Chapter 15 / Language Barrier


Rumors. That was all they were.

Simply rumors.

Despite that, the patrons of the tavern had been a bit rowdier than usual. While fear was instilled in them, it was the owner's job to make sure that they could get their fill here.

Since the town was on the typical routes, being a popular stop on the way to the heart of Melromarc, the owner would get new people in here all the time. Some, looking for a quick drink. Some others, wanting to spend the night away. Some more, trying to wash their sorrows through a drunken mess, such as these days as they tremble in the wake of the waves of destruction.

It was not healthy to be thinking like them, since it was already starting to affect his work. He kept trying to affirm to himself that they were simply rumors and nothing more.

But what if they weren't?

If they weren't rumors, what would that mean for the future of his tavern? His family? His friends? Those he loved and supported in his life? Those who supported him? Will all of them be washed away in destruction, as if it never happened? Was everything so easily perishable?

"Hello? Hey, uhm, hello there?"

Suddenly, a voice from a customer reached out to him. It looked like he was trying to get his attention for a bit now. The owner shook his head, escaping those prior thoughts and he put on a comfortable smile.

"Welcome. Sorry about that. Have anything you want to drink? Menu is up there on the board."

With his eyes glancing up ever so briefly, the customer spared a few seconds to ponder, almost whimsically. Almost as if he wasn't seriously reading the menu at all, before turning a question back to the owner behind the counter.

"Anything that you would suggest?"

"Got any preferences?"

"Something light." He climbed up to one of the stools to the bar. "I'm meeting back up with my friends after this little distraction."

"Then I got something for you. It's called the Alcor Vigor. You won't get a chance to drink that wonderful drink anywhere else. I'll simply adjust for a lighter alcohol level."

"Then one of those, please!"

Most of the time, he'd leave to making his own prized concoction to muscle memory. It was a favorite throughout the town and a delight for foreign visitors of far and wide. As he mixed the ingredients together, he couldn't help himself to glance over to the customer in question again.

A particular man, he seemed to have been.

Lightly armored, red accents covered him. A cape of nothing too dazzling and a spear, looking quite sharp on its end. Blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail trailed behind him. A handsome visage, well-structured face, pulling some attention from the other patrons, particularly the females.

It made the barkeeper believe that he was of some noble descent, working as an adventurer. An odd combination, but not too uncommon.

"Sorry, but is there something on my nose?" the customer asked.

"Oh, apologies. I didn't mean to stare."

Clank. Clank. The noise of the mixture filled the space between them, as a fresh glass was filled up with ice and set aside for the drink to be poured in. Though, the patient tapping of the customer's fingers against the counter had been rhythmically resounding. As the customer waited, he surveyed the crowd, noticing a few eyes on him before they went off to their own business.

"Don't mind them," the owner said. "Some of them are quite anxious with the recent times."

"What happened?"

"Have you not heard about the rumors of the Cardinal Heroes?"

The customer's fingers slowly stopped. "No, I haven't. I've been out on a guild request for the past week, so if there's any news that occurred, my party wouldn't have gotten it." He leaned forwards, curious. "What's this about the Cardinal Heroes?"

"There are warrants being sent out for their arrest. Crimes that they've done. Apparently, they've been up to no good, but that's what the rumors say." He poured the drink into the glass, pushing it over to the customer. "The Cardinal Heroes are supposed to be protecting the people against the waves of destruction, not induce the world further into chaos."

The customer glanced down to the freshly-made Alcor Vigor and pulled it to him, swirling the drink as the condensation started to occur. "Is that right?"

The owner shrugged. "Honestly, it would be best for you to not think much about it. After all, I've also heard that they showed up to the wave of destruction happening in Riyute. No criminals would simply help out a village like that, right? And yet, they say that they started acting up after that incident. Concerns about the Shield Hero finally finding his opportunity for something."

"Oh, it doesn't bother me too much," the customer smiled as if he had no care in the world. The barkeeper couldn't fathom how he was able to shake it off so well. "It sounds like something interesting to listen about. Are there any other details aside from that?"

"Interesting?"

Biting his tongue, he wasn't sure what else to say.

"I suppose it's quite recent, so we don't know much about it. Even the rumors are hard-pressed for details, but that was probably enough to spook a few folks here. When you got rogue Cardinal Heroes as a topic while we're in the midst of a prophetial disaster, you're bound to have a few people that would buy into it. People care about their futures. They let the fearmonger bring them into submission."

"I see then…"

"You're not scared? You don't believe in what I'm saying?"

"They're just rumors, right?" he chuckled.

"So you really don't believe it."

"Well, maybe not like that…"

The customer leaned back, sipping down the Alcor Vigor with pleasure. He savored every drop of it, enjoying the experience while it lasted. Before the owner knew it, it was already half empty.

"It's a good drink! I might have to come back here when I have the chance!"

"Glad to hear it. The Alcor Vigor is one of a kind in Melromarc."

"Actually, maybe there's a way to make it taste even better." He held the glass, tilting to the side as the alcohol flowed to fit it. "I've heard that a citrus flavor can enhance the taste of a few drinks, so it's worth giving this Alcor Vigor a chance with the combination."

"Cit… rus…?"

The customer downed the rest of the drink in one fell swoop, exhaling a deep breath as the empty glass knocked against the counter. "How much was the drink?"

The owner frowned, knowing that the price was listed on the menu above, but the unexpected suggestion caused him to answer without any real thought placed behind his words.

"Two silvers."

The customer reached in his pocket as he stood up, leaving three silvers on the counter for the barkeeper. "You can keep the extra silver. Consider it as a tip."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"No, no. I should be thanking you," the customer laughed as he turned away. "Anyways, I'll be thinking of this place whenever I come through here on a request. If you need any suggestions on what fruit to put on the Alcor Vigor, I'd say a lime would be perfect for it!"

"O-of course. Thank you for your patronage…"

The customer walked out of the barkeeper's life as abruptly as he walked in. That was the life of a tavern, but all the owner could do was stare blankly at the empty glass at the lingering words the customer departed with.

"Wh-what the hell is a lime?"

-/IV/-

He stretched his arms as he walked out from the tavern. In Emerald Online, taverns served as social places where people would reconvene safely and chat with one another, sometimes about the game's events or even about things that happened in real life. Even if he didn't have that knowledge, a tavern simply feels the most natural place to find information, as people nearby and far away would pass through, no matter what walks of life they've encountered.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

A voice came from the side, causing the man to glance over at the corner of his eyes. There was black-haired boy standing against the wall, crossing his arms with a stoic expression. He was dressed neatly, equipped with black armor and white overcoat, while his neck was wrapped around by a blue scarf, hiding his skin underneath.

"Or did you use the opportunity to find yourself a date for tonight?"

"Oh, come on," the man chuckled in response. "Who do you think I am?"

"It's because you're Motoyasu that I feel the need to ask."

"Don't worry too much about it." Motoyasu pointed a thumb to himself, grinning. "You know, you can start relying on me from now on, Ren."

Ren sighed, pushing himself off the wall with his foot. "If you really did find more information, we should meet back up with the others. Itsuki and Eclair should be coming back from level grinding soon and I want to get a rotation out to grind some experience points while we're resting here."

He started walking off, leaving Motoyasu to chase after his friend.

"You know," Motoyasu reached out, "I was pretty surprised to hear that your level was the lowest out of all of us. Usually, you'd be on top of your game here, but I guess that's what happens when you've been thrown in a prison cell for a few days. I'm surprised you didn't call dibs on grinding first."

"I would have, if I trusted you to gather information without getting drunk or getting involved with another woman. That was a sacrifice I had to make, to make sure nothing goes awry here."

"Ouch. You really don't trust me, huh?"

"I do trust you, but it's those stupid habits that I lack faith in."

"Double ouch!"

"Besides, I'm good enough to be able to fight as I am if needed."

Considering Ren was underaged, he decided not to go in the tavern with Motoyasu, only feeling the need to come in if he was taking too long. As such, Ren asked for an update as to what was done there, letting Motoyasu debrief him on the current rumors on the Cardinal Heroes. The more information they had, the easier it would be to move around and be wary of certain places.

"It would have gone a bit smoother if I knew how to read the menu…"

"You haven't learned the written language?"

"Ughhh, don't get me started," Motoyasu lifelessly shrugged. "I've been trying to find a chance, but I've just never found the time to do so. I already had other problems on my plate, as you might have guessed." Although they've already forgiven him about the incident, it didn't make him feel any less guilty about it whenever those thoughts came up. He shook himself off, looking away from those thoughts. "Are you saying that you've already learnt it?"

"Nope. Was too busy investigating the trial and being in jail cell."

"Oh, right. I, uhm, somehow forgot immediately after I brought it up. Heh heh."

Ren sighed.

"Let's just meet back up with Naofumi and Raphtalia already."

"Where did they say they would be again?"

The two friends walked down the streets. Realistically, their information wasn't much, but confirmation of rumors were still good to keep in mind, especially when they didn't have any networks.

The town wasn't too big, paling in comparison to the capital, but that was to be expected. There wasn't anything particularly special about this town, other than a place to stop by for travelers before heading on their way. In fact, the villagers here try to capitalize on it, looking to push up their sales and marketing in order to rake in profit into their home.

With how things were, Naofumi and Raphtalia headed off by themselves to sell their materials to keep themselves in the green as much as possible. While there was debate within the group on whether or not to sell the materials, rather than using it for the strengthening methods, they figured that money was still very important, especially if they were traveling in a large group of six. They had a decent sum between the four heroes, but without steady income, that wasn't going to last too long.

Ren still wanted to stop by a weapon store in order to start copying new weapons for his arsenal, so he kept an eye out. Browsing past the many stores, the heroes walked by a bookstore.

Distracted, Ren stopped as he browsed through the window out of mere speculation. Considering how they were on the run, perhaps their time could be used to finally take up the language of Melromarc, but he wasn't exactly sure how he should have gone about it. For all his desires, he wasn't sure as to how he could go about learning a new language.

"Why don't we find someone to teach us?" Motoyasu asked, popping in.

"Can you suddenly read minds now?"

"No, but it seemed pretty obvious from the way you were looking at the books."

"Okay, but who would even go out of their way to teach us the language?"

Motoyasu gazed into the windows of the bookstore as Ren started walking off, only to surprise himself with a pleasant sight. He got closer to the window, just to confirm his eyes.

"Oh, hey. Raphtalia is in there."

"Hmm?" Making sure that his friend wasn't going crazy, he walked back to look. "Really?"

Inside the bookstore, an auburn haired woman was crouching down to see the books on the lower shelf. Her clothing had been light, having a leather tunic dress as being the heaviest thing she had on her, set aside her weapon. On her head, two ears popped up and on her backside, a tail sprouted out, swinging slightly side-to-side on the ground.

"What do you know? Might as well pay a visit, if they've decided to stop by here."

Ren wasted no moment in entering the bookstore as Motoyasu followed him without any complaints. The door creaked open as they made their way past the employee. Motoyasu briefly greeted them, while Ren didn't want to make any awkward greetings.

They made their way down the aisles before reaching where Raphtalia had been keeping herself. With a few books in her arm, she skimmed through the one in her hand before placing it in the stack.

"You seem busy."

"O-oh, Mister Ren." Raphtalia jumped a bit in place. "I wasn't expecting you to be here. You scared me a little."

"Hey, Raphtalia! Looking as cute as ev—GRAH!"

Without looking, Ren bashed his elbow into Motoyasu's gut emotionlessly and then returned to the conversation without addressing his actions. Raphtalia brushed it off as playful banter between the friends.

"And it's Mister Motoyasu as well," Raphtalia said, as Motoyasu struggled to recover. "Have you two finished up your business yet?"

"Practically," Ren answered. "There might be better places to extend our scouting, but it appears to be good enough for now. We've got confirmation on a few things, but maybe we should meet back up with Itsuki and Eclair before talking about it."

"I suppose you have a point," Raphtalia sheepishly responded. "It's not something I desperately have to know right now, so it won't be too much of a bother."

Wincing a bit, Motoyasu glanced over to the books that Raphtalia was carrying. "That's a considerable pile. Do you need any help with those books? I'll be happy to carry them for you."

"I appreciate the offer, but I can handle myself here."

"No need to be reserved." Motoyasu walked up, gesturing for the books. "I'll always be willing to help out a beautiful lady as your—GRAH!"

Ren reeled back the playboy with extreme prejudice. One tight grip of his cape, that was what he did as his friend walked up to compliment the demi-human. Motoyasu almost fell over from the abrupt momentum, if his assailant hadn't pushed him back onto his two feet.

"S-stop that!"

"Hmm? I'm not sure what you're talking about. My hand merely slipped."

"That's one hell of a slip if that's really the case!"

"Anyways, she doesn't need help, so you don't need to butter her up like that."

"T-there's nothing wrong with calling it as I see it! Beauty must be called when it shows!"

Before Motoyasu had another chance to complain, Ren decided to switch the topic before it got out of hand. "Anyways," he directed his voice to Raphtalia, "you should have been with Naofumi, right? Did you ask him to head off to buy some books?"

"That's not the case," Raphtalia responded, shaking her head. "Master Naofumi was the person to suggest coming here in the first place. With the extra money he was able to haggle from the materials, it would be a worthwhile investment to learn the written language, so we came here to find some books that could help out in doing so."

"Haggling, huh?" Motoyasu smirked, shaking off the brief pain. "I do remember that he talked about his time in Odin Spirit and its ingame marketplace extensively.!"

Now that Ren had a better look at the types of books she was holding, it hadn't been like the novels that Naofumi would read for fun back in their world. If anything, the thin sizes of the books, added with the colorful images, made it appear more like children's books. He slowly reached out for one of her books, to which she kindly bestowed, and quickly flipped through the contents.

There was a picture of some type of cute fluffy monster across the pages and while he could figure out some semblance of a plot from it, he really couldn't grasp the context with the illustrations alone. If anything, he was getting a bit dizzy, trying to make sense of it all. Suddenly, the monster eating a grape-looking fruit? For what reason? And then there was a giant bird? What did that have to do with the ending where he saves the monster princess?

"Yeah, I don't think children's books are going to help." Ren immediately closed it, making sure he had some brain cells left. "We're not some genius that can figure this language out in a few days."

"So where did Naofumi head off to?" Motoyasu asked. "Is he looking for a teacher?"

"Oh no," Raphtalia shook her head. "Master Naofumi is simply looking at other books in the store right now. And about the teacher?"

"Did you already find someone?"

"Although it may be surprising, I am literate in the language. My parents taught me at a young age when I was able to first perceive the characters properly, so I'm willing to help out."

"A-aah…"

Ren bit down on his lips.

From what he heard from Naofumi, Raphtalia wasn't a slave her entire life, having a normal childhood until recently when the wave of destruction had first begun. It was entirely possible that Raphtalia learned to read and write while she was still in that time of peace, but he completely dismissed the fact because… well, he didn't actually have an excuse as to why he didn't ask her in the first place.

Maybe it was a bit embarrassing to simply request a favor like that…

"That works out so well!" Motoyasu cheered, contrasting his friend. "I mean, if you're willing and all that, can you also teach us the language?" He clapped his hands together with a slight bow and a playful wink. "Pretty please?"

Raphtalia giggled. "Of course, there wasn't a need to ask. Master Naofumi already planned to invite everyone else to learn alongside him. Although it's slightly daunting to be teaching a Cardinal Hero, much less all four of them, the language of Melromarc, I'll make sure that I'll be doing my best."

"Hey, Raphtalia." A voice came up from behind her, causing her to twirl around. "I found a few more books in the bargain bin that might be helpful—Oh?" The man stopped, noticing Ren and Motoyasu right next to her. "What are you two doing here? I thought we were supposed to meet back up at the inn."

From down the aisle, a familiar face came down with a few books in his own hand.

His leather breastplate was covered by the green cape, shuffling down with a gentle demeanor to his movements. His new outfit had to be bought, considering the damages made to his old one, but they were able to gather enough for something that was somewhat similar. They did have to sell a few accessories of Naofumi that were once gifts from Ren and Itsuki to get the spare money.

He instinctively smiled, seeing his friends.

"It's nothing really important, Naofumi," Motoyasu grinned. "We were already on our way back to the inn when we noticed Raphtalia was in the store here. That's when we decided to drop in and join the party a little."

"So what's this about language lessons?" Ren asked. "Is Raphtalia going to be teaching us?"

"Ah, so she already talked to you guys about it. In any case, it's exactly what it sounds like. I was actually planning to bring it up at dinner today, but if we want to get a headstart, I don't think it would be a bad idea."

"Never would I have thought that I would expect that I'd be in a study group while becoming a hero in another world… while on the run." Motoyasu laughed wryly. "Though, maybe a sense of normalcy might be what the doctor ordered. I, for one, welcome the idea."

"I don't go to many study sessions at my university, so this might be a fun experience," Naofumi chuckled.

"Well, I mean, I'll stay for the lessons, but I'm more of a person that works better by himself when it comes to schoolwork. You're going to have to deal with that."

"I kinda expected that already," Naofumi responded, "but maybe you should join up for a bit, even if it's a few minutes. It's not everyday we'll get a chance to study together like this, especially because everyone is in a different education level or field."

Ren quietly handed back the book in his hand to Raphtalia, while masking his lips underneath his scarf. "I, uh, see what I can do…"

"Think about it, Ren. It's also not everyday that we get taught by such a lovely lady—GRAH!"

"Ugh, my hand suddenly twitched," Ren said, pulling his arm back from jabbing Motoyasu in the stomach. "Maybe I should get something checked out by a doctor when I have the time."

"That was intentional!"

"Huh? You're imagining things."

Naofumi chuckled before turning to Raphtalia, asking for her discoveries of children's books from the shelf. He parsed through all of them, already deciding on how he was going to haggle for it.

"We'll wrap things up here, but we'll need to do some shopping for dinner tonight. I'm out of my seasonings and some extra ingredients, considering my inventory wasn't expecting to be cooking for six people."

"I'll make sure to prepare the lessons to the best of my abilities," Raphtalia smiled. "Hopefully, everyone will be able to study to the best of their abilities."

"Everyone, huh…?"

Ren grimaced as he straightened himself up, holding his forehead.

"I almost forgot about Itsuki."

"What? How could you forget about him?" Naofumi said, raising an eyebrow. "It's not everyone without the four of us, strictly speaking about the Cardinal Heroes."

"No, it's not that. Obviously, I would never forget about Itsuki, but it's something else that I forgot. It's something that completely slipped my mind until now."

Motoyasu, Naofumi, and Raphtalia glanced at each other, not knowing what Ren could have been possibly hinting at from those words alone. Naofumi tilted his head, frowning.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

-/IV/-

"I'm not studying. You can't make me."

A boy who looked of polite demeanor was wearing a sleeveless tunic with light clothing underneath. A olive-coloured hood, darkened by a few shades here and there, fit in well alongside with his light brown hair, making him look collected and composed in any other circumstances.

However, this boy had just slammed his hands on the table in front of him.

"This is important, Itsuki," Naofumi said, trying to convince him. "You might be able to communicate with everyone easily, thanks to the weapon's translation feature, but that doesn't mean you can forgo studying the language as it's written. That type of knowledge can become important one day."

"I'm not studying! And that's final!"

Apparently, Itsuki never liked to study back in their world.

His grades were still above average, but he would alway put in small amounts of effort into that lifestyle in which failing tests were still within the spectrum of his abilities. Nevertheless, Itsuki would never put any additional effort into it as a student, never striving for much.

This was extremely left-field for Naofumi and Motoyasu, considering how they had no idea this was a thing beforehand. Itsuki felt like someone that could be an honors student, so it was frankly strange for them to see that Itsuki had a polarizing attitude towards studying.

"Why do I even have to study anyways!? I'm supposed to be a hero, right!? Heroes aren't supposed to be studying, they're supposed to be saving people from evil in the shadows!"

"It is for the fundamentals, Sir Itsuki."

Standing off to the side, a woman with strawberry-blonde hair spoke up. Her clothing was relatively basic, donning a blue coat aligned with metal straps along the center. She couldn't have been using the armor they got from the capital, as attention would probably come over to her quickly, so they managed to scavenge alongside Naofumi's new outfit.

"Even the knights are expected of basic literacy if they wish to enlist themselves. Of course, the training system offers a decent-quality course if one is not fortunate enough to receive those lessons as a child, one that would serve well enough for the job. Even the adventurers are expected to be literate, as more guild requests are written down on a billboard for adventurers to observe and take for themselves."

"It's as Eclair says," Naofumi nodded. "There might be a situation where reading can come in handy, so if you don't have the skill in your pocket, you might find yourself at a loss."

"Then you guys can just handle it, right? Everyone else can translate for me, so it's not like it's a full requirement for everyone to study language here! And besides, there are weird skills attached to weapon forms, right!? Maybe we'll find a weapon that teaches us how to read!"

"He's coping." Ren groaned, keeping his head down to dodge the ongoing storm. "This is going nowhere…"

"Are you, perhaps, unsure of my teaching methods?" Raphtalia asked earnestly. "I won't force you if you don't want to, but I'll do my best to make sure the lessons go by as smoothly as possible. If there's something you don't understand, you can always ask me."

"And everything would be easier because we're not going in blind here," Naofumi followed up. "We can speak the language already, thanks to the weapons, so we can easily transition that into learning the writing. Theoretically, of course. It's not going to be as painful as you might expect."

"I don't want to study!" Like a child throwing a tantrum, Itsuki flailed his arms on the table while pouting. "What part of that don't you guys understand!?"

"The part where we're concerned for you, Itsuki. You need to learn the language!"

"I'll learn whatever I want to learn!"

"What's the difficulty in studying anyways?" Naofumi asked, raising an eyebrow. "We have Raphtalia as a teacher here and I'm certain that she'll be doing a great job. If she says she'll do her best to make the lessons understandable, there shouldn't be any problems in taking the offer!"

"O-oh, uhm…" Raphtalia laughed a bit on the side, a bit flustered. "While I do appreciate the confidence in me, perhaps we should wait to make claims like that. This is my first time playing as a teacher, after all."

"You'll do fine," Naofumi said, bouncing over to his gentle tone quickly. "I know you will."

"Just think about it for a second, okay!?" Itsuki spat. "If we've been summoned to be something more exciting like legendary heroes, why the hell would we do something so normal!? Even if we're being marked as criminals, it doesn't mean we can't fight for justice!"

"While you do have a point about what the heroes should be doing," Eclair calmly responded, "it does not change the circumstances that reading is important. I'm not sure how much more I must emphasize that fact. If it's too much of a difficulty, I can also provide assistance to Lady Raphtalia in teaching the Cardinal Heroes, so you won't have to depend on one person to teach you the language."

"Of course, that would be a great help, Miss Eclair," Raphtalia said. "Thank you. I honestly didn't know how I would be able to get the lessons out evenly towards everyone, but with an extra hand, the workload will certainly be lighter for myself."

"It's my pleasure. However, that is if Sir Itsuki would budge from his place."

"Look, can I just skip out on this?" Itsuki sighed, almost pleading. "It's not the end of the world if I don't learn how to read. The monsters from the waves won't be terrorized if I started reading them a bedtime story."

"What made you hate studying so much anyways?"

Itsuki paused for a bit, grimacing. His voice suddenly disappeared on him.

"It's… nothing important."

"What did you say?"

"I said it's none of your business!"

Itsuki was about to storm off from the table, heading back up to their rented rooms. If Naofumi didn't dig his heels deep into the ground, there was no way that they would be able to have their last member join the session. He wasn't going to let that happen and if he had to take drastic measures—

"Then feel free to miss out on my meals. While I make enough for everyone else, I'll leave out your portion from the process."

Motoyasu and Ren widened their eyes.

"O-oh, Naofumi went there?"

"I wouldn't want to be him right now."

Itsuki stopped in his place, frozen from fear. He didn't show his face around, but his arms were trembling. While Naofumi couldn't imagine doing such a thing, he still had to press on with his bluff.

"Y-you wouldn't…" Itsuki whispered. "You wouldn't dare… You're too much of a nice person to intentionally leave someone out of a meal."

"Leave now, and find out. You know how to cook for yourself, right?"

"B-but it's… not the same…" His voice was quivering. "How could it compare to your food!?"

"You know what to do."

"Isn't that going too far?! It's just lessons!"

"This is for your own good, Itsuki. Learning written knowledge is exclusively for your own benefit, so if you want to refuse it so much, there's going to be consequences."

Itsuki gazed over to Motoyasu and Ren, hoping that they might be able to help him out, but they were pretending to not be a part of the conversation, glancing away in a random direction.

"Please don't do this, Naofumi."

"Everyone else is starting at the same place, so we can have your back if there's something you can't wrap your head around. We're in this together, so you're not studying alone."

"Actually, I have a preference for—"

"Shut up, Ren."

"Shutting."

Naofumi glared out of the corner of his eyes, silencing Ren.

"Just give it a few days, Itsuki," Naofumi sighed. "I'm not asking for much, just a few nights of your attention, so that you can get something in your head concerning the writing."

Itsuki grunted, obviously being in conflict before his shoulders gave out. He looked over to another direction, heavily dragging his body back to the table with a slump.

"I'm sure you're just overreacting." Naofumi softly smiled. "How bad could it possibly be?"

-/IV/-

It was pretty bad.

"Okay, what is it that you don't understand? These characters together make this word, so that means, we can translate it almost like a cipher. There are more characters here than what we're used to back home, but if you could just wrap your head around this—"

"IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE."

Motoyasu groaned, giving his attempt to assist Itsuki, but as the victim kept slamming his head on the table every so often, it was starting to be obvious as to why Itsuki was trying to avoid studying alongside the others. He wasn't very good at it.

"Language doesn't necessarily need to make sense," Eclair said. "Written words are merely rules that a language follows, thus learning a language means that you're simply memorizing their rules."

"None of this is clicking in my head no matter how I try to look at it, much less staying in there…" Itsuki rolled his head over to the side, looking like he was about to cry. "It's like my mind is being evicted from anything that even looks like mysterious text."

"Maybe we should take a break," Raphtalia suggested. "If Mister Itsuki isn't getting it now, we could give him some time to cool himself down. There's no rush to the process."

"Can I have a permanent break?"

"... I wouldn't advise it."

"I mean, it's obvious that you've been trying your hardest," Naofumi wryly answered, "even though there's little… to no progress to show for it. Raphtalia is still right, so how about half an hour for a break? We can take up one more hour before heading off to sleep after our break."

And immediately, Itsuki collapsed on top of the papers from the mental exhaustion as his eyes were spinning. For some reason, Naofumi was doubtful that his friend was going to be waking up anytime soon, but he kept himself needlessly hopeful.

He slowly glanced over to Ren, who had been the only one not at the table. Instead of being with everyone, Ren sat himself next to the windowsill as he listened in to Raphtalia's lessons while outlining what she was talking about on the papers he was provided.

Naofumi wasn't sure how far Ren had been in figuring out the language, mostly because he always kept a serious expression on him as his eyes scrolled through the paper. It felt like a crime to bother him while he looked so focused. Through the corner of Ren's eyes, he noticed Naofumi staring and subsequently returned it with a leer.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh, sorry. I was just wondering how it's going along for you."

"It could be better, but I'm hanging in there," Ren sighed. "I get pretty good grades when I really need to crack down on subject materials, so this shouldn't be too difficult."

He closed the book he was using for reference and gave his full attention to the group. "If anything, I should be worried about Motoyasu, leaving Itsuki out of the picture. I can't imagine he's doing too good either."

"Hmm?" Motoyasu looked over his shoulder. "I'm doing pretty good. I can slug myself through one of the books that Naofumi and Raphtalia got at the bookstore now."

"Wh-what…?" Ren frowned, raising his eyebrow. He was genuinely taken back from the revelation. "That's not possible. How could the womanizer get more progress than me?"

"Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked. "What's a womanizer?"

"Don't worry about it," Naofumi reflexively answered.

"You know," Motoyasu continued, holding out a peace sign next to his eyes, "I'm actually on the dean's list at university. Since my part-time job can get slow at times, I always use it for studying and overtime, I just get pretty good at it!"

"Th-that's not possible…" Ren's foot slipped off the windowsill as he tripped over his confusion. He caught himself before he fell flat on his face, stumbling over to stand up. "Has the Motoyasu I've come to know a lie? I thought he would use all his time for going out on dates with a different girl every other week…"

"... Is that how you see me?"

As Motoyasu's spirits were slightly lowered from Ren's backhanded assumptions, Eclair raised her hand to intervene in their conversation briefly.

"Please excuse me for a moment, but am I mistaken to assume that all the heroes have already been to an educational institute?"

"From where we're from, everyone's fortunate to be given education through their younger years," Naofumi explained. "Once you reach a certain point, you can either choose to continue your studies or enter the workplace immediately. Each option has its own boons and banes."

"That must be a lucky world to come from," Raphtalia said. "In Melromarc, you're only allowed education if you have money and even then, there might not be a school building available in a particular town. There hadn't been one in my village, so I was one of the few children fortunate enough to be taught by their parents."

"Eclair," Ren called out. "You said you were literate too, right? I mean, obviously you are, so that was pretty much rhetorical…" He shook his head, trying to rearrange his question to be less of a mess. "Did your parents end up teaching you as well? Ugh, crap, right." He held his head, remembering the answer at the last possible moment. "You said that the knights provided basic learning courses. You would have gotten your lessons from there."

"Actually, I was already literate before entering knighthood. My father was a governor over a certain piece of land in Melromarc, so it was more or less expected that I could read and write. My knight training came soon after and I went away from home to a proper academy in order to hone my abilities. After that, it was to the castle for enlistment to become a proper knight."

"We should feel thankful for those circumstances," Naofumi said.

Eclair chuckled. "If I can be of any service to the Cardinal Heroes, please do not hesitate to ask for anything else within reason. However, I won't be able to assist in anything complex."

"Me, as well," Raphtalia sighed, having her ears flop downwards a bit. "It appears that we could only teach everyone the basics."

"That should be good enough to last us the entire ride," Motoyasu optimistically answered, recovering from Ren's impression. "It's not like we'll have to cram ourselves into textbooks and complicated documents. We just needed enough knowledge to get through with small interactions without stirring any suspicion or pulling attention to ourselves."

"Get me out of this ride…"

"Maybe… we should actually wrap up for the day and save some of the studying for some other time," Raphtalia suggested, showing some concern for the half-dead hero. "Mister Itsuki doesn't appear to be all that well."

"While his progress was not… optimal," Eclair revealed, "it's not to say that he has done absolutely nothing either. Given time and practice, he'll be up to learn the basics in no time."

"Basics of what? Torture!?"

"Itsuki…" Naofumi sighed. "Both Raphtalia and Eclair are doing their best to make sure everyone is understanding the material, so you could at least thank them nicely."

Grumbling, Itsuki sighed as well.

"... Thanks."

Without even collecting up the scattered papers on the table, he carried himself over to a nearby bed and sunk right into it. The night was still young, but Itsuki was already done. It stirred a soft laughter among the group before everyone started cleaning up.

As they did, Ren realized something particular about the room.

"Hey, wait. There's only three beds here. Don't tell me that I'm the last one to notice that."

"Huh? Seriously?" Naofumi carefully counted them again. "One, two… three… Oh, I guess there are only three beds here. That's weird, I could have sworn I asked for a room with four beds in it."

"Didn't they say that they didn't have any available?" Raphtalia asked. "I recall that they said they could provide us with a room of three beds as its maximum."

"I must have forgotten not realized. I was too consumed with thinking about dinner and the study group to let that fully sink in, so maybe, I just agreed to whatever they were saying."

"I thought this was intentional," Eclair responded. "Our room contained three beds as well, perfectly fitting the amount of people we have in our group."

Naofumi scratched his head. "I wanted to give you girls some privacy, leaving us guys to sleep together here. Though, I suppose someone would have to go grab the blankets from the other room and sleep on the ground for now. Since I'm the one who messed up, I'll take out the sleeping bag for myself."

"Alternatively, we just send one of us over to sleep on the extra bed in their room."

Ren's hand slowly reached for his sword the moment Motoyasu suggested the idea. He couldn't see it, being behind him and all, but Naofumi was scared as to what Ren was about to do. A cold stare emerged from the young friend, standing still in frost and frigidness, all without changing his empty expression. All without Motoyasu noticing, but he continued.

"You should be the one to head over, Naofumi."

"Wait, me? You're telling me to head over?"

Just like that, the blizzard surrounding Ren had suddenly disappeared, causing Motoyasu to glance backwards as his hand removed itself from the sword. His visual confusion on his face made it felt like he was on a delay, only to shrug it off quickly, thinking it was his imagination.

"Yeah, why not? I'll bunker down here with Ren and Itsuki for the night."

"Hold on a minute. I can sleep here just fine," Naofumi debated.

"Just give them a bit of company then," Motoysu chuckled. "It shouldn't hurt too much. If there's a spare bed in there, you might as well use it. Something tells me that they won't mind if it's you."

"I don't particularly mind it," Eclair responded. "If anything, I wouldn't be able to sleep properly, knowing that a Cardinal Hero was forced to sleep on the ground when there were open options available."

"Well, if it's Master Naofumi, it would be fine. We've already been sleeping in the same room beforehand, so I'm used to having your presence around."

Naofumi let out a small laugh. "I guess I am thinking a bit too much."

Although she was right, Raphtalia still looked nervous. Her expression did show anything outside of a gentle smile, but her ears had been twitching and her tail was wagging side to side in an erratic rhythm. She knew she should have been calmer about this, but from the way Motoyasu had quietly winked at her as he requested Naofumi to sleep over there, she started getting a bit self-conscious.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in the morning. Night, everyone."

Naofumi went over to the next room with Eclair and Raphtalia to get themselves sorted out for the night. They were already in light clothing, so they were able to collapse on their beds. Eclair took one of the beds at the end, leaving Raphtalia and Naofumi to sleep next to each other. As the light went off and Naofumi got comfortable, he heard a call for his name.

"Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia whispered. "Are you… still awake?"

"I don't fall asleep that quickly." With amusement alluring his soft voice, he turned his head over. Raphtalia's figure was being lit up by the fading light of the moon. "What's up, Raphtalia?"

"It's nothing important, but…"

"Just speak your mind. I'm already listening."

"O-of course…" Raphtalia hesitated, holding her blanket a bit tightly. "I was simply noticing how the Cardinal Heroes really don't feel like the heroes told in the stories when I was younger. My parents always talked about heroes who were great people, especially the Shield Hero, to the point where they felt out of reach, but as I spend more time by your side, it doesn't feel like it."

"I mean, I think that goes without saying. We were just people, living our normal lives until one day, we were suddenly pulled out from it in order to save this world. And now, we're thrusted into weird circumstances where we aren't really seen as heroes. At the end of it all, all our differences amount to the special weapons we've been granted."

"Compared to how you were when we were by ourselves, you seem to smile more."

"They're my friends. Of course I would."

"I'm just happy that you're feeling happy. I thought the rumors of what you had supposingly done to a former party member might have ruined your mood, but I'm glad that wasn't the case."

"You… You know about what happened?"

"I managed to overheard it a while ago, but I already knew you weren't the type of person to do such a thing. It's no wonder that the heroes came to your defense, even if one of them took some time to do so. They all trust you and they all believe in you. I do so as well, Master Naofumi. And no matter what, I don't believe that will ever change."

Naofumi sighed in relief. "Thanks, Raphtalia."

As Naofumi was getting ready to turn back around, he heard Raphtalia's own mumbling behind him. It was as if she was trying to decide on saying something, so he held himself and glanced back at her. Under the veil of night, he couldn't see the thin blush on Raphtalia's cheeks before she spoke up.

"I-I might be imposing, but… do you mind if I… sleep with…"

Her words trailed away before Naofumi could understand what she was saying.

"N-never mind," she abruptly interrupted herself, immediately flipped herself over to face away from him. "Good night, Master Naofumi."

"O-oh, uhm… N-night then, I guess."

Naofumi himself wasn't sure why his voice had been nervous, but as she spoke in such a way, he could have felt like his heart was beating a bit harder. He managed to calm himself down, but he couldn't figure out why it suddenly spiked up like that. All he knew was that he couldn't exactly turn away his eyes from Raphtalia's back until the thought of heading to sleep returned to him.

"Sweet dreams, Raphtalia," he whispered.

She held on tightly to her blanket as her heart's beating could be heard in her ears. A few deep breaths was all it took, but when Naofumi said such things, she couldn't help herself in responding quietly. Ever so quietly, to herself and for only herself to hear.

"I'm already living in one… and I don't ever want to wake up from it…"

-/IV/-

As Itsuki and Motoyasu were fast asleep, Ren kept himself close to a single lamp alit, in order for him to see the words properly. However, he wasn't holding the papers that Raphtalia provided to him, nor was it any of the children's books. His hands turned each page carefully and methodically.

Even though he had something like this in his inventory, he hadn't found an opportunity to tell the others about it. However, Ren didn't think it was a good time to tell them about this. Since this was the book that brought them all in the first place, being The Record of the Holy Weapons, he thought that there would have been some help hidden between the pages.

At the very least, there was something he could confirm.

Nothing he learned today gave him an extra step to learning what the unknown pages detailed. None of it looked right, compared to the characters used in the children's book, meaning that this wasn't written in Melromarc's language like his assumption had been. There was still no reason to bring these contents up to his friends and allies yet.

They would only serve as a distraction, if he couldn't find anything valuable here.

Ren was able to give a proper glance, considering how after the prologue, the pages hadn't been blank like the version they received before their summoning. Just as he initially saw the children's book in the store, none of it was making any sense to him, especially with the convoluted pictures, scattered few inbetween in comparison to how much they used for the first few pages. The abstract artistic designs made it even more difficult to decipher most of them.

Even so, there was still a single image he could make out.

"What's this… about a tortoise…?"


[SKIT 075 : Putting in a Tip]

[Ren] : "How did you even get the information anyways? Eavesdropping?"
[Motoyasu] : "Nah, I'm not you."
[Ren] : "No comment."
[Motoyasu] : "I just simply asked. I came in like a customer, bought a drink, and made some small talk along the way. I managed to pick up on the rumors and had the bartender expand on whatever he knew. No one would suspect that I was gather intel for ourselves, since that's not what people would think at first. They would be rather willing to speak their mind if it comes naturally."
[Ren] : "Ugh, you make it sound so simple."
[Motoyasu] : "But it is though?"
[Ren] : "Wait, you said you bought a drink? Was it expensive?"
[Motoyasu] : "The price was two silvers, but I paid three silvers for it."
[Ren] : "Wh-why would you do that!? We're not exactly loaded with cash here!"
[Motoyasu] : "Tips are very important to the service industry! Besides, he lent me his time to speak about the rumors, and even gave me the bar's recommendation. I think that's more than deserving of a tip."
[Ren] : "Alright, here's a tip for you. Maybe don't do that again."
[Ren] : "We need all the money we can get."
[Motoyasu] : "You're saying that because you're a hoarder."
[Ren] : "... What did Itsuki tell you?"

[SKIT 076 : Origins and Books]

[Naofumi] : "It's one thing to be looking for books back at home, but it's another to be looking for books in a language I don't understand."
[Naofumi] : "Now that I think about it, this entire adventure all started because I was looking for a book to read."
[Naofumi] : "I wondered what would have happened if I never picked up that book. Maybe none of this would have happened."
[Naofumi] : "... I suppose there's no point in wondering about hypotheticals. A book isn't going to randomly drop behind again—"
[Naofumi] : "Wh-what!? Was that a book dropping behind me!?"
[Naofumi] : "D-don't tell me that..."
[Raphtalia] : "Sorry, Master Naofumi. My hand slipped and a book fell to the ground."
[Raphtalia] : "Huh? You look slightly pale. Did I accidentally spook you?"
[Naofumi] : "N-no... i-it's fine..."

[SKIT 077 : Assistance From the Sidelines]

[Ren] : "Sorry to be suspicious and all, but you pushed Naofumi into the girls' room on purpose."
[Motoyasu] : "Duh. Obviously."
[Motoyasu] : "C'mon, it's the perfect way of bonding. Naofumi might have looked over Raphtalia while she was smaller—"
[Itsuki] : "—which I'm still coming to terms with, how did you accept that so easily—"
[Motoyasu] : "—but now that she's all grown up, Naofumi needs to see her lovely charms at some point."
[Motoyasu] : "There's no way that Naofumi wouldn't at least steal a few glances at her from her sheer beauty, all to get that heart thumping."
[Motoyasu] : "As much as I think Raphtalia has a crush on Naofumi, I think Naofumi might come around, once he notices her as a proper woman."
[Ren] : "On what basis? He's not exactly you."
[Motoyasu] : "Hehehe..."
[Motoyasu] : "It's elementary, my dear Watson."
[Motoyasu] : "Although Naofumi hasn't gotten a girlfriend yet, I think I know him enough to believe in my decision to help him out here. Naofumi will definitely be happy, once this relationship happens, but it's also pretty important that he gets there on his own two feet. All I'm doing to nudging them along a bit."
[Itsuki] : "Wow. You're surprisingly mature about this, Motoyasu."
[Motoyasu] : "Why, thank you, I—"
[Motoyasu] : "... For some reason, I don't think that was a compliment."