Liz wore an elegant purple sleeveless dress with the back extending longer than the front in different directions, almost like tails. With her arms bare, I noticed a long red dragon tattoo that snaked along her left arm. She looked almost like a celebrity ready to walk the red carpet.
“Woah Liz, you’re beautiful!” Hilde excitedly exclaims, “and Roy… you’re uh… normal?”
I had to agree with Hilde. In contrast to the elegant Liz, Roy wore a blue tunic that defined his muscular build, and a pair of long brown pants that, like his tunic, also defined the muscles on his legs.
“I couldn’t bring myself to spend so much money.” Roy sighs.
Well, give it to me then.
Roy and Liz sit down beside us and begin to tell us how their shopping trip went. Apparently, Roy had attracted a crowd of females who were fawning all over him, Liz spent most of her time trying to get the ladies to back off him.
“That’s just what happens when you bring a guy as good-looking as Roy into a women’s clothing store.” I sigh.
“Argh, what about you?” Roy groans, “I had no idea you had a knack for fashion. I almost couldn’t recognize you.”
“Wait till I buy myself a razor for my hair, I’ll show you how much a hairstyle can impact a person’s appearance.”
“You know how to cut hair?” Hilde asks with a curious look on his face.
“Only my hair, I don’t trust myself to cut other people’s hair.” I admit, “Lis- I mean, a good friend of mine thought me how to style and cut my own hair. She always wanted to be a stylist for models.”
I begin thinking back on the time Lisa dragged me into her room and sat me down in front of her room mirror.
She gave me a razor to cut my hair with and began instructing me on how to style my bangs. I failed miserably at first as I underestimated the sharpness of the razor and had to wear a hat since I was embarrassed about my failure. After my hair grew back to a certain length, Lisa offered to cut my hair for me and give me a tutorial so that I could also do it myself.
I wonder how Lisa is doing, I hope she’s doing fine in her studies.
Who am I kidding? She’s going to be at the top of the class again for sure.
“We’re being summoned,” Roy says in a tense voice, catching me from my happy memory.
Hilde and Liz look down almost in sync with one another. I follow their gaze and realized that our bodies were slowly disintegrating from the bottom.
“You’re right. Prepare for battle, Summoner might be in trouble.” Liz says, as her dress suddenly changes into a purple armor with her midriff exposed.
I look at Roy and sure enough, his armor seemed to have materialized over his clothes. Hilde in the meanwhile summoned his bear traps in his hands.
My breathing becomes ragged as I watch my body slowly disappear, a truly terrifying sight to witness. I close my eyes as my head is left to disintegrate.
…
The bill! Did we pay the bill!?
* * *
When I open my eyes, I found myself and my party members in an open field facing another group of people.
One was a tall man with black undercut hair and black eyes. He was almost as tall as Roy but less muscular. He wore long pants and a V-neck shirt accompanied by a red scarf, and in his hands was a regular short sword.
Another was a beautiful Elf with blue eyes and long blonde hair. She wore white robes with flower designs and held a long golden staff with a diamond carved into the shape of a flower on top of it. I was only able to tell she was an Elf because of her Elf ears.
The final person I saw was another Elf with brunette hair and green eyes who wore a black tank top with a pair of green camo baggy jeans.
A party of three, but who’s the summoner? It’s probably the Elf with no weapons, right?
“Roy, charge that human with the scarf! Liz, support Roy from behind! Hilde, trap that Elf with the staff before she can cast any spells!”
As soon as Isabel gave those orders from behind us, my party members move in perfect harmony.
Roy and Liz charge with incredible speed towards the scarfed man who readies his blade while Hilde throws his chained bear traps towards the Elf with the staff.
I, in the meanwhile…had nothing to do!
As my party members attacked, the Elf in camo jeans smiled.
“Luna, summon tree golems to support Lev by attacking the lady in purple armor. Lev, put your training to use and focus purely on that knight in blue. Leo, you know what to do.”
Hmm, Leo? There’s one more? I don’t see them.
…
I don’t see them! Are they invisible?!
I summon my shield and widen my eyes.
I look around my surroundings as I look for any signs of movement. Since I couldn’t feel any wind and we were in a grassy field, all I had to do was watch for any movements in the grass.
I stared intensely at the battle in front of me.
Roy was fighting the scarfed man who was surprisingly defending Roy’s strikes with ease. Liz, on the other hand, is busy slicing and stabbing with her spear at a tall creature made out of wood. Hilde continues to throw his bear traps at the Elf, all of which are being deflected by another wooden creature identical to the one fighting Liz.
I wasn’t focusing on them since I had picked up on what that Elf in camo jeans said and focus my eyes on the grass around the battlefield.
Did Isabel really not catch what that Elf said? She’s been deadly quiet.
Then, I saw it.
From behind the battle, the grass parts ways as if someone was running across at a quick pace. I ready my shield as I try my best to follow the parting grass with my eyes.
Who is it going to go to? If I were invisible, I’d go for Roy.
I watch the parting grass circle, my party members, once and come to a stop behind Hilde.
They’re going for Hilde!
Just as I was about to run behind Hilde, the invisible Spirit sprints past Hilde towards me. I regained my stance and focused on where I would directly be attacked from. The invisible Spirit was closing on me with great speed.
Come on then, I’m ready for you!
The grass parts ways past me without me being attacked.
Huh?
I turn around in shock as I realized who the invisible Spirit was aiming for.
They were aiming for Isabel.
“Isabel! Run!” I shout as I run towards her as fast as I can.
“Huh? Why do I have to listen to you?” She gives me a look of annoyance, “What are you doing? Get back on the battlefield and wait for orders.”
No use getting through to her, she didn’t understand what was happening at all.
It was a simple strategy. Distract the main forces with a big battle, and sneak past without them knowing. It even helped that this Leo Spirit was invisible.
I run at full sprint towards Isabel while keeping my eyes on the grass parting ways. To my surprise, I was keeping up with the invisible Spirit, but he was approaching Isabel much quicker than I was. To my dread, he reached behind Isabel and appeared for the first time.
I could see that he was a boy around my age with short brown hair. He wore a dark hooded robe like an assassin, and in his hands were two knives, both of which were raised to stab Isabel from behind.
Come on, I’m so close! Just a couple meters left… I have to jump!
I leap towards the hooded Spirit with my shield in the rectangular shape of the Scutum shield. I feel contact with a body against my shield and the sound of metal colliding against one another.
I had successfully saved Isabel from a painful experience.
I get up and ready my shield in front of Isabel, who was looking at me in shock. Finally, she regains her composure and looks back at the main battle.
“Liz, charge the Elf! Roy, you join too! Hilde, trap this Spirit immediately!” Isabel commands.
Liz and Roy ignore their original target and directly charge towards the Elf with the staff as fear crawls over her face. Hilde turns around instantly and throws his bear traps at the arms of the fallen Spirit who begins shrieking in pain.
The Elf in camo jeans finally starts to show panic on her face.
“L-Lev retreat! Protect Luna… actually, save Leo!”
That proved to be the wrong call as Roy and Liz completely obliterate the wooden creatures defending Luna and hold their weapons against her. Lev in the meanwhile completely ignores Luna and charges straight for me.
I have a shield. This will be easy.
Lev raises his sword and slices downwards. I raise my shield up to block it, but Lev suddenly spins around and redirects his sword towards my waist.
Shit! I’m too slow!
“Okay, Isabel! You win this time!”
Lev’s sword comes to a stop a couple of centimeters from my chest as the Elf Summoner’s voice saves me from being cut in two.
“Tsk.” Lev clicks his tongue in annoyance.
“Tsk”?! This guy is out to kill me for real!
Lev sheaths his sword and walks past my party members as they join Isabel’s side with weapons at the ready.
“Keep your weapons, this was just a spar.” Isabel sighs.
“Just a spar huh?” Rin says as his sword disappears into thin air.
The rest of us follow suit and make our weapons and armor disappear. Liz’s armor turns back into the sleeveless dress, Hilde’s light armor turns back into his butler-like outfit, and Rin’s blue armor grows smaller into the blue tunic.
As for me, I looked down and realized that I wasn’t wearing any armor the entire time. I try to hide the panic from the realization on my face as the other group of people we were fighting approaches us.
“That’s not fair Isabel, you were able to summon 4 Spirits?” The Elf in blue pouts at Isabel.
“I would have been fine with the first 3 I got.” Isabel crosses her arms and closes her eyes.
Hey… I just saved you, and now you’re discrediting me? That’s not fair at all.
I must’ve shown my anger on my face, as Roy and Hilde put their hand on each of my shoulders and frowned.
I wanted to lash out at Isabel but ultimately decided against it.
I couldn’t focus on Isabel as the hooded Spirit, Leo, brought down his hood to reveal a childish face with curly brown hair.
“Man, I was hoping we’d get the advantage if you guys didn’t see me from the start.” Leo brings out his hand, which was still slightly bloody from Hilde’s traps, for me to shake, “Do you have a sensory skill?”
“No, not really, I wouldn’t have realized if it wasn’t for your Summoner mentioning your name in her orders,” I reply as I gingerly shake his hand, careful not to apply too much pressure on the areas where he was injured.
The Elf in camo pants clears her throat, “Excuse me, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself and my party to Isabel’s party.” She stands in the middle of her party and does a bow, “My name is Aquaria, a Summoner from the land of Eskal and the best friend of Isabel.”
My party and I turn to Isabel, who slightly blushes at Aquaria’s final comment.
The scarf man stepped beside Aquaria and bowed formally, “My name is Lev, a Spirit from another world named Igren. Offensive Class, level 16.”
Igren, is that another world?
So, Spirits really can come from other worlds, how cool!
Leo lets go of my hand and steps backward, “I’m Leo, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria. Support Class, level 14.”
“Honestly, you bunch are quite weak even with the man advantage.” The Elf in the robes crosses her arms, “I’m Luna, a Spirit from Earth. Support Class, level 14.”
I swear you got instantly destroyed by Liz and Roy though…
Liz takes a step towards Luna with a “smile”, but Roy and I instantly recognize her anger and place a hand on her shoulder the same way Roy and Hilde did to me. Luna smirks as she seems pleased to have gotten under the skin of Liz.
Roy casually smiles, “Roy, at your service, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria as well. Offensive Class, level 16.”
Hilde jumps in front of us and does a theatrical pose, “The name is Hilde! I’m a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Lastaria. Support Class, level 15.”
Liz relaxes her shoulders, “I’m Liz, a Spirit from Spirinall in the land of Udren. Offensive Class, level 15.”
Finally, my turn to introduce myself arrives, “Uhm, I’m Rin, a Spirit from Earth…”
What level and class was I again? Man, everyone is staring at me… especially that Luna girl!
Silence fills the field as I struggle to remember what my level and class were.
Roy comes to my rescue as he clears his throat to get my attention and pretends to hold up a shield. I recall the night when Roy gave me those level-up potions and take out my shield to reveal what my class and level were.
Then, reality struck again.
I had forgotten that I was an unwanted character. As I was reminded how under-leveled I was from my shield, I look down at the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone out of complete embarrassment.
“Defensive Class, l-level… level 7…”
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