Of pies and sherbet

Heading through the Clover town, Leila felt quite nostalgic once again. She has not been to this place in forever, or perhaps even longer than that. It was almost shame that she was here for yet another contract, rather than just enjoying herself. After all, this was no ordinary place, quite the opposite actually. A place where legends would rest after deciding that they had enough adventuring for one lifetime, enough of the world of magic. It was definitely a place worth looking through. And who knows, perhaps she would one day end the same way as people here. Or she would continue doing her job as a mage for all eternity, that was also a very real possibility, considering the fact that she wan't actually aging at all. But she wasn't dilly-dallying for too long, after all, she had a contract to fulfill. And so, she headed for the train station from which the request came. Apparently she was looking for someone named Albert, one of the workers here. And for some reason, that named sounded awfully familiar too. Perhaps he was actually quite famous himself. Thankfully, station employees were all wearing proper uniforms as their working attire and thus it wasn't too difficult finding the right person. And once she approached him, she introduced herself as always.

"Good sir Albert? Name's Leila Vergious, a wandering mage working for Golden Phoenix. I'm here to deal with your problems!"

With a sigh of relief, he looked over her fancy dressed figure. The fact she was an attire as the guardian shadow of Eden probably added to her mystery levels that were then transformed into a vision of seemingly powerful mage. Or at least she hoped so! After all, mysterious characters in books almost always turn out to be the secret, nearly unbeatable and invulnerable allies that aid you when the situation is most dire. A logic applied by a simple girl who loved romantic and heroic stories more than she probably should. In her head it all sounded completely delightfully, which was all that really mattered to her at the moment.

"Finally someone who actually looks capable of dealing with this problem! We've already sent several of our strongest men to that blockade, but to no avail. That Vulcan is just too powerful for normal human beings, and that pesky goblin is sneaky and quick! I'm warning you, this will be no easy task!"

Worried for the young girl's well being, he tried to actually stop her from taking the contract in his own way. But instead, Leila simply showed him thumbs up. She knew exactly how Vulcans and goblins were at this point, this was far from the first time of her facing them. And she was confident enough in her abilities to go through with this. If she was to refuse, not only would she receive no reward at all, but these people would continue to have problems until someone else would come to help them. And leaving someone in such situation was just no in the girl's nature.

"No need to worry, good sir. I am quite far from being your ordinary human. As you said, task such as this one is something that only people like me can solve I'm afraid. The blockade will be gone soon enough, so you should prepare your trains to leave the moment I return~"

She would reply him in a tone that started as serious but transformed into a pretty playful one by the end of it. Not a speck of worry could be seen on her, or heard in her voice. She was perfectly confident that she would emerge victorious from this encounter. And with that out of the way, she moved outside the station and hopped onto the trail rails themselves. This was the only time she could actually move on them without having to worry about being run over by some train or other machines that are usually using these tracks. And her job was to make it so these tracks could be used by these machines once again. Truly, one simple blockade and it caused so many problems for everyone around. Sighing, she slowly started moving towards her destination. Honestly, she wasn't all that happy about the fact that she'll probably have to fight a big Vulcan and a goblin soon. They were known as perverted and sometimes even cunning creatures. But the main point was, they were also usually perfectly peaceful unless one was invading on their turf or provoking them. The Eden's witch just could't help it but feel a bit bad if this ends in a fight. But unfortunately, there was just no way around it. And even as she wanted to finish this whole ordeal as fast as possible, her walk was one of the slowest she could manage right now. All the trains were already out of order for some time now, and by doing this, she wasn't quite helping the situation. Maybe it was just one of those lazy days when you don't really feel like doing anything proper.

It took a while, but she would eventually approach an unconscious body, lying next to the train track. His attire suggested that he was another worker from the train station nearby. Albert did mention that someone was sent here to remove the blockade before her, so this must have been that someone. And he clearly wasn't the only one. At least a dozen men were laying scattered around, all pretty buff gentlemen. But human without any magic was simply not cut for an encounter like this it seemed. Not unless they were actually experienced in proper combat. And not far from here, she saw the infamous duo. A fairly normal Vulcan that was staring down at a fairly normal goblin. She knew these creatures well. She knew just about any creature in Earthland fairly well in fact. That was just her nature, as someone who was connected to the Earth itself by a powerful bond. Preparing for anything to happen, she approached the two directly. And they were quick to notice her themselves. But instead of just blindly attacking her, the goblin wobbled forward in somewhat comedic manner.

"Aha! Another one! Do you have our pies and tubes of sherbert?"

He asked her while pointing directly at her face, his voice extremely high-pitched and nearly laugh-inducing. Trying to resist the urge to smile, Leila only shook her head. Albert forgot to mention it, but she did remember from the request parchment that they wanted these things and to obtain them, they made this blockade in the first place. Truly, what a strange pair these two were. The little guy looked rather disappointed at her answer and suddenly picked up a pretty sharp looking stick. It was clearly his weapon of choice that he made himself looking at it now. Starting to wave it around as warning, he started protesting.

"Well? Are you here to fight just like those other guys? Hm? Do you want us to whoop your behind too?"

The vulcan behind him was visibly getting ready to fight as well. But they were not attacking, only asking. So maybe there was actually some chance of diplomacy, despite all the doubts and common beliefs that these beasts cannot possess any proper intelligence.

"No, actually. I'm not here to fight at all."

She smiled. Her answer clearly confused them, as the vulcan started scratching his head and the goblin slowly lowered his stick, his expression completely puzzled. They really were expecting another burly individual who would instantly try to attack them and then lift the tree behind them that acted as a blockade, didn't they? Well, they probably were right to do so, seeing how many people they already dispatched of.

"No... fight?"

Asked the vulcan again, probably to confirm. Even the goblin didn't stay silent.

"If you're not here to deliver our pies... or to fight at all... why are you here?!"

Getting an idea, Leila made a small gesture with her hand and activated one of her abilities without uttering a single word. More specifically, her power that allowed her to freely control the nature around her as she sees fit. She was quite lucky that this barrier of theirs was made out of a fallen tree. And even though the tree itself was dead, as long as it had it's original form and natural magic inside of it, she was capable of altering it. And with that, the giant trunk pulsated for a bit before it's roots started extending to the side, eventually running back into the earth and moving the entire trunk back up. It was soon lifted from the tracks and rooted back into the earth, as if it was never removed from it in the first place. And those two didn't even notice.

"Why, I only wanted to ask why are you guarding a this place that has absolutely nothing. No blockade, no stop for the train. There is nothing at all! Or perhaps you two were just waiting here in hopes that a tree of pies would eventually sprout from the ground? But something like that doesn't grow around here either!"

She was trying to be smart, making them leave by simply removing their blockade. Without it, the trains would be able to get through here once again without too much of a trouble, and those two would be forced to leave, defeated without a fight essentially. As they heard her words, they both turned around and fell into a considerable shock. Suddenly screaming and running around, panicking and looking for their little roadblock, it was actually quite amusing it the more sadistic sense. With a smile, the girl nodded to herself as she thought the job was simply resolved without the need for violence. But before she even blinked, the Vulcan started screaming and repeatedly saying "No" over and over again. And in a bit he ran into the woods that surrounded the track. Goblin only stared at his partner running while standing still, wearing a defeated expression. His grip on his weapon loosened as it fell onto the gravel, he himself falling to his knees and tearing up. She suddenly felt a little bad, as if she took a toy from a small child. But that way of thinking was soon enough completely shattered by an extremely loud crash in the distance. And only few seconds later, the Vulcan showed himself once again, dragging another uprooted tree behind him. He certainly was strong and moving that thing into the exact same spot where the previous one lied was seemingly no problem for him. Though, as she looked more closely, he did look a little tired after that. The spark in goblin's eyes was back as he jumped back up and pointed at the new blockade, standing there proudly.

"Don't you see? We have the blockade right here! Dont you try lying to us that there is no blockade!"

Both impressed and dumbfounded, Leila could only stare at it all while repeating what just happened in her head. She could have probably done what she just did again, but that would only result in the Vulcan growing mad again and damaging the nearby woods even more. Which definitely wasn't something that she wanted to happen. Unless she wanted to face these guys head on, she had to come up with a new plan of action.

"Ah... I see. Well, that was all! Thank you for your time, I'll be on my way now. Have a lovely day here, you two."

With those words, she abruptly turned the other way and started marching off. Of course, as soon as she was out of their line of sight, she moved into the woods and returned to the blockade, this time hidden in the bushes and behind some trees. Still determined to end this without fighting, she started thinking. What other way was there to make those two leave for good? She definitely didn't want to go and bake 100 pies they were demanding, no way. So what else could possibly... she did know that Vulcans were fond of, well... pretty looking human females. But trying to get him over to her side with sexy poses out there was definitely out of the question, she hand't sunk that deep yet. And then she got another marvelous idea. Moving a little further away, she made sure that they would not hear her voice when she spoke. And once she had the proper distance between them, she produced a marvelous key from one of her pockets, a golden one.

"I call you forth, you who passes judgement on the stars. Heavenly Scales - Libra!"

With those words, a brilliant golden light created a small circle in the air in front of her. And from that circle, one of her trusted spirits came forth, standing tall and smiling while awaiting her orders. She probably thought that a fight would be going down soon, oh how wrong that assumption was. What she wanted from her dark skinned companion was something completely different. To her advantage, Libra also had way more revealing outfit that Leila who was hiding most of her skin under that midnight blue armor. A perfect distraction, even if the black colored kimono wasn't actually meant to be worn in such situation and with people with intentions such as... these. Clapping her hands together, she bowed slightly in front of her summon.

"Sorry to bother you with this, but please! Could you try to make that Vulcan and goblin leave, not letting him return? Just... talk to him, offer him something, seduce him, I don't care how, just please try!"

Yup, one could tell that Libra wasn't exactly expecting that from her master when she was summoned. Her expression grew completely blank, as if she was questioning if the girl was serious or not. Eventually, she would sigh and give the witch a slightly worried look.

"I have no idea what is happening here, but alright. If that's what you need me fore, I'll, uh... I'll do my best, I guess. This is the first time you summed me after you finally re-obtained my key, do you know that?"

After Leila apologized for this one more time, Libra emerged from behind the trees. And the duo immediately noticed her. The goblin once more picked up his little wooden spear and started moving forward. But the Vulcan's reaction was way stronger, seeing the pretty angelic lady, his eyes quite literally transformed into hearts. Almost crushing his partner under his big arms and feet, he hurriedly stumbled towards her.

"Pretty hooman! Very pretty hooman!"

He screamed as he started circling her. In the meantime, the goblin tried to pick himself up from the ground he fell onto and rushed to his partner, immediately trying to scold him for his actions.

"Vulcy, no! What if she has the pies? You must not crush her if she has our pies, that's a big no no!"

The heavenly scales cared little for what they were actually saying though. She had but one goal. As the Vulcan approached her, she leaned towards his ear and whispered something. And for a moment, it almost looked as if the Vulcan blushed. Not exactly sure if something like that was even possible, Leila watched them from distance, still hidden behind a tree, praying that her summon will be able to get them out of there. It seemed that Vulcy was thinking for a moment and then jumped right in front of the goblin, making the entire ground shake beneath his weight.

"Pretty hooman better! No pies, but one hooman!"

At his point, Leila was actually questioning if the beast was simply incapable of understanding that the lass next to him wasn't actually a human as he called her, or if he was just not educated enough to call her anything else even though he realized. But then, something happened. Something that she would never have expected. The goblin started making a sound similar to hiss when Vulcy suddenly grabbed him into his giant hand. His palm alone was as big as the goblin's entire body, easily making sure that he had no way to escape from his grasp.

"Gobly... no hooman get from Vulcy! Only Vulcy get hooman for Vulcy!"

He stretched his arm behind his body and then threw the poor little creature with full force. Screaming, he flew far, far away and eventually landed somewhere in the forest, not to be seen again. This wasn't exactly how Leila imagined this would go down... but the goblin was gone, probably to never come here ever again. So Libra technically did complete her job, even if in a bit of an unconventional way. Problem was that Vulcy suddenly spotted her as she moved out of her hiding to watch that masterful throw.

"More hooman! Better than... one!"

He screamed and started running toward the now exposed girl. He clearly didn't care about pies or whatever the lass was wearing anymore, his primal instincts took over after he saw the celestial spirit. In a panic, Leila quickly used another spell, summoning roots underneath the ground and entangling them together so they could rise above the ground as one giant spike. Thankfully she already had the timing of this spell nailed down even after losing the ability for such a long time, managing to summon it right under the not so fast moving Ape. The pike hit him right in his stomach, forcing him far into the air and them launching him even farther when it stopped rising.

"Libra!"

Leila would quickly shout, not really sure what command she should give her spirit in this situation. But just saying her name was clearly enough for the spirit to start acting, or more specifically, to launch an attack with her full force. Using her gravity-bending powers, she quickly flew above the soaring vulcan and launched at him at high speed, punching his back with both of her fists. But that was only one part of her attack. As she was flying down, she left her hands on the beast and only accelerated, forcing his body to go down with her and smashing it into the summed spike from before. They hit it with much force that his body smashed the spike into pieces as it was forced into the ground. Libra just landed next to her master, who was currently more afraid of her than the enemy. Did she completely forget that they were only supposed to remove the barrier on the tracks, hopefully without slaughtering anyone here?!

Kinda worried about her opponent, Leila would examine the vulcan who was now drilled into the dirt. Thankfully, he was still alive, only unconscious. Which of course also brought up a small question of how tough these things are if he managed to stay alive after being almost impaled twice in a row. Sighing lightly, she turned toward her Zodiac spirit.

"Good job... I think I can handle it from here out. Thanks for the help..."

Closing the gate and watching the girl disappear in a golden light as she waved with a smile on her face, the Eden's witch would find herself alone once again. The goblin was probably few kilometers far into the forest, buried in the dirt and Vulcy here was nearly dead, also buried in the dirt. Even if he woke up, she was confident enough that she would beat him by herself now too. She would probably be capable of defeating anyone who was in such sorry state and even feel bad about it. In the meantime, it was probably time to remove the barrier once again. Approaching the newly placed tree, she would perform a small gesture with her hand and watched as the wood started slowly withering and falling apart, eventually fading away completely and leaving only nutrients in the ground behind for the nature to consume. And with that done, her job was technically finished. But she wanted to make sure that those deviants knew that what they did was wrong and that they should never do it again. Sitting on the rails, she waited for few minutes. When the vulcan finally opened his eyes again, he looked around, utterly confused as to what had transpired. Leila stepped close and looked at him, her gaze sharp as a knife digging into his flesh.

"This is what happens when you do things you should not do, buddy. If you want a pie, just approach someone friendly and ask for it nicely! Or go help the villagers to earn some money and buy it! No blockades or violence."

The poor thing just nodded with a sad expression.

"Sowy... Vulcy learn... Vulcy no fight want to no more."

With those words, he started crawling away towards the mountains in the distance. Happy that she was able to finish her contract so easily, the girl started walking back towards the station. Her tempo was still very slow, but her step was way more playful than before. After all, this was yet another successful contract! She started dancing along the tracks as she slowly approached the distant station. Now she could only hope that the giant beast would take her words and the beating it received to it's heart and find it's friend. They were clearly friends and surely they would find something fun to do still, even after that whole ordeal. Humming, Leila was satisfied with her work.