Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit. Also thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.
Special mention goes to Fluffball13, where Naofumi's suggestion of Balafon's famine is caused by livestock overgrazing is actually her own theory on how the bio-plant village faced famine in canon.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
Naofumi's filorial cart shakes much harder than the previous day. Considering the road doesn't look any worse from before, the princess is willing to bet on his gluttonous devil bird is neither as well trained, nor as well behaving as Gaston's Wolfgang.
Mein sets the grimoire of water down and squeezes the bridge of her nose. She decides to take a rest from reading the book, considering the rougher condition of her ride.
The princess turned adventurer is hardly the only one to be affected by Firo's energetic trots. Raphtalia is currently laying her head right on Mein's legs, the poor girl's face looks a little green. As for Éclair, the dishonored knight is currently hanging her head out of the cart's back. Either she's trying to get some fresh air, or she already lost her breakfast.
Their newest party member is holding himself well, legs wrapped in a meditative position and his large two-handed curved sword set right on top. Meanwhile, Naofumi is trying to learn from Zylden what he can about enchantment. His ability to learn another useful skill while under such rough conditions is respectable, and no doubt another strength he has over his fellow heroes.
"Enchantment is the art of waving magical flow so the whole becomes greater than the sum of all its parts." The imp takes a scroll of parchment out of a traveling pouch. He spread the paper out onto the rocking cart in front of Naofumi.
Earlier today, Naofumi expressed interest in learning item enchantments from the half man. Something that'll help further raise funds, and empower their fighting abilities, of course.
Mein peeks over the Imp's head out of her curiosity, which isn't too difficult considering his lack of height. To her surprise, the parchment isn't an enchantment array like she thought, but a diagram drawn over the map of Mara-Gobi desert. More specifically, the surrounding area of Chapoor.
Chapter 40: Village on the Brink
"Wizards who focus their study in Geomancy are the first who noticed how certain natural mana lay-lines formation would work together to cause unusual effects. One of the most famous landmarks created by natural mana lay-line is the Chapoor oasis and forest, right in the middle of Mara-Gobi desert. And of course, it produced some interesting flora and fauna like the ice fruit trees." The imp traces his stubby finger alongside the drawing of the mana lay line underneath Chapoor. "And over time, wizards and sorcerers begin to experiment with different configurations of mana array on a smaller scale, for personal benefit rather than magic effect strong enough to affect the battlefield, or an entire region. Eventually making Enchantment its own separate field of study from Ritual Magic, or Geomancy."
Naofumi blinks his eyes a couple of times, he looks up from the map at Zylden. "So it's like Feng Shui? But on a single item?"
"Ah, I see you are already familiar with terminology from Siltvelt. Is it more of that otherworldly knowledge the summoned heroes are known for?" Zylden takes a swig of his wineskin and smirks at Naofumi. "Shouldn't be too hard to get you up to speed with the basics, in that case."
"Something like that." Naofumi rubs his nose while Zylden puts the first scroll back into the pouch. The imp takes a bunch of other scrolls out of his bag, spreads them onto the ironwood base and starts going over some of the basic enchantment arrays with Naofumi.
The half man nods his head and begins to officially start his teaching session. "Different materials, even within the same family, have different mana conductivity. For example, metals are usually very bad magical conduits, but gold has one of the best mana conductivity amongst all naturally formed materials. Wood on the other hand, tends to be good magical conduits across the board on account of them being living things..."
The two of them start to go over the basic theory, where Zylden explains how to use mana conducting materials to wave enchantment arrays, and Naofumi asks questions on things he needs further explanation. Mein closes her eyes and leans back into the wall of their monster leather tent while letting their voices drive away the boredom. It almost reminded her of all the study sessions she had with Uncle Aldrecht.
"So, enchantment is like magical circuitry... Don't ask." Naofumi sounds like he's shuffling something across Mein. Without opening her eyes, it appears he's taking a short break with their study session. "You mentioned something about staying with your good brother before, Zylden. Why didn't you stay with King Robert? I'm sure he can use a professional enchanter like you, and you probably have an easier time making your trip with the king funding you. He'll probably want to summon women directly into his room too."
The imp doesn't immediately answer back. He's probably wondering the same thing as Mein. "Who's King Robert?"
"Your good brother-" Naofumi abruptly stops. "Wait, your sister didn't marry the king, did she?"
"Married a king! HAH! I'm sure my precious sister Lena would have absolutely LOVED to be a queen! If King Egbert isn't a well known wife killer, that is." The laughter that resembles the howling of bonedog starts to echo in their wagon.
"WAH-"
"No, she didn't marry the king." The imp continues right through Naofumi's shocked exclamation. "Not with who's our king anyways. Even my Lord Father wouldn't pawn his own daughter off to get tortured to death by that old deviant pig."
Naofumi lets out a labored gasp as he sounds like he's coughing for air. "You know what, I don't even want to know anymore. Sounds like all the nobility in this world is a different shade of fucked up."
The princess' head drops to the side at Naofumi's critique.
"Well, now you know why I don't stick around the court. Any court. I may be half a man, but I don't want to cut my life in half. Think of all the lonely women at night without their favorite lover!" A big gulping comes from Mein's side. "Cheers!"
The Shield Hero stays perfectly silent for a while till he eventually asks. "So, who did your sister marry?"
"Why, that would be none other than young lord of House Potter: James Potter, of course."
There's a noise that sounds almost like the hot geyser Naofumi discovered south of Trumpet, and the next thing Mein knows, she gets a face full of showers. Once again, she's grateful for the hood and mask of her traveling robe.
"EEK!" Raphtalia makes a squeaking sound as the girl jumps out of Mein's lap. It gives the princess an opportunity to fake a sudden awakening together with the demi-human girl. Socially unacceptable behavior aside, the princess in disguise completely understands her Naofumi's no doubt shock induced outburst.
She had about the same reaction back when she learned how one of the most conservative Faubley lords married his only daughter to one of the most progressive Faubley lords. Especially considering said young lord married and had a son with a commoner woman before this second marriage. The headmaster of Faubley's Hero Academy must be a great negotiator, for the old mountain goat convinced Lord Charles to marry his daughter to Lord Potter as his step-wife.
"Is this how young men from your world show affection, Master Naofumi?" Mein opens her eyes and sits straight up. The young man in question is furiously coughing, a dropped water skin spilled the liquid everywhere besides him.
"So- sorry!" Naofumi shakily grabs a piece of cut cloth out of his shield. He squats over the still rocking wagon and smothers said cloth all over Mein and Raphtalia's head in an effort to dry them up. "I just never... imagined anyone would ship Cersei, with James Potter."
"Let me guess, the sister of that other Imp of Casterly Rock from your world?" Zylden shoves his scrolled-up parchment back into his back. "What was his name again? Tyron Allistair?"
"Tyrion... *cough* Lannister." Seeing Naofumi still choking from his earlier accident, Raphtalia quickly shuffles over and hammers his back with her tiny fists.
Their wagon pulls into a sudden, nearly making everyone fall over into a tangled pile. Éclair isn't as lucky, as she's thrown back into the cart and her helmet hits the wooden base with a loud thud. The knight lets out a pained whimper. "Ow..."
"What gives, Kyubey?" Naofumi flips aside the cloth drape in the front of the wagon and tries to look over Kyubey's shoulder.
"There's smoke coming from Balafon."
Mein quickly moves forward and looks over Farkas. Sure enough, in the distant dry land a wooden palisade surrounds a humble village that looks no different from Lute. And a thick column of smoke is slowly rising up from the center where the village hall would likely be.
In front of their own cart, all five of Lord Balgruuf's wagons already stopped in the middle of the road. The guards on their raptors lined up on the sides of the supply caravan, with their weapons drawn.
"Bandit attack?" Naofumi turns his head to look at Gaston.
"No, cooking fire, most likely." Gaston shakes his head as Wolfgang trots over to Naofumi's cart. "The whole village would have been put to the torch if they are being raided."
"What are they cooking?" Naofumi looks back at the village in the distance. His gaze fixed on the rough terrain for a while before turning to face Gaston again. "Aren't they having food shortages right now?"
"That's a very good question..." Gaston nods along as he runs his big hand over his chin. "They could be cooking hunted monsters. But from what I heard, the monsters around here are pretty strong. Shouldn't be within the village hunter's level range."
"Could it be a trap? Someone did something to Jarl Balgruuf's request about the dragon, remember?" Naofumi quickly looks at Gaston again, his face serious. "The Jarl was trying to get a supply caravan to this Balafon for a few weeks - maybe someone learned of this and set an ambush for his caravan and his men."
"Possibly." Gaston's one good eye narrows into a slide. "Although the cooking smoke is an amateur mistake to their plan. Hard to imagine someone went through all this trouble to lie in an ambush, only to get foiled by their grumbling stomach."
Lord Balgruuf's Sworn Shield yelled something at the front of the caravan as she took the bow off her back. Four teams of five detach themselves from the group and charge towards the village, no doubt to scout the situation. The rest of the guards dismount their rides and hold their shields up around the caravan.
It seems like the rabbit demi-human commander thinks the same as the Shield Hero, and she isn't taking any chances.
"Guess we wait like the Count's men." Gaston jumps off Wolfgang and takes off his bow. Naofumi nods his head and hops down his cart, as Mein and the rest of his party follows his example.
The wait doesn't take too long, especially considering the raptor's short range running speed is faster than the filorial. In about the same time to make a fine cup of tea, one team of five returns from the village and waves all clear back to other guards. Everyone returns on their respective mounts, and the supply caravan begins their final stretch towards the village of Balafon.
The village looks even less impressive than Lute. Say what one will about the quiet village, at least it's built on lush grassland besides a bountiful forest. In contrast, there's barely any dried grass on the land of Balafon, even the dirt is cracked like the web of spiders.
"It's the Jarl's supply caravan!" One of the tired looking villagers points his finger at the coming wagons filled with crates, barrels, and sacks of dried, pickled, salted and otherwise preserved food. "We are saved!"
The people of Balafon, who had previously been slumped against wooden walls of palisades or huts, stood up. Some of them even go down on their knees and start to mutter prayers. "May the Chief God, and Heroes of Old bless Jarl Balgruuf."
The princess turns her head away, unable to bring herself to look at the grateful villagers anymore. She used to think the commoners are nothing more than lazy, ungrateful rabbles who constantly want something from their lords and rulers. But after living together with the people of Lute, and now witnessing the gratitude from Balafon, she can no longer see the common people the same way.
Turning her head around and looking at the inside of the palisade, her question on what the village is cooking is answered. The dead and cut up carcass of a monster of considerable size is slumped about a dozen paces inside the wooden wall. It has a small, oval shaped and beaked head on a very long neck similar to a filorial, but the rest of the monster does not belong to an avian. The body is as large as a small fishing boat, four tree trunk-like legs need at least two grown adults to link their arms together to circumference.
Gutter beaks, lovingly named 'beak thing' by the adventuring community. Some of the creature's other favored names include 'the dismemberer', 'career ender of adventurers'. As the names imply, this particular monster contributed to the death, and disability of adventurers more than any other monsters, possibly all others combined.
Their great sword sized beaks are sharp enough to dismember an unwary and under equipped adventurer at level 40. The monster's giant size and slow trot belies the gust-like top speed they can reach once they break into full sprint. And if those above traits don't make them one of the most dangerous common level range monsters, the fact that they live and hunt in packs most definitely will.
Yet despite the danger, countless adventurers either get their limbs taken by these beak things, or never come back. Most likely because of how many gold coins their fully matured eggs can fetch on a noble's feasting table. Making this monster one of the few kinds with more valuable eggs than a tamed and matured monster.
There is no question, a monster of this level range is definitely outside the ability for village hunters.
As their caravan moves towards the village center, the answer as to who hunted and possibly moved the adult gutter beak becomes rather clear. Parked around a big cooking bonfire isn't one, two, or even three, but four filorial carriages made of creamy colored fine ancient holy wood. Sitting in the middle of four pure colored filorials and his female cohort, with his bright red cloak and blonde ponytail is no other than the Spear Hero.
Huh, no wonder Henchman Number 2 chose last night to meet her, even breaching Count Balgruuf's keep. The lapdog obviously wants some achievement to wag his tail at his nearby mistress.
Right now, the idiot's back is turned against them, but from the furious munching sound, it's clear he's filling his gorge with his latest hunting spoil.
"Kitamura?" Naofumi's eyes instantly narrow when seeing the Spear Hero's backside. He obviously has no love for his most antagonizing fellow interloper. "What's he doing here?"
"Maybe he also heard about the dragon crisis here in Whiterun County?" Mein taps her finger at their wagon's wooden frame. "I wouldn't put past him to lose his way, and end up in this village."
Her Naofumi's own brow twists into a knot, but he nods in concession in the end. "Yeah, sounds about right."
The sound of rolling wagons make his companions look at the commotion. Katarina has already traded her ballroom gown for a maroon colored worker's tunic. Aside from its plainness that's more befitting a farmer's daughter than a duke's, the color actually matches the cloak of the Spear Hero well. Katarina's cheek is bloated up from food, hits the Spear Hero on the shoulder, and nudges her chin towards their carts. "Car, arts!"
The monkey girl of House Claes starts furiously coughing right after. The Spear Hero quickly leaps up from where he's sitting to hammer her on the back, while her maid brings a wineskin over.
"Is it the Shield Hero?" Bertia sets aside the piece of meat she's been chewing and stands up, her fox scarf fluttering in the wind from her sudden movement. She hops onto the boulder she's been sitting on like a chair and places her hand over her eyes. "It is the Shield Hero's party!"
"Shield Hero?" The spear wielding idiot's shoulders tense up for a moment. He lets go of Katarina once the heiress stops coughing and spins on his heel to face them while Firo pulls into a sudden stop.
The four birds around the Spear Hero open their eyes and turn towards the caravan. It's hard to tell if they felt the approach of a sibling, or Count Balgruuf's raptors.
Mein can't help but notice the different attitude of their reactions. The black and yellow bird opens their eyes wide as they stand up. A pink one only opens her eyes halfway before going back to napping again. While the pure white one... did she just scoff at them?
The black filorial walks forward and starts to make a peeping sound towards Firo. He raises his neck, and starts to groom Firo's head feather. The white filorial, on the other hand, isn't very happy with his friendliness. She stands up, walks over to her brother and gives the black filorial a hard peck on the back of his head. "GUAH!"
Do NOT fraternize with the enemy!
Wait, why did she understand the bird? Mein's jaw hangs loose as the white filorial drags the black bird back by his tail feather.
"Well well, If it isn't my rival!" The Spear Hero straightens his back, his hands resting on his waist.
As for Naofumi, the Shield Hero pushes his helmet up a little back on his head as if trying to get a better look at something. He turns his head left and right, before letting out a single word. "What?"
"Well, I'm afraid you are too late this time, my rival!" The spear wielding idiot does not react to Naofumi's obvious puzzlement. He continues his speech like he's reciting from a well-rehearsed play. "The village of Balafon, has already been helped by yours truly this time!"
"Are you talking to me?" The Shield Hero gives his self proclaimed rival a look dryer than the cracked earth of Balafon. "Rivalry implies it's two ways. Since when did I see you as my equal?"
"I see you also got your own angelic bird, just like my Bertia suggested to myself!" Spear Hero pulls a blushing Bertia into a tight embrace by her shoulder. Something tells Mein he didn't hear a single word Naofumi said. "But my angels are better than yours!"
"You got dropped on your head as a child, didn't you?" Naofumi continues to give the Spear Hero the same blank look as he hops down the carriage. "Is it smart to antagonize a bird that's big enough to peck your eyes out?"
The princess gives a quick glance to Firo and quickly backs away from the vicious monster. The gluttonous devil bird's eyes are narrow, beak quivering, feathers standing up at the ends. She clearly understands what the spear idiot is saying, and she's not happy about it.
"My Kuro, the Black Lightning here is a pure racer breed!" Motoyasu lets go of Bertia as he turns towards the now named Kuro the Black Lightning, who desperately needs a better name because it's a mouthful. The bird doesn't seem to mind, as he nuzzles his head against his human master.
"Guah!" The white filorial walks up to the other side of the Spear Hero, obviously seeking his attention.
"As for Yuki, she's a Fitoria, the top monarch breed of filorial!" The spear wielding idiot spins his heel to face his prized monarch breed filorial. He scratches Yuki on the chin, making her release a series of happy grumbles. Her single, large sized crest plum bobbing up and down with smugness befit a noble lady. "She's nothing like your garden breed, only good for slaughtering."
Obviously that'll be the Spear Hero's famous last words. In a split second, a white blur darts forward like lightning. Mein briefly wonders if someone casted the high level spell [Time Stop], as she can clearly see how Firo's right foot is imbued right into the fool's crotch.
Time starts moving again, the Spear Hero seems to turn into a Faubley cannonball as he flies over the bonfire and into the other side of the village palisade. His birds and heiress cohorts quickly follow after him with a cacophony of screams.
Mein can't help but squeeze her own thighs tightly together. That looks much more painful than what she suffered through this morning. She turns around to look at her Naofumi, and sees the Shield Hero in what can only be described as a state of pure agony.
The young man's back is doubled over, legs squeezing tighter than Mein herself as his hands are firmly buried in front of his own crotch. His facial features twisted like a smashed fruit, eerily reminiscent of the princess of a certain street vendor who tried to cheat them on the first week of their adventure together. The Shield Hero's eyes are narrowed into slits, his cheeks flattened and mouth pouting like a suffocated fish.
"Guah~" Firo leisurely strolls back towards Naofumi, her squeak takes a singsong like melody. The bird has the gall to ask for reward after she assaulted one of Naofumi's fellow heroes! Granted, the idiot totally had it coming, but still!
"Look, Firo. Motoyasu is an idiot, and he kind of..." Naofumi slowly straightens his back and raises his head to look at the edge of the village where the Spear Hero is sprawling on the ground. "...no, he was totally asking for it. But you can't go around kicking people in the crotch! You'll kill someone..."
"GGGGUUUUAAAAHHHH!" The Shield Hero didn't finish his lecture as a white ball of fluff barrels into Firo with a furious war screech. Two birds, one pure white, the other mostly white with a lot of mixed colored feathers start to roll around on the ground, kicking, pecking and snapping at each other.
"Don't look, Raphtalia." Mein quickly covers the raccoon girl's eyes from ensuing chaos. She feels the demi-human's ear curiously perk up against her arms, as she probably doesn't understand what the fuss is about, on account of her missing the part where Firo kicked the Spear Hero in his groin.
"Should we... I don't know." Naofumi walks up besides them. The young man gives a nervous look around the people who are running away from the ongoing bird fight. "Split them up, or something? Before they take down half the village?"
"With all due respect, Master Naofumi. One of them nearly killed me this morning." Mein has to admit, her Naofumi has a good point, again. But she's NOT getting between two angry birds right now. "I'm going to stand here, and let them fight it out."
"Right, right. I'll do it." Naofumi nods his head along and takes a few uneasy steps forward. He hesitantly turns his shield into rope and ties a lasso again. He starts to whirl around the lasso in his hand, over and over without tossing it out.
Her Naofumi clearly has no idea what he's doing, and he'll need the help of a professional. Mein quickly turns around to look for Gaston. She makes sure to bring Raphtalia along with her, so the girl doesn't end up getting rolled over by two fighting devil birds.
At the palisade's southern gate, Count Balgruuf's rabbit man bodyguard and Gaston are both talking to an older man with graying hair, who wears slightly better tailored cotton compared to the rough linen of the other villagers. She catches the last bit of their conversation. "...should last us through the month. If we ration it every day."
"I'll make sure the Jarl knows it, and bring another caravan by the end of the month. So long as nothing else comes up." The rabbit demi-human nods her head. She looks over to the seasoned Lute hunter. "Can they not hunt monsters like the Spear Hero did?"
"They could, but it's too risky. They are close to gutter beak territory." Gaston looks over at the forest mountain in the distance. "Even if they manage to stay away from gutter beaks every hunt, too much meat might bring them into Balafon."
"And a full herd of gutter beaks is nothing short of a natural disaster in any village." The count's bodyguard nods her head as she finishes Gaston's sentence for him. It's clear the rabbit demi-human used to be an experienced hunter herself before being appointed as the count's sworn shield. "Damned either way."
"Gaston." Mein calls out to the Lute hunter, making all three turn towards her. "The filorials of Shield Hero and Spear Hero are fighting, can you go help Master Naofumi break them apart?"
"Count on old Gaston." The hunter whistles to Wolfgang, who is currently pecking at the dead gutter beak. His black bird quickly runs over to him, and the two of them leave for the center of the village. Mein follows him back towards the center of the village, barely catching another glimpse of the conversation about how the food storage in Whiterun might be able to last them though half a year.
Not enough to go through this cycle of the Wave, in other words.
By the time she returns to the center bonfire, Gaston and Naofumi finally manage to split the two angry devil birds. Mein can clearly see dust all over Naofumi's hair, armor and travelling cloak. It's clear that the Shield Hero got tossed around quite a bit by two fighting birds before Gaston's arrival.
As for the birds themselves, Mein has a hard time trying to pick out which one is Firo, and which one is Yuki, considering the Fitoria breed's crest feather is now trampled into a crumpled up rag on the ground. Both birds also lost a good amount of their feathers all over their bodies and wings. Their de-feathered, stuff roast-like body makes the princess swallow a mouth full of saliva despite her heavy Midgardian breakfast. Despite their respective sorry state, both birds are still glaring and screeching murder at each other.
"Let's go have something to eat, Raphtalia."
The raccoon girl looks up at the undercover princess. She gives a short nod and walks over to the cooking bonfire with Mein. "Okay."
The two of them walk over and sit down, ready to fill their stomach up with some freshly cooked monster meat. Most adventurers know that despite the gutter beak's large size, more than half of their body consists of bad quality meat that'll make a person's stomach grumble for a different reason than hunger. That's why they are usually not a hunter's first choice for meat, aside from their inherent danger.
The princess sits down, and grabs some roasted gutter beak haunch from the good, red meat. She passes half to the raccoon girl, and notices a number of villagers cutting the yellow colored, bad meat into smaller stripes. They place the meat strips onto a thin stone platform heated up by the fire, making the meat slowly sizzle out its dirty, unhealthy grease and turn into dried gristle flaps.
Curiosity overtakes the princess in disguise. She takes her share of the beak thing haunch up and walks over to the strange looking cooking station. She notices there's a slope on the other side of the cooking platform with a small guide wall on both sides. The slide progressively becomes narrow as it goes down, till a small exit connects with a clay pot on the bottom. The cloudy, yellow colored grease slowly drips down into pottery below.
The whole station looks like someone carved the crude looking contraption out of an entire boulder. The design is overly simple, yet it collects everything usable from the bad meat of the dead gutter beak. It seems like she shouldn't underestimate the day to day wisdom of the common people.
"We can light lamps with this oil." The villager placing meat strips onto the platform says. The middle aged house wife obviously assumed Mein's curiosity for complete ignorance. "And we can throw them at bandits or monsters in a pinch. Doesn't burn as quick or hot as Alchemist's Fire, but it'll still hurt."
"I was looking at this stone station." Mein takes a bite on her food while nodding her head, letting spittle fly all over the cracked ground. No doubt, her old royalty etiquette teacher would faint right away. "Must have taken you guys a few days to carve out this thing."
"Oh, The Heroes of Old, no!" The middle aged house wife chuckles at Mein's "Sir Spear Hero carved it out for us, well... he destroyed two boulders by accident before making this one. Third time's the charm, I suppose."
"The Spear Hero?" Mein's mouth freezes mid-chew. She most definitely didn't expect that fool to be able to come up with something like this. "He... doesn't look like the inventor type."
"I suppose he isn't too bright, if he goes around taunting filorials." The cook looks over at the northern palisade with Mein, but the Spear Hero or his cohorts are no longer there. They probably moved him into one of the huts to treat his... damaged groin. "His female companion drew the design, whereas he did the carving."
"Really, I see." Mein's eye turns back on the stone station once again. The design is too overly simple for someone of Iris' intellect, but she suppose the pride of House Amelia can come up with something like this. Honestly, compared to the complete revamp of House Amelia's financial system (or as Iris like to call it, 'banking'), designing a cooking station to roast the bad grease out of beak thing meat while also collecting the oil on the other side should be a piece of cake. "Must be Iris Amelia, the genius of the Golden Coast."
"Hey, you are the mysterious masked adventurer we met back in the banquet!" The overly loud, and energy filled yelling of Katarina brings the princess turned adventurer back to present. She notices both Katarina and Bertia are walking beside them, with Katarina's personal maid looming over as their chaperone.
Mein remembers this maid's look, even if she has long forgotten her name. The second daughter of some poor, faraway baron. She would have been the personal maid of the first princess of Melromarc, if she didn't have the misfortune of accompanying the princess on the day when she lost control of her magic, and burned her nanny to death.
The scar of fire on her back wouldn't be noticeable for any other noble's daughter, but even a well hidden blemish is unfit for royalty. That's why the princess gave her away to Katarina, after the Claes heiress' own accident at the palace ten years ago.
"You heard of Iris, masked adventurer?" The monkey girl doesn't care, or even notice Mein's brief trip back to her memory. She gives a rather burning stare to the princess in disguise mid ramble.
"Everyone knows the genius of House Amelia." The princess turned adventurer gives a brief thought over her answer. "They say her intelligence can only be challenged by Gerard Stuart and Cecil Alphasta from Faubley."
The princess notices how the cheek of Katarina turns red at the mention of the third son of House Stuart, while the same happens to Bertia when the Alphasta heir is mentioned. It's clear the Spear Hero isn't their first love. "How's the Spear ... Hero? Shouldn't you two be with him?"
"Ah, Master Motoyasu will be fine after some rest. He had worse before." Mein seriously doubts the claim of Katarina after her first hand suffering of the devil bird's kick. "Iris told us to leave the room. Said we'll make everything worse while Tanya takes care of him."
Mein narrows her eyes under the hood at how nonchalant Katarina talks about her downed hero, and how Bertia nervously pulls her finger while stealing glances back. More importantly, it's clear who will be the first wife of the Spear Hero. It really shouldn't come off as a surprise, consider who's involved in their relationships.
"It was my fault." Bertia drops her fat head down as she begins to pinch at the edge of her skirt. "I shouldn't have Master Motoyasu buy the birds for me. If I didn't, he wouldn't have boasted about Black Lightning and Yuki, and he wouldn't be kicked."
So that's how the Spear Idiot knew about filorials, and why he went ahead and got four of them.
"Aw, don't be so hard on yourself, Tia. You didn't do anything wrong!" Katarina turns on her heels and gives Bertia a tight hug, making the pudgy girl turn red either due to embarrassment, or suffocation. It's always hard to tell which, when it comes down to the young lady Claes. "It's the fault of that bird!"
Under normal circumstances, Mein wouldn't agree with someone who speaks badly about her own team. But since the one in question was the gluttonous devil bird...
"It's true, Master Naofumi has the patience of a saint for dealing with that monster bird." Mein walks forward and pulls Katarina's hands away from Bertia. She notices the hand of Katarina's personal maid twitch, but the maid didn't do anything to stop her. "She kicked me into a market stall this morning, for no good reason!"
"See! There you go, Tia, you didn't do anything wrong." Katarina lightly runs her hand through the tip of Bertia's curly red hair, like she's brushing the soft feathers of a filorial chick. The monkey girl turns around to face Mein once again. "Iris is really smart, but she didn't draw the cooking station. Tia did!"
Mein's brow goes into her hair at Katarina's revelation. That does explain why this cooking contraption is crudely carved out of a single boulder, not some kind of over-engineered mess with a lot of interconnecting wooden pieces and gears. Still, she always thought Bertia was nothing more than a frilly rider of Iris and Katarina, not someone who can do something independent.
"Sorry about what Firo did." Naofumi walks over to them.
Mein notices he is holding a vial of red health potion, and no longer wearing his dirty cloak. A quick side glance from the princess notices one of the villagers is squatting on the other side of the bonfire, washing Naofumi's green cloak in a large bucket filled with water.
"He shouldn't taunted Firo in the first place, but it's still no reason trying to murder him. Give him this health potion, it should help him recover..." Naofumi's back doubles over once again, probably remembering the intense sympathetic pain. "Even if it won't help the pain."
Bertia quickly sews her mouth shut and looks at Katarina. The heiress of House Claes snatches the potion away with one swift motion. "Thanks! I'm sure Master Motoyasu will be good as new soon."
It might be a sarcastic ridicule coming from Iris... or most other young noble ladies. But coming from Katarina, the young heiress truly didn't think anything about her very possible future husband being assaulted a short moment ago.
"Come on, Tia. Let's take the potion to Iris." Katarina gives Bertia's hand a fast pull, letting the much heavier set heiress know about her intention to leave.
"Before you go, the Jarl's Housecarl asked our presence in the village hall after lunch." Naofumi raises his head and gives two heiresses a shout before they have a chance to disappear.
"Thanks!" Katarina didn't even look back as she drags Bertia away, completely failing her nobility's etiquette. The maid gives an apologetic smile and bow to the Shield Hero, before she too follows her master.
"What could the Count's personal guard need us for, Master Naofumi?" Mein gives a sideways look to the Shield Hero. "Shouldn't we leave now that we dropped off Zylden? Silver Keep is still a good long way from us, and who knows what we'll find there among undead."
Not to mention, the Three Heroes' Church is already readying their own expedition to find House Seatto's artifact.
"Probably the famine here in Balafon." Naofumi sits down on the dry dirt. He takes some bread, and dices up salt meat out of his shield and starts to eat his ration. "I want to see if I can help, even if it's with my limited knowledge. I... there's got to be a reason why I didn't follow Yuugo to his agriculture school."
Ah, her Naofumi is no doubt overcome with his guilt about not following his only friend again. What a shame the man in question chose the farmer as his profession. Mein walks over and sits down besides Naofumi, dripping her free left arm over Naofumi's shoulder. "Anything you say, Master Naofumi."
Despite the ongoing famine, the village hall is very clean. No sign of dilapidation like clumps of dust, or spider webs in the corner. Naofumi takes his armored gauntlet off and runs his finger on the window counter. His eyes slightly narrow from this one look.
Mein looks at the same counter behind him to see what has him looking this strange. To her disappointment, nothing seems out of place aside from it being slightly damp. Some villagers probably ran through a damp rag over it not long before their meeting.
"Aren't the Spear Hero's party coming soon?" The count's rabbit man bodyguard narrows her eyes. She's obviously not happy about the idiot's absence, even if he won't contribute anything.
"He is... indisposed of." Naofumi freezes up for a moment, he puts his gauntlet back and sits down on an old chair near the table.
"Very well, let's begin." The rabbit woman lets out a disgusted sigh, Mein can hear her muffled mumble. "Damn summoned hero and their loin problems..."
Well... the Spear Hero certainly has a problem with his loin, although probably not in the same way the bodyguard is thinking.
"I'm here!" The door to the village hall is smashed open as the spear wielding idiot walks inside, using his spear like a walking stick. It's not hard to see why: a dozen layers of bandages are wrapped around his thigh and groin, to the point it looks less like bandage wraps and more like some improvised crotch protector. "My rival can't get rid of me that easily!"
"You are still alive after that?" Naofumi slowly turns his head over to look at his self-proclaimed rival.
"Of course! You'll have to do better than that to kill me!" The Spear Hero straightens his back in a boast, but his face suddenly twists together in pain. He... probably strangled his crotch again.
"The Shield Hero's bird kicked Master Motoyasu... below his belt." Iris quickly walks forward and wraps her arms around the spear idiot. She gives a quick glance to her maid, and the bespectacled maid lays down a soft cloth pad on a chair, and helps the Spear Hero sit down.
"Fine, Firo shouldn't do that..." Naofumi looks away as the count's bodyguard and village elder both look his way. "But she wouldn't do that, if you didn't talk about taking her to the slaughter house."
"This awkward situation on hand aside, I'd rather you two heroes drop the hostility and focus on the more important thing. Mostly, the wellbeing of Balafon's people." The rabbit bodyguard rubs her forehead in barely concealed frustration.
Two otherworldly heroes glare at each other for one quick second, before they both turn to look at the bodyguard.
"Okay."
"Fine."
"As I was telling Lady Irileth, and Lord Shield Hero's..." The village elder coughs into his hand before he continues, the older gentleman looks over at Gaston standing behind Naofumi. "...companion?"
"Guide, I'm acting as Master Shield Hero's guide on his current quest." Gaston takes a much more serious tone, foregoing the 'boy' he usually calls Naofumi with.
"Right, Lord Shield Hero's guide. Our Jarl was gracious enough to send us much needed food supplies, but it'll only last us through the month if we ration everything." The elder of Balafon gives a nervous glance towards the count's bodyguard. "I'm not trying to speak badly about my Jarl's lifesaving aid... but a supply caravan isn't the most reliable thing. Many of us would have starved to death, if Lord Spear Hero didn't arrive by complete accident and killed monsters to feed us. We can't count our lives on such fortune every time a supply caravan gets delayed."
"And even if every trip goes smoothly, our food stockpile would only last us six months. Not even enough through this current Wave of Catastrophe. And we'll have to start importing food from other provinces." The rabbit bodyguard doesn't seem to take offense at the elder's word, she follows through his trail of logic and concludes the state of Whiterun County. She does narrow her eyes at Iris, probably on account of House Amelia being the country's largest food producer.
"I can convince father to sell his grains to Count Balgruuf at a discount." 'But your lord will own us a favor' is left unsaid by the Amelia heiress.
"How kind of you, I'm sure my Jarl will keep that in mind." The rabbit demi-human's eye twitches a few times, she turns to look between the faces of two summoned heroes. "I don't expect you heroes to magically conjure up some food to feed everyone, but past records have shown summoned heroes to have advanced knowledge here and there. Anything you can think of might help us will be greatly appreciated."
The Spear Hero opens his mouth, looking like he wants to say something, probably stupid. But his face twists in pain again, and Naofumi manages to get his words in first. "Not a solution per say, but I did notice something strange. Most problems with famine tend to be natural disasters like massive droughts, or the occasional locust swarm. But you guys have enough water to help wash my cloth, or even wipe the counters in this room when the dirt outside is cracked, why's that?"
Ah, so that's why the Shield Hero was looking strange after running his finger through the window counter!
Irileth, the rabbit demi-human looks quizzically over at the Balafon village elder. "Well... we do have a river near our village. It's not enough to float large supply boats, or small rafts for that matter. But we didn't have to worry about a drought on top of a famine. A small mercy from the Chief God, no doubt."
"Is that so..." Naofumi nods his head along at the elder's information. "The only thing I can think of... is overgrazing. Did you used to have a large herd of farm animals before?"
"Farm animals? Well, yes, we used to raise muffalos on top of growing our crops. We had to sell them all in exchange for food, after we started having famine problems." The village elder looks down under the table, it's clear selling all their animals wasn't an easy decision.
"That might be your problem, I think your animal herd ate too much grass around here." Both the count's bodyguard, and the village elder looks at the Shield Hero expectantly. "Grass is very important for retaining moisture ... err, water in the soil. Without them, the water drains away so fast it looks like you are having a draught."
"Is that what caused our famine?!" The Balafon elder's jaw hangs big enough to shove a monster egg into his mouth. "Is there anything that'll save our village, or do we have to move to somewhere else?"
"Sorry, I... I didn't learn enough agriculture to know what to do here..." Naofumi slowly looks away from the zealous stare from the Whiterun natives.
"Have no fear! I can save you while my rival is useless... ARGH!" The Spear Hero lets out a painful scream when he tried to stands up on his seat, possibly to flash some kind of dumb pose he thinks look heroic. But his usual tomfoolery aside, the Spear Hero's word did make everyone in the village hall look at his direction.
Privately, Mein doubts this fool has any knowledge on how to help a village on the brink of slow death.
"The game I played in my world, Emerald Online, has a side quest exactly like the situation you guys are facing here. And there happens to be a dungeon nearby with a miracle seed inside that'll produce countless fruit, enough to feed an army. All we have to do is delve into the dungeon and recover the miracle seed." The Spear Hero sits up straight on his chair's back, slowly this time. He lets out a smug looking puff of air for giving this information.
The princess didn't know what she was expecting from the fool. Seriously, thinking of some game from his world holding the magical solution to the life threatening problem they are facing now? What kind of idiot would trust this mad plan?!
"Well... now that you mentioned it, there IS a monster dungeon not far away." The village elder's words feel like a slap on Mein's face. "It used to be some kind of laboratory of some reclusive cultist type. Between everyone sitting here... I think he was a heretic worshipping some kind of outsider god. But it was abandoned and sealed shut since I was a wee lad, and turned into a monster infested dungeon."
"How do you know it was an occultist?" Irileth narrows her red eyes and glares at the poor elder.
"Err... that, well. You see..." The old man coughs a couple of times, obviously trying to hide something. He gives up pretty quickly under the eyes of two Legendary Heroes and his lord's personal sworn shield. "I might have tried to take a look inside in my younger years because of a dare... and I might have seen some monsters that are flat out... wrong looking. Blue, glowing body, tentacles spouting out of their body, with eyes all over the place."
Huh, the story sounds rather similar to what happened to House Seatto's seat of power, castle Silver Keep. If one switches undead with possible eldritch monstrosities. All the characteristics the village elder brought up are definitive evidence of outsider god influence and heresy.
And considering what can happen when outsider gods are involved... It is unbelievably lucky that this village only now starts to face a life threatening crisis. And a somewhat mild one in the form of famine.
"If that's the case, we shouldn't rely on this supposed 'miracle seed'. I think it's safest for all of you to abandon Balafon, and return to Trumpet with me." The Spear Hero looks like he wants to object, but the rabbit bodyguards quickly hold her hands up. "Any artifact, and enchanted items involving outsider magic is highly dangerous, and will inevitably cause disaster in the end unless destroyed. That's how the outsider gods try to weaken our connection with our chief god, and take over our realm."
"Lady Irileth speaks truth, Master Motoyasu." Iris pulls at the spear idiot's sleeve. "I realize you don't understand what we mean by 'outsider' god. It means a foreign, and hostile god outside our chief god's divine domain, that tries to invade our world. They can either act with cruel hostility, or cunning deception, but they are always malicious."
"Well?" The rabbit demi-human narrows her eyes at the village elder.
"We - we don't want to abandon our homes unless we absolutely have to." The elder's face turns red, but he doesn't shrink under the sworn shield's pressure this time. "We lived on our own land for generations, and the thing inside that dungeon hasn't caused any problems to us so far. If Lord Shield Hero was right, even our current crisis is caused by our poor planning."
In other words, the village elder doesn't want to move his people, just like the people of Lute. It's understandable, considering most of them will end up as refugees on Trumpet street, either begging for food or trying to scrape by with whatever odd jobs they can find.
"Let's not put our carts before our horses, err... I guess it's filorials for you guys." To Mein's surprise, the one objecting to the safe, and rational idea is her Naofumi. "I mean, even if all the people of this Balafon move away, you can't guarantee some adventuring type won't happen to stumble upon that sealed dungeon and release the magical seed, right? I think Zylden came here exactly for the seed in the first place."
"True." The rabbit demi-human nods her head. "Do go on."
"Why don't I go down into the dungeon with Motoyasu, after he recovers from his..." Naofumi gives a glimpse towards the Spear Hero's bandaged groin another look, he lets out a violent shake at the sight again. "crotch injury. If it's dangerous, we'll destroy it and make sure no one else can use it to cause problems. We can talk about abandoning the village or not afterwards."
"A sensible suggestion." Iris nods her head, supporting the Shield Hero's suggestion. "There are very few things that'll stop the full might of two Legendary Heroes working together. Even the Red Sparrow Clan of Siltvelt fell under the combined might of Shirou Emiya and Mikage Mikami sixty years ago."
"Very well, we'll talk about Balafon's situation after you two clear the dungeon. In the meantime, I will organize the relief effort, and guard duty of this village."
Omake: Birth of the Black Lightning
He opens his eyes, seeing only endless darkness surround him. But he can feel the most important person of his life is just outside the shroud, waiting for him. Trying to spread out his body, he lets out the strongest kick he can muster. The darkness part in front of him. "TWEET~!"
"Aw~ it's a black baby bird." He turns his head around to look at the large head on his side. No, something tells him this isn't his most important person, even if she (the person feels like a 'she' to him) is smiling at him and slowly running a finger through his feathers. "What should we name him, Master Motoyasu?"
"How about... Kuro?" He turns his head over towards the new person. Yes, the man in front of him is definitely his most important person. He hops up on his legs, and tries to jump on the head of his most important person. He ends up hitting the man right on his nose, but his most important person only lets out an amused chuckle. A finger starts to rub him right under his chin. "Ah, cute."
"But did you already name my fox Kuro, Master Motoyasu?" The girl besides him asks his most important person. The fox on her shoulder slowly rises her head and blinks at him.
The name of his most important person is Motoyasu.
"Ah, you are right." Motoyasu scratches his head and frowns, obviously having a hard time deciding on this name. He suddenly claps his hand together. "Oh, I know! Your fox will be named 'Kuro', and he'll be... 'Kuro the Black Lightning'."
"What a mouthful." Another girl with long, light blue hair opens her fan and hides her shaking face behind it.
"TWEET(X 3)!" While the humans are talking, his egg sisters and brother also hatched behind him. A pink egg sister who loves to nap, a yellow egg brother who constantly runs around, and a white egg sister... who he naturally feels like he should listen to.
"Is there something wrong with pinky here?" Another girl with long brown hair lowers her face down to look at pink egg sister. She pokes egg sister a couple of times. "Shouldn't filorial chicks be more peppy? Do you think there's something wrong with her?"
"NO! There's nothing wrong with Blossom!" The girl with red hair and wears a black monster fox as a scarf immediately grabs pink egg sister and sets the egg sister down into her large hand. She smiles, and gently plays with pink egg sister's hair. "She's laid back and loves to relax, that's all."
"Blossom? Is that what you want to name pink here?" Motoyasu looks over at the large red haired girl.
"Well... I'm not sure about naming her 'blossom', but her color is like the flower of the Shikoku glimmer-blossom trees. I never saw it myself, but I heard that when it comes to spring, the whole Shikoku mountain side's trees will bloom into beautiful pink seas of flowers for a week before their blowers wither away..." the red-haired girl rubs her cheek at the head of still snoring pink egg sister.
"Huh, sounds like Sakura blossom back home. How about we name her... Sakura?" Motoyasu smiles and pokes his finger at pink egg sister... no, Sakura.
"What shall we name Radiant?" The brown haired girl balances the yellow egg brother on her head with a big grin. The yellow egg brother keeps spinning around on her head, looking at all the fresh new things in the world. "You know, because he's radiant like a bolt of lightning, with peppy to match."
"Kou."
White egg sister lets out a scoff at both Sakura and Kou. A fan lowers besides her, courtesy of the blue haired girl. "You aren't trying to fish for attention, good. It is befitting of your monarch breed stature. Come with me, snowflake. I will turn you into a fine lady."
White egg sister looks into the girl's eyes for a moment. She slowly moves onto the paper fan, and the blue haired girl lets white egg sister sit on her shoulder. "A name for snowflake, Master Motoyasu? For she is as pure as freshly fallen snow."
"Yuki means snow in my language." Master Motoyasu turns at him, gently picks him up and sets him on his head. "Guess it's you and me, Kuro the Black Lightning."
Right, his name is Kuro the Black Lightning. The steed of Master Motoyasu!
End Note:
So, the beginning of Malty and Naofumi's last crossover arc with one of the fellow summoned heroes. And of course, it's the bio-plant arc with my own twist. And yes, since Naofumi's party arrived in the village roughly around the same time as Motoyasu (and also because of that whole heresy with outsider god thing), bio-plant will play out differently than Gaelion arc.
And of course, the scene where Firo kicks Motoyasu's crotch is so iconic I'm required by law to keep it in my story. And can I just say Kuro is one of the most under-utilized character within RotSH's extended canon? Of course, I'm going to take him out of Reprisal and insert him into my own story together with the triumvirates (Yuki, Kou, Sakura).
Guest review time.
To Halo:
The title 'chief god' does come from MGE, but he has no relationship with MGE's chief god whatsoever. In fact, I pretty much already given out the identity of who the 'Chief God' in my story is, if one pay attention to the Pope's prayer in the chapter where he heals Malty's cursed wound.
As for one's level going down with age. I have to admit I'm not a canon lore buff, so I can't say definitively it's canonical or not. I'm probably going to go with level doesn't reduce, but certain primary stats (STR and CON primarily) would reduce as one ages.
To Nights:
Personally, I think what the three weapon heroes did canonically goes way pass self-deceiving, or even self-delusion. Obviously, the meta-narrative reason is the author wants to make Naofumi look better by making everyone else look bad (which in my opinion, honestly has the opposite effect, since all it shown is Naofumi is better than a bunch of mentally challenged people, but I digress). The only way I can somewhat rationalize it is the three weapon heroes are already half step into insanity due to some kind of mental trauma before the whole spirit turtle triggered cursed weapons shenanigan.
Of course, the other explanation is they really are just that incompetent. But that doesn't exactly make Naofumi look good when he's only better than a bunch of mentally challenged people.
To Gst:
Thank you very much for the kind words, hope you will continue to have a good time with this story.
To HeshGerlan:
True, an arcane vs science civilization story doesn't have too much tension when the arcane civilization in question is set in a world where ascension into higher plane of existence, or god like beings who can flat out rewrite a world faster than Thanos snap exist. That's part of the reason why I didn't think about bringing it into the discussion before The Wendigo King mentioned it. The out of control power level inflation is a pretty big reason why I'm not a fan on Chinese Cultivation/XianXia genre (which basically makes Dragon Ball Z's power level inflation rate looks more like Dragon Ball by comparison).
Well, I hope you do at least consider writing as a hobby, if not a profession after graduation. Considering the argument/discussion you left in your review, I think you can probably write some really well thought out stories.
Hope this chapter lived up to expectation, even if it's mostly a setup for the bio-plant arc.