Deception Rising

Chapter 8 A Shrine Maiden?

A week passed as I was learning how to care for Garmir better and continued my training. Garmir and I were outside having some fun before I tried releasing the magic that was used during the summoning. Garmir disappeared with the purple light that was used to summon him before I heard the front door open and shut. "Jamie! I'm home!" Lierin shouted. I quickly got up and rushed inside, seeing her standing there. "Welcome home. How did the project that you were working on go?" I asked, walking over to her. Lierin hugged me and kissed the top of my head, smiling down at me. "We finished it on time and it was perfect. No flaws in the build or anything like that. What about you? Did you finally figure out the summoning magic that I taught you?" Lierin asked. I sighed and explained everything about what happened, from the summoning circle being wrong, the humans trying to rob the library while I was studying magic there to the fact that after I managed to summon my wolf summon, that everyone wanted me to become a shrine maiden. Lierin just looked at me, stunned, before sighing and shaking her head. "I told you to keep a low profile while we're here and you get everyone to suggest something like that. What were you thinking?" Lierin complained.

I looked at her with the cutest look I could give her. "No, don't go pulling out those cute faces with me." Lierin ordered. I continued to look at her with a cute face, hoping she'd eventually forgive me. She groaned until she looked away from me. "Alright stop. Let's at least talk about it." Lierin said. I smiled and giggled, since I knew she'd give in eventually. We sat down at the dining room table and we started discussing what was going on with my summon and how we should deal with the fact that everyone wanted me to become a shrine maiden when I was at the library. As we were talking about what to do with the fact that people saw me use my summoning magic, there was a knock on our front door. Lierin and I went quiet as we got up, heading over to look at the front door. We looked at each other before whoever was outside knocked on the door again. Lierin shrugged before she walked over to the door and opened it. "Oh my, queen Megan. What are you doing here?" Lierin asked.

"I've come to speak with you two about a subject that I need your help with." Megan said, walking inside and past Lierin. Lierin shut the door behind Megan as she walked into the dining room and sat down at the table. Lierin and I looked at each other again, a little confused about why Megan was acting this way. "What's up?" Lierin asked. We joined Megan at the dining room table and looked at her. "There's a new rumor floating around about the appearance of a shrine maiden who has a wolf summon." Megan complained. Lierin looked at me, clearly upset while also looking like she was saying 'I told you so.' I looked at Megan as she continued to complain about the shrine maiden rumor while Lierin would look between her and me. Megan eventually paused as she saw Lierin looking at me. "Alright, what's going on with you two? It's like you're keeping a secret from me." Megan said.

"Nothing at all. We're doing great!" I lied. Megan was clearly suspicious about what I said before looking at Lierin. "Lily, please explain what's going on." Megan said. Lierin nodded before I stood up and tried to not let her explain what was going on. "Lily, we might need to deal with the distraction next to you." Megan said. She nodded before grabbing my tail, making me go quiet. I tried to pull my tail away from Lierin's hand, but I couldn't and she explained everything that I told her about what happened in the library and about my summon. Megan sighs as Lierin finally lets go of my tail so I could talk again. "I should've known that if Miyuki learned summoning magic that she might summon a wolf. Miyuki, we need to address this soon rather than later. If word gets out that I didn't appoint the person who summoned the wolf as shrine maiden, it'll be viewed as a disgrace to my leadership." Megan explained. Lierin sighed as she looked at me.

"I think it's best we go public with this information. Obviously, we'll use the names that you use while living here." Megan explained. I thought about her idea before I shook my head. "I don't think we should. What if the hero finds out who I really am while I'm a shrine maiden? It'll put everyone in the demi-human kingdom in danger and I don't want this kingdom to fall after helping to get it on its feet." I said, pointing out ‌the hero was still around. Lierin and Megan nodded before Lierin looked at me. "I agree it would be best to have the news about the shrine maiden being made public, but the hero is after Miyuki and that's not something I take lightly." Lierin said. Megan nodded as she started thinking about the solution to the issue. "Let me think about it for a few days. If I can find a solution to security issues, how would you feel?" Megan asked, looking at Lierin.