An Unexpected Interruption
“How about the prettiest girl in the village?”
“The prettiest… girl?” The chief frowns, his wrinkled face creasing even further at your suggestion. He seems quite baffled. “You want the prettiest girl?”
“Ah, is it too hard of a request to make for someone like me?” you say shamelessly, not-so-subtly reminding them of both your power and the fact that you saved the village along withtheir country’s prince.
“N-No, but if you will be happy with it, sir hero, I suppose I can have no complaints,” murmurs Chief Enzel. He turns to one of the farmers and says, “Go get Lucy.” The farmer makes a reluctant frown, nods, and walks off.
Lucy. Is that her name? You ask the twins, “Do you know her?”
“Lucy? Yeah, we do,” replies Aria, prying a dented breastplate from a dead soldier’s chest nonchalantly.
“And she’s the prettiest girl in the village, right?”
“I… suppose so. I’ve never really thought about it, but yeah, compared to the others she is definitely the prettiest. Her eyes are really beautiful.”
That should be good enough. While you wait, you talk to the chief further. “About the money…”
“Is… is it still insufficient, our hero?”
“Oh, please don’t call me a hero,” you say quickly. There is a slight twinge of annoyance whenever that word is brought up too many times in a single day. “I just thought that it would be better if I received that money in trade, rather than as a reward.”
“Why, what do you mean?” Enzel is puzzled. “By trade, you mean you have something to sell to us besides your services? I do not see a carriage anywhere, nor any stock…”
“Of course I have stock,” you grin. “Just look around you.”
“But… oh.” His face pales. “You mean…”
“I am not entirely sure how much ten silver coins is, but… let’s see… a third of all the metal here. You can melt them down as you wish; they will be more valuable that way. There should be a smithy in your village, right?” If they practice self-sufficient farming, they would have to have a local blacksmith, you think.
“Yes, we do. A third of these…” Enzel exhales. “That is quite a lot, sir. Such goodwill… we are just lowly people of the land. We do not deserve such generosity.” He seems slightly suspicious of that generosity. You cannot blame him: you would be, too, if some strange man came up to you offering an incredibly generous exchange that benefited you more than it did him.
“I cannot carry all of this off by myself,” you explain. “Consider it an investment in the village’s reconstruction. In return, I may call upon you for future favours.”
“If you put it that way…” He nods. “Very well. Ah, here comes Lucy.”
The farmer returns, leading Lucy by a rope.
“Here is our prettiest girl, sir.”
She lets out a petite moo.
“Is this a local joke?”
“B-But… did you not ask for the prettiest girl, milord?” asks the farmer.
“You did, Master,” says Aria.
“I said your prettiest girl.”
“That’s right! This is our prettiest girl…” mumbles Enzel in confusion. “What were you expecting?”
This is, no matter how you look at it, a cow. Did the translation spell make a mistake? That must be it.
“She’s our best and prettiest, sir, and just from her looks you can tell that she is of good stock,” insists Enzel seriously. “A merchant brought her as a calf just six months ago, and we had high hopes that she would bring us prosperity for years to come.”
You inspect the cow. Indeed, as far as cows go, this one is probably the prettiest you have ever seen, with a glossy white coat and big, cute eyes. Just like Aria said. It is docile when you check the teeth, willingly opening up its mouth as if understanding your purpose. None of the permanent incisors are in yet; it might be less than a year old. If that was the case, then… You kneel down and inspect its abdomen, running your fingers gently across the soft underbelly. The cow moos demurely, swishing its tail in what seems to be a shy manner. Is it embarrassed? That is impossible. Cows don’t do that. Shaking your head, you continue your inspection. There are teats, but the udder is not prominent. A flat cow, for all intents and purposes. A cow who hasn’t calved yet. A virgin heifer. You sigh.
“Sir mage, you seem to have experience in looking at livestock,” comments Enzel. “That is surprising.” Before you realized it, you had fallen into your old habits. You snap out of it and stand up, facing the village chief.
“I dabbled in cows some time ago.” Transporting cows from country to country using your Hero privilege to cross borders and evade customs taxes had been quite lucrative. Kyle had called it smuggling, but you preferred to call it diplomatic trading. Once you roped in Lobelia and her Mass Teleportation spell, it had indeed caused a diplomatic incident in the end. You are not sure whether to smile or frown at the memory, and it appears to show on your face.
“You… do not seem too pleased with Lucy,” says Enzel nervously. “Is she not good enough?”
“Oh, no, as far as cows go, she is wonderful.” You can see how the villagers would consider her a prized stock. They probably hid her with more care than they did themselves when the soldiers-disguised-as-bandits came.
“…but?”
“But I wanted the prettiest female human. I am sorry, perhaps my poor command of the language caused some misunderstandings.”
“Ah. Oh.” Enzel turns red. You hope you didn’t say something funny again, like proposing to him. Perhaps it would be better to take a look at the Universal Translation spell one more time when you get back. “I understand. The prettiest maiden. That would be…”
He glances at the girl currently tearing a helmet crudely off of a corpse. “Well, Aria would be the only one that qualifies, I am afraid,” he whispers.
“I heard that, chief,” snorts Aria. “I’m not going to marry your son no matter how much you praise me.”
“Sis!” hisses Arlin.
“Yes, I know, ha ha,” sighs Enzel before letting out an awkward laugh like that of a grandfather giving in to a stubborn grandchild.
“What do you mean?”
“All the other women are married and nowhere near as pretty. But if you are unsatisfied with even Aria’s looks, I am afraid there will be no women in this village that can live up to your lofty standards, sir. And even so…” He seems reluctant and afraid. But even through his fear, he asks: “You… you are not going to use her and throw her away, are you, sir?”
Ah. How do you respond to this? Make a promise you might not be able to keep?
“I am going with him of my own free will, Chief Enzel.” Aria steps in between you and the chief, glaring up at him defiantly. “He saved our lives, where the rest of you couldn’t do anything but let my father die. I think I would be safer with the Master than in that useless village!”
“But-“
Arlin comes up to mediate the situation, dragging his sister away. “Chief, that is what my sister has decided. You know all too well her temper. I will look after her, don’t worry.”
“I suppose so. Take care of her, Arlin,” sighs Enzel. He looks genuinely hurt. You wonder what happened between the twins and the village, but can’t be bothered to ask right now. It would probably turn out to be some troublesome sob story and you are in no mood to listen to one. “So, sir mage… I will entrust them to you.” Enzel bows deeply. “And Lucy, of course. She seems to have taken a liking to you.”
You look at the cow, which has for some reason moved closer to you. She licks your hand and nuzzles it affectionately.
“M-Maybe you can bring her back some time to visit,” blurts out the farmer that had led her here. His eyes are wet. “If that is okay with you, of course.” You wonder if he had assaulted Lucy and deludedly thought it consensual – it was known to happen – but decided that it would not be too polite to bring up the matter.
As for taking the cow… what use do you have for one? You look at Lucy, and she stares back at you with her big, beautiful brown eyes. You frown. What a slutty cow.
“It would be good to take Lucy along, sir. She could help carry all the other stuff we have left over from the looting,” suggests Arlin. “Besides, she’s really gentle and smart.”
“Hm, oh well.” You suppose a cow is fine too, even if it is a flat one. You can always breed her afterwards and get back into the cow trading business if you needed funds. The legendary merchant Jalop started with a single cow after all. You would definitely get more mileage out of Lucy than you would from some peasant matron.
“By the way, chief,” you ask while packing up the loot that the children had sorted, “Did you see a person armored from head to toe in black anywhere around the village? Carrying a big axe?” Rin has to be around here somewhere. You might have to leave the children here while you search for her.
“No, no one like that. I only saw the knights and the bandits.”
Suddenly, Lucy begins mooing and snorting. She tugs at you. Turning to see what is agitating her, you spot a suit of black armor standing in the distance.
Rin?
It begins to approach. Slowly, unsteadily, as if it was injured.
This is strange, to say the least. “Stay away,” you mutter to the others, and you head out to meet the approaching figure.
As you draw closer, you recognize that it is Rin’s armour. She is leaving behind a trail of blood – she must be wounded somewhere beneath all that metal. “Are you all right?” you call out, quickening your steps. For some reason, your heartbeat quickens at the same time. A slight tingle of excitement runs through your wing.
Rin stops.
Then, that axe materializes in her hand, along with a tremendous aura of hostility.
“Rin,” you say warningly. Something is wrong here: she is not even replying to you when she would usually be taunting and chatty if it was for a fight. If it was not for the axe and that feeling of impending brutality, you would not even think that it was her.
The ground cracks beneath her feet. Without warning, she launches herself at you, bellowing a scream of mindless rage. You barely have time to bring up your defenses before she slams into you with bone-cracking force. The two of you hurtle away, further out into the plains, entangled together like serpents.
Her brute strength smashes you away, and without giving you time to recover, she attempts to cut you apart. Your hastily incanted Greater Forceshield is cut apart with a single strike, barely managing to slow down her attack enough for you to roll out of harm’s way. She is serious about this. As she charges you again, you swiftly finish your next spell. Howl, the gales of destruction; sweep away all before me. “Tornado!” A massive column of roaring wind erupts beneath Rin. You quickly follow up with a “Thunderstorm!”, concentrating the powerful spell within the flow of the air. This electrifies the tornado: you hope that it would have a paralyzing effect on her, perhaps shock her enough to return to rationality.
No such luck. With a powerful yell, she cleaves the tornado apart. “Hey, hey, that is a bit too much stupid strength, isn’t it?” you murmur.
Rin lands, her eyes glowing red. She is sweating profusely, her fine white hair clinging to her cheeks. Now that her helmet has been blown off by your spell, you can see that there is definitely something wrong with her. It seems to be some form of mind control, but while she is rampaging you cannot investigate it in further detail: Rin is far too strong for that. She won't give you the time.
Growling, she charges forward, swinging her axe faster than you can run – at this point, if you turn tail for any reason you have no doubt that she will cut you down. The last time you fought, she had taken a wing. If you are not careful this time, she might take your head. If your shields will not be sufficient to block her attacks… With a burst of effort, you pull out a Lightning Spear. Instead of throwing it, you force its shaft against the blade of her axe. A ring of electricity erupts from the point of contact, but the spear manages to hold its form, trembling in your hands. That is just as well: if you fail to control it, it would blow up in your face. Shouting, she twists her arms. You are hard-pressed to hold on, and as you disengage, you accidentally skim her perfect cheek with the tip of your spear. It chars and bleeds.
Ah. You are truly a scumbag, to harm a woman’s face like that, let alone that of a peerless beauty’s. But even through your feelings of intense regret, your heart begins to throb even more painfully at the sight of that single red line caused by your attack.
Your wing itches to unfold.
Your halo desires to shine.
You want to tear a worthy opponent apart, and you have never felt it so strongly until now. Only the strongest would be fit to be your opponent.
A demon princess. That would make for a fine snack. You would only grow stronger for it.
***
A. You resist the urge. It is a useless urge to you: rather than being excited about her blood, you would much rather lick her sweat, no matter what your newfound instincts say. Breaking whatever it is that has its hold over Rin has top priority. If need be, you will put your own body and life on the line to do so: you are no stranger to masochistically taking attacks head-on if it means earning the gratitude of a girl. Sure, this tactic hasn’t really worked all that well with women before… but there is a first time for everything. Probably.
B. This is it. You understand now. This is how you will grow stronger. Beating her as you are is too difficult. You need to accept your true nature. Then you will defeat her, and you will know greater strength, so you can be victorious against more powerful foes and ultimately slay even the Goddesses that betrayed you. You should have never trusted a demon after your heart in the first place. Rinnefiela cannot complain if she is injured or killed here. She attacked first, breaking your pact. It is only fair that you show her the consequences.