The city was so full of noise and people that it honestly could have easily been mistaken for a full on riot, or possibly a peasant revolt of some kind. Of course, the truth was that celebration and revelry often took forms that looked violent from the outside, and the blasts of explosions into the air as they launched fireworks, like the big kind that exploded into lovely flowers in the sky, as we approached was sign enough that nothing was wrong at the moment…though the morning would probably see more than half the city down with hangovers.
For now though, it had the atmosphere of a party. And why not? A Wave had come and gone. Months ago, the First Wave had devastated their lands, and those beyond, sending them scurrying. Truth to tell, we could sense that their victory, especially so swiftly that the holes had not had too long to spread, and better many of the 'lesser monsters' had had no time to grow stronger, was a cause for jubilation.
So they were out in force, tables lined with foods along the square, and people dancing. Heck, I was reminded of a Disney movie or two at the sight of some of the things people were doing. Dancing, juggling, and even some more magically inclined things, like a lady painting a picture of light in the air before her, or a man who was using some kind of poke into the ground to bloom flowers of a dazzling variety of colors and shapes.
All in all, this was fun, and I honestly probably would have preferred staying out here with the people, especially as we drew closer to the castle and my three beastmen companions got looks from the guards. No one stopped us, however, and soon we were divided from Naofumi and Raphtalia, told to 'dress well' for the occasion, which I thought at first meant changing into better outfits…or outfits at all for the beastmen in my party.
As it turned out, however, they meant instead to clean ourselves, and to be fair, we stank of battle, the road, and just general sweat, and so we all took turns using the washroom...in this case a place with a large basin of water that was kept warmed by a spell, and cleansed by the same. It took barely a few minutes for each of us to come away, and while drying the fur took a little longer, we were soon at least presentable.
Walking through the halls of the castle was…interesting. The beastmen drew a few eyes, but most of the staff bowed as we passed after a start or two, and we even got some salutes from on duty guardsmen, with Lucia inclining her head towards one in particular with a scar across his face. She said she'd explain later, as she had to give a report to the Guild about it first, even before telling me.
"Presenting, The Hero of the Bow, Bard Bowman, and his Party. Defeaters of the Second Wave, and saviors of Lute Village!" shouted a major domo as we came into the room, the big doors making a bang sound as they were pulled apart…still not sure WHY big doors like those did that, but damn did it make for a cool entrance, as we strode into the room, and had all eyes on us for a moment.
But only for a moment, no one cared enough about us in particular, no matter who we were, to be drawn from their own conversations. It worked, and soon enough my party and I were amongst the rest, staying together in our group, as we mingled a little. Oddly, there was no seating to be found, instead we seemed to be expected to drift between the table set with a startling variety of food.
To be fair, I liked this better than the typical thing for such banquets, and sampled a few dishes myself, while regretting, once again, the lack of fast food. Chicken tenders, burgers, fries, breadsticks, pizza, these were the foods of my people, and while the food here was quite rich, in flavor and texture, it was just not the same. I figured magic might be helping with some of that, of course, but it was good enough to ignore that fact.
Over the course of an hour, as the partying outside finally began to settle, audible and visible to us as the fireworks finally stopped being periodically fired upwards into the sky, the King finally came out of a doorway above the banquet hall. The stairways beside the door soon had a few people descending them, and stopping all along its length, including where it came together just below where the King was standing. Once all of them were in position they began pulling out stringed instruments. Idly, I wondered if they had any wind instruments, as I still remembered how to play the recorder from back during my school days, but before I could even voice the thought, they began to play, as the King lifted his glass into the air.
"Friends, Countrymen, and our Honored Guests from other worlds, it gives me great pleasure to stand here today. Not long enough ago at all, our nation, no our world entire, was beset by enemies from beyond, and today, we have proven that they will not cow us, and we will drive them from our shores," he said, and everyone around me, including my party set down their plates, as glasses were passed around.
"With the strength of our arms, our people were defended, and with the power of our wills, we are already rebuilding what has been lost. We will persevere, and move forward into the future, fighting every battle that will come, but let us not forget to whom we owe today's victory," he said, hoisting up a glass himself, and the rest of us did the same, as he smiled down at the masses.
"Thanks to our heroes, the battle was splendidly won. And tonight we celebrate! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest!" he shouted, and the cry of hooray echoed over the chamber. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ren sip at his glass, a smile on his lips, making me wonder if he was of drinking age back in his Japan. Motoyasu was already downing his cup fully, and my party were doing likewise.
I left them to it, setting my own back down, before retrieving a glass of 'coffee' I'd requested earlier. Not that I didn't drink, of course. I was no prude, but I was also the one knowing we'd need to be up early tomorrow to continue on our quest for power. I didn't begrudge the others enjoying themselves, however, and soon saw Naofumi in a shadowed part of the room, sitting on a window sill, looking like he hadn't eaten or drunk a thing.
"Nothing here to your taste?" I asked, as I ambled over, and he looked at me a bit…glumly I think would be the right word. I wasn't certain, but there was a twinge of dislike there too, and I was about to retract the question, when he must have noticed it, and quickly held up his hands, shaking them, as if to apologize.
"Wait, wait, it's not your fault. I…since the whole thing on that third morning, I haven't…my tongue can't seem to taste anything. It's all got texture, sure, but no flavor, so this fancy stuff isn't really something I'd enjoy," he explained, and I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, before setting my glass down on the table beside me. Looking towards the corner of my vision I saw I had JUST enough SP for what I was about to do, and did so.
"(Insight)," I whispered, pointing my bow at him, and the yellow gem flashed for a moment, the skill, which had unlocked for purchase when my (Sense) skill leveled to max. Where (Sense) was more of a general thing, giving me a good look at things dwelling in the local area, (Insight) was a bit more focused, at least according to the description. It seemed to…'scan' the target I specified, or give me information about the area I was in if I didn't.
So far, I'd only used it a few times, but it was great for telling me things like how many battles had been fought in certain areas, spawns for various monsters(The Sewers of Melromarc's capital were going to respawn all the rats Lucia and I had killed in about six months if not kept cleaned out regularly, as it happened), and when targeted at others, it gave me not only their stats, like (Sense) did, but even deeper information.
A second later and I had Naofumi's character sheet before me. One bit I was jealous of was that his EXP bar was not a bar, but a number, just like all the other heroes. Apparently I was the only one working with just a general idea of my time till leveling. But putting that aside, I had his stats, conditions, and even things like money, and a small biography of his life, both here and before on his Earth.
Nothing too interesting that mattered to me, as it was all general stuff. I did however find that he was under a small variety of status effects at the moment, most of them related to our recent battle this morning. Sadly, because nothing there had an effect on senses, my idea of using (Cleansing Arrow) to cure him was out the window, but it at least meant his problem was psychosomatic, and not physical.
I was about to talk to him about it when Raphtalia came by, she seemed eager to chat with him, and while he was being a bit gruff with her, I decided to mingle a bit more with the crowd myself, returning to my own companions where Fast was growling at a knight, the same Captain that had led the soldiers that had aided in the defense of Lute Village. Lucia calmed him with a hand on his shoulder, but the pair told me it meant nothing.
I would have pressed harder there, but then a terrible bit of silence descended on the scene. The chatter nearby stopped, and everyone looked towards where it was rippling out of. In the window where I'd left him, Naofumi was facing down with Motoyasu. Interested, I decided to make my way closer to it, as the pair stared each other down in silence, a glove, Motoyasu's, sitting on the floor between them.
"I've heard you've made poor Raphtalia you're slave, and that she obeys your every command," declared the Spear Hero to the Shield, which made me wonder just how much of an idiot he was, but then…he had mostly young ladies, HUMAN young ladies, in his own party, and given he never seemed to chat with them outside of them heaping fawning praise on him, perhaps he'd somehow missed how Demi-Humans and Beastmen were treated in this kingdom, if not the world.
"And what do you care?" responded Naofumi, sounding…only vaguely interested in what was going on before him. It wasn't like Raphtalia being his slave was a secret after all.
"Watch your tone," he answered, and continued to stare at the Shield Hero, who seemed ready to just dismiss him, but something made him respond.
"Yeah, Raphtalia is my loyal slave. What's it to you?" he asked, and I could almost hear Motoyasu's teeth grinding together. To be fair, in our worlds, this was a grave sin, and one of the worst things you could do to others. Or at least I was assuming it from the ways these guys talked of their homes anyway. Regardless, he did have a point, but this was neither the time nor place to air this particular grievance.
"You listen up, you can't say you think it's okay to enslave others!" he declared, taking on a more aggressive stance. It seemed he was within an inch of drawing his weapon, and turning this whole thing into a fight right here and now, and before Naofumi could grouse at him and drag them both into a brawl in the middle of a party, I decided to step in.
"It's not, not in the slightest, but this is not our world, and thus we must look into how things are done here," I declare, which seemed to shock both of the idiots out of their staring contest to look at me, as I walked up, flanked by my party without me having to say anything.
"If she were not his slave, Raphtalia would likely be laboring somewhere tonight, to clean up or setup the party outside these halls, to sleep in some caged pen somewhere else in the city," I told him, and that seemed to take Motoyasu back for a moment, as if it had only just occurred to him that Naofumi had 'bought' Raphtalia rather than enslaving her himself.
"The three beastmen in my own party would be dead. The wolf's foot would have been amputated, the fox would have likely gotten something nasty from a tooth infection he had when I had him, and the hyena, who literally cannot speak, would have been ordered to do so until his seal killed him," I pointed out, and that seemed to upset my companions, but I would apologize later for digging up bad memories.
"Besides, slavery is legal in this place, and without Raphtalia I wouldn't have been able to fight at all. Or do I need to remind you I had no companions at all," added Naofumi, before closing his eyes and turning away. Motoyasu, who had been taken aback by what I'd said, found Naofumi's attitude just distasteful, scoffed.
"And you think that makes owning people okay?! We're heroes in this world, we should be better than that and you know it," he said, looking between myself and Naofumi, with the latter returning his scoff.
"Think what you want. You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't agree with it," he told the Spear Hero, rising, and motioning for Raphtalia to follow him. He made it two steps before Motoyasu drew his weapon, and pointed it towards Naofumi.
"Stop right there! I'm challenging you to a duel for the freedom of your demi-human slave…and you too Bard! I can't believe either of you would stoop to this," he said with a grimace, spinning and literally coming within an inch of smacking someone with his weapon just to point it at me. I was about to point that out, only to hear the sound of another weapon being drawn, and turn to find Ren had his sword out, and looked ready to throw down.
"I'm not happy with that revelation myself. No matter the reason, this is wrong, and you both know it," he said with a stern tone and look. Motoyasu, looking at him, seemed to smile, before turning around to face Naofumi, who just pushed the tip of the spear out of his face.
"And if we win, this little duel, what do we get in return, huh?" he asked, and I nodded, not doing anything aggressive, but looking back to Ren, who looked confused, as he turned to Motoyasu who just went blank faced for a moment, before moving a step towards Naofumi.
"Well then things would stay the same, I guess," he said, not exactly confidently, and this time it was my turn to scoff. We turned away, only to find the King, along with a few very strong looking guards standing beside him in our way.
"So, you two are slavers, eh? You have been brought to our Kingdom to be Heroes, and yet violate our laws and customs?" he asked, and Naofumi looked about ready to attack him, but I put my hand on his shoulder to quiet him. This was a time for the adults to talk.
"So then, what do you call bringing us here in the first place then? Aren't we slaves? We don't even have the option of not GOING to the Wave, as we found out this morning. And you can't even free us from this, by your own admission, we're stuck here until this is all over with," I pointed out, which had even the other two seemingly on my side for the moment, as they all paused to think about that.
"And what about the slaves walking the streets? I just told them, if he hadn't bought Raphtalia, she'd be WORKING out there during the celebration. I saw a dozen or more Demi-Humans doing that, and that's on top of beastmen working as labor in the markets and such, including as beasts of burden," I was on a roll now, and before the King could respond, I opened my arms wide and began to spin around, as if to gesture to the whole of the world around me.
"But you know, if you want, I'll go free them all myself, right now. Give me the means, however it is slave seals are removed, and I'll start on that quest tonight," I declared for everyone to hear, and then turned, to a stern looking King, who was very, very much not happy with me, if the way he was grinding his teeth was any indication.
"I will hear no more of this slander, in the halls of my own keep," he countered, pounding his foot on the ground like a child, but the voice was not breaking at least, as he stared at me.
"I acknowledge, our whisking you off to our world was not ideal, for yourselves or for us, as we gained a criminal amongst the four of you, if nothing else. But we are truly desperate, and have done all that is in our power to make this place comfortable for you," he told me, wagging his finger. I scoffed, but didn't interrupt him as he continued.
"As to those beyond these walls, the trade in demi-humans and beastmen are recent things, and we do not allow them to serve as battlefield soldiers, anymore than we would force an untrained person into such things. I regret the necessity of the former, and would never condone the latter, as you and the Shield seem to have," he told me, and this seemed to be winning over the other two. Idiots. Still, he allowed me no time to counter this.
"I declare today that you will not be allowed to exit this castle until you've held honorable duels with your opposites. Face them in battle, and should you lose, we will free your slaves from your foul control. Should you win, I will grant you a tithing equal to the cost of those in your employ times ten," he commanded, and to be fair…that wasn't a bad risk versus reward, as we looked towards each other, then to the two on the King's side.
"Yeah, not interested, Raphtalia and I are going," he said, making me feel like the kid was an idiot even more so, as he tried to push through the knights, who weren't up to the task of stopping him…but were easily able to grab his companion, and silenced her as she declared she didn't want to be free.
"Shameful, he's obviously told her to support him in all this, thus even in the matter of her own freedom she does not seek to contradict him," said the King, somewhat remorsefully, before he turned his eyes to me, and I shrugged.
"I don't even NEED the duel, like I said, bring me whatever breaks their seals and I'll let them decide. But I do like the sound of money, so I'm up for it, if Ren is. If not…well I'd like to depart now," I said, and Ren seemed confused for a moment, but then grinned at me, holding his weapon up before.
"Very well then, we shall retire to the courtyard, where we shall see two duels. First the Bow vs the Sword, then the Spear vs the Shield," he declared, and the knights around us looked concerned, like Naofumi would resist, but given Motoyasu was standing right next to his woman, he didn't. He did look at me angrily, like I should be resisting this somehow, but I just shrugged at him as we were escorted towards the arena where we'd be dueling.
