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Balm in Gilead Chapter 11
🕑 Added 2020-11-03 01:27:11 +0000 UTCChapter 11
Negotiations had been swift and merciless.
I ducked, letting the blade sing through the air right above my head.
Feeling like she owed me a debt aside, when the “Sword Princess” wanted something, she got it.
I danced backwards from a flurry of stabs. One traced a thin line across my armor. I hissed.
Which, come to think of it, was about the same as she was in a fight too.
I swung, letting rip a wild haymaker with my pickaxe even as I fell backwards.
Of course, she didn’t take the bait. Instead, Ais pressed forward. I turned my fall into a roll. She caught a kick with her blade. I felt my knee creak in protest as I sprang back to my feet a step away.
Just in time to catch the next blow with the haft of my pick.
The sword bit into the wood, sending me sprawling across the parapet.
I jumped back to my feet, rushing back in.
I was horrendously outmatched, and in any normal situation I would have run. But then, that wasn’t really the point, was it?
I tightened my focus, ignoring the screams of my aching muscles. A pickaxe was a tool, not a weapon, and even though I had the strength to swing it like a club, I still felt it.
My attacks went wild. Ais swayed, barely even moving her feet. I ducked more on instinct than through any conscious decision, and her fist scraped my cheek. If I hadn’t moved, it would have taken me in the throat.
I grunted. This wasn’t going well. I lashed out at her feet.
It was supposed to buy me some space; instead, Ais stepped forward into the strike as my pickaxe screeched along the metal of her greave. She shifted, locking my arms wide open.
I had no choice but to throw myself backwards.
Her sword came down in an arc of pure steel, and my weapon was cast from the battlements in splinters.
I huffed as I pushed myself back to my feet, arms coming up. Ais watched me for a moment, golden eyes unblinking, before she sheathed her sword.
I didn’t drop my guard. “Did you really need to break my pickaxe?”
Ais started to circle, arms loose, not even bothering to take a stance. “It was part of my agreement.”
I raised an eyebrow, resisting the urge to cast an annoyed look at my goddess. Ais would punish me for it. “I wasn’t aware of that part of the deal.”
Ais just nodded shamelessly. “You needed a new weapon anyway. A pickaxe is a tool for supporters.”
“It’s served me—” I had to stop, weaving to the left as her fists blurred through the space in front of her. I pushed aside a blow, taking two more on my raised arms as I spun away from the onslaught.
Not once did I have a chance to retaliate.
“Fuck.” I shook out one of my arms as we circled again. “How fast did you say you were going again?”
Ais tilted her head. “I’m using the strength and speed of an average level 2.”
I held back a grimace. I was stronger and faster than any normal person now, but I couldn’t even compete with Ais’ speed. And that was only a level 2?
What would she look like using the full attributes of a level 6?
I narrowed my eyes. I could almost keep up with her, but once you added on the Sword Princess’s preternatural skill, there was no comparison. I’d have more luck trying to swat the sun front the sky than to land a solid blow on Ais Wallenstein.
Still, I didn’t make it this far in life by complaining.
With a grunt, I threw myself forwards again. I didn’t bother with feinting anything; those golden eyes wouldn’t be fooled by someone on my level. Instead, I put it all on the line.
I opened with a straight right, which Ais swatted aside easily. I twisted my torso, letting her fist bounce off my side. It drove the air from my lungs, but all of that force and more came together in my elbow strike right to her temple.
Ais tilted her head, swaying as if caught in a breeze.
My arm caught a strand of her hair as it swung past, sending it up and glinting in the morning light.
Then she buried her fist in my stomach and threw me across the top of the wall once more.
Just like always, I slid to a stop with room to spare. I scrambled back upright.
Not once had she put me in the slightest danger of falling.
In a way, that was the most insulting thing of all. Not that she made it look effortless, but that she had to put more work into keeping me safe than into the fight itself.
Ais looked at me for a moment more, taking in my trembling limbs and shortness of breath. She’d been beating the snot out of me for almost an hour. Then she nodded. “Good work.”
I paused for a moment, waiting for some kind of trick, but she didn’t strike me as that type of teacher. I slowly lowered my guard, moving to massage my arms. Ais, for her part, turned to look at Hestia. “Ready to go?”
“Yep!” Hestia hopped off the wall, where she’d been watching me get my ass handed to me. She clapped happily. “You did really well Taylor!”
I quirked my lip, but I couldn’t stop the little bubble of warmth that rose in my chest. “I have a lot of work to do.”
“It’s called being alive, silly.” Hestia smiled at me, and I felt the rest of my irritation fading as well. “Now come on, I still have to hold up my end of the deal.”
I sighed. Daily training from one of the strongest adventurers in the entire world, and all it cost me was a lifetime supply of Jagamarukuns, with ingredients bought and paid for by the Sword Princess herself. The girl wasn’t even looking at me anymore, golden eyes locked on to my goddess with laser-like focus.
I think she was even drooling.
“You both go ahead.” I waved a hand. “I still need to get to the tower.” Lili would be waiting for me there soon, and I needed to pick up a weapon before heading back into the dungeon.
I winced as I dug my thumb into a particularly sore muscle—or was it a bruise now? I honestly couldn’t tell. Dungeon delving, after this, every single day? Sounded awful.
So why was I fighting back a smile?
“Are you sure?” Hestia asked.
I nodded. “Go make your Jagamarukuns. I’ll be back tonight again, though,” I made a show of stretching, “I probably won’t be gone for as long as usual.”
“Good!” Hestia smiled. “You should spend more time out of the dungeon, Taylor! You’re only young once!”
I laughed. I hadn’t been young since years before I died. “Of course, of course.”
I waved the two off, taking no small measure of comfort knowing that Hestia would be protected by one of Orario’s only level 6s.
“You should be lucky today was my day off! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to start cooking till way later.”
“Yes.”
I stopped holding back my smile as I turned, letting their conversation wash over me as we headed in opposite directions on the south wall.
“I don’t have a frier, but I think I thought up a way around that!”
“Do you need a… frier?”
“Well it would be helpful but…”
“I understand.”
“Huh?”
I just shook my head. If there was a whole kitchen attached to the church when I came back, I’d know who to blame.
The streets were just starting to fill up when I came down one of the many staircases from the wall. Orario had guards, of a sort, but by and large they weren’t really protecting the city from external threats. After all, if a level six—or even a level two for that matter—wanted to go up on the wall, then who was going to stop them? Also, the sheer number of adventurers in the city proved a far more efficient deterrent to conquest than any sort of standing army.
I slipped into the crowd with an easy familiarity, letting myself work out a bit of my soreness while I walked.
As of last night, several of my stats had pushed into low B rank, but to think there was such a huge difference between that and level 2? I clearly had a great deal of catching up to do, especially if I wanted to keep Hestia safe and cared for.
I glanced at the storefronts as I walked. It would save some time to pick up a weapon now, and then go right into the dungeon, but my favorite foxy smith was on the north side of the city.
“Guess I’ll grab one after picking up Lili.” It had been a good pickaxe, sturdier than most of the weapons I’d seen. If possible, I’d want something…
I stopped, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
I’d reached the tower of Babel, and Lili was nowhere to be seen.
We’d met here, at the same time and same place, for the past week and change, and she’d never once been late. Normally, I’d have thought I just couldn’t see her, but this early there were never many people around the entrance to the dungeon.
And it was impossible to miss the giant backpack she carried.
I paled suddenly.
Her pack was impossible to miss.
We’d met here at the same time every single day.
I felt the man come up behind me before he even spoke. “If you want to see your cute little supporter again, you’ll come with me.”
I turned silently. Behind me was a bald man, shorter than me, with a rough, uncared for beard. His eyes were dull, just like every other member of the Soma Familia’s.
And he was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
“What did you do to her?”
“Well, if you wanna find out, you better not make any trouble.” He spread his arms. “Don’t want no problems, do we?”
I clenched my hand into a fist.
But what could I do? Leave?
I’d made my choice on that when I’d saved Lili from the monster stampede. I wasn’t about to go and abandon her now.
I waved my hand. “Lead the way.”
His grin stretched wider. “Thatta girl.” He turned and started walking, and I fell in step behind him. We moved quickly from the main thoroughfares, through a confusing number of twists and turns, until we ended up in front of a half-collapsed building.
It was a theatre, I realized.
I stepped inside the dusty expanse. Only a few beams of light slipped through the boards on the windows. There were viewing boxes above, steps leading past rows of dilapidated wooden seats, and moth-eaten curtains framing a little girl tied up on the stage.
The man stepped into the theatre behind me, shoving me a step forward. From the hallways and nooks around the massive room, a dozen, then two dozen men and women stepped from the shadows. They were armed, with archers in the boxes and stout adventurers with shields blocking any exit. On the stage itself, a single woman with a dagger marched forward, leaning lazily atop Lili’s head.
Behind me, the door to the theater closed with a gentle click.
Comments
Max Leviton
Heh, well, it looks like it's time for Escalation Queen to come and *really* start to play with the Soma Familia... Taylor will probably end up reaching Level 2 from this won't she? This is the sort of 'Impossible Odds' that frames a level up scenario really. No weapon, save the bound party member, overwhelming number of opponents, it should work well. This also isn't going to end well for the Familia because you don't do this sort of thing outside the Dungeon and get away with it.
Definitely (Not) a Necromancer
That's a cliff if i ever saw one
V01D
Taylor needs to make a joke about Aiz joining Hestia’s Familia, so she can get all the treats she wants. In front of Loki. I bet Loki would facepalm HARD when Aiz actually considers it!
Luigi
Oh shit...
Dopplerdee
And Aiz had to go and destroy her weapon.
