Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord or any other intellectual property used in this story and would like it if none of you clamed I did.
Note: I got nothing.
(Sounds)
"Talking"
'Thinking'
-Messages
Special Item Name
"Special voice"
[Spoken Spell/Ability]
{Wordless Spell/Ability}
"Kehh, kehh" I coughed loudly. The dust in my lungs doing its best to make that happen as I pushed off a rather large pieces of destroyed shelves from my back.
'What the actual hell was that?!' I mentally questioned as I observed the literal mound of dust particles laying below me.
'Wait this? Dust?' I ran my hand through the material and saw that it wasn't dust, but rather it was…'Crystal sand!' true enough the air was also filled by the beautiful material.
'What that fuck even just happened?! All I remember is making up that speech about joining the guild and-The group!' I quickly launched the remaining pieces of wreckage from my back as I bolted up. I scanned the room for sighs of the rest, but I couldn't see past the cloud of sand in front of me.
'Dammit I can't see shit!' I strained my eyes in hopes of seeing something, but all I got were the obscuring particles in my eyes. As I wiped the irritants out of my eyes I began to wander around the room looking for the members of the group.
"Snow, Fang, Hope, Vanille anyone can you hear me!" I called out into the cloud. A collection of particles found their way into my mouth and I began to cough wildly, but still no response.
…
…
…
'Fuck, they might not be conscious thanks to the explosion. I need to get rid of this sand or they'll choke to death on it, but what do I…' I smack my forehead at my own stupidity.
'How could I forget!? I'm in my game avatar, I can summon anything I want with my abilities. And I know just who to bring in.' I brought my hand up built up the energy for the summon.
{Rank 3: Dust Man}
The bits and pieces of metal scattered around the room by the explosion all began to be pulled together in front of me. They collided and molded into a singular form. Said form, once completed, was comprised of a bulky robot whose main color scheme was blue with a few outlines of regular metallic steel. The summons face was barely visible below the giant open vacuum head sprouting from its back and the singular tube ran in front of the creations face, further obscuring its appearance. The robot stood around five foot eleven inches tall, it was armed with a single hand and an arm cannon. This was the visage of a Robot Master.
The summon did not speak, but gave one look at the room and knew why it had been called. With a single turn the creation began suctioning up the tainted air in the room.
"Be careful there are people in this wreckage and I'd rather they not get caught up as well." I warned. Even though the creation did not speak I knew through the mental link it understood the order.
While he worked to clear the air I set out to contact Anima using [Message].
'Anima I need you to return to my study immediately. There has been an incident and I need you to come with the medical branch of the pulse machines.' I messaged.
-I told them not to touch anything!
"This is not their fault. Whatever happened it destroyed the whole room and left most of it in ruin and collapsed, I need you to bring the medical equipment." Once I said that most of the room was destroyed she began to yell across the call.
-Erdrick-Sama are you okay! Are you hurt! Are you trapped under something!
"Anima!" I yelled across the line. The shout seemed to stop the girl. Dust Man gave me a weary look, but I reassured it I was fine and it continued its job.
"I'm fine and have the situation under control, but what I need you to do is bring the healing units here. I don't know how well the other six did in the explosion. If they were severely injured I may need more than healing magic so I need you here as soon as possible. Also don't try teleporting in. I don't know what teleporting into a half destroyed room will make the rings do so don't try it. Do you understand?"
-Yes Erdrick-sama!
"Good, now get to it. Also tell Kall to begin an internal search of the Guild incase this was an orchestrated attack." With that I cut off the line. By this point Dust Man had finished removing the majority of the air pollutants and I could see the full extent of the damage and the fact I had been tossed a fair bit away from the main section of the room.
From what I could see the whole room was trashed. My desk was just splinters and most of the shelves were in several pieces around the room. The books had all been tossed around to the edges of the room that now looked more like a small crystal desert than a library. I looked across the expanse in search of anything that may look remotely like a person, but nothing.
'Dammit I don't have location spells for searching through this, but..." I felt a mental pull at the back of my head and turned around to see what Dust Man wanted. I turn back to see him pointing at a particularly large patch of shifting sand.
'Wait, shifting!' I quickly made my way across the expanse of desert. As I traveled over I reached into my inventory and began to pull out a particular spell book I knew I had stored in there. When I arrived I began to cast the spell the book gave me access to.
[Excavation]
Normally a spell used to complete a host of different quest related to mining or digging back in Yggdrasil. It removed entire sections of land from an area and placed the base materials in your inventory, but did so without harming animals or wild life within the spell radius. A rather helpful spell given the situation.
As the spell took effect the patch of rolling sand I had cast it on began to glow intensely as it was removed and moved to my inventory as its base materials. When the spell finally ended I noticed that Dust Man had been correct and the group was here. They were all unconscious and sprawled across each other by the explosion. They seemed mostly unhurt, but what caught my attention wasn't that, what caught my attention was the fact that none of them were wearing clothes. I suddenly realized I had forgotten something crucial and began to franticly search inside the top layer of my inventory for the last thing I'd obtained. Sure enough I pulled out a fist full of cloth and string and leather scraps. I had forgotten about the other aspect of the skill. Although it can't hurt living creatures it can de-construct all other matter including clothes to their base form. It only works on low level equipment or regular outfits so it's useless against high level players, but none of the L'Cie had high level equipment on so…
My mind took a silent reprieve as it tried to process what to do next. I heard the sound of Dust Man making his way over, but I ordered him to start cleaning in any other direction, but this one. He did as he was told and began his vacuuming of the rest of the room. As he did so I began my slide down the newly formed sand crater.
'Its fine, all you did was use the spell to save their lives. You didn't mean to disintegrate their clothes with it. Yea it was all just a big accident and one day we'll look back on this and laugh, right?' I tried to rationalize within my head… which lasted all of five seconds before I began to break down.
'Oh god Lightning and Fang are going to string me up by my entrails for this!' I shook those thoughts away as I reached the bottom of the crater with the bodies.
'Get a hold of yourself Erdrick! You can't be thinking of your inevitable death when you could be saving people right now.' I pulled my attention back to the bodies… and immediately regretted it as the blush crept back into my face.
'No NO! Bad thoughts! Just focused on saving them, nothing else.' I steeled my resolve and began gathering energy for a spell.
'I can't just leave them naked, they need clothes and I'm not just saying that for my sake. I don't plan on personal fitting them into the armor I have on hand so that's out. No, I need something that easily fits on without the need for too much touching… got it.'
[Multi Summon]
[Rank 0: Robe]
With a quick flash of light half a dozen silk bathrobes materialized in my hands.
'This should work. I just get their arms in and then tie up the front. It's perfect!' As I set down the robes I began the process of very carefully putting on the robes onto everyone. There had been quite a few times were I nearly passed out from the numerous close calls I had while applying the robes. Being the shy anti-social person I was, I had barely gotten more than a hug from the opposite sex, thus the current situation left me rather challenged to stay sane. And that's not even talking about the awkwardness of having to dress the male half as well. Once the job was done I began to think up the next part of my plan.
'I could carry them out, but I don't think I get much traction on sand and I don't think my heart can handle many more close calls when it comes to skin contact.' I shook my head again and began to think of another strategy. After a moment I snapped my fingers.
[Magic Extension]
[Flash Prison]
Like before the bodies of the six were hoisted up onto a light blue floating platform, but unlike before the spell consisted of only of a platform and no coinciding bars.
'I am so glad I can modify these spells before I cast them.' I was about to hop onto a free section of the platform when I remembered something.
'King of humanity has a slight healing and buffing effect right? Should I take off the cloak and let it do a bit of the healing before Anima arrives?' A light wheeze from one of the party members solidified my answer. I reached for the metal clip that kept Null-All around my neck and clicked the mechanism that kept it fastened. What happened was far more than what I expected. I sudden wave of golden energy exploded outwards as the clip was undone. The wave kicked up a bit of the sand surrounding me, but more notable was its effect on the six humans. All the dirt and scuffs they got from the explosion seemed to inexplicably vanish from sight, there breathing steadied and they all seemed better off than before.
'So the cloak actually stores the energy underneath it and releases it in one burst when removed. Well aside from the surprise of it happening nothing but good seems to have come from that, so I'm happy.' As I stepped onto the platform a large moan in pleasure erupted from one of the party members.
'Ignoring that! Nothing, but good thing have come from this effect. Nothing-but-good-things.' I mentally reassured myself as the platform ascended.
'Now they should be fine until Anima arrives… oh shit Anima! If she sees this I'll never live it down. And I just know those advances are going to get a lot worse if she sees this. Glad I told her to make the run over on foot. There is no way she gets here in less than 10 minutes.' I began to contemplate telling Anima to stay out of the room using message. At least I was going to until I saw that she was standing a few feet from the crater we came from.
"Erdrick-sama are… you… okay…" the girl's words slowly dropped off as she gazed at my situation.
…
…
…
"Anima" I said calmly in hopes of explaining the situation. She seemed to be unable to hear my plight, her mind was now on auto-pilot.
"Oh, so this is what you meant by an Explosion?" She said.
"Anima please let me explain." I pleaded.
"Heck, the whole room is trashed from this little get-together. Looks like I'm going to have to be more prepared for our first session if it's anything like this." She said while still seeming somewhat in a daze.
"If you would just stop I could-"
"Even the guys got in on it. I mean I only want to be ravished by Erdrick-sama, but I'm sure I could make an exception if you really wanted to."
'Seriously past me, what the fuck! You know what, no, I'm done playing this game!'
"One more word Anima and I'll revoke all your privileges. That includes both your ring and our trip to the city. Do you understand?!" The girl's mouth clamped down so fast I swear I could hear her teeth crack from the force.
"Good, now stay like that and let me explain what happened." Before I could continue she raised her hand as if asking a question.
"What? You want to say one last thing?" She nodded her head furiously.
"Do you promise that if you get to say one last thing then you won't tell anyone about this? I don't want the rest of the Guardians thinking I'm some sort of sexual deviant alright." She took a second, but nodded again.
"Alright, if it'll keep you quiet then you can say one last thing." I would quickly grow to regret this choice.
"When do I get to have my night?" She smiled while pressing her breast together in a suggestive manner. The question left the room in a dead silence except for the light vacuuming of Dust Man in the background.
[Silence]
"Now that we've gotten passed that let's get on to the explanation." The girl tried to protest about not getting a response, but the spell had left her unable to speak. She could only listen as her king refused to acknowledge her question.
The next half hour was spent explaining the situation to Anima as Dust Man dealt with the surrounding sand. We had placed the six humans on the relatively dust-free ground in front of the entrance of the room and had taken to reclining on the nearest wall.
"So the room exploded after you righted them into the guild?" Questioned the now un-mute girl.
"Yes, after I finished accepting them as part of the guild the room exploded into the crystal desert you saw before." I clarified.
"Why crystal though?" she asked.
"…Well, if I had to guess I'd say it has something to do with the L'Cie's affinity to crystal. There entire strengthening system is based off the crystal element after all, but aside from that I don't really know any reason why crystal would be involved." The girl gave a small gasp at my words.
"What? Did you figure something out?" I asked noticing her reaction.
"I knew they felt different." She said.
"Felt?" I raised an eyebrow at the words. She seemed to realize her mistake and began to explain.
"Sorry Erdrick-sama, I forgot you can't feel the difference. I know your power overshadows that of ours most of the time so the difference went unnoticed by you-"
'Sensing people? What is this dragon ball? Humph, still, makes me wonder if [King of Humanity] is really so strong that I can't sense anything past it?' I ask myself
"-, but those six have been fully promoted into Guardians. Power and all have been bestowed on all six of them." The response made my eyes widen.
"What, but how? I only had them promise to follow the rules of the guild and my orders. That shouldn't be enough." I questioned her logic as I thought back to the normal process of creating a guardian.
'Usually it requires me to set a predefined character model into the games files. After that the appropriate levels are set and stat points are allotted. Once that's done then you have to wait a day for the developers to decide if the model is appropriate for use. Only after all that is done can the Guardian be accepted into the guilds collection. There is no way it could be that different now, could it?'
"Are you sure? Couldn't it have been an attack by a third party?" I asked.
"I had also suspected fowl play, but if you weren't attacked after the explosion then that ruled it out. Also that wouldn't explain the crystal dust." She said while doodling in the remaining sand.
"And how does them becoming guardians explain it? Unless you mean that the explosion was somehow related to their power?" I questioned trying to understand there logic. She gave a simple nod while finishing her drawing of what I assumed was the two of us kissing inside a big heart.
'I swear our time in the city is just going to be one big headache if this is how it's going to be. Especially if I use the brother, sister story.'
"That still doesn't fully explain it. Their power growth is entirely internal, why would it effect the outside world?" I asked while gazing at the now only half covered room. Anima gave a thinking face before she responded.
"Power overflow" she said.
"Power overflow?"
"Yes, although it's something you may not experience Erdrick-sama because of your constant overflow of energy. It happens when a creature is overloaded with power it tends to burst out uncontrollably. When they became guardians the influx of power must have temporarily exceeded their capacity and thus the explosion." She calmly explained. I on the other hand was starting to internally panic.
'So I could have just potently killed them anyway!' I was so panicked I didn't restrict my next words.
"What are the harmful effects of power overflow? Are they dead, crippled, vegetables? Do we have the equipment to properly treat them? Is there anything we can do?!" I began to rapidly question. She actually seemed a bit taken back by my reaction.
"No need to worry Erdrick-sama. Aside from a bit of fatigue, power over flow is harmless. It's just a way for a body to clear excess energy, nothing more. If anything you should have been the only one hurt in the explosion." She said while waving her hands around trying to calm me down. I let out a huge sigh and let my shoulders droop again.
"That's a huge weight off my shoulders. I was worried I had unintentionally just killed them." I breathed out, completely ignoring the second half of her response.
Her face now gained a bit of an angry look now as she closed the distance between our faces. "Erdrick-sama, what exactly was the first thing you did when you realized the room had exploded?"
"Huh, what do you mean? The first thing I did was start searching for those six." I said while pointing at the six sleeping humans. This response only seemed to anger her further.
"What! You didn't even treat your wounds first!" She screeched out.
"Wounds?" I hadn't noticed before, but now that I could think I did notice a series of small pings of pain throughout my body. I brought my hand up my face and found myself wincing back from the pain of doing so.
"I guess I didn't notice with all the commotion." I said stupidly while rubbing the back of my head." The girl now seemed to be seething at my lack of concern. She seemed like she was about to explode, but instead she dropped her head. Eyes now covered by her hair, she began to speak.
"How do you do it Erdrick-sama? How are you able to see yourself as less important than us? Are you afraid of being unable of protecting the guild without all the Guardians?" She had now taken to standing up rather than stay seated. I raised an eyebrow at her words before sighing again as I stood up as well.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I'm afraid, I'm afraid of losing any of you. All the people in the guild are my responsibility and I would do the same for anyone in the guild regardless of who they are." I clarified while bonking the girl on the head.
"But things like that shouldn't worry you Erdrick-sama, we should be the ones to do so. You should focused on what's truly important." Protested the girl.
"Not this again. I told you already, my job as king is to stand for AND with my people. That includes things like this, now stop trying to stop me from doing my job." A pair of knocks from the door pulled my attention.
"Looks like the medical units are finally here. Come on Anima, let's get these six loaded up." I began to make my way over to the door in order to let the units in. I took two steps before Anima wrapped her arms around my waist, stopping my progress.
"Why do you do you care so much Erdrick-sama? You're the king of the Summoner's Guild, yet you choose to act as if you're just another member. To anyone in the guild your word is absolute, but with most of your orders you allow us to disobey and question you. And even though you're on a completely different level to us you still treat us as equals. Why? Why do you act like its normal for a king to do so Erdrick-sama?" The girl cried into my back.
'I suppose at one point I could act like you said I should, but now I don't think that's possible. I was nothing special before coming here, but now I am responsible for all of you. That's too much for me and so I have to act as lesser or I will break. I need all of you to keep me grounded. I need the idea that you are greater than me to keep me invested or else...' I wanted to say it, but again I was afraid to even think about that possibility. Even if I was to say it I knew it was impossible for a person who didn't see the old world as a game to understand. She had after all only ever seen me as I pretend to be and never as I really am.
"No matter how great and powerful a person is they can never be a king without a people to lead. The way I see it, the people of a nation are every bit as important as a king, if not more so. The reason I act the way I do is because I'm nothing without all of you, I take your lives and ideas into consideration because you're all the reason I'm even a king. And just like I did with those six I would do anything to make sure all of you were okay. Does that answer your questions Anima?" I said while lightly turning my head back at her.
"Just one more question Erdrick-sama." She said while rubbing her face into my back.
'Probably getting the tears out of her eyes.' I surmised.
"What's that?" I asked.
"You said you would take personal responsibility for us right?"
"Like I said, as king it's my duty to serve my people."
"So if I get hurt on our trip to the city will you be the one to personally nurse me back to health. I would oh, so love to see you in a doctor's outfit" She replied while rubbing her face deeper into my back.
'And with that the emotional mood is dead.' I thought as the rubbing had now taken on a more excited form.
{Bind}
(Clang)
(Clang)
"Don't worry Anima, I'll be sure to have the bots in the medical room all dressed up if you like the outfit so much. Also I'll make extra sure only the coldest equipment is used when treating you. I'm sure it will only sting for a second when they start." I mocked as I walked away from the now bound brunet. I had intended to open the door now that I was unobstructed, but apparently I had taken too long because said door suddenly exploded outwards.
"My lord, are you okay! The door wouldn't open and nobody responded to my inquires to enter so I had to break in to insure… you're… safety…" she knights words slowed as he analyzed the situation. His eyes wandered over the semi-dust filled room, the barely clothed L'Cie and a now bound and struggling Anima. The knight's mind came to a solid conclusion.
"I apologize my liege, I was unaware you were in the middle of conceiving an heir. I shall return when your business is concluded." The knight bowed lightly and then began pulling the door off the ground and placing back where it came from.
'No~, not you too Kall.' I internally groaned as Kall finished semi-fitting the door back into place. Although the knight did not seem to be done with his hasty assumptions just yet.
"Should you require any advice my lord I would suggest the pink haired one. I have heard many facts about birthing from Anima and have concluded she carries many traits of a fertile mate. If you are to raise an offspring I would determine that she would provide a highest likelihood of strong children." Called Kall through the poorly reconstructed door as Anima began thrashing loudly against her bindings in protesting.
'And now I have a migraine'
Next day
'Supplies are full, Inventory's properly filled and disguised as a regular bag. Cloak is nice and tight, no way for anyone to see under it unless I want them to. Clothes look normal as ever in case anyone does see, so that's not a problem. Looks like I'm ready, how's Anima?' I looked over to my left. For the trip Anima's regular blue Kimono had been replaced with something more suited to her. We decided that she would go for a look that implied the use of her hands to explain her use of unarmed combat. After a bit of arguing yesterday I had conceded on her current outfit. She had gone for an outfit that I still did not personally agree on.
Her legs were covered by a pair of orange extended shin guards that reached mid-way to her knees. She wore a set of matching black and orange leggings that stopped at an armored waist belt tide around her hips. Her chest was covered by a reinforced half-tank top half armored vest hybrid that provided decent coverage without obstructing mobility. A small change that I had fought Anima on before leaving.
'At least I was able find an armor that wasn't too revealing. I don't know how close this world is to the game, but I doubt the armors from the game are what a normal person would count as acceptable for daily use. '
As for the girl's weapons. At first she wanted to simply equip a pair of spiked gloves and go with the alibi that she was an illegal underground fighter. I had quickly put a stop to that idea and told her to stick to her regular arm bindings and a few shoulder guards. We needed to be regular civilians with regular abilities, not renowned fighters.
'Although I don't agree with the whole outfit, it does seem practical for a brawler.' I was pulled from my thoughts by who had Anima taking my arm and pulling it to her chest.
'God dammit Anima, listen to what I say not just the parts you want to hear!'
"Anima, I said to lightly hold on to me. You know like a sister, not like a lover." I scolded the girl.
"But why not Erdrick-sama. If we posed as lovers who would know? We could even act out the part if you wanted to." She said while gaining a sultry look.
"Listen to your creator's orders Anima. He personally choose you to accompany him on this mission and I'd prefer it if you didn't begin questioning instructions before you even left." Cautioned Barthandelus from the top steps of the Guild entrance. Anima gave a small huff before she loosened her grip on my arm and resigned to a simple hand hold.
'I glad at least one person heard my orders correctly.' With that I coughed into my hand to bring the attention back to me.
"Thank you Barthandelus and you as well Kall for agreeing to stay back for this trip." I said while looking at the other figure standing at the top of the steps.
"Worry not my king, I shall adhere to make sure the Guild is secure inside and out." Pledged the Knight.
"And I shall do my best to cater to the finer points of Guild management Akua." Promised the Fal'Cie.
'Hawaiian. Now, is there anything I'm forgetting? Oh, right. '
"Kall don't forget, when those six wake up make sure to start there training on how to control their new powers. I don't want them running amuck because they don't know how to keep them under wraps. Do you understand?" I asked the knight.
"Yes, my lord, I shall bring them up the standards of all the Guardians in the Guild." Promised the knight.
'I hope he doesn't include Anima in that standard. I cannot handle another one of her in my life.'
"Also don't worry about explaining what happened yesterday. I left a summon in their room to explain what happened, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now that that's out of the way we'll be leaving. See you in a few days, and make sure to report anything out of the ordinary, got it?" I called to the two Guardians.
"Yes" they both replied as we headed to the direction Barthandelus designated was the city. Once I was sure we were far enough through the forest that we were out of sight of the guild I decide to speak up.
"Anima there are a few things I need to clarify about this trip before we arrive at the city." I spoke as we walked.
"What's that Erdrick-sama?" she said happily while still holding my hand.
"First I want to see if you remember the story we'll be using when we arrive." I asked while ducking under a branch.
"Of course I do Erdrick-sama. Were a pair of brother and sister who used to live with our father, but he recently passed away so we went to the city to make a living like he always wanted." She said clearly proud of having remembered the plan.
"Are you sure you remember because you're still using the wrong honorific. If we're to pass as siblings I can't have you treating me like a superior." I chided the brunet.
"What!? But I was sure I wasn't saying sama." Wined the girl.
"You may be saying it subconsciously because of how used to it you are." I added.
'Or maybe it's more my fault. I did after all write that into her in the first place. Hell, I didn't notice she was using it until recently. Probably has something to do with [King of Humanity]'s translation ability?' I thought before mentaly sighing to myself. 'But seriously past me. You just had to make her say Japanese honorifics didn't you? Damnit, old me was such a weeb.'
"Erdrick-sama. Erdrick-san. Erdrick-Kun. Erdrick" She tested the variations as we walked.
"While you do that lets move on to my next clarification. My personality, while in the city it will not be that of what you see in the guild. I don't believe a nineteen year-old acting like a king would go over too well in regular conversation, thus I'll be using a more appropriate version for my age while in the city. I don't want you speaking of this to either Kall or Barthandelus. They would see it as an insult to my status for me to even act this way so I don't want them getting irritated over it." She had a smile that promised a sly comment. A promise she saw fit to deliver.
"Erdrick-san are you saying you want me to lie to my fellow Guardians? Rather devious of you, wouldn't you say?" She accused. I internally praised her ability to break her habit so quickly, but refused to give her such an easy win.
"No more than you've been doing already with all the orders you broke the other day." She seemed to lose her cocky smile when her own mistake was brought up.
"Now let's move on to the final topic. Against my orders Barthandelus has lightly infiltrated the city and provided us with a number of interesting bits of information. Aside from a few less important ones the first to catch my attention is about this adventurers Guild. Barthandelus didn't get many facts about the organization, but they are apparently a major influence on the city, so it's for the best we investigate it when we arrive. Second is the fact that apparently magic is a regular occurrence in this world. Barthandelus reported that they use it to simply light up the streets at night." She seemed confused at why I would bring that up. I decided to elaborate.
"That means that I shouldn't need to hide the fact I can use it, but more importantly it could mean one of two things. Either that magic caster Barthandelus reported about is an anomaly in this world or he's the standard… and that terrifies me." The explanation had left the atmosphere more apprehensive than I would have liked.
I finally decided to dispel the foul mood and move on to the final topic. "Also we should investigate just how integral Yggdrasil items are in this world. If it's a common sight then that probably means there are other players here supplying them, but if not then they've been gone for quite some time. Whether they died long ago or found a way to leave is what I'm Interested in. So those will be out points of interest in the city. We may need split up if the situation calls for it, so be ready for that Anima… Anima are you listening?" It seems she had stopped holding my hand at some point I just hadn't noticed. I looked back to see her peering into a small rabbit hole.
"Erdrick-san did you see, the most adorable creature I'd ever seen just ran by and hid in this little hole." She said while gushing over the image of the small creature she had just seen.
'That's right. Anima is strictly a guild Guardian. Unlike Kall she never really left the Guild walls. No wonder she's been so happy to come, but I can't have her being distracted at every little thing we pass by…I guess I could do that."
{Rank 3: Eevee}
Faster than any regular creature could hope to match a brown and white blur burst from one of the many animal dens surrounding us. The blur quickly zoomed by and onto my shoulder, just as I had ordered it to. The animal was light, weighing around twelve pounds and standing a little under a foot, to my current body the thing might as well not be there for all it affected me. Its fur was mostly brown except for the turf of hair around its neck and a small splotch on the tip of its tail that consisted of dirty white color. I caught sight of its big adoring eyes for a second and after I did it began to snuggle closely into my neck in affection.
'I guess I can even call on them, but aside from situations like this I don't think they'll be much use to me.'
"Hey Anima." I called to the still crouching girl. She slowly pried her eyes from the rabbit den, but once she did I could literally see the sparkles in her eyes when she spotted my new summon.
Faster than even I thought she could move, she scooped up the fuzz ball on my shoulder and began to lovingly pet and hug the small creature.
'Glad to see that worked, but I thought she'd at least-' suddenly a banshee like scream resonated throughout the forest. A mental ring of the [Message] spell rang inside my head and I instinctively answered.
-My lord are you okay! I just registered a large scream coming from your direction. Do you require assistance?
I took a second to make sure my eardrums weren't destroyed before I responded. "No need to worry Kall that was simply a test of one of my spells. I used it to scare away an animal from our position. No need to worry, we're fine." I calmly replied.
-Ah, I apologize for interrupting you sir.
"No need for apologies, you followed protocol and contacted me. Now return to your duty and I shall contact you if it's necessary."
-As you say my king-
With the call cut off I returned my attention to my companion. She was now worryingly fretting over a very dazed looking Eevee. Being so close to the scream had left the pet in a rather confused state. She continued to try resuscitating the small animal she had unintentionally fainted.
'Strange, it seems the swirly eyes is an actual evolutionary trait…huh.' After a quick application of healing magic the situation had quickly turned to me explaining my reasoning to Anima.
"In conclusion I will let you keep this Eevee as a pet if you promise to not get side tracked by every little thing. Do you understand?" Her head shook so furiously I thought it might just fall off.
"Good now let's keep moving. I intend to get to the city by tomorrow morning. That will be the best time for scouting once we find a base of operation." She lightly nodded while squeezing her new pet closely to her face.
'She seems really attached to it. I know it's cute and all, but this is a little much.'
"I know you like it, but are you even listening to what I'm saying?" I questioned her.
"…Sorry Erdrick-sama, but it's just so cute I couldn't resist keeping it so close…"
"I'm glad you like it, but I still need you to stay focused. I can't have-"
"…And it has your scent, I can't help, but revel in it…" she simply continued to smell the small fox creature, completely oblivious to my shocked expression. I quickly collected myself for a response.
"Do anything weird with him and I'll take it away faster than you can say "no". Do we understand each other?" She instinctively pulled the animal away from me in fear of the threat.
"Good, looks like we do. Now let's go, we have a lot of ground to cover before the days done." I said while pointing to the open field the forest was giving way to. Once she realized I wasn't going to return her new pet back to its dimension she accepted the invitation to lead. Happily she skipped ahead while Eevee ran joyfully next to her in the open grassland. I kept a brisk pace to keep up with the excited duo, but most of my mind was occupied thinking of how things could go wrong on our trip.
'Let's hope that strange caster is nothing, but a fluke because if it's not then I don't think we can afford to stay in this world very long…" my mind drifted as we traveled across the open expanse of the field.
A/N: I can't deny, this particular chapter was never in the original design, but when I started writing I realized I needed more substance than I had planned so I improvised. I say I came out well, but I'd like to know what you think. Also yes, I know I'm terrible at describing outfits, this was established on the first chapter so it's no surprise. Anyway let's move on to the upcoming chapter discussion.
Finally, next chapter we finally get to see Erdrick in the city. I have been both looking forward and dreading this part of the story so let's hope I don't fuck up. Will Erdrick's lie about his origins work? Will he and Anima find all the information there looking for? And will Erdrick be able to keep his innocence with Anima sleeping so close? Find out next time on Dreams of a King.
Till next time reader.