Chapter XXXVIII
Thoma and Red were sitting around a campfire and Red was looking up at the night sky. Thoma finished eating a piece of meat that he made for dinner then ask Red,
"Hey Red I noticed there was a lot of guards in Verton. Are their normally a lot of guards in Alakitasia?"
"Yes. Alakitasia has an Empire that is a strict one, but its a nice place to live." Red answered as he looked from the sky to Thoma.
"So the guards is a normal thing?" Thoma asked.
"Yes it is and so the paper work I did when we landed." Red said.
"Speaking of which,why did you tell the guards that my name was Ainz Nightingale?" Thoma asked.
"Because we don't need anyone finding out who you really are. There may be some people who know the name of Thoma Scarlet, but it unlikely that they can put a face to the name." Red said.
"Alright then. I can deal with the name change." Thoma said with a defeated tone in his voice.
"Now let me ask you a question. You seem to trust me rather easily. Why did you come with me, If I were you and someone I just meet someone who knew my name and I was just going through, I'd bee very suspicious of that person." Red said.
"Well to be honest, I was suspicious of you, I'm still a bit suspicious. But I felt I needed to just run away. I was scared being in Fiore and needed to get out." Thoma said.
"Running away from your problems isn't the answer you know." Red pointed out.
"I know, but I..." Thoma sighed.
"You can think of no other excuse? Well no matter. Your here now." Red said.
Thoma looked up at the night sky for a bit then went to bed. The next day Thoma and Red managed to reach the city of Zleim. Red led Thoma to The Drunken Demon tavern. Red opened the door and Thoma saw a female behind the bar making some drinks. The female had long wavy scarlet red hair. She had and brown left eye and a purple right eye. She was the same size as Erza and looked similar to Halies. She was wearing a revealing long beige dress and as she saw Thoma and Red enter she asked,
"What can I get you?... Its been a while dad, about two years I believe. Whose your friend?"
"Good to see you too Nowi. Has it been two years? How have you been? How's the family?" Red asked.
"Well Sebastian has put more food on the menu and the people really enjoy it. Cynthia is now thirteen and still cleans the tables. Laslow is now nine, he helps Sebastian clean the dishes. And little Severa is now five. She likes to take food to the customers. We're doing well. So whose your friend?" Nowi asked.
"Nowi met Ainz Nightingale. Ainz this is my daughter, Nowi." Red said introducing the two to each other.
"A pleasure to meet you Nowi." Thoma greeted.
"Nice to met you as well. Now what will it be?" Nowi asked.
"Give us whatever you recommend. Ainz needs some help." Red said.
"And your dragging me into it?" Nowi question as she hung a piece of paper then a hand grabbed it.
"Your mother said you would help me. I have a note from her." Thoma said pulling out and handing the letter to Nowi.
Nowi took the letter and read it. After reading it Nowi looked at Thoma and said,
"I don't have an extra bedroom, but I do have a spare storage room that you can use."
"Thanks Nowi." Thoma bowed in thanks.
"Don't thank me just yet. I'm going to put you to work. Think of it as rent." Nowi said with a little laugh.
"I figured, but don't overwork him Nowi." Red said.
"I won't work him too hard, as long as he doesn't mess up." Nowi said.
"Thanks Nowi. Your mother says hello and that she loves you." Red said.
"Tell her that my family and I are doing alright. She needs to pay a visit, the kids miss their grandmother. I love you and mother as well." Nowi said hugging Red.
"We love you to." Red says and hugs Nowi.
Thoma's and Red's food came out and they begun to eat it. Red finished his food before Thoma and asked,
"Now do you have any plans on getting stronger?"
"I thought you were going to help me." Thoma answered swallowing the last piece of his food.
Red just sighed and said,
"I'm not always going to be around to give you a helping hand. I will give you some parting advice. You don't have Magic Power, you have Curse Power. I'm not going into great detail on what Curse Power, but you have a Gravity Curse and a Inferno Curse. I say that you train on making your Inferno Curse stronger and learning a new Curse as well. After that, I suggest you go to The Temple of Aura."
"The Temple of Aura?" Thoma questioned.
"Yeah The Temple of Aura. It is in the mountains that is to the north of here. There you can learn how to use the power you used to defeat Wystan." Red explained.
"I used a new power to defeat Wystan? I don't remember that." Thoma said trying to remember.
"You wouldn't remember because your were unconscious, but you do have a power within you." Red said then stood up.
"You leaving?" Thoma asked.
"I have to make a few stops then I have to go back to Fiore." Red said and made his to the door.
"Leaving already dad? Can you at least stay for the kids?" Nowi asked.
"I'll stay for the kids, but I need to be getting on my way." Red said.
After a few minutes Red spent with Nowi's kids, he was ready to leave. He give Nowi a hug and asked,
"One more thing. Can I ask you to help Ainz train?"
"You want me to train him? I'm busy running the tavern." Nowi complained.
"I know. You don't have to train him everyday, once or twice a week would be enough. Besides running the tavern must be stressing, think of it as some stress relief." Red said.
"Wait, what?" Thoma asked overhearing what Red was hearing.
"When you put it that way... I can do that." Nowi said with a smile.
"Stress relief?" Thoma questioned with a worried tone.
"Glad you agree. Just don't go overboard and kill him." Red pointed out.
"I won't but I won't go easy on him. We can start now." Nowi said cracking her knuckles.
"What are we starting?" Thoma asked backing away from Nowi.
Nowi grabbed Thoma by the back of his collar and dragged him out behind the tavern. Once outside Nowi threw Thoma and he got on his feet then Nowi said,
"Alright, show me what you get."
"You want me to attack you?" Thoma asked.
"Yes, I want to see your abilities. No need to hold back." Nowi answered.
"Alright then." Thoma said then charged at Nowi. "Gravitational Impact!" Thoma shouted.
Nowi sidestepped and Thoma went pass her. After Thoma got some distance from her, Nowi fired a bolt of lightning at Thoma.
"Electro Shock!"
The bolt of lightning hit Thoma and Thoma felt his muscles tense up for a bit then return to normal.
"Weird. That was suppose to paralyze you for least a minute." Nowi said tilting her head in confusion.
"I remember that I can't be paralyzed." Thoma said.
"Part of me wants to ask, but another part of me says to leave it be. I'm just going to let it go." Nowi said
Thoma held out his right hand and yelled,
"Flame Blot!"
"Electro Dome!" Nowi yelled and a dome made of lightning protected her from Thoma's attack.
"So you have gravity and fire. Interesting. Alright fire a few more shot at me." Nowi said.
Thoma nodded then begun to attack Nowi with gravity and fire curses. Nowi easily dodged Thoma's attacks and managed to hit him a few time.
"Ow ow ow ow. Your last punch hurt." Thoma said rubbing his head.
"I have been at this for quiet some time. I know where to hit people to make it hurt." Nowi said.
"It can't have been a long time. You look young, how old are you?" Thoma asked.
"You do know it is not polite to ask a girl her age?" Nowi questioned.
"I only hear that when a women is old."
Nowi's face got red and she slapped Thoma across his face.
"Well if you must know. I'm over three hundred and fifty years old."
Thoma just gave Nowi the most confused look and asked,
"Your over three hundred and fifty year? How?"
"When your an Etherious Demon, you live longer then humans." Nowi answered.
"Your an Etherious Demon?" Thoma asked.
"Yes. Naturally born one. Both my parents are Etherious Demons." Nowi answered.
"If your over three hundred and fifty years old, your parents are Etherious Demons, and your parents are Red and Halies. That means Red and Halies are well over three hundred and fifty years old. Thoma said putting the pieces together.
"Yeah and pretty much everyone in town knows this." Nowi pointed out.
"Everyone in town knows your an Etherious Demon?" Thoma asked.
"Yes." Nowi answered.
"And their their ok with it?" Thoma asked.
"They were uneasy at first, but they came to learn that I'm not a bad person." Nowi said.
Thoma and Nowi just stood there for a moment in silence before Thoma asked,
"Can you teach me how to use what you just used?"
"You want to teach you how to use Electro Curse?" Nowi asked.
"Yes. Can you?" Thoma asked.
"Not today. I just wanted to see what you were capable of. Now let's go get you some new clothes." Nowi said.
"Why? Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" Thoma asked.
"Everything is wrong with your clothes, if I'm being honest. Don't worry, I know a thing or two about fashion." Nowi said.
"Thank you?" Thoma said with confusion in his voice.
Nowi grabbed Thoma by the arm and took him to a nearby clothing shop. After a few clothes Nowi managed to find a outfit she liked on Thoma. The outfit was a black robe with red lines which has his bare chest partly revealed, a red obi tied in a knot around his waist. Underneath his robe he wears black pants and black boots.
"You look much better now Ainz." Nowi said nodding her head in approval.
Thoma looked at his new look then turned to Nowi asking,
"Why did you pick something that reveals this much chest?"
"It suits you." Nowi said.
"That doesn't really answer me question." Thoma pointed out.
"Come now, let's go back to the tavern. You have some work to." Nowi said then begun to drag Thoma back to the tavern.
"I can walk on my own!" Thoma exclaimed.
"But this is faster." Nowi said.
"No it isn't!" Thoma protested.
Nowi did answer and just continued to drag Thoma.
'I guess she marches to the beat of her own drum.' Thoma thought to himself as he sighed.
Nowi, still dragging Thoma, entered The Drunken Demon then said,
"Alright, your job will to clean the tavern from head to toe, clean the bathroom, clean under the tables. You'll be doing a lot of cleaning."
"I used to do a cleaning back at home." Thoma said.
"Well good, you can get start right now." Nowi said then threw Thoma forward into a table.
Thoma saw that were was stuff stuck to the underside of the table.
"What is this stuff?" Thoma questioned.
"I have no idea, but its your job to clean it." Nowi said.
"But I'm in the new clothes you just made me buy for myself." Thoma pointed out.
"Right... Then use the clothes you had on before." Nowi said.
"You really didn't like what I had on." Thoma said.
"Not really." Nowi said then went back to make drinks.
Thoma sighed then requiped changed into some cleaning clothes and begun to clean the tavern. Thoma spent the day cleaning and when it was closing time, Thoma took a seat at a table. Nowi came over with a two plates of food. One was for her and the other was for him, and Nowi placed the plate in front of Thoma.
"You did some nice work today Ainz."
"Figured if I did a bad job, you'd kick me out." Thoma laughed a bit.
"You'd be right." Nowi laughed.
"Where your husband and kids?" Thoma asked looking around.
"Sebastian took the kids home. They saw how hard you were working and tried to copy you and tied themselves out, so Sebastian took them home and put them to bed." Nowi said.
"I didn't get a real chance to meet them, but how are they like?" Thoma asked.
"Sebastian is the best husband I could hope for. When he learned that I'm a demon whose over three hundred and fifty years old, he didn't freak out. He just said that he liked the idea of dating an older women." Nowi laughed.
"And what did you do after that?" Thoma asked while laughing a bit.
"I laughed,called him a jerk and punched him in the shoulder." Nowi said.
"Then you got married I take it." Thoma said.
"Yes then we had our wonderful kids. Cynthia is entering her little rebellious phase, but still listens to Sebastian and me for the most part. Laslow is just his father, too much pride in his work. And Severa is just like me when I was growing up, just full of joy and energy." Nowi said with a smile on her face.
"You must be so proud of your husband and kids." Thoma pointed out.
"I am. Now eat up, food is getting cold." Nowi said.
"Right." Thoma said then begun eating.
The food was a little cold and it has a spicy and bitter taste. Thoma thought it was not bad and finished it.
"Your the first person I have ever met besides myself that enjoys my cooking." Nowi said looking at Thoma with a surprised look on her face.
"Is your cooking is normally bad?" Thoma asked with confusion on his face.
"I enjoy my cooking, but everyone says that my cooking is terrible." Nowi answered.
"Its not bad." Thoma said.
"Tell me... why is that? Do you have something you want to tell me?" Nowi ask with a curious look on her face.
"Well you told me your a demon, so I'll tell you. I too am a demon." Thoma said.
"Prove it then." Nowi said.
"I can't." Thoma said.
"Why not?" Nowi asked.
"Because I can only turn to my demon form when I'm angry and I can't control it." Thoma said.
"Well. I can help you with that." Nowi said.
"You can?" Thoma asked.
"Yes I can." Nowi answered.
Thoma had confused on his face
"I don't have to help you if you don't want to." Nowi said.
"No no no no no. I would like your help to learn how to control my demon form." Thoma begged.
"I thought so. We'll begin early tomorrow, so you better go to sleep." Nowi said.
"Alright. Where will I'll be staying?" Thoma asked.
"Follow me and I'll show you." Nowi said getting up from her seat.
Nowi walked away a bit before turning around and asking,
"You coming?"
Thoma nodded then got up and followed Nowi.
Nowi led Thoma down the stairs that was next to the kitchen and into a storage room. The room had a mess of several barrels and crate of food, spices, and other things need for a tavern.
"Alright, you may have to move some stuff and do a little cleaning here too, but this is where you'll be staying." Nowi said.
"I'll be sleeping here?" Thoma questioned looking around the room.
"Its the best I can do. This isn't a tavern where you can stay at so I don't have any rooms here and we don't have any rooms at my house." Nowi explained.
Thoma just stood there looking at the room.
"If you don't like it then you can go if another place to stay." Nowi said a little upset with Thoma.
"Its alright. I'll stay here. I just to do some cleaning here as well." Thoma sighed.
"That's good. Now I'll see you tomorrow morning." Nowi said then left.
Thoma was alone in the room and he looked around one last time before saying,
"I'll clean just enough so I can sleep tonight."
Thoma begun to clean the room and once he got it to the point where he could sleep. Thoma lied on the ground and asked himself,
"I hope everything is ok back at Fairy Tail. I feel bad about leaving Lucina and Mugino behind, but they are better safer in Fiore then with me. I'll see them again one day."
Thoma looked at the ceiling for a bit longer before falling asleep.
Lucina and Mugino have arrived to the continent of Alakitasia, in the port town of Verton, and were stopped by the port guards
"What is your business here in Alakitasia?" The Guard asked.
"We here looking for someone." Lucina answered.
"And this person's name and description?" The Guard asked.
Lucina thought about it for a moment before answering with,
"His name is Ainz Nightingale and he has scarlet red hair. He may have come through here some time ago."
The guard looked through his papers before saying,
"There was a man by that name with scarlet red hair that came through here. He was sea sick when his companion, his name was Red, filled out the paperwork."
"Where did they go? Do you know?" Mugino asked?
"The man named Red said they were going to see his daughter Nowi in Zleim." The Guard said.
"Thank you." Lucina said.
"Your welcome." The Guard said then left Lucina and Mugino to their business.
"Lucina? Daddy never said where he was going and you seem to know where he went and that he changed his name. How do you know these things?" Mugino asked looking up at Lucina.
"I know because of a secret. I can tell you, but you must promise me to never tell anyone this. Ok?" Lucina asked.
"I can't tell anyone?" Mugino asked.
"No one can know this secret. I need you to promise me." Lucina said getting down on Mugino's level.
Mugino thought about it for a bit before saying,
"I promise to never tell anyone your secret."
Lucina smiled then whispered into Mugino's ear. When Mugino heard the secret she let out a loud gasp. Several people heard Mugino gasping and turned to look at them.
"Shhh..." Lucina said trying to keep Mugino quiet.
"Sorry Lucina, but I can't that you..." Mugino begun to say.
Lucina put her hand over Mugino's mouth and said,
"Mugino. You promised."
Mugino nodded her head and with Lucina's hand over her mouth she said,
"I'm sorry Lucina. I'll keep your secret."
"Good." Lucina said removing her hand from Mugino's mouth.
Mugino gave Lucina a hug then left towards Zleim.