The Rising of the Shield Hero
The Shadow of the Shield
Chapter 22
The Jewel
"I never knew you could sing, Kioka." Naofumi turned his head to look at her as they left the rooms they had been spent the night in.
Adjusting her right glove, Kioka looked up at him, "To be perfectly honest, I didn't either. But last night I felt calm and at peace within me, I just started singing along without even thinking about it. I didn't sound bad, did I?" She turned her attention to the left glove, attempting to adjust it, but an aching sensation in her right arm caused her to struggle with it, she frowned slightly.
Naofumi stopped walking, moving to stand in front of Kioka, adjusting her glove for her, "There you go." He smiled as he started walking again, a little concerned about her issues with her right arm, but brushed it off, deciding to continue their previous conversation, "You didn't sound bad, in fact, you are very talented in singing. Perhaps something you did in your Japan?"
Looking at her glove, she smiled slightly, "Thank you." She thought about what he said as she started walking, this time walking next to him instead of behind him, she shrugged, "I don't know, maybe? I don't remember anything from that world..." Her eyes saddened for a moment, but then she smiled, "But that's alright, I will remember eventually." She glanced up at him, then nudged him as they walked, "What's with that look? In some ways, I am happy that I don't have all my memories. It would be way too distracting."
He couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Kioka turned to look behind her, looking at Raphtalia and Filo who were walking behind them, "Besides, we have a lot of grinding to do." She smiled at them both.
Raphtalia smiled, nodding to Kioka, "Yeah!"
Filo jumped with her fists in the air, "Let's go!"
As Kioka got to the door of the main entrance, she pushed it open to the outside world, smiling as she looked up at the beautiful blue sky above them, only a few fluffy white clouds scattered the sky. It was already pretty warm, making it very clear how wonderful the day was going to be. Her eyes stopped at the statue, seeing L'arc and Therese standing there. She took a deep breath and started walking towards them.
Naofumi followed behind her, a small smile forming on his face.
L'arc and Therese turned when they got close, "Ah, morning! Glad ya could join us!" He smiled at Kioka.
Kioka nodded, giving him a smile, "Good morning, we didn't keep you waiting, did we?"
He shook his head, "No, we just got here ourselves."
Therese smiled as the rest of the party joined them, "I'm looking forward to this."
Raphtalia nodded, smiling, "I am too."
Naofumi put his hand into his pocket, producing a beautifully crafted silver bracelet with a large red gem set into it, hearts on either side of it. He held it out to Therese, "Oh and Therese, the accessory you asked for? It's ready."
Therese held out her hands, taking hold of the bracelet, "Thank you so much!"
"I can't believe you had a Starfire! Those things are rare." He smiled, holding up his hand as he spoke, "It helped that I already had an Oracle Crustal on hand that I used as a base of the whole thing. Huh!?" His face dropped when he looked at her.
Tears had started to fall down her face as she stared at the accessory before her, showing slight shock.
Noafumi put his hands up, unsure of what to do in a situation like this, it wasn't exactly in his nature to make girls cry...
His party all looked rather concerned also, unsure what to do.
"It's beautiful..." She spoke quietly.
Naofumi gasped, a mixture of shock and confusion showed on his face.
Therese closed her eyes as she held the bracelet to her chest, smiling, "This jewel is filled with so much joy, I didn't know you were such a master craftsman."
For the first time since meeting him, the party saw a side of L'arc they hadn't seen before. He acted in an awkward fashion as he leaned towards Therese, looking just as confused as Naofumi and the others, "Uh... Do you have to cry about it?"
Therese turned to L'arc in an aggressively defensive way, causing him to panic, "Don't you understand, L'arc!? Looking at this masterpiece is opening a whole new world to me!"
"U-Um... Ok..." He muttered nervously.
Naofumi looked at them both, "Alright, I am really glad to hear that you're happy with it. Oh." He closed his eyes, "And I hate to mention that money but uh..." He took hold of the large coin sack which Therese handed him without hesitation, he gasped as he opened it up, seeing that it was full to the brim with nothing but gold pieces. "Woah... This is a lot..."
"Not enough though, right?" Therese looked at him, looking disappointed with herself, "I know this is worth so much more than that." She turned to her red-headed companion, "Hey L'arc, give him all the money that you have to!"
Leaning back, L'arc looking at her in confusion, "Wait, what?"
Therese stepped closer to him, "Just do it alright, ok?"
He gasped, "Why!?"
Naofumi closed his eyes, realising their conversation was starting to attract attention, people had started to gather to see what all the commotion was, "You can just pay me in instalments. Now, let's go grind some levels."
Once they were finally on the boat, they all talked away as they travelled to one of the tougher islands, similar to the one which they had been on the night before.
L'arc leaned against the edge of the boat, "You're party is pretty high levelled. Not bad, Kiddo. Therese has reached level fifty-two herself and I'm up to fifty-six."
Naofumi watched them quietly, if they already above level fifty, then that would mean they would both had their class upgrades, not exactly your average run of the mill adventurers...
Once they finally made it to the island and got off the boat, Naofumi glanced at Kioka, "Keep your eyes out for anything."
Kioka smiled and nodded, moving her shield to her right arm, "You got it."
As they walked further into the island, everyone kept their eyes peeled for any signs of monsters, keeping pretty quiet as they went. Naofumi looked at L'arc as they walked, "How about we discuss our strategy." He stopped when he heard the sound of rustling leaves, much like the sound which they heard the night before, but this time it wasn't L'arc and Therese, it was monsters which resembled penguins.
L'arc lifted his scythe into the air, "We can do that and fight!" He swung his scythe towards the ground, causing a crescent-shaped blade of light to shoot forward, hitting one of the penguins head-ons, killing it instantly. One of the other penguins watched its friend's body be thrown back by the attack and darted forward towards L'arc, Naofumi jumped in front of him, blocking the attack with his shield.
"The shield is your weapon? Committed to that Sir Hero act, huh?" L'arc smirked.
Naofumi narrowed his eyes, scowling, "Keep talking..." He turned to his party, "Raphtalia, Filo! Huh?" He turned to look at L'arc as he jumped up into the air, landing an attack on one of the monsters.
Therese smiled, "Oh L'arc... He's certainly having fun." She closed her eyes, placing her hand over the accessory that Naofumi made for her, "Power of Jewels far and wide, I beseech thee to heed my call and come to me." The gem started glowing red. Her light blue hair started to bleed from her roots to ends, turning red like the gem. "My name is Therese Alexanderite, I ask my friends to be the force that destroys my targets. Bejewelled Ruby Blaze! Her eyes opened as the red glow from the gem exploded into blue flames, she threw her hand out towards one of the monsters, the flame turned into a fireball which targeted the monster, burning it into a cloud of fine dust, almost as if it was purified.
Raphtalia's eyes widened, "I have never heard a chant-like that..."
"Raphtalia!" Naofumi called.
She gasped slightly, snapping out of her slight trance, "O-on it!" She ran forward, sword at the ready.
Therese looked down at the gem, her hair back to its normal blue, "I never dreamed it would be so powerful..." She muttered quietly.
Kioka turned her attention towards Therese, narrowing her eyes as she had caught what Therese had said. She shook her head and ran forward to help with the fight.
The party of six fought the monsters one by one, everyone's strengths pieced together nicely. It almost looked like Naofumi was having fun with fighting in a competitive way alongside L'arc. Once the monsters were all eradicated, the party started to head further into the island, seeking out more prey. Naofumi looked at his Hud, "The exp curve slowed down a lot as soon as we hit level seventy..."
L'arc smiled, resting his scythe on his shoulder, "Okay, let's go after the big fella then!" He pointed in front of him for everyone to look.
A large boss stood in the clearing ahead of them, it towered over all the smaller penguins which surrounded it. The penguin boss was darker in colour, heavily built with muscles and it had arms, as well as wings on its back, unlike how the smaller penguins who only had wings as arms. There was a large amount of the smaller mobs gathered around it, making this a difficult situation to encounter.
They all crouched behind some bushes a little ways from the monsters, "The boss by itself wouldn't be a big deal, but all these tiny guys will be a pain." L'arc spoke quietly as he watched the monsters.
Naofumi glanced at Kioka, then turned to L'arc, "Just leave the little ones to Kioka and me, we will gather them all up."
Kioka nodded, "Yeah, we can distract them."
L'arc looked at Kioka for a moment, then at Naofumi, "And then?"
"I will take them out once they've got their attention. L'arc, Filo and Raphtalia can attack the boss." Therese looked at Raphtalia.
Raphtalia nodded, "Sounds good to me."
Naofumi placed his hand on Kioka's shoulder, "Everyone ready..."
She closed her eyes, placing her right hand on the floor, "Yeah." A small smile formed on her face.
"Let's go!" Naofumi said as they both ran out of the bushes, stopping in front of the small monsters.
Naofumi placed his shield up above his head, "Hate reaction!" The gem on his shield glowed red, grabbing the attention of the smaller monsters to him.
Kioka banged her left fist on her shield, causing sound waves to confuse the monsters, making them unsure which of the two shield users to attack.
Both L'arc and Therese watched them, exchanging a look for a moment.
"Therese!" Naofumi yelled.
Therese stood up from her cover, "Power of Jewels far and wide, I beseech thee to heed my call and come to me. Bejewelled Ruby Blaze!" She lifted her arm up into the air, firing a blue fireball up, landing it on top of Naofumi and Kioka and the monsters, engulfing them completely.
Filo and Raphtalia jumped up to standing, watching the blue flames, "Master, no!" Filo cried out.
L'arc stood by, keeping his expression calm, "Now just relax..."
Naofumi closed his eyes tightly as the fireball hit them, but then opened his eyes when he realised that the flames didn't even feel hot. The monsters turned to ash, the last of the curse that had been effecting Naofumi seemed to be purified as well. His eyes widened when he turned to look at Kioka.
Kioka opened her eyes to see blue flames, she lifted her right arm out towards Naofumi, realising the flames were not harming her. She smiled slightly, then flinched in pain. Shadow started screaming in her head.
MAKE IT STOP!
Naofumi gasped, stepping forward, placing his hand on her shoulder, "Kioka!?"
She closed her eyes shaking her head as the flames disappeared, "I'm fine." She opened her eyes and smiled at him, then turned to look up at the boss.
He frowned but turned to the boss as well, "Just the big one left!"
Raphtalia smiled, "Alright!"
L'arc held his scythe at the ready, "We got this!"
...
Naofumi sat down on the floor, placing the days loot down, checking them all out. Kioka sat next to him, adjusting her right glove. She flexed her hand every so often, staring intently at it with a slight frown on her face.
"Are you sure you're alright, Master?" Filo stood next to Naofumi.
Naofumi placed the last item and stood up, looking at her, "Yeah, what a strange magic spell. My clothes aren't even singed." He examined his outfit.
Raphtalia looked at him, "Very strange, I've never even heard that chant before."
"Guess there is more than one kind of magic in this world, huh?" He looked at Kioka, who was still sitting and staring at her arm, "You doing alright down there?"
She nodded, moving to stand, "I am good, never felt better actually." She smiled, but then frowned at her arm once more, trying to figure out what had actually happened back there.
He frowned for a moment, but then turned his attention to where Therese and L'arc had been standing, they were a little ways from the rest of them, looking as if they had been having a conversation, "Hey! You wanna divvy up the drops?"
L'arc turned to look at them, smiling, "Sure! We get anything good?" He walked towards them.
Once they were finally back on the main island, they all walked towards the inn, where they stopped. Raphtalia smiled, "With your help, we gained a lot of levels in just one day."
Filo smiled, "And it was fun!"
Therese nodded, smiling gently, "I couldn't agree with you more, Filo."
"You wanna team up with us again tomorrow?" Naofumi looked at them.
L'arc and Therese both gasped slightly, L'arc smiled, "I think we'll go it alone for now."
Naofumi didn't show it, but he was a little down about the response, "Ok.."
L'arc started turning away, "We'll see you around though, Shield Kiddo!"
Therese waved as she turned also, "Thanks for a great day!"
Raphtalia bowed slightly, "Thank you too, we worked really well together."
Filo jumped slightly, waving both her hands in the air, "See you later!"
Raphtalia turned to Naofumi, "You asked them to stick around, that's not like you."
Naofumi's smiled showed a suttle touch of sadness, "I got rejected though..." He found himself deep in thought. He looked at Filo, "Since we worked so hard, let's take the day off tomorrow."
Filo jumped up, "Yeah!"
Raphtalia looked up at Naofumi, her tail wagging, "Personally I don't mind one way or another. But you could probably use a break, Master Naofumi. Same with you, Kioka."
Kioka didn't respond, she just stared down at her arm.
Naofumi frowned, "Kioka?" When she didn't respond again, he moved to stand in front of her, taking hold of her hand, "Hey, you in there? You're not spacing out like you used to, are you?"
Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at him, "No, I heard you... I was just thinking about something..."
He tilted his head, "Anything I can help you with?"
She shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment, "No, it's fine." She smiled up at him, but she could tell he knew something was bothering her.
...
As night fell on the Archipelago once more, Kioka found herself lost in thought as she stood on the balcony of the larger of the two rooms which were allocated for Naofumi's party. Her hands rested on the railing as she looked out towards the ocean in the distance. She sighed deeply, bowing her head.
"Hey."
She never turned towards the voice behind her, knowing full well that Naofumi would walk up to stand next to her, he rested his back on the corner of the balcony, looking at her. He didn't have to say anything for her to know what he wanted to know. She looked back at the ocean, "Where's Raphtalia and Filo?"
He turned to face the ocean, resting his forearms on the railing, "Asleep, they were worn out from today."
She nodded, keeping her eyes on the ocean, "Understandable, they fought hard today."
"You did as well."
Kioka looked down at her arm, "I guess."
"Kioka..."
She sighed, "You want to know what happened back there? With the fire?"
He nodded, "Well, yeah. It took the effect of the curse from me, it felt amazing and never hurt. But then you seemed to be in pain. What did she do to you?"
She shook her head, "I don't think she did anything to me, or at least, didn't mean to. It's true that it took the effects of the curse off me. But when my right arm was fully engulfed in the flames..." She used her left hand to grip onto her right forearm tightly, "It seared in pain, I can't explain it, but it felt like burning and stabbing. But it only happened for a moment. It seemed to affect Shadow as well."
His eyes widened, "What happened to her?"
She looked at him, "She was screaming, she wanted whatever was happening to stop. It almost felt like I was going to lose her. Her presence used to bother me, but hearing and feeling her pain, it terrified me that I could lose her." She lowered her gaze to her arm.
"It would take a lot more than a little bit of fire to make Shadow go." He smiled slightly, trying to ease her fears.
Kioka looked at him, her expression softened, "Yeah, I can't lose something that is apart of me." She sighed softly, "Could you replace the bandages on my arm?"
He nodded, "Of course." He stood up straight, holding his hand out to let her go in ahead of him.
She bowed her head slightly to him, walking in and sitting down at the table in the corner of the room, removing her glove to show the bandaged arm.
He walked over to where the bags had been put, bringing out a roll of bandages, a bowl and a vial. He placed the bowl and vial on the table, taking hold of the jug which was already at the table and pouring water into the bowl. He sat down and opened the vial, pouring the contents into the bowl. He started soaking the bandages into the bowl. He then turned to Kioka, gently taking hold of her arm and unravelling the bandages. He sighed at the sight of the scar which was on her arm.
After awakening her powers and using Blood Sacrifice alongside Naofumi at the battle against the Pope of the Three Heroes Church, the scar changed to become something different to what it once was. Though the scar was still there, it looked different. It was something that even the healers in Melromarc couldn't figure out or understand. It had been affected by the curse so much that it had turned pitch black, scorched with no sight of becoming fully healed again. Although she was still able to use her arm for fighting and other things, sometimes her arm would ache in such a way that she found it hard to do things, a lot like with adjusting her glove this morning. There was one other issue with this newly cursed scar of hers, she had no sense of touch on the scar, nothing hot, cold or even someone holding it could be felt. It was also rock-solid as if it wasn't even flesh and bone anymore. Nothing could cut into it, this did make blocking with it a lot easier, but it was still a concern. Holy water helped ease the aching but only in the short term, but even that was good enough to help.
Naofumi started wrapping the arm with the holy water-soaked bandages, "How does it feel?"
Her eyes lifted from her arm to his eyes, "Heavy, but better now. Thank you."
He smiled, nodding slowly, "Alright, maybe it is time to get some sleep."
She nodded, "Yeah. Goodnight, Naofumi." She placed her hand on his shoulder for a moment, then turned towards one of the two beds in the room, she let her hair down and lay in the bed, closing her eyes.
Naofumi smiled once more, moving to his bed, he looked up at the ceiling for a little bit, then rolled over and closed his eyes, falling to sleep pretty quickly.
Kioka lay in bed with her eyes closed but stayed awake for some time.
You will understand soon why your arm is the way it is. On that day, we will have a lot to discuss, including the reason why those flames hurt us today. I pray you are ready for the truth when the time comes. The reason why Naofumi will never be able to save us...
