I awoke to the most awful taste in my mouth. I remembered the flavor of the elixir from the PVP match, but this was worse. It was like…well I'd never had rotten food before but I assumed it was something like that. Still, even as I struggled, weakly, trying to get the bottle of stuff away from me, I was held down, hard, by some powerful hands, and so I was forced to drink the whole of the terrible brew.
When it was done, and I could sit up, I had a coughing fit, the hands holding me as I got up whatever was in my throat, and finally, with a roll, I spit into some grass below me, opening my eyes fully to find that it was a wad of what was probably dried blood. That was…worrying, or at least, it would have been had I not immediately looked at my status sheet and seen I was healing, my HP filled back to full, though my status effects still had (Injured) in them.
Looking around I was in a village, laying on the ground by a wagon, with Lucia leaning over me, smiling as she rose to her feet and offered a hand. I took it, stumbling a bit as I got to my own feet. I nearly fell as the spike of agony burst in my side, but Lucia, delicate seeming woman that she was, was able to hold me on my feet, and steady me, as I looked about and found Naofumi and Filo(in her avian form) staring at me.
"I will apologize to the dem…to Raphtalia when she and the others arrive," she said, stumbling over her words a little as she nodded towards Naofumi, who nodded back, as the pair of them helped me into a sitting position on the wagon's rear. The wagon, I noticed as I looked in, was Naofumi's, as it had the goods he'd loaded in when we were taken to the Wave this morning…well some of them. They'd gone through more than half it seemed in the time we'd been fighting.
"I take it there were…complications after I passed out?" I asked, and Lucia looked rather put out, while Naofumi scratched his head.
"You could say that. You could also say that your witch lady here coming up onto the deck and seeing my companion with her sword in your gut made her a bit trigger happy," he told me, and Lucia harrumphed, probably at being called a witch, though instead of insisting on her actual class, she lowered her gaze.
"When I saw you…when WE saw you, on the deck, that dam…that woman standing over you, her sword still in your lower stomach, we reacted without listening," she admitted, correcting her verbiage forcefully.
"How badly was she hurt?" I asked, and Naofumi shook his head.
"Not at all. They just tried to get her away. They did break her sword, however, the lion guy tore it from your gut, before the catgirl started yelling at him about opening the wound wider," he said, and Lucia nodded.
"After I used a wind spell to get her away from you, Strong was a bit…overzealous and broke her blade in the process of removing it. Ray did her best to patch you up, as Raphtalia had the right of it, leaving the weapon in the wound to keep it closed," she explained.
"And then she started using (Lay on Hands) over your external wounds. Unfortunately, given the internal ones were still bleeding, and we had no way of healing them properly," as she spoke, she motioned for me to lift my shirt, and I had quite the nice scar forming where the blade had slid into me. The opposite was true near my back, though I could only feel that with my hand, as I had been pretty well skewered by the thing.
"So…Naofumi had something that worked then?" I asked, and she nodded.
"The Shield Hero had several Greater Potions, which heal all manner of status effects and injuries," she said.
"Worth about twenty-two silver a pop, I figured I'd make a killing on them after the battle. Never thought one of the other Heroes would need one though," he said, and I chuckled, only to grab at my side. Apparently I was not going to be fully healed for a bit, as the sharp pain, not nearly as bad as the sword but still plenty sharp, made me groan.
"I will make sure you're paid for it then. Double if I can," I said, and he looked embarrassed, shaking his hands towards me.
"I…uh, well, I mean, money's good and all, but I don't think I can accept that, not since it was Raphtalia who caused the injury anyway," he insisted, but I shook my head at him.
"Nonsense. You made the potion, and deserve funding from it from those who can pay. It's not your fault I couldn't think of a better plan than stabbing myself," I said, trying to sound nonchalant about what happened, though probably not succeeding given the looks on their, and Filo's faces. Lucia, however, looked quite angry, and I felt a sudden sharp pain on the top of my head as she smacked me there. Not hard enough to damage, but still.
"That was a foolish risk you took! What would have happened if Raphtalia's blade had been just a bit sharper? You would have died, and then what? This world needs its Heroes, and can't have them throwing their lives away!" she shouted at me, and I rubbed the spot where she'd hit me, while hoping I looked probably abashed.
"Well, I had to do something. We took way too long to figure out that puzzle, and that woman's presence was affecting the monsters. If she didn't leave, I'm certain the time between this Wave and the next would have been filled with hunting goblins and lizardmen," I explained, and she looked angry still, but it faded into more annoyance after a few seconds, as she took in a deep breath, and then let it out in a sigh, before turning to face me again.
"That does beg the question. Just who was that woman anyway?" she asked, and I shrugged.
"She said her name was Glass, that's all I know," I answered.
"She had something to do with the Waves, but that's about all she said," he added, but I shook my head at that.
"She never said she had something to do with the Waves. I mean, the monsters didn't attack us once she came by, but that was more because we'd dealt with them all on the ship, and none of the falling ones landed on deck. All she said was we 'should consider her our enemy'. That implies that she's different from those we were already in combat with. Though her presence affected the timer, which is strange on the face of it," I said, and they left the pair with enough to consider that the others were able to catch up, and I got brought up to speed on specifics.
After I had passed out, the parties had managed to make it onto the ship, which, fortunately or by design, had landed softly on the ground, before it began to decay, depositing us safely on one of the bluffs. That still left Raphtalia standing over me, Naofumi trying to use a basic healing spell to heal something that was most definitely not a basic wound, with Filo, and the other two Heroes passed out around him.
Lucia and Strong had…powerfully made their displeasure at this state known, Strong deliberately breaking the sword as he admitted. From there, Ray had tried healing, but internal wounds counted as 'Bleeding' wounds, which was an advanced form. No one in any of the parties had a skill or potion for that type, as it typically needed a priest, and was otherwise a drain on my HP. Normally bad, but not life threatening…but given my HP pool was fairly shallow, it was an issue.
A few regeneration effects applied via the spellcasters(including after being cajoled a lot, Myne), Filo was roused, taking myself, Naofumi, and Lucia as she was the lightest, here. They'd made it just in time, and I'd been woken up. The other parties had made the longer journey, picking off a few clusters of goblins and lizardmen that had been left over, but not much, given we'd taken out the boss, and Glass, before they could fully acclimate to the world at large.
"And thus, are the Heroes triumphant once more," I said…only to notice the others, my own party and those within the other Heroes, not looking quite as excited about that statement as they should have. It was Motoyasu who spoke up, however.
"Dude…we lost that fight. You hurt yourself to drive off the bitch, AND we failed to solve a pretty basic puzzle. Worse you heard everyone else, it only gets harder from here," he said, summing up the situation, and worse, everyone seemed to agree with him, as I saw a lot of downward looks at the ground. Even my own party. To be fair, there were reasons for it, but still, it wasn't all bad.
"I'll admit, the brain teaser thing is not ideal, and it shows WHY there are four of us here, and why we have the parties with us. Another set of eyes, in seconds, once we explained the problem, solved it because they looked at it in a different way," I said, trying to rise up off the back of the wagon, wincing in pain, as my side seemed to explode, but being caught by Naofumi before I could fall over or something equally embarrassing, I nodded in thanks before turning back to them.
"And better, once that was solved, we took on a boss and it couldn't touch any of us. Its best attacks failed to land a hit, and we trashed it. Sure, Naofumi came in for the win there by taking it out faster, but it wasn't going to win that fight regardless, because we had it locked down. The best it could do was thrash and roar, and in my books, when you can bat a boss like that around, you're doing pretty good," I continue.
"Want more? We just fought a cheating, hacker bitch. No way her build was legal, and while she got some hits on us, we still drove her back to whatever pit she came out of. We're standing here, and she's not. That's a win, even if not a perfect one," I finished, pointing to the ground to emphasize the 'standing here' bit, before having Naofumi lower me back onto the wagon. Again, not a perfect victory, but still, we did pretty well in my book.
I spent the next few minutes doling out what boosts I could, my SP was still slightly lower than I'd like, but I was recovering, and with the power I gave them, everyone else was hunting down the rest of the lizardmen and goblins around what turned out to be Lafan village, one that was south of the Capital. Interestingly, it was about the same distance away as Lute Village, the one where our first Wave, second of this set, had struck.
That was…interesting, given the actual First Wave had hit somewhere much farther north, from what I understood, a few days' ride at least, but these two were so close we could walk back to the Capital the same day. It seemed conveniently setup, and I had to again wonder at the forces behind the Waves, and if this was something they did deliberately, or if this was simply the result of some kind of random chance.
When the village was cleared of enemies, thanks to not only us, but an older woman who was a Level Ninety-Five Grappler, a class that I hadn't seen before, and a Level quite a bit higher than anyone I'd yet seen. The woman, Elrasla, was a native of the village that Naofumi had apparently helped on an earlier deal, and she congratulated us on our victory over an overwhelming force of darkness.
We also learned that Naofumi had a…squad I would say, assisting him. They weren't full party members, according to the status sheet, but more temporary allies, all mid twenties in levels, which had me ask Ray about it, as I had figured twelve or so, the starting level for Lucia, had been decent, and she informed me most royal guards were about level twenty or so, some even being a bit higher than that.
As it turned out, the arena we'd had our 'duels' in had not been just for show, the guards trained there often, against monsters that were captured, either by other guards or the Guild, and brought in for that purpose. Better, their 'Class' was Guard, and so they leveled faster than most. That said, their stat growths were a bit worse, quite a bit if they neglected training regularly, and their skills were more about group combat than single, so they didn't match up well against normal adventurers in one on one affairs.
That said, the Kingdom depended on them, and they were, all together, a match for the Guild's best, if they came against a full squad. Better, Ake and his group appeared to be dedicated newbies of a sort, and had some good spread in stats and skills. She commented she could see him growing into a Knight Commander, once he was older, and if the royals saw him as acceptable for the role, especially with his defense of both Villages that had been in areas where two Waves had struck directly.
We were still discussing that when the current Knight Commander, the guy who'd met us when the Chimera Wave ended, and the one leading the troops who'd tried to enforce the King's will in Sanctuary, showed up. He didn't have a large squad this time, instead leading about eight guys, all riding dragons, as they'd been dispatched earlier this morning from the capital, rather than being garrisoned here as they had in Lute Village.
He was…quite put out with us, and demanded that we present ourselves to the King at once, as he demanded to know what happened. It was…not the gentlest of summons, and I don't think any of the four of us, or our parties, were exactly wanting to go. Myne included, as she humph, folding her arms and saying her 'daddy was being overprotective'. All in all, I don't think any of us wanted to acquiesce to the request.
However, Ake, leader of Naofumi's squad of guards, begged him to appear, claiming it would be a good way to heal whatever rift existed between the King and himself. It was…a weak reason honestly, given the King was the aggressor there, and I was probably not liked amongst the court either. Still, he was on his hands and knees trying to convince us to go, and Ren finally told us we should, if only to collect our rewards for vanquishing this Wave.
Unfortunately, Ren and Motoyasu, who both had Portal Sword and Spear respectively, had only enough power in their (Fast Travel) skill to take a few people, not even their whole parties, so I wound up playing taxi. It was…unpleasant, as the wound in my side reminded me I should be resting as I focused, marking all our parties, Ake, and even Naofumi's wagon as targets.
It took most of my SP at the moment, with that many people, plus the wagon counting as a few, but I was able to do it, leaving the Knight Commander and his cohorts behind, as the group of us vanished in a flash of golden light, leaving behind the village, hopefully to recover, as we went off to face the King once more.
