Hammerman

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Myrila simply huffed at the blacksmith's little rebuttal. "It is important that we confirm who her true identity really is," she argued. "Especially since we're going to be accompanying the heroes."

"But don't worry. I have no intention on telling on her. As long as she doesn't do anything suspicious or detrimental to the mission, of course," she added.

Their conversation was cut short by the announcement that they were finally going to present themselves to the heroes inside the throne room.

"Oh, finally." She rolled her eyes. "That sure took them long enough."

She walked with the others in a casual pace, not too slow yet not too fast either. Pretty much just following the crowd's own pace. And as they walked, her mind began to wander on how the heroes would be once again. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and she could sense her heartbeat raising.

Thankfully, it didn't take long at all until her question was answered.

When they entered the room, they were told to stand in a single line so the heroes could see all of them at the same time. Myrila gulped, straightening herself as she stood. She tried to look as regal as she could, befitting of the young sage title some referred to as.

As the heroes examined them, so did she to them. The first thing she noticed was that one of the heroes was a female. And she looked quite angry, for some reason unfathomable to her. The rest were males, and they all looked to be around the same age as she was.

So young... I thought they would be older...

To be honest, she had no idea which one she would choose. None of them really stood out to her. Except for the girl, but she couldn't just choose her hero based on her gender.

I suppose I should wait for the others to make their choices first...

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

So, the adventurers had to be the one choosing the heroes or could it be the other way around?

L'Mordryn Academy

"Indeed I am," she affirmed Nettle's analysis on her rank with a smile.

"It's not necessary," Corona answered matter-of-factly. "You become a Master by mastering your own house's knowledge, not by understanding others. THat would come after you become a Master, where you could take on a second school."

She finally answered her question, and with it, Corona withdrew all of her familiar. "I see. So you're utilizing the Phantasma crypt. Makes sense. I've certainly heard that some of the students there dabbled in necromancy. I dislike what they're doing with corpses but it's not my place to be against something the Academy approves, though I certainly didn't expect one of them to bring their corpse into a Herbology meeting."

She had noticed the knight's growing axe thanks to her shared visions with all her familiars, but she decided not to comment on it.

"I do still have another complain however. The smell. I don't come to Herbology to smell a corpse's rotting scent. Perfume it or something."

And with that, she left Nettle behind, going back to her workstation to resume her work.

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

"I am indeed not familiar with that term, nor with the flower you are cultivating," Corona answered honestly. "We in Machina never really discusses such topics in our classes."

Answering her question, she replied with a somewhat threatening smile, "Oh, I've been here for a while. I'm actually aiming to enter Master rank sometimes soon."

"And you still haven't answered my previous questions. How and where did you get this corpse?"

With a simple shimmer in the air, all of her bits appeared out of thin air behind her. Half of them were locked towards Nettle herself while the remaining half were locked towards her knight familiar.

She was in no mood for her druidic nonsense.

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

"From the graveyard," Corona stated matter-of-factly, now switching full on into her interrogative mode. "You do have permission to use the body, right? From both the gravekeeper and the family this old man belongs to?" She squinted her eyes.

Corona continued examining Nettle as she resumed her work. The flower growing on the corpse's spine had suddenly disappeared, and it seemed to be the cue for Nettle to start using her knife to open up said corpse at where the flower once grew.

She was no stranger to the concept of surgery. She had read quite the number of books pertaining to the subject, though she never actually performed it herself. And if she were to, she would not use such a primitive tool to do it. High precision lasers provided by her familiar would be far safer, cleaner, and easier to use.

Once again, she cringed at Nettle's work, though she had to admit, seeing the inside of a human body certainly piqued her interest, even if that human body was a corpse. It had not decomposed terribly, meaning it hadn't been that long since the man passed on to the next world.

All the more reason to suspect Nettle's method of obtaining him.

"He's still quite fresh," she remarked. "How long has it been since he died?" she asked, crossing her arms under her chest. "Also, such a method of planting would not be feasible for mass production. I suggest you found a better growth medium than a human corpse."

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

As she had expected, it was indeed a dead body under that sheet.

Corona flinched a little when he saw the body. Dead bodies were still unfamiliar to her, even though she dabbled in medicines and healing the ailed and sick.

Nettle then explained that she was using the body to grow the strange flower (even she who had seen and memorized many flowers had never seen before) that was definitely growing out of the man's spine, which certainly displeased Corona greatly, as her questioning expression turned into a full-blown frown. Using a human corpse like this, it was simply abhorrent to her.

"So, where did you get this corpse from?" she asked her coldly.

@A Lowly Wretch

L'Mordryn Academy

When the door to the club swung open, Corona's attention momentarily shifted away from her work. She saw Nettle enter with a gurney covered in white sheets alongside her summon.

She didn't know what she was going to do with the gurney, but she could smell that there was something dead under those sheets. From a distance, she couldn't make it out exactly but there was most likely something humanoid-shaped under it.

She sighed. She could only imagine whatever crazy experiment the girl had in her mind. It wasn't her job to do anything about it though. That would fall to the Herbology club leader.

However, her curiosity got the best of her. She decided to pause her work and approached the girl.

"Hey, what's that for?" she asked her casually, staring towards the gurney.

@A Lowly Wretch

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Hearing the little girl's response immediately made Myrila feel sorry for her. She very well knew how prejudiced some of the kingdom could be against demihumans. She found it to be a foolish notion herself, judging an entire race of people just from their physical form. She had met more unpleasant humans over demihumans, though that might just be because the latter was rare in this country altogether.

"It's alright, little one," she said as she bent over slightly, resting her hand on the demihuman's shoulder with a smile. "I wouldn't tell if you don't want to. Your secret is safe with me. With us," she added, giving a 'Don't you dare telling' glare towards Griffon.

@alexfangtalon@Infichi

L'Mordryn Academy

---

Corona's herbology club session went as swimmingly as usual. Unlike in the Future Tech club where she was certainly one, if not the most, active member, here, she was more in the background, just doing her own thing without really coming out to the spotlight. She didn't really have the same passion in Herbology compared to her passion to Future Tech. She was only in it because she had an expertise in the subject from her former life as the village apothecary. And the knowledge of medicinal compound she got from it, as well as how they affected the human body, could be useful to be used for her healing nanobots project.

Today, she was merely in the corner of the class, mixing her own brew. It was a medicine to repel wild beasts, to be spread around in powdery form around an area you want to be protected. It would create a smell that the beasts absolutely hated, though for humans, it would just be a strange, medicine-smelling aroma.

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

Hearing he criticized her of being impolite just made her even madder towards him. "How dare you to say that when you're the one approaching me uninvited. You didn't even bother to ask for my permission before you started to examine my staff. That is far more rude than merely refusing to give one's name to an ill-mannered complete stranger like you," she retorted. It was in her personality to always be frank about such matters, especially when her opponent was someone below her stature.

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a cloaked young girl bumping into them. As she apologized, Myrila quickly recognized her as the demi-human girl she noticed earlier.

"Hey you, little girl, wait," she told her with a stern expression. "You're a demihuman, aren't you?"

@Infichi@alexfangtalon