THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"What did you do that for?!" the guy struggles just to stand back up.

"Do you think you can fight with those?" 

"I need to protect myself!" 

"Yeah, yeah. Just put something lighter on and let's go." 

Longinus don't care about armor anyway. The guy leaves and takes another couples of minutes to get ready. When he comes back, he is just wearing part of the armor he had earlier: the chest plate and the greaves.

"Good." 

We leave the camp and the guy runs ahead. I follow him with K'nor and we soon reach a sort of plain, a bit far from the city.. 

"This is where they were patrolling."

"So far away from the camp?"

"Yes. The captain managing the camp extended the area of patrols to reinforce security after the incident at Obarion." 

"I see." 

Indeed, looking around, there doesn't seem to be any traces of fights. Nor do I feel any Longinus around us anywhere. But still, there is that weird noise coming from the ground that I keep hearing. And I am not the only one.

"Woof!! Woof!!" K'nor has had his ears raised ever since we arrived here and he now starts barking at the ground. Something is coming. The noises are becoming louder.

"What is happening, sir?!!" 

"Just be ready." 

"O-okay." He grips his spear with more strength and points it at the ground. 

Suddenly, the ground start shaking then everything stops. An ominous silence fills the place and I can only hear the breathing of the guy next to me as well as his heartbeat. 

"Calm down." 

"How am I supposed t-"

Finally, it comes out. A worm appears. So we meet again, huh. How did Cordel called those?

"S-slickers!!!" Exactly, thanks man.

The huge worm falls on him as soon as it pops out of the ground but before it can reach, I bombard it with three bullets and the explosions sever the body in half, projecting the guy away as well. 

"Hyaa!" he screams like a little girl while knocking himself on a tree not far from there. 

Soon after, the rumbling restarts and the ground around me shakes even more. I see. They are trying to bring us down to their territory. 

"K'nor, stay with him and protect him, okay?" 

"Woof!!" 

K'nor jumps to the guy and right after that, everything around me falls. A huge hole appears with multiples smaller ones on it as I fall. Esteressa said once that you can't find those slickers outside Floras. 

"I guess it wasn't true then." 

The pit where they made me fall is huge but not too deep. I land without need of Angas and immediately notice clothes and rest of armor dissolved by acid. This must be the rest of their patrols they were looking for. It looks like they fought a bit at least. With that, the mission is accomplished. I just need to get out of here.

A worm comes out of a small hole before me but instantly die to a bullet. Those things don't scream but the noise they make is a good indicator of where they are. Another comes from behind and when I turn around to look at it, it contracts its body then a greenish liquid leaves its mouth with great speed. So that's how they use their acid then. 

"It looks gross, guys." 

I use Sphere and bombard the worm with bullets. Not just that one, I fire bullets inside all the holes I can and the ground starts exploding and falling everywhere. In less than a minute, the already huge pit has turned into a crater. Slickers' bodies appearing here and there. Another one or two come out after that, they are a bit bigger than the others one but not that much, they also receive bullets all over their weird whitish bodies. Maybe I went overboard since their bodies got blown up and pieces fall all over the place. Still, it should be over now, right?

I fly out of the pit after grabbing some pieces of armor and clothes left by the previous visitors and when I land, the guy is scared and trembling while holding his head between his hands.

K'nor is sitting next to him like he doesn't care. I am sure he doesn't. 

"Hey!" 

"…" The guy doesn't even answer when I call him. I shake him until he looks at me.

"I am done." 

"What? A-already?" 

"Yeah. Your comrades were attacked just like us and killed. Here." 

I hand over what I took and he takes it with trembling hands. Then he starts crying. Argh, shit. Here comes the speech about love and friendship and whatnot.

"Edgard, Diane, Simon-"

"Listen, can we go back first?" I really don't want to hear about this at all.

"I...Sniff…Yes, you are right. There might be others lurking around." I don't think so but yeah, whatever. 

He stands up and starts walking, followed by K'nor. I follow them and just in case, since we never know, I fire another ten bullets inside the pit again. 

"W-what is happening?" He turns around trembling again.

"It's nothing." 

***

When we reach the camp, it doesn't even look like anybody left it. Most of the soldiers and mercenaries are still sleeping. Willhem and Hendrick are up though. They are tending to their weapons silently. 

"Don't forget to bring the money to that guy." 

"I will bring immediately." The guy has finally starts crying. Though his eyes are still  swollen. 

I leave him and go the guys then sits in front of him. Hendrick hands me my raizen and a grindstone. 

"To kill off some time."

"I already did though." 

"Yeah, but Eduard said that we aren't to move until the captain decides so."

"Wait, that drunkard. Then we better leave this place." 

"Nah, they are paying us per day, why would I leave? Besides, the city itself isn't really reluctant to the army. They let come and go as they please, buying alcohol and food without trouble. Some soldiers even stay in the city from what I heard." 

"You know it is a trap, right?" 

"I don't care. If their previous defeat didn't teach them anything, it is not my place to do so." 

"Right." 

It true, it is not our problem whether they do something or not. It's just. I am kinda restless. Especially when I know that Dilt is here in Titanium. I feel like this is done on purpose. 

"Hendrick, do you know what we can find in that direction?" I point at where I can feel Dilt and the other dragon. Their position is relatively close from what I can feel.

"Have you turned crazy already? How would I know?" 

"Right." Without answering, Willhem brings out a compass and after looking at it, he smiles.

"You are pointing at the biggest city of Titanium: TITAN."

"Titan…" 

"Wait, you know where it is? How?" 

"Don't be stupid, Hendrick. He just asked you what was there." 

"Yeah, sorry." 

"Anyway, you think something is happening there, right?" Willhem leans in and his eyes starts sparkling.

"Yes. I do." With Thando who has survived and Dilt who is there right now. There is definitively something going on. Something bad. "But we can't do anything about it now, right?" 

"Yup. For now." 

He goes back to what he was doing like nothing. This guy really is a battle freak.

***

Three days later, just he said, Frankher has arrived. He is wearing an absolutely stunning armor with three types of blue colors: a navy blue, a clear one and blue-indigo one. It must be Frank's work seeing how beautiful it is. 

Keltia is not in rest. As soon as she comes out of the tent, her legs are the first thing that I notice. The front part of her armor only covers until her knees. Though there is some sort of cape around and behind her that covers until the feet as well. The armor is also blue and shaped around her body.

Peter's armor looks like a copy of Frankher's one. Though his is obviously less designed. There are six other people who come out of the tent after those three and then, a face I wouldn't have never thought appears as well.

"Oh, shit."

Germinia appears, as tall as always, wearing a yellow armor and helmet that makes her looks surprisingly good. Who was crazy enough to send this disaster here? I hope they brought a priest because all those who will just as much as look at her will surely have their eyes pierced and their hands cut.

She shyly looks at me for a moment then walks behind Frankher as well. What was that? 

"You seem to be doing well." 

"Good morning, Keltia." Keltia is the first to address me. 

Peter simply waves his hand and Germinia doesn't even look at me. What was that earlier then? She seems to be acting like normal. She then looks at me for a moment and rolls out her eyes like she can't take it anymore. Anyway, let's not think about it.