All’s Well that Ends Well

MIRABELLE STUMBLED FOR A MOMENT, overwhelmed by the revelation. Her face was pale and covered in sweat, her expression struck as if an eldritch horror had whispered a terrible secret to her ear.

“Hey, are you alright?” called Erwin, spear in hand as he walked over, so I jumped off of Mirabelle and onto Cerys.

“I’m fine, I’m not hurt,” Mirabelle forced a reply, signaling him to stand down.

Sophia was right behind Erwin, magic staff at the ready, and Amelia and Xana stared at us nervously. If an open fight broke out here, it’d be a disaster.

“That’s a dangerous familiar you’ve got, Cerys,” said Sophia. “Would you mind keeping it on a tight leash?”

“It’s fine. I agreed to this,” Mirabelle insisted, cutting off Cerys before she could answer. “More importantly, we must find Micah and Leandro at once. We have an emergency meeting to hold.”

The atmosphere was already cold, but after that statement, it grew frigid. Thank God Cerys set up a soundproofing barrier, or we’d be leaking intel like madmen.

“Very well,” Sophia replied, not questioning her friend. “Let’s get going, then. Those two should be hitting on girls at the cafeteria by now, they’ll be easy to find.”

Erwin glared at me, but made no comment as he rallied next to Sophia.

As for Mirabelle, she turned to Amelia next to them.

Their eyes met, with Amelia visibly awkward about the unexpected encounter.

She was struggling to find the right words, but Mirabelle moved in without saying anything, and just took Amelia in her arms, stunning her in place.

“I’m sorry,” Mirabelle said, her voice soft and gentle. “The things I said to you back then, I didn’t mean them. I always wanted to apologize, but couldn’t find the way.”

“Oh,” replied Amelia. “It’s fine. Don’t… worry about it,” she stammered, like she was talking automatically while her head was blank.

“Once everything is over, let’s talk properly,” Mirabelle said, tightening her hug.

“Yes,” said Amelia, still in shock. “Let’s do that.”

Mirabelle let go of her, then turned to me and gave a firm nod.

I nodded back, and Mirabelle made her exit, with Erwin and Sophia in tow.

* * *

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” asked Xana, gawking in wonder as the members of Anathema walked away.

“I told Mirabelle everything,” I replied.

“You did what!?” Amelia burst out, snapping back to her senses.

“I told her everything,” I repeated. “Now she knows about my origins, the dragon, Silvano, the Cult… She’s up to speed with us.”

“Why in Faydan’s green earth would you do that?” Amelia yelled, grabbing me from Cerys’ shoulder. Heck, it’s tight.

“Because Silvano is after Anathema,” I replied. “He tried to turn us against them, remember? So I warned her, and now Anathema will have better chances to fight back.”

“Oi, he makes a good point,” Xana backed me up, as Amelia kept me in her grip. “And you improvised this on the spot? John, you’re impressive. I should tease Amelia in public more often.”

Amelia gave out a heavy sigh and placed me back on Cerys’ shoulder.

“You’re something else, you are,” she said. “Please consult with us before pulling a stunt like that. By Faydan, I thought my heart would leap out of my chest.”

“Come on,” I argued. “You were in the middle of burning your face red with Sophia and Erwin back then. How was I supposed to ask you anything?”

“Sh- Shut up,” Amelia replied, her cheeks blushing again.

Judging by how she’s getting bashful instead of angry, I suppose she’s fine with the move I made on Mirabelle. It was an opportunistic maneuver, but too good a chance to miss to bring Anathema to our side.

Hopefully it will pay out in the future.

For now, though… there’s a whole different beast we’re about to take on.

“Let’s find the Grandmaster, shall we?” said Cerys, pulling us back to our main objective for the day.

At her words, Amelia straightened herself, and even Xana stood at attention.

The playful banter with Anathema was well and good, but we didn’t come here to talk with them, or to recruit them like I did with Mirabelle.

Our true objective aimed higher than that, to make contact with someone more important than Anathema: the leader of the Adventurer’s Guild, Grandmaster Godwin.