“What do the both of you want?” he growled in a prepubescent voice, pouring himself a cup of tea from the tray sitting at the edge of his desk.
“Greetings, Guild Master of Diamond Hunter Headquarters, and lady Beinella, his most admired assistant. We come here seeking your assistance in the location of your ex hunters.”
“I am listening,” he said, before his eyes bit at me scrutinizingly. “What the heck do you think you’re looking at?”
I choked. “Oh! I’m sorry for staring!”
“Ya never seen a talking furball before?!”
“Heh, actually, no, I haven’t.”
“Oh pardon him!” Rufian apologized for me. “He is new to this side of Mavriel!”
“He looks like a whole outsider if you ask me. Giving me the fish eye for no reason!”
“I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just with your young age, I’m shocked that you’d be a—”
“My young age?!” He fumed, jumping out of his desk. “I’m 314 years old!”
I pulled back my collar skittishly after offending him, “Heh, my bad. It’s just that you look so young… and furry… and huggable.”
Rufian face-palmed. I was blabbering, nervous before the presence of an actual headmaster. It was that his appearance was so deceptive that I was at a loss for words! So I said the first thing that popped up in my head, but surprisingly enough, he didn’t kick me out. Instead, he untensed his shoulders and rolled them down with an exasperated sigh and explained, “I just sound and look like this before my next Eugenshine dose. And no, I can’t take it early. I have to take it at exactly the same time every day, twice a day! Or else, I will stay in this forsaken body, doomed to look like a giant children’s toy.”
“Are you cursed?”
“I am, and have been for a few decades now. But I was not one of the lucky ones! I can’t transform into a humanoid figure whenever I please. The beast inside me is predominant, and there is really no cure out there that would permanently revert me to my former self. Even so, I got a job to do, and I don’t let it deter my business with the board. Hence why I refuse to appoint a successor! I’m very good at my job, the best in fact! And I won’t let a stupid curse bring me down!”
Gua Mashenti, a level 160 fae. I could see where his valor came from.
“My rank in the Hunter’s Board allowed me to stay in business. Everyone already knows that the High Order frowns on those who are cursed. But I am too valuable of an asset to be let go. Tossed aside, banished! I can still perform my duties effectively, regardless of my appearance.”
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him. To be trapped in a body that didn’t represent who you truly were was a terrible fate. But Gua Mashenti seemed to have accepted his curse and was determined to carry on with his responsibilities.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I offered; it was the least I could do for dissing him.
He chuckled. “No, I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s something I have to deal with on my own.”
I nodded, understandingly. “Well, if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
He smiled at me warmly. “Well that’s awfully kind of a level 42 fae,” he dissed back, reclaiming his seat. All right, I deserved that, but considering his next words, I didn’t think he meant to offend me. “It is always the inexperienced with the biggest hearts.”
“Well, I do hope that you may reciprocate this kindness by telling us when the last time you crossed paths with The Deo Guild?”
He snorted. “Those insufferable bastards! I try to avoid them at all costs! They always think they’re better than everyone else, especially those who are cursed like me. And don’t even get me started with that shadowmancer.”
Shadowmancer?
I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You’ve had run-ins with them?”
“Of course I have, they are ex hunters!” he said with a scowl on his face. “They’ve even tried to interfere with my work in the past. Claiming that my curse made me incompetent and that I should be removed from the board.”
“And how did you handle their interference?” I asked, intrigued by the idea of a conflict between the headmaster and his hunters.
A wicked grin spread across his face, the Headmaster raising his pudgy fingers into a steeple as he leaned back in his chair. “Let’s just say, they learned their lesson and never bothered me again.”
I couldn’t help but feel admiration for Gua Mashenti. Despite his curse, he refused to let anyone or anything stop him from doing what he loved. And with his level of expertise, he was a force to be reckoned with.
“Unfortunately, they have a real knack for getting in the way of our operations. The last time I saw them was about a month ago, when they had the gall to interfere with one of our hunts. Needless to say, they didn't come out of it unscathed. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were already planning their revenge.”
“But that was the last time you saw them. What about heard of them?” Rufian pressed on.
Headmaster Gua raised his brow. “Are you tailing them?”
“That we are. They have something very important to us.”
“Well, they don’t seem like the type who are above thieving. But I am a headmaster. I assign hunters their missions so they may level up, gain experience, and enlist in the fae army. My business isn’t about staying with the Deo newsletter. And if you ask me, I’d rather never hear about them or see them again!”
Rufian scratched his chin. “Hmm, I was afraid you’d say that. I thought that at the very least one of your hunters would have spotted them somewhere. You see, they have something of ours, and it is very dangerous. We would rather reclaim it sooner than later . Any information would be helpful, Headmaster. Since they were once your underlings, you out of all people would know most about them. I promise you, even the slightest information you have, we would appreciate it. Their habits, their patterns, their guilty pleasures, anything.”
The Headmaster listened intently, nodding along as Rufian spoke. When he finished, he poked his nose in the air in thought. “Well… now that I think about it, Gadvell said something about seeing a hooded man in one of the local bars with the same frame as one of the ferocious five.”
“Which one?” Rufian asked.
“The dangerous one.”
Rufian laughed. “Well, they are all dangerous in their own right.”
“No, the dangerous one…” Gua reiterated. “I’m talking about Clave.”
