'Okay. Halcyform's vanishing is recent and it seems like Tarim and Daymia are more competent from what I'm gathering. Daymia was actually Halcyform's assistant. Prince Phil is nowhere near Atlas. This tavern is more crowded than it is supposed to be.'
Lina's musings were cut short by a person sitting down next to her.
"Hey, little girl. What's a person like you doing in a place like this?"
Lina looked at the stranger with contempt on her face.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lantz. Not that it really matters. Why don't the two of us head upstairs for some private talk."
Lina felt Lantz grabbing her bottom. Her face turned red and her temper rose. She quickly tossed Lantz onto the floor several feet away from her. Somehow, Lantz landed groin first on the floor. He stood up and staggered into another table and a chain reaction started. Lina watched in amusement as a bar fight broke out in front of her.
"A floor show," Lina muttered. "At least it'll keep me entertained as I figure out what's going on."
"Lina, you really should clean up your mess."
Lina turned and saw Gourry looking down at her with a bit of reproach in his eyes.
"Hey, that Lantz guy started it."
Gourry cocked his head to one side. "Hmm. True. If you hadn't done something, I was going to. At any rate, don't you think you should do something about this?"
Lina scratched her head. "I'm not sure what. I can cast Sleeping, but it won't target everybody. I really don't want to destroy the inn, since I paid for our rooms."
Whatever was about to be said was cut off as the inn door opened and a wind howled through. The fight stopped and in the eerie silence a man dressed all in black came into the inn.
'This is definitely different,' Lina thought.
The man in black spoke. "I'm looking for a bodyguard. If you are confident in your skills and desirous of riches, then speak. The sponsor is Mr. Tarim. It is an excellent offer, I assure you."
'This is not the guy who did the recruiting the first time around. He looks and feels extremely capable. I don't want to get involved with an immortal sorcerer and a Mazoku, but I need some more information,' Lina thought.
"I'll listen to your offer," Lina said.
Lantz stood up and said, "Hey, you're that...."
"Lantz, quiet," the man in black said and looked at Lina. "And you are?"
"Give me your name first," Lina said, fighting a shudder and thought, 'I faced down the Darklord Darkstar. Get hold of yourself Lina. He is more skilled, but that's it.'
"Fine. My name is Rod."
"Lina."
"Lina? Ah. So, you are the Lina Inverse I've heard so much about."
"You don't know the half of it," Lina replied with a smile, using her memories of her previous fights to bolster her confidence.
"Very well, come along," Rod said.
"Come on, Gourry," Lina said.
"Me?" Gourry said, as he was making an attempt to get some of Lina's food.
Rod had pulled his sword and had tried to attack Gourry, but checked his swing when he realized what was going. Gourry checked part of the swing, as he parried the sword with a fork.
Rod bowed his head. "You are quite good. I would like to duel with you sometime."
"You're quite good as well. However, job first. Fun later."
"Agreed," Rod said.
Lina thought, 'Who the heck is this guy? He's incredibly skilled and working for Tarim. He has no need of a black magic sword.'
_______________________________________________________________________
As Lina, Gourry, and Rod made their way to Tarim's mansion, a group of thugs stepped out and barred their way. Lina rolled her eyes at the cliche roadblock. Lina let Rod handle the thugs, as she scanned the area. She had felt a familiar threat when the thugs showed up.
'No. I'm not going to put up with this.'
Lina idly noted that when the remaining thugs tried to run away from Rod, Lantz had shown up and cut them down.
"Seygrum! I know you're there. Come out!" Lina yelled.
Lina cast Levitation, as the ground turned to mud. She looked up and saw Daymia's chimera hovering above them. Lina shook her head and muttered the amplification spell to activate her talismans.
"I, the great Krauss, shall be your downfall," Kraus said. For the honor of Daymia..."
"Flare Arrow!"
A normal Flare Arrow is quite powerful. But Lina's boosted Flare Arrow was more than enough to quick roast Krauss and sent his corpse plummeting to the ground.
"Seygrum!" Lina yelled once more.
She shook her head in disgust and dug the others out of the non-muddy street. Gourry and the others looked at her.
"Seygrum?" Gourry asked.
"He won't recall the meeting, but I do. He almost killed me the last time we met," Lina replied. "If he's in the area, it's going to be difficult."
"He sounds quite powerful," Rod said.
"He is," Lina replied.
"Interesting," Rod said. "But, let's not keep Tarim waiting."
Elsewhere, the Mazoku Seygrum was staring in confusion at Lina Inverse. Standing beside him was another Mazoku by the name of Geos Gaia
"When did I ever meet Lina Inverse?"
"Maybe she was a side victim in one of the plots that resulted in a major explosion. She did state that you probably wouldn't recall the meeting," Geos replied.
"That could work to our advantage of freeing Halcyform. We'll have to make sure that Lina Inverse takes the job to become Tarim's bodyguard."
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(Posted Tue, 25 Oct 2005 02:04)
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