Adrian
Adrian wanted to run. He wanted to blast the Filolial that was casually making her way to him into oblivion. He craved to do something other than wait for her to arrive and cast judgement upon him but there was nothingthat he could think of.
Adrian had expected to meet Fitoria sooner or later. Indeed he had decided to raise his Filolials with the expectation that it would gain him some degree of positive influence over her. However, he had not anticipated meeting her so soon. In the light novels, it had taken her monthsfor her to bother meeting Naofumi and that had only been because the Heroes hadn't done anything about the Waves internationally for months and because he was raising a Filolial. Adrian had expected that he would at least be powerful enough to run away from her by the time they met.
He sighed, disposed of all his plans regarding the Filolial Queen, and took a deep breath. Adrian was seated alongside the rest of his party, there was no point in preparing to run, not from this bird. He tried to keep himself calm, he didn't know enough to worry or relax, he needed to stay calm and focused and try his best to be diplomatic. Sure Fitoria was a dangerous entity, but that didn't mean that she was a danger to him right now. He just needed to play his cards right...and hope that he didn't piss her off.
It didn't take her long to arrive.
"Greetings, Sword Hero," she said, upon reaching the clearing they were in, "I am Fitoria, Queen of all Filolials and I would like to speak to you about something very important."
Adrian stood up, his party followed his lead, he nodded at the giant bird, "I see," he said, "It's good to meet you Fitoria. I'm Adrian Black and these are my party members." he winced at how stiff he was sounding, though Fitoria didn't seem to find anything amiss. Was she just that unused to socializing...or did she simply not care?
Adrian took a moment to introduce them one by one. He noted that she almost ignored Raphtalia and Rifana, though she was fairly polite, but her eyes lingered on Isis and Trystan.
"Please take a seat," he said, indicating a chair that he had drawn out from his sword.
The bird nodded before closing her eyes and drawing her wings around herself. An instant later she had transformed into a silver-haired, white-winged girl that looked a lot like Isis. Though his daughter had slightly longer hair. Adrian quickly compared the two and found that he would believe it if someone told him that they were sisters.
"Thank you," she said politely, then her tone changed to something more serious, "Sword Hero do you intend to fight the Waves?"
Adrian raised an eyebrow at how direct she was being but nodded, "I do. I'm training right now and have already registered for the one in Melromarc and I plan to synchronize with the remaining Hourglasses over the next month or so once I'm confident that the human and demi-human governments can't get in my way."
She nodded looking a bit annoyed and Adrian was struck with the memory of his siblings trying to act like doctors and policemen in their games. Was this whole thing just a game to her? He scoffed at the image and then found himself sobering up as he imagined his siblings with the power to wreck a city...the idea of a super-powerful child was strangely terrifying.
"Good," she said and turned her attention to the two Filolials, "You have raised two Royal Filolials. I wish to test them."
Adrian found it rather refreshing that she didn't bother with small talk but it was rather jarring to just have her go from one topic to the next without explanation or reason.
"Please wait for a second," he said, "Just who are you and why are you concerned with whether or not I fight the waves?"
She tilted her head before responding without delay, "I am Fitoria and the Heroes must fight the waves so I asked you to make sure."
Adrian started to wonder if this girl was toying with him or if she was just this obtuse.
Still, she had given him an opening, "The help menu I have suggests the same, but why must the Heroes fight the waves anyway? I mean sure I'm going to so that I can reduce the damage that the Wave does but I doubt whatever system managed to create these weapons and summon me here cares about that."
Fitoria nodded, her voice turning a little bit more menacing than before, "The Heroes defend the world," she said, "if a Hero defeats the wave then it delays the next wave."
Adrian frowned at that fact, he had assumed that the Heroes had some sort of passive effect given what he had remembered from the Light Novel he had read. Something about the Waves getting worse if a Hero died. Was the Light Novel wrong? Perhaps a mistranslation or were both effects real? Best to check.
"I see," he said, "in that case why do we have four heroes? Wouldn't just one suffice to defeat the waves?"
Adrian was being a little indirect, he wanted Fitoria to spill out a few more pieces of information and really didn't want to hint that he knew that she would kill the heroes if they were incompetent. Plus, it was something he was curious about.
She shook her head, "All four heroes are needed," she said firmly, "If even one Hero dies then the waves get worse."
"So the heroes as a whole passively defend the world along with the active effects of defeating the Wave?" he asked.
"Yes," she said with a nod.
Adrian wanted to curse at this fact, Fitoria didn't seem to wish to openly threaten him at this point but the possibility loomed over his head. If the Four Heroes didn't play along she had plenty of reason to want to kill him. His plans to defeat or pacify Fitoria just went up on his priority list. At this point, Adrian was quite certain that he could deal with most countries. As long as he was on the move and had the initiative he could hold the advantage and later on once he had more time and resources he could look into other means of power projection.
"Very well," he said, flicking his head towards his filolials "and why do you wish to test them?"
For the first time since the conversation started Fitoria hesitated for a bit, "I wish to test their capabilities to succeed me." she admitted.
"Succeed you?" he repeated before asking, "what exactly is your role and what do you want from them?"
"I must protect the world," she said, "I fight the waves in places where humans and demi-humans don't stay."
He frowned, he had known about her so-called duty but the idea of her dumping her responsibilities on his children was grating. He hesitated for a little bit but choose to question her, he was scared of this woman but that didn't mean the was willing to just let do whatever she wanted.
"Are you forced to protect the world?" he asked, "will they be forced to fight as well if you approve of them?"
Adrian was pretty certain that they wouldn't be but it would be wise to see her response even if he couldn't trust her answer. Especially since he could see her hesitating at his question. Was she surprised that he wouldn't just let her fight his Filolials?
"I am not forced to fight," she said, her tone slightly puzzled at something, "I promised the Hero who raised me that I would protect the world and that's why I fight."
Adrian stared at her just admitting the fact that she was insanely old when she hadn't mentioned it before he had assumed that she didn't want to say anything about it
"Just how old are you?" he asked, "The last time the heroes were summoned was nearly two centuries in the past."
It was a little rude to ask such a question outright but Fitoria only shrugged, "I was raised a long time ago." she said, "but it was long before the last set of heroes were summoned."
"Then do you know how the waves got started?" he asked, genuinely curious, "Or what they are exactly? I find it very unlikely that they are normal natural disasters when there is a system in place to counter them that was not made by the people of the world."
"The waves started long before my time," she said and shook her head, "I don't know much about them and I have forgotten a lot but I remember that only the heroes can save the people from the Waves."
"Which is why you wanted to make sure that I would fight," he said, completing her sentence, she nodded in response. He continued, "Do you want Trystan and Isis to help you with the Waves outside of civilization?"
He was pretty sure she didn't but Adrian had never fully figured out just why she had waited until Filo to find a successor. She had been alive for generations it should have been easy for her to convince a Hero to hatch a Filolial and then raise said Filolial into a successor. Had she had successors before? And did she get them killed or kill them? It was grating to think that he would have to stand aside if she forced the issue...but refusing could be a good test of how far she would go he doubted that she would kill him. Then again there was a pretty good reason to allow her to select one or both of his Filolials as her heir as it would allow for that special Class Up.
She shook her head, "No." she said simply, "I only want to have a successor for the future."
Then she turned to his Filolials who had been silently watching their conversation, "If I consider you worthy I shall give you a power-up so that you can protect your Hero."
Adrian felt a surge of irritation as Isis sat up, focused rather than worried, and Trystan stood up and said, "Awesome, can we learn how to fly? Big Bro is always flying around…"
Fitoria smiled at his innocent question and his rambling explanation but said nothing and just turned towards the Sword Hero. Adrian frowned and reiterated his previous concern, "You haven't told me why you need a successor," he pointed out, "from what you said you've been alive for a long time I doubt that age is a problem."
"That doesn't mean that I can't die," she said simply.
"So it's just insurance?" he asked, annoyed that he couldn't figure out if she was lying and that he couldn't press her for details.
She nodded and he sighed.
"What do you two think?" he asked, "want to try it?"
Trystan's answer was immediate and positive but Isis was more contemplative.
"What sort of test?" asked Isis looking Fitoria straight in the eye.
Fitoria tilted her head before she said, "A fight. You two versus me."
"You got it!" exclaimed Trystan.
"You are much stronger than us," said Isis and silencing her brother with a glare, "we can't beat you. Even Father would struggle to beat you."
Adrian wanted to wince at her estimate. He hoped that she was overestimating him. It would not even well for her if she was underestimating Fitoria.
Fitoria smiled, "You don't have to win...but you can't lose either," she said.
Adrian frowned once he realized that she didn't care for much else. Her only goal had been to test his Filolials. Checking to make sure that he fought the wave had probably been incidental.
Isis considered Fitoria and agreed. She then looked to him for advice while Fitoria got up from her chair and moved a fair distance away after transforming into her Filolial Queen form. Her size was pretty much the same as Trystan.
"Go all out and be careful." he told them both, "And make sure to work together, it's one of the few advantages that you have."
They both nodded and he made sure to pat their heads before he said, "Good luck."
They nodded again and Isis jumped onto Trystan's back before they got into a position opposite to fitoria. Adrian tried to suppress his nervousness.
He failed.
It was unnerving to realize that despite all the power he had gained since he had entered this new world at this moment he was utterly powerless.
Adrian didn't think that Fitoria would permanently harm Isis or Trystan. She might be a little rough with them but if she granted them her blessing then it would be beneficial in the long run. Even if she didn't bless them or care about them it was unlikely that she would want to anger him, not because he could kill her - he couldn't, but because she wanted him to fight the waves and he was unlikely to if she killed someone he cared for. And Adrian did believe that she cared about them, as far as he could tell it was the only reason she had come to visit.
Still, watching Fitoria set up a barrier and then stand in her Filolial form waiting for Trystan and Isis to start was terrifying. Adrian had his sensory skills at the ready, he was using Dash to enhance his perception and would manifest his Swords if he thought that his Filolials were at risk. He was as ready as he could be, everything from his Sword Form to his Status enchantment was optimized.
It was a pity that he had no goddamn idea what to do.
If Fitoria turned out to be hostile, if this was just a game that the ageless bird was playing, then they were all dead. No questions asked. Zero chance of survival. Adrian was almost sure that she didn't want to hurt them but almost wasn't good enough when his life was at risk, when the lives of his party members were at risk.
"Please start whenever you're ready," said Fitoria, her voice calm, but he could hear an undertone of excitement.
To his surprise, it was Trystan who made the first move.
"I, who has contemplated the source of all power, command you! Bless us with greater power! Zuerst Strength! Zuerst Speed! Zuerst Guard!" he chanted, and Adrian noted that both Isis and Trystan were surrounded by a pale blue aura, the colour of Trystan's magic.
Fitoria didn't move. He wasn't surprised. Stat boosts or not his filolials were no match for the Queen.
Trystan kept his distance staring warily at Fitoria, he wasn't doing anything to attack, Isis had taken up that role. She was whispering, chanting, and while he couldn't hear what she was saying the effects of her chanting was obvious. A massive amount of lightning was gathering around her fingertips.
"Zweit Lightning Blast," she said, her voice barely audible over the crackling of lightning, as it moved towards Fitoria at incredible speed. Adrian could track it, and it was clear that Lightning Magic didn't move as fast as natural lightning, but it was still insanely fast.
Fitoria batted the attack away with a Wing and then vanished in a blur.
Adrian saw how she leisurely ran towards Trystan and Isis, moving at incredible speeds with absolute ease, and then used the same wing that she had employed to stop Isis' attack to slam into Trystan. The attack was casual but the effects were incredible. Trystan went flying, Isis had to hold on desperately to stay on his back, and though the hit was glancing thanks to Trystan leaning away at the last moment Adrian could see the bruises forming thanks to his Blindsight.
Trystan landed on his feet thanks to Isis using a burst of wind to slow their movement. He winced and cast a healing spell on himself, Adrian frowned when Fitoria allowed it, just as she allowed Isis to prepare her next spell.
Fitoria was toying with them.
It was what he had expected to see but it still frustrated and infuriated him to watch it happen. Fitoria casually negated Isis' wind spell and then fired off a massive cyclone at the two Filolials.
"Barrier" yelled Trystan, desperate to stop the massive attack. A series of magical floating walls emerged from nothing and the first three shattered without trouble.
The last one survived. Isis had reinforced it with Lightning Magic and had changed it to a simple, transparent plane to a crackling barrier with bolts of lightning jumping out from it. Adrian had no idea how the hell it worked but it seemed to have surprised Fitoria a fair amount. For the first time, he could tell that she was a little bit taken aback.
"Make more," commanded Isis, and Trystan obeyed even as they moved back to create some distance, dozens of barriers were created which Isis quickly converted into the Lightning variant which moved forward to surround Fitoria. The Filolial casually dodged a few of them, ignoring the sparks that jumped to her and transformed into her human form, making it even harder to trap.
But she was still very casual in her movements. It was unnerving to realize that she was barely even trying. Was this how Raphtalia felt when she saw him fight? It would explain the looks of fear he occasionally received from her after he killed some monster.
Thankfully his Filolials had not stayed idle during this time.
Isis had prepared a massive spell, some sort of combination that had both Wind and Fire mana included, while Trystan got buffs ready again.
The massive blast of fire hit Fitoria head-on. It looked incredibly impressive, the soil around their feet burned to ash in seconds, nearby trees caught fire. Even better the hit was a direct strike and the Barrier around Fitoria seemed to contain and amplify the massive flare.
Blindsight neatly shattered any hope he had of the attack doing something. Fitoria has employed a barrier of her own that casually blocked the attack. When the flames subsided, Isis was panting heavily while Fitoria was standing there in her pink and white dress, looking as pristine as always. When Isis and Trystan caught sight of her being unharmed they were a little shocked but they quickly began to prepare another attack.
Fitoria didn't let them do so this time. Instead, she pressed them, not enough to crush them as she surely could, but enough that they didn't have the time to prepare a combination like the Lightning Barriers or a massive attack like Isis' flame blast.
Adrian felt his Sword transform as he watched her send a massive wind burst that sent Trystan and Isis flying. He grit his teeth took a deep breath and reminded himself of the fact that she didn't want them dead. He knew that they would already be dead if she did.
His anger and fear didn't fade even as he transformed his Sword back to one with a good speed boost.
Isis got up, on the ground for the first time in this battle and covered herself in lightning before beginning to chant. Adrian frowned, curious, he had never seen her do something like this before. A secret? Or was it a last-ditch effort to do something?
Fitoria approached Isis with incredible speed that Adrian could track but Isis couldn't. The older Filolial raised her hand to attack when a truly massive blast of lightning blasted the Filolial. Adrian blinked, trying to get rid of the spots in his eyes, even as he used Blindsight to track the battle.
Isis had surprised Fitoria and Trystan didn't let the opportunity go to waste. He charged Fitoria and kicked her with his full force. It was probably the only time either of his Filolials had managed to hit her head on and Trystan was buffed and had used his full force. The ground underneath Fitoria cracked and a great deal of soil and dust were kicked up.
Fitoria barely even moved and was almost completely undamaged. Her expression was satisfied. She waved her hand and dispersed both the barrier surrounding the battlefield and the dust around the three of them. The smouldering trees and the heated ground were quickly cooled down.
She smiled at Isis and Trystan and said, "Well done,"
Adrian relaxed a little, just noticing how tense he had been, how quickly his heart had been beating. He loosened his grip on the hilt of his sword and changed the hand he had been holding it before wincing at the pain as he clenched his fist and relaxed it.
He shook his head, realizing that this had been the most terrifying thing he had faced in this world. Adrian took a deep breath and wondered why nothing else, not being summoned, not even being chased by three spies or assaulting Rabier and eventually killing him had unnerved him as much as a battle that had carried minimal risk of death or damage. Hell, had they failed to take out those three spies or Rabier the best-case scenario would have been death, this was nothing in comparison.
Adrian walked towards them. Raphtalia and Rifana followed the latter clenching onto the former's hand tightly, in awe of the fight she had just seen. Isis and Trystan had relaxed and Fitoria was healing them.
When he reached them he ignored Fitoria, unsure if he'd be in control if he spoke to her, knelt and hugged Isis and then got up and stroked Trystan's head, both of them were tired and didn't respond much beyond a smile but he needed to feel that they were alive. His eyes and Blindsight suggested that they were fine but it had been horrible to just stand aside as they were toyed with.
"You both okay?" he asked, wondering what the limits of Blindsight and his Diagnosis skills were. Could he have missed something subtle? Perhaps some type of small problem that only becomes a problem in the long run? He didn't think they had been injured this badly since they had been born.
They nodded, tired but otherwise intact.
"Sword Hero," said Fitoria, "you have raised two excellent Filolials,"
He looked to her, trying to keep himself under control, "Thank you but they have a lot to learn. Though given that they're less than a week old, there is no doubt that they are amazing."
She smiled, it was a guileless smile, and it was with surprise that he realized that Fitoria wasn't very manipulative or cruel...she was just insanely blunt. She'd totally missed his anger and fear. Perhaps it was a sign of her age and extreme power. If she wanted something there was literally no one, no nation, who could hope to deny her.
Fitoria turned towards the Filolials and said, "I declare both of you as my potential heirs, the one who displays greater growth and wisdom shall be my true successor." Her tone was rather...stiff, formal in a way that seemed almost comical.
The way her terrifying large and well-controlled mana unfurled as she manifested two crowns and placed levitated them so that they landed on his Filolials was a wonderful reminder of why he didn't dare oppose her. For now.
The Crowns vanished in a flare of light and Adrian frowned as he pulled up their stats and noted that they had been boosted all around, some stats more than others but a general boost. It was around a fifty per cent boost at a minimum and a nearly 300% per cent boost for Isis' magic stats. It would seem that the magnitude of the boost was dependant upon their specializations. Adrian wondered if this was worth the fight and fear.
He cut down on his silly thought. A minor annoyance in the short term for a long term boost was an excellent exchange. Sentiment had no place here, this alone, even without the Class Up boost, was worthwhile. Adrian knew that he needed to calm down. He had never enjoyed being helpless, being powerless. Fitoria probably didn't give a shit about him, he had to stop assuming that she was going to just turn into her Kaiju Form and stomp him into paste without reason ...then again if she believed that killing him was worthwhile she would crush him and he didn't have to be the reason, if the other Heroes were morons it would be his head on the line...he would have to look into controlling the other heroes. He would not die for their stupidity.
Once she had finished with the Filolials she turned to him, "Sword Hero," she said, plucking out a strand of her hair, "this will grant you all the Filolial series swords."
Adrian held up his Sword and she dropped it onto the gemstone. He blinked in surprise as dozens of Swords were immediately unlocked...and the result was that the stats of his Filolials ended up skyrocketing. There were a lot of boosts to their stats, skills and other parameters.
"Thank you," he said, meaning it, she had just boosted the chances of their survival manifold...and given him a lot of incentive to create an army of Royal Filolials. He wondered if she had planned that.
She smiled and nodded and then started to transform into her Filolial form, clearly preparing to leave and normally he would be glad to leave it at that...but he could see now that his assumptions about her had been born out of fear, she was a hell of a lot more predictable than he had assumed and he needed a good rapport with her given that he would probably never be able to match her in combat.
"Fitoria," he asked, "Would you like to have dinner with us? I have an idea I'd like to propose and I'd like to thank you more concretely than just through words."
She hesitated but a look back at camp, where a massive pile of food was laid out, covered up but still fragrant, seemed to convince her to stay. Fitoria nodded, "Alright," she said and transformed back into her human form.
He smiled, reminded himself to treat her like an Isis who wanted lesser affection and not like a goddess out to destroy him, and said, "Is there something in particular that you'd like to eat?"
Her tilted head and contemplative look just reinforced his impression of her. She was surprisingly childlike in a lot of ways. And that could be used...he could only hope that she didn't kill him if she realized what he was doing but he had just realized that he needed to deal with her, he needed her to realize that he was a person who was trying not just something she had to deal with as a part of her duty and there was no way to do that without taking some risks. Hopefully, she was in a good mood after finding two successors.
Fitoria ate dinner with gusto. It was odd to realize that his decision to invite her to dinner might have been the best possible move he could have made.
She was sitting next to Isis and Trystan and was eagerly comparing different dishes. The dinner was simple but he had made a large variety of things to eat rather than a large amount of a single choice. Normally he would not bother with such a thing as it was inefficient. It took almost the same amount of time whether he cooked 1 kg of one type of food or 100kg of the same, but making different options took a lot more time. Thankfully, he had several types of prepared variants stored in his Sword and he had used a fair number of them. It was absurd and wonderful that storing food didn't harm it in anyway. It was just as delicious and tasty as if it had just been created.
His little tactic had worked well and Fitoria was clearly enjoying her meal. Adrian had to wonder if she had eaten cooked food recently. He knew that Filolials could eat uncooked meals of a very, very broad variety so she might have had just been eating things raw...if she needed to eat at all. After all, he didn't understand the nature of her immortality, it would be unwise of him to assume that she needed to eat.
Honestly, watching her eat her food messily, try to make sure that she got most if not all of her favourite dishes and slowly try out every dish before rapidly consuming it if she liked it before asking for seconds, made Adrian realize, yet again, that she wasn't just a Goddess who could kill him, she was a person. And just like any other person she was flawed and broken in more ways than one. In fact, her millennia-long lifespan had probably helped her stack up on flaws.
Still, all this went a long way to reassure him that getting to know her was a pretty decent move. Though there were some risks, it was good to see that he was successfully minimizing them...assuming that she didn't find his request to be problematic.
Dinner went on for a while with Trystan and Fitoria getting into an unacknowledged contest where they each tried to eat faster and faster. But eventually, it ended and Fitoria walked up to him as he was putting away the dishes and absorbing all the leftovers.
"What did you want to speak about?" she asked bluntly.
Adrian turned to her and then drew out a small cloth from his sword before saying, "You've got some stains here," he said handing her the cloth as he pointed at his chin.
She blinked but took the cloth and wiped her face properly. He waited until she was done and was looking at him expectantly before starting.
"I wanted your supervision while fighting a Wave that you normally deal with," he said, before clarifying at her confused expression, "You said that you deal with the waves away from civilization right? I'd like to have a...trial run you could say, where the only problem with not suppressing the wave is a few more monsters added to an area which can be either dealt with later or by you. What do you think?"
"Trial Run?" she mumbled, even more confused, "Why? You're strong enough to defeat these initial waves."
"It's nice to know that but it's not a matter of power," he admitted, "but I want to make sure that I have a good set of tactics in mind when I'm dealing with a Wave in a populated region. I'd rather make mistakes when I'm an area that is not populated. In exchange for this one time favour I'll take over that Hourglass, it'll be my duty to deal with it from now onwards if that's alright with you."
She tilted her head, "There is a Wave that will start in four days. You can fight it if you want." she said with a shrug, completely apathetic.
Adrian raised an eyebrow, wasn't she devoted to fighting the waves? Or was it simply that he was a Hero and his volunteering for this was a positive? He needed to know more about this girl. It was seriously unnerving that one of the few people in the world he could never surpass was so...odd and difficult to predict.
"I'd like that...assuming that you're willing to back us up if need be," he said, four days was a little earlier than he had anticipated, enough to get his party to level 50 sure, but not much more than that.
"Back you up?" she asked.
"Help us survive if we are overwhelmed," he clarified, "We'd probably be fine but I'd like some guarantee and your help is the best security we can get."
She snorted dismissively, "You're strong enough to defeat the wave you don't need my help." she said, waving her hand, "I'll take you to the Hourglass and help you Class Up your party but you won't need anything else."
He sighed, "You're probably right," he admitted, "but I'd like to have you around just in case, it'll only be for the first wave and you'll never have to deal with this hourglass' wave again. Please."
It grated on him to beg for her aid but if she agreed, for whatever reason, he would have guaranteed his survival and that of his party with no questions asked. Adrian had already fought the monsters around the Seaetto Region and found that even those which had emerged from the Wave to be weaker than those from the Dragon Territory. Frankly, he wasn't worried about any individual monster from the Wave, save for the Wave Boss. What he was worried about was the fact that they would be facing down a horde of monsters. He didn't know how well coordinated they were, what area they would be unleashed at or what sort of strength maxima he could expect.
Fitoria was terrifyingly strong and a horrifying enemy to have...but she was also the best possible backup. It was a pity that she looked annoyed at his request. Probably pissed off that he was making her attend despite the fact that he was going to deal with the wave.
She folded her arms and thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Fine," she said, "I'll take you to the Hourglass."
Adrian smiled, "Thank you very much," he said, "I appreciate this Fitoria."
She nodded and then closed her eyes, everyone around them, who had been listening to our conversation even as they packed up the camp had to cover their eyes as a glowing carriage just appeared in the middle of the clearing.
It was a beautiful blue carriage. The interior looked exquisitely designed and it looked like it was made for Royalty. Fitting that it belonged to the Queen of All Filolials but more than incredible design it was the gemstone embedded in it that drew his eye. The blue coloured gemstone had the same look under Mana sight that gem in Adrian sword did.
She could have a weapon just like he did. That had some very interesting implications...he would have to see if he could get Isis or Trystan a weapon of their own.
"Let's go," she said, pointing at her Carriage, "It won't take us long to get to the Hourglass."
"Cool!" said Trystan, sounding incredibly excited, "Can I pull it? Please!"
"No," said Fitoria sharply, "It's my carriage,"
Adrian stared at the girl who actually looked annoyed for the first time and decided that he may as well ask, "Is that Carriage like my Sword? As in only one person can use it?"
It would explain why she didn't bother with a weapon and why she was so ridiculously strong. He hadn't expected that he would get an opening to ask her what it was so soon. He'd have to thank Trystan later.
Adrian half expected her to lie or deflect but she just nodded and then guided them into the comfortable carriage. To his surprise, she sat with them and simply said, "Portal," before telling them to walk out but Adrian didn't need to walk out to notice that they were already near the Hourglass nor that they were nowhere near the forest they had been in. Blindsight and the Map Sword confirmed his suspicions. He was thousands of kilometres away from Melromarc. It was both relieving and terrifying. He needed to get the Portal Sword.
The area they had shown up in was a massive plateau surrounded by mountains on all sides. The ruins that populated the Plateau were massive and surprisingly intact but what struck him most was the sheer number of monsters in the area. There were hundreds but other than that the river, natural defences and excellent soil marked this area as a truly excellent place to live. Adrian wondered why this place had been abandoned but shrugged it off. There were simply too many possibilities, though a war was the most likely option.
Adrian used a Thousand Sword Skill to clear out the ruins, and they moved towards the large central structure, probably a temple or a palace that housed the Hourglass. Raphtalia, Rifana and the Filolials were looking around like a bunch of tourists but once they arrived at the Hourglass they went silent.
"Time to get you all Classed Up," he said, feeling a thrill of satisfaction. He no longer had to worry about Cal Mira, at least not for the moment, and probably not ever.
This had been a surprisingly good day despite the horrible start. He watched on with a smile as his party Classed Up, ignored the bright light from the Hourglass, and felt immense satisfaction as they had their stats doubled in an instant.
