10 Chapter 010
After giving Shouichi that usual tour and showing him to the Outpost, Leon decided to bring up the functions of the Assign menu. He had yet to try tweaking a person's schedule or assigning orders through it, so he was hoping that Shouchi would assist him.
"I don't know..." said Shouichi, sporting an uneasy smile as he rubbed the back of his head, adding, "I've always been the type to do my own thing. Being told what to do sounds...uncomfortable..."
"I just want to try it out to understand how it functions," contended Leon. "If it actually forces you to behave a certain way, I swear to turn it off and never make use of it again."
"Hmmm..."
Since Leon presumably could have utilized the Assign function without asking, Shouichi hesitated but ultimately replied, "Fine, I'll give it a try. But I want to know what you're changing so I can actively resist."
"Of course," replied Leon. Then, after providing an overview of the Assign menu's functions, he changed one of Shouichi's Free Actions to exploring a region north of the encampment for one hour.
"Oh, wow," said Shouchi, closing his eyes and touching his finger to his forehead as he revealed, "There are images appearing in my head, and I feel a sudden urge to go and investigate their origin."
Opening his eyes, Shouichi stared at a transparent blue line of arrows only he could see, adding, "There are also markers showing me where I should go, kind of like in a video game but super realistic."
"I feel that that's a good thing," expressed Leon. "If there's something as conspicuous as a designated path to follow, I can't sneakily edit people's schedules without them knowing."
"I agree," replied Shouichi, adopting a wry smile as he added, "But can you turn it off? It's starting to make me feel uncomfortable. Like, I 'really' want to follow it..."
"Sure. And thanks again for helping me out. I appreciate it," replied Leon, setting Shouichi back to Free Action.
"Hey, no sweat, man," said Shouchi, smiling broadly as he added, "We're all in this together, so let's give it our all!"
"Until Momo shows up to kick our asses, right?" joked Leon.
"That's right!" exclaimed Shouichi, rearing his head back and laughing without inhibition. Afterward, he and Leon conversed for a bit, but since the latter wanted to create a path to the river before sundown, he made a quick stopover to check on Presea before getting to work...
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"Hmmm...?"
Finding Presea crouched down near the edge of the clearing surrounding her lodge, Leon asked, "What are you up to...?" before catching a whiff of a distinctive aroma.
'Holy fucking shit...!' Leon exclaimed internally, averting his non-existent eyes and motioning to shield them with his equally absent left hand as Presea calmly replied, "Peeing..." in her usual monotone.
"Then I'm gonna go wait near the lodge..." said Leon, hurriedly turning and walking away as fast as his immaterial feet could carry him. He knew the people he summoned had 'biological processes' as Mordred had peed in the river, but he never imagined that he would teleport behind someone in the middle of relieving themselves...
'I need to stop teleporting behind people...' Leon decided, feeling more embarrassed than he had in a long time while waiting for Presea to finish her business and come over.
'Actually...now that I think about it, why don't I upgrade this place to have a toilet...?' thought Leon, turning around to face the Basic Hunter's Lodge. He had more than enough materials on hand, so as an apology, he opened up his Build tab and upgraded Presea's dwelling from a one-room cabin to a fairly modern cottage with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bath.
Approaching Leon from behind, Presea flatly remarked, "You came," with a faint, nearly imperceptible smile adorning her face.
"I promised I would, right?" replied Leon, adopting a somewhat forced smile as he added, "As you can see, I upgraded your cabin. I haven't been inside, but the schematics included a bath and toilet..."
"You did this for me...?" asked Presea.
"Yeah..." replied Leon, scratching his cheek. "Consider it my apology for appearing behind you out of the blue..."
"Nn..."
Following her faint affirmation, Presea remained largely motionless, her hands clasped over her lap as if waiting for him to lead the way inside or explain the reason for his visit.
"Do you...want to take a look inside...?" asked Leon, unsurprised when Presea tilted her head and asked, "Do I...?" This time, however, he gave her time, having realized from their earlier interactions that the question wasn't intended for him but something she was asking herself.
Nodding in affirmation, Presea adopted her characteristically faint smile and expressed, "I'd like to take a look," before walking up the steps at the front of the cabin and heading inside. Leon followed close behind her but stayed near the entrance, watching in silence as the pink-haired girl took stock of her new surroundings, scanning each item in her home as if she were a machine taking inventory.
Waiting until Presea returned to him of her own accord, Leon asked, "What do you think...?"
"It's bigger," replied Presea, terse and to the point.
"I'll take that to mean you like it," said Leon. "Also, I talked to Wil and asked if he could come check on you periodically. He's a really capable guy, so if you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask him for help."
"Okay," replied Presea, followed by another awkward silence.
"Then I'm gonna head out..." said Leon. "I'm hoping to complete a path between our main encampment and the river to the East before sunset."
"You're leaving...?" asked Presea, tilting her head slightly.
"..."
Feeling a sudden surge of guilt, Leon hesitated a few seconds before asking, "Do you want to come with me...?"
Demonstrating that she had already thought about her response, Presea replied, "I would," without a second of deliberation. As such, Leon gained an unexpected tagalong for his afternoon deforestation...
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"What's this? We're apart for a few hours, and you find some random kid to replace me...?" asked Mordred, having located Leon fairly easily since felling massive trees wasn't exactly quiet work.
"Her name is Presea..." replied Leon, further explaining, "She was the one summoned to man the Hunter's Lodge."
"I'm not a kid," Presea appended, holding Mordred's gaze with a hint of bitterness in her dark, muted blue pupils.
"Oh? Then what are you, a Dwarf...?" asked Mordred, a challenging smile developing across her face. Mordred wasn't exactly tall at 154cm, but she may as well have been a WNBA athlete compared to Presea's 138.
As sparks flew between the two girls, Leon interjected to say, "Hey, don't go picking fights or trying to bully our allies. Besides, she may be a bit on the small side, but you shouldn't underestimate Presea. You have her beat in Agility, Spirit, and Mana, but she has superior Strength, Endurance, and Luck."
Though he should have expected it, Leon's words had the exact opposite of the intended effect as Mordred punched her right fist into her left palm and asked, "Is that so...?" while sporting the tell-tale grin of a battle junky.
Leaving Leon at a further loss, Presea got into a boxing pose, her delicate pink brows creased in resolution.
Before Leon could fully grasp the situation, Mordred launched a punch at Presea, hitting the much smaller girl square in the face. The force of her blow would have sent an ordinary person reeling, but Presea quite literally face-tanked it, barely flinching as she landed a counter against Mordred's gut.
Exhaling due to the surprising force behind Presea's punch, Mordred's smile expanded to almost inhuman proportions as she promptly grabbed one of the former's twin tails, twisted her hips, and flung her toward one of the trees Leon had yet to clear, causing her to impact in sideways and her back to bend around it with a concerningly loud crunch.
"What the fuck!?" shouted Leon. "What are you-"
Interrupting Leon's outburst, Mordred bellowed, "Stay out of this, Leon! This is a matter between warriors...!"
Without waiting for Leon's response, Mordred launched herself toward Presea as she struggled to rise.
Grabbing the sides of Presea's head, Mordred attempted to execute a knee strike but was stopped by the former's left hand. Presea's Agility stat was only 44, less than half of Mordred's 94, but her Strength was a comparably monstrous 218, 77 points superior to Mordred's 141.
Pushing Mordred's knee down, Presea tackled the golden-haired Knight in an attempt to mount her. Unfortunately, Mordred backstepped faster than she could lunge forward, her hands forcing Presea's shoulders down and causing her to faceplant into the ground.
"You're strong, I'll give you that...!" exclaimed Mordred, raising her right foot like a guillotine as she added, "But it takes more than raw power to defeat a Knight of the Round Table...!"
Rising and raising her left arm, Presea managed to block Mordred's axe kick, but not without a loud cracking sound echoing through the area. Her arm didn't break, but it was doubtlessly fractured as pain and numbness filled her forearm.
"That's enough...!" shouted Leon, wrapping his arms around Mordred with the intention of pulling her away. Mordred responded by headbutting him in the chin with the back of her head, but though he felt the impact and had his vision shake, Leon's hold tightened as he reiterated, "You need to stop, Mordred..." in a low, pacifying tone.
Though she was breathing heavily and had a frenzied smile that made it seem like she wouldn't be content until she had stopped Presea beneath her heel, Mordred gradually relaxed when she heard Leon's whisper. The unbroken resolve in Presea's gaze pissed her off and excited her in equal measure, but since their battle had been fairly one-sided, she decided to spare the girl further 'instruction.'
"I'm fine. You can let me go now..." said Mordred.
"I'll let you go when I'm good and ready..." replied Leon, weakening his hold but keeping his arms around Mordred in the hopes it would prevent her from doing anything else crazy.
Narrowing her eyes and smiling, Mordred leaned into Leon's embrace as she met the gaze of the unsteady Presea, stating, "You're small, but Leon wasn't wrong when he said you were powerful. If you work hard and train, you could eventually reach the standard of a Knight."
Dusting herself off using only her right hand, Presea responded, "Don't wanna..." in a curt, standoffish tone. Mordred's brow twitched as a result, but with Leon putting more force into his arms, she settled down and said, "Either way, we should train and spar together. You can help me polish my skills in preparation for entering the Tower, and I can help you hunt game and gather materials from the forest."
Instead of responding to Mordred's proposition, Presea looked at where she believed Leon's face to be. It was fairly apparent that she was leaving the decision to him, so after weakening his hold on Mordred, he stated, "I think that would be a good idea. Hunting is easier in a group, and so long as you don't take things too far, sparring should be a good way to improve your skills..."
Nodding, Presea met Mordred's gaze and said, "I'll train with you," in her usual faint monotone.
Taking note of the fact that Presea had deferred to Leon, Mordred raised her right brow and asked, "Did you fall for this lout, or is there something wrong with your head...?"
Furrowing her brows slightly, Presea surprised Leon and caused Mordred to laugh by rebutting, "There's something wrong with your head..."
'Maybe she isn't as emotionless as I thought...?' wondered Leon, but that was a question for another time. Right now, he needed to do something about Presea's visibly swelling arm, so he opened the Build menu to see how much a Tabernacle costs to construct. There were no other medical facilities listed, so while he would prefer to avoid involving religion in their conquest, Leon speculated that holy or healing magic would be needed to treat their injuries and mend their maladies...
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