Chapter 72

It was well into the afternoon when we reached the adventurer's guild. One step into the building and I could immediately sense the tension in the room. Despite the tables being mostly filled and it being only shortly before the 'dinner rush' of adventurers turning in quests for the day, it was nearly dead silent. All eyes were on the six people wearing fancy looking blue and white robes. They were standing at counter talking to the giant tigerkin guild master herself. And she looked pissed.

With the amount of tension in the air I almost turned around and left immediately. Before I could, the tiger's eyes locked onto me. She pointed right at me and beckoned me over. I glanced over my group and all three were pale, at first I had thought it was because of the scary guild master but quickly realized their eyes were all fixed instead on the people in the robes.

"Tamin priests." Morrigan muttered quietly.

I understood now but despite my reluctance it was already too late. Raksha'va looked right at me and beckoned me over. Her eyes hadn't left me since I first walked through that door. I walked over just hoping that her extreme amount of malice wasn't directed at me.

"Lilith," Raksha'va growled out. "Please go follow Mirrianna upstairs into one of the meeting rooms. My guests and I will follow you shortly." Guests was spoken like an insult and the sharp look that gazed in their direction made me glad I wasn't on the receiving end. The robed priests looked impassively back at the tigerkin. They were completely unfazed by the bloodlust that dripped off of our fierce guild master.

I just did as I was told and followed Mirrianna up the stairs with my party in tow. I had only gone up these stairs twice now but I was starting to associate them with the headache that always came from coming up here and would surely come from this upcoming meeting too.

The four of us shuffled into the same room I had been taken to the last time. Mirianna sat at one end and the four of us sat across from the empty seats on the other side of the table. I sat between Torien and Bella in case they needed to whisper something to me, Morrigan sat on my far right closest to the empty spot where the guild master usually sat. It was clear who the other side of the table was for. I'm not sure if the guild master was going to mediate between us or if something else was going on but I really didn't like being pulled into this situation.

"Mirianna, what's this about? I'd really like to avoid getting roped into a conflict with the Tamin church." I scratched the base of my horn again, it was quickly becoming a nervous tick but I couldn't help myself.

Mirianna sighed. "The group the Tamin church sent to verify your dungeon kill is demanding to see the dungeon directly themselves and have already insulted the guild master's competency repeatedly since they've come to town. Despite the scouting reports we've shared and the broken crystal we've shown them, they're demanding to delve it themselves and they seem intent on you escorting them to the site."

"Why us?" I asked.

"I believe they want you close if they decide that your kill was unsanctioned." Her words hung in the air, the implication clear.

Torien's tail flicked with annoyance. "Why would they even need to verify it themselves? We brought the crystal back, it sounds like the guild cleared us, is this whole thing a charade to lure us into an alley to stab us in the back?" Her voice was sharp with held back anger but Mirianna didn't hold it against her.

"You can see why the guild master is so angry downstairs. Something here smells, the church's paladins and priests are up to something and the entire time they haven't stopped insulting and antagonizing the guild master. Since all of you are beastkin and demi-humans you likely won't be spared the constant harassment either."

Just then the door practically slammed open and a very angry Raksha'va walked in. She sat down heavily at the end of the table and three of the robed humans followed behind her and sat down across from us. Two of them were armored paladins and one looked like a priestess. The two paladins took their helms off revealing one man and one woman. But when the priestess pulled her hood back and showed her face it felt like ice water entered my lungs and I heard a sharp intake of breath from my left.

I looked over to Bella, her face was in shock and her emotions were raging so strong they bled through our barely open connection like a hurricane. I quickly grabbed her hand and turned to face her. "Bella, are you okay?"

She gripped my hand tight and tears beaded in her eyes. She shook her head. "N- no. I'll tell you later." She pulled away from me and she tightly clenched her hands and stared down at her legs. I felt her swirl of emotions close off to me now that she was making a conscious effort to hide them. I grit my teeth. Whatever was bothering her was serious and I didn't even know what was happening.

I took a breath and activated [Karmic Seduction], buoying my charisma up to 127. When I looked back it was as if the people at the table saw someone completely different sitting there now. I read the subtle twitches of surprise in their features, the drastic and sudden jump in charisma caught everyone off guard. All except for the priestess, who clearly had a relatively high charisma as well. She sat there too perfectly and now that I was in the same realm I could see it a mile away. I didn't know who this was or why Bella reacted this way but it was clear that this woman was important somehow.

"If you animals are done, let's get this unimportant meeting over with. Our time is valuable and you are wasting it." In my periphery I could see Bella's hands tightly clench again, her knuckles turning white.

The charisma was helping me stay calm but I was furious underneath it. "Then speak. What is this about?" I asked.

It was Raksha'va who answered, not allowing the cold priestess to respond to me. "Lilith, you and your party are to escort these Tamin adherents to the dungeon you discovered. You will not engage in combat unless you are directly threatened, that's for the adherents to handle. This quest is mandatory but I'm sending two of my people with yo—

"That won't be neces—

"AND I'LL TELL YOU AGAIN THAT IT IS." The room went silent after Raksha'va raised her voice. Even Mirianna looked shocked by the outburst. From what I've heard about her after our meeting, she was always calm and collected, if a bit frightening. And boy did frightening describe her right now.

"Two of my people are going with. That is not up to negotiation. They will go with and make sure Lilith and her party return to me safely. By any means necessary. Are we clear priestess?"

There was a quiet in the room. After a moment the priestess nodded her head. "Very well guild master. But your additional guards better not get in our way."

Raksha'va continued, "This job is mandatory but will count towards your guild mission record. You will take the Tamin adherents to the dungeon and you will wait outside for them to return. We have confirmed there is a fading time distortion in the dungeon so if they have not returned by tomorrow noon you will return to the guild with the two people I'm sending with you. You will leave immediately. Am I understood?"

I grimaced. I didn't like the idea of this mission and I desperately needed to see what was going on with Bella. Unfortunately, it sounded like I didn't really have a choice if I wanted to continue dealing with the adventurer's guild and I kind of needed their protection now that we have that dangerous title.

I sighed. "Very well guild master."

The tigerkin looked over to Mirianna. "Go take care of the paperwork right away. I'll go get Tarklin and Nora for this quest. Please note it down.

"Yes guild master." Mirianna left the room without another word and everyone else began to stand up.

I took Bella's hand and gently helped her to her feet. My charisma screamed at me that I shouldn't show this kind of affection towards her in front of the church but I ignored it. They're already clearly hostile to us, I'll just have to deal with that when it comes.

She shot another glance at the priestess as she was refitting her hood over her head, once again becoming anonymous in the group of white and blue robed Tamin adherents. Bella took a shaky breath but she was far from okay. I quickly approached the guild master.

"Guild master. I need to quickly return to our inn and gather our things."

She nodded. "Do it. But don't you dare 'forget' to come back. I'm pissed right now and you don't want me turning any of it your direction. Clear?"

I hesitated, she was very intimidating. "Of course guild master."

Before I could walk away she grabbed my arm and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "I like you better without the charisma boosting skill but it's a much better idea to keep it up around these bigots if you can. It could save your ass."

I just dumbly nodded before walking back to my group. "Lets go get our things sorted out at the inn. We can talk there." I grabbed Bella's hand and led her out of the guild building. We silently walked to our inn at a fast pace. As much as I needed to know what was going on, I wanted to do it privately.

The moment we entered the room it was like a dam broke. Bella sat on the bed and started sobbing. Morrigan and Torien could tell something was wrong with Bella but clearly didn't expect this sudden outburst of emotions. Mimi transformed into her beastfolk form as soon as the door closed and had immediately wrapped Bella in a hug. Mimi had clearly felt the wave of emotion as well because tears were streaming down her normally neutral looking face.

I sat down on the bed on the other side of her and joined the hug. As soon as I did Bella buried her face in my bosom and kept crying. I looked up for a moment and saw Morrigan unsure what to do. She looked like she wanted to help comfort Bella too but wasn't used to her role as a girlfriend yet so she just kind of fretted for a few moments before sitting down on the bed near us. Ready to help when she could.

Once the worst of the emotional outburst settled she pulled back. She was still crying but I could tell she was aware everyone wanted to understand what was wrong.

"Th- that p-priestess... sh- she was my mother..." Bella barely got the words out before she started loudly crying once again.

The twins' brows furrowed in unison, confused and unsure what to make of the statement. Mimi ignored it and just squeezed Bella tighter, having no context at all.

But I knew what that meant... When we first met, the thing Bella literally gave me her soul for, was to never be abandoned again.

Like her mother had.

I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head like I often did when comforting her. There was nothing any of us could possibly say so we didn't say anything. Even knowing some of the context didn't really help, her emotions were so strong right now that the best I could do was continue to hold her and let her calm down on her own.

We only spent ten minutes like that when Bella gently pulled away from us. "We... we don't have time for this." She dried her eyes with her sleeves and sniffled, it only partially helped because she hadn't completely stopped crying yet. "Mimi... will you bring out our boxes please. I... I want to pack my things up."

Mimi's brows furrowed but she brought out our trunks for us without a word. The four of us started packing and sorting our jumbled items while Mimi sat on the bed quietly watching Bella.

What might have been a fun activity of sorting through our clothes before a trip was instead done quickly and in silence.