Chapter Five: Bandits

After some time, Aqua was finally able to walk on her own two feet. The dirt trail began to wind around a hill and seemed to head into a nearby forest.

"So… I was a wandering spirit, you said?" Ulysses asked in an outwardly calm voice but Aqua could tell he was frustrated.

"Hehe… yeah…" She nervously touched her index fingers together.

"Can you explain… how something like that happened?"

"I… I could do that… that is a thing I could do…"

Ulysses was silent, waiting for her to continue… but she didn't. He let out an angry growl.

"Explain, then!" He yelled.

Aqua shrunk at his outburst.

"T-t-the, uh, um, uh, y'know, um, thing is, when people die they're sorted out like paperwork!" She stuttered. "S-so when they die, the gods have to assign them to a guide w-who then escorts them to their afterlives!"

Ulysses wanted to be furious but his natural curiosity got the better of him.

"Wait, really?" He blinked a few times. "That's actually fairly interesting. What sorts of information do you get about us? Like, when I died, did you even know much about me?"

"Heh-huh?" She wiped away the tear that was starting to form in her left eye.

"What information did you get?"

"Well, you see, that's the thing… It was my fault that you wandered because I was the goddess in charge of sorting out your information." Aqua sniffled. "So, back then, when I was the fledgling tasked with assignment, I recorded mostly your closest family and how you died…"

"How did I get lost?"

"Look, Gods can make mistakes, too!" Aqua pouted. "I mean, how else can you explain Eris?"

"Who?"

"It's not important. The point is, I lost your paper and it took a long time before another fledgling god found it gathering dust and slipped it into the 2000s deaths."

"What would have happened had nobody found my paper?"

"Er… I guess you'd have been left wandering… forever?"

Ulysses found himself seething once more.

"Why!?"

"W-why what?" Aqua jumped.

"Why are the gods so incompetent!? How can anyone have faith in you guys when you do things in the least efficient way possible!? Why is heaven so boring? You guys invented it! Couldn't you decide how it is? And the way you threw me, and possibly other poor souls, into this world with no information or equipment to speak of! Hell, it'd probably be better for everyone to be born into this world with the abilities you grant at the beginning! At least then we'd have a chance at blending in instead of looking like imbeciles who've been hiding under a rock since birth! And the fact that, despite being a holy goddess with divine powers, you are the least perfect person I've ever met! You've got a few things going for you but I've met spoiled rotten princesses that have more life experience than you! Are all the gods like this!?"

As Ulysses ranted, Aqua head slowly shrunk into her shoulders and the tears from earlier returned, a bit thicker this time.

"No…" She replied meekly.

Ulysses glared at her but his eyes softened when he noticed how defeated she looked.

"Look," Ulysses sighed. "We can talk about this again some other time… but I do want a more in depth description of the gods, later. I want to understand this… system…"

Aqua sniffled and nodded in reply.

Ulysses looked ahead and noticed they were just entering the forest. The woods were fairly thick but the greenery was vibrant and had a familiar feel to the rolling hills of Austria, albeit without the ability to see through the trees. Still, Ulysses took the moment to soak in the nostalgia.

He could've stayed like that forever if it weren't for the universe's constant attempts to antagonize him.

"That's a nice head you have on your shoulders." The voice came from a man who was standing about ten meters ahead of him. He seemed to be wielding a curved blade that was reminiscent of the middle eastern scimitars and had a white shemagh wrapped around his face. "I'll let you keep it in exchange for all your money and weapons."

Aqua looked up from her own stupor and blinked to adjust to what was happening.

"H-huh? Are we being robbed right now?"

"Hush, Aqua." Ulysses moved to step in front of her. "I'm sorry, it almost sounded like you were threatening me."

"That's because I was." The man grinned from behind his shemagh.

Ulysses went to draw his own Saber when he heard some rustling behind him. He turned to see two other men, one with two short swords and the other with a bow that's already been drawn.

"I see…" Ulysses' hand rest just on the hilt of the saber instead. "Now, how many Eris are we talking?"

"I said all your Eris… and your weapons." The bandit sneered.

"Well, I've only 5,000 Eris to my name."

"Then you shouldn't mind if we search you?" The bandit stepped closer. "Oh! And she's quite the beauty, isn't she?"

Aqua smiled at his statement.

"Why thank you for noticing! I really don't have to try, to be honest." She gave a light flick of her hair.

"Aqua… that wasn't a compliment…" Ulysses whispered.

The man held his scimitar up to Ulysses.

"Hand over the girl first, assuming you want your life."

"Wait, what!?" Aqua gasped. "U-Uly, what do they mean by that? W-why is he looking at me that way?"

Ulysses glared at the man and slowly stepped off to the side. The bandit let out a disturbing chuckle and began towards Aqua. As he reached to touch her, the air was filled with a resounding *BANG*. Without hardly a split second to think, the first bandit dropped to the ground. In Ulysses hand rested a smoking Flintlock pistol accompanied by the smell of burnt charcoal. Ulysses went to swap pistols when he felt a sharp pain enter his back. He dropped to one knee.

"Ulysses!" Aqua yelped as she went to help him.

The bandit with the short swords rushed to the first bandit to check on him.

"Are you okay?" Aqua asked as she prepared a healing spell.

"He's dead!" The bandit announced.

The call out reminded Ulysses to pull his other pistol. He quickly turned to see the Bowman readying another arrow but Ulysses wasn't going to give him the chance. He pulled up the pistol and quickly fired another round.

"Gah!" The bowman screamed. He dropped to the ground and began crying and whining.

"What did you.." The swordsman began walking towards Ulysses who had just barely began to stand with Aqua's help.

"W-wait!" Aqua turned to stop the man but was promptly pushed off to the side.

Ulysses drew his saber and prepared himself. The swordsman swung his swords in such a way that one blade was always attacking.

Ulysses was forced into defense, slowly backing away from the series of strikes. With his injury and the attack pattern he was up against, he realized it was only a matter of time before the man got in some serious cuts. Just in that moment of alarm, he heard a voice that he hadn't ever expected to be relieved by.

"GOD BLOW!" Aqua shouted, following it up with a punch to the back of the swordsman's head.

The strike was powerful enough to send him face first into the dirt. Ulysses quickly followed it up by planting his Saber in the man's back and twisting.

"There… That should… Take care of him…" Ulysses panted to catch his breath.

As his adrenaline finally began to die down, the whimpering of the bowman finally made it's way into his ear.

Ulysses looked over at him and saw that his leather helmet had fallen, revealing the face of a boy that couldn't be more than thirteen years old. He was struggling against the pain of having a lead ball enter his abdomen.

Ulysses held his side, closest to where the arrow had pierced him, and grunted, walking over to the boy.

"P-please… d-don't. No more! I-i-i'm sorry!" He whimpered.

"Sorry?" Ulysses furrowed his brow. "Sorry doesn't fix the wound you gave me, does it?"

"Er, no but I can!" Aqua skipped next to Ulysses who ignored her.

"S-sir! Please! Don't!" The boy covered his face.

"Wait, Ulysses." Aqua stopped and gave him a worried glance. "You're not actually thinking of-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Ulysses had already lunged and stabbed the boy. He made sure to aim for his vitals so that he'd die quickly.

"Ulysses!" Aqua jumped in surprise.

"What!?" He scoffed back at her.

"Y-you just… killed that boy…" Her shoulders dropped as she finished her sentence.

"What of it? He wants to act like a bandit? He'll be punished as a bandit." Ulysses growled as he sheathed his saber.

Aqua was speechless. There were a few things she wanted to say, as a goddess and as a person, but deep down, Ulysses was technically right. This is a world where the age of adulthood didn't matter and Ulysses came from an Empire where crime had a harsh consequence.

"... Okay…" She said, somewhat disheartened by his logic.

"Now… can you remove this arrow?" He asked in a slightly less hostile tone of voice.

Aqua nodded and shuffled over to him.

After looking through some of their belongings, Ulysses took time to peer over their swords.

"There's been something on my mind lately…" He said to Aqua who was pouting on a stump.

"Did you realize that you're a child-killing grave robber?"

"What?" Ulysses looked back at her. "No, it's tha-" he stopped to sigh. "Are you really that torn up about it?"

"Yes, Ulysses!" Aqua jumped up. "I am a divine Goddess! I am worshipped as a full member of this world's pantheon! I cannot be associated with a man who kills those who aren't even of age yet and then takes their stuff!"

Ulysses stared at her blankly for a few moments.

"He was a thief…"

"And!?"

"And he attacked us. He shouldn't have tried to kill me unless he was prepared to have the same thing happen to him."

"I-I… Grrr!" Aqua growled and sat back on the stump.

"I can see you aren't in a mood to talk right now. For now," Ulysses stood and readied his belongings. "Let's move down the trail a bit and find a place to camp. Maybe give ourselves some time to cool down."

Ulysses sighed as Aqua turned away from him.

"Thank you… for healing me, Aqua."

"Hmph!"

Author's Note:

Man, like I said: These last few weeks have chewed me up and spat me out. Schedule been janky lately. Got this in, though! So that's cool, I guess!

To Pensuka: Haha! Don't know if that's the Aqua bashing you were looking for or not. Don't worry, He'll get more frustrated with her as time moves on.

To Gunboat Diplomat: Thanks, man! I aim to please! If I stop doing so, tell me and I'll try to be better! Also, I'm doing fairly well! Family and work just has me feeling like a dog beat me over the fence! Nothing too serious, though! If I ever miss an update time, It's probably just because of stress!

To Guest (No username? Alright then, keep your secrets): Haha, I actually don't plan on Kazuma being too well informed on history, especially that of Austria and it's surrounding areas, to provide satisfactory answers to Ulysses! BUT, I do plan to bring in more historical references to Ulysses timeline! I actually understand a lot about Black powder weapons in general! My family owns quite a few Muzzle Loaders and my father and I do Revolutionary/Civil War reenactments! So, if you're interested in Victorian Era tactics and realistic battle descriptions then this is your place!

To Focus of the Future: Neat!

To Blaze1992: Hm... I didn't think about it that way. Maybe? Guess I'll see how it turns out! Though, instead of a war between two nations, it's a war against the Demon King! Hell, man, Idk!