Chapter 4: The Aftermath

"You got shot in the arm again? I swear, that had to be some sort of omen."

"Dale, it is not a damn omen. I was just trying to save Lee and my arm got hit in the process."

"I'm just worried about you man. If you keep getting hurt like this.-"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

Dale sighed. "You're really bad at lying. It wasn't your fault you know."

"But I could have-"

"No you couldn't. You just have to take it. Lee was beyond saving"

"I know."

"Sorry. I'll leave you be."

/~/

Sigh "Goddamnm it Dale!" Surprisingly, Flores woke up once again. He wished he had the delusion of waking up in another world. But with all the pain he's feeling along with the loss of function in his left arm. He felt like he had gone to the other place. Not to mention, Dale being right about his arm really fucked with him.

Leaning up from his bed, he winced in pain as he looked around the room. With devices that were scattered about, he assumed that he was in a medical room of some kind.

But despite waking up in something akin to Dexter's laboratory, it wasn't the weirdest thing he's seen. No, it wasn't Fonhare who somehow found his way to his head once again. But it was the child that was currently sleeping on the edge of his bed.

She had blond hair with red tips and purple eyes. She wore a black gothic lolita dress, a black wristband, and black hair bands that were in the shape of a crow's wings. But the child being at his bedside wasn't the confusing part. It was her wings black wings on her back.

"What, how? Who are you? Why do you have wings!"

This immediately cleared Flores suspicion of being in the down under. He didn't believe in a hell. But at least the concept of it made sense. This, however, didn't.

"This is just confusing on so many levels. Is she related to H'lock or some-."

Flores stopped himself as memories of what happened started to rush back into his head.

"H'lock, Guile, Mary." Flores sighed. "Guess that's another person I failed to save."

Getting out of bed with some pain. Flores put on a nearby robe and headed towards the door. All this movement however, ended up waking up the girl. After she rubbed her eyes, she ran over to Flores… only to trip over a very obvious piece of paper lying on the ground.

"Owww. Wait up. Mister." The child got up and ran over to me.

"You can't leave. You're still hurt."

"Kid. You're speaking to a vase."

"Eh?" The kid looked embarrassed before turning to Flores properly.

"I can't tell if she's dumb or putting on an act. But I don't have the time for this right now."

"Paper told me to look after you while father is sleeping. You will exas… exhas… experate?"

"Exasperate."

"Y-yeah. That."

The girl stood in front of the doorway to prevent his escape.

"Child. Can you take me to the graveyard?"

"Hmm." The girl tilted her head to the side. "The place where people go when they die. What for?"

"Reasons."

"Mmmm. Fine. But you can't leave my side. Follow me!" The kid ran toward the room door and ran into it.

"Oww! I thought that door was opeeen." She whined.

"...Yeah, definitely an idiot."

/~/

"H'lock, Guile, Mary. If only I used that skill sooner." Flores sighed.

"Did I fail to save you? Or was it impossible from the start? I could have used attack order earlier... but that only made me equal to his strength." Flores tossed his journal to the ground. "If only I had a light." Flores sat down on the ground.

Curse Series Conditions Met

"Curse ser-?"

"Flores?" Flores turned around to find Mihare looked as tired as ever. Her hair was ruffled, and her clothes had several food and dirt stains on it.

"Flores! Thank Miguel you're awake." Mihare ran over and got in my face immediately.

"Isawyoucomeouttheforestwithoutanarmandbleeding. Thenigotscaredandranyoutopaperswhereshe-"

"Calm yourself. You're speaking to fast." Flores groaned.

Mihare backed off immediately and dusted herself off.

"Sorry Sorry. I'm just relieved. You've been sleeping for Five days and I assumed... Why are you wearing Paper's robe?"

"Don't ask." Flores replied. Wait 5 days!?"

"Yeah you were sleep for awhile. Neila was getting bored of watching you constantly." Neila pouted.

"Neila, can you go back up for a minute."

"Okay Aunty." Neila ran to the door, this time not running into it.

"Your niece is weird."

"Blame her parents, not me." Mihare retorted. She walked over to Flores and stood by the gravestone.

"So. You're here to see them too."

"Not really, I did their funerals days ago. This whole graveyard though, are the people who died under my command."

"Wow... it's so little?"

"A blessing... and a curse."

"What do you mean?"

Sigh. "Being a leader isn't easy. Everything is your fault, and no one is ever thankful. The families that were ruined, the people that died. I couldn't handle it." Mihare rolled up her sleeve, revealing various scars across both arms.

"At first, it was single mission. After that, I found that I was doing the jobs of my soldiers more and more. Soon enough, I couldn't muster the strength to send anyone out. If I could shoulder the burden for every, then no one could die. That was until the waves arrived."

"And you were unprepared, not having a proper party that can team up with me?"

"Yeah." Mihare slumped. "Guess I was foolish for thinking I can shoulder everyone burden. Paper, Lizen and Riala warned me, but I never listened. I'm sorry Flores." Mihare knelt in front of Flores and took off her hat.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Sinclair Tradition. One must provide something of equal value, to the offended. To appease this great offense against the Morale hero. I. Mihare Plastaire Sinclair, will sacrifice my own arm.

Mihare pulled out a sword and lifted it high. "Woah woah woah. Calm yourself. I don't want any arms."

"I see. You desire my head then." Mihare brought the sword to her neck.

"Not that either!"

"... my bod-"

"Do not finish that!" Flores demanded as he blushed a bit.

"But you got hurt because of me. You clearly see that I am unfit to be a-"

"If you're going to make excuses for your failures, then I'll do the decapitating myself." Flores held his weapon next to Mihare's throat.

"I know how you feel. A friend of mine went through the exact same scenario. If you did everything in your power to prepare them for hardship. Then it's up to them to put their skills into use."

Flores remembered back to his previous squad. With nukes being the final option, many soldiers were drafted, and lazily trained. Many died because they either didn't know how to deal with a situation, or just forgot.

"I'm not saying ignore their death. But I'm saying don't blame yourself for them when you're in no way involed. Grieve, and live on for them. That's what they would have wanted."

"I-... Flores!" Mihare dropped her sword and hugged Flores. She was sobbing uncontrollably, and all he could do was sit there and wait for her to finish.

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice asked. When he looked over, He saw Lizen watching from the front door.

"BIG BROTHER!" Mihare tacked Lizen to the ground and continued to sob.

"Big?"

"There there Hare." Lizen patted Mihare on the head.

"I should have listen to you. I'm a failure?"

"You just realized."

"You're so mean!" Mihare did several weapon jabs on Lizen's chest. Lizen however, Ignored her, and picked her up.

"Alright. lets get you a change of clothes. We have a meeting in a 5 minutes."

"Right. I forgot about that."

Lizen carried Mihare inside with Flores slowly following behind. When he got inside however, Lizen faced him with a confused look on his face.

"Is that papers robe?"

"Shut up!"

/~/

Following Lizen into the fort, they soon reach Mihare's room where the meeting was to take place. And by Mihare's room, he meant the war room. According to the girl herself. She doesn't have a room to call her own, something that Lizen didn't approve of.

The room itself was big, housing several maps of the surrounding areas. Those maps held various outpost locations, and territories of monsters.

There were also a ton of bottles on the ground. By the looks of them, Flore was able to determine that it was a potion of some kind. It's effects however, would remain unknown.

"Morning Hare. Morning Zen."

There was one person already in the room. Or more accurately, one Paper who was already in the room.

"Three minutes late. How shameful."

"Shut up paper." Lizen chuckled.

"This is Ken'bitches war council?"

"Foo's actually."

"What's foo?" Flores asked.

"The name of the country."

"... So the countries name is... Foo, and it's capital is Ken'bitch. Foo Ken'bitch."

"That's correct." Paper answered.

"...Whatever. Isn't this a bit small for a war council."

"We're Actually missing Shun and-"

"I'm here!" The kid from earlier appeared out of the ground and flew over to hug Lizen mid-air.

"What in the?"

"Hmm? Right, I don't think we've introduced her yet. Flores, this is Neila, my daughter. She's blind so don't let her antics weird you out."

"That explains a lot."

"Hi, injured man!" Neila waved.

"…Lizen, who did you f-"

"Child," Lizen warned.

"Right right, new question. So Ken'bit-" I stopped myself before I could continue.

"Bitch isn't really a swear anymore. The word was changed to a holy one a while back." Lizen chimed in as he handed Mihare a mug of coffee.

"…more questions for later. But as I was saying. "Ken'bitch... no, Foo as a whole relies on five people to govern the country?"

"Four and a quarter really." Paper replied.

"I'm helping!"

"You sure are sugar plum."

Lizen ruffled his daughter's hair a bit as Mihare controlled the silence of the room. Putting the large map on the wall on the table. Flores noticed that it was much larger than he first saw. When it was rolled across the table, it rolled off and kept going until it hit the wall.

It was a map of the entire world, labeling the fours remaining countries left. Hatyr was the largest on the map, and was was able to hold at least Two to Three Foo's inside.

"This place is a lot smaller than I thought."

"Alright then, the first order of business. Orcs."

"I'm... 80% sure I eradicate any camp along the main road. It's your soldiers who are supposed to patrol the area to keep anything from starting up. Speaking of which, where was any nearby patrol so I could have called for assistance?"

"Late night training! I told you that!"

"No, no you didn't!"

"You two didn't meet up with each other to organize, did you?" Flores asked. Mihare sat up, but she didn't say anything and sat back down.

"Ughhh. I left a note in his house."

"You know I'm getting that place repaired right."

"I forgot okay!" Mihare slumped to the table.

"For fucks sake." Lizen swore as he covered his daughter's ears.

"Why is there a wall missing exactly?"

"Some noble tried to kidnap my daughter."

"So they removed your wall to get inside?"

"I never said they were responsible."

"… Yeah, Lizen just got moved up in the never fight ever list… or was it his daughter who did the damage? I'll put her there too."

"Anyways. You're not out of the clear as well Lizen. You didn't check up with Mihare before you left, nor made sure the garrison was out there before you went in. Whether Mihare wanted it or not, you should have made sure everyone was in order."

"Oh. So it's my fault that she's going lone wolf on us!"

"You're calling me a lone wolf! Not you. The one who abandoned the family and the world for four-

"I'm annoyed with you both and I'm getting pent up. You both should sit down and learn to shut up. [Cluster Star mute]"

Paper casted a silencing spell on both of them, then dragged them to their respective seats.

"Okay, I think it's clear that you two need to communicate more.

Mihare. I already spoke of my gripes with you. So stop being stupid and allow your soldiers to do stuff before they're cannon fodder during the wave."

"Sorry." Mihare apologized.

"Lizen, stop being petty and actually communicate with your commander-in-chief! As her older brother. You should have nixed her actions long ago instead of waiting to watch her fail. Granted, it's a strategy that works most of the time. But in a scenario where people's lives are on the line, You should have personally slapped her in the face."

"I get what you mean but I will never hit Mihare." Lizen pouted.

"Paper... I don't know what you do so good job. And keep , keep up the good work Neila."

"Yay!" Neila cheered as the rest of the room looked dumbfounded.

Sigh "Sorry. Just a little pent-up from before. But my point still stands." Flores signaled to Lizen who covered his daughter's ears.

"If my drill sergeant was here. He would call this place a group of randoms fucks who have the talent of an anorexic nerd trying to squat 250lbs."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Paper asked.

"I don't know myself. But I can draw it too the fact that you guys have no idea how to lead an army.

"If you want to improve. You're going to need more than a training session, and a karaoke night of I'll make a man out of you."

"Our national anthem?"

"Damn it Miguel!" Flores banged his head on the table.

"As I was saying. You need coordination, experience, and regulation. Stop training the mages in spear combat when you can hone their magical potential. Don't teach a fighter spells when you can have he has no magical potential. Each person should specialize in the field they're great at first, and then be trained in the areas need work in."

"... all of this and you say you can't be a commander." Mihare teased.

"Medieval fantasy and modern-day tactics are nothing alike. We bomb strategic points from the air before parachuting into a raging battlefield. You guys have to find a static in your FC just to prog UwU?"

"The hell is a UwU."

"Some some fantasy 14 shit or whatever number they're on. But that's not the point. I'm giving some suggestions on how to improve Ken'bitch. If we keep going the way we are right now, then that ambush would have been successful and I would have died. Lizen. Sending us away may have seen to be a good idea at the time. But the forest was filled with high-leveled monsters that could have kill us if they found us correct?"

"Well yes bu- shit you're right. Forgot about them."

"Exactly my point. You guys fail to think ahead. If you can't do that in a proper setting, then how is anyone going to survive the next battle."

The room was silent once again. I had a lot to get off my chest, but I hope I didn't overdo it.

"You bring up very great points. Guess I was foolish for thinking I can handle all of Ken'bitche's functions alone. Sorry, Flores." Mihare bowed.

Sigh. "Guess I was being a little too petty. Sorry." Lizen side-eyed Paper who only scoffed.

"I did nothing wrong. I don't know why you're looking at me."

"Haha. Daddy's in trouble."

After some mocking from Neila. Lizen and Mihare sat back down.

"Alright then. Back to our original topic." Paper ordered.

"Right. As I said earlier, I had eradicated any orc camp along the main road. They would have had to come from somewhere else."

"If it helps, while the orc was taunting us. He said that someone told them to specifically kill Lizen. We were only the victory meal."

The room went silent once again. Flores worried that he said something out of pocket, since Lizen picked him up, and started to shake him."

"When were you planning on telling us this!"

"I was unconscious!"

"Right. Forgot about that too." Lizen gently put Flores back in his chair before sitting back down himself.

"Well, this changes a lot. Lizen?" Mihare asked.

"I don't know why they're after me!"

"Perhaps another country trying to take you out." Flores suggested.

"Lets see." Mihare put her finger on her chin. "The Sanctuary hates orcs. We don't even talk to Fallum. and Rinoth is doing their own thing."

"Hatyr?"

"Most likely." Both Mihare and Lizen nodded.

"If it's an international assassination, then we can't accuse them without any proof.

"You sure. I can go over there right now and raze hell?" Lizen suggested.

"Do you want to start a war?"

"After the Neila incident. I'm considering it." Lizen grinned.

"Then you're not stepping a single foot into Hatyr until I'm done talking to them. You can go on your war path against the orc, with Riala."

"Fu-" Lizen cleared his throat. "Neila leave the room please."

"Okay, Daddy." Neila got out of her chair and ran towards the door. The moment it closed, profanities started flying.

"Fuck you. I don't wanna talk to her."

"Paper isn't going, and I not trusting you Mr. National incident."

"I'm sorry, who are we talking about," Flores asked.

"Riala. The apostle of the train, leader of the Sanctuary of Soul. And the most dangerous creature alive. Other than Lizen of course, his breath is toxic."

"Shut up!"

"To keep things short. She's our key to knowing all this. So I need you two to meet her."

"Eh? Why me?!"

"You'll benefit from meeting a hero of her… Status. I'm sure she'll… something… probably."

"That doesn't sound reassuring in the slightest."

"She's an… interesting character. There's not much to say really."

"I still don't know what that has to do with me going to meet her!" Lizen exclaimed.

"May I remind you of the reason you aren't the chief yourself?" Mihare gestured towards the door. Flores didn't know what she meant, only that it was most likely Neila.

"...Fine then. Also may I ask? When was the last time you went to sleep."

"Two days, seven hours, twenty-five minutes, and 49 seconds."

"What the fuck." Flores thought.

"Well, you can reset that count back to zero. Courtesy of me."

"What are you going on ab- Oh you bitch." Mihare after fighting for a solid 6 minutes, finally fell victim to the drink and fell asleep on the table.

"D-did you just drug your sister."

"You know it."

Paper, I'm using your room. Is that okay?"

"Sure. I was going there anyways. You too Flores, we have things to discuss."

"Okay then."

/~/

Back at Paper's house which looked like a city hall building from the outside. Paper lead him to the top, and took him and Lizen into her room.

After they laid Mihare to rest. She revealed a door hiding under the bed, and climbed down into a mad scientist laboratory.

"As the medic of this place, I'm sorry to say your original arm was lost and couldn't be located after the fight. So I'll have to make you a new one.

"You can do that?"

"Only out of a material. I don't know how to create flesh yet."

"Well you're an alchemist right? Why not use some alchemy?"

"I'm not an alchemist, I'm a witch. And that's not how alchemy works!"

"Sounds like something an alchemist would say." Flores taunted. "Look Paper. All I'm saying is-. Actually, what is your name?"

"What do you mean?" Paper asked as she pulled out several vial of water.

"Well, I've been calling you Paper 'cause I heard one of the magicians."

"Warlocks."

"Okay. "Warlock" call you that. I never did actually learn your name."

"My name? It's hard to say. My memories have been on and off for so many years that it became hard to keep track. Paper was the only nickname that stuck thanks to Mihare and Lizen."

"Really?"

"Immortality is a curse. Friends die, family dies. Then finally, you're the only person there to witness it. I secluded myself in this building for many many years. I only one who held my true name was my father. To be honest. Mihare and Lizen were my only true friends for a while."

"You've been through a lot huh? I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that."

Flores patted the girl on the head. She seemed to be embarrassed by it but didn't complain.

"I got it. How about I give you a name?"

"Give me a name?"

"Yeah. That way, I can use it. Then you'll never forget." Flores pondered for a bit, trying to think of a good name. "I got it. How about Yomiko."

"Yo-Miko?"

"Yeah. I took it from a manga I've read before. It matches you perfectly."

"Really. Naming a person off of a book." lIzen mocked. "You must really lack creativit-" Lizen was suddenly he got pinned to the wall by dozens of paper swans.

"It's better than the nickname Paper LIZEN. I for one, find it satisfactory."

"Thank you Yomiko."

"Now. GET OUT OF MY ROBE!" Yomiko Flushed.