Swishing was the fluffy tail, fluffy long ears extending upward from the head, and a tall body full of umber fur, only the shiny white teeth and yellow beaming eyes didn't follow the unanimous color
"Quite handy, do you happen to sell these masks of yours?"
Rather than gasping in surprise the first thing that caught Ephai's notice was the useful mask
"We can mass produce it if you want...No, we have much more important things to discuss first"
Almost falling into the trading flow the man, or werewolf, redirected their talk back to business
"Since your more interested in what one can do to benefit the alliance than what had been done I suppose you could put my followers' wrongdoings behind and allow us to be accepted as what we are rather than keep us hiding behind the persona we project"
"That's not for me to decide"
Ephai did not intend to give him a clear answer right away
"I am not the decision maker for neither the human nor vampire race, I can merely suggest a peaceful approach to the two"
"But you knew I was a werewolf yet you invited me to your alliance anyway"
'This is a pain'
Ephai thought the matter through, it's true that he invited this fellow to join but he did not actually know he was a werewolf, the whereabouts of their leader was truly a mystery before this revelation
'How did the matter of their race change never get exposed even when the guild got annihilate?'
Buried deep was this secret, but since it was revealed readily now he could only try and cope with it
"To begin with..?"
"Luther"
"Luther, the alliance which is in the making includes a plethora of races, your perspective from once human eyes shouldn't keep the possibility limited"
Luther's ears visibly twitched when Ephai exposed his human origin, giving the veiled woman another look yet finding her still like a rock, as if nothing would faze this person
"The issue between your race and your previous race will be solved between you two alone, the only thing prohibited is a full blown war between two members of my alliance, otherwise you may have to pay a price to settle the debt of blood"
"Haah.."
Luther's heavy breath came out in a relieved rather than a tired manner, perhaps he felt good knowing there wouldn't have to be heavy casualties
"Though I do have a suggestion"
Ephai further raised his mood by adding some service
"Go mend your relationship with the vampire's first, they just might assist you in getting on the human's good side"
"Could you lend a hand with that?"
"For a price"
Of course there would be a price, he was talking to a trader after all
"Tell me how you're able to form a guild"
"? Why would I not be able to do that?"
"Because you're a werewolf, only a few races can form guilds, werewolves are not one of them"
That was news to him, thankfully...
"I formed it when I was human…I had no idea things worked like that"
"Hmm, I guess that works too, then I will send for the vampires to have a chat with you at a designated area, one of my shadows will come inform you of the rest on your way out"
That was the polite way of saying get out of here, Luther did not get upset however, he spoke too much in front of the Paradise Palace member, unless the two shared some cooperative relationship they would have some problems in the future
With his goal accomplished and needs satisfied the werewolf put the mask on, turning his body back to human before making his way out in the darkness
"Quite the cunning wolf he is"
Unexpectedly it was the woman who spoke after Luther was gone, her tone withholding a chuckle
"He wants us and mister to have a fallout, negating some of the power you hold so he could extend an olive branch toward you and help reclaim the lost trust in exchange for an equal standing of his own, a great schemer"
"Isn't he, if I had not decided for you to meet the real head of the vampires I would have been a little upset"
"What of the information you gave? I felt like it was mister's loss in this spoken trade"
"Is it? The way it appears to me, that man and his guild are about to get the thrashed off their treasures and men by the two races, on my recommendation nonetheless"
"Oh, I see, so you're collecting your payment from them, looks like anyone who wants to scheme around mister are in over their head"
The shadow before her said nothing merely starting to disperse, slowly, as if waiting for another interruption
"I believe there should be no more visitors, mister may leave at ease"
With her reassurance he nodded and-"MISTER EPHAI!!"
So loud was the holler that both looked into the distance, as if they could see beyond the darkness, where a heavily injured man was riding some sort of ostrich beast, coming in hot toward the trader's abode
Instead of waiting for him Ephai directly sped to meet the man outside the mist, forcing the ostrich to come to a halt, throwing the poor lad into the bosom of the veiled woman who caught him in time
"M-m-mister!"
Whether it was the news or the feeling of the soft bosom that flustered him the man stuttered as he was put on the ground
"I have news from the front, i-its a disaster!"
"Remain calm, has anything happened with the Aura Beasts?"
"Aura Beasts?...Oh! No, it's not those furballs, but something attacked us on their land!"
In his anxiousness and panic he kept talking around the subject, only when he was glared at by the exiting leader of Mad Masks did the man regain some of his senses
"We were fighting when a giant armor attacked us out of nowhere! It was so strong that we could barely repel it, only when the armored lady met him in battle could we escape, but then…"
He paused, fear etched on his face as he recalled the memory
"Winged figures dropped out of the sky, each holding a spear as they punctured us through, followed by the heavy footsteps shaking the land as an army of those armored people came charging in with blades and hammers, in a matter of minutes the human and vampire front both suffered heavy casualties"
"How many?"
A calm voice brought him back from the horrible memory, when he looked at its owner he found the shadow unwavering, making his frantic mind a bit calmer
"Around thirty winges aggressors and fifty armored ones"
"And you've come to me for?"
"?....Oh! Yes!"
At last he recalled what the message to be delivered was
"Please send for that masked human, Pride, or whatever his name is, only his follower seems capable of withstanding the fight so we would like to have his help as well"
"I see…have your units retreat while I fetch him over, we will hopefully arrive right after you"
"We are already retreating sir, well the second line is, there is no one from the first line alive to try and run…"
Looks like the situation was much more dire than what they thought
After sending the messenger off to send word of reinforcements Ephai blew into a puff of smoke on the spot, YuJu no longer having time to play the persona as he made way toward the battlefield while sending a blood message to Mia, orders for immediate deployment over all else
'Who are the attackers? I have never heard of the combined force of two such races'
Dwarves and some flying race? No, dwarves weren't so strong and big, Giant Dwarves? They would have come riding machines, but even so what were those spear wielding flying creatures?
'I don't know…Guess I'll figure it out only by witnessing them'
So he hoped and sped up toward the front, hoping to make it in time before Ellis got hurt
'Ellis…Wait, how come she never sent a distress signal?'
That was indeed weird, knowing her she wouldn't have wanted to see her fellow humans slaughtered like that, the immediate response would have been calling out for him, but there was never a feeling of dire need from her
'Could the situation have been exaggerated or…'
The second possibility only briefly flashed through his mind and yet it made his countenance very serious
pαndα noνɐ1,сoМ 'Let's hope it hasn't come to that'
...
"What a fight"
Though there were blade marks all over the once unblemished armour the person under it seems to have had a good time
"That woman has quite the spunk, with her aura I would have had a hard time winning"
"Speak less nonsense, even when you were prepared to deal with aura wielders you still required all of us to suppress her"
Spitefully spoke one of the winged people, carrying something with the help of another one of their kind
"Can't help it, that illusion ground she put forth almost had me pointing my weapons at you instead"
Scratching their helmet the person under the armour laughed, not at all bothered by the not so glorious victory
"Next time try to win on your own"
"There wont be a next time"
They smiled, looking back at what they were carrying
"Losers don't get a second chancel"
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