Chapter 10
The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The plants all around were healthy. The animals were active and about. Risu was taking Baloo along to explore the forest. He had run after a few dormice but only caught one. They found a honeybee hive but it was too high for him to grab. She promised to get him some later. Then, he noticed a rabbit and loped after it as well. As it tried to dig up its hole, the dream druid noticed a strange glow coming from the part of the forest near the swamp.
"Come on, Baloo. Let's go exploring there," she said as she coaxed the owlbear cub to follow her. It warbled, looking a little sad that he couldn't get the rabbit, but he listened as he knew he could always hunt another.
The duo made their way over to the strange glow. She came to a dry, grassless clearing that had a raised hill with an opening going into the earth. The glow came from a floating driftglobe. She gasped as she found the petrified figures of Nene's party. Exclaiming in surprise and concern, she ran over to examine them. She also noticed nine cockatrice carcasses strewn about and guessed what had happened here. She sucked in air through her teeth as she imagined the situation that led to this… and she realized that someone was missing.
"Botan!? Are you there?" she called out, wondering where the archer was. She walked past Baloo, who was busy tearing strips off one of the carcasses and gulping it down.
She got near the cave and noticed an unmoving body sleeping in the entrance. She hurried over and knelt down the lion girl. Her mane and clothes were encrusted with dried earth and face marked with tear tracks. The druid shook her gently and she eventually awoke.
"Risu…? RISU!" yelled out the archer and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Lamy! Nene! The others! Where-"
"Shh, calm down," she shushed as she hugged the dirty lion girl and pat her on the back. When she became calm enough, she asked what happened. After a minute of explaining, she took in a deep breath and said, "I will have to get the elders for this. Can you take care of them until I bring them here?" Getting worried nods, she told the lion girl as she got up, "And sit yourself in the sun. you look horrible. And take that globe back. It's too bright!"
She ran out of the cave and shouted as she passed by, "Baloo, let's go! We need to get help!"
The owlbear cub looked from the carcass, which had almost been stripped clean by that time, and loped after her.
"Botan! Thank the gods you're safe!" exclaimed Polka as she jumped over the archer. One by one, the girls were restored from their petrified state by three druid elders from Risu's circle. There was a lot of hugging and saying thanks for saving them from their predicament.
"Well, this is a first," muttered one as he restored the succubus.
"Thank you for helping my friends, Elder Kyshyr," stated the dream druid as she bowed.
"Ah, no thanks is required. The circle exists to help all who require guidance," replied another elder druid with leaves growing in his hair and beard and a pair of short antlers growing from his head. His hand had a firm grasp on his staff that had a glowing green orb wrapped in gnarled, knotted wood.
"Still, wiping out these cockatrices are a bit too extreme," stated the third one, "Thining the flock would probably be the better option."
"Hard to do that when all of them suddenly come after you," muttered Botan with a frown, evidently disagreeing.
"Still-"
"Enough. What's done is done. And I believe the experience is a lesson enough for the young lady here," stated Elder Kyshyr, halting the argument from continuing, "Come, let us return to the circle. I'm sure there are other tasks that need minding."
After seeing Risu, Baloo, and the elders off, they set about gathering the carcasses. Other than the one the owlbear cub feasted on, they got eight overall. Then, with Polka's urging, they searched the cockatrice's lair. Inside, they found nests decorated with silver pieces and small gems. They gathered as much as they could find and then made their way back to the city. By the time they reached Robel's, it was evening.
"Hello. From the guild, right?" greeted the bartender jovially as they approached, "I'm Roberu, owner of Robel's. How can I help?"
"Hello, we are here to talk to the chef. We finished her request," stated Nene during her greeting.
He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "She actually went with it? Hmm." Then, he said aloud, "Well, go on in then. She should be expecting you."
Thanking him, they headed through the door next to the bar and into the kitchen. There, they found the lady with the two hats busy slaughtering and butchering chickens while two other ladies were busy peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables. The lead chef stopped to look at them quizzically while the rest continued on with their jobs.
"Erm, hello? We have cockatrice meat for you?" stated the bard hesitantly.
Amazement flashed on the lady's face before a great big smile appeared, "You answered my request! I'm so glad!" she exclaimed as she ran over to give all of them a big hug, much to their surprise. When she was done, she clapped a few times and asked, "Ooh, where are they?"
Botan then laid out the carcasses on the table. They were tied together by their feet. She got a shine in her eyes as she looked over them. "Amazing! Simply amazing!" she exclaimed. She proceeded to hug them again and thank them profusely. She then proceeded to usher them out of the kitchen, citing the need to be creative.
Roberu chuckled and said to them, "Well, I'm sure she's very happy."
"Who is she anyway?" asked Lamy, her eyes brimming with curiosity, "She is rather excitable for a chef."
"She called herself Kiara when we met all months ago," he explained as he reminisced, "She was quite eager to start and impressed me as well as my regulars with her food. So, I let her continue running the kitchen."
"Well, her food Is really good," admitted Nene.
"Right. And I have your reward right here," he stated as he handed a large bag to them, "Try not to spend it all in one place… or maybe just spend them here tonight, eh?"
They just smiled politely and thanked him before leaving for the guild house. There, they were greeted by Miyabi.
"Welcome back. I take it that the request is done?" he greeted with a welcoming smile. Getting nods from them, he then said, "That's great. So, are you going to take it easy today or are you taking another quest?"
They looked at each other and Nene said, "I'm not sure… maybe take it easy for now. We did get… turned to stone overnight… eh heh..."
"Ah… I'll leave you to it then," he replied uncomfortably and went back to his stack of papers.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Lamy as they went to the side room, "If I must be honest, I do not feel any different."
"Not us. Botan," stated the bard as they took a seat, "How are you feeling?"
The lion girl stared at the table, unable to meet their eyes. "I guess I'm alright..." she muttered. Polka reached over and patted her hand. She smiled wryly.
"I guess not," she admitted with a sigh, "I saw everyone turn to stone and I couldn't do a thing."
"It wasn't your fault," pointed out Aloe, "Those monster chickens were just too many."
She sighed and said, "I could see that… but… I could have done something. I wanted to do something more. And… I felt something surge within me." Then, she told them what happened when Lamy became petrified. The anger and the rage she felt. It didn't sound like anything they have ever heard of before.
'The door to the side room opened and several others took up another table. A large, dark-skinned barbarian with a large horn from the side of his head, a black-haired jackal man, a red-headed girl with white streaks in her hair dressed in dark leathers, and surprisingly, Rosalyn. They chit-chatted while the unknown girl then took out a deck of cards and started dealing.
"So, what do we do? Do we try and find out about Botan's condition?" asked Nene, bringing the party back to the issue at hand.
"But who can we ask?" spoke up the monk, "I… the only one I can even think of asking is Lord Aruran, but..."
"Come to think of it, we hardly see him here anyway," pointed out Lamy, "All we see is Miyabi."
"Probably doing whatever nobles do all those other times," quipped the succubus.
The door to the side room opened again. Risu and Moona immediately headed over to the party. "Halo, halo," greeted the druid excitably, "Botan, Botan, you need to come with us."
"Eh?" sounded the archer, blinking in surprise.
"Ya, ya, the elders want to do a check-up on you," she informed them, "So, please follow."
"She got a request from the elders of her circle," the aasimar bard added, "Seeing who asked her, I have a feeling she has an obligation to do it. It would be better to come along and find out what."
The archer looked at the others in the party with uncertainty.
"Go on," urged the monk, "They are the ones who helped look you over right? So, maybe they can figure out what happened."
"I guess..."
"Don't worry! It'll all be fine!" assured Risu as she pulled Botan out of her seat and out of the room, the lion girl blankly following after her.
"Sorry about that. We'll get her back soon," apologized Moona before following after the young druid.
The rest of the party watched them go. At the other table, the barbarian roared with laughter while Rosalyn shouted in despair. The other two sniggered at her misfortune.
"Hng, you know, enough moping," declared Aloe as she slammed the table, "Let's go to Robel's and find out Kiara made a dish out of those monster chickens."
They came across Roberu sighing in annoyance.
"Hello, ladies," he greeted them, "Unfortunately, the kitchen is closed so if you are here for eats, you'll have to go somewhere else."
"Eh? What happened?" asked Nene.
"Huh, the bird brain made a dish with the cockatrices and sampled it," he informed them, "Then, a few minutes before dinner rush, she gets a stomach ache. Absolutely ridiculous."
A mix of sighs and groans erupted from the party. "So… since this kitchen is closed, any other place you'd recommend for food?"
"Eh… there's Farun's bar a few roads down," he stated with a shrug, "A lot more rowdier than my place, but the food is just as good."
"Alright, thanks a lot, Roberu," replied the bard gratefully. The bartender waved them off as he went on to serve another order.
They made their way to Farun's bar. True to Roberu's word, it was louder than they expected to be, but the food was certainly just as delicious. Unexpectedly, Polka and Lamy got drunk… and so the other two had to carry them. They passed a cat girl and a dog girl on the way out, heading straight for the guild house.
The next morning, the cleric and the monk nursed hangovers while the other two waited for them to recover.
"How has your landlady been treating you, by the way?" asked Nene as the two sat at the table.
"She's… strange..." Aloe muttered as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "The first few days, Towa was constantly trying to get information out of me about succubi. For being a half-devil, she's very nosy. But, after getting all she could, she just shut herself off from me and left me to my devices. Then, it's been alright, I guess."
"Uh… good for you?" guessed the bard with a shrug, "At least, you're fine now… and getting used to living here."
"So-so," she muttered as she slumped back in her seat, "Could be worse, I guess."
The door then opened and Botan walked through calmly.
"Welcome back!" the bard exclaimed as she rushed over to give a hug.
"Ah, hi, hi, hello Nene," the lion girl replied with a smile. A relieved smile.
"I'm back."
After the two had recovered from their hangovers, the party convened in the side room and awaited Botan's story.
"Ah, where do I start… Remember the werewolf? And my journey to the fey-wild?" askd Botan. Getting nods from everyone, she continued, "Well… after going through the checkup… they found out that the lycanthropy has been altered. Now, it has become a part of me in a different way. I have… a somewhat-controlled transformation. And I need to practice using it to gain better control over it."
She then clapped her hands once and said, "So! Did anyone pick a request yet?"
Nene shook her head, "Not really. We were waiting for you. We could go now if you like."
The party immediately got up and headed straight for the notice board. After a while, the archer picked out a request and brought it over to the counter.
"Oh? Well, what a strange request you picked up," stated the guild clerk as he read the missive, glancing at the party, "You want to… entertain the children at the local orphanage. That's a nice thing to do… but I expected this to be taken by the bard duo, not your party. What brought this on?"
The rest of the party then looked to the archer, who felt a little uncomfortable with their stares but answered anyway, "I thought that… we needed to take it easy for a while, so I thought that this was something we could do together."
A grin then developed on the fennec fox girl's face. "A circus performance!" she exclaimed loudly as she started jumping excitedly.
The lion girl smirked and continued, "I thought you'd like it."
"Very well, I'll put this as taken then," stated Miyabi with an amused smile, "Alright, I'll write down the address and directions. You can talk with the owner of the building and settle on a date and time for the performance."
The very excited monk eagerly waited for the address, which she quickly snatched and ran out of the guild house. The rest of the party looked on in incredulousness. "She'll be back," stated the archer, though not as confident as she sounded, "We better wait in the room for her."
And so they did. Several hours later, the fennec fox girl showed up. Smiling brightly, she sat down and detailed her plans. The children there were young and have yet to become of age, and so still found fascination with nursery rhymes and folk tales. After telling them their roles in this little project of hers, everyone agreed and went to do their tasks. Over the next two days, they got to work.
Botan made up a leather suit made of several skins. Her needlework could have used some improvement, but with Aloe's help, she made something that covered her entire body from the neck down. After she put it on, she looked like a real lion. She also made something for the cleric, for the character she will be playing. It was a full-body suit this time, complete with fake ears. She also had lines to memorize.
As well as getting measurements for the suit, Lamy spent her time going over her lines. The script was written by the bard, who knew of this children's fable since young. Nene, as well as writing out the script, had to figure out the proper accompanying song for the little play. Polka had lines too, as she had elected herself to be the narrator of the story. More memorizing of the story. By the time, the two days were up, they were as ready as they could ever be.
AN: Hello, readers. Welcome to the next chapter. And now, Risu saves the day. Everyone is safe and sound. Then, we see the aftermath of the monster chicken escapade. Kiara... truly becomes a bird brain. At least the stomachache isn't lethal. Then, we get a request that has no danger whatsoever. Why? I say... why not?
Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.
Omake: Reaped Visitations
The sound of vomiting gurgled all around the water bucket. Kiara heaved as she pushed herself back on the bed. The bucket smelled all to the high Hells but she didn't feel like moving. It felt like she threw up her entire stomach out of her body.
"Ah, again... maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much of it," she mused with a wry smile. Then, she heard the bucket being dragged on the floor. She glanced to the side and silently gasped.
"Really? I thought you were tougher than this?" said a familiar pink-haired reaper.
"Calli!" she exclaimed hoarsely as she threw herself weakly at Calliope, only to fall short and plant her face on the floor.
The reaper shook her head, pinched her nose, and said, "Really? I actually deigned to visit you and you do this? You're lucky I pushed the bucket away or you'd be drinking it."
"I knew you cared," she groaned out as she lifted her head up to stare at her beloved.
"Right..." trailed off the buxom reaper as she pulled a clipboard from out of thin air. "Huh, cockatrice drumsticks... of all the shitty things to do. What do you have to say for yourself, Kiara?"
"Umm... make sure to clean it properly?" she guessed.
"Of all the... never mind... get well soon, shitty bird," the reaper told her as she disappeared.
"Ah, he, he, sure Calli. Anything for you," the chef cooed as she hauled herself back to her bed.