Chapter 16: Strange Sisters

"You bastard", The dagger-wielding Tiefling yelled and charged at Lorthic.

"Wait Iphy!", The spear-wielding Tiefling cried out to her hot-tempered teammate, but it was either too late or she just ignored it.

The Tiefling named Iphy quickly approached Lorthic and with a jump she brought down both her weapons which she held in a reverse grip, intending to pierce both Lorthics shoulders.

[Minor Mage Armor]

Lorthic of course didn't take the Tiefling seriously as he cast one of his weakest defensive spells and watched as the girl's daggers get blocked by the ethereal, almost invisible, white armor that appeared around him.

'As I thought, tier 2 magic is already too much for these lasses', Lorthic thought as he watched the shocked expressions of both the Tiefling named Iphy and her teammate.

Iphy immediately jumped back from Lorthic in a bit to make some space between them, which Lorthic thought was pretty dumb considering he was a mage, but let it go considering he could have crushed the girl with physical strength alone.

"Sis, what happened, this isn't normal!", Iphy shouted to the spear-wielding Tiefling which turned out to be her sister.

"Th-this is high tier magic, it should be the same as the Mistress's Guardian Agis, a seventh Circle spell!"

'Seventh Circle?' Lorthic thought, his spell was but a basic second-tier spell and even among the lowest of the tier, although it was a bit overpowering because he was the one that cast, it was at most equal to a third tiered spell at most. The tiers of spells were created based on the difficulty casting them and the effect they would produce, the harder and better the effects the higher the tier. That didn't mean there weren't spells that were hard to cast but produced poor results or easy to cast spells with great results, but they were called failed spells or specialized spells prospectively.

"Seventh tier! You're shiting me right Bay, that's Champion levels spells! Are you telling me This walking corpse is a Champion?", Iphy yelled

"Yeah, and that you just attacked and insulted a champion", Bay said as she walked in front of her sister in a defensive posture, Although she put on a brave front it was obvious she was afraid by the slight tremble of her arms and legs.

"Please forgive us Lord Champion for dishonoring you like this, we humbly ask your forgiveness, we were merely protecting our Mistress." The Tiefling Bay said while still maintaining her defensive posture ready for any attacks from Lorthic. Iphy was also behind her, ready to support Bay.

"Oh, but what if I was but a mere warrior rank, what would you have done?" Lorthic asked.

"Of course we...", Bay started speaking but was interrupted by Iphy.

"Of course we would have killed you and be done with it.", the Tiefling stated matter of factly, causing a vain to pop on her sister's face.

"Damn you can't you keep your mouth shut!", Bay shouted at Iphy who jumped back a few steps, looking at Bay as if she was wronged.

'What's wrong with these girls? Are they truly ignorant to the danger I pose or are they just that dumb?' Lorthic thought as he looked at the comic scene playing out in front of him.

"Annabel you can come out, these children pose no threat to you", Lorthic called out behind him to where Annabel was hiding.

"Hey, you walking corpse, who are you calling a child I'll...ouch!" Iphy yelled but was soon silenced by a fist on the dead from her sister Bay, who afterward turned to Lorthic with a low bow, "I apologize for my sisters rude behavior Lord Champion"

Sadly it wasn't long before her sisters spoke again causing her heart to almost fly out of her chest.

"So, whos the tramp?", Iphy asked as she looked at Annabel.

'My dear sister why do you hate your life so, no why do you hate me so as to drag me down with you.', Bay could only lament as she turned around to face Iphy with tears threatening to spill out.

"What?", Iphy asked ignorantly as she saw her sister's intense gaze.

Annabel had momentarily frozen when she heard Iphy, her face was red with anger. Tramp? Since when in her life has she ever been this humiliated.

"Calm down Annabel, there is no need to get worked up over what other people say or think, it is only your own actions that matter. Do not show weak character by being angered by the words of a child", Lorthics words were like a bucket of cold water that doused Annabel's flaming anger.

"I understand, Thank you.", Annabel quietly said as she took he place next to Lorthic.

"Who's the child, you freaking zombie! Well at least I can tell you are a Champion your status is only showing up as Unkown.", Iphy said.

"Why do you think I wanted to stop you, wait! Did you only check his status just now? How can you be so reckless!", Bay yelled at Iphy as she grabbed the girl by her ear.

"Ouch, Ouch, Ouch, Ouch... Ok, I learned my lesson I'm sorry now please stop" Iphy pleaded.

"Not until you apologize to the Lord Champion!", Bay commanded.

"Never! I would rather suffer than apologies to that... Ouch, Ouch, Ouch, Ouch, Ouch, .... Ok I'm sorry lord Champion I'm sorry o great master, please forgive me and ask my sister to let me go!!!"

"My Lord", Bay looked towards Lorthic hoping for him to accept Iphy's apology.

"There was no harm done so it's fine and please you both may address e by my name Lorthic, no need for any titles", Lorthic said while introducing himself.

"If that's the case then I thank you for your grace" Bay said while she was secretly shocked at how carefree Lorthic was. He didn't demand compensation or anything for the way iphy dishonored him while he also allowed both of them to directly addressed him by his name. One must know that champions were the most powerful beings in this era, even if it was in front of a duke or king, they had to show a champion appropriate respect.

Having her ear released Iphy rubbed it with a pout while whining, "So cruel, how can you do that to your own twin"

"You two are twins?", Annabel couldn't help but ask

"Yeah'cant you tell the resemblance", Iphy asked excitedly as she stood next to her sister. "I'm the eldest", she said with pride.

Annabel had a weird look as she looked at the two, Iphy was an entire head shorter than Bay and while Bay had a very sexy figure with all the curves in the right place, Iphy was cursed with the body of a child, flat as an ironingboard.

Sigh*

Bay stepped forward when she saw the doubt in Annabel's eyes, she had to at least defend her elder sister, however sad it might be.

"Although it might not look it, she really is older than me by a minute and a few seconds.", Bay said, while Iphy complained in the background, "Hey what's that suppose to mean!"

"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you, my name is Annabel Frostbringer", Annabel introduced herself.

"Likewise, My name is Bay Incants", Bay said with a slight bow.

"...And my name is Iphy Incants, nice to meet yah", Iphy said as she waved at Annabel.

"Oh and sorry for calling you a tramp, you actually seem nice", Iphy added as she rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly."

"Well now that we are all acquainted, let's get to the topic of my visit," Lorthic said as he stepped forward.

"Yeah, I was wondering what would make a corpse wander over here" Iphy commented as she placed a finger on his chin.

"Iphy!", Bay yelled receiving only a 'What did I do this time, look from Iphy.

"Um, May I know the reason for your visit", Bay asked after calming herself.

"Yes, there seemed to be some sort of conflict between one of your companions and the tribe within this forest.", Lorthic said, but he didn't expect to get hateful looks in return when he finished his Sentence.

"Are you the one that hurt Xaszix", Iphy shouted as she tightly held her dagger.

Bay kept quiet but you could see that she wasn't happy about what happened.

"No, it was not entirely my doing, though I did help the tribe strengthen their defenses I did not personally take action. Do you truly believe he would have been able to survive if I did"

"Guess you have a point, but still you did help them hurt him!", Iphy said.

"Sir did you come here to kill Xaszix and finish the job," Bay asked, before Lorthic could answer Iphy yelled in panic.

"You can't, Xaszix is such a nice person, how could you even think of hurting him! The only reason he does such bad things is..."

"Iphy!" Bay yelled making Iphy's eyes open in realization before she covered her mouth with her hands.

"I will be honest with you children, I originally came here to finish the job", Lorthic said causing the twins to tense up, "But I am not sure anymore, I went to the tribe because I thought they were sacrificing innocents to some nonsense god, but I learned they only did it to protect their tribe because they were forced by this Xaszix, so I helped them fend him off and followed his trail in a bid to finish him off, but now here we are and I am questioning if he really deserves death, the answer depends on the final result", Lorthic said.

"What result", Bay asked worriedly.

"On the reason for all this madness, I am here to discover the truth and be done with it, so would you mind escorting me inside?", Lorthic asked.

"I am sorry, but we can't allow you to enter," Bay said.

"Yeah, we must not let any strangers enter," Iphy said.

"Then can one of you go get permission", Lorthic asked calmly, he was not surprised that they would not let him enter, but it stood to reason that they could ask permission for his entry on his behalf.

The twins were both unsure until Bay came up with a division and spoke.

"Iphy stays here, I will go ask permission", Bay said.

"But what if he wants to force his way in?", Iphy said as she pointed at Lorthic, she had no confidence in actually stopping him, especially alone.

"Dummy, if he wanted to force his way in do you think we could stop him, so if it's the both of us or just one of us it doesn't really matter, to him it's just the matter of squishing one or two bugs." Bay jested with a smile.

From her observations of Lorthic she could easily see that he was in no way overbearing, in fact he was one of the most patient people she had ever seen, even in front of her sister's antics he never showed any dissatisfaction or anger, he merely showed a glimpse of surprise in the beginning.

"Ok", Iphy said.

Bay then bowed to Lorthic before heading into the cave.