I was actually able to get this chapter finished a bit ahead of schedule so here you go . Not sure whether I can legit promise weekly updates on this story with how college has been kicking my ass this past month but I'll still try and keep up to date with this story the best that I can so you all hopefully don't have to wait too long between updates .
Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing important feedback on this chapter .
:)
I definitely won't lie when I say that this chapter was one of the more difficult ones to write but I think in the end it came out relatively well . I at least hoped that it did.
With that said , let's get this chapter started !
Chapter 7 : Liars , Undead and Barbarians
It came as no surprise that the entire cave that was said to house an undead infestation smelled absolutely god-awful . In addition to them having to deal with the undead that they crossed paths with.
Mein's nose repelled at the first smell of the dark cave as they headed further in, the smell of blood and what was probably rotting flesh filled the air. She pulled her veil and hood up as to block out the smell . Honestly it barely helped.
Mein stayed close to Naofumi and keeping an eye out for any undead that might be ahead of this cave. The cave itself wasn't exactly cramped since she could still swing her sword well enough , but there wasn't a lot of room to move around.
She swears they better get some good EXP and drops on this quest ...
" Are we even going the right way ? Its so hard to tell " Naofumi complained .
" We seem to be on the right track Naofumi ... haven't you noticed the dry blood ?" Mein said grimly gesturing her torch to the ground when Naofumi could clearly signs of a blood trail .
" Oh ..." Naofumi said quietly " Stay close to me , I can't defend you two if you're both too far away from me " Naofumi advised looking a little uneasy now.
" Yeah , but we shouldn't clump together , lest we make ourselves one giant target " The knight advises , which directly rubs Mein the wrong way .
Is this knight actively trying to screw her over ? The First Princess of Melromarc ? Does he have nothing to live for or is he just insane ?
Either way , Mein was certainly not liking this knight very much .
As they continue to walk , Mein ponders if she can somehow get rid of the knight in this cave , those undead must certainly be dangerous with their numbers and all ...
Mein can feel herself grin creepily underneath her veil .
Maybe taking this job wasn't such a bad idea after all ...
Though the big problem with this , is that Naofumi is in extremely close proximity of the knight . So any attempts to get rid of the knight would not go unnoticed by Naofumi or else she really might end up blowing her cover and at point it will really be over for her .
She will need to be smart if she wants to get rid of the knight .
She looks to Naofumi , to see him stop in his tracks , it is then she notices that the light coming from his torch is starting to grow dim .
" Mein I think my torch is starting to go out , you think you can use your magic to relight it ?" Naofumi ask Mein who nods .
" Of course , Naofumi just give me a few moments to recite my incantation " Mein takes the torch away from Naofumi and gently sets own down on the ground as a source of light as she channels mana into her palm.
" As source of thy power , I order thee , decipher the-"
"AAHH! Shit ! "
Mein was interrupted by a curse from the knight and the familiar moaning of undead ... coming directly behind them !
What's worse the knight's sudden back movement caused him to slam into her and extinguish her own torch . Leaving his torch that had fallen to the ground as the only source of light .
Damnit ! What the hell !?
" Ake ! What is-! "
" Undead ! " Ake shouted as he unsheathed his sword and attacked the figures behind them.
From the faint light that had fallen from the floor , Mein could see a group of undead had somehow sneaked up behind them and were engaged in battle. All of them wielding their jagged weapons and red eyes glowing in the darkness of the cave.
Impossible ! How did they outflank us !? Were there more in the forest that we miss-
" Mein , get that torch lit now ! " Naofumi's hurried voice shouted " Air Strike Shield ! "
Naofumi's shout and scream of his skill that blocked off a few of the undead from getting to them was enough to snap Malty out of her stupor.
" As source of thy power , I order -" Mein didn't even get to finish as she just barely avoided a spear thrust from an undead.
" Damnit , I can't recite my incantation like this ! " Mein shouted as she pulled out her sword.
" To hell with it ... RUN ! " Naofumi ordered loudly , as they all begin to hightail it out of there and deeper into the cave .
Mein kept running and running ,until she had heard the undead fade from her hearing.
" Stop ! Stop ! " Mein shouts and she heard somebody stop beside her. From their loud panting and breathing they must have been very tired , though Mein felt as though she could keep running.
This must be the bonus of having high agility .
Mein activated Dark Vision to confirm that the undead that was attacking them wasn't following them or at the very least hadn't caught up .Dark Vision didn't exactly help her see too well in the dark but it did help her make out what was around her . She sees the knight who was still looking around in a blind mess , but Naofumi was nowhere to be seen !
Shit ! Where did Naofumi go !? She was certain that they had been generally running in a straight line .
Unless of course she and the knight had unfortunately taken a detour down some other path that led in further parts of the cave .
Great ! Now I'm separated in a dark cave with undead chasing after us , with a knight I hate with a burning passion .
The sounds of blades being dragged over the stone floor indicating enemies closing in on their position . Mein looks behind them to see in the distance a few yellow colored undead coming right towards them.
What should she do ?! Fight or run ?
Mein looked to see the knight had already unsheathed his sword but was still uncertain of where exactly the threat was coming from .
An idea came to mind on how to distract the undead as she made a tactical retreat ...
She waited until the undead got just a little bit closer and ...
With all the force she could muster ... Mein shoved the knight in the direction of the undead.
" What the fuck !? " The knight cursed as he fell to the ground " You bitch ! "
Mein was already long gone before the undead reached them using Blink to get ahead ahead of them , leaving the knight as a nice meal.
The sounds of screams and metal hitting something , echoed through the cave .
A creepy grin morphed on her face ...
Thank you undead .
Mein kept running until she saw some light at the end of the path , she ran even faster as Dark Vision started to end .
By the time the skill had run out , Mein had already reached the light and she sees multiple bright ores illuminating in the darkness providing at least some light ... barely .
" MEIN ! AKE ! Where are you !? " A voice echoes throughout the cave and Mein could tell that it only came just a few feet ahead of her .
And Mein could instantly tell who's voice it was ...
With a smile on her face , she used Blink to quickly reach the source of the voice as it continued to call out her name and the knights . She stopped using the Blink skill , just a few feet before she saw a figure standing among the ores.
" Naofumi ! " Mein calls out to him , running to him with a sense of urgency .
" Mein ! Are you okay ? What happened ?" Naofumi's asks clearly concerned and worried about her sudden disappearance .
" I-I think we got separated back there , I think me and Ake must have accidentally went down some side tunnel that led here " Mein explains , relived that she has finally found the Shield Hero .
" Well , where's Ake ? He isn't with you ?" Naofumi looks behind her , expecting to see the knight only to face disappointment .
" I ... I think we both may have gotten separated back there ... when the undead caught up !" Mein fakes a tone of worry , as she brings her left hand up to cover her face .
" What the ..." Naofumi suddenly sounds shocked at her as he steps back a bit , much to her surprise .
" W-What is it , Naofumi ?" Mein asks , confused on his sudden reaction .
" Your left hand its ... its glowing... " Naofumi points to her left , the one which she used to cover her face mere moments ago .
Mein sees the Mark , glowing bright red and emitting some reddish smoke from it .
Naofumi has seen the Mark ... Naofumi has seen my Mark .
A sense of dread and fear starts to seep into Mein's heart , so its over then ... Naofumi knows and he sure as hell isn't going to let her into his party once he finds out about the Marked .
Fuck .
Before Mein could continue having her mental panic about this , the sound of footsteps coming from their front brings her back to the situation at hand .
" Mein , get ready " Naofumi changes his shield to one of his shield to a shield with pointy needles on it as Mein unsheathes her sword as she prepares for battle .
Using Dark Vision , she can see undead coming towards them ,Mein charges at them and decapitates the first one.
Her focus seems to sharpen as more and more enemies begin to come towards them , Naofumi bashing the undead away away and then she goes in for the kill .
She was practically panting but her breathing was controlled in a way and her focus never felt more sharp.
" Fast Fireball ! " Mein throws a fireball at two undead and turn them both to ash . She didn't hesitate to cut down the next one that came into her sights.
" Mein , last one ! One your right ! " Naofumi points to the undead.
" I got it Naofumi ! Fast Fireball !" Mein throws another fireball at the undead and destroyed its body completely.
Mein got her breath as she tried not to panic .
So Naofumi has seen my Mark . Great . That's just fucking perfect .
" Mein ! More coming from behind us ! " Naofumi shouted as she noticed the sound of more footsteps coming from behind her in time , she quickly turns around to see another undead step from the shadows of the path.
" Fast Thunderbolt ! " A chant followed by a bolt of lightning hits the undead from behind.
Mein and Naofumi turn to the direction of where the lightning spell came from and to her surprise and shock she sees the knight covered in blood walking towards them !
" About damn time I found you , I was walking back down the path to get to you guys " The knight says walking towards them , his eyes fixated on Mein .
" Ake ! You're ... you're alright " Naofumi sounds relived at the knights survival ,which ticks her off .
The knight stops to look at her still glowing hand , before sneering at her .
" So Marked huh ... sucks to be you " The knight actually has the nerve to mock her at a time like this !
Mein has to hold back the urge to stab him right then and there.
" Marked ... ? " Naofumi looks at her in a mixture of shock and surprise.
The knight gives her a look " Either you tell him or I will and I promise it will not be pretty "
" Naofumi ... I swear I will explain everything once we get out of this cave " Mein puts a hand to her chest , there's no getting out of it now .
Naofumi looked like he wanted to argue , but resolved to just focus on the mission .
" Fine , lets keep going " Naofumi took point and led the way .
The silence among the group was ... in light terms tense .
Mein could feel the knight burning holes in the back of her head and Naofumi seemed to be keeping his distance , every time she tried to get closer to him , he always seemed to move away .
Mein didn't believe in karma , but if it did exist then she was suffering the brunt of the bad karma that came with pushing the knight to his death .
Mein could see some kind of ... strange purple light ahead of them .
Wait a second , purple ?
" Sir Naofumi , look " As they got closer the knight pointed at what seemed to be the end of the cave.
And his finger pointed at what looked to be some kind ... shrine or effigy of some kind. With purple lanterns scattered around the room illuminating the cave like room.
And the purple lanterns also showed the large cluster of undead inside the cave room that seemed to gather around the shrine.
Mein could sense ... something else though , as if her heart was beating as they stepped inside.
Wait , that isn't my heart...
It wasn't of her own heart no ... it was from the heart on her belt pouch.
Mein remembered the Outsider's words that night how the Heart would start beating fast when it was near a rune.
It was then that Mein noticed that placed in the center of the shrine as if some kind of offering ... was a rune.
Of course , there's a rune here because why wouldn't it ?
" Spread out and take them all down !" Naofumi shouted as the undead noticed their presence .
" Understood , Sir Naofumi ..." The knight nodded before attack the incoming undead.
One of the undead attempted to jump at her , but Naofumi was able to block with his shield and Mein quickly cut it down .
" Fast Fireball ! " Mein threw a fireball at a group of undead which took out most of them before blinking to cut down the ones that had survived.
" Fast Thunderbolt !" The knight also unleashed his own magic attacks which tore through the undead with ease.
The smell of burnt rotting flesh assaulted Mein's nose but she didn't care . All of her focus was on wiping every single last one of these undead into the ground without mercy . As she cut one after the other down , her superior stats and training harnessing her focus and resolve.
" Mein I - AGH !"
Mein turned just in time to see Naofumi ready to block the attack of an undead , but another one had managed to get him in the leg.
Before Naofumi could recover the undead seized this opportunity and swarmed him.
" NAOFUMI ! " Mein shouted as she watched in horror as he got swarmed.
Watching Naofumi get pinned by those undead ...
Mein felt something snap inside of her.
Before she could even think it through , she blinked to the cluster of undead and started hacking through every last one of them .
" Die die die die ! " Mein repeatedly shouted , not even caring that some of their blood got on her as she hacked through them.
And as she mentally thanked the Outsider , Naofumi seemed to still be alive , albeit with a few injuries on his armor.
" Naofumi , are you okay !?" Mein pulled Naofumi to his feet , keeping a hand on his arm in case he needed support .
" I'm fine Mein ... " Naofumi recomposed himself , as he held his shield up against the remaining undead.
We can't last much longer ... we need to put an end to this now .
" Ake , Naofumi , cover me ! " Mein shouted as she started chanting " As source of thy power , I order thee ! Decipher the laws of nature and rain hellfire upon my enemies ! Zweit Fire Squall ! "
She felt the heat build up just over her head and as she finished her chant , the build up of fire released itself and hurled several smaller balls of fire at the undead around them . Managing to catch and burn many of them in a single hit .
" Kill them all !" Mein shouted as she charged at the remaining undead with fury and vigor .
In less than a minute ... all of the undead were ... dead again .
" We did it ... we won " Naofumi breathes heavily as he drops to one knee .
" Naofumi ! " Mein runs to his side and grabs his left arm , looking him over he doesn't appear to be injured .
" Naofumi , your chainmail ..." Mein points at his armor causing him to look at his armor . By Mein analysis of his chainmail , it was definitely damaged pretty badly with it having a gigantic hole in it now and several slashes and would be bite marks . Thank god that the undead weren't able to pierce his defense.
" Its okay Mein , I'm not injured , thankfully I think my chainmail took the brunt of their attack " Naofumi places a hand to his damaged armor in relief .
Thank god for that...
" What the hell ... is this thing anyway ? " Naofumi asked turning his attention towards the shrine.
" I think its some kind of shrine to an Outsider god ... I remember some of the knights busting a few cultists that set up shrines like this " The knight gave a look directly towards her " And I remember that said Outsider god had something to do with our dear companion ..."
Naofumi gave a look towards her too and Mein had to suppress a flinch as Naofumi turned his gaze back to the shrine " Could it be that this artifact has something to do with these undead being here ? "
" Maybe ... probably ..." The knight shrugged " We never really kept these things around for study "
" Let me take it " Mein said as she pushed past the two of them to grab at the rune , suddenly she felt the beating that came from her belt pouch calm down "We should also destroy this shrine while we're at it too "
" Alright ..."Naofumi gave a simple nod.
Mein took a few steps back as she pointed her hand at the shrine " Zweit Fireball " Mein chanted and a ball of fire came out of her hand and at the shrine , the magic attack hitting the shrine and starting to burn it.
" I guess that's mission accomplished " Naofumi said as he turned away " Come on , let's go inform the lord of Pickaxe that they're safe now "
" Yeah , lets go ..." The knight makes a move for the way they came , before stopping in his tracks and looking at the ores sticking out of the wall " Actually , hang on a second "
The knight walks to one of the ores and uses his sword to pry it out of the stone , making a screeching noise that makes both Mein and Naofumi cover their ears .
Finally getting the ore out , the knight throws the ore at Naofumi with no further warning outside of " Here , see what you can get from absorbing it "
Naofumi manages to the small ore , he looks a bit hesitant at first , before he feeds the ore to his shield .
" Light Metal Shield ? " Naofumi's shield changes to a square metal one much resembling his small shield " Wow , the defense rating on this shield is much better than anything else I've absorbed so far and it has a nice effect too , Magic Defense Enhancement "
" Great , now lets get the fuck out of here " The knight takes the torch from off the ground and begins walking back the way they came .
" Hey , Ake ! Wait up ! " Naofumi hurries to catch up with the rather rude knight , leaving her behind .
Thankfully , that was exactly what she was hoping for ...
Running up to one of the ores sticking out of the wall , she hovers her hand over it . The Mark glows and in instant the ore turns to dust and is absorbed into her Mark .
Light Metal Strength
Increased Magic Defense (Medium )
Magic Defense , huh ? Not too bad ...
Now to handle our little artifact...
Mein turned her attention to the rune they had found and like she remembered , she aligned her Mark with it and the rune turned to dust and was absorbed into her tattoo . In a second , she received a notification about a new skill .
Devouring Swarm
Summon a swarm of ravenous rats to attack enemies
Devouring Swarm , huh ?
A summoning type skill ... not too bad.
Most of the skills she gotten are ones that can't be used in battle or were purely support based .
Even if the summoned creature isn't ... exactly favorable she'll just have to deal .
" Hey , Mein ! You coming ?" Naofumi called out to her from further ahead .
" Coming ! " Mein quickly runs after Naofumi and catches up to him and the knight .
When she finally caught up to them , she expected Naofumi to say something or ask why she stayed behind so long but instead Naofumi was ... eerily silent .
Oh my god ... This was the exact same silence he gave when he found out I stole his equipment .
Which can mean nothing good for her ... she has learned in recent days that the silent treatment was not a good sign with Naofumi .
" Naofumi I-"
" Hey , check this out " The knight cut in before she could speak as he turned both of their attention to him " This is how they managed those undead managed to get the drop on us earlier "
The knight held his torch the wall and the light revealed there to be some kind of hidden side tunnel.
" A side tunnel ... but how-"
" The cave was dark ... and we were too focused on what was in front of us to notice this side tunnel " The knight explained " We weren't looking too closely at the shadows enough ..."
Amateur ... fucking amateur...
" Guess there's no point beating ourselves up about that , live and learn I guess ..." Naofumi turned back to her " Mein you wanted to say something ? "
" Yes Naofumi ... I ..." Mein wanted to speak but the words didn't come out , she was at a total loss for what to say to rectify this situation " About what happened just now I ..."
" Listen Mein ..." Naofumi cuts her off before she can even have a chance to say anything " We still need to talk about ... that , but lets please just do it after this "
Mein can tell he just wants some time to think , so she respectfully kept her mouth shut .
The walk out of the cave , felt longer than expected with the silence .
After informing the village that the infestation had been dealt with , Naofumi led them to the outer walls of the village and deeper into the forest ...
Naofumi stayed completely silent during their entire walk , not even once uttering a word ... and it unsettled her to no end .
She couldn't read his expression because of how he was keeping his distance and she couldn't get anything out of his body language because he was walking a bit distance from her ...
Their group suddenly came to a complete stop in the middle of forest , it would have been rather peaceful if not for the rather ... tense atmosphere their party carried .
A sigh from Naofumi broke the silence as he finally decided to speak " Okay Mein ... I think its about time we talk about ... that " Naofumi gestures towards her left hand .
" I ... understand Naofumi " Mein settles down on a log as to catch her breath and to control her breathing .
" Naofumi , I haven't been ... completely honest with you these past few days " Mein considers each and every word she says , knowing that it can affect the outcome of how this ends " So , I'm just gonna come right out and say it , I am -"
" One of the Marked , right ? "
Naofumi's sudden deduction throws her off , as she looks at him completely shocked at what she had just heard .
Naofumi ... already knew ? And didn't do anything about it ?
" Yeah , I ... kinda already figured it out 3 days ago " Naofumi scratches his hair seeing her shocked expression , as Mein continues to be shocked by this revelation .
" How did you find out ?" That was the question on her mind , there was no way Naofumi could have figured it out without somebody telling him . Unless ... he purposefully sent her to the herbalist shop alone and then went to the Blacksmith under the excuse of checking his armor , to ask him about it !
How could Mein have overlooked , something like this !? She knew something was off this morning , but she didn't expect that Naofumi was on to her .
" Well , there were three big things that gave me a huge clue about your status as a Marked " Naofumi raises three fingers as to empathize his points " One was your SP bar , I found it strange that up until three days ago , you didn't have one . But looking at the top left corner you definitely have 3 bars representing your HP , MP and SP , and I know that regular people don't have access to SP "
Mein felt like smacking herself on the head .
She could see Naofumi's bars directly below hers and Naofumi has status magic , which means he could see her bars as well since she was in the same party as him !
Naofumi drops another finger " Secondly , while this may be extremely minor , all of your bars changed color 3 days ago . While before the color of your bars were exactly the same as mine , but now they are different , your HP bar has turned red while originally it was green , your MP has turned blue when before it was orange and finally your SP bar is purple "
Naofumi was seriously starting to make Mein feel like a grade A idiot , how could she not have noticed that all of her bars were a different color !? And yet Naofumi noticed it ... and now it was coming back to bite her .
" And finally ..." Naofumi drops his last finger " I always receive a small notification on the bottom left corner of my vision whenever you or I use a skill , perform any sort of transaction or use magic or even absorb something . Which is why I know you deliberately stuck behind to absorb some of the light metal and another skill "
Scratch smacking herself on the head , she feels like bashing her head against a tree for this level of idiocy and incompetence .
She too always seemed to receive a notification whenever Naofumi used a skill or did anything , she didn't think much of it at first but ..
She seemed to have forgotten that the Legendary Heroes can do anything the Marked can do and vice versa ...
" I-I'm guessing you found out about the Marked , when you sent me away today on that trip to the herbalist didn't you ?" Mein saw a flash of guilt pass Naofumi's face " You didn't want me to hear what you two were talking about"
" Yeah , sorry about lying to you about that , but I just had to be sure ..." Naofumi gives a meaningful look to her.
" Its fine ... Naofumi , I know I deserved that "Mein speaks truthfully " I received the Mark 3 days ago , at the inn . I was chosen to wield this strange power ..."
Mein hold up her left and makes her Mark glow " I am one of them "
" Yes , I'm pretty we all figured that out by now " The knight chimes in with apathy that was laced with anger " So what do you intend to do Sir Naofumi ? "
" What do you mean intend to do ?" Naofumi asks confused.
" I mean , are we going to turn her into the Church or the crown ? " The knight asks so suddenly it makes Mein's fear jumped to 100 real quick.
If she gets turned into the Church than she is done . Her royal status will be revoked and she will be branded a heretic.
Mein's hand instinctively etches for her sword-
" What ?! No ! I'm not going to do that ! "
Naofumi's sudden outburst was enough to stop her from going for her blade and it makes her look at the Shield Hero in shock.
The knight doesn't seem to be having any of it " But she's your enemy-"
" Mein isn't my enemy ! " Naofumi shouts at the knight as if to make a point.
Naofumi looks a bit uncertain for a moment before he speaks .
" Look ... a friend of mine told me a long time ago that these ... Marked guys are supposedly enemies of the nobility and the crown so ..."
Mein's eyes widened in shock .
Wait a second ... is he talking about ...?
Mein had to hold back the urge to smile . It seems that not all was lost after all .
" Yeah and there's a very good reason for that . These guys are criminals and heretics !" The knight shouted at her .
" Maybe but right now the enemy of my enemy is my friend ..." Naofumi spoke in a calming way " So just relax Ake ..."
Mein has to physically hold herself back from either face palming in frustration , gape in shock or pull out her sword right then and there . While Naofumi doesn't exactly strike her as the politically savvy type , she had hoped he would have at least learned to watch what he says in front of others.
Since Naofumi had practically just declared himself open treason to someone who sworn loyalty to the crown. Someone who also does not like her at all and would sooner run her through with a blade than work for her.
Mein carefully watches the knight and practically edges her hand closer to her sword with each passing second . Keeping an eye on the knight as he seems to shift in the middle of surprise , anger and disappointment all in the span of a few seconds.
Finally... as if coming to a decision ...
The knight simply crossed his arms and turned away .
" Your funeral " Mein can hear the knight mumble under his breath .
What ?
What ?!
That's his response ?! Something is definitely not adding up here !
How could a knight that had sworn loyalty to the crown just shrug off the fact that one of said royalty is a heretic ?! It doesn't make any sense ... unless ...
Unless the knight has something else up his sleeve ... or is waiting for ...
It would seem that there is more to this knight than what meets the eye.
Mein takes a breath of relief to try and calm herself as Naofumi turned his attention back to her.
" Mein listen ... can you look me straight in the eye and tell me that you are on my side and not with the nobility or crown ? " Naofumi said with seriousness in his eyes .
Well , I'm not the princess anymore so I suppose that's true ...
" Yes of course Naofumi... I would never betray you again ..." Mein said with sincerity as she looked at her tattooed hand " I never asked for this power , it was suddenly just branded onto my skin ...but I will use it to the best of my ability to help you Naofumi "
" ...I didn't ask to be the Shield Hero either ..." Naofumi said with empathy " But I will work to be a hero you can help "
" I understand Naofumi ... thank you for believing in me "
" Hey if you two are done having your touchy feely session can we go now ? " The knight rudely interrupts , spoiling the moment .
" Oh right Ake ..." Naofumi turned to the knight " Listen ... I know you may have some issues with Mein but-"
" Oh relax Shield Hero , you think I actually give a damn what those Three Heroes Church fools preach " The knight shrugged him off " I could care less as long as she doesn't wake up in the middle of night and tries to kill us"
No promises.
Though Mein had to say that she was ... perplexed by the knight. She was certain that he was going to reveal her attempt on his life earlier but ...he's being vividly passive for the moment . And she can't quite understand why ? Could it be that he knows he doesn't have any actual evidence ? Or that he is simply trying to avoid conflict for the time being ?
Whatever the case , Mein will need to deal with him soon enough.
" ... Okay fair enough " Naofumi looks between her and the knight " Alright let's get back this has been a pretty hectic day "
She gives the knight a look of curiosity as she walks pass him , which he only returns with a shrug and a look of apathy.
Overall , the mood of the group wasn't so bad anymore .
"Give it to me straight , you guys , how bad is it ?" Naofumi crosses his arm , as both Mein and Ake look over his armor .
They had went back to the capital , to confirm with the guild that the quest had been completed and collected their reward . Naofumi also wanted to see if there was anything that could be done about his armor , considering the harsh beating it took back in the cave . Naofumi had asked both her and the knight to look it over.
He had taken off the chainmail and handed it to them , now only wearing his villager clothes .
" I would say heavily damaged and estimated time of repair is somewhere between now and never " The knight's voice somehow borders between flat and amused at the same time.
" Its a bit difficult to say for certain whether its irreparable or not , but the damage done to the chainmail is quite extensive and even if it is repairable it would be quite expensive to do so " Mein thought back about what her father told her about armor and weapons , that sometimes it was much more cheaper to simply replace a sword of the same quality than trying to fix it .
" Then I guess we better see Erhard about this , hopefully he can do something about this " Naofumi suggested.
" You know Uncle Erhard ?" The knight looks a bit surprised by that .
Uncle ?
" Yeah , he's been my go to blacksmith ever since I came to this world , why ?" Naofumi answers the knight .
" He's the guy I went to go get your clothes from , he's an old friend of my family back when I was younger " The knight explains his relations with the blacksmith .
" Thinking back on it , you did head in the direction of Erhard's shop back when you went to go get me some clothes on the day of the trial " Naofumi puts a hand to his chin as recalls that fateful day .
" Well then why didn't Mister Erhard , say anything when we saw him again ? Surely he would have recognized the clothes when he saw them again " Mein questions .
" Uncle Erhard isn't a clothes salesman , so he doesn't exactly keep track of whatever clothes he's got on clearance , plus I just took whatever seemed to fit you and go " The knight answers her question , rather snippy if she would say so .
" Oh yeah , I never did pay you back for the clothes did I ? Hang on , I'll do it now " Naofumi makes a move for his coin pouch when the knight stops him .
" Forget it , it was only five coppers and it was my decision anyway " The knight waves off Naofumi's rather honest nature .
" But -"
" Just drop it , Sir Hero , I can live the remainder of my life without five coppers " The knight forcefully ends the conversation right then and there as Naofumi gets the hint .
" Okay , if you say so , lets get a move on to Erhard's shop " Naofumi puts his coin pouch back on his belt as he makes a move to leave the alley with both Mein and the knight following close behind .
The walk to the blacksmiths shop was a rather long one , as their little group continues to walk the streets of castletown . Back in her younger years , when she was but a child , she quite liked and enjoyed visiting castletown , it had a rather pleasant feeling to it . The shops , the stalls , the food which even though was nowhere near what the royals chefs were quite good .
But as their group continued to walk the streets of castletown , Mein sees two black robed figures move out of an alley and into the street , which catch her eye . Now this wouldn't be a concern to her , if she hadn't noticed that those black robed people seemed to be following them through the crowd .
" Naofumi , don't turn around but those two people in the black robes behind us , appear to be following us " Mein smartly grabs onto Naofumi's arm and whispers into his ear , as to not alarm their would be pursuers .
" I know , I saw them exit that alley a little while ago and started following us " Naofumi looks more than bit concerned at the present situation .
" Do you think we should lead them into a quiet alley and ambush them and then beat them until they talk ?" The knight seems to gesture towards his sword , which makes Mein start to believe that he really is a lunatic for wanting to start a fight now.
" I really don't want to kill or hurt anybody , lets just get to Erhard's shop as fast as possible " Naofumi picked up the pace of his walking , but didn't break into a full sprint as to not alert their 'followers '
Finally arriving at the blacksmiths shop , they quickly enters and shuts the door behind them . Mein goes to the window of the shop and looks outside to see the two robed people , move pass the shop and away from them .
Mein lets out a breath that she's holding , she was honestly worried she was going to have to fight real people to the death .
" Hey Shield Boy , heard you and the kid come in , what's the rush- Ake ?" The blacksmith , Erhard steps out of the backroom carrying two chests in both arms to greet them but he stops midway to stare at the knight .
" Nice to see you again , too Uncle Erhard " The knight walks to Erhard and takes one of the chest away from him and setting it down behind the counter .
" What are you doing with the Shield Boy ? He's not in any trouble is he ?"
" Its nothing like that , the king offered to give me companions as my 'compensation ' for that sham of a trial three days back " Naofumi ignoring the nickname , explains to Erhard " Ake wasn't even one of the knights he offered to give me , I was thinking that he was trying to plant a spy in my party to keep an eye on me "
" Damn kid ... I knew the king sure as hell didn't like you , but spying on you " Erhard lets out a whistle " That's a bit underhanded if I do say so "
" You're telling me ..." Naofumi rubs the back of his head , clearly exasperated at her father's actions , not that she could blame him .
" Well then kid , you picked a good companion for yourself , Ake's a good guy " Erhard flashes a smile at them " I've known him and his family since he was a baby and he's a good person and an even better knight on top of it "
" Just uh ... don't piss him off , he's had it kinda rough these past couple of months "
" I'm right here you know ..." The knight makes his existence known to them .
" Thought I might as well , give your new companions a word of warning " Erhard grins at the knight .
" But anyway , we came here to see if you could do anything about this " Naofumi hands Erhard the broken to which his reaction was rather , unsavory .
" My chainmail ! What the hell happened to it ?! Did it get chewed up by undead or something ..." Erhard's eyes widen as big as saucers as he seems to be rather surprised at what happened to his work .
" Hehehe ... well you see " Naofumi tries to dispel the situation with a rather awkward laugh , which honestly doesn't help at all .
" You got to be kidding me ..." Erhard slaps his forehead at this .
Naofumi holds up his hands in defense " It was my first time doing a quest okay ? Give me a break , will ya ?"
Erhard lets out a sigh and a smile " I guess there's no helping it ..."
" Can it be fixed ?" Mein asks as Erhard begins looked over the chainmail with a critical eye .
" Hmmmm ... well your chainmail took a real beating , it can be repaired but it would be pretty damn costly " Erhard places the chainmail back on the counter with a grim look .
" So it would be better if I just buy a new piece of armor , huh ?" Naofumi sighs at this , clearly he wanted to hang on to the chainmail but had to let it go .
" It would seem so Shield Boy , tough luck for your chainmail " Erhard gives a somewhat sympathetic look.
" Guess there's no helping it ... well let's see if I can unlock something good from this " Naofumi takes the chainmail and lets it get absorbed into his shield. A moment later he changed his shield to rectangular one that seemed to be made out of chains " Chain Shield , huh ? And it seems like it gives some trap skill called Shield Prison ... nice "
" Perhaps you should see what it does ? " Mein suggested.
" Good ide-"
" Hey , hey , hey ! Do not try any skills in my shop alright ? " Erhard shouts before Naofumi even got the chance to speak " Trust me , there have been more than a few times that some idiot adventurer tries out some new power or spell in my shop and it almost got burned to the ground "
" Hehe , sorry ..." Naofumi apologized.
" Anyway Mister Erhard , do you have anything that might suit Sir Naofumi ?" Mein inquires about the armor , it was certainly about time Naofumi upgraded his equipment .
" You're in luck kid , I just finished putting together a set of armor just for you " Erhard gave them a smirk " I had a feeling that you would be coming back for some better equipment so I was prepared "
" Always the prepper Erhard " Ake quipped .
" Now how about you put it on and we can see how you look in it " Erhard smirks at them , as if he had some weird trick to play .
Mein was certainly not amused by this .
Okay , Mein was REALLY not amused by this in the slightest .
Mein already had some level of expectation for the made armor , the blacksmith had somewhat proven himself as an adequate blacksmith , one that hadn't so far attempted to rip them off by selling them faulty equipment or overcharging them for anything they bought . So he was just about their only good choice for getting good equipment in Castletown .
" I call it Barbarian Armor , you rock Shield Boy ! You look like a real bandit ! " Erhard grinned at the sight of someone wearing his work , as Naofumi looks at the armor uncertainly
Barbarian Armor was a suitable name for it , as it literally did make the rather adorable shield hero look like a typical bandit .
The armor firstly composed of a breastplate , made out of iron and was backed by some kind of monster leather . It also had a bunch of white fur around the collar of it , which while Mein thought was rather stylistic did add to make him look like an actual bandit . The next was a pair of leather gauntlets with fingerless gloves, to go along with it , as well as leather thigh pads that protected his sides , which was rather a good call considering how he went down so easily from a hit by one of the undead.
" Um ... Erhard ? You do realize I'm supposed to be a hero , right ?" Naofumi understandably looks a bit insecure about the armor he was wearing .
Mein didn't know whether to snort or awkwardly chuckle , but either way next time they order anything from the blacksmith they should be extremely specific on how they want it to look !
" It honestly doesn't matter what it looks like as long as its effective , the armor boosts your defense a lot doesn't it ?" The knight jumps to his uncle's defense about the design of the armor .
Mein held her hand behind her back as she used her Appraisal, focusing on the armor itself as to not scan Naofumi's stats .
Barbarian Armor: Defense Up , Magic Defense Up , Fire Resistance(Small) .
Mein internally sighs at this , as much she hated to admit it the knight was right , the armor did provide a pretty good boost to his defense that she could not deny . But the blacksmith could have at least tried to make the armor look a little less like that of a bandit , unless he did it on purpose as a joke on the Shield Hero .
" Well , I guess you did make it for me and it would be a waste not to wear it after you went through all the trouble of making it " Naofumi's put a hand to his breastplate in resigned acceptance about the look of the armor .
" Glad you like it , the leather is actually made out of a tough monster leather " The blacksmith gives a proud grin at his work , clearly not concerned about the look at all .
" Thanks Erhard , how much do I owe you ?" Naofumi asks touching some of the leather parts of his armor .
" Well , lets call it around 210 silvers " Erhard says after thinking about it .
" Deal " Naofumi takes out 210 silvers and hands it to Erhard .
" Happy doing business with you , shield boy " Erhard thanks Naofumi before turning his attention to Mein and the knight " So are you only getting armor for yourself ? Or were thinking about getting some upgrades for your companions as well ?"
" I really hadn't thought about that before " Naofumi turns to the two of them " Do either of you need anything ? I still have around plenty of money in case you want to get some upgrades "
" I'm alright , the order's equipment is pretty decent so I don't think I'll be needing any upgrades to my equipment for a while , I just need to raise my level a bit more " The knight quickly rejects the idea of getting new armor or weapons , which is probably a wise choice considering ...
" Well okay , how about you Mein ?"
Mein ponders it over for a few moments , while the idea of getting some newer , better armor does sound rather appealing as it would protect her more , she is not a fool to run their party out of funds before the wave even arrives .
" I think I'm okay for now Naofumi , the leather armor Mister Erhard provided are more than enough for me , for now " Mein politely turns him down , after her little mental debate was over .
" If you're not going to get any new armor for your companions than how about some new weapons ?" Erhard tries to pitch another sale .
" Mein , Ake ?" Naofumi asks for both of their opinions on the matter .
" You know my answer , already " The knight waves his hand , not caring as usual .
" Well , what do you have in store ? Nothing too expensive though , we should try to save money when we can " Mein specifies that she doesn't want anything too pricey .
" Don't worry , just give me a few minutes " Erhard walks in the backroom and reappears carrying a bow and arrow .
" This here's a hunting bow , pretty basic stuff , doesn't offer anything special but if you ever need to hit a target from far away this thing will do nicely " The blacksmith pitches the bow and arrows to them " Its only worth around maybe 4 silvers give or take a copper "
" It looks like the same make as the ones we use back in training in the Order " The knight comments , getting a closer look on the bow .
Mein picks the bow up and gives the string a gentle strung , it feels right in her hand , she never really considered herself much of a marksman but she's not blind on how to use it .
" May I , Naofumi ?"
" I don't see why not , it would be useful to have a weapon that can attack at long range , all of our weapons are mainly close range type weapons , so it would be good idea to have at least one of us with long range capabilities " Naofumi agrees with her , as he turns back to Erhard and hands him a few silvers " How much for the arrows ?"
" The arrows are on the house , they are the most basic of the basic type of arrows , so don't worry about it " The blacksmith waves it off , before walking to Mein's side with a quiver of said arrows .
" Mister Erhard , what are you -" Mein's asks but is cut off when Erhard begins strapping the quiver of arrows onto her belt .
" Hold still , will ya kid ? I'm just adjusting the quiver onto the side of your belt , so that it doesn't get in the way when you fight in close quarters " Erhard finishes tightening it just right , as he finishes the strap " There , good as new kid "
" Will you ever stop calling me kid ? I am fully grown 20 year old woman , I'll have you know " Mein tells him to his face , she was starting to get annoyed with the blacksmith calling her that .
" Let me think about that for a moment ..." Erhard places a hand to his chin in thought , before smirking at her " Nope "
Mein could only mildly grumble in response , as she saw Naofumi and the knights rather happy reaction to her misfortune .
" I'm glad I'm not the only one with a nickname anymore ..." Mein could only pout at Naofumi's happy response to this .
" Well anyway , thanks Erhard we'll see ya around " Naofumi gives a backhand wave to the blacksmith at they exit the shop .
" I think that went quite well " Mein adjusts her new bow around the shoulder , as she looks over his armor " At least we found a good replacement for your armor , Naofumi "
" Yeah , well I'm still not a big fan of the design , makes me feel a little ... insecure about it " Naofumi still looks more than a little self conscious wearing the armor " But at least it provides a pretty decent boost to my defense "
Mein feels that its good that Naofumi found a silver lining to the armor , even if the design is unsavory to say the least .
" Yes , I used my Appraisal skill on it a little while ago before you put it on . Its defense was 4 times that of the chainmail , so I think it was certainly worth the money " Mein speaks her mind , at least they can they are getting their money's worth with that armor .
" I guess I'll just have to deal with it for now , the waves already on its way here , so I can't waste time waiting for a new set of armor " Naofumi sighs in acceptance of the armor " Maybe when we acquire more funds , we can have Erhard replace the armor with something a little less ... bandit-y ?"
" A good idea Naofumi " Mein nods her head in approval .
" If you both are done sucking each other faces off , can we get back to who the hell those hooded punks are ?" The knight just had to chime and ruin their moment , didn't he ?
" You think they could be the guys who paid you ? " Naofumi leans in to whisper to her .
" I can't tell , I never did saw their faces and we just saw those hooded men from a distance so I can't be entirely sure " Mein quickly comes up with a good enough lie .
" I still think we should have ambushed them and made them talk " The knight's voice sounded like he wanted to get into a fight .
" Like I said , I don't want to cause a commotion " Naofumi retorts the knights point " Plus , lets look at this logically , this kingdom already doesn't like me very much , which means that whatever I do may end up getting twist against me in court . Which is why I want to keep a low profile "
" Naofumi has a point , we don't want to give any more arrows to the Church now do we ?" Mein says to knight .
" Fine " The knight merely grumbles under his breath .
" For now , lets just spend the next few days raising our levels , the waves only a few weeks away from now . And if we do run into hooded guys from before , I want to be ready , if it does come down to that I mean " Naofumi assessed the situation quite right , the knight seemed to be completely blind to the idea that those hooded figures from before may potentially be extremely high level assassins from the Three Heroes Church .
Mein nods in agreement , while the knight seems to give his silent consent .
So they made some money , cleared out a monster infestation , unlocked some new skills for herself and Naofumi , finally managed to come out as one of the agents of the Outsider , acquired some better armor for Naofumi...
Not have a half bad day if she was any judge.
And that is the end of the chapter ! I sincerely hope that Naofumi's reaction to Mein's big reveal felt real enough to you all , since he already kinda knew about it and already had some idea that they could potentially be his allies since they are hated by the nobility and Church for ... reasons .
I promise you'll find out in the later chapters .
:P
Now for everybody's favorite knight Ake , once again I will say that I totally overhauled his entire character and essentially turned him into an OOC . Since he is quite frankly a pretty boring character in canon and no , being Naofumi's fan boy does not count as an 'interesting character' then again I could say the same about Raphtalia .
But like Mein said in this chapter , there is more to Ake than what meets the eyes . That's all I'm going to say for now about him .
Now to answer some recent reviews , shall we ?
To Qinlongfei :
I actually did originally write all the skill names inside that whole [] and making them bold . But after a while , the brackets themselves kinda looked like eyesores to me so I got rid of them .
To each their own I suppose .
And yes , I also do love seeing Outsider troll some hapless schmuck , especially Malty in particular .
XD
There will definitely be more scenes like that in the future .
To XBOY40:
I'm very glad that you've been enjoying the story so far . In regards to your question about Sakura being added to the party ... while I obviously can't spoil anything , I will say that Naofumi's party most certainly won't have the exact same characters like in canon .
Now please enjoy this nice little omake , I cooked up in my spare time .
Non-Canon Omake: We need Codenames !
Itsuki : Guys , guy! We need codenames now !
All of the heroes and their party members who were sitting in the tavern enjoying their meal or drink turned to look at the Bow Hero with perplexed confusion. The Heroes wondering what the hell Itsuki is up to now and their party members wondering what the hell the Bow even means by a 'codename ' . Is that some sort of animal familiar ?
Motoyasu : What ?
Itsuki : We need codenames !
Ren : Why would we need codenames ?
Itsuki: Have you guys never seen a super hero or spy movie in your lives ?! Every hero comes up with a cool codename for themselves.
Naofumi : But everybody knows our names and what we look like so doesn't that make a codename kinda pointl-
Itsuki : Oh put a sock in it Naofumi !
Motoyasu rolls his eyes at Ituski's antics but decides to go along with it.
Motoyasu : ...Fine , what would your codename be ?
Itsuki : Mine would be ... Cyclone Gunner
The Heroes and their parties all looked at each other.
Naofumi : Your codename sucks !
Itsuki :Go blow a goat Naofumi !
Ren : Seriously your name doesn't even make any sense either . You're an archer , so why would add Gunner in your codename ?
Itsuki glares at the Sword Hero before changing his Bow into a literal minigun .
Itsuki : You were saying , bitch ?
Motoyasu : How in the world are you able to copy a mini-
Itsuki : We're in a fantasy world ! Don't question the logic of how things work too much !
The Heroes couldn't really deny that part .
Itsuki: Anyway what would your names be ?
Ren : Uh ... I guess my name would ... Excellion Blade .
Itsuki : I feel like that's a reference to something or stolen from it.
Ren flipped Itsuki off as he leaned back in his seat.
Motoyasu : If I had to pick a codename ... it would probably be Burning Lance.
Ren : That sounds even worse and unoriginal than Itsuki's codename.
Itsuki : Hey !
Motoyasu : Its the best I could come up with okay !?
Itsuki : Fine , Naofumi what do you got ?
Naofumi thought long and hard about a codename ... a name that would be fitting for only himself.
Naofumi : I guess if I had to pick a codename it would be ... Crown Shield.
...
...
...
...
...
Malty : Naofumi no offense , but that sounds like the worst out of all of them .
The Three Heroes : Yes , definitely.
Naofumi : Oh come on !
Ren : It sounds like something an edgelord would come up with and I thought I was the edgy character.
Naofumi : Screw you guys !
Maybe codenames were a bad idea after all .