Naofumi
Naofumi tried to relax. To give himself a break. He knew that they had a long road ahead of them and while his increased levels helped; they weren't enough to truly make the journey easy. Nearly a week of constantly running, resting in forests or on trees or in caves was enough for him to gain a new appreciation for his bed back home.
Still, it wasn't the fatigue that stopped him from resting.
"Shield Hero," said the Draconic woman with a smile after a deep bow, offering him the largest share of the meal that the other demi-human, a wolf type, had roasted.
Naofumi glared at the food. Pushed it back to her roughly and pulled out a piece of the roasted meat from the inventory of his Shield and started to nibble on it.
Arabica smiled sadly. Her slitted eyes glowed in the dark. She said nothing and sat back down on the log. The firelight glinted on the scales that covered her arms and framed her face. She shared a look with the other man, who held a stoic look.
Naofumi ignored them. They were useful. The tips to use his weapon from Arabica wasn't something to underestimate, but there was no point in bothering with them too much.
The meal was well cooked, better than the mess the other two had. The heat had been spread unevenly throughout the fragment of the filolial that the demi-humans from Siltvelt had hunted down and butchered. It would probably taste terrible.
Naofumi ate his food with nothing more than a grimace. It tasted like every other thing he had eaten. Even if it looked much better than what they were eating.
Garbage.
He swallowed the food nonetheless. They'd already been attacked once and even tasteless food was better than going hungry into a fight he was already disadvantaged in.
"How far are we from the coast?" he asked between bites.
Arabica turned to Naseem at his question. The wolf demi-human frowned before stating, "Around a day's worth of travel at our current pace, Shield Hero. But any patrols will slow our pace drastically."
"And patrols are inevitable," said Naofumi, fury rising again at the thought of that bitch and her shitty father who'd gotten him into this mess.
When they'd first started their journey out of this shithole, it had been because the flurry of activity around the capital had made him cautious. They had helped him fight against the church agents who'd come after him and killed a shadow that the Queen of this fucked up country had sent after him.
He didn't trust them.
Naofumi was goddamn sure that they wanted to use him or fuck him over sooner or later.
The Shield Hero, however, was wise enough to realize that these two were goldmines of information and, for some stupid reason, wanted to defeat his enemies. Though their worship made it deeply uncomfortable. It was strange as all hell for two people to bow to him with so little hesitation and treat him with so much respect.
It was weird and probably meant that they wanted something from him. Still, the levels, skills and tricks he'd gained with them over the past week, the info about the inventory and item making were useful.
Temporary allies was the best description he could come up with. It was all they could ever be. This world didn't allow for anything else.
The only good part about these two was that they hated those bastards as much as he did. Though he'd preferred to have killed the old piece of trash himself.
Naofumi would have to sate himself with the bitch dead at his feet once he figured out how to attack using his Shield.
It was half an hour later that they left the dark forest and headed towards the coast.
He hoped that they wouldn't have to get into another fight.
Naofumi knew better than to make such stupid assumptions.
Malty/Jessica
Jessica had always enjoyed spending time with children, but truthfully, she'd never liked the spoiled brats that most of her father's clients and her clients had. Those children who'd never lacked for anything.
Orphans, the poor, and those who had lost something had always been more interesting to her. Their determination shone like beacons.
"Light and Shadow, hmm?" said Malty once Raphtalia had placed her hands on the Cane's gemstone, "And a very powerful affinity indeed. As expected."
"Is it okay?" asked Raphtalia after removing her hands.
"More than okay," said Jessica, patting the girl's head, "You'll be very skilled at illusion based magic for one and some other esoteric powers. We'll have to get you started soon."
Raphtalia smiled and turned to share her joy with the next kid in line. The nervous mole-demi-human stepped forward and touched the gemstone.
"Earth and Fire," she said, "Nothing spectacular for now but with some training, you can be formidable."
The poor girl with her healed physical scars but ever-present mental ones only nodded, relieved that there wasn't going to be more punishment and let the next one in line come forward.
Once they were all done, she turned to Motoyasu, who looked a little anxious, though he covered his worry well and swaggered forward, "Fire and Healing," she noted before pausing, letting him sweat a bit, "I can help you with the first. The second will require someone else. I'm not the best at putting people together."
Motoyasu smiled widely, "Great!" he said, "Can we get started?"
The Demi-humans behind him said nothing but their attention was on her the moment they heard the loud idiot.
Jessica tapped the idiot with her Cane, "Reichnott territory," she reminded and watched all their hopes wither, "We can train after we return."
"Right," he said, and burst into motion, "I'll go tell the others to get ready."
Malty sighed but it was with an amused smile. She turned to the fifteen young demi-humans who had chosen to stay with her and said, "Last chance," she said, kneeling so that she could meet their eyes, "Lord Reichnott is kind. He will ensure that you have a decent home, food and opportunities to survive."
None of them spoke for a long minute. Malty let the silence reign.
Raphtalia was the one who broke the quiet, "I don't want everyone to die again," she said, voice starting out wavering but ending resolutely.
The chorus of agreement. Some with silent nods, others with cheers and others still with grim expressions. It was beautiful to see.
These children were truly worth forging into weapons.
"Well spoken," she said gently, standing up to her full height, "The Spear Hero and I will help but in the end remember that it will be up to you. Your hard work, skill and motivation will take you forward...but if you're willing to give that to me. I promise to help you."
Raphtalia, the unofficial leader of this little Gang, nodded.
It was marvellous to see how much they could heal in a week. Children were truly naive, yet resilient, none of the adults had calmed down. They knew that it had been nobles who had enslaved them and were wise enough not to let their guard down.
Malty had seen them healed, sheltered and fed and proceeded to ignore and isolate them from the infinitely more malleable, and thus useful, children.
It was a good sign that all of the kids had agreed to her plans.
She had to wonder if the hatred for the Shield Hero and the Demi-human nations was because of the sheer ease with which they could be weaponized. Human armies of decent strength would take years simply because they didn't age with levels but a Demi-human army was effortless to empower with a Legendary Hero.
"Take a seat," she said, indicating the chairs scattered about the large communal room she had assigned the children, "Let me tell you how to train your affinity."
Jessica couldn't help her smile at the way they all jumped into action. Each one trying to stay close to their friends, the adorable little rabbit boy with a crush on her trying to get to the seat closest to her and Raphtalia making sure that everyone had a place before taking a seat herself.
Malty stayed standing and lectured. Images, illusions, forming in concurrence with her words. Both to inspire Raphtalia but to also save her a bit of time and effort.
Visual learning was more powerful with younger children and their attentive faces proved it.
She almost regretted the need to grow them up and arm them so quickly.
