I only had the first chapter and I gotta say it came off to a better start than I had hoped sp as I thank you all here's a belated holiday gift.
Disclaimer: I don't ROTSH
As she felt herself stir awake Audrey looked around and scrutinized the scenery around her, upon discovering that she was in a room that looked like something out of the medieval era she remembered everything that happened the previous day, particularly the parts that took place after she was suddenly summoned to the country of Melromarc to fight against a catastrophe known as the waves.
'So it wasn't a dream after all.' Honestly Audrey had truly hoped everything from before was indeed a dream so she could simply wake up in her dorm room and catch the movie she agreed to see with Patricia.
The idea that she was suddenly going to have to risk her life for a world that had nothing to do with her didn't exactly appeal to Audrey, especially since she had never actually agreed to any of this to begin with, at least not of her own free will but rather was forced into the position upon being summoned as one of the four cardinal heroes since it was unlikely that those responsible for bringing her here would simply let her walk away.
'Well I guess all I can do is figure out where the best place to start would be.' A sudden knock on the door to the room snapped the bow hero out of her thoughts.
"Excuse me heroes, his majesty has summoned for all of you." A feminine voice that Audrey could only assume belonged to one of the maids said.
"Alright I'll be out in a minute."
Immediately after Audrey finished that sentence another spoke up that was completely different from the first one. "Hurry, will you? We don't have all day."
Audrey groaned in annoyance. One of the two people she really didn't care to see was apparently outside her door, the sword hero Ren.
Ignoring her fellow hero Audrey walked over to the opposite side of the room where Naofumi was laying. Placing a hand on his shoulder Audrey preceded to gently shake him awake.
"Naofumi it's time to get up."
"Mmm h-huh." As Naofumi stirred awake he was greeted to the sight of Audrey smiling at him which caused him to have to fight off oncoming blush as he greeted her. "Oh uh Audrey is something going on?"
"Apparently the king has summoned us."
"Really? What for?"
"Probably to meet the companions he offered to find for us."
"Of yeah we're all supposed to start on our adventure today." Naofumi said with tone filled with excitement at the prospect. Audrey was worried that his naivety was going to land him in a bad situation, if that happened, she would do what she could to mitigate whatever damage ended being done but it would be up to Naofumi to wake up to the reality of the situation which brought up another source of worry.
When the Naofumi and the other two were forced to realize the reality of their situation would they still be willing to fight the waves? Audrey had a hard time imagining that to be the case for the other two otherworlders. the spear hero was little more than a sex crazed degenerate not unlike the guy who all but ruined Audrey's high school life, the sword hero was arrogant and greedy to the point that it was rather unlikely that he'd take well to being grounded by reality, and Naofumi while he was a great person, one who reminded Audrey of her friend Patricia in many ways she wasn't sure if he'd still have the will to go forward considering he was almost dispirited thanks to his fellow heroes painting his situation as hopeless just to stroke their own egos.
Audrey could only pray that the shield hero would have someone by his side who could support when he needed it since her position as a fellow hero made the possibility of Audrey doing so herself a rather tall goal that she wasn't sure she had the resolve to strive for.
Whatever happened in the future Audrey could only cross those bridges when she came to them.
As Naofumi got out of bed he turned to Audrey. "Man I'm excited, getting summoned as hero to go on an adventure, I can hardly wait."
"Right, well anyway let's get going I don't feel like listening to Ren whine anymore." With that Audrey headed for the door with Naofumi following close behind.
Upon opening the door Audrey and Naofumi were greeted to the sight of a maid, an annoyed looking Ren, and a jealous Motoyasu glaring at Naofumi whilst mutter the words "lucky bastard" under his breath causing Audrey to roll her eyes in annoyance before Ren decided to speak up. "Took you long enough."
"Whine to someone who actually cares about what you want." Audrey shot back shutting the sword hero up before turning to the maid.
"We're all here so please take us to the throne room."
"Right this way." The maid replied leading the four heroes to their current destination. Once they arrived at the throne room the King along with numerous nobles were waiting to see them.
Many of the noble woman were eyeballing Motoyasu and Ren with admiration and desire, the former unsurprisingly gave many of them flirtatious glances whilst the latter simply ignored them.
A few of the noble men both young and old were even eyeing Audrey much to her annoyance and disgust, she could already guess what they wanted which was something she had no intention of giving them. Another she noticed was that quite a few were shooting glares and looks of disgust in Naofumi's direction prompting Audrey raise her one of her eyebrows ever so slightly.
Did these people have something against Noafumi? If so, why? He hasn't done or said anything to earn anyone's hostility, if there was anyone that deserved the people's disdain it was Motoyasu and Ren considering they had wasted no time in making it very clear that their priorities lie more with their own greed rather than the wellbeing of the people.
Audrey could only hope that this wouldn't affect Noafumi's standing with whoever his companions would be.
As all four heroes bowed before Aultcray he wasted no time in announcing his intentions.
"Fellow heroes, as promised we have found worthy adventurers to aid you in your quest to save our world."
Immediately after the King finished that sentence numerous people walked out wearing a variety of equipment and weaponry. Audrey figured that they had different roles such as front and rear line fighters as well as magic users.
Many of them certainly looked the part. Another thing that the Audrey took notice of was that while some of the adventures were looking at her and the other heroes in anticipation other were more contemplative looks and there were others who shot brief looks of contempt at Naofumi which set off red flags immediately for Audrey.
It was one thing when it was the nobility showing subtle signs of resentment towards him but for the adventures that were supposed to be helping the heroes was another. In fact the only that person seemed to show any sign of viewing Naofumi in a positive light was a red haired woman who smiled warmly at Naofumi and even waved at him momentarily which gave Audrey a glimmer of hope for the shield hero.
"Now choose the hero you wish to serve." The King announced. Upon hearing this all the adventures began walking towards Audrey and the other three heroes. Meanwhile Motoyasu and Naofumi watched in a mixture of excitement anticipation whilst Ren just maintained a stoic demeanor.
Soon the adventures had all lined up behind the Hero they wanted to serve. Ren had five people, Motoyasu had four, and Audrey had three leaving no one for Naofumi.
Upon noticing this Naofumi was dumbfounded when it became apparent that he would have no one with him during his adventure. "Why hasn't anyone here joined my party?" He asked his voice laced with confusion and worry.
Audrey noticed this too. She had hoped at least the red head would join him but instead she went for Motoyasu. 'I guess she didn't have any sincerity toward Naofumi after all.' Still if that was the case why did she shoot him that smile? It was fairly obvious he was meant to notice it; something wasn't right with this pitcher.
"I must admit this is something I haven't foresaw." King mused caused Audrey to eye him with suspicion as he continued. "Perhaps this is because the shield hero doesn't have the charisma of three have?"
In the next moment the advisor whispered something into the king's ear before Aultcray turned to the four otherworlders.
"It seems a disturbing rumor has been circulating around the castle."
Audrey now glaring at the king stepped forward before replying. "And what exactly would this disturbing rumor be?"
"Apparently there are those that have reason to believe that the shield hero has no knowledge of our world, even though the prophecies state that all the heroes are supposed to have extensive knowledge of it."
"And what reason does anyone have for believing Naofumi knows nothing about this world, how could anyone here even have the slightest inkling to how much he supposedly knows about the world when no one has even spoken to him about it?"
The king looked uncomfortable and from the looks of it he was trying to think of a response to give to Audrey's question. "Well, you see miss Alethea….one of our servants had a chance to speak with the shield hero the previous night about it and that's where he confessed his lack of foresight at least according to them."
Naofumi looked shocked and confused. "But that never….."
The king cut him off. "Anyhow that's just how it is, there's no helping the situation now shield hero."
Audrey became irritated at this point realizing from the kings demeanor and his dismissal of Naofumi protest that he was in on this ploy confirming Audrey's suspicion that the king was indeed against Naofumi. "Really now? Because I found that rumor spread about Naofumi really odd considering he was with me and the other heroes that entire time and even after we all retired, he was still with me the entire time from then on since we were sharing a room, so I know for a fact he couldn't have had any chance to speak to any of the servants." Audrey declared.
Once again the king was unable to come up with an immediate response. Looking around frantically the king's eyes finally settled on Naofumi himself. "Shield hero, let me ask right here and now do you have any wisdom of our world?"
Naofumi scratched the back of his head whilst wearing an uncomfortable expression probably from being put in the spotlight and staring towards the ground. "Well the truth is I really don't much at all."
Aultcray let out a sigh of relief disguised as one of disappointment. "I see, so in the end the rumors were true after all."
Audrey could only growl in annoyance before stepping back. After everything that's happened she already suspected that the king was just manipulating things to paint Naofumi as incompetent but at this point there was nothing else Audrey could say since Naofumi's admittance of his lack of knowledge of how the world worked. Still, it wasn't fair for that to be a catalyst for people to refuse to aid him, afterall in spite of what any prophecies might proclaim there was actually no way for anyone to know exactly what to expect when going to a new world. Ren and Motoyasu might think they do but their source of information was from their worlds' respective video games which Audrey highly doubted actually revealed nearly as much as the two of them thought they did since the world they were in was real.
As Audrey was mulling over whatever she could do to help Naofumi an unexpected voice broke out.
"Excuse me, I would like to join the shield hero's party."
Everyone looked in the direction the voice came from and saw one of Motoyasu's soon to be party members, more specifically the red haired woman from before who continued. "I don't think the shield hero should have to fight alone, so since no one else is willing to help his when he needs it the most, I guess it'll fall to me."
This only set off another alarm in Audrey's mind. While she had previously placed some hope in the idea that this woman would sincerely support Naofumi, but it became clear that wasn't going to happen, if she actually cared to fight alongside him at all she would have joined his party right from the start instead of initially going to the spear hero's party.
All of this begged the question of why she was really joining Naofumi. Was she planning on simply taking advantage of his situation or something worse?
Audrey could watch warily as the redhead walked up to Naofumi extending her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you shield hero."
Naofumi took her hand and shook it whilst replying. "Likewise miss…"
"Myne Sophia."
The King decided to address everyone. "Now that all the heroes have their parties assembled, we will now distribute funds to all of you."
Upon hearing this four servants holding bags began walking towards the four heroes handing the bags in question.
"As you venture out to fight off the waves we will give all you funds each month to support you in your quest. Motoyasu, Ren, Audrey all of you shall receive 500 silver whereas the shield hero shall receive 800 silver since he only has a single party member."
Audrey could only look at the king masking her disgust at this situation. Considering how far the king was going to discriminate against Naofumi it was obvious that he only gave him extra funds to feign being fair.
"Thanks this'll definitely help." Naofumi said express his gratitude believing that the king actually meant well. Of course the king didn't bother with any reply and instead opted to address all four heroes.
"Now heroes destined to save our world go out and grow stronger so that you can combat the waves."
With that all four heroes turned to leave the castle. Once everyone was outside Naofumi stopped to turn to his companion. "Say Myne do you know I place where I can get some gear for myself?"
"Of course, right this way."
"Mind if I join you?" Audrey asked drawing looks of surprise from her companions as well as
Myne whereas Naofumi simply smiled at her before replying. "Not at all."
It was then that one of Audrey's companions, a large set man wearing full body armor who
Audrey could only dub "Armor" since she didn't know his name decided to speak up. "Mistress
Audrey surely there's no need to go there with the shield hero of all people."
Audrey turned to scrutinize her companions briefly and realized that all three of them were amongst those that shot Naofumi dirty looks when they first arrived at the throne room in order to pair themselves with a hero.
"Yeah, maybe I don't necessarily need to."
Armor smiled triumphantly while Naofumi began to look downcast before Audrey continued. "But I want to and as such that's what I'm going to do." Upon hearing Naofumi's expression turned into one of relief while Armor looked dumbfounded not seeing this development coming.
"Bu-but why do you feel the need to go with the shield hero?"
Audrey had to suppress the urge to face palm at armor's ridiculous persistence. "Two reasons, first I do need to get some gear before I head out to fight monsters."
"I….understand." Armor admitted unable to against that logic.
"And Naofumi is practically my first friend in this world." Audrey said firmly making it clear she wouldn't change her mind on this matter.
"We'll be waiting for you at the front got of the city."
"Alright I'll meet you there."
Audrey turned to Naofumi. "Now that that little ordeal is over with let's head to the nearest place to get some gear for ourselves."
"Ri-right."
"Is something wrong?"
"It's just that it felt like that guy didn't think too highly of me for some reason."
Audrey sighed at this. Of course, Naofumi noticed that, Armor didn't exactly hide it. "No, he's just like that shield hero. Try not to think too much in it." Myne said earning an eye roll from the bow hero.
Was Myne seriously trying to deny the obvious? It was pretty apparent that Armor didn't like Naofumi with how he acted when Audrey said she wanted to join the duo on their trip to see the best place to provide them with gear, Armor wasn't simply complaining about the notion of her going there in general what he didn't like was the fact that she was going with Naofumi if what he said previously said was of any Indication.
Regardless Audrey didn't care for the hassle of having a disagreement with Myne considering the hassle she'd already been through, so she stayed silent on that matter and moved to the one at hand. "Anyway, let's head to that shop."
"Very well the shop is this way." Myne said as she began leading the two throughout the city streets.
"So, Alethea what do you plan on doing once we get our gear?" Naofumi inquired.
Audrey placed a hand on her chin as she thought about for a moment. "I'll pretty much just meet up with my party, take out a few low level monsters to level up a bit and apply what upgrades to my bow that I'm able to."
"That reminds do you have any idea how to do that? Upgrade our legendary weapons I mean."
"From what I've read in the tutorial from the menu we all have we're apparently supposed to feed various materials and different parts from various monsters we kill to the jewels our weapons have."
"Is that seriously how it works?"
"Yeah, if what I read is correct then the jewels embedded in our weapons a absorb different types of materials which in turn leads to a corresponding version of our weapon being unlocked." As Audrey finished explaining this she remembered when she discovered this information the previous night during the end of dinner.
As the other three heroes continued digging into the feast prepared Audrey decided to take this time to see what other information she could find about how the weapon worked.
Looked through her menu she found a few options aside from her stats and skill tree, the one that caught her attention was titled "weapon use."
Opening the tab up she was showed instructions about how to go about upgrading her bow. Skimming over the text for a few minutes she soon found out that the bow was upgraded via feeding it different materials and various monster part separately which in turn gave stat bonuses, equip bonuses, and skills.
Audrey was about to close the menu when she spotted one more vital piece of information that would definitely be of use going forward.
"Oh yeah that also reminds me Naofumi. If you unlock any skills for your shield that you have unlocked, you can enhance the skill in question raising its level by sacrificing drops you have in your inventory once you meet the level requirement to do so."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well I don't recall having that type of inventory."
"Huh? It should be right there in your menu."
"Really?"
"Yes, considering how our weapons work it's only natural weapon we'd have one."
"Well now that I think about it, you're right, it wouldn't make any sense for us not to have one."
"If you realize that then check your menu it'll be there."
"Aright." With that Naofumi opened his menu and soon after his eyes widened slightly. "How did I miss this?"
"See? you have an item inventory too."
Naofumi chuckled a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry for doubting you, it's just that for some reason
I completely missed all the other times I looked through my menu for some reason." "Oblivious much?" Audrey asked jokingly.
"Maybe, the thing was literally right there under the tab for my skill tree I can't figure out how I didn't notice it was there before."
Audrey couldn't help but giggle at this. "Well now you do. Try not to forget."
"I won't but man I kinda wanna try unlocking a random shield right now but I don't have anything
I can feed it."
"I think I might be able to help with that." Audrey pulled two quarters from her pocket drawing a curious look from a previously disinterested Myne who was simply leading the way in silence until now.
"What type of coins are those? I never seen silver like that before." "It's currency from my home country." Audrey answered.
"I see." Myne replied before she went back to simply leading the heroes and ignoring their conversation.
Audrey turned her attention back to Naofumi and gave him one of the quarters. "Let's try feeding our weapons these."
Audrey touched the quarter she still had to the jewel in her bow while Naofumi did the same with the quarter he was given touching it to the jewel on his shield.
Both the legendary bow and shield reacted the same way as their respective jewels lit up before both quarters were absorbed into them.
Audrey saw new text appear in her field of vision displaying information about the result of letting the bow absorb the quarter.
Currency bow unlocked
Stat bonus: Agi + 3 dex + 1
Equip effect: money storage 0/300 gold
Skills: none
Silver bow unlocked
Status bonus: Agi + 13 Atk + 7 dex + 9
Equip effect: Atk up (small)
Skill: none
Audrey didn't expect to unlock two bows simultaneously but when she thought about it might have made sense. The quarter was a form of currency which corresponded with the former of the two bows while the quarter being made of silver corresponded with the latter of the two new versions of the bow.
The currency bow while it didn't do much in terms of enhancing her base stats it did come with a very useful feature which she suspected might ensure that no one could rob her if they ever intended to.
The latter did a better job of giving her a boost in her overall prowess meaning there were some bows that would do more than others, still Audrey had no way of knowing which bows contributed to which specific stats or how much or which ones would grant her kills and since that was the case Audrey figured she'd just unlocking every bow she could. She'd probably find numerous ones that only contributed a small amount of stat boost but given the situation every bit would count and besides if while the lesser bows might not be much on their own they could still add up in terms of stat boost which would payoff later on.
"I unlocked two bows, a currency one that holds money and a silver one that came with a nice stat bonus which'll help get off to a good start." Audrey said.
"Same here, I got a currency shield with the same function as your bow and a silver shield the gave me a nice defense and agility boost."
"That good it'll give you a head start when you head out to start taking on monsters."
"Good point."
"We're here." Myne suddenly announced and the two heroes looked to see what looked like a weapons type store which Myne wasted no time in leading the two inside of.
"Welcome!" A voice bellowed as the two heroes came in and were greeted to the sight of a
middle-aged bald man with a scar on his face who turned to get a look at both of them. "I've never seen you two before."
"These two are the bow and shield heroes." Myne announced.
The old man's eyes widened a bit before he so simply smiled at the duo. "I never imagined I'd be bestowed the opportunity to see two of the legendary heroes up close."
Audrey stepped forward. "Nice to meet you my name's Audrey Alethea and he's Naofumi Iwatani."
"Erhard, anyway since your both here is there any chance of either of you doing business here?"
Naofumi walked up to the counter. "Yeah, both of us were wondering if we could get equipment for ourselves."
Erhard smirked. "So long as you got the money for it."
"Gotcha." Naofumi replied before turning to Myne. "Is there anything you want?"
"I'd like to purchase a sword." Myne said skimming through the more elaborate looking swords which didn't go unnoticed by Audrey who realized Myne was taking advantage of this situation to milk Naofumi out as much funds as she could.
As Myne pulled what was clearly one of the more expensive swords off the rack she eagerly brought it to the counter. "Believe this one will do." "Alright how much?" Naofumi inquired.
"650 silver." The owner answered shocking Naofumi.
"Any chance I could get a discount?"
"Not on something this high quality."
"Well then maybe it might be best to go with something a little less expensive." Audrey suggested causing everyone to look at her.
Myne appeared to be show a brief hint of irritation which didn't go unnoticed by Audrey who simply continued. "Since none of us will be getting anymore funds until next month it might be best to be a bit more economical and not spend everything up in one place." "You got a good point." Naofumi admitted before Myne piped up.
"Maybe but it would be for the best if we had the best weapons possible for the sake of it giving us an advantage when fighting monsters right from the start." She said frantically.
Audrey could tell that the red haired adventurer didn't want the opportunity to get an expensive piece of equipment for herself to be shot down. Too bad for her though since Audrey had no intention of letter her trick Naofumi.
"Maybe but it's also best to have something you can properly handle."
"I assure you lady Audrey I am proficient with a sword."
"Maybe but I'm guessing a higher quality weapon requires a higher level to use properly."
Audrey turned to Erhard. "Am I right?"
"You are. I wouldn't recommend trying to use a sword well beyond your level. You'll have to be at least up to level 60 to use that one effectively."
"Does you level really effect what weapons you can and can't use?" Naofumi asked.
"Yeah, people at lower levels are best using basic weapons and moving up the ladder as they level up. If you don't use a weapon that has quality corresponding to your current level it can have different negative effects depending on if the weapon is meant for someone at a lower or higher level than your own.
"What happens if you use a weapon that's below you level?" Naofumi asked.
"Well if you were to use a sword it would lose its sharpness at an abnormally fast pace or burn your hand if your using a magic sword."
"And how about if you were to use a sword beyond your level?" Audrey asked causing Myne to struggle to repress a scowl threatening to surface.
"It would feel abnormally heavy and you wouldn't be able to swing it properly or make any clean cuts basically making your attacks ineffective against your opponent."
Audrey turned to Naofumi party member and her information was displayed revealed that she was only level 3. "Well Myne it looks like you have another 57 levels to go before you can actually use that sword."
"I….I see." Myne said taking the sword she had back to the rack growling in rage under her breath along the way which Audrey had to resist the urge the smile at.
Now it Naofumi's turn to browse the swords before he grabbed a basic iron sword. "Speaking of weapons, I actually need one for myself."
"Wait Naofumi. You likely can't use it." Audrey said.
"Huh why?"
"When you looked at your base stats did it show that your shield was locked?"
"Yeah but what does that have to do with me getting a sword for myself?"
"You probably can't equip anything other than your shield."
"Are you sure?"
"Not completely but my intuition is telling me that's the case."
"Well…" Naofumi preceded to draw the sword to see if Audrey was right. For the first moment everything seemed fine as the sword came out of its sheath easily enough but in the next moment Naofumi suddenly received a painful shock that forced him to let go of the sword. "What happened?!" Erhard asked.
"I was shocked out of the blue for some reason." Naofumi opened his eyes to see a notification that confirmed what Audrey had warned him of.
Legendary weapon rule violation. The heroes may not use any weapon with the intent to fight other than the legendary weapon they are currently equipped with.
Naofumi sighed in defeat. "Audrey it looks like you were right." "Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah, I received a painful shock but it didn't do any permanent damage."
"That's good to know. Anyway let's just focus on getting some basic gear for ourselves and buy the sword for Myne instead.
"Alright."
Audrey turned back to Erhard. "Any recommendations?"
"For the young lad I've got a decent set of chainmail. For you I think light leather should do. It'll give basic you basic protect without inhibiting you ability to move."
"Sounds good to me."
"In that case, give me a minute to get both of the sets." With that Erhard walked into the back of the store and eventually returned with a set of chainmail and a white long sleeved tunic shirt along with a corset like leather blazer.
"How much?" Naofumi asked.
"150 silver for the chainmail with the buyback price being 100 and for the leather set 90 silver with the buyback price being 75."
Noafumi leaned over the counter with a smirk on his face "Any chance you could lower the price for the chainmail to let's say 100 silver."
"Yeah I ain't going that low, maybe 135 silver."
"120."
"Ya got yourself a deal." Erhard said before Naofumi placed the amount of silver required to purchase the chainmail before taking it to the fitting room to try it on.
Meanwhile Erhard turned to Audrey. "So what about you miss?"
"I'll be buying this set at full price, that being said however that doesn't I won't try haggling you for lower prices in the future." The bow hero said as placed the amount needed to pay for the leather set.
It was around this time that Naofumi emerged from the fitting room now wearing the set of chainmail in place of his hoodie. "Looks like its a good fit." Audrey commented.
"It's a little loose in some areas but it'll do."
"Your up miss." Erhard said to Audrey who immediately went to the fitting to try on the gear she bought. The tunic went on easily and was a decent enough fit when it came to the leather blazer, she had to be careful to tighten it enough that it would stay firmly in place but not so much that it would cut off her air circulation.
Emerging from the room she was greeted to the sight of Naofumi purchasing the short sword for Myne for a price of 45 silver which reminded her….
"Say Erhard."
"Yeah?"
"How does the currency work here? I know there's silver but are there any others such as gold or copper for example.
"Yeah it's exactly as you guessed, there copper which is the most basic currency, then there's silver which is worth 100 copper, and gold which in turn is worth 100 silver."
"That's simple enough to understand."
Naofumi smiled at this "I probably should have guessed as much."
"Well now you know and make sure you don't forget less you want to be ripped off in the future." Erhard warned.
"We'll keep that in mind but there's something I want to try before we head out." Audrey held out her bow and willed it to become the currency bow which caused the legendary bow's form to change surprising everyone in the room.
"Woah, I heard the legendary weapons from legend had special powers that no normal no normal weapon did but I'd never imagined they'd be able to change their appearance!" Erhard exclaimed.
"Can my shield do that to!?" Naofumi asked.
The original the bow was replaced with another one that had a more plain design in terms of appearance save for the yellow jewel the remained as well as a metallic box attached to the upper half.
Audrey eyed the box before she placed the remaining silver inside of it only for it to glow brightly before seemingly disappearing from existence momentarily worrying the bow hero until she saw a new notification.
Currency bow: 410 silver / 300 gold
Sighing in relief Audrey spoke. "It looks like I found that perfect way to store my money and ensure it can't be stolen."
"But didn't your bow basically just eat all your money?" Naofumi asked.
"That's what I thought at first before I got a notification saying that the currency bow was now holding the amount, I gave it."
"Ok but are you at least able to get it back."
Audrey tried to imagine herself taking out five silver pieces before the coins manifested back into existence. "It looks like I can. Naofumi you should do the same thing with your silver. It'll be a good way to ensure you don't lose any of it or its stolen."
"Good point." With that Naofumi willed his weapon to its currency form and stored his silver in it.
"With that out of the way let's head out." Audrey announced heading for the door with Naofumi and Myne following close behind.
"So Myne which way's the front gate?"
"Th-this way." Myne answer her voice losing much of its previous enthusiasm which didn't go unnoticed by Naofumi.
"Is something wrong Myne?"
"Oh no shield hero. Let us head out to the fields." With that Myne began leading the two heroes to the front gate not giving Naofumi the chance to speak any further.
Audrey figured from the change in her demeanor Myne wasn't the least bit happy with how things played out back at the weapons shop with her not being able to trick Naofumi into getting the high quality weapon the store had on hand.
While Audrey was glad she was able to put a stop to that scheme she had a strong feeling the Myne was planning other things but what there was nothing Audrey could do at the moment.
Naofumi believed that Myne was his honest ally which meant without being able to expose her true colors Audrey likely wouldn't be able to convince Naofumi of the truth and to make matters worse even if she somehow could that would mean Naofumi would left with no party members.
Essentially while Audrey might be able to undermine little schemes here and there as long as she was around to do so thanks to the cons of their weapons Audrey would have to separate from Naofumi meaning he'd be alone with Myne which gave her the chance to try other things meaning Audrey was left in a bind when it came to protecting Naofumi. In the end all she could do was hope nothing happened during the time they were away from each other in order to level up and strengthen their respective weapons.
'I'm sorry I can't do more you Naofumi.' Audrey thought grimly. She had shared all the information she had with him and did all she could to ensure he wasn't taken advantage of thus far.
Soon the trio reached the front gate were Audrey's party members. As they got closer the bow hero spotted a brief scowl on Armor's face but she simply ignored it and turned to Naofumi.
"See you later."
"Yeah, let's meet up at the inn once we're done today." With that both parties went their separate ways.
"Are you ready to head out mistress Audrey?" Armor asked whilst the other wore enthusiastic smiled that showed false sincerity.
It took all the bow hero's effort not to visibly show her annoyance. It seemed her current party members were going out of their way they put on a show of sucking up to her if their referring to her as 'mistress' was any indication. 'great Naofumi's got a liar on his team while I got a crowd of pretend boot lickers.'
"Yeah let's go out and do some leveling." Audrey replied. As much as it disgusted her she'd simply have to settle for these people or fight alone which she wasn't sure if she could do.
'Patricia, what would you do if you were here.'
As the group made their out into the fields just outside of the capital they soon caught sight of numerous orange sphere shaped creatures with sharp jagged teeth.
As she scrutinized the creature in question the basic information about it was displayed.
Balloon level 1
If its level was of any indication, it was definitely a basic monster. With that being the case these balloons were an appropriate monster to start with when it came to leveling up.
Since the bow didn't come with any type of quiver Audrey was placing her hopes on an unlikely possibility since the legendary had special abilities.
Pulling back the string her hope came true when an arrow manifested into existence in her fingers.
Quickly taking aim Audrey let the arrow loose and it flew toward one of the balloons puncturing its body before it popped leaving behind an orange scrape.
As soon as the balloon was no more Audrey received a new notification.
Exp 2
"Amazing she hit it on her very first shot!" One of the members of her party exclaimed dramatically.
"Who knew our mistress had such skill with a bow." Another said.
"It seems we were right to choose to serve her." Armor declared.
Audrey shrugged not bothering to respond to the fake praise. "Be ready, we have more coming our way." With that the bow hero released another arrow taking out another balloon that was heading towards the group.
"Of course, you can count on us!" Armor declared running out in front while the other stayed behind him.
'At least they can tell what formation is best.' Audrey thought before Armor took off with the other two in two.
"We must assist our mistress in this endeavor!" Armor yelled out as he and the other two members preceded to just attack whatever balloon was nearest to them with no real form of coordination to speak of.
'Or not.' Audrey sighed as she proceeded to shoot whatever balloons her allies missed which was actually more than she would have expected making her question their level of competency.
On the bright side, thanks to their and her efforts she was steadily gaining experience points and before long a new notification appeared.
Audrey Alethea level 2
Weapon: legendary bow "locked"
Equipment: leather armor: defense up (very small)
Hp: 161/161
Sp 64/64
Str: 17
Def: 9
Agi: 28
Dex: 21
Skills: none
Now that she got her first level up and all the balloons within the immediate vicinity were disposed Audrey decided it would be a good time to gather the materials left behind.
One of her party members took notice of Audrey as she began picking up the various scraps left behind from the balloons. "Mistress Audrey what are you doing?"
"Gathering the materials left behind they can strengthen my bow and I have a hunch I can sell them."
"It's true you can sell them but they're not worth much, besides you've already been provided funds by his majesty."
"Yeah but that won't last forever so it's best I make whatever extra money where I can." Audrey replied as she picked up the last scrap.
Once her task was done she proceeded to initially feed one of the scraps to her bow.
Balloon bow unlocked:
Stat bonus: agi + 2 atk + 1
Equip bonus: none
Skill: none
With a new bow unlocked Audrey dropped the rest of the scraps in the jewel but with a different intention in mind.
Opening her menu Audrey pulled up her item inventory and saw the scraps were indeed there.
"Alright let's move on." Audrey said looking for another cluster of monsters. After a few minutes the group found another group of balloons and afterwords Audrey once again collected the materials left behind by the monsters and the group moved on once more resulting in a cycle where'd they find a group of balloons, take them out to gather experience, Audrey would gather the scraps left behind and repeat.
The cycle continued until Audrey reached level 4 and decided she wanted to look for monsters that were a little stronger.
In response her party member brought to an area with a new egg like monster simply dubbed am "egg" which the blonde hero wasted in dispatching of. Once that was taken care of she used her bow to absorb to corpse in its entirety (mainly because she didn't touch the awful smelling yoke.) And unlocked two more bows.
Egg shell bow unlocked
Stat bonus: cooking + 1 dex + 1
Equip bonus: none
Skill: none
Egg yoke bow unlocked
Stat bonus: cooking + 3
Equip bonus: none
Skill: none
Audrey was off put by the fact cooking could even be a part of the stat bonus since she wasn't exactly sure when she would ever use it but the two bows to help her realize that the bows she unlocked contributed to more than just her base stats which was a plus since it revealed more about how the world worked though she would prefer that if the bows were going to increase miscellaneous stats she'd appreciate if it was something that help with her quest.
Still since she had no way to predict what bow contributed to what type of stats the situation couldn't be helped. 'I guess it's just all the more reason to unlock all the bows I can?'
Glancing at the sky the university student turned hero saw the sun was starting to set meaning it was best that she got back to the capital soon, but she wanted to gain at least one more level before she was done farming.
She was about to inquire to her party member about a new monster they might be able to face when rustling was heard from the nearby bushes.
Audrey's first instinct would have been to shoot whatever it was but the source of the rustling was faster to react as rather ferocious looking rabbit like monster suddenly leapt out of the bushes straight towards Armor who tried to swipe at the rabbit which easily dodged his attack and leaped at his face using its claws to leave a few gashes across Armor's face which resulting in him laying on the group holding his face while letting out a muffled scream of pain.
Meanwhile Audrey finally was able to obtain the monster's basic info.
"Viscous rabbit." Level 9
Audrey tensed up a bit. She was currently level 4 whereas all her allies were level 2 or 3 meaning the monster the were facing had the advantage in terms of levels, granted it wasn't a terribly massive gap at least not for Audrey herself it wasn't something to brush off either.
Quickly ready an arrow Audrey shot at The viscous rabbit which leapt out of the way before another of Audrey's allies tried to take the chance to attack the vicious rabbit.
Their attack landed unlike Armor's but it didn't do any considerable damaged and the vicious rabbit retaliated via leaping into and biting their leg causing Audrey's party member to scream out in pain as they lost a chunk of it and were left laying on the group.
Her only remaining ally was just as reckless as the first blindly running at the vicious rabbit. "No wait!" Audrey tried to call out only for her last ally to ignore her and continue making a mad dash for the party's current opponent.
The vicious rabbit in turn ran after the last party member before leaping into likely to do some damage to the last party member's face, luckily for the ally in question Audrey was quick to act and let loose an arrow which lodged itself in the vicious rabbit's side since it was in no position to dodge since it was in the air sending flying in flying away from her remaining ally but otherwise not doing an adequate amount of damage.
"Don't be reckless!" Audrey yelled to her only ally who wasn't injured.
"Ri-right." The ally replied. It was clear they were now rather nervous likely because of how close they came to having their face mulled.
"Try to get its attention. Once you do that I shoot again when it tries to attack you."
"Go-...got it." The remaining party member rather then running after they extended out their palm.
"I who have deciphered the laws of nature, burn my foe to ash. Fireball!"
A sphere of fire flew from the party member's hand in the direction of the vicious rabbit which once again dodged by leaping to the side before making a beeline towards the party member.
Audrey who had another arrow at the ready steadied her aim and waited for the vicious rabbit to leap.
Once it was close enough the vicious rabbit as Audrey expected it to indeed leapt into the air towards her party member's face but Audrey was ready and launch another arrow at it.
Once again the vicious rabbit ended up with an arrow in its body that sent it sailing off to the side but much to Audrey's frustration it didn't do much damage.
At the rate things were going the fight was going to drag on for some time. It didn't help matters when her remaining ally decided to become reckless once more likely believing the vicious rabbit was done for.
"Don't!" Audrey yelled out but her remaining ally didn't head her being caught up in wanting to deliver the killing blow. The party member received a shock when the vicious leapt at them once they got close enough and bit into their side.
Audrey fire off another arrow which became lodged in the vicious rabbit's side along with the first two.
The vicious rabbit let go of her remaining ally who fell to their knees while the vicious rabbit turned its attention to Audrey herself and began running after her.
Audrey readied another arrow as the vicious rabbit came closer waiting for it the leap. When the rabbit got close enough and leapt and Audrey responded via shooting her arrow it the vicious rabbit's back which diverted its course for her face. Unfortunately it managed latch on her right upper arm.
Audrey's stomach felt like it turned to ice as she watched this unfold. The bow hero soon received a grim reminder of the fact that the world she was in was real when the vicious rabbit utilized its claws and teeth and sunk them into Audrey's arm piercing cloth, skin, and muscle drawing a visible amount of blood prompting the bow hero to scream out in pain.
In spite of the immense pain she was in Audrey knew that she couldn't allow herself to become overwhelmed by the said pain like her allies had since it would mean certain death.
Mustering up all her willpower she grabbed the vicious rabbit by the nape of its neck with her other hand and tore it from her arm before tossing it some distance away from her.
Upon landing on the ground the vicious rabbit turned to Audrey and charged full speed at her
Audrey grit her teeth bearing the pain from her wound as she readied another arrow. This time when the vicious leapt for her face she used her bow to parry the vicious rabbits attack sending it off to the side before letting the arrow loose as it landed on the ground.
Utilizing its agility, the vicious rabbit managed to avoid the arrow as well as turn around and make another leap at Audrey who responded via utilizing her own speed to pivot her body to the side while crouching and readying another arrow all at the same time.
As a result, the vicious rabbit was left soaring through the air at nothing whilst Audrey set herself up for a shot at its underbelly which she took. Once the arrow pierced it underside the vicious rabbit was sent flying several meters into the air whilst Audrey took time to further collect herself.
As the monster writhed around ground pulling the arrow from its underside Audrey glance at its health bar and saw that almost half of it was drained. While the sight showed she was making progress Audrey needed to speed up the process. With her injury and downed allies she really could not afford to drag this fight out much longer but the problem with that was her current attack power only went so far, she had no skills she could utilize, and her currency and balloon bows were no stronger than the default version then Audrey's eyes widened as she remembered the other bow her quarter allowed her to unlock and more so to the point its equip effect.
If the situation wasn't so dire and her arm wasn't bleeding Audrey would have face palmed at her own forgetfulness. Willing she bow to change forms and soon her original was replaced by one that was made stainless silver that easily reflected light from the setting sun.
The viscous rabbit was running at Audrey once more while she simply readied another arrow and calmly aimed at the approaching monster.
Audrey leveled the point of her arrow at a certain spot on the vicious rabbit's body rather this time rather than simply just aiming at it in general. 'Let's see if we can't end this with one blow.' The bow thought as the Vicious rabbit got within leaping arrange.
It utilized its usual tactic of making a jump of its opponent's face whilst Audrey just kept her arrow lined up with the spot she wanted to hit. 'Gotcha.' She let loose her arrow which lodged itself in the vicious rabbit's head right between its eyes not only stopping its the monster dead in its tracks but sending flying backwards and skidding across the grass when it landed.
This time the vicious rabbit wasn't moving at all and before Audrey could glance at its health bar a notification came up indirectly confirming what she had hoped for.
55 exp
Along with the experience points Audrey had also reached level 5. Looking around saw Armor and one of her other members finally getting up. The member with the injury to their leg was still laying on the ground, Audrey figure she would go help them out in a moment after she collected the materials from the vicious rabbit's corpse.
"Mistress Audrey, you saved us, we are truly blessed to have the honor of following you." Armor announced.
"I knew you worthy of your title, truly you are the greatest of the cardinal heroes." Her other ally who was standing said.
Audrey could only sigh upon hearing more fake praise. "Right. Anyway were done for today, I'm gonna have my bow absorb this monsters corpse."
Audrey walked to the vicious rabbit's corpse and removed the arrows still stuck in it before attempting to have her bow swallow the entire thing whole however instead of doing what she had hoped for the bow's jewel only absorbed a small patch of fur from the corpse drawing another sigh from the bow hero. 'I was afraid of this.'
Rabbit fur bow unlocked
Stat bonus: freezing resistance + 4 Agi + 3
Equip: bonus none
Skills: none
Back when she had the chance to skim over any information she could find in her menu and discovered that some monsters could unlock various versions of her weapon via absorbing various parts such as fur, skin, muscle, bones and so on.
She had hoped that she could obtain all the bows the vicious rabbit had to offer in one go but it looked like she'd have to separate the parts via stripping down the corpse meaning she'd have to buy the tools to do so.
`I guess I'll have to take the Erhard about it.'
Picking up the vicious rabbit corpse with one hand she walked over to her ally with the leg injury and helped them up before wrapping their arm around her shoulder with her free hand.
"Let's head back."
XXXXX
Once everyone got back Audrey told Armor and her other two party members to get their wounds treated and that she would meet them at the inn. They asked if Audrey was sure of her decision not to go with them to get her own injury treated in response, she told them she needed to find someone to strip down the vicious rabbit's corpse so she could absorb the other parts aside from the fur and strengthen her weapon further.
Her party members accepted the explanation and left leaving Audrey on her own to head to the only person she could think of to ask for help. Hopefully his shop was still open. It was getting darker outside but the sun wasn't down just yet so the bow hero doubted the person she intended to go to for help was asleep.
On the way there she got numerous looks of worry and confusion from the poeple which she couldn't blame them for after all the sight of a young woman with a bleeding arm carrying the monster was not something one would normally see but at the moment it couldn't be helped. Right now the blond hero's priority was to ensure that she could get the maximum amount of spoils from her kill.
It didn't take long for her to reach her intended destination which was none other than Erhard's shop which was luckily looked to still be open judging by a customer entering it.
Audrey immediately entered the store and saw the customer speaking to Erhard. "I apologize for the last minute arrival but I wanted to buy a weapon to defend myself from monsters with the waves going on and all."
Erhard simply "Understandable, basic weapons are on that rack over there."
"Thank you." The customer went to where they were directed while Erhard turned his attention to the bow hero.
"Welc-Audrey?...what happened to you!?"
"Me and my party ran into unexpected monster that was a few levels higher than us had the following fight turned into something of an ordeal.
"Were you at least able to defeat it?"
"Yeah, pretty much got the thing's body right here."
"Is there a reason you brought it into my shop of all places?"
"Yeah, I need to strip the body of its skin, muscle and bones so I can let my weapon absorb it and grow stronger and I couldn't think of anyone else to ask for help."
"I see. What about the fur?"
"That's the one thing my bow did take without the body being stripped." Audrey showed Erhard to patch of exposed skin.
"Alright. Lucky for you I was an adventurer myself in the past so I picked up on a few survival skills so I can help you. But in the future you might want to get the tools to do it yourself. It'll be easier than coming back here for it."
"I'll purchase some tomorrow."
"Good, anyway I can have the thing properly stripped by tomorrow as well as sell you the tools you need to do it yourself on the road.
"Thank you and one more thing."
"Shoot."
"Could you cut off an extra portion of each layer."
"Yeah, but what do you need it for?"
"To give to Naofumi to help him strengthen his weapon."
"Looking out for your fellow hero, are you?"
"That's the sum of it."
"Make sense but on another note you really need to get the injury treated, it won't do anyone good if one of the four holy heroes fell in battle."
"Fair even though I'll have to look into getting something for it tomorrow since all the shops are closing up."
"You're not wrong there, give me a minute to take care of this last minute customer and I'll bandage the wound up."
"Ok."
As instructed Audrey waited as the last minute customer bought a basic spear and left the store leaving Erhard and Audrey alone. The former stated that he had to go grab the items he needed and headed into the back of the store for a minute before he returned with a wet rag and bandage.
"Alright lift up your sleeve."
Audrey did as she was instructed, and Erhard preceded to wipe all the excess blood off of her arm. "While I admire your enthusiasm for making sure you get the most out of your kills you need to prioritize your wellbeing a bit more, next time you get injured head to the nearest apothecary shop to get herbs or medicine to treat it before anything else, spoils aren't worth dying for." "I will."
"Good I'll be holding you to it." Erhard replied whilst trying the bandage to the bow hero's arm. "Alright I patched you up to the best of my ability now head off to the inn to get some rest and you can leave your kill here, I'll have stripped when you come back."
"Alright and thank you again." Audrey replied leaving the vicious rabbit corpse behind and heading outside.
With all her business out of the way she began heading to the town inn to retire for the night. Once she reached her latest destination Audrey withdrew 20 silver coins from her currency bow before entering.
"Welcome." The man at the front desk called smiling warmly at Audrey. "Will you be staying here tonight?"
"Yes, how much for a single night?"
"5 silver."
Audrey paid the amount needed.
"Alright your room is upstairs it's the third door on the right."
"Thank you." Audrey turned to scrutinize the lobby area and saw the respective parties of Motoyasu and Ren both of which she ignored intending to simply head straight to her room until she saw someone she actually cared to see, the shield hero Naofumi who turned to her and waved her over.
Heading over to Naofumi's table Audrey sat across from her fellow hero. "So Naofumi how'd your first day fighting go?"
"I managed to gain a level and unlock two shields."
"Wait you mean you only got to level two?"
Naofumi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "When I started fighting monsters I found out I was the definition of a walking tank thanks to my defense, I didn't even feel it whenever a balloon bit me but….."
"But?" Audrey mimicked prompting Naofumi to continue.
"My lack of attack power basically got in the way of my ability to kill monsters. I had to punch every balloon I encountered like thirty times before they finally died."
"Why didn't you have Myne deal with them for you?"
"I have to take them out myself if I want to get experience points."
"Naofumi you can send other people a party invite and have them accept once that's done you and your party member will share experience for any monsters killed by either of you. If you had done that you could have had Myne handle killing the monsters and accumulated experience points a lot faster while you handle defense when needed."
Naofumi's eyes widened. "You mean I could have done that the whole time?!"
"Yes, make sure you do that in the future, the last thing we need is you falling behind."
"I...see your point I'll make sure to utilize the party invite tomorrow and make up for the time I lost."
"Good make sure you do."
"Anyway, what about you?"
"Well, I got off to a decent enough start killing balloons and unlocked the balloon bow and later the egg shell and yoke bows getting up to level 4 in the process."
"Sounds like you had a better time than I did."
"I'm better equipped to kill monsters directly but I actually had my own set back later on if the stain on my sleeve is anything to go by."
"Are you saying that came from your own blood!?"
"Yeah, I had a run in with a level nine monster that ambushed my party out of the blue and thanks to my lack of defense towards the end of the fight it managed to tear into my arm and do a number on it."
Naofumi upon hearing this was about to give the obvious reply when one of the other heroes beaten him to it.
"Audrey are you ok?!" An obnoxious Motoyasu all but yelled out dramatically before running over to Audrey and grabbing her hand.
"Are you still injured, do you need you wound treated, do you need a healing potion?"
Audrey's eye was now twitching in sheer annoyance at Motoyasu's flamboyant tendencies. Why couldn't he realize that she wasn't interested? The idea of performing an encore with what happened with the asshole from her high school days was becoming very tempting.
"No, treatment for the wound has already been taken care of." Audrey replied pulling her hand free.
"You're really alright?"
"Yes." Audrey quickly answered hoping that would be the end of the spear hero's antic's but much to her further annoyance it wasn't.
"Oh Audrey someone as beautiful as you shouldn't have to risk your life fighting monsters. Let me take care of them so you won't get hurt."
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to decline your offer."
"But surely you don't want to be hurt again."
"Maybe but I can take care of myself. Now stop making a scene you're drawing a lot of unwanted attention to both of us that I really don't want."
Motoyasu looked around the room and saw that indeed everyone present was looking at them.
Laughing a bit in embarrassment Motoyasu finally backed off and went back to his own party's table.
Both the shield and bow heroes thought that would but the sword hero Ren decided to shoot off his own remark.
"You seriously allowed yourself to be hurt by a low level monster? You're probably even worse off than Naofumi with how weak you are."
"Keep your mouth shut." Audrey shot back. It was starting to feel like whenever there was any type of interaction where Ren was involved with her, Naofumi, or anyone for that matter his deluded sense of self superiority managed to rear its ugly face. Seriously just how did the sword hero ego go?
Turning her attention back to Naofumi Audrey smiled. "So what do you plan on doing the rest of the night?"
"Honestly. I'm just gonna retire for the night."
"Same here."
"You sure?"
"I promised that I'd meet up with my teammates here but from the looks of it, none of them are here."
"You don't seem too concerned about that."
"If I'm being honest with myself, I'm not particularly attached to them."
"To be fair you did only just meet them. One day isn't really enough time to grow close to most people, still I'm sure your teammates are good people at heart that want to help you."
Audrey had to suppress a sigh. She appreciated Naofumi's optimistic behavior but his deduction was far from the actual truth. If the bow hero's members were actually good people they weren't doing a very swell job of proving it and when it came to wanting to help from all the interactions Audrey had with them she knew at this point that her members were more concerned with gaining her favor if their false over the top praises for her were any type of hint or just trying to manipulate her if Armor's attempt at trying to dissuade her from going to the weapons shop with Naofumi was any indication.
"Maybe but I have my doubts for... personal reasons."
"If you say so."
Before Audrey could reply another spoke up. "Shield hero I thought we could enjoy a drink together." Both heroes turned to see Myne walking towards them who in turn glanced at the bow hero in surprised. "Oh, lady Audrey I didn't realize you were here."
"I only just showed up."
"I see." Myne glanced at the red stain on the sleeve of Audrey's tunic. "Oh my lady Audrey what happened?"
"Me and my party accidentally ran into a monster that was on a higher level than we were." Audrey spotted a very brief smirk on Myne face before the red haired adventurer replied.
"I'm glad you came safely lady Audrey."
'Like hell you are.' The bow hero though before switching subjects. "Say there's something I wanted to ask you about."
"Ok I'll answer to the best of my ability."
"Did you know there's a party invite system that the heroes can use so that we and our companions can share accumulated experience points regardless of who kills the monster?"
Myne stared at Audrey in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before she finally worked up the nerve to respond. "No lady Audrey this is actually the first I've heard of it. Will it help us in some way?"
"Yes I already told Naofumi this so now I'll tell you the same thing, party system will help you both level up faster using the right method, in short once you pair up using it you can killing the monsters while Naofumi keeps you safe by handling the defense."
"Are you certain that will work? It'll mean I have to do all the fighting." Myne said trying to go against Audrey's logic
"Once you two find more members to help you. It'll ease the burden until then you'll have to bear with it; having Naofumi punch individual balloons thirty plus times is going to get you nowhere." "Ri-right we'll be sure to do that tomorrow." With that Myne turned her attention to Naofumi.
"Anyway, shield hero would you like to join me for I drink."
"Thanks but no thanks."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, me and Audrey were both about to retire for the night."
"Oh, in that case I'll see you tomorrow morning shield hero."
"See you then" Once Naofumi was done speaking with his teammate he and Audrey both stood up and began heading upstairs.
"Goodnight Naofumi."
"Night." The shield hero responded before heading to his room whilst Audrey went into hers.
Once inside Audrey preceded to remove her leather blazer and use her bow to store it within her item inventory.
Allowing herself to fall on the bed she felt herself begin to drift off to sleep. Whatever happened tomorrow she hoped things would play out better for her and Naofumi.
And were at the end. Sorry that the whole BS trail thing didn't happen I decided to save it for the next ch for 2 reasons. First this chapter was supposed to be out by Christmas but the scenes kept turning out longer than I intended since I wanted them to be detailed for the quality of the story overall and if I put the trial scene in the ch would have taken another day or to get out, second is that the trial itself is going to have a bit more happen then in cannon due to Audrey's presence which brings me to one of the many points I wanted to cover with this chapter.
First aside from wanting to get to the point where the heroes start leveling and have Audrey unlock the first few bows and start leveling up I wanted to use this ch to show that unlike Ren, Itstuki (in cannon or fics where he's a part of the story, or Motoyasu especially she's not eating out of the palm of trash and bitch's hand at all she realizes that they have something against Naofumi and that the world itself is very real and that the party members she was provided don't actually care for her and that they're essentially just brownnosing (as opposed to Itstuki's retarded ass who just basks in any praise he can get from anyone)
And in case anyone's wondering why I had Audrey go through something of a major fight so soon in the story it was to capture two things one was that all of Itsuki's or in this case Audrey's teammates are actually pretty incompetent which is captured in the original web novel and to give Audrey's use of the silver bow a bit of significance since its the very first bow she's unlocked that stronger than the default version thanks to its equip effect.
Also I know I'm probably making the relationship between Naofumi and Audrey feel a bit rushed but I needed to establish that even though she's only just met him, Audrey considers Naofumi her friend and truly cares for him for the sake of things that'll happen in the next ch.