Notice: A vulgar language will appear in this chapter. And also in the following chapters. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.
Chapter 7 Companions
Ken and Dia were walking by the river, a few days of travel farther than North's place. She was taking him out of the forest, and it does not need to be said that they were a bit bored, so they started talking.
"I have never seen a male from my race, only females. I didn't think I'd see any in my life, not to mention that any existed!"
"Ah, that's nothing strange. I'm a human, after all."
"What?", Dia was dumbfounded.
The youth sighed and murmured, "Cat Mode off."
She watched flabbergasted as his cat ears and tail disappear along with a vague feeling of closeness only to hear as he said, "Cat Mode on" and to see all of it reappear.
"You really are human... but how come you have acquired this kind of power?"
"Hmm... how to best explain it... it's sorta a gift from the gods."
"Huh?"
"Mmm... Well, just take a look and see. Show skill window: Cat Mode to Dia."
Skill window: Cat Mode
It is a mysterious class-exclusive skill only you have gained possession of so far. As such, the only information you can see in this window is a summary of what you have found out yourself. It's a good thing since I have to work less, so don't be too hasty with discovering new properties of this skill, you hear me? Anyway, here's what you've found out so far:
Ability to communicate with most feline or feline-related beings
Cat ears and tail are added to your body when this skill is activated (are you a monkey or what?)
-Better hearing (you will hear better then any human when you focus on hearing with your feline ears)
-Innate balance (you can travel on very narrow surface without falling; your tail will move angrily whenever you are angry)
-Sentient beings with kindness in them or fancying cats and/or small animals will try to pet you if they see your feline features
Mana cost: freezes half of your total mana (sustained mode)
Duration: as long as you like (even infinitely)
As this is this skill's first appearance in this world, it is yet unknown if there are any other properties to unlock. Should you happen to do so though, they will be listed in this window. Puhaa, I've finished writing this gibberish at least...
She perused it flabbergasted. Seeing that, Ken smiled wryly, waited for her to finish reading and look at him, and said "Well? Guess you are not interested in me anymore as I turned out to be a human, huh?" with a laugh, successfully hiding a bit of concern in his question.
"No... I'm just surprised. You can have it activated infinitely, right? So it's like you are one of us."
"Mwahaha, is that so?", he camouflaged his relief with a loud laugh. An awkward silence lasted for a few minutes.
"Ah, I almost forgot. I heard there aren't any human villages near, right? Then, you don't happen to know any place I can get a sword at?"
He was sure he was asking in vain, but to his surprise, the answer varied from the one he expected.
"Ah, I forgot about it! You also should've reminded me! We will have to go to the further edge of the forest, there lives a gorilla swordsman who is dying because of his old age and is looking for someone to give his sword to before he's dead!"
'Gorilla swordsman? The hell?'
"Well, anyway, take me to him, please."
"Okay, follow me!"
***
Two weeks worth of traveling later, they have arrived on the edge of the forest, where the said swordsman lived. Before they entered, Dia spoke to the young man, "Be advised though, he is quite an eccentric. So he may request something strange in exchange for the blade."
Her companion was pretty confident in his resistance to surprises, "Don't worry. Nothing's gonna surprise me anymore."
On the other hand, he might be the one to surprise the host. Why? Well, he had a bag fastened to his back with the phoenix's egg inside, after all it didn't fit into his inventory. Disregarding this, they entered a bungalow on the edge of the forest, when the gorilla swordsman lived.
"Who is it?", a hoarse voice reached them upon entering the rather shabby house.
"Hello, Mr. Bananan. I've come to pay a visit.", responded Dia after taking a step forward.
"Oh! If it isn't the young demi-human witch! What brings you - cough, cough, cough...! - ...here?", an old gorilla lying on a pile of dry leaves greeted her, interrupted by a coughing fit. He had black, although weathered fur and a scar on his left cheek and gave off an impression of strong yet old and weakened individual.
'I can tell he's strong, but not if he's stronger than me or not. Well, maybe he was stronger and is weaker now?', Ken appraised him silently in his thoughts.
"Well, remember how you told me that you want to give someone worthy your sword before you die? Meet Ken, my companion. I believe hi is a decent candidate."
Gorilla scrutinized him slowly after the young man took a step forward and gave him a respectful nod.
"Hm, hm. I see, I see. He certainly has some strength. But, alas! I cannot give him a sword until he shows me his Family!"
'Family?', Ken's surprise was visible on his face as he tried to understand what it was supposed to mean now.
"Oh, you don't know? Cough, cough...! That's no good. I can only give my sword to the one who has a splendid Family! But, unfortunately, the time of my dead is nigh. So, I will concede a bit. If you can show me your Family before I die, you will be granted with my legacy! Cough, cough...! Listen, Family is a term for a group of individuals that support each other under their leader's lead. Although they don't fear to steal, murder and plunder, they have their honor and treasure their ties as though they were a single family. At least, it's what I'd like for it to be. My successor and I had an argument after he took over my Family and after becoming especially notorious, they were all wiped out. I've learned after that, that I was the only one with such ideals, and - cough, cough...! - every other Family wasn't like that, not treasuring their allies, soiling their honor and succumbing to treason resulting from thirst for power and money or even envy. Cough, cough, cough...!"
Founding your Family
In order to get a new sword, you are tasked with assembling your own criminal syndicate. You have to gather at least three members other than yourself. Moreover, at least YOU have to be tied by strong bonds with every member of your Family. You also have to hurry for Bananan isn't gonna live for more than few weeks.
Awards:
Bananan's sword
Unknown
Difficulty: C
Failure if the deadline is not met.
Do you wish to accept the quest?YesLol nope
'What the hell, I don't want to have anything to do with any relationship like the one I had with Black Panther! But I need the sword... shit, what to do... Oh, I know. I can always disband it after it's over.'
"I accept."
You have accepted the quest.
"Good, cough, cough, I'm grateful. I look forward to seeing your Family. Ah, let me tell you something about the sword - it's will gets stronger according to the strength and number of your bonds in the Family, and you won't be able to equip it unless you are it's leader."
'Da faq did you just say?! I won't be able to equip it?! This sucks!', Ken though with a deadpan face while they left the bungalow.
'So I have to get the sword if I want to survive here', he pondered. 'Well, I can always ditch that Family thing after I get another sword.'
Dia didn't interrupt while he was thinking, since she was thinking about something else, 'Will he ask?'
'Well, maybe that Family can be a bit of an interesting thing', youth concluded his thinking process. Then he turned to his companion.
"Hey, wanna join my Family as a first member?"
"Yes!"
The quest have been updated
He didn't bother to check it as he already knew what had changed.
'Good, I've got one already. This will be a walk in a park'
'Yes! He asked me! I'm so happy!'
Thinking about two completely different things, determined Ken and blushing happily Dia departed to look for two more people to join their newly founded Family.
Little did they know they would encounter their third member soon.
***
Evening, the same day.
Dia and Ken were by a campfire, eating their supper in silence. Both submerged in thought, tried to figure out a way to find new and adequate members quickly. Suddenly, something snapped in the bushes just outside their range of vision.
Alarmed, they got ready to fight.
'Is it a carnivore attracted by a scent of roasted meat?', thought Dia. On the other hand, Ken's thoughts were more self-centered, 'I hate being bothered when I'm eating.'
To their partial relief, an elf came out. Only partial because he wasn't a beast, since on the other hand the intelligent races can pose an even greater threat if they want to. Yes, the key is 'want to' and they didn't know what did he 'want to' do and thus were wary.
"Oohhh!!! People in this forest!?", the guest exclaimed, seemingly glad. He was somewhat tall and slender, with stern face and silver long hair, ending a few centimeters close to shoulders. He was wearing a stylish coat, but you could see that he probably had leather armor under it.
"Yes, so state your business", young swordsman answered him indifferently.
"Uh, never mind that. I was just surprised seeing humans here. You on some quest to?"
"Sorta."
"He-eh. Is that so? Mind telling me?", the elf sat on the opposite side of the fire and asked.
"Huh? Why should I? Aren't you too comfortable here, by the way?"
"Oh, so you don't believe me? Okaaaay, I will tell you first. Actually, I have heard that somewhere in this forest is a man who can help become a boss of the mafia. A mafia, you know?! I have always dreamed about it!"
Ken and Dia tensed up.
"Well, I am on a quest to create one, but I will disba-"
"WHAT?! YOU ARE?! NOOO!!! I'M THE ONLY ONE FIT TO BE THE BOSS!!!", the elf suddenly went in a fit of rage and bellowed. Not only that, he also took out a bow and started to aim at Ken!
'What the?!'
The duo dived in a nearby bushes, avoiding the arrow which hit the place where Ken has just been sitting which... exploded! Scraps of roasted meat and embers from the campfire erupted in every direction, caught up in the explosion!
'It will probably be bad if I'm hit with these, also better not block them...', thought Ken while jumping out of the bushes with his scabbard, ready to fight and running in direction of the elf, who meanwhile has already created some distance to avoid close combat. Soon, a new arrow with explosives attached came flying, but Ken changed the trajectory of the projectile with his scabbard so that it exploded quite a few meters away from him.
"Shit! Then, how about this! Two times bombs!", elf shouted while releasing two arrows at the same time, both aimed at different places of Ken's body. He didn't shot anymore, apparently confident in his attack.
Ken repelled the attack once again without difficulty, advancing towards his opponent who, seeing it, shouted again, "Then, three times bombs! The end of you!"
Unfortunately for him, only two flew towards the swordsman who was now only a few meters away while the third misfired, falling about a meter in front of him.
"Crap!"
The elf jumped back in order to escape the radius of the explosion, which he mostly did. Unfortunately, when he looked above him while he still laid on his back, he saw jaws of a wolf, which was lured by the scent of the roasted meat and attacked him. He only had enough time to whisper, "The end of me...". The next thing he saw though was a scabbard dealing a mortal blow to the canine.
Little did he know, Ken didn't have any plans to kill him from the start, 'I will make him provide us with two, no, three times the food he just wasted.'
Meanwhile the elf gathered himself up and looked around. After that he... kowtowed in front of Ken and started shouting while crying.
"I didn't realize! You are the one fit to be the boss! I will follow you to the end of the Earth!"
"...Stand up already..."
The new mafia boss felt awkward, it was the first time someone bowed in front of him.
"Yes!"
After standing up, the elf started looking at him with puppy eyes. The gazed at was ready to wage that if he had a tail, it would be wagging now.
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"Not only you didn't kill me, you also saved me from the wolf! I'm deeply impressed! Let me be your right hand, boss!" (author's note: to all of the virgins and whoever else who misunderstood, right hand as in second-in-command, not whatever you just thought...)
The quest has been updated.
"Whatever, just bring us food instead of the one you wasted."
"Yes!"
Thus, the third member has joined.
***
The elf was named Speed. It seems his class was a hybrid, a mixture of archer and, well... who knows? Anyway, it's apparently one of the hidden classes. He claimed that he created it himself.
That aside, Ken appointed him to be their new food provider, to which he said, "Leave everything to me, boss!" with puppy eyes, and quickly set off to complete the mission.
A day later, the young human decided that it was time to polish their teamwork. He called Speed and Dia for the sake of that.
"So, I have to know what kind of abilities you have so that I can decide on some kind of pattern. After that, we will go and train together, hunting some demons or something.", he began.
"Well, I am an archer and can use explosives as you have seen, boss", said Speed.
"First and foremost, I can change into a feline form, the one the panther fell for the other day."
And so, the explanations have begun. Ken also told them about his skills. They decided they would need to try it in practice and chose hunting as a real combat training.
Finding some prey wasn't difficult, it was a forest after all and both Dia and Ken had their alternative forms which had better senses than their human ones. By the way, when Speed saw that both Dia and Ken had cat ears and tails, he exclaimed, "Woah, so cool! As expected from boss and his first companion!"
That being said, he acted with extreme jealousy towards the catwitch. It seems he regretted not being the first one to join as he relentlessly tried to get the swordsman to appoint him the second-in-command. Unfortunately for him, his boss wasn't the one to trust someone quickly, so he only told him "be useful and show that you can be trusted, then I will think about it", and now Speed zealously and without complaint heeded his every word. By the way, he was a hardcore rpg player.
One of the next days, they decided to hunt something other than herbivores to truly assess their teamwork.
After searching the woods, they have found a river strand. Apparently, it was a different river and not the same Ken has seen before. And there, on the sandy beach, a demonic crocodile was taking a nap. As an aquatic animal, it should be in disadvantage in a fight on land.They decided Speed would startle it and deny it the retreat route back to the water. That way, it should enter the forest in it's confusion, where it would fall prey to Ken and Dia.
In truth, it went a bit differently than they wanted.
After waking up the crocodile, the startled creature rushed in the water... rushing frantically through explosions disregarding any danger. It quickly fled down the river, denying them meat and other spoils. And thus, their croc cutlets and sturdy, tough skin for new items were flushed down the toilet.
But, as if to mock them, fate had something more in store. The explosions were heard by other demonic animals in the vicinity and they were now surrounding the trio against the river.
"They are humans!"
"Despicable humans!"
"Kill them humans!"
"Me kill!"
"Groaaaarhr!"
After letting out various shouts and groans, the apparently furious animals rushed to attack the group. Any negotiations were of no use, this was clear. The number of enemies was quite big, around 30 or so, and although they were herbivores or omnivores, they mostly belonged to the strongest species living in this forest.
"Boss, I shall give them taste of hell for daring to bare their fangs at you!", shouted Speed with enthusiasm.
"Alright, I'm counting on you.", answered Ken.
"Yes!"
And so, the TNT began the battle with a loud bang. Almost instantly three creatures were dead, two demonic zebras and one demonic giraffe. But unfortunately, the rest was still alive and kicking, and didn't need any more reasons to attack the trio. So, although three animals died, the rest was only a few meters from them and it was a matter of 2-3 seconds till they reached. In a situation like this, firing arrows with bombs attached to them was useless.
"Speed, you hide behind us..."
"But, boss! How can I, as your right hand, hide behind when you face enemies!"
"...Let me finish. Hide behind as and fire your exploding arrows in the sky so that they hit the rear of the enemy."
"Oh! As expected of my boss, coming up with a new technique for me in the midst of the battle!"
"..."
Ken didn't respond this time - he was too busy killing a wild demonic horse with his scabbard. Using one of his skills, Iron Jet, he crushed it's skull after weakening it considerably with some normal attacks. Dia, on the other hand, transformed into her feline form, and ripped necks of two demonic bulls that tried to impale her with their horns.
The tide of battle seemed to flow into the direction of the trio, but those were only small fries from the vanguard that attacked. The most dangerous opponents were still waiting for their turn, and the trio began to get tired a bit. They held the advantageous position, but that didn't change the fact that they had to defend against too many reckless attacks at once. Still, they didn't have any other way than to just persevere.
On the other hand, the elf was doing better and better. At first, he had no clue about the angle he should use to perform a close ranged fire support over obstacles, but with time he was getting more used to his new technique. He even named it, 'Mortar Bomb Barrage'. That being said, they were almost hit by his bombs' shock wave several times.
At any rate, they have managed to kill about 10-15 of their enemies, that meant that more than the half remained. And things were starting to get ugly. Ken was slowly running out of mana, and although neither Dia nor Speed required it, they used quite a bit of their stamina. And finally, the strongest enemies have emerged.
The situation was grim indeed. The young human was fighting two rhinos at once, both demonic and determined to make him into a kebab on their horns. There was also a third attacker, a demonic baboon reigning over the element of fire, who apparently shared their goal, since he was either throwing flaming punches at him or attacking with flamethrower-like attack from his muzzle.
On his left side, there was Dia in her white feline form, surrounded by two gazelles and one hippo. She barely avoided attacks of the former two while riding atop the posterior one, trying to slash it with her claws - but almost to no avail, as it's skin was tough and thick, resulting in only shallow scratches.
After most of the small fries were taken care of, Speed's attacks almost ceased to have an effect. The best they could do was confuse their enemies a bit, as they eventually got used to loud explosions.
If it's like this, they may be annihilated without help.
If it's help that's necessary though, then there is no problem.
"ORRRYAAAAAH!!!"
Suddenly, a powerful war cry resounded through the battlefield. Everyone stopped in their tracks and, baffled, looked in the direction of the voice. First, though, let's have a look at everyone fighting.
Ken, with his left arm injured and useless.
Dia, blinded by blood flowing from her forehead.
Speed, with cramped right arm and his right hand bleeding from continuous usage of the bow.
Seventeen demonic animals - hippos, rhinos, baboons, gazelles, buffaloes and an elephant. About half of them more or less heavily injured, while the other half lead by elephant still awaited their turn. Now, they shuddered hearing THE VOICE.
"Shit... I thought it was them!"
"So we took on a wrong opponent!"
"We have no chance against him now with our dwindled numbers!"
So they were shouting.
"ARE THERE ANY SHITTY DEMONS HERE?!", the voice resounded again, making the demonic animals break into a sweat profusely.
And then, IT happened - a blue rain with big droplets fell on the battlefield, disintegrating each and every demonic animal it hit.
***
The spell lasted for 30 seconds, more than enough for every demonic animal present. A few seconds later, a man wearing dark purple robes appeared.
"Oya? Seems like three shitty demons survived... Oh, now that I look at you, you are no demons."
In response, Ken walked to him and, stopping two meters before him, he said, "Thank you. We were having problems with them due to their numbers. I'm a swordsman, name's Ken. The other two behind me are archer Speed and... Dia."
"No need to thanks, all I did was exterminate thosy shitty akumas. I'm Feier, an exorcist, and I like killing shitty demons!", the last sentence he exclaimed while prancing in a manner similar to running in place and pulling out his tongue roguishly.
'Akumas? The hell is that? And, what does he think he is doing?!'
Everyone looked at him, wondering if he's sane. Ken decided he would try to recruit him.
"So, what are you doing here? I'm here on a quest to assemble my so-called Family, in other words, my own mafia."
"Well, is that so. I'm here to fuck up all the fucking demons I can see. Dunno why, but bishop at church told me I'm to roam the lands to exorcise demons. But whatever, killing demons is what I like the most after all."
'I can think of at least two reasons why they told him to get out', thought the trio while keeping their deadpan faces.
"Well, we are going to leave this forest soon, but first we have to get one more member for my Family. After that, we will have to cut through the hordes of demonic beasts to the location were the one who issued the quest lives. So, how about you join us?"
"Hm... killing demonic pricks... I like that. But, you see?", whilst speaking, Feier took out a sword and licked the blade slowly in a showy way, "you have to first show me a proof that you are worthy to be above me!"
With that being said, he suddenly lunged at Ken, who barely had enough time to block it with his scabbard.
"Boss! How dare you attack him, you..."
"Ken!"
"Stay out of this! I can do this much if it helps me finish this ridiculous quest!"
Dia and Speed wanted to help him, but swordsman told them not to do it, so they stopped after each taking a single step forward.
The fight wasn't on equal terms. Feier was unscathed after the battle with demons (although it can't even be called as such if we exclude the part before he appeared) and was in a good form. On the other hand, Ken was exhausted and injured after the previous battle and didn't even have a real sword.
Despite the Disadvantage with capital D, Ken still was on par with crazy exorcist. Attack, parry, attack, counter, attack, block and evade. He was only focused on those things and somehow endured. In the end, after a battle 30 minutes long, they both fell on the sand, out of breath and completely exhausted.
"Mwahahahah! That was good! I had yet to find an equal! And you might be even a little stronger than me, since you were fighting handicapped. But, fuck! That is only right if you are to be my...", he stuttered, and looked at Speed, "How did you call him, shitty elf? Ah, that's right, boss!"
"Boss!", shouted his self-proclaimed right hand suddenly, "I object to him being in our Family! A vulgar, mad exorcist like this...!"
"Don't worry about it, we need a powerful guy like him", Ken hushed him."That being said, I do have one question first. Why didn't you use any skills other than your sword mastery? If you did, the outcome might have been different!"
"Mwahahah! That's fucking right! Unfortunately, all of them work only against demons!"
'I see', thought the swordsman and scrutinized him. Feier was a tall (about 1,70-1,80) man in his early twenties, with red eyes (!) and silver hair, just like the elf. His face could be a handsome one if not for his mad expressions he constantly sustains. The rest of his body was hidden under a dark, purple coat almost reaching the ground, so it could only be speculated what kind of body he had, other than the fact that he wasn't visibly fat. From under the coat, a military-type shoes protruded, brown in color. Awaiting the Ken's decision, mad exorcist jumped onto the remains of the demons and started stomping on them with apparent glee.
"Okay, welcome on board"
"Boss!"
"It's okay"
"But...! Having someone this unpredictable is too dangerous...!"
"It's okay. I think we can trust him for now."
"But...!"
"I'm counting on you."
"...Yes!"
And thus, the Family that was finally assembled departed for Bananan's hut to finish the quest.