An Ambush Within The Forest
"...I see. So, Yae, you're on a warrior's journey in order to get stronger?" Accelerator said to Yae
After the previous events, the group went to look for something to eat together. Although Yae the samurai girl had lost her travel expenses on her way here, she's rather stubborn not to burden anyone on paying for her food. It was a little difficult to get her accept the offer but she gave up in the end, Accelerator had to pay for her food as a gentlemen or so the girls said.
"Yes... munch... indeed. Mine has been a warrior family for generations, they have. My elder brother is to inherit the house, and so, I have left on a journey to improve my skills. Yes, indeed."
"Whoa, sounds rough. You're pretty good to your family, huh?" Elze gazed at Yae, clearly awestruck by the girl who was noisily chowing down on beef skewers. Accelerator on the other hand, he wished that he could pay more attention on the story had it not for Yae eating while talking
"So, Yae, got a battle plan going forward? Like, is there anywhere in particular you're headed to?" Elze asked again
"...There is someone, in this country's capital, who did a great deal to help my father in the past. I was, considering going, to meet this person myself, I was." Yae answered her question between several pauses as she slurped away at her bowl of what resembled kitsune udon.
'Oh, come on girl, didn't anyone ever teach you not to speak with your mouth full?'
"Well hey, ain't that a coincidence? We're actually heading to the capital on a job request. Wanna tag along with us? There should still be room for one more in the wagon. That'd be easier for you too, right, Yae?" Hearing Elze casually said they were gonna add another person on the party made Accelerator choke on his coffee.
"Do you speak, the truth? I could not ask for, a more appealing offer, I could not... However, are you fine, with someone like myself?" Yae responded to Elze's suggestion while her cheeks were stuffed with something resembling takoyaki.
'Wait just a second. Exactly how much had this girl even eaten so far?!'
"You don't mind, do you, A-kun?" Elze asked with an innocent face while accelerator's face is somewhat irritated
"A-kun?" Yae asked in confusion.
"Oh right, this is Accelerator. I call him A-kun for short!"
"But he doesn't look like he's okay with me joining your party" Yae said nervously as she looked at Accelerator
"What're you talking about? Despite his scary looking face, he's a surprisingly good person" Elze said in confidence while giving Accelerator a pat on the back
"Who're you calling a good person?" Accelerator growled causing both the twins and even Yae to laugh at him.
"Do what you want, tag along or leave I don't care. As long as I don't have to pay for your food again" Accelerator said as he finished his coffee.
'no kidding… this girl eats like a monster, I'd be broke in no time…'
And thus, a new party had been formed. Yae seemed to be satisfied for the time being, having devoured seven slices of bread, beef skewers, yakitori, kitsune udon, takoyaki, grilled fish, a sandwich, and beef steak, Accelerator had to took care of the bill and everyone left the shop and went back to the inn.
On the way back, they all decided to meet up again the next day just before departing. Right as the twins and Accelerator were about to return to the inn, something crossed Accelerators mind. He then went and asked Yae one last thing before spliting up.
"Yae. Where are you booked into for the night?" That question of course once again, raised suspicion on the twins. Why would he even ask such a weird question in the first place. But Accelerator didn't care what the twins were thinking. He's more interested in Yae's answer.
"Oh, well, I was planning on sleeping outdoors, I was..."
'Of course she was. The girl didn't have a penny to her name, just as I thought...'
"Sleeping outdoors, seriously...? Look, come stay at the same inn as us. We'll lend you the money, so just pay us back later." Elze, hearing her answer forgot all about Accelerators weird question and instead, she became worried about Yae.
"It's dangerous to sleep outside by yourself..." Linze muttered lowly."
"Not at all, I couldn't possibly place myself further in your debt, I couldn't." Everything down to her overly-polite nature made her seem more and more like someone who had really just come from Japan. Even if they tried giving her the money for the inn, she'd just politely refuse to take it. Just as the girls were thinking of ways to convince Yae, Accelerator asked Yae another thing.
"Yae, How about selling me that hairpin?"
"My... hairpin, is it?" Yae took her hairpin in hand. It had a pattern on it with yellow and brown spots.
"That's a bekko hairpin, right? I've actually wanted one for a while. I think it'd be a good gift for someone I owe a lot to."
"Bekko? Whassat?" Elze butted in, apparently seeking an explanation from Accelerator about the unfamiliar word.
"It's an accessory made from a tortoise shell. They're pretty valuable things where I come from." Accelerator explained calmly.
"Where you come from… Accelerator, are you perhaps also from Eashen? But your name is different it doesn't really make sense if you were" Asked Yae, She was wondering how he know about the Bekko hairpin
"You can say it like that, I use to have a normal name. But it wasn't a very important name so I stick with the name people called me with" Accelerator explained calmly
"If you truly want a humble trinket like this, then I do not mind, I do not..."
"So it's a deal then? Here, I'll buy it for this much." Yae passed the Bekko pin to him. In exchange, Accelerator took one gold coin out of his wallet and forced it on to her hand.
"Th-This is far too much! I cannot accept this much for it, I simply cannot!"
"It's fine, it's fine. Look, A-kun here has been searching for one of those things for ages, you know? That's probably just how much it's worth to him. Now c'mon, let's get you to that inn."
"No, wai— Elze-dono?!" Elze seized Yae by the arm and dragged her off. As their figures gradually faded into the distance, Linze came up to talk to Accelerator.
"...Is that hairpin really valuable?"
"Who knows? If it's genuine, then it'd be pretty valuable back where I come from, but I'm no real expert in the going prices for jewelery."
"You don't know its value yet you paid one gold for it...?"
"It seems pretty well-made. Even if I don't know its price, I'm sure it'd go for a fair bit. At the very least, I don't feel like I've made a poor trade here" After he said that, Linze nodded and walked back to the inn while Accelerator remained outside. He looked at the Bekko hairpin.
"That brat wanted something like this back then didn't she? I guess buying this thing wasn't such a bad idea after all. Too bad I can't give it to her now…" Accelerator smiled as he put the pin on his pocket and walked back to the inn as well
Yae was able to book a room for the night, get herself a good night's sleep, and join the motley wagon crew the very next day.
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Accelerator's group departed from Amanesque and headed even further north. The country they were in was the Kingdom of Belfast, located on the western part of the continent. It was also the second largest among the countries occupying that area. Because of that, it didn't take long after leaving a town for all buildings to completely vanish out of sight. Soon enough there was nothing but mountains and forests on the horizon.
'Perhaps the population just wasn't big enough to fill out the overabundance of land.' Accelerator thought.
The group ran into one person or wagon only once per couple of hours, and sometimes they didn't even encounter anyone over the course of an entire day. That would change as they got closer to the capital, supposedly.
Accelerator warmed his seat in the wagon as usual, sometimes taking a look at Yae, who was up in the driver's seat. She was good with horses too, she had said, so the three girls had decided to take turns holding the reins while Accelerator just sat there doing complex calculations on his head. Feeling too bored of having nothing to do, Accelerator decides to go out for a bit.
"Um... standing on a riding a cart can be dangerous" Linze said to Accelerator but he wasn't paying attention
"I'm gonna go have a walk" Accelerator said casually as he jumped out of the cart
"Huh? Hey what is it you are doing Accelerator-Dono?" Yae was surprised since Accelerator suddenly jumped out of the cart, but what surprised her more is the fact that he's catching up to the cart on foot.
"I'm gonna go ahead of you for a bit, and check on to make sure we're on the right track while I'm at it" Just then, Accelerator dashed even faster by altering the vectors on his legs.
"Whoa, How amazing he is" Yae was clearly surprised at how fast Accelerator could go while the twins were already used to seeing him do things like that on a daily basis.
"He really is something" says Linze while chuckling.
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The clear blue skies are decorated with clouds and birds that are flying high above. The sound of birds chirping and animals walking around in the bushes breaks the peaceful silence in the forest every once in a while. Upon one of the tree branches, sat Accelerator with a fruit in hand.
"Hmm… maybe staying in the woods really isn't so bad, the fruits are pretty delicious, they aren't as different as ones from my own world. The tastes are rather similar as well. Plus, it's also more peaceful here rather than being with those girls…" Accelerator paused, he thought about his days that he'd spent here on this world and with his rather troublesome party members.
"Gosh… seriously what am I doing hanging out with people? I can do things on my own. Those girls are nothing but trouble most of the times and they're also very noisy and complicated. Not to mention I have to split rewards from quests as well. But if I don't form a party I can't take on difficult quests unless I'm at a higher rank, and ranking up solo isn't really as fast as doing it in party" he took a bite from the fruit he's eating and gazed upon the blue sky.
"Then again, having company isn't so bad…" He was about to take another bite when suddenly, an arrow had pierced through his fruit and shattered it. The leftover pieces are still in his arms. This obviously put Accelerator in a bad mood.
Accelerator leapt high into the air so that he can find where the arrow was shot from. On the forest to the west, not far from where he currently is, there's a high-class carriage surrounded by armor-clad Lizardmen. The lizardmens seemed to be wearing leather armor, though there was also one man in black robes among them.
Half of the soldiers were already cut down and laying on the ground. The remainder fought to protect the carriage from the Lizardmen, who were marching towards it, clearly armed with spears and curved swords.
The Lizardmen cut through the soldiers one by one. There appeared to be an injured old man and a child inside the carriage. Just before the Lizardmen could get near the carriage, A tornado formed in front of them sending the Lizardmen flying away and crashing onto trees and falling back to the ground. Accelerator landed on top of the carriage and looked down on the Lizardmen soldiers
"Yoo~ you guys sure do know how to ruin a guy's mood huh? Now which one of you shot that arrow? If you're honest, I'll let you die quickly…"
Accelerator jumped down from the carriage, he then stepped lightly on the ground creating a crater while dozens of rocks were sent flying towards the Lizardmen soldiers. Plenty of them died while the others are just severely wounded. The Lizardmen started shivering and wanted to step back. By instinct, they could tell that the man in front of him is dangerous. But then, the man in a black robe started chanting weird things and the lizardmen started hissing. They soon all ran towards Accelerator to launch an attack.
"Oh you're approaching me?" This time, Accelerator simply walked to a nearby tree and lightly kicked on it, the tree was sent flying towards the Lizardmen.
"Hmm?" Accelerator saw that more and more Lizardmen are coming, even though he had just decreased the numbers.
"You just keep coming huh? Well come on then! Don't bore me now because I'm just getting started!" Accelerator shouted as he kicked his foot on to the ground, altering the vectors on his feet and launching himself towards the hordes of Lizardmen.
Meanwhile, back at the Wagon. The girls are enjoying their no boys time. Yae had switch places with Linze on the front seat and now she's chatting with Elze in the back seat.
"Oh man! It's so nice to have the time just for us girls isn't that right Yae?" Elze stretched her arms while saying it to Yae.
"That is a bit rude towards Accelerator-Dono, is it not?" Yae feels a bit uneasy with that remark.
"Oh come on, It's not that I don't like having him around. It's just more at ease when it's just us girls y'know?"
"Still, I wonder where he's off too" Linze decided to join in on the conversation.
"You too? Why're you guys thinking about him so much?" Elze said casually.
"E-eh? I don't…" Linze was flustered, but before she could finish her sentence, a loud and noisy sound could be heard from inside the forest.
"…And I guess we know where he's at. Linze, full speed ahead!" Elze said to her sister which she responded with a nod. Linze whipped the horses and the girls sped up. They all went to the source of the sound which is most likely to be Accelerator.
Deep in the forest. Bloods from Lizardmen and guards who were protecting the carriage was scattered all around the forest. Corpses layed on the ground and on the trees. Accelerator stand among those corpses as he walked closer to the remaining Lizardmen. The man with a black robe started chanting something again as more and more Lizardmen started coming even though their numbers just kept being cut down.
'This is getting annoying, looks like that guy over there is the one summoning these bastards. I have to get him first but I can't go after him without leaving the carriage and soldiers unguarded… damn that third string, what a cheap trick'
"Come forth, Fire! Whirling Spiral: [Fire Storm]!"
A familiar voice had chanted a spell, the voice came from the wagon that had just entered the forest. Soon enough, a tornado of fire burst to life in the center of the pack of Lizardmen. The girls had arrived on the battlefield.
"Geez you really like getting into trouble don't you?" Elze had jumped out of the cart with her gauntlets equipped and ready to fight.
"Accelerator-dono… What is it that is happening here?" Yae followed along with Elze, her Katana in hand ready to fight.
"Basically a horde of Lizardmen lead by a guy in a black robe over there is attacking a high class carriage that carried an important person. Judging by the ideology of villains, they're probably taking their chance to ambush and assassinate those within the carriage while they are traveling and have only a few guards to defend themselves"
Accelerator kicked a pebble that launched faster than a speeding bullet. The pebble had vanished from the friction but the shock wave still remains. The shot then made contact with the horde of Lizardmen, piercing through dozens of them In numbers. Although that wasn't enough to hit the man in a black robe.
"Tch… Using those guys as a meat shield huh? Not a bad plan, although it won't keep you safe from me for long!" Accelerator said as he started calculating the wind vectors. He concentrated the wind vectors into a sharp razor blade. As accelerator swung his hand, the concentrated wind vectors cut through the hordes of Lizardmen.
Nearby, Elze had caught one of the Lizardman's curved sword with her gauntlets, which Yae used as an opening to slice into the monster's flank. On the otherside, There were plenty of Lizardmens who had survived from the cutting air that Accelerator launched, and is now making a dash towards him. But just then, spears of ice Pierced through the remaining Lizardmen, hitting their vitals accurately, rendering them unable to move. Looks like Linze is ready to back him up. Now that the horde had been decreased, the man in a black robe can be seen more clearly
"Come forth, Dark! I seek a scalebound warrior: [Lizardman]!" The man in a black robe was chanting. When he finished, several more Lizardmen came crawling out from the shadows around his feet.
'Tch, so that's summoning magic huh?'
"Hey, you two! Do your best to guard the carriage and not die, Yae and I will go take down the summoner over there."
"You got it!" Elze said while punching one of the Lizardman coming his way.
"Ah...! Understood, yes!" Yae followed up with the orders as she quickly dashed and dealt a killing blow to the vital parts of three Lizardmen, they all went limp in seconds.
Now that he doesn't need to focus on both offense and defense, Acccelerator can focus mainly on taking down the guy in a black robe. He then leapt above the hordes of Lizardmen acting as a wall to defend the man in black. The man was shocked when he saw Accelerator coming at him from above, the man chanted another spell that launched black lightning bolts towards Accelerator. If it was the old Accelerator, he would've had a hard time dealing with that but the current Accelerator already has the knowledge of Vectors that involves magic. He simply redirected the flow of Electricity to go pass him. Accelerator landed inches in front of the man in a black robe.
"Yoo! " Accelerator staring deep into the man's eyes, his mouth curling into an evil grin as he was planning on what to do to the guy. By instinct, the man jumped back to further the distance between him and the white haired boy. But Accelerator was faster, as he blitzed right behind the man.
"Too slow…" he lightly tapped the back of his hand onto the man's back, a sound of bone cracking could be heard and he was launched further away and landed on the ground.
On the other side, Elze and Linze was focusing on protecting the carriage while Yae was looking for an opening to go through the wall of Lizardmen and aid Accelerator. Using her reflexes, she quickly spotted an opening as she made a quick water like flow towards the thin gaps between the horde. It's as if she was dancing with the blade, she twirled and side stepped as she got closer to the man in a black robe lying on the ground. The lizardmen that she passed by was simply sliced by the sword that cut through them.
"Grr...!" The man tried to flee again. But having his bones broken, he had a hard time to run away.
"Steel yourself!" Yae leaped in with impossible speeds, the build up from side stepping and twirling her body and sword built up momentum, making her every move even more deadly. And with a quick slice, she cleanly severed the man's head. The head fell to the ground and rolled a bit before it stopped in front of Accelerator which he simply just kicked out of his way.
'That's pretty impressive, Using momentum and speed to increase the attack huh? smart'
Since the summoner had been taken care of, the remaining Lizardmen simply just faded away.
"Looks like it's over...How's everyone?" Accelerator asked.
"I'm doing great," Elze replied.
"I-I'm alright as well," Linze meekly muttered.
"As am I, I am." Yae had seathed her Katana back.
Although they have made it out unscathed, the people who had been attacked suffered great losses. One of the remaining soldiers made his way over to Accelerator, leg dragging behind him.
"Th-Thank you... you saved us..."
"Tch… I didn't save any of you, you defended yourself against those hordes. I simply had my time beating up those punks, those girls over there are the ones who protected you"
Accelerator simply explaining that he did not want to be thanked for anything as he only came here because one of the arrows went astray towards his comfort zone.
"What's the casualty rate?" Elze asked the wounded soldier
"Of ten bodyguards... they got seven of us... Damn it! If only we'd noticed sooner...!" The man trembled in frustration and clenched his fist. He felt regret crawling upon his heart as he felt utterly useless, it was the feeling of despair.
The girls were also feeling the same way, if only they had shown up a little bit sooner. But there was little point in dwelling on such things any longer, is what Accelerator thought.
"S-Someone! Is someone there? Gramps... Gramps is...!"
They all turned to face the carriage when unexpectedly, the voice of a girl could be heard. Crying and shouting, a little girl with long, blonde hair clambered out of the carriage. She looked to only be about ten years old.
The girls ran over to the carriage, and next to the white clothed little girl lay a gray-haired old man in a black formal outfit. Blood flowed from his chest as he wheezed in pain.
"Linze! Can't you use your Healing magic on him?!" Elze asked her little sister.
"...I-I can't. The arrow must have snapped, and part of it is still lodged in the wound. If I heal him in this condition, the arrowhead will get stuck inside his body... E-Even that aside... my magic wouldn't b-be effective on a wound this dire...!" Linze's words were laced with apology and regret.
As soon as the little girl heard what Linze had to say, her face clouded over with despair. She gripped the elderly man's hand tightly as she wept, and it looked like she would never stop crying.
"Young miss..."
"Gramps...? Gramps!"
"I am afraid... that we must part here... But please know... the days I spent with you... were among the happiest of my— ghh! Ack...!"
"Gramps, that's enough!" the old man was coughing and sputtering blood.
"Move aside" Everyone was surprised when Accelerator rushed in and crouched down next to the old man, He then placed his hands on the old man.
Using his Vector transformation ability, Accelerator scanned the biological readings on the wounded old man. Blood flow, bioelectricity, everything within the body. Accelerator checked each and every one of the Organ's Vector value.
"This is bad, he's running out of blood really fast. His physique isn't as sturdy as his age though. He's likely to survive if he doesn't lose more blood and if we can close his wound. For now, I'll keep the blood circulating so that he won't lose more blood." Accelerator tried to explain the current situation as well as trying his best to keep the old man alive.
"Woah, you can do that?" Elze was astonished at his ability being able to be used as helping in medication.
"Yeah, but the problem is that we still have to close this wound. I'll get the arrow out in a bit"
Accelerator gently pressed his hand on the Old man's wound. The man grunted in pain but Accelerator tried to be as quick as possible, using his Vector manipulation to tactile telekinetically open the wound and retrieve the broken arrow without damaging any more of the organs. After retrieving the broken arrow, Accelerator used his ability once again to close the open wound. Now all that is needed is to heal the wound.
"Linze said her magic wouldn't be effective but I'm not sure that's true. Her mastery in light element aptitude isn't very great, that's why her healing magic might not work very effective on such a huge wound. Therefore, I want to test out something for a little bit"
'Although Linze has a small aptitude and has yet to master light element. My Vector transformation completely negates aptitudes, meaning that I can perform any sort of powerful spells as long as I know how it works and have the requirements for it. Luckily I've studied a bit about healing magic with her before so I know how to do it. I knew this would come in handy someday'.
Accelerator focused on the flow of his mana, he then began to calculate the requirements of Mana needed and started converting the Vectors of miracles. He converted his Null aptitude into Light and begin re doing what Linze did back when she thought him how to do it. With the combination of his Vector transformation and healing magic, the wound began to close little by little, but it wasn't enough.
"Linze! Put your hand on my shoulder…" Accelerator demanded.
Linze was a bit confused of why he asked for that but seeing his serious expression, Linze decided to comply and do as he asked her to do. Just as she placed her hand on Accelerators shoulder, Linze can feel her mana being drained little by little. It was a weird feeling for her but she knew why he needed it. Accelerator has no aptitude so he doesn't have much mana, that's why he needed someone who uses magic on a daily basis and has plenty of mana to begin with.
Accelerator has the ability to redirect a blood flow, Mana is rather similar although a bit more complicated. But thanks to god, he now knows how to go with that. He simply redirected the flow of mana circulating in Linze onto his own, then using that mana to amplify the effect of the Healing magic. After a while, the wound in the old man's chest gently began to regenerate. It was almost like watching a video rewind itself. It continued like that until the jagged opening had closed up completely. Accelerator then double checked the status of the old man, making sure that he's well fine.
"With this, he should be able to l-live.." As he said that, Accelerator suddenly collapsed to the ground.
"Accel-sama!"
"Hey, you alright? hang in there!" Both the twins were worried, even Yae was. But suddenly Accelerator refused their hands of help and shouted instead.
"Don't touch me!"
The constant concentration of using active calculation and vector transformation, as well as Magic had took a huge toll on his body. Accelerator felt very numb but he will recover, he just needed a little rest.
"...What is this? The pain... is receding? Whatever is happening, it... doesn't hurt? It doesn't hurt... I'm healed?"
"Gramps!" The old man sat there, completely baffled, but upright and unharmed, as the little girl threw her arms around him. She cried countless tears of relief, refusing to let go of the old man all the while. Watching the sight made everyone let out a sigh of relieve. Accelerator also looked at the little girl and the old man who are smiling together.
'What the hell am I doing...'
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The girls then helped make graves in the nearby woods for the seven soldiers who had died while Accelerator rested beneath a tree. They couldn't very well have left them lying there, but bringing them with along wasn't an option either.
Of the three survivors, the youngest soldier dug graves in complete silence. Apparently, his older brother had been among those that had passed away. When the girls had finished making the graves, he bowed deeply to them. The old man stood next to him and bowed as well. After that, they all walk towards the currently resting Accelerator and also bowed deeply to him.
"Truly, you have been the greatest of help to us. How can we ever even begin to repay you...?" The soldier asked Accelerator.
"Tch, what a pain… Like I said, I've done nothing but doing what I want. Thanking those girls should be enough. And if you really do want to thank me that much than you can just forget that I'm even here…" Accelerator grumbled, clearly not wanting to be bothered while he rested. The soldier stepped back, clearly not used to such a behavior. The old man standing beside him could only chuckle at this.
"Thanks, Accelerator! You didn't just save Gramps, you saved my life as well!" The little blonde girl fired words of gratitude at him as though she were the queen of the world. Accelerator thought that she must be the daughter of some noble family or something. He simply just closed his eyes, ignoring the little girl.
The thought of being from a noble family kept on circulating on his head. Now that the situation is a little better, he can finally think more clearly. The carriage was of far higher quality than Zanac's. Plus, there was a large number of bodyguards, a family servant-looking old man, and the haughty little girl. It all just seems to make more sense.
"Apologies for my belated introduction. My name is Leim, and I am a servant of the noble Ortlinde household. The young miss is the duke's daughter, Sushie Urnea Ortlinde."
"I am Sushie Urnea Ortlinde! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!"
'A duke's daughter? Guess I was right on the money. She did seem like nobility, after all.'
As Accelerator tried to stand up, seeing that he's feeling a little better. The twins and the samurai girl at his side all stood deadly still as though turned to stone.
And that's it for this Chapter! Hope you enjoyed it ;3 As promised, posting shorter chapters means I'll be updating even sooner so here's the new update haha! I wasn't expecting this chapter to turn this much though but I'm satisfied with how this turned out. I also can't wait to write more of sushie's character since she's most heartwarming in the series. And the fact that Accelerator has a soft spot for little girls. I hope you're as hyped as I am! Be sure to comment what you think of this chapter and I'll see you on the next chapter!