generously ignore the hint of drool at the corner of her lips and spooned out a portion for her quickly. While she dug into the hearty soup, Adrest generously butted two slices of bread and set the plate to the left of Belle’s soup.
Now that Belle was happily devouring her meal, Adrest and Alissa ate as well, with Adrest eating with nearly as much gusto as Belle. After all, his transformation and healing earlier had taken a lot out of him and he was feeling famished. Alissa as well, though in a polite and perfect style, still ate hers nearly as fast as the other two.
Before long the soup was completely gone, and the only evidence of the fresh bread was a few crumbs on the plate that had carried it. Everyone let out a collective sigh of satisfaction at the end, and after sitting and enjoying the warm and happy atmosphere, Alissa stood up abruptly and made her way over to the dessert table.
She carefully loaded up a plate with a little bit of everything, from the buttermilk frosted cake, pies with different berries and spices, several kinds of cookies, and a few varieties of pastry. She walked the mountain of sweets over to the wide-eyed girl.
“We know you like sweets, but neither of us knew your favorite so we got you a little bit of everything to try.” Alissa explained as she set the plate down before grabbing a slice of the cake for herself. Adrest also grabbed a cookie for himself before sitting down.
Belle looked a little overwhelmed by the choices, Adrest saw and said, “Try the small white round one.” And pointed at a circular pastry at the edge of the plate.
He was told that they were the café’s specialty, and they were miniature cakes with a sweet and slightly tart berry filling and covered in sugar.
Hearing the suggestion, Belle picked up the pastry and split it in half with a bite, surprise on her expression as the filling burst out, some getting on her face. The older two laughed loudly at the scene, and even though Belle’s face flushed scarlet, it didn’t stop her eyes from lighting up as she ate the unknown dessert. She happily ate the other half after fiercely wiping her lips and cheeks with a cloth.
Belle was in her own world as she sampled each delicious morsel. The pair watched on basking in the happy glow and waited until Belle was completely full before asking,
“So, what do you like best?”
Belle sat seriously thinking before answering, “I like the crème filled one a lot, and the one filled with fruit was really yummy too.”
Adrest smiled at his little sister “I’m happy we were able to find your favorite for next time.”
He paused and rubbed the back of his head with a smile, “We set up everything to play every game we had all night together too, but you must be exhausted right Belle?”
Before Belle could answer herself, Alissa started laughing.
Eventually she explained, “She’ll be lucky if she starts getting tired tomorrow afternoon. I only had healing potions that work on me. They can basically revive the dead, let alone heal a D-rank. It’ll be in her system for a while and she'll be full of energy the whole time.”
Belle nodded to emphasize that she was still wide awake, and her body that was leaning forward with excitement showed how eager she was. “I don’t feel like I’ll go crazy sitting still anymore, but I’m not getting tired at all either. Can we please play Big bro Ady?”
Adrest instantly melted under the puppy, or rather, rabbit eyes she was expertly giving, and rushed off to the table with the cards. With Alissa in her seat shortly after, and Belle bringing up the rear. Soon the cards were shuffled and sounds of cheer and defeat rang out through the empty forest surrounding them.
It was as Alissa said, they played and snacked on their buffet of treats all night and well into the next day before Belle finally began to feel the effects of the potion wear off and began to get tired. However, it seemed that she wanted the moment to last forever as she fought exhaustion off for as long as she could, with Adrest and Alissa happy to indulge her. She finally succumbed to sleep in the very early evening, right on the bench, with cards still in her hands.
Alissa smiled; happy the little girl was finally back to herself. She stood, deftly plucked the cards from Belle’s hands, and gently carried Belle to her bed for a proper rest.
As she descended back down the stairs, she found Adrest straightening up the first floor with nearly everything back in its place. She came up to the side of him as he was sweeping the floor, and put her hand on his to get his attention.
“We need to talk.”
Pausing his work, Adrest looked over to Alissa and fixed his posture as he saw the serious and viscous look in her eyes. “About the small army all the way out here?”
She nodded and explained what she had learned, including a retelling of Belle’s experience, showing him the insignia she had saved, and her thoughts on who was behind them.
“From what he said to Belle, we can assume these guys were mercenaries. They were well trained, and by human standards were a little above average. It would have cost quite a bit to hire them.”
Adrest nodded faintly remembering his fight with the man, knowing that without that transformation he would have lost. The man had to have been high C rank, maybe even at the peak of it. Alissa had explained the secret of his transformation and the history of the skill and Adrest was very disappointed to hear he couldn’t train to use that form on command.
Adrest added, “They said they were specifically here for Belle, but no one should know who we really are, let alone where we live. And who would want to steal a little girl anyway?”
Alissa answered with a question of her own “Did you know that there’s a very rare spell available to dark mages? It allows the caster to track the exact location of a blood sample's owner for just a few minutes before the blood immolates. Also, when a slave is first contracted, they must sign a contract in blood.”
Adrest processed the impromptu lesson. He turned a shade paler at the thought of such a spell and that their private world in the trees was no longer a secret.
Alissa however, calmed him saying, “It’s not as if it's omnipotent, the spell can’t tell the exact location, just direction and rough distance. And if the target is in an anti magic or spying barrier it would be ineffective. I didn’t think something like this would happen, but I’ll fix that oversight, I just need to find something with a core strong enough to handle the runes.”
She finished with a predatory grin that sent a shiver up his spine and tried to distract Alissa with a question.
“But why would the auction house track us, then try to steal Belle? As disgusting as it is to say, they could get as many demi-human slaves as they wanted with a tenth of the effort and money.”
Alissa sighed before saying “I know it doesn’t mean much to you, since everyone you know has one God’s blessing or another, but did you forget Belle is the favored child of Nina? The boons she would bring to wherever she ends up are inestimable, not to mention the sick pleasure they would take in bragging to their friends about have a chosen as a slave.”
Adrest realized that he had indeed forgotten about Belle’s blessing as it barely meant anything to him. Both he and Alissa had some type of God’s blessing, so he had no real sense for how rare it was. He also knew the type of people Alissa had meant in the last part of her explanation and felt a hot rage as he knew how realistic a view it was, and the terrible fate Belle would suffer under them.
Alissa added, “There is another group to keep in mind as well actually. Who were the ones who that brought Belle to the village in the first place?”
“Randier? But if they wanted her, why put her in the auction?”
Alissa shrugged “I don’t know, maybe they didn’t realize who Belle is, or maybe they got an extravagant order for slaves matching Belle’s description. It’s just another option.”
Adrest sighed, “So, even if we have two suspects, questioning the higher ups in the auction house might not be that hard, but tracking the Randier group members responsible for this will be difficult won’t it?”
Alissa’s eyes took on a predatory light, “Oh no, it’ll be easy. Within the next week, the one responsible will send people to investigate when there is no response from those bastards. I will just pay attention to a little more of the forest than usual.”
She spoke as if it were no big deal to monitor dozens of square miles of forest for a week straight, but to the A rank dragon, maybe it really wasn’t.
Adrest was happy to hear the sound plan and decided to temporarily put the matter to an end, “Until then we’ll just wait patiently. I’ll be relying on you.”
On the inside Adrest also firmed his resolve to have Alissa push his training further, he could exploit the lodestone all he wanted anyway, as long as he eventually made it back, it was only pain. He couldn't continue feeling so weak.
On the eastern gate of the outpost town, it was another sunny day. Walking down the path was a girl, or perhaps young woman. She was walking casually towards town, her chestnut brown hair that barely dangled to her shoulders was blowing in the light breeze. With her matching brown eyes half closed in a crescent from a perpetual bright smile, she trotted along at a relaced pace soaking in the tranquility. Her white shirt was firmly covered in dark grey leather armor, with small sections incorporating a dull black metal. Oddly though, she only had armor on the upper half of her, opting instead to wear shorts. She had daggers strapped to her exposed legs, as well as two long thin blades to either side of her hips.
Before the girl knew it, she was before the town entrance and an older guard said in a bored tone, “Identification please. Or you can pay a fee of two silver for a day pass if you are unable to provide one.
The girl cheerily pulled out her guild card, with a “Here you are Mr. Guard!”
The girl’s energy was infectious, and the guard seemed to be standing straighter and gave her a small smile as he checked card given, gasping when he saw it was an Adventurers Guild card and her ranking. Instead of the normal F-S rankings, hers said SC. If he were a newbie, the guard would’ve thought the card was fake, but originally being from a large city the man knew what it represented.
SC stood for special class; it was only given to those who were trusted completely by the guild. They had preferential treatment in all things and were the golden children of the guild. They were trained from a young age as soon as their unique or strong abilities manifested and were trained to be heroes. The strongest humanity had to offer, More than ten real true heroes had been born from this training.
He respectfully handed the card back saying, “All set! Enjoy your stay ma’am!”
She let out a light, airy giggle, “Have a good shift Mr. Guard, thank you for the hard work.”
Smiling at the compliment from the young woman he snapped her a salute, appearing to take some pride in his position and career again..
With that, the kind girl walked into the village square to start her first solo mission, to investigate the surge in monster numbers near the village.