Chapter 16: Pushing back a Siege
Castle Town had only one Weapon Shop that created noteworthy weapons and armor; at least the only one that the Bow Hero was aware of anyway.
"Uh…"
"Um…"
As such, it was to the surprise of no one when we were greeted with the disgruntled look of the Shield Hero when we entered; who appeared to be bargaining with a soldier about the pendant in his hand.
Wasn't one of the few soldiers that stood up against the Spear Hero and the First Princess for his sake?
"I…I understand, Shield Hero!" The soldier cried out, "I'll go get the money at once!"
Without another word, he ran past us before took off sprinting down the streets like his life depended on it; was that pendant really that important?
"…what just happened?" Trish noted.
"It's nothing you need to be concerned about." Naofumi told him as he pocketed the pendant, "Let's go, Raphtalia, Filo."
"Y-Yes!"
"Hey, hey! Kid, wait a minute!" The shop owner called out to him, "What about that soldier!?"
"Just tell him to wait here whenever he returned. I'll be coming back for my armor anyways."
We moved aside and allowed them to leave the shop; Talos nearly lost it when Filo stuck out her tongue at the griffin as she passed her by, though she was quickly reprimanded by her master moments later.
"That kid… is all of this really necessary…?"
"Were we… interrupting something?" Itsuki asked.
"Nah, it's already done at this point." Shop Owner told him, "Anyways, welcome! What can I get you today?"
"A mask!" I immediately told him as I pointed at Eclair's feathered mask, "Anything that is not that!"
"Ah, I don't actually sell those. Sorry."
"Fucking damn it!"
Guess I had to tolerate seeing her running about with that monstrosity a little longer.
"Liya really don't like that mask, huh." Grif noted.
"I-I think it's rather nice, Miss Theresa!" Rishia told Eclair, who simply sighed dejectedly.
"We're actually here to get some armor for her." Itsuki swiftly interjected, "Do you have anything to fit her size?"
"Oh, that young lass? Hm, I think I have a few in stock for her to try on. It's better than what she's currently wearing, anyways."
"Fueh…"
As Trish dragged Rishia into the fitting to find a fitting armor that would not look comically oversized on her, the rest of us pondered about the store looking at what struck our fancy; Eclair herself was looking rather intensely at the swords on display.
I wandered over to the selection of knives to replace my badly chipped one; a multi-functional one would be nice, though I was happy if it was decent enough to be used.
My eyes landed on a certain one that stood out among the dozen others displayed on the table. It was rather beefy for a knife, with a blade resembling that of a beast's fang and a wooden handle was wrapped in thick cloth, and a ring pommel at the end of it.
It was identified as [Beast Kunai] when I picked it off the table to inspect its edge, before twirling and swinging it about to check its weight.
For a knife of its size, it was remarkably light and its weight distribution was quite even throughout, and its stats were way better than the one I was currently using too.
Looks like I found my replacement knife.
"…are you sure you're not a ninja?" Itsuki suddenly asked me.
"Uh, no?" I replied back with an eyebrow raised, "Seriously, what is a ninja?"
"…"
Rolling my eyes at his lack of an answer, I walked up to the counter and asked, "How much for this?"
"Oh, like that one, did you?" He grinned widely, "About time! People keep calling it weird looking, but I can guarantee you that it is one of my best works!"
"I can tell, it is remarkably well-balanced. But it is a weird design."
"It was based on a knife called a kunai from Q'ten Lo. I just made a few tweaks of my own to it."
Q'ten Lo… I recalled Sadeena mentioning that place once before many years back; it was an isolated island nation that almost never interacted with other kingdoms aside from the demi-human supremacist kingdom of Siltvelt which they were said to be allied to.
It didn't help that almost every goods from there had to go through Siltvelt first, so anything about that kingdom was up to speculation; that made anything made from there highly sought after in Melromarc.
"Must have cost you a lot to get one."
"Nah, I just got really lucky."
"You also hadn't told me how much this knife costs."
"Ah, right! Got myself carried away there! That will cost you about… 150 silvers. I'll even throw in a sheath for it."
I nearly choked on my own saliva at the price; it cost almost as much the armor I was wearing! How was a knife costing more than a custom ordered armor set!?
It was a good thing we were using the party's shared funds for our new equipment, because what I had left in my wallet from buying all the herbs in the last town would not be sufficient enough.
"Hey, owner?" Trish's head peeked out from the fitting room, "I think we might need to make adjustments to her armor."
"Huh? Is the armor still too big for her?" He asked.
"No, it's actually the opposite. Her… bust is larger than they first appear to be…"
That got everyone's attention almost immediately, and had Eclair and Trish glaring at the guys for perking up at the sentence; not going to lie, I was the same as them.
Suffice to say, it took a lot of mental control not to imagine what Rishia's actual bodyline looked like.
While we waited for the shop owner to finish adjusting the fittings on Rishia's armor, Itsuki decided to tasked Grif with selling the monster pelts we had obtained in the last few days.
At the same time, Eclair finally found a sword to replace the one she had used to its limit; the thing actually broke when she unsheathed it to replace it, like it had only been holding itself together till its replacement was bought.
Now if only we could replace that stupid mask of hers…
"S-Shield Hero, I've brought the money!"
"Fueh!"
The shop's front door burst opened to the shock of Rishia as the soldier from before came running in with a filled bag in his hand. He was also accompanied with the other soldiers that was with him from earlier that day, with a few mages sprinkled between them.
I noticed that a couple of them were demi-humans as well, which was surprising as it was antithetical to this kingdom's belief; especially when there was a lack of a Slave Crest on either of them.
"A-Ah, y-you're the Bow Hero!"
"Indeed, I am." Itsuki huffed with a dramatic puff of his chest, "You guys are the soldiers that stood up for Naofumi earlier, right? Nicely done!"
"N-No, it's nothing to write home about…"
"If you're looking for the Shield Hero, he is not around." Trish told him, "I've heard he should be coming back, so you can wait here for him."
"Oh, I see…! Then we shall do so."
"Is that the money you will be paying the Shield Hero?" I asked him, "That's quite a lot. Is that pendant really worth all that?"
"If it could earn the Shield Hero's trust, than it is worth every coin." He noted.
"Trust? Wait, did Naofumi ask you to buy this in exchange for trusting you guys!?" Itsuki asked in shock, "Isn't that a little too much!?"
"Not to him, it seems." Eclair noted, "Though it felt like he's scamming you."
"No, the kid wouldn't do something like that." The shop owner told her as he emerged from the back with Rishia's new armor, "Just putting trust in someone is something of a soft spot to him."
"Trust… guess that princess really screwed him over hard, huh." I noted.
When you looked at this from the Shield Hero's perspective, it was only natural he'll be so distrusting and soar towards everyone in this kingdom, let alone its own soldiers.
If the one person you had to trust in a foreign land backstabbed you and pulled your image through the mud in the worst ways possible, you would be not be able to trust of everyone at all.
"Even so, to put monetary value of trust…" Itsuki was clearly not liking this one bit.
"Trust goes both way, Sir Itsuki." I told him, "Blind trust in anything or anyone will only lead to disaster. You of all people should know of that first hand."
After all, it was his blind trust in the 'innocence' of Malty Melromarc that led to the absolute discrimination of the Shield Hero in the first place.
"Y-Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Well, enough with the downer talk. Here you go." The shop owner placed the armor on the counter for us to see, "The lass's armor, adjusted for her fit."
"Oh, nice. Go on, Rishia; put it on!"
"R-Right!"
The noble girl's new armor set consisted of a small leather vest over her beige blouse with a green short cloak over her shoulders that matches her hair and a pair of leather wrist protectors.
Her skirt had been changed to a shorter green one that went over her knees instead down to her ankles, and a pair of high leather boots decorated her feet that reached halfway up her lower leg.
"W-Well? W-What do you t-think?" She asked with a shy blush.
"That's a good look for you." I noted.
"Yeah, it is way better than that dumb cuirass." Eclair nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, it is. And its stats are higher too." Itsuki noted, "It suits you well, Rishia."
"T-Thank you, Sir Itsuki."
"Someone's biased~!" Trish grinned widely as the noble girl's face turned deep red.
"Fueh!? N-No! That's not—it's not like that!"
"Then why are you blushing so hard~?"
"TRISH!"
My partner burst into loud laughter as her friend beat her fists against her side to little result; it was quite a sight to see this part of her that I had never seen before.
Then I glanced at Itsuki, and found his expression wasn't that of his usual confident smile, but one of conflicting feelings; his eyes may be looking at the scene in front of us but he was gazing at something else entirely.
Was he remembering something from his old world? Whatever it was, it was clearly something that had a big impact on him.
The door opening snapped the Bow Hero out of his daze, Trish's laughter died down as Naofumi entered the shop; he grimaced at the sight of us still here before his eyes widened in surprise when he saw the soldiers staring expectantly at him.
"We have been waiting for you, Shield Hero!"
"You… you actually got the money…?"
"Yeah, we did! I went around the barracks and everyone chipped in! All 150 silver coins!" The soldier handed over the pouch of coins, "With this, will you now believe us?"
The Shield Hero reluctantly accepted it and opened up to check the money inside, carefully inspecting every single coin within its confines.
"…I see. How many people are you representing?" He asked.
"Huh? Including me… five."
"Huh."
He reached under his cloak and pulled out the pendant from before, along with four more others; he then handed them to the soldier along with the money pouch.
"Um, why are you…?"
"I asked you to get the money, but I've never said anything about taking it." The Shield Hero told him, "If you had valued money more, I wouldn't have given you a chance. Besides, now you know who among your own group is in this for real and those are not."
"Huh? Wait… S-So does this mean…!"
"What the heck; you're just testing him?" The shop owner grinned, "Had me worried for you for a second there."
"Sir Shield Hero…!" The soldiers all looked at him with great awe and reverence, as if looking up at a true heroic figure.
Though to be fair, he was the Shield Hero, but still…
"Tsundere…" Itsuki muttered.
"…Is there something you wish to say?" Naofumi growled.
"Nope! Nothing!"
"That's what I thought." He then turned to the soldiers, "Just to be clear, I still don't trust you completely; so if you try any trick on me, there will be hell to pay; got it?"
"Y-Yes sir!" All the soldiers, including the mages, saluted him, "We look forward to your command!"
"Right… in that case, is it okay I set you as the leader?"
"Eh? I-I mean, yes! If that's what the Shield Hero decreed!"
"Quit it with that; it's annoying…! If you don't want to be the leader, then give the authority to someone else."
So that was what he meant when he talked about earning the Shield Hero's trust; though his methods were a bit underhanded, it was necessary to know if a person was genuine with his words.
Otherwise, you might end up with people like Mald or even the First Princess in your group.
"Wait, Naofumi, are you planning on asking them to join your party?" Itsuki asked, "You know that if a party exceeds more than six people, the amount of exp gained per member will be greatly lowered."
"Huh? I'm not letting them join my party." Naofumi told him, "Wait, you don't know about battle formations functions?"
"You mean the party menu?"
"No, there's an option to appoint someone as a leader and then make your party with that person subject to your leadership."
"That can't be right…"
As the soldiers left the shop with one final salute to the Shield Hero, Itsuki stared heavily in the air, no doubt searching through his status menus about this 'Battle Formations' option.
"…it's there…! There is even a choice to select a leader and a vice-leader…! How did I not know of this before!?"
"Seriously? Did you not check the help menus?"
"I…I guess I thought I already knew all that was needed to know…"
"Doesn't look to be the case to me, dumbass."
"Grgk!"
"…okay, sure." Naofumi closed the pouch with a nonchalant way he gritted his teeth told me all I needed to know about his current feelings about this revelation; gratefulness and a case of bruised ego.
And for someone as prideful as him, it must be quite the blow.
"Alright… I'll admit, you are right about that…" Itsuki said out of his gritted teeth, "But I bet there are things that I know about the system that you don't!"
"I honestly couldn't give a damn." Naofumi groaned.
"Well, you better! Because I'm going to tell you a couple! Like the Drop Items you can get from monsters!"
"Drop–Wait, there's a function like that? You must be bluffing!"
"I am not! I've gotten quite a few items from it! Also…!"
The conversation became filled with otherworldly jargon that I had no idea meant what or who or where; so much that by the time they finished their talk, the sun had set and we all had to turn in for the day.
The following day had us flying across the skies towards the town of Lukwad, a small town situated on Melromarc's western borders.
The Crown had issued us an order to head over to lend them our aid; for a bunch of bandits had laid siege upon their town for weeks on end; their own defense forces had taken quite a hit recently and urgently required reinforcements.
Such a request had the Bow Hero very excited at the prospect of dealing out justice upon the bandits, so we set out almost immediately after receiving the request; getting Rishia her first taste of flying atop a griffin.
"W-We're so high up!" She cried out as she held onto Talos's back quite tightly.
"Quite the experience, isn't it?" Trish noted with a smile, "There's nothing quite like this anywhere!"
"B-But this wind! W-Won't we f-fall?"
"If you do, Talos will catch you!" Grif assured her.
The sun almost reached its peak when we arrived at Lukwad, and we could see from above the surprising amount of damage those bandits had been doing to the town.
Some of its walls had countless cracks on its surface with ballista bolts imbedding its sides, the area outside of it looked to have been carved up, and its main gates looked to have been smashed inwards by something large.
It definitely matched up to the description of siege warfare in the books, if a bit too well…
When we landed, we were quickly escorted to meet the town's lord at his manor. It reminded me of the one we had to sneak into to save Rishia a few days ago, only it lacked the gaudy decorations; it still exuded a sense of wealth and power, but it wasn't overly indulgent in it.
"I'm so grateful you answered our request, Sir Bow Hero!" A middle aged man dressed in noble attire greeted us with great reverence.
"No need for that; it is my duty as a Hero to bring criminals to justice!" Itsuki told him with a grin, "Now, tell me about these evil miscreants."
"Y-Yes, of course! The attacks started weeks ago, and have not stopped since! The latest one had cost us a lot of our men and nearly destroyed the main gate…!"
"Yeah, we saw the damage on the way here." Trish noted, "Do you know what could have caused such destruction?"
"According to the guards that survived the onslaught, it was a monster the bandits had somehow tamed; a giant four-legged beast that tore through everything that stood in its path."
"Any other description?"
"No, unfortunately; none of the survivors could recall much of its features."
"…this feels off." Eclair noted, "How are mere bandits deploying siege tactics so effectively?"
"Maybe they had a leader who used to be in an army?" I noted, "I mean, you've seen how Grif turned that those peasants into a decent army."
"No, siege tactics are different from what I had done for those villagers." The mercenary told me, "That requires proper coordination between different groups with the right knowledge; and that's not including all the equipment needed, stolen or otherwise."
"Now that you mentioned it, the reports had mentioned how their well-maintained their ballistas appeared to be." The lord noted, "And they were using military formations as well."
That raised even more questions about these bandits; how was a bunch of bandits able to perform army tactics with proper army equipment?
"Could they be another kingdom's army in disguise?"
That got everyone's attention immediately, especially when it came from the least likely person who would suggest such a thing.
Rishia flinched at the stares she was receiving, "Um, i-is it t-too much of a s-stretch?"
"…No. That would explain everything." Eclair noted, "If they trained soldiers, it will not be much of a stretch for them to be familiar with sieges."
"It would explain the tamed monster as well." Grif ntoed, "There are kingdoms that have been known to deploy monsters as more than just mounts."
"Nice thinking, Rishia!" Trish nudged her friend with a smile, "As expected of the honor student!"
"N-No, I was just g-guessing…" She stuttered as she glanced over at Itsuki.
"…yup! You did great, Rishia!" He gave her a smile and a thumbs-up, "Excellent deduction!"
"T-Thank you, Sir Itsuki!"
While the noble girl was over the moon from the small praise, I took notice of how forced his smile was; as if putting on a mask to hide his actual feelings.
It was the same as yesterday; he was comparing what Rishia was experiencing with something else in his memory, while not paying attention to what was happening before him.
"…Sir Itsuki?" I patted him on the shoulder that shook him out of his daze, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Eh? Oh, no! I-I'm fine!" He told me, "I was just thinking about how to bring those detestable false bandits to justice!"
"Indeed; knowing their true identity still doesn't change the fact that they are laying siege to Lukwad." Grif noted, "Sir Itsuki, do you mind if I take command? While you are undeniably strong, you are inexperienced in siege tactics to counter them."
"That's fair. Very well! You may take command!"
"I thank you, Sir Itsuki. Now then, here is what I was thinking…"
"Here they come!"
"Alright, men! Hold your positions!"
The soldiers and knights of Lukwad stood armed and ready as the fake bandits came running towards them with their weapons drawn and at the ready, many of which were carrying makeshift ladders for scaling the walls.
Within moments, the two forces clashed as swords and spears exchanging blows and a massive melee broke out in front of the main gate, all the while many tried to use the ladder to scale the walls but were stopped when arrows rained down upon them.
Meanwhile in the rear of their infantry, many ballistas were getting set up by the dozens at remarkable speeds, after which several men load them and placed their hands on the lever, ready to unleash their bolts upon their targets.
They would never get the chance to do so.
"Thunder Arrow!"
A bolt of lightning struck down from above the battlefield and destroyed one of the ballistas and the man using it. That was followed by more bolts of lightning that destroyed their siege armaments one after the other in rapid succession.
Within moments, the ballistas that were to assist in the destruction of the walls of Lukwad were reduced to nothing but ash and burnt wood.
"Looks like Grif's plan had begun." I noted as I looked up at the silhouette of Talos in the skies above.
If you listen close enough, you could hear a 'Fueh!' echoing from it; or it could just be me imagining things.
"Then we should move." Eclair stated.
With that said, she took the lead as me and Trish followed closed behind towards the back of the fake bandit's formation.
The mercenary's plan was a rather simple one; take out their commander as swiftly and as sneakily as possible.
According to him, most armies were prone to collapse after their commander was taken out; he had seen many battles being won just by taking out the opposition's commander.
In order for us to accomplish that, Grif, Itsuki and Rishia alongside the soldiers would serve as a distraction to keep their attention on the battle; allowing us a chance to sneak behind enemy lines and locate their commander.
Which we were able to quickly, considering how much he had stood out among his men with the hooded mantle on his shoulders that he had pulled over his head.
"What!? The Bow Hero is here!? What is that devil doing all the way out here!?"
"W-We don't know, sir!"
It also helped that he was the only one screaming orders at the men around him as they dashed back and forth from the battlefield; we could even hear him from our hiding spot in the bushes a far distance away.
Though it was to my attention that they weren't speaking in any language local to Melromarc; instead, it sounded more like the language often spoken by demi-humans of Siltvelt origin, though in a dialect I was not aware of.
"Liya!" Trish turned to me with eyes wide in shock, "These people are…!"
"Yeah, this is bad…" I whispered back with a grimace, "If these are soldiers from Siltvelt…"
It was to no exaggeration to say that Melromarc and Siltvelt hated each other; after all, not only were they complete opposite, it was the current king that ended their late king's ambition of world conquest.
If it was to be known that an army from there was laying siege to a town in Melromarc? It would easily jumpstart another war between the two.
"Let's not think about that now." Eclair whispered to us, "We need to focus on putting a stop to this first."
"What should we do now, sir?"
"Damn it…! Have platoon Vesta meet with platoon Argo; have them clear the path to the main gate!"
"Sir, y-you're not suggesting we use h-him again, a-are you?"
"I am. I don't like it, but unless you want us to win, we don't have a choice in the matter."
The commander turned to the towering box next to him and pulled off the cover to reveal it to not be a box; it was instead a giant cage containing the largest monster I had ever seen.
Waking up from its slumber was a scarred wolf monster with fur as dark as the starless night sky, white fur around its eyes along with the star-shaped patch, and light grey fur around its paws akin to socks.
That description rang in my mind as I instantly recalled a similar description in a book detailing the many monsters in the world, one that I had originally thought I would never have the misfortune to see it for myself.
"An Elder Grim Wolf…!"
"Elder… Grim Wolf…?" Eclair looked at me with confusion, "Is that the name of that monster? Have you seen one before, Liya?"
"No, I've only read vague descriptions about it in a book…" I explained, "It is an extremely special evolved Grim Wolf akin to a lord, with strength and power to destroy entire towns on its own. I've always thought they were an urban legend, but now…"
"Then… that must be the monster the lord was talking about." Trish stated, "The four-legged beast that nearly destroyed the gates."
The commander of the disguised army opened a small door and entered the cage, his head never turning away from the enormous beast as it slowly got onto its feet.
It growled deeply and took a step forward towards him, but was stopped when a slave crest appeared on its chest and forced it back with a shock.
"Beast of legend, great Elder Grim!" The commander cried out, "Listen to my command!"
"Shit! Stop him!"
It was clear what that commander was about to order the Elder Grim Wolf to do, and the destruction it would inflict upon everyone here.
Eclair and Trish was of the same mind, as my partner immediately got into chanting as we all rushed out of our hiding spot and made a mad dash for the commander.
"Intruders! Stop them!"
That had the immediate downside of alerting all the soldiers around that immediately ran towards us with swords drawn.
Fortunately, the battles in our journey thus far had helped raised our respective levels into the 60s, allowing us to swiftly take them out before they could delay us.
With them out of the way, I swung Chain Cross and sent the chain whip flying through the opening I found and piercing into his heart from behind with its sharp tip.
That, however, was not enough to stop him from issuing his command to the world; with blood pouring from his mouth, he screamed to the heavens above.
"By my command, kill all the humans on this land!"
*GRAAAHHH*
As the commander collapsed onto the ground dead, his face frozen in a deranged grin, the Elder Grim Wolf let out a loud roar before breaking out of its cage with ease.
Its eyes soon turned to us, the soldiers around us cheered for it as it slowly walked towards us, with each of its step causing the ground to shake under us.
"This… is a problem…"
The three of us readied our weapons for the battle, as the monster pounced upon us.
…
To be continued…
Hey there, one and all! New season 3 episode, new chapter to this fic!
I've hit somewhat of a stride with this fic, so I've been able to push these next few chapters out quite quickly. Though be warned that I may take some time after the next couple of chapters or so.
Inspiration and life are like that sometimes…
With that, I thank you all for reading this!
*Sup! So, this is the rewrite of my rewrite of my Shield Hero OC fic. This time, I'm going to make a few changes so that it would be more than just a Canon rehash.