Shield Kid's Bizarre Adventure! Chapter 27: 27: Tact Gets Clapped, a rising of the shield hero/盾の勇者の成り上がり fanfic

So, uh, I'm just going to say this upfront. Do you remember how I learned Erhard was actually supposed to be spelled Elhart and began changing all instances of his name's appearance to that (I know I at least did that for AO3, haven't checked if I've done it on or not)?

Well, the same thing happened with Shieldfreeden's leader. I thought her name was supposed to be spelled Nielseen or Nielsoon or whatever. It's actually supposed to be spelled 'Nelshen.'

Sooooo… yeah, hopefully, I'll be able to go through it at a later date and fix that for earlier sections of the story. This is just a heads up in case you all are wondering who the heck Nelshen is in this chapter. Thanks for your continued support and I hope you enjoy seeing Tact getting Slapped in this chapter (spoilers)!

Also, I turn 25 today. I am getting old. So enjoy this chapter a week early as a present from me to you!

Also, my apologies to Kenji Apex for this story giving them mental diabetes. I do hope this chapter helps him to recover from that.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Tact Gets Slapped

The leader of Shieldfreeden stood in front of her country's dragonglass. Patiently waiting as she stared at the grains of sand counting down till the next Wave.

Her blue hair swayed with the breeze that came through the door. And she sniffed deeply the smell of nature carried on the wind.

Nothing would have pleased her more than to take advantage of the day and to use her dragon form to fly thousands of feet above her Capital city.

However, that was not to be. And she was still frowning as she recalled King Aultcray's message sent to her via the guild system, asking if he could meet with her in person.

No details had been given besides the request.

She had no idea what he wanted to talk about. Or who he was going to bring along. Or if he was going to bring anyone along.

'It is still another few weeks until our next Wave. Have the soldiers I've contributed not done enough to assist in the others' Waves or something?'

She'd pondered this and other thoughts after accepting the Staff Hero's message and inviting him to her palace. She had no idea what to expect from him when he arrived. She tried to be ready regardless.

She still recalled the days when she'd been on the Council in Siltvelt. Before moving her people to Shieldfreeden and becoming the new country's leader.

She'd seen the Wise King in battle and knew how deadly he was not just for his strength, but for his intelligence as a tactician too.

It was why she'd been so confident in trusting him when Balmus and his followers came out. It was why she'd been interested in a mutually beneficial alliance between Shieldfreeden, Siltvelt, and Melromarc. And it was part of the reason why she'd accepted to host the foreign King in her country despite not getting any details from him about why he was visiting.

As for the other part of the reason…

…

Nelshen sniffed deeply again as the next breeze blew in. This one, however, made her wince as it was accompanied by the smoke of smokestacks from Shieldfreeden's new factories.

It was not the smoke itself that bothered her. She was part-dragon, after all, and was more than used to inhaling the smoke emitted by her own flames when in her dragon form. Rather, it was what the smoke itself reminded her of.

Another part of her reason for accepting Aultcray into her country… something that had been beginning to trouble her as of late…

…

After another moment of waiting, a bright flash appeared in front of the Hourglass. Nelshen briefly lifted her arm over her face, and once the light died down, she lowered it again.

"Your… Majesties. Welcome to Shieldfreeden." She said in a neutral tone, hiding her surprise at seeing not only the Staff King but the Vixen of Melromarc with him as well.

Aultcray nodded his head while Mirellia curtsied. As she did this, four Shadows, who'd also come along with the teleport, dashed up the walls of the room and disappeared from sight.

"It might be acceptable to bring a small personal guard for such occasions… but Shadows?" Nelshen asked skeptically.

"All in good time." Aultcray walked up beside the dragon leader. "First, I'd like us to go somewhere more private."

"We are already in my country's Dragon Hourglass room, Staff Hero. I do not think you could find a more private and sacred place than-" Nelshen began to retort angrily.

"Your Majesty, there are at least twelve different areas us Shadows have located for unwanted ears to listen in." One of the Shadows from before suddenly appeared in front of Mirellia to report. "The occupants we found hiding in one of them have already been detained.

"While we're uncertain, we do believe they were here spying on the Hourglass for arrivals."

…

Nelshen's only reaction was for her eyebrow to lift up in surprise.

"Perhaps, at one point, this was treated as a sacred place," Mirellia spoke then. "However, as we learned with Balmus, not even our own castle was as private as we once believed it to be."

"... whatever your reason for being here, it must be pretty important for you to be going to such lengths." Nelshen eventually replied in an even tone.

"It could possibly affect our new son, as well as the other Heroes," Aultcray answered. "For their sake, I'd rather not leave anything up to chance."

…

Nelshen frowned again. She still wasn't exactly sure what they'd come to see her for. However, she was starting to get an idea of what they were referring to.

And it lined up with the last bit of her own inner turmoil as well.

"Right, then. Come this way. I believe I might know of a place where we'll truly be able to speak with one another in private."

The two rulers followed Nelshen out of the room, leaving the large dragon hourglass behind.

Aultcray breathed in deeply.

It'd been only seconds since Tact had spoken, but his hand already held a tight grip on his Vassal Staff.

He didn't have to pull up his HUD to tell that his half-brother had a lot of power behind him. And that still included the rest of his entourage walking down the ramp behind him.

According to what he'd learned, they were all at least level 250. And the Whip Hero himself was level 350.

A truly impressive level. It was more than double what Aultcray's level was.

It was almost triple his own level, actually.

A lot of innocent(?) monsters had died to get Tact this far…

'Stay calm. You've made at least fifty different variations of this plan and your wife has helped you to refine each and every one of them. Neither of you is going to allow Melromarc to fall today and put your kids in danger.'

Mirellia stepped up beside her husband. The two rulers were dressed in their formal royal clothes. Mirellia's purple dress looked as splendid as it did ornate. And Aultcray's gold-lined red robes fell around a white military vest that looked as pristine as it was clean.

They'd made sure to gather all the information that they could. And they'd discussed their plans carefully with Mirellia's shadows, who would be taking the place of the castle staff for today.

As long as they avoided an all-out battle, everything would be fine. They just had to get through this part first. Something that Nelshen had taken care to warn them about in detail.

"Won't you come aboard? I'm sure that we have much to discuss between us." Tact said with a grin, gesturing behind him to the ramp and the variety of girls waiting behind him with expectant smiles.

Mirellia slowly allowed a smile to appear on her face as she stepped forward. "My apologies, Whip Hero, but when I heard of your coming, I ordered my cooks to prepare a feast for your arrival.

"They spent all of last night getting everything ready. I'm sure that after your long trip to get here, a nice warm meal would be in order for you and your companions?"

…

Tact's smirk fell just a little bit. Aultcray felt as if a wave of coldness had just washed over his soul.

It was truly amazing how Mirellia didn't even flinch despite the change of atmosphere. She continued to smile at the younger Whip Hero, who was well out of his political depth.

"That is very… thoughtful of you, Your Grace. But I feel we could just order your servants to carry the feast onto my ship if you could." Tact said in the same tone of voice. "The discussion I plan on having with your hero husband is very important. And I'd hate to have prying ears listening in on it."

Aultcray took another calming breath as he got himself to smile and say the lines his wife had practiced with him in case this scenario came up. "Indeed, it is important. This is why we've also made sure that the castle is empty of anyone besides those we trust today.

"I can assure you that privacy won't be an issue in the slightest. We'll be free to talk over anything we want while you're here."

…

Tact's smirk fell a little more. Yet, this time, Aultcray felt emboldened to continue. "And what about your companions behind you? I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to stand on solid ground for a while after such a long flight, no?"

"And what would you know about being on an airship, brother?" Tact asked, barely hiding the venom in his tone.

"We would know nothing about being on an airship, persay," Mirellia stated clearly, holding a fan in front of her face. "However, we have both been on plenty of 'ships' in our lifetime. If it is anything like that, I would think you'd want to get off as soon as you had the chance, even if it is a short trip.

"That is my thoughts on the matter, at least."

…

A short staredown occurred between the two groups.

Aultcray, though outwardly calmed, felt primed for a battle. Every instinct was telling him to make the first move.

He had to squash those instincts. If he made the first move, things would go from bad to worse in a short amount of time. There was no way he could solve this through brute force even with so many strengthening methods under his belt. He had to be patient.

"I am being courteous enough… to invite you onto my personal ship," Tact said in a slow, clear voice.

"And we are being courteous enough to host you and your companions inside of our castle. Our very home." Mirellia said, her eyes narrowed above her fan as her tone became as cold as ice. Said ice also appeared around the handle of her fan, which she closed, revealing her face again.

"If you would rather disrespect our gesture of kindness and goodwill, you can always choose to leave Melromarc."

"I am sure that as important as this discussion is, it would not be worth the disrespect you'd put on my home by refusing our kind offer."

…

Tact's smirk had turned into a scowl. Mirellia's glare didn't lessen though. Her fan was pointing towards him in challenge.

The young man opened his mouth to speak again.

"For crying out loud, Tact, this isn't a pissing contest! And even if it was, your opponents are a pair of geriatrics, so for the love of god just let us get off the ship already! I'm starving!"

The blonde man turned around in surprise at the audacity directed at him.

Nelshen had just walked down the ramp past the other girls. Some of whom were looking at her in shock as well.

One of the ladies, a woman with a dragon tail wearing a black coat with a tall collar, snorted in amusement however. She stretched her arms wide above her head before speaking as well. "That was unexpectedly crass of you, Nelshen, but I agree with you, for once. I know I'm used to flying more so than the others, but even I like to spend some time on the ground every once in a while."

"Yeah!"

"I'm hungry!"

"Let's just accept the free food already!"

"Nobody cooks like royalty!"

"What are you doing?! We're supposed to be-" A demihuman woman with fox ears wearing a kimono tried to get the conversation back on topic but it was too late by then.

"They have some pretty flowers!"

"I want to smell the roses!"

After the dragon leader of Shieldfreeden had spoken, the other girls behind her were emboldened to voice their agreements loudly. Some were focused on the food, while others were staring in awe at the beautiful garden the airship was parked over.

A few of Tact's more loyal girls looked like they were trying to protest, but they were drowned out by the voices of the others.

Tact's scowl turned into a grimace, but it then quickly turned into a smile. "Of course. You girls are tired of being on the ship, aren't you?"

Many of them nodded their heads in agreement. Aultcray subtly shook his head.

It appeared that, just like the past Spear Heroes, and just like Motoyasu prior to his awakening via Amber, the Whip Hero was a womanizer and a simp. He hadn't been sure if Nelshen's tactical outburst would work or not. But she'd been right in that regard.

Which hopefully meant the rest of the information they'd gotten from her was accurate as well.

A chuckle escaped Tact's lips, and he gestured for them to come down. "Alright, we shall join this feast then.

"However, I'd still appreciate being able to talk to my half-brother first, as the matter is of grave importance." Tact turned to stare at Mirellia and Aultcray again.

For once, he had an unreadable expression on his face.

…

Mirellia had opened her fan and put it in front of her face again, but glanced over it at her husband in worry. However, her worry melted away at the aura of confidence she recognized around him.

He stood tall and firm, calmly smiling as he threw away the last twenty plans he had prepared in his mind, now that they weren't being forced onto the airship.

Nelshen had made it pretty obvious to them what'd happen if that occurred. And as powerful as her husband was, the inside of the ship held too many unknowns for the both of them to account for. Keeping things on the ground in their home would make things that much more simple for the two of them.

Even simpler, since Tact was separating himself from his harem. The first ten plans Aultcray had prepared could safely be thrown out as well.

"Of course, esteemed brother." Aultcray bowed his head. "Please, follow me. I'm certain that we have a lot to discuss." The King turned around to walk down one of the paths in the garden.

"Gladly." Tact gestured to Nelshen and then began walking behind the King.

"Alright, let's eat!" Nelshen declared.

The majority of Tact's harem cheered as they followed her and Mirellia, who had other servants appear to guide everyone to the dining room.

Tact followed Aultcray down a hallway of the castle.

"Pbth. You really expect me to believe this place would be more secure than my airship?" He snidely asked.

"After torturing Balmus and his followers a fair bit, I learned about every secret passageway in and around our fair castle. I then took the time to seal each and every last one with earth magic so they wouldn't be able to be used again." Aultcray informed him.

Well, besides a certain one near his room. But that was in case he wanted to celebrate his kids' birthdays outside the castle without their mother knowing.

Even royalty could use a break from being royalty from time to time.

Tact's eyebrows narrowed. "Balmus? Who's that?"

"He was the former Pope of the Three Heroes Church in Melromarc," Aultcray answered. "He and his followers tried to arrange a coup. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"Hmph. He was probably nothing more than a weakling then."

"He wasn't weak. But he was a fool who had no idea what he was getting himself into." Aultcray stated calmly.

"Hmmm… and how did you torture this 'fool' then?" Tact asked.

"It might have involved some creative uses with Soul Worms," Aultcray answered, this time with a bit of a smirk.

Tact nearly paused midstep, a brief look of terror crossing his face. However, Aultcray didn't turn his head to address it, and the antagonist was smirking widely again within seconds. "Threatening the soul of a religious man. How cleverly bold of you. I almost feel jealous."

"He was a fool. But at least he had some useful info to give while he was alive." The Wise King shrugged.

…

A minute passed in silence as they continued walking, and Tact didn't try pressing the subject further. However, Aultcray didn't drop his guard around the Whip Hero in the slightest.

His sense of danger hadn't lessened. If anything, it was only growing stronger the longer he was around the younger Whip Hero.

He recalled more of his conversation with Nelshen from days before as they continued to walk in silence.

"This place shall work, Your Majesties."

"Thank you, Shadow. You and your compatriots are greatly appreciated." Aultcray informed him.

The man bowed, then disappeared to take up his post in the new room alongside his fellow Shadows. The last Shadow finished speaking to Mirellia in a hushed tone before disappearing as well.

The new area was a room under Nelshen's palace. It was deep in the dungeons, near where her pantry was located. Inside a storeroom that not even her guards would consider important enough to patrol around.

The room was lit by the light of a single lamp. Which Nelshen had activated with a spell. After sitting herself down and adjusting her dress, she finally faced the two rulers again.

"Now, tell me. Why is it that you wanted to meet with me in secret?"

Aultcray put his hands together. "It is simple. The Whip Hero wishes to come to Melromarc to speak to me. And I heard that you had ties to him."

"I want information on the young man."

…

Nelshen smirked. "Perhaps that is true, perhaps it is not. What's it worth to you?"

"The Whip Hero contacted me, wanting to share his power-up methods." Aultcray continued. "I have not contacted him on the matter like I did with the other Vassal Heroes. And the only Hero who I have managed to contact was your country's Hammer Hero."

"The only ones who know about power-up methods being shared between heroes are me and my wife, the other Heroes, the council of Siltvelt… and you." Aultcray clasped his hands in front of him. "So that means either the Hammer Hero contacted him about it, or you did."

…

The two rulers continued to stare at the dragon woman as she was silent. "Do you really think that I-"

"No. I don't believe you told him." Mirellia stated, holding a fan up to her face. "I can tell by the look that passed through your eyes. You weren't aware that the Whip Hero requested to meet with us."

A surprised look finally came onto Nelshen's face. Which she briefly managed to hide with a scowl. "Is it any good if I even talk then if you're just going to read the answers from my expression, Vixen?!"

"No," Aultcray stated. "If anything, that means I can narrow it down to the Hammer Hero being the one to inform my… half-brother, about this Hero function. Though, I don't believe the Hammer Hero has a history of getting along with him in any meaningful way."

"At least, not enough that he'd disappear to inform only 'him' about this. Especially since he is supposedly training with the Claw Hero at the moment. A Hero who still hasn't answered my call yet." Aultcray stated.

"I believe you can see how I find this all highly suspicious."

…

Nelshen's scowl disappeared, but she was now frowning. "You've learned all this before you even talked to me. That is very impressive."

"I've also learned that the Hammer Hero hasn't appeared in your country to help with even one Wave." Aultcray continued. "Same as with Siltvelt's Claw Hero. I personally find it very strange that I haven't even heard of the Whip Hero appearing in any Waves in Faubley to help out. Unless Faubley's Shadows have been that good at keeping such information away from us."

…

"You wouldn't need to worry about that," Nelshen said with a sigh. "Their spy network is loyal only to the Pig King. It is the reason Tact hasn't already seized the throne from his father. He complains about that more so than anything else."

…

Aultcray narrowed his eyes. Nelshen stared at him almost blankly. "You are right that I hold close ties with the Whip Hero. In fact, they are closer than you might have believed."

…

"Ah, a physical relationship, I see," Mirellia stated.

"... indeed." Nelshen held her hands together. "So before we are to continue, I'd like to know. What reason do I have to divulge anything else to you that'd go against my lover?"

"I believe even the fact that you have accommodated our excessive need for privacy is reason enough," Aultcray stated clearly.

"Fufufu, and who's to say I didn't bring you here to kill you two myself?" Nelshen asked with a dark chuckle.

"If you'd wanted to kill us, I'd imagine you would have done so in a place where you could easily turn into and make full use of your dragon form. As well as somewhere where I wouldn't be surrounded by my natural affinity." Aultcray gestured to the walls of earth all around them.

…

"Fufufu." After a moment of silence, the dragon chief began to chuckle again. "Fine. You are right that I have no intention of harming you.

"But entertain me. I'd like to see just how deep your wisdom goes, Wise Staff King." Nelshen said mockingly.

…

"Hmmm… okay, I don't think you would consider betraying Tact if there wasn't a reason for you to do so," Aultcray said.

"Go on." Nelshen gestured with a clawed hand.

"While I can guess your reasons to be personal, as it is well known that Tact has a large harem of lovers, I'm rather inclined to believe them to be economical instead."

"... How so?" Nelshen asked, albeit a bit hesitantly.

"Now that we're able to freely trade with one another, I'm better able to see how our countries are doing. And even though it hasn't been that long…" Aultcray pulled out some sheets of paper from his Staff, setting them on the table. "I found that there is a very clear drop in your exports compared to before the war with Siltvelt when we didn't have our free trade agreement."

…

Nelshen wasn't surprised. She was visibly stunned. And Aultcray was frowning as he continued.

"I thought it might be some fluke. But when I checked it with some of your soldiers in the coalition, they told me it was true. There are less people working in Shieldfreeden than ever before. Some even knew of neighbors who'd gone to work on some projects, only to never return."

"Not to mention. I noticed that Shieldfreeden is also importing less food even though you don't have much farmland available in your country."

"That is very worrying indeed. I don't imagine that you yourself aren't aware of any of this?"

…

"..."

Nelshen hung her head. Fists clenched at her sides. "He… that bastard said it would jumpstart my nation and turn it into a real powerhouse. That we'd become strong both militarily and economically.

"But with how high the manpower costs are. For it to make such a visible impact on my nation, on my people…"

Aultcray and Mirellia didn't say anything. They simply waited as Nelshen went back and forth in her mind.

…

"That isn't the only thing though…" Nelshen continued in a whisper. "... That isn't my only reason."

"So there is something personal as well," Mirellia said. "Are you jealous of the other girls, perhaps?"

"No. It isn't that. Tact loving lots of other girls never bothered me much before since he was… so kind to us, and… …"

…

Finally, Nelshen came to some resolution. She looked up at them with a blank face. "What is it that you want to know?"

"I guess, just to satisfy my curiosity on the matter first, what is this project you mentioned that requires so much manpower?"

Nelshen proceeded to answer, in clear detail, the factories Tact had helped to set up in her country. He'd given her designs for strange armored vehicles that could drive and fly without magic. Of weapons that could propel themselves forward and launch explosive projectiles from barrels that'd fly far further than normal arrows.

They were genius… if not for a few pitfalls.

For one, the materials he needed to power these machines were extremely rare. It required drilling deep into the ground. And even on the rare instances that they did find the resource, there wasn't much. And the process of extracting it as well as protecting the drill from monsters was costly. Turning said resource into a fuel that'd power these machines were even more costly.

It was one of the design's largest pitfalls, as it wasn't modified to at least be capable of being pulled by Filolials or some other beast of burden.

At least then they might have been of some use.

The flying machines were another matter entirely. They were a marvel indeed, just like Tact's airship. But they suffered from the same issues! And the process for making fuel for them was different from the one that made fuel for Tact's ground vehicles! Making the logistics for that even worse than if it was just the ground vehicles!

And despite the ground vehicles being heavily armored, they were very weak to magic attacks and traps! Even an idiot with enough knowledge in Earth Magic could make a hole big enough to trap one in place with ease!

And that didn't even include the process of making all of these vehicles by hand in Shieldfreeden's 'factories'. Or how, as she'd learned on a recent visit, inhumane the working conditions inside these factories were.

Needless to say, many workers and slaves had died and were dying right now to build Tact's army.

By the time Nelshen was finished, Aultcray and Mirellia simply stared at her. "I always thought that Tact's airship was a marvel and a standard for technology going forward… but now it sounds like a huge waste of resources, just like the rest of Faubley's military."

"That's because it is. At least Faubley still has the notion of focusing on quality over quantity." Nelshen scowled. "He says these 'tanks' and 'planes' of his will change our world's way of warfare. Yet, I've seen how effective these are for me, and they're just like everything else in our world. They're only as powerful as the people using them.

"Even the guns he's developed, while superior to Faubley's guns, are just as big a waste of resources as the guns Faubley soldiers use! And with hardly any increase in combat power to boot!"

"These… artillery guns of his, do have their advantages. But all it'd take is an army using long-range ceremonial magic to hit the ammunition resting next to them for the guns and everything around them to be enveloped in a large explosion."

"All his inventions are no better than catapults or chariots or whatever. We could be making a thousand of them for every dozen of his contraptions, and without my people dying to make it happen!" Nelshen yelled heatedly at the end.

Mirellia and Aultcray shared a grimace. "Why would he need all of this anyway? Does he plan on combating the Waves with these… 'tanks' and 'planes' of his?" Mirellia asked.

"No. He hasn't even appeared to help with a Wave in our country despite…" Nelshen paused, grimacing as she thought over her words over what she was going to say next for a second before she continued with a defeated sigh.

"Despite being our nation's Hammer Hero."

…

The two rulers were stunned speechless by Nelshen's confession. Mirellia's fan had even dropped out of her hand onto the table.

Tact was supposed to be the Whip Hero. Heroes were only supposed to be chosen by one weapon and wield only said weapon.

And yet, he was somehow not only the Whip Hero but the Hammer Hero too?!

"How?! I thought he was Faubley's Whip Hero!" Mirellia demanded, slamming a fist into the table and rocking the lamp on it. "Heroes can't wield anything but their own weapon! And they can only be chosen by one weapon! That is common knowledge!"

"..." Nelshen stayed silent. Looking down at the table between them.

Aultcray gripped his weapon tightly. "The Hammer Hero who got my message… was that him?" Aultcray asked.

"No, it wasn't. Rather, it was a monster in his harem named Tulina. She's very advanced at illusion magic." Nelshen said spitefully.

"She shows up every now and then to the other nations pretending to be their Heroes. But she never stays for very long. And she doesn't help out in Waves or anything even though she's more than powerful enough to assist.

"She's a spoiled little brat who throws tantrums when things don't go her way. And, to be honest, I'm sick of that little bitch. Nothing would make me happier than to see her drop a peg or two."

…

The two rulers continued to frown. "How can the Whip Hero also be the Hammer Hero? And what other Hero Weapons does he have?" Aultcray asked.

"Take a guess. You've been trying to reach out to them, haven't you?" Nelshen asked snidely.

…

Aultcray's face darkened. "How has he been stealing Hero weapons without the rest of us knowing?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Nelshen asked. "Because everything past this point will ensure that you won't see Tact as nothing more than an enemy against you and the other Heroes."

"And with him being level 350 and the girls of his harem being at least level 250, me included, you're going to want to be 'very' careful around him."

…

"Yes, he has found a way to break a regular person's level cap," Nelshen said at the looks that entered the ruler's eyes. "He is far more dangerous than anyone else in this world, besides maybe you, Staff King. Besides the Cardinal Heroes, you might be the only one who stands a chance at defeating him. Though if he steals your weapon…"

…

"... If what you've said is true, then I have no choice," Aultcray stated resolutely, a glint of determination entering his eyes. "I will not allow anyone to put the lives of my family in danger. Be it my wife, young Naofumi and Raphtalia, Melty, the other Cardinal Heroes, or anyone else I care about."

"Agreed." Mirellia dropped her fan to the table. "With the risk this poses to not only our family and country, but our world at large… We are ready to share this risk."

…

"Alright, then. Here is what I know."

Nelshen proceeded to talk.

Aultcray was brought back to the present as Tact began to talk again.

"Besides this… Balmus, fellow. Have you had to deal with any other coup attempts? Perhaps, maybe a hakuko mercenary, or two?"

The King slowed and turned his head to narrow his eyes at the blonde, who was smirking knowingly.

However, Aultcray was no idiot. Tact hadn't even been born when that incident happened. If he was trying to bait him into thinking he'd ordered the killing of his family, he was sorely mistaken.

"No. Those nobles who didn't agree with the changes tried to leave. However, the majority of them have been dealt with and replaced. And those that remain are being hunted down as we speak."

"Really? Not even one mercenary has appeared to make an attempt on you or your family's life?" Tact tried to continue with his topic.

"No. If there has been any, then my wife's Shadows have done a good job at intercepting them without my knowledge." Aultcray continued down the corridor. "Sometimes, I believe they are just as good as the Pig King's Shadows."

"I do hope your Father hasn't inconvenienced you too badly with them."

…

Tact scowled deeply. "What do you claim to know about that?!"

"Hmmm? I was merely implying how I've been keeping tabs on the other countries' activities. Nothing more." Aultcray shrugged as he continued on. "I do understand how you feel about it though. It has been years for me, yet I still recall how stifling it was being surrounded by the smokestacks of Faubley. Having all of those branch families stepping over each other trying to vie for the throne."

"My family was barely even fortieth in line. Yet that didn't stop the branch families further from the throne than us from trying to murder me and the rest of my family to secure a closer spot for themselves. A faint hope that they might be the ones in control someday."

"It truly is a barbaric practice for a country that claims to be the most advanced nation in the world. Wouldn't you agree?" Aultcray asked curiously.

…

Tact continued to deeply scowl though as he didn't answer Aultcray's inquiry.

Heh, it seemed that Aultcray had been the one to strike a nerve instead of the young man.

He was truly grateful to his wife for instilling in him all the knowledge he might need for this encounter. They couldn't cover everything, but he felt he was decently ready for any response the young man would send his way.

It was no wonder the other nations knew her as the Vixen of Melromarc. Aultcray might have been an excellent tactician, but Mirellia was a true politician. She was able to handle people in ways he could never hope to be able to, just from talking to them for a few minutes months or years ago. She relied on Nelshen's information as much as her own experiences listening to Tact at conferences from months ago.

It was a wonder he'd been lucky enough to marry someone like her.

…

After another minute of walking, the Whip Hero finally spoke up again in an impatient voice. "Are we there yet?! This is taking forever!"

"We're almost there. I did promise that we'd have complete privacy for our discussion." Aultcray stated calmly.

They'd been walking for some time. Without Tact knowing, the King had taken the antagonist down a long, winding path on the way to their destination.

There were few guards patrolling this part of the castle. And that number dropped even more as they walked out of the castle into another section of the palace gardens.

This was at the back of the castle. They were approaching another building near the castle wall. It looked like an arena from the outside.

"I do believe with how unused this building is, we shall have plenty of privacy here," Aultcray stated evenly.

"... my thanks, half-brother," Tact said in a tone of malice. Not even bothering to hide the killing intent in his voice.

Aultcray pretended to not hear it though. Going in through the entrance and out onto the main field of the arena.

A table had been set up in advance with two chairs. No one else was in sight. It would be the perfect place to hold a private discussion…

However, he wasn't even close to it when Tact finally made his move.

Boom! Boom!

Twin bolts of lightning hit the tops of the entrances to the arena, reducing them to rubble.

Aultcray quickly turned, and barely weaved his body out of the way as a third one went past him and struck the table and chairs, incinerating them on the spot.

"HA! You certainly move fast for an old man!" Tact howled, a look of murderous glee on his face as the Whip in his hands was replaced with the Vassal Claws. "There must be some merit to these 'strengthening methods' you talked about in your message after all!"

Ha. This was starting sooner than he'd anticipated. His earlier comments must have really riled the young man up.

Still, Aultcray could tell that those Claws were the same weapons that his old foe Taylon had used long ago. The sight of them made him frown.

"So, it is true. You have somehow managed to find a way to steal the weapons of other wielders." Aultcray spoke as he took up a defensive posture.

Tact sauntered forward, looking absolutely confident. "Of course. As the only Hero this world needs, I am the only Hero that deserves to wield its weapons."

Aultcray frowned even more deeply. It wasn't just the weapons he had to worry about. But Nelshen's info about Tact being able to cast magic without an incantation had also been accurate.

Aultcray could do it, but only thanks to the Vassal Staff combined with years and years of magic study. Tact had been considered a prodigy to master classes of magic at the age of three. But even then, it should have been impossible for him to accomplish such a feat.

And even though Aultcray could do it, he rarely did so since spells came out far more powerful when accompanied by an incantation due to the chant giving the spell structure.

"The only Hero this world needs?" Aultcray asked. "How can you claim that when you haven't even participated in a single Wave."

"How do you know-" Tact began to yell, but then he smirked widely. "So what? It doesn't really matter if I participate or not. So long as I'm alive, I will be the rightful ruler of this world once the dust settles!"

Aultcray's frown deepened. "You're that certain that the Waves won't destroy everything?"

"Of course! After I get the weapons of all the Heroes, I'll fight off the Waves and yadda all that nonsense. I'll then be able to take my place as the rightful ruler of everything and that'll be that!"

…

Aultcray's frown deepened even more.

He knew there were cases of… inbreeding, inside of his family line, due to ancestors wanting to keep the past Spear Hero's bloodline 'pure'. But even that couldn't explain the amount of craziness that Tact was spewing right now.

There had to be something more behind his confidence…

Tact shot a beam of energy from the Vassal Claws, and Aultcray slid to the side, avoiding it.

Boom!

A large crater was formed in the stands behind Aultcray where the attack had hit. The arena shook with the intensity of the attack.

"Once I have your weapon, it'll be a simple matter of disposing of you and capturing your wife. It won't take me long to free her of your vile influence." Tact smiled evilly.

Again, the kid was goading him. And again, Aultcray had to resist the urge.

Still, hearing the words fall straight from Tact's mouth, only confirmed more of what Nelshen had told him and his wife.

"He brainwashes those who join his harem?!"

"Tact, no. But other girls in his party… do it behind his back. He thinks that any girl, no matter how much they hated him before, eventually becomes loyal to him of their own free will. Being freed from their former oppressors.

"Such nonsense is far from the truth. Other girls in his harem brainwash them behind his back. Specifically that Tulina girl." Nelshen said. "And he brings them with him everywhere he goes."

"That's… that's terrible," Mirellia stated in a tone of disgust.

"Yes. It is how he's gotten away with as much as he has. He kills any men deemed as witnesses to his acts. And the girls are captured and 'converted' to serving him. He has come to look at it as liberating them."

"How come this hasn't happened to you?" Mirellia asked.

"Simple. I came to him willingly." Nelshen answered. "I never thought I'd ever want to turn against him, and thus never acted like I would before."

Aultcray weaved out of the way of another attack. He even raised a hand and sent a fireball of his own back at the fake Hero.

"Ha, you think that's going to do anything to me!?" Tact slashed through it with his weapon, his silhouette eerily lit up by the flames surrounding him.

Aultcray summoned more balls of fire though, as well as ice and lightning around him though. And he began launching all of these projectiles at the rogue Hero before him.

Yet Tact weaved and dodged, striking spell after spell down as well.

Boom! Boom!

Smash! Boom!

A magic battle proceeded between the two. With Aultcray summoning more bolts of lightning to strike with, Tact used balls of fire of his own as well as other types of spells to try and hit the awakened Staff King before him.

None of the attacks landed on the other. Both sides of the arena became further damaged as spells slammed into the ground and walls.

Yet whenever Aultcray's spells clashed with Tact's midair, it was Tact's spells that won the battle.

It was true. Brute force wasn't the answer here. And if Aultcray tried to set up a more powerful spell, Tact would take advantage of it to steal his weapon.

Almost all of his other plans were thrown out of the window.

But even with few options left, Aultcray began to smirk gleefully. Here was a situation that made his intellect flare to life! As carefully as he liked to plan his battles out, it was truly when things moved down to the wire that he felt the youngest!

If this plan didn't work, he'd just move to the next. And then the next. Until he came upon a magic solution that helped him overcome this threat to his country and family!

There was no way he was dying here! He was going to overcome this hurdle no matter how long it took!

Aultcray brandished his Staff, planting it into the ground before him. He then opened his mouth and began to chant.

"Ha, you're finally open!" Tact charged forward with almost inhuman speed. Clearing the space between them in the space of a second.

Aultcray watched as he came close. His hand outreached towards him.

"How is he able to steal other's weapons?" Aultcray asked.

"I am unsure how his ability works." Nelshen began. "I have never seen or heard of anything like it.

"All I can say is that he has had to touch his target every time beforehand. Somehow, when he does that, he is able to strip their Hero weapon from them and make it his own.

"It… it is how I saw our Hammer Hero lose his weapon. Before Tact killed him." The dragon leader admitted with deep sadness in her gaze. As if she was realizing for herself just how far she'd fallen thanks to Tact.

Husband and wife both rested a hand on the dragon leader's arms. It would be a while before Nelshen could continue speaking.

Tact laughed. Aultcray was finishing his chant thanks to his weapon increasing the speed of it, but it was already too late.

After the Whip Hero stripped this old geezer of his weapon, he'd lose all of his power. And then, it would be a simple matter for Tact to deal with him and-

His hand passed through Aultcray.

"Huh-"

The illusionary copy of the King faded away.

Tact still looked shocked at getting duped like that. But then, the second illusion dissolved as well when the Whip Hero's feet touched the ground of the arena where the King had been fighting.

There was no ground underneath where the illusion of Aultcray had been standing. And the craters that'd formed in the ground from the magic battle hadn't been real either.

All he saw was a deep, deep, deep dark pit that Tact was now falling straight into.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Wow, it must have been really deep. The idiot was still falling as Aultcray appeared at the edge of the massive hole he'd made in the center of the arena well before Tact's arrival.

It hadn't felt that deep to him when he'd finished it. Then again, he'd used a wind spell to fly himself out of it, so what did he know?

Magic was truly a wonderful thing. Why did Tact ever feel the need to build these planes when a practiced wind magic user could eventually accomplish the same thing through magic?

So wasteful.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

SPLAT!

Finally, Aultcray heard the sound of Tact's body impacting against the ground far below.

A brief grimace came onto his face at the sickening sound. And maybe a little disappointment as well as his adrenaline rush faded away.

He'd really been hoping to try other branches of magic in case illusion tricks had failed. However, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it'd worked.

Tact hadn't even realized that Aultcray had disappeared into an illusion as soon as he'd launched the first bolts of lightning. He hadn't been dodging those attacks. He'd simply made the illusion move as quickly as he needed it to avoid them. Adjusting the state of the battlefield with craters and the like so Tact wouldn't get suspicious of anything.

The Wise King wondered if such a ploy would even work on the magical prodigy. However, according to Nelshen, he'd relied heavily on that fox girl of his for illusion magic. So he'd guessed that Tact himself had little to no experience with it.

He'd been correct in that regard.

"Shadow, did you manage to record the whole incident?" Aultcray asked aloud.

"Zertainly." A Shadow appeared on the edge of the roof, holding a crystal ball in her hands.

"Good. Thank you." Aultcray nodded his head to her.

However, when he looked down the impossibly deep hole with his enhanced eyesight, he found that Tact was still struggling to move.

He was still alive despite taking such a big fall. He really must have been level 350 after all. Not even Aultcray would have risked a jump from this height despite how high his stats were.

"You're still alive?" Aultcray's voice projected itself down below with a booming echo.

…

"O-Of course! There's no way such a fall could kill me- urk!- So easily!" Tact's voice rang up as he forced himself to stand up.

"I'm the Hero of this world! I refuse to die to trash mobs like you!"

…

"Fine. You've had this coming anyway since you threatened not only my wife but my child as well." Aultcray held his Staff before him once again.

"I, the King of Melromarc, am the source of all magic. Strip my target of magic might and expose to me his life. Drifa Magic Defense Down."

Tact's voice rang out from below again. "What's this glow surrounding my body?! What are you doing up there, you old-"

"I, the Staff Hero, am the source of all magic. Expose his life to the might of the storm. Drifa Lightning Resistance Down."

Tact's voice again rang out, sounding even more confused and possibly a little scared. "Seriously, what the ^%$# are you doing up there?! What's going-"

"I, the Husband of Mirellia Q. Melromarc, am the source of all magic…"

Aultcray proceeded to cast a variety of buff spells on himself. Namely, Drifa Magic Up. Drifa Lightning Magic Up. And Drifa Elemental Magic Up.

"Seriously, you better explain what you're doing right now! Or else when I get out of here, me and my girls are going to rip your-"

"I believe I'm ready now." Aultcray planted his staff on the ground in front of him.

However, just before he started chanting, he realized something.

"Oh, that's right. One more thing. Magic Prism."

After using one of the Staff's skills, a prism popped out of his staff and hovered over the middle of the hole Tact was in. Aultcray nodded his head. "There, now I am ready."

He began chanting for two people simultaneously at the same time.

"… what are you doing up there?" Tact asked fearfully, seeing massive storm clouds already forming above the arena.

Tact might have been almost triple Aultcray in levels. However, the idiot didn't actually know what strengthening methods were or how to use them. He was an illegitimate Hero, unlike Aultcray, who knew his own method as well as the methods of three of the Cardinal Heroes. And because of his pride, he'd never read any of the weapons' help guides to learn the ways the weapons had to make their wielder stronger.

Not that it would have helped much, since illegitimate wielders like Tact couldn't bring out the full might of the strengthening methods. But it still might have been enough to help him survive what was coming.

As for Aultcray, he'd grown a few levels since he'd last used this spell on Balmus and his followers. He'd also learned how to combine Earth Vein and Standard Magic to cast an even higher tier of magic. Lastly, he used the points he got from leveling up to power that spell accordingly.

Add in the buffs and debuffs he'd used on himself and Tact. As well as the additional skill whose purpose would become clear soon enough…

Against the severely injured Tact who'd barely survived a 1000+ foot fall deep underground… Aultcray cast a spell called:

"Liberation, Wrath of the Lightning God… X."

All over Melromarc, people looked up to the sky to witness the massive storm cloud that'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

It was large, dark, and foreboding. Lightning crackled all along it, darting towards the center of the storm and making the hairs of everyone down below stand on end.

For several minutes, rain cascaded down from the skies like a torrent, causing people to run into their homes in terror.

Closer to the epicenter, around the Capital, there were additional accounts from people stating how they witnessed some angry dark figure standing over the storm. Its eyes were deep black like a never-ending abyss. And its armor could only be described as unnatural.

No one could ever verify if the figure was real, or an effect of the spell cast that day. All that was known is that the lightning of that storm, which appeared over the entirety of Melromarc in an instant, concentrated to one point, which would have been the large figure's hands.

And after it was cast, the figure, as well as the country-wide storm, gradually disappeared without a trace.

Nobody would ever learn about the truth of that day. Besides the caster, and possibly those in the Capital who remembered the previous instance when this had occurred.

Aultcray, after casting his spell, watched as all these events unfolded, shielding his robes from the cascading rain with an additional wind barrier spell before a blinding bolt of pure lightning came down in front of him.

It was a truly impressive sight. And once the bolt of pure magical lightning hit his skill Magic Prism, it multiplied into hundreds of lightning bolts each as powerful as the initial one.

They all went down all the way to the bottom of the pit in an instant.

Tact didn't even have time for his eyes to widen before the cascading rain around him evaporated in an instant, every hair on his body stood up, and the full might of Aultcray's powerful multiplied spell made impact on the ground all around him.

KABOOM!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

KSCHCHCHCHCHCH!

The attack was powerful enough that the resulting explosion deep underground resulted in a large earthquake.

Citizens all around the city who'd fled to take cover from the rain held to the sides of buildings and carts in shock.

The very foundation of the castle shook from the force of the attack.

Aultcray kept his Staff planted in the ground. Holding onto it tightly as the earth continued to shake around him. The damaged parts of the arena fell apart and collapsed into the hole, falling into what had become Tact's tomb.

…

It took a minute for the shaking to finally subside. But it would be almost an hour before most people felt it'd be safe to walk around outside again.

"Hmhmhmhmhm!" Beloukas chuckled greedily to himself at all the customers that'd entered his fine monster shop.

He knew it'd been a smart idea to keep his monster business open! He was going to make bank today, good sir! The Wise King was truly as powerful as sources claimed him to be!

Hmhmhmhmhm!

…

When the smoke finally cleared, Aultcray looked down into the pit he'd made.

The bottom was still red hot from the heat of the huge magic attack. It was also wider and deeper at the bottom than he'd remembered. Though, thankfully, it hadn't collapsed and made a possible sinkhole due to the surrounding rock.

There wasn't even a sign of Tact's body left. It and the dust that had formed it had been completely atomized.

Maybe a little overkill, all things considered. But it was possible he could have survived had he held back due to the level difference. So the King found the results more than acceptable.

"I zay, that waz truly amazing, my King." A Shadow appeared beside Aultcray again. "Zertainly far more impressive than what you uzed againzt Balmus."

"Indeed." However, despite Aultcray saying that, he noticed that the Vassal Claws lying at the bottom of the pit hadn't gotten off the ground yet and escaped. Nor had any of the other Vassal Weapons appeared.

More worrying than that, Aultcray hadn't received an experience notification for killing Tact yet.

Which gave one of Nelshen's last details some credit.

"Even if he is killed, he claims to us that it'd only be temporary," Nelshen said with a hollow expression in her eyes.

"You don't have to continue right now if-" Mirellia began to say.

"No... this last part is especially important. I don't know if it is boasting on his part or the truth, he hasn't cared to explain the details to any of us girls.

"But..." Her hollow eyes moved to Aultcray's face. "I'd want to bring a failsafe along for that scenario, just in case it isn't a lie."

"Are the Soul Worms ready to be unleashed?" Aultcray asked aloud again.

"Yez," The same Shadow nodded and gestured, and then her compatriots reappeared.

Some of them were wet thanks to his storm. But all of them were holding chains that bound the most disgusting creatures in existence.

They lapped at the edges of the hole, looking down at its depths hungrily. They'd been starved for weeks just for this moment.

'Even if Nelshen is wrong and this turns out to definitely be overkill, better to be safe than sorry.' And if it turned out to be correct, he'd rather young Naofumi and the other Heroes never had to face this menace to their world should he resurrect and choose to seek revenge.

How he had the power to resurrect, he didn't know. But if it turned out to be true, it was definitely something he was going to look into after this.

Maybe it'd been a good thing he cast that soul-trapping spell in advance after all?

"Release them," Aultcray ordered.

The Shadows promptly let go of the chains, allowing the monsters to dive down into the hole.

There was silence for a moment as the Soul Worms climbed down the walls, but then…

"W-Wait! What are you- AH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A horrible shredding sound came soon after Tact's scream.

Aultcray's eyes widened somewhat.

"GET OFF! GET AWAY FROM ME! I'M NOT FINISHED YET! THIS WORLD NEEDS MEEEEEEEEEE!"

…

Perhaps Nelshen hadn't been wrong in that regard after all. Maybe Tact did have the ability to resurrect after death.

It was too bad that required a soul. Tact's screams continued to sound as his soul was devoured by the fundamentally wrong monsters of this world.

…

Moments later, Aultcray received an experience notification, showing Tact had finally died.

It was quite a bit of experience too, making him go up at least ten levels.

Hey, his half-brother had been useful for something after all.

And then, like magic, the four formerly captive Vassal Weapons finally floated up above the pit. No longer bound to the idiot that'd wielded them.

Aultcray bowed his head to them. "Find other wielders who will be more worthy of wielding you than he was. And please ensure they're more reasonable than him, especially you, Whip. Don't think I didn't learn about your history of being attracted to mad scientist types of individuals while studying up on the Whip Hero."

The gemstones of the weapons flashed in gratitude while the Whip's gemstone flashed indignantly. But the gemstone of his Staff flashed in turn.

Aultcray's help guide then flashed on his HUD, revealing the singular strengthening methods of the Axe, the Hammer, the Claws, and even the Whip. All four vassal weapons had just shared their strengthening methods with him.

The King's eyes briefly widened, but then he smiled. "Thank you. I shall make sure that these are put to good use amongst the Cardinal Heroes."

The gemstones of the four weapons flashed again in gratitude, with the Whip doing so begrudgingly, and then the four Vassal Weapons all flew off in different directions into the sky. Likely in search of new wielders who'd be more worthy of wielding them than the man who'd enslaved them with his cheat powers.

…

Hmmm… it was too bad Mirellia hadn't been there to witness it. She would have loved seeing the interaction their weapons had just had.

She was always interested in learning more about the Heroes.

Aultcray hummed to himself as the ashes of the ashes of the fake Hero rose out of the deep pit. After the Soul Worms that'd been feasting on the remnants of Tact's soul crawled out with satisfied expressions on their misshapen faces, Aultcray used a powerful Earth spell to fill in the giant hole from bottom to top.

Within moments, it was like it'd never existed in the first place. And the fundamentally wrong monsters returned to the Shadow's chains, already settling down to nap after gorging on such a delicious soul.

"Shall we clean up the remaining mess, Your Majesty?" The shadow asked.

"Your services here are no longer required. Check with Mirellia to make sure everything else has been dealt with. And then prepare the airship to infiltrate Faubley and deal with the rest of Tact's followers. I shall join you once I'm finished checking on the state of the Capital."

"Az you wish, Your Majesty." The Shadow bowed, and she and her compatriots disappeared.

Aultcray hummed as he waved his staff and steps of Earth formed up to the stands. He continued to hum as he waved his weapon around, fixing all the damage since the building was made of stone and earth, which was his specialty even without the Vassal Weapon.

New stone arches rose out of the ground. New stands were carved out of stone monoliths that rose out of the earth. Even the chairs and table that'd been set on the ground in the center of the arena rose from their ashes and looked even better than before.

By the time he'd finished walking up to the top of the arena, almost all of the damage was fixed.

Just as he was finishing up though, his eyes fell upon a welcome sight, bringing a bright smile onto his face. "Ah, Malty dear! I'm glad to see you were unharmed!"

His daughter, who'd stayed crouching behind some seats near the top, was still staring down in absolute shock at what she'd witnessed. Water from the storm was still dripping down from the ends of her hair onto the wet floor beneath her.

But at her Father's voice, she finally snapped to her senses and looked up to him. "H-Huh!?"

"I must say, that message you sent Tact through the guild, had it not been for that he probably would have never agreed to follow me here! He would have probably agreed to let his girls off but insisted for me to come onto the airship instead, and that would have made things a lot harder for me."

"But thanks to you giving him the details of the perfect place to try and ambush me, he chose to follow your plan instead! Truly, using your status as his favorite girl to lure him into my trap was brilliant, I must say!"

Meanie continued to sputter, looking shocked and flabbergasted.

She had sent Tact a message, yes! But she'd brought him here with the hope that he'd kill Mother and Father so she could depose her siblings and become the next Queen!

She hadn't meant to get him KILLED!

She also hadn't meant for her Father to ever learn about that message! She could have sworn her contacts in the guild had still been secure despite her parent's attempts to purge the branch in Melromarc of its corrupt individuals!

"I must check in with your mother now. But don't worry. I will make sure you're properly rewarded for protecting your younger siblings from that horrible man."

"I'm very proud of you, Malty."

"O-Of… of course! Thank you, Papa!" Meanie smiled happily as Aultcray patted her on the head.

Ack! What was she doing?! She wasn't supposed to be thanking him!? Her idiot father had just blown her most useful boy toy out of existence!

And when did she ever thank anybody anyway!? Thanking people was for peasants, not princesses like her!

Aultcray continued to smile as he patted her on the head again before he left the fixed-up arena and his daughter behind.

…

No, this was all their fault! If they hadn't brainwashed Papa into becoming the Staff Hero again if they hadn't made him the kind of man he'd been before she'd been born then, then… then…

…

But having him head pat her had felt really good and-

NO! IT DIDN'T FEEL GOOD! IT MADE HER FEEL DEPRECIATED THAT HER PAPA HAD BEEN REALLY NICE AND PRAISED HER FOR HER ACTIONS AND-

And maybe she should do something else to help out her younger siblings since that was what a nice older sister would do and maybe she'd get more headpats for doing so and-

WHAT THE (BLEEP) WAS SHE THINKING!? SHE'D (BLEEPING) DO THAT WHEN HELL FROZE OVER AND-

WHY COULDN'T SHE (BLEEPING) (BLEEP)-

…

(Bleep?)

…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

After that, the rest of everything was pretty easy to clean up… for the most part.

Aultcray discovered quite a bit of a mess on his way to the Church to rendezvous with his wife to make sure she was alright. Doors were lying in the street without their hinges. Housewives and husbands were screaming for their missing pans and utensils. A few carpenters were even cussing at the fact that their nails and metal tools were missing.

One glare from Aultcray was often enough for them to silence their foul language. But after asking one about it, he learned that just about everything made of metal and that hadn't been properly secured to something went flying away after that weird storm had struck.

Apparently, Aultcray discovered that the discharge of his spell had been enough to magnetize everything metal in the vicinity around the castle…

…

He was going to have to spend some time later fixing that unfortunate consequence. Heh heh.

Though, Aultcray did laugh when he came across a large burly man lugging his anvil back to what had formerly been Elhart's blacksmith shop. The anvil had several swords and spears sticking to it.

"You think this is funny?! Perhaps you woul'n't be laughing if it were yur entire shop going flying out the window now, eh!" The man yelled in a Scottish accent.

"I-I'm sorry, Jerry. Allow me to fix that now." Thankfully, by this point, Aultcray had thought of a spell to demagnetize the objects. And he cast it on the blacksmith's anvil, causing it and the weapons stuck to it to crash to the ground.

The large burly man sighed. "Oi, it's about time. Do ya know how hard it was to keep this bloody thing from flying back towards that mess? Riding around on me anvil was not what I had in mind for today!" Jerry complained.

…

"Excuse me?" Aultcray asked after a moment. "What mess?"

"The one Her Majesty was leading towards the Church," Jerry grunted. "It was bad enough when me shop began gravitating towards me anvil. But as soon as she goes by with this massive ball of things, me whole shop went flying out after it! Darn nearly took my anvil with it too!"

"Oh, um… I'll see about having all your equipment returned as soon as possible." Aultcray sweatdropped.

"I'll say." Jerry rolled his eyes, going back to pushing his anvil back toward the shop. Now, thankfully, without having to deal with it trying to fly off on him again. "Make sure everything is still in one piece, eh?"

"Sure." Aultcray shook his head before departing once more.

As Aultcray approached the Church, he couldn't help but chuckle as he pictured the large man screaming while riding around on his magnetized anvil like it was a raging bull.

The real scenario was probably not as ridiculous. But likely not by much.

…

Aultcray eventually arrived at the Church of the Four Heroes to find a truly glorious sight near the Dragon Hourglass inside.

A katamari is described as a big ball of junk. And that description could be used to describe the situation of Tact's former harem of girls perfectly.

Many of them were stuck to one another thanks to their armor or weapons holding them in place. As well as the pans, door hinges, nails, swords, spears, forks, spoons, knives, and other metal objects stuck to their large ball of junk.

Also, if you thought the earthquake or resulting mess from before resulted in any suspicion or resistance from the girls of Tact's harem, you'd be horribly mistaken.

Mostly because at that point, they'd all been knocked out by the drugged food they'd feasted on. And they were still unconscious thanks to that now. That was the main reason why Aultcray took so long getting Tact to the area of battle.

Even the girls who'd been suspicious of the feast had eaten heartily of it when Nelshen dug into her food (which had been prepared separately from the rest) and they had all feasted and drank with wild abandon.

They'd all subsequently passed out right before the battle occurred. And by the time Aultcray finally found his wife, Nelshen, and her Shadows at the Dragon Hourglass in the Church, most of the girls of Tact's harem had been deleveled so they would be as much of a threat as a newborn kitten. And the last few were being put through the process before the drugs wore off and they woke up.

"Everything go well on your end, my love?" Aultcray asked as he appeared next to his wife.

"Yes, and I must say. He really had some interesting ones with him." Mirellia commented as they looked over their bound prisoners.

Some of the girls were human.

Some were demi-humans.

Some looked like monsters that could transform into humans like Amber.

The girl with fox-like ears from before was clearly the kitsune monster girl that had definitely been the culprit behind Tact's fake illusion heroes.

That was because after she was deleveled, her true appearance was made known as the MP she'd been using to sustain the illusion even in her knocked-out state vanished. Instead of a demi-human, she had nine tails and a fierce face that would have looked pretty menacing if she hadn't been reset to level one again.

She was also amongst the first to wake up after being deleveled.

"W-What is this?! What's going on?!" Tulina began to shriek in terror. "Why do I feel so weak?!"

"Honestly, why Tact decided to unseal you from your prison in Siltvelt, I'll never understand." Nelshen shook her head in annoyance.

"Wha- Wait, you, you- YOU! You traitorous backstabbing bi-"

Aultcray snapped his fingers, and a gag of earth appeared around her mouth. She continued shouting into her gag as the rulers rolled their eyes.

"You will not speak such foul language around us, demon." Aultcray said dryly.

The fox monster continued to scream bloody murder into her new gag. "Nelshen informed me that Tact disappeared from her party HUD. So it's done?" Mirellia asked her husband.

"Yes, no worries, that young man will not be bothering anyone ever again." Aultcray smiled at his wife before he turned to the dragon woman. "Now. Are you sure you want to hold onto this… thing?"

Tulina howled again into her gag, but it didn't really do her much good.

Surprisingly, there'd been only one concession Nelshen wanted after giving up all the info she had on Tact.

Custody of some of the girls from Tact's 'former' harem.

"Remember what I told you, some of the girls here were brainwashed into serving that man. They have a chance of redemption." Nelshen scowled as she looked over the girls like Tulkina and Leludia, as well as another that could have passed as Tact's little sister.

"Some like these little sh- craps, however," Nelshen changed her words after the glare Aultcray gave her. "... are complete monsters through and through. They not only chose to help Tact but participated in brainwashing the others or kicking them out, alongside some other unspeakable acts.

"They will be tried by my people and given the punishment they deserve."

"Y-You joined us willingly! You participated in everything just like we did!" Leludia, the other dragon/lizard girl, yelled angrily. "You're just doing all this because you want the Emperor Fragment resting inside-!"

Aultcray summoned more gags for the short lizard/dragon girl, as well as those girls that'd woken up and started shouting.

Nelshen had already heard them though. And her beautiful face fell. "I did join Tact willingly… And I shall regret that mistake, as well as many others that I made alongside him… for the rest of my life…"

Nelshen clutched a fist to her chest. A dark look passed over her features.

"I... I wish I could help more." Nelshen hung her head sadly.

If only she'd realized her mistakes sooner. If she'd only said something before landing herself and her people so deep into this mess.

She'd seen this as an alliance of necessity at first. Given the decreased manpower her country had due to Tact building all those factories in her country, the extra soldiers and Heroes had been seen as a way for her to preserve her armies.

However, after witnessing the Staff Hero's power that day against Balmus, she'd been swayed a little bit from that stance. That, perhaps, there'd be more than one benefit to allying with Melromarc and her old friends in Siltvelt again…

And then after she and the Siltvelt Council had met the Shield Hero…

"Whoa, so you're part dragon, cool lady!?"

Nelshen looked down in surprise at the Shield Hero. A person of legend who was barely even a kid.

"I-I am." She said nervously, not sure how to act in front of him and the others. Why was everyone staring at her all of a sudden!?

However, the lights in the kid's green eyes became even brighter. It was almost like looking into a pair of stars. "AWESOME! Are you capable of transforming into a dragon!?"

"I- w-w-well- yes, I c-can. B-B-But I-" Nelshen eventually stuttered out nervously.

Naofumi's starstruck gaze became even brighter. He started appearing all around her like he'd been injected with gallons of caffeine.

"SO COOL! CAN I SEE!? PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!"

His energetic sugar rush and rapid in-and-out appearances all around her would have continued, if not for the bald blacksmith uncle of his grabbing him midair by the shoulders. "Oi, ever hear of something called personal space, brat?"

"But I want to see Cool Lady's Dragon form!" Naofumi pouted as he tried to escape the blacksmith's grip to no avail.

Others in the room laughed at the young kid's antics. Which, admittedly, included Nelshen herself too.

Thinking over that memory brought a small smile to Nelshen's features.

Thinking back on it, Naofumi's innocent pureness and curiosity had reached deep into her heart in a way that she could not describe. It'd awakened something in the dragon chief she hadn't felt in so long. It'd made what she thought she felt for Tact look small and weak in comparison.

…

And after learning from Tact that he planned on stealing the kid's weapon and killing him… even after she informed him that he was just an innocent kid who wouldn't harm a single fly…

"I am the only Hero this world needs! I'm not gonna let some upstart brat take that from me no matter how cute everyone thinks he is! Ahahaha!"

…

Aultcray honestly hadn't had to try very hard to convince her to turn on Tact when he arrived in her country.

Those very words had been ringing in her ears ever since she'd made the personal decision to betray Tact.

Had Aultcray not reached out to her, she would have reached out to him for a meeting eventually. Or, perhaps more foolishly, she would have done something on her own.

Aultcray reaching out when he had proved to be a very fortunate turn of events for her. And it'd certainly made things a lot easier.

She wouldn't have been lying if she said that she was glad that her former lover was nothing more than dust and motes resting inside the bodies of a few Soul Worms.

Only a monster would have ever wanted to kill a child because he wanted his weapon.

...

"You've given me more than enough." Aultcray rested a hand on her shoulder, making the dragon woman look up at him.

Strange, in all her memories of the great Staff King on the fields of battle, she didn't remember his face ever looking this soft and caring. It seemed she hadn't been the only one to have been changed by the young Shield Hero.

"I promise you, my half-brother won't win. The information you've given me today will help me to ensure that."

...

Nelshen began to tear up. "I... I still want to help more. If such a thing is still possible for me."

Aultcray and Mirellia exchanged glances and simultaneously nodded their heads. "I think I could make some room in my plans to accommodate that."

The dragon woman continued to cry as the two rulers showed how they weren't judging her for her past mistakes.

"I still think it'd be best if I stepped down as Shieldfreeden's leader after their trials and executions, you know," Nelshen commented to Aultcray. The woman who'd had a breakdown in the privacy of that pantry hadn't shown that side of her since. "Surely you or someone else would be more qualified to take my place."

"There may be people more qualified than you or me to run our countries." Aultcray rested a hand on her shoulder. "But your people still trusted you as their leader when you were at your worst. They would be disappointed if you didn't fix your mistakes and lead them at your best, just like my wife did for me. Wouldn't you agree, my love?"

Mirellia blushed and turned her head to the side. "I never entirely gave up hope in you, my dear husband."

Aultcray chuckled at her reaction. It was amazing how she'd still been able to love him and remain loyal to their marriage vows even when he'd been acting like such a fool.

…

"Well, regardless of what comes next." Nelshen coughed into her shoulder, having to hide how much the Wise King's words had impacted her. "I'll be tearing down those abominable factories with my bare claws myself!"

More of the girls that'd woken up tried to speak out, but Aultcray and Mirellia gagged them all with either earth or ice. "And as for you…" Nelshen leveled a deadly glare at Leludia, which caused the gagged girl to freeze up in terror. "I don't believe that either of us is deserving of such power as what is in that dragon emperor fragment of yours."

With a clawed hand, Nelshen buried her hand through the gagged lizard girl's small chest.

A loud scream sounded through the girl's makeshift gag.

The eyes of everyone there widened drastically. And then Nelshen pulled out a purple pulsing object.

Those that were awake screamed into their gags or fainted. Leludia lay on the floor, her body convulsing from shock as she bled out.

"Drifa Heal!" Nelshen raised a hand, however, and a strong green glow surrounded the smaller girl. Within seconds, the girl's massive injury was healed.

"Don't worry, you're not going to die that easily. I'll make sure those you hurt have had their turn first." Nelshen spat. "Take them away!"

The frightened girls were carried by their thrashing bodies with a wind spell from some of Mirellia's Shadows all the way from the Church to Tact's still parked airship all the way at the Castle Gardens. Nelshen marched confidently along beside them as Aultcray demagnetized stuff and returned them to their proper place.

Nelshen had proven her worth in more ways than one. He felt proud marching alongside such a leader.

It helped that the majority of the girls Nelshen was bringing along with her were still in their ball of junk too. It made moving them around a lot easier.

And watching a few more magnetized items slam into their faces was pretty entertaining, to say the least.

Mirellia and Aultcray didn't disclose who these enemies were to the few passersby to be outside right now. Since, after this, Aultcray and Nelshen were going to board the airship and take it to Faubley. And they didn't want their enemies to be prepared for their arrival, even if the risk of such information reaching them via the guild system in Melromarc was nearly insignificant.

Before they came close to Tact's 'former' airship, however, Aultcray went up ahead and made sure the airship was demagnetized. The last thing they needed was for it to be damaged by dozens of metal objects slamming into it before they left. And once that was done…

"Will you be alright, my husband?" Mirellia asked as he prepared to follow Nelshen up the ramp when everything was ready.

"Of course, my love." Aultcray smiled back at his wife.

Somehow, despite the events of that day, he looked younger than ever. He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. "After I get back, I'm going to look forward to hearing about young Naofumi's trip to Cal Mira."

Mirellia smiled sincerely. She hugged her husband close and tucked her handkerchief into his pocket. "I expect you to give that back before that happens."

"Why, of course, I shall make sure not to dirty this token of your good favor, my lady." Aultcray gave a mock bow to his wife.

Mirellia laughed, being reminded of one of their first meetings when they were younger. "Get going, you big oaf. Before I start missing you." She pushed him up the ramp.

"Unfortunate, since I'm already missing you." Aultcray waved as he stepped back up the ramp. Facing her as it closed. "Till we meet again, my love."

Mirellia teared up but kept a smile on her face as she waved to her husband even as the ramp fully retracted, making him disappear from view.

It was only moments later that the airship took to the air. Flying off in the direction of Faubley.

Mirellia was still smiling widely, now holding her hands over her stomach as she watched the marvelous waste of technology begin its trip home.

"You're very lucky, little ones," Mirellia commented to herself as she rubbed her tummy. "You're going to have the happiest father in the world when the two of you are born."

Did her husband know she was carrying twins yet?

No, not really. She figured it'd be a welcome surprise for after he got back though.

They were truly going to be the most loved children in the entire world when their Father learned how truly lucky he was.

It would take the airship only a day while being piloted by Nelshen to reach the headquarters where Tact's former harem was at.

None of them had heard about what had gone down in Melromarc. And because none of them had been partied with Tact at the time, none of them knew of his death, nor did they expect what happened next.

Almost all of them came out, cheering and assuming that Tact had been successful in his endeavor to return so quickly.

Imagine their shock when Aultcray proceeded to freeze almost all of them with an area-wide ice prison spell as he descended down the ramp of the airship in one fell swoop.

Those that escaped it, or otherwise avoided the magic attack entirely tried to retaliate. Yet despite all of them being over level 250, they were not Heroes. And none of them was a match against Aultcray's magical prowess. Which he'd further boosted using the four methods he'd gained from the Vassal methods he'd applied on his trip over.

Every last member of Tact's harem was captured that day. And subsequently deleveled at a nearby Dragon Hourglass.

Those Nelshen identified as being brainwashed were added to the group that was to be treated over the course of months or years to, hopefully, be rehabilitated back into society.

Those Nelshen identified as having willingly participated in different monstrous acts without a hint of remorse were knocked out, tied up, and added to the holding cells inside Tact's former airship.

When it was all said and done, Aultcray flew with Nelshen back to Shieldfreeden, where the prisoners were taken to the dungeons to await their trials. And, because she asked him to, he was there to participate when Nelshen made the declaration to her people that the factories were to be no more. Before transforming into her dragon form and tearing one of the large buildings down herself.

The people cheered as they joined their leader in destroying the abominations from the face of their land. And afterward, those who'd survived the horrible ordeal returned to their families. Grateful to be alive.

Nelshen would spend many years as Shieldfreeden's ruler making sure each and every one of those families that had suffered through so many atrocities would be paid back in full. No matter how long it took.

Aultcray himself spent several more days in Shieldfreeden. Helping to take down the various buildings Tact had set up as well as dismantling the tanks and planes and other toys Tact had made for world domination. Including the airship that'd flown them around.

One could have argued that doing this was a waste. However, the true waste had been building these crappy contraptions in their world in the first place.

Their world was not Earth. It did not have the resources to sustain these kinds of machines like ours did. There was not much of this 'oil' to be found in the ground to power them. And as useful as the planes and tanks could have been in battle, they were too vulnerable to magic to be of practical use.

The planes especially. They wouldn't do particularly well if the enemy army levitated large boulders above them and made the boulders invisible with illusion magic. It didn't matter what your stats would be then. A plane hitting an environmental object hovering in the sky never bodes well for anybody.

And yes, if you combined earth magic with wind magic followed by illusion magic, this very thing was possible.

Aultcray also recalled those weird guns the surviving members of Tact's harem had tried to use while fighting him at Tact's headquarters. They'd seemed like an advancement of the weaponry Faubley had, as they didn't take long to reload and could fire a stream of bullets one after the other.

However, the bullets they fired ultimately didn't hurt much when they got past his magic barriers, due to his high stats. And the guns became inoperable just like their Faubleyan counterparts when hit with fire magic. When he got his hands on one of them, he found that its stats were lower than some of the bows his higher-leveled knights wielded.

It fired faster, yes, but what was the point when arrows would have been far stronger and caused way more damage? Had Tact forgotten that the stats of the weapon mattered just as much as the person wielding said weapon?

Had any of these designs been changed to at least accommodate the rules of their world, then maybe they could have been useful for war or for suppressing monsters or something at least. But as they were with the addition of their logistics and maintenance and everything else, it was the biggest waste of resources the Wise King had ever seen in the history of their world.

…

I mean! These girls were level two hundred freaking fifty for crying out loud!

They should have posed at least a bit of a challenge!

Seriously, building a thousand catapults would have been a far more effective way of facing Aultcray than wasting the equivalent amount of resources and manpower to build, operate, and maintain a dozen tanks and machine guns.

Boulders were an unlimited source of ammunition, after all. Unlike the large shells he saw lying next to him for an artillery system he was dismantling. What were these idiots thinking?! They didn't even have enchantments on them or make the outer shelling out of ore like Light Metal so that they'd be resistant to enemy fire magic! Any amateur mage could have just blown these up from a distance by casting a fire spell underneath the pile of ammunition and-

'Honestly, I'm just going to keep most of this from my wife so she doesn't have an aneurysm over it too. This is ridiculous. How did this kid plan on conquering the world with this crap? Did he really forget that stats are the most important thing in our world?!'

He could honestly believe it. It wasn't like there weren't records of other past Heroes who'd ultimately tried and failed to do something similar in the past thanks to stats and not realizing things were far more complicated than pointie thing go boom boom. But then, Tact was born in this world, so it made even less sense than when Heroes summoned from other worlds did so.

And that was the story of how Tact got clapped by the Staff King before Naofumi and the others even returned from Cal Mira.

And the world never had to deal with the bull crap of tanks and planes that would have amounted to nothing more than shock and awe in a blitzkrieg-style attack that'd fail due to magic, competent leaders, and the utter stupidity of a genius who cared more for his harem than the fate of the world he'd set out to conquer.

Especially since said blitzkrieg attack only worked at first thanks to the extremely high level of the people operating these weapons. Had they been the same level as other country's soldiers, it would have been a reverse Gate scenario, where Status Magic would have shown just how truly stupid it was to rely on modern tanks, missiles, etc. for your battles when you were fighting in a world where it was levels and stats, not the weapon being used, that mattered the most.

Oh, not to mention, the stupid fetching logistics for making, supplying, powering, and maintaining said vehicles and weapons too that everyone seems to conveniently forget about in a fantasy setting like this. Honestly, Tact should have taken an Economics course before being reincarnated into this world. At least maybe then he might have handled some things a little better and focused on stats over cringe and edge.

Bye-bye, Tact.

Nobody will miss your idiot ^%$ either.

"..."

"What…?"

A group of mysterious figures stood around a surveillance table. Still looking down in shock as the reports on the Staff King and Tact's confrontation streamed in. As well as a recording of the wave at Cal Mira. All of the figures had various types of masks over the tops of their faces.

"Our most powerful operative in that world… and the Staff King obliterated him so easily…"

"All of our future plans to upend their society… and he knocked them down as easily as a house of cards."

"We knew the Staff King could be a threat to us if he ever regained his full senses… but for him to do THIS?!"

The various figures, power radiating off their forms in waves, held clenched fists at their sides.

All their plans to lay future conflicts in this world and topple all of its governments, making it easier for them to put puppet leaders in place, had just been ruined by the one man they'd been afraid of most in said world. And that wasn't the only matter to deal with here!

"That Wave. None of the Heroes were even close to it! Not even their Filolial World Guardian was nearby! It could have easily done a lot of damage to the world's reality and deposited a lot of foreign monsters before it closed!"

The recording there didn't show much. One moment, the Wave Boss and its minions were heading toward the islands to do some damage.

The next, a bright green arrow as well as a stream of energy from the main island came down towards them.

The arrow then changed forms mid air into one with a bright blue glow. And the stream of energy hit it right above the Wave Boss, filling the entire screen with a bright explosion that ended the recording briefly.

It resumed from another angle, however, showing the Wave from a distance. Water was flowing into the area where the attack had evaporated the ocean beneath. The wave Boss and all the monsters had been decimated by the attack. And a massive mushroom cloud was rising up into the sky.

The cracks in the sky and the ocean stayed open for another ten minutes, but no other monsters dared to fall through (they were too scared to). The final recording ended right as the Wave closed.

…

One of the figures wearing a lioness mask slowly rewinded the attack, her eyes focusing on the stream of energy. "I recognize that attack. That's life force."

"How?! I thought one of our operatives toppled that world's academy and killed all of its students years ago!?" A man with an eagle mask at the table yelled angrily.

"And we meddled with the Shield and deleted the information containing the Shield's strengthening methods from it while it was out selecting a new wielder so that world would never discover life force again!" Another man with a dog mask yelled as well.

"Clearly, we failed somewhere." The lion-masked woman from before stated icily.

…

How they wished they could go down themselves and obliterate the Staff King and the other Heroes themselves. Yet the rules of the world applied even to them. They'd lose all their glorious power if they crossed into the world and have to build up again from level one just like anyone else.

There was still a lot they could do from their world despite that. But it was hard to deal with other worlds in a direct manner without… direct, measures, so to say.

Not to mention… the stir that'd begun amongst their people. If they were to go down personally to try and deal with the Staff King and the other Heroes…

"We need to do something." One of the figures, a man with a jackal mask, said. "If things continue to go unchecked, they will become too powerful for the Waves to affect their world, and they could potentially merge with another world to form an 8-hero world."

"If that happened, then-" Another began to say fearfully.

"We absolutely cannot allow that to happen." Another figure with a sun mask stated. "It'll be the end of our conquests in this section of the multiverse."

"And I won't be able to share the glory of cabbages with everyone there either!"

…

The figures around the table glared at their associate, who unlike them, was wearing a cabbage on his head. "W-What? Cabbages are the best, you know."

"Anyway. What can we possibly do?" Another woman wearing a moon mask asked. "Our other operatives were laying low in that world because of Tact hunting them down and stealing the weapons they stole. Those that remain are either too stupid or too weak to even attempt to confront the Heroes! Even the agent we had assigned to try and infiltrate the Bow Hero's party is refusing to go near the Heroes due to how powerful they've grown in such a short span of time!

…

"What about the Projectile Weapons Hero? He managed to evade Tact for this long, didn't he?" The sun-masked man asked.

"Yes, the Projectile Weapons operative is still alive. But he has been in hiding for a long time. It would take him years to reach Tact's level of power. If he had the drive to reach that level, that is." The woman frowned as she said it. "He is too interested in bedding women to give a damn about our more serious objectives."

"Maybe we could send one of our lieutenants in the Third Army to convince him and… and…" The dog-masked man speaking slowly trailed off as Moon Mask glared at him. "I, um, guess that wouldn't solve the problem of the Projectile Weapons Hero being too underleveled."

"As for using the Third Army themselves, none of them have been in this world to level up. They'd be absolutely useless if we sent them in to fight." Moon Mask said in an icy tone.

"Let's face it. We have no one left in that world who'd stand a chance against the awakened Staff King or the Heroes." Another figure groaned in defeat. "And with the way our people have begun rooting for that kid Hero as well, it's only a matter of time before they force us to pull out from their world and let the Waves merge it with another world."

It was a problem they'd never foreseen. After doing this for thousands of years, their people's desire for entertainment had always allowed them to commit the most unspeakable acts and atrocities, all for the people of Godworld to enjoy.

But now, that very same thing that'd allowed them to play an endless version of Squid Game using the people of other worlds as entertainment had come back to bite them in the butt. The people were not only rooting for Kidfumi and his friends now, but they also wanted to see his world thrive and survive like theirs was.

Worse, they'd been 'touched' by his heartfelt actions toward the Fan Hero and her friends. Meaning they could soon be cheering for their world to survive as well. Meaning all their efforts to destabilize the politics there, to acquire a place for their forces to grind lots of experience on, and to take a world rich in soul-eating monsters that'd give heroes soul-killing weapons off their threat list, it was all going to be for nothing!

…

The figures were silent for a time. Pondering over their situation to figure out what they should do.

"... don't we have an operative in the Fan Hero's world that wants to experiment with the Guardian Beasts?"

…

The people around the table looked at the figure that'd spoken.

The man, wearing a star mask over his features, placed a hand down on the world that the Staff King's world collided with frequently. It was a world that also posed the most danger of combining with the Staff King's world to form an 8-hero world.

"Kyo Ethniba. His reports have stated that he might have found a way to hijack a Guardian Beast and force it to do his bidding outside of the sealing process. If this is true, then perhaps he could be useful without spending time leveling in their world?"

…

The others at the table narrowed their eyes. "That is true, but we've also gleaned somewhat outside of his reports why he wants to do this. Would you truly want to risk him acquiring all that soul power for his own plans?"

"It is either that, or do nothing, and watch these two worlds merge. And then, who knows what the consequences of that will be for us after that."

…

The others grimaced again.

Four Hero worlds were already bad enough. The Heroes could grow to ridiculous proportions in power by sharing the twenty-four strengthening methods of the world's weapons with each other.

Eight Hero worlds… each Hero having forty-eight strengthening methods to increase their power… was almost an existential threat to them. It'd been the reason for them having to pull out from their conquests and subjugations of many other worlds across the multiverse.

The Vassals of those Eight Hero worlds were still actively hunting for them as we speak. And while their thousands of years of battle experience and conquests as well as some of their cheat powers could help them slay even the Cardinal Heroes of Four Hero worlds after they spent enough time acquiring levels in that world… it wasn't enough to bridge the gap in power for even the Vassal Heroes of 8 Hero worlds.

And, again, there was also the fact that this Kid Hero was stealing the hearts of their people. If it reached the point where they began to demand them to let the kid's world be happy and…

No, they couldn't even consider it. After doing this for thousands of years. If one kid Hero managed to ruin everything beyond just this…

"Fine." The others muttered in agreement. One of them pressed a button, and a holographic figure appeared in the center of the table.

"Ah, what is it now, can't you see I'm busy-" The figure on the screen, dressed in the most ridiculous mad scientist garbs anyone had ever seen, suddenly stood up straight. "Ah, I'm terribly sorry! I thought it was Yomogi at the door again and-"

"Silence, worm, we have a task for you." One of the figures said angrily.

Kyo's eyes widened drastically, and then he gulped as he tugged at the neck of his outfit. "A-A task, you say?"

"Yes, here's what we want you to do…" The members of Godworld proceeded to lay out how they wanted Kyo to hijack the Spirit Tortoise of the Staff King's world. And how they wanted him to cause as much destruction as possible while eliminating the Staff King and the other Heroes.

"I… I'm not even sure if my idea will work or not. I still need time to correct my calculations and, and-" Kyo began to say fearfully.

"You are going to do this now. Otherwise, we will end our contract with you right here." Moon Mask said, her tone clearly threatening the Book Hero.

…

Kyo gulped again. He tugged nervously at the collar of his inner jacket again. "I-I shall head there at once, then."

"Luvar's next Wave will be happening momentarily for you. Go in, and it will deposit you near the Spirit Tortoise of their world." Star Mask's eyes narrowed. "Do not disappoint us."

"Y-Yes! Of course! I-I live to serve!" Kyo bowed deeply to them.

The hologram image disappeared, and yet they stayed sitting there, watching and waiting as they observed the Book Hero preparing everything he needed for his sudden trip to another world as quickly as possible. He was swearing under his breath at them, but they didn't really care about what he'd do afterward so long as this plan worked.

It was uncertain if it'd actually work or not. But at this point, they didn't have much choice.

The Kid Hero and the Staff King couldn't be allowed any more major wins. Otherwise…

They watched for the coming carnage unfold, as well as the eyes of their people, who also watched with anticipation and bated breath what the Kid Hero and his friends would do next on their adventure.

Author's Notes:

Heh, what an absolute blast of a chapter. Nothing makes me feel better than dunking on Tact for his stupidity.

Tact is a legit antagonist from the LN's. He's one of the most powerful to boot as well. But his major downfall was that he never awakened to the reality of the world he was in. He might have been a magical genius, but he never incorporated that fact into anything he created and almost everything he did create was weak to magic in some manner. And his pride and arrogance in his World War II era tanks and planes made him brute force these weapons into the setting for his army instead of molding these weapons with designs based on the materials available in the world as well as accounting for how the setting worked like past Heroes would have.

He was truly an idiot. And I am glad to be rid of him in Kidfumi once and for all. Now, back to hijinks and shenanigans next chapter! See you all again in two weeks!

Hero Clips

Dabbing

"Is it like this?" Aultcray tried putting a hand over his face.

"No no no! You gotta do it like this!" Naofumi spread his thumb and pointer finger wide, putting it up to his forehead while holding his arm out.

Yes, the kid was teaching the dad King how to dab. And the author didn't even feel sorry about bringing this cringe emote back as the two were standing over Tact's gravestone.

"Ah, I see, so like this then." Aultcray proceeded to copy Naofumi, showcasing the king of dabs.

"Yes! Now do it with your other hand!" Naofumi lifted his other hand to his face, holding out his other arm as he did so.

Aultcray switched dab positions, mimicking the young hero again.

"Haha, get roasted, idiot!" Naofumi began to cackle as he and his dad dab danced on Tact's makeshift grave.

Not that there was a body in there, since the ashes of the ashes of the even more cringe loser's body were ashes themselves due to the power of Dadcray's awesome spell. But it'd still been set up to showcase the idiot who'd tried to take over the world through the power of cringe and edge.

Dadcray and Kidfumi were making dabbing cool once again.

"Reeeeee!" The shredded remains of a soul appeared out of the ground nearby to screech at the Hero duo. He refused to lie still while taking this embarrassment!

However, another screeching sound came from nearby, and the remains of Tact's soul turned in shock to see an entire pack of Soul Worms running on their stubby little legs across the ground after him.

It appeared that they were done napping, and ready to feast on the tasty morsel once more!

"AIEEEEEEEEE! GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEE!" Tact's soul screamed as he rushed offscreen. The Soul Worms keeping up their pursuit.

Kidfumi and Dadcray proceeded to dab Tact's soul into oblivion. A fate worse than death indeed.

May we never have to see his idiotic face ever again.

Hero Clips!

Meanie's (Unintentional) Redemption Arc

Meanie was angry.

For this whole story, she'd been belittled and made fun of. She'd endured torture and humiliation the likes of which no rational human should ever have to go through.

But that was going to come to an end. She was going to get rid of her siblings once and for all! No matter what!

She would become the next Queen! Or else her name wasn't Malty Melromarc, I say!

'Who the hell is Malty? I thought that our name was-'

Shut up! She'd get rid of that (bleeping) nickname too! Even if it… took her…

It was almost as if Meanie could feel a sense of dread based on the direction this omake was heading.

Ha! She was going to ensure that she got rid of her siblings properly this time! Meaning she was going to hire a proper assassin to do the job this time! Not some stupid lowly nun or boy toy this time around!

Though hiring a Shadow to assassinate them would be expensive. So she'd need to... 'borrow' some funds from the treasury first.

Fortunately, she knew of a hidden path to it that not even her Father had discovered. And using it, she could easily slip in, take all the gold coins she needed, and then slip out of the castle with them to find a Shadow who could do the job and then-

"Hey, what the heck are you doing here?!" Meanie shouted as she entered the Treasury and found some random knight inside embezzling from the gold coins lying around just like she'd planned on doing.

"Uhhhhh..." The knight, caught red-handed by the princess, didn't even know what to say.

"Guards! Guards! Thief!" Meanie yelled at the top of her lungs.

The doors burst open, and the knight, who turned out to be a thief who'd murdered a knight for his armor before sneaking his way to the treasury using the same hidden route Meanie had used, was subsequently jailed. And Dadcray praised her with another head pat before sealing the hidden entrance to the treasury room himself.

Ok, that... hadn't exactly gone according to plan.

Actually, it'd gone entirely against what she was planning! Now she couldn't sneak out the funds she needed to hire an assassin and she was having to sit in some stupid shoddy bar to find a cheap assassin for hire since she didn't have the money to hire a better assassin and-

And maybe that was for the best and she should go back to the castle and focus on being a proper sibling who got head pats from her parents and-

NO! She was forcing herself to do this for a reason! She would become the next Queen, no matter who she had to kill! And anyone that stood in her way would be burned to cinders and-

"Are we ready to overthrow the King and Queen?"

A nearby conversation from a group of people made her pause and turn her hooded head in their direction.

"Yes, I'm ready to overthrow the monarchy for making it harder for us to have fun here."

"Yeah!" "Down with the monarchy!" Other similar shouts came from the group of people.

...

Moments later, they were all beaten up. And Meanie was walking away from a group of knights after turning the group in for treason against Melromarc.

It seemed they were made up of remnants of the Bandit King, as well as that they were connected to slavers and nobles who'd been profiting off the traffic of demi-humans before her mom's crackdown. She'd only beaten the group up because they were against the monarchy, which meant they would have opposed her. But she'd inadvertently ended up doing another good thing without meaning to.

And for all of her troubles... she never did find a cheap assassin hiding out in that bar.

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" Meanie screeched to herself.

Her two younger siblings had just returned from Cal Mira, and all of her plans to try and set up an assassination plot for them had failed! And it was all from her unintentionally doing good things too!

Since when was she ever known for being a goodie-two-shoes!? There was no fun to be had from that! She preferred making her enemies suffer and torturing them psychologically and-

But she'd found it was even more enjoyable to be a good older sibling. To receive smiles and praise and headpats from her dad and her mom (which absolutely shocked her after she learned of how her daughter had saved her kingdom from some trouble) and-

NO! WHY DID SHE KEEP ON (BLEEPING) GOING DOWN THAT LINE OF THOUGHT?! IT WAS ALMOST AS IF THE SHIELD WAS REALLY BRAINWASHING HER AND-

"Malty Melromarc, your time has come." Several rogue Shadows suddenly appeared in the hallway before her, causing her to halt in surprise.

The enemy assassins, hired in a last-ditch effort by the countries' enemy nobility, pulled out twin daggers from their belts. It seemed her plan to hire an enemy Shadow assassin had been turned against her entirely. "We shall enjoy gutting you and the rest of the royal family here. (Bleep)."

...

Moments later, the assassins were all laid out on the floor, burn marks covering their clothes and ripped-off masks.

Meanie was scratched up here and there whilst breathing heavily, but she was, thankfully, still alive.

Apparently, she'd gathered quite a bit of strength while under Motoyasu. Perhaps her time spent with that annoying simp hadn't been a complete waste after-

"Whoaaaaa, what happened here?"

Meanie turned her head, still looking shocked at all that'd happened. But Kidfumi and the others had walked in, and they paused as they took in the sight before them.

"I... I, um..." Meanie began to stutter.

"Wow! You really took on these evil people all by yourself!" Kidfumi suddenly said after Shadow whispered what other Shadows had just reported to her into his ear. "That's so cool!"

"Uh, y-yeah, they were just here to harm us, and, and..." Meanie kept on trying to speak, to insert some level of venom into her voice.

"Well done, older sister. Perhaps there's still a bit of good in you after all." Melty said, staring blankly at her older sister.

"Yay! Our oldest sister isn't entirely mean after all!" Raphtalia cheered happily.

The kids, as well as the Heroes, continued on, giving Meanie appreciative looks as they passed her by. Several Shadows appeared to cuff and bind the rogue Shadows that'd managed to sneak past all of their defenses.

Meanie had truly done a good thing here. Taking down individuals capable of such a feat had saved not only her life but likely the lives of the entire royal family. The Shadows would be able to torture these individuals and plug up the last gaps in their defenses, ensuring Kidfumi and the other royals would be protected whenever they stayed in the castle from then on.

She'd done a truly good thing here...

...

(BLEEP!) (BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!)... (BLEEP!)...

...

(bleep?)...

...

AHHHHHHHHHHH! IT WAS TRUE! THAT BRAT'S SHIELD WAS BRAINWASHING HER AND THIS WAS ALL HIS (BLEEPING) FAULT AND-

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

In the end, all of Meanie's plans to harm/kill Kidfumi and Kidtalia, as well as her parents and Melty, only ended up helping them all out instead. And she continued to receive praise and headpats from both dadcray and momellia, with even Kidfumi and Kidtalia contributing by saying how she was finally becoming cool!

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Meanie is still resisting the brainwashing of the young Shield Hero to this day.

Till Next Time

Allen