Well that's not a good thing. All aboard the turma train.
The Steep Path Ahead [Familiar of Zero AU]
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
It probably isn't the actual reasoning behind his decisions, or only part of it, I'm saying his explanation to Louise and Saito has a giant hole in it where the reasons he gives for his actions don't connect to the actions he tells them he's taking.
Why would he kill them off at all? It makes her a political agent by telling her her identity then lets her loose to possibly survive and cause trouble, when all he needed to do is not mention anything and give her what she had come for and she would exile herself first off the continent to her potential death then to a nunnery.
Louise was a self solving problem until he told her her identity and tried to kill her.
This isn't hard men making hard decisions it is blatant inefficient puppy killing.
Louise was a self solving problem until he told her her identity and tried to kill her.
This isn't hard men making hard decisions it is blatant inefficient puppy killing.
I assume the reasoning is that the hair is distinctive, as is the look to anyone who knew the Heavy Wind as a wee lass.
So no loose ends, especially when it can be proven that she met him.
I would not be surprised to find that another assassin has been dispatched to eliminate the Germanian cleric that sent them to Mazarin.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Because whats his name, the lower ranking church guy recognized her and was trying to get her back to her family. That's how they got sent to Mazarin in the first place.
At that point, he probably decided it was too risky to leave her walking around, if one person recognized her, other people could, too. (He also probably decided to kill that underling).
I wouldn't be entirely sure about that. Supposedly Karin was able to hide the fact that she was a woman in her youth despite looking like a pinup model with a renaissance fetish.
Rule of Funny is in full effect in this setting. Any disguse that perpetuates this crisis of gender will hold fast up until the horrendously embarrassing reveal.
There's no way she could have dressed like that normally and gotten away with being a "male"
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Eh. Ruffles, tights, high heels, and make-up were all considered traditionally male at different points.
Just assume either A) ZnT land has bizarre fashion sense and everyone thought she was bishounen or B) the illustrator isn't very good.
This.
Men used to do things like pad their calves under long stockings to make them look shapely in England, for example, and the French Court, on which ZnT was based, was allegedly more decadent.
Exaggeration is present, but that's par for the course for manga.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Thirty-Seven
"Small and green with purple dots on its leafs," Saito murmured to himself as he kept looking in the undergrowth. "Or big and shocking pink. How hard can it be to find a plant that is big and shocking pink?"
Something pink moved in the corner of his eyes, and as he turned, he sighed. Well, if he wasn't sure he'd lose Louise in a field of shocking pink flowers, perhaps he'd have better luck with it. As it was, he looked into his bag where he had found a couple of 'right' ingredients. Things weren't bad, and thanks to Charlotte they even had a bed in the servants' quarters as if they were her retinue.
This wasn't really wrong per se, since they were working for her. The job was cushy enough, the beds comfortable and the food eaten together with the servants wasn't that bad.
"Hey, Saito!" Louise hissed from nearby, squatting down to hide behind a tree. "I found traces of the basilisk!" she excitedly lifted a small rabbit paw turned to stone. Saito nervously chuckled as he flipped the book open to the basilisk voice. Thankfully, they weren't the type of creature that could turn others to stone by mere gaze. They were giant lizards, which had a poison in their fangs that stiffened the body of their prey to the point where they became similar to stone in texture.
Also, they were generally pretty pacific as far as magical creatures went. In fact, it took them relatively little to find one such lizard -the size of a cow, to be accurate- basking in the sun upon a rock in the middle of a meadow, its face definitely showing how pleasant he was feeling in that moment.
"We get what we need from him and then call it a day," Louise said. "The list says we need scales, nails and fangs-also the tail," she blinked. "We'll have to knock it out. Saito?"
Saito tensed the bowstring, the arrow already nocked. "Paw?"
"Well, if you want to kill it-but their meat tastes yucky," Louise said, turning a page of the book. "It might be the exotic taste Marceau likes to rant about 'finding out'."
Saito held his breath, and then let the arrow loose. It was soon followed by a second and a third, which all hit squarely their target with deadly precision. The lizard's eyes opened wide as it shrieked, trying to crawl away only to have three out of four of its limbs out for the count.
"Oh-it appears they have high regenerative capabilities-" Louise continued reading from the book as Saito rushed forward with shield and sword in hand. "Careful of their spit attack!"
A bolus of poisonous spit sailed the air as the lizard's paws clenched, shattering the arrows while the wounds began to close off.
"Why didn't I let her finish the description of the monster stats before attacking? Why?" Saito groaned as he rolled out of the way of the spit, before closing in with a swing of his sword. The lizard took the blow to the teeth, shattering a few as the sword rang, but they immediately grew back, shining wickedly too.
The lizard's eyes narrowed on Saito, and as it spun around with its tail ready to deliver a mortal crushing blow, the sword pierced through the creature's collarbone, severing the meaty extremity and making the creature yelp. A claw came up next, which Saito's shield deflected, the long nails of the creature leaving a distinctive mark on the shield.
Quick as lightning, Saito thrust his sword against the scaled fingers of the creature, giving it an impromptu manicure which ended with green sickly blood sprayed on the ground for a brief instant, it too suddenly coming less as the fingers regrew nearly instantaneously.
"One could solve world hunger with one of these!" Saito snapped as he angrily swung his sword at the other claw, swatting it away from his unprotected flank.
"Don't be silly, they need to eat a lot in order to do that!" Louise retorted, "Do you need a hand?"
"Everything's under control!" Saito said, keeping his gaze on the creature's snapping jaws. "Weren't they peaceful!?"
"They take the cutting of their tails as a personal offense!" Louise yelled back.
Saito grumbled a curse under his breath as he brought his shield closer to his body before letting it suddenly move to the side, opening up the giant lizard's torso to a sword thrust straight for its heart, through the creature's ribs. The Basilisk's eyes widened for a brief second, and then it fell on the ground, the green blood pouring out from both the chest wound and the jaws of the creature.
"It doesn't regenerate a heart wound," Saito said dutifully, wiping away the sweat from his forehead. "And its blood stinks."
"Oh well, let's add it to the reagents pile and bring some back," Louise said with a small shrug as she drew near with 'the bag'. The bag being a large burlap sack filled with smaller sacks, a few glass vials and bottles, and that had been given to the duo of adventurers to fill up.
"Do you think it ate someone?" Saito asked, "Perhaps there is-"
"No," Louise said offhandedly. "They don't eat people. They also don't eat poultry if you want to know. They are actually quite protective of poultry. Maybe we could have lured him with a small chick-anyway, no opening the creature's stomach up to see if it has something of value-"
Saito's lips twitched in a mocking imitation of a pouting cute girl, his eyes gone very wide and teary. Louise took one deep breath to center herself, brought a hand to her hip, and then lifted her swordwand with the other hand. "The basilisk's stomach acid is capable of melting steel, which is why few adventurers wish to fight it with their brand new weapons for fear of getting a shower in its digestive fluids-"
She had all the mannerisms of a schoolteacher down, a schoolteacher explaining the lesson to a silly child.
Saito blinked. "If that's the case-why didn't you tell me sooner!?"
"I knew you'd aim for the heart, of course," Louise said with a huff. "No need to make it a messy and prolonged death, no? Come on partner, give me some credit. I know how you think, you perverted mass of perversions."
Saito simply chuckled awkwardly at that, and as the bag was filled, both adventurers returned to the Academy with ease.
"It's been a few days, but I haven't seen Siesta yet," Saito said offhandedly, "Wasn't she supposed to return here?"
"We came by dragon, she is probably coming by foot," Louise replied. "It takes a whole day by horse, so by foot...I'd say she should be here by tonight at the latest, or maybe she's already back and you just missed her," the girl sighed, shaking her head. "We have to go to her village too. Tarbes, was it?" Louise mumbled. "And before that, once we are done with Lady Charlotte, we'll see if we can't find a professor to ask about summoning rituals."
Saito nodded, hoisting Louise's bag on his shoulder as he began to whistle, or at least trying to. "I'm carrying this," Louise said hotly. "Daughter of a noble or not, I'm carrying my bag and you carry your stuff."
"Aye," Saito replied, stopping the attempt at being gentlemanly.
He simply picked up Louise and pulled her on his right shoulder, bag and all.
The trick was to hold on to the handle of the dagger while he did that. It didn't matter how much Louise would squirm or yell, as long as he held on to a weapon, any weapon, he was reasonably sure he could counter her movements with some feet adjustments he had no idea he could even do.
Yet he could.
Exploring his familiar powers was amusing.
Teasing Louise while doing that was outright exhilarating.
"Small and green with purple dots on its leafs," Saito murmured to himself as he kept looking in the undergrowth. "Or big and shocking pink. How hard can it be to find a plant that is big and shocking pink?"
Something pink moved in the corner of his eyes, and as he turned, he sighed. Well, if he wasn't sure he'd lose Louise in a field of shocking pink flowers, perhaps he'd have better luck with it. As it was, he looked into his bag where he had found a couple of 'right' ingredients. Things weren't bad, and thanks to Charlotte they even had a bed in the servants' quarters as if they were her retinue.
This wasn't really wrong per se, since they were working for her. The job was cushy enough, the beds comfortable and the food eaten together with the servants wasn't that bad.
"Hey, Saito!" Louise hissed from nearby, squatting down to hide behind a tree. "I found traces of the basilisk!" she excitedly lifted a small rabbit paw turned to stone. Saito nervously chuckled as he flipped the book open to the basilisk voice. Thankfully, they weren't the type of creature that could turn others to stone by mere gaze. They were giant lizards, which had a poison in their fangs that stiffened the body of their prey to the point where they became similar to stone in texture.
Also, they were generally pretty pacific as far as magical creatures went. In fact, it took them relatively little to find one such lizard -the size of a cow, to be accurate- basking in the sun upon a rock in the middle of a meadow, its face definitely showing how pleasant he was feeling in that moment.
"We get what we need from him and then call it a day," Louise said. "The list says we need scales, nails and fangs-also the tail," she blinked. "We'll have to knock it out. Saito?"
Saito tensed the bowstring, the arrow already nocked. "Paw?"
"Well, if you want to kill it-but their meat tastes yucky," Louise said, turning a page of the book. "It might be the exotic taste Marceau likes to rant about 'finding out'."
Saito held his breath, and then let the arrow loose. It was soon followed by a second and a third, which all hit squarely their target with deadly precision. The lizard's eyes opened wide as it shrieked, trying to crawl away only to have three out of four of its limbs out for the count.
"Oh-it appears they have high regenerative capabilities-" Louise continued reading from the book as Saito rushed forward with shield and sword in hand. "Careful of their spit attack!"
A bolus of poisonous spit sailed the air as the lizard's paws clenched, shattering the arrows while the wounds began to close off.
"Why didn't I let her finish the description of the monster stats before attacking? Why?" Saito groaned as he rolled out of the way of the spit, before closing in with a swing of his sword. The lizard took the blow to the teeth, shattering a few as the sword rang, but they immediately grew back, shining wickedly too.
The lizard's eyes narrowed on Saito, and as it spun around with its tail ready to deliver a mortal crushing blow, the sword pierced through the creature's collarbone, severing the meaty extremity and making the creature yelp. A claw came up next, which Saito's shield deflected, the long nails of the creature leaving a distinctive mark on the shield.
Quick as lightning, Saito thrust his sword against the scaled fingers of the creature, giving it an impromptu manicure which ended with green sickly blood sprayed on the ground for a brief instant, it too suddenly coming less as the fingers regrew nearly instantaneously.
"One could solve world hunger with one of these!" Saito snapped as he angrily swung his sword at the other claw, swatting it away from his unprotected flank.
"Don't be silly, they need to eat a lot in order to do that!" Louise retorted, "Do you need a hand?"
"Everything's under control!" Saito said, keeping his gaze on the creature's snapping jaws. "Weren't they peaceful!?"
"They take the cutting of their tails as a personal offense!" Louise yelled back.
Saito grumbled a curse under his breath as he brought his shield closer to his body before letting it suddenly move to the side, opening up the giant lizard's torso to a sword thrust straight for its heart, through the creature's ribs. The Basilisk's eyes widened for a brief second, and then it fell on the ground, the green blood pouring out from both the chest wound and the jaws of the creature.
"It doesn't regenerate a heart wound," Saito said dutifully, wiping away the sweat from his forehead. "And its blood stinks."
"Oh well, let's add it to the reagents pile and bring some back," Louise said with a small shrug as she drew near with 'the bag'. The bag being a large burlap sack filled with smaller sacks, a few glass vials and bottles, and that had been given to the duo of adventurers to fill up.
"Do you think it ate someone?" Saito asked, "Perhaps there is-"
"No," Louise said offhandedly. "They don't eat people. They also don't eat poultry if you want to know. They are actually quite protective of poultry. Maybe we could have lured him with a small chick-anyway, no opening the creature's stomach up to see if it has something of value-"
Saito's lips twitched in a mocking imitation of a pouting cute girl, his eyes gone very wide and teary. Louise took one deep breath to center herself, brought a hand to her hip, and then lifted her swordwand with the other hand. "The basilisk's stomach acid is capable of melting steel, which is why few adventurers wish to fight it with their brand new weapons for fear of getting a shower in its digestive fluids-"
She had all the mannerisms of a schoolteacher down, a schoolteacher explaining the lesson to a silly child.
Saito blinked. "If that's the case-why didn't you tell me sooner!?"
"I knew you'd aim for the heart, of course," Louise said with a huff. "No need to make it a messy and prolonged death, no? Come on partner, give me some credit. I know how you think, you perverted mass of perversions."
Saito simply chuckled awkwardly at that, and as the bag was filled, both adventurers returned to the Academy with ease.
"It's been a few days, but I haven't seen Siesta yet," Saito said offhandedly, "Wasn't she supposed to return here?"
"We came by dragon, she is probably coming by foot," Louise replied. "It takes a whole day by horse, so by foot...I'd say she should be here by tonight at the latest, or maybe she's already back and you just missed her," the girl sighed, shaking her head. "We have to go to her village too. Tarbes, was it?" Louise mumbled. "And before that, once we are done with Lady Charlotte, we'll see if we can't find a professor to ask about summoning rituals."
Saito nodded, hoisting Louise's bag on his shoulder as he began to whistle, or at least trying to. "I'm carrying this," Louise said hotly. "Daughter of a noble or not, I'm carrying my bag and you carry your stuff."
"Aye," Saito replied, stopping the attempt at being gentlemanly.
He simply picked up Louise and pulled her on his right shoulder, bag and all.
The trick was to hold on to the handle of the dagger while he did that. It didn't matter how much Louise would squirm or yell, as long as he held on to a weapon, any weapon, he was reasonably sure he could counter her movements with some feet adjustments he had no idea he could even do.
Yet he could.
Exploring his familiar powers was amusing.
Teasing Louise while doing that was outright exhilarating.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
Let's be honest, Brimir would be completely okay with that.
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
Its not a bullshit power if you don't abuse every second of it.
Better yet, shoe-blade, since it doesn't restrict your fine manual skills.
Roadie
A plate full of blins and a cat nearby.
If that doesn't work, he could try a cestus. They're basically like brass knuckles except strapped onto the arm with reinforced leather.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Saito was nervous. Louise wasn't. Well, maybe she was. It was night, and there was not a single trace of the maid in sight. "Look," Saito began hesitantly. "Louis-" they were out in the academy's courtyard, the lights from the towers half lit and half turned off. Louise had her mask on, and as she settled it firmly, she took a deep breath.
"You want to find out if Count Mott's guilty of the maid being late," Louise said. "She might have just taken a detour back home," she hazarded. "We can't just go look for her like this in the middle of the night."
"Louis," Saito said awkwardly, "I'm still worried."
There was a brief and awkward pause between the two. "So you want to break into the Count's mansion and find out if the maid is there or not?" Louise drawled.
"She might be in danger," Saito said.
"If she was captured by the Count's men, and this is a big 'if', Saito," Louise drawled out. "She could have simply fallen along the road because of an uneven step, and might be wobbling her way here with a swollen ankle. There really isn't a reason to think it's the Count."
Saito scratched the back of his neck, and looked sideways.
He looked sideways to where the stables of the academy were.
"We are not stealing a horse from a magic academy for nobles because of a maid," Louise said flatly, arms crossed. She took a small breath, "And there is no way to cross three days of distance in one night. So-"
"Wait, this would mean anyone kidnapping Siesta wouldn't be able to reach the Count for three days too, right?" Saito hazarded.
"Well-maybe, I don't know," Louise replied hotly. "But even if you went now, what chances do you have to reach-oh, I see what you are thinking, Saito, but the answer remains no. We are not stealing horses to follow a road that a group of mercenaries would be more likely to travel-and for the sake of clarity, my answer will be no, no, and no once again no matter how many times you ask."
"We are not going to save Siesta," Saito said calmly.
Louise blinked once. "Having cheek does not equate to being wise," she said. "You might be worrying for nothing-for Brimir's sake or for the Gods...let's just get back inside and go to bed. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow-"
Saito gave one more pleading look, and Louise's shoulders fell down. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered. "I cannot believe I'm doing this," she hissed.
"Do not worry!" a proud and booming voice said from behind the two, making them jump in fright. The Chef Marteau was behind them, his arms to his sides. "We of the staff have a horse for when we need to hurry to the city to buy ingredients that are quick to spoil!" he held a hand up in a fist, "And I am worried too about the fate of our friend Siesta!" the man still had his chef hat on, and as he spoke, he took a few steps closer to the two and hoisted them both up with his powerful arms. "Let us go then!"
Saito blinked. "Us?"
Marteau laughed. "You two are young, and Count Mott's men came here once before -I never liked them, let me tell you! If they were nobles, I'd run with my tail behind my back, but if they're just commoners like you and me, boy, then I can take them on-and there's no way you'd be able to go past the guards by the gate without me, so-we all will go!"
Still laughing, and still holding on to both Saito and Louise, the man made his way to the stables.
"What is going on!?" Lousie mouthed to Saito, who merely gave back an apologetic stare, as if to say 'What do I know?'.
The horse was a large and sturdy beast that had seen its fair years of toll, and had, rather than grow fat from being used merely for carrying food and provisions, become a ripped creature of muscles and steadfast determination. It was massive and intimidating, and as Marteau neared it and easily climbed on with both adventurers on his shoulders, he chuckled as he kicked the beast's flanks, sending it to trot without even needing the reins.
"Let us go, Ginger!" Marteau said with a chuckle, the horse neighing back in reply.
Dropping Louise to hold on behind him and Saito in his lap, the man made his way past the befuddled gate guards, who simply allowed him exit from the sheer amount of cheer the man exuded.
"So, how do you know of Siesta, young adventurers?" Marteau asked as he finally decided to grab the horse's reins, which made the trip all the more uncomfortable for Saito since he was not just on the man's lap, but also surrounded by the thick haired arms that were as big as logs to him.
"We saved her from Mott's men once," Louise said gruffly, in her manly-man voice of 'Louis'. She was holding on to the chef's clothes tightly, as if afraid to fall. "We thought the Cardinal had put a good word in for her!"
"You know the Cardinal?" Marteau said. "Being in the service of Lady D'Orleans, I had no doubts you were pretty strong! Why, it's not everyday you serve the heiress to a throne-"
"SHE'S A WHAT!?" Louise shrieked, making both Saito and Marteau wince, while the horse didn't as much as twitch an ear.
"You did not know?" Marteau asked.
"No," Saito answered for Louise's still shocked form. "I mean-she saved our lives while we were being attacked by a particularly strong mage-bandit, so-" he looked puzzled, "I thought royalty was more uptight, or something like-"
"Lady D'Orleans is a special case," Marteau said, holding the reins very firmly as the horse began to gallop the moment they left the academy's sights. Only, it didn't gallop as much as run faster than anything Saito had ever been on.
Plainly put, Saito had always believed he was making the horse run fast. He was wrong. "Hold on tight!" Marteau said. "When I said Ginger was fast, I was not kidding!"
The thunderous sound of hooves impacting against the road lifted a cloud of dust as the neighing horse gave everything it could give, closing the distance that would have taken hours for Saito in merely thirty minutes, all the while not stopping once. Then the horse's speed went down for a few minutes, allowing the horse to rest, before restarting its quick pace once more.
The night had long since fallen when they came to a halt in the middle of the road, and Marteau descended, his right hand touching the ground as he narrowed his eyes. "They went this way," he said quite firmly. "A group of six horses, all travelling with a large weight. They cannot have gone far."
He gestured to Ginger, who moved on its own while Saito and Louise touched the ground as if it whispered a sweet promise of salvation from the horse's maddening speed.
"That's...That's no normal horse," Saito said with a few panting breaths.
"Course not, Ginger's a purebred stallion," Marteau replied with a chuckle. "Personally reared him since he was but a foal-before taking on the art of cooking, I did a lot of work a little bit of everywhere," he winked. "And he'll wait for us here. Now-you faced these guys?"
"Yeah," Saito said with a nod. "The first time, Louis blew them up and I knocked a couple, the second time Louis managed to put them all to sleep with his magic." He hesitated. "Perhaps we can do that again?"
"That would be best, yes," Marteau said as he pulled his chef out off his head and ripped it in half, tying one half around his face in order to make it look like a bandit's mask, and handing the other one off to Saito. "Here," he said. "We wouldn't want our faces to be recognized now, would we?"
"Marteau?" Saito asked. "Have you done this before?"
"Well, I'll tell you once we're done, to keep the mystery alive," Marteau said with a wink towards Saito, which kind-of made him puzzled. "But don't worry, it's nothing that bad-just to be clear...if possible, don't kill anyone. A dead underling of a noble is not something we want," he added, unsheathing from within his chef cloth two large cleavers that Saito had no idea how he could hold inside without hurting himself.
"Now," the chef said, "Follow me and be quiet."
The night had a cloudy sky, and as the light of the moon faded in and out, it was only after a few minutes of trudging along the path that the light of a bonfire became apparent. "Don't stare at the flames directly," Marteau whispered. "It will ruin your night vision."
It was an eerily fond voice that spoke, one that felt both out of place, and also terrifyingly in place. It was...eerie. Yes, if Saito had to define that tone of voice, it was pretty eerie.
Nobody could sleep in their armor. It was uncomfortable, and outright impossible to sustain -as Saito had discovered from his back menacing to kill him if he tried to keep the heavy weights on during the night too. Dressed with thick padded clothes, three mercenaries were sleeping with a light snore, while the two men standing guard had their backs to the fire to prevent losing focus, their eyes and ears not really alert as they shared a whispered conversation between each other, but their armors still clasped on.
Tied to a horse with the reins, and the horse itself also tied to a tree, was Siesta.
If the maid tried to move, the horse might mistakenly crush her, and if she managed to somewhat avoid that sad fate, the horse neighing would alert the guards.
Louise brought her swordwand up and took a deep breath. "I'm ready," she whispered.
Marteau gestured for Saito to move slightly to the left, as if to allow a clear line for the enemy to rush for. With a nod, Saito hid his body behind a tree, dagger in hand and throat constricted from nervousness.
Louise's first words came out as the tiny sphere of bright light shone in the dark, right in front of the pink-haired girl.
"The he-it's them again!" one of the guards snarled, rising up with a sword in hand and rushing straight for Louise, the man's eyes narrow. The full-plate shattered the branches it impacted against, and as the man's charge seemed unimpaired, he came to a terrible discovery the moment he found his footing lost through Marteau's swinging of his blades.
The blades both impacted against the lower metallic shin with enough thundering strength to make the man yelp and lose his footing. Faster than Saito would have ever suspected, the cook spun both of his cleavers above his head, and then brought them both down in a swinging motion that dented the iron armor.
The second one managed to cover slightly more ground, at least until Saito's dagger-pommel came right for his face, shattering the helmet and driving the deadly metal shards through the face, making the man reel back and scream in pain. The mercenary clutched his face screaming, but still, the chant went on.
"Oh-I've had enough of this!" the leader of the mercenaries had gripped Siesta by the throat, "I've had enough-Enough! She's just a maid! There are hundreds like her and we need to fight adventurers each time we go grab her! I'm done! This is the last straw! Count Mott can keep his desires in his pants, all the gold he pays us isn't worth this shit!"
As the man squeezed the maid's neck and Siesta groaned in pain, the other two went for their bows, nocking arrows on the bowstrings.
"This dagger here is an inch away from your friend's neck!" the man snarled. "Stop your chant or if I fall asleep, I swear to frigging Brimir I will slice her neck as I fall!"
Louise hesitated, and then broke the chant off. The man with the broken helmet was down on his knees, and as he barely could see, Marteau didn't waste time putting the sharp side of the cleaver against his neck, just like he did for the other one.
"The good old hostage situation," Marteau mused. "How shall we do it? Gallian, Albion or Germanian?"
"Let's go with Albion," the man snapped, giving a nod to the two by his side. "Careful the boy is still at large," he narrowed his eyes back to the chef. "You fight well with those cleavers. Ex-Mercenary?"
"A side job," Marteau acquiesced with a throaty chuckle. "Now-Siesta, can you hear me?" Marteau said.
The terrified girl squeaked out a terrified yes as the grip on her neck loosened up. "You need to be strong. The Albion's way of exchanging hostages is really simple. They have them fall down from high above and grabbed by the other side, and the other side does the same. So-basically, you have to run towards the young adventurer over there," he inclined his head to point at Saito, who was slightly distant from Marteau.
One of the archers aimed his bow in the direction the chef had indicated, and as Saito held out a hand for Siesta to see, he also gripped his shield tighter.
"Now, when I release these guys, they'll start to walk until they're out of arm's length, and then they'll break into a sprint. You have to do the same, all right? Walk and then run. If you run immediately, he'll stab you in the back. But he won't, because there's really no point in killing a maid."
"I do have a grudge with your two friends, bandit with the white mask," the mercenary leader said gruffly. "But I'm not one who likes to kill gratuitously, especially without pay attached."
"And your odds are bad," Marteau added lightly.
"Yes, my odds are bad," the man said gruffly. "Don't make me even them."
Marteau nodded slowly, and as he did, so too did the leader of Count Mott's men before freeing Siesta and pushing her ahead very slowly. The chef did the same with the two knights, at least until the tip of his knife was no longer near their necks.
The moment Siesta started to run, the two knights turned on themselves and backhanded with their armored gauntlets Marteau's weapons, making the man blink in surprise as they threw him against a tree to the point where the trunk cracked under the strain.
Siesta had barely made a run that an arrow slammed into her shoulder, knocking the wind out of her lungs and making her fall on the ground.
Louise jumped behind a tree to avoid the arrow aimed at her, but as the archers quickly nocked another set of fresh arrows, the mercenary twirled his dagger and brought it close to the whimpering maid on the ground.
"Fool me once!" he snapped, "Shame on you."
He grabbed Siesta by the hair, "Fool me twice though, shame on me," he narrowed his eyes. "Now drop your weapons and come out, or we'll kill both of your friends!"
"W-We surrender!" Louise barked out. "We can strike a deal-"
"Ha! I heard that already!" the man said, a short bark of mad laughter leaving his lips. "Not falling for that again!"
Siesta screamed as the man held her hair tighter still. "I said to drop your weapons! And that includes your wand boy! I want it in pieces, thrown at me, right now!"
Louise held her breath.
Saito swallowed thickly.
This was bad.
This was all forms of bad.
Saito was nervous. Louise wasn't. Well, maybe she was. It was night, and there was not a single trace of the maid in sight. "Look," Saito began hesitantly. "Louis-" they were out in the academy's courtyard, the lights from the towers half lit and half turned off. Louise had her mask on, and as she settled it firmly, she took a deep breath.
"You want to find out if Count Mott's guilty of the maid being late," Louise said. "She might have just taken a detour back home," she hazarded. "We can't just go look for her like this in the middle of the night."
"Louis," Saito said awkwardly, "I'm still worried."
There was a brief and awkward pause between the two. "So you want to break into the Count's mansion and find out if the maid is there or not?" Louise drawled.
"She might be in danger," Saito said.
"If she was captured by the Count's men, and this is a big 'if', Saito," Louise drawled out. "She could have simply fallen along the road because of an uneven step, and might be wobbling her way here with a swollen ankle. There really isn't a reason to think it's the Count."
Saito scratched the back of his neck, and looked sideways.
He looked sideways to where the stables of the academy were.
"We are not stealing a horse from a magic academy for nobles because of a maid," Louise said flatly, arms crossed. She took a small breath, "And there is no way to cross three days of distance in one night. So-"
"Wait, this would mean anyone kidnapping Siesta wouldn't be able to reach the Count for three days too, right?" Saito hazarded.
"Well-maybe, I don't know," Louise replied hotly. "But even if you went now, what chances do you have to reach-oh, I see what you are thinking, Saito, but the answer remains no. We are not stealing horses to follow a road that a group of mercenaries would be more likely to travel-and for the sake of clarity, my answer will be no, no, and no once again no matter how many times you ask."
"We are not going to save Siesta," Saito said calmly.
Louise blinked once. "Having cheek does not equate to being wise," she said. "You might be worrying for nothing-for Brimir's sake or for the Gods...let's just get back inside and go to bed. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow-"
Saito gave one more pleading look, and Louise's shoulders fell down. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered. "I cannot believe I'm doing this," she hissed.
"Do not worry!" a proud and booming voice said from behind the two, making them jump in fright. The Chef Marteau was behind them, his arms to his sides. "We of the staff have a horse for when we need to hurry to the city to buy ingredients that are quick to spoil!" he held a hand up in a fist, "And I am worried too about the fate of our friend Siesta!" the man still had his chef hat on, and as he spoke, he took a few steps closer to the two and hoisted them both up with his powerful arms. "Let us go then!"
Saito blinked. "Us?"
Marteau laughed. "You two are young, and Count Mott's men came here once before -I never liked them, let me tell you! If they were nobles, I'd run with my tail behind my back, but if they're just commoners like you and me, boy, then I can take them on-and there's no way you'd be able to go past the guards by the gate without me, so-we all will go!"
Still laughing, and still holding on to both Saito and Louise, the man made his way to the stables.
"What is going on!?" Lousie mouthed to Saito, who merely gave back an apologetic stare, as if to say 'What do I know?'.
The horse was a large and sturdy beast that had seen its fair years of toll, and had, rather than grow fat from being used merely for carrying food and provisions, become a ripped creature of muscles and steadfast determination. It was massive and intimidating, and as Marteau neared it and easily climbed on with both adventurers on his shoulders, he chuckled as he kicked the beast's flanks, sending it to trot without even needing the reins.
"Let us go, Ginger!" Marteau said with a chuckle, the horse neighing back in reply.
Dropping Louise to hold on behind him and Saito in his lap, the man made his way past the befuddled gate guards, who simply allowed him exit from the sheer amount of cheer the man exuded.
"So, how do you know of Siesta, young adventurers?" Marteau asked as he finally decided to grab the horse's reins, which made the trip all the more uncomfortable for Saito since he was not just on the man's lap, but also surrounded by the thick haired arms that were as big as logs to him.
"We saved her from Mott's men once," Louise said gruffly, in her manly-man voice of 'Louis'. She was holding on to the chef's clothes tightly, as if afraid to fall. "We thought the Cardinal had put a good word in for her!"
"You know the Cardinal?" Marteau said. "Being in the service of Lady D'Orleans, I had no doubts you were pretty strong! Why, it's not everyday you serve the heiress to a throne-"
"SHE'S A WHAT!?" Louise shrieked, making both Saito and Marteau wince, while the horse didn't as much as twitch an ear.
"You did not know?" Marteau asked.
"No," Saito answered for Louise's still shocked form. "I mean-she saved our lives while we were being attacked by a particularly strong mage-bandit, so-" he looked puzzled, "I thought royalty was more uptight, or something like-"
"Lady D'Orleans is a special case," Marteau said, holding the reins very firmly as the horse began to gallop the moment they left the academy's sights. Only, it didn't gallop as much as run faster than anything Saito had ever been on.
Plainly put, Saito had always believed he was making the horse run fast. He was wrong. "Hold on tight!" Marteau said. "When I said Ginger was fast, I was not kidding!"
The thunderous sound of hooves impacting against the road lifted a cloud of dust as the neighing horse gave everything it could give, closing the distance that would have taken hours for Saito in merely thirty minutes, all the while not stopping once. Then the horse's speed went down for a few minutes, allowing the horse to rest, before restarting its quick pace once more.
The night had long since fallen when they came to a halt in the middle of the road, and Marteau descended, his right hand touching the ground as he narrowed his eyes. "They went this way," he said quite firmly. "A group of six horses, all travelling with a large weight. They cannot have gone far."
He gestured to Ginger, who moved on its own while Saito and Louise touched the ground as if it whispered a sweet promise of salvation from the horse's maddening speed.
"That's...That's no normal horse," Saito said with a few panting breaths.
"Course not, Ginger's a purebred stallion," Marteau replied with a chuckle. "Personally reared him since he was but a foal-before taking on the art of cooking, I did a lot of work a little bit of everywhere," he winked. "And he'll wait for us here. Now-you faced these guys?"
"Yeah," Saito said with a nod. "The first time, Louis blew them up and I knocked a couple, the second time Louis managed to put them all to sleep with his magic." He hesitated. "Perhaps we can do that again?"
"That would be best, yes," Marteau said as he pulled his chef out off his head and ripped it in half, tying one half around his face in order to make it look like a bandit's mask, and handing the other one off to Saito. "Here," he said. "We wouldn't want our faces to be recognized now, would we?"
"Marteau?" Saito asked. "Have you done this before?"
"Well, I'll tell you once we're done, to keep the mystery alive," Marteau said with a wink towards Saito, which kind-of made him puzzled. "But don't worry, it's nothing that bad-just to be clear...if possible, don't kill anyone. A dead underling of a noble is not something we want," he added, unsheathing from within his chef cloth two large cleavers that Saito had no idea how he could hold inside without hurting himself.
"Now," the chef said, "Follow me and be quiet."
The night had a cloudy sky, and as the light of the moon faded in and out, it was only after a few minutes of trudging along the path that the light of a bonfire became apparent. "Don't stare at the flames directly," Marteau whispered. "It will ruin your night vision."
It was an eerily fond voice that spoke, one that felt both out of place, and also terrifyingly in place. It was...eerie. Yes, if Saito had to define that tone of voice, it was pretty eerie.
Nobody could sleep in their armor. It was uncomfortable, and outright impossible to sustain -as Saito had discovered from his back menacing to kill him if he tried to keep the heavy weights on during the night too. Dressed with thick padded clothes, three mercenaries were sleeping with a light snore, while the two men standing guard had their backs to the fire to prevent losing focus, their eyes and ears not really alert as they shared a whispered conversation between each other, but their armors still clasped on.
Tied to a horse with the reins, and the horse itself also tied to a tree, was Siesta.
If the maid tried to move, the horse might mistakenly crush her, and if she managed to somewhat avoid that sad fate, the horse neighing would alert the guards.
Louise brought her swordwand up and took a deep breath. "I'm ready," she whispered.
Marteau gestured for Saito to move slightly to the left, as if to allow a clear line for the enemy to rush for. With a nod, Saito hid his body behind a tree, dagger in hand and throat constricted from nervousness.
Louise's first words came out as the tiny sphere of bright light shone in the dark, right in front of the pink-haired girl.
"The he-it's them again!" one of the guards snarled, rising up with a sword in hand and rushing straight for Louise, the man's eyes narrow. The full-plate shattered the branches it impacted against, and as the man's charge seemed unimpaired, he came to a terrible discovery the moment he found his footing lost through Marteau's swinging of his blades.
The blades both impacted against the lower metallic shin with enough thundering strength to make the man yelp and lose his footing. Faster than Saito would have ever suspected, the cook spun both of his cleavers above his head, and then brought them both down in a swinging motion that dented the iron armor.
The second one managed to cover slightly more ground, at least until Saito's dagger-pommel came right for his face, shattering the helmet and driving the deadly metal shards through the face, making the man reel back and scream in pain. The mercenary clutched his face screaming, but still, the chant went on.
"Oh-I've had enough of this!" the leader of the mercenaries had gripped Siesta by the throat, "I've had enough-Enough! She's just a maid! There are hundreds like her and we need to fight adventurers each time we go grab her! I'm done! This is the last straw! Count Mott can keep his desires in his pants, all the gold he pays us isn't worth this shit!"
As the man squeezed the maid's neck and Siesta groaned in pain, the other two went for their bows, nocking arrows on the bowstrings.
"This dagger here is an inch away from your friend's neck!" the man snarled. "Stop your chant or if I fall asleep, I swear to frigging Brimir I will slice her neck as I fall!"
Louise hesitated, and then broke the chant off. The man with the broken helmet was down on his knees, and as he barely could see, Marteau didn't waste time putting the sharp side of the cleaver against his neck, just like he did for the other one.
"The good old hostage situation," Marteau mused. "How shall we do it? Gallian, Albion or Germanian?"
"Let's go with Albion," the man snapped, giving a nod to the two by his side. "Careful the boy is still at large," he narrowed his eyes back to the chef. "You fight well with those cleavers. Ex-Mercenary?"
"A side job," Marteau acquiesced with a throaty chuckle. "Now-Siesta, can you hear me?" Marteau said.
The terrified girl squeaked out a terrified yes as the grip on her neck loosened up. "You need to be strong. The Albion's way of exchanging hostages is really simple. They have them fall down from high above and grabbed by the other side, and the other side does the same. So-basically, you have to run towards the young adventurer over there," he inclined his head to point at Saito, who was slightly distant from Marteau.
One of the archers aimed his bow in the direction the chef had indicated, and as Saito held out a hand for Siesta to see, he also gripped his shield tighter.
"Now, when I release these guys, they'll start to walk until they're out of arm's length, and then they'll break into a sprint. You have to do the same, all right? Walk and then run. If you run immediately, he'll stab you in the back. But he won't, because there's really no point in killing a maid."
"I do have a grudge with your two friends, bandit with the white mask," the mercenary leader said gruffly. "But I'm not one who likes to kill gratuitously, especially without pay attached."
"And your odds are bad," Marteau added lightly.
"Yes, my odds are bad," the man said gruffly. "Don't make me even them."
Marteau nodded slowly, and as he did, so too did the leader of Count Mott's men before freeing Siesta and pushing her ahead very slowly. The chef did the same with the two knights, at least until the tip of his knife was no longer near their necks.
The moment Siesta started to run, the two knights turned on themselves and backhanded with their armored gauntlets Marteau's weapons, making the man blink in surprise as they threw him against a tree to the point where the trunk cracked under the strain.
Siesta had barely made a run that an arrow slammed into her shoulder, knocking the wind out of her lungs and making her fall on the ground.
Louise jumped behind a tree to avoid the arrow aimed at her, but as the archers quickly nocked another set of fresh arrows, the mercenary twirled his dagger and brought it close to the whimpering maid on the ground.
"Fool me once!" he snapped, "Shame on you."
He grabbed Siesta by the hair, "Fool me twice though, shame on me," he narrowed his eyes. "Now drop your weapons and come out, or we'll kill both of your friends!"
"W-We surrender!" Louise barked out. "We can strike a deal-"
"Ha! I heard that already!" the man said, a short bark of mad laughter leaving his lips. "Not falling for that again!"
Siesta screamed as the man held her hair tighter still. "I said to drop your weapons! And that includes your wand boy! I want it in pieces, thrown at me, right now!"
Louise held her breath.
Saito swallowed thickly.
This was bad.
This was all forms of bad.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Hugs because there is no 'nooooooooo!' option.
That should be steel. Iron would be worse than even bronze.
Good update btw.
Dishonorable? They've been very reasonable until they got fed up. Louise and Saito had been the devious ones, each and every time. You could argue that the mercenaries just weren't given the opportunity to inevitably backstab the kids, but we'll never know for sure, because Louse and Saito did the backstabbing first.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Louise this might be a good time to whip out that incantation-less explosion.
In that light it might be better to have a small concealed weapon instead of gauntlets. The added reach would be more important than an inability to be disarmed, as the runes do nothing for his durability.
The Gandalfr runes don't seem to be an instant win button in this fic, or Saito would just knock out/kill all their enemies instead of holding on until Louise can cast.
In that light it might be better to have a small concealed weapon instead of gauntlets. The added reach would be more important than an inability to be disarmed, as the runes do nothing for his durability.
Dimensionist
Grandmaster of Apologism, Keeper of the Faith
- Location
- Bangalore, India
Yeah, the Gandalfr boost is actually surprisingly pathetic in this fic so far. Not sure what's going on there - rather than someone reputed to be capable of taking on armies, Saito gets chumped by random magical beasts.
Even with zero practice with his ability in canon, he was still a fairly decent combatant.
Even with zero practice with his ability in canon, he was still a fairly decent combatant.
Bakkasama
There is always a greater fool
- Location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/his
If I recall correctly, the gandalfr boost varied in strenght depending on whether he was defending his master or not and the deep of the feelings for her. That was why he could slow down a 70000 strong army (not beat, he just focused in the officials) but lost a spar agains Wardes. It is also a bad idea to have it always active, I think there was at least one occassion in which it ran out because it was used too much in a single day.
From what I recall of the novel, while the Gandalfr was strong, it was not the end all of all powers. Most of his danger came from the equipment he had, it being from our world and thus so advanced. Kind of how Julio's usefulness was limited by his access to animals to tame and how strong they were and Sheffield's by the power of the artifacts she wielded.
From what I recall of the novel, while the Gandalfr was strong, it was not the end all of all powers. Most of his danger came from the equipment he had, it being from our world and thus so advanced. Kind of how Julio's usefulness was limited by his access to animals to tame and how strong they were and Sheffield's by the power of the artifacts she wielded.