...
"I believe my family did nothing wrong, correct?"
"On the surface, yes."
"So, why would the esteemed Archmage from the Tower of Nanashi even visit us? I'd say you should be with the Melfissa's."
"It's not like that, Ms. Olivia."
"Lady Kureiji."
"Ah yes, Lady Kureiji."
"Get over it, I will be busy."
"Of course, I will begin. But for the lady to be more interested, I should say this first."
"What is it?"
"I heard you're into... necromancy, was it? Lately?"
"Blackmailing me?"
"Oh no no, what I wanted to say is that, I have a particular person who's interested to make your work progress faster, you see. I'm gonna assume you heard the name Uruha Family?"
"...go on."
"Signals of Hololive 2: The Tale of Risu"
CHAPTER 2: The Intention
Risu woke up by the next day in the Inn of Key. She exited the Inn before looking around the village. She did not really notice it, she did but she was too tired last night, that she was in a mountain, at least judging by where she was, just by the base of the mountain. The Chieftain Dwarf greeted her up and asked her if she had a good rest.
Risu thanked the chieftain for letting her rest and the dwarf gave it no mind. Their area was just in a lonesome mountain where not even a traveller is passing by, not to mention, a human of all races. So the chieftain got straight to the point, he told her that in order for her to be recognized is that she must collect a dozen of titanium ores that can be found in their mine in the mountain.
That was all she had to do but the dwarf warned her to not go deeper too much because she might meet a creature that was the bane of their mining life - a gargoyle. She accepted the task and went ahead in the mine with a pickaxe in hand. There are twelve levels of this mine and the titanium ores can be found somewhere in the ninth and tenth level.
She will be escorted by a few dwarve who will also mine, but she's on her own once she reached the level she's tasked at.
She nodded at this as she followed the group of dwarves. Once they arrived at the mine, she went down levels after levels as she finally found titanium ores. She mined the ores down from the wall as she heard a strange noise. At first, she ignored it but it turned frequent as she immediately jumped to the side, narrowly dodging an attack from a monster.
The said monster was a winged gargoyle. She fought the said monster back but it proved to be somewhat difficult with her weapon until she noticed the pickaxe that she was using. She would risk it but she had a feeling it could probably work, so she instead used the pickaxe as her weapon to attack the gargoyle.
Unsurprisingly, the pickaxe worked. She slowly cracked down the gargoyles pieces by pieces until the said monsters froze. Noticing that it was healing, she happily started to 'mine' the stilled gargoyle. At the end, the monster roared in agony as it crumbled to pieces.
She continued her work back to collecting the titanium ores before heading back up to the surface. On her way, however, the dwarves that are with her are gone. She wondered why but nonetheless continued on. She eventually reached the entrance where she saw a bunch of dwarves in armor. She asked what was wrong, the chieftain told her that they'd heard the monster roaring and they would like to know what happened.
Risu gladly told the chieftain that she already dealt with the monster who appeared to be a gargoyle. The chieftain asked what she did, Risu the told her that she used a pickaxe. Then a lot of dwarves slapped their faces as they did not thought of that. They had been using hammer as a weapon in order to simply crush it but to no avail, they tried to use pickaxe but they couldn't risk it.
So the chieftain appreciated her help defeating the gargoyle they had been trying to knock off ever since then. The chieftain called upon several dwarves to carry the titanium ores that Risu collected and make a weapon similar to hers, which she gladly accepted as she found her weapon turned brittle from all the fighting she did.
Surprisingly, a pair of long curve daggers was finally made, it was not even an hour since they began making her weapon. The chieftain told her that it was nothing, the new daggers are specially made of titanium and had a magic slot there.
She can put her own magic in the slot for her to cast it whenever she tried to swing it. Risu gratefully accepted the weapons as the chieftain then gave her the head of the hammer she was looking for.
The chieftain also showed her a secret tunnel just beside the base of the mountain. She just needs to go pass there and she would arrive in the Bandit Forest, then to Sunflower Field and would go straight back at the Blue Flock Forest.
Risu swiftly prepared herself as she was about to leave. She thanked the dwarves there as they cheered to her departure.
She entered the long tunnel and was happy enough not to meet any monsters. She was about to reach the end of the tunnel until she saw a dark figure waiting for her at the end. It was Mo who was happy to know that he predicted it right where she was going next.
Risu could only glare at Judgement, she must escape the tunnel quick before anything turn for the worse. Suddenly, a strong surge of electricity coursed through her body. It was Mo's, who paralyzed her with his electric power. Risu glared at the demon as she lied on the ground, twitching and unable to move herself.
The demon picked up both the handle and the head of the hammer she had collected. The dark demon thanked her and told her that he was happy that she collected it instead of him, he had no time killing resistance so he will let her live. The demon laughed maniacally as he left Risu.
Risu tried to stop him but she could not do anything as the demon got away. She gritted her teeth in anger as she agonizingly waited for the effect to go down. Fortunately enough, it disappeared but she felt that her body numbed from it as she weakly stumbled outside.
She finally arrived at the forest but had no strength left to continue on. She lied her back on the large stone to rest for a moment.
But then she heard a loud scream, sounds like a plea for help. Risu stood back up and followed the voice as she struggled to walk. She found a young woman dressed in what appeared to be an outfit splattered with colorful paint as she was being dragged by a group of men dressed as bandits. They appeared to had stolen her belongings and are about to take something from the woman that she would not like in her lifetime.
Risu was filled with fury by that gruesome thought as she yelled at the bandits, who quickly noticed of her appearance. But the bandits got scared of her glare, so the leader of the bandits stepped in and tried to grab her.
The mercenary woman spared no thought as she quickly put her magic on the dagger and swiftly cut of the head of the leader using her wind magic. The other bandits fled in fear as they let go of the young woman and her belongings.
Risu approached the crying woman and asked if she was hurt in any part of her body. The young woman suddenly hugged her and cried on her chest. Risu hugged the young woman back to reassure her that she is safe. The young woman then thanked her in between her sobbing.
After a few minutes, the young woman's cry started to die down as she let go of Risu and wiped off her tears. She thanked the mercenary for saving her. The young woman then asked her if she wanted anything, to which Risu simply smirked as she waved it off as nothing. Though, she needed to drink and asked her if she has any water. The young woman gave Risu a water and helped the mercenary drink.
Risu felt a wave of soothing relief as she suddenly felt the fatigue and numbness slowly disappeared. After she had her fill, Risu asked the young woman what she had just drink. The young woman told her that it was a healing water that came from an the Elven tribe not too far from here.
Risu successfully regained strength thanks to the water. The young woman was pleased to see her fine. She then gathered up all her things with Risu's help. And then, Risu watched the young woman walked away, the latter waving a warm wave to her as a goodbye. For some reason, she forgot to ask the young woman's name.
But she disappeared now and was probably far away, Risu then proceeded to move on. She arrived at the Sunflower Field, she just need to go east and south before returning back to the Blue Flock Forest. Now that she had think about it, she do not know how did she get to the Sage's house.
However, her train of thoughts were interrupted as she saw a group of demons nearby. She quickly hid behind a tree and watched the demons exited a walled city, she immediately recognized that it was the Pav City. She also noticed that a man that was also hiding not far from her, she saw him but he doesn't seem to notice her yet.
When the demons finally left the city, she watched the man crawled beside the wall. She followed the said man until they arrived at the far corner near the wall. Risu made a very small sound to call out the man, which heard her call and almost scream in shock.
The mercenary raised her hand as a sign that she was not a bad person. The man reluctantly asked her what she was doing here. She also asked the same thing and, well, the man answered her that he was going to spy inside the city using a secret tunnel he had found. Risu asked what he was going to spy, and the man told her that he saw the knightess named Moona, the woman who was behind with all these demons.
Risu immediately got curious as she asked the man if she could instead be the one to spy. The man hesitated, but he agreed in the end, admitting that he do not really want to die and that the tunnel was connect to a cave which there are obviously monsters down there. Obvious that he wasn't equipped enough for it.
If that's the case, then why is he here? Risu asked. The man could only replied back that he's here to get something. But the mercenary feels that that's not the case but decided not to pry further.
The mercenary agreed as she entered a hole down the ground and began crawling her way inside the city. She reached the end and, sure enough, it was connected to a small cave underground. She fought a few monsters are around but they are stronger than the ones she had killed so far.
After that, she walked towards a hallway that seemed to be well-bricked. She approached the said hall and saw a demon there. Among the demons she have fought back in the Peafowl Sanctum, this one appeared to be stronger. The said demon could be a guardian, she hoped that there's another way but alas, there's only one path. So, preparing herself, she jumped out and prepared herself to battle the stronger demon.
The Higher Demon took notice of her challenge as it screeched at her, like something akin to a warcry. Risu responded with a wind slash right at its face and started fighting it.
She immediately took noticed of how tough it was, similar to the mud golem she fought in the elven village of Tur, and how dangerous it was like the gargoyle from Key. But she:s fortunate enough to see that she had a way killing the demon. By combining her physical prowess and some of her magic that she inserted in the daggers, she managed to not only wounded the demon, but also stunned it enough for her to deliver the final blow.
Slightly worn out from that fight, she wiped off the blood from her body. It was still dirty nonetheless so she ignored the rest. But she was surprised to see two guards running towards her. She was about to fight back but suddenly she was knocked out unconscious from someone behind her.
It was Moona who knocked her out as he ordered the guards to carried her to the prison. She looked behind her and walked towards the cave and finally reaching a hole where Risu crawled from. She merely scoffed at it before she flicked her finger and the whole place started to shake. The ground that surrounds the hole then collapsed, sealing it off entirely. She then looked back before she started to walk away.
...
Risu woke up to find herself behind bars. She tried to take it down by using her wind magic. Unfortunately, she found that her daggers was nowhere to be found. She can use her magic, but she's weak in fire so she won't have anything destructive enough to blow the metal bars.
She cursed her luck and stared at the dark walls. She closed her eyes and simply punched the ground with anger. She stayed in the dark room for a long while before she started hearing footsteps getting closer.
She quickly made a defensive stance as she glared hard in the darkness and where the source of the footsteps coming from... only to find the same young woman that she saved in the forest before from the bandits.
Risu asked what she was doing here and the young woman replied back to her that she have no time to explain things to her. She told Risu that she must leave here immediately, the young woman also gave her the things she was carrying. Risu, this time, remembered to ask her name. In which she did, the young woman replied that she was "Airani Iofifteen", then after that, she disappeared by going deep in the darkness.
She wanted to follow her but decided not to, she listened to Iofi's words and chose the other way. She ended up meeting other guards on her way out, but she beat them all up. Thankfully, there's no demons. She eventually met the Warden but she immediately took him out. She exited the prison but she was stopped when she encountered Moona, who was shocked to see her.
The knightess Moona quickly engaged Risu to stop her escape, blocking her way. Risu glared at Moona with anger, asking her why she killed the Captain, even worse, with the help of demons. The knightess simply laughed at her and told her that she would not understand anything, and told Risu that she should spill where she hid the two pieces of the Hammer of Eradication.
Risu was confused as she told her that it was Mo who took it. The knightess was surprised to hear this as she angrily shoved Risu away. The mercenary asked the confused knightess why when the two of them are working together. The knightess answered her that they may have the same goal but that dark demon was not really affiliated with her but to the Baneful Moon.
The knightess nonetheless continued her fight against Risu as the two of them raged around the streets. But not too long later, a very loud sound erupted in the air. The two held their ears as the painful ringing kept on. Risu nearly collapsed but someone managed to keep her stand as she was then dragged by her wrist.
She looked up to see the same man that she met by the secret tunnel, he was holding her wrist as he dragged her down the path. Risu tried to keep up but everything was going fast as she almost tripped. They finally reached the gates of the city and exited safely.
The two slumped on the bark of the tree among the bushes, in which Risu noticed that it was almost night. She thanked the man for saving her life. The man welcomed her but told her that it was a woman with paintings on their outfit whom she should thanked. Because he was still there by the secret tunnel, waiting for Risu, if it was not for that woman, he would not find out that she already got captured. The man then told Risu that when the painful ringing noise came, someone called out to him to save her.
The mercenary recognized the woman that the man was referring; it was Iofi. But nonetheless, she thanked the man for saving her. He then followed that up with an apology to her, saying that it kind of hurt his pride when he watched her go there instead of him. He's just glad that she came out all of that ordeal fine that what he initially feared for.
Risu cannot help but laugh at it, the man can only shrugged it off with a weak chuckle. They rested for a couple of minutes, watching a number of guards exiting the walled city. The man asked Risu what she will do next and she replied that she needed to reach the eastern part of Sunflower Field and head straight to the Blue Flock Forest. The man told her that she was lucky as he know the way to the said forest quicker.
They headed straight down the path where it was the opposite of where Risu was supposed to be initially heading to. So she got worried.
But true enough, at the end, she saw the familiar trees of with its leaves colored blue. Risu thanked the man as they departed on their own ways.
It was already night and fortunately enough, there are no demons around the forest. But as she wondered where was the Sage's place again, she found a familiar path to where she once headed to the Mep Settlement. She then headed straight north and, true enough, she found the house of the Sage.
The sage was glad to see her found her way back, he was about to call a number of wizards to find her if she had not return. She asked why and he told her that a small letter from Mo had called the Sage to challenge him in a fight somewhere within the underground of the Peafowl Sanctum.
He told Risu to got rest inside, but before that the mercenary apologized to the Sage and admitted that she had lost the Hammer of Eradication from the great demon Mo. The Sage told her that, for now, it was not important, and she assured that, even if they did took it, the hammer had a special inscription in it that only a few who knows can activate it.
Risu asked the Sage what was happening lately, the Sage then answered her that the rest of the Knights of Faith are successfully defending the Kris Sanctum from the onslaught of demons, which are fortunate enough since they asked assistance from a noble family governing them.
The Sage then asked her what happened that made her lose the pieces of hammer. She explained to him that she encountered Mo and that he stole the pieces and made her way here safely with the help of a man. She also told him that she spied in the Pav City but was captured instead, she narrowly escaped with the help of the man.
The Sage asked if she had any broken bones and deep wounds. She had one, and it was from her fight with the Higher Demon. The sage then proceeded to heal her. Due to the warmth of the healing, she ended up getting sleepy in the process.
The Sage found how tired she was judging from her yawning, and told her to sleep now. Risu nodded as she went to her room, sleeping until the next day.