Chapter 50: Questions and Answers
"Morning," Pierce greeted Sarah as he walked into the guild hall, before pausing. "What the he -" He frantically cut himself off, recalling his resolution not to swear around Grace, and corrected himself. "E-eck is that?"
The brunette barmaid was carting a whole wheelbarrow of letters through the guild hall, which she eventually dumped in the centre of the hall, where Alice had cleared a space. "Fan mail. We've gotten a lot recently for some reason," she explained.
"Whoa . . how much of that is for me?" Pierce asked, trying not to look too excited. He knew that stories of him and his team's actions in Ghoulia, and their role in defeating the Oracion Och, had resulted in them becoming minor celebrities, but he'd never expected that that would mean any more than the occasional person in the street recognising him from a photo in Sorcerer Weekly, or perhaps being asked for an autograph now and then. Not . . this.
"I'm not sure," Sarah answered, but blinked as the pile rustled.
Suddenly, a petite woman with a golden-blonde ponytail, half-moon purple glasses that matched her purple undershirt and stockings, and a bright red cardigan and skirt with ruby slippers sat up from the pile, clutching a pencil and a notebook. "Hi!" Penny Prince beamed.
Sarah shrieked, backing away.
"Hey, it's that reporter girl who has a crush on Boomer," Pierce observed, apparently unbothered by this turn of events. "I do not!" Penny shrieked as Boomer gasped, "Wait, what?"
"Where the hell did you come from?" Tyria demanded from Team Pierce's table, recognising the eccentric reporter that had interviewed her and her friends after their fight with the Oracion Och.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Ariel snorted, folding her arms with an irritated look.
"Were you hiding in our mail this whole time?" Sarah demanded, frowning.
"Only for a bit of it," Penny defended herself. "And I might have put out a call in Sorcerer Weekly for all your fans to send out questions for you all to answer," she added, before raising a finger and winking. "Spoiler alert, I totally did!"
"So this is a glorified PR stunt," Pierce ascertained. Penny meant well . . for a given definition of the term . . but she was certainly eccentric.
"Well, that's nothing new," Boomer shrugged. "We do those all the time,"
"Don't remind me," Hare groaned. "I wasn't even in your last 'music video'," she glared at the Sound Wizard.
"We were focusing on Tyria," Boomer pointed out in rebuttal.
"Whatever,"
"So, what I'm hearing is, our fans have sent us all a bunch of questions they want us to answer, and you'll record the answers and publish them in Sorcerer Weekly, right?" Pierce asked Penny, who nodded and smirked, tossing him a thumbs-up. "You got it in one!"
"Alright," Sarah shrugged, beckoning to Alice. "We might as well hand these out,"
"If nothing else, it'll kill an afternoon," Pierce shrugged as he received the first letter. Penny looked at him and produced a pink Lacrima, which she immediately activated to record every answer.
"We've heard the stories behind how you've met some of your beasts, but not all. Could you explain the rest?" the Tamer read. "Okay . . which ones specifically do they want me to tell?" he asked Penny, who briefly checked her notes. "It has previously been explained in detail how you met Raya, Inky and Victoria, and it has been witnessed how you met Brakodidon and Cubelios. That leaves Kit, Knox and Crystal,"
"Oh. Well, there's not much to tell there. Master Feng referred Crystal to me when I was a novice because she was looking for adventure, and we sort of struck up a mutual relationship. I get the assistance in fights, and she gets to be an adrenaline junkie," Pierce explained. "It's a similar story with Knox, except when he came to me, he'd only recently been turned into a werewolf and wanted to find something meaningful he could do with his life in his new condition. Again, he was referred to me," Pierce explained.
"And Kit?" Penny questioned.
"He'd been haunting the basement of my house for years before I bought it and driving the property value down. Which was good, because it meant I could buy it dirt-cheap," Pierce explained with a grin. "Once I had, I tamed him, basically just so that I could sleep at night. We had a rocky relationship at first, but now we're best buddies,"
"That's one way to describe it," Kit rolled his eyes.
"Okay then," Penny nodded.
The next question was for Hare, and she read, "How come Hare's such a jerk?"
"Wait, is that a question for Hare, or a question about Hare? Because she might be biased," Boomer pointed out.
"I'm not a jerk," Hare huffily retorted.
"See? Bias,"
"Is not,"
"I'll field this one," Master Feng declared, striding into the main part of the guild hall from the stairs. "She's a jerk because [SPOILERS],"
"[SPOILERS]? Seriously?" Penny looked dejected.
"Oh, like you know anything," Hare huffed.
Feng just smiled wisely and didn't mention her telepathy magic.
"Great," Penny groaned, tossing a few others around.
Grace tore one open eagerly, before reading it and slumping, disappointed. "What's it like being a Dragon Slayer?" she read it again, aloud, and sighed. "People only care about my powers,"
"That's not true," Tyria hastened to reassure her. "You're just having bad luck with the questions. I'm sure there are some about you as a person," she cast an annoyed look at Penny, who had the decency to look sheepish, "right?"
"Probably," the reporter obligingly nodded.
"Oh - okay," Grace cheered up, before looking at the Lacrima. "Well, I don't remember not being a Dragon Slayer, so I'm not sure how to compare it. I get hungrier faster and eat more than most people, though - Sarph says it's something to do with metal bola sims,"
"Metabolism. Hers is faster than most people because she needs more energy," Sarph clarified.
"And you get a lot of annoying questions about your powers," her tone had definitely turned sulky at this point. "Maybe I am one of the most powerful wizards in Fiore. Maybe I could be a Wizard Saint in twenty years or something. But it doesn't have to be the first thing anyone ever talks to me about!" she snapped, gritting her fangs in an uncharacteristic show of violence, before a thought struck her, and she fingered her pronounced, almost vampiric canines. "I guess I have these, too," she mused.
The young girl took a deep breath, before continuing, "And, sometimes, I just feel more . . dragon-y. Like I'm not all human, or . . maybe not human at all, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think I do," Tyria quietly muttered, before realising her slip. "Uh - in a metaphorical sense, of course,"
"Tyria, heads up! The next one's for you!" Penny called, and, surprised, she snatched an envelope out of the air. Within seconds, it was open and she pulled the question out. "Tyria, what is your favorite - eep!"
The question read; 'Tyria, what is your favorite consumable metal?'
"How do people even know about that?" she squeaked.
"That doesn't matter. Everyone's dying to know!" The Electrian looke duo and squealed; Penny was suddenly inches away, shoving the lacrima in her face.
"Well, I guess I have to answer now . . Copper's good for digestion, but kind of plain. I think the best kind of technology I've ever eaten was actually the broken parts of the Alternative Weapons System. I think it was an alloy of titanium and steel; problem is, I don't know where to get any more. I should have packed a doggy bag while I was in space," she sighed, speaking in a whisper. "I just hope none of my friends read the article,"
"Good things to hear!" Penny chirped, dashing back to the pile and pulling out another letter. "Oh, this one's for Sensho! Kinda surprising, since he's barely appeared in the story to date, but okay,"
"What story?" Sensho, who wore a white robe that hung around his lithe frame, with a straw hat atop his head, and a mane of spiky silver hair hanging from under it. Blue eyes twinkled from beneath his hat, and a belt hung around his waist with several hooks attached, bearing a teapot and several cups.
"That," Penny raised a finger, "not to put too fine a point on it, is a long story. Catch!" she commanded, throwing the Tea Wizard a letter. Carefully, he prized it open and read, "What's the limit that you can currently go with your Tea magic and how do you feel about using it to help others?"
"Alright," Sensho looked pleased at the attention. "Tea Magic is primarily a support magic, in that it can have a range of beneficial effects. Most of these are in the name," he explained, pulling a small satchel of tea grains from a pocket. "Take my Duplici-Tea for example. Anyone who drinks this will suddenly, for a short period of time, find themselves to be an accomplished liar capable of fooling all but the most perspicacious of individuals. My Tea Magic also has limited healing properties, though that isn't saying much. And it can be liable to scald," he admitted. "It's not very helpful in combat, though I do have a few tricks up my sleeve,"
"I wonder what those entail?" Sarph mused. It wasn't as though he could look it up on his Archive - Sensho didn't like to brag and so would probably never mention it, but he had actually created Tea Magic. (By accident, but even so.) And, so far as Sarph knew, he was the only practitioner of it in the entire world.
"I certainly never hesitate to help others with it," Sensho finished, disregarding the S-Class' internal monologue.
"Alright," the Sorcerer Weekly reporter nodded, fishing out another. "Heads up, Pierce,"
Pierce caught his first enveloped question, tore it open - and blanched.
'Will you fess up to Tyria soon?'
"Everyone wants to know," Penny hissed, and Pierce sprang out of his chair in shock. "Where did you come from?"
"Answer the question," Penny commanded, and Pierce sighed, whispering to ensure he wasn't overheard. "Probably not. I like her, sure, but I don't want to compromise what I have with her because I can't control my hormones. Her friendship's too important to me to risk alienating like that just because I can't get a grip on my hormones. If something happens and things go further than they already have, then I'll go for it. But I'm not taking the chance of jeopardising what I have with her when she probably doesn't feel the same way anyway,"
The reporter looked upset, and groaned. "You're boring," she muttered to herself, returning to the pile and fishing out another couple of letters. "Hare, another one for you," she huffily tossed it over.
The Speed wizard, still smarting from the last question addressed to her, cocked an eyebrow as she read, "Why did seeing Cor make you bolt?"
"Good question," Pierce hummed. "Why did that happen?"
Hare hummed, trying to make up her mind on what to say.
"More [SPOILERS]?" Penny asked, disappointed.
"I don't think so. Simply put, I've had bad experiences with qilin in the past. And I had thought that I had put it behind me," she muttered darkly.
"Well, that's brilliant. You can play up the mystery angle all you want, but it'll only hold the public's interest for so long," the Sorcerer Weekly journalist huffed. "Alright, here's one for Eve," she added, tossing the next envelope to the brunette in question.
"What's up with your weird key?" Eve read, raising an eyebrow. "Weird key?" she parroted.
"I think he means your Crystal Key," Penny helpfully added.
"Yeah, that one is weird," Tyria mused.
"This?" Eve held up Venus' key, made of blue crystal with a pink tinge, a love heart on the tip and a sculpted rose at the head. "It's one of the Celestial Deity Keys, which are a set similar to the Zodiac Keys and of equal strength. Uh . . there's a lot of important stuff, but I don't really remember . ."
"I can handle that," Sarph volunteered. "The Zodiac Keys are known to be a set of specifically twelve or thirteen, depending on whether you believe those rumours about the Zodiac Spirit Ophiuchus or not," From the tone of his voice, it was quite clear he didn't. "However, the Deity Keys are the stuff of legends, and no one's ever seen all of them together. This is important because it isn't actually known how many Deity Keys there are," he clarified, before manifesting an Archive screen that displayed five Crystal Keys.
"It's been confirmed that there are at least five. In addition to the Venus Key Eve owns, Princess Hisui of our own royal family is known to own one, the Neptune Key. Also, the Dark Wizard Mordonna of the Kairos End Dark Guild has been recorded owning and using two of them, the Mars Key and the Pluto Key. Historically, there is also documented proof of a Jupiter Key, but it's been lost to the ages and no one knows its current location," he explained.
"But aren't there at least two more?" Artorias piped up, and Penny, who had been about to say the same thing, tweaked her purple half-moon glasses so that they caught the light and shot him a look. A look which he ignored.
Sarph frowned, entering a few more commands and bringing up two blurry images of two more crystal keys. "That is a subject of much debate. However, there is unproven speculation that, in addition to the five known keys, there is also a Saturn Key and a Uranus Key. But the existence of those two is about as likely as that of the Ophiuchus Zodiac Key,"
"But what about the -" Penny started, but a glare from the knight silenced her. "If you're going to bring up the Gaia Key, you can kiss any more questions from me goodbye!" he threatened, severely fed up with the conjecture.
"What's the Gaia Key?" Grace piped up with a smile that was a little too innocent.
Sarph groaned. "The Gaia Key is to the Celestial Deities as Ophiuchus is to the Zodiac. A mythical key supposedly made of diamond which is so heavily steeped in legend that, frankly, I'd bet my sword that it's a hoax," he declared, patting Solamion on his back.
Everyone in the guild let out a small gasp. Sarph loved his sword dearly, he had to be more than certain that the Gaia Key was nonexistent to say something like that.
"Anyway," Penny broke the silence, and pulled another envelope out of the pile. "Got another one for Pierce here," she threw over the envelope.
Somewhat hesitantly, considering the previous question, the Tamer took the envelope and opened it. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it was nothing to do with his lacklustre love life, and read it aloud. "How long until Pierce realises Cubelios is cursed?" He blinked, and started turning the paper left and right, wondering if there was some kind of hidden message. "I'm not sure I understand the question?"
"The guy wants to know when you're going to figure out that Cubelios is cursed. Though right now might be the answer," the reporter explained.
"No, I . . already knew that Cubelios is cursed," Pierce clarified.
"Wait, what?"
"When I first Tamed her after I fought Erik, one of the first things I did was check for abuse, both physical and magical. She proved to be in peak physical condition, but had a good couple of dozen curses and enchantments overlaid on her. I'm not a skilled enough enchanter to figure out what any of them except the one 'on top', the most recent one, do - which gives her the ability to breath poison gas. I expect Brain did that one so that she could better work with Erik," Pierce briefly explained. "As for all the other spells, I haven't the foggiest what they do to her,"
"But . . shouldn't you . ." Penny spluttered. "Try to remove them?"
Pierce shrugged. "Why should I? Cubelios is happy how she is. Maybe, if I tried to tamper with or get rid of the magic on her, it would make things better for her. But it's far more likely to make things worse. Her body's not fragile, all of her senses work fine, she's emotionally stable and intelligent. She's not even infertile, which really does amaze me. Any or all of those things could change if I tried tampering with the magics on her. I could do a lot more harm than good,"
"I see," Penny considered this.
"Of course, if something changes, say if the spells unravelled and her condition began to deteriorate, then of course I'd see what I could do. If that meant breaking the curses on her, then so be it. But until that happens, it's just safer to leave her as she currently is," the Tamer explained, reclining in his chair.
"Alright," the golden-blond reporter nodded, taking out another letter. "Oh, this is odd, kind of an open question for;" she squinted. "Pierce, Tyria, Grace, Fleur, Alice and . . Cubelios?"
Pierce had a funny feeling he knew where this was going. "Alright," he Requipped his flute and quickly summoned Cubelios, who appeared nearby, casting the Tamer an inquisitive glance.
"Since some members of the guild chose to bet on Pierce forming a harem," Penny began.
"Oh, brother," Pierce sighed.
"Will it happen, and, of the guild's girls, do they like that idea?"
Pierce gulped.
Tyria blanched.
Fleur choked.
Grace squeaked.
Alice blinked in bewilderment.
Cubelios, not understanding the question, hissed inquisitively.
"Uh . . well, I can't say I've ever really entertained the notion," Pierce muttered, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Tyria seemed at a loss for words.
"Oh, eew eew eew! Pierce is, like, my brother! I'd never kiss him or anything like that!" Grace shouted.
Alice wrinkled her nose, and shook her head. "I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not getting involved with anyone except Lync,"
Meanwhile, Fleur had been furiously scribbling something down in her notebook, and tore the page out, before handing it to Totomaru to read. "My love life is . . I'm not saying that word in front of Grace," he snorted at Fleur, who huffed. "Enough as it is. I'm not getting Pierce entangled in it,"
"Really? You're all boring," Penny snapped, before frantically looking at Cubelios. "Cubelios, anything to add?"
The snake hissed in confusion.
"Wow, she's desperate for a scoop," Boomer observed.
"How could you say something like - fine, whatever! Next question!" Penny snapped, pulling out another envelope. "Oh, this is for . . The Divine Caladrius herself. I'll have to deliver that later," she resolved, putting it back and taking another. "Now, this one is for Grace," she tossed the envelope to the young Dragon.
"Ooh, yay!" Grace grinned, taking the envelope and opening it. "Do you think about boys at all? If so, what is your type?"
She blinked. "Uh . . well, at least it's not about my magic," she sweat-dropped.
"You know, I think that this question was sent in by the same person as that last one about Pierce's harem," Penny helpfully added.
"Which doesn't exist!" Pierce hollered.
"Okay, um . . never really considered that," the Dragon Slayer murmured. "I guess . . Cor's kinda cute, for a beast, though that could just be my dragon instincts talking . . I dunno," she shrugged.
"Qilins and dragons aren't that dissimilar, genetically speaking," Sarph pointed out.
"I still wanna date a human, though. Someday," Grace retorted, folding her arms in irritation.
"Good to hear," Penny grinned, reaching for another envelope. She pulled it out, read it, and blinked. "Oh, that's that one for the Caladrius again," she muttered, reaching for another, and frowned when there was nothing left to grab.
"Is that it?" she demanded, glaring at the empty wheelbarrow. "Is tht seriously all the questions we got?"
"Yeah, what gives? There weren't any for me!" Boomer protested.
"Or me," Artorias raised a disgruntled eyebrow.
"And I didn't get a single question about proper sword care. You'd think these people would have their priorities straight," Sarph huffed, folding his arms.
"Uh, yeah," the reporter half-heartedly nodded, sighing. "I guess I have enough material to work with for the editorial . . oh well. Maybe we'll get more in another fifty chapters, eh?" she grinned, picking herself up and grabbing the wheelbarrow's handles.
"Fifty what?" Pierce blinked.
"Nothing! Bye-ee!" Penny waved, high-tailing it out of the building.
Sarah watched her go, looking upset. "But that was my wheelbarrow," she muttered.
"Hey, it could have been worse," Ariel reassured her, wrapping a consoling arm around Sarah, who looked up questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"
"You could be one of those poor lovesick fools," the water witch grinned, gesturing at . . basically everyone in the guild.
"What does that mean?" Totomaru challenged, his fohawk twitching.
Ariel shot him a smile that was a little too sincere. "That I feel very sorry for you!"
~P's E~
"Yoo-hoo?" Penny called, walking into the Divine Caladrius' room, in her shrine.
The great bird 'blinked', while keeping her eyes closed, in surprise. "Oh. Hello there. Is there an ailment that you wish me to cure?"
"Well, yes, but not with your magic," Penny shrugged, pulling a portable stool out of nowhere and settling down on it, before producing an envelope. "See, my name's Penny Prince, and I'm a reporter for Sorcerer Weekly. There's someone out there with a question for you and I need the answer so that I can publish my Q/A editorial on Phoenix's Eye,"
". . I see," the Caladrius nodded. "Go ahead,"
Penny was about to hand her the envelope, but paused, realising just in time that the Caladrius didn't have hands, and her claws, each being large enough to snatch up a small car, would see the envelope as a speck. Instead, she opened it and read it out herself; "What would happen if you were to give sumone - yes, that's how it's spelt - a few of your feathers? Would they have some retention of your healing abilities?"
The Caladrius hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I've never tried that," she murmured. "Given that I am a divine being, every fibre of my body is filled with divine energy. Therefore it stands to reason that my feathers, once removed, would retain some power. But my healing abilities are channeled through my eyes, my feathers have no part in it,"
"So . . ?" Penny asked.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm not certain what would happen. But I think that you've given me an idea," the Caladrius hummed in approval. "I'll make sure that your readers get an answer, as soon as I discover what it is,"
"Alright. Chapter 53 it is, then," the reporter grinned.
"Chapter . . pardon?"
"Nothing! Bye!" she waved, collapsing her folding stool and skipping out through the door way and out of sight.
Moments later, Pietro and Klaus, the qilin guards, rushed inside, claws bared and weapons at the ready. "Caladrius! We heard voices, did someone somehow get in here?"
"Yes," the demigod nodded. "There was a young woman who needed to ask me a question for some reason. I assumed you let her in?"
"No, Caladrius. We didn't see anything," the qilins responded.
"How strange," the Caladrius mused. "I wonder who, or what, she really was?"
A/N
A/N
I really love having Penny Prince around. XD She's, like, my own personal in-universe emissary. #seriouswritershavePennys! XD
Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the Q/A, and I am disappointed by how few questions I got. I wanted more, damnit. -.- Maybe next time.
Peace!
