It was late morning and Mr. Barlett left Venta with his caravan. The Prince and his party were riding in Mr. Barlett’s wagon.

“How long did you say the trip is again Mr. Barlett?” Prince Alan asked.

“Ho, ho, we should be there just before sundown.”

His attendants asked about the bandit forces, if there was any need to worry about them.

“There should not be too much worry since we notified the local guards. The only thing I would be worried about is a large monster attack.” Mr. Barlett began laughing.

If Eric had been there, he would have smacked Mr. Barlett over the head saying he jinxed the trip. ROOOOOOOAAAAAR! Which jinx he did.

“A CHIMERA!” A lion headed monster came charging out of the forest, right toward their caravan.

Just before the Prince’s attendants commandeered the wagon to run, another roaring monster was heard, kicking up a dust storm in its wake.

“A SILVER CARRIAGE! IT’S MASTER HEPHAESTUS!”

Phaestus’ chariot drew the attention of the chimera, just before it rammed into it. Letting out a roar of anger at the abrupt attack that sent it flying. Turning his chariot sharply, someone riding in the chariot, dressed similar to him, tossed out a fist sized orb that landed near the Chimera. His chariot sped away from the chimera right when the orb exploded.

“W-what, is that? Who are they?!” The Prince was freaking out over what he just saw.

The chariot came to a stop a few yards away from the beast and the two hopped out. The new wine red robed individual, who had a very feminine form, was carrying another orb. Phaestus gave an order that they, in the caravan, could not hear. The woman threw the orb right at the weakened Chimera’s face. The orb popped, sending a reddish powder in the monster’s face. The Chimera began thrashing about, coughing, hacking, and grinding its’ face into the ground.

“What’s wrong with it?” Lucas was confused by its’ reaction to the red powder.

Phaestus pulled out a crossbow, it looked more advanced and slender than the one Micah had been using on the ship. Pointing it at the monster, he fired, hitting it in the lion head. It moved a few more times and came to a stop, its’ snake tail falling to the ground. Phaestus’ companion pulled out a sword and cut the head of the snake off.

Mr. Barlett, a few others from the caravan, and the Prince’s party approached the pair.

“Lord Hephaestus! It is so good to see you! Thank you for saving us once more!” Mr. Barlett gave a heartfelt thanks.

“No issue, it was a good opportunity for me to test a new tactic and weapon I have been developing to deal with larger monsters. Looks like it will work on chimera, the next one has to be the basilisk.” Phaestus said, storing his crossbow away magically.

“You there, state who you are and what you just did.” Lucas ordered, which got a sword put to his throat by the robed woman.

“You will watch your tone when addressing Master Phaestus.” Lucas was in shock, he could not react in the least bit to her speed.

Her eyes were not of anger, but of annoyance.

“Please, young lady, have mercy on my meat-head of a friend. Lucas, apologize.” The prince requested.

She removed the sword and Lucas apologized to her and the Phaestus.

“Lord Hephaestus, I am curious, who is your companion here?” Mr. Barlett asked.

“Her name?” A brief pause, “Her name is Aphrodite, she is my companion. She was not with me last time due to special circumstances. Dite, could you retrieve the core for me while I deal with them?” She acknowledged his request and headed to the monster corpse.

“You have terrible luck Barlett. First bandits and now a monster?” He turned, looking at the prince, “I am guessing he is the bad luck charm too.”

“Such disrespect!” Lucas tried to punch Phaestus, but had his hand caught.

“How rude.” Phaestus lifted Lucas up and tossed him aside like a piece of garbage.

The Prince’s other attendant stepped in front of him, with her hand on her sword hilt, but the Prince stepped forward, bowing his head and apologized again.

“Lucas! Unless my life is threatened, I forbid you from showing anymore disrespect to the one who just saved us!” The Prince was visibly furious with his attendant, who was groveling on the ground in regret.

The scene was tense, so Phaestus walked over to Lucas.

“I will forgive your transgression if you hop around acting like a chicken and barking like a dog.”

“Pfft.” Dite stifled a laugh.

Lucas on the other hand was so shocked by his demand, he looked to his master for confirmation, who ordered him to do it. Thus, the large burly man was hoping around, flapping his arms, and barking like a dog.

Everyone did their best to hold in their laughter, but it was the cool headed one who broke first.

“Bahahahahah! Lucas you look so ridiculous! Gahahahahaha!” The cool beauty look of Lara crumbled as she laughed hysterically, falling to her knees, clutching her sides, tears coming from her eyes.

Everyone else began laughing and the tension was completely gone. Lucas’s head was completely red, he even slipped up and clucked like a chicken once, which caused everyone to laugh even harder.

Phaestus was the only one who did not laugh, but smiled smugly. “That is enough. You can stop now, you are forgiven.”

Lucas just crouched down on the ground where he was and hid his face. The Prince once more asked what Phaestus’ experiment was, which he explained casually.

“I am creating a new tactic and weapon to deal with large monsters like this one.”

“Hold on, you mean to say that this tactic of yours could make it so regular people could take out Class-A monsters!” The Prince said excitedly, but changed to a serious tone quickly. “But would this not make you a large target for the Church of Light?”

“Saying such things out loud.” Phaestus looked at the Prince disappointed.

“You have nothing to fear from us I assure you. We have never been allies of that abysmal place.” Mr. Barlett said with a tinge of anger in his voice.

“Be more cautious with your words kid. You never know who is listening.” Phaestus commented.

Dite finished retrieving the monster core and returned to his side. “All done Phaestus, shall we head on to Alta?” He nodded and turned toward his silver Chariot.

“Hold a moment please!” The Prince called out, leading to Phaestus turning to him annoyed. The Prince then went on to summarize his mission, saying that he would be able to assist in the creation of the weapon and keeping the church off of them.

“Hmm, not a bad idea. Having a royal’s support would make things easier with other leadership. I dislike dealing with aristocracy, they believe if you are not of their blue blood, you are beneath them. Very well Prince, you will be a useful too-, ahem, ally.” Phaestus shook hands with the Prince.

You’re considering me a tool!? The Prince thought.

Lucas had little motivation to say anything after the last experience he had speaking against the masked man.

Eric’s Perspective:

“This is such a great ride Eric! What did you call this thing again? A too-rock?” Micah happily enjoyed the feel of the wind coming in through the window.

“I am just calling it a chariot for now. If I use too many terms from my world, the church might figure out where I am from.” Micah nodded happily.

Eric and Micah had left the town of Venta a few hours after Mr. Barlett and the Prince’s party had left, not because Eric stayed up to late and slept in…

“I still don’t understand why you stayed up so late, I had a hard time waking you up this morning.” Micah complained.

“Hmm? Is that the caravan?” Eric changed the subject. Micah confirmed it was, amazed that they were already about to overtake them.

“Wait, Eric! A Chimera just came out of the forest and is charging at the caravan!”

Eric saw the beast and decided to test out some of the new features he added to his Chariot. He increased the speed and channeled his magic into the vehicle. A magic sheen appeared over the surface of the vehicle and a barrier appeared a foot away from its’ surface, a surface that was now covered with elaborate designs of runes.

Eric stayed up late to convert his truck into a divine artifact, emphasizing strength, defense, and adding in a multilayered barrier. He tested the defenses out by putting the runes on a piece of wood and hit it with a steel axe. Both Eric and Micah were shocked to see that the axe broke before a single scratch appeared on the wood.

The Divine Chariot rammed into the Chimera, sending it flying away.

“Toss one next to it!” Eric ordered, which Micah channeled a bit of magic into the magic grenade that had a two runes on it.

He cut the wheel and took off toward the caravan as Micah threw the object next to the monster. Shortly after, the magic grenade exploded.

“How’s it look?” Eric asked as Micah check on the monster, “Yeah, its’ done for.”

He brought the Chariot to a stop and they climbed out.

“Wow Eric, that thing worked better than I thought.”

They approach the nearly dead Chimera, which was struggling to stand.

“I kind of feel bad about testing the powder now…” Eric commented as the dying beast struggled.

“This thing almost killed our friends.” Micah commented pulling out a paper orb.

“You’re right, go ahead and hit it with the vulta powder.” At Eric’s command Micah threw the orb at the monster’s head, it popped releasing the small amount of vulta powder he was able to purchase in Venta.

“GRAH!” The Chimera went wild, thrashing, trying to get the burning sensation of its eyes. It began coughing violently as it inhaled some of the powder.

“Okay… Now I’m starting to feel bad. Can you put it down please?” Micah asked.

Eric pulled out his modern day crossbow he got as a gift from a family member and put a bolt into its lion head. It flopped over and came to stop after a couple more thrashes.

“Question, does the snake head also have a brain too?” Eric asked Micah, whose answer was severing it.

“Many people have died forgetting that fact, and getting bitten.” Micah commented.

A group approached them from the caravan. Mr. Barlett and Eric exchanged pleasantries and he hinted at what he was doing. Lucas made a haughty demand for information from the two of them, which got Micah at his throat with her blade drawn.

HOLY-! Micah what the hell!? Calm down!

Thankfully the Prince was able to calm the situation and got Lucas to nervously apologize to the two of them. That was when Mr. Barlett asked about Micah’s name. Micah kept an outward cool, but Eric could tell she was panicking as much as he was.

Crap, crap, crap, a name, um, who was Hephaestus’ wife’s name? Oh right! Aphrodite! I hope Micah doesn’t get mad at me for that… Eric gave them her name and asked her to retrieve the core of the Chimera.

This attack was too convenient. Two times by bandits and now a dangerous monster… I will have to find someone I can ask in Alta.

Eric let his next thoughts slip out his mouth, calling out the Prince for being the reason. Lucas did not appreciate it and took a swing at him.

Shi-! Wait, what? He is moving so slow… Is this because of the mask? Oh, oh! I always wanted to do this!

Eric extended his hand and easily caught Lucas’ punch to the large man’s shock. Eric called him out for his short fuse and meant to toss Lucas’ arm up and away from him, but ended up throwing the whole man like nothing.

Oops.

Lara jumped in front of the Prince out of fear, but the Prince was furious with Lucas’ actions, verbally tearing into his attendant who was now groveling on the floor.

Hmm? Oh, uh, if I don’t do something Micah is definitely going to murder him… Those are some terrifyingly dangerous eyes you have there my beautiful and gentle companion.

Eric then made a ridiculous demand that he felt would lighten the mood, bring the tension down, and placate Micah before she murdered the man. He heard Micah stifle a laugh.

Good, that calmed her down. Wait, what…? BAHAHAHA! Eric was laughing hysterically in his mind, doing everything in his power to not laugh at the man.

Lucas’ partner was not as kind as her cool persona immediately crumbled. Everyone else followed in the laughter, Micah was doing her best to keep herself under control, but her shoulders were shaking.

Wait did he just cluck? Everyone laughed even harder, Eric was finding it even more difficult to hold back his laughter, causing a weird smile on his face. Eric decided to stop the man before he also was laughing hysterically.

Lucas crumpled down on the spot and chose not to move. The Prince asked about Eric’s weapons and what he did to the Chimera.

Excellent, this should give us royal help… But can’t let him think I will be some servant, no better management than self-management!

Eric gave the Prince his reply, which he had to chastise the Prince for speaking too loudly about the church’s involvement. Micah finished getting the core out of the Chimera, so Eric sent the rest of the corpse to his Haven. He wanted to see if it would be possible to harvest other things from it, like its’ hide, claws, fangs, and maybe a poison gland from the snake.

Micah made a motion for them to leave. Eric didn’t understand what her game was, but he followed along with it making the Prince desperate to stop them.

Oooooh, Make him believe that we don’t need him but he needs us, nice! I will make some more rocket boar jerky tonight for her.

Eric made some haughty comments and accidently called the Prince a tool for his goal. Micah looked like she wanted to laugh, but held it in.

I seriously did not mean to call him a tool… But I feel like Micah is giving me a mental thumbs up. So, I guess I did well? Oh, looks like Lucas finally learned to be a little less protective.

Eric wrapped things up with them and headed back to his vehicle along with Micah. After getting inside and seeing the caravan leave, Eric moved them to the Haven.

“Gaaaah! I was so embarrassed! Bahahahahahah!” Eric’s emotions were a complete mess of being embarrassed by the way he acted and then memories of Lucas hopping around had him laughing hysterically.

He kept switching between the two while rolling around in the grass. Micah could only watch in amusement while laughing herself, remembering the same thing. Eric finally calmed down, laying on his back, heaving.

“Oh, my, my sides, my face, they hurt, heh, heh.”

“Eric, I really cannot believe that you had the Black Wolf do such a thing.”

Eric looked at her quizzically, which she answered, “The Black Wolf is Sir Lucas’ nickname. There are many people with known nicknames. Mmm, okay, I can tell from your look that you are wondering if I have one too. Yes, I do, and I don’t like it. It is The Human Slime.”

Eric was genuinely shocked at that, he asked her how people could give such a beautiful woman like her such a name. She was quite happy with his answer, as well as blushing a little.

“You seem to have forgotten what I looked like before and how I could change my shape.”

“Then why not Doppelganger?”

“Yeah, some assassin has that.”

“Can he do what you can?”

“Nope, he uses makeup, padding, and some believe he can rearrange his bone structure. I don’t know much more than that.”

“That sounds so cheap when compared to your kits and skills.”

Micah smiled happily. With their laughter out of their system, they got back on the road.