Chapter 18 - The Wave's Aftermath

Chapter 18 – The Wave's Aftermath

Author's Note: None today!

Ren's party, Motoyasu's party, my party and the castle knights were all looting the wave boss' body for all it was worth. From the fight at Riyute, I had leveled up to 50, and I acquired a lot of the chimera remains from the boss that I had "stolen". Now, I had unlocked the bow's teleportation abilities, and I would set teleport points at Castle Town and Messeblick when I got the chance.

Ren and Motoyasu were majorly pissed that I had dealt the final blow on the boss, which really did not mean anything. They both had as much loot as I got, maybe even more, so what were they so pissed about? I was just happy that this entire mess-of-a-situation was dealt with while causing minimal casualties.

We walked back to the village, the other two parties triumphant of their victory, with my party's spirits also being very high due to the victory against the chimera.

"I stabbed the boss a ton, Satoshi, and Ren and Motoyasu were so cool! Us three cut that boss down like it was nothing!" Indigo beamed. "Good job on that final blow as well!"

"Thanks!" I told Indigo. "You sure did a good job there, keeping up with those legendary heroes, maybe even surpassing them. You're a true champ."

We reached the village, which was in tatters from the fight we just had. Weapons were littered across the floor, buildings burnt to the ground from the knight's careless barrage, and corpses were strewn around the town. The town seemed like something out of a war movie.

Suddenly, a thankful villager approached me.

"Thank you, bow hero, for assisting us in this battle. We couldn't have done it without you!"

"No problem." I replied. "Glad I could help. I wish you the best of luck on rebuilding your homes."

Just then, the knights' commander gave an announcement to us all.

"Since we won this great battle, let us all return to the capital and celebrate our triumph!"

Ren and Motoyasu, not caring much about the death and destruction of Riyute, happily made their way towards the main road. However, I didn't feel like this was that much of a victory. Sure, I had minimalized casualties, but people still died, and the village was almost destroyed. Many buildings still stood, but a majority of them were heavily damaged.

As we left the village, all of the remaining villagers who weren't tending to the injured approached us.

"Thank you, bow and shield hero. Without you two, our village would not have survived, and we would have all died."

"The pleasure is all mine." I curtly replied.

"Hey!" Motoyasu remarked. "Why don't I get any thanks!"

"Now, heroes. Let us be on our way."

King Aultcray was ecstatic as he saw our return to the castle. During our voyage through the capital, we were paeaned by the city folk, who praised us for our heroic deeds. Interestingly, Naofumi was ignored by the lot of them.

"Excellent work, heroes. I'm impressed! The casualties were much less than last time. Let us feast in recognition of this great victory!"

As we entered the banquet hall, Ren and his party went to the middle and started eating the mountains of food and rivers of wine, while Motoyasu immediately started philandering with the locals. My party members headed off to have fun, and Indigo was quickly surrounded by many females.

"Ooh! You're so handsome!"

"Yeah!"

This made Motoyasu clearly uneasy.

I told Indigo to enjoy himself while I grabbed a small tray of food and some water and approached Naofumi who was sitting alone in the corner. I felt bad that the guy didn't get much recognition for his excellent job in helping me defend the village.

"Good job out there! We couldn't have done it without you!"

"Thanks, Satoshi! You also did an amazing job out there, raining hellfire upon the enemy. Due to our actions, the village only suffered 3 dead!"

As we were discussing our experiences during the battle, a drunken and fuming Motoyasu made it through the heaps of women surrounding Indigo. He planted the butt of his spear into the ground, causing plates to rattle and glasses to topple. Everyone stared at what was going on.

"I challenge you to a duel!"

Naofumi and I stared at him confusedly. I stood up and brandished my Sky Blue Wings bow.

"Are you challenging me to a duel?"

"Yes-uh, I mean no. Naofumi! Prepare to die!" The drunken Motoyasu mumbled.

The man really was drunk out of his mind. He'd totally lost it.

"I-I heard all about it! Raphtalia! She's a slave!"

"So what?" Naofumi quipped.

That statement took me, and everyone else, aback. I didn't mind Naofumi making Raphtalia his slave because he clearly treated her more like a family member or a daughter, but him dismissing this accusation so off-handedly was very surprising.

"Naofumi." I reasoned. I know your circumstance is special, but you can't just dismiss slavery so off-handedly. Despite your circumstance, it is still fundamentally evil."

Then, I turned towards Motoyasu.

"And you. I hate slavery as much as the next guy, but have you stopped to consider his situation? And is a duel the best way to resolve this?"

"Silence!" Motoyasu bellowed, too drunk to heed my words. "Fight me! Set her free if I win!"

Suddenly, the room fell silent. The king walked towards us and set down his staff.

"My word is law. We shall have a duel in the castle gardens at once."

Raphtalia was ushered towards the gardens, presumably as a duel prize, and all of us followed the king towards the duel grounds.

The castle guards cleared as much room as they could to create a suitable space for a duel. Many of the noblemen and clergy were shouting out their bets as to who would win, and most of my party joined in as well. The notable exception was Indigo, who sat next to me at the front.

"Satoshi." He spoke. "Who do you think will win?"

"Hard to say. I think Motoyasu probably will, since he has the ability to attack, but Naofumi isn't exactly a sitting duck, more like a sitting turtle. His defense stat is so absurdly high it would be nigh impossible to inflict heavy damage on him. We'll have to wait and see."

"On it." Indigo replied, spinning his halberd in circles.

Soon, the crowd fell silent. The king had an announcement to make.

"Now, let the duel begin!"

Chapter 19 out soon!