Arika, Buying Loyalty

“Lady Arika, are you serious…?” Rana raised her eyebrows as her grab on me loosened. I nodded at her. Unfortunately for anyone involved— I’m dead serious about this.

With Rama out of commission and I overused teleportation magic to the point of physical danger like this, it’s not like we have any chances against Dellney herself. I could imagine all the ways her ‘protection magic’ could be used as a way to fight us back, and she probably has more clues about Grandma’s ascendance as Goddess than anyone I knew personally so far in this world would have. I will not miss this chance.

“I– I’m not that cheap, you know?! Do you expect me to sell my friends at Temple?!”

Yet I could hear how her voice wavered. She really is underestimating me— for exact, the me that existed on the shell of Legendary Mage Hero Angelica. I closed my eyes as I tried to recall my Grandma’s banks of inheritance. There’s so much of it that I couldn’t count, and I couldn’t thank her more.

…For now, I should get as much as I had when me and the twins got myself that lodging back in Marconne. As such a number of supposedly in-game money my Grandma saved just teleported right to my hand as a bundle, Dellney’s eyes widened. She begins to shiver as she spouts incoherent choices of words.

“I— I’m sorry, Mage Hero! I— I will definitely help you guys get your Cheshire back!”

“Okay, good.”

….I expected her to not budge for a while for our negotiation in the name of friendship or partnership or just whatever, but she’s way too easy that I’m concerned about how she lived so far, now. Dellney bowed to us with the power of money that easily, after all.

“Arika’s mine. Don’t take her” Rama still clings to me like a pouting little child. I almost forgot about his condition, but hopefully it will clear soon.

“D– Don’t worry Master Rama! I won’t take our Master, Miss Arika from any of you twins! I— It’s just, we had a deal here!”

“Don’t call Rama or any of us ‘Master’ like some outdated, disgusting kink. You’re gross, Dellney.” Rana crossed her arms. Despite all her teasing that Rama had a human fetish and such stuff, it looks like being called as ‘Master’ was Rana’s biggest turn-off that she just went out making a disgusted face. I made mental notes not to mention that kind of stuff around Rana.

“O– Okay! I got it, I got it!” Dellney nodded cheerfully before she bowed down to me. “Now, what do I need to do for you, Miss Arika?”

“First, we need to confirm where we are.” I sighed, as I twirl my finger around at my hair, gazing at familiar yet not wooden surfaces of the house— ”Could it be…. we’re back at Magifa?”

“Y– you’re correct, Miss Arika! I have not stepped outside Magifa along with my Cheshire, Kay for perhaps ten years!”

…Dellney actually sounded pathetic from that statement alone, but I decided to shut up about it.

“Back from square one because of this gross thing, huh…” Rana sighed. The disgust in her face upon Dellney still hasn't calmed down from what I saw, so I patted her shoulder as I materialized my staff.

“It’s fine, Rana. We’ll have Dellney guide us to the place they brought Rui.”

“But Lady Arika, it’s not wise to use teleportation magic again… Something like three times vague, not pin-point teleportation magic bringing so many people for such a distance— just in a day would be dangerous for anyone as it drains too much mana from one at a time…”

I clasped my hands together as I remembered something. A contradiction, for exact.

“Right, I wanted to ask about that. We have the mana pills, and we can even restock if we could just go and meet Elder right now. So mana is not a problem, and I’m an immortal player chara— I mean, Blessed One, so my recovery should’ve been faster than most— Rama, where are you touching?!”

My speech was cut by Rama’s random touching to my body that felt rather embarrassing. Rather than perverted, it felt more like an innocent child trying to grab some attention physically, however– still not okay though with his age!

“Too much talk.... Play with me, Arika….” Even what he muttered when drunk felt quite childish. I sighed, as I shooed him with my hand. It does make me calmer a little, but–

“I will once we’re done with this, okay?!” I scolded him, and he is now teary-eyed. Just like a child, and it made me think all of those heartbeats for him were in vain upon seeing him being childish like this. “Anyway, we should just go now and—”

“I’m against Lady Arika using teleportation magic again. Sure, you recover fast from physical damages, but mana deficit is another story. What if it crippled you forever?”

There’s a certain spark in Rana’s eyes that feels like a personal problem, and made me wonder what kind of thing Rana had seen from her life related to this subject matter. I would’ve asked, but then Dellney spoke up before I could.

“Y– yeah, I agree with Miss Rana. It’s too dangerous.” Dellney raised her hands awkwardly. “We can’t afford to lose Mage Hero– no, Miss Arika! Like, literally! I can’t afford it and I’m sure those twins will too!”

“Dellney only thinks of money….” A pouting Rama who was still clinging to me suddenly muttered loudly. “I don’t want to lose Arika to a consecutive mana deficit like the times of civil war…”

“Civil war…?”

Now that I heard that word again, I remembered Rana mentioned how the twins lost their family once because of that. But before I could mention it, Dellney spoke up once again.

“Wait. How did you guys get ‘ported' as far as ____, uh I mean, Marconne again anyway?” Dellney tilted her head curiously. “From the looks of it, it wasn’t Miss Arika’s magic at all...”

“You… didn’t know? That magic stone was yours, isn’t it?” I raised my voice to Dellney, confused as much as Rana did. Rama is still not sober, and still clings, so it seems like he didn’t have much to say.

“Ah, yeah! I do collect magic stones like that! They sometimes fell from the sky in the forest! Sometimes they shine very bright, so I thought I could use them like a flash bang when I threw it…” Dellney claimed proudly as she began to ramble on her own. “But you guys suddenly disappeared along with the stone, and once I thought I killed you guys to explode to atoms or something, which is bad to my standard of morals… That’s why I put that message online on Comanet just in case it’s—”

Both me and Rana stared at each other before we looked at Dellney again.

“That’s it!”

“Huh? What’s ‘it’?”

Dellney was confused at my sudden spark of inspiration. So I went over to explain to her, dragging my feet as Rama is still clinging to me.

“There’s no guarantee it’ll work as expected but… Dellney, you still have stones like that, right?”

“Yeah, I do…? An entire box of it…?” Dellney nodded, though she clearly was confused at my sudden question, unable to even get the implication. Rana clicked her tongue at probably how stupid Dellney is, but the more important thing is to have her comply with us.

“I’ll buy them all if you follow us. We’re going back to Elder’s place for now. Bring that box and your Cheshire.”

“Y… yes, Miss Arika…!”

Dellney still didn’t get it, but at least she does comply with my wishes with the power of money. It made me think of how dangerous it is if anyone else in this world— specifically ones that aren't as stupid to be bought like Dellney did— found out about Grandma’s savings. I should consult with Elder too…..

“Arikaaa…”

“Yes, Rama. I’ll play with you after this, okay?”

….Right, we need to do something with Rama’s childish, clingy drunk state too. It would be bad if we confronted them without his magic to guard us. Maybe Elder would’ve known better to help curing his drunk state, or time would tell. Hopefully it’s one of those kinds of side effects that heals itself up with time….

I glared at Dellney. Just one glance was enough to make her comply. I could hear Rana chuckling a little. I’m glad a smile is back on her face after Dellney’s little mistake that must’ve triggered some bad memories on Rana’s mind. I should talk about that with Rana later…

“O– okay, I’ll hurry up and pack everything as you wish, Miss Arika!”