Rebellion the Fifth: Doing What's Necessary
"Is that what I think it is?" Hyde asked as the group looked onward down the path that would lead the party of four to Heavencliff. It was only a few hours after they'd finally left the temple, but it had proven to be a rather long travel with the amount of spiders and feral dogs the group was forced to fight through. The road up ahead though held a… different challenge.
"Sadly I think so," Yu told him as his gray eyes rested upon the figures of eight men and two women that appeared to be dressed in rusty armor and wielded chipped weapons. None of them looked like they'd enjoyed a bath recently and they looked to be stained by the blood of others; some of it dry... some of it recent. A few tents were posted by a short distance from where they were standing... and a small pile where flies were buzzing around nearby. "Highway bandits."
"How do you want to handle this?" Ruby asked as she looked around the plains that the group was traveling through. "They probably haven't seen us yet, but I can't think of anywhere that we can go to hide..."
"We could try to pay them off," Yu suggested, looking at Ruby's pack. Thanks to their oldest member's abysmal luck stat (that seemed to be the cause at least), the group had encountered and dismantled countless monsters on their journey through the plains. "Marie and the soldiers didn't give us much gold, but maybe if they want some of the spider parts-"
"They'd just demand the venom sacs," Ragna cut in. He was acting more serious than usual with his arms crossed and it was pretty clear that he wasn't pleased. "And if you give 'em those, I think they'll end up using them on travelers, maybe ever try 'em on us once they get them."
"Well... We could just try to knock 'em out," Hyde offered, though it was somewhat weakly. "We just need to move in fast enough so they can't prepare and-"
"It's too risky; they outnumber us and we don't know what they're actually capable of," their apparent leader cut in again. "And none of that would fix the real problem."
"...You're saying that we need to kill them?" Yu demanded from Ragna. No response. "I've been through my share of challenges and close calls, but it's never come to that. I've never had to-"
"What about those monsters that we face?" Ragna demanded, though his voice was calm. It was his first time trying to reason with someone on an issue like this, and as hard as it was he decided he'd have to be patient.
"Those are... they're... it just..." Ruby tried to argue back, but had a hard time finding the words. Sure she'd 'killed' a fair amount of Grimm back in her own world, but those things were ravenous berserking beasts. These were flesh and blood people. "It's... different."
"And this is a different world so there are different rules," Ragna told them. "You can see they're all covered in blood and they have that pile right next to 'em? They'd never give us the same mercy, so don't give them any benefit of doubt."
"What if we can manage to knock them out and take them back to Heavencliff with us?" Ruby tried to suggest. "You're still really strong and we haven't arranged our stat points just yet, if we do that now-"
"Even if that did work, we'd have to worry about them the rest of the way to Heavencliff and you all know the kind of fights my Luck has been getting us into," he reminded them. "We'd never manage... and even if we did all we'd likely do is get the town to kill them in our place in an execution."
"...You're talking like you've killed someone before," Hyde accused Ragna, scowling in his direction.
"...Let's just say I had to earn the title of Grim Reaper back home." The group didn't say anything, thought it was clear that Ragna wasn't joking either. "...Stay back here, this won't take long."
"You're doing this alone?" Ruby asked him. "Ragna..."
"Don't feel like you've got to watch what I'm about to do; you three ain't ready for this," he told them as he started walking, but then stopped. "It's stupid thinking... probably impossible too, but..."
"But?" Yu repeated, trying to understand what the older warrior was trying to get at.
"...I just hope you never have to be." Without another word, Ragna headed off.
"So... he's been a killer this whole time," Hyde muttered sadly. "Not going to lie... I was sort of getting that vibe from him."
"Killer might be a little too harsh though," Yu tried to say in Ragna's defense. "You remember what Lavell said? He had to fight through a group of knights when he awakened first and he didn't kill any of them. He even said that he'd help to restore the kingdom... I don't think he's necessarily a bad person."
"What do you think it was?" Ruby had to ask. "If he doesn't like to kill... what on earth had to happen to him in his home world to push him that far?" No one knew, as much as everyone in the group was a mystery to each other Ragna was probably the biggest mystery of them all.
On the Reaper's side, it was clear that the bandits on the road had taken notice of him. The group of ten was readying their weapons and standing on guard with nasty snarls. Ragna didn't get into a ready combative stance right away, stopping just a short distance in front of them.
"Leaving the kids back while you talk to us? Won't do them a lot of good if you can't pay the toll; we'll do to 'em what we'll do to you." He didn't say anything in response, just continuing to glare harshly at them. "You trying to scare us off, or are you just too damn stupid speak?" Ragna didn't say anything. "Tch... answer us, or do you want to join the poor bastards on the pile?"
He remained silent, but as he stole a quick glance to the mass of gathered bodies, he caught sight of something that made his blood boil. Gritting his teeth so hard that a small drop of blood emerged from his mouth, Ragna's glare as he turned back at the bandits was nearly demonic. A fair few of them nearly stumbled back a bit at the display, but one or two tried to stay steady. A small screen appeared in front of him, letting him know he'd gained two ranks in his Intimidation skill, but he couldn't be bothered with it.
"You're dead..."
"That's all you've got to say!?" one of the braver (stupider) bandits laughed. "What 're you? Some kinda hero!? What a load of-!"
CRACK!
Ragna's fist had sailed forward, hitting the lead bandit straight in the head. Not only was the highwayman sent flying, but the force at which he was hit was enough for his neck to snap and kill him immediately. The other bandits watched in terror as their leader hit the ground, part of his face smashed in and sagging grotesquely. They were frozen for all of a moment as Ragna gained yet another rank of Intimidation. Trying to overwhelm him with pure numbers, they then rushed forward with weapon swinging wildly to carve the flesh from Ragna's body.
...And the massacre began anew.
Later -Evening-
The group continued their travels, this time in abject silence. None of the three had seen Ragna's 'work' on the bandits, but they'd all seen their bodies afterwards. Ragna had lit the bodies of innocent victims turning them to a large pile of ash, but had told them to leave the bandits for the wolves. They bandits themselves didn't have much save for their rusty equipment and the coin that they had on them, likely what they'd taken from the travelers they'd robbed. Now the four were hoping with an encounter with beasts to have something to keep their mind off killing people... but their earlier encounters seemed to be tied more and more to Ragna's luck stat, for now they encountered none.
"There's the town up ahead," Ragna noted, though it should've been obvious. From his journey from Kagutsuchi to Ikaruga he'd learn the value of a silent journey since the ever obnoxious Tao had been his traveling companion, but this type of silence was actually making him miss the insane antics of his from his Kaka clan companion. The Reaper sighed to himself and kept walking just a bit in front of the others. "...Right then."
The city was surrounded by a large stone wall and had entrances to both the west and the south. As Ragna and his companions headed through into the farmlands that surrounded the city, they came across two soldiers armed with spears waiting at the farmland gates.
"Hold there a moment," one of the soldiers demanded, though not rudely or with hostility. "State yer business."
"Food, lodgings, maybe grab some supplies while we're here," Ragna informed seriously.
"And the weapons?" the guard asked.
"We need some form of protection against the spiders," Yu input. "There seemed to be... several on the road when we traveled." He informed, thinking of the countless encounters that the crew has been left to deal with.
"Aye, there have been many of them seen these days... some in broad daylight," the second guard said before shaking his head. "I just hope that those damn things can solve our bandit problem, those bastards have caused us no end of trouble."
"I can imagine; we actually came across a group of them on the road," Ragna decided to inform. The two guards looked at each other, with a hard to read expression on their faces. "There were ten of 'em; eight men and two women."
"I... I see," one of the guards said. "And?"
"...I dealt with them," Ragna told them.
"Was there-?" one of them tried to ask, but Ragna raised his hand to stop him.
"Pretty sure I know what you're going to ask, and yeah... I saw him." None of the party besides Ragna knew what he was talking about, but the soldiers just gave a small nod.
"There's a small church just a ways in and to the left. Ask the clerics for Diane... she'll be there. I'd tell her myself, but I can't leave my post."
"...Guess I'd better," Ragna said as the guard's parted to allow the group into the outer farming village. "Find us somewhere to spend the night, I'll take care of this myself."
"Splitting up isn't a good idea; we should stick together for now since this is a new town," Hyde tried to tell him, but Ragna kept his arms crossed and glared at the youth. "...Just saying..."
"Let's split up into teams of two then," Ruby suggested, leading everyone to glance at her in concern. "I'll go with Ragna for right now, and the rest of you can head into the city and try to find some lodgings. That way we should be able to find each other easily enough and no one's left by themselves."
"That... may be our best option moving forward," Yu agreed as Ruby handed him a few golden coins for Inn fare. "Come on, let's find a place in town."
"Right... we'll see you there," Hyde said. And the two left, leaving Ragna with Ruby.
"All that and you really want to stick with me kid?" he asked before shaking his head. "You're insane."
"I'm not insane, you're just too much of the brooding type," she tried to tell him. Ragna didn't appear to be in much of a mood for arguing, and simply gave a short sigh as they headed to the church. As they walked through the small outer community, Ruby noticed the occasional villager giving them a scowl as they passed by, others simply tried to keep their head down to avoid notice, and some mothers ushered their kids inside so they'd avoid the two. "...They seem scared. I thought that Marie said that this place was safe."
"She said it was last she heard, meaning this spider threat must be new," Ragna hypothesized. "Also... this might still be the best off town out there for all we know." Ruby didn't say anything; it may have been a bleak thought, but she had a suspicion that Ragna may be right. "...Here's the church now."
The church itself was small, wooden, and simple. It was somewhat reminiscent of the church Ragna had grown up in with Celica and his younger siblings and was even about the same size. Shaking the memory out of his mind, he looked down to Ruby.
"Wait here," he ordered. Silver eyes glared back at him, letting him know that she wasn't going to listen to what he said. "Tch... fine then." Opening the doors to the church he lead them inside.
Like the outside, the inside of the church was similar to the layout of Ragna's old home. Pews were aligned along an central aisle which lead to the main alter. The altar was surrounded by several artifacts; some showing a type of animal while others showed off a type of carved insignia. The was no priest at the front to lead mass, but there were still families deep in prayer. Noticing the newcomers, one of the young ladies dressed in cleric robes headed to the front to great the two.
"Welcome to our small house of the divines," she greeted trying to seem warm and welcoming with a smile. Ragna considered himself fortunate that this woman had green hair at least instead of Celica's red and her additional glasses because had been starting to become a little too familiar for his liking. "Are you both familiar to the faith or is this your first time in prayer?"
"Afraid we're not here for that," Ragna told the young woman, who seemed slightly disappointed. "I'm actually looking for Diane."
"Oh..." the cleric said as he she glanced towards the pews. Following her line of sight, Ruby realized she was looking at a young couple sighting side by side on one of the pews close to the front of the room. Both of them looked like they were fervently praying and judging by the dark circles under their eyes, it was apparent neither had slept well recently. "Now's... not exactly the best time. You see-"
"That's why I'm here," Ragna interrupted, looking serious.
The cleric was silent for a moment before nodding and heading towards the couple. Ruby was starting to get the picture and she didn't like it. After the cleric said a few words from a distance, the couple rose from the pews and headed towards the two at the entrance. The man's hair and whiskers were a bright shade of brown while the woman's hair was a much darker black, almost that of a raven. The husband's eye color was a powerful cobalt while the mother's was a much more subtle emerald. Soon they were standing before the two, their tense stace making it clear they dreaded the question they'd have to ask.
"So... you... you have news on our son?" the man asked, looking desperate for answers.
"...Afraid so," Ragna told them, though by his tone and wording it was clear to them that it wasn't good news. He then looked between the mother and father. "Your hair color and her eye color?"
"Th-that's him; that's our Digory!" the woman exclaimed, interrupting the prayer of the people around them. "I-Is he-!?"
"...I'm sorry," Ragna said as he shook his head. "He was already gone when I saw him."
Somewhat surprisingly, the woman didn't let out any sudden screams; as much as she might pray in the church she held her faith in, she knew her son's safe return had been next to impossible. That didn't mean that her eyes weren't tearing up as she nearly lost her balance, only to be caught by her husband.
"He... he didn't even make it to his seventh winter..." she cried, her voice little more than a whisper. "Why... why would the gods take him away so young...?" She then looked at Ragna. "Wh-what did you do with the body?"
"Sorry again, but his wasn't the only one we found," Ragna told her. "There was no way we could bring them all back with us, so we lit the pile on fire and turned it to ashes."
"They just threw him on a pile... those bastards..." the father said through gritted teeth at the inhumanity.
"...It's not much, but I dealt with the bandits; they won't be a problem for anyone ever again," the Reaper explained to the family as he turned to leave. "Just thought you should know."
"...Thank you for at least giving him closure; I'm sure his soul shall find rest now," the husband explained as reached into his pockets. "We don't have much, but-"
"Keep it; you've already lost enough," Ragna refused.
"But we should pay you back somehow," the father tried to convince. "You've done us-"
"I didn't do anything," he shot them down with his back turned to both of them. "I was on the road and those bandits were in my way. I just happened to see your son and thought you should know." His words were harsh, but they weren't without meaning.
"...Young lady," the mourning mother said, directing her words to Ruby.
"Yes?" Ruby responded, though it was clear that she was saddened by the events.
"...You've got a good teacher here; even if the man himself wants to deny it... Be sure you listen to what he has to say," she instructed her.
"Teacher?" Ragna repeated with an eyebrow raised. Well, he and Ruby were currently flying similar colors and she was the only one with him at the moment... he could see where the mistake was coming from.
"Uh... yeah, I'll be sure to," she told them, not exactly in the mood to correct a grieving family that had lost their son. "We... we need to be going now."
Nodding, the couple made their way back to the pews that they'd been sitting in, now to mourn the official loss of their son. Gesturing with his head, Ragna lead his 'student' out of the church, only for a small screen to appear in front of him as he exited the small chapel. Gained Title: Heavencliff's Beginning Savior. Rolling his eyes, he mentally closed the screen and decided he'd discuss it with his team later.
"So..." Ruby tried to begin as the two made their way towards the inner city where Hyde and Yu would hopefully be waiting for them at an inn. The orange light cast over the two as the sun began to set gave the scene a sense of melancholy.
"This is why I didn't want you to follow me," Ragna told her. "You didn't have to be there to see that."
For a moment Ruby didn't say anything and the two traveled in the same awkward silence that Ragna was growing ever further hatred for. Forget Tao's insane antics and her constant demands for food, he was starting to think that he'd rather have to deal with Rachel's barrage of insults than this atmosphere.
"You... You used to go by Grim Reaper... right?"
"What about it?" Ragna asked, knowing that this was going to be a question about his past.
"Does that mean you used to use a scythe?" That... hadn't been the question he'd been expecting. "I mean you've got that belt on you that could hold Lavell's sword and you've got that title... Did you?"
"None of..." Ragna had considered turning Ruby's question down, but they were both already going through a pretty bummer of a day. There was no need for him to make it any worse for her. "Yeah I did... well, part of the time anyways."
"Part of the time?" Ruby asked. The corners of Ragna's mouth tugged upwards as he noticed the hopeful sparkles in her eyes... he decided to deliver in full.
"I had a weapon that could go into two different forms. Rest of the time it was this giant ass sword that I used to swing around," he explained as Ruby's eyes grew even shinier. "Didn't have a gun function, but it had this sort of revolver part on it that could store this energy called Seither."
"Th-that's awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "My uncle actually has a weapon that could do that! I mean, his could fire bullets when it was a sword, but it's still really close to what you had! So what's this Seither stuff do? Did it have the same kind of powers that you normally use!? How much did your weapon weigh!? What was it called!?" Despite what Ragna had just gone though, he couldn't help but chuckle at Ruby's energetic questioning... maybe he needed someone like her around more than he'd thought.
Meanwhile -Inside the City-
"You think those two are okay?" Hyde asked as he and Yu walked the streets trying to find an inn where they could spend the night.
"They should be; Ragna hasn't changed Hyde, we're just seeing a different side of him," Yu reminded, though trying to keep himself confident to some degree.
"I know, I know, it's just... those two looked like they were about to deal with some pretty heavy stuff and Ruby seems a little... I think innocent would be the right word."
"I guess that's fair," Yu had to agree. Glancing at one of the buildings that they'd passed by, he saw a small sign hanging over the door that read The Journeyman's Reprieve. "This looks like a decent place to spend the night, Let's go check their prices."
"Somewhere I can sit down and grab something to eat is all I need," Hyde told him as the two headed inside. "Maybe this whole thing will feel better once we both get some food in us. That's what I usually find happens back home."
As the two entered the Inn they took a look around and got a general feel of the place that they might be staying in. While the wood that held the foundation looked like it was starting to get a little old, the place appeared to be clean and well kept. Several tables housed the patrons who were here for either food or drink. The food itself appeared to be decent to the two, but they suspected that Ragna might be able to manage even better. As they looked around, a girl at about the same age as them with blond hair done up in a pun and an tan apron approached them.
"Welcome! Are you here to find a room for the night or do you just want to have some food?" she asked the two pleasantly with a kind smile.
"We'll be wanting a room later, but getting some food now sounds nice," Hyde said, before figuring he'd try his Sex Appeal skill (hey, he's got to use it at some point). "Though I don't know if this region or inn has any dishes that it'd be well known for. I'd love to hear any recommendations," he said, trying to put on his best smile.
"Certainly sir," this way, the girl told him with a more neutral smile as she lead them forward.
'Guess it didn't have any effect, nothing obvious anyways,' he thought to himself with small disappointment before noticing some parchment hanging over a portion of the wall they were passing. "Hmm? Is that a request board?"
"Yep; this is where people post their personal requests and we even have some jobs offered by the Governor," she told them. "Our town's in something of a remote part of the kingdom, so we don't have any kind of guild dedicated to protecting the town… Truth to be told, there aren't a lot people here looking for work either, so if you know how to fight you won't have much competition searching for jobs." She smiled pleasantly at the two before seeing the silver haired one staring at the wall. "Is something wrong?"
"Hyde…" Yu began.
"I see the one," the blonde said as he glared at one of the requests. Illustrated on the front was a man and a woman… both of whom were in the bandit groups they'd encountered on the road.
"Wait… Have… Have you seen them!?" the young girl asked them almost frantically. Hyde took a step back at her sudden outburst.
"Well… you see…" he tried to say.
"Liza, don't bother the customers," a new and strick voice said. Turning their heads, the two boys found an older woman that looked much like the girl helping them. "Get them seated and get their orders, I don't want you scaring either of them off."
"Y-yes mom," Liza said, a slight blush at her outburst.
"It's no trouble on our end, really," Hyde said with a slightly awkward smile at Liza as he scratched behind the back of his head. "Trust me, we're both fine; you're the one I'm worried about." This seemed to put the serving girl slightly at ease.
Gained One Rank to Sex Appeal
"YES!" he thought with victory in his mind. He had to fight slightly to contain his excitement… though it appeared his present partner had other things to worry about.
"I have to say I'm a little… concerned," Yu said as he looked at the poster. "This is a bounty notice, isn't it?"
"Yeah it is…" Lisa told him, though it was clear her thoughts were elsewhere… and they weren't happy ones.
"You seem to care quite a bit about this particular bounty," Yu noted as she guided them to their table. "I don't want to be rude, but would you mind telling us why?"
"It's… it's because they took away someone very important to me; a young boy named Digory," she said as she brought them to their table. "He… he was something of a rascal in town, always playing pranks on the adults and telling rude jokes to the other children, but he was a good kid... Sometimes he'd bring me flowers and promise that he would marry me when he got older, even if the others teased him about it." Her smile was bittersweet as she thought back. "Then one day those two in the poster snuck into our village and kidnapped him. They demanded a ransom of supplies and silver for his safe return… but after we paid it, they just stole away with him anyways…"
"That's… awful…" Yu said, understanding the fear of losing someone all too well after a tense situation with Nanako.
"It's even worse for his parents; they keep praying at the church, hoping that they'll get a sign for their son's safe return… they've been praying for over a week."
"The church? The one by the west city gate?" Hyde asked and the girl nodded. "Oh… we… we passed by there on our way into town."
"Right… so do you want me to get something started for you to eat then?" she asked, forcing herself to put on her best and most friendly smile as she tried to transition back to work.
"Just water for the both of us for right now; we're still waiting on two people to join us," Yu told her. She gave a pleasant bow and left to fetch drinks for the both of them from their water barrel. "Clearly Ragna went to see the parents at the church then… meaning in the pile…"
"If that's true do you think we should tell her?" Hyde asked, feeling bad for the news they might have to deliver.
"While she's in the middle of work? You saw how bad it was when just recognized the bounty posters…" Yu told him. "And we don't know for certain either… Let's confirm with Ragna first, maybe then find some way to get her mother to tell her."
"Right; she might know a way to make it easier for Liza," Hyde agreed. "Still… to think that anyone would do something that horrible."
"You hear it all the time on the news, being so close to it like that though…" Yu sighed.
The two sat in silence, but not for every long as the doors soon opened revealing Ragna and Ruby. Yu couldn't explain it, but the two almost looked liked they had recovered slightly… in fact Ruby's small smile didn't seem that forced.
"You found us quickly," he noted to the two of them. "Can Ruby's Survival skill track people down then?"
"No, that's another skill called Tracking," Ruby informed them both. "Either way we wouldn't have needed it; we just asked around if people had seen anyone with Hyde's hair and they pointed us in the right direction."
"...Guess my highlights aren't good a blending into a crowd of people," he admitted before looking seriously at Ragna. "I think the four of us need to talk."
"...That goes without saying," Ragna admitted with a sigh. "Have you guys bought rooms yet?"
"Not just yet," Yu told them as Liza came back with their waters.
"Are these the two that you told us about?" Liza asked and Yu nodded. "Welcome, I can get you set up with food, what's your fancy for this evening?"
"Actually we wanted to get set up with some rooms for the night first," Ragna told her. "How much for four rooms?"
"Unfortunately, we don't have that many rooms available," Liza told him. "We do have one larger room with two bunk beds for you, just five copper coins a night."
"Five copper..." Ruby repeated as she looked through her money pouch (which also carried the same effect as he backpack). "Hmm… how many nights would silver coins net us?"
'She's okay with sleeping in the same room as three other guys?' Hyde thought to himself. '...Maybe things are different back in her world… And then again we all DID wake up in the same room… Am I treating this as a bigger deal than it really is?'
"Two nights per, exactly the same as if you paid ten copper," Liza informed them. Ruby nodded and handed over two pieces of silver. "Perfect, I'll get you a key for your room. Want me to bring up anything for dinner?"
"Certainly," Yu said before giving a friendly (and somewhat charming) smile as he flipped her one of the gold coins Ruby had given him. "Would you mind picking something out for each of us? I'll feel better trusting your expertise."
"I-If you're certain," Liza told him, not looking Yu straight in his eyes.
"Oif," Ruby groaned to herself, before noticing the slight blush on Liza's face. "...Really?"
"Really," Ragna bluntly told her with cast over eyes, a little used to this after his time spent with Kagura Narukami was rather pleased by this outcome… though Hyde was starting to think he might have a rival.
Upstairs
The room the four would be situated in was a little on the smaller side, but it would suffice. The bunk beds seemed study and the beds were about as comfortable as the ones back in the temple. Ragna and Ruby would be sharing one bunk bed where Ruby would take top bunk while Hyde would take the top on the one he shared with Yu. A small desk was off to one corner along with a small lantern. The place looked comfortable enough… though its occupants were far from comfortable with their conversation topic.
"So it was the parents, just like we thought," Yu summarized as the four sat and waited for their food, both sides having just finished telling their own side of their story.
"Yeah, sad to say but that's the case," Ruby told the both of them. "At the very least we managed to give them some closure."
"And we'll have to do the same thing with Liza downstairs too," Hyde muttered, thinking of how badly it would hurt her. "Still… the idea of just killing someone…"
"As long as it's not an easy choice to make, you're still human," Ragna told them as he crossed his arms seriously.
"...I still can't say any of us will be able to make that choice anytime soon… but given the state of this world we might have to… like you told us earlier," Yu said. "Even sitting back while you fight seems wrong…" He thought to Liza's panic. "And worse yet…"
"There's more?" Hyde asked him, thinking that there was already plent to digest.
"...Ragna may actually have a point," Yu thought before sighing. "Now then, I think that's enough on the heavy subjects for today. Let's put together what we've learned about the town so far."
"About that…" Ragna began showing a visible version of his menu. He then headed into one of the options that had been marked with question block, but now contained full text; Titles and Quests.
"A section's been unlocked?" Hyde said before entering his menu. "Weird, I have that on mine now too, what gives?"
Must be like in an RPG, where they unveil different functions as you progress further and further," Yu guessed. "Let's see… Nothing comes up under Quests and under Titles all that comes up is a blank slate."
"Weird that it would unlock if nothing happened," Ruby guessed before turning to Ragna. "Do you know what triggered it?"
"Yeah, when I left the church after… well you get the idea," Ragna told them, not wanting to have to force dark material once more. "I got this weird title, it's called Heavencliff's Beginning Savior." All of the three piled around him and looked at the title, leaving Ragna feeling uncomfortably crowded.
"I see… have you tried finding out what it is?" Yu suggested. A box of subtext appeared right over the title. "There we go, back in business… apparently you get this after clearing a quest. It also says that soon after earning this title, people in Heavencliff will… 'treat you more kindly' when this is in effect. Not sure what that means."
"Me neither," Ragna told them somewhat annoyedly. "You three can give me some room, you know?"
"Sorry," Ruby apologized as the three backed away.
"So do you equip it?" Hyde had to ask. "In some games you have to equip the title you earn to get the boost."
"Let's see…" Ragna tried for a moment. "...Nope, nothing. Maybe it means I've always got it active."
"Meaning the ability could stack with others," Yu thought as he thought back. "There's a Request Board downstairs. Do you think that you could get an even better variation of this Title just by completing more jobs and quests?"
"Maybe… but some of those are bounties, aren't they?" Ragna asked, remembering their conversation from earlier.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Yu said with confidence. "We can start taking monster hunting quests where we can and try to help out anywhere else we see trouble arising. If we do some more work around this town, we'll be able to get used to the strange functions that this world offers us."
"That and we'll be able improve our levels, along with our skills," Hyde added.
"Meaning you two are going to be flirting up a storm," Ragna remembered with something of a sigh.
"Eh, it's our burden to bear I guess," Hyde said, though he wasn't exactly disappointed with the development.
"Oif," the Reaper grumbled before considering. "Now that I think about it, what kind of abilities did you get from your skills?"
"Abilities?" Yu asked. "Oh right, you managed to use Reheat to cook the food and that other one to boost our own cooking abilities."
"Reheat and Chef yeah," Ragna said as he went to his skill selection. "Alright, so you're supposed to get a new abilities whenever you put a number of points into the skill. For cooking I got abilities at one, three, five, seven, and ten points… only thing is, my menu says I couldn't unlock the ten point skill cause the total Rank is too low… guess I'll have to make do until I make Rank 35."
"I also managed to get abilities a one, three, and five points," Hyde told him as he looked at his own skill.
"Same here," Ruby told the group. "Since we're all here and talking about it, we might as well go over the abilities that we've got, make sure we know how things stack up overall."
"Good thinking," Ragna agreed as he looked through his skill's details. "So the first point I put in got me the ability Soul Food. According to this, depending on how high my rank is and how well I prepare the food I can restore health, mana, and stamina and even cure certain status ailments."
"And all of that at just the first point!?" Hyde exclaimed. "Dude, that's got to be as useful a skill as you can get."
"It's not that simple though," Yu reminded. "In order to get it high enough to mean anything, he's going to need to raise the skill to a sufficient level and that's going to take time."
"Hmm…" Ruby hummed to herself as she thought it over. "We should probably get him to cook whenever we get the chance then, there's no telling when or how something like that can save our skin."
"Meaning instead of spending money food at the inn like tonight, we should really start buying up ingredients and cookware for Ragna to use," Hyde suggested.
"That'd be a good start at least," Ragna told him. "My third point ability is a lot less impressive, but it's still useful enough. Substitute Ingredient is exactly like it sounds; I can change out a dish's ingredients for something similar and it won't affect the outcome of this dish nearly as much as it normally would… useful in a pinch I guess. After that I got Reheat at 5 points and Chef at 7 points."
"Still, it looks like you've got your major bases covered," Yu said before looking in his abilities. "I can't speak for Hyde, but my ability at one point is called Charismatic. Its specifics are left vague, but it's telling me that based on my success and my rank total I might be able to charm things like info, quests, or even supplies out of the people I talk to."
"Yeah, that's what I've got too," Hyde told them. "At level three we've got… Versatile Charm." At the blond's awkward change in complexion, Yu looked at what it said for his skill, yet he seemed much more passive about it. "Apparently… it let's me use the skill with people of the same sex at less of a penalty."
"...Oh is justice sweet," Ruby said with a bright beaming smile which hid a demon beneath it. Ragna couldn't help but chuckle at her somewhat sadistic nature as he knew her issue with the skill already.
"And is that a problem?" Yu asked seriously. "It could be useful."
'He's going along with this? He must be more used to the idea than I thought,' Hyde considered. "And at level 5 we've got an ability called Smooth Recovery, says here we can get attempts to recover a situation after making a person upset based on our rank totals… all things considered, we might need this one a lot."
"Hee, it'll be fun to watch at least," Ruby said with a bright smile.
"I thought you were against the idea," the Reaper reminded her.
"I'm slowly getting used to it, provided I'm there to watch when things go awkward," she told him. Ragna could only shrug, since he knew that particular part would be at least a little interesting to watch. "Okay, so it looks like I'm up. My first ability is called Survival Harvest; based on my total rank I can get better find and higher quality whenever I have to harvest a monster or search for stuff in the wild… still not exactly looking forward to the former."
"Eh, it's not all going to be fun and games," Ragna reminded her. "What else ya got?"
"Let's see… I also have one called Thrifty Tools which can help me craft survival tools based on what I we have on or around us at the time. They won't be as good as the real thing, but they can help. Lastly there's Find Civilization which will just help us find our way back to a town or village when we get lost."
"And with Ragna's luck-" Hyde began.
"I get it, I get it, you can stop reminding me…" Ragna sighed before thinking it over. "Also, is it just me or is everyone noticing a pattern?"
"I can see it too," Yu agreed. "First level is a basic ability that will become stronger the more ranks you put into the skill, the third level one makes you more versatile in your field, and fifth level seems to be a kind of retry or recovery skill,"
"Then by that logic, you'd be able to improve your teammates skills at seventh level, like Ragna and his Chef ability," Ruby noted. "I guess for me that would mean we'd all get slightly better at surviving."
"Wonder what ours would be like," Yu thought to himself as he considered the ability. "What would you even call it?"
"Wingman maybe?" Hyde suggested with a laugh. Ragna rolled his eyes and that was when there was a knock at the door.
"Excuse me?" came Liza's voice on the other side. "I'm here with your food. Do you mind letting me in?" Getting up, Ragna opened the door to let the young girl inside as everyone set their screens to 'invisible'. Liza came inside bearing a tray of stews, bread, soups, and other dishes for the group along with a few beer tankards; apparently Yu's single gold coin was good for a lot of the food. "Sorry that this took so long; a dinner crowd arrived just as soon as you came in and… well we're a bit understaffed in the kitchen at the moment."
"It's not a problem," Ragna told her casually, before he considered his options. "But… do you need any help?"
"Help? You mean like cooking?" Liza asked.
"Might not look it, but I'm actually a pretty damn good cook," the Grim Reaper offered. "Besides, someone's had to feed these three."
"Th-that would honestly be fantastic," Liza told him. "I… I have to warn you though, my mom and dad are pretty strict to the type and quality of food we can serve so…"
"Not a problem I don't scare easily," Ragna told her before grabbing a bowl of stew. "Head down and let 'em know, I'll be there in just a few." Nodding happily, the serving girl closed the door behind her and headed downstairs while Ragna began shoveling stew into his mouth. It wasn't bad, but he felt like he could do a touch better even as limited as he currently was.
"Someone's got to feed these three you tell her," Ruby said to him with a snarky smile as she began working on some soup. "You only cooked for us the one time, and even then you had us there to help you."
"He was probably just saying that to explain that he had experience cooking," Hyde told her. "Besides, it's a good move; he'll get to use his cooking skill and likely net us a couple of coins in the process. Two birds with one stone."
"...That ain't the only reason I'm doing it," Ragna admitted as he finished his stew (he can eat pretty fast when he needs to) and moving on to a loaf of bread which he quickly tore into.
"Really? What else is there?" Yu asked as he began working on his soup.
"...If I do this, then maybe it'll be easier on her when I break the news about the kid to her," he admitted somewhat darkly before swallowing his bite of bread..
"You… you don't have to go that far," Hyde told him. "We could just let her mother know and leave it for her to explain."
"Yeah, yeah, but pushing stuff like that onto other people just leaves me feeling like an ass, well a bigger one anyways," Ragna told them as he scarfed the rest of his food down. He then got up, but not before taking the four beer tankards. "I'm bringing these back down, so don't even think about it."
"What? But we're probably old enough to drink in this world!" Yu exclaimed at him. "Weren't you the one that said different world, different rules?"
"Maybe," Ragna told them before smirking. "But hell; if I'm the adult here then I've got to set some ground rules. Didn't Hyde say I was the leader this morning anyways?"
"Damn he's right…" Hyde groaned to himself as he thought back to what he'd said during their first encounter with the spiders. Ragna didn't give another chance for a rebuttal as he headed downstairs, taking the beer with him.
"So killing's a necessity, but underage drinking is taking it too far?" Yu asked with sigh. "Now that I think about it, back home everyone would try to keep as far away from alcohol as possible for… some reason."
"Might be a reason for it if they were so against it," Hyde reasoned, noting never to let Yu get drunk.
"Ragna's just doing what's necessary," Ruby told Yu. "I don't think it's any easier for him than it is for us…"
"...Might just mean it's up to us to make things easier for him," Hyde figured. "After all, he's at least proven that his heart's in the right place."
"I never said it wasn't," Yu agreed before looking at the food. "Bt you've got a point; he's going to be a part of this team and we'll need someone like him in the thick of things… better get used to it."
"Right, maybe one of us can get him to open up a little too," Ruby offered. "It… it wasn't much, but I at least managed to get him talking after we left the church. Even told me a few details of his past."
"That right?" Hyde noted as he thought over his earlier conversation with Liza. "Did your Sex Appeal skill go up when you did that?" Ruby's prompt and appropriate response was to fling her bowl of soup right into the blond's face. "...I was just asking," he said in deep regret through the hot liquid dripping off his face and onto his clothing.
"...Something tells me there isn't a Smooth Recovery that could save you here," Yu Narukami noted with a bit of whimsy as the young Huntress crossed her arms in annoyance (not unlike Ragna).
"...Shut up..." Hyde groaned.
Author's Note with review responses and an Omake at the end (PLEASE PM ME IF YOU HAVE A STORY IDEA OR SUGGESTION, don't put them in the reviews)
At the time of posting, I'm already on the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle pre-order beta and I've given it a spin (as anyone who follows my small and humble Youtube channel would know). The game's pretty good so far, but I've yet to get into the nitty-gritty of things… Though I'm not sure whether to by happy that I no longer have to 'Z' (or 623) my controller when I need to Inferno Divider or disappointed that it seems a little TOO simple… meh. Let's see how the online element goes then. EDIT: Okay, just tried online and this ROCKS! Honestly, I'm having dozens of time more fun than when I started playing FighterZ and I'm a huge Dragon Ball fan.
Just as a side note: look for P4 The Animation: King's Game on Youtube if you haven't already seen it. You'll get a good laugh and explain why no one lets Yu drink alcohol.
To address a few of the reviews that I go, thanks for the show of support but you really don't need to worry about Camperor, Keyz… whatever the hell he's going by. I got him blocked (though I thought I already had him blocked) and that should just be the end of it. He's just wasting his own time if he's going to post hateful comments on my story and he should simply be ignored by us all as is appropriate. Trust me; starve the troll via ignoring it, don't feed it with your rage.
Back to the story actual story (took a bit to get here), slightly darker chapter this time around but I had to clear the air on character morality somewhere. I was hoping to keep everyone's personalities as close to cannon as I could and added some more light hearted moment and some system exploration in an attempt to even out the tone.
Anyways, review response time. Though… as a small request; If you have ideas for the story, PM me instead of posting them as a review. It'll help not to spoil any upcoming ideas I have for the readers.
ENDDRAGON369: Maybe I'll do something with them down the line, haven't decided yet.
EpicLinkSam: Funny that you mention that, I actually came up with this idea for Ragna's fighting style and his reason that he couldn't use weapons in this particular story a long time ago, before I'd ever played Tales of Berseria even (though now Eizen is my obvious main in that game). Also, I included a bit Ragna/Ruby time here since you seemed to like it.
Azure Legacy: Yu's Persona abilities and the normal multitude of Personas he has under his control will work a bit differently this time since he doesn't have Igor's help through the Velvet Room. He'll get access to other powerful Persona's, but that's for later.
ArmantusCumPinnae and Mystech Master: Interesting questions and ideas. PM me if you have anything else to add, but thanks for the reviews all the same.
The Unplanner: And I hope we won't have to know anytime soon… I don't think I'm comfortable with the idea of writing a lemon fic just yet.
Wlyman2009: He had to have used a training sword from the time he spent with Jubei (possibly an old branch that was left lying around), but other than that he's exclusively used Bloodscythe.
ptl: I didn't have an exact inspiration, but I am rather fond of writing for the genera. As far as the hammy characters go… it depends on the scene at the weight of the situation and this chapter is a good showcase for the varying tones.
adv: Thank you.
bootlegwat: I've actually read the first few chapters of Konosuba, not a big fan but thanks for the review.
DreadAngelus: Maybe, but I'm sort of mixing in both the calm and passive Yu from the games and the more comedic Yu from the anime for this fic.
That's all for those. Here's the closing Omake I promised. Ciao!
BlazBlue: Cross Tag… Apartment?: Part 1
"...Tch, every damn time," Ragna groaned as he looked at his alarm clock which read 5:50. "I always have to wake up ten minutes before I actually have to get going." He stared up at the dark ceiling. "I guess I could get up now and beat it to the punch… but my bed's just too damn warm, and comfy, and…" He shut his eyes for all of a moment and-
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Friggin' relative time…" he growled as he got up an slammed his fist down on the infernal device to finally shut it off. Giving a small yawn, he got a few cricks out of his neck before rising, picking his clothes out for the day, and taking a quick shower. Soon enough he was in the apartment's small kitchen preparing sunny side up eggs, thick slabs of breakfast ham, toast, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was a bit of a process, but Ragna knew it was his job… both in his apartment and at his actual place of employment.
"Good morning," Yu Narukami greeted as he walked into the kitchen, his hair slightly damp after he had finished his own shower.
"Morning," Ragna greeted in turn as he poured Yu some of the orange juice and handed it to the student. "Food will be ready in just a moment."
"Cool," he said as he took a long sip. "No coffee today?"
"We ran out last night; have to pick some up after I get off work and mail our taxes," he muttered. Tax season was always a pain for Ragna, but at least he had three students he could put down as dependants to lighten the load of money he had to pay out.
"Mind checking to see if they've got of those premium ramen bowls available?" the student asked as he took a seat.
"If I find some I'll try and grab a few, but those things go so damn fast whenever they're in stock," Ragna muttered with a sigh before he turned to the hallway. "Unlike two people I'm thinking of right now."
"I… doubt that they're even up yet," Yu noted.
"Damn it, I am not having another fight for who gets to shower first," he growled to himself before turning. "...Which of them do you think could get ready the fastest?"
"It depends, how are you motivating them?" the answered with another question.
"...I think I've got a solution then," Ragna said with a cocky smirk. Yu crossed his fingers, knowing that either Ragna had a genius idea or that this would instantly blow up in his face. Turning the stove to low heat so the food didn't burn while he was gone, the eldest member of the house headed to the only female members bedroom and pounded on the door. "Rise and shine sleepy head!" No response. "Get up!" Nothing. "If you're not showered and at the table in five minutes, I'm taking a cookie from your stash and eating it in front of your fa-"
Ragna hadn't even finished his sentence when the door flew open and a blur of pink pajamas with little dogs on them rushed into the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind her, quickly followed by the sound of running water that certainly wouldn't have had time to adjust. Smirking at himself at the win, Ragna headed back to the table and the shocked Yu that was sitting there.
"It was always that easy?" he asked aloud in surprise.
"Have to remember that for next time," his caretaker said cockily as he checked on the food before heading outside and to grab the morning paper. It wasn't there yet, so Ragna figured they were running a little late today; nothing too out of the ordinary. Not long later, a rather upset and damp Ruby emerged from the bathroom, soon followed by groggy Hyde as he'd just awoken in his pajamas.
"You didn't have to threaten me with cookies," Ruby said grumpily as she sat down with here arms crossed.
"You and I both know that ain't the case," Ragna told her as he put her breakfast in front of her.
"Seriously, what'd I miss?" Hyde asked with a yawn as he took a seat before his own breakfast plate.
"You'd know if you woke up with the rest of us," Yu said as he began cutting into his ham. "...Of course I'd personally recommend sleep."
"Don't encourage him," Ragna scolded before putting his dirty dishes in the sink and sipping his OJ. "I've got to get going early today, so clean up after yourselves and I'll see you after work." Heading over to the door, he threw his coat on. "Remember I have to bring my boss over for dinner later this week, so for the love of god make sure your rooms are clean."
"Yes DAAAAD!" all three of them responded with teasing mockery.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as he left through the door, muttering something about the three that he had to keep under his roof.
"So… no one bothered to tell him that it's Sunday and he has the day off?" Hyde asked the other two seated at the table.
"AAAAAAAAAUUUGGGGHH!"
"...Pretty sure he just found out," Ruby noted humorlessly. The door was then loudly thrown open as Ragna roughly marched into the kitchen, clear annoyance showing on his face.
"All right then…" he began threateningly to the three seated before him. "Which of you scamps set my alarm clock on a Sunday!?"
"Why on earth do you think one of us would even do that?" Hyde asked him casually. "I mean that's a low blow; something cruel and devoid of humor and RUBY DID IT!"
"Don't blame this on me! I only got up because Ragna threatened to eat my cookies!" she shouted at Hyde. "If anything you got up earlier you do on school days and you never get up before one in the afternoon on Sundays!"
"Well with all of the noise everyone was making I didn't have a choice!" Hyde shouted.
"...You kids…" Ragna growled before he put his coat back onto its hanger and started walking back to his room. "I'm going back to bed… don't you dare wake me up."
"...He's mad," Hyde noted once their caretaker was out of earshot. He then noticed that Yu had gotten up and was buttoning up his own jacket. "Where the heck are you going?"
"The movies; I promised I'd catch an early feature special with Yosuke and Kanji today," he explained before throwing his bag over his shoulder.
"Wait… you were the only one of us to get up close to Ragna's time," Ruby noted as the gears in her mind began to turn. "So why didn't you tell him what day it was and stop him?"
"Because this way I would get breakfast before I left," Yu told them before he opened the door. "Later." Hyde and Ruby didn't have any room to object as Yu closed the door and headed off to the movie theaters, leaving the two to realize that they'd all been played that morning.