Chapter 55: Meeting About Invaders
For the rest of the day I questioned Therese about everything I could think to ask. What she knew about the waves, why the three of them wanted to kill a hero, how moving between worlds works, what the terms holy and vassal meant in regards to heroes, everything. At the same time some the queen and her knights were questioning L'Arc and Glass. They would have been taken back to Melromarc, but the sea was sill chaotic due to the wave so we had to wait a few days for it to calm down. The plan was for the queen and heroes to meet tomorrow morning and discuss what we knew about them and what we would do moving forwards.
In the meantime we were free to do what we wanted. Seb and Talia stuck around to make sure Therese didn't try anything and in case they thought of any extra questions to ask. Blake on the other hand went off with Freon, who begged her to teach her how to fight because she felt useless during the wave. They were probably on one of the other islands fighting, hopefully without Motoyasu interfering.
Blake didn't come back that night and Therese continued to try to do everything for me, as a show of devotion. Thankfully, I was able to escape to the baths for some peace. At least it was peaceful until the other heroes showed up and repeated their peeking attempt. This time they made a peephole. Itsuki was looking when he suddenly jerked back screaming about his eye. Motoyasu, being Motoyasu, wanted to see what would make Itsuki act like that and ended up in a similar state. Ren was a bit smarter and tried to look through by using his sword as a mirror. I guess he thought they were being poked in the eye, but her still ended up covering his eye in pain. If I had to guess I'd say Talia was sending concentrated light magic through the peephole whenever someone tried to look. She'd attempted something similar after I had to explain what Burst Hyperion was when I compared Judgement to it. I also explained the concept of a laser, but I don't think she really understood it too well.
It would have been interesting to see the three of them having to keep their eyes covered while they recovered, but apparently they had learned some magic because Ren and Motoyasu cast healing spells on themselves. Motoyasu cast a fire-based healing spell, while Ren's was water-based. Itsuki then convinced Motoyasu to heal him as well.
"Since you three can't read, I'm guessing you learned magic from crystal balls instead."
"What the?" (Ren)
"Endou?" (Motoyasu)
"How long have you been here?" (Itsuki)
"I came in a bit before you three."
"Why didn't you say something?" (Motoyasu)
"For what purpose? You've already proven that you will try to peep despite being warned against it."
"Well… because..." (Motoyasu)
"It's rude to just watch people suffer." (Itsuki)
"You brought the suffering down on yourselves. I just happened to be having a relaxing soak while you did it."
They continued to glare at me until forgetting that I was there. Then they tried to figure out what it was that hurt them when they tried to peep this time.
The next day the four of us met up with the queen to talk about everything that happened and what was learned from the L'Arc, Glass, and Therese, the last of which was waiting in a separate room guarded by Seb and Talia case we thought of any extra questions for her during the meeting.
"Very well, let us begin the second meeting of the heroes. I, Mirellia Q. Melromarc, will moderate the discussion."
"Discussion, eh?" (Ren)
"All I want to know is how Endou managed to cheat the system and get so strong." (Itsuki)
"Why are you still acting like this is a game? This is real. There is no way to 'cheat the system' and if you die you stay dead."
"I'm still not entirely sure about the game vs reality bit, but I do know I got a lot stronger after using all the methods to power-up my spear. I don't think Endou's been cheating to get as strong as he is, but the boost from that spell you used near the end of the wave was pretty OP." (Motoyasu)
"Then what do you call having a second class that gives him a dozen abilities that shouldn't exist and are far too overpowered to be anything but a cheat?" (Ren)
Motoyasu had no response.
Sigh. "You know what? I'm not even going to try convincing you of the truth about my assassin class anymore. It isn't why we're here anyways. We are here because there are people from another world trying to kill us."
"You really think they're from another world?" (Itsuki)
"Therese admitted as much and L'Arc heavily implied it during the fight."
"The two prisoners also confirmed that when questioned. The woman, Glass, seemed as though she thought it was obvious and that the question was a waste of energy." (Queen)
"So why do they want us dead? And why didn't Glass finish us off when she had the chance?" (Motoyasu)
"It would seem that she did not recognize the three of you as heroes and they are against killing anyone who they don't have to. She said that the only person she found then that was strong enough to be a hero was, and I quote, 'an odd swordsman who introduced himself with such a ridiculously long title that the only part of his name I was able to catch was Abyssgate.'" (Queen)
Everyone looked at me. "I can't help how I act when I'm in that state, which I was during that wave. The important part is that the only ones they know to be heroes at the moment are me and Motoyasu."
"Fine. So who are they anyways? They had some strange weapons." (Itsuki)
"Yeah, I mean I've heard of players using scythes before, but I'd never seen one and they weren't supposed to be that strong." (Motoyasu)
"There weren't any in Bravestar Online either." (Ren)
"Therese said that L'Arc and Glass were what their world called vassal heroes. They seem to be their world's equivalent of this world's seven star heroes. The gems in their weapons and the way I saw L'Arc use his scythe caused me to suspect it even before the wave."
"You knew they were after us and didn't say anything? We were all in the bath together and he could have killed us if we had mentioned being heroes." Itsuki stood up from his seat.
"All I knew was that his weapon could translate, absorb materials, and had some degree of transformation. I was still trying to figure out who they were and what their goals were. Besides, would you have even believed me if all I had to go off of was such thin evidence?"
Itsuki thought for a moment before sitting back down.
"Sir Endou did inform me about them when we were making preparations for the wave and I agreed with his plan to wait until they showed their true colors and giving him the chance to handle the situation before moving against them. As we now have two prisoners and another who has chosen to change sides, I would say it was the correct choice." (Queen)
"What about that Therese girl's magic? It was different from anything I'd seen before." (Motoyasu)
"Therese is from a race of demi-humans known as Jewels. Apparently they are something along the lines of gemstones turned humanoid. They can somehow communicate with mundane gems, understand what they feel, and ask them to act as catalysts for their magic. That connection to gems is also why she now worships me for my skill at making jewelry instead of trying to kill me as originally planned."
"There is a whole race of people that would turn into… that, if they knew you could make good jewelry for them?" Motoyasu worriedly asked.
"That seems to be the case."
Motoyasu shivered.
"That's all well and good, but why did they want to kill us in the first place?" (Itsuki)
"An ancient legend told them to."
"Heh?" (Motoyasu)
"What?" (Itsuki)
"You can't be serious." (Ren)
"From what they said, it would seem that their world has far more documentation on past waves than ours. There is quite a bit of surprising information they had on the topic of the waves, but to be specific to Sir Kawasumi's question, one of those documents suggested that the way to survive was to make sure the other world doesn't. And the logical way to do that would be to kill their heroes so they can't defend themselves from the waves."(Queen)
"They are willing to kill a world, but don't want unnecessary deaths, seems contradictory if you ask me." (Ren)
"On that we agree."
"So what sort of stuff do they know about the waves?" (Motoyasu)
"They say that the waves are caused by the attempted merging of two worlds, in this case ours and theirs. They also claim that at this stage, neither of our worlds would survive merging so the only way for them to survive is to make sure our world dies." (Queen)
"So it's kill or be killed." (Ren)
"Damn." (Motoyasu)
"How much can we trust this information?" (Itsuki)
"It's an ancient legend written in a dead language from another world. The fact that it's an ancient legend that can't be verified and the possibility of translation errors are both good reasons to doubt its accuracy."
"So it's as likely to be wrong as correct, but they are willing to go after us anyways." (Itsuki)
"Maybe we should just take the fight to them." (Ren)
"Yeah, with that Aura spell of yours we could take them out no problem." (Motoyasu)
"We can't. According to Therese, holy heroes, meaning the four of us, are unable to move between worlds. My guess is that it is related to why the waves are supposed to get stronger if one is missing, or maybe it's to prevent us from running to another world and letting this one die."
"What about the seven star guys, they should be able to go, right?" (Ren)
"Two problems with that. One, there is no guarantee that they will help, from what I've heard they are mostly split among the other nations of the world and can be difficult to contact, not counting Fool who's still locked out of his staff. Two, none of the holy heroes of the other world participate in the waves."
"Why not?" (Motoyasu)
"Isn't it there duty?" (Itsuki)
"Apparently one of them was summoned several years ago but has been missing for some time, and the other three simply refuse. Therese didn't understand some of the words used in their reasons for refusal, but it sounds like they think the world is a game and that the waves are just updates. Honestly it makes me wonder if only one out of every four summoned is capable of telling the difference between a game and reality."
"That matches with what the other two said, but I am curious as to what you mean by updates." (Queen)
"In gaming terms it's when new content is added. There can be new weapons, gear, events, or whatever else the developers decide to add. Sometimes there will even be new maps full of areas to explore." (Motoyasu)
"It could also be a modification to existing systems for balance purposes." (Ren)
"I… see…" The queen hid her frown behind her fan. I think she became more confused by the terms they used in their explanation.
"So we can't go after them, but are there going to be more of these vassal heroes coming for us?" (Ren)
"That remains a possibility, but our interrogation revealed that many of them are allied with counties that don't deem the waves to be a serious threat, so it is unlikely." (Queen)
"Therese mentioned that they have another vassal wielder ally, but apparently he isn't very strong and generally just gives cover fire during fights."
"I thought you said they knew more about the waves and were trying to destroy our world to survive." (Itsuki)
"It is only the nation from which the invaders hail, as well as its allies that are taking such measures. It would seem that most of the nations of that world are currently at odds and rather fight each other than the waves. Our world might have entered a similar state had the church of the three heroes succeeded in their plans for the four of you."
"Then what are we going to do about them?"(Ren)
"I'm not sure there is anything to do. One of the reasons they chose to go after us is because they don't think their world will survive until the end of the waves without any holy heroes helping. Now that they are down two vassal heroes as well they don't have much of a chance. And that's not even factoring in that L'Arc is the leader of one of the only nations that deems the waves to be a threat."
""What?"" (three heroes)
"You're saying that L'Arc is a king?" (Motoyasu)
"That's what Therese said, though she also said that he tends to leave a lot to his ministers. Anyways, just because the other world isn't likely to be sending anyone after us doesn't mean we should let our guards down."
"At the moment the only thing we can do is prepare. Perhaps it would be best if you heroes underwent some formal battle training." (Queen)
They didn't look happy about that. I thought it was a good idea considering they lacked any technique. Ren just swung his sword and unleashed high damage skills as much as he could without being hit. Itsuki… well he usually hits his targets, but he also relies on his party being his meat shields. Motoyasu actually does pretty well for being self-taught, but real instruction wouldn't hurt.
"Now then, until we are able to return to Melromarc, you are all free to do as you wish. Thank you for meeting with me today." We got up and started to leave. "Sir Endou, I have something I'd like to discuss. Do you mind staying for a little while?"
"Sure."
The queen waited until the other heroes had left before continuing. "I didn't want to discuss this with the other heroes present. Honestly, I was planning on sending the other three heroes to another country to deal with the waves there."
"Motoyasu might be able to handle it, but if Ren and Itsuki don't get their act together…"
"Indeed. That is why I was hoping to gain the assistance of the seven star heroes."
"Huh. Just how powerful are the seven star heroes?" If they were as strong as L'Arc was during that day we fought together then they could probably beat the two idiots easily.
"I have seen several of them before. And after what I witnessed during the last wave battle, I think it is safe to say that they are definitely more powerful than the sword and bow heroes. However, the spear hero displayed power that exceeded that of the seven star heroes, even before your support magic."
"So you're hoping that seeing how strong they are will get those two to wake up and try to get stronger instead of complaining. And sending Motoyasu would ensure you aren't accused of lying about sending heroes. I have that about right?"
"More or less."
"So when would this be happening?"
"The next known wave is happening in about a week. Travel won't take too long, but when I think about the training that will be done in Melromarc… Besides, things need to take place in different places at once; it will split up everyone that we need."
"Maybe if one of us went there to set up a portal while the others train, or traveling at night and using a portal to get back for training. Either way, whoever is going will be missing out on at least some training. I guess I would be the best choice since I already have years of combat experience and there isn't much for me to learn about using a shield."
"I suppose we have no other choice. But I do think you may still gain something from the training."
"Well I'll still go; I'll just be more tired."
"Thankyou Sir Endou. I also wanted to ask, what do you think of Therese? Is there any chance that she is faking her allegiance to you in order to kill you or another hero?"
"I doubt it. When I first met L'Arc and Therese there were times when they would find ways to dodge questions that would have revealed who they were, but they never outright lied. All of their actions since I gave Therese the bangle have seemed genuine; L'Arc's confusion over the whole thing would have been particularly difficult to fake. I might not trust her to the extent that I would leave her in a room alone with the other heroes, but I do think that she is truly devoted, at least until someone manages to match the quality of the bangle I made for her."
"Then she will remain in your custody. However due to the nature of why she changes sides, I believe it may be best to have some insurance to prevent the possibility of her double-crossing us."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Something you are already familiar with, a slave crest. Of course you would have to be the one registered as her master. Is that agreeable?"
"Honestly, I'm still not a big fan of the idea of slavery, but I get that slave crests work well to keep people in line. And with how she worships me, she might even be happy to have another way to prove her loyalty."
"Very well then, I will make arrangements for one to be applied upon our return. Why don't you get some rest until the storm passes?"
"I will."
AN: They know more about the waves and other world, but they can't do much about it.
In regards to Therese's behavior: It is based on how she acts in the "What if" in the Class-up volume where the accessory Naofumi makes for her is max quality. However, that skips a lot so I guessed at how the rest would be and tweaked it to account for Endou.
Akasui: Yes, it is bad for L'Arc's country, and no, i don't think promising to make Endou the state religion would do anything.
