The 5th Hero

Chapter 8: Aftermath

Yesterday was the longest day of my life first the wave then Naofumi and Motoyasu's duel then the king threatening me over my phoenix and me dueling Motoyasu I didn't want to have to go back to the castle but I had to pick up my reward whatever it may be. So now I'm in the throne room the king thanked Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu again and not mentioning us he then gave Motoyasu 4,000 silvers, Ren and Itsuki 3,800 and then he gave Naofumi and I 500 silvers as our monthly payment. I could tell the king was still pissed at us but didn't say anything because we did save his kingdom Ren and Itsuki however brought up that we were being treated unfairly again and that the sacred duel was rigged and dispelling the Slave Crest is something the King had done on his own after his daughter interfered in Naofumi's duel. But then the bitch Malty interfered saying Naofumi broke the rules by using balloon monsters Ren and Itsuki followed up with the fact that casualties were low because Naofumi and I defended the village of Riyute while the knights where still getting on site therefore we both deserved to be fairly compensated for our efforts. Sadly we only got the 500 then were asked to leave the throne room Naofumi left first then as I left I gave the king and Malty the bird which left them confused I heard a snicker from Ren and Itsuki. I met up with Naofumi and Raphtalia "so now what are you two going to do?" I asked "where going to get a new slave crest" Raphtalia answered "what are you going to do?" Naofumi asked "well I'm going to go find some stones and maybe gather more creatures before the next wave I also might find a partner" I answered "what your going find someone to help you" Naofumi said "no, I'm a solo hero but I will help you two out if you need it" I said opening a rift and giving them a transmission orb. We all said our goodbyes then went our separate ways I wanted to find the remaining 5 stones and see what power I would gain I started West and started walking.

Time Skip

I had been gone for 2 days during those 2 days I found a map to the next stone it was located in a cave near the town Riyute which was convenient for me because I was planning on visiting and seeing if the village had gotten better since the wave. Now I got there when it looked like a race was going on I saw all the villagers and some royal guards and Malty god she is everywhere I can't trip without running into her stupid ass. I see Naofumi ridding a Filolial and Motoyasu riding a dragon I was wondering why they were racing so I went up to the villagers and before I could ask them 1 of them noticed me "oh look it's the great staff hero" a little boy said others turned around and greeted me "why are they racing?" I asked "their racing over the right to who leads the village" a woman answered "the spear hero wanted to make an entry and exit fee worth 50 silvers" an old man said I was confused "but isn't it 1 silver to stay at the inn with food included, you'd be broke by next morning" I said "yes, that's why their racing" a man said. I watched the two race I then sensed earth magic it was coming from the track I felt a hole be made as Naofumi almost fell in it he created an airstrike shield and jumped over it then Motoyasu fell in it Naofumi crossed the finish line and won I along with the villagers cheered while Malty frowned. I went over to Naofumi who was next to his Filolial and Raphtalia "hey you two fancy seeing you here" I said "hey Y/N" Naofumi said "hello sir L/N" Raphtalia said "nice Filolial" I said "yeah her name is Filo" Naofumi said I sighed "how original" I said "that's what I told him" Raphtalia said. Filo rubbed on Naofumi then Motoyasu came over with Malty in an instant Filo was covered in a strong light and when it faded she was no longer he small ostrich form she now resembled a large owl. Filo's transformation prompted Malty to say Naofumi cheated I sighed "sore loser" I mumbled quickly a figure appeared and announced that the field was littered with traps that Naofumi and Raphtalia have no semblance for and that it couldn't of been me because I had showed up and hadn't released any magical power which creeped me out. After Motoyasu and his party limped away the village tried to reward Naofumi but he declined any money he didn't want any more bad rumors spreading but Filo found an old wagon which Naofumi wanted the villagers gave it to him along with a merchants pass which would let him go into towns and cities for free. Naofumi thanked them and left with Raphtalia and Filo the villagers then tried to pay me for saving their village I declined but I did ask about the location of a cave that might hold a stone I'm looking for they kindly pointed the way but warned me of a guardian protecting it I thanked them and left but before I did they also gave me a merchants pass which I kindly excepted so it wouldn't seem like I was being rude to them.

Time Skip

After a long walk I managed to sense a faint power coming from a cave I went to enter it but before I did the ground began to shake then the cave entry was closed off by a rock wall I looked up and saw a large figure rise out fo the ground it looked massive it roared at me I gulped looking at it.

It's body wade up of wood, vines and rocks it had antlers on it's head and lanterns hanging from it's neck. "Well shi.." I said as the creature's massive fist hit me sending me crashing through the trees. I climbed out of the pile of broken trees I cracked my back then my neck I then popped my knuckles "god that hurt like hell" I said the creature roared again I equiped my beast master staff then summoned the basilisk which had grown since I first caught it "don't kill it just weaken it" I told the snake it hissed then slithered quickly and launched itself at the tree monster. The basilisk wrapped itself around the tree monster then squeezed it sadly the tree monster broke free and threw the basilisk into the ground I flung poison balls at it to distract it while my basilisk got up I jumped on the basilisk "go for it" I told the snake. In an instant the snake lunged at the weakend creature just as the creature was going to smack it's arms down I jumped off the basilisk as it wrapped around the creature's legs I used my capture spell as my staff touched it's chest the magic circle appeared behind it and then chains quickly wrapped around the creature the basilisk disappeared then instantly the tree monster was captured. The message appeared "tree guardian captured now able to use stronger earth and nature spells, new staff aquired" I went back to the cave and was now standing in front of the rock wall blocking the entrance I then equiped my new staff to help me open up the way.

I removed the wall and opened up the cave but before I entered it I used the staff to sense and find any traps I didn't want to run into any pits with spikes in the bottom, dart shooting traps, skeletons with spikes that shoot through them or large boulders that would try to crush me I really hated boulders. With no traps detected I entered the cave I traversed it's long dark tunnel I used my fire magic to light the way. At the end of the tunnel was a large room there was strange writing on the walls and strange sculptures but the most interesting thing was a throne with a skeleton sitting on it. The skeleton was wearing a royal armor that looked like it was made with leather, on it's head was a helmet with horns and in it's hand was a staff with a glowing gem on the top. I walked over and tried to grab the staff but it wouldn't budge "fine I'll take the gem then" I said in defeat I pulled the gem out crushed it revealing a yellow stone "interesting" I said I then absorbed the stone a notification popped up "2 of 6 collected, now able to use telepathic magics" I looked what it meant by that it said I could move objects with my mind, I could read other people's and control them if I wanted, I could also control the density of my body basically making me a ghost. That was cool now I had to find the next one and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be easy like the first one.

A/N: Well this was a good chapter I do hope it was enjoyable for you I also do hope you are still trying to guess what Y/N's hidden power will be thanks to NeverWasHuman for giving me some ideas for the story I do want to hear from more of you. As always thank you for reading and as always I will see you later