Chapter 3

The Priest Arlock.

I laid my head against the wooden floor, my dog like ears pressing against the ground. Perhaps it was due to the lack of things to do around the base, but I had this unshakable boredom continually trying to overtake me. "What time is it?" I groaned, rolling around on the floor. I had a feeling it was past noon. I knew it was terrible to be lazy, but unless I got another mission, there wasn't a need to waste energy. After what seemed like an eternity of me lying on the floor, I heard a knock at the door. My dog like ears twitched, causing me to shoot up from the wooden ground.

I had a feeling it was either Mary or Briar. I quickly walked to the door only for it to be flung open. It wasn't either of the two women. Instead, it was D-6 in his usual inhuman armor. I stared at him, and I think he stared back. At least that is what I assumed he did. My lips pursed while I wondered what exactly I would say to him.

"Arlock is back," D-6 statement was blunt. So blunt that my ear twitched while he said it.

"Eh?"

"He wants to speak to you." Without saying another word, he walked away, as if he expected me to follow him. I grumbled a bit, at the very least he could have told me the time.

I followed the armored man through the hallway. For some reason, the usual trip through the halls felt far more tension-filled. Like someone had decided to drag me to my own funeral. It's not like I had anything against priests. My family wasn't particularly religious, but I always viewed the holy men as people doing their job though this particular meeting made my intestine knot up.

"He's in the meeting hall." D-6 stopped right in front of the meeting hall, signaling to me he had no intention of going in with me.

I attempted to crack a smile. "Ah, I guess Briar or Jerome isn't in there either."

No response, something I should have expected. I shifted my gaze to the door. I wanted to have more time to prepare. At the very least, I wanted to have been able to comb my hair. I walked into the room to see a masked face at the end of the long table. I awkwardly took a seat across from Arlock. While I wished to avoid eye contact with him, I didn't know where I could look.

"It's nice to see another worshiper of the great Zeref." He broke the silence with the most unsettling line imaginable.

"Y-yeah..." I swallowed harshly. There was no getting around it. This guy was giving me the creeps.

"I've heard from Jerome and Briar that you excelled at the missions you were given. Something that does not often happen with the recruits we receive."

I accepted the compliment without much complaint. "If you don't mind me asking, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Arlock remained silent, his iron mask not giving any hints on what he was thinking or his expression. "I merely wanted to know if you knew something about the demon Lullaby."

My eyes widened, how much was known about Lullaby? More importantly, when exactly did I end up? "D-don't know much, why do you ask?"

The man instantly shot up like some twisted statue. He then moved over to me, which prompted me to shift in my seat ever so slightly. It took all of me not to get up and leave. Even though I couldn't see his eyes, I felt his gaze wander upon my ears. "Please, forget, I asked." He then walked back down to the other end of the table. "As long as you are loyal to Zeref, your personal life means very little to me."

Despite how dismissive it sounded, I was a bit relieved. I couldn't imagine a more annoying situation than Arlock trying to pry into where I came from, even more so given the circumstances. "Is that everything?" I let out a sigh of relief while the priest waved his hand dismissively.

"That is all. I merely wanted to see your face." It made sense. If you hired someone, you'd at least what to see what they looked like, along with their demeanor. Regardless, I had been permitted to leave, and I wasn't going to waste that chance.

I shot up from my seat and exited the room, peeking over my shoulder to make sure that Arlock wasn't going to stab me in the back. Once I was outside the meeting room, I noticed that D-6 was missing.

"So, you finally met the priest." A familiar voice caused me to turn my head. Standing before me was Briar, an almost sadistic smile creeping across her face.

My hands moved to the back of my head. I could tell the dark mage was enjoying the look on my face. "He's pretty creepy, do you know anything about him?"

Briar's brow rose before she chuckled. "Didn't I say this before Wolfy? If you want to know more about the members, you're going to have to ask them yourself."

She did tell me that didn't she... "Arlock has to be an exception, though, right?"

Briar pressed her finger to her lip. "Well, to be honest, the priest puts me on edge as well. But he did start this whole organization, so it's best not to think too hard about it." Once again, she had a point. Even if I knew what Arlock does later, if it wasn't for him, I probably would be in a far more complicated situation.

"Never mind then." My lungs sucked in some air before letting it all out in a single sigh.

"If you makes you feel any better, you'll be going on a mission with Scruffy and Iron Mask."

I slumped my shoulders even further. It didn't take me long to realize whom Briar was referring to. "That makes me feel even worse, can't you switch one of them out with Mary or yourself?"

Jerome was fine in my book, but I couldn't imagine going on a mission with him without either Briar or Mary acting as an ice-breaker. That wasn't even getting started with D-6, someone who didn't have a human name.

"Don't worry, even if Scruffy and D-6 seem intimidating, they are big softies on the inside. Just don't get on their bad side, and you'll be fine." Briar waved her hand before she walked away. She was most likely busy, but that still left me to waste away the rest of my day. I wasn't much into reading at the moment, so the only natural thing for me to head to the break room instead.

Not having any breakfast made me a bit peckish, and with a little luck, I'd be able to talk to someone else.

My feet dragged themselves through the halls until I reached the break room. Luckily Mary was sitting down in one of the many seats that littered the area. The moment the black-mage noticed me, she waved, which prompted me to take place next to her.

"Heard you have to go on a mission with Jerome and C-6, sucks to be you..." She snickered while taking another bite of her, no doubt stolen cake.

"Yeah, yeah..." I groaned. "I've also met Arlock." I had a feeling that Mary already knew that.

Mary's cheerful expression turned into a frowned as she leaned back in her chair. "Hope he doesn't scare you off, sometimes he takes that priest thing way too seriously." I pressed my fist against my cheek. The series never went too into Arlock, or really any of the members of Avatar. Briar did state that if I wanted to know something, I should flat out ask them.

"Mary, do you have any family?" Not only did it seem random, but I realized how stupid that statement was. Of course, she had a family. She didn't just pop into existence.

The star-eyed girl paused for a moment and gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I do. They are part of the reason why I'm here."

Did her family want her to join a cult or something? It seemed like a strange thing a mother or father would put their daughter up to. Then again, this was Earthland, so a lot of weird shit could happen. "Is it a family tradition or something?"

"Not really, I'm looking for my older sister." Mary hesitated, if only for a split second. I suppose that was as good of a reason as any to join a cult, well not really, but at least she had a goal.

"I guess if she could be found by normal means, you wouldn't be here." My wolf-like ears twitched before I crossed my arms. "How did the two of you get separated?"

Mary shifted in her seat, her growing discomfort with the conversation becoming more and more apparent. "Enough about me, what about you, mystery boy?" Mary changed the topic to me as she leaned on the table. "A guy floating down the river with wolf ears is pretty bizarre."

I couldn't disagree with her statement though I decided to refocus the conversation on family. "Well, I have parents along with a sister."

"You got to tell me more than that!" Mary pressed, slammed her hand on the table. Somehow she had turned into the one that was asking questions.

"Eh, not much else to say. They are people that I know, and I happen to be related to by blood, I'm the outsider when it comes to that."

Mary tilted her head. "Do they like your sister more or something?"

"Sure, but that's due to my actions." The more I thought about it, the harder it was to describe. I didn't hate my family. No traumatic event occurred where they started to despise me, just pure apathy.

Mary's lips twisted into a pout. "I don't get it."

It seemed that I would need to make it as simple as possible. "I guess I wouldn't care if I never saw my family again." The words were harsh, but that was part of the reason why I wasn't in much of a rush to get back to earth. Well, at least not until I confirmed that the two people I did care about wasn't on earthland with me.

"Isn't that weird?" Mary chimed in again, taking another bite out of her cake. "It seemed like you lived with them most of your life, but you are talking about them like they are your coworkers."

"Sorry..." I lifted both of my hands. "They aren't that important to me. I'm sure they feel the same way, it's just the kind of relationship we have." I wasn't going to pretend it was normal, but I didn't see it as harmful either. Most of the time, it felt like the three of them were a family, and I was that weird guy that happened to stay in the same house.

"Is there anyone you are close to?" The moment she said that the wolf ears, on the top of my head, perked up, something that Mary noticed. "No way, that's so cute~."

"H-hey, don't say it like that." I covered the top of my head with my hands. "And to answer your question, I do have friends that I'm looking for."

"Then tell me what are they like?" Even though it was such a simple question, it felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. How exactly could I describe those Lenora and Lass? Starting from how I met them would be too much unnecessary, but just describing their personality traits would have been awkward.

"Well, Lass is a tech wiz. She can fix most machines and can even craft homemade bombs. I think she wants to be a sort of weapon specialist or military scientist." I decided to leave out the part where Lass would strap some of her bombs onto stray animals and detonate them. I wanted to make a good first impression for her, so opting-out the more...twisted parts of her personality was necessary.

In fact, I was pretty sure the only reason she wanted to become a military scientist was so she could make new types of weapons and kill people.

"She sounds like a huge nerd." Mary stuck out her tongue. "What about the other one?"

"Ah..." Lenora was next, and my feelings about her were a bit more complicated. "The next one is Lenora, and she's...perfect."

"Perfect?" Mary sat her spoon down, seemingly prepared to listen to more of my ramblings.

"I'm saying she's a perfect human being. She gets perfect scores on all her test, she's beautiful and probably the most charismatic person I've ever met. She is a person that I genuinely believe that was just born better than others." I didn't say those words because I looked up to Lenora, I said those words because they were fact. She was my go-to example to disprove the idea that everyone was born equally.

"I-isn't that a bit extreme? I mean, no one is perfect," Mary Said.

My hand ran through my hair. "You say that because you haven't met her yet. Being around her is both oddly calming and crushing at the same time."

Mary's shoulders slumped. "The way you describe her, I don't think I want to meet her." Mary then pushed out her chair and got up. It seemed she had lost interest in our short conversation. "You should probably talk to either Jerome or D-6 about your mission. Those guys can get grumpy if you aren't on the same page."

"Yeah..." I sighed while my eyes wandered to the fridge. "By the way, thanks for talking to me. It was kind of nice to get that sort of thing off my chest."It wasn't like some deep secret, but I had avoided talking about my home life. Not only that, but I got to learn a little bit about Mary, which was always nice.

Mary merely giggled at my words. "No need to thank me, I got a lot of information I can tease you with later after all." Before I could ask what she meant by that, the cultist skipped away — leaving me completely alone in the small break room.

"I hope this isn't going to bite me in the ass later." I groaned while I made my way to the lacrima powered fridge. The inside had cakes and various other sweets scattered. There was no doubt about it. Mary was the one that stocked the refrigerator last. "Damn it. There has to be something meat related in here somewhere..."

"If you are looking for meats and vegetables, they are in the second compartment."

My body froze as I heard a familiar voice. I turned my head to see Jerome standing behind me, his arms folded. "Oh, hey Jerome, didn't see you there!" I forced a smile, but the blond knight merely glared at me.

"If you aren't going to get anything, could you stand aside?" I quickly shuffled my feet, allowing Jerome to dig through the fridge. Just as he said, the actual food was in its compartment to the side.

"Ah, by the way. Mary told me that I should ask you about our mission tomorrow."

"She did? That's unlike her..." Jerome rubbed his chin as he set the ingredients on the table. "Do you want me to make you something while this is out?"

My mind tried to come up with a decent response. "Don't worry. I can make it myself once you're finished."

Jerome nodded as he took a seat. "We've got word that a group of bandits nearby may have an artifact connected to Zeref. I, you, and D-6 are to infiltrate their camp and take the item for ourselves. Of course, this means eliminating those who get in our way."

That was to be expected. "If they are bandits, that means they probably won't have magic."

Jerome nodded after he finished preparing his meal. "Any other details I'll brief you on during our ride there. There is no need to tell you a bunch of things that you're just going to forget by tomorrow morning." While a part of me wanted to defend my memory, I couldn't help but agree with him. I'd probably have just forgotten the details by the time he woke me up tomorrow.

"I can live with that," I said as Jerome lifted himself from his seat. His newly created salad on his plate.

"Make sure that you put everything back once you are finished. I rather not have you and Mary go on another grocery run considering what happened to our last vehicle." It was hard to tell if Jerome was making a joke or if he was serious. Either way, he walked out of the room, leaving me alone once again.

"Bandits...huh?" I rubbed my chin. "Maybe things will go smoothly for once..."

Author note

Sorry for the vast gap between updates. I was busy wondering if I should connect this chapter to the next and decided against it. Since the next one will feature Jerome, D-6 as major characters. And I want to write up the scenario properly.