Jesus christ this took us forever!
We kinda got a bit of writer's block in the middle of this chapter, and were stuck on what to do for a while, which is why we suddenly hashed out chapter after chapter for Digital Story, to get past our block, and now, we came back to this and FINALLY got something.
So, hope you enjoy!
Louise sighed as she sat down on her bed, Nicolas was currently out of the room, wanting to take a walk before bed. Thinking back it still sounded so...unbelievable. The idea that her magic had pulled him not just from some far away country, but from another world at that, one where monsters and heroes were commonplace (she didn't even WANT to imagine what it would be like living in a world where titans fighting each other happened almost weekly). It was honestly...hard to picture what life must have been like.
Shaking her head, she decided to think of things actually applicable now, like the summons to the Palace for tomorrow. It seemed Henrietta wanted the two of them to come to the Palace, saying she wished to give a reward for their services. She would have tried to decline saying it was unneeded, but well….it was a letter. So with that in mind, she quickly got ready for bed. They had a big day ahead of them.
The following day, the two of them stood in what looked like some sort of smaller throne room, either one for more private talks, or one for when the royals don't want grandstanding… Nicolas was banking on the first honestly.
Henrietta got off the throne, both him and Louise bowing a little in respect (it was common courtesy to show a ruler respect). She smiled as she looked at them before focusing on Louise, and raising her staff. "Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. For services to the crown and showing great bravery, I hereby dub the 'Chevalier of Tristain'," she said before smiling gently. "Congratulations."
"I really am unworthy of such an honorary title as Chevalier," Louise said modestly.
"You all achieved something that is deserving of that title," Henrietta said, before frowning as she looked at Nicolas. "Normally I would award the title to both of you but…" she trailed off.
"Its cool. Officially I'm just a familiar," Nicolas waved off. "I honestly don't mind not getting a fancy title."
"If there's anything else you would like, I would be willing to try and give that as a reward," Henrietta offered.
Nicolas thought about it for a moment, though Louise started talking. "Ah, it's not a problem, Princess. It was our honor to-"
"Information," Nicolas spoke up, causing her to stop short.
"Information?" Henrietta blinked, not expecting the choice of reward.
"Regarding any objects that might be similar to the Staff of Destruction. It was a relic of my home you see, used by an evil sorceress to make creatures giant. So, I'd like to personally hunt down any relics of a similar nature and handle them myself as I know how they work." he explained. "Or failing that, at least we can contain a possibly dangerous artifact."
Henrietta nodded. "Very well, I will be sure to notify both of you in the event that anything like that were to appear or be found. I will also check our own treasuries to make sure. We could very well have had one in our possession without knowing it," she smiled. "However, loyalty and reliability also deserve their own reward," she added, holding out her hand.
Nicolas blinked, before looking to Louise and whispering, "Is this the part where I kiss her hand? Sorry, first time dealing with a Princess like this."
Louise gave him a slightly deadpan look but nodded all the same, so he took Henrietta's hand and kissed the back of it. After that was done, Henrietta pulled back her arm, and soon stepped back a little. "Now, though I wish this were all that was needed today, I have something else I'd like to ask of the two of you."
"If there's anything we can help with, we'll do our best, Princess," Louise said with determination.
"As long as it's not international politics. Those are messy even where I come from," Nicolas couldn't help but say, to which Henrietta chuckled.
"Don't worry, it's nothing of that sort," she said as she pulled out a rolled up letter. "I would like you two to live in a nearby town for a while."
"Nearby town?" both of them blinked, before Henrietta gave Louise the letter.
"This is a warrant issued by the Palace. Lately there have been some rumors of Nobles abusing their power, but when we questioned the locals, they all said that nothing of that sort happened," Henrietta explained.
"And you're thinking the Noble who was doing that has been making sure the people stay quiet so they can keep abusing their power," Nicolas nodded, seeing where this was going.
"So you want us to spy on the town to uncover something," Louise understood.
"I do not know who else I can turn to, and taking into consideration the incident with Count Mott, I cannot assume that these are just rumors. I feel it best if I asked the two of you," Henrietta nodded.
"Yeah… Mott… hope things don't turn out the same way they did then." Nicolas said with a frown, hoping that perhaps the Hades Beast had been a single isolated incident… but deep down he knew better.
"I understand its a lot to ask, but once again I ask that the two of you gather information in the town," Henrietta reiterated.
"Of course, Princess!" Louise said with a smile. "I will be sure to get this job done as if my life depended on it!" she said with determination.
"You sure agreed to that fast," Nicolas chuckled. "But sure, I'll help. Can't ignore people abusing their power after all."
"...you SURE you fully understand what this mission entails?" Nicolas deadpanned. They'd just gone clothes shopping for some clothes so Louise could blend in better...with the girl seeming rather displeased with her new outfit...and she was the one who suggested this in the first place.
"Of course. I just wish we could get something more decent than this," Louise said.
"If you think that's not decent, you should see some of the stuff floating around my world," Nicolas said flatly.
"I'm honestly afraid to ask," Louise sighed. As it was, she was wearing a simple brown dress and beret with some heeled sandals.
"Anyway, we gotta be frugal with the money. We're on a tight budget as it is, so we gotta focus on finding a place to stay and some work so we won't have to live off the money the Princess gave us for the duration of the mission," Nicolas said.
"Of course, but first we should get a horse, and Barikion draws too much attention, then I know a good inn we can stay at," Louise said walking forward. That was basically all the warning signs for Nicolas.
"Hold it, hold it!" Nicolas said stopping her.
"What is it?" she asked in annoyance, not seeing why he was stopping her.
"Ok, first, commoners don't use horses to get around, so that's a no, second, this inn you're thinking of… it's frequented by nobles isn't it?" he asked knowingly.
"Yes, what about it?" she shot back, not seeing the issue.
Nicolas gave her a deadpan look "We're supposed to be commoners, so we have to live LIKE commoners, a smaller inn would work best, not a huge one like I'm sure you have in mind."
"But I'm a noble though." Louise shot back again.
Nicolas gave her a grin at that "Not for this mission, right now, you are simply the commoner Louise, my little sister, as we agreed. So you're going to listen to your big brother… or else." he finished with a smile that looked serene, but Louise shivered for some reason as she looked at him.
"This is the worst…" Louise groaned. Currently she was sitting on a fountain in the middle of town, while Nicolas was going around looking for a place to stay. He promised he'd at least pick a place that was clean, but he guaranteed it wouldn't be the standards she was used to cause they cost WAY too much for the time they planned to be working. Meanwhile, she was stuck here waiting till he got back.
"Something wrong Miss?" a voice said to which she turned and saw a well dressed man. "You look like you're a bit hard on your finances."
"Something like that. It's not a problem," Louise said with an annoyed huff.
"Well...what if I told you there was a way you could double up that money without much effort?"
THAT got Louise's attention.
"You what?" Nicolas said with a cold glare as he looked down at Louise who was back at the fountain again.
"I… I used up all the money at the casino." Louise repeated, looking away from him, squirming a bit under his glare.
Nicolas continued to glare at her for a long while "I have half a mind to spank you right here and now." he said flatly, making Louise scoot back a bit as her hands flew to her behind. After a few moments he sighed and sat down. "Well, this just put us in a bind."
"What do we do now?" Louise asked cautiously.
"Assuming we don't want to be sleeping in some random alley or toilet, we either hope we find a job ASAP and a place that is willing to let us stay on a tab, or we suck up whatever semblance of pride we have at this point and beg the Princess for another loan," Nicolas said flatly.
"But this was a request from the Princess herself. No doubt she had a hard time getting that money to begin with," Louise said.
"And yet you still wanted a horse, a fine inn, and finer clothes," Nicolas sighed. "I get you're nobility, but remember your position right now. We LITERALLY can't afford to maintain that kind of lifestyle while we're here."
"Tres Bien!" a new voice spoke out...in a tone that honestly sent shivers down Nicolas's spine. The two of them turned and saw...okay, he honestly didn't know what he was looking at here, but it sorta looked like a buff man that took a dive into a tub of makeup… so basically a guy who was trying to pretty himself up, but by the gods and demons alike that was ugly! "Such a beautiful face! From the looks of it you seem to be in some sort of trouble," the...man...said with an overly high pitched voice and girly movements of his body that just served to make the already ugly sight worse. "Bonjour! Bon!"
"Back away slowly then run," Nicolas whispered, Louise nodding slowly, the two taking a step back.
"Now now, no need to be alarmed," the man said, having apparently noticed the movement. "As you can obviously see, I am nobody suspicious at all," he said 'reassuringly'.
"You are totally suspicious though." Nicolas muttered as he was ready to let the Wolzaphone fall out of his sleeve and into his hand, just in case a fight came up.
"I really don't like the way he looks." Derf muttered from his sheath "No self-respecting man would ever go out looking like THAT."
"Not many self respecting women do that either for that matter," Nicolas whispered back.
"That makes it worse," Derf muttered before going back into his sheath.
While that was going on the man ws introducing himself. "I am Scarron. I run a Tavern just up ahe-" Scarron didn't get to finish, as he made the mistake of getting closer to Nicolas...who put up a fist between their faces, causing Scarron to slam into it.
"Sorry, hand slipped," Nicolas said flatly as Scarron fell over.
"My, what fast reflexes!" Scarron said, getting up. "Would you care for me to furnish you both with a room in my tavern? I'm always looking for people in trouble to help."
"...what's the catch?" Nicolas sighed. Normally he'd just run, but as it was...they WERE desperate.
Scarron smiled a bit and looked at Louise.
"Is that understood my dear fairies?" Scarron rechecked.
"Yes manager!" the girls who he referred to as his fairies all replied, and they were… well, Nicolas would be lying if he said he didn't find the girls attractive, because they all made for pretty good eye candy. Not like he'd act on it though, even though he could appreciate the view, he was still mostly thinking of how Siesta might look in that kind of outfit… idea for later, maybe see if Scarron would be willing to lend one so he could see Siesta in that.
"Non non! While working, call me Mi Mademoiselle!" Scarron corrected.
"Yes, Mi Mademoiselle!" the girls chorused.
"He does realize that's how you refer to a woman, right?" Louise groaned. She didn't seem too happy either, seeing as she was dressed in a similar outfit as the 'fairies'.
"We get free lodging as long as we pull our weight around here. Roll with the crazy," Nicolas sighed. It was at that point that Louise was called by Scarron, to which she walked out from where she'd been standing.
"Louise is the newest addition to our Tavern. She's a poor girl who ran away from home with her brother. Now they have nowhere else to go so please treat her well," Scarron said dramatically, much to Louise's annoyance as noted with her twitching brow as she introduced herself while the other girls gushed at how cute she looked.
"Wow...laying it on thick, isn't he?" Nicolas deadpanned as he watched this from the kitchen.
"Hey, new guy! Come help with the dishes!" the only girl to be working on the kitchen called towards him, making him turn to her, and like the other girls here, she was quite the beauty honestly, and a part of him DID wonder why she was working back here and not on the floor. "We're about to open so we don't want to be in a rush."
"Right, I'll be right there," Nicolas nodded and quickly went over to help her.
"That's a cute little sister you got there," the girl chuckled.
"Thanks. She can be a handful, but she's a good girl," Nicolas said a little awkwardly.
"That so?" the girl said with an odd expression.
"Something wrong?" Nicolas blinked.
"No, nothing. I'm Jessica by the way. You?" she said.
"Nicolas."
"Heh. There are a thousand Nicolases in Tristain," Jessica chuckled. "Well, nice to meet you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
"Thanks, I'll be sure to take you up on that offer," Nicolas nodded with a small smile.
"Now then girls!" Scarron called, getting the attention of all the girls "Now that I've introduced the new girl, I'm pleased to announce that this week is the long awaited tip race!" he said, to the general delight of the other girls.
"Tip race?" Nicolas blinked when he heard that...right until he saw Scarron unveiling a special dress.
"Oh that. Its a competition to see who can earn the most tips, and earn the right to wear that special dress. Apparently it has some kind of 'charm' to it that really helps rake in more tips. The last girl who won and used it earned so much she could go home," Jessica chuckled.
"...that magic is literally just it being revealing and the customers being pervs, isn't it?" Nicolas deadpanned.
"Got it in one," Jessica laughed.
About an hour later, the tavern had finally opened, with customers coming in, and Nicolas could confirm one thing.
"This is literally a maid cafe, except the patrons are way more open about being perverts." he muttered to himself in deadpan.
Unfortunately this proved to be...a major problem. Namely Louise's pride was getting stepped on at nearly every turn. Between the customers who were obviously drunk, the comments to her...size...and the part where she wasn't doing orders well, it was only cause Scarron stepped in a few times that things didn't get ugly. Still...it was just day one. He was sure all it would take was some practice...and a lot of talking. Either way, he himself wasn't in any position to help, cause the dishes were simply endless. Guess they hit the jackpot if they wanted a key hangout place to spy on.
"You've got to be kidding me! Why do I have to deal with such-such-" Louise started to complain as they were in the room, before being cut off when Nicolas chopped her on the head.
"You don't get to complain considering you're the one who blew all our money at the casino." he told her dryly after he had finished chasing away the bats that were hiding in the rafters. "And seriously, I get that the job is less than pleasant, but if you keep acting like before you're gonna blow our cover," he sighed.
"But why should the daughter of a Duke-?!" she started, but Nicolas stopped her with a finger.
"That's cause you're not the daughter of a Duke right now. We're a pair of commoners who ran away from home and are trying to etch out a living in this town, remember?" Nicolas said. "You think I'm having fun washing dishes? The only person helping is Jessica, and she's only one person with us having to deal with an almost endless mountain. How she managed before I came along is a mystery in of itself," he huffed, double checking to make sure no more creepy things were hiding in the room. "Besides, for better or worse, we landed in a great spot for the mission. This place is one of the more popular taverns in town, meaning we can get plenty of info."
Louise sighed tiredly. "That doesn't make this any easier…"
"We volunteered to be the Princess's spies, and spies we have to be even if it means sleeping in a barn with a bunch of animals," Nicolas deadpanned.
Louise shivered at the thought. "I'll learn to live with the bed," she groaned, still not happy with how it was rather dusty, but definitely better than sleeping with animals.
The night went by relatively peacefully at first….until a scream rang through it. Immediately Nicolas shot out of where he was sleeping on the floor (he volunteered), as well as Louise who had been having trouble sleeping. "That….doesn't sound good at all," Nicolas frowned. "I'd better check that out."
"What do you think it was?" Louise asked worriedly.
"I'm not sure, I know for a fact it was someone being attacked, I just don't know by what… I hope it wasn't another Hades Beast." Nicolas said before turning to her "Stay here, I'll go check it out." he said, not giving her time to argue as he ran outside.
He'd quickly grabbed the Wolzaphone and flipped it into wand mode, ready to use it as a moment's notice, and when he got to where he believe was the source of the scream… well… it wasn't Hades Beast… it was something worse.
While he wasn't QUITE sure what it was due to how dark the alley he had ran into was, he could make out a mostly humanoid form with large horns on its head, the silhouette being familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Hey, creep, what's going on here?!" Nicolas shouted into the alley, catching the attention of whatever monster this was as it turned to him, and he could make out some blue on its body, while on the ground in front of it was a woman who while he couldn't make out her features clearly, she was definitely cowering in fear.
The creature snorted as it looked at him "Hunting down Gates of course. It's too bad you already have your magic, you might have been an easy target to make this a better night."
As soon as the creature had spoken the word 'Gate' Nicolas had frozen, everything clicking into his head as he realised WHAT he was dealing with.
"Phantom…" he whispered in shock.
"So… you know what I am then, I suppose that means we're doing this the hard way." the Phantom said, stepping out into the moonlight, it's features finally being revealed, showing to Nicolas it was the Minotaur Phantom.
Nicolas growled as he got his wits about him "Just great, first a Hades Beast and now a Phantom, what next? A freaking Zetsuborg and Ultra Kaijin?"
"I don't know what you're blabbering about, but I don't intend to let you walk away from this in one piece," Minotaur smirked, raising his axe as he stalked towards Nicolas.
"Right. Worry about that later," he muttered, pulling out the Wolzaphone. "Uuza Uru Uzaara!"
The axe came down and was stopped dead against the Jagun Shield. "What?!" Minotaur gasped.
"Nice try, but you're gonna need to do a lot better than that," Wolzard said, before drawing the WolSabre and slashing at Minotaur's chest, sending him tumbling back.
"You...what are you?" Minotaur growled. "Are you...a mahoutsukai?!"
Wolzard groaned "I hate unneeded japanese speech unless it has a good reason. No, I'm not the kind of mage you're thinking about. But I AM just as capable of destroying you! Douza Uru Zazaado!" the barrage of wolf heads impacted minotaur, causing him to drop his axe, while Wolzard quickly pulled out Derflinger.
"About time you used me, Partner," Derf said in amusement. "Looks like we got another ugly one to fight!"
"And you're perfect to fight this guy," Wolzard smirked, as he surged forward and landed a barrage of hits, ending with a strike using Derf, cutting off the right horn on Minotaur's head. "Had enough?"
Minotaur growled as he got up, before throwing several stones….which suddenly turned into a small group of gray creatures with spears. These were Lesser Phantoms known as Ghouls. "Keep him busy!" Minotaur ordered, before he turned tail and started running away.
"I don't think so!" Wolzard growled as he slashed away at the Ghouls, the weak creatures destroyed easily enough. However, by the time he was done, Minotaur had escaped. "Drat. He got away."
Growling, he tried searching for the Phantom, but to no avail. With nothing left to do, he returned to the Dancing Fairy Inn.
"What did you find?" Louise asked when he returned.
"Another kind of monster." Nicolas said with a frown "That one was called a Phantom, it's a beast that can turn mages into more of its kind. I don't know what it's doing here though, it wasn't the enemy of the Super Sentai, it was an enemy of Kamen Rider Wizard."
"Common Rider?" Louise asked in confusion.
Nicolas sighed slightly "Kamen, it's a word from another language, it means Mask. Kamen Riders are another kind of hero of justice, though they usually work in smaller groups, and even then, there are quite a few that are solo fighters. Anyway, it makes no sense for there to be Phantoms here, unless I suddenly meet the ringed mage himself tomorrow."
"That's...a problem…" Louise frowned deeply.
"But nothing we can do for now…" Nicolas sighed. "Let's just get some rest for tomorrow."
"Yeesh, you weren't kidding when you said this place was popular," Nicolas groaned as he was washing a small mountain of dishes.
"Yeah, we get lots of people here whenever we open. The eye candy the girls show is REALLY good at attracting customers." Jessica answered.
"I'll say, reminds me of a similar type of place back home, though the girls were dressed a bit less revealingly." He said with a sigh.
"Then where you're from must feel really bland," Jessica joked.
"You're half right I guess. Though if Scarron saw some of the designs from back home, I think he might get new outfit ideas for the girls." Nicolas chuckled awkwardly.
"That so? Well, maybe you can tell dad about those later then." Jessica said with a hum.
"Yeah, maybe I will." Nicolas shrugged… before her words registered "Wait, Scarron is your dad?"
"Yeah, dad made me the one in charge of a lot of things in the tavern." Jessica said with a grin.
"Huh… you look NOTHING like your dad." Nicolas noted.
"Yeah, I got my looks from mom according to him. Never met her though." Jessica explained.
"Oh, sorry for your loss." Nicolas said with a frown.
"It's fine." Jessica waved it off. "By the way… your sister REALLY isn't good with the customers isn't she?" she said, pointing into the tavern, Nicolas peeking out to see Louise standing over a fat man, seething after leaving a VERY visible handprint on his face.
'For her to get THAT angry… that guy commented on her chest, I'm sure of it.' Nicolas thought dryly. "She's a bit….touchy...about certain things," he sighed.
"I noticed. Too bad a lot of our patrons can't take a hint," Jessica sighed.
"You SURE there isn't something else for her to do? You know, before she REALLY pisses someone off?" Nicolas asked almost lamely.
"What can she do?" Jessica countered.
"...damn…" Nicolas sighed.
Just after that, the door to the tavern opened, a person wearing a cloak with a hood walking in, appearing to be looking around for something, before going to sit down at an empty table.
"W-welcome to the D-Dancing Fairy Inn!" Louise said, trying hard to sound welcoming, but after her previous situations, she was understandably...stiff. "H-How may I help you?"
The cloaked person hummed in a man's voice "Some steak would be nice? Do you serve that here?"
"Y-yes, we do, would you l-like some wine with that?" Louise asked, at least glad the man wasn't commenting on her appearance like all the others were.
"Yeah, just a glass would be fine." the cloaked man said, smiling slightly.
As that was happening, Nicolas was watching, glad that at least this one didn't have any issues...though he could have sworn the voice sounded familiar.
Once Louise returned to his table with the steak and the wine, she was about to pour it into a glass before he raised his hand to stop her and just did it himself "Would you mind sitting with me? I always find eating is more fun with some company."
Honestly, she could live with that "Certainly sir." Louise said as she pulled a chair and sat next to him, and since he didn't comment on the distance, he didn't want her to scoot super close like most of the other girls were.
Nicolas kept on observing the patron discreetly, watching his mannerisms as he talked and chatted with Louise about something or other "I seriously feel like I met this guy somewhere before."
"If you have time to think of that, you have time to work." Jessica told him good naturely.
"Right, right." he sighed, going back to cleaning dishes.
"You know… Louise isn't actually your sister, isn't she?" she suddenly asked him.
He paused for a moment "What gave it away?" he asked as he kept on cleaning.
"You act more like a bodyguard than a concerned big brother at times." she explained.
He chuckled a bit "Yeah, that's pretty much my job. Can't say much more, but we're on a top secret mission, don't worry, it's nothing bad for your dad's tavern though."
"Aw, come on, tell me more, I'll make it worth your while~" Jessica shot back, winking at him and sticking her chest out a bit.
Nicolas blushed slightly but looked away "While that's a generous offer, I'm already taken, and no, not by Louise."
"Ah, got a wife do you?" she asked with a slight pout.
Nicolas's whole face was red by that point "Ah, well, no, far from that, but there's this girl I have feelings for basically."
"Ah, that's too bad, but I'm sure she's a lucky girl to have a guy like you after her." Jessica said, nudging him a bit with a grin.
Back with Louise, she found that talking to this customer in particular wasn't so bad.
"So, then I tell him 'No way that'll work, it's way too big!' lo and behold, it ends up working, and we got so much food from that thing." the cloaked man said with a grin.
"I'm pretty sure that's a crime though." Louise noted, though she was amused.
The man shrugged "Maybe it is, but honestly, Nicolas and I had too much fun that day."
Louise blinked once, twice, before raising a finger "This Nicolas friend of yours… what's his family name?"
"Alouette, why?" the man answered.
Louise was shocked to say the least, before looking around a bit and leaning closer to him "Nicolas Alouette is my… bodyguard at the moment."
"Wait… what? Nico's here?" the cloaked man asked, his jaw dropping.
"Yeah, he's over there cleaning dishes." she said, pointing to the kitchen.
"Woah… ok… think you can help me meet up with him later?" the cloaked man asked.
"Of course, just stick around come closing time I suppose." Louise said, feeling rather curious as to how one of Nicolas's friends was here, especially considering how he was from another world (which she honestly believed now, after having plenty of time to think about it).
Once closing time came for the tavern and most of the patrons had left, the only one left was the cloaked man.
"Hey, it's closing time man, time to go." Nicolas said as he went up to the man to clean up his table.
The man grinned underneath his cloak, obviously recognizing him "Et bien… je partirais bien, mais je cherche un viel ami."
Nicolas blinked as now that the man was speaking french, he quickly recognized him "The fuck… Victor?"
The man's grin widenned as he pulled back his hood, revealing blonde hair and brown eyes "Been a while Nico!"
"Been a while? Been a while?! You freaking fell off the face of the earth 3 years ago!" Nicolas griped in annoyance.
"Yeah….not by choice. I'm gonna guess you ended up here cause you got summoned, right?" Victor sighed.
"That's the only way here, isn't it?" Nicolas nodded. "So...familiar summoning?"
"Familiar Summoning," Victor nodded. "Not that I'm one. The guy who did it was CLEARLY a nut job, so I flew the coop before he could bind me," he chuckled a bit.
"I just let it happen." Nicolas said with a smirk as he nodded slightly at Louise who had decided to let them talk in peace and headed up to the room.
"Well… at least your master is cute." Victor laughed a bit.
"I guess, not my type though, I have my eye on this maid I met." Nicolas said with an easy smile as he sat down.
"Who doesn't like a pretty maid honestly?" Victor shrugged.
Nicolas laughed "So, what did you grab before falling here? We're both genre savvy enough."
Victor grinned, before holding up his hand… which had a ring with a black stone on it.
Nicolas raised an interested eyebrow "Well I'll be, guess I found a ring mage after all." he said, before pulling out his Wolzaphone.
"Oh hey, so you're Wolzard huh? That's cool. By the way, you fought any monsters yet? I actually fought a freaking Org from Gaoranger and an Action Commander from Gokaiger." Victor laughed awkwardly.
"Jeez, why is this world throwing random shit at us." Nicolas sighed "But yeah, I've fought Hades Beast Blob and the Minotaur Phantom so far, Minotaur got away from me last night though. Oh, and I also found TsueTsue's staff."
"Yeesh, looks like this world has a ton of tokusatsu props falling into it," Victor mused. "Just hope nobody gets their hands on something really dangerous…."
"Aaaand now you've probably jinxed it," Nicolas said flatly.
Victor looked sheepish at that. "So...you living here or…?"
"Classified," Nicolas said simply.
"Wow...and you've only been here how long?"
"...about a month. Turns out Louise is childhood friends with the boss, and we helped to recover an important artifact from a notorious criminal AND drove them away so...yeah," Nicolas sighed.
"Well, good a reason as any," Victor shrugged. "So...how may I help?"
"Think you can try and get info around town? Minotaur is definitely still lurking around and up to something." Nicolas asked.
"Can do, I'll see if I dig up anything. It was good seeing you again Nico." Victor said with a grin as he stood up.
Nicolas chuckled as he stood up "It was good to see you again too Vic."
When he went back to the room, Louise was already ready for bed, though she'd clearly been waiting for him. "So… you gonna tell me about your friend?" she asked, leaving the unspoken question hanging.
"Yeah, well, as you can guess he got here same here I did, though apparently he ran off before he got bound cause the guy who summoned him was an obvious crazy guy," Nicolas started.
"That...I can imagine would be something a lot of people would do," Louise sweat dropped, already picturing how unbearable living under an insane person would be like.
"Yeah, it's nice to see him after three years though." Nicolas said with a slight grin.
"So, he basically disappeared because he was summoned?" Louise guessed.
"From the looks of it yeah. Before that he and I were always hanging out and getting into trouble, usually to piss off my parents since they wanted me to a prim and proper gentleman all the time." Nicolas snorted.
"Yeah...you're definitely not a noble," Louise sweat dropped.
"I take that as a compliment," Nicolas grinned. "Anyway, yeah, he's basically my best friend, and still is I'd like to think," he smiled.
"Well, the first thing he did was offer to help, so I think you're still friends," Louise couldn't help but smile, the relationship between Nicolas and Victor reminding her a lot of her own relationship with Henrietta.
"So seems like someone's been stirring up trouble, and the local noble is way too happy to rub his so-called superiority in everyone's faces," Nicolas frowned. Currently he was doing dishes, with Victor standing nearby, having told him what he'd found.
"Pretty much. Seems there are a few people in town who have it REALLY bad, like being harassed and everyone too afraid to help bad," Victor sighed. "Sounds to me like those people might be Gates."
"Could be. If nobility here acts anything like things were back on Earth, there's probably plenty of illegitimate children who are carrying magic potential in them," Nicolas sighed.
"Easy pickings for a Phantom since they usually don't have any protection," Victor nodded with a frown.
Suddenly, the heard the entrance to the tavern open, followed by a loud throat clearing which quieted down the place, the two of them poking their heads out to see what was going on, seeing a fat noble had entered the place.
"Geez, talk about a wide load." Victor snickered quietly to himself.
"My, it does seem like this place is rather lively." the noble noted as he looked around.
"Wait, that voice… that's Minotaur's voice!" Nicolas realised.
"Okay, so that's one mystery solved," Victor frowned. "So what's the plan? Guns blazing, or we make him slip up first?"
"Slip up. That's still the guise of a noble," Nicolas said simply...and then noticed Louise being called to serve Minotaur "Oh no."
True enough, Louise was trying to serve, but Minotaur was...very rude. Louise was looking like she wanted to blow her top, with the straw that broke the camel's back being… a comment on her figure.
The next thing Minotaur knew, he had just gotten kicked. In the face. With enough force that he fell out of the chair.
"And there's the signal." Nicolas sighed as he vaulted over the counter and threw off his apron, Victor following right after him as the two readied to transform.
"You… you insolent little child!" Minotaur growled as his body changed into his true form, and of course, everyone not in the know was scared, which included his guards.
Louise blinked with wide eyes "That wasn't part of the plan." she said, before diving out of the way of a punch that broke the floor.
"Hey cow face!" Nicolas shouted, making Minotaur turn to him in rage, before he and Victor kicked him in the face together, actually using enough force to send him back out the door.
Following the Phantom outside, they saw him getting up and clutching his face with a groan "You… you're the mage from the other night."
"Yeahp, and I have a little help from something you don't like." Nicolas said with a grin as Victor threw off his cloak, revealing a black and dark yellow coat with dark brown pants, the coat open up to his waist, showing a hand shaped belt buckle with a red outline, the fingers having claws on their tips.
"Hello there, little Phantom." Victor said with a grin as he held up his right hand, which sported a certain ring, before placing it in front of his belt "DRIVER ON, NOW!" causing the belt buckle to turn into a large, dark grey belt with the same hand shape in the middle, on which the two levers on each side were quickly flipped, the hand shifting sides, as a jingle started.
"SHABADOOBIE TOUCH TO HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TOUCH TO HENSHIN!"
Bringing his left hand up, he reached to it and passed his hand over the dark ring on it, flipping down what looked like goggles, now making the ring look like a face "Henshin." he said, before placing it in front of his belt.
"CHANGE, NOW!"
A golden magic circle (well, more like a square actually) appeared over him, before moving down over his body, changing his appearance as it covered him in armor.
The armor was mostly gold in color, with the pauldrons being black, with caps hanging off of them, and a black coat hanging off the belt, while the helmet was mostly gold in color with a black jewel like visor that had gold pieces cutting through it to imitate the placement of eyes and a mouth, the top of the helmet looking like a stereotypical wizard had that bore a grin.
"Now, Kamen Rider Sorcerer is here to put on a show!" Sorcerer said with a grin beneath his helmet as he quickly used a connect spell to summon the Dis Halberd, while Nicolas quickly transformed into Wolzard next to him.
"Think this is overkill?" Wolzard chuckled.
"Probably," Sorcerer nodded with a chuckle of his own. "Just make sure he can't escape. I'll deal with the rest."
"Fine by me," Wolzard shrugged, before jumping over Minotaur and landing on the other side, making it clear he wasn't going to let him pass.
"Tch! Ghouls!" Minotaur growled, throwing the stones and creating the Ghouls which soon surrounded their master defensively.
"Well then, let's begin," Sorcerer said simply, before running forward, to which the Ghouls did the same, before he twirled the Dis Halberd, and cut through several Ghouls in one shot, destroying most of them, while Wolzard handled the rest of them. "You're gonna need WAY more than Ghouls to beat me," he chuckled.
"Then I'll crush you myself!" Minotaur roared, charging with his own halberd, only for Sorcerer to side step and strike the opposing weapon, breaking it. "What?!"
"EXPLOSION, NOW!"
The next thing Minotaur felt was an explosion at his chest, sending him flying away and tumbling to the ground. "Okay, let's not prolong this sorry excuse for a fight," Sorcerer sighed, before scanning another ring. "YES! FINAL STRIKE! UNDERSTAND?"
A golden magic seal appeared under Sorcerer, energy gathering to his legs, before he jumped into the air, and soon was propelled forward, Minotaur unable to dodge as he was kicked in the chest, the energy going through him and overwhelming him till finally he exploded, Sorcerer landing on the other side perfectly alright. "And that's a wrap."
"Well, this was much easier with a second person along to help." Wolzard said, rolling his shoulders a bit "Though, that was barely even an exercise."
"It can't be helped when we both wield so much power. But that does mean we have less to worry about." Sorcerer shrugged.
"Well… guess we sort of accomplished the mission." Louise said, feeling slightly weirded out "Though I wonder how Henrietta will react to hearing ANOTHER corrupt noble is dead, and that this one was a monster in disguise?"
"Wait, Henrietta? Isn't that the name of the Princess?" Sorcerer asked as he untransformed back into Victor.
"Yeah, that's the boss I mentioned." Nicolas said, the Wolzard armor gone now.
Victor blinked a few times at that, before... "YOU WERE WORKING FOR THE PRINCESS!?"
"Is he always this loud?" Louise asked.
"Oh trust me, he gets worse sometimes. Though, now this place feels just like home." Nicolas chuckled.
A distance away, in the nearby forest, a figure was making her way through, before soon sitting against a tree. How long had she been running scared? How long had she lost any chance to maintain her identity? She'd lost count honestly, not because it was that long, but because she just couldn't clearly keep count.
Just then, she heard a sound, making her grab for her staff to cast a spell at whoever was close "Stay back!" she shouted in mild panic.
"Come now, is that any way to treat a comrade?" said a man's voice as they stepped closer, letting her see a silhouette.
"Who are you?" she asked, still keeping her staff on them.
"Who you ask? Just someone here to pick up a friend, Fouquet, no, rather, Matilda of South Gotta." the man said with a smile.
Her eyes widened, lowering her staff just a bit "You're…"
And BAM!
That's right! Kamen Rider Sorcerer!
The idea came suddenly after we finally got out of our rut, which started right after Minotaur got away, and we decided to roll with it, giving Nicolas a friend who's along for the ride, and both of them wield evil powers for good.
Be prepared for lots of fun moments with Victor along now.
Also, the bit where Victor speaks french, let me just translate that for you guys "Well... I would leave, but I'm looking for an old friend."