Chapter 16: Moonshine Time

Been a while… again. Not much to say really, had stuff to do and at times I didn't know what to write when I did try. I then decided to rewrite chapter 1 completely but I didn't want to blue ball anyone by giving a notification but it's just a rewrite of chapter 1.

Anyway.

All rights go to their owners

Talking: "I wanna sleep through the weekend. I wanna try."

Thinking: 'I wanna walk on my own floor before I die.'

"Florida, the land of the batshit insane."-Literally anyone who has google.

A lone woman sits in silence, all that can be heard is the slight clatter of the fork and knife, both hitting the plate, carving the woman's food. The room itself has various high-quality furniture: Three chairs with fine velvet silk, the legs, and support made of pure gold, glittering fancily by candlelight. A desk in the centre of the chairs, the desk another lavish piece of furniture in the room. Rich marble, carved to perfection. Just like the chairs, it has golden etchings and inlays.

The woman suddenly stops. Her hand like a blur she tosses the fork, the cutlery impacting a dark corner. A cold stare on the woman's face as she barks out a command. "This knife will enter your skull next… come out of the shadows, now."

A hooded figure emerges from the same corner as the fork. The Shadow bows before her, presenting a rosary to her. "Peace Lady Artoa, I am here from the Church."

The woman lowers the knife, at the sight of the necklace and the words of Shadow. She slowly plants the knife on the table. "My apologises Shadow, had I known you were with the Church I would not have threatened you."

The Shadow shakes its head. "It is of no consequence Lady Artoa. In all honesty, I am rather impressed at how you detected me, the stories about you do not give you enough credit."

Artoa inwardly grimaces. "Yes… the stories." She blinks. "What is the message then?"

The Shadow stays still for a few seconds before pulling out a crystal ball, gently settling it in the centre of the desk. "His Holiness wishes to speak with you." Artoa looks up at the Shadow from her sitting position then back down to the ball. The Shadow steps away. "I must take my leave now, the work of a faithful is never over." The Shadow pulls open a window before leaping out, the sound of an impact missing. The Shadow was already gone.

The crystal ball begins to shimmer, pulsing. Artoa leans forward, pressing her palm against the crystal ball, activating the magical item. An image of the Pope appears, his normal smile replaced with a cold frown. "Sister Artoa."

Artoa bows her head. "Your Holiness."

The Pope blinks, clearly not in the mood. "Sister Artoa, God demands you to perform a task for him."

Artoa stiffens.

"God has another task for you Artoa. Lerno village is becoming a threat, there are beginning to supply the kingdom with excess food and they will only grow more and more, weakening your position as Lady of the breadbasket." The Pope frown turns even deeper, spitting the words with venom. "As if that wasn't bad enough they're telling others that the Spear Hero and the Shield Devil had acquired the seed necessary for this… growth. The people of Melromarc are becoming confused due to the manipulations of the Shield Devil."

The Pope lets out a deep sigh. "You must get rid of Lerno's village chief. Take their seeds and burn their crops to the ground."

Artoa blanks. "What? I thought I was… finished with all this."

The Pope's unfocused cold glare now aims itself upon Artoa, a smidgen of dread in her stomach. "They are heretics that risk the entire sanctity of Melromarc, they must be eradicated." Artoa's eyes avert themselves, staring at her feet. The action is caught by the Pope. "Sister Artoa, God demands your loyalty, and yet you seem unwilling to obey. Have you forsaken God, have you forsaken me?"

Artoa jumps, the most emotion she's shown all night. "N-No! I am still loyal your holiness. I just-"

The Pope doesn't listen to her. "Good, then you know your task, eliminate the chief of the Lerno village, ensure that the village is too broken to threaten your position. Above all else, We CANNOT be implicated with this do you understand?" Artoa gives a slight nod, her head moving just an inch, nonetheless, it's caught by The Pope. The Pope gives a snarl for a single moment, his temper flaring before quickly being brought under control, his cold stare returning. "I can only give you two Shadows, The others are too busy to assist you."

"...I'm just a soldier, I have no talent in assassinations."

"Find a way Sister Artoa, God demands it." The Pope's magical form disappears when he finishes his sentence, the crystal ball losing its glow.

Artoa stares at the dull ball. Contempt clear on her face. She rubs her face, a deep sigh leaving her. She pushes her plate away, her appetite gone.

"So what's the land like the one where you and Spear Brat come from?"

Naofumi blinks, she looks up at Erhard, the large blacksmith in his seat, staring at her with a curious gaze. Erhard however isn't the only one interested in such a question, Rifana and Leo both stare at her, waiting for her answer, Raphtalia training in the background with Keel while the three monsters idle around.

Naofumi scratches the side of her head. "I come from Yokohama which is in Japan, it's the second biggest city of Japan, so it's full of buildings and roads, nothing like Castle Town or really any city here."

Naofumi gains a slight smirk. "Now see, Kane and I might come from the same world, but we don't come from the same country. Kane comes from America but to be more exact he comes from the part of America where it's all wild men and barbarians." Naofumi's small smirk turns into a grin. Erhard and Leo snort while Rifana giggles. "Even across the world, we hear of the insanity of Florida. Like kidnapping a scientist to make their pet immortal, killing their imaginary friend, and then turning themselves in to the police, and my personal favourite. Teaching a seven year old how to fish with dynamite."

The three listening in all chuckle to themselves, thinking Naofumi is just teasing with her description of Kane's home. Erhard deep chuckle turns into a grin. "You're just joking, right? These people aren't actually kidnapping scientists or teaching their young ones how to use dynamite right?"

Naofumi shrugs, her smug smile still present on her pale face. "I don't know about the first two but the last I do actually believe simply because that seven year old in the story was Kane."

Erhard's smile weakens, like the others, apart from Naofumi whose smirk becomes even wider. "He was probably just pulli-"

A sudden blast echoes through the forest. The entire table stares into the direction of the explosion. They find a black cloud of smoke hanging above the trees before the wind pushes it away. Moments later Kane pops out of the shrubbery, noticeably from the direction of the blast. Although the most damning evidence of Kane being responsible for the blast would be his appearance. His hair dishevelled, steam rolling off of his body. A scorch mark on his chest.

Naofumi's grin returns with full force. "Speak of the Spear Hero and he shall appear." Erhard points a finger at Kane in gnawing horror at the mistreatment of the armour while all the others stare in shock.

Kane casually saunters over to Naofumi, acting as if nothing had happened. "...Can I have a health potion."

Naofumi stares at Kane in amusement. She stares at his HP bar, finding only 25% remaining, she huffs. "Heh." She pulls out a potion and hands it to Kane. He swipes it, pulling the cork and gulping down its contents in one go. "So, what caused the explosion Kane?"

Kane hands the bottle back to its owner. "Moonshine distillery."

Naofumi's face stiffens, a quiet laugh escapes her before it turns into a booming howl of laughter. She points at Kane, tears forming from laughing, the blonde just stands there calmly. "You blew yourself up to make alcohol!" She bends over her cackles at its apex.

"What!" Both Rifana and Leo both speak at the same time.

"You damaged my armour that I spent hours on to make alcohol…" Erhard's brow twitches.

Kane nods. "Yep."

Erhard's brow twitches again as his mouth forms into a snarl. "You must have a death wish to be so calm after recklessly damaging my armour like that."

Kane pats himself. "Think I might already be dead, to be honest with you." He points at Erhard. "But hey! Think of it this way, I'm giving you more work by damaging it so you can repair it."

Erhard stands up from his chair. "You know what? That's a great point, let me go get my hammer." He walks away, moving towards the cart where all the other miscellaneous equipment is.

Kane blinks. "Welp. That's my cue to get the fuck out of here before he comes back with his warhammer." He turns around and rushes for the bushes of the treeline. Erhard rushing after him with a giant hammer poised in an attack stance.

Naofumi sniffles, her face red and her eyes watery from the laughter. While Leo and Rifana grimace at the moronic nature of their party leader.

"So why a moonshine distillery to begin with?" Naofumi tilts her head with a slight smirk. The party is once again on the trail back to Castle Town to drop off Erhard, Kane, and his party.

Kane rubs the right side of his upper chest, the phantom pain from the explosion still there despite his HP being completely full. "Moonshiners make a shit ton of money, add in the fact that the alcohol still ferments in my inventory and I can pack the whole distillery in my inventory without any trouble, so moonshine is gonna make me a shit ton of cash."

Naofumi hums in thought. "How much does moonshine go for? I mean doesn't that stuff make you go blind?"

"If you make the shine from fucking battery acid or something else that's toxic then yeah someone is gonna end up blind or maybe even dead, but good moonshiners make a killing because their good moonshiners, their shit ain't low quality and it won't kill you for drinking it. That's what I'm gonna do, become a moonshiner and make a lot of profits."

Naofumi snorts. "Whatever you say, Dionysus, just don't blow yourself up again." Naofumi taps her chin with her index finger. "Actually, I take that back, it was funny watching you walk around with smoke rolling off of you."

Kane huffs. "Laugh all you want human metapod, Imma fill all the bars around Castle Town with moonshine… just gotta make sure I seal the distillery properly this time… and maybe wear extra protection while I'm making it just in case."

Naofumi snorts once again shaking her head. "Just be careful moron." Kane mutters approvingly. Naofumi pauses in thought. "Wait. Who taught you how to make moonshine anyway?"

Kane stares at her blankly. "...take a wild guess."

"Your great uncle?" Kane nods, causing a smirk to appear on Naofumi's face. "So not only has he taught you how to fish with dynamite. He also taught you how to make moonshine?" Naofumi chuckles. "Your mother must have been mortified."

Kane grimaces and nods. "She was. Although I learned how to make moonshine when I was 16 so y'know, he wasn't that irresponsible."

Naofumi shakes her head. "I take back what I said. Other than the name, you're definitely American."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Naofumi huffs with levity. She looks up to the clear blue sky, the sun blazing. A breeze passes by, pushing the green grass and blooming branches. Bird calls from across the forest are heard, the woods teeming with life despite the horrors of the Wave, life moves on, creating beauty when capable. A serene calm fills Naofumi. Cherishing the sense of peace.

The calm remains for the rest of the journey, Naofumi and Kane speaking to each other. Eventually, Castle Town comes into view, its imposing appearance dampers Naofumi's mood until Kane speaks up. "Don't you think it's kinda lazy that it's called Castle Town? Like all the other villages have got some weird and unique names while Castle Town is just… Castle Town."

Naofumi chuckles, the imposing sight of the capital no longer on the forefront of her mind. "It is pretty weird."

Kane shakes his head. "That's not even the weirdest part, like the church? What the fuck is up with those towers? God going up those stairs must be like that fucking movie Labyrinth." Naofumi snorts.

The group enters the town without issue, although Kane continues on nitpicking, to Naofumi's entertainment, he only stops when the carriage ceases moving right outside Erhard's shop. Kane and his party jump off, along with Erhard.

Naofumi gives a small smile as she looks at the others who stand by. "See you guys later." Filo and Sakura spin the carriage around, leaving the group behind.

Raphtalia pokes her head through the back of the carriage, waving goodbye. "Bye, everyone! Stay safe!"

All of them wave back. All shouting their own goodbyes back. After the carriage leaves their sight they move on, entering Erhard's shop.

Erhard sighs contently, rubbing the top of his counter. "So kid, what's your plan now? I don't imagine you're gonna just sit around and wait for Shield Lassie to come back." Kane's party listen in silently, curious about what they were going to do.

Kane shakes his head. "Gotta reassign myself to the Dragon Hourglass." He sighs. "Need to talk to the King about giving me some knights for the Wave but I'll save that for later since I'm not in the mood to deal with his bullshit." He hums. "Also want to check out some bars, maybe sell some of the shine I've got, and see if I can make some good money out of it."

Erhard rubs his chin. "Selling alcohol shouldn't be too hard as long as it's not super expensive, although they may not want to buy yours due to it being a new thing."

"Any idea where I should start?"

Erhard shakes his head. "No clue, maybe the bigger bars? They're normally the places where you can find the weird and exotic beers and stuff."

Kane nods, seeing the logic presented to him. "Can I leave my armour here? I need it refitted."

Erhard crosses his arms, sighing. "Sure leave it here, I'll get to work on it tomorrow."

Kane takes off his armour through the inventory, leaving him with plainclothes only. He plants it on the counter. "You mind if I get upgraded at the same time?"

"Might as well. What materials you got for me?"

Kane pulls out excess monster materials, handing them off to Erhard, the blacksmith analyzing the parts, picking out the best ones and separating them from the others. "I'll use these other parts to make some weapons for your party, Is that fine by you?"

Kane turns around to his party, checking their response. They all nod causing him to turn back around and face Erhard. "Go for it."

Erhard hums. "Right then, I'll go get that sorted out for tomorrow, till then kid speak to you later."

Kane nods. "Later, Ernie." He turns around and motions his party to the front door.

They all leave, speaking their own goodbyes to Erhard this time. Kane is the last to leave, closing the door behind him onto the bustling street. He looks up at the sky to find the sun almost setting. "...Let's go check in an inn."

"Can't we just camp outside again? I prefer that over being in the inn." Rifana blurts out, unwilling to deal with the constant glares of the innkeepers.

"Yeah! Camping out is much better." Keel joins in defence of Rifana.

Kane turns to Leo and Shen. "What about you two?"

Leo shrugs. "I prefer that over the inn, to be honest."

Shen grins, preferring to camp out in the wilderness than be in a civilised town. "I wanna be able to fly around and sleep as in my true form!"

Kane claps his hand. "Guess we're camping out then, come on." He starts walking towards the exit, his party quickly following behind him.

Bonus Scene: Talks with Kane and Naofumi, pt.1

The two Heroes remain awake, Kane sits at a campfire, staring up into the night sky. Naofumi pulls a blanket over Shen, Sakura and Filo. The three surprisingly sleeping in a big pile despite their rivalry. Naofumi moves away and takes a seat at the campfire, next to Kane. She pulls out her mortar and pestle and her brewing kit.

Kane looks down. "Do you know what I wonder?"

Naofumi blinks. "This should be interesting, but go ahead."

"Why a matriarchy? With how medieval this place is I'm surprised women are treated as equals here."

Naofumi hums, she had the same thought in her head too when she found out the Queen ran the country. "I wonder the same thing but then I realised gender doesn't mean anything, only stats." Kane tilts his head in confusion, causing Naofumi to further explain. "You could be a 9-foot tall dude that's nothing but pure muscle and lose to a midget of a woman in an arm-wrestle due to pure stats."

Kane hums, he reaches an understanding of what Naofumi meant. He stares at Naofumi. "...I bet I could beat you in an arm-wrestle."

Naofumi snorts. "Not a chance in hell cowboy."

"Oh well, don't you sound confident? How about we put a bet on it."

"You sure you wanna do this? There's no backing out when you lose."

Kane opens his inventory, pulling out a table for them. "Bring it."

Naofumi stands up. "You didn't even say what the bet was."

Kane blinks. "Oh yeah… uh…" He snaps his fingers. "If I win you help me brew something and hey if you're good I'll let you keep some of the profits."

Naofumi rolls her eyes. "And what do I get out of it if I win?"

Kane pauses again, he rubs his chin, he shrugs after a moment. "...I don't know, you decide."

Naofumi stares at Kane, pondering. She's unable to come up with anything. "If I win, you owe me a favour and you have to do it, no matter what it is."

"Sounds kinky."

"Don't even go there, I just might need a Spear Hero to help advertise my travelling merchant business, or maybe get you to threaten a rival, the possibilities are endless."

"Well, you shouldn't concern yourself with those possibilities because they aren't happening." Kane plants his arm on the table.

Naofumi huffs. "Better get ready to lose, Spear Idiot." She meets Kane's arm, the two hands clasping together. "On go, we start okay?" Kane nods. "3,2,1 Go."

Kane pushes against Naofumi's arm with all his might, her arm barely even budging. Naofumi pushes back, straining with difficulty as she tries to push Kane's arm down. The two are stuck in a deadlock for a moment or two before Naofumi slowly begins to overwhelm Kane with her strength, his arm getting closer and closer to the table. He grits his teeth, struggling, making Naofumi use every ounce of her strength to slowly push his arm. But his struggles are for naught as his hand eventually meets the table surface. Naofumi lets go and back up, shock fills her before a sense of satisfaction completely overwhelms it, a massive grin forms on her pale face.

Kane stares at his arm in disbelief. "What the fuck?" He looks up at Naofumi her grin still present. "How are you so damn strong?"

Naofumi rises both her arms in a bodybuilder pose and kisses her own biceps. "As I said, size and muscle don't mean anything, stats is where it's at."

Kane blinks. "Don't I have higher stats than you since I'm higher levelled?"

Naofumi raises a finger. "I found out how strong I was by crushing stone with my bare hands and other crazy stuff and I guess as the Shield Hero I just have a higher strength stat."

Kane's thoughts go back to Mald, the large armoured man that was in Itsuki's party, and how he dented his helmet with a headbutt, he considers mentioning back quickly squashes that thought when realising who he's talking to. Naofumi's grin weakens a bit. "You're not upset are you Kane?"

Kane slightly shakes his head. "What?" He blinks rapidly, the question finally registering in his head. "Oh no, I don't really care. Guess you can say it's humbling really."

Naofumi hums in surprise. "Huh. Well I won, therefore you owe me a favour."

Kane nods once, not really bothered. His brow however raises. "Uh, by the way, you know if you have trouble with business stuff you don't need a favo-"

His sentence is interrupted by Naofumi who gives him a blank stare. "I can come up with something far worse for you to do if you would like."

Kane pauses, the two watching each other. He clears his throat. "...I mean yeah sure, whenever you need help with your business, hit me up."

Naofumi nods, a smile on her face. Her smirk becomes smug. "You owe me a favour and I find out that I'm stronger then you. Not a bad day if I do say so myself."

Kane removes the table, placing it in his inventory. He sits back down at the campfire. "What's the favour gonna be? Call me in to get something from the top shelf?"

Naofumi's eye twitches. "One; you already made that joke. Two; I'm not that short and I can actually reach the top shelf.-"

"On your tippy toes?"

Naofumi ignores the interruption by Kane. "Lastly; that was a low blow."

"Every blow against you is a low blow."

"…" Naofumi crosses her arms, attempting to think of a comeback. Kane leaning in with a smirk on his face. "...Fuck you."

He chuckles, Naofumi sighs in response. The two sitting by the campfire, under night sky, twinkling with stars. The two speak on random topics as to pass the time in peace and camaraderie.

A super short chapter, but it's mostly just to get the ball rolling again, and yes Kane and Naofumi are separated again. I kinda view the two like Geralt and Yennifer, they constantly just keep finding each other in the wildest of places except this time Kane is just going to chill at Castle Town in preparation for the Wave.

Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review and I shall see you all in the next chapter.