Chapter 3: A Single Step

As L'Arc and Christopher drew closer, Naofumi watched Raphtalia have a practice match with Hendricks. She was matching him, testing his technique. He had been surprised initially at seeing how similar their technique was, but upon further consideration, he shouldn't have been. Dealing with a finite shape, and the attempt to move it as quickly through the air towards another object as possible, the laws of physics still applied, if only loosely.

That had been his first concern when they'd started. In her world, Raphtalia had maxed out her level, and that added some amount of movement speed and strength. In this world the difference was much more noticeable. It only took a moment for her to recover after the first movements, but he was interested to see the difference for each of them. Perhaps they had been covering more ground than he thought? Would they reach Orario sooner than a month?

L'Arc walked with Christopher like they were old friends, but his expression hardened a little on catching Naofumi's eye. He kept talking as they walked forward, but he stood more alertly. They had to work together, but neither side was ready to befriend the other, no matter how easily the man chatted with Raphtalia. It made him uneasy, to have her so readily accept the man.

"Have you gotten to the food yet?" Christopher asked as they joined him, L'Arc watching Raphtalia drill with Hendricks. The man must see what he saw.

"Not yet, but she's having a better time out there than having a meal. She loves the sword, and a few days without it has left her itching to train. I'll prepare whatever food you have, if you'd like." Christopher nodded, then walked to the front door, and pulled it open. L'Arc stayed watching the training, and Naofumi followed Christopher in.

The house was empty. It had furnishings, chairs, rugs, a dining room, but it was empty, a structure without inhabitants. There was dust on the floors in the common area, but the table and kitchen looked as though they'd been used recently. The inhabitants were gone, and had been for a while.

"Whose house is this?" He asked, watching Christopher. The man slumped just a little.

"This was the Antleri's home." He said as he worked.

"They were friends of yours?"

"Yes." The man pulled some vegetables from a cabinet and began peeling and slicing carrots, onions and turnips. Naofumi joined him, curious.

So there were still monsters that killed villagers in this world. Naofumi remembered the village… The grandmother who had...

He shut the thought down savagely.

"Do you have any messages you would like us to take to Orario?" Perhaps these little offers of friendship wouldn't be too much. Christopher kept moving, but he was silent for a long time.

"Perhaps. I'll think about it." The man seemed colder than he had before. Something L'Arc had said?

Naofumi didn't want to be so suspicious of the man… but how could he not be? He had no interest in befriending this local noble, but would L'Arc set them up in a way as to be rid of them? He didn't care what he thought, but… if L'Arc did something that would hurt Raphtalia…

Naofumi felt the familiar rage inside him and moved instinctively to reject the Curse Series. It didn't appear in his vision. The rage remained, and the bitterness, but he could not put it away or bring it forward with the simple selection screen any longer. It was just there, inside him. He would have to find a new way to put away that anger. To mask it at least.

Christopher looked up and saw his face before he figured it out. He was a good man, perhaps better than they deserved to have encountered so soon. Goddess Ishtar may actually have been looking out for them, to send them here.

"I…" Naofumi struggled to find the words. "I have lost people in the past."

Christopher hesitated for only a moment, then nodded. He kept peeling the vegetables, and Naofumi began chopping. For a moment he was able to ignore the rage, the grief, and the trepidation. He could put it away, and think only of chopping and the crash of Raphtalia training outside, but it still simmered under the surface.

Raphtalia swung the practice sword, and it connected with Hendricks'. It rebounded, and she twirled it in her hand, bringing it back, between the two of them. She was much faster than the man. It had been a bit of a shock at first. Even at a high level in her own world, she was not this fast. Not even close to this fast. Nor as strong. Every strike, every slash, every turn, she was arriving fast enough to have 'killed' him with every movement. She could have powered through any of his attacks, crumpling the man's defense or outright disarming him with every blow, from every angle. It was disconcerting.

She'd been powerful, both in class and in skill. Statistics didn't matter, they were nearly the same for everyone. It was skill and teamwork that made the difference. This world was different, very different, and here it seemed as though statistics mattered. Greatly. She didn't know what her's were, or even how to check them, but hers had to be high. Hendricks was good, she could tell just seeing him that first time, working with Christopher. He was not in her league here. Still, it was a chance to use the sword.

"Raphtalia! The food is ready!" Naofumi called from the house. She didn't even think about it, she turned and looked.

CRACK!

Hendricks' wood sword slapped against her arm.

In amazement she looked down at her arm, where there should be a red welt and blood. There was nothing. She had felt it only for a moment, then it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Are you…?" Hendricks' surprise was evident, as was L'Arc's, who had been sitting, watching, from a seat beneath a tree.

"Raphtalia! You can't let your guard down! Ever!" L'Arc was striding towards them. "Sorry Hendricks. We are all close to hitting level 2."

"I'm so sorry! I'm so used to training with L'Arc that I forgot." She bowed, blushing. Level 2?

"It's fine, I drilled with an adventurer back in Rakia. It shocked me the first time I saw him do something like that. Are you sure you are ok though?" He looked a little concerned, as did L'Arc.

"Really it's nothing, to be honest it feels fine." She smiled and bowed again, to hide her embarrassment.

Naofumi ducked his head out to see her blushing and Hendricks fussing over her. He took a step but she moved towards him at the same time. He stopped and let her come to him.

"It's nothing, don't ask about it." She whispered as she passed. He was good about listening to her, most of the time.

"Thank you Christopher for this lovely meal!" She smiled at him as she sat down.

"Oh it's nothing, just a little vegetable stew is all." She nodded graciously anyways, as he handed her a bowl. The broth smelled plain, just a little water and spices, but for someone who'd eaten nothing but plain deer for going on three days, it was a welcome change.

"Thank you Christopher." L'Arc said, accepting the bowl handed to him.

"Naofumi did his share of the work, so as far as I'm concerned I should be thanking you three. Hendricks isn't the best cook." He laughed looking at the man.

"True." He said, accepting his own bowl. Nothing much seemed to trouble the man. He set to his stew as though nothing had happened, for which she was grateful.

As she ate, she tried to feel her arm, where the sword had hit her. There was no pain at all. Nothing to indicate she'd foolishly taken a full swing from a practice sword only minutes before. She was very interested to see exactly what her new capabilities were. When she'd turned her ankle, it had hurt for a moment, but then the pain had gone within a minute or two. In her own world, would that have happened? Or would she have needed one of Naofumi's potions? She'd felt the sword, and for a brief moment, it had hurt, but only for a moment.

"Raphtalia?" Naofumi's voice brought her back to the table.

"I'm sorry, I was thinking of something else. What were you saying?" He looked at her questioningly, but he repeated his question.

"Do you feel comfortable adding one more to our party as we head towards Orario?"

"I… If you feel comfortable with it, then I see no reason not to." She deferred to him, as usual, but something in his eyes made her pause.

"We are equals here, Raphtalia. Make your own choice." He looked down and ate more of his stew.

"I trust your judgement Master Naofumi…" He slammed his hands on the table, making everyone jump.

"MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICE! YOU DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW ME ANYMORE!" He roared.

Raphtalia was taken aback, but Hendricks and Christopher were shocked. L'Arc just looked angry, but not angry enough to match Naofumi.

"Don't shout at her!" He yelled.

"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW US!"

Raphtalia couldn't see the fire in his eyes that was the precursor to the Rage Shield, but she could hear it in his voice. It dawned on her then that there was no Rage Shield to use anymore. She stood to match him and walked around the table. She took his hand, and he stood there, just like he had that first time after the duel against Motoyasu, looking into her eyes, and seeing something he wasn't familiar with.

"Master Naofumi, let's go talk." She nearly dragged him behind her, and none of them spoke another word as they left. She drew him to the barn, the large structure was nearly 75 yards from the house. He didn't speak until she closed the barn door behind him, sealing the pair of them in the dark barn.

"I'm sorry Raphtalia. I… I can't…" She hugged him, pulling him into her chest, wrapping her arms around him. "I couldn't keep my temper in check. I didn't even have a temper before…" He slumped a little, the strength leaving him.

"Naofumi, I am still your sword. No matter what. In this world, another, or the next and the next and the next. I will stay with you, and I will be your sword, until the day I die." She whispered into his ear.

It was as close to telling him that she loved him as she could get. She hoped he heard it, every time she said it, but he hadn't yet reciprocated any of her feelings. As she'd drawn him farther out of his shell, and after the Heroes' Conference, when his name had been cleared, and he had tried to work with the others, she hoped he would start to see her as a woman, not just as a girl or a party member, but as a woman, and one that he could love.

"Raphtalia… I'm not the Shield Hero anymore." He said, a low boil still in his voice.

"You will always be my hero." She said softly. She stroked his hair as he calmed down. His thick hair was greasy, having gone so long without a bath, but she didn't mind, not a bit. He pulled away from her.

"No, you don't… Raphtalia, you were brought here after I…" He trailed off, so she stepped in.

"Saved my life?" She suggested. He always minimized what he did, always leaving out his heroics, and elevating the contributions of others.

"In your world, I was the Shield Hero, and you were a slave." She tried to interrupt, but he kept going. "I needed you, I needed someone to believe me, that I wasn't… what they said." He faltered, but then the anger returned. "I needed to be able to trust you, so I let them put the Slave Crest back on you. I thought a hundred times about removing it, but I couldn't… I couldn't. I couldn't bear the thought of you leaving. I needed you." He looked ashamed, and she tried to jump in again, but he held up a hand and kept going.

"Here, in this new world, I can't protect you, and I'm not serving to save you and your world. We are both supposed to serve and protect this Bell Cranell. I can't… We don't know what will happen if we fail to do that, fail to help him. It could be no different than how the Slave Crest operates, that we'll feel immense pain and be forced to do what he says. It could just as easily mean death." He said it like he was in pain, and she understood.

She hadn't thought that far ahead, but of course Naofumi would. Ishtar hadn't set any boundaries, given any commands, outside helping this Hestia and Bell Cranel. Why wouldn't she have set up any penalties? Judging by her dress, this wasn't a goddess to be trifled with. A woman like that had a hook in everything she said or did.

"I can't… I can't lose you too." He whispered, not looking up. Her heart jumped, but she had to know now. She couldn't wait.

"Naofumi… how do you see me?" Her whisper matching his. She sat, pulling him down to sit beside her on a bale of hay. He moved woodenly, but sat next to her all the same.

"You are… my closest companion." It wasn't what she wanted, and he knew it. He had to know it by now.

"Do you see me as a slave girl? A grown slave girl? Or a woman?" She couldn't let go of his hand, not now that she'd said it, but she wanted to. She wanted to run; her face bright red in the shadows inside the barn. No matter how she pretended, this was the only boy or man she'd ever confessed her feelings to. He was a long time in answering. So she spoke again, cutting off the reaction she was sure would come next.

"Don't try to be diplomatic, or crass. I know you. I want the real answer." He exhaled, cornered by her questions, the situation, and who she was.

"Raphtalia, I…"

The door to the barn banged open, L'Arc stood there, scythe in hand. They jumped, but she kept hold of his hand.

"Get a hold of yourself!" L'Arc whispered, but he could have been yelling. "Those two were nearly friends, but now they think you are a psychopath!" He strode over angrily, not reading the room. Naofumi pulled his hand away as he stood, then walked menacingly over to L'Arc.

"I'm fine L'Arc. I don't need your friends anyways. We need to get to Orario. These people can't do anything to aid us."

"Only if you are blind! I've spent the last hour trying to piece together as much of this world as I can, but you are wasting all my efforts to build trust and rapport!" He was matching Naofumi, and she had to act. These two were near to blows, and she couldn't have that. Not now. They needed each other. At least until they got to Orario.

"Stop fighting!" She whispered, joining them. "We have to live together for a month yet and…"

"Stay out of this Raphtalia!" They both said quietly at once. She huffed a little. They were acting like young boys, ready to have a squabble in the field, but their 'little fight' could get them both killed.

L'Arc had finally managed to calm Hendricks down, saying Naofumi had been ill for days, and the stress of wandering with just the pair of them for so long had finally boiled over. He wanted to hit the man in truth. How could he not see the importance of befriending these two men and getting all the information they could from them?

"I can't believe how stupid you are acting! Get it together!" L'Arc kept his voice low, trying to keep the conversation inside the walls of the barn.

"Me? You are the one who wants to drag another person along with us to Orario!"

"If she's already going, and she knows about this world, then why not journey with her, and get more information from her?"

"She's a country girl! How much could she know!"

"She knows this world's myths and legends! She's got more information than either of us!"

"Myths? What could they possibly be worth at this juncture?"

"I know what a 'familia' is now, do you? Do you want to know?" Naofumi softened, just a little, and L'Arc pressed his advantage. "What about the general societal structure of this world? Is that interesting to you? Do you know what 'The Dungeon' is? I've got a decent enough idea." The man was calming down, seeing reason. He still wanted to punch him, but at least he could see sense when it was thrown in his face.

"You are right, you don't need me, nor my friends. You can run off to Orario and protect and serve this Bell Cranel fine without me." He held out his hands, imitating a scale. "The question is, do you want to survive, and rush ahead blindly, or befriend these people, squeeze out every last drop about this world that they can tell us, and thrive? I'm going to thrive." He dropped his right hand in the scale, closed it and held it up to him. "You can follow my lead or go on ahead. I don't care much at this moment."

Naofumi looked chastised, but the anger was still there in his eyes. The murderous intent flowing from them was a shock, the man had been a little hot headed when they'd met on Cal Mira, but this? This was a different level. This was an actual malice, an intent to do harm. Even when they'd fought on the ocean he'd not felt as though Naofumi wanted to specifically do harm, he just wanted to win, to save himself and his companions. The rage in his eyes now? It was like he was unchecked, unfettered, raw.

For a long while, Naofumi listened, trying to act repentant, and considered L'Arc's opinions on bringing the girl with them. He was right, but that was secondary right now. He agreed to journeying with her, and then had L'Arc take Raphtalia with him to notify Christopher. They'd be here for at least the evening, and he had to use the time. Alone.

Naofumi closed the barn door behind them and breathed out deeply, counting to ten. He took a second breath, then a third, and a fourth. Nothing changed. He did the calisthenics he'd learned in high school, he tried to meditate. He tried thinking of funny jokes.

Still the rage burned inside him.

He couldn't turn it off. All he felt was the white hot anger of seeing L'Arc, thinking he might put Raphtalia in danger. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to…

Naofumi seethed, the deep rage inside unyielding, uncontrolled.

He thought he heard the laughter of the dragon in the distance.

"Have you ever seen him like that?" L'Arc asked quietly as they walked away from the barn.

Raphtalia was still upset with the man. Naofumi was finally going to tell her how he saw her, and this oaf barged in!? It was irritating, but unlike the two boys, she could see when he made a good enough point. That was a side of him she'd not seen, except twice before, when they'd removed her Slave Crest by force and when they thought Filo had been eaten by the Dragon. She'd not seen him this angry since.

"Yes. That isn't the point though, who is this girl you want to take with us?" L'Arc looked at her, saw she would not be divulging any more on the topic, and answered her question.

"There is a young woman here in the village who is looking to join someone from here that is living in Orario. A young man, unless I miss my guess. Christopher wasn't clear on her intentions." Having just missed out on hearing perhaps how the young man in her life felt about her, she was particularly empathetic to this young woman's plight.

"Do you know anything else?"

"No, just that she's a smart enough girl that Christopher doesn't want to lose her." L'Arc acted less interested in the girl than Christopher. "That would tell me we need to be careful around her, but also, she could help us flesh out what we don't know about this world." Raphtalia grabbed his arm, and looked him in the eye.

"L'Arc, we may have been enemies before, but here, we are on the same side." It had been mulling around in her head for a long time, that she needed to forge a better relationship with the man, and this was as good a time as any.

"You've done a great job trying to get to know Christopher and learn as much as you can about this world. I appreciate it, and I appreciate you. You've done so well, keeping my spirits up on the walk here. I just want to tell you, we're on the same team, and we don't dislike you. Naofumi never has, even when he found out you were on the other side. He's always had trouble, thinking about you as an enemy." It seemed as though L'Arc could hear the sincerity in her voice, because he paused, and the mask slipped a moment. He wasn't scared per se, but he was not as sure of himself as he tried to act. She stuck her hand out, and, after a moment, he shook it.

"He's lucky to have a woman like you on his side." He said quietly. She was tempted to say again that she was on his side too, but she stopped short. "Friends then?"

"Friends." She smiled, and they walked toward the house together. She could see that his gait was different, his posture more relaxed, more fluid. The walk of the fearsome warrior he was, instead of the noble she thought she could see in him.

Naofumi seethed in the barn. He was torn between white hot rage at L'Arc possibly getting Raphtalia hurt, and raging at Ishtar as hard as he'd ever raged at Myne or the fool King. He'd not had a temper before arriving in Raphtalia's world, and while there, he was almost always able to keep it in check. He felt her hands on him, directing his movements already, even though the others didn't seem to.

He had to get there, to get to Orario. He couldn't stand moving any slower than they had been. He needed to be rid of L'Arc so he could focus on what Ishtar had done to him.