xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Shirotsume Town, 7:09 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Following a morning and afternoon consisting of reality affecting board games, perverse short men and a hard-fought battle, the wizards of Psycho Circus were invited by the wife of their guild master to stay at an eastern style inn to recuperate. In the bathhouse area, the men of the group were congregating inside with Pietro sitting in the water and Bernard washing Vulp's body with a scrubber with Corvus perched on a nearby sink, both of the human males completely nude.
"Haaaa..." Pietro muttered as he rubbed the cuts on his body he received in the fight with Warwick earlier. "Not a particularly good showing on my part." He commented as Bernard and the Celestial Spirits turned towards him.
"You and us both." Corvus replied as he looked at Pietro.
"How the heck did he get that Devil Slayer Magic?" Bernard questioned as Vulp shook his body, shaking off the water.
"From what I heard, there's different methods to obtaining Slayer Magic." Pietro said as he looked at Bernard.
"I'm aware of the Dragon Slayers version of it." Bernard said as he walked over to Pietro and sat in the water near the large man. "Training with a dragon, inserting a Lacrima in your body, that kind of stuff." He continued.
"God Slayer Magic I've heard is something that is taught by someone with a lot of knowledge of deities." Corvus said as he and Vulp approached the bath and sat behind where Bernard was sitting.
"As for Devil Slayer Magic, the means to obtaining it are a bit more difficult by comparison." Pietro said as he grabbed a nearby towel and started to rub his bald head. "It requires combat and killing." He said as Bernard, Corvus and Vulps eyes widened.
"Wha-what's that mean?" Bernard said with an unsure tone.
"I've heard through the grapevine that Devil Slayer Magic is obtained by actually slaying a demonic entity. Absorbing its essence into the one who had defeated it." Pietro explained as he looked at Bernard.
"Five years since my mom and Warwick have been at the guildhall and they were traveling all over the country... Plenty of time to kill a demon, I guess." Bernard said as he grabbed a handful of water with both hands and rubbed it into his shaggy ashen hair.
"It's probably not been too long since he's had it though." Pietro said.
"Hmmm?" Bernard muttered.
"When Camilla beat Warwick to become an S-class wizard within Psycho Circus, it was after you left the first time. That was within a two-year period. It had to have been while you were gone that he obtained it." Pietro said. "Within those two years, he's become even stronger than he was before..." He continued while making a fist with his left hand and staring at it.
"I liked him better when he was just a swordsman..." Bernard thought quietly as he looked at the water.
"Kid." Corvus said, catching Bernard's attention. "How're you feeling?" He asked out of concern.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine." Bernard said with a small smile on his face as Vulp stared at his owner. "Where's this coming from...?" He thought.
"You really exhausted yourself against that pervy shortie." Corvus said as Bernard widened his eyes.
"...Yeah..." Bernard said with an obviously disgruntled tone before shifting his eyes towards Pietro, the large mustachioed man looking at him. "I'm sure you have a comment you'd like to make..." He said.
"I'm not surprised by the outcome, if I'm being a tad honest." Pietro said as Bernard raised an eyebrow. "I went into that fight with a full expectation of losing." He said as he started stretching his arms.
"You were?" Bernard questioned.
"With Anatoli and Marlene backing me up, I thought the odds were going to be a bit better. Then Camilla stepped in, and he showed his Devil Slayer Magic. At that point, I knew it was a losing battle, even for you." Pietro said, giving his analysis.
"Ouch..." Corvus said as he and Vulp made mildly offended expressions.
"He's right though, you know that." Bernard said as he looked at the Celestial Spirits. "All we had was the element of surprise of him not knowing what I had, but it wasn't too long before I started to crack too..." He continued.
"That's..." Corvus said as he and Vulp turned towards each other, unsure of how to reply.
"You used up too much of your energy but that was bound to happen." Pietro said with a calming tone. "You've never fought Warwick before on top of him using an unknown magic that you were unprepared for. Just be thankful you fought someone who wasn't trying to kill all of us." He said as Bernard could only take a deep breath in response.
"Between Zaphkiel, Hoyabembe, Formosa and using power for these two, it took a lot out of me." Bernard said while looking away from everyone. "And he would have killed Formosa if everyone didn't speak up in time..." He thought as he put his hand over the pacemaker in his chest.
"Then you have a goal to work on. Figure out how to overcome it." Pietro said with an instructive voice.
'"Overcome it." Maybe if I had more pets at my disposal, I could think up some new ways to work around it... But of course, mom didn't want to tell me where to look for the ones I'm guaranteed to find because of dumb shit about "not spoiling the future" or something..." He thought with a headshake.
Opening the door to the bathhouse section, Pietro, Bernard, Corvus and Vulp turned their heads to see Anatoli had entered, stark naked and with a familiar object in both of his hands; Alfana's gold and black cane weapon.
"Yo boys." Anatoli said as he closed the door behind him. "Check this out!" He said as he rested the cane on his shoulder.
"Huh?" Bernard muttered in confusion as he stood.
"How'd you get that?" Pietro questioned.
"I asked Lady O about it because I was curious, and she just said "sure" and here we are." Anatoli said with a smirk on his face as he looked at the cane. "Now, how do you suppose this thing works?" He asked as Bernard walked over to Anatoli, stepping out of the water.
"How what works?" Bernard said next to fellow naked wizard.
"That weird slap thing she did to make two of these and the gun mode and stuff! I have to know how she did that cool shit!" Anatoli exclaimed as he continued to twist and turn the gold and black cane.
"Don't ask me..." Bernard said with a shrug as he looked at the cane. "You?" He said towards Pietro.
"Master Barnum said to me once that Alfana was "skilled" in a variety of fields. Never knew one of them was melee combat." Pietro explained. "Nor did I ever know she even could fight." He thought as Bernard grabbed the cane from Anatoli's hands.
"It looked a sleight-of-hand trick when she multiplied them. As for the gun mode, there must be a kind of mechanism on it or something." Bernard said with interest as he looked at the cane as Anatoli looked at the handle part.
"Hmmm..." Anatoli said as he reached his hand forward and grabbed the handle.
Shifting his fingers around, Anatoli's thumb accidentally pressed a button around the handle as a spring noise popped from the cane. Flustered by the sudden noise, Bernard inadvertently pulled the cane as Anatoli held on to it, revealing a short knife-like blade attached to the handle.
"Wagh!" Bernard exclaimed, startled by the knife almost slicing him as he backed away from his chimp-like friend.
"Whoa!" Anatoli said in surprise as he looked at blade.
"Hey!" Corvus said as he took flight and got in front of Bernard with Vulp to defend their magical benefactor. "Watch where you point that thing!" He said angrily as Vulp glared at Anatoli.
"Ho-how was I supposed to know there'd be a dagger in here?!" Anatoli said in his defense.
"By asking my mom about the things this weird "trick weapon" or whatever can do!" Bernard said as he pointed at Anatoli with the removed cane part he was still holding.
"She gave me this thing because she wouldn't show me!" Anatoli replied. "She said she wanted to relax and talk to the girls!" He continued.
"Well, we've established this thing can turn into two canes, a shotgun and has a hidden knife. Satisfy your curiosity?!" Bernard said with an angered tone towards Anatoli.
"Nah, there's definitely way more-" Anatoli said until suddenly hearing the sound of water moving and stopped talking.
"Enough! Both of you!" Pietro said loudly as he stood up and caught everyone's attention. "I can't relax in the bath with angry monsters and a dagger dangling about. Alfana brought us here to recover from the events of today and I could certainly use it. Understand?!" He said with a stern tone towards the boys as he put his hands on his hips.
"Who're you calling "angry mon-..."' Corvus said in response until suddenly cutting himself off.
"Look, it's not a big-..." Bernard said until also stopping.
"I know what I am-..." Anatoli said until shutting his mouth as well.
"Hmmm?" Pietro muttered as the boys and Celestial Spirits were looking in his direction and staring downward towards his lower body. "What?" He asked in confusion.
With bewildered expressions on the younger males faces as they turned towards each other, Anatoli held up the knife and proceeded to point at the tip of it and traced his finger down the length of the blade as Bernards jaw dropped as he looked back at Pietro.
"...Do-does Max Muscle Magic help with that too?" Bernard said as he pointed at his lower half.
"Now I'm less curious about the cane and more curious about that now..." Anatoli commented as he and Bernard looked at the large bald man with a slightly envious look in their eyes.
"What the-" Pietro said until looking downward and realizing what they were talking about. "...You are all morons." He said with a bothered tone.
'"We're not the ones with a third leg..."' Anatoli, Corvus and Bernard all thought as they and Vulp looked at Pietro.
As the men of the Psycho Circus guild continued to bathe and talk, the girls of the group consisting of Camilla, Marlene and Alfana, all dressed in complimentary white and purple robes, were sitting in an open room for dining with the sliding doors open as they all sat on the floor with meals on small tables in front of them.
"Haaaa!" Alfana muttered as she drank from a large tankard filled with alcohol. "So... Only one of you is currently seeing my son, huh?" She asked as Camilla and Marlene ate from bowls of rice with chopsticks, sitting opposite of the fortune teller.
"Yes..." Camilla said with a slightly embarrassed tone.
"Guess we couldn't keep the lie going for a bit longer." Marlene thought with a nervous look on her face.
"And the three of you lied about it to make sure Warwick got off both of your backs and didn't ogle you like he normally does." Alfana said as she looked at the girls.
"Pretty much..." Camilla said in response.
"She's the official one." Marlene said as she put her food down and pointed at Camilla before the two of them both simultaneously sipped on their drinks.
"Ahhh, I see." Alfana said as she picked up a piece of fish on one of her plates and put it in her mouth. "Bit of a shame really. I wouldn't have minded the two of you sharing my kid." She said casually.
'"Pffasdft!"' Camilla and Marlene exclaimed as they both spat their drinks out with their backwash landing on their food.
"What?!" Marlene said loudly in confusion.
"Mrs. O'Halloran?!" Camilla said in similar bewilderment.
"What? I'm not going to be judgmental about the two childhood friends of my neurotic sourpuss of a son who have had their eyes on him ever since they were in single digits." Alfana said with half-closed eyes.
"Uh..." Camilla said in confusion as she turned towards her friend.
"That's..." Marlene said with an embarrassed look as she and Camilla locked eyes.
"It's..." Camilla said, unable to form a sentence.
"Ummm..." Marlene said, also failing to form words.
'"This is a conversation for another time..."' Camilla and Marlene said in unison as they both looked away with red faces.
"Hahaha!" Alfana said with a hearty laugh. "Oh, come on, don't be so embarrassed. Like I said before, I'm a supporter of you both." She continued. "I remember the golden days of when you two were always following him around and you both would get bullied by the local kids and he would just show up and pelt them with rocks." Alfana said.
"Yeah, I remember that... That was back when I had a retainer for my teeth." Camilla said as she pointed at her mouth.
"I got mocked for the fangs in my mouth and Bernard would come out of nowhere and just hit kids with rocks to protect us." Marlene said as she put a hand on her cheek.
"All because we were members of the same guild." Camilla said with a sincere look in her eyes as Alfana looked at the both of them.
"I remember when the local moms would confront me about Bernard attacking their kids." Alfana commented. "Good old days. I remember seeing him do that and he would get embarrassed when I would cheer him on. Explaining that to the moms was super annoying but funny to see their reactions." She thought as she reminisced before everyone heard footsteps.
"Hey." Bernard said as he appeared from around the corner and entered the open space, sporting the same robe as everyone else and wearing his beanie while holding Alfana's cane. "Anatoli and Pietro will be with us shortly." He said as he walked over to his mom and gave her the cane back.
"Couldn't figure out all the tricks with my little tool here?" Alfana said smugly towards her son as she placed it on the ground.
"Well, I learned you keep a knife in there... That was a fun surprise..." Bernard said with a bothered tone. "And I don't really like surprises..." He thought with annoyance.
"Think I'm going to go take a bath now." Camilla said as she stood up with Marlene standing up as well. "Especially since I ruined my food." She said with a wry smile as she and Marlene looked down at their backwash-soaked meals.
"I think I'll join you." Marlene said as Alfana looked at the girls and then her son before a mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"...Bernard." Alfana said, catching her son's attention. "Don't you think you should send them off in an appropriate manner?" She said as she reached for a piece of her fish again with her chopsticks.
"Huh?" Bernard said as the girls made confused looks, unsure of what she meant.
"Be respectful." Alfana said smugly towards Bernard.
"...Oh yeah, the couple charade..." Bernard thought as he realized what she wanted him to do as he begrudgingly turned towards Camilla and Marlene and approached the girls.
"We already sa- oh!" Camilla said until she was cut off by Bernard putting his right arm around Camilla's shoulder.
"Hey, look it's not- ah!" Marlene said until Bernard did the same thing he did to Camilla to her, placing his left arm around Marlene and putting the girls in a group hug.
"En-enjoy the bath..." Bernard said with an embarrassed tone as the girls looked at him with blushes on their faces.
Looking back at his mother while still holding onto Marlene and Camilla, Alfana raised a finger and proceeded to place it on her mouth and then pointed towards her cheek. Rolling his eyes in frustration, Bernard shifted his attention back towards the girls and proceeded to place his lips against Marlene's cheek and then on Camilla's cheek. As Bernard let go of them, the two girls placed a hand on their cheeks where he kissed them, staring at him in disbelief.
"This is so humiliating..." Bernard thought as he turned away from Camilla and Marlene and started to wipe his mouth with his arm.
"You both may go." Alfana said as she waved off the female Psycho Circus members, the both of them leaving the room and started walking through the hall in the direction of the bathing area.
"He... He didn't know we told her the truth, did he?" Camilla said while blushing towards Marlene as they walked. "I love it when he acts like that..." She thought while placing her hand back where Bernard kissed her.
"Nope..." Marlene said before she stopped walking, placing both of her hands on her face and brightly smiling.
"You seem chipper about "simping" for my boyfriend." Camilla said with a joking tone towards Marlene as she snapped out of her happiness for a moment as she looked at her friend with embarrassment.
"Ah! N-no! I'm not like that, I swear!" Marlene said defensively as she started waving her hands left and right in a sheepish manner.
"Tuahahaha!" Camilla laughed upon seeing Marlene attempting to defend herself.
"Don't laugh at me, please... It's bad enough knowing I get this happy from P.D.A. with someone else's boyfriend..." Marlene thought with extreme unease.
"Calm down, I'm not angry or jealous." Camilla said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Hate to admit, a part of me feels bad if I didn't let her enjoy this in spite of my knowledge." She thought as she looked at her friend.
"Thanks..." Marlene said as she placed both hands on the cheek that Bernard kissed. "I think I might skip washing this cheek..." She thought with a warm smile.
"Come on, let's get moving. Then maybe on the way home, we can share his arms or something just to bug him." Camilla said while walked over to her friend and placing her hands on Marlene's shoulders from behind, helping lead her as the two content young women headed for the bathing area.
Back in the dining space, Bernard sat down on one of the cushions opposite of his mother as she continued to enjoy her meal. Entering the room, Anatoli and Pietro appeared as Anatoli sat down next to Bernard and Pietro took a seat next to Alfana.
"So, what do you boys think of the inn?" Alfana asked towards the men.
"Not a bad place." Anatoli said as he laid back on the cushion, placing his hands on the floor to support himself.
"Bit different from the one I stayed at in Hosenka." Bernard said.
"Definitely needed a relaxing environment after the day we've all had." Pietro said as he looked at Alfana.
"Once again, I apologize for Warwick's actions. A bit of respite will do all of us good and hopefully this will suffice." Alfana said.
"Hey, Lady O. What else can that cane of yours do?" Anatoli questioned as Alfana looked at him.
"I gave you the cane. You had a chance to unlock its secrets. Not my fault you couldn't figure them all out." Alfana said with a smirk on her face.
"The way you beat up that little troll, that was epic." Anatoli said as he looked at the fortune teller. "Where'd you pick up those smooth moves?" He asked.
"I've practiced a few combat tricks over the years. Have had them even before me and this one's father tied the knot." Alfana said as she lifted up her drink and pointed briefly at Bernard. "Matter of fact, you could say I played a role in making sure Barney had the skills necessary to beating Warwick's pervy behind and becoming our first guild master." She continued.
"I've never seen you fight before." Pietro said as he folded his arms.
"Always a good rule of thumb to live by is to "never reveal all of your tricks."' Alfana said as she stood up. "If you boys will excuse me, I'm going to go see if we can get some more food." She said as she walked past everyone and exited the room.
"Hmmmm..." Anatoli mumbled as he got up and walked over to where Alfana was seated previously, picking up her cane once more.
"Still playing with that?" Bernard questioned with a tired voice.
"Hold on." Anatoli replied as he started looking over the cane again. "That looks like a different button from the one I pressed earlier." He thought as he pressed the button, and a spring noise came from the trick weapon once again.
Pulling on the handle like he did before, Anatoli's eyes widened as he saw the blade inside was much longer than the dagger he held previously. With Pietro and Bernard looking on with surprise, Anatoli examined the sword he was now holding in his hand, awing at the katana-style blade it now sported.
"Whoa..." Anatoli said with a smile forming on his face.
"Now it's a sword?" Bernard commented as Anatoli started waving the blade around.
"Fascinating. It must have kind of special "settings" or something specific for the various levers and mechanisms throughout it, each yielding a different form." Pietro said.
"Damn... This thing is sweet!" Anatoli exclaimed in an impressed tone as he continued to swing the sword in one hand.
"Will you just sit down before you cut off one of our heads?" Pietro said with a glare in his eyes as Anatoli quickly sat down while still holding the sword.
"Uhh, sorry... Hehe..." Anatoli said nervously before looking at the sword some more. "Hmmmm..." He muttered as Bernard raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's up?" Bernard questioned.
"No-nothing, it's just... I don't know..." Anatoli said before putting the cane sword back inside the sheathe. "I wonder if my odds would have been better..." He thought for a minute before placing Alfana's cane on the floor.
"Hey, hey!" Alfana said as she walked back with two of the employees of the inn bringing meals for the boys to enjoy, placing them in front of them while hiding something behind her back. "Brought us all a feast!" She said with a happy tone as she walked back over to her seat as one of the inn workers started to refill her drink.
'"Thanks for the food."' Bernard, Anatoli and Pietro all said in unison before beginning to eat their meals.
"Oh, before I forget. I should bring up the sleeping arrangements for tonight." Alfana said before she took a sip from her tankard.
"Hmm?" Bernard muttered with a mouth full of rice.
"Boys with boys, girls with girls?" Pietro asked towards Alfana.
"Awwww, no group sleep with your "gals," Bernie, hehehe." Anatoli said with a humorous tone.
"Marguh!" Bernard exclaimed, coughing on his food. "Shut up dude!" He said with an angry look on his face.
"Somewhat." Alfana said towards Pietro. "Bernard and Anatoli will share a room, so will Marlene and Camilla. As for you and me, we'll be sharing one as well." She explained.
"Any particular reasoning behind this?" Pietro questioned as Alfana looked at her son for a brief moment.
"Let's just say, I have something I want to discuss with you. Business stuff." Alfana said as Pietro raised an eyebrow. "But before we get into that. "Pleasure before business."' She said as she reached behind her and revealed what she brought with her: a bright orange board game box with huge green letters that spelled out "Imperium" on it. "Who wants to play?!" Alfana said with a happy tone.
"Again with the board games?!" Bernard shouted in disbelief.
"Aren't we eating right now?" Anatoli said while holding his chopsticks.
"It's not often I have three other people to play a four-player game!" Alfana shouted in her defense. "Not to mention, Imperium is a really cool and dynamic strategy game with deck building and worker placement! You won't be whining after you pull off an exciting plan with the right cards!" She continued to rant.
'"Why are you so into board games?"' Bernard, Anatoli and Pietro thought simultaneously, judging the fortune teller.
"Actually, I should probably ask now." Bernard thought as he just recalled something important. "Hey, mom. About the game we played earlier, Barendkoff-" He said until his mother cut him off by raising her hand.
"Old board game sessions are unimportant, new board game sessions are starting!" Alfana said with a serious look in her eyes as she removed the cover and revealed the game board and several miniature statues while holding a single twenty-sided die in her hand.
"Eh..." Bernard muttered in response to his mother's behavior. "If she's being this nonchalant, I'm guessing the last fate card didn't mean anything serious... Hopefully." He thought as he saw Pietro and Anatoli grab figurines to participate before sighing and agreeing to play.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Shirotsume Town, 10:08 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Several hours later, after more sessions of playing board games and everyone freshening up thanks to the amenities offered by the inn, the Psycho Circus wizards were all asleep in their rooms with their various pairings. As Pietro calmly slept in his room, Alfana proceeded to leave while quietly closing the sliding door. While walking down the halls as moonlight shined over the inn, the high-grade fortune teller proceeded to quickly glance inside Camilla and Marlene's room before moving on to check on Bernard and Anatoli in their room.
"Good to see they're all sleeping soundly." Alfana thought before taking a deep breath, closing the sliding door and proceeding to walk to the center of the inn where the outdoor garden was as she sat down on the inn floor with her feet in the grass.
"You may come out now." Alfana said with half-closed eyes as she looked upward.
On the roof of the inn, a familiar short man with a sword looked downward at Alfana as she locked eyes with him. Warwick, appearing completely fine from the battle earlier that day, hopped off the roof and landed on the ground, now standing directly next to Alfana.
"You look good." Warwick said with a smirk on his face as he looked at his handler.
"And you look like a pervert." Alfana said while folding her arms under her chest.
"You sure you want to be saying that to me? After all that happened today?" Warwick said as he leisurely placed his hands against the back of his head.
"When I asked you to "rile up" the others when I found out Bernard was coming to see us so I could talk to him privately, I wasn't expecting you to cause that much damage outside." Alfana said with a judgmental look in her eyes.
"What were you expecting to happen? You didn't read my future today." Warwick smugly replied as Alfana rolled her eyes.
"I would have been happier if you didn't use your Devil Slayer Magic." Alfana said. "Now that they know you have it and will most likely tell everyone else in the guild, Camilla is going to be the only S-class wizard in the place that's going to be fighting in the S-class trials now because a certain someone is "too much of a challenge."' She said with a tone of annoyance.
"Wouldn't have whipped it out if Camilla didn't step in when the others got beat by me." Warwick said in his defense. "But hey, I did what you said. You got some alone time with your son like you wanted. Outcome's still the same." He continued.
"True..." Alfana thought while locking eyes with Warwick.
"Sooo... My compensation?" Warwick said while holding out one of his hands with Alfana sighing. "Want to hit up the bordellos and pole dancing clubs before they close!" He thought with excitement.
"Fine..." Alfana said as she reached into her robe and pulled out a large stack of Jewel bank notes held together with a rubber band, handing it to Warwick.
"Niiiiice." Warwick said as he ran his fingers along one of the ends of the stack before placing it inside his black leather jacket. "Always happy to do the O'Halloran's a solid. Especially with you selling that board game you made. How much has it sold already? Thirty thousand copies in Fiore alone at thirty thousand Jewels a box?" He said as he put his hands in his pockets while Alfana looked up at the sky.
"Says the guy who is probably on bad terms with my son now like the rest of the guild." Alfana said while not looking at him. "Also, it's seventy-five thousand, three hundred and two copies last I heard from the distributor." She thought.
"It's not like he's going to kick me out when he takes over from Barney. I had no intention of taking the guild master position. That was just for the stunt." Warwick replied.
"After beating up his friends and pets, you're probably going to need to do a favor for him just to make sure that doesn't happen." Alfana said as she turned her attention back towards him. "I highly doubt any other guild in this country will willingly take in a hedonistic Devil Slayer who can eat glass and has no qualms with women with rings on their fingers in terms of "late night partners."' She said, intentionally insulting Warwick.
"Heh..." Warwick muttered with a headshake. '"A "favor," huh? Hmmm... I might have an idea for that." He thought as he pondered what to do. "So, when the morning rolls around, the others are going to head back to the guildhall, that right?" Warwick said as Alfana stood up.
"That's one part of it." Alfana said as she reached into her robe again and pulled out the Ram card from her Barendkoff board game.
"Oh, by the way, you tell him about that money you got from Barney to cover the international distribution or whatever?" Warwick asked as he looked at the Barendkoff card in Alfana's hand. "Counting Fiore, that's six countries you can now buy Barendkoff in magic shops and game stores. Who knew four hundred thousand Jewels could go that far." He thought.
"Never got the chance." Alfana thought with half-closed eyes as she continued to stare at the card.
"What did he get in his "I changed my future" life pack?" Warwick said jokingly.
"Aside from me keeping him from dying soon and not getting a lick of the inheritance money me and Barnum have accrued over the years; I can confirm he's going to get an unspecified phobia and some really odd success with the opposite sex." Alfana said while putting a hand on her forehead.
"Phobia aside, that last one seems like it was worth the session." Warwick said with tone of respect.
"As long as he's got Camilla and Marlene, he's not going to become a lecher like you..." Alfana thought with a judgmental look in her eyes. "Because of that comment, do want to go another round with me?" She asked towards Warwick.
"Nah, nah. I'm "combatted-out," believe it or not." Warwick said as he put his hands up. "Wait, that's only four cards. Where's the fifth?" He asked further as Alfana turned her attention back towards the Ram card again.
"This." Alfana muttered as she flashed the image of the Ram card towards Warwick.
"Ahhhh..." Warwick muttered.
"Yup..." Alfana said.
"I see..." Warwick said.
"...You have no idea what this card means, do you?" Alfana said as she made an annoyed face towards Warwick.
"Not a clue. I really don't give a damn about your game project." Warwick said with a shrug.
"You're an asshole." Alfana said with a hostile look on her face.
"Okay, okay, sorry." Warwick said with a headshake. "So, what does this fate mean for Bernie?" He asked with a more interested tone.
"What it means affects you, me and the rest of the guild on top of himself. And possibly even more than that..." Alfana said while looking at the card again.
"Hmmm?" Warwick mumbled in curiosity.
"First things first, I want you to prep the caravan for a certain destination." Alfana said as she put the card away and proceeded to walk back inside the inn.
"Where to?" Warwick said.
"Hemlock." Alfana said while looking back at Warwick, his eyebrow raised in surprise.
"Wait, really? We're heading home?" Warwick asked. "It's been like, five years. Why now all of a sudden?" He thought.
"Let's just say I need to go give Barnum a "performance review" of sorts that's best handled in person." Alfana said with a smile on her face. "This person will be a little bit angry but... It's for the best." She thought before walking away.
As Warwick jumped back onto the roof to leave, Alfana was now left alone in the hallway as she took out the Ram card that Bernard pulled during their play session of Barendkoff once again.
'"Guild Master Bernard..." Has a nice ring to it... However..." Alfana thought as she walked towards Bernard and Anatoli's room, opening it and looking downward at her sleeping son. "Is it going to be before or after your streak of "heroic antics," you handicapped nut." She quietly said aloud to herself as a warm smile formed on her face.
I... I genuinely want to know... Does Max Muscle Magic help with... THAT? Because I'd like to order a magic championship belt. Certainly would make me feel like a champion, that's for sure. Anyway... As the guys hung out nude and played with a lady's sword cane, Alfana messed around with the girls and made their anxiety hit new peaks. The Psycho Circus group then settled down for a good night's sleep until the fortune telling mom of our beanie sporting creature collector decided to meet with the problematic short swordsman, Warwick, to talk shop. After paying him for his work in distracting the other members to give her time to talk with Bernard, it's revealed that the money that went into Barendkoff: Fate Makers from Bernards royal family loan was for international distribution to sell it in other countries. But more importantly, it appears Alfana has a reason to go home to Hemlock. What is her plan for her son now that she knows what kind of fate he has obtained from playing her game? What will it mean for Warwick to be back in Hemlock? And what the hell does "performance review" mean?! That sounds scary man! Find out next time on Menagerie II!
Author's Note: (I got nothing other than sorry but Bernard ain't sleeping with Camilla and Marlene this time. Also had to acknowledge Marlene being the biggest "Bernard Simp" to satisfy a reader friend of mine :P)