Dawn's Farewell (6)
I dragged the corpses of the two adult griffins onto the sandbar. While Captain Bibian tied ropes around them to trees to keep them from washing back out to sea, I circled back behind the cliff road to retrieve the baby griffin's body. With two adults and one juvenile down, the reward would be pretty substantial. We could've made a killing dismantling and selling the griffin corpses too, but since this was a commission, the bodies belonged to the client. Still, I figured I'd ask for at least one head as a trophy.
"For now, let's head back with just the baby. I don't think we can handle the rest on our own."
"Understood. The garrison will take care of the cleanup."
"Can I have one head?"
Captain Bibian blinked at my sudden request, not quite grasping it at first.
"A head? Oh, you mean a griffin head?"
"Yeah. I want to make it into a trophy for the guild. If that's okay."
"I'll bring it up with the commander when I get back."
"Thanks."
The gentle breeze and campfire had dried our clothes enough to wear. I put on my pants and shirt but ditched the armor. Once leather armor tears like that, its durability tanks, and when it bursts open like it did this time, it's done for. No point salvaging it. Besides, I had that precious Quratus armor back at the guild, pampered and waiting.
We mounted up and rode back to the city.
Back at the guild, Celestine was thankfully there. The moment I dismounted, the door flew open and she came bounding out, her chest bouncing wildly.
"Guild administrator! Are you okay? Hurt anywhere? Eek?! What's that!?"
She freaked out at the sight of the baby griffin corpse strapped to Captain Bibian's saddle.
"Go check on Captain Bibian over there."
Celestine turned, and Bibian raised a hand in greeting while showing off her torn side. Celestine rushed over, bent down to inspect the wound.
"Gasp! That's a huge gash! But how did you stitch it up?"
"Leonar did it for me."
"Eek?!"
Celestine whipped around to stare at me in shock.
"You can do that too?"
"Of course I can. What do you take me for? Hurry and heal her. She needs to get back to the garrison."
"Ah, y-yes!"
With her golden-glowing hand gently caressing the wound, fresh flesh knit together in seconds. Awe flickered in Captain Bibian's eyes as she watched.
"You can pull the stitches right away. Might sting a bit since the flesh is filling in suddenly."
"Thank you, healer."
Bibian remounted and looked down at me and Celestine.
"You worked hard today, Leonar. I owe you my life."
"Nah, it was nothing. Your help made it smooth sailing."
"I'll deliver the reward directly to the guild within three days. And I'll push for that griffin head too."
"Appreciate it."
As Bibian rode off, Celestine grabbed my arm and shook it.
"Guild administrator! Are you really okay? The guild master told me you went griffin hunting. But griffins are super fierce and scary! How'd you come back without a scratch? Come inside quick. Let me check you over."
Chattering nonstop, she dragged me forcibly into the guild.
"Hold on! Gotta stable the horse first."
I led it to the back yard, unsaddled and turned it loose. Celestine fidgeted impatiently watching, then yanked me straight inside the guild the second I was done. She shoved me into a round table chair and looked around. No Leana at the reception desk, where she was usually buried in paperwork.
"Where's Leana?"
"She went to drop off some settled ledgers at a client."
With that, Celestine forcibly stripped off my shirt.
"Hmm."
She widened her eyes, spinning me around to meticulously scan my torso.
"I told you I'm fine…."
"Guild administrator!!"
She shrieked and smacked my back with a holy-power-charged palm.
"What the—?!"
"There's a scratch on your back."
"Oh yeah? You scared me."
After thoroughly checking my upper body several times, she ordered me to drop my pants next.
"Why the pants? I'm seriously fine."
"You didn't even notice that scratch."
"It's minor. Won't kill me if I skip healing it."
"But you fought monsters! What if something weird got in and it festers?!"
She grabbed the pant legs and yanked them off like a tug-of-war.
"Don't get any weird ideas. I've seen naked bodies all the time volunteering at the church clinic. No big deal."
"Didn't ask."
Celestine knelt between my legs, inspecting from my feet up to my thighs with utmost seriousness. The position was a bit awkward, but her focused expression kept my mind clean. Right now, she looked like a field medic at the front lines checking a critically wounded soldier. Who knew this airheaded, naive saintess had it in her?
Then the guild door opened, and Leana walked in carrying a basket.
"Sorry."
She spotted me and Celestine, spun on her heel, and shut the door behind her.
Oh crap, she's totally getting the wrong idea!
"Hmm, all clear. As expected from someone who took on griffins unscathed."
Oblivious, Celestine stood with an innocent smile.
"Alright, I'm gonna go wash up. Tell Leana to come in—she's outside."
"Huh? The guild master? How'd you know? Can you see through walls or something?"
She hadn't even noticed Leana come and go that quick? Man, she's dense.
"Oh! Guild master! Why are you standing outside?"
Celestine opened the door and dragged Leana in.
"You two done with your business?"
"Yep, all good. The guild administrator was amazing, right?"
Why phrase it like that? What exactly was so amazing? If it's about taking down the griffin without a scratch, just say it straight. Don't make Leana misunderstand.
"Was he? I didn't see, so I wouldn't know."
"You'll get your chance someday."
But Celestine seemed completely clueless, so I spoke up myself.
"Leana, it's not what you think. What we were doing was…."
"I took care of the guild administrator's discomfort."
I raised a hand to cut off Celestine.
"Quiet for a sec. I'm talking."
"I checked him from head to toe, every nook and cranny."
"Stop dropping subjects! Leana, ignore Celestine. She keeps saying weird stuff…."
"Got it. I get it."
Leana waved it off like she already knew too much.
"No, you don't get it. It was holy healing, nothing else. Don't misunderstand."
"Sure, sure. Holy healing. Of course."
Leana narrowed her eyes with a half-hearted reply. Last time, she'd drilled into me not to get physical with Celestine. Said if anything happened between us, we'd have to shut down the guild. And now she'd walked in on Celestine kneeling between my legs from behind. I had to clear this up now.
"Celestine! Tell Leana quick. It was just holy healing, right?!"
"Of course? What else would it be?"
"See, Leana? Not like she did it with her mouth or anything. And I was wearing underwear anyway."
"Did what with my mouth?"
I realized my slip and clamped my mouth shut.
"Huh? Guild master. What do you mean?"
Celestine stared, and Leana looked flustered, turning her face away.
"Guild administrator, go wash up already. Celestine, you need to report the completed commission."
"Ah, yes! Got it!"
Hopefully that cleared up Leana's misunderstanding. I gathered my forcibly removed clothes and headed to the back yard bath.
Soaking in the tub, I calmly reviewed the day's events. Overall, the commission went exactly as planned. The culprit was a mountain griffin, and we found the nest in one go. Captain Bibian tagging along wasn't in the plan, but she fought well enough. The baby griffin was "baby" in name only—mid-sized beast level. And Bibian carved it up with just an arming sword. Impressive stuff. Plus, we one-shotted both adults in their nest.
But… I killed one, but the other? Strictly speaking, that wasn't me. Dawn's Farewell did it, I guess. That blue beam was definitely magic. And the only explanation was Orlean's legacy, the high mage's heirloom, Dawn's Farewell. What the hell is it, really? Orlean mumbled something about the essence of his magic before I killed him mid-sentence. If only we had a mage in the guild, they could figure this out. I really need a mage.
Then came a vibration from outside the screen.
I bolted out of the tub, flung the screen open. There on the wooden box atop my clothes sat Dawn's Farewell, quietly resting. It definitely vibrated. This is creepy as hell. Guess I need to scout for mages in the city. Time to figure out exactly what this thing is.
Meanwhile, Celestine had just finished reporting the commission completion to Leana.
"Good work."
Leana said, scribbling on the commission list. Celestine asked,
"Guild master, what was that about 'with the mouth' earlier?"
"Oh, that? Well…."
Leana explained, and Celestine's eyes nearly bugged out.
"Th-there's something like that…? Why…?"
"A hole's a hole. But you two really didn't do anything, right?"
"Of course…. Captain Bibian had that bad gash on her side, so while healing her, I checked the guild administrator too…. But how with the mouth…."
Visibly shocked, Celestine mumbled the same thing over and over in a daze.
"You'll learn in time. But not until the guild grows bigger, got it?"
"Got it…. I'll be careful…. But how do you know about that stuff, guild master…?"
"Adventurers and mercenaries working at guilds are a crude bunch. They don't care if I'm right there—they swap dirty jokes like it's nothing. Picked it up from that."
"I see…. Ugh, with the mouth…. Just thinking about it makes me wanna puke…."
Celestine clamped her mouth, looking nauseous. Leana handed her the basket.
"Mind sorting this in the kitchen? Dinner ingredients."
"Got it! Urk!"
She dry-heaved at the oddly shaped cucumber poking out of the basket. Leana burst out laughing at the absurdity.
Then a scream erupted from the back yard where Leonar had gone to wash.