Raphtalia was not exactly sure what was happening.
The day had started pretty normal, or as anything could be as normal when you were the slave of a cardinal hero, with getting breakfast and then going out to kill some monsters so that lord Naofumi could level up. It wasn't something she enjoyed, especially since lord Naofumi always had a very scary face in whenever they hunted, but it was definitely better than the days when… when…
No, deep breaths.
As she was saying, the day had been going more or less normal. But then some sort of mage came out of nowhere, really scaring her, and after talking to lord Naofumi for a little while; lord Naofumi started to cry.
She had never seen her master cry. Most of the time the cardinal hero was angry and when he wasn't angry, he tended to furious instead. She thought that she might have seen something akin to a smile while he was cooking once or twice.
But she had never seen him crying.
After that the mysterious mage started to talk with lord Naofumi about things her lord did not know of their world, his reactions were rather interesting.
She had been rather afraid when the mage told her lord that if he tried to go to another country, he might end up causing a war. She did not know what a war would be like but her parents had told her and her friends in the village horror stories about how terrible war could be, something Sadeena had agreed with. She had such a haunted look in her eyes.
After their conversation ended, lord Naofumi looked like he was about to pull his hair out with frustration. Considering some of the things she had heard in their conversation, Raphtalia could not really blame him though. That was when the mage dropped another bomb.
"You could join me." At his words lord Naofumi jerked up before looking at the mage with a confused gaze.
"Join you? You mean like a party?" He asked but the mage shook his head.
"Unfortunately no, I have certain things I need to do so being one party wouldn't really work. Not to mention me getting the attention of the church for joining your party or you getting that attention due to your party getting bigger could lead to some unpleasant complications." The mage explained and lord Naofumi nodded, even though hearing such a thing did seem to have put him in a rather bad mood.
"What I'm talking about is an alliance. A pact of us helping each other from behind the scenes, at least until you manage to somewhat clear your name. For a start..." The mage trailed off as he raised his hand and Raphtalia's eyes widened as his hand disappeared into some sort of black space!
"I will be giving you these." The mage said as he pulled his hand out and presented them with... a pair of rings?
"They are called 'Ring of Haste', they make their wearer slightly faster. I honestly would like to give you something better but too much of a power up all of a sudden would put people on alert." The mage said as he flicked the rings towards lord Naofumi who caught them in air and looked at them before his eyes slightly widened, he must have used one of his skills as a hero in order to affirm what the mage had said.
"Why are you helping me?" Lord Naofumi asked with a… not glare but not exactly a neutral look either.
"There are several reasons. Like the fact that you dying would likely cause Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden to declare war, which we really do not want while also dealing with Waves."
"They would actually declare was while literal apocalypse is happening?" Lord Naofumi asked with a raised eyebrow and Raphtalia could not help but look at the mage for an answer.
"The ones who declare the war are the politicians and nobles, meaning the people who won't have to fight either in the war or the Waves. That fact makes them ignore the super cool fact that Waves won't stop until they destroy everything unless their bosses are defeated, which they seem to think to be possible by simply sending more bodies at it." The mage said with a smile and Raphtlia could not help but stare at him with her mouth open with shock. She knew people could be cruel, slavery had taught her rather well, but didn't think that they could be so self destructive.
"There is also the fact that you are still a cardinal hero, comparing your potential to the potential of a random person in this world is like comparing an ant to a dragon. I need strong comrades for the future, which is why I am actively helping you and offering you a pact instead of giving you help once, combined with some mysterious one liner that sounds wise even though it doesn't mean anything, and then went on my way." The mage said with a smile and lord Naofumi snorted at his words, looking darkly amused.
"You know, I'm kinda glad you didn't try to convince me that you were doing this out of the goodness of your heart." Lord Naofumi said and the mage chuckled.
"Come now, I would only do that with one of the otherthree. They seem just dumb enough to fall for it." The mage said and Raphtalia took a step back, not liking the way he was talking about what she could only assume to be the remaining cardinal heroes.
"Anyway, as I already said, I have some other stuff to do. Important stuff. I will try, and more than likely succeed, to be back in contact with you before the Wave starts. We can talk more then so please do get your level higher and do not get yourself killed. Speaking of which, catch!" The mage talked with a smirk before throwing something at lord Naofumi, who caught it in midair and looked at it with a frown. Some sort of red stone?
"Your shield powers up by absorbing materials, the rarer the better I believe, so that should be helpful. Till next time." The mage said with a smile and gave a bow before vanishing before their eyes.
"Smug bastard." Lord Naofumi said but despite his words he was smiling as he put the stone that the mage gave him into his shield, letting it absorb and turn into a rectangular shield of scarlet color, almost as tall as lord Naofumi with huge flame like patterns on it.
"Jackpot." Lord Naofumi said with a wide smile and Raphtalia decided that even though the mage had been a little scary, he was not a really bad person. Much like her lord.
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