“That’s a lot of blood.” Sal’s face turned greener by the second.
Merella waved towards Flit. “We want compensation.”
Sal blinked slowly. “Pardon?”
“We nearly died!” Flit’s voice cracked as she covered over to the man. “I’m soaked in blood. Do you have any idea how long it’s going to take to get this all cleaned out?”
“If you hadn’t dove into one and burst out like an overgrown parasite, that would be less of an issue,” I grumbled.
“Not helping!” Flit hissed.
Sal tugged at the collar of his shirt. “I see you handled the job well enough.”
“Well enough?” Merella repeated, horrified. “Half the shoreline is now a bloody soup.”
Yaz stood and puffed what remained of his feathers. “We win. We are strongest.” He immediately wobbled, and Keagan lunged to charge him and ease him back to the ground. “But it hurts. We deserve a reward.”
“Yaz, you’re bleeding everywhere,” Keagan whispered.
“This is nothing.” He swayed again. “One nap and I'll be okay.”
I growled at him. “Stop lying. You’re done. If you try to act tough one more time, I’m putting you on your back.”
Yaz let out a pathetic, sputtering huff.
Nieve stepped forward, raising a hand. “They all did their best. I killed one, Yaz killed nine, Lucia killed fourteen, Flit killed twenty-three, and Fernella killed thirty-one. And we did it all safely away from the town. I’m going to cook them up a big, fantastic meal where everyone can celebrate and thank them. Although Lucia already ate. I think you should do something nice for each of them, like a gift basket.”
Merella threw her hands up. “Exactly! Give us something—anything: money, items, or vouchers.”
Sal turned his head so he didn’t look at the blood-covered harpy. “You want an additional reward for completing a job you volunteered for?”
“We saved the town from countless damages.” Merella waved her hand to the carnage. “Do you have any idea how much damage this many tritons would’ve caused if they had walked into the town?”
Sal tugged at his collar again. “Well. Yes. Thank you. And as the Monster Association's representative, I am grateful. But this was a posted job. And posted jobs pay posted rates.”
“How much?” Keagan asked quietly.
Sal wrung his hands together. “Three thousand coins. Originally it was for another contractor, but since you completed the work… it is split among the three trainers.” He looked at me, Flit, and Yaz and then cleared his throat. “We also cannot compensate for… ah… the emotional trauma of almost dying. This whole plan was not condoned by the Association. You should’ve known the risk of fighting against wild monsters.”
I growled again. “I don’t care about myself. You should still reward Flit, Yaz, and Fernella. Unless you want this town and the Association to earn a reputation for being stingy.”
Sal flinched. He took a step back and eyed me. The first few words came out as an incoherent sputter. “I… it… a… if…” He stopped and took a deep breath. “You’re already being paid. I can’t offer something else.”
Keagan continued to support Yaz. “If this was a monster surge, what would you have given those who helped defend the town?”
Sal idly scratched at his cheek. “Your healing costs would be paid, and any room and boarding costs accrued before it would also be covered.”
Merella crossed her arms. “That’s a good start.”
“We won. It was our victory,” Yaz chirped.
“If you didn’t, you probably would’ve died,” Sal said.
Flit turned to Yaz. I could see that she was thinking hard about something.
Then she pointed to the raptor. “No. I think he has a point. Out of the mouth of babes and all that. We did win. It deserves to be counted.”
Sal’s eyes trailed up to look at the foggy sky. “I mean, I could grant one tournament win… for each registered fighter.”
Merella blinked. “That’s… that’s actually worth something.”
Yaz stiffened. “A real win?”
Sal nodded. “One whole tournament credit toward rank-up eligibility.”
I even had to do a double take. I haven’t lost that much blood to start hallucinating, right?
“What about me?” I asked. “What about my ban?”
“Your what?” The color drained from Sal’s face. “You have a ban from tournaments? Why? What for?”
Keagan lowered his head. “Lucia… There was an incident a few days ago at Galepass. Lucia lashed out a bit. Nobody was hurt, but she did cause some damage."
My throat felt tight and my chest even tighter. The echo of wrath thrummed in my blood. Luther still needed to pay.
Sal’s eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers. “Oh, right. Now I remember.” He pointed to me. “You have the Wrath Demon Blood Ancestry. I’ve had this whole triton situation; I haven’t really read any of the missives sent by the Association that weren’t relevant.”
“But…” He crossed his arms and started pacing. “This is a bit of a unique situation. Since I’ve not read any other bans lately, this is your first offense, and that would mean a one-month ban pending a hearing.”
I nodded. “That’s it exactly.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He sucked on his lip. “You did help the town. It’s only tournaments that you’re banned from. You wouldn’t be prevented from taking jobs, so I guess you would get a victory towards your rank-up status as well. I just have to fill out the paperwork—and probably have to write an extra-long report regarding you.”
Nieve squealed and hopped in place. “Hurray, ice cream for everyone!”
I turned to her. “Where are you getting ice cream?”
She wagged her finger. “Ah, ah, ah. That would ruin the surprise.” Then she leaned in and whispered in my ear. “I’ve got a new special attack called Chilled Touch. If I touch milk mixed with fruit juice, it should make ice cream.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Are you serious? Is that what you wasted your new special attack on? Shouldn’t you have gotten a ranged attack or something?”
“Nah,” she said as she waved her hand. “I got it to use in the kitchen to make more desserts. I don’t want to fight again.”
Keagan giggled. “That’s fine, Nieve. I’m curious to see if it works too.”
I heard a new pair of footsteps approaching. Dillon and someone I hadn’t seen before broke through the fog. He was the tallest and lankiest man I’d seen yet. I half thought that he was two people in a trench coat, but his arms were too long for that. His brown overcoat covered him from the neck down, and he dragged his feet as he walked.
Sal turned to the man. “You’re already here, Hoil. That saves me some work.” He waved to us. “Whatever the charges for caring for them, just send me the bill afterwards. The Association will pay it.”
Hoil nodded slowly. “Understood.”
Dillon headed over to Yaz. “I see you haven’t stayed down like you were told.”
Yaz looked up at him with what I could only assume was him trying to put on an innocent look—it was hard to tell with his beak. “We won. I'm excited.”
Dillon pinched the bridge of his nose. “And you’re also hurt. You can celebrate after you recover, deal?”
The raptor nodded enthusiastically. “Deal!”
Dillon smiled at Keagan. “Thanks for watching him. He’s too excitable for his own good sometimes.”
Keagan waved his hand. “It was nothing. I just hope Fernella is okay.”
“She’ll be fine,” Dillon said. “She’s stable now and resting. That’s what delayed us. After a week, she’ll be back to watering the fields while dancing in them.”
“Good.” Keagan turned to me. “Lucia, I know what you’re thinking, but we should wait until tomorrow before leaving. If you don’t rest, you’ll only make things harder on yourself. It might mean you fail.”
My lips curled into a snarl for a second. “You and your logic. It’ll work this time. But I can’t keep my wrath back for long.”
Flit tilted her head. “You really do have demon blood? And all this was for what?” She waved to the bloody beach. “You’re chasing someone, aren’t you? Who pissed you off and how?”
Sal stopped midstep before walking away too far.
“Luther,” I growled. “He stole Keagan from me and then tried to kill me twice and said it was nothing personal; he even apologized to Keagan for doing it.”
Flit flinched. “Oof.”
Yaz dug his claws into the sand. “That's wrong.”
Sal turned to Keagan with a sour look. “That true?”
Keagan pulled out the letter from his bag and handed it to him. “It is.”
Sal read it quietly. He handed it back to the boy and said, “Did he ever say why?”
“He said it wasn’t personal,” I snarled. One thing he said is starting to bug me now that I’m thinking a little more clearly. “A deal is a deal.” A deal with whom? Who would want me dead and use Luther to do it? What could they offer him, a man who doesn’t need money, to have him commit so thoroughly to killing me? I guess I will have to make him talk, one broken bone at a time.
Keagan shook his head, stood next to me, and placed a hand on my head. “We need to stop talking about it. Lucia will only get riled up, and calming her down is already hard enough. So, please, can you move on?”
Sal balled his fists as he looked at me, and he flinched as I stared back. “I don’t know anything about this. I don’t know why you came to this town. For all I know, you just wanted to help with the tritons. Don’t involve me anymore than that, please.”
He hunched his shoulders, turned, and left.
I blinked and let out a small, single laugh. That’s the first time I’m glad someone is so cowardly. Sometimes cowardice is the wisest course of action. Because if he tries to stop me, I won’t hold back against him.
Hoil scratched the back of his head. “That’s… I didn’t come here for such a heavy conversation.”
Merella shook her head. “Just start healing, and we can go our separate ways. Believe it or not, I think Sal has the right idea. I don’t want to get involved either. We have better things to do than get mixed up in something like this.”
Keagan pointed to Flit. “Take care of them first and leave us for last.”
Hoil shrugged and pulled a small stone from his pocket. He knelt down next to the harpy and placed a hand on her head. The healing magic washed over her. Her wound healed, and she flapped her wings and started heading off with Merella.
She stopped and turned back to me. “You’re not so bad, Lucia. I like your flavor of abrasiveness. Whoever this Luther is, he really messed up.”
Merella eyed her partner and shook her head and left.
Hoil proceeded to help Yaz. He repeated the same process as he did with Flit. Yaz needed it much more than Flit. Flit really only needed a bath and a bandage. But if the Association is paying, why not?
Yaz bolted to his feet once Hoil finished. There was a weakness in his landing. The magic didn’t do anything for his exhaustion.
He wagged his tail; his feathers looked a little worse for wear still, but at least his scales were back. “I killed nine. You?”
I nodded to Nieve. “Did you hear her? I killed fourteen.”
The raptor’s tail dropped to the ground. “No. No, no, no. I lose? I won and lost?” His head lowered. “You're stronger.”
“Give this whole rival thing up,” I said as I turned my head. “Do something better with your time. You don’t want to chase me where I’m going.”
Yaz jumped to stand in front of me. “I never give up. I will be strong. You are strong. I will show you that one day I will be stronger. Flit right.”
I sighed and flattened my ears. “Find yourself a better role model. Flit is stronger than me. Chase her.”
He shook his head. “No. I want you. You are my rival, not her.”
Dillon placed a hand on Yaz. “Yaz, calm down. You two have just had a long and dangerous fight. Let’s get you something to eat. Lucia needs her rest too. If you get stronger than her by keeping her from resting, that would be cheating.”
The raptor snorted. “Yes, no cheating.” He pointed a claw at me. “No dying. My rival must be strong. When I win, it will be good.”
Dillon led Yaz off with a sympathetic smile.
Hoil stood over me. “Your turn.” His voice was deeper, and I could hear the exhaustion.
I nodded. He pulled out another healing stone and placed it on my ribs where I was cut. A cooling sensation washed over me first. It was followed by an itch as I could feel the wounds knit closed. My cracked rib burned as it felt like something violently pulled it. I simply clenched my teeth and rode the wave of pain that ebbed away as Hoil removed his hand.
His knee hit the ground, and he put a hand on his head.
Keagan went to help him up. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he grunted. “It’s just been tiring.” He turned to Nieve. “Please tell me you don’t need any healing. I don’t have it in me to do anymore today.”
Nieve waved her hands. “Oh no, no. I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me. But thank you for taking care of the others and for taking care of Lucia.”
Hoil pushed off his knee and swayed as he stood up. “It is what I do.” He turned to leave. “I need to lie down.”
Nieve turned to Keagan. “So, no ice cream for anyone?”
Keagan smiled. “I’ll take some. You can show me how it works.” He held up the stone with my status. “And we still need to talk about Lucia’s new special attacks and trait.”
— — —
Name: Lucia Silverbreeze
Species: Fenris (Dire Wolf/???) [Ice Subtype]
Level 8 [0%]
Power: 329
Agility: 207
Speed: 250
Arcane: 179
Toughness: 134
Resilience: 138
— — —
Traits:
Clawed
Fanged
Wrath Demon Ancestry
Ice-born
Gorging
Mana Meditation
{Select New Trait}
— — —
Special Attacks:
Ice Shard
Frost Shield
{Select New Special Attack}
{Select New Special Attack}
— — —
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