A Hero's Quest: Eye of the Demon Emperor

[Oshha]

@Birdsie First omake. Obvious expy is obvious.

The Wanna-be Hero of Justice
"Do you ever miss?" inquires the girl with brown hair and eyes.

"Sometimes," answers the foreign boy with golden eyes and red hair.

"Do you ever miss when you aren't trying to miss?" the girl corrects herself.

"I don't have to answer that," replies the boy without missing a beat.

"You haven't have you," says the girl dryly.

"I missed a couple of times," says the boy defensively.

"Are you still planning to become an adventurer?" asks the girl, "If you can keep up this kind of skill, you can definitely become one when you are older."

"I do want to become a hero," says the boy with total seriousness as he pulls the longbow back.

The girl watches in silence as the boy takes aim and lets go. The arrow soars through the air until it strikes the centre of the target.

"You hit it again," the girl notes the obvious, "Was there ever any doubt?"

In response, the boy just shrugs. He doesn't care if he hits or misses. Pride is overrated.

"Doing anything later?" asks the girl.

"I'm helping Marinus with fixing his cart," answers the boy, "Then I'm going to practice."

"Is Marinus paying you for helping out again?" asks the girl with a mildly disapproving look.

"We've friends," says the boy sheepishly, "I shouldn't make a friend pay me for doing a favour."

"I still don't think you should be hanging out with him," says the girl, "Marinus is nothing, but trouble."

"He has stopped beating his sister since I broke his nose," retorts the boy, "Besides, helping someone is never wrong."

"You're a fool," states the girl and the boy is silent, not bothering to dispute her words.

Instead, he notches another arrow as he readies for another shot.

"So what are you practicing anyway?" asks the girl as she breaks the silence.

The boy mutters something under his breath.

"What was that?" asks the girl, her eyes narrowing at his reluctance to answer.
"Magic," repeats the boy with a sigh.

"You idiot!" exclaims the girl, "You better not still be using your magic without a teacher!"

"None of the men or women that Tiger hires are proper mages," argues the boy, "They're ripping her off. None of them are competent and I'm already far better than any of them."

"You need the proper teacher," the girl insists.

"I'm not going to that priest," states the boy as he pulls back his boy again, "I don't trust him. He pisses me off and that something not right with him. Besides, I don't need a teacher. Dad taught me the basics. I am more than capable of learning on my own now."

As the boy takes aim again, the girl is also silent again. The second arrow flies true and strikes the second target perfectly.

"I still don't think you should be using magic without proper training," says the girl.

"I have gotten proper training," the boy insists, "Dad was more than enough before he died and he is still is more than enough. All of those so-called magic teachers that Tiger keeps finding are frauds. Trust me, I know a faker when I see one."

"Still a bad idea," grumbles the girl.

"You weren't complaining when I used my magic to fix your bow," says the boy.

"That's different!" the girl shouts and the boy doesn't argue the point.

There is silence again as the boy prepare a third arrow and flies it fly against the third target, scoring a third bullseye.

"What can you do with your magic?" asks the girl, changing track.

"Just the basics," admits the boy, "Enhancement including physical, Conjuring and Analysis. Also some basic Anti Magic. But I'm really good at them, especially when it comes to swords. None of those fake magic teachers are even close to my level of skill."

"What about the Baragars?" says the girl as the boy moves to collect the arrows, "They live nearby right? Only half a day's travel on horse. Perhaps you could ask one of them for magic training. They would have to know real magic. Unless you want to claim that they are all frauds as well."

"I can't just march up to a bunch of famous nobles and ask for magic training," replies the boy, calling over his shoulder, "Their guards would catch me before I got close. And even if I did speak to one of them, why would train an orphaned foreign peasant like me? They would kick me out. They might even arrest me for trespassing."

"They have a girl about your age right?" says the girl, ignoring the boy, "She has her birthday coming up if I remember correctly. And they are throwing her a party. You could sneak into that. Even if a Baragar would refuse to teach you, you might be able to find a proper magic teacher there."

"Again, they would just throw me out or have me arrested," the boy disagrees.

"But you need a proper magic teacher," the girl insists.

"No, I don't," the boy insists right back, "I can teach myself just right. I can learn my magic, practice my archery and help people around the village. And then when I am old enough, I can become a Hero of Justice!"

 

[Oshha]

Enhancement Self-Experimentation
Artoria stares at the two-foot tall mirror in her room as she prepares to practice her Enhancement. The twelve year old girl wants to try out a few things.

She has made sure that everything is planning is perfectly safe. Artoria was initially worried that using Enhancement would be dangerous and it could dangerously backfire on her. But her magecraft teacher has assured the Baragar heiress that Enhancement is only dangerous under certain circumstances.

Most of those related to not knowing enough to properly use Enhancement. It turns out that Enhancement is completely safe to use if used properly. If a third-rate spellcaster who has no business practicing magic tried to use Enhancement, it would go poorly for them with body parts exploding, clothing being shredded and blades being shattered.

But Artoria is no third rate magic user and has receive proper training in how to correctly use Enhancement and she doesn't need to worry about accidentally blowing something or herself up.

Letting the mana flow through her, Artoria pumps a little bit of it into her hair, making sure that it doesn't touch the roots.

Eagerly watching in the mirror, the blonde girl is swiftly disappointed as no changes are made to her hair.

Unwilling to give up so easily, Artoria tries pumping a bit more mana into her golden locks.

Still nothing.

Determined to get some results, Artoria begins to pump a far greater amount of mana into her hair, slowly increasing the amount until she get some visible change.

It takes a minute and no small amount of mana, but the Baragar heiress finally spots something happening to her hair.

It is slowly growing out, barely enough for Artoria to notice if she wasn't paying extra attention to it.

Excited by the visible evidence of her attempts working, Artoria sits there for a couple of minutes, just watching her blonde hair grow.

It doesn't long for the novelty of magically growing her hair too grow to wear off and before long, Artoria has grown disinterested in the boring pastime of staring at her own hair grow.

"What next," mutters Artoria as she stops the flow of mana into her hair, trying to think of the next experiment for her to perform with her Enhancement.

"Night vision would be good right?" Artoria says to herself as she begins to pace back and forth in her room, "A dragon would definitely have night vision and so I would be at a disadvantage if I had to fight one in the dark. Especially if I have to fight one in its lair. If I know my stories right, a dragon would be in a cave or abandon castle with all of its loot. And since those places would be dark inside, I would need night-vision to avoid being at a disadvantage."

Deciding that Enhancing her eyesight is worth a shot, Artoria lets a reasonable amount of mana flow into her eyeballs rather than slowly building up the amount over time.

Blinking rapidly for a moment as she adjusts to the changes, Artoria easily notices the changes.

Her vision is easily sharper, much better at picking out the details through she still struggles to keep track of everything.

While she can see more detail and at greater distances, her mind can still process so much as while the quality of information has improved, the quantity has not.

Despite it still being daytime, Artoria is able to test out her ability to see in dark with her Enhanced eyes by looking in the dark spots of her room. Peaking under her bed and into her wardrobe with the doors closed, the Baragar heiress is able to determine that yes, she can see better in the dark by Enhancing her eyes.

Stepping out of her wardrobe, Artoria lets the mana fade out of her eyes and her vision returns to normal. She will need more practice before she truly becomes used to having Enhanced eyesight, but the blonde girl could fight with it if needed.

Thinking of what to try Enhancing next, Artoria pauses and turns back around to face her wardrobe again.

"Armour is useful, but I won't always have it on me," Artoria says to herself as she picks up a shirt, "But I should always be wearing some clothing right? If I can use Enhancement to Enhance my clothing so it is stronger enough to count as armour, I can keep myself protected in a pinch, even if I get ambushed or surprised when I am not in my armour."

Holding the shirt, Artoria pumps Mana into it until she feels that she has put a reasonable amount in it. Satisfied that it should prove tougher, Artoria attempts to yang the shirt in two with her bare hands.

Halfway through the attempt, it occurs to the Baragar heiress that she doesn't know how hard it is to tear it normally and maybe, just maybe, damaging her own clothing isn't the best of ideas.

Putting the shirt back, Artoria checks it for any damage from her attempts to rip it in two and can spot nothing, but a bit of strain on the fabric where it has been pulled hard.

Success? Artoria doesn't know it her attempts were actually successful, but she is certainly going to take what she can get.

As she puts the shirt away, Artoria notes that article of clothing is smaller than it used. Remembering that particular shirt was always a tad loose on her whenever she wore it in the past, Artoria wonders...
Glancing down at the clothing she is currently wearing, the Baragar heiress decides on what she is going to try next.

Artoria can vaguely remember her instructor mentioning something about clothing fitting better or something, but she was focused on other things at the time and due to her focus on physical enhancements that are practical for combat.

Letting the mana flow into her shirt and skirt, Artoria feels the loose shirt get tighter and better fitting around her upper body and arms while the skirt gets slightly looser around the waist where it is tightly held in place.

Artoria quickly darts back in front of her mirror, eager to see if her Enhanced clothing looks as good as it feels.

Looking in the mirror, Artoria notes that while her attire does look a tad better on her, Enhancing her clothes has done much more to make them feel more comfortable than it has to make them look better on her.

Of course, part of them is due to Artoria not having much to show off. She bits that Enhancing clothes would do much more when it comes to improving looks for her mother than it does for her.

Wait a moment...

A smile forms on the face of the Baragar heiress as she comes up with her next Enhancement experiment and she begins to pull her shirt off.

 

[Oshha]

Round Two
Tavish frowns as he reads the textbook that Artoria let him keep. Covering the basics of Thaumaturgy, it mainly focuses on Enhancement and Anti-Magic when it comes to more advanced stuff.

Which is fine by the golden-eyed boy. Enhancement is one of his main and only skills so improving further with proper instructions and not just self-teaching is good and well, Anti-Magic is sure to come in handy someday.

He is pleased that the Baragar heiress let him keep the textbook, but at the same time, the red haired boy is troubled by her willingness to resort to violence.

After all, he only asked her to speak with Marinus, hoping her clout would intimidate him into not beating Septima out of the public eye. Apparently she just meant 'beat up' when she said talk.

Even her first idea was kind of cruel with the whole booby trapping his home, even if he didn't have his family living there. And Tavish certainly didn't like the smile on Artoria's face when she proposed the idea and how disappointed she was at not being able to pull it off.

Closing the textbook, Tavish decides that he out to get start with his practice. After all, practice is the only way is going to improve without a proper teacher.

Hmm, maybe he can get Artoria to teach him some tricks when she gets back from her dragon hunt? She seemed like the good sort even if she is a tad psycho.

He even feels a bit sort for whichever dragon that Artoria chooses to go after. Hopefully it will deserve whatever Artoria does to it.

"Hey Tavish!" calls Marinus and Tavish looks up to see the blue haired boy swaggering towards him with four of his lackeys in toe.

"What do you want?" asks Tavish as he looks over who Marinus has brought for this encounter.

The big oaf Harold, the scrawny Jeremey, the tall and slim Karl and the tubby Clifford.

"You had that dump noble girl whoop our butts yesterday and it is time for you to suffer the price for that," declares Marinus dramatically, aiming a pointed finger at Tavish, "Get him boys!"

Harold is the first one to charge Tavish and the one is worried about the most. Marinus is something of a wuss while Jeremey doesn't have the muscles to hit hard. Clifford is too overweight to last long in a fight without running out of breath.

That leaves just Karl and Harold and of those two, Harold is the one who hits harder and can take a hit better.

Roaring with rage, Harold swings his fist as Tavish who easily sidesteps the clumsy blow and kicks Harold in the boyhood. Wincing in pain, the bigger boy drops to his knees with a wheeze as he shields his crotch with his hands.

Tavish throws a punch at Harold's face and his fist connects with his target's jaw. Going into tumbling backwards, Harold is left collapsed on the ground, groaning and wiggling in pain.

"Who is next?" asks Tavish as he turns to face Marinus and the rest of them, putting on a display of bravado to try and intimidate them into leaving him along.

For a moment, Tavish hopes that he got lucky as the other village boys hesitate. Unfortunately, his luck isn't that good.

"He just got a lucky shot in," says Marinus as Tavish's former friend clenches his fist, "If we all rush him at once, we can take him for sure. Well, go on!"

And with that, Karl, Jeremy and Clifford all charge at Tavish. Tavish ducks back from Jeremy's attack, only to be caught in the side by Karl's fist. Staggering back, Tavish is barely able to block a swing from Clifford and even then it still hurts his arm.

Karl slams into Tavish, sending the redhead tumbling backwards. Getting up, Tavish attempts to punch Karl back, but the other boy catches his punch and Clifford takes the opportunity to punch Tavish directly in the face.

Flying backwards, Tavish groans as his entire face hurts. Raising a hand to his nose, he pulls it back to see blood on it.

"Ow, that hurt my hand," the golden eyed boy hears Clifford complain.

"Get over it," says Karl callously, "I can't be doing all the work here. Speaking of that, how about ya actually do something helpful Jeremy?"

"I'm trying," whines Jeremy, "But you aren't getting me the chance."

"What about Marinus?" asks Clifford, "He is just standing back."

"I'm doing some proper work," retorts Marinus.

Tavish begins to sit up as Marinus strides forwards, moving up to Tavish with a smug look on its his face. Tavish's eyes narrow as he recognises his new magic textbook in the hands of his former friend.

"Look at this fellows," sneers Marinus, "Our little pal over here fancies himself a mage. I bet you stole this from that noblegirl whore of yours. I wonder if she knows that you got this? Or what she would do to you if she found out?"

"Er, Marinus," says Karl nervously, "Isn't Tavish actually a mage?"

"Yes, I am," answers Tavish as he pumps Mana into his body and Enhances it.

Before any of the other boys can react, Tavish is back on his feet and has snatched his book out of the blue haired boy's grip. A punch to Marinus' chest followed up a kick to crotch and Tavish grabs Marinus by the shirt. Lifting him over his head, Tavish throws Marinus at the others with Marinus crashing into all three of the other boys.

"Now, as amusing as this has been to watch, I am going to ask you boys to stop this and scamper off," says a woman's voice and Tavish turns to see an imposing noblewoman, "I need to speak with my daughter's latest friend."

Dressed in her armour, this tall woman has long blonde hair and is rather muscular. She carries an air of authority around her and Tavish knows better than to mess with this lady.

Marinus seems to figure that out as well as he runs off, with his lackeys following him, including recently recovered Harold.

"Now then," says the noblewoman as she turns on Tavish, "What all that about?"

"Marinus likes to beat on his younger sister," Tavish explains, "So when Artoria came through the village yesterday, I asked her to speak with Marinus about that. I hoped that her clout would scared him into not doing it, but Artoria thinks that 'talk' means 'beat up' so she started a fight. And because I got her involved in the matter, Marinus and his friends think I asked Artoria to beat them up and want revenge on me for it."

"I see," says Lady Baragar, "And the book?"

"Artoria let me borrow it," replies Tavish, "And then she left me keep it for free when I tried to return it to her."

"I see," says Lady Baragar again, "You are mage then?"

"Yes," answers Tavish, "I'm mostly self-taught as Dad only taught me the basics before he died and Tiger, that's my half-elf caretaker, hasn't been able to get me a proper teacher yet. Just a bunch of fakes who tried the con us into believe that they were real magic users."

"Then perhaps Artoria could provide a proper teacher for you," says Lady Baragar, "It would be an appropriate punishment for getting you into trouble with her recklessness. Now, please could you provide me on some information on what my daughter is going?"

Tavish hesitates as he tries to figure out whether or not he should tell Artoria's mother the truth about what she is up to.

In the end, Tavish decides that Artoria is probably better off if her mother knows what she is up to.

"She said that she was on a quest to kill a dragon," answers Tavish, "She asked me if I wanted to join her, but I turned her down. She also said that she was heading to Mora next."

"Thank you for the information," replies Lady Baragar, "That is most helpful."

 

[Terran Imperium]

The Visit

A black haired girl is meditating on the wooden floor, willing her mana to move fluently in her body, gathering it in her hand, manipulating it to form a bright ball of light, she manipulates it to her will, shaping it into a spear-like form and then willing the energy to move into other shapes, until she is interrupted.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Bright blue eyes opened and fixed themselves at the sole door in the room.

"Elder Sister? Can I enter your room?"

"You may" replied the black-haired irritatingly.

"Um- uh..." The younger girl shift nervously under the glare of her older sister, no one interrupts her during her sessions after all unless it was their Father or an important matter.
Fortunately for the younger girl, it is the latter.

Sighing at her sister's antics "Speak, What is the matter?"

"Ah! Yes ! Uh... Father said to prepare yourself for a visit to the Baragar Household!" replied the younger sister.

The black haired girl merely rose an eyebrow.

"What caused Father to declare that suddenly?" replied the elder sister now a little bit more interested, The Baragar Family is quite a famous name in these lands after all and Father himself wished many times to get acquainted with them but did not find any opportunities. To say the elder sister was curious would be an understatement but as a proper lady from a famous mage house, she needs to keep her composure.

"Well, the Eldest Child of the Baragar Family just killed a Greater Dragon alone and Father want to use that as a way to get acquainted with them and possibly for you to-"

"To what?! I already told Father, I will choose the man of my life, it doesn't matter if he killed a Greater Dragon or not" scoffed the elder sister already forgetting her lady manners and start losing herself to her anger.

"*cough* She is actually a girl and the same age as you Elder Sister, he wished for you to befriend her... He says that it will help him create a permanent relationship between our families" replied timidly the younger black haired sister.

"Oh... I'm sorry for my outburst... When are we leaving?" The eldest trying to blatantly change the topic not that her naive little sister noticed.

"Oh uh- As soon as possible! Father said that we are not the only one trying to get on the good side of the Baragar Family." replied the still nervous Sister.

"Good, come with me, I will choose for you a proper dress for our visit to the Baragar Household, it will be an insult to our name if we shamed ourselves in front of one of the most influential families of this land" replied elegantly the elder sister, quickly dragging her sister by her arm.

"Eh ?! Wh- Wha- Sister !" replied the flustered girl, not having any chance from the start to escape from her fate as a dress doll for the next few hours.

477 words
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So here is a short omake, I did it because when I think about Tavish(Shirou-expy), I can't help but think about Rin and the recent events certainly help to give me an idea to introduce her to the story.
If it wasn't obvious this is a Rin-expy with a Sakura-expy, completely different from that Marinus guy's sister, a more shy girl overshadowed by the exploits of her sister but don't worry Rin-expy still care for her as a tsundere should *smirk*.