Our departure was delayed when Filo collapsed into Raphtalia's arms, and my (Insight) skill said that her stacking (Focus) like that had literally used her power for most of the remainder of the day, as her MP was a negative number at the moment, the first time I'd seen something like that. Still, Fitoria, concerned about her, insisted we not leave until she recovered, so we got to stay in her Sanctuary for another day.
The Shield Hero and his party mostly whiled away the hours fretting over Filo, which made sense, but given that was a personal thing, I decided to go into the woods and mostly just hang around. I tested a few of the local bits and bobs for use as unlocking material, even shoving some mushrooms that unlocked a new form in that line into my pouch for later, while lamenting the loss of my jacket back and Rabier's estate. Its pockets would have come in handy.
It was about noon when Fitoria, in her natural form, with Melty atop her head came tromping nearby, shaking the ground, and making me look up at her. She was actually slightly shorter than the brothers when I maximized their size, I noticed. Not that I would tell her that, and the way the First Princess was shouting, showing obvious enjoyment at the ride was kind of endearing, enough that I smiled and laughed despite myself.
The rest of the day, once Filo awoke, was spent celebrating the birth/ascension of a future Queen of the Filolials, which involved them taking turns with the ladies, racing around the area as fast as they could, leaving Naofumi and myself to watch. One did try and get me involved, but I declined, showing it was possible to do so, which made me wonder how genuine the shouts of fear the ladies were making were.
After a noon meal prepared by the Shield Hero, and then some stuff at night, where Fitoria brought out not only some nice herbs and things, but more specialized tools, allowing Naofumi to prepare some pretty good fare, we were done for the day. The ladies fell asleep in a pile of feathered bodies, while I declined, remembering what had happened yesterday, and instead deciding to lay on a flat stone dais, and stare into the night sky.
Naofumi and Fitoria slipped away at some point, and Fitoria's voice carried, if only slightly. She had a soft tone to her, and from what I could hear, she was explaining to Naofumi where she came from, answering his questions more freely than she had mine. The reason why was simple. Association, as he confirmed my own guess, that Fitoria was a filoial royal raised by a Shield Hero in the past.
By the time they came down, I was still not asleep, going over my menu, scrolling through the 'Follower' list, which had mostly level 1s, but some were already showing progress, and more than a few were already starting to gain EXP. That left me with a warm feeling as I drifted off to sleep, only awakening slightly as half a dozen birds came to snuggle up around me, making me ALMOST annoyed enough to get up and move…but not quite.
In the morning we went about getting what supplies we'd brought with us together. It was the work of minutes, as we really were just carrying the clothing on our backs, and the gear we were wearing. Nothing else really to do there, save maybe storing away the drums and other tools Naofumi had used to make the food for us all. The Queen of the Filolials was sad about that, commenting that it was the best meals they'd seen in Sanctuary for centuries, and they would not know their like again any time soon
Still, Fitoria saw fit to reward us, both the two of us as Heroes, and the one who had proven herself, before we were shuffled off from this place, and out of her feathers. She had her children rummaging through some of the ruins for some stuff, and then presented us with a set of chests. The first of which she opened with her feathers, and withdrew from its velvet lined interior, a crown that looked to be worth quite a bit, if my (Appraisal) was to be believed.
She claimed the crown had no name, as her people didn't do that, but that it was the symbol of Royalty for Filolials, or some such. I was doubtful that it was a natural thing, but it did come with a few cool bonuses on it, though it had just as many requirements for wearing it, including 'Proving Oneself to the Current Royal'. Given she had done so, Fitoria placed the crown on Filo's head, the younger one seeming to shine with power.
A moment later, the crown disappeared, and for an instant I thought she'd equipped it internally or something, but a small strand of hair, much like the three on Fitoria's own head, popped out, annoying her. I think, in terms of fashion, it was called an ahoge or something like that, but it seemed to annoy Filo, who plucked it, only to have it grow back a moment later, causing most of us to laugh at her distress, given it was a harmless bit of fashion.
Fitoria explained that, as she went up in power/rank, Filo would grow another in a similar vein as that, before, when Fitoria stepped down or died, whichever came first, she would gain the third to mark her as Queen of all her kind. That excited the young Filo, even as she continued to pluck out the regrowing bit of hair a few more times, before Fitoria walked up to the pair of us, and placed her hand onto our weapons.
Naofumi seemed to shake with her touch, like it was cold or something, but I was just standing there, as she channeled a small bit of her power into the gems, causing them to glow briefly, before my menu force opened itself, and I watched as the list of forms I had unlocked grew. Two dozen or more new forms became available as I watched, most based around the Filolial race, obviously, but also some that appeared to be useful for 'Leaders' and even a few based in 'Royalty'.
I was not going to read that all at once, and so, instead of standing there numbly as I did so, I closed the menus, and elbowed Naofumi, who had indeed been reading, the pair of us bowing deeply to her, and thanking her for her gift. She acknowledged us, and told us that, when she had time, she would give the same to our brothers in arms, but for now, the group piled into her Carriage, and we shot off.
Our arrival shocked me, as I'd expected to be at the castle, but instead we were on some bluff, overlooking a long wall that Melty identified as the Borderwall, a structure that marked the edge of her Kingdom, and the beginning of the Kingdom of Faubrey. That was the Kingdom the Queen was in, Naofumi commented, and Fitoria confirmed it for us, saying that the other heroes had arrived here some hours ago, awaiting her return, and expecting us to arrive sometime soon, given our stated goal was to meet with her.
Fitoria also mentioned that the Queen was going to arrive within the hour, one of her filolials being in her group, so she could sense the approach. She then departed, having no desire to see the Queen of Melromarc again any time soon. She transformed back into her large form, allowing her to gaze around, saying there was a large group waiting for us at the gate in the Borderwall, including some she hadn't expected, but rather than explaining herself, the giant filolial merely smirked down at us, and then flared her wings, vanishing along with her Carriage.
Leaving us to stew for a bit, Naofumi and I both took a moment to trade info about our unlocked weapons, with many of his being above his level range at the moment, as he and Raphtalia weren't quite as high level as the rest of us, something we'd hopefully be able to fix in the coming days, as we still had a few weeks before the next Wave event. He was excited at that prospect, as some of them sounded quite useful.
My own were much the same. The avian Bow line appeared to have a lot of bonuses to my skill costs, which made sense given they apparently started with my tried and true (Precision) form. More importantly, the filolial ones all included things like boosting my regeneration rate, including my SP, MP, and even HP, with the Royal Filolial one doing all three at once, which sounded like quite the bonus in a protracted fight.
Sadly, that was locked behind Level One-Hundred, along with a few others, including (Stage 5). I was a bit towards Level Seventy-One right now myself, with all the buffs and bonuses I'd gotten over this trip, which put me within spitting distance of more than a few of the new forms, as well as my (Stage 4) one. I was almost salivating at the description of a few of the things I'd gained from this trip, between the T-Rex and Fitoria.
As it turned out, Naofumi, being just shy of Level Sixty himself, was unable to use most of what we'd unlocked, but I could see the glint in his eyes as he read over his own list. Some of his bonuses were different, given his forms gave stat buffs mine did not, for whatever reason, and he got to keep some, though not all, of the passive skills, though needed to be in them to use the active skills, which was another difference.
We finally had to stop chatting about weapons, at Melty's request, and made our way down the side of the bluff, a fact made harder as there weren't that many paths down that weren't leading to sheer drops, which lead to a discussion on myself and Melty NOT being able to take the fall damage they gave, something that seemed to shock the Shield Hero's party for some reason, as they'd been able to make such leaps for ages now, given their particular builds.
I didn't bother explaining that I was probably weaker than someone my level should be, given my stat growth still saw me below one-hundred in all my stats, something Naofumi couldn't boast anymore, as his were all over that, with his defense stats, both physical and magical, being almost five-hundred in both categories right now, which was higher than anyone save the T-Rex and Fitoria that I'd seen. Even the Hydra only had a good three in those.
Still, a few minutes walk found us a nice slope, and when we were on the road, I quickly sorted us out, no one objecting when I had Filo carry Melty, with Raphtalia ahead of them, while Naofumi and I, side by side, took the lead. It was my idea that, if they saw us like this, we'd at least get the chance to talk to the others, before Malty tried to get them to fight us, and even then, we'd be able to keep Melty out of it, while Raphtalia provided her brand of backup.
It was shocking then, that as we drew closer to the wall, I noticed just what we were marching into, as Royal Knights were lined up in rows by the border, looking like quite the little army, making me think perhaps this might be a bad idea to be here at all, especially as they noticed us coming and got into a formation that looked quite ready to do battle with us, and no matter the boosts, I was very sure we could not take them all.
Still, there was an equal number of robed people, wearing what, at first, I thought was the symbol of the Three Heroes Church, but, as we drew closer, I noticed the robes had been altered, probably in a hurry, to include the Shield behind the other three, and the Bow had been converted into a Crossbow. Not a wrist mounted one, but still, it spoke of this being some kind of reform faction, especially as I recognized the ones at the head of both groups.
The one at the front of the knights was the King, who looked…stoic. Not angry or anything, simply letting it pass before him, as he had during one or two of our other meetings. He was also wearing armor that, even from a distance, I could tell was of exceptional quality, bearing as it did the seal of his Kingdom on it, writ in gold over the black plate, and the way the thing just seemed to shine in the light, even if I was almost certain I could push him over in it.
The one at the front of the church group was the Pope. That took me a moment as, while the King in Armor was regal and all, Balmus' attire looked…far less so than he had seemed at our prior meetings. He lacked the big hat, for one thing, but also the gold threaded robes. Not to say his current set wasn't still nice looking, in fact it was probably a lot more comfortable, but it didn't radiate power quite so much.
It took until we were even closer for me to see that, between the two groups, and right in front of the gate was a strange looking third contingent, that I only realized who they had to be thanks to Ren standing there, looking kind of confused as we drew closer. Behind him was his party, looking stoic as much as he did, but also standing ready to brawl, if the way they cradled their weapons was any indication.
Beside him was a group that contained Ray, I recognized her right off with her upgraded gold outfit, but the one standing beside her I didn't at all…until I got closer and she pulled back her hood, causing me to stare right into the eyes of Lucia, who was wearing a church like ensemble of pristine white robes, with a red edging along the hem. She was also staring at me with eyes that I was afraid might fire laser beams at any moment to burn me to ash on the spot, almost making me (Blink) away on instinct.
The final three standing there were the most interesting, however. One was Princess Malty…but not in her usual gear. In fact, if not for her red hair, I would have mistaken her for anyone else, as she was wearing the equivalent of rags right now, the sort of things I'd seen on slaves, and she looked like her eyes were burning with hate the same way Lucia's was…at Naofumi though and not me.
Beside her was Motoyasu and a green haired woman I didn't recognize at all, with two long ponytails that reached to her waist. Motoyasu I could vaguely recognize, but only because he had the Spear in his hand. Otherwise, his face was the only thing showing, as he wore a skin tight, but strong looking, armor of dark blue, with gold ribbing around parts of it. The stuff looked tougher than anything I'd seen yet, and the way the woman beside him was checking it said it had something to do with her, though what I didn't know, as we came to a halt just a few dozen meters away.
Luckily, there was no awkward stand off or anything, as the two leaders of the groups motioned for their forces to stand there, as Balmus and Aultcray approached, along with the Hero Parties, the group and the two men standing apart for a bit, but their paths coming together as they finally stood right before us, and we stared at them in turn, leading to a moment of silence, before, strangely, the King and Lucia approached us, Lucia drawing something from under her robes as she donned her hood, holding it up.
The weapon, a gleaming blade, looked far too large for her to wield effectively, but I doubted it was a weapon of that sort. It seemed to radiate magic, and as she turned it towards us, I noticed it 'morphed' in the same way my Bow did when I changed it between forms, becoming a bit more useable as it did so, and gaining a glowing word 'Truth' on the flat of the blade, as it faced towards us.
"Heroes of the Bow and Shield, I have words to speak to both of you, but before that, I have questions. If you answer them in the way I expect, this day shall see the death of only one person on this field. Should you fail to live up to the expectations set by those who believe in you, then many more will fall before the Queen can intervene," he declared, and took a deep breath, as if readying himself for a confrontation with words…but also preparing for battle of blades if those weapons prove too dull.
(A/N: Just in case anyone's curious about the new gear, some of which WILL be important later.
Aultcray is wearing standard plate mail, with the symbol of the Melromarc Kingdom on its breastplate in gold, while the armor itself is black(Ser Hendricks Armor from Dragon Quest XI is what I was thinking of)
The Pope is dressed like the village priests seen in the rest of the anime, if possibly a bit finer material used in his robes.
Malty is dressed similar to Raphtalia when she first appeared back in the slave pens(No she does not have a magical slave tattoo at this point).
Lucia is dressed in standard White Mage robes from Final Fantasy…she does not have her hat at this point. That's how you know something is serious. Also, the sword at the end is inspired by 'The Seeker' series' weapon The Sword of Truth.
And Motoyasu is dressed in the Armor of the Immortals, from Jackie Chan Adventures.)