Chapter 7: He Bought a Xeno.
The money spent to purchase the Aeldari ultimately came to two billion Thrones.
By drawing on House Barbab’s resources to the fullest, I managed to repay roughly one billion Thrones, but anything beyond that was impossible. Even that support had only been granted because I had fought on the House’s front lines and earned numerous accomplishments.
"The tale of me will be recorded in the House chronicles, no doubt. As the man who carelessly entrusted the Mechanicus with unrestricted modifications and ended up tens of billions in debt."
"Oh, when that day comes, I hope you will show it to me as well."
"Forget it. Let us go meet the Aeldari we bought."
"It is this way, everyone."
Following an auction house official, we arrived at the place where the Aeldari—the merchandise we had purchased—was being held.
Perhaps she had noticed our arrival. The Aeldari emerged from a shadowed corner to face us, and I acted at once.
"..."
Crackle!!
"Pathetic."
"Aaaah?!!"
Small, sharp, solid psychic forces collided in midair.
At the sight, the official who had been about to open the iron bars fell backward onto his rear.
"Hm. Is she dangerous?"
"No, not dangerous. More importantly, what sort of handling is this for your merchandise? ...No, forget it. Open it."
"...Y-yes!"
Creeeak!
The iron-barred door opened, and the Aeldari walked out.
"Whew, my body feels stiff. So, are you the ones who bought me?"
"That is right. More precisely, this woman did."
"The prophecy told me to follow a man."
"Then follow me."
One of the many possibilities I had considered—probably—had proven correct.
The Aeldari before me had deliberately allowed herself to be captured after receiving a prophecy.
"I would have preferred to dissect her alive... Are you truly going to take her with you?"
"Is spouting such nonsense to someone’s face a trait of you mon-keigh?"
Bang!!
"Is it because your body is so small? You are quite nimble."
Having heard the Aeldari’s insult, the Magos swiftly struck at her with the mechanical arms attached to her back, but the Aeldari nimbly evaded them.
Clench!
But only for a moment. After dodging the Magos’s mechanical-arm attacks back and forth, the Aeldari was struck and seized when the Magos herself lunged at her.
"Kgh?!!"
"Even now, the urge to tear apart each of your limbs in this very state and use them as research material rises within me by the second.
So be grateful to the Omnissiah, if only for today. Though I have you of that species in my grasp, I am displaying superhuman patience."
"Khh..."
"Let her go, Carmilla."
At my words, Carmilla looked at me briefly through her mechanical ocular implant, then released the Aeldari.
"Listen, Aeldari. Apologize to her properly. For your information, her position is Magos Explorer."
The Aeldari coughed for a while, drew a deep breath, then bowed her head with an unpleasant expression.
"I, Jerrie Donato, formally... apologize to the Magos Explorer."
"In my mercy, I shall accept that apology."
Worried that another confrontation would begin as soon as Jerrie raised her head, I deliberately stood in front of Carmilla and asked her a question.
"You are currently an Outcast, so... you must be walking the [Path of the Outcast], correct?"
"How do you know that...?"
"Then what path did you walk before that, if I may ask?"
The Path.
The Aeldari, born aboard colossal planet-sized vessels called Craftworlds, chose and walked Paths of restraint so as not to be corrupted by Slaanesh, born from their people’s excess.
There were innumerable Paths—the Path of the Warrior, the Path of the Warlock, the Path of the Artisan, the Path of Prophecy, and more—but those like Jerrie, who had left their Craftworlds, naturally became Outcasts.
They walked the Path of the Outcast. Therefore, she must have walked another Path before becoming an Outcast.
"I walked the [Path of Illusion]. The Path of Illusion is a Path where one uses psychic power to show illusions to others and deceive them."
If the Path of Illusion trained techniques for deceiving others by showing them illusions, could she apply illusions to herself and disguise herself as a human too?
If that were possible, I could keep her with me even in ordinary circumstances.
"Xeno, you intend to follow him, do you not?"
"Yes."
"Then I shall graciously offer my assistance. Come with me to my workshop, and I will install a deception device that can hide those disgustingly long ears of yours."
"What? There is no need. I walked the Path of Illusion."
Swish.
As Jerrie wielded her psychic power, her ears changed into human ears, and she took on the appearance of an ordinary human.
"Ta-da."
"It is useful after all. Theo, take this long-eared one... no, Jerrie Donato, and deal with her as you see fit. I shall take my leave first."
Carmilla departed first, and I returned to the planet with Jerrie. First, I thought, I needed to get her out of those rags.
------
Once back at my quarters, I had Jerrie put on clothes from my wardrobe. However, she was barely one hundred and fifty centimeters tall, so in the end I had no choice but to dress her in a robe that covered her from head to toe.
"Well... we can get new clothes later. It is not uncomfortable, is it?"
"It does not matter. But..."
Jerrie asked me what she ought to do from now on.
She said that because she had walked the Path of Illusion and was now walking the Path of the Outcast, she would be of great help in matters related to combat.
"Hm. If I take to the battlefield, there will be nothing you can do."
"Are you looking down on me?"
Because I rode a Knight the size of one of your Wraithknights.
"Ah... Then what should I do?"
"When I am not piloting my Knight, serve as my guard."
"Understood. I shall protect you."
"Then that concludes our conversation. It is late, so I am going to sleep now."
"Is that so? Then I should sleep as well."
With that, Jerrie claimed the bed beside mine and lay down. Wait, was a guard supposed to sleep like this?
-Wraithknight-
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