Such a long wait for one of the two most prominent stories I have... it kind of hurts me on a deep emotional level, but such is the balance between work, school, and recreation.
You know, it was brought up in a review before that the girls were smitten too easily by our protagonist. I believe the words were something like "he says one sentence and bam, they're in love with him." That's not a widely held sentiment is it? I mean, I get that he got one most everyone's good side pretty easily, but so far the only person 'in love' with him is Airi, and it took her nearly forty chapters to get there... everyone else is just in various states of infatuation, crush, or 'what a nice/interesting guy.'
Of course I know everyone interprets the stories they read in their own light, but I'm hoping it doesn't seem that way to everyone. Most of you don't feel as though he just slides up to every chick, saying 'hey babe' and suddenly they're in love. Right? (Except for Nyx maybe but let's be honest with the lack of positive male figures in her life she'd probably be pretty easy to hook).
Also, I've given up on trying to properly interpret Queen's Blade geography. Aside from the fact that every map you look at has the same locations in completely different regions, most of the map makes no canonical sense with the mange/anime. One map says the elven forest is north of Gainos but that Vance territory is south of Gainos, meaning Leina went in a huge fucking circle around the entire capital to go to the forest, than went in a huge fucking circle to get back to Bosk on the opposite side of the capital, and then she decided to actually go in? It just makes no damn sense, so this one disclaimer here will settle the score:
All geographical locations in this fic are potentially non-canon and have been organized in a manner the writer thinks is sensible. Problem solved.
By the time Church finally set foot within the limits of Sheldan Free City, he had come to one solid conclusion: Gainos was the most impressive city he had ever seen. Granted, he had not actually seen any of it besides the walls, but those walls in and of themselves blew him away. They were so massive, and they stretched so far to the east and west he couldn't even imagine how large the city truly was. He would have done anything to fly a plane over the capital just so he could appreciate the sheer, massive range of land it commanded. He couldn't even begin to imagine how large the interior must have been. It was like its own little state in the form of a city: the Vatican, times a hundred.
Even the location was great. While Sheldan Free City only had access to a small part of it, Gainos was situated right next to the coast, with a boundless sparkling ocean to its west. You could see the mountains he had recently traversed piercing the skies behind him, and there were plenty of trees everywhere. The city literally had everything you could want in terms of scenery, and Church didn't even know what the inner architecture was like.
Needless to say he was eager to get inside the capital city and explore. Being born and raised in a far more futuristic setting than this, there was an almost palpable novelty factor to Church's experience: it was like a vacation in a famous ancient European locale, except he was a tourist who got to experience it all in its prime rather than its ashes.
Unfortunately Church still had to get through Sheldan Free City first, and he didn't know if there was some sort of stipulation or requirements for entering the capital city itself. After all, why would there be a city literally right outside the capital's walls unless the people out here weren't allowed in?
Of course, Church was likely just jumping to conclusions. Surely there was a practical reason this city was here. It probably had something to do with trade, or maybe it was actually the first step to Gainos expansion? Maybe they were going to build an entirely new section of the capital and build a new wall right around it? After all, who knew what the population situation was within the city...
Either way, such musings were mostly irrelevant at the moment. Regardless of why Sheldan Free City existed, Church had to pass through it to reach the main gates of Gainos. Of course he could have skirted the city entirely and walked to the capital through the nearby wilderness, but it was better practice to stick to civilization. Besides, after the fiasco with Elina, the cliff, and the damnable rain, most of his perishable supplies had been destroyed, and he needed more. He had a feeling he had a better chance of getting food in the city than he did trying to run down a deer or something in the woods.
Besides, even though it didn't hold a candle to the capital city right next to it, it wasn't as though Sheldan Free City was negligible in and of itself. It was still the largest settlement Church had been in so far, unless you wanted to count Syrinidell as an entire settlement. Church was pretty sure he couldn't do that that though, because the elves had their own villages within the forest, meaning the latter couldn't be counted as their entire living space. That'd be the same as claiming the plains a city was built on was also part of the settlement and not just the surrounding terrain.
That said, Sheldan Free City was definitely the largest settlement Church had set foot in as of yet, though that record would be quickly replaced whenever he made it into Gainos. It also meant that this was the first time Church had dealt with so many people. It was nothing he hadn't expected considering the proximity to the capital, but it was still a huge nuisance. Traversing the streets made the concept of personal space a complete joke. There was hardly a moment where Church wasn't being jostled around by one stranger or another. And unfortunately, most of the people around him were men. Church hadn't really realized this until now, but the male population did actually seem to outnumber the female one. It had been hard to tell considering his mostly female company until now, but then again maybe he was just imagining a larger ratio of men since this was the largest batch of dudes he had seen on the Continent so far.
Either way, it was the worst pedestrian traffic Church had seen outside of the metropolis cities from his own age. He was practically pushing people out of his way to move forward, not that anyone seemed to notice or care, as they were all doing the exact same thing to him. Unfortunately, this also made it nearly impossible to see where he was going, so he couldn't even get his bearings. He had to get away from this crowd somehow...
Doing that meant slipping into a nearby alley as soon as he had the chance, though even that wasn't devoid of people. Many others apparently had the same idea as him in terms of cutting through the side, but at least it wasn't as packed as the streets had been. With a moment and a small bubble of space finally to himself, Church tried to peer back into the streets at some of the signs hanging around to figure out his next move. Unfortunately, his attempt to do this was thwarted when he realized he couldn't read any of it.
It had never occurred to him that the written language here was something he couldn't read, because the spoken language had always been plain old English. He had never gotten his hands on a book or something to even realize that the Continent had a different alphabet even if they spoke the same language as he did.
Then again, as he peered at the few signs he could see from his position, Church noticed that the lettering did look vaguely similar to what he was used to. There were some things he could barely interpret, but at the same time many of the letters looked like highly stylized versions of what he knew. He could at least pick out vowels pretty easily: some of the stranger consonants were more difficult to read.
Even so, it was nice to not be completely lost. He could identify some different types of shops at least through their signs alone. And on that note, he noticed something of great interest: a bath. A public bath maybe, but as he laid eyes on it, Church realized that he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a chance to bathe. Being on the road made that a rare occurrence as it was, but following his numerous encounters with bad luck, it had been quite some time since he had cleaned himself: and that was an issue in and of itself.
After all, if he did encounter anyone he cared to actually impress, he could hardly go around smelling like he must have right now. Heck, if he planned on finding Tomoe and Shizuka again once he was in the capital he didn't want to be in this state of mess.
Unfortunately he was completely lacking in funds, and he couldn't imagine something like this being free. And if he needed money for something like that, he was either going to have to work for a bit or steal something. And quite frankly he didn't think it would be right to go around swiping people's hard earned money. Nabbing fruit or two from a stand was one thing, but those wouldn't be missed if they disappeared in such small amounts.
But he had no idea how employment worked in this country. Could one just walk into a place of work and ask for something to do? Surely it had to be easier than all of the interviews and resumes and whatnot in his own world, but he didn't know if it was that easy.
And unfortunately his need for money extended past the notion of cleaning himself. He still needed food, and he knew for a fact that wasn't free (though he had gotten away with a free meal in Alabaster Town). Not to mention the fact that he didn't even know what kind of currency this country used or what it was valued at. What if a bath was extortionately priced or something and he'd have to work his ass off for a whole week to afford it? He hardly had time to do that.
Damn, this was all so much easier when he was subsisting on hospitality... but he couldn't rely on the generosity of his companions forever, especially when he didn't have any companions to speak of. With that in mind, Church forced his way back onto the busy street and worked his way towards the bathhouse he had spotted: he might as well try to figure out how much it would cost to use it.
With how thick the pedestrian traffic was, it took Church several minutes to reach his objective, but when he finally did he was only met with confusion. No matter where he looked around the open entrance, he couldn't spot anything that looked even remotely like prices.
He must have been standing there for a little too long, because the attendant that he had failed to notice thus far made herself known from a counter inside. "Sir? Do you have a question?"
Church glanced at a girl that was altogether plain. Then again, maybe it was unfair to say so simply because Church was used to far more gorgeous women in far more exotic attire.
"Yeah, I was just wondering how much it costs to come here...?"
The girl mustered an expression that was almost as confused as Church's own. "But... you don't have to pay to use the public baths sir..."
Having lived in capitalist America for most of his life, this news was entirely shocking to Church. A service you didn't have to pay to use? What kind of heretical blasphemy was that?
"You don't? It's free?"
"Of course. Her majesty the Queen ordained that services related to personal well being should be free of charge a long time ago. Were you not aware...?"
"So what, I can just walk on in?"
The attendant grabbed some sort of linen towel for him. "Of course. Feel free. The well being of the public is of the utmost importance to our government."
That last line sounded like some government propaganda to Church, but hey, free was free. No wonder the current queen was so popular with the people. Regardless of this good fortune, Church followed the attendant's instructions as she directed him to an area where he could keep his valuables while bathing, complete with chests and locks and all. Furthermore, they'd even wash his clothes for him. Apparently this society was pretty keen on personal cleanliness.
Unfortunately, when Church made his way into the bath, he was met with the not at all pleasant site of dozens of men in the nude. Not that he hadn't expected it, but it was still greatly unsettling. Even worse was the fact that he was pretty sure he would be the only one feeling awkward here. He had read about it in history books in the past, but these ancient societies had a far less stringent notion of personal modesty when it came to stuff like this. A public bath like this one would be inconceivable in most of the modern world Church was used to. Here it was just standard fare, hence why no one was shy while they all hung out naked in the same place.
Being distinctly uncomfortable in this situation, Church sunk down into the water fairly quickly and did his best to conjure up an image of something far more pleasant. The most relevant situation to this one was the time he had stumbled on Shizuka and Tomoe bathing in the hot springs, so Church focused in on that. Those gorgeous women, lavishing their seductive bodies with love and care and acting all flustered and shy when someone caught them... Yeah, that was nice. Much nicer than what was going on for real.
Distracted by his far more pleasant thoughts, Church nevertheless made short work of his cleaning exercise, mostly because he didn't want to be in this situation any longer than he had to. Call him when he could bathe on the women's side and he'd get right on it. In short, he was out of there in fifteen minutes, though he didn't skimp on the session anyway. It was the first time in a long time he had been able to clean himself up, made even nicer by the fact that he left the establishment with clean clothes. It was probably the most positive thing to happen to him in quite some time.
Once he was back out on the streets, Church figured he was now back in the same rut of his earlier predicament. He still needed food, and for that he needed money. It was just a question of where he was going to get it. Thankfully resourcefulness was one of his strong suits, and he knew he could figure something out given the time.
Mission stood across from Leina, the falchion she had procured back in Liere drawn as she stood in a completely amateur stance. As their travels towards Sirinael continued, Mission had made a point of wanting to learn to wield her weapon more effectively. After all, as a soldier she knew better than anyone that a weapon was mostly useless without training. If something did happen and she needed to fight, she at least needed to have more skill than a complete amateur.
She had made this point to her traveling companions, so as they stopped for a short break from the dull travel, Mission had persuaded Leina to spar with her, not that it had been hard. The blonde seemed incredibly eager to practice, even against a rookie like her. Unfortunately Mission had found out that neither of her companions were well suited to be teachers. It turned out that Leina was hardly more experienced than Mission herself, having only fought real battles a few times and only classifying herself as a warrior for a few months.
As for Risty, she had been fighting for much longer, but not in any skilled sense. She had not been taught by anyone, and relied mostly on brute strength befitting her weapon of choice to fight. She had developed some level of finesse just through sheer experience in fighting, but it was all self-taught and completely unique to her own style. Mission wouldn't be able to make use of it effectively and Risty would hardly have been able to teach it simply because she was no good at instructing. That meant Mission's only option was to wing it the same way both of her companions seemed to, teaching herself to fight to some more effective degree simply through trial and error: hence the impromptu training session going on now.
Mission had been initially uncomfortable with the idea of them training with their weapons drawn, but supposedly it was the only way to do it. She figured they could have fought with their weapons sheathed or something, but apparently that was an idea that didn't sit right with her comrades on the road. So right now she simply stood across from Leina on a small patch of earth, her own falchion that she had no idea how to use in her left hand, something that had struck Leina as odd. Apparently lefties were as rare in this place as it was in the world Mission was used to.
Either way, Risty had decided to refill their canteens and relax while Leina and Mission did their thing, not at all eager to get involved. She only seemed to get excited about things that had some reward in it for her.
That said, the redhead wasn't even there to watch as Mission and Leina rushed each other in a way that was probably fitting for rookies like them. A more experienced warrior probably would have used a much more logical approach.
Their swords were quick to clang of off each other in an opening combat, in which Mission nearly dropped her sword. She had expected it to be more difficult to hold on to when striking against steel, but it still caught her off guard. Thankfully maintaining a strong grip on a sword wasn't too much different from compensating for the recoil of a rifle, so the silver haired girl didn't make the same mistake twice.
She was unsure of how fast she should swing her falchion or with how much force, considering that this was sparring, but if she didn't take it seriously Mission figured she would hardly get any better. Leina must have held the same belief, because she didn't seem to be holding back either. This resulted in several more ear grating clangs of steel on steel, whether that was sword to sword or sword on shield.
As Mission continued swinging in mostly haphazard ways, she noticed that Leina didn't have much finesse of her own. Even though she had literally never had a sword fight of all things in her life, Mission found it easy to read her opponent's moves and react accordingly. Leina's swings were too wide, and she moved her entire body with every stroke, practically telegraphing every move from a mile away. Even an amateur could handle that so long as they had stamina and decent reflexes.
Not that Mission was any better of course. Leina had no problem blocking all of her opponent's moves either, likely because Mission was making the same mistakes the blonde did. There was literally no skill to their fight: just two rookie fighters bashing weapons together in vain attempts to accomplish something. Still, Mission had an eye for talent, and even if Leina had yet to tap into it, she had potential. When you were a warrior of sorts yourself, it was easier to spot raw talent that could be molded into something better. Mission may have been trained as a soldier in a different sense, but she knew what to look for in individuals who could become elites. Determination, willpower, and raw natural ability. Leina was still working on molding that raw ability that was little more than determination and stamina put together, but she had the qualities a person needed to get better, and that was the desire to improve.
Still, thanks to their relatively equal lack of expertise in the matter, the two girls let their fight come to an end ten minutes in, when it was obvious that neither of them was making any progress whatsoever. Both exhausted from the bout that was little more than a contest of strength and endurance at that point, they were both quick to trade their stances for a relaxing seat on the ground.
Since they both needed a moment to breathe, there was a lack of any meaningful conversation, in which Mission recalled something dear old Daedalus had said to her. Something about not mentioning her brother to her new companions, because their first impression of him needed to be their own. It didn't take a genius to deduce the meaning behind that: at some point the plan was for them to meet her brother. Whether or not Mission would be in their company at that time was debatable.
But for what purpose? Daedalus had prattled on about Jake saving the world or something, and that he supposedly needed allies to do it. The safest bet would be to assume that Leina and Risty would be a few of those allies. But that didn't rule out the other possibilities. Letting her eyes roam over Leina's body, Mission could see it. Blondes weren't exactly Jake's favorite, but that didn't mean he didn't like them at all, especially when they came like this. Leina was curvaceous in all the right places, with a bust that put most girls to shame, gorgeous legs and an ass that probably had its own gravitational pull, which may have explained why that thong she dared call underwear was wedged so far up there.
And of course she was pretty in the most innocent sense. Even though her hairstyle may not have been right up Jake's alley, he'd never been the type of guy to outright disregard the attractiveness of any one person over one feature. He was sweet like that, finding something to appreciate in almost everyone he met, or at least the people he met that were girls.
So yeah, Mission could totally imagine her brother being attracted to the woman across from her, though, no offense to her brother, she couldn't see such attraction being reciprocated, mostly because the leagues were just too far apart. Not that Jake wasn't handsome in his own way, but not the kind of beefcake that netted bombshells like Leina.
Then again, Daedalus had said in their first encounter that Jake was pretty popular with the ladies already... but surely they weren't all as gorgeous as the women Mission traveled with now. Mission had been around the block in New Eden and the world before that. Women this naturally sexy and beautiful were a rarity, a one in one hundred or more type deal. It didn't matter what world you were in, surely girls this hot weren't strutting around in droves...
As for Risty, Mission couldn't imagine her brother paying the woman much thought. Sure, the redhead also dressed like a medieval stripper, but Mission knew her brother better than anyone bar none, and she knew Risty's personality wouldn't be all that appealing to him. She was too brusque, not to mention simple. Not simple in a stupid way, but in the sense that Risty's personality was lacking in the depth department, and Jake only liked people that were interesting at the very least. One dimensional was boring: it didn't require any effort to figure that kind of person out.
It didn't take very long for the girls to recover, nor did it take too long for Risty to return from her short errand. Seeing that neither Leina nor Mission seemed to be scuffed up at all, Risty cocked an eyebrow at them both. "Who won?"
Leina shrugged from her position on the ground. "Well neither of us actually hit the other, so I guess nobody won. Mission's pretty good."
The silver haired girl shook her head and mumbled quietly enough to avoid insulting her recent opponent. "I think it's more likely that neither of us is really good..."
Risty on the other hand spoke more clearly. "You didn't even hit her Leina? No offense of course, but Mission has no experience at all. You know that the warriors in the tournament will be incredibly skilled."
Leina frowned at this. "I know that, but I don't have anyone really skilled to teach me anything. I'm kind of just winging it here..."
Needless to say, Risty wasn't happy about this particular choice of words. "What do you mean you don't have anyone skilled...?"
"Well to be honest your style of fighting doesn't seem much different from mine, it's just that you're much stronger and have more stamina..."
Risty probably would have said something to defend herself, but Mission made her way back to her feet and interrupted the flow of the conversation. "Look, I'd love to discuss the difference between brute force and skill, but we're pretty close to Sirinael by now and I say we get moving again. Unfathomable treasure, remember?"
Mission's words made Risty completely forget about Leina's slight against her skill as a warrior. "That's right. We're only a few hours away from Seclusion Forest if we keep a steady pace. So close to all of that treasure... yeah, let's go!"
Leina sighed, not at all surprised at Risty's eagerness to drop everything and go treasure hunting. She for one would have enjoyed putting some more effort into training, because she knew better than anyone that Risty's earlier sentiment was right. She barely had any skill at all: she was an amateur fighter, not even being skilled enough to call herself a warrior really. And she had met so many strong people already: masters of combat like Alleyne and Echidna, pwerful supernatural beings in Melona and Airi, and plenty of other warriors that lacked such descriptors but could still mop the floor with her in moments. Even now Nowa could probably make short work of her, and the girl was just an apprentice, albeit to one of those aforementioned masters.
It was honestly quiet depressing: Leina had raw talent. Even she knew that. But potential that was never realized was all the same as having no potential at all. She needed someone to teach her, help her mold her unrefined potential into real skill. Someone who knew how to use a sword would be a good start...
Even so, as the trio of women prepared to make the final stretch of their journey towards Seclusion Forest, Leina decided that she would definitely force Risty to train more with her. While the bandit leader was no expert herself, she still knew more about fighting than Leina did, and the blonde was certain she could learn quite a bit from the woman if she would just try and teach.
On the bright side, Mission seemed to be just as eager to improve as Leina did. Maybe not to become a great fighter or anything, but likely because Mission was the type of girl who didn't like to be bad at anything. Or maybe she just liked being capable.
In that sense Leina admired Mission in the same way she did Risty. Both were strong, independent women who knew what they wanted and went for it. That kind of gutsy determination was something Leina had spent years mustering up in her own life. Sure, she was on that road now, but it took her forever to get started. In fact, it took half the castle exploding thanks to a gelatinous monstrosity...
As for Mission, she was too focused on the objective to care about anything else. She needed to get to Sirinael, find this matrix Daedalus had told her about, and get it to some blacksmith that was God knows where, all of which would somehow help her dear brother through some amount of trouble. Thinking all of that in her head made Mission think of how ridiculous it all sounded, but at this point she was all in with this gig, whether it was reality or some coma-induced fantasy.
That said, she took it all seriously, ignoring the questionable reality entirely. Apparently they were going to be ransacking ruins of some sort. Did that mean there would be traps? Or some equally dangerous beast waiting for them? With Leina and Risty she felt confident the three of them could take a dumb animal or two, but when it came to traps she didn't know if she could rely on these two...
She wasn't calling them stupid or anything, but Leina seemed like the type of girl who would have had no experience with traps in her entire life and Risty... well, Risty's eagerness to find treasure was the exact kind of thing that could make her walk through a tripwire or something.
But there was nothing to be done about that. All Mission could do was press forward and burn whatever bridge when she crossed it. Hopefully she just wouldn't need to use that bridge a second time.
As it turned out, finding work was indeed pretty easy in this world. Church figured this out when he straight up asked a food vendor if he could do anything for pay, only to find that the owner would pay him to bring out a bunch of heavy crates from the back alley because he was running out of goods to display up front. It was about an hour of significant physical labor, but he was paid a small handful of gold and actually granted a few pieces of fruit from those crates. It had been quick and easy, much more than Church had expected.
In hindsight, he was glad he had decided to bathe before asking strangers for work, as he imagined that it had significantly improved his chances. Now he had finally met his physical needs, and though it was a paltry sum above all, he at least had some funds if he needed buy anything else in the next few hours. Either way, he decided that he much preferred the employment system of this world over his own.
But now he came down to his second dilemma. He had nothing to do in Sheldan Free City. He was literally here only in passing so he could find a way into the capital. He just didn't know how to do that. He would imagine that there was a gate somewhere near or even within Sheldan Free City, but who knew where it was. The walls of Gainos were so massive that he couldn't tell where any entrance may have been, and even though it was minuscule in comparison, Sheldan Free City was still a big place. All he could do was move in the general direction of those gargantuan walls and hopefully find a place to get through at some point.
And once inside, well... he didn't really know what he would do. For most of his time in this foreign world he had followed the objectives of another person. That was easy, because of course the people that lived here had goals of their own to achieve. He on the other hand knew nothing about his own purpose here. Assuming he was supposed to be furthering his destiny or whatever, he had no idea how to go about it as this point.
All he really cared to do in Gainos was reunite with Shizuka and Tomoe somehow. Considering how massive the city was, Church had no doubt that doing so was either very unlikely or would take quite some time, so what did that leave him with? Lounging around in the capital somewhere for weeks or months while he waited for something to happen? He supposed it was a possibility, but it just seemed so droll...
Not for the first time, Church missed the companions he had met over his journeys. Whatever enjoyment he had garnered from solitude had long since grown sour, because it was just so lonely and boring. Desiring companionship may have been an odd sentiment for a sniper, but Church found it harder and harder to associate himself with his old life as time wore on. NOVA, New Eden, the Legion: it all seemed so far away now. Almost like they had never been a part of his life at all even though he knew they had been.
Moreover, Church had barely suffered any psychological issues since arriving in this world. Back in New Eden he had suffered terrible nightmares and fleeting moments of relapse on a near weekly basis. The last time he had suffered anything like that in this world was months ago, when he had relived a terrible day in his career after leaving Syrinidell with Airi and Melona. At that point he had still considered himself a stranger in this world. He had still felt out of place, like he belonged back in the world he knew, which may have been why he was so much more susceptible to those lingering psychological terrors.
But by now he felt less like a stranger in a foreign world and more like a tourist from another country. There were a lot of things he didn't know about this world or its culture, but he didn't feel like he didn't belong here anymore. He just felt like he was a foreigner visiting a new country, no different than Tomoe or Shizuka. All the same as visiting a new country on Earth.
He felt like he belonged in this world just as much as all of its native inhabitants did. And because he felt that way he had separated himself from the past to a very considerable extent. A year ago his mind had always been plagued with concerns over the safety of New Eden, or despair over the state of his ruined world. Now, he rarely paid any thought at all to his old world, or even his old life.
And who could blame him? Existence in Post-NOVA Earth was the stuff of nightmare fiction. Everyday you woke up, looked around New Eden, and reminded yourself that this was it. The last real vestige of humanity, that being but a few thousand people. It reminded you that billions had been killed, mutated, or stranded on the irradiated surface by the NOVA flares. Then you looked out over the scorched earth, reminisced about trees, clean water, and blue skies, and had no choice but to remind yourself that the Earth would never return to what you knew in your lifetime. Probably not even in a thousand lifetimes.
After NOVA, it was over. Life was no longer about living: it was just survival. Anyone who had survived was scarred or had lost something, and humanity as a whole had lost practically everything. Every single day was just one more glimpse into the despair living had become.
He didn't want to go back. He never wanted to go back. This world was so much better than his own. This world was alive, teeming with nature and people and everything that made life worth living. Church had felt more excitement, happiness, and hope in the few months he had existed in this world than in all of the years since NOVA. He couldn't even remember the last time he had laughed or smiled before arriving here, because there was never anything to be happy about in his lifeless and hopeless world of origin.
Was it selfish? Perhaps. The few innocents that still remained in New Eden relied on people like him to protect them. Abandoning them and his duty for his own happiness was nothing but self-serving. But he really didn't care. There were other soldiers to defend that final sanctuary. Church was a cog in the machine that would not be missed, a mere stone from the defensive wall that could easily be replaced. Church would never willingly choose to go back at this point.
Or he would be, if it weren't for one thing: his sister. Church couldn't abandon his sister, no matter what. He wouldn't leave her alone. If Mission was still living in that old world of death and despair, Church knew he would go back. He could never run away to some happier place while leaving her to exist in the closest mortal realm to hell.
The only question was whether or not Mission was still in that world, or if she couldn't leave it all the same as Church had. Daedalus had told him quite some time ago that he had protected Mission and the rest of his squad, but he had not said how. Had he pulled them from their world too? And even if Mission was still in that world, could Daedalus not pull her into this one just like he had Church?
If that was possible, Church would do everything in his power to make it happen. Nothing would make him happier than bringing his sister to live in a better world as well.
But it was all theoretical at this point. Church had no idea how things would play out from here on. Would he accomplish whatever goal he was here for and be sent back immediately to his origins? Or would he be allowed to stay indefinitely? He certainly hoped it was the latter, but there was no way to know.
Lost in his thoughts, Church found himself much closer to the walls of Gainos than when he had started walking. Looking up at its unbelievable size, Church couldn't help but be amazed. New Eden may have been a technological marvel of his day, but this city and its walls were just as impressive in their own right. He just couldn't get over how monstrously huge they were. He couldn't even imagine any force of arms trying to take such fortifications.
That said, there was indeed a massive gate in the wall here, connecting Sheldan Free City and Gainos with an expansive bridge over the channel of water being artificially directed away from the nearby ocean. Unfortunately, there was a huge stream of people coming in and out of this gate, and getting through would be rough. On the other hand, it didn't seem like there was any kind of prerequisite for people to enter the city. There were several guards in tempered red steel and chain-mail under armor watching over the proceedings, and they certainly weren't asking for a toll or papers or anything else.
Seeing that entry to the city would be simple enough, Church wasted no time in joining the throngs of people heading inside. It felt like walking through a crowded metro with how densely packed the bodies were, but at least everyone was moving at a decent pace. When Church himself reached the guards at the gate, he was intrigued by the fact that he couldn't tell their gender at all. The armor was uniform across all of the soldiers, with no alterations between them at all. Moreover, their helmets were full on plate metal, covering their entire face with the exception of a small slit for the soldiers to see out of.
Under normal circumstances Church would not have been surprised by this, but he had long since realized that this world had a very strange idea of 'armor.' None of the warriors he had met since coming here wore anything even remotely close to armor, in the case of females at least. Literally the closest thing to armor Church had seen on a girl so far was Ymir's greaves and Elina's breastplate, and calling that second one armor was a total farce. Seeing soldiers decked out in actual protective steel armor was unusual, though he supposed Vance's grunts had been similarly adorned.
What was it with girls and full on exposure in this world anyway? Granted, Church had determined by now that the continent he was on had quite the warm climate, something that he probably would have suffered from had he not been so inclined to chill. That said, he could see why clothing was more scant than usual because it was more comfortable in regards to temperature, but the exposure went beyond that. Of all the women he had met, roughly eighty to ninety percent of them were half-naked or more in their standard attire.
Melona? You could see right through most of her outfit. Her ass might as well not have been covered at all for all the difference her transparent getup made. Menace? She had underwear and a breastplate that did nothing to hold her breasts in check, and that was it. Alleyne and Nowa were modest in comparison, but only relatively speaking. He supposed Alleyne had that wicked cape of hers that added more to her modesty, but from the front she was still showing off half of her body and Nowa may have been covering thirty percent, just more tastefully than some of the other girls he'd met. Echidna literally didn't even wear pants, Shizuka was without a doubt showing off the goods, that dark skinned assassin girl had been half clothed all the way through, and the only real clothing Elina wore was that weird strip of tiger patterned cloth she had.
That left the girls that actually covered more than half of their bodies, that being Airi, Nanael, Hachiel, Nyx, Tomoe, and Ymir. But even though they did wear more than the others, calling them modest was a stretch. With the exception of Tomoe and Ymir, the others were still dressed quite seductively, though perhaps Hachiel could have been counted as one of the modest girls as well.
The point being, there was something far more prevalent about partial nudity in this society than mere climate. In fact, it probably had nothing to do with climate at all. Back in his world chicks walking around this under-dressed would have been a massive taboo. Here nobody batted an eyelash, and most of the women seemed to be proud of appearances: showing off even.
Of course, there were girls that did that back home too, but in his society such women were ridiculed. They were sluts or tramps or whores or worse. Here it wasn't just the women that were proud of their bodies, but the general populace too. It was kind of weird, because what Church's world would have simply labeled slutty this world called beauty, and he found that he rather liked the difference. That had something to do with the fact of more eye candy for him of course, but he liked the idea for less shallow reasons too. He had always figured the female body to the be the ultimate work of art. Shaming it to kingdom come had always seemed like poor taste.
That said, that 'work of art' status only applied to certain individuals. He tried to find something to appreciate in most of the people he met, but even so he had no delusions: some people were ugly. He didn't believe in a society were everyone should feel accomplished for things they weren't, and that included looks. If you weren't something, you weren't. Church wasn't a good cook, at all. He sucked at cooking and despised it. And because that was the case, he didn't run around claiming to be a master chef to anyone who would listen. From his perspective the same thing applied to appearance: you could claim to be gorgeous or sexy or whatever you wanted, but if you weren't you weren't. If you couldn't accept that for what it was, you needed to work to improve yourself. After all, with the exception of special cases, any ordinary person could improve themselves through hard work and patience.
There was evidence enough of that in the women he had met here so far. Sure, a lot of them probably had some really damn good genes, but even so, there was no way they didn't put effort into looking how they did. Whether it was beauty or fitness, they put hours into it. No matter how good your genetics were, neglect and laziness would turn your looks into a mess. None of the girls here were like that, so they had to be working to keep themselves in shape and for the most part good-looking. And if you worked for something, you had every right to brag about it, everyone else be damned.
Such a notion probably would have gotten him lynched in his society before NOVA. People hated bragging. Thought it was equal to the other person belittling them or something. Heck, one good-looking girl would show a little skin and everyone who wasn't as attractive as her would get mad about it, then whine about how the girl should be more sensitive.
If there was one silver lining to the whole NOVA incident, it was the fact that no one thought like that anymore. No one gave two shits about crap like that now that the world was destroyed. If someone hurt your feelings or made you uncomfortable you dealt with it or at least kept it to yourself, and you could be damn sure that no one would bother changing their behavior for your sake.
It was good in its own way. Everyone had more spine after surviving the apocalypse. Complaining about such petty bullshit was so pointless no one did it, and that was the one thing Church could appreciate about NOVA, all the other terrible things it caused notwithstanding. It was just hard to listen to people complain about others being mean to them when you had seen friends and comrades gunned down on the battlefield.
One way or another, it seemed like this society accepted the notion of unashamed partial nudity, for one reason or another. The same stigma that existed in Church's world didn't exist here, and he liked that.
By the time Church's internal musings came to an end, he had walked a fair distance past the gate to the capital. Needless to say, being this far in allowed him to witness the grandeur of Gainos' largest buildings firsthand. Outside of the wall he had only been able to see the very top of these buildings from a distance. Within, no rooftop was high enough to obscure his view of what must have undoubtedly been the palace. Of course all he could really see was the massive boulder that upheld the palace and the enormous tower that pierced the clouds clean through, but it couldn't have been anything else.
Some distance to the left of the palace was an equally large building, though this one looked distinctly like a cathedral. They were connected to each other through bridges that spanned the skies above the rest of the city. Church couldn't see how to get up there from here, but then again this city was massive. The way up could have been anywhere at all.
It was certainly a breathtaking sight, and one that Church certainly appreciated. Never had he seen such a feat of architecture, buildings that made modern skyscrapers look like child's play.
Still, as much as Church would have liked to stand around and ogle the majesty around him, he was still close enough to the gate for the crowd to be extremely thick, and they certainly didn't want to stand around and wait for him to get a move on. He was unwillingly pushed forward by the people around him, and despite knowing absolutely nothing about his location, Church figured it was in his best interests to at least get away from the crowd long enough to think straight.
That said, he simply moved along with the crowd until it began to naturally disperse: such was the nature of crowds of strangers that all had somewhere else to be. Eventually Church found himself standing on a relatively lively street, though it was not packed nearly as bad as earlier, or even as badly as Sheldan Free City had been. In fact, as Church aimlessly roamed this street and any others that caught his eye, he noted with interest that Gainos seemed to be a relatively open environment. Sure, there were a lot of people around, but not in the same packed together manner of most crowded cities. It was kind of relaxing actually.
It also made it much easier to move around the place without getting squashed by throngs of people all the time, which was a great bonus. It certainly made sightseeing much easier, which Church was grateful for since he was so smitten with the city.
But unfortunately, being within its walls brought back the same issue he had thought of earlier. What on earth was he supposed to do now? He had no objective, no goal, nothing to guide him towards his next course of action. He had a general desire to find Tomoe and Shizuka again, but he had no idea how to do that or even where to start. He didn't know anything about this city at all really, and that made it much harder to get a grasp on what his next move should be. Obviously it would be wise to learn more about the place , but how did one go about that? He highly doubted there was a welcome center in this day and age.
And he certainly couldn't just roam around forever...man, he had no idea being a tourist could be this difficult.
Hours after their impromptu sparring session, Mission and her posse had finally made it to Seclusion Forest, where they were then at a loss. Mission had told Leina and Risty she knew where Sirinael was exactly. But Daedalus had told Mission that he wouldn't tell her where it was until she was closer to the destination. Now that they were here, she still hadn't received any divine vision or anything to point her to the goal...
However, as they took their first tentative steps into the rather dark and gloomy atmosphere of Seclusion Forest, Mission suddenly felt as if she knew exactly where to go. It felt like nothing more than her usual instincts honestly, but she figured it was the work of Daedalus, so she simply rolled with it, leading the way through alien territory with unnatural familiarity.
Mission had initially been worried about the presence of wild animals in these woods, but aside from a few small creatures, her group of adventurers encountered nothing unusual. Even so, it took them well over an hour to find their goal, at which point Mission was struck with a rather unusual notion that was likely some sort of nostalgia from an old Tomb Raider game.
That was probably because the structures they finally stumbled across were the stone ruins of some ancient settlement rather than the treehouses Mission had been expecting. Aside from her preconceived notions about Elves, Leina had at some point gone into decent detail about the Elves she had met before, and according to the blonde they mostly lived in wooden structures up in the trees. That being the case, the vine covered and slowly crumbling stone ruins here seemed a little out of place. But hey, they were different Elven tribes and all, so who said they had to be similar in any cultural sense?
That said, Mission was fairly certain that this was the fabled Sirinael they had been searching for, and that meant she was no longer interested in taking the lead. She did however, have to pretend she at least knew what was going on in detail.
"Well ladies, this it it. Sirinael, or what's left of it anyway. So, who wants to go first?"
Leina looked surprised by this question. "You mean you aren't going to?"
"Uh, no? Why would I?"
Risty's hands were on her hips in a moment. "Why wouldn't you? You know about this place, obviously you should lead us so we don't trip any traps or anything."
"What do you people think is written in history books? A play by play of some random dungeon diver's experience going through the ruins? I said I knew were it was, not about what was inside beyond the general promise of treasure."
Risty seemed distinctly unhappy about this notion, but Leina thought it seemed pretty logical in hindsight. After all, most history books didn't include such tiny details...
That said, no one really wanted to go first, but Mission clearly wasn't going to. She was the least experienced member of their little team, as far as anything to do with this world was concerned, and she figured that made her less than adequate in terms of leading the group into potentially dangerous territory. As for Risty, she wasn't eager to lead the way because she valued the idea of not being shot full of arrows or smashed by a boulder or something. Not that she wanted the others to put that risk on themselves, but aside from the orphans she'd give anything for, Risty tended to look out for good 'ol number one before anyone else.
And that only left Leina. Sure, she wasn't eager to take the first steps into who knew what either, but she didn't want to seem like a coward, and relative as it was, she did happen to be wearing the only real armor in the group. If anyone would have a chance of surviving an arrow trap or something similar it would be her, provided that it hit the armor that only protected twenty or thirty percent of her body. But she wanted to be a warrior, and warriors were supposed to be brave...
"I'll go first, I guess..."
The other girls gave her an appreciative sort of look, though Mission's looked like she had been expecting such a course of action anyway, and that was all the thanks Leina got before she took her first tentative steps towards the ruins of Sirinael, sword and shield drawn. For the first time ever, she would have much preferred to have Risty or Mission's shield: the spiral design of her own meant that it would be much less useful for blocking any projectiles that might come her way, or worse.
But she wasn't one for complaining, not after coming to understand how generous her lot in life had been as a member of nobility, so she simply trudged forward her eyes scanning the forest around her for danger but not at all knowing what to look for.
Thankfully the forest itself wasn't brimming with dangers, and in fact, it wasn't even that hard to find the general entrance to the ruins themselves. Mission was unsure of what these structures used to be, as they seemed far from residential in nature, but in the end she didn't care. All that mattered to her was whether or not the item she was looking for was within, and how easily she could get her hands on it.
Still, as the trio glanced into the gloom that was the hallway they had chanced upon, they found themselves slightly reluctant to give up the light of day, sparse as it was through the canopy above them. After all, there didn't seem to be any noticeable source of light coming from within...
But Mission wasn't the type of girl who took no for an answer, so she wasted little time in pushing Leina into the building and following just a few steps behind. Risty brought up the rear, a position Mission normally would have taken herself, were she armed in a manner befitting such formations.
In their current state, there was just one problem: Leina being in front blocked a significant portion of Mission's view. Not that the blonde was fat of course, far from it, but truth be told that rather obnoxious ass of hers took up a lot of the view whether you wanted it to or not. It didn't help that the way she moved had absolutely zero focus on minimizing one's size.
Mission supposed she was just used to comrades of a more... average size. Usually whoever was on point didn't have such curvy proportions to command more view space.
If she were a guy she supposed she wouldn't be complaining, but seeing how she was in fact not male, she could only be irritated with the practical hindrance presented, regardless of how minor it was. After all, at least it wasn't Risty's wild mane of hair. That would have been a real pain to look past.
Unfortunately the ability to see anything was diminished much more by the ever growing lack of light than anyone's body as they progressed. There was just no natural light in the ruins, or any artificial light for that matter, and soon enough Mission could barely see Leina in front of her.
"Alright, stop. There's no point in continuing like this. We need some source of light before proceeding."
Before Leina or Risty could offer some sort of response to this idea, there was the distinct sound of rock bouncing off of the surrounding stone somewhere down the hall in front of them, as though it had been misplaced by the actions of someone or something. Mission was the first to scowl at the noise.
"Dear God, please don't let this be some Indiana Jones boulder trap..."
Thankfully what came down the hallway at them was not a boulder, but a shining blue light of some sort. On the other hand maybe this shining blue light was more dangerous than any other conceivable trap. There was some brief moment where Mission considering telling the others to retreat back towards the outside, but before she could follow through with the thought the mysterious light was upon them and Leina was already screaming as something came at her knees.
Having little or practically no other goal at the moment, Church had taken it upon himself to roam Gainos in some sort of sightseeing adventure. In it's own way it was fun, but still aimless nevertheless.
He had spent a good few hours doing just that, touring this one section of the city he had found himself in, but the exertion had left him tired, and just a little unsteady on his feet as he tried to get back to an inn he had noticed quite some time earlier. He was being careful to avoid bumping into anyone, but as the crowd bustled about he found it impossible to avoid contact with everyone, made all the more obvious when he was accidentally nudged into someone heading the opposite way among the crowd.
He bounced off the individual with only a minor irritated grunt, muttering out an apology that his victim probably didn't hear. The affected person did the same, at which point Church whirled around in the middle of the street to face them, because he recognized that voice, all the same as he recognized that vibrant scarlet hair.
Yay for reunions and intermission type chapters. Anyone that can guess the identity of our light bearing ruin dweller/explorer/bandit gets a box of internet cookies.
And of course, Christmas time means lots of holiday themed fanart... there's actually quite a bit of it. I'd kill for Santa Airi this year. If only.