No Blessed ✓

Shopping

Sean switched off the recorder as the sound of noise and people talking signified Praise had left the shop where she had been talking with Tyler.

“She handled that pretty well, don’t you think?” Koenig said as Sean put the recorder away. “You need to have more faith Sean.”

“So Mr. Ark is looking for his brother already? That was quick,” Sean redirected the topic from himself, slight embarrassment swelling up in him at being wrong about Praise’s motives.

“Do you think this will be a problem?” Koenig asked, tapping his knee in thought. “Mr. Ark does have the resources to pursue the case and he has already informed the police.”

“I wasn’t expecting that Praise was telling the truth,” Sean admitted, folding his fingers together. “I was sure she had something else going on entirely.”

“But I doubt Mr. Ark will pose much of a problem. No matter how hard he searches, he doesn’t have any evidence to trace back to Nuroh,” he continued.

Koenig nodded. “Praise will keep an eye on him now that he already knows her. Since he also thinks she is a friend of Mikel, it will be easy for her to gather information on what he is doing,”

Sean sighed. “We’re in the clear for now. I’ll remove the recorder when Praise gets back before she can discover it.”

Koenig leaned back, his hand brushing against the plush leather of the car seat. “All right, it’s better if she remains in the dark about it.”

*

Victoria looked back to make sure Mikel was still following her before bouncing along cheerily. Mikel, who was wearing his weights again, huffed and puffed trying to keep up with her. “Wait up! Victoria!”

The second year cackled evilly. “Keep up minion!”

Yesterday, she had been surprised when Mikel had run into their shared dorm and fallen to his knees begging her to teach him how to make frozen desserts.

Mikel rarely sucked up to her, well no one sucked up to her except when they wanted her to predict something for them.

Even Eric had tried to use flattery as a means of trying to get her to predict who he would duel in his next Armed Combat class and had ended up being cheated out of his allowance by her.
It was extortion but it was also one of the perks of being an Elder. Victoria loved it.

Anyway, she had been so dazed she had agreed to Mikel’s intense begging before remembering to extort him. It was strange and Victoria decided to ask him what was up with his attitude as she stopped in front of a meat shop. Mikel caught up to her several seconds later, his face tired and puffed.

“What?” Victoria asked as he tried to glare at her. “Never run in those things before?”

“No,” the Druid shook his head. “What are we doing here?”

“I want these and these,” Victoria said to the butcher, pointing at a small pile of bones and other parts of what used to be a goat.

“What do we need these for?” Mikel asked, his voice a bit raw from his running. “We’re going to make a dessert, aren’t we?”

Victoria nodded as the butcher busied himself packing up their meat. “By boiling the bones and ears—“

“Ears?” Mikel interrupted in an incredulous tone. “What do we need an animal’s ears for?”

Victoria reached up as high as she could and gave his shoulder a sharp smack. It was all she could do, considering she had been aiming for the back of his head. “Stop interrupting me minion! Do you want my help or not?”