[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 100 - Herb Your Enthusiasm II

Miranda made sure to check in on Shrubley frequently. Cal, Smudge, and Slyrox demanded it, even if they knew they couldn’t do anything to help him.

When the little shrub was tucked into bed, Miranda took him to the rooms she had set up for the group. Several people were unhappy about the move, but nobody dared to say anything to the Countess.

“Sometimes having a reputation is helpful,” she said after placing Shrubley into a much more comfortable and, above all, private bed at the Rooster’s Rest.

“Even if you didn’t, you’re still much bigger than them,” Sose pointed out.

“That doesn’t get you as far as you would think,” Miranda told Sose. “There are more Coppers and Irons here than in Taamra by far.

“Maybe it would get you farther with the Guild Leader,” Sose suggested with a snicker.

She rolled her eyes at him. “He is a nice boy, that’s all.”

“Uh huh.”

Miranda wandered the town during the early hours. It was her favorite time of day. Everybody was fast asleep. The dawn was coming, but it wasn’t yet painful or deadly to young vampyrs.

It was the time when even a young and weak vampyr could see a little bit of natural light without risking death.

“Y’know, there’s lots to buy here,” her familiar said from the safety of her hood. “Could stock up on ingredients, potions, and even manuals. Not seeing any essences though. Bet they’re too pricey even for around here.”

Miranda caught a scurrying figure paralleling down an alley. She marked their position, and then promptly ignored them. They weren’t even Copper.

“That’s true,” she said. “However, I’m their teacher, not their investor. I will not be bankrolling their entire adventure, Sose. Any essences here would be too costly. Most people here are working to get by. You see any nobility here?”

“Just the one.”

“Exactly. And even he does proper work. We’re not going to see essences for sale–and definitely not good essences–until we’re well within the Middle Ring. The Outer Ring might have some deals, but there’s no telling for sure, and we’re still days away from the most distant Outer Ring towns and villages.”

Miranda did a circuit of the town’s inner walls, then looped back toward the Guild and the Rooster’s Rest. Along the way, she purchased some bundled cooking ingredients from the early-riser shopkeepers that Sose picked out with a scrutinizing paw. With his sensitive nose and artisan proficiency, he could select higher quality ingredients than the average chef, imparting a greater chance of essence boons and the like.

No town was without its thieves and cutpurses, but this felt different.

As if somebody was stalking her out of curiosity rather than the suicidal notion of trying to pickpocket a vampyr.

Finally, she stepped into her pursuer’s alley, cloaked in Shadow mana, emerging from the darkness right in front of a young girl. Hardly a woman in the vampyr’s eyes.

“What are you doing following me?” she asked imperiously.

There was no worry that the woman would disobey a direct question, even without any compulsion behind the words.

The poor thing shook so much that Miranda nearly felt bad. Nearly.

Konko’s eyes widened with horror. “I-I didn’t mean anything by it! I just saw you come here with Shrubley, and I was worried about what he’d said to the Guild Leader!”

“And why, pray tell, would you be worried about that?”

“Because… we had a run-in, and it was not exactly good.”

“Did you hurt Shrubley?” Miranda asked, looming like an impending threat.

“No! Well… no, not that I didn’t try, but he was protected!” The young girl put up her hands and waved them as if trying to erase her words. “No, that’s not… okay, it’s the truth, but I didn’t know. I wanted to apologize, but every chance I got, I chickened out, okay? I’m a coward!”

Miranda looked her up and down. “And you wanted to make sure that Shrubley didn’t put in a bad word about you.”

“Yes! No! I don’t know!” Konko dropped into a low squat and hugged her knees.

Sose made a quiet, uneasy noise.

Okay, enough fun, she thought to herself. Miranda could tell the girl was close to breaking, and she didn’t even do anything yet. “If you knew Shrubley at all, you would know that he would never do something like that. So you’re worrying for nothing. Oh, I’m sure he knows who you are. He remembers everybody, but he isn’t likely to hold it against you for being a bad person.”

“I…” She shook her head. “Could you tell him I’m sorry?”

“No. I am not a messenger. You tell him yourself.”

“My Mistress is right,” Sose spoke up. He rarely did so around humans as of late. “Unless ya tell him personally, the guilt will haunt ya the rest of your days.”

Konko’s eyes went wider with fear. “Haunt me?”

“Poor choice of words, Sose,” Miranda said.

“Eh, figure of speech, little girl!” Sose said, shaking his head. Konko wasn’t nearly that young, but she practically was compared to Miranda in the oppa’s mind.

“O-oh… okay. Where is Shrubley then?” Konko asked. “I tried to talk to the Guild Leader, but he was in the hospital and busy all night. And when I finally came back from eating, he had retired for the night.”

“You’ll have to wait until the morning. He isn’t a creature of the night like I am.”

That reminder made the young woman stand up and take a few shuffling steps back. “Right… right. You’re absolutely right. I am sorry for bothering you, Countess.”

“You know me?” Miranda raised a manicured brow.

“Everybody knows you, miss! You’re the Countess Haalften. My ma told me stories about you when I was a baby, and her ma to her.”

“You’re from Taamra.”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s where I met Shrubley. I was… a newly minted adventurer and was trying to hunt monsters. Honestly, I didn’t know monsters could be sapient! I’ve since asked every single one I’ve met a series of questions intended to ascertain how sapient they are.” She hugged herself and Miranda could see the bandages wrapped around her forearms.

The vampyr was able to resist the faint scented trace of blood easily enough. The girl was too weak to be remotely appetizing.

However, if Miranda was starving, that would have been a different matter entirely.

“That is how you came to be so scratched up?”

“It’s not a perfect system,” Konko muttered quietly. “But I won’t have the death of a sapient creature on my conscience. I’m not a bad person… just misguided.”

I hear that, Miranda thought to herself. “You will not enjoy the life of an adventurer then. You’ll only get yourself killed and feed a monster too cunning by half.”

“Then how will I ever get enough money to be an Alchemist? I tried so hard, but then Taamra was attacked and my mentor was killed. Taamra has no Alchemist, and I’m not good enough to fill her shoes. So I came here, hoping to find an apprenticeship, but there are already 10 others looking for the same slot and they’re proper adventurers. F-Grade and higher!”

Miranda looked her up and down. “You need a sponsor.”

Through her connection to her familiar, Miranda picked up on a sense of opportunity from Sose. He tapped a paw on her cheek, suggesting that he wanted her to intervene in some way.

“Of course! But I also need a teacher. Even with all the money in the world, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with it unless I had somebody to teach me.”

“You could go to Sormwynn,” Miranda told her. “There are academies, schools of all types there. They are expensive, but the money would buy you entry to sit in front of a panel of Judicars. So long as you have a good enough head on your shoulders, you would be able to get in.”

Or a large enough bank account, Miranda added privately, remembering how stupid but spoiled some people were.

Konko looked down. “I’m not strong enough to make it. I barely could reach this town.”

“Not with asking every monster if they were a real boy or girl,” Miranda scoffed. “Where are you staying?”

“Oh… here and there.”

“You don’t have a room?” Miranda asked, incredulous. Sose whimpered. He was a disreputable oppa for sure, but even he had his limits.

“Not as such… no. My funds are rather meager. I was given a small amount for aiding in Taamra’s defense, but I have to spend most of it on food and supplies.” She glared defiantly at the Countess. “I don’t mind a little rough living. It’s not a big deal.”

Realization dawned on Miranda. Her fool husband had poorly mismanaged Taamra’s recovery. The one thing he was to be responsible for.

And yet, she couldn’t deny that she was partly to blame as well. Miranda did not wish to stay. They had treated her as a selfless hero, not so much their fearsome ruler.

Anger simmered within Miranda.

She reached out, quick as a viper, and grasped the girl’s wrist like an iron manacle.

“What’re you doing? Get off of me!” Konko cried.

“You’re coming with me, little girl,” Miranda snarled, dragging her out of the alley and into the light of a nearby streetlamp. “I’m not having one of my citizens sleep on foreign streets while I can help it. You’re going to learn alchemy, and you’re going to do it right.”

“I don’t need a handout!” Konko cried, trying and failing to wrench her hand out of the Countess’ grip. “Why do you even care? You left Taamra! Why would you want to help now?”

Miranda spun around, careful to keep her hand on the girl’s wrist still to avoid whipping her into a nearby building and–very likely–killing her in the process.

Her face was inches from the girl’s as she said, “I have always been there for Taamra. From the days when it was just a little campfire of stupid humans looking to settle somewhere new to the day it was attacked by the latest in a long list of enemies. Do not think for a moment that I no longer care. It is not wrong to put yourself first from time to time.”

Konko swallowed whatever she was going to say and nodded mutely. “You can let me go,” she said meekly. “I won’t run.”

Miranda gave her a feral grin. “Oh, I know you won’t. But we’re doing this my way.” She turned around and resumed dragging her up the street past various closed shops until they arrived at the Rooster’s Rest.

“You’re going to get a room, and in the morning I’m going to give you some materials to study. Within reason, you will have what you need to hone your craft.”

“But…” Konko trailed off, realizing she was about to try to change the Countess’ mind.

This was exactly what she wanted.

“In exchange, you will join our traveling group of adventurers as our camp Alchemist and assist me in teaching others the craft. Additionally, you will assist Shrubley in curing whatever ails this town.”

Konko’s eyes went even wider. Her head spun with the sudden twist of events. Going from doing her best to avoid hurting sapient monsters to working alongside them, teaching them what she scarcely knew herself, was a large leap.

“I have one further stipulation,” the Countess continued darkly, plotting for the future. If the noble could help it, Taamra would not go without a lifesaving Alchemist again. “One day, once you have become a Master Alchemist, you will return to Taamra and open up a school to pass down your calling to my subjects until you have risen at least 3 fully fledged Alchemists.”

Defying all the odds, a quest emblazoned in Shardscript appeared for Konko, presenting remarkably similar terms as to what Miranda Haalften outlined.

The young woman would be the greatest fool of them all to deny the will of the Shard.