After a week's absence from a story chapter, which I think I needed more than I realised, we are back continuing the adventures of our Shield Hero Fergus Ward. Thank you all once again for giving this story (and myself) a review, follow and/or favourite, really means a lot that so many people are liking it.
I would be remiss if I didn't talk about last week's 3 days of epic viewing material (Saturday, Sunday, Monday). Saturday was Endgame which was AWESOME, I felt it capped off this current age of Marvel films brilliantly. If you haven't seen it already, I recommend you should. Sunday was the return of Season 3 of Attack of Titan, which started off strongly and will only get better. Still iffy about the new opening but I think I'll grow to like it in time. And as for Monday, Episode 3 of Season 8 of Game of Thrones…I have no words. By the end of that, I was emotionally and physically drained.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WOULD ASK THAT PEOPLE NOT SPOIL ANYTHING FROM THE 3 THINGS I HAVE JUST TALKED ABOUT. SPOILERS ARE UNCOOL. IF PEOPLE POST SPOILERS, KYUBEY WILL FIND YOU AND OFFER YOU A CONTRACT. Speaking of Kyubey, is it weird that I've been thinking of doing a Puella Magi Madoka Magica FanFic with a male OC? I AM CRAZY I know but ideas have been floating around in my head to make it work. Will it ever happen? Don't know, but the idea is there. We shall see, but for now, my focus is this current story.
The anime episode this week was good for the most part, but I can't wait to kick back into the main conspiracy, and the post-credit scene set that up nicely. Let's see what next week brings.
Now that that's out of the way, onto the next chapter of Rising of a True Shield Hero, in which Fergus kills some plants and sorts his party out. Hope you enjoy it! As usual, I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of its characters, locations, events or anything else related to the anime/manga/Light Novels. The only thing I own is my OC, Fergus Ward.
Chapter 10 - Weed Killer
After sorting out Filo's dress and having our well-deserved feast, our little convoy hit the road once more. I told Filo to head to the last place we visited before going to the tomb, and that we'd continue from there. Well, that was the intention anyway. As we arrived, I noticed Hickwaal come out to meet us.
"Welcome back Shield-Hero, I hope your trip to the capital was profitable!" He exclaimed. "So sorry to bother you just as you're arriving but an urgent matter has come up which I need your help with."
Despite me and Hickwaal now being even, I didn't see the harm in listening to what he had to say, so I told Filo to pull up next to the inn. Once there, we found a private room and Hickwaal got right down to business. "I got a request from one of my contacts that a village to the south-west has ordered a lot of herbicide. However, due to the sheer amount requested, I have struggled to find someone able to do it, until now. You are the only person I know who has the means to not only carry the load of herbicide but to get it to its destination as quickly as possible."
At these words Hickwaal pulled out a map, marking the location of the village in question. Seeing it was on the route I had already planned for us, there was no reason for us not to accept this job. "Alright then Hickwaal, we'll take care of it. Show us where the herbicide is and we'll load it up."
Delighted, Hickwaal led us to a nearby storehouse which contained the herbicide. Hickwaal wasn't kidding, there was A LOT to transport. I told Raphtalia and Filo to bring the cart over, and once they did, between the four of us we got the herbicide loaded onto the cart. As we set off, Hickwaal gave us one final reminder: "Get there as quickly as possible."
As were barrelling along the country roads, I had a look back at the sheer amount of herbicide we were carrying. "What on earth is going on that would require this much herbicide?" I thought to myself.
"Master! You need to come and see this!" I heard Filo call from up front. As I made my way to join Raphtalia, we both couldn't help letting out a stunned gasp. There were vines growing absolutely everywhere, spreading out all around us and devouring the lands it was covering. "I can see why all the herbicide was needed now. Hopefully, we have enough to clear this all up!" I commented.
"Master Fergus, look!" Raphtalia spoke up, drawing my attention to something she had spotted on the horizon. As I saw where she was pointing, my eyes widened in shock. We could now see the borders of the village we were heading to, and that the vines from before had started encroaching on the walls itself! "No wonder Hickwaal told us to hurry, this is really bad! Filo, speed up! We need to get there as soon as possible!"
"Okay-dokey! Hold on tight, because here we go!" Filo called out gleefully as she upped her pace, and before long we barrelled into the village itself. As Filo came to a stop and we got down from the cart, I took a good look around at our vicinity. It wasn't a pretty sight. What looked like first-aid tents had sprung up everywhere, and it didn't look as though it was just for first-aid, people were dwelling in them too. There was also a large stack of boxes off to the side, presumably containing all the supplies they could salvage. And as I looked towards the village itself, I could see why. The vines had spread all over the buildings, making them completely uninhabitable. As we were taking this in, I saw a figure approaching me.
"Greetings traveller, I am the leader of this village. May I ask as to your purpose here?"
"My name is Fergus, and these are my companions Raphtalia and Filo. I was asked to bring a shipment of herbicide here urgently, it's currently all in my cart." I responded politely.
"Oh thank you, Fergus, we were in dire need of it and were slowly losing hope it would ever arrive. We'll make sure to put the herbicide to good use." The village leader responded gratefully.
"Not a problem, glad I could help," I waved off his thanks. "But perhaps you can answer something for me. What exactly is the situation here that required so much herbicide? I saw all the vines growing on our way up here, but I gather there's more going on."
"Our village has been completely over-run by the vines you saw as well as mutated plant monsters that have sprung from them. As we didn't have the means to stop it or fight off the monsters, we had to abandon our homes so that we didn't perish ourselves."
As I processed this information, Raphtalia offered up a question of her own. "Have you tried burning the vines? Fire usually works well against plants."
The chief shook his head in response. "We tried burning the vines as well as chopping them to pieces, yet every time we tried the plants regenerated instantly. We even resorted to hiring some adventurers to try and fix the problem, but they have been unable to do anything about it."
As he was saying this, we all suddenly heard a loud scream of terror come from nearby. The chief's eyes widen in horror. "That sounds like the adventurers we hired! They went out this morning to go and level up on the outskirts of the village but haven't returned since."
"Sounds like they've run into trouble and need some help." I made a snap decision, it was time to test my party members out and see if they could carry out a task without my assistance. "Raphtalia, Filo, you two are up. Rescue the adventurers and bring them back safe, got it?"
"Understood, Master Fergus!" "Piece of cake!" They responded respectively. Raphtalia immediately leapt onto Filo's back and took off towards the source of the screams. As they left, I couldn't help but worry just a little. I knew the two of them would be more than capable but at the same time, I really hope I didn't just send them out to get killed. But all I could do was wait and hope for their success.
§
Turns I needn't have worried too much. In what seemed like no time at all, Raphtalia and Filo were back, only this time Filo had three unconscious figures clasped under her wings. "Good work you two, what happened out there?" I asked Raphtalia.
She responded promptly. "It's as we feared, the entire village is completely surrounded by plant monsters, some of which attacked us. We were able to fight them off and rescue the adventurers, and during our escape, I noticed some of the plants were spitting poison at us."
"Thank you Raphtalia, that's very handy to know. Never discount any sort of knowledge, especially if you think it can help the situation." I told her, to which her entire face turned red as she blushed.
"It was a piece of cake Master Fergus!" Filo piped up. "And yet these adventurers were struggling so much by the time we got there! Honestly, they really shouldn't have been out there in the first place if they were this weak!"
"Where did that come from?!" I thought to myself, shocked by Filo's behaviour. This was the first time I had heard her be so arrogant. I'd deal with it later on when things had died done, but I needed to put her in her place for now. "Filo! Don't be so rude, that was entirely uncalled for." Filo turned her gaze to me, a hurt look on her face at my harsh words, but she decided to quieten down. It was then that I started hearing whispers from behind me.
"Wait a minute, that bird…is that the Heavenly Fowl?"
"You're right, it is! That must mean the traveller is the Saviour of the Heavenly Fowl?"
"You mean the man who travels around the lands in a cart pulled by the Heavenly Fowl and cures the sick?"
"He's come to heal our wounded! Thank goodness!"
As the whispers died down, the village chief came up to us. "Is it true? Are you really the Saviour of the Heavenly Fowl?"
I scratched my head awkwardly but decided to be up front. "It's an embarrassing title, but yeah that's who I am." The chief then comes and prostrates right at my feet. "Please Saviour, heal our wounded! We haven't been able to do so and their condition worsens!"
"No need for you to beg, I would have done so anyway," I stated awkwardly, indicating that the chief should get to his feet, With this, myself and Raphtalia are lead over to one of the nearby tents whilst Filo gorged herself on a nearby open box of food. As we entered, I let out a gasp at what we saw, whilst Raphtalia clasped her hands to her mouth, trying to hold back a sob at what we saw. All of the people laid up were covered in plants, some with more on them than others, and as a result, they all looked completely sapped of strength, leaving them weak and bed-ridden.
"Not only are the vines mutating into plant monsters, but it's also mutating as a parasitic infection. These people weren't to know, hence why they're infected. Now I see why this whole set-up looks like a quarantine zone." I murmured softly.
Raphtalia reached down and squeezed my hand, looking for reassurance. "Master Fergus, please tell me there is something we can do for them." She pleaded.
"I have an idea, but I need a few things. Head back to the cart and bring me a stack of health potions and herbicide." Raphtalia nodded and in a short while returned with the supplies I requested. Going to the side of one of the infected, a small girl barely older than five, I activated my Potion Enhance skill and tipped the health potion down her throat. As I suspected, the potion restored the colour of her skin and eased her breathing, but didn't get rid of the plants. Taking one of the vials of herbicide, I splashed it gently over the infected areas and sure enough, the leaves instantly withered and faded, leaving her skin completely clear.
"It worked!" Raphtalia exclaimed softly, her eyes swimming with tears of relief. I smiled gently at her. "Yeah, and now that we know what to do, we can help everyone else out too," I responded. We proceeded to do just that and soon enough, all of the affected were cured. The chief and all the families of the afflicted thanked me profusely, but I waved them off. I asked the chief to join us outside.
As we sat down, the chief once again thanked me for what I had done. "As I said, I'm glad I could help," I responded. "You told me earlier what had happened, but I need more details. This doesn't just happen out of the blue."
"Until recently, our village had been hit by a severe famine that left us desperate for food," the chief started to explain. "One day the Spear-Hero and his party turned up and asked us what was going on. Once we explained the situation, he headed to a nearby ruin and came back with an ancient seed that had been sealed away a long time ago. He said it would end our troubles and called it a Miracle Seed."
As the chief finished his initial explanation, everything suddenly seemed to fall into place. Motoyasu had obviously been to the same ruins we had gone to for the gemstones and had been the one who had taken the seed from the chest. I let out a groan and palmed my hand to my face.
"Are you alright Fergus?" The chief asked me concernedly. I waved him off. "I'm fine, but I think I know exactly what's happened here. Please finish your story."
"At first we were overjoyed that the plants were growing," he continued. "But all of a sudden their growth became out of control. The vines started spreading out all over the place, spawning the plant monsters everywhere they went. Hence the current situation."
A moment of silence passed between us as I absorbed his tale, putting all the pieces together. "I have a bad feeling I know exactly what seed you are referring to. We went to the same cave, but for a different purpose altogether, and found an empty chest. The inscription next to it warned that the seed was a horrible manifestation of a wish that no-one would feel hunger ever again. Tell me, did the Spear-Hero or any of his party mention any of this?"
The chief shook his head. "They did not. In fact, straight after he planted the seed, one of his party members demanded a large reward from us. Once they had that, they just left."
"I would bet any amount of silver that Malty was the one who demanded the reward. Damn that bitch." I thought to myself, my mood turning sour at the thought of her. My mind was made up. I got to my feet. "Filo! Get over here, we're heading out!" As she waddled over, unhappy at being interrupted during her gorging, I turned back to the village chief. "We'll sort this out."
The chief got to his feet and clasped one of my hands with his. "Thank you so much, Fergus! I promise you'll be rewarded for this!"
I shook my head at this. "No need for a reward, it's the right thing to do. Come on you two." With this, the three of us headed off towards the infected area of the village, the remaining villagers cheering us on.
As we got out of earshot of the villagers, I felt myself struggling to keep a lid on my annoyance at the situation. I suddenly brought us to a halt. "Girls, do me a favour and cover your ears." They both looked at me confused but acquiesced to my request. I took a few steps forward and, raising my head up and looking towards the heavens, I let out a loud yell:
"DAMN YOU MOTOYASU!"
Recomposing myself, I turned around and signalled for the girls that they could unblock their ears. "Raphtalia, please remind me to bring this up with Motoyasu next time I see his stupid face."
"Um, okay?" She responded, looking very confused. With that out of the way, we set off once more. This whole situation had put me in a bad mood, and working my anger off on some plant monsters sounded really good right about now!
§
"World of Warcraft really didn't have enough plant monsters to prepare me for this crap." I thought to myself as I dodged, blocked and weaved my way through various attacks. As we had arrived in the main part of the village, we had been swarmed by plant creatures of all manner of shapes and sizes. Thankfully, the three of us were more than a match with our tried and tested strategy: I went in front and took the attacks on my Shields, whether they be physical or ranged, followed up by Raphtalia and Filo going to town on them with sword and claw respectively. We were drawing closer to the source of the mutated creatures and our way was currently being blocked by a plant which resembled a venus fly-trap from my reality, only this particular specimen had two eyes and fangs in the middle of its bloated stem. It proceeded to use its vines to attack me but, just like all the others, I took the blow easily on my Shield of the First Avenger. And this time it was Raphtalia who charged in and proceeded to cut the monster down to size.
As it fell, the three of us took a mini-break to get our breath back, having spent probably the last half an hour cutting our way to this point. "You know, when I came to this world," I remarked, attempting to inject some humour into the proceedings. "The one job I didn't think I'd be taking up was as a gardener."
This got me a disapproving glare from Raphtalia, suggesting that this probably wasn't the best time to be cracking jokes. "Now is not the time Master Fergus! We need to end this fast before it spreads even more!"
"I was only trying to lighten the mood a little…" I muttered, slightly stung by her sharp words but shook it off as I indicated the large tree not so far away from us. "That's our target. If we take that down we should be able to stop the vines from spreading."
We approached the tree cautiously, keeping an eye out for any more attacks or spawning plant monsters, when all of a sudden we heard a loud squelching sound from the middle of the tree as the large petal there suddenly sprouted an eyeball which, after rolling around a little in its socket, proceeded to fix us with an empty stare, obviously a reaction to our intrusion. "Alright then girls, there's the weak spot. We take that out, we should do some major damage."
"Leave it to me, Master Fergus!" With these words, Filo sprinted off before I could give out any further orders, a little to my chagrin. As she rapidly approached, the target started sprouting countless amounts of vines which she weaved and ducked her way through without too much issue. As she closed in, I raised my Shield and called for an Air Strike Shield, making sure to focus on making it a platform she could jump off. Filo took it in her stride, jumping up and using the Shield as a springboard to deliver a high-jump kick straight in the middle of the eyeball and causing it to burst. Our joy at the success of her attack barely lasted a few seconds though as the eyeball regenerated itself.
"Looks like we need a different approach." I thought to myself. "Filo, retreat for the time being!" As she parked up alongside us once more, I had already decided on our next plan of attack and, fishing out a bottle of herbicide, proceeded to explain my plan to the girls.
"Here's what I want you to do. Raphtalia, take the herbicide and get on Filo's back. Filo, do as you did just then and get Raphtalia in as close as you can to the eyeball. Once there, use the herbicide on it. Understood?"
Nodding in understanding, Raphtalia took the vial of herbicide from me and leapt on Filo's back. As soon as she was in position, Filo set off once more, and just like last time proceeded to nimbly leap and dodge her way through the vines, only this time Raphtalia was able to assist her by cutting through any vines that she missed with her sword. But as they got closer to the target, things went badly pear-shaped.
Filo was caught completely unaware by a vine threatening to attack her left side. Fortunately for her, Raphtalia spotted it. But in order to reach it, Raphtalia had to leap off her back as she proceeded to cut the offending vine to ribbons, and as she tried to land back on Filo she lost her balance slightly and landed on Filo's back rather awkwardly.
"Can you try not to slow us down please?!" Filo berated her. As Raphtalia was about to argue back, I noticed with horror another vine snake around and approach them from behind. "LOOK OUT!" I yelled but it was too late, the vine wrapped itself around Raphtalia and hoisted her high in the air.
"Raphtalia! Are you okay?!" I called out worriedly.
"I'm currently hoisted ten feet in the air and none of my friends are currently helping me out, does it look like okay?!" Raphtalia screeched sarcastically. "Just hurry up and get me down!"
"Oh, I don't know, seeing you like this is really funny! Serves you right for not paying attention!" Filo said with a chuckle.
"NOT HELPING FILO!"
"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" I yelled, starting to lose my temper once more. "Raphtalia, use the herbicide, I don't care where you pour it just do it!" Raphtalia stops bickering with Filo and manages to get her hands in front of her to where she can uncork the herbicide with her teeth. Once she does so, she immediately pours it on one of the tree's roots. But again, just like our last attempt, the root instantly regenerated itself.
"That failed as well? What else can we do?" I racked my brain as quickly as I could trying to find a solution, not helped by the headache I was getting from my arguing companions. I then thought back to when I had healed the infected from earlier, and suddenly the solution clicked. Herbicide combined with the Potion Enhance Skill. My decision made, I charged through the mass of vines blocking my path, swatting those coming on my right-side with my Shield of the First Avenger whilst letting those on the left-side bounce off harmlessly, thanks to my insanely high defence stat. I know, I know, even though this isn't a game our stats are still useful in providing a rough guideline to what we can take and dish out.
I reached the base of the tree and, taking out a vial of herbicide, quickly activated the Potion Enhance skill and splashed the liquid all over the roots of the tree, and to my relief, it worked straight away. Everything around me that was vegetation of any kind started to wither and die rapidly, and the eyeball in the centre started to convulse before it too died with another loud squelching sound. I then watched what the main tree and was doing and suddenly realised it was going to collapse right on top of us.
"Both of you, move!" I called out to the girls. As the vines around her loosened, Raphtalia was able to get herself free as we all booked it out of there as the tree split and collapsed. As we took a look at the aftermath, all we could see was withered vegetation, and none of it was growing back. We had done it! But as I looked around, I noticed several seed-like objects dotted amongst the remains.
"Looks like our work isn't done yet you two. Grab whatever seeds you can find, we don't want this growing back again." Filo let out a groan at having to do more work but I ignored her, not pleased with how she was behaving right now.
And that did not get any better part of the way through our task. As I was picking up some of the materials from the dead vines, I heard the girls arguing once more. Looking over, I saw them both clutching the same seed as they both had claimed to find it first.
This was getting really out of hand, these two had been at each other's throats all of today, and at points during the past several days as well. At some point when we next had a break, I knew I'd have to sit them both down and remind them that we are a team and supposed to be working together.
But that would happen when it happened, and as I returned my attention to the present I had my Shield absorb some of the remains of the large tree. A notification then popped up saying that I had unlocked the Bio-Plant Shield, as well as a smaller text box indicating that along with the new Shield I had unlocked the Plant Modification Skill. Now that sounded intriguing.
"May as well give it a test and see how it works." I thought to myself as I pulled out one of the seeds I had picked up previously. As I switched over to my new Shield, a whole new set of bars appeared in front of me, which I quickly figured out where the properties of the Seed. Now even more curious, I attempted to alter one of the values and was instantly rewarded by the value moving up and down as I fiddled with it. I then proceeded to alter it a little more, specifically it's intelligence level, before throwing it to the ground. As it bloomed, the effects of having zero intelligence kicked in, and just as it took shape the tree quickly withered and died once more.
"It'll take me a few tries, but if I set the values just right, this seed could actually bear fruit instead of spawning plant monsters." My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the clearing of a throat, and as I turned around I saw Raphtalia looking down at me, carrying a basket of seeds. "What are you up to Fergus?" She asked.
"I was trying out the new skill I got from this Shield, Plant Modification. I reckon with a few more tests I can get these seeds to bear fruit." I explained. However, this didn't make her smile.
"It's bad enough we've had to fight one giant plant monster and it's hordes of mutated creations today, I'd rather not have to fight another just to satisfy your curiosity." She huffed before stomping away to gather more seeds.
"Damn she must still be really wound up from arguing with Filo." I thought to myself with a frown. Deciding it was best not to get into an argument and worsen her temper, I didn't respond and stopped my experimentation for the time being, and instead returned to the job of gathering.
§
As the sun dipped towards the base of the sky the three of us decided to make our way back to the villagers' current base. As we arrived we were greeted by a chorus of cheers, news having obviously spread that we had halted the infestation. The chief came over to thank us personally. "Thank you for your help, without it I shudder to think what would've happened to us."
"Not a problem we were happy to assist," I replied, which drew assenting nods from my companions. "However, even though we put the mutating plants, their remains are still spread all over the village. It'll take a big effort to clear up before you can live there once more."
"With the plants no longer around, we should be more than up to it." The chief responded with a smile. I was about to open my mouth to offer my assistance but he obviously guessed what I was about to ask and interrupted me. "You've already done more than enough for us, you and your two friends should get some rest. We can talk about your reward in the morning."
As much as I wanted to help, I couldn't fault his logic and could do with a good night's sleep. As he bade us a good night, I turned to my companions, still not fully happy with them after the events of earlier. "Let's have dinner, then turn in. And one helping only Filo." I said shortly, making sure Filo got the point with a stern glance in her direction. They both nodded solemnly and after a quick bite to eat, we all settled down to sleep. Filo, of course, could settle anywhere and chose to remain by the fire, whilst Raphtalia crawled into the cart and threw a cover over herself. I fished out a sleeping bag and settled myself on the other side of the fire from Filo, and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
But I couldn't fully settle, and indeed woke up several times during the night. The last time it happened was just as morning was beginning to come around, so I decided to not bother trying to get back to sleep. Looking around and noticing the others were still deeply asleep, I quietly picked up a bowl of some of the materials we had picked up earlier and moved over to an open space on the outskirts of the camp.
Over the next hour or so, I kept experimenting with the values of the seeds with my Plant Modification Skill, as well as feeding more of the materials to my Shield. This resulted in me acquiring two new Shields: The Plantriwe Shield and the Mandoragora Shield, the latter of which also unlocked another new skill called Plant Analysis. Curious as to how this would work, I equipped my new Shield and held it over the seed, and as I did this a wealth of new information appeared in front of me, explaining in detail the effects of each of the seed's properties as well as a more detailed range of values that I could set them to. With this wealth of new knowledge, I set about once more altering the values of each of the properties to ensure that not only would the seed no longer be a threat but that it would be able to bear edible produce to help the villagers feed themselves.
Just as I had got the seed to the exact values I wanted, I heard a yawn from behind me as Raphtalia slowly came to. As I turned around, I saw her come out of the cart, a blanket draped over herself, and look around before noticing where I was. As she approached I watched silently, not sure what kind of mood she would be in right now.
"Good morning Master Fergus, did you sleep well?" She asked sleepily, stifling a yawn. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Filo slowly waking up as well, having transformed overnight back into her human form.
"Slept as well as I could," I replied, turning my gaze back to the seed in my palm as she yawned once more. "You know if you're still sleepy you ought to go back and get some more rest. Sun's not even up yet."
"Thank you but I'm alright," she replied, as she looked over my shoulder at what I had in my hands. "What are you to now?"
"Carrying on from yesterday," I said, standing up and going over to a small patch of earth, planting the modified seed in it. "I picked up a new skill called Plant Analysis, which I combined with Plant Modification to get the seed exactly the way I wanted it."
"I'm sorry to keep nagging you like Master Fergus," she started up once more, disapproval seeping through her words, "but you should really stop being so reckless just so you can-"
I held up a hand, interrupting her. "Harp on at me later if it doesn't work, for now just sit and watch." Pursing her lips, she eventually gives up her argument and takes a seat beside me.
Over the next hour or two, the sun started coming out. As it rose higher in the sky, its light was cast over where I had planted the seed. As if responding to an unheard request, the earth started rumbling and from it sprouted a new tree. But unlike the mutated one from earlier, it halted its growth at a reasonable height, and from its vines several red fruits rapidly grew. As I marvelled at how well my experimentations had gone, I had the soft patter of bare feet running towards us. Sure enough, Filo ran up beside us, her eyes wide as she beheld the tree in front of her. "Look at it, Master! It's so pretty, and the fruit! It looks so juicy!"
I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm and gave her head a small pat as I stood up and made my way back to where I had left the baskets of seeds we had collected yesterday. With my Mandoragora Shield equipped once more, I proceeded to alter the values of all the seeds in each basket to the values I had set for the one that was currently blooming. Thankfully I was able to save time by doing it basket by basket rather than seed by seed.
A short while later, once everyone in the area was awake, the chief called everyone over to the area where the new tree was located and where myself and Raphtalia were currently standing (Filo had helped herself to a few of the fruits when my back was turned and was currently gorging on them in her Filolial form). Once everyone was assembled, I gave them a quick explanation as to what I had done:
"In case you are wondering, this tree came from a seed of the large tree that was responsible for infecting your village. You are probably wondering why it's so different, and I can explain. Using various abilities from my Shield, I was able to eradicate the mutating potential as well as curb the breeding potential of the seed, as well as raising it's growth and production values. As a result, this seed, as well as the seeds that I and my companions gathered, should be able to bear edible fruit rather than mutated plant monsters, and this should be able to keep you fed for a long while yet."
The villagers let out a cheer at my explanation, relieved to have a reliable source of food once more. As various people came up to thank us personally, I was soon approached by the village chief, who waved me over to the side. As I joined him, he let out a smile. "You're the Shield-Hero aren't you?"
Able to cover my surprise at how he figured it out, I responded neutrally. "How'd you figure that out?"
"I saw your Shield as you left the village, and was able to put two and two together as you mentioned how you used your Shield's powers to alter the seeds," he revealed.
"I hope this isn't an issue, I'm sure you've heard all the rumours going around about me."
He shook his head. "Not at all, and I have heard both sets of rumours. I'm much more inclined to believe the one about you being the Saviour of the Heavenly Fowl. The real reason I brought you over here is to offer my own personal thanks on behalf of my entire village for all you have done. If there is anything you desire of us, please ask."
I didn't argue, knowing he would insist of rewarding me, yet at the same time, I didn't want to squeeze any money out of him, seeing as he would need all of it to help the village rebuild. As I looked over at the produce we had gathered, I suddenly had an idea. "If it's alright with you, I wouldn't mind taking a few samples of the fruit as well as a basket of the seeds back with me, so that I can do more research on them and see if I can improve them any further."
"Of course Shield-Hero, you have given us more than enough." The chief agreed and, after helping myself and Raphtalia load up a small basket of fruit and a basket of seeds back into the cart, brought the villagers over to bid us farewell. Just as we were about to leave, I went into the back of the cart and brought out a container containing several vials of herbicide. "Just in case you need them as you clear up," I explained. With this, the three of us bid the village goodbye as Filo set off at a brisk trot, taking us in the direction of the village where we had left Hickwaal.
§
"I must say, Saviour, this is a very impressive seed," Hickwaal commented as he closely inspected one of the seeds I had brought him
As soon as we had got back to the village where he was at, the first thing we did was go and see Hickwaal and update him on the task he had given us. After listening to what I had gone through, Hickwaal asked if he could have a look at both the seed and the fruit that I had brought back.
"If it's possible, do you think I could borrow a few samples of each? I know several people who would be very interested in these."
"I don't see why not," I responded, going over to the box of fruit and scooping up a large handful, and at the same time motioning for Filo to stop gorging herself, before doing the same with the seeds. Returning to where we were sitting, I passed these over the table. "I'm obviously going to keep the rest to sell, but anything you or your friends can get out of these can only be helpful."
Hickwaal thanked me, passing over a small bag of silver in return. "It's always a pleasure doing business with you, Saviour. And I'm sorry to keep abusing your good nature, but I have one more favour to ask of you."
"Well at least he is apologising, so I suppose I can hear him out." I motion for him to continue. "An inn in a nearby town is asking for a shipment of goods. If you could deliver them for me, I would be very grateful." As he saw me pondering about it, he slipped in some incentive. "If my information is correct, the town in question has a hot spring that you can use."
"A HOT SPRING?!" All three of us cried out in response, as the girls looked at each other excitedly. Filo started pulling on my arm, eyes wide as she pleaded with me. "Can we please go, Master Fergus?"
I smiled back at her before turning my gaze to Raphtalia. "Would you like to go as well Raphtalia?" As she hemmed and hawed about not wanting us to get distracted and how she wasn't too fussed, I looked past her to see her tail swishing back and forth rapidly, betraying her excitement. "Well then it's settled, we're going to a hot spring!"
"Yay! Thank you so much Mater Fergus!" Filo cried out excitedly as she leapt into my arms and hugged me tightly. As I chuckled at her enthusiasm, I heard the sound of gritted teeth coming from Raphtalia, which reminded me that I still needed to talk to both of them about their behaviour over the past few days. Gently prising Filo of me, I looked back over to Hickwaal and told him we'd do it, for which he thanked us profusely. Once we had got the goods loaded in our cart, we bid a final farewell to Hickwaal and headed out to our destination.
There seemed to be an added zip to Filo's travelling speed, no doubt she wanted to get there as soon as possible and enjoy the hot spring. Raphtalia too was excited as she kept her eyes expectantly on the horizon as if willing the town to materialize before her eyes. I was also looking forward to relaxing in a hot spring, it would be my first experience of it in this reality.
Due to Filo's increase in speed, we arrived at the town in question in no time at all. As we made our way over to the inn, I took a small bit of time to observe the buildings around me and noticed that the architecture was very reminiscent of the Roman Empire back in its heyday. Once we arrived, the inn's owner came out and, once she heard what my business was, thanked me for bringing the goods over promptly, and offered us rooms of our choosing for our stay here. Thanking her, I asked for two rooms, one with a single bed and the other with two beds for the girls. Once we had unloaded the goods and had Filo park up the cart, I told the girls to bring their things to their room, after which I would have a word with them both.
Once this had all been done, and the girls were settled in their room, I came in and shut the door behind me before turning to them as they both sat on their beds. "Look, I don't want this to take too long, nor do I want to be doing this, but after what happened whilst we were fighting the plant monsters, I want to know what is up between the two of you. You seem to be constantly at each other's throats and it's doing more harm than good to our party dynamic. I would like an explanation."
Both of them remained silent for a while until Raphtalia spoke up, her ears drooping slightly. "It's nothing serious Master Fergus, we're just both trying to do our best to help you in gratitude for all you've done for us. I guess we've just been getting carried away. I'm sorry for my part in this."
"HMPH!" Filo huffed, folding her arms and looking away from Raphtalia. "She was the one who started it by almost getting herself killed against that large tree!"
"You were the one who failed to spot that vine that caught me!" Raphtalia responded indignantly.
"Hardly! You should have just been more careful. You also tried to steal a seed that I had picked up for Master Fergus!"
"I did not, that was my seed. I picked it up first. You tried to steal it from me!"
As the girls continued to bicker back and forth, I put my face in my hands, struggling to comprehend how stupid this was. After a while, I'd decided I had enough and silenced them both with a loud yell "Alright that's enough! Both of you!"
Thankfully this had the desired effect as both of them instantly stopped their argument and turned their gazes back to me, both of them giving off the air of scolded children. I let out a deep breath, choosing my next words carefully.
"Look, it's bad enough that the entire kingdom, as well as the other Heroes, are out to get us, but this, what you are doing here, doesn't help us in any way. Look at you both, arguing over pointless crap! You are on the same side, you're meant to be fighting alongside each other, not against each other."
I stopped to let this sink in for a second before continuing. "And about proving yourself to me, none of you need to do that any more. You have both done more than enough to earn my full trust. I am so proud of how far both of you have come, and I am so glad you have both decided to stay around me. And remember, I swore to protect you both, and I will always do so, but I can't do that if all you are going to do is fight amongst yourselves. We are a party, and we need to act like it."
I stopped one more time, giving them a few moments to mull over my words before I finished. "Now then, both of you apologise." A moment or two passed, and then I heard Raphtalia mumble an apology, both to Filo and myself. After a short while, Filo did the same.
"Again I'm sorry for having to do this, but it needed to said. Now I want both of you to think this over whilst we are in the springs. However, to make sure you both do this, the three of us will be bathing in separate areas of the spring. If I catch either of you trying to go into each other's spring, or into mine, you will not be allowed to bathe for the rest of our time here. Understood?"
"Okay." They both groaned, obviously not happy but accepting what I had to say. With this, I left the room to allow them to get changed as I headed to my room to do the same.
§
"This is so nice." I allowed myself to think as I relaxed into the warm waters of the hot spring. No matter what reality I was in, a hot spring was still a hot spring and I could feel all the stresses of the past few weeks get washed away. As I leaned my head back, I couldn't help but think about my real world. And honestly, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about this until now. I suppose with everything going on I hadn't had much time to think about what was going on there.
Was time flowing at the same rate there as it was here? If that was the case I would have been missing for a few weeks now. I hate to think what my family and friends are going through after I had seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth. Would I be able to go back one day? And if I could, how long would it be until I could go back? And what about the people I would be leaving behind here? It was all depressing to think about. I rationalised eventually that I would just have to keep going in this world until it came back up, there was nothing else I could do for now.
Speaking of keeping going, what would we do next? Seeing as Hickwaal had nothing else for us, the only option we really had was to keep going on our original travel route and continue to buy and sell goods until the time came for the next Wave, at which time we would return to the capital to prepare. Whilst there, I would also try and find Motoyasu and have a serious word with him about what had happened with the seed he planted. Hopefully, it might knock some sense into him and get him, and the others, to realise this was no longer a game and that every action had a consequence.
After a good few hours of relaxing, I finally decided to leave the springs as the sun started to set. As I came upon our rooms, I heard the soft patter of feet from behind, signalling that the girls had finished up too. As they both approached me, both looking much more relaxed, I asked them if they enjoyed themselves.
After getting two disconsolate replies that they had, I smiled softly at them. "Remember, really think on what I said earlier. Both of you sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." With this, I entered my room and shut the door before climbing into my bed. After taking a few moments to appreciate how much nicer sleeping in a bed was rather than camping in a sleeping bag, I drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Instead of waking up naturally, I got woken up by a pair of hands shaking me awake. Sitting up, I saw both Raphtalia and Filo both standing at the foot at my bed with their hands behind their back. "Is everything okay you two?" I asked sleepily.
The girls looked at each other once before Raphtalia spoke up. "After everything you said yesterday, I did as you asked and had a really long think about it. Filo and I also talked about it a lot last night, and we've decided to stop our arguing and start working together in order to best help you to the best of abilities. In thanks for helping us to come to our senses, we decided to buy you a little something." With this Filo brought her hands out from behind her back, handing to me a small box. Opening it, I found a crafting hammer resting there.
"We wanted to get you something that would help your crafting skills, and came across this. We both liked it, and we hope you do too. This is a thank you from both of us" Filo piped up.
I was genuinely touched by their thoughtfulness and, getting up out of bed, I went over and knelt in front of them, wrapping them both in a warm hug. "This is a wonderful gift, and I promise to make good use of this. Thank you, and thank you both for settling your differences." Releasing the hug, I gave them a warm smile. "How about this: If I get the cart prepared, you two can have one more dip in the springs before we leave. Sound good?" Both of them cheered at this, Raphtalia's tail swishing away in excitement before they both thanked me and charged out of the room to get changed and spend as much time in the springs as possible. Chuckling to myself, I proceeded to get dressed.
As the morning progressed, I packed up both my things and the girls' things and loaded them up into the cart. Whilst I was doing so, I overheard a conversation from two nearby villagers.
"Did you hear about that epidemic that's spreading in the east?" One of them asked quietly
"I did. Apparently, the people there are really suffering since they don't have enough medicine." The other responded equally as quietly.
This was enough to change our plans for now. Business could wait, saving people's lives were more important. As I finished packing, the girls came out, once more fully refreshed. "Where are we heading now Master Fergus?" Raphtalia asked, a warm smile on her face.
I turned to look at them both, my expression and tone indicating how serious what I was about to say was. "We're heading east."
And that's another chapter down! This was a fun one to write. Again not so many changes to talk about but there are one or two I will address:
1. Fergus not taking any financial reward for saving the village - This is going to become a regular thing in my story. I can understand why Naofumi does what he does in demanding a reward for what saving the villages, and to be fair he has a reason to as he was robbed of everything back in episode 1 and had to work back up from scratch. Fergus, as you know, didn't get robbed so still had plenty of money to start off with, even after purchasing Raphtalia and Filo's egg, and as such doesn't need as much financial reward. Also, he would feel incredibly guilty about demanding money from people who have been through hard times before he comes and saves them
2. Fergus' sit-down chat with the girls - As a World of Warcraft player and raider, Fergus understands how a good group dynamic is vital to their success, and if that breaks down, the group would fall apart. But seeing as this world is real, a group that's not getting along well could end up dead very quickly due to miscommunication and infighting, something which Fergus recognised as soon as it started to happen against the plant monsters. He had to drop in some harshness but not too much considering the girls' ages, but now they are all on the same page, things should start going better for them
And in case you are wondering, Raphtalia and Filo's adventures during the second half of that episode still happened in this story. However since this story is being told from Fergus' perspective, I didn't feel like covering it. Just assume it happened as it did, and that's what helped bring them together.
Once again I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next week will be the battle with the zombie dragon, another chapter I enjoyed writing. Until then, this is theoneandonlyedster signing out for now and I will see you in the next one!