Yawn* I open my eyes to see my room basked in darkness. I sit up and stretch
I exhale, "God, they could've been at least discreet about it" I mumble and shiver at the memory.
I get up and take a hot shower to help forget about the traumatic events of last night. Once I was done, I put my hair up in my usual style and put on my clothes which were left on the dresser. I walk out of my room, adjusting my sheathes and walk downstairs, to find the innkeeper at the counter
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't expect anyone to be awake at this hour" she said surprised
"It's fine" I say as I was about to walk out the door
"Your friends sounded like they had fun last night" the innkeeper smirked causing me to almost trip
"Uh...I need to go train!" I say quickly and run off
Once I exited the town and stop at the outskirts of the nearby forest, I stop to catch my breath
"What a hypocrite, saying he follows his religion and yet he breaks the first rule as soon as they get a room" I mumble as I hang my coat on a tree and sit Infront of a river with my legs crossed.
I close my eyes and breathe out, relaxing my shoulders as I focus on the sound of the ripples traveling through the water. I clear my mind until I feel a shift in the air to the left of me. I leap back with my katanas already drawn
"I know you're there" I say readying myself until a familiar swordsman steps out
"Granberia?" I say Surprised as I realize she didn't have her sword out
'so she didn't come here looking for a fight' I think as I sheath my swords. I look at her expectingly, waiting for her to speak as I realize she's staring at my arms before she blushes and looks at me
"I came here because I wanted to speak with you" she says
I look to the east to see the sun has risen a bit over the horizon
"Alright, but we must be quick" I respond and she nods
"Why do you follow Alipheese and the boy around?" She asks
"Originally, I chose to follow Luka in order to train and protect him, Alice just chose to follow us in order to observe me." I answer matter of factly
"I see..." She trails off
"If you're worried that I plan to harm her I won't, hashira's honor" I say before I realize what I had done
'Shit'
Granberia raises an eyebrow, "what is this hashira?" She asks
'shit, I wasn't supposed to say that'
"Um..it's a Ranking for warriors where I'm from, hashira being the highest" I answer hoping she wouldn't press on
"I see, that explains why your so strong" she mumbles to herself
"Very well then, I will hold you to your word but if you harm her in any way, I will kill you" Granberia says in a menacing tone
"I understand" I say then bow
"I'm afraid I must be going now" I say as I grab my coat and put it on
"Of course, our business here is done anyways" granberia says and teleports away
I stand there for a moment before I facepalm
"I'm an absolute idiot" I say as I start to run back to town. As I get closer, I see luka and Alice exiting the town, I smirk and jump up on the town walls before running towards them and silently dropping behind them. I notice Luka's new shirt
'seems very well crafted'
"Nice shirt" I say as Luka whips around and Alice calmly stares at me
"Where did you come from!" Luka yells bewildered
"From the forest" I answer before looking at a bush
"I know your there by the way" I yell
"Fufufu...I found you! My only hero..." An unfamiliar voice said before jumping out
"Uwa..." Luka let out, as the strange creature appears in front of us
Unlike Alice, she had the lower body of a han and a green snake head as her upper body.
"My name is Amira...you stole maiden heart!" The monster says in a longing tone towards Luka
He was dead silent
"You filled me with love and courage. Ah, my sweat maiden heart...an unbreakable dream" she continued starting to annoy me
"Excuse me...can I kill you..?" Luka questioned as he slowly reached for his sword, stopping when I karate chopped his head
"Thank you L/N, Luka calm down if you want a world where humans and monsters will coexist it will include...that thing too" Alice lectured as I just nodded in agreement
Luka's eye twitched before he took a deep breath
"Just go away and disappear" he ordered
"Even you are discriminating against me...everyone else does it too...everyone throws stones at me...nobody will get close to me...not wanted by anyone...such sadness..." She lamented tearing up
'...Fake'
"Y...you.." Luka stammered clearly feeling bad
"Hey! Amira! I made to much miso soup for lunch! Come by later and have some!" An old women offered
"Oh, Amira! There are some rats in my warehouse. Would you mind getting rid of them?" An old man asked
'called it'
"Not wanted by anyone? Alice can you drive this thing away" Luka pleaded
"Idiot, don't rely on me-" Alice started before I interrupted her
"That's enough, now Amira I'm sure you didn't just stop us to talk right?" I asked looking at her
"That's right, other than declaring my love to my hero, I do have a request.." the monster trails off
"A request...what is it?" Luka inquired, suddenly interested
"Recently, a band of monster thieves have been rampaging around. Having fellow monsters do such a thing...it pains my heart. Everyone else in town is troubled too. Even though my appearance has quite the impact, my attacks do not. Could you do something in my stead?" Amira requested
"Are you sure this isn't just a human scaremongering story?" Alice questioned clearly not buying it.
"Don't insult my information gathering! There's even supposed to be a vampire and dragon among their ranks" Amira claimed
"A vampire and dragon!?" Luka yelled in disbelief
"That's odd, I've never heard of monsters like that this far in the country side." Alice commented
'a vampire and dragon huh, one being a vicious blood sucking monster, the other a powerful fire breathing reptile and the inspiration for my breathing style, going of that, they must be high ranking monsters but then why would they resort to only stealing?'
I was brought out of my analysis when Luka said
"Where is the bandits hideout?", 'so we're really doing this'
"I don't know their exact position but it should be west at the base of the mountain range" Amira provided
I sigh, this is going to be a long day
"Alright, leave it to me" Luka said smiling
"Ahhh, just as I expected from my darling! I'll wait for the good news" Amira said before crawling away
"Are you really going to go? You can't beat a dragon or vampire as you are now, besides it has nothing to do with beating the monster Lord" Alice chastised
"Actually, this little side quest could provide Luka with some experience and practice after all he needs all the help he can get" I intervene
"And if things get ugly, I will personally take care of it" I conclude
Alice just sighs not wanting to argue with me
"And because it's what a hero would do" Luka added
"...even though your a fake one" Alice deadpans, making Luka wince
"At your current level a dragon would just turn you into charcoal" Alice mumbled
"Come on people we're burning daylight here" I yell already ahead of them
"Wah! Again" Luka yells trying to catch up to me
"She's really quiet for a human" Alice mumbles as she follows us.
"By the way, I noticed earlier how you seem to not want to kill your opponent so you hold back your abilities" Alice commented
"Ya..that might be true" Luka acknowledged
"Oh well...I'll lend you this sword" Alice says before pulling out the most grotesque sword I've ever seen.
"Eww... what is that?" Luka grimaced
"Angel halo...the only sword of it's kind In the world, use it from now on" Alice ordered
"Alice, how exactly was this sword made?" I ask already regretting my decision
"The sword was refined from 666 melted angels"
'of course it was'
"Now take it" Alice said pushing the sword into Luka causing him to grab it. The sword then made some sort off odd sound.
"Wha!? It moaned! L/N it just moaned!" Luka yelled
I just sigh before I feel a faint vibration under my feet
"Ah... good timing. Give it a try" Alice says as she disappears and I go to hide behind a bush. All of a sudden the ground burst open, reaveling a worm like creature
'By the Gods' I think with my face darkening.
"Hai!" Luka yells as he strikes it torso but instead of blood spilling, a purple mist came out of the wound.
"What! My power!" The creature yelled before Luka proceeded to make quick work of it.
"Alright!" Luka yelled finishing his strike
"What...is this!" It cried out before it's body dissolved into particles and in its place was a normal worm
"Eh...? What happened" Luka asked in confusion
"The blade eats away at the magic of whatever it slathers, causing your opponent to be reverted to a harmless form" Alice explains
"I see...I hope she reflects on her actions in the mean time" Luka wishes
"Her hatred will probably just increase" Alice disclaimed
Luka went silent for a moment
"By the way, what would happen if I used it on a human, not that I want to" he asked
"It would probably turn them into a child but this swords true power is the fact that it can fight angels" Alice said
'there are angels here too!' I think
"Hmmm..well thank you for the sword Alice" Luka grumbled at her previous statement before thanking her
"Of course" she answered
"Now that that's out of the way, let's get going" I say
"Ya, let's go" Luka said in agreement and we start walking
