The city was on edge. The guards were moving around, but not really achieving anything. The Wave was close, the timer I'd gotten back during the first few days here when I'd visited the Hourglass was less specific than it had been, at some point dropping the seconds, and later the minutes, so I only knew we had a bit under three days to be ready, making me wonder, not for the first time, how we'd deploy to the area.
The 'Good Book' of the Church of Three Heroes had been vague, but had said something about us being taken, where we needed to be, which implied some kind of teleportation power. It also included our 'Boon Companions', which I could only surmise was our party members. I was curious how that would actually work, and if we could somehow either refuse the call, or some such.
It was a fascinating idea, if nothing else, and I was making notes in my peripheral vision as we walked, the five of us, into the city. Eyes turned, of course. The beastmen and their giant master(Seriously, I could almost look these people in the eye while they were on horseback…okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still), along with our Sorceress in tow, we were actually quite the sight, I would assume.
Luckily, no one stopped us, no one accosted us, and I was able to remember the location of the inn we'd stayed at before. An inn that was, sadly, full this time. I had wanted to argue, figuring it was the innkeeper's resentment towards my furrier companions that was behind it, but a single use of Sense told me that, no, this place was packed full, several rooms had more than they could reasonably hold, in fact.
It made sense. They knew the Wave was coming, and with no way to know where the impact would be, it was best to go to a well defended spot now. That meant the capital was going to be THE tourist destination of the season, regardless of its capacity to hold said surge of bodies. A problem, and one that would only get worse as the Waves continued to come against this world.
"So, are we going to search for other lodgings, Bard, or are we to camp outside the city?" asked Lucia, sounding…annoyed would be the right word, but only slightly. Maybe miffed, instead? And to be fair, she had reason to be. We hadn't rested in a real bed since leaving the capital a week and some change prior, to come back and find that the rooms I had indeed paid for were not going to be available was less than ideal.
"I'll ask around. If nothing else, perhaps the castle can provide us with room for the next two nights. For now, let's stock up on supplies, however. We need to see what armor and accessories we can acquire with our current funds, then convert the rest into potions, if at all possible," I tell her, and she nods, suggesting a few places we could go to acquire such, including a freaking magic shop, right here in the city.
It had spinning crystals on one shelf, a whole rack of crystal balls, and even some jeweled daggers that promised to be very, very painful if you knew how to use them. They even had a sword called the Blue Flame that said it worked both as a blade, but also as a casting tool like a rod or wand. It was even high quality, according to the label, though it was here I discovered something…interesting about my appraisal skill.
It had been the thing, back during my reward choices from the Hall after the Next Mother incident, to give me the info on the bits and bobs that had been offered. It also could tell me at a glance if something could be used for Bow transformations, and while it wasn't as good as reading the menus, it would still give me enough to make a guess as to the Bow form's specific abilities and bonuses.
However, that was because, by the logic of the skill, I 'owned' those items, and thus, nothing about them was hidden to me. That, however, was not the case for these, as the Blue Flame especially gave me a note on how high my appraisal skill would have to be to know more than the name and a few minor bits of info, and it didn't give much more than a small material list on the other magical items in the shop.
I didn't know what that meant off the top of my head, but I could smell an exploit there, however, I pushed it to the back of my mind as we came to the front of the shop, the old man there, with a hooded cloak and a long white beard that came out of it greeting us…and then startling at the sight of the three beastmen, whom he nearly told to leave his shop, lest they break something, until I pulled out a gold piece, and set it down on the counter.
Money, as always, spoke louder than any prejudice, and soon enough, he was extolling the virtues of his stock. The best of which was a Fairy Necklace, something he assured me had the ability to bring back the wearer once from the veil of death itself. Mechanically that meant if their HP dropped to zero, the wearer would then be fully healed and be able to leap right back into the fight.
It was also one-hundred gold, which was well outside our price range…or anyone that I'd seen for that matter. That was a lot of money. Still, it was mostly there to make the smaller purchases we'd be making seem cheap. An old, tried and true tactic that worked wonders in sales. I refused to be taken in by it myself, but still, I did have some cash to burn, and he had some nice trinkets in stock.
Over the course of the next hour, we decked ourselves out. A bit of magic woven clothing for myself, one an undershirt that gave me a few more points in defense, and then a cape with a nice enhancement woven into the threads that made it so I would be harder to hit. Add in a ring that increased my accuracy(I initially called it my telescopic vision band, but no one else got the joke of course), and I was a lean, mean, archer machine.
For Lucia, I insisted we add a cape as well, one that increased her own not inconsiderable skill with magic, which the merchant promised us would increase the speed of her casting, and even increase her mana pool. A ring for elemental magic, one of the more expensive items given the sheer number of enhancements on it, though weak versions of each. Still, it was worth it, given the way bonuses stacked to nearly double her damage output along with the cape.
The beastmen objected to me making them wear anything at all, claiming that such things were for humans and demi-humans, they needed no such crutches. At least, that was what they said before the man behind the counter, wanting a sale regardless of their species, decided to pull out some very nice items from the backstock, which I soon perused through, finding some choice bits.
First was for Strong. A pair of vambraces, which the shop owner promised to have resized in a day, which, when worn, promised to give him some range to his attack. They would create 'buffeting winds' that mimicked his own punches, and would allow him to hit things at a distance. Add in a diadem that increased his accuracy(and thus critical hit chance), and he would be able to hit things in the air, a sore point from the bird fight we'd had before, where he'd been effectively useless.
Next up was Shadow, who didn't resist nearly as hard as the others…given he couldn't say anything that was pretty much a given. Still, he actually had a twinkle in his eye when the shop owner brought out a cape and cowl set, one that made me immediately think of some superheroes back home, though it was purple in color. On putting it on, the hyena became…less corporeal was the only way I could describe it.
It was, as I found out, an after image effect. Basically what you were seeing was where he had been a fraction of a second ago. An interesting defense, and mixed with the 'deflection' bonus his Defense Boost took the form of, he would basically be able to dance into a fight, and even make his enemies kill each other. A real treat, and worth the price of it, especially as he marveled at the material.
The last were…The Paws of the Cheetah. Like, the effect from Baldur's Gate was the same. They doubled base movement speed. They even were in sandal form so that when Fast put them on, they didn't look too awkward, though he protested on how this would look…up until I had him test them out, and the things let him zoom about like a kitten who'd fallen into a barrel of catnip and seen a red dot.
The items, durability and rarity, made them nice loot, better than what our levels really should have, but I had just enough cash to pay for it all. I loved exploitable systems like that, and was smiling, even as my money went down to five digits, reflecting the one gold coin I still had, along with a few silvers and coppers, which would hopefully be enough to get us some healing potions and the like.
We walked out onto the street to find what seemed at first to be a celebration, at least, that's what it looked like from the outside. Crowds had gathered at the edges of the street, crowding around each other, but making a clear path down the road for someone, and I decided to see who, just out of curiosity, which meant mostly just craning my neck a bit to look over the heads of the hobbit sized crowd.
What I found myself looking at was…Motoyasu. The guy was smiling, and looking like he was king of the world. Waving, laughing, and with a lady, the same Myne from the palace who had…yeah, that one. She was smiling and laughing along with him, apparently having fully recovered in the week and some change from her almost broken self. Good for her, showed a strong spirit I suppose.
The people seemed enamored with him, and to be fair, he was a decent level, higher than mine in fact by more than ten. Not sure how he did that, but I would catch up soon. Sense said none of his companions, all of which were female I noticed with some chagrin, were higher level than he was, indicating…I didn't know what. Lucia gained more than I did, so I had figured the native humans of this world did so naturally. That would bear some thinking above.
"Bow!" shouted the blonde as he noticed me…not hard as I said, even Strong was a head taller than everyone else here, and I was taller than him. Still, the Spear hero was soon making his way through the crowd, which parted so he could come up to me. I smiled, not completely genuinely I'll admit, I hadn't been trying to make a scene after all, but still, he seemed to be happy to see me, and I wasn't unhappy to see him in turn.
"Hello, Motoyasu. I see you've found yourself doing well on the hunt, if your level is anything to go by," I mentioned, and he laughed, hefting his, still in its original form, Spear up.
"The ladies have been great for that. They seem to know every den of monsters around here, and I've been cleaning the things out with ease," he said, with a smirk that I swear 'pinged' at me, a sparkle coming off his teeth as he spun his weapon to flourish it, getting a shout of excitement from the crowd, and a swoon from his companions.
"What about you? I see you've got some of those therapy-pope things that everyone's been talking about in your party," he said, motioning towards my party behind me with his weapon. I saw, as he did so, out of the corner of my eye, Myne make an expression that was…it was the same kind some people did back home when being introduced to their 'lessers', but it was also one that had vanished by the time I looked at her fully, replaced by a very convincing and warm smile.
"Therianthrope," I corrected, and Motoyasu smiled, holding out his hand to the three, shaking hands in turn with all of them.
"Yeah, that. Wow, they look strong. Think they've got any females in the city I could recruit maybe?" he asked, and this time I was looking at her, and saw the look of disgust pass over her face. Apparently, Myne had opinions on beastmen, and she hid it immediately again, this time giving me a glance, showing she knew I'd seen it. I had no idea what to make of that, but it was hopefully nothing. Still, something to keep in mind.
"Doubtful. Beastmen are rarely seen in the cities of Melromarc, though perhaps, once the Wave is defeated, you can head to a neighboring kingdom?" I suggested, figuring that the tigress was already sold, and more not wishing anyone to be added to what I was going to call Motoyasu's cheer squad, at least for now.
"Ah, shame. So, are you heading to the castle too, to get some rest before the Wave then?" he asked, and I nodded, soon enough being dragged with him through the streets, having to smile and wave at the people as we passed. Yeah, really not liking the scene making, and was catching glimpses out of the corner of my eye at my party trying not to be noticed either, especially given some of the looks Strong and Fast were getting…Shadow was mostly immune thanks to his cloak and cowl however.
Still, we made it to the castle in a few minutes, and the guards let us inside. We were given some looks, but allowed an audience with the King. Myself and Motoyasu were, the rest of our parties were asked to come to a common area, along with, as it turned out, Ren's group. The Hero of the Sword had arrived earlier that day, a few days ahead of the Wave to prepare for it as well.
I wondered, idly, what Shield was doing at this point, but put it out of my mind. Whatever he was doing, it would hopefully be getting him ready as well. The description we'd been given was that we'd been somehow 'taken' to the center of the Wave from wherever we were, it just happened that all three of us had had the same idea. Return to the Castle where we'd arrived, and see about some new gear before the big day.
"Ah, Heroes, I can guess why you have come to grace my halls again. You need lodgings for yourselves and your companions," he said from his throne…making me wonder if he ever got off it. Throne rooms, at least in my world, were places for official ceremonies and stuff, not for general business, nor did a ruler hang out in one all day. That was why thrones could be so ornate, because they were seldom used, like good china. Perhaps it was different here? There was magic, after all, so maybe he could somehow command the kingdom from here?
"We do, your majesty. If it pleases you. Though we can make our camps outside the town, if there's no more space here as well," I say, taking the lead, especially since I knew Motoyasu was about to ask for our rooms back from before, ignoring the fact that we had companions now so we wouldn't fit, AND that they were probably being used for others.
"It does not please me, I'll be the first to admit, that I would see my beloved city so overcrowded because of this disaster. But regardless of my pleasure, I cannot see you and your companions living like vagabonds if it can be helped," he declared, and turned to one of the men beside him, a knight in light armor, who nodded as the two talked quietly back and forth, before he stepped forward.
"With recent deployments, the barracks along the city's southern wall is not quite seeing the use it would. We cannot allow civilians to be housed there, as we keep arms in that same building, but Heroes are armed already, thus, it would be my pleasure to escort you to the location," he said, and bowed to us. We acquiesced, and bid the King a good day, as the Knight Captain took us outside, to gather our parties, before we venture forth.