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The scene starts us right where we left off with the young Merc Pico looking around in confusion before opening his mouth.
"Where the fuck am I? Did I get transported into dungeons and dragons or some shit?"
Realizing that no one will answer his questions spoken to himself besides maybe the voices from his childhood trauma and even they didn't seem to know a damn thing right now, Pico began to explore his new surroundings making sure to tuck his twin uzis away safely.
Through his self guided tour of this strange town he saw what ranged from humans to walking, talking animals and everything in between making sure to take note of this before his stomach began to growl prompting him to look for something that looked like a food stand.
It didn't take him long to spot a stand that seemed to sell produce which he naturally walked over being interrupted from his thought by a gruff voice hitting his ears.
"What can I get for you kid?"
Pico turned his attention to the man standing behind the counter. He was well built and had bright green hair and a fair share of scars with a bright smile unfitting of his seemingly natural scowl.
"Uh yeah, how much for the Apples?"
"You mean the Appas."
"The fuck is a Appa?.."
At the harsh language and seemingly dumb question, the merchant's face twisted into the same scowl Pico imagined him to likely sport as he replied.
"Well genius, the 'Appas' are the bright red fruit which you were staring down like a hungry mabeast. So are you buying one or are you just wasting my time with games?"
At this point Pico thought about making the guy's face as bright red as the skin of the 'Appas' with his fists but decided against it entirely letting out a sigh, pulling out his wallet and some dollars.
"How much?"
"Well whatever the hell that paper you're pullin' out is ain't gonna cover it so I'm gonna assume your broke. In that case beat it broke boy!"
Pico was now seething but once again stopped himself from shooting the man in the mouth and put his stuff away, kicking the stand a bit and walking off cursing the man under his breath.
Due to his inner ranting he seemed to failed to notice himself wondering into a Alley and walking towards two men?, a short and mean faced one and a larger Portly one, bumping shoulder with the bigger one before having his should roughly gripped up.
"Where the hell do you think you're going in a hurry kid? You just got here."
"Look, I'm no fucking idiot. I know what this is and I already know you got a third tall, lanky bitch hiding near the entrance of the Alley."
The silver haired young man in question flinched and came out into the open spitting on the ground and glaring at the Orange haired Mercenary.
"And, I haven't had the best day so if you want to be 'capable' of walking out of here alive then fuck off."
The smaller bandit glared now and walked in front of Pico.
"Tough talk for a little shrimp like you, it's 3 on one."
Now the silver haired one walked behind him and pulled out his blades not even bothering with the intimidation tactic of whipping them out later and spinning them.
"Yeah so if 'you' want to be capable of walking out of here alive then you b-"
PING!
There was a loud flinging effect that was overshadowed by the sound of what seemed like a small explosion as one of the man's blades was suddenly sent flying from his hand and into the ground behind him courtesy of the metal device Pico was hiding in his right hand.
"I said fuck off"
Pico was already pissed and confused as well a hungry from the day he's had today, shooting his other left hand held gun into the air to fire a warning shot.
The thieves we're now clearly shaken up by this development and started to make space between Pico and themselves, slowly moving around him to group up on the opposite end of the alleyway before the big one started to speak.
"H-Hey guys isn't that a Metia? It's like a metal crossbow too... I-I didn't even see the arrow."
"A Metia?"
Pico looked at his guns and back to the scared trio before smirking and letting another bullet whiz past the cheek of the blade wielder, causing his to flinch and hold his now bleeding cheek.
"Yep it's my Metiass they are called Uzis and they can easily send you all to the afterlife if you don't fuck off right now."
Instead of correcting him, the three realized this might be a good time to make themselves scarce, right now.
"Is there a problem?, I heard explosions.."
The four alleyway occupants turned their attention to the new voice which belong to a scarlet red haired man adorned in a pristine white outfit where a stern yet weirdly friendly expression of calmness on his face.
"H-Hey guys isn't that t-t-the sword saint!?"
"Oh fuck this let's get out of here!"
With no more words being said, all three of the bandits ran off, making sure to grab the lone blade embedded in the ground before disappearing around the corner.
"Finally they're gone.. and you there are you unhurt?"
Pico looked into the blue eyes of the man and felt oddly relaxed which was weird for him.
"Uh yeah I'm fine, good looking out with the assist."
"Good looking out?"
"It means thanks where I'm from."
"Ah, well the. you are very welcome. My name is Reinhart Van Astrea and you are?"
"Names Pico, just Pico."
"Well Pico, I'm happy that you are safe."
After saying this Reinhart let a bright smile adorn his face that could rival the sun itself, one that almost made Pico want to shield his eyes before he continued speaking.
"Not like they would have posed a threat. In fact I'd go as far as saying you saved their sorry asses from me."
The ever innocent, ever naive, ever noble, eve- you get the point Reinhart would raise his eyebrows confused and question the young man.
"So I am correct to assume you were the one who rang out those loud noises that alerted the attention of the guards in the area?."
"Yeah those were my uhhh Metias, dual uzis"
Reinhart caught that as a half truth due to his divine blessings but shook it off since it wasn't a total lie.
"Well I'm relieved you had such useful Metias is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Uhhh other then letting me know where I can get some info about the general hotspots of this place then yeah sure."
"The hotspots of the Kingdom of Lugunica?"
Pico thought to himself "So that's what this place is called."
"Yeah I'm not from around here I'm from a city by the name of Philadelphia, the South side to be exact."
Although Reinhart couldn't sense a lie this time he had never heard of such a location to his knowledge so he figured it was a small providence maybe. The maps of the world weren't exactly perfect and not like he's allowed to move around the world free as a bird.
"I see. Well you have the local stands, the royal knights, the common areas, and the noble estates. There is also the Slums but I'd advise agai-"
"The Slums it is."
"...Pardon?"
"Which way do I have to go to get there?"
"Well the slums would be located at the edge of the capital on the outskirts to be exact."
"Thanks I got it from here. Thanks for the tips pal and nice assist on those reject nobodies."
"Pal?... Oh um I'm happy to help."
Pico hide his uzis from sight again and began to walk towards the outskirts of town with Reinhart steadily looking at his back as he made his way towards the slums, looking up to take note of the setting sun.
"Damn it's already almost night time. Well at least this place has a hood. No way in hell I was gonna talk to what amounts to useless cops with a fancy title and some snobby pricks."
Pico then went around using his natural hood 'Charm' to get info on the area from the slum dwellers around. 'Charm' being his way of talking to those with no title or background like himself and threats to the more 'Unruly' before he learned of someone known in the area by the nickname, 'Old man Rom" and made his way there, arriving at the beat up old shack and towards the door.
"This busted piece of shit looks mostly like what I'd expect from what everyone told me. Well fuck, In I g-"
Before he could touch the handle of the door he heard voices inside sounding less then calm.
"I said no! If it meant so much to you then don't lose it!"
"I didn't 'lose' it! You 'stole' it now return what's rightfully mine, I don't wish to hurt you.."
"C'mon now Felt just give it up. You weren't careful enough and now you got caught. Last thing I want is the guards coming through and ransacking the place."
"Better listen to the old man little girl, I may be the cutest thing you've ever seen but I can quickly get mean when someone messes with 'Lia."
Pico slowly pulled out both uzis in case he got caught in between something and slowly opened the door to slip inside, looking to the dark corner of the shack while the 2 girls, one blonde little girl and one with silver hair and pointed eyes? The large towering hulk of a grandpa and the tiny little Pokemon looking cat.
However, what really caught Pico's eye was the noticeable glint in the shadows across from him which slowly revealed a feminine blade wielding hand.
"Ayo what the fuck?"
Pico involuntarily let me spoken out loud causing everyone to look at him with Emilia being the first to speak.
"Who are yo-"
"MOVE IT!"
He shot out two shots causing the old man to grab the smaller girl and move to the other side of the counter lined with drinks and the Silver haired girl to being surrounded by multiple shields of ice.
The shots hit their mark, one hitting the blade and knocking it into the light and the other making a sound of piercing flesh, blood dripping to the floor near the blade and a sultry voice ringing out to accompany it.
"Oh my, that stung quite a bit~"
The woman whom the voice belonged would then walk out from her hiding spot with a bloody hole on her chest right next to her heart and wipe two fingers along the wound, licking them afterwards. The action causing Pico to visibly cringe and wonder to himself, "Did that bitch just giggle off a gunshot near her heart? The bullet seems to have went straight through as well."
"Yeah, and it's gonna hurt alot more the next time, well if you're alive after the next shot."
"I already like you alot, I wonder what your entrails look like."
"Bitch, what?"
Pico flinched at that statement and widened his eyes, not out of fear but out of shock at how casually she said that.
Nearby the other people and the cat looked on in confusion and wondered how they should proceed with the old man advising the little girl of escaping through the back which made the voluptuous woman turn her gaze towards the duo.
"It seems I overestimated your skills, I shouldn't have expected so much of filthy slum trash."
"What was that!?"
"Felt get down!"
The girl now known as felt disregarded the statement, rushing towards the smiling woman with reckless abandon.
"It seems you'll be the first who will have their insides examined..."
But to Felt's shock and Elsa Disappointment, the small girl found herself being grabbed up by her scarf and tossed back to the towering elder swiftly courtesy of the gun toting Merc Pico.
"Sorry kid, this chick's out of your league, instead of stealing from people you should try taking your ass to school and leaving crime to the experts."
Felt honestly 'felt' offended by the stranger's words and lashes out.
"And just who the hell are you to tell me what to do?"
A smirk adorned Pico's face at this and spun his dual uzis, pointing them at the cloaked woman.
"Someone who has much more street smarts then you could ever have shrimp."
Pico would then fire two more shots at the assassin who seem to be able to predict how the devices worked and dodge them, narrowly, still being grazed and causing Pico to scowl.
"She learns and moves quick as shit."
"How flattering, you don't seem to be a pushover yourself~"
Before Elsa could fully close the distance, a few sharp shards of ice hit the ground in front of her from the silver haired girl and the cat as she made her way next to Pico holding out her glowing palms.
"I'll back you up."
"Thanks but how do you know I'm not hostile like her?"
"Even if you didn't mean to, you saved my life just now. So the least I could do is repay the debt your incurred upon me."
"Can't argue with logic like that. Let's go uh?"
"It's.. Emilia just Emilia."
"Huh. Well I'm Pico."
"Elsa Granhiert"
Pico raised his gaze fully to to woman who now goes by Elsa and narrowed his eyes.
"I don't think anyone fucking asked you."
"Well it is customary to give out you names before fighting a bloody battle to the death~"
"Bloody? Yes. Battle? Nah this is gonna be a execution."
Pico once again being the hot head one took the initiative and shot a few more bullets out toward Elsa to which she promptly avoided them and jumped off the wall, once again jumping towards pico who before she could make it all the way intercepted her, crossing his arms and tackling her against the wall, pushing his arm into her neck.
"You are being so very rough~"
"And you're being pushy. I don't like pushy chicks if you hadn't noticed."
"Well I do adore you~ and I'll take good care of your insides as well Pico~" As soon as she said this, she revealed another blade and attempted to slash Pico at his stomach which cause him to go wide eyed and jump into the air above the blade, kicking off the woman's face and shooting off a few more shots into her leg staggering her before she noticed her movement being halted further by a harsh cold feeling on her foot.
"Thanks Pico I really appreciate the distraction. Now then nighty night~"
The culprit for the ice resting around her foot was revealed to be the flying cat near the silver haired girl who then followed up by shooting a huge amount of ice towards the murderous femme fatale
"Good job Puck"
"Aww stop it Lia, you're making me blush"
The ice fully encased the Assassin who was now rendered motionless which caused Rom and Felt to come out thinking the danger of death has passed.
"It seems you got her."
Pico narrowed his eyes thinking how this ended way to easy only to be proven correct as the ice surrounding her crackled and broke completely, the clock she was wearing into nothing.
"Yeah that's more what I expected.."
Sighing tiredly, Pico noticed something more puzzling, the gun shots he landed on her had already healed up to the point where it was like he never even shot her.
"What the fuck are you?..."
"Now that isn't a nice thing to say to a lady~"
Pico glared and looked the side as the corner of his eyes caught a bright light being let out from the small cat known as Puck.
"Uh oh, looks like I'm out of time..."
"Don't worry Puck, we'll think of something."
"...Lia don't hesitate to force me back out if you get overwhelmed buuuuut with our carrot colored friend I think we'll be fine."
"Who the fuck are you cal-"
He was once again interrupted by Elsa who tackled him this time, straddling his waist and raising her arm.
"I'm sad I won't get to see the belly of a spirit~ but maybe rooting through you will make me feel better Pi-co~"
"If you don't stop saying my fucking name like that I'll-"
"May I interrupt?"
The instant those words were spoken the ceiling of the loot house was broken straight through by a figure obscured by dust, as it settled it revealed the figure to be Reinhart.
"That's one entrance."
Pico smiled and quickly bent in his legs, kicking the woman off of him and coming over to Reinhart's side.
"I'm curious on how you knew to come here though."
"The sound of your uzis rang through the entire area causing the residents of the slums to grow fearful and I just happened to be nearby to witness the panic, I then followed the noises til I was lead here."
"...You got a point. That does make a lot of sense."
"Although my friend, it appears you are rather unlucky to run into not only small time bandits, but the villain known far and wide as the Bowel
Hunter ."
"Huh. Oddly fitting not gonna lie."
"Oh my~ The Sword Saint himself. I am so very grateful to have so many new playmates however I have a job to do..."
Elsa retrieved her other blade while speaking, twirling them a fast pace before getting into her signature combat pose. Pico had began to hold up his guns but was stopped by Reinhart raising his arm to halt his actions.
"You rest easy Pico, I'll handle things from here."
"Shit, be my guest. Not like I felt like dealing with whatever bullshit regeneration ability she had, not tryna waste any more bullets."
Reinhart smiled at Pico's understanding and nodded before giving a stern expression towards Elsa and standing before her, taking a sword off the wall causing Pico to raise a eyebrow considering he had a pretty menacing looking sword at his hip, maybe it was for show.
"That's not fun. If I'm to be facing the Sword Saint, I'd love to get a taste of his legendary blade for myself."
"I do apologize sincerely but it seems that will not be necessary so I will have to make due with this temporarily."
"I'm hurt that you are underestimating me.."
"Reinhart Van Astrea"
"Elsa Granhiert~"
"...The fuck? She was telling the truth?"
As if Pico's question was a sign to start Elsa began rapidly attacking Reinhart from all sides being easily blocked by the Knight Like individual with relative ease.
"He's barely even reacting to her attacks... God damn."
Emilia looked to Pico and smiled.
"He is the Sword Saint after all. You should probably back away further so he can finish things up here."
Pico noticed the urgency in her voice and stood to his feet, walking closer to the wall with the others.
Reinhart noticed this and suddenly changed his stance, the sword he was holding seeming to visibly suck in the atmosphere itself, no not the sword Reinhart himself seemed to be the source and the sword was the catalyst.
"Oh?"
Elsa noticed this as she was charging for him but it was way to late. As soon as she was in range, Reinhart swung the sword swiftly creating an explosion almost instantly engulfing everything in light.
When the light cleared the building known around the slums as the loot house was basically a thing of the past causing Rom to let out a defeated groan. Pico on the other hand took note of the destructive power of the attack and thought to himself "Holy shit. that was like a C4 explosion.. I gotta remember not to piss off Reinhart".
"Oh come on! Who do you think has to rebuild this shit!?"
"Not like there was much left before he blew it up."
Felt laughed with a light hearted joke before going to join the old man, Emilia also emerging but with a frown adorning her face instead but before she could talk Pico spoke up.
"Alright, alright we are all alive but first things first, you should return what you stole from Emilia here."
"Wait I still don't even know who 'YOU' are and you're still telling me what to do!?"
"Well just like Emilia I did save your life from that bowel hunter bitch so you kinda owe me."
"I didn't ask you to do-"
"Felt just give the girl the insignia for the dragon's sake."
"Tch.. Fine alright already.."
Before anything could be done further the rubble nearby began to shake and broke apart revealing a still injured Elsa who had a glare on her face, aiming to end the life of Emilia, Pico jumped in front of her and parried the incoming blade with his Uzi, knocking them both back and giving Reinhart time to intercept.
"Damn he got in my way again..."
Elsa glared even more heatedly at Pico before leaping back onto the shattered roof.
"I'll retreat for now but eventually I will get a look at all of your bowels! Especially you Pico.."
"Goddamn get off my dick!"
Elsa quickly jumped off the roof and disappeared into the night finally giving all of the inhabitants of the rubble time to rest.
"Weird bitch aside... and potential future stalker... Felt give it back already."
"Fine fine! leave me alone.."
As soon as Felt went over to hand the insignia back to Emilia but was promptly grabbed by Reinhart.
"You, what is your name!?"
"Ow! it's Felt! Let go of me!"
"Family name and age."
"I don't have anything like that and I'm 15 I think, I don't know my birthday!"
Pico chimed in at this as well as Rom.
"Hey my guy Rein, don't you think she's a little toooo Jailbaity for you?"
"Back off Van Astrea..."
Reinhart figured that he didn't have the luxury of explaining this all at once, using a spell to put Rom to sleep before doing the same to Felt.
"I'm sorry but I cannot let the situation in front of me stand unattended to."
"That's not very knightly don't you think? I know theft is wrong but I have my insignia back."
"Lady Emilia, this is much more serious then a simple theft charge, I'll be taking Ms. Felt with me."
"Ms. Felt? She's a miss Felt now Rein?"
Reinhart gave a tense expression not knowing how to reply to the proposed question before lifting Felt, bridal style and walking towards the exit.
"I'm sorry my friend but I cannot answer that without more information but... I do like the Nickname... Rein. I never was called with such familiarity and would like it if you could continue to do so Pico."
"I mean sure why not dude I'll keep calling you Rein."
"Thank you, I shall take my leave."
With a short lived smile turned frown Reinhart walked off into the night with Felt before looking up into the sky above. "It seems this will be the last night we can look up calmly into the night sky..."
Back with Emilia and Pico, the two continued to talk now that the threat passed.
"So Pico I don't exactly know why you helped me but I thank you."
"To be honest I only showed up to ask about the Kingdom and potential ways to make money with my skills and happened to stumble on your argument about theft."
"Your skills?"
"Uh yeah I was a mercenary where I came from, a damn good one in fact."
"You did seem to hold your own pretty well in a fight well I thank you regardless for saving me... even though I'm a silver haired half elf..."
"Is that a issue?"
Emilia was taken back by the statement.
"I said I'm a silver haired half elf.. The likeness of 'The Witch of Envy ' "
"I'm guessing that's someone hated by alot of people?"
"Wha- Yes! She once destroyed half the entire world 400 years ago, everyone knows who she is!"
Pico made a mental note of who this witch was and played along.
"Of course I know that but you aren't her right?"
"Well no bu-"
"Then it's fine, I'll introduce myself again. Name's Pico."
Emilia gave up with a sigh and smiled at Pico.
"I'm Emilia... just Emilia. Oh I almost forgot. I owe you for saving me... twice. Ask anything you want and if it is in my power I will do my best to grant this request."
Pico thought for a bit but right now there's only a few things he wants.
"Well if you insist, I would like a place to stay for a bit and some food before I die of starvation."
"O-Oh if that's it then you can come with me back to the estate of my sponsor."
"Then it's settled."
Pico tucks away his uzis and holds out his hand to Emilia which she takes it hesitantly and shakes it.
Alright I decided no Subaru after thinking about it for a bit, I don't feel like rewriting events for each loop and just want to get into the story.
Don't got much to say but Review, Criticize, and Favorite. Welp Toodles.
