Chronicles of Metal: Chapter 19 – Trouble on the Homefront

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Sitting in the main office of the Church of Metal, Beard pored over a mess of papers he'd gotten from Hashigin. True to form, Astra had compiled a list of things she thought it pertinent to tell him. It made him wish he'd been more specific in the kind if info he asked for, because this list was downright ridiculous. Every ship that had made port, and what they where carrying. A list of maybe a hundred different adventurers that had shown up to act as Astra's mercenary force. City supplies, and how they'd been allocated. Apparently, Astra had absolutely no idea what sort of information he was after, and just through to write down everything. It would've been impressive, where it not so frustratingly mundane.

There was some legitimate useful information though. Riders had been spotted probing around some of the farms near the northwest edge. And one of the ships had reported having arrows fired at them from the riverbank during the night. According to a note Astra had made, she believed these where from Norn. Beard wanted to keep an open mind, but from what little he knew it did look like the most likely possibility. It at least confirmed that news of her declaration had made it around. Norn attacks apparently weren't that uncommon, but scouting parties like this were. Something to keep an eye on, to be sure.

With a groan, he sat upright, stretching the slowly developing ache out of his back. He was a shadow monster, able to turn intangible at will, didn't need to eat, didn't need to sleep... Yet somehow his back could still ache from sitting with bad posture for too long. What the hell was with that?

"Maaaaaaasterrrrrr..." Beard let out a sigh as Tao called to him. Well, whined, was the more accurate term. "You said I could go with you..."

Beard looked up, finding the small woman slumped over one of the couches on her stomach, absentmindedly kicking her legs back and forth. "I also told you..." He said with a grumble. "To convince Synth to make you a disguise first." Growing sick of the papers, Beard brushed them aside and reclined in his chair. "Isabella can walk around out there because she looks human. I don't know if you’ve noticed this Tao... But that tail of yours is going to make you kind'a stand out."

Tao's tail curled around her, to the point she was hugging it tight against her chest. "But I don't wanna..." She whined again, sounding like a bratty five-year-old. "He's annoying to talk to..."

Beard had to turn away to stop himself from laughing. While hearing the guild's residence weren't getting along was a little disheartening, the fact that he wasn't the only one that found talking to the android a challenge more than made up for it. "Just ask him for a cloak with a hood or something." This... This right here was why he didn't want to bring her around the city. If the usually passive Isabella had become enthralled with the city after just a day's trip, Tao would be absolutely star-struck. "Tell him I asked for it for you, and he probably won't even argue."

"Or... You could simply learn to conceal it better." Almost as if thinking about her had summoned her, Isabella pushed through the door with a slight smirk. "It shouldn't be that hard. Even for you."

Tao bolted upright, puffing out her cheeks in frustration. "Oh, shut up servant girl!" Isabella's brow twitched, but Tao leapt from the couch and dashed past her before she could get a word in. "Fine, I'll go talk to metal head!"

The maid stepped aside to allow her to pass. She smirked to herself, but Beard tried not to notice. He was just glad to have some piece and quiet. "She's become rather bratty lately, hasn't she?"

Beard grumbled to himself. So much for piece and quiet. "I'm just happy she hasn't gone wandering off on her own." He said with a chuckle, leaning away from his desk. "I don't even want to think about the kind'a trouble she could get into."

Isabella chuckled, and gently pushed the door closed once Tao was out of sight. "I don’t know, I think it would be rather entertaining." She said with a simply shrug. "Besides, it wouldn't be that hard to find her with the Ebony Astrodial. No?"

That was it. Beard had to accept it. Isabella was just smarter than he was. He'd completely forgotten about that little relic stashed away in the treasury. All he'd have to do is think about one of the items any of the NCP's carried with them, and it'd point the way. He didn't know he'd overlooked such a handy power to have at his disposal. The past few weeks had been busy as hell, but still. He and his guildmates made a habit of using it every day for farming rare items back in the game.

"Yeah. I guess you're right..." Beard said with a tired sigh. "You're just a natural problem solver, aren't ya?"

Watching her slowly lower herself to sit on the couch Tao had just occupied, Isabella's expression didn't change. But something about her demeanor did. It was like there was a shift in the air. He was trying to complement her, but it didn't look like she took it as one.

"Did you..." Beard mumbled. "Need something?"

That part she reacted to. A small smirk cut across her face when she turned to face him. "Do I need a reason to join you?"

Was this a game or something? She was bored and thought she'd pass the time trying to mess with him? That didn't seem like something she'd do. But again, she seemed to be full of surprises. "No... I guess not." Gathering up the reports from Hashigin, Beard moved to get on with his work. "Make yourself comfortable."

He'd barely pulled the next stack of papers out before he heard a shuffling sound, and looked up to find Isabella standing at the other side of the desk. "I actually did have a suggestion." She spoke slowly, wearing the small smile that Beard was starting to recognize she and Astra shared. "I think I could best serve the guild by volunteering for that mercenary force our friends were putting together."

Again, Beard wasn't expecting that. "You want to what?"

Isabella's smirk grew, and she tilted her head slightly. "Is it really that strange a suggestion? It could be useful to have someone standing by in that city. It's our first foothold in this world, after all."

While Beard couldn't argue that, there where more than a few problems that would cause as well. "You know Astra's got that Tyr chick overseeing their mercenaries, right? She looked jumpy enough just sitting around talking with us. Having you there all the time is probably going to give her an aneurysm."

"I'm sure she'll learn to cope." Isabella said with a dismissive shrug. "We do have an alliance with them, after all. She'll have to learn to tolerate us eventually."

Beard grumbled to himself. They where already more involved in this world than he would have liked. Especially with how little he knew about the threats out there. A few town guards or barbarians where one thing, but if there really where items from YGGDRASIL out there, then it was just as likely there were other players too. And chances are they where also trying to lay low as well.

"Look..." He finally groaned. "I appreciate ya wanna help, but I need you here." The maid's smirk remained, but her brow furrowed slightly. "If this king Astra told us can do what I think he can do, then I don't anyone going out on their own." Isabella opened her mouth to retort, but Beard cut her before she could. "I don't care how much stronger we all might be, I'm not taking that risk."

A deathly silence filled the room. Where Beard still human, he thought he'd have felt a chill run up his spine. He didn't know why, but Isabella spoke again before he could come to any conclusion. "Need I remind you I am Immortal?" She spoke in a singsong tone, almost like she was chastising a child. "With respect, I think you're overreacting... Master."

Beard grumbled again. For some reason, a conversation he had with Mick popped up into his head. A conversation about raising a kid who had suddenly become fiercely independent. Isabella was hardly a child, but the comparison still fit somehow. "You know your immortality doesn't make you unkillable, Isabella." Beard grumbled, crossing his arms. "Your-."

"Yes yes, I'm well aware." She interrupted, catching him off guard. "Shot me, slash me, stab me, burn me... I'll regenerate from anything. But if my core is destroyed..." She held a hand over her chest, her expression unchanging. "My immortality goes with it."

That was new. In as long as they'd been here, Isabella had never so much as raised her voice. Not even close. But this... She sounded almost annoyed with him. It was impossible to tell; she remained as unreadable as ever. Something had set her off though, and as much as he wanted to let her do whatever she wished; he didn't want to risk losing one of the guild's members. They where like family to him now.

"I'm sorry... But I don't want to risk it right now." He mumbled, finding he sounded a little sheepish for some reason. "I'm sure there are things you can do here. Ask around, and there's gotta' be someone with-."

"Yes, if course." She interrupted, turning her back to him and marching away. "I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn..." She muttered, brushing the door open and stepping out. "Master..."

The door shut just as she finished speaking, leaving Beard perplexed. What was going on with her? Ever since the fire in Hashigin, she'd been just itching for an excuse to go outside. At first he thought all she wanted was to stretch her legs, so he allowed anyone who wanted to roam the bridge and fields around the river as much as they wanted. Nobody really took up the offer though, and clearly Isabella was less than enthused about it as well. What about Hashigin had her so enthralled? He had absolutely no idea.

For the next half hour or so, he tried to put the thought aside. It was just part of leading, he told himself. People were going to disagree with his decisions. Every TV show, video game, or anything else with a plot hit that note at some point. If someone was in charge of something, someone else was going to challenge them on it. But... Weirdly enough it was just Isabella. Well, Tao did it a fair bit as well, but he expected that as just because she was the only floor guardian to yet venture out to the city. But if he were doing a poor job of leading, he was sure one of the other NCP's would speak up as well. They had no issue offering their suggestions in the past, or correcting him if he got something wrong. Isabella was the only one to outright challenge him on anything thus far.

Realizing he wasn't getting any work done, Beard rose from his chair and stretched out his back. Something was amiss, and he had to find out what. He knew exactly where to go as well. Hetfeild's NCP information. It'd helped him out once when they first came here, learning all the NCP's wants and desires. He remembered Isabella's was oddly short compared to the others, but maybe there was something that he'd overlooked. He'd give it another read over, and something obvious would jump out at him that could explain away everything.

A short walk through the main floor, and Beard found himself in what was now the records room. Synth and Vespa had done a perfect job of remodelling the main building and moving everything here. Every little detail of the old library had been recreated here, right down to how the books had been organised on the shelfs. Hetfeild would have been proud of how her work had been set up, but then again, she had been the one that created Synth, so maybe it was just something he should've seen coming. There was a lot of that going on lately, now that he thought about it.

Which of course, made it all the more surprising when he turned into the shelf where he'd found the NCP records and found a large gap in the books. Beard did a double take, but the books remained missing. He walked back to the end of the isle to check he hadn't entered the wrong one, but he hadn't.

The NCP records... Where missing.

"Message." Beard mumbled, tossing a scroll into the air that burned away with a flash of blue fire. "Synth, you busy?"

There was a slight pause, and a metallic scuttling noise echoed in his head. "No master Beard. I am never too busy to answer your summons." Beard let out a grumble, but tried not to respond to that. "What may I do for you?"

There was another pause. A distinctly more noticeable pause. "Yes Master Beard, of course we have. We finished that weeks ago. Before you and Lady Isabella first ventured into that human settlement upriver."

Somehow that was very unsettling to hear. "I don't suppose you took a few things for yourself, did you?" Beard asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the shelf opposite the missing books. "For some sort'a research or something?"

"No master, I have not." Synth answered quick enough, and Beard had long since realized that even if he had, he'd go to no length to hide it. Brutal honesty was sort of something he'd grown used to whenever he talked to the android. "Is... Something the matter, Master Beard?"

"No. it's nothing. Sorry for bothering ya." Beard answered before thinking about it, but he realized it was the smart call shortly after. He wasn't dumb enough to think a thief could've gotten in here. Hexis would have reported someone approaching from the outside, and none of the guild's other residence would've had a reason to take anything from here. They where free to come and go as they please, from any room in the guild. Taking something as mundane as the NCP guides Hetfeild had drawn up would've made no sense.

But then... What had happened to them? There was no way they'd just been misplaced; everything else in this room was exactly like the old library. Where there other things that where missing as well? A quick glance around the room was hardly a thorough search, but Beard had a gut feeling that everything else was exactly how it should be.

Now he had another problem. Isabella was acting stranger every day, and now things were starting to go missing around the guild. He didn't want to raise an alarm though. If he did, this would turn out to be nothing. Someone forgot to put them away properly, and Synth would find it within minutes.

But... Even still. A bubbling sensation in his gut told him this wasn't going to be that simple. And for the second time that day, or even since coming to this new world, a chill ran up Beard's spine.

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