We have finally gotten to the chapter where Naofumi actually does something that does not revolve around Malty. I know its a big step in his life.

XD

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and making sure everything was alright.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Chapter 61: No Easy Way

Mein's reaction to Naofumi's sudden request was pretty much the same as everybody else's reaction to it: mild confusion mixed in with surprise. Out of all the things Naofumi could have asked, that was certainly not what she could have expected. Titan Storm looked just as surprised at the sudden request as their monk did, who seemed taken aback by the ask for Naofumi to train him in the art of hand-to-hand combat. Mein herself was wondering where this was coming from since it was a bit out of the blue.

" You want me to teach you how to fight hand-to-hand and martial arts?" Nina asked for clarification to which Naofumi nodded.

" Yeah, I mean I figured since all I have to fight with is a shield, I should probably try to learn some hand-to-hand fighting to give me some more options." A guilty expression briefly crossed Naofumi's face for a moment." In case I ever...need to subdue someone in combat without killing them."

Oh. Oh, that's the reason.

Mein knew that Naofumi's first experience killing somebody affected him greatly, though she genuinely wondered if it was actually him or Three Dog who landed the killing blow against that Ebonheart ranger harlot who tried to kill him considering the Shield Hero's abysmal attack rating, but she doubts that he cares about that technicality. Naofumi asking for lessons on how to subdue an enemy non-lethally must be his way of trying to cope with it and she found herself feeling proud for her Shield Hero. But at the same time it was a sobering reminder that he is not like her and still is quite undirtied by the rest of the world.

Would she have thought twice about killing somebody who tried to kill her? Would she have cared nearly as much about Spark and Flint's death if she didn't remember them from the days of when she was a child? She does not know.

Nina's words interrupted her train of thought as she seemed to have a thoughtful expression on her face. " While I am genuinely flattered that you would want to learn from me Shield Hero, I will speak honestly when I say that you are not suitable for the path of martial arts." The monk let Naofumi down as easy as possible, but Mein could still see him deflate at her words.

Before she could say anything, the knight who had been sitting on the sidelines with them spoke up. " How so?"

" Well for starters, my style of fighting is near completely unsuitable for the Shield Hero to try and learn. My style focuses on fast movement and overwhelming my opponents to beat them to a bloody pulp." Nina explained how her style of fighting works, which was actually similar to Mein's own method of attack." Learning such a style would be counterproductive as the Shield Hero is best suited to defend and protect others, rather than attempting to subdue enemies. Plus my style of fighting requires uh...higher attack rating. No offense."

" None taken." Naofumi shrugged, already gotten used to the fact that his ATK growth is crap.

" I noticed you sometimes use these odd...magic attacks when you're fighting." Ake pointed out with a curious expression." What is that magic?"

" Its called ki and its not magic, well not in the most technical term." Nina said trying to explain this in simple terms." I use the Hengen Musou style of fighting."

That name actually caught Mein's attention as she recognized it.

Hengen Musou...isn't that the style Mala uses?

Her personal maid Mala had been the one to instruct her on acrobatics, jumps and quick maneuvering. But Mala was more than just a master of acrobatics, she was also a master of hand-to-hand combat because back in the days of the Great War, Mala was hailed as the 'Strongest Tiger' of the White Tiger Great Clan before the Gauntlet Hero Dionysia. Mala had taught Mein hand-to-hand combat but she explained that the source of her power came from a style known as Hengen Musou or the Style of Peerless Change if one gets technical. It allowed Mala to rise as one of the strongest fighters in Siltvelt, so naturally she was quite interested for a spell.

Mein had asked on more than one occasion for Mala to teach her Hengen Musou as any power was power that she would take at the time. But her maid surprisingly turned her down stating that the path of Hengen Musou was not suitable for her since it required a person achieving 'inner peace' or something to properly master it. And her ki was apparently too low for her to ever truly utilize it, so Mein dropped the matter eventually.

" Hengen Musou? Is that some kind of martial arts from this world?" Naofumi asked with a curious look on his face.

" Not...exactly. Its kind hard to explain but basically Hengen Musou is not a martial arts fighting style in the truest sense of the word." Nina seemed to struggle to come up with the words to explain how the style works." Its more accurate to say that Hengen Musou is an enhancement method, meant to provide the power behind one's already developed fighting style. Which is why it doesn't have any specific weapons it is used with, and where its name comes from: Hengen Musou, Peerless Change."

" So its more like a power-up method? That's interesting." Naofumi said with a thoughtful expression." Could you teach it to us?"

" Absolutely not." Nina shot down Naofumi so fast it was almost comical." While I am no mere novice, I am far from what one could consider a master of Hengen Musou to teach it to others. Even if I was, I'm not sure Hengen Musou would be suitable for you or your companions to learn because that same kind of power is already provided to you and your companions for how fast you level up compared to other people. Stacking that power on top of what you would get from learning Hengen Musou would leave you in a similar state like Mein here where she isn't fully in control of her speed, but much worse. Essentially the equivalent of a three year old strong enough to swing a warhammer with no mind to use it safely."

" Besides that, the path of a martial artist, especially one that focuses on inner enhancement like Hengen Musou, requires a whole life's dedication. You need to slowly build up your ki reserve over most, if not your entire life to do it right. I've been practicing since I was old enough to walk and even that's pretty impressive." Nina explained in detail why Hengen Musou would not be a good idea for Naofumi to learn." To give some better context, it usually takes about a decade minimum to build up your ki into significant amounts to do anything with it through a series of breathing, meditation and inner force cultivation regiment. That requires a lot time that we obviously don't have with the Wave of Catastrophe already on going."

" Yeah, Nina's dad tried to teach me Hengen Musou when we were kids...it didn't work out so well." Rufus agreed with cheeky smile indicating some kind of hilarious story.

" Oh, I guess that makes sense. I didn't really think about it." Naofumi said in a demotivated tone, it was clear that perhaps Nina had laid it down a bit too thick.

" Now hold on a moment, I think Naofumi might still be onto something." Mein spoke encouragingly and placed a hand on Naofumi's shoulder." Sure, you may not be able to truly become a master of martial arts, but some lessons in hand-to-hand combat will do you some good."

" Good point. While true martial artists might be beyond you Shield Hero, some basic martial art moves should give you the slight edge you need in a fight." Nina gave him a smile." Your insanely high DEF rating makes you quite suitable to learn a grappler style of fighting because your opponents will have a harder time escaping from a grapple if your intent is to lock an opponent down. I'd be more than willing to teach you if you are willing as well."

" That's more than plenty, thank you so much." Naofumi nodded his head in gratitude." Was kinda hoping I could learn some martial arts to help out in fighting but oh well..."

" The last Shield Hero Noriko Tatsumiya was reportedly a martial artist with how many tall tales there were of her beating down her opponents." Alice chimed in with her knowledge of heroes past." Siltvelt even claims that Noriko's attack power rivaled or was greater than even the Bow Hero at the time."

" Wait, what?!" Naofumi asked in sheer shock at what he was hearing. Not that she could blame him considering that the number of Shield Hero's throughout history itself who somehow managed to gain an ATK rating could be counted on one hand.

" Yes, though there are conflicting accounts for how true this actually is." Alice explained." There are some rumors that Noriko used forbidden and dark methods to gain such power for herself. Some even say she signed a deal with the Outsider himself for that power."

The Outsider, huh? Maybe I should ask him that next time I see the Black Eyed bastard.

"...Well, I don't plan on making any sort of deals with Outsiders or becoming their agents or whatever." Naofumi gave her a brief side-eyed look that practically said ' no offense' to her. The Shield Hero turned back to the martial artist of the group." So should we start now?"

" No time like the present." Nina smiled as she crossed her arms. " Now before we begin is there anything specific you wish for me to teach you besides the grappler style?"

" Well, obviously offensive moves are out. So maybe just some defensive moves and counterattacks should be enough." Naofumi said with a thinking expression." And I should probably work on my stamina too. I notice that I tire out pretty quickly when I'm running." Naofumi listed out his weaknesses openly and Mein admittedly had to agree. Stamina and speed was certainly not Naofumi's strong point.

" Hmmmmm...I think you should work on your stamina first before we start practicing any sort of martial arts." Nina recommended after a moment of thinking." Stamina is one of the most important aspects of martial arts. No point starting with the basics if you get tired after one or two exchanges, so its best to start there."

" I was about to go for a few laps around the courtyard to get a better handle on my speed, if you want to come with." Mein offered. She certainly didn't want to lose control over her speed simply because she leveled too fast, so the best course to get better control over it was simply running.

" That would be great, thanks Mein." Naofumi said as he looked down at his armor." Should I take off my armor or...?"

" No, its better to wear it while you're running to get used to weight." Mein advised as she started to get ready for the oncoming run. Naofumi himself did a few quick stretches before the two of them were ready to start the run.

Mein was about to get started when she felt a smaller hand tug hers, and she looked down to see Raphtalia standing there." Yes, Raphtalia? What is it?"

" C-Can I...join? I want to exercise too." Raphtalia asked shyly about wanting to join them on their run.

" Of course you can, exercise is always good for the body." Mein said with a smirk.

" You're not joining Ake?" Naofumi turned to the knight of the group.

" I'm good. I want to go a few rounds with Aslatiel here." Ake answered as he drew his sword and got into dueling positions with the mouse knight.

Mein didn't pay the knight anymore mind as she got onto the running track with Naofumi and Raphtalia. Thankfully the training courtyard of Silver Keep was big enough that it had an entire track for running and building stamina which was not in use at the moment as the Silver Hands were currently instructing their new refugees turned soldiers on how to handle a weapon properly, so they had the running track all to themselves.

With a deep breath, they started running down the track in a circle around the courtyard. Not a full-on sprint, since there was no way that Naofumi could do that right away and Coach Zellus always said that you have to walk before you can run.

They jogged at a steady pace, not too slow but not fast either until they reached about half a lap to start increasing their speed. Mein for her part was doing just fine, her legs didn't even feel tired and utilizing the breathing techniques Mala taught her on how to conserve stamina, she felt like she could run for two hours or more at this pace. Naofumi and Raphtalia were doing slightly less well. The Shield Hero had a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face and his breathing was much less controlled than hers, it was difficult to see Raphtalia's expression while running but Mein could hear ragged breath with her enhanced hearing.

Despite that, the two of them seemed to be keeping up with her fine enough...up until Raphtalia tripped and fell.

" AH!" Raphtalia cried out as she landed face first into the dirt.

" Raphtalia!" Mein and Naofumi cried out at the same time as they came to a screeching halt and ran back to help the fallen girl.

The agent immediately helped Raphtalia get back on her feet to get a better look at any damage. Upon first inspection, there didn't seem to be any damage aside from a nasty bruise on her forehead and some dirt on her face, which Naofumi very quickly took care of with a Fast Heal spell that made it look like the wound was never there.

" R-Raphtalia, are you okay?" Mein asked in concern.

" I-I'm fine! Its just..." Raphtalia waved the stump that used to be her right arm." Its hard to run with one arm, I lost my balance."

Mein felt like slapping herself on the back of the head for not realizing that. Raphtalia had enough trouble relearning how to walk straight without her right arm to balance her, learning to run is going to be hell in of itself.

Naofumi had a concerned look on his face as he spoke. " Do you want to stop Raphtalia? Maybe you should practice magic with Alice-"

" No! I'm fine, I just...I want to get stronger." Raphtalia said with a determined look in her eye and while Naofumi may not understand it, Mein did.

Raphtalia doesn't want to be babied anymore, she wants to actually help than just be a sideliner...who is she to deny her that?

Mein and Naofumi shared a look with each other, before they both stood back up on their feet." Alright, we'll keep going but...try to take it slow alright? Don't try to push yourself."

Raphtalia nodded as all three of them started jogging again at a comparatively slower pace than before so the little raccoon didn't end up falling into the dirt again. While Mein was glad that Raphtalia was trying to get stronger, she's not sure she can say that she's doing it for the right reasons. Then again, she started helping Thomas commit assassinations by the time she was nine so who was she to judge?

The run continued as normal as they did before, they managed to complete another lap before they started picking up the pace like they did before Raphtalia took her tumble. But after a few minutes of continuous running, Mein was starting to notice that both Naofumi and Raphtalia seemed to be having trouble keeping up. The Shield Hero breath started to sound more and more tired as it seemed he reached his limit, while Raphtalia started to slow down a bit as her legs grew tired. Mein expected that Rapthalia wouldn't be able to keep up with them for long despite her determination and Naofumi clearly was not trained for speed or had much stamina to begin with.

" Do you both need to stop?" Mein asked, not breaking a sweat while running and talking.

" N-No! I can keep going, I can..." Raphtalia tried to act strong but it was clear that she was starting to slow down from all the running.

" Don't push yourself Raphtalia. Exhausting your bones when they are already at their limit is no good." Mein gave a look towards the Shield Hero as well." You too Naofumi."

" Yeah, probably a good call... I think we'll stop soon after this next lap." Naofumi said turning to her with ragged breath and looking at her in shock for how she was able to keep running." You can go on without us, we'll be fine." Naofumi gave her the go-ahead to run forward without them.

Mein shrugged and made no arguments to object as she still wanted to work on getting better control on her speed. Once she reached the halfway point, she increased her speed once more by a little bit and noticed herself speeding around the track much faster.

Mein remembers watching Coach Zellus train his speed before in the castle courtyard and his explanation for how he got control over his speed came to mind. His idea for how to master your speed was to simply run at an increasingly faster rate, getting faster each time until you felt like you've reached your absolute limit in speed. According to her old coach, that was how one could attain better mastery of their speed and deciding how fast one needed to go for a particular situation. That was how Coach Zellus maintained perfect control over his body, speed and movement.

She utilized the breathing technique Mala taught her which was the same that she used when she was jumping around rooftops at night. Get the beat of her breathing just right to make sure she doesn't waste air while running and jumping. This helps conserve stamina and make fast movement easier. The technique certainly did its job as she felt her body feel lighter, her breath easier as she runs at increasingly faster rates.

By the time she made her fourth lap around the courtyard, she could see that Naofumi and Raphtalia had already stopped and taken a break by the benches to recover.

The princess turned agent followed a very simple formula: For every lap she made, once she was at the halfway point she would increase her speed by a bit to gain a better control over it. She would keep doing this until she reached her absolute limit on her speed and she was quite curious to see where her limit would be.

So she kept at it, slowly increasing her speed bit by bit with each lap she made.

It was only around the 8th lap that she started to feel a bit of sweat on her brow.

And it was around the 14th lap that she realized that she still hadn't reached her limit yet with her speed. But she was completing laps around the courtyard much faster than before that it was actually difficult to time how fast she was going, so she just kept running at increasingly faster speeds.

At some point, she stopped counting how many laps she was doing because at that point she was completing them faster than she cared to count them and decided to keep going until she felt her legs grow tired.

She's not sure how much time passed between her running and until she stopped, but when she did come to a slow and steady stop, Mein let out the first tired breath she's had in a long time from running. Coach Zellus had always said that her stamina and speed were pretty impressive. If only her old fencing coach could see her now...he would probably challenge her to a fight and Mein would think that she actually had a chance to win. She had never once beat Coach Zellus in any of their spars, even when she knew that he was going easy on her. Mein looked forward to that the day she could beat him.

Mein put any thoughts of beating her former teacher aside as she walked back to rejoin Naofumi who was still sitting by the benches where Titan Storm was with Raphtalia.

" Goddamn, that was a nice workout." Mein let out a breath as she took a sip of water from her waterskin that she left on the bench. That was when she saw that Titan Storm along with her own party were looking at her with bewilderment in their eyes. " What?" Mein asked everyone who was staring at her.

" Mein, how did you do that?" Naofumi asked in shock.

" Do what?" Mein responded with similar confusion.

" That running. Do you even know how fast you were going? I'm pretty even I can't run that fast." Nina added on.

Mein grew slightly interested and curious." How fast was I going?"

" I'm fairly certain you completed an entire lap in under a minute or less." Alice said with surprise in her eyes. It was clear that the feat Mein just performed shocked even the experienced silver ranked adventurer.

" I've never seen anybody run so fast before." Clarissa gave her a look." How high is your agility?"

" Let's just say that Naofumi wasn't lying when he said that my agility is almost as high as his DEF." Mein quickly sidestepped the topic." So Nina, will you be moving on to teaching Naofumi some defensive maneuvers now?"

" Oh yes, of course. I was just waiting for Sir Naofumi to catch his breath." Nina said as she turned to the Shield Hero who got up from the bench after a short break of water." Now Shield Hero, I will demonstrate to you a simple defensive counterattack. This is typically best used against unarmed opponents but can technically be used against enemies wielding shorter weapons like axes and some such."

" Okay, so what do I do?" Naofumi shifted a bit nervously in his posture.

" Throw a punch at me and I'll throw you over my shoulder. Don't worry, it won't hurt much." Nina explained what she was going to do.

" Wait, you mean like a judo throw?"

" What the hell is judo?" Rufus asked from the sidelines.

" Um...nothing, never mind. Let's just do this." Naofumi waved it off as he got into position with Nina, right as Mein sat down next to Raphtalia.

A moment passed before Naofumi threw what Mein could only describe as a very sloppy punch towards the martial artist who easily moved out of the way of the attempted attack, grabbing the Shield Hero's arm and proceeding to throw the hero over her shoulder, making for a pretty audible thud when his body dropped to the ground. An impressive feat considering the Shield Hero's armor was a bit on the heavier side. Nina was definitely stronger than she looked.

" You okay Sir Naofumi?" Alice asked from the sidelines.

"...Ow..." Naofumi groaned from the floor.

" Good! Now let's run through that a couple more times for you to get it." Nina said in a cheery tone as Mein smirked a bit in amusement at the Shield Hero being pulled up.

Mein didn't pay much attention to the training session going on between Naofumi and Nina, anymore than she did to Ake and Aslatiel's spar that was still going on. Though she could clearly see that the mouse knight was going easy on their insufferable knight for the sake of teaching him some new skills to use in combat. That just left her and Raphtalia sitting on the sidelines while the boys fought and trained.

" So Raphtalia, did you enjoy our run together?" Mein asked the little raccoon sitting next to her. Partly out of boredom and partly to fill in the silence between them.

" Yes, I enjoyed it...I liked running around Port Harp with Rifana and Keel. Big sister Sadeena didn't like it though, she said that it wasn't fitting for me to play with the 'urchin kids' of Port Harp." Raphtalia spoke sadly as she averted her gaze to the floor. " Sorry I couldn't keep up with you."

" No, no, you did well today Raphtalia." Mein gently praised Raphtalia as she patted her head." It takes time to get strong, especially when you're still just a kid. You shouldn't put yourself down just because you couldn't keep up with me, I've been building my stamina and speed for years." Mein tried to encourage Raphtalia as gently as she could and made sure that the girl didn't put herself down any further.

" I know but I get so tired pretty easy when I'm in my...you know..." Raphtalia didn't finish her sentence but Mein could make a good guess to what she was trying to say. Raphtalia's child body was too easily exhausted while her adult form offered her more strength and speed. They really needed to get some practice in for Raphtalia's adult form.

" Well, I did promise I would take you on a hunt outside soon, didn't I?" Mein smiled down at Raphtalia." Once we're in a proper environment, I promise to teach you all of my tricks and tactics. And we'll work on your speed too."

" Promise?"

" Promise." Mein smiled as she watched Naofumi perform the shoulder throw on Nina. And she felt happy at the fact that they were all growing stronger together.

Rabier's POV

Idol Rabier was having a delightfully good day today, which was rare considering he had a world-ending catastrophe to deal with along with the new bandit lord that had been causing trouble in the province and making quite a name for himself. It almost reminds him back in the bad old days when the Bitch Lord was the most notorious bandit in Silver Pass, though her group had never managed to achieve this much destruction, his dear old friend was well-known for her brutality that made her the boogeyman of the province.

That was until she had a rather unfortunate meeting with the Shadow Demon and the rest was history. But he could not reminisce on those times now, he had much more important matters to tend to.

" So the garrison at Ebonheart city is truly lost?" Rabier asked as he looked over the reports that had been given to him by his scouts.

" Lost or at least severely depleted. From what we managed to gather, the garrison incurred heavy losses to the point that reinforcements had to be sent in to help." The scout girl with raccoon ears shrugged." But based on the fact that the riots still seem to be going and the city is still mostly burning, I would say that those reinforcements have been decimated as well. House Ebonheart will need to send additional forces if they wish to restore order to their city."

" And further divide their own forces which leaves their other territories susceptible to the Wave or bandit attacks." Rabier smiled as he leaned back in his chair. " Well, this certainly throws quite an axe into House Ebonheart's strength, now doesn't it?"

The news of the Rebellion at Ebonheart city had spread like wildfire ever since it happened a few days ago. Though he managed to get the information about the disaster early thanks to some well-placed contacts in the city that passed the info off to one of his scouts. His father had always taught him the value of having your ear to the ground and keeping up to date about what your allies and more importantly your enemies are up to. The news that one of the major cities that belonged to his competitor had fallen into chaos was an event that he was not expecting, but one that he found opportunity in.

House Ebonheart was undoubtedly his main competitor here in Silver Pass, with their house being the only powerhouse here in the province that could challenge him. Regardless of how impulsively idiotic their lady may be, he could not deny that her House remained his top competitor here in the north. The loss of such a major city named after their own house is a serious blow that they will not be recovering from anytime soon based on the casualty reports that he is getting alongside whatever explosive reaction Lady Ebonheart will have to this disaster. He does not believe it will go well.

With his main competitor tied up trying to find ways to cope with the recent disaster in her major city, this gives him the opportunity to grow his own army and endear himself further to their new Lady Seatto. While it was still up in the air on whether House Seatto would survive through this current Wave, Rabier could see the fire in their new Lady Paramount's eyes and he had a good feeling about her chances. The possibility of inheriting the position of Lord Paramount to the province was tempting, but it came with its own set of risks and ultimately wasn't worth it. He would settle for being the second biggest power in Silver Pass for now.

His thoughts were put on hold when he heard a knock on the door of his office followed by one of his soldiers entering." My lord?"

" What is it?" Rabier asked, still reading the report given to him.

" The new slave fighters from the jails have been brought to the courtyard. They are waiting for you now."

" Ah yes, I almost forgot. I will be there soon." Rabier waved the man off as he finished up reading the reports, before he got up and left his office.

He had ordered a new batch of demi-humans and beastmen to be brought in from the jails to be integrated into his army. Slaves were a good source of fresh manpower of course, but it was always a mixed bag of what one would get. Be it a classed up wolfman, a rabbitman with a deformed arm or a weasel girl slave who had passed between owner to owner. It was always a gamble, the ones who were prize fighters or even those who had actual potential beyond just being glorified cannon fodder were rare. The ones that resided in the jails however were a bit of a different breed.

Criminals, thieves, murderers, rapists and bandits. While they were usually by no means any better trained than slaves bought on the market, they usually had a certain grit to them that made them slightly more malleable to training. All of them having committed some crime that resulted in them being arrested and typically serving out their sentence through indentured servitude to the city. This usually came in the form of manual labor, filling servant positions and so on.

He simply offered a more active position beyond menial labor tasks.

The walk from his office to the courtyard was a bit far away, but he enjoyed the walk nonetheless. It was a nice sunny day out and the world strangely felt at peace despite the threat of the Waves upon them. Rabier almost found it odd thinking back during the days of the Great War when peace felt like such a distant memory, when the beastmen hordes came knocking on his family's door and his parents telling him to run. The feeling of betrayal he felt when he realized that his dear friend had been the one to open the gates for the Siltvelt army to come in and slaughter his people.

He can still vividly remember the feeling of the wind on his face as he rode away from the Keep and not returning again for years to come. He wonders if anybody still remembers what this place looked like years ago when it was just a crumbling ruin that he somehow managed to pull back from the brink and managed to make it as prosperous as it was during the time his parents were alive.

He wonders if Abby remembered what it looked like.

Rabier shook his head at that thought, now was no time to be reminiscing about the past. But without even realizing it, he managed to reach the doorway that led out into the courtyard where his future recruits were waiting for him and it would rude of him to keep them waiting.

When he walked into the courtyard, he could already see that his men had assembled the criminals in the center of the courtyard with them sitting on the ground with a squad of knights on stand-by to deal with any especially rowdy ones, but those were exceptionally rare once the slave seal was applied. Only the truly dumb ones tried to fight after they got magical seal planted on their chest.

" Captain Farkas, I trust there was no trouble with the transfer?" Rabier asked politely to his top captain.

" Mostly none. Some of the new blood got a bit bold, but I very quickly reminded them of their position." Farkas shrugged as he glanced at the criminals that were seated on the ground. The mix of demi-human and beastmen wither under the gaze of the scary wolfman. Rabier almost smirks at it, perhaps next time he should get that crazy lizardman Lautrec to do this just to see how they would react.

" Any promising ones?" Rabier asked for his opinion as he looked over the group of criminals.

" Maybe a handful of them show promise, but the rest are impulsive untrained mooks barely fit to serve as cannon fodder." Farkas gave his brutally honest opinion on the lot of new recruits. " Though I suppose you don't mind the extra cannon fodder, my lord."

" Not at all Captain. Thank you." Rabier smirked as he patted him in the shoulder. Farkas was by far one of the strongest slaves he had acquired recently, a classed up wolfman fighter who was originally a gladiator in Zeltoble and before that a candidate for captain of the Five Hundred in Siltvelt which was why he promoted him to the rank of captain. A battle hardened warrior that would do more good serving as a field captain rather than just more cannon fodder.

Farkas was by no means an obedient pet who bowed his head, but a headstrong warrior. Rabier respected that and it made him like the wolf beastman a bit more.

Rabier walked to stand at the front of the sitting crowd of criminals who all turned their gaze to him. Farkas stood just a few meters close by which was more than enough to intimidate them into compliance. " Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I trust that you all know who I am but for those who don't, my name is Count Idol Rabier and I welcome you all to my county." Rabier smiled at all of them, but got no response in return." Tough crowd. I suppose we can skip the pleasantries and get to why you are all here: You have all committed some awful crime that has resulted in you being placed in indentured servitude to the land and its people."

Rabier took out a piece of parchment from his coat that had a list of the new recruits." Such crimes include robbery, assault, murder, rape, and wow, even banditry." Rabier let out a snort of amusement." All crimes that carry very lengthy sentences. Some of you will be growing grey hair by the time you earn your freedom after paying your debt to the city. And really how are you going to survive after that with that sort of crime on your back?"

The criminals sitting on the ground before him didn't meet his gaze, all of them dreadfully silent as they stared at the ground in contemplation of his words. The bitter reality hitting them all.

" Now ordinarily you lot would be currently serving out your sentences in indentured servitude. Cleaning gutters, acting as servants and hard labor, the usual stuff." Rabier stuffed the parchment back into his coat as he made his offer." But today I am here to offer you all a choice: Join my Free Fighters or I suppose Slave army if you want to be blunt about it and earn your freedom much faster. Those of you who survive the Wave may be offered positions in my regular army when this is all over and I do reward true loyalty."

The criminals all looked surprised at the offer, they certainly were not expecting being offered a position within his supplementary slave army. There were looks of uncertainty, fear and the very not so subtle resentment in the eyes of the demi-humans and beastmen. Perhaps they thought this was some kind of trap meant to turn them into glorified cannon fodder against the wave. Rabier supposed that they were technically half-right on that part.

" What happens if we say no?" One of the demi-humans asked out loud.

" Nothing." Rabier answered easily as he walked around." No execution after this, no harsher treatment than what you would receive serving the city in indentured servitude or what have you. You will simply be returned to your previous position of working out your sentence to the city, though it will be comparatively much longer than if you joined me so keep that in mind."

" Such as...you for instance." Rabier randomly picked out a demi-human at random and landed on a demi-rabbitwoman who looked surprised at suddenly being picked out." What's your name girl?"

" A-Alin."

" And what are you in for Alin?"

"...Banditry. The adventurers that caught me argued for leniency." Alin said, refusing to meet his gaze out of fear.

" They sound like quite a great bunch of merciful adventurers. We take banditry very seriously here in Rabier county, so the fact you were even taken alive is a boon." Rabier smirked down at her." That's still at least, what? 10 years, maybe 15? If you join me, than I guarantee you'll be out in far less time than that."

Alin looked shocked at the offer, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. That was the same for many of the others who were being given this rare opportunity.

" You all have choices sure, just not a lot of comparatively good ones." Rabier clapped his hands together." So what shall it be?"

The group of criminals looked between each other, some of them having looks of contemplation on their faces while others were practically glaring at him with animosity in their eyes. They hated him and he was absolutely certain they would kill him if they got the chance.

But that was fine, he didn't need their loyalty. He just needed their obedience.

After a moment of silence, the group of demi-humans and beastmen criminals very reluctantly bowed their heads in subservience to him. Rabier smirked at getting the result he wanted.

" Excellent. Captain Farkas, I shall leave their training in your capable hands. Get assistance from Lieutenant Kyubey for training any potential sharpshooters."

" Yes, my lord."

Mein's POV

" The training of the refugees seems to be going quite well." Mein said to the Lady Seatto as she walked to stand beside her.

" Thank you. While they haven't quite reached basic proficiency, the refugees are quite dedicated and mostly kind people." Eclair responded in a neutral tone as she looked down at the mass of people in the courtyard training in various weaponry.

They were at present on one of the upper floors of the Keep that had windows that gave a good view of the courtyard down below. Mein was simply passing through when she noticed Eclair staring out the window down below into the courtyard and decided to join her. The Lady Seatto was uncharacteristically alone as she looked out the window and Mein thought that there was no time like the present to get closer to Eclair. She could see distantly see down below the familiar figures of what she thinks is Naofumi and Ake training hard.

" The refugees may not reach the level of elite knights anytime soon, but they will become fine Silver Hands with time." Mein said. She had observed the earlier training of some of the refugees turned recruits and she could confidently say that many of them had little to no finesse with a blade, if they even had experience in fighting before. But that did not mean they could not be trained and refined into proper knights.

" I suppose so..." Eclair said wistfully, before giving her a glance." Should we really be speaking so openly?"

" What's there to speak about? We are just two women having a nice conversation." Plus Mein already double-checked with Dark Vision to make sure that there weren't any passersby or people listening in. Her enhanced hearing could pick up footsteps from much farther away, so there was no issue.

Eclair shrugged and didn't respond. The princess turned agent gave the heiress turned lady a look, from the tense shoulders and the way her eyes held a sort of regret in them. There was clearly something making Eclair conflicted, and she had an inkling about what it was, but needed to approach it carefully.

" You did a good job convincing the refugees to join up with you." Mein complimented her earlier action. Making promises about rebuilding the destroyed Port Harp was a good strategy as the refugees had no way of confirming whether it was even possible in the long-run, but it got the refugees loyalty by convincing them that if they joined up than they had a real shot of being part of a place in Melromarc where demi-humans could be free.

Eclair let out a humorless chuckle." Not sure what I did should be considered congratulatory." Eclair looked down at the men and women training in the courtyard guiltily." I took your advice and said what I needed to say to convince the refugees to join me. Yet I still cannot help but feel guilty about the mistruths I spoke to them, the lies..."

" You said what they needed to hear to have hope for a better future. And to rally them to your side." Mein tried to sooth Eclair's doubt. The Lady Seatto making false promises about Port Harp rebuilding was a smart move on her part to get the refugees to join, even if its highly unlikely that the trading port will ever rise again. The refugees needed hope...even if it was a false one to have something to look forward to.

Eclair didn't say anything right away, but instead turned to Mein with a sad look in her eye. " Do you...think I did the right thing? I'm not sure if I did, I feel like I have become no different from other nobles who care little for their people."

Mein sighed as she gave Eclair's question some thought. She certainly was by no means the best person to ask moral advice from, but she had to try at least." In my experience Eclair, one can rarely ever know whether an action is truly right or wrong. The lines of morality get blurred, the definitions get shifted and ultimately, we ourselves can never know until much later what the result of an action can lead to."

Mein couldn't help but think of Thomas's own action of freeing the Vallerie slaves and training them in his ways...it was the right thing to do at the time. How could he have known that this would be the result?

" But believe me Eclair when I say that you are not even close to other nobles who lie, cheat and betray each other like there's no tomorrow." Mein gently put a hand on Eclair's shoulder in comfort." The fact that you are feeling bad over a small misdirection already shows that you are much better than most."

Eclair didn't say anything right away, making it difficult to tell whether she truly accepted the words Mein was telling her. But she did not pull away from the hand on her shoulder, which gave Mein some hope that it was being processed at least. Though it was at that moment that Mein could tell that there was something else bothering Eclair beyond just the lies she told to the refugees.

" There's something else bugging you. What is it?" Mein questioned.

" Its just...its Cute." Eclair admitted with a sigh." I haven't spoken to her much since her father, Uncle Reichnott died. Between getting the Keep back up to full strength, the Hound Lord, and now with these new recruits, my time has been very much occupied. I've been trying to get in contact with her, but so far many of my letters have been returned with short responses. I can't shake this odd feeling that she's hiding something from me for some reason. I understand that she's hurting and I want to be there for her but...I don't know." Eclair confessed the troubles she was having dealing with the complicated situation that was Cute Reichnott.

Mein could certainly understand where she was coming from. Cute was certainly much more...active compared to her father and that could be both a good thing and a bad thing at a time like this.

Mein recalled back to the conversation she had with the Outsider himself on how he told her that the former Lord Reichnott had an illegitimate child somewhere in Melromarc. Such information would make for a pretty nasty scandal in the making considering House Reichnott always presented itself as the 'noble followers' of great houses such as Seatto or the Crown itself. She doubts Eclair herself was aware about her dear Uncle Reichnott having an illegitimate child, since such matters were typically handled quietly within the family. And Mein isn't stupid enough to try and mention it to Eclair without any sort of proof.

Outsider told her to investigate the House Reichnott manor if she wanted to know more...perhaps its time for her to make a little visit to the manor. If nothing else, it would give her some dirt on one of mother's former ally houses or it could alternatively help get her into Eclair's good graces by uncovering the identity of this bastard child before Cute somehow did.

" Take heart Eclair. I'm sure Cute is just grieving on her own terms for now, she will reach out to you when she's ready." Mein smiled at her." I'm planning on taking Raphtalia on a hunting trip, so I will be departing from the Keep for a few days to scout for any good spots in the forest. Perhaps I'll pass through Reichnott county to check-in to see how the land itself is doing."

" I would appreciate that. Thank you, your highness." Eclair gave a small smile at her." Though please don't interact with Cute directly. That's my burden to bear."

" Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." Mein gave a slightly mischievous smile at that.

Omake: Simpler Days

Malty preferred spending her mornings in a very routine manner, Thomas had taught her that having a routine helped her maintain discipline and awareness. She had already finished getting dressed for the day, getting breakfast, and adequately waking herself up to the early morning to get focused for the day ahead. The life of a princess certainly was not nearly as easy as most would believe with instructors in magic, etiquette lessons and so on.

And of course, came helping Coach Zellus work out. The former champion from Zeltoble was quite strict about following his training regiment every morning and Malty could honestly say that she respected that about him, even if he did act unprofessional at times. She had already picked out a nice selection of romance and adventure books to read during that time as Coach Zellus always spent an hour minimum on push-ups alone.

Malty had grown used to the experience of reading while the person she is sitting on performed push-ups. Coach Zellus always liked the extra weight and difficulty.

" What'cha reading there princess?" Coach Zellus asked as he continued doing push-ups as easy as breathing. He liked making idle conversation when doing strenuous activity like this.

" A new novel that recently came out that Katarina gave to me. Its called ' Exiled Princes and the Earl's Daughter'." Malty answered as she flicked to the next page.

" Ooooooh, is it a good read?" Coach Zellus asked in the same tone that Katarina used, but with a bit of snark added to it.

" Define 'good'. The story isn't nearly as badly written as a lot of knight novel fantasy stories, but the main character is hard to root for at times." Malty explained her frustrations with the character." The main character Lilian acts like such a cunt half the time. Lilian is the daughter of an Earl, who intentionally stole every man her 'childhood friend' Ginger fell in love with just to spite her."

" What's the problem then?" Malty couldn't see Coach Zellus's face, but she could sense his smirk as he did more push-ups." A conniving, scheming and manipulative person. Sounds like all the qualities of a proper noble lady." Coach Zellus joked with her and Malty could not deny that he was right that those are all qualities that any prospective Player of the Game has.

" The problem is that Ginger is an actually kind person who never had an real ill will towards her childhood friend, yet somehow the author expects the reader to root for Lilian when her actions hurt somebody who always treated her kindly." Malty explains her problem with Lilian as a character.

Yes, from a practical and political standpoint, Malty could understand the reasoning behind Lilian's actions. The daughter of the Earl purposefully stole the heart of every man her childhood friend fell in love with to secure the support of all the important men in court, while simultaneously snubbing her biggest competitor by making her look bad in their eyes. But Malty found it hard to say that she rooted for Lilian all that much, when her good friend Ginger was a genuinely kind person who had no intention of playing the Game of Thrones and was only an unfortunate casualty in Lilian's little game.

The main reason for Lilian's spite towards her childhood friend was simply because Ginger's father snubbed Lilian's father leading to a demotion in rank to earl. But even that made it hard for her to sympathize with Lilian when the one who suffers the most from her political ventures is somebody who had nothing to do with her vengeance. The one most responsible for Lilian's situation is Ginger's father and he's barely mentioned most of the time.

Lilian honestly felt like a complicated character to pin down. Still a cunt and a whore, but had layers to her character somehow that made it difficult to say whether she deserved death or not. The answer came down to probably.

" Eh, I wouldn't take it too seriously. People are a lot more complicated than stories in crappily written knight novels are, the lines of morality get shifted and so on and so forth." Coach Zellus switched to doing push-ups with one arm." That's something I miss about being a traveling merc. The jobs were hard at times sure, but I was free to decide on my own terms on where I would go and what I did. I didn't need no king or queen telling me what was right or wrong."

Mein shrugged. She supposed that she can relate to that somewhat.

" Vice-Captain Zellus, do you really need the princess to sit on your back while you are doing pushups?" Mala said in a disapproving tone from the sidelines." And princess Malty, do you have to sit on the Vice Captain's back while you read?"

" Oh come on Mala! This is practically our routine by now, the princess doesn't mind, does she?" Zellus called out for her to defend him.

Malty did not say anything but simply raised a hand to wave Mala off as she just kept reading.

" See! Everything's perfectly fine..." Zellus turned his head a little. " Water please!"

Without even taking her eyes off the book, Malty grabbed the waterskin off Coach Zellus's back and leaning over to position the waterskin in front of Coach's mouth. With one hand, Malty squeezed the waterskin tight enough that water ejected from the waterskin and into her trainer's mouth.

" Ah! Refreshing, thanks!" Zellus thanked her as he switched to his other arm.

Mala let out a tired sigh as she watched the entire event take place as Malty just kept reading her novel, getting to the juicy part Katarina told her about where Ginger calls Lilian out on her shit.

Just an average morning at castle Melromarc.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter even if it was mostly set-up/filler for when the real sh*t starts going down. Next chapter will probably be a short one that just shows Malty and Raphtalia finally departing from the Keep at last for their 'hunting trip'. That is unfortunately still in the testing phases for how that is going to go down in relation to the plot as a whole.

Funny enough, there was actually going to be a whole scene showing Ebonheart's reaction to the fall of her city. It wasn't pretty and kinda funny, but I decided to cut it since it was ultimately pointless. The omake with Malty and Zellus made it up for me personally, that omake was actually suggested by Qin who found the image in his head hilarious which I agree.

:)

Now let's respond to some reviews shall we?

To EXCUBITORE:

You make a good point that Naofumi doesn't really need to focus on hand to hand that much, since it would be more beneficial if he worked on gaining absolute defense/utility so he can be a better defender/support role in the party. Malty was pretty on the money that Naofumi was just learning this as a way to cope with the guilt of killing Paulina. Plus some more options in a fight can never hurt.

Thanks for the suggestion of Naofumi learning some judo! That's actually what inspired him learning the judo throw in this chapter.

:P

With that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.