Chapter 7 – Of The Second Time The Necromencer’s Plans Were Upset
“Fwaaaah!”
As the hero awoke with the morning sun, in a bed at the inn, she stretched her arms mightily. The sky outside was blue, and she felt energetic, strong, and ready to go.
“Okay! Today’s another day to give it everything I’ve got!”
She energized herself with a quick slap to each cheek, then used that energy to spring out of bed.
This was important, because the warm sunlight was so comfortable it made her want to climb right back under the covers. But it would be just a little bit too indulgent to squander such a beautiful day on oversleeping.
She quickly dressed. Her body was still youthful, but it had the curves of a maturing woman. Thinking about what was to come later that day, she made sure to wear her armor, too. Finally, she took up her enchanted sword, her faithful companion, and she was ready. One had to equip oneself with both weapons and armor, or there was no point.
“Gooood morning, everybody!”
She flung open the door and leaped into the hallway, going nimbly from the atrium to the first floor.
Luckily, due to the early hour, there were not many people in the tavern yet. The only one watching her as she made her silent landing was a wide-eyed waitress on a morning shift.
Sword Master—her companion, who had already gotten up and eaten an early breakfast—gave a sigh of scant surprise. “…Look at you, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a night’s sleep. What are you, a kid?”
“Huh? Isn’t this normal?” Hero plopped down across from Sword Master with her head cocked, letting her legs dangle. She immediately grabbed some bread from the basket in the middle of the table, slathering it with butter and stuffing it into her mouth.
Mmm, delicious!
“Oh, I’ll have… Let’s see. I want the sausage and fried egg!”
“Y-yes, ma’am! Right away!”
“Oh, and bread! With plenty of butter!”
The waitress observed this audacious behavior in a daze, then scuttled off to the kitchen.
“Huh? Is our third still asleep?”
“Things did go late last night.”
Sword Master smacked Hero’s hand, which was outstretched for another piece of bread, and looked up at the bedrooms on the second floor. He appeared concerned about Sage, who was not yet awake.
“Well, there were an awful lot of them!”
“And our party is not able to use Dispel.”
That meant they could not return ghosts and undead to the earth. As a result, they had to cut off the head of the Necromancer’s army—literally. If the king had not taken the bulk of the enemy forces, it would have been very difficult.
“It would be so great if I could just clear all the way to the horizon with one sweep!”
“Stop that. If you could do that, it would be terrifically dangerous.”
“You think?”
As she mumbled, “Really…?” and swung her legs, Hero very much gave the impression of a little girl. Sword Master found it hard to believe she was the hero—in the best way. All he could do was swing a sword, but he wanted to help her if he could.
“Oh, hey, I had a weird dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yeah. The gods, right? They were like, Go to that one town .”
Sword Master took pause when she said this. He had no knowledge of such magic or divine secrets. His understanding extended to “kill this, stab that.”
“…That is an Oracle, a handout.”
The subdued voice came from above.
A girl wearing an overcoat and holding a staff came trotting down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. Sage—one of the great spell casters of this world.
“Morning!” Hero waved at her, and Sage replied with a nod. She pulled out a chair and sat down. Hero narrowed her eyes in happiness at the familiar sight of the three of them around a table.
“…What kind of town?”
“Hmm. Maybe they were having a festival? There was this…kind of fuzzy light.”
“Is that everything?”
“And there was this huge storm, like bwah! Maybe it was a giant?”
“…I have a guess.”
Sage murmured one or two words to create a spell and pulled a rounded sheepskin paper out of thin air. Sword Master had no idea what was going on, but she occasionally produced things this way. Spread on the table, it turned out to be a map of the frontier. Sage pointed to a certain spot with the end of her staff.
“…Here.”
“All riiiight!”
Hero made a fist just as the waitress arrived with her food, saying, “Sorry for the wait.”
“Want anything?” Sword Master asked, and Sage replied briefly, “An omelet.”
Hero laughed as she applied ketchup liberally to her fried egg.
“I guess we know where our next adventure will be!”
It was true: adventures took place everywhere in this world.
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