"Damn, it looks like they fired that woman, huh?"
"It looks like it. Although she was a demi-human, she brought a lively atmosphere around here."
"Who cares about what she is, she was the best damn waitress around here."
"Mhm~ Although… I won't miss the food she cooked for whoever entered here."
"Hahaha, yeah that was the only bad thing about her!"
"..."
"How did Miss Aiko do this…?" One waitress groaned whilst forcing her hands into her palms.
"I don't know! She was able to do table after table, we're struggling with just one!" Another added on, gesturing towards the other tables.
"If you focus your mind, like her, you would be able to do it. Get back to work, there's a table calling for you."
"Buttt, we're tired we've been running around for a few-"
"I do not want to hear complaints, Aiko never did."
"C'monnnn, Miss Aik-"
"Go. Back. To. Work, if I hear one more peep out of you, you won't get your break."
"Alright! Alright!"
"Gods… Aiko, what happened to you…? Where did you go?... Welcome, just wait a minute over there we will get you seated!"
"..."
"Oh… Welcome back, Lucian and Fei, is there anything we can help you with?"
"Has Aiko ever come back…?" Lucian answered when he got to the counter. He frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed. Fei looked towards the ground, the words of the lady at the tailor shop danced around her mind. Underneath her hood and cloak, her ears and tail drooped.
"No, she's currently sick. She informed me she'll be back soon… And to not worry your little heads." The middle aged lady said, her expression turned to a forced smile. She had bags under her eyes, her tone hinted that something was wrong.
"I-Is… I-Is she okay…?"
"Mhm, she fell ill."
"A-Are you actually sure…? All the other times she got sick she was usually in…"
She stood up from her chair, and exited behind the counter while saying, "please don't worry, she's alright. In fact," she stuck her finger up, and her smile grew. "She will be back in a few days."
"Miss Ela! Don't stay out of the counter for too long!"
"Oh shut it will you?! I'm your boss and I will be back there after I'm done!" She yelled back to one of the waitresses. She took a deep breath, before turning her eyes back to them. "She also told me to do something for you two." Before they could ask what it was, she wrapped her arms around them and squeezed. "Don't worry your heads, okay? Aiko is alright, she'll be back before you know it." Her forced smile turned genuine. Her eyes closed as she brought them closer. "Aiko won't let some little silly sickness pull her down." She chuckled a bit before releasing them.
Lucian and Fei had their mouths open for a moment, then closed them. Never in the years did they know her, she never had physical contact with them. Lucian felt a source of awkwardness swell in his chest, her words did soothe his worry. But, something ate at him internally.
Fei stared at Ela, a warmth entered her heart. The doubt and worry that plagued her heart and soul disappeared.
"Don't look at me like that, Aiko wanted me to give it to you." Ela laughed, she then waved her hand in the air. "Now, I know you're not here to eat, and as you can see we are busy, go do what you need to do today."
'Hopefully that'll calm their nerves… And I hope they don't find 'that' at the guild.' When she turned around, her smile disappeared. Her soft expression immediately turned sour.
"T-Thank you… Good luck with what's going on today." Lucian stammered, he grabbed a still shook Fei's wrist and dragged her out.
"Those two…" Ela mumbled under her breath. She held two fingers up to her forehead, and a solemn expression appeared on her face. Prodding the counter a few times, she then shook her head. "I'll have to worry about that later, right now I need to focus."
As Ela regained her focus, Lucian and Fei were on their way to the adventurer's guild. A slight hope glimmered in their hearts. But, a shadow of doubt loomed over them– Specifically Lucian, he couldn't help but shake that hope off.
"O-Ow… L-Lucian…" Fei quietly yelped in pain. His grip immediately released upon hearing her. When he looked back, Fei was rubbing the area where his hand was.
"S-Sorry… I was not paying attention." Lucian quickly apologized, accompanied with him lowering his head. He apologized many more times, even when Fei told him it was fine.
"W-What were, were you t-thinking a-about?" Fei inquired, under her hood, her ears poked up slightly. Although she had a feeling about what it was, she was still quite curious. As a result, Lucian looked at her, behind his brown eyes there was a layer of hesitance. A few seconds passed, and he eventually let out a sigh alongside him scratching the back of his head.
"I felt that Ela was hiding something… That's it."
"I-I see…"
"It's no use obsessing ove-"
"**** ARE YOU SERIOUS?! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I ******* TOLD YOU?"
A loud shrill smashed through the front of the guild. Both of them flinched and took a few steps back. A few more "friendly" words flew around and Fei grabbed the back of Lucian's shirt.
"What is– Maybe… we should–"
Instantly, Thran flew through the front doors. He hurriedly stopped himself just a few seconds before crashing into them.
"What is going on in there…?" Lucian thought out loud after seeing Thran's sorry state. He hunched over, struggling to catch his breath. Loud pants were heard for a few moments.
"I-I would not recommend going in there… Or looking for a request, for today."
"THRANNN GET YOUR *** BACK HERE, YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH WHAT YOU DID!"
Instantly, Thran's back straightened and a frightened look took over his entire face. He put his hands over Lucian's shoulders to hide his shriveling body.
"I-I-I have to go to a late lunch!" Thran exclaimed, quickly he turned to run away. He took a look at them before bolting off. "Please take care, it is a war inside the guild." He turned around only to meet face to face with a wall that just appeared. His lip quivered, and it felt like a bolt of lightning struck his entire body. "I'm doomed…" He whispered in defeat.
"H-Hey, what is going on…?"
"There is a demonic fox… Inside there… Sir Lucian please help me get-"
"I may be small, but my ears are not. I could clearly hear your ******* from all the way inside!" A short demi-human woman said as she strolled through the front doors. Long, neat black hair, yellow eyes, with cat-like pupils. Atop her head, were a pair of pierced fox-like ears. She wore a long, purple kimono that nearly touched the ground. Despite her soft looks, her furious expression sent shocks down all three's backs. She crossed her arms, as she neared them.
"M-M-Miss Kazusa… I-I wasn't-"
"Shut your damn mouth, you clearly said "demonic fox". Don't you dare try to feign ignorance to what you ******* said."
"Y-Yes ma'am."
"What did I just say?"
"S-.." Thran fell to his knees and kowtowed to her. Her lpierced through his entire body. Sweat caked his entire body. To the outliers, it was quite comedic watching a grown man, who stood a heads taller than her, fall to his knees and bowed.
"Good, now don't be a dumbass and try to run away." Kazusa ordered, even though her words weren't targeted at Lucian and Fei, they shrunk back a few paces. "Hm? Who the hell are you two?"
"I-I'm… Lucian. T-This is Fei. We're new-ish adventurers." Lucian introduced himself and Fei, with an arm across his chest. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Kazusa." He formally bowed, he felt as if he had to be extremely formal with the woman in front of him.
"Morons." Kazusa snorted whilst rolling her eyes. "MY damn business isn't with you two rookies. If you're looking for ******* requests go inside. If you aren't, get the **** away from here or I'll ******* take care of you two as well."
"Y-Yes ma'am." Lucian exclaimed. He rushed past her, but she stopped them before Fei could pass.
"Interesting… You don't seem like a regular demi-human." Kazusa muttered, she neared Fei with her eyes squinted. With a finger on her chin, she eyed her up and down. "That's rather a perplexing situation you have with your body. Can you control the cold that fluctuates around you?"
Fei took a few steps back from her, and cozily hid behind Lucian as a response.
"You can't hide from me." Kazusa's voice resounded behind both of them. "I have a few questions for you, Fei was it?" Both Lucian and Fei jumped out of their skin and at the same time they turned around to see Kazusa somehow standing.
"H-How?!"
"I'm not talking to you, messy haired *****. You, Fei I'm talking to you."
"Miss…"
Thran cut himself off, just from a glance from her shut him down.
"I don't have all day, so can you answer my question?"
"She can't."
"Did I say I was asking you?" Kazusa said while craning her neck to make eye contact with Lucian. She pointed at him and continued, "you do not speak when not being spoken to. Now, move away so I can speak directly to her."
"..."
"L-Lucian… I would recommend mov-"
"Oh shut it you blonde haired moron. If he won't listen, I'll just do what needs to be done."
Kazusa raised her left hand, with her fingers pointed towards Thran. The silver ring on the ring finger glowed a dark grey color. When he opened his mouth to speak, no sounds came out. His eyes widened, like a loose hinge his mouth swung up and down.
"That should shut you up for a while; now that nuisance is quiet, if you don't move out of the way I will make sure you experience something horrible." Kazusa swore, her gaze remained unwavering when she snapped her head to glare at him. "I can tell, just by your eyes you don't want to experience it… YET-"
"Lady Kazusa, please stop with what you're doing."
With a snap of her fingers the world around Lucian turned black. An intense feeling of flames coursed through his body. He clutched his chest, where the feeling came from. As his knees fell to the ground, it became much more intense.
'Am… I dying…? It hurts so bad, what did she do? What did- What did she do…?' Lucians mind ran wild, he struggled to gasp for air. 'I can't… take it anymore…'
"Lady Kazusa THAT IS ENOUGH! Release him this instant!"
"Tsk… It's his fault for this."
"Just because you're the guildmaster of (blank). It doesn't give you the right to do this to an adventurer who disobeys you!"
"Lower your tone with me, I don't give a damn if we're both guildmasters. I'm much older than you, girl."
"Release him now."
A snort echoed around the darkness. Like a cloth being pulled upwards, the darkness disappeared. Lucian found himself standing up right, the intense pain that took over his body was not felt.
"L-Lucian? A-Are you okay?" Fei asked, she tugged on his shirt. Her tugging increased when Lucian stayed quiet. Unconsciously, his body swayed. She caught his body from falling, although with all her strength he still fell to the side.
The black haired lady, who forced Kazusa to stop, took a step forward and caught him by the shoulders. She gave Kazusa a glare.
"Not my fault this damn messy haired moron didn't heed my warning." Kazusa merely shrugged whilst saying.
"You went overboard, and overstepped your boundary."
"Relax, little miss "boundary". I didn't harm him, nor did I harm that damn fool of a receptionist."
"Still, using your powers on innocent adventurers who did nothing wrong is overstepping."
"Like I care…"
"Shouldn't guildmasters be more civil?! I Thought all of you-"
Thran yelled but cut himself short as Kazusa raised her hand again at him. With a loud "eep!" He scooted further from her.
"What is with every guild member here so disobedient…" Kazusa mumbled, lowering her hand in the process. She then turned around, and walked to the front doors. "By the way, messy hair." She turned her head to stare at them. A chilly air washed over them. "If I ever hear a rumor. And if I hear that you abandoned that demi-human behind you, I'll make sure that illusion you fell under will come true. I don't care for your response, so don't bother. Bye."
A lapse of silence passed after she disappeared into the guild.
"Phew… Hey, kid are you alright?" The black haired woman asked moments later, shaking him a bit. "Looks like that illusion she put you under was quite serious, huh?"
"I'm… Fine, thank you." Lucian muttered, he then shook his head vigorously. "What was her deal anyways…? Wait hold on, hold on, did you say she was a guildmaster?"
"Mhm, that's lady Kazusa. She's the guildmaster of Nuwanushi. She comes around annually, only for a few days to check on how the guilds located around the world are doing. Oh, Thran, report to me why she targeted you specifically, please. Bring the stack of papers to Alice and we'll schedule a meeting later.."
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good, thank you." She smiled softly, then she checked on Lucian one last time before following in Kazusa's steps and entered the guild.
"What is with that crazy old bat…?" Thran muttered as quietly as he could, smacking his forehead in the process. 'She was so much worse this year!'
"Um, Fei you can let go…" Lucian said, a hint of embarrassment could be heard in his voice. Fei's arms were wrapped tightly around his stomach. "It's alright… I won't fall over… Please just let go."
"Mm…"
Fei slowly released him. Her lips were curled into a frown, she stared at Lucian with a strange glint in her eyes.
"I-I'm fine, please believe me!" He reassured whilst raising his arms and taking a step back. "Please, seriously I'm fine…"
"W-What d-did she do to you…?"
"I-I really don't know…"
"Please… I really don't know. I'm fine…"
"A-Alright…"
Soon, Thran rushed past them. Before he entered, he fixed his hair then threw the doors open and clopped along. As for them, they took a bit to gather their thoughts. Once clear headed, they followed along.
Quietly, the sparse population watched. It was eerily quiet, not even a sip could be heard. At the front desk, a friendly looking man occupied it. His dirty blonde hair waved to the side as he welcomed them.
With his usual mannerisms, Lucian thanked him and directed himself to the request board. Unlike the other times, it seemed as if the ocean of papers turned into a sea of tidal waves. He and Fei matched gazes, both had a dreary light hidden in their eyes.
His shoulders lowered, and nose tilted upwards. The word, "WHY?!" Entered his throat but his mouth was clamped shut.
A low, and quiet groan bellowed from his vocal cords; Fei glanced at him, taken aback at first but composed herself when he asked her, "Do you want to look through them with me?"
Thus, the search for an available request commenced. After a few similar sounding requests, Lucian raised his eyebrows. What is with these?
'All of these… They're only about missing people…?' He thought he found another. "Did you find anything?" Fei was crouched down on the ground, picking up request after request that fell. She kept her face hidden, but shook her head.
After the eighth request, he held one in his hands. His head turned to an angle whilst he read the title and information out loud. "Monster spotted in the lower district. A monster was spotted running around in the homes, a fox-like creature, with the only distinction of white fur. Last seen: The general store. Huh, that sounds familiar."
"U-U-Um what does…?"
"This request, here take a look."
Once in her hand, Fei pulled her hood down over her face. He only smirked seeing her reaction to it.
"Pretty weird, right? The information sounds familiar, white fur… Who else has white fur?"
"I-I don't know…"
"Well… Her name does start with an F… And that fox looked just as cute as her." Lucian teased in amusement. The fabric of her cloak started moving back and forth. "Here, let's not worry about—" When he bent down, a lone request caught his eye. A familiar name caught his attention. "What…"
"An employee of mine went missing a few nights ago. There was no message left behind, she abruptly stopped coming in. Knowing her personality, and how she thinks she wouldn't do this… Please, someone find her. I will pay anything for just an answer back, please. Please, if anyone just reads this she has-"
Lucian's iris shrunk, as his eyes widened. His stomach did an entire flip. His mind repeated the word, 'No, no no no no.' Incessantly. It had the be someone similar… Right? Gritting his teeth, he continued on.
"She has medium length gray hair and yellow/brown eyes. Most notable thing about her, is her annoyingly but loveable energy-"
'This… No, NO NO.' Lucian fell to his knees followed with his jaw becoming unhinged. 'That can't- That, that can't be her!' The name provided was someone he deeply cared about. He covered his mouth. His heart started to burn, he leaned forward, clutching his chest.
"What's with that kid?"
"I have no idea…"
"I mean, wouldn't you be shocked at the amount of requests? He probably saw through them all and got overwhelmed."
"Hey, isn't it odd the amount of requests that rolled in?"
"Now that you say that, it is pretty odd… And the topic on all of them– It feels like an omen."
"Nah, don't believe in that spiritual– whatever crap, take the time to profit off of it. Easy money."
"H-Hey, Lucian… Lucian, w-what's wrong?" Fei asked, she scooted closer to look at his face. His breath was rapid, his eyes remained unfocused. "B-Breathe Lucian…" No matter what she did, nothing seemed to work. "Lucian…" With no other choice, she wrapped her arms around him. "J-Just… Take a deep.. Breath, breath." She whispered. A jolt could be felt coming from his body.
After a moment of time passed, Lucian's breathing slowly calmed down. His panic still remained, but his heartbeat reduced to a slightly elevated pace. Once he regained his composure, he apologized to Fei. With her face slightly red, she distanced herself.
"W-W-What happened…? You, you were r-reading something…" Fei inquired while trying to calm her embarrassment. She was only used to being hugged by Aiko, and not returning it often. Only recently, she was hugged by him. Although, he tried when they were younger; it did not go well, as Fei started to panic.
"It's… really nothing to read. I think it would be best to come back tomorrow."
'He's lying. He reacted as if he read something that was terrible.' Fei thought whilst watching Lucian pat himself off. 'There's something wrong in those requests.'
"I have an idea, why don't we check on Aiko?"
Lucian requested her, just from a slight glance Fei can see he put on a tough smile. Was that panic attack related to Aiko? She craned her neck, to see where Lucian had looked. But, Lucian beckoned her to come before any could be read.
'Why can't he just tell me… Am I just… Going to be supported when I can't support him back?'
'I don't know why, but I have to confirm if that's true.' Lucian thought, balling his fists tightly. 'I know, I shouldn't tell Fei; but she'll learn of it anyways, I don't know what to do to show or tell her.'
It's been a few years since they've known Aiko. She let them live with her when they were kicked out of their home, its location is known by heart. With hastened steps, Lucian led the way.
Weaving around corners, he didn't notice the distance between him and Fei grow larger. With each foot striking the ground, he felt a pressure on his shoulders increase. Inching closer, he slowed down. His breathing felt labored, sweat drenched his forehead and slid down his face.
"Please let her be in there." He quietly wished to himself. He closed his eyes, and took many deep breaths. They only opened when he heard the strained noises of someone gasping. "Sorry… I didn't realize how fast I was going."
Fei leaned forward with her hands on her knees, her head bobbed up and down. She clung onto what oxygen she could take in. A few minutes snailed by, she eventually caught her breath and stood with her back straight.
In front of them was a small house. To the right of the front door was a window. Curtains covered the view to the inside. Just beside the door, equal to Lucian's chest height a sign read,
"Do you hear anything?" He asked, while looking back at Fei. She shook her head to answer him, in the midst of staring at the ground. "Is she home…?" Although knowing the circumstances, he held to the kindle of hope in his chest. Fei grabbed her cloak, the situation finally unveiled itself.
"Should we… See if the door is unlocked?"
"I-I-I don't, don't know…"
Standing for a moment, Lucian then grabbed the doorknob. And he slowly twisted it. He hoped for it to stop, signaling it was locked. A clack was heard, and inside of the house revealed itself. Everything… Was oddly, spotless. Not even a speck of dust was seen. The light shone from the front door, unmasked everything and yet– There is no dirt, nothing strewn about. The table that stood in front of the window had nothing on it aside from a potted plant in the middle. A couple chairs surrounded it..
Low buzzing took their attention, on the counter in the kitchen. Stood a bowl of fruits, and numerous flies swarmed it. Mushy looking and completely brown bananas lined the sides, in the center a few shriveled apples snuggly fit.
An aching prang bursted through their hearts. Everything felt stuffy, their attention was divided. Everything turned darker, only a singular light entered their view.
As if someone gouged out his guts, Lucian clung to the nearest wall, repeating the words, "Please no!"
"T-T-This… It can't be…" Fei muttered, her pupils turned to slits, with her mouth quivering. "It-" Tears streamed down her cheeks. The door to Aiko's room was bust open, chunks of wood, slivers scattered on the floor. A splatter of a dark dried liquid stained the middle of the room.