Sorry for the late update, I wasn't aware of my chief editor Ace-Triad have been suffered from some health problem, and I been waiting for the fully edited version.
Special thanks for Angel Wraith, who read the draft of this chapter and provided feedback. And of course, Ace-Triad for soldiering through his health complication editting this chapter.
As always, stay behind at the end to watch me blabber some more.
As the princess is about to climb into the Shield Hero's wagon and Siltvelt warriors ready to rearrange them into a proper escort formation, she notices a small group of riders from the south.
That by itself isn't something for concern.
Despite the long way magic theories and devices have come, long range communication through magical crystals is still far from easy. Even with a mage at pinnacle of Prestige level range, or a team of level 40 wizards, a short ten minute one-way image and sound projection across a province would still exhaust them. Needless to say, runners for short distance messaging, and riders for kingdom-wide messages are still required for more delicate communication; one doesn't want the information to end in the wrong hands.
Mein does notice how the filorials under the rider are foaming at their beaks. And considering their stamina, built for cross-continent running, the riders have driven their mount extra hard.
The rider, an inquisitor judging by their red overcoat and gray cloak, practically flies off his bird as the poor thing collapses in front of the ruined city gate. The inquisitor, and his small escort of church knights disappears into the former adventurer's guild building, which now serve as the church's headquarters.
"Something's wrong, Mein?" Naofumi pokes his head out of the monster leather flap of his wagon. He looks around, and notices the exhausted bird in front of the gate. "Did someone run their chocobo to death?"
"It was the Three Heroes' Church, Master Naofumi." The princess in disguise turns to look at the Shield Hero. The young man's face instantly becomes grim at the mention. "I saw one of their inquisitors, protected by knights, fly into the guild building like Ho-Oh the Guardian Beast was chasing after him."
"Men." Prince Kael'thas pulls his sword out, despite wearing his neutral face.
"Prepare to defend our king."
Chapter 69: A Rising Tide
The troops of the Three Heroes' Church didn't attack them by the time the Siltvelt host re-arranged themselves from a traveling escort long rectangular formation to a more defensible circle around Naofumi's wagon. If the phoenix prince was disappointed at the lack of chance to prove his loyalty to the Shield Hero, he didn't show it on his face.
What did happen was Jaune's group leaving the former guild building, followed by the Consevatie heir, whose nose practically turned up towards the clouds above. "Now you are going to get it, Jaune. The council of Vicars won't be nearly as forgiving towards your heresy as that commoner climber Campbell!"
The Arc boy's face is fittingly solemn for someone who is about to stand trial in a court of faith where evidence often matters less than blind religious doctrine, but with no sign of regret. "I did what I had to do to stop an Undead Scourge. I have no regrets."
"What were you doing while we were in the thick of fighting the undead, Consevatie?" Pyrrha practically hisses back at the Consevatie fop. "Running with your tail between your legs?"
"Well, someone has to warn the vicars of the heresy committed by your pretty boy, since you aren't going to." Consevatie ruffles Jaune's hair in a display of fake affection. "And don't forget, never forget. That it is I, Siegmar Issac Octavius Consevatie, who warned and brought that ungrateful Campbell's group to your rescue in the first place."
"A rescue we didn't need in the first place." Richard snorts while rolling his eyes. "An action you only have to commit desertion to achieve. Congratulations on your ability to prioritize, my lord."
"Shut your trap, you thankless plebeian!" Consevatie puffs his chest and shakes his fist at the commoner templar. "It's clear the undead nest wasn't a big deal, if the five of you cleared it with the shield loser and his bootlicking posse."
"You will treat our king with the respect he deserves, M-" The phoenix prince manages to catch himself before a slur can escape his mouth and further sour the Shield Hero's opinion of him. "Man of THE Three Heroes' Faith. Or suffer the consequences."
"Or what, knife ears? Are the long ears of your kind compensating from some other deficiencies?" Consevatie turns his attention from Jaune's group and turns his nose up at the Siltvelt prince. "Are you going to fight me? Go ahead, see how long you'll last before I stomp your head into the ground. For that matter, see how long your men will last surrounded by the men of my church, even with the Shield Loser on your side."
Does the fop not know what he's getting into?!
Privately, the princess in disguise can't fault Consevatie's attitude this time. Considering the Siltvelt phoenix prince being an even bigger pompous ass than Consevatie, who clearly needs to be taken down a few levels. But it doesn't change the fact that he has the official seal of document from the Four Corners' Council, the supposed governing body that regulates hero summoning.
Granted, the Council has lost their teeth after the King of Rape destroyed Q'ten Lo, the nation that's supposed to keep heroes in check. But it hasn't happened so long ago, that their verdict can be flat out ignored by one nation. Even if it's only a show, the other nations will put in some effort pretending to listen to the Council's command. Especially when it gives them a chance to tear some rogue nation apart, earning prestige and resources in the process.
Provoking an attack out from the Council's emissary is a surefire way to have the rest of the world declare a crusade against Melromarc… if illegally summoning all heroes hasn't already done it.
Mein looks around at the rest of the church members around Consevatie. Only Jaune looks ready to do something, but he's pulled back by Richard. The peasant turned knight gives the Arc boy a shake of his head, clearly knowing they have enough trouble already.
The princess looks around at other men of the Three Heroes' faith, desperately trying to find some sensible people among them who will stop the colossal idiot. Some of them simply duck over their heads, walk away or pretend to be very busy. Others actually stop and stare at the scene with smug amusement, hands on their weapons, practically salivating at a chance to fight the small contingent of Siltvelt warriors.
Do none of these fools realize they are walking towards a path to doom!? Pushing and dragging every other Merlromarc men, women and children with them? Surely, someone would realize the consequence of-
With a chilling realization, the princess realizes most Melromarcians, at least the ones present, might truly have no idea of the consequence of their actions. A good number of the average church members were of humble birth. While the overall literacy rate of the nations has gone up compared to the olden days, politics between nations isn't exactly a topic of common people's concern other than what's exchanged between gossip.
Taken into consideration with common Melromarcian's hatred towards beastman, demi-human, especially of Siltvelt origin. And the apparent resentment towards summoned heroes was shown by both the veteran knight who ran into her in the listening room during the first day of hero summoning, and that commoner turned templar Jackson…
How easy would it have been for someone in a position of authority (such as a high ranking church official) to turn such blinding hatred into a weapon to further their own ambition? Consequences be damned?
"If that's what you wish." Prince Kael'thas narrows his eyes and points his sword against the smug fool. "I challenge you to a-"
Naofumi quickly jumps down from his cart and pulls the phoenix prince back. "He's not worth starting an international incident over."
"And what about you, you shielded fuckboy?" Consevatie snorts at the Shield Hero. Because making an enemy out of a Siltvelt prince, who happens to be an emissary of The Four Corners' Council isn't enough. "Did you lose your spine… or your dick when you lost your ability to attack?"
"I don't have to stoop down your level to prove anything to the likes of you." The Shield Hero's face is neutral even in the face of ridicule. The only thing changed about him, is him holding back the phoenix prince with more force. "If you want to scare anyone, stop saying you'll fight someone and actually fight them."
"HA! I'm not someone who's holding back his own attack dog." Consevatie laughs at the Shield Hero as he hops onto a waiting raptor. What seems to be a security escort and Jaune's group quickly follows suit, the Arc son gives Naofumi a sad, apologetic smile. "So long, losers!"
Prince Kael'thas glares daggers at Consevatie's retreating form as his subordinates slowly reform themselves into a traveling escort formation again. As the Three Heroes Church group disappears from view, he turns towards the Shield Hero. "You shouldn't have let the fool get away with that, my king. Many will see your leniency not as a show of kindness, but a sign of weakness."
Despite the catastrophe in the form of a second Great War set during the time of an active Wave of Catastrophe averted thanks to the Shield Hero swallowing his pride, it's clear he isn't getting any thanks from anyone.
"Maybe, but we are surrounded by those church guys." The Shield Hero gives a slight twitch of his chin. Sure enough, while most Three Heroes Church' faithfuls are civilians who help out the refugees, those carrying weapons easily outnumber Kael'thas' retinue at two, maybe three to one. And that's only the people they can easily see around them. "Breaking into a fight because of one narcissistic idiot isn't worth it. There'll be a lot of people who end up dead."
"All of us are willing to fight, and die for you. My king. For the right to defend your honor, and a chance to take you back to Siltvelt where you'll take your rightful throne."
The Shield Hero rests his eyes on the phoenix prince for a brief moment, before letting out a small. "I don't."
"That is… regrettable." Prince Kael'thas looks down at his feet, his expression mournful. It's unclear if he feels shame at the distrust of his rightful king, or missing an opportunity to make Melromarc an enemy and villain against the rest of the world.
By comparison, the travel back south is much less eventful than their journey northward. The most noticeable thing was them witnessing the gathering of a military host when they traveled through Lord Reichnott's land. Thankfully, nobody on either side let loose a knocked arrow or attack spell, or else the situation would have turned bloody very quickly.
It's near the dusk of the next day when they approach the outskirts of Balafon where they last met another hero. The once almost barren surrounding of the farming village has most certainly changed. What was once dry, cracked earth is transformed into a field of verdant grass as far as the eye can see. A small forest can be seen to the north of the village, not as far as where the life root was planted, but still a good distance away from the new field of grain and vegetables.
The trees have juniper colored bark, and lime colored leaves in the shape of hearts. Once impoverished Balafon villagers work around them, picking orange colored, round shaped fruit that looks suspiciously like the fruits from the life root. But that's not all they are doing. Many villagers place buckets at the foot of the tree, and cut open the bark to let down and collect a thick, golden liquid.
And that's not even the most peculiar change to the village. Air around the area, especially among the trees, seems charged. The princess could have sworn that she can see faint mists, not the usual white or gray, flowing around like a gentle wave hitting the beach.
The Balafon villagers, seeing Siltvelt soldiers from afar, immediately stop their labor and throw away whatever their tools to run towards the village.
"A Fortuned Ground this far south?" Prince Kael'thas doesn't seem to mind how he's striking fear into the hearts of common Melromarc people. He simply stops his stride and marvels at the sight. For once, the Siltvelt prince isn't turning his nose up, or regarding something with a barely contained scowl. "Perhaps I judged this barbaric nation too soon. At least someone in this nation knows about fine culture."
"Ah! Always glad that someone appreciated my work." A somewhat familiar flippant voice makes the princess look downward from her perch at the edge of the wagon. Sure enough, at the edge of the forest, or perhaps orchard is the more appropriate term, stands Zylden only at a half grown man's height. "Your journey seems fruitful, Shield Hero. You actually got a proper retinue this time!"
"Zylden!" Naofumi hops down from his wagon and runs over to the short man. "These trees, did you grow them from the magical fruits? Are they giving you trouble?"
"Mah! I haven't seen you in about a week, and the first question you ask me is a bunch of trees? You are no fun." The half-man rolls his eyes back as he walks towards the Shield Hero. "Yes, these are grown from the fruits. No, they aren't troublesome. Not unless some smartass decided to start messing around, and overcharge them with magic, at least. Come, take a walk with me."
Mein and Raphtalia both climb down from the wagon. Firo jumps down right after them… predictably not wearing any clothes. Making the Balafon villagers who don't know what's going on let out a round of surprised cries and exclamations. Even Zylden raises an eyebrow when a naked child suddenly comes out of the Shield Hero's wagon.
The princess quickly takes off her traveling cloak, and throws it around Firo's body. She nearly catches a foot in her mouth for her trouble. "Get your stinking hide off Firo! Firo doesn't like it!"
"Here, use this for now." Kyubey tosses a large blanket down from the wagon to Raphtalia. After some struggle, Raphtalia manages to somewhat wrap the thing around the belligerent monster in the child's body.
Zylden's eyes linger on Firo for a few moments more before moving up to the Shield Hero. "So… your birdie?"
Naofumi returns Zylden's gaze after a few beats of silent staring contest. "...I'm glad you didn't jump to the conclusion I'm some pedophile."
"Oh, please! Give me a little more credit. If you remember, the Spear Hero had them too. Yours seems more of a handful though. He didn't have a problem getting clothes on them, at least. Now where were we…" Zylden turns around, seemingly lost interest with Firo's struggle at getting clothed. He leads Naofumi over to the trunk of the magical fruit tree.
"Yeah. Let's…" Naofumi nods along as he turns to look at the orchard. "They look very different from that huge plant. Although isn't it kind of irresponsible to play with them after the Life Root made a mess and killed so many people?"
"I'll have you know that I thoroughly ran my tests first." Zylden puts his hands on his waist, pointing at the fruit on the tree. "None of these fruits exceed a mana essence of 200. Which is way stronger than your average produce, sure. But it's not anything remarkable for an alchemist reagent. None of them have a fruit in the middle. And I only planted one of the fruits at the start, and had Spear Hero and his team monitor it for three days straight. You know what I think?"
"I'll bite." Naofumi takes a fruit one of the villagers handed to him. He polishes up the thing with his cloak and turns it around in front of his eyes. "Are they absolutely safe to plant?"
"Not any more harmful than your usual alchemist reagents, at least." Zylden shrugs his shoulders, takes the fruit from Naofumi's hand and takes a bite out of it. The half-man even swallows it down his throat before handing the bitten fruit back into Naofumi's hand. The Shield Hero looks down at the biting mark, looking unsure what to do now Zylden took a bite. "The seed clearly isn't self-replicating. I think this might have been how it was supposed to be planted in the first place: get the mother tree first, and immediately kill it after it bears the first batch of fruits… and then replant the fruits and have them self-replicate. It's actually a rather ingenious way to steal power from an Outer God, really - dilute its effect and destroy the source."
"Not sure I got everything, but… Firo!" Naofumi turns his attention towards the devil bird in a girl's body, as she takes the fruit out of his hand and proceeds to stuff her face with it.
"Firo's hungry!" The devil bird raises her head long enough to pout at Naofumi, before diving back down to finish devouring the fruit down. She turns around, and start kicking the trunk of the tree, shaking more fruits down while having the now slowly returning villagers run away in terror.
That's another thing she needs to get in control, isn't it?
"Master Naofumi, you can't let Firo keep getting away with doing whatever she wants." The princess moves over closer to the Shield Hero, hoping the devil bird doesn't hear what she's saying. She doesn't want to be openly attacked by Firo again. "It will reflect poorly on you."
Apparently, she was not quiet enough. As Firo immediately turns her head around and hisses at her. "You made Master Naofumi mean to Firo again, bad woman! Firo hates you!"
The princess quickly throws herself onto the ground with a scream as Firo sails right above her prone form. She can hear the sound of struggle behind her and Raphtalia's exasperated voice. "Behave yourself, Firo! Big sister Mein wasn't being mean to you! She's trying to make you behave like a good child!"
"You lie!" Firo's screech is followed by the sound of someone being tossed away and Raphtalia's shocked cry. "She was mean to Firo from the start, attacking Firo when she was born! You, you are with the bad woman!"
"Firo! Don't attack Raphtalia, or Mein!" Mein looks up from where she lies. Raphtalia is crouched about ten paces away from her, looking unhurt and on her feet to the relief of the princess. Naofumi on the other hand has his arms wrapped around Firo, thankfully restricting her movement thanks to his high DEF value making him hard to struggle out of. Although with a blanket nowhere to be seen around Firo… the scene looks very scandalous to someone without proper context.
"DUDE! What the heck?" The princess turns her head around to the sound, and sure enough she sees the Spear Hero, his female followers… and what seems to be a small retinue of newly born birds following after him. And of course, her little sister is one of his new followers! "That's your bird, right? At least get some clothes on her!"
"Well, if you haven't noticed yet- Ow!" One of Firo's wild flails swipe right around Naofumi's eyes, making the Shield Hero recoil back a little in pain. "I have a bigger problem right now than Firo not liking clothes!"
"What a badly raised, and disciplined feral, wild thing." One of the small children in the Spear Hero's group moves her hand up to cover her mouth as she shakes her head in disapproval. As if the very action of laying her eyes at the sight in front of her, and speaking about it is beneath her. The girl wears a fancy, frilly covered one piece dress that supposedly used to be in style with rich Melromarc girls before The Great War. "Truly no better than the garden stock raised for their meat."
"Do not debase yourself by gossiping over a badly behaving child, Yuki." Iris looks down from her fans to reprimand the noble girl. "If you find the sight unbecoming, strive to better yourself."
"Of course, Mistress Iris." The rich girl, Yuki, bows her head down. It only occurred to Mein now, that this was one of the birds raised by the Spear Hero. To think that simpleton ends up raising a much better behaving child than her Naofumi… or was that thanks to Iris?
"She's one of your birdies?" Naofumi's eyebrow raises up into his hairline as he looks at the girl, Yuki. Who for all intent and purpose, acts more like a noble child from the most well-bred and well educated stock. "She's so well behaving… how did you get her to listen to you?"
"Not much, we-" The Spear Hero didn't get to finish his sentence, when he's promptly interrupted.
"YOU!" Firo whips her head around to glare daggers at Yuki. "You ATTACKED Firo last time! Firo HATES you and your pig faced spear guy!"
"Oh, was that you?" Yuki turns her nose up at Firo. "I'm sorry, I mistook you for a joint stool."
Firo lets out another unintelligent screech as she tries to lunge at Yuki. Thankfully, she is still held back by Naofumi's arm. Zylden walks over, ready to jab something on the side of Firo's dangling and kicking leg. Naofumi seems to notice it, and immediately turns around to hide Firo behind his body. "What are you doing to my child?!"
"Relax there, shield boy. It's just a bit of sleeping potion. She'll be right as rain." Zylden tries to reach up for the screaming and kicking child again. "Would you prefer to have her keep throwing tantrums?"
"No, I don't." Naofumi lets out a sign, but he still keeps turning around to not let the half-man get a good hit on the devil bird. "But I'm still not letting you drug my child!"
By all means, Mein should convince the Shield Hero that it's best for everyone to let Zylden put Firo to sleep herself. But considering the devil bird just attacked her, again... she's not making herself the target for Firo to focus on when she's eager to pursue rivalry with another bird.
"Well. We can't have everything in life." Zylden shrugs his shoulder as he returns the injector back to his side pouch. "Spoilsport."
"Why isn't she wearing anything?" The Spear Hero walks over. His eyes keep wandering back to the winged children following him. "None of my children have any problems."
"Firo said something about them feeling icky on her skin, or something." Naofumi shakes his head, as he watches Raphtalia carrying Firo back towards their wagon.
"They do cause irritation, Master Shield Hero. You can't see the feathers around our body while we are in our human form, but they still exist. And the 'clothes' your kind wear would tightly wrap our feathers around our skin, even breaking some of them when we move." Unlike her more arrogant attitude towards Firo, Yuki's tone towards the Shield Hero is much more respectful. Iris clearly did a good job teaching her bird proper behaviors, especially how to treat one's better. "That's why Master Motoyasu got us manaweave clothing for my egg siblings and myself."
"Oh, yeah. That's right!" The Spear Hero slaps the side of his own head. He hangs one arm over the Shield Hero's shoulder, guiding the other young man over to his birds. Three girls wearing frilly dresses that seem to match the color of their respective hair, and a boy in a more working class style overall. "See my children? Their clothes are actually threads made of their own mana. And they don't break when they transform back to their original form as an added bonus! Pretty neat, huh? You can get them made back in Melromarc Castle."
"Hmm… that does sound great." Naofumi nods his head, looking thoughtful for a second before setting his eyes on Iris. The corner of his mouth bends slightly downwards, not quite a frown but close. "Not sure I can afford it though. They must cost an arm and a leg."
"They aren't actually that bad. Since the material is made of magic. You mostly just pay for the labor cost for people who do the weaving." Katarina pats down the shoulder of her bird, the boy in his overall. "Didn't you pay more for our farming overalls, Iris? You had to import the cotton from Siltvelt."
"And Master Motoyasu didn't even wear it half of the time." Bertia's face suddenly turns very red as she covers her lower face with her hands. She looks away from the Spear Hero, and Katarina actually follows her example despite her usually carefree attitude.
"I admit. It wasn't… one of my best ideas." Iris opens her folding fan to cover her own mouth. The normally composed House Amelia heiress also looks away. The princess can't help but think there's got to be more to this story. Perhaps she'll ask her sister about it later.
"Wow… that sounds like a very convenient plot excuse. If this 'mana weave' is so good and eliminates material cost, why isn't everyone wearing it?" Naofumi shakes his head in a dismissive way. "Guess I'll have to make a trip back to the capital tomorrow."
"I'll take you there. Should be a flash with my porting skill. Let me get Ren and Itsuki first." Motoyasu transforms his spear into a big slab of metal similar to Naofumi's 'Smartphone Shield' on a long pole. He makes some swiping motion and presses on it. Waiting for a few moments with what sounds like some bell ringing before speaking again, but obviously not at the Shield Hero. "Yo, Ren and Itsuki? Naofumi is here with me. Come to Balafon and let's talk together."
"Hmph." "Right away." Two distinct voices that sound like the Sword and Bow Hero respectively answer back from his thin metal slab. Did the heroes just do a long distance image and voice projection without exhausting themselves?!
"Wait a minute. You have signals and reception here?" Naofumi's eyes nearly fall out of their socket as he looks between the Spear Hero and his shield on his arm. "How?"
"Don't know. We tried to add each other to our contact list when Ren taught us how to unlock our smartphone weapons. It worked." The Spear Hero shrugs his shoulder and transforms his weapon back to a regular spear. "Maybe it's whatever keeps us from getting EXP when we fight together? There have to be some sort of magical GPS on us, right?"
"Okay… that's… convenient I guess… again." Naofumi nearly tumbles on his feet when a sapphire and a topaz colored streak of light flies over Balafon. Not too long after, the Sword and Bow Hero arrive with their respective party. Both of them seem to settle their gaze on her, rather than the Shield Hero.
It's probably just her imagination.
Before either hero has a chance to say anything, a small figure darts out from behind the Sword Hero with such speed she's practically a blur. It slams into the Shield Hero's legs, making Naofumi release his hold on Firo with a shocked yelp. The devil bird immediately throws herself at Yuki with a maniacal scream.
The princess realizes it's another demi-human child, this one has a pair of dog-like ears. She embraces the Shield Hero's legs with her arms, stopping him from chasing down Firo. "You are the Shield Hero, right?"
"Hmm… yes?" Naofumi looks down at the somewhat plain looking girl. His face looks exasperated as he casts some glances over at Firo and Yuki exchanging blows on the ground. But then he looks back up at the pygmy dragon lying on the Sword Hero's head, particularly the evil eyes of Gaelion, and any thought he might have for dealing with the fighting birds evaporates. That pygmy dragon is Gaelion, isn't it? "I'm guessing you are Gaelion's daughter he was talking about?"
"Yes, yes! I'm Wyndia!" The girl jumps up and down on her feet, trying to reach up and… give the Shield Hero a hug, or something? "I'm your biggest fan, and I'm here to marry you!"
So… this dog girl is the kind of girl she thought Raphtalia was… A shame she can't get rid of the pesky dog girl, considering her father being one of the Dragon Emperors.
And speaking of said dragon lord… Gaelion's face is definitely growing darker by the second now. Something the Shield Hero also seems to notice, as his hands immediately shoot up and start waving before his chest. "Look, Gaelion. I have no feelings towards your daughter at all!"
Somehow, the black dragon's face grew even darker at the Shield Hero's denial. White hot fire bellows out of the pygmy dragon lord's nose as he roars out his words at Naofumi. Lucky enough for everyone, not in his native dragon tongue or else there'll be a lot of men sent flying away. "ARE YOU SAYING MY DAUGHTER ISN'T CUTE ENOUGH FOR YOU?!"
Is this some kind of trick question to commit Gaelion assisted disintegration?
Mein turns around, looking at the phoenix prince. She wonders if the beastman barbarian's loyalty will let them throw themselves in front of the Shield Hero even against a dragon's fire. To his credit, Prince Kael'thas does take a few steps and kneels before the dragon lord while Yatsuhashi stands in front of Naofumi protectively. "My Lord, this has to be some misunderstanding. Please, do not be too harsh to my king-"
"Move aside, child of Malis. This doesn't concern you." Gaelion flies up from the Sword Hero's head, his beady little eyes glaring down at the phoenix prince, making the pompous man unable to say anything. Well… so much for his bluster and willingness to die for the Shield Hero.
The princess gave a quick glance over at the other three heroes. The Sword Hero's eyes are half closed in what seems to be excessive fatigue as he looks at the dog girl with sheer exasperation. Bow Hero is covering his mouth with his hands while his body shakes like a leaf during a storm, and it's clearly not because of fear. As for the Spear Hero, he looks back and forth at the scene Yuki and the devil bird is making as they roll around on the ground, punching, kicking and biting each other, clearly having no idea what to do or even aware his fellow hero is a few breaths short of being washed by intense dragon fire.
The princess looks back at Naofumi, hoping he figured out a way to talk out of the situation. For some reason, the young man no longer looked as panicked as he was before. The Shield Hero looks down and speaks to the girl with a voice that reminds Mein of a professional snake oil salesman. "Do you know Naofumi Iwatani?"
Huh… Master Naofumi is going to do that, huh?.
"Iwa- who's that?" As expected, the not particularly bright dog girl looks at the Shield Hero with total confusion. "Is he some lord from the old raccoon empire?"
"Okay, just like you don't know who Naofumi Iwatani is. He doesn't know you, isn't in love with you, and doesn't want to marry you." The Shield Hero is practically smiling like a bonedog who stole someone's herd animal by this point. "Is there any problem?"
"No problem at all! Master Shield Hero! I'm only in love with you and want to marry YOU~!" Not realizing the trap she's stepping into, Wyndia practically purrs at the Shield Hero, ironically sounding more like a feline than a canine.
"Well. I am 'Naofumi Iwatani'." The Shield Hero points a finger to himself.
It takes a few seconds for the dog girl to realize what's going on. Once she recovers, she lets out a squeak that sounds awfully like that time when Mein stepped on the tail of Lady Consevatie's cat. "AAAAAAAAIIIIIIII~! I mean, I didn't mean, I'M SORRY! MASTER SHIELD HERO~!"
"See, that's my point." The Shield Hero crouches down before Wyndia to look at her in the face. "You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. All you know is the Shield Hero from the story. What if you end up hating my guts? We should at least get to know each other, before even thinking about something like marriage."
"Oh… okay, I guess. But I still want to marry you!" The dog girl bites her lips. She nods and then shakes her head, looking very conflicted about the whole thing. But she steps back in the end, no longer clinging to the Shield Hero.
"Come on, stop watching the children fighting and help me separate them!" Naofumi gives his fellow heroes a chastising glare as he moves towards the bird turned children tumbling across the grass. His fellow heroes move forward after him, and they manage to split the two children. Yuki now spots a very distinct black eye on her right side, while Firo's skin is colored by green and blue, people will have a hard time finding her if she runs into the orchard. "You can't pick fights with everyone you don't like, Firo!"
"She hurt Firo first!" Firo winces a little, possibly from the pain of challenging a foe that's stronger than her. But she still snarls at Yuki while pointing fingers at the other bird's face.
"And you attacked her master first when you kicked Motoyasu… let's not point fingers here. Go have Raphtalia get some balm on your injuries." Naofumi passes Firo over to Raphtalia and looks at the other gathered heroes again. "Were any of you around the old Boletaria castle a few days ago? I was fighting off an undead dungeon, and I didn't get any EXP."
"It was about half a day south of Stormwind. The small kingdom Master Bow Hero visited before the last wave." The princess can see Itsuki wincing at that mention. "We thought you might be visiting Stormwind, checking how it's faring now? Master Bow Hero?"
"No, I checked Stormwind after our encounter with that Faubley inquisitor." This time, both Bow and Shield Hero cringes at the mention of the incident. "It's under martial law now, I think. Wasn't the new governor related to your lady friend here, Motoyasu?"
"Yes, Barn is my younger brother, Lord Heroes. He was tasked by father to bring order to Stormwind." The princess immediately narrows her eyes at Iris' admission. So… House Amelia is making a power grab at the small kingdom the Bow Hero destabilized.
A normally risky endeavor for a son from the main branch. Even with House Amelia's southern fleet mostly undamaged from the Great War and preserved their strength unlike House Arc's Albion Fleet, they still needed to sail around half of the nation's water to arrive at the small kingdom north of Griffin's Spine. If something goes wrong, it'll leave the son cut off from the House Amelia without resupply, reinforcement, or even a guaranteed escape route.
But not so, if the daughter is the companion is one of the heroes who have the ability to teleport. Duke Amelia clearly deemed the potential risk of the situation in Stormwind collapsing in his son's hand is worth the reward of massively expanding his family's influence in the north.
"Oh yeah! That governor general guy was your little brother. Didn't we visit him… what? Five days ago?" After getting a nod from Iris, Motoyasu turns to look at the Shield Hero. "I think it was us. Sorry about the EXP penalty on you, man."
"It's alright. We'll manage." The Shield Hero shrugs his shoulders in a show of nonchalance.
"How large is the range for the EXP penalty anyway?" The Sword Hero narrows his eyes as he looks between the two older heroes. "We each picked a different direction from the capital, and stayed in our general direction between the waves. But it's better if we figure out the range limit if we need to work around the general area. Help us avoid the situation Naofumi and Motoyasu had a few days back. We can plan our movement better with our smartphone weapons."
"Good idea, the two of you can test it tomorrow morning while I teleport Naofumi back to the capital and get him manaweave cloth for his bird." Motoyasu takes a few steps closer to Naofumi. He grabs the Shield Hero's shoulder and pulls the bulkier young man close to the point the side of their faces touch together. "Can't have him running around with a naked child. People will get wrong ideas about us."
The two younger heroes exchange a quick look at each other before nodding. "We can do that."
The dinner was a somber affair with a small Siltvelt war party close to the village of Balafon. Nobody denied them entrance specifically, but they still camped outside the village's palisade. The younger children, particularly the demi-human kind, try to get closer to take a better look at the warriors with exotic foreign armor. Their parents quickly take them away.
They were still offered the magical fruits from the dryad trees. The Siltvelt warriors for their parts, look grateful for the offer. The energizing effect from magical charge aside, being able to consume some fresh delicacy, is obviously more preferable than their ration of hardtack and dried meat.
While most of the phoenix prince's underline stayed outside the village wall, the prince himself and a dozen of his elite guards stayed within the village. Naofumi was offered a newly built wooden shack near the edge of the village, and they act as additional guards to the Shield Hero's companions.
"Well, looks like you had yourself set, shield boy." Gaston kicks back his boots as he makes himself comfortable on the wooden floor. "Guess this is where we part our ways."
"You are going back to Lute, Gaston?" Naofumi looks up from his small bowl of vegetables mixed with dryad fruit salad. "I know it's only about two weeks, but it feels like you've been with us for so long. It's going to feel strange without you."
"Well, you are as out of my league as Bella, shield boy." The one-eyed hunter chuckles at the Shield Hero as he sits up. The hunter lets out a sigh afterwards as his good eye stares at the young otherworld man. "I'm not one for adventure material, shield boy. At least not with a Legendary Hero. I'm the best hunter of a village in the boonies, because I spent a few years with the royal ranger. Common forest monsters? I can hunt them before breakfast. Highwaymen and bandits? I can deal with them with a team of militia. But ancient thunder lizards, dragon lords, and newborn outer gods? Where is the place for a common hunter from a farming village?"
"Don't sell yourself short, Gaston." Naofumi moves over to sit beside the hunter. "You did your fair share in our journey. We wouldn't have made it without you."
"I didn't do anything more than a hunter with a few years in the ranger corp couldn't have, shield boy. But thanks for your confidence." The hunter smirks at the Shield Hero and flexes his biceps. "And you know… I never imagined I'd be someone getting to level 40. But that's what I damn did, thanks to you. Who knows, I'm probably still gonna be Lute's best hunter, till I'm too old to move around."
"Your village will definitely be thanking you for the years to come." Naofumi chuckles along with the hunter as the big man stands up and starts doing a little twirling and dancing.
"You are damn right, shield boy! The people of Lute better appreciate me." Even without any music, it's easy to smile at the flamboyant hunter's antics. "What would Lute… what would the world be without good old Gaston?"
The princess takes a look at the gluttonous devil bird. Perhaps it's the damage inflicted upon her by Yuki, the demon in a child's body is now sound asleep, curled up beside Raphtalia in the absence of Gaston's own bird who is now resting at the local stable. Despite the discolored skin, some scratch and bite marks, the little monster looks deceptively innocent. One wouldn't even suspect how she attacked the older girl she is lying next to in the span of two days, twice.
Mein moves over, closer to the Shield Hero. She whispers into Naofumi's ears, afraid to wake the bird up. "We need to talk about Firo, Master Naofumi."
"Yeah… she's a bit of a handful, isn't she?" Naofumi nods his head along. It's a good thing that he agrees with her on a fundamental level, even if he is vastly understating the problem.
"That's kind of understating the problem here, Master Naofumi. She is completely out of control." The princess runs her hand through her hair in a bit of frustration. She hates to admit this, but now she sounds almost like her mother. "She refuses to wear clothes, and she doesn't stay in her original bird form, making people think you are some kind of child lover. She goes around brutally attacking anyone she doesn't like. She is a complete menace, and it reflects poorly on you."
"Yeah, I know Firo isn't a well behaving good child like Raphtalia. But give her some time, she's not even a month old." The Shield Hero's words make Mein pause for a brief moment. It's certainly easy to miss this little detail since Firo looks like a child around six, but she really wasn't with them for too long.
"Okay, I admit we haven't had Firo for that long." The prince has to take another pause thinking over her own words, it came out more suggestive than she meant. "But the point is, Firo looks like a six years old child who should know better. And nobody will care to know that she's a newborn if she ends up seriously hurting someone, or god forbid… kills someone. Remember when she was vaulting over Ja- Sir Arc's head back in the crypt? What if she snapped his neck?"
"Nothing bad happened to him, weren't people supposed to be harder to kill when they get to higher level?" The Shield Hero simply shrugs away her words, clearly not understanding the severity of the situation. "I think we'll be fine, as long as we keep Firo away from the civilians."
"Yes, people get more tenacious as we level up. But sometimes all it takes is one unexpected hit at the wrong place when we are off guard to kill us. 'All it takes for a child to kill a level 100 veteran is one lucky, or unlucky crit roll', as the saying goes. And that's not even the point I was making…"
The princess gives her hair a full pull, trying to resist the urge to yell at Naofumi's sudden obtuseness when it comes to flaws of his valued companions. "When you were thrown into a wall by Eclair's artifact, she attacked Eclair. Raphtalia tried to stop her, and got tossed down on the ground hard. She was lucky that her back didn't break. Short of finding a vial of Yggdrasil medicine, no amount of rest, potion, or healing magic will fix a permanent injury like a broken spine."
"Oh… I wasn't aware of that." Naofumi's face finally becomes serious as he casts a look over at Firo and Raphtalia. Looking at these two lying close, one won't guess one of them nearly caused a serious injury on the other not two days ago. "But I'm at my wits' end at what to do with Firo. She's not behaving, even when I discipline her."
The princess takes a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the suggestion that the Shield Hero will hate her for. "You might have to use her familiar seal's punishment mechanic to get her in line, Master Naofumi."
"WHAT!? How can you suggest such a thing, Mein!?" As expected, the Shield Hero immediately jumps on his feet and starts screaming at her. "I'm fine with the monster seals, if they increase monsters' sentience to make them follow orders. But Firo is clearly smart as a child! If I punish her with it, what's the difference between me, and the worse slave owning scum like Raphtalia's former owner!?"
The princess cast a nervous side glance over at Raphtalia and Firo. The two of them open their eyes at the Shield Hero, seemingly wondering what got him worked up. Thankfully, the dumb bird immediately dozes off back to sleep.
"You should not question my king's decision, Melromarc woman." The way Prince Kael'thas narrowed his eyes, and how he turns up his nose tells the princess that the damn bird prince was using much more derogatory words to address her in his mind.
"And you'll drop this topic, if you want to have any favor from your precious king. Damnable feather ears." Farkas snorts from the other side of the room. "With what they went through together, the Shield Hero would choose the Melromarc witch over the dragon princess, let alone someone like you!"
Prince Kael'thas bristles at Farkas' words, but he sits back down and remains silent.
"I'm not asking you to use the punishment mechanic liberally, or for some sadistic urge, Master Naofumi." The princess also stands up, and holds her hands up before her in a show of placation. "I'm just saying you do it when Firo really starts getting out of control, like trying to attack someone. Let her know there is a consequence for her worst behavior and make her realize you won't hesitate to punish her for them."
"NO! Out of the question! It would be too easy to go down a slippery slope if I take the easy way out with Firo." Naofumi crosses his arms in front of his chest, and then pushes his arms out. "Say I use a damn magical torture device, because Firo is spoiled and too aggressive today. What's stopping me from using it because others disagree with me tomorrow? What then? I'll find another way to discipline Firo than have her go on a diet and ban her from eating dessert. Like… I'll tell Firo if she doesn't behave, I'll give her to Motoyasu!"
"Did you actually plan to make good of your promise? Master Naofumi? If you did, she'd already be in Master Spear Hero's party NOW. Empty threats will not make a rotten child behave better. Real, and consistent punishment does." The princess glares right back into the Shield Hero's eyes, not backing down this time despite knowing that she isn't earning any favor with her persistence.
As if called upon some divine intervention to break the impasse between them. The sound of weapons being brandished, and the humming of magic being prepared can be heard outside the wall of their modest wooden shack.
"It's my honor guard." Prince Kael'thas pulls his sword out too as he prepares to exit their dwelling to check what's going on. The Shield Hero immediately steps before him. "Please do not concern yourself with trivial matters, my king. I will find out what's going on and have it resolved."
"Well, I'm the Shield Hero. I'm supposed to be at the frontline." Naofumi looks back at her and lets out a sigh. "We'll think of what to do with Firo at a better time, Mein."
"If you insist." The princess let out a sigh. She joined the rest of the Shield Hero's companions as they stepped outside the shake and looked at what have Kael'thas' spellbreakers and rangers spooked enough to prepare for battle.
Outside their small, but cozy wooden shack. Underneath the waving shadow of the moon is a single figure shrouded in an unremarkable looking cloak. The figure is both tall, and broad of shoulders to be easily mistaken for two slim men standing side by side. Whoever it is remains silent as the Vermili guards bark warnings at him. "Turn back before we harm you, intruder. We will use lethal force, if you dare to disturb our king."
"I mean you, nor your king, no harm, Child of Malis." The figure slowly pulls back his hood, revealing well groomed gray hair, and closed eyes behind a pair of thick spectacles. Pope Biscas T. Balmus, the supreme leader of the Three Heroes' Church, smiles at the Shield Hero. "I apologize for not having a more private conversation with you, Lord Shield Hero. For it is a long time coming."
End Note:
This chapter, I (hopefully) shown how a version of Naofumi who is good alignment isn't going to automatically make him better on all front compared to his evil alignment Rising counterpart. He's focused too much on his integrity of doing things right (and kind of doing a poor job at it due to circumstance, at least in term of rising Firo as a child), he doesn't immediately address a problem and nip it in the bud like Rising Naofumi. And now it's compounded into a real problem, especially with him refusing to resort to more drastic measures to address and fix the problem.
The scene with Wyndia is mostly taken from the Chinese Rising (Reprisal, really) fanfiction I have been talking about before, with some changes to make the grammar read more smoothly in English. It's honestly, too great a scene to not let western readers know about.
And of course, the Pope of Three Heroes Church have a somewhat private encounter with the Shield Hero after his private encounter with Malty all the way back from the earlier section of this story. Honestly, I think he could have been a much more interesting character than a generic religious meglomaniac he was portrayed as in canon, which is what I'm trying to make him into. I think I gave most thoughts on how to reshape Pope Balmus as a character (I don't really count Naofumi in this story, since he's mostly modeled after his Reprisal portrayal) right after Malty.
Editor's Note:
I would like to dedicate this chapter to the now late Billy Kametz, the original voice for Naofumi. Colon cancer (especially at his age) is an awful way to go, and I pray that his soul will find peace.
I also have high hopes that his successor, Stephen Fu, will do a mighty fine job in his footsteps.
