The Best and the Pest

Chapter 11

(I love the pic above haha)

Before the said meeting the next day, Golden Guard had to do a short watch at the market again. As he was about to finish this step, with two coven scouts to the left and right of him, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. "Darius?" He muttered to himself and raised an eyebrow questioningly under the mask. As he followed the familiar voice, he saw the leader of the Abomination Coven at the booth from the previous day. Golden Guard giggled while the scouts behind him probably looked at each other not knowing what was going on.

"Does the great Darius buy his beloved stuff after all ~", he emphasized extra, whereupon the older turned around in astonishment. "Oh it's you ... and no, I'm just giving him a few tips.", Darius explained and smoothed his coat. When the golden boy looked at the salesman, however, he saw how lost he looked. Darius had seemed to be going over these "few" tips with him for a while. Golden Guard chuckled, "But I just finished anyway ... the meeting is coming up soon. We should go back."

Golden Guard nodded in agreement while the salesman exhaled with a relieving smile. "And you !!", Darius suddenly said loudly and pointed to him, who then winced. "I'll see you again. Until then, I want to see improvements!" The salesman nodded nervously while Darius turned his back on him and finally started to go back with the golden boy and the two Coven Scouts.

Back at the castle, Darius went back to the meeting room of the Coven Heads. He didn’t ask Golden Guard if he wanted to come with him, because he could guess that he had to go to Belos ... after all, the meeting was about to take place in a few minutes.

In fact, it wasn't long before they had to come into the large room and gather around the familiar round table. They quietly listened to Emperor Belos telling them something, while Golden Guard and Kikimora stood to his left and right. There were also some abomatons in the room, which Darius looked at rather disparagingly before he turned his attention back to Belos.

All 9 of them loosened their coven head buttons from their coats as usual and placed them in the appropriate holes that could be seen on the small round table. Immediately everything changed and the blue fire appeared before them, all of them somehow lost theirselfs. Golden Guard watched them without making a sound, he didn't quite understand what was happening to them, but he just took it ... after all, he trusted Emperor Belos.

It went on like that, at least until Belos seemed to be doing badly and Golden Guard escorted him out of the room. During this time, the coven heads were able to release themselves from their rigidity and took back their buttons, which they put on again. Darius ruffled his hair a bit as he watched Kikimora storm in the direction into which the Golden Guard and Emperor Belos had previously disappeared. He didn't see the Golden Boy for the rest of the afternoon, and Kikimora seemed to have disappeared too ... but then he heard that Kikimora was stationed in Latissa and that the Golden Guard was looking for more palismens for the Emperor.

It was only the next day that the Coven Heads found out by chance that the Golden Guard had crashed in Latissa and was rescued by hikers ... also that he had lost his mask in this crash landing, surprised them all. They were kind of excited to see the golden boy without a mask, as none of them could claim to have ever seen him without it. They hadn't expected that the golden boy would show up voluntarily without them telling him too. "Hi ...", a boy came into the room that day.

At first Darius wondered what he was doing here until he recognized the voice, which now sounded a little higher without a mask, and also the clothes he was wearing. "Golden Guard ..?" Said the Healing Coven leader before him. The boy just nodded and sat down in his chair. "Yeah yeah, I know I look younger than you thought." He rolled his eyes a little, as if he'd heard it many times today.

Darius eyed him closely. Short light blonde hair, red-purple eyes, a scar on the cheek that wasn't exactly small ... a small piece of the right ear, seen from Darius, was missing and, last but not least, the dark circles under the eyes. "Yes ... somehow ...", the illusion leader said and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So that's why the question was so uncomfortable for you.", Raine suddenly moaned and laid their head on the table. "I am so sorry!" Golden Guard looked a little nervously to the side and for the Coven Heads it was new to see his emotions so openly, which the much younger quickly noticed because he looked up at them a bit startled and his cheeks and ears were reddened with shame when he turned his head away.

The Plant Coven leader chuckled softly. "Don't worry Golden Guard, no matter how old you are, you are very welcome here." The boy looked at her and they could actually see some surprise in his eyes before he smiled slightly and looked down at the floor. "Thanks ..." he muttered so softly that they could barely hear it.

"Nevertheless you can give us a number now, right?", Said the Construction Coven leader, who always looked a bit stricter than he usually was. Golden Guard looked to the side again before sighing and looking at the older man. "16", he said and watched as the eyes of his opponent widened and the other Coven Heads were also a bit surprised by this answer. Of course they saw that he was still very young ... and yet they had thought and hoped that he was at least a little older ... He was just a child ... The future Bard Coven leader wondered what he was doing at Belos side at his age, but they didn't ask him ... and they were sure that the other Coven leaders thought similarly.

(I hope my english is still okay :3 )