Heya folks. Elusith here. Another chapter finally done, and I hope that you enjoy it!

It had been two days since Elena and I had set out from the city of Melromarc. Somehow, the other passengers did not know who I was, probably by the lack of the spear on me. That was all fine by me for the first day, considering that I was at quite a loss at what to do if I was swarmed by the other passengers. Unfortunately, our caravan was set upon by a pack of wolves on the second day, and I had to step in to help them to avoid there being too many casualties. Unfortunately the very act had revealed our identities. Thankfully, the other passengers, minus the children, were considerate enough to allow us some manner of privacy.

There were a total of four caravans. Three separate groups of passengers numbering two(that's us), three and four. Apart from a single driver per wagon, we also have an escort numbering four people. Elena had expressed her surprise at seeing a demi-human among them, but luckily the wolf-man(werewolf?) did not seem to mind. At least she had apologized afterwards.

Pulling the needle out of my hair, I twirled it about before turning it back into its original form. Looking at the small transparent window that popped out, I paid close attention as I changed the form of the spear once more. Originally, it looked like an elaborate yet simple weapon made out of a white metal, now however, it was grey in colour with a tuft of hair on the end.

The first one was called the [Legendary Spear], while this one was the [Wolf Spear]. Unoriginal names aside, it appears that the way I unlocked weapons was similar to a game I once played, I merely had to battle an enemy to unlock different variations of the weapon. No, that was wrong, I quickly realized as I recalled how I had unlocked the [Needle Spear]. I had only to touch the other item to do so.

Oh.

Struck by a sudden realization, I quickly pulled a number of items from my haversack. Some metal ores I had received as thanks from one of the passengers, a silver coin, a quill and a canteen of water. One by one, I placed each item on the blade of my weapon. The quill went first and immediately the spear changed its form, now something akin to… that's a fountain pen, isn't it?

A window popped up above the pen, [Pen Spear Unlocked]. Stopping myself from facepalming, I turned the spear back into the [Wolf Spear] and repeated the process with the ore, except that nothing happened initially. Gingerly, I placed another, and one more again when the same scenario repeated itself. Third time's the charm when the a window popped up: [Skill: Stalk Achieved!].

Allowing myself a grin as I took note of this, I quickly pressed the silver coin onto the spear. To my disappointment, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and the same thing happened with the Canteen of Water. It appeared the spear would only react to only certain objects, perhaps raw items? Quickly I fished out the pouch of wolf claws that one of the guards had presented to me. Touching the claw to the weapon, the same thing with the ore occurred.

Sitting back, I mulled over this new information. It appears that the legendary weapons follow a similar mechanic to a Role-Playing Game that I had played… back at my world. Different variations can be unlocked by bringing the weapon to contact with certain enemies and items. These variations can be refined individually to unlock different skills and abilities. Of course, there were questions that still remain unanswered. Like what sort of items can refine the weapons, and if the skills were interchangeable between different variations of the world. The latter was rather unlikely, though it would be a godsend if it were true, but I still need to test it ou-

"Sir Motoyasu!"

I gazed out at the driver of my wagon, a slim blonde boy decked in leather armor by the name of Modi. Unlike the others, he had not seemed cowed even after we had revealed ourselves. It was a nice arrangement, truth be told, seeing as he was able to maintain a proper conversation when speaking to us.

"Yes, Modi?"

"We will be coming to a stop soon for a break! There will be a stream nearby if you want to wash up or refill your canteens!"

"Understood, thank you."

Turning about, I took in the interior of the wagon before settling my gaze on the slumbering Elena. The Wagon was quite big, large enough to seat eight people. It was a lot of space for two people, and once more I could not fathom why Mord refused to join us, instead choosing to sleep outside on her wagon sleep. Well, there was no point dwelling on such thoughts.

"Elena, time to wake up."

No response.

"Elena? We are reaching a stop."

Still nothing.

"Elena…."

Nope.

"Malty has arrived and will be joining us on the trip."

It was a first for me, seeing somebody shoot up into an alert position that quickly, that must have been some skill, to go from lying down to a combat stance in a matter of seconds.. Elena gazed about with the look of a wolf that had been alerted to the presence of a hunter and was unsure whether to stalk him or run away. All of her tension faded away once she got a good grasp on the surroundings, though it was quickly replaced by ire directed at me.

"Motoyasu, that's not funny."

"It's not my fault that you are such a sleepyhead, Elena." I smiled as I took a seat, pointedly ignoring the death glare directed at me.

We were spared from any further arguments as the wagons grounded to a stop. I could not help but hear a few exchanges between Modi and the remaining guards before he popped into the wagon.

"Good afternoon, Sir Motoyasu, Lady Elena. We are stopping for a while!"

"How long?"

"About an hour?"

An hour… We had not really a need for any break considering that we had slept our time away on the wagon, in fact, the only thing close to a strenuous activity was the research that I had done.

"Right, is there any place where mobs will gather?"

"Mobs? Like people?"

Right. Game terms not usable here. "Sorry, I meant monsters like the wolves yesterday."

"Ah, the forest had a number of monsters stalking it. You should have no trouble running into something that will want to take a bite out of you."

Wow, talk about being blunt. This Modi was as straightforward as they come, not that I do not appreciate it however. "Then I'll be going hunting. You coming, Elena?"

"I'll be with you in a moment."

"Please be back in an hour." Modi stressed, "we need to leave by that time if we want to reach the next town by evening."

"Right."

"Stalk."

I watched as my body gradually turned grey, as though the shadow of death had crept up on me. This was my third time using that skill, and it had stupendous results. I especially appreciated the fact that it made my movements soundless.

My target was prowling about in the clearing just ahead. A strong looking bear three times my size and probably eight times my weight, if the numbers given by my [Sense of the Wolf] abilities were to be trusted. Never having to actually test this in practice before, I might have to take everything with a grain of salt.

Elena had been circling around to the left of our quarry. She was actually quite well hidden, considering that I couldn't hear or see her, except for a hazy outline behind some undergrowth that had appeared thanks to my passive skill.

Never thought she was the stealthy type. Maybe I should get some pointers from her later?

Apparently, I spoke too soon. The sound of twig getting crushed rang out throughout the woods. The bear was immediately on guard, eyes and ears twitching as it sniffed the air for signs of anything that had gotten too close to it. First it gave a few sniffs here and there, then it quickly turned around, facing me.

Well, shit.

It wasn't everyday you get something twenty times your mass lumbering towards you at the speed of a child taking his skateboard out for a spin. You can definitely trust me when I say that it was a very unpleasant experience. An experienced hunter or soldier in this fantasy setting would probably step aside and take a glancing slash at the Bear, or at least roll out of harm's way.

Not me. Sparing no time or effort, I did a completely one-eighty and ran. The fight with the wolves was different. I had six guards fighting the rest of the pack while I stabbed my spear at four of them who were too dumb to even realize that attacking a defensible wagon was likely not the best idea that had occurred to them.

My sudden burst of movement worn off the camouflage that [Stalk] had given me. Grey giving way to a brown cloak and greenish travelling clothes, I stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of the clearing. A sore thumb which a bear that was protective of its territory would be too happy to chase.

Strangely enough, I felt not a shred of panic. Perhaps it was the fact that all I need to do was to stay out of range of the Bear's teeth and claws. Or maybe there was some hidden skill that I had not noticed helping me out in that regard. Hopefully it was the latter, because I have no wish to become one of those over-analytical clichés.

Though, the calm mind does allow me to notice one extremely fatal flaw in my plan to stay away from the bear. How in the world am I going to defeat it?

"ELENA! A LITTLE HELP?"

It took her awhile but it was not too long before I heard a loud warcry behind me, followed by the bellowing of an enraged bear. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Elena hanging off the back of the thrashing animal, her sword stuck somewhere around itsneck.

Skidding to a stop, I watched the spectacle. Blood was already beginning to stain the clearing, but nowhere near enough to weaken the beast yet. Elena was still hanging on to the back of the bear for dear life, trying her best to not be flung off by the animal's attempts to throw her off.

"Motoya- Sir! He-Help please!"

Elena's plead drew me out of my trance. That's right, I was in a battle, I even forgot I was carrying a weapon in the midst of all this melee. There has got to be something I could do… Something…

Unfortunately, time was not on my side as Elena was rather unceremoniously thrown off to a side as the bear finally succeeded in dislodging her from its back. Eyes brimming with anger, it roared with rage as it began lumbering in my direction.

I tried to run, but somehow my legs remained frozen in place. A feeling unlike anything filled me, a sense of terror unlike any other I have ever felt. In that same instant, I raised the spear and stabbed forward, more out of reflex than from any calculated attack.

I barely felt the impact as the beast impaled itself on my weapon in its blind charge. I did not even flinch as the bear swiped its claws across my face striking me halfway across the clearing. As soon as I stood up, the spear that was stuck dead center of the bear's face disappeared, coming into being in the palm of my hand. Blood freely flowed from its wound, and though the Bear glared weakly at me, its eyes soon glazed over as it collapsed to the ground.

Was it dead? Hundreds of questions flowed through my head as I watched the unmoving body in front of me, my head dazed and dizzy from sudden stop to all the action. This was far different from what happened with the wolves, as I felt myself growing more exhausted as I brought my rapid breathing under control.

Was this what happens when the adrenaline dies down? I have never been a battle before, so I can't really say. Yet, this seems like what those old veterans of the past war described in those historical documentaries.

"Sir Motoyasu, you did it!"

I was reminded again of how sore my body was when another weight slammed into me. Though instead of trying to murder by impact, this one seemed intent on suffocating me instead, as strong arms wrapped around me and gave me a rather powerful squeeze.

"You did it Sir Motoyasu!" Then came a gasp as I was quite suddenly released from the chokehold and dropped rather unceremoniously onto the ground.

As my vision cleared, I was treated to a view of how Elena would look if she were to be colored like a tomato. She was probably embarrassed that she did not know her own strength, almost killing her teammate after a fight. Though there was still a hint a smile under that façade…

"You seemed rather happy." Especially after attempting to kill me. I was tempted to add, but decided to omit in favor of staying alive.

"Oh! I mean… It was the first time that you let me join you in a fight, Sir Motoyasu." Elena seemed to stumble for words here; it would take an idiot with negative IQ to tell that she was not deeply troubled. "Normally you would not let any of us help you in the fight, in fact the most you used to do was to let Lady Malty use magic from afar to assist you."

Seriously? How much have the previous 'Motoyasu' coddled these people?

"I'm just happy that you asked me to join. Even though I was not of much help in the end…"

Lady, if it were not for you I would be running around the woods with a bear on my trail. Though it would be best to let her know that now that I am not as used to this as the last Motoyasu.

"It's not that special. I could probably do more if I had my memories. Probably even take it down by myself like I used to…"

"Oh…" Elena began to turned away, though I quickly spun her around. That tone was all I needed to know that she was feeling dejected, and that sort of thing would be unhealthy for any form of activity. It would be best to show her that I have faith with her at the moment.

"But I'll be counting on your help until then, alright?"

"Yes!" Elena's features brightened up like a child that heard that Christmas had came early. Seriously, what did the previous Motoyasu do to make her idolize him/me this much, so much that she was still willing to stick by his/my side after he/I had lost my memories?

If the answer was either our good looks or an enormous crush, I'm calling bullshit on all of this.

"By the way, Sir Motoyasu." Elena frowned, looking more like her usual self that I was more familiar with. "Why did you not use the [Meteor Spear] that you had unlocked?"

[Meteor Spear]? As per usual, I ignored the naming scheme, but the name made it sound powerful enough. I drew out the game menu and looked through the various list of spears that I had so far unlocked, which numbered about eleven as of now. When I came up with nothing, I began to look through each of the spears available to me. Perhaps it was a skill?

"I don't have it." I said aloud as I went through the final spear form I had unlocked.

"What, but it was your strongest move that you had unlocked after you reached level seventy!"

"Level Seventy?" A sense of dread passed through me as I found my gaze drifting to my status bar and the numbers twenty-eight in bright white atop the health bar.

It took a full twenty hours before our weary caravan had trudged into the town of Jabrin, a place where our group were scheduled to replenish our stocks and supplies. As I trudged wearily along the dirt road, I mentally played the alphabets through my head. It had taken some coercing on my side to snap Elena out of her self induced shock to teach me this world's language.

Truth be told, I cannot blame her for dazing out while she was teaching me. It must have been extremely disheartening to hear that your main party member was nerfed by about fifty levels. Might be good to let her have some breathing space, especially given how hard it was for her to not hyperventilate when she was tutoring me on how to read.

The language was surprisingly not that difficult to understand. The alphabet were similar to chinese or japanese characters, though they had the same amount as the english alphabet. It was just a simple matter of comparing and reciting the words with their corresponding figures. Of course, that was not just the only bonus that I had received, I mused as I twirled the [Spear Pen] about my fingers. The practice I had over the past few hours had unlocked a plethora of crazy skills that sounded as useless in battle as their names.

[Calligraphy]
[Penmanship: Common]

[Language: Common]
[Inscription: Common]

[Scriptwriting]

…

Yeah… I'm not really that impressed. However, if it exists, there should be reason why, no? But considering that I'm not in an environment where combat was much more favored, I probably would not find myself needing those skills anytime soon.

There was not really anything worth doing in this town however. Sure, it was a peaceful place with a homely feeling, and there were many things that had caught my interest, being a city person myself. However, when it came to things that I can do, there were not really much besides walking about and sightseeing.

And I have six hours to do just that.

"Talk about a waste of time." I growled under my breath, I had always been a lazy person at heart, but even I have my limits, unlike what some people believes, it was not hard to get tired and bored of lazing about. Especially when I used to prefer lounging on a couch with a bag of chips, that or ogling members of the opposite sex… Wait….

I groaned as I rubbed my temple. THAT was the former Motoyasu's pastime, one of the most annoying problems I had found myself burdened with was some quirks from the previous incarnation. It was a hassle, especially when I don't know how strong the instinct to chasing skirts would go.

Though, speaking of skirts, I found my eyes drifting over to a female Demi-Human teenager with bear ears walking about with richly dressed girl with astoundingly blue hair. It appears that the relations between the pure and the half-breeds here were actually quite cordial. Or that girl could just be a slave. That was just one of the most infuriating things that I had learned about this place, there was literally nothing I have that I could draw a conclusive line about. Even Elena had seemed unsure, deeply hinting that the history of conflict between humans and demi-humans she was taught was strongly biased and influenced by the Church.

It really stinks when you do not who or what to trust.

Speaking about something stinking, I could still smell the stank of unwashed blood and meat on me. Ever since we had killed the bear, the skinning process had been extremely messy and… disgusting. My respect for the butchers at the markets have only been growing ever since I had to remove the innards of the bear and place them carefully into leather bags to preserve them. It did not really seemed to be a problem for Elena though, though I wonder if I should be concerned that she was used to getting her hands dirty. In fact, why does a world so full of game mechanics have something so realistic built into it? It was as though a human game designer had half-transcended into a god and decided that he will do things halfway instead of properly.

Then there was the atmosphere. The fight with the wolves, and even that one with the bear, it seemed abit too realistic to be a game. In fact, it would probably be much more feasible to view the game mechanics involved as 'weapons' in which one needs to survive in this world. It was really quite morbid when you think about it, I thought darkly as I watched a trio of children playing in the corner, that this peaceful village can easily turn into a scene of terror and pain should a monster or bandit raid show up.

Was this how the people from the old history find their will to fight and kill? Maybe, maybe not. However, what would I feel if I were to let that happen?

What would I feel?

Nothing else around the town actually stood out to me, until I happen on a small crowd gathered around a wagon. At first glance, it seemed as though it were an ordinary merchant selling his wares, until you noticed the giant plump bird beside him. Furthermore, his products seemed to be drawing quite a lot of attention. They were trinkets and jewellery that seemed reasonably priced. There were also quite a number of potions on a shelf beside him.

Maybe not merely a merchant perhaps?

The trinkets aside, I do find myself in need of more potions. Especially seeing as the ones that we had were donated as charity to the escorts and the few travellers who had taken quite a bit of damage in the tussle against the pack of wolves.

I headed over the stall, staying as inconspicuous as I can. No, I am not trying to steal anything, just making sure that nobody would see me and scream out "Ohmigawd, that's the Spear Hero!" and gather too much unwanted attention.

Picking up a potion, I eyed it and compared its vibrant colors to the ones that I had bought in Melromarc. According to Elena, the potency of a potion is measured by how 'pretty' it looks and no amount of colouring could ever fake its vibrancy. And as far as vibrancy goes, this potion was a beautiful shade of red, indicating its potency as clear as day.

"No stealing!"

I jumped in surprise as a long haired blond girl popped up beside me. She seemed about five to six years old, but what caught my attention were the two white wings that spouted from her back, giving her the look of a cupid.

"I'm not, I'm buying." I considered the young demihuman (unless angels were a thing here) before me. Was she a resident here?

"Master! He wants to buy something!"

Ah, a helper then? Although the word 'Master' had me thinking about- My train of thought stopped abruptly as soon as I saw the expression on the Merchant's face. He was not too shabby-looking, nice features complemented by sharp eyes and a head full of black hair. However, my priorities were not consumed by his looks, rather the look of recognition crossing his face.

I know that look, and I know he was about to shout out. And should the crowd here know that I am one of the four heroes, it would be a huge hassle trying to get out of this place. As these thoughts ran through my head at a mile an hour, I made a decision. Taking a step forward, I grabbed one of his hands which was outstretched and quickly pressed a couple of gold coins in his palm.

"For three bottles of potions. Keep the change and don't tell anyone about this."

I saw his face of recognition morphing into one of surprise and decided that I should probably get going while the going was good. Turning on my heels, I marched briskly out of the place. Hopefully the merchant would not raise a fuss in light of the money I generously gave him though I would hardly want to take any chances. As soon as I rounded a corner of the nearest house, my strides quicken into a running pace.

The faster I get further away from that location the better.

Quickly, I sped along the road, revelling in the physical capabilities of this body. Though, the feeling was soured by the knowledge that this body was not originally mine. It was rather disconcerting that I was so used to this, and that I could actually be okay with using another's body. Unfortunately, I was not paying close attention to my surroundings, as absorbed in my thoughts as I was, I noticed a couple walking down the road far too late. In an attempt to veer away from them, I accidentally lost my balance and ended up tumbling to a humiliating stop somewhere to their side.

"Are you alright, sir?"

I could only let out a groan in response to the lady who asked that question. Though my discomfort was quickly washed away as soon as I heard her companion let out a gasp.

Not. Again.

"Isn't this Spear Her-"Not letting her get any further than she had, I quickly slapped my hand over her mouth. Now that I got a good look at her, I just noticed that I had seen this odd couple walking in the village some time earlier. On a closer inspection, the demi-human girl's ears were not those of a bear, but rather something else. Nevertheless, my priority list was now topped by the fact that she seemed to be on the verge of saying my identity out loud.

My instincts to avoid being the center of attention quickly took over, and that instinct made me do the most sensible thing to avoid attention at the moment.

I ran.

Raphtalia was a very confused girl, especially with what just happened. For one, this was the last town she had expected to see the Spear Hero walking about in, especially alone, considering his taste for the extravagant and luxurious. For another, she was left completely speechless at the look of abject terror she had seen on Motoyasu.

She didn't do anything to garner that reaction from him, did she?

Shaking her head, she gently shook Melty, who was similarly stunned. "Ah, that was Sir Motoyasu, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Raphtalia murmured, her mind wandering as she thought about the recent confrontation. Motoyasu had always came across her as a womanizer and a flirt, yet for him to act totally out of character then, it was incredibly suspicious.

'What could he be up too?' Especially with the fact that he does not want to be noticed, and the fact that something about him seemed oddly familiar…

The rest of their walk was concluded in silence, only for it to be broken as soon as a familiar person came into sight.

"Master Naofumi!"

"Sir Naofumi!"

"Ah, it's just the two of you." The black haired youth commented cryptically before he resumed whatever he was doing before, which apparently involved torturing the poor Filo by stretching her cheeks impossibly wide apart with his bare hands.

"Um, Master Naofumi," Raphtalia struggled to make herself heard over the poor girl's moans of pain. "What are you doing to Firo?"

"I told Firo here before that I wanted her to kick that bastard every time she saw him. She didn't, so I'm punishing her here."

"Buargh he hehen heim dah thame!"

"Sir Motoyasu!" Melty cried out in defense of her friend's treatment, "put her down this instance!"

Unsurprisingly, Naofumi did not immediately put her down, but he did loosen his grip on the poor girl. "Well, why did you not kick him?"

"H-he didn't seem the same!"

"Eh?"

Lapsing deep into thought, Raphtalia could definitely see why Firo would not attack this Motoyasu, and if Firo said he didn't seem the same, it must be true. After all, it was almost impossible to hide any malicious (lecherous or otherwise) feelings from a divine bird such as Firo. However, that begs another question as to why was this Motoyasu behaving so differently that even Firo, the most sensitive member among their group, could not detect any underlying intentions from him.

"Waaaaaagagahhahhh!"

"Eh? Sir Naofumi! Stop it this instant! Lady Raphtalia, help me!"

It appears that she have other things to worry about at the moment though.