Chapter 11: A Party of Two

Drowsiness caressed Lu in a black abyss. Each time he tries to take himself away from its grasp, it ends up a yawning failure.

"--e up!" a voice called out to him. He knows he heard it more than once. He has been hearing it for who knows how long, he was just too sleepy to notice it or understand what it's saying.

"Yo-- dn't sa--- ight?" he heard, and this time less hazy and more clearly.

He grasped his consciousness, yet he still couldn't open his dreary eyes.

"Please wake up!" He finally understood a whole sentence from the voice. He felt sorry not responding sooner, because he now knows who it's from.

Struggling to keep his eyes open even for the width of paper, he voiced out his thoughts the loudest he could, albeit the outcome was merely a soft whisper, "I'm back... Esther".

"Thank goodness! You have no idea how worried I was!" She scolded him, setting her hands on her waist like the grumpy little child she was.

"Gee, thanks..." Lu said, his voice and breath gradually returning to him. "You didn't have to... force yourself to stay awake... I know how badly you want to sleep...now", he said. He didn't just guess. There were dark bags under her eyelids which was the dead giveaway.

"Hmph! You bet!" she said, irritation hinted in her tone. She turned her back, yawned briefly, then disappeared.

Meanwhile, Lu was left confused and wanted to rub his eyes and yawn his drowsiness away, but when he tried to move his arms it only made him realize that they were tied behind him while he was bound to a chair. Lu tried to wriggle himself free but it was no use. For some reason his feathers were also disobedient at the moment as well. His animus does absolutely nothing so he dropped the idea of wasting a charge.

He scanned the surroundings when his vision became clearer and saw the darkness of the area. He was tied up to a chair inside a room with three stone brick walls and an iron bar front, where the light came in from.

"What the--" he complained as he continued his shaky battle against the ropes. He wondered what could have happened that led to him being treated like a convict for a second time since he came about in the world.

"I see that you're awake", Chrio walked through the door.

"Why am I like this?" Lu asked, still trying to break free.

She closed the iron bar door behind her and sat on a comfortable wooden stool to his left. "Indeed, why do you have golden feathers?"

"No, I didn't mean that, I meant why am I tied to a... Wait..." The boy stopped his shaking midway his speech.

A moment passed and the atmosphere tensed between them. Lu felt the pressure against his speeding heartbeat. He then remembered how the scythe meister turned against him despite saving its life. He feared Chrio might just feel the same and it wasn't too far off if Chrio would end him here and now.

"Tell me," he governess said. "How many, hmm?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Lu said. It was then when he felt bad because he's heard that line in movies and it was only said by suspicious people who turned out to be villains in hiding. He only knows now how the innocent ones have really felt.

The blonde lady hammered the side of her seat and Lu flinched in fear as she screamed her thoughts. "Don't play dumb, I am asking how many lives you have secretly claimed since you came!"

"If I wanted to kill anyone I would have let that titan rampage through the gates last night!" He said out of a last ditch effort to vouch for his own innocence.

Chrio was silent for a few moments and Lu could only wait for her reply. He wasn't too keen on getting himself killed, so he kept quiet as long as he felt he needed to. Any word out of line and it would be over, as it stands.

"That was already two nights ago" she declared with a softened voice.

Lu's eyes widened at the revelation. "No wonder my body feels sore. I've been uncomfortably stuck to a chair for a little over a whole day!" he complained.

"Don't change the subject!" Chrio shouted as a blood-red feather shot flew past Lu's ear. He swallowed an allocation of saliva in his throat with his eyes wide open.

She regained composure and cleared her throat. "I sincerely do not understand why it is that you have slain the titan, but I do know now that you are an aurum. I know you've consumed people here. I know you do!"

"So what's this? If I tell you what you want to hear, you kill me. If I don't, I tortured until I do. Is that what you're planning to do with me?" he furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly. Her expression told him that he hit the bullseye.

She clenched her fist and punched Lu and he was forced to close his eyes to brace for impact, but felt nothing, thankfully. When he opened them again there was an old woman stopping Chrio's arm from making contact with his cheek merely a hair's breadth away.

"He's telling the truth, you know" a familiar voice of an old woman echoed through. He studied the source of the voice and found that she was the fortune teller he met before, smiling at him. He smiled back and sighed in relief, being spared from the pain.

Lu learned that even Chrio cannot keep herself professional and gets personal when it comes to the aurum. He was starting to think that there something more than just spawing energy talons and waving them midair, and whatever it was, could be dangerous in the wrong hands, and right now, the guess would be that the aurum could consume others in some way that causes permanent damage.

"Chrio, I know you only want what's best for your people, but this boy is really just unfortunate enough to be an aurum . He had no ill-will from the start and merely wanted to live normally like anyone else" said the old lady.

"Miss Gaze, can you hear yourself? Don't tell me that you have been brainwashed by this one!" Chrio exclaimed.

She sent a sharp stare at Chrio. "I'm from a kingdom myself, but you said you're going to accept anybody if they played nice with the others. How is this boy any different? What did he ever do to be seen any different?"

Chrio looked away looking displeased with the truth. She eyed Lu for a few moments then sighed. This time she looked less hostile but nonetheless guard up and ready. "If i receive a single report of any shady scheme, you'll have to watch out for me" she said and released him. She walked out and slammed the door, perhaps still harboring hate towards Lu who had just seemed to have been proven innocent.

He soon discovers that his hands were wearing anti-mana and anti-animus gloves which prevented him from accessing his hex. He removed them and felt his cold, numb hands, breathing hot air into them as he rubbed them together.

"My apologies for being late. I only overheard the gossip a couple of hours ago that the governess was restraining an aurum in the town hall's underground cells" the fortune teller explained.

Lu looked at her, not so surprised. "I'm an aurum...and you knew".

She cast a sideglance at him. "I always have, and I took the opportunity to clear your doubts. You are one of them, but don't know them like we do, and I know you are one because I've read them too before. I also came to remind you that you are to make that choice soon. Will you live for the world, or for its people? Do understand that they are not the same, and will be a difficult choice. You best prepare yourself for the upcoming confrontation".

The fortune teller put a hand over Lu's eyes, and when he opened them again, she was no longer anywhere to be seen.

He heard footsteps click toward door before Chrio re-entered the room, appearing with a much calmer demeanor.

"You are finished with your conversation?" She asked. "I would like you to come with me".

Lu nodded in response, but hesitation was evident in his look.

Chrio offered an apologetic bow after noticing his uneasiness. "I am sorry for what happened. I hope you don't take it to heart. I was unsure of what my first meeting with an aurum would be like, because I've heard it was quite disastrous for most"

"I can't really blame you I guess" Lu shrugged.

"As far as I'm concerned as the governess of Elle, you are still a citizen, and with special needs, no less. I could only imagine... has it been difficult for you to look for an employment?" the governess raised an eyebrow.

Lu wanted to cry and hug her like a child to his mother for the concern. However it was inappropriate so he settled with scratching the back of his head and smiling.

"Just as I thought. Not to worry, I already have something in mind for you. Come with me" she gestured for him to follow, out the cell and up the hall they went.

"There's someone else in a case similar to yours" Chrio said as she opened the door when they reached the desired room. "Long story short she's in the same shoes regarding the difficulty with employment. You could get the same treatment, shall you agree".

"Do they have gold feathers?" Lu stopped to ask.

"No. She's from a kingdom, and everyone knows. Nobody's willing enough to take her for aneveryday duty", Chrio answered, then gestured for him to come inside.

She lets him in before closing it again. The room was a simple office complete with a polished wooden table and chair on one corner similar to her own desk at the entrance of the town hall. It was stacked with papers and other materials related to documents. On the other side was a shelf for even more official paperworks. Chrio walked to the work area and stooped down, shuffling underneath.

"Basically, you take bounties directly from me. I give you the ones with the highest pay available, but cannot give to the normal folk, for most of them involve travelling out of the protection of these walls. However, the dangers are also as high as its reward. You perform them, you return to me, and reward is yours. The daily reward is the same as the average daily wage of a person working a full time employment".

Lu processed his thoughts. It wasn't a bad idea, his condition taken into consideration. After much thinking he realized it was actually the best opportunity that had appeared yet since coming to Elle, but the thought of a chocie reminded him that he was " going to make the choice soon". There was no instruction where, and when. He thought deeply if this was the choice he had to make. While it felt to him that way, he failed to see how they were related to the people or the world. That was when he convinced himself to not think of it too much, as the saying goes, "let's cross the beidge when we get there".

She resurfaced from underneath and presented him a paper. "This reminds me of the first time we've met. Who would have thought you'd stir up so much trouble for me?" she gave him a paper and a quill pen to sign it with.

Lu bowed deeply in gratitude and laughed awkwardly. "Thank you very much" he said.

After much reading and little contemplation he signed the line at the bottom, confirming his willingness to abide by the contract.

She took the page and slid it inside one of the shelves across her using a feather. "With that taken care of, I'll have you know that you will be working as a team with someone else, as I've mentioned earlier. It's the person in the same shoes as you".

A thought came across Lu's mind regarding his colleague. "Does this person know I'm an aurum?"

Chrio jolted and her knees crashed onto the tabletop above them. "It's almost unsettling how easily you can say that" she sighed. "Anyway, that's where favor I'll have to ask you goes in. Go tell her about her feathers. She once told me that she had a history with the aurum, and it's not a very good one. You'll have to solve this one yourself"

Lu nodded after a fee silent seconds. "I will try my best".

After she has arranged the files in order, Chrio gestured again for Lu to follow. "Come with me, this is quite the favorable opportunity to meet who you'll be working with"

Once more, they traversed the building. It was only when they stepped through the exit when Lu remembered he was inside the town hall the whole time. He was in awe at how the seemingly small institution could house such a large space with many rooms.

The governess directed him outside the gates where a bench was situated. Seated atop of it was a girl. She was caught daydreaming while staring at the horizon, and her face cannot be seen. However, her pale complexion, slim body, and purple hair was a dead giveaway for Lu to immediately recognize who it was.

Chrio stopped walking and cocked her head in the girl's direction. "Sorry to leave you like this, but you will have to take it from here. I already gave her the details of your first assignment as a team, so you'll just have to tell her. Still, the part about the golden feathers... that's yours".

Lu's eyes furrowed. "You told her...about a team...when I was in jail and seen as a criminal? So you've seen it this far, huh".

"You're quite the bright one, aren't you? I may very well just say it then. I was secretly hoping this would happen. You did shut down that titan after all. It's one of my lucky days, probably" she smiled and winked.

"You're a clever one yourself" Lu applauded her.

"Alright. I have other things to tend to back at the office. Don't forget to tell her, got it? If you don't, it's going to be harder for you than it is for me. Goodluck" she said, then left.

Lu approached the girl and she had the most disappointed expression yet.

"The governess said I'll be working with someone starting today. It had to be you, huh?" Autumn said.

"Why does it sound like you're unhappy to see me?" Lu asked.

"Why does it sound like I should be, you weak bum?" Autumn replied.

Lu shook his head, "No, No. It's kinda like you hate me or something"

Autumn rolled her eyes and stood up, then started walking away. "Whatever. Tag along if you want to. I can do it myself anyway."

"Wait", Lu said. "I have something to tell you".

She turned back. "What is it now?".

At the tip of Lu's tongue, he wanted to just straight out tell her that he was an aurum, but Chrio's warnings felt too much for the sudden moment. He needed to find a calmer time.

"Nice to be working with you, Autumn" he said instead, extending his hand for a handshake.

Autumn turned around and continued on her way, "Stop wasting time. We don't need formailites anymore".

Lu sighed and followed her. He was in distress with how he would tell his companion what he is. He was certain that if they were to work together, there would come a time that he has to reveal it anyway. He did not want that time to be a bad one.