Chapter 32 – Arising Problems

It wasn't difficult to persuade the tribe heads not to engage with Melromarc. His little match with Raphtalia actually ended up helping his case. She was able to pin down that retainer so quickly, but she couldn't bring down Dante, who only had one arm. While the retainer wasn't the best of the best, he was well known enough to give the tribe heads pause, since Melromarc had three heroes that might measure up to their own. Dante, of course, had seen no reason to correct their assumptions.

He was a little surprised about the whole situation. He knew that Idol's former knights were causing some issues, since he helped put down a few in Reichnott's territory. The situation had quieted down a bit since then, so he thought there weren't any other big issues. Of course, 'quiet' didn't mean the nearby nobles weren't plotting to seize their dead neighbor's land or kill each other in the power vacuum. That seemed to be Jaralis's interpretation, and Dante couldn't really disagree with that assessment, but the results were the same. He thought it best not to inform everyone that he was the reason Idol was dead. If that got out, war would likely be unavoidable. He already swore the priests and alchemists to secrecy about the cursed whip, so hopefully that was the end of it.

After that, it became business as usual—preparing for the waves. Dante didn't know of many areas around Siltvelt that were good for leveling, but he did get some suggestions. The mountains seemed to be the consensus. Many griffins could be found there. It seemed griffins and filolials had some bad blood between them, so it worked out quite well. Of course, they didn't go before getting some new gear.

With their weapons in bad order and their armor in half-decent shape, they received equipment before their journey. The gear was actually given to them by a member of Jaralis's house, and most of it fit quite well with the party's chosen weapons. Raphtalia ended up with another shortsword, as well as a bow. Ever since their first battle with Reiko's monsters, Raphtalia found that she enjoyed using one. Eclair trained her in both weapons. The Seaetto heiress also received a new blade, having her hands fully healed. JoJo got a sturdier mallet while Dio got a set of claws. As for Keel, Dante had noted that an axe didn't seem to work that well with his stats and physique. When he brought that up…

"I want two swords!" Was the response.

Eclair had been training him too, and he seemed to pick up dual-wielding fairly easily. Keel did do that a little with the axes before. Rifana kept the rod Erhard made her, since the material was resilient to wear. Likewise, Sadeena kept her current harpoon. It was a drop from a monster a while back and it was still in good shape.

Incidentally, Dante and Eclair sparred after her hands were healed. He wanted to see what the swordswoman was truly capable of. Her movements were sharp and her strikes were precise. His stats were superior to hers, as he could see both hers and his in his status. However, he was unable to land a single strike on her. The weapon she received was good, but it wasn't top tier. If it was, he wouldn't be able to withstand her attacks like he did, and he certainly wouldn't be able to concentrate on any attack spells. With her skills and a top tier weapon, there was a decent chance he'd lose a real one-on-one fight with her.

The weapons were, in fact, the second boon from Jaralis's tribe. The first was presented to Dante the evening of the conference. Without Dante knowing, Jaralis had someone find out his kids' preferences and styles and had commissioned carriages built based on those findings. Dante was as disturbed as he was impressed by that information. He had to admit, the carriages they used weren't in the best of shape. They weren't designed with royal filolials in mind, like the new ones were. Both Dio and JoJo seemed to love the carriages the moment they set eyes on them. Needless to say, Dante slept with a lioness that night.

The morning after the conference, they set out for grinding with their new gear. When up in the mountains, there wasn't much to be concerned about. The griffins were strong and fast, but they couldn't get past Dante's defenses. Other monsters that made their home there didn't fare much better. The item drops were good, also giving a number of ingredients he didn't have before, as well as rarer ores for smelting and slotting. He heard griffin parts were good for equipment making, so he'd need to figure out what they could have made with them.

One notable shield Dante got was one that had a skill.

Griffin Matriarch Shield
(abilities locked) equip bonus: skill "Gale"

It was able to produce a powerful gust of wind for a few seconds, which was good for knocking projectiles and fliers away. It wasn't as strong as Motoyasu's Windmill, but it covered a wider area. With the relative time freedom they had in Siltvelt, Dante found it a good opportunity to test out a few other shield abilities he'd neglected.

With the Baron of Hell Shield equipped, he let out a loud howl. Literally. He almost felt silly doing it, but the results were pleasing. The nearby griffins that were diving at him pulled up and quickly flapped backwards. Some on the ground stopped their approach while others turned around and ran. The ones that fled were easy to pick off with magic and arrows, while the others seemed to have their reflexes slowed. It seemed to have the opposite effect of Hate Reaction.

The party did this for two days, returning to the capital at night.

On the third day, Dante had to make a trip.

"Are you two comfortable?" He asked the hakuko sisters in the slave market. Dante came with Sadeena to check in on them.

"Where have you been?!" Fohl yelled the moment Dante came into view.

"In Siltvelt?" Dante answered, unsure of the outrage. "Did something happen?"

"The medicine isn't working!" Fohl told him.

That was a bit strange. Dante stepped into the cage to examine Atla. Her skin looked about the same as when he last saw it, maybe a little better or worse. A look at her stats didn't tell him much. He then took a look at the last medicine vial he left for her. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, from what his appraisal told him.

"Oh…" Dante realized what the issue was. Able to sit up on her own, he administered the vial to Atla and saw the results immediately. Part of her skin cleared up a little, and it seemed it would continue to do so for a while after.

"What did you do?" Fohl asked him.

"I gave her medicine." Dante said simply. "The problem was that the medicine by itself wasn't enough."

"What do you mean?"

Dante held up his shield. "I get a number of bonuses from this. A few of them apply to potion making, and to medicine administration. That's why she got so much better before."

It also explained his previous confusion. He didn't think his skill in making potions was that high, and he was right. All the bonuses, from equip bonuses to job levels, helped increase the potency from creation to application. As far as he could tell, there wasn't a large discrepancy between the two bonus amount totals. It was possible the bonus to applying medicine and potions was weighted heavier than the bonus to creating them.

"I'll have to come by to apply it myself." He told the sisters.

"Is that alright?" Atla asked, turning her bandaged face to him. "You're doing dangerous work in Siltvelt, right?"

"Atla, what are you saying?!" Fohl all but yelled. "This is about your medicine!"

"Your sister is right, Atla." Dante chuckled. "You just worry about getting better…" He let his voice trail off, thinking about what she said. "What makes you think Siltvelt is dangerous for me?"

"You were worried about our safety there. I don't know what you're facing. And…" It was her turn to trail off. She turned her head slightly toward his left side.

"What is it?" He asked her.

"Your arm…"

"You like it?" Dante asked, bringing his left arm forward.

"It doesn't feel right." She said.

That was another thing that he had taken care of yesterday. One of the alchemists—the alligator therianthrope—finished growing him a new arm. Dante paid a visit to the church beforehand, getting the go-ahead from the healer there. The more active parts of the curse had left his body, leaving only the more passive bits that couldn't really be removed. His status didn't tell him what all the effects would be, but he could expect stifled healing as one of them. That didn't really matter, since he hardly needed healing magic and potions for himself anymore. His HP regeneration bonuses weren't particularly affected by his curse.

Getting the arm attached wasn't even a hassle. The alchemist had him lie down and strapped the arm to him. After that, all it took was an injection of something into the arm and his shoulder, and the arm basically started attaching itself to him. It was pretty creepy to watch, but, at the same time, Dante couldn't bring himself to turn away. It was too fascinating.

After 10 minutes or so, the process was done. He could move his new arm then and there. The sensation suddenly returning was a bit of a shock, but a welcome one. There was one thing, however, that pervaded Dante's mind about the arm.

"This isn't my arm."

Sure, he could move it, he could feel it, and he was confident he could do most things he used to be able to. That didn't remove the feeling deep inside that what was attached to him wasn't his arm. The alchemist explained that dealing with the curse aspect was difficult, so some odd sensations were to be expected. There was also a delay in reaction time. It wasn't a concern for mundane tasks, but it was noticeable enough in combat.

"Yeah, I feel that way too." Dante told Atla with a soft smile. "Honestly, I'm just happy to have two arms again."

There were a number of things he did once the arm was set. First and foremost was holding his kids in his arms. A one-armed hug just didn't suffice. Of course, Rifana got the same thing once they were out of sight of any Siltvelt officials. Part of the reason for coming to Zeltoble was to bring Sadeena with him. They didn't have anything that needed doing in Siltvelt this early in the morning.

"I didn't realize you were missing an arm." Atla said.

"Me neither." Fohl chimed in.

"Really?" Dante supposed Fohl not noticing could make sense. He was wearing one of those side cloaks at the time. He thought about wearing it now too, since his armor from Erhard didn't have a left sleeve or anything. Atla did have a good sense of things, but she was still sick.

"Now that I look at it," Fohl said, "I think your left arm is a little shorter."

"It is?" Dante extended both arms in front of himself. True enough, it looked like his left arm was a little under an inch shorter than his right. "Well, what do you know? You've got good eyes, kid."

Fohl stiffened for a second before turning away. "Yeah, sure."

"So, does that mean Siltvelt is safe?" Atla asked, bringing the conversation back.

"Well, safe so far…" Dante didn't have a clear answer for her. No one tried to poison any of them yet, so that was good. The people in the castle were quite helpful, in fact. He really did have Jaralis to thank for that, as odd as that felt. His idea of, essentially, favors for sex seemed to be working well. True, Dante was starting to feel like a prize stud, but of the five major nations nearby, this one might very well be the safest. Dante would take the win, for now.

"Then, will you be bringing us with you?" Atla asked, hope in her voice.

Dante sighed. "Not yet. Showing up with two hakuko, especially you two, might send the wrong message, and I don't even know what message that would be."

"Why us in particular?" Fohl asked, crossing her arms.

"Er…" Dante realized his slipup. These two probably didn't know who exactly their grandfather was. "I'll tell you about it when I bring you to Siltvelt." It wasn't as if he had much more information than that, anyway.

"I guess that's fine." Fohl responded.

"Good. Now then, on to the last bit of business before we leave." Dante gave Fohl a pointed look. "What happened yesterday?"

Fohl flinched as she looked away again. "It was nothing…"

"My status magic says otherwise." Dante approached the hakuko girl, who backed up immediately. "What happened?"

Fohl grit her teeth in response, refusing to say anything.

"Fohl, I don't want to make this an order." Dante crossed his arms, somewhat enjoying his ability to do so.

"…I got a little careless." Fohl murmured. "The monster was faster than I thought it'd be."

Yesterday, Dante was going over his shields when he noticed Fohl's HP drop down. She was still above 80%, but the sudden drop concerned him. He saw her gain XP soon after, so he knew figured she was out hunting monsters. The problem was, it barely recovered since then.

"Let me see it." Dante gestured with his hand. His status magic couldn't tell him the nature of the injury.

"N-No…" Fohl looked away again. It was starting to annoy Dante.

"What do you hope to gain by being stubborn?" Dante asked the girl. "If this is a serious injury, it needs to be taken care of."

"It's nothing!" Fohl said firmly.

"Sister, please let Mister Dante look at your side." Atla said to her.

"Atla…" Fohl whined, but quickly relented. She lifted up her shirt, careful to keep her chest covered. There was a welt on her left side, near her lower ribs. Dante knelt next to her, looking over the injury. From Fohl's wince at his touch, and from the feel of it, one of her ribs was fractured.

"You're walking around with this?" Dante asked her. "That's a pretty good pain tolerance."

"I've been hurt worse than this in the coliseum." Fohl stated. She lowered her voice when she spoke next. "You have no idea what I will go through to make sure Atla gets the medicine she needs."

Dante responded in the same hushed voice. "Then you should take better care of yourself now, unless you want to see her worry." Fohl looked like she had something to say about that, but Dante went on. "Letting you hunt monsters was me giving you a way to show your appreciation. I only did so because I thought you wouldn't be happy sitting around doing nothing, even if that time could be spent with your sister. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't let a child go out and fight alone." She was a coliseum fighter and a hakuko, but she was still only 12 years old.

Fohl said nothing, telling Dante he was right. The monsters around Zeltoble would be a nice bonus, but letting either of the hakuko sisters die was unacceptable. Any levels Fohl gained now would be a drop in the bucket, anyway. Riding on Dio or JoJo while they demolish everything in their path would prove quite beneficial.

With a chant, Dante cast a spell over Fohl. "Zweite Healing Warmth IV."

The bruise on Fohl's side changed color, becoming a warm pink. The bone seemed to be the first thing the spell fixed, since it didn't feel damaged anymore. He cast the spell again, healing the rest.

That spell was the result of Rifana's tutelage, plus a few pointers from a wizard at Siltvelt's castle. That same wizard also helped Dante to understand how Zweite spells worked in relation to the current Faust spells he knew, allowing him to essentially upgrade them. Rifana tried to explain it, but the concept was a bit too much for her to demonstrate. She already learned a few Zweite spells on her own, so Dante wasn't complaining. The fact that she learned them so quickly was astounding.

"Alright, you should be good now." Dante told the older sibling. "When I come by to give Atla her medicine, you can do some hunting then if you really want to." If he brought Dio or JoJo along, that would really speed up her leveling. Even if they weren't in range to share XP, they were more than close enough to stay in the same party. Fohl would be able to gain even more XP from the same monsters as a hero's party member. In truth, he didn't need to remove people from his party if they weren't going to teleport with him, like he did before. However, after a certain distance, they would get removed automatically. Slaves and monsters were an exception; they just wouldn't be set as party members until they were close enough again.

Dante and Sadeena left the sisters there, heading to their next destination in Zeltoble. It wasn't as necessary as checking in on Atla and Fohl, but it was still important. After a bit of walking, they found the place they were looking for: a nice inn where they wouldn't be bothered.

Once they were in the room, Sadeena wrapped her arms around him. "How sly you are, little Dante~. Giving medicine to little Atla isn't the only reason for coming here every day, is it?"

"Of course not." Dante brought his arm back, brushing his fingers against her cheek. "But I wasn't going to say that in front of them, now was—ah!" His voice was cut short by a small nip at his neck.

"It's too bad." Sadeena slid her arm up, sliding it across Dante's new arm. "I wanted to be the first one to use this~."

"Well, we have time now." Dante turned around, bringing himself face to face with Sadeena. When he did, he found a worried look on her face. "Something wrong?"

"Dante…can we talk for a minute?" She asked, nodding to the bed.

"Yeah, of course." He walked over to the bed, hand in hand, sitting down next to her. "What is it?"

"Have you noticed anything different these past few days?" She asked, her hand on his cheek.

"Like what?" If anything, things were running smoothly. Really smoothly, given what he read in the books about Siltvelt. If he were being honest, he didn't trust it to last, but he was willing to wait and see.

"About how you've been acting." Sadeena said.

"I don't understand." Dante replied. "Have I been mean to any of you?"

Sadeena shook her head. "The opposite. You've been really happy lately."

"Okay…?" He really wasn't getting what she was saying.

"Do you remember what you did after you got your arm replaced?" She asked.

Dante thought for a moment before he answered, just in case he forgot something. "I thanked the alchemist for healing me, shook his hand—or, rather, claw—and then we went out to level again."

"You barely reacted." Sadeena informed him. "At least, for someone who just regained their arm."

"Really?" He did hug Dio and JoJo right away. There wasn't really anything else he had to do then.

"Yes." Sadeena held his face close to hers. "And then, when we took a break from hunting monsters, you told us a story about how you brutally killed a pedophile."

"Well, it's not like it was out of nowhere." Dante reasoned.

The conversation actually stemmed from the first night after leveling. When he arrived at his room, he found a young looking lion therianthrope waiting for him. Dante asked her for her age, to which she responded that she was 15. Physically, at least. It turned out that she had leveled up a few days ago. Her true age was nine. Dante wasn't having that at all. The kids in his party, though physically matured for the most part, still took some time to adjust mentally to their new bodies. This girl clearly had not.

Dante ended up sending her off and discussing the matter with Jaralis. It varied slightly in different nations, but the average age someone was considered an adult was 15, the same age most demi-humans matured to. Dante made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he wouldn't be taking anyone else like that. Jaralis had someone else he could send that night anyway, so it worked out fine.

During their time in the mountains the next day, Dante had brought it up. One thing led to another, and he ended up talking about a man he hacked to pieces with an axe. It was somewhat early in his career when that happened, though he probably would have done the same thing later. Seeing Mary growing and the thought of people like that out there, well, nothing more needed to be said.

Dante gave her a shrug. "I mean, I told you all about my rampage before. After that, murdering a pedophile doesn't seem so bad."

"You were quite graphic with your retelling." Sadeena told him.

"I guess…" He didn't see the big deal. If you don't want people doing certain things, you make an example out of them. People knew the man did what he did, they just couldn't prove it. So, Dante chopped him into over a dozen pieces and scattered his corpse in front of the man's house. It was one of his dumber moves, but it certainly left an impression.

"Besides," Sadeena went on, "you didn't intend on telling everyone about your rampage. You only did because you started to and I encouraged you to continue."

"That's true." Dante agreed with that. His argument with Eclair prompted that little story.

"I think you're only being this open because…because of that family in Korokan." Sadeena said sadly. "You've gone back there the past two days."

"Are you saying I shouldn't?" Dante asked somewhat aggressively, but Sadeena shook her head.

"I'm just concerned." She cupped his face as she said this. "I know you miss them, but you shouldn't be doing that to yourself."

Dante leaned into her touch, calming himself. "…I know. I know it's not them. It's just…"

"I understand." Sadeena emphasized with a kiss. "If I saw people who looked like Raphtalia's parents, I'd want to do what you're doing now."

Dante knew he shouldn't be visiting them. A large part of him wanted to see his family's faces again. But, a small part of him knew it wouldn't end well. Still…he was happy.

"Look, I can't say I won't go see them, but I'll at least promise I won't let them distract me." Dante said.

"I'll take your word for it." Sadeena held him close.

Really, only pain would result from him seeing that family again and again. During his visits, he was starting to see more and more differences between them and his family. Their mannerisms, their hobbies, some small details that didn't line up with his family, the differences were plain to see. But, their base personalities were similar enough that Dante found it hard to stay away. Plus, seeing Mary…Lucia happy like she was, it really warmed his heart.

"Mind if I ask you something else?" Sadeena said.

"What's up?" Dante pulled back to look at her.

"Are you really okay sleeping with all those women?" She asked. "I know we talked about this before, but I wanted to be sure."

"Well, yeah." Dante said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because of the reason for the sex. With us, it's for a bit of fun and, well…" her face grew a bright blush as she weaved her fingers through his hair, "I think we both know why we do that."

"We do." Dante affirmed with a kiss.

"But, with those women in Siltvelt, their goal is to have a child. Your child." She said pointedly. "I remember how you acted when I had Dio and JoJo call you their dad. Will you be okay?"

"Oh. It passed through my mind once or twice." That was something Dante was all too aware of. He just tried not to think too hard about it. The same could be said in his world when he hired women for that. No one came forward, so he assumed he didn't have any. Of course, after a few years, he and his family had to move with no way for others to contact them, so there was no telling.

"Dante…" Sadeena clearly knew his flippant answer wasn't honest.

"I'll just have to deal with it when it comes around." He reasoned. His own personal issues would have to take a back seat to making sure things ran smoothly.

"I suppose so…" A wide grin grew on Sadeena's face. "I guess I'll just have to distract you from that. I can't have you being with those women more than me~."

"I think I'd like that." Dante said, the both of them agreeing to make real use of the room's bed.

~The Wrong Hero~

Just like the last two days, the rest of this day passed quickly. More and more tribe heads trickled in to greet Dante, as well as learn of the current deal he had going on with the leadership about having children. Dante looked over the shields he gained from Fohl's hunting. Most gave tiny or small bonuses, with a few offering minor abilities. He unlocked another couple of shields during their leveling, being careful not to leave himself too undefended.

For his part, Jaralis was a busy man. First it was the carriages, and then it was weapons for his party the next day. Today, he provided Dante with a crystal ball that contained a Zweite level spell inside. That was enough for Dante to agree to take another lioness to bed, since Zweite spells were a bit difficult for him to learn, even with help. He worked to gain a better understanding of it during their breaks throughout the day, finishes by the time night rolled around

The next day, the plan was to travel to Othil and work out a strategy with the country. It would boil down to finding volunteer knights to bring with them to guard any town or village the wave happened to be near while Dante's main party would go after the wave boss. While not a snag in the plan, a new facet presented itself.

When Dante went to use his portal skill, he noticed a new location he could teleport to. Specifically, it was the hourglass in Othil. It was separate from the location he had set up near the outskirts of the capital. He had a thought about that. The wave timer that was more pronounced in his status was for whichever hourglass he was relatively close to. Combined with the new portal location, it seemed like he might have to be near the hourglass to be teleported to the wave.

His help menu didn't confirm or refute his idea on the matter. Once the next Melromarc wave occurred, he could ask one of the other heroes about it.

"Portal Shield."

Until then, he would operate under the assumption he had to be nearby. Appearing before the dragon hourglass, the whole party stood in the Four Heroes Church of Othil.

"Halt!" One of the nearby guards called out. He and his fellows cautiously approached Dante's group. "Identify yourselves!"

"The Shield Hero." Dante said, presenting his shield as he changed its form.

The guard looked him up and down. "I heard the Shield Hero was missing an arm."

"I was." Dante confirmed. "I had it healed."

"I see." The guards looked between themselves before coming to a consensus. "My apologies, Shield Hero. Are you here to prepare for the wave?"

"We are. I was hoping to speak with the ruler, or a representative, in order to get the help of some knights." He didn't imagine it would be too difficult. It wasn't as if they had to prepare much to find volunteers among the knights. Even if no one volunteered, the crown could always enlist adventurers.

"That's already been taken care of." The guard informed him.

"Oh…Well, great then." That was one less thing to worry about. "Who should I talk to about meeting these people?"

"Actually, the hero is having a meeting with them now. You should be able to meet him." The guard gave them directions to the meeting.

"Ah…great…"

It wasn't that Dante wasn't happy to hear that at least one of the others was taking their job seriously. He just figured the odds of it being Itsuki were high, given how that would be the most annoying outcome.

They arrived at the center of town, where a number of knights and adventurers were gathered around someone. At a glance, Dante didn't recognize anyone present. One of the knights might have been Armor, but he had to get closer to verify.

"I'll send my party out early to find where the boss is located." An unfamiliar voice said. "We'll try to reduce the wave length as much as possible."

"Why aren't any of the other heroes coming?" One of the knights asked. "This will be the third wave without anyone else!"

The third? A bit earlier than I thought. Dante and his party made their way to find out who the hero was. If that first one was the hero, it might have been Itsuki doing a voice, but he wasn't sure.

"I understand your concern, but we just have to make do." The first voice spoke again.

Once at the front of the group, Dante took a look at the speaker. It seemed to be a young man—presumably—with a pretty face and light brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He wore a set of good looking chainmail that was complemented by hardened leather on his arms and legs. Shades of dark green and light brown peaked around his armor. At his side was a griffin, larger than most of the ones his party had been facing recently. It looked like it might be a matriarch.

"Oh, hello there." The man greeted pleasantly. "Are you here to volunteer for the wave?"

"Uh, yeah." Dante responded with a nod. "I've already registered at the hourglass."

"Registered?" The young man tilted his head to the side cutely. "Then…"

"He's a hero!" One of the knights shouted. "Now we have two heroes to aid us!"

"About that." Dante turned to the knight. "I heard another hero was already here. Do you know where I can find him?"

The knight had a puzzled look on his face. He lifted his hand and pointed at the young man, who gave a slight chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself." The young man patted his hip, drawing Dante's eye. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a whip at his side. It seemed to be of good quality. At the end of the handle, a round gem reflected the late morning light.

"My name is Lloyd, the Seven Star Whip Hero."

Author's Notes:

What a tweest! I wonder what this hack writer will do next.

Just a tidbit of information I recently learned. Raphtalia can't use a therianthrope form. Just reread that part in the WN and a different translation of the LN. Looks like it was a One Peace Books mistranslation. I mean, I think she transformed into something like Raph-chan in the New Reprise WN as a gag, but that's probably it, unless something changed in the past few months. I haven't been keeping up with New Reprise. I don't plan on changing anything, just a bit of info.