Part 1
A couple of months had passed ever since Evlin was elected as the leader of her new team of misfits. She received the news in shock as she could not think of anything she had done during her time together with the rest of the group that would inspire them to make that decision.
'I don't wanna...' was her initial response. Looking back, all she had done towards them from her point of view was scream in anger and lash out on them about her problems. If anything, she imagined they had more than enough reason to kick her out for good.
But that was not how they saw her. During the small time they spent together, the group started to change their opinions towards the young crossbow girl. They saw someone who had been enduring a lot of pain and suffering just like them, but who also managed to handle it with much more success than anyone on the group.
Because Evlin had no one to rely on but herself, she was forced to adapt and become stronger on her own. Her life kept throwing blow after blow towards her but she still received each one and bounced them all back.
The group of friends composed of Daren, Lilith, Ria, Auren, and Gustav, once they saw that, they understood that they were all lacking in comparison. They all had each other to rely on but that caused them all to become too dependent to survive.
Daren was strong but only when the sun wasn't out and he was overall too short-minded. Lilith could fight well but she was still suffering from past traumas to hold any self-confidence. Ria could open teleportation portals but only three times a day due to the extreme fatigue it would cause on her body. Auren and Gustav had really useful skills for assistance like healing and telepathy but those were mostly useless in combat.
The team was lacking something. It was lacking its core member, it's old leader, Marceus, the living weapon, the blessed sword of the gods.
Marceus was the one who had the easiest time adapting to any situation since most of his job relied on him interacting with a large number of different people on a daily basis. There could not be anyone he couldn't get along with or understand, because if he did, he could fail his mission, and people could die in the process.
The team was used to rely on someone who could adapt to each of them, but they themselves never tried to learn such an important skill, causing them to have a hard time letting Evlin feel welcomed in the team.
But they all changed as they kept watching her and realizing how much this girl was able to adapt to the challenges the world kept presenting. This wasn't a case of trying to find someone to replace Marceus, they didn't want someone who could just adapt easily to each of them again. They wanted someone who could teach them how to grow stronger just like she did.
They all wanted to be more like the person who always acted like there was no challenge she couldn't overcome despite any possible limitation that could be found. They wanted to follow Marceus so they could bring out his full potential. But now they wanted to follow Evlin so she could bring out their full potential.
Daren tried to explain their feelings towards her who was still unsure if that was such a good idea after all. Her sister Ashley mentioned before that she did have some kind of natural talent to lead due to her personality. Evlin didn't really believe these words at first, but now, after seeing this group of people trying so hard to convince her, she was starting to wonder just what kind of person she really was.
There was a lot of doubt thought. These people would be following her, trusting her, relying on her. Her failure would be their failure. Her mistake could cause a huge disaster for everyone involved. Was she able to bear this kind of responsibility? She was more than ready to follow and listen, but to command while walking ahead was something out of her comfort zone.
Noticing her sister turning into a mess, Ashley placed her hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down.
"Just do what you always do... If they want to follow you of their own will just let them follow... They trust you for who you are."
Evlin looked at the group making that proposal and made a sour face.
"This is a bad idea... I will probably mess up a lot..."
Daren, Lilith, Ria, Auren, and Gustav all shared a few words of encouragement.
"If you do, we will just bear with it... Learn from it... And grow from it... The same way you have been doing all the time!"
"Don't be afraid of making mistakes... Be afraid of not learning from them."
"If you ever feel doubt, just rely on us!"
"We are on your side!"
"What do you say miss Evlin? Will you allow us to join your family?"
Evlin pondered a little about the offer and tried to give her answer with a half-hearted smile.
"Well... If you guys want it so bad... I guess it makes sense to have a crazy leader if we are going on a crazy mission..."
Evlin accepted her new role, and thus, a new team was forged under the guidance of the crossbow magician.
The group would then embark on several missions to recover pieces of the silver metal left behind by Marceus, in order to gain the necessary tools to depart on a journey towards the demon kingdom. The weapons created by Marceus were all made with blessed metal, the best offense against monsters and demons, and their best chance of survival if they were to reach that destination.
The tools were scattered all over the country in possession of many dangerous individuals. Not too long ago the group had clashed swords with a team of demon-slayers who were trying to capture Evlin sharing similar goals with her current situation. However, they established themselves as dangerous enemies once they threatened to harm her sister to force her to work with them.
Aside from the slayers, there were also many nobles and warriors who managed to find the blessed metal and tried to use it to gain fame and popularity. Most of them were performing cruel acts of capturing and torturing creatures to their amusement or to sell in black markets. Others were simply trying to obtain the title of 'the strongest warrior' and would go around challenging anyone they could find in order to prove their superiority. There was also that one weird situation where a housemaid found one of the blessed knives by accident without realizing the value it held and used it as a kitchen tool.
Most cases ended with a similar result. Daren and Lilith, the two individuals who had the strongest connection with Marceus, would sense the location of said weapons and wait until nighttime to try and recover it.
A lot of sneaking around without being detected while entering heavily guarded places would usually happen, but a major problem never occurred thanks to Lilith's ability to predict incoming danger, Gustav's ability to share information at all times and Ria's ability to create an escape route with great ease.
There were a few cases where sneaking around would not be possible and the group would be forced to rely on brute force to separate the blessed tool from its owner. However, that too showed to be no problem at all.
Evlin's battle team was composed of Daren, a mountain of muscle that could blend in with the night and move at absurd speed and able to tear anything with his powerful claws, Lilith, a slightly shy but competent swordswoman who could move like lightning in a fight and avoid any serious injury despite still finding trouble on causing the injury herself, and finally Evlin herself, the reconstruction magician, master of transformation, able to change the landscape around her and even her own body thanks to her trustworthy crossbow.
When the team worked together there were no opponents they could not defeat. Aside from the power of the combat team and the aid of the support team, they also had access to Ashley, Evlin's older sister and the brains of the group. Ashley used to wish to become a mage when she was younger but sadly never managed to get the hang of it for some reason no matter how much she tried.
She decided to work at a guild, sometimes as a receptionist and sometimes as a bartender. Because of that, she would often hear many stories of different adventurers who would go on dangerous quests and would share their strategies with her. She learned a lot from her time on the guild by combining all kinds of details she would gather from anyone who would visit her, allowing her to become a strategic genius who knew exactly how to take down any opponent making use of the teammates she had by her side.
Even if that wasn't enough, the group still could rely on the power of the blessed metal they kept gathering. As they kept founding one weapon after another, Evlin would use her magic to turn it into some kind of accessory and distribute it among the team, increasing everyone's stamina and power.
All of this in order to set foot on the demon kingdom so they could uncover the secret behind the power of curses, the one power in this world they believed could give them a chance to fight against a divine deity and defeat the goddess who betrayed them.
Part 2
"Did you hear about this...?"
A young girl with long black hair tied in twin ponytails and who looked to be about the age of twelve was walking around wearing a black dress and carrying a piece of paper in the middle of the mountains.
"What... What is it...?"
She handed over the paper towards the one she was talking with who then proceeded to analyze the contents of it.
"This is... What exactly...?"
"It's a wanted poster... Someone has been going around stealing pieces of weapons made of silver metal all over the country."
"How's this a wanted poster? There is no picture on it..."
"Nobody saw who the criminals were... It seems like they always strike at night... But look how high their bounty is!!"
"I guess... So what am I supposed to do with this...? We don't need money..."
"Aren't you worried...? If they are after all the silver weapons, they might be coming after you too!"
"I guess...? You want me to cut my hair to look presentable or something?"
"What? No!! Don't touch that beautiful hair!!! My heart would not be able to stand it."
"Then what...? I'm kinda busy right now..."
"Were you not listening?? They steal blessed metal! What do you think they will do when they find you?"
"What are you worried about...? You know that there is no one who can beat me in a fight..."
"Well, aren't you a confident boy... Just make sure to remember these words if they ever show up!"
"Sure, sure... Now go play somewhere else... I need to finish this up..."
The girl in black and the one she was talking to suddenly were interrupted by a massive body stepping heavily onto the ground and coming closer towards their position. The monster was a horrendous creature with a muscular humanoid figure but possessing an extra pair of legs and arms and skin drenched in a dark tone of red. Each of its arms was carrying a giant sword of the size of a door and its jaw was so big that it could almost reach its belly.
"See what you did? Now he's mad because I kept him waiting..."
"Oh!!! He is a big one!! Can I join?? Please!!!"
"Ugh... Fiiiiine... Just try not to take too long, I'm starting to get hungry..."
"Awww... Marcus, you are no fun... You're lucky for being so cute or I would have left you already..."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever..."
The person the girl in black was talking with, a young boy who looked around the age of fourteen dressed in a blue worn down shirt and with a long silver hair tied up in a single ponytail, started to glow and transform its body into something metallic.
The huge monster started to charge towards them but his attack was stopped by the girl in black who was now in possession of a pair of katanas made of silver metal. The girl left out a laugh of joy.
"So we are going with swords again this time huh? You really are a boring guy Marcus."
[I'm a practical guy... Let's finish so we can eat...]
"Aye, sir!"
The girl proceeded to leap into the air and slashed the huge monster in a massive "X" formation, dividing it into four separate pieces. She landed onto the ground and started to drench herself with the blood of the fallen creature.
"It's a good thing I always wear black, right Marcus?"
[Sure, Mia... Whatever you say...]
Marcus returned to his human form and tried to clean some of the blood that had fallen on him. He took another look at the wanted poster Mia had given him and just threw it on the ground where a massive pile of dead demons and monsters were laying around.
"I wonder if dad ever had to go through this too..."