Here we are at Chapter 11. Let's see how Fuyumi handles these new developments on her trip with Anelia. I do not own Code Vein or Skeleton Knight. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 11. Enjoy.
Chapter 11: Unforeseen Dangers
The morning sun comes early enough for Fuyumi as she wakes up, finding Anelia's face merely a few inches from hers. Slowly getting up, she finds that everything seems okay, and Anelia is thankfully alright. Moving out of the carriage, Fuyumi finds Royce and his crew already up and rolling.
"Morning, little lady. Sleep well enough? Sorry if the carriage wasn't comfortable enough," Royce greets her.
Fuyumi waves it off, "I've had worse, believe me. After Anelia wakes up and we have breakfast, we're gonna be leaving,"
"Are you sure? We can still help you out some more," Royce asks.
"Thank you, but we can't impose on you anymore than we already have. It'll be dangerous to stay close to us for too long. We're already risking enough as it is," Fuyumi declines.
"Hrm... Fuyumi," she looks back to see Anelia poking her sleepy head out of the carriage. "Good morning,"
"Good morning, sleepy head. How about some breakfast?' Fuyumi rubs her head.
Once Anelia is fully awake, they have a quick breakfast and then get ready to leave. Royce offers once again to help them, but Fuyumi declines all the same. She doesn't want them getting hurt because of her and Anelia. With that, the two girls begin making their way out of the town.
"So, what is our plan exactly?" Anelia asks as they walk through the morning crowd.
"First, we leave the city. This way, if there are still people after us, they'll have fewer hiding spots to ambush us with. We'll have better odds of seeing them coming, too. And if there is no one coming after us, then we'll probably teleport back to Emilia's home. This way, we should throw off the scent," Fuyumi explains.
"...I'm sorry, Fuyumi," Anelia hangs her head.
"What are you talking about?" Fuyumi asks.
"This was supposed to be a fun trip, but instead, it's turned into such a mess. All because those people are after me. This is all my fault," Anelia sulks.
Fuyumi places a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you said it yourself: you don't know why they're after you. And I believe you. And I know you did nothing wrong. We'll find out what's going on soon enough. Let's take it one step at a time,"
The pair eventually leave the city and make their way towards the plains beyond. As they do and they get further away from any people entering or leaving the city, Fuyumi keeps her eyes on a swivel. Of course, it's when they're completely alone that things change very quickly.
Fuyumi notices something on her right, "Get down!" she pulls Anelia down to the ground just as an ice spear flies over their heads. She looks up cautiously to see a group of people in cloaks and hoods a distance away, two of which wielding staffs. "Guess there were more still around. And they got mages this time. Anelia, we need to move to the forest, now,"
Grabbing Anelia, Fuyumi disappears in red mist and reappears right outside the forest. The attackers spot them, just as Fuyumi wanted them to, and give chase. The two girls head into the forest, using the trees for cover from their ranged attacks. As their pursuers chase them, the two mages are firing off fire and water spells.
"Fuyumi, what do we do?" Anelia asks.
"We lure them in. Use the terrain to our advantage. We need to ambush them, and this time, they WILL tell us what we want to know. Come on, follow my lead," Fuyumi says as they keep running.
Once their deep enough in the foliage, Fuyumi sets up several Stun Traps along their path and around them. She then jumps into the trees. Two of their pursuers jump into the trees to follow her, but Fuyumi turns and fires off some frost shards at them. The opponents dodge her attacks, and one of them counters with a few throwing knives. Luckily, Fuyumi knocks them aside with a quick swipe of her blade. Meanwhile, the other four attackers continue on Anelia. However, two of them fall into Fuyumi's traps and are stunned. Anelia uses this chance.
"Spirits of fire, burn through my enemies. Fire ball!" Anelia sends out a few fire balls at the stunned opponents.
"Spirits of water, protect my allies with your blessing. Water wall!" one of their mages creates a circular shield of water in front of their stunned allies to protect them from the fire.
"Oh no!" Anelia yells as the second mage makes an attack.
"Spirits of fire, reduce everything to cinders. Flame surge!" the mage sends out a large wave of flames at Anelia.
"Spirits of light, bathe me in your protective glow. Holy barrier!" Anelia creates a protective shield of light around her.
The flames flow around her, but she remains unharmed. However, the forest around her starts to burn up. Fuyumi clicks her tongue at seeing this and jumps down, only for her two pursuers to attack at her rear. One pulls out a sword, while the other a pair of tomahawks. Fuyumi lands just as they make their attacks. But, Fuyumi launches a few lightning spikes as they fall, piercing the two of them and they fall to the ground. Fuyumi looks back to see Anelia cornered by the other four, the two caught in her traps regaining their movements. Anelia has her barrier up still, but the other two mages are hitting her with one strike after another, preventing her from countering. Fuyumi comes in and launches a Blazing Roar at one of the mages, burning him from behind. One of the other two non-mages draws their blade and goes after her while the remaining two focus back on Anelia. When he gets close, he makes a quick strike with his blade, but Fuyumi's attack is faster when she unleashes a swallow cutter technique. The spinning strike cleaved the opponent in two before he even knew what happened.
After that, Fuyumi fires off a sonic arrow aimed at the last mage's staff, destroying it. The other one turns to Fuyumi, but with the mage without his staff, Anelia is free from the onslaught.
"Spirits of wind, slice through my enemies. Air cutter!" Anelia fires her wind blades that slice through the attacker.
With them dead, all that is left is the unarmed mage. The mage pulls out a sphere, one like the woman had, and prepares to trigger it. However, Fuyumi fires off another sonic arrow at his hand, hurting it and making him lose the sphere from his grip. Fuyumi then kicks the man in the face to knock him out.
"Anelia, are you alright?" Fuyumi checks on her friend.
Anelia takes a breath, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay. I was stuck there for a moment. Anymore and my barrier might've started to crack. That mage was strong with his magic,"
"Let's just be glad he wasn't that strong. Now then," Fuyumi turns to the bodies laid out around them. "We'd be clean up this mess, and then see to our sleeping friend here. We need information,"
…
Later on, the mage that attacked them starts to wake up, only to find himself tied to a tree in the forest and with his hood off. The missing hood reveals a shaved head with a few scars, and dull green eyes. He looks around to find Fuyumi walking up to him, with Anelia behind her.
"Have a nice nap?" Fuyumi jokes. The man tries reaching around his waist, he finds his equipment gone. "Yeah, sorry, but I can't have you dying just yet. We want answers. Answer honestly, and we may let you live."
"As if I'd talk to some common mercenary. You have no idea who you're dealing with," the mage retorts.
"Yeah, yeah," Fuyumi pulls out a familiar emblem, the emblem of the Skull blades assassin group. "So, care to tell me why the Skull blades are after Anelia?"
The mage just laughs, "You really think it's that simple. You dealt a big blow to us a while back. Our reputation got sullied because of you. We won't stop until you're dead,"
"I see. Who hired you? It wasn't the Deleshante family since they are no more, and that was the only time I've dealt with you people," Fuyumi notes.
"One time is all it takes. We won't stop until you're dead," the mage retorts.
Fuyumi grabs his face and gives him a little shock to make him scream, "Who hired you? My patience is about to run out,"
"You... have no idea... what's coming. You are dead... All of you in this damn kingdom are dead," the mage laughs through the pain.
"Thanks for that," Fuyumi stands up and walks over to Anelia. "Sorry for what you're about to see." Suddenly, Fuyumi sends out her blood veil's tail. The mage went from laughing to looking terrified at the sudden appendage. The tail strikes out and impales the mage. He takes a few gasps before taking his last breath. Fuyumi retracts the tail, absorbing some of the mage's blood without Anelia noticing. Fuyumi turns back to Anelia. "You okay? Did that scare you?"
"Maybe a little, but I think I'm getting used to it. I told myself I had to be ready for this sort of thing when I became a mercenary. Plus, many mages end up joining the royal army and fight in battles and wars. Although... I never knew you had a tail, Fuyumi," Anelia looks around at Fuyumi's backside.
Fuyumi scratches her cheek, "Well, it's not exactly my tail," she brings out the tail of her veil again. "It's a special weapon that's part of my coat. My people learned how to develop certain clothing into weapons. A means of protecting ourselves even when we can't use our magic or have no weapons to wield. This is just one type of those weapons. We call them blood veils,"
"Blood veils?" Anelia asks, curious rather than frightened.
"I know, not the most flattering of names, but I didn't come up with it. They're called that since they are basically weapons designed for killing our foes. Clothing that sheds blood, so to speak. Hence the name. My other outfit has one two, though you were in a bag at the time, so you didn't see it," Fuyumi says as she retracts her tail again. "Though, a couple times, I wondered what it would be like to have a real tail?"
"Whoa, that's weird, but interesting. You're so full of surprises, Fuyumi," Anelia notes, but then looks back to the mage. "But, we still have no idea why they were after me? Weren't the Skull blades after you before?" Anelia asks.
"They weren't the Skull blades," Fuyumi says, bringing out their emblem. "The emblem looks similar enough, but the chains on it are a little different. What's more, these guys used a whole plethora of weapons and equipment that the last group I faced didn't have. Either these guys were higher up the food chain in that organization, or they were pretending to be the assassin group. What's more, these guys were after you, saying it was about pride. I damaged their pride, but you didn't. You never dealt with them before except when you helped Emilia and I. Plus, my instincts are telling me they're not the Skull blades. Whoever these guys are, they're another group entirely. Only more skilled and better equipped. This is something else entirely," Fuyumi explains.
"But... if they're not the Skull blades, then who are they?" Anelia asks, worried.
"I don't know, but his last words were concerning. What does the kingdom of Anatolia hav to do with this? However, I think that's the last of the pursuers after us for the time being. We're heading back to Crystalglove and we'll speak with the duke. He may have more information for us,"
"But, won't it take some time to get back there?" Anelia notes.
"You forget, we have a quick way of heading back. Let me show you," and with that, Fuyumi takes Anelia's hand and pulls her in close within her embrace, making the shorter girl blush.
Fuyumi casts vivification and suddenly the two dissipate into particles, spooking Anelia a bit. She closes her eyes as the two disappear completely.
…
In the duke's manor, Eleonora is having tea out in the garden with a maid by her side. Sh looks on over the garden. After the place was fixed from the falling star's damage, the place looks lovely as it was before. At the center of the garden, Fuyumi's mistle plant glows dimly. Suddenly, the plant glows brightly, gaining her and her servant's attention.
"Milady, stay back," the maid steps in front of her mistress. But, Fuyumi and Anelia slowly materialize right in front of them. "What is going on?"
"Fuyumi? Anelia?" Eleonora rises from her chair.
Fuyumi looks around, "Well, it looks like it worked. Anelia, you can open your eyes now," Fuyumi smirks.
Anelis slowly opens her eyes to find that not only are they alive, but that she's still in Fuyumi's embrace. Anelia squeaks as she steps out of the hug, making Fuyumi chuckle a bit. Fuyumi then turns to see Eleonora practically gawking at her.
"Oh, Lady Eleonora, a pleasure to see you again. I've come back. Hope I didn't startle you with my sudden entrance," Fuyumi waves with an innocent smile like she didn't almost give Eleonora a heart attack.
"Fuyumi? Is that you? But, how?" Eleonora is at a loss for words.
"Remember, I told you that the mistle, a rare plant from my homeland, allows us to teleport from one place to another in an instant. I thought I explained it well enough," Fuyumi gestures to the white plant behind her.
"Well, I-yes, I remember, but I still had a hard time believing it. But, after seeing your... surprising entrance, I have no choice now," Eleonora takes only a moment to recompose herself, and she is back to the elegant lady that Fuyumi knows her to be. "Well, anyway, welcome back, Fuyumi. And you too, Anelia," she curtsies to them.
Fuyumi bows, "A pleasure to be back, Eleonora,"
"I suppose you are finished with your trip to Daelom. If you wish to know, Emilia is studying right now. But, she should be finished shortly and you can see her then," Eleonora says.
"While I'd love to see her again, I also need to speak with the duke. It's an urgent matter," Fuyumi replies.
Eleonora's tune changes from this, "Has something happened in Daelom?"
"It's a long story. Let us take this somewhere else," Fuyumi says and they are lead inside.
Along the way, they bump into Emilia, who is beyond happy to see her fiance again, "Fuyumi!" she quickly walks over to embrace her beloved. "I'm so happy you came back. How was Daelom? Was it fun? You must tell me all about it? Oh, and hello to you as well, Anelia,"
"Um, hi," Anelia waves a bit.
"It's good to see you again, Emilia. But, I wish our return was under better circumstances. There's something we need to discuss with your father," Fuyumi replies after hugging Emilia.
"My father?" Emilia cocks her head.
A short while later, Fuyumi and Anelia meet with duke Joseph and explain the situation about what happened in Daelom. Suffice to say, his wife and daughter were appalled by the whole story.
"Why would someone want to kill dear Anelia?" Eleonora asks.
"Indeed, she hasn't harmed anyone that didn't deserved it, at least during the time that I've known her. Most of the time, she 's acted in self-defense," Emilia supports her mother's confusion.
"We're not sure. They tried to make themselves out to be the Skull blades, but there were a few holes in their whole play. That's why I think it's the work of someone else. Someone with a grudge with Anelia. Someone with money and power and the means to set this whole thing up. But, that still doesn't answer the question of who wants her dead. We have no leads right now, and we can't just keep waiting for these guys to keep attacking us until they're all dead or we are," Fuyumi explains.
"Darling, what do you think?" Eleonora looks to her husband.
Duke Joseph holds his chin as he thinks, "Hmmm... perhaps we need to trace Anelia's steps to before we first met her. Anelia, you said you were a student of the royal magi academy, correct?"
"Yes," Anelia nods.
"Then perhaps you should start there. The royal magi academy accepts student with magical talent and potential, regardless of background or social standing. However, the fact remains that a large percentage of their student base come from the nobility. Most commoners have little to no magical potential. Some have a degree of magical ability, but not enough to get into the academy, which is why they often end up using their abilities as mercenaries or for other smaller jobs. As sad as it is to say, it's not uncommon for nobles to look down on the commoners. I heard that there are some that voiced their objections to allowing commoners into the school, but the king intervened. The king himself commissioned this school shortly after he ascended to the throne because we wanted those with talents in magic to help protect the kingdom. Once he made his decree on the matter, the pushback subsided, at least vocally. But, even with the headmistress doing her best, there are still instances of this divide. Perhaps the school itself can provide some clues. Also, there's one extra detail you should know," Joseph explains.
"What's that?" Fuyumi asks.
"Anelia, you also mentioned that you're here on a special field assignment given to a few select student at the academy, correct?" Joseph stares at Anelia.
"Uh, yes, the headmistress herself sent me on this assignment," Anelia recollects.
Duke Joseph sighs, "I'm sorry for telling you this, but... the truth is, there is no such assignment at the royal magi academy,"
This news comes as quite a shock to Anelia, "W-What? What are you talking about?" she can hardly believe it.
"While some of the teachers there may take their students out on field assignments, it was usually right outside the school, or nearby. But, there is no assignment that requires its students to venture out into the world before they graduate. I'm sure you respect your headmistress. I do, too. But, the truth is I believe she lied to you," Joseph says.
"But, why would the headmistress do such a thing?" Emilia asks.
"I'm not sure myself. Headmistress, Gloria von Bramaus, is a noble individual. She believes in judging people based on their merits, not their bloodlines, especially when it comes to magic. That is why the king named her the headmistress of the school, and she has been there ever since. I do not know why she would do such a thing. You must ask her yourself," Joseph says.
"Okay, where is the magi academy?" Fuyumi asks.
"It lies in the city of Ustia, in the northeast section of the kingdom. The school is easy to find, being that it's one of the largest buildings in the whole city. While the school does dwell within the city, it is not under the control of the noble who governs it. That would be Marques Victor von Shikova. His family has maintained governance over the region for nearly a century now. He is a bit rough around the edges, given his prior history in the military, but he is an honorable man. I can personally vouch for him. And I will send a letter to him to let him know of your arrival. That should help with gaining entry back into the academy," Joseph offers.
"Thank you for your aid, Duke Joseph," Fuyumi bows her head in respect, but Anelia remains practically frozen, still in shock over the revelation about the headmistress.
"Perhaps it would be best to take some time to rest before making the journey. The two of you have been through much after all. I think Anelia needs some time to process all of this," Eleonora suggests.
"Yes, I believe you're right," Fuyumi agrees, glancing at Anelia.
"Anelia is welcome to stay as well. Sebastian," Emilia calls the head butler who steps forth with a bow. "Please, escort Anelia to one of the guest rooms and assign two servants to tend to her. I imagine she needs some time to think about things,"
"As you wish, Milady," Sebastian bows.
"Anelia," Fuyumi calls out to her, who finally gets out of her daze. "Why don't you take some time to rest and think things over. Can you do that for me?"
"Y-Yeah, I think that would be best. I just... need some time," Anelia stands and allows Sebastian to escort her out of the room.
"Thank you for your help, and sorry for the trouble," Fuyumi thanks the family.
"It's quite alright, Fuyumi. We are engaged after all; it's only natural for a bride to aid her groom. Besides, if you're staying here for a little while, then the timing couldn't be perfect," Emilia claps her hands together.
"Huh?" Fuyumi cocks an eyebrow.
"I didn't want to say this in front of Anelia in case it upset her somehow. But, the truth is I have been invited to a ball that will occur soon, and I'd like nothing more than for my fiancé to join me. This will be the perfect debut for our engagement," Emilia looks really excited for it.
Fuyumi, on the other hand, "But, I'm not well-versed in noble etiquette. And, wouldn't it be weird if we both wore dresses to the ball?" she is not as excited for it.
Fighting monster and assassins, that's easy. Dancing at a fancy noble ball, that's another story entirely. Especially since she never had to do anything like that in her last life.
"Oh, don't worry, we'll take care of all of that. I already have the perfect solution," though her words and smile appear innocent, there's a subtle look in her eyes that feels a little more... ominous to Fuyumi.
Fuyumi has a feeling that Emilia's been waiting for this, and now she's got Fuyumi right where she wants her.
And that's the chapter. Fuyumi and Anelia dealt with their current pursuers, but the danger may yet remain. Now Fuyumi must go to the royal magi academy to help Anelia find out what's going on here. But first, she has to attend a fancy ball with Emilia. Will Fuyumi figure out who wants Anelia dead? Will she survive Emilia's plan for her for the ball? Until then, please Read and Review.