The Slayers: Reward
Chapter 5: Move Out! The Start Of A New Mission.
By: Lord Archive
The Slayers belong to Hajime Kanazaka, Rui Araizumi, TV Tokyo, SOFTX,
Software Sculptures Ltd., and many others. I do not own them. I'm only
borrowing them. I'll return them as quickly as I can since Lina and
Gourry are eating away bank account.
This begins a few months after Slayers: Try. There are a few spoilers in
this; I won't specifically explain anything, but I will refer to them.
If you don't want even vague spoilers, I suggest that you don't read
this.
Lime Warning: Nothing detailed, but occasional references to sexual
relations and innuendoes occur.
-------------------*
Pain. That was the first thing she felt. She felt like someone just
slammed her headfirst into a wall. She could have done without being
able to relate this pain with something else.
Amelia opened her eyes and searing lances of the energy called sunlight
shot through her eyes and exploded into her skull. That had been a bad
idea. Not as bad as the idea to get drunk, but it ranked up there for
stupid things to do. She cupped her hands over her head. "Recovery."
Accelerating the healing process was usually a good idea. However, when
dealing with a hangover, the morning of pain crashed into minutes of
unimaginable agony. She almost wished Xellos was here, he would love to
have the free meal.
Amelia stopped before the healing process was finished. She was past the
worst of it and didn't want to experience anymore of the self-induced
hellfire. She should be able to function now.
The princess started to take in the features of the room. She was
sitting against the wall next to the bed. Zelgadis was asleep in the bed
and his hand was on her shoulder. She was still in her royal gown and
there was ugly stain on it that she had no idea where it came from. The
room was otherwise normal for a second rate inn.
Amelia wasn't sure what to make of all of this. She had gotten drunk
while explaining everything to Zelgadis. Originally she only wanted the
drinks to help deal with what she was talking about, but somehow it had
become a plan to seduce Zelgadis, which she wasn't entirely sure had
failed. The last thing she remembered was telling him about Lina and
Gourry. She didn't remember coming up to his room or going to sleep. The
fact she hadn't slept in the bed and that she was still in her dress,
suggested they hadn't done anything. However, parts of the dress weren't
where they should be, so she wasn't sure that she had worn the dress the
entire night. Someone cleaning off what caused the stain or her
movements while she slept could account for how her dress had shifted,
but she failed to consider that.
Amelia shook her head. Thinking about it would get her no where, and she
needed to get ready to face a new day. She carefully removed Zelgadis's
hand off her shoulder. Seeing that he had not awakened, she started to
take off her clothes. She couldn't use Lina and Gourry's room, and sort
of hoped that Zelgadis wouldn't wake up. After she finished undressing,
she reached into the dress and pulled out clean underwear and her normal
fighting clothes. She always liked to be prepared, especially around
Lina. Amelia began to put her clothes on.
What a way to start a day. Amelia had thought that with Lina styled
sarcasm. Zelgadis had it as a completely uncharacteristic thought, but
not entirely surprising considering he woke up to a half-naked
well-endowed princess.
Amelia noticed that Zelgadis was staring at her. She pulled her shirt
against her chest. "Ah, good morning."
"Ack!" Zelgadis quickly turned to face away from her. "Morning. Sorry."
Amelia didn't know entirely what to do. This was all new to her. "Um,
Mr. Zelgadis?"
"Y-yes?"
"Did you take advantage of me last night?"
Zelgadis fell out of the bed. "Wha... What?! I wouldn't... I'd never...
I mean...."
"Nothing happened?"
"Absolutely nothing beyond you passing out and throwing up." Well, she
also said that she loved him, but that wasn't something Zelgadis wanted
to bring up.
"Oh.... Sorry."
Zelgadis blinked at Amelia's tone. She sounded... disappointed. Did she
want him to have taken advantage of her? That couldn't be it. That had
better not be it. What was he going to do about this?
"You can get up. I've finished getting dressed."
Zelgadis slowly peeked over the bed and saw Amelia in her normal clothes
and sighed with relief and a little disappointment. "I'll meet you for
breakfast in a moment."
Amelia nodded and left.
Zelgadis prepared for the day. He was going to meet Lord Resdis and
discuss some of the particulars of the mansion he had been hired to
clear out any magic or ghosts. Particularly where to find the mansion.
He had best be ready for anything.
Zelgadis picked up his canteen and gazed at the bracelet attached to it.
The promise connected to the bracelet had been broken, but neither of
them had any control over it. There was nothing they could do, but try
to force the intent of the promise. That he would find his cure and that
they attempt a relationship. However, the original promise also included
that Amelia would wait for him, and that was not possible anymore.
Zelgadis clutched the bracelet in his hand. With the promise gone,
Amelia wasn't going to wait for him to be ready. She was forcing him to
decide to be with her or to push her away. There was no middle road. He
exited his room and muttered, "How am I suppose to deal with someone who
wants me to take advantage of her?"
"Unless she's butt ugly, you take advantage of her."
Zelgadis glared at the guy who said that. "I didn't ask for any
opinions."
The man had black hair down to his shoulders and wearing chain mail
shirt over a green padding. An evil looking sword hung on the left side
of his black pants. "Then don't ask rhetorical questions aloud."
Zelgadis growled. "Don't give any suggestions unless you've got all the
facts."
"What's there to know? She wants you, so you go and do her. What is the
problem with that?"
Zelgadis stomped off. "Because it would force me to marry her."
"Then run for the hills and don't look back."
-------------------*
Now that breakfast was over, all they had to do was wait for Zelgadis's
employer to give them the information. But there was one thing Lina
wanted to make clear first. "Now, Gourry, just so you understand, when
I'm doing things related to my job...."
Gourry interrupted, "What job is that?"
"Attacking bandits, dealing with mazoku, treasure hunting, almost
everything else we've been doing for the past few years!"
"Oh."
"Anyway, when I'm doing stuff like that, I'm going to use the name that
everyone recognizes me as, Lina Inverse."
"I thought it was Bandit Killer and Dragon Spooker. And what's wrong
with using my name?"
Lina's eye twitched. At least Gourry didn't reference the other
prevalent title, 'the enemy of all who live.' "I've spent four years
building a reputation as Lina Inverse. If I start going around as Lina
Gabriev, I'd practically have to start over. Besides, when we retire
from the adventuring business, I'd rather not have people know that Lina
Gabriev was the Bandit Killer. Someone might try to get revenge on me by
attacking our family."
"You don't have to worry about the Gabriev family, we're capable of
defending ourselves."
Lina shook her head. "That's not what I mean. We'll eventually have
kids, and someone might try to hurt me by hurting them."
"Oh. But Lina... it means a lot to me that you're my wife. I want you to
use my name."
"Even when I'm blowing up cities?"
"Well, yes... I guess."
Lina sighed. "Please, Gourry. The name Lina Inverse carries a lot of
clout. It is feared and respected everywhere. If I use your name,
someone might be stupid enough to challenge me. I'll use your name when
I'm not working, but when I going after bandits-- I don't want them to
think they have a chance of fighting me. Do you understand?"
"No."
"Gourry...."
Gourry sagged. "But if it's what you want...."
Lina smiled appreciatively. "Thanks. But just remember that I'm happy
that my children will be Gabrievs." Well not entirely happy, but
livable. And preferably she would just have one child when she was in
her mid-twenties.
Gourry smiled at that.
-------------------*
Zelgadis wondered if he should return the bracelet. When she had given
him it, he had promised to give it back when he was ready to attempt a
relationship. Did he want to work on his relationship with her? Not yet,
was his thought-- but it also came with Amelia's statement that she
didn't have a choice. If they were to try and make this work, he would
probably end up married to her and potentially Prince of Sailoon. If he
rejected her, he would lose the only girl who had ever cared for him and
she would end up in a loveless marriage. Neither were entirely good
options. He wasn't ready for the first, and hated the second one.
Zelgadis handed Amelia the bracelet she had given him.
Amelia's lip quivered. "Mr. Zelgadis...." He couldn't be giving it back
to dump her. Had she been too forceful last night?
"Just thought I'd return it seeing as how the promise doesn't work
anymore."
"But... does this mean that...?"
"What?" Zelgadis looked at her frightened face. He sighed realizing she
was taking this the wrong way. "Amelia, I promised to return that when I
was ready attempt to have a normal relationship. Okay, so I'm not
entirely ready and we can't have a normal relationship, but I'm willing
to make an attempt to have one. But, let's not rush things too much. We
still have a few months."
Amelia's smile lit up the room. "I... Yes, Mr. Zelgadis." She took off
the bracelet on her right wrist and moved it to her left, and then put
on the one Zelgadis gave her.
"Why were you wearing your left bracelet on your right arm?"
"Well...." Amelia adjusted the right bracelet. "I kept seeing the
missing bracelet and kind of felt lonely since it reminded me that you
weren't with me. So, I wore the left one on my right wrist, knowing that
you had the right bracelet made me fell like you were always with me."
"Um, okay...."
-------------------*
Lina hated waiting for someone who decided to be 'fashionably late,'
especially from a minor lord of a backwater village. If she waited any
longer for him, he might just end being 'late' period.
The plump noble in gaudy robes waddled over to Zelgadis an hour after he
was supposed to arrive at the inn. "Greetings, Zelgadis. If you would
come with me, I will explain the job."
"Greetings, Lord Resdis. My friends want in on it as well."
The nobleman crossed his arms. "I only hired you. I will not pay any
more to have that mansion cleared."
"You don't have to. The money we agreed upon will be given to her."
Zelgadis pointed at Lina. "The only thing that we ask is that we are to
be allowed to search through any books on magic we can find there and
keep any that relate in any way to chimera."
Lina scowled. She wanted to renegotiate the contract, they would've
gotten more from the noble that way. Unfortunately, Zelgadis was the
only one who knew him and he didn't want to draw this out longer than it
had to be.
Lord Resdis "Well, I've been told that my great-great-grandfather did do
some work on merging things, so there might be something there." He
shrugged. He wasn't a sorcerer and wouldn't know what to do with any of
those books besides sell them. All he wanted was the house. "I guess
that would be acceptable."
Zelgadis smiled. Now he wouldn't have to steal them.
Lord Resdis sat at the table. "I'll start explaining everything after
Ravven gets here."
"I'm already here. And if that's the girl who's going after you,
marriage wouldn't be bad after all." Ravven sat down next to Gourry and
smirked at Amelia.
Amelia blushed under the man's gaze.
Zelgadis scowled. "I wish you'd keep your opinions to yourself."
"You know him?" Lina asked.
"Not at all." Ravven smiled at the red-head. "Perhaps we should
introduce ourselves if we're all going to take this job. I'll go first.
My name is Ravven Del Woods."
Amelia nodded. "The mercenary sorcerer-swordsman from White Woods? I've
heard about some of the freelance work you did for Sailoon."
Ravven smiled. "My reputation precedes me. I'm honored that you know
me."
"Zelgadis Graywords."
"Amelia."
"Lina Inverse."
Gourry sagged. "Gourry Gabriev."
"Lina Inverse? I'm truly impressed to be in your company." Ravven bowed
slightly to her.
Lord Resdis looked at them skeptically, particularly Lina. He then
shrugged. He didn't care if she was the Bandit Killer or if she was
lying. He just wanted her and her friends to do the job. He placed a map
on the table. "Almost two hundred years ago, my great-great-grandfather
built a mansion here." He pointed at the red 'X' on the map. "He spent
over a hundred years there before disappearing. I don't know much of
what's in there since the last person who lived there was my
great-grandfather. What I do know is that the place is filled with
magical traps and a possibly a few ghosts."
Lina leaned toward the noble. "So, you just want us to go in there and
do some magical house-cleaning so you can move into your ancestral
home?"
Lord Resdis nodded. "I'd like this done by the end of this week."
"Should be a piece of cake."
"What was your great-great-grandfather's name?" Zelgadis asked.
Lord Resdis blinked. "Um, well... I think it's Tezo. No... Frezo? Mezo?
Hmm... It's something like that." He got up from the table. "When you
finish the job, come to my house and I shall pay you what I agreed upon.
Remember, I want the place cleared out before the week is over.
Goodbye."
Zelgadis had looked at the man in a similar fashion he would look at
Gourry when he had said something extremely stupid. How could the man
not know the name of the original owner of his ancestral home? Zelgadis
couldn't suppress the smile that was forming. The information was more
proof that the house was Rezo's.
Lina absently thought about the mission while playing footsie. Nothing
major to do with this one. A couple Flow Breaks should clear the house
nicely. An easy job, a chance to cure Zelgadis, and a couple hundred
gold for her trouble. Seemed a bit TOO good, but it was certainly worth
a shot. Her thoughts derailed as she realized the boots she was feeling
with her feet were not Gourry's. "Why you?! Flare Arrow!"
Ravven was blasted across the room. "Ow... Why did you do that?"
Lina growled. "Come on, we've got to prepare for the mansion. We start
tomorrow morning."
Gourry followed her. "Lina, why did you blast him?"
"Forget about it."
Zelgadis turned to his new, and burnt-crispy, teammate. "What did you
do?"
"I was just playing footsie with her. If she wanted to stop, she should
have just said something."
Amelia blinked. "You're lucky she only cast Flare Arrow at you. She has
killed people for less."
"Touchy girl." Ravven shrugged. "Oh, well. We leave at the crack of
dawn?"
Zelgadis shook his head. "Probably two hours after that. It'll take Lina
and Gourry that long to eat breakfast."
Amelia got up from the table and looked at Zelgadis. "I guess, I'd
better see about getting another room." Seeing him nod, she started to
go over to the innkeeper.
Ravven stopped her and pointed at the 'no vacancy' sign. "Don't bother.
The town is having a festival next week and guests are already starting
to arrive for it."
"Oh, right. Next week is the Hunter's Festival." That wasn't good. She
had been invited to attend by a dozen rather minor nobles, some of whom
might still attend it. They had better finish this job before next week,
since she did not want to deal with them. But the upcoming festival
caused her another problem. She looked at Zelgadis. "I guess we'll have
to share the room."
Zelgadis sighed. "I guess. But no drinking and don't try anything."
Amelia hung her head. "I won't."
-------------------*
Lina wanted to leave Ravven behind. There was no point for him to be
part of the group. And his flirting was getting on her nerves. At least
they should be at the mansion soon and can get this job done quickly and
leave him behind.
"Um, Mrs. Lina?"
Lina turned to Amelia. "Yes?"
"I was thinking about what to do if this doesn't work, and Zelgadis
doesn't get cured." Amelia smiled brightly.
"Good, we'll probably need something to fall back on. So, what's is your
idea?"
Amelia walked a little ahead of Lina. "I feel we should visit your
sister next. As the Ceiphied Knight, she might be able to help him.
Besides, I'm sure she would be happy to meet her new brother-in-law.
Isn't that a great idea?" The princess turned around, and Lina had
vanished. "Mrs. Lina?"
The shaking tree over Amelia called out, "Absolutely NOT! There is NO
way I'm going to see my sister if I can avoid it!"
"But, Mrs. Lina...."
Lina hopped out of the tree. "Listen, I know my sister, and while she
has a LOT of power, she doesn't have what Zelgadis needs. If she did, I
would've told him where to find her a long time ago. So, there is no
reason to go there."
"If you say so, but I still think...."
"I am not going to see her. That's final!"
Amelia sagged. What problem did Lina have with her sister? Why would the
mere mention of the Ceiphied Knight scare her, when the knight is
suppose to be the highest champion of Ceiphied, the god of life?
Lina decided to change the topic. "Any luck?"
"Huh?" Amelia looked at Lina bewildered. "Luck?"
"Yes, with Zelgadis. Did you two do anything?"
Amelia shook her head. "We talked a bit last night, that's all."
"Better luck next time."
The girls turned and looked at Ravven.
Lina scowled. "Keep your nose out of our business."
"Sorry." Ravven raised his hands in mock defense. He wondered what their
previous conversation was about to have caused Lina to act so strangely.
He could try to find out what it was later, since that could wait. "I
just wanted to ask a question."
"What is it?"
Ravven smiled at Lina. "Do you know how Garv died?"
Lina shook her head. Was he honestly going to try to use that 'I killed
a shard of Shabranigdo, Fibrizo, and/or Garv' line on her? She knew the
true answer though. "Fibrizo killed him because he wouldn't follow the
mazoku party-line."
"Oh." Ravven shook his head sadly and then shrugged. "He always had to
do what he wanted."
"Huh?" Amelia questioned.
Lina blinked as he started to move to the back of the group. His
response was nothing like she expected. "You knew Garv?"
"In passing."
-------------------*
The exterior of the mansion was rather unimpressive. The house was
two-stories tall and maybe fifty meters wide. Lina doubted there would
be more than twenty rooms, not counting closets. The strange part about
the mansion was that it didn't look very old. Maybe ten or twenty years,
definitely not the two hundred years it was reported to be.
"Let's get this over with." Lina went to the front doors and pushed them
opened. The main room appeared to be oppressively black. Light from the
outside seemed to refuse to enter. Once the entire group was inside the
mansion, the doors slammed shut. Light then ignited, bringing an
unearthly glow to the enormous room they were in. The room looked to be
three-stories tall, twenty meters wide and thirty meters long with two
elegantly crafted mirrored staircases.
Ravven pulled out his sword. "I guess it's too late to have a bad
feeling about this place."
Lina looked around the room. She was not pleased with this at all. "You
can always go out the doors."
"What doors?"
Lina turned and looked at Ravven. Behind him where there should be
double doors was a solid wall.
So much for her nice and simple job.
*-------------------*
A flash of darkness washed over a seat at a small inn. Xellos was now
sitting there and waved cheerfully at the waitress.
"What do you want?" the purple haired waitress sneered.
"Some mint tea would be nice."
The waitress muttered under her breath as she turned away and a moment
later the tea suddenly appeared on the table.
Xellos smiled and picked up the tea. "Now, I suppose you are wondering
what this is all about." He took a long sip. "Who am I talking to? Why
you, the reader. I haven't had an obvious part in this so I thought I'd
corrupt Archive's author notes and let you in on a few secrets."
Xellos took another sip. "Why would I tell you any secrets? Simple, its
much more fun watching others bumble around when they don't know what's
going on. Since I can't feed off of you and you can't interfere in
what's going on, I might as well help you understand what's going on
that way you can better enjoy their folly."
The waitress tapped her foot. "Are you going to order any food?"
"I think I'll have one of your Personal Special Surprise."
"Whatever."
A covered plate appeared on the table. Xellos gleefully lifted off the
lid. "Yum. Live slugs in gravy. I still wonder why Lina hates these. Oh
well." He popped one into his mouth.
"Now where to begin? Perhaps you want to know about the mansion that I
helped Resdis find. Well, that's a secret. Can't let you know everything
yet." Xellos chuckled. "How about the high priest of hypocrisy,
Towermere? Now he's someone I can explain. Why would this servant of
Ceiphied, defender of life, teach a young chaste shrine maiden about
birds, bees, and abortion? Well, its because he's a bit biased. He holds
the view that most, if not all, nobles will experiment sexually at some
point with a servant or peasant. It is not entirely unfounded as history
is filled with incidents of that occurring, most notably in recent
history was Prince Phil being with a peasant girl turned adventurer.
Phil, of course, did the honorable thing and married her when she became
pregnant, however she had not been approved by the noble council so
Crown Prince Phil would not become king. That dubious honor would be
passed on to someone else, barring that they succeed going through all
of Sailoon's requirements. There's a lot of bureaucratic red tape
involved that would take too long to explain in full."
"Oh, you want to know about Towermere's new resistance to magic. It is
the 'mazoku' amulet he wears that protects him. While it's not a big
secret, you'll just have to wait for Lina to find out about it before
you get any specifics on it. What? Did you honestly expect me to give
any secrets about the true plot of this? You didn't?" Xellos shrugged.
"I guess you know me too well."
Xellos finished off the slugs. "If my waitress's lovely scowl means
anything, I've overstayed my welcome."
"You wore it out over a thousand years ago."
"Right. See you around, Luna-dear." A few coins clattered onto the
table.
"Send Sis and her husband my regards."
"Certainly." Xellos vanished in a puff of blackness.
Luna growled looking at the coins. "No tip and he didn't even leave in
the thank you message to Archive's pre-readers." She then shrugged.
"What else should I expect from a monster?"
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