As the Adventure continues, Don Quixote is faced with a peculiar threat. With her mission set, she and her companions journey towards a town to rid it of the weird sludge plaguing the people...

I feel like I've said this a million times, either way I don't own Shield Hero or Limbus Company and their subsidiary works. Please go support the official release!

Reviews:

MrSadLad: Blockma and Blockmael have a new competitor ;D

Annon: Thank you!

Geass: indeed, the adventure continues!

Noname: Thank you~ Don's certainly making ripples in the Shield Hero world that's for sure~

the boltguard: Thank you! I hope I don't disappoint!

maxkaufman2002: Indeed a fair duel must be fair~ As for a tremor build for Naofumi, it'd certainly fit! Maybe he will learn about Stagger thresholds (eventually)

lmilai: I enjoy her, hard carried me through Railway 5's final encounter LMAO. Maybe I will make an omake with Manager Don, who knows~

SpeedyTheMemelord: Thank you! Her days certainly are numbered~

CHAPTER 8: OF THE GRAND ADVENTURE THAT CONTINUES THROUGH OUR VERY OWN DON QUIXOTE: THE TOWN OF SLUDGE AND MONSTERS (I)

He was the one and only Holy Pope Balamus. He was a man of many talents, many skills, and most importantly, a man with an infinite amount of patience. He looked over the Crystal Ball in his hands, playing over the Sacred Duel between the Spear and Shield once more. He considered how she acted, and how naive this girl seemed... How excellent for him if he could simply just keep her on a leash as Malty the Second Princess so boldly claimed... But no, Pope Balamus could see right through her. This girl, she was something special.

She had honor befitting a grand Knight, misplaced as it was. She had the air of someone noble. She wielded her weapon with finesse and skill only the most skilled of Halberdiers could claim. Though she was such a low level, simply being around 23 to 24 after the conclusion of the Wave of Calamity if his Shadows were accurate in their assessments... She was definitely someone with great abilities, and who would prove why the Spear, Sword, and Bow should be worshipped as Gods descended upon the Earth.

Yet, something about her gave him pause... Every time he looked at the Spear Heroine, his Monster detecting skills went off. Was it the difference in their current skills? The difference in their current levels? He could not honestly say, but yes, this girl was hiding something... He did not know what. He did not know why. What she hid under that facade of naivete and "justice" for the people, he could not tell... Whatever magic this woman was using to hide her true self, was powerful. Much more powerful than even the most holy of Spells he had. He'd need much stronger... he'd need more faith... if he was to simply even break the spell.

He looked at the spear. Flashes of red as she punched the Shield Hero, sparks of lightning keeping her from damaging the Shield Hero without the weapon she had been given... It was interesting. Despite all that he'd read in the Holy Texts, despite how much the Weapons attested the usage of a weapon other than their own... She was able to harm the Shield Hero perfectly fine. He held the Ball as he moved to a different point in time.

Here... she stood no worse for wear, blood dripping from her wounds on her body... and yet the blood sat upon her body never touching the ground except at her feet where it made contact with the stone. There it was...

Something about her was definitely inhuman. No human bled the way she was bleeding. A human's blood was bound by gravity. A human's blood would drip straight from the knuckles... and yet here her blood was bound to her body, only falling at her feet... no, whatever the Spear Heroine was... he needed to find out. He sat as he contemplated this information... None in the Church could learn of this information. A closely guarded secret for now... only himself, and the Shadows could know this. Yes, while the Spear was very certainly a worthy contender for the title of Hero... she was inhuman. Not Demi-Human, but certainly not a human despite her appearance.

So, he ordered his Shadows. A certain test... Malty was taking them out to some luxury town... If Don Quixote was truly as she claimed, she would let her guard down there... Yes, he would need to keep tabs and eyes on this Spear Heroine. He needed to make plans... This was certainly to prove quite interesting.

Don Quixote sat under the ceiling of the Inn they were staying in at Myne's insistence yet again. She stared at the ceiling in thought of the recent adventure she had partaken. Her head was swimming in thoughts despite the insistences that she had done the right thing. So many things seemed strangely suspicious to her. Don Quixote sat upright as Rocinante clacked against the wooden floors, a creak insisting of where she was. She rubbed her head, as she looked out the window. Still dark. This wouldn't stand, she had to do something... but the town was so quiet. Nary a soul was out this time of night, and lo, she knew the guards were doing their due diligence as one would a Zwei Association Fixer...

Despite the insistences that they were simply mere guards, Don Quixote certainly did not consider such... Their armor, attire, and even some of their weapons were not out of place for a Zwei Association Fixer in the Westernmost Zwei branches. In fact, given the architecture, Don Quixote was absolutely convinced she was somewhere in the Western section of the City... but nothing could really confirm it. The speaking of Melromarc as a Kingdom, instead of as a District gave her pause, as she considered maybe she was out in the Outskirts... truly, if she was in the Outskirts, that would mean so much.

But that wasn't in her place to question as she descended the stairs down the Inn yet again once more. She stepped into the night sky, as she looked about. A quiet night such as this, was rife for a Fixer to step in on matters. She took a step forwards, before hearing someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around, to see the familiar face of Elena standing at the doorway. Don Quixote opened her mouth to speak, only to be stopped as Elena let out a sigh.

"Don't worry, I couldn't sleep either."

Don Quixote smiled with excitement as she grabbed Elena's hand, and started to drag her along.

"Verily so, dost thou see the truth in mine adventures?! Like dame Rino, thou hast come to the same conclusion that we cannot dally and we must keep adventuring even in the waning eventide of night, for adventure shan't wait for us to take initiative!"

Elena mumbled, as she looked incredulous at Don Quixote, before letting out a small laugh, as she let herself be dragged along.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that Miss Quixote."

Elena didn't speak much afterwards as she tailed along after Don Quixote and the two journeyed throughout the Town, searching for crimes and mishaps that simply weren't there at the moment. Don Quixote, on her patrol, took a left into an alley, and seeing nothing turned to Elena with a smile.

"Forsooth, thou must see that our presence throughout this night hath brought great fortune upon the town! For with our efforts alongside the efforts of the Zwei Fixers that come before, we protect this town with our indomitable spirits!"

Elena let out a sigh, resting her hand into her chin as she watched Don Quixote start heading off in the direction of the Town's Gates... as they approached though, a Knight shakily nodded at them, as he greeted the two.

"A-ah, greetings Spear Heroine! Uh, nothing to report here!"

Don Quixote nodded, as she stepped towards the gate, and looked out into the distance...

"Thou must see though, that there art Monster Camps out further, dost thou not? Is it not thou's duty as a Fixer to clear out such villainous fiends?"

The knight was shaking, as Don Quixote got a bit closer, Elena watching with a frown.

"S-sorry, this is my first time here... I'm... I haven't really done much fighting monsters except in... in uh... training..."

Don Quixote smiled, as she brought up her lance, and pointed forwards.

"Then forsooth, thou shalt see a Fixer in action! Yahoo Rocinante! Let us tilt at our enemies!"

Don Quixote charged forwards with gusto, causing Elena to pause and immediately attempt to run after Don Quixote. She prepared some buffing spells, but before she did, Don Quixote had already made her way into the Monster Camp, and immediately...

"Joust!"

Her spear impacted with one of the Kobolds currently pilfering the ground for bones and weapons as it screeched in agony. All of the rest of the Kobolds around threw their weapons up in rage as they started to charge at Don Quixote... maybe Support Magic was a bad idea here. Elena stopped charging, and instead prepared a different spell, as she stayed back.

"Fast Lightning!"

A lightning bolt struck next to Don Quixote, burning another Kobold to a crisp as Don Quixote nodded her thanks, and kept charging in. She was definitely a lot faster after her fight with Naofumi and the conclusion of the Wave, as she kept up her momentum and blasted past another few Kobolds. Elena would keep following up with blasts of Lightning and before long, with the long night the rest of the Kobolds were defeated.

Stagger! Stagger! Stagger+! The notifications kept hitting her vision as Don Quixote kept charging past Kobolds that kept going past. And before long, the Kobolds lay defeated, and all that was left were Monster Parts. Don Quixote fashioned a small pin for Elena as the two celebrated their small victory, before Don Quixote took them back to the Inn. It wouldn't be long before the Sun rose after all... But with such an adventure, Elena could at least admit... well, it was a little fun. Certainly more fun than what her life had given her so far... Maybe she'd stick around with Don Quixote a bit longer after all... She smiled as she put the small pin of Kobold Steel on her jacket...

With one final stone and piece of Lumber, Naofumi wiped his brow as he looked at the finished reparations for Lute Village. The Village was recovering quite nicely after the Wave, and with Raphtalia running around helping them apply medicine and other such things, he couldn't help but softly smile... He looked over his earnings for the day, before returning back to where Raphtalia was waiting for him and the two sat together having a small lunch. Naofumi looked out the tent door, as he looked over to Raphtalia.

"Hey, you doing good? You need anything else?"

She looked confused, as she swallowed her food, and looked back to Naofumi.

"Yes, you've asked me that a lot since the Duel, but I'm fine Naofumi-sama. Why, does it look like something's wrong?"

Naofumi shook his head, before going back to eating... Part of him wondered if the Spear Hero girl was going to be paying him a visit, but given how he'd been free of that red headed bitch's hair for so long, he considered himself lucky...

There was a part of him that wondered what might have happened if the Spear Hero wasn't in that King and Bitch's pocket... was she that stupid that she still wholeheartedly believed in what those two said...? Well, at least from what he could tell from her behaviour.

Though he could at least appreciate her integrity... He liked that her honor wasn't just for show, since she went ahead and stopped the Sacred Duel when someone else interfered... giving him just a little bit of Hope that maybe things weren't going to be as bad as they could've been...

Granted, He still thought she was a stupid Chuuni, but... well, maybe she wasn't that bad... at least better than he first thought. She truly thought she was doing the right thing... misguided as that was, he'd give her at least a chance to prove she wasn't a complete idiot like Ren and Itsuki. He still couldn't believe those two thought this was some Video Game still... It was as real as this was going to get.

Don Quixote looked ahead of them as their location approached... From far away it didn't look like it was in trouble. Just another town with water running past and flowing down the mountains. Grand waterfalls and clouds of steam rising from the distance that made the Town seem much nicer than it seemed on the surface... But Don Quixote knew better as they'd been traveling this way for a reason.

They were on their way towards a Hot Springs town according to Myne, for a "much needed" day of relaxation according to her. Well, that and the monster clearing quest they'd gotten in relation to the Springs Town. Apparently massive piles of sludge were corrupting the spring water making the Town practically unexplorable... and Don Quixote, once she heard about the situation, couldn't help but be enthralled as she dragged her compatriots along with her.

Some of it didn't make sense for Don Quixote, she still couldn't read the gibberish letters Myne tried to get her to read at one point on their travels, but regardless, it would be nice for a change. Though she also couldn't understand Myne's insistence on riding in a Dragon drawn Carriage... though, was later proven wrong when told about it's relative safety, so if it kept her safe Don Quixote was fine with it.

The approach into the town was met with rain and dreary fog as townsfolk coughed and moaned, the sludge around the city obviously making things here miserable... Don Quixote couldn't help but feel terrible for the people who lived here. The foul villain who was plaguing these waters would surely pay for this!

Don Quixote noted her compatriots reactions to the weird sludgelike substance ahead of them as well... almost all of them were mixes of horrified and / or disgusted with the Sludge. All of them though, had the same idea. They needed to get rid of it... How though was a bit of a question in and of itself...

As they came to the Town Square where the local Lord was, they were met with a small area for healing and recompense. Don Quixote couldn't help but note how the Fixers and Guards here were all in terrible shape, chunks of sludge and muck covering their armor and weapons... So shameful! This villain truly had to be a terrible villain, or an even more terrible creature! How exciting, yet indescribable!

"Oh, thank you dear Holy Spear Hero for taking this job... This town hasn't been the same since this Sludge hit... it was only a few days after the Wave, but we've had strange occurrences with this substance so if you could please find the cause of this Sludge, we'd be eternally grateful!"

Don Quixote nodded, and with a pep in her step, started trudging through the thick sludge on her way towards... well, wherever Rocinante guided her feet... Rocinante had never steered her wrong before! Lesty and Elena looked very uncomfortable with walking through the sludge, Myne refused to leave her carriage, and even Rino seemed hesitant to enter... Don Quixote smiled, as she threw some of the sludge off of her shoulder.

"This vile substance shan't stop us! Come, for we must journey to the very source of this foul sludge and substance! Only then might we be able to purge this town of the vileness and wickedness that corrupts it!"

Of course, they didn't seem to want to budge, but regardless, Don Quixote smiled, as she pointed her spear outwards.

"Thou need not worry! Adverse as this sludge is, it shan't conquer our indomitable hearts and spirits! Forsooth!"

She kept marching on, and seeing no other choice... Elena, Lesty, and Rino all stepped either onto or into the Carriage with Myne as it was slowly pulled along... slowly and steadily pushing it's way past large piles of sludge and muck.

"Ugh... gross! This smell is not going to wash out for days... why did we accept this stupid quest..."

"You've got that right Lesty... ugh, I hope that the Lord keeps his bargain deal for us!"

"It's not... so bad right? It could be worse..."

The girls all in the carriage sat there in silence as Don Quixote and their carriage sludged past and kept going on and on into the depths of the Springs. Water and sludge alike flowed in the Rivers... Don Quixote continued walking as the roads ahead of them seemed to thicken with sludge and muck... None of that seemed to stop Don Quixote as she kept trudging forwards holding her lance to her side. Some monsters started to appear from the Sludge, with things like small slimes and sentient piles of goop that started to attack them, though Don Quixote handled them without too much trouble.

She couldn't help but notice that as strange though... These creatures, whatever they were, weren't just attacking blindly, they almost seemed to not be in control as they bounced and hopped and slammed themselves into the closest thing they could find.

Before long, they were at what was the "head" of the River, the source of where the Hot Springs were coming from. And at the very top... sludge and muck was literally pouring and frothing from a single source. A giant pile of bones that at one point could have been a landmark, and was now the home to a very, very large...

"Ugh, is that a Clam?!"

Myne's disgust was plainly heard as Don Quixote readied her lance, looking at the massive blob of green sludge and the Giant Clam-Like entity ahead of them protecting the green slimes ahead of them... The "Slime" in question was spewing out huge chunks of poison and sludge, and growled plainly in annoyance at the party of Adventurers ahead of it. It glorped and groaned, before starting to approach Don Quixote and the others. Don Quixote smiled, as she readied her lance.

"Nay, shall we slay this foul beast today! To arms mine comrades!"

Magic crackled in the air as the others in their Carriage prepared their spells and other offensive means, as Don Quixote swung her spear, splitting apart the Slime that was holding her back, before charging straight at the massive Clam, Spear poised to strike. The Clam itself roared in defiance as it moved to protect the Green pieces of filth and sludge currently under it's charge.

"Have at thee to boot! Thou shall not claim victory over the righteous Fixer of Justice, Don Quixote!"

Author's Notes: Surprise Clam time! Thanks for reading this far, once again. I keep thinking that maybe it was just a fluke that this Story ended up the way it did, with all the attention I've been getting, so seriously, to hear that you all enjoy it this far is awesome.

Anyways, for all you PM people reading rn, Railway 5, hoooooo boy. 400 Roses definitely kicked my ass a BUNCH until I realized wait it uses Bloodfeast I can just use the Vamp IDs for this fight, low and behold it was a breeze.

Anywho, that's enough of me rambling, have a good one, and see ya next week~