"Claudina. I want to know why you wish to know the things I am going to tell you."
Claudina flinched nearly dropping her glass. Not only did he use her name but his usual cutesy tone was replaced by a baritone tone.
She composed herself and snorted. "Why do you need to know when promised to tell me? Besides you are going to tell me either way so is there a need for you know the reason?"
He signed. "This is the problem with kids these days." He coldly scrutinized her with his eyes. "I am an adult. I am not a child that will follow everything. As an adult I can easily twist my words to suit my needs."
She sneered. "You sure don't act like one. You are always trailing after me calling out Miss Fairy~ Miss Fairy~"
"Tsk! What a rude child!"
"What a mean adult!" she shot back.
"That's obvious. All adults are supposed to be 'mean' to brats like."
"Not my father. He spoiled me a lot as a child. He still does."
"I can where all the spoiling has lead to."
"Don't insult my father. He' a better man than you are."
Sullivan glared up at Claudina's proud indigent face. He signed deeply. "What am I doing?"
"Arguing with a child." A vein popped on his neck. "You are making it really hard for me to not slam your face on the floor."
"You dare to do anything to my face and I will take you to the celestial if I have to court for ruining a national treasure."
"He rubbed his face. "Your beauty isn't all that you know…"
"Look me in the eye and say it to my face."
He tried to look at her and he immediately turned away his pink face. "Thought so," she triumphantly said.
"So you fought many demons right? More so then the others I am sure." He grunted. "You fought with Legend grade demons as well." Another grunt.
She put down the glass beside her. "Tell me; what are a Legend grade demon's weaknesses?"
He signed deeply. "You are going to open up a lot of old wounds."
"So? I don't care. I am going to take up your fight that you abandoned and left on the shoulders' of innocent children. The least you can do is give some insight on how to carry on your damn war," she said while glaring at him.
His eyes looked wounded. He exhaled and inhaled deeply.
"Spiteful brat. Alright just like a void gate the weaknesses of Legend grade demons varies…"
Claudina was woken up with a start. As she stretched a loud thud fell on the floor. Confused she looked over to Oriane's bed. The poor girl was holding her head groaning. Seemed like she slipped out of the bed in her sleep and hit her head.
Suddenly she pressed her hand over her mouth. She rushed in the joined bathroom. Claudina could hear her heaving over the basin. 'Must be hangover.'
She got out of bed and washed her face using the well outside the inn. It was cold and made her fingers prune with redness. After getting dressed in candle light she was about to leave leave the room when she heard loud noise coming from the bathroom. Thinking Oriane slipped her poked her head in the bathroom.
Oriane looked up from the floor. "Leave me." Her eyes were puffy and red as if she had been silently crying. There was a red stain on her nightgown. Immediately understanding she closed the door.
'Well now.' She hurried around the room gathering the stained covers in her arms and rushed downstairs. Using the door in the back she quietly crept out and ran towards the well. staying in the frontlines she had to wash her own clothes so she used to it. Scrubbing of the last of the spots she slipped the covers in the clothesline and walked away. She crept back in through the outdoor, went upstairs and left out a change of clothes for her.
Satisfied with what she had done she knocked on the door "I am going downstairs. I cleaned up everything so take your time."
As she walked down again she thought about giving Oriane some painkillers with her special hangover medicine.
When she arrived at the table she saw Shulia and Sylvester sitting against each other at their usual table. Shulia had been dragging her fingers through her hair making it more tousled. Her face looked like she was in pain. Sylvester had his head down and covered by his arms.
Staring quizzically she sat down beside Shulia. Looks like they all needed her hangover medicine. "Good morning?" she asked tentatively. Shulia groaned. "Not now….Ugh! Damn it hurts!" Sylvester moaned in pain. "Too loud…"
"Morning Saintess." She looked up. Anatole was holding a water jug. He sat down beside Sylvester. He poured out two glass of water. One he pushed towards Shulia and the other he placed in front of Sylvester.
While Shulia drank the water Sylvester didn't move only letting out small sounds of pain. Anatole gripped and raised him up by his neck. Sylvester face was contorted in pain. "Here," Anatole said pushing the glass in front of Sylvester. He still didn't drink it only scrunching his nose. Finally he gripped his cheeks and hand fed him the water.
"Saintess you seem to be fine. I noticed you were always drinking."
"Hm? Oh I monitored my alcohol intake. You seem to be alright too," she laughed behind her hand, "but your partner on the other hand looks like he's about to pass out."
He put the glass down while gently lowering Sylvester's hand on his arms. He creased his hair. "I have a high alcohol tolerance and Sylvester insisted we drink after seeing each other after so long. While I was drinking I had Holy magic running through my veins the whole time." He pointed at the whimpering Sylvester. "He however polished of four to five bottles of alcohol without any care."
She wearily chuckled. "The others certainly didn't think of doing the same."
"Although in the middle of drinking I told him to flow out the Holy magic in his body. He only waved me off and carried on with his drinking." He signed. "I understand they are tensed but in the upcoming battles they may need to use up all if their Holy magic." He shook his head in a disappointed manner. "If they only continued to let their Holy magic grow they would be invincible to every poison. Saintess you also use Holy magic in daily use too. Is there a reason for growing it an even more massive size?"
"Well…there's going to be something bad in the future." She perused her lips. "Currently we aren't able to do anything about it so if I ever go against it I would like the fight to be as long as possible for me to find out it's weakness. Or at least others that come after me may be able to defeat it in a weakened state."
"Can you tell me more? I may be able to find a solution for it."
"No," she shook her head, "I can't tell you anything about it is because there is no information about it."
"What? Please elaborate."
"This thing that will nearly bring the reckoning in the future, no one has seen it. No one knows what or who it is, what it wants or why. As we don't what it looks like there are no records of it. It's something shrouded in mystery." She added with a sly look. "But one thing is for sure it's not a demon or a monster. It's something human." Anatole clenched his hands. "Human?"
"Yes. But the way it attacks is the furthest thing from any human attack. One incident that comes to mind is when Lord Nyx was ambushed on her way to Fort Pierre Plateau. She was only able to ward it off, not kill it. Lord Nyx said that it overpowered her in every attack."
"This is of great concern. A mere human overpowering a god and that too the strongest of them all."
She nodded. "After we reach the northern kingdom we are going to the eastern empire. When we split up in the east I want you to go to the southern kingdom to eliminate the stronghold."
"That's a given. I am assuming you want me to go there and see if they are experimenting on humans to turn them into weapons that can kill gods."
She smiled. "Correct. Due it having no name we or I call it 'The Downfall.' No one dared to name it because they thought it will bring more bad luck. I think it will be difficult for you to find something that has no name."
"It's fine. The future is also in imperil like the past. I will help out as much as I can."
"Thank you," she said, "By the way you two are quite close." She had been observing Anatole stroking Sylvester's head as they talked.
"We are childhood friends. I was born in Erosnai but later on moved to Chronostis. We went back to our country to stay with relatives after eleven years during my family's bankruptcy." Ponting to him he said, "The poor brat cried all day and fell sick the next."
"You are still close after all these years?"
"Yes. We remained in contact. Though we meet once or twice a year this is the longest we spent together. This feels nice."
"I don't feel good Anatole. I don't."
"I know but endure it Kiddo."
"And…Shulia must have drunk the entire inn's wine barrels," she said looking at her. She bumped her head on the table.
"Sooo...he also saw your face then?" she asked.
Anatole paused before resuming his stroking. "Lord Eros, my parents and Sylvester are privy to my face."
"Then when can I see it?"
"On my death bed."
"Why not now? I don't know when you'll die. In the future you didn't die." she whined loudly. "Did you swear an oath to not show your face or something?"
"No."
"Then why!"
"Just because."
She huffed. They sat for some time before they talked again.
"Where's Sullivan and Oriane? I believe both of them went to bed after you."
"Oriane is in the…bathroom. She will come bit late," she answered in an odd way.
"Ah." He understood. "A-hem. Of course there is no hurry. She will come when she wants."
"As for Sullivan I don't know where he is. He wasn't in his room when I checked."
He nodded. "They are quite hangover."
"I was thinking of giving them my special hangover medicine."
"If it won't take too long then I could ask the inn owners to lend their kitchen."
"Great~"
In a few minutes Claudina had out on a clean apron. She tied up her hair in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way. Anatole stood beside her, curious to see how she made the medicine.
While Anatole stroked the fire, Claudina went to gather the ingredients and pans. She hung a large cauldron filled with water over the open fire. Then she went to the other side to prepare the ingredients.
First she squeezed out lemon juice on a bowl and shaved off the rinds. She next de-seeded a pear and chopped it into mince. She took part of the warm water from the cauldron. She added the minced pears in the bowl, mixed it and dropped it inside the cauldron. She stirred it to a boil before lowering the heat. From a cloth she pulled were dried fish, lizard tails and some roots and berries of unknown origin. She added all of them with a swish. A putrid smell started to come out of it and the yellow color was changed to a sickly green, then red, then blue and finally green again.
She only said it was secret ingredients when Anatole asked about the roots and berries.
Next she mashed ginger root in the lukewarm water. Taking a spoonful of turmeric powder she mixed it with the ginger root. Then she roasted some chamomile leaves before grinding them into fine dust. She added it in the bowl of ginger water. Adding a few drops of saffron water she mixed it with vigor.
Turning the heat she poured out the ginger water in the lemon water. Stirring it she let the mixture boil for a few minutes. When it was done she filled out two small glasses of the medicine.
The medicine was khaki brown in color and smelled heavily of burnt vegetables and rotting meat. Anatole secretly hoped the taste would not be like how it smells.
Holding one glass in each hand she came out of the stone kitchen followed by Anatole wondering it will work. She gently placed the medicine careful not to spill a drop.
Shulia huffed away from the smell. "Get this rotted meat from here… I am gonna buff."
"No you need to drink this. Your hangover will be gone in a minute."
She whined. From the corner of her eye she could see Anatole coaxing Sylvester into drinking it. Grumbling he slowly drank it with Anatole holding the glass and the other patting his back. "Atta boy! That's it. In one go, drink your medicine."
Sylvester shuddered. "Yuk! What sort of medicine is that?! It tastes like gasoline with an aftertaste of rotting animals!"
"Shulia drink it."
"NO! That sounds disgusting!" Suddenly she graded her head. "Ugh! My head!"
Claudina took this as an opportunity. She steeped on her foot which caused her to yelp out. While her mouth was open she took the glass and shoved the contents into her mouth. She slapped her hand shut so she doesn't she spits it out.
Grimacing Shulia swallowed the medicine. As soon as she removed her hand she started to heave. "YUK!! My tongue! It's gonna fall off! My mouth's all rotten!"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't be dramatic. You are going to feel much better soon."
"The only thing I gonna feel is the shroud on my deathbed. What are you going to do if I die now?!"
"Please! Nobody died from that medicine. At least I don't think so."
"Oh that makes me feel so better now! Thanks!"
She rolled her eyes again.
"Saintess."
She looked up. Anatole was looking at her. "Nobody died right?"
She glanced at Sylvester who was slumped over. She silently shook her head.
He went back to tend to Sylvester.
'What a warm sight…'
Shulia heaved beside her.