by Cloe D Frost
Her gaze quickly darted towards the campfire with the remaining three bandits.
A thin, tall elibu with overly long limbs and sinister look in his eyes was looking around vigilantly, while magically dispersing the smoke from the campfire, to prevent anyone from detecting them due to the fumes.
The remaining two bandits were sitting around the campfire roasting fish. Occasionally a grumbling of empty stomachs could be heard, followed by muffled swearing coming from the throat of a short bandit with a golden earring and a chin full of stubble.
Initially, Elaru intended to sneakily rescue the hostage without the bandits realizing anything was amiss, and then go wild, fighting without worry. However, she was forced to discard that plan, for the fourth bandit was currently petting the hostage.
The man had unruly black hair sticking to his forehead with sweat and a wide stupid grin that revealed few golden and several missing teeth. One meter long furry, fluffy tail was hanging around his neck like a scarf.
Elaru instantly recognized the brown striped scarf as Mr. Whiskers.
No, the bandits didn’t skin the poor hostage and make a scarf out of him – the scarf was literally the hostage.
Shéfurs were snake-like creatures that had long, fluffy fur instead of scales. Unlike their snake cousins, shéfurs were popular pets due to their docile nature, ease of raising and, of course, magnificent fur. In fact, their fur was so soft and beautiful with natural dirt and water repelling properties that they were also raised by the Ruyle family on large shéfur farms for the purpose of clothmaking.
“Aww! Look! He be purrin’!” The fourth bandit exclaimed with a toothy grin, his fingers full of calluses digging into the soft fur of his “scarf”.
The third bandit, a balding man with a golden earring sitting opposite of him, sneered: “What do ye think he is, a lunar? Fishbrain! He ain’t purrin’, he’s hissin’!”
Hearing the familiar voices, Elaru was forced to conclude: I know these guys! These guys aren’t bandits!
She shook her head, stepping over a taut string rigged to set loose a large and heavy tree log towards whoever triggered the trap. They are pirates…
Luckily, she didn’t exclaim it out loud. Otherwise, the facial expressions of the examiners would certainly be an interesting mix of “No way! She knows the men we hired? What are the odds??” and “…ex-pirates one would hope? …otherwise, the fact that you are familiar with them…”
“Na!” The fourth bandit huffed and turned his head away, looking towards Mr. Whiskers. “Just ignore ‘im, Mr. Whiskers. I know how ye really feel.”
His eyes were gentle, loving even, but instead of evoking tender emotions, that look only made one’s skin crawl.
Without looking away from the creature, the man picked up one of the tree branches acting as a fish skewer and brought it closer to his face. After determining that the fish was done roasting, he lowered it towards Mr. Whiskers who unceremoniously turned his head away.
The bandit didn’t take a no for an answer and kept pushing the fish right into his face.
After several seconds of staring, the third bandit couldn’t help but gape so wide he could have swallowed a tiwi: “What are ye doin’?!”
“I be feedin’ ‘im.”
The third bandit scrunched up his face in are-you-serious look. “Fishbrain, shéfurs don’t eat fish!”
“Yer sure? He looks like one of ‘em fish eaters.”
The third man continued to gape in the mix of shock and disbelief. “Where do ye plan to stuff that fish, ey? Shéfurs don’t even have a mouth!”
“A rodent without a mouth me ass… Ye think I be stupid?” The fourth man waved the fish skewer agitatedly.
“Ye could’ve fooled me!”
Their argument might have continued further had it not been for the shéfur around the fourth bandit’s neck. Apparently, the bandit’s waving of the fish skewer made a sizzling drop of grease fall onto Mr. Whiskers.
Whether it was because shéfurs detested being dirty or because of the burning pain, Mr. Whiskers started twitching around in a craze, strangling the neck of his captor.
The face of the fourth bandit turned purple, his eyes almost popping out. He dropped his fish skewer and grabbed the furry creature with both of his rough hands, trying his hardest to get him off.
Unfortunately, he was an elibu so his strength wasn’t that great nor could he augment it with augmentation magic, so no matter how he pulled, he couldn’t make Mr. Whiskers loosen his hug.
* * *
Author Note
Yes, the third bandit is right – shéfurs don’t have a mouth. They feed on sunlight. On another note, did I ever mention the story of how Elaru and Wade boarded a pirate ship by mistake and ended up becoming their captains? ???
It went something like this:
Wade and Elaru stared at a ship whose outside was filled with a bunch of carved skulls and words such as “kill, die, blood, bury, etc.”
Elaru: “Uh…. is this it?”
Wade pointed to two words among the word cloud that were larger than the rest – “Bury” & “Die”.
Wade: “He said “Bury, Die”, didn’t he?”
Elaru: “Uh… yeah…”
Wade: “There’s no mistake. This is it…”
Elaru: “He sure has a strange taste in ships…”
Wade shrugs: “I’m not surprised.”
(Several hours later)
Elaru’s papa stands at the deck of a ship named Berry Dye staring down at the empty dock with a black face. “Did they get lost…? …fuck….”
As for what happened next… hehe, let’s just say that after that ordeal pirates figured that pirating was a high risk no reward profession and decided to change jobs. ?
* * *
Coming up in the next episode:
“Move aside!” He hissed and started waving the burning branch towards the purple-faced bandit.
Due to his slick and shiny fur, Mr. Whisker’s tail slid right out of the man’s hand.
The wide, horrified eyes of the bandits stared unblinkingly at the falling form of their comrade. A gruff, panicked scream of “Noooo!” tore through the silent clearing.
Elaru who had been watching the spectacle from a few meters away, had a devilish smirk on her face as she nonchalantly dropped her dagger.
* * *
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Episode 121 – Farce of an Exam
Episode 121 – Farce of an Exam
Previously:
Upon entering the world of her exam, Elaru is faced with a peacekeeper who introduces the goal of the exam – finding and apprehending several bandits. Orie Tonrai, her exam partner, gives Elaru a map of the area which allows her to narrow down the potential whereabouts of the bandits. Elaru decides to quickly fly over the area and detect the bandits through her mana sense. Since her flying speed was faster than Ories, she ends up pulling her along. The speed of their flight causes Orie to feel motion sickness and she empties her stomach in the bushes near the bandits. Meanwhile, one of the bandits ends up dripping hot juices on Mr. Whiskers, who gives him a too tight of a hug.
* * *
At first, the bald bandit looked as if he didn’t see anything, continuing to watch the surroundings, the sinister looking man let out a low chuckle and continued smirking, and the third bandit with the golden earring was too busy laughing his head off to do anything else.
But as the fourth bandit’s face started changing colors, they finally realized that this wasn’t a laughing matter. While the other two were staring with their eyes wide, the third bandit, who was the nearest to the fourth bandit, jumped up to help his suffocating comrade. He grabbed the fluffy tail and tried pulling Mr. Whiskers off, but he only managed to pull the fourth bandit to his feet.
The rough tugging of the two bandits surely wasn’t a pleasant sensation for the shéfur, f
or the creature kept cramping up, squeezing even tighter.
The bald bandit stood rooted to the spot, staring dumbly not knowing what to do, his previous imposing manner nowhere to be seen. The long-limbed sinister man was quicker in his thinking, and he grabbed one of the branches fueling the fire.
“Move!” He hissed and started waving the burning branch towards the purple-faced bandit.
Feeling the burning sensation, Mr. Whiskers twitched away from the flames, making the fourth bandit stumble back uncontrollably, right in the direction of one of the traps.
“Aya! Careful!” The third bandit squealed, quickly grabbing towards the suffocating bandit to stop his stumble.
He missed.
The fourth man stumbled straight towards the taut string of the trap.
In a moment of desperation, the third bandit accelerated towards his purple-faced comrade, and luckily managed to grab the closest appendage he could reach (Mr. Whisker’s tail), stopping the fourth man’s fall.
Taking long strides with his long limbs, the sinister man swiftly approached, the torch burning brightly in his hand.
Sensing the increasing heat coming his way, Mr. Whiskers started twitching his tail frantically, resembling movements of a flag flapping in the fierce winds, trying to make his assailant let go of him.
The fur of shéfurs was naturally slick and shiny, so it only took a second for Mr. Whiskers’ tail to slide right out of the man’s hand.
Losing his support, the fourth bandit’s suspended fall resumed, and he fell straight on top of the taut string.
The wide, horrified eyes of the bandits stared unblinkingly at the falling form of their comrade. A gruff, panicked scream of “Noooo!” tore through the silent clearing startling the nearby birds.
Several seconds of terrified silence passed in which only the sounds of ragged breathing could be heard.
Only when the fourth bandit’s eyes rolled back into his skull, his face as purple as an eggplant, did the remaining three come back to their senses.
The trap didn’t activate!
When their comrade fell, luckily the string ended up right under his knees, so he didn’t snap it.
Backs covered in cold sweat, faces scrunched up and pale, their frozen bodies snapped into action.
The sinister man stepped over the string, swiftly waving the burning branch towards Mr. Whiskers, who, finally, loosened his grip around the fourth bandit’s neck and slid away.
Fortunately, a sharp intake of breath soon followed from the unconscious bandit and a collective breath of relief spread through the clearing, followed by an eruption of relieved swearing.
Elaru who had been watching the spectacle from a few meters away with a devilish smirk on her face, waiting for the right moment to secure the hostage, chose this exact moment to nonchalantly drop her dagger to the ground with a mock “whoops” expression.
The unlucky fellows didn’t even have the chance to relax their taut nerves before a loud snapping sound entered their ears, followed by a giant log which came swinging from the right.
The sinister man didn’t even have enough time to swear before the log hit him straight in the chest and sent him flying like a kite with its string cut, the burning branch in his hand flying in the opposite direction, towards the shrubbery.
With eyes bulging out and mouth wide open in a half gasp, half grimace of pain, the bandit lost his consciousness even before his body hit the surface of the river.
“Shiiiiiet!” The third bandit screeched shrilly before realizing that the log missed him by a hair’s breath. But just as he was about to let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, he realized that their hostage was on the run while their leader got knocked into the river.
“What are ye waitin’ for?!” He scolded the frozen burly baldy. “I’ll save boss, ye go catch the critter!”
Not waiting for the baldy to respond, he jumped into the river.
As the baldy turned to run towards the escaping shéfur, Elaru took the opportunity while no one was looking to nonchalantly poke the previously suffocating bandit, who had yet to recover, in the neck with her acupuncture needle.
Then she darted towards the burning torch, using a Fire Evanescence to extinguish the flames before they could spread further. (Energy Transmutation spells, such as Fire and Light were complete spells that were made out of two spell fragments: Conjuration and Evanescence. Conjuration part of the Fire spell was used to turn mana into flames, while the evanescence part was used to turn flames into mana.)
Seeing the burly bandit jumping after Mr. Whiskers with gusto, Elaru smirked and flew towards him.
The man had cast a quick acceleration spell on the ground towards which Mr. Whiskers was slithering to raise it up into walls and stop his escape. Mr. Whiskers briefly paused before changing the direction of his escape, however, the only way out of the encirclement was towards the bandit.
The shéfur tried to slither between the man’s feet, but the bandit had expected this outcome. He bent down to pick up the furry critter, and yelped victoriously: “Gocha!”
However, before his hands could close tightly around the critter’s thin body, the bandit fell face first into the dirt with a dull thump, letting Mr. Whiskers slither away, out of his reach.
The burly bandit didn’t get up again.
The only thing that moved up was a pinch of silver that flew out from the back of the man’s neck before disappearing inside Elaru’s invisibility barrier.
After sheathing the needle, Elaru took a deep breath, adjusting her state of mind and briefly lifting her invisibility.
In order to change her own emotional state, she thought about her childhood with Wade, concentrating on emotions such as affection, love, and tranquility, letting it suffuse through her aura.
Only then did she approach the retreating shéfur, letting her aura gently envelop him.
As soon as her aura touched Mr. Whiskers, his trembling subsided, and his head turned slowly in her direction. He offered no resistance as she picked him up, on the contrary, he took the initiative to wrap himself around her arm, slithering towards her torso to bury his head under her scarf.
Meanwhile, the examiners were watching the proceedings with pot black faces.
“Aura contr…!” – “How did this exam turn into a farce?” The gray-eyed peacekeeper grunted, a vein pulsating on his forehead, interrupting Orie’s gasp of pleasant surprise.
Recalling her own part of the “farce”, Orie covered her face with her slender hands dejectedly, only to remember that she was supposed to be intently watching the proceedings. Thus, she moved her fingers aside so she could peek between them.
Only Zerel’s face was glowing. “I wonder what will go wrong next? Perhaps the shorty will jump into the water, only to remember he can’t swim?” He chuckled rather hoping that his joke would come true. “I wonder, will he be able to swim with those short limbs against the current carrying someone heavier than himself?”
Regretfully, the shorty swam like a fish and quickly managed to pull the unconscious comrade out of the river. As expected of an ex-pirate, he even knew how to perform first aid for a drowning person, and soon bandit boss was spewing out water everywhere.
Elaru, who was done dealing with the burly baldy quite quickly, was already upon them. She waited for the sinister man to spew out all the water, regaining his normal breathing before she struck.
The shorty with the golden earring was preoccupied with thumping his boss on the back, while his boss was preoccupied with breathing so neither of them could react on time when two silver streaks came whizzing from their blind spots.
Even if they were on high alert, dodging such a fast attack from an invisible enemy would be a challenge, let alone in the current circumstances.
When the final two bandits fell down, losing their consciousness, Elaru finally dispelled her invisibility barrier.
She nudged the two bandits with her foot, and the two floated up into the air next to her.
Then she backtracked towards the first bandit she had knocked out – the unfortunate moron who got strangled by a shéfur.
She plopped the three bandits on top of each other, entangling them while not obstructing their breathing.
Finally, she flew to pick up the last one and flung his big, heavy, burly body on top of the pile of skinny bandits.
If they had been conscious, the three would have surely let out gasps of pain followed by strings of curses: “Are ye friggin’ kiddin’ me?!” – “Vicious wench!”
But then the unfortunate fellows would recognize the demon in question and the situation would do a 180 degree turn:
“It be the f…f…female devil!”
“Aaaargh! I knew that evil smile looked familiar!”
“Is the m…m…male devil here too?”
“Noooooooooo! We are changed people! We be earnin’ an honest livin’ now! Mistress, have mercy!”
“I knew this job sounded too good to be true!”
“I was thinkin’ we’d be drinkin’ after this was done…”
“Aya! I was gonna book a room at the flower pavilion!”
“Fool! Think logically! We could share the cost to book it together and then we can take turns with the girls!”
“Boss is the best!”
“Boss, we’ll listen to ye!”
And then they would see that beautiful smile of nightmares asking them: “What was that? Who’s the boss?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Of course, it be ye, mistress!”
“Aye! Aye! What he said!”
“Mistress, we’ll listen to ye!”
Fortunately, the four were spared the scare, obliviously slumbering.
The demon in question clasped her hands together in delight and let out a happy sigh. Then she gracefully sat down on the pile of bandits like a queen sitting on her throne, her posture dignified, powerful, charismatic.