Chapter 61: A New Task

With only a week left before the wave the queen called the heroes to meet with her. Ren and Itsuki looked pretty annoyed, likely because they couldn't just do what they wanted anymore.

"Is training not going well?" (Queen)

"Not going well? That old lady just has us trying to break rocks with some 'energy' that we don't have and then uses some cheat power to take us down in sparring matches." (Ren)

"I agree. It may be possible for the people of this world to learn the techniques, but we're locked into our classes and simply can't." (Itsuki)

"Yeah… I haven't been able to feel any of that energy stuff the old lady keeps talking about, let alone break a boulder just by touching it." (Motoyasu)

"And what of your progress, Sir Endou?"

"Slow and painful, but still noticeable."

"That's just because of your ninja cheats."

"Yeah. I'll bet you're loving being able to show how much better than use you are. That's why you had the queen keep us from leaving or taking on quests." (Itsuki)

"I've already told you, my only goal is the get home as soon as possible. Deliberately sabotaging your progress would not only be counter-intuitive, but may actually make it so I don't survive long enough to succeed."

"I had those orders given to ensure you heroes would be able to train unimpeded. But if you are so adamant that you wish not to train… I have two conditions. The first being your continued participation in the waves occurring within Melromarc."

"And the second?" (Itsuki)

"For the last few days reports of mysterious monsters have come in from many different countries."

"Mysterious monsters?" (Motoyasu)

"Yes. I do not have dependable reports on the details, so I cannot tell you much more than that. They are monsters that no one has seen before. I would like you to investigate and eradicate these monsters. Do this and I will revoke the orders and you will be allowed to travel and work as before."

The others agreed to help, but made no small matter of their dislike of how she was manipulating them. Itsuki even went as far to say that it would be the last time he helped her. After which a shadow handed each of us a scroll indicating where we would be heading. Or rather, it handed the other three a scroll then looked around for me before giving up and handing one to Talia.

"Also, please make sure to return to the castle at the end of each day." (Queen)

"Want to make sure we don't run away?" (Ren)

"To make sure you aren't killed in your sleep. Remember, the other world's heroes are still at large and while we've been told that they look down on such tactics, that doesn't mean they won't use them out of desperation."

The other three started to leave with their parties and I checked the scroll to see where we would be going. Oh, it's the village where Motoyasu planted the original bioplant. Come to think of it, I never did manage to check in on them after making the modified version, but there was that report that said they defended it from the three heroes cult, so I doubt it caused any more trouble.

"I suppose this means training will have to wait."

"Yes. But I would like Eclair and the Master of the Hengen Muso Style to accompany you."

"Got it, but that will put me over the number my shield can teleport at once. So don't expect us to all be able to get back in a hurry."

"I understand, please do your best."

We left to prepare for the trip. Blake was happy that she finally got to pull her wagon again. It had been several weeks since we had to leave it at Reichnott's estate, since then she'd only been able to pull the carriage Fitoria gave us for a few hours and the one we borrowed to get to the ship to Cal Mira. She had also given it a thorough inspection once we came back from Cal Mira. Whatever it is about filolials and wagons is something I will never understand.

We had gotten everything ready and were just waiting for Elder Sensei when I heard someone speak from behind me. "Excuse me, sir." I spun and saw what appeared to be a rather well-endowed woman wearing heavy robes, but I couldn't feel any presence from her. "You… you possess the shield of the holy weapons, do you not?" She pulled back her hood and, of course, she was unusually attractive, because that is always how mysteriously appearing women are in fantasy worlds. Seriously, why is it always like this?

"Yes, but who are you and what do you want?"

"Please, I beg you. You must destroy me."

"What?" I don't think I've ever had a total stranger ask me to kill them before, but the way she used the word destroy gives me a bad feeling.

"As I am now, I cannot complete my task. So… So I beg one who possesses a holy weapon to help me!" AHHHH! Why are they always so vague with this kind of thing? And why did the jewel in my shield just flash?

"Whatever it is you want, I'm going to need you to explain it properly."

"I… I'm up there. Please stop me." She pointed off towards the horizon.

"Um… Master Endou? Who are you talking too?" I turned to see my entire party looking at me with concern in their eyes, except for Keel who just looked confused.

"Please. If you don't, there will be much unnecessary death. I..." I looked back at the woman just in time to see her fade and vanish.

"Just checking, but did any of you see a woman standing there talking to me?" They all shook their heads no. "Didn't think so. Well whatever just happened is probably going to come up again later, so be ready for anything."

"What are you talking about?" (Keel)

"A woman I've never met before just appeared asking me to both destroy her and help her and none of you were able to see or hear her. She also said something about a task and unnecessary death, but was too cryptic to make out any details. If that isn't a reason to expect something bad is going to happen I don't know what is."

I then took the time to explain the concept of a "flag" to Keel, who didn't really get it but now knew to be cautious. Shortly after I finished, Elder Sensei walked towards our wagon, and Rishia was following her. I heard the faint sound of crying coming from within the squirrel kigurumi, something else must have happened. I could try to be sensitive about it, but with what just happened I would rather have all of info.

"Is there a reason she's coming with us instead of going with Itsuki's party?"

Rishia's crying went from subdued to full force. "WAAAHHHH! MASTER ITSUKI!"

"The bow hero told her that he didn't want her to come back until she had fully mastered my teachings." (Elder Sensei)

"So she's sticking with you until she does?"

"I need to get strong enough to be of use to Master Itsuki."

Keel went over and tried to comfort her, Talia and Seb hid in the wagon, likely afraid of having to complete the set of kigurumi wearers, Therese watched, not really knowing the full situation, and Blake just wanted to start pulling the carriage.

"Whatever, everyone on the wagon."

To Blake's disappointment, we stopped at Erhard's before truly setting out. It'd only been half the time we'd expected, so I wasn't sure what he would have done and what would take more time. Eclair and Elder Sensei were curious about who it was I trusted to make my party's gear, so we all ended up coming inside. To my surprise Erhard actually had installed a little bell on his door, letting him know when someone entered his shop. Come to think of it, his door is usually left open, so I'm not sure how much use it would be.

"Be right there." Erhard called from the back area before appearing half a minute later. "Oh hey, seems you have some new people with you."

"Yeah, the queen has a task for us so we stopped by to see what was finished before we head out."

"Alright then," Erhard paused when he noticed Keel and Rishia in their kigurumi and he seemed to be trying to think of something to say before deciding to simply overlook the oddities. "You know your bird friend came over to play the other day with a friend of hers, and she told me about how you got a new member that uses claws."

"That'd be Keel. He's the one in the dog suit."

"Nice to meet ya." (Keel)

"Well you do have a habit of meeting interesting some characters," Erhard chuckled to himself. "I'll go get what I have done." He disappeared to the back room before returning with weapons. The first up were the swords. The black blades had turned white, and one had gained a curve the same as Talia's old katana. "Those things had some fierce power in them, didn't they? I used the black rabbit materials you brought me to level them up, but they ended up turning white."

"Interesting."

"That's putting it mildly. I also went ahead and applied a blood clean rinse to them. It's not quite as good as the coating, but it will definitely help keep the blade in good condition."

"It feels better than it used to." (Talia)

Seb gave his a practice swing. "Have the effects changed?"

"Yeah, there are better equip effects. It's sharper too. I have to say, I think this job went pretty well."

I looked at the swords' stats and was surprised by how much they went up. The stat drops were gone and somehow they even have a boost to swordsmanship.

"Nice work. I bet seeing these would make the three idiots take back what he said about Melromarc smiths."

"What did they say about Melromarc smiths?" Erhard had the most serious expression I'd seen since I had to explain how I had been framed to avoid a punch to the face.

"They had a less than polite way of saying that they prefer weapons made in Zeltoble." Eclair explained.

Erhard sighed. "Well it's hard to compete with Zeltoble. But I don't think we've met." He looked Eclair over.

"Forgive me, I am Eclair Seaetto. Recently I've been helping to train the parties of the four heroes in swordsmanship."

"Ah. So I finally get to meet the mystery woman the shield kid bought those clothes for."

"What?"

"Back when I broke you out of the castle dungeons. Remember how we had clothes for you to change into?"

"Oh yes, of course." Eclair seemed rather embarrassed about it.

"Anyways. I did most of the same stuff to the claws as I did to the swords, and those came out well too. Are these from a black dog?"

"A rather large one, yes." I noticed that the claws also had an effect to increase the user's skill with them along with the other changes similar to the swords. Keel and Blake both stepped forwards to pick up a set. Blake also looked to see if there were any other weapons.

"I'm afraid I haven't had time to convert any into throwing knives yet. And about that kigurumi…" Erhard once again went to the back and returned carrying what used to be a penguin kigurumi. "I think I'm going crazy. When that bird of yours came over to play, I got inspired to try something, and it turned out like this."

It was all black now. And the hat was gone. It was… Blake Kigurumi. It was definitely stronger than before, and since it was based on a filolial the wearer would probably get more buffs from the filolial series shields than the penguin kigurumi got. But whoever wore it would be dressed like a fluffy black bird.

"What about their armor?"

"I haven't started working on the rabbit-man's yet so that's still how you left it, but the girl's…"

"What about it?" Talia was looking worried.

"Well I was working on it when you came in. Sorry, but even if I rush, it will still take a couple hours to be combat ready."

"Take the time you need to upgrade them. We'll be using my teleport skill to get back to the castle each night so we can pick them up later. And we do have other armor they can use if we get in a fight before then." Talia realized what I was saying and all color drained from her face as I tossed her the Blake Kigurumi.

"I'm not putting it on unless absolutely necessary."

"We still have several penguins if you prefer."

"You know that's not the problem."

"If you rather fight without armor, that's your choice. But the stats that thing gives are no joke. It'll probably get you on equal footing with Blake." That made Talia stop and consider it before shaking her head.

The whole thing became somewhat of a moot point as the village was over a day away, even for Blake, and the armors were finished by the time we returned to the carriage the following morning.


AN: Actually seeing someone make progress in the training meant the heroes waited a bit longer before running away, so the queen was able to call them to the throne room instead of barely catching them at the gates.


Have a Little Feith:

First, yeah it does seem strange that water and fire make ice, but i was told that it is explained in either the second Reprise WN (I haven't read that yet) or one of Aneko's blog posts. Edit: I have read both and can't find it.

As for the way heroes are summoned, it's the weapons that chose, not Medea or any other wannabe gods. And they actually have specific traits that they look for, it doesn't matter if they know how to use the weapon or not.

The Shield wants someone who protects people and can inspire others to protect. As a bit of a joke I think it would have picked Endou over Kouki anyways but wasn't able to find him until he caught the book. (Endou has inspired plenty of British and Vatican agents whereas Kouki inspired people in Tortus for a while and later in the sci-fi world, both of them have a habit of helping/protecting people in trouble but Endou usually only does it when they are right in front of him or he knows them already)

The Sword wants someone who seeks power, specifically through hard work. (It's ideal would be Goku who just wants to train and get stronger for the sake of getting stronger) Endou doesn't really fit this one, but I agree that Shizuku would probably work as an option for it and would definitely do a better job than Ren.

The Spear wants loyalty, so Endou might be a good option for it. Then again it also might pick Hajime for his loyalty to his "family".

The Bow wants people that seek justice. Probably the best fit for Kouki, especially earlier in the series, but he could actually be argued to fit any of the weapons.