“I told you, we don’t need that!” Takana smashed his jug on the table.

“But you agreed before, right?” I said.

“Yeah, and I changed my mind. Any problem with that?”

It was evening and we were in the tavern, discussing on what we should do next. We just finished hunting monsters and we decided to eat in the tavern. Takana’s habit of smashing jug on the table will probably get back to him someday.

“Why don’t we need it?” Fuyuki asked while she was eating her meal.

Takana and I were arguing about whether we should surprise attack them at their base or to create a trap. As I mentioned before, I wanted the trap because it can give us the element of surprise and we had the home advantage while a surprise attack at their base still had the element of surprise, we would lose home advantage.

“There are two things that made me doubt the trap plan.” Takana put up his hand. “First, how can we make them come all the way to the south district? Remember, they have a slow huge kasak with them. They won’t fight unless he’s there, just like me with you guys. Then let’s say that we set up our trap on the north district, we can’t, right? That’s because that is where most kasak stay and if we ran there, who knows how many kasak will turn up. ”

I haven’t thought about that before. I just assumed that they would follow us and he’s right, there are many kasaks in the north district.

“Second, their base were repaired, right? It means that the structure of their houses is somewhat secure. In our base, the house is essentially falling apart. Even if you say that the house still looks stable, it’s basically just like the other houses and establishments we pass through. They’re deteriorating because they’ve been there for a long time.”

I haven’t notice the difference between the floors and now that I think about it, while there are some holes in the base of Bladetree, overall, it’s enough to see that it’s stable enough.

We were all surprised, I mean, who wouldn’t? Takana was known for complaining and always just being annoying, not being smart and observable.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Takana touched his face and checked his body. “Oh, you guys must be falling in love with me! I’m sorry but I only have my eyes on one woman but if you guys want, we can make it to three women.” His eyebrows waggled.

That’s the Takana we know.

“No, it’s just that, out of all people, we didn’t expect you to say those kinds of things. You’re always complaining and being rude about stuff, you know.” I said.

“That’s why I notice these things, it’s because people who often complains sees the little things.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yup, you idiot.” Takana furrowed his eyebrows. “Besides, there are a lot of things that are in stakes here, I can’t just do nothing.”

Takana was right. There are a lot of things that were at stake here. I’m not the only one who was worried, all of us were. Being leader didn’t mean I had to worry and think about this alone; I just had to be in the front, being brave and being with them.

It’s only normal for him to think like that, we came from another world, after all. Except for Merry, everyone here had an education, being in this world makes me forget all about it. Anyway, I should probably ask the others if they had any idea.

“All right, we’ll go with your plan, Takana.”

“Seriously?” Fuyuki was bewildered. Even Merry was a little bit surprised. Kihana was the only girl who was accepting it, at least.

“Wha—“Takana’s eyes widened. “I do have feelings, you know? It’s always like that with you people. I’m part of this party and yet, I feel like my feelings and ideas don’t matter.”

“That’s only normal. People whose attitudes are ugly will always be ostracized.” Fuyuki said.

I never thought of Takana’s feelings. I mean Fuyuki was right, his attitude wasn’t the best. Okay, it was one of the worst attitudes I’d ever seen but he was a human and humans had feelings whether they liked it or not. And as a leader, I had to keep him physically and mentally well. I think that was what written in one of the PowerPoint of my teacher. Just how Hashi did this?

“He’s right, guys. Even though he is an annoying person, he’s part of this party and most of all, our friend. Let’s be careful with our words.”

“Y-Yeah! And don’t forget that, dimwit.”

“…This is why… nevermind.” I took a deep breath. “Does anyone else have any idea that they want to share?”

“I-I do…” Surprisingly, Kihana raised her hand and spoke up. While she was getting used to us, she was still timid towards us boys, only except during and after a battle, where she became kind of a caring mother. “D-Do you guys have any idea why kasaks always had their eyes on me?”

I’ve noticed that, too. I wonder if the others had noticed it.

“They do?” Fuyuki tilted her head.

“I’m in the front, so I have no idea, Kihana.” Takana sounded a bit respectful towards Kihana.

Well, that’s understandable.

“I did notice it but I thought it was just a coincidence.” Merry said. As usual, she was eating her meal which was essentially all made of fish.

“I knew it but I have no idea why they always do that.”

“…I-I think it’s because I am a priest…” Kihana looked at me. “R-Remember when we fought Bladetree and one of the kasak attacked me first? I thought that was just a coincidence but the other day, when we first enter Zone Three, I healed you, Terrin, and the sword kasak looked at me furiously, as if it didn’t like me healing anyone…”

I didn’t see the sword kasak looked at her like that but it does make sense. If the kasaks have their own priest, I would probably target it first, to avoid prolonging the battle.

“Poor Kihana,” Fuyuki hugged Kihana. “I never knew you were in such a danger.” Fuyuki rubbed her face all over Kihana’s face and chest. It took a lot not to look.

“What do you mean you never knew she was in such a danger? Everyone is always in danger during a battle.” Takana looked at Fuyuki like some idiot.

“I know that. I don’t even want to explain to you what I meant.” Fuyuki ignored Takana while continuously hugging and rubbing her face to Kihana.

The two started to bicker again. This time, they were fighting about who got to hug Kihana. I didn’t even know if Kihana had a voice between the two. I chose to ignore them and talked to Merry.

“How about you, Merry? You have anything you want to talk about?”

“No.” She didn’t even look at me. She was eating her meal and clearly, she didn’t want to be disturbed by me. I thought that because when Fuyuki asked for something, she responded properly.

Since she wasn’t up to it, I asked her feelings about facing Bladetree. Just like Hashi last time, we decided that Merry should be the one to face Bladetree. Only she can face him; Takana would be busy with the huge kasak and I can’t handle Bladetree.

“Nothing. I’ve faced more frightening things than Bladetree. On top of it all, unlike every last one, I have friends who will support me,” It would have been more poignant if she weren’t focused on eating her meal while saying that. She then lifted her head up and coldly said, “Except for you Takana and Terrin, I only consider you as ‘some humans’.”

“You could be more honest, Merry, I know you love me.” Takana creepily said.

“She was honest, except for Terrin.” Fuyuki bluntly said. She then switched from hugging Kihana to hugging Merry. “But still, I didn’t know you felt like that. It makes me just want to hug you moreeee.”

“Hey, don’t just ignore me!”

I’m fine if she thinks of me as nothing. That’s what I wanted from her in the first place, to be happy and to have people she can rely on.

“Well, if you’re fine with it, then so am I.” she didn’t respond and continued to eat while Fuyuki was hugging her.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me, I need an helmet.” Takana announced.

“What for?”

“What for? Of course for protection! Don’t you know what a helmet is?”

“I meant, you already have a shield, what’s the helmet for?”

“A helmet is important for a warrior because it makes them look awesome!” Takana pumped his fist, seemingly proud on what he just said. “Hey, don’t look at me like that! Being in the front is really dangerous, you know? One hit in the wrong spot can get you killed, especially in the head. That’s why I need it but not as important as the first reason.”

“You just want to buy it to look cool?”

“Of course I do! Wearing a helmet makes you look brave and cool. That’s why hero’s always have helmet in their monuments!”

I facepalmed. “Okay, then why not just buy it?”

“I may have spent my money on some foods and drinks…” Takana then waved his hands. “Don’t get angry! I might die in that battle, so I’m just doing things that makes me happy before I die.”

This man…is really stupid.

“We’ll help you. You’re our shield, after all. If you’re gone then we’re next. Let’s help him out guys, okay?” I said. I looked back at Takana. “And don’t say you're going to die, you’re making Kihana cry.”

Everyone agreed and we continued to eat our meal.

*

Ever since I’d found the base of Bladetree, I’d been going there at least once a day. I had been taking pictures and videos using the camera and I showed them to everyone.

Other days, they weren’t there and some days, they brought a human with them, dead obviously. Anyway, I was always hidden, no matter what happened.

Bladetree’s kasaks never changed. There were always five of them, just like us. Their weapons of choice were a crossbow, an axe and a buckler, a spear, a wooden club with spikes on it and Bladetree’s curved longsword. Out of the five, Only Bladetree and the huge kasak had armors. Both had a chestplate and only Bladetree had a helmet.

I figured out Bladetree’s style of fighting. His enemy was often a swordsman or a warrior. Bladetree was certainly quick and he had a lot of stamina. Bladetree would often evade attacks in order to drain his enemy’s stamina. After his enemy slowed down, he would slice his enemy, it doesn’t matter if it was deep or not, as long as the poison worked. After that, the enemy would run or keep fighting but the end result was always the same; they would get killed if they didn’t have the proper ability.

As for the other kasaks, it was the same. Unless Bladetree told them to do otherwise, they were fighting the same. The crossbow would often attack the priest, the huge kasak would attacked the biggest in their enemy and the other two were just there to either make a problem or distraction.

The difference on the incoming battle was down to two factors; equipment and abilities. We already had new abilities and the only problem was the equipment. We spend a good three days just to find equipment.

Obviously, we weren’t going to find a good weapon. Even if there were good weapons out there, I’m sure that somebody had already bought it; getting something like that would be akin to winning the lottery. Not only that but they were also expensive. So we had to get the next best thing, second-hand equipment.

Second-hand equipment can be found everywhere, even in the kasaks we were killing. Often, there was a lot of second-hand equipment in a blacksmith or in the market. The market was always full of scam and fraud products, so we opted to the blacksmith. Blacksmiths here were often full of passion and pride in their works, so it showed that they were trustworthy folks when their works were on the line.

After buying, this was our equipment;

For me, I bought a second-hand leather chestplate and as well as some hand and leg armor. I knew they weren’t much but I would rather take some defense rather than not.

Fuyuki’s overall appearance stayed the same, as well as Kihana except for a leather gloves and some outdoor shoes.

Merry needed armor, too. With her chainmail shirt, she wore leather armor on top of it. she also bought some greaves, a vambrace and new leather shoes. Her sword was relatively new, so she didn’t buy another. Except for the sword, all of them were second-hand. Even though Merry was the thriftiest out of all of us, she still didn’t have the money to buy good equipment. Incidentally, Fuyuki was with Merry when she bought her equipment, so you could say it was kind of girlish armor.

Takana, out of all people, had virtually no money. So in the end, we had to invest our money to him or we die and we all knew the answer to that. We didn’t ask him to repay us but they were definitely something we wanted in return. In the end, he agreed and now we had something to look forward to after the battle.

Takana had the full plated armor; cuirass, vambrace, gauntlet and spaulders. Of course, they were all second-hand, some of them even had dent marks on it but they were still good, so we bought them. We bought him greaves, too, as he always complained about the small kasaks getting through under his shield. We also bought a grey paint because since the armors were second-hand, they had different colors and if we let Takana wear that around town, he’d be called a clown instead.

“Remember guys, this is a dry run.”

We found a group of five kasaks and decided to use them as a practice before the real thing.

The enemy had a crossbow, a dagger, sword, an axe, a spear and they all wore leather armor. A close resemblance to the real thing.

“All right,” Takana picked up his colossal sword. “I’m dying to kill some kasaks; I’ll pull as many as I can.”

“Yeah, and I’ll aim for the crossbow kasak. Fuyuki and Kihana, you guys are support and Merry will take what’s left.”

Everyone agreed. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I led everyone to the spot. The kasaks were resting or rather relaxing, so their guards were down.

We quietly went near them and Fuyuki was the first one to act.

“Okay, Fuyuki, hit as many as you can.”

She nodded. In a quiet voice, she chanted, “Sal, uhlm, kras, inaf,” she casted Ice Trap. The kasaks weren’t together, so she only caught two of them.

“Now!”

Takana immediately went to the two who were close to him. The kasaks were caught off-guard, so that gave us a few seconds before they get to prepare.

Takana used Pound and the two kasaks, who didn’t even get their weapons, attacked Takana with their claws instead. Merry went for the two who got slowed down by the Ice Trap and I went for the crossbow kasak.

The two kasak got immediately sliced horizontally after Takana used Pound. One got his stomach instantly sliced while the other fell as the body of his comrade staggered beside him. Takana used that opportunity to bury his sword deep to the kasak and with that his battle was immediately over.

Merry was quick as she was a half-beast. She thrusted her sword to one of the vital spots where there was no armor, in the neck. The kasak groaned in pain as Merry’s sword made its way on its neck. It died immediately.

The other kasak put up his spear and took a jab at Merry. Merry twisted her body and dodges it. She then cut the forearm of the kasak in which the kasak let go of his spear. Since the kasak was weaponless, it opted for the next best thing, escaping. Of course Merry didn’t let that as when the kasak back was exposed, Merry thrusted her sword on its back. The kasak fell and shriek in pain. Merry silenced it.

As for me, I threw a smoke bomb to the crossbow kasak to blind him.

Please hit. Good.

The kasak coughed in the spot as he got hit in the face. Since I can see in the smoke screen, I quietly went behind him and kicked his legs and buried my dagger in his neck. In a moment, it was all over.

This is the power of surprise and planning.

“Well, that was easy.” Takana said as he removed his sword in the corpse of the kasak. “Now, who wants a gold coin?”