Chapter 16: Chapter Fourteen: Truth Unveiled

Quickly shaking off my surprise, I jumped down from the couch. I bowed my head, thanking the two ladies and saying goodbye. Mayari then got up, curtsied then headed for the door.

She then walked out, and I hurried after her.

“So, Maua-pie~,” she gently closed the door behind us. “Great job. You made it past the most difficult part. Now all that’s left is a couple of tests.”

“That was the most difficult part?” I asked, ignoring the terrible nickname, and looking up into her eyes. “The questions weren’t that difficult though?”

“Well yeah, they weren’t that bad. But the real goal was to see if you’d lie or not. That’s why nobody asked your name before Lady Dashuri.”

“My name? Is that a stupid question to ask to test someone’s trustworthiness?”

“Well not really,” She replied. “If you were a spy, you would probably give one of your alias instead. But that applied to all the questions she asked you. If they weren’t satisfied with your response, they might have crushed you on the spot, you know?”

‘Man, that's terrifying. I’m glad I listened to Ms. Kna’Ve and didn’t make any blatant lies.’

“Hehe. Don’t worry it's over now, right? I know we called the other things tests, but that's not really accurate. You can think of it as more like a check-up. You’re not going to be in trouble for anything that might happen.” She said, attempting to soothe my nerves.

‘Is this lady a mind reader or are my thoughts just that obvious?’

“Well let’s go! Kna’Ve will scold me if we take too long.” She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

“Well before that, Ms. Mayari-”

“Just Mayari is fine. Or rather Sister Mayari. Or even better yet, Senior Sister Mayari. Cuties like you get special privileges in my book.” she interrupts. 

“...Mayari then. Can we stop by a restroom so I before we go?” 

“Aww…You’re no fun. But sure, I’ll take you there first..”

—⁕????⁕—

 

“Fwuaah~” Mom yawned as she stretched out on the sofa.  “That wasn’t bad at all.”

Mayari had just ushered Maua out of the room and closed the door.

“Don’t break character so quick!” I immediately admonished her.

“Well, at least I can get serious, unlike a certain someone.” she sighed. 

“She’s been skipping work again?” 

“Yeah, what a lousy wife I have.” she lamented. 

“Anyways, Mom, what did you think about the little one?”

“Hmm? Oh, you mean Maua? To be blunt? She’s absolutely adorable, inside and out. What about you?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure.” I replied.

“Even though you went out of your way to name the girl? Usually, you don’t say anything at all during questionings. Surely you must like her, no?”

“Well, I definitely don’t hate her. I guess she unsettled me is all.” 

“Unsettled…you? Murua the Magnificent?” she asked, unconvinced.

“Hey, no need to bring out the dark history! But yes, she creeped me out. See when we were asking her questions, I could sense sometimes her telling the truth, but lying at the same time, somehow.”

“Wait, what?” She exclaimed, shooting back upright. “How’s that even possible?”

“I haven’t the faintest clue. On top of that, she was pretty terrifying when the three noble idiots were brought up. Even though her facial expression didn’t change you could feel the fury.”

“Well, yeah. But she didn’t do anything right? So, what the shell happened? I guess we’ll find out what happened when we hear the report.” Mom said.

“I forgot all about that. Let me go get someone to get them.” I said, rising up off the couch.

I walked over to the door and stuck my head out. Fortunately, a staff member was close by.

A couple of minutes later, the group of noobies were seated on the other couch.

“Greetings, Guildmaster and Lady Amare,” they said in unison. 

“Greetings, members of Expanding Dream,” Mom replied, as she flipped back into business mode. “I would like to hear your report if it’s not too much to ask.”

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The kids shifted nervously in their seats.

“But before that, I would like to apologize,” she continued, bowing her head. “I assigned you a quest that turned out to be immensely different from what we agreed to. You could have easily lost your lives due to my negligence. For that I am sorry. Of course, I will do my best to compensate you for my blunder.”

“Eh? Wait, please raise your head, Guildmaster!” sputtered Chiri, leader of the group. “There was no way you could have expected that, so please don’t blame yourself.”

“Ultimately, the blame falls on me. I will make amends, but I hope that we can solidify the details after the report.” Mom asserted.

“Of course, that’s fine,” Chiri replied. “But before I give the report, is it possible for me to inquire about the girl that was brought back with us?”

“Oh, Maua? She’s fine. We just finished talking to her before you all were called into here. Right now, we have someone taking her through the admission processes for entering the guild. It's quite possible you all will see her around in the future.”

Chiri let out a sigh of relief. 

‘She was that concerned for someone she just met? Interesting.’

“That’s good to hear,’ she started. “In that case, I will now give my report.”

“Initially, the quest was going extremely smoothly. Our trip was quick, and we had no issues entering into Hell. We made it through the first two circles with minimal issues. The problem came at level three.”

Chiri paused, taking a deep breath.

“We were ambushed in the third circle,” she continued. “We were restrained and brought down as our captors continued to travel. After what felt like a few days, I heard a bit of commotion coming from the kidnappers. Something along the lines of striking it big.”

“Were they talking about Maua?” I asked.

“I believe so, my lady,” she affirmed, turning to face me. “After a few more hours of significantly smoother travel, we were set down and the bags on our heads were removed.”

“Upon the removal, we noted the appearance of the fourth young master of the Shelkier as well as his two well-known cohorts. In addition to them, there was another person tied up.” 

“Maua, I assume?” Mom prodded.

“Yes. She broke out of her restraints within seconds. After that, she completely annihilated the three of them. They never stood a chance.”

“Chiri, would you be a bit more specific?” Mom asked gently.

“My apologies, Guildmaster. Let me start with her removing her restraints. To put it simply, she grew out of them.”

‘Huh?”

“She grew out of them? What does that mean?” Mom questioned, vocalizing my thoughts.

“She literally grew, Guildmaster. She went from the tiny girl into someone around the height of the two of you. From there she snapped her fingers, somehow trapping the three kidnappers in place. A literal flame appeared around her left eye and she quickly began her massacre.”

“She began with the son of Marquis Nocchio. She approached him lightly tapping on the furthest point on each of his limbs and his nose. She snapped her fingers again and he began to explode in slow motion.”

“What? What do you mean by that?” I spoke up.

“Quite literally that, my lady. From each point that Maua touched, his body slowly disintegrated. After that, she moved on to Young Lady Tang. Maua placed her palm on the girl’s forehead and Tang began to age in reverse. She quickly went from the adult that she was to a teen, then a young child, all the way until she was an infant. Then she simply ceased to exist.”

‘I’m not sensing any deception. So, it’s true? What the shell is that girl?!’

“Finally she set her eyes on Shelkier. She uppercut him, sending him into the air. As he disappeared out of sight, he suddenly popped up from the ground, as if he was teleported back. He looked significantly older than he had just seconds before. Using the still present inertia, she punched him again. The ‘teleportation’ and his aging repeated. As he flew up once again, Maua spun kicked the turtle, and he subsequently turned into bones and then dissolved.”

“Wow.” My mother let out; her shock apparent.

“Having finished them off, she moved over to the four of us. After removing out restraints, she smiled before fainting. We quickly decided that it was time to leave. Unfortunately, we had no clue where we were. The landscape didn’t match any of the descriptions of the circles.”

“There’s a circle below the sixth? That’s amazing!” Mom exclaimed.

“I believe so, my lady. “Chiri replied. “I would love to say we were the first ones there but I’m pretty sure Maua was captured there.”

“There’s no end to the mystery of that girl, is there?” Mother asked no one in particular. “In any case, how did you all escape then?”

“Well, the oddest thing happened. The beings that dwelled in hell actually guided us through the circles. Instead of attacking or ignoring us, they actively made travel easier. That is until the first circle.”

“Ah, that’s where I came in,” I said.

“Yes, but before you arrived, we were attacked by the ghost of the circle. We had been swarmed, with them claiming we ‘kidnapped the great one’. The whole thing was ended by Maua commanding them to stop.” 

“After that you all met with Lady Amare, correct? So that’s the end of the report? Well then thank you. You all are dismissed.”Mother told the children.

They quickly got up and left. Walking in right after them, was Kna’Ve with a stack of presumably test results in her hand.