Embrace of Light and Dark

by Knight of Crows

Chapter 17

Author's Note:

This chapter will be split between episodes 5 and 6.

Cassiel POV

Aultcray has summoned everyone to give out the rewards for the Wave among other things, I can almost feel Naofumi's and Raphtalia's hatred.

"As a reward for his efforts during the Wave and for fulfilling my request, Master Motoyasu will recieve 4,000 silver, and young Masters Itsuki and Ren will receive 3,800 silvers. Finally, I have set aside 500 silver for the Shield Hero. However..." The man handing Naofumi the money paused. "Since it has been offset by the cost of setting his slave free from her curse, he will not receive any funds at this time." And just like that I'm raiding your vault later.

"Wait a second, that's not gonna fly." Itsuki objected surprising Naofumi and Raphtalia. "You were the one interfering in his duel, dispelling that slave crest or whatever you call it, and now you refuse to pay him what he deserves? That isn't exactly fair play."

"Yeah, that's right." Ren agreed. "If he'd followed the rules Naofumi clearly would have won that duel."

"What? Are you crazy? I didn't lose!" Motoyasu denied.

"I'm afraid you're both mistaken. Sir Itsuki, Sir Ren. It was supposed to be a one on one duel and the Shield Hero was the one with monsters hidden inside his cape. That is the real reason why father didn't declare him the winner!" Bitch denied as well.

"Even so, you cheated by firing a magic spell at him." Itsuki said.

"Correction, Myne. It was supposed to be an honor duel, meaning both sides have a fair chance at winning. It stopped being an honor duel when you forced Naofumi, someone who shouldn't have been able to fight back, into a duel he originally had nothing to gain and everything to lose. You violated the sanctity of the duel by forcing him into what should have been a match he was already guaranteed to lose, by breaking that rule before the match even started, you essentially told him everything is fair game, so no he didn't cheat by using monsters as weapons. You did when you shot at him." I joined in.

"Besides, when the Wave hit, it was Naofumi who defended that village, not the knights, and not us as Cassiel suggested before the Wave. Not to mention for the most part, it was Cassiel who fought back the boss monster, nearly killing it on his own, and while it's very questionable he claims to have been holding back during the fight." I didn't expect any mention of me in this. "If you ask me, it would be the right thing to fairly compensate him." Ren said.

"Fine, I shall afford him the mininum agreed amount, there will be nothing else." Aultcray relented, the servant gave Naofumi the silver. "Well you have it, so begone already!" He commanded. Naofumi was about to talk back to him, but Raphtalia stopped him.

"Master Naofumi, isn't it great? We don't have to waste any more of our precious time here." She said angering bitch and Aultcray and calming Naofumi. I was laughing on the inside.

"Come on Raphtalia, Cassiel, let's go." He said as he was leaving. I'm still going to raid his vault, this coin purse feels a little light for all the heavy lifting we did.

---

Raphtalia really surprised me later, she WANTED to be a slave again so we went to the slave trader that sold her to us. Well okay let me clarify, she wanted the crest again as a "symbol of Naofumi's faith in her". The trader soon after gave us a deal on what's called a monster egg lottery, you're guaranteed at least a filolial (I'm calling them chocoboes) or if you hit the jackpot, a dragon. Naofumi decided fuck it and bought an egg before we went to a few other places. Turns out Naofumi saved some friends and families of a few people such as the alchemist who gave him a grimoire with better recipes and the magician who revealed everyones magic affinities and gave him a magic grimoire. Regarding affinities, Naofumi had healing and support, Raphtalia had light and dark, and I was all over the place so everyone had expressions like "what in Dante's 9 Circles of Hell am I looking at?".

After a little while the egg hatched, it was a chocobo I wanted to shout, but decided not to. After 2 days it looked fully grown, apparently Naofumi had a skill that makes companions get stronger faster. He decided to name it Filo, as he and Raphtalia were discussing the name we heard someone shouting about knights coming into town. Turns out Motoyasu was made the lord of this region and the first thing he, or rather bitch declared was a toll of 50 silver to enter and exit the village. When the villagers protested I just had to join the fun.

"Wow! Not even a day on the job and you're already a greedy tyrant. Wasn't screwing over every slave in Melromarc enough for you jackass?" I asked before things got messy.

"The Shield Hero? What are you still doing here? This is Sir Motoyasu's domain, you have no right to question him. Actually, leave this instant you wretched criminal! And knights, seize that kid!" The knights tried to obey her ordr, but I disappeared into the SR so they gave up quickly.

"Oh don't worry, I'm glad to leave, but you know? I don't think the villagers will be too happy about it. Motoyasu! Do you have any idea how much it costs to spend a night at the inn here?" Naofumi asked.

"Huh? A-actually umm..." He responded.

"One silver a night, food included. You're charging the equivalent of 100 nights at the inn just to enter and exit the village! Do you realize that?" Several villagers protested in agreement.

"You dare complain about a royal decree??!!" She raised her hand and the knights pointed their spears at the villagers in response. I reappeared behind her with the the blade from the scythe transformation of Dawn to her neck, just before I could say anything several people landed in front of her, one said bitch should know who they represent. I lowered Dawn when that same lady asked me to do so, then she handed bitch a scroll which resulted in her challenging Naofumi to a race over the village.

Naofumi reluctantly accepted the race, before the race started though Motoyasu learned first hand what castration sounds and feels like. "You are now my favorite giant bird" I told Filo, surprise surprise when the race started bitch tried to cheat again. After the first hole I followed along in the SR to prevent it from happening again. I just shot every mage with Aero before they finished the incantations, I missed a few though, but Naofumi won anyway. Bitch tried to accuse us of cheating, but the lady from earlier pointed out that is not the case. Bitch left with Motoyasu and the knights and we got a carriage along with merchandise and a merchant pass to avoid tolls around the country.

At the end of the night we had one more surprise in the form of a little girl where a giant bird used to be. Congratulations, you're officially a dad Naofumi.

---

So to summarize a bit of time after this surprise we went to the slaver to give Filo a crest then a seamstress to find a dress that wouldn't rip when Filo transformed, unfortunately we needed magic thread which the magic shop didn't have the means to make so we were SOL. We learned Filo's affinity for wind at least. Moving on we were giving a ride to another merchant until a group of bandits blocked the road, one mentioned a "night of fun" with Raphtalia and I may or not have snapped and brutally murdered him as I tried to repress a few memories, I didn't check to see if he was still alive. Anyway, we robbed the bandits of everything shortly after. In exchange for all the trouble the merchant caused us he offered all his "knowledge and connections" and opened up a new trade for Naofumi as a jewel crafter and merchant.

As for his connections we learned Motoyasu saved a village from starvation with a legendary crop, Ren has officially become a Dragonslayer, and Itsuki is all over the place. The merchant gave us one more thing, a deed to a mine. Once there we got to work on getting the gemstone used to make magic thread. Well we had to get the mage who told us about the gem first I mean. Once we entered the ruins leading to the gem we came across an empty chest that contained a cursed seed. My bet is this seed is what Motoyasu gave to the village he saved, if it is I might kill him. Entering the tunnel it didn't take long for the torch to blow out.

"How could you let this happen to us? It should've been YOU!" I heard several voices. I still remember them clearly. My chest hurt so much I could barely breathe as tears flowed down my face at hearing the voices of my parents, my sister, and my grandparents. I removed my mask and dropped it to the floor as I felt so much hate and despair that I couldn't hold anything back. The others took notice of my state and backed off as darkness was pouring out of me and into the fireball I was charging up.

Dark Fira. The voice from several times before said. I thought nothing of learning this varient of Fire even though I hadn't even learned the original Fira yet.

"DARK FIRA!" I shouted, the entire tunnel was now ablaze and the voices stopped. I collapsed and the darkness flowed back into me as I tried to get myself under control.

"Cassiel? Are you-" Raphtalia started.

"Alright? Do I look alright?" I asked. She reached out to me. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" I smacked her hand away forcing her to back off.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Filo asked. She was about to continue, but Naofumi stopped her.

"These monsters provoke others by saying the last things they want to hear by the last people they want saying them. He must have fallen victim to such, but since he didn't target any of us he must have heard someone else from his life. Thankfully his outburst killed all the monsters, though the darkness and the flames disturb me." The mage said in my defense. After a few minutes I finally got my breathing under control then the tears afterward. I got up and walked past everyone and ignored them as we entered a large cavern with crystals everywhere. I ignored those as well and the others as I approached the monster, a Nue or something like that I think the mage said. It noticed us and got ready to attack.

"I'm in a VERY bad mood right now, and I would appreciate it if you just died an agonizing death." I said darkly. It pounced at me, but I casted Aero to send it flying straight up. As it was falling I hit it with a shotgun version of Blizzard and summoned the bow version of Nightfall to keep shooting it while it couldn't move much. When it was able to move again it leaped past me and the snake tail bit me. I was too angry to care so I stabbed it after changing Nightfall into a twinblade. It tried to swipe at me, but Naofumi used his Air Strike Shield to block it as I stabbed an eye. It started emitting electricity so I casted Reflect and nearly killed it. It fell over unable to move so I slowly plunged Nightfall into it's heart to give it the death it desired. I casted Esuna to cure the poison if there was any and healed myself on the way out, but not before picking up the mask of course. Naofumi looked surprised for a split second, something about not noticing my stats doubling sooner, that I'm so much higher than Raphtalia and Filo now. Originally they were both higher than me, by about 25- 30% on most stats, though I'm also not wearing armor most of the time so of course that would be lower than theirs. No one really said anything after that, we returned to town and got Filo her dress after making the magic thread, and I didn't sleep at all that night.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work