“So what’s your name then, Persian?”

This idiot. I just told her I come from the future and she blankly nodded. Does she not know what time travel is or do I just appear that Persian? Well, I shouldn’t, once we got to the Andestinian capital of Re’relihn, I had a look in a mirror and…

… my eyes have changed color, they’re now bright blue. What the hell. I mean, my face and body are still the same, so it’s not crazy. But I still feel like I lost a part of myself. I asked Arciel and she said it was normal for hair and eye colors to change when somebody becomes a Hero.

“It’s Shepard.”

Well, since coming to this world a day ago, I’ve met three people, the spartan in front of me, the old mage dude Clarke, and my apparent summoner Arciel. The spartan speaks Greek, and the other two speak some mystery language that I’ve never heard before. It sounds like a blend of a few European languages I know though. The incantations they use for spells are all languages that I know, like pick a random 20th century language and they could be using that for a spell incantation. From the ‘Heal’ spell, it’s evident they mean exactly what they do. I don’t know what to make of this whole language situation, but I’ve deduced that the whole reason I understand every language now is because of some sort of magic. Magic isn’t as prevalent in this world as I thought it’d be. I looked, and there’s no potion or any enchanted items or anything like that. At least this is coming from the experience of spending a single day in Re’relihn; for all I know, they just don’t have them here.

“You know, it’s pretty annoying to just call you spartan lady, what’s your name?”

We’re currently inside of a pretty fancy room. Apparently, Heroes are a big part of this ‘Andestine’ country, so much so that they have a massive building to house them. This place is pretty gaudy for my taste, but thankfully our rooms are pretty small and aren’t as blingy.

“Mmm… my name is…”

Sitting on a chair in front of me, she ponders the question.

“…I won’t tell you.”

Huh? Why? Actually, I can think of a ton of reasons you don’t wanna tell your name in this situation. Maybe it’s hard to pronounce, maybe she doesn’t want to associate her family with anything, maybe she didn’t like her name and wants to change it. I’ve already got a pretty good idea for a name.

“Pick a number, one to ten.”

She tilted her head.

“Five.”

I smile. Greek numerals are great.

“Then that’s it. I’m going to call you Epsilon if you don’t tell me you name.”

I hope she doesn’t tell me her name. Epsilon sounds really cool.

…I’m not a nerd, I’m a linguist.

Her face shot up in some surprise, but she smirked.

“Ah. I see Persians know numbers. - I mean, Shepard.”

Phew. She’s calling me my name. Do you know how exhausting it’d be to be called ‘Persian’ for the rest of my conversations with her?

“Hmph!”

I flash a triumphant look and cross my arms. Before I’m able to speak though, I hear a knock on the door. Then It clicks open and in steps Arciel. She glances around for a moment and frowns.

“I hope you’re making yourself at home? There are a few dozen Heroes living here so be careful to not disturb them.”

Great. My summoner. After talking to Epsilon for a bit and exchanging my theories on the language of this world, I can really tell the difference between their two voices. As opposed to the high and mighty Epsilon’s, Arciel’s voice just seems snotty, her voice sounds like it comes very much from her throat, or maybe that she has a partially blocked nose.

“Thanks for the consideration, but what’s stopping me from running away the second I get the chance? Why should I take orders from you, huh?”

I hope she doesn’t see through me, If she tells me ‘the honor system’, then I am bolting. If not, I hope she says what it is that’s endowing so much confidence in summoners to just leave their Heroes without supervision. What I need now, is information. In this world, with creatures like that fucking alien, I’d like to know about problems so that I can just avoid them entirely. I’m not lazy, I’m intuitive.

“Thinking of running away so soon? Well you can’t. A summoner has the power to stop their summons’s heart if they want to. So no, you are not going anywhere.”

She leans in with a huge sadistic smile. Man. You’re an asshole. I have to believe her, if this wasn’t true, then why the hell would all the other Heroes in the building still be here? They wouldn’t. This country rules it’s Heroes by fear it seems. But wow, she really did exactly as I’d hoped. What a dunce.

“Anyways I came here to give you two something.”

Arciel slips her hand into her robe, which was primarily a white with some black and gold accents, and withdraws two very small books.

“These will give you all the information you need to know.”

That’s…oddly realist of these people. I was imagining much more idealist and grandiose ways of thought in this fantasy world but no: If there are tons of people who don’t know right from left but you need to work with them, just write it down instead of having to repeat a lecture for every person. I grab one of the tiny guidebooks out of Arciels hands. This is great. I just said I wanted information, and now I’m getting it. Sweet. I need to keep in mind that this stuff might be biased though for obvious reasons. I have zero loyalty or reason to care about this country or this world. If there’s away to get back, it’s going to be my priority. If not, I’m going to have to make plan to try and break free of this Heroship if it’s possible.

“You’ll be able to read it; a perk of Heroes is universal translation. Thank me and Clarke for giving you two the mana for that by the way.”

Wow. Just wow. Well anyway, pushing aside her annoying words, this makes a lot more sense. The reason summoners need to be with their summons or to even be needed is that the summon needs mana. I can assume that this ‘Mana’ is just the normal fantasy kinda crap. I’m sure Arciel isn’t only feeding me mana just for translation.

“What else should I thank you for then?”

“Hmm, well, I’m currently giving you about 90% of my passive mana regeneration, and that goes toward things like keeping you on this plane of existence, translation, and enhancing your body. Hmph~!”

She strikes another dorky pose, probably hoping that I’m going to bow down and lick her boots.

But wow, this is just a testament to her stupidity, again, I’ve fooled her into telling me information. What she said makes sense but, what’s this about ‘Enhancing my body’ Hmm?

…Oh! This explains why the hell I punched Mr. Alien so hard, magic; also, how in the hell Epsilon gave those knights a run for their money. It’s probably not only strength I’m getting a boost in too. I think I can guess why Heroes are so special now, they’re able to have mana enhance their bodies like Arciel said. If they weren’t special in this regard, then why the hell doesn’t anyone else punch with the force of a hand grenade? Actually, some people might, I’ve only been here a day.

“Well anyway, read those, you’ll be less confused. Tomorrow morning the Heroes are going to gather to introduce you, so go to the auditorium by daybreak.”

She leaves the room with a little wave. I lay down on the bed that’s been given to me and flip open the book.

…If you are reading this, then you are not native to this world. You are now a hero of Andestine. Your previous loyalties, friendships, and religion do not matter anymore. You have been called upon to serve, to fight for Andestine, humanities’ hope for a civil world. Andestine is an island nation off the east coast of Aleeze, the main continent in the center of the world…

Me and Epsilon sit in silence for a while, reading. The little notebook talked mainly about how Heroes are supposed to serve or whatever, it’s like propaganda. There was definitely some good information, like the geography of this place. There was even a handy map included, although it was pretty rudimentary. But, I’m on an island nation called Andestine. There’s no islands or nothing on the map, just Andestine and Aleeze. I guess in a medieval sorta world they don’t have satellites to map out every tiny island. The book went in detail about the other countries in the world, they looked pretty by the books; two expanding nations not fighting because they were apparently quite equal in power. Andestine seems like a pretty strong nation, its land is fertile and the continent of Andestine is about a third the size of Aleeze. But, other than Andestine, The Jedathari Caliphate and Irine Principality, there were a ton of tiny nations. The northern part of Aleeze seems like a clusterfuck. There’s tons of nations vying and waring with each other, even though those two powerhouses could crash down and eat them up at any moment. There’s only one nation to the south though, it’s just a speck on the map but, the book goes into extreme detail about it:

The Sidonian Empire.

Hardly looking like an empire, it occupies a small and fertile peninsula. The nation is made up of a non-human species, Nekomata. (Please refer to the creature index to learn more.) These Nekomata are ruled by a being known as ‘Sidonia’. There are also humans that have been tricked into working for them, do not think of them as human. This ‘Sidonia’ solely rules the empire, though there seems to be traces of some sort of noble house society also in place. Information about the nation is scarce, but it’s military might is unignorable. The majority of its population are skilled fighters, their population is outnumbered so they value quality over quantity. Please take extreme precaution when fighting one of them and do so with extreme prejudice. They are a barrier between humanity and salvation.

Ignoring the obvious bias, its clear Andestine is scared of this tiny nation. They wrote as much about it as they did about the two powerhouse nations on Aleeze. But this nation is apparently made up of non-humans. So now I know, there aren’t only creatures like Mr. Alien, there’s also intelligent humanoids like in most fantasy worlds. There’s even a nation in the north comprised solely of orcs, scary. I flip to the small index of creatures; it shows a picture and some common traits for each. As I flip through it, looking for ‘Nekomata’, I see a few normal ones, elves, goblins, orcs, wyverns- stuff that I know. The goblins look like horribly deformed people in the pictures though and not just stupid midgets. But I also spot a few weird ones, Angels, harpies, spirts, and then just ‘Beasts’. What the hell are ‘Angels’? I read it over, thinking it’s just a nickname but no, they are people, with wings and halos…the hell? I read over ‘Beasts’ as well.

Beasts

The world is plagued with numerous creatures that cannot be classed into a species or race. There are subsets of these creatures, but they are very loose ones. Most beasts are very unique to an area. There a such things known as Breaches, where monsters will flood above ground through a hole in the earth. Nobody knows how these breaches are formed, but they can be taken down with relative ease with the support of an army of at least 500 to be safe.

That wasn’t helpful at all. It didn’t have a picture. It was pretty vague, and I don’t know how much firepower 500 guys really is, is it 500 peasants or 500 elite knights? Useless. I finally find the page with Nekomata. The picture is just that of a normal guy, but slightly faded out are cat ears and twin cat tails. What the hell? Cat people?

Nekomata

They are a dangerous race. They look humanoid but they are not human by any means. Their life spans are estimated to reach in the thousands, and the only way to distinguish one from a fellow human is the ears and tails, which can only be seen when one is under life threating stress. All Nekomata, with the exception of a few hermits, are subordinate to Sidonia. (See Sidonian Empire to learn more.)

Okay. Huh. More vagueness. Well, it’s better than nothing. I slam the tiny book shut and look up to Epsilon, who’s also closed the book.

“It’s pretty biased. They are vile for trying to shove their ideals into us.”

Oh wow. She’s actually smart enough to realize that.

“And yet they appear to be foolish enough to fall for your wordplay.”

She sighed. Man, she even saw through my grabs at information from Arciel. She’s looking up to be a pretty good teammate. Well, I guess she is an ancient spartan, ancient humans tended to be much more intuitive and stronger than the slobs that the modern society has created.

“There’s one thing that confuses me, what’s that part of the map that’s called ‘Dead Zone’?”

I shrug.

“I don’t know.”

Up in the north western part of the map of Aleeze, there’s, a place that’s completely black and simply say’s: Dead Zone.

…

Man. This place really fits the word ‘Fantasy’ the walls have bits of glowing beams and the lights are just floating flames. The whole room is basked in an orangey yellowish light. We’re in the auditorium-hall place for the 'Heroes Chapel'. It’s a big room, but only a few dozen or so people fill it. These people are Heroes, like me. I have some interest to see if any of them come from around my time in the U.S, or even further in the future than me; but overall, I’ve got no feelings for them, odd. I’d thought that I would of felt some sort of connection with other people that have been dragged out to a different fucking world, but no.

All these Heroes have some flashy things about them. They’re all wearing some nice-looking armor, it’s almost all universally full steel plate. It’s not just boring grey steel either, they all have some exotic and personalized colors to meet their rainbow of hair and eye colors. I feel really out of place, I didn’t get my armor, or a weapon yet, so I’m still wearing my black leather jacket. My color scheme’s really been messed up now that I have blue eyes, it doesn’t go at all with my hazel hair anymore. I can see that Epsilon also looks a little nervous, but she’s fine, she’s a spartan. I asked about Sparta and what she said matches pretty well with what I remember about the era around the spartan golden age; which is a big plus, because later down the line, Sparta would be a joke in late Greek history.

“Now, then, thank you for gathering here this morning, there is important news.”

A middle-aged man wearing nobleman’s clothes spoke in a dignified voice at the podium.

“The Jedathari Caliphate has taken our advice and has declared war on the Sidonian Empire. I don’t think I have to explain why this is a victory for us. We will be aiding both the Principality and the Caliphate in their wars against Sidonia in secrecy until we formally declare war ourselves. As allies of both the Principality and the Caliphate, Andestine now has full legal right to deploy troops to the continent of Aleeze. It’ll take some time before we’re able to transport and get our armies ready to cross the sea, so in the meantime, you Heroes will be our spear. The majority of you and your summoners will be heading off to different allied towns and cities to make sure they don’t have any vestige of Sidonian influence before we fully commit.”

Ok, yeah. Just like in the book, it looks like Andestine has a bone to pick with Sidonia.

“I’m sure you have all done this before, but we do have two new allies, so please, welcome them as your new comrades in arms against the scum that oppose mankind.”

I can feel a bunch of eyes shift over to the only two unarmored and unarmed ones here, me and Epsilon. Whatever, I’m not some shy guy.

“Then fight well, Heroes of Andestine, obliterate those who dare stand in the path to survival.”

He steps off the podium. The rest of the heroes and their summoners quickly shuffle out of the room, anxiously talking to each other. I hate being the new guy. I don’t know anyone, I don’t know what I have to do, and I’m really directionless.

Over trots Arciel with a smile on her face. Pacing behind her looks to be an irritated Clarke.

“Well. It looks like we’re off to work!”

She says happily. This is weird, what happened to her whole lazy and bratty attitude, why is she a hard worker now?

“We’ll need to get you both equipped first, then we’ll head off to a town called Foksly in the Jedathari coast! We’re going to a town pretty close to Andestine because we’re noobies but that doesn’t mean that we can’t show off!”

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She counts off with her fingers what tasks she has planned. She’s really giddy now; because she gets to show off, is that it?

“I have no problem with fighting, but Shepard has no combat experience, child.”

Epsilon’s words hit me like a stone. She’s right, I can’t use a fucking sword. I can swing one, sure, but I’ve got no experience in fencing!

“Don’t worry, this deployment shouldn’t be too tough. We’re being sent to clean the town of Sidonian influence, which only means getting rid of any conspirators or infiltrators really.”

‘Getting rid of’, she said that with a pretty, and smiling face.

…

Feint, sidestep, thrust! Feint, sidestep, thrust! Feint, sidestep, thrust!

Ting!

Ah! I hit him! I actually landed a hit on Alisson! Hehehe!

“Nice job, your fast enough with sidestepping that your able to hit me if I take it easy.”

Hah…pride flows into my body; hard work pays off!

Thankfully, Alisson hasn’t been as rough on me as he was during my first week. I know that was just to test my will power though, and I apparently passed with flying colors. I somehow let out a sigh of happiness.

“Good hustle out there.”

A subtle and quiet voice within the background hum shocks my mind. I turn and Sidonia is standing a few meters away, gently clapping her hands. Sidonia, outside the Rolaign? That doesn’t happen often. She even bothered to come to the sandy felid adjacent to the Nuam Keep. Around us, members of the Storm Brigade and other elite units are sparing but keeping a firm and surprised eye on Sidonia.

Without thinking, both me and Alisson drop to one knee. This is gotta be important, Sidonia doesn’t come to you in person on a whim.

“Well, well. Gather up your Brigade Alisson. Andestine is on the move.”

Without needing to say a word, Alisson flicks his head and the members of the brigade, who were probably already listening, trotted over. This isn’t some errand like with those tablets…this is the real thing.

Alisson and I rise.

“We all know what Andestine does before they commit to a war. They’re sending out Heroes and Inquisition teams to towns in the Principality and the Caliphate to destroy the intelligence network that we’ve spent so long building up.”

She glanced over the Brigade, smiling.

“I’m sending you out to the cities we have the most control of in influence. Here’s a list for cities that we need to keep in our good faith, I’ll let you delegate who you want Alisson, but I want at least two per town, don’t take any chances, my little brigade.”

Alisson nodded and gently took an envelope from Sidonia’s pale hands.

“As you all know, the 1st and the 2nd armies have been sent out, so I’ve orderd the mobilization our 3rd and 4th reserve armies to the Jedathari border, just in case. Our 5th army has been engaging the Principality for the past few months, they are taking fatal casualties, but they are holding their ground. Our 6th army is still being reorganized and won’t be able to fight for a time. As you can see, our strength has been chopped in half.”

Sidonia shrugs with her hands and a smug smile.

“The good news is…”

Her eyes shot up deviously.

“All of our ranger corps have been deployed without incident.”

The brigade let out a murmur of awe.

“Of course, that’s it for our deployed troops. I’m really a wierdo huh? I keep so much of our power in reserve, don’t I?”

She smugly shrugged again.

“Nonsense, my lady, it is simply thinking ahead. We would lose a war of attrition with the humans if we didn’t take care to not waste our manpower.”

Alisson said, clearly speaking for the whole Brigade.

“I suppose you’re right…well, go off, and protect your fratello from…undesirable…fates.”

She turned on her heel and walked off. No bodyguards followed her of course, what kind of leader can’t be safe in their own towns?

Alisson turned and faced the Brigade.

“Our lady has spoken. It is time. We will move to protect our comrades. I want everybody ready to leave by 2300 hours today, the sooner we can get to our comrades, the safer they’ll be.”

…

Alisson’s breath was visible in this cold hour of night. Behind him, all on horseback, we’re 16 of his brigade members and 8 of those new apprentices they’d received, including both himself and Celistine, 26 horses were awaiting his command to start moving toward their assigned towns within human territory. It was pitch black, and in front of him, was a gate that lead out of Eldera, one that’d he’d passed 10 days ago. In a display of logistical perfection, they’d readied supplies and horses and moved them to Eldera via the mage rail within mere hours. The other half of his brigade was probably about to move out over at Cate’dei, the largest Sidonian city north east of the capital; They’d be handling the Irine towns whilst the brigade members in Eldera would be heading to the Jedathari ones. Alisson, and everyone else gathered wore no flashy clothes or exposed armor; They all wore simple and dull cloaks. Under the cloaks, small bulges of back-packs could be seen.He inhaled.

“51st! We move!”

“Swiftly and without hesitation!”

His brigade echoed behind him. He raised his hand toward the sky.

“Parlama.”

A blue light shot out of his hand toward the pitch-black sky. It illuminated nothing yet was extremely bright. The gate in front of them slid open.

He raised his gauntleted hand in a closed fist and swung it forward. His horse, and those behind it, set off. They poured out of the gate and streamed down multiple different cobblestone roads. At first, his team had been split into halves, then quarters; after about half an hour of galloping at an extreme pace, he could only hear one other horse behind him. The drone of crickets and bugs almost overtook the noise of the galloping horses. After an hour, it started to lightly rain. The cobblestone roads turned to dirt ones, and the full realization of being isolated from Sidonian territory assaulted Alisson’s mind. They were in human territory now.

Behind every tree could lurk a beast, behind every cliff could lurk a group of bandits waiting in ambush, behind every shadow, lay a terror of Alisson’s imagination. If it weren’t for his cloak, he wouldn’t feel safe in the slightest. Even though they’d only just crossed the border, the sounds of the night critters, and the noise of the rain, seemed to increase tenfold. It felt like the two horses, now slowing their pace, seemed to be the smallest entities on the planet. The dense brush and thick canopy of trees seemed grow, increase in size, and abhorrently overwhelm one’s sense of scale.

Far after a few hours had passed, in silence, in dread; in fear; the sun peeked its head over the horizon. With it, shadows stretched across the ground. The bushes and thick blankets of leaves’ imposing figure had shifted onto the ground. Sounds of early birds filled the cacophony of noise around Alisson.

We should be closing in on the human village of Oledes. I’ve been through this pass and through that village more than a few times…but being isolated like this always feels terrifying. Although, this time, I’m not alone…

The two horses slowed to a calm gait as a few wooded buildings peaked over the horizon of the road. They’d be spending the day in the inn there, then, they’d head out and travel the rest of the trek during the night. Foksly was quite a close town to the Sidonian border; perhaps that’s why Andestine was so interested in it. The cities and villages around the coasts also had the perk of being lush with forest; unlike the town of Qutrya, which rested more centralized within the continent and was much more arid.

Soon, they came upon a small, but sturdy fence and two men in some light chainmail. Compared to the human knights Alisson had seem, these people seemed like a joke to an untrained eye. However, Alisson could keenly make out that their weapons and armor were diligently and regularly cared for.

“Who’re you two?”

One shouted lazily.

“Just travelers passing through is all.”

Alisson said with a smile and in as confident a voice as he could muster.

The man nodded and didn’t pay any mind to the two of them.

I wonder if they realize how many Sidonians pass through the border towns. Even if they do, Oledes is apparently quite friendly with us even though they are technically under the ownership of the Caliphate.

As opposed to the dying town of Qutrya, Oledes was doing just fine. Its buildings were in great shape and the yield of the harvest seemed to be thick. The livestock was healthy and were surrounded by their offspring. After depositing their horses in some stables with plenty of hay and water, they entered a modest inn. Alisson walked up toward the inn keeper, a broad-shouldered man with a mustache, and asked for a room.

“A room for two? That’ll be four pieces then, more if you’d like a meal with that.”

“Food won’t be necessary, sir.”

Alisson deftly dropped four dull silver coins on the bar from within his cloak.

“Hmph. Second room on the left upstairs.”

Alisson nodded and started walking. He’d been to this very inn a few times in his long life, Alisson wondered if the inn keeper remembered him from any previous visits.

Hopefully there are two beds in our room…

…

After sleeping through the day, and leaving at sunset, we’d been on a quick pace ever since. The night is illuminated brightly by the moon and it’s quiet as opposed to the night before. There’s no rain, only a strong breeze of wind and the echoing of distant owls could be barely heard over the horses.

Alisson’s horse slowed to a stop abruptly, but silently. He rose his hand. My horse slowly trotted up beside his. My heart increased pace. The atmosphere hadn’t changed at all, and I hadn’t heard anything or seen anything to warrant a halt; But Alisson is a lot more experienced, I have no choice but to abide.

“What is it master?” I whispered.

Alisson brought a finger to his lips. He then soundlessly slipped of his horse and drew his rapier while pacing a few feet forward. It’s pretty scary how he can be so quiet even though I’m right next to him. I would also get off my horse, but I feel like I can’t be nearly as silent as Alisson was, so I decide to stay still. Alisson raises his hand toward the forest, which was extremely dark as opposed to the moonlit road. On each of his fingers I can see a blot of mana forming. Four of his fingers have a red aura, whereas his thumb has a blue one. If I assume what those spells are from their colors; then he just nonchalantly prepared four of the high tier spells Pictunee as well as the barrier spell Obice. What. I thought I had more mana than him. Well, I guess he could be using a super large portion of his mana. Although he may have less mana, he knows a lot more spells than me…

“I know you’re there! Show yourselves!”

He shouts surprisingly loud for how quiet he normally he is, It makes nervous.

Immediately, intense rustles and thundering howls sounds from the brush. With crashing and scrambling steps, three quadrupedal beasts swarm out of the brush. They were sickly white, had large, pure black eyes and massive jaws with rows of small teeth; Roamers, as I've heard my elders call them, they were the typical trash found everywhere, though these seemed to be much larger...

“Celis! The left!”

Alisson shouted as four streams of needle thin red spikes shot out from his fingers. The streams skewered one of the creatures and Alisson charged one on the right. I jump off my horse and unsheathed my stilettos; the beast on the left affixes its gaze on me and roars.

Ok. Stay cool. Stay cool…

It charges me. I sidestep and thrust, my muscle memory kicking in. My stiletto cleanly pierces the thick and rugged hide of the beast, but…

I can’t pull it out. Out of pure terror, I let go of it and jump away, not wanting to stay close to it. From its wound streams a small amount of blackened blood. It turns and roars again, this time, the vibration of its voice shakes my entire body.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see Alisson’s left hand being gnawed on by the other monster. Some how ignoring it, he stabs the beast’s head cleanly through with the full length of his rapier. He then forcefully pushes the beast’s limp body away, sliding his rapier out of it at the same time.

“Pict!”

A bolt of yellow smashes into the corpse’s head, caving it in.

How is he fine with having a massive beast right next to him, while it’s taking a bite out of his hand! The beast in front of me charges again, I yelp in a mix of surprise and fear, the sole thought coursing through my body being to run. However...

My body won’t move.

Damit! I always thought this stupid feeling wouldn’t happen to me; I’d laugh off the people who said that they were ‘Frozen in fear’, but here I am, frozen in fear!

“Celistine!”

Alisson’s too far. He won’t make it in time. Is this how I’m going to die?

No! I need to move!

His shout shocks me back into thought, but the beast is only a foot from my face. I sidestep again on instinct. An extreme force slams into my shins and I flip over, now on the ground.

What the hell!? Did it predict my movement!? It looked like it spun its entire body around just before it made contact with me; it knocked me down with a single one of its legs. Shit! I close my eyes with my hands as the creature lunges for my head, its foul breath filling the air around me.

This is the end!

…But no pain comes to me. Instead, my face and gloved hands are splattered with a burning hot liquid.

I cautiously open my eyes, peeking through my hands. There’s a rapier impaling the creature’s head. The beast still struggles for a time, before it’s thrown away like the other one. It attempts to scramble to its feet but…

“Pict!”

A yellow bolt to the head ends its movement. Alisson turns to me, his stern expression breaking into concern. He slides next to me and holds his hand under my head, just like the time when he hit me really hard. He was breathing heavily.

“I-I’m okay. I wasn't hurt.”

Alisson sighed and he seemed to relax.

“Thank you f-for- “

He puts a finger in front of my lips, cutting me off. He shook his head.

“If you didn’t move, then I wouldn’t have had time to get to you before it would of…”

His voice trailed off.

I was scared. So scared I couldn’t move. If Alisson wasn't here…

After we’d caught our breaths in silence, we reembarked on our horses.

“They’re getting smarter. They were waiting in an ambush. They probably didn’t take the initiative because they deemed us too risky. If I hadn’t provoked them…”

His voice trailed off again.

“They also learned your move and took it into consideration for it’s next action. I heard Lente describe intelligence in just the same way.”

We started down the road at a calm pace.

“How is your arm?”

I’m curious. He didn’t ask for a healing spell, and there wasn’t any blood so…

He rose a hand and firmly tapped it with his other. It made a clinking sound.

“Have faith in your armor. Part of experience is knowing how effective your gear is and what kind of punishment it can take. Those creatures had lots of small teeth; they’re good for grinding but in a normal bite, the force is reduced because the area increases.”

Pressure equals mass divided by area huh?

Oh. Right. In all that, I completely forgot I was wearing any protection, I felt so exposed and powerless; it didn’t seem like a sheet of metal would protect me from those things. I guess fear throws off one’s senses.

Another few hours passed uneventfully, as night turned to day, just off in the distance we could see a wall. The temperature was brisker, and the sky turned from a black to a greyed blue.

…

We left our horses at some stables and entered the crowded city. This place was bigger than Qutrya and Oledes, and its infrastructure seemed well-kept. Large three or four story buildings could even be seen in the distance. When we entered the town though, the guards didn’t ask any questions, Alisson simply removed the hood of his cloak and they nodded and let us pass through the gate. The same happened with the inn keeper we went to, Alisson and him exchanged nods and we didn’t pay or speak of what room we wanted. We were now in a room, two beds, one window facing the ocean. Alisson sat down on a bed with a sigh of fatigue.

“We won’t be sleeping; our job is now to find any Inquisitors or Heroes and kill them before they kill our infiltrators and allied conspirators.”

Crap. If I can’t even kill a single monster, how can I expect to stand up to a Hero?

“Our first task is to contact the head of the local intelligence network, she’s apparently a Nekomata posing as a local shop owner. They’ll give us the information about the people we have to protect and if anything has happened so far. Those gate guards and the keeper of this inn are Sidonians in hiding, so don’t be worried.”

This is the influence of Sidonia behind the shadows? All of those people, were on our side...?

Alisson slipped off his bulky backpack. I did the same with mine. We won’t need them anymore now that we’re in the city.

“Alright, let’s head out and meet the leader of the local intelligence net. One thing, Celistine,”

I really wish he’d call me Celis just like he did when we fought those monsters…

I need to man up and tell him then!

“When we do run into any Heroes or Inquisitors, I want you to stay as far back as you can. Those guys aren’t pushovers; and I won’t be able to win if I have someone to look out for.”

I nod. Alisson looks away a little guiltily.

“Sorry for being so…”

Jeez. He thinks I’m offended by telling me to sit off to the sidelines.

“It’s okay. I understand Alisson…but maybe you could…”

“Hmm?”

Alisson’s brow piques.

“…you could call me Celis instead…”

Ah! So embarrassing! Alisson’s face is blank for a moment.

“If you wanted me to call you Celis, you should’ve said so back when we first met, Celis.”

…

“Ah. So you're my bodyguards at present huh?”

A lady with short, hazel hair and green eyes said whilst in front of Alisson. One of her eyes were covered by a black eyepatch that stretched around her face; and she was wearing a thick and fluffy dark jacket. They were in a clothing shop of sorts, with large windows and many sets of finely made hats, scarves and gloves. This was Lily Fadren, or at least that was her human name. Alisson hadn’t met her before, but he could tell she was quite the experienced infiltrator; Generally, the more extroverted a Nekomata was, the older and more experienced they were. Nekomata only gained confidence through their own actions after all.

“Well, good thing you came. We did have some un-wanted arrivals yesterday.”

Alisson tilted his head.

“Nothing too bad I hope?”

Lily laid a finger on her chin, thinking.

“Very bad. Two Heroes,” She said in a slightly more hushed voice than before, “They look like rookies though. What’s really been bothering me is that I’m no longer in contact with some of my human conspirators who were street thugs acting as my eyes and ears. As you can see, I’m not privy towards espionage because I’d draw to much suspicion as a shop keep.”

She shrugged.

“So, you want us to go check on them.” Alisson asked.

“Don’t bother, they weren’t the most reliable people, just watch out for them. Anyways…”

She looked around cautiously, then handed Alisson an envelope.

“A list of our Nekomata infiltrators in the town. Make some rounds, make sure they’re okay.”

Alisson nodded; He could clearly hear the care of a leader for their subordinates through her voice.

“Alright. We’ll be off.”

She nodded and lightly whisked them away with her hands.

As Alisson and Celis left the shop, change was immediate. The cozy atmosphere of the allied shop behind them turned to that of being ominous. The crowd was extremely thick, so much so that he couldn’t see the other side of the road. A weight was placed in Alisson’s chest; who could be hiding, who could be plotting, and who was watching? He hated human crowds. He turned to Celis, who looked as nervous as he was feeling, and grabbed on to her hand.

“Follow me.”

He said quietly. Celis looked at him for a moment, then nodded. As he began walking, people shifted and made way for them like a rock in a river.

"Hey! You two look like a newlywed couple? Why not buy some meats for the occasssion?"

Shoving his embarrasment of 'couple' aside, he turned his head toward the voice that called out to him from the bazar. The man who was advertising was easily seven feet tall. His biceps were humoungous and his skin was quite tan.

"We'll be just fine. Thank you for the consideration." Alisson somehow managed to say coolly. He then continued on, paying no mind to the supposed butcher.

I hate this.

…

“Man, is every ‘Nekomata’ going to be like this?”

What the hell is this. In this big ass, medieval town, we’re sitting here, rounding up spies. I thought I was a Hero, not fucking janitor.

“Yep. Well, assuming every one of them we see is just a spy.”

Arciel says plainly.

It’s not like we even did anything.

In front of us, three people-ahem-Nekomata, are tied up and being held by what look like copy-paste thugs. The Nekomata guys look really scared, one of girls is even crying. The fuck is this. We just stumbled upon some guys, who are apparently on our side, rounding up a couple girls and a guy in the back of some warehouse. Arciel and I split up from Clarke and Epsilon a bit back to cover more ground; Me and Arciel were about to save the tied-up people, but it turns out; those tied up ones are Nekomata. We're here to kill them. I’ve got no qualms with killing, I mean, I’m tough right? Seeing them cry is making me feel bad though…

“Believe me girly, we’ve had our eyes on these idiots in this town for a while, they even trusted us to be informants! Dumbasses!”

One of the thugs in front of us says gruffly.

“To think that Andestine would employ such rapscallions. Hmph!” Arciel says, turning away. “If you betrayed them, how do we know you won’t betray us?”

“Cuz you two ain’t sub-human that’s why!”

It looks like this isn’t a feud between different races, it looks like a war is what’s happening between the Nekomata and humans. Well, I sure as hell know who’s gonna win: The one that’s not a speck on the map.

“Hmph. Well, do as you like with them, as long as we won’t hear from them again.”

Arciel turned. She’s got a lot of confidence in the thugs. Well to be fair, what are these guys gonna do? Let their prey go, after their hard work?

The guys in front of us look visibly happy with her decision; one of them even licks one of the tied-up girls with a laugh as she let out a shriek behind her gag. Gross. I don’t wanna stay here for what’s going to happen, or to see how these Nekomata react; now all of them are tearing up.

I feel oddly uncomfortable. I’m usually never one to doubt what I see and do but…whatever. I’m tough.

…

After walking for what seemed like lifetimes, Alisson’s senses alerted him. They were closing in on the closest infiltrator that they had to check on, but something wasn’t right.

My frattello are…we need to move.

Just as he were about to increase his pace, he caught something in his peripheral vision. A glance, for a split second, at someone he’d seen before, passing right by him within the thick crowd. The white, gold, and black robes, it was that mage girl he’d fought before.

Alisson let go of Celis’s trailing hand and soundlessly unsheathed his rapier; and without hesitation, he thrust.

***