Chapter 21:

Will of The People

Warpainter: From Office Workers to World Warriors


Leo just missed the boat and fell toward the ocean. Arte, snatches his hand, barely managing to save him, and pulls him onto the boat. Leo breathes deeply while lying on the ground.

“Thanks for the save.” He says.

“It’s nothing.” She says. “I should be thanking you.”

“We’re a team. We cover for each other’s shortcomings.” He places his arms under his head.

“Always.” She grinned.

Emerald and Milq walk over to Arte. Milq’s eyes were downcast, and his frame felt smaller than normal.

“Thanks for clearing my name, but if I’d have known it would end up like this, I…” He began.

“You’d have what? Let them kill you?” Emerald retorted. “If it wasn’t now, it was bound to happen at some point. The mayor was taking advantage of our town to smuggle illegal items. He never cared about the people, only what we could do for him.”

Arte looked at him while leaning on the wooden railing.

“She’s right. The town can be reclaimed in the future. But your life can’t. If you want someone to blame, blame me. I wasn’t strong enough to protect your town, and for that… I’m sorry.” She admits.

A citizen overhearing their conversation furrows his brow and walks over to Arte. He rips her away from the railing and points his finger in her face.

“This is all your fault! Our town was overrun because you couldn’t just leave well alone!” He shouts. “We lost our homes, our livelihoods, and even our town! Some hero you turned out to be!”

“I’m sorry.” She apologizes.

The man opens his mouth, but a hand on his shoulder stops him. The guard captain shakes his head at the man.

“They exposed our mayor's crimes and sought to take care of the aftermath, even when they could’ve just left our town, since they were outsiders, they were there working the hardest to resolve this. I saw it first hand.” He says. “I won’t allow you to besmirch their names.”

The man releases Arte and walks away without another word.

“Thanks,” Arte says.

“You both gave it your all. Doing this much is nothing. Although losing the village for now is a major setback, we’re a strong people. We’ve braved worse storms.” He states.

He reaches into the bag on his waist and pulls out an elongated card with a holographic glow to it. It had a question mark symbol on both sides. He places it on Leo’s chest and looks at him.

“Thanks for defending my men. It’d be hard to tell their families if something had happened.” He walked off afterward, leaving the four of them near the edge of the ship.
“All in all, what happened this time was due to my poor planning. In the end, it seems I’ve gotten rusty from my days of planning everything.” She explains. Borrowing Leo’s knife, she raises it in the direction of Kellansburg. “I swear that I will help this town be reclaimed, no matter what. I swear that I’ll regain what I’ve lost.”

She takes Leo’s dagger and drives it near her neck. Emerald reached out in worry before watching her cut most of her long, flowing red hair off. Several strands escaped her fingers and fell to the deck. Others were carried away by the breeze, but the majority fell into the ocean. The long locks that once caressed her mid-back were now only to the base of her neck. Leo watched the look in her eyes—a fire once gone—now relit.

“So how do you plan to get back to your old self from our gaming days?” He asks.

“The first step is optimizing my build. The fights are gonna get harder, and if I can’t bend, I’ll break.” She says.

“So then, at Valmanhym, you’ll study the path of the rainbow, then?” He asks.

“It's the most effective style for my needs anyway.” She states.

“You always did love that style. For me, it’s a little boring. Damn near everyone uses it. It’s only got four main techniques and is considered the most basic of the styles.” He says.

“It might not be the most impressive, but just having the ability to use four different elements is what makes it great for most of the game. I can effectively target the weaknesses—”

“Laaaaaaaaaaame!” He cuts off.

A vein appears in her forehead.

“And what? You think it loses to the Silver Star style? The most unorthodox style and the hardest to master? The only people who use that are lunatics; it was quite literally made for the strangest people out there.” She says.

“It's a style with a raw focus on speed, taking advantage of the natural talents of a thief. Don’t hate on it because your style is so basic.” He says.

Leo sits up, holding the skill card in his hand and pinching his fingers, causing it to turn her way, and flourishes with his other hand.

“Jealous?” He replies.

Arte grumbles to herself.

Leo taps the symbol with his hand, and a variety of silhouettes appear, each with their own distinct shape. The question mark fades and begins to shift between the numerous shapes.

“C’mon, give me something good.” He says.

The symbol stopped on a strangely shaped icon. The darkness faded, and the icon was a clean white sheet.

“Argh! Damn it.” He sighed.

The card glowed, transferring a white light that quickly surrounded him and faded just as fast. Leo could feel the skill appear on his inner monolith, the word “Cleaning”.

“Pfft… Hahaha!” Arte laughed. “Look at this guy, trying to tease me over the cleaning skill.”

“Hey, i-it might come in handy. Skills that were silly before could have different uses.” He says.

“Using that when it's convenient, huh?” She sneers.

“Quiet!” He says.

A few hours passed as the ship sailed along the seas. This area of the ocean itself was known as the salted sea. Pillars of salt were far to the south east, and stretched higher than any mountain; no matter how much the sea eroded it, it regenerated. Many of the fish had already adapted to the high salt content, and due to the increase of salt content in their bodies, it made it easier to preserve them, a specialty of the Kellansburg natives. The moon rose between the twin pillars of salt, shining its bright light on the residents of the ship. With the lack of available beds, and most going to the elderly and injured, many slept in any free space left on the deck.

Leo was snoring while leaning back against the railing. But within his dream, he was wide awake. His archive was a dense, yet misty forest, full of life, yet the stillness and quiet were unsettling. He yawned, even in his dream, and knocked on the closest tree he could find. There, from the tree branches, he heard rhythmic steps; the steps were so light and fast that they continued even after the culprit landed behind him.

She was about his height, her body was lean, and behind her bounced an elongated limb covered in red fur. Her hair matched her tail’s in color, and a pair of fluffy ears sat on her head. A grouping of bangs covered her right eye, while she wore an eyepatch on the left.

“Good to see you’re still kicking.” She says.

“Good to see you’re still wearing that eyepatch,” Leo says. “I still don’t understand how you can even see.”

“A good thief can see his target, but a great one needs only hear.” She explained.

“Hopefully I can learn that someday…” He says. “So what’s new? Did I learn anything?”

“A few things.” She says. “Eye Spy, Coat of Arms, and Trick Knife.”

“Yes! I’ve been waiting for those!” He cheers.

Each of the skills appears on his monolith in white writing along with the others. Cleaning is the only one to appear in green.

“You’ve been making fast progress. Honestly, it’s like you were born to be a thief.” She uses her tail to hang from a tree branch.

“I’d still be no match for you.” He says.

“It’s good that you understand. I like it when my students know their place.” She purred. “Tonight we’ll be working on your footwork some more, give it all you’ve got!”

“Yes!” He exclaims.

After his vigorous training session, he awoke on the boat with Arte by his side. The ship was slowly drifted into a new dock in the dead of night. Leo jumped as multiple heavy footsteps came running onto the ship. The commotion awakens Arte as well, as several men dressed head to toe in polished silver armor draw their swords. One wearing gold points his blade directly at Leo.

“Get up. All of you are coming with us.” He commands.