Up in the Castle's South Tower, dinner was also being served. In one of the rooms, the group who had so recently arrived in the town square was feasting on a simple meal of beef, cheese, and bread.
"I still don't see how you can be so complacent about this!" Mina shouted, pacing back and forth. Conrad, who had just finished making a sandwich, set his food down.
"At the moment, they think we're monster hunters, as long as they think that, they won't ask us too many questions."
"But what's wrong with the truth?" Asked Momiji, a pretty fifteen year old.
"Let's see," Damon put in. "We're made up of eight princesses, an ex-cop, a hentai scientist, an orange skinned guy who's part plant and part Aragami, a guy who's cursed, another guy who cuts up cars and then sticks them on flagpoles for fun, and a young girl who's death would put all the Aragami to sleep." He let that hang in the air. "You're right Momiji. We should tell them the truth." Momiji looked pale.
"All right, All right." Mina said, finding a place to sit and taking a slice of cheese. "But that still doesn't explain that 'job' the queen said she's sending us on."
"Yes it does." said the Tall Amazonian brunette who was sitting next to Conrad. "We're being tested."
"Tested?" Asked the Raven Haired girl who sat opposite her. "Tested for what?"
"Our claim of course." Said the aforementioned orange skinned man from where he was reclining under the window, basking in the remains of the swiftly fading sunlight. "Our glorious tactician there made a claim and now we have to back it up."
"We will. This is how." Conrad said. "Damon, Lita, and I will take point. Rei. You and Mina will you cover our flanks if we're up against a group, and rake the target's flanks if it's solo. Amy, you will cover the rear and try to find out any weaknesses. Tenoh, you and Michiru will cover her. Setsuna. You, Bunny, Momiji, and Kunikeda will stay back and protect our ride." He looked at the young girl curled up by the fire. "If we get overwhelmed, use the injector and make the jump."
"And what about me?" asked the orange skinned man. "Surely there's someplace in your grand design for me."
"You do what you do best." Conrad smiled.
Back in the dining Hall, Lina chewed thoughtfully on a drumstick as she listened to Ameila's recounting of the afternoon's events.
"Poor you." She grinned at Zelgadis. "Tramping around in the North Woods with a bunch of knights and mysterious travelers."
Zelgadis hmphed.
"Anyway." Lina continued in a more serious tone. "Gourry and I dragged that magic user back with us and had the Gaurd confine him in the sorcerer's cell down in the Dungeon." Lina was referring to a eight by eight cell made entirely out of Mithril and Cold Iron. Mithril was immune to Magic for as yet unknown reasons, and Cold Iron caused most of the Farie races pain and death if they were around it for too long. Between them, there was very little that the cell could not confine. "In the morning, we'll drag him over to the local chapter of the PMS."
"Actually," Ameila said. "Could you wait until after my meeting with Baron Jerrwell?" Lina groaned.
"Haven't you gotten rid of him yet?" The Baron had taken several shots at her over the years for her methods and her rumored relationship with Gourry.
"Actually." Ameila grinned. "That's exactly what I'm doing tomorrow."
"I'll be there with bells on." Lina promised.
Meanwhile, in place no mortal could reach without magic, and at the same time, as close as their own skin, two figures watched a pool, which displayed Lina and Ameila chatting away.
One of the watchers was a woman of ethereal beauty, with flowing blond hair and clad in a blue silk dress. The other was a young man, with black hair, wearing battered leather breeches, old black leather boots and a stained button down man's shirt with the sleeves cut off over a green short sleeve tunic that had seen better days.
"Does my Parent know you're here?" Asked the woman.
"Doubtful. I'm sure they're aware of my people, but not of me personally, and in any case, its not like I'm tampering with anything, this is just a possibility, a what if, if you will."
"I will not."
"You should. Said the young man with an impudent grin. "That's half the fun."