Ight, I'm back. Just wanna say imma do Ren a bit differently. I felt in Shield Hero they did Ren dirty.
Anyway, imma get started.
____________________________________________
Leena followed after Tyler into the familiar cave. She put her bow away and snapped her fingers. A small, but bright flame was created in her hand.
Tyler was amazed at this.
"That is fucking amazing. Is that actual magic?" He asked.
"Yeah. This is just a simple fire spell. Most have to use a long winded chant, but our family has been able to naturally use magic for years. It's in our blood apparently." She explained.
"Right. Well, I'm glad to have you around Leena. That's some impressive stuff." He said as he unhooked his weapons from his belt and got ready for a possible fight.
Leena couldn't help but blush. She wasn't really use to compliments. She gets embarrassed by them a lot.
"I-It's nothing. Just a simple spell, anyone can do it." She said trying to brush off the praise.
"Like you said though, others need a chant. You just snap your fingers." He said looking to her while keeping his guard up. "That's seriously impressive. Probably not much coming from me since I'm a level 1 ass bitch, but still."
She shook her head to ignore the praise and looked forward.
"This cave isn't very deep, so we won't get lost, but like I said there's a lot of strong monsters here." She reminded him.
"Like that thing?" He asked.
She turned to see him pointing at a monster made of rocks.
"No, not that one. Those are passive. They will fight back, but they won't deliberately attack. They're the reason I can keep coming back to get materials for Erhard." She told him quickly.
"Oh. Sorry buddy. Didn't mean to mistake you for a monster." He apologised to it.
The rock golem just looked at him and waved his hand as if to say "it's all good."
They went in deeper to find spiders about the size of a lawnmower. Like the one you drive.
"Those ones however, are very hostile. Kill them." She said as she threw the fire up to keep the area lit up and pulled out her bow.
Tyler cut one in half just as it nearly jumped Leena from behind.
"Thanks." She said as she shot one, killing it instantly.
There looked to be about 15 of them.
"There's a chance we might end up running into a bigger one with this many here. When it shows up, run like hell." She told him.
Tyler was surprised by how well he was doing. He wasn't perfect, he was getting hit a few times and he was having minor trouble, but he was still doing well. He wasn't dead so that's proof he's doing good.
He killed another spider and had a minute to think. He looked to his scythes. The ends looked like they could connect.
"Worth a try." He said to himself.
He stuck them together and the blade on one of them moved to stick straight out like a spear end whilst the other end stayed like a scythe. They combined to make a bigger scythe.
"Fuck yeah!" He cheered as he stabbed it into the ground to kill a smaller spider.
They both kept up the fight until eventually there was one left which was stabbed by an arrow that Tyler used after he threw his scythe to kill a slightly bigger spider.
He stood up and looked to Leena.
"So do you reuse these?" He asked her.
"Let me see it." She said as she took it from him.
After she looked it over for a few seconds she nodded.
"It depends on the condition. Like is the arrow head still in tack or is it bent slightly. Never reuse an arrow that is even slightly damaged as it can cause issues." She said as she cleaned it and put it away.
He was impressed by how smart she was. He never thought she was dumb, just that she really knew what she was doing.
"Right. So what do....." He paused and looked up behind Leena.
"Tyler? Are you alright?" She asked, confused about why he just stopped.
He raised a hand to point at something behind her.
She didn't even have to look to know what it was.
"Tyler." She called his name.
Tyler looked to her, the same fear in both of their faces.
"Yeah?"
"Run."
"Don't have to tell me once. Fuck that!" He shouted as he ran for the exit, not before grabbing Leena's hand.
Just before they could leave, a giant web was shot in front of them and it blocked the exit. Tyler stopped and they both turned to face it.
"The giant enemy spider." Tyler said making a reference that no one will understand.
"We don't have a choice but to fight. Burning that web would take a while." She said as she got her bow ready.
Tyler had his scythes ready as he split it into two smaller ones again.
"Alright, I'll try and get on its back and you aim for its eyes. You have good aim and I'm decently athletic so maybe if we're lucky we won't die here." He told her.
"Ok, sounds like a better plan than nothing." She said.
They both ran into action. Leena shot two arrows at once, hitting it in the face, one hit one of its eyes. He looked to her and it didn't look happy. She readied an arrow after snapping her fingers on the head of it, making it light up in a small compact flame ready to blow.
Tyler ran behind it. He jumped onto a rock and then leaped for its back, raising his scythes over his head he landed on its back and rammed both of them into its back. It reared back in pain and that gave Leena the opportunity to hit it underneath with the flame arrow. As soon as the arrow hit it made a small explosion of fire that scorched the bottom of the massive spider.
Tyler was somehow able to stabilise himself and got up on one knee to swing one scythe and cut one of its legs off.
"It's staggering!" Leena shouted. She shot three arrows at once, each hitting an eye.
Tyler managed to connect both scythes together again.
"Go for the head Tyler!" She shouted.
He did just that. He stood up and after almost falling off, he leapt to its head and rammed the spear end of the scythe into its head. It's let our a screech loud enough to deafen someone, somehow not doing that to either of them, and collapsed.
Tyler stood there. Scythe still in the things head. He was breathing heavily.
"Did...... Did we kill it?" He asked her.
She looked at it. For a minute it didn't do anything. She stepped closer and kicked it.
Yep. That fucker was dead as fuck.
"Yeah. Yeah I think we killed it! Stab it again to be sure." She told him.
He stabbed it a few times. Yep, dead.
He stepped next to her.
"That....." He trailed off.
"Was awesome!" They both cheered.
"We are the fucking best!" Tyler cheered.
"We could kill anything!" Leena shouted.
They celebrated for a minute, then calmed down.
Leena then pulled out her knife.
"Ok. Let's harvest these things. That big one might have something valuable in it." She said as she approached it.
Tyler was confused.
"Harvest?" He asked.
"Yeah. Monsters like these usually have something that we can use. Adventurers either sell it or use it to make stuff. I'll show you on the smaller one here." She said gesturing for him to come closer.
He walked over and she showed him exactly where to cut on an organic monster to get the good.
"Things like Golems will drop things naturally. Here." She gave him this stone thing she pulled from the spider.
He went to grab it, but ended up dropping it onto his scythe. It fell onto the weird gem thing in his Scythe and it..... disappeared?
That's when a message showed up.
"Web Scythe unlocked?" He read it, confused about this.
"Web Scythe?" Leena was just as confused.
He stood up and held his scythes out.
"Uh, Web Scythe." He said as if it was a command.
That caused his scythes to change. They were now purple with black blades that had white web designs on them. He made the menu thing show up and read a description of it.
"Web Scythes are a small bit faster than the regular one.... Not really much- Oh! Can shoot web shots that cause can immobilise enemies. Larger enemies wouldn't really be affected though." He said as he read about it.
"And you got that from taking in that stone?" Leena asked.
"Apparently. Uhhhh, yeah look, here." He spoke as if she could see the menu. "Your weapon can absorb monster drops to unlock different forms, each with their own unique ability."
Leena nodded.
"That's actually really helpful. Good thing we dropped that one then." She said.
"Yeah. Hold on I'll try this. Web shot." He said as he pointed his scythes out.
Both of them shot a smaller web shot that stuck to the cave wall.
"Oh that's cool..... Wonder if the big one has anything different." He thought.
Leena was already on that. She had already gotten the stone from it, it had a slight tint of green in it.
"Here, try it. If it doesn't work we can sell it." She told him as she handed it to him.
He did exactly what happened before only intentionally and it went in. Another message popped up.
"Acidic Web Scythes." He read.
"That sounds both dangerous and really cool." She said with a small but of excitement.
He called out the name like usual and the scythes changed. They looked nearly the same only green. There was something dripping from the tips of the blades.
"Is that...." He trailed off and touched it. It burned like a motherfucker. "Ah fuck! Yep that's acid! God that's cool!"
He pointed it out and called out the same command.
"Web shot."
A web was shot next to the other one and it looked greener. The web also looked much bigger.
Reading the description it read-
"Each strike causes acid damage that isn't potent enough to melt skin, but enough to soften up armour and hurt enemies. Not as fast as the Web Scythes. The Web Shot is larger and can immobilise larger enemies and cause harm." He read it.
"Well, this was a good idea. Imagine you ended up with balloon scythes." Leena joked, failing to hold back a laugh.
"Yeah that just sounds bad." He said slightly cringing at the name.
Leena helped him get use to harvesting the other spiders and when they had that done she uses fire to burn the bodies so they don't rot and cause problems.
"Now. Let's get out of this place. I might be able to get a thing from the Golems without hurting them. Another scythe form would be useful." She said as she walked to where the giant web was.
She was about to light it on fire and burn a hole for them to go through without being melted by the acidic Web. On the way out of the cave she grabbed something from one of the passive golems and gave it to Tyler.
As they left the cave he was reading the description of the Stone Scythe.
"Ok. So it's heavy, not fast at all, but it does heavy damage. And it let's me use the earth element." He said as he read the thing.
"That's useful." Leena said as she looked up at the sky. It was getting dark.
"We should probably go and find somewhere to rest. Tomorrow I can take you to where we sell this stuff." She told him, handing him the bag of monster stones. As well as webbing that the clothing stores take.
"Cool. I am pretty tired after that. Haven't even eaten today aside from breakfast." He said.
Leena then stepped forward and turned to him.
"Well, come on then. I know somewhere that always has good food. And it's cheap too." She told him and ran off.
He followed her and after a few minutes he reached an Inn. It seemed to be very well known.
They both walked in and saw the other Heroes there.
"Hey Tyler. How'd things go with you?" Naofumi asked.
Leena looked to him.
"Go on, I'll order for us." She pulled out the money she had with her. "I've got it covered."
He let her go and went to see Naofumi.
"Went alright. Me and Leena killed a fucking spider the size of this damn bar. Shit was cool." Tyler told him.
"Really? All I did was kill a few balloon things. Managed to kill maybe three and now I'm level 2. What about you?" Naofumi asked.
"Dunno, lemme check." He said opening the menu. There was water on the table so he took a drink.
He opened the stats menu and his eyes widened. He nearly choked.
He looked to Naofumi.
"Level 14. God damn. I should be killing more bigger things." He said looking surprised still.
"For real? Good for you man. The others only managed level 8 at most. Ren being that level." He said.
"Oh.... Guess those balloons were weak as fuck huh?"
"Yeah. Even my weak ass could beat them to death. Where did you two go anyway?" He asked.
"That's a secret. Gotta have some sort of friendly competition." Tyler joked. "Oh, by the way. Found something out about our weapons. They-"
He was interrupted when Naofumi's drunk teammate came over with wine. Leena had come back too.
"Food won't be long. What're you guys talking about?" She asked.
"Just leveling talk." Tyler answered.
Myne was looking at Naofumi, she spoke with a flirtatious tone.
"Iwataniiii. Why don't we have a drink together to celebrate the start of our adventure." She said offering a drink.
She offered it to Leena and Tyler too.
"You two as well. Come on let's have fun while we can." She said.
They both denied her offer.
"Sorry, I don't drink." Tyler said pushing the wine bottle away.
"Me neither. I just don't like it. Sorry." Leena said.
Their food arrived just then.
"Finally. Haven't eaten since this morning. Thanks for paying Leena, I'll cover us next time I promise." He told her.
"It's no issue Tyler." She said.
Myne eventually gave up trying to convince Naofumi to drink. He then stood up.
"I'm kinda tired. Gonna head to bed for tonight. I'll see you guys in the morning if you aren't out before me." He said as he left to go up to his room.
"No problem Naofumi. Goodnight man." Tyler said.
"Goodnight Mr. Shield Hero." Leena waved.
"You could just call him Naofumi. Like we all do." Tyler told her.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
"Don't be. So, I'm curious Leena. Why did you pick to help me of all the Heroes?" He asked her.
Leena stopped eating to think.
"Well. One reason in particular really. See, I'm not exactly from the capital. I'm from a village that isn't really on the map..... The village with the only people in existence that respect the Scythe Hero."
Tyler looked at her with a little confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
She looked to him.
"Well, it's pretty obvious there were other Scythe Heros before you. Each of them were just so kind, caring, and overall the best Hero you could have. They weren't perfect. They could never save everyone, that was impossible. That never stopped them though. Each one of them always tried their hardest to save as many people as possible whenever tragedy struck." She looked down a bit. "I was never around to meet one of them, but my grandfather apparently met the last one. He always told me stories about him."
She smiled at the memory of all the good and funny stories she was told.
"What did he say about him?" Tyler asked, curious about the last Scythe Hero.
"Apparently, he was a funny person. Like some sort of comedian. Like the previous ones, he always wanted to do the right thing...... And just like the last ones, the world hated him. Everytime it's about what they couldn't save. Everyone wants the casualties to be zero, but that's just not possible everytime. No one in this world sees that aside from a few. They treat the Scythe Hero like shit and when they're in trouble he's the first one they run to. I decided to volunteer to help the Scythe Hero and let him know that there are those in this world that appreciate him. Or her, there have been girls in the past as the Scythe Hero."
She put a hand on his shoulder.
"Tyler. I want you to know that no matter what, there are people in this world that will accept you. Me included." She told him.
Tyler smiled a bit.
"That's......... Kinda nice to hear actually. Thanks Leena. You're a good friend." He stood up and went to go for his room.
Leena called to him.
"You mean teammate right?" She asked, thinking he said that wrong.
He turned to her as he walked.
"I know what I said. Goodnight Leena. I'm beat after all that, see you in the morning."
And with that he left to go to sleep.
Leena was left there on her own. She thought about what he just said.
'Friend. The Scythe Hero and I are friends. Not something I was expecting, but I have no objections.'
Leena finished up and went up to go to bed herself.
.
.
.
.
-The Next Morning-
Leena was sitting down eating breakfast with Tyler. They both decided to get up early and get out for the day.
"So, we going to sell these fuckers?" He asked looking through the bag of stones from the spiders.
"Yeah, we are. The place isn't far. Now with the webbing, we could keep them and-"
Before she could finish her sentence a number of guards ran in. Some went up the stairs and a few of them ran to Leena and Tyler. One of them looked to Leena with worry, they seemed to glare at Tyler.
"Miss Faye! Are you alright? The Scythe Hero hasn't hurt you has he?" The guard asked.
Leena looked confused as all hell.
"What?! No of course he hasn't! Why would he-"
She was cut off when the same guard addressed Tyler.
"Scythe Hero. You are to come to palace at once for the accusations of sexually assaulting your party member Leena Faye!" He said.
"Fuck kind of accusations?" Tyler was just as confused.
Leena stood up.
"Wait hold on! Tyler I swear I don't know what they're talking about." She looked to the guards. "I'm perfectly fine, he hasn't hurt me at all!"
"I see. Regardless, the King demands you appear in the palace with the other Heroes." He ordered.
Tyler sighed and stood up. His heart was beating fast.
"Alright. Let's just go. Sooner this gets cleared up the better." He said.
Leena followed as they left the building. She looked at Tyler with worry.
"Tyler I promise you I have no idea what's going on. I would never falsely accuse you of something like that. Please believe me I-"
"Leena, it's ok. I trust you. You wouldn't be near me if you did." He told her with a reassuring smile.
She sighed a little in relief. At least he doesn't think she lied to him like that. Still, an accusation like this, even if false, sticks to a guy like glue.
Hopefully this can be cleared up fast.
After they eventually got to the palace, they entered the throne room.
"Ah, there he is. The Scythe Hero." The King said, glaring at him.
Tyler took a deep breath. Being angry here won't help his case.
"Look, sir. I know I should probably wait for you to let me speak, but whatever accusation is being put on me isn't true. I swear on my mother's grave, I would never do that to my friend." He said with all the sincerity in the world.
To the side were Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu.
Motoyasu was glaring at him worse than the King, Itsuki seemed to be judging him. Ren however was thinking. Like he was waiting for more proof to form his opinion.
"Is that so? Well, then I shall ask the the accuser herself." He said looking to his side.
Tyler looked to see-
'Myne?!'
She looked like she was upset.
She spoke, telling how she apparently saw him get hammered and make moves on an unconsenting Leena. Though she made it sound like she was just seeing things in a panic, that way if it's false she has a good reason for possibly lying.
"I-I could have just been seeing things, but it looked like she was desperately trying to get away from him." She said.
Leena stepped forward as fast as possible.
"No he didn't! He never got drunk even for a second! He doesn't drink! I swear to you he never touched me at all!" She shouted.
"Or he's using your love for the Scythe Hero to make you lie for him." Motoyasu growled.
"Excuse me!" She shouted at him.
The King put his hand up to stop her.
"Hmm. I'm unsure what to make of this. Perhaps it was just Myne seeing things in a panic. Not her fault. Regardless, there's no proof he didn't do it either. Stand with your other Heros. We shall deal with you after we deal with the cursed Shield." He said.
Tyler knew speaking against the King's word was pointless, so he did as he was told.
He stood next to Ren, Leena following him. Probably wasn't a good idea to be next to the other two.
Ren looked to him.
"I hope it isn't true Tyler. I thought you would have been better." He said unsure what to think.
"Ren I promise you, I never did anything like that to her." Tyler told him.
"Tyler never hurt me. I'm serious, this is beyond Hero worship, as soon as we were done with dinner we went straight to bed. He even went before I did." She said desperately hoping he would believe them.
Ren seemed to nod in understanding.
"You're being sincere. So you're innocent then. Sorry for doubting you Tyler, just wasn't sure what to believe." He apologised to him.
"It's fine man. Honestly. My main question is why Myne would say that at all. And what about Naofumi?" Tyler asked.
"You never heard?" Ren looked at him like he was living under a rock for a week.
"No, I haven't heard a thing."
Ren sighed.
"I'm not sure what to believe here, but Myne said that Naofumi did the same thing to her as she accused you of doing to your teammate." He told him.
"What?! No, he couldn't have. There's no fucking way he did!"
Before Tyler could say anymore, Naofumi was pushed through the door by guards. He was shoved to the ground as soon as he tried to get up.
"Hey King! Someone sto-"
"Silence!" The King shouted.
Naofumi was surprised as we're Tyler and Leena.
"Myne. Please repeat what you told us earlier." The King looked to her.
She seemed to tear up.
"He..."
She paused and eventually started talking about how he was pissed off his head more than Tyler apparently was, broke into her room and basically raped her.
Naofumi tried to argue saying it wasn't true, but against the word of the king, speaking was pointless.
"Is any of this true Tyler?" Ren asked.
"No, couldn't have been. He went to bed before us. He didn't even drink last night. We were both with them. Doesn't matter though." Tyler said. "I don't think they'll believe us."
Naofumi looked ready to kill someone. Tyler was confused when he grew a wide eyed look. He followed Naofumi's gaze to see Myne.
Suddenly, the tears were gone and behind Motoyasu's back she was making a face at Naofumi. Yep, Tyler's suspicion was right.
"Lying...... Bitch." He whispered.
This was a set up to fuck over the Shield Hero. Why though? Why make life harder for one of the Heros? Aren't they all needed to fight the waves?
Ren was about to speak about Tyler and Leena being there the whole time, but Tyler stopped him.
"Don't bother. It's a waste of breath." He told him.
"Why? Maybe we could find who the real suspect is. Maybe it wasn't actually-"
"Ren... I want to vouch for him too, but this is a set up. Myne was never harmed. This is to fuck with the Shield Hero. Maybe that was the idea for me too." He told him.
Ren caught on. He stepped back and shut up as much as he didn't want to.
Soon it was decided that Naofumi wouldn't be jailed since he is needed for the waves, but his punishment will be having his name known as a rapist.
"Fuck!" Tyler cursed to himself quietly.
He wanted to help Naofumi, but he couldn't do anything.
Leena was pulled aside to be questioned about what happened. Instead of using this weird slave crest that shocks someone when they lie, she used a spell of her own. An orb. If she was telling the truth it would stay blue. If a lie, it goes red.
Eventually Naofumi got pissed and shoved the guards off of him. He turned away and walked off. He had no reason to stay here.
The King waited for him to go and then addressed Tyler.
"Now. Scythe Hero." He said glaring at Tyler.
'Moment of truth.'
Tyler stepped in the centre of the room. All eyes were on him.
"We were unable to find whether this was true, that you assaulted your party member Leena Faye. At the same time, there is no proof that you didn't. She may vouch for you, but it's a matter of how much is just her blind love for the Scythe Hero." The King looked annoyed.
'Probably irritated that he can't prove anything. Not getting rid of me that easily are you King.'
"I doubt that my daughter-"
"Your fucking what?!" Tyler shouted in surprise. "She's your damn daughter?!"
"Irrelevant. As I was saying. I doubt she would lie about this. I personally believe that you did assault her and are using her love of you to make her lie, just as the Spear Hero mentioned."
Speaking of the Spear Hero, he was over talking to Leena. It was creeping her out.
"You can't trust the Scythe Hero anymore. Not after all he did to you." He said.
"Were you there?" She asked.
"Was I there for what?"
"The apparent "sexual assault" were you there for it?" She repeated her question.
Motoyasu couldn't answer.
"Exactly. So do me a favour and leave. Me. Alone." She got in his face. "Tyler never did hurt me or do anything to me. He's innocent. So either give him the respect he deserves or never go near him again."
With that's he turned around to leave. She was just going to wait for Tyler outside.
Back to Tyler.
"So my punishment is the same as Naofumi's? What is this? Guilty till proven innocent? Not how it goes King." Tyler said getting a little irritated.
"You should have never been summoned with us yo-" Itsuki spoke, but was cut off by Tyler.
"Gonna ask you to shut up. The adults are talking." He said and looked back to the King. "Right. I get it. You don't like the Shield Hero or Scythe Hero. Guess I found out why it's the Three Heros Church then."
Tyler turned around and walked off.
"Get back here Scythe Hero! I am not done with you!" The King ordered.
Tyler just gave him the finger as he walked off.
"Yeeeeeaaah, no go fuck yourself."
Tyler was gone after that.
As he was walking along, he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning to see who it is he saw Ren.
"Oh, hey. Sorry, was kinda getting annoyed, had to say something." He said.
"It's clear they don't exactly like you or Naofumi. I'm not sure why, but that's the case. Are you sure this was a setup and not just a misunderstanding?" He asked.
"Positive. Myne's mocking face to Naofumi that only I caught was telling enough. She lied the whole time. She was the only one of us that was drunk. Probably faked it too." Tyler told him.
"I see. Well, if you can, find Naofumi and let him know we're on his side. Can't say the same for the other two. Itsuki is very impressionable and Motoyasu seems to only believe what he wants to. And uh, keep your teammate away from him. Red flags all the way with him." Ren said laughing at that last bit.
"I will. Good to know we have another rational thinker with us. Try to find out why the Scythe and Shield Heros are hated if you can."
Ren nodded and with that they parted ways.
Hopefully things don't get worse from here on out.
____________________________________________
Ok that's the second part done. I do personally think that if Ren was given a reason to doubt the accusations then he would. He just seems a lot smarter than they make him out to be.
Anyway I'll leave you alone. Peace.