Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit. Also thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks. Gaston's line about punching Naofumi in the crouch comes from him.
:P
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
Farkas stomps forward slowly, looking ready to pounce on the Lute hunter who dared to challenge him. Gaston is not a short man by any means, yet the wolf beastman still easily towers over him when standing at full height.
Mein's eyes quickly move between the snarling werewolf, and the unfazed Lute hunter. She's not sure if Gaston deserves a medal for his bravery and willingness to defend the Shield Hero, or if he deserves to slowly bleed to death in a ditch.
There's a reason why everyone in the Shield Hero's party leaves the wolf beastman when he's in a foul mood. His arms may be crippled, but his high level still means he can easily tear everyone, except the Shield Hero's throat out in a blink of an eye. It appears the hunter didn't get the same message.
"Do you presume to know me, furless ape?" Lucky for Gaston, Farkas looks to be in the mood for debate, not rip and tear. "You know nothing! Living in this soft nation of humans, you can be whatever you want. A peasant becomes a merchant, a merchant becomes a noble, and nobles become warriors."
Éclair releases a squeaky grumble that reminds Mein of Raphtalia with an upset stomach. Farkas' words no doubt hit a nerve for the dishonored noble knight.
"It's different when you are a child of Malis born in Siltvelt. Everyone has only one duty to fulfill, if you shirk away from it, you'll be known as a shrunken neck turtle for the rest of your life..." The werewolf continues his passionate ramble under the glare of Gaston, seemingly unaware of the world around him.
Naofumi carefully edges over and whispers to Mein. "What's this about the child of Malis again?"
"That's what the pureblood beastman call themselves in Siltvelt." Kyubey reaches over the princess and whispers back to the curious Shield Hero.
"To be born into a pack. To have no choice, but to take orders to attack. Feeling hungry even after being ... that's something you soft, hairless apes will never understand." Meanwhile, Farkas seems to be expertly over the farce of grudges against slavery. No, the new ire of his rant seems to be aimed at the society of his own culture. "Do you still dare pretend to know me, when you have no idea what life in Siltvelt is like?"
"I do, and I know I'm right." Gaston crosses his arms in front of chest, the hunter's one good eye pierces right back at the crippled beastman like a loose arrow, unimpressed. "I don't know what growing up in the animal kingdom is like, and honestly I don't care to find out. But I know people like you as the back of my hand. Because I was exactly like you."
Chapter 49: Night of the Ravens
Naofumi and Kyubey are no longer quietly whispering at each other. Neither Éclair, nor Raphtalia seem to dare make any sound. Even the birds only stare silently at the muscle bound hunter, and the giant wolf man glaring daggers at each other.
"I couldn't stay home after pa passed away from his back injury. That's why I joined the Royal Ranger corps. They made me the best damn hunter Lute has ever seen. Men want to follow me, or be like me. Women throw themselves at my feet. But there was this one woman..." Gaston unhooks his arms, his sharp, pinched face softens at the memory of this woman. "She is... well, Bella was different. She's real smart, not like the usual peasant girl who has nothing between her ears. But she's also nice to everyone, not like those snobbish city girls..."
"Does Bella remind you of your mother?" Naofumi's interject makes everyone turn to him.
Did the Shield Hero just imply Gaston had unhealthy affection towards his mother?
"What!? NO! I don't want to marry my Ma!" Gaston, who doesn't even flinch from Farkas' intimidation, takes a full step back at Naofumi's words. "Look, kid. I respect you as much as everyone else here. But if you suggest I was attracted to my Ma, I will punch you in the dick."
"NO! I didn't mean you had the hots for your mom!" Naofumi quickly stands up and shakes his hands. "Well... you said your mom was absent most of your life, right? I read somewhere about psychology, a child who grows up missing a parent, especially the opposite gender, would unconsciously look for a partner to fill the role..."
The hunter's cloudy eyes wander away, he scratches his chin at Naofumi's suggestion and mumbles to himself. "...Is that it? Did I really want Bella, because she reminds me of Ma, only nicer?"
Privately, the princess figures Gaston has taken the Shield Hero too seriously. Her Naofumi is smart, especially for her age, but he obviously doesn't know everything and isn't always right. Uncle Aldrecht already proved this earlier, and he clearly has no idea what he's talking about now. She certainly didn't grow up with a loving mother, and she's not looking for a lifelong partner to imitate her own harpy of Mother. There only needs one Queen Bitch of Melromarc (if not Queen Bitch of Medea), and that's her.
Although if she thinks deeper... is this the underlying reason she's attracted to patient, compassionate men like Jaune and her Naofumi? Even if their bleeding hearts should by default, make them terrible players in The Game, therefore make them less helpful to her. Because she never got enough of this from her parents? Her mother is a no-brainer, and while Father certainly dotes on her, his duties to Mother also meant he's not as often there for her as she'd have otherwise wanted.
The princess shakes her head free of cobwebs. Now Naofumi is getting her to question herself, when she should be more focused on her surroundings. In her confusion, she has missed a lot of Gaston's story.
"...After that Siltvelt Lord tossed me down the cliff into a river, I went to talk with Bella. I was a good ranger, and an even better hunter, but I'm no noble. I know that much. So if Bella chose him for his money or title, I'd be disappointed, but I'd understand. But you know what she told me, kid?" In the time for Mein to refocus, Gaston has already sat back down near the bonfire. It might be the shadows, but the usually flamboyant, happy, and almost arrogant hunter looks small with his face rested on his propped up hands, and hunched back. "He was more human than me, a beastman from Siltvelt is more human than me."
The princess gives a quick glance over to Farkas. The werewolf has his eyes narrowed, fangs bared. Yet he makes no effort to interrupt the Lute hunter. She is once again reminded that despite the wolf's aggressiveness and bad attitude, there were other instances suggesting he was no mere brute.
"I was angry. How could she say a beast was more human than me? But you know what, Shield boy? The more I thought about it... the more I realized Bella was right." The face of Gaston is now fully dipped towards the dirt under his feet. "I treat the people worse off than me in Lute like dirt. I took all my admirers for granted. I ignored my best friend Lefou and treated him like a footstool. That's when I realized I had to change. It was too late to win back Bella, but I didn't have to die like a pompous nobleman nobody would miss."
"I think you did a good job changing, Gaston. Not sure what Bella would say, but you are more than helpful to me." Naofumi edges closer to the hunter and places one hand on his shoulder. "What happened to Bella, and Lord Adam?"
"Thanks for the words of confidence, kid. As for Bella and Adam. They married each other, and moved to Faubley to get away from all the politics and hatred between humans and demi-human crap. I think they settled in Tristan. Good place to retire if you had the coins. It's away from Germania and Dunwall. What did they call it...? The heavily 'Industrialized' areas, I think?" The hunter looks up and shrugs his shoulders, he turns to look at Farkas. "Which brings us back to you."
The hunter stands back to his full height again and walks his way over to the werewolf. "What has the Shield Hero done to you, other than doing his best to take care of you? And how have you repaid him? Snarling and bad mouthing him like he's dirt!"
"I done more than my part to repay my debt, furless ape!" Farkas spits right back in Gaston's face. "Is it not enough for me, a crippled warrior, to risk my life and fight for him!?"
"Maybe we shouldn't do this..." Naofumi quickly stands up and tries to stand between Gaston and Farkas. He's pushed right back by the hunter.
Mein feels someone pulling on her traveling cloak. She looks to the side, and sees Raphtalia's hand tightly clenching the corner of her cap. Both Éclair and Yatsuhashi's hands are on the handle of their respective swords, obviously getting ready to intervene if things turn uglier.
"No, we are doing this now." Gaston's voice snaps the princess right back to attention, she rests her hand on her own weapon just in case. "I saw how you 'fight'. You charge ahead like a blind porcupine, and ignore others in the party or even most of your enemies. No, you don't 'fight for the Shield Hero'. You are just letting out your anger on anyone in your path. And do tell me, what had Shield boy done to deserve your ire, great warrior of Siltvelt? Once again, you are just taking out your anger at everything else on him, because you are ARROGANT!"
The wolfman snarls and blows air out at the hunter, but he doesn't back down. "You want to attack me? Go ahead, prove me right. If you want me to eat my words, show you can be helpful to Shield boy and his friends. Show you are an actual member of this party."
Farkas squints his bloodshot eyes shut tight a couple of times, he starts wheezing, possibly in an effort to control his breath. The werewolf lumbers his way back to the other side of the bonfire. "Bah! I don't have to take this from you!"
"You didn't have to do that, Gaston." Naofumi gives another pull of the hunter's sleeve, Gaston lets the Shield Hero lead him away this time. "I didn't force Farkas to fight for me. As long as he doesn't hurt innocent people, he's free to bad mouth me, or even leave."
"No, someone had to say it. If he kept going like this, it'd be better if he just up and left." The eye-patched hunter gives Naofumi a stern look before peeking over to the beastman again. "Remember when we fought those bandits south of Trumpet? He got himself in deep trouble because he went against someone his own level, and he didn't think, or strategize with the rest of you. And he almost dragged all of you down if little Raphtalia here didn't think fast."
"Gaston was right, Master Naofumi. Even with Farkas' high level, he'll be more of a liability to us if he keeps taking needless risks in battle." Mein reaches her arm over Raphtalia's shoulders and guides the girl forward. "It'll be bad for everyone, especially little Raphtalia."
Naofumi looks over to Raphtalia, who finally lets go of Mein's clothes now they aren't threatened by an enraged beastman warrior. The girl's raccoon ears drooped down on her hair again, no doubt reminded of her overall helplessness in a melee fight. The Shield Hero gives a quick glance to Farkas, nods and scratches the girl's hair to comfort her.
"Gaston and Lady Mein are right. I should have said something earlier..." Kyubey suddenly stopped speaking, his one good arm flew up to his ear.
"What's wrong, Kyubey?"
The rabbit demi-human's long ears are standing on its end, twitching like his nose. "Quiet, I think I hear someone approaching."
Farkas looks up from where he slumps, and lets out a muffled grumble. "I don't smell anything."
"Quiet!" Kyubey warns again, this time slightly louder, and more forceful with his voice. The beastman doesn't interrupt him again. The rabbit demi-human closes his eyes, likely trying to focus more on his hearing by shutting out his sight. "Muffled steps of four, no, six people. They approach from the northwest."
The weapons of Éclair and Yatsuhashi instantly come into their hands as they stand up. The knight takes a step to assume her position in front of the only child. "Bandits?"
"I don't know. They are fast, but quiet." Kyubey opens his eyes and follows the example of the knight and the bodyguard. Now he has identified the intruder, there's apparently no need for him to focus on his hearing.
"Adventurers specialized in stealth, most likely. Bandits, highwaymen and raiders aren't known for their subtlety." Yatsuhashi gives his own two coppers, but he doesn't drop his weapon despite his prediction.
Everyone stands up on their feet at this point, either have their weapons branded, or into their respective fighting stance. Their food is forgotten for now.
Mein can feel cold sweat running down her hair, alongside the ridge of her nose as it slides into her eye. She blinks hard in an attempt to rid the sandy irritation. When she opens her eyes again, she sees there are indeed six figures approaching their camp site like revenants.
They wear dark green traveling cloaks, likely helping them blind into the forest environment, and the dead of the night. There appears to be no weapon on any of them, but a seasoned rogue or fighter can easily conceal smaller weapons underneath their thick traveling attire.
Yatsuhashi takes the initiative again as her Naofumi's sworn shield. The survivor of the Miyamoto clan takes two steps forward and speaks to the unidentified travelers. "Hands where we can see them, friends. And take off your hoods, slowly."
Mein briefly wonders what's the point of seeing the faces of the intruders. It's not like there's a good chance they'll recognize anyone out here in the middle of nowhere. Then, she realizes the bodyguard isn't worried about their faces, but the possible beastly features on them.
One can argue it's prejudiced, but the truth is a demi-human is more likely to be a lackey of the Bitch Lord. And in the case of a beastman in Melromarc... Well, that's a no brainer.
The unidentified travelers look at each other. One of them slowly begins to raise their empty hand up towards the cowl and the other five follow suit. The princess swallows a mouthful of thick air as she holds her breath. It might be her imagination, but the intruders seem to hold still for a second as their hands reach on the edge of their hood.
Then, the fabric comes off. And what graces the Shield Hero's party are six tired, weather beaten faces underneath mops of black, or brown hair. Not a single pair of fur covered ears, or horns present.
Mein releases the breath she's been holding. Granted, it's well known that some highly leveled beastmen of Siltvelt has the ability to change their shapes. But at best, these pureblood Beastmen can assume the shape similar to their mixed-blood cousins: the furless head and body of a man, with smaller animal features like ears, horns and tails still present.
Only two species of beastmen are known to have the full shape shifting ability that can completely hide their bestial nature: The royal house of the now destroyed Q'ten Lo and Yoko, the extremely rare variant of fox beastmen. There's practically no way they encounter six demon foxes from Siltvelt on their travels. Considering they belong to the priestly caste of Siltvelt, specializing in praying for bountiful harvest.
Say what one will about those barbaric animals, their caste system based on the strength of their subspecies makes it easy to expect what skill set you'll get when facing a Siltvelt animal.
Glamour casted with illusionary magic is equally as unlikely. It'd be much easier to make one's entire body invisible, but not as simple when they want to hide one specific feature. Too little magic is used, where it will either leave the targeted body part still visible or cause unnatural looking visual distortion. But too much magic channelled would also cause visual distortion, not to mention causing irritating magical reactions for the people they are trying to fool.
The chance of six master illusionists who can perfectly mask their animal-like features forming a single party is about the same as six demon foxes all leaving their rice shrines and traveling the world.
"I hope we aren't intruding on anything important, friends." The man leading the group smiles disarmingly at them from across the bonfire. "We are an adventuring group coming back from our quest on Griffin's Back mountain range. In our haste to return home for warm beds and meals, I'm afraid we misjudged our traveling schedule."
"Where are you all going?" Despite the other group's peaceful reply, the bodyguard isn't letting his weapon, or his guard down. He adds after a short pause like an afterthought. "I might know the way."
"That would be the guild's hall in Trumpet first, before we'll return to our homes and families with a fat stash of reward money."
"Speak for yourself, Towe. We'll take our shares for some good old fashioned drinking and whoring first. Am I right, boys?" Another man looks left and right towards his other companions, who all let out some spirited laughter. "What the missus doesn't know won't hurt her."
Towe? Not a name of Melromarc, Hibernia, Gallia, Albion, or Romalia origin she can think of. In fact, it sounds more like one of those gobbledygook names from Siltvelt tribes even less civilized for their own standard.
But then again, it could simply be a nickname between the group and she's trying too hard to find something out of nothing. It's not like Siltvelt would employ slaves as their spies across countries, considering how easy it is to inspect one's body for slavery seals.
"Trumpet, huh? I grew up in that town. Can't say I remember any of you." Yatsuhashi's fingers around Fulcrum tightens for a split second, before the tall young man returns to his slightly less rigid grip. "What's the quest you were on?"
"I'm sure you don't, good sir. None of us are from Whiterun County, we merely accepted our quest there." The man, now identified as 'Towe' slowly turns his head over his shoulders towards North, seemingly jumpy at whatever horror on the quest he's being reminded of. "Our quest was to spy on Waerjak, the Griffin King's kingdom. The raids on border villages are becoming bolder now with the ongoing Wave of Catastrophe, and the destruction of Silver Pass's protector, House Seatto."
Waerjak? She definitely saw this name somewhere. Was it one of her history, or geography text books, or somewhere else... hmm...she can't remember. Must not be that important if it's just the herd leader of a wild griffin nest she can't bothered to memorize.
Yatsuhashi doesn't give any verbal reply this time, he merely nods his head as he slowly backs his way towards the Shield Hero, eyes still trained on the new group. "I remember that quest posted in the guild's hall. So their story checks out, my thane. But you decide what to do with them."
The princess notices how Yatsuhashi didn't refer to her Naofumi by his name, and the pointy emphasis on his title. It's not hard to understand the young man's caution. The poor lighting can probably have the young interloper pass for a more boyish Romalian, but the unusual name 'Naofumi Iwatani' will draw most people's thought towards a summoned hero, if not give his identity right away.
Mein's eyes follow her Naofumi's head, as the young man slowly looks to one side, Kyubey and Gaston shake their heads. He turns to the other, Éclair and Raphtalia nod as Farkas simply growls. The Shield Hero pauses for a second, but his decision was already made beforehand. "It's free space, they can stay if they want. Not like we want to make a big fuss, chase them away, and bring attention to ourselves."
"We thank you for your kindness, stranger. And we understand your caution." Towe and his party pull their hood back up as they slowly backs away from the illumination of the bonfire. "We'll make our own camp, on the other side where you can see us. Don't worry, we'll come to your aid if the bandits fall upon you."
Mein trains her eyes on Towe's group as they slowly disappear to the other side of the ruined village as they promised. Despite the darkness, she occasionally picks a silhouette in the distance crouches down, or walking away. Possibly in an effort to build a second bonfire by the other group.
She lost count how much time passes as she stands guard with the rest of her Naofumi's group of misfits, feeling more and more like a punchline to a bad joke till a second bonfire lights up a good distance for them. Far enough the other group can't close in on them in the blink of an eye, unless they have someone with naturally high speed growth, and corresponding specialized class up. But not far enough, that her group would lose sight of them.
Not soon after, cheers, toasts, and off-key singing can be heard from the other side.
A loud sneeze brings Mein, and everyone else's attention back to their own group. The pot of their meal is spilled all over the dirt, as Firo is doing her best to lick away what can still be salvaged from the mess with her tongue.
She'd scold the gluttonous devil bird for this act, if not for the potentially dangerous group across the ruin. It seems others like Gaston and Farkas has similar ideas.
"NO! That's our dinner, you already had yours!" Raphtalia runs over to the crime scene. The small girl starts to hammer her even tinier fist on the huge, fat bird's plumage. Likely not doing any damage to the gluttonous devil bird at all, or even have Firo notice her. "Bad Firo, BAD FIRO!"
Firo turns around, knocking Raphtalia over on her rump. The bird's head bends back for a second, seemingly puzzled at finding Raphtalia beside her. Gaston's bird nudges over, and picks Raphtalia up by the back of her shirt's collar.
"I think we can relax with that group, at least a little." Naofumi looks left and right as he walks over to Raphtalia. He untangles his pet abominations from his armor, shoos them over to the girl, then produces some monster meat jerky with bread from his shield. "Sit tight, munch on some bread and meat, play around with Yuzus, Raphtalia. I'll wipe up a second pot."
"Cook your stew, boy. But don't take your eyes off that group. Something's not right with them." Mein's eyes move to Farkas, whose narrowed eyes are glaring harder at the other side of the village than he did at Gaston. "I didn't smell them at all while they approached. Still can't smell them well. Adventurers are easy to pick up with my nose, with their smell building up in the wild. Something's not right here."
"Could it be that they are using scent suppressing potions?" Éclair suggests, even if the dishonored knight neither sits down, nor returns her sword back to its sheath. "They did say they were going to spy on griffin kingdoms on the Griffin's Back mountain range."
"Possibly. But a scent suppression potion that can fool a Greyback's nose isn't cheap. Most adventurers just smear whatever strong scented gook they can get on their bodies to fool a monster's nose." The beastman turns his head for a brief second to look at the last Seatto. "Do they want to cut their profit?"
"You don't want to be cheap, when you are scouting for griffins on the Spine. Trust me, I know." Éclair shakes her head, Mein gets the impression she's narrowing her eyes once again. "Our castle is close to the mountain, and we had some griffins in our stable. Their noses are sharp, and they shoot through the sky like lightning when they pick your scent up. Coins are no good for adventurers, if they have no life to enjoy it."
Farkas simply sits down, no longer fighting Éclair over the point he raised.
"There's something else bothering me." Yatsuhashi opens his mouth this time. "I heard the rabbit people of Ivalice Forest have some of the best hearing on Medea. But Kyubey had trouble picking up their sound when they approached. He wasn't even sure how many people were in the group at first. That suggests a well trained stealth expert, but look and listen to them now."
Mein turns her attention towards the other bonfire once again. Sound of merriment can easily be picked up from within this ruined village, if not whoever that might lurk outside the village's range in the shadow. They sound no different than a group of drunken rabble from the most seedy bar in Melromarc Castle's underbelly.
"Do they look, or sound like someone who trained most of their lives to be stealth to you? Trust me, it's not easy to get over habits you've been specifically developing for most of your life." The gentle Sworn Shield's face is still calm, but a little dimple on the side of his face suggests he's chewing the inside of his mouth. "It's like they are being especially loud just for us."
"We were pretty cautious towards them." Naofumi raises his head up from his cooking pot after he dumps a second bag of mixed spices, meat, and vegetables inside. "Maybe they are doing this for us?"
"Maybe, but we are in the Bitch Lord's land." Yatsuhashi's eyes narrow at the other group. "Two bonfires suddenly lit up inside an abandoned village, and the sound of merriment can be heard across the ruin? That invites attention. They could be foolish amateur adventurers who don't know better, but it doesn't match how careful they covered their scent for their supposed quest."
It doesn't take one of Mother's trained Shadow to figure out the young man isn't fully convinced of this group's identity.
"More likely, they don't fear the Bitch Lord's men because they are in cohort with each other. It's not unheard of for a group of well established adventurers to cut a deal with a local bandit, and they leave each other alone. If they are who they say they are." The Shield Hero's sworn shield slowly edges his way to the other side of their bonfire, where the men would have to get through him first if they want to reach the others. "That, or they are trying to get our attention because they are planning something."
"Nothing good, either way." Naofumi sits the pot over their campfire, his expression turns grime at Yatsuhashi's hypothesis. The Shield Hero gives a quick sideways glance at Raphtalia, who has stopped playing with the toothy horrors currently feigning innocence at her feet. The child's eyes darted quickly between them, and Towe's party on the other side, no doubt alarmed. "Was I wrong this time? Should I tell them off?"
"They'd jump on us, if they planned something bad. They might jump us anyway if we spooked them." Gaston shakes his head, the former Melromarc ranger looks around other ways, at the boundless darkness outside the light of their camp. "And you weren't wrong when you said our fight would attract attention. That's the risk we had to take cutting through the Bitch Lord's land. I suggest we have two fighting men awake through the night, and we take three different over watch shifts."
The hunter turns to look at Farkas, the werewolf scowls back. "I'll do what I must."
"It'll have to do." Naofumi gives another peek at the mysterious group as he starts to stir the pot. Nobody talks as the Shield Hero cooks the second serving their belated meal, only the crackling of firewood, or the occasional growling stomach upset the oppressive silence covering their group like a thick blanket.
It might simply be something in Mein's head, but the incognito princess could have sworn this second pot took longer to cook than the first. It feels like something inside her head is breaking down like their firewood. For the umpteenth time, the princess cursed her queen mother, although for a different reason this time: If only the Shadows aren't only loyal to the queen of Melromarc, but to the entire royal family as well.
There's no doubt a Melromarc Shadow, if not an outright Lone Shadow tailing her since she volunteered to join her Naofumi on the second day of his summoning. She could really use the professional opinion of her silent observer right now. Yet the damn rat will not intervene, likely not even when she's in direct mortal danger. There certainly wasn't a Shadow suddenly appearing and snatches her away when she was facing against a newborn Outsider demi-god back on the plain outside Balafon. Not when she's almost crushed to death, and it was little Raphtalia of all people who saved her life!
Her lore on the now destroyed 'Judge of Heroes' nation is more than flimsy. But she learned, and remembered enough of her history lesson to remember the Melromarc Shadow was born from a small clan of renegade Q'ten Lo Kunoichi - female only members of the Shinobi, the Q'ten Lo's spy/assassin trained since birth - Even the new title they choose for themselves: shadows, is a spit in the face of their own culture. A 'Kage', Q'ten Lo word for shadow was considered the greatest title a Shinobi can achieve.
But wasn't safeguarding, and sometimes acting as a body double decoy of their liege part of a Shinobi's duty, in addition to stealing information, sabotage, and assassinations? That's certainly not a Melromarcian Shadow's job, at least under her mother's direction.
The sound of her Naofumi setting the pot down from the fire brings her back to the present. The Shield Hero is about to take bowls out of his shield when Yatsuhashi suddenly stands up. "I'll go get the bowls from our wagon."
Naofumi's brows are twisted at the bodyguard's needless action even as Kyubey moves to the other side of their fire. He has a look of realization when the towering young man returns with their spare bowls and spoons. The cautions Sworn Shield went through this motion to show the other group, in case they plan to do something specifically bad to a summoned hero.
The Shield Hero starts to scoop up the orange and gooey... stew? Gravy? The 'curry' covered meat and vegetables into everyone's bowels. He turns around, pretending to pick bread out of his traveling bag as he mumbles to himself. "Well, it's just regular bread and not Nan... but this is probably not real curry either..."
It takes Mein a few moments to work through the puzzling words and realize he's unconsciously mumbling knowledge from his world again. She quickly leans over and whispers directly into Naofumi's ears. "No otherworldly knowledge, Master Naofumi."
The Shield Hero freezes up for a moment, he whips his head over to look at Towe's group. The enigmatic travelers are still reveling, loud as ever. Naofumi looks back at Mein and gives her a nod and whispers. "Thanks."
The princess nods her head back at the young interloper. She picks up her bowl, and starts to mix the hard traveling bread together with its content. The food has an almost sandy taste on her tongue, and slowly becomes hotter and spicier as she eats. Now she knows why Naofumi's dumb bird had a mother of all sneeze. It's an unusual taste compared to what she's used to as a royal head chef, but not bad.
The other members of their party mostly eat in silence while Éclair and Yatsuhashi still stand on guard with their weapons drawn. Raphtalia helps out Farkas in between stuffing her own face. The two of them sit down after Kyubey and Gaston finish their meal, and takes over guard duty.
Éclair takes off her pot helmet and sets it aside. She pauses for a short moment and sets her meal down to bow to the rabbit demi-human. "I never thanked you for speaking up and defending my fa-Lord Seatto's honor, Sir Kyubey."
"No thanks needed, my lady. The late Lord Uther doesn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud." The crippled demi-human doesn't turn to face the last Seatto, but not out of rudeness. He is nowhere as formidable a swordsman as Éclair yet, but the former shopkeeper is as diligent as a guard as the dishonored knight.
The last Seatto does not go into his meal like Naofumi's bodyguard. She simply stares into her bowl, as if the little container has all the mysteries of the Endless Ether within. "Even when he shrunk away from his duty?"
The rabbit demi-human doesn't say anything back, until Raphtalia helps Farkas finish his meal, and the large werewolf stands up to take over his watch. The emotionless rabbit man sits down besides Éclair. "Who told you that?"
"Cute, the daughter of Lord Reichnott. It was on that night we stayed in Lord Whiterun's castle." The knight looks up at the former shopkeeper. "She told me that Lord Reichnott called aid from Lord Seatto when Bitch Lord was going to raid their land. Fa-Lord Seatto promised aid, but no help came on the day of the raid. A Lord Paramount has a duty to all the people of their province, not only their own land, and Lord Seatto didn't fulfill it."
"Lady Reichnott wasn't lying, but she didn't speak... or know the full story." Kyubey closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Lord Uther didn't send help to Lord Reichnott, because Siltvelt's Prideland organized one of the largest raiding parties since the Great War under the command of their strongest war chief, Grommash Hellscream and besieged Fort Wolf's Mouth. If Lord Uther didn't reinforce the garrison, we'd lost the gate of our nation and it would be much more than Reichnott County that suffered."
Éclair looks up at the rabbit demi-human, mouth agape yet no words come out of her mouth.
"Lord Uther died as he had lived: with his duty and honor intact. At least take solace in that, my lady." Kyubey's voice is as flat as the day he first met the Shield Hero, yet the last Seatto doesn't seem to mind. "It was the Hirata family who built Harp from a fishing village into the most prosperous trading port city, true. But House Seatto is the reason demi-humans like us had a home to build in the first place. If they were like most other Melromarc noble houses, they'd have taken all the riches from the Hirata family, scattered them to the wind or turned them into slaves. Never doubt that."
"Th-thank you. Thank you!" Éclair's face dips down, as she wipes away at tears dangling over her eyes. "I, I appreciate it."
Mein bites her lips as she watches the rabbit demi-human giving some of the most flat sounding comforting words to Éclair, yet successfully bringing the Seatto heiress to tears. She had wanted to do something like this to her Naofumi when he revealed something more significant about his world. If only the damn wolfman didn't interrupt her!
She looks over to the young man piling over all the bowls, to the other group who is still drinking wildly on the other bonfire and back to the Shield Hero again. Perhaps, it's still not too late to add some of her words in? The princess slowly edges close to her Naofumi, till the two of them sit shoulder by shoulders, and the Shield Hero looks up to her. "About what you said earlier, I don't think you were being stupid at all."
Naofumi looks confused for a few seconds, obviously not connecting Mein's word with what he said due to the outburst from Farkas, the confession from Gaston, and the meeting with Towe's group afterwards. Realization slowly dawns over his face, as the young hero remembered his own words. "Thank you."
His response certainly isn't anywhere as emotional as Éclair, the Shield Hero probably assumed Mein is merely giving him some placating words to make him feel better. "Just because your country was the instigator, doesn't make what others did okay. I am known as a Melromarcian. We were the one who started 'The Great War', technically."
The wooden bowls in Naofumi's hand dropped onto the ground. He still manages to keep his voice somewhat down, so not even the rest of the party can't hear him. "What? How? I thought you guys were conquered?"
"I read through the record of Lord Ascart, thanks to Father's job." Mein pulls Naofumi's head close to her, so no one else overhears their conversation. She's very thankful for the utter brilliance of her new fake identity. Now she's the daughter of a noble's scribe and maid, she gets to reveal more information a peasant girl won't be privy to. "And the real history is much more complicated... and long."
The Shield Hero looks over to his companions first, then to the other group who seems to finally start winding down, and ready to turn in for the night. "We have time, I suppose."
"To begin from the start, Siltvelt wasn't a nation in the same sense of Melromarc and Faubley. With them comprised of different beastman clans, they are more like an alliance of smaller countries and nomadic tribes, strong and weak all serving under their one god king, the Shield Hero." The princess carefully looks at the Shield Hero, who seems to be paying attention to her words. "This was changed last Wave when Mikage Mikami proclaimed himself their god emperor, and accepted by the beastman. And he reshaped Siltvelt into the strongest, most terrifying empire Medea has ever seen under his reign. He even destroyed Q'ten Lo, the self-proclaimed 'Judge of Heroes', the one nation who is supposed to keep the heroes in check."
"Yeah, I got that much." Naofumi nods his head along with his pinched face, obviously not happy hearing about the predecessor whose exploit made his life much more difficult.
"The empire he forged started crumbling after his death by the Martyr of Bow, Shirou Emiya at the end of the last wave. Without their living God Emperor, the beastman of Siltvelt are slowly going back to their own ways: Clan Heads of the Great Houses, and Chieftains of the Tribes fighting everyone secretly, or openly for power." Mein fights the urge to shake her head with disapproval. All those powers in themselves and their nation, yet the animals found nothing better than to fight among themselves for supremacy. Perhaps one shouldn't expect too much from mere animals walking like men. "But their army was still the strongest, and at the height of its power, the Siltvelt Empire's land compressed most of the current free cities. The defense pact of Zeltoble Free Alliance was all Empire land, and Shiltfreeden sworn their fealty as vassal of Siltvelt again for fear of their army."
"Shiltfreeden... wasn't that the other demi-human nation in this world?" Naofumi taps his finger on the side of his face. "Are they at least better than Siltvelt?"
"They were established by the lower caste beastman, and mistreated demi-human from Siltvelt after an exodus. I'll tell you more if you are interested, but let's keep to our topic now." The princess glances again to the other camp, most of the six travelers are lying down now, only a single silhouette sits near the fire acting as their night watch. "Twenty five years ago, the royal family of Melromarc entered into a secret agreement with the royal family of Faubley. Both nations will attack Siltvelt Empire on opposite front. The different clans of Siltvelt, and its great army won't respond all at once until it's too late. It should crumble most of the new land the Empire won over the last forty years, humble them, and stop them from encroaching on Melromarc and Faubley land."
"Sounds like a plan. Guess things didn't happen exactly." Naofumi nods his head along at Mein's recount of the events, obviously engrossed by the story.
"You don't know the half of it." Mein bites her lips and fights against another wave to shake her head, this time at her own mother. Trusting her distant cousin King Egbert to keep his words... mother was quite foolish in her youth. Then again, she also let the influence of Three Heroes Church run rampant without any check, so it appears not a lot has changed. "Two things happened. First, a secret war amongst the noble houses in Faubley broke out between two self proclaimed Dark Lords: Lord Subal Mudbalrode, and Lord Voldemort. Their secret war stopped Faubley from actually mobilizing their army and open a second front on Siltvelt like they promised."
At least, that was the excuse her uncle Egbert gave to mother afterwards. Privately, the princess doubted the supposed Faubley Secret War was as gruesome as they described. Considering the vein nation is still the proclaimed 'Nation of Heroic Bloodlines', both Dark Lords must be colossal idiots absolutely abysmal at their job, if their attempt to cull the herd still didn't slim it down enough to stop Faubley high society's inbreed competition.
"No doubt the Faubley King's plan: have his two biggest competitors bloody each other. He'll step in later, and knock down both his rivals." The princess is once again reminded of her chosen hero's acute political sense when he forgot his naivety. The irony of him being possibly as strong and terrifying a hero king as his predecessor, if he had Mikage's ruthlessness. "Or maybe I'm thinking only about the bad things for the nobles again. I know there are good ones, like Éclair's family. It's hard to think them well, when I heard so many bad things..."
The princess looks down even as Naofumi gives an apologetic smile to a befuddled looking Éclair. Right, he also has a not completely unfounded distaste for high society. Mein tries her best to focus on the topic at hand. "The second snag came, when one of the attendants of Melromarc army's commander Princess Mirellia betrayed her, and twisted her orders. Instead of letting the children of the conquered beastman clans go, she had them all put to the sword because she was convinced that 'these animal spawns will only grow up to hate Melromarc, if they are let go.'"
"The, the children?" Naofumi's words are shaking, his breath on Mein's face feels cold. "Everyone of them?"
"Yes, every child the Melromarc army came across." Mein nods her head to confirm the Shield Hero's fear.
Privately, she doesn't see anything wrong with mother's former attendant Karen Bowman's thought process. Leaving the young animals alive WILL only make them grow up hating Melromarc and calling for vengeance. Not to mention they could quickly grow into adults and join the fight if they somehow manage to level up enough through the war. But killing everyone on your path when you are moving in and picking a fight against a stronger military? Not the smartest thing to do.
"Once words reached the councils of Siltvelt, the beastman leaders were quick to unite against their now common enemy. The safety of their children was one of the few things they could agree upon." Mein almost rolled her eyes when she thought about the utter hypocrisy of the animals. Outsiders don't get to kill our children, but we'll happily bed our own daughters or sisters to 'produce strong heirs', or quickly grow our son up and ship them to war. Filthy savages!
"So, in short. Instead of having two fronts against a scattered, disorganized enemy for a quick humbling. Your nation picked a fight against a rallied, enraged superior foe thirst for revenge by yourself. Because the attendant of the princess commander was a racist idiot, and the ally she counted on was a backstabbing snake. I can't imagine..." One hand slowly lowers onto Naofumi's face with a loud slap. "...no, wait. I can totally see it. There's plenty stupid shit happening back in my world too. What happened next, and what happened to this 'Princess Mirellia'."
"The Melromarc army was quickly crushed, and the iron boots of Siltvelt marched forward, leading to a brutal five years occupation for most of Melromarc. Until the Clan Head of Siltvelt's White Tiger clan kidnapped Princess Lucia of Faubley in a peace negotiation, finally leading to the unification of warring Faubley noble houses and Faubley joining The Great War. But by this point, most of Melromarc was in ashes and dusts." The princess can't fault her Naofumi's contempt towards the recent history of her world. Not when she herself thinks she could have done much better under the circumstances. Or maybe it's only hindsight speaking. "As for Princess Mirellia. She's the current reigning queen of our nation, after The Great War claimed the lives of her mother Queen Lianne, and sister Princess Margaret."
Naofumi sits back, looking as glum as if he just ate something rotten. "Figures. The innocent people get hurt. And the people committed atrocities get to have the last laugh. It's always the same."
The princess feels somewhat conflicted at her Naofumi's response. On the one hand, she's glad that he is drifting further and further from mother's possible influence. Sadly, his contempt towards her queen mother seems to grow together with his animosity for the nobility as a whole. Not a good position for her to be in for her eventual reveal of her identity, especially when she aims to become the next queen. Will he look past all of her ambitions and still sees her as his first companion, or will he see her as just another noble, possibly the worst of them for her aspiration?
Regardless, she needs to finish what she started. Or she had just made her situation worse without gaining anything in return. "You were not being stupid with your outburst. No matter what the nobles did for their gain, the people are innocent. So don't feel bad about what you thought."
The Shield Hero remains silent for a while, he finally lets out two words. "Thank you."
It's the same he spoke at the start. But this time, there's more weight and sincerity behind them. It's clear her Naofumi actually meant the words, and not saying it to quickly dismiss her. She would be grateful if he could say the same, once she reveals who she really is, and her plan for the future. "Queen Mirellia have daughters now, one of them is an adult. Maybe we can-"
"She'll probably be worse." Naofumi practically cuts down Mein's suggestion by spitting out his words. "I'm no historian. But most monarch family gets worse every generation because of their pampered lifestyle, and sheer fucking hubris. It's safer for us if we just stay in Samphor together after the Wave is finished."
"...You are right." Mein recoils back into herself. Foiled by her own treachery again, she should have expected that. She should be grateful for Naofumi's implied commitment to stay with her after the Wave of Catastrophe, as not every summoned hero choose to remain on Medea soil after the conclusion of the crisis. But will he remain faithful to her, when he learns that she IS the daughter of the royal family he despises so much?
"The other camp is quiet for a while now, we can't keep scaring ourselves and keep awake." Kyubey's emotionless words ring around their campsite. "We'll be too tired to defend ourselves, if they do try something early in the morning."
"Very well, I'll take the first watch." Naofumi turns around to look at his group of misfit turned adventuring party. "Too much on my mind, I can't sleep like this."
"I'll join you, Master Naofumi." Mein quickly adds after the Shield Hero. Staying up late won't be good for her skin or hair, but it's too late to worry about that when she already has a huge cursed scar on her. She'd feel safest staying on the night watch with her Naofumi anyway. "Just let me go take my business first."
"I'll come with you." Éclair quickly stands up to her feet. It started out as pure deception and manipulation, but it's admittedly good to know she's slowly gaining actual loyalty from the last Seatto.
"No, stay with the main group. I won't be far, and I'll be on the opposite side of them." The princess walks away from their bonfire towards one bush not too far away from their camp. Not far enough from the rest of the party where they can quickly come to her aid if she's jumped by bandits, but still have enough coverage for her to do her business in relative privacy.
It might be the general cold of the night, but the princess can feel her skin crawl as she steps further away from the group. She whips around when feels a gust of air sliding across the back of her neck like a blade, only to find nothing changed with her Naofumi's party, or Towe's.
The princess berates herself at being so jumpy all of sudden. She was about to lower herself down and strip when a bug seemed to sting the back of her neck. Mein wants to reach back to rub the bug bite, but quickly finds herself face down in a ditch.
A single raven feather slowly falling down is the last thing she sees, before everything turns dark.
End Note:
Have I mentioned that I'm an absolute red princess (haha) when it comes to villain redemption stories?
Anyways, while I didn't plan to have Gaston be the (positive) foil to Farkas from the start, this scene between Gaston and Farkas was planned pretty early after I decided to expand Gaston's role. Almost as soon as I decided to have Gaston be the guide to Naofumi on this quest to go to Seatto land. I think it's a nice flip to the canon Disney's Beauty and Beast, where now Gaston is the good guy who learned a lesson for his own arrogance, and does his best to correct it. While another 'beast' is the unrepentant arrogant one, and is called out by Gaston of all people.
On Gaston's expanded backstory about his mother being a peasant girl who achieved her dream of becoming a scribe but neglected her family. It's actually inspired from a joke from a commentor on Filmento's 2021 Cruella video. They joked about can't wait for the Gaston origin movie, where it's revealed that his mother was crushed to death by a bookshelf and that's why he doesn't want Bella to keep reading and be a proper house wife (will never happen, because Gaston is a dude therefore doesn't fit Disney's current woke agenda). I tweaked this joke around to invent a backstory for Gaston, which I think personally explains why he acted the way he did in canon, without it simply 'because he's a misogynist macho man because reasons'.
And after over 50 whopping chapters... the Siltvelt Raven mentioned at the start of the story finally make their appearance in this chapter. I can be surprisingly patient (or absent minded, probably the lateral) when I want to be. We'll see the full effect next chapter.
I noticed two somewhat common misconception for last chapter in reviews. No doubt, most of it is due to my own incompetence as a writer to properly have the characters express their own points. Some it is because I'm trying to have the characters talk in their own 'character' instead of exposition box (which is just a symptom of me being incompetent in the first place). But to clarify:
Naofumi isn't saying US' foreign occupation on his country is exactly as slavery back in southern US. He's trying to say he sees the spirit as the same, where someone with stronger military/economics gets to do whatever they wanted with a defeated foe/weaker without repercussion. Of course, even this opinion also shows his ignorance/willing omission about how if Imperial Japan won WW2, they'd most likely do much worse to US. While Naofumi's opinion in my story generally comes from a moralistic/virtuous point, he is in fact not always right and he does have his own bias and prejudices.
Likewise, Aldrecht isn't saying he oppose the idea of abolishing slavery system. He's telling Naofumi to not be blind to the unforeseen negative consequence of an will meaning action, and don't automatically assume all good/moral/virtuous decisions will bring good result. And considering he lives in a world where magic induced slavery has been around for a few millennia (and as implied by Malty and other character, already had more than one failed abolish attempts), I think it makes sense that he can only see the immediate downside of abolishing this system without any possible long term good effect.
Obviously, even with this clarification everyone should still be free to feel whatever you feel about their specific opinion. But I hope this help clear things up a bit.
Guest review time.
To LaBahia/Guest:
Hope my end note cleared up a few things.
I generally agree with what you said in your review, although I think you are a bit too idealistically/romantically about a bottom up revolution. History has shown again and again, that the revolutionist tend to be a bunch of unthinking mobsters that just burn down the existing structure with less idea about what, and how to put things back together. Sure, some stable order tend to eventually come out, because utter chaos/anarchy isn't the natural state of a state especially when it has foreign enemies ready to prey on its weakness. And often times the new order at least fix some of the issues from the old order that got torn down. But the people who put together the new order isn't always the original revolutionist, and I personally don't think they should always deserve the credit of 'things got better' from someone else's work.
Not to say a top down reform is otherwise the way to go. Because a top down reform will inevitably face resistance of the social elite class who benefit from the status quo. At the end of day, all changes will inevitably bring negative consequence in the short term because of political instability, and I personally see this issue as different method with different trade offs, rather than 'right way' vs 'wrong way'.
I agree with the statement from a Chinese professor, where she said something that can be roughly translate into 'Leaders who bring benefit long into future, are often criminals of their present'.
One thought on your review structure, please for the love of Uncle Sheogorath break your review into paragraphs. It's physically painful to the eye to read a giant block wall of text with a few dozen lines.
To HeshGerlan:
Thank you very much for all your responses to my story. Not sure when, or if you'll see my response to your last review. But really, I'm the one who is honored that you think my story is good enough to spend your time and review on.
The stories you brought up sounds interesting, and I may check them out when I have the time.
Can't guarantee what'll happen, especially with my history of losing interest and dropping my own planned long stories. All I can say is I am definitely having a blast with this one, and is pretty proud of what I did so far despite numerous screw ups and regret I had for earlier chapters. I'll definitely give my best for this story, as I do hope I can eventually inspire a much better writer who'll take a crack at this idea of GoT like political drama set in RotSH universe.
