Welcome welcome dear readers, to the tenth (technically, 9th+prologue) chapter of my fanfic.
So a word (or two ) of warning. There is a reason I have set this fanfiction to a 'mature' rating. And this chapter is the first really big reason why.
The site forbids (with good reason, considering there is no age gate anywhere, save for the reader's discretion) any graphically written smut. So, -that- won't be in this chapter. Or any. But this is the red light district. So there is bound to be some kind of, to put bluntly, sex happening, somewhere. Behind a wall, the next room, in an alleyway, what ever.
Just a fair warning, that I may cross lines for some. Otherwise, dear reader, please continue reading.
Chapter 9
Even back in my old world, I'd never really been to a red light district. Sure, I'd been to places where the occasional street walker would attempt to ply their trade, but never part of a city that was essentially JUST for that.
As I proceeded, I noticed an abundance of adventurer types walking about as well. It was only early evening, but I suppose libido follows no real clock. I was almost ignored as I walked, thankfully. I was doing something I'd never done before, and had only a vague sense of how to find who I was looking for.
So, I tried what any smart potential customer would do, when in a place where goods were offered but had little idea where to find them. I asked a question.
But I had to ask the right person first. Already, I had seen a few men, and the occasional woman, take the hand of their opposite, and walk into a nearby building. With my ears, I had heard more than one such encounter not even making it TO the building before the temporary couple decided to begin. The guild had given me three things when Eina handed me the map. The map itself, depicting a small section of Orario as a whole, showing the streets that were classified as part of the red light district, the name of the Familia, Ishtar. And their guild emblem. A naked silhouette of a woman behind a veil.
While looking for that particular emblem, I noticed a predominance of Amazons. A human-like race of all females, who valued strength in a partner, and only ever had female offspring. I couldn't argue that Orario had many strong adventurers in it, and if an Amazon wanted to wait until one found her before settling down, who was I to disagree?
"Acting very shy, aren't we?" A deep but still quite feminine voice asked from off to the side. Turning, I saw an Amazon, with deep brown skin wearing a not quite transparent sash, that was not quite covering everything. "Oh? Such strange eyes."
Well muscled and confident, as well as taller than me by at least 10cm, she approached and lifted a hand to my hood. Her hands had faint but easily discernible callouses on them, telling me she wasn't just a lady of negotiable affection. I also noticed, faintly woven into her heavy veil itself, was the emblem of Ishtar.
I raised my hand to meet hers, and with care, as if admiring the hand itself, (mostly to distract me from admiring the rest of her, with her solid physique and tone) I said, "I am looking, but, for some one else in your Familia."
Then with the same care, I guided her hand under my hood, to the side of my head, then up towards my ears. Even with her hand being so rough, I had to admit, it sent a little shiver down my back. She must have noticed, because she started to brush her fingers over the soft fur over my ears exactly the right way.
"Oh... I see." Her teasing stopped, "Well, as much as I hate being turned down, I know who you're looking for."
I offered my map to her, and she pointed to a particular spot on it. With a wave, we parted ways, and I started towards the indicated spot. I couldn't stop my ears from flicking about, trying to get the warm tingling sensation to go away.
It wasn't much later when I found myself in front of a well appointed building, three floors tall and displaying the Ishtar Famila emblem proudly beside the doorless entrance. The sky was just starting to darken, and I was just ahead of several others heading for the same building.
The inside was just as well appointed. Nice wood floors, solid panelling with brightly woven tapestries, intricate magic stone lamps that gave the entire lobby a perfect lighting.
And the near dozen women standing in a neat line as I entered, presenting themselves for their guests.
I tried very hard to look through them as quickly as possible, but each one was an beauty in her own right. Amazons still dominated the lineup, each firm and athletically perfect in form, without losing any femininity. Two of them, looking to be sisters though one was albino, the other a night black, were softer around the edges, but with the way they clung to each other...
All of them had an air of expectation, all of them seemed to want to be here, on display.
Except one. Dressed in a red kimono, sash tied at the front, was a short blond haired Renard, who's liquid green eyes tried to look anywhere but the door. Unlike most of the others, she was also short. Almost tiny. Maybe a few centimetres taller than Hestia, if you didn't count her pointed ears, which were a little bigger than mine.
The Madam spotted my hesitation, and cleared her throat quietly, "Quite the choice, isn't it? But, as you are first through the door, please, go ahead."
Still wearing my robe, I nodded, took a steadying breath, and stepped towards the Renard girl. The Madam behind me chuckled and said, "Good choice, do enjoy your stay."
She looked up just in time to spot me reaching for her, and bowed formally in front of me. "I look forward to serving you, sir. This way." The line sounded practised, almost unnatural.
Trying to relax her, I let her lead me towards the stairs at the back, placing nearly all of my valis down on the counter marked 'pay here', and said to her in my best Japanese, "Osakini dozo." 'After you'.
She replied quietly with, "Kochiradesu." 'This way'.
She led me to a room on the third floor, decorated in a distinct Japanese style. Tatami mats, low table, rice paper partition with a thin but soft looking red futon behind it. Upon entering, she knelt by the door, waited for me to pass, then slid it closed. She then started speaking rapidly in Japanese, or this world's near equivalent, to which I held up my hands in surrender, saying, "Sukoshi wakaru. Gomen." I understand little, sorry. "Forgive me." I said now in the local language, "I was testing a theory."
"Oh..." She sounded a little disappointed, "I thought..."
It was then I removed my hood and sat down at the table. I waved to the seat across from me saying, "Please, come sit. I have questions."
She waved at a magic stone lamp as she stepped over to the table, brightening the room slightly. "I arrived in the city not long ago. But I knew nothing of what I am." I started. I tried to measure her reaction, but her face was passive.
"So you aren't from the east? If big sister would like tea?" She asked, motioning to a small clay teapot that sat atop an equally small magic stone stove.
I nodded, and continued, noting how her ears were turned towards me, even as she turned her back slightly to pour the water. "I became an adventurer, and I am doing well, I think... But my status says I have magic. And that is common to us Renard. But I can only guess what that means, or how to use it."
She gathered the teapot, and set it on a tray, bringing it and two cups with her to sit next to me. Dutifully, she poured, using a bamboo tea whisk and everything to prepare the tea. "It is true." She started, offering me a cup, before taking the other and mixing. "All Renards have magic. Like Elves. What does your status say? If I may ask?"
Feeling warmer now, I undid my robe and laid it next to me. I felt a little self conscience, oddly, at how the other girl was looking at me. "Some thing about boosting my own stats." I replied, having been told by Eina how most adventurers hide their stats from others.
"Do you know the words to your spell?" She asked, sipping her tea and letting out a tiny happy sigh.
"No..." I sipped my own tea, mimicking her happy sigh. "This is very good."
She gave me a small, but genuine smile, "You have to find your words. Maybe make them yourself? Our magic is personal, unlike the Elves, who call for their magic, asking spirits for aid."
I considered her answer, and resolved to experiment with it when I returned home. My logical side was telling me it was impossible, but my creative side pointed out I had in fact used my magic, at least twice, else my magic stat would not have gone up.
"Miss is very pretty." My companion said suddenly. "Black haired Renard are rare. More so than the noble ones, like myself." I focused on her, making her inch away slightly, "Do you only have one tail?"
I blinked at the question, reaching around for my tail, which actually swished once to get away from me, before I caught hold of it, running my hand down its length with a shiver, "Just one... umm..."
She shifted herself to sit beside me now, taking hold of my tail and fetching a brush from inside her kimono. The same tingle that my ears had just stopped feeling started again near the base of my spine as she started brushing. "It's Kodori, not Miss..."
"Sanjouno Haruhime." She replied with a little bow, brushing my tail expertly, "Ma'am Kodori should take better care of her tail. It is very important to us Renard."
I turned, towards the table, so my back was to her, and relaxed my body on top of it. "And sensitive..." I mumbled, "It took nearly a week of some one brushing my tail for me, before I stopped freezing in place when some one else touched it." I sighed as her brush and fingers undid some of the knots that had formed in my fur. "You are very good at that, Hime-chan." I added the honorific, confident that it would mean something to her.
"Kodori-sama is kind to say so." She replied.
I felt her hands leave my tail, then slide up my back. Warm with perfectly trimmed fingernails, they found the knot that kept the sash binding my breasts, and with a twist undid the knot. Her work on my tail had relaxed me to the point where I only really reacted when the air hit my now bare skin. "Um..." I started, turning myself around.
"If those are all your questions?" She asked, taking hold of my hand, and holding it over the knot on her sash.
Her offer was clear, her hand merely touching mine. "I still have a few more..." I replied, giving the knot on her sash a little twist.
"Excuse me si..." The door to the room slid open.
The look on my face must have frightened her, despite being an Amazon, in her own house, and being much taller than me. I glared as best I could at her as she opened the door, feeling the hair on my ears prickle and my tail poof out.
She must have put together why I was glaring at her quickly, as she seemed to take no offense. Instead, she entered the room quietly, and knelt next to me.
Hime and I had spent the rest of the time answering many of the more personal questions I'd had since coming to inhabit this body. I had no idea how to handle myself in such a way, and had had no real opportunity to do so. I did however, have my old life to draw on for how to handle some one else. Our efforts had left most of my curiosity satisfied, and my partner sleeping naked in my arms, drooling slightly from the corner of her mouth.
Gently, both not to wake her, and because my body had felt lazy and quite satisfied, I transferred the blond Renard to the Matron's arms, and got dressed. The Matron watched me with amused eyes as I took the time to fold Hime's discarded kimono and place it carefully on the table. She gave me a little wave as I fastened my robe and put up the hood. I couldn't help but to kneel down again, brush the hair out of Hime's face, and give the Matron a pat on the shoulder in thanks.
"Where have YOU been?" Hestia asked the instant I closed the door of our basement home. Giving the room a quick scan, I spotted Lilly curled up at one end of our couch, looking miserable.
Lilly gave me the tiniest little smile as our eyes met. It was only then that I replied to Hestia, "Following a lead on the Renard the guild told me about." I put a hand on Hestia's head and gently pet her hair, "It was very information... inform... informative? Yes. Thank you for letting Lilly stay."
Lilly's smile widened slightly, though she sunk down further into the corner of the couch to hide it from the others. "She told us everything. We could get into a lot of trouble with Soma Familia for this." Her tone wasn't angry, just matter of fact.
"I know. But she is a friend." I said, "I owe Mia."
Hestia looked confused, and so did Bell. "What do you mean?" Bell asked.
"Mia took me in, no questions asked, no pressure to leave, when I arrived with nothing but the fur on my tail at her door with Syr." I replied with a shrug. "That sort of kindness must be passed on." I took off my robe with a shrug, and hung it with my pack on a peg near the door. "I would fail as a person for not offering a hand to some one in need." I sat down next to Lilly, not quite close enough for our hips to touch, despite it being empty otherwise. "Besides, she's tiny, knows how to take care of herself, and is cute. Can we keep her? Please?" My tail, out of sight of the other two, swept over and rested against Lilly's side. I winked at her when she glanced at me.
Her eyes widened, and I blinked at her in confusion. Hestia looked at the two of us, and asked with her best 'you are doomed' voice. "Why is there lipstick on your face?
That night, I slept on the floor in a spare blanket, while Bell took the couch, and Lilly slept with Hestia.
Hestia was still glaring little daggers at me, but was at least no longer using her 'you are doomed' voice, as she talked to the three of us the next morning. "I am going to talk to the guild about Soma Familia. You three be careful in the dungeon today. And come straight home after!" She pointed at me accusingly.
I gave her my very best 'I'm sorry' puppy face, but my tail was swishing behind me with the memory of the previous day.
"Yes Lady Hestia." Bell said, oblivious, or at least, trying to forget the conversation from last night. "I made sure to get everything we needed for today. With Lilly we should have no problems at all. Right?"
I nodded, putting a hand on Lilly's shoulder, Bell doing the same, trying to perk her up a little. She was still looking a little down, but at least looked up at us both.
The three of us had made it to the fifth floor without any real problem. With me on the front, Bell in the middle, and Lilly bringing up the rear, we had settled into a smooth routine of 'Kodori distracts, Bell strikes, Lilly cleans up.' Lilly had perked up some more, Bell and I had let her into our little duet without any complaints, and she was fitting right in. Having heard what she told me, Bell didn't judge, simply accepted and offered his hand, like I had.
If I had a friend like Bell in the other world, I might not have turned into a recluse. His moral compass was like a beacon. Lilly felt it too, she showed none of her reserve when working with us.
It was around the seventh floor that we started running into problems. Lilly had warned us, at the stairs down to the seventh floor, that this was where the killer ants started to appear. As the name suggested, they were big ants. What made them dangerous, was their tendency to call more of their brethren from near by, some times even making them spawn from the walls spontaneously.
Understandably, we took our time. Just as we had on my first day, we scouted any new room we came across, did a head count of how many and what was in the room, then started fighting with a clear escape route in mind should things go wrong.
Lilly hadn't been exaggerating with her warning. We had let one of the ants live for too long, and it had started to clack its mandibles and wave its abdomen around in a sort of dance. Instantly, from down the hall, more of them started to approach.
The ants themselves weren't too hard to beat individually. But the room was slowly filling, and we were running out of room to keep them from surrounding us.
"Fall back." I said simply, slamming my fist into the skull of an ant, shattering the chitin. With a practiced 'fighting retreat' Bell and I started fighting shoulder to shoulder, and Lilly backed up behind us. We were only a few paces from the tunnel when I heard a familiar laugh.
"Oh? What's this? Lilly and the naked bitch? The white haired boy too?" It was the curly haired man. I glanced behind us, and saw him at room entrance. Beside him was the sandy haired one, laughing at our current predicament. "I wonder if anyone will notice you're gone." He laughed, and I felt the rumble of more feet through the soles of my boots. "I mean, we just happen to have brought more ants with us than we could handle."
"You shouldn't have interfered, Renard." The sandy haired man said menacingly, before taking a small white ball from his belt and throwing it against the floor between the entrance we were aiming for, and another tunnel at the side of the room. "Have fun!"
I watched the ants avoid the smoke produced by the broken white ball, though they seemed otherwise unaffected by it. Curly and Sandy ran into the room, through the smoke, and out the far tunnel, leaving Bell, Lilly and myself with even more ants than we had before.
"Bell, handle the exit." I said, "Lilly, between us. Do you have a mind potion?"
"Yes!" She replied, her little feet shifting to get between Bell and I.
"Get it ready." I said, quickly trying to think up some words to go with my magic.
I tried to focus, to get rid of the excess sounds. Ignore Bell, ignore Lilly. They knew their jobs, and that is all I needed to know. I pushed an ant into another, my logical mind rebelling at me trying to use anything but my own limbs to survive.
But that wasn't the point. I had more than my own limbs. I had falna I had magic.
My creative mind told me I already knew some words. I spoke it in English, as I clenched my fists so hard I felt my nails cut into the leather palms of my gauntlets.
"I may bend. But I will never break." I said, letting out the rest of my breath, slamming a foot into an ant before sucking in another lungful of air, "I will stand as a wall, for the home my Goddess has given me. Skin... of... STONE!"
I let out the rest of my second breath, and started attacking again in earnest. Punches, kicks, even the occasional grab followed by a knee or elbow, I felt the magic burning within me, and though the ants clawed and bit, their sharp mandibles and pointed legs left nothing but the shallowest of cuts or punctures. Individually they were nothing special, so I started focusing on them, one at a time. Picking one up, breaking it over my knee or swinging it against another ant, then turning on another. I kept mindful of my Lilly, who was still behind me, though closer to Bell now, but otherwise, I simply kept slaughtering as many ants as I could, as quickly as possible.
There were only a couple left by the time I felt myself wearing down. My magic had given me a titanic boost of endurance. I hadn't abandoned my defense entirely, so while I felt bruised, all of my wounds were superficial at best.
Bell had cleared the tunnel, and moved to switch with me. I knelt next to Lilly and took the potion she handed me, drinking it down.
The healing potion felt like a warm tingle that hit the belly and spread outwards. A mind potion felt like breathing in mint and an spike of adrenaline all at once. "Miss Kodori was amazing." Lilly commented as I shook my head to try and clear it of the sudden frosted feeling in my nose.
"Miss Kodori is an idiot." I corrected, standing and examining my body for any injuries I didn't feel. Bell was panting hard, but he had just jammed his dagger through the skull of the last ant. "If that hadn't worked..."
"But it did work." Bell huffed a couple more times before relaxing slightly. He accepted a potion from Lilly and drank it unquestioningly. He had the same reaction I did, inhaling through his nose sharply before shaking his head to clear the sudden chill feeling out of it. "And it was amazing." He said, "It was like your skin was made of metal."
I winced as my hands found what were basically foot long paper cuts all over my body. "It was how I held on against the silver back. But I knew what I was aiming for before I tried it this time." Lilly offered me a healing potion this time, but I shook my head, "I'm not bleeding, and I can still move fine. Save it for later." I looked at the carnage we had wrought, and smiled, "Another successful payday. Those jerks near..."
I was interrupted by a terrified scream, coming from the direction the two thugs had fled. "Was that..." Bell asked, looking at Lilly then myself.
"Bell, help Lilly. I'll go." I said, dashing towards the danger, like an idiot.
Another scream, this one in frustration, then pain. The ring of metal against stone, another gasping cry. As I got closer, the frustration and pain became worse, until finally, as I rounded the last curve in the tunnel, I saw the black haired man fighting... A... I wasn't sure. It looked human-like, with the same sort of shape as any other person, but its -form- was wispy, shadow-like.
I could see why the man was frustrated. He swing, but the monster seemed to bend its very shape around the weapon until it passed through harmlessly.
About the only thing that seemed totally solid were its hands. Long bladed fingers like short knives, at the end of longer than human arms. The black haired man would block these easily enough, with a high metallic keening noise, but the second strike would come lightning fast, leaving deep gashes in his armour, or bloody cuts on his skin.
"Stop staring! HELP!" He called out to me as I assessed the situation. "That bastard pushed me in front of this thing and ran!"
I had been quiet enough so his yell alerted the monster to my presence. With a sudden twisting of its body, something that looked like a head turned towards me. Seeing an opening, he tried to flee, but the instant he started to back away, the monster struck again, both bladed arms darting out and piercing his armour and flesh. The monster didn't move, content to simply look at me and let the black haired thug slide off its bladed fingers to fall to the floor.
"I was going to give him a stern talking to later, you know." I said to the monster, setting my stance and getting ready to defend myself. I let my ears do a quick rotation, listening for anything else that might be close enough to join with this shadow monster, but heard nothing. "Let's see if you are faster than Bell."
I opened up with three quick steps forward, lifting my feet up just enough to clear the ground, making me seem like I was almost gliding across the floor. I felt the wind of bladed hand just miss my ear as I ducked its first swing, and felt the back of one of its blade like fingernails tickle my ribs as I curved my body away from its other hand.
In return, I tried to crowd it backwards. Using my knees and elbows to push against what I hoped were its legs and torso. After watching curly fight it, I wanted a better idea of what this thing's shape was. My knees and shins brushed up against it, my elbows grazed its torso, and my hands kept interfering with its swings, making the bladed arms flail uselessly above me.
Frustrated at my passive aggressive style, it lunged backwards with what sounded like a hiss of steam escaping from a hot pipe, then lunged again, both of its arms pointed forward and straight like spears.
With a half step to the side and forward, I used both hands to grab just behind one of its collection of blades. Unable to slip away, even with its charge, and with the arm totally straight, I finished my step forward, adding my forward momentum against its own.
With a ghostly wet pop, its own arm came off at the shoulder.
The scream of pain it emitted made my ears hurt, but in the instant it drew back from me, I grabbed its shoulder, easily discernible with what ever it used for blood spurting out of it, and drove it into the wall behind it. It managed to get its other hand up, but it couldn't stop me from driving my metal forearm guard into its mouth, popping its head like a rotten fruit.
Bell and Lilly came around the corner a few moments later, to find me trying to get my arm guard off. "What happened?" Bell asked, looking around, though Lilly answered.
"Miss Kodori killed a war shadow." She said with a hint of awe, before noticing my arm was bleeding badly. "Oh no! Here drink a potion!"
"Is that what they are called?" I replied, finally popping the straps off the bit of armour and looking at my arm properly. "I hit it in the face. But its fingers were in the way. They are really sharp... Thank you." The last was to Lilly as I took the potion, sprinkled a little onto the three deep cuts in my arm, then downed the rest. "I seem to have a full collection of sharp fingernails though..." I picked up the pulled off arm and held up my bracer, which still had the bladed nails wedged into it. "Shame about him though." I motioned with my head to the fallen thug. "Said something about the other running off and leaving him behind."
Lilly didn't comment, but the look in her eyes was cold. I put my least dirty hand on the top of her head gently for a moment. "Lilly sees that he doesn't have any pouches."
Bell and I looked at the dead adventurer, noticing the same, "Maybe the other one took his belt too? I see belt loops, but no belt." Bell commented, reaching a hand up to close the dead man's eyes. "We should stop today, and bring him up with us."
Lilly turned away in disgust, though Bell's back was turned and he didn't see. I sighed and replied, "I need some new armour any how. Here, I'll carry him." I knelt down and Bell tossed his arms over my shoulders.
I had trouble sleeping that night. Not being an idiot, I knew exactly why too. But, reason and emotion were warring inside my head, and thus I laid in bed, crying quietly, picturing the look on black haired man's face as the war shadow killed him. Could I have saved him? Should I have at least tried?
Back in my old life, I had a few family members pass. But I wasn't close to them. My father told me my grandmother passed, and I'd simply said, 'that's too bad.' Grandfather had been even less of an impact, being someone I'd met maybe twice. Uncles, aunts, I was simply informed, offered token condolences, and moved on.
Here in this world, I'd killed monsters. They were simply a workplace hazard, in the way of living through the day and getting paid. But aside from the war shadow, silver back, and the occasional goblin, none of the monsters I'd fought showed anything like a real intelligence. But Curly. He was a person. A total jerk, who bullied Lilly made lewd comments about me, and basically seemed to contribute nothing but misery to those around him.
But, he was a person. Who's eyes went dim and cold as the war shadow stabbed him, and let him bleed out on the floor.
I felt Hestia move behind me, and give me a hug. Petting my head like a child. She said nothing, simply offering her comfort until the warmth of her kindness pushed the vision of those cold dying eyes from my mind.
The next day, as we gathered our things in preparation for another day in the dungeon, our Goddess didn't even ask if I was alright. She simply took my hand and waited for me to squeeze it back, before letting go with a bright smile.
"Be careful out there today. I the guild should contact me about the Soma Familia." She said, "From what I was told, they are already one step away from getting fined by the guild for the members getting out of line."
"Maybe if that happens, Soma will free Lilly!" Bell said hopefully.
Lilly said nothing, but looked hopeful as we left our basement home.
Our hopes were crushed not even half way to the dungeon. Waiting at the fountain, stood a tall lean looking man with a long face and square rimmed glasses. I felt Lilly grab a bit of my shirt and move behind me as she caught sight of him.
"That is Zanis." She said quietly, voice fearful, "He is Lord Soma's captain, and level two."
He didn't look that impressive, but neither did I, and I had pulled the arm off a monster and broken a fifty kilogram insect over my knee just yesterday. Zanis also had some others around him. Each of them had the same emblem on them some where. A cup with crescent moon around it. The blond haired man was there too.
"Lilly!" Zanis, for all his frail looking frame, had a good voice on him. One that commanded attention. "Your Familia misses you." he continued, looking at Bell and I. "We would like it very much if you came home now."
Lilly hid behind me, and Bell and I stood in front of her without hesitation. "So she can be left behind? I hope the guild returned the personal effects of the man he," I pointed to Sandy, "Left to die, yesterday."
"A tragedy, all too common in the dungeon." Zanis replied, the rest of them smiling wickedly, "Now, unless Lilly comes home with us, Soma Familia will have to consider that Hestia Familia has taken her against her will." His smile darkened, "It would be terrible if a Familia with only two members were to suddenly commit such a crime. Soma Familia would have to seek compensation for such an act."
I hated politics. I hated bullies. In the modern world, you only had to be in charge to use one or the other to make some one miserable. He was doing both. I was about to protest, and so was Bell, but Lilly pulled both our shirts at the same time. "Lilly will go." She said, eyes red. Both of use looked at her and she said quietly, "If Lilly doesn't go, Miss Kodori and Master Bell will be in trouble. They might kill you, and tell the guild you were holding Lilly captive."
"We will come for you Lilly." Bell whispered, looking at me.
"We promise." I said.
As Lilly stepped away from us, I looked first at the sandy haired man, then to Zanis. Zanis himself seemed as cool and arrogant as when the conversation started, but the sandy haired man started to shiver on the spot. Bell, in a rare moment of assertiveness, nudged me in the ribs, breaking me out of my angry glare for an instant.
"Miss Kodori, your eyes were glowing." He said worriedly, "Lilly is right, we can't act now."
I nodded to him, taking a breath to calm myself down a little, though I still looked at Zanis as he put a hand on Lilly's shoulder and as one, the group of them started walking away. "Bell. No dungeon today." I said to him. "If he thinks we are a small Familia, who can't do anything, then we have to become a small Familia, who can do everything."
"Yes, Miss Kodori." He said, looking up at me, red eyes fierce, and as angry as I'd ever seen them.
"Go tell Hestia the news. I will be at the Hostess of Fertility. Bring her there and we will talk."
As usual, my welcome at the Hostess was warm. Ryuu gave me a smile from the back while she washed dishes, Syr gave me her brightest smile and welcoming bow. Both Chloe and Arnya grabbed my hands and pulled me to a table to sit down.
I stopped them from bringing me to a seat, letting go of their hands and walking towards Mia. Chloe knew something was wrong, Arnya caught on a moment later, and Ryuu came out of the kitchen to see why the other two suddenly stopped being so cheerful.
"Mia. I need advice." I started. She took one look at me, put the mug she was washing down in front of me, and filled it with my favourite juice.
Hestia entered the Hostess without Bell. This surprised me, but when I asked, she huffed at me like I already knew. Chloe brought some food for us, and a drink for Hestia, and I asked again.
"Bell told me what happened." She started, angrily attacking a drumstick, "And then he saw Loki's girl, Ais whatchamawhozit." I raised my eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. "He asked her to help him train. Right there! In front of everyone! Idiot boy! What are you looking at?"
I tactfully lowered my eyebrow and replied, "I am going to stay here a few days."
She looked at me with sad eyes, but I continued, "I asked Mia for advice. And permission. I am going to train with the only other bare hand fighter I know." Her look didn't let up.
So I looked her in the eyes, taking a deep breath, and letting myself feel the anger I was holding just under the surface out a little. The effect was instant, and my Goddess flinched back from me, "I made a promise. To her, and to Bell." I let out the rest of my breath, "If I let Lilly go, I will be betraying not only that promise," Here I switched to English, "But myself, old and new."
She put her hand on mine, and said with a sad smile, "Promise me too then."
With care, I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed the tiny knuckles on her hand, "I promise."
"Let me update your status before I go?" She asked, blushing slightly as I let her hand go.
I simply nodded to her, taking her upstairs to my old room.
There we have it, oh readers, another chapter done.
If we look at the time line, as posted by the Wiki, we have bits of book two and three coming to a sort of mix. I would like to think that I have managed to keep the time line more or less intact too.
I do hope you continue reading, and that the story keeps you entertained.
Until then.