Chapter Text
“The King has sent a raven,” Madam Bustier announced the class. “He asks for our bravest, strongest paladin.”
The moment the words left her mouth, half a dozen eyes shifted, pointed directly at one girl within their year. Even Bustier’s gaze fell towards her.
“Any volunteers?” She asked, smiling as she looked directly at Marinette.
“Eh?” Marinette blinked.
-
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a Paladin Knight, in the service of Our Lady of Divine Creation, the Goddess Tiki.
And she had been given a quest! And with all the fanfare of a hero to be (which, for Lady Tiki was a feast and giving Marinette ample equipment for her journey) she was about to be sent out!!
“PLEASE ALYA I DON’T WANNA GO ALONEEEE!!” Marinette sobbed, clinging to her friends’ robes as Alya comfortingly patted her head.
With her good friend Alya as her companion!
They were given food provisions to last a month, a few silver coins, one gold and a pocket full of copper, and their choice of steeds from the stable.
Marinette picked a friendly mare she was already familiar with, and Alya chose the cart. They hitched one to the other, and were swiftly on their way to the Castle.
“Any idea what this quest is?” Alya asked curiously, sitting pretty in the cart as Marinette rode on the horses’ back, dressed in full silver plate armor regalia.
“No idea,” Marinette said, taking a deep breath. “All I really know is that the King asked for a Paladin from our denomination.”
“Why specifically our denomination…?” Alya wondered.
-
The wisened Old King Felix certainly was…old.
Long, wispy hair, white as bone and thinner than a threadbare blanket, deep lines scored across soft, pudgy skin marked with age-spots and wrinkles of his many years, eyebrows so bushy it was a wonder why he hadn’t just let them grow and comb them back for hair, he could combine it with the hair sprouting out of his ears, so thick and bushy that it was a miracle he wasn’t deaf. King Felix hunched over so much that he seemed closer to a garden gnome than a king, withered and small in his old age, even with the long and elegant robes, and that glittering and bedecked gold crown atop his head.
(Maybe the crown was heavy and was pushing him down…)
“Your highness,” Marinette greeted, kneeling at the steps of Felix’s grand throne. “You sent for a Paladin of Our Lady of Divine Creation, I am who they’ve sent.”
“...” For a moment, it didn’t seem like Felix had heard her.
“Erm…Your…highness…?” Marinette tried.
Did the king die on his throne just as she’d arrived?!
But, then the half-corpse moved, shifting in his seat, causing the crown to fall off his head and bounce down the steps. Precious diamonds and gems loosened from it as it skittered away, rolling and settling onto the floor like a coin as the king stood, grand cloak falling behind to remain on the throne. Without it, he seemed so much smaller and frailer…
“Then you will be the one to rescue the Princess.” He announced, his voice stronger and louder than his tiny frame betrayed. “At the outskirts of my kingdom, there is an enchanted and haunted forest of briars and brambles you must traverse, one that only a holy Paladin chosen by Lady Tiki, can pass through. A holy Paladin, or…one of the End God’s collectors.”
Marinette swallowed slightly. The End God’s Collectors…shadow monsters, sent in the night to steal away babies where they slept or throw knights to the ground clutching chests or heads.
They were children's stories. Eat your veggies or the End God will send his collectors after you.
“Why is…? Is this your daughter…?” Marinette asked, brow furrowed.
“No. Someone I grew up with, the one who should…” Felix’s wrinkled lips firmed into a thin line. “I thought they were dead, but…a month previous, I had a dream, they’re still alive in that castle and I…if I had known in my younger years I would be heading this quest but I can’t.” He professed.
“What’s going on with this Princess?” Marinette asked. “Why can’t she leave?”
“They’re captured under the imprisonment of their father, a vile Wizard who has lived for far too long,” Felix said, his voice grave. “He has contracted five Warlocks to draw power from to feed his immortality and the barrier around his fortress, and to keep the Princess in chains. You must first slay the five Warlocks to even have a ghost of a chance at beating him.”
Marinette swallowed slightly. “I…I understand. Who are these servants?”
“The Blind Swordsmen, The False Noble, The Fox Witch, The Puppetress, and The Creature.” Felix listed. “The Blind Swordswomen is found on an island halfway between here and a foreign land, it’s only recently moved closer and within range when previously it was another kingdom’s borders and we could do little or risk war. The Fox Witch is his favorite, she stays close to him in the Lost Castle. I suspect the Puppetress is his consort, so she is also nearer to the castle. The False Noble, we are still searching for. And The Creature is living in a jungle to the south.”
King Felix took a heaving breath, his voice lowering from that booming and commanding tone. He sat back on his throne, slouching in the grand chair that dwarfed him. “Miss Marinette…I have no heirs and I am nearing the end of my life. And…I miss them, very much so. If you would, please grant an old man’s dying wish to see the last family he has.” Felix implored.
“Of course, your highness, I will take this task on, but I…I can’t do such a task alone, if you say only a holy Paladin and the collectors can pass…I need a crew, a team.” Marinette said. “Give me one month to search for and assemble a party to find your Princess.”
“I will send you off with my royal seal,” Felix promised. “You will be able to bypass any town’s guards within my kingdom, and be readily supplied by my knights wherever you go. Carry it as proof of my favor and of your employ under my instruction.”
“Thank you, your highness.” Both Marinette and Alya bowed.
-
“We need a healer, someone large and heavy to take damage, someone quicker on the draw than us…” Marinette mumbled under her breath, a crooked and armored finger beneath her chin as she considered. “We also need a map.”
“We could probably find all those things at the Adventurers Guild~!” Alya suggested. “Lets-”
“The Adventurers' Guild!?” Gasped Marinette. “Alya, we can’t go there, we’re Sisters of Our Lady Tiki! Everything that place stands for- it goes against everything we believe in! They take money to fix problems, we don’t!”
“Look, Marinette, I know you might not like it but fact is, most people outside the temple use money. Us being charitable isn’t gonna hire a healer.”
“It will if we find a true, pure of heart-”
“Don’t have the time, that king is gonna turn to dust if he coughs too hard!” Alya insisted, slinging an arm around her friend (who still had her plate armor on) and began to walk her semi-reluctant friend to the den of depravity that was the Adventurers' Guild…
-
“Paladins, huh? Don’t often see you guys out of your temples.” The receptionist hummed, filling out a form. “Under what god do you serve?”
“Our Lady Tiki of Divine Creation, and we're still just knights for now, haven’t been promoted yet.” Alya answered as Marinette half hid behind her, staring narrow-eyed at the uniformed woman, wondering when she’d offer some sort of illicit activity.
Like meth.
“Spesifically the Ladybug Branch.” Alya said.
“A pair of Ladybugs, got it. That means you’ll be in rest on Mondays, right?”
Alya nodded. “Yes, it’s our holy day.”
“Alright, then I will leave a note here and if any other receptionist sends any escort quests your way, they will ensure it starts on Tuesday and ends by Sunday. If one goes on for longer than a week, you'll be compensated for working on a Monday.”
“Thank you,” Alya hummed.
“Party of two or are you looking to hire?” The receptionist asked, making small talk as she filled out the mind numbing form. Fifth one today and it was only noon.
“Hire. Where would we do that…?”
“Classic way is the beerhall attached to the building, tell the bartender what you’re looking for and he’ll send you to the table of whoever matches best.” She said, pointing down the hall to the large, open archway in the lobby. “But anyone looking to be hired will also post on the board over there. Ladybug’s don’t drink, right?”
Alya nodded. “Yep! Total abstinence.”
“Mmn, why I couldn’t join,” She laughed. “The fee for joining is 5 Gold per head, do you carry cash?”
Marinette was the one who handed over the money, counting out the coins to slide across the wooden counter.
The woman didn’t even recount them, sweeping them into a drawer with her arm then turning the page over to them. “Sign here and here, and I’ll go get your identifications.”
A swish with the quill and they were both official Adventurers.
“You will need to drip a bit of blood on these,” The receptionist said, setting down two small metal amulets in teacups onto the counter. “If you can’t do the cut, then we can accept moon blood if you’re on it.”
“What do you do to men who can’t do the cut?” Marinette asked, a bit astonished that was an option.
“To close their eyes really tight.” The receptionist giggled.
“What are these?” Alya asked, picking up one of the metal coins. It had a hole at the top and was engraved with some sort of arcane rune.
“Identification coins,” She said. “That sigil on the back will keep track of which Guild Hall you were in last so if you go missing, we know where to start looking. It also tracks your stats for quests, how many of what level and so on. Show it at the gate of any town and you’ll be able to pass free.”
“Free?” Both Alya and Marinette asked.
“Or at a heavy discount.” She shrugged. “Adventueres are welcomed more or less everywhere, since the boots on the ground wanderers of the guild tend to be the ones who make the roads safe to travel.” The receptionist said, reaching into her pocket to offer a sheathed dagger to the girls.
“Good to know,” Alya grinned, taking the dagger.
Marinette shut her eyes really tight.
-
“Here’s yours,” The receptionist announced, unlocking the door. “The beds’ are lumpy, the pillows are flat, but it’s a safe place to rest your head while in the city. Bathroom is down the hall.”
“Thanks, you’ve been a great help,” Alya said gratefully, taking the key from her as Marinette collapsed into her bed, still in full plate armor. “Okay…What next?”
“I should go check that board,” Marinette sighed into the lumpy bed. “Can you pick me up off this bed? I’m stuck.”
“Sure thing, c’mon girlie,” Alya smiled, going to help her friend.
-
Marinette had taken off her armor before heading back down to see the board, changing into a more comfortable outfit for walking the Guild Hall; Doe-skin pants, shin-high boots, a loose white blouse and her Ladybug-patterned stays, speaking first with the barmaid.
“If it’s a healer you’re looking for, you won’t find better than a Priest of Sass,” she said. “A poison and medicine god, his worshipers are pro healers, I’ve heard they can even resurrect the dead! They send warrior monks out to treat the poor and needy with their healing magic, so you might be able to get one to join you on your mission statement alone.”
“That sounds perfect!” Marinette raved, stars in her eyes. “A heroic spirit, for the want to do good is reward unto itself!”
“Then it’s past the forest, up a volcanic mountain.”
“Huh?”
-
‘I miss the boat…’ Luka thought, for not the first time that day, that week, that month or that year, sitting alone in his dormitory room, humming the chants low in his throat as he’d been taught.
It had been almost a full month living in his own space, he was still getting a bit used to having some peace and quiet that wasn’t spent scrubbing out empty medical bays alone.
He often missed the boat, perched up on this monk’s mountain temple, built around and over a volcanic hotspring lake. It had been five years’ of study here, ever since the age of eleven, but he felt no connection or love for the god he’d chosen to serve.
The Snake God Sass, God of Poisons and Medicines, a healing God, a god of wellness, a god of grace through second chances at life…
And Sass had no cure for Juleka.
All these years of study felt like a waste, while letters from his family were nice, Luka couldn’t exactly write back to a moving house boat in a bayou. He even got word that his elderly Granny Elodie had died via mail, just a year into his service…
It hurt to know he’d never hear those stories about her hero father again, Luka loved them as bedtime stories, and she’d been the one to spark his love for Music! She’d play lullabies for him.
What Luka wouldn’t do for a second chance of his own…
Luka’s humming chants drew to a silence, closing the book he’d been reading from, staring across at the wall of vines and flowers he’d been nourishing with his magic as part of his training- giving nutrients to something where it couldn’t receive them naturally, and he was starting to wonder if perhaps there were answers and cures elsewhere in the world.
There was a knock at his door, and it creaked open slowly, his blind and elderly teacher behind it.
“You’ve been summoned for a quest.” the old nun rumbled. “To the altar.”
“I see.” Luka said calmly, and the door slid shut with a sigh.
A quest right now? It felt like fate.
Luka adjusted his robes slightly, throwing a long sash of cyan cloth over his shoulder, allowing it to drag behind him. It covered only one shoulder, and left one side of his chest open and unexposed, the cloth elsewise wrapped loosely around his hips, robes long and dragging behind him as he walked barefoot to the altar, feet slapping on stone of his underground dorm hall then transitioning to the wood of the upper temple as he rose up to the daylit areas of the monastery.
Keeping feet bare meant the floor had to be cleaned frequently and thoroughly, and any messes would be quickly dealt with. A clean space was vital to healthy healing.
Luka arrived at the head altar bald head first, eyes trained on the ground as he walked.
The altar was a massive platinum statue of Sass’s serpentine form on display that dripped fresh spring water from its fangs in the middle of a gently flowing pond, where the many candles of his faithful were floating on paper boats inscribed with their prayers for health and recovery, that would go out and either float or sink in the volcanic water.
Luka had been putting in a paper prayer boat himself, one a day since he’d arrived.
“Madam Marinette, I introduce you to your assigned healer monk.” The blind nun announced. “You see that he’s freshly bald? He was recently promoted for his curse breaking abilities. The snake scale scars along his right arm denote how many healing spells, incantations, potions, salves and so on that he knows, and he’s quite covered from knuckle to elbow!”
Luka hadn’t once lifted his head as his superior went on.
“Uhm…sir? May you look at me…?” the girl asked. “May I ask your name?”
Luka stayed silent.
“By our customs,” she said, half bowed at the waist herself. “We give up our names when we enter service. We aim to serve selflessly, to heal the world with no whisper of praise. You may call him ‘Doctor’ or ‘Healer’.”
“Ms.Marinette, how may I be of assistance?” Luka asked, eyes still focused on the crack in the floor between his bare toes. “Are you hurt?”
“We…I need a healer for a quest,” Marinette said, “I’m told the best healers that can save people even from death are made here.”
“Rise.” His superior commanded.
Luka’s head lifted, and he found himself head and shoulders above the knight he was to serve.
“What is this quest?” Luka asked.
“Buh-!” Marinette bleated slightly, taking half a step back, startled at the sheer height of her potential companion. “A-A princess!” She said. “I-in a castle! The king’s last possible heir and…” She slowed, pausing, taking a breath and restarting her pitch. “I’ve come in search of a healer for a noble quest. We need to save a princess from a mad god, and slaying his minions is the first step.”
‘Cute…’ Luka thought, intrigued.
The girl, Marinette, was dressed in holy silver armor and white robes between the air and her chainmail, her hair bound in two pigtails with antennae-like springs sprouting off of them.
This was her first quest, and she was being cautious, finding a healer here of all places…
“I can’t save someone from the End God or his collectors,” Luka said regretfully. “But I can keep them at bay, well enough.
“Yes, please. Madam, please release this healer to my party.”
“Then we will see you all off with a meal and a resupply to you as well,” Luka’s now former superior said, hands clapping and lifting to rejoice. “Child, prepare yourself for the journey.”
Luka gave one more bow, deep at the waist, before turning to head back out.
‘How fortuitous, and a great chance to get off this mountain!’ Luka thought, smiling. ‘That Ladybug, she brings great luck!’
-
Luka bathed one more time in the hot springs of the temple. Keeping clean was often a key component in health, so the Temple encouraged frequent and ritualistic bathing.
He’d gotten used to keeping clean, he hoped it wouldn’t be too hard of a transition starting to travel again.
He was anointed with the sweet smelling oils, and given a vial of poison to wear around his neck.
“In dealing with health, we so often see death.” The Sister said as she put the vial around his neck. “Use this when the pain of living becomes too much, Child. For you or for the ones you can’t help.”
“Do no harm, extend no suffering.” Luka recited, head bowed to receive it. He touched the vial, it was shaped like a thin plumbob, thin silver chains to make the necklace, and sealed with red wax. Two doses, he estimated. “Will it hurt…?”
“Like falling asleep.” She assured him.
At the dinner hall, Luka would be placed next to Marinette and her other companion, Alya at one table. There weren’t any higher seating amongst the monks and their leadership as they ate a single meal together.
Healers sat with their patients that were able to eat at the same tables, and it was a loud and lively dinner as those on the mend made jokes or conversation, and those deeper in their injuries or sicknesses merely tried to eat, some needing the help of the many healers among them.
“Can I ask about your fingers…?” Marinette asked, curious when she noticed the black stain on Luka’s fingernails.
“Magical rot,” Luka explained, showing her them, and the many snake scales that had been cut into his skin and left to scar over. “Using healing magic, it transfers over some of the healers’ own vitality and mana, so we rot from the outside in. It typically starts with our fingers, but I’ve heard that it used to begin with hair, which is why we started shaving prematurely.”
“Oh, I-” Marinette blanched, blinking wide. Her sapphire eyes glanced further down the table, only then just noticing the greyer, wrinklier monks among them were being handfed. She thought it had been a respect thing! “I…I will…try to not ask for your magic so much…”
“It’s my honor to heal you,” Luka assured her. “Besides, I still have a couple decades left before I have to retire here to teach the next generation. This is all the rot I’ve gained from perfecting my craft, a seasoned healer of a decade or more would have it up to their first knuckle.”
“Right…” She said softly, accepting.
“What’s this about a princess?” Luka asked, curious.
“Yes, the Princess. She’s the half-mortal child of a Goddess of Light that’s been locked away in a tower within a cursed forest, and is being held prisoner by an evil wizard of somekind.” Marinette narrated.
“I see…” Luka said softly, nodding in understanding. “Miss Marinette, I think it was fate and good fortune that brought you here to me. My Aural Magic senses negative emotions and curses, I’ve been attuned to the songs in other peoples’ hearts since I was a child.”
“Luka, that’s fantastic!” Marinette gasped, stars in her eyes. “This is fantastic! Just absolutely fan- Okay, so I’ll bring you down to Nebber, I have a lead on someone with shield Aural Magic living there.”
Luka could hardly sleep that night, excited as he was to go out and search the world, he could find a cure for his sister!
-
“I was kind of surprised meat was available here,” Alya said, standing by their horses as they waited for their healer. “A temple like this, it just kinda has the ‘we are vegetarian’ vibes, y’know?”
“Agreed,” Marinette whispered softly. “What do you think of our healer?”
“He needs a name…I feel awkward just calling him Healer or whatever.” Alya sighed. “I wonder if he’d be cuter if he had hair…”
“And eyebrows,” Marinette added softly. The two girls descended into snickers as, in the distance and too far to hear, Luka shouldered his medicine pack.
A monk’s traveling robes were loose and airy pants with cloth wraps around white socks and flat straw shoes, a sleeveless robe on top with a rope of black and green stained wooden beads around his waist, with only a long brown and slightly shabby hardspun cloth cloak for warmth. Along with his new traveling clothes, he was also given a case full of useful medicines and herbs, a few copper and silver coins, a provision of food, and his chosen weapon of defense- a weighted wooden staff, with a carved cobra head on one side with forged metal fangs and a clutch of silvery bells on the other. He wore it across his shoulders, with baskets on either side, holding his medicine case and whatever else he had on him.
On his shoulder was a fresh tattoo, the mark of his service now that he was venturing out in the world on a mission, to help and heal as many as he could throughout the rest of his life. A snake turning around and eating itself, drawn on the round of his shoulder in green ink.
“Let’s not linger,” He said as he approached Alya and Marinette, the bells on his staff jingling as he swept past them on their horses.
“H-huh?! You don’t have a horse?!” Marinette asked, alarmed as she turned her mare.
“Don’t need one!” He shouted back, already well ahead of them.
They had to gallop to catch up to their new healer, since he was taking shortcuts through the trees that their horses couldn’t follow.
-
Their first night as a joint party was under starlight, on the sands of an ocean beach.
“Hey, so…Healer, I wanted to ask-” Alya began to broach the subject.
“You may call me ‘Luka’,” he introduced, smiling. “I haven’t heard my own name in three years…My name is Luka!”
“Luka,” Alya and Marinette said in unison, and Luka’s smile widened.
“If I may ask,” Marinette said. “What brought you to the Snake Gods’ Temple…? If you’re so easily taking back your name…”
“You’re thinking my devotion wasn’t strong,” Luka surmised, hand lifting to rub his bald head. “I’d like to say my devotion is strong enough, and my healing magic is strong so I don’t think Lord Sass minds all that much. As for why I was there…My sister, she needs healing, I thought maybe I’d find something in service.”
“Ah,” Marinette nodded in understanding. “Have you found what you were looking for?”
Luka shook his head. “Not even close. Who contracted this quest we’re on?”
“We were contacted by his Majesty King Felix,” Marinette explained, reaching into a pocket on her belt, giving it to Luka. “He was just made aware that his cousin is alive and being held captive by an evil wizard.”
Luka constructed the family tree in his head, reading the paper. “So we’re saving an 80 year old royal?”
“A Princess,” Alya said. “King Felix insisted on calling them ‘Princess’. Apparently his cousin is the half divine child of a goddess of light, and an evil god of emotion has been holding them captive since they were 15.”
“The King thought his cousin had died years ago in a castle fire with his father.” Marinette said sadly. “The castle he’s currently trapped in used to belong to the royal family, it’s the old capital of our kingdom.”
“It makes more sense why you were given such extra special treatment at the temple, waving this royal seal around,” Luka noted, folding it back up to hand to Marinette. If a king was involved, that might be a good lead to high level magic that might cure Juleka… “Where are we off to now, then?”
“We’ll be in Altosa by tomorrow.” Alya nodded.
“Altosa…?” Luka’s blue eyes widened. “Isn’t that place full of…pirates…?”
“Unfortunately, yes, and many more illegal things…” Marinette said regretfully. “But with your ability to sense souls, I have faith we can find good people to help us to our next destination!”
“We have to sail to a province called Nebber,” Alya explained. “The king sent scouts and he said that there’s a guy with powerful Aural Magic that would be perfect for the journey, we just have to convince him!”
Luka nodded, arms crossing. “Okay. Sounds like a plan!”
His fingers were itching all night…
-
“The marina, we have to get to the marina,” Luka insisted as they reached the city limits.
“But the Adventurers’ Guild is the exact opposite-” Marinette tried to insist. It was late, the sun was going down and this was a dangerous place to be at night!!
“I’ll find you guys later, I’ll head to the Marina-!” Luka insisted, breaking away entirely. Just follow the ocean smell!
“Did we just lose our healer?!” Marinette asked as Luka bolted straight down the streets, his weapon staff jingling wildly with every step.
“I think we did…” Alya said, blinking as Luka started leaping up the sides of buildings, apparently searching for the Marina.
“We just got him!!”
They couldn’t follow, and had no choice but to head to the guild. When they got there, Marinette made sure to tell the front reception Luka would have no money but he was with them. “Our friend will be coming in late…he goes by Luka, he wears monk robes, bald, his eyes are like, really blue. When he comes in, can you give him a room? He’s a part of our party on this quest soooo…”
Another flash of that royal seal, and Marinette was assured that their monk friend would not be left out in the cold.
-
A couple hours later, there was a knock at Alya and Marinette’s door.
“Ma’ams…There’s someone at the counter who says he’s with your party but he doesn’t fit the description you gave…If you would come down to the desk and confirm?”
“Oh no…did our healer get beaten up?!” Marinette wondered, immediately concerned Luka had gotten mugged somewhere and was now black and blue at the front.
She and Alya hurried to the desk with the receptionist, and found someone who did not look like a monk at all.
The guy at the desk had a guitar case slung across his back, wearing a looser white shirt that laced up at the front, but the laces weren’t done up, with leather bracers at his wrists. Around his middle was a short men’s corset, more to keep up his pants than give him a figure, and his pants were dark brown canvas, loose and good for easy movement, with knee high black leather boots. Around his neck were layered necklaces, one with threaded bells, one with a vial of poison, several more with seashells, beads and wrapped up rocks as pendants. His hands were covered in rings, copper, carved stone, rough metal, wood, and set with turquoise and other semi precious stones.
His hair was long and pitch black, down to his thighs and he was constantly carding a hand through it to push the inky locks back, showing his face that had multiple piercings now, two in his lower lip, one in his tongue, and two in his nose with a thin chain connecting them.
“Whoooo are you…?” Marinette asked, confused and pointing at the guy.
“I’m Luka,” He insisted.
“Luka was bald five hours ago,” Marinette insisted in return.
“I’m a healer, I can make hair grow faster, it’s an easy spell,” Luka insisted, pushing his hair out of his face again. “It’s just…hard to stop. Wait, just…” he paused, setting down the case on his back and pulling his shirt up. “I’ll show you the-”
“Arm, dude,” Alya said, pointing at her own. “You have scars, you don’t have to take off your shirt.”
“Oh, right-” Luka lowered his shirt, pulling up the sleeve of his shirt to show off his years of work, carved indelibly into his skin. Snake monk scales.
“You’re- That is…quite the change for a few hours…” Marinette blanched. “How…?”
“Ask again after dinner, I’m starving,” Luka breathed, glad to not have to spend the night homeless.
Registering Luka as an adventurer took only a few minutes, and Marinette paid his starting fees. After that, he was welcomed to the kitchen for his dinner.
Sitting across from Marinette and Alya, he ate. “This was the port I stopped at when I first went to serve the Snake God, took a ship.” Luka explained. “I knew they were big on the ‘no personal possessions’ thing, so I hid a case under the Marina with my treasures, and lucky for me, they were still there. My Mom’s guitar, a couple of coins, and some of my gran’s jewelry."
“Did a couple of coins get you the makeover?” Alya asked, curious.
“I…may have done a bit of alms collecting, in exchange for services rendered.” Luka said somewhat sheepishly.
“Luka, what did you do?” Marinette asked. “Was it illegal?”
“No, not illegal.” Luka assured her. “I did the hair growth spell on myself in public, and some…folically challenged men asked me to lend them a hand and I did for a couple coins.”
“How long is their new hair gonna last?” Alya asked knowingly.
“It’ll start thinning as the new hair dies, so it’ll become noticeable by the time we’re in Nebber.” Luka shrugged.
“You scammed them,” Marinette surmised.
“They asked, I delivered, I got paid. Nobody said anything about it being long lasting or permanent,” Luka said, hands raised defensively. “And I sold the metal from my staff. Just kept the bells. That also gave me a good amount of coins.”
“I’m liking you more and more, Luka!” Alya snickered, and Marinette tried not to smile.
“You’re clever, but can you try not to do things that might get random people angry at us?” Marinette requested.
“Yes ma’am,” Luka promised. “Just a little mischief to start this new life of heroism, I swear.”
Luka got his hairtrim from one of the barmaids, thankfully. Now, it was merely lower back length, and it wasn’t so heavy in his eyes. He was able to braid pieces of it back, and the ends started to lighten.
His hair was being affected by his Mana, turning the ends of it the same colour as his soul- turquoise blue.