161: Fox Girl’s Story

161: Fox Girl’s Story

“Wonderful,” Beatrice said in a flat tone, not finding anything wonderful at all in starting a fire in a room with wooden floor, walls, furniture, and ceiling. “Can you put that out beforeyou burn the whole building down?”

“Of coruse, of course, don’t worry,” Ember laughed and with a snap of her fingers the fire that engulfed the wooden mug on the floor died out, leaving a charred mug and floor behind.

“Did you know that Tabitha wouldn’t be let into this inn?” Beatrice asked Ember.

“I could not care less,” Ember shrugged. “It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, but I don’t particularly miss her company, and we won’t be staying long here anyway. The fights will start after sunset, and I’m sure that slut can take care of herself for a couple of hours until then.”

A couple of hours, eh? Beatrice wondered how to spend her free time until her upcoming “combat training”.

Beatrice couldn’t help but smile that her bodyguard paid attention and did not forget what Beatrice was looking for in this city besides sex. Beatrice needed to become stronger. It was painfully obvious that Steve was far from the strongest warriors that Belmot’s forces had to offer, and Beatrice couldn’t afford to struggle with such minions if she was serious about getting rid of scum and improving the life in this city.

“After sunset?” Olivia repeated with a grim expression. "What 'fights' are you talking about?"

“The Forge of Champions, of course!” Ember clarified as her smile grew wider.

“You can’t be serious!” Olivia raised her voice. “Why are we going… You can’t possibly be thinking of participating in that abhorrent debasement of human life!? That’s—”

“Olivia,” Beatrice interrupted Olivia before she got into another pointless argument with Ember. “Go get Tabitha and get her here.”

“B-but… Beatrice, please reconsider!” Olivia pleaded.

“We will talk about it later,” Beatrice said. “Tabitha is waiting at the inn’s entrance.”

Olivia sighed and said, “Alright, I’ll be right back.”

As Olivia walked past them, toward the door, Rafaelia said to Beatrice, “That Yshtrata brute didn’t look like the type that changes her mind easily. Why would she let Tabitha in?”

“Because we won’t be asking,” Beatrice said as she followed Olivia with her eyes, making sure that the ninja girl heard every word before she left, “I have full confidence in Olivia’s abilities to sneak in Tabitha unnoticed.”

Olivia smiled and put on her mask to cover her mouth and nose before closing the door behind her.

Once Olivia was out of the room, Rafaelia plopped down on the one bed that was in the room and let out a deep, relaxed breath, “Ahh, this is nice!”

Weren’t this girl’s parents killed mere hours ago? Beatrice questioned the fox girl’s unusual behavior.

“You’re holding up well, considering the circumstances,” Ember said to Rafaelia while leaning against a wall and watching carefully for the fox girl’s reaction. It looked like Beatrice’s bodyguard was also suspicious.

Rafaelia sighed, got slightly up off the bed, leaning back on her elbows, and asked Ember, “Do I need to be constantly crying and weeping? I could, but crying to the point of swollen eyes and red face is tiresome, hurts a little, and—most importantly—makes me ugly. Tears don’t suit my face unless I’m going cross-eyed while gagging on a cock! Besides, wouldn’t it get annoying for you to have a girl around that does nothing but cry, and is surrounded by an aura of despair so thick that she’s liable to jump out of a window at any minute?”

Beatrice listened to Rafaelia with a half-open mouth. Everything single word that came out of the fox girl’s mouth kind of made sense, considering everything that happened up until now since they “saved” her from the Purple Capes, and the way she’s been behaving. But it was still shocking to hear such a sociopathic viewpoint coming from a young, pretty girl that was still in her late teens.

“None of the men that chased you denied your story,” Ember said, calmly analyzing Rafaelia’s words. “And the one with the ridiculous mohawk even admitted that they indeed were cutting up your parents for their captain. Were they simply mistaken?”

“Oh, no-no, they did kill my ma and pa just like I wanted,” Rafaelia confirmed nonchalantly. “But I didn’t think they’d break our deal and then try to kill me too.”

“Deal?” Beatrice hoped that she misunderstood as her shock slowly mixed with ever-growing disgust toward the fox girl.

“So you did kill three of Purple Capes yourself?” Ember asked.

“Yeah, but there were too many for me to handle, so I ran,” Rafaelia said and plopped back down on the bedsheets, staring at the wooden ceiling.

“Then the whole crying for help...” Beatrice started to say, though she knew by now what the answer was.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rafaelia asked. “Obviously, I don’t want to die, but few people in this city who would even consider standing up to those purple goons. On the other hand, if they got a chance to act a hero for a pretty girl that would be very grateful...”