I don't own Star Ocean, this is a fanfiction.
As soon as I got off the ground I started looking Ilia, doing so made me realize that we were in fact in the forest that used to be part of my village. I kept looking and that is when I found Ilia hiding behind a tree. She immediately came out of hiding once she saw it was me.
"Roddick, good. I was afraid that the time guardian had sent each of our to separate locations. It seems the only two who are missing is the Captain and Millie. You are familiar with this world Roddick, any idea where we are?"
I looked at her and smiled, "Actually we are near my village. The problem is not where we are, but when. We went through the gate a full minute after the others, which I am still trying to figure out what effect had on out little trip through time. The other problem is that we are defenseless."
"We had to leave all weapons, armor, and most items before the Guardian would allow us to travel. The only thing I got with me is my money pouch since the currency apparently never changed. Without armor and weapons we would be easy prey to bandits."
That is when I saw her look down at herself and then at me, "You are right, we need some basic gear or we will not survive long enough to find the Captain or Millie, let alone find the Archdemon. Since you have money I propose you do some recon of the village. They will be more willing to trust you than me."
I decided to go to the place I knew often had most of the news in my village, the village shop. I worked there as a kid, so I knew pretty much how deal, and haggle down a price if needed.
As I walked towards the shop I saw a young woman standing outside the shop. "Excuse, Ms. I hate to bother you, but could you please tell me the current date and time." The young woman was happy to tell me these things as I said goodbye we both ended up going into the shop.
"Oh, you want something from my shop? That is surprising. So tell me young man. What would you need to buy from my humble little shop." I guess she is much older than she looks. I could never tell a woman's age, especially not with what she was wearing.
"Actually I need a pair of sets of armor, one for me and another for a young lady I travel with. Ours apparently were stolen when we went to sleep in our camp." She immediately smiled and had a look that screamed that she knew something was going on outside of the norm.
"Would this young lady you mention be your girlfriend?"
I looked at her and smiled, "Of course she is not my girlfriend, she is my wife. We are a pair of traveling mercenaries after all. I guess we hit the sauce a little too much before we went to sleep. Some bandits made off without weapons and armor. Honestly I need this armor, if only hers. She is hiding somewhere wearing only her sleeping robe."
"I don't want my wife to have to walk through the village wearing that, she is shy after all. Also hates perverts with a vengeance so she might end up killing someone if they see her like that. What can I say? My beloved sure keeps my life interesting."
She laughed as she went towards the back and came back with two large boxes. As she set them down on the counter she looked at me. "Well it is nice to hear a guy be so appreciative and caring to his wife. The first box has a few armors that would fit you, but you need to look through the other one to find one that would fit your wife."
"I am sure you know know your wife's measurements by heart. You are correct about bandits being a constant problem, that is why this village is thinking of starting to train the young folk in our village and form a militia. Since you guys are mercenaries, I decided to cut down the price on the armors to barely nothing, see if your significant other might want to stick around and help train our little militia."
"If you do train them, I might even be able to put you in contact with the local mayors. We are not asking for charity, we will pay you to train our fledgling militia."
Knowing what I know what today was and when we were supposed to have been sent, I began looking for armor for Ilia, try and keep it as decent and as protective as possible. It was not easy, some of the armors were shall we say a little bit more revealing that they should.
I mean come on, the function of a breastplate is to cover her entire chest, but one that cuts just so that the woman wearing it shows a lot and I mean a lot of cleavage is pointless. One poison arrow and that person is done for.
I found a nice armor for her and I took another set but this time in my size for me. "Two of these and do you have any weapon shops?" She smiled at me and began to shake her head. "Sorry, but no we don't have many weapon shops. If you do train our little militia I could talk to our mayor to let you keep the weapon you used to teach our young men and women."
Either she really wanted us to train that militia or this village didn't have any weapon shops yet. Which is pretty funny, I worked at a weapon shop in this village as a child. "I will tell my wife, so how much to I owe you for the armors?"
She smiled and this time I knew that she was up to something, "twenty silver coins, it's not like I would want to take advantage of you in your time of need." I could have gotten the price down, but at this time I didn't have the time and didn't need the potential enemy it would make out of her. I needed the gear that is true, but I also needed contacts.
I paid for the two armors and thanked her for her help and suggestions about potential work in the village.
I walked over to where Ilia was hiding and decided to call for her, "Ilia I got the change of clothes, could you please come and get it. We have a few problems to discuss after you are done changing into your new armor."
She walked up to me and took the package I made containing her armor as I walked back to her. She took it behind the tree and before hiding once again she decided to say something that I found rather funny, she said no peeking. Darn it, that is exactly what I had in mind doing.
Since I could not get to see her undress, I might as well wear my armor too. As soon as I got done, I could only say one thing, this stuff is exactly like the one I wore before the Guardian told me to leave it behind. Which makes no sense, why would the Guardian ask me to leave my armor, if this is appropriate to the time we were traveling to?
Ilia came out and looked at me, "So what problems do you wish to discuss?" Right down to business, got to love a woman who is focused on what needs to be done.
"First I sort of told a local shop owner, the one that sold us these armors, that we were a pair of traveling mercenaries, and that we were in fact not dating since we are married. I told her that to limit the potential of any of the young people around the area hitting on you."
She laughed as I finished saying that, "I got no problem with both of those statements. I see how becoming romantically involved with someone in the past could cause no end of problems when we return to our time. Was there anything else?"
I looked at her and told her she might want to sit down for the next part. "We are currently five years prior to the time Ronix and Millie will show up. We are supposed to travel five hundred years into the past of my world, we are five hundred and five years into the past of my world. I could see that would cause you to worry, but since I did tell them we are mercenaries, we could find some lucrative contracts to build our contacts with the local leaders."
"If we manage to work for a monarch or two we would have access to that king's or queen's intelligence network, their spies as it were. This would make finding our target that much easier."
Ilia got up and began to pace around me, "So it will be just the two of us, for five years by ourselves. You told them we are married, and that means we are expected to sleep, eat and do things that a normal married couple does. Your contact idea is good, but no hanky panky for you. Many may think I am easy due to my friendly nature, but I am not."
"You want to get busy with me like that, you will have to earn it!"
Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like I unintentionally have insulted Ilia in some way. "The other thing is we have a potential contract since this village is forming a new militia to protect against bandits, and since we are experienced mercenaries, the shopkeeper pretty much said we could be hired to train this militia, or at least the young members of it."
Ilia looked at me and looked at a piece of paper. "I know, she left a note within the armor I am wearing. Something about how lucky I am to have such a considerate husband, and the job offer. Mind telling me what that is about?"
I told her that I took a long time to find an armor set that would keep her safe and still be comfortable. I didn't tell her that my armor was considerably cheaper than hers. "So let's not waste time and go talk to the local Mayor about training those kids. I imagine this would not cause a problem in your world?"
I smiled and nodded my head, "Not a problem at all, this militia eventually becomes my village's Defense Force. The fact that they have this sort of armor, it means they are already thinking about a potential standard armor uniform for the militia."
The mayor actually reminded me of the old man that was head of the Defense Force actually, he had the whole bearded hermit look that the old man had. "So you two are the couple that Annette told me about, something about a married couple that got their things stolen while they slept. This is one reason why we are making the militia you know, so no one near or in our village has to put up with these bandits ever again."
"Since they robbed you, I guess you would not be against helping to make my dream of this militia a reality. Don't you worry, I will get you weapons, and a nice salary for as long as you train the recruits. Now what do you need as a weapon, just asking to be sure to get you the thing you are most comfortable using."
I saw Ilia smile and then she curled her arm, "Weapons, I don't need weapons. I got my fists and they are all I need." Even I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I tried to look like she meant it. I looked at her and smiled, "She ain't kidding, one more reason I fell for her."
The old man began to laugh, "So do you fight with just your fist too?" I looked at him and smiled, he turned pale for some reason. "No, I use symbology and a sword. A good long sword is the only weapon I rather use."
He walked over to the back of his office and moved an old bookcase, in the back there was a long cloth covered thing. He tossed it at me and I caught it. The moment my hand touched it the thing began to burn right through the cloth. It was one of the most scary looking swords I ever seen. The blade was completely black, the edge looked like it was made of burning magma, and the hilt looked like it was carved from a fang.
"So I was right, that old thing been in my family for years. Nobody has ever been able to use it. I couldn't touch it if it wasn't for the cloth. That sword is damn picky, and temperamental let me tell you. My ancestor won it in a fist fight long ago, but that thing will not let anyone it doesn't like do as much as touch it."
I began to plan out the training program that night, the Mayor was nice enough to provide me and Ilia with a rather nice residence. It sure didn't help that it was the building that would one day be the headquarters of the village's defense force. The other part is that since I told them we were man and wife, well there was only one large bed.
I respected Ilia far to much to try and take liberties with her, so it was decided that she would sleep under the covers and I would sleep on top. If someone ever peeked and asked why we did that we decided to tell that it was a means to prevent unplanned pregnancies. We would tell them that getting the militia training program established came first, that we don't leave things to chance when work is involved.
As I closed my eyes I saw Ilia asleep, and as I tried to fall asleep I wished her happy dreams.