Chapter 22 – Mother’s Quest

Nearing the end of the forest, Miria switched back to her panther form and they rode together back to Ast’s house. He could still feel her elated mood even through her movements during the run. Asterios shook his head with a smile. She was just too adorable and innocent.

They arrived at their destination without any issues coming up. Most of the guards stationed at the gate got already used to the big panther going in and out a few times a day and only stopped them infrequently to keep up the duty.

Miria transformed again after they got inside Ast's house. She liked to spend her time in the humanoid form whenever she had a chance. While they were heading for the stairs to the upper floor, Kindra peeked out from one of the rooms near the staircase.

“Asti! Miria! Welcome back! How did the training go?”

“Hello, Miss Kindra! I think it went really good! Master said it was perfect! We are slowly getting better… together…” Miria started with an energetic tone, but when she recalled the latter part of their practice, her shyness got the better of her and she averted her gaze with red cheeks.

Asterios chuckled and ruffled through her hair from behind. “As she said. Miria was amazing. Need help with something, mom?”

His mother stepped out of the room and joined them in the corridor. “No, thank you, everything is going fine—… actually…” She glanced at the duo and furrowed her brows, assuming a thinking expression. “What are you two planning to do now?”

“We are probably going to hit the Guild and see if there’s anything going on there.”

“Then that’s perfect! I have to submit a task today about recruiting an escort for a delivery. We are sending two wagons to another town tomorrow. Do you guys want to participate?” She clasped her hands and smiled at them.

“Hmmm… It’s not that bad of an idea. The rank should be fine and I’m sure Miria would love to finally see some more scenery than just Rosewind’s walls and forests, right?”

“I’m fine doing whatever. I’ll follow Master’s decision.” She tried acting as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Asterios and his mom could clearly see the excitement in her tail and twitching ears.

“It’s decided then! Let’s meet in front of the Guild at five in the evening. I still need to pay a visit to the shop and arrange some stuff.” Kindra disappeared back where she came from and the two proceeded further to Ast’s room.

While there, they went through some materials and utility items Asterios stored in various lockers. Miria was already familiar with most of them as Ast explained them to her in detail. As of right now, he had some concussion, stun and smoke bombs and tens of various low-level spells imbued into crystal runes he usually carved himself to lower the cost. Of course, he still needed to visit a proper magician and enchanter to imbue them with magic.

He also had differently coloured crystals which served as catalysts for many summoner’s techniques he couldn’t fully perform without their support or they just required them, a set of vials with some poisons and liquids that could be used in a fight and some other minor consumables. He looked more like some kind of a Thief or Rogue rather than a Summoner in her eyes. But considering his past, it wasn’t that shocking. The fact that he couldn’t use all those at school still didn’t stop Asterios from preparing himself for the future where he would graduate and step into the big world. 

She admired him for his thoughtfulness. In the end, it saved their lives. Even though using the Limit Breaker had a chance of resulting in his death, as she later learned from Ast’s explanation, he was ready to take the risk to save her. It was a scary item but she understood that Asterios didn’t have any other options and even that was not sure to work properly since he never did something even closely similar to what he attempted in the cave. All was just pure theory without any practice. Like most of his techniques. But they spent a lot of time fixing that.

Nevertheless, besides all these items, Ast’s room was obviously full of ingredients and materials she had never seen before until he showed them all to her during these two weeks. Well, at least some were familiar since they were present in her world too and she was sure a lot of them actually could be found there, just she didn’t know where they existed.

After getting done with what Asterios was looking for with Miria’s help, he sat by his desk and started scribbling something. Miria plopped herself onto his bed and waited patiently while gazing around. She knew it would be better if she just let him focus on whatever he was doing. She laid herself down and snuggled into the bedsheets which were giving a pleasant fragrance that reminded her of him.

“Miria.”

Hearing Ast’s voice she shot up to a sitting position in an instant before he fully turned around. Asterios noticed her slightly flushed expression and shyly dancing tail.

“You okay there?” he asked.

“Yes! Of course! Ehehehe~.”

“Right. I think we need to discuss one thing before we depart on the quest.”

“What is it, Master?” Miria tilted her head.

“We are obviously going to meet a lot more people from now on and perhaps we will also join other parties for quests and such. Thus, we should talk about your forms. So far, you always kept your panther shape most of the time.”

She nodded. “Yes, and I don’t mind acting as Master’s beast to keep the appearances.”

Asterios smiled. “Thank you, but it’s inevitable that you will have to transform in front of people at some point. We already decided together to not unnecessarily limit ourselves, didn’t we? That’s why I think we should stop hiding you. You’d much rather accompany me in this form, right?”

“Mhm. I’d love to. But… is that really fine? What if someone asks about my features?”

“Well, as I said, it would happen one day. I don’t think we should straight-up lie about your background. I mostly wanted to avoid attention around the academy since it’s full of Summoners and researchers, but we are going to be travelling a lot now. If someone asks, we’ll just tell them our connection, but if they don’t, you just introduce yourself as a normal person of some rare race. Anyway, that’s just my opinion. I wanted to know what you think or want to do. We are a team,” Asterios said.

Miria felt really happy that he valued her input so much. She wouldn’t mind just following the advice he presented at any time. She smiled widely and nodded her head again.

“I want to walk by Master’s side as a person. That way, I can protect Master even better. And also… I think... it would just feel nice.” She sent him a shy glance.

“I guess it’s decided then. We could always say that it’s just your innate ability to transform. And it’s not that far off I think. It’s better this way. I don’t want you to get hurt because you hesitated to switch shapes due to someone being around.” 

Asterios stood up and moved to the bed where he sat on her side and began patting Miria’s head. She leaned onto him and let Ast brush through her hair affectionately. “Thank you, Master. I promise I won’t hesitate anymore.”

“You know that you don’t have to call me master all the time, right?” he asked while scratching behind an ear of the joyful panthergirl.

“Do you dislike it?” She looked up curiously with a slightly concerned expression.

“No, absolutely not. Just making sure.”

“Then I’d like to keep using it. You are, in fact, my Master. And… this might sound a bit weird, but… I… I like calling you that…” She hid her face in his chest while mentioning the latter part.

Asterios chuckled. “Was it like that in the story?” He recalled her mentioning the tale about Princess Kaguya and how much she loved it.

Miria shyly nodded her head with her face still hidden from sight.

“Got it. Feel free to do so as much as you want. To be honest, it kinda makes me happy too, so I guess you are not the only weird one here.”

He played with the cute, twitching ears a bit more to the amusement of them both and the duo left to the town soon after to pick up some things on the way to the Guild. Naturally, even though Miria could now walk openly, she still insisted on serving as Ast’s mount and he had nothing against it. They visited a few shops and workshops to stock up on consumables and some other stuff for the possible journey that awaited them.

Shortly before five, Ast and Miria arrived in front of the Guild's building and met up with Kindra. Miria switched to her humanoid shape and they entered together. Some people caught onto the unusual appearance but no one approached them, which was good. There definitely were a few discussions sparked here and there. 

Kindra didn’t pay attention to anyone around and beelined straight to Ellie’s post. She always submitted her requests to the adorable receptionist. They loved to chat about all kinds of things. Especially about Ast. But, it wouldn’t be possible today since he came with her.

She energetically leaned over the counter and greeted the girl focusing on some paperwork. “Ellieeeeeeeeeee! Are you busy?”

The girl raised her gaze and smiled kindly. “Miss Kindra! Welcome! Oh, Asterios, you came too! And…”

“Hi, Ellie.” Miria waved with her furry hand.

“Hello, Miria. I did not expect to see you like this in the Guild.” She glanced at Ast questioningly.

“Can’t have her act forever.” Asterios shrugged and nodded his head towards his mother.

“Ah! I’m sorry! How can I help you, Miss Kindra?” She hastily turned to the woman.

“How could you forget about me like that, Ellie! I know that Asti is just so handsome, but we are best friends, aren’t we?” Kindra showed a playful pout, making Asterios giggle. She, a mature woman, always loved playing like this.

“That’s not it! I was just surprised to see Miria in her humanoid form!” The receptionist girl started panicking a bit and waved her hands at the woman on the other side of the counter. Kindra smirked. “Ah! I mean, I don’t dislike you or anything! You are a really good man and nice and kind and… and… ahhhhhhhhh! What am I even talking about!” She turned to Ast to clarify but realized that there was nothing to actually explain.

Ast’s mom couldn’t stop giggling to herself. “You are just too easy to tease, Ellie.”

It was the cute receptionist’s turn to pout, but her expression was much more real than the fake one Kindra did previously. Asterios shook his head.

“Mom, stop bullying all the girls I know. I’m already running low on friends without your help and I don’t need more of them avoiding me because of your tricks.”

“That’s mean! It’s your fault I have to do all the work! You are nineteen already! If I won’t step in then you will never find a girlfriend with how reserved you are!” Kindra started hitting Ast’s chest with her fists.

“Girlfriend?!”

“Girl… friend…”

Ellie went completely red while Miria dropped her gaze to the ground and to the side, stealing quick glances at Asterios. Kindra opened her eyes wide and started ostentatiously pointing both of her arms at the receptionist like some merchant showcasing their wares, while not dropping the eye contact with her son even for a moment.

He rolled his eyes and bonked her on the head.

“Ow! How could you hit your own mother… If you keep being like this, you will stay a vir—”

“Any more of that and I’m ending the good morning kisses.”

“—I want to submit a task. Could you give me the form for the escort one, please?”

Asterios almost snorted at how fast his mother changed her way of speaking into a polite one as she hastily stopped all her actions and turned to the girl she was teasing with a professional smile. Ellie found that too funny and chuckled.

“Certainly, Miss Kindra. Let’s go over the details together.”

Then, they proceeded to note down all the required information without any further mischief from Kindra. When the good morning kisses were on the line, she would never dare to overstep her boundaries. There was too much to be lost.

After going through all the documentation, they pinned the request on the quest board. It was ranked as D since the route had a possible monster or beast encounters, but Asterious could join without worry due to it being a party quest. And naturally, Ellie registered them for it instantly. The departing time was set to be tomorrow. There would certainly be people up for it in a few hours with a decent payment when compared to the quite low threat.

They thanked the receptionist girl for help and headed back. Asterios took his mother onto Miria and they rode altogether. She had great fun with that little trip on the great black panther with her hair fluttering in the wind.

Next morning, Kindra asked for one more ride and the duo agreed, smiling to each other. Everything at Ast’s mother’s shop was already prepared and sent to the two wagons waiting near the main gate, but she wanted to do a last check with her employees to be sure. It was normal for them to worry this much, they were dealing with lots of jewellery. It was quite a huge transport. They were sharing some products with another branch under which Kindra was running her own store.

With everything pretty much confirmed, she kissed Ast and Miria goodbye and let them go to the meeting point. Still having a decent amount of time left, the duo strolled through the city and grabbed something to eat. Asterios brought Miria to one of his favourite stalls with garlic bread. It so happened that she liked it as much as he did and they shared a long baguette together. She was even happier than him, getting to know that they shared more things in common.

Done eating, Miria shapeshifted and they rode to their destination. Full and in good mood, they arrived near the gate and easily found the two wooden wagons on the side. Besides coaches, there was already a group of three people sitting by it. You could tell from their getups that they were adventurers. 

One tall Human girl with long, brown hair tied into a ponytail, a two-handed sword behind her back and leather armour. Talking to her was a Dwarf with a grey beard and similarly coloured leather and textile set of clothes. He looked like your typical Rogue. Two daggers and a crossbow on the back. On their side, sitting on a bench and reading a book, was another Human. A man this time. In dark green robes and holding a wooden staff. Most likely the healer of the party. They all had D-rank shoulder plates.

The buff-looking woman noticed the approaching duo. “Finally. What took you so long?”

Asterios raised one of his brows at her. “There’s still half an hour until the meeting time. I’d say that we are quite early.”

The woman clicked her tongue. “You newbies need to better value your time. You should always turn in earlier to prepare. We need to know how much of dead weight you will be to us.”

He rolled his eyes.「Great. A solo group. Let’s just keep the interaction to minimum and let them do the work as they would want it.」

“Anyway, go rent a horse from the stables and we’ll talk some shit about ourselves then,” the woman added.

“No need,” Asterios replied, patting Miria’s back who was standing by his side in her panther form.

“Ha?” The woman eyed the beast. “This thing might look quite strong, but you are a Summoner, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you plan on riding it?”

“Yes.”

“Haaaaaaaaah…” She facepalmed and sighed. “You little shits always brag how great you are… Oh, It will be a piece of cake! I can withstand a day or two with my beast out! Who needs horses when you can ride a wolf! But, a few hours pass and the valiant steed goes POOF! Go get a horse, kid.”

“That’s not necessary. I know my limits. I don’t plan on hindering the party.” Asterios kept his stance.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake... Douhlim, hammer some wisdom into that idiot’s head!” She put her hands on her hips and glanced down at the dwarf.

“Listen to momma, boy. No need to act tough. She’s not even into men, ehehehe—umph!”

He earned himself a kick into an ankle and fell down to roll over the ground. The woman shook her head.

“If I won’t be able to follow, you can just leave me behind. There won’t be any problems with the Guild. My mother is the one who put that quest up,” Asterios continued.

“Oooooh, great. A little birdie leaving its nest with the help of a doting parent. Whatever! You are not riding on any of our horses if your summon gets done. Not like you would even be able to. You guys get so pathetically weak after you overstrain your spiritual circuits you can barely move.” She waved her hand in a disinterested way and the group gathered together.

The woman shortly introduced each member of her party and explained what’s their usual role and special abilities. The dwarf’s name was Douhlim, the human man was Tesser and she was Rudy. Asterios also briefly summarized his abilities, explaining how Miria would fill the blanks they would leave on the battlefield, switching from secondary aggro to secondary attacker or defensive support. She was mostly a close-combat specialist while he focused on buffing her and could use some low-tier magic via his consumables. He, of course, mentioned that she can take a humanoid form, but the trio just glanced at each other and exploded into a laugh.

After the short introduction and making everyone understand their main and secondary roles, they prepared to depart under Rudy’s leadership.