"How much harm can an amnesiac overlord from spacebattles really do?"
A wild last Friend insert has appeared! (A Wild Last Boss Appeared FI, featuring @Hapless Annon)
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Chapter 1
- Pronouns
- He
Chapter 1
Blink.
He raised a brow in confusion. A moment ago he was busy typing on discord discussing the latest new anime with Allen, now a weird view had taken over his phone. That of a figure obscured by green and white robes, hands outstretched in front of an add of sorts, offering him a new role in something, asking him to accept or decline.
"Weird popup." Did he have a virus on his phone? With a sigh he hit no, only to curse as his fingers accidentally scraped over yes. "Damn fat fing-?!"
Before he could even finish the sentence his world suddenly dissolved into white, his consciousness blinking out a moment later.
Philip didn´t know how long he was out exactly. For a moment there was nothing, no noise, no light reaching his now senseless form, before an orchestra of noises -no- voices reached his ears. It was difficult, but he could make out three different people. An elderly stern one and two he couldn't quite make out.
"Ah." "That´s…" "Did the hero summoning succeed?" "No, it's not. That appearance…" "No, it can not be…." "What are you talking about?"
They appeared to be talking about something, the first voice growing ever more impatient while the others became ever more terrified.
"She was still a-alive? No, we …. have made a terrible mistake." The panicked voice reached a point of hysteria and the others fell dead silent all of a sudden. Philipp tried to speak but found himself utterly unable to even mutter any words yet. Despite that though his sight began to return ever so slowly, allowing him to recognize vague silhouettes of faces and forms.
Philipp was in a magnificently decorated stone room, resembling a middle ages castle yet was clearly lived in. The line banners, torches, and a gaggle of folk dressed like medieval larpers who were before him helped with that impression. Said larpers, many wearing metal armor and a king looking fellow on a throne, appeared as if they had gazed upon the face of satan. The closest had elf ears, seizing up in a panic attack.
Raising a brow, he shifted his weight. Here he discovered he felt… off. His balance was shot, his back and chest ached like he was carrying a heavy pack, and for some reason shifting his legs didn't carry the same sensation as normal. He blinked. Then he blinked again, finding that nothing had changed.
Lifting his quivering hands, Philipp brought them to his chest, and found that they hit something soft much further out than they should have. Soft, oddly pleasant things that he felt on his torso. As in the sensations came from his chest. Gazing down, he discovered he had breasts. Gigantic ones, which were unmistakably attached to him.
For a delirious second he wondered if this wasn't some kind of lucid dream; that was supposed to do stuff like this, at least he thought so. What else could explain all this?
'This isn't supposed to be here.' The thought began in his head, and left his mouth as, "What indignity is this?"
All around him the world reacted; air swept away as if blown by a tornado, the floor beneath him cracked, and all the people in view fell to their knees. They cowered, trembled, outright bawled like babies in sheer terror at his unfazed form.
"SOMEONE, GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION!" He froze, mouth clamped shut. He didn't want to say that, nor cause that blast effect just by speaking! What was going on! Philipp clamped a hand over his mouth, stopping any more shouts from leaving, but also feeling his expression twist on its own. Like it alone was disgusted at the situation.
The people in sight prostrated themselves before him in sheer terror, kowtowing with everything they had. Guards, the elf-guy, the king, all were equally scared to death. Eyes wide in shock, Philipp held onto his mouth and refused to let go. In his state he searched for a door, needing to escape before the demon nesting in his mouth escaped.
Swallowing a lump, he tried one more time; he lowered his hands to ask as gently as he could-
"WHAT WRETCHED EXCUSE OF A PALACE AM I?"
Philipp wanted to slap himself.
"I-i, a-ah, am t-t-t-t-t-t-...." the Elf-guy stuttered, hyperventilating in a vain struggle to explain himself while simultaneously kissing the floor. No one else was doing any better, in fact many were worse; Philipp leered at a couple men who actually passed out. The rest weren't far off with how their eyes rolled back or clasped their chests.
More fainted as Philip stomped towards the nearest way out of this crazy place. Blazing through a doorless opening, he strode onto a large scenic balcony, feeling much needed fresh air on his face. There was sunlight too, a welcome salve to his shock. That was until he actually looked from the balcony.
There were multiple descending rows of walls, forming a positively massive stone castle, sturdily built as any genuine fortress. Just beyond the walls were smaller buildings, a townscape right out of a middle ages painting or Warhammer Fantasy. Some houses were vaguely Roman-esque, others were more medieval. Additional walls cut through the town, either extra protection or class divisions, complimenting the tall wall that protected the whole place. In the far distance were scenic mountains, looking quite stunning where he was.
Philip opened his mouth, clamping shut before deciding to risk it again.
"WHAT BY THE FIRES OF ETERNAL DAMNATION IS HAPPENING!"
No one answered, though the biting stench behind made him pretty sure that a multifold of people behind him had just soiled themselves.
He turned to… Philipp didn't know. Halting in place, he took a shaky breath and tried thinking. He needed answers, but the hellspawn thing in his mouth meant he couldn't-wait! He could write! Features lighting up at the loophole, he started going back inside to find a quill or something. But not before patting himself down in case he had anything on him. For some reason walking felt weird, he wanted a mirror to-
Light shot from his fingers, creating a mirror in mid air. Philipp blinked again, first because what the hell just happened? Then because he saw what the glass had to show.
A beautiful, tall, downright stunning woman greeted his eyes. Wearing pendants and a dress overlaid by armor bits, the woman with spiky, ankle reaching hair gazed back at him with a jaw hanging open, neither her eyes nor a weird triple gem circlet offering any answers, while two magnificent black wings sprouted out of his shoulders. He raised a hand to mindlessly pat for nonexistent pockets, the reflection copying him move for move.
'"WHAT IN THE FUCK!?"
Too late Philipp realized what that had done; stone simply shattered under the force of his voice, blasting away as if hit by a hurricane. For a moment he froze in shock and that moment was all it took for the stone he was standing on to sack down, the punishment he accidentally doled out too much for the balcony.
Philipp wanted to say that he fell gracefully down, but sadly that would have been a lie. He was, by his estimates, halfway down the way to the cold hard ground before he, more on instinct than anything else, flapped his wings.
At least, that's what he guessed was happening as he was suddenly teleported upwards, piercing cloud cover in less than a second. They parted in his wake, swirling in a huge funnel as if trying to follow. Not that they had any chance of catching up with his speed, racing skywards with a shrill cry echoing far and wide.
"Whayah! Aaaah!"
Slowing after what felt like an eternity, Philipp ceased going up and just stopped. He didn't ascend or fall, for all intents and purposes he was anchored in place. Several very long kilometers in the sky. That was part of the reason he started to hyperventilate like those men back there, sweeping back and forth to repeatedly confirm he wasn't dropping.
Way faster than he assumed would happen, Philipp started to calm down. The panic he had felt skin deep, his mind was terrified but his body was overall fine. If anything, the sun and wind this high up calmed him down somewhat. It actually felt kind of good.
Taking one more shaky gulp of air, Philipp opened his eyes. Then he saw the view: a rolling landscape of forests dotted by the occasional town or stone outcrop. It went on and on, without anything modern to ruin the sight.
He mouthed a breathless, 'woah' that thankfully didn't trigger the boom-voice. It was absolutely stunning, easily the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Shaking his head with a gulp, he tried orienting himself towards a vaguely open area. He didn't belong here, as beautiful as the sight was. After a second his body moved, heading towards the ground at a controlled, non-insane speed.
But as he flew down, Philipp spotted something else, stopping him where he floated. In fact there was something artificial in this beautiful landscape, only, not something that was built by anyone he knew of; a tower stabbed towards the sky, thin and spindly and as black as a moonless night. It dwarfed the mountains in its sheer height.
Without knowing how he did so, Philip turned and flew towards it. Common sense claimed going towards the gigantic ominously colored tower was a bad idea, but he didn't exactly have a wealth of options.
As he approached he picked out more details: it appeared to be constructed out of black bricks and dark crystals, without a speck of metal to be seen. By all appearances it was a gigantic tower of doom belonging to an evil wizard overlord. Yet…
No fear rose at the sight of the tower. Instead Philipp felt almost… warm? Like he was seeing a home he hadn't visited in years. He gulped anyway, searching for something resembling a gate on the ground, but finding none. Looking sideways, he mentally shrugged; again he started ascending, going towards the roof. That didn't take long, which considering how the tower rose over the clouds said some very spooky things about these wings.
The roof was a huge square, several dozen meters long. There was nothing up there except for a small entrance, well, 'small.' Oddly it was raised, with a set of steep stairs going towards it. Landing was easier than flying, though he still caused a massive gust of wind upon touching the stone.
As gravity reasserted itself, the sense of familiarity struck even stronger. Philipp felt like he knew the top of this doom tower as well as the backside of his own house. In fact, with every step he took it felt like memories were worming themselves into his brain. Memories buried, long forgotten, coming alive again.
As he marched through the open doors of the upper level he saw himself drinking with unknown people, dressed like a go-to DnD party. They were celebrating their victories and adventures. The situation was lighthearted and he remembered how, during the mass of heavy beer intakes, he rejected the advances of multiple people. Including what looked like a girl with a massive stinger?
He shook his (her?) head to wipe away the foreign memories. What was that? Were those his memories? But he never remembered that happening? What the hell was going on?
His internal struggle was interrupted when he noticed a figure coming out of the shadows nearby. It was a young girl, looking at him with a mix of concern and wonder.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"
And she started to cry, great. Things were just going great.
AN:
So I´ve finally come around to reward my good friend for him inserting me into Gurren Lagan, by inserting him into a wild last boss appeared, the light novel to be exact, though i am going to use the manga as well. This is a blind insert, so please keeo any and all spoilers to spoiler boxes. If you are not sure if something is a spoiler or not, please PM me first. Also please keep any and all evtl spoilers about Gurren Lagan out of this thread. The link to that story if people are interested Dare to be Hot Blooded, Gurren Lagann Blind FI ft Allenwalker
Feedback and constructive critiscimn are of course welcome
Thank you and please enjoy.
Blink.
He raised a brow in confusion. A moment ago he was busy typing on discord discussing the latest new anime with Allen, now a weird view had taken over his phone. That of a figure obscured by green and white robes, hands outstretched in front of an add of sorts, offering him a new role in something, asking him to accept or decline.
"Weird popup." Did he have a virus on his phone? With a sigh he hit no, only to curse as his fingers accidentally scraped over yes. "Damn fat fing-?!"
Before he could even finish the sentence his world suddenly dissolved into white, his consciousness blinking out a moment later.
Philip didn´t know how long he was out exactly. For a moment there was nothing, no noise, no light reaching his now senseless form, before an orchestra of noises -no- voices reached his ears. It was difficult, but he could make out three different people. An elderly stern one and two he couldn't quite make out.
"Ah." "That´s…" "Did the hero summoning succeed?" "No, it's not. That appearance…" "No, it can not be…." "What are you talking about?"
They appeared to be talking about something, the first voice growing ever more impatient while the others became ever more terrified.
"She was still a-alive? No, we …. have made a terrible mistake." The panicked voice reached a point of hysteria and the others fell dead silent all of a sudden. Philipp tried to speak but found himself utterly unable to even mutter any words yet. Despite that though his sight began to return ever so slowly, allowing him to recognize vague silhouettes of faces and forms.
Philipp was in a magnificently decorated stone room, resembling a middle ages castle yet was clearly lived in. The line banners, torches, and a gaggle of folk dressed like medieval larpers who were before him helped with that impression. Said larpers, many wearing metal armor and a king looking fellow on a throne, appeared as if they had gazed upon the face of satan. The closest had elf ears, seizing up in a panic attack.
Raising a brow, he shifted his weight. Here he discovered he felt… off. His balance was shot, his back and chest ached like he was carrying a heavy pack, and for some reason shifting his legs didn't carry the same sensation as normal. He blinked. Then he blinked again, finding that nothing had changed.
Lifting his quivering hands, Philipp brought them to his chest, and found that they hit something soft much further out than they should have. Soft, oddly pleasant things that he felt on his torso. As in the sensations came from his chest. Gazing down, he discovered he had breasts. Gigantic ones, which were unmistakably attached to him.
For a delirious second he wondered if this wasn't some kind of lucid dream; that was supposed to do stuff like this, at least he thought so. What else could explain all this?
'This isn't supposed to be here.' The thought began in his head, and left his mouth as, "What indignity is this?"
All around him the world reacted; air swept away as if blown by a tornado, the floor beneath him cracked, and all the people in view fell to their knees. They cowered, trembled, outright bawled like babies in sheer terror at his unfazed form.
"SOMEONE, GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION!" He froze, mouth clamped shut. He didn't want to say that, nor cause that blast effect just by speaking! What was going on! Philipp clamped a hand over his mouth, stopping any more shouts from leaving, but also feeling his expression twist on its own. Like it alone was disgusted at the situation.
The people in sight prostrated themselves before him in sheer terror, kowtowing with everything they had. Guards, the elf-guy, the king, all were equally scared to death. Eyes wide in shock, Philipp held onto his mouth and refused to let go. In his state he searched for a door, needing to escape before the demon nesting in his mouth escaped.
Swallowing a lump, he tried one more time; he lowered his hands to ask as gently as he could-
"WHAT WRETCHED EXCUSE OF A PALACE AM I?"
Philipp wanted to slap himself.
"I-i, a-ah, am t-t-t-t-t-t-...." the Elf-guy stuttered, hyperventilating in a vain struggle to explain himself while simultaneously kissing the floor. No one else was doing any better, in fact many were worse; Philipp leered at a couple men who actually passed out. The rest weren't far off with how their eyes rolled back or clasped their chests.
More fainted as Philip stomped towards the nearest way out of this crazy place. Blazing through a doorless opening, he strode onto a large scenic balcony, feeling much needed fresh air on his face. There was sunlight too, a welcome salve to his shock. That was until he actually looked from the balcony.
There were multiple descending rows of walls, forming a positively massive stone castle, sturdily built as any genuine fortress. Just beyond the walls were smaller buildings, a townscape right out of a middle ages painting or Warhammer Fantasy. Some houses were vaguely Roman-esque, others were more medieval. Additional walls cut through the town, either extra protection or class divisions, complimenting the tall wall that protected the whole place. In the far distance were scenic mountains, looking quite stunning where he was.
Philip opened his mouth, clamping shut before deciding to risk it again.
"WHAT BY THE FIRES OF ETERNAL DAMNATION IS HAPPENING!"
No one answered, though the biting stench behind made him pretty sure that a multifold of people behind him had just soiled themselves.
He turned to… Philipp didn't know. Halting in place, he took a shaky breath and tried thinking. He needed answers, but the hellspawn thing in his mouth meant he couldn't-wait! He could write! Features lighting up at the loophole, he started going back inside to find a quill or something. But not before patting himself down in case he had anything on him. For some reason walking felt weird, he wanted a mirror to-
Light shot from his fingers, creating a mirror in mid air. Philipp blinked again, first because what the hell just happened? Then because he saw what the glass had to show.
A beautiful, tall, downright stunning woman greeted his eyes. Wearing pendants and a dress overlaid by armor bits, the woman with spiky, ankle reaching hair gazed back at him with a jaw hanging open, neither her eyes nor a weird triple gem circlet offering any answers, while two magnificent black wings sprouted out of his shoulders. He raised a hand to mindlessly pat for nonexistent pockets, the reflection copying him move for move.
'"WHAT IN THE FUCK!?"
Too late Philipp realized what that had done; stone simply shattered under the force of his voice, blasting away as if hit by a hurricane. For a moment he froze in shock and that moment was all it took for the stone he was standing on to sack down, the punishment he accidentally doled out too much for the balcony.
Philipp wanted to say that he fell gracefully down, but sadly that would have been a lie. He was, by his estimates, halfway down the way to the cold hard ground before he, more on instinct than anything else, flapped his wings.
At least, that's what he guessed was happening as he was suddenly teleported upwards, piercing cloud cover in less than a second. They parted in his wake, swirling in a huge funnel as if trying to follow. Not that they had any chance of catching up with his speed, racing skywards with a shrill cry echoing far and wide.
"Whayah! Aaaah!"
Slowing after what felt like an eternity, Philipp ceased going up and just stopped. He didn't ascend or fall, for all intents and purposes he was anchored in place. Several very long kilometers in the sky. That was part of the reason he started to hyperventilate like those men back there, sweeping back and forth to repeatedly confirm he wasn't dropping.
Way faster than he assumed would happen, Philipp started to calm down. The panic he had felt skin deep, his mind was terrified but his body was overall fine. If anything, the sun and wind this high up calmed him down somewhat. It actually felt kind of good.
Taking one more shaky gulp of air, Philipp opened his eyes. Then he saw the view: a rolling landscape of forests dotted by the occasional town or stone outcrop. It went on and on, without anything modern to ruin the sight.
He mouthed a breathless, 'woah' that thankfully didn't trigger the boom-voice. It was absolutely stunning, easily the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Shaking his head with a gulp, he tried orienting himself towards a vaguely open area. He didn't belong here, as beautiful as the sight was. After a second his body moved, heading towards the ground at a controlled, non-insane speed.
But as he flew down, Philipp spotted something else, stopping him where he floated. In fact there was something artificial in this beautiful landscape, only, not something that was built by anyone he knew of; a tower stabbed towards the sky, thin and spindly and as black as a moonless night. It dwarfed the mountains in its sheer height.
Without knowing how he did so, Philip turned and flew towards it. Common sense claimed going towards the gigantic ominously colored tower was a bad idea, but he didn't exactly have a wealth of options.
As he approached he picked out more details: it appeared to be constructed out of black bricks and dark crystals, without a speck of metal to be seen. By all appearances it was a gigantic tower of doom belonging to an evil wizard overlord. Yet…
No fear rose at the sight of the tower. Instead Philipp felt almost… warm? Like he was seeing a home he hadn't visited in years. He gulped anyway, searching for something resembling a gate on the ground, but finding none. Looking sideways, he mentally shrugged; again he started ascending, going towards the roof. That didn't take long, which considering how the tower rose over the clouds said some very spooky things about these wings.
The roof was a huge square, several dozen meters long. There was nothing up there except for a small entrance, well, 'small.' Oddly it was raised, with a set of steep stairs going towards it. Landing was easier than flying, though he still caused a massive gust of wind upon touching the stone.
As gravity reasserted itself, the sense of familiarity struck even stronger. Philipp felt like he knew the top of this doom tower as well as the backside of his own house. In fact, with every step he took it felt like memories were worming themselves into his brain. Memories buried, long forgotten, coming alive again.
As he marched through the open doors of the upper level he saw himself drinking with unknown people, dressed like a go-to DnD party. They were celebrating their victories and adventures. The situation was lighthearted and he remembered how, during the mass of heavy beer intakes, he rejected the advances of multiple people. Including what looked like a girl with a massive stinger?
He shook his (her?) head to wipe away the foreign memories. What was that? Were those his memories? But he never remembered that happening? What the hell was going on?
His internal struggle was interrupted when he noticed a figure coming out of the shadows nearby. It was a young girl, looking at him with a mix of concern and wonder.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"
And she started to cry, great. Things were just going great.
AN:
So I´ve finally come around to reward my good friend for him inserting me into Gurren Lagan, by inserting him into a wild last boss appeared, the light novel to be exact, though i am going to use the manga as well. This is a blind insert, so please keeo any and all spoilers to spoiler boxes. If you are not sure if something is a spoiler or not, please PM me first. Also please keep any and all evtl spoilers about Gurren Lagan out of this thread. The link to that story if people are interested Dare to be Hot Blooded, Gurren Lagann Blind FI ft Allenwalker
Feedback and constructive critiscimn are of course welcome
Thank you and please enjoy.
Chapter 2
- Pronouns
- He
Chapter 2
"Cruel! How cruel!" She bawled out. "I'm Dina, your advisor! Did you really forget about me!?" She seemed shocked by the idea but even further than that he noted that his voice seemed to leave her unaffected. At least compared to the other people he encountered so far.
"I APOLOGISE." He once again winced internally over the sheer haughtiness in his voice, causing the small girl to wince once again.
"E-eh?" Her voice did stutter as she answered you. "R-ruphas-sama? W-why are you using your "Intimidation"?"
Wait what? He was using his what?
"EXPLAIN WHAT THIS IS; WRENCH!"
She flinched once again, bowing down, almost kowtowing to you. "Y-your Intimidation… you use your mana to have a supernaturally strong and authoritative voice. You can command it to turn off…. Please?"
He just stood there like an idiot, mouth opening and closing. The booming command voice could be shut off? How? Taking a breath, he squeezed his (her) eyes shut and focused, internally focusing on a single command: authority voice, deactivate! After a second he mentally added 'please?' To that thought.
If there was supposed to be a change, Philip didn't feel one. No quiver in his throat, no sense of the earth shifting, or whatever. Exhaling slowly, he attempted it.
"Did it work?"
No shaking, no crisis, nothing or no one exploded. It worked! Philip pumped a fist, feeling a weird shudder while doing so that off balanced; he dismissed that idea and just slumped in relief.
"Um, yes, it seems to." She blinks her big wide eyes a couple times, daring to look at you again. "Do you….. Remember me now?" She sounded very careful and concerned as she voiced those lines, eyeing you.
His momentary relief faded, and Philip coughed into a fist. "Um… I don't actually. It's all blank."
He should have said it immediately, he wasn't this Ruphas person. But he had no other information of what was going on, and seeing Dina cry broke his heart.
A memory flared in his head again; this girl by his side at the throne, giving advice as needed. Useful, insightful advice, very helpful with his companions and servants. He gripped his forehead with a groan. Just what was going on?
"Oh no! The revival summoning has to have gone wrong somehow! What do you remember?" She frowned rather heavily, putting a hand under her chin in the classic "thinking" motion.
"Um…" he winced. "…not much. Its like trying to remember something from a long, long time ago. Can you give me a rundown of who I am? Maybe that'll jog something." Or explain how he became a superpowered woman; answers would be nice regardless of how useful they were. Dina seemed devoted to Ruphas, if he admitted he wasn't her… that could be bad.
She blinked before bowing again. "Of course. You are Ruphas Mafhal, supreme Ruler of Avernus." Her voice was prideful and happy as she spoke of his overlordship of the planet, obviously approving greatly. "You, together with your companions, the seven''heroes",'' She pulled a grimace at mentioning them and he could pretty much hear the quotation marks around the word heroes. "conquered all of Avernus under your banner 200 years ago, driving the demon folk into hiding and uniting the various races of the world under your rule, aided of course by your 12 most powerful commanders, the 12 stars of the heavens, the luminaries."
Her face was pretty much glowing as she told of this time, only darkening a couple of times when mentioning the heroes or your coming defeat, but now her frown returned, stronger than ever.
"You eventually grew powerful enough to challenge the demon king himself. However before you could do so, the seven heroes betrayed you and sealed you away after a massive battle. These heroes then went on to found their own kingdoms. The 12 luminaries themselves scattered afterwards, some joining the demonfolk, some trying to avenge your "death" on their own while others simply disappeared." She bowed again. "Sadly this is all I can tell you, since I spent the last 200 years in this tower, awaiting your return."
She looked positively devastated at being unable to help him more.
After all that, Philip could only blink. "Um, yeah.., sorry, that's, uh, kind of a lot to take in. I just need a minute."
He turned away and simply breathed, trying to control the shudder. His body felt weird during that, something he ignored as best as he could; he was a deposed king, or rather queen, formerly basically a god ruler of sorts. He could buy that part with the whole flying and booming voice thing. And now…
More shuddering followed, trying to wrestle back the wave of panic that threatened to overwhelm him. It was simply too much information at once. But at the same time, it wasn't enough.
A thought lifted his head to peer at Dina in confusion. "Say, why are you still here if everyone else left?"
"Why, to wait for your return of course." She answered without hesitation, as if waiting for someone in one place for 200 years was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. The way she shifted her head at his question was kind of cute actually. "And now that you are back we can go find the luminaries and take revenge at the remaining heroes!" And the adorable cuteness was gone.
Philip stared at her for a minute. That wasn't what he expected, though truthfully he had no idea what he was in for.
He coughed again, processing what the timeframe she mentioned implied. "Sorry, I should've clarified. If the other heroes betrayed me, why didn't you? You could've moved on and done whatever you wanted, but instead you stayed cooped up here in the tower."
"Hmm? But where else should I be?" She laughed awkwardly and cringes, rubbing her neck. "I could never betray you Ruphas-sama!"
"…thanks Dina." He nodded, finally grasping that she wasn't human. What she was… he didn't know. In fact, there was so little that he knew right now. "Hypothetically… if I admitted that I wasn't Ruphas. Not amnesiac or something, genuinely not her… what would you do?"
"Hehehehehe." She tilted her head even more, giving him a very strange look. "Are you not remembering parts of who you are? Could it be that the summoning actually was faulty?"
"Uh, probably yeah, that's it." Philip waved with a cringe, stopping himself from pursuing the idea. Dina was unreasonably, inhumanly loyal to Ruphas; if he wasn't her, then she wouldn't be so friendly. Clearing his throat, he faced her again. "Can you show me to a library or something here? So I can figure out what went wrong with the, uh, summoning. Please?"
She nodded quickly, beaming at a chance to be useful to her Mistress, before leading him over to a nearby table that looked like no one had swept the dust of it for at least a century. Dina removed the dirt with a single movement of her hand, showing him what lay beneath it: a convoluted map of what he assumed were territories and nations.
"The nearest great library is in Suvell country." She pointed at a city on the map. "Inside it however lives one of the seven heroes, Megrez. Also the Volcano besides it is the castle of the dragon, one of the 12 Luminaries lives there, Aries "the Ram." Her finger wanders to a tall mountain beside the kingdom. "Currently Aries is continuously preparing an invasion of Suvell, so if we want the knowledge of the Library we should get to it before it is destroyed."
"Alright, I'll start there. You stay here for your safety. I'd hate to bail so quickly, but, well." Philip gazed at the map to memorize it, then nodded. He turned to leave, but Dina's cleared throat halted him.
"You're going to travel without any preparations? Ruphas-sama doesn't even have any money, does she?" She posed with the smuggest of grins.
"They charge for books? Oh, cmon." He groaned. "What should I grab then? And should I change my outfit?" He gazed at the formal dress, frowning that the view to his shoes was blocked. Something less obvious couldn't hurt.
Dina rubbed her chin in a thinking pose. "It will be extremely difficult. Your face is too well known."
"Any suggestions then? A mask, covering, makeup, whatever." Philip contemplated charging into that library wings blazing, but he had no idea what awaited him there. Being as obvious as a bull in a china shop could backfire extremely easily.
"Those black wings." She gestured at the extensions on his back, huge and coated in dark feathers; only now did Philip start to realize that he had actual wings, in all the confusion he hardly noticed them. "They are a taboo symbol among angels. You'll stand out badly with those. Outside of that, a mask should work. Provided we apply for a job that isn't too inquisitive in nature."
Dina clapped her hands with a fresh smile.
"For someone like Ruphas-sama it should be simply to become an adventurer. It will be an expeditious Job for whom job, status and background don´t matter!" Her excitement was infectious. "Let's be adventurers, let's complete quests and get rewards!"
"Um, that works." Philip shrugged with a wince; this was turning out to be like a game, now with real risks. "Sure, I guess. What's the worst-" he slapped his mouth before he jinxed himself, internally kicking his backside for that thoughtless comment. When he lowered his hands he sighed. "Okay, well, let's grab what we need then."
"Cruel! How cruel!" She bawled out. "I'm Dina, your advisor! Did you really forget about me!?" She seemed shocked by the idea but even further than that he noted that his voice seemed to leave her unaffected. At least compared to the other people he encountered so far.
"I APOLOGISE." He once again winced internally over the sheer haughtiness in his voice, causing the small girl to wince once again.
"E-eh?" Her voice did stutter as she answered you. "R-ruphas-sama? W-why are you using your "Intimidation"?"
Wait what? He was using his what?
"EXPLAIN WHAT THIS IS; WRENCH!"
She flinched once again, bowing down, almost kowtowing to you. "Y-your Intimidation… you use your mana to have a supernaturally strong and authoritative voice. You can command it to turn off…. Please?"
He just stood there like an idiot, mouth opening and closing. The booming command voice could be shut off? How? Taking a breath, he squeezed his (her) eyes shut and focused, internally focusing on a single command: authority voice, deactivate! After a second he mentally added 'please?' To that thought.
If there was supposed to be a change, Philip didn't feel one. No quiver in his throat, no sense of the earth shifting, or whatever. Exhaling slowly, he attempted it.
"Did it work?"
No shaking, no crisis, nothing or no one exploded. It worked! Philip pumped a fist, feeling a weird shudder while doing so that off balanced; he dismissed that idea and just slumped in relief.
"Um, yes, it seems to." She blinks her big wide eyes a couple times, daring to look at you again. "Do you….. Remember me now?" She sounded very careful and concerned as she voiced those lines, eyeing you.
His momentary relief faded, and Philip coughed into a fist. "Um… I don't actually. It's all blank."
He should have said it immediately, he wasn't this Ruphas person. But he had no other information of what was going on, and seeing Dina cry broke his heart.
A memory flared in his head again; this girl by his side at the throne, giving advice as needed. Useful, insightful advice, very helpful with his companions and servants. He gripped his forehead with a groan. Just what was going on?
"Oh no! The revival summoning has to have gone wrong somehow! What do you remember?" She frowned rather heavily, putting a hand under her chin in the classic "thinking" motion.
"Um…" he winced. "…not much. Its like trying to remember something from a long, long time ago. Can you give me a rundown of who I am? Maybe that'll jog something." Or explain how he became a superpowered woman; answers would be nice regardless of how useful they were. Dina seemed devoted to Ruphas, if he admitted he wasn't her… that could be bad.
She blinked before bowing again. "Of course. You are Ruphas Mafhal, supreme Ruler of Avernus." Her voice was prideful and happy as she spoke of his overlordship of the planet, obviously approving greatly. "You, together with your companions, the seven''heroes",'' She pulled a grimace at mentioning them and he could pretty much hear the quotation marks around the word heroes. "conquered all of Avernus under your banner 200 years ago, driving the demon folk into hiding and uniting the various races of the world under your rule, aided of course by your 12 most powerful commanders, the 12 stars of the heavens, the luminaries."
Her face was pretty much glowing as she told of this time, only darkening a couple of times when mentioning the heroes or your coming defeat, but now her frown returned, stronger than ever.
"You eventually grew powerful enough to challenge the demon king himself. However before you could do so, the seven heroes betrayed you and sealed you away after a massive battle. These heroes then went on to found their own kingdoms. The 12 luminaries themselves scattered afterwards, some joining the demonfolk, some trying to avenge your "death" on their own while others simply disappeared." She bowed again. "Sadly this is all I can tell you, since I spent the last 200 years in this tower, awaiting your return."
She looked positively devastated at being unable to help him more.
After all that, Philip could only blink. "Um, yeah.., sorry, that's, uh, kind of a lot to take in. I just need a minute."
He turned away and simply breathed, trying to control the shudder. His body felt weird during that, something he ignored as best as he could; he was a deposed king, or rather queen, formerly basically a god ruler of sorts. He could buy that part with the whole flying and booming voice thing. And now…
More shuddering followed, trying to wrestle back the wave of panic that threatened to overwhelm him. It was simply too much information at once. But at the same time, it wasn't enough.
A thought lifted his head to peer at Dina in confusion. "Say, why are you still here if everyone else left?"
"Why, to wait for your return of course." She answered without hesitation, as if waiting for someone in one place for 200 years was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. The way she shifted her head at his question was kind of cute actually. "And now that you are back we can go find the luminaries and take revenge at the remaining heroes!" And the adorable cuteness was gone.
Philip stared at her for a minute. That wasn't what he expected, though truthfully he had no idea what he was in for.
He coughed again, processing what the timeframe she mentioned implied. "Sorry, I should've clarified. If the other heroes betrayed me, why didn't you? You could've moved on and done whatever you wanted, but instead you stayed cooped up here in the tower."
"Hmm? But where else should I be?" She laughed awkwardly and cringes, rubbing her neck. "I could never betray you Ruphas-sama!"
"…thanks Dina." He nodded, finally grasping that she wasn't human. What she was… he didn't know. In fact, there was so little that he knew right now. "Hypothetically… if I admitted that I wasn't Ruphas. Not amnesiac or something, genuinely not her… what would you do?"
"Hehehehehe." She tilted her head even more, giving him a very strange look. "Are you not remembering parts of who you are? Could it be that the summoning actually was faulty?"
"Uh, probably yeah, that's it." Philip waved with a cringe, stopping himself from pursuing the idea. Dina was unreasonably, inhumanly loyal to Ruphas; if he wasn't her, then she wouldn't be so friendly. Clearing his throat, he faced her again. "Can you show me to a library or something here? So I can figure out what went wrong with the, uh, summoning. Please?"
She nodded quickly, beaming at a chance to be useful to her Mistress, before leading him over to a nearby table that looked like no one had swept the dust of it for at least a century. Dina removed the dirt with a single movement of her hand, showing him what lay beneath it: a convoluted map of what he assumed were territories and nations.
"The nearest great library is in Suvell country." She pointed at a city on the map. "Inside it however lives one of the seven heroes, Megrez. Also the Volcano besides it is the castle of the dragon, one of the 12 Luminaries lives there, Aries "the Ram." Her finger wanders to a tall mountain beside the kingdom. "Currently Aries is continuously preparing an invasion of Suvell, so if we want the knowledge of the Library we should get to it before it is destroyed."
"Alright, I'll start there. You stay here for your safety. I'd hate to bail so quickly, but, well." Philip gazed at the map to memorize it, then nodded. He turned to leave, but Dina's cleared throat halted him.
"You're going to travel without any preparations? Ruphas-sama doesn't even have any money, does she?" She posed with the smuggest of grins.
"They charge for books? Oh, cmon." He groaned. "What should I grab then? And should I change my outfit?" He gazed at the formal dress, frowning that the view to his shoes was blocked. Something less obvious couldn't hurt.
Dina rubbed her chin in a thinking pose. "It will be extremely difficult. Your face is too well known."
"Any suggestions then? A mask, covering, makeup, whatever." Philip contemplated charging into that library wings blazing, but he had no idea what awaited him there. Being as obvious as a bull in a china shop could backfire extremely easily.
"Those black wings." She gestured at the extensions on his back, huge and coated in dark feathers; only now did Philip start to realize that he had actual wings, in all the confusion he hardly noticed them. "They are a taboo symbol among angels. You'll stand out badly with those. Outside of that, a mask should work. Provided we apply for a job that isn't too inquisitive in nature."
Dina clapped her hands with a fresh smile.
"For someone like Ruphas-sama it should be simply to become an adventurer. It will be an expeditious Job for whom job, status and background don´t matter!" Her excitement was infectious. "Let's be adventurers, let's complete quests and get rewards!"
"Um, that works." Philip shrugged with a wince; this was turning out to be like a game, now with real risks. "Sure, I guess. What's the worst-" he slapped his mouth before he jinxed himself, internally kicking his backside for that thoughtless comment. When he lowered his hands he sighed. "Okay, well, let's grab what we need then."
Chapter 3
- Pronouns
- He
Chapter 3
The City of Yuradril was dominated by trade and commerce as Dina explained. Located just east of Levatin, it had a unique trait of belonging to no country; positioned at the boundaries of several major nations, Yuradril's independent status was protected thanks to its vibrant trade network. Travelers and merchants from everywhere came to pry their wares at its bustling stores, and with them came those seeking adventure.
Philip nodded absentmindedly throughout her explanation, groaning at the uncomfortable cloak hugging the wings against his body. Walking was difficult and oh so annoying, and they had so much walking to do.
Dina explained it would keep people from figuring out who he was, so Philip was willing to put up with it. Another freakout like that Royal court was inevitable if he didn't; personally he still thought it was as suspicious as a neon sign, making him duck and glance furtively at the looming city gates. He averted his eyes from the halberd armed guards, peeking up once to see the walls were well manned and exceptionally thick.
Dina smiled at the guards, a bundle of friendliness to their harsh stares. "Hi there! We're here to become adventurers!"
They laid suspicious glares on her and Philip, but one man winked; apparently that was the sign that they were good, and they joined a crowd piling into Yuradril.
Philip stuck close to Dina, glancing around the crowded medieval city they entered. More than ever he was happy he brought her along. In this crowd he would get lost instantly, never mind actually finding a guild or anything else. For that reason he kept an eye on her, promising himself that he would send her back to the tower at the first sign of trouble.
Dina ignored the hustle and bustle, powering off with a spring in her step. Hunching behind her, Philip kept an eye open for threats, and an eye open for gossip, anything that could help.
"-Levatin is preparing for that massive demon invasion, I heard they're hiring anyone who can fight-"
"-harvests are good, lot of army traffic-"
"War is great for business! My tavern hasn't been this busy in-"
"It's the end times! The Demon Lord comes for you all!" A lunatic who dressed in rags and smelled appropriately raved at passersby, including Philip and Dina. "If not him, then Supreme Ruler Ruphas will destroy us all! Death cannot stop her, only faith in the Goddess Alovenus-"
Like many others Dina and Philip hustled past him, the latter sparing a concerned look. If that guy knew who just walked by him…
He shook his head. A demon invasion was bad news, he didn't need local knowledge to say that. There had to be a way he could help, somehow; fighting or otherwise. He also resolved to check out that goddess the crazy guy mentioned, Alovenus? He was curious what that was all about. Until then Philip followed Dina, looking forward to an Inn or something for the evening.
Dina abruptly stopped, pointing excitedly at a large building. "We're here, this way please."
Entertaining after her, Philip strode into a tavern dominated by wood and showing a bit of grime over every surface. Thugs or those looking like thugs populated the first floor, crowding tables lining the walls akin to a cafeteria. More than a few hungry gazes turned to the new arrivals, focusing on Dina until they saw the shady person beside her.
Nostalgia bubbled up, of good times and bad, of celebration and merriment… Philip slapped his cheek with a growl. All these flashbacks were getting annoying.
Glancing around, he searched for anyone who looked like they were in charge, or were recruiting, either or. But how to get hired without revealing he was Ruphas?
"Dina, any advice on how to handle this stuff?" He whispered to her, meeting her shrug.
"Just ask for a reasonable quest. We only need enough money to travel to Levatin. You started out as an adventurer, so this should be no problem for you." Dina pointed at the bar owner, a brusque bald man currently serving mugs.
Taking a breath, Philip walked up to rest his hands on the bar, braced for a round of mockery. "Hi, I'm looking for quest work."
The barman halted cleaning one glass, giving him a narrow stare before chortling. "Aha, so you wanna take some quests eh? Alright, come into my shop for a bit, I wanna see what you can do." He grinned mirthlessly. "See if you can even do it."
Philip peeked at the indicated door with a frown. Led by a huge stranger into a dark room? Although if he had ideas he was in for a rude surprise.
"Alright." Philip circled the bar to follow him, continually looking for a trap,ma club, anything dangerous really. He clutched his cloak; he had few possessions on him, he wasn't giving them up to a petty thief.
In the empty room the barman didn't grab a weapon, instead he pulled out five Dina sized dolls that looked to be made of stone and clay. "Alright, I'm gonna have you fight these golems. How many and how efficiently you handle them will determine your evaluation."
"Fair enough." Philip patted his side, freezing in place. "Um, do you have a fresh weapon I can borrow?"
The barman scoffed. "Adventurers need to be self-sufficient girl." His brow creased. "I see lads like you come in here all the time, full of spirit and enthusiasm. They want to prove themselves, get rich, get women, do great deeds, all of that. None know what it takes to be a proper adventurer, like grabbing the right equipment before the evaluation."
He gestured at the dolls.
"These little things slap down youngsters so they don't go charging off to rescue a damsel in orc captivity, or run towards Levatin to fight the Ram itself, and kill themselves instead. As for you, go get yourself some gear from the alchemist or the weapons shop, unless you really wanna fight them hand to hand." He waved with a chuckle. "Before you ask, don't worry. They're under my command so they aint gonna kill you."
Philip remembered that his voice busted a castle; theoretically he could fight these things hand to hand, but… "I'll be back soon for a proper evaluation."
Leaving the place with red cheeks, Philip stormed out muttering curses under his breath. Dina stared at him like she wanted to comment, but instead she just bit her tongue and followed him into the street.
"We didn't prepare well enough. By we I mean I didn't prepare. Please tell me there wasn't an armory full of legendary magical weapons back at the tower." Philip groaned, searching for anything resembling a weapons shop. He grabbed his coin purse, discovering that their budget was an astounding zero.
"But Ruphas-sama, can't you make weapons of your own using your alchemy? Some of the golems you and the dwarf king build still guard your tomb to this day." Dina was downright embarrassed at the critique.
Veering into an empty alleyway, he planted his back against a wall, ignoring the wings stirring. "Can you tell me what I need to do alchemy? Do I need materials?"
"Your strength determines what items you can create. Why, you could turn this dirt." Dina bent over to sweep up a handful of loose soil. "Into something that would be unmatched to everything not crafted by the greatest of Levatins and dwarfs! You just need to pick up material, think about what you want to make, then use your will and inherent skill to create whatever you want!" Her enthusiasm was vast.
Nodding slowly, Philip was blank faced as he walked up to the stone wall. His hands planted themselves on the surface. And with his eyes squeezed shut, he swung his head into the rock.
There was a slight tap on his forehead, but the stone wall simply disintegrated into gravel. It crumbled, illuminating a cellar that had some large barrels and chests. He took one look and groaned; he couldn't even facepalm properly?
"Amnesia is a royal pain Dina. It really is." Self pity made Philip groan, slumping dejectedly. "Do you know how to do alchemy? We have something to work on now." He glared at the shattered wall.
Dina blinked then smiled, pressing her hands against the busted wall. "Press your hands on it like this."
"Okay." His palms met his handiwork, staring at her in anticipation.
"Think about creating a wall. Really hard. Direct it with your will." She instructed.
Closing his eyes, Philip grimaced; like the voice from before, he internally commanded himself to form a wall, picturing a smooth, non gravely surface.
Stone and earth melted, pooling up to fill into the gap he made. Rippling like water, the stuff flowed into the hole on its own accord. When he let go there was a perfectly smooth surface, without a single blemish or sign he headbutted a hole.
Dina clapped politely. "Congratulations, its like you didn't break it at all. Except." She grinned smugly as she tapped her fist off the rock. "Now it'll take a batteries of a dwarf mobile fortress or Levatin's guardian deity to scratch thing."
"Oh, okay." Philip backed away with surprise; he expected that to be way harder. He bent over to scoop up some dirt, staring at it for a second. "Okay, time for something a little more challenging. I'm gonna turn this into gold."
His fist squeezed, picturing a lump of gold; after a second his fist relaxed he smiled at a golden nugget.
"Great, now for iron…" he hummed, looking for more debris. "Say, Dina? Do you know what the currency here looks like? I may be able to counterfeit some."
"Sorry Ruphas-sama, but I haven't been in the outside world for two hundred years. I will immediately remedy this failure!" Dina whipped around, probably to go mug some poor fool.
"Nonono wait!" Philip darted in front of her path with his arms raised. "You don't know, that's okay. We'll figure something out. Okay? I don't want you to… uh, get lost." He explained in lieu of what was actually on his mind, namely killing people for pocket change.
"Of course Ruphas-sama." Dina bowed in place.
Philip sighed in relief. "Okay, gold will do."
After making some more gold, his thoughts turned to weapons. An ax was preferable, but a double edged sword could work. Wondering if he could transmute steel, another thought occurred to him.
"Is there anything you want Dina?" He formed the start of a weapon.
"Whatever Ruphas-sama sees fit for me." Dina stared at the things coming into existence; they shimmered with power, glowing with power like the stuff of legends.
Humming, an idea seized Philip; material elongated into a simmering double edged sword, gleaming with power and unmatched craftsmanship. Twirling the blade in hand, he added the finishing touches to the golden hilt. Holding it to the light, Philip marveled at the near perfect replica of a warhammer fantasy Runefang.
A legendary weapon in its series, crafted by the best dwarven smith in their history, and wielded by the leaders of the Empire of Man, and now he had one of his own. It was fantastic, it deserved a name benefiting its status.
"I'll call you Bootleg." He swung the Runefang a couple times with a grin. That done he made a plain leather scabbard for incognito's sake, then another one for a short sword, handed over to Dina.
"What shall we do now?" She asked as she attached it to her hip.
"Back to the guild for work. Afterwards, um… no idea." Adjusting the scabbard to a comfortable spot, Philip retraced his steps back to the tavern hall.
Back inside the bar owner nodded in greeting, taking him back to the testing room. He stared at the sword then pointed at golems.
"Didn't expect you back this early. Ready to tangle with them now? Say, if you make it I'll get you a mug of ale for free." He winked.
"Sure, I'll take that bet." Philip drew Bootleg, holding it in a two handed grip. He nodded for them to come at him, mostly jokingly; he could level half the town if he wasn't careful.
The first lumbered towards him, swinging a fist. At least he thought it did; the thing moved in slow motion, practically frame by frame. Philip raised a brow in confusion, checking between him and it. If that blow took less than thirty minutes to land he would be shocked.
Remembering the castle, he sighed. He wasn't normal in any way. Approaching carefully, he tapped Bootleg's pommel on its chest; instantly it crumbled into dust, scattering everywhere.
Numbly staring at the slow cloud of dust that was a golem, he swiveled to the rest to find more slideshows trying to attack him. The next he tapped even lighter, then the one after was lightly slapped with the sword's flat side. Each one disintegrated, no part of them larger than a pebble remaining when the fifth was slain.
Philip winced at the carnage, then winced again at the owner. "Uh, sorry. You, um, just keep the ale."
"What in the world?" He didn't seem to register him, wide eyed at the piles of rubble that were his training golems five minutes ago. "What just happened? They moved to attack, but now they're destroyed! Did you use a spell?"
Philip cringed. "S… something like that. It's a long story that I'm not sharing for your safety. Anyway, about a quest offer?"
The barman numbly pointed at a board covered in request papers.
"Thanks." Giving perhaps the most awkward thumbs up in history, Philip darted to the indicated spot to pour over papers, searching for a job that wouldn't mind some destruction; he couldn't help that everything was too fragile around him.
Dina ran over to whisper in alarm. "Ruphas-sama, you're overdoing it! The fighting standards of today are much lower than two hundred years ago, if you don't control yourself you'll terrify the people!"
"Sorry, my self control is, uh, very bad right now. I need to work on that." He winced apologetically, pouring over the requests. There had to be something that he could do, without eradicating a mountain or two.
Plucking one paper, he grimaced: it was a request for a cat search, difficulty two stars. Twelve cats were on the loose, the reward was one hundred eru per returned cat.
"That's out." He returned the paper and grabbed another.
Request: orc subjugation, difficulty four stars out of five, reward fifteen hundred eru. It described that an orc nest was built nearby a village, doing as they pleased. The last line was a simple yet heartbreaking "please help."
"This is the one. Orc hunting it is." Philip nodded in approval, happy that he wouldn't destroy the town hunting for cats.
Dina however frowned. "That's a small reward. An entire orc infestation for only fifteen hundred eru? That's only three hundred less than herding cats! Its not worth the risk."
"I'm a little more worried about the town. I destroyed those golems with a touch." Philip mustered a small smile. "Besides, if it does work we won't be penniless." He patted the gold collection he made, thanking the alchemy skills he barely knew.
"That's wise Ruphas-sama!" Dina beamed.
AN:
Here´s the new chapter. A bit later than was promised but personal events have occurred that pushed it a bit into a background. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless and I wish you all a happy day
The City of Yuradril was dominated by trade and commerce as Dina explained. Located just east of Levatin, it had a unique trait of belonging to no country; positioned at the boundaries of several major nations, Yuradril's independent status was protected thanks to its vibrant trade network. Travelers and merchants from everywhere came to pry their wares at its bustling stores, and with them came those seeking adventure.
Philip nodded absentmindedly throughout her explanation, groaning at the uncomfortable cloak hugging the wings against his body. Walking was difficult and oh so annoying, and they had so much walking to do.
Dina explained it would keep people from figuring out who he was, so Philip was willing to put up with it. Another freakout like that Royal court was inevitable if he didn't; personally he still thought it was as suspicious as a neon sign, making him duck and glance furtively at the looming city gates. He averted his eyes from the halberd armed guards, peeking up once to see the walls were well manned and exceptionally thick.
Dina smiled at the guards, a bundle of friendliness to their harsh stares. "Hi there! We're here to become adventurers!"
They laid suspicious glares on her and Philip, but one man winked; apparently that was the sign that they were good, and they joined a crowd piling into Yuradril.
Philip stuck close to Dina, glancing around the crowded medieval city they entered. More than ever he was happy he brought her along. In this crowd he would get lost instantly, never mind actually finding a guild or anything else. For that reason he kept an eye on her, promising himself that he would send her back to the tower at the first sign of trouble.
Dina ignored the hustle and bustle, powering off with a spring in her step. Hunching behind her, Philip kept an eye open for threats, and an eye open for gossip, anything that could help.
"-Levatin is preparing for that massive demon invasion, I heard they're hiring anyone who can fight-"
"-harvests are good, lot of army traffic-"
"War is great for business! My tavern hasn't been this busy in-"
"It's the end times! The Demon Lord comes for you all!" A lunatic who dressed in rags and smelled appropriately raved at passersby, including Philip and Dina. "If not him, then Supreme Ruler Ruphas will destroy us all! Death cannot stop her, only faith in the Goddess Alovenus-"
Like many others Dina and Philip hustled past him, the latter sparing a concerned look. If that guy knew who just walked by him…
He shook his head. A demon invasion was bad news, he didn't need local knowledge to say that. There had to be a way he could help, somehow; fighting or otherwise. He also resolved to check out that goddess the crazy guy mentioned, Alovenus? He was curious what that was all about. Until then Philip followed Dina, looking forward to an Inn or something for the evening.
Dina abruptly stopped, pointing excitedly at a large building. "We're here, this way please."
Entertaining after her, Philip strode into a tavern dominated by wood and showing a bit of grime over every surface. Thugs or those looking like thugs populated the first floor, crowding tables lining the walls akin to a cafeteria. More than a few hungry gazes turned to the new arrivals, focusing on Dina until they saw the shady person beside her.
Nostalgia bubbled up, of good times and bad, of celebration and merriment… Philip slapped his cheek with a growl. All these flashbacks were getting annoying.
Glancing around, he searched for anyone who looked like they were in charge, or were recruiting, either or. But how to get hired without revealing he was Ruphas?
"Dina, any advice on how to handle this stuff?" He whispered to her, meeting her shrug.
"Just ask for a reasonable quest. We only need enough money to travel to Levatin. You started out as an adventurer, so this should be no problem for you." Dina pointed at the bar owner, a brusque bald man currently serving mugs.
Taking a breath, Philip walked up to rest his hands on the bar, braced for a round of mockery. "Hi, I'm looking for quest work."
The barman halted cleaning one glass, giving him a narrow stare before chortling. "Aha, so you wanna take some quests eh? Alright, come into my shop for a bit, I wanna see what you can do." He grinned mirthlessly. "See if you can even do it."
Philip peeked at the indicated door with a frown. Led by a huge stranger into a dark room? Although if he had ideas he was in for a rude surprise.
"Alright." Philip circled the bar to follow him, continually looking for a trap,ma club, anything dangerous really. He clutched his cloak; he had few possessions on him, he wasn't giving them up to a petty thief.
In the empty room the barman didn't grab a weapon, instead he pulled out five Dina sized dolls that looked to be made of stone and clay. "Alright, I'm gonna have you fight these golems. How many and how efficiently you handle them will determine your evaluation."
"Fair enough." Philip patted his side, freezing in place. "Um, do you have a fresh weapon I can borrow?"
The barman scoffed. "Adventurers need to be self-sufficient girl." His brow creased. "I see lads like you come in here all the time, full of spirit and enthusiasm. They want to prove themselves, get rich, get women, do great deeds, all of that. None know what it takes to be a proper adventurer, like grabbing the right equipment before the evaluation."
He gestured at the dolls.
"These little things slap down youngsters so they don't go charging off to rescue a damsel in orc captivity, or run towards Levatin to fight the Ram itself, and kill themselves instead. As for you, go get yourself some gear from the alchemist or the weapons shop, unless you really wanna fight them hand to hand." He waved with a chuckle. "Before you ask, don't worry. They're under my command so they aint gonna kill you."
Philip remembered that his voice busted a castle; theoretically he could fight these things hand to hand, but… "I'll be back soon for a proper evaluation."
Leaving the place with red cheeks, Philip stormed out muttering curses under his breath. Dina stared at him like she wanted to comment, but instead she just bit her tongue and followed him into the street.
"We didn't prepare well enough. By we I mean I didn't prepare. Please tell me there wasn't an armory full of legendary magical weapons back at the tower." Philip groaned, searching for anything resembling a weapons shop. He grabbed his coin purse, discovering that their budget was an astounding zero.
"But Ruphas-sama, can't you make weapons of your own using your alchemy? Some of the golems you and the dwarf king build still guard your tomb to this day." Dina was downright embarrassed at the critique.
Veering into an empty alleyway, he planted his back against a wall, ignoring the wings stirring. "Can you tell me what I need to do alchemy? Do I need materials?"
"Your strength determines what items you can create. Why, you could turn this dirt." Dina bent over to sweep up a handful of loose soil. "Into something that would be unmatched to everything not crafted by the greatest of Levatins and dwarfs! You just need to pick up material, think about what you want to make, then use your will and inherent skill to create whatever you want!" Her enthusiasm was vast.
Nodding slowly, Philip was blank faced as he walked up to the stone wall. His hands planted themselves on the surface. And with his eyes squeezed shut, he swung his head into the rock.
There was a slight tap on his forehead, but the stone wall simply disintegrated into gravel. It crumbled, illuminating a cellar that had some large barrels and chests. He took one look and groaned; he couldn't even facepalm properly?
"Amnesia is a royal pain Dina. It really is." Self pity made Philip groan, slumping dejectedly. "Do you know how to do alchemy? We have something to work on now." He glared at the shattered wall.
Dina blinked then smiled, pressing her hands against the busted wall. "Press your hands on it like this."
"Okay." His palms met his handiwork, staring at her in anticipation.
"Think about creating a wall. Really hard. Direct it with your will." She instructed.
Closing his eyes, Philip grimaced; like the voice from before, he internally commanded himself to form a wall, picturing a smooth, non gravely surface.
Stone and earth melted, pooling up to fill into the gap he made. Rippling like water, the stuff flowed into the hole on its own accord. When he let go there was a perfectly smooth surface, without a single blemish or sign he headbutted a hole.
Dina clapped politely. "Congratulations, its like you didn't break it at all. Except." She grinned smugly as she tapped her fist off the rock. "Now it'll take a batteries of a dwarf mobile fortress or Levatin's guardian deity to scratch thing."
"Oh, okay." Philip backed away with surprise; he expected that to be way harder. He bent over to scoop up some dirt, staring at it for a second. "Okay, time for something a little more challenging. I'm gonna turn this into gold."
His fist squeezed, picturing a lump of gold; after a second his fist relaxed he smiled at a golden nugget.
"Great, now for iron…" he hummed, looking for more debris. "Say, Dina? Do you know what the currency here looks like? I may be able to counterfeit some."
"Sorry Ruphas-sama, but I haven't been in the outside world for two hundred years. I will immediately remedy this failure!" Dina whipped around, probably to go mug some poor fool.
"Nonono wait!" Philip darted in front of her path with his arms raised. "You don't know, that's okay. We'll figure something out. Okay? I don't want you to… uh, get lost." He explained in lieu of what was actually on his mind, namely killing people for pocket change.
"Of course Ruphas-sama." Dina bowed in place.
Philip sighed in relief. "Okay, gold will do."
After making some more gold, his thoughts turned to weapons. An ax was preferable, but a double edged sword could work. Wondering if he could transmute steel, another thought occurred to him.
"Is there anything you want Dina?" He formed the start of a weapon.
"Whatever Ruphas-sama sees fit for me." Dina stared at the things coming into existence; they shimmered with power, glowing with power like the stuff of legends.
Humming, an idea seized Philip; material elongated into a simmering double edged sword, gleaming with power and unmatched craftsmanship. Twirling the blade in hand, he added the finishing touches to the golden hilt. Holding it to the light, Philip marveled at the near perfect replica of a warhammer fantasy Runefang.
A legendary weapon in its series, crafted by the best dwarven smith in their history, and wielded by the leaders of the Empire of Man, and now he had one of his own. It was fantastic, it deserved a name benefiting its status.
"I'll call you Bootleg." He swung the Runefang a couple times with a grin. That done he made a plain leather scabbard for incognito's sake, then another one for a short sword, handed over to Dina.
"What shall we do now?" She asked as she attached it to her hip.
"Back to the guild for work. Afterwards, um… no idea." Adjusting the scabbard to a comfortable spot, Philip retraced his steps back to the tavern hall.
Back inside the bar owner nodded in greeting, taking him back to the testing room. He stared at the sword then pointed at golems.
"Didn't expect you back this early. Ready to tangle with them now? Say, if you make it I'll get you a mug of ale for free." He winked.
"Sure, I'll take that bet." Philip drew Bootleg, holding it in a two handed grip. He nodded for them to come at him, mostly jokingly; he could level half the town if he wasn't careful.
The first lumbered towards him, swinging a fist. At least he thought it did; the thing moved in slow motion, practically frame by frame. Philip raised a brow in confusion, checking between him and it. If that blow took less than thirty minutes to land he would be shocked.
Remembering the castle, he sighed. He wasn't normal in any way. Approaching carefully, he tapped Bootleg's pommel on its chest; instantly it crumbled into dust, scattering everywhere.
Numbly staring at the slow cloud of dust that was a golem, he swiveled to the rest to find more slideshows trying to attack him. The next he tapped even lighter, then the one after was lightly slapped with the sword's flat side. Each one disintegrated, no part of them larger than a pebble remaining when the fifth was slain.
Philip winced at the carnage, then winced again at the owner. "Uh, sorry. You, um, just keep the ale."
"What in the world?" He didn't seem to register him, wide eyed at the piles of rubble that were his training golems five minutes ago. "What just happened? They moved to attack, but now they're destroyed! Did you use a spell?"
Philip cringed. "S… something like that. It's a long story that I'm not sharing for your safety. Anyway, about a quest offer?"
The barman numbly pointed at a board covered in request papers.
"Thanks." Giving perhaps the most awkward thumbs up in history, Philip darted to the indicated spot to pour over papers, searching for a job that wouldn't mind some destruction; he couldn't help that everything was too fragile around him.
Dina ran over to whisper in alarm. "Ruphas-sama, you're overdoing it! The fighting standards of today are much lower than two hundred years ago, if you don't control yourself you'll terrify the people!"
"Sorry, my self control is, uh, very bad right now. I need to work on that." He winced apologetically, pouring over the requests. There had to be something that he could do, without eradicating a mountain or two.
Plucking one paper, he grimaced: it was a request for a cat search, difficulty two stars. Twelve cats were on the loose, the reward was one hundred eru per returned cat.
"That's out." He returned the paper and grabbed another.
Request: orc subjugation, difficulty four stars out of five, reward fifteen hundred eru. It described that an orc nest was built nearby a village, doing as they pleased. The last line was a simple yet heartbreaking "please help."
"This is the one. Orc hunting it is." Philip nodded in approval, happy that he wouldn't destroy the town hunting for cats.
Dina however frowned. "That's a small reward. An entire orc infestation for only fifteen hundred eru? That's only three hundred less than herding cats! Its not worth the risk."
"I'm a little more worried about the town. I destroyed those golems with a touch." Philip mustered a small smile. "Besides, if it does work we won't be penniless." He patted the gold collection he made, thanking the alchemy skills he barely knew.
"That's wise Ruphas-sama!" Dina beamed.
AN:
Here´s the new chapter. A bit later than was promised but personal events have occurred that pushed it a bit into a background. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless and I wish you all a happy day
Chapter 4
- Pronouns
- He
Chapter 4
Trekking through the forest, Philip strode past branches and over rocks aplenty towards Airou village. The foliage was thick and stuffy, gloomy in a way that kept the light from going above a dim twilight. Overall it was a spooky place, he clutched Bootleg's hilt tighter in worry.
Dina was silent the whole time, skipping over rocks with her boundless energy. She was the one bright spot in this place, staying by his side no matter what creepy thing they came across. Inanimate things rather; the only wildlife he saw were some cawing ravens taking flight. Seeing them made him begin to regret walking, but he didn't want anyone to see him being so obvious, whether by people or enemies.
Spotting a small wooden house through the trees relieved Philip, picking up the pace towards what turned out to be a sizable town. Several houses like the first he saw were lined up in long rows, single floor domiciles that had been fortified; multiple stake barricades were placed around buildings, apparently they already had been put to the test when he saw a pile of boards that patched a hole.
Past the homes was a different building, two stories tall and with stone walls reinforcing its log pillars. Dina halted, pointing at it.
"That must be the chief's house, our client. You should let me negotiate with them Ruphas-Sama, its beneath your station." She requested.
Philip frowned. "Are you sure? Shouldn't I be handling this? Though… without knowing the fine details… alright. You'll handle this."
He shifted his weight, feeling goosebumps ripple on his skin. Paranoia sure picked inconvenient times to strike.
He shook it off. "Just keep your eyes open, okay?"
"Of course Ruphas-sama!" Dina beamed and darted to the house, knocking as Philip closed in. "Pardon me, is the mayor home? We're here to complete a quest."
A scuffle came from behind the door, a moment later it opened to reveal an old man; a set of fancy robes didn't disguise how elderly he was, easily in his eighties and appearing quite nervous. He was cowering behind his door, about to close it before reluctantly opening it wider.
"Please, come in." He sounded as anxious as he looked.
Philip followed Dina inside, finding that the house interior was in just as bad a shape as the rest of the village, busted furniture and patched holes abounded in the home. Few things weren't broken or patched, the most obvious was a pair of stools near the far wall.
"Please sit." He gestured, going behind a battered desk to an equally damaged chair; it creaked dangerously when he sat down, wobbling under his weight.
In spite of the offer Philip elected to stand behind Dina, who plopped on the stool with ease instead of his wary unease. Meanwhile she planted her hands on the table to radiate authority.
"Let's get down to business. We're adventurers who are here to destroy a nearby orc nest. Correct?" She peppily asked.
"Yeah, that's why we're here." Philip glanced around the house out of suspicion, finding nothing that seemed out of place.
"P-please, you don't need to actually destroy them." He nodded quickly, something out of place for someone his age. "You just need to drive them off so they stop preying on our village, then the reward is yours."
There was a tremble in his voice as he halted a full body shake, tears in his eyes when he looked at them.
"They have abducted the women of the village, after killing the men and hunted the children for sport. Please." His voice cracked, tears pooling in his eyes as he lurched forward to grab Philip's hand, his sudden shock being the only thing keeping the old man from getting splatted. "Please! Rain judgment on those pigs! Recover our stolen crops, or else even what few remain will starve come winter!"
"Naturally! Be at ease, that orc nest will be exterminated in no time, thanks to her!" Dina jabbed a thumb at Philip, the old man withdrawing at last. The horror tale hadn't affected her happy go lucky attitude in the slightest.
Philip coughed awkwardly, rubbing his hands. "Yeah, we'll get it done. Just point the way."
Mentally he already decided to reduce the payment; that story affected him more than he thought. Only the fact that they needed money kept him from rejecting any reward.
Je coughed again. "Do you know how many there are or what kind of weapons they have?"
"They are mostly armed with cheap clubs, poor swords, and spears. Whatever they could steal." The old mayor answered, pointing at a particular point in the forest with a shaking hand. "Please save our village, I beg of you!"
"Thanks, we'll be back soon." Philip nodded quickly and gestured for Dina, leaving the house in a wide stride.
He eyed her for input, but her jaunt offered nothing. Not worry, whether over the risks or what awaited them, and not unease like him. Philip had worries aplenty, starting with a quiet fret that the old man didn't say how many orcs there were. There could be a hundred or a thousand, he wouldn't know until they arrived.
Rolling his shoulders, he followed the direction given to them, trekking through the dank and creepy forest. A hand rested on Bootleg's hilt for the whole walk, searching for traps.
"Hey Dina, do you happen to know why the orcs would kidnap women exclusively?" He had a guess (thinking of what he heard about lions), but he wanted to be sure.
"Well…" Dina rubbed her chin. "Orcs don't have females on their own, they're an all male species. Which means they need the women of other races to keep their population up, you see?" She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh." He blanched, but that wasn't the end of it.
"They snatch up humans most of the time. If they are lucky they can get their paws on some fluegel, dwarfs or elves that left their home nations. I guess they could also technically try to get their hands on a vampire, though -" she shook her head in bemusement. "That's just going to result in a lot of shredded meat."
Philip winced, partly because a decrepit branch hit his shoulder but mainly due to her story. He turned forward again, then did a double take.
"Hang on, vampire?"
"Yep! They are one of the Great Races, mostly they live in the Kingdom of Mjolnir, a place where the sun doesn't shine even during the brightest of days. They are led by the Vampire Queen Benetasch, who was one of the seven great 'heroes' that defeated you two hundred years ago." Dina spat from sheer hostility, then grimaced. "She was one of the great pillars of the world and 'apparently.'" Her fingers made air quotes. "The only one of them who could fight Ruphas-sama by herself. It's all nonsense of course, but her power is undeniable."
"Like, how?" Philip should have been looking for traps or scouts, but her tale had his morbid interest.
"If it wasn't for her massacring the demon's high cadres after they defeated the other six heroes a hundred and fifty years ago, the demonkin would have conquered the world." Dina's contemptuous tone was totally at odds with the information, compounded when she waggled a hand in the air. "As for the vampires themselves, they're a bunch of weirdos. They insist on dressing oddly and exclusively drinking blood."
It wasn't the forest's ambient noises that caused the tremble in her tone. Philip cringed; these vampire things had to be some tough sonofaguns. He made a mental note to avoid them in the future.
Shaking his head, he went back to search for anything that looked like an orc encampment. "Uh, stupid question? How tough are orcs actually?"
"Orcs? Bah!" Dina snorted.Passing by some broken sticks, the two followed a mass of trampled grass that went in one direction. "They're total trash, we'll butcher them without a problem. I can make you orc stew and lasagna afterwards!" She licked her lips. "They are supposed to restore vitality and energy!"
Philip almost walked into another tree. For a short while he forgot what Dina was, thinking of her as a sidekick as loyal as she was peppy. He kept letting the fact she was something of a monster slip his mind.
Stifling a groan, he kept marching through the forest. Sniffing the air as much as he looked, he peeked at the dense tree cover to mull on flying to the objective, though he wasn't sure about that. Flying risked tipping them off, orcs and people
Upon spotting a clearing he ducked low, closing until he could see a wooden shed that looked like a mine entrance some hundred and fifty meters away. Two sentries stood at attention; they had the bodies of men but the heads of boars, complete with little tusks and ring piercings. They wore rags and sported crude spears, one letting its weapon rest against the wall as its partner jabbered. Not exactly what he pictured at the word orcs.
"Dina, you see any others?" He whispered, hand on Bootleg's hilt. He didn't see any captives, or much else really.
"No. This looks like it's the entrance to me?" With a woosh noise she created and disappeared in a circle like black warp before popping out on further away trees until she was out of his sight, before appearing beside him again. "Seems to be the only entrance. Want me to stand guard outside so that no one can flee?"
He stared at her for a second then sighed. "Please do. And be careful."
Drawing Bootleg from its sheath, Philip hunched over and rushed towards the nearest orc. Discovery was imminent, his only goal at that moment was thinning them out before it happened. When he was close he charged, swinging wildly like the amateur he was.
One turned in time to see him, and it paid for its vigilance by getting bisected. No sooner did it hit the dirt was its partner meeting the same fate, barely making a sound before it died. Their skulls cracked open, whatever crude armor they had did nothing.
Standing over the fallen orcs, Philip realized he didn't get hit once. He also realized their smelly blood coated his sword.
"Ew, ew." He shook as much blood off as possible and gazed into the dark tunnel, unlit by anything. Snatching up a stick, he held it in front of himself and concentrated; thinking of alchemy made things happen, so if he just thought of fire…
A massive beam of white hot fire exploded from the tip of the stick, shooting down the tunnel. Squeaks and screams echoed over the roaring flames, snuffed out when a bolt of a star washed against them, vaporizing whatever was in its path.
The stick was burning though. And there was a tunnel of molten glass in front of him, the flames he had conjured being hot enough to melt even the rock it was passing over.
"…oh. Okay." Philip nodded numbly. Internally he wished he stayed at the tower for a while to train. That way he wouldn't have bored a hole, potentially boiling the captives alive.
Going down the heated tunnel, Philp walked over crunching glass for twenty minutes. Stopping, he met the next orcs; to be accurate, he met the charred corpses of orcs. Half vaporized, half practically melted to the rock, and nothing but terror on what remained of their bestial expressions. At least those that had still some. Looking behind him he saw what looked like multiple imprints of humanoid shadows on the walls. The fire in the starting levels had been so hot that it had literally burnt the ash of the orcs against the wall.
"Sorry, sorry." He winced. So what if they were orcs, he didn't mean to flash boil them like that. It was downright cruel.
Pressing on, he kept looking for the main encampment. He focused on finding that goal, and not whatever other victims he made. Stepping over more torched bodies, he eventually discovered it.
A gated entrance was before him, a thick wooden barrier that was impervious to assault. Or it was before the flames washed over it, turning the guards into ashes and bones.
"Okay, okay." Philip halted before it, raising a hand. Cringing in grim anticipation, he tapped against the gates with as little force as he could muster.
With a noise not unlike the sound of a cannon firing, the gate exploded inwards, riddling the orcs behind it in a hailstorm of wood and metal splinters, burying themselves into their faces and flesh with gross tearing noises. The orcs that had surrounded the gate from the other side, axes and swords ready to meet the invader, had been turned into piles of corpses and shredded meat.
Only one Orc, one wearing fancy clothing and a crown, was still alive. Not for long though, judging from the horrified gurgling noises coming from him, most likely originating from the fact that a dagger long wooden splinter had been hammered into his throat and a smaller metal one had pulped one of his eyes.
Philip blinked, then clenched his fist with an angry snort. Curses flowed like water, stomping up to the fancy orc with a wince instead of a scowl.
"Hey you. Can you understand me? Nod if you do." He checked for stragglers, but the crying orcs didn't look like they would give him any trouble.
The orc king(?) was still choking on his own blood, but it nodded.
"Okay…" with new care Philip laid a hand on its shoulder without gripping, thinking of healing. He could make fire and alchemy with a thought, so surely healing would work the same?
After a few seconds he saw no changes. Just a terrified creature he hurt, its life slipping away. He dropped his hand, falling on Bootleg.
"Sorry about this." He plunged the sword into its chest, putting an end to its pain.
Regret had to be pushed aside, for hurting these misbegotten creatures and ruining any chance to get information. Standing up, he caught a glimpse of several sturdy cages with figures inside, who stirred from being awoken.
Approaching the cages, Philip overlooked the women inside to find them scared but luckily unharmed. In fact he had to pause at seeing the jewelry and fancy clothes they had; that village didn't look rich enough to have all that, did the orcs give the women gifts?
"Huh, odd." Checking for orcs once more, he strode up to the cage. "Hey, are you folk alright?"
"Are you here to save us?" A thirtish woman gripped the bars, the glint of a gold ring on her finger.
"Yeah… are any of you hurt? Need help walking?" He grew confused, seeing them distressed yet unhurt.
"We are fine." Another woman approached. "Who are you? Can you open this cage?"
"Yeah, hang on. You, uh, you should step back." Philip grabbed the bars and pulled; as expected his 'light touch' ripped the bars out of their foundations, dragging across the floor until he tossed it aside.
A call of surprised cries left the women, which didn't stop them from shuffling outside, around the butchered orcs. One or two however made a point of kicking the orc lord, while the black haired woman he spoke to directed the others to gather up food supplies.
"Follow me, don't fall behind." He started to go back the way he came, fixated on the tunnel instead of his handiwork, but a cleared throat stopped him.
"Uh, I don't think we can go that way." A sixteen year old cringed at the cooling glass, cracking in part because of his footsteps. Made because he didn't notice the heat.
Philip facepalmed, groaning into his hand. He dropped it with a testy sigh and found that there weren't any more tunnels. Apparently the orcs just made their nest here, they didn't build the tunnel network. Which meant no secondary exits.
Inclining his head, he mentally guessed how many tons of rock were overhead and dismissed that option. That left…
"Dina! Dina can you hear me!?" He called into the cavern.
A portal popped into existence right beside him, and from the hole in existence appeared Dina's head and torso. "Yes? Oh, the orcs are all dead!"
A lot of cries left the women at the bizarre sight.
"And you save the captives. And you even cooked the orcs already! Great job R-" she clamped a hand over her mouth, leading into an embarrassing giggle. When it passed she waved her hands and opened new portals over the orc bodies, taking them elsewhere; most likely to a kitchen.
Philip just groaned. "I know you're excited, but can you hold off on cooking for a bit? I need a safe way out for them."
He jabbed a thumb at the spooked women, the opulently dressed women with lots of jewelry, who weren't harmed…
"Actually, how come none of you are injured? The village elder said the orcs killed the men and children." He asked in confusion.
"They did." The leading woman scowled. "They wanted us to carry their children afterwards. As if some shiny rocks washed away the blood they spilled." As she said that a few more women kicked bodies before Dina whisked them away.
"Psst, Orcs don't lay a finger on women without consent. They want the women to raise kids after breeding." Dina whispered.
Philip raised a brow; that seemed to make little sense to him. Stockholm syndrome could do a lot, but relying on it as a reproductive strategy seemed weird to him. He cleared his throat instead of trying to make sense of it.
"Anyway, let's get everyone back with as much stuff as they can carry. They'll need it." Philip strode to the orc lord to snag its crown, handing it to a woman as a gift.
"So, boss, how do we get those women back?" Dina smiled at you, waging her fingers. "You kinda torched our way back." She observed the still partially molten way to the surface. "You don't need to worry about showing them who you are, I can manipulate their memories so that it seems like you were never even here, or did something else."
"Much appreciated, but as for an exit…" Philip rubbed his chin. He wondered if he had ice magic in his repertoire, but looking at the current mess he could count himself lucky if he made the tunnel only cold enough to freeze oxygen. But…
"Hell, why not." He backed away from the group and pointed down the tunnel, thinking of moderate cold. Not ice, cool, like an early autumn evening.
A blast of cold air left his palms, washing over the rocky ground; it felt like opening a door into the arctic, making his skin prickle, and several of the women cried out. The effect faded quickly, leaving a crystalline sheen of glassy ice over the molten tunnel. Frost wafted out, some of it crunching as the ice settled.
He dropped his hands with a groan. "Shit. Should've known."
Philip glanced upwards again, reconsidering blasting a hole through the ceiling. If only that wouldn't bring down the whole cavern, killing the captives. He needed a surefire option that wouldn't accidentally kill everyone-
"Wait." With a wince he tapped his forehead, striding up to a wall facing adjacent to the icy tunnel. Planting his hands on the rock, he pictured a smooth circular hole, going on and on out of this pit.
Before his eyes the stone melted, rippling and flowing outwards. First a deep indentation was made, in moments flowing into a proper tunnel; compared to the frozen blast he made this was impossibly smooth, even modern machinery couldn't make something this flat, without so much as a pebble to block it. The new tunnel was a little taller than him, more than enough room for everyone to leave.
As the reshaping slowed Philip started walking, building a path out of the pit. Murmurs of fear echoed behind him, but after the leader woman made a call the large party followed after him, from a safe distance of course. Dina popped out of her portal to bring up the rear, leaving Philip to keep walking and making an exit.
Minutes passed, and then with a crumble of pebbles he emerged into the gloomy forest once again. Clearing the exit, he got out of the way so everyone could file out, letting them mill around until Dina bounded into open air.
"There, almost done. Dina, its time for you to do your thing. Make it… this entrance was always here, we didn't do anything extraordinary. Okay?" He turned to her.
Dina nodded, waving her hands; the women all stilled, going glass eyed in a creepy way before they returned to their senses, looking around in confusion for moment, before winking at him.
Trekking through the forest, Philip strode past branches and over rocks aplenty towards Airou village. The foliage was thick and stuffy, gloomy in a way that kept the light from going above a dim twilight. Overall it was a spooky place, he clutched Bootleg's hilt tighter in worry.
Dina was silent the whole time, skipping over rocks with her boundless energy. She was the one bright spot in this place, staying by his side no matter what creepy thing they came across. Inanimate things rather; the only wildlife he saw were some cawing ravens taking flight. Seeing them made him begin to regret walking, but he didn't want anyone to see him being so obvious, whether by people or enemies.
Spotting a small wooden house through the trees relieved Philip, picking up the pace towards what turned out to be a sizable town. Several houses like the first he saw were lined up in long rows, single floor domiciles that had been fortified; multiple stake barricades were placed around buildings, apparently they already had been put to the test when he saw a pile of boards that patched a hole.
Past the homes was a different building, two stories tall and with stone walls reinforcing its log pillars. Dina halted, pointing at it.
"That must be the chief's house, our client. You should let me negotiate with them Ruphas-Sama, its beneath your station." She requested.
Philip frowned. "Are you sure? Shouldn't I be handling this? Though… without knowing the fine details… alright. You'll handle this."
He shifted his weight, feeling goosebumps ripple on his skin. Paranoia sure picked inconvenient times to strike.
He shook it off. "Just keep your eyes open, okay?"
"Of course Ruphas-sama!" Dina beamed and darted to the house, knocking as Philip closed in. "Pardon me, is the mayor home? We're here to complete a quest."
A scuffle came from behind the door, a moment later it opened to reveal an old man; a set of fancy robes didn't disguise how elderly he was, easily in his eighties and appearing quite nervous. He was cowering behind his door, about to close it before reluctantly opening it wider.
"Please, come in." He sounded as anxious as he looked.
Philip followed Dina inside, finding that the house interior was in just as bad a shape as the rest of the village, busted furniture and patched holes abounded in the home. Few things weren't broken or patched, the most obvious was a pair of stools near the far wall.
"Please sit." He gestured, going behind a battered desk to an equally damaged chair; it creaked dangerously when he sat down, wobbling under his weight.
In spite of the offer Philip elected to stand behind Dina, who plopped on the stool with ease instead of his wary unease. Meanwhile she planted her hands on the table to radiate authority.
"Let's get down to business. We're adventurers who are here to destroy a nearby orc nest. Correct?" She peppily asked.
"Yeah, that's why we're here." Philip glanced around the house out of suspicion, finding nothing that seemed out of place.
"P-please, you don't need to actually destroy them." He nodded quickly, something out of place for someone his age. "You just need to drive them off so they stop preying on our village, then the reward is yours."
There was a tremble in his voice as he halted a full body shake, tears in his eyes when he looked at them.
"They have abducted the women of the village, after killing the men and hunted the children for sport. Please." His voice cracked, tears pooling in his eyes as he lurched forward to grab Philip's hand, his sudden shock being the only thing keeping the old man from getting splatted. "Please! Rain judgment on those pigs! Recover our stolen crops, or else even what few remain will starve come winter!"
"Naturally! Be at ease, that orc nest will be exterminated in no time, thanks to her!" Dina jabbed a thumb at Philip, the old man withdrawing at last. The horror tale hadn't affected her happy go lucky attitude in the slightest.
Philip coughed awkwardly, rubbing his hands. "Yeah, we'll get it done. Just point the way."
Mentally he already decided to reduce the payment; that story affected him more than he thought. Only the fact that they needed money kept him from rejecting any reward.
Je coughed again. "Do you know how many there are or what kind of weapons they have?"
"They are mostly armed with cheap clubs, poor swords, and spears. Whatever they could steal." The old mayor answered, pointing at a particular point in the forest with a shaking hand. "Please save our village, I beg of you!"
"Thanks, we'll be back soon." Philip nodded quickly and gestured for Dina, leaving the house in a wide stride.
He eyed her for input, but her jaunt offered nothing. Not worry, whether over the risks or what awaited them, and not unease like him. Philip had worries aplenty, starting with a quiet fret that the old man didn't say how many orcs there were. There could be a hundred or a thousand, he wouldn't know until they arrived.
Rolling his shoulders, he followed the direction given to them, trekking through the dank and creepy forest. A hand rested on Bootleg's hilt for the whole walk, searching for traps.
"Hey Dina, do you happen to know why the orcs would kidnap women exclusively?" He had a guess (thinking of what he heard about lions), but he wanted to be sure.
"Well…" Dina rubbed her chin. "Orcs don't have females on their own, they're an all male species. Which means they need the women of other races to keep their population up, you see?" She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh." He blanched, but that wasn't the end of it.
"They snatch up humans most of the time. If they are lucky they can get their paws on some fluegel, dwarfs or elves that left their home nations. I guess they could also technically try to get their hands on a vampire, though -" she shook her head in bemusement. "That's just going to result in a lot of shredded meat."
Philip winced, partly because a decrepit branch hit his shoulder but mainly due to her story. He turned forward again, then did a double take.
"Hang on, vampire?"
"Yep! They are one of the Great Races, mostly they live in the Kingdom of Mjolnir, a place where the sun doesn't shine even during the brightest of days. They are led by the Vampire Queen Benetasch, who was one of the seven great 'heroes' that defeated you two hundred years ago." Dina spat from sheer hostility, then grimaced. "She was one of the great pillars of the world and 'apparently.'" Her fingers made air quotes. "The only one of them who could fight Ruphas-sama by herself. It's all nonsense of course, but her power is undeniable."
"Like, how?" Philip should have been looking for traps or scouts, but her tale had his morbid interest.
"If it wasn't for her massacring the demon's high cadres after they defeated the other six heroes a hundred and fifty years ago, the demonkin would have conquered the world." Dina's contemptuous tone was totally at odds with the information, compounded when she waggled a hand in the air. "As for the vampires themselves, they're a bunch of weirdos. They insist on dressing oddly and exclusively drinking blood."
It wasn't the forest's ambient noises that caused the tremble in her tone. Philip cringed; these vampire things had to be some tough sonofaguns. He made a mental note to avoid them in the future.
Shaking his head, he went back to search for anything that looked like an orc encampment. "Uh, stupid question? How tough are orcs actually?"
"Orcs? Bah!" Dina snorted.Passing by some broken sticks, the two followed a mass of trampled grass that went in one direction. "They're total trash, we'll butcher them without a problem. I can make you orc stew and lasagna afterwards!" She licked her lips. "They are supposed to restore vitality and energy!"
Philip almost walked into another tree. For a short while he forgot what Dina was, thinking of her as a sidekick as loyal as she was peppy. He kept letting the fact she was something of a monster slip his mind.
Stifling a groan, he kept marching through the forest. Sniffing the air as much as he looked, he peeked at the dense tree cover to mull on flying to the objective, though he wasn't sure about that. Flying risked tipping them off, orcs and people
Upon spotting a clearing he ducked low, closing until he could see a wooden shed that looked like a mine entrance some hundred and fifty meters away. Two sentries stood at attention; they had the bodies of men but the heads of boars, complete with little tusks and ring piercings. They wore rags and sported crude spears, one letting its weapon rest against the wall as its partner jabbered. Not exactly what he pictured at the word orcs.
"Dina, you see any others?" He whispered, hand on Bootleg's hilt. He didn't see any captives, or much else really.
"No. This looks like it's the entrance to me?" With a woosh noise she created and disappeared in a circle like black warp before popping out on further away trees until she was out of his sight, before appearing beside him again. "Seems to be the only entrance. Want me to stand guard outside so that no one can flee?"
He stared at her for a second then sighed. "Please do. And be careful."
Drawing Bootleg from its sheath, Philip hunched over and rushed towards the nearest orc. Discovery was imminent, his only goal at that moment was thinning them out before it happened. When he was close he charged, swinging wildly like the amateur he was.
One turned in time to see him, and it paid for its vigilance by getting bisected. No sooner did it hit the dirt was its partner meeting the same fate, barely making a sound before it died. Their skulls cracked open, whatever crude armor they had did nothing.
Standing over the fallen orcs, Philip realized he didn't get hit once. He also realized their smelly blood coated his sword.
"Ew, ew." He shook as much blood off as possible and gazed into the dark tunnel, unlit by anything. Snatching up a stick, he held it in front of himself and concentrated; thinking of alchemy made things happen, so if he just thought of fire…
A massive beam of white hot fire exploded from the tip of the stick, shooting down the tunnel. Squeaks and screams echoed over the roaring flames, snuffed out when a bolt of a star washed against them, vaporizing whatever was in its path.
The stick was burning though. And there was a tunnel of molten glass in front of him, the flames he had conjured being hot enough to melt even the rock it was passing over.
"…oh. Okay." Philip nodded numbly. Internally he wished he stayed at the tower for a while to train. That way he wouldn't have bored a hole, potentially boiling the captives alive.
Going down the heated tunnel, Philp walked over crunching glass for twenty minutes. Stopping, he met the next orcs; to be accurate, he met the charred corpses of orcs. Half vaporized, half practically melted to the rock, and nothing but terror on what remained of their bestial expressions. At least those that had still some. Looking behind him he saw what looked like multiple imprints of humanoid shadows on the walls. The fire in the starting levels had been so hot that it had literally burnt the ash of the orcs against the wall.
"Sorry, sorry." He winced. So what if they were orcs, he didn't mean to flash boil them like that. It was downright cruel.
Pressing on, he kept looking for the main encampment. He focused on finding that goal, and not whatever other victims he made. Stepping over more torched bodies, he eventually discovered it.
A gated entrance was before him, a thick wooden barrier that was impervious to assault. Or it was before the flames washed over it, turning the guards into ashes and bones.
"Okay, okay." Philip halted before it, raising a hand. Cringing in grim anticipation, he tapped against the gates with as little force as he could muster.
With a noise not unlike the sound of a cannon firing, the gate exploded inwards, riddling the orcs behind it in a hailstorm of wood and metal splinters, burying themselves into their faces and flesh with gross tearing noises. The orcs that had surrounded the gate from the other side, axes and swords ready to meet the invader, had been turned into piles of corpses and shredded meat.
Only one Orc, one wearing fancy clothing and a crown, was still alive. Not for long though, judging from the horrified gurgling noises coming from him, most likely originating from the fact that a dagger long wooden splinter had been hammered into his throat and a smaller metal one had pulped one of his eyes.
Philip blinked, then clenched his fist with an angry snort. Curses flowed like water, stomping up to the fancy orc with a wince instead of a scowl.
"Hey you. Can you understand me? Nod if you do." He checked for stragglers, but the crying orcs didn't look like they would give him any trouble.
The orc king(?) was still choking on his own blood, but it nodded.
"Okay…" with new care Philip laid a hand on its shoulder without gripping, thinking of healing. He could make fire and alchemy with a thought, so surely healing would work the same?
After a few seconds he saw no changes. Just a terrified creature he hurt, its life slipping away. He dropped his hand, falling on Bootleg.
"Sorry about this." He plunged the sword into its chest, putting an end to its pain.
Regret had to be pushed aside, for hurting these misbegotten creatures and ruining any chance to get information. Standing up, he caught a glimpse of several sturdy cages with figures inside, who stirred from being awoken.
Approaching the cages, Philip overlooked the women inside to find them scared but luckily unharmed. In fact he had to pause at seeing the jewelry and fancy clothes they had; that village didn't look rich enough to have all that, did the orcs give the women gifts?
"Huh, odd." Checking for orcs once more, he strode up to the cage. "Hey, are you folk alright?"
"Are you here to save us?" A thirtish woman gripped the bars, the glint of a gold ring on her finger.
"Yeah… are any of you hurt? Need help walking?" He grew confused, seeing them distressed yet unhurt.
"We are fine." Another woman approached. "Who are you? Can you open this cage?"
"Yeah, hang on. You, uh, you should step back." Philip grabbed the bars and pulled; as expected his 'light touch' ripped the bars out of their foundations, dragging across the floor until he tossed it aside.
A call of surprised cries left the women, which didn't stop them from shuffling outside, around the butchered orcs. One or two however made a point of kicking the orc lord, while the black haired woman he spoke to directed the others to gather up food supplies.
"Follow me, don't fall behind." He started to go back the way he came, fixated on the tunnel instead of his handiwork, but a cleared throat stopped him.
"Uh, I don't think we can go that way." A sixteen year old cringed at the cooling glass, cracking in part because of his footsteps. Made because he didn't notice the heat.
Philip facepalmed, groaning into his hand. He dropped it with a testy sigh and found that there weren't any more tunnels. Apparently the orcs just made their nest here, they didn't build the tunnel network. Which meant no secondary exits.
Inclining his head, he mentally guessed how many tons of rock were overhead and dismissed that option. That left…
"Dina! Dina can you hear me!?" He called into the cavern.
A portal popped into existence right beside him, and from the hole in existence appeared Dina's head and torso. "Yes? Oh, the orcs are all dead!"
A lot of cries left the women at the bizarre sight.
"And you save the captives. And you even cooked the orcs already! Great job R-" she clamped a hand over her mouth, leading into an embarrassing giggle. When it passed she waved her hands and opened new portals over the orc bodies, taking them elsewhere; most likely to a kitchen.
Philip just groaned. "I know you're excited, but can you hold off on cooking for a bit? I need a safe way out for them."
He jabbed a thumb at the spooked women, the opulently dressed women with lots of jewelry, who weren't harmed…
"Actually, how come none of you are injured? The village elder said the orcs killed the men and children." He asked in confusion.
"They did." The leading woman scowled. "They wanted us to carry their children afterwards. As if some shiny rocks washed away the blood they spilled." As she said that a few more women kicked bodies before Dina whisked them away.
"Psst, Orcs don't lay a finger on women without consent. They want the women to raise kids after breeding." Dina whispered.
Philip raised a brow; that seemed to make little sense to him. Stockholm syndrome could do a lot, but relying on it as a reproductive strategy seemed weird to him. He cleared his throat instead of trying to make sense of it.
"Anyway, let's get everyone back with as much stuff as they can carry. They'll need it." Philip strode to the orc lord to snag its crown, handing it to a woman as a gift.
"So, boss, how do we get those women back?" Dina smiled at you, waging her fingers. "You kinda torched our way back." She observed the still partially molten way to the surface. "You don't need to worry about showing them who you are, I can manipulate their memories so that it seems like you were never even here, or did something else."
"Much appreciated, but as for an exit…" Philip rubbed his chin. He wondered if he had ice magic in his repertoire, but looking at the current mess he could count himself lucky if he made the tunnel only cold enough to freeze oxygen. But…
"Hell, why not." He backed away from the group and pointed down the tunnel, thinking of moderate cold. Not ice, cool, like an early autumn evening.
A blast of cold air left his palms, washing over the rocky ground; it felt like opening a door into the arctic, making his skin prickle, and several of the women cried out. The effect faded quickly, leaving a crystalline sheen of glassy ice over the molten tunnel. Frost wafted out, some of it crunching as the ice settled.
He dropped his hands with a groan. "Shit. Should've known."
Philip glanced upwards again, reconsidering blasting a hole through the ceiling. If only that wouldn't bring down the whole cavern, killing the captives. He needed a surefire option that wouldn't accidentally kill everyone-
"Wait." With a wince he tapped his forehead, striding up to a wall facing adjacent to the icy tunnel. Planting his hands on the rock, he pictured a smooth circular hole, going on and on out of this pit.
Before his eyes the stone melted, rippling and flowing outwards. First a deep indentation was made, in moments flowing into a proper tunnel; compared to the frozen blast he made this was impossibly smooth, even modern machinery couldn't make something this flat, without so much as a pebble to block it. The new tunnel was a little taller than him, more than enough room for everyone to leave.
As the reshaping slowed Philip started walking, building a path out of the pit. Murmurs of fear echoed behind him, but after the leader woman made a call the large party followed after him, from a safe distance of course. Dina popped out of her portal to bring up the rear, leaving Philip to keep walking and making an exit.
Minutes passed, and then with a crumble of pebbles he emerged into the gloomy forest once again. Clearing the exit, he got out of the way so everyone could file out, letting them mill around until Dina bounded into open air.
"There, almost done. Dina, its time for you to do your thing. Make it… this entrance was always here, we didn't do anything extraordinary. Okay?" He turned to her.
Dina nodded, waving her hands; the women all stilled, going glass eyed in a creepy way before they returned to their senses, looking around in confusion for moment, before winking at him.
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Chapter 5
- Pronouns
- He
Chapter 5
Another walk, another task. Escorting the women was a tense yet calm affair, heading back to the village in one piece; Philip was safeguarding his reward by ensuring these people got home intact. As for them, they were significantly less composed than Philip and Dina, stumbling from their leftover mindwipe, and on the blood splatters Bootleg caused. At least they had no corpses on their path, courtesy of Dina.
"Dina, do you mind if I ask you a question about the legendary heroes? Well, 'heroes.'" Philip added air quotes with one hand, the other on Bootleg as he scanned the area. So far there was nothing, but her expected rant could change that.
"You mean the traitorous backstabbers that betrayed you and everything you stood for?" Dina scoffed, lips curled back in poorly contained rage. "Sure, what do you wish to know, Ruphas-sama?" Yet she still reigned herself in.
"How exactly did they defeat me the first time? In case we bump into one again, I wanna know how they did it. It'd be helpful to know how so it doesn't happen again." He explained. Philip had started to wonder that once they left the cave; with how powerful he was, how did they seal him (well, 'him') away the first time? His current guesses were overwhelming numbers or esoteric spells, the latter he had no clue how to handle.
"Hmmm….." Dina was silent for a moment. "Now, I wasn't there, so I can only tell you what I picked myself together from the official stories and rumors after the fight." She shrugged. "It was shortly after your fearsome duel with Benetnash the vampire princess. You were still recovering when the Sword King Alioth, the smith King Mizar, the Wisdom King Megrez, the adventure King Phecda, the heavenly King Merak and the beast King Dubhe attacked you, together with countless thousands of lesser heroes and the forces of their realms."
She drew symbols of fiery letters in the air, each one representing the different names.
"Altogether the force they mustered was around eight million? All the humanoid Kingdoms except the vampires were engaged with Ruphas-sama. Similarly the vampire Princess Benetash did not participate in the final battle against you." She rubbed her chin in thought. "In short I think it was a variety of things that led to your defeat. Enemy numbers to tie down your twelve generals and armies, exhaustion from the fight with Benetnash and the many complementary skills and teamwork of the six heroes that directly engaged you."
"Ah, that's… good to know." Philip nodded with a frown. They really must've hated him to pull out all the stops like that; on the bright side, Dina's explanation hinted that wasn't likely to happen again. Except… "Say, do you happen to know if Benetnash had gotten any stronger in the meantime?"
"Hmmmm, I do not know. She did not participate in the followup campaign of the heroes against the demon King Orm, and wasn't defeated by him in the disaster that occurred then. At the moment she is clashing with Leo the tyrannical lion, one of your generals, but I don't think she herself ever personally fought him." Dina nodded.
"Ah. The reason I ask is because I'm toying with the idea of paying Benetnash a visit. If she's really this powerful, and she still has a grudge, well, next time I don't think I'll be amnesiac." And there were plenty of other things he had to do, such as learn how to use all these powers. Forgetting how to mould rock with his bare hands was no big deal against orcs, but these vampires wouldn't be so helpless.
Dina cringed, fiddling with her fingers. "Uh, Ruphas-sama? Do you think that is a smart Idea? Benetnash will likely try to fight you…. Or she might just decide that amnesiac you isn't worth fighting. I have no idea what that crazy teen is up to with you."
"Yeah, that's what I assumed. Okay, a reason to delay that meeting, thanks Dina." Given how empty it was around, he felt safe enough to clap a couple times. "Alrighty, when we're finished here we're going back to Yuradril and see about another job." He smiled, as bright as it was faked.
"Yeah." She laughed and walked down the path with him. "Ah, that reminds me, you gotta be hungry after this fight, right?"
Dina pulled a plate out of thin air, waving it in front of him; A savory, golden-brown steak rested on its surface, an appetizing scent wafted through the air. The smell of perfectly cooked meat hit his nose, his stomach growling as a reminder he hadn't eaten in a while.
"Orc steak, it's delicious with a side of rice." She waved it in front of him. Philip smacked his lips, suddenly aware of his watering mouth.
"L-lets get to the village, pronto." He rushed along, academically knowing he should share with the villagers, they needed food more than him. But that delectable smell...
"You don't want any? I made them the way you always liked them." Dina's eyes were huge and round, gazing at him full of innocence.
"Uh, no, that's not it. I just wanna get the payment first, I'm eager to try it." Philip waved placatingly, whatever stopped that puppy-eye look and her getting upset.
"Alright, I have enough stored away for later!" Dina smiled, slowing to share what she had with the women; the sounds they made hinted they were really good.
Twenty minutes later…
"Thank you! Thank you!" The village elder bowed again and again, kowtowing in front of Philip and Dina. Around them the captives reunited with their remaining families, embracing with tears.
"Its okay." He quickly waved him off, considering knocking some coins off the payment given their hardship, although they had plenty of loot the orcs provided. Privately he hoped the old man wouldn't be gushing for hours, Dina's steaks awaited. Steaks made of sentient beings he personally ended… he stopped thinking about that.
Absent-mindedly the village elder handed over a sack of rustling coins, easily more than a thousand by Philip's guess. He refrained from opening up and counting, although the old man wasn't looking at him; he ran to the dark haired woman who was brave enough to speak to him after the slaughter, embracing her as she hugged him back.
Judging things as good enough, Philip tipped his head one more time and left, giving the old man time alone with what he presumed was his daughter. Out the door he went, then out of the village's makeshift fortifications, waiting until they were out of earshot to whip around with raw hunger.
"Okay, ready for steaks now." He slavered, licking his lips.
Dina grinned widely and presented one, a gold brown sauce laced over the well made flesh. Before he snatched it Philip bent over to grab a couple rocks and a clean plate, concentrating to make a plate, a fork, and after a second of thought, a knife as well.
"Thank you kindly." Plopping the steak down, he tore into it; ethical questions aside, this had to be the best tasting lump of meat he had ever tasted. Soft, moist, melting in his mouth, and simply delicious, he scarfed it down in record time. Dina beamed at him; she could teleport stuff, tell him useful things, and was a fantastic cook. What couldn't she do?
Philip squeed, wiggled in place and generally acted overdramatic. He knew that would give Dina a big head, but he didn't care at the moment. What a wonderful taste! She practically vibrated from how excited she was at his reaction.
As he ate all traces of exhaustion left his body, leaving him feeling just a bit livelier than before. When it was gone he sighed in pure bliss, reminded after a second to clump his utensils into unrecognizable lumps, littering on the forest floor. Another sigh had him burp, causing a blush.
"That was fantastic Dina, where did you learn how to make those?" He asked, trying to keep the thought of that meat being a sentient creature a little while ago at arms length. That amazing taste certainly helped.
Dina shuffled in place. "Well, you know. Orc steak is a common adventuring meal, given orc flesh capabilities to increase one's vitality. The sauce is a home recipe."
"Home eh? What was that like? Or, wait, you mean the tower?" He hoped she wasn't homesick for the ominous tower of doom already.
She nodded, smiling but with hints of anxiety. He cleared his throat.
"So, back to Yuradril?" He jabbed a thumb.
Hours later…
Entering the city again, Philip saw many more people than just a couple days ago, the bulk of them armed. Not all were human; beastmen, centaurs and minotaurs, armed with pikes and axes. Elves, archers and robed mages. Small numbers of dwarfs hauling strange machinery with the occasional holem, these ones clearly built for battle. There were even humanoid people with great white wings, as well as tall folk clad in head to toe, hiding every bit of skin.
Philip was very glad to be in his robe, he didn't want to imagine what kind of chaos flying into this powder keg would cause.
Giving everyone as wide a berth as possible, in particular those tall people who seemed like trouble, he made his way to the tavern. Going through the door, he bustled to the bar for the owner.
"Ah, welcome back! I take the mission went well?" The Barkeep greeted them as they entered the adventurers hall. He was busy handing out beers and drinks to some people who probably belonged to some of the armed groups outside, some of which were evidently not satisfied with the situation here.
"Hey, Barkeep, you can't really expect us noble Whitewings to work and eat alongside Blackwing trash, huh?" A white winged fluegel, flanked by two others, angrily complained, making several insulting hand motions to a nearby flügel with black wings sitting down the bar, who looked away and tried to get as little attention as possible.
Contrary to all common sense, Philip detoured to the white winged beings. He acted as calm as he could, leveling a flat look on the irate fighter.
"Hey bud, you know this isn't the only tavern in town?" As punctuation he pointed at the door.
"Huh, and what does this matter to you?" The fluegel stared at him arrogantly. "I am a member of the heavenly band of Gjallarhorn. This goddess forsaken dirt here-" he stabbed a finger at the blackwing. "Is poisoning our stay here before we go join the defence of Suevell against the demonic hordes and the damned Ram, who still can't get over the fact that his bitch queen of a tyrant was slain two hundred years ago. It's critical for our fighting strength to be as well prepared as possible for the coming great clash."
Internally Philip chuckled; if only he knew. "If a black wing bothers you so much, then what about the rest of the people here?"
He raised his voice slightly, so the nearest people could hear him.
"Are they just standing by while you do all the work? That would explain why they don't have a problem rubbing shoulders with other people." He glanced around to the patrons, who started to shift uncomfortably.
The whitewinged fluegel blustered up, rousing for an angry retort that would surely cause a commotion. The barkeep intervened before he could do much.
"Okay, that's enough. You have done nothing but insult my customers and harry my business since you arrived. Out!" His face was almost red from anger, and by a silent command multiple stone golems marched into the room from the back end of the tavern, ready to enforce the barkeep's commands if necessary.
For a moment the three whitewings look like they wanted to start a fight, before looking around at the many people in there staring at them, hands drifting down to their weapons as they did so. The leader scowled.
"Alright, but let it be known that Hans Gruber willingly gives shelter and comfort to minions of the demon lord rather than the rightful children of the goddess." With a final huff he turned around and left with his companions.
Philip waved at his departure, making the gesture as mocking as he could. Plopping himself at a seat, he waved for a drink.
"Water." He ordered. There was a long trip ahead and so much that needed done, he had no need to get sloshed. Peeking at the blackwinged fluegel, he considered then discarded the idea of speaking to him.
The barkeep made sure the whitewings were gone, spitting on the ground before fetching a pitcher of water. Dina waved, and received, a bottle of wine to start sipping.
"Bloody sorry that you had to watch that. Those bastards from Gjallarhorn show up and behave like they own the town. How did the mission go?" He started cleaning cups.
"No troubles, not with my little friend here." He couldn't resist, he patted the smaller girl's head. All in good nature: without her the body count would be in the hundreds and the village would cease to exist. "Killed some orcs, rescued some prisoners, made fifteen hundred eru. All in a day's work."
"Fine work, fine work." The barkeep nodded, going to prepare some ale for a group of dwarfs who had just come in.
"Thank you." Philip almost didn't register the words under the noise of the bristling full tavern. Besides him, the blackwing shuffled closer to show a timid smile, himself not looking older than twenty. Although given that he was a fluegel he may very well be centuries old.
Sparing him a peek, he waved him off then went back to sipping the water. Mentally he was already moving on; he debated whether to accept another job already, or rent an overnight room. There had to be enough for a tiny splurge, he wondered what kind of trinket Dina would want.
"Ruphas bless you." The blackwing whispered, quickly looking around for eavesdroppers. "The black winged goddess approves of what you are doing, standing up for the weak."
Philip kept drinking. "Its just a good deed, don't read into it."
Internally he pleaded for the fool to leave, silently shooing him away before he discovered he was speaking to his goddess, who didn't want his worship. He sipped, hoping he would take the hint. After a second he nodded, sipping his drink and occasionally sending glances.
Dina giggled into her wine, stifling a grin. She had heard everything, and her quiver showed her amusement at it all.
Philip sent her a look but ultimately did nothing; he liked her too much to stop her, but next time he promised he wouldn't be so forgiving. Finishing his drink, he waved again for the barkeep.
"How much for an overnight room?" He searched to find the board, giving it a glance to see what work was available.
"Hundred Eru." He replied with a wince. "Sorry, but with so many mercenaries, adventurers and soldiers marching to Suevell, every room is booked."
"That'll do." Philip dug into his bag and counted out a hundred coins, handing them over. There were plenty left, enough for short term expenses. Or to experiment with counterfeiting. "Which one?"
"First stairs up, last one on the floor."
Another walk, another task. Escorting the women was a tense yet calm affair, heading back to the village in one piece; Philip was safeguarding his reward by ensuring these people got home intact. As for them, they were significantly less composed than Philip and Dina, stumbling from their leftover mindwipe, and on the blood splatters Bootleg caused. At least they had no corpses on their path, courtesy of Dina.
"Dina, do you mind if I ask you a question about the legendary heroes? Well, 'heroes.'" Philip added air quotes with one hand, the other on Bootleg as he scanned the area. So far there was nothing, but her expected rant could change that.
"You mean the traitorous backstabbers that betrayed you and everything you stood for?" Dina scoffed, lips curled back in poorly contained rage. "Sure, what do you wish to know, Ruphas-sama?" Yet she still reigned herself in.
"How exactly did they defeat me the first time? In case we bump into one again, I wanna know how they did it. It'd be helpful to know how so it doesn't happen again." He explained. Philip had started to wonder that once they left the cave; with how powerful he was, how did they seal him (well, 'him') away the first time? His current guesses were overwhelming numbers or esoteric spells, the latter he had no clue how to handle.
"Hmmm….." Dina was silent for a moment. "Now, I wasn't there, so I can only tell you what I picked myself together from the official stories and rumors after the fight." She shrugged. "It was shortly after your fearsome duel with Benetnash the vampire princess. You were still recovering when the Sword King Alioth, the smith King Mizar, the Wisdom King Megrez, the adventure King Phecda, the heavenly King Merak and the beast King Dubhe attacked you, together with countless thousands of lesser heroes and the forces of their realms."
She drew symbols of fiery letters in the air, each one representing the different names.
"Altogether the force they mustered was around eight million? All the humanoid Kingdoms except the vampires were engaged with Ruphas-sama. Similarly the vampire Princess Benetash did not participate in the final battle against you." She rubbed her chin in thought. "In short I think it was a variety of things that led to your defeat. Enemy numbers to tie down your twelve generals and armies, exhaustion from the fight with Benetnash and the many complementary skills and teamwork of the six heroes that directly engaged you."
"Ah, that's… good to know." Philip nodded with a frown. They really must've hated him to pull out all the stops like that; on the bright side, Dina's explanation hinted that wasn't likely to happen again. Except… "Say, do you happen to know if Benetnash had gotten any stronger in the meantime?"
"Hmmmm, I do not know. She did not participate in the followup campaign of the heroes against the demon King Orm, and wasn't defeated by him in the disaster that occurred then. At the moment she is clashing with Leo the tyrannical lion, one of your generals, but I don't think she herself ever personally fought him." Dina nodded.
"Ah. The reason I ask is because I'm toying with the idea of paying Benetnash a visit. If she's really this powerful, and she still has a grudge, well, next time I don't think I'll be amnesiac." And there were plenty of other things he had to do, such as learn how to use all these powers. Forgetting how to mould rock with his bare hands was no big deal against orcs, but these vampires wouldn't be so helpless.
Dina cringed, fiddling with her fingers. "Uh, Ruphas-sama? Do you think that is a smart Idea? Benetnash will likely try to fight you…. Or she might just decide that amnesiac you isn't worth fighting. I have no idea what that crazy teen is up to with you."
"Yeah, that's what I assumed. Okay, a reason to delay that meeting, thanks Dina." Given how empty it was around, he felt safe enough to clap a couple times. "Alrighty, when we're finished here we're going back to Yuradril and see about another job." He smiled, as bright as it was faked.
"Yeah." She laughed and walked down the path with him. "Ah, that reminds me, you gotta be hungry after this fight, right?"
Dina pulled a plate out of thin air, waving it in front of him; A savory, golden-brown steak rested on its surface, an appetizing scent wafted through the air. The smell of perfectly cooked meat hit his nose, his stomach growling as a reminder he hadn't eaten in a while.
"Orc steak, it's delicious with a side of rice." She waved it in front of him. Philip smacked his lips, suddenly aware of his watering mouth.
"L-lets get to the village, pronto." He rushed along, academically knowing he should share with the villagers, they needed food more than him. But that delectable smell...
"You don't want any? I made them the way you always liked them." Dina's eyes were huge and round, gazing at him full of innocence.
"Uh, no, that's not it. I just wanna get the payment first, I'm eager to try it." Philip waved placatingly, whatever stopped that puppy-eye look and her getting upset.
"Alright, I have enough stored away for later!" Dina smiled, slowing to share what she had with the women; the sounds they made hinted they were really good.
Twenty minutes later…
"Thank you! Thank you!" The village elder bowed again and again, kowtowing in front of Philip and Dina. Around them the captives reunited with their remaining families, embracing with tears.
"Its okay." He quickly waved him off, considering knocking some coins off the payment given their hardship, although they had plenty of loot the orcs provided. Privately he hoped the old man wouldn't be gushing for hours, Dina's steaks awaited. Steaks made of sentient beings he personally ended… he stopped thinking about that.
Absent-mindedly the village elder handed over a sack of rustling coins, easily more than a thousand by Philip's guess. He refrained from opening up and counting, although the old man wasn't looking at him; he ran to the dark haired woman who was brave enough to speak to him after the slaughter, embracing her as she hugged him back.
Judging things as good enough, Philip tipped his head one more time and left, giving the old man time alone with what he presumed was his daughter. Out the door he went, then out of the village's makeshift fortifications, waiting until they were out of earshot to whip around with raw hunger.
"Okay, ready for steaks now." He slavered, licking his lips.
Dina grinned widely and presented one, a gold brown sauce laced over the well made flesh. Before he snatched it Philip bent over to grab a couple rocks and a clean plate, concentrating to make a plate, a fork, and after a second of thought, a knife as well.
"Thank you kindly." Plopping the steak down, he tore into it; ethical questions aside, this had to be the best tasting lump of meat he had ever tasted. Soft, moist, melting in his mouth, and simply delicious, he scarfed it down in record time. Dina beamed at him; she could teleport stuff, tell him useful things, and was a fantastic cook. What couldn't she do?
Philip squeed, wiggled in place and generally acted overdramatic. He knew that would give Dina a big head, but he didn't care at the moment. What a wonderful taste! She practically vibrated from how excited she was at his reaction.
As he ate all traces of exhaustion left his body, leaving him feeling just a bit livelier than before. When it was gone he sighed in pure bliss, reminded after a second to clump his utensils into unrecognizable lumps, littering on the forest floor. Another sigh had him burp, causing a blush.
"That was fantastic Dina, where did you learn how to make those?" He asked, trying to keep the thought of that meat being a sentient creature a little while ago at arms length. That amazing taste certainly helped.
Dina shuffled in place. "Well, you know. Orc steak is a common adventuring meal, given orc flesh capabilities to increase one's vitality. The sauce is a home recipe."
"Home eh? What was that like? Or, wait, you mean the tower?" He hoped she wasn't homesick for the ominous tower of doom already.
She nodded, smiling but with hints of anxiety. He cleared his throat.
"So, back to Yuradril?" He jabbed a thumb.
Hours later…
Entering the city again, Philip saw many more people than just a couple days ago, the bulk of them armed. Not all were human; beastmen, centaurs and minotaurs, armed with pikes and axes. Elves, archers and robed mages. Small numbers of dwarfs hauling strange machinery with the occasional holem, these ones clearly built for battle. There were even humanoid people with great white wings, as well as tall folk clad in head to toe, hiding every bit of skin.
Philip was very glad to be in his robe, he didn't want to imagine what kind of chaos flying into this powder keg would cause.
Giving everyone as wide a berth as possible, in particular those tall people who seemed like trouble, he made his way to the tavern. Going through the door, he bustled to the bar for the owner.
"Ah, welcome back! I take the mission went well?" The Barkeep greeted them as they entered the adventurers hall. He was busy handing out beers and drinks to some people who probably belonged to some of the armed groups outside, some of which were evidently not satisfied with the situation here.
"Hey, Barkeep, you can't really expect us noble Whitewings to work and eat alongside Blackwing trash, huh?" A white winged fluegel, flanked by two others, angrily complained, making several insulting hand motions to a nearby flügel with black wings sitting down the bar, who looked away and tried to get as little attention as possible.
Contrary to all common sense, Philip detoured to the white winged beings. He acted as calm as he could, leveling a flat look on the irate fighter.
"Hey bud, you know this isn't the only tavern in town?" As punctuation he pointed at the door.
"Huh, and what does this matter to you?" The fluegel stared at him arrogantly. "I am a member of the heavenly band of Gjallarhorn. This goddess forsaken dirt here-" he stabbed a finger at the blackwing. "Is poisoning our stay here before we go join the defence of Suevell against the demonic hordes and the damned Ram, who still can't get over the fact that his bitch queen of a tyrant was slain two hundred years ago. It's critical for our fighting strength to be as well prepared as possible for the coming great clash."
Internally Philip chuckled; if only he knew. "If a black wing bothers you so much, then what about the rest of the people here?"
He raised his voice slightly, so the nearest people could hear him.
"Are they just standing by while you do all the work? That would explain why they don't have a problem rubbing shoulders with other people." He glanced around to the patrons, who started to shift uncomfortably.
The whitewinged fluegel blustered up, rousing for an angry retort that would surely cause a commotion. The barkeep intervened before he could do much.
"Okay, that's enough. You have done nothing but insult my customers and harry my business since you arrived. Out!" His face was almost red from anger, and by a silent command multiple stone golems marched into the room from the back end of the tavern, ready to enforce the barkeep's commands if necessary.
For a moment the three whitewings look like they wanted to start a fight, before looking around at the many people in there staring at them, hands drifting down to their weapons as they did so. The leader scowled.
"Alright, but let it be known that Hans Gruber willingly gives shelter and comfort to minions of the demon lord rather than the rightful children of the goddess." With a final huff he turned around and left with his companions.
Philip waved at his departure, making the gesture as mocking as he could. Plopping himself at a seat, he waved for a drink.
"Water." He ordered. There was a long trip ahead and so much that needed done, he had no need to get sloshed. Peeking at the blackwinged fluegel, he considered then discarded the idea of speaking to him.
The barkeep made sure the whitewings were gone, spitting on the ground before fetching a pitcher of water. Dina waved, and received, a bottle of wine to start sipping.
"Bloody sorry that you had to watch that. Those bastards from Gjallarhorn show up and behave like they own the town. How did the mission go?" He started cleaning cups.
"No troubles, not with my little friend here." He couldn't resist, he patted the smaller girl's head. All in good nature: without her the body count would be in the hundreds and the village would cease to exist. "Killed some orcs, rescued some prisoners, made fifteen hundred eru. All in a day's work."
"Fine work, fine work." The barkeep nodded, going to prepare some ale for a group of dwarfs who had just come in.
"Thank you." Philip almost didn't register the words under the noise of the bristling full tavern. Besides him, the blackwing shuffled closer to show a timid smile, himself not looking older than twenty. Although given that he was a fluegel he may very well be centuries old.
Sparing him a peek, he waved him off then went back to sipping the water. Mentally he was already moving on; he debated whether to accept another job already, or rent an overnight room. There had to be enough for a tiny splurge, he wondered what kind of trinket Dina would want.
"Ruphas bless you." The blackwing whispered, quickly looking around for eavesdroppers. "The black winged goddess approves of what you are doing, standing up for the weak."
Philip kept drinking. "Its just a good deed, don't read into it."
Internally he pleaded for the fool to leave, silently shooing him away before he discovered he was speaking to his goddess, who didn't want his worship. He sipped, hoping he would take the hint. After a second he nodded, sipping his drink and occasionally sending glances.
Dina giggled into her wine, stifling a grin. She had heard everything, and her quiver showed her amusement at it all.
Philip sent her a look but ultimately did nothing; he liked her too much to stop her, but next time he promised he wouldn't be so forgiving. Finishing his drink, he waved again for the barkeep.
"How much for an overnight room?" He searched to find the board, giving it a glance to see what work was available.
"Hundred Eru." He replied with a wince. "Sorry, but with so many mercenaries, adventurers and soldiers marching to Suevell, every room is booked."
"That'll do." Philip dug into his bag and counted out a hundred coins, handing them over. There were plenty left, enough for short term expenses. Or to experiment with counterfeiting. "Which one?"
"First stairs up, last one on the floor."