I am so sorry this chapter took me so long to complete ! But writer's block is a bitch and this one was difficult to write, especially with the opening scene which features some torture on the part of Malty. So content warning, I guess.
But now we're finally getting continuation of what happened last chapter with Malty about to go full metal on these bandits asses and I hope you all enjoy what I have planned for this chapter.
Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing important feedback to make sure everything was alright.
With all that said, let's get this chapter started !
Chapter 46: The Dark Side of Medea
Naofumi gasped in shock at the sudden outburst of violence by his red-headed companion, as did a few others who were shocked as well. Mein's kick sent the wolf man to the ground and the fact that her boots were made out of metal, Naofumi internally flinched as he saw blood fly from the kick. He could tell that Mein wasn't holding back with that kick.
" AAH ! YOU FUCKING BITCH ! I THINK YOU BROKE MY NOSE !" The wolf man cursed at her as he sprawled onto the ground in pain " When I get out of this, I'm gonna-UGH!"
Mein cut him off as she roughly grabbed him by the chin, holding him up to look directly into his eyes and Naofumi could swear he saw the wolf shiver in fear.
" You'll what, wolf ? I'm not some weak village child or woman you torture and rape for kicks and laughs...I am something much worse, a nightmare for little pests like you who delude themselves into thinking they are something greater..." Mein muttered, barely audible.
It sent a shiver through Naofumi's own spine, as he briefly wondered who had replaced his red headed companion.
The wolf breathed heavy, clearly getting angry and shook his head rapidly, before attempting to bite one of Mein's hands off. Naofumi almost shouted for Mein to get back, only to watch as she stopped the wolf from biting down on her hand in one swift motion, before reaching into his mouth and grabbing one of his fanged teeth-
Before she ripping them out with her own fingers.
" AAAAAAHHHHHHH! FUCK YOU FUCKING BITCH ! THAT WAS MY TOOTH !" Mein released the wolf and let him sprawl onto the ground.
" Holy shit ! " Naofumi shouted in shock, as did a few others.
" Goddamn..." Welst muttered.
Mein looked at the tooth in her hand for a moment before throwing it carelessly away, pulling out a dagger and approaching the captured bandits, who all visibly shivered at the sight of the red haired woman.
That was enough to kick him into action " Mein, wait-!" Naofumi was about to step in when he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder and pull him back, he turned his head to see Itsuki with a serious look on his face.
" Relax Naofumi, I got this " Itsuki said in a low tone as he patted Naofumi on the shoulder as he walked forward to Mein.
" But-"
" Stay out of this Naofumi..." Itsuki said again, his tone much sharper and colder than before that it made the Shield Hero step back a bit from how much venom was ingested in it.
He could only watch as his fellow Hero approached his companion and held up his arm against her before she could get close to the bandits. She turned her head toward him like a predator who had just been interrupted in the middle of her feast.
" Mein, ease up a bit...we should take this slowly. No need to go fast on this, am I right ? " Itsuki spoke in a frighteningly calm tone.
Yet it made Mein stop for a moment, looking between him and the bandits that were looking at her in fear as if she was considering his words. Naofumi himself was scared at that moment too, but not because of what was happening but because of what Itsuki himself was doing to get Mein to calm down. He wasn't appealing to her mercy or humanity...he was appealing to something much worse than that.
After a few seconds of dead silence, Mein eased up and took a step back, letting the Bow Hero take the reigns of the interrogation.
" Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for that rough opening but we all have some negative emotions that I think we can benefit from airing out in a healthy way " Itsuki speaks as if he is the showman on a gameshow, as he claps his hands together " Now let me just get to my first question: Which one of you scumbags tortured and raped the prisoners in your dungeon the most ? The one who did the least will only get off with a few broken fingers ! "
The suddenness of the question caught Naofumi off guard, and how the way Itsuki casually spoke about breaking fingers shocked him too. Something else about what Itsuki said caught Naofumi's attention, prisoners ? Were there hostages inside the fort that they didn't know about ?
" U-Um...Itsuki, maybe we should wait until-" Armina took a brave step forward to her hero.
" Armina, Welst and Audrey please go help Alice's group with the rest of the prisoners. They'll need a hand getting them all out " Itsuki said in a commanding voice.
" But-"
" Now Armina, we don't have time to argue " Itsuki repeated in a firmer tone,
Armina looked like she had more to say, but seemed to respect Itsuki's orders as she quickly went inside with the other two members of Itsuki's group.
Itsuki turned his attention back to the bandits " Now where were we ? Oh yes, which one of you would prefer broken fingers over internal bleeding ?"
The bandits all turned pale from the question, some of them shifting in their binds as if they knew they were caught in a trap.
" From the opening looks here, I'm getting...I'm going to take a wildly guess here and say..." Itsuki almost carelessly waved his hand, and pointed at several bandits " You, you, you, you, you...and you, were the most frequent visitors to the dungeons, am I right ?" Itsuki said as his finger landed last on the bandit leader.
Some of the bandits flinched in response, others turned even paler than they were before. A few that were not pointed at let out a breath of relief that they were not called out as one of them.
" Fortunately for ONE of you...we need information " Itsuki explained in a cold but almost showman like tone " So for this one time offer only: First person who gives up where the Hound Lord is, gets off with only a few punches !"
" What the fuck does it matter, we're all dead anyway !" The wolf shouted " You think we don't know the executioners axe is waiting for us !? You're gonna kill us all anyway, so you think we're gonna give anything up for some bullshit 'deal' you offer ?"
Naofumi can't help but wonder whether the wolf had a point. Alice had said in no uncertain terms that even Porter's group that they encountered a while back, which was arguably much more sympathetic would still have been imprisoned or executed. Considering these guys are probably a lot more brutal, execution seemed like the only fate for them, which he wasn't sure how to feel about. And if they knew they were all dead anyway, what was the point of spilling what they knew instead of taking it to the grave in one last act of spite ?
Itsuki seemed to be undeterred as he took a step forward, arms folded behind his back " The difference being...the executioner is quick. We are not and we have all the time in the world "
" So !? You think you can scare us, you son of a bitch !? You have no idea what we-"
Itsuki sighed as he took a step back " Mein, if you would "
" With pleasure..." Mein stalked forward, effectively silencing any bravery from the wolf leader armed with a knife. Before Naofumi could speak up in protest, she went behind his back and cut off his binds.
What ?
Naofumi was confused by what Mein was doing by cutting the ropes holding the wolf, but she seemed to quickly restrain him physically with her own hands.
" Get off me you damn-UGGH!" The wolf was cut off when Mein grabbed him by the arm and held him to the ground in what Naofumi thought was a submission hold that wrestlers used.
" Where is the Hound Lord ?" Mein asked simply.
" He's...He's...He's up your ass, you fucking whore ! And I will be to when I-"
CRACK !
Naofumi couldn't believe his ears when he heard the sounds of bone breaking...followed by the sight of his redheaded companion snapping the bandit leader's arm like a twig.
" AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! YOU F-F-FUCKING BITCH ! YOU BROKE MY ARM FUCK !" The wolf let out a slew of curses as Mein let his arm go, after bending it in an unnatural way that sent shivers down Naofumi's spine.
Mein for her part looked completely unphased as she dusted her hands off " Such a filthy mouth, shame we need your tongue to speak "
" You can always cut his tongue out and force him to write the information out " Itsuki suggested nonchalantly.
" There's one idea..." Mein shrugged " But I think I have some better in store for this piece of trash..." Mein spoke as she glanced over at some long wooden stakes that were leaned up against the wall.
Without another word, she walked over to the pile of wooden stakes and grabbed the longest one, inspecting it for about a moment before walking back to them.
" Mein...what are you doing ?" Naofumi asked as she passed by him, but received no answer. As if he didn't even exist to Mein at that moment.
The Shield Hero watched as Mein planted the long wooden stake into the ground near the wall, facing it upwards towards the sky. Naofumi becoming increasingly confused at what she was doing, but at the same time a feeling of dread building up at the same time since he just knows that its going to be something over the top terrible.
Wait a second, a wooden stake, placed near the wall...
Naofumi realized too late as he heard the shouts of curses coming from the bandit lord, as Mein roughly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began dragging him very slowly up the steps to the wall and Naofumi's eyes widened as he figured out what Mein was going to do.
" Mein wait !" Naofumi shouted at her, but she was already at the top of the wall and dangling the bandit leader over the edge, hanging precariously over the stake Mein had planted. Naofumi ran as fast as he could up
" Mein...let's just take it easy here..." Naofumi tried to talk Mein down, but he could tell that he wasn't being heard at all.
" Alright asshole, here's the deal, you tell me EXACTLY where your leash holder is and I won't impale you alive..." Mein said with as much venom in her tone as possible, it made Naofumi flinch a little.
The wolf shifted his gaze from the stake he was hanging over to Mein, his eyes were filled to the brim with fear " Y-You wouldn't... AH !"
Mein reaffirmed her point but quickly pushing and pulling him back over the edge, her eyes were stone cold as she looked at the bandit leader as if he were a cockroach to crush.
" Do I look like I'm joking ?" Mein asked in a cold tone " You know, getting impaled isn't an instant death...it can take hours depending on where the spike hits...it can take minutes, hours or seconds...do you really want to roll the dice here ?"
The wolf bandit seemed to ponder his options between impalement or telling the truth. The choice seemed kinda obvious.
" I don't know where he is, alright !? He sends his orders through messengers from other bandit groups, so nobody ever really knows whose part of his personal posse or who's just a proxy messenger !" The bandit lord shouted.
" Then you are useless to us..." Mein loosened her grip over the leader.
" Wait ! I know where his spies in Rabier City are ! "
That made Mein stop for a minute as she considered what she said, Naofumi at the same time did too. He knew where the spies that spotted them back in the city were ?
" Explain "
" That Hound Lord fuck thinks he's better than everybody else, just because he has spies and fancy connections we all think we have to listen to him and kiss the ground he walks on-"
" Cut to the part about the spies or I drop you now "
That seemed to motivate him real quickly as he was brought back to the reality of his situation "- He has spies in the city ! He puts them there to keep an eye on that fat slave driving fuck Rabier and report anything important that happens ! That's how we knew you were in the city ! "
" And you know where his spies are how ?" Mein questioned.
" He doesn't just have those spies there to keep a lookout on things, they are also there to recruit any demi's or beastman that wants to fight back against you man-animals !" The bandit leader shouted in Mein's face who was passive at all this " They send the newbies here for training, I know where they are because I had some of my boys follow them back one night ! "
Something seems to stir within Mein as she thinks about the information, he's not sure whether she's pondering the information or is shocked by it.
" Where are they ?"
" Slums of the city, southeast end, look for a raccoon named Ash !" The bandit leader held onto Mein's arm with his only unbroken arm, trying to pull himself back from the edge " That's all I know, I swear !"
Mein face was stone-cold, making it impossible to discern what she was truly feeling at that moment. Her expression spoke of silent rage, but it was controlled in a sense. Precise. And that just made it even more scary.
After about a second or two, Mein seemed to have made up her mind...and her grip was loosening on his shirt.
" Mein, wait !" Naofumi shouted as he immediately grabbed her arm to stop her from dropping the bandit onto the stake below. His sudden action, made Mein give him a sharp sideways glance that almost made him step back but he stood his ground.
Mein's grip tightened as she gave him a hard look " Don't get in my way Naofumi "
" Mein, please don't ! He's beaten already ! You don't need to do this !" Naofumi pleaded with her.
" SO ?! You think these assholes gave mercy to the innocent people they butchered and raped !?" Mein's cutting words made Naofumi flinch, before she turned her anger back to the wolf who yelped in fear as he was held an inch away off the edge " You didn't see what I saw in those dungeons Naofumi ! You didn't see all those women they tortured, they broke their spirits for fun ! Go ahead wolf, tell my hero how you treated your captives down there !"
" I-I-I'm...oh god, I swear I'm sor-AAH !" The bandit leader was cut off when Mein socked him in the face, causing blood to start to come down his nose.
" Stop lying. Spare us whatever fake apologies and pleading you have " Mein turned back to the Shield Hero, her face morphed into anger " You think they'd show us any mercy if the situation was reversed !?" Mein shouted at him " NO ! They would be raping me, Alice and the others right in front of you and be laughing their asses off about it ! Isn't that right, wolf ?"
The wolf couldn't speak anymore, too busy cursing his bleeding nose and trying to avoid getting dropped.
" Tell me why I should show mercy to this absolute piece of garbage !?" Mein shouted at him for a reason.
And Naofumi found himself dumbfounded on what to say. What can he really say ? He didn't see whatever Mein and Itsuki that sent them into this rage against the bandits. He can't wholeheartedly say that they don't deserve it, because he's not sure on what they do deserve not including what Mein just told him they did. So what can he say to somebody who's pain he doesn't know about, much less comprehend ?
The Shield Hero looked into the eyes of his first companion and he saw something beneath the rage, beneath the vengeance, beneath the hate...
He didn't know what it was exactly, but he knew he needed to reach out to that human side of her.
Naofumi softened his gaze and his grip on Mein's arm as he found the words to speak.
" I'm not stopping you to protect him...I'm trying to stop you from becoming like him " Naofumi said firmly " You're better than this Mein, I know you are..."
He wasn't sure about it at first, but his words seemed to hit her just the right, as her breathing slowed down to what he thinks was a calm pace and her death glare towards the bandit calmed down a bit as well-
Before she roughly threw him back from the edge and landing him onto the wall.
" AH ! Fuck !" The bandit leader cried out after being thrown down, due to the fact that his arm was still broken.
" On your feet, get moving " Mein was quick to force the bandit to his feet and get him walking back down to the yard to throw him back in with the rest of the bandits
Naofumi let out a sigh, at least he managed to stop Mein from impaling a person.
He followed her back down to where Slayer and Itsuki were waiting with the rest of the Silver Keep knights. All of them watching with attentive eyes, but most of them relieved that Mein didn't drop the bandit leader just then.
Most of them.
" You should have let her drop him " Itsuki said with a hard look in his eyes.
Naofumi didn't back down though " Sorry Itsuki, I couldn't watch my companion impale a person alive "
That got Itsuki to back off a bit, as he crossed his arms and stood off to the side with Slayer.
It was at that moment, that Naofumi noticed Titan Storm and the rest of Itsuki's party members start to walk out of the fort carrying what looked to be women covered by blankets. A few were even walking with them, albeit with aid by one of them.
Their appearance, made Itsuki turn to the knights that came with them " All of you, wait outside now. We'll tell you when its okay to come back in " Itsuki immediately ordered them out of the blue.
Lucatiel looked reasonably shocked " W-What ? But why Bow Hero ? We have medics here, we can assist the captives-"
" Now Lucatiel...trust me, these women do not need to see you guys " Itsuki said again firmly.
Naofumi was confused as well, before he saw one of the women flinch at the sight of the tied up bandits and he realized what Itsuki was doing.
The women are afraid of demi-humans. What the hell happened in there ?
Naofumi isn't sure he wants to know.
" I...understood " Lucatiel bowed her head as she quickly instructed the remaining knights to filter out of the fort.
" How many ?" Slayer asked Alice simply as they approached. His voice sounding somber.
" 18 captives in total. From what I gathered, they were all taken from various villages all over " Alice explained with a somber expression on her face " Me, Clarissa and Armina already managed to take care of their wounds but Slayer, we found something else you need to see" A grim look passed Alice's face as she turned her attention to Audrey and Rufus who had been pulling a crate and barrel behind them.
This got Naofumi and Itsuki's attention as well, as they approached the crate and barrel to see what was inside as Alice cracked it open with her sword, revealing the contents. Naofumi was surprised to see that the the crate contained metal armor, metal weapons like swords and spears, and barrel on the other hand was filled with vegetables like carrots, potatoes and more.
" We found more food, medicine and other useful supplies inside as well " Rufus added.
" Along with a bunch of bonecharms in one of the rooms " Clarissa held up what looked like a strange item that had three points to it. What it was made out of, he felt like he didn't want to know.
" Metal armor, metal weapons, good food and supplies, black magic items, they are far too well stocked for just a regular bandit group " Slayer surmised.
" That's not all, we found a crate of this " Alice produced a pure white bottle from her pocket and handed it to Slayer, whose head moved back a bit in what Naofumi guessed was surprised as he took the bottle in hand.
" Holy water. The only way they could have obtained this is if they raided a local church, but none of the reports mentioned any churches being attacked recently in this area " Slayer spoke with what sounded like worry in his tone " This is concerning "
" Is it really so strange for bandits to have good equipment ?" Naofumi asked.
" Most bandit groups make do with whatever weapons and armor they can steal, scavenge or buy off dead adventurers or the black market. Usually only the leader of a group has the best armor and equipment but these guys are wearing metal armor like standard equipment " Clarissa explained, pushing her glasses up a bit." All the bandits we were fighting were all sporting this gear, so the question remains: Where did they get it ?"
Itsuki grunted, turning back to the bandit leader who was still whimpering on the ground " Hey dipshit ! Where the hell did you assholes get all this gear ?"
The bandit leader still visibly freaked out from almost being impaled just now jolted in shock at being called out again. " W-We got it from the Hound Lord ! "
" The Hound Lord ? How ?" Itsuki questioned.
" I don't know where he gets any of it alright, I swear ! He says he has 'connections' or something with the right people, but I don't know where it all comes from " The bandit leader spoke with fear " Its because we were promised all this gear that we agreed to work under him. Why do you think any of us actually work for that pretentious asshole !? "
Itsuki stared at the bandit leader for a moment before turning away, much to his relief.
" Slayer, what's your take ?" Itsuki asked his most trusted advisor.
" Well-organized and prepared bandit groups are capable of getting their hands on equipment this good but such groups are far and few in between. The fact that this Hound Lord seems to be the source of where all this gear and supplies are coming from is...concerning " Slayer said with what Naofumi couldn't help but interpret as worry.
" These don't look like cheap hand-me downs either, this stuff almost looks professional " Rufus added." You would need a LOT of money to arm and equip all these bandit groups "
" There's no way in hell one major bandit group can fund all of this. Something's not adding up here...somebody else is footing the bill for all this " Itsuki commented.
" We can figure that out later Itsuki, but for now can we please help get these women out of here ?" Armina asked kindly.
Itsuki's eyes softened for a minute as he looked at the captive women who were huddled together for comfort " Right. We need to transport them to the local church to get them all sorted out and figure where they came from "
" What should we do with all the equipment and supplies Itsuki ?" Welst spoke up.
" We should have the knights take it back to Silver Keep " Mein immediately answered that question, making all eyes turn to her " The Silver Keep is low on food, decent armor and weapons. These supplies could get the Keep back up to strength or at least give them the time they need to recover "
Itsuki nodded his head, seeming to agree with his companion " Good call Mein. Slayer, you help Alice and her team keep an eye on the captives, I'll get the Silver Hands to help move all this stuff back to the Keep " Itsuki clapped his hands " Alright, let's go people ! We don't have all day !"
Naofumi stared at Mein for a time, which eventually made her notice his staring.
" What ? Its not like we're robbing these bandits of the loot they stockpiled and kicking them to the curb. Better put their gear and equipment to use somehow " Mein shrugged before she walked off.
That wasn't what Naofumi was thinking about sadly. No, Naofumi couldn't stop thinking about what Mein almost did today, the anger she had shown today was unlike anything Naofumi had ever seen in her before. The Shield Hero watched his red headed companion with a long gaze, and he couldn't help but wonder what could have possibly made Mein into the person she is today.
He lets out a sigh, he really needs to talk to somebody about this. And he already has an idea about who.
Mein's POV
It wasn't until nightfall that they returned back to Silver Keep, not only did they need to help move the remaining bandits to the nearest city to imprison them as Silver Keep didn't have the resources or space to hold them. Honestly, Mein wanted to suggest they just kill them outright and save the axeman the trouble, but she kept that to herself. They also needed to transport all the supplies and weapons they uncovered at the fort back to the Keep, and the two carriages they brought with them didn't have the space to load all the supplies they found. Along with getting the captured women to a nearby church where they could be sorted out. Fortunately the bandits had a few carriages of their own in the back that they were kind enough to let them take, the Silver Hands were able to use their mounts as steads to get the food and weapons back to their home.
The sudden appearance of a carriage full of new armor, weapons and supplies was a surprise to the Silver Hands but not an unwelcome one.
She was just about to return to her own room, when she felt a hand touch her shoulder and she suppressed the coming sigh, guessing that it was probably Naofumi coming to give her a lecture about earlier.
To her surprise though, the one that patted her on the shoulder was not her dear Shield Hero, but instead the irritating knight who wore a mask of passiveness.
" Come to my room later after dinner, we need to talk " The knight rudely said before walking away.
Mein raised an eyebrow at the sudden request to speak from the knight. Briefly wondering what it could be he wanted to talk to her about, despite their 'partnership', they had very few conversations between each other due to their mutual distaste for one another. So if the knight was initiating a conversation, Mein can imagine nothing good coming from it.
Still she headed to his room after dinner was concluded, the entire mess hall up in arms in celebration about the fact that their food situations was fixed albeit temporarily and they could finally have some decent meals this time around. Naofumi of course was once again asked to cook for dinnertime, but Mein decided to be merciful this time and step in before he could get talked into it, because she knows exactly how weak Naofumi can be when it comes to being peer pressured into doing something good for other people. The food the cooks served wasn't even that bad really, nowhere near Naofumi's level but still better than the bare minimum they were served this morning in the form of bread, potatoes and tomato soup.
After getting her fill of food, she headed for the knight's room without delay and the princess had a feeling she had a long night ahead of her.
Arriving at his room, Mein doesn't even bother to knock and insteads pushes the door open, letting herself inside. The room itself wasn't all that different from her own, in fact it looked almost exactly the same with some minor differences in furniture and such. The knight himself sat at the desk of the room with his helmet off, so Mein could observe his expression in full view. Which at the moment was one of annoyance, as he glanced at her as she entered his room without so much as a greeting.
" What the hell was that ?" Ake said to her almost immediately as she entered the room.
" Excuse me ?" Mein replied sounded offended he would take that tone with her.
" Being a princess you may have been able to get away with pulling some messed up shit, but in case you need a reminder you're not a princess here and that doesn't mean you get a pass to act like an asshole in front of the Shield Hero " Ake scolded her.
" Is there a point here I'm missing knight or did you call me here just to insult me ?" Mein glared at the knight as she crossed her arms " Speak plainly or I'm leaving "
" Chief god above, do I really need to spell this out to you ?" Ake said snarkily.
" Fuck you " Mein said simply but the knight seemed to pay her no mind.
" Guess I do need to spell it out...You were torturing a bandit right in full view of Naofumi the whole damn time " Ake let out a sigh as if he was speaking to a child " Doesn't matter how big your tits are, you are going to look a lot less attractive to him as a partner if you pull some shit like that again with him around "
Mein raised an eyebrow at the knight. This is what he wanted to talk about ?
" And here I thought you were about to give me a lecture about what I did to the bandits was inhumane and wrong " Mein said sarcastically.
" What ? No, those bastards deserved everything you gave them but that's not the point I was trying to make princess, the problem was that Sir Naofumi was there witnessing the whole thing and felt the strong need to step in to stop you " Ake explained "If you actually want to get serious in getting with Sir Naofumi, than you can't be pulling shit like what you pulled back at the fort "
Mein shifted uncomfortably, hating the fact that she knew the knight had a point
" My point, princess is that the Shield Hero isn't like you. At all. He's kind, caring, empathetic and all those wonderful qualities that make up a good person "
A good person...just like Jaune, huh ?
The princess thinks back to the time she spent back with the sole male heir of House Arc. To most Melromarc ladies and heiresses, they would have immediately cut off the courtship after the first few weeks. Jaune being the youngest male heir of House Arc meant that it was unlikely for him to inherit little more than the position as his elder sister's general or the title of Viscount, if Artoria is feeling generous but that wasn't the only reason Jaune wasn't exactly sought after marriage material. But it was also because of the well-known truth that the male scion of house Arc was always so damn foolishly noble, with a strict adherence to honor and goodness, making him a terrible player at the game, something that should have turned Mein away in an instant-
And yet Jaune gave her some of the best moments of her void damned life. He was one of the few who treated her kindly, instead of a ticket to being made part of the royal family. Despite all his flaws, awkward gestures and failings, Mein found him endearing through all the times he treated her like a true gentleman and defended her honor. The memory of the time he almost challenged a noble to a duel of honor who made a pass at her during a banquet was one that Mein treasured greatly. Together, they would have taken Melromarc by storm come hell or high water-
If Mein hadn't fucked it all up. Like she does with all her relationships. The ones that matter to her at least.
The thought of her past breakups with Jaune and Keith, it leaves with an unsettling fear: Will the same happen with Naofumi ?
" Hello ? Medea to princess ? Did you fall face first into the Void again ?" The sound of fingers snapping and a snarky voice brought her back, followed by her blinking in surprise by hands clapping together. She became blatantly aware that Ake was looking at her with an annoyed expression as he seems to be making stupid noises to spook " Are you still there princess or has the void rotted your mind already ?"
" Piss off, I'm fine..." Mein 'gently' pushed the knight away in annoyance as she shook her head, she can think about her past failed relationships later. She needs to focus on the here and now.
Ake didn't look convinced but didn't press further " Whatever, you get what I'm saying though right ?"
" No more torture or other 'distasteful' acts in front of Naofumi, got it, I don't need another lecture " Mein said rudely but she got the message Ake was trying to deliver.
" If you're going to do it, don't do it while he's around at least " Ake added.
Mein couldn't argue with that logic." Fine "
" Great. So is there anything else we need to talk about ?" Ake walked back to his bed and sat down on it.
Mein thought about it for a moment and an idea did come to mind for something she could use Ake for. There was still one other thing she needed to do tonight and she didn't feel like putting it off any longer than she had to.
" Actually, I could use your help with something " Mein said with a smirk.
" This is the stupidest fucking plan I've ever heard in my life and THAT's saying something " Ake immediately insulted her as they approached the war room of Silver Keep.
Mein rolled her eyes and ushered for him to shut the hell up, as she peaked around the corner to see two Silver Hand knights standing guard outside. She activated Dark Vision and confirmed that Eclair really was in the room and based on her posture, she was looking over a map and to her good fortune she was alone in the room. Perfect. Mein knew that the war room was soundproofed to prevent spying, so this was the best place to have a nice chat with Eclair.
Considering the fact that they were all guests of Silver Keep, they didn't really need to sneak around but it would have looked suspicious to see members of the Shield Hero's party just walking around at this late hour. Requesting for a sudden audience with the Lady of the Keep this late at night ? That was bound to raise some eyebrows and questions that Mein wasn't prepared to answer. Thankfully she had a plan in place, albeit a rather simple one that Ake wouldn't stop whining about. She was sure with his skillset he could pull it off.
" There is no way in hell this is going to work " Ake expressed his disbelief in her plan.
" Just shut the hell up and go do it " Mein rolled her eyes.
Ake let out a quiet groan " I hate you so much princess "
Mein very calmly flipped him her middle finger to show that the feeling was very much mutual.
Ake grunted as he walked over to the pair of knights with a bottle of wine in hand that Mein may or may not have stolen earlier.
" My fellow knights ! You two look as though you could use a break and I just happen to have a bottle of wine right here " Ake said in an over the top voice " How about a toast to our recent victory over the bandits ?"
The two knights looked at each and then back at Ake " Who the hell are you ?"
Mein suppressed the urge to laugh at the sight of Ake trying to make conversation with the two demi-human knights and stall them for all he could. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to savor the moment, Ake had caught their attention and given her an opening. She was not going to waste it.
She's been meaning to give Bend Time a test run anyway, especially after using all those runes she found at the fort to upgrade it. She hopes its well worth it.
" Bend Time " Mein's whispered the words of power-
And in that instant, the whole world turned a sickly grey as time itself hung in motion. That cold feeling from the Void crept up into the bones of her own body as she quickly moved from the corner to the door of the war room, passing by a frozen Ake in the process. Quickly opening the door and entering, closing it as gently as she could to avoid the knights noticing the door was open.
When the skill wore off approximately 8 seconds later and color was returned to the world, Mein was already in the room and standing in front of Eclair, whose attention was firmly planted to the map.
" Alright, the food and supplies they brought back should be enough to last maybe a month if we ration everything " Eclair was so busy mumbling to herself that she didn't even notice Mein standing in front of her.
" You know, if I was an assassin, your throat would already be slit and I'd be gone by now " Mein said loudly to get her attention.
" Who the-!" Eclair jumped and immediately grabbed her sword that laid on the table, finally giving Mein her attention " Y-You ! Wait, aren't you the companion of the Shield Her-"
Eclair's voice died in her throat as her eyes widened to the size of saucers as Mein pulled down her hood and cloth that concealed her face.
" Hello Eclair, its been too long" Mein's lips curled into a smile that resembled that of a viper staring down her prey.
Naofumi's POV
Naofumi wasn't quite sure what he was thinking coming here so late at night, he honestly should have just done this in the morning and not just because he felt it was rude to intrude on someone resting after everything they all went through earlier today in the form of attacking that hideout. He himself felt the fatigue catch up to him and his eyelids felt heavy, still he pushed through it, if he didn't do this now than he probably wouldn't get the chance to later.
The Shield Hero had to admit though that it took him more than a couple of minutes to locate where the right room was, Silver Keep was a lot larger on the inside than it seemed and he hadn't exactly been memorizing all the right paths to go when they were given their rooms. So he had to embarrassingly ask for directions from passing knights more than a few times on where to go.
Still he managed to find the right room after taking much longer than he probably should have doing it. He took a deep breath as he worked up his courage and knocked on the door a few times rather loudly, hoping that he wasn't disturbing someone's sleep and after a moment he could hear the sounds of someone's footsteps approaching the door.
The door opened and the young face of the Bow Hero greeted him, not quite of annoyance but surprise " Naofumi ? What are you doing here ?"
" Hey Itsuki, do you mind if we could talk for a bit ? Its kinda important " Naofumi cut to the chase immediately.
" What about that it couldn't wait till morning ?" Itsuki questioned.
Naofumi let out a sigh as he knew this hard question was going to come up.
" Its about Mein..."
Sorry to cliffhanger you all at the end there, but I just couldn't resist that ending with Naofumi wanting to talk to Itsuki.
Hope you all enjoyed the opening scene where Malty and Itsuki go full metal on the bandits. If it wasn't clear earlier, Thomas taught Malty to have a zero tolerance policy of bandits and she still follows religiously to this day. I was actually a bit worried that scene might have ended up crossing too far into grimderp, that it would have taken away the seriousness of the situation so I'm glad I managed to hit it just right.
And of course, we got Naofumi coming in clutch to stop Malty from impaling the bandit leader alive. The real sad part about what he said about Malty being better...is that she really could have been a better person if she focused on the positive of her life, but if she continues down this road of following in Tommy's footsteps...well let's just say that canon Malty is going to look like a petulant brat in comparison to this version of her where she has the skills, knowledge and power to really get evil.
Whether she still can be a better person from here on out is still up in the air honestly.
Now let's answer some reviews shall we ?
To lord Martiya:
Huh, in hindsight 'Pest Control' would have been a much better title for the chapter thinking about it. But in my defense, the title 'Corruption of Innocence' referred less to the act of Thomas killing off bandits and more towards how he was slowly corrupting Malty throughout his year long 'adventure' with her and how that has made her into the imbalanced messed up person she is today. If this chapter where Malty straight tortures a bandit in front of Naofumi was any indication of how much he messed her up.
Thomas was totally doing the world a favor by killing off Abby's band of scumbags, I'm not denying that...but he himself was a scumbag for dragging Malty into all of his dark shit. I don't want to sugarcoat any of Thomas's evil actions, he is not the good guy Malty thought he was, whether she realizes that later on is up in the air at this point.
To EXCUBITORE:
Oh yeah, there really don't deserve any mercy and Malty has long since run out of mercy to give. The only reason she didn't impale the bandit leader after getting the info was because Naofumi didn't want to see her go off the deep end.
Thanks for reading !
To s0ra5000:
Yeah, it might seem unfair that Raphtalia has been an angel so far and loses an arm, while Filo is a raging brat who gets off with a glorified slap on the wrist.
I won't lie when I say that I've definitely been giving it hard to Raphtalia in this story, her losing one of her arms and being crippled definitely put her development of being useful to the party on the backburner. But don't worry things should theoretically start looking up for her...before they turn horrible again but still. And in regards to Filo, she's definitely going to suffer more consequences for her reckless behavior than Raphtalia will at some point in the story. That I can promise.
With all that said, I will see you all in the next one.
Angel Out.