Casual Heroing, Chapter 239

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Next chapter comes out on February 16th!

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Chapter 239 – Trust

"Lucinda, wait!" Before Lucinda could take another step as Aemilianus walked away, Clodia gently touched her arm. “Hey, wait a moment.”

“Clodia?” Lucinda looked surprised by the interruption.

“Hi, sorry. I saw Joey walking away, and I was worried that something had happened. Is everything ok?”

Amelia finally caught up to Clodia with a deep sigh, looking mightily displeased.

“Clodia, can we just go dance?” The statuesque Elf said with an annoyed look at her partner.

“Just one rotten moment,” Clodia replied with a scoff.

Lucinda realized that the two might have already had some argument of sorts.

Clodia looked from Lucinda to Amelia before saying anything, looking unusually worried and slightly annoyed.

"Lucinda, he's kind of a mess," Clodia suddenly said, sounding concerned. She sounded like she really wanted Lucinda to understand that she believed in Joey. "But, even when he seems like a total disaster, there's more to him than that. Don’t take offense when he just walks away."

Lucinda smiled at Clodia, “it’s not like that; don’t worry. I didn’t even know he was being instructed by a Vanedeni. He went out with Lisith; that’s all.”

Her words, however sincere, didn’t seem to calm Clodia down. In a way, it looked like the muscular Elf could read her mind.

Standing in the Valeria estate, with all the floating lights making everything look luxurious, Clodia looked stuck in a talk that wasn’t going the way she wanted.

"He's really good at changing things for the better," Clodia kept going, ignoring Lucinda’s reassurance, moving her hands a lot to make her point. "He almost got into big trouble but ended up working with the [Princess] because of us." She smiled a little, clearly proud of what Joey had done.

Lucinda was surprised, but she paid close attention. Her deep purple eyes caught the light in the garden. For some reason, as Clodia kept her hand over Lucinda’s arm, she started to feel better.

Lucinda agreed, thinking about her experience with Joey. "I get that," she said, showing she cared about him too. It was true – Joey always had a knack for turning tough situations into wins, which made Lucinda like him even more. “I’m just a bit worried tonight. It’s just... it’s silly. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just not used to parties and not practicing magic all day long.”

But then, right when things started to look up, Amelia jumped in with a sharp, unhappy tone. "Joey’s irresponsible, disorganized, and highly unreliable," she declared, her gaze fixed on Clodia. "The [Princess] did the work that made this event and our invitation to it possible. Not Joey. He didn’t do a damn thing."

Clodia’s face fell. She opened her mouth to respond, but Amelia continued, her voice rising with every word. "In fact, Clodia, since you are praising his fruits so much, where was he while we had to work harder than ever to make this happen?" Amelia's eyes bore into Clodia, challenging her to defend Joey's absence.

The tension rose when a flicker of pink hair appeared nearby.

"What did you just say?" Flaminia's voice was sharp, cutting through the surrounding chatter like a knife. Her stance was more than confrontational: it looked like Flaminia was downright on the verge of assaulting Amelia.

However, Amelia’s gaze was fierce and unyielding, fixed upon Flaminia. There seemed to be sparks flying between the two crossed gazes.

Amelia, unbothered by Flaminia's aggressive approach, replied with equal venom. "You heard me, you little slut," she sneered, her disdain for Flaminia evident from her tone. "Why don't you stop being all over your supposed boss and find a date of your own?"

Lucinda, standing a few steps away, felt a rush of embarrassment wash over her. She couldn't shake off the feeling that Flaminia's aggressive stance might be rooted in jealousy, perhaps because of her own interest in Joey. She glanced at Flaminia, trying to gauge her reaction.

But Flaminia remained unfazed, her eyes locked on Amelia. "Joey saved me from struggling with a weak Class for the rest of my life, Amelia," she retorted, her voice steady but laced with anger. "Unlike you, I'm capable of showing some rotten gratitude.”

Amelia scoffed at Flaminia's words, her expression one of incredulity. "Gratitude? For what? For almost bankrupting a perfectly functional business? For driving our profits into the ground because he barely shows up to work?" Her words dripped with disdain.

Flaminia's face hardened, her jaw clenching in anger. "I'll plant my elbow so deep into your skull," she threatened, her voice low and dangerous, "that it might just fix that rotten head of yours. We had to take risks to expandthe business. And guess what? It worked, you dumb cow."

"It worked?" Amelia raised an eyebrow, her tone mocking. "You mean, he was sent to jail, leaving us uncertain of our future while Camilla sold all our assets to realize a prisoner's plan? I'm still going along with this because I'm the only one who seems to have one shred of sense left. In fact, if any of you were actually thinking straight, we would be voting Joey—"

As Amelia was about to continue her tirade, Clodia stepped forward, her usual meek demeanor replaced by a surge of anger. "Finish that thought, and you're not working at Happy Bakery no more, Amelia," she said firmly, her voice resonating with authority. "We talked about this in private, and if you want to complain more in private, I'm happy to listen. But this is not the place to vent. And, as your partner in business, if you say one more word about ousting Joey from what he created, we'll buy out your stake, and you can go your own merry way."

Amelia's face contorted with rage, but before she could unleash her fury, Flaminia interjected smugly. "I overheard you complaining about Clodia not being able to separate work from friends and pleasure. But it looks like you're mixing business and love, Amelia. How about you shut your filthy sewer hole and avoid being fired and dumped in the same night?"

“Excuse me,” Lucinda coughed, trying to defuse the situation. “I really don’t want to mix with any of your business. Clodia, I swear I’m good with Joey. I just saw a childhood friend of mine, and I’ll go catch up with him. I’ll see you guys later.”

Lucinda basically bolted away from the conversation to avoid it escalating in her presence and somehow involved her. She looked around to find Augustus, her doubts about her relationship with Joey just about rekindled by Amelia’s poisonous words.

...

In the Valeria estate's sprawling gardens, under the moonlight and the twinkling stars, Joey found himself in conversation with Lisith, the Vanedeni warrior with white hair and a good streak of threats to his life. The cool night air carried the distant sound of laughter and music, but in their secluded corner, the atmosphere was tense.

"Can you cast some anti-[Scry] stuff?" Joey asked, his voice low, mindful of the ears that might be straining to overhear their dialogue amidst the celebrations.

"Sure," Lisith replied, her tone equally subdued. She reached into the folds of her attire, retrieving an amulet that glimmered faintly in the night. "Artifacts," she explained, holding the amulet aloft, "are better than spells at this." With a gentle flick of her wrist, a small bubble enveloped them, a barrier against prying eyes and ears.

"What have you decided, Joey Luciani?" she inquired, her gaze piercing through his soul. "Are you interested in knowing more about your roots or maybe sharing something of your training with me? Perhaps… sharing a bed, instead? If that’s what you’re looking for, we’ll have to duel before you gain that honor."

Joey, taken aback, shook his head. He was about to make a salacious comment before he caught himself, shaking his head to clear the sudden rush of thoughts. "I just need to know something about the Vanedeni culture," he said, steering the conversation back to safer waters. "My master… he’s disappeared on me recently. He usually stalks me so hard that you’d almost believe he lives under my skin. But now, he’s just not there anymore. Is it part of the Vanedeni culture? Abandoning your disciple?"

Lisith's expression darkened, her brows knitting together. "The Vanedeni do not abandon their kin," she stated firmly. "Have you done anything that might have warranted such an occurrence? But even then, he would have killed you if your transgression had been that serious, not just abandoned you. That is, if he’s a true Vanedeni."

Joey let out a long breath, the weight of her words settling heavily upon him. "Oh, believe me," he assured her, "he’s a Vanedeni, alright. I… risked my life for training. He warned me about it, but I still put everything on the line and might have damaged my soul, or maybe my magic, while doing so. He was helping me out during training. I don’t know what to make of it."

Joey was still grappling with the weight of Magister Mulligan’s unexplained absence. And he was really hoping that Lisith would be able to provide some answers. “You're saying he vanished, even after warning you of the dangers in your training?"

He nodded, a mixture of frustration and concern evident in his eyes. "Yes, he warned me. Said it was dangerous, could end badly. But he didn't stop me, he just... let me proceed, knowing the risks." His hands gestured vaguely.

Lisith seemed lost in thought for a moment, her eyes narrowing in contemplation. "What you've described," she began slowly, "it hints at something... a ritual perhaps, but without a mark..." Her voice trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging, unfinished.

The mention of a ritual caught Joey off guard. "A ritual?" he echoed. "What kind of a ritual? And what mark?"

The Vanedeni warrior's lips pursed slightly, her demeanor shifting to one of cautious deliberation. "Our traditions are ancient, entrenched in rituals that... I can’t tell you the details. But what you're suggesting, without a mark, it's... unlikely." Lisith's gaze was piercing as if trying to peel back the layers of Joey's existence to find the truth hidden beneath.

Joey, feeling a surge of urgency, pressed on. "But if there's a chance, any chance at all, that something was done, something that could explain his disappearance..."

Lisith reached into her attire and produced a small, ornate knife. The blade caught the moonlight, glimmering in the faint scene. "There is one way to know for sure," she stated, her voice carrying even more weight. "The rituals of our people leave a mark, not on the flesh, but on the soul. Give me your hand, Joey Luciani. We're about to uncover the truth of your training, to see if one of the most ancient and sacred rituals of the Vanedeni was performed on you."

Joey hesitated.

The garden around them, with its beauty and partying, seemed to fade away, leaving them in a sphere of their own where nothing else existed.

Taking a deep breath, Joey extended his hand toward Lisith, his heart pounding in his chest. The Vanedeni warrior's fingers were steady as she took his hand, the knife’s blade already touching his palm. "We're about to find out if one of the most ancient rituals of our people was performed," she repeated, her eyes locking with his, a promise of discovery shimmering within their depths. "We're about to find out whether you were made into a [Hero]'s lineage."