+{~RT~}+
Another review! Make it longer? If you mean the chapters, then I'd gladly try for you, my average chapter length seems to be around three thousand words, but I only consider a chapter semi-good if it's around eight thousand...Most of the time, chapters I am happy to submit length wise are ten thousand or more...hey, I'm not saying I'll slam you with a wall of text, but I'll give you some more depth if you want it!
I do not, in anyway, own anything having to do with Recettear, although; I do wonder where they got "Oh carp" from, I've been saying that one for over a decade...but, I'm pretty sure it was drawn from somewhere else anyway! ~Finalage.
+{-~LSRA~-}+
Chapter Two: Determination & Might… Make right?
+{-~LSRA~-}+
Loneliness…it was a monster Recette knew well. So well, it scared her to the very core...It kept her up at night, that loneliness, only this time it was out of sorrow. Empathy; her thoughts that night ran through a loneliness that wasn't hers, the loneliness she felt from Arma, who knows how far away…
Or at least that's what her mind spun a tale for.
She wouldn't let another suffer like that, not while she slept peacefully in a bed. No. She packed up her bags, and ran about in the late night to the Merchant's Guild…of all the things she could do, fusion of items had become a kind of hobby for Recette...
How did she end up with so many Maiden's Bracelet's after all? She was the only steady supplier of that item, and with good reason. Gilded swords, odd trinkets, rare, powerful things...Sometimes it was simple as reading a recipe and mixing ingredients together, others needed the power of a forge, and still more required Recette to use the power locked inside crystals, magic she herself wasn't trained to use, but the result was always...exciting.
The market was a place to get food and common accessories, The Merchant's Guild; that was were you got armor and weapons, general clothing items. Yet, for Recettear...it was called an item shop because you never knew exactly what would be on those shelves...but you could be certain there would always be something that you couldn't get anywhere else in Pensee, not easily anyway.
The Master kept the Guild open and the forge warm, most of the time; it seemed he did it just for her. She was the only regular in the late nights after all. True, as a shop keeper she had pockets that could be thought deep, she had all of her shops funds at her disposal...but really? As Recette stepped into the Guild, shaking free her hair from her eyes and shivering from the light mist, the Guildmaster would lead her to the forge like a father would his daughter to the hearth.
The Guildmaster may use the excuse that he was avoiding his wife, maybe even that Recette was a good customer, but in truth he did have a paternal instinct for the lone girl. He was always there to offer advice and guidance after all...
"Recette, what are you doing running around without a raincoat on? You could cat-"
"I could catch a cold, I know, I know...aww; Tear told me the same thing yesterday. It's only a drizzle, and this is a matter of life and death Guildmaster!"
She always used words so lightly. A matter of life and death huh? The girl shook more water droplets from her hair, absently brushing some of it out of her eyes as she tugged out her fat little book from an apron pocket. It was a wonder that thing fit in her pockets in the first place, but...it contained all of her fusion recipes and techniques, as well as her stock numbers and calendar, her one stop for information...her fingers expertly slid open the book to the correct page. Her eyes alight, she looked to the man in front of her, and showed him the writing. It looked unfamiliar to him, but by now, Recette had risen pretty high in the standings of Merchant "level" or prestige.
"A matter of life and death! That's quite a claim. Are you sure about that one?"
She had access to all of his exclusives; he had 'long" accepted her as a prodigy in this business, this "art". It didn't surprise him when she pulled from her pack a heavy looking blade. It seemed to hum in her hands, and he wasn't sure in the fire's glint, but it also appeared to glow. He peeked in to her bag to see a mass of fire crystals gathered there, that pack must be uncomfortably warm inside and out... the man didn't miss the glint of excitement in the younger's eyes.
"I'm heading somewhere, somewhere dangerous...I want my adventurer to have the best I can offer. I got this not too long ago...the crystals I've been saving. I don't like to throw anything away Master...nothing but spoiled food wares, and I can't even really get the chance to do even that anymore."
Her hands were steady as she held that blade. In a different world, with a different calling, she might have tried to be a swords-woman, she hadn't the trained skill, no; but she had the natural grace, and from running her shop, she had a measure of strength; nothing really, but it could give her an edge against beginners.
Still; her hands were shaking with the effort.
She tossed the fire crystals in one by one, stirring the fire with each addition, provoking the fire to become hotter with each one's power. She closed her eyes every time she did this, picking up another from her bag, focusing...almost as if she had magic to infuse into it. Well, maybe she had. All creatures had a magic in them, and a driving life force...only they weren't trained to use them, didn't have the natural talent...
According to Calliou though; Recette was so dense, he wouldn't be surprised if she would survive an explosion from magical radiation.
He claimed the energy would just bounce right off her.
The heat from the fire beat the Master back, but the youth, shining face and all, stayed put. He feared she'd burn her own skin off with that heat, but she just stuck another crystal in, stirring the fire fiercer still. Ten went in before she finally picked up the blade she had let rest on the sides. Grabbing some binding dust, a magical powder used to prime for fusion, she dusted the weapon before thrusting it in the fire, throwing sparks that stabbed at the Master's eyes.
A cry, one that didn't seem to come from her, but rather the forge itself. Finally, the girl had grabbed the smith's gloves. She hardly ever used those things, but he was certain that the heat would have burned her fingers off this time around, and her mind seemed to run along the same. She grasped the hilt of the weapon in the forge, and steadied its movement.
She braced herself against the rug and thrust it forwards with all her strength; making it explode into the hearth, throwing off sparks worse than most roman candles would dare. The binding dust made the girl throw up an arm to cover her eyes, the normally soft "poof" turning into something more like a boom. The Guildmaster cried out, but he hardly heard his own voice.
The fire seemed to extinguish almost instantly when the girl flashed her arms into the heat. Such was the nature of a fusion, a magical binding...it knew when it was ready, and a good forge knew it too. The girl braced herself again, giving a mighty heave that sent her sprawling against an armchair when her hands slipped.
Mewling from her place by the chair, she struggled to untangle herself from an undignified heap as the Guildmaster approached. Grabbing the gloved from where they had flown form her hands when she slipped, he gripped the hilt in his forge, and pulled easily. The blade slid forwards, but it didn't leave the hearth. Furrowing his brow, he tried again with the same result. Recette came up to join him in his effort, and once her bare hand touched the blade, the master stumbled back, almost falling over her, the sword in hand.
Just a rock, it had been stuck under a rock...right?
"He...who draws this...He who draws this is a hero."
Grunting, the man allowed his eyes to read the inscription the girl was reciting. Bold claim to make it was, saying that whomever it was that drew this blade as theirs was a hero. From what he had seen, it was the man that made the weapon good, not the weapon that made good the man...but he was thinking too deep into things, wasn't he?
"This is...heavy...! How can Louie hold these things...?"
+-~1~-+
"Wow, Recette...this is awesome! What is all this stuff called? Can I use all of this on this adventure? Sweet! Dang, this is kinda heavy, but; it's got really good balance on it! This hat looks weird though...but I suppose it's better than looking like Santa all the time...The shield looks cool too..."
The girl stood awkwardly with her pack full of food and healing items. Her apron was stuffed full of ointments and the like too, and anyone who would see her would think her quite foolish looking, especially with all of the sacks hanging from her oversized belt. Yet, those who thought that wouldn't know her. The girl was well versed in how a dungeon worked, and she knew there was a delicate balance between being prepared and being burdened.
If she were going anywhere else, she'd say she was overburdened. This was the unknown though; you could never be too prepared for that...Recette handed Louie a small pouch of twenty five silver pix, he weighed it thoughtfully before peering in and smiling as she picked up his Demonblade and Runic Defender to put in her pack, only pausing to fold his Santa's hat neatly before stuffing that in there too.
"I should have known better, but I was kinda suspicious when I felt this bag being so light. Dang Recette, this is silver you're giving me! Silver! I'm swimming here! This equipment and this money...this is more than my fee, it's gotta be..."
"It is; but not by much Louie...your registered fee is 4,876 pix. That's forty thousand. Only I'm finding it hard to lug around that many copper pieces now, especially since my goods carriage got stolen...now I have to go back and forth with goods in my hands all the time, so I appreciate the weight of everything...are you going to take the job, Louie?"
"Forty thousand? Forty Thousand? Whoa, where'd that kinda dough get factored in?"
"The fee pays for seven days Louie, plus some for staying out at night. I'm guessing this will take more than a single afternoon to finish...like Obsidian Tower...only we don't have time to keep coming back this time...are you going to take the job Louie?"
The swordsman let the bag of pix fall unto a table, looking at the hundred pieces of silver winking at him as he picked up the Holy Sword, and admired the Ishtoril on his head with the slight reflection he got off the blade. He jammed the sword into his scabbard before hefting the Amber Shield he had been given. Smiling, he slipped the bag of pix from the table to his belt, and nodded an affirmative to the girl next to him.
"Take the job? Consider me there already! I wouldn't miss this for the world! Well; maybe for a good Beef Bowl, but definitely not for the world! Look out Arma, Louie the swordsman has been hired for this job! Damsel in distress saving, yeah! When do we go Recette?"
Tear interjected into this one, cutting off both her own prolonged silence and Recette's speech with a flap of impatient wings. The fairy landed on the table that a certain bag of silver pix had just left, and looked up at the ragtag swordsman.
"As soon as possible, preferably now. Lucky for you it wasn't yesterday, that's when Recette wanted to go...when it was already nearly afternoon I might add..."
Recette pulled an embarrassed face, but the boy just looked at Tear oddly. He didn't mind starting an adventure in the early afternoon...it wasn't like he had an exciting home to go back to anyway...just a hotel where he washed the dishes and cleaned for his daily lodge, double for the fact that it was a friend in need...but he kept quiet, because he knew most adventures wouldn't agree with him...double that one for the fact that it was a multi-day trip.
"Now? Well, that sounds fine by me! Let's blow this Popsicle stand!"
"Popsicle stand...?"
Surprised, the boy looked at Recette's confusion at the saying. It was common place where he'd come from...oh, right. He was the immigrant here...sheepish, he shrugged his shoulders.
"A stand like at the market place, only this one sells flavored ice. It was a common thing where I used to live, it was colder up there, and making stuff outta ice was kinda a way to live in the winter...it tasted good when you put enough flavor on it though...could kinda go for one now that I think about it..."
Louie continued to ponder this dilemma as Recette unfurled a map of the places they had discovered to far. Of them, the map was nearly full, save for a single mountain, one beautifully ominous mountain. The Lapis Ruins. From where they were, the fastest way to get there would be through the bridge and skirting the Obsidian Tower from the east...
Less thinking and more doing Recette...It seemed that one moment she had her hands spread across solid oak, and the next, she was rolling up her map to wipe her brow, a massive mountain ruin in front of her eyes. From here, the only way to go was down…way down…
…
Deep down in the dungeons, another story was unfolding for none but the strongest of eyes to see. Aval allowed himself a smile as he watched from his "throne" miles away, safe and sound while a sole man worked feverishly with a machine beneath him. Whatever the thing was, it was old and required an extreme amount of magic to be kept running…a price several mages had already paid dearly for.
That wasn't any of Aval's concern though. His work needed to be done after all, and his hands would always stay clean at the end of the day. All he cared for was the screen the object had, a huge display that was his portal into the heart of the deepest of dungeons surrounding Pensee…The Lapis Ruins.
Here, magic; and, consequentially, power, ran deep…so deep it struck at the core of this entire area's economy. If one were to breech that core, they'd control all that power…all of that magic to bow upon the will of one master…
Shaking his head, the "President" of Terme Finance dismissed his own foolish thoughts with a wave of a hand. He had no time for magic, not really. He used it to get something else, something more… devastating. Influence.
Control all the magic that controlled the dungeons and you practically owned the entire market. A quiet monopoly, one that was hardly noticeable and yet; shockingly vital. Squeeze just a little here and…
A groan interrupted the president's mulling, and he looked up just in time to see one of his current line of mages slink down to the ground in a slow faint. Useless…but perhaps it wasn't the mage that was the useless one…his eyes shot at the man upon the machine, just as the worker glanced up to him.
"I would advise some haste into your routine my friend, I do not have an unlimited supply of mages to fuel your experiments after all, and your failure would be…unpleasant…for both of us; you understand.
The other gave no answer, but his fingers flight along the strange devices controls were a decidedly swifter pace when he turned back around, and his posture was even more feverish than before. Aval allowed a small smile to play upon his lips, motioning a silent fairy to float on by towards the man, a slow weapon aiming for the back of the neck. Just a simple slice, nothing to drastic…and the man would be paralyzed…when the time comes of course…
Sitting back in his chair, the president allowed his eyes to wander back to the screen and watch as a single automaton fought desperately against the attacks against her mind, her body automatically extraditing itself away from the light and into the darkness of quarantine.
At the end of the day, his hands were still clean.
+-~2~-+
"Louie, look out, to your left! No, not my left!"
Louie ducked off to the right, smacking straight into a horde of Kobolds. He only had just enough time to turn around and slam up his shield before a hail of stones flew his way. Yeah, maybe one day he should sit down and explain to Recette how he lost his sense of left and right when he got caught up in the moment…not now though, slime coming through!
Louie spun around full circle, his blade glowing due to catch ablaze as it slammed into the chests of oncoming Kobolds, slicing right through a mass of jelly known as slimes for good measure. Crystals went flying all over the place before they flew towards him, he always wondered where they went when they impacted on his skin…hey, sometimes he wished they would act like food and fill him up, that would solve all his problems right there!
…No, then he'd be fat. Dang, why did life have to be so-bees at ten o clock!
Louie had learned that trying to aim at bees while flying around in the air was pointless, they were too high and he just wasn't fast enough, so he stood still, readying his blade for that tell tale time when they came down just a little bit for a charge…there!
Arching his blade quickly, he slashed it out forwards, sending a shock-wave of mana into his flying foes, which shut them up pretty fast buzzing wise. Louie turned around, relieved…but his relief only lasted a split second, for the ground erupted underneath him, a mushroom monster sending him flying into a wall with authority.
"Louie, are you okay?"
Said wall was talking to him. It took him a bit to realize that the mushroom had sent him flying almost into Recette…almost. She was insubstantial behind the barrier anyway, so he couldn't see her…the first time a monster sent him flying near her, the girl had stayed eerily silent after asking him if he was okay…turned out later on that he had hit his head right where she had been standing, right where she was standing…
He thanked his lucky stars he couldn't see or touch anything inside a barrier; he doubted Tear would have let him live otherwise…he understood Recette's embarrassment though; she could see the whole picture after all…
Tear had let him go with a bump on the head for good measure though, telling him that he had scarred the girl for life…but he can't damage anything in a barrier though…
He was too afraid to ask where Recette had gotten a scar too…
The boy pulled himself back to the present with a cough and nodded to where he heard the voice from. Yeah, he was okay. He pulled himself up just in time to see an orange fly through the air and land in the crook of his arm that held up his shield. Dutifully he took a bite of the thing. It was sweeter than he was used to, so it dripped a bit.
"We probably should take a bit of a rest to regain some stamina for the next horde of monsters that come our way…"
"I thought we can't stay on one floor too long though, Tear?"
Tear shut her eyes against the girls ignorance of the working of the world and rose a finger in lecture.
"Ordinarily yes. However, since this is a multiple day trip, our lease on the barrier is quite extensive, so we can stay for quite a bit longer than normal on a place we chose for resting…"
"Uhh…that still doesn't solve the problem of me getting attacked by big balls of floating fire like the last time you wanted me to go after a chest all the way in the corner of a hallway, Tear…"
You could almost see the memory smack the fairy head on and slide down her face, for she was stock still as a statue, her eyes still closed and her finger still testing the air. Recette picked up the slack here though.
"…I'm guessing that Louie can come in the barrier with some kind of special permission or something?"
The fairy revived somewhat, but she was still exasperated. Her mouth twisted slightly before she answered the young merchant.
"…In a sense, you are correct. One of us has to pull him in by partway stepping out. It's the same process as if he were to faint, as he did when we first went to the Hall of Trials…only once he's in he has to stay in until the next day comes around. It's all relatively simple-"
Louie opened his mouth to protest Tear's return fire shot, but he didn't get the chance to speak, for Recette seemed to brighten up before her brow furrowed and she cut Tear off; she had been struck by a sudden revelation.
"Uhh…sooo why can't we just pull Louie in and run to the end of the Dungeon with him inside? Wouldn't it be easier to save Arma that way?"
Blinking, the fairy was struck dumb but this sudden observation. Only…only Recette. It was such a simple and stupid thing to think about, was that even possible? Who thought like that? Everybody always followed the rules…but was there something to prevent you from not following the standard? The fairy found herself stammering. Louie looked from one invisible female to the next.
Not that he had any say in this, but it seemed like a brilliant idea to him...but Tear didn't seem to want to bite.
"I-I…I'm not sure if that's possible. No. There is a fail-safe for that; there must be one. Besides, we have no idea what kind of monsters lie ahead, and floors where the strongest monsters lie still need to be cleared out before one can continue…no, It is impossible. Who knows if Louie is strong enough to fight the force that has captured Arma in the first place? He must train and gain strength Recette. You can't take the easy way out…yes, that's it."
So Louie stayed outside the barrier for the while, continuing to throw himself at the monsters that came his way, but his "zeal" didn't last too long. He had never stayed in a dungeon for so long after all, and Recette quickly pulled him from the fight as soon as the day settled into late afternoon...
It was true that they needed to hurry, but it would be no good to push Louie until he snapped. They had already gone down what must have been twenty floors by now, and the slime, dust...the blood itself was bogging them all down. Recette had found her pack getting heavier and heavier through it all, and it wasn't a pleasant weight.
She wasn't here for treasure, but it kept cropping up, and not just any treasure...sinister treasure. The girl sat down just in time to see a Kobold turn the corner and approach. Louie grabbed his sheathed blade but Recette managed to touch his arm in time. The monster simply walked right by them, actually passing through the half drawn blade.
"This...this is weird. Almost too weird. It's ignoring me..."
"Not ignoring, it can't see you."
"...Still weird. I mean If an adventurer had this as an ability..."
Recette let go of his arm as he slammed his blade back into it's sheath.
"Griff kinda does when he runs."
"Does he?"
He looked off into the darkness as he asked this, and the other couldn't help but shiver a little. It was cold in this dungeon, and Louie had that look in his eye, the one he always got when it came to adventure, to power. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out some ingredients for the meal they'd be eating this night, her hands accidentally brushing by an Iron bracelet and a few bee traps on her way.
Maiden's Bracelets...
We're coming Arma. I did promise you that...didn't I?
+-~C~-+
I'm boring you now, aren't I? Well, I do have to explain things before I tell you the exciting stuff, don't I? ...Hmm? Oh, Louie. He was...is, was...is...you know, I can't really tell what his status is anymore in regards to me...but he was my friend then, and the first adventurer I ever hired...Tear? I thought I explained who Tear was already...she's a fairy who I befriended after she tried to take away my house...sounds stupid huh? Oh, you want to know about Aval too huh? Patience. I'll tell you, just calm down...
+-~E~-+
Chapter was taking too long, so I decided to upload. I should have put more in it, I know, I should have given more action too, but there was simply no time. I'm running very busy now a days...too busy for my own good. I feel like I'm losing my mind, I keep forgetting where I put things or if I did something already...I had to go check my doors three times because I couldn't remember if I locked them! Not good, luck y I can take a rest today...
~Finalage, out.
