The morning sun was just beginning to warm the cobblestones of Axel when Theo crossed the threshold of the Adventurer's Guild. The morning bustle was already in full swing: the aroma of cheap ale mixed with vegetable stew filled the air, and the sound of clashing armor served as background music. Theo wore his new trench coat, which fit perfectly over his now-broader shoulders, giving him a silhouette that commanded a respect he hadn't possessed before.
At the reception desk, Luna was organizing some documents with a focused expression. Upon seeing Theo, a spark of recognition and something akin to pleasure crossed her face.
"Good morning, Luna" - Theo greeted, leaning slightly against the counter.
"Good morning, Theo. I see you've come with energy today" - she replied with a professional but warm smile. - "Looking for a mission again?"
"Yes, but actually, today I'm debuting a party" - Theo said, nodding toward a table in the back where Chris's silver hair was unmistakable. - "I'm joining Chris and Darkness."
Luna arched an eyebrow, surprised. She knew both adventurers well; one was an exceptionally skilled thief and the other, a crusader with a quite impressive defense, but with serious problems...
"My, that's an interesting combination. Good luck then, Theo" - she added with a smile that Theo returned with a word of thanks.
After saying goodbye to Luna, Theo headed to the table. Chris was reviewing a stack of mission papers while Darkness sat with impeccable posture, her silver armor gleaming under the light coming through the upper windows.
"Hey, Theo! Just in time" - Chris exclaimed, waving a paper while Darkness nodded politely. - "We've selected several missions. They're simple, but together they'll give us a good sum of Eris."
Theo sat down after greeting them and checked the papers. He knew, from the guild regulations that weren't always mentioned in the stories, that a group could hoard several missions as long as they were completed within a maximum of five days. It was an efficient way to clear the city's surroundings without having to go back and forth constantly.
"We have giant toad extermination, medicinal herb collection in goblin territory, and a clearing of one-eyed crow nests" - Chris explained. - "We'll start with the toads. It's almost their mating season, so some are already getting too close to the city."
Theo nodded calmly, though after hearing it was almost the beginning of the giant toads' mating season, he assumed Kazuma and Aqua should be appearing soon; but finally, he shrugged and brushed it off.
After a quick but nutritious breakfast, the trio left the city. The landscape south of Axel was a green plain dotted with puddles and small lakes, the ideal place for giant toads. The air was humid, and the sound of deep croaks, like the bellowing of bulls, resonated in the distance.
It didn't take long to find the first group. They were grotesque creatures, the size of a small carriage, with slimy greenish skin and tongues that could shoot out like deadly whips.
"I shall go to the front!" - Darkness announced, unsheathing her claymore with an expression of absolute seriousness. - "As a crusader, it is my duty to be the shield for my companions!"
Theo watched Darkness advance with a raised eyebrow. Her technique was... questionable. She swung her sword with tremendous force, but she always seemed to miss by centimeters, even when the toad was a target the size of a house. However, her defense was incredible. A toad lashed its tongue against her, impacting her armor with a force that would have broken anyone else's ribs, but Darkness barely stepped back, maintaining an expression of "dignity" that Theo found admirable, even though he knew what lay beneath.
Theo decided to spring into action. Using his enhanced agility, he slid along the flank of one of the toads. With a fluid movement, his iron sword found the weak spot in the amphibian's side. The flesh gave way easily, and the toad collapsed with a gurgle.
Chris, for her part, moved like silver lightning, using her daggers to disable the toads' movement and finishing them off by stabbing through their eyes. By the end of the morning, they had eliminated seven toads, exceeding the mission quota. Darkness, strangely, had managed to "finish off" two, more due to the fact that the toads got tired of hitting her and were left exposed than because of her aim.
"Not bad for a start" - Theo commented, wiping the slime from his sword. - "But let's keep going, we still have the herbs and the crows."
The rest of the day passed with surprising efficiency. Theo felt comfortable working with them. Chris was a natural leader who knew how to read the terrain, and Darkness, despite her lack of aim, was the perfect tank. Theo handled the precision attacks while using his Enemy Detection to avoid ambushes.
They gathered the herbs in a nearby forest, dispatching a couple of goblins that tried to mug them. The goblins, unlike the ones Theo faced in his dimensional mission, were much more cowardly and disorganized in this world, fleeing at the first sign of serious resistance.
As they walked toward the area of the one-eyed crows, they held conversations to get to know each other better, and Theo couldn't help but observe Darkness. She walked with her chin high while talking about honor, the protection of the weak, and the glory of the order of Eris's paladins. And blah, blah, blah...
'If I didn't know the truth, I'd really think she was the most noble warrior in this world' - Theo thought, watching the sun begin to dip, tinting the sky a shade of orange.
Finally, they reached a rocky gorge where the one-eyed crows had their nests. They were birds the size of large dogs, with a single central eye that could fire small electrical discharges to stun their prey.
"This is the last mission of the day" - Chris said, adjusting her gloves. - "Theo, stay on the high ledges waiting for the moment to strike. Darkness, you'll draw their attention in the center of the gorge. I'll attack from the shadows when they descend."
Darkness nodded with a fervor that made Theo arch an eyebrow.
"Understood! I shall be the bait! I will let those beasts surround me and discharge all their power upon my defenseless body!" - she said, her voice starting to tremble slightly at the end of the sentence.
Theo blinked, a bit surprised by the sudden behavior, but decided to ignore it and took his position, observing from an elevated rock. He saw Darkness walk toward the center of the gorge, deliberately lowering her guard while using her skill to provoke the crows. The crows soon lunged from the cliffs.
That was when the atmosphere changed.
One of the crows descended and launched an electrical discharge that hit Darkness's breastplate directly. She let out a groan, but it wasn't a groan of pain. It was a sound Theo recognized immediately from his previous life: a sound of pure delight.
The gorge filled with the shrill cawing of the crows, but over that noise, a much more disturbing sound began to emerge. Darkness, the imposing crusader in gleaming armor, had dropped her sword. Not out of weakness, but by a will of her own that Theo was still processing.
"Yes! That's it!" - Darkness exclaimed. Her voice was no longer that of the refined noble, but was heavy with erratic and labored breathing. - "Surround me with your foul claws! Discharge your fury upon a defenseless lady of the high nobility!"
Theo, from his elevated position, froze. He knew what was coming, but the reality far surpassed the anime fiction. Darkness's expression was one of absolute ecstasy; her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, her light blue eyes were slightly unfocused, and a trembling smile played on her lips as the crows began to peck at her pauldrons and fire small sparks at her.
"Oh, what humiliation!" - she continued, writhing slightly as the crows surrounded her. - "To be treated as a mere toy by these birds of prey before the eyes of my companions! Surely Theo looks at me with contempt now... thinking I'm a useless and perverted crusader! What a... delicious shame!"
Theo felt a shiver. 'Damn it, she's real,' he thought, tightening his grip on his sword. 'It's one thing to read it or see it on a screen, but having her ten meters away, hearing how she enjoys being attacked while fantasizing about my contempt... it's overwhelming.' However, despite the bewilderment, Theo couldn't help but notice how stimulating the scene was in a purely instinctive way; the faked vulnerability of such a powerful and beautiful woman under the setting sun created a powerful, almost hypnotic image.
Chris, for her part, appeared out of nowhere behind one of the crows and slit its throat with a sharp movement. She looked at Darkness with a mixture of weariness and resignation.
"Darkness, stop embarrassing yourself and end this!" - Chris shouted, though she knew her words only served as fuel for the crusader.
"That's right, Chris! Scold me more! Tell Theo how pathetic I am!" - Darkness replied, now with her eyes closed, completely ignoring that the crows were beginning to damage the straps of her armor.
Theo decided it was time to intervene before the situation spiraled out of control. He jumped from the cliff, landing agilely in the center of the gorge. With quick and precise movements, he began to dispatch the crows surrounding the crusader. Every slash of his sword was a clean execution.
When the last crow fell, silence returned to the gorge, broken only by Darkness's heavy breathing. She stayed there, on her knees among the bird carcasses, her armor slightly dented and her blonde hair a bit messy. Seeing Theo approach, she looked up, hiding her face behind her hands, though leaving enough space to see the young man's reaction.
"Theo..." - she whispered, regaining some of her noble tone, but with an evident tremor. - "You have seen... a part of me that I should not have shown. Surely now your respect for me has fallen to the ground, hasn't it? You must think I am a disgrace to adventurers..."
Theo looked at her in silence for a few seconds. He could see how she was waiting, almost eagerly, for an insult or a look of disgust. Instead, Theo calmly held out his hand to her.
"I think you're the most resilient person I've ever met, Darkness" - Theo said with sincerity. - "If you can endure those attacks and keep smiling, you're the tank any party would wish for. Although..." - he added with a small side smile. - "I admit your tastes are quite particular."
Darkness let out a muffled gasp, shuddering at the touch of Theo's hand as he helped her up.
"Ah! That look of understanding mixed with judgment...!" - she murmured, so low only Theo could hear her. - "Truly... you are a good companion."
Chris approached, sheathing her daggers and shaking her head with an exasperated smile.
"Right, that's enough strange scenes for today" - the thief declared. - "We've completed all the missions. Let's head back to the city before it gets completely dark. I need a strong drink to forget my best friend's moaning."
The group set off on the way back. The sun had already hidden, making way for a starry night. Theo walked between the two, processing what it meant to have these two women as companions. He knew his life in Axel had just become much more complicated, but also much more interesting.
'A thief who is a goddess of luck and a noble crusader who is a textbook masochist' - Theo thought as he spotted the lights of Axel's gates in the distance. - 'Definitely, this world isn't going to let me get bored.'
After arriving in the city and eating something at the guild; and Chris getting drunk, they decided it was time to go to sleep since tomorrow they would continue with the missions.
"Good job today, Theo. You've adapted better than I expected" - Chris said, congratulating him while looking at him with a face flushed from drinking too much.
Theo thanked her with a smile, then finally said goodbye to both and walked toward his apartment, feeling that, despite the exhaustion and the strangeness of the day, he had finally found his place in this new universe.
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Well, here is chapter 11, a little later than usual, because I had forgotten to translate the chapter.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter.