Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems and make a certain character's dialogue more authentic, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.

More author's note at the end for anyone interested to hear me blabber some more.


The monster in question is a giant zombified T-Rex, thankful at least ten kilometers away from them if not further, and it's just standing around without doing anything like coming over to eat them. The thick forest of Stolen Land, which is already taller than most trees back home, only reaches its thigh. Completely exposing its gaped open stomach, with rib cages poking out like some macabre imitation of tusks, or claw.

"What are you talking about, you idiot? That thing doesn't look like Godzilla at all aside from being a giant T-Rex." He throws an annoyed glare at Motoyasu, for his comment."I'm sure Godzilla doesn't have his stomach ripped open like a giant mouth… or having his ribs poking like oversized tusks. Unless he does on your earth."

"Well, no. But…" Motoyasu's reply is as nonsensical as always. At least he has the decency to stammer in his response like he's embarrassed at his own words. "What else do you want to call a giant T-rex? Greymon? Skullgreymon is all bones and not a zombie."

"The war camp of my fellow northern lords isn't here anymore." Count Seliph immediately runs away from them. They follow the blue haired lord knight over, and see him run over to a bunch of torn fabric and destroyed tents. There are scraps of broken weapons, and armor thrown all over the landscape, showing signs of struggle. "Are we already too late?!"

"I don't see any bodies around. I don't think the zombified thunder lizard has taken everyone." Lord Julius looks around, clearly more interested in the lack of bodies despite the sorry state of the former camp. "Unless it turns everyone into an undead."

"Let's hope that's not the case, my brother. I… I don't know what I'd do if I saw Julia like that." Seliph kneels down by the old war camp. His brother silently puts a hand on his trembling shoulder.

"It's just standing there. The giant zombie T-Rex." Ren looks back at the boss monster the size of a small mountain in the distance. His eyes narrow in calculation again. "Wouldn't it move onto the next target? A city or something. If it has killed everyone opposing it?"

By the end of Ren's deduction, everyone is focused on him. But the sound of ruffling leaves and branches quickly makes everyone turn west, weapons drawn and ready to fight.

Interlude 14: Strife of the Three Heroes

Half a dozen, no, five figures swing, and glide their way out of the thick foliage of the trees with long grappling hooks. They propel themselves forward with bursts of wind magic. He only has enough time to realize all of them are young women, before a herd of gutterbeaks charges out of the treeline, trampling and knocking over trees to get to the rangers. He killed his share of these disgusting, yet ferocious creatures when they were training in Balafon. Particularly that one time he accidently hit one of their nests with Naofumi's companions.

The thought that some of those men he fought alongside him are now dead, others are enslaved by the church sends him a wave of grief for allowing such injustice to happen right under his nose. But his attention quickly snaps back to the monsters that's running before him. Particularly, how they are all wrong.

The first sign of the wrongness came from his nose. On how he is assaulted by a wave of putrid air. The gutterbeaks already stink from poor hygiene, on how they leave half eaten prey and their own feces around their nest. But these ones before them, they smell practically rotten. Then, he noticed the dull, grayed out eyes of the beak things. And the rot that festers on their flesh. The gutterbeaks before them, they are undead creatures.

Honestly, his body shouldn't be seizing up like he is now. Unable to move his arm to draw his bow, or start firing at the monsters. It's not like he hasn't seen all sorts of zombie movies, or played video games with them being the main baddies. Heck, he's pretty sure that there must be a villain in his own world who has some kind of ability to reanimate the dead just because that's the rule of the trope. He's not a stranger to the idea of undead creatures.

But seeing them appear right in front of his eyes still makes him freeze up on the spot. Making him realize how unprepared he is as a hero.

In the brief moment of his hesitation, one of the gutterbeaks managed to catch up to one of the young women trailing at the end of their group. It breathes something, from its beak. A gust of gray smog, with a slightly purple tint. The woman falls down on the ground with a gut wrenching scream of pain.

"Ulfra!" One of the young woman's companions looks back in horror. For a brief moment, she, and many in the group look like they are about to swing their way back in an attempt to rescue their fallen comrade when they are stopped by the bark of a woman at the front of their group.

"Leave her! That's an ORDER!"

"[Air Strike Javelin]!" To his shame, Motoyasu was the first one to spring into action just as the fallen woman's companions all abandoned her. Perhaps it's his… chivalrous nature at work here. But the oldest, yet often the dumbest of his fellow heroes immediately run towards danger with Count Seliph at his back.

His older companion's action finally manages to shake him out of his stupor. His previously paralyzed fingers twitch into action, knocking up a few arrows made of pure energy into his bow as he fires them out to what should have been the monster's vital part. They failed to put the monster down even as he blew the monster's head clean off, although the undead creature is knocked back from the wounded woman by Motoyasu's much more impactful weapon art.

"[Swords of Revealing Light]!" Ren on the other hand chose his restriction weapon art, rather than a damaging one. It locks all the undead monsters in place as Motoyasu closes the distance to the wounded woman in a flash. He picks her up from the ground, and runs back towards them.

"[Sword Flash]!" Count Seliph digs his feet into the dirt as he spins his body around. A wave of blue light, more vibrant than his hair, as thin as the wing of an insect flashes from his holy sword as he cuts through the air. It slashes into the dead, and rotten flesh of the motionless monsters. Despite the damage he caused, the young lord knight immediately turns around, and follows after the Spear Hero. "We must retreat, heroes! This isn't enough to truly put down undead creatures!"

"Worry not, brother." Lord Julius holds his empty right hand up. A bundle of red flame gathers in his hand instead of the dark shadow he's been using since the start of the Third Wave. Right, his father was a very powerful fire mage. With a wave of his arm, the red haired young man summons up a wall of flame underneath the undead monsters still frozen by Ren's ability. "[Fire Wall]. This should do it. Even gray magic can't reanimate something that's reduced to cinders."

"Where are we retreating to?" He pulls out his small knife, and starts to hack at another small piece of wood. Not trying to carve something specific this time, and more of trying to do something with his hands to make him feel a little less helpless. He looks around, the four women who left behind their fallen companion have already disappeared. "Has anyone seen where those women disappeared to?"

"Last I saw, they were going northeast. Those women swinging around trees. They look more like some kind of scouts than fallen soldiers on the run after a defeat. The army must still be around somewhere!" Once again, Ren seems to remain composed and thinking over their next step. It's good to know at least one of them knows what to do. He runs over to Motoyasu as their oldest fellow hero comes to a screeching stop. "How is she? Maybe we can ask her where the army is."

"Not good." Motoyasu's face twists into a grimace. He looks at the woman and realizes why he looks this way. The woman in his arms shares the same putrid smell of the monster, and half of her body that was covered by the smog blown out by the monster is covered in black, and gray rot. Whatever the poison or dark magic it was, it's eating into the woman's flesh. Motoyasu lies her on the ground, and actually casts a few healing spells on her. It doesn't seem to do anything. "I don't think she can answer any of our questions. Hey, Julius. You are a dark mage. Do you know how we can save her? My healing spells are too weak."

"It's beyond anything I can do." The red haired mage looks over at the woman and shakes his head. "Manfroy mostly taught me how to harm, or subvert my enemies with dark magic. He didn't focus on the defensive capabilities of my affinity."

"Le-let me try something. Master Motoyasu." Bertia scoots over and peeks over at the unconscious woman. The black furred fox she wears like a scarf around her neck opens up her eyes as well. "I mean, I think Kuro can do something."

"Okay. But be careful, Bertia. Your clothes don't have poison resistance." Motoyasu looks unsure for a few moments, but he slowly moves away from the fallen woman in the end. "I don't know what I'll tell your father, if you get hurt trying to help someone."

"Don't worry, Master Motoyasu. Kuro is sure she can protect me from this evil… unnatural force of death and decay." Bertia kneels down by the woman's head and cups her hands around the woman's cheeks. A thin layer of shadow seems to coat around her hands like a pair of gloves, probably protecting her. He looks over at the fox on Bertia's shoulder, realizing it's now standing on all four of her stubby limbs, and her eyes have become a pair of pure black orbs.

"I see you are a shaman with dark affinity." Julius stands back up to his full head, his brother Lord Seliph also rejoins their group and now stands shoulder to shoulder with the red headed Velthomar heir. The blue haired boy stumbles on his feet a little at Julius' words. "Not common among our people."

"Being a shaman, or having dark affinity?" He turns to look at Ren, seeing the other boy around his age looking between Julius and Bertia with a calculating look. "The way you talk… I'm guessing a 'mage' and a 'shaman' have a more tangible difference than simply a title?"

The curious, yet almost emotionally detached way Ren is asking Julius almost makes it sounds like he is discussing the meta of character build on a video game forum. It's not really his thing back home, since he wasn't really a competitive gamer, but he's watched enough videos and glanced through enough discussion forums to recognize it."Is this the best time to talk about something like class meta?"

"Quiet." Ren looks up at him with a frown on his face. "I want to know what Motoyasu's companion is capable of. And know if we should leave her with the army once we find them, or if she can contribute something when we go after Zombie Godzilla."

"Not you too! That thing doesn't even look like the real Godzi-'' Ren's dirty look makes him look away while spitting on the ground. "You know what? Fine! Call it whatever you want to!"

"Both of them, honored heroes. It is rare for a human to have strong enough affinity with a spirit beast to become a shaman, unlike the beastmen. And those with light, or dark affinities are even rarer. I wouldn't be surprised that Lady Noches is the only one of our generation." Julius runs a finger on his chin while looking at Bertia and continues to hold the woman's head, probably doing something. "For your second question. A 'shaman' is a special kind of mage who forms a natural bond with a beast spirit, and has their magic granted by the spirit in question. What spells they have available is completely at the whims of their spirit, and they can't freely choose their spells like a mage. But if their spirit is strong, they can have much better control of their spells, or be able to access very advanced spells way before a mage of the same affinity."

"I see… she seems to be more versatile than you." Ren nods his head along.

He stops paying attention to his companions gathered around the downed scout and begins looking around them in alarm. He has no way to help the woman recover, and he can't wrap his mind around all this talk of magic. He can at least be on guard, and not have some undead creatures sneak up on everyone while Bertia is busy treating the wounded woman.

He loses track of time as he watches the horizon where the overgrown ruin of the village is swallowed by the creeping forest. It might have been a few minutes, or much longer. But eventually, he hears some sizzling noise so he looks back at his traveling companions. The woman still has half of her body covered in fresh wounds, but they no longer look like her very flesh is rotting away. The ground around her, on the other hand, seems to be drenched with some disgusting liquid, which withered the overgrown grass. Bertia is slumped on the ground in what seems to be exhaustion. Her eyelids halfway down her eyes. "I did all I can for her."

"Cast another healing spell on her, Motoyasu." Ren looks up at the oldest of them. "It should work better with the poison, or whatever that thing was expelled from her body."

"Right, [Heal]." Motoyasu doesn't look like he's bothered by being ordered by someone younger. He throws his arm forward, and casts the healing spell he tried before. This time, it visibly did something as some of the wounds on the woman's body began to close. Not completely, as half of her body looks like someone scraped her against a grater. But at least the healing spell actually worked this time.

Their older companion casts healing spells a few more times, clearly encouraged with the result he got. Not too long after, the woman jerks awake. Her eyes look unfocused as she wakes up, still in a daze. "Wha-? Where is everyone one? Why didn't anyone…"

"Your friends left you behind." Ren hovers over her face and speaks with the kind of bluntness that even makes him cringe. Probably not the best thing to tell a young woman who had a close encounter with death, but maybe they don't have the time to ease her into the situation. "Tell us where the army camp moved to. We can get you help."

The woman blinks a couple of times. She tries to move her body, but she winces in pain as some of her newly scarred wounds reopen. More of her blood seeps into the ground withered by the poison expelled from her body. "Northeast… by the bridge to Ascart County…"

"Thank you for your cooperation. You can rest now." Ren nods to the woman, who promptly drifts back to unconsciousness again. Their youngest member looks around at the accusatory glance he's getting. "What? I got the information we needed."

"You could have tried to be nicer, man. Not cool." Motoyasu's chastise sounds half hearted. It's something the childish man spoke out of habit or principle, rather than something he really meant by.

"I for one agree with the Sword Hero's approach." Julius crosses his arm in front of his chest. "We have no time for niceties. The undead creature could be creeping up on us as we speak."

"Not you too, brother." Seliph's protest sounds about as genuine as Motoyasu.

"Well, do you want to go find our sister or not, brother of mine?" Julius peaks at his blue haired brother from the corner of his eyes. The young count holds his arms up in resignation.

"We are wasting time. Pick up the woman and continue to carry her, Motoyasu. You are the largest of us. You'll have the easiest time holding a grown woman while we run like hell." Ren stands up from his kneeling position and gives a quick look at Bertia. "Someone else carries Bertia. She looks like she's about to keel over."

"I can still carry Tia on my back." Motoyasu's protest is met by Ren's hand in his face.

"No, you are not. You need both arms to carry someone unconscious, and Bertia looks like she's having trouble staying awake. She might fall from your back, if she has to hold onto you by herself."

"You can entrust your companion to me, Lord Spear Hero." Seliph moves over and kneels down in front of Bertia, beckoning the girl to climb onboard of his back. "Get on, Lady Noches. I'll make sure I don't drop you."

"Is it smart to take out two of our three melee fighters?" He shares a quick look with Ren.

"Better melee fighters than ranged fighters like you or Velthomar. You saw what those undead gutterbeaks did to the woman." Ren's words make all of them look at the badly hurt woman in Motoyasu's arms again, he flinches again seeing how half of her skin is covered in wounds. "We want to hit them from range, not letting them near us. Alright, enough stalling. Let's move out."


With Motoyasu carrying the unconscious and wounded woman, and Bertia on Seliph's back, the five of them begin to make their way east towards Ascart County. Thankfully, there is already a badly maintained, but still visible dirt road leading their way. They began their long trek through the forested hill road, towards the direction where they'll likely find more allies. He vaguely remembers the road from the first time he visited the northern province before his first Wave fight. Before he instigated a coup in Stormwind and picked up Rishia afterwards…

It really wasn't that long ago, yet it feels like another life.

"How long have we been walking, Ren?" Motoyasu stops his feet and looks at their youngest member. "It feels like we've been walking for the whole day. It's not like I'm tired or anything, but I'm getting anxious. Are we going the right way?"

"An hour? How should I know?" Ren glares over at Motoyasu. He wouldn't say that Ren is his friend, especially considering how anti-social the other high schooler is. But he does feel more comfortable around Ren than Naofumi or Motoyasu. And right now, he can feel Ren is barely holding himself together despite trying to act calm and composed.

"Well, you are the guy who goes off on his own leaving your party members." Motoyasu turns away. It's hard to tell if their oldest member is intimidated by Ren, turned off, or because he decided to continue their journey. "Thought you would know the passage of time from the sun, or something…"

"I'm a solo player, not a survivalist." Ren growls under his breath, not happy to admit his own weakness.

"You were the one with better martial skill out of the two of us, O brother of mine." Julius looks over to Seliph. "Weren't you trained to lead war parties by Duke Oifey and King Shanon? Navigation skills should be covered, right?"

"I know the basics, yes. I'd say we are on the right track, Brother." Everyone stops their feet as Count Seliph stands still and looks at the trees, bushes and tall grasses around them. "If you take a good look, the forest grows thicker towards the direction we are going, which should point us towards the east. And if you take a closer look, you can find many grasses trampled, bush branches snapped towards the direction we are going. It should have been left by the northern host when they were retreating."

"There you go. Are you happy now?" Ren turns his head sharply at Motoyasu again.

"Yes." Motoyasu slowly edges his step away from Ren as he turns towards the direction noted by Seliph. "Let's go."

He hears the sound of a strange ruffle above them. Out of knee-jerk reaction, he immediately knocks an energy arrow onto his bow and fires up without looking. A loud curse is followed by a bundle of dark shadow falling in front of everyone. They all stop once again and see a dark-haired young man on his back, grunting with pain as his coat is torn by the energy arrow. He's around the age of Naofumi and Motoyasu, maybe a bit younger. But definitely older than Ren and himself. He remembers the brown coat as something the northern rangers would wear, pointed out to him by Mald and Lesty when they traveled north before the Second Wave.

"Captain Bartfort!" five men and women jump down after him, their blades drawn and ready for a fight. But the rangers kept their distance of roughly ten paces from them. "State your business, adventurers! Why did you attack Captain Bartfort!?"

"Hey, we didn't mean any trouble!" He immediately puts his bow back on his back and holds his empty hands up. "I got spooked by him and jumped the gun, or maybe the bow, that's all."

The man's eyes move over to them and he lets out a sneer. "Oh, great. It's the useless backup stooges."

What? What does the man mean by 'backup'?

"Are you with the army of the northern lords? Yes, we are here as your backup." Ren moves over to the man, offering a hand to help him up. Captain Bartfort slaps his hand away and stands up himself, while rubbing some kind of balm over his tattered cloth.

It occurs to him that he should apologize for hitting the man without properly assessing the situation. So he takes a step forward and keeps his empty hands up to placate Captain Bartfort. "Hey, sorry I hit you. We were a bit on edge after we got here with the undead monster supposedly as bad as a Wave."

"Wooow. You overpowered dipshits have the legendary bow and you still hit lighter than a six year old girl. What, you got picked on by every girl you ever met?" Bartfort's reply makes him decide that he doesn't like the man.

"Bartfort?" Julius cocks his head sideways as he stares at the young man slowly getting back to his feet. A smirk slowly appears on his face. "Ah, the little lost kitten. A captain of the Forseti Ranger Corps now, huh? I see that you are making a name for yourself."

"You knew him, Brother?" Seliph turns his face to look at his half brother, a realization slowly dawns on his face. "Of course, you do. The Bartforts are Velthomar bannermen."

"Julius." The unremarkable looking man glares at the dark prince of House Velthomar, a venomous hiss escapes his lips. "I thought I wouldn't have to put up with your ugly mug when I joined the rangers. What, Ishtar finally saw you for what a pile of rotten shit you are underneath and ditched your fugly ass?"

"Leo, Leo, Leo… is this how you treat your betters? I see life in the rangers didn't teach you better manners or discipline." Julius shakes his head as he sneers right back at the ranger captain. He turns his head to his brother and drawls. "Seliph, brother of mine. Meet Leon Fou Bartfort. My and Julia's attendant while you were away from home, fostered by King Shannon. Leo, my infuriatingly uptight older half brother, Count Seliph Baldos Chalphy."

"Charmed." The tone of Bartfort's nasal voice makes it clear he meant the opposite as he looks at Seliph from head to toe. "So, this is the 'Scion of Light' everyone keeps yapping about. Someone who can't keep a marriage because he blows his load all over third-rate peasant bitches."

"Are you posting as the sentries for the northern host?" Seliph didn't seem to let Bartfort's attitude get to him. He pointedly ignores Bartfort's insult and turns to look at the gathered rangers while keeping his own composure, they nod back to him as an answer. "We came from the army fighting off the Third Wave. We had the heroes port us directly to Flute as soon as we heard how bad the situation turned in Rabier County. But it seems like we are too late, and the northern host has already pulled out of Flute."

"The heroes?" The rangers under Bartfort's command turn to look at them, clearly putting things together as their eyes wander over Ren's sword, Motoyasu's spear and his own bow. "What about the Melromarc host fighting against the Third Wave under the king's command? Surely there are more people able to lend us aid than you five."

"The fight against the Third Wave didn't go well. Some cultists summoned an outer goddess and she rampaged through most of our army, taking down most of our best fighters and mages. Both Pope Balmus of the Three Heroes' Church and King Aultcray were heavily wounded. Lord Shield Hero also lost his shield against her." A wave of curses immediately echoes over the gathered soldiers.

"See? This is why I told you all not to depend on these so-called 'heroes'." Bartfort glares at them from the corner of his eyes. "They are just a bunch of lucky, overpowered assholes who are born into power, but don't know how to use it right. And then they come back to you crying about how it's 'sOoOo hArD' to be heroes, because they have absolutely no fuckin' clue what they're doing."

"I'd like to see you do better against a goddess who can steal legendary weapons." It shouldn't physically be possible, but the amount of cold air coming from Ren's direction makes him have to shuffle away slowly.

"Maybe if you get off your arrogant high horse and actually work hard, then assuming you are someone special because of your special weapon? Hell, I'd be a much better Sword Hero than you are." Bartfort seems to take this as a challenge as he takes a step forward and glares back at Ren. Great, another one of these types. And here he thought the little shit from Consevatie family was the only one.

"Now there, little kitty. No need to act… catty with our honored heroes." Julius seems to suddenly appear on Bartfort's side as he grabs the ranger captain's skull in his hand. The red haired young lord isn't very tall even by Japanese standards (and there's enough jokes about how short his countrymen are), yet there is nothing comical about the way he simply grabbed a slightly taller man's head in his hand. In fact, the temperature around them seems to drop even further even though Julius has fire affinity. "Since you are a sentry of our northern host, the army camp mustn't be far away. What do you say you take us to see my dear little sister Julia? Your men can continue acting as the sentry in your absence. You trust them, don't you?"

"Oh yeah! We have one of your wounded here." Motoyasu thrust his arm slightly forward, showing the rangers their fallen comrade resting in his arms. "We should get her to safety. And get a healer looking after her. I can only do the basic healing magic."

"Fiine. Reiner, you are in charge." The hand of Julius slowly lifts from Bartfort's head as the stand-offish man backs away from Ren. He turns on his heel and gives them his back. "Well, don't just stand around like a roving gang of idiots with your thumbs up your asses! I'm leaving you all here if you can't keep up."

"With the way he acts, you'd think Ren would find some kinship." He leans closer to Motoyasu, and whispers to the older guy's ears. He needs to talk with someone to settle his nerves, but he's not going to chat with Ren when the other former high schooler looks ready to blow up.

"That Leon guy? He was probably still pissed off about you shooting him." Motoyasu's reply makes him look away while rubbing his own nose. Yeah, maybe he's on edge just like Ren after that Consevatie guy really pissed him off. He shouldn't assume the worst of people just because they are rude. "Let's just give him a while to cool off. We probably won't even have to see him again after we deal with that giant Zombie Godzilla."

"And if we do?"

"We spank him, together with Consevatie."

He stares at Motoyasu for a few more moments before he nods back to their oldest member. "Fine, I can live with that."

The rest of their short journey becomes easier now with a guide. Not too long after they cut across the forest, a river he vaguely remembers comes into view, and a war camp with hastily made wooden fences and watch towers surrounding a good few dozen large tents can be seen across the river. There's almost as many different banners as there are tents, but most of them look tattered, even trampled. Many armed men in armor patrol around the camp, or resting around the tents. The army probably didn't retreat in good order.

"There, that's the war camp. What, you want me to hold your hand to the healing tent too, Your Highness?" Bartfort glimpse at Julius from the corner of his eyes, voice once again dripping with sarcasm.

"Now that you mentioned it, yes." Julius slowly turns to face his former attendant, taking his snide remarks in stride and turning it around on him. Bartfort curses under his breath, but he leads them down to the camp anyway. They easily pass through the guards with one of their own leading them, and the earthly, bitter scent starts to make its way into his nose. It's very similar to the scent of the herbs Rishia would occasionally gather on their adventure, so he knows Bartfort didn't try to pull a fast one over them.

But there is more to the tent, there is also the putrid stench of rot from the woman before Bertia used whatever magic she got from her dark fox spirit to banish it away. Clearly, the ranger woman they saved wasn't the only one who suffered from the undead's foul magic, and they don't have the same luxury.

"You can put me down, Lord Seliph." Bertia speaks softly on the young lord knight's back. "I wasn't hurt. Just tired of working for Kuro's conduit. I rested well on your back, and I can walk on my own now."

"Are you sure about that, Lady Bertia?" Seliph stops his feet and turns his head, trying to look at Bertia on his back. "Lord Spear Hero entrusted your safety to you. I want to make sure you are taken well care of."

"Oh, will you stop flirting behind your wife's back, you shitty playboy? That woman's boyfriend is Right. There!" Bartfort spins on his heels and practically spits at Seliph, almost startling the young lord knight enough to make him fall over.

"Tha- that was not flirting…" Seliph's stammer is quickly taken over by Julius grabbing Bartfort's skull in his hand once again. Bertia uses his moment of distraction to jump off his back. She stumbles on her feet, so he quickly steps over and makes sure she doesn't trip over.

"Oh, don't mind the little cub. Brother of mine." Julius slowly pulls on Bartfort's feet, dragging the annoying ranger captain to face him. "He just has a dirty mind. Isn't that right, Leo?"

"Oh, fuck off, Julius! As if I would get a hard-on for a washboard doll like some sick pedo!" Bartfort flails around in Julius' hand for a few more moments before he finally manages to throw the mage's hand away from his head. He points at the largest tent behind him. "Well, you assholes wanted to go to the healer's tent. Here we are!"

Motoyasu quickly charges into the healing tent, carrying the still unconscious woman in his arms. Lord Seliph is the second one following right after his steps. The rest of them enter as well. As the intense air of decay attacks his nose full force, he hears Seliph calling out to his sister. The young lord knight is clearly trying to keep his voice down, but doesn't make it right with the urgency in his voice. "Julia!"

"Lord… Seliph?" A fragile voice comes from the back of the tent, behind rows of men and women with rotting flesh covering their bodies. A young girl with light purple hair slowly turns her face towards the flap of their healing tent, a smile slowly blossoms on her face despite the pain she's clearly in. "Oh, it really is you, Lord Seliph! My… brother. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me again! I'm sorry, Lord Seliph… my brother. But I wasn't strong enough to save everyone from the zombified thunder lizard."

"I'm here, Julia. " Seliph quickly moves his legs, ignoring the dirty looks he's getting from the healers working around the tent. His steps are just slow enough to barely be considered a walk and not a run, as he throws himself kneeling beside Julia's sheet. "I'm sorry, Julia… my sister. I shouldn't have left you alone in the north. But I'm here now, you don't have to fight alone again."

"What the FUCK?" Behind them, Bartfort snorts dismissively once again. "Now the little shit is cheating on his wife with his sister?"

"My dear little Leo. You really should know better than to gossip about your better as they are standing before you." Julius waves his hand, shooing away at his former attendant. "Didn't you want to get back to your men? Let us have some time as a family, and run along now."

"Don't think that I want to keep staring at your fucking face, Julius." Bartfort throws another cold glare up at Julius as he turns around and leaves the tent.

He wants to dismiss the rude ranger captain's remark as him being petty and bitter once again, but he looks again at Seliph and Julia locking gazes like they are the only people in the world. He almost feels bad for wanting to agree with Bartfort on this one instance. As Motoyasu hands the wounded ranger to one of the healers, he slowly moves over to the oldest hero and whispers to him. "Hey, HEY! Is it just me, or that Bartfort guy seems to be onto something this time? I mean, look at them! Do they act like siblings to you?"

"What do you mean? They are just showing how much they care about each other." Motoyasu turns his head to look at Seliph and Julia holding hands together and then looks back. "Ikuyo and I do this all the time. We grew up together, and Aunt Haruka took care of me when my parents weren't around. So we are practically siblings."

"I…" He stares blankly at Motoyasu's innocent looking face, trying to find any trace that the idiot is pulling his legs. But all he finds is absolutely, infuriating sincerity. "...I don't even know where to begin to list all the things that's wrong with what you just said."

"Can you heal them like you did to that woman earlier, Bertia?" On the other row of passage between the patients, Ren is quietly talking to Bertia.

"No, pushing the foul death magic out of Ulfra already tired me out more than fighting the Third Wave." Bertia kneels down, and Kuro runs down alongside her arm like a makeshift bridge. The pudgy little fox leans closer to one of the patients for a few beats, almost like she's sniffing them. She runs quickly back onto Bertia's shoulder. "It was definitely dark magic. But there's something very wrong with this. Dark magic isn't nice, but it shouldn't be this actively… vindictive either. The dark itself is twisted in them. I think it has something to do with that giant zombified thunder lizard."

"Do you think they'll get better if we kill, or banish the boss monster?" Julius walks over to Bertia, he doesn't bother to dip his head at the patients, but his eyes do wander down to look at them.

"It could. At least it'll make healing them much easier." Bertia nods her head along, clearly not paying attention to who is talking to her. She suddenly looks over and jumps away on her feet, stumbling over her words. "I-it's what Kuro told me. Anyways…"

"So, we have to kill the boss monster to help everyone." Ren looks around at the wounded and dying people in the healer's tent, and all the healers running around passing healing items or casting spells. "Easier said than done, if we can't get close to the thing."

"Honored heroes?" Someone flips the cloth flap aside and enters the healer's tent. They turn around, and see an unremarkable looking soldier in light mail armor. "Our lords and commanders have heard of your arrival. They are in the command tent right now, talking over strategies against the possible undead scourge we are facing. If it's not too much trouble, could I ask you to attend the meeting? We might be able to find a way out of this dire situation if we had your help."

"Of course, we'll join our fellow northern lords-" Seliph is the first one ready to go as he raises to his feet, but he clearly noticed how Julia hasn't let go of his hand. "Julia?"

"I'm sorry, my brother. But please… stay with me a little longer."

"You stay and comfort our sister, Seliph." The smirk on Julius' face reminds him of a cat who pulled off something mischievous. "I'll make sure our honored heroes are well informed and attended while they join the war meeting."

Yep, there's definitely something going on with these siblings.


The soldiers in the camp give them wary glances as they are led to the command tent. He can observe the soldiers' fingers twitching on the hilt or shaft of their weapons. Thankfully, the walk this time was very short. Probably somewhere between five and ten minutes. The soldier who acted as a messenger goes through the tent flap first and announces their arrival. "My ladies and lords, the legendary heroes, Heir Velthomar and Heiress Noches, have arrived to help the war effort to take back Rabier County."

"Invite them in." A much older voice comes from inside of the tent. The speaker was probably trying to sound calm and professional, but the low, almost hoarse voice only sounds tired in his ears. The soldier comes out, and holds up the tent flap, clearly inviting them inside.

He peeks inside, and sees a number of people wearing different armor sitting around a large table. A sandbox sitting in the middle, with carved out wooden figures sprawled around. Probably indicating the enemies and their own troops. The one sitting at the end of the large table, who he guessed was the speaker, had his eyes drooped nearly closing on his face. His short hair is at one point, clearly well groomed, but is now completely fizzled. Some goes to his thin mustache.

"Hey! I saw you flew by us earlier!" Motoyasu's sudden outburst takes his attention away from the man sitting at the end of the table. Predictably, he's talking with one of the few females sitting around the table. "You left one of your friends to die to those undead monsters! What gives, man!? Not cool!"

Huh…? Motoyasu talking to a woman. And he's actually taking her to task rather than trying to butter her up? That's a first.

"What the hell are you screaming about?" The woman with short, red hair squints her eyes to glare at Motoyasu. She's clearly not amused by his antics.

"We saw you ran away from those undead beak things when Itsuki ported us to Flute!" Motoyasu takes a few steps up and points his finger at the young woman. "One of your friends got hit by them, and you just told everyone to leave her to die! Well, we killed the undead monsters and saved her life. You better take care of your friend this time!"

"And who even asked you for your help?! Who do you think you are?!" The woman screams right back at Motoyasu, making him take a step back in stunned silence. She spits on the ground, and glares at all of them this time. "You and your hero types. Think you have the right to tell us how to live our lives and do our jobs because you had it easy with your legendary weapons and boosted growth. Well, let me spell it out to you because it's clearly not getting through your thick skull. Not all of us are lucky enough to be born with some powerful relic weapons. We can't treat war and fighting powerful monsters like it's a fun game like you heroes! I made the right call leaving Ulfra to die, or else my whole team would have been killed by those undead! You think saving a life makes you heroes? Way more people get killed because they try to imitate what you idiots do without a legendary weapon!"

"Please, don't take your frustration on Lord Spear Hero, Lady Yesold. I'm sure he only meant well…" The man sitting at the end takes a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat on his head, but he's glared back down by the woman.

"Shut up, Reichnott!" Lady Yesold slams her hand on the table, knocking over some of the wooden figures on the sandbox. "I'll be damned, if I let myself cower in front of some rapist from another world just because they have a legendary weapon in his hand!"

"R-rapist?! I don't go around being shitty to women. Aunt Haruka taught me better than that!"

"Oh, really? That's why you hang around and being friendly with that asshole who raped his follower on the first night, and go around buying slaves?!" It takes him a bit of time, and for Yesold to bring up the slave part for him to realize that she was talking about Naofumi. "All you summoned interlopers pretending to help save our world are the same. Rapists who are here to exploit and harm us to make yourselves feel good!"

"Naofumi was exonerated when 'Mein'..." Ren takes a short pause in his defense, clearly thinking over what role the imposter besides Naofumi played in that whole fiasco. "...testified against his rape allegation. Even Bertia's father thought it was a sabotage attempt."

"The Sword Hero is right, Lady Yesold. You have no right to go around accusing our honored heroes for a crime they have been exonerated of and besmirch their good names. Not when they have been going around, helping anyone in need since their summoning." A dark haired lord rises up from his seat. He recalls Lesty briefly telling him about the Count Ascart, the lord of the county named after his family name. "Please, listen to Lord Steward Reichnott and calm yourself down. We have more important things to discuss here than settling petty personal grudges."

"Exonerated, or had his crime buried because everyone wants to use and exploit these so-called 'heroes' for their ability to unlock potentials?!" Lady Yesold, unfortunately, was clearly not convinced by Ren or Count Ascart. She slams her palm on the table over, and over with each enunciation of her voice. "Whose to say that the Shield Demon did rape his first companion, and had everyone shut up about it because everyone wants something from him?! Him releasing an ancient thunder lizard right beside your land, and leaving its carcass to rot was what got all of us in this mess! As for Reichnott… this sniveling useless fool was appointed as our lord steward only because he kisses the Queen's ass harder than Old Fart Seaetto!"

Reichnott seems to shrink even further into his chair at the accusation.

"Exonerated." Ren stands his ground, even if he clearly feels unsure about the involvement of 'Mein' judging from how he showed hesitation earlier. "The whole thing smells of a setup to me. If you actually spend any time getting to know Naofumi, you'd realize he's someone who is careful and nice. He wouldn't be trying to have his way with his only companion on the first night even if he's an unbeatable demi-god. And especially not when he lacks attack power."

"What the hell is her problem? She's being a bitch for no reason." He slowly leans over to Julius and whispers to the young Velthomar heir. "That attendant of yours was a bit of a pain. But what's her deal? It's like she's determined to hate us because we were summoned heroes."

"Lady Yesold came from one of the northern great houses who had their land devastated by the Great War." Julius whispers right back to him, thankfully, without his usual flare that draws everyone's attention. "After the war, King Aultcray sent some of his free fighters north to shore up the defense, and help the northern great houses rebuild their armies and fortifications. Allegedly, she was almost raped by one of them as a child. She's developed a little bit of… distaste to a lot of things."

Well… shit. Now he just feels bad about comparing her to that Bartfort guy. Or calling her a bitch. She still is… but considering what happened in her childhood… He just feels like an asshole.

"This is uncalled for, Lady Yesold Ebonheart! We are facing an undead scourge that would devastate all of our land, this is no time to throw around conspiracy theories and petty insults. Please, conduct yourself with some professionalism." Count Ascart stands up from his seat. He doesn't do something like hammering the table, but his deep voice is still able to go head to head with Yesold's shrill screams. "If you are unhappy with Lord Shield Hero's trial, you are welcome to launch your own investigation. But please, don't bring this kind of unrelated petty argument to an important strategy meeting. Especially when Lord Shield Hero isn't even here."

"And we know the thunder lizard was not released by Lord Shield Hero. It was released by Towair the Deceiver of the Siltvelt Raven Lord to cover his retreat in his failed attempt to take Lord Shield Hero hostage…" Reichnott tries to stand again, but he's sent right back to his large chair by another glare from Lady Yesold.

"How do we know it's true? For all we know, the Shield Hero made that up too!" Yesold snarls at Reichnott as she slams her hand on the table one more time. "Tell me, Reichnott. What does the queen's butt taste like? Does it smell the same as the animals she loves so muUUUAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The young woman's scream or rage turned into a squeal of pain when someone stabbed a dagger right through her hand on the table. Both Reichnott and Ascart's faces slowly turn to shock as they look at the offender. "Lady Rabier/Ellie!"

"I had enough of your yapping rat fuck screaming nonsense!" The now named young woman in leather intentionally nudges the dagger in her hand, making Lady Yesold let out more huff of pain as the blade buried in her hand making a wet squelch sound. "Everyone brought their man to fight the fucking animal bandits and undeads, and here you go on and on about some fucking pointless personal vendetta against the heroes. So listen up and listen well. You either be a good little bitch and shut up, or get the fuck out of here so the rest of us can plan how to kill that dead lizard deader!"


End Note:

For anyone who were wondering. Yes, I planned Ellie being related to Idol Rabier from the start. Although she would be his younger (and bastard) sister than his child, since Idol died as a young boy in this story. I don't think he'd be old enough to father a child.

So, I unintentionally lied again, or rather I over estimated how I can write in a single week. I did plan to have all three weapon cardinal heroes to get their own POV for this side quest interlude. But I thought I could have finished the whole meeting the northern host and zombie Zilla fight done in one chapter.

Once again, not my original intention when I introduced a bunch of Fire Emblem characters into this story to flesh out Melromarc nobility. But since Fire Emblem playable characters (particularly the earlier installment) tend to be one-dimensionally heroic and noble, and the few who were originally villains ends up getting modded into heroes in my story due to circumstance, I realize that I ends up making Melromarc nobility comes off as more like The Lord of the Rings character, rather than Game of Throne characters.

Well, this interlude we'll get to see some more nobles who are disagreeable bastards in one way or another. Plus, we get to see more of the native social elites who are actively against the summoned heroes than either support them, or want to more subtly manipulate them.

And of course, the three weapon cardinal heroes need to learn to stand on their own without Naofumi holding their leashes. Next chapter, we get to the actual fight where they have to band together with the natives to clean up the mess due to Naofumi's earlier action.

Guest review time.

To Lily:

Yeah, I'm sad to send away Kyubey and Farkas myself, and for a while I considered coming up with some BS to let them live like they get captured by the church like Raphtalia and Firo. But it needs to happen in this story, with how it's been developing.

On the danger of following heroes... I think what happened canonically to Ren's companions is already a good, AND canonical way to show how following heroes around is even more potentially dangerous.

To Guest:

Personally... I think canon Raphtalia was just being a bit salty and jealous that Motoyasu was a better waifu to Naofumi than she herself ever was. Yes, I said it. Reprisal of the Spear Hero canonically proves that Motoyasu is the best waifu in Rising of the Shield Hero.

XDDD

Not that I'm against trash talk Alenko or anything (because Uncle Sheogorath knows that's all I do in my end note ramble), but to put things diplomatically. Alenko's creative priority was clearly not about making consistent characters with actual depth in Rising of the Shield Hero. They are very much like JK Trolling in this sense (and vastly less talented to hide this than JK Trolling) where their characters are firmly subservant to whatever plot they want to happen. Basically, the kind of writer that's the exact opposite of Hirohiko Araki.

And isn't it just sad that Raphtalia, the most important female character in Rising of the Shield Hero, had less depth than a female villain from Super Famicon era, who only had limited appearance in the second half of a SRPG over saturated with characters.

Editor's Note:

When Qinlongfei told me that Leon Lou Bartfort from Trapped In A Dating Sim was about to make an appearance, I'm not ashamed to admit that Jordan Dash Cruz does an excellent job dubbing him in English, and that I wanted to portray the amount of sass justice.

That said, he's designed to be taken down a few pegs for the way he's portrayed in the anime - as an annoying and overpowered little shit. Even if I love his dialogue.

Personally, the one character in the chapter I really want to see taken down is Lady Ysold. That shrill, medieval Karen was the most unenjoyable part of the chapter.