-(3 months prior)-
The sound of the waves hitting the side of the boat was the only thing that was keeping the two travellers awake, they had been going for nearly two days with very little rest. The warm sun was bearing down. Both had to wonder if this was going to be the end of their short adventure together.
Looking around the open waters our blonde haired protagonist spotted something in the distance. He searched the floor of the small row boat before he had managed to find the item that he was looking for. A rather small telescope that he extended out.
Looking through the object he saw in the distance one thing that made his heart leap into his throat. Grabbing onto the oars he started to row, his movements brought the attention of his long-time friend.
"What is it?" she asked, she had been feeling terrible for the past few days, not only had their ship sunk but they had ran out of food and were surviving by the water that they had managed to salvage.
"Well I have good news and bad news." He told her.
Kiva looked at him trying to way up which she wanted to hear first. Deciding that she was in need of some good news for a change decided on that choice. "What's the good?"
"Well the good news is that we will be reaching land within a day or two" Naruto said with a bright smile.
"And the bad?" she asked.
"I had no idea where we were going this entire time" he said with that same bright smile. She looked at him as if he had just grown a second head.
"What!" she shrieked, she couldn't believe it, they had been out at sea for months, after the incident in the Tanzanian waters.
"Well I didn't want to worry you, and the ship was heavily damaged by those sirens." He said in a matter of fact tone, he still remembered that fight.
-(Flashback)-
The pair had just booked passage on a cargo ship, Naruto wasn't too worried where he would wind up it was a passing fancy to want to be back out at sea and he had managed to talk Kiva into the idea as well. The ship was heading north and that was in the general direction of where they wanted to go.
The journey was uneventful for the most part the weather had stayed decent and there wasn't much to do. So they had been mostly staying in there cabins' Naruto working on the gravity rune that had been making his life a living hell and Kiva cleaning her instruments.
The journey took a sudden unexpected turn. It had been on the eighth day, which in itself was strange because it was only meant to be a week long journey.
The storm had come out of nowhere, one moment it was smooth sailing and the next they were caught in the middle of a raging storm.
Naruto Bolted out of his cabin, he wasn't sure if he would be able to help, but he had experience of having to work in storms and new how dangerous it was, and any extra hands would be needed.
But as soon as the storm had come it had seemed to pass. He arrived on deck to see that there was no one out, no one was manning any part of the ship. He couldn't help the shiver that ran down his back, the ship was too quiet for a crew size of twenty and just after a sudden storm.
He went to place his hand on his sword but realised in his rush he forgot to grab it. He forgot nearly all his gear in his room. Reaching down to his foot he pulled a knife out of his boots. One of Clara's old sayings was running through his mind 'Just because you're paranoid does not mean that someone isn't trying to kill you.'
Naruto slowly backed up planning on getting back to his room in order to get the rest of his stuff. As he turned around he saw something moving at the corner of his eye. Against his better judgment he decided to see who it was.
As he made his way through the corridors he seemed to be one step behind whoever it was, he could have ran but that small voice in his head was advising him against it. As he made his way forward he could feel his head becoming lighter. His thoughts were swimming and he felt like laying down to sleep.
He his ears were suddenly graced with the most beautiful melody that he had ever heard. Thoughts of following the figure suddenly left him as he just wanted to meet the source of the song.
His footsteps became light, as he travelled towards the song, as he turned the last corner he bore witness to the being, for that is the only way that he could describe her. Long brown hair that seemed to gleam in the low light. Smooth porcelain face, with soft eyes. A slender frame wrapped in a white tunic.
Naruto was speechless for a moment as he watched her slowly circle the ship's captain, singing her song. He could nearly see her words caress the man. He felt a slow build-up of anger that the man in front of him was having such a woman singing that heavenly song to him. As he went to step forward the song stopped.
In an instance everything changed, the woman before him lost the sheer beauty that she had been near radiating a moment before. Her hair lost its gleam and became damp, near soaked. Her skin became splotch and wrinkled, as if she had spent too long in the water. Her white tunic turned a sickly green and clung to her body. A body that seemed to be nothing but skin and bone.
Her arms became thinner and her fingers more crooked. He saw her lunge forward taken the man to the ground. She reared her head back, and he could see long jagged teeth in the woman's mouth before she moved forward biting down on the man's throat.
She pulled back separating a chunk of flesh from his throat. Blood flowed from the wound as he heard the sound of the woman chewing.
Naruto wanted to scream at this sight, but the look of pure bliss on the man's face caused the shouts to die in his throat. The only thought being 'He doesn't know what's happening' the woman turned around and their eyes met. Eyes that were now filled with a near euphoria as she slowly swallowed the flesh.
He could only stare as she used one of her bony fingers to clean the blood from around her lips before sucking on it in what could be described on any other woman as a seductive manner. As she slowly raised herself up she opened her mouth and his ears were once again graced by the same melody.
He tightened his grip on the knife in his hand trying to block out the song, he had to be careful or the woman in front of him was going to kill him.
It seemed that the woman knew that her song wouldn't work as she stopped singing in order to lunge forward, bringing her bony hands up in order to pierce his chest.
Bringing his knife into a reverse grip he parried the blow, using there close proximity Naruto flitted behind the woman hoping to catch her off-guard. As he came out of his shadow step he tried to side swipe her.
He managed to cut the woman's hand as she attempted to block him. He suddenly felt her hand grab his wrist and threw him across the corridor. As he righted himself he could only watch as she bent down and took another bite out of the man. She then held up her hand and Naruto could see the small wound slowly close. "You have got to be fucking kidding me dattebayo!" he shouted as he watched as she slowly got to her feet.
Deciding that the better part of valour was getting away from the woman and getting his gear Naruto turned and ran.
As he was running through the ship he could suddenly hear the song again, but unlike before it seemed like a choir was singing it. 'This is not good' were his thoughts as he ran. A small section of the wall suddenly broke as a man came sailing through. Naruto didn't need to check if he was dead, the angle of his neck was proof of that.
Though his eyes did fall to rest on a long sword that was at the man's hip. Counting his blessing he ran forward, in one swift motion he jumped forward hand grasping around the hilt on the sword. Drawing it in one smooth motion he reoriented himself in time to block the lunge of a different woman.
He was beginning to get slightly worried, there was one in front of him, one behind that probably making her way forward and an unknown number on the ship. He suddenly heard another melody. Unlike the previous ones this was a tune he was far more familiar with.
It was a fast paced melody and it was slowly drowning out the sound of the singing. Taking the sword in a double handed grip Naruto decided that it was about time to go on the offensive. Shifting back a few steps he assumed the fool stance, with the long sword facing downward at an angle. With a sudden burst of speed his stance changed, he went from the fool, to long tail before bringing his sword up in a simple cut trying to bisect the woman
The woman managed to avoid most of the blow, but was still left with a light wound from her thigh to her shoulder. It wasn't enough to kill her, but she would be severely hindered. Trusting his gut he continuing forward he moved into the woman's shadow. He felt a small gleam of understanding pass through his mind, a signal that his technique was a success. For the next six seconds both were connected, she was unable to move, and him unable to attack her.
It wasn't a moment too soon either, the woman that he had first met came round the corner. Upon seeing him, she ran and lunged once again hoping to pierce him with her hand.
She had been fast and had only managed to get out of the road of the attack, however the other woman wasn't so lucky. Unable to move she could feel as her fellow comrade hand went through her chest, and piercing her heart. She suddenly fell over, limp body hitting the ground. The woman let out an unmerciful screech at what had happened. "NEPNAR OYNFFG" Naruto shouted as he swung the long sword. Channelling as much energy as he could into the weapon. White force shot from the blade as it struck the woman knocking her over.
Naruto dropped the blade due to the heat of the weapon, he was breathing heavy. While possible to channel magic through the sword it was taxing, and it was only slightly more powerful than if he had of done it without the sword.
Drawing his blade again he ran forward jumping over the two bodies, he never noticed the one he hit biting onto the first.
As he was running through the corridor trying to get to his cabin the sound of music suddenly picked up. He turned around the corner to see Kiva ducking back from a lunge as she continued playing her violin. The woman who attacked her looked remarkably similar to the first one.
However she seemed to be moving slower than the other two he had met so far, he picked up the pace and ran readying his knife to stab her in the back. When he was in striking range he couldn't help but notice that Kiva's last dodge had left her exposed with the woman readying to attack.
As soon as he stepped close enough he once more flitted to position himself between Kiva and the woman. The attack cut deep into his right arm, refusing to scream he dropped the knife from his right hand. Kiva's music suddenly changed with a slight screech as a new melody started.
Naruto could feel his body lighten, as he spun and crouched catching the blade in his left hand before finishing the rotation and bringing it up into the woman's jaw. There was no howls, or screeches as she suddenly fell to the ground.
"Fuck" Naruto hissed out as he looked at his bleeding arm. He tore off a bit of his t shirt in order to make a quick bandage for the wound. He turned to see Kiva run into her room before coming back with a brown box. 'We don't have time for this' Naruto thought.
Opening the box, Kiva pulled out a vile of blue liquid, quickly handing it to him, she pulled out another vile of red liquid. "Drink that" she said as she took off the make shift bandage. Pouring the red liquid onto a new bandage she wrapped it around his arm.
After drinking the liquid he felt his fatigue slip away, the bandage around his arm seemed to stop the pain and allowed for full mobility. "You've got two hours before that wound reopens. And that will stop you feeling fatigue for about thirty minutes. If we don't finish up here soon we are both dead." She said as she popped another blue vile and drank it.
Naruto looked dumbfounded at what she had done, quickly pushing any thoughts to the side he made his way to his room in order to grab his gear.
Putting on his double shoulder holster and jacket before grabbing his broadsword he made it back to Kiva.
"Ideas" she asked. She was at a lost for what to do, by herself she didn't have a lot of combat potential. She had some, but against a faster and stronger enemy it was difficult. However if she was fighting with someone by her side more options would open up.
"Get to the deck, the closed quarters hinders us, and our movements. Also considering that most of the crew is probably dead, there is no one guiding this ship." That wasn't a pleasant thought they could be sailing anywhere right now and the longer they were sailing the harder it would be to get back on track.
Both teens made a run to get to the deck, the ship was eerily quiet at the moment. It was dark out and it made things harder to sea. Naruto had to wonder if he had made the right choice in going out.
He could hear something akin to wood breaking, it didn't take long to realise that something was climbing the hull of the ship. Looking around he tried to spot where it was.
Kiva wasn't faring much better she counted five considering the amount of songs she heard, and going by Naruto three where dealt with that meant that the ones climbing were the last two.
"Kiva I have something important to say…" Naruto started as he turned to look at his long-time friend, "when this is over…" he paused for dramatic effect, "I call dibs on being Captain."
Before Kiva had the chance to respond Naruto shot forward, entering into mealy combat with one of the women.
As the woman came over the ship Naruto hoped to be able to get a lucky shot in and kill her before she had a chance to fight back. Unfortunately she was just as fast as the others. Dodging the attack she swung to strike at Naruto. Turning on the ball of his foot he spun around in order to deliver a reverse slash. The momentum of his swing meeting the woman's arm meant only one thing. The arm was cut through and for a third time that night a loud screech echoed through the air. Using his other hand he drew a knife from his holster and stabbed the woman with it.
Kiva was playing another dodging game with the new woman, unlike before the extra room made it easier for her to avoid the strikes and lunges without having to continuously play one of her melodies.
She brought her violin up she couldn't play her best melody because it was very unlikely that she would be able to hypnotise them, and she couldn't afford to waste the effort trying. Focusing hard she continued playing channelling as much as she could into the violin.
The music picked up with the tempo constantly increasing as her fingers danced along the strings. She was going through many notes trying to not lose her focus, it happened fast. The constant build of magic within the violin became too much, she could feel it nearly swelling looking for a release, focusing for a moment she stopped for a split second as she dodged under an attack, before playing one final note. She could feel the force of the magic leave the violin and hitting the woman dead on. The blow knocked her back at the same time a crossbow bolt came flying across the ship and placed itself in the woman's head.
The final one dropped. Kiva was righting herself as she looked over at Naruto, he was taken off his hand crossbow and placing it back on his holster.
Naruto stood on the deck as he waited to hear if any more of them were coming. When Silence rained for a few minutes Naruto started to feel safe. He was about to go and check if anything had been severely damaged in the fighting.
As he stepped forward he heard it. He had thought the three screeches before were bad, he could feel blood drip from both his nose and ears as the pressure seemed to be trying to force him down. Kiva had fallen under the pressure, he tried to make his way over to her to help her to her feet.
Suddenly a part of the deck beneath his feet shattered, he managed to jump to the side as one of the women came out from the deck. "YOU!" she screeched, Naruto looked at her and noticed that it was the same one as he had first met.
She made a lunge for him, barely managing to dodge to the side he tumbled forward, quickly bringing himself back to his feet he felt his body suddenly become heavier 'No, not now, why did it have to be now!' he screamed in his head, as he felt the gravity rune that Clara had placed on him suddenly change. His entire body felt heavy he was already having trouble matching her speed as it was and now he had just gained a huge disadvantage. He hadn't found a way to take the rune off yet and now he was cursing himself for not being able to do it.
The woman made another attack for him, this time instead of the standard lunge she moved with an unnatural grace to be in front of him. Lashing out with a kick she sent him back a few feet.
Running out of options he had to make a decision on his next course of action. He could hear Kiva slowly playing another melody, the woman moved again, "By my word you will know no peace!" He shouted.
The woman stopped what she was about to do and turned to him. He could see the confusion in her eyes.
Naruto could see that her shadow had become darker, before she tried to strike at him again, dropping his sword he threw himself to the side again. Bring up his right hand he extended it so the palm was out, "YVTUAVAT'F OYNFG!" He shouted as lightning shot from his hand. The woman avoided the blast by bending at an unnatural angle.
"By my oath you will know no rest!" he shouted again, he could see the shadow getting darker, the confusion in the woman's eyes gave way to slight bit of fear. She attacked again hoping to kill him. She was stopped by a sudden blast of force coming from kiva's direction. As she limped forward.
"By my will you will know only fear!" he shouted as he dragged his heavy body over to his sword.
It had taken a moment for the woman to right herself, Naruto could see the shadow nearly an unnatural darkness, the fear in the woman's eyes intensified. But it soon gave way to anger and hate, she prepared to go in for the kill.
"By my hands you will know death!" he shouted as he moved forward, the shadow now a black that stood out in the night. As she went for her strike Naruto brought his sword forward, the woman's shadow moved separately from her body as it came alive and wrapped its dark hands around her throat strangling her. Naruto didn't stop as he ran his sword threw the woman.
The deck was quiet, he could feel the woman fall forward onto him, he had to try and not freak out, and if she took a chunk out of his neck it was all over. As he tried to step back he felt the weight fall to the ground. Her body remained motionless, after a few moments he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.
"Is it over?" he heard Kiva's voice from his side.
"Yea I think it is" he turned to look around the ship, "This place looks like crap."
"Stay there then I will be back in a moment." Kiva said as she went below deck, he couldn't help but think it was kind of stupid, they didn't know if it was really over.
He found it hard to keep his eyes open, his entire body felt heavy. He wasn't sure when Kiva had made it back with her little brown box. But the next thing he knew was that she was fixing the wound on his arm. He couldn't help but think how it was another scar to add to the collection.
"Alright I guess it's time to sort…" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as all the previous exhaustion came rushing back to his body. He had been asleep before he hit the deck.
-(Flashback end)-
"So we had had been sailing for months! Months! Not knowing where we were going!" she was screaming at him, she couldn't believe that he would hide this type of information from her. They didn't even know where they are at the moment.
"Would it of changed anything?" Naruto asked he smiling as he looked up at the sky. "Would knowing that we were lost help you? Especially considering there was nothing that you could do about it?" He continued to row the boat he couldn't wait to get to land.
Kiva was about to retort to that until she thought about it, knowing they were lost at sea would have made the journey unbearable, she had trusted that Naruto knew what he was doing, and felt fine with that. Thinking back at the times she had asked him how the travels were going it was always, 'We're on course' or 'nothing new to really say.' He had been avoiding telling her to make sure she didn't worry.
It didn't make the anger go away, but it did curb it, she would have retribution for this. Even if it took years, she would have it.
It was after a day of rowing that the pair had finally pulled into land, they had come upon a beech, and decided to leave the row boat, packing up the equipment that they had salvaged before the boat sunk they started to head out to find out where they were.
-()-
The pair had been traveling down the road for a day, they had made considerably time in their opinion considering that they were tired, hungry and sore. It wasn't long before they came upon the first settlement.
It was night as they entered the village, and the pair set about hoping to find an inn to rest in, as they travelled through the streets Naruto's eye caught a shop's sign. It wasn't what the sign said that got his attention though it was how it was written. It took him a moment to realise it said something Store. But that wasn't the problem, he hadn't been expecting to see the language.
"God Fucking damn it, by the divines and all that they bless and by the fuck, with the fuck and fuck… fuckin hell! Dattebayo!" Words couldn't describe how he felt at that moment.
"Naruto, adjectives and nouns!" Kiva shouted at him.
"Do you remember me telling you I came from a land beyond the sea?" He asked her.
"Yea, what about… God fucking damn it, you got us stuck across the waters without a boat to get back, and we were meant to meet up with, Astros and Rathal in Talron, three months ago!" She was livid now.
"First of all I got us stuck nowhere, it was so damn sirens that got us out here, secondly…" he trailed off at that he didn't actually have a second point to make.
"You're the one who wanted to take a boat to get to Talron! I said we should take the train!" she shouted in exasperation.
"So where a little late for the meet up, there will be things to do here." He said as he walked through the village. However a small problem came to mind. "They use a different currency here… fuck!" he shouted at no one in particular.
"Even if they do, copper is copper, silver is silver and gold is gold. They should still be worth something" Kiva answered him, she wasn't worried about paying for anything, they would make do, they always had before.
Naruto thought about it for a while before another thought popped into his head, "Do you remember when Clara taught you my native tongue?" He hadn't even considered it until just then, and it could be very bad if they got split up and she didn't know the language.
"Yes, I am pretty well versed in learning and remembering a new language, unlike some" she said as she looked at him.
"Hey I know how to read and write in three languages. It's not my fault if I mess them up from time to time?" He defended himself. It really wasn't his fault, languages were hard, and when you didn't use them that often you tended to forget them.
The pair continued walking until they found what looked like an inn of some kind. After entering they were greeted by a rather stout man, he had dark skin with blonde hair, brown eyes and a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken and hadn't been set properly.
"Can I help you" he asked looking at the pair, the man looked at them, and he couldn't help but think that the pair was rather odd. The female more than the male.
The male wore a dark leather coat with an orange shirt with a spiral pattern on it, he had a pair of green goggles on his forehead, short blonde hair, blue eyes, and what looked like whisker marks on his cheeks. The male set him on edge due the fact that he had a lot of knives attached to some straps that were under the coat. A strange sword belted to his waist, and he was carrying a rather large backpack.
The female had orange hair, and pointy ears, that was rather odd, he had never seen someone with point ears before, they were like the boy's whisker markings. She wore a short black jacket that was open showing a green tunic top. She wore a pair of dark trousers and a pair of combat boots. She was carrying a violin in what could only be described as a violin holster on her back.
Naruto and Kiva looked between each other before Kiva decided to speak, "We were wondering if you have any rooms" she said as clearly as she could, she may know the language but that didn't mean that her accent would make it easy to understand her.
"Yes there are rooms available, how many and for how long?" While the male did set him on edge, it was only slightly more than when he would have shinobi stay in his inn. And that was due to the fact that he couldn't see any markings on them that indicated that they were from Kumo. However if they were paying customers there was no need to toss them out. Money was money after all.
"So what do you think?" Naruto asked, "Will we be able to get a room with what we got?" it didn't matter to him in the end he could sleep on the ground, in his training with Clara he had been taught to sleep nearly anywhere that he could as long as it was safe.
Kiva thought over it for a moment, she had gauged the man's response on his reaction to them and while he seemed surprised if not slightly apprehensive he had not told them to leave. "I think it will, give me your backpack for a moment." She said.
Taking off his backpack he handed it over to Kiva, and watched as she tried to search through it, it may not be as good as Clara coat for storage, but it was better than his original pack.
Kiva opened up the pack and started to try and find there different coin pouches, "How much room do you have left in this?" she asked as she tried to shuffle through all the junk, it had blades, weapons, books, miscellaneous crap he had found such as empty boxes that looked cool, cutlery and an actual stick that he took off a tree.
"I think it is nearly full, I should probably clean it out." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he answered, the backpack could carry two hundred pounds of wait and only feel like ten pounds.
Sighing kiva found one of the pouches she was looking for, taking it out she removed two gold pieces from it, it was way more than what the room would actually cost, but there was no guaranteeing that the man would accept it.
"How much is a room?" Kiva asked as politely as she could.
The man behind the counter looked at her before answering "A room is fifty ryo double bed is sixty and two singles is sixty-five, two rooms are ninety."
'Well that helps a lot' thought Kiva sarcastically she was hoping to try and gauge what the currency might be like in comparison to theirs, though if she had to guess she would say that one ryo would be equivalent to one piece of silver, fifty silver was still a ridiculous price for a room, but it made more sense than it being fifty gold or fifty copper.
Naruto deciding that he had enough moved forward taking the two coins from Kiva, "us get with this?" He asked as he set one coin down.
Kiva could only shake her head at his attempt, "He means, what will this get us?" she said before turning to Naruto "It's your language how can you mess it up?"
The man looked at the coin on the table, he had never seen someone try to pay for something with only coins. He was about to admonish them and tell them to get out when he noticed that unlike the coins he was used to this one was gold. Picking it up he looked it over before biting on it, after checking it for a moment he handed it back to Naruto before saying "One moment" he left for a few moments before coming back with a small scale.
Taking the coin he weighed it and looked it over again. "I'll give you two rooms for it" he said.
The man had been surprised by the coin, he had to say that the pair either knew who to talk to or were extraordinary lucky that he had been on tonight. There were few in the village except the metal works, which could classify that they had actual gold pieces. The piece would have bought them four rooms, he figured if they had one they probably had more. But someone attempting to pay in gold probably new something about what they were doing.
He would have been willing to bet that the girl if not both of them knew that they were getting ripped off. He could of attempted to go higher but he figured it to be a fool's errand, he would make double the profit, and any higher and he would be likely to provoke some kind of action from them. He wasn't a fighter and he wasn't a fool. He would take his small victory and count his blessings.
The pair nodded to his words and he went to get them there keys, "top floor the last to rooms in the corridor." He told them.
Taking the keys the two made their way upstairs to find their rooms and get some sleep. They would have a long day tomorrow.
-()-
Omake
A new adventure, Part one
Naruto and Kiva had been traveling together for a few days, at every junction Naruto would repeat the process of tossing his sword into the air to find which way he would take. They had just gotten off the train at one of the junction towns and Naruto was currently sitting in a tavern playing at cards.
Traveling with Clara had been rather enlightening, you could find out many things in a tavern, if you knew to listen. But more than that there was always people who would mention something about jobs needing done. Or rumours that they had heard.
He was onto the third hand of the evening when he was approached at the table, "Come on I have something, it's not much but it will give us something to do." He heard Kiva speak from his side. He wasn't quite sure when she got there but that didn't matter at the moment. Setting down his cards he turned to the players.
"Well I'm out" he said as he picked up his winnings.
With that both left the tavern.
"So what is this work?" Naruto asked.
"The lord of Wrivenrun, which is a large settlement about a day from here by walk is trying to get some people to look into a problem that he has been having. So I figured why not check it out." She said as she began to walk forward.
Naruto thought about it for a moment seeing no problem he continued on. Shouldering the bag he got from the base for his books he followed after her.
-()-
The journey hadn't been long Wrivenrun had been day by walking considering standard pace, both he and Kiva could travel faster than that to make it in half a day. Though Kiva was catching her breath when they made it to Wrivenrun, and Naruto himself felt short of breath. Though he was doing better than Kiva.
"So how do we go about this?" Naruto asked.
"You see the building in the centre there?" she said while pointing to a large three story building, "that's where the lord is, so all we have to do is go there and tell them that we are responding to the lord's want for people." She said simply.
Naruto looked at the settlement, it was about the size of two villages. Not big enough to be a city, but bigger than what he had originally expected. All the buildings were built out of wood, with thatch roofs. There was a mixture of races in the village as well, which was always a good thing.
The pair walked through the streets and noticed children playing and running around looking rather happy, the town seemed peaceful and if they had to guess it was probably prosperous as well.
As they made their way to the main building where the lord resided they were stopped by a couple of guards.
"Halt!" one man said.
"What brings you here?" the other asked.
"Your lord wanted help, we came to help" Naruto said to the pair. Kiva sighed at how Naruto chose to answer them.
"What my friend means is that we are responding to the request that the lord of Wrivenrun is looking for some help with a problem." Kiva said.
The two guards looked at the pair, it was true that the lord had wanted help with a problem but these were two children who looked no older then fifteen. Both barely looked above five foot, what use could they be. The two were about to tell them to go on home that they had no use here when they noticed that the blonde one had not only walked past them but was in the process of preparing to kick, actually kick the main door open.
The two guards were about to move to stop him when they realised it was too late.
The main doors of the building opened with a sudden bang that brought the attention of everyone who was standing in the main corridor to the doors. They were surprised to see a boy of about five foot in height standing at the door.
Two men who had been standing a little further in the room quickly spun around in what seemed to be preparation for conflict.
"Good work Naruto that's how you show that your non hostile kick in the door" Kiva said in a rather sarcastic manner.
"What'd you expect the two idiots out there were about to tell us to leave. Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted.
"What are two children doing here?" that caught the pairs' attention as they turned to see two men standing in front of them.
The one on the right seemed to be in his thirties with long black hair, a scraggly beard, and robes of a mixture of colours, predominantly dark reds and greens. It seemed rather sore on the eye. He was also holding a long wooden staff.
The second man was younger seeming to be about twenty one or twenty two. He had short hair and was clean shaven. He wore chain mail, embezzled on his chest was a skeletal hand holding a pair of weighing scales. He himself was carrying a spear. His skin was a more ivory in colour, but the most noticeable aspect of him was the pointed ears, they were significantly more pointed than Kiva's
"Oy what do you mean 'what are children doing here', the guy in charge wanted help, we came to help. What's a pair of old timers doing here?" Naruto shouted his response.
The man holding the staff had put up his hand to stop any further outburst, "it would seem that we are both here for the same reason, so then we should proceed, and not keep the Lord waiting much longer."
"Before that all of you must relinquish your weapons here, you will be able to collect them on the way out." One of the guards said.
All four people grumbled for a moment before the oldest man walked up, he set down his staff on the table.
The next man came up and set down his spear.
The third to go was Kiva, who placed two daggers onto the table.
The final one was Naruto, walking up he set down his sword, he then took off his coat and took off his holster setting that on the table. Reaching down he pulled out a knife from his left boot. As well as taking another from his lower back. Before lifting his coat and placing it back on.
The two men and the guards stared wide eyed at the fifteen year old. They had noticed that the holster also had a hand crossbow on it as well.
"Okay can we go now?" The guard nodded and led the way through the hallways until they came to a grand room in the centre of the building.
The room was huge, it went all the way to the roof, where there was a skylight shining in. There were wooden pillars all down the aisles each adorned with symbols, shields and weapons. If Naruto had to guess each marking would have been contributed by the previous lords. He did find it funny that they take away their weapons only to place them in a room where he can easily get his hands on one.
"My Lord" the guard said. "These four are here to see you about the situation that has arisen."
The man was sitting on a wooden throne that looked rather lavish, it was made out of a hard wood and was varnished, letting it gleam in the light. The lord was a man in his fifties, he had slight greying hair and wore rather regal looking clothes. He looked at the four gathered before speaking.
"I am Lord Rothlan Highguard. The task that I have is rather simple, to the east of here is a cave that several of my men have vanished in. I have sent two search parties, and neither have returned. I want you to go and look into it." He spoke with a voice that suited his position.
The four gathered each had a different thoughts going through their head as his words. The two men looked between each other and Naruto and Kiva as if trying to size up each other.
The silence was broken however by Naruto, "What is in it for us, and will you be supplying transport to that place or will we have to make it ourselves."
"Upon the success of finding out what has been causing this problem and dealing with it you will be rewarded, we will provide you horses for the journey is there anything else?" Rothlan asked.
Again the four looked between each other, none having anything to say the oldest of the motley crew spoke, "It will be done." And with that he turned around and started to leave.
The second man nodded his head in agreement and left as well.
Kiva looked towards Naruto waiting to see his response, "Yea sure I'll do it" Naruto said before walking out. Kiva nodded along and followed, she didn't really have a care in this matter.
The four made their way back to the main entrance and picked up there stuff, as Naruto looked at his pile he realised something. "Who took one of my knives?" he said turning around.
"Pay up people I told you he would notice" one of the guards said, others were grumbling while a third handed over the knife that had been taken out.
As the group left Naruto felt angry that someone thought they could take one of his blades.
When they were outside Kiva decided to break the ice with a simple question. "My name is Kiva, what are your names?"
"Astros Raygol" said the man with the staff.
"Rathal Haladar" said the other man.
"Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto said at the end. Then a question popped into Naruto's mind that he wanted to ask.
"So which one of you actually gave up all your weapons when they asked for them?" he asked.
He heard all three members of the group chuckle, he knew Kiva hadn't, considering that Kiva primarily used her violin.
"A wizard boy is never far from a weapon as long as he can still channel" Astros said to him.
"Talamur protects me and gives me strength, even without my spear I am still his instrument." Rathal said. "Though did you not give up all your weapons, surely you couldn't have been hiding more."
Naruto looked at him before speaking, "If I have a blade hidden in one of my boots, why wouldn't I hide one in the other?" He asked.
That caused the men to chuckle, "I guess it's time to set off. The sooner we get there the sooner we get done" Astros said.
The rag tag group of two humans, an elf and a half-elf set off if only they knew what they had gotten themselves involved.
A.N
And that is chapter ten.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.