Chapter 149: The First City, Part One

"So, yeah, that's... That's the situation," Rin said, just a short while later as she explained what had happened to Elisa and Xhez, who were both listening intently.

"Damn," Elisa replied, crossing a leg in front of her. "How long will you be in Cradle for?"

"I'd guess that we're probably staying the night," Rin said with a shrug. "I don't know, though."

The slightly tense atmosphere which came as a result of the news of Rin's vampirism was cut however when Xhez yelled:

"Can I come!?"

Rin flinched, taken aback by the sudden burst of energy.

"Uh... Sure? Why are you so excited, though?" She asked.

Xhez beamed, giving a wide smile and leaning in just centimeters away from Rin's face.

"I have studied this place!" She explained. "In the texts at the library, Cradle is a human settlement that comes up pretty often! It was the first city established after the Split, the nation Libera fought to free itself, the home of Spirit knowledge! Or, ehm, Essence, as you call it. Anyway, I want to accompany you!"

Rin heard her and the corners of her lips curled up as she was met with this wave of raw cuteness washing over her.

"Sure..." She replied before she started to consider it a little more seriously. "But, that might be a bad idea."

"Hm? Why?"

"Like you said," Rin replied. "It's the home of Essence. I'd guess that the amount of people who can see through your illusion is way higher than it is here."

Xhez opened her mouth as though she was about to combat that point before she closed it again.

"... You are right," she conceded as she looked away. "Can we not do anything about it?"

When she heard that, Elisa pitched in.

"It's mostly the guards you'd have to keep an eye out for, right? Outside of the Mages Guild, I mean."

"Yeah, but we could run into random mages out on the street."

"Depends on what part of the city you're in," Elisa countered. "Trust me, I've been there plenty of times. Most mages stay around one specific part of the city. The center, where the Eternal Library is."

"The Eternal Library?" Rin asked.

"Oldest library in the world. Well, that we know of," Elisa replied. "Most mages stick around that place. There are a bunch of alchemical, spellbook, and Essence-related stores around that place too because businessmen realized pretty quickly that mages normally don't want to move too far away from the places they study at. I'd bet a lot of money that outside of that area, you wouldn't run into many mages at all."

Both Xhez and Elisa's eyes fell on Rin as the blonde finished speaking.

"... Well, I don't mind taking you with me. Are you sure you want to risk it, though?" Rin asked.

Xhez considered that question for only a moment before she answered:

"Yes. I think we will be alright."

Rin's eyes met the sprite's for a second. The faith Xhez held in her was so tangible, that it almost made Rin nervous. She didn't want to let her down. However, as Xhez's hopeful expression burned through Rin's defenses, she nodded.

"Alright then. Let's just... try to be careful, though."

"Aahhhh! Thank you!" Xhez almost yelled out before she hugged Rin tightly. Smiling, Rin returned the hug as Elisa watched from her bed.

"... I should probably head with you too."

Her statement made Rin do a double-take in her direction.

"What?"

"I should go too," Elisa said with a more confident tone, this time. Before Rin could ask, Elisa added, "if you two get into trouble, I could always play the 'they're my slaves, release them' card and bail you both out."

Rin blinked.

"Eh, I-I guess that makes sense. You aren't busy, though?"

"I'll make time for this," she shrugged. "I can't just sit around while my friends risk getting themselves arrested like this, though. And, besides," she added with a smirk, "my last name's D'Ana. I feel like I should make some use of that from time to time."

---

Just an hour later, Elisa and Xhez were standing by Rin's sides as the two of them stood outside the Academy. The raven-haired girl checked behind her, to make sure that Harriton wasn't around to see Xhez like this.

In front of the trio, Eve and Maria looked at them all. Maria, in particular, was looking at Rin with a "what the hell are you doing?" sort of expression, her eyes flickering between her and Xhez. The sprite was wearing a large white cartwheel hat that Elisa got for her, some gloves that also belonged to the noblewoman, a long-sleeved shirt from Rin that was so big on Xhez it may as well have been a skirt, and some long, black, travel pants. Everything but her face was covered.

[Um... Hopefully, I can explain this to her in a bit.]

Her teacher let it go for now, though.

"Are you ready? We won't be back till tomorrow," Maria stated.

"Uh, yeah," Rin replied. "I brought some food... Some spare clothes, just in case."

"That's fine," Maria muttered as, once again, she glanced over at Xhez. The disguised sprite gave her a nervous smile, and the Rank S adventurer rolled her eyes. "Let's go, then."

With that, Elisa, Xhez, Eve, Maria, and Rin were all walking toward the train station.  On the way, the fairy spoke up.

"You know, it's been ages since I've visited Cradle. I can't wait to see it all again!"

Rin sighed.

"I just hope I don't turn into a vampire before we get there or something."

"You'll be fine, Rin," Maria told her. "Just keep staying strong. Let us know if you need to lay down, or if you feel nauseous or anything."

"Yeah..."

"Vampirism..." Xhez said to herself. "So, if I am understanding what you explained earlier, this 'disease' will kill you, and then bring you back to life?"

"Apparently."

"And, after that, you will be turned into a vampire? Hm," Xhez looked up at the sky as they walked The sun hitting her skin was a reminder that her illusion was only temporary. That didn't seem to be what she was thinking about, though. "Can I- I MEAN, UHM," she panicked, "c-can a sprite be turned into a vampire?"

"Hm?" Eve turned toward her as she flew through the air. "A sprite?"

Maria visibly bit the insides of her cheeks. All of a sudden, Rin was feeling a lot less optimistic about their chances of getting through this without blowing Xhez's cover. Still, their teacher answered.

"I do not know," Maria replied.

"Really? Um, what about a fairy?" Xhez proceeded to ask next.

That question took Eve's attention away from the whole sprite thing and the fairy turned toward Maria.

"Yes, they can," she replied. "The chances of it happening are way lower, though."

"Why?" Eve asked.

"Because, fairies, beastborn, and... perhaps other species, I suppose," Maria said, throwing a look Xhez's way, "are Essence-based creatures. They are, to different degrees, made of Essence. Vampirism is the result of a specific kind of corrupted Essence spreading through someone. If that corrupted Essence spreads through a fairy or a beastborn, normally, it destroyed whatever Essence they have, and they just die. They're never resurrected."

"O-Oh," Eve replied, gulping.

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"Sometimes, however, their Essence is strong enough to where the corrupted Essence is allowed to properly carry out its curse, transforming them into vampires."

"Wow..." Eve replied. "I wonder what a fairy vampire looks like."

"Well, if it's one that's managed to feed itself properly, then it looks a lot like you," Maria said. "If it's one that's been allowed to starve, then it's far more monstrous."

Rin tried to imagine what a fairy-version of the vampire they'd fought in those ruins would look like. It was a hard thing to picture.

[What would a sprite vampire look like?] She wondered as well. [If that's a thing that can even happen.]

The group entered the station, and, as Rin subtly instructed Xhez to do, the sprite tugged her hat down a bit to hide her face. Her sprite hair was left uncovered, but if that was the only weird thing the guards saw, Rin figured they wouldn't ask about it.

The train itself had arrived just a couple of minutes ago, and there was a line of people waiting to get in just outside.

Some of the guards knew who Maria was, others knew who Elisa was, and as the group approached the train they made the regular citizens step aside so that they could all walk onboard. They weren't even asked to pay anything, they were simply let on. Just like that. Rin didn't know if that was a result of Maria's stature, Elisa's, or both.

Besides a few weird looks, they weren't inspected too closely. Rin was grateful for that as they all went to the back of the train and sat down.

Their seats were in an "L" shape. Three pressed against the wall, to Rin's left, and three pressed against the back, where Rin was seated. Maria and Eve took their seats against the wall, while Rin sat between Elisa and Xhez at the back. Elisa held the righthand seat, while Xhez was peering out the window to the left.

Once they were settled in, Rin allowed herself to calm down a little.

A hand fell on her right thigh and Rin's breath caught in her throat as she looked up and found Elisa smiling at her.

"Went well, right?" The woman asked in a whisper.

"Uh, yeah," Rin nodded. "Thankfully."

"This name comes in handy sometimes," Elisa let her know as she took her hand off of her. Rin wished she kept it right where it was, honestly.

Outside, the sun had gone down. As the air grew colder, the train finished letting people in, and in a moment, it slowly began to propel itself forward.

"Feel free to pull out some of your clothes and use them as pillows or whatever," Maria told them. "The ride is going to take some hours. You can catch up on your sleep if you want."

Rin let out a yawn and it seemed like soon enough, she would be taking her up on that offer. Just like she had before when they went to Dren, Xhez stared out the window in awe as the train pulled out of the station.

---

{Xhez}

Several hours later, as the train rolled along, Xhez still hadn't gotten tired of the view. Tiredness had taken the other girls by storm and Eve, Elisa, and Rin, all found themselves asleep while the train moved. The latter had her head on Xhez's shoulder as she slumbered, which gave the sprite a nice warmth to keep herself grounded as the vehicle she was in moved along.

Maria, however, was still up. The adventurer had one leg crossed over the other, her hands in her lap, and her eyes closed, but she was awake. Xhez couldn't help but look at her a couple of times. She could feel how powerful she was. It was a hard thing to ignore.

"Are you still scared of me?" The woman asked all of a sudden.

"W-What?" Xhez asked.

"I can feel you staring," Maria said with a sigh as she opened her eyes.

"Oh. Ehm, no," Xhez shook her head. "I am just impressed by you."

"Hm?" Maria turned her head toward her. Xhez gave her an easy smile.

"You are very strong," Xhez said. "Your Spirit feels... Incredible."

Maria shook her head and turned away when she heard that. Xhez thought she wasn't going to say anything again, but she then said:

"You really aren't nervous?"

"Hm? Ehm, no, like I said, I was just-"

"Not about me," Maria cut her off. "About being spotted," she said quietly. 

"... Oh," Xhez looked away momentarily. "Uhm, a little."

"Only a little?" Maria raised a brow at her.

"Yeah."

"You're that confident? I'm surprised."

"Uh..." Xhez looked away. "I-It is not like that." She met Maria's eyes once more. The woman was quiet, waiting for Xhez to elaborate. Swallowing, Xhez said, "of course, I am a bit terrified. If things go wrong, it would be awful. However, I cannot just stay where I am, afraid of what might happen. If I want to learn more about you, and your kind, I need to be prepared to face the consequences. I have been aware of that from the beginning, and I am aware of that now."

As Xhez finished explaining that, Maria narrowed her eyes at her just a little. Xhez smiled back at her, and eventually, it seemed like the other woman gave up on whatever she was thinking about as she muttered a quick "fine" to herself and looked away.

[... Maybe I am starting to make a good impression on her,] Xhez speculated, feeling proud of herself.

They didn't talk again. Eventually, Maria went to sleep as well, and Xhez was the only one awake.

[I should probably take this moment to allow my Spirit to recharge,] she thought.

Of course, one of the bags Rin had brought with her was Xhez's water bag, which was on the ground by Rin's feet.

The adventurer still had her head on Xhez's shoulder. The sprite cautiously pushed her back, gently letting her head fall against the back wall. Immediately, she missed the closeness she had been sharing with Rin up until this point, but she needed this, so, she then grabbed the bag and opened the top.

[... I should let her know,] Xhez thought, and, as much as it hurt to interrupt her rest, she tapped Rin's shoulder and the woman stirred.

"H-Huh?" Rin asked, her eyes opening slowly.

"Rin," Xhez said quietly.

"Yeah?" Rin asked, shaking her head to wake herself. "Is something wrong?"

"Hehe, no," Xhez replied. "I wanted to rest as well. I'm going in the bag."

"Oh." When she heard that, Rin seemed to wake up a little more. "If you're not here when Eve wakes up, though, she'll get suspicious," she said, looking around to make sure no one else was around.

"Mhm," Xhez agreed. "So, could you wake me up when you do? Maybe, we could go to some side room and I can jump out there."

Rin checked a door behind her, then, and found that it led into a balcony of sorts. When she noticed that, she nodded. 

"Sure."

"Great."

Xhez stood up as Rin held the bag out in front of her.

Before she jumped in, she looked back at the sleeping fairy and said:

"... Maybe, on this trip, we can just let her know? I feel like she would understand."

"... Maybe," Rin nodded. "We'll see."

"Alright."

And, with that, Xhez's night came to a close as well, knowing that when she woke up, she would be in Cradle.

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