Slayers crest, p.1
Slayer's Crest, page 1
Slayer’s Crest
c. Liara Woo 2019
Lina sighed heavily as she trekked through the forest, using a long gnarled walking stick that was similar to the one that Trihar, her Arcane magic tutor while she lived with her father, used to poke and prod at the surrounding greenery. As she pushed through yet another thicket of thorny bushes, wincing lightly when they dragged across her creamy thighs and made faint scratches on her skin, Lina finally saw the bright, cloudless summer sky gleaming above her. She came upon a small clearing just before the town that lay ahead of her, and sat down on the lush green grass to take a small sip of water and rest her weary bones. "Orren," she said with a smile. "Looks like I might get a chance to join a guild today."
She had always wanted to join Flame Legion, ever since she saw an article about their crazy antics in a newspaper that her father hadn't gotten a chance to hide from her, but had decided it would be smarter to stop at each guild along the way from the Herzen Kair to Fleur—where Flame Legion was allegedly located—and see if she might prefer to join another guild. She had a good bit of money that she had taken from her father's estate, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. She needed a place to live, and hardly had more than the clothes on her back and the small bag she had been able to take with her. If she didn't like the guild she joined, she could always just move on and go after her dream of joining Flame Legion anyway. It had already been several months since she left her father's estate, having run away in the middle of the night, but Lina had spent the majority of that time sight-seeing and spending her nights under the stars; she only spent one night a week in a hotel so she could get a nice hot bath and sleep in a bed for a change, so that she could save as much money as possible until she found a way to make more.
After several minutes of basking in the warm sunlight and light breeze that brushed through her hair, Lina stood up with renewed determination gleaming in her eyes. She made her way through the town, asking people along the way how to get to the closest guild, Golem Master. They didn't exactly have the best reputation when it came to things like being merciful or kind, but they were very well-known for getting the job done no matter what. 'I might not entirely agree with the rumors of how they do things, but I want to help people. It doesn't matter what guild I'm in, as long as I can use my magic without worrying about being judged for it.' Lina hoped she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, since she was still trying to get used to the freedom that she had made for herself by running away. Every once in a while her demeanor would revert back to that of an heiress, as if it was her natural state of being, and Lina had to remind herself that she didn't need to hide who she was any longer.
"It's right around this corner, dear," an elderly woman with a red scarf tied around her head to contain her frizzy gray hair said. "I don't know why such a young and sweet thing like you would be looking for them, but that's where they are."
Lina smiled warmly down at the woman, clasping her hands together in front of her chest excitedly, and said, "I'm hoping they'll let me join their guild!"
The woman took a small step back, shock clearly written across her face, "W-Well, then. If that's what you think is best, dear child. Please be safe."
Lina tilted her head to the side in confusion as the older woman made a hasty retreat, and just before she turned the corner, she saw a small magic shop. With a wide and hopeful smile, Lina walked in, and hearing a jingling, looked up to see a small bell alerting the owner to her entrance. "Hello, sir," Lina said with a grin, "Do you happen to have any Arcane Spirit keys?"
"Oh, a Arcane mage?" the shopkeeper asked with an intrigued grin, pushing his chin-length auburn hair away from his face to show a pair of brilliant sky-blue eyes and pale skin that was blotted with freckles. "We don't get many of you anymore."
Lina blushed and nodded, "Yes, my mom was one and gave her keys to me when she passed. I'm hoping to eventually own all of the Starsign keys! It would be wonderful to have so many friends if I had their keys!" Lina paused in her rant and blushed a deeper shade of red, smiling sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I tend to ramble when it comes to them."
"What is your name, dear?" he asked.
"Lina, sir!" she chirped. When the man put a hand across the counter, she immediately grasped it and gave him a firm and confident handshake.
"Malthus. Nice to meet you, Lina!" he said warmly. "I don't mind the rambling; it's nice to hear someone talking about Spirits like they're more than a possession. An old family friend was a Arcane mage like you, and he felt the same way as you do. He wasn't very powerful, but he treasured all of the keys he had as if they were his family."
Lina's grin widened and her eyes twinkled with delight. "See? I knew I wasn't the only one!"
Malthus' laugh was light-hearted, and then he glanced around the store to make sure no other customers were inside. Once he assured they were alone, he reached under the counter and pulled out an old wooden box from the bottom of a large stack of papers. He placed it on the counter, putting a finger to his lips to tell Lina to stay silent, then opened it and watched her jaw drop and her eyes go wide. "He wanted me to give these to someone that would treat them right," he whispered. "I've only got one key that's for sale, but it's not more of a companion Spirit so no one really grabs it when they're in the market for keys."
"Wow," Lina whispered in awe. There, nestled in the green velvet lining of the wooden box on the counter, were three Starsign keys: the Maiden, Viiro; the Golden Bull, Torrim; and the Archer, Sororen. "Whoever gets these keys would be lucky to have them."
"Then it looks like this is your lucky day, Lina," Malthus said as he pushed the box towards the young blonde. "Uncle Trihar would be happy to know that there's someone like you with his keys. Please take them."
'BERO?!' Lina screeched internally, 'Maybe it's just a coincidence. He never had any keys when he was teaching me.' "A-Are you sure? I could buy them from you," she said, looking back up to Malthus with a sweet smile.
"No no, they're a gift."
"Then how much for the key you have for sale?" Lina asked.
Malthus pulled out the small silver key and said, "For someone like you? 10,000 Jewels."
Lina smiled at the little silver key and said, "It's a deal." Once she handed him the money, Malthus gave her the three golden keys along with the silver and bid her a good day as she left, putting the keys on her key ring until she had a chance to make contracts with them. Once she was outside of the small magic shop, the day seemed to hold even more promise than before, and Lina hummed softly while she made her way to the place she hoped would become her new home.
Jilliam wasn't in the mood to deal with anything that day. His latest mission had been far too simple, with the guild he had been ordered to take out not having a single mage that was capable of withstanding more than a couple of hits from him before collapsing. The pay was decent, and there wasn't anything on the request about letting them live, so he ended up not having to deal with any Rune Knights either. He made his way through town, scowling at the few people that didn't jump out of his way fast enough, and even letting out a low growl to ward off and scare smaller children to tears. 'Hey, gotta find something to pass the time.' What he really wanted, more than anything, was a fight with someone that could handle it and maybe even give him a challenge. It wasn't likely, unless he ran into an S-Class mage from some other guild and could goad them into a sparring match, but the last time he'd done that the piss-ant had run home crying, and he'd been forced to listen to a lecture from Master Jose about 'proper etiquette concerning other guilds' or some other bullshit.
The bustling noises of the streets were starting to grate on his nerves, and the smells wafting from each of the shops he passed wasn't helping. Sure, there was the scent of a bakery or restaurant while they prepared food for their patrons, but his Dragon Destroyer abilities also allowed him to smell (and regretfully hear) the guy in the back of that restaurant taking a massive shit. Wholly unpleasant, even if he was just passing through. He made the last turn before he reached the guild, and actually paused for a moment when he found a new scent that seemed to call to him. It smelled like sugar and almonds, sweet and delectable as a whole, but there was some sort of humanistic undertone to it that let him know it was actually a person and not someone's dessert. 'Damn, that smells good,' he thought as he took a deep whiff of the air, filtering out everything else around him to pinpoint where the scent was coming from. It seemed to linger in front of and around the piddly little magic shop, but he was able to tell that it was headed down the road in the direction of the guild. 'Shit, that'll make it easier to find out who the fuck this is.'
Jilliam's pace quickened as he got closer to the guild, and finally it was just him and one other person on the street walking towards Golem Master. His eyes raked over the voluptuous curves of the blonde in front of him, and he raised a pierced eyebrow while he took in everything he could. A pair of knee-high brown boots covered the lower halves of her slender legs, and his eyes drank in the creamy expanse that was bared before noticing how short her blue pleated skirt was, barely covering her ass and sitting dangerously low on her perfectly flared hips. 'Gotta be a hooker,' he thought with disdain, though he couldn't help but notice how his mouth watered just a little when he saw the small dimples on her bare lower back as her hips swayed with each step, and how small her waist was in comparison to everything else. Her arms were petite, holding no form of muscle whatsoever, but with how dainty her wrists were, Jilliam could instantly picture pinning her to a wall with only one hand to hold them bot h in place. She had what looked like a black vest on and he could just barely see the size of her chest while she walked as it was mostly blocked by her arms. Long blonde hair blocked his view of her face, but he was able to hear a soft tune being hummed as if the woman didn't have a care in the world along with a faint jingling sound of small bits of metal clanging deliciously against themselves. 'Sounds like gold and silver... I could go for a little snack.'
The blonde's steps slowed just as she reached the doors of the guild, and he growled as he got closer, warning her to get the hell out of his way. Regardless of what she looked or smelled like, he wasn't in the mood even for a quick fuck right then. All he wanted to do was get inside and get his hands on some metal so he could ignore everything else around him. She didn't seem to hear him, and instead turned slightly to smile up at the sign for the guild. "Get the fuck outta the way," he sneered as he shouldered past her, knocking her almost completely off her feet—which was a slight surprise that she hadn't actually fallen over.
"Hey, watch where you're going, asshole!" Lina shouted as the raven-haired man pushed past her and opened the guild doors. The faint noises coming from inside seemed to have been put on mute when the rest of the guild members heard her, and she scowled at the guy's long head of hair when he stopped dead in his tracks.
Jilliam grinned sadistically and slowly turned around to show this chick just who she was messing with. He couldn't smell an ounce of fear wafting from her, only anger and excitement—though he would have preferred some form of arousal, he could tell that the excitement was most likely from being here at the guild. His red eyes bored into her large chocolate brown orbs and he let out a low growl before saying, "What did ya say to me?"
Lina sneered and stalked toward the man, silently wondering just why he had so many piercings across his eyebrows, nose, chin, ears, and arms. Once she was directly in front of him, Lina's sneer turned into an entirely innocent smile while she looked up at him. "I said," she answered in a condescending tone, "Watch. Where. You're. Going. Asshole." Lina had spent enough time away from her father's home to realize that people were willing to walk all over you to get what they wanted, and she refused to stand by and let someone try and intimidate her. 'This might not be the best first impression for this guild,' she thought, 'But I'm not gonna let this guy off the hook so easily.'
Jilliam leaned down to put his face right in front of hers, listening to the quiet murmurs of the other guild members while they watched the small blonde standing up to him and bared his pointed teeth in a shark-like grin. "I don't take orders from hookers," he ground out.
"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not a hooker. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to speak with your guildmaster," Lina replied before sidestepping around him and walking further into the still silent guild. She kept an ear out for what the crude man was going to do, and felt a sense of pride swelling within her that her heartbeat hadn't gone haywire during that off-putting confrontation.
Jilliam growled and spun on his heel, then grabbed the petite blonde roughly and spun her to face him. She glared defiantly at him, a fire burning in her eyes, but she made no move to say anything else. She wasn't afraid of him, and that was something he couldn't understand. No, instead of fear wafting off her like it should be, there was only anger and annoyance. He wrapped one hand around her throat and lifted her off the ground, laughing when she clawed at his hands as he started constricting her airways. Jilliam caught a glimpse of Master Jose standing upstairs, watching them, so he decided to play nice… for now. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, loud enough for only her to hear him, and said, "Don't mistake this for kindness. If I get a chance, I'll make sure ya regret talking back to me, got it Blondie?"
Even though Lina couldn't breathe, as soon as the man pulled back to look into her eyes, she saw just how much joy he was getting from treating her like a piece of garbage. She tensed her muscles and swung her right fist as hard as she could at his face, and when he took the bait of her distraction, Lina's foot shot out to kick him in the stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of him. Sadly, the kick to his apparently well-stacked abs hurt her ankle, but she wasn't going to let him know that. His grip loosened on her neck, and Lina was able to pry herself free and fall to her hands and knees on the ground, coughing and sucking in as much air as possible.
'Well, that was unexpected,' Jilliam thought, 'Chick's got some power in her legs.' Deciding he'd had enough social interactions for the day, Jilliam glowered at the blonde as she slowly rose to her feet, then he glanced up at the second floor where Master Jose was and gave him a brief nod before he turned and stalked past her and went to his table already piled with metal. He roughly sat down on the bench and got to his meal, ignoring everyone else in the room.
Lina raised an eyebrow at the man as he walked past her, and kept her face neutral to hide her shock and horror when he started eating metal like it was the most normal thing in the world. She turned to face the bar and kept her steps even, although her ankle was already starting to throb and she was sure she had sprained it from kicking him. Once she was at the bar, Lina smiled kindly at the bartender, and said, "Hey, would it be possible for me to speak with your guildmaster?"
"Why?" the gruff, bald man asked.
"Because I'm interested in joining this guild," Lina answered, completely undisturbed by his lack of hospitality.
"Why?"
She raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Because I'm a mage, and want to join the guild."
"Why?"
She slowly leaned forward, her face hardening with her growing impatience, and glared at the bald barkeep when his eyes landed on her cleavage and never left. "My eyes are up here, you ass!" she shouted. When his gaze flickered back to hers for a moment before returning to her chest, Lina lost it. "Can I speak to your guildmaster or not?"
"Why?" he asked absently, drooling over the creamy mounds he was getting an eyeful of.
"THAT'S IT!" she shouted, roughly grabbing his face with one hand and pinching his cheek until her nails dug into his flesh, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Stop staring at my tits and go get your goddamn guildmaster or I'm gonna show you a world of pain you little shit!" Lina watched his face drain of colour, and pushed him away from her with all the force she possessed, then plopped herself down on a barstool while he scrambled to his feet and ran up to the second floor. 'Honestly, how hard is it to do something so simple?! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea coming to this guild… It looks like I'm the only girl here.'
Jose watched with amusement as the feisty blonde woman waited for him at the bar. He'd heard the interaction between her and Black Steel Jilliam, and had made his way to the balcony to see what would happen. He was impressed that she hadn't backed down from the Iron Dragon Destroyer, but she also seemed to have some form of intelligence since she didn't challenge him directly. She appeared to be tactful, and downright vicious when necessary, but he could tell that she was still very young and very innocent. 'She wants to join this guild,' he mused, then looked over at Jilliam who was still chomping away on his scrap metal. 'Jilliam seems to approve.' Things could have gone sour for the blonde had she not handled herself the way she did, and apparently fighting against Jilliam even a little bit had garnered some form of respect from the anti-social Warrior. Slowly, Jose made his way down the stairs and stood off to the side of the blonde girl, and that was when he saw her keys. 'Oh, a Arcane mage… This could be interesting. If she gets enough keys and works hard, she could be more powerful than even the Element Four.'
Lina felt a new set of eyes boring into her and slowly turned to see a tall, pale man with long red hair walking towards her from the stairs. He wore a ridiculous stereotypical wizarding hat in purple that had a Golem Master emblem on the front, a matching purple cloak with the Ten Wizard Saints crest pinning the collar together, and what looked like bat wings protruding from the back of his cloak. Based on the reactions of those around her, this had to be the guildmaster. Just before he was standing next to her, Lina stood up from her seat, gave him her usual radiant smile, and bowed slightly. "Hello, Master. My name is Lina," she said.
"I've been informed you would like to join my guild," Master Jose said with a wicked grin.
