User blog:Thrycius/Zheiro and The Moonlight Sculptor: Chapter 18

'''Disclaimer: This is a crossover fanfic between Brave Frontier and The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. I don't own either of those; they belong to their respective owners, namely Gumi/Alim and Nam-Hi-Sung (남희성) respectively.'''

'''Disclaimer (extended): This crossover fanfic now also contains some elements from the Type-Moon universe, owned entirely by Kinoku Nasu. I don't own anything from there, either.'''

Is this your first time seeing this story? Go directly to chapter 1 here!

“Ugh,” Zheiro groaned. “Why does this place have to be so darn hot?”

“Because this area is the Kagan Desert,” Thrycius said with a grin. “It’s exactly what it sounds like: a desert. And like all other deserts, it’s hot.”

“I like this kind of heat, though.” Sarui said, walking next to them entirely unaffected as she looked around. “However, this place is rather plain. I think I shall add my own touch to it.”

“Hey, Sarui,” Thrycius called out after her. “It’s fine if you want to explore, but be sure to meet back up with us at the entrance to the next area if you want to keep traveling with us.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Sarui called out, already on her way off to who knows where. “Worry more about my rival. It looks like he’s about to melt here.”

“Ha ha ha!” Thrycius laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”

And just like that, Sarui wandered off into the desert without fear.

“I feel like I’m going to die,” Zheiro continued moaning his complaints without end. “Can we get out of here soon?”

“I don’t mind. The next testing area is quite a while from here, after all.” Thrycius said. “So if you want to learn Moonlight Sculptor sooner, you should hurry on up to the next area. Of course, I won’t be assisting you in combat as usual.”

“Ugh,” Zheiro groaned, dragging himself along. “This is even worse than that town we stopped at just earlier.”

“Really?” Thrycius asked, laughing. “While that may be true, you speak like that town was a horrible experience; I myself was under the impression that we went there to relax.”

“It may have been a time to relax, but it was probably the worse one that I’ve ever taken.” Zheiro complained. “What kind of relaxation makes you feel more exhausted than when you started?”

“But you had a lot of fun, right?” Thrycius asked, smirking as he leered at Zheiro.

“Well…” Zheiro hedged. “I guess it was a bit fun. But seriously, what the heck is up with that town? It was unlike any other that I’ve seen before. Even the people there were kind of… no, they were definitely weird.”

“Hmm,” Thrycius thought about it. “If I had to venture a guess, perhaps it’s a town dedicated to summoners?”

“What, you actually don’t know?” Zheiro asked in disbelief.

“I’ve already told you this once before,” Thrycius replied with a smile, “But I don’t know everything. I only know what I know.”

“I know you’ve told me that before, but I still find it hard to believe,” Zheiro grumbled. “We’ve already travelled together for over a year, and this has only been the second time you didn’t know the answer to something.”

“Wouldn’t that just mean you’re no longer asking questions to which their answers are actually quite obvious?” Thrycius asked, grinning as he usually was.

“No, I think the answers were obvious only to you,” Zheiro retorted under his breath. “I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t have known the answers to nearly all of the questions I’ve asked.”

“In any case,” Thrycius continued, as if he hadn’t heard Zheiro’s mumbling. “This place is pretty hard on you, right? Shouldn’t you hurry up and try to get out of here as quickly as you can?”

“That’s right!” Zheiro exclaimed, suddenly feeling motivated again. “If this is anything like Mistral, then the next area will have water, right? Right after those cave full of flames was that snowfield.”

“Ha! That’s some good insight you have there, Zheiro!” Thrycius said as he laughed. “Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right! The next area is has a lot of water, so you should definitely hurry up!”

“All right! I’m going to break through this area so fast that you wouldn’t believe it!” Zheiro exclaimed, picking up his sword as he charged ahead.

A short while later, Zheiro would find himself lying on the ground in exhaustion not too far off from where he had started running.

Two and a half weeks later, Zheiro finally managed to drag himself to the edge of the Kagan Desert.

“That,” Zheiro panted, completely out of breath, “was the worst experience ever. Please don’t make me go through that again.”

Thrycius did have some water on him, but because he decided to ration it Zheiro was forced to only have bits of it every day, which was not enough to quench his thirst.

“If you thought this area was bad, you may want to try increasing your resistance to your weakness of fire,” Thrycius said, laughing.

“It’s about time you two arrived,” another familiar voice cut in. “I’m pretty sure you two know better than to keep a lady waiting, right? And what’s with your terrible posture and expression, Zheiro? Stop making an embarrassment out of yourself any further, Zheiro. Consider your position as my rival; I expect much better out of you.”

“No, you’re the one who arbitrarily decided that I would be your rival!” Zheiro weakly shouted, barely finding the strength to retort. “What were you doing while you were gone, anyway?”

“Oh, me?” Sarui said with disinterest. “Nothing much, I did exactly what I said I was going to do: adding my own artistic touch to this place since I felt it was rather plain.”

“And what, exactly, did you do in this desert that is full of nothing but sand all around?” Zheiro asked. Zheiro was actually somewhat curious this time around, since there wasn’t really anything in particular for Sarui to paint on, no matter how much paint she had.

Or did she?

Now that Zheiro thought about it, somehow he had the feeling that even the presence of nothing but sand wouldn’t stop her from trying.

“Zheiro, Zheiro,” Sarui lamented, sounding disappointed in him. “Isn’t it obvious? With so much sand around, I decided to cover the entire desert with sand paintings. You should have figured out at least that much, if you plan to be my rival.”

“Sand… paintings?” Zheiro asked, confused to the point he didn’t even know how to retort to her usual claims of him being her rival. He was not particularly familiar with the term, but it was obvious to even him that sand was definitely involved.

“That’s right.” Sarui confirmed, completely unaware of Zheiro’s confusion. “Sand paintings.”

“And you covered… the entire desert with these sand paintings?” Zheiro asked, still not sure how to react.

“Why are you so surprised?” Thrycius asked. “This is pretty much on the scale of what I expected her to do.”

“Yep,” Sarui said, nodding her head proudly. “Now, are we going to stand here all day or are we going to get going?”

Zheiro gave up then and there trying to understand the ridiculousness of the painter that was now travelling with them.

It simply wasn’t worth it.

In the near future, historians would flock to the Kagan Desert to study these mysterious and massive sand paintings, and come to the conclusion that all these sand paintings were made for ritualistic reasons by various groups of desert nomads that lived in the area.

Little did they know that they were all actually made by a single, crazy artist named Sarui—but that is a tale for another time.

And now, back to Zheiro and friends.

Zheiro was in despair.

He had did his best to rush through the Kagan Desert in hopes of escaping the insufferable heat and sand, but when he found himself in the next area…

All he found was even more sand.

“Why!?” Zheiro cried out, falling onto his hands and knees in despair. “Why is there even more sand here!? Isn’t this place supposed to have water?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Thrycius replied, grinning. “It’s because this is a beach. Breeze Beach, to be exact. And all the water is right over there,” Thrycius continued, pointing to the sea. “It’s just that I honestly wouldn’t recommend drinking it. Unless you want to die of dehydration by drinking seawater.”

“What kind of stupid name is Breeze Beach, anyway?” Sarui said, grumbling. “It’s like naming that desert we just passed through Hot Desert or something.”

“I’m in despair!” Zheiro cried out, throwing his hands into the air. “These expectations of mine have left me in despair!”

“Oh stop exaggerating already,” Sarui grumbled. “I don’t exactly like this place either, but you don’t see me complaining.”

“And why would you of all people not like this place?” Zheiro asked, looking up at her with skepticism. “There’s still sand here, you can still do those sand paintings.”

“Haven’t I said this one before? I dislike water,” Sarui said, looking displeased. “The air here is humid, the sand is a bit moist, and we’re next to the sea. What’s there to like about this place?”

“Now, now,” Thrycius interrupted, laughing. “Most people would do a lot of things just to be able to leisurely visit a beach as nice as this.”

“That may be true,” Zheiro retorted, “And I won’t deny that the scenery is nice. But I’m pretty sure ‘most people’ wouldn’t have to run through a desert for two and a half weeks just to go to the beach and have fun!”

“It’s just as you can see, storyteller. Neither of us are having any fun here,” Sarui complained. “Can we all hurry up and move on to the next area already?”

“Hmm,” Thrycius pretended to think aloud about it. Or at least, Zheiro was sure he was pretending.

Who actually thinks about what to do with a grin?

As if an idea came to him, Thrycius brought up a finger. “Alright then, let’s go to—”

“Hold it right there!” A sudden unfamiliar voice barked from behind Thrycius as he was speaking, interrupting what he was going to say “We’ve been waiting here all week here for you, sculptor, and we’re not letting you get away!”

Zheiro wearily stood up, slowly looking towards the voice he didn’t recognize. Meeting his gaze behind Thrycius stood a group of 5 men, each wearing somewhat official-looking clothes.

Sarui herself glanced at them before looking away in obvious distaste, and Thrycius, still grinning, simply crossed his arms without even bothering to turn around.

Apparently, it was up to Zheiro to ask what was going on.

“Excuse me,” Zheiro asked politely. “Is there a problem?”

“Well,” one of the strangers, presumably the leader, started. “We just wanted to have a word with you. You’re the sculptor named Zheiro who sculpted that bouquet a little over a year ago, right?”

Zheiro nodded. “Yeah, I made one. What about it?”

“Well, our employer wished to make a request that involves you, you see.” the leader continued. “So we wanted your assistance.”

“So your employer wanted me to sculpt something for him?” Zheiro asked, wanting to confirm.

“Well, something like that,” the stranger hedged. “Would you mind coming on over to discuss things with us? It shouldn’t take very long, so your companions can wait here.”

“Well, if it’s not going to take long...” Zheiro trailed off as he thought about it. “I don’t see how it can hurt.”

But as Zheiro tried to take a step forward, Thrycius physically stopped him with a hand, barring his way. When Zheiro looked up to the storyteller in surprise, all he found was the usual, grinning face of the one he travelled with.

“Zheiro,” Thrycius said lightly, showing a smile that made Zheiro think twice about what he was about to do. “A bit carefree today, aren’t we? You have no sense of caution at all."

“Caution? What’s wrong?” Zheiro asked in confusion. “They just want to talk for a moment, I don’t see what could go wrong. Would you mind explaining things to me?”

Thrycius grinned even wider as he spoke in response, slowly turning around to finally face the strangers. “What could go wrong? Hmm, let’s see… for example, their reactions when they realize who I am. Isn’t that right, assassins?”

“Eh?” With Thrycius suddenly declaring who the men were, Zheiro glanced up towards the strangers in confusion, four of whom paled in response as soon as they recognized the storyteller for who he was.

“...That voice! Watch out! It’s the illusionist!” the supposed leader of the strangers suddenly shouted in a panic, suddenly pulling out a bladed weapon out of nowhere. “He’s still hanging around the target!”

“Dear me, how rude,” Thrycius simply laughed despite those four strangers suddenly going on guard, each pulling out a weapon. “I’ve already told you all before: I’m a storyteller, not an illusionist. Please don’t mistake my expertise for something else.”

“No no no no, that’s definitely a lie,” another one of the strangers shouted. “What you showed us before were clearly illusions!”

“Oh my, are you all still insisting on getting it wrong, even after I just said so?” Thrycius replied, giving off one of the scariest smiles Zheiro had ever seen. “Don’t make me repeat myself: I’m a storyteller, not an illusionist. What I presented to you before were not mere illusions, but stories. It’s not my fault that your imaginations decided to go wild after listening to my stories. I will NOT have you claim otherwise.”

The four strangers who reacted to Thrycius’ appearance all involuntarily took a step back at his smile, before they turned towards the fifth stranger for help. “Hey, mage! Take care of the illusionist while we go after the target!”

Thrycius sighed, a defeated smile on his face. “Seems like nothing I say is getting into their heads. I wasn’t even planning on facing them this time, yet they keep insisting on me being an illusionist. How incredibly rude.”

Making such a statement, Thrycius made to draw his own blade, but was momentarily stopped.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Zheiro stammered, grabbing onto Thrycius’ arm as the reality of the situation finally settled in. “You really weren’t kidding when you said back then that there were assassins after me?”

“Why would I lie?” Thrycius asked, as if the thought had never occurred to him. “Oh, but that’s right. I’ve already taught you how to fight human opponents so this time I’m going to have you fight them off in my stead.”

“There’s no way I can face off 4 assassins and a mage!” Zheiro argued, waving his hands. “In the first place, they brought that mage in to counter you—”

“Oh, stop being coward already,” Sarui finally cut in, exasperated. “Your current actions are shameful. If someone is after you, stop complaining and deal with them first before they come after you. It’s your responsibility, after all.”

“That’s right, Zheiro” Thrycius said, laughing. “Take responsibility for your actions. They’re after you since you carved that bouquet, after all. Of course, I’m not asking you to defeat them all by yourself. Sarui, for example, can help you.”

“Huh?” Sarui said, staring incredulously at the storyteller as her face clearly expressed her surprise. “Why should I join in? This has nothing to do with me.”

“Nothing to do with you?” Thrycius asked mischievously. “Are you sure about that? You do realize that those assassins are insulting art itself, since the only reason they want Zheiro dead is because of his skills in sculpting?”

A moment of silence passed as the storyteller’s words sunk in.

“I’m surprised,” Sarui hissed, turning her full anger towards the assassins. “To think that there were mongrels out there who not only are unable to understand true art, but will go out of their way to destroy it? It looks they I will need to personally teach them a lesson..”

“Seems that way,” Thrycius agreed, grinning as he stared down the assassins. “Since you seem to have gathered quite a bit of motivation to teach them, I think I shall stay out of your way today. And as for you, Zheiro, show me what you can do with what you’ve already learned.”

Liam tightly grippd the handle of his blade as he held it in a guard stance. He and his men had not planned to suddenly confront the target with direct combat, but sometimes things never go as planned. Trying to hide their identities was also useless, seeing as that man already knew who they were.

Speaking of which, Liam felt that it was nearly impossible for things to go as planned when that illusionist claiming to be a storyteller was involved. For all the experience he has received while on the job, he had never experienced a wild card as unknown as that man, and it scared him.

The first time they had met had been at the middle of the night, so he had been unable see his face clearly, but all of them had remembered his voice quite clearly. And how could they not? It had been ingrained into their minds along with the fear that was inflicted upon them that night. Liam felt that he and his men were actually quite lucky to have kept their sanity after that ordeal, even if it took awhile to recover from it.

However, they still had their job to complete, so the first thing they did was hire a magic user.

After all, someone skilled enough to use such illusions to incapacitate them must be highly skilled with magic. When faced with a magic user, what better person to have as an ally then someone who was also experienced with magic? Especially even more so when said magic user claimed to be suited for fighting against other users of magic.

There were, unfortunately, a number of problems. For one thing, now that it was day he could clearly see that the illusionist also wore a sword, so even without magic he could potentially be quite strong in close combat, which the mage may not be able defend against. Of course, since the illusionist had also already revealed who they were, trying to deny it also seemed useless. Liam had long realized that the illusionist had taken the orders for the target’s assassination off from him, which was more or less undeniable proof of what he was up to.

The biggest thing that set Liam on edge, however, was how calm the illusionist was, to the point where the illusionist had declared that he would not take part of this fight. While the rest of his men were visibly relieved by that, Liam was not so certain that things would be so easy.

In the first place, that illusionist was an absolute wild card. What he was up to, what his goals were, why he was doing what he was doing, Liam had no idea. Compared to the target, or even the new companion, Liam felt that the illusionist was the most dangerous.

After all, how dangerous could a sculptor and a painter be?

Regardless, if the illusionist had decided not to fight, then Liam wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Shouting out orders, they advanced.

Zheiro was beginning to panic when the men started to advance in a tightly knit group, swords drawn, the mage in the back starting to chant.

“Sarui, what should we do?” He asked nervously.

“Do whatever you like,” Sarui replied, looking down at the supposed assassins. “But stay out of my way, because I need to teach them about the greatness of art.” And just like when they fought against the Juggernaut, Sarui’s opening move was to whip out one of her containers of paint and throw it faster than Zheiro could react.

In reaction, as a testament to their skill in combat, one of the assassins swung his blade at it, cutting it in two.

And that was exactly what Sarui was expecting them to do.

The container of paint exploded in midair as the blade cut through it, sending compressed paint showering down among all of the assassins, causing them to flinch, splutter, cough and hack—including the mage. And thus, the mage’s attempt to cast a spell was completely interrupted as he tried to get the paint out of his mouth.

Before they could even recover from the paint flying into their faces, Sarui was already among them, whirling and brandishing her giant paintbrush as she quickly swung and thrusted it at each of the assassins, knocking many of them down.

3 seconds hadn’t even passed and Sarui had already knocked most of them off their feet, sending them sprawling onto the ground. Zheiro himself could only gape in amazement at the lightning quick agility and the fancy....paintbrush work she displayed.

Despite Sarui’s powerful initial strikes, two of their assailants managed to not to get knocked unconscious by Sarui’s blow, frantically rolling away and leaping to their feet as they quickly wiped the paint off their faces. It was only after they stood up that Zheiro recognized that one of them had been the leader.

“I recognize that style,” the leader finally said, spitting out paint. “Those are the advanced skills of Fiore’s short spear, aren’t they? I didn’t expect a painter like you to actually be a knight of Fiore.”

“Me? A knight?” Sarui asked incredulously, not believing what she just heard. “Do I even look like a knight to you? I am a painter, through and through! I have never once been a knight, nor will I ever be one! Do you know how insulting it is to be mistaken for something other than a painter?”

In response, the enemy leader simply frowned, before raising his blade again. “A knight claiming to be a painter, and an illusionist claiming to be a storyteller? Please don’t tell me that the sculptor is actually something else, too. It would make all too much sense why this mission was even ordered.”

“Ah, no,” Zheiro timidly spoke up. “I really am a sculptor.”

“I can hardly bring myself to believe that,” the enemy leader said, scowling. “In any case, we’re retreating. There’s no way we can defeat a knight as we are now.”

“I’M NOT A KNIGHT!” Sarui roared, charging into the enemy. And before Zheiro could even blink, the rest of the assassins were already knocked unconscious. Sarui’s movements were just so fast that he couldn’t even keep up. What did Sarui just do?

“Seriously,” Sarui grounded out, planting her paintbrush on the ground. “These people are not only incompetent in the ways of art, but also incredibly rude.”

“I know, right?” Thrycius agreed from where he had been watching. “In this meeting alone they refused to refer to me as a storyteller. They really are quite ill-mannered. But, seeing as the assassins have already caught up, we should probably get moving again before anymore arrive again.”

“I certainly agree,” Sarui said. “Give me a moment to teach these incompetents a lesson, and then we can be on our way.”

“But… how are you supposed to teach them a lesson if they’re already unconscious?” Zheiro asked, perplexed.

“I don’t need them awake for this,” Sarui replied, grinning wickedly as she pulled out another paintbrush.

Zheiro had a bad feeling about what was going to happen to their assailants, but he decided to let it go.

After all, they attacked first, so it should be okay, right?

When Liam finally opened his eyes again, the target and his companions were long gone.

His allies were also awake, but…

“What happened to you?” Liam asked one of them.

“I… I’m not entirely sure,” The man responded, sounding confused as he held up a mirror towards Liam. “But I think we were all turned into art, judging by our new appearance.”

One look at himself, who had apparently been turned into a clown, and Liam was gnashing his teeth in frustration.

This was just supposed to be a simple job, so why were all these embarrassing things happening to them?

''A/N: Sorry for the late update, a lot of things have happened. Right after ch 17 I suddenly fell ill, and wasn't intending to write much. I did a lot of motivation write it partway, but after a while it died out. Being sick is no fun.''

''And after I did recover various things happened which I'm not exactly at liberty to say, so let's just say I wasted a lot of time. Then I got a series of stomach aches that's been lasting for days—actually, I just threw up today, but hey, update, lol. Anyway, like I just said earlier, being sick is no fun. Hope I get well soon.''

''Anyway, this chapter. For those wondering, sand paintings actually exist, you can look it up on Wikipedia or something if you're interested.''

''And like some asked, Liam and co showed up again, only to get owned once again. Thry didn't even do anything this time, and Zheiro, who was supposed to do something, didn't even get the chance to, lol. Also, Fiore's short spear is a real style; Sarui used one of the basic skills against Luna in a previous chapter, if you remember. As for why she knows it, you'll just have to find out yourself.''

''One last thing: My favorite jokes last chapter. I'm not sure if no one caught it, or if no one simply commented on it, but I'll give a hint about it. Funnily enough, it was very related to a certain blog post/rant Blake Xi posted some time ago. As for the hint: "Bf players in a nutshell: Is [type] [unit] good?"''

I think that hint will be enough for people to find out what I'm talking about it.

''Anwyay, that's it for now. As always, special thanks to Restire for proofreading this chapter. Please leave a comment even if you didn't like it; constructive criticism is always helpful. Thanks!''

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