Chapter 34-A Change In Plans
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“Oh, good morning,” I said to Zeph when I got back to the Bureau from my morning workout. “I'm making breakfast in a bit, do you have any specific requests?”

“Good morning,” Zeph replied. “Would vegetable soup take too long?”

“It’ll take an hour at most,” I informed her. “Just sit tight until then.”

“Oh, thank you,” she answered in a somewhat surprised manner.

“Did you expect me to just decline your request?” I asked her. “I'm a man of my word. Well, mostly.”

After preparing breakfast, I went upstairs for my usual routine of waking Sekh up. Once I succeeded in rousing said cat, we joined the other two for breakfast. Again, Zeph showed visible happiness when presented with food. At this point, I’m just starting to feel bad for her. Even Sekh was eating better than her despite working as an indentured servant. 

“Let’s leave for our job after breakfast,” Zeph said after gulping down some soup. 

“Can we postpone that?” I asked. “ I think it would be smarter for us to do some practice so that we can get an idea of each other’s capabilities. It would also be nice if we could develop some semblance of coordination as well.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Sekh agreed. “Especially because Zeph’s magic is something with a major impact.”

Unlike Minerva, Zeph brings a much different skillset to the party. With Minerva, I could just have her stand in the front and hit things. However, Zeph will most likely be in the back shooting arrows. Since she doesn’t have a melee weapon, other than a dagger, I expect that she’ll be using her bow the whole time. Combined with her wind magic, Zeph will be someone that is much harder to work with at the start. Still, if we can develop some cohesion then our combat capacity will greatly increase. 

“Alright, I see your point,” Zeph conceded. “Will we be using the public sparring grounds? Or do you want to practice on the road?”

“The sparring grounds should be better,” I answered. “There’s more equipment to work with. We might also remember to buy supplies while we train, since you seem to be lacking gear.” 

“I’m not lacking,” Zeph argued. “I’m just budgeting.”

“Sure,” I said sarcastically. 

Once we finished eating and cleaning up, we went to our rooms to grab our gear. Sekh and I both brought out all our armor. Zeph, well she wasn’t naked so that’s a start. 

“Is that from direwolf?” Zeph asked in surprise as she pointed towards my shoulder. “And is that all your equipment?”

“It’s a yes for both questions,” I answered. “I accumulated my armor during the war, so that’s why I have such an expensive set.”

“Are you doing sellsword work because of the freedom?” Zeph persisted. "There's no way you're doing this for money."

“Pretty much,” I replied. “By the way, I think I might buy you a gambeson. Just pay me back later.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Zeph protested.

But before she could continue, Sekh put her hand on Zeph’s shoulder. 

“Just pay him back later,” Sekh advised. “He’s pretty stubborn when it comes to things like this. Besides, you wearing armor will be much more assuring for us.”

“But I can just use wind magic to mitigate the blows that come at me,” Zeph argued. 

“Have you considered that you might not notice an attack?” I questioned Zeph. “On top of that, padded armor won’t hinder your movements and it’s pretty comfortable. Especially since winter is approaching.”

Instead of talking, Zeph just sulked a bit before nodding. Well, I’ll take this as a victory. Most likely Zeph hasn’t been involved in very chaotic fights. In situations like that, you might even end up getting hit by your own allies. 

Our first stop was a certain blacksmith shop that Sekh and I had visited. Although there are other smithies in the city, not every shop produces quality arms and armor. Actually, most just produce tools and horseshoes while doing small arms as a side trade.

“Oh hey it’s you two,” a woman commented when we entered the shop. “And you brought a friend.”

The speaker was an attractive tanned woman who sat lazily at the counter of the shop. She had messy black hair that was pulled into a bun and brown eyes that shined as she gazed at the three of us. 

“Good to see you Adrea,” Sekh said cheerily. “That helmet you made for me was really good. The holes for the ears work perfectly.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Adrea replied with a bright smile. “Iblis, I’m sorry if you’re here for Damask steel. The place we normally get it from said that production is currently really slow. But if you’re buying something else, then go ahead.”

“We’re here to buy her a gambeson,” I said while pointing at Zeph. “We’d like something immediately, so it doesn’t have to be a tight fit.”

“In that case, follow me,” Adrea replied while signaling for Zeph to come. 

The two of them then disappeared through a door at the back of the room. I had already went through that door before, so I was sure that Zeph wasn't in danger of being abducted. Beyond the door is a large inventory filled with items. The actual forge even further back. A short while later, Zeph and Adrea came out the door, Zeph wearing a somewhat oversized tan gambeson atop her shirt. 

“Looking good,” Sekh said to Zeph with a thumbs up . 

“How much is it?” I asked Adrea as I pulled out my coin sack. 

“30 nummi,” Adrea replied. 

“I’ll pay,” Zeph chimed in. “I know that you offered to pay for me, but I don’t want to be in your debt, even if it’s temporary.”

“Fine with me,” I said with a shrug. “I just wanted you to wear actual armor.”

Zeph then took out her own pouch of coins and pushed the necessary 30 nummi to Adrea. 

“What’s the relationship between you two anyways?” Adrea asked as she looked at Zeph and I.

“We’re just working together,” Zeph shot out.

“That’s what they all say,” Adrea said with a teasing smile. “First you’re working together then next thing you know, you end up married with two kids.”

“You’re just describing your life, Adrea,” I argued. “So how are Orthus and the kids?”

“They're doing good,” Adrea answered. “Well, stay safe out there you three.”

“Thank you,” we said in unison as we walked out the door.

Since we were done buying armor and digesting our food, we made our way to the public sparring grounds. Compared to when I was here in the morning, the number of people was fairly smaller. Though that’s to be expected, since a fair amount of people just come here to challenge me in the morning. Which I don’t mind because it provides me with more opponents to spar with. 

"Oh he’s back,” remarked a mercenary when we arrived at the public sparring grounds.

“Another girl?” someone else wondered. “You think he’s making a harem?”

“What else would he be doing?” another person commented. 

I knew something like this was going to happen. Zeph is just making it worse. Her embarrassed face could easily be misinterpreted. At least Minerva was able to behave normally so that she just seemed like a friend. 

“So… what are we going to do first?” Zeph asked with a slight blush. 

Well I wanted to tease her, but that would be too far in a situation like this, at least for her.

“I think you should start by showing us how you use your magic,” I told her. “You mainly use it to boost your arrows, right?

Zeph nodded in agreement before taking out her bow. It was the same longbow that she wielded during the competition. After drawing the bow, Zeph loosed an arrow towards an archery butt. Upon close inspection, a focused gust was traveling alongside the arrow, acting like an invisible hand that guided the projectile right into the bullseye. 

“Nice shot,” I commented. “Do you mind if I try using your bow?”

“Go for it,” Zeph replied. “I kind of want to try your bows too.”

Meanwhile, Sekh just observed us curiously. I wonder if I would have been in her place if Zeph was a javelineer.

When I drew Zeph’s bow, I noticed that the weapon had quite the light draw weight. It was probably only a bit heavier than my specialized hunting bow. Most of its power must come from Zeph’s magic in that case. Though it was a good weapon nonetheless, particularly when used against small or medium sized targets. 

“How do you even draw this?” Zeph complained as she pulled on my warbow. “I even had to use my magic to shoot this thing.”

Wordlessly, I went over to Zeph and I picked up my heavier bow. In a fluid motion, I pulled the string back and shot an arrow into the bullseye.

“It’s not that hard,” I told her. “You’re just not very strong.”

“I already know that,” Zeph replied with a pout. “Anyways, how about you try shooting an arrow? I’ll attempt to use my magic on it”

“That’s what I was looking forward to,” I said with a smile. 

Once again, I pulled back my warbow to shoot an arrow. The moment that I let the arrow fly, an unseen force wrapped itself around the arrow. My arrow ripped through the air and struck a bullseye. However, I had originally aimed at a butt straight in front of me. In contrast, my arrow was lodged in the butt on the right.  

“That’s super cool,” Sekh commented as her ears perked up. “Can you try doing that for me?”

“Sure,” Zeph replied. “Empowering individual projectiles is fairly light work. Though I can only exhibit fine control on one projectile at a time.”

“Get ready then,” Sekh said excitedly before she hurled her javelin.

Said javelin received a similar treatment to my arrow. Instead of hitting the intended target, the spear soared past it and struck a butt behind it. 

“Nevermind,” Zeph said, her voice sounding slightly tired. “Javelins are way more work than arrows. I don’t think I can change its direction without losing most of the force. Best I can do is boost its strength.”

“That’s fine,” Sekh reassured her. “Just boosting my spears should be plenty of help already. And Iblis is a really good archer so I don’t think you have to correct his shots too much.”

“Thank you,” Zeph replied with a faint smile. “At the very least, I can simultaneously boost all our projectiles. That way, our first strike should be much more powerful. Though I won’t interfere with my magic when you two are in close combat. If it’s not an obvious threat, I’ll just allow you to take care of it.”

“Sounds good,” I answered. “Let’s move onto close combat in that case. We can do some more intensive practice once we’re done.”

“Sure,” Zeph responded. “But I'm not really good in close combat, as you can tell. I just use my magic to keep me unharmed then stab the opponent if I have to.”

“We don’t do too much close quarters fighting either,” I informed her. “Whenever we get the chance, we just hit our enemies at range. But that doesn’t mean we’re slouches. I think it’s better if I show you.”

“Hey, does anyone want to spar?” I asked the mercenaries around us.

Soon after, two mercenaries eagerly volunteered to take me on.

“Trying to show off in front of the new girl?” one of them joked.

“Absolutely,” I answered sarcastically. “I think it would be even better if you two fought me at the same time.”

“Make sure to not hit us too hard then,” the other man commented. 

“Two people at once?” Zeph wondered. “That’s a bit showy.”

“That’s the point,” Sekh told her. “You’ll know when you see.”

Zeph began to narrow her eyes in response. The two men facing were fairly typical looking mercenaries. They both wore metal lamellar cuirasses atop gambesons along with helmets. One man carried a kiteshield and a spear while the other held a long hewing spear in both hands. 

“Let’s just stop at contact,” I informed the two men. “Since we’re using live steel, soften your blows and aim at each other’s armor.”

The two men nodded in agreement before readying their weapons. The two of them then proceeded to slowly circle around me, while I carefully examined their movement. I had expected them to have the shield bearer stay in front while the polearm guy supported, but this isn’t much better. 

For a moment, I stood still in a guard position. When I noticed that their posture had become slightly relaxed, I rushed the polearm sellsword. The man was barely able to parry my opening downward slash. Instead of trying to break his block, I shifted my arms and slammed the rear of my glaive’s haft into his side. 

As the air was knocked out of the first mercenary, I spun around to face his friend who had bolted to his aid. Because the second sellsword was rushing, his jab was sloppy. I easily caught the spearhead with the back of my glaive and yanked the spear out of his grasp. Due to the shock of being disarmed, the second mercenary was unable to block a thrust at his chest. Fortunately it was a light tap which barely scratched his armor. However, he was eliminated by the rules of this competition. 

His friend immediately followed with a thrust at my own chest. I simultaneously moved to dodge the blow and intercepted the spearhead with the haft of my glaive. With some quick footwork, I put myself at a comfortable distance from the spearman. Although I had hoped to eliminate him first, things were still going well for me. 

I made the first move with a simple thrust at my opponent’s chest. When my opponent tried to push my spear aside, I pulled my spear downwards and made another thrust at his abdomen. The blow would have hit if I was using more force, but my opponent was able to dodge in this case. Seizing the opportunity, my opponent slashed downward with his own spear, which was blocked by my glaive’s haft in turn. Perhaps inspired by me, the sellsword tried to slam the rear of his spear into my side. But I saw what was happening and blocked the blow with the end of my own weapon. With a violent push, I sent the man to the ground, which I followed up by tapping him on the chest with my glaive. 

Nicely done,” I told the two mercenaries while wearing an easy smile. 

“You know, things worked out better in my head,” the shieldless man commented. 

“See, I told you,” Sekh said to Zeph on the sidelines.

“Say, is Iblis better with his bow or spear?” Zeph asked.

“Iblis!” Sekh called out. “Are you better with your bow or spear?”

“Spear,” I replied almost immediately. 

“Well then,” Zeph said with an almost impressed look. “I guess you weren’t a royal guard candidate for nothing.”

“How about you and Sekh spar?” I suggested to Zeph. “It should help you two gauge each other’s skill.”

“I guess that’s fine,” Zeph answered as Sekh nodded in agreement. 

The two girls then made some distance between each other before facing off. Because both of them had armor, they could get away with using live steel.

The first one to move was Sekh, who bolted at Zeph with remarkable speed. As Sekh closed in, a strong wind formed between the two, acting as a sort of barrier for Zeph. But Sekh was undeterred and began to dash in a circle around Zeph. In response, Zeph just made a barrier of wind to encircle herself.

Unexpectedly, Sekh hurled the short spear in her hand at Zeph. The force of the wind was able to deflect the weapon to the side, but Sekh had used the opportunity to close in on Zeph from the other side. Before Zeph could react, Sekh shoved Zeph’s knife aside with her shield and pushed her palm into Zeph’s stomach.

“I win,” Sekh declared triumphantly.

“You threw your spear at me!” Zeph shouted indignantly. “If I hadn’t blocked it, I would have been impaled.”

“I  literally threw the blunt end at you,” Sekh complained. “You weren’t in any real danger. If you didn’t divert the spear, you would have been bruised at worst.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Zeph conceded with a downcast look. “I didn’t notice that you had used the blunt end. I just noticed something coming at me and I thought it was dangerous.”

“Well it was still somewhat dangerous,” Sekh replied before pulling Zeph into a hug. “Sorry I also got a little competitive.”

“You two are apologizing over the stupidest things,” I complained on the sidelines.

“Hey, we’re having a moment,” the two declared in unison. 

“That doesn’t make it any less dumb,” I pointed out. 

I have no idea how, but it seems that these two have started to get in sync with one another. I say this because both decided to pout when I complained. Although Zeph is just ignorant, Sekh should know how much I adore those pouts. Instead of discouraging me from continuing my behavior, I feel like I’m getting rewarded.

“Alright, let's do a little practice then we can leave,” I said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. 

For a little while, the three of us trained with one another. Most of what we were doing revolved around getting accustomed to Zeph’s magic. Though Zeph began to complain of getting tired after a period of practice. 

After we were done with our training we went back to the Bureau to gather our belongings for the trip. Once we finished eating lunch and saying goodbye to Minerva, we left the city to do our job. 

The first day of travel was unremarkable. We just rode along the southern road towards our destination. That night, we each took individual watch shifts, though Sekh complained about not being able to have private time with me in the wilderness. 

It was during noon of the next day when things suddenly changed. As we were moving along the road, we saw a lone woman run towards us. 

“Help, please help!” the woman huffed and heaved as she approached us. 

“What’s the matter?” I asked the woman. 

“It’s my daughter,” she explained. “She went to gather herbs. But she’s been missing for a day already.”

“Do you know the general area of where she might be?” I inquired of the woman. 

“Yes, I can lead you there,” the woman answered. “I already called for some guards to help, but I really need more help.”

“Please lead us there then,” Zeph said, her voice firm with resolve. 

“Thank you so much,” the lady replied. “Please follow me then.”

Well this was an unexpected change. Hopefully we can find the girl before anything bad happens. Though I have to be careful not to jinx myself. 

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