Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 106 – No Appointment Necessary

Thankfully, the crowds outside were more sparse than usual, and we arrived at Volpe Rossa without anything getting in the way… at least when it came to the short trip itself.

That wasn’t to say that nothing happened at all; there was some back and forth between Cattleya and Ava, mainly over Ava’s choice of clothing… again… but that was really it. I didn’t even pay them that much attention, instead taking the time to speak with Ovia while making sure not to walk into anyone accidentally.

Once we got into the merchant guild, however, things were a little different. Well, not the building, but rather the people, or lack thereof. When we came in yesterday, Tybalt was thankfully the first person to greet us, so we had no issues, but today he was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t even the nice receptionist that we saw when we first came here, instead being a different lady I didn’t recognise.

My immediate reaction was to just leave and maybe come back later, hoping that there was someone I had already spoken to before around, although it didn’t take long for that option to be ruled out as Ava simply walked past me towards the front desk.

“Hi, is Elenia available at the moment?” Ava asked, “We were hoping to meet up with her today to talk about a couple of things.”

“Hmm?” The lady hummed as she pulled out a large notebook and placed it on the desk, “Do you have an appointment scheduled for today?”

“No… I don’t believe we do,” Ava replied, seeming a little dejected, though, knowing her that might have just been a bit of an act.

There was a small moment of silence as the lady behind the desk flipped through the pages of the notebook, quickly running her index finger down the pages to keep track of where she was.

“Hmm, it seems that there aren’t any slots available today as she is currently out to inspect the cargo that recently came in personally…” She then pulled out a blank sheet of paper as well as a pen, “If you give me your names, I can pass them forward for you and see what we can do about organising an appointment in the future.”

“Oh, if she’s busy then… I really don’t see another option,” Ava said as she took the paper and pen, writing down her name quickly before holding both out towards me.

But, just as I reached my hand out to take it from her, the receptionist suddenly reacted, standing up from her seat.

“Wait, are you the ones that-?” She asked as she leaned forward a little, “Can you show me your ring? I need to make sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me; it’s been quite the long night for me.”

I just did as she asked, showing her the golden ring on my finger while also giving back the paper and pen she had given to us.

“I really might need to have a word with her after this. The Guild Master just said to look out for a ‘cute little kitsune’ wearing her ring… but she forgot to mention that the person in question might be wearing a hood, so we couldn’t see any ears or tail…” She then just sighed before stepping out from behind the desk and ringing the bell on top of it, “Like I said, she isn’t in at the moment, but you can wait in her office while we send someone off to inform her. Does that work for the three of you? If so, you can just follow me and I’ll take you through.”

The three of us did as we were asked and followed the lady through the building. Looking back at the other two, Ava seemed happy as usual, but on the other side, Cattleya seemed incredibly confused, looking back and forth between me, Ava, and the lady guiding us as if there was something that she just couldn’t wrap her head around. The expression didn’t even go away once we had actually arrived at the office; in fact, it might have even gotten more pronounced, I honestly couldn’t tell.

The lady left us as soon as we had stepped through the doorway, telling us that we could take a seat wherever we liked before quietly closing the door behind us. Immediately, the three of us squeezed onto one of the sofas facing the sole coffee table in the room, leaving the other open for Elenia when she arrived.

From there, not much happened for a while, the only thing of note being Ava commenting on Cattleya’s bed hair and offering to comb it down for her. Which Cattleya reluctantly accepted after some pestering, prompting Ava to ask me to get a comb from Umbra.

They did this for what I thought was about half an hour before the doors to the office swung open again, accompanied by the tell-tale clatter of jewellery.

“It seems you all made yourselves comfortable while I was on my way here,” Elenia said as she looked over at us, “… If that’s even comfortable? I’m sure you’ve noticed, but that seat isn’t really made to fit three people.”

Despite what she said, she didn’t wait for a response before sitting down opposite us, not that she needed to wait for one; we were guests in her office, even if we had arrived first.

“As soon as I heard that the two of you had miraculously shown up out of nowhere this morning, I just had to drop everything and run over,” She explained, “I heard that you had also visited yesterday, but by the time I had come back, you had already left. So I made sure that I would definitely know when you next visited, but it’s like you only come here when you need something from me.”

“I-” I was the first one to try to speak up, although I didn’t get very far.

“I’m just playing with you a little, you don’t need to get worked up over it, I expect you to come here when you need something,” She interrupted me, “Now, let’s get started properly. Kierra, there’s really no need for you to wear that hood anywhere in this building. They’ve seen me walk through these halls more than a few times; they won’t say anything if another kitsune shows up, at least if they know what’s good for them. I told you that before, and nothing has changed since. Then, second to that, the last time you were here, there were only two, but now I see a third has joined in this little entourage, mind introducing me?”

“I-I am Cattleya Astrantia, daughter of Amaryllis Astrantia,” As she spoke, she started to rise from her seat, but was promptly pulled back down by Ava.

“Oh, so this is Cattleya?” Elenia asked, “You seem… different to what Tybalt has told me. He has gone on and on about this young lady that he constantly runs into while working. He talks all about her flashy clothes and higher-than-thou attitude. It’s even crept its way into his reports, although at this point he has just started writing something along the lines of, ‘She was there again, please refer to previous’ because he was getting fed up with it. Yet all I see in front of me is a timid lady putting on a bit of an act.”

“Mm,” I replied as I hesitantly took off my hood as she had originally asked.

Cattleya didn’t respond, at least not that I saw or heard… although that in and of itself may have been a response from her.

“Now, Kierra, that’s a good start, but…” Elenia moved over to the side of the chair, “It really does look quite cramped over there. Why not come sit next to me instead? I’m sure it’d be more comfortable to have some more space for that tail of yours.”

…

…

“I would rather not…” I eventually said after a surprising amount of silent deliberation.

“Was that me pushing too far?” She asked, “Well, that’s a shame… Anyway, what can I do for you today? I know you must be wanting to cash in that favour I owe you if you asked to meet me personally.”

“Actually, we came here to thank you,” Ava said, “Both for letting us in yesterday on such short notice and for the ring. It’s helped out more than I expected when you first passed it on.”

“I don’t know why you’re thanking me for letting you in, I wasn’t even there, but I’ll gladly accept on behalf of those here who were. As for the ring, I really don’t need any thanks; I gave it to Kierra for my own selfish reasons anyway. I don’t mind you borrowing the name of the guild with it just to buy some odds and ends.”

“Well, funny as it may be, that’s actually part of what we were wanting to talk about.”

“Oh, so this wasn’t just a jovial conversation after all,” Elenia chuckled slightly, “Well, come on now, let’s hear what you’re after, no more games.”

“Okay, okay. It’s true that your ring has saved us quite a bit, but at the end of the day, we’re only spending. We were hoping that you might have some work to help us recoup some of our expenses,” Ava explained, “Particularly hoping for anything that would accommodate some quirks if you understand what I mean.”

Elenia didn’t respond immediately that time, instead taking the opportunity to think a little.

“That… is a surprisingly difficult request. It would have been easier if you just came out and asked me for the money itself,” She eventually said, “As I’m sure you were hoping I do have a lot of work around the place, but at the same time, I also have a lot of workers to do that work. It’s not like we’d make it very far by having a mountain of outstanding work lying around, just hoping for someone to take it up eventually.”

“Oh…” I sighed.

“Now, that isn’t to say I can’t put you on something that’s already in progress… It’s more a question of what exactly that would be. The main job around here that we might use hired hands for would be loading and unloading cargo, but… I feel that at least one of you doesn’t quite have the right build for it.”

She didn’t even have to say it, I knew she was talking about me.

“I guess it would also be possible for me to put at least one of you three behind the desk, or maybe even send you out on some kind of market research… though I feel like that might be just a tad bit too… interactive.”

All these problems seem to come back to me…

…

“You know what? Here’s what I can do for you,” She sifted through some documents that were on the coffee table before pulling out a blank sheet of paper, “Rather than a typical job, so to speak, I’ll write up an agreement to buy a few specific things off of you at a set price.”

She started noting things down on the page.

“Specific things?” Ava asked.

“Mhm. Mainly plants and other such things that could be found in the forest around the town. It’s fairly simple gathering work, but it’ll give you some coin if nothing else… Or actually, I’ll make this a formal request instead and have it done through the adventurer’s guild. It won’t make any difference to what you’d be doing, but it’ll at least get your names down in some records. And as I’m sure my ring has taught you by now, a name can carry an awful lot of weight if you build it up. So, what do you say to picking a few things up for me?”