[29] Philosopher's Stone

After Aura left, Claire and Alicia had nothing much to do than investigate the underground city. Although the Quest had stated that they need only to find the source of the infestation. . .they had wiped out the goblins, and only now actually moved to complete the request. They passed over the crumbled, structures, the blood that riddled the streets, and the dead beasts.

'Hmm?'

Naturally, the main focus of their search was the building at the center of the city. A large door stood in their way.

"Alicia."

The girl tapped up like a dog, spun around, and delivered a kick that brought it crashing. She looked back with a grinning smile and Claire patted her head. They readily walked in, a sharp smell of the dead assailing their noses.

A stairway led underground and Alicia led the way, another door broken down with a fist layer, and they came upon a room of blood and gore.

"What's this?"

She couldn't make heads or tails about what it was.

At the center of the place was a glowing red gem as big as a human child. Surrounding it were shelves of human. . .body parts. From limbs to eyes to blood, and there was a lot of blood. Blood quenched the walls, and there was blood within containers that had been made from stone.

————

"That was shocking," Clara Stone commented as soon as she saw the girls.

The scene of the dark-elf punching a Goblin King into nothingness was still fresh in her mind. It had been imprinted there. The dual image of a meek girl carrying a bag and following, in subservience, the human who had claimed himself the hero juxtaposed with that of the true Hero of Heart that had stood before raging flames and struck her first legend with a fist.

"Indeed," Claire nodded, ignoring the eyes that had placed themselves on them, "Can we turn in the request now?"

The receptionist smiled.

"This is a bit of a special request. I'll need you to say what you found within, I'll be writing a report, and we'll have your rewards processed, after validation, and given to you by tomorrow."

Claire nodded and spoke.

"A. . .Philosopher's Stone?"

"Is that what it is?"

Clara creased her brows.

"Yes. It's an item used for evolution. It's rare, but it can be obtained from some higher level Mana Beasts found in dungeons. Either way, it's not something that should be in Aclair, much less its mines."

"So someone placed it there?" Claire naturally came to that conclusion after listening to the women's words.

"No," Clara shook her head, "We can't be sure. It's something that can also occur naturally. . .which is even more rare than the former way. Though, if this one is true, then we have an even bigger problem on our hands."

"How much of a problem?" Claire asked.

The receptionist sighed, realizing that the days of boredom were soon to be over. A part of her was glad, another was a bit troubled that her skill was right yet again, these two girls really would chase away the mundane.

"When the Demon King begins to awaken, or has awakened, the first sign is usually an abundance of naturally occurring Philosopher Stones."

The vampire's ears perked up at that. Squinting through her half-mask, she tilted her head with an utterly confused expresssion, which brought Claire's attention to her.

"What is it?"

"Demon King. . .Demon King. I've heard of that before?" However, she quickly shifted back to enthusiasm, "Oh well! When am I sucking your blood?"

". . ."

". . ."

"?"

"Will you two be taking a new request right away?"

"No," Claire said, "I think we'll both like to rest for a bit."

She tried to hand in the key, only to be stopped.

"Oh you can return that to Bolton himself. He would like a word with you both," Clara smiled, "And please come back again, if only to keep me company."

". . .we'll see."

She waved at their departing back. Along with the rest of the Guild Hall, her curious gaze watched the two leave.

'Interesting,' She thought.

—————

The man looked at them with renewed light. He had underestimated the Dark Elf, over estimated the "Hero", and now wondered if he might be mistaken about the two girls.

"Thank you. . .for your help," He stood up and bowed after accepting the key back.

"There's no need to bow."

"Hey hey, where's our skewers?"

His mouth arced in an wry smile. He stood back up, eyes glancing at both girls, whose red eyes looked at him. One tried to hide her desire for the skewers, and the other did not care one bit about her hunger, drool already on the visible side of the girl's lips.

Naturally, he wasn't a man that broke promises. He brought out a box and grinned.

"I had my mother specially prepare these ones, there's 9 here."

The fragrance came. Stacked upon one another we're glistening skewers that made the two girls take a gulp.

"Ooooh~!" Alicia almost lunged at the box.

Claire shamelessly accepted it, "We'll be on our way, then."

The two left, satisfying their craving.

—————

". . ."

"Dish ish shwo gwood!"

Claire laid on the bed and allowed the vampire to suck her dry. Alicia's arms wrapped around her neck and her fangs imbedded themselves into her skin, sucking to her heart's content with an expression of intoxication. In honest, she felt like a piece of meat and Alicia, in honest, took it as if she were a piece of meat.

"Are you satisfied yet?"

"A bit more~"

It wasn't until a few minutes did Alicia release her fangs, holding on to her arm, and smiled from ear to ear as she fell asleep.

'If someone saw us. . .they would get the wrong idea.' Claire thought, preparing to sleep herself as she stroked the golden hair of the girl and closed her eyes.

'Demon King, huh? How cliched.'