"HOLY SHIT!"
Raphtalia grinned. Finally, someone who understood what she was going through.
Crassus took one look at Fenrir and reached for his sword. Naturally he was beyond surprised when Crow not only walked up to the massive hound, but got him to perform simple tricks like rolling over and sit on command.
"What...how... Where did you get a three-headed crystal wolf?!" he asked in disbelief.
"From a mine we cleared about a week back. Thankfully Fenrir knows he's not allowed about town unless he's under a cloaking spell. I don't want to start a panic and the king's a big enough headache without him finding out about my dog."
"I'm amazed you were able to train him. Is this the power of a legendary weapon?"
"No, this is five years of learning how to train dogs for the local law enforcement. And another two teaching obedience training. So long as the hound knows you're the alpha in the relationship, they'll listen to you," said Crow, scratching Fenrir's ear.
He loved animals, and it seemed like a natural choice to learn how to train his dogs. He never expected to get roped into being a cop for three years though.
Fenrir's back leg went nuts.
"...Is he safe to approach?"
"So long as I'm here, yes. Fenrir is acutely aware that heroes often kill his kind for crafting materials, which means he's not very friendly to people he doesn't know. He gets along great with Firo and Fawkes though."
The man slowly walked up to the massive hound, who allowed the soldier to pet him once he had his scent.
"I never thought I'd be able to pet a Crystal Wolf without it trying to maul me for it."
"Well we weren't expecting to find a puppy who's mother we just killed in a mine we were clearing."
"So which way are we headed?" asked Crow.
"To the border town of the demi humans. Silt Welt."
"...Good thing I told them not to mark Raphtalia. How far is it?"
"A week's journey. Less, if we don't bother to sleep."
"Or we could do the smart thing and fly there."
Crassus stared at him.
"Flying is pretty hard even for arch mages like yourself. The amount of power to go that distance..."
"I take it you weren't present when I beat the shit out of the Spear-toting moron?" interrupted Crow.
"I was busy looking for Cerberus."
"Flying's not going to be an issue. The biggest problem we'd have is getting Fenrir into the cart. He prefers to run, but I can't carry him and the cart. Not to mention the hassle of carrying Firo as well. I'm not sure both could fit in the small thing together, even with charms," said Crow.
"Ah! I completely forgot about that!" said Talia, obviously remembering Crow's dragon form.
"One of them would have to catch up to us later...that is unless they can change shape, which is rather..." started Crow, before his eyes saw something that made his brain do a ten-second standstill in disbelief.
"What?"
"Firo?"
Behind Crassus was a girl who's hair had the exact same color pattern as Firo's feathers. She looked roughly sixteen, if that, and she was completely starkers.
"Firo fit in cart now?" she asked with a bright smile on her face.
"Dammit...why does Murphy have it in for me..." muttered Crow, as he quickly moved to cover Firo's naked human form. Good thing most of the armor was still there. A few automatic sizing charms and Firo had a rough, if rather revealing, set of armor. He would have to pick up some cloth so it wasn't so provocative.
He looked at Fenrir and Fawkes suspiciously.
"You two can't shapeshift into humans as well...right?"
Fawkes trilled in amusement, but Fenrir chuffed and to Crow's disbelief turned into a surly looking teenager. He looked like a crankier version of a teenaged Sirius Black, with his eyes being the same color as the crystals embedded in his canine form. Crow face-palmed.
"I hate Murphy. I really do."
"Who or what is Murphy?" asked Raphtalia.
"Murphy's Law. Also known as 'why the hell did you tempt fate?!' among those who deal with it regularly. Basically if certain phrases or words are used, the odds of an unlikely situation coming to pass skyrocket. Anything that can happen will happen."
"Like?" asked Crassus.
"Remember the dragon? I told Talia not to say a word about it waking up and turning into an undead zombie, because if she mentioned the odds of it waking up while we were disposing of the corpse I knew for a fact it would come alive and make things harder. Things like 'What are the odds of it becoming a zombie?', or 'What's the worst that can happen?'. I find it's easier to silence my partners before they have a chance to say stupid things like that, because bad things always happen immediately after."
"...I never knew that someone had actually come up with a name for situations like that," admitted Crassus. It was considered common sense among the older adventurers not to tempt fate by saying stupid things like that.
"There is where I come from. I'd rather risk offending my traveling companions by putting a spell on them to keep their traps shut than to deal with that," said Crow. Then he gave Fenrir a look.
"Can you grow crystals like your mother did?"
Fenrir nodded.
"Good. Then you can use them in place of clothes, since it was a pain in the ass getting you to accept that collar," said Crow flatly. Crystal armor was rare, but not unheard of. He was just lucky Fenrir let him put that collar that changed shape on him.
Fenrir concentrated, and covered up most of his body leaving his feet and tail exposed. He basically looked like he was wearing a pair of jeans and tee shirt that went just above his elbows made entirely out of crystal.
At least the problem of transporting them all had been solved... though Crow was still going to stop a few miles away so they could help Fenrir and Firo get used to walking around like humans.
Crassus and Raphtalia held on for dear life as Crow's massive wings took them to the very borders of Silt Welt. He didn't want to cause a stir because of his dragon form, and since they were so busy focusing on the fact they were being carried by dragon they completely missed the fact that he had quite literally flown past Cerberus. Thanks to his enhanced eye-sight, he had gotten a good look at the beast.
It looked nothing like Fluffy. Fluffy at least looked like he had been born with three heads naturally. This one looked like someone had inexpertly grafted two other heads and then painted it's fur yellow. He was glad he wasn't too close to the thing...he was sure it reeked with the stains he saw on it's fur!
"Never again!" shouted Crassus. He had clutched the side of the wagon like it was the only thing he could do. Fenrir and Firo had been perfectly fine with it, seeing as how Fenrir spent most of the time experimenting with his crystals and Firo kept changing her hair style using the ribbons Crow had given her.
Crow snickered.
"Why is it that people of this world are so freaked about heights?" he asked, grinning. Oh this was too funny.
"Because normal people can't fly!" they shouted.
Crow cackled. He was so going abuse this information.
"How far away do you think the beast is?"
"Considering I flew past the damn thing, I would say about a two days or so from the town," said Crow.
Talia and Crassus twitched.
"You flew over Cerberus and didn't think to stop?" said Talia.
"Well to be fair I didn't think either of you would be in the condition to fight immediately after flying," he shrugged.
"...Point."
"On the plus side we'll have plenty of time to rest, upgrade our weapons and armor, and evacuate the civilians."
"This is no time to upgrade our armor and weapons!"
"I hate to break it to you, but an hour before the last wave hit Talia and I not only upgraded our armor, but we also got armor for Fawkes and Firo and then spent the last few minutes eating something. I find it's easier to prepare if you're not obsessing over the fight itself. Or haven't you ever heard the phrase 'no plan survives first contact with the enemy' before?"
Crassus stared at him, before sighing.
"I have. It's just hard to take you serious because you look young enough to be my son."
"Uh-huh. How old do you think I actually am?"
"Nineteen, perhaps?"
Crassus has joined your party.
"Take a good long look at my status page," said Crow. This would be interesting.
Crassus did...and his brain immediately went blue screen of death.
"Thir...THIRTY-TWO?!"
"I only look like I'm in my late teens for the same reason my class is both Legendary Hero and 'Grandmaster' Arch Mage. Essentially I'm pretty much immortal, but I hate reminding people of the fact because they expect me to actually give a damn about their problems. Back home I was little more than the person they dragged in to get rid of mages who used their powers to hurt other," said Crow flatly.
It was also why he was more or less apathetic about the whole hero schtick.
"So how are you going to handle Silt Welt? They're pretty pissed about the whole slave trade issue and they hate humans. If we went in there we're liable to be overcharged through the nose."
"That's actually the easy part. I can fake us being demi-humans depending on your preference, but the bigger issue is convincing them the thing is coming."
"...How can you fake being a demi-human?"
"Same way I got around the hatred of them in Melomarc. I make everyone believe we use illusion spells to hide our animal parts, when in reality I'm putting one on you," said Crow. He concentrated a bit and did a partial transformation, which was always trickier than a full one.
A good thing Raphtalia had her dagger handy, because she was able to cut slits in the shirt to allow the massive black feather wings to spring free.
"What the hell?!"
"I may have forgotten to mention this, but in my world animal transformation is pretty common. The only issue is that people often get stuck and most of the mages there are too lazy to learn it. There's a reason I tell people to call me crow."
He took a few steps forward, before he completely shifted into a crow. He wanted to fly around, so he landed on Talia and pointed at the wagon, then at Firo who was back in bird form. She took the hint.
"We're supposed to go on ahead until he switches back," she translated.
As they rode in the wagon (with Raphtalia barely holding back her motion sickness) Crassus decided to speak up.
"He's nothing like I thought he would be. The Shield Hero, I mean. I kept hearing rumors of how he attacked the older Princess their first night as a party, but then whenever I spoke about it to the shopkeepers they always told me that the rumor was made up by the king and that the Shield had dumped her for a demi-human slave. And that out of the four heroes he was the only one who tipped especially well, even if the information was inaccurate."
Raphtalia was silent, until...
"He hates crowds, he really hates the Spear Hero for some reason, and he goes out of his way to antagonize those that annoy him. He refuses to learn people's names and he still hasn't given me his real one, but he's kind. Too kind, I think."
"How so?"
"He's terrified of being alone, yet he keeps everyone at a distance and won't learn their names unless he thinks they're worthy of it. I think he's afraid that they'll betray him or that he'll be too close when they die and he won't be able to help save them. Yet when he does become close to someone, he never lets them go and gives them unflinching loyalty without hesitation."
Crassus was silent.
Crow was distant, but now that he thought about it, the entire thing seemed forced. And there was the way he handled the thought of battle.
Crow felt more like Cyril on the eve of a big fight that was sure to lose men than he did a naïve hero with barely any idea of what he was getting himself into. Almost like he had gone through the entire process of being a hero before and it backfired horribly in the end.
"Oh man, I needed that. Now what's your favorite animal?" asked Crow, stretching.
"I would have to say a dog...even if Cerberus did kill a good friend of mine."
"Any particular breed of dog?"
"One with floppy ears and a short curved tail."
"Hold still while I apply this. There. How's it look?"
Crassus couldn't believe it. He could feel the things on his head and see the tail, and it looked completely natural! Good thing no one would ever know about this.
There was a flash of light, and Crassus saw something odd in Crow's hands.
"What's that?"
"Camera. You know those paintings artists make to capture moments? Well I can make a smaller one using this that can be shared with anyone interested. Including Cyril," said Crow with an evil grin on his face. Hello blackmail.
"Why does that smile scare me?" asked Crassus to no one in particular.
"It should. It means he's about to be or is being particularly mischievous," said Raphtalia. He had a similar look in his eye right before he beat the Spear hero so thoroughly.
Crassus had a bad feeling about this.
Once they reached town and upgraded their armor and weapons (mostly armor in the case of Crow), their leader immediately took a long nap, leaving everyone to their own devices. Everyone except Fenrir, who opted to stay with Crow.
Even after all this time, he mostly only followed the man because he asserted himself as Alpha of their oddball pack.
Sighing, he laid against Crow and dozed off.
What happened next would have surprised even the most jaded person.
He found himself in Crow's memories.
Fenrir watched as Crow grew up, fought and established himself as the dominate pack leader...only for his pack to turn against him because of his power and tear itself apart. He watched as jackals repeatedly forced him to fight for them, despite not deserving someone as strong as his Alpha protecting them.
Yet Crow did it all without complaint, never seeking more than his fair share as the pack leader. He watched as females tried to get into the pack and establish them as Crow's mate, but he rejected them soundly when he found their reasons were weak and greed filled.
Fenrir realized his master was a lone wolf, one that sought a true pack and not one that would abandon him after a long hunt, taking most of the prey with them.
That's when the scene shifted. He saw Crow being summoned, rejecting the King and his 'plan' to turn the people against the Shield Hero (and hadn't that backfired spectacularly). He saw him picking Raphtalia as a pack member, bringing her up so her loyalty would be unquestioned. Then came a scene he would very much have preferred never to see.
The fight between his mother and his alpha.
Crow at least didn't prolong her suffering. He ended her life relatively quickly for such a difficult fight. And he saw as his Alpha argued with his pack about keeping him alive.
Crow didn't want a pet. He wanted a pack member he could trust to watch his back when Raphtalia and Firo were in trouble. He never expected Fenrir to fully trust him and he never forced his loyalty.
But after seeing how Crow got up and got back to work, despite the fact his pack kept throwing him away again and again... it made Fenrir realize that his Alpha was truly worthy of his respect and loyalty.
So long as Crow trusted him, he would follow his pack leader.
I think that's enough viewing for now. I have no idea how you managed to slip into my reminiscing of the past, but I prefer to keep most of it from the others.
It was Crow. He looked the same as he always did. Tired, but still determined to go on. He put his hand on one of Fenrir's heads.
Good boy.
Fenrir wagged his tail. The two of them woke up to find the others had already returned from their minor shopping spree. At least Firo was wearing clothes now, and they had gotten some for Fenrir as well.
It was good to be with the pack.