Chapter 7: Unlikely Alliance

Summary: Sometimes, the people you least expect end up being the most helpful.

"Naofumi?!" I screamed when I recognized him.

"Kenji?!"

My voice attracted some of the balloons around him, and it also distracted Naofumi. A few of them clamped their teeth around his arms and legs, while a handful came jumping at me. More than I was comfortable fighting at once, so I started running around in circles, trying to catch them one by one and pop them.

Naofumi flailed and punched them at random, but he was barely doing any damage. As soon as he got one off of himself, two more took its place. But at the very least, they couldn't hurt him. An advantage I didn't have, however.

"Bring them back here!" He yelled. "Let me handle them!"

"On it!"

I changed direction and took off running towards him, with now a dozen or so balloons on my heels. Naofumi took on a wide stance, spreading his arms and legs to make himself a bigger target. When I reached him, I dropped on my back and allowed my momentum to carry me further. I slid between his legs, stopping on the other side, and all of the balloons jumped him instead. He was covered head to toe in the damn things.

"Pin them down, I can kill them!" I instructed.

Naofumi nodded his head and pried off one of the balloons. He turned around, slow and sluggish as the monsters piled him, and got the balloon in his hands in front of the shield. I pulled my arm back and charged in, punching the balloon as hard as I could.

Pop.

With Naofumi offering me a solid surface, the balloon got pinned between my fist and his shield. It had nowhere to go, it couldn't fly away to dissipate the force, so it popped in one hit. My knuckles hurt and bolts of lightning shot up my arm, and by the looks of it, Naofumi was affected as well. He slid backwards on his feet, and his shield arm likely hurt as much as my own, but at least he didn't take any damage.

"Let's do that again!"

"Yeah!"

We spent a few minutes like that, with Naofumi pinning the balloons against the shield before I punched them. My knuckles turned bloody and bruised by the end, but we'd done it. Working together, we killed the balloons faster than either of us could've done it on their own.

Naofumi fell to his knees as he breathed heavily, and I fell on my back in the grass.

"That was awesome," I said, satisfied with our efforts and teamwork.

"You killed my exp gain!" Naofumi berrated me. "I came out here to level up, and I can't do that with you around! Get lost!"

Well that was something new, his demeanor changed entirely. It was cold and angry now, every word laced with venom.

"You're welcome," I shot back. "If I didn't come along, they'd have killed you eventually."

"As if," Naofumi said. "Take a look, they didn't even scratch me."

I did, and he told the truth. His health bar didn't miss a single sliver, unlike my own. I knew he was a tanker, but just how resilient was he?

"Whatever," I said, getting back up to my feet. "Let's split the loot since we killed them together, and I'll be on my way. I'll farm somewhere else, far enough to not debuff you."

Naofumi scowled. He made it crystal clear that he didn't like the idea, but tough luck.

"I take 60%," he said.

I sighed. This new attitude didn't fit him well, I liked the goofball thing he had going on before much more. But I could understand why, so I wasn't about to argue with him. No point in it.

He counted up the skins, gave me about thirty of them, and went to walk away.

"Is it true?" I asked.

He stopped mid-stride, and the look he gave me was the coldest one I'd received in my life. So much killer intent behind his eyes that it scared me for a brief moment.

"Does it matter? Whatever I say, you'll still think I'm guilty."

"I confronted Motoyasu and Myne about it today," I admitted. Naofumi's eyes widened in surprise. "Their story has a few too many holes in it for my liking, so I want to hear your side of it as well."

"I didn't do it," Naofumi said. "They robbed me and framed me."

He told me more details about it, and we got on the move as we talked. We looked for more balloons, fighting as he poured out his sorrows to save time. I mostly moved around him in circles, avoiding damage while he tanked it, dashing in for kills when he gave me the signal.

Pop.

"So you hid money in your shield? Did they find that as well?"

I dodged a monster, kicking it from behind into Naofumi.

Pop.

"They didn't, but I threw it at Motoyasu during the trial," Naofumi admitted. "If he wanted it so bad, he could have it."

He got another balloon ready, so I moved in and punched it.

Pop.

"So let me get this straight: you're broke and alone now."

Naofumi frowned.

"Yes," he answered. "Down at rock bottom. But I'll rise back up. I'll earn my own money, buy my own equipment, and hire my own party."

His conviction surprised me. He just went through all that, and he was still willing to fight?

Pop, pop.

Those were the last of the balloons, so we stopped to take a break.

"Okay, let's say that I believe you. You're innocent."

"Because I am," Naofumi stressed.

"You'll have to prove that to them, not to me," I said, jabbing a thumb at the capital. "But until then, you'll still have to earn money and make a living. Hiring your own party won't be easy either, people will try to take advantage of your reputation to extort you."

"Yeah, I figured out as much," Naofumi admitted. "Where are you going with this? Cut to the chase."

I turned and fanned out my arms, gesturing to all of the balloon skins littering the ground that we had yet to gather.

"Let's work together. Just for a little while."

"But…"

"But your experience, yeah yeah," I answered. "It's not useful to me until I get a weapon and unlock the core, and you're earning it too slowly yourself. What we both need right now is money, and we'll earn it faster together."

Naofumi thought it over for a moment, but he knew I was right. Even a superficial count of our kills together this far proved it, it would've taken either one of us hours on our own.

"Just for a short while," I repeated. "Until I can afford a weapon and you can afford a party member."

"Fine," Naofumi gave in. "But we'll split it 70/30."

"Not a chance in hell," I shot back. "We split the loot 50/50."

"70/30, take it or leave it," he said. "A starter weapon is cheaper than hiring a party member."

"Don't care. We do half of the work each, we take half of the loot."

We argued about it some more as we got on the move again, hunting for more balloons. Eventually we settled for a 60/40 split, seeing as I couldn't convince him otherwise.

By around midnight when we stopped, we had about five silver's worth of skins. More than either of us expected, and as we agreed, we split it 60/40. It left me with 2 silver and some loose bronze, which wasn't ideal but still faster than I could've done on my own.

With what I had saved up already, it would've afforded me the dagger that Erhard mentioned. I resolved to go to his shop tomorrow during lunch break and buy it.

Naofumi and I walked back inside the capital together, and he was getting ready to part ways with me for the night.

"Do you have anywhere to sleep?" I asked him.

"Of course not," he answered in a bitter tone. "But I'll just sleep outside somewhere, I don't have money to waste on a room."

"Come with me, then."

I explained my situation to him, how Ezbel took me on as a worker on his farm, and I assured him that we could convince the old man to let him sleep in the barn as well for a cheaper price than the inn. But Naofumi turned me down.

"Gossip travels through this town like wildfire," he said. "So it's not a good idea for people to see you with me. It'll ruin your reputation as well."

I chuckled. There was the goofball I came to like, despite the hardass exterior he tried to put on he was still a softie inside. He cared about others.

"Eh, I was ready to throw down with Motoyasu if it came to it. Some townsfolk don't scare me."

"Still no," Naofumi insisted. "But…thank you."

We quickly talked about our plans for the next day. I explained my schedule to him, we agreed to meet up in the afternoon and evening to fight some more, and we parted.

"Good night," he said as he walked away.

"Don't let the monsters bite."

I ran back to the farm post haste, hoping to get a few hours of sleep in. Ezbel was likely to wake me up before the crack of dawn. He left the barn unlocked for me, and I fumbled my way inside in the dark, finding more hay in the attic. It made for decent bedding, and tired from the work and fighting, I fell asleep fast.

A blip of darkness later, I heard Ezbel yelling for me from outside.

"Get up, kid!"

The sleep had been way too short, but oh well. I did it to myself, so I had to live with the consequences. I got down and out of the barn, finding that I'd been right. It was still dark outside, though by the red tinge of the horizon, the sun would rise soon.

"We'll start by feeding all of the animals," Ezbel said as we walked side by side. "Then we'll gather the eggs from the hens, milk the cows, and we'll clean the paddocks."

"Sounds good, let's get to it."

Ezbel showed me how to do everything, where to get the feed from, and to my surprise the animals were…less than cooperative. The pigs tried to bite me when I came close, the chickens chased me around and pecked me when we picked the eggs, and one of the cows even kicked at me. The hoof caught me square in the middle of the chest and sent me flying, draining a generous chunk of my health.

As I laid on the ground, struggling to breathe with Ezbel panicking over me, I caught myself envying Naofumi for a moment. This wouldn't have even scratched him. But then again, he couldn't put a dent in anything either. Meanwhile I could hurt everything, but everything else could hurt me back. The two of us were as opposite as they came.

At any rate, I got over it. I assured Ezbel that I was fine, and we finished the work.

"Let's go to the market to sell the cattle, then we'll grab breakfast from somewhere in town."

"Right on."

"We'll have to round them up first, though."

He pointed to a fenced portion of the field where the cows were grazing. I'd never seen an actual cow in my life, and I'll admit they were bigger than I expected them to be. And they were also pretty feisty.

Ezbel went into the barn and returned with a few lengths of rope on his shoulder. He pointed out the four animals he wanted to sell, two males and two females.

"You catch the bulls," he told me, handing me two of the ropes.

I gulped as I took them from him. The bulls were bigger, their horns longer and sharper, they were basically meat tanks. Masses of rippling muscles covered in thick hides. If I made one wrong step, if I angered them even by accident, they'd have no trouble killing me.

"Are they…docile?" I asked as we walked towards the fence.

"Yes, just don't scare them. Let them see you coming. They're used to being handled."

To demonstrate, Ezbel went in first and approached one of the cows. He went towards it from the front, and the animal didn't react to his presence. Before long, he had the rope tied around its neck. He guided it towards the fence and tied it to one of the posts, so I jumped in.

With the first bull I had no problems. I tied the rope around its neck, and even though it huffed and puffed the whole way, it followed me.

"You've got it," Ezbel assured me with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Why don't you do this part?" I asked him, getting ready to go for the second bull. "They already know you."

"I'm old, I can't pull them if they don't want to follow," Ezbel explained. "But you're young and strong, you can get rough with them in case you need to."

I laughed at that. Me getting rough with these animals that amount to little less than domesticated monsters? Fat chance of that.

We walked towards the last two cattle side by side. Ezbel reached his cow first and started tying the rope around its neck, while I went in a wide arch so the bull would notice me from far away. My whole body was tense, but after the first one went without trouble, I wasn't really scared.

Not until Ezbel screamed, anyway. I turned my head for a split second, finding him on the ground with the cow running away from him. The bull let out a loud moo, so I decided not to fuck around and find out. I bolted, hearing the sounds of its hooves biting into the ground as it charged at me.

My first instinct was to beeline it for the fence and jump it to safety, but I couldn't leave Ezbel behind to get trampled. I couldn't carry him either, though, the bull would've caught the both of us that way. My only option was to act as a distraction.

"Run away, get out!" I yelled at Ezbel.

The bull's loud roars scared the rest of the cows as well, sending them running around in a frenzy. I changed direction abruptly, checking over my shoulder. The bull thankfully followed me, and Ezbel got up as well, shuffling towards the fence. I had to keep the bull busy for a little while longer, then get out myself.

It came at me at full speed, so I stopped. A cape would've been useful, but I didn't have one so I improvised. My tunic had to do. I pulled it off post haste and flailed it at my side, catching the bull's attention. The fabric wasn't red, but bulls are colorblind anyway so it didn't matter.

It neared me, so I jumped to the side as its horns glanced harmlessly off the tunic.

"Olé!"

Never in my life had I dreamed of playing matador, but here I was. And it was quite the thrill, I was having a blast. I kept on the lookout for the other cattle and for Ezbel's escape, all while keeping the bull's attention on me and dodging its charges.

The animal came at me, again and again, and I dodged it in the nick of time on each and every attempt. At that rate I'd tire it out completely and wouldn't even need to run away. The olé's I kept yelling were a bit over the top and unnecessary, but oh well. In the heat of the moment, they felt right and added to the fun I was having.

"I'm out!" Ezbel yelled.

I dodged one more charge, gave the bull a final olé, and turned tail to run. My escapades got me quite far from the fence in the meantime though, so I had a bit of ground to cover. But I was certain I could make it if I gave it my all, so I did.

I ran like hell, with the bull gaining ground on me fast, but the finish line was within reach. Twenty meters, ten, five, I tensed my legs ready to jump. But another cattle blindsided me, cutting off my path and breaking my momentum as it whizzed by in front of me. I hit it at full speed and was sent flying backwards on my ass.

"Kenji!"

No time to get up. No time to make the jump. No time to even dodge. Instinct took over me as fight or flight kicked in, dictating that flight would fail. My only option was to fight. In a split second, I got to my feet and turned on my heels, catching the bull by the horns.

All of my muscles felt like they'd explode from the force. The bull pushed me back, and I slid on the ground like it was ice. Its strength was immense, unlike anything I faced that far.

'Come on!' I urged myself, pushing back with everything I had. 'Come on! Come on, come on, come the fuck on!'

My palms got friction burns, my back and legs hurt, and my health plummeted fast. But my heels dug into the soft dirt, and the bull's momentum slowed to a halt. With my back nearly against the fence, I'd stopped it. The world fell silent for a long moment. Ezbel, the bull, the rest of the cattle, none made a sound.

"How…" Ezbel mumbled, at a loss for words.

I looked into the bull's eyes, pouring all of my bloodlust into a death stare. The animal made a whimper and tried to retreat, but I pulled on one horn and kept it steady.

"You're not going anywhere," I told it. "Get me a rope, old man."

Ezbel did as told, and I tied up the bull. I then climbed on it and used the rope as reins, leading the other cattle behind.

"How'd you do that?" Ezbel asked once again.

I was tempted to tell him the truth, if I lived on his farm he was likely to find out sooner or later. But I decided against it, too many people knew already.

"I had to fight monsters on the way here from my village," I lied. "So I had no choice, I had to get strong if I didn't want to die."

Ezbel bought the lie, or at the very least didn't contend my claims. We made our way to the marketplace, finding a street brimming with stands and activity. Ezbel scoped out an empty corner, so we took the cattle there.

"Cattle for sale!"

"High quality livestock!"

"Very docile!"

We yelled like that for a while, maybe a couple hours or so, trying to make ourselves heard over the commotion. Another farmer took interest in the cattle, and after some bargaining, Ezbel managed to sell the animals for 50 silver each. The old man was really happy with that, so I figured it was a fair price.

"Wait here for a bit, I need to buy some things as well," he told me before he went off into the crowd.

I wasn't sure what he wanted to buy, but whatever. It was his money, not mine, so I didn't really care if he blew all of it so long as he kept enough to pay me.

People came and went, so with nothing better to do, I observed them. They went about their daily business, buying vegetables and fruits, some freshly butchered meat once in a while. It was peaceful, and for once in my life, I found myself enjoying people watching.

A girl passed by me in a blur, basket hanging off her arm, and it took me a moment to recognize her. The casual white dress with red accents reaching all the way to the ground, the sleeveless vest, the leather corset around her torso, those were all new. But the blonde hair turning red at the tips, that was unmistakable.

'I need to have a word with her.'

She stopped a little distance away, at one of the many merchants lining the street. I walked up behind her, and just as she was about to dash off again, I grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey, Helia," I said.

She let out a high pitched yelp, nearly jumping out of her skin. Her lips wore a smile as she turned around, but the fright in her eyes was obvious. She was too jumpy for her own good.

"Kenji?! What are you doing going around and scaring people like that?!"

"Good morning to you, too." I got a hold of her arm, dragging her to the side so we wouldn't be in people's way.

"Wh-what…"

"I have some…questions to ask you."

Her face turned red enough to match her dress and she mumbled some unintelligible nonsense, but she followed me. When I was sure we were out of earshot and passersby wouldn't snoop on our conversation, I let go of her.

"Did you tell anyone about me?" I asked bluntly.

"N-no, I would never," she blurted, turning even more flustered. "I-I heard the rumors too, b-but it wasn't me! It was one of the servants!"

She fumbled over her words, scared out of her mind. Her reaction made me chuckle, but my amused demeanor didn't set her at ease.

"Asshole!" She let out, punching my shoulder.

"Ow, my arm!" I faked, reaching for it.

"I-I didn't…" she stuttered, reaching out to make sure I was okay.

She was too gullible. Teasing her like this was an absolute treat, I could definitely get used to that. When she finally noticed that I was messing with her, she let out a long sigh and composed herself. That only made me laugh harder.

"Are you done?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "And I believe you."

"Okay, good," she answered, the final bits of tension leaving her posture. "So, how's life in our kingdom? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Found some work on a farm, and I'm also fighting monsters for loot," I answered. "It's tough, but I'm sure things will work out."

"I'm glad to hear."

Ezbel returned, and I heard him calling for me, so I turned to leave.

"Gotta go, that's my boss," I said. "But it's been nice catching up with you. If you're free sometime, we could meet up for lunch or something."

"Sounds good," she answered. "I'm free whenever, ask for me at Cloris's Inn when you have time."

"Will do, cya."

Helia sounded sad saying that last part, and her statements intrigued me. How come she was free whenever? Didn't she have duties at the castle? And why would I find her at the Inn? Lots of questions, but I didn't have time to look for answers. Ezbel waved me down, so I had to hurry up.

He waited for me to catch up, holding a few skewers of grilled meat and veggies. I got a couple of them, and he took the lead, walking as we ate.

"I hope you like those," he said.

"They're great, don't worry about it." I noticed that we didn't head back towards the farm, but deeper into town. "Where are we going? Running some errands?"

Ezbel swallowed before he answered.

"I've been…thinking. You're right, I should get the farm sorted. It's not going to be easy though, even with your help. So we're going to look for a few more pairs of hands."

"Oh, okay."

So the old man wanted to hire more workers, that was fine by me. With more of us around, things would definitely be easier. There was a lot of work to be done.

We walked the streets for a while, passing by the medicinal and magic shops. I didn't know where we would go to look for workers, but I figured a tavern or inn were good places to start. Lots of people there, and we could maybe leave word at the reception or something. But we passed a few inns without stopping, so I was really curious now. Did they have job agencies here or something?

'Would that be so unbelievable, though? People have to find work somehow, no matter the world.'

Rounding a street corner, the circus tent came into view. My stomach dropped instantly at the sight of the short, fat man in his ringmaster tuxedo. He was outside, overlooking the unloading of a few carts, but…but they weren't unloading cargo. They were unloading people. People with animal features and cuffs around their necks.

'Oh. Oh no.'

I somehow completely forgot the whole slavery is legal deal. I wasn't used to it, and seeing the state of the people being guided inside, their chains pulled like they were animals, I wasn't sure I could ever get used to it. My only hope was that Ezbel would walk right past, but he didn't. He walked straight up to the tuxedo man, and I was forced to follow.

"Hello, I'm looking to buy a few slaves," he said.

"Of course, please wait just a moment," Tuxedo answered.

He walked off to his…associates? Slaves? To his workers. They talked about something, and I couldn't help but stare. The people in chains looked downright awful, some of them on the verge of death. Most were adults, with various animal ears and tails and whatnot. One was even covered in scales like a lizard, appearing more feral and animalistic than the rest. But the one that stood out like a sore thumb was a little girl.

She…she couldn't have been older than ten, maybe twelve at most. Long, brown hair, a pair of big, round eyes that were a soft red color, and a bushy tail that looked unkempt. She had a desolate expression, and to be fair all of them did. I wouldn't expect less with the fate in store for them. But hers was particularly heartbreaking.

"So…slaves?" I asked Ezbel.

The old man fidgeted by my side.

"Yes."

I didn't know what to say. I was at a loss for words. The temptation to blow up on him was huge, and it took all I had for me to abstain. This was how the world worked and I couldn't go against that, at least not yet.

"Why?" I asked, a bit of my anger trickling into my voice.

"I can't afford workers," Ezbel answered, sounding genuinely remorseful. But was that enough? "I have little money to start me off. Slaves are a bit more expensive at first, but in time they'll be a cheaper investment. I won't have to pay them ever again."

I clenched my fists and bit my tongue, unsure of if Ezbel noticed. And even if he did, right then and there I couldn't care less. Tuxedo returned and invited us inside the tent, but I didn't go.

"I'll…just wait out here."

"Okay," Ezbel answered.

They went inside, and the flaps of the tent closed behind them, hiding them from sight. Tuxedo's workers herded the slaves inside as well, and I caught a glimpse of the tent's interior. Cages stacked everywhere, with people in each and every one. The smell of feces and pure death wafted out, forcing me to back away.

'My fucking God,' I thought. 'I can't deal with this.'

The slaves shot me looks, ranging from desperate to terrified. I averted my eyes, pinning them on my feet instead. The little girl was the last in line, but she didn't even glance my way. She kept her vacant stare trained ahead, letting out coughs now and again. And then they were gone, eaten up by the tent.

I'm not sure how long I waited for Ezbel, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour at most. He came out of the tent with three people following him, people dressed in what amounted to little more than dirty rags. One was a woman, with short grey ears and a stubby tail reminiscent of a koala bear's. The other two were men, though their traits were harder to pin down. Mammalian for sure, but they looked like a mix between wolverine and mongoose. Brothers perhaps?

"Let's go," Ezbel ordered, and they listened.

I fell in line behind them, without as much as a word. We made our way towards the farm, stopping by a street vendor where Ezbel bought them something to eat. The three accepted without much protest, and while the brothers were reluctant to eat, the woman wolfed her portion down without hesitation.

Back on the farm, Ezbel ordered them to wash up and change into some spare clothes he had laying around. We watched them from afar, and I couldn't help but notice the crests painted on their chests. They looked like some sort of heart shaped tattoos.

"You don't like this, do you?" Ezbel asked out of the blue.

"No," I answered honestly. "Never did," I added a lie at the end.

"Me neither," Ezbel admitted with a heavy sigh. "I always thought the demi-humans deserved better, but it is what it is. At least this way, they'll have a better life than whatever else was in store for them. I'll do my best to take good care of them."

"Okay…"

With matters settled, Ezbel decided to give them some time to rest. They were weak and tired, so putting them to work right away wouldn't have done anyone any good. Instead I got to it on my own, mowing down the fields with the scythe. They'd gather up the hay another day.

By lunch I'd made good progress, and I stopped when the heat became too much to handle. I couldn't see the slaves anywhere, and I decided not to pester them anyway. There'd be time for us to get to know each other better later. I went over to Ezbel to let him know I'd be taking my break, eager to finally go by Erhard's shop and acquire a weapon for myself.

"The demi-humans will sleep in the barn from now on," Ezbel let me know on my way out. "I'll clear out one of the rooms in the house, and you can move in with me."

"I can keep sleeping in the barn, let them sleep in the house," I answered. "It gets cold up there in the night and they're sick as is."

My proposal left Ezbel puzzled, silent for a few moments as he searched for words.

"But they'll make a mess and…"

"...and you can have them clean it up," I interjected. "If it doesn't work out we can swap, but let's give it a shot first."

"Okay," Ezbel accepted with a heavy sigh. "It doesn't…feel right, but without you I wouldn't have given the farm another chance. So I'll go with your decision and see how it turns out."

"I ask for nothing more."

And that was that. With the matters at the farm settled for now, I took off towards town.

A/N: Nothing much to say for this one, so let's get to the comments.

To FORD B, thanks man, your encouragement really helps me keep going.

To LordofPride213, Yang from RWBY is a good comparison, to be honest. Kenji will be somewhat like that. Except he won't have weapons. You'll see, he unlocks the full functionality of the core in the next chapter, then he'll start leveling up and unlocking skills.