Trials of the Valiant Chapter 11
By The RPGenius
Malak couldn't stand it. He was sitting by Rafa, and he had never felt so helpless. There was nothing he could do to help, and he felt in the way. Realizing that there was no use for his presence, he left the room and went out to the table where everyone was sitting.
"How is she?" someone asked. Malak turned and saw a man he'd never met before. Before he could ask who the stranger was, Ramza told him.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Mustadio, Malak, this is Vantan, the White Knight. We saved him from a gang of thieves, so now he's with us."
Vantan shook their hands.
After being introduced, Malak answered, "The doctor thinks she'll pull through, but he's not sure."
Malak sat with them for a moment, but abruptly got up. He couldn't stand sitting down during this. He'd much rather pace. Since there wasn't enough space inside, he went oustide.
Once outside, he stood for a moment. Suddenly, a shrill scream echoed throughout the chilly night air. Malak, realizing that it had come from the back of the house, ran towards the scream. Arriving on the scene, he quickly took in what was happening. A man held Alma while another was getting ready to stab her with a knife. Two other men were desperately trying to hold a furiously thrashing Boco down.
Not bothering to take the time to think about what to do, Malak ran in and swung his Octagon Rod down upon the man with a knife, hitting him hard enough to kill him. The other man was so surprised by this new attacker that he let go of Alma, who took the opportunity to run several feet away and cast MBarrier on Malak.
Three more men had appeared now, and were bradishing their weapons threateningly. Seeing that two were standing next to each other, Malak cast Sky Demon Back, causing huge chunks of earth around the men to rip themselves free and slam into the bewildered men. The third man began to come forward, but before he could do anythin, Byblos, who had just noticed what was happening, jumped off the roof and onto the man, ruthlessly slashing and stabbing.
Boco had broken free of the two men's nets, and was now viciously pecking them with his beak and clawing them with the talons on his feet.
Malak hurried over to help Boco at the same moment that Alma did, and together the three had little trouble accounting for the two men.
The two men that had been hit by Malak's spell turned to run. Byblos lunged at them, but they managed to just dodge the furious demon and get away.
Malak looked over at Alma. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
* * *
Alma was still shaking as she and Malak went back inside.
Ramza, seeing them enter, smiled and said, "Good news! The doctor said Rafa will definitely live, though she'll need to rest for a while." He stopped and frowned. "What happened? Alma, what's wrong?"
Malak answered for her. "She got attacked by a bunch of thugs who seemed to simply want to kill her. Luckily, Boco was with her, and Byblos and I got there shortly after. I recognized some of those guys, though. Some of them were part of the gang that attacked Rafa and I."
Ramza was furious. "That's it! Tomorrow I'm going to find out who these bastards are and make sure that there are no repeats of this!"
From the look on her brother's face, Alma could tell that these people, whoever they were, might soon find they'd made a powerful enemy.
* * *
Ramza's day had been very tiring. Between saving Vantan and finding out about the attacks, Ramza's mind and body desperately needed some rest. However, there was one thing Ramza had to do first.
He sat down next to Mustadio and said, "Mustadio, I believe you called on me to show me something. With all that's happened, I haven't been able to find out the reason you sent for me. Now, what did you want to tell me?"
Mustadio looked up, pleased. "Great! I've been working on some stuff over the past month, and I think I've finished some great stuff!"
He rummaged in his bag and brought out several curious-looking metal spheres. "I call these things 'Bombs', after the enemies that tend to explode. Watch!"
Mustadio took one, ran outside, and placed it next to a rock. He lit a small rope hanging out of it on fire, then dashed back inside.
Ramza looked at Mustadio and remarcked, "It's not doing anything."
"Just watch!"
Ramza looked back out of the window, just in time to see the bomb explode in a fiery eruption. As the dust and smoke cleared from the explosion, Ramza saw that the rock had been reduced to pebbles.
Ramza looked over at Mustadio, who was grinning. "That's amazing! Those things have more explosive power than their namesakes!"
"That's not all I've got! Here, look at this."
Mustadio pulled out a gun that looked to be of his own making. "This is a relic-like gun that I actually made myself. I made it so that it can now fire twice before reloading!"
Ramza groaned. "Mustadio, you didn't happen to give one to anyone else, did you?"
Mustadio looked puzzled. "Well, I gave one to a chemist for some cash. He said he was going to use it for hunting and--"
Ramza cut him off. "That chemist nearly killed us today using one of your guns. Please, from now on, be careful who you sell things to."
Mustadio looked embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry, Ramza. But now, with that gil, my dad won't need to work for a while, and I can go with you for a while."
Ramza smiled. Mustadio might have been around his age, but Ramza sometimes thought of Mustadio as an eager kid, always ready for a new adventure or invention. "Great. We may need some extra muscle if we're going to go after that gang." As Ramza turned to go, he asked, "Do you have anything else to show me?"
Mustadio nodded. "Yeah, but I think you should get some rest. I'll show you tomorrow."
As Ramza left to go to sleep, he carefully planned out what he was going to do tomorrow.
.