Chapter 8 – We Meet Again
Motoyasu's party, including Myne, were standing in the inn's main lobby. Presumably, they were also coming here to grind levels in the dungeon.
I didn't even bat an eye. I didn't even shoot them a second glance.
Going in a straight line, I completely ignored them, elbowing my way through a few drunk adventurers and heading straight to my room. As I turned around and shut the door, after allowing my party to come in, I could see that Motoyasu and Myne were looking quite confused at my refusal to meet them.
That wasn't for any personal qualms or quarrels. Well, maybe a bit. But the main reason I didn't want to see them was to raise tensions between our two parties.
Motoyasu was obviously a white knight, judging by his actions in his past life before he was summoned here and his current actions in Melromarc. Myne was probably extremely pissed off that I had defended Naofumi from her baseless accusations, though defending him was fully justified due to the fact that he didn't do anything. We'd probably eventually settle these issues, but now wasn't the time. It was too soon, and both parties were still quite riled up about the trial.
Jean-Pier, although he was new to our party, understood why we didn't want to talk to them. I had told him all about the trial while we were walking back from the dungeon.
"That rapscallion!" He exclaimed. "That rapacious, predatory wench!"
"So, Jean-Pier," I asked, as soon as I had closed the door, "What form of government do you want to set up, or the rebellion wants to set up, after the civil war is over?"
"Errrrr…... It's complicated."
"Can they not agree on a single form of government?"
"That is correct. One faction wants to keep the house of Strauss in power and install the king's son as the king, another faction wants to run the country as an oligarchy controlled by the nobles, another more numerous faction is sick of monarchism all together and wants to install a republic, similar to the government of the country of Shieldfreeden, and other factions want different people to become king, or for there to be a rotation of kings that would switch every few years."
"I would assume the Republican stance is the most popular one right now?"
"You would be completely right. Much of the rebellion consists of disenfranchised peasants, and they sure as hell don't want nobles or a king to dominate them. Much of their zeal and fervor comes from the government of Shieldfreeden, who is the world's only democratic major power."
"Well, it brings us to this program again," I reiterated, "Jean-Pier, what form of government would you prefer?"
"If I had to pick, I'd want to go with a republic. That would ensure that the corruption of the monarchy would never happen again. Also, it is the most popular option, so that would do. Satoshi, what form of government do you prefer?"
"Without a doubt, a republic. You see, the country from which I originated from is called the United States of America. It is a union of 50 equal states which operates similarly to the government of Shieldfreeden from what I've heard of them, but without a king. The country is democratic and enshrines its citizens rights in a document called the United States Constitution. The country is the strongest and most successful country, and it rose for nothing. I wish to replicate this phenomenon in your country as well, and I wish to devote my skills, time and resources to develop your country into the world's foremost power."
"Really?" Jean-Pier asked, appalled at my statements, "You think our war-torn, famine-struck country can become a great power?"
"Yes, it can. Our land may be only a fraction the size of Melromarc, but the soil is rich and resources bountiful, and through what we called "industrial processes" back home, we can have over tenfold, no hundredfold, the production of Melromarc in materials such as steel, fertilizer and manufactured products. It will take a while, sure, but your country will the financial and economic center of the world, with everybody wanting a piece of what you could offer. Speaking of your country, do people want to retain its former name or do they want to name it something else?"
"Oh yes, that," Jean-Pier spoke, "I have a suggestion for a name for our country. You see, Arc means bow, and -ium is a suffix that formerly meant country in some languages before that was gradually replaced. I reckon we could combine the two words and name the country "Arcium", after you who will save the country and help the revolution succeed."
"I don't want to seem like a narcissist, but I kinda like that name. It sounds like the name of Belgium, a country that exists in my world. If we overthrow the king and nobody is against it, that should be the new name."
"It's getting late now," Eda noted, looking through the window, "We should get some sleep. There'll be a lot of work to do tomorrow morning."
"You're right," I replied, "Better get some sleep. We can talk about this while we're in the dungeon tomorrow morning."
We set up some blankets on the floor, to accommodate those who could not fit on the bed. We decided to let Eda lie on the bed and the four dudes, Welst, Rojeel, Jean-Pier and I, went to sleep on the ground.
A few days had passed, and we decided to head back to Castle Town. I was already level 40, and my party members were of a slightly lower level. Even Jean-Pier had leveled up a bit, even though his level was already super high.
During this period of time, we had run into Myne once, but we always kept our distance from her. We generally farmed in that chamber, which was rich in monsters, but we also had to venture elsewhere now and then to avoid the extinctions of monsters in that area.
We had also gathered a lot of monster drops, which were enough to fill up the cart that we had brought, and then some. I absorbed the extra loot into my bow, which hopefully I could extract and sell later.
I had noted, or rather Jean-Pier did, that I had leveled up unexpectedly fast, as well as my party members. In fact, he also noticed that he was also gaining levels slightly faster? Maybe heroes and their parties gained experience faster than other people? This was just a hypothesis, and maybe just a correlation, but I wouldn't rule this out as a possibility.
Lafan wasn't that far from the capital, so it would probably take us only a few hours, maybe a day tops. That was unless we encountered bandits, which meant we would be in quite the pickle.
Paying the innkeeper the promised amount of silver, we boarded the filolial wagon and headed north. Speaking of filolials, the purebred one that I had purchased was changing, to say the least. Welst, ever the filolilal expert that he was, could note that the egg was about to hatch.
About a mile or two from Lafan, cracks started to appear on the runic egg. Surprised, I set my hands on the incubator, wanting to see what was going on.
Just as I put my hands on the incubator, I heard a crack coming from the egg. It seemed like it was hatching, and I could see the filolial's beak popping out.
Suddenly, the eggshell burst into small fragments as what appeared to be a purple Final Fantasy chocobo emerged and immediately jumped onto my head, chirping cute sounds as it made itself a new home in my hair.
"Aww, how cute!" Eda remarked.
"It must think that you're it's mother." Rojeel helpfully added.
Looking at a mirror, I could see the bird digging around in my hair and taking a small bite out of my hairdo.
"This is imprinting, huh?" I commented. "Now, this might slightly delay our plans."
The filolial, or basically just a bargain bin chocobo, jumped off of my head and fluttered its wings. However, since it was unable to fly, I had to extend myself to grab it from midair before it would fall onto the ground.
"What do you want to name it?" Welst asked. "Maybe something menacing like Thrasher or Devastator?"
"Nah," I replied, "Something more peaceful should do. Hmm… Let's see."
The tiny chick was colored in a beautiful hue of purple, seeming more like Indigo than anything. Oohhhhh! Indigo! Indigo would do!
"Let's name it Indigo."
"Indigo?" Welst asked. "You're going to name it after its color? That seems rather uncreative, don't you think?"
"Maybe so," I responded, "But many people back in my country named their pets and pack animals after colors, so this would be just fine."
"Well, it is your filolial, so go ahead. If you want to name it Indigo, no one's stopping you."
"Hey, don't say stuff like that," Eda interjected, "Satoshi, I think that Indigo is a great name for a filolial! It sounds cool and majestic!"
The tiny filolial, no larger than a steamed bun, chirped in approval. Guess that matter is settled.
Well, we had much bigger problems at hand.
"Satoshi!" Jean-Pier exclaimed. "There's bandits ahead!"
"What?"
Popping my head out of the canopy, I could see that a convoy of at least 20 bandits were blocking the road ahead, using their wagons as roadblocks.
"What should we do?" Eda asked. "Do we surrender? Do we fight?"
"We fight!" I exclaimed. "Though, we must use strategy."
I quickly scurried out of the wagon, before the bandits could spot our wagon coming along. The only reason we were able to see them was that we were a few dozen feet higher than them. Gathering as many sticks as I could, I waved for Rojeel to come over and help me construct some Czech Hedgehogs and palisades.
Rejoining the rest of our group, we slowly rode down to where the bandits were, and we aligned our wagon vertically so the left side would face the north side of the road, and the right side would face the south. In front of the wagon, we first set up a row of Czech Hedgehogs and then erected the palisades behind them.
This quick construction of a makeshift defense drew the attention of the bandits.
"Oi!" One cried out. "What do you guys think you're doing there? This is our territory!"
I drew my bow and fired a warning shot at the bandit leader. Though I meant to slightly miss the shot, I ended piercing his forearm.
Oof. Big mistake.
"OWEEOWEEOWEEOWEEEEE! GET THEM!" I could hear the muffled bandit leader raging in the distance, blood streaming from his hand.
One of the bandit lackeys placed his hand on the leader. The leader clearly wasn't feeling it, as he slapped the man into oblivion.
After that, the bandit leader waved his bleeding arm in our direction. Dozens upon dozens of bandits began charging at us, like a pack of ferocious, ravenous wolves.
I waited until they got within ten football fields of us. Then, I fired.
ZOOOOMMMMM!
I aimed at parts of their bodies that would not inflict death, but from such extreme ranges such precision was nearly impossible on moving targets, even if I had a target rifle. Every shot hit somewhere on one of the bandits' bodies, but they kept charging regardless.
After they reached within one hundred yards of us, and only three had went down even though the rest were all injured, I was forced to use deadly force.
"BANDITS!" I screamed. "IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, LEAVE NOW!"
"Pff," One of them spat. "We outnumber you ten to one. What are you going to do about it?"
"This." I replied calmly.
I began to rapid fire at them. One advantage of the legendary bow, as I have stated time and time again, was its ability to auto-reload. Using this, I fired an arrow every three seconds, shish-kabobbing every bandit that crossed the Czech Hedgehogs that I had laid on the ground.
Upon seeing nearly half of their force incapacitated, the rest of them fled.
"RUN AWAYYYYY! RUN AWAYYYYY!"
"NO!" The bandit leader cried. "NOT RUN AWAY! RETREAT!"
I decided to not fire upon the fleeing bandits. I was already feeling bad about killing some of them, though that was because they were going to rob us. I didn't want to cause more casualties than I needed to.
"We should probably bury the bodies," I suggested, facing my paled party members and an indifferent Jean-Pier, "That hill over there would be perfect."
I picked up a dead corpse and dragged him up the hill. Seeing this action, the rest of my party followed.
It took a half-hour, but every dead corpse was laid to rest in a hole and a plaque written in the Melromarc language commemorated this language. Above every grave, an unmarked wooden cross marked
"Here lay the twenty-seven bandits that had tried to charge us this very day. May their souls rest in peace."
Cutting and gathering some flowers growing along the path into a bouquet, I respectfully placed one upon every grave.
"These men were committing an evil act," I lamented, "But I hope they receive justice in their next life. For all we know, they were forced to a life of banditry. To all these poor souls, amen."
"I don't know what amen means," Jean-Pier stated, "But I wish them the best."
"Us too." My three other party members joined in.
"Well," I concluded, "If we don't return to Castle Town soon, we won't be able to book a room at the inn in time. However, I shall return here in a year's time."
"That is quite reasonable." Jean-Pier agreed.
Indigo was also cooing in approval. After the battle, I found out that he had been eating the rations of the dead bandits, his tiny body covered in blood. I had to wash him with my canteen so he would look somewhat presentable.
After a few more hours, this time not encountering any other issues, we had finally arrived at the capital's gates. We were promptly let in without even a slight delay due to my status as a holy hero, and we arrived at the inn we had stayed at earlier and booked the last room available just in time.
"Ahhhhh," Jean-Pier sighed in relief, "It's been such a long day. I could really go for a beer."
"Go right ahead. Meet you in the room in a bit."
I fed my filolial a few scraps of potatoes, which it devoured quite happily. Then, with the tiny avian sitting on my head, I opened the door to my room and gently closed it. Afterwards, I got to work.
Pulling out a piece of paper, I began to draw a blueprint for a Basic Oxygen Steelmaking plant, and a Haber-Bosch Plant. Luckily enough, my foot was exactly 12 inches long, so I could call that the Sera Foot and make it a measuring system. This foot would be divided into 12 inches, and any measurements smaller than a Sera Inch would be marked in dividends of ½, ¼ , et cetera.
Luckily, studying industrial processes and how to construct such plants were one of my, err..., odd, hobbies. This was really convenient for this situation. Hell, maybe even too convenient. However, I didn't remember every single measurement to a tee, since I wasn't a walking repository of exactly accurate blueprints like some generic anime protagonists. However, I approximated these parts to be as accurate or logical as possible. These would prove very helpful in rebuilding Arcium, though I myself didn't plan to rule this country, instead wanting to make it a strong ally of myself and my party.
So, as the rest of my party members and Jean-Pier were out there having a great time drinking, partying and doing whatever, I did what a responsible hero would do and began coming up with plans to help what would become Arcium recover from the civil war. Years of my parents instilling virtues and values inside of me really helped me become the best me I could be.
As I continued to write blueprint after blueprint, careful to mark every measurement correctly, I slowly lost consciousness and eventually everything went black…
Ughhhh.
How long was I out for?
"Satoshi! Satoshi! Look!"
Waking up from my drowsy state, my saliva leaking on the blueprint for a ladle, I quickly shot up like a weed and looked straight at the beds. There, a small bird was dancing around, leaping at me and nuzzling into my chest.
This bird was pretty big. Certainly a great deal bigger than Indigo.
Wait… Was this Indigo?
The man who sold him to me said that these birds would grow pretty quickly. Maybe after just a single day Indigo could have grown this much?
"Welst," I shaked the sleepy man's shoulders, "Do filolials usually grow this fast?"
"Well, they certainly can," he replied, "This is slightly faster than usual, but nothing out of the ordinary."
"Thanks for the useful advice," I thanked him, "Now, what should we do today?"
"I think that we should focus on leveling up Indigo," Welst helpfully advised, "If we can get Indigo to a high enough level, he could be very useful in pulling carts for us. A racing filolial would certainly be faster than an average filolial like the one that we had rented."
"Oh, speak of the devil. What did you guys end up doing with that filolial cart? Shouldn't we return it now?"
"Yeah, Rojeel did that last night. We had to pay a bit extra since the cart had a hole or two caused by the bandits' arrows. However, this wasn't that big of an issue due to the sheer amount of monster material that we were able to sell off for great prices."
"That's nice to hear. Welst, I think your suggestion is excellent. Today, we should dedicate all our time to leveling up Indigo. Well, Eda, grab us some food from the inn, because we'll be out in the fields all day!"