Now he had her curiosity. “And what might those be?”
“They call her the Sandalbearer and the Culinary Revolutionary for the tools that the Order has adopted.” Those names were too heavy on the shoulders for her to accept, but at least they weren’t unsavory. Then, Bernigi slapped his knee. “Ah, yes, I remember now. There is another one related to the toe socks: the Goddess-Savior of Athlete’s Foot, or, for short, the Goddess of Athlete’s Foot.”
“The Goddess of Athlete’s Foot?!” Dahlia felt as though she had been punched in the gut. Dread and despair made her shoulders slump. Just the mention of the disease was enough to make her flinch, but to be named after it? Who had been so bold as to utter the name first? She had many choice words for them. At the very least, use the original name—anything but the shortened version. In any case, she felt she had the right to complain Volf’s ears off afterward and perhaps even to bury her face in a corner and yowl like a cat.
“The first few times I heard people say that, I would berate them for being so rude, but kids these days shorten anything they can. Ah, be sure to keep this a secret from your boss—” Her hat had shifted—apparently a less-pressing concern to her than her dejection—and a tuft of her long hair spilled out from the side; as soon as his red eyes spied it, the elderly man shut his mouth. He opened it again, but this time with much more hesitation. “Are you perhaps, erm, Chairwoman Rossetti herself?”
Now that she had taken her voice caster off, her voice returned to normal. “I apologize for my delayed introduction. My name is Dahlia Rossetti. I have put on these clothes and altered my voice so that I can blend in for today’s training.”
Bernigi looked shaken by the transformation. “I should be the one to apologize for assuming you were an employee of Rossetti, and especially for my thoughtless words unto a lady. I beg that you keep what I said about the knights a secret between the two of us.”
“I’ll do that, and thank you for your forgiveness.” Oh, boy, is this awkward or what?
The dead silence in the coach was finally broken by loud voices outside. Bernigi and Dahlia both immediately turned their heads toward the window, and the reason for the commotion became obvious—there was a colossal bat, its dark blue body camouflaged against the sky. The scent from the cauldron had attracted the monster, and it was currently circling the knights just above head height.
Bernigi hung halfway out of the coach window. “A skybat?! That nimble beast goes for the easiest prey, like smaller individuals and food out in the open. I knew those boys were unprepared!”
And he was right in a sense—the people outside sounded oddly calm. “Perfect timing! Let’s give it a go!”
“All right, I’m loosing!” The test scheduled for this afternoon seemed to be going according to plan. The bow knight flexed every muscle to draw the Galeforce Bow as Kirk tickled the air in front of him with his fingers. The pair of arrows went shrieking into the sky, disappearing before their very eyes.
“Too soon, junior! The skybat can use its magic to sharply veer and—what?!” The elderly man’s concern turned to shock.
“Come on!” Kirk was so confident, he could shout and cheer as he controlled the arrows; his control had improved so much in such a short time. He pushed the pair of arrows along, tracking the acrobatics the monster was performing. But the skybat had nowhere to go, and the glinting mythril thread split its body in twain.
“Ah...” Dahlia could’ve sworn the monster made eye contact with her as it crashed to the earth, but all she could do was mentally clasp her hands and pray for its peace.
“What was that bow?!” Bernigi’s neck seemed like it should’ve creaked as he turned toward Dahlia, and his eyes were terrifying.
“Um, a titanbow?”
“That kind of power from a titanbow?! Ridiculous!”
“Erm, it is called the Galeforce Bow...”
“I have never heard of such a thing. From whom did the knights get it? It isn’t likely any family would give away such a magical weapon, so was it borrowed?”
“No, it is, uh, an invention of the Scalfarotto family’s Weapons Development Team.”
“Invented? What is it made with?”
“It’s, um...” The barrage of questions made Dahlia’s head spin; if only she could call Master Jonas over. But someone else came to her rescue.
“Allow me to explain.” Grato’s voice came from outside the window, then he walked around to the other side to open the door. In his hands were a bottle of red wine and a pair of glasses—for him and Bernigi, no doubt. “Rossetti, why don’t you go take a look at the skybat? I doubt you have had a chance to do so before. We will have it parted, and you may take any part of it you wish.”
“Thank you very much for your generosity. Um, excuse me, then.” Dahlia felt bad for running away from Bernigi, but she wasn’t quite sure how much she should or could say about the bow, so, without making a fuss, she grabbed onto the lifeline the captain had thrown her.
“Thank you again for propping me up earlier, Chairwoman Rossetti. Much appreciated.”
Dahlia spun around, surprised that Bernigi had called out to her. What she saw was a look of tenderness in the elderly man’s almond eyes—more tenderness than she would ever have expected. She bowed once, then alighted from the dark green coach.
“Are skybats edible?”
“I dunno. I don’t remember ever eating one before—hell, I don’t remember ever being able to kill one.”
When Dahlia rejoined the larger group, the monster’s wings had already been cut off. The knights sounded like they were still hungry, though that dark blue flesh hardly made her mouth water. A ways away from them was Randolph, who gently closed the eyelids on the skybat’s head; being stared at by the dead monster was probably a little uncomfortable.
“Dahlia, is there any part of the skybat you would like?” Before she could tell him what the captain had said, Volf offered the monster to her with a big smile.
“Yeah, Ms. Dahlia, no need to be shy. If you want, take the whole thing!”
“No, I couldn’t!”
Volf was presenting her with a rare opportunity, but it wouldn’t have been right to take the whole monster without having any purpose for it. It was said that the skybat’s bones aided flight, but her illustrated bestiary also said the bones weren’t very sturdy or magically potent, making them unsuitable even for longbows.
That said, she was interested in the material. “If it wouldn’t trouble everyone, may I have a few bones?”
“Certainly. We will send them to the Adventurers’ Guild once the skybat is frozen, then it should be another two, three days until they completely break down the monster and have it delivered to Masters Dahlia and Jonas.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry?” Jonas and Dahlia questioned the sudden use of the title.
Griswald must’ve expected their reactions—he had a smirk on his face. “The squad has discussed this. Not only is there a member of our squad with the surname Goodwin, we shall continue to ask both of you to lend us your technical prowess, so please allow us to address you as Master Dahlia and Master Jonas.”
“I thank you all for this honor.”
“Oh, um...” Dahlia had a hard time saying otherwise after Jonas’s immediate response. She was neither experienced, a knight, nor a noble; just as she wanted to say that she didn’t deserve that much respect, the rest of the Beast Hunters beamed.
“Master Dahlia! Master Jonas! Thank you both for always making our lives better!”
“Uh, thank you too.” Now she had nowhere to run. She turned to Volf for support, but he was staring a hole into the ground.
“Master, huh? Makes sense, you being our advisor and all. Maybe I should call you Master Dahlia instead of just your first name when we’re at the castle too...”
Dahlia couldn’t come up with an answer to his mumbling. She decided that once they were alone, she’d tell him she would much prefer it if he kept addressing her the same way he always had.
One of the younger knights raised his hand. “Vice-Captain! Is the skybat edible?”
“It is edible, but I’m not so sure about its flavor...”
The veteran chimed in. “Edible? Yes. Tasty? No.”
“Have you had it before, sir?”
“One time when I was young, we ran out of supplies during an expedition. We caught a skybat in a trap and ate it, but...” The veteran laid a hand over his mouth and then rubbed his cheek. “It’s tender, but it’s terribly astringent. You know how some fruits have to be soaked in alcohol to get rid of their astringency? Well, that same taste permeates skybat meat.”
“Ew. I don’t think I need to try it, then.”
“Regardless, this might be helpful to know, so listen up. It smells fine until you put it in your mouth, but once you take the first bite, it’s nothing but bitterness. Water won’t wash that taste off your tongue. It’ll stay with you the whole day, and so long as it’s still in the stomach, you’ll still be tasting it. It’s so astringent, it’ll make your head hurt.” His pained description was far too vivid; others around him were scowling along with him.