A few minutes earlier
Eorna entered the prince's quarters. She didn't have to turn around to hear the doors shut. What she hadn't been expecting, however, was that the prince had already sat down. Eorna immediately lowered her head.
"You can raise your head, Dagger hero. I have important matters I need to discuss with you." The prince spoke simply.
"Important matters?" Eorna asked.
"Yes, important manners. I take it you have heard of my… father's death?" He asked after a small pause.
"I have, and I'm sor-"
"Save it. I care not for your words." The prince spoke, cutting her off. "I want to know who told you this information."
"I… Amarita did."
"I see… Then I have something else to ask of you." The prince spoke. He stared directly at Eorna.
"If it is within my ability to do so, I will help you," Eorna spoke calmly.
Something felt wrong. She was getting shivers down her spine. Something inside her was telling her to run, but why would she need to? She was safe here.
"I believe it will be within your power." The prince spoke calmly, standing up. "I want you to give your dagger to me."
Eorna was shocked by that statement. He wanted her dagger? She couldn't even let go of it, let alone hand it off to anyone!
"You… you want me to give you my dagger?" Eorna spoke, asking him to clarify that was what he meant.
"Yes. I want you to hand over the lesser dagger." The Prince stated calmly as if it was normal for a hero to simply part with their weapons.
"You know I can't do that. Everyone knows that heroes cannot be separated from their weapons. Even if you were to chop off the hand I held it with, it would simply reappear in my other hand."
"I am well aware, Dagger hero." The prince spoke. "But I… have received visions. The dagger has been reaching out to me. It has told me some… concerning information. It has also told me how to rescue it from you." He spoke, slowly beginning to walk around the table.
Eorna would begin walking as well, just to maintain her distance from him.
"Oh? And what is this concerning information? As far as I'm aware, I've done nothing wrong." Eorna stated, still staring at the prince. The dagger had only ever reacted to her once, and that was with happiness when she had been chosen. She doubted it would send any sort of information to anyone else, regardless of how important they may be.
"Your weapon says otherwise. It claims that you were the one to organize our king…my father's death. That you were the one who hired assassins to go after him. How do you plead to this?"
Eornas eyes widened at that accusation, speaking slowly. "How would I? I have been here for a mere two weeks. You would know this, considering you were there when the king greeted me."
"I'm well aware of when you arrived!" He snapped, facing her fully. "I know there were moments you snuck off on your own! My guards have reported it to me!"
"Yes, I'll admit I have been off on my own." She conceded. "However, that was to grow stronger on my own."
"And how can I be sure that you did not meet with anyone out there?" The prince shot back.
"You can't be," Eorna admitted. "But I'm telling the truth when I say that I had nothing to do with your father's death. Surely if you have people watching me, they would tell you if I had or not, correct?"
The prince ignored the question she asked. "It matters not. I will choose to believe in the visions I have received from the Lesser Dagger. I'm sure the people would not be all too happy to learn that a Lesser weapon has been enslaved, and by the one who has killed my father, would they?" He spoke tauntingly.
"Well, I'd like to see you try to take my dagger from me." She spoke defiantly.
"You won't have to wait long." With that, the prince sprinted at Eorna, who simply dodged out of the way.
"You're crazy! The waves are beginning, and here you are trying to take my weapon!"
"I don't care about the waves! As long as I can take your damned weapon, I'll be able to stop them!" He shouted.
"I take it back, you aren't crazy, you are insane! What the hell makes you think you can stop the waves on your own!"
"Because I'm one of the chosen ones! Nothing can stop me!"
He dashed at Eorna again, and she moved to the side, letting him smash into the table. Before she started to move toward the door.
She kicked open the door before running out. She only had one person she could trust for the moment.
The present
"Eorna?" Kurose spoke questioningly. "Is… is that true?" He asked cautiously.
"No! It's not! You think someone like me is even capable of finding someone to assassinate the king?" She cried out.
Now that he thought about it, it had taken her quite a while to remember to teach him to use his weapon properly. She certainly wasn't the smartest, but she was too outgoing and open to do anything like that. At least in Kurose's opinion.
"Yeah, you're right. You could barely remember to tell me about strengthening methods and the like."
"Thank god you- hey! I wasn't that bad!" Her happiness was cut short by her mock hurt.
"Yes, yes. It's nice to see you two are friends. Unfortunately, the Dagger hero is not long for this world." The prince spoke, having absolutely none of what was going on.
Half the guards seemed shocked by that. The thought of killing a hero hadn't seemed to cross their minds, but now that it was there, it seemed they were having doubts about it.
Kurose quickly placed himself in front of Eorna, blocking her from his sight. The prince let out a heavy sigh as he saw Kurose move.
"Accessory hero. What… are you doing?" He asked.
"I can't let my friend be killed whilst I stand by and do nothing, can I?"
"You understand that you are protecting a criminal, yes?" The prince spoke again.
"Is there evidence that she did kill your father?"
"I…Well…" The prince seemed stunned by that before clearing his throat. "Well, I have received visions from the lesser Dagger! Surely a weapon wouldn't reach out for no reason!"
"You… are basing this on visions you received?" Kurose asked, astounded by what he was hearing. "Do you even have any physical way to showcase these visions? Do you know how ridiculous this sounds to me!?"
"Well…" The prince at least looked slightly shocked before speaking once more. "I don't need anyway to show these visions to others! I know they are real!"
"Then what's the whole point of it counting as evidence, if you can't even show anyone else?" Kurose shouted back
"I don't have to take this from you!" The prince shouted, glaring at Kurose. "I'll give you one last chance! I am willing to overlook this transgression if you step to the side at once! I will be dealing with the Dagger hero, and taking her weapon as payment for what she has done to my father!"
"I refuse," Kurose spoke plainly. "I won't leave my friend."
"Then so be it." The prince spoke. "Guards! Kill the Dagger hero and restrain the Accessory hero." He gave the order coldly, and Kurose started looking between all the guards.
"I…" The guard he had been speaking to just moments ago began to speak up. "I refuse! We can't imprison the Heroes! We need them to live if we want the waves to stop!"
Several more guards spoke up as well, all saying variations of the same thing. Each of them moved between the two heroes and the prince, forming a small wall between the groups.
"Damned traitors! Guards who remain loyal! Deal with these traitors! I'll deal with these so-called heroes myself!"
"Heroes! Please escape whilst we hold the guards for as long as we can!"
Kurose quickly turned, grabbed hold of Eorna's arm, and ran, the sound of metal clashing on metal sounding behind him.
Kurose stopped running, letting go of Eorna as he put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
He didn't know where they had run to, considering just how big the castle was, but the sound of metal clashing against metal had faded away.
Kurose could only hope that they had gone far enough away for the sounds to fade and that it wasn't the other option…
Shaking his head, he turned to face Eorna.
"Hey, you okay?" Kurose asked, putting a hand on her back.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's just… I didn't expect him to try to kill me, let alone try to imprison you! He knows how important heroes are! Or at least he should!" Eorna shouted.
Kurose had to put a finger to his mouth, shushing her as he did. "We don't want them to know where we are!"
"Sorry!"
"Oh? You mean like I do now?" a voice spoke up.
Kurose turned around, looking in shock as the Prince seemed to just appear from around the corner.
"How did he get here so fast!?" Eorna shouted in surprise.
Kurose bit his tongue. If Eorna knew about one secret passage from just her week of being here, who was to say the Prince didn't know about most, if not all of the secret passages in this castle?
"Oh? You're telling me you didn't know about this castle's secret passages? Not that I wouldn't blame you of course." He seemed smug at that, even as he slowly moved closer to the pair.
Eorna stood up, holding her dagger out, whilst Kurose simply raised his fists.
It was two versus one! Surely they had a good chance of winning! But… if he was acting this confidently, then that had to mean he had a trick up his sleeve.
"Eorna, hold on!" Kurose spoke. He moved in front of her quickly, opening his palm, and showing the Charme enclosed in it to the prince. "You know what this is don't you?"
The prince paused for a moment as if he hadn't expected anything from the duo. "It's… a Charme?" The prince spoke slowly, still confused, until a look of dawning appeared on his face.
"Don't fool me! I know you can't push your mana through it! Your threats are useless, just like your weapon!"
Kurose physically recoiled from that. Did he have to degrade his weapon like that?
"Alright, first off, it is not useless! Can you say that you were selected by a legendary weapon? And what if I just haven't found the right skills for it?"
Eorna stared wide-eyed at him as if she couldn't believe what was going on before her, and Kurose realized what he was doing.
"Never mind that! It doesn't matter if I can't push my mana into the Charme when it's already loaded with mana! You know what happens when this thing goes snap!" Kurose spoke threateningly, waving the Charme for emphasis.
The prince stopped moving, glaring at him. "You wouldn't dare! You're supposed to be a hero!" He shouted. "What sort of hero destroys everything around them!"
"And? I'm fairly certain Prince aren't supposed to try and steal weapons from heroes, yet here we are!"
The Prince tried a different angle once he realized that it wasn't working out. "If you set that off, you'll kill not only me but yourself and the Dagger hero. Are you truly willing to do that?"
Kurose frowned but nodded his head. "As much as it would pain me to lose my second chance at life and kill my friend… It would certainly help me relieve my stress. Especially considering the feeling I'm getting from you."
The prince growled at him, taking another step forward. Kurose simply applied some more pressure to the Charme. He didn't intend to snap it in the slightest. He quite liked living, thank you very much. He just had to hope the prince bought it and let them negotiate their way out of the situation.
The prince seemed to be speaking to himself as if debating whether or not to charge at the pair. It was a fair strategy, Kurose would give him that. Unfortunately, as the Prince took another step, and Kurose stepped back, he applied just a little more pressure to the Charme, and…
Snap
The sound filled the hallway, and the top half of the Charme clattered onto the floor between the two. The prince's eyes seemed to widen as he quickly turned around, desperately trying to run away from the area before the Charme actually went off.
Kurose however, was dealing with a different issue.
"Damn, that hurts! What the hell is that about!" Kurose shouted, an electrical shock jolting his arm suddenly.
Warning! Holy heroes cannot use weapons other than the Legendary weapon!
Kurose swore at that. Was that just because he intended to use the explosion from the Charme? Or did that mean all Charmes were off-limit? He quickly absorbed the half of the Charme still in his hand, ignoring the weapon form he got in favor of turning to Eorna.
"Got any plans?" He asked quickly, whilst the Prince was still running. It probably wouldn't take him long to realize nothing had happened.
Yet, even as Kurose thought that he saw the snapped piece of the Charme begin to glow on the floor, his eyes widened. Eorna, seeing the same thing he was, spoke quickly.
"I have one, but it's risky. Do you trust me?"
"I do," Kurose replied with no hesitation. If he had gone this far, then he would go all the way with her, if it meant they made it out of this alive. Plus, with the Charme likely to explode soon, they needed to go.
"Then switch to your scarf when I shout, okay?"
"Ok- wait, wh-" Kurose felt Eorna's grip on his arm, and a thought went through his mind.
Just how often am I going to get grabbed by others?
That thought would soon vanish as he noticed where Eorna was dragging him towards.
"Are you insane? We will die if we jump out of there!" Kurose shouted, desperately struggling in her grip.
"Not if you use that scarf you got! I believe in you!" Eorna called back.
"That's great and all, but I don't believe in myself!" Kurose shouted back
Regardless, that didn't stop Eorna, who finally managed to yank him hard enough, jumping as she did.
The window shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, but surprisingly enough to Kurose, barely any actually struck him. He let out a scream as they began to fall, with Kurose noticing the roof below them.
"Aaaahhhhhhhh!" Kurose screamed.
Yet, even as he screamed, it was drowned out by both the air carrying his voice away and the sound of the explosion above them. Small chunks of brick and stone rained down from above them, and Kurose prayed that none of them hit the falling pair.
Eorna stayed focused, still holding onto Kurose tightly. Even as the roof came closer and closer, Eorna still didn't say anything.
And then…
"Now!" She shouted, her voice being almost immediately carried away by the wind. Kurose had just barely heard it, and he mentally begged his weapon to switch to the Aransilk scarf.
Mercifully, it did, and he immediately felt the glide effect take place, suspending them in the air for a few, peaceful moments before the effect wore off, both of them slamming into the roof.
"Ughhh… I just can't catch a break from falling." Kurose managed to groan out.
"How do you think I feel?" Eorna spoke back. I just had you land on top of me…"
"Oh, I should have realized that!" Kurose jumped back up, before moving to help Eorna stand up.
"Thanks," Eorna spoke, grabbing Kurose's hand. With no small amount of effort, Kurose pulled her up, blinking as he did. Staring at her now, it was no wonder why he had very minimal injuries from jumping through the window. She had taken the brunt of it!
"No problem. But uh… are you alright? You've got quite a few cuts on your body and all that. We should probably get you treated."
"No, we don't have time for that," Eorna spoke. "For all we know, the prince is sending guards to shut down the city as we speak, and any time we waste is time not spent leaving here."
"Alright, you make a good point, but still!" He felt Eorna grab hold of his arm, even as the pair began running across the rooftop they found themselves on.
"We still need to get you something at least! You don't want an infection or anything!" He hissed.
"It's fine! I'll figure it out, alright? It's only bleeding lightly! Now, can you use that scarf again?"
"Yeah, it's off cooldown, so it should be fine to work."
"Good, we are hopping down into the alley down there." She pointed it out before continuing. "So just let it activate about halfway down, okay?"
"Got it." Kurose took a breath, looking down. Even as he blinked, preparing himself, he felt Eorna grab onto him tightly, before jumping down, with him in her grip.
Activate! Activate, please! Kurose mentally screamed.
As if answering his prayers, the scarf tugged at his neck once again, stopping their fall for a few seconds.
They both quickly got up, with Eorna rushing off to the end of the alley, even as Kurose dusted himself off. Just because he was now apparently a fugitive didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself!
Eorna quickly waved at him, directing him to move closer and he did, once he had finished cleaning himself.
"What's up?" He whispered.
"Everyone's still acting normal. You'd think the prince would try and get everyone to go inside, right? Especially after that explosion." Eorna explained.
"Well, yeah, but we did just escape. It's probably going to take some time for them to actually sort it all out. Plus... I have a feeling my teacher probably causes a lot of explosions, so they are used to it, though that on its own is concerning..." Kurose said, muttering the last part to himself.
"Oh… yeah, you are right. But they probably have some way to communicate with the guards stationed at the entrances right?"
"Probably. I mean, with how versatile these Charmes seem to be, we can't discount it. And if that's the case, we are probably going to need some help to escape here properly."
"Yeah, that's an issue…" Eorna spoke slowly. "I really don't know people here, considering I have been here for like, a week and a half? There's Amarita, who is unreachable right now, and some of the guards, but I can't exactly trust them now."
"That is an issue… Anyone else that might be able to help?"
"No. we can't even use your status as the Accessory hero, because there's a chance the prince might just say I'm threatening you or something. Plus, if he says that I killed the king,.."
Kurose winced. He didn't have to imagine what would happen. "They probably wouldn't care if you were the Dagger hero, huh? He really was a loved king, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, everyone knew he was a great guy. But… if the public learns, they will want my head on a spike. It won't be easy, in the slightest." Eorna spoke with a sigh.
Kurose thought for a moment, looking out of the alley as he did. "Yeah, that seems like it would be…" he trailed off mid-sentence. He would recognize that sky-blue cloak anywhere, as well as that long beard, considering he had met only one person who wore that attire.
"Would be what?" Eorna spoke.
"I think I've found another way if he agrees at least," Kurose spoke.
"If who agrees? As far as I'm aware, you've met barely anyone else in this world apart from me, Amarita…" Her face fell as she realized who he was talking about.
"Your Charme teacher? You met him once! Are you sure he will even help us? This is a massive gamble!" Eorna almost shouted.
"I know it's a gamble!" Kurose replied. "It's the only other option we have available to us right now! It's this, or just try and run through the giant city and pray that no one catches us!"
Eorna stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Fine! We'll do it, but if you get the feeling of anything suspicious happening, you run away. Immediately. Got it?"
"Yes. I'll make sure to leave if anything seems wrong." Kurose spoke with determination.
Kurose walked through the crowd of people before him. Either slightly pushing people to give himself enough space to move or politely asking people to get past.
At times, he felt the gaze of people on him, but it only lasted for a few seconds. It seemed like no one recognized him from when he had been dragged out by Eorna, which made things easier for him.
He continued to slowly make his way over to the marketplace, where he had seen his teacher previously. Hopefully, he was still there, or around the area. He was quite distinctive with what he wore, so it wouldn't be too much of an issue to actually find him. Hopefully, being the keyword.
Eventually, after moving through the large crowd of people, he finally entered the relatively more quiet market area. It was much less crowded, so much so that he could hear a conversation going on.
"No means no! You have to pay full price for them! I won't be making any sort of profit if I keep giving you discounts!" The voice shouted.
Kurose quickly located it, finding his teacher talking to the person behind the stand.
"Come on! Surely you must understand that I have to make progress!" He spoke. "I can't keep doing that if you charge me this much every time I come to get something!"
"It's such a shame you can't make progress. At least you're still making money! If I keep selling at a discount, I'm not going to have enough to actually live off! And don't think I've forgotten about what you still owe me!" They shouted back.
"I… surely you must be mistaken, yes?" He spoke quickly. "I don't owe you anything!"
"Don't try pulling that on me again! All those gouges I let you borrow for your Charmes! Every time I've asked about why you need so many, you just mumbled something out then said something else!"
"I… I told you I'll get them back to you! When I make a Charme to repair broken things…" he spoke weakly, holding his hands up.
"A Charme to repair broken things!? Are you telling me…" even as the person behind the stand went on to start shouting again, Kurose decided now was the time to get into the conversation.
"Teacher! I thought I saw you before!" He spoke with a smile.
He watched as his teacher's face changed. From shock and surprise to happiness. "Ah! It's my student! So sorry, I'll have to speak to you at a later date!" He spoke to the person behind the stand, obviously eager to get away.
"What? No! You aren't getting away that easil-"
His teacher simply held Kurose's shoulder, guiding him to another part of the market.
"What are you doing out here? I thought you weren't allowed here by yourself!" His teacher spoke. "Does Amarita know? She'll have my head if I return you to the castle! She'll blame me!"
"Well, it's… special circumstances. We really need help." Kurose spoke quietly, looking up at him.
"We? Who else is with you?"
"The Dagger hero."
"The Dagger hero? Well, I see no one else around, so where is she?"
"Will you hear me out first?" Kurose spoke quickly.
"Fine fine, just… give me a second." He reached into his robes, pulling out a handful of Charmes. All of them looked the same, with the only exception being the magic script that was written on each one, varying in length.
"Ah, here it is! Always a useful one." As he spoke, he held the Charme in front of him, and Kurose saw it glowing again for a moment. He felt… something wash over him as his teacher spoke once more.
"Just a silencing Charme student. Nothing bad. It'll stop people from hearing in on our conversation. I like to keep things private after all." He spoke with a grin.
Kurose let out a small sigh. "That makes it easier. Me and the Dagger hero need to leave the city."
"Oh? Trying to get into some trouble already? I can tell I'm going to like you more and more!" He spoke, his grin still on his face.
"Trouble? We have enough trouble as it is! The prince wants to kill the Dagger hero!"
"Eh? Brovasks son wants to kill a hero? What did she even do to him? Did she reject him or something?" He asked playfully.
"Apparently, killed his father." He replied bluntly.
"Pfft, she may be a hero, but she wasn't on the level of old Brovask. He could probably take on a wave boss and win without an issue."
"Was he really that strong?"
"Aye, he was that strong. One of the strongest people I knew. Like I said I doubt she'd kill him, but still. I want to meet her, to figure it out myself."
"So you'll help us out?" Kurose asked hopefully.
"Depends if she did it or not. But provided she hasn't? I'll help you leave the city."
"Great! Just follow me!"
Kurose quickly guided him back to the alleyway that he and Eorna had dropped into and was greeted by Eorna, who was rightfully shocked.
"Kurose!?" She shouted, looking between him and his teacher quickly. "What the hell did you bring him here for? I didn't say anything about bringing him here!"
"But he said he would help us!"
"Only if I can tell she isn't lying." His teacher spoke, staring down at the Dagger hero. She seemed to shrink even more under his gaze, which Kurose was already impressed by considering that she was already small, even as his teacher continued to speak.
"Now tell me young one. Did you kill him? I will not tolerate any lies, even if you are a hero. You are quite replaceable, unlike the Accessory hero here."
Kurose simply stared at the pair. The feeling he had gotten from his teacher had changed, as if he was prepared to attack at a moment's notice, whilst Eorna was visibly tense, her hand tightening around her dagger as she stared back up at him defiantly.
"I have said it before, and I will keep saying it until the world believes me. I did not kill his majesty. There was no reason for me to want him dead. He offered me a place to stay whilst I grew stronger. Killing him would grant me nothing." She spoke, still staring into his eyes.
His teacher stared down at her for a moment longer before the pressure dissipated, and he let out a laugh. "Such conviction! It's rare to see that from the young today. Then again, I suppose that's to be expected if you are a hero, is it not?"
"Does that mean you believe us?" Kurose asked slowly.
"Yes, yes. I believe that you are an innocent Dagger hero. Now, let us make haste! I will fulfill my end of the promise, student. I will help you leave this town, but nothing more than that. I can't risk losing my business opportunities here! To my house, we go!"
Kurose and Eorna were both ushered into his teacher's home, with the man quickly shutting the door behind them.
"Now, tell me what has happened since you sought me out. I'll admit, I am curious."
Both told their sides of the story, with Kurose explaining how he simply spoke to the guard who stood up for them, and how he learned about the weapon copying system, which elicited a shocked response from Eorna.
"What? We can copy weapons?" She asked in shock.
"Yeah, I found it out when the guard handed his scarf over to me. Look." He quickly changed weapon forms, showing her the Peron Skin scarf.
"Huh, that is neat. I know for a fact we haven't fought any Perons yet. This just means another way we can get stronger easily!" Eorna cheered.
After that, it was Eornas turn to explain what happened on her end, how the prince seemed to lose himself and keep charging at her, demanding her dagger as compensation. Of how he claimed to see visions from the dagger, and everything else that had happened, leading up to meeting with him.
"I see…" His teacher spoke. "I'll admit, this is quite concerning. With the fact that the prince claims to have found a way to take a Lesser weapon… Even if it is from a vision, I certainly can't dismiss this information." His teacher seemed to wander around for a moment, thinking about something before sighing.
"I'll think some more about it later. Now, you said that you snapped the Charme, yes?"
"That's right. Not on purpose though!" Kurose spoke quickly. He truly had not intended on snapping it! He was prepared for his teacher to begin shouting. He had spoken about how expensive they were, and how difficult they were to acquire.
"Quite an interesting decision, I'll admit. It certainly could have ended badly. Sit down Dagger hero, I'll sort you out in a moment."
Eorna moved to sit down on the chair, even as his teacher began sorting through his Charmes.
"I really need to start organizing these better… Anyways, I'm assuming that was what the explosion was about earlier? I thought I had left a charme in the castle, and someone just happened to step on it." He spoke nonchalantly.
"Nothing. I just got zapped, and told that I can't use other weapons."
"You can't use other weapons? I guess that makes sense, past accessory heroes didn't use swords or anything according to history books. But still, it all said something about them using Charmes.…" He shrugged as he passed over a Charme to Kurose again. He held another Charme against Eorna, who let out a sigh of relief, even as the small cuts on her skin began to heal up, fresh skin seeming to form over the cuts.
"Snap it, won't you?" His teacher asked calmly.
"Snap it? But won't it blow up your home?" Kurose repeated, shocked that he would even say that.
"Eh, she has taken a few explosions. Teaching new people does that after all. I remember someone from a few months ago actually. Well, a pair from a few months ago. A woman destroyed my house with a giant train after all. Be hard not to forget her after all. The pair said they were from someplace called Ken'bitch, wherever that is. Not on any map I know at least. Anyways, the guy was pretty good at Charmes. You would think he had been practicing for several years, but nope. Apparently, the pair were just traveling, learning all sorts of magic."
"What? All sorts of magic?" Kurose asked. He was curious after all. "I thought Charmes were the only magic in this world, right?" That's what he had said during their first meeting after all.
"In this world, yes. Apparently, the pair were traveling from world to world. The woman had a vassal train, whatever that means. Though, it did seem similar to the Lesser Dagger and Jewelry Tools. Maybe their world has a unique name for it." He shrugged at that continuing on. "Apparently there are plenty of types of magic, along with several other worlds which contain heroes. Overheard them speaking about something called movement magic from the flower hero world."
"Flower hero? How is a flower a weapon?"
"Not sure, but it's certainly going to have a lot of variety, much like you're accessory."
Now that Kurose thought about it, there were plenty of plants, and that was just in his original world. In a fantasy world? That number was probably multiplied by a ridiculous amount.
"Right, are you going to snap that Charme or not?" His teacher asked, cutting the conversation off there.
Kurose let out a sigh, holding the Charme in his hand. He applied some pressure, intending on snapping it, yet before he could even think about it, he felt the same familiar shock, with no warning to accompany it. The Charme he was handed dropped to the floor, even as Kurose waved his hand in pain.
"It just shocked me again!"
"Hmm, that is curious. What were you thinking this time?"
"Well, I was thinking about snapping it like you told me to, and it zapped me as soon as I applied a small bit of pressure," Kurose replied, still shaking his hand. It was stronger this time. Maybe the more he broke the rule in quick succession, the stronger the Zap got.
"The only thing I can really think is that your weapon has decided Charmes are outside of its jurisdiction. Of course, you still haven't tried channeling your mana into it yet, so it could just be snapping them that causes it."
"Maybe, but still. I haven't been able to channel my mana yet. Not for lack of trying. But what's up with the weapon restricting my usage of Charmes if that is the case? I mean, I have such a high magic stat that it's like the weapon is trying to tell me to use them!" Kurose spoke, shouting the last bit
"That is an issue…" He spoke, stroking his beard as he tapped his foot. "Whilst I'd normally tell you to keep trying, you aren't likely to get the chance when you're out of the city. You are likely to be on the run if this succeeds after all, so I suppose I'll have to brute force your mana for you. And you as well Dagger hero! You're both going to need it for how you are going to leave, at least if it actually works. Now, let me just…" he reached into his robes again, pulling out two separate Charmes, chucking one to both the heroes.
"Right, Student. Hold the Charme in your hand and just relax."
Kurose looked at him but nodded. He hadn't done anything yet, and he seemed to want to help, so he did as he said.
Once he was relaxed, he felt his teacher put his hand on his back, along with a weird sensation, as if some foreign thing was invading his body.
"Can you feel that?" He asked. Kurose nodded his head slowly. "Good. Grab a hold of that feeling. Your mana will feel similar to this. Im going to try and brute force the barrier holding your energy back. Once I have, I want you to channel it into the Charme, got it?"
Kurose nodded as he said, doing his best to grab onto the feeling. A moment later, he felt a searing pain at the back of his skull, as if he had
"Now, force that feeling into the Charme once you get the chance!"
Once Kurose was sure that he had a solid grasp on it, he focused it on the Charme. He felt it heat up in his hand, and Eorna spoke up.
"Huh? Kurose? Where did you go?" Eorna asked, looking around.
"I'm still here. What do you mean where did I go?"
"Wait…" Eorna moved closer to him, poking where his arm was. "This is weird. You're invisible!" Eorna spoke. "This will be perfect to help us get out of the city!"
"Ha! That's what I like to see! I didn't expect it to actually work! How fast is your mana draining?" His teacher asked.
"It's at the two/third point now."
"And that's with this horribly inefficient method of brute forcing your mana. Fantastic! Once you get the hang of it properly, you should be quite a proficient Charme user!"
Kurose let the feeling of his mana fade away, but he was still fully aware of it not being gone, only being pushed to the back of his mind, to call upon it if needed.
"What do you mean by inefficient?"
"Because it destabilizes your mana for a few days at best, a couple of weeks at most. Makes all the Charmes take more mana than they otherwise should."
"Wait, so it shouldn't be draining that fast?"
"Nope! Which is why I wanted you to figure it out on your own, but of course, if you're leaving soon, we don't have much of a choice."
"I guess you are right."
Even as his teacher moved over to Eorna, beginning to help the dagger hero with her control over the mana, Kurose looked at his weapon forms. He wondered if he got anything from absorbing half the Charme. It took him only a moment to find it.
Charme Amulet
Rarity: Common
Abilities Locked Equip bonus: +3 mana
Equip Effect: Skill: Charme Memorial
Gem slots: 1
What the hell is Charme Memorial? Kurose mentally thought.
He quickly switched to the weapon form, lifting it up. It seemed similar enough to the small amulet, with the only change being the wooden disc around the gem in the center. Along the edges of the disc, he noticed some sort of writing constantly changing. He looked at the Charme in his hand, then the amulet before letting out a gasp.
"They're the same writing…I think?" A thought came to him as he spoke to himself once more. "Let's try this out then…" He spoke to himself quietly.
He lifted the Charme in one hand, and the amulet in the other before speaking.
"Charme Memorial!" A small flash of light appeared, prompting Kurose to shut his eyes, but once it disappeared, he looked at the amulet. On it was writing, much like the Charme he had been given. After a quick inspection, he found that they both held the same script on it, at least from what he could see. He wasn't knowledgeable on the magic script here after all.
"Kurose?" Eorna called out. "What was that?"
"Yes, I would like to know as well student."
"Nothing bad! It's just I'm trying out a new skill I got from absorbing the Charme earlier."
He got a hum from Eorna and nothing from his teacher, so he continued working on it. He put the original Charme back into his pocket as he lifted up the amulet. "Right… So how do you work?" He spoke quietly. He tried to push Mana into the amulet, seeing if that would activate the Charme, but the amulet seemed to completely reject the mana. He looked to the corner of his vision, noticing his Mana still recovering, along with his SP bar below it.
"Does it take SP? If so, how do I use it?" His hand tightened around the amulet as he spoke to himself, his vision still planted on his SP bar. Only now, it was starting to drain slowly. He let go of his grip on the amulet, watching as it stopped draining the bar.
"Alright, at least that's figured out. Still weird that there was no tutorial on using it, but I can't expect much I guess." Kurose spoke to himself, shaking his head.
He turned to where Eorna and his teacher were, only to find his teacher, with Eorna nowhere in sight.
"Eorna? Where are you?" He shouted quickly.
"I'm here!" She shouted back. He looked towards where her voice was coming from, realizing it was coming from the empty chair.
"Wow, you are right. This is weird." Kurose muttered. "Right, that should be everything right?" He addressed his teacher.
"Yes, this should be everything. You will be suffering from Mana destabilization for a bit, so keep that in mind. The Charmes will use up more mana than they should, so make sure to take constant breaks. Find places to hide and restore some of your mana. As long as you get out safely, it should be fine."
"Thank you again!" Eorna spoke, bowing to him.
"It's no issue. Heroes should be helped after all. Though, I will be expecting something in the future. Don't know what yet, but I'll make sure to think of something.`` He spoke with a shrug. "Anyways, whilst you are gone, I'll be trying to figure out what's going on with the prince. He should trust me enough, hopefully. I was his father's primary Charme supplier after all."
"How are we going to stay in contact with you?" Kurose asked.
"You won't be. I'm sure eventually you will grow strong enough to be able to come back here, won't you? I'll give you the information I can when that happens. After all, I'm sure you would want to give the prince a little payback for making you flee, wouldn't you?"
Kurose and Eorna smiled at that. "Yeah, maybe make him see the bigger picture and that the waves are what they should be more concerned about," Kurose spoke simply.
"That's good. Now go, off with you two! Don't let them catch you, but if they do, don't mention me! As I said, it's expensive to relocate to another country."
"We won't!" Eorna promised.
The pair turned towards the door, nodding at each other. They had the power to leave. Now, they just needed to achieve their freedom.