Chapter 8: The Wave Resistor
"Welcome! Oh, it's both of you." Vadge greeted both Tomori and Ivaran. "Here's your shield, elf kid."
Vadge handed Ivaran his fixed Shield of Absorver.
"Thank you so much, Vadge-san." Ivaran said to him while putting his shield on his back.
"No need to, elf kid. By the way, the magic shop owner and the apothecary owner want you to have this." Vagde gives Tomori a pastel and mortar, a worn-out book and a grimoire. "They said that this gift is a thanks to you for saving their relatives in Stawford Village during the wave."
"I see… Please send them my gratitude." Tomori said as he took the stuff from Vadge. He inspected the book and grimoire. "This book has a lot of potion recipes that I didn't know of. And the grimoire is a Support Magic Grimoire. This could be useful. I'm not a supporter, but I can support myself if I learn a few support magic."
Tomori stored the stuff into his inventory. "Okay then, let's go, Ivaran."
Both of them left the weapon shop.
"Tomori-sama, what should we do next?" Ivaran asked.
"The most sensible thing to do is to get your class up. But considering the king is not right in his mind right now, we can't do that. Maybe we could go to another country to get a class up. But I doubt the church would allow that. Sigh*." Tomori knelt down to the ground as he sighed in distress. "The moment the queen returned, I would tap the hell out from here. This place is more of a liability for me. Except for a few places. Heck, I would rather spend my time in Terry's shop if I can leave this country."
"Are you okay?" Ivaran asked him.
Tomori stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Seems like we need to wait for a moment until you can get your class up. And to be honest, I don't know what to do next. Maybe I can lay it off for a week to study magic and craft a few new potion batches."
"That's a pretty good idea, Tomori-sama. We had been grinding almost everyday. It's a good thing for us to have a rest."
"Oh yeah, Ivaran. I have something more to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Can you stop calling me with honorifics?"
"But why?"
"It's because you came a long way from being a squeaky boy to a man. I know you're younger than me, but I see you not as a young boy, but as a man who has gone through a lot in the past month. And I don't want a man who's taller than me to call me with -sama." Tomori explained to him.
"I see… Well then, what should we do next… Tomori…?" Ivaran said while forcing himself to not say the honorifics.
"Well, we can go to Stawford Village and help them out with construction of the burned buildings. What do you think?"
"I don't mind it. As long as we can help people."
"I see. Let's go then."
Both of them walked to Stawford Village. There's a few burned buildings inside the village. But luckily the Inn doesn't get burned down. They went inside the village. But a villager recognised Tomori.
"Oh, Blade Hero-sama! What are you doing here?" The villager asked him.
"I wanted to lay down from grinding for a while. And I thought it would be better if I can help you guys with reconstruction of the burned buildings. Can I meet with the lord of this village?" Tomori asked the villager.
"Sure do. This way please." Both of them follow the villagers. As they walked, Tomori saw the lord observing the village's reconstruction. The lord notices Tomori from afar.
"The Blade Hero! What wish do you have for you to come here?" The lord asked Tomori.
"I wanted to help with the reconstruction of this village. Do you have anything that I can help with?"
"Oh, we're short of logs and Metal Ores. If you don't mind, could you bring dozens of those materials here? Of course, we will pay you for that."
"Consider that done." Tomori opens up his inventory and drops the logs and Metal Ores from his inventory until there's only a few left inside his inventory. "You're lucky that I have a bunch of those materials on my Inventory. I hope this is enough."
"It's more than enough, Blade Hero. Thank you very much. Here's the payment." The lord gives Tomori a pouch filled with coins. He stored it inside of his inventory.
"Well, if you guys need any help, you can ask me or my companion inside the Inn. We will take our leave right now."
"Very well, Blade Hero." The lord bowed to him. Tomori and Ivaran then headed to the Inn.
"It's weird that these guys are really grateful to me for helping them. Not that I'm complaining though."
As they went inside the Inn, the woman who's on the Inn's counter recognised Ivaran.
"Ah, it's you! Thank you so much for saving me and my child yesterday." The women bowed to them. "So how can I help you?"
"We're going to stay in this village for a week to help with reconstruction. I hope we can rent a room for a week." Tomori said.
"I see… Well then, if that's the case, you don't have to pay at all." The woman said.
"What? Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. You're helping with the reconstruction of this village, right? My husband wouldn't mind it if both of you stayed here for free."
"I see…" Tomori has almost forgotten that if you do good things to people, then surely good things will come to you. Tomori used to be a kind person before he reached adulthood. He will help everyone if he's capable of helping them. However, as he grew up, helping people has become a double edged sword to him. Good things or bad things will happen if he helps people too much. "I hope no one is going to bite me in the back…"
"Here's the key to your room. Please enjoy your stay." The woman said as she handed Tomori the key.
"Will do."
Both Tomori and Ivaran then go to their room.
"Tomori…?" Ivaran said to him. He is still forcing himself to not say the honorifics. "Can I see if the other villagers need any help?"
"Of course. But make sure you return by dinner, okay?"
"I will." Ivaran left the room.
"Well then…" Tomori sat at the chair that was already prepared in the room. He pulled out the Lightning Grimoire, Support Grimoire and the potion recipe book. "Riri?" He called his Spirit Beast.
"Yes?"
"Can I practice using Spirit Union so that I wouldn't get any pain after we separated?"
"You don't need my permission for that. You're the contractor. I'm the one who's supposed to obey you in the first place."
"Well, if you said so…" Tomori then quietly chanted.
" Spirit Union: The Crimson Wolf!"
Red particles of wolf's ears and tails appear on his body.
"And also…"
He switched to the new weapon form that he unlocked yesterday.
Flare Hydra Sword (Normal) Ability Locked:
Skill: Zweite Slash
Equip Bonus: Damage to Dragon-type Monster Up, Fire Resistance (Medium)
Special Effect: Flare Blade (Medium)
Mastery Level: 10
Tomori then turned to the grimoires and book on the table.
"Let's see if I can finish the Lightning Grimoire this day." Tomori opened up the grimoire and read the contents.
"Hmm… And done!" Tomori closes the Lightning Grimoire. He had learned dozens of Lightning spells from it. Though they're only Low-class spells, if he completely masters the spells, he can move to High-class next.
"Tomori…?" Ivaran called him through the door. "The kind lady from back then has prepared dinner for us."
"Okay, coming right up." Tomori stored the books inside of his Inventory and left the room.
"Um…" But Ivaran noticed something about Tomori.
"Come on, let's eat dinner." Tomori said to him.
"Okay…" Ivaran stayed silent and followed him downstairs. Then they met up with a villager when they headed to the eating area.
"Oh, the Blade Hero…" The villager also noticed something different about him.
"Why are they all looking at me like that?" Tomori just ignored them and took a seat at the table.
"Um… Tomori?" Ivaran said to him. He was finally able to say his name without sounding weird at all.
"Yeah? Is there something that you wanted to say to me, Ivaran?"
"Have you noticed something weird about yourself?"
"Why did you say that?"
" Sigh* Please touch your head."
"Okay…" Tomori proceeds to touch his head.
Squishy*
"Hmm?" There's something on his head. Something squishy that reacts to his body. He touched the squishy thing more. "Oh man, this feels kind of good." After a few seconds in, he just realised something. "Oh f*ck! I forgot to separate with Riri! Now I know why they look at me weird and stuff."
" Unite Out!" Riri came out from Tomori's body as the red particles coating his body disappeared. "Hmm… My body doesn't hurt. Actually, I kind of felt a little sluggish."
"Very good, Tomori. Keep it up and you will be able to use Spirit Union without feeling any pain at all." Riri said to him.
"Alright." He replied. "You need to eat, Riri?"
"Don't need to. Since we formed a contract, I get my energy from you. Luckily, you sleep a lot. So you have a lot of energy preserved in your body." She explained.
"I see… Well then, let's get eating, shall we Ivaran?"
"Yes."
It's been six days since both Tomori and Ivaran stayed in the village. Tomori is stuck studying while Ivaran always does shadow training in the morning so that his skills wouldn't be rusty.
"Yo, Ivaran. Looking great." Tomori said as he threw a Nutritious Potion at him. Ivaran catches the potion and drinks it.
"Ah… Thanks, Tomori."
"Anytime, brother. Looks like the buildings inside the village have almost been fixed."
"Yeah…"
They look around the village. The burned buildings have been repaired. If not, it has been upgraded to look as good as new.
Then Tomori saw a group of villagers forming up in the middle of the village.
"What's that all about?" Tomori asked Ivaran.
"I don't know. Should we take a look?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Both of them go to the middle of the village. As they got closer, Tomori saw a fancy carriage being carried by an Earth Dragon. The person who exited the carriage is none other than the person who Tomori didn't want to meet at all, Tadashi. Not only that, it seems like he has repaired his old armor back. Tomori pulled his hood on so that he wouldn't recognise him.
"Attention, the people of this village!" The princess stood next to Tadashi. She also opened a parchment paper. "In recognition for his glorious victories in the last wave of destruction, the king of these lands has granted this man, Tadashi Kaneshiro, governorship over this village."
"Say what?! And also, 'glorious victories'? Didn't he deal the least damage in the boss battle?"
Tadashi moved forward so that the villagers can see him.
"So, I'm Tadashi Kaneshiro, the Shaft Hero. And now I'm your new lord of this village. Nice to meet you all! Good luck with reconstruction and other stuff!" He said to the villagers.
Everyone was shocked hearing that the Shaft Hero is the new lord.
"Huah… Is this guy for real though? He didn't contribute anything to the village and yet he has the balls to become the new lord? The f*ck is going on inside his head?!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm the lord of this village. But I didn't hear anything about this before." The lord moved forward.
"Oh, did you contradict the order from the king himself?" The princess said with a menacing tone.
"No, I just-"
"Silent!" The princess cut the lord off.
"Okay… This country royalty is f*cked in the head."
"First of all, we will establish a tax upon entry and exit from this village. If we don't, we will never be able to raise appropriate restoration funds. The fee due upon entrance will be 100 silver, and the fee upon exit will be 100 silver." The princess continued.
"I see… Since the villagers support me that much, these people right here wanted to punish them this way. What a f*cking joke."
"But we won't survive that!" The lord shouted.
"Is it a really huge amount?" Tadashi said bluntly.
"Man, does hanging out with the princess make him lose the value of money? Or did he come from a rich family? Either way, this guy has some trouble."
"At such times, painful decisions have to be made. Otherwise, the village never recovered. And by the power of the king, the previous lord will be dismissed." The princess said.
"No way! It's the knights who burned the buildings inside the village in the first place! We have already fixed most of the buildings by ourselves!" A villager exclaimed.
"That's right! We don't need your stupid taxes! The reconstruction is almost finished!"
"And also, the Blade Hero, Magic Hero, Projectile Hero and their companions are the ones who help us evacuate during the waves! Not you lots!"
A lot of villagers started protesting.
"Oh ho… Disagreeing with the king's decisions, eh? If that's the case, then you have to pay with your life." The princess raised her hands. A group of knights started to surround the villagers. But before she could give a command, someone ought to save the day.
" All Low Chain Lightning V!" Tomori points his sword to one of the knights. Electricity shot out from his sword and went to the knights.
"Argh!" The knights get his by the spell. The spell then travels to its next target, which is another knight standing next to the passed out knight. The spell continues to travel to the next target until all the knights surrounding the villagers are lying on the ground.
"That voice… It can't be…"
The villagers make a way for Tomori and Ivaran to confront Tadashi and the princess. Tomori pulled his hood down so that they could see his face.
"Hello there." Tomori said to them. "Didn't expect you bunch of idiots causing another problem again. Especially in front of me. Seems like you guys haven't learned your lesson."
"Tomori!" Tadashi yelled his name out. He clearly hates Tomori from the bottom of his heart.
"Heh! What's a criminal like you doing here?" The princess exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm just doing what a hero should do. Not coming in here to announce that I'm going to be the new lord of a village I didn't protect and putting taxes so high that Elon Musk is disappointed in you." Tomori said. He looked at Ivaran, signalling him to be ready for combat. "Look, I know the drill. Bring out all of your knights. I'll beat their *ss so hard that they can't get hard anymore."
But before anyone could respond to Tomori's statement, a couple of Shadows surrounded the princess.
"What…" The princess seem shocked to see the Shadows.
"A group of Shadows? And from the look of it, they weren't the Church's Shadows."
"Maia-dono, you probably knew who we were. We have a letter from a certain person to you." One of the Shadows handed the princess a parchment paper. The princess paled as she read the paper.
"Tch!" The princess crumpled the paper. "Blade Hero! We challenge you to a fight!"
Tadashi's face paled as he heard the words 'Blade Hero' and 'fight' in the same sentence.
"But May…" Tadashi really didn't like the idea of fighting Tomori again.
"Fight for this village in a race against our Earth Dragon!" The princess said.
"…Hah?!" Tomori yelled. "Race? I don't have any pets to race against you morons. Can't we decide the other way? Like a cookout or something?"
"Well, if that's the case then we will win this race." The princess said with a huge grin on her face.
"Okay, I joined this race. Now what's the condition?"
"If we win, we get the ownership of this village and the items that you steal from him." The princess said.
"Correction. The items that I won were FAIR and square. So what do I get if I win?" Tomori asked.
"You will get the ownership of this village and we will leave."
"Nah, that won't do. How about this? If I win, I want Tadashi's armor as well."
"What?! What do you want to do with my armor?!" Tadashi asked.
"No need to ask pointless questions. So are we agreed on the terms?"
The princess hesitated for a moment. But she isn't worried because she knows that she's going to win either way.
"Deal!" The princess said.
"Okay then, let me prepare my ride." Tomori goes to the stable. Ivaran also followed him. "Riri, I have a question. Can you take the form of an adult Hound Wolf?"
"Of course I can. So you wanted me to participate in the race?"
"You bet I do. And if they tried to cast any debuff spells on you, I know that you can interrupt them from doing so."
"Okay then." Riri went out of his body. She took the form of an adult Hound Wolf with gray fur. Tomori rode on her back.
"Since you don't have any reins that I can held to, can you make sure that I won't fall down if you decide to speed up?"
"Don't need to be worried. You can stick yourself to my back by using the Spirit Energy within your body. That way, you wouldn't fall off."
"I see. Let's head out then. Ivaran, can you pretend to lead Riri to the racing track?"
"Okay."
All of them moved to the racing track. Tadashi has already ridden his Earth Dragon.
"Pfft!" Tomori noticed that Tadashi was holding his laughter. "Oi, oi. Don't tell me that you're racing against an Earth Dragon with that?" Tadashi pointed at Riri.
"That… This son of a b*tch just called Riri 'that'?!" The Blade of Fury II is about to come out. But Tomori calmed himself down. Tomori is better than this. He didn't need to rely on the Curse Series anymore. He's the man! He's the strongest! He's Tomori Tanaka! "Say whatever you want, Tadashi. In the end, the winner performs with skills, not with trash talking."
Tomori ignored him and led Riri to the starting line. The way that Tomori is talking to him makes him frustrated. This is the chance for Tadashi to beat him. Both of them prepared on the starting line.
"The course will be three laps around the outskirts of this village. Whoever reached the finishing line first will be declared the winner." The true lord of this village explained to them.
"Tadashi-sama!" The princess cheers on Tadashi. His other party members also cheered for him as well.
"Tomori!" Ivaran called him while showing a thumbs up. Tomori replied to him with a thumbs up as well.
"On your marks," The lord said while raising his hands. Both Riri and Tadashi's dragon leaned forward. "Go!"
Crackling*
A spark of electricity comes out from Riri's feet.
Boom*
Riri created a small sonic boom as she dashed forwards.
"Woah!!!" Tomori screamed as he used his Spirit Energy to stick himself to Riri's body. Tomori can't even turn back to see if Tadashi is behind him. "She said that we share the same stats. But I didn't expect that my SPD stats could go like this."
" Anti Low Earth Hole! Anti Low Speed Down!" Riri suddenly said.
"These might be the spells with the sole purpose of slowing us down… I knew that the princess wouldn't play fair and square."
…
After a few minutes since the race started, Riri suddenly stopped.
"Ugh… Why did you stop?" Tomori gets a headache because he's clinging on Riri's body for his life.
"The… The winner of this race is the Blade Hero!" The lord said loudly. The villagers cheered on him.
"Ugh… Wait… We won already?"
"Wuf!" Riri replied with a bark.
"I see…" Tomori gets down from Riri's back. But he can't stand straight, so Ivaran came to him and supported him. Tomori pulls medicine from his Inventory and drinks it.
They all waited until Tadashi arrived.
"What… I lost… Again…" Tadashi said, not believing that it is true.
"Not fair! He's cheating! I demand a rematch!" The princess yelled.
"Cheated?" Tomori said as he has gone a little bit better from the headache. "Nuh-uh. Don't know what you're talking about. I didn't cheat. I win fair and square. So get the hell out of here and never come back again."
Before the princess could speak, the Shadows appeared around her. "The Blade Hero has won fair and square. I suggest that you should take your leave, Princess Maia."
"Grr… Fine! We shall leave for now." The princess said.
"Oh, you forgot about something. Aren't you, Tadashi?" Tomori turns to him.
"Uhgh…" Tadashi removes his armor set and reluctantly gives it to Tomori. Tomori takes the armor using his left hand.
"Thanks!" Tomori then pulls out his sword and points it towards the armor. Tomori's sword started glowing. " Demolition Slash."
Tomori slash the armor set. Then, a few cuts appear on the armor set until there's only dust remaining from the armor. Tadashi looked at the dust which used to be his armor.
"What are you staring at like a dead brain chimpanzee? Get the f*ck out of here." Tomori said to him.
Tadashi can only gritted his teeth, grip his fist and stare at Tomori with absolute hatred in his eyes. So Tomori decided to let some of the Curse Series weapon power out, which made his eyes turn red, and have a staring contest with him.
"You think that you're a hot sh*t, you blonde monkey? People like you who look down on a person like me shouldn't be a hero in the first place."
Eventually, Tadashi just followed the princess inside the carriage without saying anything. And of course, they also decided to leave the Earth Dragon here because it didn't help Tadashi win.
"Kyuu…" The dragon let out a pitiful cry. Some of the villagers decided to keep him here. They pull its rein to the stable.
"Well, I guess this is a happy ending then?" Tomori asked Ivaran as his eyes turned back to normal.
"I'm not sure about that, Tomori. The face of the Shaft Hero back then is very concerning." He replied.
"Don't mind it too much. A couple of BJ should calm him down."
"BJ?" Ivaran wondered what that meant.
"Oh… Uh… In my world, that's a way to make a guy happy! Yeah! That's right! Please don't talk about this to anyone besides me, okay?" Tomori said to him. "I need to bribe him with increasing his pocket money for next week."
"Okay…" Ivaran didn't understand the situation, but he brushed it off from his mind.
"Thank you, Blade Hero. Our village is indebted to you." The lord said to him.
"Yeah, yeah. Since the reconstruction is almost finished, we're going to take our leave tomorrow." Tomori said while scratching his neck.
"I see… Blade Hero, would you be interested in becoming a traveling merchant?" The lord asked.
"A traveling merchant?"
"Yes," The lord pulled a piece of scribbled gold plate. "This is a Merchant Pass. Normally, you have to meet up with a lord of the town or village to pay a certain sum of coins to do business there. However, if you show them the Merchant Pass, with my seal affixed, you don't have to pay the fee at all. I think you would find this very useful."
"Yeah… That would be helpful." Tomori could make coins this way rather than selling monster parts. But there's one problem, Tomori is a shy person. And a shy person can't handle customers very well. Especially Tomori. He would beat the sh*t out of rude customers if he had to.
"I also advise that you change your alias so that the title as the Blade Hero wouldn't affect your trades."
"Alright." He still has the Crimson Ridder alias. Only the Guild knows that name. And since he wasn't involved with the guild, he can use that name.
"Grr…" Tadashi clenched his fist. "How could I lose to him? Not once, but twice! How could someone like him be stronger than me? I have more knowledge about this world than him!"
His vision is getting dark.
"That face of him… He reminds me of that GUY. That GUY who tries to force himself on my girlfriend back in my world. To think that I actually befriend someone like HIM… To think that someone like that rapist reminds me of HIM…"
His spear gemstone started glowing with green color.
"Not only that, Akira-chan and Reika-chan are still on his side. But why? He shouldn't get any support from anyone else. I know! I have to beat him when both of them are watching. Then they surely aren't going to be on his side anymore!"
His spear is about to change form.
"Just you wait, Tomori… Just you wait!"
Curse Series Shaft: Conditions Met
Weapon Form Unlocked!
Shaft of Jealousy
" Achoo*" Tomori suddenly sneezed when eating dinner.
"Is there anything wrong with you?" Ivaran asked.
"Nah. I just sneezed out of nowhere. Maybe someone I know is bad mouthing me."
Tomori continued eating his dinner. Then, a girl with ash blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a poncho approaches the table that Tomori and Ivaran are eating at.
"Hello, may I have a chat with you a little, Blade Hero?" The girl asked Tomori.
"Oh, sure. Please take a seat then." Tomori said. The girl then sat next to Ivaran. "Okay then, what do you want to talk about?"
"I will be honest with you. I wanted to join your party, Blade Hero." The girl said. Ivaran is surprised by this and Tomori stops eating his dinner.
"Why would you want to join my team?" Tomori asked. From the vibe that she gives to Tomori, she doesn't seem to be someone that the Church sends to disturb him.
"I'm a traveling adventurer. I usually stop by a country and ask someone if I can join their party for a while. And because you're the Blade Hero who's short of party members, I thought I could join your party."
"So that means you aren't from Welle?"
"Yes."
"So where are you from?"
"Just from a country that no one cares about."
"I see…" The way she said it intrigued Tomori. It's not that she's lying. But he felt there's a hidden motive behind her wanting to join his party. "Haven't you heard about the rumours that are floating around me?"
"Those rumours? I couldn't care less about it. The other reason that I wanted to join your party is because your strength amazed me. Like the time you easily beat the Shaft Hero without any effort at all. I also think whether you are strong or the Shaft Hero is weak. He even lost the race this evening. Man, can't believe that he's one of the Cardinal Heroes if he can't catch up to you. And if the rumours are true and you tried to do that to me, I can just cut your genitals off." The girl said, surprising both Tomori and Ivaran.
"Yep, she's not joking about it." Tomori's legs started twitching. "Can I ask what your role is?"
"I'm a marksman."
"A marksman?" Tomori didn't see she's carrying any bow or crossbow around her. "Where's your weapon then?"
"Oh, here they are." The girl then pulled out her weapons that were hidden inside her poncho.
"Wait…" Tomori rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing right now. "A pair of revolvers?"
"Not just a pair of normal revolvers. These bad babies are Blast-Volver. I made these myself." The girl said as she showed him the revolvers.
"I see…" They look like a revolver that came straight from sci-fi games. "And from the look of them, they don't use any physical bullets, right?"
"Correct! These weapons used MP as their source of bullets. I'm surprised that the Blade Hero himself would notice it only from looking at its appearance."
"Just call it a hero instinct. And this Blast-Volver here looks different." Tomori points at the Blast-Volver that has a different design with a bayonet under its barrel.
"Oh, that's another version of Blast-Volver that I created. It's called Blade-Volver. It's more suitable for a person who likes to fight in melee or short range." The girl explained.
"I see… Can I hold it?" Tomori asked.
"Sure." The girl handed over the Blade-Volver.
"Hmm…" Tomori inspected the revolver. "The bayonet here… From the look of it, it's made out of Adamantium. This girl here is talented enough to build a gun that uses MP instead of physical bullets. And wait… If this revolver has a bayonet, which is a small dagger. Can I copy it?"
Tomori grips the revolver so that he can copy it.
Weapon Copy System Activated!
"Oh wow, what a surprise." Tomori pulled his sword out and changed it to the revolver.
"Oh my, I didn't think that he could copy the revolver." The girl thought to herself. She holds herself from being surprised at the fact that he could copy the revolver.
"Hmm…" Tomori checked the revolver status.
Blade-Volver [Normal] Ability Locked:
Equip Bonus: Eyesight Up, Night Vision Up, Accuracy 10
Special Effect: Element Transmission, Magic Bullet, Mana Bullet (Medium), Magic Attack Up (Medium), MP Consumption Reduction (Weak)
Mastery Level: 0
The red gemstone is placed under the grip.
"Hmm… Let's see if I can make this one better…" Tomori quietly chants. " Spirit Union: The Crimson Wolf!"
Tomori entered his Union Phase. This surprised the girl, but she didn't show it. Tomori fused his Spirit Energy into the Blade-Volver.
The overwhelming Spirit Energy has caused the Blade-Volver to grow up!
Blade-Volver: Abilities increased!
The silver color on the revolver turns to crimson red with a little bit of black accent.
"This revolver works the same way as the Sword of Absorver. Considering the girl in front of me is the creator of this revolver, this raised a bunch of questions." Tomori turns to the girl. "May I know what your name is?"
"It's Audrey." The girl replied.
"Well then, Audrey," Tomori put the original revolver down on the table. "You can join my party."
Ivaran is surprised that Tomori accepts Audrey to be in their party.
"Great! Can you send me the invite then?"
"Sure." Tomori sends Audrey the invitation. She instantly accepted it.
"Well, I have something to do at night. Can we meet up tomorrow morning?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay then. Oh, I have something for you." Audrey drops her bag down and gives it to Tomori.
"Woah! What's this?" Tomori felt the bag was quite heavy.
"Just a little give for you. Well then, see you later." Audrey stood up and left the Inn.
"Tomori," Ivaran said to him. "I don't feel any bad intentions from her, but I felt like she's hiding something from us."
"Yeah, that's why I accepted her into the party. I wanted to find out what her goal is. Anyways, let's finish dinner and head to our room. I wanted to see what was inside of his bag."
Tomori Unite Out from his Union Phase and continues to eat his food.
"Okay…" Tomori stretches his body out. "Let's see what's inside this bag."
Tomori opened the bag and started to pick up stuff inside the bag.
"Hmm… Holy f*ck!" Tomori shouted.
"What?! What is it, Tomori?!" Ivaran goes to him after he suddenly shouted.
"Look at these gold coins right here." Tomori showed him the pouch filled with gold coins. "There must be around a few hundred of gold inside of it. No wonder the bag is heavy."
"Now I wonder who she actually is…" Ivaran said while scratching his head.
"Don't know. Maybe she comes from a rich family. A real rich family." Tomori continues to dig out the bag. "Mithril Ores… Yeah, she's definitely a rich girl. Some weird items, a dagger and… What?"
Tomori pulled out a sword hilt from the bag. It doesn't have any blade on it. In fact, it kinda reminds him of the Darksaber from Star Wars, but the design is a little bit different. There's no activation button on the hilt.
"That seems like a Mana Sword. My mom has one." Ivaran said.
"Really? You know how to activate it?"
"Yes."
"Can you show me how?"
Tomori handed the hilt to Ivaran. He then grips the hilt and lets his mana flow through the hilt. Eventually, a gray colored single edge blade made out of mana comes out from the emitter.
"It takes much more MP to activate this Mana Sword." Ivaran turns the Mana Sword off and gives it back to Tomori.
"I see…" Tomori instantly activates the weapon copy system on the Mana Sword and the dagger.
Weapon Copy System Activated!
Mana Saber [Normal] Ability Locked:
Equip Bonus: Magic Attack 10
Special Effect: Element Transmission, Mana Blade (Medium)
Mastery Level: 0
Komodo Draco Dagger [Normal] Ability Locked:
Skill: Dual Blade
Equip Bonus: Dual-Wielding Swordsmanship Up, Parrying Up
Mastery Level: 0
Tomori stored all of the things inside his Inventory.
"Oh man, a lot of shocking things happened today. I need a sleep to calm myself down. Goodnight, Ivaran." Tomori changed to the Komodo Draco Dagger and went to his bed.
A girl with blonde hair and purple eyes wearing purple fancy frilly clothes is handing a parchment of paper to a Shadow.
"I will now deliver this report. It will only take me a little while, but while I am gone you must not move, Princess Miya. Unless there's something that can threaten your life."
"Understood." Princess Miya replied to the Shadow. The Shadow then disappears from sight.
" Sigh*" Miya went inside her carriage and lay down on the seat. "Ugh… I'm so bored…"
Around a week ago, her mother, Maria Q. Welle asked Miya to return back to Welle. The reason is because her father, the king, has given an unfair treatment to the Blade Hero. Not only that, her mother also asked her to release Flan Bassett, the son of the queen's right hand, from the prison because he has been charged for murder and hasn't been put on trial since.
" Yawn* Is there anything enjoyable that I can do now…"
A few minutes later, the attendant started screaming.
"Ah!"
"What's wrong?" Miya got out of the carriage and asked the attendant.
"The sky, princess…" The attendant pointed to the sky.
Miya looks at the sky. It turns to red and there's a huge rift in the skies.
"This… This is the same description as the wave!" Miya thought to herself. She then turned to the attendant. "The wave is happening right now! Let's move to a safer place."
"Yes!"
Miya went back to the carriage. The Earth Dragon that pulled the carriage started moving.
"To think that we would be caught inside a wave. What are the chances that would happen…" Miya thought as she held her hands together. "Ah!"
Suddenly, the carriage fell down to the left.
"Ugh… What happened?" Miya climbed out from the fallen carriage. She then a huge humanoid pig tried to attack the Earth Dragon.
The attendant who casts magic at the pig see Miya head out from the fallen carriage.
"Princess! Please don't go out! It's dangerous!" The attendant said to her.
"I can help!" Miya then proceeds to get out of the carriage. "I'm maybe level 20, but I can use powerful spells."
"As the source of power, hear my words and attack the target with an arrow made of water!"
" All High Aqua Arrow!"
Multiple arrows made out of water appear besides her and all of the arrows go to the pig.
Oink*
That's the noise of the pig before it fell down.
Level Up!
"Oh wow, didn't think that would be easy." Miya then goes to the attendant. "What should we do now?"
"The carriage has already been broken by the monster. I'm afraid that we need to walk-"
Oink*
Another humanoid pig monster appeared out of nowhere and slammed the attendant to the carriage.
"Ah!" Miya screamed as she moved to the sides. She then regained her footing and then cast another spell.
"As the source of power, hear my words and send a burst of thunder to my target!"
" High Shock Burst!"
A blast of lightning gets sent to the pig monsters. The pig monster then falls to the ground.
"I can defeat the monsters, but I don't have enough MP to protect myself, the attendant and the Earth Dragon." Miya is thinking of a way for them to get out of here safely. But a group of humanoid hawk monsters surrounded her.
" All High Chain Lightning!"
A lightning bolt comes out from Miya's hand and goes to one of the bird monsters.
Gawk*
All of the bird monsters then fall to the ground as the lightning travels through their body.
Level Up!
"Nice! I'm level 23 now. Maybe I can defeat the monsters-"
Thud* Thud* Thud*
The ground then started shaking. Miya then sees a huge humanoid rhino monster heading towards her direction.
"As soon as I get the confidence…" Miya then started wondering what she should do. The monster's numbers have increased tremendously. The clear field has been covered with monsters. "What should I do? There's no way of escaping."
But she isn't going to give up. She's going to fight all of the monsters to ensure her safety.
"As the source of power, hear my words and-"
Boom*
A huge blast of mana hit the rhino monster. It fell down to the ground. Miya then looks at the sky. She saw something flying in the sky. She saw a few gunships flying on top of her.
"What in the world is that?" She never saw something like this in her entire life. The only flying vehicle that she has seen before is the Blimp from Imperian. A few people wearing full armor clad with a different color go out from the gunship. All of them activate their jetpack and fly to the ground. One of them went to Miya.
"Who-Who are you?" Miya asked as the armored person went closer to her.
"I'm Captain Randolf. And as to who I am, let's just say that I'm leading this squad here to eradicate these wave monsters." Randy said as he pointed to his group. "Are you, this person here and the dragon is the only one around here?"
"Y-Yes!" Miya replied.
"I see. Casey." Randy called one of his men in the squad.
"Yes, captain!" Casey moved to the front.
"Tell Gardna to land the gunship down so that we can evacuate them. Also, tell Fixit to come here to repair this carriage." Randy said to him.
"Yes, sir! Right away!" Casey then contacted Gardna to land the gunship down. As the gunship landed, Casey went closer to it. "Oi, Fixit! Captain has a job for you! He wanted you to fix the carriage there!"
"Oh, really? It's been a while since the captain needed my service. Let me see the carriage." Fixit then left the gunship and rushed out to the carriage. "Hmm… A simple fix could repair it. I will start now. Axel, Can you flip this carriage back to normal?" Fixit turns to the person who has a huge body.
"Sure do!" Axel goes to the carriage. He then uses his strength to flip the carriage back to normal.
"Okay then, Barry." Randy turned to the person who holds a chaingun. "You, Casey and Axel protect Fixit until he's done with the repairs."
"Yes, sir!" Both of them replied.
"And Snips," Randy turned to a person who's holding a sniper rifle. "Can you kill these hawkman on the sky while I handle the monsters on the ground?"
"Sure will, captain." Snips said while preparing his sniper rifle.
"Alright then, let's do this!" Randy shouted.
"Yeah!" All of the squad shouted as well.
"Oh wow…" Miya didn't know what's happening now, but she's happy that she's safe right now.
"Little miss," Randy called her. "Can you bring the dragon inside the gunship?"
"Oh, sure." Miya pulled the dragon's rein and went inside the gunship. Randy then carried the passed out attendant to the gunship.
"Okay then, Gardna! Bring them to the rendezvous point! Make sure they get their medical check as well!" Randy said to the pilot of the gunship.
"Alright, captain!" Gardna closed the gunship sliding doors and took off to the sky. "Make sure you don't move around too much. You can injure yourself." Gardna said to Miya using the speakers.
"Okay…" Randy then pulled his Blade-Volver and Adamantium Dagger out. "Let's see if this Blade-Volver here is really effective in hand-to-hand combat."
He fly using his jetpack to fly to the sky and threw himself to the pig monsters.
"Hah!" He stabbed the pig monster's head using the revolver bayonet and started shooting its head.
Splurt*
The pig's head instantly exploded from the blast of his revolver.
"Well, there isn't much difference from using a normal Blast-Volver. But the balance between ATK and MATK stats are good for me." Randy then moves to the next monsters.
Blast*
Snips headshot the hawk monster using his sniper rifle.
"Are you done yet, Fixit?" Snips turned to him.
"Almost… Give me a little bit more time will ya?"
"I think you should have said that to Axel. He's raring to go against those rhino monsters over there."
"I am! They look so strong! I wonder if I can defeat them using only my fist!" Axel said while fistbumping his hand.
"Don't be ridiculous, Axel. Use your blasters or even a weapon. We don't want anything to happen like the last time." Ace said to him while sniping down another hawk monster.
"But the last time was fun!"
"For you. Not for me. My rifle is broken because of you. If it wasn't for Fixit, I won't see this rifle ever again."
"Oh, poor you. Can't you be like barry?" Axel turned to Barry who's shooting down the monsters who tried to get closer to them using his chaingun. He then stopped and drank a potion to replenish his MP.
"Can't you stop chatting around and focus on the fight here?" Barry said to them. "Especially you, Axel. You talk too much. That's why you're the worst when it comes to stealth missions."
"Hey, don't blame me. I just like to express myself."
"You know, this is why I'm always taking command if the captain isn't around." Casey said while covering Barry.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Barry then continues shooting the monsters.
"Okay! It has already been fixed!" Fixit said. "Axel, can you carry this over to a safer place? I will cover you. You can run off to fight those rhino monsters when you're finished." Fixit said as he pulled out his Blast-Volver.
"Really? Okay!" Axel then carries the carriage over his shoulder then runs inside the nearby forest. Fixit then followed Axel to cover his back.
"Hiah!"
Randy slash the pig monsters with his dagger and then shot the pig's head multiple times.
"Man… Has the general been located where the boss is yet?"
"Captain!" Fixit communicates with Randy using his helmet. "We have secured the carriage in a safer place. What's the next order?"
"Is that so? Well then boys," Randy turns the communication so that his squad can hear him. "Do what you do best. Destroy these waves monsters."
"Yes, sir!" All of his squad replied.
"Haha! Let's rumble!" Axel ran off from the forest and charged the rhino monsters. "Hah!"
He tackled the monster down. Despite it being three times larger than him, he has higher stats than the rhino monster.
"Hiah!" Axel pulled his mace from his back and bash the rhino's head with it, instantly crushing it. "Aww man, I thought they would be a lot stronger…"
Blast* Blast*
Fixit then used his jetpack to follow Axel. He then shot the monster that surrounds Axel.
"Stop sulking and fight these monsters back, Axel. Or do you want me to tell the captain that you've been slacking off?"
"Nuh-uh! I will fight!" Axel then stood up from the monster's body and pulled out his Blast-Volver. He started fighting the rhino monsters with Fixit.
Blast* Blast* Blast*
Snips snipes all of the hawk monsters in the sky.
Clang*
But his rifle suddenly overheated. He pulled out two Blast-Volver and started dual wielding it to shoot the hawk monsters until the rifle cooled down.
"Casey, need a little help right here!" Ace called him.
"Right!" Casey then started shooting at the hawk monsters. "Hit me up if you need any assistance, Barry."
"Okay." He replied while shooting all of the pig monsters.
"All units," A voice is coming from their helmet. "General Rust has engaged with the boss. I repeat, General Rust has engaged with the boss."
"It's about time." Casey said. "Let's finish these monsters out before the waves end."
"Okay!"
Roar*
Rust is confronting the wave boss.
Inter-Dimensional Chimera LV. 60
"I should end this quickly." Rust then holds his right hand out. " Recreation Armory. Warlord Halberd."
Using his armor special effect, he materialises a halberd onto his right hand.
Roar*
The chimera rushed towards him.
"It's already over…"
Rush slash the chimera body in half with his halberd. His level is so high to the point that he could kill someone with pitching their skin. There are only a few people in this world that have levels similar to Rust.
Rust then looked at the sky. It turns back to normal.
"Cleaning Squadron, I wanted you to collect all the wave monster corpses. Assault Squadron A through C, return back to the rendezvous point. After we finish, we will return to Armorian." Rust said to his troops. He then uses the jetpack on his armor to fly to the rendezvous point.
"Okay then, there's nothing wrong with you." A nurse who checked on Miya said to her.
"I see. How about my attendant then?" She asked the nurse.
"He will recover in a day. Don't worry about it."
"Okay… Can I go see the outside for a moment?"
"Of course."
Miya stood up from the seat inside the camp and saw a couple of gunships and armored troops coming here. She also noticed the captain there.
"Oh, hey. Little miss. You aren't hurt, are you?" Randy asked her.
"Yeah. Thanks for saving my life back then." Miya said while bowing down to him.
"Don't thank me. Turret is the one who blasted that rhino monster back then." He pointed to Turret who's inspecting the gunship.
"Is that so? Then please give him my thanks as well."
"I will."
A few seconds later, Rust landed on the rendezvous point.
"General!" All of the people there give him a salute.
"Captain," Rust called Randy. "May I ask who this is?" Rust pointed at Miya.
"Oh, she's the one who we saved during the waves." Randy answered.
"Yes. My name is Miya Q. Welle. Nice to meet you." Miya said while bowing to Rust.
"Welle? Don't tell me you're a part of the Welle's royalty?!" Randy shouted.
"Indeed. I'm the second princess and the next in line of the throne." Miya explained.
"I see… So you wanted to return back to your country, right?"
"Yes. And I need to quickly return as soon as possible."
"Is that so… Well, general. Should we help her?" Randy asked Rust.
"Hmm… What is your purpose in wanting to return quickly?" Rust asked Miya.
"I need to confront my father, who mistreats the Blade Hero. I also need to release my friend from prison because he has been accused of murder." Miya explained to him.
"I see…" Welle is a number one hater of Blade Hero. The fact that he was summoned there is already a death trap. Heck, the past Blade Hero also got killed in the country that supports him. "Well then, I suppose one of my troopers can teleport you to the west border of Welle. Can you handle this one, captain?"
"Sure do, general!" Randy said while giving him a salute.
"Umm… Can I at least know your name?" Miya asked Rust.
"I am just an individual named Rust. You don't need to know more about it." Rust then walked off to meet with the Scout Squadron.
"Rust… Isn't that the name of an armored warrior who fought alongside the heroes in the past?" Miya thought to herself.
"Captain!" Axel called him. He's flying using his jetpack while carrying the carriage. He then landed on the ground and placed the carriage down.
"Just waiting for when the carriage will arrive." Randy said.
"Sorry captain, Axel insisted on carrying the carriage by himself." Fixit said to Randy as he landed on the ground.
"No need to worry about it. I guess you aren't slacking off back then, eh Axel?" Randy asked him.
"Yeah! No slacking off!" He replied.
"Okay then. Since the carriage is here, are you ready to be teleported, little miss?" Randy asked Miya.
"Yeah."
Randy then helped her carry the passed out attendant to the carriage and connect the rein on the Earth Dragon to the carriage. Miya then takes a seat at the front.
"Is there any chance we will meet again?" Miya asked Randy before being teleported.
"Maybe. If fate lets us meet again." Randy answered.
"Okay then."
" Gate!" Randy shouted as he held something like a Crystal Orb in his hands. Magic circle started appearing under the carriage. The carriage then instantly disappeared from there.
The carriage is teleported to the west border of Welle.
"It's night time… Well, I'm in a different country back then. So it's expected that the time is different here." Miya then just remembered something. "Oh yeah! The Shadow! I should meet up with him. But since I'm already here, I can take a rest at a nearby village until the attendant has fully healed."
Miya then guides the Earth Dragon to the nearest village that she could see.
Omake
Gary Stu Deus ex Machina
"Tomori." Akira asked him. Reika is also next to her.
"Yeah. What's up?" He replied.
"Well… We have a question for you."
"What is it?"
Both of the female heroes looked at each other. Reika then started talking.
"Is it me or you are Gary Stu and have a Deus ex Machina?"
"What? No way. What makes both of you think of that?" Tomori asked while having his arms crossed.
"Well, you encounter an Ore Lizard that almost defeats you, right?" Akira said. "And after it almost wants to kill you, you unlock the Sloth Curse Series."
"Correction, it was 'forcibly' unlocked. Like, I don't even know how I unlocked it in the first place. All I know is that I unlocked the Wrath Curse Series because I felt frustrated with the princess and the church. How is that a Deus ex Machina?"
"How about that time when you fought the minotaur and almost died, again?" Reika asked. "You can't use your Curse Series and you have to fight against a monster with levels higher than you. And suddenly, you can unlock the Bless Series."
"Ivaran helps, you know. Without him, I can't even unlock the weapon in the first place."
"Okay then, how about Shina? She's the first person you actually struggle to fight against. But then you form a contract with a Spirit Beast and suddenly you overpowered her." Reika continued.
"Hey, don't involve Riri in this."
"Reika's point is that you survive almost any situation that seems impossible to escape. How is that not a Deus ex Machina, then?" Akira said.
" Sigh* Fine. I accept that I 'might' have Deus ex Machina. But I'm not Gary Stu." Tomori said with confidence.
"Oh, really? From what I see, you're the one Among Us who definitely knows what to do in this world despite not having information about this world at all." Reika said to counter him.
"It's because I'm a damn Otaku, Reika. I know my Isekai sh*t more than anyone else in this world."
"How about your fighting skills? How can you fight using a sword like you had held it since you're a baby?"
"I watch many fight scenes on YouTube that involve sword fighting, whether it's a movie or an anime. For example, look at Tadashi. He sucks at spearmanship because he doesn't have any experience using a spear. Me, on the other hand, had experience in Kendo for a week, knows how to instantly knock someone out, how to end a bloodline by kicking someone's balls, etc."
"But that doesn't explain the reason why you are so good at using swords."
"Reika, monsters don't have any high intellect to dodge a sword attack. Heck, I think this country doesn't have that many people that can win a fight against me when I'm not using any skills at all. And also, I'm fighting like I'm holding a laser sword that can instantly slashed through things without any trouble at all."
"What? Like Moon Battle?"
"Moon Battle-Your world equivalent of Star Wars is Moon Battle?"
"What's Star Wars and Moon Battle?" Akira asked. "Is it like Celestial Combat?"
"Okay, stop with the off brand names. And also, I'm not a Gary Stu. I'm a guy that uses his brain a lot."
"Hmm… Sounds like what Gary Stu would say." Reika said while raising one of her eyebrows.
"I'm not Gary Stu! I can't even do a backflip."
"What does backflip have to do with being Gary Stu?" Reika asked him.
"You see, if Gary Stu does a backflip, he will succeed. If I'm the one who does the backflip, my spine will crack and I will go to meet my creator."
"Have you tried to backflip before?" Akira asked.
"No way! I'm going to die if I really did that. And also, Gary Stu wouldn't get into a lot of accidents when riding a bicycle and motorcycle. If you don't believe me, I can show you proof."
Tomori unequipped his armor and started to undress his shirt.
"Wh-Wh-What are you doing, Tomori?!" Akira said while closing her eyes.
"Showing you guys proof. Here's some of the scars on my body." Tomori showed off his body to them. Apparently, Akira didn't see it due to her closing her eyes. "Here's the scar from when I fell off my bicycle when I was 7. This is the scar that I accidentally smashed into a concrete wall when I got my motorcycle for the first time."
"Still, this doesn't even explain that you're not Gary Stu in the first place." Reika said to him, convinced that he's still Gary Stu.
"Okay then, I have a scar on my thigh when I was hit by a car. Let me just…" As Tomori started to unzip his pants, Reika pulled her bow out as quick as possible.
" Sleeping Shot!" Reika shot a skill at Tomori.
"What-"
The skill hit him. Few seconds later, he fell down to the floor and started sleeping.
" Zzz*"
"Hmm… If he's really Gary Stu, he would have dodge that skill. Or maybe that's one of the tropes of Gary Stu which makes him unable to dodge an unexpected attack." Reika muttered to herself.
"Um… Reika, does Tomori wear his shirt back?" Akira asked.
"Just open up your eyes. It's just a topless guy. Nothing to be afraid of… Kinda."
"I mean… It's kinda indecent for me to see a guy's naked body."
"Oh man…" Reika didn't know that Akira is this innocent.
"Should we call Ivaran to pick him up?" Akira suggested.
"Yeah, we should."
On that day, it has proven that Tomori is indeed Gary Stu and a frequent user of Deus ex Machina.
