Chapter 18: Boss: Richter (really?) and Minna Noscrim
"I've fought worse than him….I've survived worse than him!..." Joshua thought as he and Richter glared at each other.
Joshua had managed to strike him twice in the back with his baton and showed he was more than what Richter had expected. Richter drew his sword with his right hand and made a long, needle-like spear of ice in the other. He quickly threw the ice spear at Joshua, who managed to dodge, but still got nicked across his right cheek by it. Richter then launched himself on a slide of ice at him with his sword at the ready but was surprised to see Joshua stand still instead of run. Both felt the sword make contact and it passed through without drawing blood as intended, but Joshua was still standing.
"But….I got him?...No one can take demon realm metal like that….can they?" Richter said in confusion as he sailed by Joshua.
Richter looked back at Joshua after coming to a stop only to see Joshua turn around and look at him intently. Joshua began slowly walking towards Richter, just as the signet on Joshua's left hand shimmered for a moment, and a slight wave of panic overcame Richter. Richter made a small ball of ice using his magic and fired it at Joshua, who merely deflected it with his baton in turn as he approached.
"Wha-what the hell, man! Just what the hell are you?! No one has ever withstood one of my attacks! Are you cheating?!" Richter demanded angrily as Joshua approached.
"I'm just a simple american car parts factory worker…nothing more, nothing less. Prepare yourself…for I am going to show you what hell truly is like…" Joshua replied ominously.
Richter quaked with fear as Joshua stared daggers at him. Once Joshua was right in front him, Richter saw Joshua was a foot taller than him. Richter looked up at him in terror as Joshua looked down at him in fury. Letting out a nervous chuckle, and realizing the danger he was in, he turned and tried to run, but Joshua just simply followed. Meanwhile, Eristia, Yuriy, and Luciana were engaged in a fierce battle against Minna. Minna kept a short distance from then with her wings, all the while tossing balls of black mana at them. The three of them dodged Minna's attacks left and right as they tried to close the gap to attempt a successful strike. Eristia lunged at her with her sword, but Minna merely danced away from her strike. In retaliation, Minna launched three small balls of mana at the ground. The second Eristia took another step, three small tentacles wrapped around her lower right leg and gripped tight. She tried yanking as hard as she could, but it was to no avail.
Minna approached her with a lascivious grin on her face and looked down at her. She landed softly on the ground and touched a hand to Eristia's left cheek, taking Eristia by slight surprise.
"Don't be scared…this is a wonderful thing. A wonderful world of pleasure." Minna said to her in a sweet tone.
A lustful passion burned in Minna's eyes. Eristia saw this and knew what was coming next. Minna heard Yuriy's footsteps off to her left and managed to grab his spear with her left hand and stop him as it was only inches from her head. She chuckled before pointing her open right palm at him and knocked him down with a single blast of her mana. A black tentacle sprouted out of the ground and pinned him down tight. Luciana charged at Minna from behind but got a swift roundhouse kick to the stomach that knocked the wind out of her. Minna launched a small black ball of mana at the ground and a tentacle held Luciana down all the same.
"Did you three really think you could beat me? I conquered Richter after all…and he used to beat other heroes such as yourselves effortlessly. That's why he was so feared. He even hurt his own sister once. She was saved by a childhood friend of hers who took Richter's vicious beating for her….and I managed to tame him." Minna taunted as she looked down at the three of them.
The three of them struggled to break free to no avail. Minna was getting turned on by watching them struggle but was snapped back to reality by a sudden sharp pain in her right side. She looked down to see Joshua's dagger was sunk in her right up to the cross guard at a slight upward angle. Minna let out several agonized cries as she grabbed the hilt and pulled the blade out of her and had to watch as blood began pouring down the side of her right leg in torrents. Minna looked over at him and was shocked to see he was more than thirty yards away from her when he threw his dagger at her. She glared at Joshua who in turn was glaring at her while he was chasing after her husband.
Minna snarled. "Grrr!...Richter! Be a man and stop running!"
Richter didn't hear her and kept trying to run away from Joshua in a panic. Minna gripped Joshua's dagger tight before throwing it right back at him only to watch him deflect it with his baton without even looking. She watched Richter try to launch another ice ball at him, but Joshua simply launched a bolt of light magic at it to shatter it. Richter let out a startled cry and began whimpering in a panic. Eristia, Yuriy, and Luciana stared in utter disbelief as Joshua had caused Richter to go on the defensive and not the other way around. Eristia let out a slight chuckle as she watched Richter plead for Minna's help. Minna let out an exasperated sigh at her husband's cries for help.
"You three wait here for a few minutes….I have to go help my idiot husband…" She said before walking off to help Richter.
"Ugh!...how can you be having this much trouble?! You were the strongest in the world ten years ago and somehow this…thing…is giving you a hard time?!" She scolded Richter as she approached.
Richter immediately dashed behind her and began cowering on the ground making slight sobbing noises. Even though Minna was angry, she found his vulnerability adorable. She crouched down next to him and began patting him on the back before glaring at Joshua. Minna growled before launching a magic attack of her own at Joshua who retaliated with a bolt of magic aimed at hers and they canceled each other out. Joshua looked at her with a look of pity plastered across his face as Minna glared white hot daggers at him.
"….Look…we don't have to go any further than this. You can still walk away from this with your lives intact. I've already proven your husband is no match for me, so please, don't waste this…." He said to the two of them in a sympathetic voice.
Richter looked up at him unsure if he was telling the truth. Minna, though, wanted him dead. Joshua rammed the tip of his baton into the ground before sheathing it to show he was being truthful. Minna grabbed a small hand sized rock and stood up. She looked him dead in the eyes with vengeance in mind and wasn't about to simply walk away. She threw the rock at him at the speed of light and managed to strike him square in the chest. Joshua stumbled back a bit, causing his hat to fall off, just as Minna charged at him with a powerful flap of her wings and kicked him in the face. She knocked Joshua back a few feet, who then lay on the ground in a daze. Minna chuckled as she approached him and looked down at him with a smug grin on her face.
"You utter fool….you don't get to walk away from this. Not after what you've done." She taunted.
Minna grabbed him by the neck and began strangling him. Joshua gasped and coughed as he did his best to push back, but Minna had a grip of steel on his neck. Richter looked at her in complete confusion, wondering if this truly was his loving wife who he had known for ten years.
"Minna, stop! This isn't you…." Richter called out to her.
Minna looked up at him with seductive but sympathetic eyes. She understood he was scared. She also understood just how much of a threat Joshua was and couldn't let him go after what he did to Richter.
"Don't worry, dear. Once I'm finished with this vagabond we'll go home, have dinner, and try again at a child." She replied soothingly.
Joshua saw his opportunity and grabbed hold of the right side of her face with his left hand. In that moment, he burned her face with a bolt of light magic. Minna released his neck and stumbled back as she let out an agonized cry. Richter looked on in horror at the hand shaped scar on Minna's face. He let out an enraged scream as he charged at Joshua after making a spear from ice. Joshua grabbed hold of Minna and used her as a shield Just as Richter was only a foot away. Both Minna and Richter looked at each other in shock and horror at what Richter had just done. Joshua released Minna who in turn fell to her knees with Richter covering his mouth and tears welling up in his eyes.
"Honey?...what have you…" Minna said as she looked up at Richter before falling onto her left side.
"…Oh god….OH GOD!...honey….I'm so, so sorry…." Richter said as he knelt down next to her and began stroking her hair.
Joshua picked up his hat and placed it back on his head at a slight right-side tilt. He looked at the two of them but only felt fury. As he looked at Richter, he began to feel a tinge of remorse as it reminded him of how he felt the day Reiko died. He approached Richter who looked up at him in anger.
"You….look what you've DONE! She was the only family I had left….and now she's GONE!" He said as tears streamed down his face.
Joshua looked up at the sky for a moment before drawing his pistol.
"Just know this….its nothing personal…" Joshua said calmly.
Richter let out a cry of rage as he tried to launch himself at Joshua, but a sudden pain in his head stopped him in his tracks. He crumpled to the ground in a heap and didn't budge. Joshua touched his neck to check his pulse and did the same with Minna and confirmed both were dead. He then sat on the ground in exhaustion, switched the ammo type in his pistol as well as re-holstered it, and could hear Eristia, Yuriy, and Luciana running towards him. Luciana knelt down and hugged him tightly in her arms.
"Oh, thank goodness! I thought they were going to kill you!" She said a relieved smile on her face.
"None of us have ever been able to match him, but to think that succubus was stronger?" Yuriy added as he looked at both their corpses.
"Are you okay? That succubus slammed you into the ground hard enough make a small crater earlier." Eristia asked him with a concerned look on her face.
"A bit battered, but for the most part still alive. What about you three? That succubus didn't do anything to you she shouldn't have, did she?" Joshua replied as he looked up at her.
The three of them gave a slight smile in response. Not only did Joshua survive, but he also took on both Richter and Minna at the same time and won. Luciana helped Joshua up and he brushed himself off and Yuriy handed him back his dagger. Joshua wiped the blade on Richter's shirt before sheathing it and checking himself over. He then looked at the horses before looking back up at the sky.
"As it stands now, we have two options. Either we head straight back to Lescatie or we stop at the old cabin for the night to rest and recover. I don't have much food left except for one can of single serve beans and some hard candies. What about you three? Got anything left?" Joshua said to the three of them with a serious look in his eyes.
A look of realization spread across their faces. They had only brought enough food to feed themselves for one night and one morning. They each glanced at each other uncertain if they could make the trip back in one go. An idea popped into Yuriy's head as he thought of what to do.
"It might be best to try the cabin. None of us are in any shape to fight if something else happens if we try to make it back to Lescatie in one go. The Horses also need to graze as they didn't eat much when we got to the cabin after fighting those werewolves. There is a river about ten minutes northeast of the cabin where we might be able to catch some fish." He said with a hand rubbing his chin.
The four of them glanced at each other before nodding in agreement.
"Yuriy's right. It's better to rest and recover before trying to do anything should we run into any more trouble on the way back." Eristia said as she nodded her head.
"Believe it or not I have some fishing tackle in my bag as well as a fish scaler. I also make some good, smoked fish." Joshua added.
"Beggars can't be choosers out here. It's better to play it safe. The old cabin gives us a roof over our heads, water to drink, and a place to cook something to eat." Luciana said with a confident smile.
An impressed grin spread across Joshua's face.
"Glad to see you three have your heads on straight! You'd be surprised by how many stories I've heard of veterans like yourselves making fatal mistakes in situations like this. Let's mount up and get this all done and over with." Joshua said as he gave a thumbs up.
The three of them nodded before approaching their horses. They mounted up and rode back towards the cabin for a well-deserved rest. Joshua was glad to be finished with Gali's errand. For him, he got more than he bargained for, but realized how bad humanity had it here. They summoned him here looking for help, and he was gladly going to give them the help they so needed. Joshua thought of everyone back at Sasha's orphanage and wondered how they were doing since he'd been gone. He knew medieval time settings were always rife with diseases and plages popping up when people least expected them. It reminded him of his world's situation with covid-19 and how much he had been preparing for the worst. Deep down he just hoped nothing bad had happened to Sasha, Primera, or the kids. Last thing he wanted was to feel guilty for not being there when they possibly needed him the most. A wave of relief washed over Joshua as the four of them neared the cabin. At least now he could catch dinner and get some rest after being awake for two days straight. He hopped of Yuriy's horse and opened the door. Once inside he sat on a chair next to the fireplace and dug around inside his bag for his pocket survival tin and swisschamp. Eristia and Luciana let out exhausted sighs as Yuriy went and put the horses in the stable.
"About time I got to sit down…" Luciana said with an exhausted voice.
"Check your ankle. If it healed, you can easily take off the bandage I put on it last night." Joshua replied as he dug around in his backpack.
"Can both you and Yuriy handle catching fish for tonight?" Eristia asked him curiously.
"Mm-hm! I got my fishing kit right here." He replied with a smile as he held up his survival tin.
Eristia and Luciana let out a slight laugh. So far Joshua had been the one prepared for this job from the moment he was summoned into their world. It seemed strange at first, but they were thankful they had brought him along. With his help they had managed to gather enough evidence of monsters encroaching on Lescatie and Salvarision. Now he was going to be the reason they'd all get to eat. Yuriy shakily walked in at that moment with some dirt smudged on his left cheek. He sat down against the wall and rubbed his stomach as he let out a pained groan. Eristia, Luciana, and Joshua gave him a worried stare as he rubbed his stomach.
"I'm…just gonna rest here. My horse just got temperamental and kicked me in the gut." He said in a pained voice.
"Oh dear….Joshua, looks like your going to be on your own. Think you can handle it?" Eristia asked him as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Roger, Ms. Viitral! I'll try to find something else to go with the fish as well as something for the horses. They're probably hungry and tired. I'm good at navigating terrain and my survival tin has a compass. I should manage to be back in a few hours so long as I don't run into any trouble." He replied confidently as he gave her a salute.
"Watch out for bandits. The river Yuriy was talking about is near Pilgrim's Road. Bandits like to ambush carriages along that stretch of road and take whatever they please. As far back as a month before you arrived here, bandit activity increased along Pilgrim's Road. Primera Concerto also tends to hunt around that area, but she gets agitated whenever she sees people out there." Eristia warned him.
Joshua gave an understanding nod and confident smile
"Understood! I'll keep my head on a swivel." He replied before stepping out.
Joshua opened his tin and used his compass to find northeast. He then set off to grab food for everyone with a smile on his face and a can-do attitude.
A/N: can you call a boss a boss if the only thing they fear is you?