Chapter 18- Velvet’s Side

[Velvet POV]

It was early the next morning after our discussion and the oracle from the Goddess.  I did as I was told and went to the Adventurer’s Guild to register.  The process went quickly and when it was finished, I went off to find a spot to wait for Lady Luna to show up.

I didn’t have to wait very long.  She showed up after about 15 minutes.  I only got a glimpse of her from far away yesterday but seeing her closer she is quite beautiful.  She had long black hair that reminded me of a moonless night with an equally black tail.  The dark color made the silver ends of her ears and tail stand out.  She was at an average height for her age, but her chest was a bit bigger.  Her eyes, from the split second I saw them, were silver that almost seemed to glow a little.  If it wasn’t for the fact that she was going to be the wife of the Goddess, I would have loved to have her for myself.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts when she suddenly turned around and looked in my direction.  I looked away hoping she didn’t realize that I was the one staring at her.  After that she left the guild to go and do the quests she received.  I went up to the reception desk and took the same quests she did and followed after her.

After leaving the city gate I activated my stealth skill and went after Lady Luna.  A short while later she stopped and said,

“You realize I know you’re following me, right?”

It seems like she is quite skilled with detecting presences.  I walked out of the tall grass while deactivating my skill.  I quickly thought up an excuse and started to speak.

“I’m sorry for following you.  You see, I just registered at the guild earlier and took some subjugation quests.  I then overheard your conversation with the receptionist and learned that you took the same quests as I did.  I thought, since we both seem to be new, we could work together on them.”  I tried to sound nervous.

“What is your name?” She asked me with suspicion in her eyes.

“It’s Velvet.” I answered her smiling to show I held no hostility.

“So, you’re the one Tamamo told me about.”  She said.

When I heard her say this, I was shocked.  I know the Goddess told us she was her future wife, but I didn’t know that she could also receive oracles.  I dropped the nervous act and asked her,

“So, you already know then?”

I wanted to know how much the Goddess told her about me and what she wanted from me.

“She told me last night that someone named Velvet would make contact with me and try to join my party.  I won’t reject you joining me for now but know that I don’t trust you yet.” She said, still being cautious of me.

It’s good to know that she is smart enough not to completely trust someone right off the bat like this, but that also poses an issue for my other task from the Goddess.

“That is completely understandable.  I won’t get in your way; I’m just following what the Goddess asked of me.” I said, relaying my true intentions.

After my answer we started walking to the forest to complete our quests.  She asked me what the Goddess told us about her, and I answered her honestly.

“I see, she also asked me to try and be friends with you so I’m willing to try, but it’s not going to happen immediately.  What can you tell me about yourself, and please loosen up a little, you’re too nervous.”  She said.

When she pointed out what state my mind was in, it surprised me.  She seems like the kind of person I would get along with easily.  After thinking for a bit about what to say, I gave her my introduction.

She seemed surprised when I mentioned I was a vampire, so she asked,

“A vampire, eh.  Is there some kind of magic item that lets you walk outside during the day?”

It seems I piqued her curiosity, so I explained that the ring I was wearing helped me out during the day.  I then asked her about herself.  She told me her name and where she was from as well as who her parents were.  I knew this information already, but I didn’t tell her that.  I was surprised when she told me her main goal.  I knew she would one day join the Goddess in the divine domain, it was only natural after all.  The surprising thing was that she just plainly told me, normally one would wait until the other party was trusted more before telling them their end goal.

“I hope we can get along in the future.” Was the last thing she told me before we reached the edge of the forest.

[Luna POV]

“So, Miss Velvet, how do you want to handle this, go together, or separately, and meet back up later?” I asked for her plan of action.

“Just Velvet is fine, and I think we should go together.  We won’t learn how the other fights if we go separately.” She said without a moment’s hesitation.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but our opponents are just goblins and kobolds.  I don’t know your level but I’m assuming it is decently high.  Would you really consider it a fight?  It’d be more accurate to call it a slaughter.” I said giving her my honest opinion.

“For starters, I’m at level 30 right now, and second, while what you say is true, one can still learn quite a bit from just fighting small fry like this.” She explained.

“Oh, since you are a vampire, I just assumed you were older than you looked and had a higher level.  Also, I see your point so we will go together.  I’ll be on the lookout for kobolds since I have fought some before and know their scent, though I wish I could forget it.” I said, a sour look on my face.

After a while of being in the forest I picked up the scent of kobolds on the wind.  Mixed in with the smell of wet dog was a more putrid stench that made me want to vomit, and the metallic smell of blood.

“Velvet, I smell kobolds and goblins nearby, they must be fighting each other because I also smell blood.” I told her in a whisper.

“Got it, which direction?” She whispered back.

“We keep heading in the direction we’re going, and we’ll run into them.  I’ll take this group and you can watch how I fight.  If you can see that is.” I finished with a playful smirk.

“What do you mean by that?” She asked, but I was already gone.

[Velvet POV]

After telling me to watch how she fights, Lady Luna disappeared.  She must have been using the stealth skill.  I walked a little more until I found the area she was talking about earlier.  I activated my own stealth skill and waited.  The area had many corpses of goblins and kobolds while there were about ten left in total, five each.

It was then that the area started to become foggy.  It was an unnaturally cold fog that felt like it was dulling my senses.  While I was wondering what was going on I started to hear the sounds of fighting earlier stop.  I squinted my eyes to try and make out what was happening when I started to see flashes of silver light.

“Lightning magic I guess, and maybe this fog is an ice magic spell?” I said quietly to myself.

I continued to watch when a shadow appeared next to me.

“Enjoying the show?” It asked.

“Is that you, Lady Luna?” I asked after recovering from my surprise.

“Just Luna is fine and yes, I left them fighting an illusion for a bit.  I came over here to tell you that you should move out of the mist for a bit, it’s about to get colder than you can handle.” She warned.

“What about you?” I asked, concerned.

“This mist is from a unique skill, so it doesn’t affect me.  I still haven’t practiced enough with it to be able to distinguish between allies and enemies yet, and I don’t want you to freeze to death.”  She said, again urging me to get out of the mist.

“I got it; how far do you need me to go?”

“Not that far; see that tree over there with the spiraling trunk, I made it so that the mist doesn’t go past it.” She said, walking further into the mist.

I walked over to the tree she pointed out and exited the mist.  From the outside it looked quite mystical, a long wall of fog that came to an unnatural stop, like it was trapped by invisible walls.

While I was watching the wall of mist, I felt the sudden drop in temperature.  It became quite cold where I was standing, so I couldn’t imagine what it was like inside.  I picked up a random stick and stuck one end of it into the mist.  When I pulled it back out, the other end was completely frozen.

I shuddered thinking about what was happening to the kobolds and goblins inside.

“I hope she remembers that she needs to grab proofs of subjugation afterwards.” I mumbled quietly.

It was then that I saw a small shadow running my way.  It was about the size of a child and had a long nose and ears.  Just as it reached the edge of the mist it stepped on a tripwire and a panel of ice covered in spikes whipped up from the ground, impaling the goblin.

“When did she even have the time to set that up?” I asked myself astonished.  “Not only ice and lightning magic, but good with traps and stealth, and having a unique skill on top of that.  Just how out of common sense is she?”

After a few more minutes the mist started clearing rapidly.  Once it cleared completely the landscape looked like a completely different place.  The trees were covered in a layer of ice and frost and on the ground were patches of ice spread out everywhere.  I heard Luna call out from a distance,

“Wait there for a bit so I can go around and collect the traps I placed.”

“Got it.” I answered back while thinking, “How many did you place?”

After a couple of minutes, she called over to me to come and meet up with her.  When I got to where she was, all I saw was a scene of carnage.  There were burnt and frozen corpses scattered around.  There was another goblin impaled on a different wall of ice spikes and a kobold hanging from a tree.

“This is quite the horrible scene.” I said while sighing in relief that she was an ally.  “I pity that piece of trash that deluded himself into believing the Goddess was in love with him.” I thought.

“I think I could do better honestly.  Now it’s time for your turn, let’s find some more.” She said after collecting the parts she needed as proof.

Author's Note: 

Second chapter of the day.  In recent news, someone approached me about making a cover for this story, so everybody should thank @Maze_Runner for their work.  It has also come to my attention that I forgot the Str. stat so I'm going to go back through and fix that.  Thanks all for reading, there's more to come.