Chapter VI

"Come on, I explained it before, this way you will understand."

"I feel like you make reading this more complicated."

"What I don't understand is how you don't get it."

It seemed like the thousandth time I'd heard Jeanne complain while teaching me how to read.

We were on our second day of travel since we had been tasked with the mission. We had left early in the morning after making sure we had everything ready, using the same wagon and the same filorial we had gotten from the bandits. Jeanne was trying to teach me to read during our trip, but, like previous days, it seemed to be a rather complicated job. She just wasn't good at teaching, and although it was best to keep those comments to myself, sometimes I couldn't help it.

"You know what, we'd better stop for lunch, it's already noon." Jeanne said.

"Okay, I'll use the time for something else."

"Stop, Willow!" she exclaimed, pulling the strings of the filorial. Yes, she ended up calling it Willow. I still wonder where she got that strange name, because the green of his feathers was similar to the green of her eyes, maybe?

We started preparing what we would cook with what we had hunted the day before. I had only gone up a couple of levels and, although we got quite a lot of materials, I couldn't help but be annoyed that I was leveling up so slowly. If it hadn't been for the mission I would have been looking for anything to kill on my own, that's for sure.

While Jeanne was feeding her filorial, which even joined the party, I decided to get the mortar out of my bag. I had gotten it during my free time along with a recipe book to have in the future, although I couldn't read it yet, I had asked Jeanne to read it for me. I had been wrestling with this for days now to create potions, but this was the best I managed to come up with.

Simple Medicine.

Quality: poor to average.

Even now I was trying to improve what I was doing, I already wanted the weapon to start creating the potions I needed on its own. Of course, I tried to make magic water but failed in the attempt. I hadn't been able to get any weapon that enhanced these specific skills, I had to deal with it on my own.

"Jeanne, how close are we to the capital?" I asked as I was dealing with the meds.

"Not much really, we should be there in a couple of hours. It would take us another day to get to town, however."

"Damn," I sighed, "I wanted to go there first."

"And why is that?" She was already giving me a strange look.

"I want to get materials without having to hide," I quickly explained "when we go with our reinforcements I will hide the fact that I am a hero after all."

"Very well," she said after contemplating it for a few moments "but it is too far to go past the capital. What we can do is to make time and separate from them when we get there." That was a good idea.

I thanked her and went on with my experiments, Jeanne refusing to eat until the filorial was well fed. In my distraction I barely noticed a shadow approaching and suddenly taking the medicines I had made.

"Hey, you damned bird!" The damn filorial ran to Jeanne with my meds!

"Hey! Don't yell at him, Willow just wants to play." she said petting him.

But I could see it, I didn't know how but the damn bird was laughing.

"Play, she says. It's always the same with him, someday I'll use him for dinner."

I started to put all my things away so we could leave quickly, I had already lost the will to go on with it. Jeanne did the same and prepared the filorial, leaving for our mission. Of course how could I forget Jeanne trying to teach me to read with her strange methods.

"I forgot to ask yesterday but," said Jeanne "what should we expect from these monsters? You seem to know quite a bit about them."

That made me think for a moment. I didn't know anything more than I learned until recently, but some things were better left unsaid so I went for the basics.

"To begin with," I started, "while the monsters of a Wave are powerful they lose level once the Wave is over. If we are lucky the monsters we encounter will be much weaker."

"'If we are lucky', you say. What would be the opposite?"

"That they go around actively killing other monsters, which seems to be what happens on this occasion."

"Great! It would only get worse." she said in exasperation, and continued when she saw me react "Please! What else could there be?"

"The boss. As far as I know, each Wave has a boss monster that allows you to stop the Wave faster once it's dead. Without an active hero during the last one, he will most likely be on the loose. But don't worry," I added as I saw her sigh "with me here we'll deal with that bug easily."

"I hope so." With that we continued our journey.

On the way Willow stopped abruptly looking scared, and when we got out to see what was happening a big monster was devouring another one. What puzzled me was what kind of monster it was.

"Is that... an ox?"

"I guess, but it's the first time I've seen one so aggressive."

And yes, the aggressiveness with which it seemed to eat matched its size at least, it was as big as I would expect from an ox, but it seemed to have even more muscles, which made it look imposing.

"Come on," said Jeanne, "let's get closer before he sees the wagon."

We got out of the wagon and, preparing our weapons, began to approach the ox. As we got closer I could notice several details; what it was eating seemed to be another ox, its body showed several wounds and the name I received from the weapon as information.

Interdimensional Ox.

"Jeanne," I whispered immediately "that's a monster from the last wave."

"What? I honestly thought they would be uglier…" Why was she disappointed?

"Remember what I had said before."

"With that other dead ox we don't seem to be having any luck."

Before we could continue the conversation the ox turned towards us, and if his eyes hadn't been proof enough, the fact that he prepared to lunge at us showed how angry he was.

"Get ready to run at him." Before she could ask me anything I used a skill. "Chain binding!"

I started to run as the chains bound the ox before he ran towards us. I could hear Jeanne reciting a spell as she followed me. I didn't make it to him unfortunately by the time the chains disappeared, leaving the bovine free once again, so before he lunged I used another skill. Before I threw it I heard Jeanne fire her spell.

"Wind blade Zweite!"

"Air Strike Cleaver!"

I could see the damage from Jeanne's spell but the monster died when my own skill hit it. We stopped and stood and watched.

"That was disappointing." We said at the same time, but before we went to the body we heard something approaching.

"Gwaa!" The filorial was running towards us with another Interdimensional Ox right behind it!

"Willow!" Jeanne ran to his rescue.

"Chain bind!" With the cooldown of the skill completed I used it on this other bovine monster.

Seeing that happen Jeanne again recited and triggered the same spell as before, me taking advantage of the same. This ox was pretty good on health so, even though we did damage it, it didn't die directly. What ended up killing it was Jeanne piercing its head with her spear. I even stopped, with Willow hiding behind me, when Jeanne started stabbing the monster again and again, really angry.

"You damned monster, how dare you want to kill my Willow?"

I couldn't help but look the filorial in the eyes and feel that we were thinking the same thing, this woman is crazy! Leaving her to her business I went to the other monster we killed, being able to confirm that the one that was already dead was one of the same, and started cutting them up to get their pieces. Willow came too, wanting to eat what had been left. Seriously, had he forgotten that he almost died?

[Conditions met:

Interdimensional Ox leather axe.

Interdimensional Ox meat axe.

Interdimensional Ox bone axe.

Interdimensional Ox horn axe.

Interdimensional Ox Axe.]

I had obtained this series of axes that promised quite a lot, especially the last one, I was going to master it as soon as possible to replace the steel one. After putting away the pieces I could pull out later from the inventory I checked the drop items this pair of monsters left behind. It was a morning star that was most interesting, one that didn't use chains, it was just the handle and mace. Something I could only sell or give to Wilson.

Turning around Jeanne was petting Willow trying to calm him down, though he feasted a couple of minutes ago forgetting the whole thing. She really liked that filorial.

"All right, we should get going."

"Oh? All right. Come on Willow, let's go to your wagon."

I followed them after I made sure to absorb the remaining bodies, and realized I went up a level with this.

"You know, with this we already have an idea of what's ahead of us, enough to exchange information."

"Good," answered Jeanne "let's hope that our reinforcements also got something. Although it seems strange to me that we're not seeing anyone coming through here."

"And this bird doesn't need to rest?"

"No, with what he ate he's ready to go on, aren't you, Willow?" she said petting it.

- Gwaa!

I never stopped thinking about how strange these creatures were. Ignoring him I climbed into the wagon and we set off.

Soon we had arrived in town, taking time to get in through the line. Other than that there was nothing to notice so we headed straight for the city guild.

"By the way, the dragon hourglass would be in this city, right?" I asked "Where would it be exactly?"

"In the church, as far as I know every hourglass is in a church, they build them around it after all. Do you want to visit it?"

"Not yet, we have other things to do." Jeanne only replied with a shrug.

If I went to the hourglass I could find out how soon the next wave would occur. The problem is that the fact that I am using a vassal weapon will become known almost immediately, and the information will spread like wildfire. I didn't feel ready, the best thing to do was to improve my level, equipment and axe before dealing with it.

Once we arrived at the guild we went to find our supposed reinforcements, not without first Jeanne making sure Willow was ok of course. We went to one of the receptionists and she pointed out a trio of adventurers drinking.

"Wait, weren't there only two of them?" I asked, confused.

"That was the idea," replied the receptionist "but apparently they asked permission to add a third to help them."

"Never mind that," said Jeanne "let's just talk to them. We need to catch up."

As we got closer I could see them more clearly. There was a guy with black hair and light armor that indicated he played a role similar to that of a thief, if the knives that were in sight was not enough, he will be useful for reconnaissance for sure; a blonde woman who seemed to be a mage, although I could not ignore the sword she had with her, and a young demi-human who, if I was right, was of the lion type. The most curious thing about the latter was his white mane, I had seen lions of that color before but seeing a demi-human like that was quite interesting.

"What's up, guys?" greeted Jeanne, with her usual cheerfulness - "We were told that you are the ones we are looking for."

"Oh my," answered the woman once the confusion was over "and what were you looking for us for?"

"For the mission on the Wave monsters, of course." I said as I sat down next to Jeanne.

Understanding came to their faces and two of them became serious, the woman and the demi-human at least.

"Oh, so you are our reinforcements?" asked the third, "It's about time you arrived."

We were just getting to know each other and his attitude was already bothering me, fortunately Jeanne started talking avoiding me to say something stupid.

"Let's start by introducing ourselves, you can call me Jeanne and he is Adam."

"Very well, my name is Eleanor, this is Maximus, and…" But before introducing the black-haired man he interrupted her.

"And I'm Lucas, nice to meet you." he said with a condescending tone. That guy was really annoying, what was his problem?

Ignoring him I noticed how Eleanor had her hand on Maximus' arm, a clear indication of a relationship. That meant Lucas was the third one to join at the last minute.

"I guess you want information, right?" Maximus asked.

"Exactly," I replied, "unfortunately we don't have much information about these monsters."

"Our only experience with them happened before we got here," continued Jeanne, "a couple of oxen attacked us on the road."

"Ah, yes, those monsters." began Eleanor "They've been causing trouble recently, we've had to deal with them too. Although I'm surprised you found them so far away."

"We were thinking of leaving the day after you arrived," Maximus continued, "so we can deal with this as soon as possible. Although we would have to deal with getting a wagon today."

"Good for us." replied Jeanne, and continued once she saw me nod. "And don't worry about transportation, we'll bring a wagon. We would only need an inn for tonight."

I couldn't help but notice how quiet Lucas was, and when I saw him he was absentmindedly drinking and looking away. Was he really interested in doing this mission?

"Well, we have to finish getting our supplies, if you want we can show you the inn we are staying at." said Maximus getting up.

"Excellent," I replied, "we can also take the opportunity to resupply."

As we were getting ready to leave, Lucas interrupted.

"Have you already talked? When are we leaving?" This guy was totally uninterested in this, we just agreed when.

"First thing tomorrow morning," even Eleanor seemed annoyed to answer him! "remember to get to our inn on time.""

The guy just nodded unwillingly and went off on his own. Where did they get him from? Even Jeanne thought so because she asked.

"We needed help from a scout recently," Maximus answered, sighing, "he's good at it but his idiotic attitude is a problem, we brought him because we thought it would be necessary."

"Let's just hope he's not a problem." I said before pointing to the exit. "For now let's just go."

After they got ready we followed the couple to the inn while they did some shopping on the way, all while riding in the wagon, Jeanne would never forget that filorial. Once at the inn we took a couple of rooms and went to eat, during the meal I brought Jeanne with me to finish talking with our companions.

"I wanted us to finish discussing some details." I said sitting down with Jeanne.

"Oh my, what kind of details?"

"About the monsters," I replied to Eleanor "do you have any ideas about any of them being even more aggressive?"

I wanted to know if there was any information about the leader of the Wave, he was the most dangerous of this mission after all. After looking at each other for a moment Maximus answered.

"In addition to those strange bovines we have heard that there is a powerful monster in the surroundings of the village where we would go tomorrow, although nothing concrete, not counting the oxen that are there in large numbers."

"Their behavior becomes strange once they get separated," Eleanor continued, "attacking travelers suddenly, attacking each other...."

"Committing cannibalism." Jeanne interrupted for a moment.

- Exactly, it's as if moving away from that area makes them even more savage."

We continued our discussion as we ate. Knowing that the potential boss has some control over these monsters was quite useful. During the rest of the night we exchanged more information, mainly our fighting styles so we could be careful during the mission. They also told us about how Lucas had fought in his last mission, of course that made me doubt him again, and this time I couldn't stop my doubts.

"Are you sure we could trust him?"

"We want to say yes," Maximus sighed, "but we don't know any other experienced scout, that's beyond our experience."

"And it's the same with us," added Jeanne, "I could try to do it but my skills are pretty basic. I am a warrior after all, I will lose against a professional in that field."

"We will have no choice but to learn as we go along." Resigning myself I got up. "I will retire for the night, tomorrow will be a long journey."

It looked like Maximus wanted to say something as he lifted his beer, but Eleanor immediately grabbed his arm and forced him to stand up.

"We'll retire too," she said and turned to look at him, "Right, Max?

"Oh, yes, of course, of course."

And with that Eleanor dragged him into their room. Jeanne was already laughing at them, and I couldn't blame her, it was obvious who was in charge of the relationship. I could only wish them luck. We quickly went up to our rooms for the night as well. Not before forgetting to change weapon form to master my most recent axes, tomorrow I was hoping to use the Interdimensional Ox Axe after all.

*****

The next day I awoke before dawn and, after getting ready, went downstairs to get food. I ate next to Eleanor and Maximus, who were already there, while Jeanne came down a few minutes later. Everything seemed to be going well until it was time to leave, Lucas was nowhere to be seen. He had been told first thing in the morning and was an hour late.

"Sorry, sorry, I overslept. But it doesn't matter, we can go now." Saying that he got into the wagon as if nothing happened.

I decided to ignore that guy, he was too annoying. We finished our final preparations and were soon on our way.

The trip was quite pleasant with the couple along with us, they were quite sociable and animated in their conversations. Ignoring their private moments of course. And as I said earlier, I ignored the problem of the trip, it wasn't worth it for now.

I went back to practicing with medicines and potions when we stopped for lunch, where Maximus took the role of cook, I couldn't do it very well with the movement of the wagon.

Simple Medicine.

Quality: average.

I had managed to stay steady with this quality in medicine so I thought I could get by with magic water and, although it proved useful, I was stuck at this quality:

Magic water.

Quality: bad.

In my frustration Maximus came over and saw what I was doing as I tried again.

"Wait," he interrupted, "you should add this, next to this and make it more like this."

He grabbed several materials, which I was running low on, and showed me how to mix them. Once I got the hang of his explanation I tried again and what I was waiting for came out.

Magic water.

Quality: average.

"Finally!" I was pretty excited to accomplish that, after all once I get a good level in this skill the weapon will be able to start making these potions on its own. "Thanks for that, that explanation was pretty easy to understand." For some reason I felt a stare on my back when I said that.

"Don't worry, for me this is just like cooking, and that has always interested me so I learned several tricks over time."

"And can I assume that Eleanor has tricks to teach magic and stuff?"

"Of course," he said, puffing out his chest with pride "Eleanor is a genius after all, she can teach you anything."

And to be honest I was considering asking her for help in learning to read, I would need help besides Jeanne's in that. I did just that once we got back on the road. With her help I managed to make faster progress than I had learned with Jeanne last week and, although I still had a long way to go, I could already understand simple things from my recipe book.

"Oh my, we have to leave it up to here," she said once we stopped at dusk to make camp, "otherwise Max might get jealous."

Yes, Maximus seemed to be holding back the urge to say something about that, which got a chuckle out of all of us. We started getting everything ready for camp and in the middle of that Jeanne spoke up.

"Lucas, you go and check around to see if there are any monsters or bandits nearby."

"Huh? At this hour there is nothing to worry about."

"No, precisely because it's nighttime we need to worry about, so do your job."

Apparently, while I was ignoring him, Lucas was bothering Jeanne along the way. How annoying must you be to bring someone as calm as Jeanne to this point? Although with what happened last week I couldn't talk.

"We should have found another scout," said Maximus once Lucas reluctantly left, "sorry about that."

"Don't worry, once we are done with this mission you can get rid of him."

"Yeah, I'll just start with the food for now."

Lucas came back a few minutes later reluctantly saying there was nothing, he just came to eat and continue being a nuisance. Once we had finished our meal Jeanne called me over, and said once I approached.

"I'll go explore a bit, I can't trust Lucas to have done it well."

"Okay, and you can go to sleep once you come back, I'll take the first shift." Nodding, she left.

"Guys," I said, approaching Eleanor and Maximus after Jeanne had left "I wanted to talk to you about our shifts tonight."

"Oh my, sure, which shift could we...?"

Before Eleanor could continue speaking Maximus stood up suddenly and, while looking around, put on a pair of claws he had brought with him. Seeing how Eleanor became just as serious and drew her sword I did the same with my axe, apparently his superior senses as a demi-human made him pick up on something.

Soon I could hear something approaching, as well as Lucas who wondered what was going on, and we confirmed what was coming towards us. A pair of interdimensional oxen were in front of us and they looked quite angry.

"These seem to have separated from their group," commented Eleanor, "we are not in their hunting grounds yet."

I wanted to complain to Lucas for not making sure to notice this pair of monsters but I was interrupted when they started running towards us.

"I am the source of all power." Eleanor began to recite with Maximus doing the same.

I fixed my attention on one of the oxen, I had to find an opportunity to take it down, I had no idea if it was stronger than the ones we had encountered before. Fortunately the pair finished reciting their spells before the monsters reached us.

"Aqua shot Zweite!"

"Fire arrow Zweite!"

I took advantage of the stun that the spells caused to the bovines and ran to the one Eleanor hit with her water. Maximus had the same idea and ran towards the one he hit with his fire.

Focusing on my target I used all my strength to hit his head which sent him to the ground before giving him the chance to attack me. I took advantage of the moment and hit again with my axe but now aiming at his neck. I didn't manage to kill him, which proved that they were of a higher level than the previous ones, but the wound was enough so that I only needed a second hit to kill him. This gave me a good sum of experience as well.

I turned to see if Maximus needed help but apparently it wasn't necessary. He did something similar to me and smashed the ox's neck with his claws as far as I could see.

"Are you all right?" asked Jeanne breathlessly after she came running up.

"Yes," I answered, "we already dealt with them, but what about on your side, did you find anything?"

"Yes, I found one of them and came back thinking there might be more." The blood on her spear confirmed it.

I was going to ask her what else she had found but an argument between Maximus and Lucas interrupted us.

"It was just an accident! How do you expect me to notice if they showed up after I explored?"

"You can't say you didn't find even a hint of them, clearly you didn't take it seriously!"

"Bah, anyone can make a mistake. I'd better go to sleep than deal with this."

Lucas turned and walked away from us. Maximus was about to continue but Eleanor stopped him.

"It's not worth it Max, you'd better relax."

"But..." He wanted to continue but let out a sigh showing that he gave up. "Right, it's not worth it. I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry," I said, approaching "I understand your frustration. We just have to deal with him for a couple more days."

"That's right." Eleanor spoke. "But let's forget that, we have to deal with the corpses."

She was right, but we would run out of space, and I would no longer need their materials to get weapons. In the end we decided to get the most valuable parts and move the rest away from us, tomorrow for sure some scavenger would find it. We dealt with this quickly and, once Jeanne returned from getting materials from the ox she killed, we went back to the conversation we had before.

We agreed on the order of our shifts tonight ignoring Lucas, we couldn't trust that idiot. Tomorrow we would arrive early to the village and we would be entering the territory of the possible boss. I just hoped no trouble would happen.