Edited by: Flubbykin

I was running through the city almost knocking people over in my path, those that I almost bumped into would yell vulgar curses after me. I didn't pay them any attention though. There was a moral-deprived beast waiting for me in front of the city gate, a monster that could get bored any second now and wreak bloody havoc. Bloody havoc which would leave MY DNA, MY smell and MY magical footprint behind - more than enough to make local authorities wish my head being handed over on a silver plate. As you can probably tell, because of that I was treating this matter rather seriously.

I charged into the guild, grabbed a few things, scribbled down a letter to Giselle... yet after a second I tore it into pieces and wrote a new one. I stormed through a few shops (mostly bookstores), got what I needed and charged towards the gate, the closer I got, the slower I would start running, till I would eventually walk outside of the city walls with elegance and grace.

Kim was there - sitting on a handrail on the side of the bridge that connected the city with the plain located slightly below - it was an artificial construction, made by human hands - and I am not speaking about city nor bridge, of course. The land just outside of the city was lowered, because of that the city defender located on the tall walls had a colossal advantage of range. Atop of that potential attacker had to run uphill which would both take him more time and - as they were usually carrying a heavy armor - exhaust them beyond belief. Of course, merchants were complaining as well- imagine riding with a cart full of cargo! Those that were here for the first time usually didn't know that they were supposed to use a different gate - located on the other side of the city. The idea of wasting the next few hours just to circle the city was making them, as you can imagine, extremely happy and cheerful.

Little chimera was gazing onto the ground below - the distance was not enough to die from falling, but more than enough to break a bone, or two. Some middle-aged woman was yelling at him while weaving her hand furiously.

- "Dear child! Have you lost your mind!? Get off of there! What will happen if you would fall down!?"

- "Big brother told me to not talk to strangers." he quickly ignored her.

- "Didn't he tell you not to walk so close to the edge!? I bet that..."

I didn't even slow down, I just said quick

- "Kim, we are going."

Boy's eyes were shining with excitement.

- "Hey! Will you just let your little brother do such risky things!? You are so very irresponsible! Shame on you! Hey! It's rude not to listen to your elders..."

- "Brother, brother... should I eat her?" he asked quietly once he was sure she couldn't hear us

- "No. That would only cause problems."

- "Why are humans like this, big bro? They are weak, but they are so noisy! Don't they know that noise attracts predators?"

- "Sapient races don't have any natural enemies... except for one another, Kim, they are at the top of the food chain."

- "Why? They are evolution's failure!?"

- "Then tell me, if there are such huge clusters of free food, why no bigger predator came to make it its hunting ground?"

Kid remained quiet.

- "They are much more dangerous than you think. No, not that woman in particular. Their social construct is dangerous. Even though they are divided, using one another for reaching egoistic goals they have one trait that influenced their victorious position within the ecosystem - when a predator that threaten their settlements appears, they would unite to get rid of it. Within their society, they have many different roles. There are farmers, shepherds, craftsmen, soldiers leaders and so on. Those villagers living outside of the city wall are easiest targets, this is why it is natural for them to be attacked by monsters or even other humans from a different social group, but then - those at the top would react - in the end those people are responsible for feeding the whole society, this is why they would send an eradication group."

- "Are they strong?"

- "I am one of them, you could say that I am quite strong, maybe even one of the top-level in terms of capability... but even I would fail if I would be attacked by a group of people of the same rank... there are also people I would not defeat. Against, two I already lost, against one I don't even want to try fighting against. And I simply know that there must be more of them."

- "This is why you stopped me?"

- "Yes, you see, it's one thing when a monster appears in the wild and threatens villagers or travelers... but when a monster appears in the city, the whole social construct gets mad."

- "You... you save me?" he tilted his head to the side "...why?"

I couldn't lie. He has the mind of an animal, for him the selfless act of goodwill is foolishness.

- "I wasn't saving you, I was saving myself. The two of us are somehow bound together. If you would wreak havoc, the tracks you would leave behind would lead to me as well.

He nodded a few times agreeing with my point of view.

- "So... big bro... where are we going?"

- "Somewhere no one will bother us. First things first, we will have to have a long and nice conversation regarding your existence..."

And then I will decide if I should use you, or kill you. Sorry kid, but you are just as useful as dangerous.

- "So... Giselle, it has been almost an hour, do you know where your boyfriend is?" Blanka eventually started getting nervous.

- "To be honest, I have no clue. Usually when he says that he would he indeed returns within minutes..."

Despite what she said, dragoness appeared very relaxed.

- "Well it was probably something regarding his business, the boring stuff, you know. I bet he would return any moment now apologizing for the delay and treat us with something tasty!"

She smiled brightly almost drooling at the mere thought of what she was going to order on his account. In the meantime, Lanele, who had her eyes shut until now appeared to snap back from some kind of trance before saying.

- "I... allowed myself to look for him, he has quite a unique aura and we elves are rather sensitive to mana flow... And I am sad to inform you, Giselle, that I was unable to find him within city walls."

The smile remained on Giselle's face, though her eyes lost her cheerful light, being replaced by utter disappointment and contempt.

- "...He just ate and left? Without even saying thank you nor kiss my ass!? This little... ungrateful... Blanka, why are you pale?"

Indeed warrioress that was known because of her bravery and recklessness lost all her colors.

- "...not like this... I don't mind dying in battle... but because of the chandelier?" She was mumbling nonsense under her nose.

- "Did you say something?"

She just turned her head away with a resigned expression.

- "That's it. It was nice to meet you."

- "Oh! Don't be like that!" Gis gave her light punch in the arm "... come on, girls, we don't need that bastard to have a blast! Come to the guild! The first round is on me!"

Without even bothering to hear Lanele's protests, Giselle grabbed both of the girls in a tight embrace by throwing her arms over their shoulders and marching toward the guild. They walked like that all the way to the guild until the receptionist called them out.

- "Oh, mister Zariel left a letter for you!" The girl stretched out her hand with the envelope toward the girls.

- "So at least he had enough brain to inform me about the reason for his treason...!" Giselle would start marching toward a staff member.

- "A-a-actually, it's not for you, madame, but for Miss Lanele..."

- "SAY WHAT!? GIVE ME THAT!" She snatched the letter out of the woman's hand.

- "B-b-but it's not for you!" Girl panicked

- "LIKE I CARE! He is my mate!"

- "THAT'S ANOTHER REASON YOU SHOULDN'T READ IT! If it is not addressed to you then..." but Giselle already started tearing through envelope "... PLEASE! MADAME! I WANT TO KEEP MY JOOOOB!" she almost cried.

Unfortunately for her, dragoness already picked up a carefully folded piece of white paper. She took a look at it... then rotate it 90 degrees right... and again... and again.

- "... The fuck is that?" she whispered "... I... can't read it." she handed a letter to its righteous owner. Priestess quickly scanned it with her eyes

- "Of course you can't, he wrote that in elvish... For the mercy of the mother, what did he do to my language? His grammar is a crime of hate toward my nation..."

Despite what she said, she managed to translate Zariel's elvish to regular elvish, and later to "common speech".

- "... Lanele, if you read it, it means that Giselle gave up on trying to read this letter and finally passed it to you, guessing how hot-blooded and lazy at the same time she is, it took fifteen seconds or so..." she stopped reading here.

- "It's simply incredible how well the two of you know each other" she cheered.

- "Shut it and keep reading!" Gis, slightly blushed with anger and embarrassment as she yelled at her companion.

- "...First things first, tell Blanka to stop freaking out, it's not about her..."

Despite what she just read aloud, Blanka was far from calming down, even more, she was looking at the chandelier in the inn section with suspicions and was doing everything she could to stay as far as possible from it.

- "...I am afraid that something urgent popped out. And by urgent I mean world-threatening. I am not going to tell you where I currently am, as Giselle would rush to about gratitude or something like that. Unfortunately for her, my dilemma requires a gentle approach. Tell her that I am grateful for a treat, I am sorry for leaving just like that - without saying , as an apology I paid for a rather expensive dinner for the three of you. Also, the first round of booze is for me. Cheers. "

Elf stopped reading.

- "... It warms my heart when I see a couple predicting their loved-ones moves like this."

- "Gentle-approach-my-ass! I will show him my gentle approach! I will tear his head off and shove it in his ass!!! With love, of course."

She turned around and smashed the door behind her, it was sure that she headed looking for Zariel. Just outside of the guild's door she had to run into some merchants, for a loud crack of a small cart being broken could be heard, along with merchant's scream:

- "MY CABBAGES!!!"

- "S-shouldn't we stop her?" Blanka shyly asked.

- "No..." Lanele smiled lightly.

There was a small post scriptum in the letter:

"Don't mind Giselle storming through the guild's door. I know that she will start looking for me. I left no traces behind, she will return in an hour or two growling, snarling and cursing. Give her three shots of peppered vodka for start, usually helps.

Signed. Z."

- "I don't think we have to." Lana smiled.