Note: I am planning to change up the format for weapon abilities for all future chapters.
Ravilese had been put through a whirlwind of events over the week.
The Crown summoned the heroes and allowed adventurers to party up with them, but for some reason, they summoned the Shield, and that was a mistake in her opinion, poor Malty...
What bothered her most was that a fifth hero was somehow summoned...emphasis on somehow.
Something was fishy about this fifth hero, "Naito" he calls himself.
No, something literally smells fishy.
That morning, Ravilese awoke to the smell of fish.
"Sir Dagger Hero! What are you doing so early in the morning?!"
"I'm preparing fish."
A few days had passed since the trial, and in that time Naito discovered that some of the monsters found deeper inside the forests of melomarc gave him weapons with useful qualities outside of combat.
For example, when he used the Eggshell Dagger, any meal he prepared grew in quality, causing its effects to last longer.
"I-I see...but why fish?!"
"It's delicious."
Ravilese took a moment to think about his response.
"Ugh!" She pouted and went back into her makeshift deer-hide tent. Store-bought, of course.
"Ah, Sir Naito!" Unlike his church cleric, Theonades had started to refer to him by his shortened name. "I see that you've prepared a fine meal! Adventurers like me don't get the chance to dine on foreign cuisine very often."
"Thank you, Theonades." The Dagger Hero went back to preparing fish. He grabbed one with an unusually sharp nose and prepared to cut it up, when suddenly…
Schloop.
His Dagger just absorbed it.
New weapon unlocked - Freshwater Daggerfish
Unaffected by gravity and increased flight speed when used in water
Stealth Strike - Throws two at once
"Fuck," Naito muttered beneath his breath as he pulled off his wide-brimmed hat and scratched his head. "Not again."
"What happened, sir Naito?"
"My dagger absorbed an entire fish."
"I see, but what do you mean by 'not again'?"
The warrior in training sighed and revealed his dagger's Bar of Soap form.
"This happened."
Ravilese narrowed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Hm, that would explain how clean you are every day."
For a moment, Ravilese imagined Naito in all of his 'glory', absolutely lathered in—
No! Bad cleric! Naughty thoughts begone!
Trying to distract herself from the mental imagery, she looked around frantically.
Her gaze came upon a surprisingly fine small table, on which sat Naito's "Cellphone," as he called it, held up at an angle by a crude scaffold made of sticks and some sticky blue substance.
A strange light emitted from it, moving back and forth over the pages of the wide-open bestiary.
"Sir Dagger Hero, what is this...cell-phone doing?"
He looked up at her. "Translating. The weapons' abilities don't work with written texts."
Beep!
Ravil eep'd as the Cellphone made a strange sound.
"Ah, done translating." He walked over and picked it up.
The cleric's mind was wandering. What a strange little device! The world of the other heroes must be advanced if such a little machine could do so much!
Imagine what the church could do with that kind of technology…
After breakfast, Naito spent a few minutes going over his menus.
His teammates had both reached level 21 over the past few days, and he'd unlocked several new daggers.
First and foremost, he had given some of the 'evil' bars to his dagger, unlocking both the Crimtane Cinquedea and Demonite Dirk, both of which had decent damage and potentially useful abilities, especially against some of the monsters this deep into the forest.
Crimtane Cinquedea
Inflicts [Lesser Bleed] on hit
Stealth Strike: Throw a pair of high-speed daggers
Demonite Dirk
Inflicts [Lesser Weakness] on hit
Deals 10% more damage to [Holy] enemies
Stealth Strike: Launches a high-speed projectile with a staggering effect
He looked over the paper list of jobs, which showed various creatures and even a few outlaws. Even without the ability to read their language, it was quite clear what the objective was; destroy.
Today's goal was to kill some creatures known as Cave Gnomes, who were notorious around these parts for assaulting local farm animals (which is why the request was posted in the first place), such as chickens and goats, or for the unlucky, small children.
'Damn, that sucks.' The Dagger Hero thought to himself. 'Then again, children my age had to learn how to dodge slimes on the way to school. During Slime Rains.'
—
A few hours later, Naito and his party were exploring the depths of a cave where these gnomes were said to be housed up.
After a while of trekking, they finally came across their first gnome. It looked exactly as one would expect a normal garden gnome to look; roughly a foot tall, red hat and all...save for one key difference.
It stood there, staring at them with black eyes filled with pure, unadulterated hate.
Ravil gasped. "Oh my god! It's so small!" She exclaimed, eyes full of sparkles.
The gnome growled, pulling out a small spear and shouting in some foreign gnome language.
"H-Hey! Relax, I-I'm not going to—"
CRACK!
Naito punted the shit out of that gnome, kicking it into the far wall where its neck snapped on impact, killing it instantly.
"W-Whyyyyyy?!"
"The bestiary says these things eat children," Naito responded in the most dead serious voice he could muster.
"B-But...wha-?!" Ravil mentally blue screened as Naito collected the gnome's little red hat and allowed his dagger to absorb it.
'That's new. I need 9 more to unlock a new weapon…`
As the group of three headed deeper they came upon a ledge overlooking a large cavern.
And by god, was it beautiful. Little gnomish lights illuminated a small spiraling 'mountain' covered in small mushroom houses. A large pool of water surrounding said gnome city reflected this light, creating ethereal patterns across the walls.
Of course, their goal was to destroy it. Shame.
"Ravil, Theonades." Naito began, "You two fall back, I will...scout the area."
"Right!"
The Dagger Hero quietly scaled down the wall, going into full stealth mode as he took out his Cell Phone and began his "scouting" of the little gnome town.
'Mom would've loved to see such a beautiful scene. Might as well take pictures before we smash it to pieces.'
Only when he was done did he actually start doing proper recon.
'Fire is most definitely out of the question. Who knows what those shrooms will do to us?'
His vision brightened as his dagger morphed into the Lore Dagger - Eye of Cthulhu, activating its passive effect.
The Dagger Hero contemplated using his Stealth Strike to highlight enemies, however, there was no telling if they'd spot him the moment he shed his stealth.
Fortunately, for him, his cellphone had a partial solution for that. It couldn't show him where, but it could most definitely show him how many.
[Enemies nearby: 7]
'What?' It took every inch of his being to not say that out loud. Only a mere seven enemies? He gave his phone a few hard pats as one does when using any piece of technology, but the number didn't change.
Quietly, he sighed, making his way back up to the ledge and out of the cavern.
"So what's the plan, sir Naito?" Theonades asked upon seeing the return of their team leader.
"There are far too few gnomes. Only counted seven in total."
The paladin slowly nodded in agreement. "...That is indeed quite worrying."
"If that is the case, then there could be a second group elsewhere. We need to be vigilant."
Inside his mind, he began to formulate a battle plan.
"Theonades. How good are you at unarmed combat?"
"I have some experience in hand-to-hand combat with smaller monsters as myself was a farmhand when I was growing up in my home village. Why do you ask?"
The gears were turning in his head at full power as he considered his teammates' abilities.
"Your hammer may not be of much use against such few numbers. However, should we encounter a secondary group, we can use your shield as a barrier."
"I see! You are a wise one, sir Naito!"
The Dagger Hero turned to Ravil. "Miss Ravilese, do you have any ranged offensive spells?"
"Of course! I know a few first level spells and even some second levels!"
Theonades decided to speak up. "Sir Naito, since we're in an adventuring party together, you should be able to see our abilities using status magic!"
'Hey wait, that would've been nice to know. That reminds me...we forgot to visit the magic shop.'
"I see."
Opening up the stats screen, the Dagger Hero navigated to the party section and began to read up on Ravil's spells.
"Ravil, I want you to stand back and cast First Light bolt at any gnome that tries to get past Theonades."
"B-But won't sir Theo get caught in the crossfire?!"
"There are only seven enemies. Even then, you're our healer."
"A-Ah…."
Naito leaned back, thinking some more as a backup plan began to form in his head.
"In the event that we encounter an unexpected horde, here's the plan…"
And so, that plan was currently underway.
The fight against the seven gnomes went without a hitch.
There was...one small problem, however.
While Naito had indeed factored in the idea of reinforcements, he had slightly underestimated just how big gnome raiding parties could be.
They came charging right in with unexpectedly great haste for a bunch of tiny creatures with such short legs.
"Pull back a little!"
And so, Naito put his backup-plan into action.
Using some spare fishing line, he pulled as hard as he could, pulling a moderately thin wooden board away to reveal a hidden pitfall.
The gnomes, as numerous as they were, couldn't stop in time and fell right in, just like in the cartoons.
Unlike the cartoons were the presence of wooden stakes at the bottom of the pit, which impaled many of the unfortunate little buggers.
But eventually, the bodies began to pile up, and soon the gnomes were able to try and climb out of the pit.
Keyword: Try.
When they tried to grasp the walls, they found themselves either stuck or slipping off.
Naito had covered the walls of his trap with altering coats of slime gel and soap from his weapon's…soap bar form.
As his party members drew back, Naito switched to the Red Balloon Airburst, which took the form of a rubbery, red dagger.
He let loose a volley of three slow-moving blades, striking a gnome in the face and setting it on fire. Three seconds was enough to start a chain reaction and light many more gnomes.
One fell into the pitfall, igniting the whole thing as the slime gel and wooden stakes caught fire, creating a brief pillar of smoke and flame.
Luckily for Naito and his party, the cave's ceiling seemed to be at enough of an angle for the smoke to simply move away from them, as smoke tends to try and go as high as it can.
Unfortunately, the gnomes were too short for the smoke to choke them out. But at the very least, with the pit of fire in the way, their assault had halted in its tracks.
"Ravil, fire off a few spells! Start picking them off!"
"R-Right!"
Bolts of light flew past Naito's head as he switched to the Throwing Brick and blindly lobbed one through the smoke as hard as he could, watching from the corner of his eye as a cluster of EXP notifications popped up.
The gnomes eventually got their act together and began to leap over the pitfall, continuing their head-on attack.
'Their numbers are very few, I can salvage this.'
"Theonades, shield up and charge. I want them back in the pit."
"Yes sir!"
The paladin did exactly that, bulldozing the gnomes in his path. The Dagger Hero followed behind him, picking off any gnomes who were thrown to the side.
The last of the gnomes was mid-jump when Theo came to a halt right in front of the pit, causing it and many others to fall right in, reigniting the flames even further.
They'd needed the gnome hats for their quest, but their survival was most important.
As their high-pitched screams and the stench of burning flesh filled the cave, Ravilese just watched in abject horror.
This...this is what adventurers do? Daily, too?!
After the party collected their rewards for the gnome hunt, earning them a nice sum of 125 silver, with a bonus of 50 more for the recovery of the mushrooms that the gnomes were using as housing.
Having gone a little deeper while testing the waters, Naito decided that maybe he should visit that magic shop. While they were lucky to get away unscathed, he found that situation a bit...unnerving.
What if there had been several dozen more?
Shaking that thought away, the Dagger Hero and his party entered the shop.
The inside was dimly lit and filled to the brim with books and scrolls.
As they walked towards the main counter, Ravil suddenly sneezed, as this place was rather dusty.
"OH! Customers! I'll be out there in just a moment!" A voice called out somewhere in the back rooms.
After a short wait, a middle-aged woman came out.
"How may I help you, dear cust—" Her eyes moved down towards Naito's dagger, now in its default state. "My, oh my! A hero! Welcome to my humble abode! How may I help you?"
Naito thought for a moment. "I have heard from my fellow party members that I could possibly check my magical alignment here."
"Oh, why of course! Come right on up and place your hand on this magical crystal ball! And don't worry about breaking it! It doesn't measure the amount— apparently, many heroes have spoken tales of appraisal crystals breaking due to a person's sheer magical power!"
"I see." Naito nodded and reached out to touch the crystal.
Darkness broiled within the crystal, coiling and twisting on itself.
"Oh! Such a powerful affinity for dark magic! I don't think I've ever seen such a powerful attunement before!" Then, she squinted her eyes. "Interesting…"
The darkness unfurled to reveal...an ever so small lick of flame, nestled gently within the black depths.
"A spark of flame, deep within the darkness. A guiding light, perhaps? Or perhaps something more sinister?"
Naito took this all in, discreetly wiping away a bit of sweat from his brow. "Ah...yes. Flames. I see. I am quite familiar with various forms of magical fire. A few of my caretakers were fairly adept at utilizing such abilities."
Back home, using magic was easy. To learn it took actual skill. Anyone back home could pick up a magic tool, staff, or tome, and fire off a powerful pre-packaged spell by injecting their mana into it.
To convert mana into a weapon directly without the use of a catalyst took countless hours of learning precise control, lest you blow a metaphysical fuse.
"Ah, I see! I'd love to hear about these magical fires! But alas, I must inform you that we're out of spell orbs— We weren't expecting a fifth hero, and we didn't get any dark element ones anyway. You'll have to learn spells the old fashioned way."
Wait, wait, wait.
"The old fashioned way?" Naito asked, confusion audible in his voice.
"Precisely. You'll have to read a tome. It'll tell you everything you need to know about casting a particular spell, but actually casting it will take lots of practice. It's a lot slower than just using a crystal orb, which is more or less instant."
Instant. Instant. INSTANT.
'WHAT?'
"I...I see. How many spell tomes do you have available?"
"I've got several for the dark element— I can give you a bulk discount for them if you'd like. Nobody really buys those— they're just collecting dust at this point."
The Dagger Hero nodded. "A fair offer. I'll take you up on it. May I get a few fire ones as well?"
"Sure, sure! That'll be…" She went silent as Naito slid three gold coins onto the counter. "Keep the change."
"My, my, aren't you generous~?"
Naito once more stood in the Adventurer's Guild, browsing through the various requests.
"Hey, Naito-san!" A somewhat familiar voice called out. The otherworlder turned his head to spot Itsuki, over at the bounty board.
"Greetings, Itsuki. I did not expect to meet you here of all places."
"Ren-san stops by here often, you know. Anyways, how's your party doing?"
"They're doing well— they hit the mid 20's a while back."
"Nice. Keep that up and these waves will be a piece of cake!"
'Piece of cake? I could go for some right now.'
"I most certainly hope so."
…
Out of the blue, Naito felt a strange curiosity rise within him. "Say, may I get a good look at your bow?"
Itsuki raised an eyebrow but shrugged and reached out with his bow in its default state, allowing Naito to inspect it.
"Hm...It's not the most extravagant design. But…"
Itsuki's bow appeared to be made out of some gold-like material but was mostly covered in an unknown, marble-colored metal casing, save for the place where an arrow rest would be, where there was a red gem, not unlike his dagger's purple gem where it absorbed materials.
"The craftsmanship is very, very well done. It could easily be considered a masterwork in the Hallowed Kingdom back home."
That got the Bow Hero's interest. "The Hallowed Kingdom?"
"The Hallowed Kingdom is one of the…kingdoms, from back home. They're an old-fashioned kingdom of sorts, just like Melomarc. They pride themselves on their ability to produce the best of mages and bow-wielding rangers."
"Huh. Damn, didn't think you were capable of speaking that much."
"You'd be surprised."
After bidding farewell to the Hero of the Bow, Naito approached a board of requests that Itsuki had presumably been hanging around.
Instead of subjugation requests, this one had been covered in bounties for various outlaws. He grabbed one at random—
WANTED
Demi-human Scum
Slick Lyro
For Crimes against Nobility, the Royal Court and the Church of the Three Heroes.
Including but not limited to:
Grand Theft, Breaking and Entering, Desecration of Holy Ground, Petty Burglary, Resisting Arrest, and Loitering.
-Which displayed the artist's rendition of a green-haired woman with...cat ears...and approached the front desk.
"I'll take this one."
"Hm?" The receptionist looked at the paper. "O-Oh! Are you sure? Many high-ranking adventurers have tried to track her down and gave up…"
"Yes, I'm quite certain."
After all, thieves and assassins have very similar skill sets….right?
Right?
