[28.2] From Friends to Enemies

Once we arrived in town, we made our way to the main square which was filled with people and shops. The smell of food finally awoke Zephyr who returned back to his human form.

His tail, which popped out from excitement, was wagging, "Can we get food?!"

Felix laughed and rubbed the top of his head, "Let's get some chicken legs. My treat."

He shouted, "Yahoo! Free food! Okay, cash cow! Let's get moving!"

Hazel glared at them, "W-Wait for me!"

She followed after them in a huff, leaving behind Cyrus, Caldwell, and me. I looked at a few stalls and smirked. I bumped my shoulder against Cryus, "Hey Goldilocks. Why don't we see if those stalls have any good desserts?"

He scanned the crowd, "We came here for a purpose. Don't get distracted."

I frowned in disappointment.

Caldwell cleared his throat, "Young Master… I think little miss Reika was asking you to go see some stalls with her… You know… As young couples usually do?"

He flinched and flushed red, "W-What?!"

I grabbed his arm and started dragging him, "You also look far too obvious just standing in the middle staring everyone down. Now come on! Let's try some food!"

We ordered a few sweet buns and shared them between the two of us. As I put a bun in my mouth, he spoke. "Do you notice anything strange?"

I felt the sweet bun turn sour in my mouth as I pointed, "Him."

Captain Lou grimaced fiercely as he strolled through the crowd in his civilian clothes. However, his aura was so intense that everyone quickly stepped out of his path. He strolled over to us and glared, "You! Why are you eating when you should be investigating?! I should have known a sinner like you wouldn't take such an important task seriously!"

I ignored him and casually looked at Cyrus, "Why is he here?"

Cyrus answered as he continued to look around, "He's been assigned to us to help us investigate. We have to include him in all our investigations. Those are the rules."

I let out a groan, "But he's going to screw everything up!"

Captain Lou growled, "How will I screw anything up?! I am the Captain of the Royal Guards! I have more experience than you!"

I placed my hands on my hip in annoyance, "Exactly. No one is going to think you are just a regular civilian when you act so uptight and overbearing. You are ruining our chances of blending in."

He clenched his jaw, "I am not! I'm blending!"

I laughed mockingly, "You are not! Everyone is looking at you nervously and avoiding us! They are purposely acting innocent because they know who you are!"

Captain Lou made a fist, "Only guilty people act nervous! I say we detain them all now!"

I rolled my eyes, "This is why I hate officers. You all make misguided assumptions."

He cut in, "We are on the side of justice!"

Cyrus quickly reminded us of our goal, "We are here to look for suspicious movements. Can you two please just look for anything suspicious?"

"Okay… Then-" I pointed at Felix and Hazel, both of which seemed to be in a heated argument. Or rather, Hazel appeared to be shouting at Felix while Felix did his best to ignore her. Zephyr stood in the middle, devouring chicken legs while watching the drama in front of him with interest.

I spoke, "I find their arguing suspicious. How long have they been like that?"

Cyrus let out a sigh, "It's been like that for a few years now."

"What happened between the two of them?"

He shrugged, "No idea. I asked Felix, but he said that the two of them just have conflicting personalities."

I was even more confused, "Conflicting personalities?! But they are both kind and harmless little babies! How can they possibly conflict?? They both even avoid confrontation!"

Cyrus watched them closely, "I don't know… Let's go see what they are so angry about."

We walked over to them and I interrupted their argument, "Oi. Why are you two fighting?"

Hazel glared at Felix, "Because he's always doing this! He's always trying to upstage me!"

Felix let out an exasperated sigh, "All I did was buy Zephyr chicken legs. How is that upstaging you?"

Hazel crossed her arms in frustration, "Because I told him I would buy him it! I have money too! I may be a Princess who is a political prisoner, but I still have money!"

Felix spoke, "Why are you trying to make this about that? It was just a kind gesture!"

I tried to interrupt, "Oi! You two-"

Hazel cut in, "-It's not just a kind gesture! You are trying to push me out of the group!"

Felix groaned, "It's just a chicken leg!! Calm down already!"

She screeched, "CALM DOWN?!"

Cyrus sighed, "Stop arguing, you two. You are drawing too much attention to us. We are supposed to be finding suspicious people, not becoming suspicious."

I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye and turned to look at a narrow road between two stores. A small child with messy black hair hid in that narrow road, poking only part of her body out. Only half of her face was visible, but her bright blood-red eyes stared at me without wavering.

Once she realized I saw her, her cheeks flushed pink and she darted down the narrow road.

As Felix and Hazel argued, I slipped away to follow the adorable girl.

Cyrus noticed I was walking down a narrow road and quickly went after me.

Captain Lou followed Cyrus with a fierce look on his face.

Soon Caldwell and Zephyr followed after.

By the time Felix and Hazel stopped arguing and realized we were gone, it had already been several minutes.

...

I walked down the road looking behind barrels and boxes, but I couldn't see where the little girl went. I called out in a soft tone, "Oi! Little girl! Where did you go?"

A timid head poked out from behind a corner.

I smiled softly and knelt down, "It's okay. You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you."

She walked out from her hiding spot timidly casting glances at me. Now that I could see her, my mouth fell open in surprise.

Long black hair with a single silver stripe.

Blood red eyes with an untamed wild inside of them.

I stared at her in surprise, "Wow…"

Doesn't she…

Look almost exactly like Zephyr?

Not only did her hair look exactly like Zephyr's, her eyes and facial features are just too similar to be a coincidence. In fact, she looked exactly what Zephyr would look like if he was a girl. Although this girl was clearly much younger than him.

My eyes stopped on her forehead where one horn protruded and another appeared to have been broken off.

She held out her hands as if wanting to be picked up, "Momma!"

I tilted my head, "Who are you calling Momma?"

She pouted her lip, "Momma! Uppies!"

I picked her up in confusion and felt her snuggle into my embrace happily. I raised an eyebrow, "Did you lose your mother?"

She giggled, "Astra did, but no more."

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Cyrus, Zephyr, and Caldwell.

Cyrus stared at me with a pale expression, "R-Reika! Put her down!"

I frowned, "Why? Look how adorable she is! Don't you think-"

"DEMON SCUM!" Captain Lou shouted, "PREPARE TO DIE!"

"AAAAH!" Zephyr let out a shrill shriek, "NOT HER! ANYONE BUT HER!"

Before I could ask what he meant, the girl in my arms spoke in a sinister voice that was much more mature than the childish voice she spoke in earlier, "Why do you always have to scream? It's unbelievably annoying. Now I have no choice but to-"

My vision suddenly started to darken as my eyes started to flutter in exhaustion.

I placed her on the ground as I swayed, "What is… Happening…"

She grinned and waved her arms, "Dream time! Astra wants to dream!"

Before my vision went dark, I looked at Cyrus one last time and noticed he too was falling under the spell.

My body collapsed to the ground as I fell into a deep sleep.