Chapter 89 - Secrets, lying and an awkward talk.

"Gaia?! Zeus?!", I heard several binders exclaim as soon as my parents said those fake names. I was genuinely surprised at the reaction the other binders had at my parent's pseudonyms, but I couldn't tell if that was a good or negative reaction.

"Wait...Gaia...Zeus...are you two the 'phantom binders' that protected this town prior to me showing up? The ones who show up on Monster's Night and disappear in the morning?", Agiros asked.

...I'm sorry what?

"That we were Sir Agiros", my mother replied, "but once we heard that the town now had a more permanent defensive arrangement, my compatriot and I decided to be prudent to move on and see what else the Wildlands had to offer".

"Indeed", my father confirmed. Meanwhile, I was still very very confused about all this.

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[Well I'm not too surprised. You're parents had been binders longer than you've been alive right? Is it that farfetched that they regularly fight off the occasional monster in secret?], Voxea asked.

[No, but for as long as I could remember, we'd spend every Monster's Night just hiding in the brewery's wine cellar], I explained exasperatedly.

[Well, were they both present when you hid]?

[Yes, but then I'd fall asleep halfway through the-Oh], I responded before realizing exactly what Voxea meant. If I could, I'd smack my own face right now, but I was currently pretending to be a wandering binder so I had to fight back the urge.

[Either way, you're gonna have to pretend you don't know that it's them because I'm pretty sure they don't know it's you or they think you don't know it's them], Voxea mentioned.

[That sounded convoluted].

[That's because it is].

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"That right? Well regardless of your wandering status, I am compelled to repay you for coming to aide us. We didn't expect a pair of gold ranked monsters to suddenly coming charging in after the Shrieker left and we'd be paste without you two showing up", Agiros said heartily.

"No need for that Sir Agiros. We just happened to be in the area and needed to put some of our weaker monster through their paces", "Zeus" replied.

"Nonsense! Now that Miss Vex is here, we can finally talk about proper compensation. Oh speaking of, what happened exactly? The last thing I saw of you and the Grim Shrieker, it was chasing you and your monster into town and then a explosion of all things happened!", Agiros asked me.

"Ah? Oh yes, the explosion! See sirrah, after Vo-Izza had angered the Grim Shrieker into chasing us, I had managed to goad it into a running battle. We then managed to bamboozle the beast into charging into a building that turned out to be filled with barrels of alcohol for some reason", I explained.

"Did you know alcohol is very flammable under the right conditions"?

"Uh...no I didn't", he replied mildly confused.

"Well it is, and the beast had become throughly coated in the stuff! So I had switched to one of my fire monsters, granted it was a bit weaker, but it served the purpose of lighting it ablaze"!

"Oh my", "Gaia" commented.

"However, I did not take into account that apparently ice aether armor explodes when exposed to a powerful fire technique. A mighty explosion occured but I survived with grace and panache", I said slightly lying through my teeth and still in that weird accent. I made sure not to mention anything Lavian and Savina, because "Miss Vex" doesn't know who they are.

"Haha! A harrowing story appropriate for any binder worth their salt!", Agiros exclaimed.

"Sir Agiros sir"!

A different soldier binder from earlier ran up to the four of us and snapped off a salute. In one of his hands was a large heavy looking sack.

"I have brought the monetary compensation sir"!

"At ease soldier. Dismiss", Agiros said as he took the sack from the soldier. The soldier snapped off another salute and then ran off into another direction. Agiros reached into the sack and pulled out three small pouches that seemed to jingle as he moved them. He tossed one at me, "Zeus" and "Gaia".

"Oh sirrah, there's no need to-"

"Just take it. Three of the mercenaries we hired ran off during the battle anyways. No idea if they lived or died, but cowardice like that should be punished. This case being that their payment goes to binders like you three. I'm going to go distribute the rest of the prizes now as well as tend to the townsfolk. Feel free to stay or go. I'll see you lot later", Agiros said with finality. The old veteran proceeded to march off without another word, passing out the coin pouches to the other binders.

Pouches in hand, the three of us just stood there trying figure out our next moves.

"So...you went with the pseudonym 'Vex'?", "Zeus" asked me.

"Nice mask hun. By the way, who was that strange monster that was floating by your side", "Gaia" said in that knowing tone all mothers have.

Or you know... we're having this conversation. How did they find out?!