Bloom

Devon stared at the bloody mess the three insane imps had made of the six Adventurers. With puddles of blood everywhere and random body parts strewn around it was definitely a bit on the gory side.

“Unca Devon!”

“Unca Devon!”

“Master!”

Massaging his forehead to work out the tension that accumulated after being frantically woken from his afternoon nap he sighed.

“Where is He?” Devon asked. The alarm that had woken him from a delightful dream about three triplets he’d met a few centuries back was both loud and annoying.

Trust a disturbed Tree-Alchemist-Garden Nutjob to make something so perverse. Probably only did it to see if it would actually work, the bastard. Devon thought.

“I haven’t seen the creepy shrub, Master.” said Elaine, his only disciple. If she wasn’t always so serious Devon knew she had the potential to be super cute.

“Grandpa Tree was swished and then swooshed!” said Kehoko, the cute little foxgirl was a marvelous joy to watch twirling about chasing nearby butterflies. Apparently in her world, if it wasn’t edible it wasn’t of interest.

“According to the data from the Garden’s sensor network, Grandfather was kidnapped by a being of extreme power. They showed up merely as a large blob of human shaped mana. Then of course, there was the dragon they were riding.” said Kurhoko, the least cute foxkin ever to exist. He was almost constantly using the massive Garden that filled the Colosseum to stay alert.

As soon as Devon had found out the Garden could be used as a sensor network, he’d asked to be shown how.

Unfortunately, Kurhoko had stared at him before stating, “No, I’m not allowing you to use the sensor network to drool at the female adventurers that arrive.”

Tsk. Such a brat. Devon thought in remembrance. A mass of human shaped mana? Either a God or an Old One, neither of which is good for us.

Fingering the hilt of his sword, Devon asked, “Can you move this hunk of flying greenery, Kur? Whatever got the Old Man could hit us again.”

The boy seemed to pause for a moment before saying, “Yes, but, where would we go? Grandfather never bothered with mapping. Most of the systems in place, like the food plants, waste disposal plants, water accumulation network, and such are automatic. Navigation actually isn’t a system per say, since the wind moves us at random unless Grandfather specifically changed the flying artifact underneath us.”

I was promised constant sleep, free food, and entertaining idiots to kill. Devon thought as he moved towards the pieces of the Adventuring party. Fighting his way through the waste disposal moss and greenery that was already starting to envelope the bodies he ripped free all the pouches he could find.

As the children watched he dumped the mess out one by one until finally a map dropped out.

Unrolling the map scroll he glanced at it for a moment before matching landmarks he’d seen below to the map.

“Alright, we are here.” Devon said, pointing to a small place between the border of the Empire of Beasts, and the Empire of Men. “Do you know anyone in either Empire?” he asked, glancing up at the two foxkin.

“Aunty Tevril!”

“Uncle Azvril!”

Devon blinked, “Do you mean the Lady of Air, Tevril, Archmage of the Floating Palace?”

I guess the Tree was more connected than I thought. Devon mused before asking, “Who’s Azvril?”

“Tevril’s papa!”

“Tevril’s father.”

Wait, aren’t they talking about the Bloodghost Foxlord? Devon thought.

“He wouldn’t be chap with shiny crystal armor that pulps his victims, er, attackers into liquid mist would he?” Devon asked, trying to clarify things. He ignored the cold sweat starting to form on his backside.

“Maybe?”

“Possibly, we’ve never actually seen them, Grandfather described them though.”

Royalty. Dammit you wooden bastard, you didn’t mention anything about this! Devon thought with irritation.

“We’ll need some money if we are going to travel. Do any of you remember where the main treasure room is?” Devon said as he started moving deeper into the Garden.

“Grandfather would keep the really expensive stuff next to his lab. That’s because most of it was also useful in experiments.” Kurhoko said as he moved to follow Devon.

Both girls flanked him from each side, like a min-honor guard. Apparently the brat had some sort of natural charisma even though he was barely sixteen.

Sighing, Devon reminisced about how cute his disciple had been before she got interested in boys.

Ah well, she could do worse than the Old Man’s favorite fox. Devon thought.

It was irritating that he’d have to stay awake for so long to take care of such a mess, though.

If it wasn’t for Dryad promising to ‘take care’ of me for a century, I would already be gone. Devon thought.

A quick pillaging of the main treasure room outfitted everyone with money, weapons, and swank clothing.

“How good is this stuff?” Devon asked, staring at the strange ensemble of clothing Kehoko had picked out for everyone.

“Grandfather said it was all S-Ranked or better. Although he also called them ‘failed experiments’ to be sure.” Kurhoko said with a smile.

“Hah, only Tree that I’ve ever met that considered S-Rank to only be the starting line.” Devon said with a chuckle. It was good to finally be working with someone that spared no expense for safety.

“Uncle Devon, we’ve moved into position above the nearest large city.” Kurhoko said.

“Either of you able to get us down in one piece?”

“Wheeeeeee!” Kehoko said before light enveloped everyone.

A flash of light passed before all four of them appeared in a dirty alley.

The hell did that wooden bastard teach these kids? Devon thought.

“The most likely place to get good information would be the large structure in the distance.” Kurhoko said, pointing at the large castle in the center of the city.

“Alright, let’s head out. Try not to kill anyone really important, since we might need them to help us find where Tevril is.” Devon said, adjusting his gear.

“Understood, Master.”

“Ok!”

“Affirmative.”

I need to re-negotiate the agreement when Dryad get's back. Devon thought, as the four set off towards the city center.