18
Semi-pro Tagonist III
Hiro dropped the massive buster sword and tackled the kobold. Dianne shrieked and stumbled backward away from the monster that had been mere feet from sticking her with the rusty dagger. A click could be heard as she shifted her weight. Spikes shot out from the nearby walls, extending toward her from both sides.
“HOLD!"
The word was a command, and the world itself obeyed. At least it did within a hundred feet or so. The Grand Paladin had been true to his word, not helping the two new adventurers; instead, he made Randall, the odd man who ran the southernmost branch of the guild, accompany them. The man was skilled, no one could deny that, but he had a very irritable and irritating personality.
“So what did you do wrong?” Randall asked.
No one answered.
“No guesses? I suppose I will tell you then.”
Hiro groaned inwardly. Randall had been doing this all day. He let them take on this ‘beginner' dungeon on their own without any direction. When they inevitably made a mistake, he would freeze them all with that weird magic. He called it a Word of Power. Then he would ask them what they did wrong, but they stayed frozen, so they couldn't answer. Then he would explain all they had done wrong, reset the room with another word, and make them try again.
Dianne had complained after the third time this had happened, telling Randall that it wasn't fair to stop them from talking and then ask questions. In the middle of her complaints, Randall froze them all again, asked what she had done wrong, then explained to them that her mistake was questioning him.
“Your failures are multitudinous. Hiro, you abandoned your weapon and willingly entered into the range of a monster's weapon. Dianne, you failed to cast your spells in time, allowing the monster to threaten you. Hiro, you allowed the monster too close to Dianne; you are supposed to protect the backline. Dianne, you actually stepped on the most clearly telegraphed, obvious pressure plate in any dungeon… ever. I am quite disappointed in both of you.
REWIND!”
The previous several seconds played out in reverse. The spikes that had been inches from Dianne when the world froze retracted back into the wall. Dianne stepped forward off of the plate, which clicked again. Hiro disentangled from the kobold and stepped back away from it. A sharp pain in his side drew his eye, the only part of his body he was currently in control of. A wound he hadn't felt closed as the kobold's blade withdrew from it.
The scene continued backward until they returned to the entrance of the room where Dianne had successfully cast an unlocking spell, bypassing a trap and saving them from having to find a key. That had only taken four rewinds. As the Word of Power’s effect wore off, the group stood in silence for a moment. Hiro felt like he should be out of breath; he had just been wrestling a monster while wounded after all, but he felt fine.
“Well?” Randall demanded, “Try again.”
Dianne groaned; Hiro agreed with the sentiment. They prepared to fight the kobold anyway. Just before Hiro charged in, the room warmed up several degrees and all shadows disappeared.
They had seen this a few times now, so they weren't surprised when Theodore Grand Paladin was suddenly in the room with them. The paladin's voice was quiet and calm, holding no magic, but it still carried even more power than Randall's Words of Power had.
“Wait. We have urgent business.”
Randall's previous domineering attitude vanished just as quickly as the shadows had, and he bowed formally to the paladin.
“Lord Theodore, we were just about to head down to the next floor. We would love to have you observe…”
“No time. The Seer has had another vision. An emergency meeting has been called. Hiro, come with me.”
Theodore extended a hand, and Hiro looked at it warily for a moment.
“Uhh… What about Dianne?”
The paladin paused, then, without a word, extended his other hand as well. The two newbie adventurers accepted the hands. The world blurred, and a growing pressure on Hiro's eardrums began to hurt. He felt like his bones were being pulled along behind the paladin, and the rest of his body only followed by virtue of being attached, as they traveled too fast for him to process what was happening.
And then the movement stopped. They found themselves in a dimly lit conference room with a long table and several chairs occupying the center. Several people were present, though none were sitting.
Theodore spoke, “This is Mr. Semi-pro Tagonist. Are we missing anyone else?”
“Everyone who will be here is here. Now will someone please explain what is so important that I had to leave a meeting with Duchess Livingston?” The speaker was a middle-aged, overweight, balding man in gaudy robes.
“I believe I can answer that, my lord.”
A trio of cloaked and hooded figures stepped out from the shadows. The loudmouthed man looked like he wanted to complain some more but held his tongue as everyone watched these newest speakers.
“We represent the Seer of Hoblha. The Seer has been blessed with a vision of great import this day, and the kingdom must be made aware.”
A large, muscular man wearing a plain-looking, thick tunic leaned forward, bracing against an empty chair, and asked, “Another vision? I was under the impression that the Seer could only receive visions once a month. Why so soon?”
The angry bald man had regained his bluster and scoffed, “Clearly the Seer has been hiding her powers from the public. Either she can see a great number of things whenever it is convenient, and she is just too lazy, or she is lying about one of these ‘visions' and lost track of her lies.”
The cloaked figure on the left drew a short blade and stepped forward. Before a fight, or perhaps murder, could play out, the central cloaked person reached out and placed a hand gently on their shoulder. The moment contact was made, the two figures on either side fell to one knee. The central figure slumped for a moment before straightening up and addressing the entire room.
“I am Seer Tali, chosen… and forsaken, of Hoblha.”
Sounds of surprise and sharp intakes of breath spread across the room, but the self-important man continued failing to read the room.
“So, you are the one responsible for making the Duchess wait. I will have you know that she has had to raise taxes again this year to fund her vacation in the capital. The lady's time is precious, and so is my own. I won't stand for any more of your declarations of doom.”
“Understood, my lord.”
That stunned the man into silence; he had been expecting an argument.
Theodore spoke up again, “Lady Seer, it is true that you are only gifted one vision each month, is it not? How have you received another so soon?”
The Seer took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking, “Indeed it is so. The Great Hoblha’s blessing is too much for mortals. I have been gifted a single vision each month, because that is all of the divine power I could bear. This month I was given a vision of a growing danger on the eastern frontier, as well as a hero who would stand and face the threat.
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Sadly, I have failed. I misinterpreted this vision. The benevolent Hoblha has seen fit to correct my failure and blessed me with a second vision so that I may spread the knowledge and our people can survive the coming danger.”
“HAH, I was right! The Seer is just lazy; she can see as many visions as necessary but chooses not to!”
She shook her cloaked head sadly, then lifted her gaze to the man. With steady, sure hands, the Seer pulled back her hood, revealing her face for the first time. She was stunningly beautiful. Platinum blonde hair framed a gentle face of perfectly smooth, pale skin.
Her eyes were gone.
Black scorch marks marred her perfect face, radiating out from the empty sockets in a ragged scar.
The man stumbled back from the gruesome sight in terror.
“I implore you, and all of those present here today. Allow me to correct my failure. The divine power has burnt out my eyes. This vision is the last thing I will ever see, but it has given me one more chance. I was wrong about the threat on the frontier, not about the danger, but the timeline. I have seen there are demons involved, as well as an Enhanced Lifeform and a figure shrouded in mists that even the Great Hoblha cannot pierce. There is no more time. The hero must leave immediately. If we do not act now, we won’t be able to stop the end.”
“What end?” Someone asked.
“The end of humanity.”
The seer left shortly after it became clear that the gathered people had taken her warnings seriously. Even the obnoxious man, who Hiro later found out was the steward of the royal family, didn't have any more objections. A plan was quickly formulated, and people hurried off to collect supplies.
Hiro, Dianne, Theodore, A representative from the army named Jacob and a wizard of some importance that Hiro did not understand were all going to the frontier. Along the way the three experts would continue Hiro's training. Hiro tried asking Theodore why they couldn't just send an elite team to handle the problem rather than training a rank newbie to fight demons and worse.
Theodore made a face before answering, “You saw what happened to the Seer, right? That was just for getting the timing wrong. If she saw that you specifically were necessary to stop the threat, then you are necessary to stop the threat.
Questioning it is... counterproductive.
If the Seer saw that I was supposed to cut off my own arm and train a house cat to use it as a weapon, then there is a reason for it, and I would do it.”
The preparations took less than half a day, and before Hiro could even find Randall to say thanks and goodbye, they were off. The wizard, who introduced himself as Magnus, cast a spell on the group that reduced their weight significantly. They were to move in great leaps across the land. Each step they would soar through the air, covering hundreds of feet. Travel was initially slow as they got used to the change, but as they got more practice, they sped up, and soon they were easily outpacing any horse Hiro had ever seen.
As they traveled, Theodore explained their plan, “We will travel from sunrise to sunset each day. At night Dianne and Jacob will set up camp. While they work, I will train you to fight, our route has been planned to stop at several dungeons along the way so you will delve whenever possible. Then Magnus will teach you basic magic for a few hours. At dawn we all drink one of these,” He held up a vial of pink swirling liquid, “And Magnus will recast a few spells. Then we continue. The spells and the potions will substitute for sleep, and we will make the best time possible while still training you.”
And so the following days went. The trip was supposed to take five days, which was only slightly slower than what Magnus claimed he could do with flight magic on his own. The first night they made camp too far from any dungeons to train delving, but the martial and magic training continued. Theodore had decided to increase the already intense training once more. If Hiro was meant to be the first and last line of defense against demons and beings beyond even a god's sight, then he was going to be twice as ready as humanly possible.
Dianne complained loudly about being left out of most of the training at first. Jacob put an end to that. No one had told her about the scan results from when they had first arrived in Bansolow, but it was clear even to her that Hiro was the hero of this adventure. Jacob pulled Dianne aside after she had been chased off of the martial training Theodore was administering to Hiro.
“Dianne, do you know why I am on this mission?”
“What? What are you talking about? You’re a soldier; you're here to fight the demons. Will you teach me to fight?”
“You’re only half right. I am a soldier, yes. But I am no match for someone like the Grand Paladin in a fight, nor could I lay a finger on Magnus. So why do you think I am here?”
That finally got her attention, but she couldn't come up with an answer that made sense, so she shrugged.
For some reason that response made the normally stoic Jacob grin.
“I am here for the same reason you are. Leadership. It's not just being in charge and telling people what to do. In fact, if you were to ask me, I would tell you that Theodore is the leader in that sense. But people like them." He gestured to where the other three were clashing in wild, showy fashion, “They are hopeless without guidance and support. Hiro specifically asked for you to join the mission; why do you think that is?”
Dianne blushed at that; she knew exactly why Hiro had brought her along.
Jacob sighed and shook his head, “You aren’t wrong, but that isn’t the whole story. With you here, Hiro can go over there and give his absolute best effort against hopeless odds. He can do that because he knows you’re here when he gets back.”
“I don't want to just be here for Hiro! I want to fight as well!”
“I am trying to tell you how you can. Hiro is fighting FOR you. Not just because he likes you, but because you are a representation of home, of the people he knows. If you went over there and told him to drop the mission and go delve random dungeons with you, he would. If you told him to lay his life down to fight back the demons, he would. That is your power. You lead people.
The only person you lead right now is Hiro, but that won't always be the case. You need to learn how to watch and understand a fight, rather than run in blindly and start swinging.
That is what I am here for; I am a soldier. I have seen dozens of battles. I have told men to charge into death and watched as they understood they would die but followed my orders anyway.
This is one of the most important missions of any of our lives. So they sent me to make sure that, no matter the cost, the threat is eliminated. Right now that means making sure the fighters can prepare for battle. I start the fires, cook the food, and make sure that Hiro remembers to wipe his ass, whatever they need. Later it will mean making sure that those three are between the demons and the kingdom. I will hand them their sword, call out to distract the enemy, and tell Theodore to take a fatal blow so Hiro can slay the enemy, whatever the kingdom needs.
Do you understand?”
Dianne was quiet a long moment as she thought over the man's words. It felt wrong, Hiro was fighting, he would be the one to risk himself and the one to get all the glory. Dianne was just supposed to watch? Help? Make sure he didn't trip over his own feet? How was that fighting?
But it was true that she couldn't keep up with those three. As if to confirm her thoughts, Theodore stopped, planted his feet, and swung his two-handed golden sword straight down at Hiro. Hiro raised his mother's buster sword and caught the blow. The shockwave alone was almost enough to knock Dianne from her feet, and she was a good twenty paces away.
“How can I be useful?”
The words tasted bitter, but what else could she do? If she had to choose whether to be a nobody forever or a footnote in Hiro's story, then there was no competition.
“First, help me gather the packs; they just dropped them wherever they landed.”
The second night Hiro was sent into an intermediate dungeon alone. He had expected Dianne to raise objections and try to join him, but she just continued her work around the camp. The dungeon was a well-known one, and they had brought a map that detailed the entire layout. Hiro wasn't going for a full clear; instead, he was supposed to fight his way to the third floor and face off against the first mini-boss. The mini-boss always dropped a token when defeated that, when crushed, would teleport the holder from the dungeon.
Outside of that token, the only other ways out of this particular dungeon were to either defeat the dungeon boss or break through a wall. Most adventurers didn't have that last option, but Hiro's weapon and his rapidly increasing strength afforded him the extra escape plan. The fact that this was an intermediate dungeon was frustrating. So far Hiro hadn't been to the end of a dungeon. He would have been able to handle the beginner dungeon back at Bansolow, but Randall kept them from finishing it. Now he wouldn’t get the opportunity to fully clear a dungeon until they neared their destination.
That was another thing that was irritating him to no end. They had no idea WHERE they were going. The Seer had given them a section of the frontier, but nothing beyond that. Magnus had some spell or another that could find traces of demon magic, and they would follow that, but until they found a trail, they were flying blind.
Of course they were also going to miss his own town by a wide margin, so there would be no visiting home. Not like Theodore would have allowed it anyway. They had been fighting, training, running, and practicing magic nonstop for nearly two full days at this point. When he thought about that, Hiro had to admit a large part of his frustration was probably just mental fatigue. Which made it all the more strange that Dianne hadn't fought harder to join the training and delving. This was her dream after all.
A club struck Hiro in the shoulder. It didn't hurt, not really, but it shocked him back to the task at hand. He had been on autopilot all the way down to the second floor. This was where the enemies, enraged orcs, started to become dangerous even to his class-boosted, spell-reinforced, potion-enhanced body.
And so Hiro trained, Dianne studied, and the threat grew.