Chapter 24
I do not own Destiny or Rising of the Shield Hero
Updates will be slow coming
I also now have a Vulcan s motorcycle...which is why there have been no updates for any of my stories
Story start
After the trial, we met with the Queen to discuss certain topics, such as the device I had started to build to gain a dependable mode of travel between their world and mine without an active wave being needed and for the Queen to invite us to a party that was going to happen in less than a week.
Within that week evidence of the Queen's decree was already being seen, from the removal of all Three Heroe's Church symbols and the remodel of the building. Another thing that was different was that the populace seemed to be happier...especially any demi's.
Night of the Party
That night we got dressed up for the party, both myself and Ar'na wore our parade gear, Filo wore her usual dress with a ribbon in her hair while both Raph and Ino wore dresses, red and green respectively. Although no weapons were visible everyone was armed, Raph had her pistol, Ino had her knife and thanks to me they could both summon the rest of their gear as needed. As for Filo...well, she didn't need any weapons; she never did.
The party had two parts, the main one for all the party members plus those who had a notable impact during the waves. Either nobles who had been donating generously to help devastated villages or adventures and guards who made a name for themselves. The second part was just for the Cardinal Heroes and the Queen. It was only supposed to be a short meeting, but I told the others not to wait for me just in case the stooges made things more complicated than they needed to be...which knowing them they would.
Soon the party began, soft music playing throughout the halls and Melty, Raph, Ino, Ar'na and Filo were all around a table. Eating and making conversations about what has happened in the past, Filo and Melty were making plans to explore the castle afterwards. All was going well until a guard came over and whispered in Melty's ear.
"I'm sorry, but something has come, and it needs my attention." said Melty with a sigh
"Is something wrong?" asked Ar'na
"Unfortunately it seems that my sister has been up to her usual tricks...or attempting too. I'm sorry, but I need to inform mother of this straight away." said Melty before leaving
Meanwhile, in the Meeting of the Four Cardinal Heroes and the Queen...absolutely nothing was happening, and from the Queen's expression, she was quickly becoming tired from the lack of co-operation.
"I believe we have wasted enough time...I think we should get this conference started soon, even though none of you seems to want to be here this needs to happen. said the Queen
"I agree, its time we had a chat and clear the air. So please go ahead." I said
"Very well. Now, as you all know thanks to the Three Heroes Church, Trash and Shit-shoveler our Kingdom has faced troubles that it didn't need to. Troubles that have made the situation that we have found ourselves in so much worse than it needed to be, and though we have made started to fix the damage that they have caused we are still a long way off. That said, I believe that there is something that you need to hear...Cal Mira Archipelago will activate soon." stated the Queen
"Really?" asked Ren in shock
"It's going to generate a bonus field?" asked Itsuka happily
"Yes, the once in a decade where XP will be boosted in the area and with no wave expected it couldn't have happened at a better time." before things could continue there was a polite knock on the door, and the Queen gave permission to enter.
With that, Melty entered the room and whispered something in her mother's ear that made her sigh.
"I see, thank you for letting me know." started the Queen before continuing in a louder voice "It seems that Malty was found unconscious outside the castle walls with a bottle of poison...it seems like she had intended to poison someone this night. Though the poison was probably given to her by someone who still follows the late Three Heroes Church and I will also need to find out how she got out of her assigned living quarters. But I am somewhat confused about how she was even able to hold the poison?" asked the Queen
"The crest gives a fair amount of freedom, actually holding the poison isn't risking anyone's life but administering it is. It would have only activated at 'the point of no return' as it were when it was all but certain that she would have gone through with it. For example, if she were holding a knife, nothing would happen, but the instant she starts the plunge it into someone's back it would activate." I answered
"Hold on!" protested Motoyasu "We haven't heard Mal-I mean Shit-Shoveller's side of the story, for all we know some placed the evidence on her after knocking her out or even ordered her to do it using the slave crest that you placed on her."
"For one Shit-Shoveller's crest does not work like that; no one can activate the seal or force her to do something. It was part of Sir Callum's request in modifying the seal...he was concerned that someone would try to take advantage of her when no one was looking." said the Queen before being interrupted
"But I thought she was a slave?" asked Itsuka
"She is closer to a prisoner than a slave, do you not have prisons where they have to work to get nicer things and to pay for their upkeep?" asked the Queen
"We did, but such things are a part of history, now the government pays for the upkeep and maintenance of the prison." answered Itsuka
"Well the way I see it, this kingdom has already spent enough paying for whatever Shit-Shoveller desires, and it is well past time that she earns things for herself. If she chooses not to work than she can face the consequences, for the moment, she has only been doing the bare minimum of work required to get three full meals a day, and even that took almost a week of a single horrible meal a day to get her to work. And as for someone knocking her out and placing the poison on her, an investigation will show if that is true or not. Now on to more pressing matters, this infighting that my daughter has played no small part it has to stop now. It is holding you all back so in order for you to get the best results from the bonus field you will spend some time taking and clearing the air so to speak as well as giving each other any information that you consider to be useful."
"There's no need for that." said Ren
"Exchange information? There is nothing to say...I already know every I need to." added Motoyasu
"It would just be a waste of time." finished Itsuka with boredom
Instead of getting angry at this display of arrogance, the Queen merely smiled.
"Ah I see how this is, you think that this is a request? It is not. This is an order, fail to fulfil this order, and none of you will leave this room a Cardinal Hero! But perhaps that would be for the best. Because if things continue as they are all Hero's aside from the Shield Hero will fall in either the next wave or the wave after that. After all the only boss you were able to defeat without the Shield was from the second wave and that took hours, in the third wave you spend three hours getting nowhere with monsters that weren't even the leaders of that wave. When another enemy arrived unexpectedly, it was the Shield Hero and his companion that won the fight not you."
In response, Motoyasu and Ren's eyes widen in shock while Itsuka just pouted angrily like the child he was.
"What do you mean?" asked Ren with a hint of anger
"About what? About you no longer being Cardinal Heroes or about how the Shield Hero is the most qualified out of all of you?" asked the Queen
"You said that we would continue to be the Cardinal Heroes unless we started causing problems, so why has that changed?" asked Itsuka
"The activation of the Cal Mira Archipelago gives us a unique opportunity, and if you are not willing to work together then new Cardinal Heroes should be selected now! So that they can make use of the field instead of waiting and doing the same thing a month or so from now and be left with Cardinal Heroes who did not use the bonus field to level up faster."
At this, Ren and Itsuka share a glance.
"Then let Callum start." suggested Itsuka
"Where did you get that cheat shield from?" asked Ren
"Still going on with that nonsense, are you? Very well I'll tell you what I know...however this time you will tell me everything you know first. You lost the right for free information long ago from the amount of shit I had to deal with." I replied with annoyance
"What should we do?" asked Itsuka
"Do we really have a choice?" asked Ren in turn
"Very well then, if you insist." sighed Motoyasu
'Still trying to get shit for free...what bloody assholes. But as long aren't the ones getting ripped off you don't care.' I thought with disgust
"First, the basics! If you pick up a weapon that's the same class as your own, you can copy it." started Motoyasu
"It sure helped at the start as we were able to copy all kinds of weapons for free!" smiled Itsuka
'Sounds about right, you don't really care that you are basically ripping people off. I at least paid to copy the weapons...also if you think I didn't know this, you should have told me before. So you are either trying to rip me off by giving me information I already know or trying to laugh at my expense.' I thought
"Next you can automatically craft items with your legendary weapon as long as you have the required skills and recipes." said Ren
"Finally there is the teleportation skill, you can move instantly to a location as long as you have been there previously...did you not know this either Callum? And yet the Queen thinks you're the most qualified." said Itsuka arrogantly
"Shut your mouth you whining piece of shit! So far all you have given me information that you think I already know or information that any reasonable person would have told someone who didn't long ago. And as for not knowing about the teleportation you are right," I started before blinking behind him "but that could be because I already could teleport before I got this weapon and as such didn't need to look to see if it was a feature. Besides I'm sure, the places that I have been to is much wider than your own...which by what you have just told me means that I can now teleport to more locations than you can. On top of that, I have already built a carriage that has that teleportation feature built in...by me, something I doubt any of you can do. Oh and Ren something that you either forgot to mention or don't know is that if you physically make those items, they get bonuses, its not worth simple items such as glass bottles but for things such as armour and medicine it is worth the extra effort."
From everyone's expressions, they are not happy, whether it was from the berating or from being caught trying to pass of basic information as some sort of massive training secret I didn't know...or care.
"Fine, you want something? Then I'll tell you the secret of getting stronger, in this world rarity is everything! So by developing weapons that are rare you..." started Itsuka
"You shouldn't lie, the key is weapon proficiency." interrupted Ren
"Your both wrong! Refinement and Stats are all that matters!" exclaimed Motoyasu getting to his feet
"What are you saying?! Each weapon has a rarity!" protested Itsuka
"What are you talking about? That doesn't exist." said Ren
"I'll say it again weapon refinement is key!" said Motoyasu
From then it just got worse, they started shouting at each other about something not being in the help screen and how the other is a hypocrite...eventually I just had it
"ENOUGH! Do you actually hear yourselves? Your either are all trying to have a go at me or fighting amongst yourselves...I mean have you ever considered the fact that each of your weapons is different so maybe they have different requirements, or maybe they need some sort of requirement to unlock? Ever thought of that?" I ask
"Well then what do you do?" asked Ren
"Selective upgrading, I'd select shields that had certain features or perks that I found useful and upgrade them as much as possible first before choosing shields that aren't as useful. Though exotics do often have the most impressive perks, their useless if they do not fit your fighting style. For example, a powerful haymaker is useless is if you only use fast japs."
"Fine, now are you going to tell us about your cheat shield or not?" questioned Motoyasu
"For one, there is no such thing as a cheat shield. The skills that I have are down to hard work and determination, whether before or after I got the shield. Furthermore I'm willing to bet that each of your weapons has certain perks that you are either hiding or haven't bothered to find out. For the sword its probably something along the lines of extra damage after a parry or with the bow you get increase damage, better movement or an easier draw after each precision hit and for the spear you would probably get something for consecutive kills, am I close?" I ask annoyed
"..."
"..."
"..."
"That's what I thought, on top of that due to my weapon being a shield, I probably get more passive perks than active ones that also affect my entire party. So instead of increased damage after a parry, I just get increased damage resistance to my base stats, and that's the thing about increasing your base stats...if you do it enough, you will easily surpass someone who chose to chase after seemingly amazing perks that need a certain requirement to use despite the fact that they are useless unless they are activated. Perks that I wisely improved depending on their long term usefulness. From your behaviour, I can only guess that you chose perks on their immediate usefulness rather than considering their long term advantages such as greater damage against goblin monsters than greater damage in general. Short and simple...you wasted your time and energy getting and improving perks and stats that aren't even useful under most conditions!"
"Hold on that's not fair!" protested Itsuka
"Not fair? How is that not fair? You chose what you wanted, and you chose to upgrade or 'develop' weapons on their rarity in order to rank up faster! It was you who didn't stop to think about upgrading those rare weapons according to their long term usefulness. So if you have perks that depend on whether or not you have brushed your teeth or not instead of having increased damage at range than you have no one but yourself to blame!" as I head to the door I say one last thing "Either start to shape up or get the fuck out of the way and hand over your weapons...there is no other choice!"
As I left the meeting and joined the party I came across a scene of utter destruction, food was everywhere, tables were overturned, and multiple fights were breaking out, Filo was off to the side eating any food she could. In the middle was an obviously drunk Raph on top of a crying armoured man that I recognised from Itsuka's party who now had Raph's pistol jammed into his neck and from his expression he knew precisely what it could do.
"Say that again, I dare you! You do this again I will drag you to your mother, shove you back up her birth canal and make her name you my bitch when you come back out! Do you understand me!"
"YES! I UNDERSTAND!" wept the guard
"What the hell happened?" I ask out loud
"Well, it turns out Raph is a bit of a lightweight, a few sips of wine and she started acting all different. Then that idiot comes over and starts insulting her, you and everyone else in your party. So in response, Raph started to beat the absolute shit out of him." answered Ar'na coming from the side "From there, it basically became a free for all. A lot of people found out the hard way that Raph is a brutal fighter when drunk...I'd have to say that over half the tables and chairs that need to be replaced are from her alone...and whatever sorry sap that she was pissed at her at the time."
"Why on didn't you stop her?" I ask
"Thought about it, didn't want to fight a drunken Raph, and it's absolutely hilarious watching her beat the shit out of someone three times her size...besides everyone needs a good bar brawl every now and then." responded Ar'na
We then go back to looking at Raph, who at the moment was jumping off a table to jam her elbow into some unlucky bastards side.
"Yeah, I guess this is a good way for her to lose some stress." I said
