Someone knocked on the door.
"Claudina are in there?" Sylvester was knocking on the door.
Hesitantly Claudina looked up. "Y-yes I am here. Baron's here too."
A long pause. Then he said, "…Ok I am coming in."
The door opened to let in the smell of sea and smelly fish. Sylvester was drenched with monster blood. He knelt in front of her while side eyeing the demon stuck on her side. He creased her cheek. "I am sorry I didn't take care of you."
She shivered. "…I-it's fine…"
He looked at her in pity. "My dear, you are in such fright…It must have been terrifying for you."
She smiled manically. "Is it? Another one of my life's greatest secrets got exposed." She looked at him with a crazed expression. "I bet you are thinking of ways to use my secrets against me!"
He nearly cried. "We all promised to take whatever you say to us to our graves."
"Sure,' she scoffed.
He tired to say something but didn't. "The mess has been taken care of you can come out now."
"…I will move in here."
"Wha- no Claudina this is a storero-"
"I don't care. This place is much more comfortable. And I have Baron as a source of heat."
He opened his mouth but Claudina gave him a look that she was determined.
"…I will see what I can do…"
He left her and closed the door on his way out.
"…DucHESs sHoulD I kILl HiM?"
She smiled. "Why would you kill him when he has done nothing to you?"
"buT yOU aRe aNgRy. YoU sMelL LIke ANgre aND hAte. yOu SmeLL liKe vOId."
She flinched before she eased her shoulders. "That means I smell like your home. That is a good thing. Come here. I will tell you more stories about the elves…"
Baron obediently laid down his head on her lap and drifted in and out of sleep.
After the sea monsters attacks there were no more attack but the ship was severely damaged. It was a miracle that it was able to sail safely to their destination.
At long last the naval ship landed on Flu'er. It would stay here for a week before setting sail. It would not only need more provisions but also it needed to be fixed for it to set sail again.
The other saints will split up from here and go back to their respective nations while Sylvester and Claudina will travel on to Cramadi the eastern empire or the east continent.
Flu'er Island was a quiet place compared to Halieas. The weather was humid and warm with people wearing light cotton clothing. However their faces were quite grim.
"I guess it was true."
Claudina turned to Shulia. She smiled. "That the temperature is similar to Gaiarit?"
"No. Sea monster attacks. Anatole we should deal with this while we are here."
Anatole ahead nodded. "I was going to propose the same thing."
She stared at them in disbelief. "Saintess Claudina you can sit out on this if you want."
"Ah yes make me the bad guy. Typical Anatole, he is aware that I would refuse in private so now I can't refuse anymore since it will look bad on me…"
Shulia chuckled. "If you take your duties as a saintess properly this wouldn't happen."
She rolled her eyes.
They decided to stay in a inn near to the harbor. As they won't stay here for too long they booked two rooms with double bunk beds.
"Saintess," Anatole stopped Claudina from leaving.
"Yes?"
He rubbed the back of his back. "I am not good with flowery words like you and Sullivan so I will say it straight. Regarding what happened on the attack I won't say a word to anyone."
She lips thinned into a line. He was saying it now after a week or so later instead of saying it back on the ship like the others.
Apparently he refused to enter the storeroom that Claudina used as a safe haven from the sea. Sylvester later on informed he hated messes and loved cleanliness.
"Got it. Anything else?"
Anatole looked around before he pulled her arm toward him causing her to stumble. "Be on guard. A rat has seen us."
She lowered her eyes. "I can assume you are only telling me this is because you want to the rat to be caught in a trap?"
He nodded. "As expected of you Saintess. The other cats might kill it before we can get to it."
"Which hole is it in?"
"56. I wish to catch it tonight."
"Hm. Tonight it is…" She waved good bye and want inside her room to prepare for tonight's rat extermination.
Night fell with the moon hidden by the clouds.
At the end of a corridor camouflaged in the shadows was one of the captors laying in wait. The other one was waiting inside a dark room by the staircase, waiting for the string to be pulled out from the room by the first one in the hallway.
Minutes went by and there still wasn't anyone climbing the staircase.
Could their victim be already aware of who they were? Is he not going to come since he is suspicious? Or maybe he didn't read the note they left in his room?
CREAK.
The one in the shadow stiffened.
CREAK. CREAK. CREAK.
Someone was coming upstairs.
CREAK. CREAK.
She crouched lower thinking her cover may be blown up. Blonde hair came up the view. She couldn't make what he looked like but she knew this was their rat.
The so called rat walked forward passing the room of the second captor. It was time.
Claudina leapt out from the shadows while pulling the thread to inform Anatole. With a devil's mask and her Holy sword drawn out she painted quite a picture. The door of the room where Anatole was in was noiselessly opened ajar.
The man at the other end froze in horror before quickly turning around to run. Claudina followed after him raising the sword and slashing at his heels. Just as he was about to reach the stairs Anatole without his mask ran out and grabbed him, covered his mouth first before he could scream. He then placed a burlap bag over his face while dragging him inside the room with great difficulty.
Claudina cheeked other ends of the corridor and the staircase to make sure no one was coming up the attic. Seeing the coast was clear she aloes entered the room.
In there, Anatole was tying up the man. He was putting up a tremendous fight. Claudina took off her mask and put away her sword before coming to help him tie up the man.
"Who sent you here?" Anatole asked when the man was safely tied.
The man didn't say anything only continued to struggle in his binds
"Not going to talk eh?" He kicked the man straight in his face. The man skidded on to the floor coughing.
"Can I join?"
He looked over his shoulder. Claudina was practically bouncing on her heels. She tried to touch his face but he slapped her hand away.
'Why did I remove my mask? I should have at least covered the lower part of my face.' "…Sure."
She grinned and reached for the burlap covered head and banged it on the floor. Blood was soaking the bag. She then stomped his stomach. The man thrashed and coughed violently. Anatole brutally kicked his face before picking up a bucket filled with water and splashed it over his twitching body.
"Want to talk now?" The man slowly nodded.
Anatole grasped the burlap bag and pulled it off.
Claudina gasped. "You!"
Lucas May his face bloody and wet was sheepishly staring back at her. "Yes, me."
She scowled. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
He sneered. "Is that any of your business? Now release me this instant!" His eyes fell on Anatole. "Who-who's this?"
"My husband. Now talk! Why are you here!"
Lucas seemed reluctant to answer but he finally did. "Because I loved you and wanted to be you. So I followed you out in the sea. Please marry me!"
Claudina was repulsed. "Mr. May your behavior is quite deplorable for a man," Anatole said shaking his head.
Lucas glared at him. "If someone strung you along and yet you continued to love them you would follow them to the depths of earth. That is what I feel for Miss Spade."
Claudina could feel a headache coming. "I didn't lead you along. It was your friend I liked. If anything he shouldn't have been proposing instead of you."
"So you are saying you would have accepted his proposal but not mine?!" he scoffed. "What else should I have expected from commoners?"
She raised her fist as if raring to knock a few teeth but Anatole lowered it. "I wouldn't. No girl in their right mind would like a grand proposal out of the blue and that to from a complete stranger."
"Well you insulted me! You could have rejected me the first time and one of this would have happened!"
"I rejected you! Multiples times! And I even showed open interest to Mr. Anis."
"You should be honored that someone of my caliber was giving you any means of attention!"
"I didn't want it in the first place!"
"Quite both of you! You are going to wake up everyone!" Anatole whisper shouted.
"Anatole I can't deal with this anymore. Let's kill him."
"W-wait…"
Anatole tiled his head. "…Is he alive in your present?'
"Hey…"
"He is. But he is insignificant. If he died, the Twi'ti kingdom can go ahead with the bill for new hospitals for the orphans and slum children."
"What are you talking about…?"
"Oh~ Why didn't you say it before? Go ahead. Use your demon if you want."
"Okay~"
Right before his widening eyes an anthropomorphic rabbit demon came out of a blinding light from Claudina's left hand. She directed the demon towards him and then he screamed.
Baron opened his mouth and bit into Lucas' arm.
"AGRAHHHH!!!"
He pulled off the meat and chewed and ate it before taking an even bigger bite.
"GET IT OFFFFFF!!! AGAHHHHHHHH!!!"
Baron tore off his arms completely. Loud bones being crunched drowned his screaming. Claudina and Anatole looked at the gruesome sight with cold expression on their faces.
Lucas' eyes pleaded for mercy as Baron sank his teeth into his chest ripping it open with inhuman strength to pull out his heart.
But there was no mercy as Baron tore him limb by limb eating them with relish. He saved his heart for the last as a sort of dessert.
"...You don't feed him humans?"
"No. While he can consume human food he is able to digest only my home cooked meals."
"You mean the inedible monstrosity you create in the kitchen?"
"It can no longer be called inedible if someone can eat it."
"Right..."
Soon there was only a blood tattered pieces of clothing left on the floor.
"...This must have been a bit hard to watch," Anatole started when it was done. "but such obsessive people are dangerous so we have to take them out since they might interfere in our missions."
Baron sat down on his heels and clung on to her. She petted his head.
Looking off in the distance Claudina said "I am used to such obsessive behavior. In my present and your future there was this one girl who followed me around since I debuted. I met her once or twice maybe but my friends told me she would always follow me."
"Oh? What happened?" he asked curiously.
"At first I didn't care about it much since I assumed she must be shy or wishes to admire me from afar. But things came to halt when she attacked a friend I had a falling out with. When I confronted her, she claimed to do me a favor since my friend was at fault here. Afterwards I, as the Crown Princess at that time, used all my power to isolate her. That didn't deter her one bit. In anything it only spurred her more to do outlandish things."
"She once broke into my home and messed around with my documents, my clothes and diadem. She was eventually caught and her parents had to pay a fine. Out of all the crazy people, she was the most extreme. This made the entire High Society turn hostile towards her parents. So they sent her to a boarding school. But she sneaked out of it and attend the social balls to continue harassing my friends by asking about me. It even reached the King's ears too!"
"When I annulled my engagement and left for the frontlines, I later found out she followed me." She smirked. "Her body was never recovered and she was seen as lost to the wars."
She glanced at Anatole. "That was not the only time I got rid of my psycho stalkers. I have tons of stories if you want to hear more."
Anatole shook his head. "Not necessary."
She grinned. "If you say so~" She put Baron back in her Ancient Power. "Say do you cover your face because people are also obsessed with you?"
"No. It's annoying when people gawk at me for no reason."
"Really? I actually like it when people stare at me." She stopped before peeking at him. "Am I annoying?"
"Sometimes but you are tolerable since Sylvester thinks so favorable of you."
"So if it weren't for him you would have hated me?"
This time Anatole stopped. He gazed at her but she averted her eyes. "I recall saying I would kill you when you find no one who wants you to live."
Claudina fell silent. "I am not sure about the future but I do know this; I don't want you to die. Not now or ever."
Claudina blinked before smiling widely. She lunged for him.
"Saintess?!"
She hugged him tight. "Thank you."
He huffed. "Sure but get off of me. NOW."
"Mmh."
Anatole ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's clean this place up. Then we will put out evidence he was killed by a sea monster."
"Alright~"