Chapter 81 - Vol. 2 - 46

Ash

"Uh, and what the fuck is a necromancer?" Ash asked. 

"It's someone who uses Dark magic to resurrect the dead," Satsuhiro clarified, barely hiding the disgust in his tone. "And uses them as their own personal slaves." 

"That's a rather cynical way of putting it," Vermia said, "I prefer to see it as allowing them to be useful one last time." 

Ash raised a brow, but she didn't feel too different after knowing that.  Uh, okay, so she brings skeletons back to life? Is... Is that, like, bad somehow?

Her confusion reached its peak when she saw that even Kaori, who up to this point Ash would have to award with the mark of "friendliest person she'd met", was looking at Vermia with a mixture of apprehension and scorn. 

Vermia shrugged. 

"Oh well, I'd hoped I'd have a few more friends to share this hobby of mine with, but, it seems that the times have not changed the perception of my work. Anyway, let's go to those hot springs, shall we?" 

Ash, who still didn't really see what was wrong with her, followed Vermia as she moved to the back of the building, where a sliding wooden door took them behind the structure. The others, however, remained inside. The hot springs were right there, three separate natural baths, the likes of which Ash had only ever seen from a distance whenever she passed by Jade's bathhouses. 

Even then, she wasn't focused on the baths themselves. Something else came to her mind. 

Wait, her eyes widened.  Satsuhiro said she uses Dark magic,  Ash turned to Vermia, and found that the woman's eyes had been on her the whole time. 

"Well, what do you think?" Vermia asked, gesturing at the baths in front of them. 

"You use Dark magic?" Ash asked. A pleased look dawned on Vermia. 

"I don't just use it, I'm damn good at it," she replied, chuckling. "Why do you ask?" 

"Because I have an affinity for it, and I've been looking for a teacher." 

At that, Vermia grinned. 

One of the most perplexing things about her was that, for such a small woman, she carried an extremely large presence. Just standing close to her made Ash feel strange. 

"That... Sure," Vermia turned towards her, looking up at Ash who stood a few inches taller. "I'd love to teach you what I know, if you'll have me." 

Ash nodded. 

Well, there's one thing out of the way. 

---

Later, Kaori and Ash were getting settled. There were several rooms in this house, and the two of them picked out one that was upstairs and that had a large enough bed to accommodate not just the two of them, but Keiko as well should she make it to Sapphire somehow before the fight begins in a week's time or so. 

Vermia, unlike the rest, said that she was going to be staying in the building's basement. They were free to use whichever facilities they wanted at will, the hot springs, the kitchen (which, surprisingly was fully stocked with ingredients), and a small training room downstairs. 

As Kaori was checking the drawers to see which clothes fit her, Ash crossed her arms and sat down on the bed next to her. 

"Hey, so what was up back there?" Ash asked. "Why were you and Satsu so creeped out?" 

Kaori raised a brow as she looked over at Ash. 

"Are you- oh, right." Possibly remembering Ash's situation for the last several years, Kaori nodded. "Necromancy is evil... That's pretty much it." 

"Why?" Ash asked. 

"Well, to raise someone from the dead, even if it is, like, as a skeleton or whatever, you have to manipulate their soul. It rips people away from the afterlife and disturbs their rest, usually just for the sake of making them fight." Kaori was getting agitated, but she soon took a deep breath and waved her hand back and forth. "It feels wrong." 

Ash looked away, narrowing her brows. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if Kaori was wrong. 

As a half-demon, Ash had been in a position most of her life where people never gave her the time of day. No one tried to get to know her, no one bothered to wonder if  she  had actually been evil or not, they just assumed as much and kept going. 

So, now, hearing about this, she couldn't help but feel like there was something similar going on here. 

How do you know she's evil?  Ash thought.  Aren't you guys just assuming she is? 

Shaking her head, Ash decided that she wouldn't just make her mind up one way or the other yet. 

She'd talk to Vermia herself, listen, and then decide what she thought about her. As much as she liked Satsuhiro and Kaori, she knew how people were. How people could be presumptuous about this sort of thing. She wasn't about to make the same mistake. 

"Found anything?" Ash asked, trying to lighten the mood a little after that conversation. 

"Yep, look at this," she pulled out a small bright blue dress of some sort. "Gosh, a sundress like this would cost so many crowns back at Jade. Oh, I wish we could keep these!" 

"I don't see why we can't," Ash said. 

"Huh?" 

"I mean, the least they could do for us after all this is upgrade our closet and shit," Ash shrugged. "I'd say, we can take as much of this as we want to." 

"Uh, I... Isn't that...?" 

"It's a dress, I don't think anyone's going to cry over this." 

And with those words, Kaori looked back down at the dress in her hand and nodded. 

Curious, Ash asked:

"So, do you have anything like that back at Jade? I'd love to see you in something like this." 

The latter sentence came out from her lips before she could stop it. 

Kaori blushed as Ash realized what she said. 

"I..." 

"Yeah," Kaori replied lightly. "I've, uhm, got a few things like this... I mostly just wore them whenever I'd go on dates or whatever." 

Ash cleared her throat, trying desperately to push the mental picture out of her head. Her skin was getting warmer and she could feel her heart beating a little faster. 

"Is that so?"

"... Tell you what, if we come out of this in good shape, maybe I'll show you when we get back," Kaori said with a shy smile. 

"I mean, you could just put it on right now."  Mostly just so I can tear it off right after, but, yeah.

"I could, but then I wouldn't be making you work for it, would I?" Kaori said. Ash shook her head, chuckling.

"... Sure, deal." 

---

Later, at night, Satsuhiro, who had gone out to go get his wife and daughter from wherever those guards had led them to, returned with his family in tow. Kaori and Ash were both at the bathhouse's main room when they came in.

Metsumi was wearing a fluffy coat with white fur that, honestly, made her seem even larger than she already was. She grinned at them and held up some bags she was carrying. 

"I brought you stuff!" She announced. 

"Ooh, awesome." Kaori stood up and went to go see what she had. 

"Some Sapphire tea, guaranteed to warm you all up, and a few souvenirs." 

"Souvenirs?" Ash asked. 

"Yep. You'll love them, they're pieces of monsters!" 

As Metsumi emptied out the bags, they ended up with three lidded cups of tea, a long horn of some sort, and a blue, almost transparent, tooth. 

"What are these?" Ash asked. 

"Well, the horn belongs to a hornshark, no points for guessing why they're called that, which is this animal that's found in the icy lakes nearby. The tooth belonged to an ice wraith. They're like piranhas made of ice, but instead of swimming in water, they fly through the air!" Metsumi explained. 

"Sounds intense," Ash muttered as she took the tooth, feeling it in her hands. 

Opah, who had some other bag in her small hands, jogged over to a fur-covered couch in the center of the room, hopping up on it and pulling out some toys she'd gotten. They looked like knights, and one toy resembled a goblin. Ash chuckled a little. 

"Anyway," Satsuhiro stepped in, "so, here's what I was thinking," he crossed his arms, "tomorrow, we head out for the site of power. On the way, we can look for creatures to farm, to put that EXP boost you two got to use. How does that sound?" 

Ash nodded. 

"Yeah, sounds good." 

"Yup," Kaori said as well. 

"Alright then." 

With that, the group knew what they were going to be doing and they all decided to rest up.

---

A few hours later, it was just past midnight. Ash, who had been sleeping with one arm wrapped around Kaori's waist, suddenly woke up. 

Hm?  She blinked a few times, feeling groggy.  Shit, what time is it? 

Shaking her head, she sat up. Kaori was still asleep. 

She yawned, and then, she heard it. A sort of crackling sound.  Was that what woke me up? 

It came again, and Ash got out of the bed. In the darkness, she moved out of the room to see where the sound was coming from. It got slightly louder and Ash noticed it was coming from downstairs. So, she walked towards it. 

Eventually, she realized it was coming from the hot springs area. 

Walking out, she found Vermia standing there, casting some spell. 

Her hand was outstretched, a symbol painted on the ground. Black lightning emerged from her fingertips and went to the symbol. However, then, it backfired and the lightning ran up her arm. 

"Agh..." She hissed. Then, she noticed Ash standing behind her, and she let her hand drop. 

"Did I wake you?" She asked. "My apologies." 

"What are you doing?" 

Then, Vermia looked down at the symbol and back up at Ash. 

Without a word, she turned and walked back into the building, right past Ash. 

Uh, did I see something I shouldn't have?