The lighthearted slice-of-life prequel to this fanfic, Child's Play, can be read on AO3! I may post it here on sometime in the future.
A few days had passed since they had taken on the bounty request for Slick Lyro.
Naito sat at a table in the inn room which he had booked for the night.
In front of him was a map of Melomarc, marked in ink with all the places that his bounty target had hit. Some (slightly expensive) vibrant red yarn was tied to the tacks that pinned several pieces of parchment containing transcripts of various interviews.
He stared at it for what felt like hours as if he could make the map just break and share some cosmic secret that would solve this issue with ease.
Ding!
His phone suddenly went off, notifying him that his translation software was done translating yet another spellbook page.
Picking up his device, he looked at the translated document on its screen.
Beneath his bandana, the Dagger Hero smirked.
Looks like there would be no need for some super complex algorithmic solution.
A sting operation would do just nicely.
He looked at the board he had meticulously set up, then sighed in annoyance. He'd spent a whole gold coin on a spool of that thread and didn't even need it in the end.
"I am quite humbled to be personally asked by one of the Heros for my help, however, what can you offer me in return, dagger wielder?"
Naito now sat at a fancy table, talking to this...nobleman.
"Have you heard of the wanted criminal known as Slick Lyro?"
The nobleman scowled. "That filthy demi-human thief? It's about time someone got around to taking her down. What can I do to help?
He'd heard it many times. Just...this blatant racism against these "demi-humans," who were apparently just humans with animal parts.
Still didn't stop him from flinching quietly.
Naito recollected himself, pulling out an elaborate piece of jewelry.
"This piece right here has been forged with silver from my world. That alone is worth lots, is it not?"
It was a small sculpture of intertwining silver rods, with a decently-sized sapphire in the center.
The nobleman's eyes widened in surprise. "You'd give me this, sir hero?!"
"Indeed. What I need you to do is to spread some rumors. Brag about receiving this, if you'd like. Just don't mention me specifically, for I don't have the materials for commissions."
"I see, but how will this…?"
"This piece has been enchanted with a tracking spell attuned to me. We're going to use it as bait to track down Slick Lyro. Once she's apprehended, I will do my best to make sure that it gets back to you. Trust me, I will know when it is gone."
"Ohohoh! We have a deal, sir Dagger Hero! Bring that filthy subhuman to justice!"
As soon as Naito left that nobleman's property, he finally exhaled.
Gods above. How much perfume does a man even need?
He shrugged, continuing on once the noxious fumes of artificial scent left him. Without that smell to haze his mind, he began to think.
'Damn. What did the Demi-humans ever do to Melomarc?'
There were demi-humans back home, too. His own aunt, Callie, was from a race known as Demonfolk.
'Callie had traits that would stand out... is it the cosmetic aspect that people look for? Winry's indistinguishable from "Human", would she be the subject of racism? Because she was born different?'
Naito shivered and rubbed one of his arms, looking around the brickwork buildings.
'Her parents would turn cities to ashes for that girl. Maybe Uncle would too.'
He shook those thoughts out of his head.
Not only that, but one of the neighboring kingdoms, the Corruption Kingdom...they had a bit of...a thing...for demi-humans.
'If Princess Decaydia were here, she'd go ballistic— in more ways than one.'
[A few days later]
It was evening as Naito was in the field just outside the capital city, as he had decided to hunt some monsters a bit later than usual.
They couldn't go too far from Castle City, as the curse he had applied to the idol was only a low-level one and thus had a limited range.
He'd asked Ren where he would find the cool-colored variants of the Balloon Monsters, and he told him that some only came out when it grew dark.
Spotting a group of green-colored Balloons in the distance, he decided to try out some of his newly learned spells.
"First Firebolt." He spoke with a toned-down voice, so as to not alert the monsters too soon. A fireball formed in his hand before shifting into what vaguely resembled an arrowhead, before shooting out toward the group of Balloons.
It pierced one of them, popping it instantly. The others took notice, looking around for the assailant.
Before they got the chance, The Dagger Hero tried out another one of the spells he had learned.
"First Darkslash." A thin crescent-shaped blade of dark magic launched through the air, popping the balloons in its path.
Satisfied with his handiwork, he approached their remains and began scooping them up into his dagger.
New weapon unlocked - Green Balloon Airburst
On Hit: Inflict [Lesser Poison] for 6 seconds.
New weapon unlocked - Indigo Balloon Airburst
On hit: Deal [Confusion] for 5 seconds.
New weapon unlocked - Violet Balloon Airburst
On Hit: Inflict [Lesser Venom] for 6 seconds.
['Rainbow Balloon' Requirements met!]
New weapon unlocked - Rainbow Balloon Airburst
On Hit: Randomly inflicts debuffs or effects of three different colored Balloon Airbursts.
['Chomp Chomp' requirements met!]
New weapon unlocked - Chomping Dagger
Attaches to enemies to deal damage over time.
Stealth Strike: Launch a pair of Balloon monsters as well as the dagger.
These magic spells…
He wasn't gonna lie, it felt pretty good to be able to use magic like this. Still needed to figure out how to improve his maximum mana, however. A mere 60 didn't give him much to work with, as just casting those two spells took a lot of mana.
Suddenly, Naito felt a tingling in the back of his mind. He looked over his shoulder, sensing movement.
The Dagger Hero smirked, pulling the Counter Scarf out of his inventory and wrapping it around his neck.
'Hook, line, and sinker.'
As he ran through the gates into the city, he passed by the aforementioned Sword Hero.
He wasn't too surprised that Ren would be out this late— the others had called him a power-gamer of some sort.
"Ren." He called out, startling the teen who was in the middle of his cool loner walk. "Can you pass a message onto my party if you meet them?"
The Sword Hero winced, though whether it was because of Naito's generally intimidating aura or it was because of the prospect of social interaction, remains unknown. "W-...Sure."
"Tell them that if I'm not back by morning, that I'm chasing after a bounty target. They're in the Winking Skeever Inn."
"Uuh, gotcha."
Ren watched as Naito power-walked away, before looking down at his sword.
He was going to be honest; he was kind of envious of Naito's serious loner energy.
Using the climbing gear that he had brought with him to this world, Naito quietly scaled the side of a building. Once he reached the top, he quickly made his way to the location of the cursed jewelry, following it as it zigzagged through the streets of Melomarc's capital city.
He paused, looking down as he saw a bunch of guards running through the alleyways in pursuit of their cat burglar.
He watched her flee from them, a gleeful, toothy grin on her face and an oddly prevalent skip in her step, almost as if this were some kind of game.
They rounded the corner, the outlaw finding herself in a dead-end.
"We've got you now, you goddamn animal! Nowhere to run!"
She turned around in an overly cutesy fashion, giggling.
"Quite the contrary! Zweit Flash!"
Naito barely had any time to cover his eyes when he heard that word, just in time for a bright flash of light to strike the guards. They stumbled around, trying to regain their sight.
"Lyro the Slick makes yet another great escape from the hand of authority! Nyahahaha~!" She chortled as she did yet another twirl, now on the rooftops and slinking away into the approaching night.
The Dagger Hero jumped across the gap between buildings in the alleyway, continuing his pursuit, as one of the knights comically screamed into the uncaring world.
"CURSE YOU, DAMN DEMI-HUMAN!"
Lyro continued to saunter through the capital, having shaken her pursuers.
The buildings around her began to degrade in quality as she moved ahead, aiming for the capital's slums.
With cat-like agility, she jumped leaps and bounds across the dilapidated rooftops, until she finally came across what seemed like an abandoned building.
She looked around to make sure nobody was looking, before sliding away some rotted wood to reveal a hidden entrance.
Silently, the cat burglar slipped in, closing the trapdoor behind her.
Finally free to do whatever she wanted, she took out the stolen piece of jewelry.
A gift from one of the summoned heroes, they had said.
The silver was said to be otherworldly, and that meant it had to be worth big bucks.
Creaaak
Ignoring the sound of the wind outside, she continues to inspect the shiny art piece sitting before her.
CRASH!
The demi-human yelped as the trapdoor she had entered through was kicked off of its hinges, falling to the floor as some man in purple dropped in.
Naito looked up at his bounty target as she grabbed a crossbow off of the table next to her.
"Please knock on the door next time!" She said with a wavering smirk as she loaded a bolt into her weapon, trying to shake off her initial shock of his intrusion.
"Duly noted. Lyro the Slick, you are hereby to be apprehended for your crimes."
"Nyoh? I've heard that countless times. You don't look like any Shadow I've seen before— too much armor plating. Who sent you? You with the Church?"
Shadow? With the church? He had no clue what she was talking about.
"I'm just looking to collect your bounty."
"Nyohoho! A penny pincher, nyeh? Or are you perhaps...looking for "bounty"...?"
"Do not make this awkward for me."
"Heh. You know how it is here." Her jovial, smug expression darkened into a harsh scowl. "If I get caught here, I get sold off to some fatass noble.."
…
…
…
Naito's facade broke. "You— what?"
He knew all too well the sheer distaste for demi-humans in Melomarc, since these nobles honestly just wouldn't shut up about it.
But these people...they didn't actually partake in demi-human trafficking...did they?
Seeing that he'd been distracted for a moment, Lyro smiled.
"Zweit Flash!"
The Dagger Hero gasped and grunted as he was blinded by the light.
'I fucking fell for that?!'
He felt a great weight fall upon him as Lyro jumped onto his shoulders and launched herself through the open hole where he'd kicked out the trapdoor.
"Sorry! But I have other plans! So I'm afraid this is goodbye!"
She took off into the darkness. As soon as Naito recovered, he climbed out and took chase.
'Damn, she's fast. Almost giving me a run for my money. In a literal sense, anyway.'
Seems like she wasn't aware of the curse.
Good.
Lyro took off across the slums, zigzagging around the place as she made her way to the city walls.
Her intent was to shake off her pursuer once and for all, and if she could make it into the forests surrounding the capital, she'd be good to go.
She looked over her shoulder to see a purple blur chasing after her.
"Nyoh? Still on my heels? We'll see about that."
Her hands seemed to stick onto the walls of a tall building as she climbed onto its roof and over the capital city's walls.
She leaped off without hesitation, landing on her feet and going full sprint into the woods.
Lyro the Slick still had several tricks up her sleeve.
Naito watched as at least five different copies of his bounty target ran in different directions.
'Huh. Is that illusion magic?'
Ignoring the extra copies, the warrior-in-training looked over his collection of unlocked daggers, and sighed when he didn't see anything that could help slow her down.
There was the Yellow Balloon Airburst, but that thing would never catch up to her. Besides, it only had a 10% stun chance.
But hey, that was fine.
Terrarians were meant to pull all-nighters. He'd catch up eventually.
He continued onwards, chasing her into the woods.
As he did so, shadows seemed to move as bandits jumped out of the greenery to stop him.
He dived between them, slashing them both with his blade, only for them to dissipate.
'Yep, illusions.'
Lyro didn't know how long she'd been running from this guy.
She knew this part of the forest like the back of her hand. She'd even lured him into the path of a snare trap she'd set up to catch prey animals to eat.
He'd simply pulled out a fancy looking dagger and cut the rope as it hoisted him into the air, immediately returning to the hunt.
New weapon unlocked - Rope Dagger
Skill unlocked: Air Strike Dagger
Create a projection of a dagger that can either be launched or used as a platform.
'What the hell? I got that from rope?! That sounds way too powerful for mere rope!'
Then, he remembered something important.
'...but tools and other utility items commonly give useful skills as well…' He mentally quoted from the tutorial screen.
He facepalmed mid-stride as he jumped over some large tree roots. He'd completely forgotten to try that!
The catgirl quickly jumped across a large fissure in the earth, one that she barely made across. Clambering up over the edge, she turned around to check her pursuer's current status.
The chasm in question was fairly wide and deep enough to cause some serious injury if one didn't make it across.
Her safehouse was nearby, and this was her favorite method of ditching the peskier bounty hunters. It would take too long to pass around it to continue the chase.
That being said, her face turned into one of horror when she saw her hunter jump across the chasm as well.
"Air Strike Dagger!" He called out.
It didn't seem like he was gonna make it, until out of nowhere, a small projection of a dagger appeared in mid-air. His foot landed on the flat side of the blade, allowing himself to propel himself back up into the air.
Wait.
No no no no NO.
That was a skill, wasn't it?
"Y-You're…you're a hero?! They sent a goddamn hero after me?!"
Naito sighed. "Look, Miss Lyro. Come with me peacefully and nothing bad will happen. I promise."
"You- You really don't know anything, do you?!" The catgirl pulled up her crossbow and fired, forcing the Dagger Hero to dodge. His Counter Scarf briefly glowed as he sidestepped her attack.
"Just please stand down, ma'am. It will make it—"
"Easier? I'm not falling for that one again. The whole country's out to get me, hero! I'm a victim of the damned system! They enslave our kind!"
She was serious, wasn't she? That this kingdom practices slavery?
Not even his Uncle's own empire put such practices into place...right?
Naito wanted to press further, but Lyro had started hissing at him as she loaded and fired another bolt with rather impressive speed.
Realizing that she had started fighting much like a cornered animal, the Dagger Hero finally went on the offensive. He switched to the Yellow Dagger and moved in to slash her.
Lyro yelped as the rubber blade cut into her flesh, drawing blood. It was a shallow cut, but Naito wasn't looking to kill. Unfortunately, it seems that the stun effect didn't take hold, but the electric shock sure did.
The cat burglar stumbled around, opting to try and stab her opponent with her crossbow's ammo instead of shooting it.
However, her movements were growing sloppy, as Naito was able to grab her arm and wretch it out of her hand.
"Grrgh! Zweit—"
The Dagger Hero's eye's immediately widened as he used his Counter Scarf's power to back away, and quickly pulled his hat down to cover his eyes.
"—Flash!"
A bright light filled the air, and a shot of pain went through Naito as yet another bolt flew through the air, this time hitting home as it pierced through his armor.
Even while blinded and distracted, he could sense that the idol was moving again now. He grit his teeth and pulled the bolt out of his flesh.
He continued the chase, allowing his natural healing factor to take care of his wound.
Lyro let out a sigh of relief. She'd made it back to her home base, finally having shaken off that pursuer once and for all.
How'd he manage to keep track of her, anyway? Yeah, he was apparently a hero, but still…
She looked at the stolen jewelry, and then a stray thought came to her mind.
If the idol really were given to that noble by an actual summoned hero, then…
...Oh no.
She panicked, holding up the crossbow, ready to fire at anything that moved.
Sweat poured down the sides of her face. At first, it had been exhaustion from the chase, but now? Total fear.
Her hands trembled as she scanned the room, slowly backing.
The heel of her foot lightly brushed up against a small table that she had set up long ago, causing her to yelp, spin around, and lodge a bolt into the wall.
Hesitantly, she forced herself to relax as she reloaded her crossbow, reassuring herself that she was just paranoid.
Lowering her weapon, she sighed, turned around, and promptly found herself face-to-face with a hero.
She saw into his eyes and saw the steel gaze of someone who would stop at absolutely nothing to get the job done.
Lyro fucking screamed as she jumped back and shot at him.
Naitokirā charged forwards with his Counter Scarf, completely negating the damage of her shot as he switched to the Crimtane Cindeaque, creating a gash across her front side as the scarf's melee amplifying powers kicked in due to a successful dodge.
She hissed in pain as she stumbled backward, dropping the crossbow.
"I….am NOT going back, Hero of the Sword!" She snarled as she unsheathed hidden razor-sharp, claw-like fingernails that poked out of the holes in her gloves.
Lyro stood her ground as feral, animalistic instincts began to take over as her mind was clouded by pain and desperation. When Naito made any move, she hissed and swiped at him, forcing him to keep his distance.
Wait.
Hero of the Sword?
Naito looked down at his dagger.
'So this whole time, she thought I was the Sword Hero. I could see how she could make that mistake— daggers are just short shortswords, after all.'
He smirked beneath his bandana and switched his dagger to the Demonite Dirk.
The Dagger Hero reared back and threw it as hard as he could.
Gyro could only watch, pale-faced, as it flew through the air, and embedded itself in her abdomen. She felt her strength leave her as her legs collapsed under her own weight, weakened by the weapons hit effect.
The cat burglar looked up at him as he strode forward, holding a fresh new dagger outward in a threatening manner, the previous one turning into motes of purple energy.
"I am only going to say this once. Surrender now, and you will NOT BE harmed any further."
The catgirl looked at him spitefully, panting from the exhaustion. Her blood was beginning to pool up around her. Then, her body totally relaxed, as she finally gave up.
"F-Fine. I surrender. Do...do with me what you please..."
She was too tired and too battered to care anymore.
This was her fate now. And there was nothing she could do about it.
