How long has it been since since I last stepped on death's doorstep.
Weeks? Months? At that moment, I had forgotten how long.
I couldn't move. Wait no... I could move. I wasn't injured or anything. But my body didn't want to.
Why?
Was it because I got too used to things being peaceful?
Was it because of the intense aura that the giant monster was emitting?
Or maybe it was the guilt and shame that I felt for not taking care of Cleric properly that made me unable to move.
Regardless of what the reason was, when I saw the Reaper's body crash into that tree, her arm broken and blood flowing down her face... I couldn't move.
I couldn't move. Even when the creature swung its weapon with the intent of killing me. I didn't move.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Months earlier.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Alfred found a way to make himself small again. Because of course he did.
Last night, he must've unlocked a new skill that allowed him to control his overall size. I stared down at the child-sized Alfred. He must've gotten really jealous of Cleric.
My first knight raised up his small arms towards me. Hug me, he said. I'm small now, so you can hug me...please, he said. He started tugging on my leg. Please...
Alfred explained how his new skill basically allowed him to switch between his big and small forms as long as he had the "power" to turn big. So if he were to give his power to Cleric like he did last time, he would be stuck small. Apparently, it's even better for him to stay small since when he shrinks, his injuries shrink with him.
I softly giggled as I picked him up with both my hands and cuddled with the chubby knight.
Lily3209 watched with jealous eyes and pouted lips, "Alfy! Give your aunty a hug for once! Come on!"
Alfred vehemently refused by shaking his head. He also seemed to hate that nickname.
"Awww!" Lily tried making a sad puppy face to guilt trip him into saying yes but it did not faze him, "No fair! You always let the other Aria fakes hug you. Why not me?!"
The commotion proceeded to wake up my second knight.
"Good morning Cleric," I greeted as I patted him on the head. I placed Alfred in front of the him which earned a sleepy wave from the tiny healer. It wasn't till a second later did Cleric flinch and realise that Alfred had shrunk himself.
I found it amusing that Alfred deliberately made sure he was taller than his younger brother.
"Cleric!" Lily cried with fake, puppy tears, "Can you give me hug? Alfy is being meany!"
Cleric looked at her for a second... before nodding.
"But why not- wait, did you just say yes?" It sounded like Lily half expected to be rejected again.
Cleric nodded.
Lily gasped happily as she gently lower her palm like a platform which the healer willingly stepped onto. Cleric was actually way too small to be "hugged" so all Lily could do was rub him against her cheek, although, she was not complaining in the slightest, "Awwwww!"
Alfred crossed his arms while I just smiled softly.
"I like Cleric more than Alfy!" Lily spoke like a human baby as she childishly stuck her tongue out at Alfred. Alfred would've done the same in retaliation... if he actually had a tongue, that is.
Lily then looked at me and nonchalantly asked, "Can I keep him?"
"No."
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
We all watched with interest as the transparent air fish "swam" around the room.
It then locked onto me as it swam a few laps around my neck before it begun to 'nibble' on my neck wound. I shivered as a gentle yet surprisingly jolt coursed through my body, "Oooh, that tickles."
The Samurai simply smiled as three fish crowded around her neck wound while the Reaper had two fish accompanying her.
Combined with Cleric's giant, healing cube, it was like we had contained part of the ocean inside a box.
From the outside of the hut, several villagers stared in awe.
In his larger form along, Cleric with Sage stood at the entrance, both holding their staffs upright.
Sage also had several fish around her, nibbling at her neck which meant that every so often, she would burst out laughing after trying to hold it in.
"Healing fish, huh? That's... quite cool." The Reaper commented genuinely as she gently tapped one of the fish out of curiosity. The fish slightly flinched and recoiled at the touch. It the licked the Reaper's finger before returning all of its attention back to her neck.
"it certainly is beautiful."
Lily grinned proudly before laughing again.
She currently had four skills. One which she started with and then three more which she unlocked after she was given her new weapon. However, only one of them can actually heal which is what you would expect from a newborn skill tree. The one skill she had that could heal was the one she was using right now. Upon activation, it summoned a random number of fish that would automatically heal all nearby wounds that it detected, prioritising the worst ones over the minor ones. Wounds on the caster herself could also be targeted by the fish which was fascinating since I heard it was quite rare to find a healer who could heal themselves.
Sage said the healing was very minuscule but we encouraged it anyways since it's still better than nothing and could even work well as practise.
As we relaxed, I observed the transparent cube that we were in which Cleric had made so that it would perfectly fit in the hut. I pressed my hand against the wall of the cube. It felt smooth and very solid. I half expected my hand faze straight through it. Seeing this, Cleric explained that he can control who can go through the cube and who couldn't. So everyone inside the cube gets healed but not anyone can just waltz in to share the benefits. Interesting.
"Did you get those from fighting the three Generals?" The Reaper suddenly asked, pointing at the faded scars that were resting under the Samurai's wrist.
I could hear the muffled voice of Eve9654 berating the Reaper's rudeness from outside. So the cube also blocked out a bit of the outside sound.
"Yes," The Samurai answered as she looked at her wrist, "even after the wound closed, it would still ache from the slightest movements. Now it feels fine but as you can see, it has remained here ever since that day."
Sage tried to remain serious but she ended up bursting out laughing again since she was very weak against the ticklish fish, HAHAHA- Stop! HAHAH-stop, stop, stop OWW! STOP!" The fish did not stop.
The Reaper and the Samurai got a chuckle out of that.
As we rested, I caught my eyes occasionally glancing back at the Samurai's wrist every so often. Considering that battle happened way back during the fake hunts, the fact that those scars were still there... it was quite scary to think about. It made me wonder just how many more scars was she hiding under her clothes.
Like the Reaper and I, she had the "Regeneration Passive Skill". It's a common passive that most fighters eventually get which gradually heal you over time. Due to this passive, scars are quite rare since the Regeneration takes care of it.
I couldn't help but remember that one time I overheard an adventurer say something along the lines of:
'Scars do heal... but if you have one that doesn't... Whoever gave it to you must've been quite the monster. Be glad that you're not dead."
It was about mid-day by the time our healing session was over.
With Alfred laying on his stomach on top of my head and Cleric sitting on the palm of my hand, I decided to give my new knight a short tour of the town.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Elizabeth1129 sat there, admiring the view of the lake as she always does whenever she has the time to do so.
The more she looked at it, the more it seemed to glisten.
Others have said many times how lucky they were to have a settlement right next to such a beautiful mark of nature and Elizabeth couldn't agree mo-
"I have been told you wanted to go fishing."
Elizabeth screamed.
The Samurai raised her hands like she was surrounding and apologised, "My bad, I should have-"
"No no, it's okay," Elizabeth smiled nervously before taking the time to catch her breath, "but yeah... fishing is something I've always wanted to try out... I'm guessing the Summoner told you."
"That, she did," The Samurai confirmed, "she even asked if I could teach you how... only if you want to, of course."
It took Elizabeth a full moment of thinking to fully comprehend what the Samurai had just said, "E-eh? huh? Wait, y-you know how to fish?"
"Yes."
"And you wouldn't mind teaching me?" She stuttered even more, "even if I've got no experience and might make tons of mistakes?"
The Samurai smiled, "Of course! As long as you have the patience for it."
Elizabeth screamed again. But this time it was out of excitement. She instinctively hugged the Samurai as she expressed her thanks. She then recoiled and backed away. She hugged her out of nowhere, completely forgetting that this was their first one on one meeting. Embarrassed, she awkwardly introduced herself, "Oh sorry! Where are my manners? A pleasure to meet you, Samurai."
"The pleasure in mine," Said the Samurai before looking out at the lake, "teaching you is one thing but... well, firstly we need a boat... and a fishing rod with a long line."
"Ah, of course, of course," Elizabeth scratched her head as she felt even more embarrassed, "umm, we actually don't have any of that. Sorry, I got so excited I forgot the most important part."
"That is fine, I..." The Samurai stared deeply into the water of the lake as she spook, "... I will think of something."
"Think of something? Wow you sound incredibly reliable!... But to be honest, even if we get a boat, this lake might not even have any fish-"
"Do not worry," The Samurai said with a slightly lower tone as her eyes seemed to stare deeper and deeper into the lake, "it definitely does."
Elizabeth eyed the Samurai carefully when she noticed the slight drop in her tone. It became apparent that, unlike most people who come here, the Samurai wasn't looking at the lake... she was looking at something that was in the lake.
She was about to ask when suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps behind them.
These footsteps in particular sounded.. tiny.
The Samurai and Elizabeth looked back. There he was, standing not that far away from where they were. Staring menacingly back at them... was the tiny, healer knight Cleric.
"Oh hi there, you're... Cleric right?" Elizabeth waved awkwardly. She was understandably as bit confused. She whispered to the Samurai, "Is he staring at me?"
"I believe so."
Cleric said nothing as he began to 'ominously" waddle towards the fishing pair. Due to his oversized robe, he had to be careful not to trip.
The healer continued approaching them, like a brawler walking towards his next opponent. But due to his tiny size, it would've taken him at least 2 minutes to get to where Elizabeth was.
But then he tripped on his own robe and fell forward, landing straight on his helmet.
"Oh dear, are you okay?" Elizabeth and the Samurai walked over to him within seconds.
Cleric quickly picked himself up and looked up at the two woman.
"Why aren't you with the summoner? Did you want to see the lake or something?"
The small knight shook his head before pointing at Elizabeth's foot.
"Huh?"
The Samurai let out a gentle laugh, "It appears he wishes to heal your injury, Elizabeth."
Wrapped around one of Elizabeth's toes was a small piece of cloth with a blood stain on it, "Ooooooh! This? Oh yeah, this morning I accidentally kicked the wall on my way out. It hurt like hell. It feels better now but it does ache a bit when I walk on this foot. I don't mind if you have a look but are you sure? It looked pretty gross last time I checked."
The tiny healer nodded enthusiastically before pulling out a small metal staff from behind his back which they thought was adorable.
He then knelt down next to Elizabeth's toe and unwrapped the cloth. Elizabeth was surprised to see that Cleric wasn't bothered by the sight of the wound, although, the Samurai knew it was because Cleric had already seen far worse.
The healer poked the ground with his staff and a small transparent cube appeared on top of it. They both watched Cleric with interest as the knight did his magic. He grabbed the tiny cube with his leather glove and rested it on top of Elizabeth's injured toe nail.
The cube laid there for a brief moment before it started sinking into her toe like butter melting into hot rice. Afterwards, he stretched his hand out and used one more heal skill he had.
After his treatment, the wound... was still there. It hadn't healed completely and it still hurt to walk on that foot... But it did feel less painful now which had already exceeded Elizabeth's expectation tenfold.
"Aww, it feels so much better now!" She gently patted the knight with her index finger as thanks, "Thank you so much Cleric! That's so kind of you!"
The Samurai smiled while Cleric seemed incredibly delighted that he was able to help.
He then stared at the Samurai, ready to heal her.
But after taking a moment to observe the Samurai's state... he just started crying.
The Samurai and Elizabeth could only blink in slight confusion.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
An Arthur and a Zeno fake were walking through the village, talking casually when suddenly the Arthur fake tripped over his foot and fell roughly onto the rocky ground.
Arthur hissed at the pain.
"Whoa, are you okay?" Zeno asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, I'm fine." He got up, shook his hands and rubbed his sore knees.
"Be careful there, brother. You might fall on something sharp next ti-"
He stopped talking when he spotted a certain someone in the village, staring directly at them with an intense look. Staring intensely at Arthur to be more precise.
This individual kept staring as he gripped his staff tightly. The two fakes easily recognised him as Cleric.
Arthur and Zeno looked at each other as if checking whether the other had done something wrong to the child. Their first assumption was that Cleric must've been angry at them for some reason because the small healer began pacing towards them like a solider marching to their next battle.
It seemed menacing yet really funny at the same time.
Zeno laughed a bit, "What did you do to him, brother?"
"I didn't do anything. At least I don't think I-"
The healer suddenly tripped and fell on his helmet which made a small "clank" noise.
Slightly panicked, the two men walked up to the knight within seconds, a trip that would've taken the small Cleric 3 minutes to walk.
Arthur assisted Cleric with his finger to help him stand back up. But once Cleric was up again, instead of letting go, he latched onto Arthur's finger, refusing to let go.
It was then, Zeno connected two and two together, "Ooooh! I think I vaguely remember overhearing that Cleric was a healer."
"Ohh really?"
They both looked down at Arthur's hand to see that Cleric was already doing his magic, placing healing cubes at the exact location where it hurt.
The Arthur neutral was pleasantly surprised to see the pain lessen as the cubes 'melted' into his hand, "Wow! That's amazing Cleric! Thank you!"
Cleric's mood brightened even further, especially after getting patted on the head. But after he was done with Arthur's hands, the knight pointed at Arthur's knees since they also got hurt when he fell.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Eve9654 peacefully sat by one of the huts , sewing another pair of clothes purely for the fun of it. Initially she had made clothes for everyone purely based on trial and error along with vague things she heard from human conversation.
But the Samurai swiftly picked up on Eve's hobby for weaving and offered to teach her a few things about it which Eve gratefully accepted.
If Eve had to be honest, the Samurai's tips quickly showed her how redundant and unnecessarily tedious her previous method of weaving was. Now she found it so much more simpler thanks to the Samurai which almost hurt her pride a little. However, the Samurai actually complemented Eve, saying she had a "natural talent" for weaving clothes which did make Eve feel really good about herself.
"Umm, ah, excuse me."
Eve looked up from her weaving, "Oh hello Sage! How can I help you?"
"Oh no no, it's n-nothing but," Sage seemed a bit shy all of a sudden but Eve was patient, "it's just that... you know, I'm a healer now so like... I have to train cause I kinda just started so ah... to train I have to use my skills and... well... what I'm saying is... basically if you're unwell or anything, you can... come to me and let me know..."
Sage awkwardly gave a thumbs up and smiled, hoping it would lessen her nerves. Her right foot was drawing circles in the sand.
Eve laughed, "Of course! I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I can let the others know as well if you want."
"Oh really! That would- wait..." The Sage stopped herself, "actually, no... I'll do that myself because I want to take the chance to meet the others."
"I see, well you're more than welcome to. Trust me, none of them bite so no need to be nervous."
"Hahaha, I was that obvious huh," Lily scratched her head, "well then, I got more people to talk to so I'll get goi-"
"Sage."
"Y-yeah?"
"Thank you."
Sage stopped for a moment. She hadn't done anything and yet Eve thanked her. It wasn't fake or a smile made of pity. The smile on Eve's face was made out of genuine gratitude. This was the first time Lily had been thanked by someone who wasn't the Samurai, let alone, for something she hadn't even done yet. It helped fire her up a bit. Driven by the urge to help others, Lily smiled back with a bit more confidence.
"I'll do my best!" The Sage excitedly left to find the other fakes who she had yet to meet properly.
It had been a while since they had any newcomers so seeing the Sage's eager desire to fit in and find her place here warmed Eve's heart.
She was about to continue her weaving when she suddenly felt something tug at her leg. She looked down and saw a tiny Cleric staring up at her.
"Oh hello dear, were you here the whole time? Sorry I didn't notice you. What's the matter?"
Cleric replied by pointing at Eve's hands. Eve looked at her hands. They were completely red, covered in small cuts and pricks. It hurt just to move her fingers. As someone who always worked with a needle, Eve had grown quite used to this. It was always worth the pain if she was able to continue her passion. She would sometimes see these cuts as trophies: a constant reminders of her hard work. With that said...
"You want to treat my hands?"
Cleric nodded eagerly.
She smiled as she lowered her hands towards him, "Aww, what a sweet child."
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
"Hey Eve, have you seen Cleric lately?" I asked.
"Yes. Yes I did." Eve9654 answered as she looked at her hands with a fascinated look, "He was just here but then he went that way."
"That way?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked to where Eve had pointed.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Arthur6239 clutched his chest and coughed violently for a few moments. He hung onto the edge of the tub and stood there for a moment, still clutching his chest. He slowed down his breath and after he finally calmed down, he climbed into the tub.
He sighed in relief as he sinked into the makeshift bath.
Near Fake Town but not too close to it was a small hut which the villagers had named "the bath house" which really just consisted of an empty small room with a moderately large, rusty, circular tub accompanied by a small bucket.
There was only one so far, so everyone took turns, and it was finally his time to enjoy this privilege. Although the tub has to be filed up manually so multiple trips to the well and back must be made in order to fill it up. Fake Town's well is 'unlimited' so they used the water for all sorts of things including this.
To give some personal space, the 'builders' decided to put the bath hut away from the well since it was a place that people would frequently visit so there was some distance between the two place. This was a decision that the builders may or may not have regretted afterwards since buckets of water aren't easy to carry. But there were always people willing to help with that.
For Arthur, it was all worth it. Just for these few minutes that he had to relax while washing off some of the filth on his body. The water itself was cold but he would never even dream of touching hot water.
The tub was circular and not that wide or tall. Basically, you can't stretch your legs while in it and the water only goes up to your stomach, so you have to use the small bucket to wash your upper body. It didn't seem like much but to the people of this town, it was considered a fortunate blessing.
He let out a sigh of relief, ready to savour every minute he got to stay here.
But then his ear begun to hear something he had never heard before while bathing.
There were the usual sounds like the waving grass, the chirping crickets, and the gentle wind. But there was one more sound mixed in with all the rest.
Were those footsteps? They didn't sound like the footsteps of anyone from the village.
Since there were no windows, Arthur cautiously opened the door slightly and peaked his head out to look.
There he was. Cleric. The famous tiny healer that everyone Fake Town had been talking about.
The healer was marching directly towards the bath hut with an intense waddle like a knight marching towards the final boss of his journey. When Arthur and Cleric made eye contact, it only made the child waddle even faster.
If they're not wearing any clothes, it'll be easier to spot any open wounds that need healing. Cleric innocently thought to himself with a bit too much determination.
Arthur awkwardly looked around, completely baffled by the situation, "Ummm... ahhh..."
'Should I call for help?', a question that Arthur had to genuinely ask himself.
Due to his small size, it would take at least 4 or so minutes for Cleric to actually reach the door. Arthur just sat there, staring as the child knight gradually approached with the speed of a setting sun.
"CLERIC!" I yelled as I ran towards him.
My second knight was quite startled when he heard me. I picked him up from the ground, placed him on my palm and bowed apologetically towards Arthur. Arthur laughed nervously, saying it was fine and that he knew Cleric just wanted to help.
On the way back, Cleric apologised even though he was clearly very confused.
I chuckled gently as I patted his head, "Don't worry about it. Just know that when the people here take a bath, they usually want some personal private time to clear their heads, ok?"
Cleric softly nodded he head... before he went straight to sleep right in my hands. How did he do that so quickly?
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
In the time that we've lived here, Alfred has only gotten familiar with a few neutrals in the village, mainly the ones who consistently approach him every day. He was surprisingly picky with who he got close with. Or maybe he was just shyer when he's in his smaller form.
Cleric on the other hand made it his end goal to meet every single person in the village.
After I showed him around, he immediately asked for my permission to go around the place himself.
As long as he didn't wander away from the town, I was fine with it but part of me wanted to spend more time with him. He was born not too long ago after all.
But then again, I shouldn't stand in the way of my knight's passion. He seemed really committed to the role of a healer by making sure he reached every single person. Even after I pulled him away from Arthur's bath time, Cleric eagerly wanted to move onto the next person.
"Hey Aria!" I greeted.
"Oh hey Summoner."
"Have you seen Cleric lately?"
"Oh yeah you just missed him. He was right here a moment ago but went to chase after Yukari over there."
At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up meeting half the village by the end of today.
"I see. I hope he didn't bother you or anything."
"Oh not at all, quite the opposite actually. Your second knight is so sweet! He healed a small scratch on my arm that I didn't even know was there in the first place. Tell him I said thanks when you get the chance."
"Will do."
It hadn't been that long and yet Cleric seemed to have already made a name for himself here.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
Outside, I leaned against the wall of one of the huts as I looked through my skill tree.
But in the middle of my theories, I felt something tug on my pants.
I looked down to see Cleric looking up at me.
"Tired again?"
He nodded as he sleepily rubbed his helmet.
I smiled as I picked him up and rested him on my lap before using part of my shirt to cover him like a blanket.
He snuggled in before swiftly falling asleep. I watched him for a moment, admiring how surreal it felt to have such a tiny life in your hands.
Meanwhile, Alfred was playing a sword game with one of the Arthur fakes he had grown close to.
After exactly one hour, Cleric woke up and continued pursuing more people in the village. Is he timing his naps? But how?
That was the third time he had done that today.
On the fourth time, I asked about this pattern of his out of curiosity and Cleric explained that he had a passive that restored his energy and "MP" whenever he is 'near his summoner". Some skill trees, typically the magic ones, require the user to spend a certain thing called MP to activate certain skills. I believe MP is the abbreviation for mana points or magic points, although, no one actually knows that for sure. I heard that some of those skills don't have cooldown timers and can be spammed as long as they have enough MP for it.
Cleric and the Sage both had a "MP bar" that limited how much MP they can store. The Samurai, Reaper and I didn't have such a thing. Although, when I first picked summoner, I initially assumed I would have one. Summoners are typically the magic type, after all.
"Can you see your MP bar?" I asked.
He said no but the skills will notify him whenever he doesn't have enough MP to activate a skill. Considering no one can normally see their 'health points' or HP, that made sense.
Currently, it seemed the only way Cleric can regain his MP is by returning back to me. In a way, I was literally his recharge tower. How fascinating.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
"Hey Summoner, I'm about to hunt for everyone's dinner, you coming?" Asked the Reaper.
"Yeah sure! Let me just call Alf-" I stopped when I saw Arthur, who was playing with Alfred earlier, kneeling down looking slightly panicked.
I immediately ran over to him. When I did, I heard that familiar clanking noise that my knights make when they cry.
I saw Alfred laying on the ground, his entire body shaking. He had grown tinier than he was before. Arthur was kneeling down to him but he didn't want to touch Alfred, probably afraid that he might make things worse.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Oh Summoner! I'm so sorry, we were playing with imaginary and then he just suddenly collapsed like this. I'm not sure why though."
I knelt down and placed my hand on him, "What's wrong Alfred?"
This didn't seem like fatigue.
He said he "wasn't feeling well" which was the only explanation her could give. Since his one heal skill doesn't work on himself, the first thing his instincts told him to do was shrink himself but it didn't work from the looks of it.
I wasn't sure how to approach this so the first thing I did was ask Arthur to go find Cleric while I brought him inside to lay down under cover.
This was certainly an unexpected experience. Alfred's inner body is completely hollow hence he's immune ordinary poison so I assumed he couldn't get sick. I observed him and spotted a few spots on his armour that had turned into this orange-brown colour.
My second knight arrived a few minutes later, standing on top Arthur's hands. He had a look at his older brother while asking questions about where it hurt and other specifics.
Alfred kept trembling.
"Is he crying or shivering," I asked.
Cleric replied "both".
It's called "rust". Well, that's the name Cleric decided to give it. He said it wasn't serous and that it was like the common human cold.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
Cleric replied by saying he had an "analysis" skill that could check people's health. Although similar to skill descriptions, the analysis skill gave vague diagnosis such as "good", "bad" or "very bad".
It turned out that turning tiny was a good move on Alfred's part because it shrunk his sickness as well.
Cleric gently tapped his older brother with his tiny staff and use a few "cure" skills that surrounded Alfred in a small cube. I was absolutely blown away at that moment because it was then, I realised that Cleric must've already learned a few new skills just from going around and checking up on people.
Alfred's shivers slowed down.
"How did you know to use a cure skill instead of a heal skill?" I asked.
Cleric... just shrugged, he said he 'just knew'. Now that I thought about it, when Alfred was first born, he already knew about the concept of combat and monsters despite never seeing the outside world.
Alfred stood up and looked at himself. The rusty spots on his armour were no longer there. The first thing he did was make himself taller than Cleric. He even used his hand to double check that he was in fact, the taller one.
After that, the small Alfred proceeded to give the even smaller Cleric a big yet tiny, bear hug.
To put it simply, it was the most adorable thing that Arthur and I had ever witnessed.
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
It was time for dinner so as always, everyone in Fake Town gathered in the middle of the village around the fire to distribute the food.
The food was nice as always. Enough to go around and cooked just right under the fire that illuminated our feast.
I watched as Alfred slowly approached Cleric with his hands behind his back. Cleric titled his head, wondering what he was doing.
My first knight then pulled out two pairs of forks & knives, pleasantly surprisingly the healer who happily accepted Alfred's gift. The miniature forks and knives were perfect for their size. This was probably another reason why Alfred preferred to be small, so he could use his fancy, cutlery.
I giggled at the sight.
But then, Cleric proceeded to pull out two, miniature, white plates from behind his back which shocked both of us.
Safe to say, Alfred was ecstatic. He jumped up and down to show his excitement and gratitude. Before this, he used to eat the meat on his lap in order to use the fork and knife and would have to wash himself afterwards. Even though everyone just ate with their hands, it was a personal preference of his to always eat with his fork and knife whenever he was small. But now that he had Cleric's plates, getting his lap dirty was no longer an issue.
Alfred gladly traded a fork and a knife for one plate.
My two small knights approached me and raised their miniature plates towards me. A few Aria fakes and I laughed as I placed tiny pieces of meat on both of their plates. Tiny for me but massive for them.
They sat down next to each other with their plates rested on their laps before they started cutting it up with their cutlery and feasting.
Other neutral fakes spotted Alfred's and Cleric's new addition to their cutlery and laughed at how cute it was.
Sage seemed to be enjoying herself among the company of the whole village. It must've been ages since she last shared a meal with this many people.
The Reaper ate comfortably as her fellow Yukari fakes playfully chatted with each other around her. Occasionally they would bring her into the conversation or even tease her like they always do.
Unknowing to most of us, watching us talk and eat from the roof of one of the huts... was the Scout.
He had an invisibility skill so he couldn't be seen by the naked eye which was what he preferred.
Behind him, the Reaper's hand protruded from a shadow, holding more food which the Scout grabbed as he always does. This was already his third serving and he'll most likely have to eat a fourth just like other Arthur fakes.
He ate in peaceful silence, watching over everyone. This was his favourite spot, especially during dinner time. He even had a skill that made his body lighter so he could sit here and enjoy the view without having to worry about damaging or falling through the roof. The lake view was one thing but for the Scout, nothing was more beautiful than the sight of the people of Fake Town enjoying and mingling amoung each other.
He let out a sigh of relief before continuing his dinne-
"You should not be up here Scout, what if you fall and hurt your leg?" Said the Samurai as she leaned her head over the Scout's shoulder.
Few moments later, everyone collectively stopped eating when they heard the sound of an Arthur fake screaming. He must've gotten jump-scared or something.
Which was shortly followed by the Samurai's voice saying, "Come on, don't be shy. Go play with your friends."
At that moment, I could've sworn I heard the Scout mumble back, "I-I-I'm n-not a kid."
The Reaper and I made eye contact as we were both probably thinking of the thing: this was most likely what happened back when the Scout first visited the Blue Mountain.
The Scout awkwardly sat between two Arthur fakes who both chuckled as one of them patted him on the back.
The Reaper slowly rose up from her seat, turned towards the Scout, took in a deep breath... before laughing hysterically, "BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The Scout covered his face to avoid people from seeing his cheeks turning red. To my utter shock, he yelled back, "REAPER SHUT UP! DON'T TALK TO ME!"
"She wasn't talking to you," One of the Arthur fakes commented, "she was just laughing at you-"
"SHUT UP! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!"
It was the first time I had ever heard the Scout raise his voice like that. Then again, I've barely heard the Scout talk at all. He usually communicated with me through messages on leaves.
The mood returned to its usual liveliness after everyone had a good laugh at the banter between the Scout and the Reaper. The fakes near him continued to interact with him, however, they seemed fully aware of how shy the Scout was so they made sure they were the ones carrying the conversation.
It was then I spotted Cleric staringat the Scout. The tiny healer's eyes locked onto him as soon as the Scout was exposed. His stare almost felt menacing but in a comedic way due to his size. Now that I think about it, I never told Cleric about the Scout so this was probably his first time hearing about him. My second knight proceeded to put his plate down and begin waddling intensely towards the Scout, fully prepared to give his medical check-up.
I stopped him with one reach of my arm, "Cleric, finish your food first."
The Samurai returned to her seat next to Sage who was nervously laughing, "Umm Sensei?... Maybe you should go a little easier on him next time. I think you ripped him straight out of his comfort zone... like, literally."
"Hahaha, well he does seem very stiff right now so perhaps so. However, I do not see the harm in connecting with your people every now and th..." The Samurai stopped as she looked up at the dark sky.
"Hmm?" The Sage's mouth was stuffed full with food as she asked, "What's wrong Sensei?"
"It seems it is going to rain tonight."
...
-I-I-I-I-
…
And rain it did. Heavily, in fact. Our gathering was cut short because of it.
We all retreated indoors and called it a night.
Even if we did have a roof above our heads, all my roommates (Lily3209 likes to refer to us as roommates) including me were far from dry. A lot of water droplets leaked through the roof but after hearing the rain roar, all of us were more than grateful.
Excluding Cleric and Alfred, there was about six of us, all laying down on mats, our arms squished up against each other as always. It was great that Alfred learned how to shrink himself. When he was stuck in his bigger form, he and I would have to sleep against the wall to make more room.
The heavy rain was not the only thing that this harsh night had to offer. The wind that effortlessly carried this horde of rain drops was also quite vicious and boisterous. I found it very difficult to peacefully drift to sleep as I very worried about-
CRASH!
Everyone instantly rose up at the sound.
"ALFRED!" I called out.
Alfred transformed back into his biggest form and we both bolted out the door while everyone else stayed inside.
At the same time, the Scout, Reaper, Samurai and the Sage all bolted out their own huts.
About six of our older villager houses had collapsed. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened but this was probably a high score.
We all split up.
I practically dove towards the nearest one as Alfred helped me remove the debris and pull out the neutrals who had been buried under it. Luckily the huts themselves were small so there wasn't much debris to remove.
I pulled Zeno out first while Alfred pulled out two others. Even though Zeno was bruised and in pain, he helped us pull out the others.
The Reaper and the Scout worked together to evacuate all the people in two of the collapsed huts. Yukari's shadow jacket helped a lot with removing the debris.
The Samurai single-handedly evacuated everyone out of the other three by the time the Reaper, the Scout and I came to help.
Once everyone was accounted for, we split them up between the other houses that thankfully were still standing.
In order to give the injured ones more room to lay down, we moved some people out.
So there I was, soaking wet and squished up against more than a dozen or so people. We all slept sleeping upright against the wall or against each other.
We all breathed out a sigh of relief once the whole ordeal was over. We were all drenched as if an ocean had slapped us in the face but we were relieved, nonetheless.
Alfred rested on my lap as Cleric walked over people's heads to check to on their health which they greatly adored him for.
The Sage and the Samurai were here as well.
A bit of guilt rose up inside of me as I was reminded of the brief time I spent at their previous home. The Samurai's previous home cottage was so comfortable and well built that compared to this, it must've felt like a mansion. I could still remember the feeling of sleeping on an actual bed.
I looked over at the both of them.
My roommate Lily3209 and the Sage were hugging each other for warmth. I did recall seeing them befriend each other earlier today.
As for the Samurai. She had two people resting on both of her shoulders and another person resting their head on her lap. Her katana that she rested against her front shoulder was just as drenched as she was. It was freezing cold, the hut was packed to its limit with barely any room to spare and the loud, boisterous rain was determined to make sure none of us would get any good sleep.
Honestly, she had every reason to feel miserable at that moment and yet... the Samurai held a warm smile.
...
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End Chapter
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A/N: Important Update:
Chapter 1 has been rewritten
Not every chapter will be changed as much as I changed chapter 1. I'm mainly planning on going through each previous chapter to fix typos and grammar mistakes but chapter 1 just so happened to have a lot of things that I wanted to fix, especially the info dumping I did in that chapter. I'm pretty proud of the changes I made so I would appreciate it if you went back to re read chapter 1. HOWEVER, I do understand that a lot of you might not want to re read a chapter you've already experienced so here is a dot point list that hopefully summarises all the changes I made. The chapter 1 'patch notes' you could say:
- The initial chapter had 3,500 words. Now it has over 6k words (More scenes and less exposition dumps)
- The A-rank monster that the main character sees in the beginning now has a name added "Ulbrok: The Destructive Calamity." This name was actually mentioned briefly in chapter 12.
- For world building purposes, there is an extra scene of two soldiers trying to fight the A-rank monster before the original Aria arrives. They both died but this also expands a little bit more about Ulbrok's abilities.
- An extra scene has been added on how the Original Aria defeated the orge which later on builds onto why the main character quits trying to copy the original (because it further highlighted the difference in strength between her and the orignal).
- The Nine Heroes who defeated the demon lord are called "The Nine Original Heroes", I just thought this title made a lot more sense within the context of this world.
- A few more lines added to the introduction of the crowd of Aria Fakes that shows up right after the Original Aria appeared just to make their introduction a bit more smooth and hopefully less confusing.
- More detailed added to the scene when the horde of Aria fakes that were crowding around the Original Aria, trying desperately to reach her. They start off as happy and cheering but they soon get desperately, they start crying out to her and try to grab her leg but none of them can fly like the original so they can't reach her.
- An extra detail added about the Original Aria compared to the aria fakes. The Original Aria has four wings. So not only are the wings of the Aria fakes more dirty and smaller, they only have the two lower wings and not the two upper wings that the original has. Not a single Aria fake has ever been able to fly, let alone, unlock the two upper wings. This will be relevant for a distant future chapter.
- More detail and more dialogue has been added to the scene where the main character camps with the other aria fakes on the way back to the capital city. She tried multiple times to tell the other fakes about how a fake can never be like the original but she could never muster the courage to do so.
- I cut out things that I deemed unnecessary.
- I reorganised the info dumps so that it's more spread out through the chapter rather than dumped on you in one entire scene.
- THE CAPITAL CITY HAS A NAME. (Which i probably should've had earlier but i'm bad with names): so the city where the Main character changed her skill tree is called Bostina which is Capital City of Elacia. Elacia being the name of the continent. Info about Elacia and other continents will be addressed in future distant chapters. The "forest" which is the place where the Samurai brought Julie to, is considered it's own continent.
- Originally, the main character has 8 choices to pick from when she went through her skill reset. This has been changed to 14. Including the angel class, she had a total of 14 skill trees to pick from.
Hopefully, I covered everything there. As always, any feedback or suggestions is always appreciated.
Once again, I don't think changes to the other previous chapters will be as much as chapter 1. I just thought it was important that I improve it by a lot since it is the first impression that new readers will be getting. I'll be sure to let you know in future author's notes (A/N) about all the changes I make as I go through each previous chapter. It's certainly going to take a while catch up.
Chapter 20 has been finished.
It just needs proofreading. It has over 13k words and I will post that sometime next week.
I do apologise for the long wait. Chapter 19 and 20 were meant to be one chapter but I was forced to split them since it was way too long. I faced a ton load of writer's block when writing this and my life has also been quite busy. Especially right now, I'm going to be a lot busier since I'm no longer on holiday and back to studying so updates will be very slow for the time being.
Also I know the inclusion of these author's notes (A/N) kinda makes the presentation of these chapters look a bit messy, I eventually do plan on to remove them all one at a time as we go on.
If you're reading, thank you so much reading to this point and not forgetting about this story XD. I really do appreciate all the readers and those who even leave a comment/review. Thank you all.
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This chapter was finished on the 20/03/2023
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