Time flies by fast, huh? Watching those two friends bicker and laugh with each other was surely a cozy sight for Kaio. He looked up at the sky, as its orange hue was comforting for him, and yet it seemed like he was seeing some dark grey clouds looming over the horizon. Looks like it's gonna rain soon.
The ice cream at this point has been long gone, most of it being eaten by the fox beastman, as Kaio heard about his stories through Maya. It seemed like Agrippa had a rough childhood as a beastman, thanks to those rumors, leading him to be bullied a lot. A pang of guilt somewhat fell down Kaio's body, the strengthening wind flowing against his jacket and hair, which made Maya notice them.
"Oh, yeah, I didn't ask this yet, but you surely don't look like you're from here, Kaio. Where're you from?"
"Oh, I'm-" But before he could explain himself, Agrippa softly put a hand in front of his mouth.
"Let me explain it." He said, as Kaio nodded somewhat curiously.
"Y'know a few weeks ago, last time I contacted you? About the new guild I was in?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember. You said something about your leader recruiting a rather weird healer, right? Is he their brother or something?" She asked, licking some ice cream off her spoon.
"Not exactly, but they do come from the same… place, to say the least." He muttered, his lie being very much clear from Maya's perspective.
"You clearly are hiding something from me, we both know how crap you are at lying." She said, pointing her spoon at Agrippa.
"Geez, fine." The beastman said, looking annoyed. "They both came from a place called… Japan."
"...No way, is he like those legendary warriors from millennia ago?!" She stood up from her chair, suddenly looking way more interested in Kaio. "Powerful warriors coming from a different world, some of them did mention coming from Japan!" Kaio looked visibly uncomfortable with the way she looked at him. She quickly noticed that and coughed into her fist, sitting back down as the dark clouds covered the orange sky. "Ahem. My apologies. You see, I'm really into the history of Sepea, and there's a lot of books detailing about mighty, powerful warriors that came here many many years ago, to defeat some sort of evil king or something. For the longest time I thought that was nothing more than some fairytale, but… if you're here, that means it's true huh?" She said with a smile.
Not long after, heavy thunders started to arise from the sky, startling all of them. "Looks like it's gonna be a heavy one…" Agrippa muttered, finishing the last of the ice cream on his bowl before he stood up. "C'mon, we need a place to stay before moving out."
"You just arrived, and you're already going out again…?" Maya muttered under her breath, a hand holding against her own shoulder.
Agrippa stopped on his tracks as he heard that, his ears drooping slightly. "Listen…" But before he could explain himself further, some screams came out from the other side of the river.
"Lycurgis!" They screamed, as they ran from the bridge. As the three of them looked at what they were running from, they gasped.
Dark blue wolves, at least 6 of them, their flaming tails swooshed from behind them as they snarled, the fire emanating from them being a bright purple, their three red eyes scanning for their next prey, their eyes landing on one of the girls that interacted with the fox beastman earlier. As one of them pounced at the girl…
"VULPES!!" Was all the creature could hear before it was punched out of the way, the panting fox flexing his enlarged handpaws before turning himself to the rest of the wolves. "C'mon! Who's next!?" He yelled, standing in front of the girl as she ran back to her parents, on the other side of the bridge.
"Aren't you gonna do something?!" Maya yelled at Kaio, who was cowering himself in fear behind one of the chairs.
"I-I don't know what I should do!" He yelled back, cowering more.
"Didn't you get a legendary weapon or something?! All of the warriors had one!" Kaio shook his head in return, which only made Maya let out a defeated sigh. "Pathetic. Lucky for you, I always come prepared." She grabbed something out of her pockets and tossed it to Kaio. It was a miniature crossbow, no longer than the length from his middle finger to slightly under his palm, alongside a bag filled with small arrows.
"I'm not gonna let him do this alone… not again." She muttered, grabbing two switchblades from another one of her pockets. "You need to cover for the both of us." She said to Kaio, who was slightly shaking from the sudden adrenaline.
"Wai-" He couldn't even finish as she ran into battle, slashing one of the Lycurgis' sides as it was reaching to bite Agrippa from the back.
"What are you doing here!?" He yelled, standing back-to-back against her.
"Saving your butt, dumbass. I'll cover your rear. Kaio can help you at a distance." She said in return, slashing another one of the wolves, this time killing it as it stood down. "One down, five more to go!"
Kaio took some deep breaths. While he did take some archery classes in high school, he was still unsure if he was up for the task. He decided to give it a literal shot anyway, taking a small, sharp wooden arrow out of the bag and loading it into the crossbow, and shooting, the arrow barely missing Agrippa's large hand. "Hey, watch where you're shooting!" He yelled, punching another Lycurgis to death.
"I-I'm sorry!" Kaio yelled in return, taking more deep breaths as the rain began, and yet the wolves' flaming bodies stood tall. Another shot. Loading in. And shoot. This time, it hit one of the wolves right on its muzzle, passing right through it, making it let out a loud howl in pain. He didn't waste any time, loading in the next arrow and shooting it around the same area, this time hitting it right in one of its eyes, making it bleed bright purple blood, and as it fell on the ground, it scorched its wet grass.
"Hmph. Nice shot, Kaio!" Maya said, going out of her way to slash the same wolf's neck, killing it instantly. Before she could get to the rest of them, however, they only snarled and ran away, seemingly not trying their chances seeing three of them had already fallen.
The rain fell down harder, making it impossible to see them after they ran, so it was no use to run after them.
All three of them were breathing heavily. "Goodness, I thought I was a goner this time, hehe." Maya chuckled, as she put the switchblades back in her pockets.
"You could've gotten seriously hurt, Maya!" Agrippa yelled, holding onto her shoulders as his paws morphed back into his regular large hands.
"You really need to trust me more, Agrippa! You were always there for me at my times of need, why can't I repay you?" She said, her tears being masked by the heavy rain above them.
"I don't want you getting hurt over my curse!" He yelled back, crying as well.
"What curse?! We both know that was just some bullshit the Ars Nova Knights invented as an excuse to put your fellows to near extinction, and what remains of you are now being used as either slaves or bait for more daemons!"
This time, Agrippa had nothing to say, looking away at Kaio, as he approached the two of them.
"I've been your best friend for years, goddamnit! Let me help you through thick and thin!" She said, hugging against the beastman's large, wet body, with Kaio following suit.
"I don't understand what happened between you two but… it's okay. You're not alone anymore. You have us."
The rain rages on as the three of them hugged each other in silence. Ironically, it was the first time Agrippa felt so warm.