Chapter 12: Not So Honored Situation
"Here are the Goods." Padme put the rather heavy box containing Noctis's renewed weight on the ground.
Seeing Noctis look at her with a raised eyebrow, she was a bit annoyed.
"What? I am also an adventurer you know? Transporting that much is nothing difficult."
"Rather you are the one going to suffer. Are you really going to wear that all of the time?"
"Of course." Matter of fact, he was going to do it right now.
He walked to the box and opened it, seeing what he requested, he started putting them on, starting with the legs and then the arms.
"How is it?" Padme asked with a teasing smile, knowing full well how he was probably feelings, genius or not, a level 1 was still a level 1.
"Adequate." Noctis answered as he gave her the money he owed her.
And He was not gonna lie, it was heavy. Not impossibly heavy as he could lift the sum with just a bit of effort, but having to go around with that attached to his body... won't be easy.
Not only would he weigh on his physical endurance at all times, but having to fight with them will be a challenge.
But that was also why he did it, he needed to challenge himself, to push himself and that was the way he choose to go about it.
If Rock Lee could do it with much heavier weight, he should be able to do this much as well.
And if it came to injure him, there were always health potions to fix that, what was the use of money if not to use it?
"Then that should be all, I will be going home now, give my greetings to the others." Padme was also tired and wanted to rest.
"You are here, do it yourself." He knew she just wanted to avoid meeting them as she would be forced to stay and converse with them for a while, but he wasn't going to play her messenger.
...
Damn...
Was Noctis's first thought as he woke up, his body was full of soreness as his muscle and bones cried in pain.
But he gritted his teeth through it, it was all for his own good, he had to accept that much pain in order to grow.
He refused to give in to the pain and got up from the bed to do his morning necessity.
He was not going to head to the dungeon today, instead, he will focus on physical training to understand his current condition to the best of his ability. That was the wiser choice.
And thus he returned to the base.
All kinds of Push-ups: Uneven Push-ups, One-handed Push-ups, Planche push-ups, and Handstand Push-ups.
All kinds of Pull-ups, Squats, and kinds of stuff, suffice to say it was immensely tiring.
When he was done, he stopped for a moment to regain some stamina before going at it again.
This time, he went through his forms, punching, kicking, moving, and using his agility and dexterity to the best he could presently do.
Then he took out his sword and started swigging it, vertically, horizontally, even the drawing.
He familiarized himself with the weight thoroughly.
The conclusion?
Fighting with them will be hard and more than anything extremely tiring. It will be hard to beat anyone that have around the same level as him and know how to fight.
The slightest movement from his arms and legs requires some effort on his part.
Putting his sword back in the sheath, Noctis's hand went through the air and came back with a potion in it.
Yeah, rather be prudent, plus it may come out expensive, but It will surely speed up the process of adapting to the weights.
Gulping down a potion costing 500 Valis in a single breath.
After he had to admit it, he felt much better.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to abuse of potions a bit right? He could train as harshly as he wanted and even if his bones broke, he could just use a high-grade potion to heal that in a matter of days.
Well, there was the fact that a single one cost several ten thousand... But hey, it was worth it.
With that being said, Noctis felt like adventuring alone in this condition would be harebrained, thus he will do it with the team until he decides otherwise.
...
The next day, he decided to assemble the team and go to the dungeon. On the way, he learned that they were already used to their weight and planned to have their stats updated tonight.
Turn out they already talked to Padme about it when she came to deliver his new weight, so she will be making something heavier for them as well.
"Ouka." Noctis called, if they were going to hunt in the team, he had to act his part as well.
"On it." Ouka acted quickly and blocked the killer ant with his shield.
Mikoto knowing her job, used that occasion to kill the monster with a precise sword slash.
Just as that monster disappeared, Chigusa fired an arrow from behind which lodged itself in the body of a purple moth, also killing it.
"Let's keep advancing a bit." Noctis instructed, he was also killing monsters here and there while trying to conserve some energy.
Not making too wide or stamina-draining moves, keeping it small and precise, he killed all of them in one strike if he could.
Those he couldn't, he had Asuka take care of.
Also, she ended up changing her adventurer outfit, and come back to spare with him some time ago. Now she wore a purple kimono much like the rest of the familia adventurers except Noctis, along with some piece of armor and knuckles, since she specialized in punching.
"Hey Noctis, how are you hanging on there?" Ouka asked as he knew what he was doing wasn't easy.
"Do not worry about me, that much is nothing." Noctis reassured him, he knew Ouka was just worried and was not the only one either.
The others were relieved knowing he was doing just fine so they kept going. And hunted as they usually did.
And eventually came the time they were starting to get tired and had to get back to the surface.
So as they prepared to do so, starting to retrace their steps.
Suddenly Noctis's eyes widened and as quickly as he could he acted.
"N-Noctis, why you-" He pulled Asuka into his arms, just in time the dagger that was destined for her back.
"Who?!" They all hastily turned around to see that unknowingly, they had been approached by a group of adventurers.
"You got a crazy reaction time here kid." One of them said it was the one who attacked just now.
But instead of continuing, he walked back toward his groups.
"See, I told you, now you owe me 100 valis." Another one addressed him.
"Tsk, tsk, I was sure I got her..."
"Well, it's not like you were seriously trying to kill her as well."
"A loss is still is a loss." they were talking among themself as if they didn't just try to backstab a girl for no apparent reason.
Noctis's group looked at them closely, there was a total of Five of them as well. But as he looked at their faces one after the other, he came to realize that perhaps there indeed was a reason why they attacked as he could recognize one of the different faces.
"Who are you and why are you attacking us?" Ouka asked on the defensive.
"You better give a good answer but either way we are reporting to the guild." Asuka didn't take the attempt at her life very kindly.
"Why would you even attempt the life of a fellow adventurer?" Mikoto found it so deplorable.
"..." Noctis just looked at them with narrowed eyes as he removed his glasses.
"I would advise that you didn't move any further or you risk regretting it."
He wanted to proceed and do the same with the weight but he was stopped.
The one who just talked came from behind as the others made way for him to pass through, it was easy to tell that he was probably the leader of this group.
"You see... you guys really don't know to not meddle in other people's business." The man in his late twenties said as he got closer to them, prompting the Takemikasuchi familia members to ready their weapons.
"Who are you all? Why are you not answering?" Ouka once again asked.
"No no no no no." The man playfully said as he shook one of his fingers left and right.
"You asked the wrong question, the right one is what do we want?" The man spoke as he looked back to his guys. "Aren't I right?"
"As always!" As if used to it, they answered in unison.
"See?" He looked back toward Noctis and the others, clearly amused by the situation.
"What do you want?" Noctis advanced forward to meet the man as he asked.
"Pretty courageous aren't you? I heard about you." The man spoke with a smile before suddenly punching Noctis in the guts.
"Ahg." Noctis did his best to refrain from crying in pain.
"Noctis!" His familia members shouted as they tried to run toward him.
In fact, he was pretty shocked right now as he couldn't react to the man's attack. It's not like he couldn't see it coming, he did, in slow-motion even, but even then his body couldn't react to that in time.
His weight played a part but even that couldn't explain such a difference in speed, the only conclusion possible being that the man was stronger than him by a good margin.
Meaning his effective level was superior to 1.
"...Stay... Back." Noctis managed to force out the words from his mouth. "His level is higher than one."
"Woah, what a perspicacity... see, now I like you." The man's mood was really volatile it seemed.
"We will go easier on you than planned." He nodded his head to his own magnanimity.
"Why, why are you doing this?" Chigusa who was silent until now asked with tears in her eyes.
"Ah? Are you crying already? I didn't even do anything yet." He seemed surprised and disappointed.
"Fine, I will tell you." Before coming back to normal.
"They are the guys after Padme." Noctis properly stood up as he wiped a liquid on his lips.
"I said, I was going to do it!" He became upset and side-kicked Noctis to the wall.
"Noc-"
"Hey, you did that one already, it's getting redundant." The man stopped them from even worrying aloud as his colleague proceeded to laugh.
""hahahahaha""
"Perhaps they are not that smart boss."
"I think, they still don't understand their situations."
"Haha, poor Noctis, see how worried you make your friends."
"Okay, okay. Now shut up." Their leader spoke and they obeyed.
"Ahem, back to the business." He said as he watched Noctis get up from the ground with a bruise on his face.
"I was saying, why would you choose to involve yourself in others' business? I was comfortably trying to get the girl that was rightfully mine, but no, you had to get all heroes of justice, and trouble my men." He explained as his hand moved to accompany his speech.
"And, mind you, they didn't really take it well, to be bullied like that." He talked in clear hypocrisy but he didn't seem to care. "What do you think, Reze?" He asked without turning back.
The man that Noctis made apologize to him the day before, walked out toward Noctis. " You are damn right boss." He tried to punch Noctis, but of course, Noctis blocked it.
As if in response, the man they called boss, punched Ouka in the nose.
"Ouka!" The other of course unconsciously reacted this way.
"That one is new." The boss, as pleased, nodded content.
"I advise you to not dodge as every time you will do, one of your comrades will suffer in return."
The boss walked toward Noctis as the other named Reze backed off, he held his head by the chin and saw rather unsettling blue eyes looking at him, but instead of being intimidated, he smiled.
"See, I said I liked you. Those eyes of yours are so beautiful." He spoke with a smile before dropping said smile. "Almost make me want to rip them off." The chill, that was sent through the body of everyone, even his own men, was something.
But it seemed like that didn't affect Noctis at all as he still kept his gaze as such.
"Nah, of course, I am joking." He came back to his smile as if he wasn't seriously contemplating it a second ago.
"In any case, I got to make you get the message loud and clear, and it will be done through your body so you never forget about it." He spoke as he walked back toward his group.
"From now on, you will stop and sever all relationship you have with my dear Padme, you hear me?" He spoke but he didn't receive any answer.
"Seems like, you really are not that smart after all." He shook his head in disappointment, almost saddened by that fact.
"Guys, It seems like your teaching is required, would you be so kind as to make them understand my words thoroughly?" He asked his people.
"Of course boss, you know you can always count on us."
"Gotta make that quick."
"Been a while since those fists served as messengers of goodwill."
He nodded in contentment.
"But we are not heartless, they are young and inexperienced after all so be careful to not kill them. If they could be bedridden for a few months that would be perfect."
"Got it."
...
End.
Don't be too revolted and let me cook, this will end up beautifully.
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