Armor and Shield

Throwing my track-suit on, I looked into the mirror at the red, hand-shaped spot on my cheek. It was still stinging from Tonya's slap, and the blood rushing to my cheek made it feel warm to the touch.

“That's what you get sleeping in so late, you idiot! You pervert!” Tonya shot out. She was sitting on my bed, legs crossed, and stuck her tongue out at me when she saw me glaring at her.

I'm the pervert now?

“Oh no, Tonya, please let me apologize. I'm so sorry I came into your room with Lucius while you slept on your bed.” I retorted as I turned back towards Tonya. She gritted her teeth – if this were a cartoon, there would be steam flying out of her ears.

Lucius sat on the windowsill with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, quietly watching as me and Tonya battled for supremacy for the next few minutes. Eventually when it seemed as if we were going in circles and shouting the same things at each other, he walked beside me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Come now, friends. You can settle your little lover's quarrel after we finish our business today.” Lucius chuckled as he patted my shoulder, and Tonya started looking away from either of us. “As for you, Hero, it's time to receive what was promised to you from the beginning!” He gestured for me and Tonya to follow him out of the room. Before leaving, I walked over to the opposite side of the bed that Tonya had sat on, and retrieved my coin purse from within the nightstand.

I hadn't had any opportunity to spend my last allowance, so I still had all of my original allowance when they delivered the monthly allowance to my room the day prior. I was sitting pretty with a nice, heavy bag of twelve-hundred silver pieces.

The three of us walked through a series of highly decorated halls and stairwells, occasionally having to step aside for a group of servants or the usual Honor Guard patrol. The only time I had actually left the castle, not including the Army Garrison that flanked the castle, was during the uprising six days ago. If I had to leave all by myself, I would've gotten lost with all the twists and turns that we took.

We finally reached a massive courtyard that separated the castle from another set of doors leading to the town below. It was beautiful: a stone walkway split it in two, and on either side there were gardens of colorful flowers and plants that were already yielding fruit of all colors. It was quite scenic, and if I had time I might have looked around and taken it all in. The golden armor of the Honor Guard seemed to add to the courtyard's beauty.

Unfortunately it seemed that we were in a bit of a hurry, so we passed through the courtyard and walked down a hill into the town below.

It had only been a few days since the attack, and the avenue was bustling with craftsmen and all sorts of people carrying tools, lumber, and the things you'd expect to see for construction. Buildings were being torn down, to make way for newer, safer ones and whole walls were being built from the ground-up. Some were blackened from nearby fires, but were probably still safe to live in and new coats of paint were being applied to cover up the damage.

Cheap wooden doors stood in-lieu of permanent ones, and windows were still covered with wooden boards, protecting the things inside until their replacements can finally be installed.

There was also blood. A lot of it.

It stained what had previously been beautifully painted stone, sometimes in pools and others...as streaks, extending from the avenue into the alleyways.

One building, with a sign saying “Annie's Bakery” hanging over the door, had a middle-aged woman inside trying furiously to clean off the red stain that remained on its wood floors.

I don't even want to think of what she had to do that day.

Lucius led the way. I turned to Tonya, and her face was awash with concern as she scanned the buildings lining the avenue. She'd been knee-deep in crazed cultists at the Royal Temple, so she only saw a small portion of the destruction they inflicted.

We kept walking along the road and reached the Cult of the Chosen. Apparently it was just down the way from the castle itself? If I had looked the other way when I was here last, I probably would've seen it.

We turned off the street and entered the small courtyard of the temple, stopping short of the door. There was a pair of soldiers guarding the doors, clad in the same clothes of the regular army, but were clad in all-black armor, with their faces covered. The black armor made their eyes stand out, and they were affixed directly on me.

“Here we are, Hero! I may live in the castle, with the rest of your party, but this is my home.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and his face betrayed the pride that he was feeling. “As these are my brothers and sisters, I should be the one doing the majority of the talking.” He looked directly at Tonya as he said this, and she sheepishly avoided his gaze.

He turned back around towards the door, but looked in my direction once more.

“I must warn you, Hero: the perception that our cult has strange beliefs and customs may not be...entirely unfounded. They believe in you, just like everyone who believes in the legend, except they are quite a bit more...zealous about it.”

As we began moving again, the soldiers made to open the doors, bowing as we passed by.

The temple was relatively dark, with candles illuminating the room. The temple had an ancient look, as if a lot of work had been put into maintaining what was already there. As opposed to the beautiful granite floors and pillars of the Royal Temple, there was only plain stone flooring and unpainted stone pillars. I scanned the room, and figures wearing the same brown robes of Lucius moved about the room, going from table-to-table with equally ancient books in-hand or praying in-front of an altar.

On the far end, there was a massive painting behind the altar. Within a throne-room of some kind, it depicted a golden figure, bathed in light, holding an evil beast or demon by the neck as he drove a flaming sword into it.

“My brothers and sisters!” Lucius began to yell, and the activity of the temple had ground to a halt, with everyone focusing on the words of Lucius, and at the group that had just entered their temple. “With me, I have humanity's and demi-humanity's answer to the coming Darkness! The object of our study and worship for the previous thousand years, and the one who will fulfill prophecies written even before the establishment of this kingdom!” The Chosen Acolytes that had been seated were now standing up, and lowering their hoods, exposing faces of disbelief.

“Some of our brothers and sisters, acolytes of the Kingdom, gave their very lives to bring him here! The Legendary Hero graces us all with his presence!”

Their disbelief turned to bliss. They dropped everything they had been doing, sometimes literally, and made their way towards me as a unified mass.

Those that got me to me first were carefully examining my face and clothes, with a couple even grabbing hold of my hand and feeling it up. This must've been a dream-come-true, and they probably wanted to make sure I wasn't going to disappear in a wisp of air or something.

“Hey now, come on!”

“Hey don't touch me!”

Pushing and shoving their way towards me, I could hear Tonya drifting away from me in the sea of people that had suddenly flooded around me.

I was glad that she had lost sight of me through the crowd: hearing the all-important Tonya Adrastia being shoved aside and being nearly pushed into the walls by people who didn't know, nor care, who she was brought me a shamefully high amount of glee.

They all reached down their robes and brought a golden pendant, depicting a sword bathed in sunlight to their foreheads, and started kneeling in-front of me. As they knelt, the room went quiet except for some prayer they were whispering to themselves.

I looked towards Lucius for answer, who shot me a “Well I told you so” kind of look.

Looking towards Tonya: she was exasperated by the crazy level of disrespect that they gave her as they surrounded me. She opened her mouth to say something and, without hesitation, Lucius covered her mouth with his hand.

If I understood the muffled screams correctly – then Lucius probably saved some of the younger Chosen Acolytes from the grief of washing their ears out with soap.

Why are you like this?

I was...embarrassed by this level of treatment, to say the least. Everyone had been treating me as if I were the answer to every problem ever faced by humanity, and more. Everyone had such high expectations of me.

But in my world I could barely make time to do and turn in my homework. Sagiri was literally the only person who had any positive expectations of me, and even that took a certain degree of encouragement and browbeating to finally do what I needed. Sure I was being paid by the Kingdom, but they had not only expected by cooperation but also my victory! That was a much higher bar set for me than by Sagiri.

Also - did you notice that I said positive?

That is because my wonderful, supportive, kind sister had been cheering for me. Cheering me on to fail, that is.

Coming from the point of a little bit of support, or none, or the expectation of the failure to a place where everyone hoped for nothing but the best from me and even worshiped me was...I don't think I could get used to it.

But I suppose I should try. I am the Legendary Hero after all.

As the entire temple prayed to me, I saw a group enter the room from a door way near the back, by the altar. There were two acolytes guiding an elderly man towards me.

He looked absolutely ancient.

Like all the acolytes here, Lucius included, he was a gaunt, pale man. He was heavily wrinkled, with areas of skin that seemed too loose for his body, and discolored blotches marked his exposed skin.

He walked slowly, as the acolytes to the side gingerly held his arms in support. At his rate, it would might take a while before he can cross the room.

I decided it might be best if I met him roughly half-way, and I gestured for Lucius and Tonya to follow. The Chosen Acolytes quickly moved out of Lucius's way, leaving Tonya to fight through the crowd to meet us.

“If we knew you were going to be pushed around this much, then maybe we should have had you suit up!” I joked at Tonya, nudging her with my shoulder as I quietly laughed. She looked at Lucius, who looked ready to cover her mouth once more, and just shot me an evil eye while mouthing “Shut up.”

Having met the daily quota for slighting Tonya, we moved to meet the elderly towards the middle of the room. As we approached, Lucius once again took the lead and bowed before the old man, bringing his hand to Lucius's forehead. As he bowed, he said, “I have brought the Legendary Hero to the temple, as I had been asked, Grandmaster.”

Lucius moved the elderly man's hand back to his side, before moving out of his way. Guided by his escorts, he took a few towards closer to me. He told his escorts to let him go, and took a moment as he reached out towards me.

But it was strange.

He was reaching out towards me like someone would if they were walking around in the dark, but I was right in front of him? His hands eventually found their way to my chest, and then my arms, and then to my hands. He cupped them in his, and stared at me as if he were in deep thought.

When he touched me, though...It seemed like my HUD momentarily activated and opened a window, before suddenly deactivating.

“Um....” I sheepishly uttered, and he seemed to come to.

“Oh, please do excuse me, Sir Hero. Even at my age, there are still times were I am as giddy as a child.” He smiled, and stared blankly at me with his white, milky eyes and continued on. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am Artarius Orion. I've been the Grandmaster of the Cult of the Chosen for two-hundred-and-forty years.”

“Two-hundred-and-forty years?!” Me and Tonya said in unison. Lucius was standing there, nodding as if what the old man said was just par for the course.

“You both heard me correctly. And will you be surprised if I told you that my predecessor held this honored title even longer than that?” The elderly man almost seemed to be bragging, like there was some record that he wanted to possibly beat. He was laughing until coughing overtook him, and his aides began holding onto him again.

“There are many secrets of this cult, that we jealously keep.” Lucius added, with a smug grin. “All that I can say regarding this matter is this: Our physical appearance doesn't betray our actual ages.”

So, members of this cult are possibly much older than they look? I guess that might figure into why the townspeople might think this cult is weird: as a Chosen Acolyte might look they're aging much more slowly than them, unnaturally so. Obviously they still age because, with all the respect he's due, Orion looks like he'll crumble into dust any moment now.

“If we go into our ways, Sir Hero, then we shall be in this room for all of time. And, besides, there are much more important matters at-hand.” Orion gestured for his escorts to hold onto him again, and they pointed him towards the door they had entered from. “Please, let us now attend to them. The three of you may follow me.”

We followed Orion and his escorts towards the door, and slowly began making our way down a tight staircase. It was slow work as he gingerly took each step at a time, carefully finding his footing on each one.

“I hope you'll forgive my pace, Sir Hero. I know that it might come as quite a shock to you, as much of a dashing young man as I am, but...” He continued moving, but took a moment before continuing on with his statement, “...but I am completely blind.” He finished his statement with a pained tone, as if he were ashamed to admit it.

“Even age takes a terrible toll on those of us well-versed in life-extending magic. But as blind and as old I am, Sir Hero, I won't, as you might say, 'crumble into dust.'” He laughed a bit, as if he found the suggestion utterly ludicrous rather than insulting.

But, those were my exact thoughts. Word-for-word. How could he have...

“How could I have known you thoughts? That, Sir Hero, is but another of our secrets!” He seemed a little too giddy at being able to show off his skills.

“Maybe, in time, you may learn these secrets yourself. I may bestow such teachings upon you myself, if it is needed. The Cult of the Chosen keeps many secrets, and holds many secrets. For example: I shall keep your feelings about your childhood best-friend, Sagiri Nakano, secret from your friend Tonya Adrastia!”

But, you just...

My eyes went wide, and I didn't want to look behind me at Tonya...but it seemed like my head was turning of its own accord.

Her face was tense and her breathing was heavier. She was glaring down at me with closed fists.

If looks could kill...

“Hah...hah...Tonya, Sagiri was...is my childhood from my...” I wish I could just shut up, the hole I was digging getting deeper with each word.

“Hmph. I don't care! And Daisuke isn't my friend, old man.” Orion turned his head towards Tonya as he continued down the staircase.

“...Call me 'old man' again, Lady Adrastia, and I shall also keep the heartfelt confession of Lady Nakano to Sir Hero a secret from you, as well.”

How much did he know about me?!

And that wasn't a confession! She's my best-friend, and she was just telling me that she wanted me to be able to do my best in life! The only thing she confessed to was wanting me to not be a NEET!

I turned back towards Tonya as we walked, and her anger had turned to sadness. Her breathing as off, her lips were trembling, and tears were welling up in her eyes. Her clenched fists were just clutching each other close to her chest.

What was wrong with her now? Typically, she just keeps arguing until she's blue in the face.

But now she was silent, and she remained silent for the rest of the walk down.

After what seemed like forever, we reached the base of the stairs and entered a long, narrow hallway with a series of locked doors guarded by black-armored soldiers. After moving the first door, each successive sequence began with the closing of the door behind us followed by the opening the one in-front of us.

After moving through the doors, we were met by...a brick wall.

The escorts let go of Orion, he closed his eyes and held his arms out to touch the wall. As he touched it, strange purple symbols appeared on the wall and disappeared.

As soon as the symbol disappeared, a portion of the wall vanished into thin air!

I reached my hand out into the space that had been previously occupied by oversized stone bricks, but there was nothing there. I looked down at where it should have met the ground and the same dirt that littered the ground of the hall was there was well.

Was that wall ever there?

We moved through a final set of doors – this time a larger set of wooden doors, before we entered of the room containing the Legendary Equipment.

The artwork on the surface depicting the armor being bathed in light might not have entirely been an artistic liberty. I don't know if it was just the armor deflecting the local light, or if it actually radiated light, but it seemed like the presence of the armor itself caused the room to be much brighter than it should be.

In the middle, arranged in a T-pose, was the Legendary Armor. It was a full-suit of plate armor, rather than the modular armor that the soldiers of this world generally wore. With a finely polished gold finish, there were strange markings lining the arms and legs of the armor that I couldn't understand.

Midway through my training, I learned that the language of this world is much different from my own. My HUD automatically translates what everyone says, and also what I'm saying, and will also translate any written works both into and from my own language.

However, not only did these markings look entirely different from anything I've seen, my HUD could not translate it.

“I know you're trying to read it, Sir Hero, but please let me spare you the trouble: those markings are an ancient language. Even I barely understand it. They roughly translate to an ancient blessing that imbues the armor with protection from magic.” Orion cut in.

So, unlike the armor I'd been wearing before, this will provide magic defense?

I was already excited for the moment I'd get to wear this armor, but now it's got me even more excited! If I had this armor when I was fighting that Dark Acolyte, then he wouldn't have even been able to slow me down!

I scanned the armor some more. On the breastplate, there was a raptor with its large wings extended, as if it were just about to pick its prey off. Whoever made this armor, a thousand years ago, must've pounded this design into the armor itself. The waist of the armor had a leather utility belt with a few box-shaped compartments attached to it.

Looking up at the helmet, it was round and resembled ancient knight helmet's, with a blue plume running forward-to-back on the top.

I moved the face-plate up and down a couple of times. It wasn't round like the rest of the helmet, but two flatter pieces of metal met in middle, forming a long vertical edge. There was a space between the top of the face-plate and the rest of the helmet that would allow me to get a full field-of-vision.

“I do hope that the armor will suit your needs, Sir Hero?” Orion had a look of genuine concern as he asked that, unsure as to whether or not I'd be disappointed with my new gift.

“Haha. Yes, yes I think it will serve my needs very well!” I was really impressed with it. It had an ancient feeling to it and looked far different than anything I've seen in this world so far, and it had a very cool appearance to it and even offered magic protection on-top of the physical protection it offered! Usually armor for newbies in MMO's is fairly bare-bones, so getting something like this might make me pretty OP.

“Can I put it on?” I asked. The old man nodded, and his aides started to help me with the armor.

One thing I didn't see when it was on the stand was that the armor already came with cushioning on the inside of it.

This would obviously add to the level of defense given to me, but I think this would mean that I could go straight into the armor with my track-suit or anything else. I wouldn't have to change in those coarse, uncomfortable padded outfits before I can actually put any armor on.

As we put the armor on, I noticed that the armor automatically extended its padding into the spaces between the armor, offering protection for the spots that the metal plates couldn't cover themselves.

Could that have been one of the spells was etched into the armor set?

It took a few minutes, but the armor was now fully equipped I moved around the room a little bit.

As I moved, I was really surprised by how flexible and light the armor felt. When I wore the Soldier's Armor, it was fairly heavy and I did feel restricted in my movements. Even though this armor fully encapsulated my body, I barely felt any resistance.

In-fact, wearing this felt more natural than anything I've ever worn! I could probably do radio calisthenics in this - it felt great! I looked at my hands, which were covered by the polished gold armor, and clenching my hand in this felt as smooth as clenching it without it.

Beneath my face-plate, I was smiling like an idiot.

Let's check-out the stats.

Hero's Armor (Legendary) Equipped

75% Physical Defense

45% Magical Defense

+2 STR, +2 END, +2 AGL

These stats...if this were really a game, there would be an angry forum post about how this needed to be nerfed. Seriously. If I wore this during the battle a few days ago, those cultists could go to town on me for an entire day and I would probably only lose a health point, or two.

Not only did it protect me more than any armor I'd come across, but it made stronger, gave me more endurance, and made me agile!

How could I lose?

I looked at Lucius and Tonya. Lucius looked awe-struck, as did Tonya. I recall the King talking about this armor as if people believed the Legendary Armor as if it were just that – a legend. People might've believed that the previous Hero did wear this when he fought the Demon General, but who could believe that it survived the thousand years since?

“You are the sole wielder of your armor, and you sword, Hero. No one but you may wield it. Anyone that tries...won't live long enough to regret their theft.” Lucius added. “As soon as you were brought here, the armor began to repair itself in preparation for you. Of course, we had to do some minor modifications to make it fit you, but that's not unusual for inheriting any armor piece.”

Tonya walked up to me, and placed her hand on the armor of my breastplate.

“I...I can't believe I'm actually seeing this. With you in this armor, we will take back the lands from those evil bastards!” Tonya's shock turned to excitement, and she looked like she could barely resist jumping for joy in this instant.

Lucius was taken-aback by Tonya's language, but Orion just nodded his hand in agreement.

“Yes, you're right, young lady. Just as the Legendary Hero washed out the darkness with the light of humanity a thousand years ago, this man shall too. He may yet have much to learn about combat and magic, but I believe he will deliver us from the clutches of evil.”

Oh no, Orion. You made the classic blunder of confirming Tonya's thoughts on something.

“Hehe...I think we could actually get along, old man.” The the entire group shot Tonya the stink eye, which she gleefully ignored. “But now that you've played with your armor, Daisuke, you should take a look at your sword.”

She was right, I couldn't fight with just armor. To the left of the armor stand, another stand held the sword within its sheath.

The sheath was blue and gold, and extending out of it was a silver cross-guard, a blue grip, and gold pommel. I picked it up off the stand, expecting to overcome the weight that came with such a large sword.

But, similarly to the armor, it was might lighter than usual. It probably looked like I just yanked it off the stand, when it was just me putting much more strength than I needed to pick it up.

I pulled the sword out of the sheath, and handed the sheath over to Tonya to hold. As she examined it, I examined the sword. A long gold blade, nearly two feet, extended upwards in-front of my face. I went over to an unoccupied part of the room and began swinging it around. It was as long as the longsword I used during my training, but I could swing it single-handily just as easily as I could a short-sword. It was amazing

On the little indentation that runs along the middle of swords like this, there were the same strange black symbols that lined my armor. I looked to the Grandmaster and the Acolytes for an answer.

“Ah. I apologize hero, but we do not know what any of that means. We only have a rudimentary grasp of this ancient language. Maybe later we'll be be able to tell you.” Orion shook his hand as he answered.

“I see. The King also mentioned a 'flaming sword' on my first day here, but this seems like just an upgraded sword?” Right, the “flaming sword striking down the bad guy” seemed like a big part of that King's speech to me.

“We...also do not know how or why that occurs. Perhaps we should have told you before, but the secrets of the armor have been lost to us, and those that knew of them died before they could bestow their secrets to us.” The old man looked up. “We believe it may have to do with those markings, but that is all we currently know.”

So basically: I have an armor suit and sword, but the instruction manual on how to use the damn thing is gone? I'm definitely grateful to be receiving these things so soon, but, it seems like I found out how it's been nerfed.

Nobody knows how to use the cool toys that the equipment comes with.

“Please don't take me the wrong way, I'm grateful that the cult has provided me with such powerful equipment, but... it's a bit of an inconvenience to not really know anything about what I'm wearing or using, isn't it?”

“Only for the moment, Sir Hero. I'm sure that as the armor and sword is used more often, their secrets will reveal themselves to us. I'm sorry that I cannot be a greater help.”

Well, the days and months of figuring out how to use these things will save me the minutes of a manual or instruction booklet. But it can't be helped, I suppose. I was still glad to have it, even as is.

Hero's Sword (Legendary) Equipped

77 Points of Attack Damage

+2 AGI

That was an incredibly high damage rating, it seemed, ignoring the additional agility buff. That was more than three times the damage my short-sword dealt, and that cut down cultists pretty easily. I really was starting off with incredibly OP equipment before the main quest even began in-earnest.

It might be a sign of things to come – but all I could think of right now was how great this was! I looked just like the main characters of my favorite anime! I had a massively unbalanced armor set, an overpowered sword, and my own party of friends.

Since coming here, I finally felt like I could actually fulfill everyone's hopes and dreams. I knew I could defeat the Darkness, in this very moment, with my equipment. I would still have to improve my combat skills and I had a lot to learn, but I was now on the road to victory.

“Even as our destruction looms on the horizon, it brings me great happiness to know that the armor and sword that we've stood watch over for over a thousand years has a worthy owner.” Orion had his aides help bring him to over to me. “It may be the combined armies that slowly take back the land that was stolen, but it will be you that brings back the light.”

Lucius nodded in agreement.

“It disgusts me to say this, but...I'm glad to be at your side. I...I want to help you, anyway I can.” Tonya said, as if what she was saying physically hurt her to say. “B-b-but don't take it the wrong way! It's not as if I like you or anything, I just want us to win!”

Have I heard this before? I've definitely heard something like this before.

As our business in this dungeon had concluded, our group made our way back towards to the surface level of the temple. On our way back, I fidgeted with the leather belt that was wrapped around the waist, trying to attach the sheath to it. I held my helmet in my free-hand.

It took a while, since Orion walked very slowly, but we eventually returned to the doors of the temple. Me, Lucius, and Tonya stood with our backs to the door as the Grandmaster stood in-front of us, with the Chosen Acolytes of the temple kneeling behind him.

“The future of all humans and demi-humans depends on you, Sir Hero. We all can only hope to live by the example that you will set for us with your courage and bravery.” Orion's aides helped him down to the floor, joining his fellow cultists in a kneeling position. “We've bestowed the armor and weaponry necessary for your quest in the foreign lands. But material things can only take you so far, and it will be your spirit that burns through the evil that consumes the lands.”

He turned his face to me, his milky eyes were affixed onto me.

“Your spirit shines brightly, even to a blind old-fool like myself. Our Temple, and by extension Lucius, is ever at your service for any task you demand of us. Now go, your quest begins as the Army marches!”

With that we bade the Cult of the Chosen a farewell, and left.

Lucius said that he had some things that he needed to attend to with the cult, and both me and Tonya left him there as well.

I looked at the time on my HUD, and saw that it was early in the evening. We hadn't really been there for very long, so I really did sleep late today. I hadn't eaten yet, so both me and Tonya decided to get some food together.

Most of the buildings were still being re-built, but there was an inn that served food along the way. Since was relatively intact, we decided to go there.

It was packed, and we had to wait in a line to get seated. The owner himself came over, who looked equal parts excited and shocked, and apologized to me directly for making me wait. He grabbed my arm and made room at a table just for me and Tonya, before giving us menus.

As I looked over it, Tonya kept shooting me glances and looking away whenever I looked back. The owner returned to get our orders, before bowing and going back to the kitchen.

I turned to Tonya to see what was up.

“Hey, Tonya. Is everything okay?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” She furled her eyebrows, as if the question annoyed her.

“Well, I mean, after Grandmaster Orion told you about my best-friend, you've been kind of...you've been kind of weird.” I explained. She had been weird – like I said, she normally argues everything to death. But, after Sagiri was mentioned, she just got all quiet. And as we walked here, she just seemed so out of it. Like she was thinking hard about something.

“Huh? I'm weird?!” She was yelling, and people are beginning to stare. “It's YOU that's weird! It's just that I...uh...” She was stumbling over her words, trying to find the right ones.

“Is it what he said? Because all Sagiri said was...” Her eyes started watering, and tears were flowing down her face. She looked anxious, waiting for whatever she was expecting for me to say, but I continued, “...all she said was that she wanted the best for me in life. It was nothing. Really.”

Her eyes widened, but then she seemed to relax as if she had just dodged a bullet or something.

Was there something I was missing?

“...you really are oblivious.” She was pointing and laughing at me, as she wiped away the tears.

Huh?!

For the first time since I saw her this morning, I saw her smile. It felt genuine and I couldn't help but return her smile, even though I didn't know why it made me so happy.

She always looked so angry when she spoke to me with everyone else – but now, with just the two of us, she looked like she couldn't have asked for anything else.

She rested her chin on her interlocked fingers, and stared at me for a moment. Then she whispered some words, but all I heard was the end of it, “...you.”

“What was that?”

“It was nothing, you idiot.” She giggled as she casually tossed out another insult at me.

Whatever.

The owner, again, returned to us with food in-hand. It was pretty busy, and we were fairly hungry, so we ate as quickly as we could. When he came back to ask us how it was, we told him that we enjoyed it and asked how much it had been. He insisted that it was “on-the-house.” He thought that since I was going to be saving the world, then that the best way he could thank me was doing this much.

I certainly wasn't going to argue with him – free food is free food. But I did feel a little bad about it, so as we left I reached into my coin purse and left a few silver pieces as a present. I had twelve-hundred to begin with, so a few didn't hurt.

The road to the castle had gotten significantly busier with people returning home from work or going to meet friends and family. It was getting pretty packed, and I suddenly felt Tonya holding onto my arm.

“Do-don't get the wrong idea! I'm just doing this so we don't get separated!” I could feel her grip my hand with one of hers.

“Ah, well okay. That makes sense.”

We continued like this until we reached the gates of the castle courtyard, and then we continued as normal back to my room.

“There's a military parade outside of the castle in two days, and they'll going to be going straight into the other countries after it's finished. So you need to wake up early that day to meet with the Lord Commander, got that?” She explained at my door, still visibly annoyed from what I guess was having to wake me up herself.

“Got it.”

I turned to enter my room, and when she suddenly grabbed my hand.

Turning to face her, to ask her what was the matter, she used her other hand to turn my head. Her face approached mine, and I felt her soft lips touch mine.

Wait. She kissed me!

What the hell?!

It went on for a moment, and I couldn't help but kiss back. She slowly parted her lips from mine, and looked me in the eye before suddenly jerking back.

“It's not as if I wanted to do-do tha-that! I-I just didn't wa-want you to lose your focus since you're such pervert! I had to make sure y-you wouldn't want to try anything in the field!”

What the heck?

She stuck her tongue out at me, and ran in the direction of the garrison building.

“Don't be late for the meeting!” She reminded before turning the corner, leaving my line of sight.

I stood in the doorway for a moment to think about what had just happened.

Did she really just kiss me? Why?

Her reasoning made sense, I guess. Since I'd never been kissed before, I guess it could distract me a fair bit if I went on the quest with that on my mind.

Maybe she knew better than I did.

The more I thought about it, the hotter my face felt and I couldn't help but giggle like an idiot.

I ducked into my room and saw that an armor stand had been installed while we were at the temple, and I proceed to remove the armor pieces and neatly place them on the stand, just like they were sitting before.

The rest of the day came and went.

The next was fairly uneventful, for me. I explored the town a little bit by myself, and just wore my track-suit with this time.

When I was wore my armor in-town the previous day, I was getting weird looks and people were actually getting out of my way. That level of special treatment kind of embarrassed me, so I left it in my room.

Over the course of the day, I bought some items that I think might be useful for the future. Magical potions like what Lucius gave me, additional leather pouches that I can attack to my my belt, and a small dagger just in case things got too close for comfort.

With those and food, I spent about 120 silver altogether that day.

Not bad.

I noticed that the main road extending from the Garrison had decorated with banners of the Aquila, along with banners from the other countries and standards of specific military units. Balloons were being tied to light-poles, the bricks of the stone road were being painted maroon and gold. All in preparation for the military parade tomorrow.

They really wanted to give their soldiers a proper send-off.

The big day was coming up.

Tomorrow the First, Second, and Third Armies were being mustered. I didn't know the full plan, but I was going to be filled-in by Lord Commander Demeter in the morning.

I was sure of myself. I knew that I was ready to take the first step on the road the lies ahead. I knew that with my equipment, that I could stand side-by-side with my party and take on anything that came for us.

For the rest of the day, until nightfall, I just wondered around the town until I got tired. It might be a while before I can return to this place, so I wanted to take it all in before I was forced to leave.

It was all quite beautiful, even if some of the town had been thrashed by those cultists.

Once I returned to my room, I thought about everything that I had gone through up to this point.

I blew out the candles of my room, until I was bathed in darkness, and slipped into the covers. Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for what came ahead and slipped into a deep sleep.