The story continues in the third chapter! How are you holding up? Still good to go? We're still barely getting started...you can't give up now.
***
Episode 3. Proving Myself ~ The tutorial is always rats!
My knees were starting to ache from kneeling on the tavern floor. It was a rough wooden surface, and I imagined I'd get splinters if I shifted my position even a little. I could feel the weight of Delthea's glare pushing my head further down into a more proper apology, and I didn't have it in me to look up. Maybe I had already found the Demon Queen...?
"I will ask you once more, Duck. What is going on?" Delthea said in a disturbingly calm voice.
I shivered under the oppressive mood pushing down on me, taking a quick glance at William, who was also on his knees next to me. The poor guy looked like he was ready to piss himself, and I could emphatize.
"Err...it followed me home and I thought I'd ask you if I can keep it?" I said with a half smile.
Delthea shoved her boot on my head, crashing my head through the tavern floor. Fortunately, no splinters resulted from the collateral damage my pretty face made as it left a hole in the wooden planks.
"Huh? Is this a joke to you? We are on an important mission here, you impertinent fool-born pignut. You can't just bring any guy you find off the street to me." the princess punctuated her strong opinion by shoving my face deeper through the floor.
Before I was deep enough into the floor to see the room below us, William suddenly grew a spine and spoke up.
"Uhm, excuse me, um, ma'am. Mister...Duck, was it? This man here saved my life. I am eternally grateful to him, and I assure you you have nothing to fear from m-"
William could not finish his hesitant explanation before Delthea had picked him up from the floor, lifting him in the air from his collar.
"Ma'am? 'Ma'am' is my goddamn mother. Do you even know who you're speaking to? You stand in the presence of Del-"
Before she could finish, Delthea realized her mistake. She dropped William rather abruptly on the floor and covered her mouth with her hand.
...D-de la Crow." she said with a cough, rolling the 'r' as if she had a French accent.
A phrase came to mind. Something about birds, feathers and sticking together. But I valued my life enough to not say it out loud. Delthea was right, of course. We could not trust just anyone, but I had plans of my own for this wizard boy. Someone like him who was in the habit of reading things could probably tell me more about this world. He was definitely...an exposition character.
"Listen, uh, Crow. I didn't just pick up the first vaguely feminine-looking fellow I found. This guy here, he's a wizard." I said as I pulled my head out of the hole in the floor.
"N-no, sir. Not a wizard. A sorcerer. And an apprentice at that..." William corrected.
What did it matter? I pleaded for him to shut up with my eyes, but it fell on deaf ears. Blind eyes? Either way, we had clearly not known eachother long enough to pass messages without Delthea noticing.
"I do not recall asking which flavour of parlour tricks you keep in those loose sleeves of yours, cottonhead. But if he's so insistent on dragging you along, I suppose there's no helping it." Delthea said with a deep sigh.
The princess had that dejected look in her eyes again. Perhaps it was due to her absolute authority being questioned, perhaps it was the sinking realization that in her paranoia and anger she had almost compromised her identity all by herself. She walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
"So, uh...who is she?" William asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
I put my index finger in front of my lips. Delthea might have left, but I didn't think she'd actually leave me unsupervised considering the great effort she had put into, hmm, hiring me. She was probably listening behind the door, holding her breath. Or was I the one being paranoid now? She had taken my word for it and left. I should have faith in her as well.
"My...companion. Crow and I are traveling the land in search of ways to defeat the Demon Queen." I explained, without actually lying at all.
William's eyes widened in shock, and he fell over as he started anxiously whispering.
"W-w-w-what?! The Demon Qu- no, let us not speak her name again. I have heard that she can hear those who call out to her, sir."
I felt like I was holding a fishing rod in my hands, and just now the water had started splashing. It was time...to pull it out!
"So, Will. You know of the De- I mean, you know of her. You know who I mean. Tell me more." I asked, leaning forward with great interest.
William composed himself, and took on a more stern expression. His doe eyes had steeled themselves, and his expression was cool and collected. This was William the Wizard. Not the guy completely out of his element. No, I had found the part he was comfortable in, I thought.
"You probably know just about as much as I do, sir, but for what it's worth, and partially in thanks, I will tell you all I know." the wizard said, crossing his fingers as one does in prayer. "There are many names for her. The Old One. The Soul Eater. It is said only a few have met her face to face, and none of them survived the encounter."
Wait, then how does anyone know about that to begin with? That was probably just a rumour. Not to mention his habit of tacking on "sir" to sound more polite reminded me of this one basketball player...
"She rarely joins the field of battle in person, and has not done so for a long time. The last time was when the current king, Rudolf Delevor himself rode to battle on his stallion. The two fought for one day and one night, and the King has not been seen since. Nor his opponent, for that matter. But had the King won, surely he would have returned..."
William became silent for a moment. He seemed to have his own theories on what had happened, but I could ask about them later. It didn't seem like he had any specific knowledge or details, though. But who would have, if the Demon Queen was that enigmatic? All anyone could tell me was that she was terrifying and powerful. Hell, that was in the name already, wasn't it? I could have figured that out by myself. And yet...I was supposed to be the one to take her down. Speaking of which.
"Will. Please tell me all you know about abilities." I asked.
"Abilities? Oh...that's what normal people call it. You see, from a sorcerer's perspective, you are all repeatedly casting the same spell. Abilities are all inherently magical in nature. You probably learned all about magic circuits in school, right? Everyone is born with one, and is capable of manifesting their will itself into the world with enough concentration. However, casting spells takes a bit more refinement. That is to say, only through extreme discipline, study, talent and a little luck can you shift the way your magic manifests. Most aren't capable of that, so their magic will naturally take the most, hmm, suitable form for that person. It'll be a representation of who you are. For example, your companion has superhuman physique. It means she's someone straightforward who feels the need to be stronger."
Oi, Delthea was anything but straightforward. This whole lecture was a sham. But as William talked on, I actually found myself listening intently. While some of it was quite theoretical, he had a soft, pleasant voice, and paid attention to me as he talked. He would shift his tone of voice and bring up more interesting parts when he noticed he was losing me. Huh. He was certainly a skilled tutor.
"I see, I see...then what about me? What's my ability?" I asked, smiling at Will.
He looked a bit awkward, and avoided my gaze.
"S-shouldn't you know that better than I would, sir? We only just met. The way I knew Crow's was because she was actually using it. If I ever see you using yours, though, I can tell you all about it. Err, sir."
Just give up on the sir, will ya? Hah. Get it? WILL ya? I'm not going to say that out loud.
"Ah, of course. I just thought you might be able to tell, being a wizard and all." I said with a friendly grin as I pat him on the head. His hair was quite soft.
"...s-sorcerer, sir." Will said, almost too faintly for me to hear.
***
As morning came, I got out of bed. I felt light like a feather today, compared to feeling like a chewed out piece of gum the day before. Man, sleep really does wonders to a guy, does it not? I did a few stretches and got dressed. There was some little detail that was bothering me, though. I didn't recall walking Will home the night before. Oh, well. Maybe he made it home fine.
"G-good morning, sir..." said a soft voice from the bed.
Oi. You're joking, right? What the hell did I do last night?
"What is that look for? You're the one who said it was too dangerous for me to go back on my own again. That I'd just get robbed again." Will said, rubbing his sleepy golden eyes.
Ah. That was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Of course nothing suspicious happened that night.
"Anyway...I should head back to my dorm. They're probably all really worried after I disappeared last night." he said, climbing out of bed and getting dressed as well.
Oh, right. He never went back or contacted anyone. They might have been looking for him all night.
"Oh, crap. You should have just went home, then. Why'd you stay here?" I asked, motioning with my hands.
"Well...you asked me about some more stuff regarding magic, and then you fell asleep on top of me. I carried you to bed, and you wouldn't let go of me, so I stayed for a bit. You kept patting my head and mumbling about sheep. And then you-"
I didn't want to hear any more of it. This sounded really bad. No, that was completely innocent, right? It was perfectly normal for two guys to share a bed when there was only one bed in the room, right? Besides, I was asleep, so it didn't count. And also, I still kind of wanted to pet his head, so I'll say it was probably worth it.
However, it was still awkward, and I couldn't think of much else to discuss with Will, who went off on his merry way. He did say he'd like to thank me more properly some other time, so long as I promised not to drag him to bed with me again. It was an easy promise to make. I would make no promises regarding patting his fluffy hair, though.
Figuring Delthea was probably getting impatient with me, I hurried to the door to her room, and knocked. There was no answer, so I knocked again. Perhaps I was supposed to use some sort of secret knock that I forgot about? I tried a couple of different rhythms, but there was still nothing.
"You know, girls don't like guys who are overly persistent." said a familiar, obstinate voice behind me.
I turned around, and found Delthea's green eyes looking up at me.
"Oh, there you are. I was looking for you." I said.
"Well, good work. You found me. Shall we go, or do you want to spend some more time with your new boyfriend?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"N-no, that's not it. Also, he left already. I was just asking him about magic and stuff, since he seemed to know his stuff."
Delthea gave me one of her usual rotten looks, and flicked me on the forehead.
"Why don't you ask me then, you tickle-brained lout? That guy said he was just a student, anyway. I've received the finest education in the kingdom in magic, history, politics, military tactics on land and sea, horse riding, swordplay and biology ever since I was born. What do you think princesses do all day? Sit around having tea parties and singing until cutesy woodland creatures come to cuddle? I did have singing classes too, though."
She had a point. I knew the answer, of course. I didn't ask her because I was worried. Worried that showing any doubt might make her think twice about my heroism and capability. But perhaps she felt the same way. By not relying on her, it was almost the same as telling her she wasn't reliable. And from what little I had known of her so far, that seemed to be a sensitive issue.
"I'll take that as permission to ask you anything I want to know, then." I said, and tried to force a smile.
"But of course. I'm the one who brought you here, so you're my responsibility. Just like everyone who lives in this world." Delthea proudly exclaimed, standing a bit straighter with her hands on her hips.
Can't ignore her or she'll cry, and can't compliment her or it'll go right into her head. What a troublesome girl she was. But when I thought about it, she did have a lot on her plate, being a princess and all. It was my job to at least try to lighten the load. Starting with the Demon Queen, of course.
As she turned around and walked down the staircase, I followed in turn. The whole way towards the entrance she probably still had a smug look on her face, all the way until she was stopped by the innkeeper as we were about to exit.
"Ahem...aren't you forgetting something?" the innkeeper said, extending an open palm.
"Whatever do you mean? I do believe I already paid for our stay when we arrived." Delthea replied.
The innkeeper shook his head.
"Don't think I didn't see your friend here sneak in some girl last night."
Does this guy ever sleep? Also, William is a guy! Actually, it's probably better if he thinks it was a girl! Whatever!
"Fine, fine. Here you go, good man." the princess said, reaching into her purse and extending another few gold coins towards the innkeeper.
Before she could drop them on his palm though, the innkeeper suddenly pulled back his hand.
"On second thought...I don't want money. I have a little favor you two can do for me instead. Or I'll call the royal guards."
This prick... Oooh, I'm so scared. Imagine calling the royal guards on the princess herself. What a dumbass. Should have just taken the coins, 'cause we're just going to waltz right out of he-
"Sure. Let's hear it." Delthea said, her expression still neutral.
She had to be kidding, right? Why should we? This was an absurd, vague request that could be literally anything. But I suppose she did only just finish talking about everyone in this world being her responsibility, so it wasn't like she was taking on this job to avoid the guards. She was doing it because she actually wanted to help this old man, wasn't she?
"I've been hearing a lot of strange noises from the wine cellar. I've asked the guards to investigate many times, but they keep brushing me off. It sounded kinda like rats, but my gut tells me it's something worse. Something bigger. A strapping young lad and a fine lass like yourself should have no problem with it, since you're adventurers, right?"
The old man had a point, and the whole spiel had made me curious. And if it was just rats, that would be that. Not like the Demon Queen was going anywhere while we took a look at his cellar, right? I nodded at the man, and followed him to a hatch in the kitchen. It was a wooden hatch lined with metal plates for reinforcement, and he had to unlock a padlock before he could lift it up. Did people usually lock wine cellars? Or was that because of the recent events?
"I know what you're thinking, boy. It's not something sketchy. My patrons used to sneak in there at night all the time, so I have to keep it locked or I'm going to be out of the good stuff in a week." the innkeeper said, catching my stare.
Fair enough, I suppose.
"Enough chitchat. Let's go, Duck." Delthea said, descending into the darkness without hesitation.
I shrugged, and followed after her. The ladder descended down a whole 10 meters or so, much deeper than I'd expected. Did wine really need to be kept at fossil fuel levels of depth to age better, or something? Had Delthea not been right under me, I would have probably just slid down fireman style. Would have been quicker. And more cool.
As we got off the ladder at the bottom, there were indeed shelves lined with bottles of wine all around us. The ceiling was quite high, which I found to be an odd design choice. Did you know that wine bottles are stored sideways to keep the cork sealed better, or something? That way there's less chance of oxygen getting in, and it ages better. I learned that in a video game, I think.
Delthea was to the point as usual, and was already scouring the shelves and floors for any traces. I spotted a few mice traps laying around, making sure not to step on any of them. The baits seemed untouched, and had been so for a while, so it was unlikely the cheese would entice real rats anymore with that smell. Then again, I did recall some people preferring moldy cheese. Perhaps there were gourmet rats as well.
"You see anything, Crow?" I asked as I walked through another row of shelves, knowing she was behind the shelf on my right.
"Well, no. It's pitch black in here. I can barely see past my nose..." she said, sounding a bit frail.
"Then how about we light a torch or something?" I proposed.
I heard an exasperated "tch" behind the shelf.
"And reveal our position to...whatever is here? Good luck with that." the princess said under her breath.
"Stumbling around in the dark is no better, we'll bump into whatever it is sooner or later. I'd like to at least see what we're up against."
With another "tch" and the sound of a match being struck, there was light. The flickering warm glow was then transferred to a torch, lighting up the room further, until we could see perfectly all around us. That, however, mainly allowed us to conclude that there was indeed nothing out of the ordinary, as far as we could tell.
I was ready to head back, but Delthea seemed reluctant to give up so easily. With little else to do, I stayed with her, crawling under tables, lifting her up so she could check on top of the shelves, and feeling around the tiles on the walls for secret doors. Eventually, she let out a an excited noise, and waved me over.
"This is it, Duck. It's pretty well-hidden, but unfortunately for them, I've also studied architecture. From the layout of the building outside and piping, I can tell the sewers are likely behind this wall. Ergo, this wall is hiding a secret door, through which some unsavory characters are entering this basement." the princess said proudly, looking like she was expecting praise.
I moved to pat her on her swelling head, but just as before, she swatted my hand aside with enough force to numb my wrist.
"I said. No. Headpats."
Unfortunate. I was starting to enjoy patting people on the head ever since I was summoned here, for whatever reason. Headpats could wait, though. We had a secret...sewer...wine gang to bust, I guess. Delthea gave the tile she was fiddling with a few careful pokes and turn and twists, and eventually, with a low rumble, part of the wall shifted.
"Wait, how could those chumps build something like this without the owner ever noticing?" I asked.
Delthea shook her head.
"They couldn't, obviously. He's in kahoots with them, and is likely tricking us into going down here for some reason or other. His comrades are most likely watching us this very moment."
If you knew all that from the start, why are we down here...?
"Because this seemed like a good opportunity for me to see what you're capable of. Look, there they come. Have at 'em, Duck."
Did she just read my mind? Either way, I had no time to worry about her possible esper abilities. There was the rapid sound of footsteps splashing against water from ahead of us. Some sort of magical spotlights turned on on the ceiling of the tunnel, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness as I winced from pain.
Well, at least there was still the option of a tactical retreat. Or so I thought, until I heard metal creaking behind us, and the secret door closed itself. This really seemed like a very elaborate setup for just wine. What could they possibly be using this secret entrance for?
Before I started to drift deep into contemplation, I saw the criminals step into the light. They were all wearing similar looking dark clothing, with hoods adorned by an upside-down "V" on top. I do believe it's called "lambda" in the Greek alphabet. However, since there was no Greece in this world, that information was unlikely to come in handy.
"Well look what the cat brought in. A couple of snooping rats!" one of the hooded men said.
"Hooh...the girl's pretty cute. The guy looks like a nobody, though." another chimed in.
"Eh, I don't know why the boss thought these two would be a good fit..." a third man said in a resigned tone.
Wait, what was that last part? A good fit for what?
"Duck. Don't just stand there, beat them up. They're obviously up to no good. No upstanding citizen would wear something that edgy." Delthea said behind me, content to lean against the wall and observe.
Okay, so that's four against one. Same odds as last night. No problem. But I would hope for an advance notice before being put into life and death situations like this.
"So, which of you is first?" I asked, stepping forward.
END OF EPISODE 3
***
As our heroes find themselves at a lower point than ever before, a menacing group of mysterious men stands before them! Delthea seems to know more than she's letting on, though. Find out next time on...IWaSuMo ~ Demon Queen!
Special bonus, I tried to make the characters' appearances with picrew for you guys.
Duck/Yuusha-sama
Delthea
William
Chapter 4
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