Reincarnated! A Tale of the Sorceress Amaya

“I think we are getting poisoned.” Lucy stated while continuing to eat. “Now you really have to ask them for the recipe.”

“We walked here randomly. Do you think we were followed? How did they poison our food?” I wondered.

“You have to ask the waitress. I suspect she knew and that made her so nervous.” Lucy theorised. “You know, the culprit might escape right this moment.”

I looked at my dessert. Then I looked at Lucy. I narrowed my eyes. “If I leave now you are going to steal my food.” I accused her.

She smiled. “Maybe.”

I picked up the dessert and put it in my storage. Lucy pouted. Then I walked straight into the cafe.

“How… how can I help you?” The waitress asked.

“There seems to be some poison in our food. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” I asked.

“No no no… Of course not!” She stammered.

“Are you sure? Would you like to try a bite?” I asked.

“I… I…” She started crying. “I am sorry! Please don’t kill me! I had no choice!”

“Ok. Tell me what happened.” I said.

“When you said you were a friendly force… I… I had concerns. I told my manager. He said it would be fine. He said he would take care of it. He told me to act normal and to serve you the pecan pie…” She stammered.

“And where is your manager?” I asked. “I think he should join this conversation.”

“He left…” She said.

“Did he now?” I retrieved the pie from my inventory.

“No, please!” She sobbed.

“What? Oh, the pie is for me. It’s really good.” I said and took a bite. “So, why would your manager have poison on hand?”

She eyed the pie warily. “I don’t know.” She answered.

“Really? And you did not question that? You just went along?” I asked.

“I was so scared!” She said.

“I feel like your story has some holes in it.” I concluded. “Maybe you should come with us. Don’t worry, if you are innocent, I will pay generously.”

“I… I will comply, ma’am.” She said.

I finished my pie and walked back outside. Lucy had eaten hers too and was sipping her tea.

“Did you get the recipe?” She asked.

“No. But I have a waitress who claims to be innocent and blames a manager, who happens to have disappeared.” I said.

The waitress looked rather uncomfortable as Lucy studied her. “Are you going to give her to Lilith?” She asked.

“No. I think we will have Lily ask her some questions.” I answered. Our loyal succubus seemed like the right maid for the job.

“I guess we are going back to camp.” Lucy said.

“Indeed. Maybe we can come back another time.” A holiday would be nice. Once this war was over. Then again, there were likely better places to visit.

As we escorted the nervous waitress I asked more questions: “You said you had no choice. How exactly were you forced to serve the poison? How did your manager force you?”

“Eh… eh… I need the job!” She stammered.

“Seems a bit drastic to poison someone just to keep your job.” Lucy pointed out.

“Resources are getting low because of the war…” She replied.

“Have you checked her for mind control?” Lucy asked.

“Why would I…” Then I facepalmed. Of course it would make no sense to mind control a waitress. But what if she was simply posing as one? If someone had been following us they could have replaced the actual waitress. “You are smart.” I told my girlfriend.

The waitress did not react with confusion, or fear, to us mentioning mind control. She looked more… curious. Stripping her in a public place to look for runes seemed like a bad idea so we returned towards the camp. Once we were inside a tent Lily joined us. We found the runes rather quickly, they were concealed by makeup.

I used my spell devour magic. The woman was afraid at first, as the black smoke surrounded her. But she soon relaxed when it did not harm her.

“Thank you!” She said. I took some time to truly study the waitress. She had long black hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin was on the paler side. Considering it was early autumn, or at least it felt like it, I would have expected her to be more tanned from waiting outside. Then again, she might just have delicate skin. The woman looked to be in her thirties, she was relatively fit.

“So, maybe you can tell us something more now.” I said.

“Yes, of course! The manager was a lie. I had orders to make an excuse when caught. Their orders were not very specific. I was hoping to be captured so I would no longer have to serve my masters. That you can actually free me is a welcome surprise. Speaking of orders, I was tasked to observe the delegation that talked with the duke and to take out any important people if an opportunity presented itself. I followed you after you left and saw my chance when you entered the cafe. I bribed the real waitress to take her spot and used a poison known to work on fey.” She explained.

“I guess it does not work on archfey.” I said.

“The Inquisition was only able to test it on lesser fae.” She said. “They have a research division trying to find better ways to kill non-humans.”

“Somehow I am not even surprised.” I said.