Paintings of beautiful scenery and past ancestors littered the walls. The fancy red chairs were so comfortable that regular civilians could easily mistake it for a bed. The furniture was made out of the finest materials, although such material was commonplace for those who were currently in the room.
The woman at the chair was writing something while four handsome, young men surrounded her. Each of the men wore clean suits of different colours such as navy blue, royal red or pitch black with white. One sat on the comfy chairs with his legs on the table, another was scouting the bookshelves, while the other two were standing right beside the woman: one was helping her organise the papers while the other seemed more focused on her rather than the actual paper work. The women wore a simple purple dress, contrary to the other female royals who always loved to wear overpriced dresses and gowns.
On the desk was a small frame that contained a group photo of seven people. Five of the people in the photo were currently present in the room, however, the other two were missing.
"Would you like more tea, my lady?" Said the man who by her left side.
"Keith, please. It discomforts me when you act like my butler," Said the woman, "Are we not siblings?"
Keith was technically her step brother but the woman preferred to ignore that detail.
"Let him have his fun, it's quite amusing to watch." The man sitting at the comfy chairs with his legs on the table was named Cecil. Even though his clothes and blonde hair spoke of royalty, his posture held no respect for anyone in this room. Although, deep down, it was just his way of showing that he felt comfortable around these people.
Keith proceeded to scold him for his rude posture but he was ignored.
"No fighting please." Said the woman.
"If you're going to fight, settle it with a duel on the academy battle grounds." Said the man by the bookshelves.
The fourth gentlemen who was by the woman's right side was General Noche and he was the one helping the woman organise her work, "Don't give them any more ideas Linden, we don't want a repeat of last time."
Noche wore the same signature jacket that all generals wore. The general's jacket was actually designed by the lady who was currently in this very room.
Linden, who was by the bookshelves, also wore clothes that showed that he was equal in status with Cecil, "But their fight brought in a lot of attention and profit last time. Particularily from those who were betting on who would win."
The woman sighed, "Now now, can we all please get alo-"
All five of them froze before looking at the same direction.
The woman swiftly pulled out a folding fan to place in front of her face while the four gentlemen jumped back to the opposite side of the room.
A laser beam came flying in and collided with the window.
BOOM! An explosion consumed half the room and sent smoke everywhere.
The smoke from the explosion eventually cleared itself which revealed the four gentlemen in their battle positions. Cecil was ready to strike with his rapier, Linden held a blue card with two fingers in front of his face, Keith wielded dual swords and while General Noche was holding nothing, his eyes had turned red.
All five of them were left unharmed by the attack, even the woman who stood directly in front of the blast.
While their posture said they were ready for a battle, they didn't seem that concerned. Judging from their expressions, it seemed they already knew who was responsible.
The first to speak was the woman.
"Oh Jack, must we always greet each other like this? It's getting quite cumbersome you know?" The woman's fan covered most of her face except for her eyes. This woman was known as the one of the nine original heroes. Elizabeth: The Evil Villainess.
The attacker laughed as he strolled through the hole that he made with his gun, "Well it's better to be safe than sorry." This man was also one of the nine original heroes. Jack: The Piercing Gunner.
"Oh please, at least think of a better excuse. I can tell a fake from the original with a single glance and so can you." Elizabeth said as she placed her fan away.
Several soldiers came to investigate the explosion, only to flinch when they saw two of the original heroes facing each other. They were no longer worried since Jack's presence was enough explain the explosion. But they did not approach and made sure to keep a safe distance. Even the soldiers recognised that when it came to the heroes, it was wiser to avoid crossing their paths.
Keith on the other hand was furious and was one of the few people who wasn't intimidated by Jack's status and power, "You bastard! You think this is funny?"
Jack mimicked Keith with a baby voice before saying under his breath, "Jesus Christ, I forgot you were surrounded by simps."
A purple crow made of darkness emerged from Elizabeth's shadow. The bird rested itself on her shoulder before it squawked angrily at Jack.
"You better pay for the damages at least." Said Linden.
"Pay? Pay for what exactly." Jack aimed a handgun at the broken room and fired a bullet. Upon impact, the bullet caused the debris to move and return to it's original state.
Within moments, the room was restored to its original state.
Elizabeth looked down at her table. Even the small group photo of her and her friends, which had burned to ashes by the blast, had returned to its original clean state, "Did you come here just to flex that new skill of yours?"
Jack laughed, "No, but I did want to show you that. Cool, isn't it?"
"That skill seems like it'll be very useful for rebuilding ravaged cities... what's the catch?"
"I can only fix damage that was caused by me."
"I see... and what if you destroyed a building that was already damaged-"
"Doesn't work. I already tried."
"I see."
Elizabeth's brother, Keith, clenched his weapon hard. Even though the room was back to normal, it didn't change the fact that Jack potentially could've injured someone, all so he could just show off his new skill. He was going to shout again but one hand gesture from Elizabeth halted him from doing so.
"So why are you here again?"
The gunner shrugged, "I don't know. I was just bored. Let's have a duel."
"I'm busy. Go fight with Lily."
"Nah mate, she takes fights way too seriously."
"What about Arthur?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.
Jack replied with an unamused monotone, "Haha, very funny."
"If that's all you wanted, I'll kindly ask you to leave-"
"Can you make pizza for me again? I'm feeling like eating pizza today." Jack requested as he rubbed his stomach.
Keith was so enraged by this that he would've stabbed the gunner hero right there and then. Luckily, Noche was there to restrain him.
The villainess continued with the tone and smile of a mother teasing her child, "Aww, did Jackie Boy trip over and lose the pizza recipe I gave him last time? It's okay, child. I can always write another one for you."
"I know how to make it, I just can't be bothered putting in the effort, you know." He chuckled, trying his best to sound cool.
"That's a bit lame to hear from someone who's supposed to be a famous hero and all."
"I don't want to hear that from a woman who has her own cringy harem."
"You would have one too if you gave your admirers a chance."
"I'm not interested in girls who look like NPCs."
"Then you should take another look at your admirers. Some of them are quite impressive."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So anyways, pizza?"
"I'm afraid I currently lack the ingredients to make one. But if you could be a dear and get them all for me, then I would happy to 'negotiate'."
Jack let out a tried, lazy sigh, "Fine."
Armour made of advance technology wrapped around the hero's body. He then blasted through the window, shattering the glass and leaving another hole in the wall. Although moments later, a small bullet was fired back at them which swiftly fixed the entire room.
"I swear I'll kill him next time." Keith scoured.
Noche placed a stern hand on Keith's shoulder, "Don't. You'll only embarrass yourself."
"Oh dear, the other heroes sure are scary." Cecil whistled with an amused smile.
"You didn't seem that scared." Linden pointed out.
"Oh believe me, I was very scared," Cecil's smile and casual posture were completely incongruous with his words; he almost appeared sarcastic, "I was shaking in my boots. Did you not see that weird armour that Jack just put on? Something as powerful as that and he uses it for leisurely activities. How terrifying. He puts generals like Noche to shame and he's not even the most powerful one. Is that not... scary?"
Noche made no comment.
"Are you implying our lady is scary?" Asked Linden.
"I said the other heroes," Cecil clarified, "I didn't mean you, lady Elizabeth. They pale in comparison with you."
The villainess sat down to continue her paper work, "You say that, even though you know I'm the weakest amoung the nine?"
"I prefer to judge based on beauty."
"Well then, that title surely goes to the other female heroes, does it not?"
"Well, that's debatable."
"Lady Elizabeth, I have a question, if I may ask."
"Noche, you do not need my permission to ask a question. Go ahead."
"What does the word 'simp' mean?"
Elizabeth froze at the question and her eyes opened slightly wider than usual.
"Yeah, and what's a 'harem'?" Linden added.
"He also called us 'cringy'," Cecil chimed in, "knowing him, I doubt that was a compliment."
Elizabeth just ended up chuckling.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Fake Town
"Expeditions?" I repeated.
"That's what the Reaper and I call it, at least," Said the leaf that fell from the sky, more leaves appeared for us to read, "we won't force you obviously. Usually the Reaper and I handle it but since the Reaper is too injured to leave the village, we just thought this might be a good opportunity for you to have a try."
Alfred seemed incredibly keen while Cleric was a bit hesitant.
"And the main goal of these expedition is to find other fakes who have reseted their skill tree?"
"Correct." Said the next leaf.
...
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…
Cleric was fairy mixed at first. He was worried about the people of Fake Town but at the same time, if I were to go, he didn't want me to go without a healer.
Alfred on the other hand was begging me to go. He was very hungry for adventure it seemed.
I would be lying if I said I didn't want to do it. Our recent confrontation with that B-rank monster made me realised that I've grown way too comfortable for someone who was supposed to be "protecting" this village.
I doubt we'll be able to find any fakes who have had a reset considering how rare that is but I also hadn't learned any new skills in a long while so perhaps this expedition would prove more fruitful in that regard. Not to mention, I could leave this village with the assurance that it was under good protection.
Which brought up an interesting side note.
"I just realised, I still haven't met the 'B-trio'."
When the Reaper and I left to go visit the Blue Mountain, the Reaper said the 'B-trio' would be coming back to Fake Town which gave us the assurance that Fake Town would be under some sort of protection while we were away.
My roommate Lily3209 paused for a moment before her jaw dropped to the ground, "OOOH! Oh my gosh, yeah I guess you've never met them huh. They did visit while you were away. They literally left the moment you came back with the Samurai and the Sage. I guess everyone completely forgot to mention that cause everyone was so focused on the newcomers, haha."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"What are they like?"
She paused again but this time it looked like she had to think really hard about it, "They're weird... but at the same time, they're not."
That description didn't really make any sense to me.
She then giggled as if remembering a funny memory, "You know what... I won't spoil the 'surprise'. It'll be cool to see your reaction when you do meet them. This place is technically their home so you'll definitely meet them one day so don't worry about it."
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Alfred swiftly convinced Cleric to come along after reminding him that the village still had the Sage and the Samurai with them. With that, the vote was unanimous.
So we went straight into preparing for our small trip in terms of supplies.
"Once you finish your food supply up to this point, you should start considering whether you want to head back to restock or not, you will have to adjust depending on how far away you are from home, so be mindful of that," The Samurai instructed as she showed me the items she prepared inside the leather back pack. I'm actually not sure where the Samurai got this bag from but it was way better than the leather sack I used to have. She proceeded to show me a few other items that were useful for travelling such as a grey slime ball that could absorb cold water which can be handy for applying onto wounds.
"Be careful out there. Watch out for theives." Said the Sage as she wished us good luck.
It was definitely nerve wracking to think about. This was technically my second expedition because the first one was with the Reaper when we went to meet the Samurai. Yukari was basically the leader of that expedition and despite her recklessness, she was very reliable in a fight. However, this time I was the one leading and I'm not exactly the best when it comes to combat. I mean I had my two knights with me which was always reassuring. The Scout even informed us via leaves that he'll follow us which was even more comforting to know.
After a restless night of sleep that went by way too swiftly and several farewells, it was time for my knights and I to depart.
...
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…
Alfred sat on my head while I carried Cleric in my arms.
Cleric was still growing and couldn't control his size yet like his older brother so this was how we walked. Along with the backpack, it all served as good weight training for me but there were times where my knights wanted to walk on their own.
The first destination I had in mind was Bostina. Not inside though. Outside the wall where I used to sleep. Due to a tragic past incident that occurred inside those walls, part of me wanted to avoid that location at all cost.
From there... well, I didn't have much of a plan to be honest. The Scout said that when it comes to Bostina, you just have to 'look around' and 'hope for the best'.
...
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…
Outside the walls of:
Bostina: The Capital City of Elacia
The huge camp outside the city. The place where homeless humans and fakes stay to sleep. The place where I used to stay. Even though I mostly had negative experiences here, I couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia wash over me when I arrived.
"Hey, is that an Aria fake?"
"Yeah but she's wearing different clothes."
"Her old clothes probably just got torn apart or something."
"Yeah there's no way a fake would throw away the clothes of the original."
"Is she trying to play adventurer?"
"Honestly, those fakes are getting way too desperate."
"What are those things that are with her?"
"No idea."
Humans. I almost forgot how it felt to be around them. Whenever I got too close, they either stared at me with disgust, or completely ignored me.
This may just be my own opinion, but when interacting with fakes, there's the unintentional benefit of familiarity. When you meet a fake for the very first time, it's not as intimidating since you've already seen that same face so many times.
But humans were different. Each of them actually owns their own unique appearance.
After spending so much time in fake town, seeing each person with their own distinct face felt so unnerving to me. It was like my eyes were having a sensory overload. I still found it insane how the details on each human could be incredibly distinct and unique from one another. I would pick up the slightest nuances on each face, only to lose sight of them, never to be witnessed again.
Cleric was quite scared and clung to me tightly. It made me realised that this was one of his first time actually seeing actual humans. We had a few eyes stare weirdly at Alfred and Cleric, although, they probably thought nothing of it. I was afraid that Cleric might wander off to heal random people but he must've been afraid of getting lost in the crowd so he remained in my arms.
Naturally, there were more fakes than there were humans. In fact, that's the only reason why the homeless humans don't mess with us. If I were to give it a random estimate, I would say fakes take up about 80 percent of this entire camp.
Which got me thinking: "Hey Scout? What about the fakes who haven't reset their skill tree? Can we invite them to?"
They were quite literally all over the camp, swinging their wooden starter weapons and rehearsing their lines as always.
A leaf fell perfectly in front of us which Alfred caught. He seemed to be having fun catching these leaf messages.
The letters on the leaf said, "All fakes are welcome stay at Fake town."
I'm not sure why I was slightly surprised to hear that or why I even asked that question in the first place. Most fakes in Fake Town still have the skill tree of the original heroes. Of course all fakes would be welcomed, it was in the name.
But then the next leaf came in and said: "Only if they want to, that is."
...
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…
"Fake Town?" The Aria fake repeated.
I managed to catch a small group of three Aria fakes to talk to while also offering some food to them.
"Y-yeah, I mean it's not actually a town. We just like to call it that. Umm, our sleeping conditions are pretty harsh and it is a bit crowded. We actually had a few huts get blown down by a storm, haha," I sounded like an inexperienced sales person who was way too shy to be doing this, "however, we have plenty of food and water to go around. You'll be able to eat until you're full every day and it's all for free, of course."
I probably stumbled too much with my words, "So yeah...umm, you interested?"
"Umm, so how exactly is the original Aria connected to this place?" one of the Aria fakes asked.
I paused, "... she... She isn't. It's just a town made by and for fakes so..."
The three Aria fakes looked at each other for a moment before the first one said, "Sorry, no thanks. We were already planning on heading to Aria's hometown anyway."
They didn't have to tell me that; I already knew where they were going just from looking at them. After all, I was also an Aria fake. I practically memorised the route to Aria's hometown.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah, we're sure."
"Oh... okay... no worries then."
"But thank you so much for the food though, we really appreciate that."
Maybe they thought I was lying? No. That wouldn't have mattered. It felt like their answer still would've been the same.
I had completely forgotten about the behaviour of my own kind. Their desire to imitate the original, wasn't just a simple desire. It was an obsession. I understood that more than any human ever could. The fact that I wasn't even wearing the original Aria's outfit probably threw them off from the start.
All I could do was stare at their backs as the three Aria fakes went on their way, Cleric waved goodbye on my shoulder, although they probably didn't even notice him. I kept watching until they eventually disappeared from my line of vision. Alfred just seemed annoyed as he crossed his arms.
It was then, I felt a leaf touch my head. The words "you still did better than the Reaper" were written on the leaf. Although that did little to comfort my feelings of regret. Could I have saved those three if I had tried harder? Or maybe it was inevitable no matter what I did.
In his next leaf, the Scout wrote, "The Reaper tried using force last time and they always end up sneaking out. Don't let that discourage you though, occasionally we find one or two people willing to join from time to time. So keep a lookout for them."
So I did.
In fact, I disregarded the original objective of this expedition and dedicated the next few days trying to get more fakes to come to Fake Town. The Scout supported my decision. Alfred on the other hand was visibly disappointed that our adventure had devolved into this but he at least understood why.
I even improved in the way I promoted Fake Town. I originally didn't want to mislead anyone so I was honest about our sleeping conditions and poorly built huts, but I quickly decided to drop that and just mention the unlimited food. But no matter how hungry they looked, I was either denied or ignored. If I ever mentioned that I was using a different skill tree, the other fakes would always give me strange looks, as if I was crazy.
Before I knew it, it was time to go home. The expedition should've lasted a few more days but since I gave away a lot of my food to others who were hungry, our supplies naturally ran out quicker. So I returned to Fake Town with dejected shoulders and empty hands. I felt defeated.
"Don't let it get to you," Said Eve9654, "If food and shelter was enough to convince our kind, our village would've had a lot more people by now."
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
I decided to try again and return to the outer walls of Bostina.
The first day was a complete repeat of the last expedition. The harsh reality was that Fake Town had no connection to the originals, and hence, none of the fakes showed any interest.
If any humans were watching, they would've been laughing at how incredibly dumb we fakes were. I mean, who would be stupid enough to reject free food and shelter. Only fakes would make a choice like that.
I wasn't sure how to change my approach at this point. No matter what I said, they always said no.
They would always ask, "What does that have to do with the originals?"
Should I just lie? Would they even believe me if I lied? I mean they would eventually leave Fake Town anyway if I did lie to them.
My knights and I decided to take a short break so we picked a random, quiet spot to rest.
I placed down my backpack next to me and we ate our packed food.
I started thinking deeply about our next move while Alfred started telling Cleric some stories that he had eavesdropped from some adventurers once.
Should I just give up? I asked myself. Is it worth trying? Should I be more assertive? What exactly should I do to convince them?
As I continued thinking, a shadow loomed over me even though the sun was still high up in the sky.
It was a human. One of the homeless ones.
A wooden axe appeared in the human's hand and he immediately swung it at my head.
I couldn't react in time.
SMACK!
The wooden weapon landed a direct hit on the side of my head.
Oww. That hurt. It felt like a sharp, stinging slap to the face.
I looked up at the human's face and stared him in the eye. He looked back at me, incredibly confused, "W-what the..."
The wooden axe was sharp and yet it failed to pierce my skin. From his point of view, all it did was move my head slightly to the side.
A stone sword appeared in my hand and I aimed it at him. He flinched and stepped back as more shock and confusion washed over his expression. He was probably wondering why my starter weapon was made of stone rather than wood.
There was a second human there and his hands were rummaging through my backpack which contained all of our food. But he stopped as he too was confused as to how I was still alive, let alone, still conscious after taking a direct hit to the head.
One second later, the second human quickly grabbed my backpack and tried running away. But to his horror, Alfred grew. My first knight grew larger until he was taller than all of us and with one simple reach, he grabbed the human's shirt and retrieved my backpack.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
The sudden appearance of a knight in full silver armour left the two humans in utter disbelief, their eyes filled with a mix of fear and confusion.
Alfred then proceeded to throw the second thief at the first one.
They collided and both fell to the ground, groaning in pain. When they were back to their senses, they looked up only to see Alfred looming menacingly over them. They started screaming as they got up and sprinted in the other direction, as far away from us as possible.
Alfred was going to chase after them but I stopped him, "Alfred no! We must leave, now."
Everyone was looking at us now.
Every fake and every human who was nearby were all looking at us. All of them had the same look of disbelief on their face. Some were stepping back, clearly afraid of us. Others were whispering questions to each other.
I wasn't sure what trouble all this attention might bring, but I didn't want to stay around to find out. Worst case, soldiers might come in to investigate.
Alfred shifted back to his smaller form. I grabbed both knights and my backpack before sprinting out of the camp. Multiple leaves started blowing in every direction as I could feel the Scout retreating with me.
...
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…
I panted for breath as we took refuge in the slime forest.
Alfred looked a bit depressed. He probably thought I was mad at him since I abruptly stopped him from chasing after those thieves. Cleric comforted him by patting him on the shoulder.
"You did the right thing Alfred. Thank you." I said with honesty, I was glad he decided not to pull out his great sword, "I just wanted to stay safe in case we attracted trouble."
My knight still seemed a bit down. A leaf fell from the sky and gently landed in front of Alfred. I wasn't sure what the Scout wrote on that leaf but whatever it was, it immediately brightened up Alfred's mood.
As a healer, Cleric immediately wanted to check my head. I was about to say I was fine but almost as if it was on cue, a throbbing pain rang around the spot where I was hit by that wooden axe. Oww. Now it was starting to hurt a lot more than before and a headache was beginning to take form. Perhaps it was just the adrenaline that made it seem like it wasn't that bad. Thankfully, there was no blood or any visible wound but a bruise was definitely going to appear there soon.
Noticing this, Cleric insisted he have a look so I lifted him up and allowed him to look closer. It hurt but the sensation of Cleric's healing made it feel a lot better, "Thank you Cleric."
At that moment, a scary thought occurred to me: If I hadn't been using a tank class, or worse, if I were still a regular fake, I would've died back then. If I was my old self, I would've welcomed that death. But right now, just thinking about leaving Alfred and Cleric behind, terrified me.
I remembered back when the Reaper taught me about how attacking with an intent to kill can do a lot more damage than if you were attacking with the intent to knock them out or 'defeat' them. That human definitely attacked me with the intent to kill me. I could tell from his expression, the way he swung his weapon and from the feeling of that hit.
I could easily guessed what had happened there. They must've spotted me when I was handing out food to other fakes, so they waited until I was in a more secluded area of the camp before taking action. They assumed I was weak because I was an Aria fake and wanted to kill me for my food. I should be more careful next time.
It also made me realised one more thing: I need to work on my reflexes.
If I had reacted fast enough, I would've been able to block with my shield.
A leaf fell on top of me. On the leaf, the Scout wrote, "An Aria fake followed us here, you should go meet her."
What? Since when?
The Scout left a trail of leaves which I followed with my knights. My knights picked up the leaves, expecting there to be messages on them even though it was just meant to be trail to follow.
Truth to his word, we saw an Aria fake running away from some slimes. She wore the same clothes that all Aria fakes wore. In her hand was a wooden sword that I recognised too well.
It's the primary weapon that all Aria fakes can summon since they all have the Angel skill tree. But despite holding a weapon, it didn't look like she wanted to fight. She spotted us and immediately ran over to me.
"Help please." She said softly as she hid behind me.
Alfred returned to his larger form and with one swing of his sword, all the slimes were sliced in half. It was definitely a bit over kill. Was he trying to show off?
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Thank you. I'm okay..." She replied while panting for breath, "wow, your knight is amazing. Is he like ah..."
I briefly explained my skill tree before introducing my two knights. They waved as I gave her their names.
"Oh wow! You changed your skill tree?!" Unlike the others, this Aria fake looked at me with admiration, "that's so brave of you!"
"Thank you. What about you? Ever thought about changing yours?" I asked.
"Oh no no no, I don't think I want to be a fighter."
"That's understandable, I admit that it is quite scary. Anyway, I was told you followed us here. By any chance, are you interested in-"
"Fake town? Yes. Yes." She said with hopeful eyes, "umm, I actually overheard you talking to the other fakes. But I wasn't sure how to approach you and then all that stuff happened so I just panicked and followed you. Then I got lost, haha."
"I see. Sorry I didn't see you back there, my bad."
"No no, it's alright. It worked out in the end... so umm, this town that you mentioned..." She seemed too embarrassed to ask the real question, "Is it really true? Does it really exist?"
"Yes, and you're more than welcome to come live with us."
"Really?!"
"Of course!" I said. After being rejected so many times, I almost couldn't believe it. This definitely lifted up my spirits by a long shot.
She looked really relieved, as if all of her worries had just been washed away. I could imagine all the hardships she must've gone through to get to this point.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you interested in coming to fake town? I've been turned down a lot as you may know so I'm curious. Was it because of the food I mentioned?"
"Food? Oh well, umm... that definitely does sound nice but... to be honest..." Her clothes were barely holding together, scratches and bruises covered her body, and her expression trembled as she continued, "All I really want is to be somewhere safe."
...
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…
We almost scared the newcomer away with the whole "the reaper needs your blood" ordeal.
Fortunately, the Scout was clever enough to call Eve9654 when he went to get the Reaper. We basically needed Eve's presence to prove to Aria that the Reaper was, in fact, not a murderous psychopath.
She did have her doubts of course, but once she emerged from the shadow portals and saw the village, her expression changed.
Alfred caught another leaf message from the Scout which read: "the Reaper could learn a thing or two from you." Which made me chuckle.
Speaking of the Reaper, her condition had improved to the point where she's able to walk around now. She still required bandages and regular healing sessions but she insisted that she was back to perfect health. However, the Sage and Cleric have strictly forbidden her from doing anything dangerous until she was actually fully healed.
Everyone greeted the newcomer with warm smiles, providing her with such kind treatment that, at one point, tears of joy welled up in her eyes and she ended up fainting, most likely from built up fatigue. Thinking back on her desire to be "somewhere safe", she probably had a lot of sleepless nights before coming here due to how dangerous it can be out there.
The Sage panicked in a comedic manner while the Samurai gently wrapped a blanket around the newcomer.
Watching from afar, it was nice to feel like I actually did something good for once.
...
...
End Chapter
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...
A/N Chapter 23 has been completed and just needs proofreading so that will be posted soon. Once again, the chapter went for too long so I split it into two. Sorry for the long wait and thanks for reading this far.
This chapter was finished on the 07/07/2023