Chapter 37
Aloe thought she would be able to figure something out… but she couldn't. Without her friends, she couldn't really feel safe in this mortal city. She couldn't help but feel judging stares from the ordinary folk. Hence, once it became a bit too unbearable, she ducked into an alley and stretched her wings. Taking to the air, she found a freeing feeling as she went across the roofs of the city. She could feel all her worries fall to the wayside as she soared through the air. Truly liberating.
"Stop, thief!"
The shout tore her out of her reverie. Steadying herself into a hover, she turned around to try and find the source of the voice. She spotted a cat girl, Okayu if she wasn't mistaken, chasing a cloaked figure with pink hair peeking out from below the hood. They nimbly jumped across the roofs of the buildings.
Making her decision, she flew over with intent on intercepting the fleeing thief. She flew above the chase scene, making sure she couldn't be spotted. Then, she suddenly swooped down and flew right at the runner, slamming into their stomach. With a groan, they got knocked onto the roof. The hood had slipped off, revealing Spade Echo.
"Ah! Thanks for the help," said the cat girl as she caught up with them. She immediately slapped a pair of manacles on Spade Echo's wrists.
"Uhm… no problem," the succubus muttered hesitantly. As the urban hunter hauled the thief away, she noticed a small pouch in the crack of the roof. Glancing at the leaving duo, she reached down and picked up the pouch. Making another glance, she flew off, intending to examine the pouch later.
"Huh, looks easy enough," muttered Polka as she hammered on a nail.
When Fubuki brought them to the shrine, it looked like it had seen better days. It was housed inside a simple hut with a wooden fence around it. Several wooden archways bordering the path through the forest leading up it. The fox girl then sent them around to help spruce up the place. The fennec fox girl was asked to help replace parts of the wooden fence. Lamy was asked to help clean the shrine and the hut itself. Botan and Nene were asked to repaint the archways, or gates as the fox girl called them. Some wood blocks, paint jugs, brushes, and buckets of soap water were prepared by some attendants and set beside the entrance of the shrine with some tools.
They quickly got down to work. Everyone had an attendant or two to help them with their tasks. The monk cut apart the blocks to fashion new posts for the fence. The cleric took time to use Mending on torn cloth, and the rice paper walls and doors. She then worked with her helpers to clean the hut, both the floors and the wooden parts of the walls getting wiped down with soapy water. Meanwhile, the archer and the bard painted the gates with their helpers making sure the ladders were steady.
And what was the fox girl doing at the same time? The snow-white girl had vanished elsewhere as after assigning the attendants to them, she disappeared. However, the party was busy with their respective tasks and didn't pay too much attention to her absence.
But, when they finished, it was a different story.
Aloe ran into the house and slammed the door. Towa glanced at her for a moment before going back to her book. The succubus slumped to her knees and produced the pouch she picked up. Undoing the strings, she poured out the contents. Her eyes shone when she found a few pearls and a gleaming diamond.
"Oh… this must have been Spade's stuff," she mused inwardly with glee. Then she frowned, "Hmm, did she put it in the crack on purpose? Sneaky thief. If she didn't have this on her, she could pretend to be innocent."
"I hope you didn't bring any guards here during your larceny," stated the half-devil as she continued to read.
"I didn't steal anything. I just picked this up after someone else stole it," she explained as she got to her feet.
"Well, I suppose it isn't stealing if you aren't caught," stated the warlock as the succubus made her way over and sat in the adjoining chair, "I just hope the thief you took that from didn't decide to find you."
"If she does..." she stated as her eyes gleamed an otherworldly glow, "I can just… use my charms to get out of it."
"Just don't get caught."
"I know, I know," she muttered before yawning. Flying, as free as it feels, is a little tiring after the rush fades away. She slowly drifts off to sleep after a while.
"Thank you for the assistance!" chorused the attendants as they bowed to the party of four.
"Thank you for your help!" they replied in unison.
Both parties then parted, waving as they did so.
"Where's Fubuki?" asked Polka as her head looked around, trying to see if she could spot the fox girl cleric.
"Hmm, she disappeared, didn't she?" mused Botan, "You know… I'm curious too. Where did she go?"
"Let's try and find out then," Nene declared as she stepped off the beaten path. Their interest peaked, the rest went after her.
After a few minutes of walking around, they heard the sounds of fighting. They quickly hurried forward and hid behind a large tree. In a very small clearing, they found four Fubuki's and of all people, Korone. It looked like they were sparring. The Fubuki's were all attacking at once while the dog girl was expertly fending them off with punches and kicks.
"Woah," sounded the fennec fox monk softly in awe. One Fubuki got punched through the chest and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Another got kicked in the face and disappeared in a similar way.
The remaining two Fubuki's dashed away, putting some distance between them and the bounty hunter. One of them then chanted, "Wind and shadow form around me. Obscure their sight with more to see."
"Not again!" shouted the dog girl as she charged at them. The non-chanting fox tried getting in the way but a punch and a kick later, became a puff of smoke.
To no avail. Three more Fubuki's puffed into existence. Two immediately threw punches, which were blocked by Korone. As they chased after her, she kicked both of them in the face, smoking them. She then flew forward, sending a flying kick into the third mirror image and dispelling it as well. Sidestepping the last Fubuki, she grabbed the kicking leg and threw her to the ground, followed by kicking her head. Strangely enough, the fox girl was uninjured.
"Bye bye," she said before shimmering out of existence.
The dog girl blinked a few times in disbelief, and then shouted, "Hey! Where did you go!?"
"So… why are you here?"
The party of four spun around and found the fox cleric standing behind them with a questioning look.
"Erm… ah-ha, you see, we were looking for you," stammered Nene in embarrassment, "We, er, we finished... cleaning up the shrine."
"Oooh, thank you for your help," she stated with a happy smile.
"There you are!" cheered Korone as she came round the tree, ready to fight. She then blinked when she caught sight of the party there. "Oh, hey guys. How's everything?" she greeted them with a big grin, "Oh, hi Polka,"
"Erm, hi..." replied the fennec fox girl as she waved hesitantly.
"Alright, Korone. I think we need to put our sparring on hold," stated Fubuki, "I need to check on the shrine. Please help them out of the forest."
"Okay! See you next time," she replied.
Waving goodbye to each other, they went their separate ways. It wasn't long before they found the path again, leading to the main road to the city.
"I have to go now, see you next time," said the bounty hunter cheerfully as she went the opposite way.
"Bye!" replied the party of four as they separated, heading back to the city.
"Ah, and done," declared Lamy before handing the report in to Miyabi, "Here it is."
"Thank you, Lamy. Well written as always," praised the clerk as he filed the piece of paper away.
After leaving the guild house, they headed straight for Robel's, meeting up with Aloe on the way and entering together.
"So, how was your day?" Aloe asked Nene as they sat down.
"Ah, a lot of painting for me and Botan," the bard started, as the half-snow elf told their usual orders to the waitress, "Polka replaced their fence while Lamy cleaned up the shrine. It wasn't as big as the one on the island though. I think you should have come along though. The area around the shrine might have been off-limits for you but you might have been allowed to paint the gates. They are these giant wooden arches that lead the way to the shrine."
"Huh… maybe," mused the succubus, who then shrugged, "Eh, doesn't matter much."
"Ah, what have you been doing then?" asked the fennec fox girl with interest.
"Well..." the former started hesitantly, not knowing if she should say anything. Eventually, she did, "I didn't do much. A bit of flying over the city… then I helped to stop a thief Okayu was chasing. It was Spade Echo."
"Ooh, nice!" stated the lion girl with a thumbs-up, "So she is finally going to be thrown in the goal?"
"Er… I hope so?" she replied as she moved her hands under the table.
"Enough talking about thieves. Let us eat," declared Lamy as their waitress came back with their food.
"Aye!" cheered the other four.
After a rather cheery dinner, Nene, Botan, and Aloe left, leaving Polka and Lamy at Robel's to continue drinking. The lion girl went back to her room to sleep while the bard accompanied the succubus back to Towa's house.
"You don't have to do this, you know?" the fiend asked, the both of them walking slowly as to let their food settle.
"I know. I was thinking of meeting this Towa person," her friend stated, "Maybe I can learn something new from her."
"Not sure if you want to once you meet her," muttered the succubus.
"That doesn't sound promising at all," quipped Anya.
"You be quiet," Aloe retorted.
Someone then bumped into her. "Hey!" she yelped as she steadied herself before walking away.
"Weird, why did they bump into you?" asked Nene as she looked behind them. A cloaked figure continued walking away..
"No idea… wait, where's my pouch?" she suddenly asked as she started patting around her belt.
The figure suddenly booked it.
"Stop thief!" shouted the bard and both of them chased after the fleeing figure, with the succubus using her running start to go airborne.
She went to the rooftop level and flew after the thief, who was leading the two on a merry chase across several streets. Suddenly, she turned into an alley two turns later, ran into a dead end.
"Hah! We got you now!" shouted Nene as she tried speeding up.
Much to their astonishment, the thief ran up the wall. After a few feet, the thief sunk their fingers into the cracks and started scaling upwards.
"Oh, no, you don't!" shouted Aloe angrily as she slammed into the thief's back and grabbed them by the neck.
"Argh! Get off damn it!" they yelled as their hood slipped off.
"Huh, you again," the fiend stated as she flew down to the lore bard and held Spade Echo against the nearest wall. She then ripped the pouch away with her free hand, saying, "Thank you, very much."
"Guah! Give that back! That isn't yours!" protested the thief as she struggled against her grip.
"Huh, funny, coming from a thief," snarked the succubus as she returned the pouch to her belt.
"I have a reason, stupid devil," the pink-haired thief retorted.
"Then, tell us why," stated the bard.
"Nene, I don't-"
"I want to know," she interrupted her friend as she came over and placed her hand over Aloe's shoulder, "Please. Let her say her piece."
After a few seconds, the succubus sighed and muttered, "Fine." Then, she released the thief.
Gingerly rubbing her neck, she started as she turned around and leaned against the wall, "I steal to help the place I used to live at. That orphanage you visited all those days ago? I'm an anonymous donor that helps to keep the place running. The people there are nice and really care for them. They never knew I got involved in bad company. After coming of age and striking out on my own, I decided to go up from pickpocketing and lost kid scams, I used what I learned to get into burgling. I'm pretty good if I do say so myself. I may enjoy being a thief, but I also remember where I came from. If anything, keeping the kids well off there means less future competition for me." She said the last sentence with a wry grin.
Silence.
"So, what are you two going to do now?" she asked further, "If anything, you two should give me that pouch back."
"No… I don't think we should," drawled out Aloe with a frown, "I 'found' that pouch by myself. Doesn't matter if you stole it or not. Finders keepers, little girl."
"Spade Echo… are you going to sell off whatever is inside the pouch and give it to the orphanage?" asked Nene.
The thief quickly nodded and replied, "Most of my money goes there… well, after paying my expenses of course, a girl's gotta eat."
"Aloe… return the pouch," the bard decided.
The succubus frowned. After her friend gestured to the thief, she made an exasperated sound and pulled off the pouch. Before handing it back, she pulled out the diamond and a pearl, and tossed the pouch at the thief.
"Aloe..."
"Look, I understand she is doing this for the orphanage and for herself," she said exasperatedly as she watched the thief run off with the rest of her goods, "This is me holding back from going fire and brimstone on her. Not to mention I know there are a few spells that need these kinds of things." Saying the last sentence, she holds up the two things she took from the pouch. "This way, I can at least satisfy my needs and actually help my friends that I rather not turn away to satisfy my needs," she ended, her face almost red during her tirade.
Silence.
"...You feel the need to do bad things?" Nene asked hesitantly.
Aloe sighed and said, "You do realize I'm a succubus summoned here without fulfilling my summoner's needs or wishes. And I am stuck here until I am killed or that idiot actually asks me to fulfill something. And while I'm here, I have needs too. So, I'm sorry if this… makes you dislike me, then I-"
Shocked by the interruption of Nene's hug, she asked, "What… are you doing?"
"I won't dislike you or hate you or whatever. You're my friend and that's that," the bard stated with a grin, "So… if you absolutely have to do… something bad, I can keep a secret."
"You… you are… alright with this?" she muttered in disbelief but continued with a smile, "You are unbelievable."
"You can say that again," quipped Anya, "My new master has a real big heart it seems."
"Erm, 'master' doesn't sound appropriate," said Nene with a blush.
"Well, you are my new owner, why not call you master?" the dagger told her, sounding confused.
"That… nevermind, I guess you can call me what you want," she relented, suddenly feeling quite tired.
"Okay, master."
"Not in public, please."
AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.
Right, we have interesting times ahead of us. Aloe has her own event. The other four have their own. Gets to help catch Spade Echo with Okayu. Shrine gets tidied up and a new face. Finds hastily made hiding place and takes the stolen valuables, then goes back homestay to sleep it off. Finds Fubuki and Korone sparring in a clearing. Party meets up for dinner. After dinner was over, Botan goes back to sleep, Lamy and Polka continue drinking (of course :P), and finally, Nene, Anya, and Aloe encounter Spade again. An exchange of valuables happened and Spade gets sent away.
Now, keep in mind that traditionally, succubi and incubi are neutral evil. It's in their nature and they can't run away from it. Aloe is in the same boat, where even if her student self is still being influenced by good people in the party, she still needs an outlet to do some evil stuff. Hence why the occasional evil act in the past and her current actions. On the other hand, we get a little more history I am putting forth for Spade Echo. Not fully evil, not fully good either. Chaotic Neutral. She'd rather do things her own way.
Next chapter, well, I have to plan it out. Suffice to say, I'm not done with the mountain setting just yet. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.