Side Chapter 7- An Interested Third Party

[??? POV]

Going back a few hours when Luna just arrived at the guild.  In an oikos-like building in the nobles’ district, a hooded figure sits down at the head of a table removing the hood to reveal a woman who looks to be in her early 20s with shoulder length light pink hair and crimson eyes.  When she opens her mouth to speak, two fangs can be seen.

“Report, has anything happened recently that I need to be aware of?” She asks in a demanding tone.

“Nothing has happened in the last month that is worthy of your attention, ma’am.”  Reports an old man with the same crimson eyes and fangs.

“Good, then I will give out a new mission.  This morning I noticed a kitsune girl coming to the city.  She had black hair and tail with silver tips on her tail and ears.  Looked to be about 15 with a slightly above average chest.  Find out anything you can about her.” Said the vampire woman.

“Is there something off about this girl, ma’am?” Asked the old man, confused.

“Not exactly, she might have a strong connection to the Goddess of the Moon.  If she does, we need to make sure she doesn’t run into much trouble.  Once you get any information about her tell me immediately.”

The old man’s eyes widened in surprise,  “Right away ma’am.” He said and disappeared into the shadows.

‘Now I wait.’ The woman thought to herself.

After a while the old man returned with what information he and his subordinates could gather.

“Ma’am, a report.  The girls you spoke of is named Luna Reed.  She is 15 and comes from the shrine village. She is the only daughter of Amagi and Deacon Reed.  She left the shrine village two weeks ago and arrived here today, as you know.  That is all we could gather in this short amount of time.  If you give us three days, we can send some people to the shrine village to gather more.” The old man reported.

“No need.  I’ve been thinking while you were out and decided that I will personally watch over this girl and determine if she is connected to the Goddess or not.” The woman said in a light tone.

“Are you sure, Lady Velvet.  There is no telling what could happen to the organization if something happened to you.”  The old man said with a worried tone.

“Oh please, you and I both know that’s not true.  You practically run this organization already.  If anything, I’m just a figurehead that is used to keep those younger ones in check.” Velvet said in a joking matter.

“While that’s mostly true, you are still one of the few vampires in this city with the ability to hear the Goddesses words.” The old man argued stubbornly.

“Enough of this both of you.” Said a third voice.

The shadows in a corner of the room seemed to darken a little more as a woman in a red dress appeared out of them.

The old man kneeled on one knee while Velvet stayed seated.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mother?” Velvet asked, genuine curiosity flashing across her face.  “You never show up here unless something big is happening.”

“Call it a mother’s intuition, oh, daughter, mine.  I feel like several important events are about to take place in this city and I simply couldn’t miss it.  Not to mention you were about to leave this place without a leader and dump all of your responsibilities onto poor Steward over here.” She said chuckling.

“If you truly are going to try and watch over this Luna girl, why don’t you register as an adventurer as well and try to join her party?  There is truly no better place to watch over someone than directly by their side after all.  I’ll even let you take the Daystar Ring so you can go around without a cloak.” The vampire woman said taking out a crystalline ring.

“Thank you, mother, and don’t worry, I’ll be back in a few hundred years.” As she said this both Velvet and her mother heard someone speak directly to their minds.

{I won’t stop you from doing this but please don’t go overboard like your race normally does.}

“Goddess!” Both Velvet and her mother exclaimed at the same time.

“So then that Luna girl really has a connection to you, Goddess?” Asked Velvet in a shaky tone.

{Of course, she does, she is going to be my wife.} Tamamo said with pride.

The two froze on the spot, eyes open so wide they could fall out any moment.

{I’m only telling the two of you this since the others would start to go crazy.  Especially that one who thinks I’m in love with him.} Tamamo said coldly.

The two felt the room’s temperature drop several degrees.

“Do you want us to take care of the despicable piece of trash?” Velvet asked, visibly shaking in fear of Tamamo’s tone and anger at the vampire whose ego was growing too large.

{No, I’ll leave him to Luna.  She’ll do many more terrible things to him than either of you would.  Just don’t tell her right now or she’ll likely try to go hunt him down immediately and she’s not strong enough to face him yet.} Tamamo said, her voice going back to her normal cheerful tone.

“Understood.” They both said.

{Oh, and Velvet, was it, please be a good friend to Luna.  I want her to have someone to rely on since I can’t be down there myself.} Tamamo said with hints of sadness and loneliness mixed in her voice.

When the two heard that they felt a deep sense of pity for their Goddess.

“I understand, Goddess, I will do my utmost best to befriend her.  I will make sure that when the time comes nothing will stand in her way on her path to be by your side, even if it kills me.” Velvet said with determination.

{OK, and a little heads up, in a few years there will be another kitsune coming along to join Luna’s party.  Try not to get on her bad side.  They treat each other like sisters, and she can be a bit of a siscon.} Tamamo said as an afterthought.

“What’s a siscon?” Velvet asked, confused.

{Just think of it like a little sister who is extremely attached and overprotective of her older sister to the point it’s nearly an obsession.} Tamamo explained.

“How scary.” Velvet said, shivering for a different reason that earlier.

As the two felt the connection to Tamamo close off they both let out weary sighs.

“That is a lot to take in.” Said Velvet, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Yes, it is.” Agreed her mother, while doing the same gesture as her daughter.

“What did the Goddess order, Ma’am?” asked Steward who was completely forgotten.

“Nothing for you to worry about, she ordered Velvet to accompany God- the Luna girl on her adventures.” Velvet’s mother said, almost slipping up.

“Steward, this is an executive order, don’t let anyone else know that the Goddess spoke to us tonight.  Especially the leader of the organization in the Demon Empire.” Velvet’s mother commanded.

“Understood.” Is all he said in reply.

It was rare for any leader of the organization to issue an executive order.  The only times it happened were when the Goddess herself gave the order through one of the leaders or they were going to war.  There haven’t been any signs of war recently so this could only be an order from the Goddess herself, reasoned the old man.

“Velvet, you should go and prepare.  You will be signing up at the Adventurer’s Guild tomorrow and try to make contact with Luna.  If all goes well, join her party.  I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I expect that bug changes are on the horizon.” Velvet’s mother said.  ‘It’s been 600 years since the last time a mortal became a god, and after that we got the Adventurer’s Guild.  I wonder how this future goddess is going to change the world.’ She thought letting out an inaudible chuckle.

Author's Note:

This will be the last chapter of the day.  In order for me to not burnout while writing this story, I will be taking a break from the rest of today until Friday.  Thank you to those who showed concern for me in the comments.  While I can't give you anything physically, I will at least make sure to deliver quality storytelling in the future for you to enjoy.  Thank you all for reading, I look forward to writing for all of you again soon.