The hero is now gone, but I'm still here, now what?

[NotACryptid]

I squeezed the towel on my head and rinsed the water off of my scalp, I repeated until I thought my hair was dry enough to put the towel away to be replaced with a new, drier one that I wrapped around my head.
I stared at myself in the mirror- a pretty face, silver hair, gray eyes, and an athletic body: this is who I am now. I am Neophyte Astral Everlast, a heroine of the game with the same last name, a character that the Player can choose to marry and start a relationship with if they pick the right dialogues and give "her" the right gifts.

I… probably didn't replace her- keyword is probably since I came to this body at a very young age- young enough that I think that the original Neophyte's personality, existence, or even soul for that matter didn't have time to develop into, well, Neophyte.

And if she did then… the original probably died- there's a Deity in this world and they wouldn't allow a murderer like me to get a Pledge-

"Mistress?" I flinched and then sighed, Zath remained silent for a scant few seconds and then said, "The Heiress of the Oasis shouldn't be kept waiting, so if you're done cleaning yourself, I suggest that you go to the changing room and get into proper clothing post haste,"

Okay, if Zath is talking formally like that then there's someone from my family out there with her, great, guess they don't want to keep the latest iteration of the Beast King waiting- I sighed and replied with a positive- "I'm done yep! Just uh, need to… get out. Yeah. That."

I fixed the towel on my body and made sure that it wouldn't fall before stepping out of the bathroom, I got greeted by Pearl and Zath, the former smiling and the latter nodding, "how many of them are gonna come again?" I asked as I shook off the towel on my head, letting my silver hair fall down my shoulders, both my sister and my maid stared at me dryly, "what?"

"How many of them are coming?" Pearl questioned with an offended expression, "what kind of question even is that?" She crossed her arms, "sister, we aren't fighting a war against the people of the Oasis but accepting an envoy that'll send off the daughter of their Emperor." Pearl emphasized.

I sighed, I mean… yeah, but come on, it's important to know how many are coming because it'll let me know how their land is doing, it's an entire mechanic ingame… which is irrelevant to my current situation since this is real life.

"But if you must know," Pearl started with a sigh, cutting off my self-deprecating thoughts, "then there are around 200 of them coming with the Beast King so that they can escort her to our lands safely,"

200? I closed my eyes, great- uh, I mean, not really- but also sort of? I mean, back in Everlast- the game, - all I had to base the state of the Oasis at the start of the game were the newspapers with headlines that said- [Beast King coming to Pledge Academy to train!] and it'll be followed by either a "Small", "Medium", "Large", or "Massive" envoy of beastmen coming alongside her for protection and depending on how big the envoy is, I either have to grind my fingers to dust in order to prepare enough money to give them enough stuff for an amicable relationship with me- because the Beast King is just that good as a party member, - or simply prepare a small gift to get the daughter of their emperor on my side.

And 200… should be around medium or so which means that I'll have to prepare at least a few crates of food but that's still pretty small, especially since I'm a princess- and giving out so little food will just make me look petty or something… I considered that line of thought, "Zath," my maid perked up, "how much money do I have left?"

"A little over 20 thousand," she answered simply, bluntly, and professionally and Pearl frowned at that for some reason, "do you want me to request for something?"

I nodded, "I want two Griffon carriage's worth of food to be brought to the meeting spot and cattle that can survive on Oasis to go along with them, maybe two dozen green cows?" I hummed and calculated the cost for all of that and I came out with around a quarter of my remaining money left, which should be enough to buy seeds for the Flora and Fauna territories when I come visit them later today, "yeah, buy all of that and then use my remaining money to purchase seeds,"

"I will," Zath bowed, "now, to the changing room? Mistress?"

Pearl groaned, "you know that you don't have to pretend to be formal around me right?" She said, "I already know that Zathania is the person you were dancing with back at the ball,"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Zath said as she made her way out of the locker room.

"Yeah, Pearl, what are you talking about?" I chorused.

My sister sighed, "well, if you want to pretend that more than all of Everlast doesn't know about your "secret" relationship with your maid- pretty scandalous by the way, - then fine, I'm not gonna push or even pry, and so will the rest of the citizens, apparently." She paused, "you can continue to willingly ignore all of that because everyone just… played along?.." Pearl looked down, a frown tugging at her lips, "I don't know how all of them just collectively decided to not mention your relationship and go along with the "joke" in your presence, there should be a few outliers right?"

Her burning stare broke me out of my shock, the entire city thinks I'm gay? What? Wait no- she said more than all of Everlast, do other Kingdoms know about this? What the fuck? "Tell them that I'm not gay," I weakly defended- how will Pearl even do that anyway?

"Yes, sister, I'll tell the public about it," she nodded robotically, tone as dry as the desert surrounding the Oasis of our foreign visitors, "I will tell all of them so quickly in fact that you can go outside right now and ask anyone if they think you have a relationship with your maid or not and they'll answer with a negative."

I only sighed. How the hell did it escalate so badly?

…

I pressed my cheek against my palm and stared out the window of the carriage with a pout, Fafnir was out there freely flying alongside our carriage with a smirk on her lips, clearly, she was mocking me for being stuck in this cramped space instead of being out there, enjoying the breeze alongside her.

I turned to the King and Queen as well as the rest of my siblings, "you know it would've been fine if I rode Fafnir right?"
Everyone faced me, with the youngest of my siblings stopping their eating spree to stare at me with confusion, the sudden attention got me flustered and I started to stutter- "I- I mean, you know- even if I have a one piece dress-" I gestured at my dress with both hands, a rather modern-looking, platinum colored thing with a knee-length pencil skirt and thigh-highs that hugged my legs, "- I'm pretty sure that I can just… you know, uh, be fine?" Their silence forced me to elaborate so I changed my seating position and placed myself at the edge of my seat and let my legs dangle, "see? I could've placed my legs on one side of the saddle and I would've been fine!"

"Neo… that's not the problem," Bismuth- who had recently come back from his latest military aid alongside his advisers, - said with a tilt of his head, "you do know that it would be disrespectful for you to ride the Oasis' deities right?"

Outside, Fafnir snorted, "Fafnir isn't a god!" Even if she's the closest to being one when it comes to her species with power alone, "she's- she's my friend!"

"What the hell does that say about you?" Said Amethyst with a raised eyebrow, "for "befriending" what an entire country considers their Deity?"


"I- what?" That came out so far out of the left wing that I was speechless, "what the hell does that even mean?"

"Well…" Amethyst trailed off, "they praise Omega Faunas and Dragons as Gods," she said, "and you befriended one of the latter…"

"That she's powerful," said Bismuth, cutting that particular topic short, "that much is obvious but going back to the deity part, Neophyte, you cannot ride a Dragon in front of the people of Oasis under any circumstances."

"Fafnir will tell them that I ride her anyways!" I said.

'Ow. You woe me- but you're right, it still hurts, but you're right,' She chimed into the conversation.

"See?!" I gestured at the flying dragon outside the window.

"Riding a dragon at this height and with your clothes is unsafe," Pearl pointed out to the nod of my siblings, "and even if you're fine with it, all of us aren't and you lost to a unanimous vote so just let it be Neophyte," I pouted and took a seat, damn it, why did I stay inside my room for the entire 14 years that I lived with my past life? Couldn't I have like, gotten out at least? Started talking to people maybe?.. Then maybe I could've convinced them to let me go out or something...

Pearl perked up, "Oh, and speaking of safety, we are now descending, so don't jump down like some sort of lunatic."

"But I can't wait to meet Laceresta," I muttered and then paused- I turned to my family who weren't looking in my direction and were clearly doing their own things, "... Pearl, did you hear what I said just now?"

She turned to me, "No? Why? Did you say something important?" She asked.

"... no." I answered, "nothing important." Goddess, I said the name of a girl I haven't even met yet, if they heard that… what would they think? Would they ask me about it? I hope not because I honestly don't want them to know about my past life and how I literally took over Neophyte's body as a child. Do I have an answer besides that? Were we told Laceresata's name?.. No, we were just told that she's the Beast King. No name was mentioned.

Almost. I was this close to being found out.

Our carriage soon touched the ground and the feeling of lightheadedness that I felt started to disappear, I stood up and stretched, "Goddess that was a long and painful ride," I said with a sigh, "looks like I'm gonna have to miss my weekly aid to the two territories then," I met Pearl's concerned gaze, "I'm fine with it, don't worry,"

"Pretty sure you already did enough when you wiped out that monster horde," pointed out Bismuth to the nod of everyone else, "and it's not like the people will hate you for missing a day or two, of aid,"

"That is a good point," Amber nodded as she stood up, "now, how about you put that at the back of your mind and focus on getting an amicable relations hip with the future Empress of the Oasis?" She added as we all filed out of the carriage, she looked up and smiled, "oh, it looks like they've just arrived as well,"

I hummed as I stared at the faraway sky, its mostly blue coloring blotted out by a bunch of black dots flying in the air, I knew what they were, and I knew just how critical the people of Oasis are for riding the half-dragons that they were using as mounts.
To my side, Fafnir landed and met my gaze, I nodded at her, "looks like the Wyvern Brigade is about to show us their full force of…" I sighed, "200 hundred," yeah, that's pretty weak compared to some RNG borne iterations of that army, but also, them being medium sized feels kinda realistic somehow…

… but that's not really important, I faced my Dragon, "Okay Fafnir, make sure to not cow all of the Wyverns with your presence, we don't want the Wyvern Brigade seeing their mounts bowing down to you,"

'... that would be impossible, Neophyte,' replied my Dragon and yeah, fair, it is impossible isn't it? Since the damn things have the mindset of 'the strong rules the weak' no matter what so they'd probably bow down to Fafnir while their strongest Wyvern- who I know is named by the captain of the Brigade Armos, - would try to run forward and wrestle my 20 foot long dragon with his meager 13 foot body and… yeah, it's not gonna end well for him.

The brigade soon landed and we watched as Renos- the leader of the Brigade, - dismounted from Armos, which he was doing his best to reign in, his teeth were gritted from the effort of pulling the Wyvern back from attacking Fafnir before their future Empress could dismount herself from his back and when Lacaresta got off, he let go of the reins and Fafnir and I sighed- "do you want me to take care of it?"

'What would happen if I get involved?' She asked.

"... the Brigade would follow you," I admitted, "which is bad considering that they're Oasis' pride,"

'Please defeat it,'

I nodded and used a no-risk Technique to get this over with- Maximum Speed activated the world slowed to a crawl.

I eyed the Wyvern coming our way; Armos was kicking up dirt with each of his steps and honestly, I couldn't help it, I chuckled at how silly he looked while in slow motion but enough of that- I kicked off the ground and recalled my Pledge to make the fight non-lethal and before the slowed Wyvern- in my perception at least, - could even realize what was happening to him, I started punching its throat, chest, and the major ligaments on his wings before moving on to his hind legs, I kicked his ankles and when I saw him start to fall down in slow motion, I went back to Fafnir's side and manually deactivated the effects of my Technique.

Time went back to its regular flow and everyone just stared in surprise as the Wyvern suddenly fell down with a yelp- well, everyone except for Laceresta, who was eyeing me with interest, "well, I suppose the rumors were true," she said with a feral grin, 8 foot tall height and muscular body making the gesture even more intimidating and the massive great axe on her back did not help with lessening that fearful impression in any way whatsoever, she and the rest of the Brigade moved forward until she reached our own entourage, "Laceresta Hemor, Beast King, I'm glad to finally be under the presence of the Saintess,"

"Neophyte Astral Everlast, and... I am not the Saintess," I said in reply.

She laughed loudly, "guess that's true as well!" She cackled and walked forward, lion ears at the top of her head twitching, she eyed Fafnir, "Goddess… she's beautiful…"

And that I can agree with, I patted my Dragon's arm, scales clanging against my gloved palm, "RIGHT?!" I said in excitement, "she's the best!"

"So… why didn't you allow Armos to attack her?" Laceresta asked, "Unconfident that she'd lose?" She smirked.

"Please," I waved her off, "I know that the Bridage would follow Fafnir and since I don't want her to go to the Oasis and I know that your Brigade wouldn't want to stay around Everlast, I decided to settle with a compromise; humiliating the prideful wyvern by beating it myself, truly shameful, being beaten by a human such as myself,"

Laceresta laughed, "you're right!" She shook her head and faced the depressed looking Armos, who right now is being comforted by his Leopard Beastman rider, "I've wrestled the damn thing when it got too arrogant and it still refused to be humble! Now look at where it's at!" She laughed loudly and walked over to me before giving me the hardest pat on the back I've ever received in both lives, I actually wheezed from the hit, "good job!"

"Ahahaaaa…" I trailed off, "well, now that we're comfortable enough for uh, physical interaction," I ignored Pearl's cough and a few of my younger siblings' giggles and chuckles, "I brought you guys a gift!" I gestured to the two carriages full of food and other supplies as well as the cage that I put the cattle in, "uh, two carriages worth of food, it's packed, trust me, and then two dozen greencows! Perfect for the desert! Hope that helps with your problems!"

"Huh, I didn't know that you knew that," said Laceresta, "Also… I thought only the west knew about the hardiness of the cows?"

"Eh, the ones that I take care of-" which is to say, the ones that I own so that they can be culled for my (completely original) fast food joint, "- easily get fat even when I feed them little, so I know they're a bit hardy," well, the actual truth is that the cows are capable of photosynthesis so they're perfect for the desert and can survive with little to no food but eh, I don't think the citizens of Oasis will appreciate learning that they're eating "plants" whenever they eat the cows.

"Huh, I would like to see these cows that you take care of, I've never seen an obese green cow before, and I've never eaten one too," she said.

I grinned, "Sure! You'd love the taste too I think?"

"They're already planning their date." Someone whispered-

"Well, I suppose that we're already in an amicable relationship with your Empire?" Fortunately for my siblings, Adamantite butted in before I could figure out who said those words.

I turned to him and… oh, he was talking to Renos- who right now is nodding, "your future Queen is truly admirable for doing all of this for us," he said with a bow, "I cannot thank her enough for helping us with our food shortage as well as giving us cattle fit for our home, really, thank you,"

"Eh, don't mind it, also, I'm not their future Queen," I said, and I didn't miss the way Adamantite frowned when Renos called me the "Future Queen" but I think my siblings will talk him out of it, they usually do, "just uh, make sure to harvest them for milk instead of meat, they're good at producing the stuff, give them a few generations before you kill them or something,"

Renos nodded, "we shall, and if you must know, then I am sure that the Emperor wouldn't mind sending off his daughter to Everlast."

I paused at that, isn't he already sending off Laceresta to Everlast?

As I mulled over Renos' words, the King stepped forward and I held back a sigh while Laceresta let one out without an ounce of shame, which thankfully, everyone around her didn't call out for "being crass" or whatever.

'Here comes the negotiations,' I thought silently.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Renos nodded, "we shall, and if you must know, then I am sure that the Emperor wouldn't mind sending off his daughter to Everlast."

I paused at that, isn't he already sending off Laceresta to Everlast?

Click to shrink...

.... Our poor Neo keeps forgetting that her actions are those based on the 'Player' AKA, THE MALE HERO WHO IS ROMANCING POTENTIAL PARTNERS, isn't she?
Doesn't help that she apparently thought that the 'appropriate' gift for a Medium showing was actually inappropriate and as such went with a MUCH greater gift instead.
Renos here isn't saying that their Emperor doesn't mind Laceresta going to the Academy, he is outright stating that with such a Gift/Dowry he should be fine marrying off Laceresta to Neo isn't he?
Poor Zath. XD

EDIT:
Also, on the Furry scale, how do the people of Oasis fall?

 

[NotACryptid]

.... Our poor Neo keeps forgetting that her actions are those based on the 'Player' AKA, THE MALE HERO WHO IS ROMANCING POTENTIAL PARTNERS, isn't she?
Doesn't help that she apparently thought that the 'appropriate' gift for a Medium showing was actually inappropriate and as such went with a MUCH greater gift instead.
Renos here isn't saying that their Emperor doesn't mind Laceresta going to the Academy, he is outright stating that with such a Gift/Dowry he should be fine marrying off Laceresta to Neo isn't he?
Poor Zath. XD

EDIT:
Also, on the Furry scale, how do the people of Oasis fall?

Click to shrink...

Whaaaaaat? Romancing? No of course Neophyte isn't doing this for romance she's doing it so that Laceresta joins her "party" - no romance here nooope, of course not.

And as for her picking a "generous" gift over a medium one to sent over to the Oasis because it would be inappropriate otherwise, well... if affection meters exists Laceresta's would probably reach near the middle from this alone but sadly, they don't and Laceresta has her own opinion on the matter. But hey! Silver lining is that the Emperor exists so things are going fine for Neophyte's "party".

The people living in the Oasis are kinda just people with animal ears and some of their traits that range from "Strong" (added height and musculature) "Defensive" (Bulky, tougher skin, short depending on the animal) and Speed (Small, weak, but has a lot of damage)

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Whaaaaaat? Romancing? No of course Neophyte isn't doing this for romance she's doing it so that Laceresta joins her "party" - no romance here nooope, of course not.

Click to shrink...

Of course not, I would never claim that Neophyte is doing any for romance.
That it comes across as her doing so for romance and inadvertently actually romances them... well, it has already been proven that Neophyte is a Dense Harem Protagonist despite her belief to the contrary.

And as for her picking a "generous" gift over a medium one to sent over to the Oasis because it would be inappropriate otherwise, well... if affection meters exists Laceresta's would probably reach near the middle from this alone but sadly, they don't and Laceresta has her own opinion on the matter. But hey! Silver lining is that the Emperor exists so things are going fine for Neophyte's "party".

Click to shrink...

They think she is creating a Harem, don't they...
I wonder if they will start funding someone to create a method for their lesbian children to bear their own children from each other.
Or maybe start praying/begging the Goddess for such a method? I know that they exist in other fandoms... usually with a Light and Dark Elf Lesbian pair aping yet succeeding where Romeo and Juliet failed.

My sister sighed, "well, if you want to pretend that more than all of Everlast doesn't know about your "secret" relationship with your maid- pretty scandalous by the way, - then fine, I'm not gonna push or even pry, and so will the rest of the citizens, apparently." She paused, "you can continue to willingly ignore all of that because everyone just… played along?.." Pearl looked down, a frown tugging at her lips, "I don't know how all of them just collectively decided to not mention your relationship and go along with the "joke" in your presence, there should be a few outliers right?"

Her burning stare broke me out of my shock, the entire city thinks I'm gay? What? Wait no- she said more than all of Everlast, do other Kingdoms know about this? What the fuck? "Tell them that I'm not gay," I weakly defended- how will Pearl even do that anyway?

"Yes, sister, I'll tell the public about it," she nodded robotically, tone as dry as the desert surrounding the Oasis of our foreign visitors, "I will tell all of them so quickly in fact that you can go outside right now and ask anyone if they think you have a relationship with your maid or not and they'll answer with a negative."

Click to shrink...

I actually forgot to ask about this part.

Why is it that the ENTIRE population of the world is apparently 'going along' with it actually?
Pearl is right that there should have been outliers, no? Or did the outliers just get bashed in the back of the head and then dog-piled?
I mean, I know that they love Neo greatly, with good reason, but still surprising.

EDIT:

"Laceresta Hemor, Beast King, I'm glad to finally be under the presence of the Saintess,"

"Neophyte Astral Everlast, and... I am not the Saintess," I said in reply.

She laughed loudly, "guess that's true as well!"

Click to shrink...

I just realized that this means that the entire world knows her to be 'humble' and nearly dismissive of herself and her achievements (With admittedly understandable reasons.)... and that they think that she is actually the Saintess. XD
Wait until she points out the real Saintess, whom she has properly groomed this entire time. XD

She cackled and walked forward, lion ears at the top of her head twitching, she eyed Fafnir, "Goddess… she's beautiful…"

And that I can agree with, I patted my Dragon's arm, scales clanging against my gloved palm, "RIGHT?!" I said in excitement, "she's the best!"

Click to shrink...

Holy shit, just how hard did Neo hit Fafnir?!?
No wonder Laceresta just didn't bother holding back in the next scene! She knew Neo could take it!

"Please," I waved her off, "I know that the Bridage would follow Fafnir and since I don't want her to go to the Oasis and I know that your Brigade wouldn't want to stay around Everlast, I decided to settle with a compromise; humiliating the prideful wyvern by beating it myself, truly shameful, being beaten by a human such as myself,"

Laceresta laughed, "you're right!" She shook her head and faced the depressed looking Armos, who right now is being comforted by his Leopard Beastman rider, "I've wrestled the damn thing when it got too arrogant and it still refused to be humble! Now look at where it's at!" She laughed loudly and walked over to me before giving me the hardest pat on the back I've ever received in both lives, I actually wheezed from the hit, "good job!"

Click to shrink...

Neo hitting all the right notes to get those Relationship Points with the Beast King and her people.

 

[NotACryptid]

As she trained, a griffon carriage arrived in their humble little village one morning and Lucille eyed it as it descended from the skies and into an open patch of land to the left of the village everyone seemed eager to go to it but that wouldn't be the princess, that much Lucille knew because Neophyte now had a Dragon, and an adolescent one at that, so her arrival would be guaranteed to be flashy but then… if it wasn't her, what is inside the carriage that her fellow villagers were so excited to gather around of?

Stopping her training, Lucille silently made her way to the carriage while pondering about what could the damn thing possibly be here for and when she arrived at the scene, the people she knew and her friends standing among them looked at her with happy expressions, her closest friend also looked happy, a letter held in his hand-
And that was when it clicked… but there's no way right? Wordlessly, Lucille stepped forward and the villagers parted to allow her to pass and when she saw the coach- a middle-aged man with a nice suit and tux as well as properly combed hair, - he nodded at her before showing her a letter, one colored in white and emblazoned in silver vines that grew from the top and ran down to the edge.

Lucille took the letter with shaking hands, unable to contain the excitement she was feeling as she eyed the stamp on the mouth of the letter- a silver circle with a tree inscribed at the center: Pledge Academy's Crest.

"D-did I get accepted?" She couldn't help but ask the coachman who smiled at her and gave her a nod and her world started to spin- sh- she really got accepted into Pledge Academy didn't she? The- there's simply no way- she couldn't believe it- it wasn't just her hands that were shaking now- and- y-yeah sure she isn't Neophyte, the girl who didn't just provide aid for her village but also saved it but- but- she got in! And she- she now has the opportunity to see the princess again and personally thank her majesty for saving her and her village from the monster horde- which she forgot to do when she came back with the villagers back then-

"Obviously I'm also gonna get inside Pledge Academy!" She heard her little sister yell and Lucille was broken out of her panicked yet excited thoughts to turn and see her sister proudly puffing up her chest while holding a wooden stick. Annie waved the wooden stick around, "when I get my Pledge, I'm gonna be like the princess and save villages from being destroyed by monster hordes! And then I'm gonna befriend my own dragon! And you'll eat your words!"

"No you won't! Liar!" Said the other girl standing opposite of Annie, face defiant to her words, "-I'm gonna be like the princess-" Lucille's giggle stopped her from continuing and the little girl- Nicky, - glared at her, "w-what?! It's true!"

Lucille moved towards the two but quickly stopped and faced the coachman to give him a bow, "thank you," he only nodded silently in response before walking back to his carriage, pulling on the reins, and then preparing to fly off.

Lucille faced the two girls again and rubbed Annie's head before giving her little sister's friend a rub of her own, "I'm sure you'd get there, Nicky,"

"I will!" The little girl shouted defiantly, cheeks puffing up into a pout as she pushed Lucille's hand away from her blonde locks, "I swear I will!"

Lucille smiled, "I know you will,"

"I- I will also become like the princess! I said it first!" Annie yelled and the two started to argue again, Lucille watched them, a small smile forming on her face before someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned to see Nickos, holding up an open letter of acceptance and waving it around, Lucille eyed it, then her gaze went to her letter and when she opened it…

"I got accepted too!" She giggled and that was it- their village had a festive mood and they started to celebrate.

…

Lucille woke up with a groan- then she moved around her bed and almost fell from the second bunk, "Urgh." Memories of eating too much food the night before resurfaced and she gagged, "w-water I need water," she said with a raspy voice and the door to her room opened to reveal her mother walking forward while holding a tray of food and a cup of water, she went down and took the cup, "t-thanks-" she inched her hand closer to the walking figure of her mother and then yelped before falling, she groaned- "Ugh."

"Don't worry about that Lucille," said her mom as Lucille's face heated up, "I'm sure the princess falls from her bed as well,"

"I'm gonna be your friend! Dragon! Waaaa-" Lucille blinked, was Annie really mumbling those words in her sleep?

She heard a giggle and looked up to see her mother smiling while eyeing the first layer of the bunk bed, "why does every girl in this family want to be like Neophyte? Can't accept the life of a humble housewife now can you?"

Lucille pushed herself up, "o-of course I can!" She defended as placed the cup of water on the tray her mother was holding, "it- it's just that the princess is so cool I want to be like her!"

"Waaaaaaa-" Huh, guess Annie was having a roaring contest with the dragon- wait that's not important, Lucille pouted at her mother-

"I'm a Pledge Bearer, you know that." she said while holding back a sigh, "I need to go Pledge Academy and train and fight Demons regardless so I might as well aim for the strongest girl in Everlast," she grabbed a piece of bread and started stuffing it into her mouth, she started contemplating about how she could become like Neophyte before putting those thoughts behind as she gulped down the bread, "thanks for the… food," She said to her mother, who nodded and Lucille took the opportunity to ask something that's been bothering her, "also… you think that what I'm gonna wear is good enough?"

Her mother stared at her and Lucille looked away, "w-what if you know, people stare at me? Think that I'm… wearing the same clothes as everyone else that the princess helped-" she stopped talking when her mother placed the tray she was holding on the nearby table and stared at her. Lucille groaned weakly, "I probably sound weird don't I?"

"You said you want to be like Neophyte correct?" Lucille nodded, "then respect her hard work by wearing the clothes that she gave to the people of the Flora and Fauna territories," Lucille bit her lip, when she says it like that… "and you know that those aren't donations because they were brand new, Neophyte got them made so that children like you can wear something when you go up to the city,"

"I- I know that already but… I'm still scared- every other guy and girl would wear the same thing and- and-"

"You'd all be showing your love for Neophyte," her mother pointed out, "showing your appreciation by wearing the clothes that she gave you," her mother clasped her hand, "Lucille, the clothes that Neophyte gave you isn't a status symbol. It never will be." She met Lucille's eye, "do you think that Neophyte thought like that as she got those clothes made and donated them to you?"

"... fine, you're right." Lucille sighed and her mother hugged her, "I hate you and your arguments."

"And I love you too," her mother hummed, "now go change into proper formal wear before the Griffon carriage that'll take you to Everlast comes here, you don't want everyone else to wait right?"

Lucille nodded and did what she was told.

A quick trip to the public bathhouse later and Lucille came back to her house to the sight of the clothes that she was supposed to wear hanging from a hanger on one of the windows, it was the first thing that her eyes landed on when she opened the door and she stared at the black and white clothing as the morning light fell on it.

The light washed over the white shirt, black vest, and black pants to give them an ethereal feel.

If she were to be honest with herself, then she would say that she'd feel a bit bitter for the princess managing to afford so many clothes of such quality and giving them out to multiple villages like they were nothing- clothes that made the current day to day stuff that she's wearing look pale in comparison, clothes made of smooth, high quality fabric that's good to touch-

She flinched when she heard the door to the living room open and she whipped her head back to spot her little sister rubbing her eyes as she stepped into the room, "L-Lucille? Is that you?"

She nodded, "Yes, Annie," she answered, "... you're up already?" She asked.

"Y-yes! I wanted to see you off!" Annie replied, energy washing down her body and causing her to suddenly jolt awake.

Lucille chuckled and removed the clothes from the window, "well, do you want to see me in my new clothes?"

"The one princess Neophyte gave you?!" She exclaimed all drowsiness gone.

Lucille nodded, "yes," she said, "the one that she gave me,"

Humming, Lucille lowered the clothing and slowly, she unbuttoned the sleeveless vest to pull out the white T-shirt underneath, then her shirt came off, revealing her bra, orange in color and comfortable to wear, made of wool, unlike the… whatever expensive material that the princess used to make the clothes that Lucille is planning on wearing to the Academy- Lucille grabbed the white T-shirt and was about to wear it when the door suddenly burst open and Nickos barged in with a grin- before he stopped and stared at Lucille wide eyed.

Lucille stared back.

The staring contest went for a few seconds until Lucille broke it, "... are you gonna leave or do I have to make you?"

Nickos blushed then slammed the door shut on his way out, Annie's giggle made Lucille pause, "and you! You- forget what you saw!"

"Uhuh!" Her little sister said as she covered her mouth, "you left the window open too you know?!"

Now it was her turn to blush and without wasting time, she slammed said window shut, "there! Now it's closed!" She tried to save her dignity, and if Annie's giggle is to go by- she failed. "W-well here, I'm about to wear my… clothes," she said as she put the T-shirt on, followed by the sleeveless vest, which she buttoned, then the pants- she faced her little sister, face still crimson, "H-how do I look?"

"... pretty good?" Annie asked while placing a hand on her chin, "wait- of course you'd look good! It's the princess' choice in clothing! Stop trying to trick me into making fun of her! I only want to make fun of you!" Annie's rants made Lucille chuckle, her sister ran forward to grab her wrist and start pulling, which she failed, "it's not funny!" She continued hopelessly tugging against Lucille.

"Sure it isn't," she said as she fixed the collar of her vest, and it was at that time that Gareth, her little brother, stepped into the living room to stare at Lucille, "good morning, are you here to see me off too?"

He nodded with a yawn, "y-yeah." He answered, "I've only rode carts pulled by horses before and I want to see what a Griffon is like!" Much like Annie earlier, energy came down on him the moment that his topic of interest got spoken, "I didn't see it yesterday but I will today for sure!"

…

Gareth was squealing when the Griffon carriage came down onto the village and Lucille can only stare at him with a smile as she stepped onto the stairs of the carriage, she turned back to face her family, seeing them wave at her like this made her feel like she's going to permanently leave but she'd come back here during the breaks! They knew about it too! And so did she so- so why was she crying?!

Her mother stepped forward and hugged her, "hey, it's okay," she said, "you'd come back here during the breaks remember?"

"I- I know that already!" She bawled- "b- but I-" she cried- but only for a little bit and anyone who says otherwise is a liar!

The carriage took her as well as a few other students to the skies, unlike what she expected, all of them were wearing Neophyte's given clothes, causing an air of unity inside of the carriage to form and the others to talk about it, saying things like, "oh! Wow! You also decided to wear the princess' stuff huh?!" Or something like, "I'm gonna form a fan club of her! And this will be our official clothes for it!"

That last one got Lucille's interest and she asked the boy- someone from the military branch of Pledge Academy rather than the Pledge Bearer's one, actually, most of the people in their carriage were from that branch, save for Lucille, her friend, and another guy going by the name of Zack, - about the fan club that he was planning on forming and he answered with, "Yep! I'm gonna make a fan club about the princess! A lot of Pledge Bearers in the Academy have them but the princess' will be more popular!"

He pumped his fist after he said that and Lucille gave him a beaming smile, she chorused his words, "I'm sure of it too!"

When they arrived at the airstrip of the Academy, it was to the sight of most of the students wearing the princess' clothes and- "wow…" she said, "I never knew that so many people from the Flora and Fauna territories go to the Academy…"

"A lot of us do," Zack said as he stepped down right next to her, "but most Florists and Faunists go join the military branch of the Academy instead of the Pledge Bearer's one, so we don't get that much attention," he pointed to a building to the right of the main building, one that's twice as big despite being an auxiliary, "and usually, the reason for us going here is to… you know, get a stable job but now?" He shrugged, "I think most of us are going here because we want to help the princess, and with her speech back at the entrance exam, I know that everyone knows that she wants to repay for her sins so they'll probably double down on helping her,"

Zack pumped his fist and stared at Lucille with fiery eyes, "and I know you want to do it too!"

Chuckling awkwardly, Lucille rubbed the back of her neck while eyeing Zack- He was handsome, with a face that's causing some of the girls around them to stare at him- or maybe it's because of his sudden exclamation just now, - his body also has a pretty muscular build- as standard of a Florist and Faunist really, - as well a height that far surpasses her own but… Goshdarnit! Did Nickos manage to get cloned or something?

Wait- maybe that's just the princess' reputation and presence… yeah, that's probably why she has so many weird fanboys and fangirls- Lucille is one of them after all and she could… understand why the princess is so great, she just hopes that none of them end up being… stalkerish towards her.

Speaking of the princess…

When everyone around her looked up at the skies, Lucille already knew who was coming and she looked up at the skies with a smile, she's only seen that shadow once, and during that one time, she thought they were getting attacked but as it turns out, the princess was just on her weekly run.

The shadow grew and grew until it overtook a large part of the land surrounding her and eventually-

Lucille covered her eyes as a large gust of wind erupted from the Dragon's landing, she stared at the princess' Dragon; scales as black as the night, a body that'll put an Omega Fauna Calf's size to shame, and a presence that heralded her arrival way before she was seen.

Her two massive wings were spread out, casting a shadow over the surroundings, and her long, whip-like tail swished back and forth, causing some of the students behind her to pause and stare- and… not walk away for some reason.

Then… the riders came down, first would be the princess' maid/rumored lover- Zathania's brown hair bobbed up and down as her feet found the ground, her Pledge, a double headed staff made from silver wood glowed, the ruby and sapphire tips casting a bit of light over the Dragon's shadow. The maid outfit that she wore didn't look like it would belong to the Academy and yet with her regal standing and straightened posture, Zathania made it work.

She fixed her glasses and looked around, then said something that Lucille couldn't hear and the second rider came down laughing- Laceresta, the Beast King from the Oasis. It's rumored that few there could match her strength, and what would such a reputation mean from someone who hailed from a land full of beasts?

Well, it's obvious; there's no one in this Academy who can beat her in a test of might.

Her orange hair fell down her shoulders, the tip of their strands meeting the great axe strapped to her back- her Pledge was… calling it intimidating wouldn't cut it, it was… terrifying to look at, the size of its double-bladed head was larger than that of Lucille's torso, its shaft longer than Lucille's legs.

And its wielder, an 8 foot tall Lioness full of muscle, didn't do anything to lessen the fearful effect of the Pledge.

Laceresta wore something befitting that of someone from Oasis; an open, sleeveless vest much like Lucille's own, though hers was made of tough leather, brown in coloring, and… where Lucille wore a T-shirt underneath, the Lioness seemed fine with just simply covering her large chest with bandages, wrapping them around her torso and leaving everything else bare, allowing the world to see her stomach and navel.

Her pants were colored in brown, stopping directly in the middle of her calves and leaving everything below free, allowing Lucille to see boots whose ankles were tipped with a saw-like extension that clacked with each of the Lioness' steps.

And finally, the princess came down- white waistcoat waving around her legs, silver hair flowing down her back, she had a vest on too, long sleeved, also buttoned much like Lucille's, her white pants creased when she landed and her black combat boots bent alongside her legs, she straightened herself and started laughing, ruining the image for a split second but then it just made Lucille think she's cute… she shouted joyfully, "I told you it would be fun!"

The Dragon snorted in response to her words and all four started walking towards the direction of the Academy's entrance and the world, in Lucille's perception, started moving again- right next to her Zack looked infatuated, "that was the longest 3 seconds of my life,"

Lucille couldn't help but agree.

 

[NotACryptid]

That it comes across as her doing so for romance and inadvertently actually romances them... well, it has already been proven that Neophyte is a Dense Harem Protagonist despite her belief to the contrary.

Click to shrink...

She is not a dense protagonist, what? Of course not.

They think she is creating a Harem, don't they...
I wonder if they will start funding someone to create a method for their lesbian children to bear their own children from each other.
Or maybe start praying/begging the Goddess for such a method? I know that they exist in other fandoms... usually with a Light and Dark Elf Lesbian pair aping yet succeeding where Romeo and Juliet failed.

Click to shrink...

Her making children has already been thought of, remember the part where Demons "dream" their own children into existence? They have an Organ for that specific process.

As for other methods? Well, Neophyte knows about duplicating items.

I actually forgot to ask about this part.

Why is it that the ENTIRE population of the world is apparently 'going along' with it actually?
Pearl is right that there should have been outliers, no? Or did the outliers just get bashed in the back of the head and then dog-piled?
I mean, I know that they love Neo greatly, with good reason, but still surprising.

Click to shrink...

Fate.

I just realized that this means that the entire world knows her to be 'humble' and nearly dismissive of herself and her achievements (With admittedly understandable reasons.)... and that they think that she is actually the Saintess. XD
Wait until she points out the real Saintess, whom she has properly groomed this entire time. XD

Click to shrink...

She is humble and that reputation is gonna follow along and a certain maid will start feeling like shit because of it- imagine how Zath feels right now? Here lie literally went worldwide.

Holy shit, just how hard did Neo hit Fafnir?!?
No wonder Laceresta just didn't bother holding back in the next scene! She knew Neo could take it!

Click to shrink...

She did just punch a Wyvern till collapse...

Neo hitting all the right notes to get those Relationship Points with the Beast King and her people.

Click to shrink...

Relationship points? Whaaatt? Nah, it's obviously for Laceresta to join her party

 

[Mirriam Grave]

The fact that such a large majority of the school, at least the military part, wear the SAME clothing truly makes it look like Neo is gathering the populace to back her in becoming Crown Princess. XD
Poor Neo, constantly getting into misunderstandings.

She is humble and that reputation is gonna follow along and a certain maid will start feeling like shit because of it- imagine how Zath feels right now? Here lie literally went worldwide.

Click to shrink...

Hey! Zath and Neo will have something to bond over in that case! Where their careless words change the world entirely and leave them feeling like guilty pieces of shit that should never have been born!
Then they can start a cycle of trying to cheer the other up over and over again as they each battle against the others guilt complexes!
...dammit this went dark.
I need something to lighten this up stat!

The Dragon snorted in response to her words and all four started walking towards the direction of the Academy's entrance and the world, in Lucille's perception, started moving again- right next to her Zack looked infatuated, "that was the longest 3 seconds of my life,"

Lucille couldn't help but agree.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, this works. I can literally see this as an anime sequence with no problem and laugh. XD

 

[NotACryptid]

Clean white walls, a holy than thou look, and an aesthetic that yelled: Look at us, we keep things clean around here! - is, and always has been my impression whenever I look at Pledge Academy, it went as far back as when I first played through Everlast.
Even now, 16 years after I came to this world, years after I last saw this place- well technically days since I came here during the entrance exam, - I still think that way, that this place is just so… pure, I guess.

It fits with the fact that this very school is responsible for educating a lot of the Slayers currently active in the world, those who are out there killing Demons and Monsters, or in other words, the "impurity" of this world.

When looked at from a certain angle, it makes Slayers look like glorified janitors killing oversized bacteria capable of threatening people- my train of thought grinded to a halt when Zath's gaze landed on me, we locked eyes and I asked, "what?"

"You look a bit pensive," she pointed out and did I?..

Maybe I was? Honestly, I was just trying to occupy myself by thinking of things other than the upcoming invasion during the welcoming ceremony- which is… around half an hour from now, great, no pressure- looks like I can get accustomed to my new classroom and classmates first before I go ahead and start killing Demons and potentially even fight a Demon Duke- a type of Demon Royalty that's considered as a mid-game boss.

I'm not obligated to fight it, there are teachers for that but…

Even back in the game, the Demon Duke is actually just a background monster on the school area that the event happens in, it would occasionally get hit by flying spells or fight one of the teachers as an animation but other than that? It can't do anything to the player nor can the player do anything to it. But I expect things to be different since this is real life and like the monster horde that almost killed Lucille (which again, was my fault,) the invading Demon Duke can possibly go out of his way to specifically target the Hero which means that I'm gonna have to fight it to keep it from attacking Lucille.

And for once, I'm gonna use all of my strength since this very invasion has been the one that I've been preparing for since I know that the Demon Lord would expend a lot of his power and resources to create a portal that led to the Academy's gym so that his army of Demons can come here and start slaughtering the promising first year students capable of fighting against his reign.

After that, he'd be spent and has to spend time recovering for at least a year, and that is why, according to the lore, the Hero/Player managed to slowly grow their strength and eventually reach the power of the Demon Lord- which even by the time of their encounter with him, is still recovering, - and kill him.

Honestly, why risk this type of Gamble, I can never fucking know- why not just slowly conquer the world?

Wait- is that actually something that he'll do now that the Hero- according to the rumors, - is now dead? That he won't pull off this gamble because there's no need to do it?..

Wait no- of course not- The Demon Lord has an innate gut feeling that tells him of a Heroes' existence and if Lucille is here, then that means he knows that there's another Hero, and that means that he's still gonna try to send his horde of Demons here, giving the rest of humanity time to recoup their losses, allow Lucille to grow in power, and eventually push the tide of Demons descending onto our borders back. I'm sure that he'd pull the same gamble, if he doesn't then I don't know what I'd do-

"Neophyte?" Laceresta's voice forced me to focus back on the present, I looked up and met her gaze, "we passed our classroom,"

"Oh. It's fine," I tried to play it cool and gave her a confident smile.

I know it sounds a bit arrogant but I know what kind of effect my existence has on everyone around me, and if they see me dazing off or God forbid, start to feel anxious then there's a high chance that their morale is gonna plummet- am I arrogant for thinking that the morale of an entire student body rests on my back? Yes. Am I self aware enough to know that at least some of that is true and so doing my best to keep my current saintly image in check is the best course of action?

Also yes.

"I wanna see the Elder Tree first," I said without missing a beat, "you know, to get a feel for the place and to also ask for a blessing, and while we're at it, how about we go to the fountain at the courtyard as well?" Because I know for a fact that the damn thing does grant wishes, even if the students here only throw their coins into it out of tradition, "I wanna ask for more strength when I eventually fight Demons,"

"Isn't that a bit too far into the future? Why not just ask for something like a better time in school or to learn stuff quicker?" Zath asked and pointed out and I… slowly nodded in reply.

"Yes but you know, more strength in fighting Demons is related to our education in how to fight them," I reasoned badly. I didn't want to tell them that us fighting Demons is actually closer than they think, so for now, they can live with that, "you guys should wish for that as well,"

"Any increase to our fighting force helps"- I didn't dare say.

After passing 3 hallways or so, we reached the doors that led to the courtyard at the center of the school building, I pushed it open and walked into the circular plaza with my maid and the Beast King in tow and the sight that greeted us was mostly grass.

The entire thing was divided into four parts by a cross-shaped path that ran across the entire plaza, each path leading to four different doors and originating at the center, where a massive tree of pure white wood grew and covered the plaza with its shade.

I neared said tree and touched it, I silently requested strength to fight against the Demons and felt something trickle into me, starting from my palms before crawling into my chest and eventually dripping into every part of my being. Once that's done, I let go of the tree and gave it my silent thanks before turning to Zath and Laceresta, "now it's your turn,"

Zath pulled on the collar of her maid's outfit while trying not to meet my eyes, mostly because she was looking somewhere else, "... mistress, I- I don't think I want to do this," I followed her gaze and huh, since when have these guys gotten here?

I shook my head and grabbed Zath's wrist, is she really gonna feel embarrassed now of all times? "Come on Zath, just uh- put your hand onto the bark of the tree and wish for strength- look see? Even Laceresta is doing it!"

The Lioness grunted, "there's nothing wrong with asking for more power," she said shamelessly, she closed her eyes and most likely did as she said and when she opened them, she stared at her palm, "... huh," she said, "I didn't know that it was actually true, I thought you were just doing some sort of tradition."

I nodded, "yeah, you need to be sensitive to Light in order to feel the tree's effects but if you are, you can confirm that it's actually real."

I pushed Zath closer to the tree and she stared at me, "you're joking." She said as I placed her hand on the trunk, I nodded enthusiastically at her and she sighed, "... fine," she said in exasperation before closing her eyes and doing what Laceresta and I did, then she opened them again, she stared at me and the Beast King with bored eyes, "I didn't feel anything,"

"Then you're weak," Laceresta bluntly stated with a shrug, "now come on, I want to go to the fountain and ask for more strength,"

I threw her a Gold coin, which she caught with ease, "wish, technically," I corrected, "and you need to throw that into the basin for it to work,"

The Lioness nodded, "fair enough," she said with a grunt.

We went to the fountain, did the same thing and then went back to the school building to go to the classroom, when we went in, we heard rumors about the Elder Tree actually being "real" and that most of the student body is actually going there to ask for a wish and in reaction to that, I only shrugged- honestly, if they want to ask for something, then why shouldn't they?

But… they should probably make sure that it's not too much- like asking for a better love life for example, - or else the tree would just ignore them.

… not that they'd notice. Of course.

We passed through the halls and eventually, we reached our classroom again and sliding the door open, we… were greeted by a somewhat packed room.

Huh. Punctual. Neat.

As we stepped in, I eyed all the people that I recognized, most of them being game characters, both the playable and the supporting NPC kind: Naviri, Satti, Charcoal, and Inferno were the few that I was familiar with but there were others that I vaguely recognized too like Zyra and her vine-whip, Yhaine and her yellow hair, Frovan and his massive frame, Garth for the same reason, Nickos because he's actually a pretty decent supporting character in game and… finally, Lucille.

The Heroine herself is sitting in my classroom, much to her shocked expression (for some reason?) her eyes landed on me and she asked, "w-we're in the same room?"

"Yeah," I answered with a nod, which, I guess I can see why she'd be shocked. Being in the same classroom as powerful Pledge Bearers is probably a pretty big deal when her Sanguine Pledge is weak.

My reply seems to have been enough to break the atmosphere because everyone else greeted me with nods, I nodded back.

Out of all them though, Naviri's greeting was the most eye catching, she was waving at me as she sat right next to Satti, and deciding to go along, I took a seat right next to them, Zath and Laceresta soon followed and to get things going, I decided to introduce them to each other, well, mostly Laceresta, the couple already knew who Zath is after all, "Naviri, Satti, this is Laceresta, the current Beast King."

The two nodded respectfully, "Laceresta, this is Naviri and Satti, friends of mine."

Naviri chuckled, "we're not special by any means but I hope that we can get along," she said with a smile.

Laceresta nodded and offered a large hand, "I don't mind even if you're not some prophesized character because a friend of the Saintess would definitely be powerful and if you aren't then you're most likely full of potential," the Lioness said with a shrug, "nice to meet both of you,"

"We feel the same way," Naviri said with a smile, she leaned back against her chair, "so… the Oasis huh?" She tried to find a topic, a common ground between her and Laceresta and based off of my own experience, asking about her home works so Naviri guessed correctly, "how's it like back there? I heard that… a lot of Omegafaunas like to live there."

Laceresta nodded, "a lot of them like to roam the sands, but they're not really that Dangerous most of the time since the biggest out of all of them just like to sit back and sleep for years on end, pretending to be dunes as they get covered in sand until they eventually prove everyone who thought that way wrong by waking up to eat."

"... what do they eat?" Naviri asked.

"People, mostly," Laceresta said casually, like what she just dropped isn't the most horrific thing that can come out of her mouth, "but also other Omega Faunas, or other animals, or Wyverns, that sort of thing, if they get really desperate, they can even eat plants but that rarely happens since like you said, a lot of Omegafaunas live back in the Oasis, so plenty of prey for them to eat."

"Do you know any of them?" Naviri asked and it's by that point that I decided to tune out their conversation to look around the classroom which is exactly how I remembered it to be; a college-like design with a stage at the center surrounded by a rising seating arrangement. The connected desks were made from some sort of orange wood and the same goes for our chairs.

At the front, a massive blackboard can be seen at the back of the stage. Meanwhile, on the stage itself is a podium placed directly at the center, there's also a desk on the right, and a single chair behind said desk.

Mostly though, the stage was barren save for those three furniture and the tiny decorations- with the most eye catching out of all of them being this little Demon replica with marked body parts and organs on the left side of the stage, - placed on top of it.

Decorations of the same aesthetic were placed all around us, giving the otherwise dab classroom life; a flying animal there, a few bats hanging on one of the corners of the ceiling, bookshelves placed on the left and right side of the room, a few garbage bins, and then our lockers at the back of the room.

Placing the metal lockers at the highest point is probably just asking for someone to drop them on us but I've never heard of anything like that happening so far so… eh?

I pressed my hand against my cheek and looked on with a bored expression, the anxiety that I felt about the eventual Demon invasion of the school is still at the back of my mind, constantly gnawing at me and telling me to prepare but I couldn't do anything for the moment- I can't practice with my Pledge, can't use Techniques, can't do anything until it actually happens and it doesn't do anything to help me stay calm.

Meanwhile, as time went on and Naviri and Laceresta's conversation got more and more lively, the other students of the classroom started to file in and in total, there's around 25 of us here, including two of my sisters, I didn't bother looking at them though, I wasn't really in the mood for it- actually, I wasn't feeling like doing anything in particular, so I just waited for our adviser to enter the room and call us into the gymnasium.

She came into the classroom soon enough; and our teacher- Ms. Halyard, - is this tactical and stern looking woman with a perpetual "no bullshit" expression present on her face, she was tall, around 5 foot 10, with long legs that her short, business-woman esque shirt failed to hide, and had enough curves to make me feel jealous.

Or in other words, the type of idealized teacher that is ever present in Japanese media: Serious, yet caring when dealing with the main character, also, she's hot. Like really hot.

And did I mention that she's serious? Because if I didn't, then the fact that she walked to the front of the classroom, scanned all of us, and then just simply said- "form an orderly line outside, we're going to the gymnasium," - may have discounted that.

Seriously, she then just left as if she wasn't dealing with children- okay, to be fair, students of Pledge Academy should hold themselves to a better standard so us being orderly is expected but still! We're mostly Nobles woman! What do you think is gonna happen?!

I sighed and stood up, knowing damn well that one of these guys will make a scene for Lucille to step into and "do the right thing," and I wasn't having any of it, we need to move quickly because the Demons aren't gonna wait, and in the rare chance that these guys do get detention, then Lucille is gonna be among them and they're gonna act like sitting ducks while an army of Demons invade the school- and that's not exactly my ideal scenario.

"Okay everyone! Make sure to not mess around and those who will-" I eyed a muscled boy- Vicissi, - from house Nimbusegia with gray hair who was walking towards Lucille and Zyra, two Florists, "- will be- well, I don't know what I'll do but it won't be pretty." I locked eyes with the boy, "Try it, if you want."

We all filed outside without any problems and I managed to not get Lucille and Vicissi punished and thrown into detention- which in game, can happen if you fail to pick the right dialogues. And in that case, you'd be down a party member but here? They'd be stuck in detention like pigs for slaughter.

I'd prefer it if Lucille is out here, capable of running.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Out of curiosity, what WOULD have happened in this timeline if Lucille had gotten detention?

 

[NotACryptid]

Out of curiosity, what WOULD have happened in this timeline if Lucille had gotten detention?

Click to shrink...

Shit goes down the drain depending if the guy Lucille gets detention with does something during the invasion.

 

[NotACryptid]

I tapped my foot impatiently as I listened to the principal's speech, I was sitting on top of the stage, next to my brothers and sisters- the ones attending the Academy at least, - alongside the scions and heads of influential Families, as well as the unneeded investors that keep Pledge Academy "afloat" or whatever it is that they actually do.

Up front, the principal was talking about something, an introduction or whatever, a speech to inspire the new generation of Pledge Bearers but I couldn't really listen to it properly because I knew that it was only a matter of time before a bunch of portals opened on the right wall of the gymnasium and an invasion from the Demon Lord descends onto all of us.



Someone tapped my shoulder and I whipped my head to glare at them for disturbing me only to flinch when I saw that it was Byzanthine, "sister, please conduct proper manners," she chastised, "we are in front of thousands of students and it will do no good if the person that they think is a role model does not look at the principal as she's doing her speech, do you want them to follow your example and start to daze off during important speeches?"



"Sorry," I apologized before focusing on the principal again.



"-and history has taught us that catastrophes out of our control would always repeat themselves over and over again and for the first few years of humanity's existence, when civilization consisted of nothing but a group of villages with houses made of wood, when we were still new to this world, the best that we could do is weather the storm until they leave us alone, but over time, we learned; becoming better at avoiding storms, then we started to fight back, first we did nothing more than push away the dangers, then we started killing them, slaying living manifestations of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as they neared our homes and cities."



While keeping my eyes focused on Ms. Dialecta, I started to feel my Light reservoir, it was packed and full and ready to be used to fight the invading Demon Duke and hopefully stave off any potential casualties- back in the game the students who died during the invasion weren't really shown but they did exist, I know because it wouldn't make sense otherwise, it was such a large scale thing and everyone inside of the school couldn't move on for a while after it happened so there's no way that everyone got out of it unscathed.



I'll help and protect them, I- I don't care if I have to fight a mid-game boss to do it. Casualties should be minimized- that's my rule for myself during this particular event, and I know, just know that I'd be outclassed by the invading Demon Duke but that's fine, it's absolutely fine- I- I'm willing to get hurt if it means that everyone else doesn't.



As I worried about the potential casualties, the speech kept going and even moved on at some point and Ms. Dialecta went from talking about slaying Omegafaunas to talking about the first Hero; Valian, "- he fought bravely with everything he could, even though his armor was weak and made out of poorly crafted iron, he pushed on even when the only thing that made him strong against the Demon Lord was his Pledge, he continued fighting, undeterred by the uneven odds because he knew that one day, his successors, the next line of heroes, would have a better fighting chance but before that, he needs to show them that they shouldn't fear the eye of the storm even when wearing weak gear, that the future generations of heroes should face the Demon Lord head on regardless of what they were carrying and fight."



And that was it; the portals were starting to open, I could feel it and so could the people around me.



I closed my eyes and immediately used all my strongest Techniques: Maximum Speed, Maximum Strength, Maximum Defense, and Maximum Regeneration for the standard physical buffs.

Then I proceeded to use some of my more "cheesy" Techniques like Searing Thorns, which makes it so that every time I get hit- if it happens in the first place that is, - the damage would be returned, but only by a small amount, which didn't matter thanks to the bonus effect of Searing- a debuff that burns the target and chips at their health until they leave combat.



Following that is Strongest Weapon to strengthen my Pledge, then Master Archer to allow my attacks to hit even when they would otherwise miss, Mighty Blows to strengthen my attacks and then Chasing Damage to increase my damage based off of my speed.



The first of the portals opened and Demons started to pour out, Byzanthine stared me down with a look that I couldn't recognize before she called her Pledge, a black lance that's meant for jousting, it was cylinder-shaped and went narrower as it went up from the handle, thinning until the weapon's tip turned sharp and pointed.



Byzanthine moved away and immediately started throwing her weapon before recalling it to her hand after it struck a target.



Meanwhile, I continued casting my buffs- it wasn't time for me to move yet, I needed to fight the strongest Demon to protect everyone- I- I don't care if I'm risking my life by doing this- Lucille can potentially die and she's more important-



To finish my set of buffs, I used the ones that'll increase my speed, Dance with the Wind, Wind Walker, and Lightning Steps.



Eventually, a bright portal the color of molten metal erupted directly on the center of the wall, growing in size and overtaking all portals it passed until it reached a size of over 25 feet, I stood up then, preparing myself for the upcoming fight as a massive hand emerged from the gate and when the length of its entire forearm got revealed, I moved-



…



"Why does she keep staring at the wall?" Naviri asked in confusion as she eyed her friend up on the stage, the princess being distracted like this was bad and Naviri followed Neophyte's gaze to the white wall to their right but found nothing but a blank wall.

Despite that, Neophyte has been glaring at it like it did her wrong and Naviri couldn't figure out why, "what do you think she's thinking of right now Satti?" She asked her husband, who, as always, was doing his best to pay attention to the speech on stage, Naviri honestly didn't get it because like all speeches, it was boring. "Satti?"



"Huh?" Her husband snapped into focus and Naviri chuckled, "w-what? I don't know what the principal is talking about!" Well, what the hell was he focusing so hard on then?!



"I'm not talking about Miss Tundra," Naviri corrected, "look at Neophyte,"



Her husband nodded and did what she told him to do, he raised his eyebrow, "what's she doing?"



"She's been staring at the wall since the start of the speech," Naviri explained, "and I don't know why."



"Weird." He said and Naviri nodded.



"Suspicious." She corrected. "Prepare yourself,"



He nodded and Naviri hoped that his preparation involved using his Techniques because that's what she was doing; she mentally imagined a ball, one that she slowly shaped into a shield.



Back when she was young, her mother had told her to play with clay, telling her to turn a small ball into various shapes that got more and more complex as she grew older and by the time she got her Pledge, her proficiency in shaping Light was on par with the best of the best within her Peers.



Well not the best of the best because that particular prodigy is a monster- despite her constant denial of any compliment sent her way, - but the point still stands.



Naviri mentally weaved another ball, this time she turned it into a sword, following that, she created a suit of armor, then a pair of wings, she mixed them all together to create the doll of an angel and then… she waited.

Whatever it is that Neophyte is preparing for, it couldn't be good, and Naviri knew that her friend wouldn't worry this much about something, doubly more so when it's a prophecy, so whatever it is that's gonna pop out of that wall, she needed to take seriously and heavily prepare for.





Her preparation wasn't enough and Naviri realized that quickly when the beings that emerged from the portals weren't a random gang of cultists or even a giant monster- no, it was an entire horde of Demons followed by a Demon Duke-



Her eyes widened when the massive hand of the Demon got cut by a white blur, causing it to fall to the ground and melt into a pile of disgusting sludge where more Demons grew out of.



In reaction to that, the white blur killed them all without slowing down or an ounce of hesitation before it went to the stage and stopped, revealing Neophyte in what Naviri thinks is her in full power and no longer holding back. She likes to think that this is all that Neophyte can do but so far, the past month had been nothing but her pulling off one achievement after the next; first making a Pact with an Adolescent Dragon, then killing an entire forest's worth of monsters, then this.



"Don't panic," the princess said and Naviri snapped out of her shock, she activated her Technique and her doll lit up, her body became stronger and suddenly eight daggers floated around her, they felt like they could cut through anything.



Well… not anything, Naviri eyed the emerging Demon Duke and gritted her teeth, she wasn't scared, and her hands weren't shaking- "Huddle together, create parties, and fight."



Shouldn't Neophyte tell them to evacuate?! Goddess that's a fucking Duke! Not some random Demon infantry!



Then, as if reading Naviri's mind, Neophyte's words directly answered the question that Naviri internally yelled, "we need to fight," she said, "or else the Duke will get out of the school and find his way into the streets outside,"



At that Naviri steeled her nerves, there's really no point in being scared is there? She sucked in a deep breath and eyed the portal on the wall, three more hands popped out then a bull-like head, followed by a muscular torso and finally, a pair of furry legs that ended in hooves. The 30 foot tall minotaur roared in challenge, and several other portals opened around it, sending out more Demons onto the student body.



One came at her and Naviri pierced its head with one of her daggers, it fell to the floor and turned to sludge, most of the students here weren't as fortunate as her and were most likely untrained, literally green.

She knew that, she also knew that they were as strong as the princess, who by now had once again turned into a white blur that repeatedly slashed at the Demon Duke, who, despite Neophyte's relentless barrage of attacks, looked no worse for wear, the hand that she cut off at the start is starting to grow back too, and a sharpened bone spur has temporarily taken its place, the Demon used it to stab at Neophyte over and over again-



Then Fafnir came and tackled the Demon in the ground, breaking walls and causing cracks to run across the floor.



That was when everything became downright chaotic.



"Naviri! Focus!" Her husband told her and she nodded and commanded four of her daggers to hit four Demons in front of her, then she willed a few to go near Satti who looked at her weirdly, "grab one! Or two! I don't know! Fucking do boxing!" Following her own words, Naviri grabbed two of her daggers, which she used to slash at a nearby Demon, this one, judging by the bronze sheen of its skin, belonged to the Greed caste-



Focus, she needed to focus. She stabbed another Demon, this time Wrath judging by its bulging muscles, then another, two of her daggers came back and with her newly found clarity, she aimed at a spot where multiple Demons were converging, it shot out till it reached its maximum distance, killing 4 Demons on the way there.



Naviri plunged a dagger into the neck of a Gluttony Demon and in response it protected itself by raising its right arm to block.



Seeing her daggers do nothing to its large, log-like arm, Naviri gritted her teeth and kicked herself off of the damn thing before sending out one dagger to slash at both its ankles, it fell with a grunt and Naviri dashed forward, slashing its neck and tearing it apart. Blood spilled out of its wound in droves and she sighed.



Then something clanged right next to her and she faced her husband to see him blocking a massive spear- Sloth? She thought quickly and started searching for the ranged attacker and spotted a Demon with long arms in the distance, a quiver full of spiky spears on its lanky back, its head nothing more than a singular eye.



She sent two daggers towards it and fell the Demon with ease. She sighed, here's to hoping that- she dodged by jumping left, she looked at the spot where she stood moments prior and huffed, another spear?



She dodged again- and again- Satti blocked a few- more than a few- and yet Naviri continued dodging, she spotted one of the Sloth Demons targeting her and sent a dagger its way, then another, and another, and another- she continued until even the daggers in her own hands were used to kill the ranged attackers and when all was said and done, she killed most of them while the rest got eliminated by the more opportunistic students.



A Demon of Wrath came down on her and someone slammed it in the back uselessly, it growled before turning back to face its attacker and its head immediately burned to a crisp. It fell and turned to sludge, allowing Naviri to see Neophyte's not-so-secret-lover/maid Zathania, who nodded at them, "We need to help Neophyte,"



One of Naviri's daggers came back, "right." She eyed the fight between the princess and the Demon Duke, if her fighting a lot of regular Demons is already hard enough, what about the Demon Duke that the princess is fighting? Naviri shook her head and followed after the maid, "I don't think we can help there by the way,"



"We won't," the maid replied, "but we'll kill Demon Captains," Naviri sighed, sure, fight a Demon that's one step above the regular infantry, why not? It's not like the regular Demons are hard to kill right? As if sensing her thoughts, Zathania added, "They're not as hard to kill as you think they are."



"You already fought one?" Satti asked.



Zathania scoffed, "I already killed three,"





…





I dodged a punch, but only barely- I dodged again, gritting my teeth as the Demon Duke wrestled Fafnir in slow motion- from my perspective at least, - and if I wasn't here, then chances are, my Dragon would've been overpowered by the Demon.



Fortunately, that wasn't the reality we were in and I'm here to support my Dragon as she wrestled with her four armed opponent which in turn, caused Fafnir to use all of her limbs to as well- her tail was wrapped around one of the Demon's legs, spiraling downward until the sharpened tip reached and buried itself in her opponent's ankle, her arms were in a similar position and she was using them to hold down two of the Duke's own arms while I assisted with the remaining two by attacking them whenever they moved to punch Fafnir, who was also using both her legs to anchor the Demon's thigh onto the ground.



One of the Duke's free arms moved far faster than should be natural and I stepped in to intercept, slashing at his palm and fingers, I trusted Fafnir to protect me as I tore apart his hand, hopefully preventing it from moving for a few more seconds and buying us more time- and she was, in the corner of my eye, I caught my Dragon biting the remaining arm of the Demon, her jaws locked against its wrist as it tried to flail and break free, and I don't know if it's instinct or not but Fafnir managed to somehow lead along the arm's flailing around without breaking her neck.



I looked away and continued slashing at the arm of the Demon, first the hand, then down to its forearm, its elbows, then the bicep- all the way up to the shoulder, and as I did, I repeatedly used my Pledge's special ability, causing two strikes to be struck whenever I slash instead of one.



Under my onslaught, the Demon's arm broke apart, the skin got torn and muscles got ripped apart- when I reached the bone of the Demon's bicep, I hacked at it until it was cut off-



I jumped off as a roar erupted out of its mouth, jumping back a few dozen meters away from the Demon. I stopped fueling my Techniques and time started to flow normally again, I released my breath and got a painful headache from straining myself, Fafnir connected to me then, 'You okay?'



"Just dandy." I nodded, sucked in a lungful of air, and refueled all of my Techniques, Maximum Regeneration started slowing down the damage to my brain and I narrowed my eyes, the world isn't that hazy yet, I'm still fine, maybe three more of this and I'd stop.



I eyed the Demon Duke, trying to spot an opportunity where I can go in, his missing left arm made that easier but… I sighed, it's still fast, very fast, and I don't know how the hell Fafnir manages to keep up with it without any sort of enhanced perception.



Its arms were already moving pretty fast in my sped up perception and I can't imagine just how fast it punches are normally.



Well, I could but-



I saw an opportunity and ran.



As I slashed at the Demon's eyes while its in the middle of a headbutt, I couldn't help but wonder how the current Heroine is doing, by now, she should have been chased away by a Demon Baron, and with her current power, she wouldn't be able to beat it but luckily, the people close to her should have followed her.



Well, good luck on your quick time event Lucille, I wish you the best-



I dodged the Demon Duke's following bite, But only barely.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

I know I shouldn't, but I found myself laughing this entire chapter.

Neo is going to get one HELL of a talking to by her siblings, friends, and Zath.
And the REACTIONS from everyone afterwards about her and this event.
Not to mention the reactions of everyone to the others like Zath, who threw out a HELL of a kickass boast there. (I am starting to suspect that she MAY have been made into a replacement Hero herself by the Goddess...)

As for Lucille?
...I don't know exactly why, but I just can't get the picture of her with a bright and happy innocent smile on her face as she takes advantage of the all-you-can-eat EXP Buffet handed to her so candidly by her greatest enemy!
'It isn't like we are in any real danger! The Princess is right there taking care of the Demon Duke, and her friends and allies are taking care of the Baron and Captains! I mean the Teachers are even taking this opportunity to guide the students into the best groups and ways of fighting and killing the regular demons while making sure to step in when we get in over our heads! How can I not smile at such a golden opportunity to get stronger and help the Princess?'
Sudden Motivation Bursts through everyone within hearing range...
But seriously, I am half convinced that Laceresta saw Neo go after the Duke, and decided that this meant she needed to go after the Baron herself. Which meant Zath had to go after the Captains naturally. XD

 

[NotACryptid]

Lucille felt scared- and if asked why, then she'd say it all started when a Demon Duke of all things emerged from a portal to attack the school.

But just as quickly her fear evaporated when she saw that a white blur- soon to be known as Her Majesty, Saintess Neophyte, - managed to cut the arm of the fiend but then more of them came and started attacking the students and Lucille downright became paralyzed-

But then the princess made a speech that they should fight back to keep the Demons from pouring out of the school and onto the city and well, Lucille wouldn't dare to fail the princess so she called her Pledge and went for the Demons- and- and- it was so great that she fought back- but- you know- she hasn't seen Demons all her life and- well- she didn't realize that there are Demon Barons in the invading army and she overextended, stabbed the back of a Baron's knees, and now the attention of a third tier of the Demon leadership hierarchy is on her.

The princess could probably kill it with ease but she wasn't Neophyte, she wasn't a one-in-a-trillion prodigy that might as well be a hero in her own right- she was just regular old Lucille trying to imitate the princess, doing her best to be the woman that Neophyte is and chase after her coattails.

But in the end, no matter what she does, Lucille isn't Neophyte.

So she ran.

What else could she have done? Her pledge isn't that strong, she didn't have anything on her person to make the fight easier, and she sure as well couldn't bridge the gap in power using Techniques. She was weak, but at least she was good at the one thing that she trained all her life, and that's being fast.

So she ran. As fast as she possibly could.

First across the battleground that was once the gymnasium, then to the hallways of the main building of Pledge Academy-

The pristine white walls greeted her and started promising her safety but none of it got came when the dog-like demon chasing after her broke through the exit doors of the gym and into the hallways of the school, continuing its relentless chase after her.

Its crash turned the wooden doors into smithereens, it didn't even need to break them off of their hinges, the doors were just that useless of an obstacle against it.

Lucille turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the Demon in the far distance; it was quadrupedal, meaning that it was a variant of Wrath, Envy, or Sloth, the last two are doable, since it means that the Demon wouldn't be that adept at fighting but if it's a Wrath Demon then she might have just to continue running until she's saved, she pumped her legs and went fast, but then realized that she needed to conserve strength so she started cutting down the fuel for her Greater Speed by a quarter and slowing herself down by a noticeable margin, but at least her reservoir wouldn't have to get depleted that quickly.

She turned another corner and this time, she eyed the Demon for a scant few seconds, it was enough for her to start noting all of its features: a red colored body, a dog-like head, a neck full of holes, black forelimbs that went up into a thin black line streaking on its sides, and a brown tail.

She did not know what any of those features meant and she was forced to look at its face and meet all four of its eyes to realize that the Demon is in fact, classified as Wrath, because only those would have extra predatory parts, be them having an extra set of claws that grew on all digits of their fingers, teeth that would make a sand-shark blush, or, a predator's most defining feature, an extra set of front facing eyes.

Lucille held back a whine and increased the fuel for Greater Speed in hopes that the Demon wouldn't catch up to her.

She ran much quicker than before and she heard the sound of something shattering behind her she knew what she was about to do was a stupid idea- she didn't want to do it- really, how stupid would she be if she did this- Lucille closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to look behind her to see the Demon has increased its speed, and it looks like it didn't use a Technique to do it either, it just increased the length of its strides, moving its legs to their maximum reach before pushing off of the ground and simply running.

Tentacles barbed with sharpened bone grew out of the holes of its neck and started attacking the lights on the ceiling.

Lucille flinched when the first one broke apart and slathered the Demon in darkness.

She turned forward and ran- the sounds of breaking glass was behind her- she continued running-

And running-

She turned a corner and felt a whip of air run past the back of her neck- something to her right broke apart, it sounded like concrete being shattered- she increased the fuel of her Technique and continued running- moving her legs as fast as she possibly could- within her, she called on her loom and started creating a one piece dress, she didn't know how effective it'll be but if it means that her life could potentially be saved by what she was about to do then… she put the one piece dress over herself and activated the Technique, casting a small armor buff onto herself, it wasn't anything substantial, she's never bothered to study about armor based Techniques after all, but the protection it offered should be good enough-

Growling came from behind her and she increased the fuel for Greater Speed-

Something whipped past her legs, almost hitting them- a strange sound came out of her mouth- another thing moved past her arm, another hit- she started to whimper- she's scared- she didn't want it all to end like this-

Something struck the wall next to her head just as she was about to turn and tears ran down her eyes-

The sound of glass shattering made her flinch- why- why-

Darkness soon enveloped her and in a fit of desperation, she broke into the nearest classroom by slamming her shoulder against it- her eyes widened when her shoulder met no resistance- so the door was open this entire time- wait- that's not good- she went on a roll that turned into a crawl as she stabilized sudden fall- then she started moving her knees- pulling on her loom and creating something- anything that'll help her, she stopped fueling Greater Speed and gave herself pants, more protection, then boots for added protection- gloves went to her hands- armor- all of it- she should've studied and learned a Technique that protected her body-

The chair right next to her split apart into wooden pieces and she eyed the red tentacle full of white, bony growths a few inches away from her from her face- her eyes subconsciously followed the trail and there, she spotted the Demon, its four eyes looking directly at her.

Lucille held back her whimper- Goddess- she's about to die-

No- no- of course not- Princess Neophyte wouldn't give up in this exact same situation, she'd fight back- she would- and then she'd come up with something that'll cause her to come out on top- Lucille wasn't as sma- no, she is smart, it's one of the few qualities that she's proud of having- she calmed herself down and looked around, then quickly and in a fit of clarity she realized that…

… the Demon had been playing around with her all this time hadn't it?

Her fear turned to anger for a brief second but she forced herself to calm down- not the time- she needed to continue acting scared, buy more time for herself to- to- she looked around the classroom, making sure to turn away from the Demon all the while to continue the illusion of her being scared-

There's nothing inside the classroom, save for a blackboard, a few chairs that the Demon can break apart- a first aid kit- then a window that led to- that's it- she just needs to bait the Demon into going there doesn't she?

But how?.. Force it to lunge? How? Become annoying- she stopped fueling the Techniques that gave her armor and went back to pumping Greater Speed with Light, then she weaved something haphazard, a set of gloves much like the ones that the princess likes to wear, something to give her a good amount of strength- once the weave was done, she grabbed a nearby chair, stood up, and threw it at the Demon.

It broke apart when three tentacles tore into it, but that was fine- Lucille dodged a tentacle- it still managed to scratch her sides and her stomach started to bleed- she gritted her teeth through the pain and grabbed another chair, she threw it at the Demon before slashing at the tentacle that struck her side just now- the Demon is gonna regret not pulling it back and when the blade of her Pledge met its skin- it failed to cut through-

A tentacle whipped out.

She dodged again.

Lucille started gritting her teeth- then she dashed forward- she stepped back mere moments before a tentacle reached her- it got stuck on the floor and Lucille tried to cut it again and this time, she increased the fuel for her strength boost and felt the metaphysical gloves she's wearing tear apart- and it did- at the exact same time her own Pledge cut through the Demon's tentacle.

Her Sanguine Pledge did its magic and Lucille felt her bleeding side start to heal and relief flooded her veins- cold water that cooled her down enough to think of a way to improvise the next few steps- first, though, she needed to dodge the tentacles while weaving another set of gloves, she didn't know the innate functions of a strength boost or how the corresponding Techniques worked but she knew it had something to do with the targeted body part- and there are five main parts; the body, the arms and finally, the legs.

She started weaving, her idea being that the resulting glove would be skin tight and closer to her hands and she hoped that the effect would be stronger then-

She dodged and started adding seams, she needed to make sure that the resulting glove would be tight- the Demon screeched and she jumped lower down the classroom and ran even further backward as multiple tentacles started attacking her, and she knew then that the Demon was still playing around because the tentacles only attacked one by one- her gloves were starting to form now, and all she needed to do is put an extra detail- a circle went on top of the palm, a small, tiny minuscule boost in vitality to make sure that her hands end up fine-

A tentacle struck her shoulder and Lucille activated her Technique- she swiped up- it didn't cut fully but a little bit till half is good enough, she pulled her arm down before cutting again- the tentacle snapped in half.

She heaved, okay, she has little to no Light left in her reservoir, probably only 30 seconds worth of the stuff to keep her current Techniques going and… what else? Oh, a Demon is about to kill her-

A bit more confident now, she started dodging one tentacle after the next, weaving past them as they lashed out, she kept dodging until she reached the Demon and attempted to stab at its eye- but it was a feint and she backed off, and she didn't know just how arrogant the Demon in front of her is- but since it played around, it's safe to say that there's a bit of pride in the damn thing despite it being Wrath.

Regardless, she didn't know if what she did would get it angry enough to lunge at her so for good measure, Lucille cut a tentacle in half before running to the back wall.

Fortunately, the Demon snarled at her before lunging- she bent down and the Demon missed, breaking the wall and falling off- she silently celebrated and watched as the creature fell out of the school.
She heaved and let her Techniques fall, there's only what? 10- 15 seconds left? And that's her giving her reservoir the benefit of the doubt. There are probably only 3 or 4 seconds left of Light in her reservoir in all actuality-

The slack tentacles around her tightened- the ones stuck to the walls- Lucille felt her heart stop at the sight- she chuckled in self-deprecation, all of that and for what? Only for her to realize that the Demon never bothered to pull its tentacles back to its neck after it launched them out because it knew what she was planning.

Lucille fell to her knees and stared at the ground, a resigned expression on her face.

Guess this is it after all, huh? All of that and for what? The Demon to outsmart her? Goddess-

A bell toll broke past her worries and a surge of power and strength pushed into Lucille, then she heard a shout- "KICK IT OFF!"

She forced herself to smile and got herself off of the ground before running to the edge of the room, and what perfect timing, the Demon was about to get back up-

She lifted her right leg and kicked, her sole met its face and sent its neck back- it wasn't enough to even damage it, let alone push it off… Barons really are on a whole nother level of power aren't they?..

But she's not gonna give up-

Lucille gritted her teeth and attempted to kick it again- and again- but the Demon only watched and weathered her attacks and continued pulling itself up despite Lucille's best effort, the tentacles around her began to recede until there were only four left, and those too came back to the Demon's neck after it reached the floor.

Lucille stood stock still as the Demon came up, its snarling mouth right next to her face. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate- then the sound of a loud crack echoed out and both she and the Demon turned to the source- Lucille smiled when she saw Zyra standing by the door, whip in hand and a scowl on her face-

"Come on!" She said to her but clearly didn't want to wait because her whip tied itself around Lucille's waist and she was pulled back- the Demon swiped at her but was prevented by an armored figure that ran in between the attack and Lucille, she reached Zyra's side and got enveloped in a hug.

The hug tightened, "why did you just stand there?"

"I-" why did they even follow her here? She couldn't help but ask internally and she would have voiced it out too, but it wasn't what she wanted to say so Lucille smiled and told her what she really felt at that moment- gratefulness, "thanks,"

Zyra broke the hug and nodded at her, "don't mind it," she said just as Yhaine's armored self reached them, Zyra cracked her whip and struck the Demon Baron to no effect, her eyes went to Lucille, "you really just had to pick a Demon Baron to fight didn't you?" She said, head shaking in disapproval, "why didn't you get chased by like, a Captain or something?"

Lucille returned Zyra's shaky smile, "I don't know?"

Yhaine grabbed hold of the two of them and they were both lifted up, "QUIT YAPPING!" She yelled as she pumped her legs, carrying the two other girls as far away from the Demon as possible.

Lucille heard a bell toll and it was followed by the sound of footsteps getting nearer and nearer, eventually, Nickos reached them and he looked at Lucille like she had gone insane, "you know I'm never gonna let you live this down right?"

She nodded, smiling, "I know you won't," she responded, "thanks, Nickos."

"Yeah, yeah, save it for later- when our chances of dying aren't through the roof," He looked back and winced, "okay, I have one more toll, I can probably boost you," he eyed Yhaine and the girl's helmeted head spun to face him, "can you carry for of us?"

She nodded and a bell toll resounded, Yhaine stopped running and said, "wrap your arms around my neck,"

Nickos did as he was told and as he hung like a backpack from the girl's shoulders, they started running for their lives- er, Yhaine ran for their lives- all the while tentacles started coming at them, Zyra couldn't use her Pledge, Lucille couldn't as well, while Nickos already used his three daily tolls, which meant that Yhaine had no choice but to dodge or else they'd get killed, and surprisingly enough, she was pretty good at it, moving past tentacle after tentacle, they turned a corner and as safety came she said, "we're near the tree now," Lucille nodded at that, "we should be fine after we reach it-"

Something struck her calves and she fell down.

"Fuck." Someone swore just then.

Lucille had to reluctantly agree with the speaker.

 

[NotACryptid]

Snip

Click to shrink...

Eh, something like that, at this point they might as well be numb to it all, since the start of the story Neophyte has been what? Getting one power up after the next? It's kinda on an insnae rate and everyone by this point is probably thinking, ; 'yeah, that's just her path to progress on becoming the Saintess,' and that's probably going to be their reason for whenever she gets a powerup that more or less defies their own sense of logic (even though she's always had it.)

Will some sort of talk between siblings happen? Probably, but Neophyte is currently staying in the Academy and that's kind of a hard thing to do, especially with her given party around.

As for Luciille herself, her opportunity to kill a lot of Demons is actually more of a chaotic brawl that involves a lot of students getting maimed and killed, and since Demons are involved, everything is very, very chaotic, and that's why she won't get as strong as she usually would, because the Demons aren't exactly free game. She can't just easily kill them.

 

[NotACryptid]

"So, uh, anyone has anything?" Zyra asked as the Demon Baron stared them down, she cracked her whip and chuckled- a sound that conveyed all of her masked fears, "because I'm pretty sure that we're going to die if we don't do anything," she cracked her whip again, a nervous action? Lucille met Zyra's eyes and the blue-haired girl sighed, "anything?"

Lucille faced Nickos, "do you have anything?"

"Nothing that can help us kill it, but I have silver coating and a pouch of powdered Holy Silver hanging on my hips? Those will buy us time at least." The Demon took one step forward and their group followed, taking two steps back and away from the approaching fiend, Nickos spoke again, "well, I guess I also have a few scrolls but I don't think these will be useful? They're all in the Minor category."

"What kind are they?" Zyra asked while eyeing the bleeding Yhaine and seeing the gesture, Lucille started jogging her memory- where had she seen a first aid kit again?..

Nickos quickly got the message and unfortunately answered; "Nothing that can help her,"

"Anything helps." Zyra said through gritted teeth, "What kind of scrolls do you have?"

"Fireball, Binding Chains, and three Strength Boosts," he answered and Lucille didn't know why, but the amount and variation of scrolls that he carried had been expected by her, it didn't even surprise her to hear that her friend had three strength boosting scrolls and not any healing ones.

As Lucille continued digging through her memory for the first aid kit, Nickos took the scrolls out and used them one by one- Lucille felt strength seep into herself, followed by Yhaine, who begrudgingly stood up despite her wound.

"Yhaine, to me," the armored girl nodded at Zyra's words and moved over right next to her, Zyra nodded at Yhaine and an unspoken conversation had just been done and Lucille was out of the loop so she's not sure if she could be useful here- well- she did figure out a few things on her own and one of them is that Zyra is a great tactician so her deciding that Yhaine is gonna go to her instead of facing the Demon is a decision that Lucille is willing to trust.

The next thing and the last one that she figured out would be that if they wanted to survive, they're gonna have to stall and wait for someone to come by which… is not really that reliable but what can they do?

Well there's one thing but it's on the tip of Lucille's tongue-

As she continued thinking, everyone around her went into position, with Yhaine acting as the front line and Zyra as the back line, Nickos stood in the middle of the two for support, and Lucille, with a dash of hope that her friends would be able to stall, moved to the right of Yhaine.

She had a plan of her own and when Nickos met her eyes, he nodded at her before giving Yhaine and Zyra their share of the silver coating- with Yhaine slathering the braces of her armor and Zyra putting it on the end of her whip, - before throwing the rest to her and she coated her entire dagger with it.

When her Pledge was now a gleaming silver, she looked at the Demon Baron and gulped and it grinned in reply- which meant it was still playing around with them which is… ideal, she supposed-

Lucille broke into a run and dodged a tentacle headed straight for her chest, she was tempted to retaliate and attack the tentacle to give herself time but Zyra was faster, she whipped the tentacle and cut it in half, her new method of using Grow Weapon proving useful at this moment.
Much to their chagrin though, the Demon didn't react to the damage and simply sent out another one, this time aiming to predict where Lucille was going but Zyra was again faster, her whip corded around Lucille's waist and pulled her back- Lucille readied her dagger and cut the tentacle, the silver coating making it easier but not by much, it took her three consecutive swings to cut the tentacle in half.

She really wished she hadn't expended most of her Light by now…

Zyra's whip uncolied around her waist and let her go, she was free go into the classroom once the Demon's third attempt at cutting her off failed when Zyra's now upgraded whip attacked its leg, distracting it for long enough that it didn't attack Lucille as she entered the classroom, the demon growled and pounced on her friends and Lucille hoped for the best as she headed into the classroom- she didn't know if this was the case for every classroom and she's basing this off of one vague memory but…

She looked around at the spot where she knew the first aid kit would be located, the make of the classroom was pretty much the same, with ascending stairs and a stage at the front and to the right of the blackboard… relief washed over Lucille before she dashed forward and struck the back of her dagger against the crystal casing of the kit's key, she took it out and opened the first aid kit attached to the wall and- she sighed in relief, gauges, thank Goddess.

She took them out and wrapped them around her wounds, the biggest among them being the one on her stomach, but she sported other cuts too, and she assumed they were from stray wooden splinters or from her moving around too much- she covered each and every single one of them with a gauze and then proceeded to spray herself with Life Extract, a bit of vitality returned to her and she sighed- okay, that's one part done, now… she rummaged around the first aid kit and eventually found what she was looking for; a small bottle of condensed light, drinking it wouldn't do anything, hell, it's useless unless used directly on a scroll and the healing scroll right next to it would have been what it's used for but not right now.

Lucille grabbed both the bottle and the healing scroll and took them outside, her wounds were starting to itch- she knew that the Life Herb Extract wouldn't do anything other than stop the bleeding and relieve the pain- that was fine- well her wounds would've healed if she just took a break but she didn't have the time to that, she needed to move now- she eyed the window that led to the hallway and saw that it had turned dark- she bit her lip and moved outside regardless, using her other senses for navigation…

They weren't here, Lucille realized- she looked around, there were some lights that came from the classrooms at least… she hadn't noticed that… well- silver linings-

Confident that she could spot the silhouette of a 6 foot long Demon the shape of a dog should she encounter it even in light this dim, Lucille took a heavy step forward and made her way across the empty halls of the school, she moved until she found the Demon- and her friends-

Lucille stopped and gulped- she needed ot find an opportunity, and that sort of thing is very, very scarce right now-

She moved closer to the fighting, the Demon wouldn't have noticed her on account of the bottle of Light she was carrying, she knew that, but it still scared her to go near the damn thing, slowly, she stalked the Demon, moving silently across the hallway until she eventually got close to it, this was her opportunity, but the question is, does she do it?

She was directly behind it and the Demon wouldn't be able to turn around thanks to what she's about to do but its tentacles should be fast enough to hit her in mere moments in this distance-

No time for second thoughts- Lucille adamantly told herself as she splashed the Demon's legs with the bottle of condensed light before moving forward- and as the Demon screamed from the liquid making contact with its skin, Lucille's Pledge met its hind leg and she cut, and this time, thanks to the pure white liquid on the surface of its skin, her silver coated Pledge cut through its flesh with ease and the Demon screeched-

Lucille stepped away and she got pushed further back by Zyra's whip.

She fell just as a tentacle struck the ground.

The Demon fell too.

And from her attacks no less-

She was glad-

Someone tackled the Demon just as Lucille's prone body struck the ground, she heaved as her chest met concrete- she pushed through the pain and with gritted teeth, stood up, slowly and surely until she managed to face Yhaine wrestling with the Demon, she took out the healing scroll and used it on her- "T-hanks!"

Lucille nodded, she didn't even bother to wonder why Yhaine decided to tackle the Demon, they were desperate and there was no need for logical or faulty reasons- so for now, verbal support was the only thing that she could offer but not for long- "you're welcome," Lucille said before she ran off to another classroom to open up another box of first aid.

With it, they might just have a chance.

As Lucille ran off to another one of the classrooms to grab another one of the scrolls and bottle of condensed light, Zyra and the rest fought the Demon- the blue haired girl pulled on her wrist, calling her whip back before dragging the weight up to her elbow, her whip started to move, then the weight and momentum got carried over to her shoulders and her whip turned into an extension of her arm, a very long, very spindly and winding extension but an extension all the same- she pulled on the handle of her Pledge and her whipped cracked, striking the Demon directly on the head just as it was about to bite Yhaine.

Zyra twisted her arm again for another crack at her whip, she eyed Nickos, "how long until your powder runs out and the Demon starts to attack us with its tentacles again?"

Nickos eyed the stopwatch he was carrying, he sighed, "40 more seconds,"

"Fuck." Lucille couldn't come back any sooner-

Yhaine continued to wrestle with the Demon while Zyra and the rest assisted, Nickos would occasionally step in and bash it in the head with a pipe while Zyra released a constant stream of whiplashes that sent the Demon back, she was starting to wound it, which meant that the fucking thing isn't as invincible as she once thought it was and playing around with them would be its biggest mistake.

And speaking of Lucille, Zyra smiled when her friend broke through the door of a nearby classroom and without hesitation, splashed the Demon's neck the bottle of light she was carrying and with that very same foolhardy bravery, she moved forward without an ounce of fear.

Her arms glowed a baleful red, she went near the Demon and proceeded to aim her Pledge at its neck- the bottle broke apart and the liquid inside entered one of the many holes found there, it started to flail and screech, allowing Yhaine to lock some of its limbs- then Lucille's Pledge buried itself into its neck- she took the weapon out and did it again, and again- and again- and again-

There were more holes in the Demon's neck by the time she was done.

At least there would have been if its corpse didn't shrivel up.

Lucille found herself lying on the wall while heaving, "that- I don't want to do that again. Ever." Her exhausted words were accompanied by a satisfied smile and Lucille idly noted that her dagger had changed its shape too, gaining a small arc by the end. And it was also longer now, she supposed.
Lucille heaved and used the healing scroll on Yhaine, who sighed in relief before thanking her, "there's more in the classrooms," she eyed Zyra and Nickos, "each one has a first aid kit with a single healing scroll and a bottle of condensed light."

"So that's what it was!" Nickos said in realization before running off, Zyra shortly followed.

Yhaine's pledge disappeared and the girl was left lying on the floor, she met Lucille's eyes and she gave out a shaky smile, "good job for figuring that out," she said, "I wouldn't have thought of that,"

"Honestly? Me neither." Lucille admitted.

"But you did,"

"Yeah…"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They went silent and before long, Zyra and Nickos came back with their respective scrolls of healing and used it on the two girls, and with the added boost of the condensed light, they were healed fairly quickly and were standing up minutes after the scrolls were used- albeit shakily for Yhaine

Lucille sighed as she eyed her torn clothes.

"Ugh. The princess' clothes are ruined." She looked like she was about to cry.

"That's what you're worried about?" Zyra laughed, "Goddess."

After a stream of chuckles and light laughter, the group pressed their backs against the walls and they stayed in that position, unmoving and exhausted but feeling victorious, winning against a Demon Baron would've been nigh-impossible for the standard Pledge Bearer their age but here they are, standing over the shriveled up corpse of said Demon Baron by their feet, basking in feelings of relief as the adrenaline faded from their systems.

Lucille broke the silence, "how do you guys think everyone is doing back at the gym?"

"The princess is with them, they're gonna be fine," replied Zyra, waving her off.

"What about the head of the houses?" Asked Nickos, "those guys were there too right?"

"Can the heads of house Tornaria or Nimbesugia move as fast as the princess? What about the heads of House Eruptia? Can he cut a Demon Duke's hand in one strike?" Zyra asked, voice laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah, that's fair." - that was an answer from Yhaine.

The ice broke then and with a topic to talk about, the four teens decided to, well, talk, Lucille hummed, "how powerful do you think the princess is?" She asked, "I bet she's probably capable of fighting a Demon General one on one,"

"She cut the arm of a Duke," Zyra scoffed, "of course she can fight a Demon General or two," she met Lucille's eyes, "killing the Demon that we fought just now probably wouldn't even take her effort, just one slice and-" Zyra made a cutting motion with her neck, "- dead."

"You know she fought an entire monster horde on her own," said Nickos, "I don't know where Fafnir was during that time, but we saw her do that,"

"It was in the papers actually," said Yhaine, yellow hair bobbing as she nodded, "said it was a horde that would've taken entire armies to exterminate,"

"Are we sure she's not the Saintess?" Zyra asked.

"Well she is but she just denies it, like always," replied Yhaine, "but yes, she is the Saintess, even if she says no to anyone who asks,"

"Goddess," Lucille smiled, "as humble as always,"

Zyra giggled, "well, she wouldn't be the Saintess if she's arrogant now is she?" She pushed herself up and scanned the group, "now come on, we need to go," she sighed while eyeing the hallway ahead, "I'm sure that there's no more Demons around here so we should be fine," she started walking.

Lucille stood up as well and Yhaine and Nickos reluctantly followed, "come on, we need to make our way back to the gymnasium and get help before any other Demon finds and kills us." She said to the two.

The walk back had been quick- sort of, it still took a while since they passed through the still illuminated corridors and hallways but compared to their expectations of finding a Demon moving around the school, a silent detour is so much better. When they reached the Gymnasium, the place was wrecked, with the princess gone for one reason or the other, hundreds of sleeping bags were laid across the ground, broken chairs and torn walls were all they could see, and a part of the floor was cracked.

Their group made their way towards one of the heads, this one being the head of House Phagea, Line, he waved at them, bearded face smiling and glasses moving upward as he crinkled his nose, "where have you three been?"

"We fought a Baron," Zyra answered for them, "don't ask for now please?"

"Very well," Line nodded and two maids came forward to put four sleeping bags on the floor, "rest,"

So they did, and they were served food, got their bodies checked and existing wounds healed, and then got their overall health checked, when it was all done, they were considered as "recovered" and were mostly left alone save for the occasional offer of a free bottle of water.

As they sat on their sleeping bags, Lucille decided to ask the question that's been on the back of her head for quite some time now, she knew that the princess would be fine, that much is obvious, Neophyte is strong after all but she still felt worried so… "where's princess Neophyte?"

Line pointed to the skies and Lucille felt her heart sink because she thought that the princess had somehow died but she then followed where he was pointing at and saw a Dragon descending from the clouds, followed by several bags of supplies, the princess jumped off and shouted- "Here! Another set of supplies!" She looked worn down, a part of her coat had been torn, and her Pledge was nowhere to be seen.

Lucille smiled at her when Neophyte met her eyes and the princess beamed- why? She didn't know but it made her ears go pink.

After the drop off, Fafnir flew away again, leaving just as quickly as she had arrived.

"... so did she kill the Demon Duke alone?" Asked Lucille.

Line shook his head, "she had Fafnir's help," he said and Lucille thought that it was basically the same thing wasn't it?! "I still can't believe that she can do that honestly,"

"Yeah, neither can we," Zyra said with a sigh, "I can't believe we're even in the same generation as her,"

Line chuckled, "Don't say that, you know, the Beast King fought hordes of Demon Barons and laughed while doing so, she's worth mentioning."

"Yeah… my point stands, she's the Beast King, also, those are Demon Barons, not a Duke." Said Zyra.

"Did anyone die?" Lucille asked to change the topic. Honestly she didn't feel like talking about any of that right now nor does she appreciate her friend talking to the head of a House like that- and she's sure that Line is offended as well.

"None, the heads of the houses and the teachers wouldn't allow that to happen," she sighed at the old man's words, thank Goddess no one died.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

...Wait, did they really SOMEHOW keep ANYONE from dying?
I mean, I understand that with Neo taking up the Demon Duke, which originally would have required the vast majority of the Teachers to focus on there was a LOT of leeway and as Line said, the Heads of Houses and Teachers could focus on keeping their charges safe, but seriously? Not a single death?
And of course Laceresta was soloing her own hordes... Truly, Neo's harem is abnormal in its strength. XD

 

[NotACryptid]

...Wait, did they really SOMEHOW keep ANYONE from dying?
I mean, I understand that with Neo taking up the Demon Duke, which originally would have required the vast majority of the Teachers to focus on there was a LOT of leeway and as Line said, the Heads of Houses and Teachers could focus on keeping their charges safe, but seriously? Not a single death?
And of course Laceresta was soloing her own hordes... Truly, Neo's harem is abnormal in its strength. XD

Click to shrink...

The presence of a Demon Duke would be the cause of death most of the time since when people see one, they go and think, 'oh, we're fucked, aren't we?' but with Neophyte literally starting things off by cutting off its hand, everyone is just thinking that they need to fight back and keep every other Demon occupied so that Neophyte can kill the actual threat, and with everyone fighting, it's just a matter of time when the Demons get killed.

No one died because as seen with Lucille, healing Techniques exist, even when using scrolls, so there's no fatality, especially with the heads of houses being around to smooth things over.

 

[NotACryptid]

Fafnir spread her wings and slowly began her slow descent from the sky as me, Laceresta, and Zathania prepared ourselves to jump off of the saddle and into the ground- well, Zath looked a bit- and is- more reluctant to do what Laceresta and I have been doing for the past few hours now but she'll get the hang of it eventually.

I nodded encouragingly at her as she stood at the edge of the saddle, I gave her an understanding smile when she walked back and decided to sit this one out.

The sudden burst of air as Fafnir got close to the ground caused my hair to ripple outward and Laceresta's grin to increase in ferocity, when we were close enough, I bent my legs and jumped down and so did she- I landed with a soft 'hup!' and a bounce before settling down while the Beast King, true to her name and role, caused a miniature earthquake to erupt with her as the epicenter.

I sighed at that, "that was wholly unnecessary," I scolded lightly.

We both walked forward to allow for Fafnir to land and as we stood in place, Laceresta turned and tilted her head at me, "what was unnecessary?" She asked, her voice a tone of genuine confusion.

"You know-" I gestured at her and did my best to find the words that wouldn't make fun of her weight because well, she is heavy and if the abs on her visible stomach are to go by, it's but not because of fat.
I tried to find the words, continuing to gesture around and eventually, I just decided to be blunt, "- the earthquake," I started, "you didn't need to cause an earthquake with your landing. You've never done it before, but you did it now you showof-" I paused and then sighed, "sorry, just… the fight got to me," I admitted after a brief moment of self reflection, "just- uh… I don't really know what to say so… you know- I'm sorry? I guess?"

"What for?" Laceresta asked, "you had a point,"

"I-" Before I can continue talking any further, Fafnir landed and Zath jumped down from her saddle, I turned to my maid and gave her a smile, "how are you doing?" I asked and her lips curved slightly upwards to return my gesture.

Zath walked forward and held my hand, "a bit shaky," she admitted, "that… I've- I never knew that a Demon Horde would come down on the school like that."

I looked away, refusing to meet her gaze, "... I'm sorry," I started, feeling downright apologetic now that the event had passed and I was staring at the damage caused by the Demon invasion to our school: the wall in front of us had a massive hole on it thanks to Fafnir's explosive entrance earlier, the floor on the area we were walking on was lined with cracks from the same reason, and the students, from what I could see from here, were all lying down on hastily prepared bedding, most of them were unconscious too…

I met Zath's eyes then quickly looked away-

I- I wanted to say that I knew about the invasion, I really, really did but- I stopped when a large hand landed on my shoulder and Zath's grip on my hand tightened, "we know," I heard Laceresta say, "apology accepted and besides," I turned my head to see her shrug, "what happened is not really that important, every one of us would've fought a Demon or two sooner or later," she said so confidently that I fully believed that she didn't care about the effects of the sudden invasion when she shrugged, "this was just a fast track to that,"

Zath nodded, "she has a point, Neo. We would've fought them sooner or later."

"I know that but…" I wanted to say that I could've prevented this by just speaking out a week ago and the Demon King would've been hesitant to send his horde when the school is on guard and wary of them teleporting in- but then how the fuck do I explain to them that the Demon King wouldn't be weakened and would be nigh-impossible to defeat if this invasion didn't happen?

I looked up at the sky, hoping for an answer from the Goddess just as Fafnir's new humanoid form stepped up to my right, I moved my gaze downward and met her gaze, her onyx eyes burned into mine and I was forced to look away from the guilt- she- she didn't have to go through all of that. She didn't have to fight the Demon Duke-

I sighed, why am I feeling so fucking sappy right now? I- you know what? I might as well tell them about the thing that's plaguing my mind, "if I say that the Demon King would slow down his advance thanks to this invasion, how would you react?"

"If you're asking me," Fafnir started, "then that's good, isn't it?" She said with a tilt of her head, she raised her scaly, gauntleted hand and with a swish of her tail, added, "sure, a few students could've died back then but no one did, right? So what's the problem? We won."

I looked at her, and I mean looked at her, just to spot a lie- her body was covered from head to toe in black scales, every inch of her had the stuff save for her face, the entirety of her collar, as well as a small part of her chest, which showed a "bit" of cleavage.

Fire climbed up my neck and into my cheeks from ogling her so blatantly and I looked away and up at the scaly crown on her head, too afraid to stare at her face and see her current expression, she had… well, the crown on Fafnir's head covered only the upper part of her forehead and it looked like an arrowhead of sorts, one that went upward.

In the corner of my vision, I noticed her eyes move to meet my line of sight and I quickly looked away, opting to stare at her forearms, which, unlike the snake-like scales found across her body, possessed a series of large, multi-layered layered scales that looked like roof tiles that started from her fingers then up to her elbow- creating this gauntlet like feature on her arm.

"Neo?" She asked and I refused to meet her eyes, let alone answer, so instead, I looked at her legs, which much like her arms, had large, multi-layered scales that formed knee-length boots- Her hand grabbed me by the chin and I was forced to look at her expression which… unlike the judging look that I expected was… dead serious.

Fafnir's eyes narrowed, "Neo. Talk to me." She said and I pouted- this is so unfair! "Are you okay?"

Despite being held by the chin, I did my best to convey a nod, "yweah," I answered, happy to know that she was serious when she said that we won- which, yeah, we did, we won against the horde and no one died even when I kept the knowledge of the invasion secret.

That's good, isn't it?

"I believe you," Fafnir said, then she let me go and all four of us walked in complete and utter silence towards the "entrance" of the gymnasium, and I only noticed it now but there, at the bottom of the massive hole on the wall that Fafnir created through her entrance earlier had a few of our teachers as well as a few notable members of influential Houses, some of them were the respective heads of their Families as well and among that group is my maid's Dad- Line.

And they were staring at us with expressions that I couldn't read, some of their faces were twisted into a frown, others looked like they had swallowed something sour, and to my right, I heard Laceresta tell Zath something about bloodlines that reached their dead ends…

What?

I met Line's warm gaze and everything clicked-

Wait- wait- wait- do they think that me and my group are "close" with each other?!

Geesh, now I can't help but feel a bit awkward, Zath's father had an expression that made me think that I'm meeting my boyfriend's- wait- well, I guess if I'm going with the misunderstanding then- girlfriend's Dad or something…
I looked away from Line and turned to Zath and considered on whether or not to tell her father that I am not in fact in a relationship with his daughter but judging by the warm smile that Line was shooting me with… he would think that I'm "joking" if I say that…

Goddess how annoying.

We walked up to him and he- a Scion of a House, - decided to give me- a mere princess, - a bow of respect, "thank you for accepting our House as your Vassal, Princess Neophyte Astral Everlast-" okay, so he used my full name so he's serious, also, their House? I thought it was only Zath that went under me?.. "- I cannot thank you enough for giving us such a great opportunity,"

"Well, Zath is great," I said and Line smiled, "I honestly won't have this any other way even when you know- Vassalhood was the last thing on my mind," I said with a chuckle, honestly, I never thought of making Zath my Vassal until it was mentioned…

His smile grew, "it's great to hear that you think so highly of my Daughter, so please, you can call me-"

"Old man, get to it, we kinda need to start doing things across the school," Laceresta said with a growl.

Line chuckled and fixed his glasses, "sorry about that," he said, "ah, well, I suppose I should let you youngsters do your own thing," he stepped aside and I stared at him in contemplation… he wouldn't mind if I call him Doc right? He looks the part; with his bearded face, glasses, lab coat, blue undershirt, and a black pair of pants and shoes…

Eh, I probably shouldn't so I should settle with what the Hero calls him ingame, "thanks for this old man." I nodded at him.

"O-old-"

A giggling Zath dragged me away from the stuttering Line and we ran past several teachers as well as the people repairing the hole in the gymnasium's wall, and just as we were about to enter the gym, the principal decided to call me, "If I may, Neophyte,"

We both stopped and turned Ms. Dialecta, who, if before was wearing a crisp three-piece suit, now had an entire set of ice armor present across her body, covering it and releasing a constant aura of frost that felt very cool right now but I got near her at some point during the invasion and I swear it was freezing then.
Ms. Dialecta stepped forward and a wave of cold washed over me and Zath, when she reached us, she gave me a grateful smile, "I want to start by saying that your help and aid in supply relief has greatly helped us," she said, "and not to mention, the fact that you and your Dragon killed that Demon Duke as a pair, we, the teachers, would've had a hard time doing what you both did, so thank you, Saintess,"

Fafnir nodded and so did I after a second of contemplation on whether or not to tell her that I am not in fact, the Saintess.

Ms. Dialecta continued, "but I don't think words will ever be enough so I want to invite you to the hastily planned award ceremony of our school three days from now," I nodded again, that is something that I knew will happen after this and… fuck me, I'm gonna become Crown Princess because of this won't I? Okay- it's probably not the end of the world if that happens, maybe Adamantite can like, pull something out of his ass and get back the title or something, I dunno-

Noticing that the woman in front of me was giving me an expectant stare, I nodded and thought that it was the end of the conversation but- "and if you will, can I ask for your help in rooting out any potential Envy Demons hiding around our school?" Someone behind her stepped forward and handed her a log book, which she presented to me, "they will undoubtedly send in infiltrators here and I've already sent out a few parties to search for them but it would be great if you could provide your aid as well,"

I took the logbook and gave her a determined nod, "we'll find those Demons,"

That was the end of the conversation and as we started walking towards the entrance to the hallways of the school building, I couldn't help but scold myself at the fact that I completely forgot about the Infiltration Arc which if memory serves me right, will be caused by the janitors working for the school but also some of the students which meant that the Envy Demons would first take over the places of the Janitors but then eventually would move to start replacing students.

And as more and more Demons spawn their kin, a murder mystery would start and it'll lead to uncovering the Demon General of Envy that spawned here in school… and all of that will happen around the 2nd Quarter exams so I'll have months ahead of me to search the school for the damn things and prevent them from killing Lucille-

"Neo?" Zath's voice stopped my train of thought and I focused back on the present to realize that we were now walking along the hallways of Pledge Academy, "you okay? You almost bumped into a wall."

"I-I'm fine," I said to the concerned looks of my friends, I squeezed Zath's hand, "I promise I'm fine."

"If you're sure," Laceresta shrugged while Fafnir and Zath nodded.

I knew they didn't believe me, I knew but- but just this once, I- I'd let myself deal with this silently. Bit by bit. I'd take out the infiltrating Demons until there's none of them left in the school and when that's done, I'd start working on… well, I'd have to go with the Hero and protect her when she goes out to do her self/skill/power-discovery journey, and we'll have to leave the Academy for two months at most-

"Neo." I was pulled away before I could faceplant into the wall, "are you okay?" Zath sounded serious.

"I- I am! I promise!" I said again, repeating my reassurance, "it's just that I have a lot on my mind right now,"

"Well you better clear it up then because we're not gonna be able to fight the Demons here properly if you don't," Laceresta said, she shoved me further into the hallway, "now come on, we need to continue, I saw a hallway that didn't have an ounce of light a few meters back," she said, "might be a trail that we can follow to an Envy Demon."

I only nodded, opting to keep silent about the fact that it was possibly Lucille's chase scene that caused such a thing to happen. And that scene didn't have an Envy Demon, but instead a Wrath Demon of the hound variety, so we'll have to search for that one too, then I'll pretend to be surprised when we see it.

I nodded, "yeah, we should probably go and see if it's a trail."

 

[Mirriam Grave]

I looked at her, and I mean looked at her, just to spot a lie- her body was covered from head to toe in black scales, every inch of her had the stuff save for her face, the entirety of her collar, as well as a small part of her chest, which showed a "bit" of cleavage.

Fire climbed up my neck and into my cheeks from ogling her so blatantly and I looked away and up at the scaly crown on her head, too afraid to stare at her face and see her current expression, she had… well, the crown on Fafnir's head covered only the upper part of her forehead and it looked like an arrowhead of sorts, one that went upward.

In the corner of my vision, I noticed her eyes move to meet my line of sight and I quickly looked away, opting to stare at her forearms, which, unlike the snake-like scales found across her body, possessed a series of large, multi-layered layered scales that looked like roof tiles that started from her fingers then up to her elbow- creating this gauntlet like feature on her arm.

"Neo?" She asked and I refused to meet her eyes, let alone answer, so instead, I looked at her legs, which much like her arms, had large, multi-layered scales that formed knee-length boots- Her hand grabbed me by the chin and I was forced to look at her expression which… unlike the judging look that I expected was… dead serious.

Click to shrink...

Here we see Princess Neophyte "I AM TOTALLY NOT GAY!" Astral "OR THE SAINTESS!" Everlast showing off how gay and saintly she is.

We walked up to him and he- a Scion of a House, - decided to give me- a mere princess, - a bow of respect,

Click to shrink...

...Neo REALLY doesn't understand how Nobility works, like, at ALL, does she?
Furthermore, a MARTIAL BASED NOBILITY system when you just killed, solo, one of the closest beings the enemy has to sub-leaders.

okay, so he used my full name so he's serious, also, their House? I thought it was only Zath that went under me?

Click to shrink...

...DAMMIT NEO! I know your head pushes out everything but training and guilt but come the fuck on! Your sister explained ALL of this to you not two weeks ago!

Eh, I probably shouldn't so I should settle with what the Hero calls him ingame, "thanks for this old man." I nodded at him.

Click to shrink...

And here Neo continues to prove that she is in fact, NOT the Saint... because she is taking the role of the Hero, what with the gathering of a Battle Harem and leading the charge against the Demon King's forces and calling the poor Doc 'Old Man', and whatnot. XD

We both stopped and turned Ms. Dialecta, who, if before was wearing a crisp three-piece suit, now had an entire set of ice armor present across her body, covering it and releasing a constant aura of frost that felt very cool right now but I got near her at some point during the invasion and I swear it was freezing then.

Click to shrink...

She invented this technique originally because she found summer too hot, and because she wanted to look cool as a kid, but realized during a battle that it was actually a good offensive technique as well.
She never told anyone that it was anything but her plan from the start.

Fafnir nodded and so did I after a second of contemplation on whether or not to tell her that I am not in fact, the Saintess.

Click to shrink...

'No one will believe me anyway. They don't when I tell them I am not gay, or that I am not gathering a Harem of powerful women, or that I am UBER Powerful/Overleveled. So why would they believe me when I tell them I am not the Saintess.'
''''Gee, I wonder why Princess.''''

I only nodded, opting to keep silent about the fact that it was possibly Lucille's chase scene that caused such a thing to happen. And that scene didn't have an Envy Demon, but instead a Wrath Demon of the hound variety, so we'll have to search for that one too, then I'll pretend to be surprised when we see it.

Click to shrink...

No worries Neo!
You won't have to pretend to be surprised when you see it, because it is dead. Killed by Lucille and her friends when the 'Scripted/Fated' event that allowed them to escape never happened and they rose up to the challenge instead, unlike the other Hero.
So you can in fact show GENUINE surprise, and then let your guilt complex rear its head at the fact that Lucille nearly died because this isn't a game on rails, despite the occasional station that you pass by.
I am hopeful that Zath or Laceresta say 'fuck it', and throw you in bed and ravish you to help clear your mind of unimportant things.
Or perhaps Fafnir with how you were looking at her earlier.
Poor Zath will wonder if the fact that you haven't acted on your feelings with her is because she doesn't have animal parts after that. XD

 

[Blaflaix]

my namesake, Neophyte- and though it was made of marble, some of the things here, such as the cabinets and the tub, were made of the expensive jade that I was named after,

Click to shrink...

Do you mean Nephrite?

Neophyte means Apprentice, or Beginner.

 

[NotACryptid]

Here we see Princess Neophyte "I AM TOTALLY NOT GAY!" Astral "OR THE SAINTESS!" Everlast showing off how gay and saintly she is.

Click to shrink...

Gay? Nope, not at all. Also, she's just pure (it's why she's not gay) not the Saintess.

...Neo REALLY doesn't understand how Nobility works, like, at ALL, does she?
Furthermore, a MARTIAL BASED NOBILITY system when you just killed, solo, one of the closest beings the enemy has to sub-leaders.

Click to shrink...

It's more of like her going, "oh, I'm just a simple princess with little to no authority!" while Line, IRL, would be the equivalent of belonging to congress.

Come on, she had help! Fafnir was there too!

...DAMMIT NEO! I know your head pushes out everything but training and guilt but come the fuck on! Your sister explained ALL of this to you not two weeks ago!

Click to shrink...

Neophyte doesn't really get politics. Poor Zath has her work cut out for her with Laceresta, Fafnir, and Neophyte (All leaders by the way,) being in a relationship with her.

And here Neo continues to prove that she is in fact, NOT the Saint... because she is taking the role of the Hero, what with the gathering of a Battle Harem and leading the charge against the Demon King's forces and calling the poor Doc 'Old Man', and whatnot. XD

Click to shrink...

"What? I'm not the Hero! I just do what they do ingame!" - Neophyte in denial.

She invented this technique originally because she found summer too hot, and because she wanted to look cool as a kid, but realized during a battle that it was actually a good offensive technique as well.
She never told anyone that it was anything but her plan from the start.

Click to shrink...

Ice users and their unfair ice armors during summer. Hmph.

'No one will believe me anyway. They don't when I tell them I am not gay, or that I am not gathering a Harem of powerful women, or that I am UBER Powerful/Overleveled. So why would they believe me when I tell them I am not the Saintess.'
''''Gee, I wonder why Princess.''''

Click to shrink...

Task failed successfully.

No worries Neo!
You won't have to pretend to be surprised when you see it, because it is dead. Killed by Lucille and her friends when the 'Scripted/Fated' event that allowed them to escape never happened and they rose up to the challenge instead, unlike the other Hero.
So you can in fact show GENUINE surprise, and then let your guilt complex rear its head at the fact that Lucille nearly died because this isn't a game on rails, despite the occasional station that you pass by.

Click to shrink...

She was very, very happy that Lucille survived thanks to her distracting the Demon Duke, and as for her acting surprised when encountering the corpse of the Demon Baron? SKIP. SKIP. SKIP. I have a romantic scene under the stars planned for Neophyte and Fafnir goddamnit! I didn't have time to write this!

In retrospect though, it would've been good... damnit!

I am hopeful that Zath or Laceresta say 'fuck it', and throw you in bed and ravish you to help clear your mind of unimportant things.
Or perhaps Fafnir with how you were looking at her earlier.
Poor Zath will wonder if the fact that you haven't acted on your feelings with her is because she doesn't have animal parts after that. XD

Click to shrink...

If there's someone who will literally break down Neophyte's walls, it will be Laceresta and the blunt hammer that's her social skills.

Do you mean Nephrite?

Neophyte means Apprentice, or Beginner.

Click to shrink...

Yeah... I kinda mistook the two at the start (I swear I saw a Neophyte Jade somewhere though,) but by then it's already too late.

 

[ForwardRewind]

Yeah... I kinda mistook the two at the start (I swear I saw a Neophyte Jade somewhere though,) but by then it's already too late.

Click to shrink...

You mean it wasn't a totally intentional joke?

 

[NotACryptid]

My personal royal suite was… honestly not all that different from my old room, save for maybe several other "guest rooms" placed around the place, and the kitchen too I guess, my old room didn't have one of those as an extension.
Overall though, the place was more or less the same as my room back in the castle; with king-sized beds, a red carpet that has my family's symbol drawn on it using gold, a dressing room full of clothes, and a bathroom right next to a gym with a military grade gravity well on it- I checked and confirmed it, it was the first thing I did when I got here.

… and I guess this place also had a living room where me and the rest of my friends could hang out, all of us were currently in it, just sitting around doing nothing after an entire day's worth of searching for Envy Demons.
And speaking of Envy Demons- we found around 16 of the damn things, and if I include the Demons found by the other students and teachers, we got around 200 or so of the bastards, which I hope wiped them clean because the Infiltration Arc sucked and I don't want to deal with it if I could help it.

None of that is important right now though- I wanted to just lie down and rest and that's exactly why me, Laceresta, and Fafnir were sitting on one of the three couches inside the living room (placed in a U shape with a hearth full of hot stones at the center for warmth,) doing nothing and just simply content on lazing about.

All three of us took over one couch and we laid our bodies across them like fallen logs while Zath ran around doing her regular job even though I told her not to.

Currently, she was near the hearth and was heating up… I think hot cocoa?

I sniffed. Yeah, it was hot cocoa.

Anyways, Zath was heating hot cocoa as well as preparing a tray full of bread and meat and stuff, and as always, she was doing it dutifully. I turned my head slightly to the side and eyed her, "Zath, you don't have to do this you know? Sit back and relax,"

"Aye." Laceresta agreed.

"It is best that I do not sit idle," Zath replied seriously, "I don't want to become lax just because we are now living far away from the castle," she added, tone and expression unchanging, "even if the King and your siblings aren't here to judge my performance, I think it's best that I keep doing it just in case one of them comes to visit,"

She grabbed the whistling pot on the hearth and poured the hot water down onto the four cups on her tray, the scent of chocolate wafted into my nose and I smiled, thank Goddess I knew how to make chocolate, or else I'd have to stick with something like honey or milk when I wanted to eat something sweet.

But since I made chocolate, those two sweeteners are being used as well, sweeteners by Zath and she was pouring them into the hot cocoa, the way it was always meant to be.

Watching the golden glaze of the honey and the white stream of milk get poured down the cups pretty much made me go hungry so as reluctant as I was to stand up from this couch, I was impatient and forced myself up- I walked up to my maid and gave her a smile as I took one of the cups, "thanks for this, Zath."

"Don't mind it," she replied curtly, "I am simply doing my job," she stood up and walked over to the center of the couch before unfolding a flat board- oh wait, no, it's a coffee table.

After it was unfolded, Zath placed the tray on top of the coffee table and as the scent of chocolate wafted across the air, Fafnir and Laceresta reluctantly pushed themselves up to start eating. Seeing Laceresta casually scoop up the honey with a spoon and shoving it into her mouth made me frown, "the bowl of honey is for dipping, Laceresta, not scooping up and eating,"

"Shwame fing!" The Beast King replied with a full mouth, she then proceeded to grab a round bread and dipped it into the honey before shoving it into her mouth, "dish ish ghood."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," I decided to scold since no one else was doing it and in response, they all stared at me dumbly, "what?"

Laceresta decided to eat in silence after that while eyeing me weirdly for some reason?..

What? What did I do?

I frowned, "I didn't scold you too badly did I?"
"No, not at all," the Lioness shook her head, "I just found it odd that you'd… you know, do that- I thought you didn't mind that sort of thing?"

"Of course I do," I said before continuing to eat. I didn't really know what to say in addition to that so I simply stayed silent, what else was I supposed to do?


I swallowed another mouthful of bread, "so… anything you guys want to do right now?" I looked at all of them, "we can play games?"

"What game?" A curious Fafnir asked, "last I checked, we don't have any of those in the suite? Or maybe I'm misremembering things?" She looked thoughtful at that before adding, "am I forgetting something?"

All heads turned to me and I put the bread down before standing up and walking to one of the shelves to pull out a game called Outlaw, I showed the board game to the girls and shook it around, causing the pieces inside to make noises.

Zath was the one who spoke first, "I- why do you want to do this?" She asked with a painful groan and I only grinned and seeing the exchange, Laceresta now had an interested look while Fafnir tilted her head. Zath sighed, "do you want us to stuff- why not pick something that you aren't good at?"

"Please," I smirked, "I'm not that good at it,"

"Well that's up for us to decide," Laceresta said and I didn't know if she was talking to Zath or me but she wanted to play and that's good enough for me! The Lioness patted the floor right next to her and gave me a feral grin, "so? Let's do this!"

I shrugged and did as she said and laid out the pieces on the flat floor, reluctantly, Zath went near to join while Fafnir, still as curious as ever, looked over the board game, "what is this?"

"The rules for the game are simple," I started, "we all get a single piece each," I gave them the 'outlaw' pieces, "and then we place these pieces on all the available starting points on the map," they all did as followed, "and what we do to play is that we all take turns on moving our pieces and making them do "actions" which you can find on the booklets, while these circles-" I pointed at all the blue circles across the board, most of them labeled, "those are our objectives," I said, "and they all have names, like for example, this one-"

I pointed at a circle near a place called, 'Rocky Outcrop' and it was labeled as 'Limestone Quarry'.

When my friends nodded, I continued, "- is called Limestone Quarry, and if you want to know what it does when it has been taken over then you find it through here," I grabbed the booklet that held the functions of the objectives and after waving it around, opened it up and started scanning the pages for the name of the objective and when I found it, I started reading it out loud.
"Let's see, Limestone Quarry does… uh, it gives your outlaw 250 Nuggets per turn," They all nodded, "and we can use Nuggets to buy or influence the "towns" across the board but our biggest goal is to essentially buy our "wanted" poster out of commission, doing crimes would obviously increase it but if you guys take over objectives that give you nuggets then I'm sure that it would be fine in the end right?"

They all nodded and I smiled, "great- so there are also special areas, terrains, and towns that can give you weapons, make your travel easier, or allow you to buy horses and you can read it all here," I grinned and handed them the piece of paper that beheld such information, all three girls took it and I placed my outlaw on one of the starting locations, a town called "Cheapskate" before watching my friends do the same, "okay, so, we're about to start?"

"Yes." Fafnir nodded.

"You said you're good?" Laceresta asked.

I shook my head, "that was Zath, I didn't say that,"

"She is good, yes." My maid nodded, "but if you want to beat her, then be my guess," she shrugged and grabbed the 10 headed dice to our side, "biggest number gets to go first,"

We all took our rolls and our turns were as follows: Laceresta, Fafnir, Zath, and me- and I got last place, talk about unlucky.

"So how do I do this?" Laceresta asked.

"Well, if you open the booklet and search for your starter town, you can find the items written there as "for sale" and you can buy them for Nuggets, all of us start out with 60 Nuggets to our name unless you modify your character so make sure that you pick the right things, oh, and uh, don't go down on less than 10 Nuggets before you travel,"

"Why?" The Lioness stopped reading and asked.

"Because they are for supplies, which makes your Nuggets go down by 10 after you travel, I found it on this page right here," Fafnir answered while waving the booklet she was holding around.

"Oh." Laceresta nodded at that, "I'll take note of it,"

As the game got going and Laceresta did her turn, I decided to open my own booklet to prepare for the stuff that I'd do in my turn and it seemed that everyone thought the same because as Laceresta called out her actions for this particular turn, we were all reading our booklets.

…

The taste of ash and sand, those two things washed over my dried tongue as I walked into the poor town that the folks here called "Klypsdale".

With an iron gun hanging on my hip and a bulky horse underneath me, what little amount of people that lived in this here town didn't bother to get in my way and I was free to move along the open road alongside the rolling tumbleweeds and the harsh western winds. I silently smiled, folks who knew how to move aside in the right circumstances were always people that I can respect.

I passed by a cacti and reached a fence, there, I dismounted from good ol Nessie and landed on the ground with a hup, my boots were caked with dry sand and so was my vest, the discomfort that I felt as I grabbed the lasso from my hip and tied it on the fence was bad- itchy.

With Nessie now safely tied, I left to go to the only saloon in the town.

I pushed open the grated doors of the Saloon and my eyes moved from left to right to scan the patrons inside, 4 in total, and among them, only one carried a gun but the bartender at the counter probably had a shotgun or two ready in case of a fight, they wouldn't get any from me, not unless they fight me first.

"Sup'," I greeted with a nod before eyeing the wanted poster that the bartender is looking at, my wanted poster, "why're ye starin' at it like it killed ya mum?" I asked with narrowed eyes as I walked into the counter and dropped a single nugget on top of it, "never seen an outlaw before?"

"Plenty like you pass along here miss," I scoffed at his words.

"Good," I feigned a confident nod even though I was well aware of my lackluster reply. Good? What was Good? I didn't know, nor did the Bartender if his expression were to go by, "so, any info related to the lands outside yer town?"

"Nothing other than knowledge on how to go through the prairie sadly," he said with a sad sigh, "if ya want, mayor's got a map on the mines up north, it'll cost ya a bag of Nuggets though,"

"Don't need it," I said with a scoff, "I want what ya have on the prairie,"

"A drink first, if you will?"

I slid the Nugget on my hands forward, "I want a mug of beer," he nodded and started talking about the prairie as he poured me a mug of foamy beer, he handed it to me and I took a sip, I blanched.

"This tastes like piss,"

"You get what you pay for, miss," I scoffed but as promised, he told me everything he knew about the Prairies.

"Fer nough." I nodded as he finished talking, "so, that's all there is to the prairies?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Aight, thanks for this," I gave him another Nugget for his troubles.

…

"So you're heading straight for the Prairie?" Fafnir asked while raising her eyebrows, "why?"

"I'm not leaving that rodent infested land until I get my special gun," everyone save for the grinning Laceresta turned to each other in confusion.

Neophyte shrugged, "... good idea?.." she said, "so, what will you be buying for your expedition?" She asked, "that tie of dynamite looks useful,"

"Nah, I'm spending everything on supplies," Laceresta said without missing a beat before moving her now knowledgeable outlaw to the prairie, "alright Dragon, it's your turn,"

Fafnir nodded, "I'll go ahead and head straight for the store and buy a bag of silver bullets for 20 Nuggets, then I'll spend the extra 30 on upgrading my gun by two levels and after that, I'll spend my turn on walking through the Haunted Forest to Bronzerush's right and I roll the dice for the fight…" the Dragon smirked, when it landed on 4, "4 but I have silver bullets and an upgraded gun; looks like I get to pass the forest and move to the Free Plains next turn,"

The girls nodded at that.

…

Bronzerush is a town of complete mystery to someone like me, though I knew that the reason why it kept itself standing after all this time is related to and something that can mostly be attributed to the bronze mines located in the mountains near the town is obvious.
But as for why the folks kept living here despite the constant raids from wraiths from the nearby Haunted Forest, the occasional werewolf attack, and Worm Lords spitting on them from the mines is something that baffles my mind, though it can also be said that it speaks of the resilience (or greed) of the townsfolk.

I walked into this decently rich town with naught but the black cloak adorning my back and the prosthetic rifle attached to my right hand, getting it replaced by a gun felt nice but relying on my left hand for my day to day activities has been a chore since.

I'm right handed, first and foremost, and getting it replaced by a gun made it easier for me to aim but it also hinders me- I am being redundant, I realize as I snapped back to the present.

I walked past the saloon and headed straight for the store and after buying silver bullets, proceeded to go to the gun smith- I neared and moved into his shop with lithe and grace and as my cloaked form went past the doors, he looked at me appraisingly, like a cow deciding to whether or not charge at me.

"Hello, dear smith," I nodded at him before showing him my wanted poster, my pretty face drawn on it badly as though purposefully done for mockery, "you have talents that can help me in my quest for vengeance,"

Truth be told, I had no such goal, I just wanted to pay off my wanted poster, but he did not need to know that, "that I do," he said with a serious nod, "what can I do for ya?"

"Upgrade my weapon,"

"You want to go through the haunted forest?"

"What else?" I answered questioningly, "are you gonna do it or not?"

He nodded and I went to give him my bag of Nuggets, "thirty in total?"

"thirty in total," he said, noting the discount thanks to my prosthetic, "but you know this won't happen again,"

"Aye." I nodded.

A few hours later I walked back into the smithy to take my new gear, I wore them proudly and went outside to head for the forest to start my journey through its wooden depths and though I was faced by spirits and wraiths alike, I managed to persevere and got out of the woods in one piece, glad to finally be able to reach the Free Plains, I walked forward and continued on my journey to turn myself into a free woman.

 

[Mirriam Grave]

Hahahaha. Laceresta is a woman after my heart, spending all her time at the start to get the DLC level weapon is what I would do myself.

And Fafnir took advantage of Neo's words to plan your character right if the discount is anything to go by.

 

[NotACryptid]

Hahahaha. Laceresta is a woman after my heart, spending all her time at the start to get the DLC level weapon is what I would do myself.

And Fafnir took advantage of Neo's words to plan your character right if the discount is anything to go by.

Click to shrink...

Laceresta's hard headedness and competitiveness won't allow her to get anything other than one of the strongest weapons in the game, wasting turns? What's that?

As for Fafnir, yep, she wants to be more efficient, hence why the weapon change