The trading post town just down the hill from the RazenHeir estate.
Grain, fruits, spices from the farmlands from the kingdom of Herdial to the west.
Warehoused and sold here to merchants from the Zeppelin port MoraDale, several day's march away, the gateway to much of the continent.
From the other direction, enchanted weapons , armour and various other mana imbibed items from the workshops of the spire city in the east were sold here to Herdial merchants., who in turn often had monster parts to barter.
It was a town bustling with commerce. Bricked buildings with tilted roofs. Paved roads with drainage on both sides. Guards with steel helmets and breast plates, armed with swords and muskets.
Surrounding the town were modestly fertile farmland. It was not sufficient to feed a city, but their proximity to the Razenheir estate afforded them protection against monsters and allowed them to make a humble living.
For the same reason, the area had also turned into a place of cultural exchange. One would certainly prefer the lush countryside to the confines of a stone city for the occasion, or any for that matter.
Hikari walked beside Ria on horseback. Taking baby steps with pauses in between to keep pace with her stead.
On seeing Hikari, the town seemed to have gotten livelier. More men started appearing on the streets and popping out on the balconies, engaging mostly in newspaper reading, holding their papers vertically, which is an odd way to read.
"So Hikari. What is a day like for you?"
Hikari paused before replying, seeming unsure about how to answer that.
"I just train, I guess."
"I can certainly see that. But is that really all you do?"
"Yes"
"I see."
There was an awkward pause, filled with only the sound of her horse clopping against the paved road. The ambient noise of merchants crying their wares and the street bards singing and plucking their ukuleles.
"Did you experience any troubles? I mean given your size, I imagine people don't quite react to you the same way."
Hikari takes another step. Ria briefly squeezed her eyes together, expecting a loud thud as her boot lands. But none came. For a giant, her steps were incredibly silent, like a prowling assassin.
"No. It's been years."
"Really now? That's how long you have been in the estate?"
"Yes"
"Thats strange, how come I never see you around."
"My house is some distance away."
"Ah, I see. That makes sense. It would be actually difficult to house you properly within the main estate area or even the barracks area. I have been confined within the mansion up until I learnt a bit of combat. It's just so stuffy in there."
Hikari kept quiet and just continued walking.
"Say, with all those weapons, you must be a monster hunter."
"Yes, my lady."
"What do you slay? Dragons? Titans? Mystical beasts?"
"That's suicide"
"I'm just joking. I glanced through the ledgers since I'm starting to take on some responsibilities. Swamp trolls, rot hounds, Dire ents and wyverns. There is a constant stream of entries of monthly inventory of monster parts. I think I found where that came from."
"You are correct."
"I heard the wyverns prow the trade routes from here to Herdial, dragging men and horses and flying off. Pretty smart too, if you take the route through the open plains, they have plenty of room to dive. If you take the cramped canyon route, they just slowly strafe you down with their fire balls before landing and fighting hand to hand. It must be a dangerous job, how do you manage them?"
"I slay them."
"Really? That's incredible. I guess that's plausible looking at you. The slayer herself. I'm honored to finally meet you. Would you like to "
"You slice their neck"
"Eh? That's it? From what I read from wyvern hunters, they had to do extensive preparations to lay a trap for the beast. Even then it takes a full squad to bring them down."
Hikari paused and pondered for a moment.
"Yes. It's strange. If they just fly, I could do nothing"
"That's odd. I have heard from merchants that wyverns have gotten really aggressive of late. They even started attacking in packs when the merchants tried to aggregate their convoys into one. There had been requests to the RazenHeir house lately to guard farm land from the merchants. I doubt we have the resources to meet that though."
They walked past a tavern. A fat fair skinned lady in suggestive clothes, thick makeup, black leather suit and gloves, her blossoms covered by little more than laces smiled as Hikari approached. The latter took a quick awkward glance at her, pointed her eyes to Ria and continued looking forward.
Soon afterwards, they reached a building deliberately styled like a hamlet, straw roof, wooden exterior, in contrast to the rest of the building in the town. The wood carved signboard on top reads, the unicorn roast. There was a glass clearing in front of the hamlet, hosting several tables covered in finely ironed, pristine white sheets.
Oh seeing Ria approach, the waiters immediately began setting the table.
"Greetings, young lady RazenHeir. Your reservation is in order." One of them approached Ria's horse and helped her dismount.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound was heard. A wooden cart full of jars rolled off a slope straight towards Ria.
Crash!. Hikari placed her boot in its way.
"Are you alright my lady?"
Ria took a moment to recover from the shock. "Yes, thanks to you."
The cart was stopped, but the jars of tomato sauce spilled all of Hikari's boot.
"Oh dear, this won't do." Ria took out her handkerchief and started wiping off the sauce.
Hikari felt rather bemused at Ria's reaction. She just kept quiet and let Ria continue.
"Lady RazenHeir, may we help you with that?" The waiter grabbed a box of table clothes and walked towards her.
"Oh! Umm.. much appreciated!" Ria blushed red. She doesn't know what came over her. Some strange force compelled her to wipe her knight's boots using such a delicate item as her handkerchief.
She left the boot cleaning to the waiters and sat down at the table.
The waiters served up appetizers. One plate in front of her and the other, an empty chair.
"It would appear that our guest is late. "
"Should I look for him?"
"No. It's typical. Besides, I feel really safe here with you around."
Ria tilted her head back and looked at Hikari's face. It was subtle, but she noticed just a few shades of red.
"So who is this Marquess?"
"Oh?" For the first time since they met, Hikari's facial expression had not changed one bit. Which made the widening of her eyes quite obvious from Ria's perspective."
"I apologize. I shall not pry."
"It's nothing. Just a nobleman from the lands way up north. He'll probably place an order to buy some of the Razenheir's enchanted swords, which I heard is something you can do too."
"I see."
As they waited for the arrival of their guest, two unexpected men walked up to them. They wore the RazenHeir crest on their plain grey tunic, armed with a sword and a musket.
"Greetings lady Ria. We apologize for the interruption."
"Is something the matter?
"Nothing major, my lady. Captain Paskel requests that Knight Hikari report to him. We are sent here as replacements."
Ria took a glance at Hikari who, it does require a keen eye to spot, appears visibly confused.
"Changing of guard shift is unusual. And quite against the rules I believe. I ask again. Is something the matter?"
The two men were unable to provide an answer and instead glanced at each other uncomfortably. Ria could see their lips making small and deliberate movements.
Their heads exploded into splatter of blood.
"Get down! Face to the ground!"
Ria was stunned. Before she knew it, She was pressed down into the grass by Hikari's hand
Hikari's boot and gloved fingers filled her field of view.
Boom! Boom! Hikari blocks two cannon shots with her short sword. A third hit her chest and bounced off, leaving a crater in the grass. It was followed by a shower of musket balls, each carrying a sting of dark energy.
Hikari drew her handcannon. She poured her mana into the chamber, felt it condense and released, aiming at the top floor of the building where the attackers' firing position was.
"Excuse me my lady."
In that brief moment of respite, the seams on the chest area of her suit opened. Hikari picked Ria up like a doll and stuffed her between her blossoms and then sealed her in tight.
Ria found herself entombed in a dark prison of damp cotton. The smell was suffocating. She held her breath for a while. But she had to breathe again. She choked. And breathed. She felt dizzy. She took slow shallow breaths. But she still choked.
A swarm of cloaked swordsmen jumped out of windows and rushed her from all directions. Hikari used her telekinesis and unseathed all of her blades and steel balls hidden under her skirt to create a barrier of whirling steel.
Foolishly, her attackers continued their charge, leading to their timely demise as their ribcages and skulls were crushed by the sheer momentum of the whirlwind of death.
By a miracle, one swordsman got through. But he could do nothing against the titaness that towered over him.
Crunch! A wall of rubber crashed down onto him, cracking his bones
The dust settled for the moment. Hikari took stock of her surroundings. The seams on her suit loosened just slightly, allowing some fresh air to reach Ria who was starting to wriggle uncomfortably at being suffocated between her leather suit and sweat soaked inner cotton shirt. For her safety, she sealed the suit tight again.
Meanwhile, after dispatching the first wave of attacks, Hikari leapt high into the air, her blouse fluttering, and landed on top of the cathedral, the highest point in town.
From her vantage point, she could see the town was in chaos. The town guards who escaped the initial ambush were besieged in their barracks spread throughout the town. Cloaked figures herding the towns folks into wagons and rushing them out of town. An eerie energy emanating from their weapon.
Hikari dug her boots in, laid down a mana circle around herself, her senses were boosted. Her steel balls returned to her, suspended in mid air. After a brief pause, a hail of steel rained down on the unsuspecting assailants, smashing through their insides, spilling their guts all over the gavel ground.
A rain of musket fire and arrows hit the cathedral roof tops. Hikari ignored the weak attacks and continued her own, raining another wave of devastation on the
That distraction, the town guard were able to push back out into the streets. Seeing how they were losing the initiative, one of the cloaked figures blew a horn. It was a silent horn, but to Hikari's sensitive ears, it sounded like a deafening screech.
Several carts exploded as grotesque masses of flesh emerged from their wreckages, impervious to the sword and musket fire. The cloaked figures scrambled out of town as their creations covered their retreat.
Hikari aimed, but a squad of cloaked assassins confronted her, standing on the surrounding rooftops. Hikari answered their challenge, drawing her sword and withdrawing her flying daggers and steel balls.
The assassins lunged, staggered, yet well coordinated. As they entered the whirling steel, the spell on their cloaks activated, phasing them out of the material plane, reappearing inside the eye of the storm. Then they circled Hikari, looking for an opening.
Hikari held her stance as the assassins danced just out of what they perceived to be her sword range.
They were wrong. A forward dash with a speed that the assassin could not anticipate from a giant of Hikari's size. Te swing of her sword catches several in its arc, severing them in half, separating their bodies from their cloak, revealing a grey, colorless, scar filled tortured body as his guts splattered into the air.
The assassins to Hikari's back struck. A fatal mistake, for a swing of her arm knocked away half of them to be chewed up by the whirling steel, the other half were knocked to the ground to be crushed beneath Hikari's boots.
Several others phased into reality, given a small opening to make their attack. But even they stood frozen at the sight of their comrade's gruesome deaths. Their last mistake, a swing cleaved right through them, severing their torso from their legs.
Seeing the battle was lost, the survivors phased out again to escape back through the whirling steel.
The battle was over. Hikari returned to the estate. Her lady Ria, unconscious from the lack of air and constant yanking inside her suit, but safe.