Undesirable Qualities

Lokus' eyes narrowed as he looked in the direction of Ibmund, who was slithering into the barn right that moment. Vera had no way of seeing him, but he could instinctively tell where Ibmund was thanks to their bond.

[Subsumed Egos

>Ibmund: Demon (Masked). Rank: Prince (Major).

*Condition: Healthy.]

'So its arm is fixed. That's good.'

CRASH!

"…What are you doing over there?" He asked.

Even now, she didn't even look back to speak to him, continuing to move awkwardly at the edges of the light as if juggling something heavy in her hands.

"Just a project that's been in the works for some time now," Vera said noncommittedly. "By the way, I suggest you visit the armory to try to get yourself outfitted. Those raggedy pants of yours are a bold fashion statement, but they won't do anything to protect you against a demon."

"Outfitted, huh? Does this have anything to do with the demon horde you mentioned?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But if you ever want to follow that dream of yours to get back to the surface, you'll need some protection either way. And if they took anything from you on your entry, I suggest you get that back as well. Tell them Vera sent you, and they should oblige."

"Really? Just how much authority do you have in Saddoton?"

First, she had stopped the demon breeders from killing Ibmund with a few words, and now she was saying they would give him back his weapon just because he used her name?

The more he learned about this woman, the more abnormal she seemed to be.

"Authority? Almost none. I do, however, have several favors owed me. I don't do things out of the good of my heart. Although the same is true for everyone else in the Aldark," she said with a smirk audible in her tone. "Now shoo, go prepare yourself for what may or may not be coming."

'I think she just wants some privacy for whatever she's doing over there,' Lokus said, snorting inwardly. But he had no reason to stay in this barn anyway, and he was sharp enough to take a hint.

It was time to prepare for war.

...…

'It really was that easy,' Lokus mused. He tossed his axe up in the air, catching it with ease as it fell back down.

All he had done was say Vera's name, and the caped man had given him back the femur axe, although with no small amount of visible reluctance.

'Time to find the armory, then.'

His Domain swept around the surroundings once before he sighed. Every building here was the same drab stone. Only the signs above their doors gave any indication of what was what, but he was too new to this place to know which direction to go to even see the signs he wanted to see.

This was going to take a while.

Several minutes and several more confusing directions from passersby later, Lokus finally found and entered Saddoton's armory.

His Domain swept through the parts of the building in range, and he noted the rather diverse array of armor and weapons on the racks. While everything was made of bone, leather, or some combination thereof, that hadn't stopped the fortress' smiths from branching out in shapes and sizes.

At a glance, he could spy spears, swords, maces, axes, shields, helmet of various designs, chest plates of differing sizes, gauntlets, and greaves. It wasn't enough to deck someone out in full knightly apparel, but also wasn't so minimal that one would be better off wearing nothing, instead sitting comfortably somewhere in the middle.

Lokus ignored the lone, bored-looking man sitting on a chair in the corner for the moment as he perused the equipment. Immediately, he noticed a problem.

'The prices…'

Each item had a small price tag underneath it, made with the letters and numbers raised so it could be read in one's Domain.

Right now, of the claws the cloaked woman from the plains had given him, Lokus had ten Minor Prince demon claws, two Lesser Prince claws, and five Middling Prince claws.

But everything here was three Middling Prince claws at the very lowest, and most were even higher than that. If he wanted to buy anything at all, he'd only have enough for one thing.

He quickly crossed the weapons off the list after realizing this. He already had his femur axe, and if he was going to use a weapon he wasn't trained in, it might as well be something he was the least likely to hurt himself with.

Plus, most of the weapons cost more than the armor, due to the odd shapes the smiths had to bend and morph the bone into.

He considered the armor on display, as he wouldn't have to worry much about being too untrained or too uncoordinated to utilize them. He'd still need to do his best to redirect any blows to whatever armor he had, but that sounded much easier to him than wielding a double-edged hunk of bone that could slice his fingers off just as easily as cut his enemies.

After checking everything they had to offer, he narrowed down his choices to either a helmet or a shield. Everything else was too expensive for him, too niche to be helpful, or in the weapons' cases, redundant.

'But which one should I get?'

The shields he could afford were around sixty centimeters wide; not small, but also not big enough that he could just hide behind it and expect everything to be all right.

However, if he was smart, a shield would do more for him than a helmet. One could be moved to protect whatever was being attacked, while the other was limited to the space of his head.

But Lokus had never used a shield before, and while he was sure it wouldn't be too hard to learn, he was wary of being too slow on the uptake against faster demons to move the shield in time.

So, faced with such a dilemma, he deferred to someone with experience.

"What do you recommend? A shield, or a helmet?" he asked the bored-looking man.

Despite his uncaring appearance, the man had never diverted his attention away from Lokus, and answered soon after being asked the question.

"A shield, if you aren't getting anything else. A helmet's only good if something hits you in the head, but a shield can protect whatever you need. Demons aren't the brightest of creatures, but even they know not to strike where there's armor if they can help it."

"I'll take this one, then." Choosing one of the rounded shields on the rack, Lokus grabbed it and showed it to the man.

"That'll be four Middling Prince claws."

Lokus paid the man and walked out of the armory, turning the shield around in his hands as he felt it through his Domain. It was made in a way that to wear it, one had to slide their arm through a strap before gripping the brace.

It wouldn't have much room to jiggle or shake when impacted, but also meant he would need some time to drop it if it ever came to that.

He stopped just outside of the armory and leaned his axe against the wall, freeing his hand to adjust the buckles on the shield as he put it on. He shook his arm to test how tight it was, only to grimace as he felt the strap dig into his flesh.

Loosening it a little, he tried again. This time, it didn't stay rigidly in place, but the amount of jiggle wasn't enough to throw off his guard.

He had just picked up his axe when his system's screen popped up for the first time in a while, the noise of the notification startling him for a moment since his Domain hadn't seen anyone around to make such a sound.

[Tutorial quest received!

Name: Endurance Training

Description: Eat enough demon hearts to advance your Endurance stat to King (Minor)].

Lokus only had a few seconds to register the words before him before a horn's song pierced through the darkness, reaching every part of the fortress at once.

"The demon horde! The demon horde is here! Everyone, to arms! To arms!"

The command was echoed again and again, every soldier that heard it repeating it in a shout as they began rallying towards the fortress' gate, weapons in hand.

The resulting din was so loud that anyone who somehow didn't hear the horn was definitely alerted now, the more cowardly civilians hurrying into homes while the braver ones grabbed whatever arms they had and hurried to the portcullis with the soldiers.

The caped guard from before rounded a corner and strode toward Lokus, motioning toward him with a gauntleted hand. His sword was held in the other, and a helmet protected and greaves protected him. Unlike when Lokus had first met him, this time, he was prepared for war.

"Come, masked man. It is time to repay the fortress for the services it has given you. Know that if you attempt to flee now, I am obligated to strike you down where you stand."