One Hundred And Twenty-Nine

One Hundred And Twenty-Nine

“It seems to be going all right.” I observed from my vantage point overlooking the enemy Territory. Shaeula was behind me, still favouring her injured limb, although my efforts and her natural recovery had left it in much better shape.

“Well, one thing you can rely on trolls for-for is destruction.” She sniffed. Down below several trolls were making use of their great vitality and the heavy armour I had gifted them with, slamming into the defensive barrier with reckless abandon. Orc corpses were diminishing to ether, where they had foolishly challenged the trolls. Bolts of aetheric light were occasionally slamming into our forces, but even the more powerful bolt of the Sniper Emplacement was not enough to bring a troll down, though the armour was starting to look ragged, punched full of metal craters.

Damn, I’m going to have to fix them all later, aren’t I? A leaders’ work is never done...

Still, with several smaller groups of Trolls and Grulgor attacking other places, the defenders were stretched thin. And when enemy forces gathered to repel one attack en-masse, that was when Shaeula and I started our own assaults, blasts of wind and fire weakening the barrier. Defensive barriers were strong, but against such persistent attacks, it was already starting to collapse in places. Still... Yeah, breaking the barrier is the easy part. Once in the Territory we’ll be weakened, and have to fight against that wraith on her own terms. Still, I’ve kept Foehn hidden for that reason...

Shaeula lowered her hand, spears of wind slamming down on the barrier in multiple places, shards of emerald energy pushing through and blasting the ground within. “No need to overthink things Akio. We do not-not need to rush. Once the foe is exhausted and overstretched, then we should strike!”

I nodded, ruffling her hair. “Yeah... the only concern is if the master of the Territory comes forth, but then... beating him head-on offers several outcomes which could benefit us.”

“In that case-case, you should return to the Material. You have been here long, your fatigue is showing.”

I was pretty tired. I had spent much effort on Ether Healing, in addition to my crafting exploits. The enemy Territory on my borders was a niggling thorn, one that I wished to excise as quickly as possible, but unless the situation changed we had reached a sort of rough stalemate, so another day to let Shaeula fully recover and get me to peak condition was probably wise. Plus I always have things to do back at the shrine...

“Good advice. You are in charge then. Now that we have a second Kamaitachi to support you, you’ll be fine.”

“Hmph, I would be fine-fine even if I was alone, who do you think I am?”

After some more banter we retreated to the shrine, following the trolls who had also withdrawn, though they headed off to attack another location. I then returned to the Material plane.

Opening my eyes in my shabby apartment, I realised that soon I’d be waking up elsewhere. Surprisingly, I found I’d actually miss it a little. Checking the clock it was just after midday. My phone was also blinking at me, no doubt with missed calls or messages from Karen-chan. Getting up I stretched and ran through a quick workout to loosen my muscles, and while I was winding down my phone rang. Picking it up I was surprised to see the caller wasn’t Karen-chan, but...

“Afternoon, so to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” I answered, getting an indignant squawk from the other end.

“Less with the sarcasm, buster.” Shiro replied. “You know that there are no end of guys who would love to hear my sweet voice in their ear to enliven a dry, dull afternoon. And I know you are one of them, Aki!”Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

“Yeah, well that’s only because they don’t know you, right?” I teased her. “I do, however. And while you may be beautiful, you make up for that by causing trouble. Every time we go out you end up collapsing, and Hayato-san or I end up having to look after you. So, anyway, what’s up? You never answered my question.”

“Ugh, you are just an Aki, you don’t get to talk down to a princess like me! It isn’t my fault I’ve always been frail. Men are supposed to like protecting fragile girls, right, right! So appreciate me more!” She groused, causing me to smile. Shaeula and Shiro, what a pair...

“My bad. So, seriously, why are you calling? I’ve got a lot on, so if it isn’t important...”

“Whoa, everything I want is important. Besides, did you forget? You said when you got back from your trip we’d all get together, the old gang. Besides, apparently Hayato has some news to share. I think you can guess?”

“Yeah, so I won’t tell anyone why you can’t make this weekend.” Shiro finished up. “We might as well have two happy surprises as well as one.”

Is it really a surprise when you already told me about Hayato-san and Hina-chan? Not that it matters, I guess.

“Yeah, well, the drinks’ll be on me.” I promised, bringing a happy agreement from Shiro. “Just... try not to collapse this time, okay? Hayato-san and I shouldn’t be carrying pretty girls around anymore, we are taken.”

“Ugh, Aki has a big head. Fine... I’ll be on my best behaviour, talk to you later, anyway...”

With that call finished I decided to treat myself to a beer. I had to admit it felt pretty good finally having a rebuttal to her teasing. Still, Shiro was a long-term friend, so I didn’t really mind it, it was all in good humour. Opening up a can with a satisfying ting, I took a swig. My phone had other messages, from Karen-chan, as I suspected, so I gave her a call as well.

“Oh, Akio-kun... err, sorry, manager...” Karen-chan began, but I cut her off.

“Akio-kun is fine. No need to stand on ceremony. It’s just you and Shaeula working for me right now, and she’s not big on formalities, so no worries. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Well, I’m here at the shrine, having tea and sweets again. It’s nice, but... well, I feel a bit like a wage thief. There isn’t really much for me to do here, the building work seems to be going smoothly. The plumbers are replacing the toilet and making sure the bath works, as you requested, and over on the main construction site machinery and supplies are being unloaded on schedule. Still, I’ve got to say I’m impressed you knew about the obscure planning laws that allow shrines special privileges. Otherwise there’d have been no way you’d have got permission to build here, not for months or even years...”

Wait, what? I didn’t even think of planning laws... “Yeah, things worked out perfectly.” I chuckled nervously, bluffing. “Anyway, don’t worry about it, just enjoy the downtime, you will be busy in the future to make up for it. Hey, that reminds me...” That’s right. I might as well put her to use...

“Yes, I’m all ears, Akio-kun.”

“There’s a shrine a bit to the north...” I explained about the location of the shrine that matched up with the one our enemy controlled in the Boundary. “... so I’d like you to find out all the information about it. Nothing is too trivial. And if you get chance, you can also scour for rumours about any strange happenings in the surrounding area.”

“... Well, you are the boss. It’s certainly a strange request though.”

“I did say there’d be a few of those, didn’t I? But it’d be helping me out, so I’d appreciate it.”

“Well, like I said, you are paying my wages. I’ll get right on it. Will you be visiting Shirohebizumi today?”

I thought about it before shaking my head. “No, not today. I have other stuff to do. So I’ll leave you to get on with things.”

“Roger that, Akio-kun.” And with that she hung up.

Looking down at my thigh, there was a patch of pale, mostly healed skin, all that remained of the wound that I had suffered in the Boundary version of Takakura Antiques. It was healing at a rapid rate, bolstered by both my Ether Healing and high stats. Though I think I can fix it fully. I don’t want Eri to see my body full of scars after all.

The only ones I would leave would be the faint ones on my abdomen that the dog had left long ago, as they were wounds of pride. Other than that... time to get to work. I’m close to improving the skill again...