Ashen hair with glowing ruby eyes, a matching tail curling at the end, flicking in annoyance. Her entire body was covered by an umbrella she angled on the side to hide the sun from her skin. This was Shen, someone who saw Yukina last.
We brought her into the tavern part of the adventurers' guild; it was exactly like a tavern, just grander in scale and looks. We sat at the furthest table from the entrance, to a corner next to a window.
No food was ordered, however, we had complimentary drinks – three to be exact sitting in front of us. Shen was leaning forward, her black tuxedo top that hid her entire arm, matched with her similar looking pants enhancing the curves of her body. Her fingers traced around the lip of each cup, as if she was contemplating what to grab.
"Hm… I'll take this one. Anyways, Mister James and Missus Melinda, I would like to thank you for taking me out to tea…" Shen said, leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs and swirling the cup she chose. "However, like you Mister James, I am an adventurer. I do not like wasting my time with meaningless conversation."
She sounded bored, her facial expression didn't change. Melinda looked towards me with a concerned look. It'll be alright, Shen can't do anything here.
"Are you going to gawk like birds, or will you tell me, Why did you bring why did you bring me here?" She continued, taking a loud sip from her cup. "And one thing. As a guest you invited, shouldn't you bring me to a place I have a preference over? You two vehemently chose a place I was against."
Her words were filled with spite, even glaring at us with an invisible intent. Although she was right, we took her time and we chose a place she was adhering from. My wife wanted a place we could possibly see Yukina from. In addition, we wanted to be away from others – this was a private matter.
"I'm sorry, Miss Shen…" I apologized whilst scratching the back of my head.
"I thought copper rank adventurers were skilled and knew formalities…"
"Aha… I guess that's not necessarily true to all."
"Whatever you say, Mister."
"Miss Shen, what rank are you if I may ask?"
"Why does it matter to you Miss Melinda? We are dilly dallying, and I do not like this…" Shen replied in a blunt and curt manner, uncrossing her legs whilst slightly slamming her mug down. "Ahh… Whatever, I settled on silver rank and stayed there for however long I got it."
Her manner of speech… reminds me of Yukina. Contrarily to their feminine looks, they spoke similar to us men; yet hers was more mature, and similar to an old man pressed on time.
"I see… Well, that's quite superior to my party and I…" I leaned forward, whilst gesturing towards her umbrella. Deep down, I knew she did something. "Are all silver adventurers like you? Afraid of getting dirty or getting sun?"
Her expression seemed too firm. She raised her eyebrow.
"If you talk about women like that, I feel bad for your wife."
"It's just an observation, not something about you specifically."
"Hmph."
My wife looked at me with furrowed eyebrows, she obviously agreed with Shen's statement.
"Alright, I'll get to our real worries. The guards at the front mentioned seeing our adopted daughter with you last night… Do you by chance know where she went?"
"Your adopted daughter? How can I possibly remember? I've met many individuals from yesterday to today." Shen remarked, her frustration slightly rose in her voice."Furthermore, if she's adopted, I can't judge based on appearances."
"Her name's Yukina, and she's a black haired animalkin. She's around my height, oh, she also has no tail." Melinda explained, mentioning her height as she pointed at herself.
"Seems like your normal wife is smarter than you. Anyways…" Shen leaned back once again, and continued. "Yes, I met her last night. She helped me get inside the adventurers' guild. The two fools at the entrance were not letting me in."
She doesn't seem to be lying.
"The guards mentioned you two never came out of the guild…"
"They were drunk as the high heavens. I'm shocked they could remember us going in. That's why I needed your clueless daughter to get in."
"So, do you know where she went?! If there's anything you could tell us, we'll take it. We can even pay you for it!" my wife sprung up, slapping the table. Her sheer nervousness was causing her entire body to shake. I had to hold her shoulders, and get her to sit down. Yes, there's hope… But, I don't have a good feeling about this woman.
"How and why would I know? She's a stranger, nothing else. You can't possibly expect me to remember everything about everyone… I've seencases everywhere, maybe due to your protectiveness she became a runaway."
"She's not a runaway! She wouldn't run away from us!"
"Honey…. Calm down…" I said to her, she slammed the table once again. Eyes were starting to look at us; she wouldn't budge, her nervousness was starting to turn to rage. I gave Shen a side eye, her expression never changed.
"Ahh, whatever." She randomly let out, then scratched her ear. My gut started to churn, and the world around me blurred. "If you have nothing else to say, go home."
Whats- What's happening… My body started to lose control, it was as if I was taken control of. I didn't want to move, but I started to rise from my seat… and so did Melinda. Yet, I was still conscious, watching. Why can't I stop?!
"Oh, looks like you still have some awareness." I heard her voice, it was muffled. Her footsteps were heavy, thundering in my head. "That's pretty impressive for someone like you."
That's when everything froze, and darkened.
"Very well…"
What is she…? I thought silver ranks were not much stronger. I wanted to move my hands, get away. But I could only watch as Shen wandered into my view. She had an evil grin, and her eyes were now glowing.
What's with her teeth…? Animalkin naturally had elongated canines, they weren't human biologically. Only animals who gained human form, yet, hers were too long and sharp.
"Mister James, how about we strike a deal." Her voice unfroze both Melinda and I, her grin never leaving. "I will help you find Miss Yukina, in return you will allow me to accompany you."
"Why do you want to help us?" I questioned her, wrapping my arm around my wife. There was a puzzled look on her face, it seemed she was questioning where she was.
"You caught my interest, no mere copper rank could resist that "spell." I will meet you in the hall."
And there, we were left alone. Melinda was looking around, her eyebrows furrowed. Eventually, she asked what had happened, why was she suddenly standing.
I pulled her in tight, my gut was screaming. This was not good, far from it. We're in her palms, silver rank was the second highest tier.
We sat back down, I was holding my head. Fate really has it out on us.
It took a while, but my shock ceased. Melinda calmed her nerves, patting my shoulder with a frown. With slight reassurance I stood from my seat, with her at my side we'll be fine.
We will find you Yukina. Wherever you are, just be careful. My eyes lingered on the roof. Eventually, we walked out the tavern's doors and into the guild's hall.
Shen was gone, must've left… The receptionist was sitting down reading a book.
"Do you know where a black haired wolfkin girl went?" I asked her, setting my free hand down on the table. Why am I asking her? The guild has an impressive communication department.
We can utilize this to our advantage! My wife squeezed my hand, she was slightly confused, why was I asking some random receptionist? I brought my free index finger to my mouth and silently shushed her.
"Um, let me check our records." The receptionist hurriedly sat up from her seat. She rushed towards the back.
"Honey?"
"I've been an adventurer for over a decade… I know their little tricks." I responded, smiling. "I may be an average adventurer, but I have the knowledge."
She came back quickly, showing us a few slips of paper. One was stamped for night, it described the few adventurers who went in.
"Ashen hair, red eyes, black suit and pale skin. That's Shen. Then… Black hair, heterochromatic eyes and darker skin." I read the descriptions aloud. "That's them, did they grab a mission by chance?"
"Yukina Gabri partied with Miss Shen, that's all this says." The receptionist explained sliding the next paper. "They took on a slime hunting mission. You can keep this as it seems urgent, just bring it back when you're finished."
Melinda and I took it, thanked her and rushed out. I held her in my arms as we ran to the rest of our group.
**********
We made a search party. It consisted of all of us, excluding Verds and Shaun's family. The more people we had, the better.
Like my wife and I, the others wanted to deny Shen's advances. She was way too dangerous to have around, and we knew nothing. And with that spell of hers…
Until, the glory of Shaun happened.
It was hours later, but the sun was ready to fall behind the horizon.
"Miss Shen, can I ask you something?" Shaun asked her, they were standing shoulder to shoulder. He was the only one who could do that without wanting to urinate themselves..
"Go on."
"What kind of skills do you have?"
Unbeknownst to us, Shen was quite open to her abilities. Similar to me, she was a healer. Unlike me however, she had chosen two classes specialized in them.
Her healing magic was way stronger, even using mine as an example. We both had the basic healing orb, a level one ability all healers gain.
Mine was half the size of hers. Which does not mean hers was double, no… it was an immeasurable difference. So much so, everyone was amazed.
Once again, I am proven to be an average being… Hahahaha, anyways. I already knew from the get go, I was average. Well, aside from my looks, that's how I stole Melinda's heart.
I wrapped my arm around my wife, she jumped from the sudden approach. Quickly calming down as I held her tight. I'm truly blessed to have her, once this is all over I have to take her on a date.
"Um… Dad, Mom we're going to fall behind everyone… we need to hurry it up!" Allisa slammed her hands against my back, then forced us to move.
We jogged a bit to catch up, they were still talking about abilities. Shaun and Verd were absolutely amazed by Shen. Silver ranks sure are something, huh?
It sure seemed like this foxkin was enjoying the attention too. Just from the side view, I can see a bright smile. Her voice was higher pitched, even the umbrella in her hands was moving.
"I would love to explain more, but those aren't relevant to our situation." Shen suddenly proclaimed. I felt a lump in my throat, I wanted to refute that… she is hiding many strong abilities.
"Can you show us sometime?" Shaun excitedly asked, he was giddy like a child. He's always been like this…. Ahhh, whatever. Shen agreed miraculously, even with a bigger smile.
Both of them cheered, we just kept walking. My family stayed silent, Allisa was nervous, she was starting to chew on her fingernails.
Please stay safe Yukina, we will find you. Don't die on us, you're part of our little family. I silently prayed to myself, my eyes looking towards the joyous foxkin ahead of us. If we don't find you, or find what is left of you… I will do something.