Naofumi's POV:
I looked at the hooded man beside me and scoffed. If he wanted to die so be it. However as we watched a large number of the wave's monsters gather up, I remembered that he was in the weapons shop the day that Bitch framed me. He also looked similar to the outline I saw when I was first summoned to this world.
I shook my head slightly as I noticed him rush forward, much like how Raphtalia fought. However, as I saw him get close to a monster, he ducked low and switched his sword around and slashed through the monster. He then used the momentum and kept spinning while switching his grip again and swinging diagonally across another zombie cutting it in half.
I looked at him as he finished the sequence of strikes before I attempted to rush in and block a large cleaver from one of the larger zombies. However, as I got close, he just sidestepped the attack as if he could already see it coming. He then reared his sword arm back and thrusted forward and tore his blade to the left freeing the weapon.
"Come on, don't make me do all the work Hero, You're supposed to be the one saving everyone" he said with a sort of taunt in it though it wasn't malicious however despite the taunt I just rolled my eyes and blocked an incoming hoard of wasps "Yeah, you deal with those, fuck those things" He said and I looked at him
It sounded like he had a small amount of trauma dealing with wasps. However I pushed that thought to the side and continued to deal with the oncoming monsters as we evacuated the villagers. As I kept defending the hooded man I had a fleeting thought if he would be willing to train Raphtalia, I stored that thought away for another time.
Erebus' POV:
I smiled at the feeling of wielding a blade again. I've spent two long using my own two fists that I actually forgot what it was to wield a light weight sword. Not a gunblade that had a huge weight near the hilt, not an unyielding axe or a heavy greatsword, but a single handed, personally smithed sword. The feeling of having a trusted weapon by your side is something that I had forgotten.
I ducked and dove between the monster forces and a small smile appeared on my face as I tore down the monsters. This was nothing compared to fighting primals, or sin eaters, or the Ascians. These were just mindless monsters, like the tempered ones that the primals sent against me. I felt no remorse, no guilt at killing these creatures.
I continued to cut through the monsters the shield hero at my back keeping any pests off off my back.
"I'm going to grab their attention and bring them to one spot" The Hero said and I nodded as I parried a blow from a zombie before quickly countering and cutting its head off
"Roger, gather em by the tower" I suggested and he ran off gathering the surrounding monsters
I started slashing my way towards the tower, occasionally using my left hand to strike at a zombie or a wasp.
'If only I could use Fira… or thundera…' I thought to myself as I saw a family huddled together from the skeletons 'I have to try…'
"Fira!" I shouted in the Eorzian Dialect and I felt a rush of Aether surge down my arm as I pointed it at the monsters around the family
In that moment two red orbs shot out of my arm and impacted a larger zombie that was attacking. In the next second a large explosion covered the area incineration the monster and causing the other creatures to be blown apart or back by the concussive force. I quickly ran over to see the family fine with just a small amount of ash on their faces and their clothes slightly singed.
"Don't ask questions get moving, get out of here" I commanded as I smirked and jumped away cutting a wasp in half before pointing at the ground with my free hand
With my remaining Aether I cast the simple black magic spell Blizzard. The ground around me suddenly frosted over trapping the zombies in place for a brief moment.
'Good, the ice's umbral effect is taking over and regenerating my Aether quicker' I sighed in relief as I started pushing towards the tower again as I saw the shield hero start climbing it
I lured my chunk of the monsters over to the tower as I heard the hero ringing the bell to attract more attention. I held my ground for a few moments until I saw a large mass moving towards me. I grit my teeth jumped underneath the tower throwing my free hand out.
"Fira!" I shouted once again in the Erozian Dialect throwing the spell into the center of the two legs of the tower causing it to shake
Using the explosion I quickly got away from the tower as it quickly caught fire from the top. I then saw the shield hero jump down catching onto something before slamming into a pile of rubble.
'Ouch' I thought as I ran over
"Hey, you good?" I started saying in the Eorzian Dialect due to habit
"Yeah I'm fine" he said wincing as he stood up
The tower that was burning brightly then started to fall onto the large mass of monsters.
I held my hand out to the hero and chanted.
"Cure" I said quietly and I felt my halfway replenished Aether diminish slightly "there, that should top you off" I said as he stepped out of the rubble
"Whats next, have all the villagers evacuated?" He asked as he took stock of the situation
"From what I believe, there shouldn't be many more in the village of there's anyone left" I responded easily as another large armored zombie got up to us
For a brief moment I saw an orange hue in my field of vision causing me to smirk. I counted the seconds before the shield hero jumped in front and blocked the strike.
'Two seconds, right. It's weak, but it's back, I have the echo again. Good now I can really fight' I thought to myself as I saw another orange section cutting across the both of us
I moved to the hero's right side and deflected the large cleaver as it came towards us before leaping up and cutting the head in half across the nose.
"Mr. Naofumi!" A feminine voice called out as a raccoon demihuman ran over
"Raphtalia!" The Hero said and I looked over at the girl,
She looked to be in her mid teens but she had the same name as the girl in the village, and similar features as well.
"Well shoot me in the foot and call me Nero. Is that actually Raphtalia?" I asked and the girl stopped and looked at me
"Um… who are you?" She asked confused
I waved off the question.
"Later, we need to finish off the wave" I said as I leapt forward and deflected a myriad of wasps with a dragoon attack called sonic thrust "Now I could get used to this" I said as I spun around and pointed my hand at another group of giant insects "Thundura" I shouted in my forgin tongue as a ball of lightning shot out and enveloped the monsters paralyzing them with electricity
I then ran in and neatly weaved my way through the enemies cutting them down as I passed by. It was at that moment when a large orange circle appeared on the ground, I quickly knelt down and concentrated on pushing a chunk of Aether out to create a barrier around myself. Then two seconds later several streams of light shot into the sky. They converged together before fire started raining down.
The fire was extinguished when it impacted my small personal bubble. Fire continued to rain down for around a minute before it finally stopped. When it did I let go of my bubble and stood up.
"Damn the shield hero sure is tough" I heard a gruff voice laugh as knights walked into the village
I made my way over to the shield hero who had stood up from blocking the attack and looked at the knights with disgust lingering in his eyes.
'There must be a reason' I thought to myself as I stood next to the hero calmly while Raphtalia shot forward attempting to attack a knight 'Her form could use some work but it looks like she can understand the basics'
"Hero you injured?" I asked quietly to not draw attention
"I'm fine" he said dismissively before he called out to Raphtalia "Leave them, if they want to die so be it, I'm not going to stop them" he said before he ran over to a villager that was running from a swarm of wasps
I quickly followed along with Raphtalia and for the next few hours we continued fighting. I constantly had to use my aether reserves to lightly heal the shield hero whenever he took serious damage but other than that the fighting went smoothly.
Eventually the sky turned back to normal showing the light orange and yellow of sunset. I calmly sheathed my sword and looked at the Hero.
"Nicely done, thank you for the assistance hero" I said with a straight face "You might want to meet up with your compatriots to hash out the details of the evacuation with them" I commented when when made a sour expression
"I'd rather not" he said as he walked to the outskirts of the village
I simply followed him and struck up a conversation.
"So tell me, how'd you get to know Raphtalia? And how the hell is she so tall now?" I asked and he shrugged
"I bought her as a slave with a bad illness" he said avoiding the second question which made me believe he didn't know
However the first answer made me bristle with anger until I remembered that she fought with spirit, and that she worked well with him. Those two factors left me with with impression that he wasn't truly using her as a slave.
"A slave? Why is that if I would be permitted to ask" I said respectfully and he looked at me with an irritated look
"I can't attack, I can't deal damage on my own so I bought a slave to fight for me, since everyone thinks I'm a criminal" he said bitterly and I shrugged
"I'm not going to argue against that since it did look like you couldn't fight back. Besides she looks happy enough to fight by your side so" I said honestly
If she was happy then I couldn't do anything about it. Besides, if he couldn't fight back, eventually he'd be overrun, so as long as Raphtalia was happy with the arrangement I wouldn't say anything.
"So while I dislike the idea of slaves, as long as she's happy I won't fight you on it. And a criminal? You, the shield hero?" I bit back a bitter remark about this world being similar to my own back when I was accused
"Yup" he said sharply as I looked him over
I then reached into my pocket and pulled out two pearl like objects, they were too small to be of any real value, at least in Eorzea but they had a special gimmick.
"Hey, hero, catch" I said as I tossed him the pearls
"The hell are these?" He said looking them over then looking at me suspiciously
"I call them Link pearls, I use them to keep in contact with people from any distance. Keep one for yourself and Raphtalia, so if you need any assistance you can just ring me up" I said calmly as I tapped the side of my head
He looked at me in shock before he rolled his eyes and put it in his ear.
"Yeah sure whatever" he said dismissively again as Raphtalia ran up
"Mr. Naofumi we should catch up to the others so we don't miss out on the banquet" she said excitedly and he nodded dejectedly as Raphtalia turned to me "You too, I have some questions" she said pointedly and I smirked
It was then that I started following Raphtalia and Naofumi to the capital where the royal banquet was being held.
'At least I can get a feel on if the other heroes are as bad as Naofumi says they are' I thought to myself as I felt my aether return