Tyler approached the manor with a caution that he hadn’t before. He hadn’t started off so suspicious but… well… experience is truly a harsh teacher. Some of the lessons Riary was always yelling about was finally starting to make him a bit more cautious.
Riary and Konahora saw his tense stance and readied themselves as well.
If this was just a regular baron, then fine. If it was some kind of ambush by bandits, they’d be ready. Tyler knocked on the door and waited. He was cautious not overly worried. Their team had recently become Grade C adventurers and while far from the strongest, it was enough to not be too worried about random bandits anymore.
The door creaked open and more than half of Tyler’s tension vanished when he saw it was a beautiful elf. She had a bandage over one of her eyes and looked terrified. He stared at her, hoping for some signal that she needed help, but she looked terrified because of them. Which felt… jarring to say the least. They had been celebrated nearly everywhere they went, respected even. It was the first time someone had looked at them with terror.
Well, no. Tyler’s tension rocketed back up. There had been more than a few people who’d looked at them like that. Just that they were usually criminals.
“Welcome Heroes. I am Celena. It is, a pleasure to meet you.” Her voice came out stilted. It was clearly taking her some effort.
“And the same to you. We would like to meet with the Baron to discuss something in private.” Tyler answered. He was the ‘face’ of the party. Riary was… bad with people. Konahora had told him that she preferred to be in the background. So that left him.
The elf in front of him surprised him by taking a deep breath, as if she was getting prepared for some great battle. He nearly pulled his sword out right there and promised to protect her but Riary was sending him a look. A look he knew translated to ‘Don’t you dare or I’ll light you on fire’.
“Please, come in.” She said. They walked in and were quickly led to a small sitting area. The elf took a seat in front of them and took another deep breath before talking.
“This village has recently had a calamity. It all started when our old baron died…”
****************
My plan was simple. My intuition was still screaming at me that I’d die if I tried to run away or escape, the accursed thing. Logic said one thing, my body told me another. So, I’d just have to make do. Or in this case, have to do the one option left to me.
Negotiation.
It was not lost on me how this mirrored the last time I’d tried to negotiate. Except now I was The Baron in this situation. Hopefully being good would be the deciding factor but I was really screwed here. I was essentially betting on mercy from special ops… even if they wanted me to live, which was a big if, if the King had ordered them to kill every demon they see, well, at least I had sex before I died.
So, thus the first part of my plan. The Truth. Hide absolutely nothing. But have Celena say it so A. they might actually believe it and B. because a hot woman saying it might gather the sympathy I needed to keep my head.
The problem I hadn’t expected was that it was absolutely nerve wrecking. I knew they were in the house, were a single floor below me in the entrance area. I knew this, and the minutes just kept ticking by. I expected them to run up here, or a sudden explosion to be the last thing I saw before I died, and the worst part was that it remained a possibility from minute one to ten. It took a while to get to the part where you were saved by a demon, even longer to get to the ending where said demon was not only still in this village, but right above them.
I felt myself sweating and shaking slightly as I finally heard footsteps approaching the door. This wasn’t like my last near death experience, this one was slower, and I was more here. I’d had a little bit of time to adjust to the insanity my life had become and about half an hour to accept death was approaching. It felt like a scythe coming for my neck.
They opened the door to the Baron’s study, where I had chosen to meet them, and I knew I was immediately in trouble.
The first person to enter was a tank. He had what looked like to be lightweight but still metal armor on. Chestplate, Half leggings, half arms. Protection while still having flexibility. That wasn’t, admittedly, what caught my eye first though. His face… he was the spitting image of the word “Hero.” Think about the first fantasy character in your head with that title, and that was him. Handsome, somewhat young, no facial hair, fierce eyes, he was what the japanese would call an “ikemen”. The most disturbing part was the god damn tower shield on his back and longsword by hide side. He could fight, for sure, but it seemed more like he was a straight up paladin type. It was easy to imagine him putting on far heavier armor and standing against hordes of enemies. He was looking at me with a lot of caution.
If the first person had made me feel worried, the second person nearly made me run for my life. She was short, with short black hair, wearing a red robe. There was fire in her eyes. Not a euphemism, there was literally fire in her eyes. Tiny flames where her pupils should be and she was looking at me with such hate that I felt sick. A mage, had to be. Her hands were twitching as if my very existence was the final sin to her and she needed to remove me, now.
The third person was softer compared to the others. That made it worse, because they practically screamed that they were a healer at the top of their lungs. Priestess robes, tall-ish figure, blonde hair, and a small gentle frown on her face. Unlike the mage, she had a small wooden staff in her hands that reached to the floor.
A tank, a ranged DPS, and a healer. It seems the basics of combat was not lost on the people of this civilization. It also guaranteed I’d die, for sure, if it came to a battle. Hell, if the baron’s men had had a healer and a basic mage, I’d probably have been in trouble. Let alone people I could literally feel could each kill me individually. It somehow hurt my non-existent pride to know I could be massacred by a healer but I destroyed that part of me. Healers were badass, I’d be an idiot to think they were any less weak in a real world than in a game.
They stopped and stared. Which was positive, it hadn’t come to blows yet.
“Hell-”
Before I even finished the sentence a ball of fire grew into existence. It was right in front of my face, only a few inches away, and the heat was already like a furnace. It grew bigger and bigger and I was starting to realize I was going to be burned to ashes at this rate.
“Riary.” Said one of the Heroes, I couldn’t see them anymore.
The ball of fire kept growing.
“Riary.” Came the male voice.
The fire didn’t stop or dissipate. It did, however, move back about three feet and to the side. This, unfortunately, gave me the chance to see the heroes. There was no look of sympathy on their faces, just frowns, with one of them looking like even speaking would cause them to explode.
Apparently I was half right.
“LET ME FUCKING KILL IT!” My soul damn near left my body. The pure rage echoing off the walls felt like it was drowning me. It was nothing but a loud voice and emotion but… I’d genuinely never been good with yelling. It wasn’t really something that came up a lot, but people yelling indoors always made me feel scared. Not that I needed any more help with that at the moment, the floating ball of constantly expanding fire was doing that all on it’s own.
“We talk first.” The tank said. Not ‘No’, but more so ‘later’. God damn it.
“H-Hello Heroes. I am Derek. It is…. Terrifying to meet you actually.” Very hot, not at all cold, sweat dripped off me. Fear and the heat from a fucking fireball will do that I suppose. I’d get on my hands and knees and beg if that was what I needed to do. Cowards lived, fools died.
The male of the group grunted, “Tyler. Riary, Konahora.” Slightly gesturing to the other two, never taking his eyes off me. I had, smartly, made absolutely sure my hands were on the desk and that my tail was in plain sight. They had no reason to let me live, so giving them no reasons to kill me was my last and only option. I was just thankful I was able to convince Selve to leave, otherwise this could have gotten real ugly real fast.
“Why are you here?” Tyler asked while staring at me, hand on his sword. I had to resist making some kind of smart ass joke. I may not be truly down for this fantasy world quite yet but I really wasn’t ready to leave my mortal coil over a joke. Well, it wouldn’t be the worst way to go, but still, burning to death might actually be one of the worst ways to go.
But I didn’t really know how to answer the question. It was kinda loaded. Why was I in this village? Random summoning. Why was I in this house? I needed somewhere to sleep. Why was I in the human kingdom? Purely by accident and I’ll leave immediately, please let me live.
“Accident.”
“Accident?” Tyler fucking raised an eyebrow at me and Riary snorted and moved to incinerate me. At least that’s what I assumed that hand motion meant.
“I never meant to end up here. I genuinely don’t want to be here either. It was just, an accident.” Three pairs of very incredulous eyes met my gaze, before the person in the back’s eyes lit up with horror in them. Let me tell you, the horror of the powerful sends a special shiver of fear down the spine. For the first time, the priestess spoke up.
“Someone summoned you.” Her voice filled with terror.
The reactions of the other two were, different. Tyler looked like someone had punched him into next week and Riary…
Well, the fireball exploded for one.
Tyler approached the manor with a caution that he hadn’t before. He hadn’t started off so suspicious but… well… experience is truly a harsh teacher. Some of the lessons Riary was always yelling about was finally starting to make him a bit more cautious.
Riary and Konahora saw his tense stance and readied themselves as well.
If this was just a regular baron, then fine. If it was some kind of ambush by bandits, they’d be ready. Tyler knocked on the door and waited. He was cautious not overly worried. Their team had recently become Grade C adventurers and while far from the strongest, it was enough to not be too worried about random bandits anymore.
The door creaked open and more than half of Tyler’s tension vanished when he saw it was a beautiful elf. She had a bandage over one of her eyes and looked terrified. He stared at her, hoping for some signal that she needed help, but she looked terrified because of them. Which felt… jarring to say the least. They had been celebrated nearly everywhere they went, respected even. It was the first time someone had looked at them with terror.
Well, no. Tyler’s tension rocketed back up. There had been more than a few people who’d looked at them like that. Just that they were usually criminals.
“Welcome Heroes. I am Celena. It is, a pleasure to meet you.” Her voice came out stilted. It was clearly taking her some effort.
“And the same to you. We would like to meet with the Baron to discuss something in private.” Tyler answered. He was the ‘face’ of the party. Riary was… bad with people. Konahora had told him that she preferred to be in the background. So that left him.
The elf in front of him surprised him by taking a deep breath, as if she was getting prepared for some great battle. He nearly pulled his sword out right there and promised to protect her but Riary was sending him a look. A look he knew translated to ‘Don’t you dare or I’ll light you on fire’.
“Please, come in.” She said. They walked in and were quickly led to a small sitting area. The elf took a seat in front of them and took another deep breath before talking.
“This village has recently had a calamity. It all started when our old baron died…”
****************
My plan was simple. My intuition was still screaming at me that I’d die if I tried to run away or escape, the accursed thing. Logic said one thing, my body told me another. So, I’d just have to make do. Or in this case, have to do the one option left to me.
Negotiation.
It was not lost on me how this mirrored the last time I’d tried to negotiate. Except now I was The Baron in this situation. Hopefully being good would be the deciding factor but I was really screwed here. I was essentially betting on mercy from special ops… even if they wanted me to live, which was a big if, if the King had ordered them to kill every demon they see, well, at least I had sex before I died.
So, thus the first part of my plan. The Truth. Hide absolutely nothing. But have Celena say it so A. they might actually believe it and B. because a hot woman saying it might gather the sympathy I needed to keep my head.
The problem I hadn’t expected was that it was absolutely nerve wrecking. I knew they were in the house, were a single floor below me in the entrance area. I knew this, and the minutes just kept ticking by. I expected them to run up here, or a sudden explosion to be the last thing I saw before I died, and the worst part was that it remained a possibility from minute one to ten. It took a while to get to the part where you were saved by a demon, even longer to get to the ending where said demon was not only still in this village, but right above them.
I felt myself sweating and shaking slightly as I finally heard footsteps approaching the door. This wasn’t like my last near death experience, this one was slower, and I was more here. I’d had a little bit of time to adjust to the insanity my life had become and about half an hour to accept death was approaching. It felt like a scythe coming for my neck.
They opened the door to the Baron’s study, where I had chosen to meet them, and I knew I was immediately in trouble.
The first person to enter was a tank. He had what looked like to be lightweight but still metal armor on. Chestplate, Half leggings, half arms. Protection while still having flexibility. That wasn’t, admittedly, what caught my eye first though. His face… he was the spitting image of the word “Hero.” Think about the first fantasy character in your head with that title, and that was him. Handsome, somewhat young, no facial hair, fierce eyes, he was what the japanese would call an “ikemen”. The most disturbing part was the god damn tower shield on his back and longsword by hide side. He could fight, for sure, but it seemed more like he was a straight up paladin type. It was easy to imagine him putting on far heavier armor and standing against hordes of enemies. He was looking at me with a lot of caution.
If the first person had made me feel worried, the second person nearly made me run for my life. She was short, with short black hair, wearing a red robe. There was fire in her eyes. Not a euphemism, there was literally fire in her eyes. Tiny flames where her pupils should be and she was looking at me with such hate that I felt sick. A mage, had to be. Her hands were twitching as if my very existence was the final sin to her and she needed to remove me, now.
The third person was softer compared to the others. That made it worse, because they practically screamed that they were a healer at the top of their lungs. Priestess robes, tall-ish figure, blonde hair, and a small gentle frown on her face. Unlike the mage, she had a small wooden staff in her hands that reached to the floor.
A tank, a ranged DPS, and a healer. It seems the basics of combat was not lost on the people of this civilization. It also guaranteed I’d die, for sure, if it came to a battle. Hell, if the baron’s men had had a healer and a basic mage, I’d probably have been in trouble. Let alone people I could literally feel could each kill me individually. It somehow hurt my non-existent pride to know I could be massacred by a healer but I destroyed that part of me. Healers were badass, I’d be an idiot to think they were any less weak in a real world than in a game.
They stopped and stared. Which was positive, it hadn’t come to blows yet.
“Hell-”
Before I even finished the sentence a ball of fire grew into existence. It was right in front of my face, only a few inches away, and the heat was already like a furnace. It grew bigger and bigger and I was starting to realize I was going to be burned to ashes at this rate.
“Riary.” Said one of the Heroes, I couldn’t see them anymore.
The ball of fire kept growing.
“Riary.” Came the male voice.
The fire didn’t stop or dissipate. It did, however, move back about three feet and to the side. This, unfortunately, gave me the chance to see the heroes. There was no look of sympathy on their faces, just frowns, with one of them looking like even speaking would cause them to explode.
Apparently I was half right.
“LET ME FUCKING KILL IT!” My soul damn near left my body. The pure rage echoing off the walls felt like it was drowning me. It was nothing but a loud voice and emotion but… I’d genuinely never been good with yelling. It wasn’t really something that came up a lot, but people yelling indoors always made me feel scared. Not that I needed any more help with that at the moment, the floating ball of constantly expanding fire was doing that all on it’s own.
“We talk first.” The tank said. Not ‘No’, but more so ‘later’. God damn it.
“H-Hello Heroes. I am Derek. It is…. Terrifying to meet you actually.” Very hot, not at all cold, sweat dripped off me. Fear and the heat from a fucking fireball will do that I suppose. I’d get on my hands and knees and beg if that was what I needed to do. Cowards lived, fools died.
The male of the group grunted, “Tyler. Riary, Konahora.” Slightly gesturing to the other two, never taking his eyes off me. I had, smartly, made absolutely sure my hands were on the desk and that my tail was in plain sight. They had no reason to let me live, so giving them no reasons to kill me was my last and only option. I was just thankful I was able to convince Selve to leave, otherwise this could have gotten real ugly real fast.
“Why are you here?” Tyler asked while staring at me, hand on his sword. I had to resist making some kind of smart ass joke. I may not be truly down for this fantasy world quite yet but I really wasn’t ready to leave my mortal coil over a joke. Well, it wouldn’t be the worst way to go, but still, burning to death might actually be one of the worst ways to go.
But I didn’t really know how to answer the question. It was kinda loaded. Why was I in this village? Random summoning. Why was I in this house? I needed somewhere to sleep. Why was I in the human kingdom? Purely by accident and I’ll leave immediately, please let me live.
“Accident.”
“Accident?” Tyler fucking raised an eyebrow at me and Riary snorted and moved to incinerate me. At least that’s what I assumed that hand motion meant.
“I never meant to end up here. I genuinely don’t want to be here either. It was just, an accident.” Three pairs of very incredulous eyes met my gaze, before the person in the back’s eyes lit up with horror in them. Let me tell you, the horror of the powerful sends a special shiver of fear down the spine. For the first time, the priestess spoke up.
“Someone summoned you.” Her voice filled with terror.
The reactions of the other two were, different. Tyler looked like someone had punched him into next week and Riary…
Well, the fireball exploded for one.
