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 shot in the process."
"I'm just worried about you, man. If you keep getting hurt like this-"
"Injuries are necessary... It's just a sign I wasn't good enough."
Dale sighed. "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." Flores sulked.
"Sorry. I'll leave you be."
/~/
Sigh "Goddamn 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 another 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 scattered about, he assumed that he was in a medical room or some kind of lab.
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 who was currently sleeping on the edge of his bed.
She had blond hair with red tips. 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 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 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.
Purple eyes? Who's kid is this? Flores thought.
"Paper told me to look after you while your 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
Flag of Arrogance unlocked.
"Curse ser-?"
"Flores?" Flores turned around to find Mihare looking as tired as ever. Her hair was ruffled, and her clothes had several food and dirt stains on them.
"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 asleep for a while. 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 a 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 everyone, then no one could die. That was until the waves arrived."
"And you were unprepared, not having a proper party that could team up with me?"
"Yeah." Mihare slumped. "Guess I was foolish for thinking I could shoulder everyone's 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.
"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 decapitate you 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 practice."
Flores remembered 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 don't blame yourself for them when you're in no way involved. 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 tackled Lizen to the ground and continued to sob.
"Big?"
"There there, Hare." Lizen patted Mihare on the head.
"I should have listened to you. I'm a failure."
"You just realized."
"You're so mean!" Mihare did several weapon jabs on Lizen's chest. Lizen ignored her and picked her up.
"Alright. Let's get you a change of clothes. We have a meeting in 5 minutes."
"Right. I forgot about that."
Lizen carried Mihare inside, with Flores slowly following behind. When he got inside, however, Lizen looked at him with a confused look on his face.
"Is that Paper's 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 for 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. Its 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 country's name is Foo... and its 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 freak 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 in the room. Putting the large map on the wall on the table. Flores noticed that it was much larger than he had first seen. 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 four remaining countries left. Hatyr was the largest on the map and 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 eradicated 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 on 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. Flores pondered.
"Anyways. You're not clear yet, Lizen. You didn't check up with Mihare before you left, nor did you make 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 cast 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 shared 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 good work to you too, 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 random fucks who have the talent of an anorexic nerd trying to squat 250 pounds."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Paper asked.
"I don't know myself. But I can draw it from 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 singing; 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 he has no magical potential. Each person should specialize in the field they're great at first and then be trained in the areas they 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 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 kept 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 seemed like a good idea at the time. But the forest was filled with high-level monsters that could have killed us if they found us, correct?"
"Well yes, but... shit, you're right. Forgot about that."
"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. I guess I was foolish for thinking I could handle all of Ken'bitch'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 camps 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 was 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. I 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 is trying to take you out." Flores suggested.
"Let's see." Mihare put her finger on her chin. "The Sanctuary hates orcs. We don't even talk to Fallum. and Rinoth is doing his 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?" Yomiko sneered.
"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 warpath 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 mean with Riala? I don't wanna talk to her."
"Mihare isn't going, and I'm not trusting you, Mister National Incident."
"I'm sorry, who are we talking about?" Flores asked.
"Riala. The apostle of the train is the leader of the Sanctuary of Soul. And the most dangerous creature alive. Other than Lizen, of course, his breath is toxic." Mihare chuckled.
"Shut up!"
"Lol. Anyway, I agree with Paper. 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. Mihare raised her hand, revealing a flower tattoo on it. He wasn't knowledgeable about our flowers, but it looked like something called an Ichiyo from Japan.
"...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 bastard." Mihare, after fighting for a solid 6 minutes, finally fell victim to the drink and fell asleep on the table.
"Did you just drug your sister?"
"You know it."
Paper, I'm using your room. Is that okay?"
"Sure. I was going there anyway. You too, Flores. We have things to do."
"Okay then."
/~/
Back at Paper's house, which looked like a city hall building from the outside,. Paper led 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's 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 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!"
"It 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 vials 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? I don't know."
"You don't?"
"I don't carry memories of my name. And the only person who could have known it was dead. After I became the Apostle, Paper was the only nickname that stuck. Mostly thanks to Mihare and Lizen."
"Really?"
"It's a story that even I don't know. I only have memories from after I was made this way. And the only other person there was the one who made me this way. Father died, I don't know my mother, and I'm pretty sure I had no friends back then. It also didn't help that my father's lab was destroyed. So most likely, all physical records of my past were destroyed with it. I was especially a nobody. No name, no past, and no future. That was until I got this thing." Yomiko tapped her metronome that was hanging off her waist.
"Wow. 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, we don't have to keep calling you Paper. 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. Funnily enough, it was about people who controlled paper. So it matches you perfectly." Flores grinned.
"Really. Naming a person off of a book." Lizen mocked. "You must really lack creativit-" Before he could finish, dozens of paper swans sent by Yomiko pinned him to the wall.
"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.
