"Did you say... Chad?" asked Dartanion. 

"That's right! The two of us were lovers, once... But when I got caught by Elvis and turned into a sword, I lost him for what had to be forty years. I'm sure I can convince him to help you escape when you hand me back to him." Amelia, the sword spirit, said in her usual English accent. She paused. "Wait a second... You-" 

She didn't get to finish, but she definitely was right in what she was thinking. Dartanion wasn't about to hand this woman over to anyone. 

Chad grinned. "That's me, kiddo. Now. Hand over the sword, or there'll be more knives where those came from." 

"B-but, Chad, aren't you a swordsman? Why are you using knives?" Amelia asked. 

His grin only grew wider. "Well, my love, when I heard you'd been captured by that little brat and turned into a sword, I realized that there was only one sword I'd need to be using for the remainder of my days." 

"Awwww~~~!" Amelia's presence got all light-hearted and happy. "How romantic! Please, Mr. Dartanion, won't you let me go back to my lover?" 

"I'm sorry, but I cannot entrust a fuckboy such as this one with the safety of a lady." 

"That's bullshit! You're just hoping one day I'll get some sort of physical appearance so you can... well... I can read your mind! Stop that!" 

Dartanion blushed. "I-I..." 

Chad drew two more daggers from his belt. "If you won't return Amy to me, then, well..." He smirked. "I'll just have to kill you." 

Dartanion's brain froze with fear. Now, he was really screwed. He'd tried to be a hero for too long, and-- wait, this was all part of his plan. He'd calculated long ago that Chad would come after Amelia, and, and, even that he'd pick Amelia up. He drew Amelia from her sheath and prepared to fight. 

The heavy katana weighed on his frail arms, but he would definitely be able to swing it. He examined the blade before he did battle. 

Amelia, Soul-Blade (Legendary Weapon)

Level: 1 Growth Rating: S

Damage: 400-450 (+300 Lightning Damage)

Ability: Lightning Slash

Unique Skill: Electrify (Gain the ability to create electricity at will without depleting mana. Since this soul is attached to an object, the skill can only be used while holding the object.)

Soul-Blades are weapons infused with a soul. This particular blade was infused with the soul of Amelia, a level one hundred and six adventurer. Growth potential depends on the level of the infused soul. Those swords imbued with a reincarnated human's soul gain the ability to level up and grow with their user, as well as complete control over their Unique Skill.

He couldn't examine Chad to check his level, but Amelia was a very powerful weapon that he was sure could defeat him. 

"No! Don't you dare use me against him. If you kill my lover using me as a weapon, I'll..." 

Dartanion was simply too selfish, not to mention bitter about someone named Chad stealing a woman from him, that he didn't give half of a shit if the two of them were lovers. He was going to slay this man and go on his way. Then get the hell out of here, because Elvis would probably find them sooner or later. 

"Then, here I come!" Chad said, dashing at Dartanion. 

Before the beautiful man could reach him. though, a voice boomed through the hallway, stopping both of them flat. 

"Kneel." 

It was Elvis, casually walking down the hallway towards them. He had just used [Soul Command] to force the two of them to their knees. The little brat had finally caught up to them. 

"Man, it took me a while to heal Hugo. Onii-san, I don't know if I can forgive you after you've done all this." The blonde-haired child smiled sadistically. 

"L-listen... I couldn't let you have my hat, so..."

"So you tried to kill my nakama and stole my most treasured katana?" Elvis sounded genuinely angry, and a faint blue aura began to enshroud him. 

"Well, I too am a fan of katanas, so I figured you would not mind if I borrowed it." 

"Onii-san..." Elvis scowled. "I can't let you live. Sorry." He said in half-Japanese. 

"What are you saying, kid? I can't understand what you're saying. You some kind of weeb?" Chad piped up. 

The kid's gaze turned to him. "When did you get here?" 

"I've been here the whole time, pal," said Chad. 

Dartanion wiped sweat from his brow. Thankfully, Elvis's attention had moved to someone else. 

"Wow... A level one hundred fifty adventurer. You know, you'd make an even better sword than she did." Elvis said, grinning. 

"So you're the kid..." Chad replied. "You little psycho. Let me up and we'll have a fair fight. If you win, you can make me into a sword or whatever you want." 

Elvis regarded him for a few seconds, seemingly considering his proposal. 

"Deal?" Chad asked. 

"No. I run way less of a risk of losing if I take you now. Zero, in fact. You're going to become my strongest katana, you know? I can't let an opportunity like that get away." 

"Doesn't that mean you're just too scared to fight me?" Chad asked, taunting. 

Elvis glared at him with blood-red eyes. "Nice try. I might look like a little kid, but I've lived for over sixty years between this world and the last. I won't fall for your tricks. Now... submit." 

A shockwave erupted from where Elvis stood, nearly blowing the fedora off of Dartanion's head as one of the most powerful forms of [Soul Command] was used. 

The 'Submit' command was extraordinarily difficult to use because it required the caster to completely overwhelm and shut down another's brain. This meant completely overcoming their will and making it their own. On top of that, Elvis was using it on a level 150 adventurer, which made it even more of a feat. 

Fortunately, this spell required one hundred percent of Elvis's willpower and magic power. Therefore, the 'Kneel' command was released from Dartanion and he was able to flee. 

And he sure did flee. Our hero ran and ran until he reached the exit of the cave. He was barefoot, but he didn't care. In fact, he kept running even after that. 

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He wasn't very physically fit, however, and he ended up having to slow down and walk eventually. 

So that was what he did. He walked all the way back to the city he'd come from.

It took hours, and he did so barefoot and in silence. Amelia was dead quiet for the entirety of his journey. She was probably sad, but it wasn't his problem. She would come around and realize what a nice guy he was sooner or later. 

When he finally reached the great stone walls of the city, he was greeted at the massive gates by a couple of guards. He walked over to them, pretty exhausted after the recent events that had taken place. It had all happened so quickly, but he was finally free of it all. Maybe he'd be able to finally start his adventure and things would go the way they were supposed to. 

"Halt, stranger. What reason might you have for entering the capital city? You're dressed awfully strangely..." The guards held out their spears, blocking his path. 

"Good evening, gentlemen. I'm just coming back into the city. I was here earlier, and I got kidnapped." Dartanion said. 

"Kidnapped, huh? You look pretty fine to me." said the second guard. 

"Why, thank you. I do take pride in my fashion sense." Dartanion tipped his fedora, grinning. 

"No, you-" the guard said, then sighed. "I meant that if you were really kidnapped, you might be a bit more beat up. So your story is not very convincing." 

"It's true! I woke up strapped to a table, and this guy was trying to pull my shirt off! This little kid named Elvis was their boss. He wanted to turn me into a magical sword, and gain my great powers." 

"Oh? And can you prove that? We're hesitant to allow such a strange person into our city." said the first guard. 

"Yeah, you kind of look like the type to expose yourself in front of a crowd," a nearby guard piped up, and they all laughed. 

"I would never do such a thing. I am a man of class. And, since you asked, I do have proof." Dartanion unsheathed Amelia, displaying the powerful blade to the three guards. "This is Amelia. She was captured and had her soul turned into a sword by the kid I mentioned. Right, Amelia?" 

"I detest you,"  replied Amelia.

"She's not too happy with me right now, but I am a gentleman and will turn her towards me in time," Dartanion said. 

The three guards stared, slack-jawed. "It really spoke..." 

"I always knew women were objects, but this is beyond anything I could have imagined!" 

"Elvis is a well-known criminal around here, so I suppose that clears you of any suspicion. Since you're the main character and all, I'm kind of obligated to let you pass." He gulped. "Otherwise the author will fire me." 

"I'm glad you understand your place," said Dartanion, and moseyed on into the city. 

Wait, what was that about a main character? And did he say 'author'? He whirled to look back at the man who had just spoken. 

But he was gone, and all that remained was a lone helmet on the ground. 

Whatever.

----------------------------------------

Not much later, after buying himself some shoes...

Dartanion had just finished arranging himself a couple days' stay at the inn. It was late evening now, and he figured he would go and try to find something to do until he was tired. He considered going to the bar, but that was kind of a normie thing to do. He'd been to one before, and none of them had the class to appreciate his unique style of clothing. 

To be completely honest, he was scared to go in because the last time he'd gone into a bar he had been laughed out. 

But he wasn't tired, and he wanted to find potential party members. He wanted to level up and become strong, more than anything. 

So out he went, onto the dark streets of the city to search.

The streets at night were creepy and kind of scary. Everything was lit either by lanterns or not at all. Sometimes, as he went, Dartanion would be walking on the cobbled street in complete darkness. He nearly tripped a couple of times, but a gentleman like him is graceful and does not trip on near-flat ground. 

He took extra care to not go down any alleyways. Just because he was strong and had overpowered underwear didn't mean he was invincible. There were bound to be some shady characters lurking around in a city like this. Plenty of them, actually. He'd seen some scurrying about as he walked, but assumed they were simply fleeing. 

As he searched, he thought about what type of party members he'd like to encounter. The first thing that came to mind was a single word. Girl. Dartanion was a man of high intelligence and fine tastes, and as such he had one specification when it came to love interests- that they were female. 

He'd gone so long without dating someone that anyone would do. As long as they were female. Yeah, it's kind of pathetic- but hey, beggars can't be choosers, am I right? 

Aside from that one preference... someone who knew the area would be a good choice. One with huge tits. No, no, he shouldn't let his own interests play into this. He had to be smart about this. What were the elements of a good party? 

A tanker, a damage-dealer or two, and a healer. It depended on what kind of party you planned on running. Thinking back to his League of Legends days, there could be different 'compositions' of parties. Those with super-high mobility and damage, some with low mobility but high damage output and tanking capacity. Things like that. 

He didn't really have any spells that directly did damage. So he figured he should probably get some from somewhere. Well, with his ability it would be no problem at all. 

The problem was, besides leveling up, what should he do with his time here in the city? Free time would be in abundance, and he-

His eyes bulged. From the tall building in front of him, a figure fell and hurtled towards the ground. A suicide jumper? He or she was falling headfirst, so they were clearly not planning on surviving this. 

Dartanion couldn't just sit back and watch. But without his extra agility, he also couldn't do anything at all because he was a slow runner and couldn't make it in time. So he slowly jogged at his own pace towards where the person had just disappeared headfirst behind a wagon filled with hay. There was no sound, but there was no way someone could have survived that.  

It didn't take long for him to find out that he was wrong. It seemed that right where this man had fallen, the ground was some sort of cement-like mud. A pair of legs stuck out from the ground as they slowly sank down. Without hesitation, and with plenty of grace, he grabbed each by the ankle and tried his best to yank the man out. But whoever it was kicked his legs violently and made it difficult. 

Still, our hero did not relent. He kept a firm grip and used his considerable weight to pull the person completely out of the mud. Strangely, he came out completely clean, without any sort of mud or grime on him at all. 

The guy was about his age. Nineteen or twenty. He wore Earth clothing- a pair of khakis and a button-down shirt. He had short-cropped brown hair and perfectly clear, tanned skin. 

I saved a normie. Dartanion thought in disgust. Still, a good deed is a good deed, so I will surely receive some sort of reward for saving this man. 

The person rolled onto their back before getting onto all fours, seemingly trying to get to their feet. It was then that they turned to Dartanion and looked at him with anger in his eyes. 

"Why did you save me, dude?!" he demanded. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "I've been trying to die ever since I got here, but every time I try something gets in my way. This time, the hard ground I was supposed to land on, and even tested beforehand, turned into some sort of mud and saved my ass. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is, my guy?" 

Dartanion adjusted his fedora. "No. It would seem that you are simply lucky."

The guy glared at him. "That's exactly what I am. And I hate it, you know?. The fucking God of Luck himself sent me here, a couple years ago, with three hundred luck. Like an idiot, I thought 'luck will be my strength' and made it all the way to level ninety putting my points in nothing but luck. And do you know what that got me, man?" 

"What?" This guy is just dumping his problems on me... How tedious. He should just hurry up and give me my reward. 

"For a while, it got me whatever I wanted. But luck isn't all it's cracked up to be, you feel me? It helps you based on what's good for you, not what you really want. It just judges whatever it wants for me. Women will leave my life because 'they would be bad for me'. If I get shot at by someone, it'll hit a person near me instead." 

"So, where's the line between good luck and bad luck?" Dartanion asked thoughtfully. 

"That's what I want to know, man." He sighed. "Listen, you helped me. If you need some sort of money, I've never lost at gambling, so I could hook you up." 

"I appreciate your generous offer, but I have a different type of reward in mind." 

"Yeah, man, whatever you want. I'm just going with the flow here." 

"Become my ally. Let us make an adventuring party together. I wish to have you on my team." He was awfully straightforward about it.

"Nahhh, I don't think I can do that. Sorry, bro." 

"Why not?" Dartanion felt frustrated. 

"I don't want to get wrapped up in anything. I'm just trying to die. If it's something easy like money, I got you though." 

I need to persuade him. What do normies like...? Dartanion took a few seconds to brainstorm. Then, an idea hit him,

"What if I told you that I can get you drugs?" 

"Drugs? What are we talking here?" He asked. 

Our hero's mind raced. What were popular drugs? "Er, weed. And marijuana. And cocaine." 

The guy grinned. "Well, there's no way I'm doing coke, but if you hit me up with the other stuff we can definitely talk." 

"So you'll join my alliance?"

"Yeah, sure. I was a pretty big stoner back on Earth."

"And you won't kill yourself?" Dartanion was not a very sensitive person. 

"Well, I guess I'll have something worth living for this way." 

"That's kind of messed up if you ask me, but I don't dislike someone having simple needs," Dartanion said. He extended a small, sweaty hand. "Dartanion Fischer," he said with a tip of his signature fedora.

The man shook. "Luciano. Around here they call me Lucky Luciano, but you can call me whatever the hell you want." 

And thus, what would later be known as one of the most famous partnerships in the capital city of Knox was created.