Chapter 2: The Visitors, the Knight, and a Girl Named Diana

Somewhere in a meadow that・s close to the famous city, Zefiria, there are four travelers. One longhaired blonde swordsman, a redhead sorceress, a dark purple-hair princess, and a chimera sorcerer. Their destination lies about 50 miles ahead of them.
:Are we there yet?; Asked Gourry dully.
:We will be there if you stop asking so many questions!!; Answers Lina. They had been traveling with Zelgadiss and Amelia for five days and they still haven・t reach their destination.
:Ah~Lina, where are we going again?; Asked Gourry, again.
:GOURRY! I SAID, STOP ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS!!! AND WE ARE GOING TO ZEFIRIA, MY HOMETOWN! INCASE YOU ASK WHY WE ARE GOING THERE, THE ANSWER IS TO GO TO THE GRAPE FESTIVAL!!!; Lina yelled through Gourry・s ears.
:Lina-san, then why do we have to come with you?; Ask the princess that was dragged out of her castle by Lina three days ago.
:Well it has been a while since we travel together and I thought that it might be fun if we go the grape festival together.;
:But it seems to me that you・re afraid to face your sister alone.; Said Zelgadiss.*Lina sweatdrops* :Zelgadiss, do you have to say that?;
:So when are we going to be there?; Ask Gourry, again.
*Lina hit him on the head*
:If we hurry, we・ll be there in a day or two and we・ll be just in time for the festival.;
:But why do we have to walk this far just to attend a festival with only grapes?; Ask the jellyfish brained swordsman.
:This isn・t a regular festival with only grapes! And there are more than grapes and the grapes there are the best in the world so let move on or we・ll miss it!; Exclaimed Lina. As they move on, they heard a familiar voice:
:So Lina-san, you・re going to the Zefiria・s Grape Festival? Sounds great! May I come too?; They all turned back and they found everyone・s favorite trickster priest following them.
:XELLOSS! What are you doing here??; Shouted Lina.
:It has been a long time! So, can I come too?; Asked the priest with a huge smile on his face.:Ehh...yeah, you can come with us if you like.;
:What are you up to this time?!; Asked Zelgadiss who・s grabbing Xelloss・s shirt.
:Zelgadiss-san, you know that he・ll just answer .It・s a secret・; Said Amelia.
:Amelia-san, it is true that I usually would answer .Sorewa himisu desu・ but that is not my answer this time but I・ll tell you my answer later.; Everyone・s amazed and just stood there and stared at the priest with huge eyes.
:What? Hey, if you don・t hurry then you・ll be late to the festival! Well then, I・ll be going now. See you at the festival; Said Xelloss, turning away.
:Wait, where・re you going?; Asked Lina.
:To Zefiria of course!;
:But how? Zefiria is this way, you・re going the wrong direction.; Said Amelia who has the map.
:Oh, I・ll teleport there of course! It takes too much time walking there.; Lina starts walking towards Xelloss with a huge smile on their face.
:Xelloss! Old-buddy-old-pal!!; Said Lina and the next thing he knew is that he・s in a headlock of Lina Inverse.
:Xelloss, you better teleport us there or I・ll...; Began Lina but Xelloss cut her off.
:Okay, okay!! I・ll teleport you all there *cough* Lina-san now let me go!; Lina loosen the headlock but didn・t let go.
:I・ll let you go AFTER you teleport us there. Oh! Teleport us a half mile outside of Zefiria, I really don・t want people to be scared when they saw us popping out of nowhere.; *Xelloss hold out his staff. *
:Okay everyone, hold on to my staff.; They all did what they were told and in a flash, they are in the woods about a half-mile outside of Zefiria.
:What happened? Where are we?; Asked the clueless swordsman.
:Okay Lina-san, we・re about a half mile outside of Zefiria, *cough* now can you let me go?; And Lina let him out of her headlock.
:Okay everyone, we should hurry. I want to get to Zefiria before sundown.; Said Lina with excitement. They all walked through the woods and at nightfall, they came to city gates of Zefiria.
:Wow, this is Zefiria? It・s as big as the city of Seiyuun!; Exclaimed Gourry.
:Don・t just stand there, let・s go!; Said Lina dragging him in by the shoulder guards. They started walking and Lina looked at a pair of dragon statues in front of the gates and she suddenly stopped.
:Em...Xelloss, I don・t think you can get in.; Said Lina who・s still staring at the statues.:Why?; Ask Xelloss plainly.
:Because of the dragon statues over there. My sister made them and they・re suppose to defend the city so that mazokus can・t enter. Sorry.; Xelloss looked at one of the statues and walked over to it and put his hands on it. The statue glow silver and he walked right through the gates. Lina stared with amazement.
:That・s impossible! No mazoku could ever walk through that gate without getting hurt! What did you do?!; Exclaimed Lina as she walks towards Xelloss.
:It・s a secret!; Said Xelloss and they all walked into the city.
:Lina, let・s go to the restaurant that your sister works at and eat! I・m really hungry!; Said Gourry.
:Yeah, I・m hungry too. And I want to met your sister!; Said Amelia but Lina・s face started to turn blue with fear.
:Why don・t we eat somewhere else. I don・t want to bother my sister.;
:Lina-san! You must not turn away from your fears! You must face it with the heart of justice!;
:And you・ll have to face your sister sooner or later so why don・t we just go?; Added Xelloss.
:Okay, okay. I・ll take you there. It・s this way.; Said Lina hopelessly as she walks towards a restaurant named Lialancer.
:Welcome to Lialancer! The best restaurant in all of Zefiria! I・ll be taking you to a table. Please fallow me.; Said a girl who looks about 13 years old with moon green hair and amethyst eyes. She wore a light blue apron with a blue shirt and purple skirt underneath. Lina sighs of relieve when she saw that it・s a little girl and not her sister who・s taking them to a table. They all followed her to a table and seated.
:Hello travelers! My name is Diana! Have you all came here for the festival?; Asked the waitress and they all nodded.
:Well then, hope you・ll have fun tomorrow! Is this your first time to Zefiria?; Ask Diana as she gave them each a menu.
:Well it・s their first time to Zefiria but I was born here. And you said to have fun tomorrow? I thought that the festival is two days later.;
:Well, they changed it this year for some reason. Oh, you said that you were born here, do you have a family member still living in Zefiria? And please don・t mind me if I ask questions. I・m really interested in travelers.;
:Emm...well...; before Lina could answer, Gourry answered for her.
:We don・t mind you asking questions. And she have a sister name Luna and I think that she works here.;
:Indeed she does works here.; Said Diana and she yell into the kitchen, :Luna-oneechan! Your sister is here with some of her friends!; And a purple hair waitress walks out of the kitchen with a plate of food.
:You don・t have to yell so loud, Diana, I can hear you.; Said Luna as she put down the plate of food on another table, then she walks over to Lina・s table.
:Lina! Why didn・t you call me when you got here? And hello to you all and welcome to Zefiria・s Lialancer. Diana, get them each a glass of Zefirian wine, it・s my treat.; Said Luna smiling. Diana quickly runs into the kitchen and took out five glasses of Zefirian wine and she put a glass in front of each of them.
:Oneechan, let me introduce you to my friends...; Began Lina but Luna cut her off.
:No need Lina, I could guess who they are. This is Princess Amelia of Seyluun, And this is Gourry, and this is Zelgadiss,; Said Luna looking as them as she said their names. :And this...must be Xelloss.; Said Luna smiling at him and he just smiled with his eyes closed as usual.
:Oneechan, how did you know about them? And you know that dragon statues...; Began Lina but Luna cut her off again.
:Lina, we・ll talk later, I・ve work to do. Please enjoy the food here at Lialancer!; And she left to another table.
:So you・re Luna・s sister? Nice to meet you Lina-oneechan, and nice to meet you all! If you don・t mind, could you tell me about your travels?; Asked Diana.
:Sure, but let us eat first then talk, I・m really hungry. I・ll have from here to here.; Said Lina and the rest of them ordered their dinner and Diana took their order and went into the kitchen.
:Hey Lina, your sister is very nice. Why are you so scared of her?; Ask Gourry.
:Well you don・t know the other side of her but everyone in Zefiria is scared of her.; Lina answers. A second later, Diana walked out of the kitchen and went to their table.
:Now can you tell me about your travels?;
:Yeah, but don・t you need to work?; Asked Amelia.
:Well I don・t exactly works here. I・m just helping Luna-oneechan but she usually don・t need any help.;
Answers Diana and they told her all about how they defeated Ruby Eye, Copii Rezo, Gaav, Phibrizo, and Dark Star. When they finished their story, Diana went into the kitchen and brought out their food. Just two steps away from Lina・s table, Diana trips and all the food went flying up in the air but Xelloss took out his staff and the gem on the staff glowed and the food slowly floats to the table. He then gets up and walked over to Diana and holds out his hand and helps her get up.
:Are you alright, Diana-chan?; Asked Xelloss.
:I・m alright, thank you.;
:Be careful next time.; Said Xelloss smiling and they went over to the table finding Lina and Gourry already starting their dinner and he sit down and they all started eating. A half-hour later, they all finished their meal and now they・re drinking the Zefirian wine.
:Ah~! Everything was so good! I・m so full now. Hey Diana, you better be careful next time! If Xelloss didn・t save the food, you・ll be in big trouble.; Said Gourry.
:Yeah, Lina would have fire balled you.; Added Zelgadiss.
:No I won・t!;
As they were chatting, Luna walked over to their table.
:How was everything?; Asked Luna.:Everything was great!; Answered everyone.
:Great! Hey Lina, when you leave, take Diana with you. You ARE going to my house right?;
:Well...I was thinking that we・ll sleep in a inn or something...we don・t want to disturb you.;
:Lina, don・t worry about it! And you all are going to spend the night at my house, okay?; Said Luna smiling and she walked to another table and Lina yelled over to her.
:Oneechan! We・ll be leaving now! See you tonight!; They paid and left Lialancer with Diana going with them.
To get to Luna・s house, they have to go through a small section of a forest. When they almost reached there, bandits jumped in front of them.
:Hand over your money or else!; Shouted one of the bandits.
:Or else what?!; Yelled Lina.
:Or else we・ll kill this girl!; Shouted another bandit who jumped behind Diana and headlocks her with a knife pointing at her throat. Suddenly Amelia steps forward, levitates up to a tree and start giving her justice speech.
:Bandits! In the name of justice, I demand you to stop or we・ll not forgive you!;
:Come down and shuttup or I・ll kill the girl right now!; One of them threatens.
Suddenly Xelloss teleported behind the bandit who has Diana and he twisted the bandit・s arm and Diana fell to the ground. Xelloss then picks up Diana and teleported back to Lina・s group.
:Lina-san, you can go ahead and kill them now.; Said Xelloss and helped Diana get up.
:Did you say Lina? Lina Inverse, the bandit killer?; Asked the bandit leader.
:That・s right!; Xelloss replied and all the bandits start getting fireballed by Lina. In a few seconds, all the bandits are fried and so they continued on to Luna・s house. When they got there, they were seated around a table and Diana served them some coffee.
:Xelloss-oniichan, thank you for saving me back there.; Said Diana shyly as she pours the coffee into each cup.
:Hey Diana, how did you know where all the things in the house are? Do you live here with neechan?; Asked Lina as she takes a sip of her coffee.
:I only stayed here last night. I was traveling to Zefiria and I got lost. When I was somewhere near this area, some bandits attacked me but fortunately Luna-neechan found me on her way home and saved me. Because she saved me, I decided to help her at Lialancer.;
:I see. And Xelloss.;
:What?;:I・ve never saw you like this before.;
:Huh?;
:First you helped Diana get up when she tripped at Lialancer, then you saved our food, and then you saved her from the bandits. You always disappear when we fight bandits and you always say that if you take actions that does not deals with you, beastmaster won・t like it.;
:That・s true, but who won・t help such a cute kid?; Said Xelloss and Diana blushed a little. As they were talking, Luna walks into the room.
:Lina, did you just fried a couple of bandits on your way here?;
:Yeah, how you know?;
:Well, anyone could guess when you see fried bodies of bandits.;
:Oh...;
:Did anyone get hurt? Wait, that・s a silly question, how could anyone get hurt with Lina around.;
:Well actually, Diana-san almost got killed but Xelloss-san saved her.; Answered Amelia.
:Diana, are you alright?;
:I・m alright.;
:Oh neechan, how did you know about Gourry and the rest?;
:Filia told me about them after the battle with Dark Star.;
:She told you about Xelloss too?;
:No, and you know how much she hate Mazokus.;
:Then how・d you know about Xelloss? And remember the black dragon statues, they didn・t work on Xelloss for some reason.;
:Well...Diana, get me a cup of coffee, then I・ll explain.; Diana quickly went into the kitchen and got her a cup of coffee and they all sit down and Luna began to speak.
:Okay. First of all, you all know that I・m the Ceifeed Knight, right? So there・s no way that I don・t know about Xelloss. And about the statues...em...it・s because that he・s the servant of Zelas.;
:I know that he・s the beastmaster・s priest and general but what・s that have to do with it? I thought all mazokus will get injured trying to get through the gates no matter how strong they are.;
:Well I made it so that all mazokus other than Zelas and anyone that has her power could get through.;
:Why?; Ask Amelia curiously.
:Because Zelas Metallium is my best friend.; Said Luna smiling and everyone other than Xelloss and Diana was shocked.
:What!?!? I didn・t know about that! And it・s impossible! You serve Ceifeed and she serve Ruby Eye!; Screamed Lina.
:It・s possible. And I never told anyone so no one know about it.; Luna answers.
:Xelloss, did you know about it?; Asked Lina
:Yes I know, Lina-san.; And they are still shocked until Luna starts talking again.:Xelloss, are you here for the same reason as Diana?; Ask Luna.
:Yes.;
:Luna-san, what do you mean .the same reason as Diana・? What does Diana-chan have to do with Xelloss-san?; Amelia Ask.
:Diana, I think you should tell them.;
To be continued...


Click on the images and you can see a bigger image of them.(In fact, if you want to see how good they are you should.)

Picture of Diana by Zelas

Picture of Diana as a waitress by Zelas