2-Chapter-12: News and more News

It's been two days since Lucilla had that meeting with Cristina and that organization. She was currently making her way through the crowded street to the Hunter's Guild. She and the others were returning from a job and were heading to the Guild to inform them about its completion.

"Do I have to? It sounds incredibly annoying." Lucilla grumbled.

"Yes, you have to. I know you don't care but there are benefits to raising your rank." Judieth said. "As of right now we are only rank three copper, so yes you do have to take the test. Actually, we can take both test for rank four and five. We still don't qualify for silver tier yet, but that will be something we have to do later."

"Yeah, yeah." Lucilla said. Lucilla did understand that it was necessary. People tend to be more trusting of you the higher your rank and tier in the Hunter's and Mercenary Guild. That was probably the biggest benefit for their current situation. Plus, it'll allow them to take on more difficult jobs and allowed access to more resources. Only if they get their ranking and tier to a high enough level.

Lucilla found it a bother though, so she was reluctant to go out of her way to do a test. Plus, she didn't want to reveal to much of her abilities to the Guild. She was afraid that if people learn more about how she fights they would put two and two together when they compared Lucilla and Ruby. She was already under suspicion after all no need to pour more oil into the fire.

She would have a little less trouble if she could just figure out how use her fire magic again. If she displayed that Lucilla and Ruby have two different sets of magical affinities, then she'll be home free. Sadly, she hasn't been able to do that since she destroyed her hometown. Not that it was completely hopeless, every time she tried calling on fire, she did start feeling warm, so she knew she could do it, but that was about it.

"She doesn't have to prove herself to some stuffy instructor, she's perfect!" Yuki declared hugging Lucilla.

"Yuki, there is a time and place for such things. Let her go you're going to embarrass her." Morella chided the Demon.

Lucilla for her part didn't hate the hug, but she was indeed embarrassed, they were in the middle of the street after all. Though to the average bystander she just looked angry.

They continued to walk, bantering back and forth as they went. Eventually they entered the Guild building, though not even five seconds later they were summoned to the Guild Master's office. Suffice to say, they were alarmed. When they asked the receptionist why she only said:

"I don't know, just some maid came in and the Guild Master asked us to send you to them."

Begrudgingly Lucilla and the others made their way to Gild Master Branko's office. After knocking on the door, they heard a gruff, "Come in." Inside was they found Branko sitting down at his desk, a maid sitting across from him. Seeing them enter the maid stood up and gave a small bow in their direction. Lucilla knew this maid; it was the Fox woman who personally tended to Sara. She suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Nice to see you again Ms. Ruby." Shizuka said.

"... Likewise, Ms. Saki." Lucilla answered. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen or heard from Ms. Sara recently?" she asked.

"No? Why?" Lucilla's bad feeling was increasing by the minute.

"She's has gone missing. Last time I saw her I told her you were at the library two days ago." The Fox woman said. She was looking a Lucilla, searching for an answer. Her suspicious gaze made her uncomfortable. "Next thing I knew she was gone."

"...She's... missing?" Lucilla asked, a weird feeling welling up inside her.

"We didn't see her at the library." Judieth said. "We had other business to attend to that day, so we left around noon."

"I can attest to that, though." Guild Master Branko said. "My people saw them leave with another woman. Though we also lost sight of them shortly after, but we can confirm they left the library before the Young Lady arrived."

"... I see. Then I have a request from the Lord Prosperty. He has requested that you and your party aid him in his search for his daughter." She spoke. Suspicion never left her eye's, but it had softened up a little. "There was a report of a young girl calling out for help near the library, so if you want you can start there, here's a map marking the location." She tried to hand the map to Lucilla, but the Lucilla didn't respond, instead Judieth took the map and thank her.

"I'll be on my way then. When you have the time please come to the Fortress, Lord Prosperty would like to speak with you." With those parting words the maid left the room.

Lucilla just stood there trying to process the wired indiscernible feeling she felt rising inside her. It was like a fierce storm, or a raging battle was happening inside her. A jumble of emotions rushed, and thoughts rushed through her, nothing settling down long enough for her to get a read on them to understand what was happening.

"... Guild Master, we'll take our leave now." Lucilla said almost absentmindedly.

"Good luck on your search." He spoke. "If it makes you feel better, I don't think you, did it. It just doesn't add up or make sense looking from an objective viewpoint. You didn't even know she would be at the library; no one did except her maid to an extent.

Lucilla rounded on the man. "Do you think she did it?" she asked. While her voice was the same tone as usually there was a forcefulness behind her words. This just made Branko more convinced she was innocent in this incident.

"No. Sara had hid her presence and left as usual." He said shaking his head. "Matter of fact, the moment she disappeared the maid informed her father of where she could've gone. They really did just miss her before she went missing."

"Oh, I see." Lucilla was so worked up she forgot she was supposed to match her old speaking pattern. "I'll leave then."

Lucilla turned around to leave and the other three followed suit with worried expressions on their faces.

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Lucilla was in the small area paved area that was supposedly their backyard. It was a small, paved lot located behind their house. She was using the area for training and was using the practice dummy in front of her to polish her skill. That was what she told the others anyway, what she was really doing was trying to clear her head. She got unexpectedly worked up after hearing about Sara and she didn't understand why.

'I don't care for her. She was bothersome anyway I should see this as a win, I no longer have to entertain her.' She thought harshly. Yet she had this urge to go searching for her as soon as possible.

"Hah!" With frightening speed, she punched the dummy's head with her full strength and frustration behind it. Flames coated her fist as she knocked the head clean off, setting the rest of the body ablaze.

She looked at her still smoldering hand and raised her eyebrows in mild shock. 'What in the Blazes of Creation just happened!?' She thought to herself. 'I've been trying to recreate this for so long, what changed?' Now calmed Lucilla attempted to once again use fire magic. She got into a fighting stance, left foot forward, right foot back, twisting her body slightly to make herself a smaller target. She lifted her first up next to her head.

"Hah!" She punched. ".... Nothing happened." She stood there, here left arm stretched in front of her. She attempted to summon fire but all she got was a warm feeling in her hand. "Well, that blows."

She tried a few more times but all she managed to accomplish was a spark. She figured that could be counted as a win since she couldn't even do that before. Though she only did because she would've otherwise felt depressed. Calling it quits for the day Lucilla made her way around the house to the front; there was no back door. As she rounded the corner to the front someone called out to her.

"Ah, Ms. Crimson."

"Yeah?" Lucilla responded, turning her Golden-brown eyes towards the voice. She was currently disguised. Her fierce glare sharpened as she looked at the intruder with suspicion. "How do you know my name and where to find me?"

"Ah, so it is you, Cristina told me where I could find you. She mentioned you have a connection with the one I seek." The intruder said. "My name is Jerreg. You can't tell because I'm in disguise, but I'm an Ogre messenger, sent by the Guardian Nielia."

"...." Staying silent Lucilla urged the Ogre to continue. "Of course, that damn Vampire knew where I lived.' She thought before turning her attention back to the self-proclaimed Ogre. If she remembers correctly, Judieth and Yuki had explained Ogre's are the monster versions or Oni, a type of Demon. Kinda how Vampires are to Humans, or Harpy's are to Avian-folk.

"Well, you see Guardian Nielia has been denied a meeting with Sara Prosperty from Vadim Prosperty." He started explaining. "She hopes to avoid resorting to anything drastic and wishes to meet with the last Prosperty before coming to a decision."

"Decision for what?" Lucilla asked.

"To destroy this city of course." Jerreg said matter of fact.

"... You know she's a little girl with no authority, right?" Lucilla said with exasperation. 'Not to mention kidnapped.'

"Yes, but if one Prosperty still wish to keep their end of the deal then Guardian Nielia will overlook this foolishness caused by her father and brother. So, I hope you can convince Sara to come to the forest and meet with her."

"What's in it for me?" She asked, not willing to do something for free.

"I can't promise anything in particular, but Guardian Nielia is a being created by the Fey Queen herself, The Goddess of all magical creature." Jerreg said. "She was granted much power to wield and would be willing to owe you a Favour. She could even let you enter the Fey Relm if you desire so."

".... I'll try, but she and I are on... I don't know where we stand but it doesn't really matter right now anyway." Lucilla said with a grimace. "She's missing right now. Once I find her, I'll try to convince her to visit. Is that alright with you?"

"That would be appreciated." Jerreg said, seemingly not caring about the fact Sara was missing. That irked Lucilla and lowered her mood. "I'll be going now; our Guardian awaits your presence. Though you should hurry. In four days, the Lord of this city and his son plan to move their forces into the Fey Forest to attack. Our Guardian is only going to wait for you for so long."

Without saying another word, the disguised Ogre turned and left. Lucilla watched him walk down the street until he turned a corner, disappearing from her sight. Her face twisted in anger and frustration, yet she had no way to let it go or even express it. For now, she'll suppress it, she doesn't even understand it in the first place.

"I'll just take out my anger on some goons tomorrow." She said to herself. "I'll...."

She paused. She looked towards the house then the empty street. With a heavy sigh she made up her mind. She walked over to the house and called the others. 'I'll just head to the spot they suspect Sara to have gone missing.' After waiting for a few minutes everyone had assembled outside the house in front of her.

"Judieth, do you have the location of Sara's supposedly last location?" Lucilla asked.

"Sure, you planning to look into it?" Judieth asked the Raven-haired girl.

"Yeah. Lead the way." She said simply.

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Lucilla looked around the alley sniffing the air. She smelled traces of the young girls Mana, but not enough to leave a trail. It doesn't help that her presence is just as weak now like before. 'There's something else here.' Sniffing the air, she got the scent of something unpleasant. Looking around by following her nose she spotted a bit of blood on the ground.

Kneeling closer she could even make out a bit of Sara's Mana coming from it, if only just barely. It was so weak in fact Lucilla thought she imagined it for a few moments. 'This isn't Sara's blood. No but the person this blood belongs to had contact with her.' There was enough blood here and even further down for her to follow the scent. A smirk spread across her face as her glare focused on the goal ahead.

"I found something, this way." Lucilla said to the others who were also looking around the narrow passage. When they turned in her direction, they gave her a weird look when they saw her face.

"Um, why are you smiling?" Yuki asked for everyone.

"Huh? I'm smiling?" Lucilla asked, confused.

"Well, less smile more sinister smirk." Judieth added.

"Your eyes are scary too." Yuki said. Lucilla's glare was different from usual, this was filled with a strong unbridled rage. Her expression matched her emotions for the first time in a while.

"Huh. Well, it doesn't matter, let's go." Lucilla then started making her way through the winding backstreets, and Alleyways. Eventually she found herself alongside the wall splitting the city into segments. The scent stopped there but Lucilla wasn't convinced. She sniffed the wall and ran her hand across its surface until a part of the wall moved under her touch.

"Well, I'll be damned." Judieth said with shock. "Who knew there was stuff like this in the walls. That feels like a security risk."

"So? Like we care." Yuki said with a dismissive shrug.

"This does feel like something the city should deal with themselves." Morella agreed.

"Come on." Lucilla urged not entertaining the conversation, though she did agree about it not being their problem.

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Lucilla and the others found themselves in the third district also known as the Nobel section. It wasn't just for Nobel's, it was for the rich and influential, but it was easier just calling it the Nobel district. Though the group didn't just find themselves in this segment of the city they found themselves in front of a certain estate.

"Oh, this is perfect." Lucilla said her smirk turned into an evil looking grin. "Judieth are you sure?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." Judieth stammered when Lucilla turned her way. "This is the home of our target Cathrendor."

"So that means we were going to raid this place anyway. So Cathrendor kidnapped Sara and the others." Lucilla muttered to herself. "Lucky for us we already have help, we'll be back tomorrow."

"Kay~." Yuki said following Lucilla.

"Alright I guess." Judieth said.

"Then let us hope young Sara holds out for one more night then." Morella added.

Lucilla walked down the clean street of district three, her eyes dark and her grin fierce. For the few people that could be found on the street, when they saw her face, they made sure to make a wide berth. Her face was a terrifying mask that sent a chill down one's back.

Judieth observed Lucilla with curiosity. She wasn't expecting Lucilla to have grown some kind of attachment to Sara, but now that he has Judieth wanted to know how this situation affected her.

'Let's see what happens when you are able to focus your anger.'