So. Here is the next chapter finally. I imagine a lot of you have been waiting for this. Or not. It doesn't matter in the end because I'm still going to write it, and you all are going to read it. Or not. Our situation is weird like that. I'm not going to try and fix the situation if you guys don't want to. So, I'll shut up about this and I'll let you read the chapter. Good luck enjoying the garbage.


Chapter Thirty Nine: Kept You Waiting?

"We should have waited the Bow Knights out! We shouldn't have touched that Reeking Box at all! We're so boned! Fucking fantastic…"

"Calm down Ana. We can handle a little horde of Risen."

"That is not a little horde, Andy! I counted over one hundred of them! We're just three people; what can we do against such numbers?"

"We fought Risen hordes bigger than that in the past. We can take these guys without getting sweaty!"

"We almost always lost when we fought hordes bigger than fifty heads, Andy! Even then, we barely survived as it is! It was always super close when we did fight when it was just us two!"

"But we got Dad now! I'm sure Dad can handle his fair share."

"I'm sure he can. But I'm certain that three people can't fight back an army of undead monsters by themselves!"

I watch as my children continue to argue about the situation at hand, the two ignoring the villagers as they run around the village gathering supplies in order to run for their lives. It is no wonder to me that when something bad happens anymore, like a giant horde of Risen that came out of the Reeking Box, it always happens to me! Why me?! Is there some God out there dedicated to making my life miserable? It sure feels like there is one, and I want to punch it in the face if I ever meet it!

Gods… We've dug ourselves a nice situation, haven't we? Well, it can't get much worse than it already is; can it? Please let it not get any worse than it already is… Anyway, I let out a sigh as Andy and Ana continue to argue; turning my head to look at some portly man walking up to the three of us.

"Can I help you?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips. I glance to look at Andy and Ana and internally sigh at the sight of them still arguing, not noticing the newcomer.

"Y-Yes. I've noticed that you and your companions seemed to be very experience in the art of… Well you know…" The villager said, rubbing his hands together in worry as he looked around at the other villagers running around.

"You want us to defend the village?" I ask, cocking my eyebrow at the fat man as he vigorously nods.

"Y-Yes! We're going to try and escape, but we need time to hitch up the wagons and ready the animals. We just need a few hours, and we can be able to escape. Please! W-We'll pay you handsomely for your serve?" At the mention of payment, I feel an ancient yet familiar grin form on my face. It's been so long since someone has offered me a mercenary job. I've been stuck in a long standing contract with the Shepherds, a marriage with Anna, and now a former forced relationship with the Valmese army. It has been so long since I've had some kind of choice in a matter!

"How much are you willing to pay for your safety?"

"We can only offer fifty thousand. Is that enough?"

"Yep. Leave the gold in the inn. I'll pick it up later." I answer, confidently smiling at the portly man who is now full of joy.

"T-Thank you so much sir! Thank you! I'll tell the others right away! T-Thank you for what you are doing for us!" The portly man said before he ran off, shouting to some villagers to hurry up and prepare the wagons. I turn back to Andy and Ana, sighing once more as they are now super close to each other, screaming loudly as their faces turn red from anger and exterion.

I cut them off before they could scream anymore, saying "Alright you two! Quit it! We've got a job to do."

"What job?!" Ana says, looking at me with a furious glare on her face.

"Yeah! What job?" Andy adds on, looking at me with the same expression that is on Ana's face.

"We're going to hold off the Risen until the villagers have fled. Then, we're going to run for our lives while the Risen razes the town. We've been paid fifty thousand for this so we're doing this, understand me?" I ask, matching their glare with my own. Luckily, my glare cowers them into submission; making them answer me with "Yes sir." as they look away. I smile and clasp the two on their shoulders, saying "It will be fine. We're much smarter than the Risen will ever be, and we can use that to our advantage. Say, 'have you ever walked by a white birch tree, only to get hit by an arrow'?"

"What are you trying to tell us, Dad?" Andy asks, confused at what I'm referencing.

"What I'm saying is that we're going to show the Risen that it's going to cost them if they want a straight fight. Now! Let's start digging, shall we?"

"Digging? Fucking fantastic…"


"I-I can't b-b-believe we actually managed to dig that many holes in such a short amount of time. D-Dad, have you done this before?" Andy asks me, breathing heavily as we finish up my little plan for the Risen. Andy and I are standing right outside the wooden walls of the village, shovels by our sides, as we've just finished up the traps that are going to help us destroy the Risen horde coming after us. Ana is in a nearby tree, watching the horde of undead inch closer and closer.

"Too many times to count, son. I almost forgot some of the tricks that I learned in my early mercenary days due to how I've never really gotten a chance to use them again." I say, stabbing my shovel into the ground as I wipe my dust covered self off. I sort of missed having to get down and dirty in order to assure a victory for a job like this. But, it feels good pulling out the old mercenary trade tricks after such a long time!

"They'll be here in a few minutes. I hope you're plan works Aiden." Ana says, jumping down from the tree she had been sitting in and landing beside Andy and I.

I chuckle at her, bumping her shoulder with my fist, and say "Have faith in your old man! I didn't get to be this old by doing stupid shit."

"I'm pretty sure Andy and I are almost as old as you…"

"You get what I mean! I'm the elder here so-"

"Guys! There here!" Andy says, snapping Ana and I out of our conversation to the situation at hand. We watch as the horde of Risen walks towards us, obviously having not noticed us as they are just shuffling towards the village; moaning out black smoke like the undead freaks they are! Suddenly, one of the Risen sees us; letting out an ear piercing scream as it stares at us. Soon, the other Risen join in; creating a symphony of screams.

The Risen quickly charge towards us, swinging their weapons as they rush to maul us in their mad frenzy. I begin to chuckle as the near my traps, and I fully bust out laughing as half of the Risen disappear into the ground as my plan activates without a hitch. Sometimes, the simplest traps are the most deadly to a person; and a pit full of sharpened spikes and farming equipment is definitely one of those!

"It worked! I can't believe it worked!" Andy says, smiling like a mad man as the Risen are scattered from the traps; completely and utterly surprised at what just happened to them.

"Fucking fantastic! Let's finish them off now. Come on you two!" Ana essentially orders us, taking out her axe as she charges towards the disorganized Risen horde to end them. Andy and I follow after her, drawing our time-worn swords and charging straight behind Ana. This couldn't have gone any better than it already is!

When we hit the Risens' line, we almost immediately scatter them on impact alone. Thankfully, a few of them manage to recover enough to put up a fight. If you can call some weak flailing as a fight that is… Two Risen tried to take me on at once, but I didn't even break a sweat as I easily take them down with a flurry of attacks and pushing them into a nearby pit. Andy's fight was easy. He simply pushed and punted his enemies into the pits, not even bothering to attack them with his sword. Ana didn't use the pits though. She simply cut tany Risen in her path down with some pretty heavy chops of her axe.

Before we even know it, we had already destroyed the entire Risen horde by ourselves. We regroup at our original starting place, smiling and laughing like we had just played a little game like we were some kids.

"Nice job you two! That was easier than I thought it would be." I say, bringing them together into a group hug.

"It really was!" Andy says, smiling wide as he seemingly enjoys the sense of victory we had just achieved. "What about you Ana? Did we do pretty good?"

"We're not done yet…" Ana answered, instantly knocking us out of our joy and into a more worried state of mind.

"W-What do you mean we're not done yet?" Andy asks, nervously chuckling as he glances between Ana and I.

"Look." Ana points out to something in the distance, glaring at the sight of whatever she is looking at. Andy and I turn to face what Ana is pointing at, and we feel our blood chill at the site of it. It's another horde of Risen, even bigger than the last one, running full steam towards us.

"Is it too much to ask that they also fall into the pits as well?" I say, letting out a sigh as I let my blade rest on my shoulder while I watch the ever looming horde of undead near.

"I do believe so… Fucking fantastic…" Ana says as she twirls her axe once before getting into her battle stance. Looks like we're going to be fighting a new battle. A losing battle at that… Fucking fantastic!

It doesn't take long before the horde of Risen arrive and attack, screaming like banshees as they charge around the spike pits and towards us. Thankfully, some of the pits have been arranged that they'll have to go through some narrow choke points, so we'll be able to have a chance. It may be a small one, but it is still a chance.

I ready myself at the end of one of these chokepoints, steadying my breathing as a long line of Risen charge down the lane towards me. My first opponent is a Fighter Risen, and I was able to easily take it down by smashing my shield into it; causing it to tumble into the spike pits around us.

My second opponent is a Myrmidon Risen. I have a little trouble with this one due to its speed, its fast blows forcing me to block. Some of its blows make it through my defence, creating cuts on my face and parts of my body where my armor is thin. But, I manage to slay it in the end with one blow; my strength clearly bringing me the victory.

The third and fourth opponents were a duo, a Mercenary and an Archer. I'm easily able to take out the Mercenary Risen with a flurry of swings, but the Archer gives me my first wound. One of its arrows slams into my right shoulder, causing me to let out a growl from the pain. I waste anytime though and I slay the Archer before it could shoot another arrow.

I am forced back to my original starting position by a Soldier Risen, my fifth opponent. Thanks to his reach, I am forced to awkwardly dodge its attacks in a way so I won't get hit while not falling into one of the spike pits. Once it lunges it spear too far, I grab the wood of the weapon and pull the Risen towards me. I then bash the Risen across the head, sending it tumbling down one of the spike pits.

"Give me a break here you undead freaks!" I say, breathing heavily as my next Risen enemy makes its appearance; the sixth Risen being another Mercenary. I waste no time with this one and send it flying into a pit, the monster screaming the whole way down.

As I turn to face my next opponent, I am sent flying out of the chokepoint. As I am in the air, I open my eyes a tiny bit to see smoke coming off of my chest and a Risen Mage carrying a Thunder tome in front of me; seemingly the cause of why I was just knocked out of my position. I eventually land, slamming against the wooden gate of the village. I let out a groan of pain as I fully open my eyes and see Andy and Ana beside me. It seems like they too were forced here, each of them covered in wounds and some part of them smoking.

As I stumble back to my feet, Andy says to Ana as he ducks under an arrow "So Sis… What's our plan out of here?"

"I have no idea Andy! We're surrounded on all sides, and we can't exactly retreat now can we?" Ana answers, batting away a Fighter Risen with a swing of her axe.

"So we have no plan? Great… Dad! Do you have a plan?" Andy asks me as he cuts down a Thief Risen that charged at him. I think I have a way to get out of this place, but I'm not sure it will work to be honest! But hey, when did half-baked plans stop us?

"I do! We have to-" I say before I am cut off by the loud moaning of something coming out of the spike pits. We watch as some kind of sludge crawl out of the Spike pits and reform into these weird looking Risen with bags on their heads.

"What are those things?" I ask, completely and utterly surprised at the sight of these new enemies.

"Revenants! I didn't think that Risen could devolve already! And that means we have to deal with even more of them. Fucking fantastic…" Ana says, answering my question as she bats away another Fighter Risen. She is right with having to deal with more of these undead freaks as their ranks have now doubled, if not tripled, in size! As I examine the situation before me, I notice two particular interesting Risen standing behind the massive horde of them. One of them is a gold looking version of a Revenant, and another seems to be a Wyvern Lord in gold armor but without a wyvern.

"Say, what are those two undead freaks doing?" I ask Ana and Andy, pointing at the two Risen with my sword.

Andy, surprising me, growls out "That's him! How did he follow us?"

"Who? Who followed you?"

"Reskar!" Ana shouts out, making me now understand Andy's anger. My surprise also turns into anger as I remember what he did to Anna in Andy and Ana's future. I deserve to kick this undead freak's ass for what he did!

"Let's kill him then!" I say, about to charge forward but stopped as the horde of Risen circled around us close in. I think they're done with trying to take us on in one versus one duels. Looks like their going to smother us instead, and that is a pretty good idea to be honest.

As Andy, Ana, and I are pushed up against the doors; each of us facing down the enemy. As we ready ourselves for what seem like the final confrontation, I decide to do the one thing I didn't think I would actually do. I send out a little prayer, telling Naga to come and save us from our impending doom at the hands of these undead freaks. It's the least I can do in a situation, and what seems o be the most I can do with how many Risen there are compared to just me and my two kids from the future. The Risen let out a scream throughout their ranks and charge forward, intent on ending our lives. I close my eyes as I wait for death, knowing that there is no way to survive this.

"Elwind!" I swiftly open my eyes and see three blades of green wind slam into the enemy's lines, stopping their charge and saving Andy, Ana, and mine's lives. I let out a choked "What" as Jack lands on the ground before us, looking a freaking badass.

He then turns to us, smiles, and says to me specifically "Kept you waiting, huh?"

Aiden and Jack have attained Support Level A

"Yeah you did!" I answer back, a smile creeping onto my face as I move to his side. "Now, let's finish this!" With a mighty war cry, Jack and I plunge right into the heart of the enemy; surprising the horde of Risen. As we charge in, Andy and Ana following in after us, I glance to the side and see the Shepherds coming to our rescue; surprising the enemy even more. Now this is a victory!

Between all of us, we make quick work of the Risen horde. None of them stood a chance against the combined might of the Shepherds! When the battle finally begins to end, I met back up with Andy and Ana who are glaring up at the sky.

"What's wrong you two?" I ask, sheathing my blade as I stand beside the my kids.

"Reskar escaped. Turns out he found his past self and made it turn into a wyvern, or at least that is what we think happened." Ana says, letting out a sigh as she put her axe away. Well shit… Looks like that undead freak gets to live for a while longer. But he won't be alive the next time we see him!

As I clasp Ana and Andy on their shoulders, I hear a familiar voice cough right behind me. I turn and I see Anna, my lovely wife, standing there; her arms crossed as he glares at me.

"Hi beautiful… How are you doing-"

"Flavia said you were dead you know. She said that you sacrificed yourself to give her enough time to escape. I had to collect your life insurance you know…" Anna says, a menacing aura coming off of her.

I take a step back and say in the sweetest voice I could muster "You are mad. I understand that. Just calm down and-"

"Do you know how many different forms I had to alter? Do you know how many pieces of paper I had to work through because you were 'dead?'"

"I understand that. Let's not get all crazy-"

"Do you know how much I spent on your funeral? How much on your gravestone? Almost thirty thousand gold. Thirty thousand gold that I could have used to make more gold… All of it is now wasted."

"Don't worry about that! I can fix that… Now I-"

"Do you know how much I missed you? Do you know how many days and nights I had to close the store because I was too busy crying? Do you know how much gold I could have made if I you were still alive?"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"You should be you little punk!" Anna shouts, forcing me to take another step back as she storms up to me and grabs a fistful of my shirt. We stare at each for a few moment, my gaze full of fear while her is full of a scheming rage.

"You're going to pay me back, you understand me. Both in gold and in the time we could have spent together." Anna finally says, bringing me a bit closer to her. Why am I blushing like an idiot right now? I should be terrified! But… I'm sort of liking this.

"I understand honey. Matter of fact, I got you fifty thousand gold! It's in the inn of the village." I say, unconsciously smiling at her despite being in such a terrible position. Anna turns her head in the direction of the village, letting out a friendly hum, and turns back to me; her glare softened a tad bit.

"That's one good step in the right direction. But you still have to make it up to me for the time we lost. So when we are finally alone, you and I are going to-"

Suddenly, we both hear a loud cough that snaps us out of our little 'conversation.' Anna and I turn our heads, and I see Andy hiding behind Ana as the two look at us. Oh shit! I forgot to tell Anna the news!

"Anna, I would like you to meet Andy and Ana." I say, prying her hands off of me as I gesture to the two.

"Pleasure to meet you two! Thank you so much for taking care of my husband. If you ever want to discuss some kind of trade, I am free on-" Anna says before I cut her off by place my arm over her shoulders.

"Anna. They're not some strangers that I got with." I say, looking at Andy and Ana as they stare at the ground; Andy blushing while Ana tries to hold back tears.

"What do you mean? Who else could they be?"

"How about our children who came from the future?" I say, smiling at the two to let them know that their going to be alright.

"O-Our children? I didn't think we had any, or that there were more from the future!"

"What do you mean more?"


So. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Pretty ironic chapter name, am I right? It's not like my submissions for the next chapter for this story take a long ass time at times, right? That's sarcasm for those who aren't good at sarcasm. Which is me at times, I must admit. Anyway, I will be leaving you all now. I hope you all go out and read some batter fanfictions while I write the next chapter of this garbage. I'm pretty sure you all are already doing that so keep on doing it! Goodbye!