Arc 2 - Nose to the Grindstone
Obloquy
CrossMyHeart And HopeToDie, StickANeedleInMyEye
- Location
- the Physical Realm
ARC II -- NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE
An hour after they left the cave, Farrie's heart was still pounding, no matter her breathing exercises.
She'd always loved action and her family had been willing to fund her training; it had taught her to control her boundless energy and made her capable of impressive athletic feats.
She wasn't near the main line of inheritance, so she didn't have to settle down for kids if she didn't want to, and bringing fame to the family name through deeds was perfectly honorable, so she'd been stoked when the Crown's call went out for members of prominent families who would be willing and able to aid and accompany the Legendary Cardinal Heroes, to train. with them and grow alongside them as companions.
Her mom's family were Zenoble, but her father's side had fought and bled in the war against Siltvelt, so after she'd grown up hearing stories of how they hid behind their shields and then tore their enemies apart with their bare claws, Farrie wasn't going to serve under the Shield Hero if she had a say in the matter, and since the King instructed them to choose which hero to follow, she had!
And then the Sword Hero had turned out to be a woman!
There were only a handful of legends about female Cardinal Heroes, which had caused her some tension growing up in a matriarchal monarchy, when boasting about imitating a strong woman like the Queen got boys teasing how they'd be like the Wisest King of Wisdom or the age-old Spear Hero who founded the Faubley bloodline.
As a kid, Farrie had spent days killing balloons in the fields outside with her dagger and fists until she made it up to Level 2 and Level 3, at which point her parents took her to Zenoble for her next birthday and her mother's extended family bought some monsters that Farrie could learn to fight and kill.
They'd continued to visit for several weeks every year, and Farrie followed her lessons and trained rigorously and went hunting on her own, and when they visited last year Farrie had decided to prove that she was an adult now by sneaking out of the house to compete in a fighting competition.
She lost the contest, but she beat her first opponent and she made the second one pay for his win despite being twice her size, so she thought she had skills to contribute and even if she was from a branch line of a mere Viscounty it was still her noble duty to help save the world!
And then-! And then she'd been allowed to join the Lady Sword Hero and watch her in action!
Lady Yumiella had been a noble before she was summoned -- Farrie had never really thought about the Heroes being people who weren't cut whole from holy cloth by the summoning, though she'd read a few novels that played with the concept -- and rumor said she claimed to have hit the Level Cap at a young age, which had to be some kind of record!
Her organization might have been a bit spotty, but her plans to prepare for the Wave were ambitious and time-efficient; in the fields around the capital itself, the truth of the rumors and legends had born fruit, as Lady Dolkness had moved with smooth experience and suffered not a single scratch from the balloons (which was harder than it sounded, since they tended to leap at you from behind).
There were hints of impatience in her manner, but she was overall a calm and refined lady who could match the Queen in demeanor. Those hints mostly appeared in response to what she felt was coddling or unnecessary noise, so Farrie did her best to obey the Lady Hero, to give her space for what she wanted to do, and to neither suck up nor argue.
They were, after all, on a time-limit until the next Wave struck, so a bit of impatience was very understandable.
When they'd finally got to the mine, their first unsupervised outing in unknown territory, and the softly-spoken Heroine and been so impatient to get going that she'd been trying to ignore most of the basic exploration safety tips! Farrie sort agreed that it was worth trying the right tunnel since they had a strategy, but waking up a wolf pack at her level? No thank you!!
Yes the world was important, but they couldn't save the world if they were dead! Exploration rules were there to keep you alive in place of catastrophe and the unexpected!
And just to prove that fact, Tersia had come back from his investigation with a bloody undead Owlbear on his heels.
Farrie been been sure they were dead.
A grown Owlbear usually required someone at least Level 25-30 to take it down without dying, or a team of 15-20 if you were willing to lose several of them.
When dealing with undead, add at least 5 to the level requirements.
Farrie had stared death in the face, uncertain whether she ought to grab the Sword Hero and run for daylight or jump in front of the monsters so she could run for herself. She'd hesitated.
Lady Yumiella had not.
Aglow with holy might, the Holy Sword Hero had charged the undead that threatened their lives and struck it down in seconds.
Literally. It couldn't have been more than ten or eleven seconds, and Farrie had damn near seen it all in perfect clarity.
Lady Yumiella wasn't as fast as her, and Farrie's eyes had tracked the hero's every move even as she had trouble following the zombie's swipes.
The difference in speed hadn't matter. Lady Yumiella had never stopped moving, and by the time those lethal blows had fallen, she simply was no longer there.
Farrie was faster than Yumiella. She could have done those exact dodges if she'd known how to move in time, but in practice she would have died.
The Sword Hero had cut down an enemy strong enough to kill the rest of their team, and she'd made it look terrifyingly easy and incredibly terrifying, even as Farrie had broken down briefly in shock and terror, babbling nonsense words she would never sanely mean.
And with the Owlbear dead, Yumiella kept going. She hadn't run, but she'd jumped and attacked a flock in the air Farrie hadn't known was there, then blocked off the wolves and cut them down one by one.
Farrie had overcome her hysteria enough to empower Lady Yumiella with support spells, and once she pinned the first and focused on the third, Farrie and Tersia had flailed about and nearly died just slowing the second wolf down until the Sword Hero could attend to it.
And then-
And then Farrie had overstepped herself, and if death was seeing the owlbear's charge, then damnation was the kiss of steel to her neck. Farrie had doubted her Lady, had rebelled, and had been judged. And it was not a woman who judged her, but an inscrutable incarnation of divine will, a being that had effortlessly slaughtered threats which would kill Farrie five times over.
She had been judged... and she had been pardoned. Found innocent? Forgiven for her trespass?
Those deep, inhuman eyes had looked through Farrie's soul, the touch of the Holy Sword set to swallow her soul as it stole her breath, and then she was released.
Farrie was praised. No rebuke, no punishment. It was unthinkable that Farrie could try to grab or inhibit the Supreme Pope, and how much higher than that mortal man was the physical incarnation of divine authority, strength, and judgment!
Lady Yumiella had sheathed the Holy Sword, had treated Tersia's wound despite his failures, had taken them both outside, and there was not a word of scolding as they regrouped with the other two for an impromptu camp to rest and debrief.
The Holy Sword Hero's face and voice hadn't shown any emotion, even disappointment or frustration, but it had been the better part of an hour and Farrie's hands were still trembling.
Ashamed, Farrie buried her face in her knees and began to silently pray.
Day 2, afternoon
"Lady Sword Hero! Did you gain any useful forms from the monsters in the cave?"
"I did," Yumiella told Welt. "The hounds were from the First Wave."
"...They were what?" Tersia wheezed from where he'd been napping while the healing potion knitted his bicep back together.
"They gave me the Interdimensional Hound Sword; the first canine I absorbed was consumed and destroyed instead of being stored in my Inventory."
Yumiella had left the bodies behind in the cave when she helped her teammates stagger outside to regroup, but after they were treated she had gotten restless and asked Bakta to accompany her back to the cave to harvest them.
He'd butchered the carcasses and walked her through the process as well -- including how to handle undead remnants safely -- and then taken her around to where he'd left the rendered down carcasses of the monsters he and Welt had slain.
With nothing particularly urgent to discuss yet as the party considered her revelation, Yumiella reviewed the sword forms she had unlocked from this outing.
As the others re-grouped and got their bearings together, she spoke only enough to keep Welt preoccupied from trying to 'help' Bakta with cooking by getting another lesson from him in the magical alphabet.
They ate in what Yumiella felt was a comfortable silence and Yumiella opted to continue her magic lessons with Welt rather than go grinding, since to be honest they were ahead of schedule. She gave everyone free time until 14:00 other than continuing her magic lessons with Welt (which would have felt a little like taking advantage of him except that he had volunteered), and Bakta mentioned he was going to collect news around town while Tersia and Farrie went off to do their own tasks.
They hadn't got around to getting dye, but with a headscarf around his head Yumiella avoided having any flashbacks to Patrick and made solid progress in recognizing the magic alphabet's sigils.
At roughly two in the afternoon, when her Menu's Hourglass timer went from [Melromarc -- 31:00:00:00] to [Melromarc -- 30:23:59:59], Yumiella called their party back to order for a meeting.
How did those business etiquette scenes go? Like I'm the CEO at the head of a table calling everyone together to discuss their quarterly earnings and quotas. Ugh, so much talking...
"Thank you for coming," she began, reciting lines she had heard in several TV and IRL meetings. "I would like to begin by discussing this morning's events, and then we'll go around the table to give everyone a chance to contribute." She caught everyone else look at the fire pit they'd gathered around, which was definitely not a table, and stiffly continued speaking. "Farrie, Tersia-,"
As though the sound of her name had twisted open a faucet, Farrie practically collapsed to the ground face-first. "I'm sorry! Please let me continue, I'm sorry I was useless, I'll do better!"
Have I convinced someone else that I'm a murderous Demon King? "Sorry?"
"I know sorry isn't enough, that I failed when we faced our first monster, it was a disaster! I said horrible things I didn't mean at all, but I'll work twice as hard and do everything you tell me to, just please let me continue to fight by your side!!"
"...Accepted," Yumiella agreed. I really hope this wasn't a poetic love confession with the "fight by your side" bit.
"Thank you," Farrie practically sobbed. After a few seconds, Yumiella gently reach out to pat her head like she did Ryu sometimes, after which a conflicted looking Tersia pulled Farrie back to her seat.
Then Welt spoke. "Lady Sword Hero! I also wish to continue to fight alongside you! Please let me continue with you!!"
"...Yes. Mister Bakta, when did I say I was planning to disband the party?"
He looked mildly amused at the younger members' behavior. "I think they're being overdramatic about having been scared by their first big monster fight. They think they disappointed you."
They performed well for their level, given the corresponding amount of combat experience they must have had. "Ah. I am not disappointed. While there was the potential for catastrophe, by every metric this morning was a complete success," Yumiella assured the group.
Farrie's head snapped up incredulously, Tersia made a sound that would have been a spit-take if he'd been drinking, and Bakta chortled merrily at them all.
"Everyone went up several Levels, and after two half-days of Level Grinding we range between Level 14 and Level 19 with high likelihood that we can increase another level or two before tonight. We are ahead of schedule, I gained several tremendously potent Sword Forms, and we gained practical information to improve our training methodology. Our fight could very easily have become a disaster," Yumiella acknowledged, "as my combat tactics relied heavily several sword forms that I did not have when we entered the cave system, and because I have not mastered all of them, meaning I had to rapidly switch between them."
"I possess combat instincts and experience, but I need to increase my power and versatility. Other than combat, the best way to do that is to unlock more Sword forms and to master those that are the most useful or the easiest to master. Later I will ask for a list of suggestions to unlock new sword forms, as Farrie's idea regarding the stalagmite sword was very useful." Patrick, I learned about leadership from you, thank you. I hope I will make you proud when I see you again."Because I do not know how you fight, we will need to have sparring matches and practice cooperating, organizing a vanguard and a rearguard and how to hunt monsters together. I primarily fought solo, so I have little experience with buff effects and combination moves."
"I also expect everyone else to figure out ideas for how you wish to train and grow, and how to prepare for the coming Wave. Given the confirmation that Wave monsters unlock more powerful weapon forms than average, I intend to visit the site of the First Wave and hunt down any remaining monsters. If possible, I may be able to harvest the Wave's Boss for a new form. Do you know if it was burned?"
"I-? Lady Hero, I remember hearing about a highly ranked knight bringing back one head as a trophy! But I don't know who it was," Welt admitted.
"I believe the rest of it was buried, or it might have been left out to rot," Bakta mused.
"So long as the bones are accessible, it should provide something valuable," Yumiella asserted. I think that covers everything I have to say... right, I should finish with a summary review to ensure that everyone has it all. "I am pleased with this morning but I need more forms and we need to practice team combat. We are ahead of schedule on levels, so we will stay here for about three more days before we head to...?"
"To Soma Valley, renowned for its fine brewery products and magical potions," Bakta chuckled. "We can wholesale some higher quality potions than normal if we have the funds before we take a ferry south to Seaetto territory... but there may be a need to double-back."
"A delay." Is the river afflicted by flood or drought? If it is a monster we can slay, that should be good for some EXP.
"In town earlier, I heard some disturbing news that the so-called 'Hero' of the Shield was arrested and put on trial for rape." Bakta's voice dripped with disgust as the others hissed or gasped, and something hot, black, and sour stirred in Yumiella's stomach. "It seems he sexually assaulted his companion, Miss Myne, last night, and she alerted the guards to arrest him this morning. Reportedly, he offered no coherent defense, instead spitting threats and relying on the fact that new Cardinal Heroes can be summoned only if all four Cardinal Heroes die to avoid punishment."
That... sounds like a set-up, but at the same time these are people I have known for less than two days. MENU --> Messages. Ah, that relieves me: if this were a genuine issue, one of the other three would have sent me a message about it, yet there is nothing in my 'Inbox'.
Yumiella took a moment to send a brief message without moving her hands to type it -- [Rumor Shield accused of rape? Plot? Truth?] -- before she dismissed her Menu, the HP cost being negligible.
"I see no reason we need to return to the capital. We are not witnesses, and the investigation should be able to handle it alone. I will confront Mister Naofumi when we meet after fighting the next Wave, but until then, I trust that justice will be done." I absolutely do not, but my teammates don't need to know that yet, and rather than a same-day rumor in a town 4+ hours away, it will be more useful for one of the other three to update me on the situation privately. Until then, I will proceed as though it were untrue gossip.
you can Gain moRe powEr at grEat speeD if you juSt gIve iN...
Yumiella shuddered and shook her head to dismiss the idea of going back to the capital so she could start killing all the guards and corrupt officials she could find. The situation probably wasn't that bad or they would have sprung the trap earlier, disappearing the Shield Hero before the other three met and got to know him at all.
Turning back won't be useful until I know more. Forward to continue our preparations, and one of the others will inform me of the facts later.
"I... yes, Lady Hero," Bakta submitted under her steady gaze.
"Next issue? Miss Farrie."
"Do you need to be present for us to receive the experience bonus? I still feel inadequate and I think better when I'm fighting, so if you've got your magic reading lessons with Welt going on now, I'd like to go hunt a few more monsters."
Yumiella pulled up her MENU --> HELP --> CARDINAL SWORD ABILITIES --> EXP BONUS and began reading. I think this was worded slightly differently... well, if the Sword changes I suppose the instructions might change to match it as well, since it gives me new tabs with further developments.
There still wasn't any place to input a search query, but Yumiella read thoroughly through the text provided in search of an answer.
"The effects may diminish with great distance, but it would need more than a day of traveling apart," Yumiella summarized. "Would you like to borrow a growth amulet?"
"It's cursed to also cause extra damage if you get hit," Welt warned.
"Not today, Lady Hero, but thank you."
"Next issue?"
Welt raised his hand. "My head scarf is getting annoying in the heat. If we can't find good hair dye, I would rather just shave my head."
"...I do have a haircut sword form to give me those skills," Yumiella allowed. Although I... he hasn't done it yet. I need to think about this, she decided, unwilling to look at Welt directly because his looks made her stomach squirm, but also feeling guilty about this refusal.
Tersia guffawed. "Welt, man, you have to. You'll be the height of fashion! The only one in the world who had a Legendary Hero do his hair, it's great!"
"Isn't that... disrespectful?" Bakta wondered.
"It is a power the Sword gives me. Should I refuse to use it?" He didn't have an answer to that.
"I can hit up the local market and check for good potions, blacksmiths, the like. Maybe do a little hunting too," Tersia offered.
"If you unlock more sword forms and master them with more ingredients, milady, then I am happy to track down specific ingredients for the most critical forms," Bakta offered.
Yumiella checked her list. "Small live monsters for my captivity sword, Usapil, Pocupines, and any new monsters, please."
"Since I'll be off hunting, can I have a list of what swords you have to help me think about new Holy Sword form ideas, please?" Farrie requested.
"I'll transcribe it if you just say them, since the language thing."
"Yes." I will need to omit a few sensitive sword forms. "I unlocked: the Ichor Sword from my own blood; swords from human blood, skin, and hair; swords from balloon fragments; the captivity sword from a live balloon; swords from the eggug remnants..."
