The Right Man for the Job

Chapter 3

"Wake up."

"Huh? What? Oh." After being woken up, I looked around blearily until I spotted Rato at the tent's flap.

It was nice to see she was still here. I thought she might actually leave in the middle of the night with the filolial. That would have sucked, especially since the large bird was nice and warm as it lay on the ground next to me.

We chatted a bit before turning in for the night. Ratotille Anthreya, though her friends called her Rato, not Rat like I thought. That's what I'd be calling her now, since we're friends and all that. She was accused by the Projectile Hero, Conrad, of basically performing human experimentation. He brought forward a chimera that had bits of human in it. Rato denied it, saying she had only ever worked on monsters. Needless to say, they believed the hero over her.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have minded if she did do what she was accused of, and said as much to her. Of course, that depended heavily on where she got the humans, or demi-humans, from. Convicted felons, hardened criminals, and the like were fine. Children were right out. I don't think my viewpoint earned me any points with her, but it didn't seem to hurt either.

We also worked out what we expected from each other. She will provide healing, as well as support spells, teach me things she's proficient in that I'll need, and any other alchemical services I'll require on our travels. In return, I am to kill the Projectile Hero, show her a filolial queen or king, and eventually provide a place for her to continue her research. The second wouldn't take that long, but the first and third had an unknown future date. My money was on the first one being accomplished before the third.

I also promised I'd be able to kill anyone who ended up coming after her due to Conrad's lies, which wouldn't be a problem. By the time anyone would try, I'd be more than a match for any non-hero.

After that, I'd gone to sleep. Between traveling, fighting monsters, using that cursed form, and general mental exhaustion from everything, I was pretty tired. Rato had slept on and off in the cart, plus the time during camp, so she was quite a bit more rested than me.

One thing I took note of was the timer on the Axe of Rage. It had gone up to 16 seconds, a little more than 3 seconds per 2 hours of non-use. My goddess didn't give me exact rates of increasing duration and recovery, so I didn't know what to expect. I'd have to see what it could do later on.

I got my gear on, woke up the filolial, and exited the tent. All that remained of the caged cart from last night was ash. The people, after being killed, were absorbed into my weapon for power ups.

"So, what's your plan?" Rato asked me as I came closer. She was going through what was left over from the guards, packing a few things away in a backpack they had.

"Faubrey's Wave is in four days." I was told as much from my goddess. "I'll need to get to the capital before then and register with the hourglass. Otherwise, it's killing monsters and gaining levels."

Rato slowed her movements before picking back up again. "Am I to go to the capital city with you?"

"That was the plan." I gave her a nod. "Before then, we'll have to get you something different to wear. Honestly, I'm surprised you're wearing all that to begin with."

"Part of me being sold meant all my possessions would become my new owner's, whoever that ended up being." She explained. "Weapons and armor are taken, but everything else stays."

"Strange, but convenient." If she wasn't wearing all that, there was no way I'd recognize her from a glance like I did. "Anyway, I'll make sure you aren't recognizable before taking you there."

With the basics of our plan set, we ate breakfast—food the guards had—and set off.

~The Right Man~