Not so Peaceful Walk

The pair walked out and started heading back to the school. "Whew, that was an experience" Fraum sighed out.

Alia frowned "you're telling me? That was the longest dress up of my life, with your world's weird fashion sense. Then there's that woman's weird, sometimes perverted misperceptions that were so tiring to deal with. Especially since I couldn't break our cover, just because you wanted to avoid attention. Even though we were the only ones in that shop besides her."

Fraum shook his head "what if we weren't? What if someone else was in there, or came in? Then left, the news would've traveled in seconds and we'd walk out to a crowd of interested and curious people. We'd currently be pushing through a crowd right now. And in a crowd anything can happen. What if all the new clothes we'd just gotten were ripped from my hands? Then you'd be left with one outfit. And who knows what they would've done to that. Maybe get so rowdy they'd tear it to pieces leaving you butt naked again. Now do you really want that Alia?"

Her face turned red "no, but that seems excessive right?"

Fraum shrugged "better safe than sorry. So are you going to take her up on her offer? I'm serious when I said as long as it doesn't Interrupt our Symbol Master business. As long as you're there when I need you, I don't mind what you do in the meantime."

Alia immediately said "of course not! There's no way I'm working with that perverted woman, and dressing up so... so immodestly just to have my portrait painted and spread across your stinky kingdom. Hmph!"

Fraum looked back at her, realizing something "does your world still have to paint portraits?"

"Hmm?" Alia muttered.

Fraum took out Madam Susan's business card pointed at the picture and said "this wasn't made from a painted portrait. This is a Symbol Photo, made from magic."

"Symbol... Photo?" Alia asked not understanding.

Fraum looked back and forth, then at an alley between two buildings. "Follow me I'll show you" he said going in the alley.

Humoring him she followed him into the middle of it. He set the cases down, took out the card again and said "just stand there and don't move, this'll only take a second."

Holding the card up pointed Alia, with the picture facing him. He raised his pointing finger which slowly glowed with a white light at the tip. He then tapped the card, after which he started drawing in the air. Doing so the light marked where his finger dragged leaving lines. After a few seconds a weird symbol was left in the air. Pausing looked at Alia and said "by the way that dress looks gorgeous on you."

"Hmm?" Alia hummed before smiling from the compliment. Before she was blinded by a flash. "Hey!" She yelled covering her eyes.

After a few seconds of recovery she looked at the boy trying not to burst out laughing. "Anyway, here it turned out well, '' he said, handing her the card. There a beautiful silver haired girl stood with a slight smile. She wore a frilly black and white dress that seemed tailor made for her.. On either side of her a brick wall with one having a sliver of light shining on it from the sunshine peeking over the building. Above her an orange tinged sky from the setting sun. She looked down amazed at the detail.

"How'd you do that?" She asked, amazed like a kid who found a new toy.

"Symbol Magic, it can do all sorts of fun convenient things. Take pictures, do daily chores, reach high places, make simple tools and barriers. To name a few simple things" he explained happily.

"Simple? If I wanted a portrait like this in my world I'd need to find a skilled enough painter, of which there'd be maybe a dozen. Then stand there for hours a day, for weeks on end" she said exasperated.

Fraum shrugged "yeah, and no matter how hard I train I could never be as strong as you. If I wanted to mimic it for even just a few seconds I'd need minutes worth of prep time. So I guess everything's a give and take."

Alia kinda understood his point, but then another question popped into her brain "why do you summon us as 'guardians' then? Don't you all mean tools of war if we do all the work?"

Fraum looked at her "say with your strength, how long do you think it would take to destroy this whole city?"

Alia wondered what he was getting at but answered anyway "with no resistance, maybe a day."

Fraum smiled "with a decent Symbol Master if you protect him from all harm, allowing him to focus. They could, with the right Symbol, do it in an hour."

Alia's eyes widened and thought to herself "even father would need at least five."

"Well since we had our fun, it's about time we got back. We'll need our rest for tomorrow" Fraum said, picking up the suitcases and walking out of the alley.

Alia followed behind until the entrance was cut off by two shaggy, dirty, but dangerous looking men. They both looked back to see the other side cut off as well, by two more men.

"Well fuck" Fraum whispered.

"Where are you two going? In fact, what were you doing alone in this alley? Don't you know it's dangerous?" One of them said.

"I think the pretty lady was trying to seduce the young Symbol Apprentice. Hoping if she spread her pretty legs he'd do anything for her" the other said laughing pervertedly.

Fraum heard Alia grunt, he signaled to settle her down before saying with a glare "good that you know I'm a Symbol Apprentice, I also hope you know that harassing one is a capital offense. Now clear out and let us pass through."

"Ooh scary, do you think we didn't take that into account? How about this for an offer? Drop the sack of cash and any expensive items, and leave us with the girl. And we'll let you go untouched. As for you girl, if you show us what's under that fancy dress, and do as we say we'll show you a good time and let you live" he said menacingly, with a gross smile.

Fraum frowned, he then slowly took the bag off his belt and let it drop with the sound of jostling coins. To which the men laughed in anticipation. Alia looked at Fraum disappointedly, she didn't think he was so easy to scare. However she then saw him undo the knot on his cloak. He then sat it on one of the suitcases. While rolling his sleeves up he whispered to Alia "I'll take the front two, you take the back. Don't kill them, we'll take them in and let the law deal with them. Got it?"

She nodded and smiled with glee. She then kicked off her heels not wanting to break them by accident. The men watched as Alia faced to the back, and Fraum's pointer fingers glowed. His right hand he drew a simple line, the other a circle. Both then grew until he held them like a sword and shield.

The men seeing this laughed while taking out daggers. "Stupid move, kid."

Fraum pushed forward and began his attack. While on the other side Alia calmly walked over to the other men.

"You and your boyfriend are brave, but stupid girls" one of them commented.

She smiled "first off he's not my boyfriend, and secondly you chose the wrong targets today, assholes."

"You got quite the mouth on you. I'd like to see you talk that way as I rip that pretty dress off your body" the other laughed. As he then lunged planning on grabbing her. However he was surprised to see her step forward and grab his hand. He tried to clamp down and push her but she didn't budge. However she clamped down which made a large crackling noise then a pig squeal of a scream.

"Oops, good thing that wasn't your head. Looks like I need to drop my strength further" Alia said, smiling devilishly.

The other man froze and whispered "guardian!"

The man kneeling in pain grabbed his dagger and thrusted it at Alia. Who grabbed it by the blade, but then squeezed it shaping it like clay. Yanking it out of his hand she threw it to the side. The other man, terrified, started running away. To which Alia threw the man she was holding at him, causing both to smack into the wall. Both men were knocked out cold. She looked over expecting to see Fraum still dealing with both men. However she looked just in time to see him knock out his second opponent.

A moment earlier...

The man to his left swung at him, which he blocked with his shield. The other stabbed at him which was deflected upward with a swing of his blunt magic formed staff. Which he then quickly turned into a downward strike hitting the man on his left in the face, stunning him.

Blocking the second jab by redirecting the momentum of his staff, he then hit the man in the shoulder with the shield. Which then added a small shock wave that went down his arm causing him to drop the dagger. The other man recovered and was about to slash down on Fraum, but was then distracted by the sound of his friend screaming in pain. He looked over to see his friend kneeling before Alia, but before he could tell what was happening. Fraum took that chance to bring his staff on the man's head, instantly knocking him out. Fraum then heard a thump sound behind him. Not allowing himself to get distracted he focused on the other man who was now holding his shoulder in pain. He noticed Fraum too late to react to the shield coming towards his face.

All four men knocked out on the ground, some worse than others.

Fraum looked over to Alia and saw the condition of the men she took down. "At least they don't look dead. I was afraid she'd turn them to mush" he thought to himself.

He let his weapons dissipate, he fixed his collar, and was about to start walking to Alia.

Meanwhile...

Alia was looking over impressed. She saw him look over at her, then at her... victims. She smiled wryly at his relieved expression "he's lucky I didn't kill them on purpose after one of them threatened to **** me. Leave it to the law, ha where I come from my family is the law. Making that same threat he'd be castrated and paraded in front of the city to laugh and mock."

She then saw him make his weapons disappear, fix his clothes and take a step forward. Then she saw something come from around the corner at him. "Behind y-" she couldn't yell in time before he had a dagger to his throat.

The man smiled nervously before saying "now calm down guardian girl. Don't make a move or else you'll get a one way ticket back to your world."

Fraum had and 'oh, fuck' look on his face. Knowing that was the one thing this girl wanted most. Alia did think that over "damn it, where were you when I first arrived!" However her mind immediately went to what her father told her about how this was a great opportunity. It would be incredibly embarrassing to come back just half a day later. Just imagining the disappointed look on his face as she explained what happened. So much to Fraums surprise she said "please don't hurt him. Alright, let's just calm down."

Fraum added on "think about this bud, robbing a Symbol Apprentice is one thing, killing them is another."

The man had a nervous look but tried to stay calm he then said "we're going to stay like this until the rest of my gang wakes up, then we'll decide how to move forward."

Fraum answered squarely "they're all out cold, could be hours till they're up. Every second we're like this is another for someone to see. Then you'll be surrounded by soldiers in a minute or two. How about this, my guardian will throw over the bag of money and you can leave on your own. You can skip town and start a new life."

The man looked to the money, then towards Alia. "And how do I know you both won't do the same to me?" He asked.

"You can knock me out, and she'll have to go seek medical attention for me. You'll be able to sneak off before anybody knows" Fraum tried to convince.

"I saw how strong and fast she was, don't try to bullshit me kid. She'd chase me down in a second, knock me out then get you to safety while sending soldiers my way. Not happening!" The man yelled.

"Well we're at an impasse then, you can't take me out of this alley. We'll be spotted in a second. You can't kill me without fear of the kingdoms raining hellfire down on you. She’s too strong to be tied up. I don't see how you can get out of this without some risk. In fact it was pretty stupid to start this stand off. You could've just run" Fraum listed out.

"I-but they're my friends! You wouldn't know, so shut it!" He said angrily.

"Friends huh? Ask yourself this, would they do the same for you?" Fraum asked.

...

...

...

"Thought so, so why not go with my plan? I will tell her not to go after you if that's what you want to hear, ok? I just want to live, she wants to stay, and you want to go. She won't benefit from hunting you down, it'll just be another second I could die from brain hemorrhage" Fraum tried to convince.

The man thinking it over accepted "Alright, you there girl. Walk up slowly and throw that bag over. And if you dare think of using it as a weapon, I'll make sure his face is infront of mine."

Alia rolled her eyes, before slowly stepping towards the money. Eventually she got there and started bending over to grab it. "Slowly! With your other hand up!" The man yelled.

She lifted her left hand up, while slowly reaching for the bag. Giving both men a nice glace down the crevice of her cleavage. After picking it up she lightly tossed it to the end of the alley. "Ok you are going to bend down with me and pick that up" he told Fraum, who agreed.

After slowly moving with the dagger on his neck he picked the bag up and stood back straight. "Hand it to me," the man said. Fraum slowly held it out behind him, where the man took it and roughly shoved it into his pocket.

"Ok now take the dagger off my neck and use the pommel to hit right here on the side of my skull. That should put me out cold. As for you I order you not to go after him, but look for help right afterwards. Got it?" Fraum said towards Alia.

Alia nodded. However the man hesitated. "What are you waiting for?" Fraum asked. The man thought for a moment before taking a good look at Alia. Before he was running on adrenaline and only looked at Alia as something to fear. However, getting a closer look he saw how pretty she was, then to her pretty dress. Remembering her bending down gave him a thought that could both help his situation and let him get some eye candy.

"How about some insurance" the man said "girl take that pretty dress off, and throw it behind you. I doubt you'd go after me while half naked."

"You want me to, what?!" Alia screamed.

"That wasn't part of the deal," Fraum pointed out.

"Deal changed, now take it off or this dagger gets stuck in his throat, Missy" he threatened.

This really made Fraum sweat. Alia risking her modesty for his life was far out of his expectations. However he didn't know that the one thing Alia dreaded more than embarrassment, was disappointing her father. She'd rather dance naked infront of all the eight worlds then see her father look at her like she failed him and his expectations. She saw it too much in the little things, when she slacked off, acted too spoiled, and failed her studies. Going back to him the same day he told her not to waste a giant opportunity, would kill her.

So she took a breath and said "alright, just don't hurt him." Which left the stoic Fraum, who faced a dagger to his throat calmly and smartly, to blank in confusion. Alia slowly reached for her skirt and started lifting it, until she remembered what she was wearing underneath and paused.

"What are you waiting for! A song to come on!" The man said, slightly pulling back on his dagger, drawing some blood from Fraums neck.

"Ok, ok!" Alia said wishing Madam Susan had done more than bring her the dress. First the skirt rose over the stockings which both men were surprised to see them end where they did. Then the lacy thong with a small skirt of frills. Followed by the small gap of skin before the corset giving a hint of her belly button. She eventually pulled the dress over her head showing how the corset pressed her boobs.

The man gulped from the sight. Fraum, getting an idea from seeing the man's distraction, made his right pointer finger light up. With the man to his left, holding the dagger to his neck with his right, his view should be blocked by his head. With the very distracting sight taking the man's attention, he could pull something off.

Alia took the dress and slightly threw it over her shoulder. The man seeing this said "no pick it up and throw it outside the alley. Should make you think twice before going to grab it. Now turn around and do it again."

Alia huffed but listened. She grimaced as she turned around showing off her thong, and more importantly what it didn't cover. The surprise shocked both men, causing Fraum to lose focus making the Symbol he was carefully conjuring dissipate. Which he really wanted to kick himself for. Steeling himself to make sure he doesn't get thrown off again, he restarted.

Meanwhile Alia bent over, grabbed her dress and chucked it, making sure it hit the wall at the other end of the alley. Where it opened in a T shape. If she wanted to get that she'd have to check that no one was looking from either openings of that alley. She then turned back around towards the man.

He gulped again taking in the view. "Ok now just knock him out. I'm not going to chase you down like this, in broad daylight" Alia said.

She was right this was the best opportunity to go, however his mind stopped working on fear and started thinking with something else. "Start walking to us until I say stop" he ordered.

Alia was getting tired of his crap, but listened. She started walking forward until he told her to stop about five feet away. He looked her up and down drinking in the view. Alia having gotten closer saw that Fraum was up to something, thinking quickly she made sure not to put too much attention on him.

"Turn around" the man ordered. At this point Alia and Fraum understood where the man's head was at. Normally she would not have complained, but to buy Fraum time and keep the man's attention she did as he said. Fraum was tempted to look but continued to focus on his Symbol. The man made sure to burn the sight of Alia's perfect ass into his brain. With the small string bisected her cheeks and the garter belt straps doing nothing but frame it nicely, with small intentions as it slightly pressed into her fatty rear. Looking up a bit he saw the strings keeping the corset tied and tight on her.

"Untie the corset, and take it off" he ordered happily.

"Don't push it, asshole!" Alia said, turning around angrily.

"Up,up,up" the man said, slightly backing up while again applying pressure with the dagger. Causing Fraum to lose his Symbol again, seconds away from completing it. He then gave her a 'just do as he says, or just kill us both' look.

"Ok, ok fuck!" Alia said as she reached behind her. She undid the knot and slowly pulled the string from the holes. At this point it was only being held up by Alia hugging it against her.

"Take it off," the man ordered sternly.

Alia grimaced, closed her eyes and let it drop from her chest, which bounced free. Her pale white twin peaks stuck out impressively, with her nipples again hardened from the adrenaline. All this resulted in the very conducive comment of "woah" as the man widely grinned at the perky young jublies. Drunk on power the man then ordered "now those sexy little panties."

"You-" she tried to say before being interrupted.

"One more fucking word Missy!" He threatened.

She angrily unclamped the straps from her stockings. Put her thumbs down the sides of her thong and pulled it down. She let it drop to her ankles and stepped out of them. The man smiled stupidly at the sight of her light pink pussy and silver trimmed bush.

"Ahem. Good. Good. Now take all that and throw it with your dress" the man ordered next.

Alia about to snap picks it all up thinking "Fraum you better not be taking forever on purpose. Or I swear I'll let him slit your throat as I break his neck!" She then threw it all with great precision on top of her dress. Making her skin including ass and breast jump enticingly.

"Don't turn around yet. Bend over and spread those chubby cheeks" he told her.

Her eyes twitched as she bent over, with her legs slightly spread. This already gave a great view of her pussy. As her hands were reaching back to show her last but of modesty. Alia her a

Pah-Ting!

Followed by a "what the-"

Crack!

She stood back up, throwing her hands over her breast and crotch, as she looked over. Her eyes went wide as she watched Fraum continuously punch the man in the face. Until he was bruised and bloody. Eventually he let go, letting the man drop to the ground. Breathing heavily he looked over to Alia and said "are you alright? I'm sorry for taking so long, but making a symbol that rapidly ages a weapon till it breaks isn't easy."

"Couldn't you have just made a simple weapon? Or something to cover your neck?" She asked, fed up with being effectively naked again.

Fraum stood up, walked past her, grabbed his cloak and threw it to her while looking away. "A shield on my neck doesn't keep it from going through my skull, and a shield around my head without suffocating me would be just as long and complicated. Plus he'd still have the dagger which I'd have to wrestle with, which could still end up in my heart. Best to just take it out of the equation entirely. As for making a weapon that'd be too noticeable, and even if I got a good shot the blade could still slide across my throat."

Saying all this he walked to the other end of the alley grabbed her stuff and brought it back to her. After which he went to all the thugs and made symbol magic restraints on their hands and feet. Eventually getting back to the crazed stripper, who he noticed wasn't breathing. "Fuck!" He said.

"What?" Alia asked as she slipped her dress back on.

"He's dead" Fraum answered matter of factly.

"Good! If he wasn't I would've finished the job!" Alia huffed.

"Not good! Alia, I don't know how it works where you come from, but my kingdom takes **** very seriously. Even for street trash like this" he said exasperated.

"It was self defense. He had a dagger to your throat" Alia stated.

"A dagger I made disappear, and this beating doesn't scream self defense. Fuck I got too angry!" He said frustrated.

"I think anyone would understand losing your cool after having a knife to your throat" Alia rationally thought.

"That's not why I was mad," Fraum muttered.

"Huh?" Alia wondered.

"Nothing! Whatever happened we have to report this. I still have the cut on my throat, hopefully they'll believe it was self defense" Fraum said, pulling his money from the dead man's pockets.

Alia walked up with her suitcases in one hand, she threw Fraum his cloak and said "everyone's made a big deal out of that cloak so far. Should add some weight to our testimony."

Fraum nodded "come let's go find the nearest patrolling soldier."