Chương 19: Chapter 17 — Made, Not Born

Adriane stepped into the room and shut the door behind her with a firm, deliberate motion. The shift in the air was immediate. She didn't raise her voice, didn't hesitate, she simply moved, and the room bent around her.

"Dewey," she said, already scanning the space, "do we have organ meat ready? If so, get it out. Fresh. Chelsea eats now, not later." Her hand flicked toward the table without even looking at him.

"Bea," she continued without pause, "pack for long-term travel. Prioritize mobility, clothing, coin, water skins. No excess weight. If you hesitate on an item, leave it." Her eyes shifted, already moving on.

"Edgar, I need a route. Not the obvious one. Avoid main streets, avoid patrol rotations, and assume they've already doubled the watch near the gates. I want two exits planned, primary and fallback. If we get split, we regroup outside the eastern treeline." Only then did she stop moving. Chelsea blinked, watching it all happen. There was no chatter. No hesitation. No pushback. Orders were given, and they were followed immediately.

Bea's earlier attitude, her boldness, her defiance, evaporated the moment Adriane entered the room. Even the way she moved now was different. Sharper. Quieter. Dewey disappeared into the kitchen and returned moments later with a heavy bucket, setting it down with a dull thud before dumping its contents across the wide table. The smell hit immediately, iron-rich and thick.

"Chelsea," Adriane said, finally looking at her directly, "you haven't eaten since early lunch. Eat. You'll need your strength." Chelsea didn't argue. She stepped forward and grabbed the first thing she recognized, a heart, and bit into it. Adriane turned back to the others, her tone shifting slightly, not softer, but broader, meant for all of them.

"This is the situation. This little demon girl is now officially a member of this family. She is a summoned champion." Her jaw tightened just slightly.

"The king intended to dispose of her and attempt a second summoning." Chelsea chewed, forcing herself to keep up as she reached for another piece, what she thought was liver. Everything was the same dark red now, indistinguishable in the mess.

"There is no guarantee a second summoning would succeed," Adriane continued.

"And even if it did, there is no guarantee it would produce anything better." Her eyes flicked briefly toward Dewey.

"Her ability is already extraordinary. Possibly the strongest single ability I've encountered. Dewey can confirm that." Chelsea swallowed and grabbed another piece, eating faster now, less concerned with what it actually was.

"I made the decision," Adriane said, more firmly now, "that she is worth keeping alive and worth investing in. To ensure that, I've brought her into the Wixx family." She paused just long enough to confirm everyone had heard her. Across the table, Dewey stood watching Chelsea with open fascination. When he caught Adriane's gaze, he pointed at Chelsea like she was some kind of rare creature.

"I know," Adriane said flatly. Chelsea looked up mid-bite, her mouth full and her face smeared with dark, drying blood. She noticed Dewey staring and, after a second, held out the rest of the liver toward him in a silent offer.

"It's all yours, little demon sister," he said. She grinned and pulled it back, finishing it instead. Between the heart and the liver, she was already starting to feel full.

"We're ready," Bea announced, stepping back into the room with a small pack slung over her shoulder. Her tone was controlled again, but her eyes flicked immediately to the table, and what was happening on it.

"What the fuck, Adriane," she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah," Adriane replied without looking.

"I know." Chelsea finally stepped back from the table, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Dewey and Adriane both suddenly found other things to look at, as if they hadn't just been watching her eat the entire time. Bea, however, made no such effort.

"That… was gross," she said bluntly.

"Again, you started having s…" Chelsea began. Edgar cut in smoothly before the sentence could finish.

"Timeline?" he asked.

"Do we move immediately, or wait for pre-dawn?"

"That depends on how fast they respond to the moonbeasts," Adriane said, shifting gears instantly.

"If the captain gets involved, the distraction holds longer. If not, we assume partial containment within the hour." She thought for half a second.

"We leave before daybreak regardless." She turned slightly, thinking out loud now.

"She won't be checked on until midmorning. That gives us roughly six hours of lead time before they confirm she's missing. Another hour before they organize a coordinated search." Her gaze sharpened.

"That means we are gone before they realize they should be looking." Edgar nodded once.

"Route?"

"The fairy forest," Adriane replied.

"Horses can't follow, and neither can heavy armor. It slows them down, evens the field." She glanced toward Chelsea.

"It will slow us down too, so we move clean and quiet." She looked between them all, making sure they understood.

"No mistakes. No noise. No second chances." Then, finally, her eyes settled on Chelsea. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Finish eating," she said.

"When we leave this room, you stay close to me. No wandering. No questions unless necessary. From this point forward, assume everyone outside this house wants you dead." Chelsea swallowed the last bite in her mouth.

"Got it."

"You know this will put all of us in the crosshairs of the entire Tri-Kingdom Alliance, right?" Bea asked, her voice sharp, pushing harder than she probably should have.

"Yeah," Adriane replied without hesitation.

"Of course I know that." There wasn't even a hint of doubt in her tone.

"There's more to gain here than anything that shortsighted king can offer. This is bigger than one kingdom." Her eyes flicked toward Chelsea for the briefest moment before returning to Bea.

"We take her to Junstruce. King Juice will welcome a powerful adventuring party, especially one that can tip the balance against the allied guilds."

"Junstruce?" Bea repeated, incredulous.

"That's your plan? What happened to…" She didn't get to finish. Adriane moved faster than Chelsea could track. One moment Bea was standing there, the next she was airborne, sent across the room by a single, brutal backhand. She slammed face-first into the far wall with a heavy crack before crumpling to the floor.

"Any other problems with my plan?" Adriane snapped, her voice cutting through the room like a blade as her gaze swept over the others. Silence answered her. Chelsea stared, wide-eyed for a split second, then, slowly, a blood-smeared grin spread across her face. Oh. Now she understood. This wasn't just an S-rank adventurer. This was someone who commanded rooms. Someone who didn't hesitate. Someone who decided, and the world adjusted. Gerard had been right. Having Adriane on her side wasn't just helpful.

It was survival. Adriane turned back toward Chelsea, and just like that, the fury vanished. Her expression shifted into something almost mundane, annoyed, but controlled, like a mother finding a mess she didn't have time for.

"Chelsea," she said, eyeing the dried blood across her face, "we're not sending you out looking like that." She grabbed a rag from near the kitchen doorway, dipped it into a nearby bucket, and wrung it out before stepping in close.

"You full?" she asked as she started wiping Chelsea's face clean with quick, efficient motions.

"It's going to be a long trip."

"Yeah," Chelsea replied, nodding slightly.

"Good." Adriane finished cleaning her up, then gave a small, satisfied nod.

"Once we're out of the city, we run for the forest. It's farther than it looks, and we don't stop unless I say so." She tilted her head slightly.

"How long can you run?" Chelsea hesitated.

"I… don't know. I was never exactly athletic."

"Alright," Adriane muttered, already thinking ahead. Her gaze swept the room before landing on a cedar chest tucked against the wall.

"Then we fix that." She crossed the room, flipped the lid open, and began pulling items out one after another, old gear, worn but still carrying weight to it. A bow, a pair of boots, a belt, a cloak. Things that had clearly seen use.

"Edgar," she said without looking up, "wake Bea. I need level requirements on everything in here." He moved immediately. Bea was still on the floor, motionless for a second longer before Edgar crouched beside her and did something subtle, something Chelsea couldn't quite see. Bea jerked back to awareness with a sharp inhale, her hand going instinctively to her face. She wiped at her nose, saw the blood, and healed herself without comment before pushing up to her feet and walking back over. No complaints this time.

"Level requirements," Adriane said, already tossing items onto the floor in a growing pile.

"Quickly. Start with this."

"Level eight," Bea answered almost instantly. Adriane didn't hesitate. She snapped the item in half like it was made of brittle wood.

"Is it showing as broken classification?" Adriane asked immediately.

"Did that remove the requirement?"

"Yeah," Bea said, frowning slightly as she checked again.

"But it stripped the enchantment too."

"Perfect." Adriane dropped the broken piece onto the table, the same table still smeared with blood from Chelsea's meal, without the slightest concern. Chelsea watched, a slow smile creeping back onto her face. She knew exactly what Adriane was doing. And it was kind of amazing.

"Keep going," Adriane said, already reaching for the next item.

"We don't need enchantments, we need usability." She glanced back at Chelsea briefly.

"She rebuilds it once it's on her." She turned back to Bea.

"Does anything in there have a requirement of level one?" Bea moved quickly through the remaining pile, barely pausing between items as her eyes flicked over each one.

"No," she said after a moment, frustration creeping in.

"We don't keep that kind of junk. Either we toss it or don't pick it up in the first place." She held up a small ring between her fingers.

"Lowest I'm seeing is… five. This one." Adriane took it from her without a word and immediately snapped it open, bending it until it resembled a warped lowercase 'm.'

"Need another ring," Adriane said, already turning back to the pile.

"And a necklace, anything with stamina." The growing heap of broken gear behind Chelsea was starting to look absurd.

"Why are you breaking everything?" Bea asked, watching another piece get casually destroyed. Then her eyes widened.

"Wait, no, not that neckl…" snap. She deflated instantly.

"Aww, I liked that one. It was pretty."

"You'll see," Adriane said, tossing the broken pieces aside. She shot Bea a quick wink, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The shift in tone was jarring. Just minutes ago she'd sent her flying across the room, and now it was as if that moment had already been filed away and forgotten. Chelsea wasn't sure if that was comforting or terrifying.

"Chelsea," Adriane said, finally turning back to her, "take your clothes off and put on what's on the table." Chelsea froze. Her eyes immediately darted to Dewey, then to Edgar, then back to Adriane.

"Uh." Adriane frowned, clearly not understanding the hesitation.

"Chelsea, you're acting strange. They aren't going to watch you change." Chelsea threw her hands up.

"You all stared at me while I was eating because you thought it was weird!" Adriane paused for half a second, then nodded.

"Fair point. You two, turn around." Dewey and Edgar complied instantly, turning their backs without a word. Chelsea took a breath, then quickly stripped out of her clothes, trying not to overthink it. The air felt colder without them, and for a split second she was hyper-aware of just how exposed she was, but she shoved the feeling aside and reached for the pile of broken gear.

"Aww," Bea's voice came from somewhere behind her, far too entertained, "she really is like a child. Her chest could be confused for a boy's." Chelsea's face went hot. She fumbled slightly, grabbing the patchwork pieces and pulling them on as fast as she could.

"I am still a child," she shot back, her voice a little tighter than she wanted.

"I have time to grow." The words sounded weak the second they left her mouth, and she knew it. But then she blinked. Everything… fit. Perfectly. The leather chest piece sat snug without being tight, the pants adjusted cleanly around her legs, and the seams aligned like they'd been tailored specifically for her body. Even the awkward problem of her wings and tail had somehow been accounted for, small, clean openings that didn't tug or restrict movement at all. Chelsea flexed slightly, testing it. Nothing pulled.

Nothing shifted wrong. It just… worked.

"Wait," Bea said slowly, her tone changing as realization dawned. Then a wide, almost unsettling grin spread across her face.

"Ohhh… she doesn't know." Her eyes flicked to Adriane, who immediately answered, "No." Bea's grin widened.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

"Oh, a ring," Adriane added, grabbing another piece, snapping it, and tossing it to Chelsea.

"Put that on." Chelsea caught it instinctively and slipped it onto her finger, still distracted by how everything felt.

"Sweet little sister," Bea cooed, stepping closer now, her tone dripping with delight.

"Demons aren't born. They're made." She tilted her head, watching Chelsea carefully.

"Which means… you'll look exactly like this until the day you die." Chelsea paused. She looked down at her hands. Then back up.

"So," she said slowly, "just to be clear, your tragic news for me is that I stay young and attractive forever while you slowly age into a raisin?" Adriane snorted, the sound escaping before she could stop it.

"I think you've met your match, Bea." Bea's eye twitched slightly, betraying the maniacal smile.