"Wow, you look like shit."
I looked toward the door from my sitting position to see Elizabeth standing there in the same armor I saw her in before, looking at me with a smug grin on her face.
"Yeah, well, I wonder whose fault that is." I responded with a bit of irritation present in my voice.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you." she said while putting her arms up in a placating gesture."How you feeling?"
"Fine, nothing's broken...anymore." I responded before asking,"Out of curiosity, how long was I out?"
"A day." she said, almost causing me to do a spit take. "You've slept for almost 24 hours now, though most of that is because of the magic we cast on you to keep you under while we healed you. You wouldn't think so, but healing magic actually hurts a lot more than you'd think."
I guess I can see that. From what it sounds like, they forced my body to repair damaged tissue at a rate it wasn't supposed to do so. They may have even repaired damaged nerve endings that flared up upon growing back.
"Jesus...then did I miss anything important?" I asked.
"Nothing much, just the standard gossip about our fight and the Fall of Lescatie. It has become big news in Lutemarch." she answered while crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame.
"Oh, I see." responding with a limp nod and look over at my equipment which was leaning against the wall by the table. It seems they didn't touch much of it as nothing looked immediately out of place, though I'd have to look it over later to ensure nothing was missing.
"Also, Isaac…" Elizabeth drawled with an almost concerned look on her face. "I wanted to apologize." she got out while sighing.
"For what? Breaking my arm?" I asked.
"Oh no, you accepted the fight, so that's on you." she said without skipping a beat, causing me to give her a look of annoyance while she merely continued as if nothing happened."I talked with Roland, and I think I've come to understand why you did what you did. You know, with Lescatie?"
She sighed before continuing,"I forget you humans have a lot more to worry about when it comes to fighting mamono like the ones with the Demon Lord, so I'm sorry for insulting you about it." she finished before rapidly shaking her head back and forth and looking at me with a red tinted face."There, I said it! Now you can't say I didn't!"
I almost chuckled at that because of just how cute she looked. Fuck, there it is again. Why did I think that?
"It's okay, I forgive you. Sorry for getting so angry at you over it." I responded in kind. I may not have meant that entirely, but she's clearly trying to bury the hatchet and I could always use more meat shields.
"Oh, don't worry about it." she responded while waving her hands,"I got a really good fight out of it, so I'm more than happy."
Oh yeah, she's big into that, isn't she? Then I guess I gave her just what she wanted.
"Welp, no use lazing in here anymore, time to head out." I said while moving to my stuff.
"We went ahead and glanced over your stuff when we got it off of you, but couldn't make sense of most of it except for a strange, magical rock. You'll have to tell me about the different pieces you have." she said while pushing herself off the door frame and standing up right.
Strange, magical rock? Oh yeah, the piece of the arch. The fucking thing that got me into this damn mess in the first place. If they say it's magical in nature, then can they possibly use it? If they could use it, or at least reverse engineer it, then I may have my ticket out of this place.
"Although, we did recognize one thing." she said while holding something up in her hand. Looking back after getting my pack and everything else reequipped, I saw what she was holding.
It was the Monster Girl Encyclopedia.
"Oh yeah, found that thing laying around and, once I saw what was in it, was blown away by the amount of information." I said while looking at her. I noticed something on her face as I did so, though. It was almost like a hint of worry.
"I know, this book has a lot of useful information for dealing with mamono, but you need to be careful with it." she said as she handed it back to me.
"Why? Is it cursed?" I asked in an almost joking manner. But the look on her face told me she was being completely serious.
"No, but it is considered to be blasphemous by the Order, and they will not take kindly to seeing it in your possession." she said with a serious tone.
"Blasphemous? You don't mean…" I trailed off considering the implications.
"Yes, if that book is found on your person by Order soldiers or followers, even in non-Order territory, you will be accused of heresy and high treason against the Chief God." she said before continuing,"You will likely be either arrested and taken back to an Order dungeon to await public hanging, or you will be killed on the spot."
What? WHAT!? You're telling me that these religious nutjobs are so fucking incompetent that they would see this book as not the invaluable piece of intel that it is, but instead a sin against their deity? They'd willing overlook a book all about their sworn enemies strengths and weaknesses just because it was deemed an affront to their God? Why? My frustration and desperate need for answers must have been clear on my face as Elizabeth gave me a look of understanding and spoke.
"They seem to think that, since it outlines everything about mamono, including their mating habits and sexual appeal, it encourages people to seek out mamono for companionship and disobey the Chief God's teachings." she explained with a sigh.
"Fuck me, no wonder the Order is getting their asses kicked…" I wondered aloud. If they'd forgo such a valuable piece of information like this book because of a stupid reason like that, then what other stupid decisions have they made?
"I need a drink…" I said heading for the door to move past her after putting the book back into my bag. I'll have to resolve to read it later.
"Wait, maybe I can help with that." Elizabeth said while stopping me with a hand on my right shoulder.
I turned back to her with an inquisitive and tired look on my face before she continued,"I was actually about to go and hit up my favorite tavern with my friends and thought you might wanna join." she said with a smile.
She's offering to take me out drinking? Normally, I'd steer clear seeing as how we were at each other's throats not too long ago. However, with how hard she's trying to make up with me, and the fact that I really need a drink after the shit of the past several days, I decided to take her up on her offer.
"Sure, why not." I said, and hey, with all that liquor flowing, maybe some juicy info will flow out with it.
"Alright, let's hurry, it's still happy hour!" she said cheerily as she led me toward the exit to the barracks, which I finally realized I was still in. She led me down the now rather dark streets as I looked around and took in the sights a bit better. The town was a lot nicer than I was expecting with neat, cobblestone roads and two-story, clean buildings running up and down either side. If I didn't know how small the town was, I'd think it was a wealthy city. Guess The Guild is a lot more well off of a nation then I thought. I'll have to look into it later and try to figure out how things are run here.
After a bit of walking and a bit of weird looks from drunk passersby, we eventually reached a bright building with jovial chatter coming out and a sign hanging over the entryway. It seemed to have a logo that looked like a massive tankard of ale with an arm rising out of it gripping a longsword. Under it was the name "The Lady of the Keg", which I assumed was the name of the tavern.
"Come on, let's go." she said ushering me in with both hands on my shoulders. My eyes came to look over the large gathering of merry people, big and small, human and mamono, celebrating and drinking together in a show of camaraderie I haven't seen before in a long time. It's almost like it was one big, happy family. As soon as we entered, a few eyes looked over to us, but one of those pairs belonged to a young man that instantly raised a commotion the moment he saw us.
"Hey, that's the guy who fought Elizabeth!" he said with a look of what looked like awe. As he called that out, almost everyone in the bar came to rest their gazes on me and looked on with an awkward silence.
"Um, hello…" I tried to break the tension with a greeting, but royally fucked it up. Shit, I really need to work on my socializing skills…
"Hey everyone, how are y'all doing!?" Elizabeth popped out from behind me and yelled while waving with one hand and keeping her other on my shoulder. At her greeting, many of the people began to lighten up and greet her back.
"Doing just fine, girl!"
"I'm great! Thanks for asking, Lizzy!"
"Elizabeth, over here!"
Everyone resumed their happy-go-lucky attitude before and began drinking again. Elizabeth began pushing me towards an occupied table against a wall as I sighed at my poor performance handling all those eyes on me. I sat down at the table with Elizabeth taking the seat next to me as I examined the other occupants.
To my right was Elizabeth, but to my left was a man with blonde, scraggly hair, blue eyes, blue robes, and large, blue book on his belt. He looked to be older than me by around 5 years. To his left was a blue skinned, clearly drunk woman with black hair, yellow eyes, two steel war axes and not much in the way of clothing besides a bunch of animal skins covering her naughty bits. She looked to be the man's age as well and seemed to have two horns growing out of her head. Finally, to her left and Elizabeth's right was another girl who seemed to be about my age as well as an elf given her pointy ears. She wore modest, green tunic with a brown skirt and seemed to also have black hair with a longbow and a quiver of arrows on her person.
I realized that I actually recognized her from the day I came into Lutemarch. Yeah, she looked like she was about go to town on those Order goons along with that red-haired dwarf from the duel.
"Hey guys!" Elizabeth said while sitting down,"Where's Olgierd?" she asked while looking around.
"He couldn't make it, I'm afraid. Had some extra work he had to take care of, from what I understand." the blonde spoke before turning towards me. "So, this is the man who gave the great Elizabeth a run for her money."
"I still lost." I said while shrugging my shoulders.
"Still, to last that long and do that much damage to Lutemarch's best warrior is really something else." he explained while looking at me.
"Indeed," the elf added on,"Not even Roland has put up that much of a fight. You must be rather skilled."
"I'll say!" the blue skinned girl said while hiccuping."Lizzy here ish not a fuckin' push over." she yelled as she slurred slightly.
"Thank you, but I don't think I got your names." I thanked before asking.
"Oh, these are my old party members! That's Maverick, the Oni is Tsubaki, and she's Sally." Elizabeth told me while pointing to the blonde, blue-skinned girl and elf respectfully.
Party members? What is this, an RPG?
"A pleasure to meet you, Isaac. I'm told you're the one who reported the Fall of Lescatie." Maverick said.
"I am, and I'm also kind of new here and in desperate need of a drink." I responded while looking to Elizabeth. In response, she just laughed and waved over to the waitress so we could take our orders. It didn't take long before we got our drinks, whiskey being mine, and we began to drink and chat.
"So Isaac, tell us about yourself." Elizabeth said after slamming her tankard on the table with a satisfied grin.
"Yes, I'm curious what culture you come from that has such...unique clothing." Sally said as she addressed me. Oh boy, what am I going to tell these people?
"Well, I hail from a dead village on the border of the desert region and the southern territories of Lescatie." I began, recanting the lie I started with Elizabeth,"With the threat of the Demon Lord's army becoming ever more present as the days went by, I saw it fit to begin heading northeast in an attempt to avoid the war. My goal was to reach the city of Lescatie first before continuing on to The Guild. Unfortunately, the war had already set it's sights on the city, and I had to turn and head immediately eastward once I saw what had befell the city before I had arrived."
I saw Elizabeth looking at me out of the corner of my eyes. Obviously, she knew that part was a lie and that I knew all along what was going to happen, but did nothing. Hopefully she understood that I am merely omitting that part in order to keep another argument from breaking out.
"So, I turned tail and immediately headed here, but got jumped by a small scouting party under one of the Demon Lord's generals. That's when Elizabeth here saved me and escorted me back to Lutemarch." I finished.
"Interesting, to think that scouting parties would already be this close." Maverick seemed to muse to himself as Tsubaki hiccuped again and made to wrap her hands around his shoulders."Do you remember which general they worked under, by any chance?"
"Yeah, I think they said something about a Druella." I answered honestly.
"The Demon Lord's Fourth Born, a very powerful Lilim." Sally stated while looking toward Maverick,"If she really is behind the invasion, then she may seek to gain the support of Lutemarch rather than invading."
"How do you mean?" I asked, intending to get as much information as I can.
"Most Lilim have nothing against the nations independent from the Order, such as The Guild. That means she'll most likely try to pull what the Order is doing and peacefully occupy Lutemarch and other Guild territories in order to get a better stranglehold on the Order's capital and cut off trade routes." she explained.
"I see, but that doesn't guarantee that she'll treat Guild citizens amicably, nor does it mean she'll pull out once the Order is dealt with." I muse to myself.
"Indeed, and knowing the council, they'll probably refuse both factions in an attempt to remain neutral." she finished.
That may mean that Guild territories could end up like World War 1 Belgium with all the atrocities included if the invading force is the Order. I'll have to keep a close eye on the situation and try to keep myself from getting dragged into a war I want no part in.
"Aww, stop being so serious, you guys!" Elizabeth said while finishing her drink."Isaac, I more wanted to know where you learned to fight like that. Some of your moves were pretty dirty." she said in a playful tone.
"You're one to talk." I responded with a bit of my own snark and an attempt to deflect the question back at her."The rules clearly said no magic, and yet their you were pulling a fiery tornado out of nowhere."
"Ha! That wasn't magic!" she said before continuing,"See how my tail is on fire? Well, I just spun myself really, really fast while holding my sword in a particular stance to perform that special technique. Combine that with my fiery tail, and you've got one spicy vortex of pain!"
I almost looked at her with disbelief before Maverick came to her defense."It's true, Elizabeth was trained deep in Mount Malak by a dragon, if you can believe it. Not a hint of magic in her fighting style."
Sounds impressive. That is, if dragons are as amazing here as they are back in Earth fiction.
"Oh yeah? If she's so masterfully trained, than how was she hurt by a lowly human?" I asked in a joking manner, starting to feel the drink get to me.
"That's because her fighting style is meant to be extremely lethal. She has to hold back by an insane amount so that she doesn't kill her opponents by accident." Sally explained as I almost paled, though no one could tell thanks to my balaclava covering my face when I wasn't taking sips.
"Yep, ol' Lizshy is tough ash shit, and don't shyou forget it!" Tsubaki said before burping loudly and snuggling up to Maverick with a large smile on her face.
"What's wrong, Isaac, scared now?" she said while giving me another teasing look.
"Nah, I've seen worse." I said as I finished my second drink.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" she said with a big, stupid grin on her face.
Wait, shit, I just dug my own grave, didn't I? Everyone looked on expectantly as if I was going to tell some cool, adventure story. If I could, I would. Hell, it'd probably even help with the nightmares, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that if I do tell them, and the Foundation finds out about it, I could be in for a world of shit. Quick, I need to deflect onto another person or subject and stop drinking so much before it causes even more problems.
"It's...not important." I awkwardly said as I tried to think of something else to talk about. Thankfully, Maverick beat me to the punch as I saw Tsubaki getting rather touchy-feely with him. She even tried to snake one of her hands into his pants.
"Actually, I think we're going to have to call it here for tonight. Tsubaki's getting kind of restless, and if we keep going, we may just have a problem on our hands." he said while getting up from his seat."Isaac, it was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope we can speak more sometime in the future." he finished before walking Tsubaki out of the bar.
"I should probably get going, too." Sally said while standing up,"Nice seeing you both."
"Likewise" Elizabeth and I both said at the same time which caused us to look at each other as Sally left the bar. Elizabeth snorted before speaking to me,"Isaac, I should probably go, too. I can pay for your drinks, but getting a room is on you. This place doubles as a pretty good inn, though, so you should be fine." she finished before we both got up and began to walk away from each other.
"Okay, and Elizabeth...thanks." I said with a genuine thanks I hadn't done in a long while. Not since I started hanging out with...Julius.
Expunging that tinge of sadness I felt at thinking about him, I quickly turned my attention back to Elizabeth who just smiled and waved back to me before showing herself out of the bar.
Afterwards, I found myself in a bar that was slowly becoming less and less busy. Walking up to the counter, I was able to get myself a room for 4 gold pieces. After quickly paying with the money from the looted coin purses, I found my way to my assigned room and quickly went in, locking the door behind me. I then sat on my bed and realized that I was finally, properly alone again with my thoughts and would not be disturbed. Not only that, I found myself not as tired as I would normally be thanks to my extended nap at the barracks.
With those facts on my mind, I went to assess and organize my thoughts and possessions for my coming days in this new town I found myself in.