Chapter 006: The Storm

Author: WolfSpatial

Co-Author: Lucifer

[I think ultimately you become whoever would have saved you that time that no one did.]

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Once again, I was rudely awakened by Itsuki knocking on my door. This seemed more urgent, however, as his light knocks quickly turned to him banging on the wood, "Mister Jayce! Mister Jayce!"

After he stopped speaking for a second, I glanced at Naofumi – he hadn't moved much last night – and sat at the edge of my bed. Grabbing the eyepatch that had fallen on the floor to the left of my bed, I set it against my eye and pulled the attached string around my head.

My boots made a soft sound against the wooden floor as I pushed my feet into them and stood up. I made my way over to the double door and opened the right one, leaning against the left door which stayed closed, "What, Itsuki? It better be good, or I'm gonna vaporize you."

He flinched at my threat, making me wonder just how much of my bullshit he believed. It seemed to be a lot. Maybe that was why he followed me around, not because he wanted me to violate his personal areas.

"I, uhm…" He collected himself, fixing the brown shirt he wore so as not to look too disheveled. Brown really wasn't his color, whoever talked him into it was an idiot. Nonetheless, he continued after steeling himself, "Have you seen Naofumi? Apparently, he assaulted his party member last night, and now nobody can find him. It's kind of cementing his guilt. I thought that since you seemed to have an interest in him, could you tell me where he was or if they were telling the truth?"

"It's not true," The door wasn't very comfortable, the edge pushing into the flesh just behind my arm next to my scapula, "Naofumi's been with me all night. I made him stay here because his room is inadequate. He slept in my armchair."

"Is he still here?" Itsuki tried to look around me to see the Shield Hero, so I stepped away from the door and showed the sleeping form of the dark-haired man. The sight caused him to pull his lips together in a pondering look, "Why would she say he attacked her then?"

A small sigh escaped my lips as I gave Itsuki a doubtful look, "Haven't you noticed how they ostracize him? You'd think he's Hitler or something…"

"The artist?" Itsuki gave me a strange look. Did Hitler actually pursue an art career on Itsuki's Earth? I mean, that would be nice, but then, who caused World War II? Mussolini?

"On your Earth, he's an Artist." Pointing toward him, I reversed the gesture and pointed toward Naofumi, "On his… a Genocidal Dictator."

"What about yours?" Itsuki looked both ways in the hallway, making sure nobody could see him before continuing, "Where are you from?"

My brow furrowed on its own, and I could see Itsuki almost kicking his boots mentally trying to pull some signal from my body language, "I'm from my world. Hitler doesn't exist, in fact, none of the history you or the others know occurred on my planet."

"What was it like?" Itsuki's eyes turned to stars; a magic even I couldn't perform, "Were you famous? I bet they treated you like a God."

"Quite literally," In that, I was only mentioned when someone had a problem they were too lazy to fix on their own, "Let's see about your life… Hmm, you were born for the bow, that's for sure. A special ability that ensured your shots would always hit, so long as they weren't blocked. But, you were bullied. Why were you so intent on being someone special? As far as I can see, you're nothing great, even where you're from."

Itsuki's sheet wasn't very big, and I couldn't see anything about his parents, friends, or the school he went to. I could see that he was something of a chuuni, like me, and was even good at it. But, life wasn't fair with the role it handed him and he ended up having a moment of realization when his ability was the weakest in his new school.

That was something I wanted to see if I could upgrade. I only saw some of the most important moments of a person's history, which sucked in case they asked about something unimportant to test me. And, my eye didn't tell me they were straight-up lying, I could only pick it up from their emotional state. That meant that if they had good control of their emotions, I wouldn't know what they were thinking.

Luckily, nobody but Leofric was even decent at that around here. Then again, the man was ancient. I saw important things, like when he was born and first met the first Queen of Melromarc. He was also at the coronation of every Queen and King since, which is really creepy if you think about it. He had to be a ghost or something, but his status said he was Human, so…

Maybe it doesn't know everything, I guess.

"You… uh…" Pain filled his face, not wanting to show how my words had impacted him.

I put up a hand to stop him from speaking, "That doesn't mean you're worthless, Itsuki Kawasumi. You are meant for things larger than your current scope of being. Look at me; you think all of this took charge overnight? I spent longer than I'd like to admit becoming who I am today. So, start small. Build a family and rise to heights of unknown magnitude."

He took a second, breathing and calming himself, and then I continued, "Well, unknown to you. I already know what corner of the multiverse you'll end up dead in."

"Dead?" He looked fearful. Who wasn't afraid of death? Aside from me, not many people could say they truly weren't scared of their time to ascend to nothingness.

The only reason I wasn't scared was that I didn't care if I died. I didn't play pretend about my strength or my knowledge or power because I wanted people to fear me or look up to me. No, I did it because I wanted my life to be as fun as possible before I died doing something stupid like riding skis down the back of a dragon.

"Back to our original topic," I brushed off his question, inviting him into my room for some fore- conversation, "What, exactly, did Myne say Naofumi did?"

"Well," Itsuki stepped in, closing the door behind him as Naofumi flipped his blanket down and stared at us, "She came into the Throne Room with a fresh cut on her face and some bruises along her… ahem, thighs…"

"Why would I hit some random girl? I only saw her when we returned and then Jayce and I came up here," Standing up, he folded the blanket and set it neatly across the backrest of the seat, "I didn't see her after that. And before that, she just fled the weapons shop on her own and we were all in the Throne Room. So, when did I have a chance to hurt her in any way?"

"They're still calling for your removal, the church even wants to kill you," Itsuki gave a sorry smile, as if he had a hand in their decision, "I came to ask Jayce what he thought, but here you are. We can clear your name."

"It won't matter," Sitting on the edge of my bed, I leaned back to support myself with my elbows against the mattress. It was such a soft mattress, not like the twin bed I had at home. That old thing should've been burned a long time ago. If I ever go back, I'm taking this entire room with me, "She's the princess, they won't care what Naofumi or you have to say."

"How do you know she's the prin-" Naofumi cut himself off, releasing a sigh, "Right, I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Itsuki, looking between us, was left confused.

Naofumi gestured toward me, "He's got some hinky dinky eye shit that lets him know stuff about people. Haven't you noticed?"

"Regardless of my 'hinky dinky eye shit,'" Leaning my head back so it seemed to hang from my shoulders, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "You should prepare for the worst, Naofumi. They will prosecute you to the fullest extent that Royalty will allow. They don't want the Queen here to disrupt their shallow plots."

"What could the Queen do?" The little twink's question was valid, and I could feel the same confusion from Naofumi's gaze.

It was strange, that. It seemed the more I fed my bullshit, the more it came true. I could actually feel his gaze and the emotions it conveyed, just slightly.

"This is a Matriarchy," I sat up and looked into Itsuki's diarrhea-green eyes, "Weren't you aware? Just how much do you know? Did you know the sky is blue sometimes?"

"You don't have to be mean…" Itsuki pouted, and for half a second I felt bad. It was washed away by the fucks I didn't give, "Let's, hypothetically, say I don't know anything about this world."

"Doesn't seem very hypothetical." Naofumi folded his arms in front of his chest with a smile. I could tell he liked this game too.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Itsuki thought about my question, giving me a second to sort through the knowledge I had of this strange new world.

"This world reminds me of a game called 'Dimension Wave' from back home, can I assume it goes off the same principles?" Itsuki took a second to explain, "I'm guessing we'll have to fight off waves of monsters soon. It probably won't be easy, since it wasn't easy in the game at first either."

"Nothing worth doing is easy," Standing from my bed, I made my way over to the door. I got to it right before a knock came, "Let's do something difficult, huh?"

I opened the door to reveal Leofric with a furrowed brow, his hands tucked behind his back and a guard on each side of him, "Is the Shield Hero here, Sir Jayce?"

"You already know the answer to that," My mouth widened into a smile as Leofric gave a dissatisfied look, "I know, but they came at us, I promise. I didn't ask for them to prosecute my friend."

"I'm aware. This expression isn't for you, I'm afraid." With a nod to the guards, Leofric made his way past me, "It's for them. I'm going to feel bad when you show them up in front of everyone."

"Aww, you're gonna make me blush." The guards came up next to Naofumi, and I could see him tensing and looking towards me. Giving him a small shake of my head, the guards clasped their hands onto his arms and shoulders.

I wasn't expecting them to be as gentle as they were, there was no force behind their movements and I wondered if they even wanted to take him away. He gave me a glance as he was guided away with Leofric behind him, Itsuki coming up next to me.

"Why aren't you stopping them?" He asked, confusion littering his tone like a California roadside.

"Leofric is an honorable man," Patting Itsuki's shoulder, I grabbed my staff from the side of my bed and pushed him out of the room.

"You know him?" The twinkle came up next to me with little stars in his eyes, and I wondered idly how he could do that. Was it some sort of skill?

"You just met the Grand Chamberlain of Melromarc, Leofric. He works directly for the Queen." Our walk through the halls was relatively quiet after that, most of the guards having been moved to the Throne Room for Naofumi's 'trial' if it could be called that.

He was standing tall as we entered the Throne Room, the two guards by his sides with a hand on him each. I could tell they weren't Aultcray's men by the way they glared at him under their helmets. They didn't want to be here, they didn't want to give Aultcray the satisfaction of holding a trial for one of the heroes.

"I pronounce the Mage and Bow Heroes!" The stupid servant by the door proclaimed as soon as we stepped into the room, gaining a glare from me and a slight glance from Itsuki.

"You're just in-" Father Maxus came forward with a wide smile and even wider arms, stopping when I cut him off.

"Can you not be… you? I would much rather you just keep your mouth shut." Waving my hand, I made a shoo gesture toward him, "I have something to say if you don't mind."

"We're-" Aultcray spoke, his voice like sandpaper against my eardrums.

"I knew you wouldn't mind," Stepping forward, I stood at the bottom of the few steps that led up to the throne. I pointed at the king, "Why are you letting your daughter walk all over you? Surely it couldn't be as simple as your son leaving after she tried to poison him? And now you're working with the Church of The Three Heroes? Anyone wanna take a guess as to which three they worship?"

"Sword, Spear, Bow?" Itsuki's voice was quiet, but loud enough to echo slightly.

Turning, I pointed toward him, "Bingo! In fact, they have a hard on for hating the Shield Hero. And guess who Myne is? I'll tell you, since Itsuki and Naofumi know. She's Princess Malty S Melromarc! She's not even the Crown Princess, either."

"I think-" Malty cut in, getting a glare from me and Itsuki.

"We don't care what you think," Looking back up at Aultcray, I gave a scowl, "You're a disgrace to the crown that you wear, and I have to say we're disappointed. Letting your little girl accuse this man, who wasn't anywhere near her last night, of assault."

Aultcray gave me a glare of his own, his hand clenched into a fist, "I know, I know. I'm putting a wrench in your plans. You want to get this out of the way, Mirellia's coming back soon and you need to do this before she gets back because she's actually the one in charge. Not you."

"What are you talking about?" Motoyasu stepped forward, spear in hand. He wore a set of brown leather armor that looked something like a dress, "Myne would never stage this! She came to me after Naofumi assaulted her, crying and bloodied!"

"Convenient," He readied his spear at my smirk, "Don't you think so? Me; I'm not so sure that someone like you is trustworthy enough to come to after being attacked. Gullible, on the other hand; you certainly are."

"Th-that's enough!" Aultcray stood, finally deciding to try and act like a king.

"What are you trying to do?" Malty came up to me, whispering softly so no one else could hear, "If I get rid of him, I can join your party and protect you from monsters while you use your spells."

"First, I don't need your protection," I held up two fingers, middle index and middle. And then I dropped my index, "Second, you're a bit too whorish for me."

"I…" She stepped back, and I could see tears edging into her eyes, "I'm… sorry…"

"You're gonna drop the charges, Malty." I flicked her forehead, a show of discipline that I hoped would set myself as a figure that the others would see as leadership, "And then you're gonna give Naofumi compensation for ruining his image."

Her face turned crimson, looking away and pushing her hair behind her right ear, "Al-alright. I'll admit it was a false accusation."

"What!?" Motoyasu gritted his teeth, and stepped even closer, pointing his spear at me, "What Magic did you use on her?"

"Might want to put your Spear down, Hero." I smirked as Itsuki readied an arrow of Magical Energy and Naofumi got ready to run to my rescue. Ren stood aghast at the situation as Father Maxus and Aultcray looked at Malty confused.

"Or what?" Motoyasu's tone hinted at danger, and part of me wanted him to attack so I could see what happened when a Hero died.

"You ever wonder what happens after death, Moto-Moto?" I pointed a finger toward him, a condensed Magic Missile forming at the end of it and giving off a red glow.

"I've died once," Motoyasu gulped despite his attempt at bravery, "I'm not scared to do it again."

He lied. Not surprising, just another person who claims to not be afraid of death. It brought me back to my earlier point, most people feared death. It was inevitable, after all.

"Let's see," Pointing my finger lower, I set my Missile loose. A sudden hole appeared above his right kneecap, causing him to fall to his butt and hold the wound.

I was elated to see how easy Magic could tear through the human body. If it was that easy to hurt a Hero, then maybe normal people were easier. It would certainly make information gathering easier.

My left eye burned warmly as a smile graced my handsome face, "What say you? You like death and pain?"

"I'm sorry!" Motoyasu clutched his knee with tears in his eyes, looking up at me in fear.

"I command you; halt!"Aultcray's voice turned an octave higher, fear and anger filling him.

"Shut up," My gaze fell upon him, red filling the left half of my vision as Aultcray let out a shriek and fell back into his chair, "I'm getting real tired of your bullshit act. Go suck a lemon or something."

"Guards," Aultcray's voice was frail and weak, "Guard me."

The Guardsmen who stood around the room stepped forward and drew swords. It was unfortunate to kill so many soldiers, but it seemed I wouldn't have to as Leofric burst into the room with swagger afforded to his status, "I believe that's far enough. Stand down, or face her majesty's wrath."

The guards hesitated, looking from the Grand Chamberlain to the King and then at me and the down Spear Hero.

"Leofric!" Malty looked somewhat upset, though not necessarily at the old man, "Guards, put away your weapons. Now!"

"I'm glad you've come to your senses, Princess." Leofric clasped his hands behind his back and walked between the guards to stare down at Motoyasu, "You're quite the fool, Spear Hero. I don't know what made you think you could hold a candle to Jayce, but I hope you've learned a valuable lesson."

An idea popped into my head as I looked at Malty's expression and Moto-Moto's injured leg. I had a better chance than I originally thought to get some followers here, so why not take it?

"Well," I clapped my hands together around my staff as my vision returned to normal, "I'm gonna go now. Naofumi, Itsuki, come with me."