Confrontation

That same day before the grand celebration in Reilaea, inside the Adventurers Guild, a serious matter is being discussed between Sieghart's party, the Guild Master, and, Itsuo and Selene. The discussion goes on which revealed Eileen's claim against the Adventurer - Christa. A claim that which shook Itsuo entirely.

"Christa is... a Demon?"

"Are you serious? You're claiming that she's a demon based on the ominous aura you saw she emits back then?" Said, Selene in a doubtful tone, which then followed by Eileen with a quick response.

"Don't get me wrong. It's not a claim, but rather the truth. I know my abilities and I know what I saw. That time she killed the Mother Bee, for a brief moment, she exposed her true self. That bloodlust and evil feeling that I felt... It resembles a demon's, no, I daresay it's something more evil than a demon."

"Huh, something more evil?! You're not making any sense at all!"

"I know it's a bit too complicated, that's why we asked you both..." Sieghart interjects into the conversation as he gave a response to Selene.

"...Who is Christa? What kind of a person is she? What is her objective?"

Sieghart continues with another question.

"Please let me ask you both another question. You said you've been with Christa together for a long while now, but have you ever seen her using her ACTUAL POWERS in a fight?"

"Christa's... actual power...?"

Hearing it from Sieghart, it suddenly hit Itsuo.

"Now that I think about it, this entire time we knew Christa, she seemed to be just a kind and simple Adventurer who wants to climb up the ranks. She would even try to negotiate just so that she could boost her way up to the top."

As he talks to himself, the times he and Selene spent with Christa suddenly came flashing in his head.

The very first the day they meet, the very first quest they did, to the very next day they ventured and so on.

"A month may not be that long, but it is true that we shared a good bond with her. Christa is our friend. But it never hit me to ask everything about her. About what she wants, about who she really is."

Itsuo finishes his thoughts when he hears Selene speaking in an arguing manner towards Sieghart's question.

"Christa is strong, there's no denying it, but that doesn't mean that she's a demon. Christa is a kind person who would help me and Itsuo get through tough times when we couldn't do a single damn thing. Christa is just a simple Adventurer who simply wants to get on top of the rankings, Christa is just an Adventurer like me and everyone else in this room. Christa is my friend, my friend is not a demon!"

Itsuo looked speechless seeing Selene speaking the words inside his thoughts. But...

"I see. So you two were a couple of flies who devours your so called friend like blood until you get your fill."

"What?"

"Hey Selene..."

Sieghart tries to intervene in the conversation after hearing Eileen's regard to the two. But, Eileen turn deaf from Sieghart's interference as she stands up from her seat.

"The weak will always find a way no matter how ridiculous it is to achieve their goal. Even if it means shamelessly pretending to be someone's friend."

"You..." Said, Selene with an aggravated expression on her face. But nonetheless, Eileen continues to speak.

"You don't have to look at me with those hateful eyes. I, too, have experienced having to cling with the strong once, all to achieve my revenge. But, things have changed for me, I now have the power to do what I couldn't back then, I now have the strength to protect everyone. And with another threat standing right in front of me, I'll make sure that the mistakes I did will not happen again."

"Just stay back and watch quietly, if you don't want to get in trouble that is. Well, I couldn't care less about your actions. But if you ever stood in my way, I won't hesitate to kill you."

With Lira, David and Jinrah tries to stop and follow her, Eileen exits the room with a strong message.

"So you're still not getting over the past..."

Realizing that there is danger heading straight on the way of their friend, time goes back at the present day, or perhaps night. With their mind set to not let Christa meet Eileen at all cost.

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Trying to find the right words to speak, Selene is the one who approaches the girl with the crimson eyes first by asking her:

"Hey, Christa?"

"Yes?"

"How's your journey in that village? The village is just some distance behind the forest where you live in, right? Did you get the time to visit your place?"

"Yes, a lot happened during my travel, I get to visit my home, I met my friend after long while, I even get to meet my big sister who I never thought I have."

Christa laughs joyfully.

"After that, I went to join the villagers of Eisvel on their hunt for the vampire boars. The rest of the day, I spend my time with the village. There's still a lot more that happened even before and after that, but I'll keep it to myself for now."

"Eh... That must've been quite a travel for you, huh?"

"You said it!"

The two young ladies continues to chat as they walk down the street. But at one point, Selene get a quick glance at Itsuo, that which he interprets that Selene finally sets the friendly mood around them and it's his turn to approach Christa.

Itsuo puts up a straight face, then picks up the speed to catch up to the two ladies walking in front of her. And then, Itsuo began to make his move.

"Speaking of traveling, you must be pretty tired, right?"

"No, I'm not really tired at all.

"Come on, there's no way you're not feeling tired at all. Why don't we just meet the blacksmith tomorrow and go to the neighborhood and let you have a rest."

"Like I said, I'm not feeling tired at all. And if I feel like taking a break, I can just go back to the Inn, that's pretty close here, after all."

Itsuo whispered into himself in an infuriated manner.

"Damn, Christa can be really persistent sometimes. In that case..."

He then continues to convince Christa by bribing.

"But with the crowd gathered and having a party near the inner district, there's no way you can have a peaceful rest. And speaking of parties, the neighborhood is also having our own feast, what's more is we still have a lot of honey bee we gathered from that cave. Don't you like that honey, Christa?"

"Honey bee, huh...?"

Christa stopped from walking as she puts her hands on her waist and looks up while her eyes are closed. Then he begins thinking. Before long, she is done contemplating and answered Itsuo.

"Okay, let's head to your home."

Itsuo gave a smile of relief.

"Okay, let's go here, then."

With that decided, Itsuo and Selene turned around while Christa presses forward. Christa realized that they're going back soon as she noticed that she's the one going forward.

She stopped to call them out.

"Hey, you two. Where are you going?"

"Huh? Where going back to our home."

Selene replied.

"Why are you heading to the south gate? We can just turn here and take a shorter route, you know?"

"Huh, eh? Um..."

Itsuo approaches Christa and grabs her by the hand, then pulls her with him.

"Come on, don't you want to enjoy walking a long distance before going back?"

"I do but, you said we're going back to the neighborhood so I can rest, right?"

Itsuo tightens her grasp and pulls Christa with force.

"Don't be such a kill joy and just follow us!"

"Eh...?"

Selene together with Itsuo who's pulling Christa are heading towards the southern gate. Every step, the distance between them dwindles. However, just when the both of them thought that everything is going smoothly, a ball of light suddenly appeared and is flying straight at them.

"Look out!"

Itsuo pulled Selene away from the ball of light's direction

*Explosion!*

The ball of light lands and explodes right where the three of them was standing, thanks to Itsuo, the three of them did not recieve any fatal injuries, however the force of the explosion is incredibly strong that it blow them away at quite a distance.

"Christa, Selene, are you two okay?"

"I'll be lying if I said I did not expect you two to be here, Flies."

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