Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 12. The day before
Inside the carriage heading to an Inn, everyone sits around kinda quietly. Gray twiddles his thumbs, Rosemary slips in and out of sleep, Edward stares out of the window, watching the people go by, Soku tries to doze off, and Peter sits silent. Lance slides over to Soku, so she moves to the other seats, wedging between Gray and Rosemary.
Lance: “Common, I’m just being friendly.”
Soku: “Ohhh, would it be better with my sword to your throat, or is that not friendly enough?”
Julius, who is standing in the aisle, springs into action.
Julius: “Okay, okay let's calm down. You all seem tired so when we get to the Inn we can all rest.”
Lance: “Rest? It’s eleven in the morning. Ain’t no rest, I woke up thirty minutes ago.”
Julius looks around, to see everyone seems pretty tired. He then looks back at Lance, glaring at him. A single drop of sweat falls from Lance’s brow, which Gray notices, so he goes to lighten the mood.
Gray: “So, Lance, if you are Cornelius’ son, why haven’t we heard of you? I thought he only had three kids.”
Lance straightens his poster and scoots up in his seat.
Lance: “For some reason, he doesn't want anybody knowing’ about me. Hell, I’ve only met like ten people, not including you guys. This is the first time I’m just going out in years.”
Edward: “Why did he just let you out now?”
Lance: “...Um…”
Lance begins playing with a strange ring on his finger while Julius takes the lead in the conversation.
Julius: “My father does not know the current ordeal, but since he is going to pass soon I want Lance to get experience in the real world.”
Gray: “Alright, let him go out and do something…we’re all tired from all this travel.”
They continue down the roads for another fifteen minutes before stopping outside of an Inn, which is heavily guarded. Everyone steps out of the carriage, stunned by the forty soldiers standing around the Inn. The Inn itself is grandiose. In a district filled with larger businesses and houses, this Inn stands even further above it. Tucked away in Valatrocitus' capital is almost a sanctuary. No people in sight, on a tall hill, with a large pond out front is this cozy and warm building.
The feeling of homeness is built further upon the fact that the building is similar in style to the ones in Greenvale, being Edo Japan. Pink trees, trimmed grass, lanterns, a small hot spring as well as training grounds for promising swordsmen. It’s exquisite.
Gray: “Guys went all out huh?”
Julius: “Well I do not want my guest to be attacked now do I?”
Everyone grabs their bags and heads inside and is met with a familiar face. Edward rushes up to the Innkeeper, ecstatic to be reunited with a former friend.
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Edward: “Erin!”
Erin blushes and gives Edward a great big hug. But she gets embarrassed to realize everyone’s watching her, so she backs off, flicks Edward's forehead, and greets everyone else.
Rosemary: “Erin! What are you doing here?”
Rosemary also greets Erin with a hug, happy to see a friend of the past.
Gray: “I see you kept the whole Innkeeper thing.”
Erin: “Well, I told you I had friends in Valatrocitus. The whole reason I had an Inn in Athens is because I’m used to running one. And this time, instead of fugitives, you guys are Heroes!”
Erin’s upbeat and joyous attitude burns as a great outlier in this sad city. Erin goes to greet everyone else and moves their things to their rooms. Though Rosemary stays downstairs to chat with Erin, Gray must unpack alone.
Erin: “HEY GRAY, YOU AND ROSEMARY’S ROOM IS THE LAST ONE DOWN THE HALL, THE LUZERY SUIT! WELL, I GUESS THEY’RE ALL LUXURY, BUT STILL!”
Gray walks all the way down the hall, thinking about how similar the architecture is to classic Japanese culture. Now inside the luxurious room is a grand bed, large bookshelves, paintings of cities and monsters, and a balcony. There are even statues of a king, wearing classical king robes with a crown, and another man dressed like a samurai.
Gray {Who are these Barron guys? I gotta spend more time learning about this world, well worldbuilding I guess. Enemy of my enemy is my friend? If so then I guess I can trust these mobster guys, oddly enough. Man, this is stupid.}
Gray lunges up off of the bed, throws his clothes into the dresser, and heads into Edward's room. Edward's room is the complete opposite of Gray’s, but it’s still nice. A decent-sized room with a red carpet, paintings, two bookshelves, and a balcony.
Gray: “Even if our rooms are basically the same, you're pretty barren.”
Gray interrupts Edward's unpacking, which leads Edward to stop refolding his clothes. Edward chuckles and stands up, greeting Gray.
Edward: “What, not tired?”
Gray: “Um, just a little antsy. Can’t stop thinking about this criminal stuff. What gang does Rupert even work with?”
Edward: “Well if I’m right, they don’t have a name. It’s just “you work with the Montgomerys?” his name itself has all the recognition.”
Gray: “Mph, oh well.”
Gray goes to leave, trying to bury whatever else he is going to ask Edward about, which Edward notices. Edward is about to let Gray leave, but the same thing in his head telling him to do this is the same thing he doesn’t want to listen to.
Edward: “Gray, wait.”
Gray quickly turns around, as if whatever was telling him to shut up has gone away as well.
Gray: “Edward…you wanna help me with my swordsmen ship? Ryo wants me to get better at using a Katana, and since you’re the only trained swordsmen on the team, I kinda hoped you’d be able to help me.”
Edward: “Umm…sure why not.”
Gray runs into his room and begins rummaging through the second bag he had brought, a bag solely meant for holding two wooden training swords. Edward waits patiently for Gray to quickly grab his sword but is surprised when Gray presents one for him as well.
Edward: “Um…I thought I was going to help you practice.”
Gray: “Yeah, so I have one for you.”
Edward: “I’ve never practiced with one.”
These words stun Gray. The Leviathan Army’s main sword is a Katana, so learning that Edward, the last living Helsing, the head family of the Leviathan Army, has no idea how to use such a sword, would come as a shock. Edward knows this and is pretty embarrassed about it.
Gray: “Then we can practice together, now let’s go outside. I saw a space in the back I wanna check out by the hot spring.”
Edward grabs the practice sword and follows Gray. They walk down the stairs to find Soku, Rosemary, and Erin having a conversation, Erin puts a halt to talk with Edward.
Erin: “Where you goin’?”
Edward tries to get an answer without sounding jittery but he just can’t, so Gray takes the lead.
Gray: “We’re going to practice outside.”
Erin: “Really!? This Inn was made to be a practice ground! Come around back!”
Erin leads everyone through a hallway, a hallway that’s meant to lead you to your hot spring. Men only, women only, and mixed. She leads them through the mixed door, and everyone is stunned to see how big it is.
Erin: “The outside used to be way bigger, but it got turned into multiple baths. The mixed bath still has the old training design, a dueling area surrounded by the boiling river.”
Erin pushes past everyone, getting right up to Edward.
Erin: “Now, go get into a towel and duel Gray here. Come on! This place is rented out to only you guys, so I’m free for the time being!”
Soku: “Nope, I don’t wanna see you guys naked.”
Soku walks off, going to the women's only baths. Lance tries to get into the women's bath behind her, but he’s stopped by Peter, who pulls him into the men's bath.
Gray: “So me, you, Rosemary, and Edward are all gonna be here in nothing’ but towels?”
Erin: “Yep! Great right?”
Gray {Erin’s hot, Rosemary’s gorgeous, and my girlfriend, I’m hot, and Edward’s okay I guess…but he’s still a dude so that’s gonna be a little weird…but Rosemary and Erin overpower him so it’s equal out.}
Gray looks over to the stunned and shy Rosemary, her panting, constant sweating, and red face lead him to believe that she doesn’t really wanna do this. He’s about to call off the whole thing but is stopped by Rosemary, who just pulls him into the changing room.
Rosemary: “Come on, we don’t wanna get my clothes all sweaty.”
Gray’s face turns from confused to a little devilish, he even smiles to himself, thinking that if he was in a manga his eyes would be hearts and his nose would be bleeding.
End of Chapter Twelve