I am sorry many of you didn't like how I handled the fight between Tanya and Naruto, but consider this, I have read the original web novel the manga and anime come from, and in every instance Tanya HATES using the power Being Xgave her since it forces her to pray for him and be his Messiah.
Also, as I stated, Naruto's sneaking skills and stealth attributes were high enough to force her to fly low and get too close as otherwise, she would not have been able to track him, and in that fight he was her biggest obstacle to kidnap Alice alive so, strategically speaking, she could not just swoop in and take the girl, or so I saw it...I am sorry if it felt forced a bit.
But Tanya Von Degurechaff has a HUGE ego, that you cannot deny, especially since that ego was what caused the poor guy to be reborn as a girl in a war-torn world, he/she had to piss off a God-like being that already showed powers over Time and Space and the ability to possess other humans to speak through them.
Again, I wish to apologize for the less-than-brilliant way I handled it.
By the way, here we'll see the birth of Naruto's guild with Rimuru, yet another human reborn as a monster in Elrune because chosen by the Three Guardians of that world and Tanya joining them together with Lars and Olaf...Along one or two mission of the recently-born Guild.
The Guild: few details (please help me fix/cover the holes in it):
Name: Monster Star Guild (since made mostly by Non-Human members)
Ruler (or Master of the Guild)/ Front-line fighter/ spy/ infiltrator: Naruto. since he is the founder.
Second in Command: Rimuru Tempest.
Strategist/spokesman: Tanya Von Degurechaf (Also doubling as Sniper)
Support (Long Distance): Mi Namikaze. (She insisted on the surname)
Support (Healer and Buffer)/Guild Representative in Human-ruled Lands: Princess Alipheese Fateburn, AKA "Alice"
Support (Heavy attacker and Healer)/ Guild Representative in Monster-ruled Lands: Albedo Ooal Gown.
Support (Long Distance and a heavy attacker with Magic)/ Researcher, Linguist and historian: Jibril.
Support (Buffer and Healer)/ errand girl: Shantae.
Support (short distance and a heavy hitter with Magic)/ Researcher: Mana (Dark Magician Girl expy.)
Support (De-buffer, also known as 'Saboteur')/ Guild merchant and the one taking care of Supplies: Olaf.
Support (Heavy attacker with physical attacks) / Spymaster and the one training the Guild Members: Lars.
Front-line Fighter and heavy lifter: Fist. (who's he? you'll see in this Chapter XD)
I changed Demon Queen Alice and Albedo's back-story to fit my fanfic. Like that, just because I can.
" You bastard" - demon talking / jutsu
"Let's finish this" - dialogue
" Can it get any worse? " - during flashback/thoughts
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or whatever I will use here in this fic.
A certain blond in an RPG World Chapter 5: Life is worth Grinding for! Take a Mission, complete the Quest and get the reward! Take a Mission, complete the Quest and get the reward! Take a Mission, complete the Quest and get the reward! This is a Real Man's life!
In one of Serena City's best Inns - 'Maiden's Heart' (4,5 stars out of 5 on 'JourneyAdvisor') -
The main room of the HUGE inn was, as always during the weekends, packed full and simply drowning in multiple voices exchanging tales, singing drunkenly and arguing about the questionable points of the latest round of cards, darts, drinking games and dice results from the nerd side with their D&H (Dungeons&Humans) game...Damn nerds ruining our tabletop games! It used to be only for cool kids before they arrived!
The only one not even bothered in the slightest by the utter chaos reigning in the main room of the Inn was the owner herself, Madame Rosetta, and considering she was a half-giant almost three-meters tall and with biceps twice bigger than a human man's torso, there was no surprise in that, nor there had ever been fist-fights in the Inn ever since she gained ownership through an hour-long duel of arm-wrestling with who would later become her husband…
Especially since EVERYBODY in Serena City once saw her easily snap the neck of a rampaging giant boar even bigger than her with her bare hands.
"Girls, come on! Those tips won't collect themselves!" the woman has heard the order from behind the counter making her waitresses hurry-up to collect the coins left behind from leaving customers and clean the tables for the next ones.
"Yes, Lady Rosetta!"
"Here, for the pretty boys down on the back, send them a wink from me, 'kay?" she then asked to one of them and giving to the poor small girl three huge pints filled to the brim in her special blend of ice-cold cider.
"You mean the table with the Hobgoblins?" the waitress asked back worried.
"They are good, King Leodas himself is vouching for them, the male one even saved the Princess instead of abusing her, he is good, have no fear...And even then, you really think he would walk out of here alive if he tries anything with any of you?" Rosetta answered smirking.
"Okay, Lady Rosetta!" the girl obeyed smiling and bringing the pints to the table Naruto, Mi and Rimuru had taken for themselves.
"Honey! I can't find the beef meat! Where did you put it?" the owner's husband called-out from the kitchen.
"They are in the cold room, darling! I snapped those cows in half myself this morning just the way you like, they are there!" she answered annoyed.
"My kitchen is all a mess, I can't work like this!"
Sigh! "This happens when you marry a [Chef], they are all a bunch of perfectionists when it comes to food." Rosetta sighed shaking her head.
With Naruto and the others -
"Thank you," Mi said gratefully as she took the pints from the waitress and watched her walk rapidly away to serve other tables.
"Her dress is so pretty..." she muttered amazed.
"As soon as we get some money from our Missions, we'll buy some pretty clothes, okay?" Naruto offered a smile.
"Okay!" she answered happily.
"Returning to the matter at hand." the third occupant of the table said unsurely.
"Yes, Rimuru?"
"As the King said, as a Guild, we need AT LEAST ten people for the bare minimum members: four for the 'Active Roster' plus other four 'reserves' just in case somebody gets wounded so to keep the Guild able to take Missions and two for general management and further reserves," Rimuru said looking through the short pamphlet of Guild-building rules King Leodas gave them.
"Yep!" Naruto answered nodding.
"Okay, with me, you and Mi we are at three members...We shouldn't count Albedo-san and Alice-san just in case the King manages to force them to not join us...So we'll need seven other members." the other said unsurely as he distractedly drank from his pint.
"Any idea who to ask?"
"I have met a couple of Ogres the first few days I came here, but I have left them behind to create a town for monsters, before being remembered my Mission by Varudora I planned to just live my life there in peace like a monster, if in the meantime I helped other more peaceful monsters make an honest living the better. At least once done here saving the world we'll have a place to live." Rimuru answered sighing.
"Sounds nice. So we known nobody else that may be interested to join us, you can't ask Varudora-san for help?" Naruto replied deflating a little.
"No, apparently Malvas took a very daring gamble with you. He was about to be found so he gave you his Core before Barad-se could get their hands on it: if they get even just one of the three, they would be able to use it to find the others." the young man answered.
"So what happened?" Mi asked.
"The three Titans MUST be asleep at all times otherwise their Seal will fail, two sleeping Titans are the absolute minimum otherwise the thing starts corroding fast. With Malvas dead, Varudora can stay awake only for at best one hour a day before the Seal starts collapsing, Ifiron alone is not enough. Had things been different, he would have been free to stay awake more. As it is, we are already toeing Armageddon, we are lucky your own sleeping also helps them a tiny bit, Malvas' Core can still faintly strengthen the Seal through you, even if way more weakly than normal." he answered.
"Good thing to hear...But why calling us? Why, of all people already in Elrune, they needed to go to another world to get a guy from a simple office and a Shinobi and have them reborn here as a Slime and a Goblin to help them?" Naruto asked confused.
"I have no idea," Rimuru answered sighing in defeat.
"[Suggestion: Varudora is notorious as the 'Tempest Dragon' and as the 'Patron of the Braves' while Malvas is called 'The First of the Valorous'. You faced death with a serene and calm mind, thus attracting Varudora's attention while Mister Naruto as the possessor of great strength and yet greater heart attracted Malvas'. You both have been chosen because you represent an ideal both Titans respect.]" Great Sage suggested inside Rimuru's head.
"Yeah, what the inferior version of me said," Kurama added unimpressed.
"[Remark: I am not the inferior version. :( ]"
"Quit it, you two!" both reborn heroes answered as one while groaning.
"Your skills are still arguing?" Mi asked amused.
"Uh-hu!" the former shinobi answered making her giggle.
"By the way, there is already somebody with the [Hero] Title going around...Shouldn't they be the one fixing this mess?" Kurama said unsure.
"Yes, I was told that by Great Sage too before coming here, but whoever it is, they are not the Chosen One of Ifrion...Maybe they want to use them as a backup plan? Or maybe we try to find the King and Queen of Barad-se while the Hero is a bait?" Rimuru proposed.
"If that's the truth...Poor guy, that Title and still not the Hero..." Naruto commented looking sad.
"Hey?" Mi asked.
"Yes?"
"What will happen to that human kid?" the young Hobgoblin asked as she looked at the ceiling towards the room were the soldier of Barad-se they have captured, called Tanya, was still being held, prisoner.
"Tomorrow few guards will come to take her to the Castle to be interrogated," Naruto answered.
"Oh! Will, they hurt her?"
"Probably, if she does not collaborate, that is. Unfortunately for her, she has a 'Reputation', so they won't feel obliged to be gentle." Rimuru answered sighing.
"Ooh." the girl Hobgoblin commented with a sad expression.
"Changing topic: I got a message from Olaf, tomorrow he will take us to see the small house we will use as a base for our Guild, as part of King Leodas' way of thanking us for saving Alice," Naruto said sounding excited.
"Good! At least we'll have some chance to really make this Guild thing work, but...Say..." Rimuru asked shyly.
"Yes?" Naruto replied with narrowed eyes.
"...How was Kakashi in real life? In person?"
"Oh, for the love of God!"
"Hihihi!" Mi giggled amused by her boyfriend's despair.
She didn't care if he (somehow) was a human before coming to Elrune, now he was a Hobgoblin, HER Hobgoblin, and nothing else mattered.
Later that night – Inn – Tanya's room -
The very young girl stood silent and immobile under the covers of her bed while valiantly ignoring the burning sensation of the medical herbs under the bandages covering most of her body and the stiffness of her broken arm tightly wrapped in its sling.
"What to do...What to do..." she thought intensely as her one-eyed-glare tried to drill a hole in the ceiling above her.
Her other eye was buried too deep under bandages to join the glare, another thing that didn't help her sour mood.
"On one hand I have a failed Mission that not only doesn't bring a very important hostage under Barad-Se's control but also made it clear as day that my land DID plan something against the Royal Family here...But it also has our latest prototype of Magical Core fall in enemy hands, and albeit heavily-damaged, it could still be used to study how the others work...And the information I could possibly give should they interrogate me." the girl thought while belatedly looking around the completely pitch-black room and at the door leading to the corridor outside where two heavily-armed guards were making sure nobody could enter or leave the room without them noticing.
"And on the opposite side, I have a minor deity to which I owe the death of Being X...And while I can still refuse to pay my debt by helping those two 'Chosen Ones', I risk that should I even in the very unlikely case manage to talk my superiors into removing me from the battlefield for a desk job in Barad-Se Army Barracks, my Life and/or Afterlife would be a risk because their plan caused some unclear monstrosity to literally 'Eat' everything, afterlife comprised...So there is a very high chance of me getting the short end of the stick in both cases."
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!...
A very far-away echo signaled the approaching of midnight thanks to the bells of the main cathedral of Elrune's Church (The literal Headquarter of the whole religion) that started ringing with a very sweet and low tone coming from their smallest bells chiming to alert the population of the upcoming hour.
"Only thirty minutes left for me to decide..." Tanya muttered sighing as she heard the last minutes before her deadline passing way faster than normal towards the incoming midnight.
Should she accept Ifrion's proposal and become the third 'Chosen One' or refuse and remain a soldier of Barad-Se while also forgetting every detail of her meeting with the Sleeping Titan? What would actually be the right answer for her in her current situation?
It was then that her very well-trained ears caught the faint sound of the two guards outside gasping weakly and slowly sliding down the floor before falling silent.
"Who's there?" the young kid asked harshly and gasping in pain from the simple act of sitting up on her bed.
In answer, the door of her room went quietly unlocked to let two robed figures enter undisturbed.
"Von Degurechaff?" the tallest of the two asked with a deep voice while his companion dragged inside the two very dead guards.
"You finally came to bring me home? What took you so long?" Tanya asked growling furiously.
"..."
"So? Why don't you answer?" she asked again as the short one kept rummaging everywhere in the room and in the guards' pockets.
"The Magical Core is not here." the man finally said with a more squeaky tone of voice.
"Figures, I guess the King himself has it in custody, or at least one of his lackeys does." the tall one replied.
"They'll pay us less if we don't bring that thing back." Short countered whining.
"Then we'll keep looking for it, now we have more pressing matters to deal with," Tall answered as he neared the bed.
"Yes, we have, help me-GAH!" What Tanya was about to say stopped when the tall guy's hands closed tightly around her neck immediately cutting-off her breathing.
"Sorry, kiddo. Our King prefers you dead and the Core back to Barad-Se, apparently your failure made them rethink the whole prototype thing, so they asked us to kill you and recover the thing...I bet me and my brother will finally be promoted if we do a good job." he said as a way to apologize as his hold on her throat grew even stronger soon making her eyes roll upward in her skull and her face gain a faint blue hue.
"Hey! Before you kill her...Can we...You know..." Short asked unsure.
"...For fuck sake! She is a kid!" Tall answered scandalized.
"Yeah but last time we had a girl you went first, then she was so loose I felt like I was trying to stick my dick in a hallway." the other answered whining.
"Well, you'll have to wait until I killed her then! At least she won't feel it!" the tall one growled angrily in an answer as he finally turned around to glare at his partner.
In that precise moment, summoning her last remaining strength, the young girl kicked upward with her right leg, the only one not wrapped in bandages, nailing the tall guy right between the legs making him howl loudly in agony along dropping her, giving the wounded kid the opening to roll down the bed to try and escape.
"AAAAARGH! YOU LITTLE SHIT!" the tall stranger bellowed furious, grabbing Tanya by her hair to throw her against the small nightstand of her room demolishing it in a shower of splinters and shards of glass from the broken mirror above it.
"GAH!" she cried out in pain while the mysterious man started stomping all over her body forcing her to use her sane arm to try to cover her face.
"You made too much noise! let's go!" Short hissed as he walked towards the door to hear if somebody was coming.
"A minute! I splatter this brat's brain all over the walls and then we can go!" Tall answered as he kept kicking the down girl.
"You better hurry-up inst-Thunk!" Short started countering when a blade went plunged in the door all the way through until the tip pierced his skull as well.
"Noo!" Tall yelled with wide eyes as the door went kicked open making his brother's corpse tumble away lifeless.
"I knew I felt some bad intentions!" Naruto hissed angrily as he, Mi and Rimuru walked in a great hurry.
"You walk away from her!" Mi ordered while cocking back an arrow on the short bow in her hands.
"You killed my brother for this brat?! I will fucking slaughter you all!" the tall man roared as he unsheathed a long sword with a thick curved blade.
"DIE!" surprisingly it was Tanya to answer as she grabbed a shard of the broken mirror to plunge it in the man's ankle, making him scream in pain and fall on his knee.
"You attacked a superior officer with intent of killing her, this level of insubordination cannot be overlooked!" looking completely out of it in anger, and still unable to use magic because without her medallion and still wearing [Mana Suppressing Bracelets] around her wrist, the young kid used the same long shard of mirror to cut open the man's neck in a thick spray of greenish blood making him gasp and desperately trying to close the wound with his hands.
"Five minutes at midnight..." Tanya thought as the pain from old and new wounds along the lack of oxygen from the strangling was causing her sight to lose focus and her head to spin.
"In lieu of my former employees' act of mobbing, I see myself forced to retire from my current position in the Army of Barad-Se after years of honorable service and unquestioning loyalty." turning slightly delirious from the mixture of pain, blood-loss, suffocation, fear, anger, medicines and low Mana coursing through her veins, Tanya's mind wandered through old and new memories and experiences both in Elrune and in her previous life as she swayed heavily until she finally collapsed on the floor.
"It is then, to my utmost pleasure, that I hereby accept Mister Ifrion's offer of employment as a Chosen One together with the ones chosen by Mister Malvas and Mister Varudora. Pleased to make your acquaintance, I hope we will work well together and bring much profit to our small project..." the kid thought faintly as she saw the goblin and the Slime look over her with worried eyes until darkness claimed her as soon as she fainted.
Two Weeks Later – Serena City – Monster Star Guild HQ -
"Monster Star?" Naruto asked curiously as he and Mi watched the small wooden shield acting as a banner on the side of the simple construction and proudly showing the Guild's name in its middle.
"When they asked me for a name I forgot the one we had agreed on, and I panicked. So I used the first two words in Human Language I came up with..." Mi answered pouting and poking the tips of her pointer fingers together.
"Well, it's not exactly wrong, since the founders are non-humans." Olaf the dwarf answered laughing uproariously as he joined the two.
"In hindsight...Hey, why you have your crossbow out? And the armor?" Naruto answered before noticing the chain-mail, plaque armor and horned helmet the dwarf was wearing with a small shield strapped on his right arm and his trusty crossbow securely tied on his back.
"Didn't I tell you? I am joining this guild!" the dwarf answered smirking.
"W-What?!"
"Eeeh! I sniffed around a bit and not a soul seems eager to help you and your friends with their forges or by selling you stuff. So, since you saved me, my convoy and the people in it, I felt indebted enough to decide to be the one doing the smiting, forging AND organizing our supplies." Olaf answered shrugging.
"You shouldn't have, Olaf-san," Naruto said with a sad smile.
"It's okay, I used to be an adventurer myself before my former Guild almost went eradicated by a surprise attack of [Golem Gorillas]. After burying more than half of my friends I decided to wash my hands of the whole Guild ordeal and be a simple merchant...But truth be told, as soon as I wore back my gear I felt lighter than ever before...I guess my heart is still hungry for adventures, so I hope you won't lead us astray." he answered with a thumbs up.
"Thank you, but nobody said I was the Head of the Guild," Naruto answered gratefully.
"Oh! I did! Did you want to be the best? You'll have to be the Guild's Head for that! But don't worry, I know how to organize stuff so I'll help you." Rimuru answered cheerfully as he dragged behind himself a human-shaped mountain of rags smelling of cheap booze and dried-up vomit.
"What in the Celestial Forge's name is that thing?" Olaf asked horrified as the rancid smell clinging on the rags was making his eyes water.
"It smells of rotten stuff," Mi whined pitifully as she dry-heaved.
"Please tell me that you are not carrying around a corpse!" Naruto begged covering his nose in despair.
"I am...Not dead...Bastard." the rags slurred in an answer.
"This voice...Lord Lars?!" Olaf asked with wide eyes.
"Just Lars, the bastards disgraced me and mah family kicked me out, so I'm goldless and destitute! FUUUUCK!" the former Church soldier bellowed furiously as he detached from Rimuru to give a wide punch to the air in front of him, missing Olaf' head by a wide margin due to his shorter height and thus falling face-down to the floor.
"Apparently the death of that Cardinal was not appreciated by the higher-ups in the Church, and since he was the only survivor, the full blame was deemed his. They took away everything he had AND his family cast him away to save themselves from the shame." Rimuru explained sighing.
"That's bullshit!" Naruto replied furiously.
"But the kind of bullshit I expect those idiots in charge to pull off. Come on, help me take this poor man inside, he needs a warm bath." Olaf answered sighing as he helped Lars to stand.
"They didn't take everything'. I kept my lance [Longinus] and my shield [Defender] with me...I smelled the shitstorm coming so I have hidden them...Hehehehe! I won in that regard!" Lars explained with a broken laugh as the other two dragged him inside.
"Good job," Naruto answered trying to sound cheerful while the drunkard fell asleep midway to the bathroom.
Several Hours later -
"...Ooow! My head..." Lars groaned in agony as the daylight pierced his sane eye with merciless precision making him fully wake-up from the burning sensation and see the comfy bed he was laying on.
"Good to see you awake, feeling better?" Olaf asked amused, and with a very low voice, as he entered the man's room with a small basin of water in his hands.
"Yes, luckily I was not as drunk as usual when that boy found me, where am I?" the ex soldier asked.
"In the guest room of our Guild, the 'Monster Star' Guild to be precise." the dwarf answered.
"So Olaf the Hunter has returned to be an adventurer?" Lars asked impressed.
"Those are days of long past glory, I am no longer as young as I was three-hundred years ago, I will have to start again from the basics."
"Past it may be, but glory it was nonetheless, look at me instead...How will I be remembered? Will I even be remembered? Or will just history forget about me?"
"Well...I may have a solution for that."
"What are you planning in that head of yours, dwarf?" Lars asked with narrowed eyes.
"Disgrace or not, Lars Bluelette is still recognized as one of the best soldiers the Church of Elrune ever had...And there is a small Guild that may need some help from a veteran warrior like you that knows his way in a fight and other things..."
"Are you asking me to join this place?"
"Why? You have other things to do besides going around smelling like shit and drinking wine and beer with quality even inferior to warm piss?" Olaf asked.
"...Touche." the human answered looking down in shame.
"Good. Now, while I help you cut that beard and hair so to look presentable, I'll give you a rapid run-down of what is happening here and what we'll need to do to make this work. Then we will go recover your lance and shield. Okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." Lars answered sighing.
"Where is that Hobgoblin?"
"You mean Naruto? He went with Mi to see if somebody can be so gentle as to sell them something, his dealing with that soldier from Barad-Se destroyed his clothes and the simple white shirt and pants I gave him are not exactly armor, so I'll need them to buy some materials if I want to start forging our equipment."
"So you'll forge everything we'll need?"
"It will cost less and have way better quality, my dad was a damn good smith, so I know how to make some Dwarven Smiting myself," Olaf answered proudly.
"Some good news finally," Lars commented elated.
Meanwhile – with Naruto and Mi -
"GET OUT! OUT!" the third blacksmith in a row bellowed as he bodily threw both Hobgoblins out of his forge.
"You dirty pig!" Mi roared back only to stop when Naruto's hand grabbed her shoulder.
"It's okay, Mi-chan. If he doesn't want our money then so be it." the reborn shinobi said calmly as he gently pulled the girl away.
"Yeah, scram! I am not wasting my forge for you!" the downtrodden man said snarling, as even if he looked a step close at going destitute and so really needing money, he refused to service the two.
"But he was the last one!" Mi said still angry as they walked away.
"We'll find a solution, don't worry," Naruto answered with a gentle smile that managed to calm her down a little.
"..."
"..."
"Tch! Dirty goblins! I can't understand why they even let them in! Bunch of dirty animals and-UMPF!" the man's tirade stopped when he turned around to slam on something warm and thick as an old tree.
To his surprise what he had walked-in were abs of an absurdly tall man, and as soon as he looked up with his wide eyes he saw an old man with long white hair left unruly look all the way down at him with a scowl, and while the face was riddled in wrinkles, every square inch of the rest of his body was full of muscles even men a fourth of his age could only dream to have.
And the fact that said shirtless old man was also holding one of his heaviest hammers with just a hand proved without a doubt that the muscles were the real deal.
"H-Hello!" the blacksmith squeaked in surprise.
"A forge is never wasted." the man slurred with a deep voice filled by unhealthy quantities of alcohol.
"Y-Yeah?" the other replied with a weak voice.
"Rivers bring water, the sun lights the sky, stars come out at night and blacksmiths forge metals...Is the water of a river wasted? Is the sunlight a waste?" the stranger asked swinging the hammer around only to grow a face of disgust and somehow snapping its metallic handle on his knee with minimal effort.
"N-No?"
"Are the stars a waste of space in the night sky?" the old man asked again while twisting the broken hammer's handle around the blacksmith's neck in a loose knot like a tie.
"No!" the man answered soiling himself.
"Then a forge is never wasted either. You did not forge, so YOU are a waste of space." the old man answered grabbing the blacksmith's face to lift his whole body.
"KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With Naruto and Mi -
"Who was it?" the hobgoblin girl asked as they heard the high-pitched scream of fear reach them.
"I have no idea, come on, let's see if we can at least buy the raw materials instead of the finished product," Naruto answered sighing in dismay.
"Have no fear, we personally took care of that already!" a new voice said cheerfully.
"What the?! Alice?" the reborn shinobi gasped in shock.
"Sssh! We are incognito." Albedo answered as both girls forced the hoods of their robes to cover a bit more of their face by pulling them down.
"You escaped again?" Mi asked with a low voice.
"Yep! The castle is boring, I want to live an adventure at least once!" Alice whispered back as the four moved in an empty alley to talk.
"It's dangerous out there, you know?" Naruto answered annoyed.
"We saw that when that psycho kid attacked us after the Cardinal tried to kill us too, thank you," Albedo answered with a scrunched nose.
"Then why are you trying again? You still need a Guild to take a Mission out there." Mi asked huffing.
"That is not a problem anymore," Alice answered showing a fanged smirk.
"Not a problem...Nooo! You didn't!" Naruto said in disbelief.
"Yep! Me and Albedo have officially joined your guild." the snake girl replied smugly.
"You can't! I won't play babysitter for you two!" he answered angrily.
"And the King will try to kill us!" Mi added.
"That too."
"Tch! We can defend ourselves, it was thanks to our Buffs too if you won." Albedo answered as the wings on her hips briefly flapped in annoyance.
"Yes, but-"
"You either let us join or you pay us back for all the materials and the equipment we bought with our (fathers') money for your Guild, and we have furnished a state-of-the-art Forge along ordering the best of the best furniture, materials and equipment money can buy. Among MANY other things." Alice said crossing her arms and sticking her nose up.
Sigh! "Fine! How much do we have to pay you? I prefer being penniless than having to worry about your well-being whenever we are outside Serena City's walls." Naruto asked grumbling and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Six-hundred-thousand Gold Zekros and five-hundred Silvers." Albedo answered glaring at him.
"600'000 GZ!?" Naruto asked shrieking.
"...And 500 SZ." Mi added faintly, both having been taught how much even a single Gold Zekro was actually worth by Olaf himself.
100'000 GZ alone was the value of a medium-sized castle in the country-side with annexed private woods for hunting trips, while 10 Silver Zekros a month was enough to give a decent lifestyle a family of four/five commoners for at least a year instead.
(1 GZ= 10 SZ. 1 SZ = 10 Copper Zekros. The Copper Zekros, or CZ, are the more common coin used by the populace of the continent, merchants comprised).
"..." the two Hobgoblins could only look at the two girls with bulged-out eyes and slack jaws at the absurd amount of money the two had spent.
"Oh! And by the way, we want them back in a week, or there will be interests added." Alice explained.
"..."
"..."
One hour later – path outside Serena City -
"I can honestly say that you did well in accepting their joining," Mi said sighing as the Guild was moving through their first Mission, thus making their existence official.
"Especially since to pay them back we would have needed to raid a small country of anything precious they had," Rimuru added with a defeated tone.
"At least Olaf was happy, he kicked us out of the city as soon as the stuff started arriving so he could organize everything in peace...At least the leather armors are comfy." Naruto answered sighing.
"Olaf promised way better equipment, he even said he would have made it look like your old clothes!" Mi tried saying with a reassuring tone.
"Where did you take all that money even?" Lars, now looking more dignified even if wearing a simple chain-mail armor instead of his old highly-crafted one, asked in disbelief.
"Both our fathers have 'side businesses' that usually bring a nice flow of money in, like that the tax income of their lands can be used solely to help the land grow and prosper instead of also covering our families' expenses," Alice explained.
"Side business?"
"Daddy brings King Leodas extremely-rare monster parts and they sell them while splitting the money once sold, they won't even notice we took the money." Albedo answered.
"ALIIIIIIIICEEEEEEEEE!"
"ALBEEEEEDOOOOOOOOO!"
Two screams of utter rage reached them carried by the wind and echoing in unmatched fury and disbelief.
"Unless they decided to check their bank accounts today of all times...Do you mind if we crash at your place for a while? At least until our fathers stop wondering about the Pros and Cons of closing us in an isolated tower for a couple decades as punishment." Alice said nonplussed.
Sigh! The four members of the Guild sighed as one in answer making the two heiresses smirked in victory.
"We are too much in trouble to turn back now...Whatever, what is this Mission even about?" Naruto asked looking towards the small patch of trees they were walking towards.
"Apparently a small group of [War Boars] decided they liked Serena City enough to move close to it, we'll need to kill the four adults that have been spotted and capture their two newborn ones, the latter because our client wants Rosetta's Inn to make stew with them to celebrate his daughter's wedding. We can keep the pellets and fangs of the adults, but the meat we'll have to bring back." Lars answered while reading from the scroll he had in his hands.
"Sounds pretty straightforward," Naruto commented pleased.
"I wouldn't be that sure of yourself. War Boars are also called 'The bringers of ruin' because when more than one is in an area they can literally change the ecosystem since they eat EVERYTHING and are always hungry, and also, they are easily angered and when furious they can even flatten small hills in a single charge." Kurama explained annoyed.
"So like Baa-chan was when drunk and angry? But with a huge appetite added to it." Naruto mentally asked back.
"Yep!"
"Oh, joy!" the reborn shinobi thought sarcastically.
"What is the plan?" Albedo asked.
"War Boars have thick skin so we'll need to focus our attacks on three areas: their bellies, their eyes and the inside of their mouth. Those three are the only parts we can damage with our current 'beginner' equipment, even if my lance can pierce their backs as well, without my old armor and just my shield as protection I don't feel at ease taking them head-on." Lars answered.
"As soon as we have done this we'll have Olaf-san create better equipment, but we need at least one Mission completed before they give us the permits to start forging. And also, remember, War Boars can only charge on a straight line, so lulling them into a charge attack is our best bet if we want to have a chance, we'll use few bombs I have prepared to have them trip mid-charge and fall to the side, like that they will expose their bellies for us to attack, in that case, we ALL need to focus on one Boar to kill it fast before focusing on the others, okay?" Rimuru said.
"Okay!" the others answered nodding.
"I think I found one!" Alice said with a wide smile as a boar the size of an elephant came into view to uproot a tree and eat its fruits.
"Light Arrow!" the snake girl intoned shooting a small arrow of light from her staff towards the giant boar making it run away squealing scared.
"Ehm...Alice..." Albedo said weakly.
"Come on! This will be easy! They get scared easily!"
"That's because THAT was the newborn one..." Lars answered faintly as the terrain started trembling and a wild boar with black fur and red lines starting from under his eyes and running along its whole body came out of the trees with heavy steps.
It was even more than five times the size of the 'small one' Alice had just scared away.
"Rimuru...Take out the bombs..." Naruto said slowly and with a low voice.
"Okay." the slime mimicking a young boy answered nodding slowly, and once summoned a small chest next to himself, he carefully took out a fat wooden barrel as tall as an adult human.
"So you can use [Summon: Inventory Chest]. That spell will be useful." Lars commented as the group slowly took distance from one another, all this under the intense scrutiny of the giant boar.
"Thank you." the slime answered with narrowed eyes.
"Get ready, as soon as that thing falls you'll have to attack it." Naruto said as he moved to stand in front of the barrel.
"What do you plan to do?" Albedo asked.
"I'll be the bait and make that thing run over the barrel. My [Agility] and [Evasiveness] are the highest ones in our group." the reborn shinobi explained.
"Be careful," Alice answered as the group moved away and watched Naruto take a throwing knife.
"Good...OVER HERE, YOU FAT BASTARD!" the hobgoblin yelled throwing the knife in the boar's eye making it squeal in fury.
"BUUUUUUUHYYYYYYYYY!" the thing roared as it charged forward with each step utterly destroying the terrain and causing a heavy quake-like tremor in the whole area that made the others stumble a little as they moved away further.
"Closer...Closer..." Naruto muttered as the giant monster loomed closer, so much that the heat of its furious huffing washed over him.
"BUUUUUUUH!"
"NOW! Kage Bunshin!" the reborn shinobi yelled as he created a Clone so that both could jump high and land on the boar big snout so to use it as a springboard to run up its face.
As expected the monster followed the two hobgoblins with his eyes thus missing or forgetting the strange barrel Naruto was standing in front of, but the thing immediately remembered it when its unstoppable charge brought it right on top of it to feel the barrel explode in an intense ball of fire.
KRATAKABOOOOOM!
The huge barrel of tightly-compressed black powder enriched by the rare unstable mineral known as [Exploding Ore] detonated as soon as the boar was above it, freeing in an instant the simply ridiculous explosive power hold inside in an explosion that for an instant created a miniaturized sun right under the monster, and the overwhelming blast plus fire caused the boar to fall to the side and skid along the terrain to exhaust the remaining energies of its charge, looking then dazed by the painful landing on its face.
"Attack! Now!" Lars ordered as he raised his shield and readied his lance covering himself in an ocean-blue aura.
"[Almighty Charge!]" calling-out the skill of his Class (Lancer Knight), the disgraced Captain charged forward to plunge his spear deep inside the soft, fur-less belly of the boar.
"BYUUUUUUUUUH!" the monster squealed in pain as it trashed wildly while trying to get back on its feet.
"[Light Arrow!]" Alice intoned as she trusted forward her staff to launch a long bullet of condensed light shaped like an arrow.
"Keep going, Alice! [Fire Blade!]" Albedo yelled as her weapon got covered by a weak fire aura as she attacked the downed boar with wide swipes.
"GRUUUUUUUH!" the boar growled furiously as he regained it footing just in time to have the side of its face pelted by arrows thanks to Mi.
"Smelly Boar!" while still not proficient in Human language, the hobgoblin girl's insults still seemed to anger the monster to the point that smoke could be seen exiting its mouth.
"OVER HERE!" they heard Naruto scream in a chorus of his own voice as four identical copies of him pulled on one of the boar's back legs making it stumble.
"YAAAAAAAAAH!" to even the boar's shock, the four Narutos managed to pull away the leg making the boar fall down.
"Guuuh!" the glare the hobgoblin received in answer confirmed that the Monster did take well that blow to its pride.
"Need some help?" Rimuru asked as he jumped on the boar's head and turning into a small ball of silver-blue transparent slime to cover one of the Monster's eyes.
"What are you-"
Sizzzzleeeeeee!
"GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the Boar screamed in agony as it started jumping around furiously.
"I am mimicking the acidic spit of a [Judge Scorpion] I devoured when I first came here," Rimuru answered as smoke could be seen a rise from where its slime body touched the Monster.
"Then I will help you!" Naruto answered jumping on the boar's head to attack its other eye by plunging the short sword he had deep inside it again and again.
"NOW! It's blind so we can attack its belly and mouth whenever it screams, focus your attacks there!" Lars ordered as soon as it was clear that both eyes of the beast were too damaged to ever recover.
"OKAY!" the girls answered as one.
"[Fire Aura!]" Alice chanted covering the group's weapon in flames.
"It may still be a weak spell, but that thing seems weak to fire, so it will help all the same!" the echidna girl explained as she started pelting the monster with a rapid salvo of small fireballs.
"Good Thinking!" Lars commented as he managed, with great difficulties, to parry one of the boar legs as it stomped down making it stumble enough for the ex-captain to pierce again on the belly with his lance.
"No charge attack?" Mi asked as she instead kept aiming for the beast' mouth whenever it opened its mouth to squeal in pain, doubling the creature's volume of screams by having its gums literally catch fire thanks to the [Ablaze] status ailment she managed to inflict it with.
"It's completely blind, for all their strength, War Boars are huge cowards unless they have a clear view of their target they won't charge in fear to not see where they will go!" Albedo explained as she attacked the monster's belly and the hamstrings of its forelegs.
"BUUUUUUUUUUUHYYYYYYYYYYYY!" the War Boar bellowed in fury as his fur turned completely red and started emitting light while steam started pouring violently out of its mouth and tusks like a steam engine.
"What is happening?!" Naruto asked yelping as he and Rimuru went bucked off from the blind boar.
"It must be a male! It's using its [Berserk Rage]!" Lars explained with wide eyes.
"And what is that?" Naruto asked as the War Boar seemingly forced its muscles to bulge-out
"In short? Its trump card AND last resort, since it's close at dying that thing it's betting all itself in a last suicide move, that skill it is eating away its life force while at the same time augmenting its strength tenfold!" the ex-captain answered as the Guild Members scattered around as the Monster started attacking blindly all around itself.
"That beast is trying to find us by ear!" Albedo said as she barely dodged a new round of stomping that demolished the terrain into a heavy crater.
"Any Ide-WAH!" Naruto yelped as the Boar back-kicked him only to shatter his blade on impact as he tried to defend himself.
"Naruto!" Mi yelled in both fear and rage as she started again to shot arrows, only to watch in dismay as those now bounced away from the monster's hide.
"Its defensive capabilities rose as well!" Lars growled as he grabbed the back of Mi's clothes to drag her away.
"BE CAREFUL!" both Naruto and Human-body-Rimuru yelled as they moved in front of both hobgoblin girl and ex captain to catch the boar's tusk before it could impale both.
"NNNNNNNGH!" both reborn Chosen Ones groaned as they held tightly on the long tusk while the terrain gave-in under them.
"Don't let go! It will pierce both if you do!" Kurama yelled in alarm.
"Warning: enact evasive maneuver, at current level even [Pierce Resistance], won't reduce the damage enough to warrant survival." Great Sage added.
"WE KNOW!" both answered annoyed as they started feeling their arms getting fatigued.
"LET HIM GO!" Mi screamed furious as she kept shooting arrows to the bloody holes where the boar's eyes were.
"Useless! We can't damage it like this and we can't wait for it to die from it! We need a miracle!" Lars yelled as even his lance now could not pierce the boar's skin.
"BBBBUUUUUUUUHYYYYYYYY!" as if to answer him a second [War Boar] came charging towards them.
But to their surprise, the second giant boar slammed against the side of the one Naruto and Rimuru were holding down, launching it away in a deafening chorus of breaking bones and the pitiful whine of the dying male boar slumping to the side.
"What the!?"
"Really! I can understand that a former employee in an office may have troubles, but from a former Mercenary that already saved the world once I expected a bit more." a voice said mockingly as somebody jumped down from the back of the dazed second War Boar.
"What the fuck?!" Naruto yelled in surprise.
"What are YOU doing here?!" Lars roared furious.
"After Barad-Se decided to kill me instead of saving me after I gave my whole life to serve them, I decided to switch side and help those two along. But you'll have to explain to King Leodas why I escaped confinement and stole my equipment." the tiny girl Tanya answered with a feral smirk as she shouldered her rifle on her good shoulder since the other was still on a sling.
"You? Help us!? I don't believe you." Alice spat angrily while the female Wild Boar uselessly pawed her fallen mate to try awake it from death.
"Analysis: The girl possesses the Blessing of Ifrion. She is the third Chosen One." Great Sage confirmed.
"Yep! She is on our side apparently." Kurama added.
"I don't exactly expect you to blindly trust me since I attacked you all not too long ago, but FOR NOW you'll have to trust me until we'll have dealt with this last boar," Tanya answered nonplussed as she took away the bandages around her forehead with a sigh of elation.
"Can you still use your Medallion?" Naruto asked while eyeing the Magical Core hanging around her neck and still lacking the frontal panel.
"Not at all, unfortunately, it's a miracle in itself if it can still make me float a little, but flying and most of my Spells are out of the question." She answered as the furious boar turned to glare at them.
"Why you accepted to help us?" Rimuru asked.
"Merely for my own survival, if Barad-Se gets their hands on those three Sleeping Titans, I too will cease to exist just like you others and everything else. Knowing what will happen if THEY win, I decided to join you so to not have some monstrosity erase everything." the small girl answered.
"Well, even if not out of heroism or good intentions...She is still helping." Naruto answered smirking.
"Hopefully she won't betray us."
"If I try Ifrion will personally burn my soul until it ceases to exist. 'Betrayal' has just been erased from my vocabulary." Tanya answered grumbling.
"We'll talk later, now let's kill that thing! The only good side is that the females of War Boar can't use [Berserk Rage], so we may have a chance." Lars said.
"She is also weak towards my [Flash Bombs], that is how I made it blindly charge against the male one," Tanya added showing the two canisters dangling from her hip.
"Ca we use them?" Mi asked unsure.
"We are in the same Team. We can." the girl replied rolling her eyes.
"Welcome to the Monster Star Guild then, Tanya-chan!" Naruto answered as the female War Boar charged making the group split-up.
"I used to be a middle-aged man before coming here, drop that '-chan'." Tanya hissed in an answer.
"Oh!...Sorry about that…" Naruto commented sheepishly.
"And do you miss your..."
"Yes, Rimuru. I miss it." Tanya answered growling.
"We'll talk later, okay? We'll swap stories about our old wars."
"If we really have to."
"INCOMING!" Albedo screamed as the War Boar charged them again.
Several hours later – Serena City – In front of the Monster Star Guild HQ -
"Oooh, God! What a day!" Naruto sighed happily as the group finally returned home.
"So this is the place?" Tanya asked unimpressed.
"Heroes always start little, one day we'll have our own fortress, have no fear." Rimuru, now looking like a watermelon-sized ball of translucent slime held by Mi, answered cheerfully.
"I'll hold you on that, but just to be sure, I'll be the one dealing with management and the like. No offense but of all people present, I am the most qualified one to make sure this works properly instead of mediocre at best." Tanya answered.
"It was that attitude that had you been pushed under that train, try to reign it in a little," Naruto answered cracking his back with a sigh.
"Tch!"
"Very well, I'll go collect our bounty and the permits to FINALLY start our Guild properly, please have the decency to wait for me before having dinner." Lars said as he gave his weapons to Naruto for safekeeping before walking away.
"Okay!"
"We'll go talk with my father about...Her...Joining us, at least she won't be arrested on sight by the guards." Alice said sighing in dismay.
"I can tell we'll get some screaming for our running away AND the money we took," Albedo added.
"You don't say!" the other replied in sarcasm as both girls walked away.
"Glad to see them so happy about me being here." Tanya commented huffing as she sat down groaning at the small table in the middle of the Guild's main room.
"Let me give a look at those wounds." Rimuru said with a gentle voice as his slime body jumped on the table to then crawl on her bandaged arm.
"GH!" the short girl hissed as she felt something drip on her arm making its wounds sting painfully for few minutes before fading away.
"Done! I still had some high-grade healing potion inside my belly, so I used it to heal your arm, now it's fully healed." the reborn slime said eating away the bandages until the girl's arm got free.
"...Thank you." Tanya said with a low voice as she inspected her arm to find it is 100% healthy.
"You are not alone in this mess, we all have been strong-armed into saving Elrune for a reason or another, may as well work together to make those three Titans happy, then we'll be free to live life as we want without other deities interfering. They promised it and I think we can trust them." Naruto said sitting at the same table of the other two Chosen Ones.
"And something tells me our deaths too were not an accident either since I remember your Manga ending quite differently. But I guess they were getting desperate in their need for three worthy Heroes." Rimuru added.
"Yep."
"Huhuhu! I thought your name was familiar and I was right, and while I never was one for such frivolities like mangas, even I heard about your adventures, Uzumaki Naruto-san." Tanya said with a maleficent smirk as she used Japanese honorifics for the first time since she reincarnated in Elrune.
"I go by Namikaze nowadays. Thank you." the hobgoblin answered bitterly.
"The fact remains that, yes, we need to work together in this, so let's make this work and we all will get what we want." the girl confirmed.
"A new life." Rimuru said.
"Becoming the World's Strongest Mercenary." Naruto added.
"A Peaceful new life, one away from the battlefield." Tanya finished nodding.
A somber silence fell between the three as Mi moved to sit on Naruto's lap while the three looked at each other as if to digest their new roles as heroes of Elrune.
"What about the guy with the [Hero] Title?" Rimuru finally asked.
"Let the fool play around, he is amassing his group of 'True Nakama' to save the World from Evil. It's so cliché it physically hurts to even talk about it." Tanya answered with a grimace.
"Does he at least know what Evil he is supposed to fight?" Naruto asked.
"Not even in the slightest, last report I heard from our spies before attacking you showed him just going around aimlessly to take random missions with his 'True Best Friends Forever' to help whoever they meet." she answered with a scrunched nose.
"So he is level-grinding, I see. Well, I am curious to see how things will evolve since We Three have been asked to save Elrune." Rimuru said curiously.
"Me too." Naruto admitted.
"Forgive me if I don't exactly care about this. I say to deal with that boy only should he and his group of bratty friends become an obstacle for us, otherwise, I say to let him play his little fantasy as Hero and ignore him completely, we have bigger fishes to catch." Tanya suggested.
"Cold, but fair."
"Yep!"
"So we really found two more members? Oh, joy! More people for me to equip from head to toe." Olaf said sighing as he entered the Guild followed by a very tall and muscular creature wearing just an improvised loincloth, the giant thing had thick green skin and a small reptilian head that seemed half-way between human and crocodile.
"And what is that?" Mi asked with raised eyebrows.
"That's a [Mountain Troll]...And looking at his green skin, he must be one of the exceptionally-rare Emerald Variation one at that." Tanya answered impressed.
"Yep! The poor thing was being sold as a slave and I decided to help him, apparently, between his [Mother Nature's Child] Blessing and intelligence the other trolls never wanted him." Olaf explained.
"Other Trolls insult Fist because Fist is smart. So Fist run away through the big forest and find a big city...Guards don't like Fist, but little brother helps Fist and gives Fist home." the Troll answered with a low voice.
"Smart?...SMART?! That thing has -20 in his 'Intelligence' Chart! How can he be considered smart?!" Kurama said in disbelief.
"Correction: Normal Trolls register '-60' in Intelligence, by Trolls' standards, Fist is indeed very smart." Great Sage answered.
"Show off. I too would have said that if I analyzed the thing, I just didn't think about it." the Biju turned Blessing commented huffing.
"Answer: My win. :)"
"Well, it is nice to know you joined us, Fist. Welcome to our Guild, wanna be friends?" Naruto said smirking and presenting his hand.
"F-Friend? You Friend of Fist?" the Troll asked in disbelief.
"Of Course-KYAAAH!" the reborn shinobi had barely the time to answer before the Troll caught him in a bear hug and started spinning him around.
"HAHAHAHAHA! FIST HAS FRIEND! YOUR FIST FIRST FRIEND! HAHAHAHAHA!" the Troll yelled happily.
"H-HEEEEELP!" the Hobgoblin yelled making the others jump to his rescue before the overly-enthusiastic Troll could hug him to death.
Meanwhile – Royal Castle of Serena City – Throne Room -
"I am going to regret this..." King Leodas grumbled face-palming.
"You know fully well that sooner or later this would have happened." the snake woman sitting beside the king on her own throne answered patting his hand with hers.
"And trying to stop them will just make them more eager to run away again." Ainz added from the sidelines making both Alice and Albedo smile sheepishly in answer.
Siiiigh! "Fine...I am giving you permission to join that Hobgoblin's Guild BUT!" Leodas said before abruptly stopping his daughter's cheering by rising his voice.
"But?"
"You'll be extra careful, write every day, train hard and do not bother those people."
"That's it?" Alice asked hopefully.
"No, there are at least other three dozen conditions you two must follow, first of all, STOP SPENDING MY MONEY!" Leodas answered making both shrinks.
"Your money?" Ainz asked with crossed arms.
"Yours?" the man's wife added with a raised eyebrow.
"..Our money?" the King said with a weak chuckle.
"Bah! They won't spend YOUR PART, but if they need extra cash, they can ask me...WITH MODERATION."
"YAY! Thank you, mum!" Alice said happily.
"...Fine! I will spare some change myself." Ainz added rolling his flaming eyes once fell for the puppy-dog look Albedo gave him.
"Thank you, daddy!"
"You two are spoiling them." Leodas commented grumbling.
"Now move along, girls! You will take this Guild affair seriously, it is not a game ESPECIALLY for that poor Hobgoblin." the Queen ordered with a gentle smile.
"Of course, Mum!" Alice answered as she and Albedo hurried away.
"..."
"...Come on, talk, you old fool." Ainz said sighing.
"I don't like this! My baby is still too young to be an adventurer!"
"Nnngh!" both Queen and Dark Lord groaned as the King started a new round of whining about his little Alice being unsafe while taking Missions for a Guild.
"You know what? I'll see if my nephew too can join that Guild, she'll keep both our daughters straight and out of trouble, happy?" Ainz offered to look particularly annoyed.
"You mean the bookworm?"
"I prefer the term 'Very accomplished Scholar', Thank you." the living skeleton answered bitterly.
"If you don't mind. Thank you, Ainz." the Queen answered gratefully.
"Think nothing of it, Aly. I know how this fool feels, so with that excuse I will appease my own anxiety as well." Ainz answered nodding.
"Alice…" The King muttered sobbing at his daughter's even too fast growth into a woman.
Meanwhile – Monster Star Guild -
The now officially-recognized Guild was having a celebratory dinner when the main door almost went smashed down by somebody overdoing in knocking.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The poor wooden frame trembled heavily under the assault.
"Who you? You no friend?" Fist asked growling.
"Let me in, I need to use the bathroom!" the man on the other side answered yelling as he finally broke down the door to enter.
"Stupid door...Hey, this isn't my home..." the old man uttered in distaste before falling down face-first to snore loudly while hugging the welcome mat on the floor tightly against his chest.
"Guest for the night then?" Lars asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Another drunkard? My Guild is not a recovery center for alcoholics!" Naruto answered whining.
"HEY! I was just having a bad week! I don't usually drink that much!" the ex-captain answered blushing madly.
"Whatever, help me take this poor bastard inside, by now I know how to do this." Olaf asked sighing as he helped the old man to stand.
"Hey...You smell like a forge! I like that smell!" the old man wheezed laughing to himself.
"Glad to hear that." Olaf answered rolling his eyes.
"And you, Hobgoblin?"
"Yes?" Naruto asked while helping Olaf bu holding the old man by his other arm.
"Why you smell like some Divine Class ingredient?"
"Eh?"
"Your satchel. Divine Class component for weapon forging. Why?" the old man asked looking straight in the reborn shinobi's eyes.
"I am looking for a man, a great blacksmith that can turn it into a weapon for me. I only know his name is Andre." Naruto answered.
"Tough luck, Andre the Blacksmith is a living legend, nobody can find him as apparently he is always on the move. Let me give a look at that thing and I'll see if I can do something myself." Olaf answered sighing.
"Bwahahahahaha! You are looking for Andre? Well, consider yourself lucky as you have found him! Bwahahahahaha-BUUUUAAAARGH!" the old man said laughing uproariously, so much that his stomach lurched and he puked on the floor.
"..."
"...Olaf, I believe your 'Living Legend' just projectile vomited on our new carpet." Rimuru commented dryly as he moved away his plate having clearly lost his appetite.
"And I think he also peed himself, and as luck would have it it's your turn for cleaning detail." Tanya added shaking her head with a sigh.
"Zzzz!" in answer the old man simply fell asleep once again.
"Hurray." Olaf answered with a defeated sigh.
"Well, look at the bright side, once cleaned-up you will see a great Blacksmith in action!"
"Just shut-up, Naruto. Please." the dwarf begged with dropped shoulders.
Another day passed, and another step was took by Naruto and his friends on the path that one day will bring them to greatness!
"Buuuuaaaargh!"
"OH, FOR FUCK SAKE!"
Well, everybody always starts little, after all...
Omake – Auditions for a new Member -
"NEXT!" Naruto called out as he, Rimuru, Tanya and the others sat at a table to see who wanted to join their Guild.
"Good Evening." the young man with long black hair and spiked armor said with a cold voice and walking to stand in front of the table.
"Your name and the reason for joining," Tanya asked looking even unimpressed.
"I am John Dark, I saw my father die at the hands of my uncle and my mother burn alive when a meteor fell on her head. Now I travel the land looking for revenge so to quench the emptiness clutching to my heart as I walk in this land of sorrow and tears called life. I am-"
"NEXT!" Rimuru said immediately as the sheer Emo-ness permeating the boy was summoning depressing rain even inside the Guild.
"Nobody understands my pain and anguish, this world is just a blank-" the boy kept saying as Lars kinda pushed him out to slam the door on his face.
"Always more angsty teens looking to be heroes nowadays, I wonder why this happens." Olaf commented erasing the boy's name from the list of candidates.
"HIIIIII! I am Michael! I love everybody and I am sure that the Power of Friendship will save the world! Come on! Let's be Nakam-BANG!" what the overly-cheerful boy was about to say went suddenly interrupted when Tanya's rifle turned his head to a fine red mist with a well-placed bullet.
"Next!" she barked making the others quietly scoot their chairs a bit away from the tiny girl just in case she shoots again.
"Hello! I am Alice Anastasia Bella Dementia Wallflower Autumn Rose Hypothermia Swan. I can shoot lasers from my eyes, fart missiles, my sweat cures cancer and my tears can end World's hunger, I can resurrect the dead, fly, everybody loves me as soon as they meet me and I can do everything, and I already know everything. My eyes are silver-blue-grey-yellow-brown but become gold with green-red-bronze-pearl undertones in the light of the full moon of August while my hair is platinum with purple streaks. I always wear clothes that do not much the time period or setting and I can-" The endless chatter of the deranged girl stopped when Fist grabbed her and beheaded her with a bite.
"Oooh! Fist loves eating Mary Sues! They taste like candy and poor character development!" the Troll said happily as he kept munching on her body making rainbows and kittens drip from her body instead of blood.
"It's his blessing, he is naturally immune to them and can hurt them." Olaf explained to Naruto.
"Ooh!" the reborn shinobi nodded in answer.
"Next!" Rimuru asked as soon as Fist finished eating.
"THERE ARE TOO MANY BOYS HERE! WHERE ARE THE WOMEN! GIRL POWER! SEXISM! MISOGYNY! MUH FEELIN-BANG!"
"Next!" Tanya ordered while her trusty rifle was still smoking from the recent shot.
"Ehm..." the man said peeking inside and watching the corpse lacking the head right in front of the door.
"We do not accept Emos, Mary Sues and Gary Stues, extreme feminist/misogynist, people that just want to have a Loli Harem, idiots that just want to fuck, people that think with their privates and always end up in ecchi situations and morons that believe everything can be fixed only with the power of Friendship. If you fit in one of those categories you better run before she starts shooting again." Lars suggested calmly and without lifting his eyes from his papers.
"I'll look elsewhere then..." the young man answered as he backed away.
"We'll never find a new member, isn't it?" Mi asked with a defeated tone.
"Well...We still have four-hundred names to go through though." Olaf answered.
The rest of the Guild groaned in a chorus at that.
EXTRA LONG CHAPTER! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!
I have no idea, it just happened, just don't get used to it, I still want 7/8k words chapters for this story XD.
A bit of faster development this time, so that from next chapter I will be able to focus on the Guild new 'Toys' (Especially Naruto's) and their first forays in the lands of Elrune as a Guild.
This was the fifth Chapter, it's time for the Plot to gain a bit more speed and move along, don't you think?
I imagined Fist to be like the troll in the first Harry Potter movie, only with a more reptilian head similar to Killer Croc of Batman.
I am deeply sorry if somebody got offended by the Omake, it was just something I did for a bit of fun, not a statement about anything!
Except for Mary Sues, I hate Mary Sues.
In fact, a couple of infamous cases have been mentioned in the girl's name, one was Alice from the Resident Evil movies, but the others? Did you spot them? XD
See you around for the next update, Bye-Bye!
Tr230.