Naofumi Iwatani, Megumin, Satou Kazuma. Fanfiction 3. Chapter 12:

Reichnott's mansion got three simultaneous arrivals. The return of the mansion's Lord, a rider less carriage dragged by 4 filolials, and Iris carrying a green haired girl in her arms while awkwardly trying to comfort her. However more pressing matters were developing in a secret spot, located in a forest. The pressing matter, 100 hungry filolials staring longingly at the meal being eaten by their queen, Fitoria, and her guests.

"OK! ENOUGH OF THIS! IF YOU WANT ME TO PREPARE YOU GUYS SOME FOOD, BRING ME A BUNCH OF INGREDIENTS AND THE BIGGEST POTS YOU GOT!" Naofumi commanded as he finally relented to the 200 eyes staring hungrily at him.

The moment the filolials heard his command they sprinted off in all directions, and after a few minutes they returned with some giant pots and a bunch of different ingredients just perfect for a stew. Some of them even brought properly chopped up firewood, with some dried heather.

"Where did they get all of that in such a short time?" Megumin questioned.

"They learn quite easily what is tasty around in the forest and what is not, and some of the older ones know how to chop wood with their claws, as well as what easily burns," Fitoria explained as she ate a spoonful of Naofumi's food, not giving off much of a reaction, other than closing her eyes.

"Well I better get started with this," Naofumi stated as he started to prepare the food. After having fed both his party and all the nearby filolials, the area was surrounded in silence as Naofumi and Fitoria were the only ones still awake.

"Do you have a moment for us to talk, in private?" Fitoria asked.

"Sure, lead the way," Naofumi quickly retorted.

As Fitoria lead Naofumi away from the pile of sleeping filolias and his comrades, one filolial sleep kicked Megumin. This woke her up in time to see Naofumi leaving, and her motherly instincts told her to follow after them.

"Hugh!" Fitoria let out a frustrated sigh after walking for some time.

"What's wrong with you?" Naofumi questioned.

"I am appalled, you cardinal heroes should all be ashamed, squabbling with each other when the next wave is fast approaching," Fitoria scolded.

"Give me a break, they started it, and my name has been dragged through the mud by the nobility and three heroes church in Melromarc," He defended.

"The shield hero has always been shunned by the human supremacist countries," Fitoria said as if Naofumi complained about something trivial.

"Ok, then you should understand, I can't get them to listen if I am made out to be the villain," Naofumi shot in.

"You should work it out regardless, the humans and demi-humans might hate each other, but the heroes must not fight amongst themselves," She lectured again, leaving Naofumi speechless as she walked ahead, staying silent until she sat herself down on a ledge.

Megumin was within earshot of them hidden behind a wall as Naofumi sat down next to Fitoria that was now stacking stones on top of each other.

"Don't you know about the hourglass? All four of you certainly should," Fitoria said with her head down, staring into the abyss below them.

"If you are talking about the dragon hourglass, then yeah, we all know about it," Naofumi confirmed.

"Then why aren't you fighting the waves of catastrophe across the world?" She queried, her tone rather stern.

"Wait a second, are you saying the waves of catastrophe don't just happen inside of Melromarc?" Naofumi asked to confirm her statement, Kazuma had told him about the merging of two worlds, but he thought the hourglass brought them to the area that was considered the biggest threat, and that happened to be in Melromarc.

She silently nodded, "No, they happen everywhere, the four heroes are meant to go to each their own hourglass every time there is a wave," Fitoria explained.

"My father told me why the waves happen, but he never told me that the heroes were supposed to be spread around to each their own area, I just thought the heroes were sent to the biggest threat of the wave," Naofumi told her, this time shocking her with his information.

"Wait, you are telling me you know why these waves are happening, did they tell you how to stop them from occurring?" She inquired as she looked at him with newfound interest.

"They happen because of some crazy "goddess" called Medea are merging worlds together after having killed the original gods and goddesses residing over them, so I assume if we somehow destroy her we can stop the waves of catastrophe from occurring in the first place," Naofumi explained, making Fitoria's thoughts shoot around wildly as she was presented with this new information.

Her own thoughts was such a big distraction in fact, that she didn't even notice the huge amount of mana being absorbed towards a single spot very close to them.

(Did he just say MEDEA, is that bitch STILL ALIVE, SO SHE IS THE REASON MY SON HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO DANGER, IT IS AGAIN HER FAULT THAT MY LOVED ONES ARE IN DANGER, AND SHE IS A GODDESS NOW, I WILL BLOW A HOLE THROUGH SPACE AND TIME RIGHT NOW IF IT MEANS I CAN DESTROY HER THIS INSTANT!) Megumin frantically thought as she automatically started to absorb mana from the atmosphere with her staff, that she clutched harder for each second that passed.

(What is going on, OMG STOP) Chomusuke thought as she slapped her mistress in the face for almost draining her mana dry again, bringing Megumin out of her rage induced state. Chomusuke stared at Megumin with eyes filled with fear as Megumin looked back at her familiar with a confused look, trying to collect her thoughts again.

Megumin gave the cat a silent nod of approval as she went back to focusing on Naofumi's and Fitoria's conversation. Chomusuke that didn't have anything better to do, joined her mistress in the task.

"The hero who raised me, asked me to protect the world and keep its people safe, but honestly, what happens to the humans wouldn't have mattered to me if it hadn't been for the promise I made with him," Fitoria explained.

"So, I guess you were around other places helping out, while we were taking care of the waves hitting Melromarc," Naofumi guessed, since he felt like she held a lot of experience and power, and would probably be more effective than the three stooges he knew.

"Yes, but I can't do all that by myself, I need the heroes to help me," Fitoria said, clearly a little tired over the current status quo.

"To be honest, you seem a lot more capable than any of us, you command all the filolials and you can turn into a giant Filolial queen, and you ooze with power, which I can barely comprehend myself," Naofumi shot in.

"That may be true for now, but eventually, I won't be enough," Fitoria said as her tower of rocks finally fell over due to her terrible stacking abilities, she didn't even build a proper foundation.

"So that is why you need the heroes to help you," Naofumi stated.

"Exactly," She confirmed.

"But what if I knew people that could replace the current heroes, people that are more capable, than them, do I really still need to get along with them then?" Naofumi questioned.

"If what you have told me about this evil deity is true, then you will need all the help you can get to defeat her, so yes, you will still have to get over these childish squabbles you and the other heroes have," Fitoria said, her tone serious.

"You might want me to make up with those three, but the whole country of Melromarc wants to get rid of me, they make me out to be the villain so that all the other heroes are convinced that I am the bad guy," Naofumi informed, he got in a bad mood just remembering all the stuff they said about him.

"Don't worry I'm aware of what's happening, regardless the heroes must stop fighting each other," Fitoria reiterated.

"You are kind of obsessing about that," Naofumi noted.

"Because it is completely unacceptable for you all to act like children," she sternly retaliated.

"Well, that is a lost cause, because they don't want to play nice with me either, and I don't need them anyway, I know other people that can take their place, so they can sit around thinking they are heroes while we go to the other countries," Naofumi said as he looked away from Fitoria.

"Are you certain?" She coldly asked him as she looked down.

"Yeah," He quickly retorted without any hesitation.

"I see, you've made up your mind then," Fitoria said as the wind started to blow harder around them making the trees shake.

"It's been a while, several lifetimes in fact, I can hardly remember anything, but I do still remember what this means I will have to do, if the heroes are busy fighting each other instead of focusing on the real threat at hand," the wind increased in strength around them as Naofumi could feel a dangerous aura emanating from her.

"Then you leave me no choice, I must kill all four of you!" Fitoria stated as she rose and stared at him with eyes filled to the brim with killing intent.

"{Break the first seal}!" Megumin chanted from behind the wall, the next moment a black panther with a 10m long wingspan crashed through the wall and stood between Naofumi and Fitoria, with Megumin emerging from the dust created by crashing through the wall.

"Choose your words more wisely before I fully release my familiar and make her tear you to shreds, for I cannot let such a threat go unnoticed," Megumin threatened her aura just as intimidating as Fitoria's.

Mana particles had become visible as they got sucked into either Megumin's staff or Fitoria's cowlicks.

"Who are you?" Fitoria asked, staring coldly and calculating at Megumin's glowing crimson eyes. Clearly surprised by the aura Megumin now showcased, she had thought the cat only spoke naïve and overconfident words, but it was clearly some merits behind them.

Megumin stretched out her hand, and in the blink of an eye Chomusuke was at Fitoria's side clawing down at her. Fitoria brought up her own magical claws and blocked the attack as she spun around and kicked Chomusuke down the valley. Chomusuke spun around mid-air and stretched out her wings and sailed back towards Fitoria at a blistering speed, that Naofumi couldn't even hope to keep track of.

Chomusuke sent a flurry of attacks at Fitoria, which she dodged with ease. Then Chomusuke flew upwards and took a dive towards Fitoria as she blew a circle of fire around Fitoria, with her paws outstretched she plunged into Fitoria with so much force that the whole overhang collapsed. Megumin effortlessly threw Naofumi to safety as she jumped after him.

"Sorry dear, but this is now my responsibility, please go back to the others and get back to the mansion, me and Chomusuke can take it from here," Megumin said with a calming smile as she gently patted Naofumi on the head.

"Ok," Naofumi nodded as he started to sprint back to the camp.

"Pathetic!" Fitoria spat an insult at Megumin as she held Chomusuke by the throat with only one hand, seemingly with ease.

"{Release second seal}" Megumin chanted without hesitation as the red cross on Chomusuke's head disappeared and a darkness started to erupt from Chomusuke swallowing everything in the nearby vicinity. Naofumi barely escaped the dark fog, that seemingly ate up everything it touched.

Suddenly a sonic boom could be heard as Fitoria escaped the fog, now in her giant filolial queen form. The fog seemed to move after her, like a swarm of hungry piranhas following a bloody prey through the river. Fitoria didn't run away from the incoming dark fog instead she flapped her giant wings and dispersed the fog to reveal a gigantic black beast, and Megumin comfortably sitting on its head.

The only light reflected from the fearsome duo was Megumin herself, with her prominent crimson eyes burning red. With Chomusuke the only things that gave of light was the giant golden eyes, with the diameter of 1,67 meters. The rest of her body was so dark that no light could escape from it, Fitoria was staring into an abyss and the abyss was staring right back at her, with the add on of Megumin.

"What did you say about my familiar, that she was "pathetic," we'll see which one of you is truly pathetic," Megumin menacingly stated, her voice magically enhanced.

After Megumin spoke those words, a bright blue fire erupted from Chomusuke's mouth, and prepared to shoot out like a missile. Fitoria sensed the intense heat from her position and immediately went on the offensive, and kicked Chomusuke's mouth shut. Quickly followed up by maybe a hundred more kicks at the giant beasts' head. But before any hits could even hit Chomusuke's head her wings blocked them. Chomusuke used the split second of Fitoria's kicks to shoot in her tail and made her entangle her own feet in it. When Chomusuke's wings started to take too much damage she spun around and slammed Fitoria into the ground, creating an earthquake.

Fitoria spun her wings around and cut through Chomusuke's tail with her sharp claws. The spin also created a giant gust of wind that forced the giant beast backwards, with Megumin holding onto her fur with some difficulty.

Instead of fighting against the force that pushed her away from her opponent, she decided to use it to drive herself higher into the sky as she regrew her tail.

After regaining control over her flight, Chomusuke fired off volley, after volley of blue fire at the filolial queen, which she hastily answered by throwing giant boulders into the sky, in an attempt to shoot down Chomusuke as well as blocking the blue firebolts raining down at her. Fitoria also effectively blocked Megumin and Chomusuke's view, of her position on the ground by doing this.

"If we can't see her, make sure she can't see us," Megumin ordered.

In an instant, Chomusuke's black fur grew rapidly, covering the night sky in darkness. Not a fan of being stuck in pitch black darkness, Fitoria kicked off the ground and shot through the darkness back into the moonlight.

"Such a cheap trick won't work on me, ah there you are," Fitoria noted seeing the lack of light in the night sky, flapping its wing while flying away from her. Creating a giant gust of wind behind her, Fitoria used it to shoot herself forward and sail after her opponent. When she got close enough, she created a whirlwind to make her flying opponent lose all control, as she drove her claws down and slashed straight through her opponent cutting it in two.

"You just fell for my trap {Explosion}" Megumin chanted revealing red circles both under and over Fitoria as a giant explosion engulfed her. The light from the explosion lit up the entire area. When the fiery explosion finally resided, it revealed a heavily damaged Fitoria now back in her human form.

"F-forgive me, I couldn't keep the promise" Fitoria muttered to herself as she let her tears flow down her face, before she passed out. Then gravity started to drag her down towards the ground. Normally such a fall wouldn't have any chance of killing her, but with her passed out and heavily damaged the fall would be sure to kill her.

As the unconscious Fitoria fell towards the ground Chomusuke grabbed onto her with a claw. Megumin lay passed out on top of Chomusuke's head.

(I told you didn't I, she could beat you in one blow, but she definitely held back, meaning she wanted you alive) Chomusuke thought as she sailed back to the camp.

/Meanwhile in Melromarc

A group of people are walking down a hallway with the sword hero himself in the lead. Unbeknownst to them they are being watched by the three heroes church, or to be more correct one of their representatives.

"Open it," Ren commanded, the mages on his sides quickly obliged and cast spell that revealed a secret entrance.

(Naofumi was actually onto something, Itsuki and Motoyasu were impossible to convince to come and double check his suspicions at all, but this really makes it look like the church is trying to hide something) Ren thought to himself, as he silently ordered for his party members to follow after him down into the secret library.

"Search the place for anything the church might have an interest in hiding!" Ren ordered, his party members answering with a quick bow before they started to execute the task given to them.

After about an hour of searching one of them found records of a divine weapon that could take on the form of every cardinal hero. It even showed coordinates to where the weapon had been stowed away.

"Come with me, we must leave at once!" Ren ordered as they quickly left the library and headed towards the spot marked on the map.

/Meanwhile in Idol's prison cell

"Do you have any allergies I should know about?" Masaharu questioned the sorry excuse of a man sitting on the tattered mattress.

"Why the hell would I tell you that, I am not stupid, you could just use that information to covertly kill me, since your puny justice system doesn't have the death penalty," The scum mocked as he crossed his arms, like he had some pride to protect.

"Do you think I would let you die so easily, if it were up to me I wouldn't even let them feed you, I bet you could live off the enormous amount of fat on your body for a month, maybe even two, so hurry up and tell me if you have any allergies," Masaharu explained as he brought his notebook back up.

"I don't have any, you bastard!" Idol snarled at Masaharu, he was clearly lying, and Masaharu couldn't really have that, so he just decided to give him something that he was most likely not allergic to.

"Good, in that case, you can eat this steamed potato," Masaharu said with a grin as he tossed Idol a hot potato, burning his fingers when he caught it.

"AH, IS THIS SOME SORT OF SICK JOKE, I CAN'T SURVIVE ON ONLY POTATOES!" Idol screamed in rage at Masaharu as he dunked his burned fingers into his glass of water.

"No, I am quite certain you should get all you need from 3 potatoes a day, I mean all you are going to do is sit down all day, so it's not like you are going to burn a lot of calories doing that," Masaharu informed him with a smirk as he left.

"DAMN YOU! I WILL GET OUT OF HERE SOON, AND WHEN I DO I WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE PAYS FOR MY UNJUST TREATMENT HERE," Idol screamed into the now empty corridor.

"Hmm, you are an interesting one, not only do you give off so much dark emotions, but you also wake it in everyone you have been in contact with, Moi finds it very fascinating," Vanir said as he now stood in front of Idol, inside his own cell.

"Who are you?!" Idol exclaimed in shock at his new cellmate, as he instinctively backed away.

"Oh, thou wishes to know Moi's identity, I will happily oblige your request, Moi is the devilish archduke of hell, Vanir," Vanir introduced himself with a smirk.

"What do you want with me you devil!" Idol raged as he got to his feet.

"Well isn't obvious, Moi wishes to help thou escape from this prison," Vanir happily informed the fat man.

"Why would you do that?" He questioned, not believing anything Vanir said.

"Simple really, if thou escapes from this prison, the inhabitants of this country will rage with dark emotions that Moi can feed on, so setting you free of this prison cell is in Moi's best interest," Vanir quickly explained.

"But how do you intend to let me escape?" Idol queried now a little suspicious.

"Oh, thou asks such easy questions, with this portal of course," Vanir said as he gestured to a dark and purple portal swirling around in the room.

"What the hell is that!?" Idol frightfully asked, while jumping back to the wall.

"It is a gate to hell human, normally a sinful man wouldn't be able to walk in and out of hell, but thou is a man of god, right?" Vanir challenged.

"Yes, I am a man of God, without a doubt he has eternally blessed me," Idol confidently said, boasting with self-confidence at the question.

"If thou are truly a man of god then a quick trip through Hell won't pose a problem, trust Moi, Hell can never hold a person touched by a god, so if thou are confident that thou truly are touched by god, Hell won't be able to hold thee, and this will be your escape from this prison," Vanir explained, gesturing back to the portal.

"Yes, I am a man of God I would easily escape hell, lead the way devil and let us lay waste to this country as I take a simple trip through hell!" Idol confidently exclaimed as he willingly stepped into hell, Vanir quickly closing the portal behind him.

"So what do you think Vanir, fanatic or just a giant inflated ego?" Robin asked as she seemingly popped into existence.

"From what Moi can tell, it is a mixture of both, with this Moi has fulfilled your request, now please pay in full as we agreed upon," Vanir said, his serious expression now replaced with a sly grin.

"Oh please, does it look like I have 9 billion Eris just on me, the money has probably been dropped off at your shop by now," Robin cheekily shot in as she played with a few million Eris in her left hand, like it was pocket change.

"Moi trusts thou word, but why spend 9 billion on sending that man to hell, but not the other 100 equally despicable men you have encountered?" Vanir asked curiously.

"B-because, I could sense that he had hurt my brother or someone very close to him, and that is not something I let anyone get away with, especially not a man like that," Robin explained with knitted fists and gritted teeth.

"You remind me very much of the young brat, customer number 1," Vanir said before he walked away from her.

"Probably because, like my father, I am one of the only people keeping your business up and running," Robin said mostly to herself than to the empty hallway before she vanished.

Meanwhile with Raphtalia, Filo and Melty

"I know we just had an earthquake followed up by a giant explosion, which caused all of the filolials to panic, but I feel very relieved right now for some reason," Raphtalia shared with Melty and Filo standing on guard.

"How can you feel relieved when Megumin, Fitoria, and Naofumi is gone, which we found out after we got woken up by that massive earthquake," Melty questioned, clearly a little shaken by the whole situation.

"CALM DOWN!" Filo suddenly ordered, causing all the other filolials running around in a panic to abruptly stop, and look at Filo with wide-eyes. It was like they were waiting for more commands.

"Good job Filo," Naofumi complimented as he burst out from the trees.

"NAOFUMI!" All of the three girls cheered in unison as they laid their eyes on him.

"Are you hurt master?" Raphtalia asked as she quickly checked him over.

"No, I am fine, but are you three okay," Naofumi queried as he looked the girls over, and when he saw that they were all fine he took a deep breath, before he let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you know what caused all of this Naofumi?" Melty inquired.

"My mother and Chomusuke started a fight with Fitoria, and since it is so silent right now, I would assume that Fitoria either got hit by the explosion, or she killed them after the explosion missed her," Naofumi quickly explained.

"But why would they start a fight with Fitoria?" Raphtalia now inquired, any sense of relief now completely gone.

"Well, because Fitoria threatened to kill me, if I didn't make up with the other heroes," He quickly answered.

"Yeah, that will do it," Raphtalia said as she nodded her head understandingly.

"So we should go, {SHIELD PRISON}" Naofumi suddenly roared out a chant, as he saw a giant form of darkness block out the moonlight, covering both him and the girls.

"What is going on?" the girls asked in confusion, but they didn't exactly dislike being pressed up against Naofumi.

"I saw something gigantic just now, it would be best if we try to stay as silent as possible," Naofumi quickly explained in a whisper, they quickly understood how dire the situation could be from how serious he was.

"Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap," A sudden consistent tapping rhythm hit the shield prison, it was a gentle rhythm Naofumi instinctively knew he could trust, so he dispelled the shield prison and stared directly into a pair of giant yellow eyes.

All the girls looked at this black creature, but instead of freezing up like many others would do, they protectively went in front of Naofumi in battle stances. But the presence of this creature alone was enough to make their legs feel like jelly.

After having taken a good look at the group, the creature presented the beaten Fitoria on one of her claws, before she let her fall onto the ground in front of them. The girls stared wide-eyed at the beaten and battered Fitoria, and knew they didn't stand a chance against whatever this thing was. It then lowered its head and presented a sleeping Megumin laying on its head.

"Looks like mom won the battle, Melty you need to take care of Fitoria's wounds, while we take care of my mother, Chomusuke, you will have to stay a bit away from camp until we can get you back to a more manageable size," Naofumi listed off as the girls stared at him completely dumbfounded.

When Naofumi had lifted up his mother off Chomusuke's head she flapped her wings and flew away. The moment her presence was far enough away the filolials rushed over to Fitoria and started tending to her wounds, with Melty just staring at Naofumi alongside the other girls.

"T-that was Chomusuke?" they all questioned, clearly needing another confirmation for such an outrageous claim.

"Yeah… and that is not even… her final form," Megumin sleepily answered, causing all the girls to pass out at the thought of there being an even more giant form of Chomusuke.

(What is going to happen when Fitoria wakes up?) Naofumi pondered to himself as he made sleeping arrangements for all of them, before he himself went to sleep. All the while a dark goddess of sloth and violence watched over them.

Meanwhile in Reichnott's mansion

"Ok, ok, she is fine, hopefully that means the others are fine," Kazuma said to himself as he nervously played with his ring that had been blinking red for a while.

"You need to get some sleep Kazuma, you have been stressing too much after they didn't return with the carriage, remember that you can be of better help to them if you are well rested," Iris argued in another attempt at getting him to sleep.

"Yeah, you are right, I should get some sleep, but what did the three from the carriage tell you?" Kazuma inquired as he sat down on the bed.

"They all told the same story about how the shield hero and his party saved them from Idol's underground torture chamber, but they didn't have any wounds or scars that could confirm their claims, of being whipped bloody, getting their limbs drawn, or being stuck to a wall for days," Iris summarized.

"Did you look them in the eyes?" Kazuma questioned.

"Yeah, and I could see that they had truly been through all that they told me, so Naofumi's party probably healed them," Iris suggested.

"No, both Melty and Naofumi have healing abilities, but neither can heal scars, someone else must have been at play, but who?" Kazuma inquired.

"Hmm, I think sleep would do you better than speculating, come on now, lay your head down," Iris calmly spoke as she gently pushed him down to the pillow.

"Ok," Kazuma finally said before he closed his eyes and finally went to sleep.

"I should probably also get some sleep," Iris whispered to herself as she placed her head on Kazuma's chest and fell asleep while listening to his calming heartbeat.

The door to their room finally closed as Darkness stood by the now closed door, as tears started to trickle down her face, that she quickly wiped away.

"I don't like this pain," She muttered to herself as she walked back to her own room.

The next morning in Fitoria's camp

"Ugh, my head hurts," Fitoria complained as she awoke, clutching her forehead with one hand.

"Meow," (Well of course it hurts, you got hit with one of my mistress' explosions, you should be happy you're still alive) Chomusuke mocked, now back in her cute and cuddly form.

"If I am still alive that means your mistress wasn't strong enough to take me down," Fitoria quickly retorted as she shot the black fur ball a death glare.

"MEOW, MEEEOW, MEOOOW!" (NO! You are only still alive because my mistress CHOSE to not kill you, she held back so much of her potential power. Just so you know birdbrain, holding back like that took way more of her focus and energy, than what letting out that little explosion that knocked you out did!) Chomusuke angrily informed her.

"And why would she keep me alive?" Fitoria challenged.

"Because you, just like me, fought for someone you loved, the determination and power you exerted while in my explosion should have made you give up hope, but you kept holding on even after you lost consciousness. At first I thought you were just desperately clinging onto life, but you wore the same expression someone that failed their loved ones would wear," Megumin butted in with her explanation/compliment, as she ate some reheated stew.

"So you love the shield hero, hmm," Fitoria thought as she looked Megumin up and down, then over at the sleeping Naofumi. She then took a whiff of Megumin's aura, and compared it to what she could remember from meeting privately with Naofumi last night.

(Similar auras, although hers is more mature, she is also definitively pregnant, I could smell that yesterday, and she loves the shield hero, this only leaves two possibilities, she is either his mother or lover, but no heroes have ever been summoned with their parent before, meaning)

"Meow," (Let me stop you right there birdbrain, she is his mother, and she is pregnant with Naofumi's next siblings) Chomusuke interrupted Fitoria's train of thought, to avoid Megumin throwing up her breakfast.

"Actually, that makes a lot more sense," Fitoria said as she looked at Megumin, the fact that she was his mother filled her with relief.

"Mother of the shield hero, you have bested me in combat and spared my life, of which I am grateful, as this allows me to keep my promise, but my original purpose of gathering you all here was to see if Filo is fit to be my successor, I would still like to test her," Fitoria went on as she bowed to Megumin.

"I will allow you to test her, but you will not harm her or anyone else, beyond your ability to heal them, as for incentive you could take me and my familiar hostage, under the pretense that we have been put under a deep sleep spell, those are my conditions," Megumin lay forth.

"I humbly accept these conditions, then after I have finished healing up I will commence Filo's test," Fitoria promised as she went into what seemed like a trance, making her glow slightly as blisters and burns started to fade.

"Good, I will go and wake the others so they too can eat breakfast, cast a spell on me when you are ready to start Filo's test, come now Chomusuke," Megumin said as she crouched down and let the cat climb up on her arm, before she finally sat down between her mistress' boobs.

"HEY WAKE UP! BREAKFAST IS SERVED!" Megumin happily shouted, as she walked over them.

"Breakfast, where?" Filo shot up as she quickly gazed around the place, to see a giant pot on top of the fire, with some stew from yesterday currently reheating.

"Save some for the rest of us, ok?" Megumin said as she motherly ruffled Filo's blonde hair.

"Sure grandma!" Filo said in a hurry as she rushed over to the pot with a bowl in hand.

"What about Fitoria, has she figured out why you protected me last night?" Naofumi questioned, with a far too serious and grave expression for Megumin's liking.

"Yes, because a certain familiar told her," Megumin said as she sent Chomusuke a judging stare.

"Meow, meow… meow," (Sorry, I just trying to save your lunch you know, since you are… eating for three and all) Chomusuke excused, but of course no one understood her.

"How do you know Chomusuke told her?" Raphtalia asked a little confused.

"Fitoria kind of gave it away, by responding to her like she talks normally,"" Megumin quickly retorted.

"Ironically it was the cat that ratted us out, I guess she knows what kind of deck we are playing with, regardless, hopefully she will back off now that you bested her in combat," Naofumi noted as he rose.

"Come now, you all got to eat breakfast," Megumin joyfully declared as she ate the rest of her bowl, quickly returning to the pot for a refill.

Back in Reichnott's mansion

"Come now we got to hurry loading the carriage," Kazuma ordered as he mushed the others along.

"What do you plan to do with those 4 filolials, Mr. Essler?" Reichnott asked as he stood beside Kazuma.

"I was thinking to let them go free of course, I have no use for them now, they would probably like to go back home themselves anyway, so we aren't going to keep them here, DARKNESS CUT THEM FREE!" Kazuma ordered, which she promptly tried, but she missed, she tried again, but she of course missed again.

"Ok enough of this, {Snipe}" Kazuma chanted making an arrow fly right through the ropes, letting the filolials loose. The moment the roped loosened around them, they literally left dust clouds behind them.

"Was that on purpose?" Reichnott pondered out loud, not believing someone could miss a rope right in front of them, twice! "But she did look like she struggled," He argued.

Kazuma looked back at the Lord, then back to Darkness, letting out a sigh as he patted his ally on the shoulder, "I won't say if it was, or not," Kazuma said with an apologetic smile.

"Hmm, ok, farewell for now then, I hope you return with everyone in good health," Reichnott said as Kazuma went down to the carriage, where Iris and Darkness was waiting.

"All our necessities are loaded onto the carriage, and we are ready to go, but how are we going to transport this carriage now?" Iris queried.

"Isn't it obvious, you and Darkness are going to pull," Kazuma quickly retorted.

"Darkness, as your superior I order you to drag this carriage by yourself, while I lay back on the carriage with Kazuma," Iris ordered, faster than you can go bankrupt in Elroad.

"No Iris, I need both of you too pull so we can get to the others as quickly as possible," Kazuma informed.

"But we can't follow the filolials, they didn't exactly leave any visible footprints behind, and they also ran off in their own respective direction," Darkness challenged.

"That would be true if it hadn't been for me tagging each filolial with my {Tracking} skill, it will start working the moment they start eating/drinking, that should give us an exact position to travel towards," Kazuma explained.

"Why do you have that skill, we never really went hunting for monsters as I can remember?" Darkness asked, her curiosity clearly piqued.

"True, but it also works on objects, so if someone stole my money pouch I would easily be able to hunt it down, for the last 20 years I have just used it to keep track of my luggage when I go on flights," Kazuma told the two of them.

"Wait, you can fly too!?" They both erupted in unison, clearly shocked at this information.

"No, we have machines in Japan that can fly, don't ask me how they work, can we just focus on finding the others first," Kazuma shifted the conversation, stopping them from asking anymore questions.

"Yeah, but you have to tell us about these flying machines later," Iris demanded.

"Sounds fair to me," He agreed as he jumped back in the carriage to double check if everything was in stock.

Back in Fitoria's camp

"So, has everyone eaten?" Megumin asked as she looked over the empty bowls, before she spotted Fitoria walking over to the table, before she stood still opposite of her.

"{Liberation: Wind Prison}" Fitoria chanted as she stretched out an arm towards Megumin, causing a strong wind to blow the table away as a blue light blinded everyone else. When the light finally resided they could see Megumin trapped in a cocoon of wind, seemingly unconscious.

"Mom!" Naofumi yelled trying to wake her up, but she didn't even react.

"What is going on!?" Melty said in confusion as she backed away over to Naofumi.

"What are you doing to grandma, LET HER GO!" Filo demanded, still with some breadcrumbs around her cheeks.

"As you can all see, I have taken Megumin hostage," Fitoria coldly stated.

"Hostage? What is the meaning of this?" Naofumi demanded as he stared Fitoria down.

"Shield hero, promise me, promise me that you'll make up with the other heroes," Fitoria demanded.

"You are making demands, but if you hurt my mother you will surely wake her, and then she will just defeat you with Chomusuke like last time," Naofumi challenged, he really had no idea what spell Fitoria really casted on his mother, but she wasn't a deep sleeper.

"Wrong, your mother is currently under a very strong sleep spell, not even an explosion like yesterday would be enough to wake her, see even this garners no reaction from her," Fitoria explained as she flicked her hand, causing the wind prison to shrink and give Megumin a dozen tiny cuts, but she didn't even as much as flinch.

"So if I don't do as you say, you are going to kill my mother, I thought I told you it isn't happening!" Naofumi stated as he stood his ground.

"Even so, I must ask you to," Fitoria reiterated as she met Naofumi's equally cold stare.

"Why are you so obsessed with the heroes working together?" Naofumi inquired.

"Because I made a promise to the hero who raised me, and because heroes MUST cooperate, in order to save the world and its people from the waves of catastrophe, please," Fitoria said, being the first to break the glare with Naofumi.

"It doesn't matter how many times you ask, I have no intention of reconciling with those idiots," Naofumi stubbornly reiterated.

Fitoria looked over at the floating unconscious Megumin, and then back at Naofumi. She actually bit down on her own tongue as to not repeat her mistake from yesterday, of threatening Naofumi's life.

(He is so damn stubborn) Fitoria thought as she knitted her fists in frustration.

"If you don't want to reconcile with the other heroes, then prove to me that you and your party can deal with the waves singlehandedly, and I will gladly release you mother," Fitoria put forth.

"Prove to you?" Raphtalia said nervously, fearing the worst.

"How do we do that? By fighting you right here and now?" Naofumi questioned.

"I have more or less already deduced your strength, and know how strong you are, no, I want a one-on-one with Filo," Fitoria demanded as she pointed at Filo.

"Me?" She asked in bewilderment.

"If you prove to me that you are strong, I will release Megumin, and let you be, for now," Fitoria stated.

"I don't really understand, but if I win, you will release grandma, and leave us alone, right?" Filo asked for confirmation.

"Filo, wait a-"

"Then I'll fight you!" Filo cut Naofumi off as she confidently stepped forward.

"I will be fighting you in my human form, I ask that you do the same," Fitoria requested.

"Gotcha," Filo retorted as she equipped her gloves.

"I said wait!" Naofumi yelled in attempt to get their attention, but he was completely ignored.

"This way," Fitoria said as she gestured to a vacant area, the moment Filo had moved to a spot opposite of her, a pink barrier encapsulated both of them.

"Here I come," Filo confidently stated as she balled her fists.

"Whenever you're ready," Fitoria retorted, her tone and face void of any emotion.

Filo crouched down and put her fists into the ground, so when she kicked off from the ground her figure was obscured by the dust cloud. She then did a war cry as she went sailing down with her foot, Fitoria easily dodged her as she hit the ground, barely needing to move a step.

"You're too slow and predictable," Fitoria remarked as she grabbed ahold of her foot and flung her into the air with minimal effort.

Filo caught herself in the air and looked down on the ground where she had hit the ground, but she saw no Fitoria. She stared at the spot where Fitoria had just been completely confused for a second.

"FILO! ABOVE YOU!" Raphtalia yelled, but it was already too late because Fitoria chopped her in the neck before she even had a chance to react, sending her crashing into the ground.

"FILO!" Melty nervously yelled to see if her friend was fine. In response Filo now on her knees looked up at Fitoria with angry blue eyes as she rose.

(Something doesn't add up here, I find it hard to believe that Fitoria has a strong enough sleep spell to completely but mom and Chomusuke out of commission, if she had one why didn't she use it yesterday to beat them. Then there is the fact that Fitoria requested a fight with Filo in human form only,) Naofumi frantically thought as he looked a Filo charging towards Fitoria.

"Don't just charge in blindly! Use your head!" Naofumi ordered.

"Master…" Filo muttered between pants as she took a second to actually assess her opponent.

"And regenerate you clothes by pouring mana into them, try to bolster your defense as much as you can," Naofumi continued.

"Gotcha!" Filo reaffirmed as she nodded to his orders.

Filo raised her hand and started to chant finally ending with {Zweit Tornado}. This caused a massive sideways tornado to shoot out of her hands towards Fitoria.

In response Fitoria with an unimpressed look on her face, raised her hand and chanted, "Nullify the vacuum burst, {Anti-Zweit Tornado}," this dispelled Filo's spell in an instant, kicking up a giant dust cloud.

(You need a deep understanding about the spell being cast to have even a chance to dispel it, and Fitoria did this without even flinching) Naofumi thought to himself.

"Watch out! She is using jamming magic!" Melty hastily informed Filo.

But before Filo was able to even move Fitoria had shot through the dust cloud.

"You're wide open," Fitoria stated, before she cast another spell that shot Filo into a wall, causing it to crack.

(As stated earlier I am here to talk to Filo, to see if she can become the next Filolial queen, That is what she said yesterday, which means this is a test, that would explain why she only wants to fight Filo in their human form, because it is the only somewhat comparable form they can fight in, so mom is in on this, meaning she is in no real danger, but she will still have to pass,) Naofumi realized as he looked back to the fight.

"What do you fight for?" Fitoria questioned.

"Isn't that obvious? For Master!" Filo answered as she mustered more strength and ran towards Fitoria with a raised fist, Fitoria simply sidestepped her as Filo's haymaker missed and the momentum dragged her to ground.

"You can't beat me, I have a hard time believing you could even beat a dragon, and you expect to be useful to the Shield hero when you are this weak?" Fitoria threw a demeaning question at Filo, in an attempt to discourage her.

"I'm not gonna lose to you, I will just have to become stronger, FOR MASTER!" Filo roared as she lifted herself off the ground and sprinted towards Fitoria.

"Not with willpower as shallow as yours!" Fitoria reprimanded as she smacked Filo to the ground. She then cast another spell at Filo pushing her further into the ground.

"Oh no, Filo!" Raphtalia and Melty said in worried unison as they stared at the onslaught.

"I will… I will get stronger, I WILL GET MUCH STRONGER, FOR MASTER!" Filo shouted, clearly weakened by Fitoria's onslaught of attacks.

"Really?" Fitoria said with clear doubt in her voice, as she took a deep breath and started to absorb mana particles from the atmosphere.

"Wait, she can also absorb mana particles from the air, how is that even possible without a magical item?" Melty said in disbelief.

"FILO!" Naofumi yelled to catch her attention, which he succeeded in.

"Master…" Filo weakly muttered to herself as she looked back at Naofumi.

"Calm down, and watch her attacks closely, I know that you can do this!" Naofumi yelled to reassure Filo, but it also seemed to stagger Fitoria for a moment.

"Yeah!" Filo confirmed, a little revitalized by his encouraging words, as she summoned a green barrier around her.

"Too slow," Fitoria noted.

"Okay, but I'll still beat YOU!" Filo roared with newfound power as she launched herself into the air and dove towards Fitoria. "{Spiral Strike}!" Filo chanted as her gloves dissolved and magic claws now covered her hands, crashing into the barrier Fitoria had created.

"AHHHH!" Filo angrily screamed as she tried to push through the barrier with all of her remaining strength, surprisingly a crack appeared on the barrier, causing Fitoria to lose concentration, giving Filo the opportunity to burst through it and slightly scratch Fitoria's cheek, as she sailed passed her and violently crashed into the ground.

"Incredible, can you believe she just did that?" Raphtalia said astounded.

"She did it!" Naofumi proudly stated.

"Amazing Filo!" Melty cheered.

"I… won't lose," Filo weakly said as she crouched on the ground, forcing herself to get back up.

"I'll just, "pant," grow stronger, "pant," so that I can beat you… so that I can protect everyone I care about," Filo weakly stated as she stumbled towards Fitoria, and threw a punch with no strength at her.

"Good," Fitoria gently said, watching on as Filo fell to the ground, her legs no longer having the strength to carry her, still defiantly staring at the hem of Fitoria's dress, as she tried to muster more strength.

"I… won't lose, ever again," Filo stubbornly repeated.

"That's enough Filo, I believe you have beaten me," Fitoria proudly stated as the pink barrier faded away, together with the air cocoon around Megumin, but instead of falling to the ground like a limp sack of potatoes, she did a front-flip and elegantly landed on her feet.

"Fucking knew she was faking it," Naofumi muttered to himself, as Melty began to run towards Filo.

"It would seem you're strong enough after all," Fitoria complimented Filo, clearly happy with the results.

"Oh Filo!" Melty said as she stood over Filo, before she dove in for a hug.

"Mel I did it, ah, did you see that Master, I won, did you see?" Filo said with a weak voice, yet proud tone.

"Sure did, you were amazing Filo," Naofumi proudly complimented.

"Now heal her as we agreed," Megumin shot in.

"Very well," Fitoria confirmed as she started to cast healing magic on Filo.

"Wait, you two made a deal for this to happen?" Melty said in confusion.

"Yes, but not to worry, I wouldn't let her hurt you beyond anything she could heal," Megumin reassured them as she stroked her hands through Filo's hair.

"I must come clean, mother of the Shield Hero, if Filo hadn't passed the test, she would have died, together with the Shield Hero, I am sorry for my dishonesty, but the promise towards my hero trumps anything else, but now that Filo has passed my trial, I will let you be, at least for now," Fitoria revealed, causing everyone to look at her in shock.

"If you had even tried that, I would have killed you in an instant," Megumin said threateningly.

"Yes, but I am certain I could have killed the shield hero first, and then the next wave would kill off the other heroes, allowing more to be summoned, but let us not think about that dire scenario, now that Filo succeeded," Fitoria said as she made a silver tiara, decorated with many beautiful magic stones appear in her outstretched right hand.

"Oh, what's that?" Filo curiously asked, clearly fascinated by the glittering object.

"Your reward, to honor you for overcoming my trial, now please lower your head," Fitoria requested, with Filo quickly fulfilling it, as Fitoria gently placed it on top of her head. The filolials started to come out of the trees as they raised their heads and seemingly cheered.

"Filo, I hereby appoint you my successor," Fitoria declared as she took a step back.

"Successor?" Filo said in confusion as she tilted her head to the side.

"It means you will become the next filolial queen when Fitoria either abdicates or dies," Megumin quickly summarized as she inspected the tiara closer, she was about to touch it and pick it up, but then it suddenly vanished, and a cowlick appeared in its place.

"Huh," Filo and Megumin uttered out in unison, but while Filo and the others kept staring at Filo, Megumin looked over at Fitoria and saw that she had three similar cowlicks.

"Heh, the sign of filolial royalty is a cowlick," Megumin teased as she patted Filo on her head.

"Cute!" Melty exclaimed.

"No, it is weird, get it off!" Filo protested as she grabbed the cowlick and ripped it off, but another one quickly grew in its place.

"It grew back," Melty happily observed, but Filo clearly didn't feel the same way about it.

"And it'll keep growing back, so get used to it, and you'll gain more of them as you grow more powerful," Fitoria explained.

"Am I gonna look like you?" Filo queried, her pouting face clearly not satisfied with the thought of that.

(Look at that, her stats increased, with her level-capped this couldn't have happened at a better time) Naofumi thought as he inspected the cowlick.

"I also have something for you, Shield Hero," Fitoria said as she turned to face him.

"Thanks, but I don't want a cowlick," He quickly retorted.

"Just show me your shield," She requested, surprisingly he quickly did so, as she ripped out one of her cowlicks and dropped it in the shield's green gem, where it was absorbed.

Unlocked: Shields were force unlocked

"She unlocked the whole filolial series, but I can't use any of them yet because my level isn't high enough, well in that case I just have to meet the requirements," Naofumi muttered to himself.

"Thanks Fitoria," He said earnestly.

"You're welcome, but I still have something I wish to discuss with you in private," Fitoria retorted.

"Hmm, so there's more," Naofumi noted.

"For now that can wait, now we celebrate that a successor has been proven worthy," Fitoria declared with a smile as she clapped her hands together making all the filolials run into the forest to gather ingredients and materials.

Meanwhile in Reichnott's camp

"So how long is this going to take Kazuma?" Iris asked, clearly she had gotten impatient by just sitting around and doing nothing of value.

"I said the skill activates as soon as they eat or drink, if I get 4 signals from the same area, we know with certainty that they returned back to their home," Kazuma reiterated.

"This might take some more time so I am just gonna go brew some t-"

"I GOT IT, GIRLS I WILL GIVE YOU THE DIRECTIONS, NOW PULL THE CARRIAGE WITH ALL THAT YOU GOT!" Kazuma cut off Darkness as he started barking orders.

After a few hours of dragging the carriage, they were met with a wall of trees in their way.

"What now?" Darkness and Iris queried in unison.

"Hmm, I could use {Feather weight} on the carriage, while Iris cuts down all the trees in our way, but {Feather weight} only last for 2 minutes with this much weight, and I don't know how far into this forest we would have to travel," Kazuma relayed.

"If we give it our all we could reach at least halfway into the forest," Darkness stated confidently.

"But we are leaving a very obvious trail behind us that is easy to follow, and if someone kidnapped the whole group, they must be rather powerful so barging through the forest would quickly alert them to our presence, and then they would probably move positions, or prepare an ambush," Kazuma explained.

"Couldn't you just cast {Lurk} and sneak us towards their position as we camouflage the carriage with magic and vegetation," Iris suggested.

"I guess we could do that, but that means leaving a lot of equipment behind, and if both Naofumi and Melty are down for the count, we can't immediately heal any serious damage that they could have sustained," Kazuma countered.

"We have to take a gamble regardless, either we go in with all our power on display risking alerting our foe, or we sneak in, leaving much of our equipment unattended, as well as giving them time to move before we get to them," Iris summarized.

"My gut is saying we should sneak, so you guys have to both hold onto me when we go in," Kazuma was barely able to finish as Iris and Darkness and pressed tightly onto him.

"Darkness, you don't need to cling on to him that much, the {Lurk} skill will work as long as you are just barely touching each other," Iris complained.

"I mean, this is just to ensure I have a good grip on him," Darkness countered.

"Stop bickering, our first priority is to camouflage the carriage," Kazuma interrupted their bickering.

By nightfall the carriage had been properly camouflaged and they had started to travel into the forest. After a few hours of traveling in the forest, with Kazuma occasionally recharging on stamina by using {Drain touch} on Darkness, they finally reached a fireplace, with a bunch of filolials sleeping right next to it.

Using {Farsight} Kazuma took a closer look and saw Filo, Melty, Megumin, and Raphtalia sleeping with them, they seemed relaxed and happy. However Kazuma didn't lower his guard.

"What do you see?" Iris whispered to him.

"Everyone except Naofumi, stay here and watch over them, I will see if I can find Naofumi," Kazuma whispered in response as he went further into the camp, where he spotted footprints leading away from the camp.

"That will slow down the Curse Shield's corrosion, but it won't completely stop it, so try to avoid using it as much as you can," A little girl said as she sat next to Naofumi on a staircase.

"After all that talk about killing me, I guess you're just a really nice person, Fitoria," Naofumi retorted, making Fitoria eyes go wide.

"Well, given you're doing all of this for me, I guess I'll give it my best shot, but don't get your hopes up," Naofumi said as Fitoria rested her head onto his left leg.

"Ehm, Could you get off?" Naofumi asked a little startled by her sudden show of affection.

"Please, Shield Hero, just a little longer," Fitoria pleaded.

"The hero that raised you, was it the former Shield Hero?" Naofumi questioned.

"I don't remember, us filolials don't have a very good memory," She retorted.

Naofumi started to gently stroke his hand through her silver hair, in an attempt to comfort her.

Kazuma let out a sigh of relief as he deactivated his skill and calmly walked towards them, making Naofumi twist his head around, at the sound of footsteps.

"Yeah, now you notice me, if I had been an enemy you would have already been dead, here you have me worrying for nothing, at least write a note with the carriage you send back," Kazuma openly complained as Fitoria shot her head up from Naofumi's lap and stared daggers at him, immediately activating Kazuma's {Enemy detection}.

"Who are you!?" Fitoria snarled at him.

"Naofumi, do you want to say who I am, or should I?" Kazuma asked.

"That is my dad, so don't kill him Fitoria," Naofumi said, and Kazuma took off his mask in response. Just then the wind shifted and blew towards Fitoria and Naofumi.

Fitoria tilted her head to the side as she looked at Kazuma with the widest eyes Kazuma had ever witnessed, before either Kazuma or Naofumi could react Fitoria had slammed Kazuma into the ground as she hugged him tightly. This embrace/attack knocked the air out of Kazuma's lungs as he laid on the ground with Fitoria on top of him, doing his best to regain normal breathing.

"You're back, I thought I would never see you again!" Fitoria cried out as she hugged him tightly, tears starting to stain his shirt.

"Do we know each other?" Kazuma barely managed to ask, with the little air that he was able to control.

"Of course, you're my hero, you raised me, I can't be mistaken, even though it is faint, I can still smell my mark on you," Fitoria explained as she rubbed up against him, with blatant show of affection.

"Are you sure, there isn't any way for you to be mistaken?" Kazuma weakly questioned.

"I can't be mistaken about this, you have the smell mark, only a filolial king/queen can bestow such a distinct smell mark onto someone, and they can only do it once to the person they care for the most, and since I am the only Filolial Queen for the last centuries, only I could have given you that," Fitoria explained.

(Filolials are giant birds, with Filo and the one currently clinging onto me being filolial royalty, wait, could that stupid chicken Aqua owned back then be this whole race's forefather, of all things that Aqua getting scammed, actually ended up being useful to me, wonder if she still believes they are dragons though?) Kazuma hypothesized.

"Sure, Fitoria, I am back, now… could you please release me?" Kazuma questioned, making sure to choose his words carefully.

"Of course," Fitoria quickly said as she helped Kazuma back on his feet, but she didn't let go of his left arm.

Kazuma met the gaze of Naofumi, they both shot each other the same expression of utter confusion as they walked back to camp.

(If you are confused, why did you say you to knew her?!) Naofumi thought to himself, as he followed behind them.

"I kept my promise, are you proud of me?" Fitoria urged him to answer, her tone very similar to Filo's, her grown up façade now completely gone.

"Yes, yes, I am very proud of you," He quickly retorted as he gave her some gentle head pats, causing Fitoria to giggle uncontrollably from excitement.

Kazuma leaned closer to Naofumi, "What exactly was that promise?" He covertly asked Naofumi.

"Let me see, First, protect the world and its people from the waves of catastrophe, which includes preventing all legendary heroes from bickering with each other, and if they don't stop bickering, she should kill all of them, as to allow for another batch to be summoned," Naofumi answered, with Fitoria being too caught up in holding onto Kazuma to notice, their conversation.

"DID YOU THREATEN TO KILL MY SON!?" Kazuma suddenly erupted, making Fitoria stare back at him with fear in her eyes.

"I-I didn't know he was your son, and I was just keeping my promise with the information I had at the time," Fitoria meekly said in her defense.

"Yes, that is true, so don't be afraid, you did an excellent job, but our main priority right now is to keep all the heroes alive, then we can try stop the "goddess," causing these waves of catastrophe," Kazuma summarized.

"Master, Naofumi made a promise to me that he would try to reconcile with the other heroes, and clear his name, I still believe he should at the very least try this, as they could prove helpful down the line, against this main source of evil," Fitoria put forth with an endearing and sweet tone.

"Yes, we do need to clear you name son, but then we need to reveal the three heroes church's corruption, as well as that bitch's conspiracy to kill Melty, the questions remains with how we get the truth out of them," Kazuma said.

"Yeah, I highly doubt they will just come forth and reveal themselves like a generic villain," Naofumi stated.

"Heh, would be kind of fun if they did though," Kazuma noted with a chuckle.

"Then mom could just easily throw an explosion at them and we would be done," Naofumi chuckled back.

"NO, so absolutely not, she is pregnant, wait, has she been throwing explosions while pregnant?!" Kazuma's tone went completely serious as he stared his son down.

"She casted one last night Master, but she held back a lot of power, or else I would have died," Fitoria quickly informed.

"She casted explosion magic, of course she did, I don't even know what consequences that can have on the fetus, how can she be so reckless," Kazuma ranted to himself, clearly frustrated at Megumin's antics.

After some time they returned back to camp, Kazuma waved Darkness and Iris out of the bushes and told them it was safe. Iris and Darkness gave Fitoria the stink eye, when they saw how much she clung onto Kazuma, but they went to sleep on top of the sea of filolials, quickly followed by Naofumi.

"Could you do me a favor?" Kazuma whispered to Fitoria, as to not disturb anyone's sleep.

"Of course, anything for you master," Fitoria immediately replied.

"I left my carriage on the outskirts of this forest, could you help me bring it her in one piece before the others wake up?" He requested.

"Give me directions, and I will get it here without any of your equipment getting compromised," She promised.

Kazuma gave her a gentle smile in response as he proceeded to give her the directions. When the carriage had been transported into the camp, Kazuma also went to sleep, laying in-between Megumin and Iris, with Fitoria laying herself on top of him.

(How am I going to explain this tomorrow?) Kazuma asked himself as he fell into a deep slumber.

That signifies the end of that chapter. Oh look at that it is October, OH I haven't updated in a while, well that is my bad. I hope you can forgive my writers block. On the other hand, next chapter is going to be filled with a lot of fun. Hopefully I will even get it out before the end of this month. I'll promise to never abandon this story, chapters just need some more time to get properly finished at times.