It smells like home

Lucian Protection Brigade - Headquarters

When Eliz heard Ollien's response, which was calm and even made her feel superior, Eliz suppressed her anger and closed her eyes. She leaned back in her chair and folded her hands on her chest.

Although she was annoyed at how casually Olliena had said that there could be judicial errors, as if nothing had happened, she wasn't that angry. She tried to see if she could intimidate Olliena, but here she was facing a strong woman. She didn't let herself be intimidated like Peterik and even laughed at her indirectly. Ah, this was going to be a tough nut to crack.

"Are you calm now, Miss Unknown?" Olliena asked.

Eliz opened her eyes and looked at the blonde elf and thought, 'Damn this is going to suck.' She didn't want to bring out her ace up her sleeve right away, the language of light elves. Just remembering Draikini's reaction wasn't entirely positive, so it might not be entirely wise at this point, plus she also wanted to keep it as a last resort. It was a language only High Elves knew, so it was more convenient for her to keep this one to herself for now.

She also couldn't bring up the Shannon story right now. Given the situation they were in, there was something going on and Eliz had to consider everyone as potential enemies for the moment.

Eliz blinked her eyes and looked at Ollien's Potential and mentally cursed.

Olliena Lines

Trait: Sword Master, Fan girl

Potential: Lucian Champion, Lucian Destroyer

Eliz averted her eyes from Olliena's and pressed her fingers to her mouth as if she were thinking, but in reality, she was stopping herself from mocking her. She did indeed have strong potential in gold, and the Sword Master was purple, but what about the Fan girl in green?

She blinked at Olliena's face out of the corner of her eye and had to look away even more, because Eliz couldn't help but imagine Olliena somewhere at a concert with glow sticks and a fangirl headband.

Eliz breathed through her nose to calm herself and focus on Olliena's potential. She had two golden ones right away. It was a little misleading. Lucian Champion, Lucian Destroyer. What exactly did that mean? That she was either going to be the savior or destroyer of her own Protection Brigade?

Then she looked at Peterik curiously, and at that moment she covered her eyes with her hand. She hated her life at that moment. Her self-hatred lasted only a moment, however, before she withdrew her hand again and looked properly.

Peterik Allastir Nomblanc

Trait: Sunshine, Younger brother

Potential: Multiplier, Vessel

Peterik had the characteristics of Sunshine in blue and Younger Brother in green. Eliz couldn't help but remember her Achievement, which gave her some weird bonus to people who had Younger Brother and Older Sister Syndrome. She could only hope this wasn't the case.

His Potential, however, was even more interesting. The Multiplier was a color she rarely saw: red. And the Vessel was in gray. She had no idea what that meant. Not that she didn't have ideas, mostly dark and a little morbid, but she didn't want to just randomly guess.

If she remembered correctly, the only other person she'd seen red in was Alarr, who had 'Last Resort' red in his features. She still didn't know what that did. But the red gave her a sense of something that wasn't good.

Eliz didn't want to guess, so she pushed it aside and rather had to ask herself why she kept meeting such strange people?

She took a breath and touched her chest, fingers spread wide and said nonchalantly. "Call me Steel Magnolia. I am the supreme leader of the mercenary team."

Olliena's face slightly elongated when she heard that. "Steel Magnolia?" She repeated.

"Don't say my name in vain." Eliz nodded pompously and noticed Peterik's chin drop in amazement.

Olliena frowned. "Do I look like a joke to you, Miss Steel Magnolia?"

Hearing Olliena address her like that, Eliz began to feel strange. She regretted a little saying that word now, but in truth for some reason, it was the first thing that came to her mind and it sounded pretty good in her head.

Eliz, however, returned Olliena's look firmly. "About as much as I do to you, dear Commander. You want me to put my fate in the hands of a Fortune Teller and then tell me that nothing is guaranteed anyway?" Eliz snorted and waved her hand. "Go away. You're making a joke of my personal safety and freedom here. There's no way I'm taking you seriously. So you're useless here. Shoo. Shoo."

Peterik's chin would have dropped to the floor if it could. Olliena's face paled in anger at being so disrespectfully shooed away like a stray cat. Olliena stood up abruptly and reached for the hilt of her sword out of habit. She wasn't really going to draw her weapon; she would just transfer her annoyance to the pommel of her sword and was about to leave to resolve this uncomfortable situation. But something happened that made her stare with the same drooped chin as Peterik.

Eliz suddenly pushed back with Olliena's sudden movement, knocking herself and her chair over onto the ground. She bruised herself a little, but that was even better for her. She rolled over on the ground, her legs tangled in the fallen chair, her calves aching as she bumped them, and her side too, her elbow and palm scraped. Eliz propped herself up on her elbows, sending a terrified look toward Olliena through her veil of loose hair.

"HELP! THE COMMANDER IS TRYING TO KILL MEEEE! MURDERRRRR!" Eliz began to scream, startling the two present elves.

Eliz scoffed inwardly. 'If someone can accuse and harass me without evidence, I can definitely do the same! Suck it up! Long live an age without Big Brother!'

***** 

The woman's sudden pitiful scream startled and confused everyone in the area. Alarr was instantly on his feet, not even the scream had died down, and he rushed to the door of the room.

"Stop!" The elf in the room with him shouted, and Alarr crashed into the door, only to bounce back. He looked at the door with an ominous frown; the door was protected by some sort of barrier that prevented him from leaving.

Alarr didn't hesitate and raised his hand, activating his mana and sending it all into his hand. "Hmph!" He croaked softly as he slammed his fist into the barrier with all his might. It splintered for a moment and then shattered with a crack, and the door that had looked intact a second ago flew off with a bang and the sound of breaking wood and exploded against the opposite wall.

Alarr didn't wait for the result; as soon as the way was clear, he ran out and headed for the next room. Behind him, he heard another sound of the door being destroyed, probably Holm, who was the only other one of their group who could manage to break the barrier, but Alarr didn't care. His eyes were fixed on the door where a few confused elves were already standing by, weapons in hand.

"Move." Alarr bellowed at them without slowing down; the Elves didn't have time to react and were tossed aside by Alarr as if they were skittles and he was a bowling ball.

Alarr immediately opened the door; no barrier appeared toward the inside and for a moment, he froze in surprise at the scene he saw.

There were three people in the room, an elven man who looked stunned and clueless, an elven woman with her hand on her weapon, and Lady Eliz who was sprawled on the floor, her hair slightly shaking and disheveled. She looked exactly like a victim of bullying who had been knocked to the ground and was now trembling with fear.

A flame of anger flared in Alarr's chest. He took three long strides and stood in front of the fallen Eliz like the protector he was, fixing angry eyes on the pair of elves before him. "What do you think you are doing to my lady, you bastards?" He asked, his deep voice sounding even deeper as he growled at the two. His eyes slid to the weapon on the elven woman's hip, who had recovered from his approach and quickly withdrew her hand from the pommel of her sword when she caught his gaze.

"Are you forcing a confession?" Alarr growled again. "This is your justice? Fucking bastards."

Peterik took a step forward and stammered. "So... it's not. She... fell on her own!"

Alarr looked back at Eliz, who returned his gaze from the ground, but then looked away as if she was ashamed that he would see her in such a state. Alarr glanced again at the two before him and clenched his fists. "Like I believe that!"

"Lady Elizabeth!" Suddenly, the large Holm, who had also seen the scene inside the room, pushed his large body through the door and rushed toward the fallen Eliz. He knelt beside her and carefully began to help her to her feet, checking her condition. Eliz evaded even his gaze.

Holm frowned and also looked at Peterik and Olliena as if they were the world's greatest villains. "What have you done to her?!"

Peterik and Olliena felt under pressure. Olliena glanced toward the door occupied by her own men, who were getting as bad an impression of the scene as the two men in front of them. This was not good. If word got out that she was forcing confessions from the accused, she would lose trustworthiness. Not only would it reflect on her, but on the entire brigade. They'd probably also be accused of racism since it's an incident executed on non-elves.

Despite the fact that they would swear they did nothing wrong, it would still damage them. Olliena slid her gaze to the woman the large bear man was supporting and pursed her lips when she saw Iron Magnolia grin secretly. Olliena closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Steel Magnolia seemed to have some seriously sharp and steely thorns.

Olliena had lost. For now.

*****

Before Lucian Protection Brigade - Headquarters

Fraril and Grash on the roof became alert as the two white-haired elves exited the building. The siblings paused for a moment, talking about something. Fraril immediately cocked his ears and sent his enhanced senses in their direction.

"What... think?" The elf asked. Fraril could hear most of the conversation, but it was still a bit far away, and if the wind blew the wrong way, it carried some of the words with it.

"Not... any. ...e too soon," the elven man replied and moved forward. The elf woman followed him and continued the conversation.

"They were... doing... trials. We... lucky to...."

"We could... them. ...better hurry a.... Mistress... iting."

Fraril was irritated that he couldn't hear the conversation properly, but the buildings here were too high, so there was nothing to be done.

Both Fraril and Grash followed the pair of elves with their gaze before they moved far enough away, and both jumped down from the balcony. It was several meters away and the ground was closing in fast, but before they could hit the ground, a protective layer of mana seized their bodies, and they both landed springily on their feet.

The ground beneath their feet cracked slightly, but neither of them paid attention to it. Fraril nodded his head at Grash. "One side each," he said and started running.

Grash nodded as well and hurried off in a slightly different direction. They were both going to follow the two elves, but separately so they would be less conspicuous.

Fraril moved easily, swift and graceful in a way no one would say for a man his age. Some elves would occasionally catch a glimpse of something and turn around, but whatever had moved around them was already gone.

He followed the young couple through the city, occasionally catching a glimpse of Grash and flicking his tongue in displeasure as he mentally complained about his amateurship, but it was still good enough to keep the young elf couple from noticing them.

The white-haired elves veered away from the direction of the city center and instead headed into the more deserted areas where there weren't as many pedestrians. They acted quite normal, and so no one paid them any attention as they increasingly retraced their steps into the more deserted parts of the city.

Fraril was beginning to frown as he quickly recognized that they were basically returning again to the river that ran through the city. Eventually, they reached a deserted part of the river where there was a small weir. This was an open area, so Fraril couldn't get too close, and neither could Grash, so the two reunited and watched the elven couple as they looked around cautiously.

The pair then suddenly and without preparation jumped into the weir and disappeared into it. Fraril and Grash waited a moment before they approached and began to inspect the weir.

"Definitely not suspicious," Grash scoffed quietly.

Fraril moved his ears and stretched his head toward the weir before shaking his head. "There's a passageway. I can't hear them. It should be fine," he announced, then jumped into the weir himself without hesitation. Grash didn't even think twice and immediately jumped in after him.

Fraril and Grash both stayed at the entrance and didn't immediately try to go forward. They looked ahead at something that could only be described as a sewer.

Behind them, the water was roaring, but here the water was barely up to their ankles and stagnant. Perhaps that was why this place smelled like a pond in which algae grew and frogs lived. Slimy mold grew on the walls, and water dripped from the wet plants that grew on the ceiling.

"Definitely not suspicious," Grash muttered, then grinned cheerfully. "It smells like home."

"Quiet," Fraril grinned at him and listened. Grash shrugged and scratched his cheek while he waited. After all, he wasn't the leader, but the one who followed.

"This way. And carefully," Fraril said after a moment, and they made their way cautiously forward.