Walking down the small hallway, I entered the front of the house and found Merit and Lilly.

They were both standing near the kitchen area, where a small table rested against a wall. It wasn’t the only piece of furniture in the house, but it was the only one outside of the bedrooms.

“Should we really buy this place? Why not just rent her a room somewhere?” I asked as I glanced around. The front room was kind of small; it felt crowded with just the three of us and the table to be honest. There was a balcony nearby. A small kitchen area near the front door, that surprisingly had a brick oven and a large sectional tub for water. One that drained out of the house and out into a gutter outside.

The house was the second and third floors of this building, but the first floor wasn’t a store like so many in this area. It instead was some kind of guard station. Such a thing had worried me at first, but Lilly and Merit had found that to be better than any other alternative.

This place was almost nicer than the home that Roslyn lived in. Though not as big. It was two floors like hers, but smaller. The hallway, stairs and bedrooms were all about half the size compared to Roslyn’s. But thanks to the proper oven, the piped sinks, and the nicer bathroom it still felt far better even though half the size.

“Rent a room and let her bump into some drunk human who spills and slobbers all over her, or grabs her wrongly, and then we end up with streets once again caked in blood? Yeah, no. This is the better way of doing it,” Merit said with a huff.

“I’m not that bad anymore, Merit,” Lilly said, huffing back at her.

I smirked at that. “So you had been at one time?” I asked.

Lilly shifted a little uneasily, as if suddenly embarrassed.

So she had been! Geez!

“This will work. It’s out of the way, in a nice quiet area, and from the balcony she can see the roof the guild, so if you leave your little red flag up there Lilly can see it,” Merit said as she walked over to the balcony again, to peer out the window near it. One could indeed see the roof of the Animalia building from here…

“But it’s so expensive…” I mumbled as I glanced to the leather bundle of papers on the table nearby. It was the contract to purchase this place. From one of the many other companies in town, similar to our own.

This place was not cheap. It was the equivalent of almost ten years of income for our higher paid human workers. A sum that honestly wouldn’t be attainable by a normal family under normal conditions.

And we were going to buy it just so Lilly could use it for what could possibly be only a few days. Or maybe a few weeks, or a month or two, at most.

I knew the Society had a lot of money, and in the grand scheme of things money was irrelevant… but…

“What’s bothering her, Merit? She looks all worried,” Lilly said softly.

“She recently got Brandy to show her how much she and Vim spend in a typical year. I think she’s just become conscious of how expensive she is, and is now overly conscious of spending money,” Merit said calmly as she stepped away from the balcony.

“How could I not be! Do you know how long it takes to make a single gold coin? If I was working at the bank, normally, it’d take me almost a decade just to pay back the Society what Vim and I have taken from our stipends in the last year! That’s not including all the other money we’ve spent and stuff we’ve done!” I said. Plus that didn’t include all the money Vim had given me from unknown sources! Brandy had broken down our withdrawals from the Society’s coffers, and I knew for a fact that we’d spent far more than the number she had shown me. I hadn’t said anything at the time, but it made me a little sick to think of how much money we wasted compared to how hard it was for some of our members to earn it all.

Brandy and all those here in Lumen worked hard. As did everyone else. Kevin in his ship, alongside all the other traders. The twins. Those like the Armadillo’s, or the Camel’s, who provided raw resources. The Weaver and the Summit that turned those raw materials into sell-able products. It was a communal effort, not something just a few people did, and it took them years of hard work and effort!

Every coin I spent was earned off their sweat. It made me feel… ungrateful. Even if Vim earned what he spent, in his own way, did I? I didn’t think so. Half the time I barely did anything, I just spent time with those we visited. And unlike Vim, who ate and needed so little… I was always tugging on his sleeve to give me money, so I could buy from whatever random shop we passed on our travels…

Lilly shook her head at me, as if unable to understand me. “Brandy’s got into your head, Renn. It’s not that big a deal.”

But!

“Are you going to make Lilly sleep in the alleys, Renn? Or how about in those sewers? Want her to have to sleep down there?” Merit asked.

“What? No… I just…” I shifted a bit, wanting to groan. My tail tried to squirm a bit, but it didn’t have much room to do so. It was wrapped around my left thigh a bit too tightly, under my clothes, so could only wiggle a little.

“If it really bothers you that much, just make Vim earn some money for a bit,” Lilly said.

“Hm? You mean make him work?” I asked.

Merit chuckled at that. “She says, as if he doesn’t work all the time.”

“You know what I mean…” I mumbled.

“Most of the Society’s wealth is thanks to Vim, Renn. Most of the methods we use to make money, real money, are from his ideas and his labor. He set them up, taught those who needed to be, and ensured they ran smoothly long enough for others to take over. Don’t let Brandy mislead you, Renn, most of her success is only thanks to him. Even if she’ll never admit it,” Merit said.

Oh…? That was interesting to hear. Brandy did say that Vim had helped her a lot, but she also didn’t really outright say how important his help had been. I had simply assumed it had been just Vim’s… normal amount. He came every so often, helped out a bunch, then left. Like normal.

“He basically built this city. In fact the only reason the Society is even as powerful here in the first place is because he had been friends with the pirate lord who had owned it back then, if I remember correctly,” Lilly said.

Merit nodded. “Yep.”

“Pirate lord?” I asked. I wonder if that was the same family that Ronalldo was related to?

“Also I think you’re forgetting Renn, that this place will still be owned by the Society. I’ll just wait until Lilly leaves before filing the deed with Brandy,” Merit said simply.

Oh.

“That’s true, huh…” I calmed down a bit, forgetting almost entirely about the pirate stuff they’d just been talking about.

“She’s so simple sometimes,” Lilly said.

“She’s just smart,” Merit said.

I sighed at them, since I knew they were just teasing me.

“If this was closer to home I’d give it to one of my kids. Maybe I still should?” Lilly wondered as she headed down the hallway, as to go look at the rest of the house. She’d not done so yet.

Merit shook her head at the owl and turned to me. “Come sign, Renn,” Merit said.

“Mhm…” I nodded, a little reluctantly, and walked over to the table with Merit. She had already shuffled the papers to the ones I needed to sign, but she still needed to point out the spots where it was needed. Merit had to stand on her tip-toes as to do so, since the table was a tad bit too tall for her, but I only needed to sign in one place.

“That’s your mark?” Merit asked as she stared at it.

“My name, isn’t it?” I asked. Had I done it weird…?

“Yes… Lumen has a trend though for people to sign with designs, or little accents on their letters. Didn’t you notice them when working at the bank?” she asked.

“I had. But…” I shrugged. I’d never considered doing something similar for myself.

Vim had helped teach me how to sign such documents. More-so he had made sure I didn’t use the private one I used for Society stuff, such as to withdraw from the stipends. This one was for normal stuff, such as… buying a home in one of the fanciest areas of one of the nicest cities in this whole region.

“Congratulations, you’re now the proud owner of a home. Want to settle down and raise a family here?” Merit asked, teasing me as she went to bundle of the papers.

I grumbled at her, since I couldn’t say anything. That was how we were masking this, after all.

In the eyes of the Society, and Light, this was just me buying a home to stay in with Vim for a while. To have our little vacation, as it were. No one other than Merit knew this was actually for Lilly.

She wasn’t supposed to be here, after all.

“My room is tiny,” Lilly said as she emerged from the hallway.

“The whole house is, honestly,” Merit admitted.

“You just spent the last hour saying it was perfect!” I said.

“It is. For a small stay. I’d never live in such a small place, though,” Merit said as she slipped the newly signed deed to the house into the little pouch hanging on her shoulder.

“You’d think someone so small would feel at home in such a place,” Lilly teased.

“Great one, did you come up with that joke with your mighty bird-brain?” Merit asked.

Lilly huffed and shook her head down at Merit. “Still so thin skinned. When are your scales going to grow in? Shouldn’t they be here by now?” Lilly asked back.

It was Merit’s turn to huff, but she did so by puffing out her chest a bit. I couldn’t help but smirk as I watched the two glare at each other, as if about to actually start arguing… but I knew already it was all a little game they played.

We’d been together for several hours already, ever since this morning. Lilly had left a note on the roof of the Animalia Guild building, one that I had found since Vim had told me to expect it. She had left it near the table where I and Light had a conversation a few days ago, which meant Lilly had been in town already at that point and had seen us from a distance. After finding out she was here, I went to Merit for help… and was glad to find out that my choice had been correct.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

It seemed Merit and Lilly were some kind of friends. Even if neither wanted to admit it.

“You’ll be okay here, right Lilly?” I asked, since the two had gone a tad silent as they glared at each other.

Lilly instantly calmed down as she glanced at me and nodded. “Yes, Renn. I’d have been fine sleeping on the roofs. This is just extra comfort,” she said.

“She says that, but she’ll happily cook her own food and hum with joy once we leave. This birdbrain won’t eat anything a human touches,” Merit said with a gesture at the owl.

“At least I can cook!” Lilly said.

“I can cook too!” Merit argued, her voice rising.

“So we can have dinner tonight then? Should we go buy some supplies?” I asked, glancing at the kitchen as I did. It was nice enough to make real food.

For a few moments there was silence, so I glanced back at the while wondering why. They were usually quick to quip with one another, and noisy as they did so. Instead I found them staring at me with an odd look.

“Hm?” I wondered what was wrong. They looked like kind of weird, staring at me as if I was something strange. Like a duck that they had just heard bark like a dog.

Lilly sighed, and Merit nodded as the two looked back at each other. “She’s too…” Lilly started.

“Gentle. Yes. It’d be annoying if it wasn’t so adorable,” Merit finished.

“What’d I say now?” I asked, kind of irritated at them. I hadn’t said anything weird had I? Or were they making fun of me for thinking about food, even though it was midday?

“Before Renn gets us distracted… tell me what the plan is about Light,” Lilly said.

I perked up a bit as Merit looked around, as if for a chair to sit in. There obviously weren’t any, since the house was practically empty. “She’s moved into the guild. With Less and some other church girl. One I never met before, but I heard from Sofia that she had been around back in the day. Elizabeth or something,” Merit said.

“Isabella,” I reminded her.

“Right. That.”

Lilly frowned. “Don’t remember that name. What do you think of her, Renn?” Lilly asked.

“Isabella? She’s cute, but ditzy. I think Light and the rest trust her because she’s too innocent to even think of betraying them,” I said. The woman had seemed kind and gentle, but a little dull. She hadn’t even wanted to talk to me when we had been unloading Light’s luggage and putting it into her room. She wanted to clean, nothing more… as if a little dust was more important than anything else.

“I meant Light, Renn. Not her servants,” Lilly specified.

“Oh. Well…” I wanted to sigh, since I really didn’t want to have this conversation. I knew it’d just make my heart hurt, even if it needed to happen.

“Don’t tease her, Lilly. Renn’s a hopeful person. She’s hoping this can all end peacefully, somehow. She’s not like you, who doesn’t have a hopeful feather on her whole body,” Merit said.

Lilly sneered at Merit, but seemed to ignore her little joke. “I know. But how can it? Vim’s made his decision, hasn’t he?” Lilly asked.

Merit nodded as I bit my lip.

He had. I didn’t want to accept it, but Vim has made his decision… even if he himself wasn’t aware of it yet.

He had done so after meeting her that first time. Without me. He had decided Light was not a real threat to the Society, but that he’d not be able to play along with her schemes and games… and thus… He would step down. No matter what. I think it was certain, though I’d not say it aloud. Not yet.

There was still hope, after all.

“If it’s inevitable, makes me wonder what we’re doing all this for,” Merit said with a sigh as she glanced around at the empty house.

“Playing the game. And hopefully earning his friendship and loyalty, so that he doesn’t just disappear on us and sticks around to help us when we need him,” Lilly said.

“Gosh, can we not talk like this? You’re going to make me cry,” I said weakly.

The two glanced at me and did so gently. “It’s just reality, Renn,” Lilly said.

Merit nodded. “Vim’s a man of focus. It might take him forever to make a decision, but once he does he doesn’t change it. Look at you, Renn. He chose you, and now won’t ever change that decision, no matter what happens because of it,” she said.

My tail squirmed again, since the example she had used made my heart hurt a little. Had she used that one on purpose, or had it just been the first thing to come to her mind… since… well…

“Speaking of that, how are you feeling? Need me to find you a nice muddy hole?” Lilly then asked the little fish.

Merit turned a bit, as to glare up at Lilly through her thick locks. “Only if I can drown you in it.”

I smirked at them as Lilly sniffed and looked away, as if offended. But I could see the slight relief on the owl’s face.

She had been worried about Merit. Her heart. And that had been how she had expressed such a concern… and Merit had responded in kind, in their own way.

Feeling a little… out of place, and not just because I was in an empty house, I watched as the two crossed their arms and sighed at each other.

I was growing to quickly be envious of their friendship. It was obvious their relationship was old. Tested. Tried and true. Even if they were snippy with one another, there was a very obvious and real level of trust between them. Merit was here, helping us buy this home, and breaking the Society’s rules for Lilly. Lilly was banished from Lumen. Not meant to be here. Which meant if Merit, or I, got found out helping her circumvent such a rule… by all rights we too would and should be banished. Maybe even from the Society, not just Lumen.

Yet she was willing, without hesitation, to help. She hadn’t even blinked when I had told her what was happening, and what I needed to do. The moment I had told her Lilly was here, and I needed to help her find a place to stay while so, Merit had immediately thought up a plan and acted on it. A few hours later after doing so, we were here.

Such trustworthy loyalty just further proved how wonderful Merit was, and how much I could trust her. It was starting to become very clear how much I loved such a thing, and how precious it actually was.

“Personally I just want to keep the peace until Vim gets back. If able,” I said gently, since it seemed the two weren’t going to resume talking.

They both nodded. “Easy to do, as long as you keep her distracted as you’ve been doing for us,” Merit said.

“Yeah. Keep your enemies closest, as they say,” Lilly agreed.

I frowned at that. “I’ll have you know I get along just fine with Light… even if she’s odd and I get a weird feeling sometimes while talking to her…” I said, admittedly.

“That weird feeling is gas, isn’t it?” Lilly teased.

“More like hunger. I’ve noticed you’ve been snacking a lot lately, Renn, are you sure you’re not actually pregnant?” Merit asked.

“Gosh!” I groaned at her. If she wasn’t teasing Lilly, she was teasing me!

“Honestly I’m surprised Light is still so scrawny. She used to eat like a horse back in the day,” Lilly said as she scratched at her chin.

Really…? Whenever I ate with her, or spent time with her, I always thought she didn’t eat enough. She seemed to always just… pick at the food, and not actually eat any of it.

“Wait… is she a horse…? I thought she was a panda?” I asked, a little surprised. I didn’t know what a panda was, of course, but I knew that was what Celine had been.

The two tilted their heads at me. “She’s not a horse. Or a panda. Actually, did you ever figure out what a panda was, Lilly?” Merit asked the old owl.

“Nope. Vim told me he’d bring one home to me once, if he ever ran into one, but he’s not done so. I’ve always wondered what they looked like. Probably stupid things, considering,” Lilly said with a frown.

Merit smirked and nodded. “I bet they are. And what do you mean Vim promised to bring you one home…? He brings you home stuff? That’s not fair!”

I wanted to groan as Lilly happily planted a huge smirk on her face. “Oh he does! I have a bunch of stuff all scattered throughout my branches from him!”

Merit’s little hands clasped into fists, and I saw actual anger flash across her face. “What…! Renn!” she turned to me, as if for help.

“What!? I don’t even have a home to bring stuff to, so don’t look at me!” I said quickly, hoping to not get caught between them.

Merit’s face of anger disappeared like a bubble being popped, replaced by a look of utter shame… as she hurriedly glanced at Lilly.

Lilly startled at Merit’s look, and hurriedly looked between her and me… and then she too flinched and groaned.

“What…?” I asked. Why’d they both look all dejected all of a sudden?

“Whose fault is this?” Lilly whispered.

“Let’s just both take the blame,” Merit whispered back.

Lilly nodded, and sighed. “Can we go get something to eat? I’ve not eaten in days.”

I blinked at that. “What? Why not? Don’t starve yourself Lilly, you’re so thin as it is!” I said worriedly.

“Oh shut it. I’ll go to the noble’s office to file the deed and contract. A few streets down is a nice sit-down restaurant. Go wait for me there,” Merit said as she headed for the door.

“Wait! I don’t want to eat at a human place!” Lilly complained.

“You’re going to! There’s nothing to cook with here!” Merit shouted as she walked right past me, ignoring Lilly who stepped forward as if to grab at the fish.

“We can just go buy the stuff!” Lilly shouted back.

“Then do so! I’m going to file this; I’ll be back within the hour!” Merit said, then opened the front door and walked right out.

Thanks to her opening the front door, and leaving it open as she left, we could now hear the hustle and bustle of the city outside. It surprisingly didn’t sound too noisy, considering we were near a well-used street.

“Blasted fish! I swear Renn, we should have let her god eat her!” Lilly said angrily.

I frowned at that. “You don’t really mean that,” I said.

“Well… no… but…” Lilly shifted a little, hesitating a bit as I went to leave the house too.

Before I could though, Lilly grabbed my arm. Unlike Merit who she had seemed to want to do so, she hadn’t hesitated to grab mine.

I paused, and glanced at my friend… and found a worried look.

“Lilly?”

Lilly took a small breath and sighed. “I know you want peace, Renn… I know you want things to end well… but please, don’t forget. Don’t forget they abandoned us. All of them did. They left us behind, when we needed them most. And worst part of it is they took Vim with them, made him guide them to their new home. And while he was gone? The Society broke. Dozens of locations had fallen while he was with them. Merit’s Kingdom, her oasis, was one of them. I have no doubt had they not taken Vim from us back then, many of those places would still be around today. Especially Merit’s Kingdom. Just… don’t forget that, please,” Lilly said quietly, as if begging.

I gulped. “I… didn’t know that. I had known they had asked him to guide them, but I didn’t realize they had taken him for so long or during such turmoil,” I said softly.

Lilly gravely nodded. “Her oasis dried up and collapsed, Renn. She and other’s lost their homes, many their lives, because we hadn’t had Vim to help. They did that. And they knew of it all. Light had plenty of prophecies back then, many of them showing exactly what would happen if they left… and they still took Vim with them. They knew the chaos it would wrought. The deaths it’d cause. They did it anyway.”

I gulped again. This time it hurt to do so.

“Right…” I barely got the whisper out, as I realized what she meant… and how serious it was.

There was no denying it, after all. If Light, like all saints, saw the future… then they’d know what their actions would have caused. If even in part. She had known her leaving, and making Vim guide them as they did, would result in all that destruction and loss… and she had done it anyway… Basically dooming all those who had needed Vim, or even they themselves.

I nodded… holding Lilly’s eyes as I did. “Right,” I said again, as my heart shuddered at the terrible understanding.

No wonder so many hated her. No wonder so many doubted their intent and actions here and now. Because they’d already been, in their eyes, betrayed by them.

How had I not realized this before? Vim and I had talked, as had I with a few others, about this… but why’d it take until now for this obvious thing to click in my head?

Light and the rest leaving back then had brought forth disaster. Not just to the Society… but to many of my friends, too.

No wonder Vim didn’t like them.

Yet, because of his rules… he couldn’t see them as outright enemies. Not just the rules of the Society either but his own personal ones too.

“I’m not… saying it’s entirely their fault, Renn. But I’ll be damned if anyone tries to say they don’t hold some blame,” Lilly then said.

I nodded again. “Yes… I agree, Lilly. Fully,” I said.

“Mhm… just… I just wanted to make sure you knew is all…” Lilly whispered as she released my arm. It throbbed a bit after she did, telling me she had grabbed a bit harder than she usually would have. Likely because it had been an emotional moment for her.

Maybe seeing Merit had reminded her of what Light and the rest had done to her. Lilly was… very protective of those she considered family. And after seeing the two together, I had no doubt that Lilly saw Merit as a member of her parliament. Even if she’d never admit it aloud.

“I’ll… need to think about this, Lilly. Deeply,” I said gently.

“Do so, Renn. But let’s do it as we go get food, shall we?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep