LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 148 “The calm before the storm.” Part 3
Chapter 148
“The calm before the storm.” Part 3
“May I inspect it?”
“Of course.”
“...300 gold coins," the cat-woman commented after inspecting the vial for a few seconds. “If it had been of higher quality, I could offer you a little more. But for coming with one of our VIP clients, I will buy it from you at the same price as I bought it from him. Do you wish to sell it immediately?”
“Of course," she said immediately, then took out one of the mana potions Caranthir had given her as part of their contract. “And what about this one?”
“Two gold coins," replied the young woman with a smile as she recognized one of Caranthir’s creations. Making the elf’s face turn completely red.
Kalysto smiled at the kind young woman who was attending to them as she felt her blood boil with the realization that he had been getting much more out of his deal than she had.
“Allow me a moment please, I must get my superior’s signature for this kind of dealings as well as going for the required amount of gold," commented the young woman dressed in the same white and brown uniform that all the guild workers wore, as she stood up from her post.
“Of course," commented Kalysto, returning her smile. But as soon as the young woman left, she turned to the elf with a frown. “It seems that your services are overrated. Don’t you think so, Caranthir?” The elf’s face lost what little color it had. “I think it is time to rethink our contract.”
“Please don’t, saintess! Don’t finish it!” He begged between whispers and Kalysto, annoyed, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her face.
“Do you realize how brazen you are? After all you and your people have done to me, you dare to charge me so much for your services?”
“Technically, it was the saintess who offered the amount of holy water in exchange for me doing whatever I was ordered to do and being available twenty-four hours a day for whatever you wanted. That the saintess was too busy to ask for my services is not my fault," excused the elf.
And Kalysto closed her eyes at the strong desire she felt to punch him in the face.
“You will write a series of books in which you will explain step by step the process of brewing potions so carefully that even a ten-year-old child can understand it. You will also make the necessary illustrations and record the potion making process on a crystal so that I can watch it later. Label the recordings and keep them in a box marked for me," she ordered, trying to contain her bad mood.
“Recordings?” the elf questioned uncomprehendingly.
“A record. Just as you did with Alice’s image, but to record and save everything you do while you make a potion.”
“It won’t be easy," replied the elf.
“Then make it so!” she growled at him. “You have one month to deliver it to me and if I am not satisfied with the results, I will terminate our contract.”
“But...”
“And Caranthir, if anything happens to me, you know who will hunt you down and hold you responsible, don’t you?” The elf immediately took a step back and bowed his head in respect, fear shining in his eyes as he remembered what happened with the queen. “Don’t forget, thanks to whom you are still alive," she whispered in his ear and the elf shivered as he felt the warm breath brush against the skin of his ear.
Neither of them spoke to each other again while the deal was finished and then they went to the adventurers’ guild where they waited their turn while Kalysto took Tsuki out of his inventory and petted him until two hours later, when it was finally their turn to be served.
“Good afternoon!” immediately the gaze of the tigress shifter who was attending them turned to Tsuki. “Is your pet registered?”
“No," answered Kalysto immediately with a frown. “But we came here looking for someone.”
“I’m sorry, sir. You can’t have an unidentified pet running around the city. I recommend you register it immediately or you’ll be fined and you run the risk that, legally, anyone could claim ownership," the shapeshifter explained. “And until we settle that matter, I can’t help you with anything else.”
“... I doubt anyone has such a death wish to try it," whispered Kalysto and the temperature around her seemed to drop and sparks of electricity began to shoot from Tsuki’s body, who was careful not to electrocute his owner.
“Sir, I am only doing my job by legally explaining to you the dangers you are exposing yourself to by not registering your pet.”
“...I understand.”
“May I have your identification for the record, please?” Kalysto handed over the documentation Caranthir had purchased for each hero the day before. “Sir, Kal. I was referring to your adventurer’s ID.”
“I do not have one.”
“In that case, please fill out this form with your information," she said, handing over a quill, ink and a parchment requesting her name, class, specialty, race, age and pet’s information. “Come back as soon as you have filled in the data. Next!”
Kalysto took them and walked over to an empty table that was a bit far away and, after taking a seat and putting Tsuki in the chair next to her, she began to fill in the blanks. Caranthir soon sat down next to her.
Name: Kal.
Class: Healer (wizard: main element water, secondary element lightning).
For a few minutes, she hesitated about what class to put but then decided to add an element similar to Tsuki’s. Besides that would help keep away anyone who thought that a simple healer with no attack skills was easy prey.
But when she was about to write that her race was human, Caranthir stopped her on the spot. And leaning close to her ear, he whispered.
“She’s a shapeshifter. She can smell that you’re not a pure human from meters away. It’s best not to lie in that regard. Here in Zeer, being a half-breed is not a sin.” despite the softness of his words, Kalysto frowned.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she questioned, and immediately Tsuki became alert, jumping on the table, ready to defend her.
“Don’t you know?” commented the elf with surprise at the same time she looked at him full of confusion and Tsuki touched her hand several times calling her attention. And as soon as she turned to look at him, he touched her forehead with a paw, telling her to lower her defenses.
Kalysto pursed her lips, unsure of the idea.
It had been too little time since the last time Persephone had tried to take control of her body, and the idea of giving her the opportunity so soon was too unpleasant to tempt her. But at the insistence of Tsuki, who touched her again while looking into her eyes as if begging her to trust him, she finally decided to give in.
Deactivate ‘mental defense’. She thought.
Immediately, a pair of signs appeared to her left.
[The skill Mental Defense has been deactivated.]
“What’s wrong?” She asked in a low whisper, looking the puppy in the eyes.
“Didn’t the master know that you’re a half-breed?” Asked a childish voice in her mind.
“...No. I always thought I was human. Where do you people get this crazy idea that I’m not?”
“The master smells human. That is true. But she also smells like other races.”
“...Which ones?” She asked, her voice trembling at the illogic of the whole situation. At all the possibilities and unanswered questions, she was left with.
Does that mean my mother wasn’t human... or wasn’t my father? And a shiver ran down her spine at the thought.
“The master also smells of fairy and light elf. There are other scents mixed in as well, but those are the only ones I can recognize.”
Fairy?... So that’s why the boss agreed to make a contract with me despite the risk that Persephone means and the fact that she dislikes humans.
“...Are you sure about that?” Her mind was still spinning at the sudden news.
“Yes, I had never met a fairy before I met you, but I have seen a couple of light elves. They tend to be known to be good healers because of their natural affinity for the element of light. Perhaps it is because of that heritage that the master can heal. And now that I have lived with the fairies for a while, I can safely say that the scent of the master also resembles theirs, at least in part.”
So even when someone is given the system, in order to grant them a class, there must be similar qualities to it. Oddly enough, since she had made the deal with the queen, she had always thought that as easily as she had made the deal with her, the queen could have made it with anyone. Now she realized how wrong she had been and stared at them for a few seconds with a blank mind as she processed the information.
“We will talk about this later. Right now I need to concentrate on finding Alice,” she decided and after filling out her form and Tsuki’s, she approached the shapeshifter again who took her data and created her and her pet’s ID card. It was only after that, that the shapeshifter allowed them to continue talking about what they were looking for.
“A few days ago I met an acquaintance of ours who assured me that he saw Hella a few weeks ago in the capital of the kingdom of Bhallys at the adventurer’s guild office, but as you know, Bhallys right now..." she lowered her voice, allowing the fear for her friend’s safety to be palpable to the shapeshifter.
“I understand your concern. Bhallys is not a safe place right now. Let me look in the system..." she commented and set about checking a crystal tablet with several symbols drawn on it.
“What did you say your younger sisters’ names were?” She asked, looking at the picture of one of them.
“Hella and Wanda. Both have always been very good archers. One is blonde, the other is brown," she commented, pointing to her hair color, which had not changed this time.
“How old?”
“Twenty years old.”
“...Mr. Kal, I have good news and bad news, we have no record of any Wanda in the system, however, there is a twenty-year-old female archer named Hella who registered two weeks ago in the city of Telsen, that’s about three or four cities north of the capital of Bhallys. Her last assignment was delivered three days ago. With any luck, you could get someone to take you there. We still have no record that the invasion has spread to that sector so it should still be moderately safe to travel” Kalysto’s eyes filled with tears as she heard her words, knowing in her gut that the person the shapeshifter was talking about was Alice.
“Thank you!” She whispered, hastily taking a gold coin out of her inventory and handing it immediately to the patient woman who tried to refuse to receive it. “Thank you! Seriously, it’s been a heavy day after a shitty week. Please take it. You have been the first person in days to be able to give me at least a hint that she is still alive.2
As soon as they got out of there, Caranthir had to appear several times until they finally got to the right place. They made their way through the lonely little town in an hour, only to discover that almost half of the town had been evacuated.
And it took at least another half hour to find the small office of the adventurers’ guild.
“Secret password?” asked the older man who was attending to her, the only one working at that hour, it seemed.
“What?” she asked with a frown.
“You do understand, young man, that I can’t give Miss Hella’s information to a complete stranger, don’t you? Even if she did leave word what to ask in case a young lady came asking for her, but neither of you two is a young lady,” the man replied, wrinkling his nose and making his long mustache twitch.
“...” Kalysto let out a long sigh and in front of him, she removed her shapeshifting ring, revealing her true appearance. “Please try Kalysto, Kal or Jean Gray.”
“... The last one is the right one, Miss. May I ask why you are disguising yourself as a man?”
“Do you think it’s very safe for a woman to travel in this day and age, with all the disappearances that have occurred around the kingdom of Balsahty?”
“...Jum... I see that at least you are well informed," said the man as he wrote down Alice’s address. “Here, this is the address. It’s almost on the outskirts of town. Keep walking in a northerly direction.”
“Thank you," she replied.
And after having Caranthir teleport them every couple of blocks to verify the address, after more than forty minutes of searching, they finally found the house.
Only to discover that they had left the day before.
And none of the few remaining neighbors in the area knew exactly where they had gone.
Kalysto’s knees shook and her eyes filled with tears as she realized how close she had come to finding her.
If only I hadn’t gone to rest last night... If only I had left the boys to their fate and left as soon as the queen instructed. She reproached herself.
“I’m sorry, saintess," Caranthir whispered as Tsuki whimpered and rubbed against her leg, trying to comfort her.
And as Kalysto tried to think what she could do now to find her, a violet window appeared before her.
[Kalytso what the hell are you doing there? Get out of that place and come back immediately! That kingdom will be destroyed in a few minutes!]