As I slowly opened my carmine coloured eyes to filter out the bright lights of the early morning, I felt my head on something soft behind my head and a small hand going through my brown locks.
Somehow Melia moved my head onto her hap without me noticing or Lars waking up.
This seems familiar somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Morning, Melia." I groaned out softly as I fully opened my eyes to see the bicoloured fur of Lars as he stared into my eyes before licking my cheek to my eye while barking out happily.
I let out a chuckle at Lars while bringing up my arm to his soft fur.
"Morning to you as well, Lars," I spoke to him as I let out a semi-quiet yawn.
Lars then got off my upper chest and went to Melia's side as I got myself off of the spellcasters lap and stretched my muscles out.
"So, did anything happen last night?" I asked as I summoned Krishna into my hands and placed him onto my back.
Melia shook her head as Louis walked towards us with his upper vestment folded over his arm with some droplets covering his muscular body.
I guess that he took a dive into a nearby river for a quick wash.
"Morning, Louis. How's your sleep?" I asked the eastern priest as he took a seat on a log and grabbing his cross and muttering a prayer.
The eastern priest let out a small yawn before turning his head towards me.
"My sleep has been pretty good, Thomas. Melia asked me to keep watch as the both of you rested before she had woken around an hour ago." Louis said as he slipped his vestment top and left it undone as Lars bounced to Louis and rubbed himself against him.
Hmm, not even 24 hours later and Lars already trusts the three of us after saving his life.
I guess that the supposed 'beast master' trait of the spear hero could be true.
"So, what are we doing next?" I asked my crew as the two of them got into thinking poses as Lars walked up to Melia and hopped into her lap with a curious look on his bicoloured face.
"I do believe that we had planned to go to an old mine that is near here, but from what I had heard from some people back in Melromarc, it was overtaken by feverish monsters," Louis stated, causing my eyes to widen for a brief second.
If I can get a pickaxe and get some ore and take it back to town and make some armour for myself as my current turtleneck shirt and pants only gave me a bit if defence.
"Hey, Louis. What type of minerals are there in that abandoned mine?" I asked the eastern priest who went quiet for a second before responding to my enquiry.
"If I remember correctly, it was mainly iron ore with some magic-compatible ore that is good for enchantments, but it is quite rare and only available in the lower depths," Louis admitted to me.
Hmm, to I can either get standard iron ore for my armour with small amount of magical enhancements or go straight for the rare ore but at the disadvantage of not much armour.
Maybe Melia could know something.
"Hey, Melia. What other materials are good with magical enhancements?" I asked the resident spellcaster while Lars headbutted me in my leg.
He's like Jack alright.
The spellcaster let out a quiet hum as she pulled a small leather book out of a pouch and looked into the contents of the small book.
"Hmm. After having a look, two materials that are good for magical enhancement include iron ore and beast hide." The spellcaster stated as she put her small book back into her pouch.
Iron ore and beast hide, huh.
"One question about the hide. Does any animal hide do, or should there be a specific kind of hide for armour?" I asked the resident spellcaster as she let out a hum.
"I believe the best hide to be made into armour is the hide of the wild boar that can be found in the fields near the abandoned mine," Louis stated with the spellcaster nodding her head alongside Louis as if she was affirming what the eastern priest had stated.
Hmm, so iron ore and boar hide, huh? Seems easy enough.
"Alrighty then. But before that, I'm taking a dive into the nearby river to clean myself up. It should only take up to ten minutes." I told my group as I grabbed Krishna and slung him across my back and headed over to the river to give myself a quick rinse.
As I made my way towards the river, I heard a snap nearby, prompting me to summon Krishna into my hands into a defensive position.
"The hell?" I muttered as a crow flew past my shoulder, making me turn around, only to see the cloak-covered body of Shiki with an arm stretched out.
"Nice seeing you again, Shiki," I spoke out to the mysterious informant as they burst into a murder of crows.
I just stood there, bewildered at what just happened.
"I swear, this world just keeps getting weirder," I spoke out as I placed Krishna onto my back and continued towards the river while stripping my shirt off.
-Time Skip-
After I finished rinsing myself off and finding out that Melia can use agi as a portable heater.
Well, that's one way of using magic.
When we managed to get out of the forest, I saw a large field rich in colour, various beasts roaming the area and a few structures made of stone with some rubble at various points.
Holy shit, this place reminds me of the countryside when I was younger and helping my grandad with various tasks.
Lars let out a playful bark as he began climbing up my leg and up to my shoulder to see far out into the fields.
It also reminded me of the Gaur Plains from Xenoblade Chronicles.
"So, where's the mineshaft we're looking for again?" I pondered out loud as Louis went ahead and looked around the large field before pointing towards a small hill with a wooden cabin nearby.
"From what I recall that small hill over there used to belong to a noble family a few years ago before being abandoned after the family became bankrupted after an unfortunate incident. The place has been abandoned ever since." The eastern priest spoke out as I began following him down to the abandoned mine while Melia trailed behind us and Lars jumping off my shoulder.
I let out a chuckle as the bicoloured wolf caught up to Louis and trailed behind him as the spellcaster came up towards me as I placed my hands into my pockets as Krishna clung to my back.
"Hey, Melia," I called out to the spellcaster as she looked up towards me.
Melia sure does remind me of Ashley.
"Yes. What is it Thomas?" the spellcaster replied as she fiddled with her collapsible staff.
"When I met both you and Louis that day, both of you gravitated towards me and not the others. Has there been any reason for that other than your family's history with Sétanta?" I asked as she placed her index finger onto her jaw and made a small hum.
"Well, Louis and I met when we were children because our fathers had been good friends with Sétanta when he was still around. We both wanted to stick together. And compared to the three other heroes, you seemed to be the most mature." Was all the spellcaster said as we continued after the eastern priest and the bicoloured wolf.
So, Louis and Melia are childhood friends due to their fathers knowing the previous spear hero.
I guess that explains quite a bit on how they both gravitated towards me without knowing who I was first.
And I must admit, I'm getting quite a few good fighters for my roster. A powerful spellcaster with knowledge about this land, a magic-knight priest and a Cerberus pup with potential.
I mean, what's next? A demon-human hybrid? The cryptic Shiki being related to a powerful noble.
I shook my head before focusing forwards as we got closer to the abandoned house.
The place seemed quite nice. Sturdy despite being in disrepair, but the place could easily be fixed in a few days with the hands of an experienced carpenter.
"Louis. The place seems to be in good condition." I told the eastern priest as he nodded his head while walking up towards the broken door.
"Indeed, it is Thomas. It does seem quite odd that a building from a noble family that became bankrupted years ago is in such good condition." The black-haired man commented as he pushed the remains of the door with the pommel of his sword against the door.
The interior seemed quite neat and tidy, despite some of the furniture being broken, the carpet with wear and tear, broken windows and a half-rotting corpse.
Wait, a half-rotting corpse?
"Well, you don't see this kind of thing every day. Not in Ireland or Japan for that matter." I spoke out loud while kneeling down towards the half-rotting sack of meat, grabbed Krishna and poked the corpse lightly with the butt of the shaft.
Hmm, from what I can see, this was mostly the result of a stabbing as there weren't any bite markings.
I then gave my brief report of my admittedly quick findings to Louis as he gave a nod and headed towards a small space underneath a flight of stairs.
While glancing at the mangled corpse, I looked at Krishna and an Idea popped into my head while shifting the holy spear into its halberd form.
I positioned the arm in such a way that I could splice the arm from the socket joint.
With a deep breath, I raised the halberd and sent it downwards with a loud squish as the arm was separated from the main body.
I moved up to the arm and grasped the rotted flesh, took in a deep breath and placed the arm near Krishna's gem with a red flash, the arm was liquidated into nothingness.
[Manslaying spear- Equipment bonus- +5 against human-like creatures]
I grimace was plastered onto my face as I heard Louis coming back with a few sets of tools.
Louis had a look at the corpse before setting his eyes towards me with a kind smile on his face.
"You saw it, didn't you Louis?" I asked the eastern priest as he slowly nodded his head before setting down the tools onto a nearby table and letting his hand onto my shoulder.
"I understand that you feel content in what you just did. But remember this, we all make sacrifices in our paths of life. Being a hero is no different from the average person." The eastern priest told me as we both got up and moved over to the table with the tools.
I grabbed a pickaxe, an axe, and a shovel and placed then near me.
"Thanks, Louis," I told him as he grabbed the other tools and moved them away.
I took the tools and one by one, I placed each tool near Krishna's gen and watched as each tool was liquidated into the gen with a red glow.
[woodcutting spear- Equipment bonus- +2 to woodcutting techniques]
Hmm, could be quite useful in the future if I need firewood or I want to build a nice house.
"Next!" I called out as Louis grabbed the pickaxe and handed to me, as I repeated the process.
[Mining spear- Equipment bonus- +2 to mining techniques]
Definitely going to be useful in the next few hours.
"Last one!" I called out as Louis grabbed the shovel and repeated the process.
[Digging spear- Equipment bonus- +2 to digging techniques]
After I finished absorbing the tools, I headed out to the front of the cabin and towards a tree and shifted Krishna into its new shovel form and begun digging.
"I take it that you are going to give the woman a proper burial, Thomas?" I heard Louis behind me as I focused on the task at hand.
"Yeah. I believe that I should give her a proper burial at least. But that's including that I lobbed off her arm post-mortem to empower Krishna." I told the eastern priest.
I heard some shuffling as I turned my head to see Louis placing his sword against the tree in exchange for a shovel and joining me.
"Thanks for the assistance, Louis," I told him as he flashed me a smile.
"No need to thank me, Thomas. I used to help my father with this when I was a young lad." Louis told me as we continued digging in silence.
-Time skip-
It took us around two hours to bury the deceased woman underneath the tree and Louis grabbing a bible and reading a passage for the young woman while I headed towards the cabin.
I saw Melia with Lars on her lap as the bicoloured Cerberus wolf kicking his hindleg as the spellcaster scratched him behind the ear.
It's quite adorable seeing Lars acting like this.
"Hey, Melia," I spoke up to the spellcaster as she looked up to face me.
"I take it that you and Louis are going to head down to the mine?" she asked me as I shifted Krishna's shovel form into a pickaxe one.
"Yup. Louis and I just finished giving the deceased woman we found in the cabin a proper burial with Louis finishing up with a bible passage," I told the spellcaster as I heard some steps behind me.
It was Louis with his sword by his side and holding a pickaxe above his right shoulder and that same innocent smile on his face.
"Louis. Mind if you pass me one." I heard the spellcaster spoke up as she shifted from the log with Lars jumping off and running towards my leg.
I let out a smile as the eastern priest passed another pickaxe to the spellcaster as I headed towards the mineshaft.
"Let's go!" I yelled out as we descended into the abandoned mineshaft.
A/N: And that's a wrap for the 9th chapter of my dragoon story.
As you can see, Thomas has gained some new spears from tools and a rotting arm he lobbed of a deceased woman before giving her a proper burial.
I felt like that is a good use of Thomas' skills as a morgue technician-in-training.
And next chapter, Thomas and his crew venture down into the mineshaft for ore.
And yeah, I know I didn't upload in nearly three months, but that was mainly getting used to the new phone ban in school and going through a meltdown after my literacy teacher managed to upset me.
Apparently asking people for help warrants being told to shut up and do your work.
Yeah, see ye when I next upload.
Chao.
