Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
Once again, special thanks to the author BogStandardOtaku on AO3, who allowed me to use their original characters from their own story Living Loving Maid. The full list of the characters from their story are: Malicia, Maximilian, Alexander, Antonio and Clara.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
With the pilgrimage part of her devoted pilgrim disguise completed, Mein quickly leaves the Cathedral that was formally devoted to the Founder of Wizardry. The next part, and the point of her visiting the city of Gallia and possibly blowing her cover is of course, shopping for both traveling supplies and a disguise for Naofumi. Thankfully, she already had some practice of how to shop like a commoner from the start of her journey with the Shield Hero.
The recently fugitive princess almost let out a snort at how chaotic her life has turned out after joining the Shield Hero. To think that she used to hate the errand of making her way back to Melromarc castle to sell the loot she made with Naofumi for killing monsters. Yet, now she is relying on such practices to not give away her true identity. Well, that time she threatened a street vendor notwithstanding.
Any sense of nostalgic amusement evaporates like the morning dew under an intense sun, when she remembers why she is undertaking such a task. She hopes Raphtalia is still okay, after she's left under the dubious mercy of the zealots of the Three Heroes' Church.
Unfortunately for Mein, the city of Gallia doesn't seem to have a robust open market where vendors sell their ware at the stall without much discretion. Where she can easily blend into the crowd. Although looking at the patrolling soldiers on the street, maybe that's a good thing.
Thankfully, there are some general shops alongside the street. Some of them even seem to be open for business shortly after (and in spite of) the Third Wave, and the threat of a possible refugee riot outside the city wall. Using the perception she gained traveling with the Shield Hero, the fugitive princess picks a shabby looking store near the opening of an alleyway, and goes inside.
The inside of the small store looks every bit remarkably unremarkable as its face suggested. Some wooden shelves line up the walls, either holding low quality, common use everyday items, or things that can be used for travel. A middle-aged shopkeeper half lying on the counter, seemingly drifting in and out of a nap. And a young woman around her own age, but obviously of humble birth is moving some boxes from the back of the shop.
She wouldn't be caught dead if she is still the princess of glorious Melromarc, Mother's intended heir or not. But now as a fugitive disguised as a poor but pious pilgrim, it's the perfect place for her to gather what she needs. With how quiet and lazy the shop is, she might even be tempted to try and steal some of the supplies if she has access to her vassal wand's inventory space. Alas, it's not meant to be.
Then again, she's supposed to pretend to be a humble and devoted pilgrim worshiping Saint Brimir. Perhaps the damage to the vassal wand is a blessing in disguise. Less she is tempted by her less savory desires and oust herself.
Chapter 85: Beyond the Door
Mein's eyes move through the different sets of commoner's clothing on display that's all made for affordability and utility, rather than style. Now… What would be a disguise that's so far away from the idea of the 'Shield Hero', or maybe even a cardinal hero itself? That no one would even think about the possibility of associating Naofumi with the idea of being a hero? Hmm…
Something everyone knows that the summoned Cardinal Heroes are NOT. With this in mind, she quickly makes up her mind on what to get him. The fugitive princess goes about gathering the plain but durable clothes for Naofumi to change into, and a basic mortar and pestle set to prepare herbs with.
She is about to bring everything to the counter when the door is pushed open, and a knight in full armor and tabard of House De Gallia walks into the shop.
The young knight's face is beautiful and delicate, reminding Mein of how some people used to describe the son of Count Ascart. Instead of a helmet, a large-brimmed hat decorated with a blue feather sits atop his dark blue swirl of hair.
Mein pulls further back while pretending to peruse the ware in the store. She keeps a shelf between the knight and herself in case the knight comes in looking for a fugitive on Prince Joseph's order. She narrows her eyes, and sees the medal of Chevalier on the knight's chest, rewarded to brave men and women for distinguished service to the crown.
She silently pounders on the odd of her taking out the chevalier on her own, in case he is looking for the now wanted Shield Hero. Unlike common knighthood, any incompetent son of a noble, or even a knightly house are born into, those who achieve the rank of a chevalier has to truly prove their valiance on the battlefield. In other words, someone who has absolutely no business to be found dead in this kind of humble store just like herself.
Even with her newly acquired vassal weapon, she isn't optimistic at taking the young man on in a fair fight. Not without alerting the patrolling soldiers out on the street.
Keyword being fair. She slowly pulls her left hand into her sleeves, holding the star wand Father passed down to her while pulling a large waterskin down from the shelf with her right hand. She wonders if she'll also alert the guards, if she puts everyone in the shop to sleep without anyone drawing their weapons.
But if the guards are the more observant type, the fact a chevalier enters into a humble shop and doesn't return after a few moments could be a cause for investigation. Decisions, decisions…
Thankfully, the young knight quickly makes the decision for Mein as he asks a question she isn't expecting. "Have any of you fine ladies and gentlemen seen Captain Polnareff? I'm supposed to meet his squad here at the eastern gate after the Wave has concluded."
The shopkeeper is stirred awake from his earlier half slumber. He nearly falls out of his stool and sprawls onto the floor, while the young woman simply stares at the knight with a dumbfounded expression. It takes Mein a couple of seconds to realize why the girl is making such an interesting face to the knight. She distinctly remembers she was walking southwards alongside The Road to Victory of Gallia city. A street that goes along the cardinal direction of north and south.
"Ah… Sir Chevalier. I'm afraid you won't find Captain Polnareff near my shop." The shopkeeper climbs back to his feet, and quickly bows his head down to the knight. "We are near the south gate."
"Are you sure about that?" The knight looks outside the window, at the street. "I didn't even make any turns this time when I exited Gallia Castle. I should have arrived at the eastern gate through the main street."
The middle aged shop keeper's face looks like someone who is suffering from severe constipation. The reason for his pain is clear to Mein. It's generally not a good idea for someone of humble birth to correct a knight's mistake, especially when said mistake is downright idiotic. While it would have been terribly unchivalrous to hit someone of common status, it doesn't always stop an enraged knight from taking out their anger and frustration on someone of lower status considering the general lack of consequence. And considering a certain thug in the Bow Hero's party who is a Gallian knight, well, Mein's opinion on them isn't very high.
As for the young woman, she began to mumble under her own breath, clearly not having enough life experience as her employer to worry about offending someone much higher in the social status than herself. "But… the main street runs along north to south, not west to east…"
"Ah… I see." The knight finally seems to realize his mistake. Regardless of his other talents and achievement, geography is clearly not his strong suit, if he can't even remember directions well. Is this some kind of ruse employed by this knight to catch her off guard by acting outrageously dumb and incompetent? Or did all the good, and competent Gallian knights die in The Great War, for an idiot pretty boy like him to be granted the honorary title of Chevalier?
Actually… The fugitive princes realized that might not be so far away from what really happened. Prince Joseph earned himself a lot of respect and prestige amongst Melromarc nobility, even granting him the chance to challenge mother's claim to the throne thanks to him stopping the invaders at Gallia. But in return, Gallia is also one of the most devastated provinces of Melromarc during The Great War.
"I'm terribly sorry for intruding on you, my good sir and lady. I will try my best to find Captain Polnareff on the other side of the city." The knight bows down to the dumbfounded shopkeeper, and his young assistant. He turns around, opens the door and prepares to leave the shop.
"Clara, be a dear and take Sir Chevalier to the eastern gate, will you?" The shop keeper looks at his young assistant from the corner of his eyes. He looks more than a bit annoyed at her by this point. "We don't want the good sir knight to get further delayed along the way."
"Ah, yes! Of course!" The girl quickly runs her way over to the knight, who kindly holds up the door open for her. "Thank you, Sir Knight."
"No, the gratitude is all on me. Lady Clara, was it?"
"Not lady, I'm just a common farm girl..." The directionless knight, and helpful commoner girl exit the shop. Their voice quickly gets drowned outside.
The princess turned fugitive shakes her head. It's really not her place to worry about the quality of Prince Joseph's men. Actually, him not having competent help is a good thing, considering his ambition to take Mother's throne, which makes him her own enemy by extension. She collects all the things she gathered for Naofumi and herself, and brings them to the counter.
"Ah, a customer? Oh…" The shop keeper sounds excited for a moment, until his eyes meet Mein's face. The older man quickly averted his eyes. Well, at least he looks more sorry than disgusted at her burnt scar. The princess forces a smirk back before it can break her neutral mask. She's not below playing a victim and exploiting this shopkeeper's sympathy towards her if she can get a slightly better deal. Naofumi and herself need to watch out how much funds they have left in their improvised state.
"Greetings, kind sir. I am a pilgrim going on the Founder's five cathedrals to find meaning in life..." Once again, she begins to recount her sad, made up backstory about a fire accident that caused her disfigurement, and how she's now devoting herself to Saint Brimir to find her own purpose.
Her shopping trip concluded easy enough, and thankfully without further incident. She intentionally exited Gallia City from its northern gate this time, perfectly playing the role of pilgrim of Saint Brimir who has finished her visit to the Cathedral of Void of Romalia, the Cathedral of Earth of Gallia, and now going north east towards either Tristan or Germania of Faubley to visit the Cathedral of Water and Fire respectively.
Once she manages to make enough distance from Gallia city where she's sure the guards wouldn't be able to spot her, she begins to loop back southward to reunite with Naofumi. Remembering how the directionless Chevalier mentioned a military gathering in the eastern gate, she chose the west side to hopefully avoid military patrol and answering difficult questions.
Without spotting any men, or even beasts around her during her journey back south, Mein's mind begins to wander towards the very soil she sets her foot on. It looks much more barren than the grassland plain of Melromarc, where the earth is often cracked, and what bundle of grass are often in a sickly yellow color rather than fresh, verdant green. There are trees growing around the city, but most of them are lower than the same kind of tree from her home province, clearly much younger than the overgrown forest of the Crownland. Even twenty years after The Great War, the wound to the land is still apparent in the land of Gallia. And she's once again reminded of that conversation Seliph shared with Leif about the damage to the young Marquis' home.
She is vaguely aware that if she manages to wrestle the crown away from her younger sister, it'll be her duty to take care of the people of Melromarc under her. Both the nobility, and those of humble birth. Well… she can't take care of anyone, if she doesn't survive her current ordeal first. And she needs to at least get Naofumi to safety. She ignores the ache in her feet, and picks up her paces as she walks towards the mountain range south of Gallia. She's not too overly worried about not being able to find the cave Naofumi is currently hiding in. There is always the [Clairvoyance] spell that'll direct her right towards her destination.
As the sun starts to sink further towards the horizon, she finally leaves the plain and moves into a forested hill once again. The princess turned fugitive lets out a sigh of relief. She'll have much more options to hide away from prying eyes, or possibly search parties of the church among the trees than walking in plain sight and hope her pilgrim disguise would hold up.
Looking through what options she does have with the wand forms her father unlocked, she picks a low level form. The [Stick Wand] that looks like a piece of unremarkable tree branch. Its stats bonus is as meager as the name implies, but it does have a useful ability in her current situation. [Stick amongst trees] can make the user blend into the background, and become less noticeable to everyone, as long as there's something to distract their attention.
She activates its effect even if she does not sense any danger around her. Better safe than sorry, there could always be the possibility of a spy from the church, or another faction nearby. Or a monster prowling in the shadow, ready to pounce on unsuspected prey.
Her disguise completed, the princess quickly cast her [Clairvoyance] while visualizing Naofumi hiding in the cave. A thin trail of white smoke appears in her vision, guiding her further south towards the mountain. She adjusting her traveling pack on her back to not tip her over, while careful not to step on something that'll make too much noise.
As she makes her way deeper into the woods and the hill, she begins to hear the sound of metal against wood once again. Remembering the conversation between Lady Malicia and Maximillian, she realizes this must be the group lead by Maximillian's older brother to gather materials and build shelter for the refugees outside Gallia city.
Mein briefly considers the possibility of walking the opposite direction, and hopes their path won't cross over as she makes her way back to Naofumi's hiding spot. But then, she sets down her traveling pack and hides them in some bushes, and begins to creep her way towards the direction where all the wood chopping is happening.
If she knows what Lord Alexander is planning with his men, she doesn't have to worry about being surprised by elements outside of her country when she takes Naofumi out of the cave. That's the reason she convinces herself to sate her curiosity.
The sound of metal against wood becomes louder and louder as the fugitive princess sneaks closer to the site. Occasionally, the sound of something heavy falling over can be heard over the distance. She takes extra care underneath her feet, doing her best not to trip over, or step on a brittle branch and give away her position. Not too long after, she begins to see the silhouettes of moving bodies in the distance.
"My lord, this should be enough to build some basic shelters for the refugees." Mein quickly sneaks her way behind one large tree and peeks out from the trunk. She can't see too well, for the fear of letting the Gallian men discover her. But she can still see the glimmer of something metal reflecting the sun. Whoever speaks is in full armor, likely a knight, rather than a common guard. Not seeing anyone immediately around her, Mein leans further down, and moves out behind the tree and crawls closer to the wood chopping site among some tall grass and bushes.
"Does it? Last I checked, we have over a thousand people waiting for food and shelter. And more are surely making their way to Gallia city as we speak." The speaker sounds young, but his voice carries the assured confidence of someone who is used to having his words followed. The princess turned fugitive slowly rises her head above the grass she's hiding in, trying to get a better look.
The first thing she notices is a set of gold gilded, green painted plate armor set near the young man's feet. As for the young lord himself, he has a face that's clearly related to Lord Maximillian, but with a softer complex. His hair is also styled in a more deliberate, smoothed out way as opposed to Maximillian who simply slick his hair back, not even caring that the side of his head still spikes up. Right now, he is wearing a set of plain clothes that's most definitely below his station, holding an ax that belongs more in the hand of a commoner instead of a sword or even a spear. Sweat drips down from the tip of his hair down his face, sticking his clothes tightly to his frame, which is slimmer than his brother especially without his armor.
Lord Alexander clearly didn't delegate all the intensive labor to his subordinate, despite his station that would allow him. That's something Mein didn't expect of herself, as she always thought of the Ritellia brothers, it's the younger Maximillian the Red that's more well known for his physical prowess, while the older Alexander the Green is better known for using his calculative mind to help his uncle manage the stately affairs.
"The sun is already going down the horizon, and we still need time to both haul all these logs of lumbar back to Gallia city. And build shelter out of them." Mein turns to look at the much older, and larger man. He has long, dark brown hair that flows down his back, and a well-groomed, thin beard around his mouth. Despite clearly being of lower station, he isn't afraid to disagree with young Lord Alexander. "Our efforts will be counter productive to our goal, if we continue chopping more wood."
Alexander looks up, clearly trying to get a better read of the time before he nods his head. Conceding to the older knight's point. "You are right, Sir Hasshe. We will conclude today, and come back tomorrow if we need more lumber."
Mein can't help but nod her head. It seems like the distant nephew of Prince Joseph is someone who is willing to listen to reasonable arguments, and admit his own mistakes. Definitely a step above the mad prince himself. A shame, that he won't be the one to succeed his throne. Then again, maybe that's a good thing, as House De Gallia is the strongest competitor to House Melromarc in terms of dynasty succession. With her curiosity sated, the princess turned fugitive is about to turn around and trace her steps back, when someone rides on his filorial right over to Lord Alexander, nearly colliding into the young lord if not for Sir Hasshe steps forward and brings the bird to heel. It was so sudden, the princess quickly sank her head back into the tall grass again, fearing her own discovery.
"My lord!" The newcomer was clearly a scout, possibly Gallia's version of the rangers, judging from his thick traveling cloak that's clearly weaved more for protection against element than style. "A group of wargs is fast approaching us from the east! There's about a hundred of them!"
"What? Wargs, this many?! They shouldn't be this close to Gallia city!" Lord Alexander's collected face twists into that of shock, clearly not prepared for the sudden horde of monsters. His guards quickly collect his armor from the ground, and help the young lord put them on.
"They must have been riled up by the waves." Sir Hasshe on the other hand seems more used to this kind of situation as he immediately begins to bark orders to Lord Alexander's men. He points to a pair of scouts that was stationed around them. "You two, take a filorial and run to Gallia city for reinforcements. Take Lord Alexander with you too! We can't let that many wargs get to the refugees! Everyone else, form up around me! We'll hold down our position till reinforcements come!"
"NO! I'm staying with my men! It's my duty as someone from House Ritellia to lead my men into battle, not abandoning them at first sign of danger!" Despite the older knight's very reasonable command, Lord Alexander proves as stubborn as his younger brother.
If Naofumi is here, there's a good chance that he'll stay and help the Gallian men against the horde of monsters. Even without his shield. But Mein isn't the Shield Hero. That's why she immediately turns around and gets away from the Gallian fighters as fast as her arms and legs can carry her, while Lord Alexander and his men are busy arranging themselves to fight the horde of monsters.
It doesn't take her a lot of time to retrace her steps, recover the pilgrim's traveling pack, and then back to the cave where she told Naofumi to hide in. Despite the furious beating of her heart, She stops outside the cave, and casts a few detection spells first, in case the church has already discovered Naofumi and is ready to ambush her. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, as there's only a single bundle of light beneath the entrance of the cave where the underground chamber with the carved wall should be. It seems like Naofumi chose to remain in the lower cave instead of climb up. She lets out a breath she's been holding and enters the cave.
The princess carefully puts down her traveler's pack and leans over at the sinkhole where Naofumi first falls into. She calls out to the Shield Hero, beckoning him to climb back up. "Master Naofumi, I have returned. Come up, we need to get ready for our journey to Zeltoble."
"I think you should come down here first, Mein." Naofumi's voice catches Mein in surprise. She briefly wonders if she should entertain the Shield Hero for whatever he discovered in the lower cave chamber. If a group of wargs have appeared near Gallia city after the 3rd wave, there's no telling what other monsters might be coming over their way.
Mein opens her mouth, trying to tell Naofumi what she overheard on her way back. But she quickly stops herself. What would the Shield Hero think of her, if he learnt that she left a bunch of people fending for themselves against a horde of monsters? "We don't have time for this, Master Naofumi. With the Third Wave concluded, monsters might be moving back to the mountain range. We have to get ready to leave, before we encounter some monster we aren't prepared to deal with."
"Yeah, I know… but you really have to look at this yourself." The princess turned fugitive can't stop cursing her bad luck. Usually, Naofumi isn't this stubborn, unless it has something to do with the well being of other innocent lives. And considering her [Detect Life] spell didn't show her anything aside from Naofumi and his balloon monsters, she seriously doubts it's the lateral case. Which begs the question, what did Naofumi discover to have him suddenly behaving this way?
"Okay, I'm coming down to take a quick look. But you get ready to change your clothes." Mein replies with a voice that sounds like someone is pinching her nose tightly shut. She sets her traveling pack down again and grabs the bag where she stored the cloth meant for Naofumi, as she slides down the sinkhole back down into the lower cave chamber once again.
The princess blinks her eyes for a brief moment, letting her eyes get used to the much dimmer light coming from the lantern in Naofumi's hand. The [Mage Light] she cast into the cave chamber has long whisked out, considering how much time it took for her to grab everything needed for their travel. The fugitive princess has to blink her eyes a couple more times after she is used to the dark, just to make sure her eyes didn't play tricks on her.
The smooth stone wall on the far end, which she assumed to be nothing more than some sunken ruin has split from the middle and opened to the side like a door, revealing a large, dark corridor illuminated with eerily flickering purple torches. She can't be helped but reminded of the catacomb of Eclair's family, only the structure looks even more ancient than the old Boletaria castle's underground burial site, which has existed around the time of the very first Wave of Catastrophe.
Well… now she knows why Naofumi acted the way he did. She knows the possible threat they would face back on the ground if the horde of wargs, and whatever other monsters overwhelms the Gallian fighters. But even she is completely mesmerized with Naofumi's newest discovery.
How? How did she miss something like this? She tried her best to find a trace of magic on the wall when she examined it before leaving Naofumi here with only his orange abominations for company. Because she was afraid that something would sneak up on the Shield Hero at his most vulnerable and kill him. Yet, she somehow missed what should have been a very obvious entrance to some ancient dungeon?
"What did you do to open it, Master Naofumi?" The princess turned adventurer, turned fugitive slowly turns her face to look at the Shield Hero. Who doesn't look any less surprised than herself at this discovery.
"Nothing! I didn't do anything special! I swear!" The Shield Hero almost drops his lantern as he waves his arms, looking both very innocent, but also on the verge of panic. "You have been gone for a while, and your mage lights went out. I tried to get a bit more comfortable, so I moved around a bit and leaned my back on this 'wall'. And then it split open like this."
"You lean your back against the wall… and it opens like a door." Mein stares at Naofumi's face, the Shield Hero quickly avert his eyes, acting like he got his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. "No, I'm not angry at you, Master Naofumi. I'm simply… actually, I don't know what I'm feeling right now. Because I didn't find a single trace of magic on this thing when I was examining it. I didn't figure out whatever was the mechanism, it would have opened as easily as you touching it."
"I would almost guess it's because I'm one of the heroes. But you know, I lost my…" The Shield Hero's voice trails off, as his left hand brushes up at his empty right forearm where his legendary shield used to hang. Naofumi clearly still cares about losing his legendary weapon, even if he often acts in a way that sees the shield as a burden.
"You might be right. But if that's the case… some kind of very ancient magic must have been used to power this dungeon. Something completely different from the Brimirian Wizardry magic branch, for me to not even detect a trace of it. Although this has some interesting implications…" Mein narrows her eyes, and glares at the stone door with the ancient symbol of 'Death' on its center. "The very first hero summoning was performed during the very first Wave of Catastrophe. At which point the more ancient Brimirian Wizardry already existed. Which begs the question. Why would Cardinal Heroes like you be linked to magic that's even more ancient, to the point a simple touch from you would open this disguised door to the ancient dungeon when it's powered by force even older than your first predecessor? Possibly even primordial?"
"Hmm… whatever you just said." Naofumi takes one more step away from her, clearly not understanding much of what she's rambling about. "I, I don't think we should explore it. If it's that ancient, whatever guards it must be pretty strong, right? I don't think we should tempt fate with me losing my shield, and only you around. Maybe get the other guys together if we clear the mess we are in, and if I get my shield back? About that, didn't you say something, like we have to get a move on?"
She feels like kicking herself now. Out of the two of them, she's the one who understands the need to get a move on before a possible horde of monsters catch up to them. Yet, she let herself get distracted by something fascinating, but has no immediate bearing on their survival.
Mein quickly shoves the bag containing the cloth disguise she prepared for Naofumi into his hands. "Right, get into these clothes quickly, Master Naofumi. We need to get a move on, and try to clear as much distance as we can away from the city of Gallia before we make camp. It's better if we avoid people as much as possible, even with our disguises."
"Right, right…" Naofumi quickly takes the cloth bag and moves away from the stone door. It shifts back with a low rumble, seemingly fusing together back into an unremarkable looking stone wall once again. Mein runs her hands across the stone surface, and can't even feel a seam between where the doors close together. She would never have believed that this was a door to an ancient dungeon that possibly existed before the very first hero summoning, if she didn't witness its entrance herself. But her attention is quickly drawn away by Naofumi's hesitant voice. "Umm… Mein. I think you made a mistake with my disguise. Did you grab the bag for your own clothes?"
"No. I most definitely. Did NOT make a mistake. Master Naofumi. Why do you think that?" Mein turns back to look at the Shield Hero. He has already changed into a rough shirt, and is currently holding up the underpants part of his disguise in front of his chest. The piece of offending fabric in his hands is clearly one piece, instead of splitting into two legs.
"It's a dress." Naofumi slowly lets his arm drop down to his sides, while giving Mein a very dry look. He clearly believes the fact by itself is enough to convince Mein of her error, even if he's very much mistaken.
"Yes, that's the point. Master Naofumi." The fugitive princess lets out a sigh. It seems like she needs to do this the hard, and time consuming way by explaining the point of the disguise she chose for the Shield Hero. "The point was for you to dress up as a servant woman."
"You want me to pretend to be your maid?" Naofumi looks down at the dress in his hands. "This doesn't look like a maid's uniform."
"No, not a maid. Master Naofumi. A maid is a professional servant for a noble. I'm pretending to be a pilgrim myself, a pilgrim doesn't hire someone like a maid. Although they do sometimes have other attendants of equally humble birth to help them on their journey." Mein runs a hand through her hair, brushing a few strands over her eyes by mistake. She pauses for a brief moment, considering taking out her dagger to cut her hair short, till she finally settles on taking out a band of cloth and begins to tie her hair into a single braid. "Think about it. The Three Heroes' Church, and their lackeys would be looking for the Shield Hero. Who is obviously a man. What better way for you to throw them off, by disguising yourself as a woman? Plus you can hide your balloons in your thick dress, now that you aren't wearing a huge armor and cloak."
"Are you sure about that?" The Shield Hero lines up the dress in front of his legs as he looks down, as if he's trying to get a better impression of how he'd look inside a dress. Yuzus hopped up and down near his feet, looking curious at his new clothes. "I don't really look like one of those crossdressing pretty boys. I'm not sure I can pass for a woman, and not a King Kong pretending to be a Barbie. Maybe you were thinking about Motoyasu? He could probably pass off as a woman if he's in a dress."
"No, that's actually perfect, Master Naofumi. You'd catch too much attention if you have a very pretty face, which would have defeated the point of me misdirecting the attention away from you using my scar." The princess turned fugitive throws her new hair braid behind her back as she looks at the Shield Hero. "Your face is already softer than most men on Medea, other than those escorts from the streets of silk, anyways… But anyways! You wouldn't catch too much attention if you pretend to be a quiet, plain-looking commoner girl who volunteered to help a faithful of Saint Brimir to complete her pilgrimage."
"Alright… I suppose there are worse things to find myself in than a dress… I'm probably just being ungrateful here, considering what happened to the others." Both Naofumi and Mein herself grimace as they are reminded of their fallen, and captured former companions. The Shield Hero lets out a sign, as he begins to slip into his dress.
Looking at the Shield Hero in his disguise, Mein does concede that his hair is a bit on the short side for a woman. She walks over, takes a large piece of cloth from her bag and ties it on his head. Hiding his hair and even a bit of his face underneath. Like the kind of headdress the commoner women from farming villages often wear.
While she is doing that, Naofumi fidgets underneath her hands uncomfortably. "Shouldn't we come up with some fake identities, just in case someone asks us?"
"Right, I'll be… Sophia. Sophia of Totela, it's a fishing village near House Amelia's seat of power." The princess turned fugitive nods her head, and thinks about the last name of the heroine from her favorite romance novel. Well … she's already stolen her first name as her first disguise, might as well go the full length. Sophia is a common enough given name anyway.
"Sophia… the daughter of Count Ascart, huh?" Naofumi cocks his head sideways, clearly coming to the wrong conclusion of why she chose her new fake identity. He quickly shakes his head and begins slipping his legs into the dress. "And I'll be… Siesta, Siesta of Tarb- I mean Totela."
Mein raises one of her eyebrows as she steps back from Naofumi. She's clearly missing some context that's apparently important for the Shield Hero. But that's not important in the face of their survival. "Right… let's get a move on if you are done, Master Naofumi."
Mein begins to feel the first sign of trouble almost as soon as she steps out of the cave with the Shield Hero. It's hard to put her fingers on, but the forest feels different than before. It feels almost like that first night when they camped with Raphtalia, when her night terror attracted monsters to their campsite. The forest itself almost feels like it's charged in some way, probably due to feral monsters naturally having more concentrated, not to mention volatile mana running in their body than those domesticated animals.
"Is something wrong? Mein?" The Shield Hero either felt the charge in the air himself, or he picked out something from her face.
"A horde of monsters must be coming, Master Naofumi. Like that night where they assaulted our camp." Mein grabs the Shield Hero's wrist, and begins to drag him forward. He clearly isn't used to walking in a dress, especially with the balloons attached on his legs instead of his back. "Quickly! We have to get away!"
"Can we even outrun monsters? Maybe we should go back to hiding in the cave?" Naofumi turns his head back and gives one last look at the cave they exited from. "Maybe we can even hide behind that door?"
"No! We'll be shut inside a cave with nowhere to escape if the monsters find us in there. The smoke from my fire magic alone will kill us, if we aren't killed by the monsters." Mein doesn't dare to look back, as she tries her best to guide the now weaponless Shield Hero with her away from the incoming monster horde. "Hiding in that dungeon isn't a good idea either. We don't know what's in there, but it'll surely be more dangerous than the monsters out there, judging by how ancient it is."
"Right, right!" The Shield Hero awkwardly picks up his pace. But even as they try their best to get away from the incoming danger, the sense of wrongness keeps getting worse. To the point Mein can practically feel her hair stand up behind her neck.
No longer able to take the pressure, the fugitive princess turners around, and throws up a [Fire Wall] behind her. The Shield Hero immediately grabs her arm and begins to shake her. "Why are you trying to burn the forest down around us, Mein?!"
"This should slow the monster horde down, maybe even thin them out a bit. COME ON!" Mein breaks into a full run, while dragging Naofumi behind her. She can hear the distant howl of anger, and possibly pain as they begin to get closer and closer to them.
A distant, almost rational voice inside Mein's head tells her that there's nowhere she can run for safety. They have no allies they can depend on near the city of Gallia. In fact, they are doing their best to avoid any people in fear of giving up their position. And if the monsters chasing them down are wargs like the horde that assaulted Lord Alexander's party, there's no way they can outrun them either.
But her stubbornness refuses to give up and die by the fangs of a group of oversized bone dogs. After Farkas and Kyubey sacrificed themselves so they could live from the radicals of the Three Heroes' Church.
With a loud howl, a large canine monster with long, and burnt mane jumps out from the side of the treelines at them. Its teeth are even longer, and sharper than the Wavehound that gave Mein her first set of scars.
"[FORCE]!" Naofumi throws his hand up, and fires a sphere glowing with brilliant light. It collided with the warg, sending it flying back into the trees even faster than it leaped out.
"[FIRE WALL]!" Mein throws her free hand back, Star Wand hidden in her sleeves. This time, Naofumi didn't even protest as she burns more of the forest around them. Despite the effort, more and more wargs start to jump through the screen of fire and burning forest at them. Some are set on fire by Mein, others thrown back by Naofumi's miracles. But it's clear that they are surrounded by the monsters, and severely outnumbered by the monsters. The monsters might very well overwhelm them, and tear them apart before she even has a time to overwork herself and cause her heart to fail like she did against the ancient thunder lizard.
"Grab me, Mas- Siesta." Mein catches herself before she blurts out the Shield Hero's name. But just as she's about to bet on their survival on another giant leap of faith with her [Icarian Flight] spell, a giant wave of blue energy in the shape of a reverse umbrella suddenly descends in front of them. Almost like some majestic, divine bird making their landing, sending the gathering of wargs flying in every direction.
"[Aerial Assault]."
Mein's eyes grow larger, as she realizes she is saved by the same clueless chevalier who mistakenly ended up in the shop she went to buy traveling supplies and Naofumi's disguise. He might have been a directionless fool, but he definitely has the martial prowess to go with his chevalier honorary title.
The knight turns around, setting his eyes on them and quickly closes the distance. At first, the fugitive princess was worried that he saw through their disguise, and is now ready to take them into custody when he quickly erects a barrier around the three of them. "[Shield Prison]."
"[Leviathan's Tear]." The purpose for the chevalier is made clear when Mein hears an almost hollow sounding voice behind her. The princess turns around, and witnesses a wave of water as tall as the walls of Gallia city crashing towards them. As a princess who spent most of her life on land, she never witnessed a true sea storm. Not even that time when Mother brought her to Faubley to meet her uncle (and future husband).
She can't imagine a natural storm being as terrible a sight as what she's witnessing right now. The princess throws her arms over her face, as she can almost feel the wave crush down against the barrier of the blue-haired Gallian knight.
The ritual water spell easily put out the forest fire she started not too long ago, and washed away the wargs that were relentlessly attacking Naofumi and herself a moment ago. Thankfully, the effects of the spell were aimed ahead of them, so the barrier managed to hold around them. Mein puts her arms down, and stares into the glowing blue eye of Lord Commander Cloud of the Four Heroes' Church's Adeptus Astarte a second time on this day.
End Note:
So... the quintessential 'cross dressing as a girl' part of a Japanese main character, being pulled off (or not) by Naofumi. Not going to lie, originally I was planned to have Malty pretend to be a man to literally have her wearing the pants (well... technically she still does) now that he lost his shield and has to rely on Malty for his survival. But once, that might be too on the nose, and two... there's really no point on Malty pretending to be a man when most people can't tell that she's the princess when she simply pretended to be a commoner at the start.
About the part that did got inherited from my dream is there's a dungeon. Everything else is pretty much reworked by my more rational wake mind as dream often are nonsensicle. But of course, they aren't going to immediately dive into the dungeon, because they are most definitely, NOT ready to tackle it right now.
Guest reviews time.
To TheStrikeWyvern:
Don't think you would check out the newest updated chapter to see my reply to your review. But I think you forgot to tell me which site to look for you? I tried to google search your username, and the fighter jet came out aside from one guy on twitter that doesn't have the a dog in a helmet as their profile picture.
But yes, I am aware that my pop culture reference fetish is one of the two biggest vocal critique I get since starting this story (the other being its slow pacing). While I do have a load of reasons for me to internally justify me taking the reference wholesale, rather than work them into semi-OCs (similar to Comrade Broseph's character who is clearly based off Peter Dinklage from A Song of Ice and Fire, played by Tyrion Lannister) is because I want to work with the original inspiration rather than a cheap, Chinese knock off. It's definitely not for everyone, especially since as you said, I didn't put my story in crossover section. I fully accept it's my problem, not the problem of the people who drop this story in this case.
Thank you for still giving a fair chance to this story in the end.
To Guest:
Yeah... I'm not too sure about future Fire Emblem games. Since I'm a filthy PC peasant, and don't want to drop money to buy a Nintendo console just to play Fire Emblem.
XD
To be fair, the world is very much broken before Goddess Raphtalia had her chance to ruin the pudding. But she most definitely, did NOT make it better by her divine intervention. Although the vassal wand being broken has nothing to do with her, and the damage is caused by Trash's illegal hero summoning.