Chapter 30 – Tasks at Hand
Me? The Shield Hero? Summoned to Melromarc?
"You're joking." He didn't want to believe it, but the expressions of the nobles told him it was true. It would be pretty stupid to lie about something he could somewhat easily discover the truth of. Though, that would explain why he never saw emissaries from any other country.
"I'm afraid not, Lord Shield." Werner answered him with a frown.
"Hmm." Dante didn't really think the queen was incompetent. Hearing this, however, started to make him reconsider. Eclair heard about the church's dealings with certain nobles, so it was a sure bet that the queen did with her shadows. With their activity, surely she would have investigated them more. But, no, that wouldn't have mattered. Eclair's father was supposed to be in charge while the queen was away. If he was, and the Shield Hero was the only hero summoned to Melromarc, things may have been drastically different.
Instead, none of that happened. Eclair's father died. Aultcray summoned all four heroes. Malty framed her country's enemy. They took a bad political situation and made it worse. If anything, perhaps Mirellia simply trusted her family too much, seeing as the person she put in charge could be sent away by her husband to retrieve a fish.
"I disagree on who the bad actor was in that situation, but I agree with some of what you said." Dante said. The queen's competence was up for discussion, but Dante highly doubted it was malice. Though, she was still called a 'vixen', so she couldn't be that inept.
"Sir MacRory!" That wasn't something Eclair wanted to hear.
"Take it easy." He told her. "For the queen to not care about your territory is, frankly, unbelievable. She was, after all, the one to put forward creating a demi-human area in Melromarc, right?"
Eclair slowly nodded.
"And Jaralis," Dante turned to the lion therianthrope, "I would appreciate it if you didn't try to antagonize my companions with statements you don't even believe."
The lion man smiled and bowed his head. "You're quite wise for someone your age."
Dante smirked. "I may not look it, but I'm 28 years old. Your little tirade may have worked if I actually was 17." Luckily, he had years of experience dealing with blowhards like Jaralis. "Now then, I agree with what Werner said. Let's leave politics for later."
The rest of their supper was, fortunately, very lighthearted. Eclair kept casting glances at Jaralis, but she didn't make any further comments. All in all, it turned out better than Dante thought it would.
Still, he was left with food for thought. Though, he likely wouldn't pursue it too aggressively for a while. It wasn't as if any of these nobles would have anything positive to say about Mirellia, given everything that happened since the start of the waves. There was that old genmu who Dante recalled was at least somewhat friendly with Melromarc. Maybe he could shed a little light on the happenings of the world, whenever they met.
Once supper was finished, Dante got ready to leave. Werner had something to say about that.
"If you would give us a moment, Lord Shield, we can prepare an escort for you." The winged man said.
Dante shook his head. "I appreciate the gesture, but I have it covered." He looked over at Eclair. "You're coming with me."
"I…of course, Sir MacRory." She didn't have much to say after her outburst at supper.
"Forgive me, Lord Shield, but is that wise?" Werner asked. "Lady Eclair has suffered an injury to her hands, and it has not yet healed, correct?"
It seemed they didn't have all the details about Dante's group. That was good. Dante still needed to figure out how much they learned and how they did so. Maybe the shadow he questioned could tell him.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to a populated area in Melromarc." Dante assured him. Werner's expression told him he wasn't entirely satisfied. "But I can take another with me. Raphtalia?"
"Yes." Raphtalia was already set. If nothing else, she could practice her form while Eclair instructed her. Despite the constant traveling, Raphtalia always seemed ready and willing to work on her swordsmanship. Dante might go a round or two with her, see how she's adjusting to her heightened stats.
The others would wait for their return. They said their goodbyes, with Dante mentioning a second destination after Melromarc. Before Werner could object, Dante activated his portal skill.
In an instant, they found themselves at the bottom of the mining complex. It looked about the same as when Dante was last there, perhaps with a little more vegetation. There was also a zergling standing with the farmer baron. It, too, wore a straw hat, though this one looked more Japanese.
I'm not even going to ask about it.
Ignoring the silly appearance, the three of them started down into the tunnel.
"Sir MacRory." Eclair said, gaining his attention. "I'd like to apologize for my outburst earlier."
"Eh, it's fine." Dante shrugged. "He was provoking you. Well, not at first, but definitely after you reacted."
"Still, it was unbecoming of a knight to fall into such a trap." Eclair lowered her head.
"You can discuss the proper knightly etiquette soon enough." Dante smiled at her. "I have a feeling that's what Reiko has for me."
"I see." Eclair nodded. "So…is that why you asked me to join you? Not to chastise me about my behavior?"
"It was neither, in fact." Dante said as they entered the large area of the mines. "Someone just wanted to meet you properly."
"Dante!" Reiko beamed as they approached. He quickly ran up to the man, before slowing as he noticed Eclair and Raphtalia behind him.
"Hey, I hear you have something for me." Dante said with a smile. "Also, that little cacodemon you gave me chirps weird."
Reiko stood a bit away from them, shifting from foot to foot. He gestured with his hand and Dante came forward, lowering himself slightly to the fox boy.
"I didn't know you'd be bringing the raccoon woman too." He whispered into Dante's ear.
"Was I wrong to?" Dante asked.
"Well…no, it's fine." Reiko said. He may have been nervous about talking with someone who lived in near the area he took corpses from. Raphtalia wasn't exactly pleased when Dante absorbed all the bodies, so it was a fair concern.
Reiko walked around Dante and stood in front of Eclair. Without another word, he bowed his head to her.
"I'm sorry the wave happened at your home. You are a good knight and you should be proud of yourself." Reiko kept his head down as he spoke.
Eclair, for her part, didn't seem to understand what just happened. Dante had told Reiko that Eclair was the only knight to oppose the sacking of Lurolona, and that she was captured and convicted because of that. It struck a chord with the fox boy, given that he had such a low opinion of Melromarc's human population.
"…Thank you for your kind words, Reiko." Eclair finally managed to speak.
From there, they went to check on the person Reiko captured. It turned out that the man on the list was with a few adventurers in the area. They were traveling to the capital from Ronota when one of Reiko's monsters spotted them. Unlike the last time, Reiko didn't lose any of his creations. It didn't hurt that one of the fighters he sent was the zealot. It performed so well that Reiko planned on making it the primary monster he made. He ended up letting his monsters kill the adventurers too, since they weren't on the list. Dante made sure he understood not to do that so casually in the future.
Once the guard moved the boulder from in front of the small tunnel, the group walked in to see the prisoner. Dante sighed when he saw who it was.
"He's just a kid." Dante shook his head. There were a couple knights described as young in the journal, but Dante didn't think they were this young. He looked younger than Keel did now, and Keel looked younger than Dante.
"You…" Eclair, however, didn't share his hesitancy. She approached the prisoner, fists clenched. The young knight tried to pull himself back, but his broken legs kept him from moving much.
"S-Stay away!" He cowed at her approach, throwing up his arms to protect his head. "I didn't know! It's not my fault!"
"You damn traitor!" Eclair reached for the sword at her hip. Dante made to grab her arm, but Raphtalia beat him to her, keeping Eclair's hand off her blade.
"Eclair, please." She said. "You're still healing."
"Let go, Raphtalia." Eclair responded coldly. "I'm killing him myself."
"Wow, what caused all this?" Dante asked as he stepped around the pair. The tension in the air was so thick, he could cut it with a knife. He hadn't seen Eclair this mad since they first met, when she was drugged out of her mind and thought he was one of the mercenaries.
Eclair continued to glare at the injured knight, thrusting her finger at him. "This…This…worm was one of my father's knights." She spat. "He was the son of a merchant in our territory, not a noble. He started his knight training a few years ago as a squire. My squire!"
"Fuck…" It really was one thing after another with Melromarc. Specifically, treacherous knights in Lord Seaetto's service. First it was that bitch Karta at Ronota, and then this kid.
"That's not all." Eclair continued, delivering a swift kick to the young knight's unarmored head. He cried out in pain from the strike. "He was at my trial, condemning me with the rest of the knights. This thing was there when Davon Mallory sold me off to the mercenaries. He had the gall to smile at me when I was taken away."
"Hm…" Dante looked over at the knight. Blood started to run from his now broken nose as he gazed up fearfully at Eclair. From his features, Dante figured he was no older than 15. It was probably impressive that the boy managed to become a knight so young, though there was a similarly aged knight at Lute. It was a shame, really.
Dante placed his hand on Raphtalia's shoulder, gaining her attention. "Let her go." He told her.
"What?" Raphtalia asked.
"This is between her and the boy." Dante said. "Given his age and where he was stationed, I doubt he has any useful information for us. If he does, Eclair should be more than capable of getting it." He looked over at the lady knight. "If you end up damaging your hands, that's fine. We can always heal you again. Raphtalia, let's give her a little privacy."
With that, Dante and Reiko left the room. Raphtalia came out shortly after, leaving Eclair, the young knight, and one of Reiko's barons in the small tunnel.
The three of them opted for waiting on the surface for Eclair to finish. Raphtalia kept glancing at the tunnel as they waited, and Reiko seemed to steal glances at Raphtalia. Hers were out of concern, but his seemed to be out of fear. Dante wanted both of them to stop, but it wasn't as if he couldn't empathize, so he let it be.
After about 10 minutes, a XP notification appeared in Dante's vision. He had no doubt it was from the knight, given the amount. Shortly after, Eclair came walking up from the mines. Her boots were covered in blood, but her hands were clean. She spoke when she saw Dante looking.
"You provided me with healing for my injury. I'm not about to throw that away just to satisfy myself like that." She said.
With not much else to do, they made small talk while they waited for Dante's portal skill to come off cooldown. It wasn't far off from what Dante discussed with Reiko before, that being to watch for people on the list and to be careful. The modified bioplant seed Dante provided him was still working well, and it required minimal maintenance to keep from growing out of control. The second watcher of the plant was mostly for aesthetics, according to Reiko. The boy kept drawing attention to the hat-wearing zergling that Dante had to acknowledge it.
That wasn't the only thing that he needed to acknowledge, though. While they talked, Reiko still kept looking over at Raphtalia, to the point that even she started to look uncomfortable with it. Dante decided to pull the bandage off and ask him why he kept looking at her. He beckoned Dante close again and whispered to him.
"She was from Lurolona, right?" He asked. "Isn't she mad about me…you know?"
Dante sighed and looked over at Raphtalia. "Hey. Are you upset about Reiko using the bodies of the people of Ronota?"
"Dante!" Reiko pulled at the man's shirt. "Don't just say that!"
"I'm not mad." Raphtalia pulled the fox boy's attention from Dante.
"You're not?" He asked.
Raphtalia shook her head. "No. I was, at first. And I was…disturbed by the monsters you created." She slid her hand over her arm, likely remembering the screams from the reanimated people of Ronota. "But, if I had your power, and I could save myself and my friends from a terrible fate, I might just do what you did."
"Oh…okay…" Reiko nodded, though he didn't seem that convinced. Dante didn't blame him. Having over 100 dead things screech at you while trying to kill you was pretty hard to forget. It wasn't as if Reiko didn't know how his monsters would generally behave.
Well, the atmosphere here didn't improve much.
Dante hoped whatever was bothering the boy would be simple to work out, but it didn't seem so simple. He supposed kids might hold onto such things for a while. After all, Raphtalia was upset learning about how Dante lost his arm saving her. If he didn't hold himself in such high spirits with her, she might not have gotten over it so quickly. The fact that he was also the Shield Hero didn't hurt either. This time, neither condition was present. Reiko might feel better at their next meeting, or he might feel worse. Given Reiko's past, it was a bit harder for Dante to gauge how he'd be later on.
Plus, it would be good in general if they all got along well. Reiko was helping to find the knights who attacked Lurolona, after all. Maybe something simple to help them bond would be good. If Dante could find something like that…
"Oh." Dante thought up a nice, simple thing. He turned to the tanuki woman. "Raphtalia, would you transform real quick?"
"Huh?" She seemed a bit startled by his question. "Wha-Why?"
"It'll help get you two more acquainted." He responded.
Raphtalia gave him a disbelieving look, but she transformed all the same. Reiko looked up at her towering form. She was easily more than twice his size now. Reiko stood by, simply staring.
"That…" Reiko stammered. Then, his pensive face changed to a massive grin. "That's so cool!"
Dante laughed at the boy's antics. Reiko started bombarding Raphtalia with questions, which she did her best to answer before he jumped to the next one. It was a nice change from the awkward glances.
This trip was a net positive, just in a different way than Dante thought it'd be. Eclair got a bit of revenge on one of the knights that betrayed her and the people he swore to protect. It was lucky he brought Raphtalia along, otherwise he wouldn't have known about Reiko's apprehension until much later. If there was any downside, aside from not learning anything more about the Lurolona villagers, it was that the situation didn't really allow for Dante to do another movie reference with Reiko. He'd thought it up a couple days ago, working with his limitation on weapon wielding, and his go to method for extracting information. Next time there was a knight or slaver for them to question, he'd see if Reiko ever watched "The Big Lebowski."
~The Wrong Hero~
Once Dante's skill came off cooldown, the three of them went to their next destination of the evening, with Raphtalia changing back before they left. Zeltoble was just as busy as it was the last two times Dante visited, at different times of day too. They made their way towards the slave merchant's place of business—after selling a few more potions to some of the merchants, of course. Dante still had more than enough components to make the regular stat boosting and the double-edged potions he sold previously, and the merchants were more than willing to buy them.
Once they arrived at the slave merchant's place, he led them to the hakuko siblings' cage. Both Eclair and Raphtalia were shocked at the man's appearance. Dante hadn't told them how similar he looked to his nephew, and it looked like Sadeena and Dio didn't either.
When the slave trader's uncle showed them to the new cage of the hakuko siblings, Dante realized once again his need to ask questions.
"Who are you?" A girl, around 12 years old, asked. She had a black and white striped tail and ears, and her blue eyes were slit like a cat's. She was sitting next to Atla when they approached, but had gotten up to stand in front of her when they stopped at the cage.
"What's with your family and not telling me the sex of your slaves?" Dante asked the slave merchant.
"Whatever do you mean?" The slave merchant asked. He wasn't being coy, he seriously didn't know what Dante meant.
"Nevermind." It wasn't as if Dante could blame him. He really should have asked. Besides, he came in acting like he knew exactly what he was buying, so why would a seller of goods try and dissuade him? Besides, like Keel, it was a non-issue. He turned back to the girl to answer her question. "I'm your new master. I bought you and your sister yesterday."
Fohl looked him up and down. "So, you're the guy?"
"'The guy?'" Dante arched an eyebrow.
"I know why you put us in this nicer cage and gave us comfortable bedding." Fohl said, lowing her head. "Do what you want with me, but I won't let you have your way with my sister. She's too pure for the likes of—"
"No, no, stop that right now!" Dante yelled and looked over to the slave merchant. "Did you not tell her anything!?"
"I didn't think it mattered, yes sir." The slave merchant responded.
"Didn't matter!?" Well, I guess it doesn't, present situation excepted.
Dante thought it a bit odd that Atla didn't say anything either, but he didn't really introduce himself as the Shield Hero. He was pretty sure the slave merchant mentioned his title, but Atla barely noticed them talking until he stepped into her cage. Speaking of which, the slave merchant did indeed upgrade their living conditions. Not only did their sleeping attire look more comfortable, they were moved out of the diseased section of the market and into a more private area, though still near some of the other slaves for sale. A curtain had been set up to keep the area somewhat private.
"Forget it, doesn't matter." Dante shook his head, looking back to Fohl and Atla. "My name is Dante MacRory, the Shield Hero. I'm here to protect the world from the waves. That's where you come in."
"The Shield…" Fohl took a step back. "So, you want me to fight the waves with you?"
"That's right. Hey, can you open up this cage?" Dante turned to the slave merchant. Once the door was open, Dante stepped in, ducking down just a little.
Fohl took another step back, staying in front of her sister. "What are you doing?!" She yelled at him.
"Calm down." Dante lowered his shield to the ground, letting a medicine bottle drop out before he picked it up. "I've been making medicine for your sister. Didn't you notice how much better she was when you got back yesterday?"
"Ugh…" Fohl tensed up, but said nothing else.
It was a bit funny to read in the books, but I imagine this will wear on my patience quickly.
"So, can I give her some medicine now?" He asked the older tiger girl.
"Grr…fine." Fohl relented, stepping aside. She kept her eyes trained on Dante as he approached Atla.
"Hello, Mister Dante." Atla said as Dante approached. "Or, should I call you 'Shield Hero'?"
"Just 'Dante', if you would." He said as he knelt next to her. "I have more medicine for you. Fohl, help lean your sister up."
Fohl looked like she might want to argue, but came over quickly. Anything to help her sister, after all. Once propped up, Dante moved the bandages from Atla's mouth and uncorked to bottle, slowly pouring the contents into her mouth. The glow that surrounded her seemed more vibrant than before. Once finished, Fohl set her back down again. Well, she tried to, but Atla kept sitting up.
"Atla?" Fohl looked her sister over.
"How do you feel?" Dante asked her.
"Much better." Atla responded, lifting up her arm. "I don't remember ever feeling this good."
"I'm glad to hear that." Dante said. He looked at her with his appraisal and was a little shocked at what he saw. Her condition improved a lot from how it was before. Dante wasn't sure how much was from the first dose he gave her, healing her over time, and how much the second, specialized dose affected her.
It was really something, all things considered. Eclair was the perfect example. Dante was able to make potions to give her back some feeling in her hands, but not heal them completely. Meanwhile, here he was with Atla and he could verify with his appraisal how much better she got. It was unbelievable. Then again, there were a couple of job levels he increased that would affect potion making and applying. Cut tendons were different from genetic diseases, and potions seemed to be better for sicknesses and status ailments, rather than pure healing. That healer in Siltvelt did cast a powerful healing spell on Eclair first, after all. Maybe he underestimated his own ability.
"Say, can I see your arm?" Dante asked.
"Of course." Atla brought her arm closer to Dante. He slid some of the bandages aside to look at her arm. Sores were present all over her skin. This fell in line with what the slave merchant said.
"What the…" Fohl stammered out, gaining Dante's attention.
"Something wrong?" He asked her.
"Atla's skin…it's so much better now!" She yelled.
"Really?" Did his shield empower him that much? Well, he didn't really pay much attention to which jobs he upgraded, given the amount of monster parts he had stored up. It's not like he could use them for much else at the moment, though he'd kept some parts of the stronger monsters for armor and weapon making.
"Ah…" Fohl seemed to realize her outburst and calmed down. She looked at Dante with a serious expression. "I see you're serious about treating my sister, so I'll be sure to work off my debt to you."
"Good to hear. In fact…" Dante turned to the slave merchant. "Since Fohl is so cooperative, maybe you feel safe registering me as her master now?"
"Hmmm." The slave merchant scratched his chin. "She does seem to be. Fohl, if I register you to the Shield Hero, do you swear not to attack me?" He asked. He likely kept the lying condition active on Fohl.
"As long as you don't try to harm Atla, I won't hurt you." She said in response.
"Then as long as Sir Shield Hero gives an order saying as much, that will do, yes sir." The slave merchant said, clapping his hands.
"Excellent." Dante agreed.
They performed the ceremony for the slave seal. This time, however, a few assistants were present for it. They chanted as the slave merchant applied the new crest onto Fohl's chest. Once he was done, Dante saw Fohl's stats appear in his status. When he opened it up, he found a number of additional prompts he hadn't seen before.
"What's this?" He asked the slave merchant.
"Ah, do you only use basic slave seals? How interesting." He looked over at Raphtalia and Eclair.
"Nevermind that." Dante regained the slave merchant's attention. "What's all this extra stuff?"
"That is for higher grade slave seals, yes sir." The slave merchant explained. "It allows more conditions to be set, as well as issuing commands through your status magic. You may also have more standing commands at a single time. It also lets you track your slaves over longer distances, should they somehow escape, yes sir."
"Fascinating." Dante nodded plainly. "And the reason you used a higher grade seal was because…?"
"How else would you control her effectively?" The slave merchant asked, tilting his head. "She is a hakuko, after all. Quite formidable. Though, keeping her sick sister close by helps."
"Uh huh. And I assume you'll be charging me for the stronger seal?" Dante asked.
"You already paid for it when you bought the pair, yes sir!" The slave merchant clapped his hands, a smile on his face.
"Hm." Dante would be annoyed, but the man had a point. He trusted Sadeena and the others to work with him, but this slave merchant had absolutely no reason to trust his slaves. Besides, he recalled Beloukas once mentioning that a weaker slave seal couldn't overwrite a stronger one. That, and stronger seals were even more like curses and couldn't be as cheaply removed. Thankfully, they were pretty self-contained curses and wouldn't fester. Wouldn't want the product damaged, after all.
Dante gave Fohl the order and stepped out of the cage. "You'll stay here for now." He said.
"Huh?" Fohl tilted her head to the side. "Don't you need me to prepare to fight?"
"Yes, but that can wait." Dante told her. "Right now, I'm staying in Siltvelt. It's not particularly safe for you there, especially for your sick sister."
That comment got Fohl a bit flustered as he gazed down at Atla, who had decided to lie back down. "What's in Siltvelt?"
"Politics." Dante answered.
"Huh?" That clearly wasn't what Fohl meant.
"Do you know how the hakuko are viewed in Siltvelt?" Dante asked.
"Well, we're one of the four elite races. There was a war a long time ago that brought down the hakuko's standing there."
"What else?" Dante prodded.
"What else do you want to know?" Fohl asked.
"…Huh?"
Is that really it? I thought there was something more. Something that made it dangerous for those two to be there. What was it? Let's see…what happened again? Siltvelt cares about lineage and race, something Tolly reminded me of. Was it because Fohl and Atla are half human? I'm sure it had something to do with—
"Ah!" Dante remembered.
Jaralis! Crap, how did I forget? I know he fought with the siblings over whether or not Naofumi could leave, but I forgot all about his personal hatred of them. Oh shit, didn't he kill their father or something? How did I not remember something that important? Probably because it was mentioned, like, only one time or something.
"Sir MacRory?" Eclair brought him back to the present.
"Ah, it's nothing." He said, waving her off. He wasn't about to tell any of them about that yet. For starters, Eclair didn't need more reasons to be angry with the lion therianthrope. More importantly, Dante wasn't sure if that actually happened here. It would be irresponsible to act on that single source. Besides, there were plenty of differences already. Sure, Idol was an even worse bastard here, but Malty seemed less so, from a certain point of view. Aultcray acted as he thought the man would, and Armor didn't have the opportunity to reveal his true nature yet.
"In any case," Dante went on, "I'll have you stay here for now. I want to make sure it's safe before I bring potential political figures there under the direct command of the Shield Hero." They were half-human, sure, but he hadn't told anyone about the siblings yet, aside from Sadeena. He wasn't sure how Eclair would react to their lineage. "Present company excluded." He thought to add, turning to Eclair. In this case, it wasn't as big of a deal. She was the daughter of a dead lord of Melromarc and had no real power there, so what threat could she be to Siltvelt?
"I see…" Fohl seemed less than pleased with that.
"Of course, feel free to do any personal training you wish." Dante said, lowering himself to the ground again. He let several more vials drop from his shield next to the cage. "I don't know how much I'll be returning here, so I'm leaving medicine for your sister. Twice a day, no more than that. One when you wake up, one sometime before bed. This medicine does give a bit of an energy boost to it."
"And we have to remain in this cage?" Fohl asked.
"This is the spot I had this slave merchant set aside for you." Dante said. "If you think you'll be safer at an inn, by all means."
With the slave merchant, Dante knew the siblings would be secure. If something happened to them, the man would have to answer to an angry hero. Shield or not, it would be bad for business at best, deadly at worst.
"I suppose you could go out and raise your level, provided you come back at night." Dante was a little surprised to see her level around 20, but he supposed not every coliseum fight was to the death. He adjusted the slave settings in his status, removing Fohl from his party like he did for anyone he didn't want to teleport. He also allowed her to form a party with her sister. "If you do, bring back the remains. I can use them for my shield. Also, more importantly, don't get yourself killed."
"Excuse me, Sir Hero, but—"
"You've been well compensated." He told the slave merchant. "I'm not letting you charge some sort of storage fee when I see dead slaves and monsters here." They were off in the more diseased section of his little market, but they were there. The slave merchant merely tipped his hat with a shrug.
That concluded their talks with the hakuko sisters, but it seemed the slave merchant had one final question to bring up.
"Good sir, would you be willing to sell me that girl you brought in yesterday?" He asked.
"Excuse you?" Dante gave the man a pointed look.
"You see, one of my men saw her transform from a filolial into a girl before you entered. By his description, I'd say the girl is a filolial queen." The slave merchant rubbed his hands together. "I would pay a good price for her."
Dante's eye twitched before he spoke. "I consider Dio to be my daughter."
"I see, I see." The slave merchant nodded at his words. "Tell me, Sir Shield Hero, do you know how many children have been sold to me by their parents?"
"…We're leaving." Dante said, turning about and leaving the slave merchant behind.
With the portal skill nearly off its cooldown, they left the slave market. By the time they reached the surface of the underground market, the sun had already set and they could portal back to Siltvelt.
~The Wrong Hero~
Once back in Siltvelt, Dante thankfully didn't have much to take care of. He'd set his teleport marker to the terrace in his room. He found he couldn't place it inside buildings, but the terrace was acceptable for the skill. He'd let one of the servants know of their return, where he was told the bath would be ready for him shortly. Eclair and Raphtalia went to rejoin the others, after being shown to a separate bath for them.
From there, things happened about how Dante expected. More accurately, he had forgotten, but he wasn't surprised. After having the servant help him out of his armor, clothes, and arm cloak, and arriving at the bath, a large number of women were waiting for him. Something he didn't expect was Dio and JoJo coming in too.
"We get to bathe with Papa first!" Dio said, standing next to Dante in her filolial queen form.
"Yeah, it's our turn!" JoJo agreed, in a similar position as his sister.
"Hey…" Dante tapped Dio and had her lean down to whisper. "I told you two not to call me that."
"It's okay." Dio replied. "Sadie said it's fine. Sneaky talked to us."
"'Sneaky?' Oh." She must have meant the shadow Dante saw before.
Not willing to argue with Dante's royal filolials, and children, the women left the bath. With that issue sidestepped for now, Dante was able to enjoy the bath. It had been a long time since he could relax like that. The most they could do was heat up some water in a bucket with fire magic to quickly warm themselves after bathing in the river. They'd dry off by the fire, too, but it simply didn't compare.
After bathing and drying off, he put on the clean set of clothes that were left for him. He took his armor and set on JoJo's back, the clothes having been taken to be washed, presumably. When they arrived back in his room, another group of women were waiting for him. They got the same treatment as the ones in the bath, the reason this time being that he was tired after a long journey and needed his rest.
Disappointed, the women left again. Dante would need to implement a good system with the women that wanted to mate with him, and that word was exactly what they wanted to do. He was pretty sure it was expected of him to have a harem. Even if it wasn't, Sadeena had brought up a good point to him earlier.
"If anything, you having a harem will make Q'ten Lo worry less about us."
The idea was that having more people influence his decisions would mean Sadeena's words would hold less sway. It wasn't a bad idea, really. Also, Sadeena was confident her class up would let her spot those shadows even better now, whenever they caught up. She could let him know when they were observing him and he could act accordingly, if it ever came to that. He wasn't quite sure how much decision making he would need to do in Siltvelt. Hopefully not much. They had better things to do.
Before he could get to sleep, the shadow showed himself again. He'd meant what he said to the women about being tired. The bath had relaxed him quite a bit. After making sure there were no imminent threats, Dante got a brief rundown of what the shadow planned to report to the leadership. Nothing sounded particularly scandalous, and he asked the shadow to tell him anything in the report the leaders may consider as such. There was none.
With that done, he dismissed the shadow and went to sleep. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, even more so than Dio or JoJo's feathers. He hadn't realized it before, but that seemed to become the standard for judging beds. The guest bed in Melromarc's castle didn't come close.
~The Wrong Hero~
Morning came soon enough, and Dante got ready for the day. His kids helped him into his armor and they set out to meet with the others. The maid stationed at his door asked him remain there until he was called for breakfast, but he dismissed the idea. He'd told them before not to make a big deal of it, since he had something to do before the feast they wanted to hold. They would eat on the road.
Ignoring the pleading of the maid, Dante followed his kids to where the others were staying. He closed the door to the room, keeping the maid out to have a private talk with everyone. Switching to his Humming Shield, he began.
"So, how's everyone doing?" He asked.
"It's so boring!" Keel was the first to speak up. "They didn't want us going anywhere, and they asked us a bunch of stuff about how we met!"
"I see." Dante nodded. "Everyone remember the story?"
They gave their sounds of affirmation. It was basically what Dante told the emissaries when they met, or what he could remember about that day, plus a few details. Dante fought some man with a strange sword, being saved by Sadeena. He was injured before he met most of them, so they didn't give any details about it. With her, they bought Keel, Rifana, and Raphtalia together, as they were all from the same village. They had the slave trader begin looking for more villagers, with no luck. They traveled to Lurolona to train and ended up going to Ronota and freeing Eclair. From there, they'd said Dante mostly acted on rumors, since he couldn't take quests from the guild. Mostly, it was selling medicine with a merchant pass Eclair made while training for the wave. They didn't mention anything about the different power up methods, mostly because they hardly knew anything about them, but certainly not a word about lowering their levels.
Exiting the room, other maids tried to stop them from leaving, but they kept on going down the castle. Once they reached the main hall, Werner was there to meet them. The first maid Dante saw must have went to tell him about Dante's imminent departure.
"Lord Shield, if I might have a moment?" Werner asked as he stood in the center of their path.
"Sorry, busy day." Dante told him, though he did stop before the shusaku. "Need to get stuff done before the feast. And parade. And whatever else you all have planned." Apparently, the feast was more for the nobility, while a parade was to be held immediately after for the common people.
"Yes, of course." Werner nodded, but kept up his pace before Dante could continue on. "But, do you need to do this today? Surely there are—"
"Yes, I do." Dante interrupted. "Look, it's a matter of maintaining the peace. If you're worried I'll be too hands on with things here, relax. Aside from this, we'll be training to fight the waves."
"I understand, but—"
"No buts." Dante held up his finger. "We'll be going, and that's the end of it. That said…I would like directions to the human village."
He had a vague idea where it was, but nothing concrete. It was about an hour or so carriage ride from the capital, so even shorter for Dio and JoJo.
"Perhaps you would be willing to postpone your visit for a day?" Werner tried again.
"Werner, I appreciate what Siltvelt has to offer me, don't be mistaken. And I realize my own position in the politics here." Dante wanted to make sure the shusaku understood that. "However, I'll give you a choice. Either give us directions to the village, or we wander about and risk being late for the feast."
Werner sighed and lowered his head. "As you wish, Lord Shield. I will provide an escort to the village."
"Alright." Dante said as Werner left. In truth, they wouldn't go stumbling around blind out there. The first guard they found in the city would tell them where the village was—after coming to terms with meeting the Shield Hero, that is. He just wanted to see how Werner would handle it.
They got to the carriages and got JoJo hooked up. They'd only take the empty one today, seeing as Raphtalia was still in her demi-human form. Keel and Rifana stayed in their therianthrope forms, since both were more comfortable like that. It saved even more room as a bonus.
Once they were ready to leave, another shusaku approached them, along with a maid. She carried another side cloak, similar to what he was given before.
"Lord Shield, I will be guiding you to Korokan village." The shusaku man said.
"Alright, hop on." Dante waved the man over as he let the maid fit him with the cloak.
"Forgive, my lord, but I couldn't possible sit next to you." The shusaku shook his head. "I will fly above and show you the way, as well as keep watch."
Dante sighed. "If you insist. However, JoJo likes to go fast." Both of his kids did, really. JoJo, surprisingly, just did it more often than Dio. He'd do so on turns and paths that normally required a bit more care. They hadn't crashed or tipped over yet, so Dante assumed JoJo knew what he was doing.
"I will make sure to match pace with Lord Shield's son." The shusaku said before transforming into a large bird therianthrope and taking to the air.
Yeah, okay, fine, so they all already knew about that. Whatever.
They set out for Korokan. Dante had to do a bit of waving as they made their way through the city streets before finally reaching the gatehouse. Once through, JoJo picked up the pace. The guide flew overhead, managing to stay ahead. JoJo seemed to take that as a challenge and tried to speed up, but Dante kept him from going too fast.
Time passed by a bit slower than normal. The others did something to pass the time, but Dante's go-to plan was exactly what he was warned not to do. Normally, he'd be sitting next to Rifana—or with her in his lap—and they'd be reading the Zweite fire tome. She stayed in the back while he was in the front, and with good reason. He didn't want to space out and start petting her while Werner's man was flying above them.
They eventually reached the village. The buildings had a similar design to one another, like most other human villages he saw in Melromarc. A few larger villages he passed in Siltvelt were somewhat like the capital, different sections with their own architecture. For the smaller villages, though, it seemed like only one tribe was present.
The shusaku guide landed near them, transforming into his demi-human form again. He didn't seem particularly tired, so he at least had decent endurance. Or not. Dante didn't know much about birds.
The party went into the village, gaining the curious eyes of the villagers. From what Dante could see, they were living relative peaceful lives. They didn't seem to be malnourished or have any obvious issues present. It wasn't on a coast, so the fields were much fuller of growing crops. There didn't seem to be any guards that Dante could see, but being this close to the capital probably afforded its own kind of protection. Most other villages didn't have many guards either.
"Well, everything here seems fine." Dante said, gazing around.
"It seems so peaceful here…" Raphtalia looked at a few kids playing down one of the paths with a ball.
"I'll make sure it stays that way." Dante promised her. He'd put the fear of God—literally—into the Siltvelt leadership if he had to.
"Hey, Papa, can we go play?" Dio asked, observing another group of kids running about.
Dante looked over at the shusaku and nodded, seeing as the man gave no indication of urgency. "Just don't be rough. They aren't filolials like you."
Dio and JoJo ran off excitedly, JoJo transforming back into his child form first. Dante was glad he had the sense to do that and not terrify the children. He was also glad this village didn't receive any vengeance by proxy from the people of Siltvelt. It wouldn't have been that hard for them to try and justify it, probably claiming that any peace Melromarc wanted to have was lie. Some of the leaders, including Jaralis, likely would have pushed for war. It wasn't as if they didn't have good cause already.
Dante was about to head back to the carriage to wait when something caught his eye. He snapped his head to the side and watched the person run off.
"Little Dante?" Sadeena called as Dante ran after them.
"Wait here." He said, though not loudly. He saw the person again, disappearing between a pair of buildings. When he got there, he saw them again, and a flash of long brown hair. Dante quickly rushed towards the spot.
That's when he saw them. Three people stood in front of one of the houses. Two of them…their faces weren't quite the same from his memories, but there were more than enough similarities. Some of the features were off too. The woman's hair was lighter, the man was a little taller.
But the third one…the little girl. When she turned around to look at him, he could see it. It was her. Her hair, her eyes, her face, her height, it was all the same.
"Mary."
Author's Notes:
To those wondering why Fohl is a girl, the credit goes to Pretty Lazy, author of "The Rising of the Four Heroes (Rewrite)". When I confirmed that Keel was a boy in this story, someone asked about the Keel x Fohl shippers out there, and Pretty Lazy said to just make Fohl a girl. I'm sure it was a joke, but here we are anyway. I wasn't 100% on what all I'd be doing with the tiger siblings before, so I figured "eh, why not? It amuses me."