*-Kuroi-*
I don't know what Thorn did, but I'm definitely in his debt.
Lilia is currently taking me to the market right now. She needed to get some groceries and asked me to come along with her. Since this was something she had likely done on multiple occasions she had no need for me to accompany her, so it definitely had something to do with Thorn.
Not to mention how weird his smile looked. He always smiles, but he also has a smile for every emotion. I asked him how he does it and he just told me that it's all in the eyes.
Yeah sure. Except how do you still convey those emotions when you're always wearing friggin sunglasses?!
"Sir Kuroi are you alright?"
Pulling myself out of my thoughts I looked at Lilia. She had her signature stoic expression on her face, but her eyes held the slightest hint of worry. Guess he's right. It's in the eyes. To think she's worried about me.
"I'm fine. I just got caught up thinking about something is all."
"Oh. Very well. We shall be reaching the market soon."
Looking forward I could see a small circular area with stalls and produce lining the edges. No matter how small a village is you can always find a market. They're essentials, since everyone needs food and water to survive. Plus there's trinkets and things that could be sold simply for the enjoyment of others.
"So what's on the list today?"
"Let's see. We need to purchase some fruit, vegetables, chicken bones, and meat from the butcher's."
"What are the bones for?"
"I use them for broth when making soup. It helps enhance the flavor of the dish."
"I see. Alright there are some fruit stalls over there, that stall seems to be selling vegetables, and that stall seems to be selling both."
I pointed to 3 stalls. The two stalls selling fruits and vegetables individually were right next to each other, and the stall selling both products was on the opposite side of the market. The two individual stalls seemed to be having nice conversion, but would glare at the other stall every few minutes.
"Let's go to those two shops over there. The people running them are married and are friends with the Madam."
"Mkay. Lead the way m'lady."
I said the last part in a slightly joking tone. I already felt myself mentally cringing. I swear I could hear Thorn laughing from somewhere.
"Some one as strong as yourself shouldn't be so kind as to call me "m'lady." I'm not worthy of it. It sounds like I'm above you."
"I'm inclined to disagree. Why should we let ourselves be divided by things such as money and power? Why can we not stand on equal footing? Sure you may be Paul and Zenith's maid, but I don't live in that house. I'm simply another resident of Buena who's lucky enough to be the friend of their son."
"I suppose that that is one way you could see things. However, division of class has existed far to long to be stopped like that. Power and wealth have always decided us, and it's likely that it will always remain as so."
"True. It's likely that division won't end any time soon, but why should we fall into it? There is no one here who's going to actively enforce it. Look at Paul. He was a noble who ran away from his home and happily mingles with the common folk. As uncommon as it is to use Paul as an example for something good he's a perfect example in this case."
"Uncommon?"
"It's just some of the things Thorn told me about. His words not mine."
"I was unaware that the Young Master thought of his father that way. Does he truly think poorly of him?"
"It's not that he thinks poorly of him, it's just that he doesn't let the fact that Paul is his father cloud his judgement. He sees that Paul isn't perfect, and that he has many pros and many cons as a father."
"I guess you learn something new everyday."
As we approached the stall the man selling vegetables waved to Lilia.
"Good to see you again Miss Lilia. Grocery run I presume?"
"Correct."
"Good to see you coming over to our stall. We've been losing some customers as of late since the new family moved in. Their selling both fruits and vegetables at a lower price than us, and we can't lower our prices since we're already running low on funds."
"But Mister Johnathan your prices are already low. If their undercutting you then they'll go broke."
Lilia looked towards the man with a shocked face. The women beside us moved scooted her stool over from her stall and joined our conversation.
"It's all because of the husband of that household. His names Arthur. He's a retired solo A-rank adventurer. He did a bunch of missions before he retired and saved up a bunch of money. They can sell their fruit for as low as they want, and they'll never run out of money. We tried talking to them about it once, but he threatened to beat us up. Since he's been helping with Sir Paul and the monster exterminations we haven't said anything, since he's also been a big help."
"What? That's just bullying?! How can they do something like that?"
"It's just how things go sir. Say I never caught your name. I'm Johnathan, and this is my wife Joana. You a friend of Miss Lilia's."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Kuroi Hane. And yes I'm a friend of hers. I'll be accompanying her on her grocery run today."
"Hm? Oh great. What's he want?"
I looked behind me and saw a man walking towards me with a smug grin. Behind him was a women with a similarly smug grin.
"What's a sky folk doing all the way down here? Decided to fly away away from home little birdie?"
"Pardon? I hate to burst your bubble good sir but I'm afraid I don't know you. Now if you'd be oh so kind I was in the middle of a conversation. Please leave."
"Scuse me? The names Arthur. I used to be an A-rank adventurer and I'm a North king. Why don't you run along back to whatever tree you fell out of."
"I'm good."
"Tch. And what about your little lady friend here? I haven't seen a face like this since I saw the chick livin it up with the village knight. Why don't you give us some alone time?"
"I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to my madam in such a manner. Unless you wish to be reported to master Paul you should leave."
"Bitch please. Know your place!"
Arthur brought his hand upwards swiftly and hit Lilia across her face. She stumbled backwards and I quickly caught her. Her right cheek was burning up and was really red. He clipped her nose and it was bleeding slowly.
I cast a small healing spell Thorn taught me on Lilia. Her nose stopped bleeding, but she still had a bruise on her cheek. She was in a bit of a daze. He claimed to be a North King, so he had to be incredibly powerful. Lilia may have been a swordswoman before, but she has been working as a simple maid for the past few years. She couldn't have prepared for that.
"Miss Lilia! Here set her here."
Joana brought her stool to the other side of her stall and helped sit Lilia down. Despite there not being a cloud in sight the sky grew dark, and the people around us felt a chill spread through their bodies.
"Aw look at the poor girlie. The bird stopped singing once she got hurt. Is he angry? Does he have feelings for the little maid? What's the scrawny little guy gonna do? Hit me? To bad. I'm the one who does the hitting around here!"
Bringing his hand up again he formed a fist and sent it flying at me. The fist slammed into my face. As I sat there unmoved you could hear cracks and snaps as the man's hand broke.
"Gah! The hell?! How did- where'd he go?!"
I grabbed Arthur by the back of his shirt and flapped my wings with a bit of elemental magic. I went soaring into the sky.
"Wah. Let go of me you damn bird!"
"If you insist."
I let go of his shirt and Arthur fell towards the ground. He was falling and falling, and once he was just about to hit the ground a small void portal opened and brought him back up to me. This time I grabbed him by his ankle.
"You done?"
"Who... who are you?"
"I am the God of the Void. That's all you need to know."
I squeezed until I heard his ankle snap, and I dropped him again. This time I immediately opened a portal underneath him and sent him into the void. I slowly drifted back down.
Johnathan and Joana were helping Lilia not fall off the stool. Looking at the filled basket Johnathan was holding I could see all the items Lilia had on her list. Seems that he did her shopping for her.
"Is she alright?"
"Yes. Just a little dazed. After hearing about the commotion some of the other villagers brought some stuff from their stalls. Apparently we weren't the only ones Arthur was undercutting."
"What did you do with my husband?! If he's not here within five minutes then I'm getting the knight!"
"First of all my husband has a name." Looking behind the screeching leech I saw a very pissed Zenith with another villager behind her. They ran a stall close to this one. I saw them runaway whenever Lilia was hit.
"Second, I'd like to know why your husband hit my friend."
The woman's eyes flicked between me and Zenith. Zenith looked at me.
"Third, I want to know exactly what happened."
"I believe Thorn has that covered."
I looked above one of the stalls and after focusing and decrypting the cloaking spell a crow covered in static came into view.
"Alright. Now where is this woman's husband?"
"Oh. He's right here."
Reaching out I opened a portal and stuck my hand through it. I pulled out Arthur. He collapsed in on himself as soon as he hit the ground. He was shivering and whining like a dog freezing to death.
"Pitiful."
"What's going on here?!"
Paul and some other guardsmen ran towards us. They froze once they saw the cowering North king.
Paul looked up at me.
"Let's talk."
He pulled me aside and started questioning me.
"What the hell do you think your doing? You can't use your strength for every minor inconvenience that comes your way."
"What are you talking about? He-"
"I don't care what excuses you come up with. You're going to go and fix whatever you did to his head."
"Can't fix that. It's mental, not magic. Besides even if I could I wouldn't."
"Why not?"
"Have you not heard of what he's been doing to villagers? He sells products at cheaper prices causing some of them to not have the money to provide for their families, and when they talk to him about it he threatens them with violence. Did you even see Lilia?"
"Lilia? What does she have to do with this?"
"He hit her Paul. Not even holding back! I'm tired of this. I'm taking Lilia to the house and letting her rest."
"You can't just-"
I walked past Paul and got to where Zenith and Lilia were. Zenith healed Lilia's bruise, but based on her fidgeting hands and constantly shifting feet I could tell that Lilia was agitated.
"How are you feeling Lilia?"
"Oh. You came back?"
"Of course I did. Paul just wanted to talk about something."
"Oh. I am doing much better now that the madam has healed me."
"Kuroi if you don't mind me asking... what did you do to him?"
I looked at Arthur who was on the other side of the market. He was still shivering, but the man whining stopped. He refused to look this way.
"I just put him in the void for a bit. That whole time he likely felt the sensation of falling."
"Uh huh. And I take it there's no way to help him?"
"Nope. It's up to him to break through that trauma. No way in hell am I gonna let him walk away unscathed after hurting Lilia."
"Right. Why were you here today anyway? I thought you and Pin grew your own vegetables?"
"Lilia asked if I could accompany her today."
"Really?"
Zenith smirked and looked at Lilia. Lilia looked away slightly and blushed.
"Let me accompany you home. I'll make sure no other fools dare harm you on the way back."
We got out of the market and were slowly making our way back to our houses. I was carrying Lilia's basket for her.
"Thank you."
"Hm?"
"For standing up for me after he hit me. Thank you."
"Of course. I'll never understand how someone could dare to imagine hurting someone as beautiful as you."
"You think I'm beautiful?"
Lilia and I stared at each other for a second and looked away. I could see traces of a blush on Lilia's face and I could feel my own face heating up.
"I do. You really are beautiful Lilia."
"I'm glad to hear you think so."
We walked for a bit in silence until Lilia stumbled on a small rock. I caught her before she hit the ground and helped her get her balance back.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yes. I'm alright."
I brought my hand away, but felt a small amount of opposition. Lilia had wrapped one of her fingers around of mine.
"Do you think we could... hold hands a little longer?"
"O-oh! Sure I'd love that."
They ended up holding hands the rest of the way home.
*-Lilia-*
How did things end up like this?
After we returned home the madam insisted that I rest. Whenever the Young Master, Pin, Raion, and young madam Aurora descended the stairs they said I should rest as well. And now I'm laying here in my bed being served tea and various snacks by the very man who stood up for me today.
I myself had never seen a moment where the Young Master or one of his friends truly got angry, but I got to see it today. Whenever that man hit me an anger so powerful you could feel it radiated from Kuroi. I don't know exactly what he did to that man, but once he was taken away by his wife the cocky arrogance he had was replaced by pure cowardice.
It reminded me of the boy who stabbed the Young Master. His eyes frozen shut as he screamed and whimpered in fear. Yoko and Miss Phoebe spoke about how the boy was living through nightmares. I don't know what Miss Phoebe did to him, but if you see him now you can tell something is wrong with him.
His eyes darting back and forth as if looking for monsters hiding in the shadows, the large bags under his bloodshot eyes, and the way he constantly shakes his head as if he's scared of falling asleep.
But back to the topic at hand.
"How are you feeling?"
Kuroi sat on my bed and looked at me.
"Like I've said before all he did was hit me. I'll be fine."
"I know, but... the way you looked while dazed was... worrying."
"I'm fine Kuroi. Thank you. For worrying about me, and for sticking up for me as well. It may have had some odd interruptions, but I think I'll be able to look back on our outing fondly."
"That's good. If only we didn't get interrupted by that guy though. I was hoping to be able to walk with you more."
"I suppose that you'll just have to accompany me on my next outing then."
"I suppose I will."
Kuroi and I laughed together. His company was quite nice. Once he left I found myself clutching onto a pillow with a big smile on my face. It's been quite a while since I've been this happy.
*-Rudeus-*
"Well if it isn't the love bird! How are you?"
"Gah! Thorn, the hell?! How did you find me? I'm on a delivery run!"
I kept myself flying at a steady pace as I followed Kuroi. It's been about two days since his date with Lilia.
"Well it's been a bit since we talked. So since I could sense you I figured why not give him some company?"
"Right. Thank you by the way. For setting up that date."
"No problem. Say I've got a question."
"Go ahead."
"So when you held Lilia's hand was it in a dating way, or in a I'll catch you if you fall kind of way?"
"Wah?! Come on man really?"
"Whaaaat? It's an honest question."
"Yeah well hold that thought."
Kuroi flew down and landed in a village. It was slightly larger than Buena. He landed in front of a door, sat down a crate, and knocked. Once the person answered they paid him, and he flew back up. Once he was back he started flying off in another direction.
"We haven't started dating officially... I think? I'm not exactly aware of how this works."
"Well at least your not just forcing the relationship. It's best to not make assumptions on what is or isn't a part of the relationship. So have you scheduled another date?"
"We talked about me accompanying her again."
"See? Progress. Come over sometime. Lilia's been happy since your outing. It'd make her quite happy to be in your company."
"I'd love to but, Paul has been real stiff around me since the whole Arthur incident. Ever since our encounter he swore he'd never pick up a weapon again."
"Aaaah. So that's why he's been so pissy lately. Without Arthur's help as a North King their probably falling back into their old issues. Why not offer your assistance? You're stronger than Arthur and you can find other monster and troublesome creatures much easier."
"I suppose that could be a good idea. Think that'd finally get him off my back?"
"I don't think he could reach it. Your far stronger than he could ever hope to be."
"True. Still though. How can I enjoy my time with Lilia if I have him staring daggers at me the whole time?"
"Fair point. Worth a shot though."
"Alright I'll try it. See you later Thorn!"
"See ya!"
Kuroi started turning and flew in the direction of another village as I continued back to Buena.
It's been about three days now, and Kuroi's assistance with the monsters has been a massive help in lifting Paul's spirits. They haven't found the cause, but monsters have been popping up more and more in the forest.
With Kuroi's flight, heightened senses, and mana sense he's been finding and killing monsters with ease. He's also started visiting our house more often. Since he started his visits Lilia has started showing a smile on her usually stoic face more often. Dad hasn't seemed to notice, but mom definitely has.
I heard her talking to Lilia about it one night after dad had gone to sleep. That day even with Kuroi's assistance monsters had been a hassle, and while dad wasn't very fazed by it mom didn't have the energy for their nightly activities. She had too many wounds to heal that day. She did stay up after Dad went to sleep to talk to Lilia.
It wasn't anything too serious. It was just Mom telling Lilia that she could make a relationship with someone if she wanted. Lilia sounded quite happy about this. Something about wanting to have one, but not wanting it to affect her work. I swear she puts her work way to high on her priority list for her own good.
After that day was when she started smiling more.
As for magical progress I've made no advancements with my eyes. Aurora can now cast all of the intermediate Fire and Water spells, Cyrus can cast all of the intermediate water and earth spells, but I think he might be hiding some talent, and Sylphie can cast all of the water, wind, and earth spells. I swear her magical talent is through the roof.
Though Sylphie does struggle with fire magic. It was only recently that she learnt all of the beginner fire spells. Roxy taught me that sometimes past trauma could slow down or even prevent a person from learning a class of magic. She also said that one's race could greatly affect it. When she was younger Sylphie had burned her hand with a fire poker. She still has a scar that covers her whole palm from it.
She says she's not scared of fire anymore, but it seems to have left some lingering affects.
Phoebe has slowly increased how many Kumu she can create and we've slowly been recreating the Kumu armor from before, but we're keeping that on a slow burn for now. I've been teaching her magic since we got back from the capitol, and she has learnt all the beginner level spells I know including healing spells.
Raion told us that he's now able to wield Kajakut for a full five minutes, meaning that if he gets serious in a fight with it he could win if he's fast enough.
Pin had also gotten a bunch of new abilities, but she refused to show them to me or tell me what they are. She really wants every advantage she can get huh?
Today was the first day in a while where it was just me and Cyrus. Aurora and Sylphie were both learning different cooking recipes with Lilia so I took the opportunity to teach Cyrus one on one.
We were both sitting in the backyard, and we were carving sculptures using earth magic. I was planning on teaching him, but we were both just not feeling it so we were building up our mana pools. Our mana pools were quite large so I came up with an idea. By making the clay and using earth magic to then make that clay a different material I could spend a large portion of mana. So I made the clay into a dense metal. The metal wasn't as hard as other metals and still felt like clay, but it was heavier and harder to mold. Cyrus didn't have enough mana to mold my clay so I taught him the process and he managed to make his own slightly less dense metal clay.
I was working on a figurine of Phoebe. I was still having to carve out the general shape. With the extra density came extra amounts of time used to carve through. It took more time, but if I tried to speed things up I could damage the metal clay, and repairing it or making new clay would take way longer.
"Hey. Big brother."
"Hm?"
I looked over at Cyrus. He seemed down cast.
"Is something the matter?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
I set down my clay and moved to sit beside Cyrus.
"What's up?"
"Theoretically... you know what I'll just tell you."
Cyrus told me the story of his previous life. A 34 year old NEET who piggy backed off his parents after a traumatizing event and never left his room. That is until he missed his parents' funeral and his siblings kicked him out. He died trying to save some kids who were about to get hit by a truck.
Wait a minute didn't Aurora say that her friends were pushed away from a truck by some fat guy? Wrong place at the wrong time I guess.
"Living a life like that I never got to have a "special someone." Is it even possible for someone like me to find one?"
"Look at it this way. In that life you lazed around and never left your room after a certain age, however look at you right now. Your outside the house and you've been training your butt of in magic, and I'm sure Dad would let you join our sword lessons once your a little older. This is your second chance, so yeah. I think you will. Besides your a little young to be thinking about this anyway."
"I suppose so."
Cyrus looked over the wall of the house. I could see his pupils shake slightly and I felt a pulse from Tora that his fear levels spiked.
"Still scared about leaving the yard?"
Cyrus pulled his knees to his chest. I've gotten him to go to Phoebe and Kuroi's houses, but he's only gone there since I can just jump us there magic.
"They'll stare."
"Maybe, maybe not. You're the son of the village knight, younger brother of one of the seven great powers, and with how things are going you'll probably be quite the lady killer once you grow up. I wouldn't be shocked if after your tenth birthday some of the parents start sending their kids over to try and get with you. We may no longer be nobles, but marrying into the village knight's family comes with perks."
"Heh. Guess so. Thanks."
"No problem."
"Gotta say. You're the best brother I could ask for, but I guess my bar is pretty low huh?"
"Yeah. Still happy to be called your favorite brother though."
Tomorrow was Phoebe's birthday. We had gone back to the capitol since we couldn't risk sending the puppets for the birthday party. Kuroi and I had been planning and making the food and things of that nature and we left the rest of the stuff to the professionals. We didn't want to take their jobs, but they didn't know how to make Phoebe's favorite foods.
We upped security since Darius had recently gotten oddly quiet. Her siblings were all set to attend as well. Chances are Aubor and Reida might be there. I don't know about Reida, but I know that Aubor has been employed to teach some of the palace guards.
Kuroi and I had gotten the food ready. It was a multitude of sweets, and many finger foods. Unlike me Phoebe preferred to have small snacks throughout the day instead of eating large meals. We had small bite sized cheesecakes, macarons, cupcakes, tiny burgers, and a bunch of other miniature foods.
We got security set up, and all was prepared for the party.
The next day we were all dressed up quite nicely. I was wearing a deep purple formal wear outfit with a half cloak that covered my right hand. Kuroi had a formal kimono, and Pin was wearing the same. Kuroi's was black while Pin's was grey. Raion wore an outfit similar to mine but in a deep red. Phoebe wore an extravagant dress with multiple pink highlights. Her sleeves fully covered her arms and not a bit of skin was showing except for her neck and face.
I was watching over the party when I spotted someone who wasn't there before. He was a cloaked figure. Even now when I was focusing directly on him my other senses told me nothing was there. Yet he repelled mana I sent at him meaning he was a physical being. He looked up at me.
He had an oddly skeletal face. As if he had no meat under his skin. He removed the eyepatch covering his right eye revealing a black eye with a red pupil.
And that's when shit hit the fan.
Character Descriptions
Name: [Redacted/Thorn Hanabira/Rudeus Greyrat
Titles: Star God
Equipment: Yoko, AR sunglasses
Magic (in terms of the six faced world)
Space magic: King
Life magic: King
Fear magic: Intermediate
Water: Saint
Earth: Advanced (can be Saint if enough mana is used)
Fire: Advanced
Wind: Advanced (can be Saint if enough mana is used)
Healing: Advanced (can be midpoint of advanced-Saint if boosted with life eyes)
Detox: Advanced (unaffected by life eyes)
Barrier: Beginner
Divine Strike: Beginner
Sword
North God: Beginner
Sword God: Beginner
Water God: Beginner
Name: Phoebe Osore
Titles: Blessed Child, Forth princess of Asura
Equipment: Yuki, Akumu, all Kumu made with her eyes
Magic (in terms of the six faced world)
Fear magic: King
Space magic: Beginner
Water: Beginner
Earth: Beginner
Fire: Beginner
Wind: Beginner
Healing: Beginner
Detox: Beginner
Barrier: Beginner
Divine Strike: Beginner
Sword
None
Name: Raion Okami
Title: None
Equipment: King Dragon Blade Kajakut
Magic (in terms of the six faced world)
Blood magic: King
War magic: Saint
Sword
North God: Intermediate
Sword God: Intermediate
Name: Kuroi Hane
Titles: God of the Void
Equipment: Beau staff, Batons
Magic (in terms of the six faced world)
Void Magic: Emperor
Elemental magic: Intermediate
Healing: Beginner
Sword
None
Name: Pin Hane
Titles: Goddess of Darkness
Equipment: none
Magic (in terms of the six faced world)
Void magic: King
Sword
None
And chapter 11 is done. Another short chapter, but hopefully I can get back on my normal 10k chapters the week after next week. I'm still busy but I'm working on this fanfic. I hope to see you guys next time!
(Edit: forgot somethings on the character sheets)
Small bit of info. The magic Kuroi knows called elemental magic is fundamentally different from water, fire, earth, and wind magic because elemental magic cannot create the elements. It is used to control already existing elements.
He uses this magic to make flying easier. Pin refused to learn it since she is a natural at flying.
