Celeste barely managed to hang on as she was tugged along by Adrian, through the busy town and passed all the city folk they ran. One with a big goofy grin on his face, the other excited but confused. She gave in eventually and matched his pace to the outer gate.
"There is a manor out in those woods, somehow I know that it's meant to be mine…" Taking a breath in between words. "...and our future home" I smiled at her, waiting for her to reply.
What I was looking at was my first real friend, not to mention a total babe, I couldn't find a way to wrap my mind around it. A lot had happened since that day in my room when the system appeared. I thought maybe it would lead to something, but dying and being told to build a harem in a fantasy world was far from logical.
"...Adrian?" Celeste's voice cut through my daydream as we neared the city limits. "Are you still there? Last I checked there wasn't anything in the woods aside from monsters and roads to other towns and such,"
"WAIT!" I yelled as an epiphone hit me. "I only know how to use healing magic… if there are monsters, don't I need some kind of weapon?" Sweat began to form on my face as the idea of being eaten while a cute girl watched made me cringe internally. "Can we maybe stop by the smith shop before we leave… I've yet to visit that shop yet,"
"I'm an archer so I usually hang out in the back…" Lowering her head in thought, after a few moments she looked up with vigor like she had the best idea ever. "I'll introduce you to Vinny, he'll know what to do,"
We changed our course and headed toward the smith shop, as we walked through vendors begging for our business as we walked by. Vinny's shop wasn't far from the exit of the village so we arrived in minutes, a large man was outside grinding a sword on a smithing stone with elite precision. The sparks exploded outward and quickly dimmed after.
"Heya Vinny, this is my new friend Adrian and he can only use healing magic; I was wondering if you had any advice for him, maybe a weapon type you think would fit his body?" Celeste asked loudly over the loud grinding sounds. "It would be reeeaaaaalllllyyy helpful," She said leaning in, and what appeared to be squeezing her boobs together to show more.
"WHAT!" He said as he pulled the sword away, cutting the noise away. "Celeste… those are going to have to grow a bit to catch my attention," Laughing loudly after letting her down.
I watched as she stormed around the entire shop like a child throwing a tantrum, she had clearly tried this many times in the past and this seemed to be the normal outcome as the shop owner just watched while laughing. She eventually quit rejoining us at the front, still glaring at the man for being so abusive.
"They're still growing, Vinny… don't be so mean to a lady!" She yelled in embarrassment with her face bloodshot red, patting her chest. "That's what Tanya says at least…" her voice lowered in volume as she tapped the tips of her index fingers.
"Hmmph… you boy, what do you think you could use? Take a look around the shop and make a choice." He said pointing at the many racks of weapons and shields that made up his shops interior.
I thought about that for a minute before moving toward the rack that had long swords on it, I reached my hand out to grab one, right before my hands touched it Vinny called out telling me I was too scrawny for that kind of weapon.
My feelings were hurt slightly by the man's remark, I looked to the side of the long swords; on the left there were daggers and knives of various sizes, to the right were pairs of short swords and shields. Afraid of being made fun of again in front of celeste I turned around.
"Okay old man… with this scrawny body what do you suggest then? Hmmm…" I asked sarcastically, my tone sharper than I meant for it to be.
"It's not the heaviest pieces of fucking metal you see… that will get you killed quickly outside the city limits," He walked over to stand next to me, grabbing a short sword and rotating it a few times. "Not a sword I don't think… if something were to surprise you… naaa, no swords… hold on,"
He moved away from me and neared a weapons rack lined with longer range weapons. Halberds, spears, pikes, basically any kind of sharp weapon on a stick could be found here. He grabbed a basic spear and walked back over to me, pushing the weapon and his fist into my chest.
"Here, try this… train with it and train your body, you couldn't protect anyone with the one you have now," He left me and walked back to the front of the shop, sitting in his chair producing a loud creak. "You're lucky Celeste is hanging around you… what she's missing in the chest department she makes up for in battle prowess,"
Celeste let out a loud huff before beginning to argue with the poor shopkeeper again, insults thrown from both sides like it was a food fight.
"Take the spear, make it your welcome gift… I can't have one of my best customers running around with some weak pathetic guy," He waved toward the door. "Now go have fun, Adrian was it… make sure you protect her at all costs. The world around us is harsh once you leave the village and stray from the set paths, it's a new world."
I nodded my head grabbing Celeste's hand and walked toward the door, yelling thank you's myself as well as Celeste still sending out a stray insult occasionally.
We left the shop with the manor in our minds and a new objective.
I needed to train and grow stronger so I could protect this future harem and heading out to conquer the manor was the first tiny step in the wild journey I was in for.
"I will protect you Celeste… first though, you may have to help me haha,"
We made our way to the village gates, no distractions to get in our way this time. Looking over at Celeste as she turned toward me, she grinned ear to ear showing just how happy she was. It made me happy to be here, happy to have been given a second chance.
We headed through the gates together, both ready to take on whatever was next.