Earthdragon

Chapter 3

(James)

"Ugghhh" I groaned as I came to..standing up?

 'I passed out standing up?', ' How long was I out?'. As I came to, I realized that the girl from before was still shouting and my ears slowly tuned back in to what she was saying. "I swear to the creator that I'm going to use this spell if you don't show yourself right now!", Sighing, I complied with her demands and she immediately recoiled and promptly fell over the log she was previously sitting on due to how close I was to her. "Stop recording", "Beep", "initiate voice distortion software and set me to her language" "VOICE DISTORTION active", "Open Comms channel and set to broadcast". "Hello, (my voice sounded really deep and gravelly) I mean you no harm, and am simply passing through, … say, can you direct me to the nearest town?", At this, she simply stared at me from her prone position, "Well... this is awkward...am I speaking the right language?".

At this, she snapped out of her stupor and scrambled to get up, a blush forming on her face as she realised she was staring like an idiot. "S-sorry about staring, you look unusual. I can point to you to the next town, but you might need to take the helmet off, they check for bandits at the gates." "Very well, you might be surprised by what you see.." , "I don't mind if you're scarred...I've seen some pretty bad ones". "Yeah..I'm not scarred" I replied, moving my hand under my jaw and pressing the button to retract my helmet. "Shniick", ' something is snagging on the interior of my helmet?'. My helmet started wailing about damage to the cooler and I decided to configure the helmet to expand slightly before it finally retracted, instantly repairing itself in the process. "Why would I be surprised by a demi-draconian?" She said, with an incredulous expression on her face. Internally I was panicking at what she said but I kept a calm demeanor up as I replied "Just thought you might've been shocked by how normal my voice is". "Nope, the helmet distorts your voice right?", "Right" I confirmed. "So, lead the way fair lady" I said, bowing dramatically for effect.
I was having second thoughts about going to the village after seeing it's defences, as it was surrounded by a large wooden fence, each post an actual tree trunk, sharpened at the top, with fierce looking large crossbows lined up on the wall, their bolts sharpened to a razor's edge, as the early afternoon sun glinted on the tempered metal. "Uhh, what exactly do they do to bandits?" I said eyeing the crossbows nervously, she followed my gaze to the crossbows and caught on, " The crossbows are for monsters not bandits, we put bandits in prison, nice sword by the way, where did you get it?" I looked down and realised that my gun had sprouted a large cutlass like blade, with the grip bent straight, like a sword handle. Realisation hit me like a sack of bricks, I now have a gun sword, a frickin' gun sword." Oh, this old thing? I got it from a traveling merchant." , "Well, it's pretty cool". We said nothing more as we approached the town, and oddly I wasn't out of breath or even bothered in the slightest wearing my armour in the fading sunlight, it was then that I felt something rough rubbing under my gauntlet against my arm, and decided to wait until I was in lodgings before checking it out. "So.. I never got your name, mine is Akira." 'Should I give a fake name?' this was the moment to decide as I opened my mouth "My name is Caine Valkyrie, at your service Akira" I said, to ease up the awkward atmosphere. Why does your armour say James Darkline then?" 'Ah crap' thinking fast I blurted "It's the name of the blacksmith that made my armour." "Ohhh, that makes more sense now!". "Halt!, Who goes there?", a guard at the gate had heard us, and my companion answered for me, " I'm a townsperson and my friend is a traveler, please allow us entry.". He eyed us over, his gaze particularly lingering on my sword, before waving us through the gates. My jaw dropped...