Chapter 47
She gestured a hug with her arms and said, "Welcome back, Pekora."
The princess ran and hugged her mother. She then looked up into her mother's eyes and said, "Mama, why are you here? You usually don't come to peko me at the workshop."
"Isn't it right for me to be worried about my dear daughter?" the queen chuckled, "Besides, I have been wondering what you have been up to, peko."
The artificer made a face and groaned out, "Noooo, please don't say that! That is my thing! Not yours."
The rest of the party giggled, drawing the queen's attention. "Oh, my," she said as she placed a hand on her cheek, "You have friends with you."
"They are my customers," the rabbit girl corrected, "I was peko to help them with something."
"Ah," she sounded in understanding, "Very well. I shall leave you to your business. Do make time to visit, my dear."
She then gracefully walked past the party, stepping out of the door and closing it gently.
After a moment of silence, Polka quipped, "That was unexpected."
Pekora sighed and muttered, "No kidding." She then perked up and said, "Anyway, what peko need help with, my customers?"
"Well, since you seem to know your way with enchanting stuff," started Nene as she pulled out the sentient dagger, "I was wondering if you knew who made Anya?"
The rabbit girl blinked and took the dagger in her hands, the weapon suddenly greeting her with a, "Hi!"
Her eyes went wide and after a moment, said, "Master Frisby's final creation?"
This perked up the others. "Was that my creator?" asked the blade.
"My teacher," she explained, "Great man. He went across the sea to try and peko new discoveries and enchantments. Lost contact with him. He brought Anya with him."
Silence.
"I'm sorry for your loss," spoke up the lore bard.
The artificer shook her head and replied, "He wouldn't want me or anyone else he knew to mourn him. Not long anyway. He long accepted that he was peko to pass away. He just hoped to find or discover something extraordinary to his name before he did." She caressed the blade, eliciting a giggle, and said with a sigh, "Unfortunately, looks like he didn't get to do it. At least I still have most of his notes with me. Hmm… peko I can find something..."
She placed Anya down on the worktable and went over to a bookshelf. Pulling out a book, she opened it and went through the text. As she did so, the others wandered and looked around the workshop. Nene and Aloe took a seat at the worktable. Botan sat at a drawing board. Lamy sat on the stairs. Polka walked up the stairs and at the turn, practiced balancing on her head while leaning against the wall.
After a few minutes of browsing, Pekora brought the book over and placed it on the worktable. Picking Anya up, she stated, "I think I can build off peko groundwork Master Frisby laid out inside you. Unfortunately, there are limitations. Being that you are a dagger, less can be added to you peko to a sword or armor."
"You want to add on to her?" asked Nene in surprise.
"Why not?" the artificer asked with a grin, "Master Frisby wanted to do it, just to see if it could be done. I peko try the same thing."
"I don't mind," quipped the sentient blade.
"In that case… sure, I would like to add on to Anya," decided the lore bard.
With a clap of her hands, the rabbit princess stated, "Well, all that's left peko is to pick what you want and get the ingredients. For a dagger, I can either reinforce the power inside Anya or make it possible for Anya to teleport back to your hand."
After a moment, the bard chose the teleporting option. Pekora then explained that the option is a bit more complicated to enchant but still possible. She needs essences or materials that can be used to, for lack of a better term, infuse the teleportation power into Anya. Daemon ichor, the more difficult essence to gather, or blink dog hides, the easier material.
"Eh? I rather we don't go after blink dogs," spoke up Botan, "From what I was told, if we kill the wrong one, we get cursed and hunted down by one of the Fey Courts."
"Well, I won't put a time limit on your request," reasoned the rabbit artificer, "However, I can't start without peko one. So, if you can find a source, just keep this in mind."
"Alright, thanks for the help, your highness," said Nene gratefully.
"Pardun? Call me Pekora," ordered the princess with a grin, "And no problem. I'm happy to help."
"Hmm, now that we have established what to do in the future," mused Lamy aloud, "But what do we do in the meantime?"
"Oh, you can go to the adventurer's guild," replied the artificer, "There's a local branch here."
"Wow, there is!?" exclaimed Polka in surprise, "Where is it?"
"I can show the way," she declared with a grin, "I'll even introduce you to the branch leader. She's my cousin."
"EH!?"
To their disbelief, it was quite true. Pekora led them to the local guild branch, which was to the southern side of the city. Upon entering, they spotted a beautiful maiden at the counter. Long, grey-silvery hair framed her face, and short, pretty peacock feathers blooming out of where her ears were. She wore a blue and white dress with green highlights and long flowing sleeves.
"Oh? Hello, Pekora. What brings you here?" she greeted.
"Hello, Reine! I bring some adventurers," the rabbit girl declared as she gestured at them.
"Hello. We are from the adventurer's guild on Lithos," said Nene as the others came up behind her.
"Ah, I see. Well, I received a notification from Lord Aruran about your party," she said with a smile, "It is nice to meet you. I am Reine Pavolia and welcome to the Gekko Branch Adventurer's Guild."
"Nice to meet you. Please take care of us!" the party exclaimed with smiles.
"Please take a look at the bulletin board if you wish to take a request," she stated as she gestured to the board nearby.
"Thank you very much," stated the bard before the party went over to look.
"Okay, see you peko, Reine," called out the artificer with a wave before leaving.
"Thank you for coming, Pekora," replied her cousin.
After looking through the requests, they came back to the counter and presented a piece of paper to her. Taking and reading it, she stated, "Hmm, mystery lights. Are you sure this is what you want?"
"Yup!" confirmed the lore bard.
"Alright, you can reach the ruins of this hamlet by going north out of the east gate," she stated, giving them the general directions to the place.
Thanking the helpful princess, they moved out. The road up was not as used as the others and so, no coverage for any carriages or carts. Unless you are a merchant or already have a mode of transport. They reached the forested outskirts of the hamlet without any interruptions and proceeded to look around before going in. It was evening around that time and as they walked up the path leading to the helmet, Lamy noticed a glint of steel from behind a tree.
She nudged Polka and whispered as she pointed to the tree, "Hey, do you see what I see?"
"Yeah… check it out?" the fennec fox girl whispered back after looking around.
Nodding, the cleric called out, "Everyone, wait a bit."
While the monk went to check on the glint, she told the rest what she noticed as they huddled together.
"Ambush?" asked Botan.
"I do not think so," she replied with a frown, "At least I think so. I just saw a glint."
Before anything else could be said, the fennec fox girl scrambled back to the group with a wide-eyed look on her face. "Help… so much dead," she muttered softly as she huffed heavily.
"Dead bodies?" asked Nene with concern.
"Creepy," she muttered as she tried to calm down, "Just a bit… ugh, give me a bit."
"Big question. Why are they hidden?" asked Aloe as she frowned, "I'm starting to wonder if the mystery lights aren't a mystery at all..."
"Bandits tricking people?" suggested the archer.
"Maybe."
"Hmph, then it falls to us to stop them," Lamy declared softly.
"Let's go then. Carefully," decided Nene, "Polka, can you scout ahead?"
"Okay, okay, phew," the monk wheezed out before ducking into the underbrush again.
While she was sneaking around, the other four decided to retreat a little down the path and waited. It took some time but eventually, she came back.
"Okay, so there are several houses but only three are still standing," she stated, "I saw eight people there. All armed one way or another, but only five of them have visible armor. One of the non-armored ones was studying a spellbook."
"Huh, so they have a mage with them," mused Aloe, "Difficult but if we take him out first, we can make this easier for us."
"I saw him in one of the uninhabitable houses. The furthest one from the path," she continued, "The others were all over the place. The armored ones were around a campfire while the other two seemed to be praying in another house."
"Praying? Are they priests?" muttered Lamy in surprise, "If that is so, why did they join the bandits?"
"Maybe they are related somehow?" guessed Nene with a shrug, "More importantly, do we bring them in or lay down the law ourselves?"
"I don't know… normally, we get attacked and we have no choice but to fight back and kill them," stated the cleric.
"Hmm, if they do wrong, they get punished. Doesn't matter who does the punishing," stated the archer, "Law of the tribe."
"I guess we can try?" muttered the monk, "But they already killed people. I also doubt they'd come quietly."
"Just wipe them off and be done with it," spoke up the succubus. As she got stares from the previous three, she mumbled to herself, "Just want it out there."
"Alright, in that case, we spare if we can," decided the lore bard, patting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "So… how do we do this?"
Eventually, Aloe, Polka, and Nene were sent forward to try and see if they could knock out some of the bandits before they did anything. So there they were, skulking around one of the more intact houses where the supposed priests were. They peered inside; holes on the floor, some holes in the walls, a large gaping hole in the roof as well as wrecked windows. The two priests seemed to have stopped praying and were now conversing with each other in the main room. It was a bit too far away and they were whispering. The group of three also didn't notice any visible religious iconography that showed what god they were affiliated to. One wore black robes while the other wore plain brown robes with a broken mask hanging from his belt.
"Okay, if we knock them out, we can stop them from healing," whispered the lore bard, "Then, maybe we can talk them into surrendering."
"Not unless they are that crazy to continue fighting," muttered the succubus. She then narrowed her eyes and continued, "That lady in the black robes feels off."
"Hey, I think we can climb in here," whispered the fennec fox monk as she pointed at a window she was looking through.
Aloe went through first, hovering through the window. Then, she and Polka helped Nene get inside. Finally, the monk climbed in as quietly as she could and they looked around. It was a small, personal room, probably for one person. A small table and chair were next to a bed, which creaked a little as the succubus stood on it when she pulled the lore bard in.
They almost panicked when they heard the creaking floorboards outside, signifying someone was heading to the room. Thinking quickly, the fiend ran to the door just as it was opening and the priest in the brown robes stepped inside.
"Look into my eyes," she said alluringly as she gazed at him, "Like what you see, handsome?"
"What- yes, mistress," he started to shout but quickly replied demurely as he went glassy-eyed on her.
"Nice!" whispered the other two.
She breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, "That was close." Then, she gathered herself and ordered, "Tell me why you joined these bandits."
"I wished revenge against the city guard for unlawfully killing my brother," he stated, "Many of us are not satisfied with their actions. We were gathered here by her, Nislak. She convinced us that preying on travelers will show how inept the guards were. The one outside is one of her apprentices, mean to-"
"Oi! What's taking so long!?" shouted a voice from further off.
She hurriedly ordered, "Step inside. Then, capture her while shutting her mouth."
"What in the hells are you doing back here, Leiran?" grumbled out the black-robed priest when she stepped into the doorway.
The charmed priest immediately charged and shoulder-checked her, knocking her into the wooden doorway, and then pinning her arms to her body while covering her mouth. However, she didn't stay quiet and began to struggle out of his grip. She squirmed a lot more the moment she noticed them. Polka quickly stepped forward and clocked her in the head with her portable cask. The priest in black slumped over unconscious.
"Alright, assuming she is the apprentice of Nislak, she must be the one in charge," Nene whispered to them, "Let's get her back to the city and turn her over to the city guards."
"Yeah, we can also tell them about the bandits here," added Polka, "Now that they are headless, they should be caught easily."
"Sister Loru, are you in there?" a voice called out loudly from outside.
"Why in the hells are there so many people coming to check on them!?" Aloe hissed exasperatedly. Turning to the charmed priest, she ordered, "Pass her to me when I go out the window."
As she hovered out the window, the fennec fox girl said with a grin, "Go, with her Nene. I'll handle this next one."
The lore bard nodded and jumped out after Aloe got the unconscious apprentice, which was passed to her after she got up from the ground.
Meanwhile, as the next person stepped into the doorway, the monk launched a gut punch. The mage doubled over in pain and she slammed her elbow into his neck. His body crumpled forward onto the floor. Then, she dove out of the window and tumbled onto the ground.
"Lie down on the bed," the succubus ordered before rejoining her friends.
She took the unconscious apprentice, and then they moved through the underbrush as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, she accidentally smacked her forehead against a branch and yelped in pain. The noise must have alerted the other bandits, as several loud voices started heading in their direction.
"Damn it," she cursed in annoyance. She then shouted, "Run!"
The trio quickly ran as fast as they could, bursting out of the forest. Telling the other two to run as well, the whole party ran down the path. Bolts peppered them as they ran, but by then, they were too far to hit. Huffing and puffing, they ran as far as they could, with the succubus flying half the way while lugging the unconscious body like a sack of potatoes.
"Haa, haa, I think we're far enough," wheezed out Nene.
Botan and Lamy didn't say anything. As they wore heavier armor, they were sort of overheating in some places.
"Haa, can we just walk..." groaned Polka.
"Wait… a bit," muttered Aloe.
Plucking the length of rope from the monk's pack, she landed and proceeded to tie up the unconscious apprentice, even threading a length of rope across her mouth. Satisfied, she slung the body over her shoulder and motioned to carry on. They continued to walk, making their way back to the city.
AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.
PekoMama is here! And almost immediately she embarrasses her daughter. Totally expected that. And after that little bit of funny, it seems Pekora knows Anya and by extension, her creator. The name Frisby I took from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I felt that it was fitting that an artificer and inventor who is a mouse-folk would be named after Jonathan Frisby, the hyper-intelligent white mouse of the book. Thus, the indefinite quest of upgrading Anya a.k.a. you can complete it at any time as long as you got the item/s to complete it. Now, as I have read and seen, artificers should have an easier time enchanting due to it being one step higher than infusions. Hence, the quest. After that, we meet Reine. In this here fic, she is Pekora's cousin. She is also the one in charge of the local branch of the adventurer's guild. So, they have a somewhat temporary main hub for their quests and the arc itself. So, first up, investigating some ruined village. For once, not much fighting. But, things are getting mysterious. A cult digging their claws into the city? Where have we seen that before? However, I can definitely say, there are no dragons involved. For sure.
Next chapter, Holo5 will hunt for a cult. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.