Arc 1 Chapter 9: With Great Power Comes Great 'Limitations'
Just in case you guys don't know who's talking
(Bryan POV)
I gave a pained moan as I continued staring at the roof of my room. My entire body felt like a wreck. It’s like I was forced to swim for days without using any magic to sustain me. What’s worse was the fact that my left leg is still broken. Ugh… really, jumping off the castle walls and trying to use magic for a safe landing only to have a backlash hit me in midair. It was horrible timing. Then again, it’s probably my fault. Really, this is what I get for using high tier spells one after another. I’m just glad that Sara managed to find me before anyone else. Who knows what would have happened a week ago if she didn’t.
*Knock, knock, knock*
“Come in.”
The door slowly opened revealing a black haired girl.
“Hey Lily.”
“Hey. How’s the leg?”
I wiggled one of my toes.
“Well, my bodies beginning to regenerate. It should take about another week before my body fully heals.”
She smiled.
“Well, that’s good. You know, you should take it down a notch with the spells. Honestly, to not even transform back into a man… just how much mana did you overuse?”
I shrugged.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I just kept using one magic after another. Even I don’t know the limits to my own magic.”
She sighed.
“Really, how reckless can you get? Well, anyway. I came here to tell you that Miselle woke up.”
Oh, the queen finally woke up. After a total of four pseudo beheadings, she should be ready by now… the thing is, I’m still in this condition. Well, might as well tell the news now rather than later.
“Well, might as well bring her here.”
“Eh… you want to talk to her in that form.”
I shrugged again.
“Well, it’s not like she’ll be kept from it later on. Remember, we might invade the occupied Gaulic kingdom and we’ll need her cooperation if we want to succeed.”
Lily gave me a look that said ‘This is not a good idea.’ She then sighed giving me a ‘you reap what you sow’ look and headed for the door.
“… Right… well, give me a sec. I’ll bring her here.”
She left the room as I continued to ponder about the future. Although I’ve been stuck here for a few weeks, Artura had been periodically coming here to talk about her plans. She gave me a document that showed me a four month doctrine. It was a defensive doctrine that enforced the kingdom’s borders with the empire. Forts, trenches, traps… those were the main focus of this doctrine. Basically, she’s planning on making a wall of fortification that is impenetrable. The only problem is, it’s too grand. Resources, supplies, manpower… it’s too taxing. Of course this doctrine could be done in maybe a year, but four months is too much with the current technology.
“BRYAN!!”
The door was instantly slammed open.
“WILL YOU STOP CUTTING MY HEAD OFF ALREADY! YOU KNOW HOW PAIN… wait. Who are you?”
The loud noise instantly gave way to a confused tone. I looked towards the girl who gave me a huge headache right now. She had blue eyes and flowing blue hair. You can say she was a beauty, though in a more childlike way.
“Hey there Miselle. How’s your week been?”
“Eh… I don’t think we’ve met before, yet you know my name. Who are you?”
I gave a small laugh.
“Well, I understand your confusion but try not to freak out ok.”
She nodded.
“It’s me, Bryan.”
She looked at me with a blank stare.
“Seriously, who are you?”
“I’m Bryan.”
“… Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
There was a small silence between us.
“Ha… if you’re Bryan, I must be hallucinating. That must be it… or… or, you must be using some kind of magic. Neh, tell me. Are you using magic?”
“No.”
“Then am I hallucinating?”
“No.”
She paused again. She then bit her lip as she continued looking at me.
“What was my nickname when I was four?”
“Min…”
I instantly shut my mouth closed. Her eyes started to puff with small tears. Oops, a slip of tongue.
“You promised me that you wouldn’t look into my memories.”
“Ah… well, you know… things happened.”
“That’s no excuse to look at a maidens past.”
“Hah… and who exactly is the maiden here?”
“Mou… I don’t care anymore. Just get run over by a horse and die!”
She instantly started walking out the room. When she reached the door way, she instantly paused. She then ran back to me and landed right on top of me in full force. As a man, I probably wouldn’t have felt the impact. As a girl though, my body was weaker. Plus, the backlash took a lot of my strength away and of course my body was sore. Needless to say, this really hurts.
“UFF… Heavy.”
“Don’t try to distract me.”
“Wasn’t trying too… more like, you distracted yourself. Now can you get off of me?”
She continued to analyze my face.
“… You know, I honestly can’t believe your a girl right now… well who cares. At least with this, I can complain with ease… ahem.”
She instantly grabbed the collar of my shirt and too my horror… she started to shake me vigorously.
“WHY DO YOU KEEP CUTTING OFF MY HEAD? You know its painful right? RIGHT? It really hurts and to make it worse, I can remember the feeling of my head rolling off my body. You know how that feels? IT FEELS HORRIBLE! BRUTE! MEANIE! SADIST!”
I was powerless to stop her.
“Stop… hurts… ugh… sorry… let… go.”
A few minutes passed as I was continuously thrashed in my bed which really started to hurt even more than before.
“Oye, wench.”
Miselle instantly froze. She released me and I gave out a tired sigh. Behind her, May was standing with a blade held up to Miselle’s neck. Surprisingly though, Miselle didn’t look scared.
“What do you want?”
Her tone was filled with a calm yet dangerous tone. Well, this is an improvement.
“What are you doing to master?”
Miselle gave her a cutesy smile.
“I was giving her wake up call, that’s all.”
“… It’s midday.”
“… well, I was also kind of complaining to him for his past actions.”
“… Don’t care. Just get off of master already.”
Miselle gave out a sigh. She then got off of me but to my surprise she made a dash for May. May, being trained in the arts of fighting by yours truly, quickly fended off the attack and immediately subdued the poor girl. In seconds, she was calmly holding Miselle’s hand behind her back, while at the same time sitting on her.
“Stop struggling. It’ll only make it worse on yourself.”
“YOU WISH. GET OFF OF ME AND FIGHT ME FAIR AND SQUARE!!”
“… I did. And I won. Master, what should I do with her?”
“Just bring her back downstairs to Lily. Tell her to begin her training.”
“Hai.”
“OH NO YOU DON’T. YOU ARE NOT CUTTING OFF MY HEAD A…”
She never finished as May closed the door behind them. Really, that was kind of annoying. I began to snuggle back into my bed… Oh wait. I forgot to do something. I quickly opened up my inventory. Let’s see. Where did I put him…? Here? Nope… here… nope that’s the snake. No, that’s a grenade… tank… ah, there he is. I quickly took him out of the inventory. As he appeared, the earthen wolf was casually licking himself clean. It then looked at me, its eyes were filled with strength.
“Your master is ready, so go to her. I’m sure she’ll be both surprised and happy to see you.”
I gave a small giggle as the wolf wagged its tail excitedly and quickly disappeared by… jumping out the window! I heard a small crash followed by startled voices.
“MASTER! THEIRS A WOLF HERE THAT JUMPED FROM THE WINDOW!!”
A voice screamed from the window. It was probably one of the guards. Without getting up from the bed, I shouted back,
“AH, yeah, It’s friendly so don’t kill it.”
“Ok.”
With that, the sounds immediately vanished and my room was once again peaceful. My body was screaming at me to rest as my joints began feeling even more sore. Once I recover, I’m so going to pay Miselle back fully for this. I slowly closed my eyes. Time for some more needed sl…
*BOOM*
An explosion occurred outside rocking the entire house. My eyes quickly opened as the sound caused me to have another headache. I’m really getting irritated right now. What’s a girl got to do to get some sleep around here?
“HAHAHAHA… I’ve come to see this fellow hero that I’ve been hearing a lot of.”
“INTRUDER, NEUTRALIZE AND SECURE!!”
“HAH… YOU ALL THINK YOU CAN… wait, are those guns?”
“FIRE!”
“GYAHHHHH!!”
Small pops could be heard from the outside. Instead of the loud gunfire, small pops could be heard. Well, at least they used stun instead of kill. In a matter of minutes, the sounds quickly disappeared. I then began hearing several footsteps climbing the stairs and a knock came in.
“Come…in”
You could tell I’m really irritated right now by how irritated my voice sounded. I mean can you blame me? First Miselle and her thrashing, now this. Yeah… I’m really annoyed. The door opened. Kryst and Xavi could be seen. Kryst was a female automaton with green hair and blue eyes while Xavi was a male automaton with dark black hair and brown eyes. They are respectively the captains of A and B Company which fields the best offensive power in my army. Yet right now, they seemed nervous as they stared at me.
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“S-s-s-sorry for the d-d-d-d-disturbance mistress, but we managed to r-r-r-r-restrain this guy who suddenly attacked the compound.”
Ignoring her stutters, I looked at the boy they were holding. He had blonde hair and light blue eyes. He had sharp features and well-toned body. He was currently wearing what appears to be the kingdoms elite guard armor, but the designs on the armor showed he was not an Elite guard. Then that must mean…
“Hello. I’m here to meet the hero Bryan.”
He instantly awoke and looked around the entire room, his eyes finally resting on me. His eyes then opened wide in shock.
“Fair beauty. Who dares giveth those wounds to such a beautiful creature as thyself?”
He instantly escaped the two guards as he was now beside me holding my hand. How in the fu…
“Oh… truly, such a beauty deserves none of the injuries I see. That’s why, confess to me. Who was thy transgressor? Why hast he done such shameful deeds to thee.”
His head… was definitely broken.
“GET AWAY FROM OUR MISTRESS!”
The two guards instantly dashed towards the hero, their bayonets pointed at him. They didn’t shoot… probably because I was here. The hero capitalized on this fact and quickly intercepted the two bayonets. Both Kryst and Xavi had a surprised look on their face as they were forced back into the hallway.
“Thy guards are rude. Anyway, please. Tell me who is thy transgressor? After I beat him, I ask thee for thy hand in marriage for thou is a true beauty among beauty. And even if thou won’t grant me that, at least grant me a night to change thy decision with my passionate love.”
I felt my body shiver as his eyes began going up and down my body. What is this feeling of unsecurity? Never have I felt so… scared and disgusted at the same time.
“I believe that’s enough.”
“And who now blocks my time with my prin…”
He never finished as the flat end of an axe came crashing on his head. He instantly collapsed, his legs twitching.
“Thank you Rester. You really saved me.”
I smiled at the familiar figure of the bear I summoned. He was currently wearing adventurers armor, his axe hanging by his side.
“It’s nothing. Plus, this guys is a creeper. But, I have a feeling he has something important to say, so I’ll remain here as your guard.”
I gave him a bow.
“Thanks Rester.”
He smiled as he rubbed the top of my head. Really, Aside from Lily, Rester is also such a good companion.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
(Few minutes later)
“ZzzzZZzZzzz… HOMEWORK!!”
The hero stood up as he finally awaken. This time he was currently tied up like a sushi roll. Yeah, I’m not taking any chances with him. He was looking around the room, his eyes landing on both himself then towards Rester.
“Did you do this to me?”
“Yep. I can’t have you bothering my master now would I.”
“UNTIE ME AT ONCE. WHAT ARE YOU ANYWAY?!!”
“He is my familiar. I would prefer it if you don’t shout.”
He looked right at me.
“Madame, if you would be so kind as to untie me, I promise that I’ll make our first night… enjoyable.”
… He’s an idiot. This man was probably a playboy of unimaginable proportion. I would even bet that he’s probably forced down some girls on his own. Yeah… truly a scum…
“You… tell me who you are, and why you are here?”
I pinched my head, trying to massage my irritation away.
“My lady, I am hurt that you do not know me, for I am the hero Yuusuke. I am the defender of the kingdom of Wessex, protecting all against the dread…”
“[Silence].”
His mouth suddenly closed.
“Listen… so that you won’t be confused anymore and to make sure I keep my calm, I’ll make a couple of things clear. My name is Bryan, but right now I’m Catalea. Now that that’s out of the way, I’m really having a bad day and my body is hurting… really bad. Hell, I’m probably going to get another backlash for using this spell, but it’s the smallest one I can currently use and I needed to prove a point. That’s why, no more annoying flowery words ok, otherwise I may have to be a bit more… forceful with you, k.”
I smiled at him as I opened up an unimaginable amount of bloodlust. I could see him sweating now as he quickly nodded. I released my bloodlust and deactivated my spell. I felt a small pain in my head. Yep… that’s a fast backlash.
“Are you ok.”
Rester instantly began wiping the sweat on my forehead.
“Yeah… I’m alright… I think… I might pass out soon. Anyway, hero Yuusuke. What’s your purpose here?”
“Ah… right… I came over to tell you that the heroes are coming to visit you.”
“Eh… why?”
“Well, we all wanted to meet you. You see, we kept hearing stories about you from Artura. It kind of made us interested since you’ve managed to do so much in only a month… for us, it’s been five years. Honestly, our pride is hurt.”
“… and?”
“And?”
“Anything else?”
“Nope, that’s about it. We were just… interested.”
His tone suddenly changed. Yeah, there’s more to this that he’s not saying.
“Something tells me there’s more to this than you’re letting on?”
He stood silent as he tried his best to gaze away from me. So now he decides to act like himself. Honestly, what was that persona earlier?
“What else are you not telling me?”
“…”
“Come on, even a dog can tell you’re hiding something from me, so what is it?”
“… I’ll wait for everyone to come.”
“… I rather just hear it now.”
“No… I’d rather wait.”
“… if you don’t tell me now, I won’t hear it later on.”
“EH?!”
He looked at me in panic.
“See it is important, now tell me. What-is-it?”
He bit his lower lip.
“We… we actually came here for something else… that’s… it’s to ask for your help.”
He now had a serious tone in his voice.
“And, what help do you need?”
“… We… we want to end both of the wars… and after that…af… after that…”
He began quieting down, his words becoming a whisper. He didn’t finish his request, but he didn’t need to finish it. Judging from his words, there’s only one request that I could think of that makes sense with finishing the war. With understanding eyes, I looked at the shrinking figure of the boy in front of me.
“You… you want to return to your previous world, don’t you…?”
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Authors Note:
So, I managed to get this chapter out. Honestly, I wasn’t going to do a chapter this week since I’m busy studying for test, completing essays and whatnot. But, soon I started writing this chap since it actually helped me keep sane. I actually feel happy right now and not totally crazy from the amount of schoolwork I’ve finished the past few days. That’s why this will be the last chapter until I finished all my stuff… unless you know, everything dies down again which it will after a while or if I need an outlet to vent out my stress. So until then, enjoy this wonderful cliffhanger that has finished the first arc of my story. I did say, it’ll be finished in five or eight, but I thought… nah, I’ll finish it now where it makes sense to end an arc. So yeah… there you go. I hope you enjoyed this and keep waiting for the next one.
P.S. second reason I decided to write this in a cliffhanger is because I’m imagining everyone’s faces at reading a cliffhanger. With this, I should have enough juice to get through my test and essays, so thank you all for being an outlet of my stress. Politely bows to readers.
P.S.S. I wonder if this is even a cliffhanger… hmm…
P.S.S.S. To a certain reader who commented “Five chapters later rework again.”. LOOK AT ME NOW. OH. LOOK AT ME NOW YEAH… lol, I love you reader :D
Editor Notes:
P.S The Author Has a disorder where she Requires vast amounts of attention so keep feeding her ego.
P.P.S MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
So the Author is boring and her most powerful sin is sloth… jk due to reasons *Accused Real life* she will be busy until next week but don’t be down for me and the collaborator will still be preparing for chapters, to tell you the truth the collaborator has me by a leash so I’ll be editing and writing new chapters like no tomorrow, why? Because I want to make this book better.
But there is a catch, these chapters that we will be working on won’t be available to you until the author decides. So there’s that…
Seriously Real life sucks wouldn’t it be better if we have a VR pod. Also I think it’s about time you guys give us a review I and the author need some feedback or just comment on how you feel about the story so far and what can we improve on this is what the site if for right? Bye and see you later.