Almost a year ago.

This is getting worse by the second. Wallowing in pain, I roll on the floor, as if I’m trying to quench it like a fire. Yet it remains.

“Father?” My oldest son—Fir—enters the tent, looking at the items on the floor, then at me. “Are you alright?” He's already an old man himself.

“NO!” He jumps back, as if I would bite him from two steps away. I probably could though. However, I can't tell him about this pain!

“What is wrong?”

“NOTHING!” He hardens his body, as if I would hit him. Why would I—well, I did it in the past. Often.

Argh, the pain gets worse!

“Try to endure it!” He runs out of the tent: “We need to raid a town and get a priest! Quickly!” The pain! Why does it hurt so much more now! “All of you, protect father!” Yeah, otherwise my own clansmen will kill me. Wait, why doesn't it sound that bad!?

I roll around again, but stop before I roll over my most hated and most precious possession. A crochet stole.

Wait, precious? I hate this thing! Why did I keep it in the first place!?

I grab it. It stinks, as it was stored for too long too deep in that chest. I press it close to my body, and I feel a strange itch in my eyes. Why does this calm me down, even though it makes me feel even shittier!?

I do something I never did before. I think. I'm more of a person who lives in the moment, but now I'm remembering old times, and while they give me solace, they hurt so much.

Soon, Fir will kidnap a priest, who can take a look at me. He only needs to raid a town with a temple or church, kill their guards, some of the civilians, take their stuff for good measure, and---

Oh! I finally know what is plaguing me. Even though I can't believe it. Yet here we are. If I have to put it into one sentence...

One day I woke up and grew a conscience.

―○●○―

Mirianne wakes up by the scream of the rooster. Yesterday, she was pumped, but today she feels miserable once again. She has no idea why though.

Red. Kyou-chan. The princess. The elf. Old Man Grekk. Her mind feels like a spinning top, always bumping against one of those five.

She slowly stands up before dawn, as she’s always done since childhood. She has to take care of the animals once again. A small smile runs through her face, as she remembers how Kyou-chan called her talented. Yet the smile vanishes, as she still feels like she doesn't belong on this farmstead.

Red. She admires him, right? That's what she came to realize, yet there is that small voice inside her, which tries to add something. Or maybe deny?

The elf. Mirianne hates her, but she's somehow important.

The princess. Flawless, she makes Mirianne feel so inferior.

The old man. Talking with him makes Mirianne feel better.

Mirianne dresses herself, by the side of her siblings and some other girls from nearby farmsteads, as they all have to share a room. Then she leaves the cramped chamber, but instead of making a quick check on whether the stables and fences are still alright, she instead makes a detour to the room Red and the old man share.

However, both of them are about to pass her on her way. Red shoulders his spear and wears his armor, it's obvious that they are about to go to some training again.

Seeing Red hurts Marianne, even though she already confirmed her feelings. Maybe, because she remembers his rejection. Yes, it has to be this.

Mirianne forces a smile: “Good luck with your training.”

Red looks at her for a second, then he sighs: “Phew... thanks, I guess.”

The old man grins: “He will need it.”

Without missing a beat, both are passing her and while Red “Wait, what?” tries to find out what the old man means, the latter just laughs it away.

At the same time, tears are running down Mirianne's cheeks.

―○●○―

“Hff...hff...” Kenta-kun is finished with the first exercises, still in his fatty body. He seems beat, but I know he will get through.

“Alright, fatty,” I say seriously, “come here.”

“Hf...” He stumbles more than walk. It's so hard to make these heroes really tired though.

I put my hands on his shoulders: “Let me tell you one thing. You do improve. It may not seem like it, but my instincts tell me that.” It's hard to explain, but every morning he does feel a bit more dangerous. I can't see a difference in his movements, in his power, or anything else, but I learned to trust my instincts. Like many barbarians, though only a few learn to do that when they're young.

“Hf... what-” I guess he also is developing instincts, as he suddenly hardens up his body.

Oh well, no need to change what I'm about to do. I push down on his shoulders, driving him into the ground, like a blunted stake. My arms hurt so much from the last battle, even with my regeneration, I still feel it in my bones. Yet I needed enough power he wasn’t able to resist. “Aaaaahhhhh...” I massage my arms, as he realizes that only his head is above ground now.

I stomp once close to his head to tramp down the earth around him, the shock goes up my leg. He also feels this shock: “ARGH! What the fuck are you doing!?” He's now in the middle of a shallow crater.

“Nothing anymore. You on the other hand have to get out there yourself.” I sit down and take some deep breaths to regain some of my power: “Do whatever is necessary.”

“FUCK YOU, JII-SAN!” He tries to wiggle, but realizes the big problem: There is no wiggle-room anymore, which means he also can't use his muscles. He also seems to swap back and forth between his forms, most likely trying to loosen the earth around him, as other than his clothes, it doesn't change to fit his sizes.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

From the pain on his face and groans, I guess it doesn't work as he intended. Well, the earth there should be rock solid with the power I put into my stomp.

“[Entangle]!” He endures the pain of being pressed into an unfitting shape as he uses his ranger-powers to make the grass around him grow, trying to get him out of there. Yup, he's a bit desperate, as even I can tell the grass won't be even close to strong enough for that.

He changes to fatty again, ceasing all resistance. I guess he needs to think it through.

I have no idea how he will get out of this, but I know that he should be able to do this much. In his position, I would either force the earth to surrender by pumping up my muscles and force my way through it or to crack the hardened earth below with my chin.

Kenta-kun doesn't have the strength for either option, though.

“RGH... RGH..” I have no idea what he's doing, but it seems painful. Also, he's still in his fatty form. “AAAHHH.... RGHHH....” After five minutes of doing so, he looks very exhausted, but then he changes to his pikeman-form, and the earth around his neck begins to crumble. “Hahhhhhh.... hah....” He does seem burned out though, and he wasn't even able to free his arms, yet he becomes fat again.

“Nice. What did you do?” He's still in there, but it's certainly progress.

“You call me fatty, no? Guess what, the fat gave me some wiggle room in my arms! It hurt like hell, but I was able to hit the earth with my bones often enough to loosen it somewhat!”

I try to imagine what he means, but I guess I'm too dumb for that. But I get it, that he’s trying to throw my insults back at me, so in the end, it's the spite that makes him do that. “Well fatty, you still need to get out though.”

“Soon!” He starts to calm his breathing, probably making another attempt.

After another hour of small steps of progress, Rine-kun runs at us: “DEAR! GREKK! THEY ARE HERE!”

““Oh.”” Both of us know what she means. This was awfully quick, but maybe the Northfarts did run through the night. Or they could have cut some time by knowing exactly where to go.

“Lad, let me get you out... it will hurt.” I say to him, as I'm about to break open the earth.

“Ah, wait!” Rine-kun taps my shoulder, before her body becomes softer: “[Soften]!” The earth around Kenta-kun becomes strange, and he basically walks out of there. Magic is strange. “Why were you in there in the first place, Dear?”

“No idea, but I guess it helped.” He fetches his backpack, retrieves potions and starts drinking them. “Let's go. Ara-san and Kyou-san are already on their way?”

“They went out to warn the farmers, we'll meet them there.”

“Then throw me a [Heal] and show me where they are.”

―○●○―

My whole body hurts, being stuck in the ground was very painful, and without the [Heal], I would have bruises and chafes all over my body. Yet I was about to realize something, but these shitty barbarians had to interfere.

[Sneak], [Camouflage], and [Mask of Wildlife] make it nigh impossible to see me at the border of the forest where we fought against them previously, while I use [Farsight] to look at the barbarians in the distance.

Many of them are carrying huge packages like they are nothing. In this regard, they look like ants, and I would guess that these are tent-tarps that are wound around everything that's supposed to be inside the tents. Don't they use wagons?

I also see several non-barbarians, people with something to cover their upper bodies, wearing simple dresses and shirts. I guess these are farmers they caught.

On the other hand, there is a wall of obvious warriors, full of war paint and looking in my direction without seeing me.

Did they plan an all-out invasion? Are they trying to threaten us with their hostages? Or are they here to negotiate and will go with one of the former ideas if it fails?

I return to the rest and report what I have seen. “We have to rescue the farmers,” Rine says with her fire-red eyes burning.

“How?” Kyou-san is more realistic. “If they attack us, we don't have enough people.” She said before that the farmers are gearing up and getting here as well, but even with a hundred of them, I have to agree with her assessment.

“Remember the plan,” Ara-san says calmly, as it takes a lot to unbalance her... unless it's squirrels. “We don't need to fight them here.”

Yeah, we want them to agree to that Tren-thing. For that, we need to make it obvious to them that attacking us is more detrimental than they would like. “Means, we need to talk to them. Phew...” Which means that I need to make the decision, who to send.

Ara-san is a no-go. She would most likely make things escalate, because she would either play pranks, insult the barbarians, or just try what she can get away with for fun. Probably a mix of all.

Rine appears to be a solid choice at first, as she can defend herself, and her [Swishstride] would be good for her to retreat quickly to us, if things go south. Yet she wants to free the farmers, and seeing the fire in her eyes, I don't think she's willing to make compromises.

Sending Jii-san seems to be smart, as he knows the customs, but on the other hand he's also our secret weapon. The final push we may need to drive them away. So am I willing to risk him and send him where someone close to his strength may be?

Me? I will probably fail the negotiations. I have a track-record of messing talks up, and can only succeed if I'm in an obviously better position.

The obvious and most logical choice is the one I really don't want to make: Kyou-san. She got high [Persuasion], which means she can convince every non-hero to do whatever she wants. While Rine shares that, Kyou-san knows better how to use it and she's good at reading moods and intentions.

At the same time, she's by far the weakest of us. Also, how could I send her when there is so much risk involved? Especially, since she was the one who told us from the start to flee to the town? This is exactly what she was against from the start...

Inhale. Exhale. “Kyou-san, I'd like you to go and talk with them. Try to make them leave, and if it doesn't work out, work towards that Tren-thing.” Just because I don't want to, doesn’t mean I won’t if I have to: “Jii-san, go with her.” That's the only thing I can give her, even though I’d rather have him in the back.

Kyou-san looks at me as if I’ve asked her to defuse a time-bomb within five seconds. Then she sighs: “You owe me big time.” She slowly walks up to me and then hugs me: “I hate you!”

You gain 1 WP. With a hug, you can feel her true intentions that run counter to her words.

No, she certainly hates me for that. “I know.” And I hate myself for it, despite it being the logical decision.

She presses her lips against my cheek, as we already had a kiss today, there is no further message, then she hardens her resolve: “Grekk-san? Make sure that I'll be safe.”

“Sure, lass.”

“I will send them a message. Ara-san, write the following:” I will need Rine to confirm later that Ara-san is writing what I'm about to say... Still, she has the most clean handwriting, and I have to make this message as simple to understand as possible...

―○●○―

An arrow flies next to Bjonn, who was on lookout. Where did it come from? Also, there is a piece of paper attached to it. “What is that?” Frett asks as he picks it up. “Uh! WORDS!”

“It's called a letter.” Bjonn knows of this, even though he can't read either. “People write messages on them and give them to other people, who deliver them to the person who's supposed to read them.” Putting it on an arrow is strange, also kinda smart.

“Why don't they say things to the other people directly?”

“Give it to me.”

“You can read?”

“No, but if you want to keep your teeth, then give it to me. I’ll bring it to the chief.”

“Why you, not me?” Bjonn lifts his fist. “Alright, alright! Asshole!”

“Keep watch here.” If the arrow could be shot without Bjonn noticing in time where it came from, it means that he's as useless as Frett here. Also, Frett holds a grudge against the ranger, so sending him to the chief would only invite problems.

Chieftain Brumm takes the letter, reading it slowly aloud: “'To the... leader of... the barbori, erm, barbarians. We will send tw...two people. Meet them ha----half---' Half and way? Ah, halfways. 'Let's talk. Red.... Ranger.' Is he serious!?” The chief crumbles the letter in anger.

“Son, don't waste this chance,” former chief Bramm says, and Bjonn has to agree.

“What chance?”

“They will try to threaten us. Which means, they will show their hand. Then we can decide if it's a battle we want.” Bjonn also agrees to this. He always had a high opinion of Bramm, and while Brumm is promising, he's still young and easy to sway. Probably because of what happened to his grandfather...

Yet he shows that he's his father's son: “You are right. They didn't say how many people we need to send, so let's go with ten. Bjonn, you are part of it. Harkon as well. Father, you will stay behind, in case something happens to me, so you can take over leadership.” It would be a shame if the chief of the tribe doesn’t come to negotiations, after all: “Other than that... I want Gunnar in. I’ll let you two choose three more each. Make sure to not only include the older ones, though. We need power and smarts.”