"Well, here we are." Kent said gesturing to the Auger Inn. It was a very homely looking place and wasn't nearly as fastidious as the normal inns within the area.
"Do we know what their room number is?" Eric asked.
"Nope, but we'll have to manage because I am not going back to those two. They're fighting with each other enough, so I rather not join them." Eric agreed with Kent.
"I just can't imagine being around that all the time!" Eric exclaimed.
"Me neither!" Alisa agreed getting her and him a side eye from Kent.
"Oh you have no idea. Anyway, I think this is when you come in Alice." Alisa turned to Kent with a questioning gaze.
"How so?"
"You can see and communicate with spirits, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can you ask them to look for a room that has a peccary caged within it?"
"Oh yeah! That sounds like a great idea! You're really smart Kent!"
"Cool. Now can you do it?" Kent brushed off Alisa's compliment and urged her to act. Alisa realized that he was no longer just saying a plan and started to ask the spirits around her for help.
"Hey, guys did you here what Kent said? There's gonna be a cage with a cute little hairy pig in it. Do you think you can find the room and tell me the number?" Eric and Kent watched as Alisa had a conversation with the air.
Had they not known that she was talking to spirits then they would have thought her crazy. Alisa received confirmation from the spirits that they would look and smiled brightly.
"Great! I'll see you guys in a bit then!" Alisa turned back to Eric and Kent allowing them to assume that she was done. "They'll be back in a second. We just have to wait."
"They're gone?! Wow, I hadn't even noticed that they were here!" Kent joked making Eric laugh. Alisa just tilted her head confused.
"What's so funny? Is it the fact that you can't see spirits?" Alisa asked searching for clarification. Kent's started at Alisa waiting for her tell him that she was joking.
"Y-yeah." Kent eventually answered.
"Oh. How is that funny? You two obviously can't see spirits you don't have the same eyes as me." Kent and Eric looked at each for a second before turning back to Alisa with the same uncomfortable expression.
"You're right..." Kent lamented.
"...it wasn't that funny."
...
Edmund rose from his sleep.
He still felt tired but it was around time to feed the little monster and he didn't want to hear Narie yelling at him again because he'd forgotten to feed it.
'I don't see what the big deal is? We're not even feeding it good food! Does it really matter if the thing misses one meal?' As much as Ed complained he was still rifling through a small bag to give the pig some food.
'You're just mad because the girl you like scolded you!' Mund yelled out from the far reaches of his mind.
'Quiet down in there. Also, you're me so you like her too. Don't try to make fun of me or you'll end up calling yourself out.' Mund did not speak again but Ed could definitely feel that he had embarrassed his internal roommate.
Ed rubbed his eyes and yawned while pulling out a moldy piece of bread from the bag. He walked over to the cage and dropped the bread in front of it. "There you go." He said coldly. "That's it for the day so I'd savor that. I know that I used to."
Edmund flashed back to all the times that he had to make a single piece of rotten food last for most of the day. He was glad that the group had managed to get a nice hotel to stay in for the remainder of the time that they were here. He could finally get some good sleep.
Suddenly, a spirit flew in front of Ed's face startling him. "Whoa! What do you want all of a sudden?" He asked the little spirit. It did a few small movements in his face that made the gloomy elf's face light up a bit.
This spirit was very familiar to Ed. He didn't grow up with many mortal friends but as a spirit savant he didn't need them. At least, that's what he thought but then the spirits didn't really want to hang with him either. None except for this little dark spirit in front of him and a few nature spirits.
"I'm fine little bud. I'm just tired like normal. Where are the rest of our friends?" The spirit communicated via it's movements again.
"Really? They all went? Then why are you still here? Surely you wanted to go too?" The spirit moved slowly and without it's normal whimsy.
"Oh, they left you behind huh? That's just like my friends. They made me stay here to watch over our prisoner while they go out on dates and for 'work' or whatever they call it. I mean, what if I wanted to go out too?" The spirit quickly shifted side to side.
"No, I don't actually want to go but the others didn't even give me an option to go with them!" Edmund sat down on the bed and continued talking to the spirit. This was one of the few times that Edmund felt completely awake and that was saying something because he loved to sleep.
While talking to his old friend Edmund noticed a strange verdant light shimmering next to the pig's cage. He didn't let it bother him at first until he noticed several more lights gathering around the cage. He frowned.
"Hey, what are you wind spirits doing?" The spirits seemed to panic and quickly evacuated from the window. Most of them at least as the dark spirit had flown up to one of the stragglers and held it tightly.
The two spirits wrestled for a moment before the verdant one stopped struggling and it's light diminished leaving only the dark spirit. "Did you get anything out of it?" The spirit moved in an affirming pattern then began to detail the information that it had gotten.
"What? People are looking for this thing?" Edmund was thrown aback. He thought that this pig was just some extra experiment for the client but it's important enough that people are looking for it.
"How many people are there?" The spirit flew in the shape of a triangle. "Three? Okay, I think I should be able to handle that alone. One of them is a spirit savant like me but I have no information on the other two. Those wind spirits are probably gonna tell their savant that I'm in here so there's no point in hiding." A sinister grin rose on Edmund's face.
"But that doesn't mean that I can't prepare for my unexpected guests."
...
"What? There's another savant in there?" Alisa shouted in shock as the spirits frantically told her what they found. "Okay okay, I hear you. Room 213 is the one, right? We'll go in there and avenge your comrade!"
"There's a fallen comrade?" Eric questioned as Alisa made her oath.
"Yeah, apparently there's some spirit savant with a dark spirit in there. I have no idea how they managed to find a dark spirit in this town. Most of the mana here is water so you'd more likely end up with a water spirit at your side. Unless that one followed him, but spirits are normally pretty in tune with their environment so it that rarely happens."
"I don't care how likely it is." Kent entered the conversation. He seemed to be getting a bit excited about something. "If he wants to fight then I'm willing to meet him! Right, Eric?"
"Actually, fighting isn't really my forte especially since I don't have a weapon to fight with right now. I left my knife at my dorm." Kent stared at Eric with disdain for a moment before turning to Alisa.
"Alright then! It's just me and you Alisa!" Alisa sucked air through her teeth.
"I also can't really fight. Most of the savantry that I know just helps me with my alchemy. And my telekinesis isn't nearly powerful enough to really be of any use in such a small space." Kent's face went blank as he was just told that he would have to fight alone.
"Are you two serious right now?" Eric and Alisa slowly nodded in confirmation. Kent let out an exhausted breath.
"What's the point of there being three of us if only I fight? Hah, okay. I'll go up there and fight this guy. You two just try to get to Trouler."
"That sounds great!"
"Make them bleed for me bro!" Kent waved his hand dismissively and walked under the window of room 213.
"Just make sure at least one of you comes in after me. I'll have to take this fight alone so I'd rather it be a quick in and out situation." Holiday and Alice nodded with steeled looks on their faces.
"Good. Then Tyrant's going in!" Kent bent his knees and channeled Lis into his legs. He leapt towards the second floor window and instantly summoned a lightning spear to his hand.
Tyrant was ready for the fight up ahead.