To Sky Night: I didn't know about this fact on how Underworldians view the English Language. I'm not sure how, but this interesting trivia might come in handy in the future, so thanks.
To Archer: Yes, I fully intend to give a reaction to all the chapters of my original fanfiction "The Blue Rose Sword Hero".
To E.T. 2000: To give an explanation on why the others didn't suspect Kirito's group on what he said about the term Isekai, they simply didn't hear Kirito's words since he purposefully lowered his voice.
As for them having Japanese names, all I can say is just roll with it since this fanfic is purely for the cast reactions and not for the introductions.
To Pendragon: Wow... I had no idea that those villagers were that foolish or short-sighted to ignore a Cardinal Hero's warnings. I guess I will cut Ren some slack going forward from here.
To Turtle dude32: This will be one of the rare instances where Zelretch will do some explaining regarding how some aspects of the multiverse works.
To Black Rose Sword: Honestly, I just did this to make things easier for me during the character introductions. But for the story's sake, it's partially for Zelretch's amusement as well as to make a joke out of Yui being Asuna and Kirito's daughter.
And yes, they will be a few honorable mentions of other SAO characters in this fanfic.
To laggykid: Noted, I now had that error fixed.
To D3lph0xL0v3r: Thanks a lot for your kind words and happy to see how excited you are for future chapters.
As for Ren's situation, I just received some important information about him, so I decided to cut him some slack going forward from here.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm extremely sorry for the delay, I had several errands that I had to handle for the last few weeks that it reduced my time in writing. It also didn't help that I've been keeping this fanfiction hobby of mine a secret from my parents since they dislike me watching anime. Anyways, here is the chapter, and as usual, it's a joint effort between me and "Arementi Revnant".
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Eugeo and Alice enjoyed each other's presence, despite the fact that the young woman was still stuck in the form of the Legendary Holy Sword.
" "Aaawwww... that's so sweet!" "
Melty and Raphtalia couldn't help but squeal at such a wholesome moment between the two lovers despite their weird reunion.
Asuna and Kirito also felt happy for the reunited couple, albeit an incomplete one, but still a heartwarming reunion nonetheless. They weren't able to appreciate the lovely moment for too long though, as they automatically had to cheer up the once again distraught Alice. Despite Zelretch's encouraging words concerning her justifiable innocence on the matter, she still couldn't help but feel guilty.
Queen Mirellia remained largely neutral for the uplifting scene, but she still smiled a bit for the young pair's endearing love for one another.
Taking a look at the time in his Stacia Hud, he estimated that he still had 1 hour of privacy before a maid comes to tell the Heroes to have their breakfast. They would most likely meet with the Adventurers that the king found for them afterward.
Deciding to investigate more about how the Legendary Sword works now that he had time for himself, he drew the letter (S) on the sword and opened its Stacia Window. To his surprise, an alert told him that he just unlocked something new because of this action.
[Weapon Sentience Unlocked]
Weapon Fluctlight: Alice Zuberg
Seeing this, Naofumi and the other Heroes couldn't help but give their respective Legendary Weapons a look of wonder. A shame they couldn't give this method a try right away as Zelretch's observatory seemed to be neutralizing their weapons and magic.
Queen Mirellia and Melty also perked up when they saw this. Such an unfamiliar yet groundbreaking feature of the Cardinal Weapons would undoubtedly be an excellent addition to their Heroes' arsenal.
But the mother and daughter pair also assumed that there has to be more to this than it meets the eye. The unlocking process seemed to be easy; far too easy.
Eugeo read the details and learned that he can unlock new abilities by spending something called Fluctlight points. Reading further down, Eugeo learned that a Hero gets 5 Fluctlight points for every Level up. But unlike the Weapon Skills, the possible abilities for this were blank. Meaning only Alice could see them, or they only appear once he reached the Level Requirement.
"A Skill Point system huh..."
"Sure looks like it..."
"This is gonna be tricky..."
Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu (exactly by that order) commented when they saw a brief glimpse of the many abilities that were still under lock and key, as well as the many more that were invisible in Eugeo's menu. Even Naofumi winced a bit at this as games that use Skill Point systems were normally very strenuous pieces of work.
Kirito and Asuna (and Yui to a lesser extent) were no different as they themselves were also subjected to this type of gaming mechanic during their time in Aincrad.
Skill points were pretty easy to earn during the early game, as you are awarded with them each time you Leveled up. But as you grew in strength and Levels, the harder and rarer it was to earn more. And once you spend those points on a skill, ability, or stat of your choosing, there was no turning back as they were lost forever.
Filo, Melty, Raphtalia, and Mirellia were all left with confused looks as they were simply unaware of this kind of system that the Heroes were speaking of.
"I guess it's going to take some time before you can officially join me here, huh Alice," Eugeo mumbled as he had full intention of finding a way to give Alice a human body in this world.'Somehow, I WILL find a way.'
[It's okay Eugeo. We can manage for now]
"She can talk!" Motoyasu yelped in surprise upon seeing this.
Naofumi, Ren, and Itsuki were also surprised by this development but stayed relatively calm. Their eyes simply widened upon seeing the Sword Spirit being able to communicate in this manner. What truly caught their attention, however, was the idea that this other Sword Hero was planning to free her from the Legendary Sword.
"Is that really possible?" Melty asked aloud at Eugeo's seemingly impossible mission, something that was mirrored by everyone else in her group, "because as far as I know, there hasn't been any record of this ever happening in the past."
"I don't know... but if Uncle Eugeo is anything like my daddy, he will do all he can to make it happen," Yui answered Melty's question with a loud and certain voice. Recalling how her daddy was able to overcome what seemed to be impossible in order to save her mommy, "Right papa?"
Kirito could only nod in pride as he smiled tenderly towards Asuna and stretched his arm over her shoulder in a warm side-hug, much to Alice's annoyance.
Despite not knowing any context, Queen Mirellia was able to read between the lines and understood what the adorable halfling meant. Taking a look at the seemingly mismatched couple, the matriarch felt envious of the blue-haired fairy for having such a loyal husband.
Eugeo flinched in surprise when Alice showed the ability to communicate by using the Stacia Window.
[You don't have to speak out loud for me to hear you. Just think with the intention of talking to me and I will hear you.]
'Like this?' Eugeo testing it out.
[Yes, loud and clear.]
Time seemed to fly by as Alice talked with Eugeo and helped him learn more about his new abilities as this World's current Sword Hero.
The four Heroes (most especially Ren; though he would never admit it) along with the Queen and princess couldn't help but lean forward with anticipation. Any sort of information, from a spirit of a Cardinal Weapon no less, would undoubtedly be extremely valuable. Not only will it help to empower their current generation of Cardinal Heroes for the battles to come, but it could also be immensely beneficial for future generations of Heroes. Just as long as the information was meticulously recorded and carefully preserved.
The most common ability was that when the Sword absorbs something, it unlocks and can transform into the Sword that corresponds with the material it had absorbed. With Alice basically being the Legendary Sword itself, she was able to teach Eugeo a few of the more complex abilities that she currently possessed at his disposal.
[Equip Bonus]
Equip Bonus refers to the special abilities conferred by equipping different weapons.
Equip Bonuses start as unmastered. But once mastery is reached, the Equip Bonus will become permanently part of the Hero even when the weapon form in question is not equipped.
[Weapon Copy Unlocked]
The Legendary Weapons can copy weapons of the same category for the Hero's use, so long as they meet level requirements. Just hold the desired weapon for 5 seconds to process.
[Weapon's Item Storage Unlocked]
The Hero's own personal inventory dimension where items and objects can be stored and kept.
[Weapon Creation Unlocked]
By combining different materials together, new and more powerful weapons can be made. Similar to how blacksmiths use more than one kind of metal or material in creating stronger and more powerful weapons and armor. The time of the process depends on how rare and powerful the materials and final product are.
[Perfect Weapon Control Unlocked]
{Enhance Armament}
An incredible power up to the normal Weapon Skill that is being used
(Minimum Mastery Requirement: 80%)
(Minimum Resonance Requirement:50%)
{Release Recollection}
Strength of Weapon Skill becomes twice or thrice more powerful than the Enhance Armament version
(Full Mastery Required)
(Full Resonance Required)
At first, the Heroes were met with disappointment when they were treated with information that they already knew. But when they eventually reached the good stuff... well...
"Weapon Creation?"(Naofumi)
"Perfect Weapon Control?!"(Ren)
"Enhance Armament?!!"(Motoyasu)
"Release Recollection?!!!"(Itsuki)
they were greeted with a pleasant surprise.
The four Cardinal Heroes grew more and more excited as they read the descriptions that explained the nature of Eugeo's newly unlocked Sword functions and abilities.
"So Eugeo retained [Perfect Weapon Control]; that will serve him well for sure," Knight Alice commented with a relieved smile, happy for Eugeo's good fortune.
"Isn't it! This is wonderful news!" Asuna followed with an equally delighted tone, "Right Kirito?"
"Yeah... it is," Kirito replied with a happy, yet slightly somber smile, "It's great to see that he brought another piece of home along with him when he got summoned there."
The holographic projections had to be paused altogether by this point as everyone else's attention got focused on the trio. Their eyes silently asked for answers as Kirito, Asuna and Alice had voiced out their familiarity with Eugeo's recently acquired abilities. Even Yui looked to her parents and her auntie for clarification as she was the only one in their world group who never got the chance to actually live in Underworld.
Filo was by far the only one who didn't show any interest in the complicated stuff as she simply continued to enjoy her food while waiting for the projections to continue.
Noticing the questioning looks, (and not wanting to waste everyone's time as the projections would most likely explain all the nitty-gritty details later on) Kirito volunteered to give everyone a rough summarization.
"Long story short, Weapons that are created from mystical and historical materials are bestowed with additional abilities that correspond to where they originally came from. Like, if a blade was forged from the remains of a dragon, it would most likely inherit the flames that the beast once wielded back when it was alive. And the older and more historical the raw materials were, the stronger and more powerful the resulting [Perfect Weapon Control] becomes."
"I see... so that's how it works," Queen Mirellia pretty much summed up what everyone else was thinking as they all drilled this crucial piece of information into their minds.
The royal mother and daughter pair committed this info to memory as they had every intention of recording and archiving this information for safekeeping. In the meantime, the Four Cardinal Heroes couldn't help but contemplate for a moment as they thought of all of their unlocked weapon forms. Wondering which one of their unlocked weapon forms they would be able to use [Perfect Weapon Control] on.
[There are still more Strengthening Methods and functions that can be unlocked. But they're blanked out for some unknown reason.] Alice reported.
"Wait, what?!"
"Why would they be blank?"
"Well, that's a huge bummer."
Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren (by that order) reacted in varying degrees of confusion. The same could be said for everyone else as they were all confused as to why the Sword Spirit herself was being restricted from such knowledge.
Naofumi on the other hand had a pretty good idea of why this was so but chose to stay silent for the time being. Seeing as the mystery regarding these additional Strengthening Methods might resurface and be explained in the future.
'That's alright. We can learn more about them AND this world once you have a human body again,' Eugeo assured with a smile. Alice didn't reply but Eugeo knew that she was happy. The Legendary Sword started glowing with a warm golden aura with the blue gem shining once more.
"Awwww... how sweet," the Raphtalia and Melty cooed at the subtle show of affection while the others simply smiled at this Sword Hero's dedication to the Sword Spirit Alice.
The moment was shortly interrupted when a knock is heard from the door, "Sir Sword Hero, it's almost time for breakfast."
The grand breakfast was enjoyed in a quiet fashion but Naofumi, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were all a bit confused as to why Eugeo seemed to be in a really good mood.
"Right this way," The maid spoke as she lead the four Heroes to their current destination. Once they arrived at the throne room, the King along with numerous nobles were waiting to see them.
[Something is wrong]
Eugeo read from Alice's window and he was quick to notice what she meant.
First was the many noblewomen that were eyeballing Eugeo, Motoyasu, and Itsuki with admiration and desire, the Spear Hero unsurprisingly gave many of them flirtatious glances while the Bow Hero simply waved at them in awkward greetings. Eugeo simply ignored them partially because he found them not worth noticing and partially because he could feel the Legendary Sword shaking in agitation. Alice was getting extremely annoyed with the lustful gazes the noblewomen were giving him.
"Well... I can't say I blame her," Asuna voiced out with an annoyed tone in her voice as they all witnessed the other Alice's animosity against the noblewomen, "I probably would've felt the same thing if something like this ever happened to Kirito."
"Agreed," Knight Alice said as she cringed at the unpleasant thought.
"Hmm-hmm!" Yui huffed in agreement with a cute frown on her face.
Kirito wisely decided to stay silent, not wanting to catch any of the girls' ire.
Another thing the couple noticed was that quite a lot of people were shooting glares and looks of disgust in Naofumi's direction again.'We really have to do some investigating after or if I get any companions later. Their eyes are exactly like Humbert andRaios when they looked at me and Kirito.'
[The eyes with very dark intentions]
Alice said and Eugeo could only mentally agree.
"It's quite astonishing to see just how observant this Eugeo fellow is," Queen Mirellia complemented as they saw the gazes that are being highlighted onscreen.
As everyone else nodded in agreement, with Kirito and Alice being more in approval, Naofumi couldn't help but groan and facepalm upon seeing just how naive and clueless he was back then.
As all four Heroes bowed before Aultcray, he quickly announced, "Fellow heroes, as promised we have found worthy adventurers to aid you in your quest to save our world."
Immediately after the King finished that sentence, numerous people walked out wearing a variety of equipment and weaponry. Some had swords, some had staffs and some had knives.
While all of them looked like capable fighters, Eugeo and Alice could see the truth right through the ruse the King and nobles were pulling.'THESE are the worthy adventurers that you found for us? Almost all of them are just a bunch of stuck-up nobles who just happened to pick a weapon for a hobby!'
[Exactly!]
Alice agreed with such force that the Legendary Sword vibrated once again.
"Your majesty, with all due respect, what is the meaning of this?" to the surprise of everyone in the observatory, especially Kirito, Asuna, and Alice (seeing as they were greatly offended by what they saw), it was the normally sweet and innocent Yui who voiced out the question with great disdain.
"Judging by the shiny armor that they're wearing, the polished weapons that they're wielding, and the overall aura that they're exuding... Well... pardon my rudeness, but with the exemption of one of them, none of these people are battle-hardened warriors. They really are just a bunch of stuck-up nobles who decided to pick up a weapon as a hobby."
Yui's soft yet biting words definitely caught everyone's attention as the suspicious Ren, incredulous Itsuki and the disbelieving Motoyasu all looked to the Queen for answers. Naofumi stayed relatively still as he already knew, or had a pretty good hunch on what the Queen's answer was going to be.
Faced with their questioning gazes, the Queen along with the Princess could only sigh at their husband and father's stupidity.
"If I'm going to take an educated guess, those are the children of the Nobles who were under my husband's thumb. They didn't scout for capable warriors, but they instead selected Adventurers among the young nobility," Queen Mirellia answered.
Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu couldn't help but feel conflicted by this revelation. While they will admit that their respective parties weren't as helpful in a fight (especially when compared to Noafumi's), they still appreciated their assistance and support. Although in Motoyasu's case, it was more of him indulging himself with female supporters/cheerleaders instead of training actual fighters.
Naofumi and his party were left completely unaffected by the Queen's words as they already had a feeling, even subconsciously, that this was the case. Well, almost completely, as both Raphtalia and Filo couldn't help but puff out their chest in pride since they had proven time and time again that they were far superior compared to the other Heroes' parties.
On the other hand, Kirito, Asuna, Alice, and Yui were only left with more questions than answers as they all wondered why the King would do all of this. The only reason why they remained silent was because they assumed that they will get answers soon enough.
As someone who was trained by Kirito, Eugeo's best friend being a battle-hardened warrior of so many near-death experiences. (Even though Kirito never had the chance to tell Eugeo about his past) Eugeo learned how to feel the battle presence of his opponents, and to a lesser degree, a monster's aura. But almost all of these so-called adventurers barely had any battle presence at all!
[That woman with silver and lavender hair is by far the only one who has what it takes to become your companion. The rest of these so-called worthy adventurers won't even survive 10 seconds with a spar with you!]
Eugeo took a glance at the woman that Alice mentioned, she was equipped with a sword that was very similar in length to his. She was releasing a fair amount of battle aura and had a certain allure of being humble despite her status as a noble. Similar to Kirito's senior instructor Sortiliena.
"She looks formidable," Alice commented while observing the lavender-haired woman's body structure and movements.
"Her armor is also slightly dented in some areas, which might mean that she has faced formidable threats in the past," Yui followed up with her own observations.
"Not to mention that sword that she's carrying. The handle is pretty worn down, meaning it has been through quite a number of fights," Kirito remarked with his own examination.
"She looks... oddly familiar..." Asuna murmured under her breath in confusion as she looked very closely at the woman in question. Her chest now pounding at strange wave of nostalgia that shot throughout her body, "but how can that be?"
Meanwhile...
"Who's that hottie?" Motoyasu asked with a half lecherous and half confused tone, "I know my memory isn't the best, but I don't think I would have missed a pretty lady like her when we were first given our party members."
"Now that you mention it, you're right," Ren also realized this fact once his replacement focused his attention on the girl in question, "I don't recognize her at all."
"Me neither," Itsuki chimed in.
"She's probably a last-minute addition that they made to follow Eugeo's request from the previous day," Naofumi said as he ventured a guess.
Queen Mirellia and Princess Melty nodded in agreement at the Shielder's hypothesis.
Once again, Eugeo and Alice took notice that nearly all of them were giving brief looks of contempt at Naofumi which confused the couple even more.One woman, in particular, a redhead who seemed to specialize in magic, caused Eugeo's skin to crawl.'That woman's smile reminds me of the Pontifex too much for my liking.'
[Agreed]
"I wholeheartedly agree with my other self."
"Me too."
Alice and Kirito collectively winced upon seeing the conniving woman onscreen before adding...
"Although, I think the Pontifex is still several times more frightening compared to this woman."
"Yeah."
Asuna and Yui were left out of the loop on this one since they never had the misfortune to meet the Pontifex, but they took their words for it.
Naofumi and his party, along with Queen Mirellia, Princess Melty, Ren, and Itsuki, made no arguments over the comparison as they could clearly see the resemblance between the two deplorable women. Although they still collectively wondered...
'Just how scary was that woman?!'
Unsurprisingly, the naive Spear Hero tried to defend the guilty redhead, but his protest was of course met with deaf ears.
Kirito sighed in growing annoyance. Motoyasu had to be the biggest womanizer he had ever seen – as well as the blindest one. When he first showed his perverted side soon after this viewing began, he had compared his reaction to that of Klein's. He had seen some of Klein's perverted side on occasion after all.
But seeing Motoyasu's words and actions, he had to admit that comparing Klein to that idiotic pervert would be a great insult to his older friend. After all, Klein was a leader of his own small guild that was part of the main frontline forces, the Fuurinkazan back in SAO. And under Klein's leadership, the Fuurinkazan had suffered no casualties throughout all of SAO, despite having been through multiple dangerous situations, including but not limited to the fight to purge the Laughing Coffin, the Gleam Eyes boss battle on the 74th floor, as well as the Skull Reaper boss battle of the 75th floor.
To suffer no casualties in their team despite being trapped in a death game for two whole years – that was an impressive feat. And the rest of the members of his party (which were mostly girls) didn't really have problems having Klein in their group, despite his somewhat perverted behavior. Because they had to respect Klein for his feat and his loyalty to his friends.
Klein may be a joker and a bit of pervert under normal circumstances, but when things got serious, Klein was a friend they all could rely on. His time in SAO as well as the War in Underworld proved that much.
But compared to Klein, the only thing Motoyasu could best Klein at was probably his pretty face. Of course, Kirito had yet to see Motoyasu in a serious fight, but something told him that he was going to be far from impressed when he did.
'Sorry, Klein…' Kirito mentally apologized to his friend for briefly comparing him to the womanizing Spearman.
"Now choose the Hero you wish to serve, though anyone who chooses to go with the Sword Hero will have to pass a certain test of his," The King announced.
Upon hearing this, all the Adventurers began walking towards the four Heroes who lined up in a row to make things easier. Naofumi, Itsuki, and Motoyasu watched in a mixture of excitement while Eugeo just hoped that the silver lavender-haired woman that they took note of chooses him.
Soon the adventurers had all lined up behind the Hero they wanted to serve. Eugeo had five people (including the woman he wanted, much to his relief), Motoyasu had four, and Itsuki also had four. Leaving no one for Naofumi.
"Seriously?"
"Well, that's just plain rude."
"Disgraceful."
Kirito, Asuna, and Alice groaned simultaneously at the blatant display of discrimination.
Upon noticing this, Naofumi was dumbfounded when it became apparent that he would have no one with him during his adventure. "Why hasn't anyone here joined my party?" He asked his voice laced with confusion and worry.
Eugeo then decided to help Naofumi by reminding everyone of the condition he asked for, "Well you still have a chance."
He then faced the King, "I would like to test my possible companions here and now if it's not too troublesome. Those who failed my test can join Naofumi."
"As much as I appreciate Eugeo's efforts in trying to get me allies, I don't think that's going to help," Naofumi said with a heavy sigh before adding, "After all, they've already made up their minds on how they're going to treat me."
Raphtalia and Filo again comforted him, while the other three Heroes and the Queen and Princess felt varying degrees of embarrassment.
Eugeo noticed the King frown ever so slightly at his suggestion, the same went for his companion candidates with the silver lavender woman being the exception. But the King complies, "Very well, let it be done if they wish to do so."
Everyone then made space for the center of the throne room where Eugeo stood across his companion candidates with the other occupants watching in anticipation. "The condition I set up is simple. I want you to attack me with everything you have, no holding back whatsoever. If you manage to hold your ground against me for 10 seconds, you pass. If not, it's an instant fail. So, who wants to go first?"
"He's kidding right?"
"There's no way..."
"They may not be the battle-hardened warriors that we were told, but they're still several Levels higher than we were back then. It shouldn't be possible..."
Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren voiced their opinions on what they thought about Eugeo's test. On the other hand, Naofumi and his group mates leaned forward with great interest. After all, Eugeo's confidence wasn't composed of empty pride, but of genuine skill and determination of a warrior.
Kirito, Asuna, Alice, and Yui stayed silent on this one, but they all smiled in anticipation of seeing their friend/uncle to prove these so-called Heroes wrong.
Everyone was very surprised at his strange and seemingly easy conditions, so the first candidate to go was a guy who carries some kind of spellbook. He started chanting, "As source of thy power I order thee, Decipher the laws of nature and burn the target in front of me. Faust Fire Ball!"
Eugeo would normally not allow an enemy to finish casting but decided to humor the man. Just to show how incompetent he is in Eugeo's eyes. So, as the chanting is finished, a human-sized fireball was launched at him. To the other Heroes, it was an impressive sight. But to Eugeo who witnessed the firepower of the Pontifex and her right-hand man, it was not much better than a flaming candle.
With the flash the spell was released, Eugeo was able to discretely activate a sword skill. With relative ease, the fireball was sliced in half, much to the caster's and everyone's shock. Then with a simple leap forward, the Legendary Sword was now two inches away from the man's throat.
"You failed," Eugeo said in a plain voice before lowering his sword and facing the other companion candidates, "Who's next?"
"Holy cow!"
"Impossible!"
"Did he just cut that fireball in half?!"
Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren all exclaimed in varying states of disbelief while Naofumi and his seatmates silently gawked at the impressive display of skill and power.
"I've seen this before..."
"Doesn't this remind you of someone?"
Alice and Asuna simultaneously chimed in amusement as they looked at the emotional swordsman sitting between them.
"I'm so proud of him," Kirito jokingly teared up as he watched his best friend taking a page from his playbook, countering the magic spells by slicing them in mid-air.
"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, Uncle Eugeo was trained by daddy after all," Yui proudly added.
The other heroes and the rest of the throne room's occupants watched in astonishment as Eugeo tested the others. The guy who used two daggers jumped high in the air and crashed down on the Sword Hero was simply sent slamming into one of the castle guards that were spectating. The green-haired girl delivered a powerful punch that was quickly blocked by the flat side of his sword, before trying a sneak attack with a hidden blade on one of her sleeves. Eugeo saw it coming so he sent it flying from her grasp before leveling his Sword on her throat.
The big guy who used an axe charged at him like an out-of-control bull, all power with no skill whatsoever. Eugeo met the axe strike head-on before redirecting the man's momentum to one side, causing the man to lose balance and stumble to the floor. Not allowing him to recover, Eugeo once again pointed his Sword at his opponent's throat.
"This is embarrassing to watch," Alice groaned in metaphorical agony as she observed the pitiful show these so-called Adventurers were putting up.
Kirito, Asuna, and Yui couldn't agree more as they all cringed at the wild swings and erratic footwork that these novices were demonstrating. Naofumi and his group were no different as they shook their heads at the pathetic display.
Not even the three stooges could justify just how badly these Adventurers were doing against a still underpowered Sword Hero.
Alice decided to add something in.
"As Eugeo is someone who has faced the leader of the Integrity Knights, Commander Bercouli one-on-one and bested him, these incapable nobles have no chance against him – even when he is holding back," Alice said with pride.
Everyone excluding Kirito's group stopped what they were thinking and immediately rounded up on her.
"Wait, what?!"
"Eugeo fought the leader of your Integrity Knights?!"
"And he won?!"
Motoyasu, Itsuki and Ren (by that order) asked Alice eagerly. The queen and princess also looked at Alice as if they wanted to hear her answer.
"Yes… yes, he did win. I, unfortunately, was not there to see it – Eugeo had been separated from me and Kirito at the time and by the time we arrived at the scene of the battle, Eugeo had already defeated Commander Bercouli and was gone. Even Bercouli admitted his defeat. And I am certain – that if circumstances had been different, he would have invited Eugeo to officially join the Integrity Knights – Eugeo has the skills and mindset worthy of an Integrity Knight – this I cannot deny," Alice explained.
The rest of the cast processed her words, impressed, no doubt by Eugeo's past feats.
Finally, it was the silver lavender woman's turn to face Eugeo's test.
Looking at the woman in question, she was wearing some kind of uniform which was actually very similar to the one female students used to wear at the Sword Craft Academy. Hers being white with a violet design at the joints with her skirt being a few inches above her ankles. There were also some pieces of armor that protected some of her vital spots like joints, shoulders, and chest.
Eugeo could see that her curvaceous and appealing body wasn't simply because of having a healthy diet, but the result of years of training in the way of the Sword.
The woman took a stance in the typical samurai fashion, but Eugeo saw something that pleasantly surprised him. The sword and scabbard his opponent was holding started to glow, very similar to the Sword skills that exist in his former world. The only difference was that her version seemed to be a little untamed.
Before anyone in the audience could react upon seeing the existence of Sword skills in this world, Zelretch decided to intervene.
"Just to answer your inevitable string of questions:
Yes, Sword skills just happen to exist in this timeline.
And no, it's not impossible for something like this to happen. This is just one of the many dimensional ripples that you will be witnessing since no two worlds are ever truly the same,
and Yes, you could also learn to do this once you return to your own timeline, albeit you will be needing a lot of training to do so.
Any more questions?"
The entire audience could only nod in dumbfounded amazement. Completely bewildered by how the Dimension hopper was able to answer their questions before they even asked them!
Seeing that Sword Skills also existed here, Eugeo deemed it safe to show more of his abilities.'Then again, these people just might write this off as me mimicking her style instead me using a superior one,' Eugeo then took an Aincrad style version of the woman's stance, causing the Legendary Sword to shine a blue light as he activated a Sword Skill.
The other Heroes watched in excitement as this is the very cliche but still famously loved standoff scene where two powerful attacks are being charged up and were about to clash, to see which one is stronger than the other. The other occupants, on the other hand, gasped in great shock. Just as Eugeo predicted, they mistakenly thought that he simply copied the skill from the woman. The said woman maintained her calm and seemed to be more determined than before as one of her legs slid ever so slightly in preparation for a full-speed attack.
"This is going to be good," Kirito voiced out with a wide smirk as he and everyone else leaned forward and also shared the excitement and anticipation of how this clash was going to go.
In a silent signal, the two combatants charged at each other.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" they both yelled as their blades crashed against each other.
CLANG!!!
WHOOSH!!!
The impact caused a small shockwave and powerful winds that blew against all of the spectators. Eugeo and the woman looked deeply at each other's eyes as their swords sparked with their light slowly dimming. But instead of going on with the remaining 9 seconds of his test, he decided to call his verdict.
" "That was awesome/badass!" " Motoyasu and Itsuki childishly cheered.
"Yeah... I guess it was great," Ren begrudgingly admitted, feeling a bit peeved that Eugeo was making him look bad.
The rest of the audience stayed silent but were also very impressed at the presentation of this lavender woman's strength and skill.
Eugeo and the woman took a few steps away from each other before both returned their blades back to their waist. "You pass with flying colors," Eugeo smiled as he gave her his Swordsman's salutations which she then returns with her own. Striking her left fist to her open right palm in front of her, then taking a small bow with her hips.
"My name is Eugeo Zuberg, it's a pleasure to meet a fellow dedicated Swordsman such as yourself."
"My name is Kirin Toudou, and the pleasure is all mine Sir Eugeo. I look forward to fighting by your side and to also learning your world's sword style."
Eugeo then faced the King, "I will be taking her as my companion your majesty. You have my gratitude for finding someone like her to aid me on my journey."
"Well... at least Eugeo was able to recruit the only decent Adventurer among them," Kirito commented with some sense of pride and relief.
It might sound hypocritical coming from him, especially after his years of being a loner, but he knew better now. After experiencing the loneliness of being separated from his friends and family while stranded in Underworld, he now had a deeper understanding of just how hard it is to go out solo in a different world.
Asuna, Alice, and Yui, along with Naofumi's party and the two royals, could only nod in approval for Eugeo's choice.
There was a small silence before the King managed to snap out of his stupor, "Y-you're welcome Sir Eugeo. I'm glad you found someone who you deemed worthy to be your companion."
It seemed that Alice went on ahead and added Kirin Toudou to his party as a Stacia Window suddenly appeared in front of him saying...
[Kirin Toudou added to your party]
Level 10
There was a silence again before someone started to clap which evolved to everyone clapping and giving praise for giving a good show.
"That was so badass!" Itsuki said in admiration as he hooked one of his arms behind Eugeo's neck.
"That was amazing!" Naofumi praised as he shook his hand.
"You really put up a great show dude!" Motoyasu exclaimed as he strongly patted Eugeo's back, almost causing him to fall to the floor.
Unfortunately, once the scene finally ended, they faced the very same problem as the three men who tried to join Eugeo transferred to Itsuki while the remaining woman went to Motoyasu.'Alright, this is getting ridiculous. This scenario is completely impossible to happen unless someone is seriously doing this on purpose just to make things harder for the Shield Hero.'
"This is surprisingly refreshing," Naofumi voiced out upon seeing how this other Sword Hero wasn't turning a blind eye over Melromarc's unfair treatment towards him.
"Do you think Sir Eugeo would become a close ally to you, Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia questioned after hearing the other Sword Hero's thoughts regarding Melromarc's obvious prejudice towards her beloved Hero.
"Maybe," Naofumi replied with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. After all, after everything he had to go through after he was summoned as the Shield Hero, a part of him still finds it difficult to trust someone.
"I think he will!" Filo cheerfully beamed after hearing her Master's doubts, "I can't put it into words... but, there's something about him that makes me feel safe."
"Is that so..." Naofumi mumbled.
"I must admit this is something I haven't foreseen," King mused, causing Eugeo to narrow his eyes and label him as one of the many culprits that were purposely making things harder for Naofumi.
"Perhaps this is because the Shield Hero doesn't have the charisma that the other three have?"
[That is totally a lie! If that is true, more of them should have chosen you since the Spear and Bow have been extremely disrespectful ever since they arrived in this world.]
Alice commented which Eugeo agreed wholeheartedly.
"She definitely has a point there," Kirito said in agreement as he turned towards the three stooges, "If your own introductions were any way similar to the ones we saw some time ago, then you guys probably left a pretty bad first impression."
The three stooges were greatly offended by the black swordsman's words, but they couldn't really deny them.
Especially Ren, since his voice and Kirito's sounded remarkably similar, as well as their preferred color of attire, Kirito seemed to be a more confident and competent version of himself – though Ren would never admit it out loud.
In the next moment, the advisor whispered something into the king's ear before Aultcray turned to the four otherworlders.
"It seems a disturbing rumor has been circulating around the castle."
Eugeo tried very hard to not glare at the King as he asked, "And what exactly would this disturbing rumor be? Because rumors tend to be unreliable information and are mostly made up of lies."
"Apparently there are those that have reason to believe that the Shield Hero has no knowledge of our world, even though the prophecies state that all the Heroes are supposed to have extensive knowledge of it."
"That has to be the most ridiculous explanation I've ever heard in my life!" Asuna exclaimed in indignation after hearing the poor excuse of an alibi.
Kirito, Alice, and Yui all nodded in agreement with the Undine's exclamation while Queen Mirellia and Princess Melty could only facepalm at their husband and father's idiotic idea of response.
"How can that be when no one has even spoken to him about it? We literally just arrived in this world yesterday after all," Eugeo asked with a suspicious tone.
The King looked uncomfortable and from the looks of it, he was trying to think of a response to give to Eugeo's question. "Well you see Sir Eugeo….one of our servants had a chance to speak with the Shield Hero the previous night about it and that's where he confessed his lack of foresight at least according to them."
Naofumi looked shocked, "I only said that I don't know much about this world, but I didn't say I'm completely clueless..."
The King cut him off. "Anyhow that's just how it is, there's no helping the situation now Shield Hero."
"It's official... pardon my rudeness your majesty, but your husband is a fool," Kirito groaned at the King's feeble attempts in dismissing the Shield Hero's understandable concerns.
"I know..." Queen Mirellia replied with a heavy sigh.
"Mmm… Sorry to say this Mel, but Filo has to agree too with Yui's papa… Your papa was a meanie to master…" Filo said to Melty.
"I… can't disagree…" Melty admitted, ashamed.
Naofumi and Raphtalia on the other hand were starting to like Kirito's group more and more for pointing out this injustice.
As Eugeo was contemplating over what he could do to help Naofumi, an unexpected voice broke out.
"Excuse me, I would like to join the Shield Hero's party."
Everyone looked in the direction the voice came from and saw the red-haired woman from before who continued. "I don't think the Shield Hero should have to fight alone, so since no one else is willing to help him when he needs it the most I guess it will fall to me."
Both Eugeo and Alice already noticed that her words were anything but sincere. Unfortunately, the Couple simply didn't have anything concrete that they could say for Naofumi to not accept her offer, so they decided to stay quiet. But Eugeo had every intention to get to the bottom of this because the entire situation reeked of a setup.
Eugeo could only watch warily as the redhead walked up to Naofumi extending her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Shield Hero."
Naofumi took her hand and shook it whilst replying. "Likewise, Miss…"
"Myne Sophia."
"I really shouldn't have taken her offer..." Naofumi groaned in both anger and frustration as he once again relived the events that would inevitably lead to his fall from grace.
The rest of the audience (even the three stooges) could only look at the wronged Shielder with sympathetic eyes. Even more so for Queen Mirellia, as she knew far too well, that both her husband and the Church would never have given up. Even if their plans for the false rape allegations somehow failed, they would have undoubtedly staged another heinous crime for the Shield Hero to fall into.
The King decided to address everyone. "Now that all the Heroes have their parties assembled, we will now distribute funds to all of you."
Upon hearing this, four servants holding bags began walking toward the four Heroes handing the bags in question.
"As you venture out to fight off the Waves we will give all of you funds each month to support you in your quest. Motoyasu and Itsuki shall receive 500 silver whereas Eugeo and the Shield Hero shall receive 800 silver since they both only have a single party member."
Eugeo once again saw for a brief moment the disgust on the King's face. Another fact he now noticed was how the king kept avoiding using the Shield Hero's name. All this time, he kept referring to Naofumi by his title. Eugeo highly doubted that the extra funds he gave to the Shield hero were of any level of sincerity either.
"Huh," Ren roses once this fact was pointed out, "I never noticed it before. But now that I think about it, in all of the times those two ever interacted, not once did the former King ever address Naofumi by his name. He either called him by his title or angrily refers to him as the 'Accursed Shield'."
Itsuki and Motoyasu tipped their heads in thought as they both reminisced about all the times the two men verbally traded blows.
"The mere fact that this man refused to even use Naofumi's name... it just goes to show how he doesn't even see Naofumi as a person," Alice grumbled in disgust at how the law was once again being tarnished by the ones who are in power. Just like how the so-called Nobles of Underworld were able to prey on the weak.
"Thanks, this will definitely help," Naofumi said to express his gratitude believing that the King actually meant well. Of course, the King didn't bother with any reply and instead opted to address all four Heroes.
"Now, Heroes destined to save our world, go out and grow stronger so that you can combat the waves."
With that, all four Heroes turned to leave the castle.Once everyone was outside, Itsuki and Motoyasu with their respective group went on their separate ways. Eugeo then looked at Naofumi, "Hey Naofumi." Naofumi turned to listen, "Just as I said last night, I'm going to do some combat practicing with my companion, Kirin. Do you still want to join us?"
"Oh yeah," Itsuki blurted out once the offered combat training was bought up again, "After all the excitement, I kind of forgot about that."
Naofumi blinked before scratching his cheek as he felt embarrassed that he had forgotten about the offer Eugeo so generously gave him. Especially since the Bow and Spear had written him off as useless with the Sword being the exception.
The Shielder nodded before facing his red-haired companion, "Hey Myne, do you know a place where we can get some potions and some equipment?"
"Of course, I do Sir Shield Hero, this is my home after all. I also know where the best blacksmith shop in town is."
Naofumi nodded in acknowledgment as he took 600 silver coins from his money bag and placed them in one of the bigger pockets on his jacket. He then handed over the money bag with the remaining 200 silver coins to Myne, "Why don't you go ahead and buy our potions while I go with Eugeo for some combat training. Let's meet up again at that blacksmith shop you mentioned afterward. I doubt I will take very long since Eugeo's knowledge about Shield combat might be a bit limited, he's a Swordsman after all."
"That is a good point," Ren said as he rested his hand against his chin, contemplating on the other Naofumi's words, "After all, there's a world of difference between a person who uses a sword and shield in tandem compared to a person who exclusively wields a shield. Which begs the question, how is Eugeo going to teach Naofumi?"
Ren's question lingered in everyone's minds, as they all wondered how Eugeo is going to tackle this predicament.
"I'm sure Uncle Eugeo will figure something out," Yui hollered cheerfully before aiming a bright smile toward her father, "he's daddy's pupil after all!"
"Yeah... he is," Kirito replied with a brightened up and more confident smile as he and his two girls were infected by Yui's optimism.
Naofumi turned to the Sword Hero for confirmation of his educated guess. "That's unfortunately true, but it's still better than nothing. Besides, that Shield of yours probably has something to compensate for that particular problem," Eugeo admitted.
"That is a possibility." the aforementioned Shielder voiced out as he glanced at his Legendary Shield, "as annoying as their restrictions are, these Cardinal Weapons are surprisingly accommodating once you get used to their limitations."
Eugeo then faced Kirin, "Do you know the blacksmith shop that she's talking about. We can all go there together after our short training session." Looking down at himself, the clothes that he had stolen from the Axiom Church's armory, "I don't think these are going to do a good job in providing me protection."
"Probably not," Kirito chuckled as he recalled that those clothes were originally stolen from the Central Cathedral's armory. Being short on time and not accustomed to the generalized armor that was available at the time, he and Eugeo simply made do with what they had.
Kirin giggled with a nod of agreement before giving a reply, "If she's talking about Erhard's blacksmith shop, then yes, I know of it. He's been my family's go-to blacksmith for the past several years because he focuses more on quality instead of unnecessary cosmetic design. Though his creations always had a certain charm to them despite their simplicity in the looks department."
"Yes, that is exactly the place I was talking about," Myne exclaimed with a smile.
"Alright, everything is settled then," Eugeo finalized. Eager to have this two-faced woman out of here so that he can finally relax more. Something about Myne just seemed off to Eugeo and Alice.
"I really wish I had that kind of skepticism back then," Naofumi let out with an angry sigh, clenching his fist at the sight of his other self being so trusting to that wench of a woman.
Filo and Raphtalia could only rub or pat their master's back in an effort to comfort him. Filo may not be all that bright in the intellectual department, being more focused on things that she enjoys like eating, playing, or collecting her shiny trinkets of junk, but her ability to sense other people's inner selves and emotions had always been topnotch. So she made the extra effort of reeling in her Master's anger by also giving him a big hug.
As they went their separate ways, Kirin then guided the two Heroes to a clearing in the forest where monsters very rarely roamed. The perfect place for a training session without being disturbed by humans or monsters.
"Alright Naofumi, now I need you to watch very closely as Kirin and I use a one-hit Skill," Eugeo instructed as he and Kirin stood a few feet away from each other, facing in the same direction and shifting into their respective stances.
All four Heroes leaned forward with great intrigue and concentration as they observed each and every one of the pair's movements.
This went doubly so for Ren, as any kind of Combat Skills that Eugeo has under his repertoire should be within his reach also. After all, they both held the title of Sword Hero.
Even Motoyasu, whose eyes were a tiny bit more concentrated on Kirin's movements instead of Eugeo's, was also observing very closely to see what he can learn.
Their blades soon gained their respective light, Eugeo's being sky blue while Kirin's was red, then slashing the empty air in front of them in a horizontal manner.
Wooosh!
A gentle burst of wind was felt by all of them because of the force of their slashes.
"Impressive..." Ren reluctantly admitted as he saw the power behind those simultaneous swings of the pair's swords.
"No kidding," Motoyasu followed up, "and by the looks of those slashes, they're packing a hell lot of a punch compared to the typical normal attacks."
"Yeah," Itsuki agreed wholeheartedly before adding, "the activation sequence is also pretty fast, much faster than when we use our Weapon Skills. So it'll be a pretty handy skill to have if we need a relatively powerful attack at a moment's notice."
"And that's not all," Naofumi jumped in as he also noticed something very important with the other Sword Hero's hud, "From what I can tell, those Sword Skills didn't consume any of his SP or MP!"
" " "Wait! Seriously?!" " "
The other Heroes exclaimed in both shock and amazement. Since they had grown accustomed to the use of Weapon Skills, a special power that they alone had that consumes a set amount of SP for every use, they had wrongly presumed that these Sword Skills also needed a type of energy bar to consume.
But now, upon realizing how this mechanic lacked any need for a parameter to use, this discovery had opened up a lot of possibilities for all four of them to benefit. Which is something the rest of the audience are happy to hear.
Eugeo straightened up before looking at Naofumi, "As you saw, we had to take a specific stance to activate our Sword Skills right?"
"Yeah?"
"But for you to learn a Shield skill, something that is really abnormal, you have to create your very first stepping stone. The very basic Shield skill in the list. I can't show you the skill because this Sword prevents me from using a shield, even if it's for a demonstration," Eugeo explained.
"Wait, what did you just say?" Naofumi asked in confusion.
"Oh yeah..." Motoyasu blurted out, "This Naofumi still doesn't know about our Weapon restrictions yet."
"Yeah, and it would have been nice if at least one of you idiots bothered to mention that before we went out separate ways," Naofumi said grumpily with a healthy dose of sarcasm in his voice.
The three buffoons, at the very least, had the decency to appear ashamed of their actions as they all sheepishly looked away. Attempting to avoid the several piercing stares that were being aimed at them by the remaining audience.
"If you look carefully at your Stacia Window, your Weapon says that it's locked in. Meaning you can't remove your Shield and at best, you can only move it around your arm or perhaps transfer it to your other arm. You most likely can't use anything else. I have a hunch that we get some kind of punishment if we disobey this rule," Eugeo sighed sadly for his fellow Hero's behalf.
"Seriously! But how can I deal damage when my Attack power is a measly 1!" Naofumi exclaimed in frustration.
"Now that... could be a serious handicap," Kirito couldn't help but wince in psychological pain at the thought.
Being the hard-core gamer that he was at heart, Kirito could imagine the pain in the butt such a handicap could be in a solo fight. And as someone who prioritized his stats for a DPS role in all the virtual worlds that he had logged in to, such a stat constraint like that would be a complete nightmare for him. A train of thought that was also shared by Asuna and Alice, as they can also be classified as DPS units, though they didn't voice it out loud.
Yui had a different opinion on this topic though, as she had a sneaking suspicion that a handicap of this magnitude, would most likely have something of equal value to compensate for such a weakness. And much to the pixie's surprise, she received her answer far sooner than she could have even imagined.
"Well lucky for you, Shield skills don't depend on your Attack power. So if you manage to figure this out, then you have something in your arsenal that actually deals damage," Eugeo assured him. This calmed Naofumi a bit and made him even more determined to implement Eugeo's combat skill into his arsenal.
"That's it!" Yui exclaimed seemingly out of nowhere, understandably startling her seatmates, her parents, and her aunt from her sudden outburst.
After everyone regained their composure, Melty and Filo took it upon themselves to question their newest friend on what she just figured out. As the rest of the audience discretely leaned in to listen...
After 5 minutes of Naofumi's failed attempts of activating a Shield Skill...
while also seeing how the other Naofumi still haven't gotten any headway, Yui proceeded to explain her hypothesis.
"In the world where we were from, there's a widely accepted rule of balance and fairness on what a single person can be capable of," Yui said informatively as she gestured towards her daddy, mommy, and aunt in that order while explaining further...
"My daddy has extremely fast reflexes and some very high stats in strength and vitality, making him one of the most powerful and skilled fighters in my world. But as a price for his strengths, his defense stats are relatively low and his non-combat skills can only be regarded as decent."
Kirito sheepishly winced at his daughter's unintentional slight to his off-field capabilities, much to everyone's amusement. It didn't last long though as Yui quickly continued...
"My mommy is without a shadow of a doubt, the fastest member of her race in history. Thanks to her extremely high agility and dexterity stats, she's able to run and fly at unbelievable speeds and can also deliver some very fast yet devastating strikes with her rapier. She's also a gourmet cook when out of the battlefield, which is also a great boon. But due to these facts, mommy's defense stats are nearly nonexistent and her vitality isn't that much better either."
This time, it was Asuna's turn to sulkily accept their little girl's negative analysis of her chosen stat distribution...
"Aunty Alice, by far, has the most balanced out stats compared to all the people that I know. But due to her unfortunate upbringing, being under the control of that evil woman that you all saw earlier, her skills in everything that is not combat-related and that needs finesse is exceedingly low."
The final member of the trio could only blush at the embarrassing reveal regarding that part of herself. Recalling how she was met with a lot of troubles in adjusting to her new life as a commoner when she first arrived in Rulid Village with the comatose Kirito.
After all those details were brought to light, Yui finally shared her assumptions with everyone as she spoke...
"If you tally all of those details together, along with how similar this world is to ours back home, then it's a reasonable conclusion that the Legendary Shield will have something special hidden within. Something so great that it will effectively compensate for all the drawbacks that Naofumi had to endure for being the Hero of the Shield."
Yui's long-winded deciphering of all this information was met with a perplexed silence as everyone (with the exemption of Filo of course, who now had swirls for eyes due to the complicated discussion) contemplated the concepts that the young halfling had pointed out.
This went double for the four Heroes in question as they all pondered over the thoughts that Yui had shared with them.
After absorbing and storing the information dump that Yui had dropped on all of them,
"Quite the intelligent young lady you two are raising over there," Queen Mirellia complemented with an admiring smile on her face, "I can already tell that she is going to grow up to be quite the respectable woman in a few year's time."
Kirito and Asuna glanced at each other for a second before beaming in unison with pride.
" "Thank you!" "
They said in unison, feeling proud of their daughter as they patted her head, to which Yui giggled happily for the show of affection.
The bystanders watched the scene with adoration – unsurprisingly by the females more than males.
Raphtalia, Melty, and Mirellia watched the adoring scene with both happiness and grief.
Raphtalia had been praised by her parents several times like that back before Rurolona was hit by the first Wave, and seeing them brought back some fond if not sad memories.
Melty and her mother watched with similar feelings of nostalgia and grief. Melty had received such treatment from both of her parents – especially her father since her mother had learned not to spoil their child rotten as their father/husband had done with Malty, or Bitch – as she was to be called now… So, she didn't receive such a blatant show of affection from her mother as she used to. She knew her mother had good intentions, looking at how her sister had turned out. But she still missed her mother being more affectionate with her.
Not only that, with her father no longer being the man he used to be, she had to wonder – after all that had happened to their family now that the Waves restarted, could they return to how it used to be before the Waves?
Unknown to Melty, her mother also shared her thoughts and memories – wishing that things had turned out differently for both her once wise husband and their first daughter.
The royal mother and daughter pair watched on feeling both happiness and envy.
Filo was the only one among the group to watch Yui being complemented by her parents without any hint of grief whatsoever. She was very happy for her new fairy friend, but even she wished briefly that her Master would treat her like that – and to have a mother figure as well.
It took a minute, but as the young parents and their daughter turned back to the projections to see the viewing resume, the rest of the audience snapped out of their stupor of adoration and got back to their seats.
Eugeo then had an idea.
"I think I have an idea," catching Kirin and Naofumi's attention, "When using a Combat Skill like this for the very first time, allowing your instincts to take over is probably your best chance."
Taking several steps away from Naofumi, Eugeo took a stance for his most basic and weakest Sword Skill. A simple slash called {Slant} that was simply the building block of his more powerful Sword Skills, "I'm going to attack you with my weakest Sword Skill, so even if you fail, you won't be taking too much damage."
The Shielder nodded, understanding what Eugeo meant as Naofumi had watched shows and movies where some new skills can only be unlocked in combat situations. Taking a stance that he felt comfortable with, he waited for Eugeo's strike.
"Is this really going to work?" Motoyasu asked out loud as he pondered on what this other Sword Hero was planning to do.
"Well, we won't know until he tries," Itsuki said as he crossed his arms in thought.
Ren stayed silent this time as he unconsciously leaned forward to have a closer look at his counterpart's Sword Skill. Already filing it as another thing that he should try himself once he gets the chance.
"Follow your instincts!" Eugeo exclaimed as he charged forward with his weakest Sword Skill.
Naofumi met the attack head-on, and to everyone's surprise, the Shielder actually pulled it off. The Legendary Shield took a soft green glow before releasing some kind of feedback that sent Eugeo sliding backward because of the force. Eugeo barely managed to catch himself from falling on the dirt as that Shield Skill messed with his center of gravity. Glancing at his Stacia Hud, Eugeo was pleased to see his HP going down by a small amount.
"I DID IT!" Naofumi cheered in glee as he raised both his arms in triumph.
"Aagghh!" Naofumi facepalmed in embarrassment upon seeing his other self's childish celebration, much to the amusement of everyone else.
"Ch-Cheer up Master Naofumi," Raphtalia giggled a little as she attempted to comfort her Master, "At least you and your other self know how to deal damage now."
Naofumi had to admit that she was right – although begrudgingly.
"Quick, take a look at your Stacia Window. You should have unlocked something new now because of this breakthrough you just pulled," Eugeo mentioned as he and Kirin smiled at the Shield Hero's success.
"Right." Naofumi eagerly wrote the (S) on his palm and then opened his window. "There IS something new here."
[Combat(Shield) Skills Unlocked]
The Legendary Heroes can also learn and master physical skills and techniques. Once the Hero reaches the required Status requirement and Mastery of the basic skills, more powerful and complicated skills can be unlocked. They can also be used in conjunction with Weapon Skills.
Naofumi's grin grew wider and wider as he scrolled in various directions to see the many Shield Skills that are currently locked. Already planning to work hard to learn them as he read the prerequisites of his future Shield Skills. He then took a look at the first Shield Skill he just used, "The Skill I just used is called {Shield Counter}. As the name heavily implies, it's more of a Counterattack skill instead of a straight-up attack skill. But it'll be very useful if I get creative and if I time it just right."
"Now that's an extremely useful skill," Naofumi grumbled a bit in thought. Imagining in his head just how much easier things would have been if he was able to learn this technique so early on his journey.
The rest of the audience, even the hard-headed heroes, couldn't deny that such a skill would've been extremely useful for the lone Shield Hero. Even more so when he had party members who could take full advantage of the staggering effect that the {Shield Counter} causes.
"That's great news," Eugeo agreed and felt great relief wash over him that his idea actually worked.
Now his mind was more at ease now that Naofumi wasn't completely helpless anymore.
Glancing at Kirin, he saw that she was also happy with the outcome.'Glad that Kirin is different from all those Adventurers that the King gathered for us. I would hate to kick out someone like her who has so much hidden potential that's just waiting to fully manifest.'
"That's for sure," Kirito said in agreement with his best friend's thoughts.
"I concur," Alice also remarked, "It's relieving to see that this woman is someone Eugeo can entrust his back to. Especially with how this world is still completely foreign to him."
"Hmmhmm..." Yui hummed in approval also.
Asuna remained strangely silent as she simply nodded while focusing her gaze even more on the swordswoman in question,'Why do I feel this way? Why do you seem so familiar?'
Eugeo and Kirin then spent the next 10 minutes showing several Sword Skills of their respective styles and explaining to each other their various advantages. Naofumi on the other hand, watched closely to see if he can at least memorize a few Sword Skills and maybe teach them to his future party members who are also sword users.
"That's pretty clever of you Naofumi," Princess Melty complemented, both for the onscreen Naofumi and the one beside her, as she watched in awe of all the flashy Sword Skills that the other Sword Hero was capable of, "If your other self manages to memorize all of Eugeo's techniques, then it may be possible for you to train the other Raphtalia once you meet her later on."
"I... would really like that," Raphtalia perked up once she realized that possibility.
"My thoughts exactly!" Naofumi exclaimed in mild frustration as he asked aloud, "Does anyone have a pen and a notepad?!"
"I second that!" Ren also called out as he struggled to keep track of all the Sword Skills that he may potentially be able to imitate and add to his arsenal.
"Well, why not..." Zelretch replied with some humor in his voice. With a snap of his fingers, a pen and a notepad appeared on each of the Sword and Shield Hero's laps, and they wasted no time in putting them to use.
After working up a little sweat, the two swordsmen stopped and Eugeo decided that it was time to head out now.
"I think this is enough training for now. Let's go take a look at that Blacksmith shop you were talking about," Eugeo declared.
Naofumi seemed to swipe something in the air, probably to close his Stacia Window, and nodded in acknowledgment.
"Very well, the shop is this way," Kirin said as she began leading the two Heroes out of the forest and into the city streets.
"So Eugeo, what do you plan on doing once we get our gear?" Naofumi inquired.
Eugeo scratched his head in thought, he planned to do some investigation about this world beyond what King Aultcray said. It was very common for people of high standing to omit details, especially if it was about the so-called commoners that they choose to ignore. There was also something completely wrong with how the King and his people were purposely treating Naofumi poorly. He wasn't as naive as he used to be, so Eugeo clearly saw the looks of contempt that has been aimed at the Shield Hero by the King and a great number of the Nobles. There is also the fact that there were no signs of damage in this town, which meant the first Wave occurred somewhere else.
"The observations that Sir Eugeo has made are impressively accurate," Queen Mirellia said, very impressed with the other Sword Hero's on-the-mark hypothesis.
"And with nothing but unplanned eavesdropping and loose guesswork to go on nonetheless," Princess Melty added.
This made the other three Heroes, especially Ren shift more and more uncomfortably. This Eugeo was giving a far better first impression than any of them had displayed.
[You are being followed, be careful of what you say!]
Alice quickly alerted in one of her Stacia Windows in front of him. (Alice being classified as a sentient sword, could sense the blades that the spies were carrying on their person.)
"Wait!" Motoyasu blurted in great surprise as he and everyone else froze for the very same reason, "She can do that?!"
Kirito was by far the only one who was unfazed by what they saw. After all, he had a very similar experience when Eugeo himself aided him during his fight against PoH and Gabriel Miller.
"You'd be surprised at what Eugeo and Alice can be capable of…"
Kirito's words only caused further confusion among his peers, but he decided to stay silent on the matter. Although Yui did have a small suspicion about what her daddy is referring to, she also decided to keep it to herself. It wasn't a subject that could be shared lightly.
Eugeo could feel the Legendary Sword shake as a sign of urgency, so he said something else, "I plan to see how fighting monsters in this world differs from my world. I would also like to see how this Legendary Sword of mine absorbs materials and how it can store my belongings for me."
"Wait, our weapons can do that?" Naofumi paused in amazement as he looked at his Shield.
"From what I've read on the Stacia Window, we Heroes can absorb materials like monster parts, metals, ores, and many more resources to the jewels that our weapons have. We could even create combinations of different materials together depending on our imagination," Eugeo explained to Naofumi the few functions of their Weapons, "The absorbed materials are then used to unlock more forms that correspond to the material in question for our use. Each form has different appearances, strengths, and hidden abilities."
"It's really nice of Sir Eugeo to explain all of these details to your other self, isn't it Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia commented.
"It sure is; I'm really starting to like this guy more and more – unlike some three morons that just chose to keep this info all to themselves," Naofumi grumbled in annoyance for not receiving any of this information and was forced to learn it by trial and error.
"Now, now, Master Naofumi…" Raphtalia said with slight reproach.
Again, the three stooges shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"Is that seriously how it works?"
"Yeah," Eugeo replied in slight confusion about how Naofumi didn't know about this, before passively adding, "I found out about this when I opened my Sword's Stacia Window."
Naofumi abruptly stopped walking, causing Kirin and Eugeo to stop as well.
"Our Weapons... also have Stacia Windows?" Naofumi whimpered softly as he looked to the ground in shame. Feeling like a really big dummy that the answers he desperately needed... were right under his nose the entire time!
"Ahh! This is so embarrassing!" Naofumi groaned with a facepalm as he saw how pathetic his other self seemed to be at this point in time; his face was also reddening.
Raphtalia and Filo rubbed the grumpy Hero's back to comfort him once again.
Eugeo couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly as he watched Naofumi lament about his supposed stupidity while Kirin quickly tried to cheer him up in an adorable fashion.
"Che-cheer up Sir Naofumi, now you know! So you can go ahead and take a look right now!"
"E-Exactly! So ch-cheer up Master Naofumi," Raphtalia said in a fluster.
Naofumi, still not fully cheered up from his depressed state, went on ahead and wrote the (S) on his Shield and opened its own Stacia Window. In his vision appeared the information that explained the Absorb function, the Mastery gauge, the Equip Bonus, Weapon Creation, and the Weapon's Item Storage that Eugeo was talking about.
"Why don't we go and put our money in our storage now," Eugeo suggested in an attempt to snap his fellow Hero out of it, "This way, there won't be any chances of them getting stolen."
This did the trick as Naofumi got back to his senses and carefully dropped all of his remaining money into his Legendary Shield.
A window popped out saying...
[Treasury Shield 2 Unlocked]
[Quality: Very Low - Base Defense: 5]
[Mastery: 0/20]
[Equip Bonus: Appraisal Skill 2]
[Exclusive Ability: Money Storage]
Naofumi was then startled as his Legendary Shield changed form right in front of his eyes. It transformed into a more shiny silver shield with a padlock embedded in the middle with a green jewel at its very center. Opening the Shield's Stacia Window once again, it showed a bar at the top right corner where his 600 silver coins are now being stored for safekeeping. Below that were the currently empty slots where he could store his belongings.
Eugeo experienced something similar when he followed suit. The Legendary Sword transformed into a shiny silver sword with a silver padlock and blue gem at the center of the guard.
[Treasury Sword 2 Unlocked]
[Quality: Very Low - Base Attack: 5]
[Mastery: 0/20 - Resonance: 0%]
[Equip Bonus: Appraisal Skill 2]
[Exclusive Ability: Money Storage]
"Why in the world didn't I think of that?!" Naofumi yelled out in frustration for not doing what his other self had done. Not only would it have been a convenient way for him to safely store his money, but this so-called {Appraisal Skill 2} would most likely be an extremely useful skill too!
The other three Heroes weren't as vocal, but it couldn't be denied that they were also mentally kicking themselves for not even considering such an idea.
"Did you get the Appraisal Skill 2 as well?" Naofumi asked out of curiosity.
"Yeah, I did. The Stacia Window says that this skill is used to scan the Level of monsters. Extremely important in making decisions of whether or not you can handle a particular monster in a fight," Eugeo answered with a grin as he imagined how important this seemingly simple ability could be in the future.
"How come we skipped that Appraisal Skill 1 and went straight to 2?" Naofumi wondered out loud in confusion.
"It's probably because we went straight to Silver coins. The first Appraisal Skill must have had a Copper coin requirement, probably for Scanning objects instead," Eugeo took a guess as he could see the great potential this ability has for merchants, doctors, and herb gatherers.'This would have made their jobs easier by a hundred times over. This is just plain out cheating!' he snickered in thought.
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Kirito pondered out loud as he calculated in his head just how valuable such a skill like that would be to people like Agil or Lisbeth. Something that his wife was quick to agree with.
"No kidding, I can already imagine how far Agil and Lisbeth would be willing to go through to get a skill like this."
Alice and Yui could only nod in agreement as they both knew the merchant and blacksmith well enough to predict how they would react upon discovering such an ability existed.
" "There's a WHAT, Kirito?!" " They could practically hear how Agil and Lisbeth would react once they discover such an ability.
"Take me with you to get this skill, Kirito! If we acquire this skill, I'll give you discounts for a week – no, for a month for all items in my shop!" Agil would say.
"Take me with you, take me with you, take me with you! I'm not letting go until you agree to take me with you, so take me with you!" Lisbeth would say as she clings on to and pulls on Kirito's arms while he chastises her for behaving like a stubborn child throwing a tantrum.
They had to let out a chuckle at the thought.
"That's amazing..." Kirin commented in awe as she can see how incredible the Legendary Heroes could be in the future. If something like completely mundane pieces of coins were able to give them such useful Skills, she could barely imagine what they would get if they absorb something mystical. Absorbing things like Dragon Fangs, claws, or scales, will without a doubt, give them a great boost in power. Giving them more amazing Skills to add to their near-infinite arsenal.
"If that's the case, let's ask that Blacksmith for some pocket change when we buy our equipment from him. That sounds just too good of an ability to pass up," Naofumi eagerly suggested as they continued walking.
Eugeo followed suit as Kirin continued to guide them to Erhard's Blacksmith Shop.
The trio soon arrived at their destination, the two Heroes now looking at the emblem of a shield with what looked like a buster sword beside it. But they couldn't understand the words that were written right below that picture.
"We really need to learn how to read this World's language when we get the chance. This could eventually become a big problem down the line if we don't," Eugeo sighed at the unexpected chore. The Underworld only had a single unified language, even the Goblins he fought when they saved Selka spoke in the same language as humans. So there was no reason for anyone in the Underworld to learn a new tongue.
"That could be a problem," Asuna commented in pity for the Heroes' predicament concerning the language barrier. She knew full well how difficult it was to learn a whole new language as Asuna's mother once hired tutors to teach her how to speak a few foreign languages, which were mostly English, with some Korean and Chinese.
Her mother had insisted that Asuna learn other languages besides Japanese when she was young since Japanese was a very restrictive language when it came to pronunciation. Especially pronouncing vowels, since the Japanese had only 5 vowels, A, I, U, E, and O, whereas other languages had vastly more vowels than Japanese.
Therefore, it was very difficult for a person whose first language was Japanese to properly pronounce other languages – the older they were, the harder it would be. It was a well-known social problem in Japan, actually. Because many Japanese didn't see the need to learn other languages, they never bothered to learn them properly; even English, which is considered a global language all over the world.
She had heard some of her classmates or even adults from her school before SAO attempting to speak in English. But because of the efforts of her English tutor, her English speaking skills were more advanced than theirs, even at the time. And Asuna was certain that if they were to try and speak with a real English speaker, they would hardly be able to understand what they were saying to them at all because of their abysmal pronunciation.
Then, there was also the fact her mother felt that the English teaching curriculum in most of the Japanese schools were subpar at best. That was why her mother had hired tutors who could properly teach her the languages.
Of course, learning the languages wasn't easy at first, but Asuna managed to impress her tutors and mother. It was thanks to them that Asuna not only spoke above average English but also a bit of decent Korean and Chinese. And Asuna had no choice but to admit that learning these languages had paid off for her later in her life, and she was grateful for it. Not only in learning the languages themselves, but also in widening her viewpoint.
One such instance of her language skills coming to use was when she infiltrated the Ocean Turtle to find Kirito with Dr. Kojiro Rinko during the Alicization incident, where Asuna was disguised as the doctor's assistant from her American University, and she had to speak in English to maintain her cover story. If her English pronunciation skills had not been as good as they had been thanks to her tutors, it was likely that she would have received suspicion from the Ocean Turtle's guards, possibly blowing her cover before she got inside and met Kikuoka.
"Definitely," Kirito concurred with a nod. He himself also struggled with learning new languages, which was hinted at when he first entered ALO and traveled to the World Tree alongside Leafa, who could cast ALO's spells with relative ease compared to him since the spell's pronunciations were based on foreign languages, including English.
If it wasn't for Asuna, it was likely that Kirito wouldn't be able to learn new languages at all…
But then, Kirito froze for a second as he realized something important, "Wait a second, if a language barrier like this existed, how come everyone was able to communicate with the Heroes just fine?"
"That would be the Legendary Weapon's doing," Naofumi voiced out his answer, "The Legendary Weapons have a passive function that acts as a universal translator for the Hero and the people. The only downside is it only works on verbal communications, so it doesn't work on literature."
"I see, oh well..." Yui murmured in thought before adding, "On the bright side though, learning to read and write would be much easier now. The verbal half of learning a new language has already been handled by the Legendary Weapons, so it should be much easier for them to learn from a dedicated teacher."
The three stooges stayed suspiciously silent throughout this interaction, feeling far too embarrassed to admit that they never even tried to learn this world's language. They simply depended on their respective parties to translate for them.
It didn't help that even back in their respective worlds, they never bothered to properly learn English – only bothering to learn specific game-related English words for convenience's sake.
"Yeah, I can already imagine some shady businessman or quest requester suddenly ripping us off simply because we can't read a contract's fine print," Naofumi sighed as well.
"I can easily see something like that happening if they're not careful," Alice commented with a sigh at the unfamiliar problem. After all, Underworld only had one language that all the citizens spoke by... two if you include the so-called sacred language (that she now knew was called English) that allows them to use Sacred Arts.
"Don't worry Sir Eugeo," Kirin assured with a smile, "I will teach you this world's language the first chance we get."
Eugeo nodded thankfully.
"That's one problem down at least," Kirito mumbled out with a small sigh of relief.
Opening the door, the three entered and were quick to notice the redhead who was holding a sword and seemed to be testing its weight.
"I was really hoping that she wouldn't show up again," Naofumi growled at the sight of this she-devil of a woman.
"Welcome!" A voice bellowed as the two Heroes looked towards the sound and were greeted by the sight of a middle-aged bald man with a scar on his face who turned to get a look at both of them. "I've never seen you two before."
"Good to see you too, you big oaf," Naofumi snorted at the big man. There was no heat in his voice though as the Shielder surprisingly smiled at the sight of the other Erhard. Knowing that if some events still played out the same way, then this Erhard will be one of his counterpart's most trusted allies for the foreseeable future.
Raphtalia and Filo felt the same way as they sent the kind blacksmith some fond smiles of appreciation.
"These two are the Sword and Shield Heroes," Myne announced as she returned the sword she was holding to the display.
Erhard blinked in surprise for a couple of seconds before bursting out in roars of laughter. "Would you look at that, my little shop is getting really popular! Two out of the four Legendary Heroes paying a visit to my humble shop on the same day and at the same time!"
"I guess that is true," Princess Melty giggled in mild amusement, "If not one, but two of the Legendary Heroes visit your shop on the same day and time, it would be an incredible free advertisement."
"I wouldn't put it past him," Naofumi replied with a chuckle.
Overhearing this, Asuna couldn't help but giggle as she was reminded by her friend Lisbeth. Back when they were still in Aincrad, the female blacksmith did receive a sizable increase in clients when it was exposed to the masses that the so-called Lightning Flash and Black Swordsman were some of her top clientele. Thus unknowingly creating a free advertisement for the rest of the player base without lifting a finger.
Erhard then noticed the Sword Hero's companion, "Little Kirin! Is that you!?"
"Hello, Mr. Erhard," Kirin greeted a bit nervously before being enthusiastically pulled into a tight hug.
"I haven't seen you in years! You really grew up to be such a fine lady haven't you," Erhard said as he looked at Kirin now and compared it to how she was several years earlier...
"I guess Miss Kirin and Mister Erhard go way back, especially if he had met her when she was still a little girl," Raphtalia theorized as she saw how fondly the bald man hugged the lavender-haired girl.
…before releasing, "So I guess you're here because you joined the Sword Hero's party, huh?"
"Yup! Sir Eugeo and Sir Naofumi would like to buy some armor since their current attire is hardly appropriate for the battles to come," Kirin confirmed as she gestured to Naofumi's casual clothing and Eugeo's light blue Swordsman's Soldier Uniform.
Erhard smirked. "So long as they got the money for it."
"Gotcha,"/"Understood," Naofumi and Eugeo replied simultaneously, which they chuckled in good humor.
"Same old Mister Erhard," Raphtalia said as she and Naofumi chuckled at Erhard's words.
"I've heard of this one before," Kirito laughed at the hard-core business mentality that this bald man was exuding, "remind you of anyone?"
"Yup, he and Agil would've gotten along perfectly if they ever met."
"Indeed they would. And he seems to be just as big as Mr. Agil too."
"They will be almost like brothers no doubt."
Asuna, Alice, and Yui giggled at the thought of the two bald men.
"Actually, now that I think about it, even their voices are similar, don't you think?" Asuna pointed out.
They paused.
"Hmm… Now that I think about it… yeah, this Erhart guy and Agil really do sound similar," Kirito agreed.
As the rest of the audience watched the events that were about to unfold, Zelretch was barely able to keep his grin at bay. Knowing fully well that some of the waterworks are about to be let loose once Kirin's true identity has been revealed.
Especially to the current holder of {Mother's Rosario}.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
I regret to inform all of you that the next chapter of "The Blue Rose Sword Hero" is going to take quite a while for me to complete. My brain has really been going through the wringer and needs some well deserved rest for the time being.
But as a bit of good news, the next chapter already has the bare bones of its narrative written and saved to my files. So once I pick up where I left off, I should be able to finish it more quickly than usual. Perhaps 3 months at the very least.
P.S.: I made a very slight change in one part of Chapter 1. It's the portion where Zelretch was messing with Kirito by displaying alternate versions of himself. See if you can spot the difference and tell me what you think.
As always, thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I'm open for compatible suggestions and any advice that you readers could give. As for those nasty Reviewers who loves to Insult us authors, please just leave us alone.
Stay safe from the Coronovirus and stay indoors as much as possible!