Château de Loches, France
Marianne Leblanc, a 16 year old girl, black hair with reddish highlights and brown eyes. One more who joined the group of hunters, that this time became a quartet, although she does not even know the basics of holding a gun, she can be of great help, both to take care of things, and also by the enormous luck that is one of the factors that end up calling a lot of attention. In Sucy's case it is due to the fact that she came with more gold, which helps a lot in the journey.
And it did not take long for the French girl to conquer the confidence of the trio, especially of the leader Atsuko, who loved the presence of the girl for sharing a more animated way, besides her appreciation and interest for the oriental culture very present in the Japanese, so much that she even wore a black kimono on top for finding it very interesting, besides giving an air that she thought it was cooler. Not only that they talked, but also the admiration and history about the Chariot Belmont, which was something that Kagari had only heard about, but never heard from a Frenchwoman who witnessed the Du Nord's missions from up close, which even created an admiration from her in wanting to one day be a hunter of night creatures. And to that end the recent event, was the perfect time for Leblanc to come along on a journey she wanted to find herself to fulfill that dream.
With the inclusion of Marianne they went on a route more towards the north as a way of trying to find the whereabouts of Chariot Belmont, which was what Akko had wanted to do since she set foot in France. She kept talking about how incredible the huntress was, which Lotte even gave her full support, but she had no idea that her saying that about Du Nord would cause so much, but even though she didn't have the admiration, she makes a point of supporting her friend's passion. Sucy, on the other hand, is on the other side of things, and even gets a little irritated with how much her friend talks about the red-headed hunter.
A week has passed since the trip to Chateumorand, they end up arriving at the city of Loches, they were close to another possible resting point, but little did they know that it would be another place where they would come into action. The quartet was about to arrive near the outskirts of the city, they were there talking to each other about the journey and also making small talk.
Marianne: We are arriving in Loches, I never thought I would ever leave Chateaumorand, ever in my life, to discover new places, I was always amazed looking at the maps, wanting to trace a route to try to find the residence of the Belmont family and discover the whereabouts of Chariot Belmont.
Akko: I, on the other hand, have travelled a lot in my life, I have known many lands in this world and it is enormous, trips by ship that took almost a year and all you could see was water, the immense ocean, I was just sweeping the deck imagining the day that I would get out of that place and I finally succeeded, when we docked one day in Portugal, I ran away with Sucy and we even got our freedom.
Sucy: We put everyone to sleep that day, it was a brilliant tactic to gain their trust by being the cook.
Marianne: You really have your stories to tell, now let's go into the town of Loches, it is run by the Deppailer family, the daughter of the countess is quite ignorant, so be careful, she is quite spoilt and doesn't like to be contradicted.
Sucy: If she gives enough gold I'll take it.
They were approaching the city when they observed some people running and screaming of fear, as if something had happened, when they looked up they noticed that some gargoyles were approaching the city, at that moment the quartet is already ready, they are getting close to the entrance of the city, where the screams are increasing and it is notable that there are also some houses that are on fire and people are running. The group pulls the cart against a pole and they get down.
Akko: Marianne you stay, we have to have someone to look after our luggage, we will see what is happening.
Marianne: Ah but I so wanted to get in on the action, can't I come along too?
Sucy: If my stuff gets stolen I'll make you suffer the same fate as these gargoyles, so stay there and look after our stuff, this is a really risky mission.
At this moment Leblanc's arms are crossed and her cheeks inflated, but she accepts the condition given by Akko, since despite everything she is creating a good friendship with the leader of the group. The quartet goes in the direction of the shouts and running around they could notice that in the centre of the city there is a group of gargoyles, with some bigger and more muscular ones which were eating some of the people in the central square of the city and with that the trio gets in a more intimidating position.
Random person: Finally slayers!
Akko is already using the strategy that they always do, Kagari goes up to the creatures with her katana attracting the monsters' attention, Lotte stays behind conjuring a spell with her book and Sucy goes aiming and preparing traps. When the Japanese girl arrives at the first gargoyle, it was a small one that was simply decapitated as if it was nothing, showing how strong the group is and with that she is attracting the attention of the strong gargoyles that are grunting and going towards the brunette that is starting to run away. The perfect moment for Manbavaran to throw potions towards these gargoyles that are getting stunned and it's in this moment that Lotte casts her soul stealing spell. This weakens the gargoyles.
On the other side watching the fight from far away with her arms crossed and completely bored Marianne was sulking and wanting to be together, she ends up looking at a group of children and decides to go into action.
Marianne: Hey, do you want to earn gold? I'll pay you five coins for each one who stays here to look at the cart, and I'll pay you another five if I come back here and the cart is here, do you accept?
Child#1: Yes! We accept, will you break the gargoyles' faces too?
Marianne: Exactly that, keep watching and I assure you that I keep my promises.
Leblanc throws the coins to the group of three children, giving 5 gold coins to each one and goes with a whip in her hand running towards the gargoyles ready for the attack. The trio's synchronized attack didn't work and they had to go on the defensive.
With the arrival of Marianne she goes up with the whip that is an imitation of the whip of Chariot Belmont, but ends up catching the cable of the same in a wheel of a wagon which makes the gargoyles continue to go up and she is trying to get the whip, is pulling, which this way she gets, the trio was healing since Akko took a strong beating. Sucy and Lotte were taking cover.
At this time the Frenchwoman releases the wheel, making the cart go in the direction of a gargoyle, running over it and making it go towards a stable that was on fire, making Marianne kill one of them. Akko appears already half healed and goes to the other gargoyle that was going to scratch Leblanc, hitting her with a precise backhand slash followed by a cut, killing another one.
Akko: What are you doing here? We asked you to look after the bags!
Marianne: I'm looking after the bags, I left some children to look after them for us, now let's defeat these gargoyles, or do you want me to be the only one alive here?
Sucy: If we get robbed you won't be the only one alive here!
Lotte: Less talk and more action, the gargoyles won't wait for us to finish arguing.
With that they are returning to the attack, missing only two muscular gargoyles that are going towards Akko and Marianne, the others are disturbing Sucy and Lotte that have to distract themselves killing the smaller ones, making even more difficult the life of the French and Japanese that were trying to get into action.
Akko is distracting the gargoyle as she can and is going all defensive trying not to be hit and giving small hits to the creature, on the other hand Marianne was running all terrified of it, scared to death and being chased. She ends up stumbling on a rock, the whip wraps around the neck of the gargoyle that was going to attack her, in the stumble a whip gets up and gets precisely on the gargoyle's face, but the pull of Leblanc's whip makes that creature die in a totally random way, but very efficient, what even impresses Kagari with the excess of luck present in the French girl.
Sucy: Holy shit this girl was born with her ass to the moon, how can anyone be that lucky? If it was up to us, I would have been a gargoyle by now! Ahhhh! You insufferable creatures! Die! Stop disturbing me!
Marianne opened her eyes still disbelieving and at that time she ends up taking out the whip, then she takes out the creeper from the dead gargoyle's face, seeing from a distance the children even cheering for her that are admiring her, at that same time, Akko stumbles falling back and that way with the creeper in hands the Frenchwoman goes running towards the other gargoyle, but in this she ends up stumbling, but luckily the stumble gives her an impulse that makes her hit the back of the head of the gargoyle that ends up falling on the ground, but this was not enough to stop the gargoyles from appearing, which was the main indication that they had really accomplished the mission.
Akko: I don't know how you did it, but thanks Mari.
Marianne: Me much less, I just went for my impulse.
Sucy: Hey you can stop talking and give a hand here! Those damn gargoyles aren't gone!
Marianne and Akko shrug and start throwing stones at the gargoyles that were attacking their friends, Kagari never hit a stone, and when she did the stone simply didn't hit in such a fatal place, but Marianne on the other hand managed to make the stones hit very precisely on specific points of the smaller gargoyles, like the eye and any point on the head, which stunned them and freed the way for the Japanese girl to go up.
Lotte: These creatures keep coming, we haven't killed the main one yet.
Town-dweller: A bigger gargoyle headed towards the castle!
At that moment the four looked at each other and went walking to the castle of the city, where there was a general confusion, not only had the presence of gargoyles, but also bats and some skeletons, even the guards were having difficulties and did little to bar the slayers. The same ones were opening the way going by the corridors and by the shouts.
They end up arriving in the throne room where some nobles were afraid with a larger gargoyle that was walking towards them to make the kill, but the quartet arrives on time, which ends up diverting the attention of the gargoyle for the group, the same is watching the four girls, the same are staring at the monster.
The monster was very different from the other gargoyles, this one was taller, more muscular, had bigger and more curved horns, it was walking towards the girls with slow steps, drooling by the mouth that showed evidently by the beak mouth the sharp teeth and the deep red eyes. Marianne is the first to go up.
All three: Marianne no!
Leblanc reaches the gargoyle to whip the girl, but the creature holds on tight to the gargoyle's handle and ends up pushing her forward, throwing her towards a pillar where she makes a torch fall on the castle's carpet, starting a light fire. The trio puts their hands on their heads and starts to act.
Akko wasting no time goes running to the creature, attracting its attention, using the sword, she notices that the cuts are useless because the gargoyle's skin is thicker than Kagari expected. The monster counterattacks by slamming into the Japanese woman who is thrown backwards, but manages to cushion the fall by standing up.
Marianne gets up full of pain in her body, picks up a spear that she found in the wall of the castle, fits this spear with the cloth on fire, the gargoyle goes up to Sucy that was launching arrows, but unfortunately the arrows were weak and the ones that caught did not even penetrate, giving only superficial wounds.
Sucy: Shit! That gargoyle is stronger than the other ogres! Our weapons are simply useless.
Lotte conjures a glyph and throws fireballs at the gargoyle and this ends up making the gargoyle more stunned. Taking advantage of the moment Marianne was running with the spear that had a piece of the castle carpet on fire, hitting it from behind on the creature's back, which ended up not penetrating much, since she was hit by the creature's wing. Which knocks the Frenchwoman to the ground. The gargoyle takes that spear from the back and would go up with everything if it wasn't for Lotte managing to summon birds pushing Leblanc who manages to save herself from a fatal attack.
Lotte: You distract the creature I have a plan.
Marianne and Akko start to make faces provoking the gargoyle that keeps grunting, undecided the creature goes to Kagari which gave a relief to the French girl that was walking behind another spear, as a way to protect herself. Sucy throws a potion just as the gargoyle gets close and that way the creature gets angry, faces the Manbavaran and goes on top of it. Leblanc goes running with the spear in her hand trying to hit the gargoyle, but she stumbles on a step falling face down on the ground and releasing the spear, that miraculously caught the gargoyle's leg causing a considerable perforation.
Sucy: That girl should be a good luck charm, holy shit.
Akko: Good Mari!
The gargoyle slowly walks towards Marianne with a limp, as her left leg has been punctured. Akko and Sucy realize the risk, the Manbavaran pours some holy water potion on Kagari's katana and this way the Japanese woman goes on her before the worst happens, hitting a cut on her back that pulls her right wing out, then she gives another cut pulling her left wing out. She would continue to give other cuts, but ended up being hit with everything by a slash from the gargoyle.
The Japanese woman's sword falls to the ground, Marianne was the closest to the weapon, which she takes without any fear. Akko crashed into one of the pillars and was slightly injured by the impact, possibly breaking one of her ribs in the process, as Sucy went about preparing some potions to counter attack.
At that time Leblanc goes up and she goes running, the gargoyle turns around expecting the attack but it's right at that time that she crouches for the worst and with that she manages to hit a hole in the gargoyle's belly with everything, but then she is hit by a hammer blow that leaves her fallen on the ground the creature gets the sword stuck in her belly and was going to stomp with everything on the girl's head when she is hit right in the eye by an arrow from Sucy that also had some poison inside.
Sucy: You forgot me too?
The gargoyle takes the arrow from the eye and goes towards Sucy, who throws potions that stuns the creature, but it doesn't give up and keeps going, what makes the Manbavaran a little desperate as it gets closer. When it gets close the same one goes in an attempt of escape, only that the gargoyle takes the leg of the same one makes it hit with everything on the ground. She would grab it to give another beating, but Akko half wounded manages to pull her katana out of the body of the gargoyle that hits a blow on it that is thrown back again and Sucy goes kind of crawling.
The gargoyle was already doing a huge damage to the three girls, there was only Lotte left and she was still conjuring the spell. All three were on the ground hurt, with their hand on some part of their body that was hurt, but even though it was late, Yanson manages to perform her spell, which ends up making a glyph come out of the ground, with arms that also appear holding the gargoyle by the arms and that way it can't move from there, already bleeding.
Lotte: Thank you for all your help, I couldn't have done it without you.
The gargoyle is struggling, but Lotte is holding the spell, that ends up making the gargoyle be on fire and this way screaming in front of the whole castle, then only in bones the gargoyle ends up dying and defeated finally, by the city and castle the smaller gargoyles ended up dying. This way peace finally came back and Lotte has a smile on her face celebrating the death of that gargoyle.
Lotte: Wonderful! Another creature for my book! Now I have this gargoyle's soul and control, we can summon this gargoyle! This is another one as powerful as the hippogriff.
The people were still afraid, on the other hand Sucy, Marianne and Akko hug Lotte even though a little sore for one more completed mission and this way Yanson starts to use a healing spell. Little by little the nobles are losing their fear and one of them goes towards the girls, a girl with blond hair, with a toupée in front, possibly the same age as the group, she notices Marianne's presence and finds it familiar.
?: Countess Bernhardt's handmaiden, who would have thought that you would one day come here and save my life.
Marianne: Who would have thought I would come here to save you Chloé.
Chloé: For your information you are Countess Deppailer, put yourself in your servant's shoes.
Akko: If you put yourself in your place the ungrateful one, we just saved yours and everyone else's life here.
Sucy: Where is our reward for all the work we have done?
Chloé: How dare you! I'll send you straight to the dungeon!
Countess Deppailer: Forgive me for my daughter's rather immature behaviour, you creature hunters must be tired, I imagine you must be hungry too, so I will offer our castle quarters for a moment's rest for you and also some gold, thank you so much for saving our lives.
Count Deppailer: Although you are women you have saved us, so I authorize you to be well rewarded, now we will tidy up this mess, feel free, anyway I nominate you as heroines of the county of Loches, tell me your names.
The quartet says the name of each one by which the royal scribe goes writing about them, besides leaving a quick sketch of the portrait of each one, this while the servants of the palace prepared the rooms for the girls that managed to turn around that day and get not only a place to rest comfortable as well as the castle of an earl, besides the gold that would be rewarded.
Marianne also tells the count that they have a carriage that is being looked after by a group of local children. The count asks his men to fetch it and leave it at the royal stable, where the horses and cargo are being looked after.
Later they have a banquet, which already makes the count's daughter a little irritated by the hospitality of the girls, but she just accepts it, since they ended up saving the life of the city of Loches from the hands of the gargoyles that did not return again after Lotte finished with them.
After the banquet the girls go to their quarters, but are approached by the daughter of the Count who wants to talk to them about the reasons why they are there and, in the height of suspicion, wants to know if they are fugitives or criminals.
Chloé: So tell me something, what are you doing here? You three are not from here at all, you can tell just by the way you talk and the way your eyes look, I know that people like you come from far away from here.
Akko: Yes, I came from a far away land, just like my friend Sucy, we came here on Portuguese ships and we are freed slaves, so don't even try to incriminate us, we have our freedom card, Lotte came from Finland.
Chloé: I don't care where you come from and whether you are freed slaves or not, what are your real intentions behind all this? You didn't kill these gargoyles because you are heroes or something, you are clearly mercenary hunters, but still you must have an intention behind all of this, especially since you are grouped together.
Akko: You know what? So let's say, we came here because we want some comfort, before we leave here, I am on a journey to find out the whereabouts of Chariot Belmont, since I set foot in this place I heard her stories and what an impressive hunter she is, I wanted to meet her personally and learn from her how to be a better hunter, I am also looking for challenging adventures.
Chloé: Chariot Belmont? Forget it, she died 10 years ago, you are really quite uninformed, she went on a mission to finish off the Countess Cavendish in the far lands of Scotland, but if successful she ended up dying and now we deal with these creatures attacking here in Europe, all because of this damned Countess Cavendish, I am sure she is alive, the daughter of this bastard is loose here in France, together with her friend Chariot Belmont, they are on missions to hunt the creatures just like you.
Akko: This story of her having died is what I heard, but they always say it's inconclusive, that she never died, they even suspect that she is just missing, or even that she ran away for fear of persecution because I heard in some places that she was a homosexual.
Chloé: I don't know about the veracity of these facts, but I prefer to believe that she died, she died heroically trying to protect us from the creatures of the night, she was a great heroine and hunter, but you can't even reach the feet of Chariot Belmont, but anyway, you want a big reward, I promise to pay the weight in gold of a horse for each one, it will be a very simple mission.
Sucy's eyes that were not even paying attention to the discussion start to shine, the Manbavaran even stops messing with her arrows, sharpening them and putting poison, besides powder in some of them to listen to what Chloé has to say, Lotte continues to read the book "Night Falls" and Marianne is with Akko wanting to hear more about the whereabouts of Chariot Belmont.
Chloé: Kill Diana Cavendish, the daughter of Countess Cavendish, and you will be well rewarded, she is the reason why you have to keep fighting creatures of the night, it must be because of her that we still have these monsters tormenting us.
Sucy: Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute, I am a mercenary who is interested in gold, but I reach my limit when it is a murder for hire, we are hunters of creatures of the night and not hired killers, we are not going to kill a person because of your envy, if you want you kill them yourself, but we are not going to accept this proposal of yours.
Chloé: And I am not going outside my proposition, she is a creature of the night, believe me, Diana Cavendish has red eyes, she can be more agile than any hunter here and her ease in killing creatures scares me, for sure she is responsible for this and we have to nip it in the bud.
Sucy and Akko get a look on Chloé's face when the Deppailer makes the comment about the red eyes, since both girls have their irises in red colours and are not creatures of the night, which ends up creating a silence and this way the count's daughter gets a little irritated, noticing that the answer to her proposal would be a nice no, and she gets up a little irritated.
Chloé: Fine, then stay in your comfort zone, you will be known as mediocre hunters for the rest of your lives, because you can try, you will not even reach the feet of the duo of Diana Cavendish and Croix Meridies, nor the level of Chariot Belmont, you are really only wasting time in this journey of yours, you are lucky to have the protection of my father, otherwise I would have already sent you to the dungeon for your lack of respect for those who are above you in this place.
After this Chloé angrily slams the door and leaves that room, going back to hers, the quartet is watching each other in silence, waiting for her to move away a little, because they were already thinking of doing something to mock the girl and it did not take long for Akko and Marianne to make mouths with their hands imitating the daughter of the Count and this way both Lotte and Sucy are laughing with the two.
Marianne: Seriously Sarah is much nicer than this Chloé, she never disrespected me or my mother because we were servants, we were always treated well.
Sucy: I may be a mercenary, but I will never kill someone for gold, I have my morals too, it's not because I do everything for money that I kill someone just like that, let them keep the gold.
Akko: Let's just spend the night here and leave for the next town, then we'll find out more about Chariot Belmont's whereabouts.
Sucy: Not for nothing, but I think she must really be dead, I didn't want to agree with that cow, but my certainty is great, will we are making this journey all in vain, have you ever stopped to think if we really find out if she is dead?
Akko: Dead or alive, I want to know the truth, it's something that makes this journey interesting, even if the majority says she is dead, the stories always have a vague ending, if they are so sure of her death, why isn't there any place where she was buried or a body or something like that, nobody even answered that, I prefer to believe she disappeared.
Marianne: I am with Akko on this one, let's go to the far away lands of Scotland, let's try to collect as much information as possible and if we don't find it we just continue on our way, let's go on with our lives.
Far away in an abandoned site in Wales
A ritual was happening, very similar to the ritual used to invoke death that Daryl Cavendish did years ago, the same woman did that invocation ritual again strangely, even if she made a deal, she still wanted to try her luck.
At that time it was all dark, only the candles light the way, but soon death ends up appearing, wanting to talk to the woman who is no longer the same 13 year old girl she used to be when she started making the deal.
Death: Oh Daryl Cavendish, what do I owe your presence again, why have you summoned me once more? Are you dissatisfied that the pact didn't work out?
Daryl: Unsatisfied a little perhaps, but there is still a way to make things more interesting for you and that involves a new arrangement, this arrangement will benefit you greatly, I know that like me you must be unhappy to have her as master. I can imagine how her presence with those powers must be getting in the way of your work.
Death: Good thing you know I'm outraged by your shitty choice, so I might actually rethink our deal if that's possible, but you know there's no way I can get the curse off her body just like that in a snap of a finger, you're going to need to make a whole deal with me and on top of that they're going to have conditions for it to actually be possible.
Daryl: It's not like I didn't think of this plan death, I know you're going to have someone who's going to secure a lot of what you have to work with, a lot more souls to leverage, we're going to work together to make that possible, so hear me out, my plan is going to end up messing things up all at once.
Death: May it be an intelligent plan, I hope this mortal life of yours ended up giving you neurons since I was stupid enough to make a deal with a greedy 13 year old child who couldn't even think of a plan properly, I hope now that as a grown woman you have a better notion.
Daryl just gives a side smile, laughing a little, because she has a plan in mind, Cavendish is telling details by details to death about the pact she wants to do, with all the conditions that could make it a possibility, at the same time she was talking with the queen of the dead world about how to make the contract more refined and this way get closer to have a greater success in her mission and this way death shakes the hand of Countess Cavendish's sister.
Death: Now you're talking my language, this deal was well thought out, I only have to congratulate you for the way you thought of it now and you can be sure that I agree, but you'll need to put this plan into action, it all depends on you Daryl, or else I'll continue in mediocrity with the worst Dracula that ever existed in history.
See you,lucky witches...