Chapter 23: The Girl with the Filolials

Once the corpse was gone the disease stopped spreading, but the effect it had on the environment would last for a while. There were a lot of monsters on the mountain whose territories had been disturbed and some were trying to move towards the village. We stayed for a few days to drive them off as well as to make sure the sick villagers were recovering. We also had to wait for the money that the village paid to the kingdom for assistance to be returned so they could pay us. Interestingly, when the money was returned a familiar presence came with it. I guess the shadow figured out we were involved, or maybe they were sent to investigate who could have ended the epidemic. I can't tell if it is really one of the shadows we met before but it felt like the ones we saw in Lute.

So now we were driving back the last of the monsters that were trying to expand their territory while being watched by a shadow. I realize that the shadows likely work for the queen, or at least the ones that feel the same do, and Malty doesn't seem to like them but I still don't want to let them see my usual fighting skills. Not that I needed any of them for this, in fact the monsters made for decent combat training for Blake's human form, which she seems to be starting to prefer for fighting smaller enemies. She also seems to be developing her own fighting style, it has similarities to some of the ones that I showed her but is also unique. I think I should find out if there is transforming footwear, because the fact that she is barefoot while performing spin kicks and cutting monsters with knives kind of throws of the aesthetic of her look. She agreed and asked if there was a way to have a blade pop out of the front. She really would be perfect for a spy movie. I also took the opportunity to practice acting like a shielder, aka blocking enemy attacks and distracting them. It's a difficult role for me due to my instincts telling me to dodge rather than block and thin presence making them ignore me.

Once we finished with the monsters in the area Blake turned back into her queen form and we headed back to the village. I remember asking the slave merchant if a filolial could carry three people, filolial queens can. As we went down the road back to the village, we stumbled upon a group of wild filolials. Blake stopped and looked at them, while the three wild filolials turned and looked at Blake. I think this is the first time we've encountered any wild filolials, every other filolial we've seen has been pulling someone's cart or in a stable.

"Gah?!" They looked about as surprised as a filolial could look then took off running, leaving behind a young blue-haired girl that had been sitting with them. Why was there a girl with wild filolials? She didn't look like she had wings so I doubt she was a filolial queen that could transform like Blake. The girl reached out her hand after the running filolials. She seemed to be wearing expensive clothes and wore her hair in pigtails. Definitely not just some village girl. I also felt some sort of disturbance from the shadow that was following us.

"Did they seem surprised to see me?" (Blake)

"Maybe it's because of how rare filolial queens are supposed to be. Let alone one that shows her true form openly." (Seb)

The young girl turned to look at us and her eyes shot open when she saw Blake. She came running over while the three of us climbed off.

"Wow, are you really a Filolial?" (young girl)

"That's what people tell me." (Blake)

"And you can talk. It's always been my dream to talk with a Filolial! I hope we can be friends."

"Friends?" Does Blake not know what friends are? I suppose she has only been alive for a bit over a month and the topic never really came up in conversation. Plus she picked up on most things so fast that all I've ever tried to teach her is fighting techniques. She even learned to read before I knew she wanted to.

"Yeah, friends. What's your name?"

"I'm Blake."

"Nice to meet you Blake, I'm Mel."

"Hello Mel." Blake seemed a little confused as to what was going on, but Mel's next action made that irrelevant.

"Yay. Blake, want to eat this?" She pulled out some dried meat; the shortest path to a filolial's heart is through its stomach.

"That looks good, thanks." Blake started eating the meat. I guess she got tired of fruit since most of the monsters we fought out here have been poisonous and therefore inedible.

It wouldn't be a bad thing for Blake to learn to make friends with children her own age, well, apparent age. Children her own age would be infants.

"Blake, we're going to head back to the village. Be back by sundown, ok?"

"Got it."

As we walked Seb asked me, "Do you have any idea who she is?"

"Dressed in fine clothes and her hair is well cared for. I'm guessing the daughter of a noble or maybe a well off merchant. Can't tell why she is out here alone though. Unless it has something to do with the filolials that ran off. You have any ideas?"

"I agree with your observations, but I find it odd how fixated she seems to be with filolials." (Seb)

"Is Blake safe with her?" (Talia)

"Blake can take care of herself. Besides, making a friend may be good for her."

As we continued back to the village I noticed that the shadow stayed with Blake and Mel. Whoever this Mel girl is, she is important enough for the shadow to watch her instead of me. I considered leaving a clone to watch them, but Blake is surprisingly good at finding them, even with [Presence Manipulation]. I wonder if it has to do with imprinting.

When we got back I helped the village doctor make medicine for those still recovering. I have skills that enhance the quality, but I only know how to make intermediate level medicines. The doctor showed me the recipe he used for a high level drug that was effective against the disease, but it seems with my current skill level I can barely manage to keep it above normal quality. Maybe I would get better with practice, but I hope there isn't a need.

Later, I was working on an accessory at the inn when Blake came back, in human form. "Master Kousuke, I made a friend."

"You mean that girl from earlier, Mel was it?"

"Yup. She's actually been to a lot of the same places as us and some we haven't been."

"So she travels a lot." Sounds like the merchant's daughter theory is more likely than the noble one.

"Yeah, but she also knows a lot about what filolials are usually like and a lot of old legends." Blake really seems excited about her new friend. "But when she was playing with filolials in the fields, she got separated from her escorts and they brought her to that field, then we found her."

"Separated from her escorts?" (Seb) That's another point for her being nobility.

"The filolials brought her to that field?" (Talia)

I looked up from the accessory I was working on and saw Mel standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry to trouble you at this hour. Blake said that you would be heading to the capitol soon, and I was wondering if you might be willing to let me accompany you." Mel performed an elegant bow while asking for help. Plus it was true that we needed to head back to get Erhard to upgrade our equipment before the next wave and so I could ask about the star by the level indicator.

"Just so I know I understand this. You were traveling, then got separated from your group and those filolials we saw earlier brought you to that field. So now you need to get to the capitol, which I'm guessing was your original destination. And based on your attire and mannerisms I'm also guessing that you either come from nobility or are the daughter of someone wealthy. Is that about right?"

"That is correct, I am from nobility, but please just call me Mel. As for my how I got in this situation… we were taking a rest, but when I saw the filolials I just couldn't help myself." She seemed a bit embarrassed about her actions that left her in this predicament. "As I understand it you are some kind of saint and will be heading to Melromarc Castle. Would you please allow me to accompany you?"

She seems sincere, and if we don't help all it would do is hurt my reputation. I still can't let people think I help for free though. "We normally charge for transportation. I can understand if you don't have any money on you right now due to your odd circumstances, but when we get to the capitol I'm not going to let you skimp out on it."

"Of course, father will be happy to pay." She didn't even need to hear a price. Either her family is very wealthy, or she is familiar how much such fees would normally cost, probably both.

"Alright then, we'll be leaving in the morning so let's all get some sleep."

"Thank you very much, Phantom Saint."

Morning came and most of the villagers came out to see us off. As we left I thought about how many people survived, how many fled, the number of fresh graves, and how many more there would have been if we hadn't come. The next time I see Ren, I am going to make sure he knows what happened here, even if it wasn't entirely his fault, he needs to know that there are consequences for his actions. Same for Motoyasu and Itsuki, they can't just follow their instincts and let someone else worry about the aftermath.

"Ms. Mel, we never got the chance for proper introductions. I am Sebastian, though I mostly go by Seb now, while it may be a short journey, I look forward to our travels together."

"I'm Raphtalia, but feel free to just call me Talia."

"A pleasure to meet you, Seb, Talia, I'm sure we'll have a good time together. And there's no need to call me Ms. just Mel will be fine."

"You may want to hold onto something Mel. Most people have trouble handling Blake's speed." I warned her before telling Blake, "time to go."

As Blake accelerated pulling the wagon and three, now empty, carts behind her, Mel started to shout. "Ahahaha! Blake is so fast!" She looked like a kid riding a rollercoaster for the first time. I also felt the shadow try to follow but quickly fall behind.

"I can go faster, but if I do we'll lose the carts." It actually happened once, and, much to Talia's relief, Blake hasn't tried to go full speed with multiple carts since.

"Too bad."

"Well, I might be able to if the carts were full of fruit."

"We're still in the diseased area, I'm not sure they would grow at all, let alone produce something edible." I didn't want to try mixing bioplant with dragon corpse toxins. We were lucky that the fruit we brought lasted as long as it did.

"What are you talking about?" (Mel)

"You'll find out later." I'm not sure I want her finding out everything about the bioplant seeds, especially how I modified them using the shield's powers.

That night we set up camp as usual. We had passed through a town and bought some supplies and ingredients for medicine but didn't sell much, we also let them know that the source of the disease was gone, which was already a rumor. At our current pace, we would reach the capitol before noon tomorrow. Mel was surprised to see how fast the bioplant grew and produced food, as well to see that I killed it afterwards. I was able to satisfy her by saying that it came from a plant created to end famines but that could turn dangerous if left unchecked and that I had to stop such a plant that nearly destroyed a village in the southwest. Later she and Blake were playing and Blake showed off some of her more impressive looking fighting techniques.

Eventually it was time to sleep and Mel was excited when she learned that we tend to sleep against Blake's queen form. As I was starting to fall asleep I heard some rustling in Blake's feathers near Mel. Or rather where I though Mel had been until I looked and saw she wasn't. I still felt her presence, but now it was coming from inside Blake? Then I saw an arm stick out of her feathers and toss out Mel's clothes. I blinked. Did Mel climb into Blake's feathers and strip? Sigh. If she is fully clothed in the morning I won't mention it to anyone. I returned to my position of leaning into Blake and prayed that Mel would wake up and get dressed before anyone else saw. I also made a mental note to have Blake wash her feathers the next time we come to a large enough lake or river.

AN: Not too different from the way things go down in canon, I know, but with the way the characters are there wasn't really any other way for it to go.

RedBurningDragon: Wyndia gets caught and sold into slavery about a week after Ren kills the dragon (Reprise WN) and before the corpse starts to cause problems.