A moment of rest

A few days after leaving Durahl.

We’re finally off the mountain path. Just a couple more hours and we’ll reach the Chablis continent.

Having lunch out in the open fields is great.

For miles and miles, there’s only grass.

There are some occasional trees here and there. Behind us, the mountain ranges already look really small.

We’re all eating together like some big happy family.

Minus the happy part.

Renz is still in a bad state. Not physically though, more on mentally and emotionally.

So is Hannah. She’s just poking her food.

The others are okay. Though I can tell they’re all thinking the same thing.

I’m too weak.

But I’m not sure they should be thinking that. They’re the best that the two kingdoms could offer, and most of them are quite young. You could even say each one is a prodigy in their professions.

And as time goes on, they can even hone their skills further and such.

*rustle*

A group of slimes appear from the grass a couple of meters away from our group.

Renz stands up.

“I’ll handle this”

He walks over to the tiny monsters. They’re not even trying to attack us.

Hold on. Everyone’s looking at Renz. Someone should stop him.

He lifts his spear.

“Die.”

He thrusts it into the ground. One of the slimes disintegrates under the direct hit.

“Die!! Dive Impact!!”

The ground shakes as the spear pulverizes the slimes and the surrounding dirt. The sound echoes throughout the plains.

I look at Jace.

He doesn’t even make a remark on how much of an overkill that was. He just looks down on his food.

I need to do something. It somehow irritates me that everyone is down and all.

“Gu-”

Wait. I close my mouth. Why would I want to do anything for these people? Hm.

I look at Toshikasu. He’s concerned about Renz and Hannah. This should work.

Telepathy.

“Hey”

“Oh hey Al, what’s up? How am I hearing your voice in my head?”

He continues eating.

“Telepathy”

“Ohhh, like some sort of mind reader stuff”

“I’m not reading your mind. I just need your help”

He looks at me.

“How so?”

I subtly point at Hannah – who’s just looking at her food, and Renz – who’s still out there doing overkills.

“Use Light Clone and ask Renz and Hannah to fight you”

“Why?”

“Just do it. Make sure not to lose”

“Sure… ohh I get it now!”

“Good”

I cut the line. Time to see if this works.

Toshikasu stands up. He walks over to Hannah, extending his hand.

“Yo Hannah, come with me for a moment”

She follows him. They walk over to Renz.

“Renz, I need you to stand with Hannah for a moment”

“…”

Renz does what he says without a word. That’s loyalty right there.

Everyone’s attention is fixed on the three.

“Alright. Now that you’re both standing there…”

Toshikasu doesn’t finish his sentence.

Renz and Hannah are confused for a moment.

“Now that we’re both standing here? What about i-”

2 of Toshikasu’s Light Clones appear behind Hannah and Renz. They try to stab the two with light swords.

They both dodge in time of course.

The clones stop. 2 more appear beside Toshikasu.

“Nice nice. Here’s the thing. My clones here will fight you. If you two lose…”

He smiles. The clones assume battle stance.

“I want the two of you to go back to Luna”

The clones charge at the two.

“What??”

They back off in opposite directions.

Renz has little trouble defending as he is used to tanking. Hannah on the other hand, has to chant a spell to even fight back, so all she can do is dodge backwards.

“Hannah! Dash!!”

Just as the clones are about to hit her, Renz appears in front of her and blocks them with his shield.

“Thanks! Oh spirits of the flames, grant us protection from our enemies and scorch those who dare trespass! Fire Wall!!”

Flames extend from her hand, and she guides the fire into a spiral on the ground around them.

The flames then extend upwards, blocking our view of the two.

The Light Clones wait outside.

“Stop hiding”

Toshikasu points at the ground near them.

Light Chains emerge all around the fire and dive straight into the middle of the blazing inferno.

“Caught you~”

The rest of the chains wrap around the two.

With them in sight, the clones immediately run in close.

“Silence!”

A soft pulse emerges from Hannah. The area around them goes silent.

The flaming spiral dies down. The Light Chains and the Light Clones also dissipate.

Hannah continues chanting another spell.

Raising his spear, Renz mouths something.

Dive Impact.

He throws his spear near Toshikasu’s feet. Dirt is thrown up by the impact, blocking his vision.

Toshikasu braces for Renz’s arrival. Instead, the spear glows and Light Chains immediately wrap around him, which then anchor him to the ground.

Renz then appears at the spear’s location.

He grabs hold of the spear and pulls it near Toshikasu’s neck.

Hannah runs behind him and holds a stone dagger near his back.

“We win.”

Everyone stares at the three in silence.

Toshikasu suddenly laughs.

“See? You guys aren’t weak. What happened at Durahl is just a sign that we can become stronger. So cheer up already!”

He smiles at the two, catching them off guard.

“I-I… d-didn’t say that I thought I was weak or anything! Hmph!”

Hannah walks over to us, visibly flustered.

“You do and say the weirdest things sometimes Toshi.”

Renz then picks up his shield, a smile can be seen from his face.

The two properly join in for lunch, and the mood just became a lot lighter.

“Hey, can you guys let me go now? I’m hungry”

Hannah jeers at Toshikasu.

“Haaaa? You do it, Light Magic is your specialty isn’t it?

“But I can’t just dispel someone else’s spell!”

“I’ll do it Toshi”

Julie walks over to Toshikasu and breaks the chains.

“Thanks Julie! No thanks Hannah!”

Everyone laughs. I’m glad that’s over.

We continue eating.

“But…thanks Toshi, for doing that for us”

Hannah holds her plate.

“Yeah man, I guess we needed that”

Renz starts picking up the plates.

Toshikasu smiles and rubs the back of his head.

“You’re welcome! Though I only did most of the work. Al thought of the plan, you guys should thank him as well”

Wow Toshikasu, why did you tell them. Also, humble and proud at the same time? Make up your mind.

“Oh, thanks Al”

“Thanks man”

The two look at me. It’s a little awkward.

“As long as you both understand that you’re needed in this unit”

I walk away from them.

I just need them to have high moral so they can fight better.

But there it is again. That weird, fuzzy feeling. I thought it was only because of Iris.

How strange.

I walk over to the twins. Aidan seems to be talking with Martin.

“Borringg- ah! Al! want to do something?”

“What something?”

“Hmmmm, I’m not sure either actually”

Maybe I can help her as well. I call out to Grayson, who’s helping the Elizabeth and Iris clean the plates.

“Grayson! How much longer until we move out?”

“We’ll rest a little longer, maybe an hour or two!”

That’s enough time. I turn towards Nadia.

“Do you want to test how fast you can go with that sword?”

Her eyes light up.

“Really?!! I’ve always wanted to test how fast I could go, but brother over here is always too busyyy!”

Aidan looks over in our direction. Nadia blows a raspberry at him.

“All right!!! Let’s go Al! Dashhhh!!”

She immediately goes off out into the fields.

“Teleport”

I appear right beside her. My book starts gathering mana.

“So, how do we test my speed?”

“Well, this place is very vast. I’ll set up some markers then”

I focus on the surroundings.

“Detection”

By vast, I mean that the grassy area seems to stretch on for miles. It’s a bit worrying now that I know how much our unit sticks out in this area.

I point my hand in front of us.

“Stone Pillars”

Stone rods emerge from the ground in front of us. 100 feet, 200 feet, 300 feet and so on.

The last one ends at 1000 feet. My range is not bad, for a human.

“Woaahh, I see what we’re gonna do!”

“Yes, we’re going to-”

“Dassshhhh!!!”

The ground breaks under her feet.

Off she goes. I teleport to the 1000 feet stone pillar/marker.

“Oof!!”

Dirt gets thrown up in the air as she crash-lands just shy of the 600 feet stone pillar/marker.

Not even three seconds. She’s fast, but she can’t control it at all.

I teleport on top of the 600 feet stone pillar/marker.

She landed face first in the dirt. I immediately cast Heal on her.

“Are you okay?”

“…”

“Just hang in there”

I cast Recovery on top of Heal.

Nadia finally lifts her face up.

“That…hurt…”

“It sure did. But with practice, maybe some armor modifications and a couple of buffs, you’ll be able to reach the thousand-feet marker in just under a second”

“For… real?”

“Yes, the past owner of that blade managed to do it. Maybe you can even surpass them”

“…”

She faints again.

I look at the 1000 feet stone pillar/marker. The previous owner of Nadia’s blade could reach that marker in less than a second.

Currently the only person who could reach speeds like that among us is Renz, whose spear even creates a distinct boom sound while flying or upon impact.

The speed of the projectile from Martin’s anti-materiel rifle is leagues above anything else though.

I take down the stone pillars. I’d rather not leave much evidence here.

I pick Nadia up. She acts almost like a child, but her body and her looks beg to differ.

“Hm?”

Her armor is broken. So much for handling high speeds.

“Teleport”

Nothing happens. Ah right.

I can’t teleport while carrying her.

“Levitate”

She floats in the air. That should be good enough.

I gather the recycled mana in the Grimoire.

I walk back to camp, with an unconscious Nadia in tow.

I arrive to see everyone just resting and such.

Grayson is the first to greet me.

“Hey Al, oh? What happened to Nadia?”

He looks at me suspiciously.

“Just a little training accident, she’ll be fine. Don’t get any funny ideas”

I glare at him. He smiles nervously.

“Of course! It’s not like something happe- huh?”

He picks something off the back of his armor.

“A knife?”

He looks behind him.

“Aelius, I’ll carry her back to the carriage”

“Thanks Iris”

“Hey where’d the knife come from??”

Iris picks up Nadia and heads towards the carriages.

I walk towards Toshikasu – who’s just lying down on the grass. Julie and Elen are right behind him. Una and Uriel are there as well.

“At least do something productive with your companions”

“Yo Al, we did. We’re just resting a bit since we’ll be heading off soon”

“Okay”

We still have an hour, more or less.

I walk away. I look around.

Mercedes and Elizabeth are talking about politics. Aidan and Martin aren’t here.

“Ally locate”

I focus on Aidan.

“Levitate, Teleport”

I appear just above Aidan and Martin. They’re around a mile away from the camp. Martin is looking through the scope of his weapon. Aidan’s using a telescope.

The two are looking far down the plains.

“-and that’s how far I can shoot with this baby!”

“That’s almost 4 times my range”

“The elite dwarven soldiers and all dwarven city walls are equipped with this type of weapon now. Bows and Crossbows aren’t a match anymore. Their guns can’t compare to this baby though”

“So it’s called a gun. Noted”

I land down behind them.

“As good as it is, that weapon’s going to break soon though”

They turn around to look at me. Martin sighs.

“What do you mean Al? His gun looks brand new”

“He’s right. It looks new on the outside”

He slides off a piece of metal from the weapon’s body. I’m not an expert, but the insides look like they’re about to fall off.

“I’ve replaced most of the inside parts, but I can’t seem to recreate the bolt assembly. The gun may have infinite bullets, but one last misfire and it’s done for”

It would be nice if the gun could get fixed. It would definitely make defeating the demon lord a lot easier.

“But enough about my gun. Care to join us, Al? I’m giving Aidan some tips for far-distance shooting”

“I’m interested. How far are we talking about?”

“5000 feet”

“Aidan’s crossbow can’t shoot that far. That weapon was made for medium range combat”

“Just sit or lie down. It’s just a technical lesson”

“Alright”

I lie down. The dwarf starts talking about wind and angles.

“Detection”

I focus on the surroundings around us. True enough, the farthest I can extend my range is around 1000 feet.

Martin could easily dispatch our whole group from 5000 feet and we would have no way of knowing where he is. The thought is a little scary. I’m glad he’s on our side.

We’d have to take a detour once we reach the Chablis continent to get his family, but it’s nothing compared to how much help he could give us.

That being said, his weapon is falling apart. Fortunately, I remember that the previous owner of the gun- his dad, made a prototype. We could take the parts Martin needs to fully repair his weapon.

On the unfortunate side, the prototype is hidden somewhere in the Epheron continent, a little close to the Demon’s continent.

Martin’s dad, Noah. Among the past heroes, he was a little too knowledgeable at making stuff, mostly guns.

Right before he made his way to the demon continent with his party, he made a temporary base in which he made final adjustments to his and his teammates equipment.

In short, he made a lot of stuff. It would be problematic if the demons found it. But it would have all the equipment that our group lacks in.

I’ll just keep it to myself for now. We haven’t even gotten out of Miele yet.

“Uh-oh”

I turn my attention towards the two.

“What is it?”

Aidan points to the east. I don’t see anything.

“There’s nothing there”

Martin gestures me to come closer.

“Of course you won’t. Look through the scope”

I look through the scope of his weapon.

“That’s not a good sign”

It’s the Greater Dragon. They finally caught up to us.

We need to tell the others.