Mistaken for a Returnee

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, Aldritch was tired of standing beside Edward's chair and his palms were starting to get itchy.

It would be so easy.

Just a simple turn of Aldritch's hand and the unpleasant human's head would pop off.

The Giant could picture it now; the blood spraying across the table, dulling the reflective surface to a more acceptable level. The loose meat falling through his fingers like a perfectly cooked piece of short rib. The way the last vestiges of life would look as it drained from his eyes… But he couldn't give in to that impulse.

At least, he couldn't while Sulika was watching.

The slimy man finished reading through the last piece of paperwork he'd brought for Aldritch and slid it across the table to a spot in front of an empty chair.

Aldritch lightly pushed the chair aside and glanced at Sulika, who was sitting with her head resting on the desk. Once he was certain she hadn't been disturbed, he picked up the papers and moved to stand in front of the windows.

He wondered why she decided to stay with him. She certainly hadn't needed to, Aldritch was confident he could handle the smelly human without her present. So, why? Was it obligation that caused her to stay? Perhaps she pitied him, the stranger in a strange world? Or maybe it was to return the favor for this morning?

Aldritch didn't know, and that confused him. He wasn't used to not knowing things.

"Are you complaining?"

"Certainly not. Tis just an odd sensation." He straightened the papers and began scanning them from the first page… There was just one problem; the spell he was using to translate the words spoken to him didn't work on the written word. Rather, the symbols on the page seemed to shift and wiggle before his very eyes. Every time he thought he'd recognized a letter, it would shift into something else entirely.

"Comprehend script" He muttered, focusing his mana on his eyes and casting the spell. The magic took hold instantly and replaced the spell "Comprehend languages" that he'd been maintaining all this time.

Despite what its name may suggest, the spell didn't give him the ability to understand the written word. Instead, the magic created a minor auditory illusion that read each word for him and transmitted the meaning directly into his mind.

However, because he no longer had the ability to understand Edward or Sulika; Aldritch focused all of his attention on the pages in an attempt to get through them as quickly as possible.

He hated being deaf to their words, even if it was only temporary. But he was more frustrated that he could only have one "Comprehend" spell active at a time. Admittedly, it was his fault that was the case. He'd had plenty of time and opportunities to create a method that allowed both to be active simultaneously.

However, with no one to talk to, and no languages he couldn't speak. Aldritch had abandoned the idea for a time.

He supposed correcting this mistake should be near the top of his to-do list.

With his focus and mana directed into the pages, he read through every inch of nonsense Edward wanted him too. Some forms he signed; like the request for an I.D card and a form to request citizenship. But the rest he had no intention of ever signing.

Edward took three pages to say he wanted his abilities tested- Not happening.

Nineteen pages to tell him he should give the guild an annual 'membership fee' and permission to call upon him whenever a situation arose that they deemed 'suitable'- Completely absurd.

And a full twenty-seven pages of legal-speak to 'advise' him to join the guild or risk being held liable for the people admitted into the hospital since he arrived in town. And no, it wasn't only about the people he'd pulled out of the portal. The papers spoke of suing him for anyone hurt during the Ogre attack too, as according to them, witnesses stated they'd seen him 'inciting' the ogre in the street.

Aldritch couldn't help but laugh at this.

If they wanted to arrest him for hurting the thralls in the temple, so be it. He'd been the one to injure them, after all… But he would not be blackmailed into becoming the guild's dog, no matter what benefits they offered or threats they sent his way.

He'd sooner burn this entire building to the ground.

Surprisingly, Aldritch didn't find a few of the benefits to be that bad; Access to a twenty-four-hour gym, an onsite tailor and smithy that was advertised as 'the best in town', a permanent dwelling inside the dormitory, and a yearly salary of ten silver coins to start.

Those could've been appealing, but not at the expense of his freedom

Once he was done reading everything Edward had brought, Aldritch placed the forms he would sign at the top of the pile before swapping 'Comprehension' spells.

Edward could barely contain his excitement over the forms Aldritch passed to him… Until he realized how few he'd gotten back with a signature.

The slimeball quickly sorted through the forms until he found the one he wanted- "Mr. Aldritch, I'm afraid you must sign this one. The rest may be negotiable, but this one is not." He said, sliding a stack of papers back to Aldritch.

It was the guild 'membership' form, which Aldritch had purposely left blank.

"No, I don't," Aldritch replied while dropping the last piece of paper onto the desk in front of Edward, the estimate for the Ogre's corpse.

The guild was offering to buy the entire body for one gold piece and seventy-five silver coins. "I'm also not agreeing with this. The corpse is worth at least four times as much as what you're offering."

Edward sucked in a breath and sighed out of irritation. "If you plan to join the guild, then you must sign this form." He said and waved the stack in front of Aldritch's face. "Even a child would know this, Mr. Aldritch. So, do yourself a favor and sign the form." He said, placing the stack of papers on the table between them and aggressively sliding it towards the giant.

Aldritch glanced between the papers and the man sitting in front of him. Then, with a neutral smile on his face, he lifted the stack off the table and tore it into four equal pieces.

Aldritch slid the pieces of the application back across the table to Edward and said, "Why are you offering me a fraction of what the ogre is worth?"

"Are you crazy?" Edward shouted. He grabbed the pieces in his hand and waved them in front of Aldritch's face. "What the hell were you thinking? Why would you do this?" He shouted again. The incredulity at what Aldritch had done drove Edward's stress levels through the ceiling, and he could no longer contain his anger.

Aldritch ignored his outburst and brought his attention to the receipt for the ogre's corpse. "An Ogre's corpse is worth-"

Edward snatched the receipt out of Aldritch's hand. "I don't give a damn about the Ogre!" He ripped up the receipt in front of Aldritch and slammed it on the table between them. "Do you have any idea what you've done? The amount of disrespect you've shown the guild today; you'll be lucky if we even let you in after this!" He said, his anger skyrocketing because of the bored expression on Aldritch's face.

"Are you done?" Aldritch asked once Edward paused to take a breath. His question only angered the man even more than before. And Aldritch guessed by the color his face was turning; it wouldn't take much longer for him to explo-

"Get out." Edward said through clenched teeth. "You are no longer being considered for guild membership. If you do not leave the premises in five minutes, I'll have security remove you."

"That was easier than I thought it'd be. Weren't the thralls of the devils supposed to be master manipulators?" Oakairo said in a bemused tone.

"That should be the case. However, I'm not entirely certain he is a thrall- he appears too healthy for that. Perhaps he's not a direct servant, but an accomplice? Would certainly explain the stench emanating from his skin."

"That's a good point. Looking at him again, I also doubt he's a thrall… But he could be a Warlock? But, hmm… The warlocks you used to hunt were much more conniving than this one. They even fooled you a few times… Ah, I'm sorry." Oakairo said, a wave of remorse flowing through their bond.

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"Do not apologize, My Lord. You've spoken only the truth." Aldritch glanced over at Sulika for a brief moment before holding out his hand towards Edward."Thank you for your time today." Aldritch told the man, who ignored his attempt to get a handshake.

After standing with his hand extended for a few moments, Aldritch dropped it to his side and turned to Sulika. "Would you like me to wait with you?" He asked her.

"Final warning. Leave the premises or I'll have you dragged out." Edward spat; his voice was so full of vitriol Aldritch was surprised his spit wasn't composed of pure acid.

Aldritch ignored the threat and continued watching Sulika.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think it'd be best for everyone if you leave. I'll see you at the store later, okay?" She said, hoping he wouldn't object or cause a scene.

She didn't want to see any of the guards get hurt. They were only doing their jobs and didn't deserve whatever fate awaited them if they tried to forcibly remove Aldritch.

"Understood." Aldritch said and smiled at her. "Then I'll be outside, yell if you need me for anything."

"The area in front of the building is also guild property; you may not loiter outside the building however you please!" Edward said… And was pointedly ignored.

Aldritch walked to the door and gently knocked on it to get the guard's attention. There was a loud Clack sound as the door was unlocked and they let Aldritch leave without a word. "Hey!" Edward shouted at the two guards. He stood up and pointed a shaking finger at Aldritch's back. "Have someone follow him until he's left the premises. And if he comes within ten meters of our doors, I want him arrested and charged with trespassing! Do you hear me!?"

Sulika gave the two male guards an apologetic look, but they both seemed more amused than angry. "Yes, sir." One of them said to the vice-master and gave him a sloppy salute before shutting the door and locking it… There was a moment of awkward silence after the guard locked the door, during which neither Sulika nor Edward said anything.

"Do you know your sin?" Edward sighed. He tugged at the top button of his suit until it came undone and sat back in his chair.

"I disobeyed your orders."

"You disobeyed my orders, exactly right- so you can listen." Edward grumbled; his voice humorless. Sulika could hear the undercurrent of anger that was just waiting to lash out at her. "Do you remember what you said to me the day I agreed to give you command of your own squad?"

"That I would do anything to prove myself capable." Sulika replied, looking down at the table.

"Not quite. You said you'd follow any command I gave you to prove yourself. But that's not what you did, is it? You came to me with this-this, this idiotic and completely illegal plan to break into someone's private warehouse on the word of some untested oracle-"

"She isn't untested." Sulika said, interrupting him.

"Look, I know she's your friend. But the fact of the matter is, there's an order to things. And no matter how accurate you say she is, without a certification of accuracy from the guild, she might as well be a carnival psychic. Which is exactly what I told you when you first brought this case to me."

"Her being my friend has nothing to do with it. Faeyra has a 90% accuracy rating-"

"According to you." Edward interrupted. "But if she's so accurate, why doesn't she work for the guild? You know, most oracles only have a 65% accuracy rating. If she really did have a 90%, as you claim, she'd be the most powerful Oracle the guild has ever hired. Her salary would likely be more than the operating cost of an entire division… If she could prove it. Yet she's never attempted to prove those claims to us, has she?"

"No." Sulika replied through clenched teeth.

"Exactly right. But, on your word, and as a favor to you, I looked into her. Would you like to know what I found?"

"What?"

"She's never been certified as an Oracle in the eyes of the guild. Or anyone else, as far as I can tell. Furthermore, her only work history is as a two-bit alchemist. You even helped pay for the shop she owns, correct?"

"No, you're wrong. I helped purchase the building, yes. But the shop is all hers, and she works her ass off to keep it running." She argued. She was getting angry now, the vice-master could talk down to her all he wanted- she'd messed up and would gladly accept the punishment… but Faeyra didn't deserve any of this.

Edward stared at Sulika, his lips curling upwards into a venomous grin "So, that's a yes." He replied with a look of smug satisfaction on his face. "I understand the scheme now. Intentionally or not, you've been using guild funds to support your friend's business. And then, after funneling dozens of gold coins into her business, you tried to portray this friend as an Oracle to divert even more coins into her business. You're laundering the guild's money." He said and leaned across the table so she couldn't escape his gaze. "Just admit it so we can move on."

Sulika stared at him, and the confusion on her face was clear as day… "If I had a copper bit for every mile that leap of logic just crossed, I could retire today and still have enough funds to buy my great, great, great-granddaughter a house." She said after a moment. "First; I've never stolen anything from the guild. Second; if I put money into the store, it was out of my own pocket."

"Which you got from the guild." Edward said, still keeping his smug grin.

"Yes, as part of my salary… Which I earned. Or are you trying to say that money was loaned to me?" Sulika asked, her voice dropping because of irritation. "And third, Faeyra was right. There was an undiscovered dungeon at that location, which further proves her accuracy."

"Do you have any proof that a dungeon was there?" He asked after a moment.

"Of course I do." Sulika frowned. "I handed over everything to Captain Ellias when he responded to our request for backup last night. Just look at this report and you'll see that-"

"I have looked at his report. It states that some warehouse workers burst into the guild, yammering some story about how rogue hunters had broken into their place of business and were ransacking the place."

"... He told you this himself?" Sulika asked, her eyes narrowed in anger.

"No, I haven't spoken with him in person today, the report was sitting on my desk when I arrived at the office. Are you suggesting it's wrong?"

"Extremely." She replied, gritting her teeth to suppress her anger. "We followed protocol exactly. There were pictures, sketches, and detailed accounts from my team about what we saw- and even if there weren't, how do you explain Aldritch? Is he not proof enough?"

Edward's face twitched. "Unfortunately, not. Since he refused testing, we have no way of proving he is who you claim he is. He could just as easily be some vagrant who snuck into the city…" He trailed off in thought for a moment before a smile spread across his face.

"You claim you were there when Captain Ellias arrived, correct?" He asked while writing something down on the back of a sheet of paper.

"Yes, we handed over the injured workers and the evidence we'd gathered before we left."

"I see… You know, it comes to mind that we may have had some miscommunication." He slid a piece of paper across the table to her with a smile on his face.

Sulika looked at the piece of paper and grit her teeth. It was the fine for six-hundred gold coins. It wasn't for Aldritch, it was for her… "He was planning to do this from the beginning. This little weasel never intended to let me explain."

Before she could say anything, Edward gave her a second sheet of paper and rolled a ballpoint pen across the table.

On one sheet of paper was a list of all the fines she'd accumulated- multiple counts of trespassing, breaking and entering, petty vandalism, destruction of private property, emotional and physical damage to the warehouse workers, misuse of guild resources and personnel, the list went on and on.

The other sheet of paper contained a single line that he'd quickly written out; 'Agreement to provide testimony against one "Aldritch Blackshield." with a black space next to it for her signature.

"You don't realize how lucky you are. Anyone else would serve time for these actions, but you're just stuck paying off a fine… However, as a gesture of good faith, and in return for your years of service. The guild is willing to cover the fine for you in return for your help with a trivial matter." He said, smiling at her.

In that moment, he looked more venomous than any snake.

Edward gently placed his hand atop hers, "You know what you should do, right?" He asked- Sulika jerked her hand away.

"Don't touch me."

The smile on Edward's face fell. He roughly grabbed her wrist and forced it onto the paper. "Sign it." He told her.

"No." Sulika said and pulled her hand free. She stood from the chair and reached for her sword… Only to remember she still didn't have it on her.

Edward sighed and procured five sealed envelopes from the breast pocket of his suit. "If you won't do us a favor, then how about this. Don't sign it and I'll personally hand over these letters right here," He said while pushing a 'letter of dismissal' in front of her.

"I've already signed Zarud, Derrik Longhammer, Oladi Aspenspark, and Ralocan Whiteeagle's letters. However, due to the stress your… friend has placed upon my shoulders today, I've yet to submit them. However, if you sign this piece of paper and agree to help the guild, then I'd be happy to throw all five letters in the trash. What do you say now?" He asked, smiling at Sulika's frowning face.

He placed his hand on top of hers and looked deep into her eyes. "Do the right thing." He whispered and gave her hand a squeeze…

"Don't worry, I plan on it." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear. She gazed at him with predatory amber eyes that looked nothing like the beautiful green Edward had been looking into just seconds ago.

The rage and hatred barely contained within them sent a bolt of fear down Edward's spine, and he was quick to release her hand and sit back in his chair.

Sulika stood after he released her hand and backed towards the door.

Her glowing eyes remained fixed on him, and try as she might, she couldn't move them. Edward had angered her more in the last few minutes than she'd experienced in the last decade, and it was taking every ounce of self-control she possessed to maintain her form.

She needed to leave- needed to find someplace dark and quiet to hide until she could get her heart rate back under control.

She finally mustered the strength to pull her eyes away from him and knocked on the door with surprising strength for one so slight. The guards mistook her knocking for someone falling against the door and hurried to open it- only to freeze the moment Sulika's gaze caught them.

Sulika thanked them for opening the door and left without so much as a glance in Edward's direction. She'd known he was a greedy asshole before today, but she never would've thought it was this bad.

To hell with the guild, and to hell with Edward. There were other ways to accomplish her goal. The guild was just the most convenient one for her purposes… She almost hesitated while walking out the front door of the guild building.

What would she tell the others? Would they be upset with her for not saving their jobs, or would they understand?