Away from the Belka, a mist appeared with
Monsoon emerging from it. From his hand he held a small rusted silver locket on a bronze chain. Looking at the direction of Belka, the mist enveloped Monsoon and continued his search for Ashlyn.
The locket that Maxie gave was more than enough to track the wizard that Georgie requested. But tracking and observing her was the only thing he had in mind and nothing else. When Ashlyn's trail got closer, Monsoon became more cautious. He saw Frenzy Plant's camp and what appeared to be Ashlyn who seemed to be part of the group. Monsoon still had the card that Manami gave him, but didn't use it. While Frenzy Plant investigated the town, Monsoon observed Ashlyn from a far enough distance until the guild prepared to leave.
Once the guild was making its preparations to leave, Monsoon began entering the camp from behind and caught Ashlyn on her shoulder while no one was watching.
"Perhaps you could help me miss. Do you know someone by the name of Ashlyn Johnson. Although he clearly knew, he simply wanted to see how the girl would lie or tell the truth.
Ash had been packing up her stuff and was getting ready to take down her tent when she felt someone grab her shoulder. Spinning around quickly, obviously startled by Monsoon's sudden appearance, she managed to restrain herself enough to not give him a right hook to the jaw. She decided to hear this rather suspicious looking man out at the least.
However as he said her name she immediately narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Who was this guy? Another Frenzy Plant member? She didn't remember seeing him before, however she had yet to personally talk to EVERY single member. She had briefly thought about brushing him off and simply state that she had no idea who he was talking about..but that wasn't exactly her style.
"
...That would be me. What's it to you?" Ash's tone completely gave away her suspicion of Monsoon, as would the unclenching and clenching of her right fist by her side. Every time she did her fist would let off a few sparks.
She was getting ready just in case this man was sent by Shadow Heart, and if he was she would simply kick his ass like the rest before him.
"To me, not much compared to someone else." Monsoon could easily see the tension that was already brewing, but remained where he stood.
"For who I am. I'm simply an observer. But starting a fight here and now is something I believe you should avoid. Now, as uncomfortable as it may seem, I've been watching you for sometime and I think you're more valuable than you think you are. I'm sure you already know your old guild, Shadow Heart?" From inside his suit, he pulled out a card that showed a Minami chibi and had a locket dangling from below the card.
"I could have called Minami, Maxie, and the other Shadow Heart members here if I wanted to since you arrived in Belka. But I didn't. Instead I wanted to ask for your help with something. If you're interested, then I could return this locket that Maxie took from you."Ash silently listened to Monsoon, immediately narrowing her eyes at the mention of Shadow Heart. So they did send this man after all. So had Maxie finally swallowed his pride? Or had Georgie grown tired of his failures to capture her?
However she silently watched as he whipped out a chibi-Manami card and...her locket?
"
Heh you're an amusing fellow you know that?" Ash scoffed as she brushed some hair out of her face and behind her ear "
I could always defeat you and take the pendant back. I mean you even had the gall to come alone into Frenzy Plant's camp. However that is what makes you a rather interesting fellow. I suppose I'll hear out what you have to say." Ash continued on with a more relaxed tone. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement as she looked towards Monsoon.
The man certainly had guts, she had to give him that.
"As I said before, you're more valuable than you think. And by that I mean you're confident." Monsoon empathized his last word to sound a bit lackluster from his voice, but appeared relatively calm. He slid the card and locket calmly back into his suit, crossed his arms and continued as he stared into Ashlyn.
"But with all that confidence you still run from your past when you could fight it. I'm aware that Shadow Heart has already tried to catch you but failed every time. But how long do you intend to continue playing this game that Georgie is becoming tired of. You may wish to live a new life here in Frenzy Plant, but Shadow Heart will continue to chase and prevent you from achieving that life. She's already grown tired of Maxie's failed attempts, offered me to help, and probably has other plans on how to catch you. However, she doesn't know that you and I share a common enemy. I all want know is if you're willing to help me expose Shadow Heart to the public? That way they will have more things to worry about than just you once the Council and other light guilds try to stop them. Making both our lives easier." Valuable? Confident? Ash still wasn't a hundred percent sure what he was going about. How was her confidence valuable? However she silently listened to Monsoon as he talked.
She was obviously more than aware that she was probably Shadow Heart's number one enemy at the moment, and thus the highest priority to take down. However....
“
Let's get one thing settled here Mr...whatever your name is, my problem with Shadow Heart is just that. MY problem. I'll deal with it myself.” Ash crossed her arms across her chest as she took a rather irritated stance. So he just wanted her help with taking down Shadow Heart? Yet, Shadow Heart had hired him to track her down? So a double agent then. However what was his angle? What did HE gain from this?
Despite her suspicions, she couldn't really argue against his offer, as much as it annoyed her. So, swallowing her pride and letting out a huge sigh she lowered her arms.
“
However...even I'm not capable of taking them down myself. Georgie is on a different tier to everyone in Shadow Heart, let alone Nidhogg and Maxie....and I suppose I gain a lot from this deal. Getting Shadow Heart off of my back so I can get on with my life is definitely handy. However what exactly do you gain?” Ash narrowed her eyes suspiciously towards Monsoon as she talked now. And could you blame her?
He was suspicious looking to begin with, let alone how he was speaking rather cryptically, had approached her when she had been alone to talk with her rather than just request Frenzy Plant officially, was pretending to work for Shadow Heart and had yet to mention how he would exactly benefit from the destruction of Shadow Heart. What exactly was his beef with the guild?
Ash was many things, but stupid was not one of them. And unlike Manami she wasn't naive enough to trust him right away either.
From how Ashlyn crossed her arms and stood in a irritated stance, Monsoon knew that she was suspicious of his intentions.
A smart girl, quick to suspicions. Brighter than Minami, but I did help her, so I can't really blame her for that. At least not too much. He nodded his head in agreement. It was best that she had some ideas of who she was talking to and how this helps them both.
"Perhaps I was quick to inform you of all of this. Let me first introduce myself, I am Monsoon. I seek to make the world a better place by preventing wizards from harming this world. If Shadow Heart was like any other ordinary dark guild, I would ignore them. But with Georgie's guidance, she and her guild may become troublesome in the future. However, if they were gone, it should make my work easier. As you said, Georgie is a powerful foe, but I don't intend to have just the two of us fight her. I could ask a guild like Frenzy Plant to help, but they wouldn't know as much. I would prefer the people that were helping knew more of what they were up against. That is when you come in. If you could help me expose Shadow Heart as a dangerous enough guild that should be dealt with as a serious and immediate threat, then we can have other light guilds and the Council help in defeating them. But that all depends on how much information and evidence that you have on the Shadow Heart, especially anything related to Georgie."Monsoon's answer was yet another cryptic one. It had been carefully worded so as to not give away too much about his intentions, but still make the main point obvious. So he wanted to stop wizards from harming the world?
As much as she wondered how he could do that, and more importantly
why he wanted to, she held herself back from asking about it and instead stood there silently for a moment as she thought it over. He had made it sound so damned reasonable, but surely there was something else to this? Her gut told her so, and she was the type to listen to her instincts. And they were certainly on high alert.
However by agreeing to help she could probably find out his angle eventually. Plus it did benefit her from helping him, but she wasn't going to trust this man. He had betrayed Shadow Heart after all, what was to say he wouldn't do the same to her?
"
Ok Monsoon...I'll help. But let me get one thing straight here." Ash's tone was quite a reluctant one. She obviously wasn't too pleased with accepting his help on the matter, but she had to admit it was a deal she couldn't really refuse. She would regain her pendant, Shadow Heart would be off her back and perhaps it would help atone for her own sins.
"
I don't trust you. You yourself said that Shadow Heart hired you to track me down and report back, but you're betraying them. If I even have an inkling you're going to stab me in the back, you're going to have an extra problem to worry about." Once Ash was content that she had made her point across she would grip her left arm tightly. She seemed like she something else was bothering her but quickly shook her head.
"
However most of the evidence is simply my word. I can name most of the members, link them to crimes, name stuff about them and the like. However in terms of physical evidence...well I've been on the run. Holding onto such things wasn't really my priority. And some of it might be outdated since I did leave a year ago." Ash knew that Monsoon would probably be disappointed with her answer but she had to make sure that he knew that now at the start of their partnership rather than later when it could be an inconvenience.
"
BUT I do have an idea which might help. If you can capture, or get the council to capture, a current S-Rank wizard of Shadow Heart they would have some newer information. Perhaps the same member whose contact card you're holding onto."
Although Ashlyn might have have limited evidence, she could still be of some use. Minami was the one that Monsoon originally planned for the capture, but seeing as Ashlyn saw Minami as a suitable target, it showed that Ash could be great help. If a fight broke out in the progress of Minami's capture, then Ashlyn should already know what to expect.
"I appreciate that you told me what you knew, but the limited evidence that you have shouldn't be of that much hindrance. Simply being an ex member and witness of Shadow Heart's actions could help after we apprehend Minami and have the Council interrogate her for information. But I sense that Minami will have another member that might be with her, Shiro, but I think capturing her too shouldn't be too much of a problem. It just might take longer than expected. Now, for when we should do this. I keep in contact with you in the coming days and plan with you on how we will apprehend Minami. When we're both ready, then we'll start. But for now, I have to leave. And as a advice, you should tell you new guild members about your past, it's better if you told them before they find out about it first."With this meeting done, Monsoon backed away as he was about to leave. But before he left, he presented Ashlyn's locket again before finally putting it away.
"Don't worry about your locket, I'll hand it back to you as payment after we capture Minami." Once he finished he walked away from Frenzy Plant's camp and created a small thick mist that he vanished into. When the mist dissipated, Monsoon was nowhere to be seen.
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