Several days have passed after gaining my armour, my party and I continued travelling across the countryside, visiting several villages, completing several quests, lending our assistance, and gaining power, which is good considering that the waves are coming up in a few days' time.

And during that time, I reached to level 25, with both Louis and Melia at level 23 and level 24 respectively, and little Lars would be level 22, which is decent. Along with that, I gained several new spears with new attacks to use, and one of my new favourites, [Chaos Spear], allows me to take on multiple enemies at once. Oddly enough, I haven't had any nightmares since that night, which is good as I need to focus on the task at hand.

If there is a 'Law Spear' in the skill tree, I will laugh.

As we walked through the plains before the capital of Melromarc, I growl snapped me out of my thoughts as I saw a balloon come at me with the speed of a dog, and I retaliated against it with a backhand, causing it to traverse into a nearby tree, with a branch piercing the balloon, making it pop.

Wow, a half-assed backhand caused a monster to be impaled like a Turk in Wallachia?

I shrugged my shoulders as I looked behind to see the rest of my party following closely behind, with Lars appearing bigger. When I first met Lars, he would've been the size of a pup, and now that he's grown, he's now the size of an adult malamute.

I then knelt down and gave a scratch behind Lars' ears, much to his delight as he lets out a few whimpers at my touch. Despite wearing a pair of gauntlets, my hand felt cold when rubbing against Lars' fur, much to my confusion. It's not night at the moment, and we're definitely not in a snowy region, so it could possibly mean something more supernatural.

I'll ask the resident spellcaster when we either set up camp or get to a village of some description.

Rustling grass caught my attention as I turned to see a black-haired man clad in green cloth and a silver shield on his arm. By his side was a young woman with dog-like ears on top of her long brown hair.

Hang on…Isn't that Iwatani?

Ya know what? Fuck it.

"Yo Iwatani," I called out with the black-haired man as he snapped his head over towards my direction, with relief at knowing it was me. He then walked over to me with the young woman following behind him as he stood face-to-face, his face tense but acknowledging my presence.

"Thomas, nice to see you again," Iwatani stated with a tone that reminded me of Nagisa's father and his associates, mainly speaking in business and professionalism.

Scary motherfuckers let me tell ya. They could make me disappear is they wanted to.

My crimson orbs wondered from Iwatani's green towards the young woman's tea-red eyes as Iwatani looked towards the woman. He made a gesture as the young woman nodded and bowed before me.

Heh, traditional Japanese alright.

"I'm Raphtalia. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Thomas." She introduced herself as I nodded and gave a bow as well, much to Iwatani's amusement.

What? Because I was raised in Ireland for most of my life, doesn't mean I know of Japanese practices, I just don't use them outside of important people like my grandparents or the Akatani patriarch.

"I take it you used the money wisely?" I asked the shield-bearer as he nodded at my question.

"Yeah. A slave trader in Castle Town sold me Raphtalia for a reasonable price, albeit with a cold and nightmares, but she managed to work past that." Iwatani stated as I nodded as the rest of my party came to me.

"Hello shield hero." Louis greeted as he gave a wave while Melia nodded towards his direction while acknowledging her presence. Lars wondered over to both Iwatani and Raphtalia, sniffing both before giving soft headbutts against both of them, much to my amusement.

"Ya like those two, Lars?" I questioned as he parked himself and bobbed his head. Hmm, Lars must be gaining more human-like intelligence or something like that.

"Anyways, what are ya doing in this neck of the woods? Gaining levels? Collecting materials for quests and empowerment? Or something else?" I questioned as I relaxed a bit, enough so I don't pop a migraine or something stupid like that.

"I'm mainly making different kinds of medicine and going through my materials to see what I can use. Raphtalia is mainly sharpening her skills and assisting me before heading back into Castle Town. What about you?" Iwatani explained to me as I nodded my head.

He would've made one hell of a businessman. For both law and criminal kind.

"As for my group, we headed to different villages and offering our assistance and gaining more power. Hell, through helping out someone, I gained this snazzy armour and cloth from a blacksmith and his wife. We also somehow managed to gain a house near an abandoned mine, though I did have to bury a corpse." I answered back, with Iwatani raising an eye at the mention of a corpse.

"Sounds like you had a fun time here." Iwatani bluntly spoke out as I shrugged my shoulders as a loud growl echoed throughout the area. My crimson orbs went near Melia as a blush erupted on her features. Louis looked embarrassed as I had to stifle in a laugh so the spellcaster didn't die of embarrassment.

Looks like the supply run is being rescheduled at a later time today, food comes first.

"Anyways. Iwatani, wanna join us at a pub? My treat." I asked as he hummed for a solid minute before nodding his head. He then cleaned up his materials with the assistance of Raphtalia before walking with us.

As we walked over to the pub in question, Melia and Raphtalia began talking to each over almost immediately, Louis walks alongside Lars while the people glared at Iwatani while giving me heartfelt looks.

After a while, all of us reached the pub Melia introduced me to. The solid building looked the same as it did as was the interior, much to my amusement as when someone came up, they took one look at me and a blush erupted on her face.

"Mind if I take one of the booths in the corner?" I asked as she nodded before leading all of us to a booth, and one by one, all of us were seated. Before taking our orders, the waitress looked at Iwatani with caution in her dark eyes.

"Uh, sir spear hero, are you sure you want to associate with the shield hero?" she asked with worry in her words, with which I brushed off.

"Don't worry about that, lass. If Iwatani tries any funny business, I'll beat his ass into a fine paste." I stated as she looked relieved before taking our orders, before bowing and heading off.

Iwatani shot me a half-glare with me retaliating with a lazy grin, with our respective female companions looking bemused while Louis and Lars just look content.

Also, how the fuck hasn't Lars been kicked out yet? Are these people blind or something?

I'm tempted to think it's because I'm the spear hero; Thomas motherfucking Anders, but that may seem quite pompous, even by my standards.

"So, how's ya training been, Iwatani?" I asked as I leaned forward, gloved fingers interlocking and peering into Iwatani's green orbs.

"When I started out, it was tough considering I had basically nothing but basic equipment, and when I brought Raphtalia, she had chronic nightmares and a cold that limited her strength, and it never really got easier. With some assistance and unlocking some shields, I managed to conjure a healing potion for her cold, and business became slightly easier from there onwards." He stated as I nodded my head.

Well, he managed to deal with his shit cards quite effectively, something Motoyasu and I like to see in gamers and people alike.

"That's good to hear, considering I was a bit worried that ya would've been found dead in a ditch because of lynch mobs," I spoke back as I recalled a story back within the UK.

From what my father had said, during the early 90s, a young boy was killed in a barbaric way. When his killers were found, and it was discovered that those two were ten years old, to say that the populace was pissed would be a fucking understatement.

In short, lynch mobs are fucking scary, and it seems that Iwatani agrees with me as he nods his head with a slight shiver crawling up his spine.

"What about you, Thomas? Did anything interesting happen to you?" Iwatani questioned with intrigue laced within his words.

I just shrugged my shoulders as I thought about what my group has been up to.

"Well, ya know about my armour and the addition of Lars. We also acquired an abandoned house that's connected to a mineshaft. Although Louis and I had to dispose of a body, did some monster-slaying and collecting of both information and materials for different villages." I answered as we talked about our lives before becoming heroes, mainly him going to university and my studies to become a coroner.

After a while, I heard some footsteps, and when I turned my head around, I saw a woman with shoulder-length hair wearing clothing reminiscent of a yukata and a pair of boots walking past me before I felt some weight within my hand.

When I looked at her, she turned her head and I saw dark eyes and the hints of a smirk in her face before walking off and disappearing within the crowd, causing me to rub my eyes.

When I looked within my palm, there was a piece of paper neatly folded and…weighty?

Huh, didn't know that a single piece of paper can feel so weighty. When I unwrapped the paper, I saw some fancy calligraphy that wasn't in English or in the Melromarc language, but oddly, was in Japanese, despite the Melromarc language being very foreign to someone like me.

'How the hell?' I thought as I read through the piece, my mind translating things for me.

"Anders, I believe that it's time that we once again meet. I suggest that we shall meet tonight at the Beloukas' tent, as he is a trustworthy individual, despite his practices. It's a massive tent, so it should be easy to find and Beloukas himself should be nearby.

Best of luck, Thomas Anders.

-Shiki."

So, I know what I'm doing tonight, other than having a drink or two with Iwatani before the waves crash downwards. I shrugged my shoulders before refolding the piece of paper and shoving it into my pocket as the same waitress came to us with some food.

"Enjoy." She said with a smile as she handed out each plate of food to an individual person.

My group got what we ordered last time, while Iwatani and Raphtalia decided to go with a stir fry-like meal with a Japanese-looking flag on top, courtesy of Iwatani with Raphtalia's eyes practically beaming in joy.

A smirk came onto my face as I dug into my food, with all of us silent during the whole affair.

-TimeSkip-

A few hours passed after lunch, with the sun nearly gone over the hills, the world seemed peaceful.

After having lunch, Louis, Melia, and I went to different stores to both sell and get materials for the oncoming wave, mainly healing potions and upgrading the equipment for both of my party members. Louis did some maintenance on his sword and did some enhancements for his vestments using some materials we collected. Melia decided to get herself a new staff and the same enhancements to her dress as Louis did to his vestments.

Magic is bullshit at times, let me tell ya. But it works.

"Now, where the fuck is this tent?" I muttered to myself as I wandered through the empty streets, trying to find this fucking tent-looking thing Shiki told me about, and much to my frustration, no luck so far.

As the urge to deck someone or something in the throat started to bubble within, I felt something on my shoulder. As I turned my head, I was face-to-face with a crow with beady red eyes and three feet, oddly enough.

"Yatagarasu?" I muttered as I recalled the myth from Japan, as it shook its body before launching itself off my armoured shoulder, turned around and just…hovered there. With a movement of its neck, it gestured to me, and I just nod my head.

As I began to follow the Yatagarasu-like creature throughout the back alleys of the town, one thing that caught my attention was the fact that there was a dark aura coming off the creature, but it felt…comforting…in a weird way. After a while, I found myself facing a circus-like tent tucked within a discreet location, with an older man coming outside the tent and towards my direction.

"Ah! There he is!" he joyfully spoke out as several crows began fluttering towards a single point, and that formed a familiar face. A smirk appeared on my face once again.

There ya are, Shiki.

"It's nice meeting you once again, Anders." Was their first words as the Yatagarasu-like creature beelined back to the mysterious person, and the only way I could describe it, the Yatagarasu-like creature merged with Shiki's body.

…This world is fucking weird, and I love it.

"Right back at ya, Shiki," I answered back as I walked up to the duo, noticing that the man was shorter than both Shiki and me, much to my amusement. The older man (who introduced himself as Beloukas the trader) gestured to the tent with a smile on his face before walking towards the tent, with Shiki following behind and myself walking with them.

While walking behind them, I noticed that Beloukas would be roughly Kawasumi's height of 155 cm while I think Shiki is roughly 172 cm, so probably slightly taller than my own mother, who is 170 cm.

I swear tallness runs deeply within both of my families, considering that Uncle Yoshitaka is 188 cm, and my grandfather Taiga is 195 cm while my father is 183 cm, and his father is 186 cm.

As the three of us entered the tent, loud growling echoed throughout the area, prompting me to tense my muscles in case of a fight, the tuxedo-clad man shook his head as he continued onwards throughout the cages, the ever-silent Shiki following closely behind. I slung Krishna onto my back once more and shoved my gauntlet-covered hands into my pockets and followed once more, tuning out the growls.

"Talk about friendly business," I remarked as Beloukas chucked out from my comment as the three of us headed to an office-like section, with a wooden table in the centre with a map on it and several other trinkets I can't name. I leaned against a cabinet as Beloukas took a seat and Shiki stood there.

"Okay, so what happened that needs my attention?" I asked as I crossed my arms across my chest, eyeing the masked person as they began talking.

"The reason why I called you is for a simple update of what's been happening, especially with how the world handled Melromarc's summoning of the heroes." Shiki began before talking about what's been happening.

When the four of us were summoned roughly a month ago, it caused a lot of disputes between Melromarc and the other countries as apparently each country was meant to only summon one hero, not all four in one country. That strain only continued once word got out of how Iwatani was treated, partially the demi-human countries.

Basically, it's a political shitstorm and nightmare rolled into one, and it's in the middle of a world-ending catastrophe.

Fuck my life.

After Shiki finished explaining what's been happening, I took a deep breath before turning to Beloukas, with him grinning as he peered into my crimson orbs.

"Yo, Beloukas. Got any whiskey?" I asked as he looked surprised for a second before disappearing for a moment before returning with a bottle and some glasses, much to my surprise.

"Yes, I do indeed, spear hero! This very bottle was given to me by a rather suave gentleman named Johnathan Walker a while ago! His products are quite consistent as well!" Beloukas proclaimed as he poured both himself and I a glass of whiskey, and offered some to Shiki, who politely declined on the basis of "No drinking on the job."

Whatever you say, Shiki.

The older man handed me one glass with a delicate touch before grasping his own glass before extending it towards me, and I did the same once I understood what he was offering. With a slight motion, the two glasses lightly clinked together, the amber liquid sloshing slightly.

While Beloukas took somewhat massive gulps of the whiskey, I preferred to savoured mine and take smaller mouthfuls of the amber liquid as the slight warm sensation at the back of my throat.

Well, holy fuck, this is surprisingly good, especially considering that while I do rarely drink, I passionately believe that alcohol is much tastier and more enjoyable with good friends and family.

Heh, good times. Especially when I drank with Motoyasu in Japan or with Max, Ashley and Sam being the driver back in Ireland.

I shook my head as I enjoyed the whiskey, and before long, my glass was empty. With a satisfied sigh, I got up and stretched my muscles before looking at Beloukas and Shiki.

"I think it's time I headed off; I need some sleep for the wave tomorrow," I stated as Beloukas nodded his head while packing up the bottle as Shiki bowed their head before disappearing within a burst of crows, leaving only dark feathers on the ground.

Despite this being a fantasy world, I'll never get used to crow-based teleportation.

I bid my farewell to Beloukas as I headed away from the circus-like tent towards the inn I'm staying in for the night. A yawn escaped my throat as I lightly grasped my cross around my head.

"I'll need strength for tomorrow." I prayed quietly to myself as I walked along the silent back-alleys, anticipation slowly building within myself for the upcoming battle.

A/N: And that's the 13th chapter of the Dragoon Hero completed.

This chapter is probably the longest I've written, which is neat.

Thomas and his group had met up with Naofumi and Raphtalia after nearly a month of gathering strength, enjoyed a meal in a pub together and collected materials for the wave, and Thomas meeting up with Beloukas and Shiki to discuss current events within the world before sharing a glass of whiskey together.

If anyone is familiar with the Vermillion Bird, the White Tiger, the Black Turtle and the Azure Dragon (or known as Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu), who do you think represents who with Naofumi, Ren, Itsuki and Thomas?

It's got me thinking of an idea for the future with regards to the heroes, but it's just an idea for now.

Anyways, I'll see ya when the next chapter is posted.

Chao.