[A/N: Important question/poll at the end, please read and comment to vote.]
Chapter 12
~qO Naofumi POV Op~
'Alright, thanks for the heads up, Sakura-san. I will begin building an stash for your new kids and you can pick it up whenever. I recently managed to bump the quality of both medicine and nutritional supplements quite a bit, so I'm sure it'll help.' ~ I replied, much calmer than I thought possible after Sakura-san's explanation.
Ah, so this is what 'cold rage' feels like. I get it now. After Sakura-san ends the mindlink, I just sit there for a couple of minutes, staring at the grill until the scent of the porcupine's meat on it drags me out of it.
"Lin, Raphtalia."
"Yes, Goshujin-sama?"
"Do you need something, Naofumi-sama?"
"Please be on the lookout for medicinal plants, we need to build up a rather large stash for Sakura-san."
"Is the lady Hero alright?" ~ Lin-chan asks while holding her cup of tea close to her face with one hand.
"She is, but she picked up some children that will need them." ~ Ah, should I tell Raphtalia-chan that I'm talking about her childhood friends? No, she'll worry and with good reason. I think its better if she remains ignorant until she sees them herself. Hopefully they'll be in much better health by then.~ "So, please make an effort in that direction rather than focusing on helping me unlock more shields, alright?"
"Yes, goshujin-sama!"
"Yes, Naofumi-sama!"
They're really good children. To think Raphtalia-chan was abused by such a man... just insta-killing him and throwing the body into the wilds, you're too kind, Sakura-san.
And just like that, we began stockpiling medicinal plants on the way to Ryuuto. With how good these two's eyes are, its no surprise that we managed to throw an small warehouse's worth of the stuff into the shield. Now, if only I could find a way to increase crafting speed without sacrificing quality, we'd be golden.
[Do you wish to spend SP to upgrade [Medicinal Compound]? Y/N]
...right, Sakura-san did say her Legendary Weapon got smarter as she interacted with it. I guess I've been using the shield at around the clock over the last few days, either in combat, compounding, disassembling or even just leaving it to a task while I'm sleeping, so even if I don't talk to it, it would still develop to some point. Can't be helped, the idea of talking to an inanimate object just tickles me wrong. It reminds me of a fine lady talking to her rose bushes as she trims them, or a weirdo playing music for his pet rock.
Somehow, the image of Sakura-san in full-on wife mode as she talks to a pot full of flowers seems both soothing and appropriate. Well, if she's right, I've been neglecting the shield, so let's try and talk to it from now on. Even if I'm sure it'll make me look weird.
"Thank you." ~ I say to it after upgrading the [Compound] skill three times. Ooooh now it takes half as long and can produce a batch of six at a time, now that's really convenient. I feel like we may be able to keep building our own stash and an extra to sell even while working on Sakura-san's if its at this pace. Nice.
~qO Motoyasu's POV Op~
"Such a thing...!?" ~ I blurt out loud as Sakura-chan explains what that 'call' last night was all about.
"Motoyasu-sama, you suddenly got so hard...!" - Myne... no, Malty cooed while stroking at the base of my child, her soft ruby lips letting go of its head so she can talk.
Well, so much for the erotic feeling of talking to Sakura-chan while getting serviced by the princess. Hard? Of course I am, I can tell my blood pressure is through the roof as for a moment, all I can hear is my heartbeat despite being in the middle of the day. I see, so this is boiling rage.~ "Motoyasu-sama?"
She leans back to look at me in confusion as I stand up and quickly begin to fix my clothes. I guess she would have fallen into her ass if she hadn't already been on her knees. Well, this isn't the time for this kind of shit. Crap, why didn't she tell me this type of shit happens in her own country!? No, wait, she's a princess so there's a good chance she's been sheltered enough not to know about the shameful side of things. That's probably it.
Ugh, to think we are going to need Naofumi's help, but if what Sakura-chan's said is correct, that raping trash's shield is amazing at making medicine and other tonics, and she needs as many as possible from both things right now, so I have no choice but to help gather stuff for him.
"Dress up, Malty-chan, we have to go gather healing supplies. Right now."
"Eh...? But we already have plans for today, Motoyasu-sama. We have a lunch meeting with the pope, and then a ball with the nobles later in the evening. We can't just leave town out of the blue."
"I don't care, we need to gather materials for medicine and nutritional supplements, as many as possible. Sakura-chan broke into a monster's den and rescued a group of illegal slaves, children included."
"Eh...? Eh? A monster's den? Why would monsters keep slaves? Illegal slaves? You mean demihumans?"
"Right, somebody kidnapped and enslaved the survivors of the demihuman village destroyed in the first wave. Why didn't you tell me the survivors were left on their own, Malty-chan!?"
"But... they're demihumans, Motoyasu-sama."
"What... what does that have to do with anything?"
"Right..." ~ she pauses for a moment before continuing.~ "demihumans are a brutish kind that often raid our country, intent on enslaving and destroying. They're barely better than the waves."
What? What is she saying? I mean, if that was true, then they'd be monsters, not villagers, right? That can't be right... right... ah, right, Malty-chan is a sheltered princess. Someone must have misinformed her, that's right. It's not in her nature to be spiteful, so it must be the result of her nurture. Come think about it, I have seen a few demihumans here and there in town, but for some reason I've never talked to them. Right, the best way to combat prejudice is with education and interaction. The next time I see one, I'll call him or her over and have a conversation, that should help Malty-chan broaden her horizons!
"Please hurry up. We are going out."
"B-but Motoyasu-sama..."
"We're going, and that's final."
The princess looks like she swallowed a bug. Did she want to spend quality time with me that bad? What a silly girl.
~qO Ren's POV Op~
'I understand. I will do my best to collect as many medicinal plants as possible, Sakura-nee, please come pick them up tonight. No, you have absolutely nothing to be grateful for, this much is literally the least I can do.'
With Sakura-nee ending the mindlink, I hurry to finish breakfast and have everyone ready to depart while I go out to buy a book on medicinal plants. As soon as I'm back, we're leaving towards the woods.
I knew this was a medieval society, and I knew Naofumi had bought a demihuman child as an slave, but didn't think much of it because Sakura-nee assured me that he had all but adopted the child. I should have realised that just like there's all sorts of people, there's all sorts of slave owners as well, but to think an entire household knew and nobody tried to stop it... no, it is likely that at least a few people tried to stop it, but what can a maid or guard do against a feudal lord in the first place?
That makes me think it may be a good idea to look for the slave trader Naofumi bought Raphtalia-chan from to make sure he isn't mistreating the slaves under his care. Uh, it may be a good idea to purchase any demihuman children he may have on stock, just to make sure they're treated properly. Even if they can't fight, maybe I can organize them into something like a logistics support group for my party. Yosh, let's do that once we're back from the woods.
~qO Mirellia Q. Melromarc's POV Op~
I wish I had a harder time believing the reports about on the treatment of the Shield Hero, but I do not. Dear, what happened to all your wisdom? You know what our daughter is like, so you should have checked her story against witnesses and the shadow's reports, or did you act out because it was the Shield Hero? This is a different person, someone summoned into our world by your orders, and yet you're saddling him with old grudges.
Sigh.
At least the shadows were successful in getting that racoon demihuman girl to him, though I wish he hadn't added the Siltvelt girl to his party. I'm not sure if I should be thankful for her honest personality oir not. On the one hand, she's giving the Shield Hero much needed support, but on the other, his impression of Siltvelt is bound to grow that much more by association. Thank you for small miracles, I guess, as the Bow Hero(ine) was able to do some damage control and prevent the Shield Hero from going justifiably rogue and leaving Melromarc for somewhere else.
I shiver to think of what would have happened if he made it to Shieldfreeden and reported on his mistreatment, though him getting on such good terms with Siltvelt is far from ideal, either. For now lets just try and tie things up here so I can go back home as soon as possible and try to patch things up.
And speaking of unexpected developments, the Hero(ine) of the Bow seems to be growing into some sort of boogeyman for the Shadows in charge of watching over her. Furthermore, if the reports are accurate, she's was a surprisingly powerful magic caster even before being summoned into this world. Let us hope for a mutually beneficial work relationship in the future since she already took care of Idol Rabier while keeping a thankfully low profile. Which reminds me, I need to instruct the shadows to steer that man's victims towards re-settling Lurolona village rather than migrating into Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden. Uhmm perhaps I can convince the heroes of the Shield or Bow to look over them and have it work as incentive for them to remain in Melromarc? I better get started on redacting the documents to make sure the re-settlement efforts march along as smoothly as possible. Of course, that means governmental aid and tax exemption for six years or so.
As for the Sword Hero, he seems to be a fine young man, though the Shadow's report suggest he likes to work on his own most of the time. Maybe if I manage to set him up with some demihuman children as companions, he'll feel a need to keep watch over them instead of going out on his own all the time. Let's try and see if we can scrounge up some children with the right bloodlines for such a job.
...and then there's the Spear Hero, whom Malty has successfully wrapped around her pinky. As long as she's around, I am sure he will only see and talk to the 'right people' according to her criteria. Hopefully, I can try and convince the Hero(ine) of the Bow to steer him right somehow as payment for the information on Rabier's location...
There's so much that needs doing. I probably should send Melty back with the documents so Aultcray can't just say they're fakes this time. Perhaps she can ingratiate herself to the Shield Hero or at least have a private audience with the Spear Hero so she can explain a few things to him. Hopefully.
~qO Sakura's POV Op~
Sigh.
To think Motoyasu-san thought I wouldn't notice. I really need to smack him with my stricter side soon, don't I? Then again, from what little I could stomach of the princess' thoughts, she is doing an amazing work of keeping him as her toy. I don't get it, doesn't she understand that things are bad enough to summon people from other worlds to try and save the world? Which part of save the world doesn't scream 'we're all in danger!' to her?
I wish I had met the queen in person, then we'd be able to have a serious [Mindlink] talk about her daughter and what to do with her. I mean, she's a petty, self-serving, short-sighted, awful person, but that's not bad enough I can just have her fade to black all of a sudden.
If anything positive came out of the last 24 hours, it was that my opinion of Motoyasu-san's moral fiber is a little better after feeling how angry he can get on behalf of people he's never met. Uh... I may not be able to disappear the princess, but I can probably Shadow Jump her as far as possible next time I see her, even if Motoyasu-san is likely to throw a fit over it. Now there's an idea, but its not like I can just jump over to repeat the process over and over whenever I feel like it. I'm not a sorcerer, so I have a very restrictive set of rules upon my magecraft.
To begin with, I can only Shadow Jump a few miles at the time, and only to places I've visited myself or that are close enough for me to look at. Shadow Jumping all the way to the capital and back wasn't a single-use mystery so much as a couple hundred in quick succession, so right now all I can do is try my hardest just to remain conscious as I watch Rishia taking care of Keel-kun and Rifana-chan.
Speaking of which, Rifana-chan is finally strong enough to swallow on her own. Got to be thankful for the little things, as it probably means she's not going to just end up dying all of a sudden.
All I can do is try and be as supportive as possible. I don't have the training to offer proper mental healthcare, so I'm limited to being a cheerful and dependable older sister/mother figure for Rishia-chan, Keel-kun and Rifana-chan. And I still need to watch over Naofumi-san, Ren-kun and 9/10... I mean, Motoyasu-san.
Shirou, please find your way to me soon. I'm starting to feel wobbly on my feet as is. Nee-chan, I could really use your help in understanding this world's magecraft system and educating Rishia-chan. Rider, just having you around would be- waaait a minute...
I have some of Shirou's, Nee-san's and Rider's hairs embroidered in my hair band so they can use that as a 'North' whenever they need to find their way back from another worlds to me. Could I try and summon Rider?
Positive – No Gaia to resist the summoning into the world, my origin makes me a natural on all conceptual things such as spirits and concepts, I'm still a lesser grail, I'm connected to Akasha, and I can't believe I'm even thinking this, but thanks to Angra Mainyuu, I'm still connected to the world's exterior.
Negatives – No Greater Grail to push the summoning forth, I have no idea if the throne of heroes would be reachable from this world, and there's a chance it would be a completely different manifestation of Medusa instead of my Medusa. Plus, I've used so much energy Shadow Leaping all over the country I may just blow my head off in the attempt.
Then again, I see no problem whatsoever with adding another Medusa into our lives. Hn, I bet Senpai would make the funniest face if our special time gets upgraded from a 3P into a 4P. Yes, this is a great idea and in no way shape or form the result of me being half-fainted from exhaustion in any way!
~qO Rishia's POV Op~
"Rishia-chaa~n~ " - I turn around to see Sakura onee-sama giving me the funniest smile. ~ "I need your help with a tiny little Mana Transfer. Is for a good cause, you see? ~ "
"Eh? You need my help, Sakura onee-sama? Yes! I will be happy to!" ~ Finally, I get to be useful to Sakura onee-sama! I have no idea what a Mana Transfer is, but it sounds like she needs me to supply her with magical energy somehow.
"You're such a good girl, Rishia-chan. Please come with me into the bedroom over there~ "
"Yes, Sakura onee-sama!"
I excuse myself from Keel and Rifana's side, and follow Sakura onee-sama into a maid's bedroom.
What happened next will make it really hard to look at Sakura onee-sama's face for a while. I mean, she pushed me against the wall and...and...F-fuee!
If it wasn't because I felt my magical energy flowing into her, I don't think I could look her in the face ever again. But still... I am happy to have been useful to her, even if it was as naught a Magic Power waterskin. Also, Sakura onee-sama's lips were really, really soft...
"F-fuee..."
"Thank you Rishia-chan. I really needed that." ~ ah, Sakura onee-sama's scent is so nice, and she's so warm... no, I mean, I am glad to be of use! ~ "Can you stand on your own?"
"...I think so, yes."
"Good, please keep watch over Rifana-chan and Keel-kun. I am going down to the dungeon for a bit."
"Hm? What for?"
"Lowest point in the house. I'll explain more later. And Rishia-chan... thank you. I know it must have been a little scary, after what you went through."
I shake my head.- "No, if its Sakura onee-sama, I trust you enough to know it was something important. Besides, I could feel my magic power flowing from me into you, so please feel free to rely on me as your Magic Power Water stand-in from now on!"
"...Rishia-chan, what is Magic Power Water?"
~qO Naofumi's POV Op~
'Naofumi-san, can you make Magic Power Water!?'
"Gah!" - Sakura-san's mindlink came in such a rush and with such urgency that I actually fell backwards on the tavern floor.
Well, to some extent it was my fault for playing around with the chair and leaning back on it, but still!
"N-naofumi-sama!"
"Goshujin-sama!"
The girls rush to help. Good thing my defense is my strong suit, or I may have gotten injured just there.- "I'm alright, Sakura-san just contacted me out of the blue and took me by surprise, that's all."
"Fumu. Well, I told you not to play with the chair." - Raphtalia sighs as she helps me up
'Sakura-san, what are you talking about?'
'Magic Power Water. It can refill a person's magic power. Think of it as a healing potion for the soul.'
'Uh. This is my first time hearing about it. I will look into it for you.'
'Alright, thank you, and sorry about the fall.'
'Don't mention it. Just like Raphtalia said, it was partially my fault. That'll teach me to act like a child. Speaking of which, how are Keel-kun and Rifana-chan?'
'Keel-kun is already walking about. He's watching over Rifana-chan like a hawk, he's a really good child. Rifana-chan seems to be out of danger in the sense she's unlikely to just up and die anytime soon, but she's barely strong enough to swallow on her own right now.'
'Hn. Good job taking care of them. We arrived at Ryuuto village and had lunch just now. Also, I upgraded my shield's [Compound] ability so I should have quite a batch for you by tonight.'
'Thank you. Really, thank you, Naofumi-san.'
Fumu... the thing about Sakura-san's mindlink is, I can really feel her sincerity through it. To be so grateful on someone else's behalf, her husband really drew a winning ticket, didn't he? I bet she'll be amazing mom one day... maybe a little bit too smothering, perhaps? Either that or a tiger mom.
'You know, I heard that, Naofumi-san~ '
'Oh crap.'
'Its okay, I'm glad you think so highly of me. I will stop by the capital tonight and pick up the materials Motoyasu-san and Ren-kun are gathering for us, then hurry to your location to pick up whatever you have ready by then and give you the supplies.'
'You got Motoyasu's help?'
'He's not a bad person, you know? Just keep in mind, he sincerely believes you raped a girl and got away with an slap on the wrist.'
'...right. I'll keep that in mind.'
After saying her goodbyes, Sakura-san ends the mindlink, leaving me with a bunch of question about this Magic Power Water that she mentioned. Luckily, I have my very own talking wiki right here.
"Naofumi-sama? Why are you looking at me like that?" ~ Lin-chan leans her head slightly to the left.
~qO Sakura's POV Op~
First thing I did as soon as I separated from Rishia-chan was to summon as many shadow elementals as I could. I'm going to use them as sacrificial batteries/boosters for the summoning, and whatever energy I spend on them will at least partially recover by the time I'm ready to go through with the summoning, so it'll raise the total by at least a bit.
As for Rabiel's dungeon? I sunk every single one of his disgusting toys and torture furniture into the shadow, then spit them back out on top of the remains of his corpse. Ah, that made a satisfyingly wet crunching noise. I'm glad to see that rats and flies have managed to make something positive out of the pig's remains.
Now let's see... who would have thought the pig would be so useful after his death. He had plenty of gems and jewelry inside his office's strongbox, as well as an smaller amount in his own room. Ah, nee-san would go green with envy if she saw how many gems I'm going to melt for this.
For the time being, I have the shadow devour a half inch on the stone floor in order to engrave the circle into place. There's no hurry. To think I'd be actually grateful for anything related to grandfather, but the monster did make sure I memorised the circle before drawing it on the floor, and its appearance has become one of my fondest memories ever since.
Yup, let's do this slowly. There's no rush, and whatever long I take can only help my own reserves of Od fill back up, meaning I will be have... half a tank? Something like that, on top of the walking batteries that my elementals represent.
Really, who would have thought I'd ever do this again? Once the circle is completed, I am glad to notice that my reserves have somewhat filled themselves. I'd like to ask for Rishia-chan's help again, but I'm a little worried she'd really start thinking of herself as some sort of waterskin, and I don't want her to entertain even the smallest possibility of a thought about me keeping her around for such a thing.
Now I reach into my Legendary Bow for my sewing kit so I can use the little scissors on it and retrieve Rider's hair from my hair lace... there! Its a bit dark in here and while darksight means I can see pretty well in shadowy places, it still means I can only see in black and white... well, nee-san let her hair loose and began to grow it after the end of the war, but in sheer length alone this should be Rider's... right?
Let's place it in the groove of the summoning circle and pour the melted gems on top. Carefully, carefully, let's fill it all up in an even spread... there we go. A magic circle engraved in stone, with a personal body bit as catalyst, a host of walking mana batteries for support, a lesser Grail (me), and a layer of melted gems carefully poured into the engraved circle. If this isn't as close to ideal as it can get, I don't know what is.
"Alright, let's do this...!"
Set-
Let Each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time.
Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and reason, then answer.
- I shall declare here:
Your body shall serve under me, my fate shall be with your sword.
- I swear here.
I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils of all of hell.
From the seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power.
Come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the balance!
As the summoning circle lights up, the shadow elementals begin to collapse unto themselves in quick succession, and then I feel the ritual reach for me and drink me dry...
~qO Author Notes Op~
Like I said, the previous chapter was the hold up as to why I hadn't uploaded for a while, so since the bottleneck has been dealt with, I felt I could pump out one more chapter, and here we are. Anyway, I was typing the last section when I suddenly realised... 'wait a minute, darksight is in black & white only, Sakura can't really see in colours down there, what if she made an small mistake and used Rin's hair instead of Rider's? She would be using a personal body part as catalyst, plus (melted) gems! ...what if she summoned Ishtarin instead of Rider, wouldn't that be fun?'
So here we go, the poll is:
1 – Summon Rider
2 – Summon Medusa Lancer (Alter)
3 – Summon Medusa Lancer
4 – Summon Ishtar Rin
After all, in Babylon, Ishtar specifically explains that she and Rin have fused perfectly. Neither is oppressing the other, but rather they've both fused into a single being that has all of their memories and is a fusion of their personalities and souls. As such, Ishtarin would in fact, be Rin (with extra bits), and I think suddenly throwing Ishtarin into the mix has way more funny potential than just adding Rider in.
That being said, I can see lots and lots of potential for Motoyasu-bullying & teasing in having Medusa Lancer (alter) show up, and soo very much cuddle and smothering potential in having Medusa Lancer (Anna) (aka Medusiana) show up. Plus she'd probably be a calming influence for the children. The main reason I'm leaning towards Ishtarin over any Medusa though is that a friend tells me it wouldn't make much sense for whatever Medusa gets summoned to remember Sakura, which heavly weights in favour of summoning Ishtarin instead.
I will wait until Wednesday to count the votes, then start writing the next chapter with the winner being summoned.
Also, a friend I trust to me my fate wiki sent me this:
Summoning without a system
It is possible to utilize Heroic Spirit summoning without establishing a dedicated system around a Holy Grail or other catalyst. Gilgamesh utilizes what he calls "real Heroic Spirit summoning" in the Babylonia Singularity, saying it is unlike that of Chaldea. Merlin notes that the timeframe being that of the end of the Age of Gods makes it easier to summon them than in modern times, saying that neither he or Gilgamesh would find it easy to summon them in the magecraft-diminished 21st Century.
And he also sent me this:
On rare occasions, Servants summoned using the FATE system are able to retain most or even all memory of their previous summonings, including memories of past Holy Grail Wars. The exact reason for this phenomenon is unknown, but the stability of the Servant's Saint Graph is believed to be a factor in memory recovery. Basically if you want Medusa to remember, its possible, since this happens outside the Fuyuki system which specifically scrubs memories of past grail wars. It would probably be similar to Emiya's summoning, and would take time for the memories to return (less than a day, though).
And because I'm genuinely afraid I'd forget if I stop writing this at the bottom of every chapter:
Keel → Goodest girl thinks she's a boy. Puppy, must get all the treats
Rifana → Weasel. Weasels have really really delicate digestive tracts, must be careful with her diet.
