The Sword Saint’s Second Life As a Fox Girl

5-49 Apprehended, apprehensive

“Is it too late to confess that I did not plan where we would meet?” Erin said.

Aedan chuckled, sitting just beside Erin on a bench that could accommodate more than a dozen people. In his was a wooden mug, filled to the brim with mead. “If she’s as desperate as you say she is, then she would have no problem finding us.”

“Let us hope so. Otherwise, all the planning would go to waste,” Erin muttered. Although she and Aedan were the only ones in sight, the two were not alone. The rest of the party was here, in the tavern with them, hiding in plain sight.

Amyra and Nivia were on the second floor. The rest was in the bar, blending in with the other patrons. Aera was the only one standing out as she wasn’t good with a crowd. She was at a loss whenever some individual came up to her but her natural fearsome aura managed to dissuade many of her would-be suitors. Her role as the Apostle of Wrath did wonders. Even bulky men shied away from her.

Erin was in disguise, though that did little to help conceal her identity. Pretty ladies were neither rare nor common. Tall ladies weren’t common but they couldn’t exactly be labelled as a rare sight. However, tall and beautiful was certainly an interesting and atypical combination. Erin wasn’t stereotyping. It was simply her observation. Therefore, even if her face was changed, her beauty and height remained, making it easier for anyone to discern her true identity. At least the transformation made sure her tails wouldn’t be a hassle for anyone.

There were also many individuals trying to court Erin but a glare from her was enough to deter them. If that didn’t work, she would use her charm to tell them off.

“It’s been an hour,” Erin said.

“She’s near,” Aedan replied, taking a sip of his ale.

Erin raised an eyebrow. “Has she been near long?”

“For around half an hour.”

“And you’re telling me this now?”

“I thought you knew?”

“I don’t sense her and I certainly can’t catch her scent.”

The air was permeated with the stench of booze. That was all she could pick up from the array of scents in the air. Nothing that could help her discern Amelia’s whereabouts. She tried using Appraisal on every person she could find but there was none that says, ‘Amelia’. Erin then relied on her eyes alone but no one in sight was familiar. 

Giving up, she turned to Aedan. “Is she in the tavern?”

Aedan shook his head. “A building away from the tavern.”

“How do you know this?”

“The small hint of divine presence in her. It’s unmistakable. It belongs to Chronos.”

“So why is she stalling?”

“To prepare herself?”

“Or preparing a trap.”

“Then it had better be an amazing trap.”

After a few more minutes, Amelia finally entered the tavern. She was wearing a cloak like last time. Her hood was pulled over her face but Erin recognised her all the same.

“That’s her,” Erin pointed out.

Aedan’s expression turned solemn. He took a large swig of his ale before setting it down and aside. “Interesting,” he mused.

“What is?”

“She’s no maiden.”

“And? What’s the problem with that? Does her faith only take in virgins?”

“She doesn’t seem like someone with a frolic nature, so it only stands to reason that she has a lover.”

“I fail to see your point,” Erin retorted. 

Amelia looked around, her gaze wandered around the entire tavern. In the end, she shrunk into a corner. She appeared to be having a hard time finding Erin and Aedan.

“Desperate woman with a lover, what do you make of it?”

Once it was put into words, the point became clear to Erin. “Whatever she needs you for, it has to do with her lover?”

“The thing people do for love. Cruel things. Terrible things. Whatever she needs me for, I doubt it would be something pretty or plain.”

“Just another day.”

“So it is.” Aedan smiled wryly. Then, his gaze shifted as if something had rubbed him the wrong way. “Say, did you notice anything about her?”

In response to his words, Erin scoured Amelia’s entire figure but there was nothing worthy of note about her. “What is it that I didn’t notice?”

“She’s too… simple, wouldn’t you say?”

“I noticed but there’s nothing on her that would suggest she’s concealing her stats or appearance.”

“Brilliant item.”

“Are you saying she has an item that is concealing her appearance or stats?”

“The cloak.”

“There’s nothing special about the cloak.”

“It’s probably the most special thing about the woman. That cloak is a divine artefact, woven by an Apostle.”

“Chronos’ Apostle?”

“No… An Apostle of Rust.”

“Who?”

“The one who backed Ba’al, the necromancer who tried to destroy Quinteburgh. The only faith in the world that dares to dabble in the dark arts. The First Apostle of that damned faith wove the cloak for their acolytes to roam the world without being exposed as an Acolyte of a dark faith.”

Erin felt a sudden sense of anger surged within her but she held it down. “Is Siv aware?”

“If she does, then she’s doing a heck of a job in restraining herself. This is definitely going to turn ugly.”

Erin sighed. “We’re already here, are we not?”

“I suppose we are.” Aedan shrugged. “Let us get on with this.”

Erin nodded and waved her hand gently. In an instant, more eyes were immediately drawn to her. It was no result of a spell. Or rather, a spell had been put in place around her to inhibit people’s cognition towards her. It wasn’t perfect but it had helped tremendously. Now that the spell was gone, her beauty began to rein in the attention of the entire tavern. Naturally, Amelia also took notice.

The Apostle of Aeon strode towards Erin at once. Her eyes were fixed on Aedan as she approached the two. Her hand went into the pocket of the cloak, fumbling for something within.

Erin’s nose twitched. The peculiar scent that oozed off from Amelia’s pocket was familiar but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. However, all the nerves in her body were screaming at her to not let Amelia take whatever was in her pocket out.

Erin brandished her sword and rushed at Amelia. She even let Lust took over, driving her stats up so she could move faster.

“Forgive me,” Amelia seemed to whisper as she took the sphere out with one hand and cast a spell with the other. She saw Erin’s reaction and she knew she had been found out. And so, she poured all of her concentration on Erin, slowing the Fox-kin’s movement as much as she could with her Divine Gift.

Aedan was a step too late. He only realised the severe lapse in his judgement when he saw the sphere that Amelia had just taken out of her pocket. He tried to think of something but he could find no solution in preventing the disaster that was about to transpire. He had no item in his possession that could help in containing the imminent disaster— except himself.

Aedan sprang off his seat and dove after Amelia. The latter was surprised by his speed and reaction but her face showed no hint of despair, yet. She threw the sphere at Aedan, which he caught it and he took out a card from his infinite pouch. The card gave out a radiant glow at the same time as the sphere did, except the former was a brilliant blue while the latter was an ominous red.

And then, both Aedan and the sphere disappeared from view.

****

In the forest just outside the town, where nothing seemed to be amiss, an explosion greeted the calm and quiet scenery all of a sudden in a vast and devastating manner. The explosion was large enough to take out two buildings and more but in this sea of trees, only the floras and faunas were harmed.

Aedan knelt in the centre of the aftermath. His garments were incinerated by the blazing explosion. Wounds riddled his body. Had it not been for his special constitution as a dragon, the explosion would have taken his life and left him in bits.

Biting down the pain, he reached into his Infinite Pouch for a potion but there was nothing inside, except for a large hole at the bottom.

“Fuck!” Aedan cursed and pocketed his Infinite pouch, but he remembered his garments were destroyed in the blast. “Insane fucks.”

Despite the pain, he had to keep moving. Whoever wanted him was daring enough to incur not a small amount of collateral. The explosion would definitely have alerted them to his location. He had to head back into town. He had to quickly regroup with Erin.

“Well, fuck me all sides,” a voice sang. It was melodious but the words were coarse enough to grate Aedan’s ears.

He turned around and saw a girl with madness written all over her face.

“Can’t believe he predicted your exact actions. Well, one of your actions, I suppose. But anyway, lucky me.”

Aedan didn’t know the girl but her stench told him enough of her affiliation.

“I have to say, you got quite the package,” The girl marvelled at what was below Aedan’s belly. “Sadly, I won’t have time to enjoy you. Now, you have two choices. Come with me quietly, or don’t. Choose.”

Aedan had nothing on him. Not even a small knife. The explosion had taken everything. Aedan sighed. “Good ol’ fisticuffs it is,” he muttered and raised his fists.

The girl giggled. “Oh, I appreciate you resisting. It makes everything all the more interesting.”

Aedan scoffed and brandished a sword in his hand, moulded of magic, Spellblade.

“Come on! Have at me!” The girl cheered. “The name’s Giri, by the way.”

“I don’t care,” Aedan retorted and lunged at the girl.

Giri laughed and responded in kind. She brandished her barbed whip and repelled Aedan’s strike.

His Spellblade was shattered with just that one single attack.

“Well, that was disappointing. Is that all you got?”

Aedan manifested a magic shield, Arcane Aegis.

“If you’re not going to attack, then allow me!” Giri lunged, her whip flourishing towards Aedan.

He dodged the first strike and blocked the second with his shield. A large crack formed on the shield. The third strike made the crack larger and the fourth let the crack consume the shield and the entire thing crumbled into nothing.

“Is that all you have? Come on! Show me more!”

Aedan splayed his open palm at Giri. Blue energy converged around his hand before it turned into a flurry of bolts that swarmed Giri.

“Alright, keep on giving!” she shouted in glee as her whip destroyed every last bolt that came at her.

When he ran dry of bolts to fire, he conjured up another weapon. However, a whip coiled around his hand and yanked him to the ground. Before he could find his bearings, the whip moved and he was dragged along. He was sent slamming into the ground.

“You know, I love to have my fun with you but I was told that there would be more fun if I keep you alive.”

Aedan widened his eyes as realisation struck. He immediately grabbed a hold of the whip and wrapped it around his neck tightly.

Even Giri was baffled by his sudden suicidal action and could only watch. 

Aedan was just about to pull on the whip before something struck him from behind and his entire body ceased to move.

“You almost fucked it all up, you stupid bitch,” said a boy who had appeared out of nowhere.’

Giri scowled “What did I do, Billy? I didn’t kill him. I was just having some fun.”

“He was about to kill himself, you idiot.”

“Ah… Oh, I see. Now, that would have been bad, wouldn’t it?”

“Very.” Billy sighed and walked up to Aedan.

“What did you do to him?”

“I paralysed him.”

“How?”

“With a venom.”

“What kind of venom?”

“The kind that you do not need to know about.”

“What’s the hostility for, Billy?”

“Just shut your trap and watch my back,” the boy said and slung Aedan over his shoulder after untying the whip from his neck. “We best be off. His woman is coming for him and she’s very pissed.”