The circus tent tucked behind buildings was decidedly dodgy, and that was if you didn't know it was home to a slave market. Motoyasu eyed it with distaste, wanting very much not to set foot in such a place, but there came a point in every man's life when he had to do something he didn't want for the greater good.
Despite all appearances and the despicable acts that took place inside, this was where Naofumi found Raphtalia. More than that, Motoyasu had been assured by the church's shadows that this was also where Naofumi purchased the adorable angel with the unfortunate ability to transform into a piggy bird.
What choice did he even have, knowing what he knew? Raphtalia once chastised him for not helping those suffering in captivity with his own two hands. Today, he would take her words to heart and liberate an angel. Even if he wanted nothing to do with a slaver, Motoyasu stepped through the tent flaps and nodded at the short, oddly dressed man inside.
Supposedly, Filo came from one of the eggs this very man sold. That an angel and a looker like Raphtalia might have been handled by this unsightly midget made Motoyasu's heart weep.
"I was told the Shield Hero's angel came from here."
"You must be referring to the filolial queen. Yes, sir," the little man said. "The Shield Hero's egg came from our lottery, but if it's a filolial that you want, I have several already trained for only two-hundred silver. Yes, sir."
Only two-hundred silver? That was cheaper than the dragon that couldn't out-pace Filo. Not to mention, already trained was easier. But if the lottery was where Filo came from…
"Are there other options beside filolials in the lottery?"
"The winning egg is a Knight's Dragon, but there are a variety of other monsters you might get. Buying a filolial egg would be more straightforward."
So basically it was a gacha. Not a problem! Motoyasu always had incredible luck with those.
He set down his coins, let Lady Fate guide his hand, and walked out the happy owner of a soon-to-be angel.
-o-
After handing off the dragon to Myne, Motoyasu returned to the slave trader to try his hand at the lottery again. This time he let Lady Fate guide his hand and then picked the egg next to the one she chose, and was rewarded for his ingenuity with a darling bird the same crimson as his cape.
-o-
Filo was an uneven pink and white as a bird, but a beautiful blond with blue eyes in her angel form. Since that left Motoyasu unsure what his filolial would look like, he named her Freon in the hopes that she would look like his favorite character as well.
Come to think of it, he should have confirmed with that seedy midget that Freon was a girl. When he asked Myne, she turned up her nose at Freon and said she didn't want to get close enough to 'some smelly bird' to find out.
That was fine. If monsters grew with their level, he could quickly level Freon up to the point of being able to assume her angel form. He'd confirm for himself that she was, indeed, a she.
With that in mind, Motoyasu picked Freon up in his arms and carried her with him out of the inn where his party had stayed for the night, only for Myne to crinkle her nose and point to a stable.
"Motoyasu-sama, that bird will be perfectly safe if here. There's no need to bring it and it's stench along."
"Don't be silly, Myne. How will she get stronger if we don't level her up?"
Besides, Freon smelled just fine to him. A little like a chicken coop, sure, but that was hardly a pigsty.
Seeing that her first attempt failed, Myne switched tactics. "What if it's hurt, Motoyasu-sama? That's a level one chick. The monsters we're fighting could kill it in seconds."
"That's why you're holding her," Motoyasu explained. He held Freon up, beaming at her as she chirped in delight and spread her wings as if intending to fly. "Freon can stay back with you and the everyone else and cheer me on while I take care of those monsters. You'll keep her safe, won't you?"
When there was no response forthcoming, he lowered Freon and looked to Myne. Myne's gaze was locked on the bird, her lips pressed shut. No doubt she was distracted by the Freon's cuteness.
"Won't you, Myne?"
"…Of course, Motoyasu-sama."
Motoyasu held Freon out for her and waited as Myne looked down at the chick, up to Motoyasu, back down to the chick, and then slowly raised her arms to accept Freon.
Naturally, Motoyasu had registered Freon as both his and Myne's, and she chirped with delight to be held in her other master's hands.
"It's so shrill. The adult filolials don't make this much noise. I'm afraid it will damage my ears."
"Its the same with most baby animals, isn't it?" Motoyasu asked. "I wonder if we'll get her to a high enough level today to start training her."
Myne made a noise that could be interpreted both as positive and negative, and Motoyasu read it as the former.
-o-
"How was that?"
Motoyasu swirled around and struck a pose, and was dismayed to see only Freon cheer for him, the rest of his girls all staring at his spear. With a shake, he quickly removed unsightly the bit of griffin leg still stuck to the tip. No longer distracted by the obscene display he had carelessly shown to the girls, they cooed over his prowess. Myne even dropped Freon, despite the other monsters still lurking nearby.
His girls were strong. He wouldn't dream of placing them in the front lines with him where they might get dirty or hurt and end up with scars, but if something attacked them from behind, they could hold it off long enough for him to come to the rescue. Freon, however, was only level twenty. The monsters they spent the past the past hour fighting had her significantly out-leveled. If she were to be attacked while the girls left her unguarded, it could get deadly fast.
"Don't let go of Freon!" Motoyasu reminded them before he had to turn and parry an incoming attack from the next griffin.
When he glanced back, Elena had thrown her arms around Freon's neck, laughing at the face Myne pulled.
Perhaps it was unfair of Motoyasu to expect them to hold Freon the entire time. Despite having been told that monsters aged as they leveled up, Motoyasu hadn't expected Freon to triple in size so rapidly.
He finished off the second griffin and checked his menu to see what drops that earned them while the girls did their own thing. Elena collected feathers while remarking on what a profit they might turn, never straying far from Freon as she chewed on griffin meat. Myne and Lesty disappeared behind a tree to whisper about girl things with one another. Women had their own subjects they needed privacy for and Motoyasu understood that, although he didn't get why they kept gesturing to Freon as if she were part of the girl talk.
Perhaps they recognized her as one of them? She would soon be an angel like Filo, and she might be big enough at this point for someone more familiar with the world to recognize that she was, indeed, a she. Motoyasu made a mental note to ask later if they'd been able to confirm Freon's gender and returned his attention to his status menu.
-o-
Despite her spotty baby-sitting, Freon grew considerably by the end of the day. She could barely fit on Motoyasu's lap that evening at the tavern, and Motoyasu took the good natured jabs from the servers about her size in stride. One of them, as it turned out, had a brother who worked as a groom in the nearby stable where they'd rented Freon a stall for the night, and he had been able to assure Motoyasu once and for all that, yes, Freon was a girl.
With that reassurance, Motoyasu cheerfully alternated between eating his own dinner and feeding Freon. When Freon ran out of food and still chirped for more, Motoyasu sacrificed the remaining half of his meal for her, and still she wasn't satisfied.
Unable to flag down a server with a giant red bird on his lap, Motoyasu turned pleadingly to Myne.
"You can't expect me to give up my own food for that thing."
"She's hungry," Motoyasu argued. "Look how much she grew today. I promise to buy you more. Besides, that's too much for a girl to eat by herself."
Not looking pleased to be called out on how she endangered her waistline, Myne shoved her plate towards Motoyasu.
He hadn't really meant to insult her. He'd only been concerned when he brought it up. Girls needed to take good care of their looks.
"Motoyasu-sama, are you sure that thing is even a filolial? I don't think they're meant to grow that fast."
"It looks like one," Motoyasu said, although in his game, filolials went straight from their chick to adult form after you owned one for ten days, while Freon was in between the two stages.
She was already halfway to adult size. If she grew as much the next day, that would put her eight days ahead of schedule. But no matter. Freon must have been special.
Motoyasu stuck a fork into the food Myne abandoned and held it out for Freon's waiting mouth.
Myne watched, lips puffed in an adorable pout, and leaned over further and further into Motoyasu's line of vision until she was practically between him and Freon.
"Motoyasu-sama, rather than stuff the entire tavern into that… thing, perhaps you'd like to come up to my room for the evening? You'd ignored me all day."
Motoyasu recognized an invite when he heard one, and his attention locked on Myne for a solid three seconds before Freon chirped for more food. "Once she's finished eating, I'll bring her to the stable. You don't mind waiting until then, do you?"
There was an angel in waiting on his lap, wanting more food so she could grow into her true form. He wasn't about to turn down Myne's offer, but he wasn't going to miss out on an angel either.
Myne huffed, but didn't protest. Instead, she quietly excused herself and slipped away to deal with what Motoyasu could only assume were princess duties.
With her no longer so intrusively hovering between him and Freon, he was able to finish feeding her Myne's leftovers, and ended up successfully flagging down a server to get Freon one more meal before she at least seemed satisfied.
Happy and more-than-well-fed, Freon chirped the whole way to the stable. Over the course of dinner she'd grown too heavy for Motoyasu to carry. (His legs were numb. He hadn't the heart to move her off her lap until it was time to stand.) She was tall enough for him to easily pat her head without bending down, and her figure had almost fully shifted from the ball of fluff she was as a chick to the sleek, graceful look of a typical filolial.
In fact, she was tall enough that most restaurants back home would not have tolerated her. But that he got away with keeping Freon at the table was just one of the privileges of being a hero.
"You're way cuter than Filo is in her bird form," Motoyasu told Freon.
He couldn't, in good conscience, tell her that she was cuter than Filo's angel form. Not until he saw Freon as an angel. But no doubt she would be every bit as adorable once she could take her true form. He raised her, after all. Naturally she would turn out better than some cheap bird Naofumi treated like little more than a pack-mule.
Freon cooed at his praise and rubbed her head against his hip, ruffling her feathers with delight.
She followed Motoyasu dutifully into the stable and then to the stall he'd rented, and squawked in alarm when he shut the door with her on one side and him on the other.
"They won't let us bring you upstairs to our room at the inn when you're this big," Motoyasu told her. "Once you can turn into an angel, it won't be a problem."
He patted her head once more and then stepped back, and was surprised to see Freon spread her wings and take off, clearing the gate with ease. Odd. He thought filolials couldn't fly. But when Motoyasu thought about filolials and how intimately familiar he was with Filo's leg power, it seemed plausible that they might jump so high.
"You're already getting so strong," Motoyasu told her. "At this rate, you might be fully grown by tomorrow. But until then, you have to sleep out here or we'll both be in trouble."
Or would they? He was one of the holy heroes. Perhaps he could use that to get permission to bring her up to his room.
"Motoyasu-sama?"
Myne appeared at the stable doors, the groom right behind her.
"Ah! Myne, I'm almost ready." Motoyasu hoisted Freon up and dropped her back in her stall. "Freon didn't want me to leave without her."
"No one likes it when you leave them, Motoyasu-sama."
Motoyasu was no fool. He could recognize the flattery for what it was. Freon might love him so much that parting was hard, but there had been no shortage of other girls he'd met since being summoned as the Spear Hero who had left his party without even saying goodbye. Still, he appreciated the sentiment. Myne always tried her best to cheer him up, and he knew that she, if no one else, would always be with him one-hundred percent.
So Motoyasu only took a moment to pat Freon one last time before asking Myne, "Your room?"
"Take a bath first," she told him "You smell like a barn."
Of course. How rude of him.
"I'll see you soon then." Motoyasu told her before hurrying to clean up.
He forgot to warn the groom about just how much Freon might want to eat, but before he could even turn back to say as much, he heard Myne directing the man in a hushed voice on what precisely she wanted Freon to be fed.
Freon wasn't a picky eater, but it was nice of Myne to pick out something special for her. Motoyasu had started to worry that Myne might not like his angel-in-waiting, but he'd misjudged her. And after he vowed to always trust women! Shame on him!
How lucky he was, to have stumbled upon such a steady ally. Motoyasu hoped Naofumi realized just how badly he screwed up assaulting Myne the way he did.
-o-
Motoyasu woke in Myne's room the next morning, wondered if it was too late to ask the innkeeper for a refund on the room he'd rented for himself, and then decided it wasn't worth it. The room had cost almost nothing compared to the reward for defeating that chimera.
Myne was already up and gone, so Motoyasu dressed alone, glanced out the window to see it was still on the early side, and dallied just long enough to pick up a breakfast from the innkeeper before carrying it out to give Freon. She might have grown more over the night, and would no doubt be famished.
As he neared her stall and saw her lying down, he could see that she had indeed grown. She was as large as any normal filolial, with none of the extra chub that made Filo's bird form so tragic.
He beamed, opened the stall door, and froze.
Freon had been so energetic all the previous day, with a twinkle in her eyes that Motoyasu couldn't help but adore. Why was her gaze so vacant?
Her eyes were open. Why didn't she move to greet him when she'd been so sad to see him leave just eight hours ago?
Why wasn't she breathing?
He dropped the food and was down on his knees, checking for any signs of life.
"What a shame."
He looked up and saw Myne standing over him.
"I was afraid this would happen. You forced her to grow up so fast. Her body must not have been able to take in enough nutrition to keep up."
Freon died… because of how he raised her?
"But… Naofumi…"
Naofumi hadn't power-leveled Filo like he had with Freon. How could he, with just a shield?
He killed Freon.
He didn't even look back at her once as he left her to her fate.
"I just wanted an angel like Filo…"
No one could blame him for that, could they? And how was he supposed to know that you couldn't power-level monsters to that degree. It was never an issue in Emerald Online!
It wasn't his fault… was it?
"Oh, Motoyasu-sama." Myne wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. "If that's what you wanted, you picked the wrong monster. The only way a filolial could turn into something human-like is if the Shield Hero had some shield that could force it to, and to be forced into an unnatural form would cause it incredible pain."
Motoyasu squashed the streak of envy he felt for knowing that Naofumi got to have an angel while he would forever be denied one. But even if he had a spear with that ability, he could never have put Freon through something like that. He thought she was supposed to turn into an angel. Knowing it would hurt her, he would never have subjected her to such a fate.
But Naofumi put Filo through that? All the more reason to despise him.
But at least Filo was alive. Motoyasu stroked Freon's feathers and then, unable to shut out the reality of the situation, shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at the damage he'd done. Freon wouldn't have to live in agony, but thanks to him she wouldn't live at all.
-x-
STA: It's been like a year since I posted anything...
Anyway, based off something Motoyasu mentions in the spin-off, that he tried to raise a filolial after meeting Filo, but Melty poisoned it behind his back and then told him Freon died because of how he tried to raise her.