Chapter 22 / Accessory


They regained their ground from their side-trip to Lerno, as well as a considerable distance on top of that. Everyday, they were getting closer to the border, but Eclair hadn't exactly conjured a plan to pass it. Getting through quietly wasn't an easy feat.

They didn't need to worry about food, thanks to the carts of fruit that the villagers of Lerno graciously donated to them. The main problem was making sure Sakura didn't eat most of it, but there was still plenty to leave her satisfied.

As another day started for them in the streets of Visna, Naofumi found himself wandering around by himself. Usually, he would be accompanied by Raphtalia, but she wanted to get some training from Eclair to improve her swordplay. After all, she never received any proper training for combat. Eclair was more than happy to lend her assistance and Naofumi left those two together.

Motoyasu and Sakura, on the other hand, were both grinding levels together. Sakura was getting to the point where she could mow down weak monsters without even thinking about it. It wouldn't be too long until Sakura's levels started catching up to Raphtalia and Eclair.

Ren and Itsuki remained, but they decided to stay back at the inn to do whatever they pleased.

With the payday they received from Lerno, the group had some more leniency in what they could upgrade or resupply. Visna was bustling with merchants, so it might not have been difficult to find a good sale.

In any case, this might have been the time to update his equipment. His original armor was trashed by Motoyasu, while his current armor was thrown together haphazardly with whatever little money they could afford to use. None of the others showed any desire to update their equipment, so Naofumi took the liberty to insist upon himself.

As he parsed through the window displays, Naofumi noticed somebody in the distance, carrying supplies with him. He was familiar, but he wasn't sure if it was the same person he was thinking about.

As such, he tried to call out to him.

"Erhart? Is that you?"

"Hmm?" The dark-skinned man turned and widened his eyes when he recognized the Shield Hero. "Kid? You're alright…?"

Naofumi caught up to the familiar blacksmith.

"It really is you, Erhart! It's nice to see you again!"

As if he was seeing a ghost, Erhart's eyes remained surprised. He wasn't going to strike up a conversation with the Shield Hero in the middle of the streets, just in case people might start to get suspicious. Naofumi was only wearing a hood, after all.

"Look, I'm staying with an acquaintance and helping him out with a few things in Visna. Perhaps we should catch up over there."

"Right. Good idea."

As Naofumi closely trailed behind the blacksmith, he could see that Erhart was being attentive of everyone that might have their eyes on them. Of course, that made Naofumi confident that Erhart was still an ally to them, even with all the further rumors.

"If you don't mind me asking right now, what are you doing here in Visna? Don't you have a shop to maintain back in the capital?"

"Me?" Erhart glanced back briefly. "Yeah, of course, but a blacksmith needs materials in order to work on their products. I occasionally head out to Visna because it's a place of trades, mainly for those coming from Faulbrey's direction. It might be easier for me to send someone else to do it on my steed, but I like to observe the materials for myself before having it bought."

Back in Odin Spirit, there was something similar to Visna in its game world. There were various trading hubs and in this case, Visna would have represented one of them.

"Merchants mostly try to sell off their country-exclusive materials at a marked-up price, considering the distance they would have to travel to reach the town."

"Then this is proof that we're getting closer to the border…"

Naofumi glanced to see the things that Erhart was holding. His muscles made things look easy, carrying a large haul with his arms. When Naofumi brought it up, Erhart laughed, saying he wasn't anywhere close to done yet. This was apparently something he caught his eye on while heading back from his lunch, needing to swoop it up before anyone else could get their hands on it.

Naofumi could certainly understand the feeling from Odin Spirit.

After some walking, Erhart arrived at a certain store. His acquaintance owned a shop in this bustling merchant's town, so it was rather convenient for him to ask for a favor and a roof over his head in exchange for some help in the shop. The man's main location was in Zeltoble, but he kept a location in Visna in order to keep connections and materials reeling in from merchant chokepoints.

Nevertheless, there was only one thing that was left to be worried on his mind.

"Are you sure he'll be alright with this?"

"I know him enough that he'll be fine with your company. Besides, I've told him beforehand about how the rumors were misinformed, being nowhere close to the truth."

Erhart entered the store to the sounds of chimes. There was only some space reserved inside for potential customers and a hallway that led down to empty rooms for conference. One of the employees from the counter noticed the blacksmith and waved to the big guy.

"Hey, Erhart. Found something new there?"

"You bet." He lifted the bag with confidence. "I think I'll be able to bring this back to the capital to get some good revenue off of these if I make them into a sword."

"Good to hear." The employee glanced over, noticing the hooded figure behind the blacksmith. "And who's this? A friend of yours?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Although Erhart answered, he didn't keep the topic resting there for too long. "Where's your boss? Did he already head out?"

"He was going to meet up with the adventurers that were to escort him back over to Zeltoble for tomorrow. The boss should be back within an hour or so. You need to talk to him about something?"

"A bit, yeah," Erhart chuckled. "I'll be heading over to the back quarters with my friend here."

Trying to keep his eyes away from the front-counter employee, he felt like he lucked out to see that they had been so relaxed in their job that they couldn't see through his identity, nor did they care to figure it out. Erhart brought him over to the back with ease.

The blacksmith placed the materials over to a corner where crates had been. He placed them inside such that they would fit snuggly with the other materials that were already inside. As Naofumi closed the door behind them, a deep sigh escaped his lips as he removed his hood.

"How are things in the capital?"

"It could be better," Erhart answered, grunting as he moved the boxes around. "Ever since the rumors started flying around, it would seem like the Church of Three Heroes are taking a bit of a firmer grip on things, spreading the propaganda that the summoned heroes aren't the true heroes."

"Not too hard to imagine, considering what the other guys said about that whole group."

Naofumi still found it difficult to imagine that there were people that took their zealously absurd beliefs as truth. Though, if their words had the support of the king and the princess, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to not think critically of it and accept it as the truth.

"I've heard that they've been trying to track the heroes down."

"Luckily, we haven't seen anyone."

"Yeah, but for how much longer? You should probably try to get out of the country as soon as possible. I don't think the situation is going to get better if you decide to stick around."

"That's what we've been trying to do."

If they weren't so intent on trying to multitask their strength from levels and materials while on the run, they would probably have been out of Melromarc by now, but going for a straight rush came with its own set of risks that the group didn't want to take.

"It still takes some time, especially considering our circumstances. The others are with me, so we have to be taking things slowly. We still have each other's back, so it's not too bad."

"That's good to hear." After restacking the boxes, he smirked towards Naofumi. "You've got a plan further than leaving Melromarc?"

"It's something, and that's better than nothing," Naofumi said, letting the optimism play out a little. "We'll have to put in some effort, while counting on luck, to make it work."

"And yet, you sound more happy than before."

Naofumi kept a shy smile as Erhart chuckled, crossing his arms in the sight of the Shield Hero's light-hearted demeanor. "If you ignore the whole ordeal of being fugitives, it's a bit like an adventure with my friends."

Erhart boisterously laughed. "That's one way of thinking about it, Shield Kid!"

After Erhart's voice rested down, he continued to speak.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Is there anything I can help you out on? Of course, this isn't my workshop, but my acquaintance has allowed me to make things here if I wanted to do so."

Naofumi was reminded that he was scouting the markets for new armor. He perked up almost immediately, knowing that he was going to be in safe hands here. He told Erhart about his request and since he hadn't been using up all of his materials - Ren had been very insistent about them holding onto a small pile - he was able to offer Erhart things that might be needed.

Naofumi laid them out for Erhart to see.

Liking what he had to work with, Erhart accepted his request, but there was a small caveat to it.

"It'll take a few days for me to finish this up. I don't know if you want to take that risk or not, mainly because I can imagine that you're hopping from town to town every so often."

"A few days…?"

Logically, it would be bad for him to keep his friends held here for any longer than they scheduled for. There was the possibility of their enemies coming to scout Visna as they were staying here, making it almost impossible to avoid conflict if they crossed paths.

However, he knew Erhart would produce something good for him as armor. This was a considerable decision of risk versus reward, leaving Naofumi to mull over it. He knew he should try and talk to his friends about it first, but the sooner that he accepts the conditions, the quicker Erhart can get working on the new armor for him.

"Alright, I think I'll take you up on it. However, if we see any signs of danger, I'll be taking my friends and leaving the town as soon as possible. In that case, you should probably hold onto the armor and sell it somewhere else, but you can keep the extra materials and the prepayment."

"I've got no arguments here. If I talk to my acquaintance, I should be able to get a few more eyes on the streets, just to be sure."

It felt nice to have a normal chat like this, catching up with Erhart, as he was going to be brought back out to the front of the building for departure.

A man walked into the hallway, just as they were leaving the room.

He was short, almost like the slave trader, but he was well-dressed in a merchant's outfit that he could easily imagine being in Odin Spirit. His red clothing was fashionably paired with the light amounts of jewels and accessories on him, but his plump shape made him look quite jolly.

"Oh, Hickwaal? You're back?"

"Yep. I just finished up meeting with a few adventurers that will bring me over to Zeltoble in a few days. Good mannered people too, but that aside, you wanted to speak to me?" Hickwaal glanced over to Naofumi. "Who might this be? You've snagged a customer for yourself?"

"The kid's name is Naofumi. Remember the guy I was talking about?"

Hickwaal's eyes widened. The implication was likely that Erhart spoke about Naofumi as the Shield Hero a few times before with this man, perhaps favorably.

"What's a person like that doing in a place like this?" he asked, amused.

"Caught him up with the situation he's in while being given a custom order. So in a way, you were right in thinking that he's a customer of mine." Erhart slammed his hand on Naofumi's back amicably. "I actually wanted to see if I could get some accessories thrown in for him, Hickwaal."

"Well, I certainly can't be giving them away for free, but if the Shield—I mean, Naofumi wishes to pay for them, I would be more than happy to sell them for a reduced price."

"Accessories?" Naofumi asked.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt for adventurers to have," Hickwaal answered. "Accessories can help out in improving ratings in small, but meaningful ways. They could also have a few additional effects that might prove useful down the road."

Naofumi did remember that there were a few accessories that Ren and Itsuki threw in for Naofumi when he was still by himself in the capital, but he never really wore most of what he bought. In fact, once they were on the run, he ended up selling the remainder of those accessories for more money.

Hickwaal brought Naofumi over to see a small collection for display as Erhart went off to get started on the new armor as soon as possible. From bracelets, to necklaces and to rings, it was as if they were constantly sparkling with jewels and ores in them.

"How much are these?"

"For the current line you're seeing, it ranges from twenty silver coins to a hundred. This is on the lower end of our scale." Hickwaal held one of the rings in his hand. "If you want to have them imbued with magic, that will mostly double or triple its base price."

"Pretty expensive. Are you discounting me by seventy percent?"

"Far too much," Hickwaal laughed, but in a fun manner. "I was only thinking about thirty percent when Erhart suggested the idea to me."

Naofumi's bartering abilities instinctively kicked in for himself. It took about a few minutes of discussion, but Naofumi finally won out in the end.

"Sixty percent off it is," Hickwaal chuckled. "You sure know a way with your words."

"I do have experience underneath my belt. Back where I was from, I was something of a merchant myself."

Of course, Naofumi was referring to the time he spent in Odin Spirit.

Naofumi himself was a part of a guild that emphasized part of their structure towards this category, having the objective to have a good network of income and items for when guild events started, but to simply say that might have been an underestimation.

In fact, Naofumi was the person who led the "financial" branch of the guild before he stepped down due to playing the game less than usual in recent times. He was still able to get things done effectively for the guild, helping out whenever he can, but he was only able to reach that high position due to his natural ability in the marketplace. If the guild needed to get their hands on a specific item, he was going to figure out a way to get it for the lowest price possible.

"What's this about imbuing magic into them though?" Naofumi asked, reflecting back to what Hickwaal was saying before. "Does that mean it'll be stronger?"

"When an accessory is imbued with magic, that's the state in which it will receive additional effects for the wearer. Without it, it is simply an accessory with minor rating boosts. Some people buy these for others as aesthetic gifts for them to wear casually, while adventurers will tend to buy accessories that are imbued with magic for these particular bonuses."

He would only be able to buy a handful of unimbued accessories of varied qualities after factoring in his payment to Erhart. That meant even with the discounted price, he would have to be careful as to what he was going to buy, but then he considered picking something up for everyone.

There wasn't enough spare money to have it all imbued with magic.

"Would it be possible for the buyer to imbue the accessory themselves?"

Naofumi's mind went on further ahead.

"Wait, how difficult would it be to even make these accessories?"

"If I responded to you truthfully, I wouldn't be able to turn a profit here, would I? I'm already running on a thin line with the sixty percent discount I'm running for you."

"It won't be as if I'll get the chance to buy from you again in the near future, given the circumstances and all." Naofumi glanced at the accessories as Hickwaal returned the ring in his hand back to the display. "How about I pay you to tell me about the methods instead? That would probably be a better investment for me."

"You've got me intrigued. You think you can pull off the method?"

"I have to, if it's going to help my friends."

Hickwaal stared at Naofumi, chuckling under his breath. Naofumi was half-expecting Hickwaal to refuse the offer, but he was welcomed to be surprised.

"Come back tonight and I'll sort something out. I'm a busy man, so hopefully, you'll be able to pick up the basics from there and work on it yourself once we're done. You're lucky that you've interested me, since I don't normally help people out like this."

"I really appreciate it."

Hickwaal extended his hand for Naofumi to shake on it. He'll have to talk to the others about what he was up to, but he was certain that they wouldn't mind too much.

"You do know how to use magic, right?"

"... Huh?" Naofumi's hand slipped away from Hickwaal.

"To be able to imbue accessories with magic, you'll need to know how to use magic. That should have gone without saying much."

Blankly, Naofumi blinked.

"You don't know how to use magic?"

"It's… in progress…"

Raphtalia was the only one out of the group that managed to figure out her first spell. Naofumi remembered how excited she was to show him late one night and it was rather impressive to boot. She had the magic spell [Faust Hide Mirage] which allowed her to turn invisible to the visible eye, but it wasn't too strong. Despite the others not seeing her, folks like Eclair and Ren were still able to detect Raphtalia using their own combat intuition. A stronger variation might have been able to mask even her presence to the highest level.

Naofumi asked Raphtalia for pointers, but even through her attempts to elaborate, it was apparently difficult for her to put into words. The best she could say was to imagine synchronizing with his own spirit. She ended up apologizing over the vagueness, leaving him to try to ask Sakura about it because according to Motoyasu, she was able to naturally know magic; it was likely because she has monster instincts over that category.

Though, her explanation was much less helpful and less descriptive.

"Hmmmm…? Just do it…?"

Added in with a head tilt with sleepy stares from Sakura, Naofumi knew he was getting nothing out of her, to no fault of her own. He wouldn't be able to know how to explain breathing to someone who was trying to breathe either, if that analogy worked under those absurdities.

"Hmm…"

After some thoughts, Hickwaal pulled out a piece of ore from his pocket and handed it over to Naofumi. "Are you able to read?"

"To a decent degree. If it's simple, I can manage myself."

"That should be enough. Magic is about feeling your own power, so try focusing on the magic ore you have in your hands right now."

Naofumi followed Hickwaal's instructions to the best of his ability. Holding it tightly, he was surprised by the magic ore that started glowing. It was reacting to his magic, but Naofumi kept up, trying to figure out where this magic had been flowing from. That must have been what Hickwaal was trying to let Naofumi focus on here.

The magic stone helped him to see something like his spirit, outlined by the constant flow of magic. It was disorienting though. Despite that, Naofumi kept thinking about what Raphtalia said, trying to become one with this supposed spirit and once things started to line up, it was as if words were starting to appear inside his mind.

Holding out the ore instinctively, he spat out the words welling inside of him.

"I am… the source of my power. Hear my words and understand them. Protect my allies."

A target indicator appeared in his vision at the climax of the chant and without a second thought, he ended up using it on himself as he was covered in a soft light, somewhat similar to how skills would cover up Ren's sword or Motoyasu's spear, but more transparent.

"[Faust Guard]!"

His defenses were immediately raised by a significant margin. His supportive magic spell appeared to have the type of effect of adding more defensive stats to himself or any of his allies, so it was another way of making sure his friends were protected aside from [Air Strike Shield] and [Shield Prison].

This wasn't too bad for Naofumi.

With the ability to use magic underneath his belt, Hickwaal asked for him to return back to the shop at night for a quick lesson for accessory crafting and magic imbuing. In response, Naofumi affirmed the details, but asked if he could borrow the magic ore for a little while. Both Ren and Motoyasu had trouble following Raphtalia's instructions as well, so he would imagine that this would help them as well.

Once Naofumi explained himself, Hickwaal didn't mind it and sent the Shield Hero on his way.

As Naofumi walked out of the store with Hickwaal, an adventurer came around the corner. To how quickly the merchant paid attention to him, this person must have been one of the adventurers that was escorting Hickwaal back to Zeltoble in a few days.

"Mister Hickwaal?" the adventurer called out.

"Is there anything needing addressment?"

"There are still a few details that we seemed to have missed about—"

The adventurer stopped when he saw Naofumi, widening his eyes. Even with the hood on, Naofumi thought no one would pay much attention to him and yet, the moment that the adventurer looked into the general direction, his eyes immediately flickered over to the incognito hero.

Naofumi was afraid that he was spotted, but Hickwaal stood in to try to break the stare off.

"What's the matter? You shouldn't be staring too much at my customers like that."

"Right. Sorry about that. It was nothing."

Hickwaal quickly dismissed Naofumi before the adventurer could get any better ideas as to who the supposed customer really was, but both of them never thought that the adventurer hadn't been staring to see if the hooded figure was familiar.

"Now then," Hickwaal responded. "What seems to be the matter, Batka?"

-/IV/-

After providing Motoyasu and Ren with the magic ore to help focus on synchronizing with their spirits, they were able to produce magic spells. For Motoyasu, his basic spells had been [Faust Fireball] and [Faust Heal], while Ren was only able to figure out [Faust Quickness]. He claimed that he was able to use [Faust Aquashot] as well, but he heavily insisted that he didn't need to demonstrate it to the others. It left Itsuki out from the party, but he kept saying how much he didn't need it, despite Naofumi noticing that Itsuki was trying to use the magic ore for himself behind their backs. He still didn't know how to read the language, so it didn't do him any good.

Naofumi returned back to Hickwaal later that night to start learning the method of crafting accessories. Overall, it wasn't too complicated, but the process itself would take some time. Accessories required some metal ores in order to make the frame that the jewel would be embedded within.

Luckily for Naofumi, he was still sitting on some from his time in Riyute. He hadn't come around to using all of it yet. Naofumi ended up trying to form a bracelet and without wasting too much time, he was able to finish it.

A jewel was selected for Naofumi for him to place it snugly into the bracelet. This was the part of the accessory that had to be imbued with magic, so Naofumi concentrated his hardest in order to follow Hickwaal's instructions. It started consuming a bit of his MP, meaning he wouldn't be able to produce too many at once, but the skills from his shield were certainly helping. It took the next few days to understand by himself the process, while Erhart would check on him occasionally in Hickwaal's place.

At the end of it though, Naofumi was finally able to present a finished product, polished to meet the standards of Hickwaal's eyes.

"Here we are," Naofumi said, taking a deep breath of relief. "One [Ruby Bracelet]. It comes with fire resistance, but it keeps going down in quality every time I imbue it with magic… Its base already takes a while to make, so it feels like a waste."

"Even so," Hickwaal mulled to himself amusingly, "to think you were able to make something like this already. Usually, it would take a bit longer for people to get the hang of it. If this were in my wares, I could probably sell this for around eighty silver coins."

While Naofumi was surprised to see his work had that much value in it, he was a bit tired and probably spent more time than he should have everyday to nail the process.

He could imagine there being some bags underneath his eyes considering he never checked these past few days, lacking more sleep than what he was normally giving himself. Spending his MP constantly proved to be more tiresome than he expected, but he didn't mind it. He wanted the accessories that he planned for Raphtalia and the others to not be lacking in quality, so if that required a bit more effort, he was going to put it all in.

"It still looks pretty good," Motoyasu said, taking a closer look at it.

"It's shinyyy…" Sakura tugged on Naofumi's sleeve to see it. Naofumi didn't fight against the gesture. "So niceee…"

His friends came along to see the workshop for themselves, since this was the final day they were staying in Visna. NAofumi mostly arrived here alone, so Hickwaal was surprised to see the full company.

"Getting this sold for eighty silver coins…" Naofumi's mind was wrapped around the rough estimate as a smile crept up. "That's getting my blood pumping a bit from the dopamine…"

"You looked rather excited, Master Naofumi."

"I probably won't work on it soon, but maybe if I have some spare time, I could definitely make some extras so that we have some spare money in our pocket. Considering our situation, I…" Naofumi's hands lowered. "It feels a bit wrong to be having fun when we're seen as fugitives to the capital, but I can't help myself to think like that when I've got options for bartering."

Naofumi stared at the bracelet.

"Trying to figure out what to sell… Trying to see how much you can get for it…" Naofumi reminisced on the memories of Odin Spirit and the fun he had with it in high school. "Even if this is real life, I'm still getting chills of excitement, merely thinking about what I can do here."

"Can Sakura see it more closelyyy…?"

"Of course, here you go."

"Yayyy…!"

As Sakura held onto Naofumi's crafted [Ruby Bracelet] and held it up to Motoyasu to see it too, the blacksmith returned to the room, beckoning for Naofumi to come over. He did as he was asked to do, following Erhart to grab his new set of armor, but it hadn't been exactly what he envisioned.

"Wh-what do you guys think?"

Itsuki choked on his own saliva as Naofumi walked out. The main problem Itsuki had was that it clashed so heavily with the image of Naofumi he had in his head and judging from the reactions of everyone else, he clearly wasn't the only one in the boat.

"Uh-uhm, that's…" Motoyasu scratched his head, trying to find the proper words. "I mean, it's not a bad look for you. It was just unexpected, that's all."

"I think it looks good on Master Naofumi," Raphtalia commented. "Very cool!"

"But doesn't Naofumi look like a bandit!?" Itsuki spat. "Should he really be taking this!?"

"Huh? I don't see anything wrong with it."

The armor had been lined with fur and the chest was made of metal ores that Naofumi had provided to Erhart. The parts that hadn't been covered by those had been wrapped with monster skins and while it looked uncomfortable, the extra lining underneath everything ensured that the user hadn't been hindered by their own safety.

He was surprised that Erhart got his size correctly. Without even taking proper measurements, he was able to gauge properly as to what would perfectly fit on him.

"What was this armor called again?" Naofumi asked.

"It's called the [Barbarian Armor]," Erhart confidently answered. "I took a look at what I had on hand here and thought this was the best thing I could make for him."

"Barbarian!? Naofumi isn't a barbarian!"

"It's just the name of the armor, kid."

"Wasn't there something else you could have made?"

"Are you doubting my expertise here? This was the best thing I could have done for him, considering every factor of durability to flexibility."

Itsuki stammered. "Th-that's not what I meant! I was trying to say, uhm—!?"

"I think Sir Itsuki is trying to say that it doesn't exactly fit the aesthetic of Sir Naofumi," Eclair said, tagging in. "There's a certain image I would imagine when I see an armor like that for people who would wear it, but Sir Naofumi isn't one of those people. Something like rugged adventurers of seasoned flair might be suited for this, so seeing this contrast is surely a sight."

Ren sighed. "As long as it does its job."

Sakura darted slowly, tilting her head as she judged Naofumi's new appearance. Although she didn't say anything, she had a soft smile on her face. Motoyasu came up, patting his friend on the back.

"Looking cool, Mister Hero!"

Naofumi chuckled. "Thanks."

"With this, we should be good to go in the morning." Raphtalia said. "We should probably head back to the inn and start making preparations."

"It was good to see that you were doing well, Erhart." Naofumi smiled gently at the blacksmith. "Hopefully, things will continue to bode well for your business."

"If anything, I should be the one wishing all of you luck." Erhart crossed his arms, glancing over at the group before him. "If you guys got each other, things will end up working out for everyone."

"Of course we've got each other's back!" Motoyasu pulled Naofumi in, having his arm around his shoulder. His grin was paired with a wink and a peace sign on his finger. "We're friends 'til the end!"

As Sakura tried jumping in for a hug as well, hanging off Motoyasu's side to disturb a bit of their balance together, Erhart couldn't contain his amusement. Both Ren and Itsuki were thanking Erhart for his services again, once for this instance and once more for lending a hand back in the capital when they didn't know where Naofumi had been.

Once they said their departures to Hickwaal and Erhart, they headed off into the night to leave the merchant and the blacksmith by themselves.

"The Cardinal Heroes certainly weren't anything as I expected."

"I told you that they were good people, right?"

"I suppose you did, but it's one thing to hear about it. It's another thing to see it for myself."

"That alone wouldn't be enough for you to straight-up teach him how to make accessories and imbue them with magic. Was there something else going through your mind?"

"Let us say it was an investment." Hickwaal tipped his merchant's cap to the blacksmith. "I merely saw a wonderful potential in that Shield Hero. From that glint in his eye, he's got the heart of a merchant, so I hope he can get himself out of this situation with Melromarc."

"Can't you lend assistance once you communicate back with the merchant's guild in Zeltoble?"

Hickwaal sighed, grumbling a bit. "It's rather complicated in that regard. As long as they stay on this path, the merchant's guild won't be able to do much, even if they wanted to."

The next time they would see the Cardinal Heroes, they would hope that everything would have been cleared up. Their names, their reputations, and their future. Those kids didn't deserve whatever came their way, being cornered in such a manner, but they certainly have the resilience to move forwards.

"There hasn't been a situation like this seen in history before. As long as they don't do anything too crazy, I don't think there should be anything to worry about."

Erhart nodded.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll need to worry about that."

-/IV/-

As the group walked down the streets as the sun was starting to set, they were keeping small talk between themselves. However, Itsuki noticed Ren was being too quiet and he turned around to see that at some point, Ren had broken off from the group by himself.

"Huh?" After pointing it out, Raphtalia looked around in shock. "Didn't Mister Ren leave with us? When did he go off by himself?"

"Should we put a bell on the guy or something?" Motoyasu joked a bit. "He was always a quiet guy, so it's not out of the question that he knows his way around sneaking off and such."

"I'm sure something caught his attention," Itsuki sighed, dismissively waving his hand. "He'll be back eventually. Ren knows where we're staying, so it won't be a big problem."

"Are you sure about that?" Naofumi asked.

"I mean, does this really feel like something Ren wouldn't do?"

"I… suppose you're right." Naofumi scratched the back of his head. "It's just that he seemed like he was going off by himself lately, so I'm only worried about him."

"If it's important for us to know, he'd tell us," Itsuki shrugged.

"Is that really how it would be?" Eclair asked.

"Trust me. Don't worry much about it, Eclair." Itsuki chuckled, talking about his friend as if it was a state-of-fact. "I've been friends with him since childhood. He's always told me whatever I needed to know at the right time. If he's holding information, he doesn't think it's a good time to say it."

Even with Itsuki's assurance, Eclair's thoughts couldn't be soothed. She felt like there was something more to this than Itsuki's blind trust in his friend and while she debated on heading back to see if she could find him, it might have been slightly too late to track him.

"Daddy…?" Sakura softly tugged at Motoyasu's clothes. "I'm hungryyy…"

"We should probably get some food as soon as possible," Motoyasu said. "I'm getting a little hungry myself, so perfect timing."

"I'll need an hour to get everything finished up, so—"

"No, I'll take kitchen duty with Itsuki and Raphtalia this time, Naofumi." Motoyasu wagged his finger with a smirk. "I can't force you to go into the kitchen when you're looking tired like that. I'll have Raphtalia grab you once we're finished up."

"I…" Naofumi instinctively went to refute, but stopped himself when he realized he would have been in an uphill battle. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks."

"Hopefully, Ren wraps up whatever caught his attention soon." Itsuki gazed up to the clouds. The dark skies of the evening dusk were starting to become covered by gray clouds. "Not only will he miss dinner, but I think rain is starting to settle in."

Eclair glanced behind them where Ren should have been if he was still following their tracks.

"Something wrong, Eclair?" Itsuki asked.

"You do not think Sir Ren is up to something?"

"If it's not our problem, he's not going to budge. You save a lot of your energy that way."

However, Eclair's instincts as a knight had been ringing loudly. To what it was, she couldn't exactly tell until she could see it for herself. To what reason that it was those instincts in particular, she couldn't dive any deeper than the surface level of her confusion.

All she knew was that she wanted a conclusion to these concerns.

-/IV/-

Batka never thought he would have met the Shield Hero in such a coincidental manner. All he did was take up a guild request alongside Tersia and a few other acquaintances to escort a member of the merchant's guild back to Zeltoble. They had to get things ready for the journey, while their client still wanted to finish up his own preparations regarding his role in Visna, but when Batka returned to double-check things, he didn't think the Shield Hero would be standing right next to him.

Not that he should really care.

His job with the Church was finished. He completed what they wanted him to do and afterwards, he let him go to return back to make a living as an adventurer. Batka wished the payment was better made for what he did to make himself feel a little better about the whole thing, but having the Church off his back for now was probably more than what he could ask for.

There was no need to pull himself back into the mess that was the circumstances of the Cardinal Heroes, even if he was indirectly the cause of what happened in the capital. The Church didn't know that, the knights didn't know that, and none of his allies knew it either.

Batka couldn't help himself to think about the Sword Hero, the person he betrayed when the hero was trying to investigate information about the Shield Hero's trial. He knew that the Sword Hero would start acting before long and once he was asked upfront about access to the church, he knew his time with the Sword Hero became limited.

"Maybe I should go ask the Shield Hero how Sir Ren is holding up?"

He knew from the rumors stirring in the capital that the four heroes had been grouped up together, running away as wanted fugitives for the chaos they stirred at the castle. If the Shield Hero was here, it meant that the other heroes must have been in town as well.

Batka noticed that the Shield Hero was coming by everyday in order to work on his crafting proficiency, so it wasn't as if he didn't have the chance to speak with him. However, he could never bring himself to say a single word, much less to confront the Shield Hero.

Today, he caught a glimpse of the Shield Hero, in new armor, leaving the building. That blacksmith that was staying with the client must have made something for the Shield Hero, but that hadn't been the thing that made Batka freeze in place within the crowd.

The Shield Hero was with his entire party this time.

While there had been unfamiliar figures mixed into the group, Batka immediately noticed Ren's presence. Even if he was hiding his hair underneath that hood, it hadn't fooled Batka. However, in seeing the hero he formerly followed, he felt like he shrunk down a bit.

Has Ren even forgiven him yet? Would he simply be causing more trouble by showing himself?

As Batka started to turn away, he noticed that Ren was starting to swerve off the trail that his companions had been leading for him. Since he was in the back, none of them noticed the Sword Hero removing himself from their company. Batka's heart skipped a beat, thinking Ren noticed him, but he then suddenly ran off into an alleyway. His feet made very little noise, skipping like a ghost.

Batka bit down on his lips.

"Man, when you see it from a perspective like this, Sir Ren makes it look incredibly easy…"

However, he was curious as to why Ren would suddenly change tracks like that. He knew it wasn't anything important nor would it have mattered in the end, but temptation was alluring him. This had been the first time he caught the Sword Hero going off by himself, compared to the multiple times he would go off by himself without warning his previous party members.

"Maybe I'll end up regretting this, but…"

Moving away from the crowd, Batka followed Ren down the alleyway to see what he was up to.

-/IV/-

A hooded figure came down the alleyway, meeting up with another person down there. Their faces were visible to one another as they snuck between the buildings and trades of the city.

"I've found the Shield Hero. He, alongside the other members of his party, should be returning back to the inn."

"Good. We'll go ahead and send an invitation soon enough." A chuckle emerged. "We'll have to make sure we'll be able to bring the Shield Hero with us. It sounds easy enough. Why the hell would he want to stay in this place anyways? He'll certainly be better off in Shieldfreedan's hands."

"And what exactly is this Shieldfreedan?"

The hooded figures turned around in shock to hear the young voice. Ren noticed the retreating presence before they had the chance to leave and considering how it felt like they left just as Naofumi and others were leaving, Ren decided to chase out on his hunch.

"And are you supposed to be?"

"He's one of the people in the Shield Hero's party if my eyes are correct. Perhaps he's one of the Cardinal Heroes. It would explain how he would be here so quickly if he noticed me."

"You were supposed to keep yourself hidden."

"Well, I was trying to. I thought I was doing my best!"

"Hey. Answer my question here."

Ren placed a foot forwards, stancing himself for any quick movements. Whether that would have been away or towards him, he knew he'd be ready to react to the handful of scenarios he can see this playing out. His hand preemptively sat on the handle of his sword, just in case.

"I suppose if this is a party member of the Shield Hero, this makes our task much easier."

One of the hooded figures stepped up and presented himself to Ren, but he didn't remove his hood. However, Ren could see a few animalistic features on his head. It was possible that this person was a demi-human, but considering the reputation of demi-humans in Melromarc from what he heard from Itsuki, he had to wonder why they were present here.

"We're looking to have a little meeting with the Shield Hero."

"For what reason?"

"That won't be required for an accessory of the Shield Hero to know."

"Excuse me?" Ren scowled. "What did you just call me?"

"I'm saying that we want to talk with the Shield Hero. Only his opinions on the matter will be important to us. No matter what you say, we really don't care."

"Then you can leave. There's no way in hell I'm going to let you guys near Naofumi if this is the way you're going to be acting."

The demi-human's companion held an arm up to stop the man from snapping back so suddenly, trying to cease the initial aggression. With an exasperated sigh, he glanced at the Sword Hero while taking the stand away from the man for himself. The man looked like he wanted to push back against his companion, but begrudgingly backed off when he noticed the glare coming from Ren's expression.

"Apologies, we got off to a wrong start here."

"You think?" Ren growled.

"Our orders are to speak of our intention with the Shield Hero, but if you won't let us pass without speaking of them, I suppose we have no other choice. We wish to bring the Shield Hero over to Shieldfreedan where it will be safe for him."

"Is Shieldfreedan another country?"

"It is, indeed," the companion nodded. "It's a place in which we support the Shield Hero. Despite what matters might have spread throughout the lands concerning the heroes, the council wishes to bring the Shield Hero over to our nation. Of course, we do not believe the Shield Hero is evil. In fact, the council believes that Melromarc is trying to paint an evil image of the Shield Hero on purpose."

"You've got no other place to go!" the man scoffed. "Let us meet up with the Shield Hero, so that we can speak about this in more detail here!"

Ren kept up his guard. If he had to be honest, it sounded too good to be true, so he was very suspicious. It might have been a trap waiting for them. "I'm personally not interested in whatever politics you want to be playing here, but disregarding that, I don't think Naofumi would accept your invitation."

"How could you know that for sure?" the companion pleaded. "You won't know what your leader will say until we speak with him. Surely, we'll be able to convince him that this is a good idea for—"

"I've heard enough. Leave us alone."

The Sword Hero turned around and started walking away, but it would sound as if the demi-humans had been eerily stubborn about their proposition. Even the companion, who initially sounded understanding, was growing a bit irritated.

"Why turn us away!?" he asked. "We don't expect an immediate decision! The Shield Hero can take his time to figure things out, but we just want to talk to him, at the very least! We've even prepared a present for the Shield Hero, regardless of his response!"

"We're busy." Ren's feet stopped, but he didn't bother to look behind him. "We already have our own hands full, so do yourselves a favor and stop wasting all of our time here."

"What?" the man chuckled out of his own irating disbelief. "Oh, I get it. You think the Shield Hero is going to abandon you and your comrades if he heard that there was a better deal for him waiting in Shieldfreedan! Don't worry, we'll take care of everyone in your part—!"

Ren's head slowly turned over his shoulder with a piercing glare that froze the two demi-humans in their spots. They couldn't feel their breaths as the air around them almost felt like it was turning frigid by the moment, though it was all in their imagination.

"Naofumi isn't that type of person."

His hand held its palm on the top of his sword's hand.

"You've got one chance to leave before I make you."

The demi-humans got a hold of themselves and even with this encounter, even the companion lost his patience with the Sword Hero. So much for playing the good guy in the situation; it could only go so far when he was dealing with someone as unexpectedly inflexible.

"You're going to regret these actions. You've just messed everything up for everyone by burning down this opportunity for your leader. How do you think you're going to make it up to him?"

"I've got an idea of how we get the Shield Hero to meet us while getting this little yapping accessory of the Shield Hero off his side like that. Why don't we take him as a hostage? He looks weak enough to be easily captured." The man pulled out a knife while his companion readied his knuckles. "Such a fool! Thinking he can play the tough guy acts like that!?"

The man ran forwards to try and stab Ren. It would have been able to hinder his movements and energy if it went the way that the man wanted it to go, but with every step the man got closer to the Sword Hero, Ren's ears started ringing louder and louder. His heart pounded hard as his mind went blank, grabbing onto his sword tightly.

Even if I have to get my hands dirty, if it's to protect them…

"I gave you an out."

Before the man knew it, his eyes had seen the color red.

It took a few seconds for the man to register what just happened, but there was no way for him to understand quickly enough before his body collapsed onto the ground. His eyes rolled over, seeing that the red color had been his own blood, spilling out into the ground as rain started falling onto his cheeks.

In the fading images, he could see the Sword Hero with his unsheathed sword. When did he pull it out? The man didn't know, only recognizing it was far too quick for him to have seen it. He didn't even get the chance to feel the pain as the man's body went limp, leaving the companion to sweat. The companion took a few steps backwards, hyperventilating at what strength was shown in front of his eyes.

"Wh-what… did you just do…!?"

Ren was silent. It was like he couldn't hear the companion's question, but the companion himself felt like he wasn't up against the same person. He was so scared, he couldn't even look the Sword Hero directly in the eyes and turned his tail as quickly as he could.

"Damn it, I've…! I've got to tell the others that—!"

"[Air Strike Sword]!"

For a moment, he had thought he'd slipped in a puddle from the rain, only to realize that there had been a transparent sword that impaled him that caused him to fall forwards. As quickly as he watched his comrade fall, he succumbed quickly from his fatal wound.

As the rain continued falling, drenching Ren and his clothes, all he could feel was the heavy breaths that scraped against his lungs. He tried taking a deep breath.

Ren knew he couldn't be losing himself here, especially when it was all finished, so it would be fine. There was no way to give back a taken life, but if he could pretend that these were just other players, just as it was in Brave Star Online, it would be fine. They wanted to mess with him and his friends, so they paid the price.

That's all it was to it.

"Sir Ren?"

Ren turned his head to see a familiar face that he hadn't been expecting.

"Batka…?"

However, Batka didn't expect to see such a face expressed on Ren.

Batka envisioned Ren to be some with an aloof demeanor, never trying to show his emotions if he didn't need to do so. Being detached gave him a bit of a loner image that he introduced himself with back at the castle to his party members. To a certain degree, Batka thought it looked cool, but that's why he felt so confused and perplexed by the sight before him.

Ren's face had been the same—

—but not from a desire to keep himself aloof.

It was because there was too much emotion inside Ren that he simply didn't know what to feel. It was starting to break and spill out everything that he was holding back. His muttering was cold, shivering from himself as his gaze had been falling to the ground.

"A hero should fight in secret… That's what I..."

It was odd how a similar expression could translate to such tipped scales on emotion.

Ren almost immediately snapped back out of his trance though. He shook his head before returning immediately back to normal. It was almost eerie as to how quickly he recovered from that and it wasn't as if he was ignoring what he had just done. He made a quick glance over to the bodies before scoffing, leaving the area before anything else could happen.

As he passed Bakta, the former party member found some hesitant words escaping his mouth.

"I suppose I'm glad to see you're doing alright…"

Ren's footsteps stopped, leaving only the patter of the raindrops for a few seconds.

"Yeah. Good to see you're doing well too."

"..."

A silence filled the awkward air as Batka was forced to see what Ren had done before him. However, he simply tried to continue on with what he wanted to say. This was probably the last time in a while, if at all, that he would get the opportunity to apologize properly.

"Hey. I'm sorry about what happened at the—"

"You still would have done the same thing if you were given another chance, if you were given the same circumstances." Ren continued walking down the raining path.

"I…" Batka found himself clamming up. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

What else was there to say? Now that Ren was right there, he couldn't think about how he should catch up with the Sword Hero, but perhaps it was because he saw the hero kill two people before his eyes.

"You should probably get out of here, Batka."

Batka couldn't feel his body for a few seconds, but when the footsteps seemingly disappeared behind him, he turned around to notice that Ren had done what he was always good at. Losing himself from the presence of others, but that image of the Sword Hero's blank stare rippled before his eyes once again. It was simply too vivid for him to forget, as if the real Ren underneath had been trying to break out, only to be suppressed as soon as possible.

Carefully and slowly.

Suddenly, things started to click.

"Sir Ren…"

It would seem that the Sword Hero was playing a giant act.

One to portray an image of someone he was not.

One that even he managed to convince himself with.


[SKIT 094 : Perhaps, Overpowered]

[Erhart] : "I've never heard of a moment in history where the four heroes are grouped up in such a way."
[Naofumi] : "Well, I'm sure there hadn't been any sets of heroes that have been in situations as uniquely as this one."
[Erhart] : "You know, a single Cardinal Hero by themselves is already a force to be reckon with. I can't imagine how much power your group has, simply on sheer strength. It might be enough to take down a dragon with ease."
[Naofumi] : "A dragon, you say?"
[Naofumi] : "Thankfully, I don't think we'll be meeting any dragons—"
[Naofumi] : "Wait, there are dragons in this world?"
[Naofumi] : "I guess that would make sense, considering it's a fantasy world..."
[Erhart] : "All I'm saying is that I'm sure you and your friends can overcome any sort of obstacle in your way."
[Naofumi] : "Yeah. Thanks for your belief, Erhart."

[SKIT 095 : Lacking in Villains]

[Itsuki] : "We haven't been fighting any villains. I think it's due time for an encounter."
[Eclair] : "Again, I'd advise against that."
[Raphtalia] : "We fought against the plant monster in Lerno. Wasn't that enough?"
[Itsuki] : "Unless you're calling the plant monster as morally evil, I don't think it counts as a villain."
[Itsuki] : "I'm sure there are villains, hiding around somewhere. Justice is simly waiting to be dealt to them, but we have just been spending our time like this."
[Motoyasu] : "I don't know, I like this sort of pace."
[Motoyasu] : "It's relaxing, not needing to worry about fighting for a bit."
[Eclair] : "As well as that, we do not know when the next time we'll be able to rest peacefully like this."
[Eclair] : "Everyday brings a new risk as we travel closer to the borders."
[Raphtalia] : "Was there a reason you wanted to fight a villain?"
[Itsuki] : "I mean, we're heroes. We're supposed to be fighting villains, right?"
[Raphtalia] : "I mean, that sounds correct."
[Eclair] : "Don't encourage him, Lady Raphtalia."

[SKIT 096 : Visna]

[Motoyasu] : "Naofumi looks like he's right at home!"
[Naofumi] : "Visna seems like such an interesting place to me. Look at all of those merchants and their wares!"
[Naofumi] : "The only thing that bothers me is the fact that I don't have a firm grasp on market values of everything and there isn't anything like the internet for me to check up on prices."
[Naofumi] : "I'd probably like to stay here for a little longer, but I know we've got to move on already. We've already spent enough time for my lessons on accessories and waiting on Erhart's armor."
[Motoyasu] : "Maybe when all of this blows over, we can come back here and get you a shop set up."
[Naofumi] : "We still have to fight the waves of destruction, you know."
[Motoyasu] : "There's nothing wrong with having a side-hustle!"
[Naofumi] : "Then maybe I'll keep that in mind."