Chapter Nineteen #2
Rosie let out an exhausted sigh even though she didn’t even fight yet. “I really am the weakest here.”
“Hey,” I said, holding her by her shoulder.
“One, you’re literally probably the strongest when it comes to raw power.
Two, your job isn’t to be fast, it’s to tank.
And you’ve got two great teachers here who can help you get better at that.
If you can read their movements and survive against them, then most bosses should be a piece of cake for you. ”
“What am I supposed to do?! Stand here and get beat up by them?!”
“… yes. Until you learn how to block them.”
“You know, maybe I should give you my shield and we’ll see how you like it.”
“It’s not like they’re going to actually hurt you.”
“They’re going to hurt my ego.”
“Well, there’s nothing that can be done about that.”
Jeanne stepped forward and asked, “Would you like to spar with me, Rosie? If you would so desire, I could limit my speed as I did with Sev.”
Rosie groaned but shook her head afterward.
“No, it’s fine. If we’re doing this… I’d rather be thrown into the deep end while it’s safe.
We’ll save taking things easy and cautiously for the dungeons.
Here, where’s there’s no real danger… I’ll get annoyed if you don’t come at me with everything you’ve got. ”
“Oh? I like that spirit. Very well. Whenever you are ready.”
“Tanks don’t get the luxury of only defending when they’re ready.”
“Well said.”
The match between Jeanne and Rosie started immediately after that. And, just as immediately, Rosie got knocked onto her ass.
But she stood up rather than give up.
“Mm. Master. Our turn,” Lupa said, standing in front of me with a wagging tail behind her.
Going by her body language, Lupa was happier to be fighting me than Jeanne… but that same body language really rubbed in just how much less of a threat I was. “I won’t let you always feel this relaxed fighting me,” I said.
“I know. I believe in Master. Master isn’t the kind of guy who would give up, but it’s okay if you act lazy sometimes so we can cuddle.”
I drew my sickle again and tossed it back and forth between my hands a couple of times. “You know, I’m going to have to pick a new weapon now. The only reason I liked this was because I planned on switching to a scythe later.”
“Master ignored what I said about cuddling.”
“Oh, sorry. Isn’t it obvious that I’m always going to have lazy moments for the sake of cuddling? And just to be lazy.”
“Mm. I still want to hear it. Thank you.”
“Anytime. So, what weapon do you think I should—”
“A spear.”
My eye twitched. “The audacity, Lupa.”
“Spears offer better reach. They’re strong.” Her tail wagged faster the more she talked. I knew she was fucking with me.
“A spear won’t be good for chopping that tail of yours off.”
Her tail wagged even faster. “Then get a halberd.”
I took a deep breath. “I won’t get ragebaited by you. You’re just a cute wolf girl trying to get a rise out of—”
“Spears are cooler than scythes.”
I lunged at her with my sickle.
Twenty minutes later straight of sparring, Rosie and I had to tap out. Fighting nonstop for that long was seriously exhausting, plus both of our partners were girls way better than us.
Rosie managed to block a few attacks, but the vast majority still got through.
As for me—well, there was a reason why I was sitting on the grass while Lupa clung to me and licked all over my skin. More specifically, she licked everywhere she left a cut on me.
I was starting to think Lupa kicked my ass so thoroughly just so she would have an excuse to lick me all over under the guise of “healing” me.
“Yeah, I need a new weapon,” I said. “Sickles… are a little cool, but they’re never going to compete with a real weapon in style. By the way, you were only messing with me when you said spears are cooler than scythes, right?”
Lupa ignored me and kept on licking my wounds.
“Hey, Lupa, I asked you a question.”
She still ignored me. Of course, the more she ignored me, the more her tail wagged, so I knew she was still messing with me.
If only normal humans had such easy-to-read body language.
“Well, I need to figure out a secondary class first anyways,” I said.
“Unless I want my weapon choice to influence that. I don’t want to use a sword because we already have Jeanne with her rapier, plus there’s a chance you’ll switch to a sword for Duelist, blunt weapons don’t fit the Vampire aesthetic, I don’t like short weapons, I don’t want to rely mainly on magic or ranged attacks…
I refuse to use anything where the grip makes up the majority of the weapon—by the way, scythes are excluded from that. ”
“Master is silly,” Lupa said before going back to licking.
“Now you talk. Anyways, it also needs to be a weapon that fits me. I don’t look like someone who should be swinging around some giant oversized weapon. There aren’t actually that many weapons that do fit me that I haven’t already ruled out. What do you think, Lupa?”
Lupa’s tail sped up.
“Don’t say it."
“Mm…”
“I don’t—… wait. Oh. Oh, this might work.
It might really work. I’ll still need to work on my personality, but…
the edgy vibe of it is irresistible, plus it would match with Jeanne, and you could easily dress to meet our aesthetic, and then Rosie could probably make it work, too.
We could have an entire theme going on with our party. ”
Rosie and Jeanne came over after discussing how their sparring went with the former asking me, “What’s up?”
“I know what I want to do. I’ve come up with a new class combo that—while I’m sure someone tried it out before—was never popularized as a build. It fits the whole vampiric aesthetic while also filling in a major gap in our party.”
Jeanne then asked, “What would that be?”
I gently moved Lupa off of me, stood up, and clapped my hands together in front of me to look like I was praying.
Then, with a wink, I said, “The Saint of Roses. Or the Rose Saint. I’m not sure which one I like more.
Either way, with Vampire as my main class, I’ll be choosing Priest as my second class.
Vampire already offers some really nice sustain and party utility, then Priest will add even more with a focus on healing.
And with one of the weapons I plan on using, the party buffing will be even stronger.
Not only that, but… even outside of the dungeon, getting to heal and take care of others—if I could take away people’s suffering…
I’d like that.” And it fit that other vision I had.
“Heh, sounds like you,” Rosie said. “It’s also fitting since you love dungeons so much you basically worship them, you dungeon cultist.”
“Good point. Maybe I can start my own religion worshipping dungeons.”
“… wouldn’t it be a religion worshipping Seth instead?”
“I’m sure he’ll understand.”
Lupa shook her head. “Religion worshipping Master.”
Rosie bent over and pinched Lupa’s cheek. “Don’t give him any weird ideas.”
“But it’s a good idea.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Even with irrefutable proof that gods exist, I don’t plan on worshipping them.
This world is still—no matter how much I might love it, I don’t know if I could bring myself to genuinely worship anyone who would let suffering exist.” I looked at Lupa and Jeanne.
“A just god worthy of worship wouldn’t have let either of you suffer so much. ”
Jeanne offered me a kind smile and said, “Perhaps Lupa has a point, but I will respect whatever you desire. As for the titles, I favor Saint of Roses.”
Lupa got up onto her knees in front of me and asked, “What about mine? What’s my title?”
Right, I never told her and Rosie what their builds were known as. “Duelist/Hunter was called the Stalker build,” I answered.
Lupa shook her head. “Not good enough. Doesn’t match with Master.”
“Then…”
Jeanne asked, “May I propose a title?”
“Go for it.”
“Rosen Blade. Even if she does not plan on taking the Vampire class, I feel she would enjoy that title.”
Lupa’s tail wagged with approval. “Rosen Blade. I like that.” She looked up at me. “Is that okay? Can I be Rosen Blade?”
“It’s just a made-up title, so I don’t see why not.”
“Rosen Blade… so cool.” Lupa turned to face Jeanne. “You’re good at names.”
“I—I merely said the first thing that came to mind,” Jeanne replied. “But I am glad it pleases you.”
There was one girl left. Turning to Rosie, I said, “And your Juggernaut/Shielder build… well, it didn’t really have a serious name. We called it the Object Force build.”
“… what’s with that name?” Rosie asked. “Seriously, why does it feel like my build got the worst name?”
“Well, it comes from the classic question, ‘What would win? An immovable object or an unstoppable force?’ Shielder is the immovable object and Juggernaut is the unstoppable force. People thought it would be funny to call it the Object Force build, so that’s what it got called.”
“I thought the build you taught me about sounded so cool until now.” Rosie let out a sigh before looking at Jeanne. “Help.”
“M-me?” Jeanne asked.
“You helped Lupa, so help me.”
“A-ah. Well, in that case… assuming you would like to match with the rest of us, how about… Crimson Rampart?”
Rosie blinked and her tail swished. “Crimson Rampart? That sounds kind of cool, but why?”
“Well, I thought you might feel a little embarrassed having ‘Rose’ in the title when your name is already Rosie. Rosie the Rose Rampart. That feels a bit… much, I believe. My first thought was ‘Bloody Rampart,’ but that sounds too… well, evil. Crimson Rampart is at least slightly more neutral. Ramparts are also known for breaking enemies upon them, being an immovable object that defenders fight atop, and the walls get stained with the blood of their enemies to show that they were an unstoppable force as well. Thus, Crimson Rampart, the blood-stained wall that protects the party while punishing those who would hurt them.”
Lupa’s tail was wagging at full speed at that point as she looked up at Rosie and said, “Rosie, Crimson Rampart. So cool…”