Chapter 56: Return from Cal Mira
I collected Seb, Talia, and Therese before heading back to our room.
"So how did the meeting with the other heroes go?" (Talia)
"About as expected. Motoyasu might be realizing this isn't a game, but the other two are still fooling themselves into thinking that I somehow cheated to gain power."
"Cheating? Why would they think that?" (Therese)
"Because they are convinced that the world is a game. Anyways, the queen is organizing proper training so they can at least fight properly."
"That sounds interesting. Though I doubt anyone brought in will be able to match your training methods, Sir Endou."
"The Haulia fighting style isn't for everyone, and people that have trained for years and specialize in using their weapons will know far more about using them than me. Never assume that there isn't anything worth learning."
"I did not mean to imply that, I only meant to say that the method of fighting which you taught us is most effective for the time spent learning."
We passed Rishia, still in the squirrel kigurumi, along the way to the room. It looked like she was coming back from shopping for Itsuki's whole party, probably just another one of her "chores". It may not seem right that they treat her the way they do, but from what Itsuki said she is more than willing to do whatever she has to to be in his party and I'm not going to mess with that. When we got back to the room, Blake had her face buried in a pillow.
"Is something the matter, Blake?" (Therese)
She rolled on her side. "Freon. I tried to teach her to fight as a filolial, but she said the spear guy didn't like when she was in that form. Then I tried teaching her some hand-to-hand combat, but she kept complaining about it hurting when she hit things. Finally I tried teaching her to use a knife and, after missing every time she tried to attack something, she nearly impaled herself on it. I don't know how he did it, but that imbecile with the spear somehow managed to create a filolial queen completely unsuited for combat."
"Create a filolial queen?"
"Basically, Blake and Freon are part of a race of monsters that undergoes a special mutation when raised by a hero. It should give them impressive combat abilities, but the way Motoyasu raised Freon has left her as Blake described."
"Oh…"
"Anyways, Blake, when we get back to Melromarc we're going to be working on getting the three 'heroes' into fighting shape, but we are also going to have to head to the country where the next wave is happening to set a mark for my portal."
Blake's cowlick twitched. "Fitoria says she'll go for us…. And that if the weakling heroes are going to fight a wave, she could give them some back up."
"That would definitely be appreciated. Hold on a second, I knew Fitoria could talk to you from a distance, but is she able to see and hear through you too?"
"Blame this thing." Blake flicked her cowlick, which was still twitching.
"Umm… Who's Fitoria? And what's so special about Blake's hair?"
"Fitoria is the leader of Blake's species and probably one of the most powerful beings in this world. Blake's hair grew like that after she was named Fitoria's successor, and apparently gives her a way to spy on us. Blake how long did you know she could see through you?"
"Since yesterday. She tried giving advice on how to train Freon, it didn't work." Blake's cowlick was twitching a bit faster and Blake scowled, assumedly thinking something back at Fitoria. Whatever they were talking about seemed to go on for a few minutes with our only indications being Blake's facial expressions and how fast her cowlick moved. It seemed Blake lost an argument as she gave a sigh of resignation. "She wants us to continue dealing with the waves in Melromarc while we get the others strong enough to fight them without us."
"And what else did she say?" I seriously doubt they argued about that.
"She wants me to keep working on Freon." Blake rolled back onto her face.
I sent a clone to inform the queen of what Fitoria had said. She was glad that there was one less thing for us to worry about.
The storm passed and the seas calmed down enough for us to leave. The activation was still going and we could have killed more monsters, but there really wasn't a point since we couldn't get much EXP at this level and I had more drops than I knew what to do with. So, we were on the first boat to leave the islands. Once we were far enough to teleport, we use my skill to go to the castle, along with the queen. Once there, it was time to make Therese a slave. She reacted about as enthusiastically as I expected, smiling even though the pain of it being applied. It was a high quality slave crest similar to the one Harlot had, there were more options that I could select as conditions for punishment, but I just went with lying, attacking me, running away, and disobeying me. I then asked her to verify that everything she told me about her world, L'Arc, and Glass was true and that she wasn't trying to hide anything from me. Since the crest didn't respond it seemed she was telling the truth.
Afterwards, I was given a list of materials that I was free to use for any armor or weapons that I wanted made for my party. After parting ways with the queen, we went to the church to link up with the dragon hourglass since it seems that the weapons can only be linked to one at a time. There was about two and a half weeks left until the next Melromarc wave.
Next we stopped by Erhard's. It was a bit interesting to introduce him to Therese, what with her having a gem in her forehead and worshiping me. We also showed him the various weapons and materials we got while leveling on Cal Mira. Mostly I hoped he could either improve the karma weapons or make something better, luckily I had plenty of extras for him to experiment with to ensure we get something good. I also left a few of the kigurumi to see if he could find a way to improve them or transfer the bonuses to something less embarrassing to wear. It doesn't matter much if it's me since no one will notice anyways, but I feel bad for Seb and Talia having had to fight in them with so many people around.
Between the stuff from Cal Mira and the materials from the queen there was a lot for Erhard to work with. I also asked about the new armor, but he said that, even though he helped with it, the crazy tailor wanted to give it to us herself. Therese was confused by our reactions to this news… until we went to see her. We left Seb and Talia's armor with him to upgrade using the leftover T-Rex leather and the new stuff. Normally he's able to get stuff done in a few days, so I wonder what he will have in two weeks.
As usual the tailor unleashed a barrage of words that I just ignored at this point. When her mouth slowed down she ushered us in and brought out what she had made from the T-Rex leather. I had been expecting a new coat, but instead she gave me a sleeveless shirt and a pair of pants. I've never worn leather pants, but I've heard it can be restricting and I assumed dragon leather would be similar. I didn't really have any choice though, so I changed into them so she could see how they looked. I'm not sure what she did to it, but it was far more flexible than when we had given her the leather to work with, and it still gave high defensive stats. Of course it also went well with my coat.
Seb and Talia did get coats, and they had an inner layer made out of Blake's feathers. They didn't have any special boosts, but adding their defensive abilities with the barbarian armor made them even stronger than the kigurumi. Now that the four of us were all wearing coats, Therese started to feel left out. Lucky for her the crazy tailor had made quite a few black coats out of various monster materials and with varying defensive properties, something about them gaining popularity recently. Now that I thought about it, I did see a few adventurers on Cal Mira wearing similar coats, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.
We headed back to the castle and saw a carriage with a familiar looking crest out front.
"I wonder what Lord Reichnott is doing here." (Seb)
Ah, so that's whose crest it was. I guess he's visiting the queen.
"Reichnott?" (Therese)
"He's a nobleman who helped us when the church was spreading lies about me."
"He is also one of the few noblemen who treat demi-humans fairly." (Seb)
"And we sort of left him and Eclair to deal with those former slaves after the T-Rex started chasing us."
Therese ended up wondering more about the things we went through before she met us while we entered the castle. One of the servants then informed us that there was a visitor waiting for us and showed us to the room they were waiting in.
"Raphtalia!"
"Keel!"
Keel had been sitting in one of the chairs when we walked in. He also had proper clothes now instead of the rags he had as a slave.
"Looks like Keel recovered alright." I commented as Keel bolted towards Talia.
"Were you safe after all of that, Raphtalia? Did anything bad happen to you?"
"I've been fine. We killed all the bad people chasing us and got everything cleared up."
"That's good." Keel turned to me. "You're not pushing her too hard, are you?"
"We haven't had anything difficult since that overgrown lizard. And there's a good chance I might be able to take it now."
"Keel, don't you worry about me. I haven't been seriously injured since Master Endou bought me. So, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm finally back on my feet, so I decided to come pay you a visit."
"I'm glad you're feeling better."
During this conversation, Therese's curiosity reached the point that she started asking Seb some questions.
"How do they know each other?"
"Well, as I understand it, Keel and Talia were good friends before the first wave struck their village. After which it was ransacked and the survivors were sold into slavery."
"What? Who would do such a thing?"
"Racists, religious radicals, and those looking to make easy money."
"I suppose I should have expected that, but why does Keel seem so protective of Talia when he's obviously so much younger than her?"
"Well they were about the same age before Talia leveled up a few months ago."
"What do you mean? How would her leveling up change her age?"
"Because young demi-humans' bodies mature to match their level. Is it not the case where you're from?"
"No, I've never heard of anyone aging from leveling up. Actually… Monsters grow as their level increases, is it like that?"
"It is similar, which is an extra cause for some of the racism we face. Sir Endou found the concept to be odd as well. Perhaps it is something unique to this world."
As Seb answered Therese's questions, Keel and Talia moved on to a somewhat more serious topic.
"Raphtalia! You're fighting against the waves, aren't you?!"
"Yes. I'm fighting them with Master Endou, Seb, and Blake. Just a couple of days ago we were fighting a wave in a place called Cal Mira."
"Wow! That's so cool! I want to be strong enough to fight the waves too!"
"You do…" Talia's face stiffened.
"Raphtalia?"
"I…"
"Is something wrong?" (Blake)
Talia turned to me; it looked like she didn't know what to do. I guess she didn't want Keel to get hurt, but also didn't want to say anything that would hurt his feelings. Well, we were about to start training with the other heroes, so now's as good a time as any for him to try to learn how to fight.
"I can help you get stronger, but you'd have a lot of catching up to do and I don't have the time to go as easy on you as I did with Talia. You'd have to be willing to push yourself harder than you thought possible. There may even be times where death seems nice compared to training. Knowing that, are you sure you want to join us and fight the waves?"
Keel didn't say anything and just stared at me for several seconds. I may have laid it on a little thick with the bit about death.
"I'll… I'll do it. I want to be strong enough to help protect other people!"
"Alright then, glad to have you with us, Keel. We never got the chance for proper introductions, but I'm Kousuke Endou and I was summoned to this world as the shield hero."
"I'm Blake."
"Sebastian, but these days most people call me Seb."
"Therese Alexanderite, nice to meet you."
"My name is Keel. I'm very happy to meet you all. Umm… am I going to have to wear a coat like that too?"
I swear I nearly burst into laughter then and there. I suppose it was a fair question, after all, the five of us all had dark coats, three of which were made of dragon leather.
"No… no that won't be necessary. It's just that the tailor we go to decide to make them. And then Therese wanted one too." I suddenly remembered the books about past heroes and realize that I would likely be remembered as the shield hero that made trench coats happen.
AN: Team trench coats, it is what it is. Also I actually have no idea if the thing about leather pants is accurate or not.
Anyways, since Rishia didn't upstage anyone during the wave, the queen didn't ask Itsuki to commend her for her help and he didn't get mad and hatch the plan to kick her out of his party.
More butterfly effects to come. It's funny how Endou caused so few until the 2nd wave, but now they are showing up everywhere.
drmcgraw186: Trying to swap places with a clone in another country would be too much with the way I have had that spell's limits explained. I'm not sure about in Arifureta canon though as it has only been seen used over short distances. Endou's clones vanish if he is not in the same world as them. This was noted when he went to Hell and the clone he had guarding Emily (2nd wife) vanished.
