The Reimagining of the Bow Hero
Chapter 13 – Wave Preparations
Author's Note: Are you excited about the impending wave?
I was surprised about how much these monster drops were worth.
As soon as I walked into a store, with a bag full of remains and Sky Blue Wings feathers, the owner immediately offered me a lot of silver for it. He said that the feathers were extremely valuable as hat ornaments and blankets. I didn't want to know what he would do with the dead frogs.
I walked out of that store a much richer man. I distributed half of my earnings to the other three party members as compensation for their work, which was fair considering I did do over half the work myself.
Possessing all this newfound wealth, I decided to treat my whole party and Indigo to a nice lunch. As I couldn't understand the written language, I saw what appeared to be a restaurant with a green sign hanging above it, and went in. Indigo sat outside, and I would be sure to buy him some nice chunks of meat from the butcher later.
As I stood under the doorway, I couldn't believe who I saw. Sitting there was Naofumi, in a green cloak, with a pretty racoon girl sitting in front of him.
"Hey, Naofumi!" I waved. "Long time no see, how are you doing!"
"Satoshi!" Naofumi ran up and high-fived me. "Here, sit here with me. We have a lot to discuss."
Welst, Rojeel and Eda sat in the booth behind us.
"Naofumi," I smirked. "Did you get yourself a demi-human girlfriend?"
From what I had heard, demi-humans were pretty much regular people with animal body parts, and they were discriminated against by the kingdom, akin to the old American south. Of course, I despised the situation, but there wasn't much I could do to stop it. I did hear that their enslavement was prevalent, so hopefully this girl wasn't Naofumi' s slave.
"No. She isn't my girlfriend, she's my slave."
"Wait," I paused. "Why would you enslave a pretty young girl? That is so not ok."
"Bow Hero! It is not as it seems! I can explain." The raccoon girl spoke.
Naofumi proceeded to explain what had happened when I was gone. He was quickly swindled out of half the money I gave him and had to work odd jobs on the streets. Sometime along the way, he found the raccoon girl, named Raphtalia, at a slave trader's shop, dying of disease, and had nursed her back to health. She was completely happy with him and was eager to serve as his only way of attack.
"Now that I heard the whole story, this isn't so bad, and Raphtalia seems pretty happy that you are treating her well." I remarked. "However, I do stand strongly against this institution as it goes against all my morals."
"Understandable." Naofumi spoke.
"Anyways," I continued. "What is your plan for defeating the waves?"
"I don't really know. I'll have to think of one when we get there."
"My plan," I said. "Is to stay back and spam arrows at the smaller monsters without getting hit, and then moving forwards and focusing all my arrows at the boss when it shows up. Hopefully you can defend me while Motoyasu and Ren contain the boss, and then we win."
After an hour or two more of discussion, Naofumi and I said our goodbyes. I did as I promised and brought Indigo to the butcher's, where he gobbled up the clearly expired meat lying on the floor before I could stop him. I had a good laugh before paying the butcher a couple of coppers and heading off to the same inn I stayed at my first night. The owner was surprised at the sight of my massive, majestic filolial, but he opened the barn and laid out an area for Indigo to rest. My companions and I rented a room on the top floor, and we quickly fell asleep.
At daybreak, we set our sight northwards to do some more grinding. I strapped Indigo to the carriage and planned to go to the market to buy some more supplies before heading off.
Before I could do anything though, a short man wearing a silly top hat and a black tuxedo approached me.
"Hey! That looks like a filolial king!"
"Yeah," I replied. "That's what I think it is as well."
"I'll offer you 15 gold for it."
"No. I will not sell him."
"Ahh. That's too bad. I do have a way to make him stronger though. Want to try it?"
Hmm. It is true that a stronger Indigo would be very useful. He already did a lot in the fight against the Sky Blue Wings, and being able to travel faster would be a big plus. However, could I trust this strange man?
"Alright. Let's see what you've got."
The man directed my party and I through a series of alleyways and in front of a store. He walked in, and I followed him.
"Eda, Welst, Rojeel. Please stay here until I am done. Watch over the carriage."
"Yes, boss!"
The man, who introduced himself as Beloukas, led Indigo and I into a tent. It was a miracle how Indigo even fit.
"These "Filolial Kings" require a special crest to be able to be tamed properly. It will cost you 10 silver.
"Tamed? He obeys me well enough as it is."
"True, but at higher levels things could be different."
Ugh, fine. It wasn't like I was poor anyways. Might as well give this a try. What's the worst that could happen?
I sighed and reached into my pocket for my purse. I took out 10 silver and dropped it into Beloukas' hands. He happily pocketed it and proceeded with his ritual.
Beloukas cast a strange purple runic light into the ground, that glowed and produced a cone-shaped force field around Indigo.
Kick. Kick. Kick.
Indigo was thrashing around, trying to escape to the best of his ability. It looked like he was extremely uncomfortable.
"There, there." I comforted. "You'll be fine, boy. Just a bit longer."
A purple magical crest hovered above Indigo's chest, and it imbedded itself into his body. This looked seriously weird.
Chapter 14 out tomorrow! What do you think will happen to Indigo!