Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮22. The Vermilion Pavilion

Amber sat in the wagon seat with Ena sitting beside her. Ena's arms were crossed, she had a scowl on her face, and her bottom lip was sticking out dejectedly. She wanted to sit on Amber's shoulder while they rode to pick up Nova. Amber had to explain to her that she wasn't being rejected, Amber just didn't think that it would be a good idea if it looked like the carriage was going down the road with no driver.

"Can you extend your invisibility out to conceal the entire covered wagon?"

Ena looked up at Amber with watery eyes and her lower lip quivering. [No.]

"There you have it then," Amber said.

Ena looked down and lowered her hands into her lap. [If I can get my invisibility shadow large enough to cover our transportation too, can I sit on your shoulder when we travel in the future?]

Amber reached over and gently patted the little pixie's head while holding onto the reins with her other hand. "Absolutely."

Ena grinned excitedly with determination shining in her eyes. [I'll do it then!]

Amber lightly chuckled as they continued to travel down the road. At least she was motivated, even if the source of her motivation is a little odd.

[We're almost there. Just go down to the end of this main street and then turn left. After that, we need to go five more blocks and then we'll be at the Vermilion Pavilion.]

They traveled in silence as Amber thought about what to expect when they reached their destination and Ena made plans to strengthen her magic. The more Amber praised her, the more she realized how much she enjoys the attention, but she will never admit it. Let Amber just wonder if she's liked! Ena stuck her nose up in the air and glanced sideways at Amber. Perhaps not being alone and being appreciated will be rather nice? Shadow Pixie's are known to be one of the more solitary pixies, because they tend to be territorial loners. She rarely even sees her twin brothers and half sister. That's why it's so incredibly rare for one to attach itself to a master. It's just as well, otherwise everyone would try to catch one if they knew the benefits of acquiring a shadow pixie as a familiar.

Amber parked the wagon at the end of the street, near a large tree that obscured its view. She put on her backpack and climbed out of the wagon. As Amber's feet touched the sidewalk, Ena flew up and landed on her shoulder. Then the two of them disappeared into thin air. She walked down the sidewalk until she stood in front of the Vermilion Pavilion.

It looked like a large two story old Japanese style building. It had a red tiled roof and long silk curtains hanging from the porch, which were slightly floating on the warm night breeze. The light scent of the surrounding flowers drifted in the air. The beautiful architecture sat between the light pink petals of two cherry trees. With the backdrop of the star filled night behind it and the paper lanterns hanging from the porch, it really was a beautiful scene. She sighed in happiness, while looking at the building and experienced a tinge of regret that she couldn't admire it longer. Beautiful architecture was definitely one of her weaknesses.

A rowdy drunken man disrupted Amber's momentary peace when he stumbled out of the front door dragging a woman by her waist. His short brown hair was sticking up in all directions and his face was flushed. His white shirt had a large yellow stain on the front and he was wearing a pair of brown pants.

The woman had copper colored hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a cream colored wrap dress with white embellishments. She had an ivory hair ornament stick, with a red tassel, barely holding her hair up. The neckline of her dress had been pulled on, revealing the top of her cleavage, and exposing one of her milky white shoulders. She was quite short, with a delicate bone structure, a cute little face and had sad looking eyes. The top of her head only reached Amber's shoulders.