"Master! Master!"
Both Naofumi and Raphtalia were surprised to see Filo running towards them while holding the stranger's helmet.
"Filo, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay at the wagon and look after the stranger." Naofumi said.
"And why are carrying his helmet around?" Raphtalia said, putting her hands on her waist.
"The stranger woke up and ran away after he saw me! And when I found him, he was already dragged away by the guards and the other three heroes were there aswell!" Filo said while still holding the helmet.
"Those three again! Why is it always them messing things up!"
"Guess we'll just have to go save his ass again." despite the set back, Naofumi wasn't going to let Marius go like that. He still needed answers. And to undo those idiots mistake, as always.
"Are you sure we should be help him again? What if he's the one causing trouble?" Raphtalia grew more concerned about the stranger. Even she thought he's not from here as she never saw that kind of armor, nor whatever race Marius was.
Naofumi heard what she said, but he's not letting that getting in the way.
Him causing trouble or not, was not Naofumi's concern.
Afterall, he can always teach him a lesson should the situation needs it.
Besides, the elixir wasn't cheap.
The sound of pebbles hitting the floor and metal bars echoed throughout the depressing jail cell.
It seemed as the gods may not want to give Marius the warrior's death.
What he got instead was probably death by boredom.
He picked up more of the pebbles that have been sitting on the corner of his cell to be his only plaything.
Then, he heard sounds of mutiple footsteps from the hallway growing louder as it gets closer.
"Must be more of them trying to get a good look at me." he thought, after about three or four guards wanted to see this foriegn outsider like he's some kind of animal in a cage.
But the figure that emerged from the hallways wasn't some curious guard, but a young man in a green cloak with a small triangular shield on his right arm.
"They let visitors in now?"
As Naofumi walked closer to get a better view of the stranger he tried scanning Marius's status again but still no luck.
Marius took a quick look at Naofumi before continued throwing pebbles at the wall.
"What's your name?" Naofumi asked but Marius ignored his questions.
"I said what's your name! I'm asking you!"
"Marius." he answered Naofumi's question, thinking he'll leave him alone afterwards.
"Marius, uh?" Naofumi thought, "A roman name."
"You should show a little bit of respect, cause I'm the one who picked you up from the road." Said Naofumi.
"Oh, thank you for saving me. Now pissed off!" Marius threw a pebble at Naofumi, who is running out of patience.
Having enough of this nonsense, Naofumi stormed out leaving Marius to his own fate. He met with Raphtalia who was waiting on the very end of the hall.
"I think we should really just leave him here. He doesn't sound so nice.", Raphtalia had heard the conversation they had, and it wasn't pretty.
Naofumi thought about leaving Marius, but his curiousity grew strong enough for him to reconsider.
Naofumi looked at the guards standing near them and asked, "How much for his freedom?"
Raphtalia was completely shocked by her master's action, "What?! Are you serious?!"
Meanwhile, Filo was waiting outside while playing around with the helmet. She observed the face of the mask and thought it looked cute than scary. As she was about to put on the helmet, Naofumi and Raphtalia finally came out of the jailhouse.
"Master! Uh?" her excitement was cutted short after she noticed Naofumi was dragging the stranger with a rope tied to both his wrist.
Raphtalia, however, was a little upset that Naofumi spent alot of money to free the stranger.
"You make sure he doesn't cause anymore trouble!" an older guard slammed the door behind them after his warning.
After everything was clear, Marius raised his restrainted hands, "Now will you take these off?"
"Only if you promise not to cause anymore trouble." Naofumi said with a stern manner.
"You have my word." Marius then presented his tied hands.
Naofumi looked at Raphtalia, the only person here with a bladed weapon.
While she was hesitant, Raphtalia still have to obey Naofumi's command.
She chopped and cutted the rope, freeing Marius's hands.
After freeing from his bondage, Marius readjusted his vambrace and recured it firmly. While doing that, he saw his helmet on the hands of a little girl with angelic wings. And without hesitation, he approached the little girl.
This cause Raphtalia and Naofumi to readied themselves to attack Marius, but Marius only snatched the helmet off Filo's hands and walked to the other direction.
But before he can get too far a big green astral shield manifested infront of Marius, blocking his path.
"What sorcery is this?!"
He turned around and saw the shield on Naofumi's arms glowed. As if it was conjuring a spell.
"Who told you can walk away like that? Releasing you wasn't cheap, you know?" said Naofumi, "From now on, you work for me. You will do as I say without questioning my authority!"
Marius was irrated by those words. He walked towards Naofumi until the two were just two feet at each other.
The tall armored warrior stared down on Naofumi, who was only a foot shorter than Marius. But this doesn't intimidated the shield hero one bit.
"Who gave you the power to command me? If only you knew who I am, you would regret your own words as I rip them out of your mouth!" Marius threatened.
Both Raphtalia and Filo were about to attack Marius to defend their master's honor but Naofumi lifted his hands up slighty to tell them not to attack.
"So take your magic act, your ridiculous outfit and those two concubine of yours somewhere else! You have no power over me, boy!" said Marius trying to intimidate Naofumi.
But after a few seconds of silence, a loud rumbling noise was heard.
"It-it wasn't me, master!" Raphtalia said with a red face.
"I know." Naofumi looked at Marius with a smugged face, knowing that the sound came from Marius's empty stomach.
"Now tell me, Marius. Do you even know where you are? Do even have the right money to buy food around here?" Naofumi stepped closer to Marius to show him who's in control.
"You maybe strong and mighty where you come from. But here, you're just a clueless homeless hobo who had no idea how this place works." said Naofumi as he can see defeat on Marius's face.
Having been outwitted by Naofumi, and with an empty stomach, Marius has no choice but to submitted to his new master.
Something he wishes would never happen again.
On Naofumi's HUD, after it listed Marius as a companion, a message appeared.
[COMPANION STATS]
[UNLOCKED]
[RECEIVING NEW DATA]
[UPDATING...]
And after a few seconds, the status info appeared. But it's not similar to the format Naofumi was familiar with.
HERO NAME: MARIUS
WARRIOR CLASS: CENTURION
REPUTATION: 70
"A reputation level? What does that mean? And he's a centurion? I guess that explains his armor.", Naofumi now has more questions than answers.
Now he wants to know more about Marius. But it's going to take a while.