Chapter Text
The sky was painted in hues of rose-ink and vibrant gold as the sun set over the sea. Many of the daytime beachgoers had dissipated as the day drew to a close, drawn away from the water and toward the numerous restaurants dotted around Reingar’s resort. And that included, of course, the Phantom CIC, whom after much discussion could only really agree that it was time for dinner. Well, it was less discussion and more Aramintha had to step in to mediate the petty arguing of the rest of the members (again) because Bellona’s tastes were far outside of the vacation budget, Lidica refused to go to the vegetarian grill that Lots had suggested, and the only one who was even mildly interested in trying the smokehouse that Rin had suggested was Sez.
So Aramintha had pulled executive privilege to take them to a seafood restaurant situated on the beachfront, which seemed to please everyone as a reasonable compromise. Word of mouth spread easily around the resort, and it had a good reputation stemming from quality food, quality service (though occasionally the students that found employment there over the summer left something to be desired), and the fact that it had been open for nearly as long as the resort itself had. Something that could survive the fickle whims of vacationers for so long had to be good.
Bellona had gently demanded a table on the balcony that overlooked the water, which of course the staff happily provided them with. It suited the rest of the CIC just fine as well, to be away from the noisy main dining room while they enjoyed their meal, especially after a long day earning their keep at the resort. Of course, both Aramintha and Bellona both had questioned why any of them would want to work during their vacation, but in the end everyone more or less agreed that they owed it to Karin and Hazel to lighten the load a bit while they were there. Even if it was still work in that they were paid in exchange for performing various duties around the resort, it was a far cry from the demanding work of exploring the various Lands of Death dotted around Ritania, conducting exhaustive research on the Chaos Gates, or slaughtering Unknown in droves.
“I can’t believe our vacation’s almost over,” Bellona sighed. She lifted her glass, humming as some sort of cocktail, colored much the same as the sunset over the ocean, met her lips. “It feels like we only got here yesterday! What I wouldn’t give for just one more week…”
“You know as well as I do that we have to get back to work,” Lots replied from across the table. “Don’t we already have a backlog of reports of Chaos Gate sightings to sift through?”
“We’ll probably be scattered to all corners of Ritania to catch up once we’re back…” Rin mumbled, her ears falling a bit before perking up again. “I heard we’ve even started getting requests from the Cidonian nations to investigate, now that the nations of Ritania have forged some formal relations with them.”
Aramintha nodded, then, popping another piece of fried calamari into her mouth. “That’s right. Right before our vacation, we got requests from Witchaven and Perland to investigate some Unknown activity inside their borders. As far as I know, no Lands of Death have developed as a result, but despite that there seem to be far more Unknown running around there than in Ritania.”
“Well in that case, I think it’s best for Sez and I to head out there first! I’ve always wanted to visit another continent anyway,” Bellona chirped. “Plus it’s been a while since I’ve had a good challenge; I heard that the Black Knight brought new varieties of Unknown with him when he started causing trouble over there.”
“Then isn’t it for the best if Aramintha goes first to check things out? We should probably document the new ones before we get rid of them… Who knows if more will ever appear, now that the Black Knight has been dealt with?” Lots tilted his head to the side, pressing his lips into a thin line.
Bellona lowered her glass and flipped her fan open to cover her lips. “Nonsense! Our esteemed Captain needs to coordinate all of this. Plus, Sez and I are plenty capable of making reports. Isn’t that right?”
Sez perked up, then, blinking and looking over to Bellona. Previously he’d just been content to listen and work on his basket of fried crab claws—which he was steadily making his way through while Lidica, across from him, was practically racing through hers, determined to beat him at some new and imagined contest. Of course, she would inevitably lose, just as she always lost the other harmless contests she challenged Sez to unless he was feeling magnanimous. (In this particular case, Lidica was about ten minutes away from realizing that Sez’s stomach was a bottomless pit.)
And while normally Sez would be content to let Bellona fill in the blank, this time he straightened a bit and looked away. “I suddenly remembered,” he mumbled, “I can’t read.”
Bellona’s fan snapped closed. “Then you can give all your reports verbally from now on! Come on, Sez, it’ll be fun!”
“Come to think of it, wasn’t that purple guy that came through a Chaos Gate a while ago from Cidonia…? The one that kept trying to hold your hand, Aramintha?” Rin chimed in. “I’m glad I wasn’t around for that…”
“Yes, he was from Perland. If I’m not mistaken, he was also the one who sent for Ritanian aid when the citylord of Perland went rogue. I hope he’s learned some manners…”
“If not then we can beat some into him.”
“I still think that maybe someone else should go to Cidonia. Or else we should wait until all of us can go, since there will probably be other things we need to do while we’re there… Like talk to the citylords and relay the information we already have on the Unknown…” Lots just trailed off, then, sinking in his seat and stuffing another cheddar biscuit into his mouth.
“Don’t worry, Lots, I’m with you on that one.” Aramintha nodded sagely, pushing her mostly-emptied basket of calamari towards the middle of the table. “Cidonia can wait until we’re all free to go there. I’d want to set up an office and see about recruiting some members who can take care of things over there permanently… We’re already stretched thin. I don’t think we can manage two whole continents without some more manpower.”
Bellona paused to consider, reaching for the basket. “I suppose you have a point there…”
Lidica paused with the tiny, tiny tip of the crab claw poking from her lips. “… I hate to be the one to say it, but are we really talking about work right now? Our vacation isn’t over yet .” She pulled the crab claw out, newly bereft of any meat, discarded into a cup, and then she started on the next one. She was starting to slow down, though whether it was because she was starting to realize that beating Sez wasn’t going to happen or because she was actually getting full was unclear.
Rin smiled, then, folding her hands together and tilting her head to the side. “That’s right! We should focus on enjoying this last weekend before we have to get back to work. Though, I’ve already gotten to do most of what I wanted to…”
“There really isn’t much lined up this year. I’ve enjoyed the quiet, but I do have to admit that last year’s debacle with Nini and Beni kept things interesting.” Bellona sighed, tilting her glass up to down the remainder of her cocktail in one go. “It’s too peaceful here now, and with half of you off doing work for Karin, I don’t even have anyone to have some fun with.”
“We could always go see Tamarinne’s show again,” Aramintha suggested. “It’s the last one of the season.”
“But we already went to see it the night we got here.” Rin’s ears fell a bit, then. “And from what I’ve heard, the shows are mostly the same. It seems like she’s the sort of person who’s too nervous to deviate… Oh! I know, why don’t we go swimming? The beach won’t be so crowded once the sun’s down, so we’ll have it to ourselves.”
“Karin said that you shouldn’t get in the water for an hour after you eat,” Sez replied, rubbing the back of his neck.
Bellona couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, if something goes wrong, you could always dive in and save us.”
Sez seemed to actually take a moment to consider it.
But Lots cut in—“I don’t think I want to chance that, and the beach is closed anyway. I don’t really want to find out what Karin will do if she finds out we snuck in to begin with, let alone if we end up getting in trouble out there… She’s even scarier than Lidica when she’s angry.”
“Hey! I’m not scary!”
The members of Phantom looked amongst themselves then, most of them somewhat apprehensive. Only Sez offered her slight smile, a quick and quiet huff of laughter: somewhat amused agreement, which only earned a glare from the ex-Apostle which quickly melted into a frown when she realized that at least Sez seemed to agree .
“Really? No one else?”
“I’m not scared of you,” Bellona chimed in, “But I am scared of what you might do to our reputation here if left to your own devices, I must admit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“It means I like not being kicked out of places! I’m sure you remember that incident when we all went out for a drink back—“
“—Back in Ezera, yeah yeah. It’s not my fault that no one will believe me! I can’t believe that so many of my old friends actually believe I would—“
“We get the point, Lidica; all I’m saying is that it is your fault that you dragged the man out into the street and beat a healthy fear of the Goddess into him. And now we’re banned for life.”
Aramintha gawked at Bellona as she spoke, but her shock paled in comparison to how absolutely mortified Lidica was. The horror written across her features only grew with each word. But before Aramintha could question what exactly this was, and why she was only now hearing about it, Lidica pushed herself to her feet, her cheeks red with fury. “You promised you wouldn’t talk about that!”
“Oh, did I? Oopsie!” Bellona laughed then, as if it was funny. “It was a lot of fun, though, and I even won some money that night! Plus you got to show your old friends what-for. That has to count for something, riiiight?”
“You’re absolutely unbelievable!” Lidica’s hands balled into fists and her shoulders shook, but rather than move to strike Bellona, she turned and stormed off instead, half a basket of fried crab claws forgotten on the table while the rest of the Phantom CIC was left in stunned silence.
“… Was that really necessary?” Lots mumbled, his eyebrows knitting together in concern.
Rin’s ears fell as she looked to Aramintha, just as confused as she was about the ordeal.
Bellona pressed her fan to her lips, swirling the ice from her cocktail in the glass. “Alcohol really brings out the worst in me, I guess! It’s not like I didn’t enjoy it… I figured she would have already told the rest of you about it instead of sweeping it under the rug.”
“I think you might have gone a little too far, Bellona…” Amarintha pressed her lips into a thin line. “Now, what exactly happened, and where…?”
“Well, you see it was—Oh, where are you going?” Bellona’s gaze rose as Sez pushed himself to his feet as well. “We still haven’t decided how we’re going to spend the last of our vacation.”
Sez just looked at her for a moment, the corners of his lips set into a slight frown. In response Bellona’s smile faded, and she closed her fan, nodding slowly. “… We’ll just meet back at the hotel once everything’s settled, then.”
He offered her—and the remaining members of Phantom—a brisk nod before he started after Lidica.