Fiore Country – Shirotsume Town
It was a beautiful sunny day in the small town of Shirotsume. Warm rays of light painted the streets, children laughed and played, and merchants called out half-heartedly over a slow market day. Peace, fragile as it was, seemed to hold.
Until the sky darkened.
The cheerful blue was swallowed by roiling storm clouds that spat purple lightning. Winds howled, shutters slammed, and the calm of morning shattered.
In one small home, a middle-aged man with gray hair and a soft mustache closed his book — Dear Kaby — as the storm rattled his window. He frowned, muttering, "What in Earthland's name…?" before rushing out to check on his wife.
Far above, on Mt. Hakobe, the storm twisted unnaturally. Lightning gouged the snow, split stone, and felled trees. At the mountain's peak, reality itself cracked open. A muscular arm, larger than a man's body, smashed through the rift like breaking glass.
Elsewere
Salem's Pov
"Oh man finally!" I groaned, shifting into a cat landing on the streets and stretching a bit, not really caring about all the people around. Flying from one continent to another was a lot more tiresome than I thought and gave me a whole new respect for birds now especially during migration periods.
"Oh stop being dramatic. We only flew for 4 and a half hours." Morrigan crouched beside me, flicking my ear with a smirk. "And besides I picked the safest route so some appreciation for your beautiful mentor would be nice~."
I gave her a deadpan look and clambered up onto her shoulder. "Yeah, super safe. That hailstorm we dove through? Totally relaxing. And don't forget we were flying at mach two for four hours straight. My wings are going on strike."
"That was your endurance training, my dear little changeling. Consider it a gift." Her smirk widened.
I blinked. "Wait… training? Did that word just come out of your mouth?"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. You said it yourself: the gloves are off. Anomalies aren't child's play anymore — they're A to S-class nightmares. If you don't sharpen up, they'll bury you."
She wasn't wrong. But still, something had been off about Morrigan these past few days. She was more… let me say on guard. Serious, even when she was teasing.
"And besides I'll be damned if you get sent to the afterlife without me getting some of that reward you got from the Lawe family. Not to mention, you've still got the divine snake's power to master. My ticket into that templ~." She tilted her glasses playfully winked.
"Eh Eh. Are you mad or you're trying to be mad? I'm not giving you jack after the last time you touched that bag."
"Oh please, don't act like you didn't enjoy living it up at that resort. Expensive wine, five-star meals… admit it, junior~."
"I like luxury, sure. But ever heard of saving money for emergencies?"
"Junior, with the way we live, every day could be your last. Better to fill life with experiences you'll remember than hoard coin you'll never spend. Isn't that why you're traveling in the first place?"
Honestly I can see her point in that a little bit.
Mermaid Heel's guildhall towered before us, waterfalls glistening down its walls. I couldn't help staring, as always, wondering if it was enchantment or they just have a really big water budget to keep this up, and if so those water bills must be crazy.
Inside, the familiar prickle of eyes fell on us making me a little nervous. Every time I came here — eight visits and counting — most of the guild seemed to watch, especially when I spoke with Kagura. I'm just not used to so many girls and women looking me
"KITTY!"
I heard a familiar voice and I saw Millianna run in front of us looking at me with starry eyes.
"H-MEAOW!!" I screeched when she snatched me from Morrigan's shoulder and she began squishing me in her soft breasts. I'm not going to act like I don't enjoy this like other dudes but why do the women of this world love doing this.
"AW YOUR SO ADORABLE!" She squealed.
"M-Millianna c-chill I-I n-need to b-breath p-please." I begged but looked like a cute girl didn't hear me and Morrigan just stood there with a teasing smirk on her face.
I quickly transformed into the bully ant getting out of her grip with my tiny structure and then instantly turned into an owl flying and landing on Morrigan's shoulder.
"Eh Yesu Chritsu(Jesus Christ)." I ruffled my feathers and panted.
"What a way to die right junior~." Morrigan teased a bit.
"Shut up." I mumbled.
She looked at me in complete surprise. "Wait Salem-chan!?"
"Hoo. The one and only~." I transformed back to normal while still on Morrigan's shoulders causing her to stiff a bit to the weight and transformed back into and owl but the woman pluck out some of my feathers making screech.
Millianna's ears flattened. "S-sorry! I just can't resist when you're a cat. You're too cute!"
"It's cool it's not that serious but just don't go too hard on the hugs next time me and cats still need to breathe you know." I waved it off.
"Could that time be now, please?" she begged, arms outstretched again.
Morrigan chuckled. "Junior, you really are a natural flirt. Already cozy with the cat girl, while your sword-girlfriend trains elsewhere. Tsk~tsk~."
I groaned. "Why do you ship me with every woman I so much as look at?"
"Because it's fun~."
"Oh speaking of Kagura-chan just what happened in Taiyo." The cat girl's question made me tilt my head in confusion letting out owl noises.
"She just told me that she was staying because she's getting special training from a woman named Harumi Shogun but from the sound of her voice I could tell there's something else going on." Guess Kagura didn't want her friends to worry with the whole basically cursed by a demon thing.
I shook my head. "Sorry, can't tell you. If Kagura wants to keep it private, it's not my place to spill."
"You can't be serious Salem-chan. If Kagura is going through something I need to know too." She pouted, placing her hands on her hips narrowing.That's adorable, the cute cat girl thinks she's Erza Scarlet.
I shrugged my shoulders."Sorry Millianna if Kagura wants to keep it a little on the low then it's not really my place to be talking about her business."
Marella then walked over to us. She was wearing blue green aquatic themed armor and because this is Earthland it has to be a bit erotic. She placed her hand on the cat girl's head and gave her a gentle smile.
"His right Milly-chan. I know you're worried about Kagura but like Salem-chan said this is her personal matter but don't worry I'm sure she will open up on what's going on with her when she's comfortable and ready."
Millianna sighed. "Fine…" Her tail drooped. "But I'm just worried about her, especially with the recent news."
"Good. Worry shows your heart is in the right place as there's nothing wrong with worrying about a friend. Now — don't you have a mission with Bertha?" Marella arched an eyebrow.
"ALRIGHT I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" Millianna runs out of the guild leaving a trail behind her.
"Hello darling it looks like you've been having a rough couple of days." Morrigan pointed at her slightly messy hair.
The red haired woman chuckled while twirling her hair a bit."You have no idea about senpai but let's continue this discussion in my office."
The three of us went inside of her office and I went back to normal form as she handed us the envelopes containing our reward money.
Morrigan arched her brow. "Feels a little light, dear."
Marella rolled her eyes but still smiled. "Relax, Senpai. It's all there. I made sure no cuts were taken. Though knowing your lifestyle, it'll last… two weeks at best."
Morrigan gasped theatrically, hand over her chest. "Are you implying I have no self-control?"
"Yes," Marella and I said in unison.
Marella's smile faded into seriousness. "Still, I'm troubled. Why was Cerberus sent to Tiyo with so little protection? The guild's decision makes no sense."
Morrigan began to smoke. "Trust me dear, the dark guild politics in Sin can get very messy. But what I do know is that the thing was initially found and captured by someone from Taiyo so there's another can of worms to open there."
Marella turned to me "Speaking of which Salem-san from what I remember you said there are multiple of these anomalies around Earthland just how many more of these have the threat level in the caliber of the Cerberus?"
I cringed a bit. "Oh no, which one or ones are causing trouble now?"
She just sighed. "I don't know the exact number but an increased number of reports of unknown monsters attacking settlements and when mages are tasked to take care of them they fail but if they manage to take them down the monster will appear stronger leading to an increased number of failures. Sound familiar?"
"As deadly as these monsters are, I doubt that's what's been stressing you since it's not exactly something new to Fiore or Earthland in general." Morrigan pointed out.
"Your right the thing is the former wizard saint the council discovered was a traitor had been broken out of prison." sighed Marella
That statement caused me to raise an eyebrow. I remembered that Ultear and Meredy broke Jellal out of jail to form their guild during the time skip, but I didn't think that they would have broken him out so soon. It's only been like two months since the Tenou Island incident.
Morrigan chuckled. "Who had the guts to break him out?"
"This isn't a laughing matter, such a man roaming the lands could spell trouble. As for who broke him out, former councilwoman Ultear is a main suspect but as for who was helping her it's unknown."
I let out a little whistle. "Damn Kagura and Millianna are not going to like this."
"Trust me they didn't when I broke the news to them." The guild-master briefly looked outside the window. . "But tell me — where are the latest anomalies exactly, I would like to keep my mermaid pod away from those areas."
I took out my phone from my re-equip space and noticed the multiple notifications for the fusion monster had been going off and it appeared in Mt Higher and is currently moving to a town called Shirotsume. 'Oh shit' I tugged on Morrigan's jacket, getting her attention showing her the phone.
"Well, junior. Looks like training day came early." She then turned to the guild master.. "Well dear it was nice seeing again but the two of us have to leave a bit early. Junior here has some monster hunting to do."
Marella straightened. "I'll accompany you. I want to see how you handle this."
"Why?" I asked.
"Curiosity," she replied simply. "And concern."
Morrigan waved a hand. "Fine, darling, but don't interfere. Junior needs this fight."
Marella's eyes narrowed. "What are you plotting, Senpai?"
"Relax," Morrigan purred. "It's just training. Think of it as a live spar. So where are we going off to Junior?"
"It was on Mt. Hakobe but it's heading towards Shirotsume Town." This thing just appeared and was immediately just chosen to attack a town.
Marella's gaze hardened. "Then lives are already at stake." She pushed open the window.
Morrigan slung an arm around my shoulders. "Transport duty, junior since Marella can't really fly. So you know the drill."
"Fine." She shoved me out the window. I transformed midair into my full Rathalos form, wings snapping open with a thunderous whoomph. The two of them leapt onto my back.
"There are softer ways to do that!" I growled.
"Where's the fun in that~?" Morrigan laughed.
Marella, surprisingly, smiled as the wind whipped around us. "It's been ten years since I've flown like this. I'd forgotten the thrill."
I beat my wings, the air cracking into a sonic boom as we soared toward Shirotsume.