At that, Alaina leaned in and spoke quietly to MacLyle a while longer, sometimes shaking and sometimes nodding her head. At last, MacLyle turned to us and said, “She denies it in no uncertain terms.”
“I’m so right!”
Great, so Atessa was in the hands of a “security force” of hooligans and a proud-yet-introverted elf... What a mess.
As I was genuinely starting to get worried, MacLyle spoke up again. “Well, I know you’re just passing through, and I wouldn’t want to keep you here for too long. How about this? We’ll contract you for ten days at first. If you can finish things in that time frame or at least make serious progress, we’ll throw in a bonus. If ten days pass and nothing’s looking any closer to resolution, we can renegotiate then.”
Alaina seemed to be desperately arguing with him about something as he spoke, but MacLyle didn’t bat an eye.
Hmm. This little arrangement seemed designed so he could stiff me if nothing happened, but it had the benefit of not tying me down for an extended period of time. That being the case... I gave a little nod to Gourry and then approached MacLyle.
“Okay. Under those conditions, let’s give it a try for ten days.” I extended a hand over the counter.
The old man reached out to shake it. “Thank you very much. Oh, and let me introduce myself. My name’s Gene MacLyle. I’m the owner of the Silver Leaf and the leader of the local task force.”
Aha. That’s why he had Randa shaking in his boots...
“I’m Gourry,” my companion said bluntly.
“And I’m Lina. Lina Inverse. A sorcerer, as you surmised.”
Following the introductions, we got right down to business—negotiating our fee!
The city was surrounded by greenery. Birdsong drifted by on the wind, and the sounds of life were rich all around us. But if I turned my gaze just a little, I could see a rock wall taller than a person running around the whole town.
Things were peaceful right now, but Zephilia and Saillune had locked horns over Atessa a long time ago. The sturdy rock wall encircling the city was a relic of the conflict. Of course, it was also useful for keeping out the bears and boars of the forest, not to mention the occasional goblin gaggle that came sniffing around. (This was all stuff MacLyle had told me earlier, by the way.)
Gourry and I were currently walking through the roadless forest, but we weren’t there to sightsee. We were trying to get the lay of the land. Though we were in the woods, there wasn’t much underbrush to impede our movement.
“Say...” I began as I walked along—obviously, to Gourry who was walking beside me. “Remember how someone was watching us when we first came to town?”
“Yeah, I remember sensing someone. I didn’t pick up any malice, though. And I figured you knew and were ignoring them, which is why I didn’t say anything.”
As I’d suspected, Gourry had sensed them too. “They didn’t strike you as bandits, did they?”
“Yeah, not really,” Gourry agreed.
Now, I’m sure some of you are wondering, “How could you possibly know that based on something as nebulous as someone’s presence?” But what can I say? You can just tell. Granted, sometimes I imagine things, but in this case, Gourry was in agreement. I had a feeling I was on the money.
“Or could it be a different entity from the people causing trouble in town? Seems unlikely, of course, but... hmm...” I muttered to myself.
Gourry spoke up in mild surprise. “Unusual to see you so serious. I’d expect you to be going on about how you can’t wait to blow the bandits up.”
“I mean, sure, that’s definitely where this is going in the end. But if they were just your average bandits, the locals would’ve been able to clear this up themselves. The fact that they haven’t tells me these bandits have some brain and skill going for them. And...”
“And?” Gourry prompted me as I paused.
I didn’t want to admit it, but there was no arguing with cold, hard facts. “I’ve got a lot fewer spells at my disposal than before.”
That comment led Gourry to look upward in thought, but before he could open his mouth...
“Let me warn you!” I interrupted him. “It’s not because of my physical condition! It’s just that I lost my magic-amplifying talismans in the last battle, and that’s done a number on my repertoire!”
“Oh yeah?” Gourry said casually.
Yup, without those talismans, I couldn’t use my old void blade spell. And as for the spell that let darkness consume a given area... I could technically use it if I wanted to, but bad things would happen if I lost control. Let’s just say I didn’t care to test that out. And going into a situation like I could still pull those spells out if I really had to was pretty damned foolhardy, so to put the kibosh on that, I’d decided just to act like they were off the table. Saying it out loud was less about explaining things to Gourry and more about reminding myself.
Of course, it was also entirely possible the local security force was just that crappy. We could indeed be dealing with ordinary bandits that would fold like a cheap towel the moment we found ’em. I wasn’t about to bet on that, though.
“At any rate, we need clues as to their whereabouts... and I’m not seeing any here,” I said.
In this mountainous area with nothing but animal trails for paths, you could find footprints and broken branches that indicated people had been through the area—too many, in fact. Townsfolk came out to collect firewood, the security force did patrols... Even if the raiders were around, it was impossible to tell which tracks were theirs.
“Clues, huh?” Gourry thought for a minute. “Why don’t we just ask?”
“Ask who?”
“Oh, what’s-her-name. You know. Her,” he said and pointed casually. I followed his finger and saw a figure observing us from a tree branch a ways away.
“Alaina?”
At my unexpected call, a twitch ran through her body and she quickly ducked behind the tree trunk. It wasn’t a particularly large tree, so despite her slender frame, she couldn’t hide from us completely.
“Have you been following us this whole time?” I asked.
She didn’t respond.
I have to confess... I hadn’t detected her presence at all until now. Even granting that she exuded no hostility toward us, that was surprising. I knew that elves lived in harmony with nature, but I never knew they could blend in with the forest to this degree.
“Did you want us for something?” Gourry asked.
Alaina remained silent.
In that case...
“Well, you wouldn’t be following us if you didn’t want something. I know you’re not happy that Master MacLyle asked for our help... but I sure hope you’re not planning to kill us in the wilderness to cut us out of the picture.”
In response to my intentionally provocative statement, she silently dropped down from the branches. Even though there wasn’t much underbrush around, to land from that height without making a sound was truly impressive.
With her eyes fixed solidly on us, she pulled something small from her pocket, placed it on the ground, and pointed at it. Then she plucked up one of the two coiled whips mounted on either hip (she hadn’t been wearing those in the eatery) and unfurled it, snagging the branch of a tree behind her with a lazy wave-like motion. Then she kicked off the ground, pulled, and—drawn by the whip—landed lithely atop a new branch. The entire thing was executed with unbelievable quietness. I wouldn’t say it was soundless, exactly, but if I hadn’t been watching, I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish it from the general sounds of the forest.
I don’t know what she’s up to, but...