[Velvet POV]
After covering Luna with a shadow barrier, I went over to the knight leader.
“Is everything over here confirmed finished?”
“Just about, seems like the guy you and your friend took out was the source. Speaking of, where is she?”
“Resting, she used too much mana.”
“That’s reasonable, that big attack of hers was impressive.”
“If everything is taken care of here then we should check the other gates, right?”
“I was just about to give the order.”
After saying that, he walked to the center of the crowd of knights and adventurers and called out the order to join at the other gates. I was about to go back to Luna when the crowd moved all at once. I was relatively close to the center, so I was dragged along to the next gate.
We ended up at the west gate and saw that the battle here was entering its final stages. There were still lots of undead, but they were mostly skeletons of forest animals. I could see what looked like the one who was in charge of maintaining the necromancy get impaled on a spear that was thrown by a large bearman. He was carried by the momentum and the spear ended up embedded in the wall with the necromancer still skewered on it.
The undead started to crumble like they did on our battlefield earlier, signaling victory for us. I tried moving to the edge of the crowd before it moved on again, I really wanted to get back to Luna. I made it to the edge and started to make my way back when I heard someone calling out to me from the shadows.
“Velvet, come over here.”
I looked at where the voice was coming from to see my mother standing there. I ran over to her, and she started asking questions.
“Explain the situation. I know about the undead and who caused it, but I need to know where the bastard is or if he escaped already. Also, where is the Goddess’s future wife, why aren’t you with her?”
“I’ll explain everything in a bit. Meet me in the shadow of the wall by the south gate. That is where Luna is, and I need to get back to her.”
“Did something happen to her?”
“No, like I said I’ll explain at the south gate.” I said as I turned and started running south.
It took me an hour to get back to where Luna was. My shadow barrier still up, I dispelled it and saw Luna leaning against the wall, asleep. I sighed in relief since it seemed like she was no longer in pain.
‘I know she’s my friend and all, and the Goddess even reassured me, but why was I so extremely worried about Luna?’
{That’s because you are her Apostle. That makes you connected on a fundamental level. It’s also the reason she got so pissed when you were injured earlier.}
‘I see.’
While I was ruminating on what I just learned, Luna started waking up. My mother also arrived at the same time.
“I’m here now Velvet, start explaining.”
“You’re too impatient, wait for Luna to wake up and we can explain everything we know.”
“So, this is the one the Goddess is going to marry? She’s looks so cute, and I feel some sort of draw to pet her tails.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it, though there were some extenuating circumstances, the last time someone did that, they lost an arm.”
“What Velvet said, while I won’t react as bad as that time, only Tamamo and I can touch my tails.”
“You good now, Luna?”
“The pain is gone, and I was able to rest a bit, but I can still barely move.”
“Then how about we hold off on our discussion and move to a different place?”
“Weren’t you the one wanting answers immediately, mother?”
“Yes, but it can wait now that I’ve met her. I’ll bring us to our place with shadow travel. That way we can talk while she rests somewhere more comfortable than on the ground.”
Mother used her shadow travel skill and we instantly found ourselves in my room.
“Of all the places you could bring us to, why does it have to be my room?”
“Because I thought it would be funny.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you like collecting masks Velvet.”
“I wouldn’t joke about that.”
“They all look nice, though I want to break that one over there.”
“Why, that is a rare mask designed by a previous hero, it cost me 200 gold.”
“Because that mask comes from a game where it’s used to make the moon fall from the sky. In a world where magic is a normal thing, I don’t want to take any chances of that happening.”
I went pale and looked back at the mask. I took it from where it was hanging and handed it to Luna. She froze and shattered it into diamond dust.
“Whatever past hero made that has a bad sense of humor.”
As me and Luna were discussing things like normal, my mother coughed and brought our attention back to her.
“I’m glad the two of you get along well, but can we move on to other matters now?”
“Sorry about that, let me introduce myself. I am Luna Reed, an adventurer and, since you clearly already know, Tamamo’s future wife.”
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sonia Belmont, Velvet’s mother and acting leader of the vampires of Savanna Kingdom.”
“Acting leader?”
“I passed my position down to Velvet about a year ago, but when you came along and the Goddess told her to join you, I took back the role.”
“Sorry for interrupting your retirement then.”
“It’s fine, Velvet barely did anything anyway, she just pushed all the work onto Steward, our steward, and went around doing what she liked.”
Luna looked over to me with a deadpan look.
“Don’t judge me, that job is really boring and all the work I ever had was ordering other people around and occasional paperwork.”
“I guess this explains why you know all of these hidden, but great shops and places around the city.”
“Anyway, now that you’ve introduced yourselves, we can move on to what you know, mother.”
“Fine. To start off, what happened to that damn porpoise, did he escape again?”
“He’s dead, I killed him.”
“Then I thank you for that, Lady Luna. He has been a pain for us for a long time, especially after what happened 60 years ago at the coastal city. Though I wonder why he acted so fast and with such a bad plan?”
“Tamamo said his mind was eroded by a curse from the God of Death, so that is the reason I’m sticking with.”
“As good of a reason as any.”
“What are you going to do about your tails? If you have a way to hide one, you should, unless you’re planning on telling the world you’re on your way to be a goddess.”
“I have that covered; I’m just getting used to the feeling of it for now.”
“Can you move more now?”
“Yeah.”
Luna stood up and took a shaky step forward.
“Ugh, I hate this feeling of my legs being asleep.”
She stood still for a second and then moved around some more to get the feeling back in her legs.
“That’s better, now, what should we going to do? Go and check the other gates or wait and report to the guild tomorrow?”
“You two should rest here for now and go to the guild tomorrow, I think the knights and adventurers will have everything sorted out now, but I’ll send some subordinates out tonight to check the forests for any straggling cultists.”
“I guess I should make my way back to the inn, then.”
“No, Lady Luna, you’re staying here for the night.”
“She’s right, Luna. You may be able to move again, but you still look tired.”
“Rest in here for now, I’ll get someone to prepare a room for you. Velvet, come with me.”
“Thanks then. By the way, is there a bath here? I feel gross and I stink of undead.”
“We’ll have someone get it ready.”
Me and my mother left my room and headed toward the meeting room. On the way there, mother asked me a question.
“What aren’t you telling me, Velvet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Since about two weeks and a bit ago, you’ve been acting different. When you talk about Lady Luna, you get more animated than normal.”
“Oh, that. I’ll explain, but you need to keep it to yourself, the Goddess told me to do the same. Two weeks ago, we hunted orcs in the forest to the south, and on the way back, an undead bear came at us. Luna used her fox transformation skill and we beat it. At that time, I picked up Luna due to an impulse and gained a title.”
“What title?”
“Apostle of Fluff.”
Mother stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened as she looked at me, her shock evident.
“Reign yourself in before you start yelling. I was told not to let Luna know, and if you start yelling, she will hear you.”
“Velvet, this is a big deal. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because I didn’t know how to bring it up. I can’t just come home and go, ‘Guess what, I’m an Apostle now.’ Now can I.”
“That’s true. But this is a good thing, you have reached a point where most would kill to be at. Even I’m a bit jealous, honestly. So, what kind of things happen to you as an Apostle?”
“For now, not much. Since I gained the title, my hair has been softer and fluffier as the most prominent effect. Once Luna ascends is when the title will really mean something.”
Mother reached out and touched my hair.
“Damn Velvet, this could be addicting.”
“I know right, and this is nothing compared to Luna. It was only for a second, but I did feel her hair when she was in her fox form, and let me tell you, I can still feel the feeling on my hands.”
“I do remember you looking disappointed every time you touched something soft recently, so that’s the reason.”
“The thing is, the title also negates the addiction of fluff, but I can’t get it out of my mind. I wish she would just let me brush her tails at least once.”
{Since you did good this time, Velvet, I’ll try to get Luna to let you do that only once.}
“Goddess, is Luna alright?”
{She fell asleep again. I was listening to your conversation and making sure Luna couldn’t hear you.}
“I appreciate the thought, but why a sudden reward like that?”
{With your help, and a little of Atmos’s meddling, Luna was able to get her second tail faster than she thought she would, meaning she can now head to the Celestia Kingdom and put some things to rest there. If that doesn’t deserve some kind of reward, then I don’t know what does.}
“Thank you, Goddess.”
{Don’t mention it, but do remember, if Luna accepts, try your best not to get lost in the fluff. Your title negates the addiction, yes, but Luna is the Abyss of fluff, meaning you can still be drawn in to it.}
“I’ll remember that.”
{I’m going back to watching Luna sleep now, she made herself even cuter by wrapping herself in her tails.}
“I don’t think I was supposed to hear that last part.”
“Do you get to talk to the Goddess like that often?”
“No, though she does speak to me from time to time, it’s not much. At least not as much as Luna. The two of them talk all the time, and when I’m there, I get completely forgotten. It’s kind of depressing.”
“Hehehe, don’t worry Velvet, you’ll meet someone one day and act the exact same.”
“I hope that’s true.”
Author's Note:
I present to you all a new chapter. Today we see Velvet's side of things, I hope it was enjoyable for you all. Now a question. Will Luna let Velvet brush and pet her tails? If so, will Velvet be able to resist the pull of the Abyss? Find out probably in the next chapter. I have been your author, thanks for reading.
[Velvet POV]
After covering Luna with a shadow barrier, I went over to the knight leader.
“Is everything over here confirmed finished?”
“Just about, seems like the guy you and your friend took out was the source. Speaking of, where is she?”
“Resting, she used too much mana.”
“That’s reasonable, that big attack of hers was impressive.”
“If everything is taken care of here then we should check the other gates, right?”
“I was just about to give the order.”
After saying that, he walked to the center of the crowd of knights and adventurers and called out the order to join at the other gates. I was about to go back to Luna when the crowd moved all at once. I was relatively close to the center, so I was dragged along to the next gate.
We ended up at the west gate and saw that the battle here was entering its final stages. There were still lots of undead, but they were mostly skeletons of forest animals. I could see what looked like the one who was in charge of maintaining the necromancy get impaled on a spear that was thrown by a large bearman. He was carried by the momentum and the spear ended up embedded in the wall with the necromancer still skewered on it.
The undead started to crumble like they did on our battlefield earlier, signaling victory for us. I tried moving to the edge of the crowd before it moved on again, I really wanted to get back to Luna. I made it to the edge and started to make my way back when I heard someone calling out to me from the shadows.
“Velvet, come over here.”
I looked at where the voice was coming from to see my mother standing there. I ran over to her, and she started asking questions.
“Explain the situation. I know about the undead and who caused it, but I need to know where the bastard is or if he escaped already. Also, where is the Goddess’s future wife, why aren’t you with her?”
“I’ll explain everything in a bit. Meet me in the shadow of the wall by the south gate. That is where Luna is, and I need to get back to her.”
“Did something happen to her?”
“No, like I said I’ll explain at the south gate.” I said as I turned and started running south.
It took me an hour to get back to where Luna was. My shadow barrier still up, I dispelled it and saw Luna leaning against the wall, asleep. I sighed in relief since it seemed like she was no longer in pain.
‘I know she’s my friend and all, and the Goddess even reassured me, but why was I so extremely worried about Luna?’
{That’s because you are her Apostle. That makes you connected on a fundamental level. It’s also the reason she got so pissed when you were injured earlier.}
‘I see.’
While I was ruminating on what I just learned, Luna started waking up. My mother also arrived at the same time.
“I’m here now Velvet, start explaining.”
“You’re too impatient, wait for Luna to wake up and we can explain everything we know.”
“So, this is the one the Goddess is going to marry? She’s looks so cute, and I feel some sort of draw to pet her tails.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it, though there were some extenuating circumstances, the last time someone did that, they lost an arm.”
“What Velvet said, while I won’t react as bad as that time, only Tamamo and I can touch my tails.”
“You good now, Luna?”
“The pain is gone, and I was able to rest a bit, but I can still barely move.”
“Then how about we hold off on our discussion and move to a different place?”
“Weren’t you the one wanting answers immediately, mother?”
“Yes, but it can wait now that I’ve met her. I’ll bring us to our place with shadow travel. That way we can talk while she rests somewhere more comfortable than on the ground.”
Mother used her shadow travel skill and we instantly found ourselves in my room.
“Of all the places you could bring us to, why does it have to be my room?”
“Because I thought it would be funny.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you like collecting masks Velvet.”
“I wouldn’t joke about that.”
“They all look nice, though I want to break that one over there.”
“Why, that is a rare mask designed by a previous hero, it cost me 200 gold.”
“Because that mask comes from a game where it’s used to make the moon fall from the sky. In a world where magic is a normal thing, I don’t want to take any chances of that happening.”
I went pale and looked back at the mask. I took it from where it was hanging and handed it to Luna. She froze and shattered it into diamond dust.
“Whatever past hero made that has a bad sense of humor.”
As me and Luna were discussing things like normal, my mother coughed and brought our attention back to her.
“I’m glad the two of you get along well, but can we move on to other matters now?”
“Sorry about that, let me introduce myself. I am Luna Reed, an adventurer and, since you clearly already know, Tamamo’s future wife.”
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sonia Belmont, Velvet’s mother and acting leader of the vampires of Savanna Kingdom.”
“Acting leader?”
“I passed my position down to Velvet about a year ago, but when you came along and the Goddess told her to join you, I took back the role.”
“Sorry for interrupting your retirement then.”
“It’s fine, Velvet barely did anything anyway, she just pushed all the work onto Steward, our steward, and went around doing what she liked.”
Luna looked over to me with a deadpan look.
“Don’t judge me, that job is really boring and all the work I ever had was ordering other people around and occasional paperwork.”
“I guess this explains why you know all of these hidden, but great shops and places around the city.”
“Anyway, now that you’ve introduced yourselves, we can move on to what you know, mother.”
“Fine. To start off, what happened to that damn porpoise, did he escape again?”
“He’s dead, I killed him.”
“Then I thank you for that, Lady Luna. He has been a pain for us for a long time, especially after what happened 60 years ago at the coastal city. Though I wonder why he acted so fast and with such a bad plan?”
“Tamamo said his mind was eroded by a curse from the God of Death, so that is the reason I’m sticking with.”
“As good of a reason as any.”
“What are you going to do about your tails? If you have a way to hide one, you should, unless you’re planning on telling the world you’re on your way to be a goddess.”
“I have that covered; I’m just getting used to the feeling of it for now.”
“Can you move more now?”
“Yeah.”
Luna stood up and took a shaky step forward.
“Ugh, I hate this feeling of my legs being asleep.”
She stood still for a second and then moved around some more to get the feeling back in her legs.
“That’s better, now, what should we going to do? Go and check the other gates or wait and report to the guild tomorrow?”
“You two should rest here for now and go to the guild tomorrow, I think the knights and adventurers will have everything sorted out now, but I’ll send some subordinates out tonight to check the forests for any straggling cultists.”
“I guess I should make my way back to the inn, then.”
“No, Lady Luna, you’re staying here for the night.”
“She’s right, Luna. You may be able to move again, but you still look tired.”
“Rest in here for now, I’ll get someone to prepare a room for you. Velvet, come with me.”
“Thanks then. By the way, is there a bath here? I feel gross and I stink of undead.”
“We’ll have someone get it ready.”
Me and my mother left my room and headed toward the meeting room. On the way there, mother asked me a question.
“What aren’t you telling me, Velvet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Since about two weeks and a bit ago, you’ve been acting different. When you talk about Lady Luna, you get more animated than normal.”
“Oh, that. I’ll explain, but you need to keep it to yourself, the Goddess told me to do the same. Two weeks ago, we hunted orcs in the forest to the south, and on the way back, an undead bear came at us. Luna used her fox transformation skill and we beat it. At that time, I picked up Luna due to an impulse and gained a title.”
“What title?”
“Apostle of Fluff.”
Mother stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened as she looked at me, her shock evident.
“Reign yourself in before you start yelling. I was told not to let Luna know, and if you start yelling, she will hear you.”
“Velvet, this is a big deal. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because I didn’t know how to bring it up. I can’t just come home and go, ‘Guess what, I’m an Apostle now.’ Now can I.”
“That’s true. But this is a good thing, you have reached a point where most would kill to be at. Even I’m a bit jealous, honestly. So, what kind of things happen to you as an Apostle?”
“For now, not much. Since I gained the title, my hair has been softer and fluffier as the most prominent effect. Once Luna ascends is when the title will really mean something.”
Mother reached out and touched my hair.
“Damn Velvet, this could be addicting.”
“I know right, and this is nothing compared to Luna. It was only for a second, but I did feel her hair when she was in her fox form, and let me tell you, I can still feel the feeling on my hands.”
“I do remember you looking disappointed every time you touched something soft recently, so that’s the reason.”
“The thing is, the title also negates the addiction of fluff, but I can’t get it out of my mind. I wish she would just let me brush her tails at least once.”
{Since you did good this time, Velvet, I’ll try to get Luna to let you do that only once.}
“Goddess, is Luna alright?”
{She fell asleep again. I was listening to your conversation and making sure Luna couldn’t hear you.}
“I appreciate the thought, but why a sudden reward like that?”
{With your help, and a little of Atmos’s meddling, Luna was able to get her second tail faster than she thought she would, meaning she can now head to the Celestia Kingdom and put some things to rest there. If that doesn’t deserve some kind of reward, then I don’t know what does.}
“Thank you, Goddess.”
{Don’t mention it, but do remember, if Luna accepts, try your best not to get lost in the fluff. Your title negates the addiction, yes, but Luna is the Abyss of fluff, meaning you can still be drawn in to it.}
“I’ll remember that.”
{I’m going back to watching Luna sleep now, she made herself even cuter by wrapping herself in her tails.}
“I don’t think I was supposed to hear that last part.”
“Do you get to talk to the Goddess like that often?”
“No, though she does speak to me from time to time, it’s not much. At least not as much as Luna. The two of them talk all the time, and when I’m there, I get completely forgotten. It’s kind of depressing.”
“Hehehe, don’t worry Velvet, you’ll meet someone one day and act the exact same.”
“I hope that’s true.”
Author's Note:
I present to you all a new chapter. Today we see Velvet's side of things, I hope it was enjoyable for you all. Now a question. Will Luna let Velvet brush and pet her tails? If so, will Velvet be able to resist the pull of the Abyss? Find out probably in the next chapter. I have been your author, thanks for reading.
