"Alright you lazy piece of shit. Get your ass up, we are leaving", Ordered Linux with a Pointed Glare at Naofumi who was still sitting on the ground.
"I'm shackled here", the Shield hero retorted.
"I cast Trench broom", the Pump-action Shot gun materialized in mid air and fired at the shackles, practically disintegrating them to nothingness. The loud bang that came from it, sent the king and the Knights jumping for fear, as they never have seen anything like ut before. The three heroes also stared in fear, seeing their possible enemy can summon this amount of Fire power out of nowhere.
"Not anymore, now get up. I can't stand this fucking place", Linux outstretched his hand as he said that, urging Naofumi to take it.
The shield hero gratefully took the hand and was yanked upwards on his feet.
Outside, the two looked into the crowd of humans, making their way to or from their jobs. "Now what? We lost everything".
Linux just scoffed with a smug grin as he switched his Radio on. "Station this is Observer, we need Aid-package Golf-Sierra on this position, how copy?".
Seconds later the radio crackled up, "Observer this is Station, copy that we're sending it now. Station out".
half a second later the radio crackled up again, now another new male voice ringing through it, "Yo, this is Warbird-1, we need you to mark a drop zone".
Linux looked confused for a second before remembering something. He took off his backpack and opened it. Rummaging through it, he eventually produced a olive green cylindrical object from it. Ir was a smoke grenade with a blue stripe painted on the lower half.
"Haha! Smoke nades, I knew I saw some earlier", he said to himself and looked for a free enough area to pop the smoke grenade. Naofumi just stared in confusion at the whole interaction. For him, it looked like Linux was talking to himself.
"Yo, shield Hero, make your ass useful and get me a area free enough to drop a big crate on it". Linux' order ripped Napfumi out of his Stupor.
"Huh?", he asked sheepishly.
"Forget it", Linux sighed. He got up and produced his Pistol. Aiming at the air he squeezed the trigger three times releasing three rounds into the air. The three bangs sent the people into a frenzy. The area cleared within seconds as the people stared at him full fear.
"Warbird-1 this is Observer, Drop zone is marked by blue smoke. I say again, blue smoke. Please confirm". Linux pulled the pin and released the spoon, making it fly away with a ping. He threw the grenade into the middle of the freed area and waited.
"This is Warbird-1, confirming visual with blue smoke, ETA in 10".
"Copy that Warbird-1, Observer Out".
"How and from where do you want to get yourself a Care Package?", asked Naofumi, tilting his head to the side.
"Just you wait", replied Linux without even looking at the Shield hero.
Naofumi waited for something, but nothing came. Just as he opened his mouth to say something a drumming noise approached from their rear.
"What is that?", asked the shield hero. Linux had a smile on his face as he turned to face him, "The answer to your question".
Naofumi wasn't getting it until he spotted the silhouette of a MH-53 Pave Low approaching. The rear hatch opened and a brick looking object fell out. Shortly after being dropped it deployed a parachute on its own and slowly fell to the ground.
"There we go, one Care Package", said Linux triumphantly. He ran up to it, opened the clips holding the crate together and swung the lid open. Inside there was a sack full of gold, spare batteries for the PRC-152A radio, a whole new radio of the dame model, ammunition of various calibers. Some of these couldn't even be used yet since Linux didn't have the required level but he still took them with him. There also was a bunch of other stuff like MRE's and multitools.
Linux stuffed one item after another into his Backpack, which for some reason could hold a metric fuck tone of items compared to the outside look. Linux didn't really care as he continued stuffing his things in there, Naofumi on the other hand was very bewildered at the sight.
"Cargo delivered, I'm bugging out. Warbird-1 out".
"Yeah copy that, thanks Warbird", replied Linux as he shouldered his Backpack again.
"How did you do that?!", asked Naofumi with a shocked face expression.
Linux turned to him and shoved the spare radio into Naofumi's hands. "Don't worry about it", he simply replied with a smug grin. "Now listen, you can contact me with this radio if we ever get separated. And with this Gold i got, we should at least be able to by you some clothes fitting the environment here". Ending the sentence Linux opened the Admin pouch on his arm and revealed a holographic map. He moved around with the map and set himself a pin to a nearby forge. A yellow pin appeared on his HUD, showing the location he just pinned on the map. Satisfied he closed the admin pouch again and turned to Naofumi.
"What about you?", asked Naofumi, gesturing to the M81 Woodland pants Linux had on.
"Me? Yeah, it's a little complicated. I can turn on and off the way people around me see me. For example the way you see me right now is only because i allow you to see me like this. Everyone else sees me like this", with a flick of a imaginary switch on Linux' admin pouch, his appearance in Naofumi's eyes changed. Instead of the Military Kit he had he now appeared as a traditional mage with a robe with hood and a satchel around his waste.
Naofumi jumped back at the sudden change, a yelp also escaped his mouth, pulling several looks from the pedestrians around them.
"Calm down man. I'm a Wizard, did you forget that already? I can do shit like this", said Linux with a hand outstretched towards Naofumi.
"T... Turn back to the old outfit", the Shield hero demanded. Linux sighed and flicked the switch over again, making his robe and hood disappear and swap for the military gear he had on.
"Alrighty, now that that's solved, let's get you some new and fitting clothes".
"Erhard my friend! Are you home?!", yelled Linux as they entered the forge. Naofumi looked around as he remembered this place. He knew he was here before.
Rustling cane from the backroom of the shop, seconds later the big, bald and muscular form of Erhard came through the door.
"Linux? Hello there lad, how's it going?", asked the forge owner with a beaming smile on his face.
Naofumi tapped Linux on the shoulder, getting his attention, "You know him?", he asked.
Linux first pointed at him and then at Erhard, followed by a questioning face expression. Naofumi nodded in response.
"Erhard and I have a... Let's call it a business related friendship". The forge owner nodded frantically with the same big smile on his face.
Naofumi made a long and slow understanding nod.
"Alright lads, what can I do for you?", asked Erhard with open arms, gesturing to all the weapons and armor he had placed on racks or stowed in shelfs.
"I need a new armor set for this idiot here", replied Linux as he poked Naofumi. The later looked annoyed and shoved Linux' hand away.
"One armor set for the lad... hmm...", Erhard scratched his chin beard as he thought, "I just recently received something from a good friend of mine. Maybe it'll work for you".
Linux nodded and dropped the sack of gold coins on the counter. "I've got more or less 30 Gold coins in here. Will that do it?", he asked.
Erhard looked at the ceiling mixing up some numbers in his head. "For sure, I'll charge you 15 gold coins for the whole set", he proposed. Then he leaned in closer to Linux, "But only for you, anyone else I'd charge at least 25 gold". Linux smiled in response and gave Erhard a light shoulder tap, "I know Erhard, I know. Alrighty, enough talk. Show us the armor", replied Linux.
Erhard's face lit up and he got into the back again, seconds later he reappeared with a wooden crate in his hands. The lid of the crate was half open, this way Linux and Naofumi saw green fabric hanging loosely outside the crate.
"Here we go". With a thud the wooden crate was dropped by Erhard. He opened the lid, allowing Naofumi to peek inside. The, quotation mark, armor was more like a bright green robe with some iron assets here and there.
"I mean... don't get me wrong. It looks good, but does it give any protection?", asked Naofumi after he took the robe in his hands to examine it closer.
Erhard looked insulted for a second, then composed himself again. "But of course lad, it gives you 35% stab resistance, 10% resistancy against magical attacks of all kinds and it'll improve your agility by 25%", Erhard gestured to the robe itself, "This is the best you can have for your level. Take it or leave it", he added and looked over at Linux.
"Yo Naofumi. This is really good armor, and it had a hood", Linux said in a drooling voice.
"What's so special about the hood?", asked Naofumi.
Linux and Erhard both gasped at the same time. Somehow Linux managed to stand next to Erhard in the time Naofumi wasn't looking.
"The hood is the best thing about all of this!", Linux replied almost yelling almost in ecstasy, while Erhard just stood behind the counter nodding with each word Linux said.
"Yeah fine, I'll take it with the hood damn it", Naofumi muttered the last two words to himself, it was loud enough for Linux to hear it though.
The American was about to pay Erhard when he over heard Naofumi's comment. He yanked the sack of gold back, making Erhard drool over it even more as he followed each motion. "Hey Fuckface, I ain't pressing you on buying this stuff you piece of shit. If it was for me you can walk around naked and I still wouldn't give a damn".
Naofumi stood silent at the berating from Linux. "Fuckin hell", cursed Linux as he dropped the sack of gold on the counter.
"For you", he said to Erhard as he produced 15 coins and handed them over to the blacksmith. "Always a pleasure doing business with you lad", replied Erhard as the two shook hands.
"Same here Erhard", replied Linux. With that he looked over to Naofumi who nodded. "Alright my friend, we're taking our leave now. We still have a ton of work ahead of us".
"Of course lad, stay safe!", Erhard called. The two waved and left the shop.
"Now?", asked Naofumi as he inspected the new armor.
"Well I don't know about you but this whole ordeal we went through made me pretty damn hungry. How bout we eat something first and then go leveling up a bit", suggested Linux. Naofumi liked the idea a d so nodded.
Walking through the Castle city the two got strange and often hostile glances. Linux did not care at all. His confidence practically radiating from him. Naofumi on the other hand was a whole other story. He had his hood on and kept glancing at the citizens.
First it was nothing but a glare or two, later the parents pulled their children away and to top it all off, at the end of their journey through the city people started to throw not so nice words at the duo.
Like before though Linux did not care, he wouldn't even look back. He was only interested in reaching his destination which was the outskirts of the city. Outside the walls, where monsters resided.