"Thank you," he said, nearly in tears as he shivered with terror, "Thank you so much," he sheathed the sword and turned to Olu, who still looked pretty pissed, "See…nothing to worry about, no harm no foul,"
"You should be grateful your new friend is generous," Olu said as he began sheathing his sword. Before he could put it away, Zoey saw her chance to get vengeance on Vern for decking her mistress in the face.
"I sincerely doubt Billie sees him as a friend," Zoey noted, "especially after he decked her in the face," Olu's death aura returned with a vengeance. "I suppose she's just a very forgiving person,"
"I can see you're not," Billie noted as she scratched her cheek awkwardly. Olu drew his sword and pointed it at Vern.
"Since you have been without your blade for some time, allow me to give you a refresher course," Olu said.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly cut into your time; we are in a hurry after all, so…"
"I say," Gunter began running his fingers through his beard as he spoke, "Didn't Billie say we were spending the night?"
"Seems you have time now," Olu suddenly appeared behind Vern and put his hand on his shoulder. "Come," Olu walked away, and Vern followed, looking as though he was on his way to his execution.
"I see you hold a grudge," Gale noted to Zoey.
"I do not forgive easily," Zoey replied.
"Jaden, it's been too long," Gunter said, walking up to Jaden, who had silently laughed at the ordeal before her. "I see you've finally got your hands on your dream weapon, and they're enchanted, too,"
"A gift from the town's new leader," Jaden said. "They're out on business at the moment and aren't expected to be back for several more days, so I doubt you'll be able to meet them today,"
"So Belin did sell?" Gale said, shaking her head. "Seeing as monsters are still here; I'm guessing you're now a part of Ozama?"
"We are not," Jaden informed. "We are still very independent," Jaden motioned to the town. "I have duties to attend, so I can't stay much longer, but Belin has been hanging around the Crab stand since he no longer needs to run the town; I'm sure he'll happily answer your questions,"
"Gale?" Gunter pleaded, "Could you go get some information from Belin? I would like to spend some time with my wife,"
"Sure, dump all the responsibility on me," Gale said with a groan. Gunter thanked her with a bow and then rushed down the street, turning down a side lane and disappearing. "Guess you two are with me," Gale said with a groan. "Come on then, let's go say hi to Belin,"
The trio went down the street, and Billie instantly recognized Belin. He wore the same outfit as before: a Robe with a sash, which was more form-fitting and made of material that could withstand his movements so he didn't have to walk around shirtless.
"I was told Belin would be here," Gale said, looking around. Belin turned away from his Crab legs at the sound of his name. "But I'm not seeing him,"
"Why if it ain't Abigale," Belin said, making Gale freeze before turning to look at him, "How have you been?" He said with a grin.
"Belin!?" she demanded in shock, and he stood up. " What the hell happened to you?"
"Ah, yes!" Belin proudly hit his chest. I gave ownership of the town to my new Mistress, and in return, she restored my youth!" Belin laughed at the look on Gale's face.
"What kind of crazy sorceress can do that!?" She demanded before gasping, "Did you swear to serve under Demon Lord Mimzy? I heard he can his subordinates younger or something,"
"Oh no," Belin said, his eyes shining, "I sold out to a far more majestic creature; I now serve an actual elf,"
"Bullshit," Gale shot back, "Elfs are just fantasy stories that the Demon lords made up to keep humans away from their nations under threat of being turned into trees and what have you,"
"It is true!" Belin replied, "This elf was protecting the last of the natural population of Axol-lights when Jacob Razzor, son of Arlow Razzor, right-hand man to King Odren, Killed most of them off while she was away. She did to them as she did to me, Granted them great power, and turned them into Axol-Mights," at that exact moment, there was a crashing sound, and they turned to see Bertram and a few of his fellow Axol-mights apologizing as they helped clean up an upturned cart and returned the items to it.
"That was so staged," Bree realized when she saw Bertram give the cart owner a thumbs-up and realized it was Annie in a long cloak. Why they had felt the need to stag it was beyond her, though.
"Holly crap!" Gale turned back to Belin, her eyes demanding he tell her more.
"After teaching him a lesson, the elf freed his Centaur from their soul bind and left Jacob with the Centaur; upon finding Greenwater, she offered to return my youth and make some of my protector stronger if I allowed her to bring all those under her protecting to live here,"
On cue, Silver cried out loudly to clear the streets, and they watched as Orion came bounding around the corner on all four, with Silver riding in his saddle.
"Olu is training some rando," Silver declared. "I gotta get in on that action!"
"A Giant cat and some kind of Cloaked Oni thing?" Gale demanded, dumbfounded.
"I believe Silver is a Dullahan, although I'm not sure what exactly a Dullahan is." Belin scratched his chin in thought before shaking his head. "But back to the story, as she was setting up to move here, one of my protectors betrayed me and revealed themselves to be a subordinate of Odren's; upon trying to kill the Elf, he was killed by an army of enraged monsters, even though he admittedly failed even properly to grab her attention,"
Belin chuckled at the memory of seeing Doren attempt to Soul-bind Bree and being scared and witless for a second before watching him repeatedly fail even to get her to notice he was attacking.
"You're serious?" Gale demanded, "An actual Elf lives here?" Gale looked at him in shock before looking around and leaning in. "Is...is she as hot as the stories say Elfs are?"
"Her Beauty is stunning," Belin declared. "And she is very kind so long as you don't try to kill her or her subordinates," Gale suddenly seemed more interested in the mysterious elf while Billie chuckled before clapping to gain Gale's attention.
"As fascinating as this is, Zoey and I will go to the inn. Do try to meet us back here in the morning, won't you?"
"I'll inform Gunter and Vern," Gale said, waving them off. "So, how long are her ears?" Bree and Zoey left Gale to question Belin, and instead of going to the inn, once they turned the corner, Bree tapped her staff and was rendered invisible.
"Zoey, you may return to the Mansion until tomorrow; you're free to undo your Glamor and return to your usual clothing; just remember to re-do your Glamor; if you forget about the clothes, just say the Inn gave you some, and we should be all fine,"
"Happily, my Lady," Zoey said before zipping past her. Bree stood silently before floating up and racing to see what Olu was doing to Vern.