A Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 24: They Call it a Baha-Blast
[The Broken Child]
Day 19:
Five days.
Five days ago, I lived in my village of Elwuld. I had a home where I lived with Grampa Urzra, Mom, and my little sister Oletta. We lived a simple life in Elwuld.
Elwuld was a simple village of farmers and crafters. Our village was located by the edge of the Great Forest of Tob where we'd harvest lumber to make bowls, plates, tableware, and toys. Our farms grew our grains and potatoes.
Every harvest season, we'd bring our harvest and crafts to the city of Arclund to be traded for money or items we needed. And afterwards, the village would have a day of celebration and festivities for another good year.
We had it six days ago.
Six days ago, I had been drinking from a shared skin of silverberry wine with my friends. Caius had managed to sneak it out from his father's storage and he, our friend Argust, and I had it together.
We spent that night laughing, talking about fun memories, local gossip, girls we fancied. We spoke of the time we managed to convince Old Henryk that his stable was haunted for a month until we were found out.
The beating we got for that was well worth all the laughter we shared.
Part of the time was spent talking about the future. Caius had planned to continue farming since he felt the most fulfillment in his life by doing that. Argust said that he wanted to explore the world outside of our village, and planned to become a traveling trader because of it. I shared his same opinion.
I dreamt of seeing more than this simple village we lived in. I gazed at the mountains miles from us and wondered what the other side of it looked like. I wanted to become an adventurer like Grampa Urzra once was. He would sit me and Oletta on his knees when we were younger and told us of the days when he was a platinum-plate.
How he'd slain monsters, protected nobles, explored hidden dungeons filled with wealth and danger. And then, he'd tell us how he eventually came back to this village one day and settled down with Grandma Irenia after saving her from slavers.
I had all these dreams and hopes with my friends. We went home that night, addled and happy. And then…
I couldn't help but grit my teeth as my eyes burned thinking about it.
Everyone should've woken up the next morning happy from the night prior. At worst, everyone who ended up drinking too much would've been hungover.
Instead, I woke to screaming as our village was attacked. My head was pounding, but the moment I heard Mom and Oletta scream, I jumped out of bed and rushed to the main room where the wall had been caved in by something bursting through it. Then, I heard a noise that I would never be able to forget. Looking to the other side of the room, I found Mom choking on the floor drenched in her own blood.
I ran over to her and tried to do anything I could think of to help her. Mom's throat had been slashed open along with a massive gash starting at her shoulder and going across her chest. It was like something had sliced its claws through her.
I tried to stem the bleeding by ripping my shirt apart and holding the pieces against her wounds. I could still feel the warmth of her blood as it drenched my hands.
"Mom, it's going to be fine! We'll get you help! You'll be okay!" I remember saying frantically, trying to reassure myself as well as her that she could still be saved.
Yet, even dying there, she looked so calm as she put her bloodied hand against my cheek and gurgled out the words, "Run, Nero. I love-" I saw the life fade from her eyes as her hand fell to her side. Then I heard my sister scream.
That made me look around to the hole in our wall before I ran outside.
What I saw shook me to the core. Houses were on fire with my friends and neighbors running, screaming, or fighting beasts from the darkest hells imaginable. I heard another scream from my sister that was cut short.
When my gaze turned to look, I found two monsters that looked like red skinned infants with wings like bats, horns that curled back on their heads, and long, thin tails tipped with stingers that were repeatedly stabbing my sister.
These horrific demons were cackling the entire time like it was a fun game, and looking at my sister, I could tell that she was still alive. Her eyes flitted about in horror, but her body couldn't move, she couldn't scream even as these creatures continued jabbing their barbed stingers into her.
Our eyes met, and I felt paralyzed. She looked at me with absolute terror as her eyes pleaded for me to help her. Yet, I still couldn't move, even as these demons finally noticed me and gave me fanged grins. Their yellow eyes gazed at me with excitement as they began moving towards me, yet I still couldn't move.
My eyes were still locked with Oletta's. The demons were about to pounce on me before Grandpa Urzra appeared between me and them with a bloodstained sword in hand.
He quickly began fighting the two demons and was doing well to hold his own, but as time went on, he was slowing down. He managed to decapitate one of the demons before the other finally jabbed its stinger into his side.
Yet, Grandpa grabbed that stinger and held onto it as he wrapped his leg around the demon's tail, dragging it closer before trapping it in place. Then, Grandpa began stabbing it over and over until he was covered in gore before letting go of the demon's body and falling to his knees.
I was finally brought out of my paralysis and went to go help Grandpa until he held his hand out to stop me before tossing his blood-soaked blade to my feet.
"Take it and flee to the trees, Nero!" He commanded as I picked up the blade, the handle still warm from Grandpa's grip.
"But Grand-" I tried to argue before he interrupted me with anger.
"GO, YOU STUPID BOY! It's over for us. You have a chance." He shouted to me. I looked down at the heavy blade in my hands, then at the eyes of Grandpa and my sister. And I made the absolutely shameful choice, even with the eyes of my little sister begging for help.
I ran.
I ran without stopping through the trees, crying like a cowardly failure. I ran until I couldn't hear the screams of everyone I once knew echoing behind me. I ran for what felt like hours, praying to any gods out there to help me.
I still ran, even as my legs and lungs burned while my body demanded I stop. I would've continued if not for my foot getting caught on the root of a tree, causing me to fall on my face. I was only lucky that Grandpa's sword hadn't ended up impaling me by accident.
But at that point, my body couldn't go on and I felt myself curl into a ball and start sobbing.
I remained like this until I eventually passed out, still covered in Mom's blood like some morbid final embrace from her.
The worst part of that first day was the dream I had. I had awoken back in my bed at home. I ran out of my room and found Mom, Oletta, and Grandpa Urzra at our table waiting for me to come join them.
When I finally had, Mom set breakfast out for us and we all ate, chatting about the celebration last night.
Then, Mom said, "I love you, Nero."
I woke up to find myself still on the forest floor, realizing that everything I just saw was a dream. Mom was dead, while Grandpa and Oletta had gods know what being done to them.
I was still a cowardly failure who abandoned his family to suffer!
I spent another few hours like this until I finally pushed myself to go on, even if all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and die. Getting up, I started walking forwards, not knowing where I was even going at this point. We were all told stories about this place. How it was one of the dark unexplored places of the world that few dared to fully tread. That there were monsters that hid in here, ready to eat anyone unlucky enough to cross their path.
That first day, I walked through the forest absolutely terrified. Any little noise by plant or animal made me jump, thinking it might be a monster coming to devour me or those demons that would torture me.
That first night, I climbed a sturdy tree and hid in the canopy, Grandpa's sword hugged against my body like a shield from the unknown terrors around me. I prayed to any deity to keep me safe. At least one might be kind enough to listen to me.
That night, I dreamt of my family at the table again, except that all three of them were covered in blood.
Then, I woke up.
The second day, I couldn't ignore the hunger and thirst my body felt. My only lifeline in all of this were the techniques that Grandpa showed me which helped him to survive as an adventurer. The first was that you always needed water. A person can go without food for a long time, but they'll die if they can't get water within three days or so.
Acquiring water in a forest can be difficult if you don't know what to look for. But there were a few was to acquire water that were easy enough.
Making sure that the forest floor was clear, I slowly made my way down the tree until my bare feet touched the ground.
Then, I began walking around until I found a patch of leaves and grass that morning dew on them.
Reaching down, I yanked the leaves and grass from the ground before sucking all the dew off of them. Then, I cast the plants aside and repeated the process a few more times until my thirst was slightly sated.
Following that, I scavenged for any of the plants Grandpa had shown me which were edible. It took a great deal of time, but I found a bush of berries and thought that I might finally be able to eat. At least, until I got a closer look at the berries and identified them as highly poisonous.
So, I continued searching until I was finally rewarded for my efforts as I found a bush of mapleberries. They were a sweet fruit that was mostly known for being used in meads or wine.
I started ripping berries off the bush and quickly scarfed them down to quiet my growling stomach. Once I felt full, I took off the bloodied remains of my shirt and used it as a makeshift sack that I filled with as many mapleberries as it could hold. When I couldn't put any more in, I tied the makeshift sack up and attached it to my belt.
With my food secured, I continued my journey once more and started walking in any direction that was away from my…former home.
I didn't encounter any issues throughout this day until night fell. That was when I heard a howling. Wolves!
Looking around, I found a study tree and rushed for it, hearing the sounds of multiple limbs sprinting across the ground from behind me.
My pace increased as I reached the tree and started climbing. Behind me, I heard a growl and pulled myself up just in time to avoid a pair of ravenous jaws snapping at where my foot once was. I kept climbing until I reached a high enough tree limb that made me comfortable enough to look down.
Those weren't wolves. They were wargs. The large creatures were covered in brown fur with eyes as red as blood. From what Grandpa had said, they were larger and more dangerous than regular wolves. Smarter, too.
I watched as the wargs tried jumping up the tree using their claws as support. They could only make it a few feet before losing their grip and falling back to the ground. When they realized that they weren't going to get me, the pack of six wargs began to just circle the tree, trying to wait me out.
Damnit! I escape from demons only to get torn apart by fucking dogs!
I hate this! I hate being alone! I just want my family!
Please, any of the gods out there, I need help. I don't know what to do…
Rest
I began looking around when I thought I heard a woman's voice. Realizing that I was probably hearing things, desperate for anything to talk to, I slumped back and went to sleep with tears in my eyes, desperately wishing my family was here.
That night, I dreamt of a hill covered in silver grass with an ever-changing sky of gold.
When I woke up the next morning, I look down the tree to find that all the wargs were now missing. Popping a few mapleberries in my mouth, I cautiously made my way down the tree until my feet touched the ground.
Looking around, my heart pounded in anticipation that a warg might come bounding out from some hiding place and eat me. I held Grampa's sword in front of me, waiting for something to happen.
When nothing did, I crept away from my former hiding place and continued looking around for a warg to appear.
Where am I even going at this point? The further I keep going into this place, the worse it would likely get.
Go west…
A woman's voice told me, making me swing around to try and locate the voice's owner. My shoulders slumped as I realized that I was probably going crazy from paranoia and stress. But maybe I should just continue going west.
As long as it's away from…home.
Looking up through the canopy of leaves, the rays of sunlight that shined through told me that I was already traveling west. I just had to keep walking and find where it took me.
That day, I cautiously walked between the trees while scouting out any sources of water. Unfortunately, I didn't find any plants covered with dew, so I went thirsty for that day.
While walking, I couldn't help but wonder why? Why did demons attack my village? Why slaughter or torture everyone? What could we have done to have justified such horrors to be brought upon all of us?
Thinking about it just made me more frustrated and angrier. We all just lived our lives doing nothing wrong. Yet, my home was destroyed!
And those demons, they just laughed about it! They just laughed as they tortured Oletta!
Looking at the sword in my hand, my grip tightened as I thought about what I was going to do. I'm going to get stronger, and then I'm going to kill every. Last. Fucking. DEMON!
I'll chop them up! Rip them to pieces! Tear them apart so that they'll never hurt anyone ever again!
And if Oletta and Grandpa were still alive, I'd save them before begging for their forgiveness.
That was when I heard the snapping of a twig followed by a ragged hiss to my left. Turning to look, I saw a black worm about four feet long with a crimson stripe pattern going down its back. Its head consisted of a circular mouth with concentric rows of fangs while four large fang-like pincers clicked against each other.
Looking at my sword in hand, I made up my mind. I'm not running this time.
I'm killing this thing if it's the last thing I do!
Holding the handle with both my hands, I charged the monster as it leapt at me. I barely managed to dodge in time as one of its pincers clipped the bicep of my right arm.
I looked at my arm to see that I had been given a tiny cut, yet the wound was profusely bleeding. Did this worm make injuries bleed more than they should?
There wasn't any further time to contemplate this as the worm, more like leech, was already beginning to slither my way. I couldn't afford to be cut by that thing if it could make me bleed out.
Then, it leapt at me once more. As I dove aside, I wasn't expecting for the leech to hit the tree behind me and then spring off of it to where I was prone on the ground. My eyes widened as I was quickly forced to roll to the side as it slammed face first into where I had once been.
Pushing myself back to my feet as the leech began to recover from its impact, I roared as I swung my sword like and axe at the monster's head.
My first hit dug into its flesh, causing the leech to wriggle its worm-like body as it screeched in pain. I pulled my sword out and swung it again, missing the first wound I gave it and biting just as far into its flesh in the next spot I hit.
More inhuman hisses and screeching said it was still alive. I glared before continuing to hack at it, my vision was just red at this point as I just wanted this monster dead!
"Fuck you! Die! Die!" I screamed with each hit, "You thought you could eat me?! Eat shit!" I shouted, continuing to stab it over and over, yet it kept squirming.
"Just die already! You! Ugly! Piece! Of! Shit!" I punctuated each word with a stab until it had finally stopped moving.
As the rush I felt left me, I let go of my sword and fell to my knees. I looked at the mangled mess that my sword remained stabbed into.
I killed my first monster and I couldn't even feel proud of it. All I felt was angry and sad. I had no one I could tell about this. My friends wouldn't cheer me on, I wouldn't be able to regale Oletta about the fight, Mom and Grandpa wouldn't tell me how proud they were that I won.
It was just me, a sword, and a monster's corpse alone in the woods.
Looking at my right arm, I saw that it was still bleeding. I needed to take care of that now. Taking my sword out of the leech, I used it to cut part of my trousers' left leg off and sliced through it a bit more until I made some simple bandages.
Then, I looked around until my eyes landed on exactly the thing I was looking for. Moving over to the moss on the ground, I pulled it away from the tree it was attached to. The moss was a light green with specks of yellow mixed in.
From what Grandpa had told me, this was called gold dust moss, named after the yellow sprinkled throughout it. It was highly useful for helping injuries due to the way it could absorb blood and keep injuries from getting infected.
Putting the moss against my wound, I then wrapped the makeshift bandages against it to hold it in place.
Finishing this, I examined my arm and could tell that my bandages seemed to stem the bleeding. Hopefully, whatever venom that leech had used would run its course before I fully bled out.
Following this, I continued traveling until I thankfully found a small spring. Quickly rushing to it, I immediately went to my knees and started scooping water into my mouth which I greedily drank.
It was after I had my fill that I fell back into a sitting position and just took a moment to rest. I barely killed my first monster, let alone those demons that Grandpa had fought against. This was barely anything. If I'm going to kill all those demons, I needed to get better. I had to be able to chop off heads and limbs with one swing. I needed to be able to dodge every hit. I had to become the best.
Looking up to the sky, I found that the daylight was slowly fading. I needed to find a good place to sleep.
That night, I took shelter in one of the trees by the spring. Then, I went to sleep.
I dreamt of that hill once again, covered in silver grass. This time, I found myself able to walk towards it. As I did so, I noticed a figure sitting on top of it. Yet, as I continued to climb, I found the effort to be harder and harder.
If I could just reach a little further to the top. I was almost there…
Waking up once again with that strange dream stuck in my mind, I began eating from my ration of mapleberries before climbing down from the tree and heading over to the spring which I drank from once again.
Sating my thirst, I continued my journey west. As I did so, I couldn't help but feel like something was watching me. Yet, trying to look around didn't reveal any hidden threats. That just continued to put me on edge as I held my blade out, wondering where whatever it is would come out to strike me.
But nothing did.
That day, I didn't encounter any monsters. It almost felt like they were avoiding me, but that didn't exactly make sense. It wasn't until the afternoon that I heard the howling of wargs once again.
They found me!
Rushing to a tree, I began clambering up it until I accidentally grabbed a weak branch which snapped in my hand.
"No!" I shouted as I fell back to the earth with a thud on my back. The sharp shooting pain that erupted from my back ended up stunning me for a few moments until I got ahold of myself. The wargs were almost here!
Pushing myself up onto my feet, I realized that my fall had broken a lot of the branches I used as handholds. I wasn't going to be able to climb in time. I had to fight.
If I was going to die to some fucking monsters, then I would go down swinging! Quickly readying my sword in front of myself, I watched as three wargs bounded out.
They all growled as two of the wargs padded around to my sides to fully surround me.
"FUCK YOU!" I screamed and charged towards the warg in front of me. My peripheral vision picked out the wargs on my side charging me as the middle warg met my challenge with hackles raised before pouncing.
I was a dead man going down swinging until three snakelike gray limbs stretched out from behind me before wrapping around the necks of each warg, stopping each in their tracks with whines of pain. The wargs didn't get long to figure out what happened before the necks of all three snapped, killing them instantly.
The three snakelike limbs released each warg after this, letting them fall to the ground, and I took a moment to get a better view of the limbs in that moment. They looked to be covered in gray fur.
Then, the tails pulled back from behind me and I turned around and found myself staring at a massive fox with gray fur, intelligent green slitted eyes, and seven tails swaying behind it.
I quickly backed away from the creature and held my sword out to it, yet the thing didn't even respond, it just curiously looked at my sword like it was some toy.
The fox cocked its head curiously at me before doing something I didn't expect; It padded away from me and into the tangle of trees and branches until I lost sight of it. What the hell was that thing?
Animals can have disputes over territories and fight one another, but why did that large fox kill those three wargs but leave me alone? I probably would've been easy to take down considering how it put down those wargs with only three of its seven tails.
It also didn't even bother eating the bodies. The wargs were a free meal, but the fox passed up on it. I don't have any idea about this.
Lowering my sword, I cautiously began walking away, hoping that the fox wasn't just going to change its mind and decide to eat me. At the very least, I had managed to survive this encounter mostly unscathed. I could already imagine telling Oletta all about meeting some giant fox with multiple tails that…
Then I remembered that she was gone.
I increased my pace, if only so I could focus on moving instead of thinking. It had been four days, yet my chest still seized up thinking about it. I wanted to scream, to cry, to let everything out that was bottled inside me. But I couldn't. I had to keep moving through this forest. The monsters here wouldn't care about a sad human boy. All they'd see is lunch.
Continuing my journey, I couldn't tell how many miles I had walked at this point. Distance just seemed to blur in this place due to the trees obscuring everything in the distance. My only real method of determining how far I had traveled was by how sore my legs felt by the end of the day.
What was I even doing at this point? I didn't even know if there was an end goal to this journey west. I only kept going at this point due to a voice telling me to do so and my willpower making me go on.
Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop at this point. I just had to keep moving forwards.
Rest. You're tired…
Perhaps that voice was the small part of my mind trying to keep me sane, even if the event of hearing voices that aren't there is completely insane. It was a funny paradox.
Yet, maybe that sane part of me is correct. I was just…tired of it all. I had rage and hate burning in me that had nothing to hurt or scream at. I hadn't encountered any monsters besides those wargs today, and that meant I had nothing to let my emotions out on.
It was mentally draining. So, I decided to take up that advice from the sane part of my mind and call it quits early.
Finding a good enough tree, I climbed up its branches before finding a good spot to rest against.
As I started trying to get into a comfortable position, my face felt itchy so I scratched it until I felt exactly why it was so itchy. My face was still caked in Mom's blood where she last held me.
My chest felt tight, but I held it in and tried to let myself drift off to sleep.
My eyes opened to that silver hill again. This time, I sprinted up it. I wanted to know why I was seeing this place when I slept! I needed to know who that figure at the top of it was!
I wanted an answer to at least one thing in my life because all I've gotten since my village was attacked is one unanswered question after another unanswered question! It frustrated and pissed me off!
And this time, in this dream, I was going to make it to the top of that damn hill!
Within a few agonizing moments, I finally arrived, breathing heavily from the exertion and from how I felt. Yet, when I made it to the top, I found myself looking at a woman with glowing white hair sitting on the grass. The first thing I took note of was how inhumanly beautiful she looked.
Then there were her silver eyes with unnatural slitted pupils that looked at me warmly, matching the smile on her face.
Her clothing looked odd, like a white robe held together with cloth in the middle. Yet, that didn't exactly look as odd as the pair of long, white fox ears twitching on her head or the ten white-furred tails that waved behind her.
"Hello, Nero. It seems like you've had a long journey. Would you like to have a seat and rest your legs? I promise, the ground is very comfortable." She said kindly while patting the grass in front of her. I couldn't help but feel that her voice was familiar.
Then it came to me, "You're the voice I've been hearing…" I stated as I came closer to her, then I grew angry, "Why have I been hearing you in my head?! Who are you?! What is it you want from me?!"
The woman didn't seem to take any offense from the shouting, she just continued giving me that warm smile. "You called out for help and you were lonely." The woman answered which told me absolutely nothing.
"What the hell does that means?!" I screamed. Why wouldn't she just react? Get upset! Get angry! She kept giving me that infuriatingly warm smile!
"You prayed. I answered."
That made my eyes widen before they quickly narrowed, "You're a goddess?" She nodded in reply, "Then…WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN MOM DIED?! WHEN MY HOME WAS DESTROYED?! WHEN I LOST GRANDPA AND OLETTA?!"
"I'm sorry that I couldn't help you earlier." She apologized calmly, making my fists shake.
"You're sorry? Sorry isn't going to bring Mom back! Sorry won't help Grandpa and Oletta, if they're even still alive! I'M SURE THE ASHES OF MY VILLAGE ARE REAL APPRECIATIVE OF YOUR APOLOGIES!" I found myself pacing as I shouted this. When I finally was managed to stop walking and focus back on this woman, I found her in front of me.
Then, she pulled me into a hug that I couldn't escape. I tried hitting her, kicking her, screaming every curse and obscenity I could think of, then even more vile words that I just started making up, yet she just kept holding me. When words didn't work, I just resorted to primal screaming, yet she still didn't let go.
"It's alright. Just let it out. I'm right here." She said in a soft voice that was somehow audible over my screaming. And somewhere in that moment, the dam just broke inside me.
"I want my home back! I want Grandpa and Oletta back! I WANT MY MOM! I'M A COWARD THAT LEFT MY FAMILY BEHIND!" And that's when I started wailing into her shoulder. I cried until my throat hurt, then I kept going. My eyes ran out of tears, but they still burned like more should come out. And all the while, this woman kept saying soothing words into my ear as she continued to hold me.
My cries died down after a while, and sometime during all of this, I found myself holding onto this woman like a lifeline.
"W-Why weren't you there?" I asked with a warbling voice.
"I'm still new to these lands. Belief in me isn't strong enough for me to affect much beyond a few areas. You got close enough to one of these areas that I was able to latch onto your prayers. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you then, but that just means I have to try all the harder to be here for you now."
I didn't question her at this point. I just wanted to have someone there who cared. After what felt like hours, or it might've been minutes, she spoke to me again.
"Would you like to tell me what happened?"
I pulled my head from her shoulder and sniffed my nose before slowly nodding. From there, she gently made us both sit on the ground. From there, she didn't rush or prod me to speak, she just waited for when I wanted to talk. After readying myself, I finally answered her.
"I-I woke up after our h-harvest celebration to Mom and Oletta scre-screaming. Going downstairs…" I felt my eyes squeeze tight at the memory, but I continued, "Mom had be-been cut open. W-We didn't, I didn't, have time to sa-say goodbye. She died in my arms."
"Do you want to stop?"The woman asked. I shook my head; I needed at least one other person to know about what happened.
"O-Oletta screamed outside. W-When I went to f-find her, it was hell." And that was when my anger took over at the thought of those monsters. "Demons tore through my village, capturing, torturing, and butchering anyone they found. Two of them stabbed Oletta with their stingers. I think they were poisoned since she couldn't move, but she was still alive watching me, begging me to help.
I was a coward who couldn't move as the demons stopped playing with her and focused on me. I was only saved when Grandpa ended up killing both of them at the cost of taking a stinger to his side. He gave me his sword and told me to run… Then, like a coward, I left Grandpa and Oletta behind and ran."
I felt the woman put a hand on my cheek before giving me a soft gaze, "Being afraid is natural. You are not a coward. Your grandfather knew that if you stayed trying to help them, then you'd suffer the same fate. He made a painful choice. Don't disrespect that choice by calling yourself a coward when you were told to run."
"But what am I supposed to do then? I can't help but feel like a coward after everything that happened. What can I do?" I begged the woman for an answer to somehow assuage the guilt that I still felt.
"You do what you can."
"The most I can do right now is die. I could barely fight an overgrown leech, much less an army of demons." I said with disappointment. It would take me years before I could possibly become strong enough to avenge my family. By then, those demons would likely already be gone.
"What if you had help?" I found myself focusing on the woman's silver eyes when she said this.
"What do you mean?"
"I can help you. All you have to do is ask?" She said while holding my hands together.
"B-But why? How?"
"I have a myriad of reasons to care. You need help and I have the ability to do so; it is my obligation as someone with power to help those in need. In addition, a great injustice has been done. It should be corrected. And the final two reasons are a little selfish on my part…" She admitted with a giggle.
"Why would your final reasons be selfish? From what I've seen, you've been nothing but kind and selfless." I asked with a bit of curiosity.
"Well, to answer that, I have to answer the 'how' I can help you from earlier; I'd like to make you my paladin." My eyes widened as I heard this. From all the stories I've heard, paladins were warriors chosen by specific patron gods to act as their emissaries to the world. Because of this, paladins typically had immense strength coupled with divine magics that they could call down upon their enemies.
"And why would you want me to become your paladin? I'm just a son of farmers from the country. I am weak. I'm not worthy of anything." I admitted to the goddess.
"And I disagree. You have a strong will and a need to see justice be done. You might not think so, but I think you're worthy." I couldn't help but feel a little warm and bashful at hearing a goddess say she believes in me. "Now, to answer your other question; I'd like you to become my paladin, not just for the other reasons I gave, but also so that you might spread belief of both myself and my daughter. That leads into my other selfish reason; I can be a little bit of a protective parent, and while she is powerful, I'd like it if there was another person out there who could protect my daughter."
"Your daughter? You mean to say that a goddess is actually walking around the world right now?"
"That she is. She's a young demigoddess, still coming into her own, that is currently residing within the Re-Estize Kingdom as an adamantite-plate adventurer. She's been quite busy since arriving there and has already been making waves. Yet, I can't help but worry about her along with my grandbabies."
"Grandchildren? So, you mean to say that-" She shook her head with a laugh.
"No, she's adopted an adorable pair of sisters as her own. Honestly, I'd be impressed if she managed to become pregnant and then give birth to a child in the span of… Hmm, she and her lover only sealed the deal about three days ago." The woman answered after thinking about it.
"Wait, does that mean that you've spied on your daughter being…intimate?" I asked, wondering if this goddess might possibly be a voyeur? The goddess gave me a so-so with her hand.
"One of my domains as a goddess is fertility. It tends to come with the territory that I typically know certain things by default. Even if that wasn't the case, my servants keep me informed about my daughter." She answered, making it more reasonable than her just being a pervert.
"Aside from all of this, I don't even fully know who you or your daughter are. How could I even become your paladin when I don't even know your name?"
"Then let me give you an introduction, Nero. My name is Inari, Goddess of Foxes, Industry, Agriculture, Fertility, Prosperity, and Magic. My daughter's name is Kashia Blanc, Fledgling Goddess of Magic. Would you become my paladin to spread my name and right injustices across the world?" As she said this, while she still maintained that motherly presence from the start of our meeting, Inari now seemed larger in a sense, all-encompassing, yet still giving that kind and protective warmth.
It was that protective warmth that made me wish that I had something like that when my village was attacked. And it is that very same warmth that made me believe that Inari, the only deity who had ever answered my prayers, might be able to change the world, with her daughter Kashia Blanc in tow.
And with her help, I might be able to avenge my mother and possibly save Oletta and Grandpa.
"I'll do it. I'll become your paladin and spread your name to the world while righting injustices. I'll do what I can to prevent what happened to me and my home from happening to others." I said in oath to the goddess before me.
"Then I'll accept your oath wholeheartedly, Nero. And in turn, I'll gift you my power so that you may accomplish your oath to the fullest." Inari then took my right hand in both of her hands and I felt a warmth in my hand until Inari removed her hands from mine. When I looked, I saw a symbol on the back of my hand that consisted of ten white tails spiraling towards a purple flame in the center.
"When you wake again, my paladin, your protector will be there to guide you to the end of your path west." Inari said kindly.
"Protector?"
"You've already encountered him. He's been quite busy making sure that you have been safe." And then I thought about that large fox with the seven tails that had protected me from the wargs.
"Are you talking about that gray fox I met earlier?"
Inari nodded, "The very same. Yamato doesn't like to talk much, but he is very diligent in any duty assigned to him. He'll also be the one train you, so make sure to be a good student!" She said with a teasing laugh. At the very least, I was going to be taught how to wield this new power I received.
"I'll do my best." I answered.
"I know you will, Nero. Now, it's time to wake up."
When I opened my eyes, I found myself still in the tree that I decided to rest in last night with my sword resting against my body. Then, I looked down to the back of my right hand to see that the symbol Inari given me was still there. That proved it wasn't a dream last night.
I had ended up speaking with and then becoming a paladin to a goddess.
Taking a breath, I prepared myself for my coming future and then climbed down the tree. The moment my feet hit the ground; I heard something moving towards me. Turning around with my blade out, I found myself looking at the gray fox once again.
"Y-Yamato, right?" I tentatively asked. The fox nodded before gesturing with his head towards the west. "You want us to start moving." I received another nod. "Lead the way." Yamato began walking and I hurriedly followed after him while wondering what my future might hold.
[Demiurge]
Arriving at the Baharuth research outpost, I saw that my demons and devils were well underway on the research materials we acquired with this outpost's annexation. I can already see that Lord Ainz has probably predicted my actions for this outpost. Obviously, he'd want to eventually convert this outpost to a staging ground where our research would be converted to chimerism.
We'd capture pockets of the local populace that were isolated from the bigger towns and cities of the empire. From there, we'd convert them into chimeric beasts tamed under Nazarick's power. Then, Lord Ainz would have us unleash these creatures upon the empire as both a method to test their defenses while also acting as a way to demoralize the Baharuth's people. And, with our testing of curses on the materials here, we could possibly incorporate our curse understanding into our weaponized chimeras to utilize them to greater effect.
Walking past a few of the moaning materials, I passed by a cell containing a set of materials that were related to one another. With them, we decided to test the effects of a continually rotting curse combined with a continually growing curse. The pair of them had constantly been growing tumorous growths throughout their bodies which were quickly rotted away, leaving the pair with ever-shifting forms.
From what we've seen, the older material maintained much of its sanity and had been able to ignore the constant pain of its nerves growing and dying repeatedly, that or its kept silent in some method to comfort the younger material. With the younger material, it has constantly kept screaming and hasn't shown any issue with the continual screams due to the constant regeneration of its vocal cords before they rot away.
I wonder what might occur if we were to graft the two materials' bodies and nerves together. Would the younger material synchronize with the older and maintain its silence or would the older follow the screams of the younger? We'll have to test it out.
I wrote my orders onto the chart attached to the cell of the materials before moving along to the next. This one proved very interesting. We gave it a curse of the berserker. Since we started that test hours ago, the material has spent the entire time punching its cell walls and floors non-stop. At this point, its fists had been broken apart into flesh and shards of bone. Now, it just punched everything with the jagged bones of its forearms.
What might occur if we added a curse of growth to this one as well?
That would be another idea to test which I quickly added to its chart.
[Ninya]
Today, my team and I had made it pretty far through the dungeon. After the multiple attempts and failures so far, we've become highly aware of our surroundings for anything out of place.
In addition, Dyne has made sure to constantly build us plant paths to avoid triggering any pressure plate traps that we otherwise might not see. It's actually taken us pretty far, all things considered.
We weren't getting our delving cut short as often to traps. Now, it was usually due to the undead we had started to encounter. They were getting stronger, faster, and worst of all, smarter.
For instance; yesterday, we had one delving ended due to another one of those giant undead fighting in tandem with a horde of zombies. Dealing with the giant undead was difficult as is, but add a bunch of other normal undead to keep us occupied, and it felt almost impossible.
We lost to that section of the dungeon two more times until we came up with a strategy that worked.
Dyne would build a wall of roots with his mace that would funnel into a narrow corridor which made the horde's numbers useless. From there, the giant undead would typically charge us and prevent the zombies from being able to fit into the narrow corridor unless they followed behind it.
That would be when Lukrut would shoot its feet with his root arrows, pinning it to the floor. Originally, we tried to see if the root arrows would kill it in one go like they had to all the other undead. Unfortunately, that failed since it was able to continue fighting on even after looking like a pincushion.
It was just too powerful, it seemed.
But, the fact that Lukrut's root arrows did explode out of it meant that there was a plan to be had. Rooting it to the floor was our second attempt.
After it had been rooted to the floor, Lukrut and I would endlessly bombard it with arrows, root arrows, and [Foxfire]. Dyne and Peter would fight off any zombie that climbed over the wall to keep them off of us. What we hadn't prepared for was when a few stronger zombies that were hiding in the horde managed to smash through the walls and allow the rest of the horde to overrun us.
That left our third attempt with us applying everything we had learned before into action. This time, Dyne continually kept adding more and more roots to the wall in order to reinforce it while Peter remained on guard duty and took up more of the burden of protecting us while Dyne remained occupied.
It felt like almost 20 minutes before we defeated this giant and cleaned up the rest of the undead. By the time we had finished, all of us felt like ending our delve for the day since we were exhausted and hungry.
Today, after over an hour of work, we managed to fight our way back to this room and clear out the undead. Now, we just have to open the door up ahead to get to the next section of this torturous place.
As we approached the door, Peter looked to us all and asked, "You guys ready for this?"
"Better now than never, Pete." Lukrut replied with a grin.
"Why would we stop here when we're getting so close?" I answered with a nod.
"Guess the others are raring to go. Can't let you all have the fun without me." Dyne answered as he pointed his mace at the door.
Peter nodded with a laugh before facing the door once more. "Pop it open, Dyne."
"With pleasure." Dyne responded before making the roots from his mace launch out and begin pushing the door open. As he did so, multiple darts began shooting out from different angles towards the spot a person would normally have opened the door at. All the darts managed to hit were the roots which did nothing.
With the door fully open, Dyne recalled the roots back into his mace and smirked with amusement. "Seems that we're picking up on the traps to this place." He remarked.
"Good thing, too. I doubt that any of us wanted to look like a porcupine right now." Lukrut said to the druid as he patted him on the shoulder.
"At least we have one less thing to worry about." Peter said with relief. "Let's head on in." Dyne smashed his mace into the ground and a pathway of roots grew out in front of us over the doorway's floor. Then, the four of us walked over it and entered into the newest room.
Once we were all inside, the torches lining the stone columns of this room grew into pillars of blue flame, fully lighting the room up to reveal a trio of robed skeletons.
We barely had time to study them when three balls of fire grew in their hands and were suddenly launched at us!
"Take cover!" Peter shouted as he blocked a ball of fire with his shield and covered me as the two of us went behind a column. Lukrut and Dyne had done much the same, taking refuge behind a column on the opposite side of the room.
"Ideas?!" Dyne shouted over to us.
"Know how well a root wall might hold up?" Peter shouted back.
"Let's find out." Dyne answered before slamming his mace into the ground and growing a tangled mass of roots over to our pillar. Or, at least he tried to do so. What ended up occurring is that the ball of flame the skeletons shot at us started tearing through the roots until Dyne ended the attempt. "Seems like that's a bust!"
I saw Lukrut try to take a peaking shot until another ball of fire flew past where his head had been. "Okay, these things are definitely watching us like hawks!" The archer announced.
Alright, since we can't even move to try and take aim, I think it's a good time to give one of my classic spells a go. Taking a moment, I conjured up a [Magic Arrow] and had it aim for one of the three skeletons I visualized in my mind. Then, I set it loose around the corner of the column and listened as three balls of fire were sent at the attack.
Thinking I might've noticed something, I conjured up two more [Magic Arrows] and sent them after the three skeletons one after the other.
Three spells were conjured to take out the first arrow while it took another two seconds for them to react to the second arrow. These undead were fast, but they still had limits like any other caster.
"Guys, there's a two second delay! Follow up!" I shouted before casting two more arrows in obvious view of the others. They all took positions with Peter and Dyne readying their shields for a charge while Lukrut nocked a root arrow into his bow. Then, I fired both arrows at the skeletal mages who immediately fired their spells off to collide with my spell.
At the same time, Peter and Dyne broke out from their places behind the columns and rushed the undead with their shields up. That would be what drew the attention of the undead after blocking my spells. And that meant that Lukrut and I had our chance.
Casting a bolt of [Foxfire], I moved out from behind the column and aimed before firing my spell off. At the same time, Lukrut needed less than a second to move from his column and take aim before firing.
Within two more seconds, the skeletons were about to fire their spells until a root arrow embedded itself into the center skeleton's skull while my [Foxfire] struck the one on the left, immolating it. A moment later, roots shot out of the skeleton's skull and impaled the other two before pulling them into a tangled mass of roots, bones, and robes.
That was all it took as we cheered at taking down another tough enemy together.
[Kashia]
I couldn't help but smile in pride at both the teamwork my friends displayed but also the quick thinking of Ninya. It had only been four days since I've had them challenge mine and Momo's dungeon, and they were already making great progress.
While each of them has been growing stronger in leaps and bounds, they've also gotten much better at coordinating their on-the-fly tactics with one another in stressful situations. That can, at times, be more helpful than simply being individually strong.
The best part about all this progress is that my team has made it halfway through this floor of the dungeon. Sadly, for them, the dungeon was only going to get more difficult from here on out.
"What's the score for us up to at this point?" Momo asked next to me. Both he and Narbee had decided to stop by today to watch the progress
"13, me; 15, you." I answered.
"It appears that your traps are running out of steam." Momo teased.
"They haven't finished clearing this floor just yet. Besides, they still have two more floors to go after this." I retorted with a raised brow.
"Fair enough, I suppose…Furball." I looked at Momo with a dropped jaw before I grinned and patted him on the arm.
"I see that you are learning, Napoleon Bonesaparte." I quickly remarked back to the skeleton. "I'm like a parent watching their child ride a bike for the first time. I'm so proud." I teased while wiping a non-existent tear from my eye.
"And I'd be terrified for any child that you ended up raising. You sure you wouldn't have them ride that bike into a dungeon for their first outing?" Momo retorted.
"What?! I'm supervising!" I said in mocking offense while gesturing wildly to the scrying spell of my teammates.
"Of course you are." Momo answered dryly, before we both ended up chuckling.
"By the way, how's the Monster Mash treating you?"
Momo shrugged, "They've seemed pretty busy. I couldn't exactly say why since I've only asked a few to perform recon, mainly in the Baharuth Empire. Perhaps they just like performing tasks to keep themselves occupied?"
"Well, you and your friends were the ones that created them. Maybe you just put it into their creation, that or they just like to do things." Leaning over to look at Narbee, I quickly asked, "Narbee, besides just helping out Momo here, do you have any hobbies you like to do for fun?"
The was quite surprised to have been brought into the conversation, "Umm…Lady Kashia, my duty is to serve both Nazarick and Lord Ainz." She answered, making me feel a little depressed for her.
"Come on, Narbee, there's gotta be something that you like to do that isn't work related. Like painting, reading, sculpting, collecting, anything at all?" She shook her head at all my suggestions. "There's more to life than just work."
"Narberal," Momo began as he looked to the woman, "why not try to find something you might enjoy for a past time when not performing your duties? I think that Kashia makes a good point. It's a hope of mine that everyone in Nazarick manages to find something like a recreational hobby that they might enjoy."
Narberal looked down for a moment as her eyes flitted back and forth in thought, then she looked up to us and answered, "I-I think that I could try taking up painting, Lord Ainz." I actually felt pretty happy for the NPC since it probably wasn't easy to try and think of something for herself when she was probably programmed with only the need to serve the guild.
"That's excellent to hear, Narberal." Momo said with a pleased tone.
"Thank you, Lord Ainz." Narbee returned with a bow of her head.
"I would take it that most of your other followers probably don't have much thought about their own hobbies or interests unless they relate to your or your guild, like Narbee over here." I remarked aloud.
Momo thought about it for a few moments before nodding in agreement. "I do believe that to be the case. From what I have witnessed, most of my subordinates within Nazarick view anything that isn't related to helping me or the guild as a waste of time. I'm hoping that, in time, it might eventually change and they might grow beyond what their creators originally made them as."
"I'm all for personal growth," I answered before adding a little cautiously, "but I think it would be a good idea to make sure that your people's hobbies don't veer towards the morally horrific like your guild designed them as. I doubt that this world could handle such a thing, and that is worrying to say the least."
"My subordinates have kept to my orders pretty well. I haven't heard of many reports from them actually having violent encounters with the local populace, which is a good thing, at least." Momo answered. Then, he pondered for a moment before adding, "Unfortunately, Demiurge was unable to locate the ones who mind-controlled Shalltear. He said that the trail ran cold on one of the main roads used in the kingdom. Most likely, the person or persons probably blended in with some group to sneak away undetected."
"Shit, then that means that we've still got some lunatic with a World Item, that we don't know which one, on the loose. We have no clue as to what their motives may be, and we also are unaware of if they might be related to a Player or not." Leaning back in my chair, I sighed before looking over to the armored skeleton. "I'm really starting to hate this mystery."
"You and me both." Momo said with a dour tone before we focused back on my team taking on a group of skeletal mages mixed with zombies.
As we watched my team continue fighting, a random thought came to my mind. Then, I decided to ask, "Hey, Momo?"
"Yes, Kashia?"
"I can't help but wonder about one thing that I haven't tried since coming to this world. It used to be all the rage back home years ago when the world we lived in wasn't a polluted hellhole…"
"And what might that be? You are being a little vague about it." Momo answered, causing me to laugh before looking over to him.
"Have you ever tried fishing?"
"Fishing?" Momo asked incredulously.
"Yes, fishing. You know, have a stick with a line attached that has a hook and bait on the end. Then, throw it in the water and watch some fish try to bite." I returned back to the confused lich.
"No, I've never tried fishing. There was no urge to do so since I got here, and I never thought of it on Earth either." Momo answered honestly.
I gave him a large grin before saying, "It's never too late to try. So, I think that since neither of us have ever gone fishing before, then we're going to head off to a nearby lake tomorrow and spend our day taking it easy and learning how to do this."
"This… You know, this idea is a little odd, even for you." Momo said before considering my idea. Then, he said with some apprehension, "But why not? I think that I can take one day away from Nazarick and let Albedo and Demiurge run things in my place."
"Awesome. Guess I'll just have to give my team the good news. They get the day off where I don't run them ragged to the bone." I said with quite a bit of excitement. One thing that I haven't really done since coming here is try all of the things that a polluted hellscape of Earth wouldn't allow. And now, with practically all the time in the world, I'd like to try some interesting things.
"I'm sure that they'll be appreciative of that." Momo said good-naturedly. That was when I caught my team falling for another trap, this time one of mine.
"I'm up one, Momo. Score's 14 to 15." I said before teleporting to retrieve my team once again.