Vendetta (4)
“.....And that’s what happened.”
Vreena nonchalantly finished her recap of the day’s events with a light smile on her face. We were now within the familiar confines of the Ashwell family home, at some point this place had become the default location for this kind of rendezvous.
The recipients of Vreena’s condensed torrent of information, Emma and Beatrice, stared at her with gaping mouths and widening eyes. The reaction was somewhat warranted given how fast things had escalated in a matter of hours.
“W-wait, you mean to tell me that Liam’s a mage now, and there’s a giant monster roaming the streets? Wait you just said Ulric's back too didn’t you and he brought the rest of Brunhilde-”
“Calm down, Beatrice, I know it's a lot to take in.” The old woman calmly mumbled; her usual laid-back expression had now returned but her voice carried an endearing tone of weariness.
“I suppose so, worrying about it won’t do any good at this point. So, I assume you all came here to discuss this then?” Beatrice exhaled a deep breath, tilting her body back on the wooden chair now acting as her support.
“Yeah, given how things got heated between them and Oliver just now, we won’t be able to continue like this...I’d even go so far as to say it's just going to make the situation worse.” Julia lamented; her downcast eyes were starting to lose even more of their fading vigor.
“I see your point, but still, someone needs to keep those guys in check, it doesn’t seem like you’re having an easy time with them Owen, didn’t you go on the hunt with them the last time they came here?”
“Yeah, I did, but that party is a little peculiar. Since Ulric and his sister are from noble families in the capital, they tend to have a hard time taking orders from anyone that's not equal to or above them in status. It pains me to say it but, even though I'm acting as the current leader of the mage unit here, I’m still relatively new to all this, if Lennon were still here then-”
“I know, you’ve only been here a little longer than us, considering the fact that you came from the capital as hired help I’d say you’ve adjusted to things here quite well.” Oliver’s abrupt interjection had single-handedly saved this conversation from devolving into its usually dreary mood.
“Yeah, even though I’m still lacking, you’ve all been a great help.” Modestly bowing his head, Owen offered his reserved show of thanks to the adults now gathered here.
“There’s no need for all this mushy stuff, you’ve been managing things on your own quite well this past year so I’m sure you’ll only get better with time.”
Vreena dismissively interjected, intently avoiding all the curious stares now being directed towards her.
“Fufu...You know, I still can’t believe you have such a hard time expressing your gratitude Vreena.”
“It's the truth, I wasn’t offering anything....” The way her voice conspicuously trailed off just now had sent Julia and the others into a fit of laughter, I wasn’t aptly versed in mortal humor, but I suppose the comedic effect had come about because of the sudden change in her tonality just now.
“Oh, I forgot to mention this, but it looks like Isaac’s going to wake up soon. His wounds have healed up and I think just about all the poison’s gone from his system so it's only a matter of time now.”
Beatrice enthusiastically clapped her hands, the wide smile now stretching across her face was only growing brighter by the second.
“Come to think of it.....I’m not really sensing the presence of all those wounded soldiers anymore.” Vreena lifted her head slightly, staring dead at the wooden ceiling above us. She wasn’t actually trying to use her eyes to locate her former patients, but instead trying to ‘sense’ them via the faint traces of mana being unconsciously emitted by their bodies.
“I figured they’d all be leaving soon since Isaac was pretty much the only one here with any major injuries, the others were just suffering from the adverse effects of the Basilisk’s poison. Owen, I’m assuming it ambushed your troops with poison fog then, since that's how they tend to hunt large amounts of humans.”
“I’d expect nothing less from a former raider like you lady Julia, that poison fog was the main reason behind why we suffered so many losses, but it looks like there’s a silver lining to all this. I’m glad the rest of those guys managed to pull through.”
“Yeah, I’d say it’s all thanks to you captain, if you hadn’t rushed back here with the rest of them as fast as you did then there’s no telling how bad the situation would’ve gotten.”
Boasting a dry smile after hearing that remark, Owen promptly rose to his feet.
“Eh?.....Captain Owen?”
“It’s a bit early, but I think I’ll go have a little chat with Ulric’s party, if you do whip up any effective countermeasures while I’m away then I’ll get Oliver here to fill me in.”
“I don’t mind but...are you sure about this?”
“Yeah, I’d like to clarify where we stand with each other as soon as possible. Originally, we were supposed to be working together in this Basilisk hunt, but it doesn’t look like things will go over that smoothly anymore. Depending on their response, it might affect whatever plans we make here so I’m going to get this out of the way before we settle on anything concrete.”
Oliver closed his eyes in contemplation for a few moments before finally speaking -
“Alright that doesn’t sound like a bad idea, so I’ll leave it to you. It's not like we have anyone else here who can negotiate with them that easily.”
Just then, the dry smile on Owen’s face grew even more constricting. “I’ll take that as a compliment then. There’s no telling how this is all going to work out but, I’ll do what I can.” With those words, Owen turned his body now covered in fragmented armor towards the door, giving a brief wave overhead before finally departing.
“It’s weighing on him a lot huh.....” Julia mumbled absentmindedly
“He’s a bit on edge right now, given everything that's going on, I'm sure he’s pushing himself a lot more than usual.”
“You don’t mean.....” Seemingly catching on to Oliver’s train of thought, Beatrice tightened her grip on the silky fabric of her frilly ended skirt.
“Yeah....he’s trying to fill the gap left by your husband.” Oliver’s solemn tone painted a stern expression on the faces of Beatrice and her daughter. It must have been weighing heavily on Emma, seeing as she hadn’t said a word ever since Ulrics name was mentioned. Even now, she simply sat beside her mother, fixing her vision on her small hands that were now gently resting on her lap.
“The situation is quite similar to what happened five years ago, but the difference this time is that.... Lennon isn’t around, and he was the only one who’d been on relatively good terms with that lot.” Veena uttered under her breath, just getting those words out seemed to have put quite a bit of strain on her voice.
“I don’t mean to be abrupt, but can you go over how exactly Lennon knew those guys? If you don’t mind sharing that is; I’d like to be a bit more informed just in case we end up working together.” Oliver’s question immediately drew their attention, biting down on her quivering lips, Beatrice steeled herself before speaking.
“Very well, it's not a particularly good story though.”
