Normally, I'd do Reviews here, but first, a word from our sponsor: ME
GUYS HOLY CRAP! The amount of attention and support this fic has gotten is absolutely mind boggling! 10K views and almost 200 favorites in only 8 chapters! That's insane!
I cannot express how grateful I am for all your kind words in the reviews and even just taking the time to read this silly little fic of mine. I'll try to take this story to even greater heights, and I hope you all stick around for the ride.
- RandomA99
Reviews
calderoneric758: You never screw with Murphy. Also whether or not Requiem and Hamon will show up in the story is a secret only I know :)
Guest: Truly a staple of the series
SomeCallMeDrunk: I feel the same way about progression as well, every little bit counts as long as its there. Also, Silver was put on the backburner so I could introduce some more plot progression but next chapter will have quite a bit dedicated to her. As for the dungeon, I had it planned for a while but I couldn't find a good spot to implement it, but then this spot just decided to show up haha.
SentinalSlice: Wouldn't you?
darkstel: Sorry man, but in the anime I thought Filo was cool and all but I found her to be more irritating than charming. Sure, I could just alter her personality, but at that point, why not make a new character so I can diversify the party? Also, I was fairly sure most fics keep Filo intact, with only a couple replacing her for something else, if I was wrong, then I guess I'm following the trend, but I plan to take the filolial in a direction I haven't seen any others go so far.
D3lph0xL0v3r: I have plans for Elina. One of which is getting you attached to her :)
VillianDeku9501: I haven't watched One Piece (its just so long!) so I wouldn't know, but if you think so, then I'm glad!
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 9: *inhales* some-BODY ONCE TOLD ME-
Rin sighed peacefully as he continued down the sole road to the neighboring village. The last year had been good for his village. Their crops were more than bountiful, no one had died from old age or disease, and they had welcomed several new lives to the happy little village, one of which being his own daughter. He peered behind him to look at his beautiful wife and their beautiful daughter, both resting in the back of the cart next to the wares. He would have preferred it if they stayed in the village so their daughter would be safe, but that's the nature of merchants, he supposed.
Truly nothing could ruin this day for him.
It was then a giant six headed beast tore through the ground of the road directly in front of them, and from what Rin could see, he spied several people clutching to the necks of the beast. The massive commotion woke the two women in the back as Rei came to inspect the cause of the noise.
"Dear, what's all the-"
"HOLY SHIT!"
The cart made a sharp turn, the filolial completely in agreement with Rin's feelings on the matter, driving off back to the village where the beast would not follow them.
Meanwhile, on the necks of the massive monster, the various members of the Shield's Hero's party were desperately latching on for their lives.
Tyrant Hydra
Lv: 99
The now identified monster thrashed around, attempting and failing to dislodge the annoyances that had clawed their way into its necks. It felt one get dislodged, the bizarrely dressed one with green hair and a shield, and its other heads quickly swarmed after it, only to get blocked by a ball of green shields. Luckily for the Tyrant Hydra, the insect had a pitifully low level in comparison to it and the ball of shields crunched quickly under its jaw strength. However, it tasted no blood, seeing that the shielded insect had seemingly slipped through its mouth entirely.
Before it could finish pondering the thought, the shielded insect called for the other four and they were quick to listen, rappelling down its necks to the ground before charging into the forest.
The Tyrant Hydra roared in annoyance. Not only was it awoken from a rather pleasant nap, these insects had attempted and succeeded in beheading it (not that it was effective) and continued to be an annoyance no matter what it tried to do. No matter, they would fall soon enough.
It wasn't long after that a cart carrying the five exited the forest a little ways away and the Tyrant Hydra gave chase, roaring in sheer annoyance.
"HOW DO WE BEAT THAT THING?!" Naofumi asked as he drove the cart down the single road, avoiding any stray branch or rock that might slow them down.
"I HAVE NO IDEA, BUT THIS PARTY IS FUCKING AWESOME!" Elina screamed over the noise of The Hydra's roar, "A SEALED MONSTER THAT CAN'T BE BEHEADED? YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO PARTY SHIELDY!"
"YOU THINK THIS IS FUN?!" Raphtalia screeched in panic and disbelief.
"WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE?" Elina responded, a wide smile on her scarred face.
"IF WE SURVIVE THIS, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Raphtalia cried out.
Naofumi summoned Wireframe, smashing a modestly sized rock impeding their path, "GUYS, FOCUS! NOW PLEASE!"
The Tyrant Hydra's scales were incredibly resistant to slashing and piercing weapons, as the group had been quick to find out, it's long necks granted it an incredibly long and dangerous reach that could kill them instantly, and if one tried to behead it, it wouldn't work well for them.
The group had been fighting this massive monster for nearly an hour, managing to do nothing but make scrapes against its scales. However, they had managed to find a weakness in it's armor, it's soft underbelly had no scales, and was likely vulnerable to their weapons.
One of the Tyrant Hydra's five heads slammed into Naofumi's shield, but thanks to Naofumi's forethought, he had fused his feet to the stone, providing him an excellent pillar of support as he tore through the ground behind him, bringing the head to a halt. Raphtalia, Elina, and Silver fended off the other four heads (somehow) and Naofumi summoned Wireframe to grapple the Tyrant Hydra's head further, flipping it over to expose the soft tissue of the neck.
"Now Rifana!"
Rifana jumped from the top of the ruined obelisk, a feral scream flying from her mouth as she plummeted towards the two. The Magic Iron Axe sunk into the soft flesh, tearing the head from the neck and completely severing the two. The severed head roared in pain and thrashed around before its motions stopped.
Rifana breathed heavily and greedily, "Guys! We cut one off!" She cheered.
The stump of the neck rose from the ground, the flesh at the cutoff point bubbling before shooting upwards and splitting into two other stems before two fully formed and healed heads developed on top of them.
"Guys! We grew two more!"
"WHAT?!"
The five had been quickly overwhelmed soon after and were given a one way trip to the surface as the Hydra tried to gain more room for it's hulking body to fight in. This all led them to their current predicament, being chased down by a now six-headed giant monster that managed to overcome the Shield Hero's defense stat with only one attack.
"WELL? ANY IDEAS?!" Naofumi shouted again.
"If we can't cut off the heads, we need to go for the body. Thing is, we don't have anything that can do that effectively," Rifana shouted to Naofumi.
Raphtalia shot up with an idea, rushing to the front of the wagon "Naofumi! How close are we to the border?"
"About five minutes! Why?" The realization hit him hard, "You want to get the border guards involved?! That would put them in danger! We can't do that to innocent people!"
"If we don't kill this thing here and now, it'll rampage across the entire kingdom, hell, maybe even the entire world, if we don't stop it here!" Raphtalia pleaded with Naofumi to listen, "We have no other choice."
"ARGH!" Naofumi snapped the reins to the left, Silver abruptly changing directions with the cart following behind them. "Do we have any way to warn them?"
"You kidding me shieldy?" Elina called out as she parried away another bite attempt from the Tyrant Hydra in the back of the cart, "This thing is huge! There's no way in hell they won't see it coming from a mile away! Literally!"
"Well in that case, this will be one hell of a first impression!" He narrowly avoided another root in the road, but every little swerve gave the Tyrant Hydra behind them another couple meters gain on them.
They came over the crest of a hill, four of them cheering at the sight of the tall border wall that lay before them. They could barely make out the figures of the guards as they scrambled to meet the unexpected threat that approached them.
Several ballistas were lined up and fired, many of them barely whizzing by the Tyrant Hydra and the few that made their mark grazing past its scales. Then, a magical glyph formed over the wall, slowly growing in size as more power was diverted into its circuits. They were only about three quarters of a mile away from the wall when the Tyrant Hydra had closed the distance enough for one of the heads to latch on to the back of the cart and throw it into the air, ending the chase that had annoyed it for the last thousand words or so. The five members screamed as they plunged towards the Tyrant Hydra's many gaping maws.
"Tether! Wireframe!" The Shield shot out a rope to the furthest member, Rifana, and reeled her in. Wireframe grabbed on to Elina and Raphtalia, bringing them back to Naofumi while Naofumi worked quickly to undo the reins that were still attached to Silver.
"I have a plan, but it's actually insane!" Naofumi calls out to the gathered party, ignoring the painful stings of the wind on his scarred eye.
"Whatever it is, 'Fumi, I'll take it!" Rifana cried out, comedic tears flying from her tear ducts. Wireframe floated among them, connecting their hands and or wings until they were all chained together. It then gave a firm squeeze to send the message 'hold tight'. The others nodded, as they didn't have much choice in the matter.
Alright, gotta time this right, "Three… Two… One… NOW!"
"SHIELD PRISON!"
The ball of shield formed inside the closest mouth of the Tyrant Hydra, the head lowering just slightly to compensate for the increase in weight. The five fell past the head, Naofumi wrapping the reins around the Shield Prison in the Tyrant Hydra's mouth, using their momentum to swing him and his party around the head and secure themselves around the top of the neck/base of the head. The other heads moved the strike but it was then the magicians on the border wall decided to make their move, an absolutely MASSIVE fireball slamming into the front of the Tyrant Hydra's body, the other heads recoiling in pain as the smokescreen covered all of their views of vision.
Naofumi and his party tugged on the reins HARD, the Tyrant Hydra's head being unable to spit out the ball of shields as it charged forward blindly. They emerged from the smokescreen now only seconds from colliding with the wall.
While the three non-adrenaline junkies screamed in fear and the silver filolial squawked in surprise, Elina cheered and whooped at the exciting fight this had been, taking in a deep breath of air as they continued their charge. "someBODY ONCE TOLD ME-" Elina screamed in delight as the Tyrant Hydra crashed into the wall, taking an entire portion down before its sheer weight and power.
Naofumi and his party once more pulled one the reins, steering the Tyrant Hydra to a stop just past the border wall. "NOW!" The Hero called to the many magicians who had charged shots from every angle.
Volley after volley of elemental and magical attacks rammed into the underside of the Tyrant Hydra, its lack of scales allowing for a fair amount of damage to build up from the sheer quantity of attacks it had to endure. But still, it stood strong.
It bucked and threw its head, once more dislodging the crew of the Shield Hero, but this time, Naofumi flew up while the rest scattered along the rest of the Tyrant Hydra's body. Naofumi flailed in the air desperately trying to find balance.
Naofumi tried to catch his breath when he finally managed to stabilize himself in the air. "Still standing? Alright, let's see you handle this… this is gonna really hurt…" he murmured to himself.
As the hero peaked in his ascent, he had Wireframe force the air behind him to become phaseable before merging it with his back. He held the cry of pain he felt at the mind numbing pain of his back merging with something so light. He phased the air once more, violently ejecting it from him, the conserved momentum sending him hurtling towards the ground.
"Not… fast enough…" he spoke against the violent winds that passed him. "BULLRUSH!" His speed was doubled… no, tripled with the activation of his skill. Any and all onlookers could only see a blur of green as the hero violently hurtled towards the Tyrant Hydra. If Naofumi was travelling at the speed of a bullet train before, he was easily reaching speeds of bullets themselves now.
"AIRSTRIKE SHIELD! SHIELD PRISON!" The ever familiar translucent lime shield appeared before him before he was covered in a ball of shields. The hero, surrounded with defensive skills and travelling at simply ludicrous speeds, crashed into the Hydra, the weight and velocity along with the sharpened point of the Airstrike Shield carving their way through the Tyrant Hydra's body before slamming violently into the ground below it all.
Smoke and debris flew into the air, obscuring the view all had of the two forces of nature. The debris slowly fell to the ground, revealing to all the Tyrant Hydra, all six heads limp on the ground, and a massive hole punctured clean through the torso of the monster. The guards cheered at the defeat of the beast while the Shield Hero's party members rushed to the monster to check on the one who managed to beat the beast himself.
Naofumi climbed from the hole in the Tyrant Hydra, looking more than worse for wear. Both arms had been broken in the collision with the ground, and his right leg was most likely fractured. He was sure he felt a rib or two crack but luckily he could still breathe, even if it hurt to do so.
"Anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" He called weakly from atop the corpse.
Tyrant Hydra Fang Shield
MATK: +2
DEF: +5
MDEF: +4
DEX: +1
Rip and Turbo follow their boss and make Kirby clean up all their messes
Tyrant Hydra Scale Shield
DEF: +8
MDEF: +5
AGI: +2
Not even America's ass can get through scales that hard!
Tyrant Hydra Muscle Shield
ATK: +2
DEF: +2
MDEF: +2
"See… I told you I was ripped"
Naofumi was resting in a bed in one of the recovery wards in Shieldfreeden's capital, Ilmita City, with his party surrounding him as they planned for the future. Most of his most damaging injuries had already been treated by healing potions and magic by the on site guards but his cracked ribs required the magic of a far more advanced professional to deal with in a quick manner. Now, normally, no average citizen would be granted this access so readily, but seeing as he was the Shield Hero, one of the most revered figures in Shieldfreeden, he was granted special permission.
It had taken a little while for the guards to stop questioning them once they had arrived (although it was understandable considering they brought a powerful beast to their doorstep) but they were eventually given some time to themselves, with a promise that a healer would come by and finish the healing session in a bit.
"So, today was interesting," Naofumi was the first to speak among the four.
Elina laughed boisterously, "You can say that again shieldy. It's only been a couple days with you and we already fought a mystical monster sealed by past heroes," she sighed comfortably, "This was definitely the right decision."
Raphtalia smile gained a sharp edge to it as she unloaded the mother of all gut punches in Elina, "We were all nearly skewered, torn apart, and swallowed," her sickly sweet voice gave them all chills, "I recommend you change your stance on what you see to be fun."
Naofumi sat up straight in his cot, ignoring the pain in his ribs, and summoned Wireframe to force the two apart before a brawl broke out.
"Alright, alright, we get it," Rifana drawled, "You two love to fight. More importantly, as much as I love a good fight, that was way too close for comfort, and we get into a lot of shit already, so that's really saying something." Elina and Raphtalia huffed, turning away from one another. "Anyway, you really saved our butts there! While you didn't get out without your own injuries, I gotta say, that was freakin' awesome, 'Fumi!"
Naofumi chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "I guess it was pretty cool when you think about it."
Elina scoffed, "Cool? Dude, the five of us managed to put reins on a legendary mythical creature that past heroes had to seal away and steer it like it was a common filolial before you turned yourself into a literal cannonball and punctured a massive hole through its chest." She bonked him on the head lightly, "If that's not the single craziest thing I have ever heard, then I have no idea what is."
A light knock sounded on the door, before a wolf demi-human healer entered. She held a small smile on her face, but you could see in her eyes she was ecstatic at the chance to meet and heal the champion of all demi-humans.
"Hello Sir Shield Hero, my name is Mona and I'm here to heal your more serious injuries," Mona glances at the list of notes she has written down, "I was told you had sustained some fractures to your ribs?"
"Probably, but I'm not a healer so you would know better than me," Naofumi shrugs. "Oh, and you can call me Naofumi, I don't care all that much for formality."
Mona had to physically contain her glee at knowing the Shield Hero's name, "Very well then, Sir N-Naofumi," Mona coughed into her hand, "I need to inspect the damaged area so I can have a better understanding of your injuries, so if you would removed your armor and clothing, we can get started." Her cheeks lit up with a light flush.
Naofumi nodded and began to slowly remove his upper clothing, making slow movements to not aggravate his fractured ribs. His chiseled chest was on display for the room of women, making Mona's blush explode to greater heights. Naofumi, being the protagonist of the story, was of course, oblivious to this.
"If you don't mind me asking, Sir Naofumi, where did you get such a grisly scar?" The question was innocent.
"I'm sorry Mona, but that's rather personal to me, and I'm not quite comfortable sharing it with people I've just met." The words were spoken softly, an underlying tone of anxiety peaking through.
"Oh, of course, Sir Naofumi."
Mona healed his ribs with her high level healing magic, wrapped them in bandages to ensure no further movement disrupted the healing magic or the bones, and scurried out of the room, her face completely red.
"Oh yeah," Naofumi turned to Elina, "When we crashed through the border wall, you screamed 'somebody' when the wall broke down. Why, exactly?" Rifana and Raphtalia thought back on this as well, realizing Elina had said something completely random in the moment.
"Oh, that? Yeah, one of the past bow heroes said that it was his world's tradition to scream that whenever someone made an entrance, and a lot of people hooked on to it," Elina leaned against the doorframe, waiting for Rifana and Raphtalia to help Naofumi stabilize on his feet, "Obviously not everyone uses it, but quite a few Melromarcan people use the phrase every so often."
"Huh."
Upon exiting the hospital, the party of four were met with an uproar of cheers from the gathered demi-humans, all of them cheering for the Shield Hero, and his incredible defeat of a powerful monster. While the praise and cheer would make most people feel pride in themselves or happy for their achievements, it made Naofumi feel… anxious, as if none of their cheer was for him but rather the shield that rested on his arm.
A deer demi-human stepped from the crowd and approached the hero and his party. The man was dressed quite fancifully when compared to the rest of the crowd, wearing flowing robes and ornate jewelry while the rest wore common dresses, shirts, and pants.
"Welcome to Ilmita City, Sir Shield Hero!" The deer exclaimed, "My name is Kane, and I am one of the representatives of both Ilmita City, and Shieldfreeden as a whole, and I can not explain how elated we are to have you here, oh gracious Shield Hero!"
Naofumi stepped forward, "Please, I'm not one for formalities, so call me Naofumi." He stuck out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh the pleasure is all mine, Naofumi!" Kane was quite loud, "Afterall, it's not every day the Shield stumbles through your border wall riding a Hydra!" Kane laughs at his joke before realizing he's the only one laughing. He coughed into his hand, "Anyway, while we are glad to have you here, your presence…" Kane shuffled his hands, "complicates a few things. If you could follow me to the town hall, me and several of the other leading figures of Shieldfreeden would like to discuss the plans of our country with you in regards to the waves."
No one really liked to think about politics, but if it was for dealing with the waves, Naofumi could brush his displeasure aside.
"Alright, but I hope you'll understand that my party will be accompanying me, afterall, we work as a team rather than individual adventurers," Naofumi shot off a goofy grin, Rifana mirroring his stupid expression while Raphtalia gave a soft smile and Elina tried to hide a small smirk.
"Of course, of course. We would be happy to accommodate the Shield Hero's party!" Kane returned the smile, "Now, if you all would follow me." Kane begins walking away from them, the four following behind him like ducks to a pond.
They walk for a good while, Kane asking questions about the Shield Hero's previous adventures as they walk. On several occasions, passersby would pass them and have a little fanboy/fangirl session, rapidly declaring their faith in him and cheering him on. While the praise was nice, the sheer fanaticism in their voices was a little unnerving, a sentiment shared by the rest of his party.
"Here we are! Adornity!"
They entered a tall fortified stone building, much like the castle in Castle Town, but far smaller and more naturalistic in decorations. Where the castle had paintings, chandeliers, and gorgeous red carpet adorning every hallway, the Adornity had beautiful flowers covering the walls and carpeted moss to cover the cold stone flooring.
Kane led them into a square meeting room, an oval table resting in the center with several other demi-humans already talking when they entered. All discussion quickly ended at the arrival of the fabled Shield Hero entering followed by his three party members. The men and women stood in respect, sitting down once the newest members of their discussion sat with them.
Kane walked over to Naofumi's seat, placing his hands on his shoulders, "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you all to Sir Naofumi, the Shield Hero, and his compatriots Elina Poli, Raphtalia, and Rifana."
"It's nice to meet you all," Raphtalia and Naofumi spoke up.
"Same to you, my dear," a bear demi-human returned their kind words.
"Now that we're all here, let's discuss the future!" Kane dramatically spoke, the rest of the participants sweatdropping.
A older cat jaguar demi-human was the first to speak, "While we are very glad that you are here, Sir Shield Hero, we are a little confused as to why you have come, as this was not what the countries had agreed upon in our meeting with Queen Mirellia."
Queen Mirellia? Not King Aultcray? Naofumi thought, "I'm sorry, but I don't know exactly what you mean."
The gathered demi-humans share a quick glance, "In our last meeting with Queen Mirellia, she had promised to send us aid in the later waves and to make amends for breaking the treaty, Melromarc would be releasing any and all slaves held captive by the end of the fifth wave."
The group was stunned. Melromarc had agreed to free all their slaves? And what treaty had they broken?
"I don't mean to be rude, but what treaty did Melromarc break? And why would you need aid for the waves if our weapons summoned us to every single wave, regardless of location?" Naofumi asked.
It was the demi-humans turn to be shocked, several eyes widening before they schooled their features. A female giraffe demi-human spoke next, "Your lack of knowledge on this topic frightens me, Sir Shield Hero, but I will inform you that prior to your summoning, all the countries of the world had signed a treaty to decide the order in which countries may attempt to summon a hero to aid them, of which Melromarc was fifth in line. When Melromarc went against the treaty, summon all four heroes, many of the major world powers wanted to go to war but Queen Mirellia promised to amend this major break in international conduct."
Well that answers a lot, The four thought.
"In that case, why didn't you? I'm sure with all your military might combined, especially Faubrey's, Melromarc would stand little chance in a war against the other major powers," Elina wasn't normally one for politics, but this was very interesting for her.
"We had no way of knowing how strong the heroes would be by the time our armies reached them. Besides, if we wanted them to help fight all our waves, then trying to kill them wouldn't help very much," Kane answered Elina's question, but that only gave Naofumi several more.
"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean all your waves? Are you saying there's more than one set?"
Kane raised a brow, "Of course, most countries in the world have their own set of waves to fight…" his smile instantly darted to a hateful glare, "They only told you of Melromarc's waves, am I correct?"
Naofumi could only nod before he put his hands to his temples, rubbing them in stress. Raphtalia and Rifana grabbed a hand each and gave a firm squeeze, lessening his overbearing stress at the new information.
Kane pinched his snout, taking a deep breath. "Well, Sir Naofumi, if you know very little of what plans we made, then we likely know very little of what occurred in Melromarc while negotiation occurred. Would you be willing to inform us of the heroes current situations?"
"I will, but I must tell you now, my past experiences with ruling figures have all been incredibly negative, so I will keep some information from you all, as I'm not sure if I can fully trust you as of yet." Naofumi laid his cards on the table, but kept an incredible ace up his sleeve.
Many of the gathered representatives looked less than happy at Naofumi's declaration but otherwise agreed. And so, Naofumi told them of most of their journey. Beginning with the summoning nearly two months ago, leading through his first day as a hero before being betrayed by his party member (who he learned later was the first princess of Melromarc) and meeting Raphtalia and Rifana later the same day. He told them of how he cared for them and taught them to fight before they grew to be the two ladies who sat beside him now. He told them of the battle within the first wave and of the party that followed.
Naofumi paused in his story, surveying the table of demi-humans before him. Many had their fur visibly bristled in anger at the unjust and horrific treatment of the Shield Hero and many others were trying to discern the motives behind crippling one of Melromarc's only defenses against the waves. He stood from his seat, placing his hands on the table, "Of all the information I have shared thus far, this is the most important and I urge you to listen to me. Following the wave celebration, the Bow Hero managed to activate an unknown power and became overcome with rage, acting like some sort of feral monster. He set fire to nearly a quarter of Castle Town before escaping. Even now we don't know of his whereabouts, but if you come across him, do not try to initiate peaceful contact. Capture him, then work towards gaining his trust. He is far too dangerous to be loose."
Raphtalia wanted to go against Naofumi's words, but she couldn't find it within herself to disagree with his intent. In less than an hour, the Bow Hero had caused untold damage to the capital of a world superpower and ended hundreds of lives. He couldn't be afforded mercy on initial contact.
"If he wants to act like an animal, then he'll get treated like one," Elina's words cut through the harsh silence that had descended on the room.
"Well, if this warning is coming from the Shield Hero himself, then we have no choice but to adhere to his words," Kane sounded from his end of the table.
Naofumi was glad that he had managed to keep some secrets up his sleeve. The representatives are unaware of his stand's existence and they don't know about Ren being his ally rather than his enemy. Even most of the Melromarcan people are unaware of how his stand functions despite knowing it exists.
I just hope if Ren meets one of them, they don't come to blows.
"Well, with all that out of the way, Sir Shield Hero, are you here to stay for our wave or do you plan to continue with your travels. We can handle the next wave alone but your help you be appreciated should you choose to fight alongside us," the bear demi-human reassures Naofumi.
Without hesitation, Naofumi responds, "I want to make up for my lack of presence in your last wave, so I promise to fight alongside your army against the next wave."
Kane gives a thankful smile, patting Naofumi on the back, "You have nothing to apologize for Naofumi, but we appreciate your help nonetheless." He claps his hands together, "Well, I'm sure you all want to prepare for the wave and get your rest so I think this meeting can come to a close. We have rented you all rooms at an inn closest to the church, just ask for Nadeen and you'll be shown to your rooms free of charge. Have a good rest, and we'll finish up with some final preparations with the army. I hope to see you again, Sir Naofumi."
As they were ushered out of the meeting room, Rifana asked what they were all thinking, "Wait, when is the wave going to happen?"
"Three days from now," Kane said simply.
"THREE DAYS?!" Naofumi, Rifana, and Raphtalia shouted in shock!
Elina just laughed, "Never a dull moment, eh Shieldy?"
After gathering their bearings, the group of four arrived at the stables they left Silver at, a messenger having come to them to tell them something happened. None of them knew what to expect when entering the stables, but a completely naked girl with short silver hair, silver eyes, and silver feathery wings was not what they were expecting.
They turned to the messenger that had escorted them, "Uhhh, where's our filolial?"
The demi-human just pointed at the sleeping girl, "Right there. We have no idea why this happened and we have never seen anything like this, but may I present to you," they threw their hands, dramatically displaying the snoozing child, "Your filolial! Hehehe…"
The words of the messenger woke up the girl, who looked between them all confusedly before tears welled up in her eyes and she charged in Naofumi.
"Daddy! You left me behind!" The girl cries out.
"Are… Are you Silver?" Naofumi asks quietly. The girl only nods, her face buried in Naofumi's leg. Naofumi bends down and wraps the sobbing child in a hug, "Hey, hey, hey, it's alright. I'm here now, I won't leave you behind again."
"You promise? Never again?" Silver asks, her sobs quieting.
"Never. I'll even get you something nice to eat at the inn."
Naofumi's reassurance seemed to be enough for the girl as her sobs stopped entirely, yet she refused to let go of the man. So Naofumi improvised and picked the girl up (after wrapping her in Rifana's outer cloak) and carried her like a koala, resting her head over his shoulder and letting the rest of his party see her incredibly smug face. Even though no one said a word, the three women all knew what she was thinking.
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 45
Legendary Shield,「Wireframe」
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 56
DEF: 369
MATK: 47
MDEF: 283
DEX: 116
AGI: 169
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Stand Arrow (Locked)
Stand Arrow Lv 2 (Locked)
Bullrush
Tether
Air Strike Shield
Dog Bite
Shield Prison
Lion's Roar
Minor Illusion
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Herbal Enhancement
Good Cook Lv 2
Demi-Human Growth
Friend of Demi-Humans
Mining Boost
Chopping Boost
Fire Resistance (Small)
Fishing Proficiency
Monster Maturation Adjustment (Small)
Monster Status Adjustment (Small)
Quick Swim (Small)
Burn Resistance (Small)
Raphtalia
Class: Demi-Human Swordsman
Level 40*
Magic Iron Sword
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 168
DEF: 86
MATK: 126
MDEF: 44
DEX: 87
AGI: 168
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Crescent Slash
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Hearing
Undying Loyalty
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Barbarian
Level 40*
Steel Dagger, Magic Iron Axe
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 171
DEF: 45
MATK: 42
MDEF: 36
DEX: 170
AGI: 212
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Eyesight
Undying Loyalty
Elina Poli
Class: Human Barbarian
Level 40*
Plate Armor
ATK: 240
DEF: 90
MATK: 25
MDEF: 21
DEX: 68
AGI: 71
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Hard Headed
Stubborn
Adrenaline Rush
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial/Human Child (?)
Level 40*
Steel Wings
ATK: 142
DEF: 182
MATK: 144
MDEF: 223
DEX: 49
AGI: 138
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Endless Hunger
Cart Puller
Undying Loyalty
Notes:
And that's all for chapter nine! Sorry for the delay in release, but I didn't like the first version of the chapter I wrote and I had to scrap a decent portion of it. I know I put Silver on the backburner, but a decent chunk of next chapter will be dedicated to her, so look forward to actually seeing a difference between Filo and Silver then, I guess.
Please leave a review letting me know what you think! I want to make this story as good as possible, and I like to occasionally steal ideas from reviewers (JOKE)
Finally, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR 10K VIEWS AND 200 FAVORITES!
- RandomA99