The horses made it's noise. The wagon rocked by a rock. Rio's body fell to the wooden interior of the wagon.
"Ouch!" Rio woke up from her sleep.
She sat on her seat that she slept in and heard a familiar laugh, her view was being blocked by her witch hat, she fixed it and said
"That laugh, sounds familiar"
"-Oh, your finally awake?" said by Tam
"What's with the Skyrim reference?" she asked
A feet pushed it's way to Rio's breasts
"Shut it, I'm sleeping" It was Kei, sleeping on Rio's left side
"K-Kei-chan?"
"Oh right, where were you when we took on that monster?"
The wagon didn't have any canopy to cover the group, they were in a city, alongside with the other soldiers. Pedestrians gazed upon the Oracles alongside the soldiers, they whispered to each other, asking 'Who are those people'.
"We had an errand to run"
Rio looked to the left of the wagon, it was Mitsou in his human form, no scarf and had his hands on his shoulders
"But man, bird form is really convenient"
"How come?" asked by Rio
He raises his thumb and eyebrows, he enthusiastically said
"I can take a dump and piss while flying"
"-Not convenient for humans!" Rio interrupted
"What errand did you two do?" she followed
"Ah. It's a secret. You'll know it once once we've met the king" Mitsou replied
"I see, but who gave you that task?"
"You already know, it's Ichigo's" said by Mitsou
"....I see."
Rio lied on her backs, Tam replied
"I don't recall being sleepy after having mana deprivation"
She raised her eyebrows, and mocked Tam
"Mana is sleep. Heh, you're not mage so i doubt that you'll understand what i said"
Tamotsu's eyebrows was mixed with frustration.
"Where is he anyway?" asked by Rio
Tam held his chin and said
"The other team members is on the front, as for Sen, he's below you"
"Below?" She looked down on her thick thighs and saw two hands holding each other
"HUH?!" she was freaked by the hand
A voice came out below Rio's seat, it was a dead like voice from a man who didn't drink water for a week
"Sorry, Rio-san, but i acted way too cool when i killed the last boss, so the word came out pretty fast and they're out there looking for me. "
"Please hide me until we reach the castle, and please tell Masao or Hiroki to be the speaker b-because i can't handle speaking with people."
Rio's voice was soft and calm, she bent her body forward and held Sen's hands
"You're their beacon of hope. So atleast show your competency to them and gain their trust, Sen-kun"
Rio was amazingly cute alongside her transparent glasses. Her silk fine hair waltzed down the bench until Sen sees it. Her voice was amazingly calm. Her words inspired Sen.
"I haven't build up the skill to do it."
"If you do it, I'll let you touch my chest" Rio replied with a blunt voice, shocking Tam, Mitsou and Kaede
Tamotsu was jealous, marks appeared on his face and said to himself "What the hell?"
"Heh, okay, I'll-."
"Huh?! Look we may be in a virtual world but there's no way I'll do that!"
Kei woke up and rose her two hands in the hair
"Oh! It's because Sen's a lolicon! He likes small girls to compensate for his small sword" The group laughed because of Kei's joke, but Sen was triggered.
Sen slowly moved his body forward below Kei's bench. He reached out his hand and said with malicious intent to Kei
"Small sword huh? Well, let's see if you can handle this hidden blade-jutsu!"
He grabbed Kei's mouth and pulled her from below, making her head fall into Sen's arms and eventually, her body. She looks to her left and saw Sen's red eyes and red smile with his mask.
"Oh? You're going to do it here? How bold" Kei then licked Sen's hand, grossing the crap out of him
"Ew! Gross! Get back where you came from!" He pulled his hand away from Kei and kicked her in the stomach
Sen pointe
"Damn it! You women sugarcoating your words so you can be my whatcha ever dou. You disgust me!"
"Yeah! they're even preferring Sen over their partners!" Said by Tamotsu
"Wait a minute, was Rio your partner-in-combat Tam-kun?" asked by Mitsou
"Huh? Was she?-"
"Oh crap! I said it out of instinct!"
Kei popped out of nowhere with her mischievous smile and said
"Oh my, seems that our vanguard is jealous because his partner do better treatment to another swordsman eh?"
Tamotsu gestured his hands with frustration and said
"No! No! No! That's not what i meant! Seriously!"
"It's not that I don't like like you Tam-kun, i need someone who can protect me while i cast out my spells, nobody else except a shield wielder like you can do it." Her face turns red and continued
"So...thank you..for being my shield during the past month, Tamotsu-kun"
Tamotsu and Mitsou was surprised by Rio's cuteness and charms, and said
"Wow, she's an angel" said by Tamotsu
Kei continued to tease Tam in the background, as Mitsou's bangs that covered his eyes was blowed by the wind, revealing his right eye, he looked down and said to his head
"Seems like our mage got a major character development huh"
"Seems like all i can do is transfer messages like what crows do in anime, well, it's like i can do something about it. After all, this team needs a messenger and interrogator, my skills alone prove my value. This is what i got from training, well, atleast we don't have to go far as torturing people just to extract information from them. Somebody, has to be like me, no matter how boring it would be."
Ichigo, hiding below the seat of Kei, said to himself
"Yare, yare, Mitsou is in deep thought, this is the first time i seen him do that. I think he forgot that we're still linked up"
Mitsou was flustered, they talked to each other using Telepathy as emotions leaks from Mitsou's face.
"Huh?! Crap! I forgot!"
"Don't worry about it, Mitsou-kun. Your Interrogator Class skills and shape shifting skills are great value to us in Arcaea, with that we can gather information about the enemy, thus increasing our chances of winning. Incase you forgot, information is the greatest weapon in war."
"I know, i know. But I'm afraid that we might get into boundaries that would render me useless. Like Elves being immune to Read Magic. This world is too real for me to take a person's life, i.. don't want to use this Ninjatō for that."
"I don't mean that I'm a pacifist that hate wars, i do understand wars but.. I'm not ready yet"
"The Oracles also have their own burdens. You're not alone, Mitsou-kun" said by Ichigo
Mitsou replied agitatedly
"Yeah, everyone except you."
Ichigo scoffed, his eyes pierced into Mitsou
"Listen, Shimizō Mitsou. With these powers of mine, it'd be like I'm a weapon for the Elves and Demons. Do you understand that?"
Mitsou looked sideways and chuckled his feet to him, hiding his face. He looked to Ichigo in the middle of his legs, staring in his red eyes below Kei
"With a war brewing on, i might be used to kill thousands of elves in the battlefield. And if there's a moment you are gone, i might end up torturing those stubborn people just to extract information."
Mitsou gasped silently, it was unexpected to him.
"These powers are literally meant to kill another being. Yet I'm obligated to do so"
Mitsou lowered his legs and said to Ichigo via Telepathy
"Got it. I understand. So in the end, we Oracles need each other to fulfill a purpose."
Kei looked to Mitsou, she was in the similar mood when teasing
"Hey, Mitsou"
"What?" He replied
"Why are you staring at my legs?"
Kaede looked back, ignoring the horses, her voice was like an interested kid
"Oh? seems that the quiet one found a love interest"
"Eh? No, no, no! My mind was wandering off! I didn't know i was looking at Kei!"
The three continued to argue and tease Mitsou, but on the shadow of Kei's sit, is Sen talking to his head/himself
Like me before, he was also an introvert. He didn't talk much, and used to be alone. We met when we invited him to play cards, there i found his potential.
The scene flashbacks into a schoolroom
"Oi! Mitsou-kun, was it?"
"Let's play cards!" said by Kei
Sen, Tamotsu, Kei, and Masao was playing cards near the window, on the corner was Mitsou, in deep thought
He stood up and walked towards the group, without saying a word.
Minutes passed, the group played.
Crap! Not this card!
Kei showed the most visible pokerface
Hi hi hi hi
Masao showed an evil face, he hid his face along with his cards on his hands. Afterall, when he thinks of something terrible, his face reveals it.
Tamotsu's teeth sparkled like a star, clearly showing positivity
But for Sen, he gave off a blank expression and continued to monitor other players, until he came into eye contact with Mitsou
What the? This guy shows a different vibe than the others. Seems that he can control his emotions, as expected from a gamer.
Even though, clearly Kei-chan is showing the bad card, time to finish this.
"Wuh! I lost again!"
"Enough of this! Let's play the detective game!"
"Detective game?" asked by Mitsou, his voice was soft, different from the present Mitsou
The four was shocked, except for Sen who was blank all the time, saying
"Oh, my! He talked!"
Mitsou tilted his head sideways, and lifted his hand from his back
Sen said to himself
Crap! The quiet kid is pulling something! Is it a gun?! Oh... wait.. am i supposed to that because I'm the otaku-gamer class?
"You mean this game?" Mitsou pulled out his phone, it opened a video game called 'Murderer X Detective'
"Ohh? I didn't know you played that, Mitsou-kun" said by Kei
The group took their phones from their bags but Sen took his phone from his pocket and said
"I'll open my hotspot, the pass is 'Kei is noob'"
Kei replied
"I would appreciate if you would stop calling me noob"
Mitsou fixed his hair, visibly showing both eyes.
Minutes passed again, this time, they were dead serious. They distanced each other well, they formed a big circle with their chairs. School bags was placed on their shoulder rest, blocking each other's view on each phone, but the faces were visible.
The scene changes into a cargo ship on a rainy night. The game was called 'Murderer x Detective', a game of detective where a group of players find the killer among the group.
Kei shoved her way to Mitsou with her chair, sayinh
"Hey, Mitsou. Can you beat Ichigo for me?"
Mitsou stared back and tilted his head, unknown of him to do.
Kei followed and dragged her chair back
"You know what, nevermind"
'Hmm, let's see what can my fellow quiet kid can do' Sen was curious of what'll Mitsou do in the game.
Mitsou popped up in the control room along with the other players. They were in their school uniform suits, on their hands they have flashlights and a multi purpose crowbar
"I'm starting the game" said by Ichigo
What's special is Ichigo is using a female avatar
"Okay!" emoted by the players ingame
Five minutes later
Thunder resonated the air, Ichigo was running on the edges of the cargo ship. His footsteps thuds the metal floor, he opens a door and looked on his right, a person with a machete appears on the alley, it looks to him and ran, scaring Ichigo. Although, he was emotionless in-game but on the real world:
"GAH! HELP ME! THE MURDERER IS AT STARBOARD SIDE!"
"What was starboard again?" asked by Kei
"RIGHT!" yelled by Ichigo
"Right?"
"RIGHT SIDE!" Ichigo was running out of breathe. He tries to control his breathing, he inhaled deeply and exhaled it smoothly. After that he hurriedly picked up his phone and started controlling the character
In-game, he pointed up and yelled
"Summon Emergency Screen!"
Everyone was teleported into the control room, but one was missing.
"Where's Masao? Oh"
"He's dead" said by Tamotsu
Ichigo rested his back on the wall of the room, staring at Mitsou
'I got the feeling that Mitsou is the murderer'
"Murderer" Mitsou pointed to Tamotsu that was on sitting on the decks
"Huh?! Do you have proof?" Said by Tamotsu as he defends his self from Mitsou's baseless approach
"Normally, you have died early instead of Masao"
Masao's ghost nodded with his arms together.
Tamotsu was hesitant and sweat poured on his skin.
"E..H-huh?! What kind of-"
"Stop lying. Your voice is cracking and normally you would say your last location instead of denying it"
Everyone looks to Tamotsu with caution as Kei and Mitsou walked away from him with fear.
"Throw him away at the ocean"
"Stop it." Ichigo denied Mitsou's call
"You were at the security room, weren't you?" He asked him frankly
"Yes"
"Then you were observing us. That means you know what's our next objective is, right?"
He replied with silence
"I guess you're trying to eliminate the one with highest task completed, aren't you?"
"No."
"Even if i were the Assassin, I'd still do it"
'Ohhhh, i look like a manga detective. Well but that was an easy case, nothing to be proud of'
"Wait" Ichigo looked to his HUD, and saw the vote poll
[ Kei voted to kick Tamotsu ]
[ Mitsou voted to kick Tamotsu ]
[ Ichigo skipped vote ]
[ Masao 'DEAD' ]
[ Tamotsu was kicked out from the ship]
The scene changes outside the stormy ship
"WAIT WAIT WAIT! I'M TELLING YOU I'M NOT THE MURDERER"
Tamotsu was crying and fear, he was tied on a rope and was holding into the wooden plank that was aimed at the ocean
He was pushed away by the wind, he falls into the ocean, and drowned
[Tamotsu was the Murderer]
The scene changes into the schoolroom, Tamotsu was crying below his chair.
Mitsou showed his thumb to Ichigo, saying
"Told you Tamotsu was the Murderer"
Ichigo was frustrated, his eyes was white and his eyebrows was rattling.
'Well, it wasn't a good story though'
Ichigo fell asleep, he was tired from last night's battle.
"Heyyyy Ichigo-kuuun, I wasn't loooking to Kei, right Ichigooo-kun?!" said by Mitsou miserably as Kei sneaks into in his legs. His voice was sleepy.
Sleep. What i needed.
Wait a minute. Kei wasn't supposed to be tired after from that errand, then why'd she sleep?
Kei looks like she's sleepy again. What the?
The same applied to Mitsou too?
And Rio? Is she?
"Rio-chan!" Ichigo on his hood form popped out from the shadows, he stood up and saw other soldiers sleepy too, the other Oracles next to them were also half asleep. Kaede wasn't affected, but she was alert and consistently on the look, not informing Ichigo of the present
"W-what?" she wipes her sleepy eyes with her hands
"Is there a sleeping spell on us?!"
"Sleeping spell?"
She materializes a staff from thin air
"Magic Scan" she said as a blue magic circle appears below her feet
"I also think someone casted a spell on us.." said by Kaede
A wave of magic resonated everyone near the
"There's an ongoing spell, a low level one, but it wasn't.... casted here..." Rio slept while standing
"Damn!"
"Kaede! Wake up everyone! I'll go ahead to the Princess!"
"Oki!" She showed a peace sign to Ichigo as he drops from the cart
"But, why aren't you affected by the spell?"
"I drank too much coffee this morning" said by Kaede showing her eye bags
"Ohh... i see... well, I'm counting on you!"
I usually have a single katana, but when the enemy is easy to target, like monsters, i use two katanas after all, Katanas are two handed swords.
My suit hides my katana inside, showing it's handle.
Kaede opened a bottle containing a black coffee, her eyes was like from a murderer
"Well then, time to gouge some extra black coffee into you people, hi hi hi hi"
Ichigo dashed into the group of soldiers, he jumps midair using his Leap Skill, appearing mid air, and lands with his feet and hands.
He arrives at the carriage of the princess, but he was interrupted by a knight.
"Wh-what are you doing here? Who are you?" said by the knight on his horse.
He yawns, replying
"Sen Arcaea, Blade Oracle."
"O-oracle?! Zenesia-sama?"
"Let him in" A voice inside the carriage spoke, it was the princess
"Don't open the door. Someone casted sleeping magic on us, do you know who it is, Zenesia-sama?"
"Sleeping magic?" asked by the Princess
"Yes. The others are also affected by it."
Ichigo jumped into the carriage's foot hold, and yawned again
"Ichigo?" asked by Masao via Telepathy
Ichigo holds his temple with his left hand, asking silently
"Masao? Hey!-"
"I know, Ryuu said there's four cloaked people on the rooftop with bows, look, they're going to ambush us. Kei said it's a high level magic, if you mess up, everyone there will be caught in that magic. Look for their invisible magic circle, you're the only one who can move Ichigo, you're the only one. Don't let the enemy know"
"Okay, jeez i thought it was someone's magic. Next time, get some proper sleep"
Ichigo was bluffing the enemy to think it was a misunderstanding
The window opened slightly
"Sen-kun?" asked by the Princess
"Sorry for worrying you, Zenesia-sama. It was a mis-under-standing. I'm terribly sorry"
"Huh?...You're...acting different, Sen-kun"
Ichigo moved his head inside the carriage and softly said
"The enemy is watching"
Zenesia gasped as Sen shuts the window off.
Ichigo cautiously jumped away from the foothold, and heard a voice
"Are you done, Hooded Swordsman?" said by the male adventurer, it was Fert
I asked him,
"You're the princess's team back there, right?"
"Y-yeah, is there a problem?"
Ichigo walked to Fert and whispers to him, his adventurer team stopped walking, Ichigo's red eyes glared into him, he thus whispered
"Death is..close."
Fert gasped, he was frightened by Ichigo.
"Fert? Hey! What happened?" asked by Hugh
Everyone, including the foor soldiers stopped walking. They looked to Ichigo and Hugh's adventurer party with curiosity after hearing Hugh's distress.
"Unsheathe your swords when i do mine." said by Ichigo
He unravels his hidden upper face, removing his hood and said firmly the same time;
"I hate to do this in public, but you, the one with the bow on the rooftop on my right."
Every soldier looked into the rooftop with their swords drawn, there they found a cloaked archer on a black hooded outfit.
Ichigo teleports using his Leap skill into a vendor stall roof and makes his way into the cloaked archer. On the rooftop, they prepare in a hand to hand combat in the wooden rooftop.
The archer dropped his bow and pulled out a dagger, he grips it using a stab form and proceeds to Ichigo, clearly showing aggressiveness.
Ichigo grabbed the dominant arm of his opponent, stopping his dagger, he grabbed his neck, kneeling him in the stomach several times. Ichigo then crouched below him and threw him into the air, landing on the dirt ground.
Ichigo on the rooftop said to the Archer
"Pft. What an idiot."
He looks to the crowded group of citizens that surrounded the soldiers.
"So, will your three other cloaked friends come rescue you or abandon you?"
The citizens panicked, the soldiers hastily searched with their eyes on the other three cloaked enemy that hid in the crowd
But then, three magic circles appeared out of thin air alongside with their invisible casters.
"Found you"
---TO BE CONTINUED---