"Ya mean Reid Astrea? The swordsman ghost guy guy?" Scorpion girl nods, her face still stuck on shock. "After some crazy amounts of plannin' we landed a hit on him through the skin of our teeth." Anastasia lies as naturally as she breathes.
It's a good thing she's on the party. If Felt is the thief, Emilia is the cleric, then Anastasia must be the bard... she even got an enemy wanting to have sex with her! Anyways, I imagine that if scorpion girl finds out we cheated... it might be game over for us.
I don't know who she is, I don't know what the Pleiades Watchtower is, but there's no doubt that this woman, and this place are scary. If she's even one half of what Reid is... she can wipe us out in a second.
The scorpion girl crosses her arms. "You all must be crazy, yep. I don't know why this was the entrace you all chose..." She smiles and points at herself. "But first of all let me introduce myself, yup! I'm Shaula, guardian of the Pleiades Watchtower!" That name again...
It's definitely something important, because everytime it's mentioned, all my companions flinch. I guess my lack of knowledge about this world has bitten me in the ass again. Well, once we have free time, I'll ask Emilia about it or something.
The merchant lightly bows. "It's a pleasure to meet ya, the name's Anastasia Hoshin, and these others are-" Before she can introduce us, she gets cut off by a very bored looking Shaula.
"Don't care, I always forget names... with one exception. Also my own name, that's also an exception, yep." She nods to herself. "The rest is all nicknames... But who doesn't like to have a cool nickname!?" Please, for the sake of all that's good, don't call Priscilla something demeaning. A fight might break out if you do...
First she points at Anastasia, and takes a sniff...? "You're Shortie, yup, because you're small." And immediately her sense of naming means I'm probably doomed. Still, she then does the same weird thing with Felt. "And you're... Shortietwo. Because you're also small." To my surprise Felt doesn't even get angry, instead she's just looking at Shaula like she's an idiot. Which she may be to be honest.
Up next to receive judgment is Priscilla, and I immediately tense my body. "You're sunny, yep. You smell great by the way." She does!? We have been in those tunnels for hours though!? Well, I'm just glad Priscilla has a cocky smile on now, instead of a hateful expression.
She then points at Emilia, and I can't help, but notice she takes several sniffs. "Sleepy...? What are doin-" She then shakes her head. "Nah, you're stinky, but not that stinky. So you're... Sleepytwo." Another person receives the dreaded two!?
Emilia looks like she wants to cry. "I... Take rea~lly good care of my hygiene though, and I'm certainly not sleepy!" Then you're a freak, I'm tired as hell. Also, I repeat, we all smell bad right now...
She then sniffs at my direction, and then she does it again, and again. Her face shifts between three expressions constantly. The first one was annoyance, the second one was a slight smile, and the third one was... true happiness. It's almost creepy to be honest.
She actually begins walking closer to me, and before long she used her hands to hold both of my shoulder, to stop me from moving. I actually instinctively release a groan of pain at it, my arms are hurt after all.
Priscilla raises an eyebrow. "And what do you think you're doing sand harlot?" She doesn't drop the sleeping Crusch thankfully. I would appreciate the help, but... It's better that after all that, the Duchess doesn't get dropped out of nowhere.
The next to raise an objection is a blushing Emilia. "S-stop that, you're hurting Iori's arms!" But just like Priscilla, she's busy holding Crusch, so she can't come to my rescue either. That said...
I don't think Shaula means anything bad, even as she starts to sniff my neck of all things... She's incredibly strong, I can tell just from her grip, so she could probably crusch me like a grape right now. That's why I'm thankful she hasn't decided to make Iori juice just yet.
Also, as embarrassing as it is to admit... Shaula is a incredibly attractive woman, one who's wearing very little, and she's also currently holding me and smelling my neck. I'm sixteen damn it, of course certain images are gonna appear on my head!
Eventually Shaula pulls back and releases me, she puts a hand on her chin and starts thinking. "Hard to decide... for a second I even thought... but nah." She then starts walking in circles, lost in thought. "How can I come up with a nickname for this smell..." She sighs. "Okay, for now... Imma call you Nerdytwo! Yep!" Ah, I also got the legendarily bad two!?
I sigh. "Why Nerdytwo of all nicknames!? Who the hell was Nerdy one!?" I don't give the vibes of a nerd do I? I'm definitely more of a delinquent looking guy...! Ah, I wish I could be sunny instead.
Shaula scratches her nose. "You're Nerdytwo and that's final, yup. Just be glad I didn't nickname you Pervytwo, since I could smell your non-legendary sword getting bigger, yup!" Shut up, it's literally legendary!
Also, why did you have to reveal that fact to the world!? Now I'm receiving judgmental stares from everyone! Except Emilia, who just looks confused. "But Iori doesn't even have a non-legendary sword..." Thank you pure angel.
Shaula completely ignores her, and instead looks at Crusch. "Um... Now for the last one... Weaky, because she's knocked out! Yep!" She raises her arms in excitement. "And that's all of them, what a productive day! Shortie, Shortietwo, Sunny, Sleepytwo, Nerdytwo and Weaky!" So many two's...!
She crosses her arms. "I'm surprised Pervy gave someone permanent damage though, doesn't sound like something he would do, yep." She then looks at me. "And what's with your arm? They look all messed up as well, yup." Oh-uh, she might be onto us.
Anastasia smiles. "Oh don't worry. None of these wounds were inflicted by Reid Astra... It was just a perilous journey!" Well, it's not a lie, but yeah let's blame my arms on the journey to get here, wherever here is anyways.
Shaula squints her eyes. "I see... Anyways, now let me give you all instructions on what to do ne-" I cut off the scorpion girl.
"Look, not to be rude or anything... But we are tired. I'm wounded. One of our friends is wounded. Basically we are in deep shit, so can we like... rest a little before you tell us what to do? No offense." I just don't have enough energy for whatever she's about to say.
Shaula pouts. "Geez, you guys are super lazy, yup..." But then she notices our defeated expressions... I think, she actually doesn't look at our faces is much, it's like she's looking at something beyond that. "But fine..." A smile appears on my face.
The scorpion guardian continues. "There's a room with... conveniently enough, six beds. So you guys can drop Weaky there, and then I'll take you guys with the room full of food." She then makes a shushing motion. "Don't tell anyone though, or I'll be in trouble! Yep!" Who's there to tell!?
She then suddenly makes a serious face. "Oh, by the way, if any of you damage the tower, or try to run away from here... I'll kill you all." And then her expression becomes cheerful again. "Yep! So be good polite girls and boys!" A chill runs down my spine, and I'm sure everyone else is feeling the same.
One look, one single look... All it takes is Shaula going down from where we came and taking one look at the walls... and there we are dead. It's also worrying that she apparently won't let us leave, but we will figure that out later. One way or another, we are gonna escape the Pleiades Watchtower!
I smile. "Of course, wouldn't dream of doing otherwise." And after that, Shaula starts guiding us through the first floor. It's actually insanely big, full of doors that probably lead to important things, but... We don't dare to open any of them, not with Shaula here.
As we walk, Anastasia gets closer to me and starts whispering. "We are always gonna need someone to keep a look on her, to convince her that goin' down there is unneeded. Keep that in mind." I simply nod, and Anastasia walks away.
I can see her slowly approach each one us, most likely to whisper the same thing. It's kinda funny in a way, that someone is gonna have to keep an eye on a so called guardian... I really need to find out what is the Pleiades Watchtower.
I can't just ask out of nowhere though, because if Shaula realizes we have no idea on how we got here, and then goes to check on the tunnels... I would rather fight Reid again, at least I come back from that one after dying.
Eventually we arrive at a specific door, it actually looks more decorated than the rest. Shaula confidently opens it. "Tadah! Now you guys can drop the deadweight weakling, yep!" I want to say Crusch isn't deadweight, but... she kinda has been. Trough no fault of her own of course.
Entering the room, we can see six beds, just as Shaula says. I raise an eyebrow towards her. "So... do you sleep here too?" I don't want to steal one of her beds, but to be honest... Right now I would if given the opportunity.
She shakes her head. "Nope! I can't use anything that belongs to the challengers, yep, because I'm a good girl, yup!" The challengers...? She's definitely referring to us, but is it because of Reid, or because there are more trials up ahead... or above?
Either way, what makes this stranger is the fact that this room apparently belongs to us. I'll take it, for now. Questions can wait for tomorrow, once we are all rested... I seriously need to sleep.
Now that we aren't constantly in danger, it's hitting for just how long I stayed awake. I left with Reinhard, Subaru and Rem at night. Then we worked to evacuated the villagers until the sun rose, and then I walked through the tunnels until it was night again... and then we walked even more.
It also doesn't help that we didn't have food or water through it. To be honest, I'm surprised I even handled it so well... And now that I think about it, I'm even more surprised when it comes to my companions.
Anastasia's body is apparently frail. Emilia had a very stressful past few hours, considering all the Witch's cult stuff. Felt may be a ex-street rat, but she's also young as hell. Priscilla... well, I'm sure she's unused to conditions like these.
The one who worries me the most is Crusch though, she's passed out, so even if we get food and water... We have no method of actually making her eat it or drink it. So I can only hope she wakes up soon...
Still, I feel immense relief once Emilia and Priscilla carefully lay her down in the bed. It's like a massive weight that was on my shoulders has just been released... I can only imagine I'll feel even better once she actually wakes up.
I sit in one of the beds as soon as they do so. "So, is she okay?" I'm giving Crusch a look of concern. We tried our best to transport her safely of course, but if something bad still happened...
Emilia nods. "She should be! Now let me check your arms!" That would be amazing, I miss feeling things on them. "Then we can finally go to sleep..." As expected, Emilia is feeling sleepy too.
Priscilla nods. "Indeed, I tire of this... everything. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, I shall punish Al for failing to guard me." You're blaming him for this!? I don't think there's much my bro from Earth could have done to prevent this!
Anastasia too goes and sits in one of the beds. "Your bodyguard huh... I wonder how Julius is feeling right now." I hope he's okay, I haven't talked much with him, but he seemed alright.
Emilia frowns as she walks closer to me. "I'm also worried about everyone back home..." She extends her hands towards me, they begin glowing brightly, and immediately relief starts to settle in. "I mean... we didn't even see if Sir Reinhard won, and we just disappeared in front of Subaru and Puck..." She no doubt misses both her friend and her father.
Felt sits down in a bed as well, unceremoniously dropping the Life Sword in the ground. "I'm sure Reinhard is gonna be fine. He's Reinhard after all... Guy must be worried." Yeah, right now he must be ripping his own hair out in frustration. I hope he doesn't get punished for our little adventure...
Emilia nods while she heals me. "I sure hope you're right Felt..." She sighs. "Everything must be such a mess back home..." That's true. I doubt the kingdom received some special message, so all they will know is that five candidates and the Child of Prophecy disappeared.
Of course, they must assume it's something related to the prophecy, but... We are gonna sleep here, a day is gonna pass here, and we still aren't super close to coming home. In fact, as far as Shaula is concerned, we are never going home at all. I imagine that such a restriction will disappear once we do what she wants us to do. Hopefully.
Shaula snorts. "Why are you guys worrying about your homes? Something bad happened?" She smiles. "Well, don't worry now that you're here, yep! I doubt anyone is gonna come here to bother you all!" I don't know if that's a good sign or not...
I tilt my head. "Are we the only people here?" I immediately regret my question. I'm supposed to fake having the knowledge of what this place is, so I have to watch what I say... But to be honest, I'm a bit too tired to think.
Shaula nods. "Yep, just us nine!" We are seven people total though... And if you count Reid, it's eight. Unless she's referring to the mysterious voice? Maybe I should ask about that... "No one has managed to get past the super special barrier, or the demon beasts before... You guys must know what you're doing, yup." We definitely don't!
Still, super special barrier? Demon beasts? Since we actually didn't get past any of those, they must still be around... Which means escaping the tower definitely won't be easy at all...
I send Shaula serious look. "Hey Shaula... There's a strange voice I hear in my voice sometimes, it's... Do you know anything about that?" I'm hoping for a quick and easy answer to this mystery...
Shaula gasps. "You're mentally ill!? Oh no...! Sorry, but in this floor we don't have any medicine..." Ah, great, she doesn't know anything too... Still, there's medicine on other floors? That could be useful...
I continue with my questions. "So... can we go to this other room?" Maybe it has something to help with Crusch. Though I don't know how advanced the medicine of this world is... surely we can find an HP potion somewhere? Though we actually need a Phoenix Down...
She shakes her head. "Nope! Sorry to say, but for today you all can only access the first floor! Yep, and you guys shouldn't blame me, I'm being considering since you all wanted to rest, yup!" I see, so it's involved with whatever is your quest...
I send her a smile. "Thanks for being considerate then Shaula. We have been... in a tough spot until now, so being greeted by such a pretty helpful face is really nice." Even if I need to remind myself that at any moment she could turn on us... All she needs to do is see the destruction we left behind.
She sends me a thumps. "I'm glad you see it! Yup! Ah, I do give the aura of an older sister, don't I? I do, don't I? I do, don't I?" I start ignoring Shaula who has moved into her own little world... Honestly she's an absolute idiot, kinda like a extreme version of Subaru.
Felt sighs. "You don't pass the big sister test..." Immediately Shaula looks heartbroken. What even is the big sister test anyways!? How did Emilia of all people pass!? She's definitely more of a younger sister...
Anastasia snorts. "Now, don't go bullyin' our friend helper here... Let's just go to sleep, I may be hungry and dehydrated... but at least I'm gonna get a decent night of sleep." Sleeping in a unfamiliar place full of things you don't understand? That's a decent night of sleep? I guess me of all people can't say anything.
Shaula is broken from her fantasies by Anastasia's complaining. "Eh? Did you forget Shortie? There's a room full of food... Oh, there's water there too." We all give her shocked looks, because we genuinely forgot.
It must be because we are so tired, as soon as we saw the beds our brain escaped our heads. There was also the euphoric relief of finally putting Crusch down in a place where she isn't constantly getting worse.
Felt immediately jumps up. "Okay, you get the big sister card! Now take us there!" Immediately Shaula looks like she's about to burst from happiness. It didn't pass through my mind before, but she sure is excitable for a woman who presumably lives with Reid... and one more mysterious person.
Shaula leads us to another room, she's basically skipping along too, that's how happy Felt made her with a simple comment. It's... I don't know how to feel about it, and I really shouldn't assume, but it feels kind of sad.
Thankfully the room she was talking about was fairly close, and it isn't long before she sits us all down in a table, and then enters another room, closing the door behind her. The opportunity presented is obvious.
Anastasia immediately begins whispering. "This place is too fuckin' suspicious. Seriously? Six beds...? And actually, this room has six chairs too." I would like to say the last one is for Shaula, but... it's clear that is supposed to belong to Crusch.
Priscilla shrugs. "I agree, but I also knew the world was eventually going to return what it owes me, so I'm not surprised." She sends a cocky look to the merchant. "Be glad you get to receive a bit of my blessings, Fox." You... didn't change much, did you? No, that isn't true, you probably have even more anger issues now, after dying two times.
Anastasia rolls her eyes. "Who cares ab-. Look, we are in the god damn Pleiades Watchtower, and everythin' so far is crazy suspicious. We can all agree on that, right?" We all immediately nod. At this point it might as well be confirmed, the prophecy brought us here.
The weird thing though, is that Shaula clearly doesn't know about our entrance through teleportation. She excepted us to face a super special barrier, and a bunch of demon beasts too. Is she even aware about the prophecy?
I raise a hand. "Sorry, but... to be honest, I don't really know what the Pleiades Watchtower is." I feel bad about wasting our time here asking for lore exposition, but it can't be helped.
Anastasia quickly explains. "It's a tower constructed by the sage. Rumor is that she lives here, and that the Witch of Envy rests here too... A bunch of cultists always try to get here, but they always fail...!" This place is seriously a big deal!? Wait, could it be that the last person Shaula referred to is the sage? Can we ask that of her?
Emilia suddenly gasps, and then covers her mouth in shock. Her face starts going from it's normal beautiful pale tone, to a sickly one. It's definitely not a good sign, and immediately I feel a new burden in my shoulders.
I send her a worried look. "What's wrong Emilia?" Did she realize something I didn't...?
She looks down, a shocked look in her face. "Hey Iori, do you think those doors and corridors full of miasma were leading... to the Witch of Envy." A chill runs down my spine. We almost challenged the final boss, the one who the three heroes couldn't beat, the one that the other important historical guy couldn't beat. It would be a game over for sure.
But if that really was the way to the Witch... The why could Emilia open the first door? That question looms over us, wasting our time, filling our time with dread.
It's why once Shaula eventually comes back, kicking the door open, it's a relief, strangely enough. "Here you guys go! Water and food!" She's carrying two crates, and on top of those crates there's a bunch of cutlery.
She first puts the cutlery in the table. And then she opens the crates... Immediately what I see makes my eyes open wide. Water bottles, and cans... Not something you usually see in this world, and it immediately makes me freak out.
I hold that back though, I'll share it with the rest of the group once Shaula gives us free space again. Speaking of the scorpion girl, she puts one water bottle and one can for each of us.
Felt just stares weirdly at the grey can, though she does immediately recognize what the water bottle is. It's not exactly crazy after all. "So... what's this Scorpion Big Sister?" Did you really need to add the scorpion part!?
Shaula proudly puffs her chest. "It's food of course! Don't worry Nerdy enchanted it all to last forever, and ever!" Another chill runs down my spine. I'm Nerdytwo, so obviously I'll be extremely curious on who Nerdyone is.
I send her a cautious, but curious look. "Hey Shaula... Is Nerdy the other person in the tower?" Please don't be as horrifying as Reid... or as dumb as Shaula. Actually do be as dumb as Shaula, since she's easier to trick.
Shaula chuckles. "If your little group reaches the top, you can confirm that yourself." I see... She has also confirmed that if we go by her rules we will need to reach the top of the tower... Fuck that, if it's impossible like touching Reid, then we are going to find a new method of cheating.
I feel like my encounter with the red haired swordsman has really poisoned my mind. A normal JRPG hero would probably be super happy with a full tower of challenges... or whatever it is that Shaula wants to throw at us.
I shake my head, and then ask Shaula another question. "So... are you going to eat with us?" There's only six chairs here, so I can't help, but wonder if she's skipping this meal... I don't mind sharing with her.
First of all, this is probably all hers anyways. And second of all, the crates she brought are still filled with stuff, and besides there are probably even more crates in the storage room that she just left.
She shakes her head. "Nah, I'll pass... I can't use the stuff that belongs to the challengers." That's...! Immediately the memory of her eating raw animal meat comes to my mind. And I have no idea where she even took that thing in the first place.
I tilt my head. "Why though...?" I don't think Reid is the type of person who would deny her food. And well... I don't about the last person, but c'mon, let the girl eat something that isn't fucking raw food.
She smiles. "Oh, that's because I'm worthless and unwanted. I can't touch what doesn't belong to me, Nerdy made that very clear." A tense feeling appears in the air, we are now all looking at her with pity... Honestly it looks like Emilia's heart has straight up been cut into pieces.
I raise my can towards her. "Well, if this is mine... Do you want it? I'm willing to give it to you, so you won't be touching something that isn't yours." I want to say she isn't worthless of course... But I feel like she will just immediately deny that.
Stars appear in her eyes. "Oh? Really? Your big sister accepts your offering!" To be honest, you feel more like a younger sister...
And so we finally eat to our hearts content.
AN: Shaula a cute!