Azure King: Hot damn, I didn't expect you guys to like this much and as a reward I quickly made another so please enjoy!
As i said this is where some Dragon Age elements are going to happen. And its one of my personally favorites ones too.
I would also like to give thanks to my friend LuciusWalker who helped Beta this fic.
CHAPTER START!
Chapter 2: The Kind Princess, The Rising Templar Knight, and The Storyteller
"Finally~" Naruto groaned. After days of walking and running, he finally arrived at a city that looked a bit like his village back on his planet. It was all stone fortified, unlike Grace and Anna's village, and it had guards watching from above the walls, who were also making small patrols. Walking towards the gate, he saw a man standing in front of it, who took a step forward towards him.
"Halt, are you here because of the war?" he asked exhaustively, no doubt asking the question multiple times.
The blonde took out a small wooden object and presented it to the guard. His eyes widened a little, and he snapped out of his half-asleep state.
"...Alright, if anyone asks, you're my bastard son," he whispered, before looking back at the other guard. "Stay here, recruit, and you! Follow me." He led Naruto inside in a hurry, gaining them a curious look from the other guard.
Naruto wisely said nothing as he quickly followed the man through the gate. He was worried that the others might start asking questions, but nobody seemed to pay them any attention, especially him.
"Uh…" Naruto started, clearing his throat. "Why-?"
"I owe a favor to the man who has that symbol." He said, passing the boy his wooden icon. "Go that way and try not to make trouble."
"Uh yeah, thanks." Naruto told the guy awkwardly. "Where-"
"Just keep walking and take the first left turn. You won't miss it."
Taking the hint, the guard quickly returned to his post as the shinobi left for his destination. He noticed that the street looked noticeably fancier and cleaner than the ones he just walked through.
"I guess this place is it-"
"Runaway horse!" someone shouted from behind. The blond turned his head to see a cart with two horses running amok, running like a bat out of Hell.
"Ahh!" A young girl screamed as she tripped on the road. She stared at the horses in horror, knowing that she wasn't able to get out of the way in time.
Thinking quickly, Naruto rushed towards the fallen girl, hoping he would make it in time before she got run over. Quickly moving his hands to make hand signs, he took a deep breath, feeling the rising heat quickly brewing in his lungs.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb~!" Shouting out his new jutsu that he learned from Jiraiya during their training trip, Naruto spat out a large flame to stop the horse in their tracks. As they were about to turn and start to rampage the other way, Naruto unleashed a controlled amount of Killing Intent. "Stay!" The horses stopped out of fear, shaking in their place as Naruto turned to see the girl he saved.
He knelt down on one knee and extended his hand out to her. "Are you alright?" He asked, before noticing how...beautiful she was. The girl in question had long, wavy pink hair that fell all to the way to her lower back, which had a small gold tiara that complimented her blue eyes and the white frilly choker on her neck accessorized with a small necklace. Her dress of choice exposed her shoulders and a good amount of cleavage as her sleeves were puffed down to the frills on her wrists. The rest of her dress was white, with the bottom being frilly and pink.
"Y-Yes. Thank you for saving me," the girl said shakingly, no doubt still in shock from what would've happened if those horses continued rampaging throughout the town.
"It's no problem. You just have to be more careful next time." Naruto smiled at the girl, before pulling her up.
"I-I will, but it's odd," she started, looking at the knights reigning in the frightened and tamed horses back to the stables. "All my life I haven't seen any horses go wild in the kingdom." She shook her head to longer be troubled at the matter. "Still, as thanks, I need to repay your actions on saving me." She bowed her head in hopes he can take it. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Naruto shook his head as he spoke. "No it's fine, and besides, I can't let a girl who is younger than me do that… otherwise the other genin back home would laugh at me." he finished the last part to himself. The girl wouldn't have it, shaking her head as she grabbed his hands with her own.
"No, a hero like you needs to be given a proper repayment. As the princess of this kingdom I must do that at least," she declared with pride.
Naruto blinked as he just absorbed her words. "Y-You're a princess?"
"Yes I am," the girl said, before doing a curtsey as she bowed. "I am Princess Prim Fiorire. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
…
…
…
"…Please excuse me," Naruto muttered, before moving towards a dark alley. As soon as Prim lost sight of him, a loud shout came from the direction. "I FUCKING CALLED IT~! SUCK IT TEME, I SAVE A PRINCESS AND YOU GOT NOTHING~ KIBA SUCK IT HA~!" Walking out with comical pride in his stride, he smiled at Prim. "Well… I do want one thing." He said with a kind smile as the girl blushed with such a lovely look on his whisker cheeks.
"A friend would be wonderful…"
(FOUR MONTHS LATER)
"That's the boy," a female noble said, looking at the recent arrival of the kingdom's latest gossip. "It's such a shame he's not of nobility, I would have had him arranged with my daughter… or me."
"Ohh, you naughty girl," her friend said with a chuckle, although she also seemed to agree with the sentiment.
The young man sighed as he spent most of his time today doing nothing but running errands and trying to kill time. The last few months in this kingdom was something that killed Naruto's hopes, entering every inn, brothel (although they were really hard to find), escort, bar, and anywhere else that Jiraiya would've spent time in or have planted a spy in to have an ear on this ground. But no one had as so much even heard the name, or even any of the looks he could best describe. It was official that he wasn't anywhere near Elemental nations; this made him almost lose some hope on returning home. But nonetheless, he was a shinobi, and needed to adapt and survive.
After taking some time to gather intel of his own, he tried to enlist in the army when hearing the war that he often heard in Anna and Grace's village to help. Only to be shut down, as they didn't tolerate his lack of faith.
He passed the physical requirements with ease, even setting some new records along the way. The leader of the unit looked excited to recruit him, until he asked him if he believed in their Goddess Celestine or some other old, religious god. While Naruto didn't make fun of them or talked bad about their faith, he simply told them that he had no such faith (mostly cause he never even heard of them), and it was apparently enough for them to kick him out.
So he spent his time doing a small courier service in the city. With his shadow clones, it was making so much money that he was able to buy a nice room in the most expensive inn in the city. Hell, he had a maid to tend to his needs when he was home, although she was a bit too touchy at times. Hence why he was here, as she tried to ask if he… desired more primal urges. Thank kami that Sakura-chan or Tsunade-baa chan weren't in the same continent, otherwise he would have been sent here from their punch when hearing this.
Maybe I should've lied so I could enter the army. Naruto thought to himself with a sigh.
While lying was a good reason to get what he needed, at the same time he was a fellow loyal subordinate of his village, where they all believed in what the Third Hokage called 'The Will of Fire', so it would have been a slap to the old man's face if he didn't truly believe what they did. Oh well, what's done is done.
"Naruto~!"
His sad thoughts soon vanished slowly when hearing a lovely voice when he saw Prim, rushing towards him something that wouldn't be fitting of a princess.
"Oh hey- *POW!* OOF!" He grunted when his back suddenly met the stone pavement and with somewhat of a sickening crack to his back. In her haste, the girl seems to have tripped and crashed into the older blond, who grabbed her gently. "Oh! Ow! Ohhh! That hurts!"
"O-Oh sorry, it's just I am so happy. My cousin is here after getting a small break from her training as a Templar," she said, pulling herself away from the young man and dusting her clothing before anyone could see her shivering look.
"Your… cousin?" Naruto winced as he slowly tried to sit up. "This is a first for me."
She nodded, glee written all over her face, taking the seat next to him on the stone bench. "We're more like sisters, especially since her parents died in their kingdom. Our mothers said that if something ever happens to them, the daughter will be raised by the other family. She's older than me so it's like having a big sister I can look up too. She reminds me a lot of you, actually."
"Oh really?" He gave her a teasing smirk. "So I am guessing that's an insult to her being compared to a man?" he joked as the girl lightly slapped his shoulder. "Haha, so… you want to hear that Forbidden Lands story again?" he asked with a weary smile.
"Yes, please tell me more about it!" Prim hopped with excitement, sparkles in her eyes.
He then began to retell his tale about his awakening in the ruins. He, once again, didn't mention the part about him not being from their land, nor about him being somehow transported there. He did, however, tell her his time in Konoha, simply implying that he was from another country.
Despite the obvious class and social differences, the two grew quite close due to him always visiting him without missing a day so far.
There used to be a squad of knights accompanying her in the beginning, although the number of armored men gradually decreased, until it was just herself. Her parents eventually saw that Naruto was to be trusted… at least in their eyes. Naruto noticed the sneering looks the knights used to give him, both male and female.
It was something that he had to get used too...and was it wrong that it made him feel at home? Sweatdropping at the odd feeling, he ignores it to tell Prim his time at the Land of Snow. He enjoyed her awe from his storytelling, especially from the battle with the Snow Shinobi whose Chakra suits gave him and his team one hell of an annoying time to deal with.
"So thanks to… Sasuke, I was able to break the main asshole's suit and shot him into a giant mirror… generator thing." He said ignoring her confused look at the word generator. "But… we brought Spring to the never ending Winter and Snow to Koyuki's land."
Prim eyes softened at the lovely tell as Naruto blushed, "When I was recovering from my injuries, Koyuki came in and kissed my cheek," he said, missing a cute pout from the pink-haired princess. "First time I ever got a kiss from a real hime… uh, princess," he concluded. He noticed that the girl seemed… oddly upset?
"Uhh, you ok?"
Puffing out her cheek cutely she muttered, "...eks…"
"Huh?" he asked, before she turned to him, holding his face in her hands.
"I-I want to touch your cheeks…" she said as she proceeded to rub them.
"Purrrrr…"
…
They two looked at each other with wild red blushes on their faces when they saw and heard Naruto… making that noise when doing that. "That's it…" Naruto said with a twitching eyebrow before leaping at the girl who 'eepped'.
…
A lovely blonde woman looked around the area in hopes to find someone.
"Prim where are you?" she whispered softly as she continued to move on. This was the third time that she had to go look for cousin, and Prim always runs off somewhere. "Where could she be?" she whispered to herself.
"Ehehehe...stop it~" a soft female voice giggled as her laughter continued, with heavy breathing following.
"It's all your fault, y'know. So you have to take responsibility~"
The woman turned red at the conversation she heard, but… something isn't sitting well with her. It sounded familiar, at least the woman's voice behind all the laughter. "No, I shouldn't…" She said about to move on ahead and let the couple do… whatever lewd acts they were planning.
"Haha please stop Naruto, it's too much~"
Naruto? The woman gained a slightly hardened look as she turned back around.
"I knew the man was a pervert," she muttered under her breath. Despite her not liking the boy, she had to acknowledge that he did save Prim's life once, so she reluctantly allowed him to stay around her.
"Come on Prim, you started it…"
…
What?
The very ground underneath her feet seemed to sway as she finally connected the dots. It was Prim who was laughing, giggling, and...breathing heavily?
The woman blinked once, twice, and then started to run in a mad dash towards the voices. When she saw the blond teen on top of her younger and weaker cousin, she began to see red.
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY COUSIN!"
"Huh? Who-gah!" Naruto yelped as he only had time to see a pretty, blonde girl's face full of rage, before he got a punch to the face. He flew off of Prim and the bench they shared, skidding off the ground rather painfully.
"Get out of here," the blonde girl warned him, before moving onto Prim with a motherly and worried look. "Prim, its okay, he won't-"
"Naruto!" Prim said, moving her friend away as she ran towards the shinobi who was sitting up right from the damage he took. "I-I'm so sorry, Alicia didn't mean to do that! Are you okay?"
The young chuckled as he shook his head. "Y-Yeah. Wow...I never thought I'd be saying this in my entire life, but thank Kami for Sakura's punches. Compared to her knuckle sandwiches, this was nothing, really."
He then frowned as he realized just how often Sakura actually hit him. Before he could think about that aspect of his life, he noticed the blonde approaching them.
"W-What?" Alicia stuttered. "But, wasn't he-"
The girl shook her head frantically. "Naruto didn't do anything; he was just tickling me when I made him purr-"
"Prim~!"
"Oops~!"
"He… purred?" Alicia's eyes were now filled with bewilderment.
Naruto rolled his eyes before standing up while also helping Prim up. "Yeah it's called playing around. Seriously, you had to punch first, ask questions after? She can look after herself," Naruto said, making Prim smile at his praise until Alicia stepped forward.
"Sister, please don't," she asked pleadingly as the pink-haired girl moved between them.
Naruto although raised an eyebrow at the title, "Sister? I thought you said this girl was your cousin?" he asked as Prim nodded.
"She is, but her parents died when we were young, so my parents took her in." She smiled towards the older girl, who gave a smaller one in return. "We've been like sisters ever since. But… Alicia is a bit overprotective of me."
That made the blonde royal blush at this. "I-I am a knight Templar recruit, so I need to-"
"Templar?" Naruto echoed the word, and once Alicia realized that he wasn't kidding, she lifted her hand as a silver glow began emitting from it.
"Holy Knights who used Lyrium to make techniques to prevent the use of magic," she explained as the young man made a note on that. Since he has chakra it might be affected by this "Lyrium"… but at the same time, if she was able to learn this, perhaps he can as well.
"I see… I suppose that makes sense." Naruto nodded, before he glared at her. "Although that doesn't make us even."
"T-That's because-"
"Look, I didn't do anything to her, okay? I'm not that stupid."
The woman glared back at Naruto, her rage returning with more intensity. "Hey, she's my family! I don't tell you how you protect yours!" she shouted as Naruto slowly clutched his hands into a fist.
"...How long have you been a soldier?" he asked, taking a deep breath.
"Not long, at least a year. Why do you ask?"
Naruto nodded as he grinned. "Cool."
*POW!*
Alice's eyes widened as she folded over, courtesy of a surprise punch to her stomach. Looking down at her, he let out, "If you think I'm just going to take an undeserved punch and let it go, think again!"
Alice quickly recovered from the sucker punch, and rushed at him.
"Naruto! Alicia! Stop!" Prim shouted.
…
"Oww…" the two blondes groaned in pain as they licked their wounds. They spent the last hour beating the living shit out of each other. Although it ended in a draw, they both felt much better afterwards.
"Are you done?" Prim pouted sadly as she had just sat there, watching them duking it out for the whole hour.
"For now/Yeah…" Alicia and Naruto muttered at the same time. This prompted the male blond to chuckle. Whether Alicia would've done the same, he would never know. Before she could get a chance to either laugh along or glare at him, she clutched her head in pain, making him come closer to her.
"H-Hey, are you okay?" he asked her. He didn't think he hit her on the head that hard.
"N-Nehh… no, I'm fine. It's the Lyrium…" Alicia groaned, rubbing her temples religiously. "O mother of flames...I am a vessel for your infinite strength," she murmured as Naruto's eyes widened. That was one of the chants he heard when trying to become a member of the army.
"Uh… is she okay?" Naruto asked Prim as he eyed the blonde girl strangely.
Prim's sad gaze told him otherwise. "Templars need magical energy to cancel out other mages's magic, but...due to the requirements, no one with magical bloodlines are allowed to become Templars. So…"
"Lyrium?" Naruto guessed as he looked at Alicia, who slowly nodded.
The girl took out a crystal-clear vial filled with a glowing blue liquid. "It's magic… we drink it to absorb magic in its rawest state and expel it as an anti-magical field. Although many consider it a drug if not properly trained and if used too often," she admitted, knowing the boy clearly had never seen something like this before. "But… the first year is the hardest, as we try to take as little as possible and expel it so we can grow used to it instead of gorging ourselves, which would lead to addictions."
"Literally drunk on power, so-to-speak." Naruto frowned at this.
"Shakes, the feeling of hollowness, and yes, feeling powerful are obvious signs. I heard there was a knight who stole three months worth, and it took three battalions to kill him," Alicia said, before passing the flask to her cousin. "Prim makes sure to hide it, can't trust myself," she begged as Prim nodded. "I could become a Seeker if I can take only sips of the substance after my first year."
Naruto turns to Prim, who just shrugged on that word. Sighing, he helped Alicia up and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Bare with it…" he said before she could argue again. Glowing green chakra started to form in his palm. The blonde knight's eyes widened as the pain was receding faster than usual.
"What… is this?"
"Just shut up and let me work," Naruto said bluntly. Normally, Alicia would've begun chewing his head off for such blatant disrespect, but after seeing the amount of concentration in his face, she opted to hold her tongue. "Normally, this is used for healing injuries, but looks like it's helpful here too."
She didn't say anything, but allowed him to continue treating her. While a part of her was amazed at...whatever magic he was using to treat her, a part of her felt guilty for accepting this boy's help instead of suffering like her fellow comrades did.
...Still, she couldn't help but admit that this felt good.
"...nks," she barely managed to utter. Naruto didn't act like he heard her.
(MONTHS LATER)
"Parry!" Alicia shouted as her blade met Naruto's. While she was using her trusty sword, he was using two short swords to spar with her. "You have to stop locking blades, you need to-OOF!"
She gritted her teeth as Naruto kneed her stomach hard. Seeing his hand speeding towards her stomach once again, she braced herself for another punch to the gut, when-
"You-KYAA~!" she shrieked, blushing brightly as Naruto pulled down her battle skirt. "P-Pervert-!"
*CLANG~!*
In that split second where she tried to pull up her clothing, Naruto swung his blades so hard her sword left her relaxed grip. He swiftly moved behind her, locking her arm behind her back and placing a sword on her neck, making her sigh in defeat.
"I give…" she admitted in disgrace. Prim clapped her hands from a nearby tree that she used for shade and cover.
During the previous few months, the "sisters" grew close to Naruto, although Alicia was still apprehensive to the other blond at times.
"That was a dirty trick," she said, glaring at Naruto as he chuckled awkwardly.
"Sorry, I...used to live in a bad place, so I had to survive on those said dirty tricks."
His face turned solemn in that moment. During the previous few months, he learned just how different this place was from Konoha. While Konoha was a generally friendly place to live in, they still taught and encouraged the use of dirty tricks to gain the upper hand in combat. There was no such thing as honor and chivalry, since such things would only be used and taken advantage of by the enemy.
Obviously there were exceptions, but for the most part, it held true.
The young woman looked saddened at this, before she nodded.
"Fix that, that's all I have to say," she said, before finally acknowledging his new clothing. It certainly looked better than that...orange abomination he wore. "At least you actually look like a member of the city rather than some stranger from the outer countries."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Naruto said, smiling at the girls. After the first month of meeting Alicia and after helping her with her Lyrium problems, she asked her teacher to let Naruto live with her so that they could train together. It was surprising just how easily he took the training better than most recruits.
It was a shame that they were letting an amazing ally slip through their fingers, due to how overzealous the religious section of their army was, who was led by the idiots who wanted nothing but holy warriors.
"So, what's next?" Naruto questioned, his hands behind his back.
"We have an important family meeting to get to," Alicia said as Prim nodded. "We won't be back for a few days. It's essentially about how bad the war is getting, and how Prim might have to take up more active duties in helping out the city.
"I see. Well… have a safe trip then," Naruto waved, before he turned on his foot.
"Why don't you come with us?" Prim offered, causing Naruto to stop in his tracks and turned back around with a sheepish smile.
"As much as I want to, I… don't think I'll fit in," Naruto said, knowing how most of the nobility didn't want Naruto around. Class systems were worse here than in the clans back home. Some people like the Hyuuga elders were real assholes to anyone who weren't "worthy"...which was pretty much everyone else outside their bubble. Hell, they enslaved their own branch family members just because they happened to draw the shorter end of the stick at some point in history or something.
Sure, there were some people like the Nara or Akimichi clan, who were pretty chill and were kind to others, despite their strong bloodlines and the famous shinobi in their families. But here, it's only in books or fantasies that the royalty would dare consider giving him a time of day. Even Alicia helps the poor, but couldn't talk to them due to her upbringing, since it would make the other nobles think she might not be fit to rule if something should happen to Prim.
"Ohh…" Prim muttered as Alicia gave him a look of slight pity, knowing he was doing it for their sakes. "Please be careful," she said before bowing in the way his people would show respect to others - a gesture she recently learned from him - before leaving.
…
Morning turned to afternoon in a blink of an eye.
Naruto used his clones to do some last-minute courier work, while the real Naruto stayed behind and drank iced tea, which was something he thought was pretty sweet with a little bit of a sour taste. It kind of sucks that he couldn't eat his people's food, but shinobi can't be picky.
Besides, he was leaving soon, as unfair as it was for Prim and Alicia, so he would get to check out some new food later. While a part of him didn't want to leave, he couldn't stay forever, since he needed to find a way home. Hopefully, he would have enough funds to sail his way back to the Elemental Nations.
Naruto's body stiffened. Someone was near.
He turned around, and saw a short statured man walking towards him.
"Hello, might you be this Naruto fellow that more or less came to this city recently?"
"Uh… yeah, that's me." Naruto blinked, looking at the short man. "And you are?"
He studied the man, noting his admittedly handsome face matched well with his dirty-brown hair. He wore an open shirt that showed his hairy, muscular chest, suddenly making the other blond feel a little inadequate.
"Ah, my apologies. The name's Varric Tethras, a dwarf merchant." The merchant politely bowed. "When you shop for me merchandise, you'll find no better bargain."
"Dwarf…" Naruto parroted under his breath. That explained the man's height. It was one of the races both Anne and Prim taught him about. Dwarves were usually from an underground kingdom called Orzammaror or something. They were vertically challenged, as he could see, although he always assumed it to just be a stereotype. They were often noted for their quick wit, studious mind, and, surprisingly enough, a good pair of eyes.
Actually, now that he thought about it, there were two types of dwarves.
The most common ones were the surface dwarves, who, as implied by the title, lived above ground, and were most disliked by the underground dwarves. The surface dwarves were never usually allowed on the grounds of Orzammaror, due to them religiously believing that all dwarves must live and die in the underground stone city. That's why you would never see a "Orzammarorian'' Dwarf outside unless for very special reasons. It was usually only in times of war, or if they worked for the king to send a message.
There was usually one good way to tell which kind of dwarf one would be.
"You're not jumpy," Naruto murmured, and Varric let out a chuckle at his insightfulness.
As silly as it sounded, it was actually quite true. Those who leave the Stone City, or were banished would be quite jumpy by just being outside. It usually took years for them to adjust from constantly having a ceiling above them, since the first step would be for them to get used to having the pretty blue sky over their heads. Most actually were afraid that one false step would send them flying up into the air, with the infinite unknown swallowing them whole.
"Hahaha, no I'm afraid not, lad," Varric smiled. "Just your average dwarf here to make good business and an honest living."
Naruto wasn't so sure about that. Sure, he had an...odd crossbow-like weapon on his back, but that wasn't the main source of his suspicion. For one, he somehow knew him specifically, and sought him out specifically as well. Two, the way he carried himself told him that he had been through enough battles to be confident - or at least cocky - with some skills and scars to back up his composure.
"So...what say we go to the local bar? My treat, since I need to repay you for helping my friend."
"Friend?" He had no idea who this person could be referring to, but for now, he didn't appear to harbor any ill will towards him. "I'm not-"
"Come on now, I insist," Varric smiled rather cheerfully. "I always pay my debts, and it's never failed me before." Nodding to the rather charismatic dwarf, he followed Varric to the slums, making sure to hold onto a kunai as they walked.
"No need to carry a weapon, it's a lot safer than it looks," Varric said, waving at the local cartel and prostitutes as they walked by.
Naruto frowned at this. "You could never be too careful,"
"Hmph, true." Reaching a building where a statue above it had a man hanging by the neck with chains made the shorter man smile. "Ah, the Hanged Man. You won't find a better bar in this place."
"Sounds… ominous."
"Come now, lad. I told you, you're safe enough as it is." Varric chuckled reassuringly. "The folks inside won't bite ya."
Walking into the establishment made Naruto feel back at home in the red light district. From the men making moves on women for an easy lay, to the homeless eating the leftovers off of the plates, to even the rats mating in the corner, he admittedly felt more at ease here than out there.
"Hey barmaster, send me the least-worst tasting grub you got to my room," Varric ordered, passing five silver coins to the man, who easily caught it without looking.
"Least-worst tasting?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
The man shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "What can you do?"
"It's what you get in the slums, and something tells me you used to eat worse," he said, once again stunning the blond. He was really able to guess his past life more easily than most people could.
"I uh…" Naruto tried to say something, but was unable to.
"Heh… " Varric just chuckled again as he walked upstairs, where they sat in a rather nice room in a crappy bar. "Welcome to my humble and temporary abode, please have a seat and take a load off."
"Nice place…" Naruto managed to say honestly.
The dwarf gave him a smirk, before it was replaced by a somber look of respect. "First of all...thanks for saving Blondie for me, or, as you would call her, Anna," he started. Naruto's eyes widened a bit, before he nodded in return. "Yeah, that friend was her. Knew her husband while he was still alive. Good man...needed to settle that debt."
"I see…" Naruto nodded. "I guess that explains how you know me."
"Yeah. I actually knew about you from the minute you entered the city. You remember the guard that helped you in? Yeah, he owes me one too," he chuckled, placing his hands on the table. "That's how I also learned that you got rejected by the army 'cause of their dumb criteria."
"Yeah~" Naruto looked away as he blushed, scratching the back of his head. "That was an embarrassment."
"A shame. They don't know what they're missing," Varric shrugged his shoulders. "You would've been a good asset on the battlefield, even if they did somehow stuck you in the infantry."
"Right…" Naruto sat there in awkward silence, until he cleared his throat. "So anyways, what's the real reason for our meeting?"
Varric nodded. "Truth be told...I want your powers. I heard you're stronger than the average individual, and had connections, since you knows both Princesses, and-"
He stopped when Naruto placed a knife under his chin. But the young man looked down when he felt something on his chest, and it was Varric's odd crossbow that made it in front of the blond's chest in equal speed, placing them in a standoff.
"Wanna let me finish?" he said with an eerily calm tone.
"..."
Seeing as how the young human was still on edge, he lowered his weapon first. "I just wanted some intel about things like patrols, not about the girls. I'm not that kinda guy," he explained as Naruto slowly lowered his knife.
Varric rubbed his chin, still feeling the tip of the sharp blade on his skin. "Thanks. I'm still gonna need my handsome face, you know."
"So what do you want?" Naruto asked, keeping the kunai in his hand.
"I… am a rather bored and fickle Dwarven man. I'm getting out of the merchant business, but I need to settle some affairs. You see, I rubbed a lot of nug-huggers the wrong way when I left during the big cartel war back at the Stone City of Orzammar."
Naruto stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, before pulling back the kunai and placing it back in its place. "Say that I do believe you… what's in it for me?"
"Well, besides access to one of the largest spy networks on this side of Eostia, I'm also very handy with Bianca here~" he said, gently petting the weapon in his arms lovingly.
...It was honestly a bit disturbing to watch the man treat his crossbow like a cat.
"Say hello, Bianca~" he cooed, making the crossbow "nod" at Naruto.
Again, Naruto had no words, simply moving out of the line of fire.
"But in all seriousness...how about becoming a part of a team of mercenaries?" Varric stated while taking out a couple of playing cards. Naruto recognized these cards from a very complicated but fun game he recently played called "Wicked Grace." These two cards were the cards of Sword and Bow. "It's a great way to make money and gather some intel for your search for the place you're looking for. How about it?"
Naruto frowned as he took the suggestion to heart. Indeed, having a spy network is always useful, and on top of that, having some powerful allies on the side isn't a bad deal either.
"You're… a very convincing man," Naruto admitted to the Dwarf, causing him to laugh.
"I told ya, when you're shopping for me merchandise, there's no better bargain than what I have. So whaddya say lad? We got a deal?"
Naruto stood up, and shook hands with the man in front of him. "Deal, Varric."
Gladly adding pressure, for assurance, he nodded right back to the teen, "Alright, let me be the first to tell you this. When you make a deal with a Dwarf its lifelong promise."
(FEW DAYS LATER)
"Done," Varric grunted as he pried a key off of a dead man, before passing him to Naruto. "We're done, that was the last Duster." He chuckled at the sight of the blond being covered head to toe in ash and soot. "Kahaha...I tried to tell ya, Whiskers. Dusters have explosives."
Naruto rolled his eyes before looking at the key. "So this is…?"
"It's a loot key belonging to the local Carta, who are a bunch of Dwarven smugglers. It's going to be enough for us to start it," Varric said as he and Naruto went to a wall where he crudely kicked a rock...which started to move the stone walls to show a hidden door. "Called it; I wrote way more elaborate ways to hide treasures."
The young man watched Varric as he entered the secret room. He was a friend in every sense of the word, but Naruto still kept him at arm's length.
He noticed that Varric never spoke the whole truth, and knew that he was willing to lie, and was an expert teller of tall tales.
Still, the entire time they were together, they did help lower the crime rate in the city, even if it was only to help gain his trust and to help gather a large amount of funds for the two of them.
"So this is it?" Naruto asked his ally, who nodded. "Kinda feels anticlimactic," he mused as the two grabbed anything of value in the room, ranging from golden items, coins, and everything else that looked expensive.
"The less dramatic it is, the better. That means the bastards are going to have one hell of a time finding us, and figuring out our plans," the Dwarf declared as they left the area, both smiling at their successful mission.
Despite his suspicions for the Dwarven man, they did get along pretty well, with the two of them being generally carefree, frequently joking as they kicked butt.
"Are you going to say goodbye to the girls before we head off?" the shorter of the two asked him.
The Konoha shinobi sighed on the inside from that reminder, his good mood fading. Today was the day that Prim and Alicia came back. Originally, he wanted to leave before they returned from their trip, knowing that saying goodbye would be very painful.
"Listen, kid." All mirth was gone from Varric's beardless face, replaced by a serious look that a father or an older brother would give to their son/younger brother. "You need to say goodbye, otherwise you're never going to get over it. Besides, I'm not going to partner with a man who breaks a lady's heart like that. Believe me, it's best to say your goodbyes before you regret it for the rest of your life."
Naruto let out a frustrated groan, before he let out a sigh of resignation, walking towards the gate. When he realized that his partner was following him, he stopped to ask, "Can you-"
He didn't need to say any more, since the man nodded, backing off.
"Yeah, alright, I'll leave you be. Besides, I need to go sell our loot and get more supplies for the journey."
With their agendas in mind, the two temporarily parted ways, with Naruto continuing towards the gate.
The Rogue Dwarf smirked at the blond. "Man, he'll be an interesting hero to tell stories about," he chuckled, before heading to the merchant guild to do business one last time before leaving.
[THE GATES]
Riding inside a horse drawn carriage were the two "Princess Sisters" that were returning to their home.
"I hope Naruto was alright with us being away so long," Prim said softly as Alicia sat next to her. The two were the first to head back while Prim's parents continued talking to her former home's current leader Beardsley. She never felt right staying in that place; originally, she was supposed to live in the kingdom, until Prim's family gave her the chance to be with them, which she took, since she adored her cousin dearly.
Adoring her childlike innocence, she swore on the day that she met the pink-haired girl that she would protect it at any cost, always chasing off any leering eyes and any men of any age who would dare to come close enough to share her air. For the past few years, she's succeeded in chasing off every man away from Prim and herself - until now.
As much as she hated to admit it, the blond boy did begin to grow on him. He was a fellow warrior that didn't care whether you were a man or a woman, rich or poor; he treated everyone the same, with only certain others getting some more or less levels of respect. He's been around for so long that she actually began to feel...bored when she wasn't with Prim, as she wanted to train with him. They weren't exactly good friends...but at the same time, they were in much better terms than before.
Her right eye twitched as she stared out the carriage window, remembering her...not so graceful first meeting with him. She can admit when she was wrong, and as much as it pained her to do so, she was wrong for hitting him like that in their first meeting.
"Hey guys!"
The two of them sighed softly, with Prim's being more dreamy than Alicia would've liked. Prim longed to see her beloved, mutual friend, and it honestly hurt her heart the entire journey to not have him by their side. The boy- no, man - she grew to know and reluctantly care for has done a lot for them, with the young man even teaching Prim some self defense techniques - something she herself failed to do. Naruto treated her normally- not as a princess, but just as Prim.
The two-
"WAIT, YOU GUYS!"
The two braced themselves as their ride halted to a screeching stop. Alicia instinctively gripped her sword until she remembered who was outside of the carriage. The two stepped outside, rushing to meet Naruto, who looked out of flustered and out of breath.
"Is something amiss, Naruto?" the usually stern Alicia asked in slight worry as Naruto shook his head.
"No, I'm...whew, I should really join the clones in doing runs. I'm out of shape…" Naruto chuckled as he caught his breath. "I'm leaving." He said bluntly as the girl in front of him looked shocked at his words. "I'm going to start a mercenary brigade, because… I need to find my way home."
The blonde knight's lips made a tight line, who knew that this day was coming. "Are you sure that you want this path? I can ask our teacher to-"
"No," Naruto shook his head. "It's...It's not that. I need to go out...and see the world." He cursed himself for being unable to speak the truth. But how was he going to say that he was most likely never going to return? "But...I'll try to see you two as often as possible."
Before Alicia could say any more, Prim walked towards him with a sad look on her face.
"Naruto…" she said as the young man struggled to look at her in the eyes, biting his lip.
"Sorry...I was planning on leaving before you guys came back, but a friend told me to be a man and say goodbye," he confessed as the pink haired girl smiled at his reason for telling them. "So-"
"Wait here," she ordered softly, but sternly. Moving back to the carriage, she soon returned with a large bag of coins. "Here, 20 gold coins, along with a large amount of silver and coppers as well."
Both blonds eyes went wide at the mention of the amount. That's almost enough to have a nice house and live in peace without working for a year at most. To give him this much was…
"Consider it a down payment for future services," she said with a cute smile as Alicia also gave the same, and stood next to her. "Please take it…"
The young man felt his eyes begin to moisten as he accepted the bag.
"Thank you, Prim, Alicia. I swear that I'll repay you two one day," he vowed as he hugged the two, making the duo blush. "I promise…"
The two, hearing his sad tone, gently returned the hug.
The minute they finally broke apart, they saw Varric walking towards them.
"Yo, Whiskers, you done with the goodbyes?" he asked as Naruto nodded, who pocketed his gift. "Well, c'mon! Let's get going."
Naruto nodded as he followed the man to leave the gates, although not before giving the two Princesses one last wave of goodbye. Alicia looked at her cousin, before wrapping her arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be back. He's too stubborn to die."
Prim looked at her cousin, before giggling softly. "I think that might be the first nice thing you ever said to a boy, Ali," she said in between laughter, making Alicia stutter at her words.
A man standing in front of the castle walls gazed at the blond man and the Dwarf, who were walking down to the fields towards Anne's village.
"Every age seems to have a foolish man trying to bring ruin. This should be interesting." And with that, the man's body slowly sank into the darkness, his laughter echoing throughout the air.
Far away, Naruto felt a chill crawl down his spine.
AK: Now we get to Naruto traveling and the plot really starts. Please review and like before more reviews faster updates, the next few chapters will be Naruto gaining more allies and knowing more of the Girls. so be prepared for that.