Chapter 68: Chapter 57 – Hero

"So let me get this straight, you don't want to bring attention to yourself but you cast a magic spell that people would kill for in the middle of a busy street? Does that about sum it up?" Bella finally chimed in, "Seriously Alice, what are we going to do with you? You just exposed yourself for some random kid you don't know. It's not just that. How well do you know any of us? While I am happy that you trust us, you only got to know us for the last ten months. How can you be sure we would not betray you? Heck, Amy even challenged you." She looked exasperated while talking. Not that I could blame her.

Amy looked lost in thought while Bella berated me for my stupidity. She wasn't wrong but she wasn't right either. It was a completely stupid thing to do if you only factored in self-preservation but I thought of those I lost. How would I feel if I knew a person could have saved them but chose not to, just to save themselves? Did I want to be that type of person? But what could I do to protect myself if I continued to save people? Should I get a disguise? Did I need to get a pair of tights and a mask? I could try getting allies. That might work if I could trust them. But who could I trust other than my friends? Gideon was the first person I thought of but Bella was right I didn't really know their true natures. Well I had time to figure it out. It wasn't like people were dropping like flies around me. Maybe I could just get tough enough that nobody would bother me. I was doubtful that the last idea was even an option.

"It just happened so fast. Maybe they didn't get a good look at me or notice that the little girl ..." I had to cut myself off as our waitress began to deliver our meals. I nudged Amy who was running her hand near her sternum, lost in thought. I silently cursed myself for forgetting to put my hood up earlier. Still I was pretty sure only the man that was holding the child's mother got a good look at me. The woman might have seen me as well but her eyes looked pretty bloodshot, from all the crying, that I doubted it. I also had my back to most of the crowd with my hood up so I should be ok. I gave myself a little pep talk.

The dinner crowd began to filter in as we ate. As the bar area filled up, we began to hear the rumors. There were a lot of variations but it basically boiled down to three; the kid wasn't dead, one of the royalty used a precious artifact to save her, and a god had descended to the mortal plane and saved her because she is favored by that God. The God theory was the most amusing because it was being told by a man that claimed to have been there and as people bought him drinks he would tell them the story of how a Goddess appeared, healed the kid and then vanished in a blinding golden light. The more he drank the more I apparently did. The last version I heard as we walked out the door was how "The Goddess" healed all the people there, resurrected the child, blessed all the people while simultaneously taming the basilisks that had gone on a rampage.

Before we continued to shop, I had turned my cloak around so that the red silk of the bedsheet was on display instead of the normal dark grayish-black. I also removed my ring so my unnatural beauty would be on display. It made me look different enough that people would have to really scrutinize me to notice that I was the same person. As we shopped, I noticed that I got a lot of better deals from the male shopkeepers while I was practically chased out of one shop by the man's wife for trying to seduce him. As if I would be interested in the short pudgy man.

We were just finishing up and were heading back when somebody ripped one of my bags out of my hands and ran off. Most of the expensive things I had bought were stashed in either my belt pouches or the storage ring. All he managed to steal was my practice cooking materials and a couple of seeds. I was going to go after him but thought better of it. It didn't cost me much and maybe they were simply stealing to eat. Bella wasn't as forgiving as I was. When she noticed I didn't give chase she began to cast. Before he could rush into the alleyway a gale of wind knocked him off his feet while a bolt of lightning kept him there. I reclaimed my bag from the unconscious man. Although I wasn't sure how much was left that the lightning didn't destroy.

Perhaps we were just having bad luck today because we didn't get more than two blocks when we found ourselves surrounded by ruffians. It seemed to be a gang of over twenty men. The street was oddly empty as if people knew they were here and ran off but where were the guards? Did they take bribes to leave as well? After facing monsters, I was oddly calm facing off against a couple dozen men. I was looking them over as I began to silently cast. The first thing I noticed was their boots. My father was a guard. I knew the equipment he was issued and their boots had this flappy piece that didn't seem to do anything but was in fact a minor enchantment to boost their overall strength. Then I saw their weapons and I was sure that these were the guards that were supposed to protect this area.

How dare they! I felt my anger rising and trying to calm myself down. Disgracing the guard is the same as disgracing my father. I cast 'Guardian Angel' on Amy. It was one of the few spells I had that was invisible when I cast it. I then woke Pumpkin up and told her to be ready. It was all I could do without setting off a mass combat with two people that had almost no combat ability. Lilly might be able to teleport away but with the extra stress I didn't want her to risk it. From everything I read and heard, teleportation magic was one of the most dangerous to the caster.

"My men think you are all worthy of joining us tonight for some fun. Now come with us willingly and we won't hurt you." Their leader had been talking a bit before that, but I missed most of his speech. Everything I heard made me want to cripple him though. I pulled out my mace. Why fight it? Some people don't need their third leg.

"Leave before I cripple you…" I thought of pumpkin and added, "or worse. You won't get a second chance." I let my aura out and everybody was soon under the light golden glow it gave off. Sadly my curvy frame is far from intimidating. All I got were laughs for my threats. Fine! "Bella, protect Lilly and Amy. I want to see what I can do if I go all out against these 'guards'." I enunciated guards and saw a few of them turn pale but most didn't get it or didn't care.

"Get them." Their leader barked but before they could move a man flew down from the sky and landed in between our groups. He had wings similar to mine with the exception that his were a dark brown that matched his hair while mine were white with golden highlights.

"I believe the lady asked you to leave. Too bad you didn't listen." And with that he plunged into them like a steam roller. His aura had a hazy look to it that I have seen on those that use body enhancing magic. I simply watched the show play out. I caught a few things. First was when he landed, I picked up what he was thinking. It was of him paying these guys to attack us. It was fuzzy but the intent was clear enough. So as I watched, I noticed that the guards always pulled their punches when attacking him. Was this some idiot hero to get the girl? Which one of us was his target or did he want us all? Either way I got another DP point while they were playing around.

I let Pumpkin go back to bed. This wasn't going to be a fight. Just in case, I began to cast. My aura went from gold to amber. Nothing happened right away and a few guards glanced my way when the color changed but went back to whatever they were supposed to be doing when they didn't see anything. As they fell and pretended to be knocked out, I whispered "Hidden Ones' and tiny portals opened up and little rocks fell to the ground. They were unimpressive but that was what made them so deadly. Unlike some of the other summons these guys were happy to do nothing and didn't fight my control.

I watched the guy 'knock out' the last of the 'ruffians' and come back to talk with us. Honestly, I was flabbergasted. I could see their health screens for god sake. He must be after one of the others since he obviously didn't know I was a holy mage. I looked over my friends and saw them all looking at him with respect that he didn't deserve.

"Sorry about that, you are safe now. Do you mind if I escort you lovely young ladies back to wherever you are going?" His wings vanished as he gave a formal bow. His eyes never leaving me. Was he trying to seduce me? I did my best to not laugh in his face but I couldn't keep a smile off my face. "Where are my manners? My name is Reynard; Prince Reynard."

I ignored him. Instead I picked up a few 'rocks' and moved over to the downed guards. I then began to talk to myself loud enough so everybody could hear, "These little guys are called 'The Hidden Ones' you might not know but they love knocked out people. Usually they'll paralyze their prey but since they are already prone, I guess we can skip that part." I placed them near any exposed skin I could see on the men and continued. "What makes them truly heinous is that they burrow into a person's flesh before they begin to eat. The toxins they excrete will only make it so a person can't move. They can still feel their insides being eaten for days before they die. Of course these little guys can't eat so much. The rest is for the eggs they leave inside you. Well good luck." As I finished I let the hidden ones come out from hiding. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. What I had just rattled off was all the information I could find on them in the library. The book crystal didn't have any pictures of them though.

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They uncurled like hideous transformers from hell. A squishing sound could be heard as they unfurled. They kind of looked like a slug that mated with a sea urchin. They were covered with stingers that oozed a vicious liquid. They began to slink their way onto the flesh of the men. At first I was a little afraid they wouldn't break but as the first slug thing started to burrow into the man's flesh he let out a shriek, tried to pull it out and promptly fell on his face, unmoving. That was all it took for the rest to run for their lives. I was soon left alone with my friends and the prince. The prince's smile had long left his face and I could see his eyebrow twitching as he tried to maintain his false friendliness. I was glad I wasn't the only person who sucked at acting.

"No thanks, it seems most of the bad guys ran off so we won't need you to escort us." Honestly I wanted to hit him. Hard and in a certain place but he was a prince and from the way he moved during his play his combat skills were well beyond mine. I considered both of those points before I decided doing what I just did. If I couldn't hurt him physically, I'd hurt his pride.

"Well, we will probably meet again" I got a crisp vision of people dragging me before him. Seriously, he made himself a throne?

"I see. Well, I'll try to avoid that." I turned my back to him and continued to go back to school. Was I really going to have to kill a prince? Could I? I guess it falls into what defines a monster. If push comes to shove, I planned on testing it. For now, I just needed to get stronger.

As I walked away I focused on sending back my summons. It'd probably be bad if left them and they got hungry. The other girls joined me as I stormed off.

"I think we can definitely say that at least one prince noticed you saving the kid." Bella stated the obvious. Well, to most of us anyway.

"Wasn't he quite dashing and the way he said he'd meet you again... So romantic." Lilly's romantic heart was stirred and was still thinking he was the hero that saved the beauty. It took both Bella and me the rest of our trip back to our dorm to explain that he was a bad guy. A big, brawny, and really dumb bad guy. But if that idiot figured out that it was me then the rest of them wouldn't be far behind. I needed a plan.

And like all good planning sessions, ours started with dessert. We ended up in Lilly's room to strategize and raided her homemade snack container.

Bella was the first to start us off, "Well, you will be safe inside the school but you can't stay here forever. Once you leave, you will need some type of support to go against the royalty and all support comes at a price. You could try getting a high noble's protection but you'd basically be their slave if they took on that type of risk. You could also try making a deal with Gideon or Lucas they may even marry you!" I could hear her excitement over that idea before she moved on. "There are also the guilds but you'd have to be ranked fairly high for them to protect you from the princes."

Amy chimed in, "The other problem is you stand out. Even if we dress you in rags they'd notice you. You could try going to another nation but unlike us you owe the school money and they would use that to block your escape."

"Everybody also knows what you can do from the competition. So their people would probably be looking for you before you could even begin to climb the ranks. So the crafting and medical guilds are probably both not going to work. If we could disguise you we might be able to get you into the adventurer's guild but even then they will be looking at the healers and summoners if you randomly disappear. Even if you pretended to be a warrior, not many girls use a mace. Sorry Alice, they have the manpower and resources that will make it hard for you to escape their notice now that they have an interest." Lilly looked upset as she finished her analysis

Still did they know everything I could do? I didn't think so. I barely used any druidic powers so it was unlikely that anybody knew about it. Was there nothing else I could change or they didn't know about? Maybe I could make a new persona. I might be able to use 'Animalistic' to look like a beastwoman. It would probably take multiple castings to get it right. I thought about how many I would need. One for hearing to get the ears, one for the nose, skin, and hands. At least four, which I could keep up for a few hours but would limit my casting. Perhaps, I could change the spell so that instead of abilities it just altered my appearance. It might be cheap enough that I could easily maintain it. The fact that the senses wouldn't function any better than a normal humans would be the tradeoff. Could I become a druid beastwoman adventurer?

Of course, I thought about just leaving. I wasn't that attached to this country but my parents would likely face the princes' wrath unless I took them with me.

 

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