Chapter 4: Exchange
Alliance of Coastal States
Amelia's head spun a little after trying to learn about Red Magic from Akako. Apparently that other world had far less background magic, and so mages had to do all sorts of complicated ceremonies and magic circles to get even basic magic to work. Which had then led to some very creative magic that had branched off into its own field and apparently took inspiration from sciences on that other world. There was also talk about Shinzoku that had fallen to darkness, to make things more confusing.
The young princess shook her head. She'd remembered seeing Aoko's 'phone' and the things it could do. If people over there could make that without magic, Amelia knew there were surely amazing things that could be done with magic, but she didn't have the brain for the more mathematical things Akako had been talking about. Her magic was far more passion and emotion driven.
Zel and Lina seemed to be following closely though.
She decided to walk around a little, to clear her head. Aoko and Gourry had both decided to call an early night, which meant the only other member of the group who was awake was Kaito. (Xellos had vanished soon after the two groups had agreed to their truce. Amelia wasn't sure if she was happier not having him around, or happier being able to keep an eye on him...)
Her brief thoughts about Xellos were forgotten when she saw the fancy way Kaito was shuffling his deck of cards. While the symbols were different than she was used to, the basic concept of playing cards was something Amelia understood. There were even folks who made a show of shuffling and similar things, but what Kaito was doing looked on a different level.
"Care for a show, your highness?" Kaito asked, looking up at her with a charming smile.
While Amelia knew quite firmly Zelgadis had her heart, Kaito's charms were still quite able to make her heart quicken. He seemed a well trained flirt.
"I suppose? What sort of tricks do you know?"
"Oh, I know many. I'll start with a straightforward one, though," he said, before handing her the cards. "I'll spin around now. I want you to pick a card at random, and then shuffle the deck."
The white clad thief did as he said, turning about and keeping his eyes locked firmly away from her. She flitted through the cards a little, finding the texture of them quite strange (something called 'lamination', Kaito would later explain). Eventually, she chose a card, a woman with hearts about her, and then she shuffled the deck. She was a little clumsy at it, so kept to the basics, but was certain she'd randomized the cards well.
"Okay, done," she said.
Kaito turned back around and took the cards from her. He began to shuffle them casually, barely seeming to pay attention.
"Normally, at this point, I would start to talk about the supernatural," he said, shuffling away. "I would say the power of my mind is drawing the card through the deck. I'd try to make the audience believe in magic. Here, though, actual magic would just be cheating."
He continued to shuffle the whole time, though she found herself focusing on his words.
"Here, I shall say I have built up my skill. That I have learned the laws of statistics and probability, and that... this is your card, is it not, princess?" he said, pulling up the woman of hearts.
Amelia blinked. "How... I shuffled the deck and you weren't even looking?"
He smiled his roguish smile, before slipping her card back in the deck. He then began to bend the cards, so that they would shoot in the air, arcing into his other hand. He did that back and forth, moving his hands up and down a few times. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the cards were instantly inside their little box.
"Like I said: skill. And a little luck," Kaito replied, starting to juggle, having produced three more decks from somewhere. "Perhaps mages like to share their tricks, but we magicians must maintain the illusion without sorcery."
Amelia blinked, because, at some point, the boxes of cards he'd been juggling had become orange balls. How had she not noticed until he'd finished talking? It had to be magic, surely? But she'd not sensed any... could you really do something like that with only natural skill?
Northern Ruvinagald, Alliance of Coastal States
They were supposed to reach the town of Gurinfald today. It was just a bit more walking through the woods. Aoko had looked at a map, and saw that this Ruvinagald country was one of the bigger ones in the 'Coastal States', though she couldn't read the map well enough to know how big it was. While the common tongue of this region was a perfect match for Japanese (somehow), the writing system seemed quite different.
Or was it just hentaigana? She didn't know her archaic Japanese enough to say for certain, but it didn't look right. She was pretty sure it looked more like Latin script than any old Hiragana writing she'd seen.
Still, she didn't really need to know where she was going to follow the group. She was mostly trying to think of it as off road hiking right now, getting excited by any flowers or animals they spotted. Now that they were walking along the edge of a river valley there were quite a few to see. She didn't know if these animals would exist on Earth, and were just European varieties, or if they were truly exotic things unseen by Earthling eyes before. Or, well, non magical Earthling eyes?
Aoko had to wonder how often witches like Akako visited.
She was still processing just that magic existed, even if she had little room for doubt after seeing so much of it the past couple of days.
"Gyaah!" Lina screached, drawing Aoko from her thoughts.
The redheaded sorceress had scrambled back, hiding behind Gourry and pointing a shaky finger at something on the ground. "Evil little—trying to fall on me like that... get rid of it!"
Aoko's eyes followed Lina's finger, and she found a rather large looking slug sitting on the path in front of them. Akako walked over, producing her scythe to scoop the slimy thing.
"A slug? A little slug terrified the mighty sorceress?" Akako asked, before turning, bringing her scythe over to Lina with the slug on it. "Really?"
"They're slimy and gross and-and—Geh!" Lina yelped as Akako brought the slug closer to her.
The small sorceress shrieked again, before jumping onto a rather surprised Kaito (he'd been making faces at the slug as well). Caught off guard by the unexpected weight, Kaito stumbled backwards. That couple of steps led to him losing his footing over the edge of the path, and the pair tumbled down the hill, both letting out shouts as they fell. Then there was a splash as the pair fell in the river.
That was followed by another shriek.
"Are there river slugs?" Gourry asked, leaning over to look down.
"No, no. That was Bakaito," Aoko said, looking down.
Sure enough, Kaito was waving his arms about, seeming to have a panic attack as Lina tried to pull a fish out of his suit jacket.
"He's got a surprisingly girly scream," Zelgadis said, raising a wire eyebrow as he watched the clumsy chaos below.
(Kaito's panicked flailing had led to both him and Lina falling in the water again.)
"He really doesn't like fish," Aoko explained.
Akako flung the slug off into the bushes, before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Gourry-kun, please be a dear and go help them. I'd like to get a move on again sooner than later."
"Sure thing, m'lady!" the tall blonde replied with a salute before hurrying down the hill.
The swordsman's strength allowed him to hold Kaito still, letting Lina extract the various fish from Kaito's jacket and pocket.
Damp and mildly traumatized by the fish, Kaito took another calming breath as the group took a brief break. (Aoko's shoelace had come undone.)
He tried to ignore the judgmental look Lina was giving him. Her fear of slugs had led to the problem in the first place. Who was she to judge him for his fear of f-f-fish.
"Excuse me," a deep voice asked from just beside them.
Kaito turned, finding a guy in a rough yellow tunic, with an odd bandana holding his hair back.
"Yeah?" Kaito and Lina both asked.
"Do-uh, do you know the way to Furinkan High School?" the guy asked.
"What-y what school?" Lina replied.
"Furi-Oh! Yeah! I know where Furinkan High School is. You want to take Ekoda street until it turns into Kotake street, and follow that to Kannana avenue. You want to turn left, and keep going for, like, another fifteen minutes, and you'll be there," Kaito replied.
"Ah! Thank you!" the strange guy said, before turning and setting off down the path.
"What was that just now?" Akako asked (Lina giving her a nasty side eye).
"Oh, just giving someone directions on getting up to Furinkan-cho," Kaito replied.
"Furinkan-cho? As in the neighbourhood in Nerima?" Akako asked.
"Yeah? I mean, it's a bit of a walk, but it's not too far from—wait. We're not in To—we're not even on Earth… I—why is that guy asking for directions to Furinkan!?" Kaito said, realising he'd been too excited by a momentary sense of home he'd forgotten why he'd needed a sense of home.
"Well, either way, the guy looks long gone," Lina replied.
"What is everyone doing standing around? Aoko fixed her shoelace already," the mousy brunette said, walking up ahead.
"I... let's just forget that happened," Kaito muttered.
Nerima-ku, Japan
Ryoga looked in amazement as Furinkan High School stood in front of him, not twenty minutes late. That guy in the woods had given really good instructions!
Northern Ruvinagald, Alliance of Coastal States
Lina was still wet and very annoyed with the world. The town had been too close to warrant stopping and setting up a fire to dry her clothes, so she'd had to walk for another two hours while dripping wet.
Okay, so she wasn't dripping anymore, she'd dried off a bit, but she still had nasty soakers. At least she had company, that Kaito guy being just as wet. And just as self conscious about one of his weaknesses being revealed. So, that made her feel a little less rotten about her situation.
The town was ahead of them at last, though.
It smelled horrible.
She'd managed to forget the merchant they were visiting had made his fortune off a leather tannery. A very large tannery that employed most of the town.
Lina opened her mouth a little, to gag, and was left able to taste the foulness in the air. Which only made her gag more.
"We're leaving as soon as we have the money," she hissed, wanting to keep her mouth as closed as possible.
"Soums goob," Amelia replied, a clothespin on her nose.
"Aren't you going to help us steal the Eye back?" a muffled voice asked.
Turning, Lina jumped slightly as she saw the strange full face masks the outsider trio were wearing. The eyes were some sort of glass, the mask itself looked like it was made of leather, and had some sort of strange snout attached to it.
"We'll rest upwind, and then try something tomorrow?" Lina offered.
Kaito and Akako nodded. Aoko grumbled something that was firmly muffled by her mask. Considering how well the girl was getting along with Amelia, Lina was sure it was a complaint about the situation not being very 'champion of justice'-y.
Lina ignored that and wrapped some cloth over her face as they walked into the town. It was clearly rich, and the locals were well dressed. But she still didn't think any amount of money would be worth living with this smell.
They didn't need to stop to ask directions to the estate of their contact, though. Arlo Mezulos' mansion towered over the city in opulent glory. They reached the estate soon enough, and were let in by a quiet maid. The room they were told to wait in was as expensive looking as the rest of the house, statues, bookcases, and more one display. The couches were comfortable enough to almost make up for the smell.
(Lina didn't see, but the maid's face was filled with fear when the petite sorceress sat her wet and muddy bottom on the plush red fabric.)
"So they do have clocks here," Kaito said, voice still muffled by his strange mask.
"Why wouldn't we?" Amelia asked.
"I'm just trying to gauge your technology level. Sometimes it feels medieval. Sometimes it feels, like, Meiji," Kaito replied. "And then I swear I saw someone wearing sunglasses just a bit ago."
Lina raised an eyebrow, not sure what the foreign lad was talking about, when Akako bonked him on the head. That led to bickering Lina found amusing enough.
The door burst open a few moments later. A frantic looking middle aged man with long greying green hair tied back in a low ponytail stood at the entrance, taking a moment to catch his breath. "You've brought the Eye of Yashindar?"
Lina gave a nod. "You're Mezulo, then?"
"Yes, yes," the man replied, a slightly manic smile on his beginning to wrinkle features. "Can I see it?"
"Do you have the million gold pieces?" Lina asked, hopping to her feet.
"Yes. Yes. Well, not an actual million gold pieces. That would be impractical. I have bank ledgers from the Merchants Bank of Ruvinagald and the Royal Bank of Saillune, along with gems and Orihalcon Crowns," Mezulo replied. "They're all in the vault."
"Bank ledgers?" Gourry asked, looking about.
"They're basically 'IOU' notes from banks, for when you're talking about an amount of gold that becomes impractical to transport," Amelia replied. "Gold is heavy, after all."
"Oh," Gourry said, nodding along.
Lina's mind was mostly locked on the idea of Orihalcon Crowns. Only the richest of the rich got to play with those coins. Just one could buy an entire house. The idea of getting to hold some in her hands made her want to drool. (That could wait until she was somewhere with less toxic air, though.)
Lina produced the Eye, causing Mezulo's manic energy to grow just a little more off putting. She didn't get why he was so excited. Surely whatever he was planning would still take a while to recover the fortune he was trading for it? (And that was running on the assumption he'd get to keep it, which she knew was unlikely. She could feel the confidence radiating off Kaito as they walked through the house towards the vault.)
Either way, she was happy to make the exchange in his vault, Gourry loading up on the gems and coins while she slipped the ledgers into her stachel.
"All sales are final, alright?" Lina said as she finished loading her pack.
Mezulo's eyes were completely fixed on the gem in his hands. "Oh, I'm quite happy with this trade."
Lina gave a slow nod before hurrying over to the rest of the group. The guy gave her the creeps. The same maid showed them to the exit.
"Do you really think he'll be able to earn all that money back with the Eye?" Amelia asked the maid just as they were stepping out.
"If it works, perhaps. If it doesn't... well, he'd have no use for his fortune then," the maid said, glancing over her shoulder.
"Why not?" Gourry asked.
The maid blushed. "I... well... I'm not supposed to talk about it, but... the master is rather ill. The mistress has sent for a powerful priestess. I believe the hope is that the priestess' white magic and the power of the Eye will mean he can be healed?"
Lina felt her eye twitch. So the moneybags had an actually noble use for the Eye? It wasn't just about making more money? She glanced over to the outsiders, but found their strange masks completely covered any emotions.
The group headed out of the town quietly, making their way over to a hill outside the town. It was upwind and offered a decent view of the settlement.
"Fleh," Kaito said, pulling his mask off. "Alright, Akako: what are we doing?"
The tall witch pulled her mask off as well, and somehow had none of the red marks that ringed Kaito's face. "The plan is unchanged."
"How can you say that?" Aoko shouted, her hair somehow even messier than usual. "He needs it to cure his illness?"
"It could be months until his treatment is over. It—it might not even work... After helping Kaito with that one heist—Being seen by all those police... I don't know how long I have until witch hunters or worse might start sniffing about. I—don't give me that face!" the tall girl said, turning rather red as Aoko looked up at her with puppy dog eyes.
"The guy didn't seem like he was excited to get healed to me," Zelgadis said, standing some distance from the group and looking back at the town.
"I agree," Kaito said, suddenly seeming rather mature. "A person looking at medicine would cry tears of happiness, or... well, he'd not have that look in his eyes. That was the look of a man with vengeance in his hands, not medicine."
"Alright, well... either way, my feet hurt, I'm tired, and I'm hungry," Lina said. "Let's set up camp and cook some food. We'll worry about the issue in the morning."
Amelia stretched after setting up her tent. Gourry had been off teaching Aoko some sword fighting techniques since dinner. Zelgadis was meditating. Akako was reading a tome of some sort. That left just Lina and Kaito, who were both in fresh clothes. Kaito's alternative clothing was much less... complicated than his other outfit. Short sleeves and some sort of thick blue fabric for his trousers.
Lina was grinning away as she looked through the payment she'd acquired, scribbling down sums. Kaito, meanwhile, was holding up the various gems from the haul, examining them in the rising moonlight. Why, Amelia couldn't guess, but she supposed it might have to do with the 'science' stuff he and Aoko talked about back home.
Then she felt a shiver run down her spine. Turning towards the city, Amelia could feel something going on. Something dark.
"Ooh, so that's what he's up to," a voice said from what had been empty space beside her.
As such, Amelia jumped, assuming a fighting stance. Luckily, it was just Xellos. Or, well, not 'just' Xellos. He was a significant issue, but he wasn't usually an actual threat.
"W-what's he up to? And who is 'he'?" Amelia asked, eyes glancing back to the town.
"Your merchant friend is the 'he'. The 'what' would be..." Xellos began, slowly raising a finger. Amelia braced for the response of 'a secret', only for Xellos to flick his wrist and point at the town. "That."
At that exact instant a pillar of sickly green light shot up from Mezulo's mansion. The pillar of light began to spin, turning into something of an upside down tornado, ripping into the city. Amelia could only stare in terror as the vortex of sickly energy grew, barely noticing as the rest of the group rushed up beside her. The vortex encompassed the entire town after a little under a minute. It expanded a little further, before coming to a halt and collapsing back into a thin pillar. The pillar then faded.
"Huh, the town's still standing," Gourry said, voicing the thought in Amelia's mind.
Though she knew, in her heart, that the town was now empty. That magic hadn't cared for stone, but it had surely hungered for life. It had been feeding... something.
As if on cue for her thoughts, Mezulo's mansion collapsed, a massive beast emerging. The creature seemed like someone had mixed a dragon with a gorilla, and then replaced the wings with long and thin tentacles.
"That can't be good," Kaito said.
"Yashindar is as ugly as I remembered," Xellos said.
"He released the demon," Zelgadis said, his eye twitching a little.
"Are you going to help us with this fight, Xellos?" Lina asked, clearly hoping to have an easier time of things after all the hiking she'd had to do today.
"I'm not really supposed to," the mazuko priest replied with a casual shrug. "I've been told by my lady to observe Yashindar's actions. But I wouldn't mind observing you all destroy it."
"Very helpful of you," Lina grumbled. 'So much for the easy option' was written on Lina's face..
"May I ask what it is?" Kaito said.
"Yashindar was a fairly powerful mazoku who wanted to become more powerful, so that he might declare independence from his master. So he experimented with Zanaffar style magic, and, while it granted him power it quite devoured his mind," Xellos explained.
Kaito gave a slow nod. "I have no idea what a Zanzibar magic is, but... based on the size of that thing, and the devoured mind part, I'll guess it's bad news."
"That doesn't matter!" Amelia shouted, raising a confident fist in front of her and casting her other arm out to the side. "We're champions of the side of justice! Defenders of the innocent! We shall triumph over the forces of darkness!"
"Yeah!" Aoko shouted, pumping her own fist in the air.
"You're staying right here, Aoko," Akako said, the tall witch extending a hand to hold the shorter girl in place.
Kaito, likewise, had extended a blocking hand. "You need to keep yourself safe."
"A-Aoko wasn't planning to go into the fight. She just wanted to cheer everyone on..."
"Good," Kaito said, walking over to Aoko, and placing a hand on her chin.
Amelia had been about to charge off to battle evil, but she sensed something romantic was about to happen. So she was staying for a little longer. She was rewarded by watching Kaito lean down, and gently kiss Aoko on the lips. It was so soft and romantic. This was the sort of joy of life she was fighting for!
"For good luck," Kaito said with a smile.
Aoko turned bright red. "Bakaito! Don't steal Aoko's first kiss just for luck!"
Kaito crossed his arms in a huff, turning red himself. "It wasn't just for luck... Ahoko!"
Before either of the pair could shout anything else at each other, Akako stepped forward and placed a hand of her own on Aoko's chin. The witch then also kissed the short girl. Amelia covered her mouth at the scandal. The intrigue! A love triangle bubbling to the surface!
"I could use a little luck too," the red witch said, a confident smile on her face.
Aoko's face turned even redder.
"That's nice and romantic and all for you three, but can we go kill the mazoku?" Lina said, ruining the moment. She then also smacked a heartbroken Gourry. "Stop crying doofus. You never had a chance in the first place."
"Well, one of us had better come back alive, for Aoko's sake," Kaito said, walking forward and adjusting his tall hat.
'When had he changed back into his fancy clothes? And what kind of response to a love triangle was that?' Amelia found herself wondering.
"You're all going to get out of this alive, because you're teamed up with the ever wonderful Lina Inverse," Lina said, stepping forward. "Now let's get going... RAY WING!"
The others took off into the air after her, Kaito relying on his fascinating cape, Akako using her broom, and Zelgadis carrying Gourry.
Amelia briefly wondered if she should try to kiss Zelgadis too, while there was romance in the air. She shook her head. That would wait until after the fight. Right now she had justice to defend!
She found a chimney to land on, and pointed a finger out at the giant beast, which seemed to be amusing itself destroying the town.
"You! Vile monster of darkness! Your end is near, for the forces of justice have arrived! Surrender now and your end will be swift!" She shouted.
The creature stopped its destruction and turned it's giant form to her with a terrifying grin. "So you all left the town... never mind that. I shall devour you all shortly."
Amelia blinked. "Weren't you supposed to be a mindless beast, Mister Yashindar?"
"Yashindar is, yes. But I now have control!"
"So that's what the crazy smile was about, was it now, Mezulo?" Lina said, landing on a roof of her own. "What happened to the healing plan?"
"Pheh. My wife was the one who poisoned me! She wanted my money. After working my way up from nothing... they all betrayed me! Now no one can betray me!" the demonic being said, before erupting in a terrifying laugh.
"Mhm, well, you made a mistake when you involved me. Lina Inverse doesn't work as a delivery girl for murders," Lina said, walking forward.
"Oh, no. I made sure to have you be the one to deliver it. Yashindar learned a little trick: he can absorb memories like a Zanaffar, and you're the most powerful sorceress alive. So I wanted to eat you up," the being said, a terrifying sharp toothed smile on its face.
Lina laughed. "You're far from the first to tr—mmph!"
One of the tentacles on the great beast's back had shot out a glob of viscous ink, the dark goop slamming onto Lina's face as she'd talked. Lina struggled to remove the glob from her face, managing to get her nose free before the tentacle shot down and wrapped around her like a snake, pulling her back in the air.
"Lina!" Gourry shouted, drawing forth the sword of light.
"And what of the rest of you? Do you really think you can defeat me without Inverse's aid?" the beast laughed.