第２外伝：秘密のSELLER

Paralogue 2: The Secret SELLER

"What did you say!?" John yelled.

"You heard me, I want you to stay at the border with Philia's pegasus knights." James explained again.

"Yeah, but why?" John asked.

"Because, in case anything goes wrong, you're the best Rider to support them." The tactician pointed out. "And besides, you might just be the only guy there." Pointing this out felt scummy, it did for both of them. But John was no Ylissian patriot, so being left at the border no matter the reason while his friends went back to the capital had to sting. The prospect of being left behind with a bunch of beautiful women on the other hand, did help lessen that ache.

"Fine." John said with a slight blush on his face.

"Good, I've already informed Phillia, go speak to her to get things arranged." James noted, John gave a quick nod before heading off. As he too turned and left, James muttered under his breath. "Good luck, I can't help but feel you'll need it."

Lately he'd had a dream, not unlike the one that had been plaguing him before arriving in Ylisse. He didn't want to believe that he was psychic or anything, but he had a precedent to work off of so he decided to act on the dream in the hopes of improving the outcome. He couldn't help but wonder why all of this was happening as he left to attend to other duties.

The sound of steel meeting steel filled the air as Daiki and Lon'Qu sparred. They had forgone the use of the Shepherds' usual training swords in place of the curved blades they were more used to. As far as the two of them were concerned, all that meant was that all they had to do was make sure they didn't decapitate the other.

"So," Daiki said in between strikes, "You're not from Ferox, right? I mean, no-one else there uses a curved blade." He chose not to use the word 'katana' in case the term was absent in this world.

"That's none of your concern." Lon'Qu responded as they came together for another clash of their swords.

"I expected a response like that." Daiki admitted.

"Then why even ask?"

"In case you surprised me," he shrugged. They clashed again, "I know you're not going to ask, but I learned how to use this style of sword from my father's family." he explained as they clashed. This time however, Daiki ducked under Lon'Qu's swing and swept his legs. "And I learned that from my mother's family." he laughed as he left the training area, leaving Lon'Qu to pull himself up.

On the outskirts of the camp, James was taking a walk. He didn't want to think about his apparently prophetic dreams, both due to what was predicted by that first one and the implications they have for free will.

Instead he pondered a different mystery, Marth. James started by reviewing the facts. He appeared out of the same phenomenon as the first risen they had encountered. He had dark blue hair similar to Chrom's. He has the same name as an ancestor of Chrom's. His sword is also identical to Chrom's. His fighting style is also very similar to Chrom and Yume's. He had an extreme negative reaction to the sight of Ex-Aid. James frowned at that last one.

The obvious assumption is that it's a coincidence, or an intentional resemblance. However, based on the circumstances of his initial appearance, he likely had some connection to the origin of the Risen. This led James to consider another factor, other worlds. James had come to Ylisse from another world himself, so it wasn't impossible.

So, James formed a hypothesis: that Marth and the Risen had come from another world. That in turn produced questions about the mechanics of world traveling, what originally created the Risen? And even then he still had questions about who Marth actually was.

Supposing his 'Marth is from another world' hypothesis was true, then it greatly increased the possibilities. He could be Chrom's doppelganger, his thinner frame could be the result of malnutrition. He could be the actual Marth from another world. Of course, if his hypothesis is false, then Marth is possibly a relative of Chrom's, possibly a cousin or illegitimate sibling. As for the sword, it could be a high-quality replica, heck, as far as James was concerned, the idea that a second Falchion existed seemed totally plausible.

He was also fairly certain that Marth was disguising his voice, which along with the thinner frame made James consider that Marth may in fact be female and was hiding that fact for one reason for another. As for the panic attack at the colosseum, he didn't want to think about that, so he didn't and went and got lunch instead.

Lissa didn't have anything to do, and as such found herself meandering through the camp. As she did so, she spotted Yume sitting thoughtfully on top of a hill. Having nothing better to do, she decided to go strike up a conversation.

"Hey, Yume." Lissa greeted as she climbed up the hill. Yume didn't respond, so Lissa came up a bit closer. "Hey, Yume." She repeated before tapping her on the shoulder.

"Wha-!?" Yume jumped, clearly, undeniably, startled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Lissa apologized.

"What? I wasn't startled at all!" She denied, turning her head away.

Lissa couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Sorry," Lissa apologized. "So, what's on your mind?"

Yume wanted to say, 'nothing' but given how well she snuck up on her, it was probably really obvious. "It's, I don't think I'm as useful as I could be. I mean, as bad as John tends to get beaten up it's because he doesn't know when to stop helping. And James and Daiki are in their own league." She felt much better with that off her chest.

"I see, well, let me know if there's any way I can help." Lissa offered.

"Thanks, I'll let you know if I think of anything." Yume said with a chuckle, "Anyway, I should go now." With that, Yume went off to help around camp as she usually does.

They were still about a day out from the capital when Chrom noticed something up ahead, a man— a merchant based on his outfit, kneeling over a soldier. "What's happened here!?" He questioned as the wounded soldier went limp.

"Nothing but death ahead, travelers. I'd turn back if I were you... Whatever your business here, it will have to wait." The Merchant warned, James, who had just caught up with Chrom, noticed that the man's hands were covered in blood and was holding on to a roll of bandages. He had tried to save the soldier.

"Just tell us what happened." Chrom insisted.

"Bandits have blocked the road ahead. They're demanding a king's ransom in illicit tolls for all who wish to pass." The merchant revealed, voice filled with despair.

"They think to profiteer on refugees? Despicable." Chrom said, making no attempt to hide his outrage.

"Our caravan's livelihood is at stake. We'll do no business in this country now…" The merchant said hopelessly.

"The flow of goods must be secured, milord or the people are likely to starve," Frederick stated solemnly.

"Then we'll secure it." Chrom declared resolutely, "You and your caravan can wait here. We'll let you know when it's safe." He assured the merchant before going to prepare for battle.

Elsewhere, the bandit leaders were talking amongst themselves. "Vincent, Darling?" The first addressed his identical twin.

"Yes, Victor?" The two were tall men, their heads all but shaved bald. Their armor was adorned with large bones and spikes, and they both carried masterfully crafted throwing axes. The two brothers were virtually indistinguishable save for the style and color of what little hair they had on their head, as well as the color of their armor.

"I dare say we've a village, Vincent," Victor said, grinning like a madman.

"And what a thriving little hamlet it is, Victor!" Vincent responded with glee.

"Indeed. I think it'll make for a fine bit of pillaging, Vincent." Victor noted a twisted hunger in his eyes.

"It most certainly will, Victor." Vincent tightened his grip on his axe out of anticipation.

"Well, then. I believe it's my turn to do the honors, isn't it, Vincent?" Victor reminded, prompting his brother to frown for a moment before returning to his previous expression.

"I do believe it is, Victor! Oh, but try not to kill them all this time, hmm? It tends to cut into profits." Vincent stated as he turned to leave for their hideout.

As Vincent left, Victor and his men readied themselves. Just before they could set upon the village, Victor spotted a young woman. She looked to be fairly young, mid-20s at most. Her hair was a striking red, and her body, well, Victor wasn't especially interested but he figured that most men would describe her body as 'perfect.'

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid this village is closed." The red-head declared as she brandished a steel sword in a peculiar reverse grip.

Victor seemed unfazed by her declaration, "Well, aren't you a fetching young thing? And fetching young things fetch good coin. In fact, the gold you net from the slavers will build Vincent and I a fine home!" With that, Victor's men charged, both for the village and for the woman.

"Careful, love. Us traders are known to make some very deep cuts." She smirked before moving to counter the bandits' approach.

Gashatto! Let's Game! Metcha Game! Mutcha Game! What's your name?!

"Henshin"

"I'm a Kamen Rider!"

The three present riders transformed together as soon as they saw the bandits ahead. Not wasting a moment, Ex-Aid surveyed the environment, his 'eyes' glowing slightly. He turned to the Shepherds, "Daiki, Chrom, and Yume will go protect the village and you'd better hurry, it looks like someone's trying to hold off the bandits alone out there." He received a quick nod from the three in question. "Vaike, Sully, Kellam, and Mirial, There are several bandits to the north trying to reach the village from the northwest." He then turned to the other present Shepherds, "Sumia, Fredrick, Stahl, You'll be accompanying me to take out the leader."

Gachan! Level Up! Bakusou Dokusou Gekisou Bousou Bakusou Bike!

All present parties turned to where Lazer had already had leveled up to his bike form. "C'mon! You heard the man let's go!" he called out to the others as Yume climbed on, albeit awkwardly due to still being level 1.

"He's right, let's go." Ex-aid shrugged as in a single, graceful movement, landed on the back of Sumia's pegasus.

Yume grumbled, even with the mask on she could tell he had the smuggest grin. Her grumblings were caught short when Chrom got on, prompting Lazer to start driving.

With that, the other two groups went off as well.

As Ex-aid and Chrom's team's both went east, due there being a river they both needed to cross, they saw a barbarian guarding the bridge. "Hold it right there-'' the bandit tried to shout but was cut off when Ex-Aid slammed him in the head with the Gashacon Breaker, followed by a fatal slash to the chest from Chrom. His body fell to the ground as the Shepherds rode past without slowing for even a second.

Without saying a word the two groups parted ways for their specific missions.

"You want some!?" Vaike shouted as he brought down an enemy archer with a single well-placed blow. In response, a nearby barbarian reacted and swung at Vaike, only to be blasted by a fireball launched by Mirial. "Thanks," Vaikie called out to the mage.

Meanwhile, Sully was surrounded by several enemies and was struggling to hold them off as she used her lance to hold back their axes. After a few seconds, one of them seemed to release the pressure he had been putting on the shaft of her lance. With the reduced pressure, she was able to push him back and slice open the barbarian's chest with her lance.

She turned around to meet the other barbarian only to find that he had been stabbed through the chest and stomach. She didn't stop to think about it, she instead turned to search for any remaining enemies in the forest.

As Lazer sped north, he noticed the red-haired woman fighting off a group of bandits. "Chrom, I'm gonna drop you off with that lady there; Yume and I are going to get the village's gates shut." Chrom nodded in response, which Lazer couldn't see so Brave gave him a thumbs up that he could see.

Lazer slowed down just enough for Chrom to safely jump off the bike. Setting eyes on the red-head he ran her way, taking down a barbarian as he ran past.

"Milady, are you hurt? Do you need... Oh." Chrom after a moment he realized the woman was completely unharmed. "You're... fine. Well, I guess it was silly of me to be worried, eh?" Chrom realized as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Yes, but it's sweet all the same, handsome," she said as she casually stabbed a brigand that came up behind her.

"You seem to have things well in hand, but I hope you won't mind a little company? Just until we sort these rogues out." Chrom offered as he slashed at another careless brigand that had charged at him.

"Aw, you ARE worried! That's adorable! I welcome the assistance." The woman replied with a chuckle as she and Chrom continued to fend off the attacking Brigands.

Gachan! Level Up! Taddle! Meguru! Taddle! Meguru! Taddle Quest!

As they approached the village, Brave changed to level 2 as to be less off-putting to the locals. It seemed to work, when the siblings arrived they were shown to the village elder; well, Brave was, they just kinda set Lazer over by the stable since they figured he was some kind of magical steed who didn't really have a place at such a meeting. And he couldn't meaningfully protest because he hadn't quite gotten transforming back to normal without help down yet.

A short time later Brave came to help the villagers shut the gate. Using her enhanced strength, she helped push the gate closed. "Are you sure that everyone is in the village?" She asked the elder before the gates were totally shut.

"I believe so, but give me a moment," he stopped and thought for a moment before his eyes flashed with realization. "What about that merchant girl?" He turned back to some of the men who were helping pull the gate closed, "Has anyone seen the merchant who came here a couple of days ago?"

Realizing who he was talking about Brave looked over to where Chrom was fighting and confirmed that the red-haired woman was still there. "She's out here, helping us fight the raiders, she's fine, she has our help." Brave both informed and assured the elderly man.

"That peddler woman is fighting to protect the village, you say? That kind of warmth is more than welcome in these cold lands. Here." he reached for something Brave couldn't see and pulled out a staff. "Please use this to heal her if she's hurt." He handed it to Brave as they finally closed and sealed the gate.

"Let's go," Brave said to Lazer as they turned towards the battlefield. The bike did its best impression of a nod.

"No, you don't." Brave whipped her head around to face the source of the unexpected voice. They saw the sweater-wearing boy who was with Gangrel at the canyon. He raised his hand and a domed barrier made of what looked like giant puzzle pieces formed around them. "Ex-Aid said he was too busy to play, so I'll play with you instead." He kicked open a treasure chest created from Taddle Quest.

Kōsoku-ka!

Using a speed-up item Parado became a blur as he slammed into Brave dozens of times from dozens of angles. After a few seconds, he stopped and stuck his tongue out at Brave.

"Rrrgagh!" Brave let out a frustrated yell as she swung the Gashacon sword, launching a wave of fire at Parado. The Bugster simply raised his hand forming another barrier in front of himself that completely blocked the attack. The wave hadn't been completely negated and one of the aftershocks that remained smashed open a choco block that contained another energy item.

Bunshin!

Parado split into a half dozen identical clones all standing shoulder to shoulder. All six raised their hands to create a barrier. Together they trapped Brave in a floating cube. Brave slashed at the cube, to no effect. "You're not as fun as I'd hoped," all six Parados spoke in unison. They raised their arms again and clenched their fists.

Taddle Critical Strike!

She desperately attacked the cube as it began to shrink. Her attacks didn't do anything to the cube. She couldn't even use level 3 since there was so little space that the support robot would form outside the cube and wouldn't be able to attach to her.

Kōsoku-ka!

Kōtetsu-ka!

The Parados were blindsided by a high-speed attack from Lazer, having returned to his level 1 form of his own accord. The cube disappeared, dropping Brave to the ground; she sputtered and coughed as the pressure the shrinking cube had put on her lungs subsided. Lazer stopped and stood between Brave and the clones. "I might be more fun," Lazer said, his voice dripping with venom.

"Maybe you will," Parado mused before he and his clones rushed Lazer, still empowered by the speed-up item. Lazer followed suit, moving to meet the guy who tried to crush his sister.

Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty, Mighty Action X!

Gashacon Breaker!

Ex-Aid leveled up just in time to sidestep an axe from a brigand. He slammed the brigand in the chest and slammed him into a nearby tree and snapped the man's spine against it. Another bandit fell dead next to him, gutted by Frederick's axe.

Ex-Aid eyed the surrounding trees as an arrow flew from seemingly out of nowhere; moving quickly Ex-Aid blocked the arrow with his chest before it could hit Sumia's pegasus. As the arrow bounced off the Rider's chest plate, Stahl threw a throwing spear towards the origin of the arrow. After a few seconds, the archer fell from his position.

Ex-Aid's 'eyes' glowed again, he quickly confirmed that there weren't any more archers but there were close to a dozen enemies closing in. "Frederick, Stahl, I need you two handle these guys while Sumia and I go ahead to take out their leader; you should have no problem handling them." They nodded, though Stahl was a bit nervous.

Ex-Aid leaped back onto Sumia's pegasus and the two went off. He only remained for a moment however as the instant he saw the bandit leader he sprang into action.

The bandit leader swiftly dodged a swing from the Gashacon Breaker. He retaliated by swinging his axe at Ex-Aid's gut. Sparks shot out from the point of impact; while it wasn't enough to meaningfully hurt him, Ex-Aid stumbled back in pain regardless. "Give up now! I was born a Victor, and victory will be mine!" The bandit leader proclaimed. Ex-Aid suspected that there might've been a pun there based on how he enunciated that.

Before either of them took another action, a throwing spear shot down out of the sky and only narrowly missed getting Victor in the head; it did, however, split open his cheek. After a moment of shock, he looked up at Sumia and grinned. Ex-Aid didn't know exactly why he was grinning but he didn't like it. More accurately he didn't like someone like that grinning that way at a close friend of his like Sumia.

Gekitotsu Critical Strike!

Making use of the momentary distraction, he charged forward and hit Victor with as strong a punch as he could manage; his arm was shrouded in a projection of the Gekitotsu Smasher. Victor flew back until he hit a tree and was impaled on a branch. Ex-Aid unclenched his jaw, which he hadn't noticed being clenched in the first place. This was far from the first time he'd killed someone with his powers and he knew with the war that it would be far from the last; the thing that put him off this time was the combination of the violent nature of the death and just how angry he had been.

Victor raised his head as best he could and stared at nothing. "I... I see an open field, Vincent... Such beautiful flowers..." He said quietly, blood pouring from his mouth with every word until finally, he fell silent. Ex-Aid turned away, unable to look any longer.

As the high-speed fight dragged on, Lazer was starting to fall behind. Whenever one of the Parados needed to catch their breath they would just step away from the action and the others would keep him from going after him.

Another problem was that he could tell he was pushing his energy items to their limit, he was starting to slow down and he was taking more and more damage through the iron-body item.

Bakusou Critical Strike!

He launched himself at the Parados like a super-fast hedgehog. As he was barreling at them at possibly supersonic speeds, they dodged. They quickly formed an open cube with their barriers, which Lazer flew straight into. Once he was inside he flipped the cube and removed one of the walls, sending him flying straight back where he came from— straight towards Brave.

Lazer barreled into Brave and kept moving until the two slammed into the domed barrier. Both their rider gauges dropped to near zero and they lost their transformations. Yume looked over at her brother, knocked out.

She wanted to try and wake him up, make sure he was okay. As she looked at his battered and bruised form she suddenly became painfully aware of the magic healing staff she was still carrying and how she couldn't use it. She didn't have any potions with her, they had been running out after the last battle. They had only stocked up for a relatively short trip as opposed to the longer peace-keeping campaigns the Shepherds were usually supplied for and even then they usually stocked up frequently from towns they visited, at least from what Frederick told her.

"Hmm…" Her attention snapped to the six Parados walking towards her as they merged back into a single being. Yume gasped when she noticed that there wasn't a single sign of injury anywhere on his body. All that and Lazer hadn't dealt a single legitimate blow. Then he smiled, "That was pretty fun, I'll have to play with you again later." Then he disappeared in an orange flash and the barrier disappeared.

Yume chuckled a bit, it was just how he said, he was there to play a game with them and he left once he was content. She could've stayed and thought more about it, but she had more important matters to attend to. She hoisted the still unconscious Daiki over her shoulder and started making her way towards the captain.

It took a small while but eventually, she managed to catch Chrom's attention. Both he and the red-haired merchant sprinted towards them. "Yume! Are you alright!?"

"No," She chuckled, "But Daiki needs more attention right now," The red-head nodded before speaking up.

"I need to use that staff." The merchant said.

"Go ahead it's supposed to be a gift to you from the villagers anyway," Yume said as she handed it over.

As a light green light washed over them, Yume felt her wounds healing; unfortunately, it did nothing for her exhaustion and thus once she was sure Daiki would be fine, she passed out.

After a short while, any surviving bandits had retreated, mostly after hearing that their boss was dead. And so, with the enemy thoroughly defeated the Shepherds went back to the merchants who had alerted them to the bandits.

While the Takahashi siblings rested and James went off to continue his private project with Mirial, Chrom went to speak with the merchants.

"A thousand thanks, good sir. I'd feared our goods would spoil before reaching market. I'm certain the townsfolk will be happier for the fresh food as well." One of them thanked, crying tears of joy.

As the Merchant caravan went on their way towards the village, the red-head came up to Chrom. "It seems you've done a kindness to my fellow merchants. The name's Anna. Some folks like to call me the Secret Seller. Next time we meet, I'll be sure to cut you an extra-special deal."

Chrom put his hand on his chin, "...Secret Seller? That sounds... familiar." He pondered.

"I'd tell you more, but then it wouldn't be much of a secret, now would it?" She winked at him, "Until next time, happy shopping, and may the gods of the open road keep you!" She called as she made her leave.

Several hours later, once Yume was up and about, she went looking for someone. It took a little bit, but she found the person she was looking for. "Hey Lissa, I think I thought of a way you could help."

Game Clear!

Yes, I'm back and yes this chapter took way to long to come out. I can't even say that it was 'cause 2020's been awful because I haven't been impacted that bad. Okay, even if it has been close to a year, I haven't been doing nothing. That Spider-Man one-shot from a while ago took a month to work out and write and then I spent time considering writing a longer, one going story based on that. Plus, I'm working on another project that should come out soon and I'll try not to put it on hiatus like all my other projects.

On another note, I'd originally planned for Parado to fight Ex-Aid, as was alluded to by the dialogue. But I figured it worked well to have him fight Brave and Lazer since I've realized that I'm not really sure what to do with Yume's character. Things have drifted from my original plans enough that she sort of fell through the cracks. It was also fun writing the fight itself since Parado doesn't have a monster form so I sort of got to do whatever I wanted. So I used the one special ability he showed in the early episodes and ran with on top of using energy items. I don't think I have anything else say other than please review, I'd love to hear what you thought and how you think I could improve. so until next time, I'm Time-Space Lord Eon saying...

See You Next Game!