Chapter 14: Hot spring Reunion.

I kinda want to commission some art but I have zero clue on who to go to, so if anyone knows any good artists with reasonable prices hit me up.

All rights go to their owners.

Talking: "Still listening to Lofi Hip Hop."

Thinking: 'Still a vibe.'

"What do you mean it's not your first name?"-Kane Stone.

Kane to his terror wakes up in a familiar space. The complete white void although this time the atmosphere of the area is even more suffocating, feeling eyes on his back. He snaps around trying to catch whatever has on edge but once again, nothing, just the endless space before him. Kane gulps, rubbing his cheek.

"Hey."

Kane jumps as a disembodied voice whispers into his ear. He turns immediately finding a familiar figure. The child once again with their back turned to him. Kane takes a deep breath and turns the child around, the face of the child faced right at him, his heart dropping in horror at the sight of it's face. The child's face droops, their eye sockets ooze with a tar-like liquid, completely black and dripping down their face.

"Did you forget me already Spear Hero?"

Kane wakes up with a startle, sweating as he looks around the camp to find his party members all sleeping peacefully. He takes a deep sigh of relief. He readjusts himself in his seat, rubbing his face with both hands. Kane stands up, twisting his back until a satisfying pop can be heard. He sits back down on his seat, watching over his party until Rifana wakes up, she yawns as she sits up, her hair ruffled from sleeping on the pillow, after Rifana awakens the others do so as well due to the sun shining on their closed eyes.

After the group slowly wakes up, Kane wanders over to the nearby stream, planning to wash him. Still slightly sweaty from the nightmare. He splashes the water onto his face, staring at his reflection.

Kane finds his ruby eyes staring back, his hair longer and a beard starting to grow in. He hums, rubbing his chin, the bushy golden hair slightly tickling his palm. "I need a shave…" In his peripherals is the Spear, he stares at it for a bit, twisting and turning it to analyse the Spear and pressing his thumb against the blade of the Spear.

Kane shrugs, taking off his shirt and splashing more water onto his face, waking him up. Staring into his reflection he proceeds to glide the Spear across his cheeks, the sharpness of the Spear easily cutting through his hair. He continues shaving for a few more minutes and finally moves the Spear away, leaving only a shortened goatee, he stares at his long hair, unsure if he should attempt to cut it shorter.

{Activate your Doppelgänger Skill.}

Kane's brow raises but does as Gungnir says, activating the skill, an almost complete copy of himself pops out of the Spear. "...Man magic is weird as fuck." The only difference between the two is the eyes, his copy eyes has no pupils, instead just being a solid white. Giving a rather uncanny feeling as he stares at it.

{Pull out a chair and take a seat.}

Kane once again wordlessly does so, pulling out a stool from his infinite inventory. He sits down, staring at his Doppelgänger, the copy staring at him. "So how does it work? Do you control it or?"

{It is connected to your subconscious. Control your Doppelgänger into giving you a haircut, this will be good practise on controlling it.}

Kane blinks. "...Uhhh. Give me a haircut?"

The request surprisingly works, his Doppelgänger moving towards him, an exact copy of his Spear emerging in it's hands. The Doppelgänger steps behind Kane and lifting the Spear, it holds the Spear by the neck, making it easy to control and guide. It begins to shave off the sides of Kane's hair while trimming the top, the Spear easily gliding through the hair.

10 minutes later.

Kane rubs the side of his head, he splashes some water on his hair, washing away the cut hair into the stream looking into the reflection of the water. Nodding his head at the surprisingly well-done haircut. "Huh, who would've guessed my Doppelgänger knows how to cut hair."

{It is due to it being connected to your subconscious, you watched someone cut your hair and as a result, it is placed into your subconscious.}

Kane tilts his head, slightly confused. "But I've never watched anyone cut hair with a Spear, let alone my hair."

{That doesn't matter, the general motions are close enough.}

"...A pair of scissors and an electric clipper are very different to a Spear."

{Are you seriously doubting that I can't cut through hair? Me the Legendary Spear that can pierce and slice through anything… well almost anything.}

"No, I'm just doubting at how my Doppelgänger somehow has the skill to cut my hair with a Spear." Kane throws up his hands. "y'know what, not gonna even bother looking the gift horse in the mouth." He pulls off the rest of his clothes and quickly washes in the stream. Heading back to the others when he's finished.

Kane sits on a stool, slicing a piece of meat to plant into the pot. The pot bubbles with ingredients, as the smell wafts through the air, making it smell delectable. He hears ruffling and grass being trampled on. He turns to the noise, finding Keel who stands there, extremely uncomfortable as she looks down at the ground and rubbing her arm. Kane speaks out to the wolf girl, concerned about her. "Something the matter?"

Keel immediately stops, looking up at Kane as if she was a deer stuck in headlights, she looks around nervously. "I-Uh… I have something I want to talk to you about…"

Kane stirs the pot, the metal container bubbling as he moves the ladle in a circular motion, despite this his eyes are still locked onto Keel. "I'm listening."

Keel's ears droop, her embarrassment getting even worse. "I-It's embarrassing and… private."

Kane doesn't stop stirring. "Well, I won't judge or tell the others if you don't want me to. Just take a deep breath and get it out of your system."

Keel nods the action less for Kane and more to psyche herself up. She takes a shaky deep breath in, filling her lungs of oxygen before puffing out, calming her nerves enough to talk about what's troubling her. "I… am bleeding." Kane stiffens, his hand stops stirring the pot.

"Where?" Keel looks away from Kane's eyes, her embarrassment at its apex. Kane's eyes narrow in confusion. "Why are you so emb-" The sudden realisation hits Kane. "Ohhhhhh." Kane points his finger downwards at the floor. "Down there?" Keel nods with her face being cherry red, unable to speak.

Kane gives a gentle smile in an attempt to reassure Keel. "Well, it's nothing to worry about. It's perfectly normal for women to go through what you're going through."

Keel stiffens, staring into Kane's calm eyes. "I-It is?"

He gives a nod, the smile still on his face. No sense of humour on his face, just a gentle calm. "Yep. Honestly, this is on me, I should have explained to you and Rifana what a period is." Kane shakes his head, regretting his mistake.

"S-So there's n-nothing wrong with me?"

"Nope, like I said, it's just a natural part of being a woman."

Keel lets out a sigh of relief, her hand on her chest. She walks up to Kane, sitting across from him. "...So what's are we eating today?"

Kane watches Keel as she stares back at him, relieved but still uncomfortable. He accepts the hidden request, moving on from the previous conversation. "Vegetable beef soup… or at least the closest I can get to it."

Keel tilts her head. "...The closest you can get to it?"

Kane sighs, still stirring the pot. "It's a massive pain in the ass since there are so many weird ingredients here and the ingredients that I do know are hard as fuck to find."

Keel hums to herself before smiling. "Well, it'll taste good no matter what you put in it."

Kane snorts, a smirk on his face. "I can always rely on you to enjoy my cooking Keel."

The tomboy Demi-Human gives a toothful smile, before turning back to the pot. She peacefully sits and waits, watching Kane as he stirs the pot.

The group proceeds to move along after their meal, hoping to enter Melromarc within the day, following the beaten track, a massive wall appears, separating the land. Kane assumes it's the border of Siltvelt going into Melromarc, finally reaching their destination or at least one point of it.

They walk up to the gate, the wooden door left opened but with Melromarc knights to the sides of the gate, standing in rows with spears in their hands, the spears pointed upwards. A knight different from all the others begins walking up to him, the plume in the helmet confirming the one walking up to him to be the captain or some leader position but for Kane all that plume did was remind him of that jackass that set Riyute village on fire. He frowns, not turning to his group he speaks. "I can't be fucked for border patrol, the door is open so just keep walking."

He makes a step towards the gate, his party following directly behind. Getting closer to the lead knight reveals them to be a woman, a fake smile on her face as she gets closer and closer to Kane. "Greeting Sir Spear, it is an honour to meet with such a legendary figure."

Kane walks past her, his voice dry, not in the mood to deal with the ass-kissing knight. "You must be really bored out here then." She sweatdrops, taken by surprise at Kane's words.

She quickly catches up to Kane, walking alongside him. "I-I must ask Sir Spear Hero, what were you doing in Siltvelt?"

Kane shrugs his shoulders. "There was a Wave so I stopped it."

"You should really focus on Melromarc, Sir. I mean you clearly must have noticed how much superior our country is to that damned country." She motions to the wall and all that lays behind it.

His party all glares at the back of the woman's head for her racist comments, while Kane gives a disgusted look at the woman. "I really don't give a shit about which is better or not, my job as the Spear Hero is to stop the Waves, not just the Waves in Melromarc or in Siltvelt." She opens her mouth to retort only for Kane to interrupts her. "Just do us both a favour and go back to your job and I'll worry the Waves."

The woman's smile contorts, seething behind her fake mask but Kane ignores her and just proceeds to walk along, he's pretty sure he caught a few of the knights smirking at his comment to their superior. Eventually, they pass the threshold, the knight captain glaring at their backs as they walk off.

Leo huffs, his fists clenched as he stares ahead, his thoughts still on the knight captain. "I'm glad she stopped trying to argue with you when she did, I just wanted to throttle her in the face."

Kane snorts while Keel wraps her arm around Leo's neck, smirking in his face with a proud look, the two demi-human walking together at the same speed whilst Keel has her arm wrapped around Leo. "You and me both Leo." She pats him on the shoulderblade. "You and me both."

They proceed to walk along the beaten dirt path, Kane pulling out the map of Melromarc again. "Quickest way to Castle Town is to go through the mountains and take a path to the sides."

"The mountains?" Rifana tilts her head.

"Something wrong with the mountains Riffy?"

Rifana crosses her arms, her lips in a straight line. "I've heard there's quite a few monsters there so we'll probably be delayed." Kane turns to her, before turning back to the map, trying to find another quick route.

The door to Erhard's swings open, Erhard brightens at the sight of the familiar Hero and her companions. "Shield Lassie!"

Naofumi gives a small smirk as she steps closer to the counter. "Boss."

"Where are the other ladies, Lassie?"

"In the cart, relaxing."

Erhard gives a nod at this before stopping and locking his eyes onto Naofumi once again. "How are you then Shield Lassie?"

Naofumi gives a shrug. "In all honesty, not too bad." Naofumi places both her hands on her hips, feeling the tough leather rub against her hand. "I've been making a lot of money recently thanks to some person pretty much buying up every alchemist store's potion ingredients supplies." Naofumi gives a sly smirk. "They got the money and I got the high-quality, abundant ingredients, along with the potions themselves so business is good."

Erhard gives a grin of himself, his heart warming at the good mood Naofumi is in. "Well, that's good to hear!" He leans on the counter. "So. What are you planning to do now?"

"I got a job to deliver cargo to some town up in the mountains, fairly simple but it pays decent."

Erhard rubs his chin, pondering. "This town… It wouldn't happen to be called Calid would it?"

Naofumi nods her head, curious about what has interested the business first blacksmith. "Yep. Something wrong with the town?"

Erhard gives a short snort before shaking his head, his mouth turning into a small smirk. "Nothing wrong with it you paranoid Hero. It's just a hot spring town." Erhard's smirk turns into a sly and cunning one, something Naofumi instantly notices. "You know what? I'm still don't think you paid me back for copying all my Shields."

Naofumi raises both her hands in her defence, her tone aggravated. "I paid you back!"

Erhard wipes his eye in an exaggerated tone. "Oh, but the emotional trauma. I just can't bare it, I don't think I will ever be able to repair and upgrade armour ever again. Oh, woe i-"

"Alright!" Naofumi huffs, rubbing her forehead with her palm. "What do you want?"

Erhard grins, feeling victorious over Naofumi. "Simple, give me a free trip to and back from Calid."

Naofumi's eyes narrow in confusion, the female Shield Hero shaking her head. "Why do you even want to go there? I seriously doubt it's just for the hot springs."

Erhard wags his finger at the Shield Hero, her eyes just blankly staring at the aged blacksmith. "That's where you're wrong, I need a small break and a hot spring is just what I need to get rid of this ache." Erhard rubs his back. His back muscle taut and tense, causing it to ache. "Work hard, play hard if you get me."

Naofumi blinks, her stare at Erhard becomes completely deadpan at the quote from her world, instantly knowing who Erhard got it from. "...You spend too much time with Kane."

Erhard chuckles, his deep tone rumbling throughout the shop. "Probably."

Naofumi gives one final sigh, her body deflating a bit before she stands up straight. "Whatever, I'll take you to Calid, I hope you're not expecting me to pay for your stay there, however."

Erhard shakes his head, his smirk still present. "Nope, I just don't want to get screwed over by transportation fees and you have the fastest transportation in town, a win-win in my books."

Naofumi gives a vindictive snort. "Damn right I have the fastest transportation." Naofumi rubs the back of her head, her jet black hair being pressed against her palm. "I'll wait for you in the cart then boss."

"I'll close up shop and be right there."

Naofumi hums in response, exiting the shop. Her thoughts go to how she only entered Erhard's shop to check up on him only to suddenly be turned into Erhard's taxi service. The fact it was Kane's fault through a single quote was not lost on her. "Dammit, Kane."

After a day of travelling, Naofumi and the others eventually reach Calid. Naofumi stops the cart at the side, she steps out of the cart. "I'll go find someone to take the delivery, you guys start to unpack it." She gives a wide smirk to Erhard. "I'm sure you can easily do it, boss."

Erhard rolls his eyes, cracking his back as he exits through the back of the cart. The large blacksmith begins to grab the bigger crates, leaving the smaller ones for Raphtalia who assists Erhard in unpacking the goods, Filo and Sakura however avoided doing any labour, instead, transforming into humans and dipping their toes into the shallow hot spring, the two girls cooing at the warmth.

Raphtalia glares at the two as she moves to pick up another crate, her tail stiffening. "Hey you two, you're meant to help us unpack!"

"But it's so warm and nice!" Filo shouts out, her tone light and joyous.

Raphtalia opens her mouth to argue back with the disobedient Filolial only to be interrupted by Erhard. "It's fine kid, honestly you should go join 'em. I handle the rest, don't want you pulling a muscle kid." The man picks up another crate with extreme ease.

Raphtalia pouts. "I am not a child anymore, I can help too."

"Ha! I remember when half of the swords in my shop were bigger than you." The smirk on Erhard's face is clear to Raphtalia who blushes in embarrassment.

"T-That's a bit of exaggeration."

"Not as much as you might think, really though kid. I'll be fine." Erhard stares into Raphtalia's eyes with a confident smirk which makes Raphtalia falter and eventually crumble.

"Okay… Thank you."

"No problem kid." Erhard goes back to pulling out the crates whereas Raphtalia goes to join Filo and Sakura, keeping an eye on the two troublemakers of the party. After ten minutes or so Erhard completely finishes pulling out all of the crates, neatly stacking them in a safe manner to ensure whoever would pick them up wouldn't endanger themselves, he joins Raphtalia and the others on sitting at the hot spring, he doesn't dip his toes or any part of his body, however, instead just taking a seat on the stone man-made structure.

Naofumi comes back with a woman in an simple maid attire. The maid looks over the crates before turning to Naofumi with a smile. "Thank you for delivering the order on such quick notice." The woman hands over a small bag to Naofumi to which she opens, counting the coins inside, almost instinctually placing in her inventory but stops herself, not wanting the maid to find out she's the Shield Hero. "If that is all, I need to get someone to bring in the shipment." The maid gives a small bow, clenching on her apron before turning around and leaving Naofumi alone.

The Shield Hero moves up to her party, specifically Erhard. "So, how long are you planning to stay here boss?"

Erhard shrugs. "Not sure, maybe a day or so."

Naofumi rubs her chin, humming in thought. Filo tilts her head. "Hey, hey, can we stay here?" Her childish voice catching Naofumi's attention.

Naofumi stares into Filo's eyes, the young monster pleading with big puppy eyes that try as she might Naofumi slowly begins to crumble against, eventually, she finally cracks and gives a deep sigh. "...fine. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to unwind."

Filo throws her hands up into the sky with excitement, her feet kicking against the water. Sakura joins in the excitement, humming happily as she creates swirls in the water.

Filo happily hops to and from in her human form, bouncing down the hallway. She grins as she wanders about, exploring the town without Naofumi or Raphtalia's supervision, she skips along next to a corner in the hallway, humming to herself.

"...Lily?"

Filo stops upon hearing the familiar voice and turns around, finding Kane staring at her. Filo gains a wide smile. "Spear Guy!"

"Spear Guy? Oh. It's you, Filo." The look of confusion on Kane's face slowly changes into one of slightly disappointed understanding, the disappointment is quickly washed away with Kane giving a smirk. "It's been a while huh Filo?"

Filo gives a nod, her smile still present before it turns into a frown. "Mhmm! Where's the meat you promised me?" She points at him with an accusatory finger.

The hall fills with Kane's laugh. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised you remembered that." He moves his hand into his inventory and hands Filo some jerky he made. "Happy now Filo?"

Filo doesn't respond, instantly scarfing down the jerky. She gives a small belch after devouring the jerky. Kane whistles, patting Filo on the head. "So what are you doing here?"

"Master decided to stay the night since bald guy wanted to come here for a bit."

Kane tilts his head in confusion. "Bald guy?"

"Yeah you know, the guy who makes all those swords and stuff."

Kane lets out a laugh, ruffling Filo's hair. "Ha!" He wipes a tear from his eye. "Don't call him that to his face though Filo, I don't think he would be very happy." Filo doesn't listen to Kane, staring behind him.

"-I wouldn't be happy with what Spear Brat?"

Kane turns around to find Erhard in casual wear, the towering blacksmith giving a glare right at Kane. "Ernie!" Kane shouts out, a disarming smile on his face.

Erhard's forehead gains a tic, his glare becoming even worse, the two stare at each other, Kane and Filo grinning at the annoyed blacksmith, his arms crossed. "Hey boss, you know where Fil-" Naofumi pops out from a corner. "Kane?"

Kane's smile becomes even wider, throwing out his arms in joy. "Iwatani!"

Naofumi plants a hand on her hip, a small smile of her own forming, she looks upon the Spear Hero, noticing that his hair has been shortened, looking more like himself when he was first summoned but with a short goatee along with it. Naofumi looks between Erhard and Kane. "You two gonna have a fight in the middle of the hallway?"

Erhard crosses his arms while Kane blows a raspberry. "Ernie would never do that, he loves me too much."

Erhard snorts. "Whatever you say, Spear Brat." Erhard cracks his back, a popping noise is heard from his spine. "I'm going to go relax in the hot spring." The large blacksmith walks past Kane and Filo, heading to the aforementioned hot spring.

Naofumi stares at Filo who smiles back. "What are you planning to do Filo? Join Raphtalia and Sakura in the hot spring?"

"Yep! Bye Spear Guy!" Filo nods before turning around and running off in the same direction as Erhard, planning on finding Raphtalia or her Filolial sister.

"Bye Filo!" Kane shouts down the hallway, he turns to Naofumi. "So, what are you planning to do?"

Naofumi rubs her stomach in response. "Thinking about going to the tavern, getting a little peckish."

"I'll come with you, we got some stuff to talk about anyway Iwi."

Naofumi gives a nod, a gentle smile on her face. The two Heroes make their way to the tavern, talking to each other on the way. The tavern was clean and looked of higher quality than other taverns Naofumi has been to. The two get a table all to themselves, ordering food and drinks.

Naofumi takes a swig of wine, the sweet alcohol parching her throat. She plants the wooden mug down on the table, staring at Kane. "You've been to Siltvelt right?" Kane gives a nod in response. "I've heard that they worship me, so I was wondering if I should make the effort to go there."

"I ain't too sure of that Iwi." He shakes his head. "The heads of Siltvelt don't want you there, they don't want any of the Heroes in general." He finishes it by lifting his mug and drinking the cider in it.

Naofumi frowns, displeased. "Why not? I thought they worshipped me?"

Kane shrugs. "I don't know the exact details of it, but Tior told me they don't want any of the Heroes even the Shield Hero." He rubs the side of his head. "Honestly I rather you be here than there considering the last Shield Hero was poisoned over there." Naofumi's eyes widen at the mention of poison, making her grumble. "Easier for the Queen to protect you here than over there."

"What? The Queen is protecting me?"

"Yep."

Naofumi's eyes narrow in suspicion, her lips turning into a straight line. "Can we trust her?

Kane's lips jut out as he nods his head. "About 99%. I've met her and she's been helping me, even met one of the Shadows assigned to me, I named them Riley."

Naofumi deadpans, staring at Kane. "Well done." The sarcasm dripping from her comment. "What do Shadows do exactly?"

"Pretty much assassinate and spy, you know like this country's version of the secret service or something. Their watching over us and protecting us from the Church's Shadows."

"Wait, us? The Church is trying to get you too?"

Kane nods, his memory of the Troll flashing in his head. "The Troll was their assassination attempt."

Naofumi's face freezes, remembering the near-death state Kane was in when he killed it. "Damn, that was them? But so soon after we were summoned?" Naofumi hums. "I'm not sure if I believe it was them at the point then, what happens if it was the Queen and she's just trying to make you think she's not responsible."

Kane shakes his head. "Doesn't make much sense since if I did die the Queen would get a lot more shit and considering she's out with the other heads of the other countries, I find it hard to believe she would risk herself like that." He taps the side of his head in thought. "I have no idea why the Church tried killing me so soon though."

After a few moments the realisation hits Naofumi, she sighs and leans forward on the table. "Because you defended me in the trial." Naofumi leans back in her seat. "Should have just stayed quiet Kane, I was fucked no matter what and you almost got killed for defending me."

Kane points at Naofumi, a stern look on his face. "Fuck. That. I wasn't going to sit by and let them frame you for shit you hadn't done."

Naofumi rolls her eyes. "You're too loyal for your own good. It's like you said I was screwed from the word go, there was nothing you could do."

"I don't give a flying fuck, I'll do it again in heartbeat."

Naofumi readjusts herself on the seat, staring into Kane's ruby eyes for a few moments before speaking. "...Why?"

"What?" Kane wasn't expecting that question of all things.

"Why did you defend me? We barely even knew each other back then and yet you still risked yourself, why?"

Kane looks away in thought, thinking back to the trial, searching for the reason why he spoke up, why he defended Naofumi, he thought about saying it was the right thing to do but it felt disingenuous. "I couldn't stay silent... getting fucking tricked like that into believing you were guilty and then just seeing you staring at the ground it... killed me, you looked so alone, like the whole world was against you." Kane begins to snarl, the familiar guilt beginning to surface, his voice beginning to rise, anger also rising. "I just cou-!"

Naofumi plants her hand on Kane's, the physical contact surprising Kane, his approaching rant stopping dead in tracks. Her emerald eyes staring into Kane's crimson ones. His anger instantly extinguishes. Naofumi's mouth turns into a gentle smile. "Thank you, for standing by my side. I appreciate you."

Kane stares at Naofumi blankly for a few seconds, his emotions conflicting for a moment before a sense of calmness fills him as his lips transforms into a genuine smirk of his own. "...Always for you Iwatani."

Naofumi's smile weakens, her eyebrow rising. "You know you can use my first name, I think we're close enough for that."

Kane's smirk just like Naofumi's smile weakens, freezing in place completely. "What do you mean, Iwatani is your first name… isn't it?"

"No, my first name is Naofumi."

Kane's brows rise in confusion. "What? But you introduced yourself to the King as Iwatani Naofumi."

"Yeah and?"

Kane's confusion becomes even more apparent. "Why would you give your last name first, it's your last name, you're meant to give it last, that's why it's called the last name."

Naofumi shrugs. "That's completely normal." Naofumi points at Kane. "Doesn't even America do it?"

"No, that's just weird."

Naofumi snorts, crossing her arms. "I find it weird that you gave your first name first and then your family name."

Kane leans in, mimicking Naofumi in a mocking manner, making her glare at Kane. He straightens up in thought. "...Wait, I called you Iwatani in Riyute village, why didn't you tell me then?"

Naofumi shrugs while twirling her hair. "...I didn't want to ruin the moment by making it awkward."

"Well, now it kinda is."

Naofumi shrugs yet again, her tone is completely cool. "Well, it's not my fault you're an idiot."

Kane deadpans at the Shield Hero. "Not my fault you're confusing, Captain Japan."

Naofumi's brow furrows at the Captain Japan quip, she flips Kane the middle finger, a toothful grin on her face. "Fuck you."

"Love you too." The two stare at each other before descending into snorts and laughs. After the laughter dies down, Kane takes a deep breath. "I've got some monster drops and info for your Shield by the way."

"I got some stuff for you too although, there are a few weapons that I'm not too sure if you can copy." Naofumi pulls out a poleaxe, handing it to Kane who takes it with a curious stare. He waits for a moment, staring at the poleaxe, when nothing happens he turns to his Spear. He opens his mouth before the words in his mouth dying.

Damned Man-At-Arm's Poleaxe: (+0) +120 Atk, -80 Mag.

Kane hums, looking up at Naofumi, handing back the poleaxe. She accepts the poleaxe, tilting her head. "Did it work?"

Kane nods, transforming his Spear into the poleaxe. "What made you think that my Spear would be able to copy it?"

"Well, I found that poleaxe in a dungeon, I was going to leave it but there was another shield there. A great shield to be exact, I decided, screw it, and tried to copy it. It surprisingly worked. I figured if the great shield works maybe the poleaxe would."

Kane's eyes narrowed in curiosity. "Great shield?"

Naofumi pushes her seat away from the table, looking around the tavern. Satisfied with the fact of no one watching. She raises her arm, the Shield attached to it glowing bright green before transforming into a giant slab of darkened metal, fancy etching on the face of the Shield. Humorously Naofumi's entire body is covered by the massive Shield.

Kane looks away, struggling to hold in laughter at the sight of comical sight of the Shield Hero holding a Shield even bigger then her. He immediately fails when Naofumi pokes her head from the side of the Shield, staring right at Kane. "Laugh all you want, but my Defence is through the roof with this." She morphs the Shield back into a book. "Takes away my Agility when I pull it out, however."

With a chortle, Kane speaks. "Well, I mean it makes sense, you looked like a midget with that thing on your arm." Kane finishes with a snort.

"Real funny, did you come up with that one when you banged your head on the door?" Naofumi bites back with a dry retort. Kane chortles at the verbal jab, leaning on his arm. He retorts to Naofumi, joking about her height and a shelf which makes her instantly respond with her own joke about his height, comparing him to a giraffe.

The two letting insults and jokes fly at each other. The interaction is cathartic and humorous for the two Heroes, lifting their moods. The two laugh and talk until late in the evening where the two eventually depart, heading for their individual rooms but vowing to meet up again.

End of Chapter 14.

In case anyone wonders what Kane's hairstyle looks like think of Vesemir from the Witcher anime, that's what I kind of had in mind when describing it.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and I'll see ya in the next one.