[Author's Notes]
To kennymadison11: how could she have failed if she was never in the contest to begin with ; )
To TC: 1- weird right? Maybe that's because he is the long range specialist and magic provides more range options?
2- Juan doesn't have gravitational magic, he can swap dimensions not alter gravity, I also don't know how the king would even learn that
To Guest number 1: I sort of plan on it but I would do a solo Cult of the Lamb fanfic when I have the time or the right motivation or idea,
So far I have two thoughts on how to write a cult of the lamb shield hero fic. 1- have the Lamb from the game as a God
To Guest number 2: her power level grows with every strawberry she eats... also yeah, different heroes, different heads
To TheRizz: that's the biggest problem of writing any character that isn't the shield hero, you don't have any sort of base to know what they did in the original story besides some stuff like the BioPlant and Galileon so you have to create your very own personal storyline if you decide to focus on the other heroes
To Guest number 3: I actually am a bit unsure what to give him but I have a lingering idea for a possible reward
To Azure-Star-Dragon: 1- it is concerning but he will take care of it rest assured
2- there is those beholder-like enemies but they aren't much of threat compare to the monsters of the other heroes worlds
3- I don't know if I will add the Enchantress or not, but I might just say she is dead
4-The weapons have been dealing with so many Japanese protagonists that they simply didn't bother installing Duolingo for this type of scenario
To Shiitakesetachina: the events of the trial were rigged from the start and most of the people there hated the shield hero because they were loyal to the church so there is not going to be a big "the shield hero is innocent," going around because of the trial, but Juan's actions are what will be a factor since different from Naofumi, Juan isn't going around making himself be percesived as criminal
To XaralandoWyattWyatt: I don't plan on Madeline and Shovel Knight saving a demi-human but I do want to give the three heroes besides the beheaded a monster, I have lock on giving Juan a Filolial because of pollo power and the fact he has a close relation with chickens in his adventures, but I'm uncertain if it should be Filo, it would be nice to deviate a bit from using the same party members as the original story.
I am divided on giving Shovel Knight a dragon of his world(like those that shoot bubbles) or a dragon from the shield hero's world
My plan for Madeline/Badeline's monster pet would be either a alebrije, a chupacabra or a mountain creature like a goat with thunder horns, I'm also considering giving her a creature from a indie game but I'm uncertain if it would be fitting, which would you all prefer?
I like that idea but how would Shovel Knight even find them? Atla and Fohl are in Zeltobe (or Faubley depending on the version of the story) if Shovel Knight finds them he might become a enemy of the state of Melromarc since Aultcray would want him arrested or dead if Shovel Knight is taking care and training two Hakuko(white tiger demi-humans) and would obviously not be persuaded into abadoning or killing them, I would do that if this was a solo Shovel Knight fanfic
Pain... that's the reason we live, we live only to suffer at the hands of the world and we have not a single say in the matter, the things we love and the people we grow attached to only serve to make us feel worst once they are taken away... that's what Raphtalia understood of the world
She was born in a small village close to the sea and she was happy, raphtalia had loving parents and had good friends. But nothing good is meant to last in the world as the young girl experienced the first wave of catastrophe, monsters fell from the sky as her life got turned upside down, she saw people be hurt by these monsters as her father carried her in his arm while holding her mothers hand with the other, they were trying to run away from the monsters of the wave but destiny wouldn't allow that as a massive dog with three heads ran behind them, the beast was destroying anything and anyone in its path but no matter what it keep chasing the family down. The last thing she could remember from that day was her parents throwing the young raphtalia into the close by sea before the two were tore and ripped apart viciously by the mouth of the massive dog, all the while Raphtalia watched it paralyzed in pure fear and dread
Despite this terrible lost she keep moving forward, after the wave ended she received comfort from her friends as Keel tried to distract her from those thoughts by making up games for them to play and have fun while Raphtalia's best friend Rifana tried to make her focus on the good side of life instead of remembering only the tragedy. All was fine for her life as the young girl began to recuperate from her lost, she was still suffering from her trauma in the form of a livid nightmare version of that experience but she would live, that was until one week later... when the royal knights came in...
At first the people of her village thought the knights coming to help them rebuild from the attack of the wave, but as they got closer it was clear that wasn't the knights intention. They had a look on their eyes of pure evil intent and they had a demented smile of sick joy, they rushed into the village with their rides and began attacking the villagers, killing anyone that tried to fight back while imprisoning the rest inside their wagon that served as a cage. She couldn't believe this, they were attacked once again by the people who should have been there to help them and the worst part was what the knights were going to do to them as the rest of the surviving villagers were sold into slavery
The first week in the slave shop was like a unfair punishment, they had been stripped away of so many basic rights a person should have and instead they were being treated like mindless animals that had no rights, Raphtalia wanted to cry and scream all the time but Rifana stopped her by comforting her friend and promising that the shield hero would come to rescue them, while this didn't change their situation it at least gave Raphtalia hope that things would change for the better someday. But then he came, a noble by the name of Idol Rapier entered the shop and bought most of the demi humans from her village with most being children, they were taken to his territory and put inside large cells on the basement where they would likely stay for the rest of their lives, the only differences was that it the cells were larger and that they could interact with each other
The worst part was their new master as Idol was sadistic and enjoyed to see them suffer, picking one of them and torturing the poor soul by chaining them to a pole and using a whip to hurt them. Men usually didn't get picked often but they all received bruises on their arms and legs, women however were stripped naked and received whipping exclusively on their backs, she held on hope as much as she with her Best friend Rifana promising that the shield hero would save them... he never came.
And then another one of her only friends Keel was taken away to somewhere she could only guess was just as bad as this hellhole she found herself in, but a few days later however... Rifana died. Her death was caused by both the wounds inflicted by Idol's whip but also due to sickness she developed in the terrible living conditions they were kept in, when raphtalia awoke and tried to wake up her friend, when she realized what had happened she just... gave up
Raphtalia just stopped caring about surviving or even on having her own free will again, she was just... empty, emotionless and broken to the point that even the daily torture couldn't make her let out a squeal of pain or show any emotion aside from a cynical neutral expression. Because of this her owner sold her back to the slave shop due to her "not being fun anymore" in Rapier's own words, it seems the fact he couldn't get joy out of her screams of pain meant she was worthless to him, and so the young and mentally broken raccoon girl sat in her cage just waiting for the days to pass by. Not really caring of what would be her fate, so when a monstrous looking man that seemed to have a mass of smoke for a head starred at her and bought the raccoon girl, she didn't show any shock or horror when it happened and now she just followed along with him as a obedient slave
"I still can't wrap my head around this, you brought a child slave?" Quinn asked as he looked at the Beheaded and then at the child in question, still in disbelief at what he saw
"What, you would have preferred if I bought an adult?" The Beheaded responded back as he would have liked a adult slave to serve him, but all the ones in that shop that were in the cheap section were way too insane or physically worthless for him to make proper use of them
"Maybe! I just don't understand your reasoning for doing such a thing, please help me understand sword hero" Quinn plead as he really needed to understand the logic and reason as to why one of the legendary saints wielding the holy weapons would buy a child slave
"If I wanted the egg to have a magical crest on him I had to buy something else in the store, so I got the cheapest thing they had" the Beheaded explained as he still pondered the exact reasons as to why that shady business man Belouska would do such a offer, what was he to gain from this? 'That fucker is as shady and mysterious as that Collector'
"... This girl is the cheapest thing they had? I imagined... Something worse" Quinn said as he looked at the girl, he half expected that the cheapest slave in a slave shop would be more broken and dismembered, the girl was broke mentally sure but her body seemed rather fine with the exception of the sickness
"Yup, 2 whole copper coins for her" the Beheaded said nonchalantly as he tapped the girl in her head, as Quinn looked at him with eyes wide
"By the holy weapons..." Quinn mumbled as he looked at the girl with dread, wondering how someone could sell a person, even a Demi-human, for two measly copper coins, that was less than a loaf of moldy bread!
"Cheer up glasses! Now we have our personal servant that will do anything we want! Just like nobility!" The Beheaded said as he placed his arm around the cleric's shoulder as he was rather fine and enthusiastic about the ordeal, he barely remembered most things from when he was king beside a few extreme jerky moments but he did remember how good it was to have servants, people that did everything for him "Although she is pretty shit, maximum HP is at 17 despite the bar going to-"
"Her maximum HP is 17?!" Quinn exclaimed loudly as his mind went haywire with that information, the HP of a normal person in their childhood years is at most a 50 or 70 but for it to be at just 17, it was not a good sign in the slightest "By the gods... she is practically in death's door!"
"So... should I go try to refund her or-"
"No! She can still be saved if we use the right healing magic and medicine, as a cleric of the church, I can't allow a child, demi-human or not, to die when we can do something about it, it's against the teachings!" Quinn said as he looked at the headless swordsman, the church taught to be a helping hand to those who needed the most, the amendment didn't specify that a church member could only help a member of their species, so helping this girl wouldn't be against God's teaching, or at least he hoped so
"So you going to heal her with your magic?" The Beheaded said, mildly surprised as he didn't expect the cleric to have any healing power
"I don't have healing affinity but I know an intermediary spell that should help her to an extent," Quinn said as he kneed down and offered the raccoon girl to take his hand, she just looked at him and gave her hand, her expression still emotionless and her eyes empty, the cleric then placed a hand to the ground "Is a earth spell, I will suck some of the good nutrients and minerals from the soil, process them through magic and pass to her body, it should at the very least make her current state less... bad," Quinn explained as it would at the very least help her with the iron deficiency that the girl was going through
"So we can just have her eat dirt, wonderful! Saves us having to give her food!" The Beheaded said chippy as that was very dandy, having the girl eat literally dirt would allow them to save money for him to spend in more of his desires like booze and shiny equipment
"It can't replace full meals, this is supposed to be used on plants rather than living creatures, but it was discovered in the war that it could... never mind" Quinn stopped before he could go on a ramble as he needed to focus on the spell
"By my power and that of the holy weapons of the saints, transfer the graceful proprieties of the soil below me to the one I hold in my hands, [Earth passing blessing]!" Quinn performed the chant and his hand touching the ground started to glow a yellowish green color as the energy start to move from that hand to his chest, it lingered there for a moment before the energy moved to his hand holding Raphtalia's own, the moment the energy made contact with her, she was covered head to toe with the yellowish green glow before it disappeared after a few seconds
"How are feeling? Better or worse?" Quinn asked and the only response he got was a nod from the girl, it didn't answer his question exactly but she didn't seem marginally better than before all things consider
"Okay... we have to get her a proper meal, some clothes and a hot bath" Quinn said as those just the few things that Raphtalia would necessitate if she was to be in shape to do... Anything
"Ugh, such a bother, having to spend more money on her..." The Beheaded rolled his non-existent eyes at the notion of having to spend more money on a product he paid, no wonder she was cheap, she needed all these little things just to be worth a damn "But I know for a fact that I can't get a refund or sell her for more in this state, I made a investment and I want to see the rewards from it,"
"Let's go see if they sell child-size clothes with chain mail padding underneath," the Beheaded said as he started walking, both slave and cleric following him, the odd request did catch the curiosity of the cleric
"I am afraid to ask, but why sir sword hero?" Quinn asked as the Beheaded turned his "head" slightly to look at him with the glow that he called a eye
"Simple, she is going to fight with us, I brought her to be both a servant and a warrior working for me, make the most out of her," the Beheaded explained as he didn't want just a servant to do his bidding, he also wanted a soldier to strengthen his forces, since him and Quinn didn't seem like much at the moment and his crocodile egg wouldn't hatch for a good while
The Beheaded stopped in front of a stand selling some type of kebab and grabbed one as the owner was preparing some more, he walked forward a good distance from the stand before turning around and looking at Raphtalia
"Here, eat up, now" the Beheaded said as he gave her the kebab, she ate it more out of obligation than actual will since her's was still broken. They exited the city and entered the open grass fields as the Beheaded pulled a iron frying pan from his inventory and gave to the girl
"Now, here is a frying pan, the perfect weapon for any occasion, now go kill in my name!" He said as he pointed to some balloons that were bouncing around close by, the girl looked at the homunculus and then at the frying pan before doing as told, walking towards the balloons to bash them in with the blunt weapon
"She is doing well against the balloons" Quinn comment since, considering she was using a weapon that caused blunt damage to a species known for resisting such thing, killing three balloons was impressive enough for a child that still seemed to have most of her muscles recovery from starving
"Pfft, I could do that with just my head, we are going to start the real test..." The Beheaded said as he walked towards the forest looking for something, through the bushes and trees until he finally catch one of the little bastards
"Hey kid! Got your next target here" the headless homunculus exclaimed as he came back holding a small round rabbit, as he inched closer and closer to the raccoon girl
"That's a-"
"Usapil, yeah, I want you to bash its skull until its brains leak from its ears" the Beheaded ordered as he kneeled down so he would be in eye level with the girl, as Raphtalia looked at the rabbit trying to escape the grip of the undead swordsman
"If I do that, it will bleed..." Raphtalia finally spoke, which actually surprised both the Beheaded and Quinn since she had stayed quiet for the whole time so far
"And? Do you believe it wouldn't kill you the same way without remorse? In this world is to kill or be killed, and I am telling you to kill!" The Beheaded shouted very authoritarian as he wanted to see how far the girl could go, if she wasn't able to kill something just because it would bleed then she was truly not worth the 2 copper he spent on her
"N-no, I don't want to kill it..." Raphtalia said weakly as she stared at the usapil with trembling hands, that sight was disappointing for the Beheaded and saddening for Quinn
"Swo... mister beheaded, she is just a child, you can't expect that she-"
"The only brains I want to make into mush... is of that bastard that killed my friends..." Raphtalia let out as she was looking down and her hands trembled just a bit less, that remark immediately perked up the interest of the Beheaded and the cleric but for different reasons
"hohoho! I thought you were a whiny baby but seems I was mistaken, tell me more about this person you hold a grudge," the Beheaded said almost delighted, that was something he could explore, trauma was a good tool for how to emotionally manipulate people into doing stuff, like killing
"...His name is Idol Rapier, he is one of the great nobles of Melromarc and according to his mad ramblings, a prestigious military hero and "best" friends with the king and pope," the raccoon girl started as she began to remember those painful days, the name had no weight to the Beheaded, but Quinn knew who she was talking about and was fairly surprised that she was one of his slaves, since as far as he knew, Idol was one of the few nobles that didn't own slaves... At least publicly
"He bought me and most of the people of my old village to be his pleasure slaves... every day he hit us with his whips, every day a different whip was used because he wanted the whips to taste our flesh and blood as if they were alive, he treated those things better than us..." She touched her back as she felt the ghostly pain and the slashes of the whips on her as if it was still happening
"We only had the cold ground to sleep in, and filth was everywhere in our cells... I had to eat that same filth after a week of starving just to become sick and eat my vomit instead" the memory sickened her and made her want to throw up, but she couldn't since her body was seemingly fighting against itself to maintain the recent decent food she consumed inside of her for its nutrients
"But the worse of all... The absolute worst thing he done to me... he sold one of my closest friends to a brotel and killed my best friend in the whole world in front of me! All with that maniacal face of his!" Raphtalia rage was practically overflowing from her expression as a feral look adorned her face, that bastard had not just made her suffer, he made those she still cared for suffer! Watching Rifana die choking in her own blood while that disgusting pig laughed at her best friend struggle to keep living made her heart beat with infernal rage as she wanted to strangle him with his own guts! And knowing that her beloved friend Keel was now going to be some sex toy to be raped and tossed around by scumbags like him filled her with nothing but dread and fury.
"The only blood I want to spill in my life is his blood! I want to bathe in it as I strangle him with those whips he likes so much!" She wanted to kill him, She NEEDED to KILL him! To make him suffer for every soul he tormented, to make death be a gift of mercy, to make hell look like the better option, her innocence died because of that man, and now wrath was all she had left. Quinn covered his mouth and walked as he needed a moment to recompose himself, but the Beheaded looked at the girl with a new vision, as that glowing gem he had for a eye shined brightly at her
"Rage, such a powerful emotion, no wonder I saw something of worthy inside of you when I was in that shop, you're a murder machine in the making!" The excitement in the undead swordsman was clearly visible, a semblance of something like the most twisted form of empathy seemed to be what he was going for in his talk with her "I can relate so much to you, every day I went through monstrosity after monstrosity just to inch closer to the man I wanted to kill" that remarked seemed to intrigue the girl, which the Beheaded decided to use as the chance to make his proposal
"Here's a deal girl, I will help you achieve your revenge, help you murder that bastard, and in exchange you will serve me loyally for the rest of your life as my servant, you will kill anyone I tell you to and do whatever task I demand, I have set this slave mark on your chest to Max, so if you try to lie, steal, run away or hurt me in anyway, you will be shocked slowly to death, if you say no, I will kill you and feed your remains to my sword... Do we have a agreement?" He awaited her response as the girl seemed to think about it, one would allow her to live, the other would be a mercy of sorts that would still have him gain something in the end, it was a win-win situation for the Beheaded and perhaps for the girl
"..." both stayed in silence, until the raccoon girl lift the frying pan and began to mercilessly beat the poor rabbit until it was almost flat on the ground and both her and the beheaded had the blood of the rabbit in their shoes and legs
"... it is a covenat then, a pact made by the blood spilled today, I am Raphtalia from Lurolona village, I'm yours to serve and I will murder Rapier or die trying!" Raphtalia said as she held a hand up for the sword hero to shake, her eyes beaming with new found motivation
"A simple yes would have been enough but welcome to the team" the Beheaded said as he shook her hand, that went more smooth than he thought as he expected the girl to need more convincing but it seemed that her mind had a few screws loose just like him
"Oh gods... sir hero, sorry for leaving is just that my stomach..." Quinn said as he approached the two, only to see them covered in blood and the state of the usapil raphtalia had killed, seeing its bodily parts spread across the ground in such grotesque manner caused the cleric to get green in sickness as he vomited "*Blegh*!"
After returning to town after Raphtalia had slayed some more monsters before falling to her knees by a painful coughing fit, the group of three was currently making their way to a weapon shop to outfit Raphtalia with a better weapon than a frying pan, even if the Beheaded was slightly opposed to the idea (he really liked the pans)
"I can't believe her, she must have been lying!" Quinn thought to himself as he walked alongside them, shooting glances at the tanuki demi-human, before he sighed in defeat "... no, a slave can't lie or else she would have been shocked"
"But what she said... there couldn't be a way that she speaks the truth, is simply unfathomable for someone like Rapier to be such a horrible monster..." Quinn still doubted what Raphtalia had said about such a outstanding member of society, sure Rapier seemed like a sketchy guy but that was merely because of bad genetics, he had seen the guy many times during events hosted by the church and seemed like a normal person!
"He is one of the biggest supporters of the church, he is always present to wherever the church organizes an event, he and pope Balmus met so many times, he can't be that sort of man!" Quinn shouted in his head, if what she had said was true, then that little girl could have quite literally the power to ruin Idol's prestigious reputation... If anybody cared for what she had to say. He kept still as he was lost in what to think, was he really going to take what a demi-human said as the true? The slave crest must have just failed! But... The sheer conviction in her voice when she said those words could not be faked
"Hey glasses, what are you doing? We are getting my servant a weapon remember?" The voice of the Beheaded pulled Quinn out of his thoughts, as the cleric looked to see that the sword hero was entering a shop together with the small raccoon girl
"Sorry sir... a simple indigestion, that's all..." He merely replied as he shook his head, the Beheaded's response was just a shrug of his shoulders as he entered back inside the shop as Quinn followed
"Welcome to my shop, how can I..." The shopsmith Erhard started to speak before stopping as he saw the strange view of the Beheaded and the little Raphtalia checking out multiple weapons for the girl to wield, all of which were either too big or too dangerous for someone her size
"So what do you want? The frying pans are the superior weapon in my opinion" the Beheaded suggested as not only would using the frying pans save them from spending unnecessary money with "real" weapons but also because pans were awesome in his eyes, one of the most reliable allies he had back in the shit hole that was his world
"I agree but I want something that will kill slowly and maximize pain, I can dual wield it with the frying pan, something for close range and one for medium to long range..." Raphtalia explained as she kept looking for a weapon to wield, she moved through the store until stopping at a display showing a leather outfit meant for dessert exploration, in the waist of the standee was dark brown whip. Raphtalia couldn't look away from the object as it brought back many painful memories to her, but that fear became anger as her face deepened into a frown as she picked the weapon into her hands
"A whip... its the weapon he used to torture me, so is fitting that I use a whip to make him suffer..." Raphtalia said as she could already imagine herself strangling Rapier with it, a sinister grin on her face as she unwound it and made it crack
"Plus I can use this little hole in the holder of the pan with the whip and... bum! A flail!" Raphtalia said before turning around to look at the Beheaded with a much chipper and almost innocent look on her face as she demonstrated her D.I.Y weapon and even spun it around a little bit, using it to knock a armor stand as the Beheaded could only clap in approval
"Love the creativity kid, hey old man! We are taking the whip!" The Beheaded said as he gave a thumbs up to the idea and to Erhard, who just looked a bit confused at the moment
"Uh..." Erhard wasn't sure how to respond, Quinn merely walked up to the counter with a half embarrassed look on his face
"Sorry for them, I see you have a bin with used clothes, can I take a look?" The cleric asked as he pointed at the bin that laid in the corner that had more than a few pieces of cloth inside
"Sure..." The blacksmith simply responded, Quinn gave him a polite nod and began searching the box for something for Raphtalia to wear
"Why give her clothes? The rags work just fine" the Beheaded argued since so far the girl hadn't complained about her outfit, but that was maybe because she had other things in her mind at the moment, like revenge and not dying by coughing
"It's the bare minimum of decency we can provide to her, not to mention that cloth reeks of sewer filth and... fecal matter" Quinn explained as that was simply the truth, Raphtalia needed a bath for sure but those rags she was wearing had no salvation, that smell would never leave that piece of cloth, so a change of wardrobe was in order
"Fine, but keep the prisoner collar, it reminds me of simpler times" the Beheaded said as he felt incredibly nostalgic every time he saw that metal collar hanging the kid's neck, the good old days of mindless bloodshed
"Can we go now? I want to get stronger and kill rapier as soon as possible" Raphtalia said as she did a little pout, she wanted to kill the bastard already and staying idle here wouldn't help her reach that goal any sooner
"Love the enthusiasm kid, where is the bastard anyways?" The Beheaded asked as he looked at the different people in the room as they responded with shrugs of their shoulders
"In his territory, likely torturing my people away in his dungeon..." Raphtalia contributed very little as not even she remembered the way to Idol's territory, she was too down with sickness and subconsciously trying to resist dying from it to notice her surrounding
"You! Do you know where we can find rapier?" The Beheaded asked as he pointed at the blacksmith
"Sorry pal, not a expert in geography of the kingdom, I mostly traveled to places close to the capital," Erhard gave a short and truthful response, as his job didn't require him to make lengthy travels through the country to have him needing to memorize routes
"Glasses?" The Beheaded asked with less confidence in his voice at actually getting an answer
"I... I don't know where the place is, but it is said to be close to the Reichnott territory so there's a point of reference you can use," Quinn said as that was mostly what he knew of Rapier's estate, he knew of the noble but as Raphtalia may have revealed, he didn't know everything about him and his location was one of those things
"Whatever, I will just steal a map," the Beheaded said as he shrugged away the worry for the moment as he had a simple solution
"Don't you mean buy a map, sir?" Quinn asked as he wasn't quite sure if he misheard or if the sword hero had misspelled
"Did I stutter?" The Beheaded replied in a more serious tone, the group paid for the whip and a small dress for Raphtalia, they left the shop. the Beheaded laid his back against a wall as he awaited for Quinn to return, Raphtalia was by his side eating a loaf of bread as the kebab she had eaten did little to sate her famished stomach
"I'm back, I asked some people and it should be to the West of the castle town and close to the border" Quinn said as he approached the two after getting some info from a few merchants around the market
"Do strong monsters live by?" The Beheaded asked as he wanted the travel to not be a complete waste, having some powerful monster for him to slay so he could get better swords was a must in his list
"Stronger than the one in the close by villages and there is apparently an area filled with monsters from a supposed wave that has been quarantined by the king and church, a great opportunity to serve the country and raise your legend sir" Quinn said as he had heard the rumors of a village that had been quarantined due to some strange black ooze similar to ink that had apparently dropped from a wave crack in a nearby village, as now some strange and abominable creatures roamed the rampaged city, Quinn thought that cleaning that up would surely help with the sword hero's image, he hoped at least...
"Yeah yeah, let's just go straight to the place" the Beheaded said as he was ready to kill the bastard already, get some levels from killing him and his guards and most importantly stealing anything worth a damn that snob had, raiding his winery that would probably have good booze
"We should stay a few days, to raise the level of our... teammate as well as help her recovery from her sickness, plus the wave draws near and we have yet to synchronize with the hourglass" Quinn suggested as that was the best option for the moment, just because that had enthusiasm didn't mean she was ready to take on the world as her occasional coughing fits would indicate, and the wave was approaching and the sword hero had always avoided going to the church because he had more important things to do like grinding levels or getting money, traveling was definitely out of the quest as far as the cleric was concerned
"Uggrrhh... such nuisances," the Beheaded sighed annoyingly as things here in this place were so more complicated than what he had grown accustomed to in those isles but he would have to make due for now
"... Are you really going to help with a assassination of a noble, sir sword hero? That's very... unheroic" Quinn asked as he worried for how could reflect on the image of the sword saint, if he wasn't careful he could end up as hated or feared as the shield was in the eyes of people! Which wasn't an easy feat to achieve
"You heard the kid, she wasn't lying otherwise she would be fried raccoon, my job as a hero is to deal with monsters and that guy is the worst type, the same type that allowed the isles I lived to become hell" the Beheaded said, which technically included him since he was the reason why the malaise got so much than it should, but it didn't make it any less true that he hated those type of people
"Right... I suppose you and her have something in common" Quinn said as at least he had a angle to go on why the sword hero seemed more interested in shaping the girl up into a mini version of him, he probably relates to her in some disturbing way that he couldn't even begin to try and comprehend
"But killing Rapier can cause very big problems, he is pretty high in the ranking of nobility within the country and he has partaken in the war, his levels are nothing shy of the 70 or 80 minimum" Quinn explained as he tried his best to discourage the sword hero from doing such a reckless thing just because a demi-human he brought for so cheap and seemed to barely care for hours ago wanted to, but his warnings were falling in deaf ears
"We worry about that when we get there" the Beheaded said as he wasn't worried about some old rich man that fought in a war once, he was an immortal homunculus with a kick-ass magic sword, what was a guy with a whip supposed to do against him?
[Author's Notes]
Please leave a review as it really help when developing this
So... Raphtalia was the hardest character for me to write in this chapter! I was planning on having her be more similar to the original story but... She was boring to write that way, I don't know why, but it was like my motivation to write her scenes was drained from me whenever I had to write her. So I decided to change her a bit since I actually made her watch Rifana die in front of her! Now she's bitter and a bit crazy, and that certainly isn't going to be improved by staying with the Beheaded
I felt that it would be reductant to have her use a sword considering that the Beheaded is the sword hero, so I gave her one of my favorite weapon types to use in Dead Cells, The whip! Plus it kind of plays into the trauma she has, "the abused becoming the abuser" type of stuff
Strange black ooze similar to ink that had apparently dropped from a wave crack in a nearby village? I wonder what that could be