+The Calm+
I took a measured sip of broth as I glanced around me.
Everyone was watching the five of us dining, some more overtly than others, and hushed whispers were being exchanged.
In the morning, our motley group went back to the smithy where we'd been on the first day to purchase some equipment for our new...I'm calling them party members from now on. "Slave" just leaves a rancid taste in my mouth.
At any rate, Naofumi bought a basic dagger and some leather armour for Raphtalia, and I got a pair of bracers for Deos, who told me he was better at hand to hand than with any weapon.
He demonstrated on one of Baldy's spare suits of armour, who'd told us that if he could dent the platemail armour, he could have a set of leather armour free of charge.
I don't know what kind of magic he employed-and a magic effect took place, make no mistake-but he somehow struck hard enough to shatter the entire thing to pieces.
He got the leather armour, but I had to pay up to cover the set of platemail he broke, which wasn't anywhere near cheap.
That left me in the same place as Naofumi when it came to finances-pretty desperate.
To put it in perspective, pooling my and Naofumi's funds together would yield five silvers, and three of them were Naofumi's.
Well, what a fine start to the day this was
At any rate, we finalized our purchases and went off to eat lunch, at Raphtalia's stomach's request.
We brazenly ignored the "No Demihumans" sign at the door. If they had a problem, they could take it up with us personally.
Naofumi just ordered their cheapest lunch option. Deos and I opted for a broth, as neither of us were really hungry to begin with. Yoyo bought a small sandwich, and Raphtalia got a kid's meal at Naofumi's request.
We ate in relative silence. The occasional whisper from one of the other tables would frantically be hushed by another person close to them.
After all, Naofumi may have been a sham in attack power, but I was not.
+Support of the Sword Hero+
"Hah!"
*crack*
"Again!"
"Hiyah!"
*crunch*
"My brother can punch better than that!" Ouch, that one hurt, Yoyo. "Again!"
"Rah!"
*crackle*
We were still in the woods surrounding the castle city, or as Yoyo put it, the "Beginner's Area". Truth was, we could've left long ago as is-My and Yoyo's levels were high enough to make up for any deficit on Deos' part.
We stayed behind for two reasons. Number one was Naofumi and Raphtalia. I wanted to ensure that they'd be alright and also wanted to see just what and how severe the penalty of having two heroes sticking around each other would be.
The second was to train Deos.
His magic was powerful, certainly, but he lacked the skill to use it properly. To rectify that, my brother was training him with his admittedly limited knowledge in unarmed combat.
Even so, armed with that knowledge, he single handedly defeated Deos in a short spar to prove his own ability.
"That's enough." Yoyo held a water canteen out to Deos. "We'll have a short break, then we're practicing on mobs."
Deos nodded in assent as he gratefully took the canteen.
I, meanwhile, was feeding items to my sword to boost its capabilities. Items such as some of the potions we had, making it so that buffs and debuffs inflicted were more potent, as well as more herbs to boost my [Blade of Grass]. At this point, a small nick from it could kill a balloon within seconds.
I wondered what other items could do to the sword.
I was also gaining exp as my brother and Deos fought alongside me through the "party system", which was something neither that Myne lady nor Yoyo mentioned. Yoyo was apologetic about it when I brought it up, defending himself with the fact that there was too much happening around him for him to keep track of things like that. He'd apparently honestly forgotten that I was not at all familiar with game systems.
I forgave him for it. After all, other than the whole "status magic" thing, it was really nothing like a game. People bled and died-
-falling by the droves to the green-edged blade-
-just as they would in Cier, and I'd caught my brother muttering something about "NPC's" several times.
Really, it's quite easy to forget that this was apparently based off of fiction.
+Support of the Sword Hero+
"So, Naofumi," I muttered as I eyed the newest addition to my arsenal, "what are your plans for tomorrow?"
The newest weapon form looked more like someone took magma and shaped it into a sword, then left it out in the air to cool roughly 3 hours ago. It had an ebon body with polished edges, and running down the length was a crack glowing red-hot.
This [Ember Sword] came about when I decided to drop a piece of hot charcoal from the fire pit in front of me into my weapon for it to absorb. It dealt decent damage, and also applied a "minor burn effect" for each strike.
I suppose fire's still as effective as ever when it came to killing things.
"I've been thinking about heading deeper into the forest." Naofumi frowned as he crushed up some herbs, his [Small Shield] having been swapped out for a variant of sorts. "Now that I have a slave-"-my brow twitched at the word-"-to fight for me, I'll be able to level up at a halfway decent pace. Issue is that we can't do it around each other at all, otherwise I'd probably ask you to come with me."
It turns out that the reason the rule existed was because having multiple heroes fighting around each other would make the exp gain null and void. A huge disadvantage when it came to, as Yoyo put it, "grinding levels", but something that could probably be overlooked in the Wave.
It may just be me, but I prioritize survival before getting stronger.
"Let's face it," I sighed, "our situation is less than ideal. I can make up lost time from King Asshole's shitshow." Naofumi choked back a laugh at that. "You, on the other hand, need as much help as you can receive. Issue is, with so many out to get you, you aren't sure who can be trusted. And because of it, you keep others at arm's length, but because of the lack of trust, people aren't likely to place their trust in you in turn."
"A vicious cycle indeed." Naofumi grunted as he wrapped the crushed herbs into another leaf, tying it up with some string.
"What are you making anyway?"
"Medicine. Apparently rather than giving me offensive boosts, my shield grants me perks that are more supportive or passive in nature, such as improving mat quality or giving me proficiency in crafting and such."
"Sounds pretty practical, considering you can simply harvest things as you go along." I hummed in thought. "That reminds me, you brewed Raphtalia's medicine too, right?"
"It was a low-level broth, nothing too impressive."
"'Nothing too impressive' he says." My brother sat down heavily beside me. "As if learning basic and intermediate pharmaceutical skills within days is something anyone is capable of." Naofumi looked a little sheepish at that. "What are you going to do with all those anyway?"
"Sell them, obviously. I need money for better items and equipment, both for myself and Raphtalia, but seeing as I can't sell drops like you as easily, I'll sell craftable or harvestable items instead."
"Sounds interesting." I put a hand to my chin. "Can you teach me some of the basics? I want to be able to make healing items when we're roughing it."
"In the future, maybe." Naofumi muttered as he placed some more herbs onto the makeshift pestle. "But I imagine you'd want to part ways starting tomorrow, considering the ever-increasing skill gap between us. You can watch for tonight, if you-"
"No!"
Raphtalia's outcry drew the eyes of the three of us and startled Deos into wakefulness.
"No…! Daddy...! Mommy…!"
"What's wrong?" Naofumi was at her side in an instant. "Stay calm!"
He pulled her in for a hug as she cried for her parents, doing his damnedest to comfort her.
"Poor girl." Yoyo frowned in sympathy. "Her scars must run deep."
"I can only imagine." I murmured quietly as I glanced over to where Deos had laid back down.
Only an inattentive man could've missed the way his eyes glazed over and darted around when he woke up, the way he'd tensed as though he would jump at the next thing that moved, or the way that his teeth were bared, as though trying to intimidate an unseen foe.
I had the sinking feeling that Deos had just as much, if not more baggage than Raphtalia did.
"Still," I thought as I looked back to where Naofumi was hugging a sobbing Raphtalia, "if Naofumi treats her like this despite his callous words on the whole slavery matter, maybe she'll turn out alright."
+Support of the Sword Hero+
"Ow! Pain! Aiee!"
"Damn it, Deos, hold still! I can't administer the salve if you keep fidgeting."
I ignored both my brother and Deos as I stared at the window in front of me.
{CAUTION}
Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Discarding Legendary Weapon.
I pulled up the rule itself in my "HUD".
{HELP}
A Hero may not discard his associated Legendary Weapon for any and all reasons whatsoever.
The warning had triggered when a [Feral Rabbit] mob jumped out of the greenery, bounding straight for Yoyo.
Naturally, I couldn't allow that, and so my first instinct was to throw the sword at it.
Foolish thought it may seem, it was actually an ingrained habit that was part of my style, after having used my former sword for years on end that way..
When I tried it with the [Legendary Sword], however, it poured enough electricity into me to knock out a lesser man as I was winding the throw up.
As it was, though, I was less than disposed to help intercept the mob, so Deos stepped in, and was rewarded with a harsh bite to the arm.
Yoyo killed it with ease, in the end, and used what knowledge he'd gleaned from Naofumi's medicine crafting to try to stopper the wound until he could create a proper antidote.
Or ask Naofumi for one, anyway.
I looked back to the help menu and finally dismissed it, falling into a pensive mood.
This could be troublesome. I'll have to redefine my style in order to avoid having to overcome this debilitating shock again.
I'll start on that tonight, I suppose.
+Support of the Sword Hero+
Before I knew it, we were back in the smithy once more.
"Sell us a new weapon for this much." Naofumi grunted as he tossed a pouch of coins onto the countertop.
In the downtime between sleeping, eating, and grinding, we decided to devote some time to teaching Naofumi and Raphtalia a few things about combat.
Naofumi had joined Yoyo as he taught Deos. After all, even if you couldn't deal damage, it still paid to learn how to throw, block, or avoid hits. That shield of his didn't exactly extend his striking range after all.
I, on the other hand, taught Raphtalia swordplay. Every scrap of wisdom I possessed, from stances to feints and counters, I did my best to impart onto her in the time I could. I had her drill for quite a bit each day before dinner, and I also began to hunt mobs with her when Naofumi was learning with Yoyo.
There was no EXP gain, but the experience she gained in live combat was arguably more valuable.
"I suppose it's time to get the little lady a sword then. Something on the short side for now." Baldy replied.
I should really get around to asking him for his name someday.
He stepped around the counter and went to a wooden crate in the corner. He then dug out a sheathed blade that was more akin to a dagger than anything. "How about this one? Iron Shortsword. Decent quality and fairly cheap."
Naofumi considered for a moment. "...Boss, are there any towns or villages around here that we can travel to with our current gear and levels?"
"Well," replied Baldy, pulling out a map, "with your equipment, it'd have to be here." He pointed to a place on the map.
It was only then that I realized that I couldn't read the language at all.
That was going to set me and Yoyo back quite a bit...
"Lute Village. Small and quiet place. You can probably find some new mobs or things like that there. Swordy and his party could travel a tad further beyond, to here." He pointed to a spot further away from Lute. "Felwind. It's a border colony only established a few years ago, and was one of the places that were hit extremely hard by the Wave without being utterly decimated. I'm sure there's lots of work to be found there, among other things."
"I see." I turned to Naofumi. "So this is where we part ways, then?"
"We'll have to, yes. Mobs here are giving diminishing returns even for me now."
He then smiled. Not one of those bitter or sardonic ones that I'd often see on his face ever since we got convicted, but a truly genuine smile. "Thanks for helping me out over the course of the last few weeks, I learned quite a bit from both of you."
"As did we from you." Yoyo smirked back at him. "I'll be putting your medicine crafting lessons to use soon enough."
In a parallel to that day at the tavern, I held out my hand for Naofumi to shake. "I'll be seeing you around, and it sure as hell won't be at your funeral service."
"Who do you take me for?" Naofumi chuckled as he took it without hesitation. "I'm a shield bearer. I'm not going down so easily."
+Support of the Sword Hero+
I yawned not at all subtly as we walked through the gates to the shanty township of Felwind.
Really, to even call it that was inaccurate.
The buildings were surrounded by a rough wooden palisade. A decent defense that would repel scattered groups of mobs, perhaps, but fare terribly against any kind of organized group. The houses were a toss-up between carved stone bricks or wooden logs, with some of them a patchwork of both.
The tension here was palpable. Everyone who was able to were carrying weapons, and they eyed the three of us newcomers warily. Not that they'd really be able to do anything against us if they tried, but I'd really rather avoid confrontations altogether.
Causing a bloodbath kind of set the mood when time came for negotiations, after all.
Marching into what remained of the town square, we stopped.
"We're here to see the leader of this place." Yoyo called out.
"Purpose?" drawled a lady sitting on a log, who was eyeing us as she idly twirled a knife in her left hand.
"Here to give some assistance." Deos grunted. "Y'all could use some by the looks of it."
Her eyes narrowed. "...Down that path. Largest hut at the end." She then shooed us away, twirling her knife the whole time.
"You can't just talk to people like that." Yoyo admonished him as we distanced ourselves from the potentially psycho knife lady.
"Why not? Worked plenty well for me so far."
"We're in civilised society now, and there's a certain level of decorum to be employed when talking to others. Your level of speaking may be able to pass when you're in the arena, but it won't do outside of it."
"Tell you what," I turned to him as I spoke. "We'll learn the language together regularly, whenever we can spare the time."
"Why are you bothering to?" Deos looked confused. "You're all speaking good as far as I see."
"My weapon translates for me and my brother got a crystal ball for the spoken language. Much like me, however, he can't read or write worth a damn."
"Shuddup." My brother punched my arm again as we came up to the house of the leader. "We'll talk more about this idea later today."
I knocked on the door thrice in rapid succession.
And was rewarded with an axe levelled at my face when the door opened.
"Rude." My tone was as empty as my gaze.
"I know." The graying man lowered his axe. "But I can really never be too careful these days."
"And yet you lowered the axe." Yoyo noted.
"None of you seem like bandits, so I'll trust that I have nothing to fear right now."
"Bandits?" Deos' eyes suddenly seemed to spark with a feral light.
"Aye, they've been causing us a lot of trouble recently, and the kingdom can't spare anyone to help. Would you care to give some assistance to our settlement, strangers?"
"We'd be happy to." Deos ascertained, the spark fading from his eyes. He was still unusually tense, however.
"Right." The man took a deep breath. "Name's Ormond. I used to run this village. Nowadays, there ain't much left to run. People are talking about moving back to the capital. Frankly, I'd join them, but unless we get escorts, it's a doomed operation in and of itself."
"Anyone volunteer for the job?" I inquired.
"Friendo, I've been sending letters day and night to the capital requesting aid. Truth is, few are willing to bother with a border colony like ours to begin with, and with the roads so dangerous nowadays, the numbers dwindle further."
Ormond sighed heavily, scratching at his beard. "I did end up finding someone though, some mercenary band who'll escort us to the capital once we reach Lute Village."
"Sounds reasonable," I nodded pensively.
"You aren't going to ask for pay like the last guy?" Ormond raised an eyebrow at me.
"To put it diplomatically," I smiled sardonically, "I don't think your settlement's in any condition to pay anything to anyone."
Ormond winced, not answering the question.
"Back on track." Yoyo gestured to the three of us. "What do you need us to do?"
"From what I can make of you lot, not much." Ormond's eyes glanced back and forth between the three of us. "You can see that everyone here's armed with something right? Truth is, not everyone knows how to use weapons, they just carry it for peace of mind."
"Or a last resort." I interjected thoughtfully.
"That too," nodded Ormond in agreement, "it's not much, but it's more than your own fists if you're cornered by a monster or some outlaw." Deos' eyes narrowed at that. "Issue is, we're going to be moving through these woods, where there are still leftover mobs from the Wave-"
"-Plus those bandits you mentioned-" Deos interjected.
"-And you want us to provide bodyguard duty." Yoyo fingered his chin as he pondered. "Would it be possible for us to keep the whatever the monsters drop?"
Wow, haggling like that straight off the bat? I didn't think you had it in you, Yoyo.
"Heh." Ormond chuckled dryly, "Figures that I can't escape paying for something even now." He waved a hand dismissively. "The drops are all yours. My concern is getting the people I'm in charge of to safety."
"As any responsible leader should." I nodded approvingly. "How long would it take for you all to pack up and be ready to go?"
"We'll probably be ready by tomorrow." Ormond sighed and scratched at his beard. He's been doing that a lot. "In the meantime, do your best to settle in and get some shut-eye. We don't have many accommodations as you can see, so chances are you'll be sleeping on the floor."
"We're willing to forgo comfort." My brother gave a curt nod to Ormond. "We'll see you tomorrow then."
With that, we set off to pitch our tent a ways off of the village, awaiting the coming day.
A/N:
Good god it's finally done.
This took far, far longer that it should've.
As for why it took so long?
A combination of life and school.
I detest the both of them and they hate me right back.
Raphtalia has learned swordplay from One, and Yoyo taught some basic wisdom in hand-to-hand to Deos and Neofumi, with the three of them possibly learning the language in a few chapters.
Fact is I could've posted it after I got to where Naofumi and One shook hands again, but it didn't feel like the right place to do so.
Assuming I ever get there. Inspiration's been running low for a bit now.
No chance I'm discontinuing this though, that I can promise.
I own nothing save for OCs.
