25 Millennia

August chuckled, dark amusement passing his face, but it was not the kind that contained any joy, more - the kind you direct at yourself, at your own foolishness. "Leum, can you tell me why did you do that?"

"To change the future," he said, his smile fading. "You can ask me the details with a master's authority, but I suggest you don't, otherwise I don't know what else I might need to do, in case my act of telling it shifts the course back."

"And changing the future entailed you revealing yourself in the process and afterward involving me in the mess?"August asked.

"Yes about the first one, no idea about the second," Ceruleum said.

August pursed his lips."It really had to be the entire town?" August asked.

"I narrowed it down as much as I could," Ceruleum replied.

August fell silent for a while, yet no one disrupted it. Everyone remained still, unmoving. The deed Ceruleum had done weighed heavy in the air, although that weight carried different meanings for each of them.

For Mandy, it was pure shock and doubts. Just how many lives were lost through it?

Riveria seemed cautious, although her caution appeared to be directed more towards August, not Ceruleum. Albus seemed confused and Grisham was looking towards Ceruleum with a cold, evaluating look.

August was thoughtful, his expression held a trace of annoyance, mixed with suspicion and topped by a desire to figure it out. "Do you value your life?" August asked after a while.

"Of course I do," Ceruleum replied.

"How long do you intend to have me live and, by extension, live yourself?

"Eternally."

Wou, heavy stuff, yet Ceruleum answered with no hesitation, looking at August with sincerity as far as Mandy could tell.

August seemed to make mental notes, not reacting to the individual words. "Why did you trick me into contracting you?"

"Can't I say that in private?" He reached out his hand to his hair, looking a tad embarrassed.

August pursed his lips and sighed in annoyance. "Do you plan to have me live in peace or drag me into chaos?"

"Peace. To my best ability." Ceruleum replied, seeming relieved that the previous question got passed over.

"If I asked these three questions with a masters authority, would they risk altering the future you changed?

Ceruleum's relief had been short-lived and he cast a slightly upset, even pouting, look at August, his cheeks reddening. But even so, he thought about it. "Not as far as I can tell," he replied.

If the deed Ceruleum had done wasn't so serious, Mandy might feel bad about August cornering him. Although the fact that Ceruleum cared more about this kind of detail than he did about thousands of people and their homes was surreal. Even more surreal was the fact that an older than two millennia prince was embarrassed about something of this type.

"Grisham, can you tell me how do you properly use master's authority?" August asked, turning to the guild master. He didn't seem to care one bit about Ceruleum's embarrassment.

"There's no need," Grisham said. "He hasn't told a single lie. I have methods to tell that are even more reliable than a master's authority."

August drew a breath. "Alright." He accepted it. "Then - Leum, tell me of all the reasons you tricked me into contracting you? Without skipping a single one."

Mandy wouldn't have thought that an older that two millennia prince could get this embarrassed. He flushed red and opened his mouth.

"Because I want to be with you. Watch over you, be there to see the world next to you, be there to protect you," he listed.

All of them gained rosy cheeks to some extent. It was... yes, rather embarrassing to see someone confessing with sincerity like that.

August too, started to look embarrassed. "Is that all?" He asked. This had certainly not been what he had expected to hear.

"Touch you, perhaps," Ceruleum added even redder.

August was red as well and averted his eyes. "...okay, it didn't involve hiding from anyone, using me as a scapegoat, dragging me into weird conspiracies, or--"

"No," Ceruleum said, pursing his lips and crossing his arms. After he had said it all, he didn't seem as embarrassed, the one who took the most damage through this was no one other than August.

August glanced towards Grisham, now having exchanged places with Ceruleum about who was the reddest in the room.

Grisham nodded to confirm that no lie was told. "Well, if anything, I'm convinced that whatever the future change was, it wasn't bad for August's future and that's a pretty big net," Grisham said.

August was avoiding looking in Ceruleum's direction. Mandy could tell that he was embarrassed and troubled, but she couldn't sense any rejection or disgust, what one might expect given August's complex about possibly being called 'gaylord' in school.

"Who else knows how your human shape looks?" Grisham asked to Ceruleum. While August was, possibly subconsciously, fading out into the background, his presence thinning as he was hiding behind his tea mug.

"Violet and Alice, I'm pretty certain the only other people who would recognize me without my presence are my mother, Big purple and a few other mythical class, how humans would call them, travelers who reside in Ahea, but none of them would bother with pointing it out."

"I will inform Violet and Alice about not leaking it," Grisham said and got out a smartphone, to type on it. "I don't think this is the first time church has been after you?" He asked in passing.

"There have been two more times," Ceruleum said. "But I think they used me to kill off their own paladins rather than aiming for my head unless they heavily underestimated me."

Grisham's face showed curiosity. "How does fighting three bishop class paladins sound to you?"

"Some three hundred years ago I killed a cardinal with two archbishops backing him up," Ceruleum said with a sigh. "I honestly don't understand why they are sending mere bishops after me this time."

August's eyes widened at that line, his presence returning, as that seemed to be shocking enough to shake away the embarrassment from before.

Riveria showed some surprise as well. Albus didn't seem to understand what this was about, but he listened with care. Mandy knew that August was extremely cautious towards these 'mere' bishops, so hearing that and seeing August's reaction only further convinced her that Ceruleum was a far bigger deal than they might think.

Grisham didn't seem too surprised. If Mandy had to guess, she'd say that he already knew, or - at least, strongly suspected it.

"Because they requested the guild to supply parties for them. I was in the middle of thinking about what to do about that when August messaged me. They particularly requested August and Sarah," Grisham added with a wry smile.

"Like hell I would agree to that," August mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes.

Ceruleum nodded slightly. "So, the plan was to have four parties of a - witch, exorcist, paladin, alchemist, necromancer, and mage all corner me somewhere?" Ceruleum asked.

"Something like that," Grisham nodded.

Mandy noticed again that Ceruleum seemed to know an awful lot about things despite not being able to enter human society.

"That might even be fun," Ceruleum said, looking excited.

"Sounds like you would wipe them all out," Grisham said with a wry smile.

Ceruleum smiled in response.

At that point, it was pretty clear to both August and Mandy that Ceruleum was the last person on earth who needed to hide after the deed of wiping out a town, or so Mandy judged seeing some relief in August's expression.

But it was hard to tell if it was lucky or not to have someone like that tied to you. August was having trouble with a single bishop class paladin, Ceruleum seemed to find having four parties of them 'fun'. Mandy was curious to no end to know how had this one-sided romance even bloomed seeing how surprised August was about it too.

She could tell that August showed no surprise at the feelings existing in the first place and it also wasn't hard to deduce that August tried to get rid of Riveria and Ceruleum at the same time because both of them had these feelings, but it did not seem like August had been aware of the extent or shape those feelings took.

Well, Mandy would have wanted to kick August if that wasn't the case, though.

"August how about you agree to a mission and join a searching party? I mean, it would be pretty amusing to have the missing dragon doing searching for himself?" Grisham seemed to be stifling a laugh.

August sighed, casting an unamused look towards Grisham. "And what if they find out afterward?"

"True, that would be messy," Grisham agreed, giving up on the idea.

August sighed. "Right, I wanted to ask what do you know about the church's trump cards?"

Grisham cast a surprised look towards August. "And how do you know about those? No, rather, why do you wish to know?"

August glanced towards Ceruleum, who smiled at August, and August turned away again, some rosiness returning to his ears.

"A single town wouldn't be enough for them to take those out," Grisham said. "Leum would need to destroy half a continent for them to start considering it."

That was somewhat similar to what Violet had said about church and their trump cards. August would need to become a true calamity first, and that seemed to apply to Ceruleum too. If Mandy had to guess, those 'trump cards' were either very limited/scarce in their use or had bad side-effects, much like human nuclear weapons did.

"Are you sure?" August asked.

"Yes," Grisham replied without batting an eyelid. "I can't tell you the details, though, I'm under an oath. Your best bet of learning something might be Garold family."

August nodded at that and leaned back in his chair, taking a long sip from the tea. His complexion was gradually getting better.

"This might be a strange question," August started. "What do you think would happen if it gets out what I am?"

Grisham was surprised about the question. "I doubt that would happen," he said. "But in the off chance it would," he paused to think. "Church would try to take you and everyone who might be used as a bargaining chip against you in."

He said the same thing Violet had?

"Lock us all up, you mean?" August asked with a wry smile.

Mandy then realized that the words were different, Violet had said 'ally', Grisham had said 'take in'.

Grisham nodded to that and August sighed. It might be just a hunch, but if Mandy had to guess, then this option sounded just as bad as being targeted to August. So, nothing much had changed, in other words.

Grisham turned to look at Albus. "How were you previously called?"

Albus glanced at August and only said it after August had nodded. "Albusflores von Plaustribus," he replied.

Surprise passed Grisham's eyes. "What would a child of Cirrus be doing in Urea?"

Albus pursed his lips, his fingers clenching on the mug. "I was betrayed," he said. "Not that it matters anymore," he added with a sad smile, tears forming in his eyes.

Riveria put her hand on Albus' shoulder. "You have a new life now," she said with a gentle smile.

Mandy felt her ghastly heart tighten. She had considered Albus a dolt, but he had actually been in a really awful situation. She didn't need to say anything, though, Riveria had done the same thing she felt was right to do. Mandy softly nodded to confirm those words. Albus was now with them and Mandy doubted anything like that would repeat.

Albus's sad smile turned to one of hope as he looked at Riveria, tears glimmering in his eyes.

"You can murder them later," Riveria added with the same gentle smile.

Mandy froze up, her eyes squinting. Way to ruin a moment!

But the only one who saw it as ruined might be her. Albus showed a bright smile as he nodded at Riveria's words. August hadn't been expecting anything to begin with, as he sipped his tea and Grisham too, finally got to drink his own tea.

Might as well do the same, Mandy figured. The tea was good and if she ignored the context, she might as well be warmly looking upon the scene of Riveria and Albus exchanging looks of mutual understanding like-- Ceruleum was doing. He was the only one who got it, apparently.

"Who betrayed you, by the way," Grisham asked after a while.

"Glacies von Campisnivalis," Albus replied with bitterness.

"Child of Nix?" Grisham asked.

Albus nodded.

Grisham had an amused smile as he drank more of his tea.

August cast a suspicious look towards Grisham's smile, but before he could ask, there was a knock by the door.

Grisham got up to get the door. Mandy tilted her head a bit, finding it a bit unusual for the guild head to get the door himself like that, rather than saying 'enter' or anything like that.

A bunny girl was behind the door. She passed a small box over and departed just as quickly as she had arrived.

Grisham gave the box to August, then went to take a seat again. Without asking anything August opened the box and passed the same type of bracelets as the half-transparent one on Mandy's wrist to his familiars. These were white and not transparent, though.

All of them put them on without asking anything.

August checked his phone and a frown settled on his face. He finished his tea and got up.

Seeing that, Grisham said. "I will ask the library to close the miscellaneous section for now, but it will get suspicious if it stays like that for more than two weeks," he said.

"I put up misdirections on it," August said.

"There are some folks who won't be fooled," Grisham said. "You are lucky that none of them reported anything yet."

August frowned.

"In the worst case, you can go to the library after thirteen days to get your sister out before we seal the zone off," Grisham said. "But - in the best case, maybe you can look into things," his eyes stopped at Ceruleum. "Maybe there are some non-lethal ways to remove dead zones."

August had an expression of 'ugh'. He didn't appear to want to do any of that - neither let Sarah out nor look into things.

Ceruleum merely smiled at the look Grisham gave him and put down his now empty tea mug.

Mandy could tell that Grisham wanted Ceruleum to do something, but it wasn't clear if that went through, since there was no change in Grisham's expression.

The last ones to put down their tea mugs were Mandy and Albus. Mandy changed back to being a Tit and the bracelet adjusted turning into a faint ring around her ankle, much to her surprise. After exchanging 'see you later', they left.

After they passed the bar area and got out, August called Tia. Since she wasn't picking up, he called someone else next. He entered the phone number manually, so Mandy couldn't know who he was calling.

"Hal, are you free right now?" August asked.

Hal! Mandybird perked up. The perfect, according to August, or boring, according to Sarah, sibling!

"Yes, I guess," came a surprised reply.

The voice was manly sounding, on the low end. Rougher than August's.

"Where are you?" August asked next.

"In the business district?" Hal replied.

"Great, walk towards the shopping district, I'll meet you by the fountain," August said.

"...Ok," came a still surprised reply and August hung up, switching the direction he was walking in.

Mandy had a feeling she knew where they were going and since they were on a rather empty street, for now, she asked. "Common sense?"

"No," August said, glancing over at Albus. "Clothes."

Well, yeah, true - walking around in a greek 'costume' wasn't the most inconspicuous thing. But Mandy wasn't sure why they needed Hal for something like that, unless--

August planned to dump his familiars on his brother.

And the very faint smirk August had implied that-- yep, that was exactly what was about to happen.

Speaking of clothes, though. "Where did Veri and Leum get clothes?"

"These are from Aug," Riveria replied proudly.

"Stole them," Leum said nonchalantly.

Mandy didn't want to know where Leum stole them, for some reason she had a feeling it was the same town he destroyed. Riveria's clothes... mhm, made sense, if they were dating and she couldn't enter human society. They looked close to brand new, though. Hmm... clingy dragons...

"Did they cling on you while naked?" Mandy mumbled a question, half in shock half in-- wow, I would like to see.

August startled at the question. "...In dragon form." He said, squinting at Mandy. "...I couldn't write with Riveria's tail twirling around me," he added, to elaborate on one of the main reasons for their breakup.

Riveria pouted hearing that.

Gasp! True! August could make enchanted gems when she clung on him! There had been a reason why August couldn't write when Riveria did. And indirectly, that also explained why nothing erotic had happened between them. That made sense--!

And since only Alice and Violet knew of Ceruleum's human shape, could it mean that - "Was today the first time you saw Leum's human shape?"

August nodded. "Their presence doesn't change with shape, though," he added before Mandy could ask why he hadn't been more surprised or how he had recognized him.

Mandy had accepted the term 'presence' without questioning, figuring it was how those from the seeing side judged each other, and she had experienced feeling Riveria's and Ceruluem's presences before they contracted August, although to her those had felt like dangerous beasts, huge animals. Perhaps if she had more exposure she would too learn to distinguish those from one another similar to faces, but for now, that part remained vague.

Yet-- wait-- August had been fully okay with dating someone with that kind of presence? Mandy had felt chills from that presence alone, but August's fright had been not due to that, but rather due to recognizing who came after him, it seems.

Hm.. Hmmm, was perhaps August the type of person who didn't recognize common cues of danger? Like that type of girl who can easily talk to muscled criminals like they were her classmates? Mandy had had a friend of that type once and she had reacted exactly how August did when Riveria and Ceruleum pointed out how he treated them. With a confused question of 'isn't that the normal way to treat others?'. And that was something you couldn't fix in someone.

Perhaps, she herself was the biggest beneficiary of August being like that? A small suspicion of that sort only made it clear that this was also something Mandy did not want August to change either.

August didn't say anything for a while and Mandy spent that while thinking, but after a while, he glanced at back at Ceruleum. "Leum, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the blonde replied with a warm smile.

August drew a breath, hesitating. "Why do you like me that much?" There was confusion on his face. "I mean, if I sum up all the encounters we had before today, I don't think it adds up for more than an hour."

Mandybird straightened out to look towards Ceruleum. That came as a shocker-- those feelings he conveyed before had felt a bit too deep and sincere for a love at first sight?

Ceruleum made a troubled smile. "Aug, what do you know about Oracle dreams?"

August looked sideways to think. "Random and rare prophecies similar to those Averea make. Usually related to the possible future of the said Oracle."

Ceruleum looked sideways and after a pause, he said: "I've been seeing you in those dreams since about a millennia ago."

August's feet halted, as he stared at Ceruleum dumbfounded.

"If I sum up all the time I spent watching you in different iterations of possibility," Ceruleum added. "It would add up to a decade."

A gust of wind passed them ruffling their hair and Mandybird watched the scene up close, feeling like this was the right moment to steal a kiss, but-- Ceruleum did not. If this was not a fated romance of a life-time Mandy did not know what this was.

It did not help, that August was looking at Ceruleum like he was truly seeing him for the very first time. No longer with suspicion or confusion, just pure surprise.

And then, it passed Mandy's mind - but what if Ceruleum's feelings got through? Could her own weight of feelings defeat his? No. Could she compete with Ceruleum in beauty? No. Could she defeat Ceruleum in a battle? Certainly not. Oh no. Maybe she should be worried?!!!

August snapped out of it and resumed walking, not saying anything more, but the tips of his ears were red and Mandy could see it since she was up close.

Mandy's ghastly heart clutched, conflicted from all directions. She wanted to watch over this romance, but she didn't want August to be taken away--!

Riveria and Albus were, meanwhile, both looking impressed for some reason, as they followed after August. Ceruleum was softly smiling, not saying anything either and soon enough, after passing a few rowdier streets, they emerged nearby a fountain.