Volume 1 – 41. New Customers
"By the way, you were one of the people who killed that Spider Hollow in the temple district yesterday, right?"
The question came from the Wolfkin after everyone had finished hauling extra chairs up from downstairs to make room for the larger group. Seren had already gone around handing out drinks, and while traces of the earlier tension still lingered in the room, the atmosphere had relaxed considerably.
Lucien looked up from his cup.
"Hm? Ah, yeah." He raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"
"I heard about it from Lynn." The Wolfkin's ears perked up slightly as he spoke. "She asked me to help with that situation too. That Hollow was a pain to deal with." He grimaced and rubbed the side of his torso as though the memory alone still hurt. "The damn thing clawed me a few times, and I ended up needing Slyphie to patch me up afterward."
A moment later, the grimace vanished, replaced by an easy grin.
"You must be pretty strong if you helped take it down." He straightened slightly before seeming to remember something. "Oh, right. I never introduced myself properly. I'm Kira of the Tergaron, from Tergaron Valley up north, near the foothills of the Skyspear Mountains."
He's quite talkative, huh?
Not that it was a bad thing. At the very least, Kira seemed like the sort of person who was easy to get along with.
"I think I saw you there too," Lucien said. "And yeah, that Hollow was a pain. It just happened that all the right people were there yesterday, and I came up with a plan that seemed like it might work."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he leaned back slightly in his chair.
"It ended up being surprisingly anticlimactic."
“Even so, that’s impressive.” Kira leaned forward in his chair, his ears perking up with obvious interest. “I’m the fastest person in my group, and I was still having trouble keeping up with that thing. y'know? The Spider Hollow was ridiculously quick. Even when I was running on all fours, it could still keep pace.”
Lucien blinked.
“You can do that?”
“Of course.” Kira answered so matter-of-factly that Lucien found himself momentarily speechless.
The Wolfkin shrugged and spread his hands as though the question itself was strange.
“I don’t do it very often, though. It’s not really efficient over long distances.”
Lucien’s gaze drifted over the man’s broad frame. Between the powerful shoulders, thick arms, and heavily muscled build, speed was the last thing he would have associated with Kira.
For some reason, appearances keep proving me wrong in this world...
He rarely worked with Beast Tamers or had much opportunity to see what they were capable of. Granted, he technically qualified as one himself, though the "beasts" he had tamed were closer to rats and crows than anything impressive. All of them had died long ago, whether to the Eclipse, Corruption, or simple natural causes. He hadn't bothered replacing them since then. The resources required and the process itself were annoyingly extensive, even for something as small as a rat.
Before he could say anything else, Isolde suddenly turned toward Seren and lifted her teacup slightly.
“The tea is excellent,” she remarked, a faint smile touching her lips. While it wasn’t a large expression, compared to the hostility she had displayed earlier, it softened her features considerably. “You’ve made good use of my gift.”
Seren smiled immediately.
“You’re the one who taught me how to prepare it properly.”
A trace of pride flickered across Isolde’s face at the compliment, and she let out a quiet, pleased hum before taking another sip.
“Anyway,” Thane said, setting his cup down and glancing toward Edric, “can we start discussing the actual reason we’re here?”
Edric nodded before looking toward Lucien.
“Should everyone stay for this, or only two of them?”
“Everyone can stay,” Lucien replied without hesitation. His gaze swept briefly across the group. “I have something that might be useful for the rest of them.”
“Very well.”
Reaching into a leather folder he had brought upstairs, Edric withdrew several prepared sheets of paper and arranged them across the table so everyone could see them.
“Take a look at the contract and let me know if you see any issues.”
“Uh...” Kira scratched the back of his head, looking mildly embarrassed. “I can’t read Imperial Common.”
“I can read it,” Thane said, “just not very well.”
“Don’t worry,” Edric said. “It uses fairly simple wording. If you have even a basic grasp of Imperial Common, you should be able to read it.”
Which was also how Lucien managed.
“But I don’t even have that,” Kira admitted with a sheepish grin, one ear flattening slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’ll read it aloud for you,” Isolde said.
Without waiting for a response, she picked up one of the sheets and began reading through it in a clear, measured voice.
Thane appeared to understand enough Imperial Common to manage on his own, so he took a copy and began reading independently. Sylphie did the same, her silver eyes moving steadily across the page as silence settled over the room.
Several minutes passed before Isolde finally reached the end. Setting the contract back onto the table, she rested her fingertips lightly against the page and turned toward Lucien. The skepticism on her face hadn't disappeared.
“...You truly have access to an alternative method of reducing Corruption?”
“You can look at Seren if you need proof.”
Isolde's gaze immediately shifted toward her friend.
When she had first entered the room, Lucien and Ava had occupied nearly all of her attention, leaving little room for anything else. Now that the initial confrontation had settled and the conversation had turned toward more practical matters, the difference was impossible to miss.
Seren looked nothing like she had a week ago.
The persistent gloom that had shadowed her for months was largely gone. Her posture was more relaxed, her eyes clearer, and there was a steadiness to her demeanor that had been missing for a long time. She seemed calmer and lighter now.
Isolde had already suspected that Seren's Corruption had somehow been dealt with. There were no visible signs of it left on her body, after all.
As the realization settled in, her gaze gradually lowered to the hand resting in her lap.
Faint blue-black tracings spread beneath her skin like thin veins of ink, more noticeable now than they had been a few months ago. Even her complexion had begun to take on the slightest ashen undertone. The changes were subtle enough that most people wouldn't notice them unless they knew what to look for.
Unfortunately, she knew exactly what to look for.
She was still Stage 1-B, though not for much longer.
At her current rate, it would probably take no more than three or four months before she crossed into Stage 2. Perhaps a little longer if she remained disciplined and continued limiting her Weave usage, something she already did whenever possible.
Slowly, her eyes lifted back toward Lucien.
And he can help with this?
The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She disliked the idea of depending on him more than she cared to admit, but refusing outright would be foolish.
At length, she exhaled softly.
“I don't mind hearing it, at the very least.”
“So do I.”
The quiet voice came from Sylphie.
Lucien glanced toward her, unable to hide a flicker of surprise.
She had barely spoken since arriving, yet after reading the contract, there was a noticeable difference in her tone. The hesitation and distance that had characterized most of her earlier responses seemed slightly diminished, replaced by a genuine curiosity that hadn't been there before.
…Well, considering her race, I suppose that's only natural.
Letting out a quiet breath, Lucien turned toward Edric and gave a small nod.
“Then let's finalize the contracts.”