Chapter 009: Nightfall

Author: WolfSpatial

Co-Author: Lucifer

[Do not mistake composure for ease.]

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Catheine waited for a response, allowing me to picture the raised brow beneath her enclosed helmet. Not getting a response, the girl leaned closer. Her short stature made the motion almost unbearably cute, and I could imagine the puffed cheek that her metallic visor hid from me.

"So," I broke the silence between us — the street itself was still fairly loud — by asking something of an important question, "Where are you taking me?"

"We are going to the Bureau of Public Affairs," The small female turned and gripped her horse's reins tighter, "To see if you are who you say…"

"Uh, what?" I set a hand on her shoulder, trying to stop her so we could talk. I could barely see her eyes narrow into a slit before her sword was drawn and pressed to my neck. She was fast, much faster than me, and I could probably bargain that she was faster than Itsuki as well, despite his buffed Agility and Dexterity stats.

"Don't ever touch me without permission…" Her voice was low enough that the people who were now looking at us couldn't quite make out what she said. They seemed curious about me, a man who wore strange clothes and was being held at swordpoint by the City's Young Mistress.

My eyes drifted to the onlookers, wondering if they knew she was the City's Young Mistress or if she had given a fake name to all of them as well. Was Catheine a common name here?

I couldn't cast Magic here, not without my Staff, so I stared into Catheine's eyes and almost got lost. Behind the black pit that was the eyeholes on her helmet, I found two golden orbs that reflected the sunlight like stars. I couldn't see the color properly when we were out on the prairie, probably because of our positions. Now that she was looking up at me so intensely with the sun at my back, however, I could appreciate the gilded moons set into her sockets.

"I brought you to the city, despite your strange appearance, for your safety." She tightened her hands around the leather grip of her sword, "Now, for the safety of my people, I will verify your identity and ensure you're not a criminal or vagabond."

I clicked my tongue once in annoyance and put up my hands, I really had no other choice if I wanted to live. There was no doubt in my mind that if Catheine wanted to she would kill me – despite her obvious hero complex – in order to protect her city and the peoples who reside here.

A small smile found its way to my lips as I looked down at the fiery girl, "You don't need a sword to have a conversation, Catheine. Not that it would help you if I had bad intentions anyway."

"I think otherwise," She stepped closer, her arms bending to keep the blade pressed firmly against the same spot on my neck. I could almost smell the bacon she had for breakfast on her breath. She was close enough now that I could retaliate if I needed to.

I mean, who hadn't tried a Kamehameha in their spare time? Aside from that particular move, a good portion of the Martial Arts from Dragonball could be realized with just my weak body. And, the parts I couldn't figure out or become adept at were replaced with self-defense techniques that would, hopefully, keep me safe enough to run away.

There was no guarantee, of course, that my meager Martial Arts training could compete with Catheine. The girl had years of actual combat experience and sword training that matched well with our current predicament. That, against whatever I could muster, didn't bode well for me.

"Maybe… Why don't you ask yourself how I survived out there? I'm a strange man, sure. You have no idea where I came from. Worse than that," My eyes squinted into their own smile and I could see her flinch slightly. Leaning closer, I put my hands down and whispered into her ear, "You have no idea what I can do…"

She steeled herself before sheathing her sword and turning to the crowd that had formed, "There's nothing to see here. Disperse!"

Catheine looked back at me with mild distaste oozing from her lips, "You should find some different clothes. That dress is not typical for men."

"It's a robe," Rolling my eyes, I took note of the odd looks that the Ignition Spirit had mentioned earlier, "And I don't have any of your currency."

"We trade more than we use coinage anyways," Catheine grabbed her horse's reins and started walking again, "Silver is effective against the Shadow Armies and Gilded Shields can be enhanced much more effectively than iron ones."

"How long have the Knightmares been around?" Walking up next to her, I glanced at the blade on her back. It didn't look like silver to me, but it could be a different type of silver.

"About seven years," She snorted, her unoccupied left hand clenching into a fist so tightly that her tanned skin became pale, "That's when the first attack happened. This is a bastion city, so we get attacked more than anything further inland. That also means that sometimes they get in. We can't stop all of them."

"Who was it? That died, I mean." Her sheet hadn't said anything about some close to her dying, thus I wasn't sure what got her so upset.

"One hundred and sixty-four civilians — men, women, and children — died because we weren't prepared for the attacks." Her voice turned somber, her hero complex was a lot more prominent than I had originally figured, "Eight of them were in the last attack, two days ago. The Knightmares have been staying away from the city for the last few days, nobody knows why."

She stopped in front of a medium-sized stone building — most other buildings in the city were wooden, thus making this one stand out — that had a crest above the double doors. I asked a question while I knew I still could, "Do they usually attack every night?"

"Yes," She opened the wooden double doors and walked in like she owned the place, — she kind of did — leaving her horse alone outside to be tended to by a nearby servant.

I was never the best at math, but the Knightmares attacking every night for seven years was over two thousand attacks on Elgade. How could Catheine be upset about losing a mere hundred sixty civilians in such a long period?

With a look to the servant, I entered after the small girl and left the little Spirit with the horse it was so fond of. She was already speaking with an attendant to the right of the entrance.

There were twelve attendant booths in total, only two of which were open at the moment. The booths were lined up in a semi-circle around the room, four booths straight ahead of the door and four on each side.

They were made of a dark wood frame with thick dividers between each booth to give the customers privacy. Between the customer and the attendant were thin panes of glass with small etching all around the outer edge.

The etchings looked slightly familiar, but I couldn't place them for the life of me. Aside from that, the attendants both carried a weapon of their own. The attendant that was helping Catheine carried a thin sword slung across his rear waistband.

The other, who eyed me cautiously, carried a set of twin daggers on her left hip. She set her left hand on the hilt of the daggers as if to remind me to behave before I walked over to Catheine, "So, what do I need to do?"

"What's your name?" The attendant didn't skip a beat, speaking with a gentle yet commanding tone that vibrated across one's body with his even tone.

"Jayce Fateweaver," There wasn't really a reason to deceive them by giving them a fake name — well, a faker name. They gave me strange looks, but the attendant looked over to a screen set off to the side.

I was surprised by the level of technology shown by this simple device. It was a holographic computer of sorts, and I wanted to see what it could do.

For now, however, I was restricted to watching the attendant type onto a hard-light keyboard filled with strange characters. Strangely enough, the characters followed the same style and flow as the etching around the edge of the window.

The realization made me furrow my brow. Opening up the sheet of the device that the attendant used, I found that it was called a Runic Computational Aid Device.

I could open the sheets of artifacts — such as my Staff and the Weapons of Cardinal, as well as the Flame Tosser Staff and other like items — this device was thus considered an artifact by whatever saw fit to give me this power. Strange enough, the glass was also an artifact known as Runic Enforced Glass.

It had resistance to physical force and energetic force, though it didn't state what kind of energy. Looking over at Catheine, I found that every part of her equipment was Runic of some sort, except for her sword which was made of Ancient Silver. How her sword was considered an artifact, I couldn't tell, but it did state that it was effective against beings of darkness.

I frowned as the thought came to me that they had somehow figured out how to increase their abilities by drawing shapes on armor and even household objects. Closing all of the sheets, I turned my attention forward as the attendant finished typing and squinted his brow.

"What?" Catheine leaned against the counter, the wood groaning slightly under her enhanced strength, "What does it say?"

"There is no record of anyone with that name in the Kingdom," The attendant's eyes flicked over to me and then to Catheine, "I can ask the Empire and the Federation for their records of him, but that will take a few days for even the quickest response."

"They just let you have their records?" In no universe did it make sense for a country of Humans to just give information to another country of Humans. There was always a condition, some kind of catch-22 that would force the receiving country into subservience or cause them to owe a big favor.

"If we make an official request, they have no choice." The attendant didn't seem to like that I was questioning the process.

Catheine cut in to explain, "Because of the Knightmares, the Federation, Kingdom, and Empire have decided to share information with each other willfully. Only the Devolution didn't join the Humanity Convention. They've taken a lot of heat due to it, and no one will trade with them anymore."

That seemed harsh to me, – basically killing off an entire country because they won't be logged into a surveillance system – but it wasn't my place to tell the inhabitants of this world how to live their lives or what their morals should be.

"How do they survive if nobody trades with them?" There was no logical way that a country would be able to survive if nobody traded with them – so long as they relied on trade in the first place.

"Between you and me," The attendant leaned forward after looking around, "Officially, nobody trades with them. But, they have the largest natural font of Ancient Silver and Gold, so the Federation sends gifts every once in a while to the City-States around the mines."

"Should you be telling me that?" Raising my right brow, I found it strange that he told me something like that out of the blue.

He held a finger to his lips and closed his left eye, "I didn't say anything…"

"Right," Catheine crossed her arms, and turned her head to me, "Will you wait by the door? I have some family matters to attend to…"

I stared at her for a second before complying. Standing next to the door, the same female attendant that eyed me earlier leaned against her stall. Opening her Character Sheet, I found a bunch of garbled text under her Important Life Events, some of her Skills, and one of her two Classes.

The ring on her right middle finger gleaned for a second, and I found my Demonic Eye throbbing in heat. I closed her sheet after memorizing her name and looking down to the ground where a pair of small boots filled my vision.

Catheine tapped my shoulder, looking up at me, "Are you alright? You look pale."

She pressed her hand against my forehead again – which seemed to be a form of greeting at this point – and pulled it away after a few seconds. Sending a glance to the female attendant, I found her looking at her ring in confusion. I let out a small cough and cleared my throat, "I'm okay, just… thinking that you all have strange customs."

"What do you mean?" Catheine didn't seem offended in the slightest, in fact, she seemed more curious about where I came from.

"Well, in my homeland," Letting off a small chuckle, I couldn't stop the smile that formed on my face, "A cute girl didn't put her hand to your forehead to check your temperature unless she liked you."

"C-cute?" She turned her head away, her helmet clinking against the thin metal of her pauldrons, "And… I only did that to make sure you weren't corrupted. Anyone can contract the Curse you know! Not just those near the Knightmares!"

"I'm sure…" My smile turned to a toothy grin seeing her reaction, "Just don't let your father-"

I was cut off by a bell ringing in the distance, causing me to look toward the door to my left, "What's going on?"

Without warning, Catheine burst past me and out of the building. She had her sword out before I could register what was happening and was making her way to the front gate on foot. The Ignition Spirit that had no name looked at me expectantly from the stable where Catheine's horse was stationed in.

He floated over to me and landed on my shoulder, "Let's go!"

Nodding to him, I picked up the edges of my robe and began running. I was naturally faster than Catheine, but her armor's Runes made her a good deal quicker than me. That, coupled with her leaving before me, allowed her to arrive at the gate much earlier than me.

The houses that I passed had lights on full blast and doors locked tightly, ensuring that the Knightmares couldn't enter without serious effort and possible penalty.

To the right of the gate was a stone staircase that led to its rampart, the width of which was filled with soldiers carrying spears and bows with Ancient Silver-tipped arrows. Mounted along the wall, between the crenellations, were medium-sized ballista enchanted to provide more power and durability to the structure of the ballista without making them larger and harder to move.

I found Catheine talking to a man whose only armor was a pair of gauntlets and a small chest plate with a strange-looking crest on it. I made my way over to her, soldiers moving out of my way for some reason that I couldn't be sure of.

I approached close enough that I could hear what she was saying, "I'm telling you! Something about this is strange! They don't attack for days and now they do out of nowhere. The sun's just gone down, they don't usually attack this early either."

Looking over to my right, past the stone of the wall, I found legions upon legions of dark-armored soldiers looming closer with every passing second. Their slow speed made them more imposing, and black wisps drifted off them, looking like smoke disappearing into the moonlit sky.

"Shit…" I whispered, getting a reaction out of the Spirit who stood on my left shoulder, "How am I supposed to fight that?"

"You should be strong enough to kill one, what's the worry?" He tapped the side of my head softly, "Just don't die and you'll be fine."

"You forget that I don't have my staff," I grumbled to the little Flamer, "I can't use Magic without its focus."

"Right…" He hummed and I could feel him shuffle slightly, "What if I become your focus? I'd need an object, but I could do it. I'd prefer a nice ring, we could get betrothed while we're at it."

"Gross, but I need a focus, so I'll get you a ring…" Agreeing absentmindedly, I added, "But we're not getting betrothed."

"What do you need a ring for?" The man that had been speaking to Catheine walked up to me with her by his side.

Ignoring him for a second, I looked over to Catheine, "Do you remember what I said about me surviving outside?"

She nodded, but tilted her head slightly, "What does that have to do with this?"

"Get me a ring and I'll show you." The man reached below his chest plate and pulled a small piece of crystal with a distinctly strong feel to it. He held it to his forehead for a second and then closed his eyes.

I looked to Catheine for an answer but she just looked toward the man and waited. The crystal was a Runic Communication Catalyst which was used to telepathically talk to whoever had another Catalyst that had the correct ID registered.

"A gilded ring is on its way," He announced to me, sticking the crystal back into his breastplate, "If you're wasting our valuable resources, I'll have you executed."

"I understand," There was no use arguing or acting scared – which is what he was looking for – as I had a more important question, "But why are you trusting me so much?"

"I will do anything to keep my people safe," He turned to the incoming horde and clenched his fist, "Even trusting an unknown quantity like you."

"I'm glad to see that you have your priorities straight," We stood in silence after that. The clattering of soldiers' boots against the stone and the firing of ballista filled the air and made the silence a bit more comfortable.

They got way too close before the man turned and grabbed something from a butler that had appeared whilst I was musing to myself about what would happen if I did die in this world. Would I go back to the one with Naofumi and Itsuki, or would my soul be snuffed for good?

"Here," He handed me the ring, but before I could take it, he tightened his grip around it, "Don't make me regret this…"