«Aizen»

“Fenri, how do you think the castle visit is going to go?”

Fenri stopped walking and tilted his head, he thought for a second. “Woof!”

“Is that so?” Well, I guess it didn’t matter.

We continued walking after leaving Firil’s mansion, leaving Kuro in confusion and Ari with the old man and Dan. It went well…

* * *

“Hey, I will need you guys to take care of Ari!”

“Umm… Why are we here?!” Ari asked in a panic after I barged through the old man's door.

The old man and Dan were drinking, they both paused in surprise and looked at me. The old man was the first one to speak.

“W-What are you even doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in classes?!”

“... Sigh, why are you always like this?” Dan was more collected.

I shrugged. “So, will you? I have important things to attend to…” I said as I nonchalantly inspected my hand for no reason, it looked cool and made me look like I didn’t care.

“A mage’s number priority is study!” The old man exclaimed as he rose from his desk.

““Yet you are drinking…”” Dan and I mentioned the obvious, the old man flinched.

“I-It’s part of my new meditation method…” He looked to the side and took a very large sip of his glass.

“Cough!” Dan gathered our attention. “What is so important that you cannot take her with you? I mean, you guys took her to a subjugation, so… Explain.” Dan seemed oddly demanding.

I smiled. “I will be replacing the elf.”

“Ah okay.” Although for some reason, Dan did not seem to care after he heard me.

“You will…” The old man trailed into a mutter. “Is it the elf that escaped?”

“He escaped? Geez old man, if you are going to threaten me into being a substitute teacher at least do your job right…” I nodded to Dan’s comment.

“T-That is not the point!” He slammed the desk. “Such a talented student is meddling in the dark arts…” He wiped a tear from his eye. “I will not allow it! You must continue your journey in magic and surpass me!” He broke into muttering as he bit on his rugged finger and looked at his desk.

“What is he on about?” I asked Dan.

“No idea…”

“Umm… If you guys can’t take care of me then I guess I could just stay with Firil…” Ari awkwardly joined in.

“Ah, don’t worry Ari. You can stay with me, I am still Dan." Dan was friendly as always, he gave a glance to his side. "... unlike Lynn…”

“Unforgivable!” He flailed his arms around. “Aizen, I challenge you to a magic duel! You won’t be replacing the elf any time soon!”

“Yeahh… He does that…” Dan wryly smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Dan, don’t intervene! This is for the greater future of a new generation!”

“Will everything be alright?” Ari asked with slight concern.

Dan stood up and approached Ari, he patted her with a smile. “Don’t worry about the old man, he went senile years ago.”

“I didn’t know you were good with kids.” I added.

“Well… I didn’t know that either, must be the alcohol.” He nodded in satisfaction to his own explanation. “Anyway Ari, as long as you are okay with me then I guess it’s fine.”

“Dan is fine…” Ari sheepishly said.

I couldn’t help but be a bit confused, I expected some resistance from Ari or something from the other side. Well, I did get the old man but… Not that kind of resistance. Dan looked at me as I thought.

“Don’t think about it too much, it’s not like I will do anything. But now you owe me one.” He nonchalantly informed me… Sigh Dan, if it’s gonna be like that then you leave me no choice.

“Hey, Dan come here.” I gestured with my finger.

“What do you want all of the sudden?” As soon as Dan got close enough I grabbed his sleeve. “What are you…⁠— It’s on fire! Stop it! Aizen!” I stopped the burning on Dan’s sleeve, his entire sleeve was missing but his skin was alright.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“There, I saved you your life, now we are even.”

“You are too extreme…” Dan muttered in defeat. “Ari, please tell me you won’t set me on fire.”

“... Is that even a question?” Ari tilted her head in confusion, I never really intended on hurting Dan, his sleeve just looked at me in a menacing way. It had to go.

“Sigh… Whatever... Aizen you may go.” Dan dismissed me in his defeat.

“No, I will do whatever I can!” The old man was monologuing in the background.

“Well, I will come back as soon as I am done. Dan…” I looked at him in the eye. “You better take care of her.”

“Yes I got it, I will die. No need to put it in such an obvious way.” Dan said with indifference.

* * *

I nodded as I recalled how it went. It truly went well, nothing to worry about, indeed. I am sure Dan will do a good job of taking care of her. He at least knows his limits, that is for sure.

I kept walking with Fenri as he wagged his tail. We entered the main plaza without much problem, I was missing the house crest thing. But, somehow the guards ignored me, so, I guess there was no need to do some talking. I saw street vendors, people chat; kids point at Fenri, some looked at me. It was weird. As I scanned my surroundings I saw a familiar figure buying food. I didn’t plan on greeting him, but I suddenly remembered something. I smiled as I arrived next to him. Fenri followed with confusion, I think it was his first encounter with him.

“Hey dwarf.”

His shoulders stiffened. “I don’t know what business you have with me, but my name is Alron!” He looked at me. “Oh, it’s you… What do you want?” He asked with annoyance.

“Hey so I’ve been thinking…⁠—”

“Keep thinking, I am busy. Leave me alone.” He turned around back to the vendor, he wasn’t really following the situation as he maintained his smile with a bit of a struggle.

“How hostile… And I thought that you wanted her to join the craftsman guild.”

His ears perked up. “Her?” He turned around with interest.

“Oh, you know… The girl that added ‘the mark…’” I kept it ambiguous but his eyes instantly widened.

“You got my attention now girly, yeah I wanted her to join the guild, so?”

I smiled. “So, I talked to her, she seems “insecure” about joining because of her identity, she fears that it will cause her trouble.”

The dwarf thought for a second and nodded. “Okay, I am following. So?"

I kept my smile up. “Well, she said she would join if she could have another identity, you know, not use the same guild card.”

“Hmm… Yeah, I can do that, I just need a name.”

“Dark Shadow.” I said as I struggled not to laugh.

“Wow, okay, she has some imagination. I admire such a nice name.” He commented as he looked back at the vendor. “Keep the change, I am in a good mood right now.”

“But⁠⁠—” The vendor raised his voice.

“Don’t worry about it.”

I couldn’t help but feel bewildered. ‘He actually did not laugh… Well… There it goes like 90% of the reason I did this, I wanted him to mock her for it… Sigh…’ I dropped my shoulders in disappointment. The dwarf turned back to me.

“Thanks for the info girly, I will check things out with Dan, I will try to reward you later.” I nodded as he left to the guild. He left at a quick pace with little hopes here and there. I think he was overjoyed. Well, objectively speaking, I could see why.

“Woof…” Fenri glared at me.

“Well, I ought to have fun every once in a while with her, otherwise it’s boring.” I explained myself, however, Fenri still seemed upset about my “prank”, but I didn’t really care.

“Oh, look! She is talking with the dog!” A kid pointed.

Then a lot of kids started pointing at me and Fenri. “Well… There goes my happiness for the day... This is annoying…” I muttered as I started walking away. The kids did not follow us, which frankly made me feel relieved.

Fenri and I continued walking down the cobblestone road, it was somewhat busy seeing it was still early morning, people did not really pay attention to us seeing they were too busy doing their things; it was a relief in a sense. Although kids did not fail to notice Fenri and try to pet him before their parents stopped them, it was… weird. Stand vendors called out to people; including us. I just ignored them, didn’t really carry money anyway.

We kept walking straight for quite some time, it took quite a bit, the streets that were busy were somewhat empty now. Mostly because the places near the castle were no longer inns, and more like expensive places as well as restaurants instead of stalls. The closer you got to the castle the more expensive things became.

It was eh… Sometimes annoying, since the few remaining people would take notice of us much easier, it didn’t help that my hair was bright silver and I was walking with a wolf; it would be a long day. We approached the castle gates, the guards seemed oddly stiff for some reason. I walked forward and as expected.

“Stop! Declare your business here.” One of the guards said with a firm voice.

I tilted my head. “Isn’t it obvious?” I mean, if the king invited me then they should know, it’s not like I am expecting too much or anything ⁠— the guard frowned.

“Don’t joke around kid, go play with your dog or something.” He grumbled in annoyance.

“Grr!” Fenri growled at him, I guess he didn’t like getting called dog. The guard just clicked his tongue and ignored him as he kept glaring daggers at me, I yawned..

The other guard had been thinking for quite some time now. After tilting his head, suddenly his eyes went wide and his complexion became pale. He approached the guard that was standing in front of us and tapped his shoulder in a hurry.

“What do you want? I am busy...”

The pale guard just pulled him aside and started muttering to him. The initial hostile guard meekly approached and looked at me with a fearful expression and a bit of regret. He gulped before opening his mouth.

“I am sorry about that… Please go through the gate…” He clumsily bowed after that, the other guard followed as well. Then both of them moved away and that was it. Fenri tilted his head since he wasn’t following the development, but I guess it was fine.

I forcibly smiled at the guards since they were trembling, I didn’t really want to play villain here. They seemed to relax a little as I started walking with Fenri to my side. I didn’t really get to see the castle up-close, but it was very… Hmm… Well, it was aesthetic.

The castle had another gate-like entrance, although it was missing the actual gate; the arches stood tall with fine engravings and windows here and there. I continued walking as I observed, the architectural feats, then I looked forward and I noticed the path we were following led straight to an indoor garden. Then it would split into two, weird layout if you asked me.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head, the hallways were absolutely empty; the only source of light were the windows near the ceiling, it gave a very open feel for some reason. It didn’t really feel like a castle, but that wasn’t really the problem, the problem was that I absolutely had no idea where I was inside the castle, I also had no idea where the king was.

I dropped my shoulders. “If you are going to invite me at least tell me where…” I murmured.

“Oh, but I did tell you. In the castle…” I turned around and followed the voice. There he stood, it was the king.