Yuya wisely waited outside for his lord to claim his dumb rewards. Yuya was just too tempted with the thought of murder to deal with the annoying humans, Raphtalia was with him. She held a similar sentiment, Yuya was almost proud of the demi-human.
Yuya looked over to the Raccoon girl. She was fidgeting with her sword, tail constantly flicking.
"Our lord will be fine… That King isn't dumb enough to cause a scene twice in a row." Yuya reassured as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm just worried what that princess might try…" She confessed. Yuya could see why that would be concerning. The red haired princess had been a malicious force in lord Naofumi's life so far.
"As long as we stay vigilant, any schemes that that royal brat might throw at us won't succeed."Yuya said, closing his eyes.
"Lucky for you I have much experience with low lives like that, I could even bet some of my former Co-workers are worse than that princess. "The puppet knew that to be true. Dottore alone committed so many atrocities. He himself had an impressive collection of wrongdoings to outright evil actions.
Raphtalia frowned at that." Say… Yuya, where did you come from?"Raphtalia asked, she had been ceorius ever since they found him that day. The puppet was a big mystery. When he revealed things about himself even Master Naofumi wasn't sure what he was refering to, despite the similarities in language use.
"I suppose you won't just drop it, it doesn't matter much anymore, as you might have guessed I'm not of this world like Lord Naofumi."Yuya didn't elaborate more as Footsteps indicated their lord was on his way out.
Sure enough Naofumi appeared. He had a bag of gold with him but it was clear his mood was very much soured. Without much word or fanfare the human made a hand motion for the two companions to follow.
They fell in line. Yuya stayed silent, Raphtalia on the other hand really wanted to ask or say something to break the uncomfortable silence they were walking in. "Master… Where are we heading next?" She finally blabbed out.
Naofumi didn't look at her. "We're going to see Beloukas." That was all Naofumi offered. Yuya didn't know who that was. Raphtalia visibly got upset.
"Why are we going back to that sleazy slave trader?" She asked, Yuya had to do a double take on her reaction to that. Was she pouting?! And people called him messed up?
"I just want to check something with his help." Naofumi sighed after seeing her pout.
The walk to the Slaver's place was awkwardly silent after that. Yuya's nose crinkled when they entered the tent. The short man welcomed the Shield Hero with gusto. Yuya growled when the man in glasses eyed him like an exotic prize.
"Now where'd you find a beauty like this? I must say such a fair face would fetch a rather high sum on the market." He said making a move to examine his sleeves. Yuya sparked. The man seemed very amused by the purple haired youth's reaction.
"Inncolent pig!" Yuya sneered. "Touch me and I won't hesitate in beheading you…" He threatened. His tone had gone toxic and his gaze piercing. The power behind his statement seem to ring like thunder.
"That's enough Yuya, Beloukas is a business partner, it reflects poorly on me if you keep running your mouth like that." Naofumi warned. Yuya paused, his lord was scolding him. Yuya bristled at being outright told to shut up.
Swallowing his bruised pride he turned with a huff. "Maybe if these humans showed me some respect I wouldn't have to lose my temper."Yuya back talked to his lord. Naofumi sighed.
"I apologize for his threats even if they are warranted, Yuya isn't one for crass jokes at his expense." Naofumi said, rolling his eyes at the frankly horrible joke.
"I merely jest, is this young man with you by choice? How rare, though I can't seem to pin down what he is, those markings don't look to be made from ink. Care to share?"The man seemed way too interested in Yuya as an oddity to be examined. The puppet shifted away from Beloukas, pulling his turtleneck up more. When did it slip?!
Yuya shot his lord a look."Well? He doesn't appear to be a demi-human and with how he spoke he doesn't concider himself human." The man continued to probe. His gaze made Yuya feel very uncomfortable.
"I was under the impression you didn't trust anyone dear Shield Hero."The man had an infuriating smile, Naofumi's eyes hardened at that. With a flourish of his shield it turned into the Shouki no Kami's String Shield.
"Seeing as he is some type of creature, how about I give you a discount and put a Slave Crest on this pretty thing you found." Beloukas offered as that same sleazy smile painted his face.
Yuya wasn't expecting this sudden shift in demeanor from his young lord. "It's not needed. Nor is it a good idea, he passes too convincingly as a human, Yuya can't go against me either," He flicked the Shield, Yuya froze as he felt his joints locking in place. Yuya decided he didn't like the feeling of his autonomy being robbed one bit now that he wasn't on his godhood high.
"He's a puppet I found and fixed up, this shield makes sure he can't betray me."The hero gave a simple enough explanation. Yuya grunted, his previous bravado melted into silence.
"I see, I see… What an amazing find! Now then do enlighten, how certain are you that you can keep him in line?" The man clasped his hands together. Another annoyingly nosy question. Yuya hated humans like that the most. Well almost as much as overly chatty ones.
Yuya glanced at his lord yet again… He was still frozen in place; a silent command had overwritten his own autonomy. Was this punishment for being too openly aggressive? Yuya wasn't sure.
He simmered down, closing his eyes. That shield was terrifying… It had full access to his systems form the feel of things… Lord Naofumi has never used that before or told him… So why now? A demonstration of power? Punishment? Yuya couldn't decipher the reasoning. He settled on trusting that his lord would rerun his autonomy once they were gone.
Yuya realized his urge to maim was very much still present. Did his lord pick up on that and choose caution over risk? Yuya felt tired… When was the last time he just rested? He couldn't recall.
"My shield, as I said, makes it impossible for him to go against me."He made a gesture. Yuya's eyes snapped open when his arm moved without his consent. Like invisible strings pulled at his limbs. Yuya felt conflicted, the feeling of someone else dictating his movements wasn't too bad. Though this illustrated just how far he had fallen. From reaching near godhood to being reduced back to the naive puppet he once was.
The mustached man was delighted by the display. "How interesting indeed! Though I do wonder, why have you come if you're not here to bind this monster to you?" The words of the dealer made Yuya want to commit violence again. Though he couldn't exactly find fault in being called a monster. Not with the things he had done.
"What I'm here for is Raphtalia, has her Crest been tampered with in any way?" Noafumi asked, drawing attention to the Racoon girl. The slave dealer made a thinking noise examining the slave girl.
"I see, alright, though you know the drill, although I must say she has grown to be quite the beauty as well." The man laughed then made a motion to one of Naofumi's pouches. That annoying nasty smile crossed his face. The man was asking for money for the service. Naofumi dropped some coins down.
"Just do it and I'll pay a little extra." Naofumi said. Raphtalia was instructed to sit down. Moving her shirt down so they could see the Crest. Beloukas got to work.
Yuya was released from the Shield's power, he blinked when he realized he could move on his own again. He turned to look around instead. Naofumi's attention was caught by a grid box with several eggs in them. Yuya examined them with his Elemental Sight.
Each came up either white or tinted with some elemental energy traces on them. Naofumi hummed as he waited, staring intensely at the eggs. They all appeared to have a Crest on them. Different from the one Raphtalia and the caged slaves had.
"What's with the eggs?" His lord asked. The trader was just about done with checking the seal.
"Those? This is a Monster egg Lottery. For 100 silvers you're at least guaranteed to get a Folial egg. If you take care of them properly you can get a monster for twice its value. Would you like to test your luck?" The man asked. That annoying smile never leaves his very punchable face. "and if you're lucky you'll win a dragon! And a beast like that is worth 20 gold pieces!" The man exclaimed very enthusiastically.
"Is it like a gatcha game…?" His lord muttered to himself. Gatcha? Yuya had a vague recollection of what that was, right it had become a recent fad in Inazuma city thanks to that dumb fox.
"Did that catch your fancy?" Beloukas did pause before he said it. The term was alien to the man. Yuya rolled his eyes as Naofumi considered it.
"What even is a Filolial?"The Shield asked. From the context Yuya gathered it was probably some common tameable monster.
"Oh it's those giant birds you see pulling carts and carriages around!" Raphtalia piped up again as she pulled her shirt up. The seal was luckily untampered with.
Naofumi thought it over and then settled on what he wanted to do. He bought an egg. Raphtalia wasn't very pleased with that. Though Yuya could tell she was more upset about how much silver it cost to get rather than buying a pet.
Their next stop was the herbalist store. "You should be more careful with your spending! Why'd you take it anyway?" She asked tail bristling.
"Having a monster would mean more fighters, I can't expect you and Yuya to always do the fighting." Naofumi said, shaking his head slightly.
"I can fight just fine! Right Yuya?" She was very insistent on dragging the puppet into this. Yuya shot her a look.
"Having Extra fighting power won't hurt us, I see no issue or error in lord Naofumi's decision or reasoning." Yuya shrugged. Raphtalia huffed at that.
"You always take Master's side." She childishly stuck her tongue out at Yuya. Naofumi rolled his eyes listening to them bicker. He held back a small chuckle, finding their small argument to be rather pointless.
"I don't always! It just happens to make sense!" Yuya's response was equally childish. "Why should we waste our time with small fry when someone else can do it for us anyway?" The puppet huffed, crossing his arms.
"Settle down you two, we still have business in town, and if the monster isn't worth keeping I'll just sell it back." Naofumi reassured Raphtalia. The girl huffed as well. Naofumi found it oddly wholesome at how his two Companions seem to copy each other's mannerisms.
They reached the store. The owner greeted them a lot more openly. Yuya opted to look around rather than listen to what the humans had to say. It didn't concern him yet.
Turns out their lord couldn't read the language of this world. Yuya glanced over to the grimoire being offered as a reward. He couldn't make heads or tails from what was written in it either. Naofumi frowned as he let the medicine man know he couldn't read the book.
The man then directed the trio to a magic shop, apparently they saved the witch's grandson during the wave. The mention of magic got the puppet's attention. They headed over right away.
"Wonder if this witch has any catalysts for sale…"Yuya muttered on the way.
"Right, you already use magic so we'll find something for you there for sure." Naofumi said as he absentmindedly pat Yuya on the head. The puppet fought down a blush at the doting touch.
The witch was a very friendly old lady that offered to test their magic affinities. Seeing no reason to turn down this offer, Naofumi allowed it.
"Oh my you have the rare affinity for healing and support magic and you have affinity to earth magic, sir hero." She informed them. That seemed to fit the role that that archon damned shield was trying to force onto Lord Naofumi. Raphtalia was up next.
"And you my dear have a strong affinity to light and dark magic, make sure you learn illusion magic." The witch continued. Raphtalia lit up at that. "You are a racoon demi-human so this affinity comes natural with your kind after all." She was a lot nicer than most of the humans in this castle town.
"You're up next, my what a pretty face you have."Yuya shrugged at that. He was very aware of how attention grabbing his face was. Honestly it was getting annoying again but he'd endure it, the elderly deserve some respect.
"Let's see…. Oh My you're very suited for combat oriented magic, your affinity is lighting and wind magic, though it does seem you have minor affinity for water, fire and ice magic as well, very well rounded, you should take time learning a bit of each." The old lady said. Lighting was expected but wind and the other elements?
"Oh wow that's so cool Yuya!" Raphtalia said, turning to him. "You can learn so many spells!" Her tail wagged behind her to emphasize her excitement. Yuya coughed but gave a condensing laugh.
"Alalala, I am a divine vessel after all it's only natural the elements bend to my whims." He hid his face with a turn, eyeing the books around them. Looking for a suitable weapon replacement. "Hey old hag do you have any catalysts?" Yuya asked, shifting a bit into his ruder demeanor.
The witch hummed, not bothered by his words." Oh? Do you already practice magic young lad?" She asked. Yuya nodded.
"I'm technically this party's mage, though using a book or an orb would give me more freedom in movement than this staff I'm currently using is allowing me. Right now it's just a glorified spear." Yuya said. She tapped the book she had on the desk.
"Well I have this magic grimoire right here." She said, Naofumi looked at it with a thoughtful look.
"I don't think we can afford it yet…" The hero said. "If you have any cheaper options that would be great." Naofumi concluded.
"Nonsense I was going to offer this book as a thankyou for saving my grandchild, I would have liked to give you a crystal ball instead… But I assume all the heros were given some by the king, you can instantly learn a spell contained within one." She explained. Naofumi scowled at that.
"Of course they did… Everyone got some but me." The bitter tone sunk in for a moment before he shook his head.
"Oh dear, though with a Grimoire it takes longer but you can learn a lot of magic from this book if you put in the hard work." The witch insisted with a smile. "I am very certain you'd be able to figure it out, dears."
"So we'll take the Grimoire then. Thank you very much." Naofumi said, accepting the book. He blinked at his own words for a moment.
"Does this mean we're sharing it…?" Yuya asked. He didn't like that idea.
"Just for now, you can use it as you please in combat, so do keep your staff on you just encase." Naofumi said with a small eye roll at Yuya's question. The puppet sighed but didn't push it further. With that done, the preparations for now came to an end.
They ended up in the forest to take a look at the grimoire, Naofumi voiced his frustration in not being able to understand the language again. Raphtalia offered to help him learn. Yuya coughed again.
"I can't read it either…" He admitted, eyes shifting to the ground. Raphtalia laughed then boldly declared.
"Then let's all work together to learn how to use magic and read, I'll be more than happy to teach you guys the basics!" the raccoon girl said.
Naofumi layed out what they'd do next. "We'll go to Lute Village for the night then do some grinding after."
The life of a hero had an annoying amount of traveling around, Yuya found the trips from one location to the other very tedious. Maybe whatever will hatch from that egg would be a beast of burden. Having something to ride on would make traveling way more bearable. While he enjoyed traveling, it lost its charm if they only traveled to the same places over and over again.
Yuya found himself flipping through the pages as they walked. Testing the book. He made it float, swinging around his arms the book followed his commands. He took a pot shot at a small monster that tried to ambush them on the road. The electro responded correctly. Yuya smiled to himself, very satisfied with the results. The remains of the monster were charred.
"Having fun over there?" Naofumi's voice broke Yuya out of his small sadistic kick. Feeling the heat rise in his cheeks again at being caught playing around with the new book.
"I was just testing it!" Yuya huffed dismissing the book. It reappeared behind his back and floated there for a moment before dissolving into golden particles.
The inn was pretty busy all things considered, they ordered some food and a room. Yuya poked the small meal he got as the other two looked through the grimoire. Raphtalia was pointing out some things on how to read. So Yuya did listen in.
They went to bed shortly after. Well Yuya just found a corner in the room and sat down there to meditate instead of sleeping. Raphtalia fell asleep pretty quickly however.
Yuya opened his eyes to a cracking sound. His young lord was standing over the egg incubator. Yuya realized the egg was hatching as Naofumi beconned both of his companions to come take a look. Sure enough the egg hatched.
A rather large pink puffball of a bird was born with pretty blue eyes. It cheeped happily upon making eye contact with their lord clumsily jumping at his hair. Making it a nest. Yuya openly laughed at this. Especially with the look his lord had on his face. Priceless.
Raphtalia found it adorable. "Aw! It thinks you're its mother!" She cooed. The bird seems to agree with another happy noise. Nuzzling into its own feathers it got comfy on Naofumi's head.
"I'm not it's mother…!" The hero denied. Yuya laughed lightly at that.
"You've collected two brats so far." The puppet teased. He shot Yuya a look. "I'm older than all you put together." The puppet shrugged feeling slightly smug. The little bird made a noise as if to remind them it was there.
"So how old are you exactly again?" Raphtalia asked. The puppet hummed in thought. He wasn't quite sure of the exact number.
Naofumi and the bird both stared at him expectantly. "The fact you're stalling must mean something."
"I can't pin down the exact number so a rough estimate would be… Under 500 years give or take… could be more if I count the time spent in another realm.."That was not counting the hours he spent down in the Abyss.
"You've been to other worlds before?" Naofumi asked. Yuya shook his head.
"It's more of a hell hole where all the monsters of my world reside. Time flows differently there."Yuya offered his tone got a bit more somber. He didn't continue as the pink bird cried out for food.
The course of the following two days were filled with grinding, feeding the bird and learning how to read and use magic. Yuya was surprised with how fast the pink bird grew. She grew to like Yuya a lot. When she wasn't riding on Naofumi's shoulders the bird was trying to sit on Yuya's. Much to his embarrassment.
During magic practice a near accident occurred as Yuya was testing out the so-called wind affinity he had.
"Get off! I'm not a perch!" Yuya complained as he suddenly got pushed forward by an increasingly growing Filolial, interrupting his mid casting attempt. Raphtalia laughed at Yuya's expense, he growled very openly at that but gave up when the bird refused to let go. The stray air current nearly hit their lord. He didn't look all impressed.
Eventually the bird became the size of a fully grown Filolial, she was also really fast and eager to run around carrying things and people, she nearly ran off with Naofumi when he tried to ride her back.
The speed she reached made it difficult for the human to hold on. The puppet found it very amusing while Raphtalia worryingly followed after.
The bird had to be kept in a stable as she was now way too big to fit in the buildings. "Filo sure grew up fast." Naofumi said as he fed her some food.
Raphtalia raised an eyebrow at the name. "Filo..? As in Filolial? Isn't that a bit too obvious?" She asked. Naofumi shrugged.
"Yeah but she seems to like it. And I think I'm pretty good at naming things. Yuya doesn't seem to mind his name either." Naofumi felt the need to defend his name choice. Said puppet rolled his eyes.
"Thank the Archons you didn't saddle me with something that literal."Yuya couldn't resist poking fun at his lord. Filo turned her head with a cute 'gwheh?' noise at this. She got excited again, trilling as she pressed her face towards Yuya. He blinked at the sudden closeness. She was demanding pets…
The puppet sighed and relented. Though it looked like he swallowed something sour doing so in view of the others and the people around the stable.
The rather joyful mood was ruined by the sound of marching troops and an obnoxious horn signaling the arrival of the princess and her hero. Naofumi's good mood took a visible nosedive as they went to check out what the commotion was about.
The princess claimed that the village of Lute now belonged to Motoyasu as part of his reward for clearing the wave. Crowning him the new lord of the area. The villagers weren't too happy about it. Rightfully so.
Yuya easily saw this as some exploitation attempt. These people wouldn't just have 50 silvers lying around. If this new taxation was approved, this small village would die out rather pathetically and fast. His lord realized this so he spoke up. It irked how smugly the Spear sat on top of his dragon mount.
"Motoyasu you can't be serious, you'll only bleed them dry, do you even know how much it costs to stay at the inn here? 1 silver food included." hearing the Shield stand up for them, the villagers agreed to Naofumi's words, protesting the absolute absurdity of the taxation price.
Malty grew furious at the lack of blind acceptance. She ordered her guards to attack right before she was stopped. Some robed and masked people dropped from the trees… Yuya had to calm himself. Those masks looked eerily similar to what Fatui Pyro agents wore. He had to tell himself that was impossible. It was just a coincidence… Filo 'gwehed' softly pressing her head against Yuya.
She somehow picked up his slight panic. Yuya felt foolish, these people had to have been there the entire time and he didn't notice! He was losing his touch. Yuya was getting too comfortable, he mentally berated himself for being so situationally unaware. So he took the time to signal out these masked strangers. Getting a good read on them before they enevidably disappeared again.
He should even leave an elemental tracer on them if he had the chance. Yuya despised the idea that they were being watched the entire time, being observed like lab rats in a deadly maze. He was snapped out of his more brooding thoughts when that bitch of a princess challenged his lord to a dragon race of all things.
How childish. "I refuse, this has nothing to do with me." Naofumi said, gripping Filo's reins tighter. He had no desire being pulled into the royal scum's schemes any further. The village chief begged Naofumi to reconsider.
Pointing out they didn't have the authority to fight against the Knights. Yuya's lord being the ever bleeding heart despite it being so tightly guarded eventually agreed to the race. Playing it off as him wanting to shut the Spear Hero up and with how Filo was growling at the dragon. It seemed like their newest addition wanted to do this more than anyone else.