[Warning: The author had enough of a hard time writing serious episodes in the recent past, and so this chapter is rated S, for Silly. This chapter contains, but is not limited to: Literary, movie, tv and old game references and memes. You must have this much sense of humour to ride this chapter. There are no refunds, you have been warned. Also, Rider says "Please remember to bring Assassins and Alters, thanks."]
Chapter 15
~qO Rishia's POV Op~
"You said you needed help but Onee-sama, aren't you reading just fine?" ~ Rishia finishes refilling Sakura's tea cup, then moved on to Keel's and Rider's.
"Well, I didn't expect your world's language to be German. Though the letters are all in cursive so I'm pretty sure they'd look like wiggling worms to the other heroes." ~ Sakura explained.~ "Besides, I'm just barely at a level where I can read novels and understand some lyrics. I'd say... high-school level at the most."
"Sakura-kaachan, what's a high 'skool?" ~ Rifana asked while continuing to swing her small feet under the chair.
Sakura vibed a little bit, but managed to hold back from picking up and hugging the girl.~ "First comes elementary school, then comes middle school, and then comes high school. Some people go to college or specialized institutions to attain a more specialized education..." ~ she paused for a moment.~ "Right, we need to get a school system started once the waves are dealt with." ~ she said, sounding quite determined.
"Sakura, I am fairly sure Rin will drag you back home before then."
"Nuuh~ these children need me, I can't leave them!" ~ the normally calm (if terribly mischievous) Bow Hero seemed to be more than a little worried at the thought.
"T-that's right, Sakura-kaachan won't leave us!" ~ Rifana does her best at trying to seem intimidating, but the tall woman just smiled at her.
[Keel has gained a level!]
[Kya has gained a level!]
[Rifana has gained a level!]
"Still, Sakura-oneesama don't you think leveling the children like this may be bad for their future? I mean, they're just gaining levels without actually fighting anything, so all they have are stats."
"It's fine. Once they hit level fifteen, I'll have Rider train them in how to fight. And I'm having you teach them magic after their nap."
"F-fuee! I'm teaching them!? Why don't you teach them, Onee-sama!?"
"My world's magecraft is too different from yours. And mine is already hyper specialized to begin with. If Nee-san was here, she'd probably manage to create a unified theory she could use to teach both systems with... or something."
Keel ran head first into the table, literally, and bounced backwards into the grass with a bump on her forehead, Kya firmly grasped in her little hands. Sakura and Rider had lifted everyone's tea cups and kettle though, so there was no spillage, though a pastry did land on the ground, much to the ant's delight.
Well, if Kya really didn't want to get caught, it would have flown up instead of remaining at ground height, so as much as the gryphon chick cried out in distress, nobody was buying it, with the possible exception of little Rifana.
And a couple dozen feet away, the faint sound of roars, cries and whimpers could be barely heard escaping the dungeon's entrance as Sakura's elementals continued to dice and slice at the monsters within, turning the creatures into an steady stream of EXP for Sakura's party.
"Keel-chan, are you alright?" ~ Rishia stood up and was about to walk over to Keel, when the little tomboy sat up and reached for the fallen pastry, much to every ant's disappointment.
"Ye~es!" ~ replied Keel before taking a bite of the pastry and holding it for the cat-sized Kya to bite at.
"She's already level ten, Rishia-chan, there's no way a bump at children speed is going to hurt her." ~ Sakura lowered her and Rishia's tea cups back unto the table.
"I guess..."
Once everyone had their fill of tea and pastries, Sakura stretched a large, cuddly blanket over the grass and pulled everyone younger than herself into a nap.
"E-eh, me too!?"
"Yup, you too are a growing girl, Rishia-chan."
"Rishia-neechan is a growing girl!" ~ called out Rifana as she happily cuddled up against Sakura's side
"I should probably prepare some materials for their magic lessons... f-fuee!?" ~ she cried out as the shadows under her feet swallowed her whole before she came out of Rider's shadow over the blanket.
""You can't escape Sakura-okaachan!"" - the children chirped together.
"Fuee..."
~qO Naofumi's POV Op~
The villagers at Ryuuto were more than happy to get (Good) quality medicine and nutritional supplements at a reasonable price, so Naofumi has finally refilled and exceeded the war-chest sent to him from Siltvelt. In other words, he was finally making a profit!
Well, he still had to purchase mining tools for everyone, as well as some safety gear before they headed into the mine, but it was an almost negligible amount compared to the harvest of materials he was getting from it. Now, to be fair it wasn't all ores, as there were indeed monsters in the mine, and these grew more and more dangerous if one dug too greedily and too deep.
"Well, so long as we don't end up running into a Balrog (or a Balor or better yet a Type VI demon), we should be fine." ~ Naofumi cleared his forehead and looked at the giant beetle's corpse in front of him, then sucked it up into the shield and had it disassembled in order to acquire as many different shields as possible from it.
[Requirement for Giant Beetle Shell Shield has been released.]
[Requirement for Giant Beetle Fire Gland Shield has been released.]
'Hm... indeed, it was basically an scaled-up bombardier beetle, wasn't it? Either way, let's switch to it and start mastering it...'
Naofumi's new shield looked like a beetle's head with its mouth open, which he was grateful for since the bugs had shot the burning solution out of their ass, and he really didn't want to go around with a beetle's ass on his arm. He tried using it, and sighed in disappointment as he learnt it was a counter attack-type of skill. Still, at least he had an small area-of-effect attack now, so that was a plus.(1)
After thinking about it for a moment however, he switched it with the [Giant Beetle Shell Shield], and just as he hoped for, it granted him Fire Resistance (high), which was quite the welcome thing when considering that where there was one bug, there were bound to be more.
"Now, if only I could find something that granted Electricity Resistance..." ~ he commented while looking down at the Legendary Shield. He got a mild zap for the comment. He still thought it was worth it, though.
"Naofumi-sama, please don't tease the Legendary Shield. You know it has no sense of humour." ~ Raphtalia had dropped the 'goshujin' as of late, but Naofumi felt more comfortable when she called him by name, anyway.
Raphtalia sliced through the head of another monster bat, and looked around to see that Lin hadn't bothered to react to it. It felt strangely warm to know that she was being trusted to take care of the Shield Hero by her 'older sister'. Then again Shusaku(2) can be lightning-fast when they want to be, so it probably was more of a 'let's have Raphtalia gain more combat experience under my watchful eye' situation than a 'she can take care of it' situation.
Raphtalia thought about it, and decided to clean her sword by swinging it in Lin's direction, thus sending the ichor and blood of the bat at her. As expected, the Shusaku girl sidestepped to let it hit the wall, though taking care to make it look like an accidental dodge.
"Uuuh..." ~ Raphtalia didn't feel like she was being looked down at. She knew she was being taken care of, but it was still mildly frustrating.
"Raphtalia-chan, you could have dirtied Lin-chan, please be more careful with what you do."
"Ah! Y-yes Naofumi-sama!" ~ and now she go scolded by Naofumi, which caused her to visibly deflate were she stood.
Over the following days, Naofumi kept feeding ores and discarded, broken mining tools to his shield, leveling up many of its forms and unlocking multiple mining bonuses. He also had the villagers bring out their trash and broken tools in order to feed them to his shield, thus unlocking even more bonuses and forms.
It was during a later visit from Sakura, that he would learn of some rather important facts.
~qO Ren's POV Op~
"As expected, Tora is strong." ~ Ren nodded with a satisfied expression seeing the ox-sized dragon chasing monsters around.
"Well, it's a dragon." ~ Tersia deadpanned while helping Ren collect the mildly chewed remains of the monsters left behind by the tiger-stripped Tora.
"I'm fairly sure it's larger than the knight's dragons, though?" ~ Ren scratched his head. He had quickly unlocked growth bonuses for his slaves and monsters by feeding hair and blood to his sword, as well as the dragon series of swords by feeding it with Tora's discarded egg shell and moulted scales, but he wasn't sure if that was enough to explain the size.~ "Its almost a shame I'm not the Bow Hero. I'm sure that raining death from above is basically easy mode."
'Not that Sakura-nee isn't already playing with cheat codes on, though.'
"Hmm~ wouldn't the spear hero also had an easier time? Ah, but there's such a thing as cavalry swords, you know? Sabers, mostly." ~ Tersia offered after a few moments of thought.
"That sounds pretty good, actually, I'll look into it the next time we go to town. Now that ball of lard on the other hand, I can understand." ~ the Sword Hero looked at the obscenely fat usapii as it continued to chew on the plants and trees around them.
Honestly, this clearing their camp was on didn't exist until about an hour ago, when the beach-ball sized usapii started to cry and whine for food. It hadn't stopped eating since, and gravity itself forced its normally round body into something similar to a beanbag chair, though it didn't seem to have any trouble bouncing towards food.
"You know, I'm starting to think we may just break even if we sell it to a butcher in town. Plus, an usapii horn of that size must be a rare material."
"You are still referring to her as an 'it', lord Ren..." ~ Tersia sighed as she noticed the usapii shivering at her lord's words.
"If I name it, I won't be able to sell it, after all."
"Why don't you try adding it to our party? If it levels up, it'll be less likely to be just fat, right?"
"...fine, but if it doesn't prove at least mildly useful, I'm selling it to the butcher when we go back to town."
Ren added the usapii to his party, jabbing at it with an armoured finger, and it was at that moment that the thing began to cry, a heart-rending sound travelling far and wide in the mountainside woods.
"Oi, hey, cut that out!"
"It'll lure in every monster in the area...!" ~ cried out Tersia while covering her ears.
"Keep going, lardball! Don't stop!" ~ Ren shouted at the already scared usapii
"So mean...!"
"This is your chance to be useful, so keep going!"
Indeed, it was a monster stampede, with a large bear at the head of the lot. Tora immediately ran towards them, snatching the bear from the back of the head and slamming it through a nearby rock, while Ren drew his sword and began to spam long lines of skills at the monsters. Tersia readied her spear and counter-charged the incoming monsters, sliding under a claw and thrusting upwards, using a mix of inertia and strength to lift the monster overhead and have it fall down the shaft of her spear, kicking it off and thrusting the now bloody spear again and again at the rushing monsters.
The usapii finally shut up, shivering like a leaf as the monsters began to close in from all sides, a large stripped bear sending Tersia flying into the camp with a single swipe. No, the usapii didn't choose this moment to become a hero, but it did leap forth to cushion the girl's fall.
Ren slashed down vertically and split a monster into two before running over and slicing the bear's hind legs off from under it before it had a chance to dash at Tersia, causing the beast to howl in anger and pain. Tora charged at the bear, coming back from her previous fight and helping Ren take the beast down in a quick and brutal shower of sword slashes and tearing jaws.
"Hm. Tersia, are you alright?" ~ Ren walked over to the spearwoman and offered her his hand.~ "How much experience did you get from that?"
"Oh, I went up two levels..."
"As I thought." ~ Ren looks down at the still sniffling usapii, and grins.
Soon, an usapii's moarnful cries could be heard echoing up and down the mountainsides.(3)
~qO Sakura's POV Op~
"That's great Keel-chan, you're amazing!" ~ Sakura praised the girl as the black-haired puppy girl finished wrapping herself in magic before punching a dent in a tree.
"I-is it?" ~ Keel looks over to Rifana
The pink-haired girl finishes casting First Fire!(4) and sends a melon-sized fireball at a rock in the middle of a wide stream, causing steam to hiss as it raises from wherever the water touches it for various seconds.
"Rishia-nee, I want to cast shadow!" ~ she protests
"Well, even if you say that..." ~ Rishia looks over to Sakura with a 'please help me' look on her eyes.
Sakura looks down at Keel and smooches the top of her head.~ "Yes, it is indeed quite amazing. I'll be back in a few minutes." ~ Then she walks over to Rishia and Rifana, and crouches down in front of the pink girl.
"Sakura-kaachan, I want to cast shadow!" ~ the girl repeats herself.
"Hm~" ~ Sakura looks up at Rishia.~ "This world's magic is elemental in nature, or so I think?"
"Y-yes... there is a shadow element, but it mostly deals with illusions. It can make you invisible, create copy images of things and people, that sort of thing." ~ the green-haired girl explains while looking almost apologetic.~ "Besides, the nature of your elements are decided at birth, so..."
"Oh! In that case, could you please go help Keel-chan? I will try and help Rifana-chan instead."
"Yes, alright."
Sakura stands up and guides Rifana to the large blanket on the grass, then sits down on it and pats pats next to her, an obvious invitation for Rifana to sit with her. As she does so, Sakura pulls her into her lap and hugs her gently from behind, noting how the girl has gotten slightly taller since that morning.
"You want to use shadow just like me, right?"
"Yes! Because kaachan is the best!"
"You know, my husband's magic is 'sword', and my older sister can use every major element, just like Rishia-chan. One is incredibly specialized, and the other is a genius at everything, and they're both the heroes I admire."
"How do you cast sword?"
Sakura altered her armour to have (High) lightning resistance, then summoned a shadow sword in mid air and shoot it at the same rock Rifana had hit with her First Fire spell earlier. The bow sent some sparks at her, but it felt more like it was just fulfilling its duty rather than actually putting any effort into it.
'Seems like bow-chan has learnt some common sense as of late...' ~ she thought.
Rifana stiffened in surprise.~ "Why don't you do that all the time!?"
"Well, my husband is just so much better. It makes me feel like there's no point. Besides, shadow can be manipulated in its own ways to attack with. You know I can summon elementals, but I can do other things too. It really depends on how you use what you have, rather than what you have? ...something like that."
"I just have fire." ~ Rifana pouted softly
"I don't have fire. Not a bit of it, you know? I think having fire is pretty amazing."
"It is?"
"Maybe not right now, but once you really delve into it, if you feel like you want to be a magecraft user. But it has its good and bad points, you know? For example, if an enemy manages to get close enough to land a blow, I don't really know how to fight back. With the Bow and my shadows, I specialize in long to medium range, and in keeping enemies within that range. It may be a little complicated for you to understand what I'm talking about right now, though..."
"Sakura-kaachan is weak at fighting?" ~ the girl looks up at Sakura with a worried face.
"Yes, I suppose I am. I feel much safer now that Rider is with us, though. And Keel-chan seems to be the up-close-and-personal type as well, so that's very reassuring."
"I want to protect Sakura-kaachan, too!"
"Uhmm... more than you want to use shadow?"
"I want to protect Sakura-kaachan by using shadows!"
'Yes, my bad. Should have stayed quiet there, shouldn't I' ~ Sakura could feel a drop of sweat running down her forehead at Rifana's honest and immediate response.
"But you know, a party is six people. If we all did the exact same thing, I think that would be bad. I mean, none of us can use support or healing magic other than Rishia-chan, so if something happens to her, we'd be in a pinch."
'Now that I think about it, what's the difference between using shadow magic to conjure and attack with a lightning bolt or using it to conjure and attack with a flying sword, they're both spells!'
[The Hero cannot use other weapons than the Legendary Bow]
'Would it be alright if I conjured up a rock and threw that instead, then? What if it is shaped like a sword? Its an spell, a fire-and-forget, one-use only thing, and besides, it is just an example. Of course I'd rather use a bow for long range attacks, anyway!'
[The Hero cannot use other weapons than the Legendary Bow...?]
Sakura smiled as the bow sounded almost sheepish and apologetic right now.
'I'm not going to abandon you, you know? Ah, but right now we're taking care of your little sister, so let's go back to it!'
[Little sister...]
Sakura smiled at the feeling of surprise and... embarrassed happiness she felt from the bow. Yup, she needed to spend more time focusing on the bow's development from now on. Not so much as a weapon, as a person. Though she understood she was probably placing the cart before the horse, there.
"Besides," ~ Sakura lifted a finger to draw attention to her following words.~ "you haven't trained with Rider yet. You may be a natural at combat, you know?"
"You think so!?"
"Well, right now, neither of us knows the answer to that, right? Since you're just recovering right now, how about you start by trying to wield several weapons until you find one that is to your liking? I am not bragging, but your kaachan was the captain of the archery club, there's a reason the Legendary Bow chose me, you know, and I am fairly sure it wasn't my shadow magecraft!"
"C-can you teach me to use a bow, kaachan?"
"Yes! It'll be like helping a super cute kouhai! Ah, if you like it, I'll make you an archery uniform, too!"
"Hn!" ~ the little girl nodded with an smile.
~qO Ren's POV, two days later Op~
"I can tell you're there, Sakura-nee." ~ Ren said with an incredibly happy expression at finally having managed to deny Sakura's scare jump tactics.
"E~eh? Now that's no fun, Ren-kun, how did you know?"
Ren's group slowed down a little so the heroes of the Bow and Sword could talk more freely on the path to town. Sakura pouted (slightly), then looked back over her shoulder for a head count. There was Tersia, and two people she didn't know anything about, but based on how things had developed on her own side...
"I assume the one with the horns is your rideable dragon, Ren-kun? The green-haired girl I had seen before, so would the walking fridge be your other monster?"
Indeed, Tora had evolved into a healthy, curve-rich tomboy with smoke-black hair, slightly dark red skin and red eyes. She looks like a tall, beautiful fantasy barbarian in the later part of her teens, her figure clearly feminine yet toned and with tight, visible musculature everywhere it counts. A tight white cloth is wrapped around her, covering her from bust to upper thighs, and held in place with a single, large brass buckle to hold it up by using a thick leather collar and metal ring as anchoring spot. She's carrying two oversized axes with casual ease, each broad, heavy and sharp, attached to thick, dark wooden handles. As Sakura had mentioned, two long, skin-covered horns stretch forth from the spot where her hairline and forehead meet, spreading out slightly towards the darkened ends.
The other unknown was basically an slowly-wadding metal box, so calling it a walking fridge was rather close to accurate. It was a metal rectangle with a thin slit at the front (for vision sake?), and if she tried really hard, Sakura could just barely make the armoured tips of a pair of... shoes, boots? Something shiny looking, just barely peeking from under the lower edge of the metal box.
"In order, they're Tersia D. Schwertschwingen, Tora Amakimusume and lastly, Niku Usagi."
"There's so much to react to there that I don't even know where to start from, Ren-kun..." ~ Sakura gave him a gentle if slightly troubled smile.~ "For the time being, I am glad to see you seem healthy and well equipped. Ah, I brought the medicine and nutritional supplements Naofumi made for you"
She hands him box after box of medicine and nutritional supplements, then takes another peek at Ren's group.
"You know, there's a witch in town that can turn magic power into magic thread and cloth. I've been working on my sewing skills since we got here, so I am confident in saying that I can make pretty much anything you'd need so long as it can be classified as 'clothes', Ren kun."
"That's... nice?" ~ honestly, he would very much like several extra pairs of underwear but there's no way he's going to say that t- 'Oh no...' ~ he turned bright red as he saw Sakura's smile grow a full inch while she looked at him with a literally measuring look. "Sakura-nee! No!"
"This is just an older sister's affection, Ren-kun. There's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Y-you are terrible, Sakura-nee!"
"Hm~ hm~ I'm pretty sure I got your size right. Do you prefer boxers, briefs, trunks or boxer briefs?"
"Sakura-nee!"
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, I am being earnest, you know? Think about it, I couldn't exactly go into a mall and get properly fitting underwear either, could I? I mean, have you even seen what passes for women's underwear in this world? I will skip on the granny pants and the whalebone corsets, thank you very much. And don't even get me started on the hemp fabric most clothes are made from... seriously Ren-kun, this is a perfectly natural problem I am sure we all have when you think about it."
"Well... I guess that's true..."
Sakura lifts her hands to cup her generously-sized breasts before sliding them up to her shoulders.~ "Proper bras are a relatively modern invention, you know?"
"Uh."
"Are you thinking about your nee-san's underwear now? They're silk an-"
"Please spare me, Sakura-nee!"
"Just you wait until the obligatory beach episode..."
"How do you even know about those!?"
"...one day, Ren-kun. It'll be an amazing swimsuit."
Ren simply cannot go any redder or brighter. He waves a hand at Sakura while pinching the bridge of his nose with the other as they walk, refusing to look in her general direction no matter what. Eventually, Sakura seems to have had enough fun, and her voice comes back to a more conversational tone.
"Anyway, the reason I brought up magical cloth is because I can make magical dresses that won't just get torn to bits whenever your monsters transform, you know? I noticed Tora-chan is wearing an easily-discarded cloak as if it was a dress, so I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
"Ah... yes, your help is most welcome, Sakura-nee."
"Also, it is still early in the evening, so while that's good because it means we are likely to find the magic shop still open for business, why are you going back to town right now?"
"Well, everyone reached level forty, so we're going back for their class-ups."
"Their what now?"
~qO Naofumi's POV Op~
'Hello Naofumi-san.' ~ the mindlink sounded rushed for some reason.
'Oh, hello Sakura-san. Did you forget something?'
'No, its more about something that I just heard. Did your party already had their class-ups?"
'Their what now?'
So Sakura included Ren in the mindlink and had him explain about the class-up system, which caused Naofumi to release a deep groan since Raphtalia has been stuck at level 40 and with an star next to her level for almost four days now.
He called the girls over, and used the Portal Shield to teleport to town and meet with Ren and Sakura, appearing in the middle of the town's plaza and waiting for them to arrive from out of town. He didn't had to wait long.
"Hey Ren, Sakura-san." ~ he greeted them with a somewhat delicate feeling.
"I don't get a -san, Naofumi-san?" ~ Ren didn't seem actually offended, more like curious.
"Do you want one? Its just that you are more than three years my junior so it almost feels like I should use a -kun instead..."
"Please spare me from that. Just Ren is fine, then." ~ The Sword Hero shook his head and denied with his left hand.
Their group made a pit stop by the magic shop, so that Tora and Niku could turn magic power into thread for Sakura, time which the Bow Hero used to teleport away and fetch her own party members, all of which turned out to be attractive young women.
Then again, with Sakura herself being a married woman, it felt perfectly proper and normal, so introductions came along... fine?
"Yes, I am Black Ranger!" ~ an enthusiastic dog-eared demihuman called out. She's wearing a soft-looking biker bodysuit, with a black face mask.
"I am Pink Ranger!" ~ her counterpart had rather adorable round ears, fluffy pink hair and a pink face mask.
"I am G-green Ranger! Fuee!" ~ a petite, young-looking girl called out, adding a distressed Fuee at the end, for some reason. As expected, she's wearing a green biker suit, plus a face mask.~ "Ah bit mah tonghe..."
"And I am the Gold Ranger!" ~ a gold-themed, busty and tall beauty with california gold-tanned skin, massive white wings and a gold face mask declared enthusiastically.
"I am K-ka... I can't!" ~ Rider covered her face with both hands as she turned apple-red.
"She's Kamen Rider!" ~ declared Sakura with an slightly too-enthusiastic smile.
"Please, just call me Rider." ~ the embarrassed violet-themed servant begged from behind her hands.
'So she is keeping the Rider part!?' ~ were the thoughts of both Ren and Naofumi.
Then the pink and black rangers turned towards Raphtalia, looking at her from tip to toe, hmming as they walked around her, inspecting her thoroughly and making the tanuki girl feel self-conscious, though for some reason Naofumi didn't feel a need to go to her rescue.
"How have you been, girl whom we have never met before?" ~ asked Pink
"Does the Shield Hero treats you well?" ~ asked Black
"Yes!?"
"Fumu. An immediate reply, that's good." ~ said Black.
"I'm a little worried about the questioning feeling at the end, though." ~ commented Pink
While the girls were busy with their fun, Lin excused herself to try and meet with her Siltvelt contacts in town, promising to meet everyone later at the church. Meanwhile, Kya and Tora seemed to hit it off and were comparing notes and arguing about who was faster in the air.
"Your party is very unique, Sakura-san." ~ said Naofumi with a somewhat tense smile.
"Hm. Hm. Well, I want the reveal to be amazing when it happens." ~ the Bow Hero replies in a confident way.
"You youngsters seem to be having a bit too much fun." ~ the witch old lady that owns the magic shop admonished them, though gently enough and with a warm enough smile they could tell she wasn't really against it.~ "Here's your last monster's thread."
"I'm done, Master! Are you still rabbiting about?" - said the walking fridge as it waddled back towards the now rather large group, the armour-plated tips of its footwear just barely visible under the edge of its... armour?
"Ah, I need to take everyone's measurements for this." ~ Sakura has the shadows in the shop stretch and wrap around Tersia, Tora and Niku for a few moments.~ "Hm." ~ She pulls out her notepad.~ "Eighty five, fifty four, eighty four. Nice job."
"...eh?" ~ Tersia crossed her arms over herself as the shadows retreat.
"Ninety, sixty, eighty five. Almost a perfect hourglass." ~ Sakura nods nods.
"?" ~ Tora seems confused as the shadows retreat, but doesn't move since she didn't feel any danger.
"...Really." ~ Sakura writes down Niku's measurements in silence.
"Pyon?" ~ the metal box sways softly in place.
Once Sakura has stored away everyone's magic thread cloth, the group makes their way towards the large church hosting the Dragon's Era Hourglass(5), Motoyasu's party is brought up, but Sakura already contacted him to ask about his party member's level and came out disappointed. Well, its about what you would expect considering there's five people leeching off Motoyasu's exp while he fights alone, which is to say, out of all the heroes, his level is the lowest. He does have pretty good gear, though, since Malty basically gets him stuff directly from the royal vaults.
The group enters into the massive building(6), and are quickly approached by a nun, who inquires about their business before directing them to the Dragon's Era Hourglass.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" ~ asks the nun, and the heroes look at each other for a couple of moments before looking at their party members.
"Let's have Ren's companions, Naofumi's companion, then mine." ~ Sakura states calmly, inviting Ren's companions to go ahead first.
"Why in that order?" ~ Naofumi asks while looking at the huge hourglass.
'Because that way she can't come up with any excuse to deny you the class-up, Naofumi-san. If you go last, she'll say something like it can't be used any more for a few months and if you try to go first she'll say it is only tuned for humans and monsters since the state religion bans demihumans.'
'Oh.'
And so, Ren sends in the fridge first, then takes his time reading through the options.
"Meat Shield, Meat Wall, Master Lure..." ~ he reads out loud, causing the metal box to begin trembling.
'That's not what those say, Ren-kun.'
'It's fine, it's fine.' - he finally picks one, and a short-lived but dazzling light can be seen pouring out from under the metal box's lower edge.
"Am I strong now, Master~? Pyon!"
"Well, you went up from worm can-tier bait to master-crafted, life-like fluorescent bait, so..." ~ he holds a hand horizontally at chest height and wiggles it in a 'so-so' gesture.
"...aww. ~pyon!"
'I can tell you are worried about her, you know?' ~ Sakura chirps in through mindlink
Ren clears his throat.~ "Anyway, Tora, your turn."
"Yes! If you'll excuse me..."
"Hm. Let's go with Fang Dragon, then."
The light this time is almost blinding since the metal box isn't in the way, though the only visible difference is that Tora's horns now have little barbs along their length, and instead of being covered by skin, are covered in hard, shiny plates.
The class-up process goes well, and they're already finishing with Sakura's group when Lin comes into the church, carrying a long, mostly flat crate.
"Rider, did your dress just... shrink? If you wanted to show off, I could-"
"Sakura, no! I-i didn't pick this, the class-up affected my clothes because they're manifested as part of my incarnation, alright!?"
"Hm..."
Well, she does go by with a long and fluffy sweater and casual jeans at home, so its probably the truth. Probably. Sakura still has every intention to tease her about it, though.
"Oh Lin, welcome back." ~ greets Naofumi.~ "What's in the box?"
'Pain! Its the Gom-Jabbar!' ~ thought Ren with an smirk
'I got that reference!' ~ chirped in our resident eggplant
"Its... a crate of valuable materials for Naofumi-sama's armour, in preparation for the wave." ~ the stoic Shusaku replies, rather nervously.
"Its everything alright?"
"No, yes... well, its nothing Naofumi-sama needs to worry about." ~Sakura's face, though, looks like she just bit the sourest lemon ever, as she brings her hands up to cover her mouth in horror.~ "Its just materials."
"Hm. There's … forty-one hours left for the wave. Let's split here. My group will go to the old man's shop so we can get equipment made in time."
"Sure, see you when the wave hits." ~ Ren nods, and prepares to leave.
Everyone says their farewells, and go in separate directions after leaving the church. Sakura needs a few moments to start moving, though, eyes glued to the box in Lin's arms.
~qO Author Notes Op~
Rider: "Please forget about this chapter. Please. Do not review it, do not comment on it, and certainly do not send encouraging PMs to the author. Thank you."
1 – I'm thinking of the ultra basic 15ft long, 15ft wide cone, in greek fire mode. Bombardier beetles are a real thing, btw, look them up on Youtube, they're super interesting. They spray three different chemicals at targets and these chemicals combine into a substance that burns hotter than the sun's surface. Its a good thing they're tiny. There's also a larger variety that spits acid instead... not sure which is worst.
2 – Decided to go with the way the wiki writes down their race name instead of the fan-translation of the WN.
3 – Cute bunnies exist to be bullied in a tender manner. I will fight you on this.
4 – Yeah I'm not gonna go into German. You already know how I feel about it. If I don't understand it enough not to butcher it, I'd rather not use it at all, anyway.
5 – I feel like every media names it different. Anime, Manga, WN, LN. I'm going with this version.
6 – I honestly prefer the WN version to any other version, since its a clock tower that is re-purposed as a church, instead of a church with a clock. It just makes more sense to me.
7 – As a massive Dune fan, I had to hold back from making "PAIN!" jokes and Gom Jabbar references.
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.
Naofumi lvl 44 → 48
Raphtalia lvl 40
Lin lvl 61 → she needs too much exp compared to the others, there's no way she's leveling up before the wave. Race name is Shusaku.
Naofumi's party → Lin, Raphtalia, Keel (at some point)
Ren's party → Tersia D. Schwertschwingen, Tora Amakimusume, and Niku Usagi
Motoyasu's party → Bitch and her cheerleader squad
Sakura's party → Rishia, Rider, Keel, Rifana and a gryphon (Kya). Will probably keep Rifana and hand Keel over to Naofumi.
