Two hours.
Two hours she was waiting for the Hero, sitting on the fountain of the noble city of the country, the Sanctuary.
Her biggest urge right now was to beat him up for all the delays he had every fucking time she wanted to see him. However, she couldn't forget the sight of that human's charred body after the fight with the queen, his difficulty getting out of bed or talking...
She wasn't going to blame him for being late anyway, given his current situation, she should be more concerned about his health. She should show mercy to his tardiness, especially since he had offered to become her champion without even talking to her, just hearing that she might get disqualified, and that had landed him in the hospital.
It was a little bit his fault, finally... But a lot, that of the Hero, anyway!
The Fairy not only wanted to see him because she wanted to prepare him for his future fight, but also because her father had proposed to bring the Hero to their home to meet him. Niselios and Mea wanted to meet this human who was in charge of their daughter's life, their future, but especially her dream. They were not yet aware that he was the hero of the legend, and above all, they were not aware of his physique.
It was true that they were not really interested in the affairs of state - they had no interest in this race between nobles to win the favor of the queen (and considering who was the queen, the competition was even tougher than normal, missing the old regents...) - they just knew that their daughter was going to potentially become the new queen of Sylvania, and if she didn't, they wouldn't care. As long as she was a good student and a good person, they were satisfied. If she didn't have the goal of becoming queen, she probably would have become an architect, building nice houses for people in all parts of the city. She still had designs in the dresser or desk drawers in her room, maybe when he came over she would show him, she thought as she wiggled her legs and smiled.
To introduce the boy, Princess had praised him at length, saying that he was incredible, incredibly handsome, incredibly seductive, a charmer, a heartthrob, that he had the most remarkable charisma... I'm kidding! It's totally false!
In truth, she had told her parents that he was indeed a great person when you got to know him a little better and that you shouldn't trust your first impression of him, that he knew a lot of things from his wanderings, and that he had managed to defeat a gigantic lizard-man with the power of his sword alone - omitting that this sword came from the Nemesis and that his strength was due to his title of hero of the legend, his curse, and surely some (?) of the powers of Nemesis...
An incredible person, in short!
Just thinking about it, the Fairy was as eager to store around as she was to introduce him to her family! Especially since Mina would be there! She wondered how her new friend would be perceived by her best friend. And she also wondered how Beneltig would find him, after all, he had defended and supported her when he was fighting Tarkus. She also thanked the Hero for being her new champion as it spared her lover's life, she felt a little guilty as she thought she was using him for her benefit, but he was so strong that she was less worried about his chances of winning this tournament - he had faced the weapon of mass destruction of the kingdom after all! She had been really impressed with him.
Here, she had not seen anyone so reckless and impertinent among the young girls and boys of her generation who were a bit skittish and not very brave, although they pretended otherwise by wanting fights to the death when they never killed because "it's tradition", but she thought that by seeing what it was like to fight to the death, they would eventually realize that they did not need to want to disturb the peace of this kingdom.
She wondered, at the same time, if staying in Sylvania would be good for the Hero. After all the misfortunes he lived through in his life, although he smiled at her and was considerate, to a lesser extent, he remained a ball of hatred that could burst at any moment. And he knew it himself, it was for this reason - and because of his bruises that he couldn't forget - that he stayed away from her, making the veil of mystery around his person even bigger. But generally speaking, although he was open to discussion and had regained the ability to speak, he remained rather closed if the conversation drifted to his own person.
A real anomaly among his contemporaries...
She was eager to find out who he really was.
She hadn't been so intrigued by something in a long time, because of the monotony of this country. It was as if time was stuck in an infinite loop that made the days pass without much change. This bored her greatly, and the coming of this Man would, perhaps, be a salvation for her.
So she wouldn't be outright demanding of his delays if he brought her that much needed breath of fresh air.
Swinging her legs over the void between her feet and the ground, she looked up at this artificial sky magically devoid of clouds and sun. It had just been created by the first King-Fighters a kind of dome covering the top of the kingdom of Sylvania and placed in the view of all this azure sky.
The good thing about this fake sky made of magic was that it always gave them the summer season and there was almost always good weather - you have to feed the plants and rest a bit, it was kind of their extra holidays.
The Fairy was interrupted in her reverie by a tap she felt on her left shoulder, she turned and saw the Hero, crouching, perched on the edge of the fountain where the princess was sitting, greeting her. She looked at him and observed that he was wearing rather drab clothes, blending in with his skin blackened by the curse. He could have asked for much nicer clothes from the royal tailors, but he didn't really seem to be interested in material goods - at the same time considering his former dismal lifestyle... He preferred to hide under that hooded garment that he liked to wear as usual.
- How long have you been here?" asked the Fairy.
- I don't know. Since the dawn of time or less than a second.
- Nonsense, laughed the Fairy
- I just didn't want to stop you in your admiration of this false blue sky without clouds which overhangs our heads, specified the Hero.
- Would you have preferred that there was?
- Someone once told me that clouds, in the old days, were not bad and that you could swim in them.
- Really? said the princess, squinting and frowning.
- Yes, yes," said the Hero, nodding his head.
- You really think I'm going to believe such a crazy story? Swimming in the skies...
- Don't fairies swim in the sky when they fly?
- First of all, they don't reach the clouds, but moreover, I don't know, I don't have wings! But do you really expect me to believe that?
- I don't know," said the boy, looking away from the princess and up at the sky, "and you think things have always been like this?
The Fairy had a questioning expression, she touched her chin and looked ahead. The Hero looked at her out of the corner of his eye, he had to admit that, despite some rough edges, he found her cute. She wasn't dressed in her official clothes - like a princess -, she was wearing simple clothes, much more casual, which didn't affect her natural beauty. She had a more natural complexion than when she was dressed in her princess dress, even if she kept her rosy complexion, it was as if the syrup had been diluted too much in the water.
Seeing her like this made her a little more "normal", more of a fairy tale princess, a little more... mortal..., if he could say...
- No, the world was not like this before the Dark Ages, but were the people different? I don't think so. But the clouds, no, that didn't exist. I know that for sure.
The Hero smiled and shook his head.
- If you say so. Maybe you're right. And for the fact that you can still see the Moon sometimes through the clouds, any answer?" he said, pretending to hand her a microphone.
- As they say, "It is in the sap of Alinia that our life is written, so let's wait for its leaves to fall to know it"!
- It's a nice way of saying "everything comes to those who wait", complimented the Hero.
- Thank you!
- If not, why did you wake me up early?" her young protector asked with a stern look on his face and lowered his eyes to her.
The princess stood up and stretched before leaning towards the young man with wide eyes and a broad smile.
- We're going shopping.
- You get me up this early to go shopping?" said the Hero, hesitating between anger and amazement.
- "So early"? It's almost eleven! Don't go overboard with the nonsense!" the Fairy snapped, "and it's not just to 'shop', as you say, but to prepare for your future battles.
It was the first time he had seen the princess get angry, and with such intensity in her voice. He really hadn't expected it, although it had been short lived, she had never seemed to have this kind of temper.
- Are you angry?
- No, absolutely not," she said dryly, grumbling.
- It's okay, I know I'm late," he conceded, "but this time it had nothing to do with a lack of sleep or anything, but because I was given a place to stay outside the castle and it was a long way from it.
- Really? jumped the Fairy.
Her demeanor changed dramatically, it was as if she had forgotten what had happened just a few seconds ago.
- What is it? A human-like wooden house, a flower, even if the flowers must be planted in specific places, a hut, a brick house, a hut-cabin...
- Calm down!" the Hero stopped him by taking his shoulders before withdrawing his hands immediately, "do you change your mood so easily? Or were you just pretending to be angry?
- Who knows?" she said with a mischievous smile, "Well, you can tell me all about it on the way, okay?
The human rolled his eyes and sighed as he got up from the fountain, he followed her with his hands in his pockets, while his protege gambolled happily in front of her. Once at a good distance, she turned around and noted the bandaged face of the Hero, he had to blacken as best he could the care tapes so that they blend with the color of the stain that covered his face. Her observation ended on a bitter observation: he had no skill to make up.
If he was a nobleman and had tried the makeup, he would have fallen from grace.
This gave her the opportunity to show him that she was as good an architect as she was a makeup artist.
- Why are you smiling so stupidly?" asked the Hero.
- For nothing!" said the Fairy with a bigger, brighter smile.
The Fairy took his arm and quickened her pace, almost tripping him. She dragged him to every corner of Upper Town, showing the boy the most emblematic places in the kingdom: the statue of the Hero - which he had seen two nights ago -, the engraving of the faces of the rulers of Sylvania on one of the faces of the castle, the Great Fountain of Kililu in the town square - it would have belonged in a water park... All the way, the Hero noticed the glances they were getting. Did they recognize his humanity or was it the wingless princess? Either way, she didn't seem to mind, or perhaps she was ignoring it...
The winged fairy took them into one of the stores she had in her sights since they had gone down to the city center, she intended to find her some new clothes.
- But I have no money!" exclaimed the Hero, shaking his arms.
- Don't worry, it's me who manages! I owe you that much! she answered.
He wanted to refuse, but she took his hand, diverting his attention from the embarrassment he felt that a girl could buy him clothes, to this physical contact. Even though she had washed him, he really couldn't get used to being touched, the queen, he couldn't tell - even though he knew she would have been understanding, after all, he had allowed her to stroke his hair directly -, Asteron, he kept on giving her big slaps on the shoulder or in the back, or "manly hugs", and she, she was so pleasant with him that he could not see himself expressing his disagreement so that she could touch him.
- My hero can't afford to wear rags!" she said, winking at him.
Once again, he was embarrassed by the gentleness and kindness she showed him. He really wondered how he had come across someone as gentle and kind as her, when his life had been one of blood and violence with only a few brief moments of respite.
He then let himself be dragged inside the store by the sweet fairy.
The first thing that struck his eye was the beauty of the establishment, he knew nothing about architecture, he could only say that the place was "pretty" and that the wood looked good - he was unable to express himself on the wood used in this establishment. Then it was the sumptuousness of the clothes that caught his eye, they looked like the ones he had seen at the Universal Library in Vicenti. This was one of the things he found really fascinating about (some) Faerics, without having a very strong or just particular taste or attraction for fashion: the plurality of clothes they managed to design for all races - including human. He recognized the talent of the Faerie designers.
It was obvious that there was a variety of clothes in this store, there was something for every taste, every race or culture, from fairies, elves to therianthropes, from the most fragile to the most brutal like ogres, Mosternzas, Chegirii or even Treemen, and many more. This variety of clothing was very appealing to the Hero - even though he didn't really care.
Just knowing that everyone could find happiness with something as trivial as clothes, gave him a little balm.
The Fairy addressed the shopkeepers, the tallest of them three, a Pertasith, a Fairy with four long arms that he rested on his counter while listening to the Fairy, four eyes, a slender but rather imposing body and a long brown ponytail - in short, you see the Hecatonchires? Well, the same thing with fewer limbs, fewer eyes and a much greater friendliness than their counterparts.
They were from the same race, but one had mutated and the other remained a savage bloodthirsty monster.
The Pertasith listened intently to the princess, nodding at almost every word she said before giving her an "ok" with all four limbs and jumping over his counter and coming to meet the Hero. He gave her brief greetings, learning that his name was "Tertinos" and that he was fifty-five years old - basically, he had already been halfway through his life for four years.
- Tertine for friends, added the person in charge.
Toast for the scoffers and backbiters.
Then, all of a sudden, without warning, he started to touch him. The Hero opened his eyes wide and wanted to push him away violently, he couldn't stand being touched, especially by people he didn't know. But the wingless princess beckoned him to let go. The human, although he had a great knowledge of the world, was not aware that the Pertasith had a sense of touch much more advanced than any living being on this planet, they were rather destined to medicine since they were able to feel all the ills of the body they touch.
But Tertinos didn't need to touch him deeply, the simple fact of touching him gave him the information that he wanted to obtain, this information was important to him because with it he could make him clothes that would fit him like a glove. He didn't even need to touch her skin directly, he could get what he wanted with this simple touch, his touch was much more precise than many of his fellow creatures thanks to a training he had made himself undergo because of his disgust of being in contact with others - this was what had closed his career in medicine, but it was also the fact of feeling the ills and the suffering of others that had made him reject this path.
He preferred to bring happiness to others in his own way.
Once the work was done, he stood up and asked the Hero if he had any clarifications he wanted to make to his clothes.
- I would like them to be black...
- Oh no!" protested the Fairy, "you can't wear such drab clothes all the time, make an effort.
- The Lady does not seem to agree with your choices.
- But I'm going to wear them, right?
- Yes, but wear more colorful clothes. Don't you see how many clothes you could wear?
- Yes, but...
Tertinos stopped the debate and took the boy aside.
- Why are you so keen on wearing black clothes?
- So that they blend in with my face.
The Pertasith stared at him more closely and saw that his face was covered with a black membrane that must be due to a curse - it reeked of magic.
- But most of all, my wounds could reopen at any moment and I wouldn't want the princess to buy me clothes that I would soil in less than two days and that would be unusable as well.
The salesman became aware of who he was dealing with and clapped his two pairs of palms.
- Ah, but you are the human who entered the arena and defeated a lizard-man!
- Yes! But keep your voice down," the Hero told him.
- It's hard for me to take in your humanity, but at the same time, many people who are devoid of magic come to my store.
He had not noticed it at first, but the Hero discovered that the man he was facing was blind. That's why he didn't know who he was when he saw him, but then why did he stare at him like that? Was he making fun of him?
- If you didn't notice it before, it's because you don't look people in the eye.
The hero was startled to hear this truth about himself. He could deny it by being arrogant, but that would not change anything, if a blind man could see it...
- We Pertasiths can sense the emotions of people in our presence, so there's nothing you can hide from me, but I'm not going to read too much into you, because it might affect me. And I hate that. But don't worry about your clothes, I will enchant them so that this kind of thing doesn't happen, remember that women have this kind of worries too. I mean, mammals!
Tertinos went back to his employees and the Fairy came to the Hero to find out what the salesman had told him.
- That you had carte blanche to dress me in whatever you pleased, replied the Hero.
The Fairy's eyes lit up, she began to pound the pavement with excitement and went off into the clothing aisles, before returning as quickly as she had come.
- In fact, I can't decide.
- But it's you who got excited to choose my clothes! He lectured her, choose them yourself!
- No come!" she protested, grabbing his arm.
And as she tried to get the Hero to stop his reluctance, they witnessed an astonishing sight: clothes began to fly, dancing in the air and moving throughout the establishment, jumping as if the fabric had come to life. The Fairy seemed to be captivated by what she had before her eyes, she found it enchantingly beautiful. The Hero, on the other hand, seemed impervious to this little fantasy... No, he was wary of it, he had never seen such a thing unfold before his eyes and for him anything that was unknown to him and that came from someone he didn't know, surely didn't bode well. And this fear was amplified by the fact that he didn't have any weapons on him - he would have shot them like any self-respecting North American. However, when he saw the delighted expression of the Fairy, he relaxed and enjoyed this strange scene worthy of a fairy tale.
At the end of the show, they were able to select the clothes offered to them by the vendor, the princess chose a good quantity and her champion refused another good quantity, recovering, in the end, at least fifteen outfits less ugly than the dishcloths he was wearing.
Tertinos invited them to go to see the cashier. Arrived there, the said cashier was not there. After a few minutes of waiting, the princess started to frown, the Hero recognized that this was a behavior worthy of his late mother - she hated waiting, judging that it was incompetence to make her customers wait.
Once the cashier returned, the princess gave her the money and took the bags with her without saying goodbye, it was the champion who greeted her before leaving.
Outside, he pointed out this behavior that he did not find too polite.
- We're in a hurry and she's twiddling her thumbs somewhere in the store," she said grumpily.
- You don't know anything about it", the Hero contradicts him, "you're like my mother who judged people without looking at their reasons.
It was the first time he had talked about himself - excluding his anecdotes that told nothing about him, if anything. She remembered that one of her goals during this outing was to get to know him better, so she took the opportunity to ask him about his beloved mother.
"You took my mother, my people, me... I will take this world from you!"
That crazy look he had had at that moment, that look filled with despair and rage, his fangs gnashing with each syllable of that sentence.
- She was a bitter woman, the Hero revealed, she was paranoid by nature, despite the fact that she was confident in her abilities and she gave me a Spartan education, he said, putting his hands behind his head, thoughtful.
"Spartan?" That must be a synonym for tough, thought the Fairy.
- I wouldn't have imagined that she would be like this, considering how much you cared about her death...
- Afterwards, even if she was a rough person, I'm not going to be satisfied that the person who took care of me all my life is dead? he asked her rhetorically.
- That's not what I meant!" cried the wingless fairy, waving her hands, her eyes bulging.
- I know, I get it, my Lady," laughed the Hero as she received the groceries she had dropped while raising her arms, "your parents are not hard on you.
- Oh no, they are super nice. Of course, my dad is a workaholic and is very demanding about all things work and school, but they are very nice people that I would like you to meet.
- Finally, you told your parents about me..., the boy sighed.
- You think I could hide from them that most of my time I had to spend with you because I asked the queen to grant you clemency, although it was later known that you had Ymir on you," she grumbled falsely, putting her fists on her ribs with a pouty face.
Then she blew out her nose as she lowered her arms, smiling and looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
- You don't like being talked about, do you?
- I am so badly talked about that I prefer not to be talked about...
- ... whether it comes from others or from you.
- Exactly.
- Don't worry too much about it, I'm being talked about as badly as I am, but I live it well enough, I think.
The Hero remembered the moment when she had started to cry over him when she had confessed her greatest desire. She was playing hard to get, "everything goes over my head", but it was only a facade, as for the queen who had done everything to get rid of her reputation. If she could, she too would have gotten rid of the nastiness directed at her.
- Do they know that I am the hero of the legend?
- No, no.
- That I am a wanted criminal?
- No more.
- But what did you tell them?" the human questioned, becoming more and more dismayed, "they're going to see a human come into their home and...
- It's not like this is the first time they've seen one.
- Huh?" said the Hero, astonished, "have you ever seen humans?
- Except for those sent to us by the Oranas prison, and, by the way, by other prisons, yes. We are not the richest family around but we can afford to travel.
- Traveling to where?" asked the Hero.
- Beyond Europea!
"Beyond Europea!" the phrase repeated itself in the Hero's mind. He had been beyond the borders of his continent before out of duty, but he had never taken the time to visit a foreign country because of his pursuit of Nemesis. Perhaps he had once taken the time to admire the scenery on the Green Isle, Ireland, north of Franca, he couldn't remember. He just remembered that there were beautiful redheaded girls there.
- So you left the continent, too? To do what?
- Yep. To go on vacation.
The Hero chuckled.
"Going on vacation"... what an absurd idea! The world was in ruins, malevolence had invaded every part of this planet, there was nowhere for her to go.
- I see you doubt, yet it is true, there are still beautiful places lit by daylight, artificially, magically or not. But most of the time, these are diplomatic trips to get rare resources or teachings. But we don't really need to travel in small groups since we move around so much.
- What do you mean?
- I'll show you later," she said, winking at him.
- And the Universal Libraries are not enough?
- Oh no! To learn a little about the past, yes, but as far as our present needs are concerned, that's another matter. What do you want me to do with "solar panels"?
She had a point. The sun that had abandoned them would be of no help in these dark days.
The Hero, in front of the Fairy's explanations, said only one thing to himself: "What is she talking about today? This was a change from the days when she talked like a cartoonist - he exaggerates, she could sometimes say some redneck expressions, but that was as far as it went.
- Tell me, if your parents are so nice, why didn't they name you?
The Fairy stopped dead in her tracks, motionless, she became forbidden. The Hero's question made her clench her fists. The Hero felt a certain tension rise in her, but she took a deep breath and found her face cheerful again.
A temporary frustration, in short.
- This is the sine qua non condition for my survival.
- What do you mean?
- "Sine qua non"? It's a word from the past that means...
- No, but I know," the hero cut her off, "but why?
- You know that, don't you? If we don't have a name, we don't exist, and that's what the Elders, the Ministers and the Nobles expect. I will end up forgotten in the registers and I will never have lived, unlike the Traitor Witch who marked the history of this country, while we are similar in the eyes of all, I will live through her.
- Do you believe in this resemblance?
- I imagine that if they say so, there is some truth in it...
He was thinking about what he could do to take away her reputation without undoing the queen's magic, which he was, in any case, unable to unbless. She was going to have to figure it out on her own, given her lack of magic.
- Was she as bad as that, this former queen?
- Not at first, the Fairy answered, she was even said to be the most tender of queens, and obviously even more so than the King-Fighters. Her kindness and intelligence were beyond normal, and as soon as the technomagic was created, she managed to push it to its maximum potential, shaping the legendary sword of the hero of Sylvania, Torn, with the help of the best blacksmiths of the kingdom and those of the Green Island.
Torn? But couldn't he be Sawyer's father? The Hero thought, more than five hundred years separate them from the era of the Feline, how could he be her son?
- But his relentless pursuit of knowledge led him to blasphemy, the discovery of occult arts and his affiliation with demonic forces led him to betray his own, to the point where he was on the verge of bringing about the downfall of the kingdom and perhaps even Europea, and the world as a whole.
- Was she that powerful?
- From what they say, she could have rivaled the fairy of the legend, she shrugged.
Could someone who was not from the legend compete with the heroes of the legend? It didn't make sense! How strong could she be? He who was already so weak against the Nemesis... If other beings are able to catch up and surpass him, what will happen when he finds the knight who took his?
- On closer inspection, I think she looks like the queen in a way.
You can't imagine how much.
They can't imagine how much.
While they were talking about everything, a group of two young adult fairies and a young adult centaur passed by the princess and her champion and one of them wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to grope her buttocks, but three centimeters away from the girl's posterior, the Hero broke her wrist with a punch.
- What's wrong with you, stranger?" asked one of the boys, "Are you defending a wingless girl?
He kicked him in the cheek, sending him against the wall of a house, his two other comrades wanted to attack the Hero, he used the head of his first assailant as a support to put, to both of them, a blow in the nose, making them lie on the ground, crying their broken noses.
The hero saw that the seal that had been placed on his stomach was indeed working. He even wondered if the seal did not hinder his heroic strength.
The Fairy approached him and took him away, she had noticed a crowd starting to form around them.
- What's the matter with you?" asked the Hero, letting himself be drawn into the race of the winged princess.
She stopped as she entered an alley and took a deep breath. It was difficult for her to run properly in this outfit, even if she had only been trotting. She looked at the Hero and thanked him for defending her.
- But you don't have to fight outside the arena, you are now a champion, so you are part of my image.
- And you would have wanted him to pinch your ass.
- Of course not! But considering your strength and your..., I would like to avoid that you kill someone.
He approached the fairy and put his hands on her cheeks.
- Kid, I know how to restrain myself, don't take me for a wild animal too.
- I just don't want you to act violently with others... It... scares me.
The Hero had already noticed that the fairy did not really appreciate violence, she had wide eyes at each of the blows that the fighters gave each other inside the tournament, or hid them - that's probably why she accepted the cowardice of her lover: because there was no ounce of violence in this individual. She had lived peacefully enough not to realize that violence was one of the most abundant things in this world doomed to ruin.
- Okay, I'll avoid using violence as much as possible, he agreed, after all, I'll be tempted to grope your bountiful curves too, he joked as he tugged on the fairy's cheeks before heading out of the alley to see if there was anyone following them.
- "Rebound"? You mean "fat"? Because I know I'm fat, I plan to lose weight.
- Please don't say shit. You're not fat at all, I don't think you've ever seen a fat girl to say that kind of shit.
- Pfff, she huffed, you can't understand, you're a man.
- And fortunately! underlined the boy, that avoids me to be so boring.
The Fairy took the lead to take them to the last place of the day.
- The people of this city are shameless, all the same.
- That's because we're approaching the Nether, a place with the highest crime rate, but it's also because I'm a wingless.
- What does this have to do with anything? The Hero did not understand.
- You could say that I am one of the people considered to be without magic, so I am considered "not very useful" to the nation, although I do have magic, which is very rare for a wingless, since most things here run on magic, so we are considered second class citizens whether we are from the royal bloodline or not.
- And the queen does nothing to stop this?
- She is working on it! But then again, with old people who don't want to move from the status quo of this country because "it's just fine the way it is! They don't realize that even if it looks good from the top, people are crying out for help from the bottom.
Indeed, although it looks like an oasis, the kingdom of Sylvania is like other places in this world, disparities exist here and there...
- Normally, technomagic is supposed to be a crutch for this kind of situation.
- You'd have to have the money to be able to use it," the Fairy retorted, "our technomagic is very well developed, so you can't imagine the cost of these jewels, and even the junk is sold at a high price. By talking and wandering around, we almost got to the place where I really wanted to take you.
They stopped and the Hero looked up at a shop that said "Fokatino Blacksmith's Bazaar" with a double FF just below the sign and on the front door. The Fairy turned to the Hero and said:
- I intend to give you a taste of the magic.
They returned and saw a dump of weapons of all kinds: fire spears, swords of all shapes, shields, kukris, bows, battle armors and decorative nunchakus... Nunchakus? Since when there are still Nunchakus in Europea ?
They walked up to the counter and saw no one. The Fairy shouted "Is anyone there?" so that someone could answer her, but she received no answer from the manager of this gun shop.
- Strange that there is nobody there. The queen's bodyguard, Sawyer, told me that this store was open all day, every day.
Suddenly, the Hero heard a whistling sound coming from his right, he pushed the fairy with one hand, putting her behind him, and caught the projectile thrown at them in flight with the second, it had scratched his cheek superficially. He raised his head and saw a dwarf positioned on a shelf with a bow.
The Hero broke the arrow between his fingers and looked up at his opponent.
- I see that the great impression you made on Sawyer and the others in the capital is not demerited, commented the dwarf.
He jumped off his shelf and approached the two young men.
- Were you testing me?
- Of course. A champion unable to protect his princess will never be able to protect the kingdom. Especially you, hero of the legend," said the blacksmith Fokatino, "to be fooled by a vulgar dwarf would be a shame.
Fokatino went behind the counter and climbed onto a crate of magic crystals.
- How can I help you, my young men?
Rising to her feet, the winged fairy spoke up:
- My friend needs a weapon to defend himself.
- A normal one, a magical one...?
- A technomagic.
The dwarf smiled, the conversation was about to take a turn that would please him.
- Do you know anything about technomagic?
The Hero shook his head and the Fairy tilted her hand in front of her, from left to right.
- I always wanted to know how it worked but never really had the opportunity to learn about it.
- That's great! It gives me the opportunity to show you my latest arrivals and confections.
He went to his back room and returned with three wooden boxes containing all sorts of items. The Hero recognized some of the items resembling Stelenincia with a ring on the top of the handle with a black circle in the center. They all had unreadable inscriptions on the top.
- Tell me, boy, outside of its walls, did you have any preference when you were fighting?
- I'm pretty good at everything.
- Good at everything, expert at nothing.
- Unfortunately, that's right," he admitted.
- But at least it allows you, I guess, to counterbalance with other ways of fighting, which allows you to win. So a pretty flexible style...
He rummaged in his boxes and took out a kind of garland where several black rings were linked with other tin rings that reminded him of aircraft engines.
- What is it about?" asked the fairy, curious.
- From a combat armor without protection.
- It doesn't make sense," she said.
- Actually, I haven't named it yet, but I can assure you that at one time everyone would have torn them off if there was combat armor around to act as a structure, the armorer elaborated, and if you tried it on, boy. Take off your top.
The boy, curious to see what kind of weapon it was, took off his top and exposed his torso, but there was a curiosity that the Fairy discovered at the same time as Fokatino, that his hood was detachable so he could keep it on no matter what.
- Seriously? said the Fairy with a sneer.
- Let go of me, growled the Hero, each one of his complexes, the pseudo-fat.
- Hop pop pop, the arguments are outside, the lovebirds.
- It's not my girlfriend, she already has one waiting for her under the ice," laughed the Hero, taking the ring garland that the dwarf handed him.
He glued the tin circles to the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet, and was helped by the fairy to glue the rest of the threads to his spine. The Hero felt spikes going into his spine, he turned to the dwarf who gave him a thumbs up and told him in a reassuring tone not to worry.
- It's so thin you'll never know it's there.
He put a target where the shelf was and told the Hero to point one of the circles at the wooden target.
- I've put enough energy into it for you to be able to use it, now it's up to you to be able to make it work.
The Hero concentrated, his breathing became more regular, he cleared his mind and focused his attention on the target facing him. Then he let out a loud scream, startling the princess to the point that she almost lost her balance, but against all odds, nothing came out of the circle inside his hand.
- I don't know what you tried to do, but it didn't work at all," laughed the dwarf.
- I saw," the human spat.
He already thought he was ridiculous being covered with his threads along his back, arms and legs, but if he had to endure the taunts of this stranger, he would end up breaking the promise he had made to the Fairy.
- It really shows that you don't have any magic. Obviously, you have acted like children when they learn magic, they just think that by concentrating they will eventually make a fireball appear, but you have to know where to draw your magic and impose your will on it. The older ones are able to impose their will on objects, making them "singing magicians".
Like Tertinos, thought the Hero.
- Our dear princess will be better able to explain that to you, I don't have that level of competence for that. I will explain to you how what you call "technomagic" works, an outdated name for the record, now it is called "Neomagic".
This Neomagic, of which he speaks, is based on the union between magic and technology. Initially, it was humans who were eager to capture the benefits of magic without suffering the consequences, who decided to use their technology to replicate its effects, but this only resulted in a succession of failures, at best, of magic at the level of first-year magic school students.
If you really wanted to use them in an armed conflict, it was better to use them as self-destructing bombs than as real weapons of war. But little by little, the Faerie began to study these new weapons of a new kind, and some studied them with humans. The first neomagic weapons were born from this union, as humans combined their knowledge with that of the Faerie, this new process combined magic and technology to obtain the best of both worlds. At first, they copied magic as if they were counterfeits, but as they improved, neomagic weapons sometimes surpassed magic itself. The black rings on these weapons, armor or shields are used to hold magic crystals that allow neomagic equipment to imitate the magic contained in these crystals, resulting in swords of fire, ice, lightning and more... The problem with neomagic is that the tools equipped with them are extremely perishable, it is rare to find the same neomagic weapon in almost new condition a hundred years later, nevertheless their power exceeds the magic of the common man - only first-rate magical weapons like Excalibur or Ymir can boast of giving them a phenomenal beating!
- I think I have a way to fix it," the dwarf reflected.
- But he wasn't even fit to shoot, criticized the Fairy.
- It is an expression, my dear lady, corrected Fokatino.
- For a princess, you lack vocabulary, ironically the Hero raised his eyes to the sky.
- I didn't ask you for anything!
- Neither do I," he replied.
The dwarf tore the equipment from the champion's back causing him to cry out in pain to calm their childish fight.
- I will redirect the energy flows so that you can use it, but be aware that this will be at your own risk.
- Are there no other weapons he could use?" asked the Fairy, worried by the blacksmith's words.
- Yes, if he trains. He could even use war hammers, if he had muscles like mine...
The dwarf began to flex his muscles, twisting them in all directions to impress the gallery, while staring at the young boy. A particular embarrassment invaded the body of the Hero who did not know what to answer in front of this provocation.
- Well, I'll send you a message to notify you of the changes or I'll just warn Sawyer, pick weapons you like for your future fight in the meantime.
- Any two swords will suffice, I don't want to make my protégée waste too much money for my simple need.
The princess and her champion walked out of the weapons store, their hands filled with bags of clothing, the swords would be sent directly to the stadium so they wouldn't get arrested by the guards in possession of weapons. Still, there was one human left in hostile territory, albeit under the protection of the queen.
- Well, I guess this is where we part ways," said the Hero, taking the bags of leaves from the Fairy's hands.
- Right?
- I live a little further down the road, so I'm thinking of fixing up my new place and then going back to sleep until the day arrives.
- Well wait, my friend Mina was supposed to join us, I wanted to introduce you to her.
- Isn't she a dwarf with a swarthy complexion and black hair who always has her eyebrows furrowed?
- Uh... yes, I think so....
Frowning? What kind of absurd description is that?" wondered the Fairy.
- I met her before when I was recovering in the hospital, she didn't really talk to me.
- It's not serious! Come anyway! he insisted, we will eat cakes!
- What an argument... How can I not answer negatively?
Ah shit, I thought out loud.
- Here it is.
The Hero turned in the direction of the Fairy's gaze, and saw the dwarf he had seen in the hospital: she was wearing baggy black pants and a simple leotard with a long jacket fitted to her waist and flat shoes. As he had originally thought, she was a real tomboy. The Fairy went to meet her leaving the boy alone with the leaf bags.
As he watched her come, the Hero heard barking from behind them, fast running footsteps, making too much noise for them to be bipeds, and the clatter of those footsteps did not sound like the hooves of a centaur. He was about to ask the Fairy if the inhabitants of this town had dogs, but at the sound of the second chorus of barking, the Hero understood that they were not just dogs, nor were they large dogs.
He turned around and found himself attacked by Fenrirs, one biting his left forearm and another his right leg, five others headed in the direction of the two girls. The Hero ran as fast as he could and grabbed one of the weapons, which was a spear, from the blacksmith's stall outside, jumped as high as he could and landed on the back of the giant wolf whose skull was sticking out of his face, crushing it with all his weight and piercing the back of its head, killing it instantly. He tried to pull the spear out, but it was stuck inside the wolf. He would have to fight them with his bare hands.
Holy shit! It's impossible for there to be this kind of creature in the middle of Franc's land! Who could have brought these dangers here?
- Go away!" the Hero shouted at them.
He yelled at the Fenrirs to get their attention and put several blows in the wolf's mouth as his arm was still bent, but his strength was no longer sufficient to sound them out in one, nor even to break their face with a simple series of punches. Their fangs were beginning to crush his muscles. He didn't want to break his promise to the Fairy, but if he allowed himself to do so, they would end up as snacks for his damn huge canines.
Sorry kid, but I have no choice.
The Hero seized the jaw of the wolf that did not want to let go of his arm and dislocated it to be able to take out his arm, then caught it to throw it against a wall, he trampled the one that wanted to devour his leg, until he had enough and put his fingers in his eyes, to crush his carotid artery with the knee of his valid leg and to break his neck.
Let's hope he doesn't have rabies," wished the Hero.
It would not be long before he found himself being crazier than he already was.
There were still four Fenrirs to go, he didn't know if he could hold on like this, he had never been so helpless as when he started his career as a legendary hero. But if he had been able to kill a griffin with the strength of his hands alone when he was barely ten years old then fucking wild dogs that were his height and double his length had to be a small matter.
Cracking his fingers, he grabbed the tail of the first one who threw himself on him and smashed his head against the ground, another one took advantage of the fact that he was distracted to scratch his back, the Hero wanted to hit him but the animal skilfully dodged the Man's attempt.
They might be huge and heavy, but they were still skilled fighters. Another wanted to seize the opportunity offered by his fellow man, but the warrior would not be fooled again, he put a right in the chest exploding his bones and made him meet the wolf that the Hero was still holding by the tail, made it spin while spinning and it flew away having the tail torn off, still in the hands of the boy.
There was only one left, he was circling the Hero, glaring at him, the champion of the winged princess did not move, following him with his eyes.
The Fairy had seen him fight before, but she understood the meaning of the blacksmith's words when he said that he was able to adapt to different situations as well as weapons. This time he was not bloodthirsty, nor was he intoxicated by anger, the curse that had the power to turn him into a destructive beast did not seem to be working during this fight. It was not any more the intoxication of the fight that she perceived in her glance, but of the concern.
Concern for the Fairy and Mina who could be attacked out of nowhere?
Was he struggling so intensely because he was now in charge of the lonely soul that was the Fairy?
Or was he just overdoing it so as not to show that he had weakened?
To the dwarf Mina, this man was a fighting beast. Although his technique was shaky, he had many openings that caused him to receive easy wounds from his assailants and he was easily distracted, he had tremendous speed and his blows always hit. But he had not yet demonstrated the strength that Princess had praised.
Suddenly, some cobblestones behind the Fairy and her best friend flew up and a gigantic Fenrir emerged from the ground. With a deformed and elongated mouth, an electric blue coat and a piece of that wobbly bone mask, it had a horn on its forehead and huge sharp red fangs. This was a Beta Fenrir, a sort of general under the orders of his Alpha, he had the strength of ten Fenrirs by himself.
The Hero, who was struggling with the last Fenrir, was about to witness the death of his protégée, who was petrified with fear, in front of this creature of an insane size. She who had almost never known danger, always saved in-extremis - even without knowing it -, was confronted with a creature that could tear off her upper body without forcing. A creature she had never met outside the lands of Sylvania had come to claim her flesh. She was forbidden, barely trembling, her complexion pale, tetanized with terror at her own death.
The Hero felt the aura of death coming from his protege, he noticed the coming of this huge canid, she was going to be devoured without him being able to intervene.
He couldn't lose again because of his weakness!
He who killed his mother, he who was unable to prevent the kidnapping of his best friend Zelda, he who was unable to save the parents of little Astarte...
All these visions of the past came back to her face.
How, even now, with all the skills he had acquired over the past five years, could he be unable to save a single person?
He was the fucking hero of the legend! This damn hero curse had to stop!
Despite the relentless attacks of the "little" Fenrir, he ran as fast as he could to his protege. The fact that his leg and arm were torn apart would not prevent him from saving his friend, even at the cost of his life.
- Zelda!" he shouted, reaching out to the wolf on instinct.
For a moment, the wolf stopped, staring at the man with empty eyes. It was the moment that allowed the dwarf to act.
- Hammer of Nertigkest!" the dwarf incanted.
And a huge mace appeared in Mina's hands and she struck with all her strength against the mouth of the wolf, which sank into the wall of a house. In one blow she managed to stop Fenrir before the helpless eyes of the Hero. Whether with magic or not, she had accomplished a feat that the Hero could never have accomplished in time.
Distracted, the Hero did not notice that the same surprise attack that the Fairy had suffered was about to happen behind him. But this time, the Fenrir who attacked him had succeeded in his plan, as he bit into his arm, sinking his fangs into it and wrapping it around his tongue. The Hero turned around and saw this Fenrir without a bone mask, with a crazy look on his face, even more elongated than the wolf the dwarf had defeated. He was the Alpha of the pack.
The Hero's eyes turned black, filled with unquenchable anger, someone was going to have to pay for the affront he had just suffered and it would be this evil being who thought he could bolt his arm with impunity.
Inserting his thumb between the teeth of the animal, he raised with difficulty the upper jaw of the wolf and withdrew his arm to be able to open its mouth, with his two hands, to the maximum, until breaking it. At the crack of the beast's jaw, the Hero smashed its head against the ground, shattering the pavement, then tightened his grip on the wolf's lower jaw and ran to its tail with an angry cry, tearing off half its body in his rage. He threw half of the useless carcass into a corner and came to his senses as the restrictive magic circle was triggered.
In front of this massacre, he could observe the extent of his actions. The last Fenrir fled without asking for help. The Hero looked up at the Fairy and saw her in terror, he wanted to approach her, but she hid behind her friend. The ridiculousness of the scene did not escape the Hero, but he understood the content of the Fairy's fear of violence. He closed the hand he had held out to her, took the clothes she had bought for him and left in the direction of her house.
The dwarf lost all the uncertainties that he had about this Man, his strength was indeed not to be demonstrated anymore.
Mina was amazed by the violence with which he had fought the Alpha Fenrir.
Even for the Beta Fenrir she had struck with all her might, she could not say that with her sheer strength she had been able to defeat it, she could be strong, but not strong enough to accomplish such a feat. She had noticed it before her blow reached the night creature. She had thought that she had been frightened by the Hero's scream, which seemed more than normal, but no, it was something else: she was already dead. And this was confirmed when she wanted to see the corpse, she noticed the hole in the middle of Fenrir's forehead. What could he have done?
In any case, she could tell that the Wingless-Princess was in good hands.
On the roofs of the houses, someone, masked, had observed the whole scene. She withdrew her spyglass and stood up. She bit her tongue and left, jumping from roof to roof in the same direction as the Hero.
Two days passed since the accident, the Hero had not seen the Fairy since. Even on the day of his fight, he had not seen her again. He just walked into the arena with his five other competitors, equipped with the two swords that had been given to him.
Tadzi and Caesar introduced the Hero by declaring, in front of the world - composed of Sylvania and nothing else - that he was the hero of the legend. This surprised everyone, and, as last time, fueled the debate, which the Hero ignored completely. They told his story since he was in the kingdom, using it to praise the good introduction and education of different races from beyond the kingdom, praising his exploits, especially in defense of the Fairy, and they omitted his fight against Queen Audiselia. They didn't pass over it completely, they said that "she had tested him" to see his courage and strength.
The Hero didn't even listen to their spiel. He just wanted to see the Fairy again to explain to her that he was sorry for getting so upset, even if it was to protect her.
Then something caught his attention, a new rule had just been imposed.
The presenters announced that the rule that fighters could not kill each other would not apply to the Hero; all fighters, who cross paths with him, could kill him, without risking disqualification, but he, under no circumstances, would have to kill a fighter.
What a hell..., he thought.
It was logical that such a rule should be applied: he was immortal, must have had much more combat experience than them, but above all, was not a noble, nor a man of the realm or paid by one of the royal families. But above all, he was human. He had noticed that although he was the queen's protege and with a few exceptions, the looks of contempt that were thrown at him had not changed. He was expendable and replaceable, not a great loss to the country, despite his status as a hero of legend. A miserable human, and one devoid of magic.
Facing his other four opponents, he stood nonchalantly, waiting for the fight to begin. His recent injuries were not too great to consider this a handicap, he could defeat them in less time than it took, and if there was one who was smart, he would ally with him while waiting for the finality of their fight.
As soon as the whistle blew, the hero's arm flew up in the air without him even being able to act. His shoulder was dripping with blood. One of the champions was behind him and the other three were facing him.
Finally, this fight would be one against four...