The day had thankfully progressed rather slowly, the many villagers finally deciding that enough was enough now that Aultcray was here to listen to their pleas and demands. It had been troubling for the king, as not a day before his own daughter had chosen to tear into him verbally. Words had been said that needed no repeating, polite company or otherwise.
Yet now, now that excitement had finally lessened and the king's ears allowed their respite, the villagers had begun to plan what the rest of the week would begin to look like.
"Oi! Laddie!" Bargram called out, shaking me from my musings. The small child at his side bared some similarities to Naofumi's Filorial and River, meaning that he was no doubt an avian child as well, "D'you know the little ones were going to change like this?" He asked with significant fear and curiousity.
"No, their transformation had caught me by surprise as well," I replied simply as Eustice looked up at me.
"Wow mister! You're as tall as Poppa!" The winged child exclaimed, "Are you strong too!?"
"I do not believe I shall ever reach your father's raw strength," I replied tentatively, "I can only ever dream to match him someday."
The child's eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked to Bargram, the gentle giant blushing from the praise and attention, "Bah, 'nuff a that, lad," He said as he waved it off, "Didn't think ya'd actually get to the king let alone bring the man. How'd ya convince him?"
"That is a long story and one I do not believe we have time for," I replied as I raised a finger to Mirso's beaten path. Many of the villagers as well as the rest of my bonded party quickly gathered as a simple Filorial pulled carriage came to a slow stop before us.
"Bandits?" River asked excitedly, "Oh please please pleeeease be bandits!"
I had once thought that a Filorial's love of carriages had been an over exaggerated myth. Fera's thought echoed within me.
"Oh bite me!" River shouted with indignation as she looked to the smirking cat woman. Talon only scoffed at the pair and prepared to pounce on who the three either hoped or thought to be assailants… only…
"Is this Mirso?" A Beast-Man with white fur, rounded ears, snout and an elongated pink and segmented tail asked as he and another Beast-Man similar in ear and tail design to Wyndia exited the carriage, "If so, we are looking for the Sword Hero."
Meanwhile, with the Spear Hero…
"Hey uh… Sir Spear Hero?" Bronson called out as he walked in on Motoyasu's usual training.
"Flyn, how long have we been adventuring together?" Motoyasu asked a now sheepish Bronson, the glasses wearing bruiser scratching his chin as Motoyasu latched onto two separate walls with his Spear's string and using his third to make a perch for himself mid air.
"Exactly one month, two weeks an-" Before the bug enthusiast could continue, Motoyasu flung a pebble at the man's chest.
"More than enough time to call me by my name," Motoyasu said before pulling the strings back and spiralling onto the floor. His acrobatic skill had only risen once the shock of his third arm had worn off. 'I don't know if I should thank Hollow or shove this spear… wherever it is I should shove it…' Motoyasu thought to himself.
In truth, he didn't know just what to think as his third arm had become both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that with it came a third spear and in turn an increase in power and potential damage output… A curse in that most women now flee from him.
"Hey! Motoyasu… when are we getting out of here," Elana whined as she entered the training grounds, "My parents are starting to bug me about settling down again…"
Well, most women anyway.
"And then there were three…" The Spear Hero whispered to himself only to flinch as his recent hatch began to claw along his left leg and leading through along his torso before finally nestling it's armored head upon the blonde's right shoulder.
"Make that four, Sir Motoyasu!" Bronson cheered ecstatically as he adjusted his glasses while flashing a toothy grin. The act itself coupled with the light of the sun striking the bug maniac's glasses in just the right way had caused the centipede upon Motoyasu's shoulder to screech and hide in the blonde's hair, "Such incredible behavior…" Bronson whispered in awe.
"Hey hey!" Motoyasu shouted at Bronson as he reached back for his centipede, the insect coiling around his arm and gently nibbling at his wrist, "You're scaring her!"
"Her?" Elana questioned as she crossed her arms along her chest and raised an eyebrow.
Motoyasu nodded solemnly and explained, "Well, yeah. I checked the Party list and it says she's a girl."
"Have you named her yet?" Bronson asked as he flashed another excited smile.
"I'm thinking…" Motoyasu drolled off as he started to walk away. In truth, he hadn't yet thought of a name for the surprisingly adorable and friendly bug. He never expected the thing to be so cute, but it just kept on surprising him… that or she was sizing him up for a meal.
He hadn't exactly noticed when he left the training grounds or just where it was he found himself, but he definitely wasn't in the castle anymore by the distinct lack of walls, "Hey! Sir Motoyasu!" Bronson called out as he rushed to the blonde's side, "You trying to run off without us?" With a wide smile, Motoyasu chuckled and looked back at the remainder of his party… only to gasp as who other than Myne walking up to them alongside Elana.
"Sir Motoyasu!" Myne called out excitedly as she rushed forward, Elana breathing a sigh of relief. However, it was Myne's turn to share whatever discomfort it was her seemingly friend had been feeling as the red head looked at the Spear Hero scratching the chin of a disgusting insect.
"Oh hey Myne!" Motoyasu replied happily, "Here to see us off?"
"Ah… yes of course," Myne replied as she bit back her disgust and started to close the gap between herself and the Spear Hero, "I was hoping we coul-" She had to step back however as the centipede lunged out and snapped it's now salivating mandibles at the princess.
"Woah! Hey!" Motoyasu chastised as he held the insect close and started running a hand along its carapace, "No biting Myne! She's a good friend of ours!"
"Speak for yourself…" Elana whispered to herself off-handedly.
Myne attempted to look civil as she was there for a purpose… said purpose being drooled on by the savage beast currently being corralled by the dumb as a brick Spear Hero, 'Eww… that thing is getting slobber all over my new shoes…' She thought as she watched the cleaned silken shoes get covered with insectoid filth again.
"Come on Petra, what's gotten into you?" Motoyasu asked of his insect, the centipede chittering madly before looking back at Myne and hissing.
"Ah… you've named it," Myne murmured as she hid her disgust with an awkward smile, "How quaint…" 'Petra' seemed to have had enough and had prepared to lunge at the princess only for the Spear Hero to placate the wild creature with a third arm.
And there it was…
"I'm really sorry about Petra," Motoyasu tried to say as he held the overgrown insect close to his chest, "She wasn't this violent when she hatc-"
"ENOUGH!" Myne shouted with righteous indignation, "I have had it with this… this farce!" Her face had morphed to show her true feelings at the situation, for the Spear 'Hero', for his disgusting bug… for everything, "I'M DONE! I. AM. DONE!"
"M-Myne? What are you talking about?" Motoyasu pleaded in confusion.
"What am I talking about!?" The princess questioned, "You! I'm talking about you!" She explained as her magic flared and caused her hair to whip about in a violent cyclone, "You're constant bumbling about! Your try hard heroism! Your stupid smile! I hate all of it! I was going to have you hand over the silken drops you pulled out of that horrid and putrid monster or get the guards to pilfer them from you, but I just don't care anymore!"
Everyone had been stunned by the princess' words, Motoyasu especially as he had thought that Myne might have actually enjoyed his company…
Motoyasu hadn't noticed, but he started to hold his insect closer to his chest as he tried to plead with the princess, "But… Myne, I thou-" Only to receive a burst of wind in response.
"I loathe that name…" The princess growled, "My name is Malty S. Melromarc! First princess of Melromarc and true heir to the throne! You… you are an insignificant pest," Huffing, she turned around and began to walk away, "Come, Miss Haven, we have work to do."
And Elana did walk, but not with Malty…
"Come on, blondie…" The lazy noble woman drolled as she reached down to the sprawled and stunned Hero, flinching but preserveering as the centipede slowly crawled along her arm.
"Miss Haven?" Malty questioned as she looked back in confusion.
"You're annoying," Elana replied with a low growl, "You're annoying me… I'm done too. I'm not gonna stick around just so you can use me like you used the Shield and Spear Heroes."
Finally on his feet, Motoyasu was shocked even further by his companion's words, "Wh-what?" He asked weakly.
"Hmph, what does it matter if this discarded piece of waste knows the truth," Malty taunted coldly, "I used you. The same way I used that insufferable Naofumi."
Eyes widening, Motoyasu shook his head as he tried to process just what he was hearing, "Wha- but he raped you…"
"You honestly believe that stupid story?" Malty questioned with a mocking, motherlike tone before sneering, "I lied! I could have killed him myself if I wanted to! I should have killed him myself… Begone. All of you leave my sight before my guards do so themselves."
"Let's get out of here, Motoyasu," Bronson urged as he helped Elana push the stunned man along.
The moments started to blur for Motoyasu after that. He could recall tears every now and then. Sometimes there would be incoherences and his eyesight would be blurred by tiny legs… In reality however, what had felt an eternity for Motoyasu had been nary an hour as he found himself in a shared room with his three companions… and two cloaked figures with shining, golden slit eyes looking over elongated and furred muzzles.
"Spear Hero," The figure on the left murmured with a voice like gravel, "Greetings to you and your party from Siltvelt."
Somewhere else, with the Bow Hero…
"Ugh… my head…" Itsuki groaned as he massaged his temples. Mumbling and fumbling, Itsuki reached out and felt the familiar desk of his 'office' and sighed, "It was… all just a dream. THANK GOD!"
His seemingly maniacal crazed laughter had captured the attention of Rishia, the girl barreling in from the left of the 'office' as she was worried for the younger boy, "M-Master Itsuki!" She shouted as the curly haired blonde rose from his seat and casually walked up to her, plopping his face into just below her chest as he wrapped her in a hug,
"F-F-F-F-FUUUUEEEEEHHHH!?" She shouted from the contact, her face going through many shades of red while steam flowed out of her ears.
"Oh… Oh my God, Rishia… you have no idea how happy I am to be waking up here…" Itsuki murmured softly, "I was having the worst dream!"
"D-dream?" Rishia asked worriedly as she held her arms up at her sides, not wanting to disturb her chosen Hero.
"It was the worst!" Itsuki shouted, "There were bees everywhere! And then we got captured! Then I was drooled on!" His shouting had started to become rather incoherent as he dug his face deeper into the blushing lady's chest, "Oh I'm just… so glad it's all over.
Rishia only whimpered as she slowly placed her hands on the young hero's head and started to smooth out his hair… at least until a loud voice echoed through the halls.
"YOU CALL THIS SHIT HOLE A CASTLE!?" A frighteningly familiar voice shouted as Itsuki yelled out in frustration as he threw his arms up. Rishia had shouted both from surprise and a bit of pain as Itsuki's vine covered arm lightly sliced along Rishi's face.
"Oh my God! Rishia! Are you alright!?" Itsuki shouted as he started fussing over his partner's face, much to her ever growing surprise.
"Fueh!? No! No no!" Rishia shouted as she tried to paw the Bow Hero away, "I-i-i-i-it's just a scratch! Honest!"
"Zerradia! Have more manners!" A child-like voice called out as the sound of buzzing entered the 'office', "This is the home of our God! Have you no respect?"
"I'm not calling that little twerp my 'God'!" Zerradia shouted as the two princesses approached, much to Itsuki's dismay.
"No…" Itsuki whispered as he started to walk backwards as if to separate himself from the approaching pair, "No no no…"
"My Lord?" Miel, if he remembered her name, called out, "Is something the matter?"
"I DON'T WANNA BE A GOD!" Itsuki shouted, "AND I'M TOO YOUNG FOR KIDS!"
Just as the commotion was starting to reach its fever pitch, one of the townsfolk had walked in slowly and carefully, "Sir Bow Hero?" The frail man spoke up, "Have you regained consciousness yet?"
"WHAT!?" Itsuki shouted in what amounted to an annoyed, exasperated, fear filled shout, "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M GOING THROUGH A TEENAGE LIFE CRISIS!?"
Though cowering from the fear induced rage leveled against him, the petitioner found strength and courage enough to speak his peace, "W-w-w-w-with all due re-re-respect, Sir Itsuki… I-i-i-i-i believe it time to…" His words were caught in his mouth as he shrunk down down under the Hero's scrutinizing gaze. Itsuki slowly marched before him, his face darkened and threatening bloody murder, "Help end our people's famine?"
"... Fine," Itsuki replied with a tired sigh as his bow morphed into that of the Life Blood Bow, much to the petitioner's relief, "Alert the city guards and farmers that I'll need every available seed in storage."
"Right away, Sir Hero!" The petitioner shouted before high tailing it out of the castle office.
"Hoo!~ Way to make the peasantry cower!~" Zerradia exclaimed with a wicked smile, "Maybe you're worth something after all?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest… only to flinch as a high speed blue butterfly flew past her and grazed her now slightly bleeding cheek.
"Zerradia, I am not. In the mood," Itsuki growled as the hornet hive's princess stared in awe at the young man and blushed.
"Lord Aprilis?" Miel called out as she flew over to the now flinching Hero, "Please, forgive us for the intrusion, but-"
"Miel was it?" Itsuki quickly asked as the honey hive princess nodded, "Please, speak with the queens and tell them that I will not allow either of you to accompany me."
"But Lord Aprilis!" Miel shouted as Itsuki raised a hand up to her.
"Please don't call me that," Itsuki murmured, "I am not a God… I'm just… I don't know what or who I even am."
"You're a twerp!" Zerradia shouted, catching Itsuki's attention, "An annoying brat who has way too much on his plate right now!" Miel clearly disliked what the hornet was saying, but stayed quiet as it somehow helped the confused boy, "And you know what? You can bark at us all day and send us away all you want, but I'm not leaving until whatever it is you need help with gets done! Got it!?"
Sighing, Itsuki looked at his arm and its writhing vines. It was clear that going through with the task at hand may yield results unwanted, but looking back at the now four faces in the room, (Rino having silently slipped in to see the commotion) he realized that he would need help.
"Alright… alright fine," Itsuki relented as Miel's face lit up and Zerradia nodded, "But I have some ground rules!"
"Heh, the God twerp has rules," Zerradia joked.
"Okay I'm putting a moratorium on that right now!" Itsuki cut in, "First! No more 'God' nonsense! I am. A. CHILD."
"But Lord Aprilis! It has been agreed upon by both our tribes!" Miel argued.
"You want to honor me and what I've done? Call me Itsuki!" The Hero stated firmly, "Or Brat, Twerp, Half-pint, Kid, Kiddo! Literally anything else! I am used to it!" Sighing, he turned away and started to walk, "Rishia! Rino! We have work to do!"
Finding it in themselves to smile, the girls nodded in approval and quickly caught up to their Hero and his new bee companions,
"YES LORD ITSUKI!"
We now return to our esteemed Beetle…
"Our Shield God…" The wolfish beast man gasped out once I led the Siltvelt envoys to Naofumi's still sleeping form, "What has happened to him!?" He growled out.
"We had been attacked by unknown and corrupted assailants," Princess Melty replied, the small child having quickly joined us along with Raphtalia, "It was only thanks to the efforts of the Shield Hero that we survived."
"Hey… you don't think…" The mouse whispered to his partner.
"That's just a baseless rumor," The wolf replied.
"Rumor?" I asked curiously.
"Do you know what they're talking about, Hollow?" Raphtalia quickly asked me.
"I believe I do as well," Melty cut in, "And it is no rumor. You allude to the massive creature erupting from the earth?"
Both beast men flinched as they heard this, the mouse speaking first, "You mean that bug rumor was true!?"
"You speak of the Great Wyrm," I chimed, much to their ever growing dismay, "The beast is no rumor, as I believe that Naofumi not only summoned it, but became it."
"Great Wyrm?" The wolf asked as the others only stared at me blankly.
"You say Naofumi is your Hero God?" I asked as the Beast-Men nodded, "You are more correct than you know."
"You're saying that this 'Great Wyrm' is a God?" The mouse asked. Before I could reply however, the town butcher (now the town mayor) had burst through the door.
"Sir Hollow! We're surrounded!"