Claude wasn’t the most reliable employer. Over the past couple of years, he had left Shez in something of a lurch. But his keen senses and intuition were second to none.
“C-Claude, uh…” Shez stuttered, but couldn’t get any words out in time. Claude was in the tent, right there next to him. And his eyes were already on Byleth.
“What’s that you got there?” he asked.
“N-nothing! Just, uh… The Ashen Demon,” Shez revealed, without entirely meaning to.
“The Ashen Demon? It does kinda look like… whoa! It moves!” Claude gasped.
Shez didn’t see her move, his eyes on Claude. Maybe she turned to look at him. Perhaps it was just her breathing. Whatever the case, there was no covering it up now. Particularly since he had already revealed who it was he held in his hand.
“Amazing…” Shez felt like he had to stay utterly still as Claude leaned in for a better look. He almost felt like he was the one being scrutinized, and not the still stoic, green-haired woman he held in his hand.
“So, this is what you were hiding. I had a feeling something was up,” Claude revealed.
“You did?” Shez asked reflexively.
“Yeah. The way you were squirming around earlier, it was like you had ants in your pants or something,” he said, “never could have imagined it was The Ashen Demon herself giving you trouble.”
Claude was staring at her so intently. Shez never had a clue what was going through his leader’s mind. There could be all sorts of plots behind those eyes of his, thousands being brewed in the space of seconds.
“…do you want to hold her?” Shez offered. He felt like he had to, feeling somewhat guilty about hiding her from the others.
“You bet I do!” Claude beamed, holding out his hand. Shez was reluctant but released Byleth over Claude’s waiting palm. She fell out of his fingers, descending in a hail of flapping cloth. The tiny woman landed on her rear, legs bent, and gazed up at the mercenary with the slightest, pitifully sad expression on her face. Almost telling him that she didn’t want to be held by Claude.
“She’s so light!” Claude marveled, moving his hand up and down to feel her weight. She wobbled a little but did not complain.
“Yeah, I… I guess that comes with being small,” Shez said.
“So, how did you do it?” Claude asked, “how did you shrink her?”
“Huh? Oh, I didn’t,” Shez answered, “she… sort of did that to herself.”
“She made herself small? Why?”
“Beats me. I’m not sure it was on purpose,” Shez explained, “there was some kind of strange light, and… she just shrank, I guess.”
“I see… wait, no I don’t. The Ashen Demon can shrink herself?” Claude asked, lifting the tiny woman to his face.
“Apparently. Why don’t you ask her?” Shez suggested.
“Well, Miss Demon? Is this another of your terrifying abilities?” he asked her, shaking his hand a little as if expecting to coax an explanation out of her.
“…” Byleth remained silent.
“Not feeling talkative, eh? We can do this another way if you want,” Claude threatened, “thanks to my favorite mercenary, you’re a prisoner of ours now. That means we can do all sorts of things to you.”
“…I don’t know how it happened,” she answered with obvious reluctance.
“Oh?”
“I was fighting him, and then… I became like this,” Byleth continued.
“So, you’re telling me you really don’t know any more than that?” Claude queried, “you suddenly lost most of your height, and you have no idea how? Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“…I wasn’t entirely myself at the time,” she squeaked.
“You weren’t yourself? What does that mean?” Claude wondered aloud, “at any rate, it doesn’t seem like this is getting us anywhere. All I want to know is how this happened. And if it can happen again. And if we could use that somehow…”
One of his many schemes had been revealed, but Shez had a feeling that this one was a non-starter.
“You’re hoping we could shrink enemy commanders with her?” Shez asked.
“Just an idea! But it seems like we’re out of luck on that front,” Claude said, “she’s got no clue. She doesn’t seem to be lying. But your little rival sure is a tough one to read.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Shez agreed. There was a reason for the ‘Ashen’ part of her moniker.
“Kind of puts us in a tough spot, doesn’t it? But this is undoubtedly a good thing,” Claude told his friend, lifting the tiny woman for emphasis, “one of our most dangerous adversaries, reduced to the size of a doll? Easily a big win for us.”
“Agreed,” Shez nodded, “though it’s something of an anticlimax, the way I see it.”
“Even better, you managed to capture her and bring her back to camp,” Claude continued, “if she ended up back with her allies, there would have been a higher chance she would be returned to normal. But we’ve got no reason to help her grow back to her original size.”
“…” The tiny Byleth looked far from happy to hear such words.
“True. I like her better like this, anyway,” Shez agreed.
“In fact… she could make for a tremendous asset,” Claude suggested.
“Here it comes. You’ve thought up some kind of scheme, haven’t you?” Shez asked, rolling his eyes.
“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” Claude said, “I’ve never seen a tiny woman before. It takes time to process something like this, you know?”
“Huh. It’s probably worse for her,” Shez told him, “since she’s the one who is tiny, after all.”
Shez briefly felt bad for his rival turned pet. But only until he remembered she was the one who cut down his last employer.
“You make a good point. She seems to be taking it pretty well though,” Claude commented. Shez wondered what thoughts were whirling around behind those still green eyes of hers.
“Anyway, we don’t have to rush to pick a plan,” Claude continued, “better that we take our time and use this to our advantage in the best way possible. But there’s something I think we need…”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Shez asked.
“Well…”
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