A Problem Arises

I get out of bed feeling absolutely amazing. I'll change into my bikini so that I can play in the waves one last time before I leave. I'll go say bye to everybody I know, then I'll go to the beach for a bit, then it's back to Heafdes I go! I asked Ctothis about the whole teleportation scroll thing, and she told me to go to Lucidna about it, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

First order of the day for today though is to tell the innkeeper that I won't be staying another night. Um, that's kind of stressful, so I really need to get that over with. I mean, I guess I can just not do that, but that's kind of a really rude thing to do.

Yeah, I'll just grab all my stuff and get it over with. Although… this is also the last time in a while I get to play with myself with that showerhead… uh… yeah, I'll do that one more time first. Um… I'll have to make sure I get all of my body wet though. Only being soaked around my crotch area is going to be super suspicious…

><><><><

I walk up to April and Sierra where we've been going to Kari's cult for the last few days. I'll tell them that I'm leaving, then I'll go and track down where Erika is so I can tell him bye too. He shouldn't be too far from here.

I am going to participate in Kari's cult today though. I need to speak with Lucidna, but I'm still faithful to Kari.

"Hi Azariah!" April's voice.

Turning around, it seems that April and Sierra found me first.

"So… how did it go?" Sierra asks me.

"Umm, well, I think?"

"What? You think?! You actually went?!" Sierra yells out in surprise.

That makes me entirely nervous, so I wind up just freezing in place. Uhh, is Sierra mad at me? How do I respond to this? Should I have just lied and said I didn't go? Probably. It's too late to take it back, though!

"Calm down Sierra, this is Azariah, you can't just yell at her. So you went, huh? Did the deal work out well for you?"

Ah, April saved me! Thank you! You're the highlight of my life!

"Um… it did. I have two weeks to learn, then I have to be in Epallis. I should be getting 4 or so silver coins a day at least."

"Really? That's a lot. I'm really proud of you!"

"All in one night? Did he have you sign anything?"

"Uh… yes…"

"Did you make sure to read it all very carefully?"

"Yes, I read it all three times…"

I conveniently leave out the part about how I signed the price sheet without even looking at it because Amiel put a certain beautiful exhibitionist in the room. I don't even want to begin to imagine all of their reactions to that.

"Well, as long as you were careful I guess. But you are working with a Royal Selection Candidate now, Azariah. You need to keep that carefulness up at all times." Sierra tells me.

"Yes, I know." I say.

I honestly couldn't agree with Sierra more here. He knew to put Lila in the room in order to throw me off my focus after all. He probably knows a lot more about me than he's letting on, and I really need to keep all of that in mind going forward.

"Um, guys…" I begin, changing back the subject to my original intention.

My tone or expression or something, got their attention because now they seem to be really listening to what I have to say.

"I'll be flying back to Heafdes to study for this. I'm leaving in a few hours…"

April and Sierra blink in surprise.

"Well, we should hang out on the beach all together if you're leaving. We'll only be here a few more days anyway. We should do at least one more thing with all three of us before we can't."

Um… with both of them? I mean, I kind of would rather have gone out on my own. Well… I can cover a lot of distance, and Epallis is also a coastal city I think, so I should be able to go back to the beach soon… Alright, I guess that playing with April and Sierra couldn't hurt too much then.

"O- OK, I will then." I say.

"Alright everybody! We'll be starting our congregation now, so please take your seats." I'd recognize that voice anywhere, that gorgeous priest I've seen here and then.

We all take our seats, to wait to be told to offer up our gifts to Kari. I also don't have anything to give again. I definitely am going to get back into the habit of drawing something for him as soon as I get back to Heafdes though. I'll be keeping that up when I head to Epallis as well.

Time passes rather quickly as we're called to give our gifts, and then the gorgeous priest starts singing her song. Then the food comes out, and I start drawing. I grab a small portrait. I'm leaving so maybe I'll try picking up a bit of painting. It's the first time I've done it in a long while, and I've never been very good at it anyway, but I probably won't be seeing it again anyway.

Maybe I'll paint the ocean. Dark blue near the top and fades to black as it gets further down. A lot of light blue on the top and then some clouds as well. Yeah, that sounds good.

"Hmm? I've never seen you painting before Azariah." Yeah, Erika always finds me first, doesn't he?

"It's a special day."

"Hm? What's special about today?"

"I'm leaving for Heafdes today. I figured I'd change up my routine the last day here."

"Huh? You're leaving? Why?"

Um? Do I want to tell Erika why I'm leaving? I don't really want to put all the thought into all the words I'll need to explain all of that. There's also how his reactions would throw me off stringing them all together. Ehhh, what to do?

"Um… I'll be heading to Epallis after Heafdes soon. I can visit every now and then. As for why… just ask April."

"Alright. I'll be looking forward to seeing you again. When you come back, we'll have to try and have another race. Not that I'm all too confident about being able to beat you a second time."

Ahh, another race with Erika?! I want it! I definitely want that! Not now though, I need to save my mana up for flying back to Heafdes.

"Yes, I would enjoy that."

"Good to hear it. I'll check out your painting when you're done with it. See you around, Azariah."

"Yes, bye, Erika."

"Alright, I'll head to the beach now. I'm looking forward to when we catch back up with each other."

Erika begins to fly away, but the wind that he generates doing this sends my paint and other materials. I quickly have to pull the canvas away so that my painting doesn't get ruined because of the paint flying everywhere.

><><><><

"Come on Azariah, aren't you coming?!"

"Yeah Azariah, what's taking you so long?"

Stop rushing me?! How the hell are you standing on that hot sand barefoot?! Maybe if I walk on it really slowly- ah! No, no, it still burns. I also want to conserve my mana for flying back to Heafdes and I am already using Beira's connection to keep myself cool, so I don't really want to fly… Running it is.

I step onto the scalding hot sand and start sprinting towards the ocean while on my tippy toes. I pay no attention to whatever expressions April and Sierra are making. I just need to get to the nice and cold water!

Ahh, I'm finally onto the cool, wet sand now. What a relief…

"Tch, seriously, what even was that?"

"No need to have such an attitude about it, Sierra."

Great, now Sierra's looking at me all amused, and April looks all embarrassed. Maybe I could blame it on my trauma? No, I don't want to worry them. I'll just have to live with the embarrassment.

"I… I don't like heat…" I say.

"Clearly."

"Hm? It is quite hot out though. Are you good?"

"Um… I use a spell of Beira's."

"Ah, that makes sense." April says.

"Hey, how cold can you make it?" Sierra asks.

Um… I guess it would probably be easier just to show them. I create a cloud of super cooled air, and then a wind blade. I fire the wind blade through the cloud and as soon as it hits the water, it creates a huge chunk of ice. The waves wash it up to me, so I pick it up with my bare hands.

Looking at April and Sierra, they look… terrified?! What?! What did I do wrong?! What about that was scary?! Why are you afraid now?! Stop looking at me like that!

"Um… Azariah? Can I have that for a second?" Sierra asks.

I hand it off to her without a word.

"Wow, this really is frozen…" Sierra says as she holds on to it.

April rubs one of her hands over it, seemingly mesmerized. Sierra then- starts rubbing it all over her body?! No, stop that! It's triggering my fetish! Your boobs are so small and you're in a bikini! This is way too stimulating to me! Stop it!

I turn around, I can't look at that. Think of Kiaran, think of Kiaran. Ignore Sierra's entire existence. Just think of Kiaran. Think of Kiaran's long and hard d-

"Ahh, I needed that. Hey Azariah? Can you maybe make a hard rock out of the sand here, I really want to throw this into something hard."

Eh? I mean, that does sound fun, but why does she think that's something I can do? Is it because I'm a mage? That isn't in my spell range though…

"No connection with Ceres." I say, that should get my point across.

"Ah man, really? Come on, I want to go find something to break this up against. You should be able to make more of these, right Azariah?"

"Uh, yes, I can."

"Alright, let's go."

><><><><

I walk out of the changing room in my usual outfit. It's actually been a while since I've worn this, since I've been wearing my bikini everywhere. Next time I come here I'm going to keep wearing it everywhere though, since I did quite enjoy that.

I'll… maybe I could try slowly buying skimpier and skimpier bikinis, until it barely covers anything up? Yeah, I'm definitely doing that. I mean, it's summer too, it wouldn't hurt to do that with my usual clothes either… Yeah, keep showing more and more skin until I eventually end up like Lila… ahahaa…

That sounds amazing, I'm definitely doing that. I just have to slowly build up the confidence for that as well. I just hope that Kiaran will be able to help me with that. I also might ask Lila how to muster up the confidence to dress how she does when I get the chance… after I learn her sign language that is. I just hope it's not too difficult to learn.

Well, I'll think about that more in two weeks after I meet with Amiel again. For now it's time to leave. I tie myself into my wind glider and prepare the mana to take off.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Stop!"

Just as I'm about to take off, I'm suddenly interrupted by a nicely filled out blonde woman dressed in servant's attire. The roots of her hair are brown, so I'm assuming her hair is dyed but I don't say anything about it. Normally I'd be really nervous, but now I'm honestly just really annoyed.

"What?" That annoyance accidentally seeps into my words, causing me to sound really angry at her.

"I… I work for Amiel Leon! You're Lady Azariah, right!?"

" I am Azariah. Yes."

"Sir Leon needs to speak to you! It's really urgent!"

"What? Why?"

I'm so confused I accidentally speak up and announce it. Man that really isn't like me. I have this whole silent but powerful witch vibe going for me, and now I'm ruining it. Still though, after that whole conversation last night, Amiel wants me for something? What could it possibly be? It's urgent too?

"I don't know. He just told me to go and get you. All I know is he needs you to deliver a message. He didn't tell me anything more than that. Just to hurry up and catch you before you left Rose Harbor."

Right, Amiel would probably know I was getting ready to fly off, and would've sent someone to get me before that. If he really needed me he couldn't really spare any time explaining the situation since after I took off flying he wouldn't really have any way to keep up with me.

I really just want to head back to the capital now, but I don't want to ruin my relationship with my future benefactor, and if it is urgent, I really don't want to just ghost the person who's asking for my help. Besides, delivering a message shouldn't be too difficult. Just write it in a letter, fly to whoever it's supposed to be delivered to, say "From Amiel Leon", and fly away. No sweat.

"Where is he?"

"By Fledginer Port. He's impossible to miss, I'll take you there."

"No need."

"W- what?"

Without any further warning, I use wind magic to take off, and start flying towards the port. It's where I hauled that big fish up to, so I know where it is. There isn't any need for me to be guided. It's a bit embarrassing to know I just left that woman like that, but I solace myself by thinking it's just the vibe I've been going with since I started flying around.

><><><><

I fly over Fledginer port, and spot Amiel and Esobel standing by a ship that looks to be abandoned. Around them is a perimeter of city guard, making sure nobody gets close. I also spot a few people that look like healers in the surrounding crowd. I also notice that no one tries to stop me when I fly down next to Amiel. I guess they were expecting me.

"Ah, Azariah. You're here sooner than expected." Amiel says as I land down next to him and Esobel.

Amiel still looks calm and collected, but Esobel is noticeably on edge. Not nervous, but like she knows something's about to happen and is ready for it.

"Azariah, how experienced in magic do you say you are?" Amiel asks me.

What? How do I answer that question? I mean the answer's not at all, but I'm worried how to phrase that in a way that doesn't offend him.

"Um… magic is a very… large subject. I have barely scraped the surface of it." I say, hoping that was enough not to annoy either of them.

"A bad phrasing on my part then. Let me ask you another question. Do you happen to know any mechanics behind resurrection magic, or magic that has to do with death?" Amiel's voice sounds much more serious now, it's actually kind of scaring me.

"Um… I technically have a connection with a death spirit, but-" Esobel's eyes light up for a brief moment for some reason, which I ignore "but none of the spells I made with that have anything to do with well… death itself."

Technically "Thrill on Death's Edge" uses death as a mechanic for its activation, but given the wording of Amiel's question I don't think that's what he meant. That's why I emphasized "death itself" there at the end.

Amiel leans in to whisper something into my ear. He's so much taller than me, it's kind of scary. His expression has turned dead serious too… I think I hear my heart beating in my chest.

"Azariah…" he whispers into my ear, "This ship came into port an hour ago. When it did, all of its crew were reported dead. All by some unknown disease with all sorts of nasty symptoms. What's more, some of the corpses got up and started attacking people. Do you know anything about this? What could be causing this?"

H- huh? There are zombies in there?! Um… just why is Amiel asking me of all people about this? Shouldn't there be a few better options in his camp? Why would he think I'd know anything about this?

"No… I don't. I was told I was supposed to be delivering a letter. Am I sending it to someone who would?"

"Nothing, huh? That's a shame." Amiel stops leaning over me and stops whispering, "As for that letter? You'll be sending it to Royal Selection Candidates Rhectia Royther and Pitiful Girl."

Huh?! Why am I sending it to Royal Selection Candidates?! Did I seriously get tied up in something this important?! There is a bit of a problem though… Rose Harbor is just about on the northeastern edge of the country. Pitiful Girl's domain is near the northwestern corner, and Rhectia's is in the southeastern corner

"Um… Amiel… even for me that would take-"

"They're both currently in Heafdes."

"What?" Did he know exactly what I was thinking?

"They're both in Heafdes. You just have to fly to and from. It won't take long."

I… I guess he did know exactly what I was thinking. Am I that predictable?

"Azariah, something's happening, something big enough I'd go to Rhectia for help. Do you have any friends or people you care about here in Rose Harbor?"

How bad is it that you're asking me a question like that?! You're making me incredibly nervous! As for an answer… There's April, Sierra, Erika… then to a lesser extent I know Harold, Felicity and Charity enough to remember their names. Not that I've ever interacted with Charity at all.

"Y- yes…"

"Before you send the letter then. Go to them and tell them to get out. Make sure they do. I'm about to order my mercenaries and the city guard to take up defensive positions and to arm themselves. Rumors will spread quickly, so you'll need a headstart if you want the people you care about to get out before the rush to escape makes that difficult.

As for after that, stay here until I order you to fly away with those letters I've yet to write. I lacked the foresight to add being able to order you to stay in Rose Harbor to that contract, so I'll just have to hope that you trust me and are a good person. I hope at least one of those is the case."

Amiel…

"All of you in the city guard! Report back to your stations immediately! Grab your weapons, and begin the preparations for a siege! Begin evacuating all civilians! If they resist to stay, remove them by force! All noncombatants need to be out of the city within the hour! Do it now!" Amiel yells.

Apparently Amiel's voice carries a lot of authority around here, because as soon as he finishes, everybody goes running off, presumably to follow his orders.

"Um, sir Leon!" calls out Felicity.

She was in that crowd?! I didn't recognize her. She takes her helmet off, revealing her cat ears, and bows.

"Stand up, and call me Amiel."

"Uh, yes, Amiel… You said that something was happening, and then told us to prepare for a siege, and to evacuate all civilians… we're not near any hostile powers, so just what's happening?"

Amiel looks Felicity dead in the eyes, making her look quite nervous. I've never seen her ever look even remotely concerned.

"The sea queen. Hurry up and follow my orders, lives are at stake." Amiel says, without any life in his voice.

The impact of those words looks like it shatters Felicity's soul. All the color drains from her face, and she looks like she sees something she knows is about to kill her. She goes running off extremely quickly without saying a word, faster than anyone else. Seriously, she's probably running faster than normal humans can run…

Still though, I'm not sure why… I hope I don't regret this.

"Amiel? Who is that?"

Amiel looks extremely surprised for a brief moment, but then goes back to his poker face. Esobel looks at me like I'm an idiot, and my idiocy is going to get her killed.

"I hope you know who Demon Lord Louis is, Azariah." Amiel says.

"Yes, I do."

"The Demon Lord holes himself up in his castle with a total of 40 guardians to defend himself. Oversimplifying it, these guardians make up the strongest beings in all of the Demon Lord Territory, and are given ranks based on their strength. "Sea Queen" refers to the 2nd Guardian."

So she's the second strongest subordinate that the demon lord has?! No wonder they were so confused at how I never heard of her. But wait! Does that mean?!

"Amiel, is-"

"She isn't here. If she was, I would know by now. It's just her own subordinates. That just complicates things though. Are her subordinates acting on their own, or was it her that ordered this? Did the order to attack come from the Demon Lord himself? There's also the fact this is happening not too long after I showed up here…"

I understand why Amiel seems like he has so much on his mind now. Still though, even this "Sea Queen's" subordinates being here probably spells bad news, like with Vincent. I probably need to get moving soon.

Suddenly, I'm extremely unnerved. Like I just got shivers, and not the good kind. What's happening? I put Mana Detection onto the ship we're near, and I do sense a bit of mana manipulation from what I assume are the corpses Amiel mentioned. Is that why I'm so on edge all of a sudden?

Amiel's deep in thought, while Esobel's looking all around, vigilantly. What's wrong? Just to be sure, I start expanding Mana Location's radius, although it isn't exactly doing much in this environment.

Mana Location… just picked up something moving underwater. Something huge, too. Amiel draws his rapier, and Esobel pulls out her ax for the first time I've ever seen. Then-

"Amiel! Dodge!" I yell, I fly out of the way as fast as I can

"Esobel! Protect Azariah!"

The port underneath us shatters into pieces, and several tentacles come up out of the water. One of them shoots up towards me. I prepare three wind blades as soon as I see it coming, but the entire tentacle is chopped in half before I can fire them.

I dispel the wind blades, and look over the port frantically. Half of the dock we were on is broken off, and there's water and tentacles everywhere. Where are Amiel and Esobel?! I don't see them! Quick, turn up Mana Location's detail-

"Evaporation!" I hear yelled in Esobel's voice.

Suddenly a huge explosion hits the water, which sends pieces of burnt tentacle, scalding white mist, and boiling water every conceivable direction. It feels hot, even from here. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, boiling water's getting on me, it's humid, humid, humid!

Arrrrrrghhh! I'm going to die! Get me out of here!

Beira! Beira! Help me! I need you! Please! Kari, please, wind, please!

I create cold air with Beira and swirl it around me as fast as I can with Kari. This keeps me cool, and also keeps the boiling water from getting on me. That's calmed me down a bit, but I still have burns on my skin from the water. It hurts, but it isn't hot, at least.

I pay attention to what's happening on the harbor now. A lot of the tentacles got destroyed in that attack, but even more are coming back up out of the water.

"Swirl!" Esobel's voice again.

A trail of fire swings all around the port, cutting off tentacle after tentacle in a rapid motion too quick for me to keep track of. After the attack stops I look at where it ended, and find Esobel without any apparent injuries. Her ax is on fire, though. So she's fine, but where's Amiel?