Immediately I started freaking out, but I couldn't do too much for risk of waking up Sana, and trying to explain the predicament...I mean c'mon....wait....I share a bed with Sana. Plus if you think about it logically, then it makes sense that Noroi's humanoid form would be in bed with me, considering that's where I had put her last night when she was still a sword.
But that doesn't explain why she's no longer a sword...it has to be connected to that place she dragged my consciousness to before. For now before I start making up any crazy theories as to why she isn't a sword anymore, I should first wake her up and try to get some answers directly.
"Hey....Noroi" I whispered whilst poking her face, "Wake up you useless sword." As the words left my mouth she woke up a little mumbling something along the lines of...repentance? Then before I knew it she was using her hands to sleepily hit my chest. Although I don't feel anything while she's doing this....and it feels like a nice massage, perhaps I should have her do this to my back after the Orc Mission today......wait, I still need my questions answered.
After lightly smacking her cheek, she finally woke up. Stretching and yawning she casually said to me while rubbing her eyes, "Morning~~"
While Noroi was stretching, I felt Sana stirring around on my right. When I looked over I saw her eyes start opening, and the first thing she noticed was the new person in the bed. Then she looked over to me with a smile, and although her mouth was smiling, her eyes weren't...in fact she seemed pretty terrifying at this moment.
After experiencing a terrifying morning, I was made to sit in dogeza, and explain the situation as best I could about who the girl was, and where she came from.
"So this girl.....is actually the cursed sword, you named Noroi, that you got from Elise?" Sana asked for confirmation, which is understandable. I mean, it is kind of confusing and difficult to understand at first. I'm still curious about how Elise had come into possession of Noroi, before selling her to me. Perhaps, since Noroi must've been a demon lord at some point in history, Elise was probably hoping to one day bring her back to the 'World of the Living' but if that's the case, then why did she sell her to me? Was she hoping I would get possessed by Noroi, as well as making a quick profit? That's a bit evil, but it was a good idea.
After the situation was fully explained to Sana, we chose to move on and take care of our subjugation mission. Before leaving though, I asked Noroi, "Hey are you able to switch between this form and your sword form?" Although I could still take care of the Orcs without a weapon, it would look odd if, all of a sudden, I wasn't carrying the sword I just had.
While thinking this, she responded, "I should be able to, yes. As long as you can supply the Mana for the transformation, then it should be quite easy. However, with your vast Mana Pool, is there really a reason to carry around a sword?" She asked, tilting her head.
I almost laughed at that moment, cause I could just imagine the question mark appearing above her head. Taking a second to think her question over, I answered her, "Well, it is just as a precaution to not let information on my abilities to be leaked....at least not completely anyway." Yes, by not leaking information on my abilities yet, I won't have to deal with people keeping an eye on me, or worse, assassination attempts.
Holding Noroi's hand, and channeling my mana into her a black smoke, clad in dark electricity, rose around her until her form was hidden from my eyes, I couldn't see her but I felt her hand change from being just a hand, to the steel-ribbed handle I was becoming familiar with. Honestly it was odd, feeling her skin change to metal and then feel it change its form.
When the smoke dissipated, I was holding a sheathed Noroi. I'm curious...does the sheath act as her clothing while in sword form? This question floated through my head, while I strapped Noroi to my waist.
After finishing collecting our gear, we left the inn we were staying at, and headed to the guild to inform them that we were proceeding with our Orc Subjugation quest.
After leaving the guild we headed for the northern gate, the one we walked through to enter the city.
Showing the guards at the gate our silver guild cards, we were allowed to exit through the gate. Before walking out, however, we said a quick hello to Beltron. We also thanked him for showing us to the adventurers guild the other day.
After passing through the gate, we made our way down the road. My hand on Noroi's hilt, I kept my guard up, incase we were ambushed by thieves or a bandit group on our trip to complete the Orc request.
{LATER}
We've been walking for about an hour, the sun was almost at its peak, which meant it was close to lunch time. However, before we take a break for lunch, I want us to get as far as possible, and to at least find the nearby Orc camp. Eat lunch, then attack the Orcs, that was my plan.
However, sometimes things don't go according to how you planned it. I could smell someone following us, but from what I could tell, they weren't behind us. Instead, they were in the tree-line to our left. These enhanced senses, from being a part of the beastman race, are incredibly impressive, and rather useful in situations like this.
My ears twitched as I heard them rustling through the trees. From what I can hear and smell, there are approximately four or five of them. Quite possibly it could be the bandit group that I heard was nearby the city. Although, it seems rather stupid if you ask me. I mean, why would you set up base this close to the city? It might be an hour walk away, but they must be quite confident in their skills to be hanging around this close to Arendall.
Firming my grip on Noroi letting her know that there will be a fight on our hands soon enough. Whispering to Sana I told her, "There are about four or five guys following us, all men, and they are armed. Be ready for a counterattack." She nodded her head in confirmation.
Using my god's eye, I saw five lights moving ahead of us through the tree's. If I had to guess, these lights should either be their life forces, or the mana that lies within them all. Along with the five mana signals, I could also see some of the mana in the air collect around Sana. She seems ready to cast an intermediate level spell.
With my hand gripping Noroi, and Sana ready to cast a spell, we continued walking, waiting for the ambush to happen. We figured we might as well give them a chance, before we beat them to the ground.
After walking for another 30 minutes, we saw a woman lying down on the road. She LOOKED like she was bleeding from her head, but from what I could smell, that blood didn't belong to her. She saw Sana and I walking down the road, then she started shouting, "Help! Help me, my daughter was captured by goblins. Please help us!!" I could tell...from years of people lying to me, and tricking me with phrases like 'I could use your help with something, it's over here c'mon.' Then I would follow them, and it would just lead to me being bullied.
I could see in the woman's eyes, that nothing she was saying to us was sincere. With my 'Eye of God' activated, I casually scanned our surroundings, mainly the tree-line. There I could see four mana signatures, all of them belonging to four of the people I saw earlier. One was missing though, but when I looked at the woman, her signature was the same as the fifth one that was currently missing.
Looking at Sana I asked her, "Can you tell where they are?" Making the question vague, so they won't be alerted to what we we're planning to do. Looking at me, she answered in her usual monotone voice, "Yes...Shall I finish them?" Glancing at them woman, who was still acting like she was just an innocent villager. I nodded to Sana, "Yes, however....do it without killing them. After all..." Looking at the woman that was still kneeling on the ground. "...There might be a reward for taking them in alive."
Seeing the shoulders on the woman twitch slightly. Sana activated an intermediate tiered binding spell. From the forest we could hear four men shouting out.
"WHAT?!"
"GAH!?"
"HOW DID THEY KNOW!?!"
"UGH!"
As well as the four men, the woman was put under the binding spell as well. She tried to continue playing innocent, "W-w-what are you doing!? My daughter needs help!" Covering her mouth with my hand, I leaned in and spoke loud enough for the four men to hear, "Next time you try robbing someone...make sure it isn't a beastman. After all, your acting may be decent. However, I could smell your scents on each other."
The woman went silent, and her face changed from playing the innocent villager, to a face of anger and disgust. "You stupid beast. Release us, or we'll kill you both damnit!"
I would have been pissed off, not for threatening me, but for threatening Sana. However, I couldn't help but laugh considering the situation they were in right now. I mean, what could they do? They were all tied up, and still had the guts to threaten someone who didn't even need to break a sweat, or spill any blood, while capturing them all alive.
Copying Sana's binding spell, with my own twist on it. I shot out a rope constructed of pure magic essence. The rope went through the trees and bushes, pulling the four men out onto the road. After the men were dragged out, I commanded the rope to wrap around, and tie the five of them together.
Tying it all together into a single rope, I dragged them down the road, with Sana following right after me. While I was walking I could hear Noroi ask in my mind, "Aren't you going to return to town so you can turn them in?" Thinking about it, it would be a hassle to walk all the way back to town, turn them in, then return to trying to complete our request. So I responded to her "No, it would be a hassle to do that, then walk ALLLL the way back out here for the Orcs"
So with that, we continued our walk down the road, till we reached the area close to where the Orcs were recently spotted. Tying the Bandits to a nearby tree, Sana and I sat on a stump. Her sitting on my lap. Although I don't mind her doing this, I hope somebody doesn't think of this differently.
While sitting, I pulled some bread and and a waterskin pouch out of my travel bag. It wasn't much but we aren't staying out here long, so we just need something to fill our bellies from the walk.
Checking on the magic rope, we chose to leave them tied up here, with their mouths gagged.
Entering the forest I followed the unique scent that Orcs usually give off. Although it reeks so tracking them is a pain, but it helps so I will just have to tolerate it.
After walking for a little while, I started hearing noises, so signaling Sana, we hid behind some bushes as we advanced, until we could see a couple of Orcs. Sana was about to start casting attack magic, but I had to stop her first. Something wasn't quite right, there were only a couple of Orcs. The quest form told us that there was an Orc camp. Perhaps these ones are scouts, or hunters sent out to acquire food.
From what I could see on their back, they had quite a lot of food on them. There might be quite a lot of Orcs. For now we will follow them till they return back to camp, then we will eliminate them all at once.