Chapter 17 / Hatchling Growth
One night, Motoyasu heard a cracking sound as everyone else was wrapping up their language studies for the day. They were making good progress, aside from Itsuki, so the distracting event timed itself as they gathered around the table where the incubator rested. The exception had been Ren, who spent the time being disinterested and chose to continue studying as an excuse to not come over.
Everyone else held their breath, as Motoyasu could see feathers popping out between the small crevices. The creature inside kept trying to break itself out and after a few seconds, the loudest crackle emerged, breaking off the top of the egg like a lid.
"Piyo! Piyo!"
"It's so cute!" Raphtalia exclaimed.
"It's like a cute, little fluff ball!" Naofumi laughed.
"Never thought I'd be seeing something like this," Itsuki chuckled.
"Quite the moment to be witnessing," Eclair nodded.
"Piyo! Piyo!"
It was covered in soft, pink feathers while it clumsily wore the broken piece of eggshell on its head. The chick-like monster looked around to survey the area while it was chirping before jumping out from its shell and right onto Motoyasu's head. It surprised him for sure, but he managed to keep himself still as the baby filolial got comfortable right on top.
A notification popped up for him as it did.
[Monster User Spear +0] 0/15 C
(Equip Bonus) : Monster Maturation Adjustment (Small)
He didn't have time to read the menu, returning his attention over to the little monster.
It was so light that he was afraid that it might slip off, so Motoyasu tried to get it off his head. He held out his hand towards it and it jumped into his palm without much resistance. When he slowly lowered his hands, it decided to abandon its ship and land on his shoulder.
"Haha. You're quite lively, aren't you?" Motoyasu asked the filolial.
"Piyo!"
It started rubbing its face against Motoyasu's palm as he held it close. It was difficult to not think that it was cute, even causing Ren to glance up from the study materials for a brief moment.
"It might think that you're its father," Naofumi said. "You are the one that its registered to and that you're also the first one that it saw when it started to look around."
"It's excessively imprinting itself onto you," Itsuki chuckled.
"Perhaps it's an affectionate filolial?" Raphtalia giggled.
"Either way," Eclair smiled, "it looks at home right by your side, Sir Motoyasu."
"Hopefully, taking care of it won't be too difficult."
They weren't able to search for any books regarding filolials, so they would have to guess as they went along. He was offhandedly told that filolials were easy to take care of by a bookstore owner, so Motoyasu was hoping that they were right.
Motoyasu continued stroking the filolial. It happily chirped, feeling delight against his hand.
"Have you thought of a name yet?"
Motoyasu's face suddenly shifted from Raphtalia's question, drawing blanks with widened eyes.
"I haven't. I guess I've been so busy trying to figure out how to care for a filolial that I've completely overlooked something as simple as a name for it."
"It has pink feathers, so how about Pink?"
"Never come up with names ever again, Naofumi," Itsuki emotionlessly responded.
"Wh-what!? I thought it was good!"
"Then I'll give you another shot."
"How about Chick? That's a simple name."
"... You get one more chance."
"... Filo? As in filolial?"
"Stay out of this, Naofumi."
"Oh, come on! Those weren't that bad! Right, Raphtalia?"
Naofumi glanced over to her, but Raphtalia couldn't really support Naofumi's naming convention while looking him directly in the eyes. A cold sweat dripped off from his forehead.
"... Raphtalia?"
"I'm… I'm sorry, Master Naofumi. They're rather… uninspiring."
"You're kidding me…!"
Naofumi's spirits dropped as he slumped over the table, waving a white flag.
However, Motoyasu was still in his own world as he continued to ruffle the filolia's pink feathers. It looked up to its father with sparkling pink eyes, as if it was understanding that it was getting a name for itself now. For a few seconds, a brief idea crossed his mind.
"How about Sakura?"
"Pi? Pi! Piyo!"
The filolial excitedly extended its wings out and while it couldn't fly anywhere, it was still flapping it with happiness as Motoyasu tried to calm it down.
"It looks like it decided for itself. Sakura does sound like a nice name," Eclair chuckled.
"It's better than what Naofumi were coming up with," Itsuki smirked, letting Naofumi sink deeper into the table. Raphtalia took some time to console him. "Yeah, I don't mind the name."
"I think the name is beautiful," Raphtalia said, as she patted Naofumi's back. "Does it come from your homeland?"
"Yeah, it does. The origin is a type of tree that grows beautiful shades of pink flowers whenever its in bloom. It's certainly a sight to behold when you come across it." Motoyasu glanced over to the playful Sakura, letting it play with his finger by biting it. "I thought it was a nice name for the filolial, especially when their feathers reminded me of such a beautiful sight."
With everything sorted out, Sakura didn't want to leave Motoyasu's side under any circumstances, so he simply left her there on his shoulder as he moved around. At the very least, he was assuming that it was a girl with its pink color, but he wasn't exactly sure how to check for certain.
He supposed that it wouldn't have accepted a feminine name like Sakura if it hadn't been female, but then again, monsters probably didn't have the same speech understanding as people. It probably liked how the name sounded and picked it up for itself.
Sakura made a small mess with her egg shells, so Motoyasu went off to clean it as everyone else got ready for the night. It might have been the best to simply transfer it to energy, but there was so little here that it wouldn't make much of a difference.
Motoyasu still placed an egg shell into his spear when its gem was requesting it to be laid there. Similarly to how Naofumi unlocked two at once after absorbing the ink, Motoyasu had his turn at the phenomenon.
[Monster Egg Spear +0] 0/12 C
(Equip Bonus) : Cooking Skill 2
[Monster User Spear II +0] 0/20 C
(Equip Bonus) : Monster Status Adjustment (Small)
He told the others to absorb a piece of the monster egg as well and as expected, they only unlocked the [Monster Egg Weapon]. There must have been other conditions to unlocking the other weapons that were currently exclusively to Motoyasu and Naofumi independently, perhaps owning a monster or a slave respectively, but it wasn't something Motoyasu was going to put much thought into.
"Pii!"
"Huh?" Motoyasu was about to prepare the bed when Sakura cried out, nibbling on his clothes. "Wait, are you hungry? I guess you just hatched out from the egg. Wait, so what do filolials eat again…?"
"Piyo?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to think of something right now…" He scratched his head and looked into his inventory for any leftovers he could hand off to Sakura, but there was very little he could offer.
"I didn't think you would cover that, so here. Catch."
Being blindsided by Ren, he saw that a bag was being thrown over to him. Without much thought, Motoyasu instinctively grabbed it out of the air. The pouch looked decently big, but when he opened it, he was surprised that it was filled with exactly what he needed.
"Beans?"
"Soft-boiled beans. It should be good enough for a baby filolial to eat."
"... You didn't make this yourself, right?"
"What are you implying?" Ren grunted. "Anyways, no. I bought it when I was asking around town on what should be fed to a baby filolial."
"Really?"
"What's wrong?"
"Well, I was just under the assumption that you didn't care much for the filolial. You looked like you didn't want to be a part of the group when Sakura hatched."
Ren shook his head. "I'm not interested in the bird, but that doesn't mean I'll slack off when it comes to taking care of it. I don't want to come near it, so I have to do other things to compensate."
"It doesn't bite. Are you scared?"
"N-no!" A sudden remark caused Motoyasu to chuckle. "I'm not scared of it pecking away at my fingers!" It felt too specific to randomly bring up like that, but Motoyasu wasn't going to pursue it.
"Alright, whatever you say," he sang.
As everyone else got into their beds, Motoyasu dimmed the lights in the room while leaving one alit, so that he could feed Sakura properly. He held out the palm of his hand like a bowl and poured out a considerable amount of beans to fill the curve before bringing it up to the perched Sakura.
Sakura leaned forward and picked up the beans with her beak. Little by little, Sakura kept poking itself forwards to slowly eat everything in Motoyasu's hand. Thankfully, it seemed like it was enough for Sakura for the moment as she was starting to get sleepy.
Motoyasu carefully laid Sakura down on the pillow as he climbed into the bed. Without prompting, the baby filolial trotted up right on top of his chest and laid there to sleep. It certainly made things a bit awkward, considering how quickly it drifted off, but he tried his best to go to sleep.
Sakura was only LV1, so if it was going to help them out, Motoyasu knew that he'll need to funnel some experience points into the monster as much as he can.
Tomorrow might be a busy day for him.
-/IV/-
"[Air Strike Spear]!"
The monsters went down as quickly as it took for them to find within some swamplands they came across. Nothing worth mentioning except for this group of frog monsters that were being led by their boss, one relatively big frog, but they went down almost as easily as the others.
However, there was a problem that arose from the non-heroes of the team.
The soft limit of a party had been six members. Anymore than that and everyone will begin to receive a lower gain of experience points spread throughout the members. According to Ren, this was a mechanic in Brave Star Online, so he was able to warn everyone before they could set out to head to the next town. The solution, however, was as easy as the problem came up.
Since none of the heroes was gaining experience in the first place, one of them would simply leave the party, but remain in the close vicinity. Ren surrendered his position willingly in order to add Sakura into the main party.
So far, things have been going well. Sakura had already reached LV12.
"The more we fight, the less of a challenge these monsters are becoming," Ren sighed, rolling his shoulder as the fight ended. He was already starting to dismantle the pile of frog monsters they killed. "At this point, it's not worth wasting SP on them."
"That's just the power of the Cardinal Heroes!" Itsuki exclaimed; his nose pointed up as long as it could. "At this rate, even the waves of destruction will fear us! Our justice will prevail in the end!"
"Yeah, whatever," Ren groaned dismissively.
"Raphtalia?" Naofumi called from the side. "Are you holding up the same?"
"More or less." She sheathed her main weapon and turned over to her master. "I would say that I wanted a bit more difficulty, just as Mister Ren expressed. I'm not going to be able to serve as your sword if I remain stagnant in my skill."
"Don't worry about that too much," Naofumi chuckled. "Though, I would ask you to slow down a bit. During the fight, it didn't feel like we were on the same page like before."
Her gaze leered over to the other people around them before addressing it. "I just… I'm around strong people that I feel I'm not pulling up my own weight here. I said I would be your sword, but it really feels like everyone else has already covered that end."
"That's no reason to be rushing ahead of me." Naofumi's hand softly reached out from Raphtalia's head. Even though she looked older, she certainly still had times where she didn't act the way she looked. Her ears twitched a bit as Naofumi rubbed her head. "The others are strong in their own regard, but that doesn't take away the fact that I'm more comfortable fighting by your side."
"R-really…?"
Naofumi nodded as Raphtalia's tail wagged a bit as he pulled back his hand.
"Either way, I feel like I need an improvement on my actual blade." Her hand slid softly against the leather sheath. "I probably should have brought it up when we were back in Iroda."
"There should be good blacksmiths in the next town here," Eclair said, sheathing her own blade as she came closer to them. "Apologies for eavesdropping, but I simply wanted to tell you that for someone who's self-taught, your form is great, Lady Raphtalia."
"Coming from you, it's a great compliment. You take care of the monsters so flawlessly that I would be surprised if someone told me that you weren't a hero."
"It merely comes alongside my in depth training. I took practice more seriously than the typical knight, so it reflects in my movement during combat. If you wish, I could teach you a few things when we take our next stop."
Raphtalia nodded excitedly. "That would be great! I appreciate it, Miss Eclair! If I can get stronger that way, I could help more enemies and in turn, we can be more ready for the next wave of destruction. I want to make sure that the heroes are able to keep fighting them back and I don't want to be slowing down Master Naofumi during all that."
"You did well the first time around," Naofumi wryly laughed. "I believe that you can keep it up if we go by it at a natural rate. We won't get anywhere faster if we just keep rushing."
"Yes," Raphtalia sighed. "I understand."
"It won't be difficult to find any upgrades to our weapons considering that the village is known to be a mining area, so it has easy access to ores. I've been thinking about finding a new one as well. Although the sword Sir Ren provided me at the castle was one of good quality, it still has the crest of the Church of Three Heroes on it."
"A mining village?"
Since Eclair was the one pulling them over to Faulbrey, they simply trusted her to point them into the right direction without really asking where they were heading. However, Naofumi still knew of one mining village and they were starting to be around that area.
"Are you talking about Riyute?"
"Oh, you know about it?"
"Master Naofumi and I stayed there for some time," Raphtalia answered. "That was actually the site of the wave of destruction that we were able to participate in, so we were able to help fight it off. However, we couldn't save the destruction of their village, so they're probably in the middle of reconstruction now."
"To think you were already able to safeguard a village," Eclair smiled, but it shifted over to bitterness. "I still can't ever fathom how His Majesty would perceive your actions to be evil. You're a Cardinal Hero, all of you, and you've been acting like one."
As Naofumi and Raphtalia recounted their time in Riyute with Eclair, Ren continued to slice up all the frogs with efficiency, watching over him to keep him company. However, the small Sakura leapt off Motoyasu's shoulder suddenly and came over to Ren. His surprise made him jump back as he watched Sakura take position on top of the pile of frog meat.
Her feet scratched against the surface. If anything, it looked like one of those moments where an animal would see if the place was soft enough to sleep on, but Ren couldn't really care what the bird was doing. This wasn't the time and it even slightly annoyed him.
"Get off already, you annoying bird…!"
"Pii!?"
Ren slowly reached out to try and move Sakura out of the way, but then she pecked at his palm.
"Grah! Hey!"
"Pii! Piiyo!"
While it wasn't hurting, it did end up confirming what he believed, causing Itsuki to openly laugh. He ended up halting his attempt, glaring over to Motoyasu who had already been on the way.
"Motoyasu! Control the filolial a bit here! I'm trying to get work done!"
"Sorry, sorry! She hopped off my shoulder and came over so quickly, I couldn't react in time."
Though, Itsuki had been staring at Sakura through a few spaced blinks.
"Wait a minute. Did Sakura grow a bit?"
Ren grimaced, taking a second look at her.
"Now that you mention it, it does look a bit bigger."
"Every few levels, I've been hearing the sounds of cracking bones on my shoulder." Motoyasu bent down to pick Sakura back up from the monster pile to place her back where she belonged. Even though she left intentionally, she looked happy to be returned there. "I initially thought it wasn't healthy to have that happen, but I realized that it was a sign of her growth. It didn't look like it was hurting either, because look at her! She's still really happy!"
"Pii! Piyo!"
"I think that's because it just tried to attack me," Ren grumbled.
Though, she was starting to get heavier by every level increase. And here, Motoyasu was wishing that he could keep Sakura on his shoulders for a bit of time before she grew up like this.
"It's not like it's a foreign concept in this world, right?" Motoyasu glanced at Itsuki. "You said that demi-humans grew the same way, right?"
"Right. When we met Raphtalia at the slave trader, she was only a little girl, but now look at her. Apparently, her levels determined how quickly she grew up into an adult."
"If that's the case, it might be the same story for Sakura," Ren said, returning back to his frog dissection course. "We might end up with a grown filolial before we know it."
"I think the spears I've unlocked for monster taming are contributing a bit as well."
With Sakura out of the way, Ren ended up putting everything into neat piles, splitting up portions to let everyone unlock new weapons. Motoyasu didn't find anything noteworthy about their new weapon form, other than an equip bonus that provided a bonus to their swimming ability, but Ren appeared to develop a deep interest in it.
Either way, sellable piles were left to the side for Naofumi to pick up to place in his own inventory, mainly since it's simpler than to toss it around when they arrive at the next village. Before he could come over to reach for them, Motoyasu got distracted by something else.
Sakura's stomach started to grumble loudly. It caused everyone to glance over.
"Didn't you just feed Sakura?" Naofumi asked.
"Yeah, and she consumed the rest of the beans Ren gave me. Even the extra bag that I bought before we left the town." Motoyasu intimated the showing of an empty bag before him. "She's been getting hungry a lot, so we'll probably have to stop soon to make some food for her."
"Didn't she hatch yesterday?" Raphtalia asked. "Should we really be changing up her diet so soon?"
"Well, it's not like we have anything else to feed Sakura," Motoyasu sighed. "The only option I could think of was to cook up some puree of the meat that we've obtained and feed that to Sakura, but I'm not sure if she was going to be accepting of it yet."
Sakura suddenly decided otherwise.
It jumped off Motoyasu's shoulder again and trotted its way back to the frog meat, throwing Motoyasu off his guard. He tried to catch the filolial before she landed on the ground, but Sakura landed without any issues before running over to the pile of meat Ren laid out.
"Why does it keep going there?" Ren groaned.
"We should probably pull it away, since staying on raw meat isn't exactly the best place to—"
Raphtalia's voice got cut off as Sakura started pecking into the meat as if it was consumable food. With its small mouth, it started devouring what it could take into its stomach, little by little as everyone merely stayed quiet in disbelief as to what they were seeing. Almost as if systematically, it was able to figure out how to take in a giant frog monster into its small stomach and not before long, blood and meat was splattered all over the place without a care in the world.
No one could really interrupt what disgusting event they had just witnessed, but it was certainly one of those moments where everyone had been so eerily pulled to it, it was difficult to turn away to avert their eyes from the horror of nature. Naofumi felt a bit uneasy, as well as Itsuki. Both of their expressions went a bit pale as they needed a deep breath for themselves.
They had to look at each other to make sure they saw the same thing that the others had seen as Sakura trotted back to her master as if showing off what she had done. Could it have been possible that the young filolial had understood their concerns and decided to take matters into its own hands by feeding itself on the nearest food source it could find? It had shown some level of understanding, but for it to have this type of conclusion to arrive, it wasn't visually pleasant.
Itsuki ended up croaking what everyone had been thinking.
"Wh-what…? What did we just witness?"
Motoyasu crouched down to Sakura, holding out his arm to lift the filolial back onto his shoulder. However, it simply started to bury itself against his chest to rest after a fulfilling meal and while it was certainly adorable, he couldn't disregard the fact that it was covered in raw meat pieces and blood. He might have needed to wash up his clothes when he found the time.
"We saw my work get dismantled through a method of devouring," Ren deadpanned, resting his face in his hands. "No, but seriously. What was that, Motoyasu? What did you teach it to do?"
"Why are you asking me!?"
"It's your damn bird!"
"But I didn't teach it to do that! How could I!?"
"Maybe it picked up on your habits?"
"It hasn't been a full twenty-four hours yet—Wait, what are you trying to insinuate!?"
"I'm still trying to comprehend how such a little body could stuff a large amount of meat inside of itself," Eclair muttered, still dazed by the sight. "I've never seen something like that before. I don't think any amount of training could have prepared me for such an event…"
"It doesn't look like Sakura has a stomachache," Motoyasu said, checking on the filolial. "In fact, I'd say she's sleeping soundly after such a meal."
"Is it normal for a filolial to eat this much?" Raphtalia asked.
"Not that I've ever heard of," Eclair answered, "but perhaps it is because it's growing too quickly."
"It reminds me of Raphtalia's appetite. While she was transitioning from his younger self to her current appearance, had been acting similar to Sakura when it came to the amount of food that she was—"
"M-Master Naofumi! Please don't talk about that so openly!"
"S-sorry, it just came to mind."
"It wasn't as if I could have controlled my appetite!"
As Raphtalia was flustered over Naofumi accidentally leaking that information out, Motoyasu gazed at Sakura's sleeping expression before glancing over to the mostly empty space where Ren had set aside the materials. Being confused about this wasn't going to get them anywhere, but on the bright side, Sakura wasn't hungry anymore. That much, they could at least take their minds off of for now.
However, one more problem came over for him.
"Is it bad that I'm feeling a little hungry too?"
"I don't have the slightest clue how you kept your appetite after seeing something like that," Itsuki frowned. He kept his hand pressed up against his lips to stop himself from gagging. "If we are taking a meal break, I'm not interested in eating."
"I think I'll be able to stomach it," Ren said, holding an eye down in dismay. "As long as I don't remember every single detail, where Sakura started to rip and tear apart the skin, so that—"
"You're describing it on purpose!"
"Jokes aside," Ren chuckled, ignoring Itsuki's remark, "I am feeling hungry as well, though it has nothing to do with what just happened before us. I was already thinking of looking for a good time to ask for a break before all of that."
"Well, it is about that time of the day…" Naofumi looked up to the sky while the sun was still up. "If you guys set up a quick camp, I can work something out. Once we finish up here, the next break should be when we arrive in Riyute."
"Oh, we're heading to Riyute?" Itsuki asked.
"Do you guys know of the place?" Ren followed up.
"Yeah, we spent time there before the wave of destruction came."
"Is that so…?"
"Something on your mind?"
Motoyasu approached Ren as thoughts clouded his mind. A mere gaze at Motoyasu told Ren that his friend hadn't considered the possibility of what might happen in Riyute upon their arrival there, but as much as Ren could have been worried about it, he figured it might have been his imagination.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"If you say so. Oh and take care of Sakura while I'm cooking with Naofumi."
"Alright, I can—Wait, no! Are you trying to traumatize me!?"
"Pii!"
Motoyasu laughed, intending that as a joke as everyone went to settle for the temporary camp.
-/IV/-
Before night could fall on them, they were able to reach the familiar site for most of them. Even Eclair had been to Riyute a few times already, leaving Ren to be the only person to have not seen this place yet. However, Motoyasu wasn't exactly comfortable on returning to the location since this was where he ended up capturing his friend. He wasn't showing it earlier, hiding those concerns in his stomach. Motoyasu hoped that they wouldn't be spending too much time in Riyute.
Judging from last time, reconstruction was already on the way. The walls were being rebuilt up with a strong foundation as the laborers were wrapping things up for the day. One of the guarding patrolmen noticed their arrival, intending to stop them for the required toll before he got a better look at a few of them in particular. Even his spear loosened up a bit, looking a bit glad.
"Shield Hero! You're safe!"
Some of the villagers nearby overheard, coming closer to see what was happening.
"Everyone was worried when you were seen being taken away by the knights! And then when the rumors about what happened in the capital started coming out, that's when we were very concerned. Of course, barely anyone in Riyute believed those rumors"
"Thanks. It's been a bit of a messy situation for us," Naofumi wryly chuckled. "I can only imagine that the rumors might be worrying everyone here."
"You're more than welcome to take refuge in Riyute for the time being, though we're still under construction. It's not exactly the best place to be offering to the hero that saved us."
"Your generosity is more than enough."
"Fundings have been difficult to gather, considering how we were just about to alleviate ourselves from our economic problems." The townguard glanced backwards, showing the returning workers heading back home. "If we never got the help you've given us for the mines, we would have been in extremely terrible shape."
"What about the fees?" Itsuki asked, walking up to the conversation from the back. "There's no doubt that it would be one of the secured methods in gathering the funding you need. Or was the money received from the ores enough to get everyone through?"
"We've just missed the mark by a bit," the townguard sighed. "That's why the governor is still requesting that we ask for a toll fee whenever someone wishes to come into Riyute. Of course, we could never ask the both of you to pay tolls for the village you've saved. You're the reason why we even have the manpower to start reconstruction in the first place."
"I suppose that goes for the rest of us too or…?"
"Any friend of the Shield Hero is welcomed to Riyute, free-of-charge," the townguard responded, directed to Ren's question. Any corners they could cut off their budget were welcomed.
"Thanks. We really appreciate it," Naofumi responded.
"A few new faces along with you too, now that I look at your party closely." The townguard glanced over to the group without lingering too much on any of them. His eyes said that it was a brief inspection, but it was nothing more than a casual remark. "The rumors did say that the Shield Demon escaped the capital, taking full possession of the other three heroes."
"I wouldn't even know how to do that in the first place."
"Well, I shouldn't keep everyone held up here for much longer. I'm sure the other villagers share my sentiments as well, so you'll easily find a place in the inn for tonight. If you need anything else from us, please don't hesitate to ask."
"If that;s the case," Motoyasu stepped in, "I wanted to go meet a professional monster tamer. Is there anybody in the village that's qualified, or at least knows a few things about monsters?"
The townguard looked over to Motoyasu, only to finally see that there was a fluff of pink feathers being wrapped in his arms. It moved a bit, but Sakura's face kept itself buried against his chest. The way he held it, someone could mistake it for a child.
From the time it took for them to get from Iroda to Riyute, with the sheer amount of monster encounters they had gone through, Sakura already outgrown its perch on Motoyasu's shoulder. It was a matter of time before Motoyasu couldn't actually carry the filolial anymore.
"Are you looking for someone to look at filolials?" the townguard asked, approaching Motoyasu to make sure he was guessing the monster correctly. Motoyasu nodded in response, prompting the guard to rest a bit in thought. "In that case, while we don't have someone who's professionally trained in wide varieties of monster knowledge, I do think there's someone in Riyute that might be able to help you out on your inquiries, if it's just filolials."
"That would be more than perfect."
"I can have someone bring you over."
The townguard signaled over to one of his co-workers in the distance and once they noticed the gesture, they came over to see what the problem had been. Of course, their first reaction was to be glad that the Shield Hero was safe, with that whole song and dance being played out similarly as before.
Motoyasu's request was explained and accepted by the second guard. He decided to let himself split off from the group, since he was simply running over to check on Sakura's abnormal growth patterns and have the filolial be checked up if possible and if needed.
The person that the townguard had referred to lived a small distance from the actual village. Apparently, they lost more than half of their monsters that were being raised there due to the wave and that destruction was shown through all of the broken mess around the ranch.
Motoyasu gulped, taking it all in this time.
He was so busy with finding the boss monster and preoccupied with Naofumi during the wave of destruction, he never slowed down to think about the gravity of what the waves had done to those afflicted. His guide glanced back, seeing how Motoyasu had stopped to look at the wreckage, but he was soon back to his movements not before long.
Motoyasu was finally guided to the main building and he entered with a careful step. Sakura was already asleep, but he was certain that the moment that it woke up, it would start to be hungry again. It felt like some never-ending cycle of eating and sleeping for such a little monster.
He was introduced to the manager and caught him up with his concerns as he showed him Sakura.
"Hatched just yesterday, right? To think, you would level it up so quickly for it to become around mid-level twenties already. I'm not even sure if you're pulling my leg right now, but if you say so with such a genuine concern for the monster, I can only believe you're telling the truth."
"Huh? Sakura's only LV18 right now."
"Pardon me?" The manager blinked a few times, looking again at the resting filolial on Motoyasu's lap. "Well, you could have certainly fooled me. I've seen many young filolials at that level before, but none have grown to the size that this one has."
"Then you can see why I'm concerned about her growth. Bones have been cracking and creaking every time she leveled up, but Sakura doesn't show any signs that it's hurting her."
Motoyasu predicted that it might have something to do with the [Monster User] series of spears he unlocked in conjunction with the natural growth of leveling, but it doesn't make it appear any less healthier. It was better to be safe than sorry.
"It's sleeping soundly for now, at the very least. If it's not moving in any weird ways of making painful cries, it should not be of any lasting concern. Although I can perform a regular check-up to make sure everything is alright, it's probably for the best if we leave it for the morning. I still have a few things to wrap up here, because you showed up rather unexpectedly."
"Oh, of course. Sorry to impose."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow with Sakura. Perhaps by then, you'll receive some peace of mind."
Motoyasu left the ranch and returned back to Riyute. His friends were probably back at the inn by now, but every passing moment he gazed upon the buildings, that looming sense of regret kept nagging at him. There was no one living in the ruined houses for now, but once upon a time, it might have belonged to a family. It would take time for their familiar roofs to be returned to them, but if it weren't for the actions of Naofumi and Itsuki, those houses might have remained empty even after its reconstruction.
He didn't stay around to make sure the residents here were safe from the wave's assault. Once Naofumi had been captured by the knights, Motoyasu merely followed along with Myne shadowing behind him. He wanted to say that he was distracted, too focused on what was potentially ahead of him without seeing what was around him, but that was just an excuse.
"You…"
Motoyasu heard a villager's voice come out from the side and suddenly, a rock came from where he turned. It collided with his forehead and bounced right off without leaving any pain behind, but the action still surprised him regardless. He merely stared at the man who tossed the rock.
"You're him, aren't you? The Spear Hero!" As the villager tried to find another rock, a few residents glanced over to see what the commotion was all about. "You're the one that took Shield Hero away! How dare you show your face around here!?"
"Wait, I…"
"Do you think it's funny to go arrest someone that saved the village and then return here!?"
"That's not—!"
Another rock came his way from the man, but Motoyasu didn't bother to dodge it, despite being able to. Some of the other villagers caught wind of what was happening. His eyes were merely widened at the rock that collapsed on the ground as the murmurs became louder around him.
"Was that really the guy that arrested the Shield Hero?"
"What the hell is that Spear Hero doing here!?"
"That bastard had the gall to return after what he did!"
Suddenly, there were a handful of people, throwing rocks at him, but the stats between him and them was large enough for it to not hurt at all. Even then, Motoyasu had to move his arms out to stop it, because Sakura was in his arms. Even when he could tell them to stop, since Naofumi was right at the inn, their shouts were filled with such anger and animosity that his voice faltered.
Something told him that he deserved this.
"You're not welcomed here!"
"Get out, bastard!"
"How about we have the townguard kick you out!?"
He hunched his back, trying to protect Sakura instinctively.
His friends might have forgiven him for what he had done, but the consequences were still lasting. There was no way that he would have been treated the same way here as Naofumi and Itsuki were treated because of where he stood back at the wave of destruction.
If he had never acted on that instinct, he wouldn't have arrested Naofumi, stood idle at his trial. They wouldn't have been on the run like fugitives like this. His guilt was returning to him.
While Naofumi forgave him, as well as Ren and Itsuki, Motoyasu forgot one more person that he needed to seek forgiveness from.
"Piyo…?"
"Huh? Sakura?"
It wasn't difficult to guess that Sakura would have woken up from such a commotion, but it looked up to see his face, twisted in emotional pain. The filolial looked a bit hungry, but even with the monster instinct, it decided to try and snuggle up with Motoyasu. Almost as if it was trying to hug him.
"Are you… trying to cheer me up…?"
"Stop that! Everyone, stop!"
Naofumi's voice came down from the streets, running over to Motoyasu's side. The sudden appearance of the Shield Hero caused everyone to freeze, as if they had just seen a ghost. He held up his shield, just in case anyone had any doubts, as Naofumi shouted to clear things up.
"There's been a misunderstanding!"
"Shield Hero? You're safe?"
Naofumi nodded, as he lowered his arm. It felt like he had to answer that concern more than a few times already. "I'm safe, so there's nothing to be worrying about!"
"What about the guy behind you!? Wasn't he the one that arrested you!?"
"Back then, there were misunderstandings and circumstances that caused him to take actions like that. I've already overlooked his actions and besides, he's one of my traveling companions right now. He's a good friend of mine! So if you'll treat me well in Riyute, I request that you'll treat him with the same level of respect as well!"
The villagers glanced at each other, disposing of the rocks they had in their hands. Seeing the release of aggression, Naofumi sighed a breath of relief as they accepted his words. Some of them even approached to ask a bit about what was happening, since they knew about the rumors.
After the villagers dispersed, Naofumi walked Motoyasu back to the inn safely, with no more people trying to attack him.
"How did you—?"
"Ren had a feeling that something might happen once we heard what happened after our departure at the wave. Well, actually, he tried asking them about the Spear Hero and we found out that you're not exactly favored here because of what happened with the arrest and all."
Naofumi continued on the way, as if it was natural, but Motoyasu found himself stopping.
"... You really have forgiven me whole-heartedly, haven't you?"
Naofumi raised an eyebrow. "Of course. You're my friend."
"Is that really all it takes to forgive what I've done to you?"
Naofumi walked back to Motoyasu, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Hey, don't pay attention to what the villagers say. You did what you thought you had to do under those circumstances. You arrested me because you genuinely believed that there was an evil spirit trying to possess me. You found out the truth and now, it's water under the bridge."
"Is that really it?"
"Yeah. That's really it," Naofumi chuckled. "Simple as that. You still want to be my friend, right?"
"O-obviously!"
"Then if a group of friends want to stay as a group of friends, despite what happened between them, shouldn't they remain as one?"
"Piiyo!"
"Even Sakura agrees too!"
Motoyasu still felt rather sluggish, but Sakura's energetic nature made him perk up a bit. The little monster, although grown up a bit, was too cute to keep dragging his feet in the ground like that. He ended up smiling a bit as he petted Sakura's head.
"Even so…"
His voice lowered to a mumble as Naofumi walked off, leading the way.
"I don't think I could forgive myself as easily…"
"Motoyasu? What's the hold-up now?"
"It's nothing!" Motoyasu chuckled, hiding away his troubles underneath his sleeves. " I think Sakura is just hungry again!"
"Pii!"
"Another meal for Sakura?" Naofumi sweated. "She's been eating down our entire food supply! How much can a filolial eat!?"
"Nothing we can do about it now. Right, Sakura?"
"Piyo!"
"Alright, fine. At least we'll have a kitchen at the inn to get something properly made," Naofumi laughed. "While we're at it, let's make some food for everyone else."
Both Motoyasu and Naofumi walked down the streets, side by side. No one else gave them a mean look or provided them with trouble as they arrived back at the inn, where everyone else had been waiting for them.
The end of another day came around, but the self-imposed chains Motoyasu felt on his legs became even tighter. He wouldn't know how long this would last, but for now, it might have been for the best to spend some time with his friends. That was always a good way to distract himself from his thoughts, after all.
[SKIT 080 : Unique Naming Schemes]
[Naofumi] : "My names... couldn't be all that bad, right?"
[Itsuki] : "I feel like you said whatever name came to your head first."
[Itsuki] : "It wouldn't kill you to think about a name for a moment before saying."
[Naofumi] : "I... I did try."
[Itsuki] : "Well, I guess you could always be worse."
[Naofumi] :"Really...?"
[Itsuki] : "Yeah. Give me a moment."
[Itsuki] : "Hey, Ren?"
[Ren] : "Is there something you need?"
[Itsuki] : "Motoyasu was actually thinking of something else to naming the baby filolial. You've got a decent look at how it looks, right? He wanted to get to name from you, so that the filolial has a range of names to select from."
[Ren] : "Kirschblüte."
[Ren] : "Actually, scratch that. If Motoyasu or Naofumi ever hears a name like that come from me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
[Naofumi] : "..."
[Ren] : "Huh!? Naofumi!? When did you get here!?"
[Naofumi] : "Was that German...?"
[Ren] : "... Ugh, I want to die."
[SKIT 081 : Alongside Animals]
[Raphtalia] : "Mister Ren has been putting a lot of distance from himself and Sakura."
[Raphtalia] : "Does he not like monsters? I think Sakura is really cute. It's really adorable when you pet her too and seeing her be so relaxed on Mister Motoyasu's shoulder is a treat for the eyes as well. Makes me want to have Sakura rest on my shoulders too..."
[Itsuki] : "Ren was never good with animals when we were younger. I remember that most of the neighborhood pet dogs would always try to bite him whenever he ever tried to get close, so he never got a good chance to have good memories with animals.
[Itsuki] : "And then, we have Naofumi who's on the opposite side of the scale. Animals almost flock towards him, as if he's got some type of special skill in his pockets. There was this one time where a raccoon snuck into our trash bin and it kept snarling at everyone who tried to take it out, but all Naofumi to do was come close and it was as if it was immediately subdued. He carried it out and then..."
[Itsuki] : "And then..."
[Itsuki] : "..."
[Raphtalia] : "Mister Itsuki? Is something wrong?"
[Itsuki] : "N-no, it's nothing. Just a passing thought. Where was I?"
[Itsuki] : (An affinity with animals, huh? And the story of that raccoon...)
[Itsuki] : (Does Raphtalia feel that strange gravitation towards Naofumi because she's partly tanuki...?)
[SKIT 082 : Return to Riyute]
[Naofumi] : "Riyute is really building itself back up steadily."
[Raphtalia] : "That's good to hear. A village buildings can be destroyed many times, but as long as the people are still alive, the village will always survive. I'm just glad to see that our work during the wave of destruction is showing its fruit."
[Eclair] : "To think that the wave of destruction is capable of such things. Seeing the construction for myself, I can only imagine what it looked like directly after the wave's conclusion. I was unfortunately unable to see the first wave's for myself, only being able to heard its reports since I was stationed at the capital during the time."
[Eclair] : "I recall that Raphtalia herself was a victim of the first wave, correct?"
[Raphtalia] : "That's right and that's why I can feel at ease that we were able to do this for Riyute, because I know firsthand what sort of scenarios could have happened if there was a higher causality count."
[Naofumi] : "Yeah, and while we might be fugitives from the capital, I don't think there's any harm for us in helping with the waves if we can spare the time for it. Not that I really know how to get to it, now that we didn't register at the Dragon's Hourglass at all..."
[Eclair] : "Then we should pray that either the waves will occur nearby our positions, or that we resolve this situation with the queen before the next one can arrive."
[Raphtalia] : "For the sake of villages, just like Riyute. For the sake of keeping all those families together."
