Author's Note: Okay one last chapter and lore dump and then Cal Mira strikes back. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 61: The Ancient Heroes
After Tatsuya reappeared inside of the summoning room he immediately demanded to be escorted to the Queen. The soldier understood that if Tatsuya was interrupting his grinding to come here then it must've been serious. Trash's wardrobe had undergone a change, though the quality was still high it was the clothing of a servant as opposed to a member of the royal family.
"Presenting Tatsuya Shiba the Hero of the Bow." Tatsuya recalled that sleazy looking adviser from before introducing them like that, ah, so the King was demoted to adviser then. Off topic though.
"Good day to you Tatsuya." The Queen had a questioning look on her features as she looked down at Tatsuya. "I must admit that I am disappointed to see you considering-"
"The wave is going to hit Cal Mira in little over four days." Tatsuya stated bluntly.
"...are you certain?" The Queen asked looking concerned.
"As certain as I can see the ever ticking clock in the corner of my vision." Tatsuya responded bluntly. "Setsuna has gone to Siltvelt for their army, Ikki and Naofumi are trying to put something together from the adventurers and monsters over there, I was sent here to recruit your help."
The queen turned her attention to Trash, he was a adviser, let's see how good his advice is.
"Recruiting Siltvelt's help was a... wise decision." Trash looked like he was talking about something unpleasant. "At naval battles the Sakamata, Sameha and Takoka and to a lesser extent the amphibious Genmu, Aototsu and Lizardmen races were quite potent in combat when our nations fought at sea, using grappling hooks to capsize entire ships and harpoons to spear any of the hapless humans they caught in the water. We devised strategies against them of course, should be applicable to any aquatic based monsters. If the enemy is going to appear in the sea we have the means to poison the water against them and trap them in a barrier of ice and release lukor fruit into the water, if they're not outright killed then they should be inebriated enough that the judicious combination of accelerant and fire should be enough to finish them off." Tatsuya only recognised only about half of the species Trash listed off, Lukor fruit was more familiar to him: so these people have already grasped the concept of chemical warfare. "Seeing as how the Demi-humans are going to be allies for this, we should have a signal prepared for them to warn them about the fruit, areal superiority would also be of assistance, again from the demi-human side we have the Shusaku, Vampire and Aototsu species and we have our own Dragon Knights. If I'm not mistaken the Bow Hero here has been using some kind of accessory during the waves that grants him the power of flight that would be of great use to us if mass produced but I sense he is not interested in sharing."
"No I am not." Tatsuya stated before looking to the Queen. "It sounds like he has this situation well in hand from a tactical perspective. Should I leave it to him then?"
"You may though there are additional matters to discuss with you Sir Hero." The Queen stated, performing a double check on the rafters to make sure that they weren't being watched by anyone that she didn't approve of.
"First Silence." Tatsuya muttered the magic and the air went still, cutting off any sound that came out of their mouths after a certain distance, Tatsuya's only other precaution was to use a scarf to cover his mouth. "Use your Fan."
"Silence, I see." The Queen opened up her fan and used it to cover her mouth. "You'll have to write that down for our Shadows."
"Q'Ten Lo?" Tatsuya questioned all business.
"The Church." The Queen corrected, half her face covered didn't hide her annoyance with the topic. "We've been digging through their archives but the information is dense, and for the sake of keeping secrets the Church writes their secrets in Hero Letters."
"'Hero Letters?'" Tatsuya questioned unfamiliar with the term.
"The language of your home lands." The Queen explained bluntly. Difficult, a language taking parts from at least four alternate universes stretching a period time that seems to range for over five hundred years, but if the Church decided to hide a final act of spite somewhere in the country to activate if in the event of their demise... "We were hoping that one of the four of you could provide a translation." The Queen interrupted Tatsuya's musings after she decided to interpret his silence as awaiting further instructions.
"I have time to kill."
Tatsuya was led into the warehouse that the church had been treating as their archive prior to their fall. Their messy organisation method, if this was organised at all, was serving as much of a obstacle to translating the texts as well as the other worldly language, even then there was additional protection in place as on top of the combination of similar languages there was also the signs of thinly veiled encryption. All three were no match for him.
"Analyse." Tatsuya scanned the molecular structure of the entire archive and recreated the area in his mind. Recent information: sheets of paper instead of animal skinned parchment, Grammar and spelling done incorrectly, does not form any known words, line above references religious text: Vignette Cipher. Identifying sermon, translating text, instructions for coordinates based on nearest village, purpose of each location. Twenty places identified as being active as of the church's dismantling. "Here you go." Without having moved from where he had sat down upon entering the warehouse Tatsuya took out the pen and paper and wrote out the instructions for finding the Churches facilities.
"The hell? You haven't moved from that spot since you entered here!?" The guard who had escorted the Hero stated staring at the sheet like it was a work of fiction but Tatsuya had already tuned him out.
Parchment was more delicate than paper without being thousands of years old and wrapped around vials of vinegar connected to elaborate devices that would destroy the parchment if the wrong sequence was entered or the lock forced, hidden away inside of other more mundane artefacts albeit their make and construction tough enough to prevent being destroyed easily. The efforts made to both hide and preserve the information made it worth a glance. No sign of encryption this time. Information corresponds to pre-existing information and theories, but demands additional confirmation. Searching. Other documents relating to early Spear and Sword Heroes, correspondence confirmed. Searching. Diary of the first Sword hero, mention of a 'Device' indicates Ikki's home world, using grammar and subtex picked up from the sword hero for additional clarification. Understood, needs looking into: immediately.
"I see. Take me to the Queen." And so the guard took what he believed to be a overly lazy Bow hero with him to go see the Queen again.
The Queen was surprised, to say the least, to learn that Tatsuya had managed to down nearly seven times the accomplishment of her best de-coders while apparently sitting down doing nothing, they already had correspondence for the information he had given them: they raided three of these facilities already.
"You told your escort you wanted to speak with me?" No silence spell this time, so nothing classified this time around.
"I discovered some information concerning the first Bow Hero and Shield Hero's while scanning through the archives. It's nature though I think is only of relevance to scholars." Tatsuya stated shrugging his shoulders.
"Really?" Tatsuya did not miss the way the Queen's eyes lit up. "I consider myself to be something of a scholar when it comes to the Heroes."
"It's related to Ethanobolt's claim's about world's merging together." Tatsuya stated as he began rubbing his chin. "Apparently they were summoned here together on the world that was originally inhabited by the Demi-humans."
Although the Queen might not have been aware of this, Tatsuya's world initially had two sapient species that had developed on it, however back during the stone age the other race, the Neanderthal, was wiped out by the early humans. Two fully sapient species developing on the same world at the same time seemed unnatural in comparison, let alone the dozens of individual subspecies that could be attributed to the demi humans.
"You also mentioned the Shield hero?" The Queen asked brow raised in the air.
"He apparently had horns." Tatsuya stated bluntly, a ridiculous statement to make, four month's ago that is.
"So he was from Setsuna's world after all." The queen quickly deduced nodding her head.
"There's more. Not too different from our Setsuna his blood had an... effect on the local populace of the world he was brought to." Tatsuya stated with some hesitation. "If we understand that it was the miasma that had built up in the body of Setsuna's ancestors that's responsible for her current human like appearance..."
"Then when the first Shield Hero started to bleed that concentrated humanity all over his world's monster population it likely had a similar effect." The Queen quickly concluded.
"I also don't believe that summoned was quite the right term either, there was no deliberate attempt behind their being brought here unlike our case." Tatsuya stated holding his chin in his hand.
"The weapons summoned the first Heroes... by accident?" The look on the Queen's face was someone who was asking if she was hearing things correctly.
"To be more accurate the world summoned them by accident. Or rather worlds. Apparently that kind of thing can happen when planets are being manipulated to try and occupy two places at once." Tatsuya had sat down again, entering his own little world while he processed the information he learned and spat it out. "There was a... entity, a collective consciousness of all the unused souls occupying the worlds that asked them for help once they got here, Ikki's predecessor from his world was able to draw out a device from the clump of souls, the... Hanyo I assume explained the concept of destruction through growth to them. The first Spear and Bow Heroes I personally find to be more interesting though. The Spear came from my world, the bow by process of elimination from Naofumi's, assuming that the world has been limited to only our four worlds. The fact that the latter introduced himself as a Magus tells me that if my belief is true Naofumi's world is not quite as not-magical as he has led us to believe." Tatsuya stated still processing the implications.
"Tell me about him." The Queen asked brow raised into the air.
"His speciality was some kind of creation magic, any sword he has seen he's able to make an exact copy, and apparently he had millions stored away in a personalised pocket dimension. Four worlds became two, two worlds became one." And all the pieces of the legendary weapons fell into place: from Setsuna's world the ability to make a living weapon that eats material and turns it into a alternate transformation. From Tatsuya's world, a machine that augments a magician's natural magic affinities and creates a user interface. From Ikki's world, the world gained the power to make it's will manifest and attach it to a champion brought here using the spatial rifts. From Naofumi's world a hammer space and the power to take weapons that others have created and copy them. Most of the pieces were there but not all of them. The Hourglasses for instance?
"Hmm. Could the Hour Glasses have been created as a way to prevent the birth of more Demi-human species?" Tatsuya suggested as he came out from his thoughts.
"Whatever do you mean?" While Tatsuya was musing to himself the Queen had called for servants, one was currently offering Tatsuya a drink but he declined.
"Setsuna stated that her people came to be what they are through Miasma, of people who die in mass, the miasma runs wild and getting into the various forms of life that it could find mutating them with the concentrated essence of other creatures." Tatsuya stated as he opted to use a scone for a conversational pause.
"What do the hourglasses have to do with that theory?" The Queen asked looking confused.
"The Hourglasses break through the class up limit, or can be used to drain a individual of the XP that they have accumulated. It can give, and it can store it." Tatsuya stated however there was additional factors at play here. "It also seems to be connected to the wave some how, so that means... of course. If they were just jars we store XP in then we'd just call them the Giant Fancy Jars of the Dragon's Era but they're not are they?"
"Hour Glasses." The Queen concluded as she came to the same epiphany. "So the sand inside of the hourglasses is XP, then that's what the barrier separating worlds runs on."
"So does slaughtering more monsters delay the next wave? Is the ticking down to the next wave suspended by one being open? Do the hourglasses all share a singular pool of the stuff?" Too many questions, not enough answers.
"The question of the origin of Stats and the H.U.D. has me concerned as well." Tatsuya looked up at the sky recalling the conversation that he had with the others the day after they came here. 'Video games are not made for the benefit of the people in them, they're made for the people playing them.'
"Yes I heard that your worlds do not have them." The Queen stated as she devised her own theory on the matter. "If death is required for the Hourglasses to function then encouraging it is not a bad plan."
"Thing's die anyway." Tatsuya countered sharply. "Even without the promise of materials and XP the people and animals still need to eat, most of them prefer meat. For that matter why aren't plants being counted as well?" Need more data, less they have no bricks. Tatsuya wasn't going to get it here: he already memorised the contents of the Church's library.
"I find myself wondering why the Bow wasn't given the same treatment as the Shield, if they both came here with the Demi-humans." The Queen stated perhaps just spit-balling questions at this point.
"The bow was human, the shield was not, in all likelihood they chose to throw their lots in with their own species." Tatsuya ultimately came to the conclusion he needed to raid Faubrey's and Siltvelt's archives as well, assuming that Setsuna hasn't fire bombed both bridges by now.
"Perhaps you are right." The Queen wiped the Scholar off of her face as she got down to business. "But for now I must tend to the fleet. I trust you have your own plans to tend to? If not I would ask you to aide the armies in dealing with the Church's remaining facilities."
"Later. For now there's a commission I need to pick up, related to dealing with Q'Ten Lo." Tatsuya left for the town, donning the cloak that covered up both his face and his armour less he get unwanted attention.
"Welcome to Erhard's." The old man running the smithery greeted Tatsuya at the sound of the bell for his front door ringing. "How may I help you?"
"The items I ordered?" Tatsuya stated pulling down his hood.
"You're back from Cal Mira early kid." Erhard stated as he went into the back of his smithery and pulled out the items Tatsuya had commissioned.
"Something came up." Which wasn't a lie in all honesty, but Erhard was at the end of the day a civilian, there were not reasons present to involve him in affairs of the state. "Now let's have a look at these."
A wrist mounted miniature cross bow, a tool of assassins outlawed in the state at large, Erhard had to get permission from the crown just to make it, and he'd soon be dismantling it, still it's longevity had not stopped him from making a quality piece of work.
'Weapon Copy Activated. Assassin's Crossbow Equip Bonus Silent Skill 4Hours Reinforcement 0/100'
And he got a useful sounding skill out of it, good to know. The second item was a small shield shaped badge, the kind he saw police wear back in his world, a demonstration of their authority and practical in it's implementation, it was designed to be pinned to the shirt in front of the chest and protect the heart from gunfire, with luck it would serve Naofumi just as well. The third was what could only be described as the world's tiniest spear, it would be a hair pin if not for the subtle shape of he head on either end, and the description that it gave when Tatsuya held it up in his hands, Setsuna mentioned she needed a hair pin anyway, though he wasn't sure how well it would work with her spear's jewel. The dagger was the most expensive looking of the four of them, blue jewels in the handle and guard, it would go well with the jewel of Ikki's sword, and the embroidery of the harness and sheath that he would be using to strap it to his chest, it was all gaudy enough that Ikki could be able to justify having a weapon with such a over the top jewel attached to it.
"You guys planning on doing a incognito thing right now?"
"With luck yes." Tatsuya took the items that would become weapons for the others and put them into his bow's storage space. "Provided that someone doesn't decide what ever building we're set to infiltrate needs a new doggy door."
"Amen to that, have you guys even figured out how that works yet?" Erhard stated as he let the mixture of morbid curiosity and mind numbing horror settle on his features.
"The souls of damned men and Bull crap." It wasn't that Tatsuya was trying to be rude, but a petite five foot tall woman turning into a forty foot long monster straight out of nightmare and myth blatantly violated every law of physics from his world and several that he knew of from this world and she wasn't allowed to write it off as magic in his opinion because magic is designed to manipulate those laws not ignore them. "Perhaps you might have some better answers for us." It wasn't like Setsuna didn't leave bits of herself lying around, for all of her raw power and noble lineage she still preferred the hammer as a method of solving her problems. As such Tatsuya pulled out a mass of white Dog hair from his bow.
"Is this... her's?" Erhard asked looking at the hair like he was staring as some strange and horrifying thing. "How?"
"The bits that come off of her body has unique properties, we were hoping that we could learn more about them." Tatsuya explained scratching at his chin.
"I don't do it often, but if I had some animal skin I could make this into a Kigurumi." Erhard stated and that was all Tatsuya needed to hear.
"See to it at once." Tatsuya emptied his bow of it's supply of Karma rabbit pelts and left Erhard to get to work. "I still need to see some religious fanatics about their secrets."
To be fair, most of the fanatics were either locked up, decapitated, or outright vaporised already, what Tatsuya was actually seeing for the majority of the next five days was over a dozen different empty secret hideouts and bunkers. There was nothing in any of them resembling that warehouse/vault where the diaries of the first heroes were kept, only lots of time for Tatsuya to spend theorising about the information he already had but there was still huge gaps in his information that he still simply did not have access to that was keeping him from figuring it all out.
"Hmm. Tch. I'll have to put off answering that question for now." If he had thought to bring the old lady here he'd be practising the Hengen Musou Style, instead Tatsuya switched his bow over to the Dragon Emperor core Bow, apparently this thing was suppose to allow him to access a different style of magic, something that would allow him to draw on outside sources of power to access different forms of magic and supplement his supply. "Wait? Isn't this what the old lady was talking about earlier?" Yes, but that was Ki and not Magic, the revelation had more to it. Tatsuya looked through his bow's loot function, recalling mention of a Ki potion, and opened up the file. Spirit and Mana potions were the two ingredients required, that carried the implication that Ki was a mixture of mana and spirit power. When he mixes together his skills with magic then does that become Ki as well? And wasn't there something else that uses Spirit power as well?
"First Down." Tatsuya decided on a nearby merchant unloading his cart for the target of his magic on a whim and saw him drop his package, of course the effect of the spell on him wasn't the important part. "Spirit and Mana? Yes Setsuna did mention that she uses spirit energy in her transformation, and much of her fighting style seems to be heavy in Ki, I see another bit of data then." Satisfied with his research thus far, and understanding he wasn't going to get anywhere with it until he continued his training in the Hengen Musou style, Tatsuya returned to his castle laboratory in order to write new magic spells.
Amatsumi: They still hang around, mostly in the background, a couple of chapters ago Rowdy served as Rat's test subject for the Camping plants. Of course once the waves are put on hold a few more chapters down the line they'll be less than useful for their intended purpose so I'll be having them operate as a independant unit for a while.
RonaldM40196867: Meh. My opinion of blood in anime is mixed. On the one hand blood unsettles a lot of people with many physically unable to look at it so with more blood a lot of people would be unable to look at it, on the other hand if you're a purist who expects realistic amounts of blood in response to things like say for example getting someone's tooth knocked out the lack of it might be a turn off as well.
superpierce: Hope I don't disappoint.