Chapter 5.5 of Spear and Shield
The reason for this chapter is I wanted to write a little about Kane connecting with his new party members, chapter 6 is coming out at the same time and I edited the first three chapters too just to spruce them up.
Chapter three is the most edited, I added some dialogue between Kane and the Spear, and Motoyasu's strengthening methods.
Talking: "The sun comes up,"
Thinking: 'I can feel my love coming up again.'
"Remember it ain't a crime if nobody catches you."-The current Spear Hero being a bad influence to children.
It's been 3 days since the group first formed, Kane has been pretty much power leveling his party members, at first he took it slow, killing balloons and slimes since he was still concerned for the party's safety but after what was essentially balloon and slime genocide, Kane decided to go against monsters that were more of threat then a balloon or a slime, he would still get involved if he thought they needed a hand or if they were ambushed by a bigger monster, he wasn't willing to throw them into a field of dangerous monsters instead he let them grow and become stronger in a slower but more safe pace.
He knew that demi-humans can age quicker when they level but Kane himself wasn't quite prepared for it. It did warm his heart seeing how the malnourished children grew up into rather healthy teenagers. Although there was one drawback to this and that was that were teenagers, hormonal teenagers who's bodies are changing rapidly and so are their minds. So Kane decides to gather everyone around a table to talk to them about how their bodies changing and what it entails. 'I rather go through the awkwardness of the birds and bees talk then risk them getting taking advantage by some sick fuck.'
"...So this is kinda awkward but it needs to be said." Kane sighs and puts a hand on his face. '...How did mom do this with a straight face?' He was sure that Gunghir was laughing in the background.
9 minutes later
The three teens stare at Kane who continues speaking.
"Okay so that's the basic stuff, Leo I can tell you a bit more stuff if you're confused cause ya know I'm a dude as for you two well I know some basic stuff about the female body but it might best to ask Naofumi for a bit of help with this." Kane strokes his chin in contemplation.
Keel plants both her hands on the table. "I'm a guy too Kane!"
Everyone else looks at Keel with confusion, Rifana speaks up "Keel you know you're a girl right?"
Keel shakes her head. "I'm a guy….a-at least that's what my dad said."
"Keel you're a girl like me." Rifana speaks softly.
Kane shakes his head. "It doesn't matter, look I just need you guys to understand your bodies, you guys are gonna experience some changes at some point so if there's anything you wanna talk about then come to me and I will try to explain it to you."
They all nod their head and start to ask some questions, Keel being the first one
"So I'm a girl?"
Kane shrugs "That's up to you really, I don't care what you decide, you're still Keel to me."
Keel opens her mouth "W-Well I guess I just do what I did before?"
Kane nods back "No reason to have a massive change if you don't want to so just keep doing what you're doing if it makes you happy."
Keel nods her head at this, thinking about it. Leo follows up and asks a question to which Kane answers to the best of his ability.
The questioning goes on for a bit, Kane looks around the table "No more questions?" Everyone shakes their head no. Kane sighs "...you guys wanna go kill some monsters?" They all nod. Everyone pushes their chairs back and stand, they all leave the room and start to make their way to the out of town.
The group pass by a weapon shop, Kane stops pondering on the weapon copying system. "Quickly I want to go in there and buy some... arrows? I dunno something we can stock up." Kane enters the shop
The demi-humans stare at him confused before following in.
The sun begins to set, the party starts to make their way back to the inn to their room, they pass by the marketplace despite the sun starting to set some stall owners are still promoting their businesses
"Come and take a look at my exotic wares before it's too late!"
"Taste my amazing food before it goes cold!"
Just an onslaught of cries trying to promote their business to anyone who might be listening, Kane is not one of them completely blanking out pretty much everything except for one thing that took him a few seconds to register.
"What are you staring at, you demi-human bitch?"
Kane stops dead in his tracks, looking back to see Rifana stepping back from the stall owner, Keel and Leo standing to the side not knowing what to do, a group of people pass but some watch the situation unfolding. The man seems to be a butcher with a cleaver in hand and food surrounding his stall, the man scowls at Rifana with a toxic look.
Rifana mutters out a response. "I-I… I w-was just looking." Rifana's eyes begin to water.
The owner's mouth morphs into a vile snarl. "You were planning to steal from me, weren't you? You little bi-"
"You call her a bitch one more fucking time and I will chop off your tongue with your own god damn cleaver." Kane walks to the man who turns his head opening his mouth mid motion.
"Who the fuck are you? Her mast-" The man's words dies in his throat upon realising he's talking to the Spear Hero "T-The Spear Hero I-I apologize for my rudeness." The man looks extremely uncomfortable, sweat forming on his forehead.
Kane stands directly in front of him staring him down with a dark look. "Apologise to the girl you just insulted before you lose ability to."
The man stutters and quickly looks at Rifana "I am so sorry for what I said please forgive me for what I said."
Kane growls at the man who raises his hands up to try and placate the Spear Hero "Don't talk to any of my party members again you piece of shit. Let's go you three." Rifana quickly follows behind Kane making sure to not be too far, Leo and Keel quickly follow with Keel being the last one, due to her stealing something from the stall. The crowd watches as Kane walks off with his party members. None of them notice Keel steal from the butcher, not even the butcher himself saw Keel steal as he was staring at the Spear Hero in indignation.
The group are almost back at the inn to which Kane looks back to see how everyone's doing, he finds Rifana looking at the ground, he speaks up trying to make her feel better. "Don't let assholes like that bring you down Riffy."
Rifana looks up at him, her ears folding in on itself, eye's still watery and red. "I-I." She's interrupted though by Kane patting her head
"Come on forgot about that douchebag Riffy, let's go get something to eat and relax in a nice comfortable bed huh?"
She smiles and nods, rubbing her eyes. They enter the inn, ordering something to eat, Keel pulls out the food she stole from the racist man from before and hands it to Rifana. "Here Riffy, have a starter." Rifana takes it looking at Keel.
"Where did you get this?" Rifana speaks, staring at Keel.
Keel shrugs "I stole it from that racist asshole."
Kane, Rifana and Leo stare at her. Keel defends herself.
"What? He was an asshole who wasn't paying attention, his fault not mine."
Kane starts laughing shocking everyone. He talks after laughing.
"Well it ain't a crime if you don't get caught, so fuck that guy."
Keel responds back with a grin to which Kane returns, the two start to laugh, Leo and Rifana shake their heads although they both have smirks on their faces.
They enter the inn, sitting down at one of the tables, ordering food.
After finishing eating the group go to their room. Getting ready for bed they finally get under the covers apart from Kane.
All of the teens are in bed slowly falling asleep. Kane is sitting in a chair at the table, going through his status and making potions.
Stat Buff Potion: 50% stat increase for 1 hour.
'A 50% boost very nice.' Kane looks over the next recipe for the stat potions. 'Ugh this shit is starting to get expensive, I need to either decrease the ingredient cost or get more means of making money.'
The party are outside of Castle Town, farming the monsters and completing jobs they took at the guild. The demi-humans members of Kane's party grew up, looking like adults now albeit very young adults. Due to them finally growing up they picked actual weapons that suited them instead of using small knifes.
Rifana fires at the wolf with her bow, the arrow digs into the wolf's skull killing it itself. Leo counters a wolf attempting to bite him by slamming his shield into it's face, he quickly follows it up by digging his sword into it's head. Keel sidestep the wolves charging her while swinging her two handed sword catching the wolves in a deadly arc of steel. Kane finishes off the remaining wolves with a skill.
The Legendary Weapons must not be in proximity of each other or the Weapons will suffer adverse effects to the growth of the Weapons.
Kane looks at it, confused for a moment before realising what's going on. 'Huh? Oh one of the other three are around here.' He looks around trying to spot one of the other Heroes, hoping for one in particular.
"Hi Mr Kane!"
Kane looks at where the voice is coming from and finds a teen with raccoon ears walking towards him with a smile on her face, Kane gives a wave.
"Hey Ralphy! Look at you, no longer that little squirt anymore huh."
Raphtalia grumbles at being called little and crosses her arms, Naofumi walks up beside Raphtalia. "Getting into any more fights with trolls Kane?" Naofumi asks with a teasing tone.
Kane responds with a smirk on his face. "Why, you worried for my safety Iwi?"
Naofumi scoffs and shakes her head "You're delusional."
Rifana, Keel and Leo walk beside Kane who starts to introduce them "Oh right, meet my new party members Ri-"
"Raphtalia is that you?" Rifana interrupts Kane who looks at her and then Raphtalia wondering how Rifana knew Raphtalia's name.
Raphtalia stares at Keel and then Rifana who stands beside Kane and steps forward "R-Rifana, Keel, you're both alive."
The two rush Raphtalia and give her a deep hug, the three begin to wail at finding each other. Kane scratches the back of his head at the emotional scene before him, he turns to Naofumi who stares at the scene with shock before quickly hiding it under an indifferent look.
'Apparently, Raphtalia, Keel and Rifana all came from the same village. They were even enslaved by the same man, Raphtalia was sold off by herself while Keel, Rifana, Leo and… Evelyn I haven't thought about that poor girl for sometime…' Kane looks at the ground at that in sadness, the three demi-humans girls speak to each about their experiences being with Heroes, Kane, Leo and Naofumi sit on sidelines, letting the three speak to each other.
"Nice to see a happy reunion like this." Kane says while watching the three, his heart swelling with happiness at the scene.
Naofumi hums in response, Kane turns around and looks at Naofumi who in return stares back at Kane. "You two are looking better too all things considering."
She places her hand on her Shield, looking at the gem in the centre. "I'm getting new skills and improving my stats." Her tone quietens, "...Thanks for the new monster materials."
Kane smiles. "No worries Iwi."
She sighs in response. "So I see you got new party members, hopefully they've been making sure you don't do anything stupid."
He chuckles in response. "Rude." He nods his head at Leo. "That's Leonidas or Leo for short." Leo gives a small wave to Naofumi.
Naofumi's brow raises as she looks at Leo. "Leonidas huh, Where did you get that name from?"
Leo speaks softly. "I-I was a s-slave for a-all of my life so I didn't have a name, Kane picked it for me."
Naofumi shakes her head and chuckles. "Of course he did. Guess it's not the worst name in the world."
Leo fidgets, wondering what his name meant while Kane pouts. "Hey Leonidas is a great name, I mean it's a legendary Spartan leader." Naofumi waves him off, Kane moves on naming his party members and points at Keel and Rifana. "Keel is the one with dog ears, Rifana is the one with pink hair."
Naofumi nod her head at this before straightening out as if she just remembered something. "I've got something to pay you back with."
Kane tilts his head at this, he stares at Naofumi, waving her off. "Iwi you don't owe me anything."
Naofumi pulls out the items and monster materials, Naofumi hands Kane some rope, a pipe, some metal and even a monster part. He denies it again. "Iwi I'm serious you don't owe me anything."
To which Naofumi grumbles. "Look, just take the damn parts all right."
Kane sighs and reluctantly accepts the parts, placing them on the gem, absorbing them instantly.
Rope Spear unlocked! (+0)
Pipe Spear unlocked! (+0)
Light Metal Spear unlocked! (+0) +15 Mag Def. (Equip effect:) Magic Defence Boost.
Two Headed Dog Spear unlocked! (+0) +6 Atk, +6 Agi.
Skill unlocked! Rope Throw: Create a magical rope that extends.
Skill unlocked! Airstrike Javelin: Quickly toss a magical spear to impale your foe, if the spear strikes it's opponent the cooldown for Airstrike Javelin ends, allowing it to be used again.
Combined Skill unlocked! Rope Spear+Adult Cave Troll Finger Spear-Multi Javelins: Throw a number of javelins depending on amount of SP used.
Skill unlocked! Harpoon Spear: Fire a Spear that embeds into it's target, allowing you to pull your target around, or to hold it in place.
Skill unlocked! Dual Spear Bite: Two dog heads emerge from the Spear and bite the foe, dealing damage.
Combined Skill unlocked! Two Headed Dog Spear+Alpha Dire Wolf Tooth Spear-Spear Gnash: A extremely large Direwolf head appears from the Spear biting on it's foe, once caught in the Direwolf's teeth it will begin to gnash and crunch, dealing constant damage until removed.
'...damn now I'm kinda glad she forced me to take the parts, they are really strong.'
Kane looks at Naofumi to find her with her arms crossed with a smug smile on her face. He returns the smile with his genuine smile and look Naofumi in the eyes. "Well I meant when I said you don't owe me anything but you still gave me this, so thank you, really."
Naofumi icy facade shifts a little "W-Well I was just repaying my debt, don't think too much into it."
Kane laughs. "Iwi, I already said you don't owe me anything."
Naofumi shakes her head. "Well it's only fair I give some stuff back, not like I lose much anyway."
Kane rolls his eyes. "Well again thank you for it Iwi."
Naofumi mutters out "...You're welcome." She sits down, waiting for Raphtalia to finish catching up with her friends.
Kane grins at Naofumi to which she crosses her arms. The three wait for the three to finish their reunion.
"Hey Leo come over here!" Keel shouts out to Leo, He stands up walking over to Keel to see what she wants.
The two Heroes are left alone, Naofumi staring at now all four of the Demi-humans as a thought crosses her mind.
"You ready for the Waves?"
Kane put his arms behind his back. "We should be completely fine especially if a certain Shield Babe helps us out."
Naofumi sighs, a slight blush on her face. "Do you ever stop flirting?"
He shrugs with a smile on his face. "When it comes to you? Nope."
Naofumi grumbles, changing the subject. "You know any good spots to grind for levels and materials?"
Kane pauses for a bit, contemplating some of the spots he's been to and how to get there. "I know a few pretty good spots." He begins pointing in the direction to one of the spots. "About a… 15 minute walk that way, you should find a spot." He changes his directions, pointing at another one. "...maybe like a 30 minute walk that way, you might need to go slightly more to the left." He continues on, giving directions to the best of his ability.
Naofumi memorizes the directions. "Thanks, I need to grind as much as I can before the Wave comes."
Kane gives an understanding nod at the logic. The two sit in silence well Naofumi sits in silence, Kane proceeds to tease and annoy Naofumi for his entertainment, Naofumi gives him a look that promised pain if he didn't stop, he ignores it and proceeds on and as she's about to hit him the other four finish talking to each other and walk to their respective Heroes.
Naofumi quickly rushes her goodbyes to try and get to the spots Kane told her. "Right well I'll see you at the Wave Kane, come on Raphtalia." Naofumi turns and begins walking in the direction of one of the farming spots Kane told her.
Raphtalia says her goodbyes with a small wave, before catching up to Naofumi. "Please stay safe out there!" The two begin walking deeper into the wilderness.
Kane and his party all say their goodbyes while waving at the backs, Kane mutters under his breath. "Hate to see you go but I love watching you leave."
Leo looks at Kane with confusion on his face. "What?"
Kane scratches his cheek. "Don't worry Leo, you'll probably understand real soon."
Not much to say really other then that's the end of chapter 5.5.