Walking along the parapet, her shift on the wall was about to start so she came to swap with the group currently on the wall.
However, she never expected to see a certain drug dealer here.
"Wait, why are you here?"
He wore the same black cloak from before as well as a guard tunic underneath it. This was beyond suspicious. However, she wasn't about to startle him and have him run away again. She composed herself as the drug dealer turned to face her. It was definitely him, those dark eyes were impossible to mistake!
"Ah shite," he spoke as if his position had been compromised, and looked like he was about to flee.
"Not so fast!" Marriel wasn't just standing there gaping the whole time, she had been preparing a summon. Not seven this time, that would take too long, she learnt from last time.
A demonic spawn manifested and bared its rows of teeth at Jeffrey.
…
"Ah shite," How did this cultist find him so quickly?! No, it made sense, this city was her territory, not to mention it was already a few days since the incident, of course, she would find him.
"What the hell?!" Kelli was startled by the sudden presence of such a demonic summon. This commotion attracted the attention of the other guards on the wall.
The demonic summon drifted toward Jeffrey at a frightening pace, covering 15 feet in roughly a second, it rammed straight at him. Sidestepping the summon, Jeffrey rushed to kill the cultist. She was in melee distance and she wouldn't have the time to summon more devils, as well as Jeffrey having solid backup, being the city guards.
This was a golden opportunity to take down this cultist. However…
before Jeffrey could reach the cultist, her devil summon caught up to him forcing Jeffrey to fend off its attacks. It wasn't too fierce and didn't aim at any of his vitals. Perhaps it was a stupid devil?
…
Whilst Jeffrey was locked in combat, Marriel's teammates arrived and weren't too shocked by what they saw.
"Marriel's doing weird stuff again," one of them groaned.
"Hey! Marriel, stop whatever the hell your doing!" the one who seemed like the team leader called out, he was in a full guard outfit, and approached Marriel, to better understand the situation.
"Hi hi, I was just catching a drug dealer. No need to worry!"
Looking between Marriel and the 'drug dealer' who bore the Moonshine insignia whilst fending off one of Marriel's summons, it was obvious who was in the wrong here.
"Cancel your summon," his tone was solemn, he was definitely going to get punished pretty harshly for this, even though he himself had done nothing. It was ultimately his responsibility to reign in his teammates as the team leader. This was not the first incident she caused, but it was definitely the first where she attacked a fellow guard.
After the stern command, Marriel reluctantly cancelled her summon,
"But if he gets away, it's your fault alright?!"
Not bothering with Marriel's delusions, he immediately apologised to the poor guard.
"I'm sorry about my team member, if there's anything you need, you can count on me,"
…
That was a peculiar turn of events. Though, if this guy was offering he wouldn't reject the free help,
"Alright, I need you to help me kill this cultist," the other guy was a bit stunned, but after understanding what Jeffrey was referring to, he put up a bitter smile.
"That's, that's actually my teammate, Marriel, and she's part of the city guards,"
Jeffrey had never heard such horse shite before.
"Are you telling me you didn't see the devils she summoned?"
"I, of course I did but-" That was all Jeffrey needed to hear, it was obvious that he was a collaborator with the cultist, probably the reason she was even able to reach this location in the first place.
Kelli also reacted similarly but held Jeffrey's shoulder before he made any rash moves. During the few days they got along rather well, and Kelli understood that Jeffrey tended to jump to conclusions a bit.
"Let's talk this out," she whispered.
By now, a crowd had already gathered and there was chatter about the conflict between the two parties. Though the majority already knew who was at fault.
"Look, I don't know why you're supporting that cultist, but you should probably rethink your life choices again," Kelli's words were quite harsh. The team leader felt like crying internally. It wasn't his fault!
"Ay lassie, you got it wrong, Marriel ain't a cultist, though she might as well be, hahah," a nearby guard gave a hearty laugh as he joked.
"What?" scanning Marriel, the duo found that Marriel was equipped with a guard token as well as a token of another design, with two little stars in it. It was a summoner token, in the circular token was an outline of a puppet that one would put on their hands. A hand puppet, with no distinct features, just an outline.
This was evidence that she was a certified summoner, as well as evidence of her being part of the guard force. Jeffrey also found out from these testimonies that summoners could shape their summons however they like, and Marriel's just happened to take quite the suspicious shape.
It took some time to clear the doubts the two had about Marriel, with the testimony of numerous on-shift guards, and veterans, it was proven that Marriel's identity was indeed part of the guards.
"Anyway! Enough about me, we got a drug dealer to catch!" pointing toward Jeffrey she threw an accusation.
"Enough! Why are you so sure he's a drug dealer?" the team leader, or Hayley, as the testimonials identified him as, was rather fed up with Marriel already.
"Well, he was in an alleyway, and he had drugs," she was definitely making up excuses for herself, Jeffrey thought.
"Okay, now tell me, did he actually have drugs? Or is your hold on reality slipping again?" Hayley pressed,
"Okay, okay, well I didn't see the drugs, but I'm sure he had them!
In fact, why don't we check his stuff, hm?"
"Were you asking me for drugs before?" Jeffrey finally understood that encounter, that day. She was a drug addict who mistook him for a drug dealer, and in a deep state of withdrawal, she relentlessly chased after him to get some drugs. Too bad though, Jeffrey the very normal farmer did not have any drugs. Well, he couldn't be considered a farmer anymore. But still!
Nonetheless, Jeffrey's remarking comment landed Marriel in deep trouble, even more so with the hole she dug herself into.