Slayers: Chaos

Chaos 46

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 046: Stranded! Struggling Against The Merciless Ocean

Thanks to the chocker and the new hair color, Filia managed to blend in at the human town. A few people gave her a second glance, but they moved on after concluding that the similar pink dress was just a coincidence and this girl was not the same as the one with the tail. Even the top of her ears was perfectly rounded like a human. She still felt a tad fragile, but she figured it must be the magical pressure the choker made on her to keep her form perfectly human.

After some observation, Filia noted that humans weren't so unusual after all. They had a town, a market and they went about their business. They were loud and somewhat unruly by her standards, but whatever qualities had apparently attracted Tiffany still remained a mystery to Filia. She did notice that there were great variations from one human to another. Maybe she just wasn't observing the right type of human, maybe she just had to keep looking, she had the time after all.

The constrained feeling in her body was getting to be annoying. Maybe she could duck into an alley and stretch her tail a bit where no one could see her. She found a suitable place for that, glad that the structures of the little town were so tightly packed, however, she was unable to remove the chocker. 'Don't panic,' Filia thought to herself. She walked out of the alley and tried to find her way back to Venus. The temple where she lived was a lot larger than this town, but it had a very organized symmetrical structure that the human town lacked. The place was small but built like a maze of confusing winding streets that turned narrower and wider without warning, full of turns that made no sense to Filia. It was as if they just kept on building wherever and didn't plan out the town's structure at all.

After some time of wondering, Filia found her way back to where Venus' tent had been. There was a long line of people standing in front of it now, waiting to have their fortune read. Filia sighed and reasoned that cutting in line would be terribly rude, thus she waited. Finally, her turn came and she was able to speak to Venus. "Lady Venus, I seem to have a small problem," she spoke calmly as she didn't know the extent of her problem just yet. "The choker is stuck, or maybe I just don't understand the proper way to remove it."

"I shall provide the removal service for a price," Venus offered mockingly.

"Removal service?" Filia didn't like where this was going.

"That will be a hundred gold coins," Venus informed with a serious face and a malicious stare.

"What?" Filia loudly exclaimed. It was no wonder she was told to be weary of the world outside of the temple walls. "You can't do that, this is a rip off!"

Filia was just about ready to throw a tantrum when Venus called out to a new arrival who stud just outside her tent. She recognized him as either Biggs or Wedge, one of the pair of twins who were madly in love with the mayor's only daughter, who showed no interest in either. Venus had profited from their rivalry, setting them up to one up each other in a series of useless competitions that did little to amuse their beloved. "Is that you my boy? This young lady is causing trouble, please see her out."

Biggs or Wedge, which ever he was, stepped forward towards Filia. His dark brown messy hair spoke of another sleepless night contemplating his heartbreak. Big amber eyes looked at Filia with disapproval as he pouted. "Miss, you shouldn't cause trouble for Venus, please leave now."

Filia could just about explode with anger. "She tricked me!"

As if wanting to shield the tricky old woman from the sheer volume of the girl's voice, the young man stepped between them. "Please leave!" He insisted sternly.