"Those... mixtures aren't simple spices for soup, Brother."
She pointed with the tip of her armored boot at the broken vials shining on the dirty alley floor, mixing with trash and the blood of the thugs.
"That is mind distortion alchemy. Class 3 contraband. Stuff made to rot the mind, trap the spirit and spit on Zhalyr's holy doctrine."
Every word was a hit. BAM! BAM!
Inside, Raziel's mind was absolute chaos.
But outside, he tried to put on his best innocent and stupid novice face, even though his hands were shaking a bit.
"I swear they aren't mine!" he blurted out.
"I was just... doing a favor for a friend. I am a novice, Sister. I serve the Light and I would never touch that crap."
He bit his tongue. 'Crap?' Maybe that sounded too aggressive.
The Paladin tilted her head, and that look of disgust didn't disappear, but deepened, as if she just smelled something rotten.
"A friend?" she repeated, with skepticism so sharp it cut.
"A friend who trusts a weak novice to carry illegal merchandise worth more than your whole life? A friend with connections to buy poison in the black market?"
She took a step toward him. Her armor's shadow covered Raziel.
"Tell me, Brother... Who is that 'friend'? Or is he your supplier?"
Raziel opened his mouth to invent a lie, anything, but fate decided to play its stupidest card.
"Raziel! Finally I found you!"
Lucian appeared turning the corner, his immaculate silk clothes shining ridiculously in the middle of the alley's filth.
He stopped dead. His eyes went from Raziel to the unconscious guys on the floor, and finally, to the mess of broken glass and spilled liquids.
His face went white as paper.
"IMBECILE!" Lucian screamed, totally ignoring the six-foot-six armed woman standing there.
"Those are my things! Do you have any idea what that Manticore extract cost?! It was for a experiment!"
Raziel closed his eyes and sighed, feeling his soul leaving his body.
'Done. Thanks for participating, Lucian.'
He had tried to cover for him, he had tried to be loyal, but Lucian's stupidity was an unstoppable force of nature.
Lucian ran to the disaster, kneeling almost crying over the remains of his magic drugs, but then, he felt the presence. The Paladin's shadow fell over him.
Lucian looked up, annoyed, ready to insult whoever was blocking his light.
"Hey, you, move, I'm..."
He shut up.
Lucian's mouth stayed open. His arrogance evaporated in a second, replaced by pure terror.
"Odessa?"
The Paladin, who until that moment looked like a statue of divine justice, relaxed her shoulders.
"Hello, Lucian," she said, dryly. "Long time no see."
Raziel blinked, confused. He looked at Lucian, who looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him, and then at the lethal woman.
"Wait..." muttered Raziel, feeling he was missing something important. "You two... know each other?"
Odessa Grand let out a short chuckle, humorless, and turned to Raziel. The amusement in her eyes was cold, dangerous.
"Lucian and I are... acquaintances," she said, savoring the discomfort of the moment. "You see... we are family."
"She's my cousin!" squealed Lucian, jumping to his feet and dusting off his knees, trying to recover some dignity although it was already too late.
"By the gods, Odessa! You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here dressed like that? Nobody knew you had joined the sword fanatics!"
Raziel felt the world spinning.
'Cousin? Odessa? Wait... in my memories of the past life... Lucian didn't have a relevant Paladin cousin!'
Raziel's internal panic leveled up. Unknown information meant incalculable danger.
"I... don't understand," stuttered Raziel, looking at Lucian with the urge to strangle him. "You never mentioned a Paladin in the family."
Lucian shifted uncomfortably, running a hand through his perfect hair.
"It's... complicated, Raz. Odessa and the family... well, they don't talk much. She is the black sheep or the white sheep, I guess, given the armor."
Odessa didn't smile at the joke.
Her gaze locked onto Raziel again, and then Lucian, and this time, there was a heavy accusation in the air.
"Seems like there are many things left unsaid in this family," she said, and her hand rested casually on the pommel of her sword. "And you, little cousin, just confessed screaming that you are the owner of heretical contraband."
Lucian paled again.
"It's not what you think, Odessa," started Lucian, raising his hands, using his 'I'm a noble, believe me' tone. "I can explain. It's purely academic..."
"Odessa, please!" interrupted Raziel, taking a step forward because he knew if he let Lucian talk, they would end up on the stake. "We didn't have bad intentions. I... I was just trying to help him look for answers. About... about what happened at the Academy."
It was a half-truth, the best kind of lie.
But Odessa's eyes narrowed.
"Answers?" Her voice dropped an octave, becoming dangerous. "What answers? What are you two hiding?"
Raziel felt cold sweat going down his back. He was trapped. If he said too much, he revealed he knew the future. If he said too little, he looked like a cultist.
Lucian, feeling the water reaching his neck, tried to use his charm.
"Just curiosity, cousin. You know how I am. I get excited with alchemy and..."
"Your 'curiosity' almost killed a novice and funds the black market," she cut in, implacable. "And now I find my cousin and a suspicious cleric in an alley with thugs and drugs."
Odessa took a step back, but not to leave. But to see them both better, like a judge passing sentence.
"This isn't over," she said, and the final tone of her voice made Raziel's blood freeze. "I'm going to find out what you two are plotting and if I find a single stain of Heresy..."
She didn't finish the sentence since it wasn't necessary.
'Great,' thought Raziel, feeling a terrible urge to laugh and cry at the same time.
'I survived the villainess, I survived the rebirth, but now I have an A-Rank Paladin breathing down my neck thanks to my idiot partner.'
This was going to be hell.