"That's a big one." Warren whispered as he and I hid in the foliage of the forest north of... Crosse Village.
It now a couple of days after we had gotten back, and earlier today, he asked me if I wanted to go hunting with him. He figured it would allow us to spend some time together, and he also wanted to talk to me. I had no reason to say no.
What we were currently looking at was kinda like bear, only a tad bigger with buldging muslces, and claws made for gutting whales. It would be scary to most people, but to me?
[Direbear]
[Rank: C-]
I laughed, both at the simplicity, but also the the fact that a monster this big and this intimidating was this weak. Granted, from what I knew about power scaling here on this world, this thing was considered one of the kings of the forest.
"I don't usually go out this far. I don't think I can take this one. Eli, can you handle this?" He asked, and I grinned at him and nodded.
I used my Abyssal Manipulation to create a small solid bead no larger than a fingernail. Warren raised an eyebrow at me, but then his eyes widened as it suddenly shot forward with enough force to shake the trees, rip the grass out of the soil, and whip his hair back. It struck the bear square in the forehead, causing it to explode in a violent display of gore. I winced.
"I didn't mean to launch it that hard." I muttered, but Warren just started laughing his ass off.
"You are damned ridiculous, I swear." He chuckled, leaning against a tree for support.
I smirked at him before walking over to the bear and inspecting it. It was pretty dead, and its blood was still leaking out of the giant hole in its neck where its head had been. Warren walked up beside me a moment later.
"So, I assume you're just going to carry it back?" He asked me, and I grinned, and nodded.
I summoned by Abyssal Tendrils, wrapping several of them around the body, and then effortly picked it up off of the ground, and held it suspended in the air. Warren just stared at the scene for several seconds, and then he just chuckled.
"Sure. Why not? Well, come on then, Mr. Ridiculous." He said, turning around and waving me towards him.
I could only smirk to myself as I made my way forward, and followed behind him as we headed back to the village.
"You got any magic skinning techniques? Maybe grab its pelt and just rip it off cleanly?" He asked, and I laughed.
"That would be-" I said, and then paused as I received a mental input from one of my soliders, "Hold that thought."
I quickly switched my perspective, looking through the eyes of the soldier that alerted me. Immediately, I saw what had grabbed its attention. Several carriages complete with escorts in the forms of armored guards on horseback were heading towards the city. One of the carriages that was the most heavily surrounded had a lot of different ornamentations and embroideries on it. There was a crest on the carriage, but I didn't recognize it from anywhere. It kinda looked like a fat jagged spear or something, but I wasn't really good with that kind of thing. Regardless of all of that, I couldn't see inside of it, covered up as it was. I cursed.
"We have company heading into the village. Come on, we are heading back immediately." I said, and Warren started to say something, but then he just yelped in a surprisingly high pitched tone as I grabbed him with a couple of my tendrils, and sped off back towards the village, still with my prize in tow.
We appeared on street where our houses were in only a few moments, and I dropped the bear, while being more gentle with Warren. He still bent over and threw up all over the ground, and I just grimaced.
"Sorry Warren." I said, and after a moment, he straightened himself, and shook his head.
"No, no... it's alright. That was terrible... but I learned something." He said, and I raised an eyebrow.
"What was that?" I asked, and he looked at me with a serious expression.
"I don't ever want to do that again." He said, and I just laughed.
"You got it." I said, and just as those words left my mouth, the door to Warren's home opened, and Cici, Anya, and my mother stepped outside and greeted us with broad smiles.
Once Anya and my mom seen the bear however, they gasped.
"Holy heck!" My mom yelled, and I snorted at that.
"That's a huge bear... and what in the Framework happened to its head??" Anya added as she had to look away from the gruesome sight.
Cici was the only one not surprised, and she was giggling off to the side.
"As much I'd love to sit here and watch your reactions, we have a problem. A small force is on its way here. Armored figures and carriages are coming down the road. They'll be here in about 5 minutes." I said, and that got everyone to look at me with worry, except for Cici of course, but I just smiled, "Don't worry. I'll handle it."
I watched the carriages from the eyes of many of my soldiers, but I had them remain hidden for now. This would be an easy problem to handle, but if it wasn't someone looking to cause problems, I wasn't going to hurt anyone. Once I could see the procession with my own eyes, I walked towards them. Cici followed behind me, not willing to let me go by myself. Plus, she was better at talking than I was, so I didn't mind in the off chance I needed someone to talk. I was a bit too blunt for some people.
As we neared closer, I noticed that the guards in the front fanned out to the side, and stopped just outside of the village entrance. The carriages did so as well, and that allowed for the more extravagant carriage to move forward ahead of the rest. I noticed a woman on a horse that was leading the nice carriage, and the closer she got, the more I could make out.
She was a not massive, but her bulky armor made her seem larger than she actually was, yet from the scars on her hands, and the one running down the left side of her face, I could tell she was strong, and I doubted she was a small and frail thing underneath that armor. She was actually kinda cute, with shoulder length red hair, deep green eyes, a small upturned nose, and full pink lips set in a determined line.
I stopped walking, Cici grabbing my right arm and holding it to her soft chest as the woman was now within range. I used Abyssal Eye.
[Name: Marina Costelle]
[Age: 28]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Paladin (B)]
[Designation: Guard Captain of Baroness Clarissa Osark]
A smile formed on my face after reading that. So, that's what this was. Clarissa was finally making good on what she told me. I did feel bad though, as I had yet to go and visit her again. I was going to here at some point, but I wanted to kick back and relax for a bit, and spend time with my mom, and with Cici.
"Are you Elias Crosse?" The woman asked me, straight to the point. I think we'd get along just fine.
"I am." I said, and gave a small wave.
Marina eyed Cici for a moment, but my wife did not cower or shrink back. She merely smiled at the woman.
"And I assume this is your wife that my lady told me about?" She asked, and Cici stepped forward and offered an elegant bow. She surprised me and Marina as with how proper it was.
"Cecilia Crosse." Cici said with a smile.
Marina simply nodded, although I caught the respect in the woman's eyes.
"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Marina Costelle, and I serve under Baroness Osark. My lady has told me much about you. About what you did for her, and for the people of this village. It was a tragic story to hear." Marina said, and then she lifted her leg up and over the side of her horse as she dismounted.
Marina walked towards us until she was standing only a few feet across from us, and then my eyebrows rose as she got down on one knee, and bowed in front of me.
"Thank you for protecting my lady. It is because of you that I have had the pleasure to serve under her. She is a wonderful woman, and an impeccable leader." Marina said with reverence in her voice.
"Uh... please don't bow. That's not really my thing." I said, and reached out a hand to her.
She looked up at me, and then at the hand I offered her. She looked at me, then at my hand for a moment. She looked at Cici, and I knew my wife was giving her a sweet smile just from the feeling from our bond. Tentatively, Marina took my hand, and then let out a surprisingly cute yelp of surprise as I lifted her to her feet with ease. Her eyes were a little wide as I shook her hand, which was surprisingly dainty and soft despite the scars and calluses on them.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Marina. Please, just call me Elias, or Eli. Whatever you are comfortable with, but none of that Mister crap. I'm not old enough for that." I said, and she just kept staring at me.
I noticed that her face had become slightly red as she gazed at me, seemingly now checking me out for the first time. Her eyes examined my face, my hair, my eyes, and then the rest of my body. Her eyes lingered a while on my broad chest for a moment, until Cici cleared her throat, and I saw her reach out her own hand. Marina, almost reluctantly, released my hand, and grasped Cici's much smaller hand. Marina's eyes widened again at the firmness of Cici's handshake, and the strength behind it.
"You can just call me Cecilia for now." She said, and I almost chuckled at her words. I sensed a bit of possessiveness from my kitten right now.
"R-right." Marina said, her composed demeanor actually faultering a bit, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Cecilia. I-"
The carriage behind Marina had come to a stop a few moments ago, and the sound of the door flying open and slamming against the side of the carriage stopped Marina's words mid sentence.
"ELI! CICI!" Clarissa yelled as she rushed out of the carriage, and raced towards us with a greater speed than I expected from her.
"Clarissa!" Cici squealed as she let go of Marina's hand, and rushed towards the black haired woman.
I watched with a smile as the two girls met in the middle, and they embraced each other. It was very cute.
"I missed you!" Clarissa said as she squeezed my wife, who just smiled as she hugged her back.
"I've missed you too. How have things been?" Cici asked, and that made Clarissa groan.
"Ugh... busy... and stressful. I'd love to tell you all about it." Clarissa said, and then smiled at me as I approached her as well, with a stunned looking Marina behind me.
Clarissa let go of Cici, and launched herself at me with more force than I had expected. I had to practically catch the smaller woman as she jumped at me, her feet dangling slightly off of the ground. I just laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Easy there. It's nice to see you too, Clarissa. What's got you so worked up?" I asked, and she looked up at me with a smile, although I could tell it was a little troubled.
"I missed you both. And... well... I wanted to ask you something, but not right now." She said, and gestured for me to put her down, which I did, and then she turned around and pointed to the other carriages, "But first, gifts!"
As she said that, multiple guards got off of theirs horses and began to open the carriages, revealing all sorts of goods and crates full of stuff. I saw food, clothing, tools, weapons, and other assorted goods.
"Oh wow... you really did bring us stuff." Cici said with a smile, and Clarissa returned it.
"It's the very least I could do after what happened." She said, before taking my wife's hand, "And I am so... so sorry."
Cici just smiled softly as she rubbed the top of one of Clarissa's hands with her thumb.
"You need to stop apologizing for stuff you didn't do. We appreciate this, truly, but I won't have you blaming yourself anymore. Understood?" Cici said bluntly, and the words caused Clarissa's eyes to water, and Cici just pulled her into another hug.
"You found a wonderful woman." Marina said from behind me, and I looked back to see the faintest smile on the woman's lips, and I grinned.
"Yeah... I really did." I said, and then noticed to guards struggling with some of the crates and boxes, "Here, let me help you all. I'll show you all where to bring everything."
One of the guards suddenly yelped, steel being drawn as my soldiers stepped out of the trees, and began walking towards them. Marina gasped, and went to draw her blade, my my hand rested atop wrist before she could pull it out. I saw her try for a moment, but realized that it was useless against my strength. Then, I turned and raised my voice.
"They are my soldiers! They are a skill of mine, and listen to me! They will help you carry everything, and lead you to the correct places! Attacking them won't do anything except waste time, so don't bother!" I said,l.
My words were helped by one of my soldiers stepping past the guard with his sword out like he wasn't even there, and then picked up the box that man was struggling to lift with ease. The guard gaped, before reluctantly sheathing his sword. The soldier gestured at a smaller box on the ground, and the guard looked at it, and then just shrugged, lifted the box, and followed my soldier into the village. The people of the village were very curious and aware now of what was happening, and once I brought Cici, Clarissa, and Marina over to explain to them what was going on, many of them agreed to help. Warren and Anya particularly looked excited.
A few of the villagers glared at Clarissa, at least until I declared that she was a good friend of mine, and to treat her with the same respect they'd give me. I said the same about Marina, while telling them to be nice to Clarissa's guards. Those angry villagers changed their attitudes quite quickly, which I was grateful for, although it did concern me a bit how their anger seemed to just vanish simply because I said so.
"Crosse Village, huh?" Clarissa asked, her voice teasing, and I just groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Yeah... these people are a little fanatical." I said, causing Clarissa to erupt into a fit of giggles, of which Cici joined her. Even Marina snickered under her breath, and I just sighed.