Chapter 6: The General and the Archer

Chapter 6:
The General and the Archer

 

IT HAD BEEN THREE DAYS since we arrived in Honest. At a glance, the town didn’t look much different, but, on closer inspection, many of the shops were closed. There wasn’t much point in staying open when your supply chains were breaking down and so many people were fleeing for other towns.

That morning, just as planned, the reinforcements arrived from the capital. One of the duke’s messengers came to tell us, and we went out to the joint training ground right away to meet them.

The space was huge, and all the relevant forces were gathering there. Even Perrido had come, waiting to take us where we needed to go. The sight of so many soldiers in one place was completely overwhelming.

A young general named Stey was to be in command of the siege. He was in his early thirties, with black hair and a calm, confident air. We arrived just in time to hear him go over his plans in the event of an attack. He planned to have many of the forces fortify the perimeter, preventing the enemy from getting inside the town. But these big ten-year attacks had never once been stopped outside the town walls, so another group was stationed inside the city itself.

Stey assigned some of his soldiers to each specific district, organizing everyone so that we had the best chance of defeating the monsters. We listened to him talk, but none of this would apply to us. After all, we weren’t regular soldiers.

“Volunteers line up over here. We’re making selections now.”

He worked through the volunteers with the help of a young woman with a Discerning Eye. Those with the will to fight, but no ability to back it up, were ordered to protect their own homes and neighborhoods. I was a little relieved by the length of the volunteer line. A lot of the people in Honest were willing to fight for it. Just as Stey was about to get to us, Duke Schoen came running over.

“General Stey, this man does not need to go through the selection process. He is a powerful warrior who I personally asked to assist us.”

“I’m sorry, but the king has ordered me to properly vet all civilian forces.”

“This is Noir,” said Schoen. “The man who resolved the incident at Landan.”

“Ooh, you’re the man who slew the petrifying monster?” Stey asked.

“I am.”

The general trained his sharp eyes on me, and I felt a stab of anxiety. I could tell how strong he was, even without Discerning Eye. His aura was even more overwhelming than Ms. Elena’s!

However, even with Duke Schoen’s personal backing, General Stey was unconvinced. I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of having my abilities exposed, but we were supposed to be allies, weren’t we?

“Don’t worry, Duke Schoen,” I said. “I want to be vetted properly, just like anyone else. If I can’t pass his standards, I won’t stand a chance against those monsters.”

“I’m dreadfully sorry to put you through this,” said Schoen. “Especially when I’m the one who dragged you into it.”

General Stey didn’t wait for me to answer.

“All right, read him.”

The woman next to him stepped forward and used her skill on me. I felt strangely anxious about it, even though I did the exact same thing to other people all the time.

“Huh?! What on earth?”

The woman’s stone-faced mask crumbled away. She was definitely shocked by my rather, ah, unique gifts.

“What is going on?” said Stey. “Answer me.”

“He’s over Level 100 and he has dozens of skills…”

“Oh ho, so you’re the real deal.” General Stey’s lips curled into a slight grin, but the fun was only just getting started.

“He has several skills with which I am unfamiliar,” said the woman. “Of which, the most unusual appear to be Get Creative, Editor, and Bestow.”

“Wh-what?” Stey stammered. “You aren’t mistaken, are you?”

“Absolutely not. He is unquestionably in possession of those skills.”

Even Duke Schoen started looking at me strangely after that. They weren’t just impressed, they were afraid. It was starting to make me a little anxious. Stey even put his sword to my neck.

“Answer me, how are you related to Olivia Servant?”

Huh, they knew about her connection to those skills, even here in this neighboring kingdom. I couldn’t exactly say that I was in active contact with her, so I had to make something up.

“Someone who knows a lot about skills told me that they’re some kind of spontaneous mutation.”

“Did you really think that lie would work?” Stey asked.

I took a step back. Before I knew what I was doing, I drew my sword and started screaming. Why? What was I doing? I had absolutely no idea.

“Noir? What’s wrong?”

“No, Emma, stay away!”

My body was moving on pure instinct. I took up a combat stance and squared off against Stey.

“He’s pointing a sword at the general!” someone shouted. “Capture him!”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Stey snapped. “He has taken the only course of action left open to him. If he had not drawn his sword, he’d be a coward.”

The soldiers all stopped in their tracks. I prayed that General Stey would put his sword away, but I had no such luck.

“If I called you the progeny of that vile rat Olivia,” he said. “Would that make you angry?”

“Don’t you dare sully her name! I won’t let you get away with it!”

“Interesting. Very well, then, let us fight. Then I’ll make my decision.”

There was no way I could survive against him if I relied on instinct alone. I had to get my breathing under control! I tried using Discerning Eye, but that only got me more worked up.

 

Name: Stey Anatha

Age: 32

Species: Human

Level: 324

Occupation: Soldier

Skills: Longsword Ability (Grade A); Abnormal Condition Recovery (Grade A); Abnormal Status Effect Immunity (Grade B); Demon Slice; Flame Slice; Iron Cutter; Full Moon; Afterimage; Stealthy Step; Intimidate; Night Vision; Improved Back Step

 

Whoa! This guy was seriously strong! Not only was he high-level, he also had some powerful skills and no obvious weaknesses. My strange anxiety was probably down to that Intimidate skill.

He was clearly a close-range fighter and he had a longer reach than me. It’d be best to attack from a distance. I reached back, sneakily pulled a knife out of my Pocket Dimension, and threw it at him. Stey didn’t move a muscle. The knife flew right past him and thumped into the shield of a soldier behind him.

“Is that how you wish to be judged?” Stey asked. “That throw didn’t look very confident.”

“Ugh…”

“As far as I see it,” he said. “There are two kinds of warriors: cool-headed and hot-headed. Those who are stronger when they’re calm, and those who only show their real strength under intense emotion.”

Given what had happened over the past few minutes, I was clearly the former kind. That was probably what he was trying to teach me. This wasn’t a real fight—it was training.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Stardia. Don’t bother trying to quench the fire in your heart. Just keep your head cool and your heart hot. If you’ve still got it in you, come at me again. Like you want me dead this time.”

“All right, here I go.”

I sprinted toward him and slashed with my sword. We exchanged a flurry of blows. Stey’s longsword was thin, but it was heavy. My blade couldn’t slip past him. I took a step back and fired off a Thunderbolt.

Bwoooom!

As the roar echoed in my ears, I noticed Stey’s afterimage. He seemed to blur for a moment, before somehow splitting in two. The copy that got hit by the Thunderbolt vanished immediately, and several nearby soldiers dropped to their knees.

“That’s enough,” said Stey. “You’ve done enough to demonstrate your strength. You pass.”

“Haah haah, I passed…”

“However,” he said. “You have room to improve. For example, your Thunderbolt hit several friendly soldiers.”

“Oh…”

I was so wrapped up in the fight that I hadn’t even noticed.

“Well, you’re in for now, Stardia. Your strength will be a great addition to our forces.”

He seemed so kind and friendly now. A world away from the monster he’d seemed to be when I was under the effect of his Intimidate. And he’d done an amazing job of honing in on my weaknesses.

“You’re not going to press me about my skills?” I asked.

“I don’t particularly care. My job is to judge if you are fit to serve, and I have deemed you worthy. You didn’t even use your special skills.”

“You weren’t exactly fighting seriously either.”

“I’m saving that for the monsters,” he said. “You ought to do the same.”

He gave me a cool smile, and somehow, I felt calmer. He was undoubtedly a terrifying opponent, but the thought of having him on my side? That was pretty comforting. Still, this wasn’t the end of my troubles.

“General Stey,” said Duke Schoen. “I cannot allow you to invite one of Olivia’s progeny into our ranks.”

Stey frowned. “Were you not the one who recommended him?”

“I-I knew nothing of this,” Schoen stammered. “To think he has that dastardly Olivia’s blood in his veins…”

Wow, he really hated her. Back in my own country, Olivia was a hero, but here? Here, everyone seemed to see her in a completely different light.

“And because of that,” said Stey. “You don’t want him to participate? Do I understand correctly?”

“Even if I approve,” said Schoen. “The townsfolk will not. They will never accept this!”

“I know the history here, but it has nothing to do with this,” Stey said. “I am here to fight monsters and ensure they are driven back when they attack the town. This boy may be lacking in experience, but he’s a valuable asset. His potential far exceeds my own.”

“Goodness, is that really so…?”

Duke Schoen wasn’t the only one shaken. Even the general’s own soldiers looked uncertain.

“He has the three most powerful skills in recorded history,” Stey went on. “Get Creative, Editor, and Bestow. If he had fully utilized those skills, I would not be standing here right now. Although, perhaps, if I had not held back, he would not have fared much better.”

“But…” said Schoen, “he was so afraid of you…”

Too right, I was! But Stey just shook his head.

“Take that Thunderbolt, for example. That isn’t an easy skill to control and often misses its target, but he struck me with a single hit.”

“It must have been a fluke.”

“Of course,” said Stey. “It could have been. But I kept up the pressure with Intimidate. It made him miss his Throw, but the Thunderbolt landed perfectly. I’m assuming he has improved the skill itself.”

“How is that possible?”

“He has the Editor skill. Although, the only way that we can know for sure is to ask him for ourselves.”

Stey wasn’t just strong, he was smart too. It seemed pointless to try and hide this from him.

“The general is correct,” I said. “I modified the skill.”

Some of the soldiers stared at me, wide-eyed. Other people shouted or just stood there, completely dumbstruck.

“My only goal here,” said Stey, “is to drive off the monsters and minimize the number of casualties. Stardia’s powers will be useful in achieving that, and I say he should join us. Do you have any objections?”

Duke Schoen dropped his gaze. “I shall abide by your decision, General.”

“I appreciate it. Next in line, step forward.”

And thus, I joined the Honest defense force. Emma and the others all passed inspection straight away.

Speaking to some of the soldiers later, I found out that it was exceedingly rare for the general to test someone personally like that. There weren’t many people in the world that could compete with him.

I got a sense I was going to learn a lot from him.

 

***

 

The town’s offensive force was mainly made up of soldiers stationed outside the town, ready to launch a head-on assault on the monsters, and a defensive force inside the town walls. The defensive force, which included us, had to be able to move fast and, as such, we were composed mostly of archers and people with special skills. After all, if anything was going to make it into town, the aerial enemies would probably come first.

I was leading our special unit. That way, we could act independently, without having to wait for orders. We could also support other units if they needed us, or help lead civilians to safety. To prepare, we spent much of the day studying the previous sieges. Around early afternoon, we broke for the day.

“Noir, do you have a moment?” Duke Schoen asked. It sounded like he’d been waiting for me.

“Is this about my participation in the guard force?”

“No, not at all. In fact, I owe you an apology. I must have seemed like a horrible old man yesterday.”

Real talk, I had been pretty shocked when he started arguing with Stey that I shouldn’t be involved.

“But there was a reason for my behavior,” Schoen went on. “If you have some time, I’d appreciate your company.”

I joined him in hopes of learning more about Olivia. The rest of our group came along too. We left the training grounds and headed toward the center of town. There was a large square there, with a fountain and benches. It was a nice place to relax.

“This is Gaien Square,” said Schoen. “Please, come this way.”

He stopped in front of a statue of a man with only one arm. Next to the statue, there was a large black stone, almost like obsidian.

“Urgh,” said Luna. “After what happened in Landan, that statue almost looks like a real person.”

“Seriously,” Lola agreed. “I feel like I should splash some Stone Salve on him.”

Duke Schoen looked at them warmly. “Ha ha, unfortunately this is just a statue. Look over here.”

He pointed at a pair of signs which read: “Gaien’s Ambition is Eternal” and “The Rock of Peace.” Gaien had to be the man in the statue.

“Gaien was an alchemist who lived over two hundred years ago,” Schoen explained. “He was a great hero who saved this town from monsters numerous times.”

“So he lost that arm to a monster, huh?”

“Oh, no, not at all. He lost his arm to an evil foreign—excuse me, the famous adventurer, Olivia.”

“Master—I mean, Olivia did that…?” I asked.

She’d fought their greatest hero and cut off his arm? Duke Schoen thought I was descended from her, so he chose his words carefully.

“She may be a hero in your kingdom, but here…she was a villain. Let me explain.”

I listened closely as he told the story.

According to Schoen, Gaien had been born in the village of Tonnelles. From a young age, he showed a talent for alchemy. When he got older, he moved to Honest and used his abilities to save the town several times over. Then, one fateful day, Olivia paid the town a visit. She caused utter chaos and, eventually, ended up facing off against Gaien as he tried to put a stop to it. Olivia’s special skills made it a difficult battle, and Gaien lost his arm in the fight. Then, just as the jaws of defeat closed around him, a miracle happened: the people of Honest joined together to drive Olivia off.

The facts matched up, at least. Olivia had been active two hundred years ago and she certainly had overwhelming power at her disposal. The one thing that didn’t make sense was why she had attacked Gaien. As wild and uninhibited as she was, she wasn’t a monster. Perhaps Gaien had wronged her in some way?

“Ultimately,” said Schoen, “Gaien protected Honest for the rest of his life. Just before his death, he used his alchemy to create the Stone of Peace. He filled it with his academic ability and his desire for our children to grow up healthy and strong.”

The children of Honest often came here to touch the stone and make offerings to it. Parents would do much the same, praying for their children.

“Now I understand why you reacted the way you did,” I said.

“No,” said Schoen, “I was wrong. You may have Olivia’s powers, but you are not her. You saved this town, and I want to have faith in you. However, I must ask that you keep your relation to her a secret from the townspeople.”

I was happy enough to agree. After all, discretion suited me too. The last thing I wanted was people throwing rocks at me every time I went out the door.

“Why do you think Olivia fought with Gaien?” I asked.

“I have no idea. Perhaps she just didn’t like him. Or perhaps she simply wanted to fight a powerful opponent. Ultimately, all I can do is guess.”

I sighed and looked up at the sky. Perhaps it was the clouds that made the fuzzy, anxious feeling in my chest grow stronger. The woman Schoen was talking about was nothing like the Olivia I knew. She just wasn’t like that. I couldn’t believe she would attack someone for no reason at all.

 

***

 

After we parted ways with Duke Schoen, Emma and I decided to go shopping.

“Come on! Come on! Come oooon!”

Or rather, Emma decided. But then, I couldn’t exactly ignore her! The two of us walked around the shops and Emma bought whatever grabbed her attention.

“What if we get matching hats?” she asked.

“I don’t think that’s a thing people actually do.” I mean, sometimes people wore matching clothes, but even then they were just asking for weird looks.

“Isn’t that more reason to do it?! Bah, I guess you’re right. I wonder what else we could get to match?”

Emma slipped her arm through mine. She seemed to be having fun. She was probably trying to cheer me up after what the duke said about Olivia. I really couldn’t hide anything from my best friend.

“They have a ring toss!” she said. “Let’s try it.”

It was a simple game: tossing rope loops onto wooden dowels. If you won, you got a little doll.

“Emma, I’m pretty sure this is for kids.”

“Oh, come on! Let your inner kid have some fun! Or are you scared I’m gonna beat you?”

“All right, I’m not going easy on you!”

Each of us had five loops, and we had to land them all to win. It was actually pretty difficult. I got the first, the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth…got caught on a nearby child’s head.

“S-sorry about that.”

“You suck, mister,” said the vendor. “Looks like your friend got a perfect score.”

“No way…”

I looked across to see Emma celebrating her victory.

“Yay! I win!”

She jumped for joy, and some of the local boys gathered around her to leer.

“Wow, they’re so huge and bouncy.”

“Her skirt’s so short! I can almost see her panties.”

Emma scowled at them. “What do you think you’re looking at?! This isn’t a zoo!”

“Eeek! She’s an evil old crone!”

“A crone?! How dare youuuu!”

Emma looked like she was about to explode. Unsurprisingly, the kids scattered.

“You know,” I said, “maybe you should try bouncing a little less.”

“I can’t control how much they bounce!”

Right, my bad. Now our roles were reversed and I was the one trying to cheer her up. I’d best do something quick. I took her to one of the street food vendors so we could have something to eat as we walked. We came across a vendor selling something called the Pineapple of Happiness.

“Is it really just pineapple?”

“Why don’t you try it and find out?”

Well, that wasn’t exactly helpful! I’d been earning good money lately, and had quite a lot of local currency, but all the same, it was pretty expensive.

“I wanna try!” Emma said. “Come on, Noir, let’s have a taste!”

“Uhh, but, I mean…”

“If it makes you happy, then it’s gotta be tasty, right? Like super sweet or something.”

I wasn’t really convinced, but Emma was so excited that I bought one for each of us. It was already cut into nice, bite-size portions, so I closed my eyes as I put one of the vivid yellow pieces in my mouth.

Argh! Why was it so sour?! Surely an expensive pineapple shouldn’t make you pull a face like that? This was a total sham!

“I don’t think eating this will make anyone happy,” I complained.

The vendor smiled. “Oh, that’s all part of the process.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’ll feel it when the tingling starts to fade. You will feel grateful the pain has stopped. That is a kind of happiness. Happiness awaits most people in the future, but sometimes you grow numb and begin to forget that, which makes you dissatisfied with the present. And that makes you grow unhappy.”

Somehow, this had turned into a weird philosophical lecture.

“So eating something painful reminds you of what happiness feels like?” I said.

“Exactly! And now there is more happiness in your day. Congratulations.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so we just quietly left the stall. I had no intention of going back there, but it was a good learning experience.

“Let’s eat something a little more substantial,” I said.

“What about that?” Emma pointed at a friendly older woman serving skewers of beef with a signature white sauce.

“Have a taste,” the woman said. “These are a specialty here in Honest: Bullseed Skewers of Happiness.”

“There’s that word again…”

I’d had quite enough of this “happiness” nonsense! I wanted to pass, but once again, Emma was really excited to try.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you,” said Emma. “Time to give it a taste… Mmm, wow this is delicious! The sauce is amazing!”

Wow, had we lucked out this time? I was still a little hungry, so I decided to order one too.

“I’ll take one, thanks,” I said. “What’s in the sauce?”

“The seed of a monster called the Bull of Happiness.”

“Blegh!”

Emma spat it out and I immediately withdrew my order. The old woman started to panic.

“Don’t worry!” she said. “There are other varieties mixed in to give it the proper viscosity!”

I don’t think you’re helping, lady!

Emma was on the verge of tears, so I picked her up on my back.

“Ughh…I hate this,” she said. “Why me…?”

“I’m not going to tell you not to worry about it,” I said. “There are a lot of strange things in this town.”

“You should eat it too, Noir! After all, it’ll get you a ton of LP…I’m sure of it…”

Why was she so eager for me to join her in her suffering?!

By the time we got close to the inn, Emma had recovered enough to walk on her own again. She slipped her arm back through mine.

“Feeling any better?” she asked.

“Yeah, that was a nice change of pace.”

“Well, good!” she said. “Now we just have to keep our spirits up until the siege.”

“We’ll just have to do what we can.”

What else could anyone do?

Whatever else Olivia had done, I had my powers because of her. Maybe she had been a bad person to the people of Honest, but right now I had no way of knowing. But I knew she had helped me, and that was something I could believe in.

 

***

 

Before bed, we held a little meeting. We discussed our plans for the next few days: taking part in training drills and waiting for the siege. There was only so long we could wait. If nothing happened in the next ten days, we would go home.

“I wish I could get stronger before the attack, but there isn’t enough time,” Luna said.

“Yeah,” Lola agreed. “Actually, I had a thought about that. What if we all work together to earn Mr. Noir some more LP? Then he can make us stronger. Assuming he’s okay with that…”

“Of course I am!” I said. “I think that’s a great idea.”

I’d actually been thinking the same thing. I was just short of 4,000 LP, which was probably enough to give one of them a skill. But which skill would be most useful?

“We will have to decide between us how to earn LP for you,” Lola said. “Okay?”

“S-sure,” I stammered.

She winked at me for good measure, and my heart thumped a little harder in my chest. I left them alone to discuss the matter and headed up to my room. As I climbed the stairs, I heard Lola make a suggestion.

“What the…?!” Emma spluttered. “There are some lines you just don’t cross!”

I went back to my room, at a bit of a loss for words. About an hour later, I was in bed ready to sleep when I heard a knock at my door.

“We’ve decided to take turns,” said Leila. “It’s my turn tonight, if that’s okay with you.”

I nodded silently. She’d caught me off guard. I had no idea they meant to start immediately! Leila told me to lay down on my stomach. I did as I was told and felt her press gently on my lower back.

“I thought I’d give you a massage,” she said. “You must be pretty tired, right?”

“Definitely.”

“I thought so. If you’re tired, just let yourself drift off, all right?”

Okay, things weren’t going to get questionable right away. Thinking about it, Leila was probably the least indecent member of our group. I wasn’t sure if a regular massage would earn me LP, but at least it would help me relax.

Leila pressed down firmly on my muscles, working out the knots. She started at the back of my neck and worked down to my hips, then down my thighs to the soles of my feet. It felt so good I started to doze off.

“All right, could you turn over for me?”

“Okay!”

I rolled over, my eyes half-closed.

Wait, was it always so dark in here?! Only one of the light gems was on, but whatever. Leila carefully massaged my chest with her practiced fingers.

“Mmph.”

It felt odd being groped like that. I was relieved when her hands moved on to my stomach.

I was getting sleepy again—until I was jolted wide awake. Leila’s beautiful hands were massaging the inside of my thighs! And she was being incredibly thorough.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” she asked. “Did I make a mistake?”

“No, you didn’t, just—”

“Good, I’ll keep going, then.”

Keep going?! Why was she fixated on that area? I looked down at her. She seemed to be hesitating. Her eyes were fixed firmly on my crotch.

“Pardon me. Ah!”

“Ow?!”

She smacked me suddenly, and in the most sensitive area.

“Wh-what are you doing?” I stammered.

“I-I’m sorry,” said Leila. “When we were talking earlier, the others suggested doing this sort of thing to stimulate you, you know? For the LP.”

“It’s a little too stimulating! Men are delicate down there! If you’re not careful, I think I might die!”

“Oh, okay… I really am ignorant,” Leila sighed.

She hadn’t meant any harm, but it felt strange asking her to be more gentle.

“Hey, do you think if I touch it gently, you’ll earn LP?” she asked.

“Um, well, I kind of already did.”

“Oh, you did? What worked?”

I wasn’t sure! I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

“Probably the hip massage,” I said. “Right? I don’t think it was the smack.”

“There are some people who enjoy pain,” said Leila, thoughtfully. “Let’s continue with both.”

“Okay, but, a little softer next time, please?”

I’d thought Leila only cared about strength, but she could be surprisingly daring.

In the end, we went on like that for a while—Leila carefully watching my reactions and adjusting the amount of force she applied.

I think I lost that contest, but I earned a bunch of LP, all the same.