Using the staff as a crutch, I held onto it tightly as I began chowing down on a sandwich Cynthia packed for me. Cheesy oozes and light crunches of lettuce fill my mouth.
...
'Mmm, she knows me so well...' My thought are filled with the care and dilligence she must've put into my sandwiches. Which was kinda ironic, considering she can read my mind freely, and the fact that she's been bound to serve me to the utmost of her ability, so I don't know whether or not to treat this sandwich the way it truly deser-
"Sora..." A calm and determined voice calls my name, as I see Yuuki and the rest of my classmates stand before me in one of Delacour's market plazas. Everyone shocked to see me being approached by the legends themselves, except I know that they aren't really legends...
"You really proved yourself quite the handful yesterday, perhaps maybe there really is more to you than just being an arrogant fool..." He then puts forth a hand, to show that he is inviting me to the hero party. "Join us in our conquest, help us make-"
"Nope..." I said immediately aloud as they suddenly paused. "I'm sorry but, did you just decline?" Stella then steps before Yuuki, interrupting him from looking like an idiot flaunting his position as a glorified soldier, before he could make anything worse. "Yep. Now move along, I've got some shopping to do..." I said as I pointed to a bunch of sacks of materials and supplies needed for me and the rest of my slaves to exist, minus the starvation.
"I don't think the idea of your victory got to you, you'll return to the party without question, and you will do nothing about it..." Leon speaks out, and tries to grab hold. But something stops him in his tracks before he did, and that was Cynthia...
"You will not dare to touch master Sora, without his consent..." She spoke as she pulls out a steel dagger, that looks like she recently purchased along with several other pieces of equipment, like the new longsword and her new traveler's pack.
"...And what will you do to stop me?" Leon then holds the hilt of his axe, and with his massive height difference in comparison to Cynthia, he tried to intimidate the girl. Which does not work, because Cynthia isn't exactly a coward. But I certainly am as I hid behind my slave girl.
"You using a weapon in the middle of a crowded city that believes in your heroic quest?" She sarcastically questioned Leon, who then realized what she had said to be true enough the scenario going around, as some shop keepers then decide to put up magical runes of shielding, covering their stands in protective wooden barriers, and the like.
"Hmph, do you think I'm afraid of the commoners of this world girl?" Leon said more with greater intimidation, as I was about to panick and scream. Cynthia instead continues the conversation.
"I don't know hero, the nobles support you through and through, but who gives the tax the nobles use to purchase and refine your gear? Who toils on the fields raising crops and cattle, slaughtering them and cooking them feeding you?" Cynthia grins smugly towards Leon, and Leon hates being faced with a smug grin. Because that usually ends violently.
Leon then tightens his hold and tries to cleave Cynthia in twain, by swinging it downwards onto her feminine, canine ears. But to my surprise, she wasn't cleaved in twain. Instead, she stopped the axe mid way, by dodging sideways and grabbing onto the hilt with her right hand.
"You might not be afraid of them, but give them any reason to be afraid of you..." Cynthia releases the axe before continuing "...And you will fall, whether or not the nobles can back you up as much as they want..."
A dark and brooding presence suddenly inhibits the area, and I was the first to be alerted of this because I've got the side-skill [Detect Good and Evil], as a strange boy with feathery wings on his back appears before me. Immediately I recognized him, because I named him the day before...
Cesaer...
"What do we have here, master..." He echoes my voice, which was kinda weird considering he only spoke in short squelchs and caws the last time I remembered, which again was yesterday...
"An aarakocra?!" everyone became speechless, as they realized what creature stands before me as it's master. Back when Arthur was still my mentor, who wasn't captured by the Delacour kingdom back then, told me that there were a lot of many races that represented the Elemental plains, plains of existence that represent a part of their world. Aarakocras, as I have read before on a manual I will not disclose and from Feru and Arthur's base experience, are evolved harpies who manifest the powers of air to rend their foes asunder.
"A black one at that as well, Yuuki! what should we-" Before Stella could continue, Cesaer then reveals some small sacks containing some travel rations. "Master, is this sufficient to your expectations?" He used my voice as he shows me a bunch of easy to boil and fry vegetables. And yes, I have a bad habit of boiling and frying most food...
"It's fine, as long as we get to eat something other than constant vegetable soup..." I groan at the utterance of my own sentence of vegetable soup, because despite Cynthia knowing how to make delicious versions of everything in my head. She is bad at making vegetable soup. And I had the first hand experience myself back at Arthur's forge...
"Sora, since when did you get somethin' like that?!" They then squabbled like annoying birds as they realized that I have a strong elemental creature as an ally, or more accurately a slave. Cesaer looks at them with contempt, as if my existance to them was nothing more than a mere power spike.
Winds suddenly pick up around us...
"You dare look at me as nothing more than a tool!" He then reveals his sharp talons, as he suddenly is enraged at the fact that they called him a thing. I then bonk his head him my staff, and his attention suddenly shifts back to me.
"Cesaer, can you not start another fight? I'm still trying to recuperate from yesterday..." I said, Cesaer then nods as the winds die down. The party looks at me with great care, even though they might be some powerful idiots. They aren't that dumb to trigger a fight with people who somehow beat a Dragon even if they're weakened...
"I'm sorry about this master, please have it within your self-righteousness to forgi-" I cut Cesaer off "Yeah, Cynthia did you frickin' teach him how to be flowery and shit?" Cynthia nods, and I groaned about the fact that this is probably how Cesaer is gonna talk to me for the rest of my time with him.
"Sora!" Micah cuts through the crowd of classmates as she then hugs me into oblivion. Much to the surprise of Cesaer, and not to the surprise of Cynthia.
"Master! who is this foolish woman?" Cesaer asks in curiosity, while Cynthia answers him "It's Sora's friend, whom I'm sure he will explain to us in a few seconds now..."
"Micah, meet Cesaer and Cynthia... Cesaer and Cynthia, meet Micah..." I try to make the greeting as Micah tries to crush my rib cage with her strength modified hugs of doom. And no, it's just a normal hug, it's not in any way strengthened or modified whatsoever, it's just my description for it.
"Ahh, are you alright anywhere? please tell me you aren't disabled now..." She looks at my staff, and probably thought I broke a few bones in my legs. But she's kinda wrong, because Cynthia applied some simple [Healing words] and [Cure wounds] to make sure me and Cesaer didn't die to blood loss and loose bone fractures...
Yuuki then interrupts the reunion by speaking: "Sora, you will need to come with us, this is urgent..."
I sighed deeply as I heard Yuuki say that, cause usually whenever he does say that it means I've got a job to do...
"I've got no choice do I?" Yuuki nods, I groan loudly as I stuff the rest of the sandwich into my face "Fine, let's go..."
...
"Wonderful! A great supply of dragon bones and scales! And you said that these were in great condition?" One fat person well dressed in some jewelry says, as he reads the report given by the soldiers "...and you say this mere bait managed to, hmm, defeat it?" The queen of Delacour sighs, as her daughter then steps in to speak "Yes, Duke Maurice. This is a report proven to be true, the "hero" you speak of did manage to defeat a dragon with the assistance of several beasts on his side..." The duke widens his eyes "Beasts? he employs beasts to help in his subjugation? This hero must be out of his mind..."
The duke strokes his chin with meticulously
"He also happens to be the current apprentice of the creator of the "Blade of Retribution", the blade under the possession of one of Castille's currently powerful otherworlders..." The duke's eyes widen even more, as if a disappointing mood was suddenly enlightened by an even more piece of exciting news.
"The legendary smith Arthur? The dwarf who made the weapons of the heroes? Well, why are you all trying to arrest him then?" He questioned the motives of Delacour
"He insulted my mother in with the audience of members from other kingdoms, he belittled my mother in front of many other allies we need in this trying time. At first we thought that making him suffer at the hands of a black dragon was enough. We never expected him to defeat it..." She forms a fist in one hand as she says this
'Not even I could handle a red ogre on my own, not even the Circle of Heroes handle one on their own, so why? Why can he beat something so powerful so easily?' The lady thought.
"I hope this isn't another fiend soul event all over again..." The duke said as he summon a small mote of light "Almost every single time Castille summons a batch, there's always one who excels above the rest. And they usually aren't very friendly, so when do reach their highest potential..."
He pours the shedding brilliance of a small radiance over a long piece of parchment he recently picks up, upon unfurling it contains splatters of incomprehensible ink, at least to the woman.
"I see..." The duke sighs "...so it really is another fiend soul..." He rolls the piece of paper back up. "Give him the dosage, we can't afford to cause another scene like in the domain of Marcos all over again..." the duke says as he places the paper back into a bucket pile.
The lady smiles.
"Your approval is of great news to me sir. I sure hope to give you the pleasant results..." She bows shortly as she then receives the paper from the bucket, now sealed by something despite never being tampered with.
She leaves the duke alone, as she passed through the same lead-wrapped door she passed through to enter the duke's work office.
...
Drinking down a soft boil of tea, some guards gossip about me from behind the door leading into this room.
'There is no way I can turn this around in any way...' I groan on as I watch my tea's warm mist slowly rise up into the air. 'Why can't I just be left alone...'
Now that I have joined the heroes' circle, I can't turn this messy scenario around in anyway at all. The whole reason I'm in this room is because it's a special room covered head-to-toe in [Guards and Wards] specialized in keeping my fiendish power in check all the while the observe me from the room opposite to this one a hall across...
No windows, no vents, just me and the 5 ft. thick stone walls, floor, and ceiling keeping me from escaping. I can barely even breath, but fortunately enough time in Arthur's forge has kept me from the need to hyperventilate, as much to my horrible discovery that forges barely have any kind of oxygen, and much more carbon dioxide. They're not complete monsters as they are keeping me well-fed by sliding in a mushy pile of bread and water, nothing new at all from my previous experience in being mistreated for my threatening eyes and my constantly disarrayed hair, giving off the wrong impression that I'm not to be messed with.
The upgrade from being given literally trash to mushy bread is noticeable though...
"Now this is some serious gourmet stuff..." I stuff the mushy bread down my throat, and as I do so the door opens up, revealing Micah peering past the wooden door covered in lead sheets and metal studs.
She complained to the king about my mistreatment, and tried to clarify it with her. But she would not take it, and refused to heal any more soldiers until I did get to have something more decent than a straw mat and mushy bread.
In the end I did get an upgrade from a straw mat to a straw mattress, and from mushy bread to broth and bread, including a separate cup of water. Which was nice, I should really thank Micah for this.
...
The wooden boor bangs loudly. "What!" I respond with a raspy morning voice as my mouth sputters a bit of bread and broth. The door opens to reveal my slaves, now deprived of the one thing they had that made the reliable...
Their collars...
"Well shit..." I said as Cesaer and Cynthia surrounded me.
"What shall we do with him? Lady Cynthia..." Cesaer puts up a sharp talon up to m throat, implying that whatever they plan to do, it's not gonna be good. "Take him Cesaer, we're going to need him for this one..."
It took my a split second to realize what Cynthia meant when she said that...
"Nope! not doing it!" I put my bowl of hot broth up, position it for an incoming splash. "I know what you both are plotting, and I do not like it!"
"Sora calm down, we'll be there with you throughout this..." Cynthia takes hold of my wrist. "The circle thought what you would be like around them, seeing as you are already uncomfortable around them, they have decided that we, and several others special forces, shall work alongside you for this one quest..." She calmly explained as Cesaer prepares himself to launch at me at any second.
I facepalm "Alright, what the fuck do you all want?" I crudely get to the point.
"There is a serum that the circle plans to use in order to rid some of the soldiers infected by a fiendish disease..." Cynthia hands over to me a scroll wrapped and sealed by red wax, meaning that whatever is in it, is of great importance.
"What's in it for me for making you this juice?" I say
"Micah's one of the victims, and she's been bedridden for about a month..." Cynthia says with a straight face, her ears slightly twitching and her hands slowly motioning towards the Odachi, no wait, it's a bit longer? Ah nevermind, I'll just call it her sword.
"And why would I want to save one of my peers?" I ask her. "Easy. Because she's your only friend out of all of them..." Cynthia says. My face tries to not turn into a sour one, because what she's saying is indeed facts. And whenever she's right, she makes a smug grin, knowing very well at almost every time, she's correct.
"You wouldn't want to abandon her in this time wouldn't you?" She asks as she plasters a smug smile over her face, she places a hand on my cheek and position my face to look at her's, just so that she can impose to me my position in all of this.
"Fine, you win..." I say as I push aside her hand. "I hate your small ability to read minds, as it was specifically made to read mine..." She clasps her hands together.
"Splendid, let's get to it then..." She nods to Cesaer and he takes his guard down by a lot. "Phew, I'm glad to not had to resort to violence to convince you, Master Sora..." He says as he puts a talon over his face.
"...but now is not the time for that. Let me and Lady Cynthia prove to the king that you are worth more than the heroes!" He joyously exclaims as I leave the room. We both walk down so many of the until we later arrive to a certain room that Cynthia guides me in. Throughout the walk, I did notice that she slightly carries herself with more grace than her usual crass movement, as if she knows she's better than majority of everyone in this castle. Whatever happened, I don't need to read her mind to know that she's somehow in-charge.
Cesaer on the other hand, has a much different appearance. Back then he used to wear nothing but a solid pair of pants. But now he has a bird mask over his face, revealing only his purple pupils as his eyes are darkened by the mask's inner space. He also appears to be wrapping his wings around himself like a cloak. And of course I can't miss the noticeable spear that he hides beneath his winged cloak, with only the pointy end being visible over his head.
Enough about them, and back to the room....