"It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it."
― Douglas MacArthur, Supreme commander of all Allied Troops in the Pacific Theater, WW2
-To War by Jingo-
-Away Down South: Chapter 3-
-[WARNING]-
-[WAVE OF CALAMITY HAS BEGUN]-
-[WARNING]-
-[WAVE OF CALAMITY HAS BEGUN]-
-[WARNING]-
-[WAVE OF CALAMITY HAS BEGUN]-
-[WARNING]-
-[WAVE OF CALAMITY HAS BEGUN]-
-[WARNING]-
-[WAVE OF CALAMITY HAS BEGUN]-
Will dismissed the annoying warning messages that were currently obscuring his view, with a huff. He was reasonably sure that only one of the damn things was supposed to have popped up, instead of the some odd thirty that were currently blinding him. But such were the disadvantages of living in a bugged out system, that didn't like him very much.
Aside from the annoying pop ups, there wasn't actually all that much out of place, for a supposedly "world ending event".
Except, you know, the incredibly loud, and terrifying sound of the FUCKING SKY CRACKING OPEN!
Jesus Christ! When he was told 'hole that monsters fall from' he was picturing a swirly-sparkle-portal or something spooky from sci-fi, not reality itself shattering apart like glass!
...Although he really wanted to get ahold of one of the smaller shards, and science the hell out of it!
Would it end well? Probably not, but when had that ever stopped him? Opportunities were made to be exploited to their fullest extent!
Shaking his head, and cutting off his nervous rambling, William forced himself to take a deep breath and take stock of the situation.
Him and his party (if it could even be called a 'party' any more) had been teleported onto the edge of a hill overlooking the wave's location. Deformed and presumably hostile monsters were pouring out of a giant reality fracture in the sky. Easily over a mile in length, it was less of a hole and more of a long fissure. Thankfully the vast majority of the "rift" was over an uninhabited forest, however there were several roads nearby, and a village a reasonable distance away. He was out of scanning range of the monsters, so he couldn't determine their level, but they didn't look to be anything tougher than what they'd encountered in dungeons before.
Also with him on the hill, were the three other heroes and their party members. Ren's group had shrunk down to just him and two others, Motoyasu had an entourage of four girls with him, and Naofumi had-
Will's eyes narrowed, and he had to violently bite his tongue to keep his mouth shut.
-Naofumi had that poor slave girl he'd bought.
ANd She was stilL FUC̸̥̓̾K̷̺̲̃IN̷͍͑G M̵͉͆̂̃͐̍͆A̸͍̼̜͓̖̿̎́̂̌̎̎̍͋̎̂̾͝͠R̸̢̢̨̡̛͇̭͓̪̱̝̿̃̇̍͋̌͘͜K̵̦̙͖̳͕̬̘͇̈̾͆̆͛͋́̈́̅͋̌́͘͘̕Ě̴̹͎̭̌̾̔̈́̀̎͆̌͝͝D̵̯̰̲̟̈́̑̀̂̀́͛͒̄͠!
The unexpected feeling of something wet on his hands brought him back to focus, and he winced when he realized he'd been clenching his fists so tightly that his nails had cut into his palm causing him to bleed a decent amount.
Talk about being able to play people, he'd actually rather liked Naofumi. The kid was a genuine person who spoke honestly, and didn't play either the politic or business games. That was a very rare trait from where Will had come from, and it made it easy to talk to him during the feast on the first night.
But, oh how fucking wrong he'd been.
When he had heard that Naofumi had raped the first princess, he'd been shocked, there was no way Naofumi was the type of guy to do that!
But then, Will had also thought he wasn't the type of guy to buy and BRAND a CHILD as a SLAVE, so there was that too.
And what really pissed Will off, was that he was normally a really good judge of character, and knowing when someone was trying to play him. But here was Naofumi, outdoing nearly 21 years of tutelage and training in politics, business, physiology, and human studies, just by being a genuine rat of a bastard.
Turning his thoughts from his fellow "hero", he took his leather gloves from his coat pocket, and pulled them on before anyone could notice the blood. He briefly wondered why he hadn't registered any pain, and why his temper had flared so out of wack when he usually had a good grip on it, before brushing it off and returning to more important matters.
A quick glance, and a scan, showed that out of all of the other parties, only four people were of any real note. The three other heroes, obviously, and the poor girl Naofumi had enslaved.
-[Motoyasu Kitamura: Hero Lv.26]-
-[Ren Amaki: Hero Lv.27]-
-[Naofumi Iwatani: Hero Lv.20]-
-[Raphtalia: Slave Lv.22]-
It seemed like the XP from his hunting groups being funneled into more recipients, such as the freed slaves, had dulled his growth to the point that Ren and Motoyasu had caught up to his lead in levels. 'Though the first rule in business is that "you have to spend money to make money", and his new infrastructure should allow him to accrue more XP at a greater rate in the future, putting him ahead in the long run.
More interesting, and also much more concerning, was the fact that despite being almost 10 levels behind everyone else, the overall number of Naofumi's stats averaged out to be an equal value to the spear and sword, and actually were a greater value than Will's own. This trend also held true for his slave, which meant that it wasn't a stand alone phenomena. He was capable of replicating it.
Will frowned. Some quick math said that if this pattern held true, by the time they all hit LV 100, the shield would have the stat total of both Ren and Motoyasu combined, and would absolutely blow his own stats out of the water. And that wasn't taking into consideration any other party members that Naofumi could also employ this unexplained growth on.
… he'd have to look into this.
But plans could come later, right now he had… other things to deal with.
"Woah! Will! Bro!" Motoyasu jogged over with an awed expression, and a goofy grin on his face "Where'd the hell you get all this!?"
"C'mon man!" The spear hero grinned as he grabbed Will's shoulder and pointed to the sight behind them "You gotta tell me!"
And it was an impressive sight.
Three wagons full of supplies, everything from spare swords and axes to water cantines. Six filolial to pull said wagons. Nine noncombatant volunteers who had joined his party just to teleport, and were already leaving it, to tend to those wagons. 37 men and women dressed in hard steel armor. 25 frontline fighters, and 12 ranged fighters, with five of those being mages.
All in all, not too shabby. It wasn't his greatest work, sure, but it would do for the time being.
But Will was familiar enough with Motoyasu to know that it wasn't entirely the strength of his entourage that he was talking about.
A particularly pretty demi-girl with rich long chocolate colored hair ran between the wagons and chatted briefly with the civilians in charge of them, before turning to Will and giving the 'all good' sign.
Motoyasu winked and gave her a finger gun when she looked their way, causing her to blush and trip over her feet in embarrassment.
"Man!" The playboy whistled "She'd got a nice ass! A little short on the chest department, but those thighs~" His grin turned dopey as he watched the girl pick herself up, his expression teetering on the border of 'satisfied' and 'lecherous' as she unintentionally pushed her ass out.
"Tell ya' what," Will lifted the spear user's hand off his shoulder like you would lift a dead rat, with two fingers barely touching it, and the rest of his hand as far away as possible. "Ask me again if we manage to actually survive the damn wave."
"Will you give me her number?" Motoyasu's face lit up, even as the girls from his party came over and started to drag him off "Her three sizes?!"
"There aren't phones here Dipshit!" Will shouted over his shoulder as he marched away, already regretting whatever that interaction was supposed to be.
~*SPLAT*~
Will cringed at the revolting sound from whatever the Hell he had just stepped on, and slowly lifted up his boot with a face of disgust. On the ground in front of him was a large, black, slimy thing with twice the thickness of a water hose, and about as long as a small dog.
It took a sing-song tweet, and Bird perching itself on top of his hat to remember he actually had two pets. The favored one that he let fly around the house, and the worm who's dirt jar had accidentally gotten thrown away by a maid.
...a worm he hadn't actually bothered to remove from his party because he forgot the damn thing existed.
Carefully stepping over the creature, he hooked his boot under it, and gently sent it flying down the hill and into Motoyasu's carefully maintained hair.
When later asked, Will would claim he took absolutely no pleasure at all from the girly shriek that followed.
-To War by Jingo-
Motoyasu and Ren had beelined straight for the boss.
Naofumi had run off towards the village, presumably to help evacuate it- (Or loot it, Will wouldn't be surprised at this point)
The military was still a long way off, they probably hadn't even received word where the wave even was yet.
And he was just now realizing that he hadn't properly experimented with the XP nullification effect that was applied when the legendary weapons were near each other. He didn't know if it just applied to the weapon holders, or if it applied to their entire parties. Could it be triggered by party members? He didn't know, and he really didn't want to nullify all the XP the wave was giving out.
And it wasn't just his level he was thinking about, he needed the other Heroes to be as strong as he could get them (yes, even the slaver, unfortunately), because the more useful pieces he had, to pit against the waves, the better. Not to mention, despite Ren's standoff-ness and Motoyasu's Motoyasu-ness, the two were valuable assets that would be extraordinarily useful if he could convince them to play along with his plans. Be it through bribery, debt, something as frivolous as "honor", or even convincing them they were "Friends".
So he wasn't going to send any of his men near the other Heroes, where they could potentially trigger the XP nullification for not just Will and the other hero, but the entirety of Will's 40 person army spread across the map.
Which left Will and his group in a bit of an odd position, but one that they were suited quite well to handle, in his opinion.
They were going to play border patrol!
...well, not really. But the dumbfounded expression on Weiss' face when he had said that, as seriously as he could, had been absolutely hilarious.
Will had pulled out his map, brought his two Lieutenants over, and had quickly gotten to work on turning his half baked plan into a workable strategy. They had been teleported onto a large hill range south of the wave. To the northwest was the rebia mountain ranges that marked the eastern border of the kingdom. To the north, and flowing northeast, was a large unnamed river that eventually curved south and headed into Ivyred territory. To their east was Riyute village. And far far south, close enough to be of riding distance, but far enough to take the better part of a day, was the royal capital.
The previous wave had caused so much damage partially because it had been unexpected, and the army had taken so long to mobilise and properly deploy to deal with the threat. But a major contributing factor was the location of the wave. It not only opened over several villages, but it appeared in the south west coastal region of Melromarc, where there were no real land borders, just rolling hills and open plains leading inland. The monsters had been able to spread in all directions without any opposition, and by the time the military arrived, the situation had already spiraled out of control.
Now compare that to here, where both the north and west were blocked off by impassable terrain, and the east had a village that could be used as a fortified position.
If Will played his cards right here, he could box in the Wave in its entirety, preventing monsters from moving into the important parts of the kingdom and reducing the wave's overall impact to null.
To do this, and cover the area necessary, he had split his force into three groups, each under the command of either Weiss, Tanya, or himself, each with their own supply wagon. Unfortunately life doesn't like to work in neat fractions, and of the three main routes south, one was twice the size of the others, meaning one group wound up covering more area with the same amount of forces.
So to solve this, he himself had taken command of the larger group, and had shifted the numbers around a bit to better accommodate… now if only that were as easy as it sounded. Good communication and fluid teamwork were crucial in the field, and while his force was relatively large, they hadn't had the time for every individual company to learn to work well with each other.
So here's the puzzle, do they A: pull out the list and completely reorganize everything by attempting to cherry pick the best combinations. Or B: Say "ah fuck it", throw random shit together, and hope for the best.
Keep in mind that the wave is currently happening while they're trying to figure this out.
Fortunately William had been, let's just say, personally tutored on snap decision making, and had come up with a good alternative.
Unfortunately, he hated said alternative.
His "party" was organised in two halves, with each of his two Lieutenants overseeing their branch. Those branches knew how to work amongst themselves very well. It was the mixing of the two that he was worried about, because they hadn't had time for any joint training. So how do you keep that structure intact while also mustering up a sizable third force?
The Demi's.
They were supplementing both forces as reserve and support troops, so they could be extracted without interrupting the main line. But more importantly, they had all trained together, and could work together as a fluid team.
Will scowled, angry at himself for not being able to come up with a better solution, as he watched proud men and women, who had been children a month ago, risk their lives fighting a world ending threat.
He hated it, but it was the best option they had. It was the logical choice. And so, even though he had to bite his tongue, he would follow through with it, because it had the best odds to save the most lives, because it was for the greater good.
"Squad Six! Sweep left to cover squad two's flank, DON'T let 'em get encircled! Archers! Shift fire focus to our right flank, another group is approaching! Mages! Healing spells on squad two, offensive spells on the big bastard engaging squad four!"
Will barked off orders rapid fire, through the party interface, while firing carefully placed shots into the head of whatever monster decided to be a big enough problem to warrant it.
Was he being micromanage-y? Overly controlling, and all around a headache for his troops? Yes, yes, and most certainly yes! But listen here! William Dixie might not have been the best person, he might not even be a good person. He was the son of the wealthy elite, had no faith in humanity, was trained and raised to be ruthless to a T, and came from a long family of megalomaniacs. But he would NOT allow any of these people to die, not when they had thrown away their chance for peace just to help him!
And so far, he had managed to make it work. The mobs of the wave were mostly level 15ish, and while they were dangerous in large numbers, good strategy and consistent rotation to give each squad short rests and opportunities to heal, was more than enough to keep the tide in their favor.
Will didn't have enough shots to be of any real use on the front line, so had parked himself at the back with the ranged group, and had set up a small command center. Granted it wasn't exactly what first came to mind when you thought of 'command center'. There was no war map, or big screens and flashing dials, instead it was just a small hill with some wooden boxes stacked on it, with an angry southerner screaming his head off on top of everything while taking potshots with a horribly out of date gun.
But as Will was muttering his latest string of curses about all the BS loop-de-loops the physics of the system had jumped through seemingly just to make it so you couldn't just spam health and mana potions, ruining his latest idea of getting around his shot limit, one of his archers called out to him, and pointed to a road in the distance, where a trade caravan was making it's way down the road with as much speed panic could provide.
Will and Marcus (though mainly just Marcus), had called a meeting with the rest of the merchant lords, and had gotten them to agree to shut down all the trade between cities for the day of the wave, to prevent any needless casualties. This trade caravan, and considering the type of carts and the number of them, it was a trade caravan, was traveling with the knowledge that the wave was going to hit. Which could only mean that they were doing so because they were in some desperate, more important than their life, rush.
Or they were traveling specifically because the roads would be empty, and no one would see them.
Will glanced back to his group, and the combat situation.
A loud tweet from above caught his attention, and Bird, who he really needed a better name for, landed on his outstretched arm. Will grimaced as his pet's sharp talons dug into his skin, and he realized why those bird keepers always had those stupid clunky arm-gloves on.
Bird had grown as it leveled up, from a small tweety bird that could fit in his hand, to the size of a small owl. But more impressive was how smart the thing turned out to be. Not human level mind you, but easily matching chimpanzees and dolphins from his home world. And it was its intelligence, rather than its strength in combat, that Will had taken a liking to it for.
The brown avian flapped its wings, and tweeted three times.
"Good boy!" The hero pulled out some dried berries from his bag as a treat, and scratched Bird on the head.
"Uh, what does that mean?" One of the archers asked, unsure what to make of the situation.
"Three chirps means that more hostels are on their way, but they're awhile off," Will's eyes trailed off to the caravan in the distance "Which means we have some free time on our hands."
The trade caravan had piqued his interest, and that very seldom turned out to be a good thing for the other party.
-To War by Jingo-
The otherworldly monsters rampaged through the village of Riyute, attacking indiscriminately, and killing every living thing they came across.
One of Will's groups was situated a bit to the west, blocking the passage south, while also drawing a portion of the monsters that were heading towards the town, trusting the Shield hero to deal with the rest. On top of that, Raphtalia had been ordered by Naofumi to assist the mayor with an evacuation, so the horrific beasts were mostly reduced to breaking down doors and shambling through empty streets.
… mostly.
"Erika, watch out!" A mother cried as she threw her arms around her daughter, desperately trying to shield her from the three skeletons that had cornered them.
But as she cried, and prayed to the lord in heaven to save her precious daughter, her prayers were answered in an abrupt flash of green light.
"SHIELD PRISON!" Naofumi screamed as he flung his arm forward, activating his skill as fast as he could- the green prison forming at the last possible second, with one of the skeleton's swords actually getting logged in it as it formed.
Acting quickly, and swapping to his spike shield, he slammed the metal's edge into the back of a skeleton's skull as he ran by, cracking it wide open, and causing the other two to give chase. They joined what was quickly becoming a small army of mobs, as Naofumi ran through the city and distracted all of them so the citizens could escape.
Luckily his new shield was working wonders for his offensive potential, and was working in tandem with his high defense stat to keep him alive quite nicely. All he had to do was hold out until Raphtalia got back and helped him start whittling down this herd.
He had already climbed a watchtower and used his aggro skill to aggro all the mobs nearby- a stunt he had only escaped from by literally collapsing the damn thing on the monsters surrounding him, so everything except the monsters at the very edge of the town should be bee-lining straight towards him. Now a normal person would call that a day and start running as fast as they could, but his stupid, stupid conscience decided to rear it ugly head once again, and now Naofumi was running in circles around the outer rings of the town to pick up any stragglers.
Unfortunately, the thing about circles is that they loop.
Naofumi cursed as he skid to a stop in front of a practical wall of monsters, grimacing as he looked over his shoulder and saw an equal number charging at him.
Well, good news and bad news.
Good news: He had definitely gotten all the monsters in the village targeted at him.
Bad news: All the monsters in the village were now targeted at him… and approaching him very quickly.
Sidestepping a lunging attack from a zombie, he grabbed it by the arm and hauled it into the swing of a skeleton before rearing back and socking it in the jaw, sending both the mobs tumbling into a third.
Another zombie shambled forward in dilapidated armor, and groaned as it brought it's corroded axe down in a double handed swing. Naofumi managed to get his shield up in time, and the axe scraped as it impacted the steel, and got caught between two of the spikes.
An intelligent opponent would have realised their attack wasn't dealing any damage, and would have reared back for a second swing, but the zombie just growled at the shield hero and pushed harder on it's axe, turning it into a contest of strength. But between Naofumi, who had been toned through constant work for the past two months, and the undead's own decomposing arms, the result was obvious.
Naofumi grunted as he braced both his arms behind his shield and shoved it forward, spearing the zombie's head on one of the long spikes.
Footsteps behind him warned him of danger, but before he could turn around fully, a sword impacted his flank, causing sparks to fly as it scraped across the armor, and making Naofumi hiss as it slid across the more vulnerable leather between the main pieces.
But his gritted teeth turned into a cruel smirk as his newest ability activated itself.
[Passive Skill Activated: Thorns]
In response to the skeleton's attack, several green spikes, made of the same material as his [Airstrike Shield, grew from his armor and speared the undead. It stumbled back and dropped its weapon, but it didn't die from the attack.
The thorns skill used Naofumi's [MAGIC ATTACK] stat as a baseline for damage, and while that wasn't a whole lot, it was still nice to have, especially when fighting multiple enemies.
The magic spikes weren't the only spikes the pile of bones would have to deal with, as Naofumi whipped around and introduced it to the very un-magical metal ones on his shield.
Pulling back his overextended shield arm, he quickly assumed a defensive stance and waited for the next attack.
...an attack that didn't come.
Naofumi watched warily as the numerous mobs shifted and hissed at him from the sidelines, but none of them stepped forward- not out of some lack of eagerness mind you, no. It was almost as if they were waiting for something.
Gripping his shield tightly, a sinking feeling began to appear in his gut as the ground began to vibrate beneath him.
bom.
Bom.
BOM.
BOM.
The mobs either stepped aside or were crushed as a large humanoid with the head of a boar stomped into the clearing, shaking the ground with every step, under its immense weight.
Naofumi stared at the monster unflinchingly as its shadow encompassed him, a bead of sweat running down his brow. The thing was easily twice his size, and had arms as thick as logs. It glazed down at him, before letting out some disturbing sound that could be called a chuckle by a very generous observer, before lifting its weapon over its head- the ripped out trunk of a large tree.
Naofumi glanced to his sides, and the zombies that were creeping forward, cutting off any attempt at dodging away.
The boar swung, and Naofumi activated [Airstrike Shield] before squeezing his eyes shut and bracing for impact.
The sound of a thunderstrike echoed through the village as the log struck down, shattering the earth, and shaking the ground… but not his arms.
Slowly opening his eyes, Naofumi stared in shock as the Boars head slowly slid to the side before falling off and landing on the tree trunk, now impaled into the ground. And behind the ugly head, was the much prettier one of his favorite companion.
"Hello Mr. Naofumi!" Raphtalia smiled charmingly, her sword covered in blood.
"Raphtalia!" Naofumi grinned, sighing in relief "It's good to see you!"
The two quickly fell into a back to back stance as Naofumi filled her in on the details of the mobs they were fighting, he'd faced mostly level 10s through level 15, with the flying locusts being around level 5 but making up for it in numbers and swarm tactics.
"Speaking of numbers," He glared at the shambling wall of undead "We'd better get to hacking before more come, and we're outnumbered even more hopelessly"
"Oh, that's right! I haven't told you!" Raphtalia turned her head and gave him a wide grin "I brought the cavalry!"
…
"Huh?" Naofumi looked at her, dumbfoundedly.
"CHARGE!"
""AAAAHHH!""
The undead were blindsided as a wave of troops crashed into them. Troops that, to Naofumi's displeasure, bore the insignia of William's men.
"I had finished escorting all the civilians to their evacuation shelter, when I ran into them on my way back!" Raphtalia explained "Their commander said they'd cleared out all the monsters in their area, and when I told her the city was overrun, she offered to help!"
And help they were, he noted with begrudging appreciation, as they threw themselves into the thick of combat, hacking and slashing with the overwhelming offense that their commander had drilled into them.
Across the clearing, said commander cheered in glee as her steel shortsword (the weapon she had once thought of as her backup) found itself at home in the top of a zombie's head- of course it didn't stop there and continued downward, splitting the undead in half until eventually getting lodged in its pelvic bone.
Attempting to yank it out, Tanya discovered with disappointment, that the blade was stuck- which was a bad thing on account of the two other zombies rushing at her.
Letting go of her sword, and unholstering her favorite toy, she lined up a shot and painted a nearby building with zombie brains via crossbow bolt. But there was still a second zombie, and she didn't have time to reload. This was quite the problem… well at least it would be a problem for most sane people.
Cackling in a deranged laugh, Tanya lifted her crossbow and bashed the thing's skill in with a sick crunch.
She briefly considered that the thing had probably been a person before, but was quickly distracted with the happy chime of a level up.
What she couldn't be distracted from, however, was the thundering of another boar-man as it charged at her.
But as she fruitlessly tugged on her shortsword, desperately trying to yank it free, the giant monster exploded into a ball of fire not ten feet from her.
"Rushia!" Tanay cheered as her friend walked over, her magic staff still sparking with residue mana. The green haired mage hadn't wanted the responsibility of anyone being put under her command, and had practically begged Will not to put her in any sort of real leadership position. So Tanya and Weiss were the ones put as Lieutenants, and Rushia was put as Tanya's Second Lieutenant, more of a formal role than anything else, and mainly just as an excuse for Tanya to keep her close.
"Idiot," She glared at Tanya without any real heat, casting a small spell to scorch the re-dead zombie "You don't have good defense, you need to keep on your feet. Dodge damnit!"
"Yea, yea, yea, I'll be careful Mom" Tanya nodded as she pulled her sword from what was now a pile of ash. "Say! That explosion was a lot bigger than a normal fireball spell, how'd you pull that one off?"
"Geeze, you make me feel like your mom sometimes," Russia sighed as she cast a healing spell on Tanya with a small frown of worry "As for your question, I just funneled more mana into it. Normally that doesn't work, because more mana means more power, which inherently makes spells more unstable- but considering the spells I use it for are designed to blow up, there really isn't much problem as long as I throw it far enough away. But even then, if you go above tier 3 spells-"
Tanya zoned out her friend as she began delving into complex magical mambo jumbo that the former mercenary didn't understand a lick of, and instead turned her focus to the points she did understand.
More mana = Bigger explosion.
Actually wait, since those spells were made entirely of mana, did that mean that mana in general = explosion?
A zombie lumbering in the distance caught her attention, and she decided to do what academic people call "testing" and what she called "Fun".
Loading another bolt, she brought her crossbow up to her shoulder and took aim. But instead of just pulling the trigger, she used her very limited experience with wind magic, and began to funnel her mana into the bolt as best she could.
After ten or so seconds, she realised she may have an issue, as she had poured over three quarters of her not insignificant mana reserves into a tiny bolt, and the thing was not only glowing like the sun, but cracking and flaking apart with energy.
What had Rushia said? It wasn't a problem as long as she threw it far enough away? Well luckily Tanya had a very convenient way of doing that. With a pull of the trigger, the glowing bolt flew through the air and planted itself smack dab in the poor Zombie's forehead.
...and promptly vaporised the Zombie, the three undead next to it, and the entire street corner.
Tanya blinked as she stared up at the sky, wait, the sky? Why was she looking at the sky? Oh, she must have been knocked over by the explosion!
That explained the ringing in her ears! She had thought it was just Rushia going on a rant… no Rushia was definitely ranting, which explained the double ringing in her head!
But as Rushia ranted about safety, insulted Tanya's intelligence in a way only a friend could, and threw in some "What the FUCK was that!?"s, Tanya just smiled dreamily and dusted herself off.
She had a new toy to play with!
-To War by Jingo-
"Their numbers aren't diminishing." Raphtalia huffed as she leaned against him, breathing heavily.
"We just have to keep on fighting, and hope those idiots, Motoyasu and Ren can finish up with the boss soon," Naofumi muttered as he raised his shield in front of her. The waves of monsters seemed unending, and while the new reinforcements were helping, Raphtalia had just sprinted all the way back here at top speed and launched immediately into combat, she was running low on stamina.
They had to end this quickly.
He handed her a minor health potion from his belt, and prepared to charge forward to give them some room to maneuver, but before he could, a series of loud crackling sounds drew his attention upward, to many streaks of yellow-orange light falling from the sky.
"Wha-?" Naofumi opened his mouth, but before he could say anything the lights touched down into the village's center, and promptly exploded into fire
Naofumi's eyes widened in panic and quickly grabbed Raphtalia and threw his shield up in front of them both, changing it into his light metal shield form, and activating [Airstrike Shield].
Raphtalia could do nothing but watch in wide-eyed horror from underneath Naofumi's cloak at what was happening. Most of the monsters that had been charging out from the village were all killed by the fire, but homes, carts, and shops, anything and everything else was torched indiscriminately.
"What the hell…" Naofumi whispered in shock as he slowly lowered his shield.
And he wasn't the only one.
"W-What the FUCK!?" Tanya stumbled forward, lightly singed and looking furious "That did more damage to the village than the fucking monsters! Who on God's green earth, would be stupid enough to-!"
"Well, Well, Well... now, isn't this a surprise."
A group of knights on horseback rode out of the smoke that was quickly surrounding the area, with one particularly well polished rider in the front, his overly flamboyant armor clearly marking him as the leader.
"The Shield Devil? Here? We were dispatched to take out the monsters, but I didn't think they were talking about the monster!" The commander said smugly.
"What was that!? Were you trying to kill us while we're fighting the Wave for you!?" Naofumi raged as he stomped towards the captain.
But before the Shield could further ruin his reputation, Raphtalia flew out in front of him and growled as she pulled her blade on the head knight, her eyes shining with righteous fury.
"Did you know Mr. Naofumi was here?!" She demanded "Answer me or I'll have your head!"
The captain stared at the blade touching his nose with an owl-like expression, before audibly swallowing and attempting to regain his composure. "What's this demi-human doing with the Shield Hero?" He asked with as much pomp as he could muster "I thought he wasn't given any party members?"
"I am Master Naofumi's sword," She whispered in ice cold fury "Anyone who wishes to harm him has to go through me!"
"Isn't that the shield's job though?" The captain questioned, before quickly redirecting as he realised it probably wasn't wise to push too far.
"His Royal Majesty~" He boasted "Has announced a grand ball for the vanquishing of the wave! And in his most gracious benevolence, he has invited the Heroes as honored guests…" He looked at Naofumi with pure disgust "all the Heroes."
But before he could continue, he was interrupted.
"Excuse me!" Tanya called in a sickeningly sweet manner "I'm a representative of the Bow Hero, and your attack inadvertently wounded some of our men, could you please follow me so that we can discuss some things?"
"Oh of course!" The commander smiled, suddenly much more compliant now that he wasn't dealing with the shield "Assistant! Explain to the scum about the ball, and escort them there once you're done. I shall meet up with you all later."
But as he rode away, it wouldn't be until nearly three days later, once the alcohol and all the excitement about the ball's events died down, that the squad of knights would ask a very important question.
Where exactly had their commander gone?
-To War by Jingo-
"Hold the line!" Weiss shouted to his troops, as they engaged the enemy for what must have been the twentieth time that day.
His group was currently situated in a defensive position inside a small ravine. They were the western most group, and were holding a small but vital passageway that led into the western mountains before curving and opening south towards Reibia village, who's roads led out into Melromarc proper, first hitting Lute, before sprawling all the way to the capitol.
Luckily for all those people, Weiss' forces were holding just fine. He was actually quite proud of how quickly he'd managed to whip them into shape
But as the familiar clash of blades filled the air, and he settled into the flow of combat, his mind began to wander.
It wandered to the waves, to the fight against them, to the Heroes summoned, to William, the one he had chosen to follow.
That man…
That man wasn't a Hero, at least not in the traditional sense.
A "Hero" is someone who puts their morals above all else, follows their heart, and is always looking for the best in the world.
William was none of those things.
He was paranoid to a T, he played underhandedly, he bribed guards to look the other way in their escape from the capitol, he manipulated people to get what he wanted. He had expressed multiple times that he believed giving into emotions was a weakness, he said it made you compliant, blind to the big picture. He saw the world through the most pessimistic lens you could, seeing nothing but rot everywhere, and putting down any meaningful progress as either short lived, or as a selfish grab for power by the ones who would benefit the most from it.
He was the most twisted version of an "idealist" you could find, someone who lacked the moralism that accompanied idealism, and replaced it with steel cold logic. He was someone who had a grand vision for what the world should be, and would do everything in his power to make the world conform to that vision. Because he believed that the world was either incapable or unwilling to push true change, that he was the only one who truly wanted reform in a word of sycophants.
But that raised the question, why did Weiss still follow him? Why not swap and follow one of the other Heroes?
If you asked Will, he would tell you that it was because he had 'figured out' Weiss, that he'd found out what made him tick, and tied strings to him. That by promising Weiss knowledge, and a slow but gradual trickle of power to grow protective of, that he'd successfully puppeted Weiss without the old veteran even knowing.
He was wrong.
William's greatest oversight, the one thing that the man seemingly couldn't comprehend was that not all people had a selfish motive, not all people were in it for their own benefit. Weiss didn't choose to go to the throne room that fateful day, and join a Hero because he wanted the XP boost, or the fame and prestige, or even a religious reason. He wasn't in it for anything as abstract as 'the glory', or something as material as riches.
Weiss wanted to save the world, and protect the people in it. That was all.
And more than that, Weiss was smart.
Weiss had figured out that Will had framed, accused, and forcefully removed one of their original party members, just because the man hadn't agreed with his ideology. And Weiss also knew that Will had been attempting to influence him, and get him under his thumb.
So why? Why follow a Hero that was perhaps the exact opposite of what the old fairy tales wrote of?
Simple.
Weiss wanted to save the world, and protect the people in it. That was all.
And he firmly believed that William had the best chance at doing so.
Will wasn't a hero, he was a problem solver. While the other Heroes would pose and monolog, overestimate their own abilities, rush into an unwinnable situation for the sake of 'heroism', or fall just short of succeeding because their morality got in the way; William would play every card in his arsenal, every backhanded trick, and scorch as many fields as necessary to make sure that he came out on top, no matter the cost.
...Weiss was just scared of what those costs may eventually be.
-To War by Jingo-
"Y-You can't do this!" the captain yelled, his voice cracking as Tanya held him down for Will's troops to bind him "I-I'm the second son of the Vilariel family! My father will have your head!"
"Your father will never know." Will's cold tone cut off the noble's rant,
"n-no…" He whispered as Tanya dragged him towards the other captives, and began lining them up.
It turned out that Will's original theory had been correct. The caravan was banking on the idea that all trade was shut down, and no one would see them on the roads. It had turned out to be a huge back market operation, with them exporting highly illegal materials across the country.
Chief among them? Slaves.
Demi-human, children slaves. Once again almost entirely female, with the few boys being extremely feminine.
When the fighting had died down, the guards were all dead, and the last slavers pled for mercy, surrendering unconditionally. Will had been tempted to just keep shooting.
And that's when Tanya had shown up, dragging a semi-unconscious Captain behind her, and told Will what he'd done to the village- saying she'd put Rushia in charge (to the girls displeasure) and had left her troops behind to help subdue the fire.
Twelve men in total, 11 survivors from the slave caravan, and one shiny noble dressed up like a toy soldier, all lined up shoulder to shoulder in front of a small ravine. But it wasn't until Will's demi-human soldiers lined up a good distance across from them, and raised crossbows taken from the supply wagon, that the captives finally understood what was going on.
But even as they began to beg and plead, William motioned for his men to continue without change.
But between the "Please no, I swear I'll change!" the "Give me another chance!" and the "Please, I have a family!", one specific sentence caught his attention.
"I DEMAND A TRIAL!"
Will stepped in front of his men, and held up a hand to stop them.
"What was that?" He asked as he stalked forward "Say that again."
"I-I DEMAND A TRIAL!"The noble choked, barely keeping his composure. "The law says n-nobility have to be tried in royal court for any crimes! TRIED! I DEMAND A TRIAL!"
The southerner paused and tilted his head slightly, looking off and blinking a few times, almost as if his brain was rebooting after forgetting something really important.
"Trial… yes, you're right," He said, much to the captain's surprise "All people have the right to a trial, it's a basic human right after all."
The prisoners stared at him in shock, but after a few seconds passed, and it became clear the Bow Hero wasn't about to go back on his word, they began laughing and crying in relief, some even cheering. They would be delivered back to the capital, put on a sham trial, and let go- the captain wouldn't face any real consequences because he was nobility, and the slavers would likely get a royal pardon from the king for supporting his stance against demi-humans.
The same thing that always happened.
"You are all charged with gross violations of human rights, including either the enslavement and torture of children, or the attempted mass slaughter of noncombatants." Will spoke in an ice cold voice, sucking the life out of the air.
"...And I find you all guilty."
The men froze, all of them staring at William with a mixture of shock and mounting terror on their faces.
The archers opened fire.
One by one, the men toppled backwards, falling into the ditch as they choked past the metal bolts logged through their throats and hearts. They landed in a tangle of limbs and flowing blood, some dead before they hit the ground, others gasping their last breaths in agony. The shots were all fatal, the archers were so close that accuracy wasn't a problem, although the paralyzing poison, and deadly venom that coated the tips definitely helped.
William just hummed to himself as he walked towards the carnage, arms clasped behind his back. The captain had decided to be just as annoying in death as he had been in life, falling to the side instead of backwards like he was supposed to. If he wasn't in the hole, people might see him and come over to investigate, that just wouldn't do.
But as Will planted his boot on the corpse's shoulder, it groaned in pain and opened his eyes to glare at him.
"D-Damn you! You B-Bastard, you'll p-pay for this!" The still very much alive captain growled as he clutched his bleeding chest "The K-King, the King w-will-"
The 'Hero' shoved the corpse into the ravine with a harsh push of his boot, idly grumbling about the puddle of blood he was standing in.
And that's when something interesting happened.
-[REQUIREMENTS MET]-
-[NEW TITLE UNLOCKED: "TYRANT"]-
-[TITLE UPDATING]-
…
-[William Dixie: Tyrant Lv.26]-
William blinked at the notification.
Tyrant…
The official definition of a "Tyrant", is specifically someone unbound and unrestrained by law or constitution. Whether or not that is a good thing, or used for self gain at the expense of others, is entirely up to the individual.
And considering the law of this kingdom perpetuated an outdated system of authoritarian monarchs and the system of slavery…
"Tyrant, Tyrant, Tyrant" Willaim repeated to himself, tasting the word, and rolling it on his tongue.
"You know… I think it's an upgrade from Hero." He chuckled as he walked off, leaving footprints of blood behind him.
-End Chapter-
And so the curtain is drawn back, showing things that have been hinted at before, and we get our first really good look at Will as a character. Someone who knows what they believe is right, and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that, no matter how many bodies he has to step over to get there.
(At least according to Weiss)
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
Now a few things.
1: I have the official, canonical, piece titled "Melromarc's internal map" and riyute village is straight up just not on here, so I had to just kinda guess where the first wave took place.
The royal guard get to riyute in a reasonable time, but it's not instant, meaning the capital is close enough for the capitals soldiers to be sent instead of another cities', but it's not next door. The only village around was riyute. And the three offensive weapons kill the boss in a forest of sorts.
The only spot of the map that has a forest that's the right distance from the capital, and doesn't have a bunch of other marked settlements around it, is a small forest to the north of the capital. So that's where I'm getting all the geography info from.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
2: I re-read some of the earlier chapters, and I'm not happy at all with how fast Will was able to build everything up in the south.
It makes sense on paper because it's a whole month, but we don't actually get to see much of it. Now this was on purpose because writing bureaucratic paperwork is dull, and y'all reading it would be even moreso. BUT, it doesn't read like it was a month, and, ugh- I don't like it.
Whatever, I'll touch on it in a future chapter, and put a notice on the previous chapter or something.
*Sips Hot Chocolate*
3: Animals.
No, Bird will not get a human form- no animal will ever get a human form while they are in Will's party, that's Naofumi's thing!
Speaking of Bird, please give me good names. I have never had a bird, and can't come up with anything that doesn't just sound really cringy. (Although the joke of a bird just named Bird is growing on me)
And just because of the scene with Motoyasu's hair, and all the joy it brought me to write it, Worm will now be given a huge role in the future story. (Totally, definitely)