23 The Warrior's Res

Previously, the group tried all their means to speed up the tour organized by their leader, but after seeing a so terrifyingly injured child thanking them like that, they were a little reluctant to leave. They knew that they couldn't care about her more than that since they were adventurers and traveled to a lot of dangerous places. But when they saw those blue eyes filled with warm and the smile made by the little girl, they were still a little bit guilty about leaving her. Especially at the orphanage, they knew that they were lacking in beds and that she may not even be able to enter it.

"Ok, wait a bit, let me check something first." Richard, the man in armor plate and looking the most like a knight left the group and entered the building. He had seen the bad mood spreading among his companions and he felt the same. Normally, when they interacted with little kids, they always gave them candies and bread. But they were still strangers in the end, so they were able to not really care about them. Sometimes, they even tried to avoid the small homeless, except Jimmy. But they knew they couldn't change that situation, however, this time, they really spent some hours with that girl. And unconsciously or not, they were reluctant to see her fell in the same predicament that the rest of the orphans and abducted victims.

While those pure and noble sentiments were spreading among the group of seven men, Leilade was trying her best to not shout at them. At that time, she really regretted to not use the illusion on her injuries as well. She thought that it would induce pity and mercy in the eyes of the guards, letting her enter the city, but that was it. The end normally. She also made her face the warmest as possible, to not be a bother in the eyes of the adult. And it worked, too well. The thing was, she only needed to play this comedy for a day, after that, she will be able to pass the test and see how powerful was that Academy of Magic. The memories of the dead were far too subjective to be useful when understanding the power of a magician. For them, the cultists were the deadliest threat on Earth.

Speaking about the cultists, she did gather some of their souls. But the warriors that fell on that day were still right in their minds, not totally crazy. She wondered how they bunch of madmen and maniacs managed to not kill each other before her arrival. Sometimes, she even had some visions about demons roaming the nations and destroying everything. But they were a bit cute those demons. Barely 2 meters tall, with just them being red humans with horns and slightly more muscular. Not at all scary. She saw them eating and tearing apart all races, elves, dwarves and such. But they were in the end only visions. However, every dark mage had dozens of those fused with the rest of their memories, making them worthless.

After a few minutes, she saw the holy knight leaving the orphanage clearly angry. She guessed that they were out of beds, food or whatever they provided. Now would be a good time for them to ditch her and just do what they should do, rest, eat, drink a beer? Instead, they gathered in circles and talked, while looking at her a few times. They were not discreet or talking at a low voice, so she was perfectly able to hear them. But the more she listened, the more she realized that she really fell on the most caring, gentle and praiseworthy group of warriors that probably existed in the entire kingdom. They were really good people and not some hypocritical saints that only do good deeds in the open when they have a public.

That confirmed her first impression and made her decision to sparring them even more relevant. If they had to stay in this world a few years before the Demonic Energy is created, she hoped to not create too much chaos. Making the Massalia Kingdom go mad and rampage it would have been possible if it was the only threat. But since some dark gods created a world-class disaster previously, that would mean their appearance will recreate the former alliance. And until someone could actually prove that they were here, like for example the complete destruction of this city, the other nations won't move.

While she discussed those perspectives of the future with the Viscount, Jimmy, the thief, approached Leilade and kneeled in front of her. "So Leilade, here is the thing. The place we talked about, where you could sleep well and eat, it won't be a thing. I'm sorry about that, but at the same time, we are not able to take care of you. So, here we are, do you have any ideas?"

The man in leather armor spoke those words so earnestly that it almost made Leilade laugh. Nothing was shown on her face except a slight sadness. She was in perfect control of her illusion and knew exactly how to react. And since that group was that caring and friendly, she was acting in a way that will at least make them protect her for a day. At first, she wanted to just roam in the slums and kill all the children to make her darkness grow. But it was apparently more dangerous than she thought and while she was still stronger than a normal human, accidents could happen. It would have been the biggest joke of the entire Demonic Empire if Leilade, the Empress of the Underworld, were to die in the hands of some lowly scums on a foreign planet. The amount of shadows spreading in her bone marrow was so low that unless she touched her victim, she couldn't absorb her prey.

"I want to pass the test to become a mage." She said the only thing possible. Her voice was cold as always, unlike her visage. She could make an effort of distorting her voice to be even cuter, but that was too much for her. The moment she would have made that decision; she would have lived with that cute voice for the rest of her period in the world of the humans. No, she preferred to conserve her original tongue and at the same time, it was not that bad. It made her look like she suffered countless problems.

"This … he, let me check something, stay right here. Yes, here." Jimmy was surprised and a little embarrassed. He didn't expect her to ask for something like that. In truth, not everyone could be a magician even if nearly all the kids aspired at that profession. Remembering that the test was only in one day, he still realized that it was not that much of a problem. He discussed her will with the rest of the group and they all acknowledged that it was still a good thing. All the children will have to pass that test and who knew if that little girl wasn't a future magician.

It was Mario, one of the three brother-warriors that said that. The moment he said it, Pedro and Miguel were ready to strike his head for spouting nonsense when they realized he was not wrong. For the first time since a very long period, their little brothers didn't tell anything remotely stupid. They even praised him for that, not noticing the sneer on the face of the others. When it came to fighting, those three blockheads were turned into deadly warriors. But besides that, they only thought about drinking and eating, to see one of them speaking some intelligent thought were a big surprise. Irion even joked about how the presence of a little girl made Mario smarter. He didn't believe his eyes when Mario suddenly turned his head toward Leilade like he was seeing an idol. The rest of the group quickly dispersed that idea before it was firmly planted in the brain of the warrior.

In the end, the sun was slowly descending and the light was dimming. The group decided that the three brothers will go buy their future equipment and supplies. Richard and Jimmy will go to the Adventurers' Guild and turn in the request while Irion and Khozak will go to the inn and buy a meal for the little girl. She will stay with them until tomorrow and the magical test. When they asked her if she was happy, she smiled once again and say "Yes" with her disturbing voice. Since everything was prepared, the group split up and went their way. The two adults and the young girl on top of one arrived in front of an imposing mansion with two floors. Leilade saw the title "The Warrior's Rest" and thought that it mainly dealt with adventurers.

When they entered, they saw countless occupied tables and only a few empty. It was the time when most people entered the city and many were visibly exhausted. No one liked to spend the night outside of the city and most ran from dawn to get here at that time. Their arrival, however, provoked a little confusion with the regulars. They knew the two men but didn't understand the small being firmly sitting on the shoulders of Khozak. A gallant man wearing an outfit similar to the one that Richard the holy knight wore even asked a question.

"Khozak, you bringing a young girl to eat?"

"Yes, why not?"

Calm reigned in the normally loud room. The complexion of the pale Irion turned red instantly and he dashed in front of his leader to avoid any misunderstanding.

"NO! We brought the little girl for her to have a meal. That's it!"

The others were still a little bit perplexed, but seeing the excessive reaction of Irion they resumed their meals. The Proud of Axes was still a very respectable group and it has done many good deeds in the last years. That small kid was probably lucky and instead of bread, she got a full meal. Only when Alyssia, the bartender, asked another question, did the situation turned weird again.

"Only a meal? Not a bath or some new clothes, look at that poor thing."

It's true that after one looked at her, she was rather pitiful. A dress riled with holes, a skin burned and injured.

"That's true, well, a bath it is then." Khozak instantly took care of the matter.

"And you will do it?" Alyssia asked with a strange gaze.

"Of co…" "NO!" The berserk tried to speak before the small priest jumped in front of him and stopped what he was saying. Irion was truly baffled by the number of embarrassing things his companion was capable of saying. A grown man never washes a little girl if he is not his father. Unless he is a predator. Staring at Khozak, he asked Alyssia what he wanted.

"Alyssia, I am certain that one of your employees can take care of that. Why are you asking such a silly thing hehe?"

Under the weird gaze of the bartender, Irion was sweating a bit. They were the good guys here, why did he end up like that? Finally, she retracted her death threat and wore her most beautiful smile.

"Of course Irion, I was just joking. Come here little sister, tell me your name?" The giant bearman helped the little girl descend without any problem.

"Leilade" The cold voice made the cheerful woman stiffen a bit but she quickly recovered, not letting anyone noticed it. Her long red hair was almost touching Leilade. Alyssia made a signal with another employee and she took the hand of the kid.

"Don't worry, you are fine here. I will personally take care of you." The two of them left the room and the two adventurers that were standing still, not knowing what they should do at this point.