Before I start, just want to get this out of the way:

ThousandMastery, I already PM'ed you about the strengthening methods and never got a response or anything. Because of that, I'll correct you again here so that others don't get confused about it. The bad guys are very much aware of Heroes being able to share strengthening methods after world mergers. They are thousands of years old and have not only witnessed it but have likely also had their butts kicked in because of it countless times. They deleted the methods from Naofumi's Shield specifically because of this and other things (and yes, that is canon, and that is why Naofumi starts out with no methods at the beginning of the story).

On top of that, while there are some methods between the two worlds that are more or less the same (Smelting, Sharing, etc.), Glass's world also has several unique methods that Naofumi's world doesn't have like double monster damage (Hunting Tools), ofuda equip (Hunting Tools), Weapon Exp (again, Hunting Tools) the Book's Rare Volume method (Finding a first edition of something to copy is far stronger than, say, a third edition of same something), the Mirror's Cooking exp method; which makes you and others stronger the more they eat your own cooking, the Fan's Ambient Mana Absorb method. And these are just methods that I can list off the top of my head that Naofumi's world doesn't have. There are far more than just the 24 strengthening methods of Naofumi's world out there, as showcased not only with Glass's world but what little knowledge we've gotten from S'yne and her Sister about the strengthening methods from their destroyed world. There are many different ways to get stronger that have yet to be discovered in other worlds.

And besides that, combining two worlds won't magically get rid of the mechanic that allows Heroes to share methods with other heroes who are now part of the same world. Even if it already exists with one weapon, I don't see why two weapons in the same world sharing the same method would be restricted from being able to share said method between themselves and the other Heroes, allowing all 24 Heroes (8 Cardinal, 16 Vassal) on the world to get an exponentially stronger version of said method.

TLDR: Godworld is very much against 8 hero worlds forming because Heroes become capable of scaling like Goku with 48 methods to share with each other. If you have any more questions, respond via PM instead of review this time, please.

Also, Gamera… ye can bet yur bloody bagpipes that Scotland exists in this world! Now let's get onto the chapter, eh!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Playing in Lurolona Village

"Momellia! Dadcray!"

"Young Naofumi!" Aultcray laughed boisterously as the kid Hero ran across the floor of the throne room to jump into his dad's waiting arms.

Raphtalia similarly ran across the room into Momellia's embrace. Laughing happily as her mother spun her around in the air.

Melty pouted next to Amber. "I wish my mom would spin me around like that."

"Why don't you run up and ask her then?" Amber suggested with a smile.

Melty began to blush furiously. "I, well, I'm still not used to her being, you know, this open!"

Her response elicited a series of chuckles from Elhart and the rest of their friends walking behind her.

Dadcray had returned from his trip the previous night, and the two rulers were on the edge of their seats since the Heroes hadn't returned from Cal Mira yet. Count Hadenburg had messaged them through the guild system explaining that the return trip was being delayed due to a storm forming off the coast. But that did little to alleviate the married couple's worries.

The lingering tension of the last week and a half melted in nearly an instant when everyone was finally reunited, however, and the two rulers happily embraced their children. The rest of the Heroes walked up to the thrones as well while the two kids were set back on the ground.

"How was Cal Mira?" Momellia asked, looking up at the other Heroes. "I take it everything went well?"

"Really well! We're all really stronk now!" Naofumi said excitedly. "Uncle Bald Guy even managed to hit level 100!"

"Oh, really now?" Aultcray asked with a smile. He looked up at his bald blacksmith friend.

"Yeah, I also made the armor that the brat is wearing right now. Assisted Spear Brat here with reaching the 90s in levels, and neither of them caused too much trouble while we were there." Elhart said with a proud smile as he winked. "You're welcome, by the way."

"It… it wasn't like I was… planning on causing trouble…" Motoyasu said to himself sadly.

He expected Amber to be behind him to rub his shoulder out of pity. But instead, Bruno, their family's newly adopted 'guard dog', bit down on top of Motoyasu's head again, showcasing the world's unfairness against the Spear Hero.

"AHHHH! HELP! HELPPPPP!" Motoyasu cried out in terror despite taking only a single-digit point of damage.

"..." Mirellia's eyebrow raised up at the sight, and she almost ordered the Shadows in the room to kill the dog monster. Before that could happen though, Amber began scratching under her pet's chin, smiling at it as she did so.

"Awwww, Bruno, you little scamp. I know you love Moto as much as I do, but we're talking to royalty right now, so ease up a little, okay?" She asked sweetly.

"Arf!" Bruno barked happily and wagged his tail after releasing Moto from his teeth. The Spear Hero's ponytail was now covered in slobber, and the man himself looked miserable watching his angel wife hugging Bruno around the neck.

…

Hmmm, well, if the Filolial Queen was alright with it, then Mirellia wasn't going to address it either, she decided.

'WHYYYYYYYYY!?' Motoyasu stood on the brink of despair. Unlocking his Cursed Series was truly a possibility, I say!

"Thank you, Elhart." Mirellia addressed the blacksmith. "Your hard work will not go unrewarded. Your service to the crown and the Heroes of Legend is beyond extraordinary."

"Heh, thanks, your Majesty, but being their uncle is more than enough reward for me." Elhart laughed before smiling and resting his hands on the kids' shoulders.

"Really?!" Naofumi and Raphtalia looked up at him with shining eyes at the same time.

"Really really." Elhart grinned back.

"Yayyyyyyy!" The two kids tackled the old blacksmith, embracing him in a bear hug. And while Elhart was strong, the two had become even stronger now, and he was knocked off his feet right onto his back!

"Ack! Hey, cut it out you two!" Elhart yelled in surprise.

"Ehehehehehe!" The two kids giggled.

"Oh, so I take it you wouldn't be interested in breaking your level cap then?" Mirellia asked with a mysterious smile.

…

…

Elhart and the kids froze in the middle of their sudden wrestling match, as did the others there.

Within seconds, the three were all standing again and facing the Queen. "REALLY!?" Elhart bellowed.

"Hold on. I thought non-Heroes were unable to go past level 100?" Itsuki pointed out.

"We thought so too, until recently that is," Mirellia answered. "You see…"

Mirellia didn't tell them about what happened with Tact. She did, however, state how they'd dealt with some powerful enemies while they were gone. Enemies who had broken the level 100 cap.

They hadn't known how they'd done so at first. But they found that one of the persons had a dragon emperor fragment inside them.

Since Nelshen had refused to keep it, Mirellia had it delivered to the dragon Gaelion via her Shadows as thanks to him for his help in the last Wave and as a gesture of goodwill for his continued support in the future. And because of that gesture of goodwill…

"We have since learned from Gaelion that he found knowledge of a ritual inside that fragment that'd allow those who undergo it to break their level caps. This will make these individuals capable of reaching higher levels of power than we could have ever imagined." Mirellia explained excitedly. "So, for those to whom it is applicable, if you want to get even stronger, I'd highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity."

…

It took a moment for her message to sink in. But when it did, everyone's faces were shining brightly with happiness.

"You hear that, Rishia?! You have the chance to grow even stronger now!" Itsuki told his girlfriend happily.

"Fueh!" While it was her normal sound, Rishia's face was nothing but happiness as she embraced her boyfriend in a big hug.

"Raphtalia too!" Naofumi looked at his best friend happily.

"But, Naofumi, I haven't hit level 100 yet, remember?" Raphtalia reminded him.

"Oh… well, you'll still have that to look forward to at least then!" Naofumi said excitedly.

"Me too!" Melty agreed.

"And me!" Amber agreed as well.

The mood amongst everyone had shifted for the better. The party members of the Heroes realized that despite reaching the pinnacle of their strength while at Cal Mira, they were still capable of growing even stronger than they could have ever imagined.

Wyndia and Ren looked especially happy. Gaelion having another emperor fragment shard would help to make him even more powerful! And it gave them an excuse to see her dragon father again to break the good news to him!

Bakta and Welt, on the other hand…

Nah, I'll save their mental states for later. This was a happy time, after all. No need to ruin it with the traumatizing events they went through while at Cal Mira.

Though Tersia did look content. While Farrie's face was absolutely shining with happiness.

"So, um, does this mean we're going to have to go back to lessons now that we're back?" Naofumi asked Dadcray.

"Not for today, actually." The King replied, surprising him. "According to the report Shadow sent us in advance, there's something else that requires our attention. The three additions hiding in the back of your group, no?"

…

Bakta and Welt, who'd stood at the back, caught on to the King's meaning, and stepped to the side.

The three Otherworlders who'd been hiding behind them were revealed.

"Oh, um, heheh, sorry, we weren't exactly trying to hide or anything," L'Arc muttered stupidly. "Just wanted the others to get their business out of the way first… that's all."

Aultcray's eyes had narrowed upon observing them, and they narrowed even further when he saw that two of them had weapons similar to his Staff. "Is that one there not the woman who fought the Heroes at the end of the last wave?" He asked, pointing his Staff towards Glass.

"Yeah, but she's our friend now! She wanted to come here to apologize!" Naofumi said excitedly.

"..." Glass silently came forward and prostrated herself to the ground in front of the Staff King. "I am sorry. I truly do regret my actions, and wish to do whatever is in my power to atone for them."

…

"Hmmm…" Aultcray studied the spirit woman, as well as the two Otherworlders behind her.

"What do you think, my love?" He eventually asked his wife.

"I am interested in their weapons. And I do believe these two girls are a type of demi-human I've never seen before." Mirellia replied. "And though it's hard to tell, I do believe the scythe wielder there is royalty."

"Huh!?" L'Arc actually took a step back. "How can you tell that?!"

"You mean you're also a prince!?" Motoyasu asked in surprise.

"Well, he's actually a King, though with the way he acts you wouldn't believe it." Therese corrected.

"Therese!" L'Arc whined.

The gem girl smiled evilly at him. Therese actually did end up accepting L'Arc's super embarrassing public love confession on Cal Mira, after everyone else had left the area, and she was now his girlfriend and bride-to-be.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't still take jabs at his ego every now and then.

Mirellia smirked. "I was guessing prince. But if he's actually the King of your country, that makes things a lot simpler. It'll be much easier to arrange things knowing we're talking to the leader of another world's country and not someone lower on the totem pole."

"Easier? What do you mean?" Therese asked confusedly. Glass finally raised her head up from the ground, looking quizzical as well.

"My loyal Shadow hasn't informed me of all the details. But one thing she felt to prepare me for was the possibility of forming an alliance between both of our worlds." Mirellia informed them.

"We have dealt with quite a few enemies to our world recently, be it the Waves or people trying to destabilize our countries. While we have questions about these individuals as well as their intentions, our understanding of the Waves themselves is still quite lacking." Mirellia stated clearly.

"We… we do have a friend studying the Waves in our world right now," L'Arc admitted. "He hasn't been able to make much headway by himself though."

"Also, now that you say it, we've had many problems politically in our world as well thanks to certain individuals," Therese added. "It's made it hard for us to gather allies like we were able to do before the Waves.

"Then perhaps there is something we can do to change that." A hint of a smile touched Mirellia's lips.

"We… we are also looking for a dear who has gone missing in our world. Someone vital to helping out with the Waves," Glass admitted, where she was still on her knees on the floor.

"A Cardinal Hero then?" Aultcray immediately realized.

Glass nodded and bowed her head to the ground in humility. "If… if it is possible, could we ask for your help in locating her too?"

…

The spirit woman felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and Glass's misty eyes looked up.

Aultcray had soundlessly gotten out of his seat and moved up to her. His smile, while small, was still sincere. "I may be a ruler and a Hero. But I am also a man who has suffered great loss in his lifetime.

"Speaking as that man, I promise you that if there is any way I can help, I will gladly do so. Alliance or not."

…

More tears gathered in Glass's eyes. She bowed her head to the floor again. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Aultcray nodded. "Now enough with the formalities. I'd like to learn all I can about your friend's disappearance and more. Mirellia, my love, would you be fine with setting the terms of our alliance, as well as discussing its details and all that nonsense with our other two guests?" Aultcray asked his wife. "I do not wish to burden you with such things, but to be frank, I've had it up to my ears of it all from running ragged between Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden and dealing with the aftermath of our recent guest's visit for the past week."

Mirellia chuckled softly and held a fan up in front of her face. "Of course, dear. It's no trouble for me."

"What about the rest of us?" Itsuki asked curiously. "Is there anything we can do in the meantime?"

"I do believe that your party returned to Lurolona yesterday, Sir Itsuki. They seem eager to see you again." Mirellia informed him. "As for Sir Ren, I do believe that Gaelion has relocated his nest to the mountains close to Lurolona. It might be good to check up on him and make sure he's settling in well.

"And, as I mentioned previously, it might be good to ask for his assistance in breaking the level caps of those who have hit level 100 as soon as possible."

"Sure thing," Ren gave the Queen a smile and a thumbs up. Wyndia brightened even more beside him.

Since the storm had waylaid them at the islands for a few extra days, Ren had taken the time to grind himself and the others in his party to level 100. Meaning that they, as well as Rishia and Granny, could go through with the level cap break ritual right now if they wanted!

"As for Sir Motoyasu and young Naofumi." Aultcray smiled at them. "You are free to spend your day in Lurolona Village as well. As you can see, my wife and I will be quite busy today."

"Yay! You hear that, Raphtalia?! We have no lessons today or anything!" Naofumi said happily.

The girl smiled. "Is Sadeena back as well?" She asked the Queen.

"I do believe that she is." Mirellia nodded.

"Alright, let's go to Lurolona then!" Raphtalia said happily.

"Is it alright if I go along with them?" Melty asked hopefully.

"Of course, Melty, my dear. Be sure to have a lot of fun!" Aultcray leaned down with a smile and stroked the girl's hair with his hand, to her utmost delight.

The others looked excited to head out as well, but then Aultcray added something else. "Heroes, before you go, I have valuable knowledge to share with you regarding some new Hero strengthening methods that I have learned about while you were gone."

"Wha- you really have been quite busy, I say!" Motoyasu said incredulously.

"You mean we're about to become even more OP now?" Itsuki tilted his head curiously. In another world, he imagined something like that would have made things easier for him. However…

"Fufufufufu!" Judging by the intense aura flaring up behind him, as well as the old Granny laughing wickedly to herself while shaded all in red, Itsuki was certain that whatever these methods were, the last thing they'd do was make his life easy.

Oh well, at least he had Rishia now. She helped make life somewhat more bearable as well as Kidfumi.

Speaking of which…

"Huh, was that why my Pillow Shield became softer a few days ago?" The kid Hero asked curiously.

…

"What?" He looked up at Dadcray's blank face with a shrug. "I've noticed that whenever the other methods are shared, my Pillow Shield becomes even floofier than before.

"I don't know why it does that. It's really strange." The boy held his Shield out in its Pillow Shield form for Aultcray to feel for himself.

The King hesitantly did so, and-

The kid was right! It really was softer than he remembered it being! If it'd felt like a cloud before, then he had no idea how to describe this level of softness!

"You still have no idea what your weapon's strengthening methods are, correct?" Aultcray suddenly asked his son as a particular thought sprouted in his mind.

"Nope! No clue whatsoever!" Naofumi declared almost too happily.

Glass and L'Arc looked at Naofumi in surprise at that. "Missing his strengthening methods… this kid really does sound more and more like Kizuna by the day," L'Arc muttered in disbelief.

"Though I don't remember her missing all four of them," Glass muttered under her breath.

"Eh?" Naofumi tilted his head curiously.

You realize that isn't a good thing, right?

Eh. Knowing his Shield, they'd probably be more ways to raise everything besides his attack stat.

You got that right, brat.

Boo!

Aultcray frowned while he thought about the implications, but he proceeded to share the four methods he'd learned from the hero weapons that he had liberated from Tact earlier that week.

For the Whip, the method was called [Growth Revision]. It basically allowed Heroes to sacrifice levels of themselves or their party members (with their consent) to give the individual the method was used on a growth multiplier to one of their stats.

It was important to specify the growth modifier, as there were no immediate benefits to using it. It was a power-up method where you had to level up again to see the effects come into play. But Naofumi couldn't use it on his attack stat, so…

For the Hammer, the method was called [Weapon Synthesis]. It allowed Naofumi to put a weapon's signature special effect on another weapon (ex. putting Chimera Viper Shield's Snake Venom Fang (medium) counter onto Whale Core Shield), though doing this reset all the methods on the donor Shield. And after a certain amount of uses, Naofumi would have to absorb more of that shield's materials to be able to equip or enhance the donor shield with the power-up methods again.

It seemed kind of pointless. But maybe you could get some cool combinations if you combined the right shields together or something? Plus, while it might be a waste to reset a shield's power-up methods, it wasn't like he'd ever be using those old shields again as he kept on getting newer, stronger shields.

Again, he had no idea how he could use it to increase his attack stat since none of his shields had attack options. And some of his counterattack options were pretty lame and did no damage themselves, so…

For the Claws, the method was called [Skill Mastery]. It was like Ren's mastery method, but for skills specifically. The more a skill was used, the higher its mastery level became, and the more effects would arise from these skills. Be it having them cause more damage (inapplicable for Naofumi, again, for obvious reasons), shorter cooldowns, requiring less SP to use, or other cool bonuses.

It couldn't be reset for mastery energy, but why would you want to reset a skill anyway? Unlike Shields, you were always going to be using these skills. So resetting all that progress for a little energy would have been stupid.

The last weapon method was the Axe's [Muscle Enhancement] method. But due to Naofumi becoming so engrossed in how soft his Pillow Shield was becoming at that point, he didn't really take much note of the method other than that it didn't really make that much sense to him. So perhaps he'd think about it at a later time?

Maybe.

But after Dadcray was done sharing his knowledge, and after the Heroes became even more OP than ever before, everyone was dismissed. But not before Dadcray felt his son's shield again and found how it was softer than it'd been several minutes ago.

He kept his thoughts on it to himself. But he knew then that whatever Naofumi's missing methods were, they must have been pretty important.

…

Aultcray left with Glass to discuss the disappearance of her friend. As well as all the methods her world had used to try and track her down.

And along with that… he also wanted to follow up on L'Arc's words. Since it sounded like their hero friend also had to deal with the issue Naofumi was facing now, missing all of his weapon's strengthening methods.

That'd been bothering the King for some time. Perhaps this was his chance to finally figure out a cause, and a solution to finding out Naofumi's methods. That way the Heroes would be able to become even stronger than before.

As for Mirellia, she stayed in the throne room, where she held a long discussion with L'Arc and Therese about the alliance between Melromarc and Sickle. The name of the country that L'Arc was the ruler of back home.

The redhead may have been rough around the edges, but Mirellia surmised he had great potential as a ruler.

Unlike a certain other redhead, who was now screaming in her room as she slowly went insane from the Shield's pureness brainwashing.

After leaving the throne room, Naofumi activated the skill Portal Shield to bring everyone with him to Lurolona. This included Amber, Melty, Uncle Bald Guy, Raphtalia, and Shadow.

Ren and his party also appeared alongside them thanks to the Sword Hero's own portal skill. Followed by Itsuki, Rishia, and Granny as well as Motoyasu.

Uncle Bald Guy immediately ran into the village to see how his blacksmith friend here was doing. Melty ran into the village after him since she wanted to find Eclair and show her how much stronger she'd become.

"Hey, Ren, you want to see the village with us!?" Naofumi asked excitedly.

"Sorry, lil bro, maybe later. Me and Wyndia are going to see her dad right now." Ren smiled as he patted the boy on the head. " But when we're done, I'm sure we could convince Gaelion to fly us all around on his back."

Stars appeared in Naofumi's eyes. "Awesome! Count me in!"

"I daresay, as long as I'm allowed to ride too." This time, it was uncertain if Shadow wanted to come along in case Naofumi tried to get into trouble… or because it'd be really freaking cool to tell her cohorts that she'd gotten to ride around on a large dragon.

Knowing how boring Shadow was, it was probably the first option.

'I daresay, having the opportunity to fly on a dragon emperor is a once-in-a-lifetime chance! I must take advantage of it!'

Yeah, definitely because Shadow was boring.

Itsuki tried to sneak off with Rishia using a stealth skill to conceal them both while Naofumi was talking with Ren. Thanks to his heightened stats as well as the effects of [Skill Mastery] kicking in immediately, the Bow Hero and his girlfriend had practically become nonexistent to everyone's eyes and ears.

But when Naofumi turned to ask Itsuki if he wanted to play with him and Raphtalia, he found Granny dragging the defeated pair towards the village.

"ORA! Time to get back to work, my young pupils!" Granny roared.

"Fiiiiiine." The pair muttered in defeat. Not even the upgraded stealth skill and other benefits had been enough to hide them from Granny's Hengen Musou abilities. Weren't they supposed to meet up with their friends anyway? Why were they immediately being thrown back into training?!

…

Maybe it'd be better to wait until Granny wasn't around.

Naofumi pouted up at Moto, who rubbed his neck nervously. "I'll just get out of the way, I guess..."

"I'll find you after I get my new pet monster settled in," Amber told Naofumi with a smile.

"Where are you putting him?" Naofumi asked her curiously.

"Oh, Moto built a home for me and him here. I'll see about getting him settled in there." Amber hugged the dog monster's side, and it turned and licked her face, causing her to giggle.

"Urgh…" Motoyasu groaned in agony. Why did the boss monster he and L'Arc somehow nabbed from Inult Island have to take a liking to his wife, I say!?

Oh well, at least it was showing affection to her. So maybe he'd be able to eventually pet it himself without it trying to bite him in two, and-

As soon as Motoyasu tried to pet the dog's snout while Amber was hugging him, Bruno's large mouth bit down over the Spear Hero's head again.

Yep, Bruno still didn't like him.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Motoyasu cried out in terror.

"Awwwww, he really really loves you, Blondie~!" Amber cooed happily.

"Rowr! Rowr! Rowr!" The dog monster began shaking the Spear Hero around like a ragdoll.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Motoyasu screamed.

Naofumi and Raphtalia walked towards the village, leaving Moto at the mercy of Bruno.

Heh, if it kept this up, Naofumi might eventually be convinced that not all dog monsters were evil. Heheheheheh…

…

The kid duo saw a lot of demi-humans going about their day, as well as knights and other figures.

It was hard to believe that only a few months ago this place had been destroyed by a Wave and then abandoned. As Raphtalia looked around, she could see where the town had grown since the last time, as well as places where workers were working hard to construct more buildings for the town's growing population.

She giggled when she saw some of her old friends being led by Keel to raid a bakery. The owner was going along with it in good spirits too, playing around with some of the kids while others snacked on fresh bread and other foodstuffs behind his back.

He then turned around, acted shocked to see the other kids stealing from him, and began to chase those kids around while the others took over feasting on what'd been on display.

Seeing it, Raphtalia couldn't help but pause. Why was this man going along with their antics? Wouldn't that encourage bad behavior from them in the future?

…

It didn't take her long to realize the answer though. And her heart fell a little when she recognized that some of the kids hadn't been in the town for that long.

Despite having fresh clothes and getting bathed recently, she recognized how their skin was still marked from beatings they'd suffered while in slavery. And even without that, they were still thinner than the other kids. Almost dangerously so.

They were safe here now. They'd hopefully never have to endure such abuse and mistreatment again. And yet…

"Hey, Raphtalia, is everything ok?" Naofumi suddenly asked her and held onto her hand, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" She turned to look at her best friend, who'd been smiling at her earlier. At seeing the look on her face though, it'd turned to one of concern.

"U-Um, yes, everything's fine." Well, mostly fine. But it was their day off. She didn't want to ruin their free time before it'd even started.

She could be happy with the knowledge that those kids were here. And that they were safe now. They were going to be well taken care of in the Hero's village. The entire village had become their family, and with her as the crown princess of Melromarc, the safety of this village was going to be a top priority for her parents.

She was going to make sure she checked with Dadcray and Momellia about that after they got back. But for now;

"I want to find Sadeena." Raphtalia smiled sincerely at her best friend.

Naofumi studied her for a moment more, and she felt a blush begin creeping up the sides of her neck. But then, he began to smile again and gripped her hand tighter. "Alright, it's been a moment since we've seen your Big Sis! Hopefully, we'll be able to have some fun with her today while we're here!"

Raphtalia's smile widened a tiny bit more at that.

Hopefully, Sadeena wasn't out in the ocean… or in the middle of getting drunk.

Raphtalia sighed.

She really hoped her big sister wasn't in the middle of drinking again. She didn't know if she had the heart to deal with that side of her right now.

Especially after learning how Naofumi could eat Ruculu Fruit without batting an eye.

"Raphtalia!"

"Sadeena!"

The two sisters embraced almost as soon as Raphtalia and her friend had stepped through the door. It looked like Sadeena had been reading something at the table, but whatever it'd been hadn't been as important as her little sis.

"Whoa!" Sadeena gasped and pulled back after Raphtalia's hug. "Oh my, you've gotten really strong. I could feel you crushing my bones there!"

"Ehehehe!" Raphtalia giggled. "So does that mean I'm stronger than you now?"

"Perhaps, but not by much." Sadeena grinned as she set Raphtalia back on the floor. "Was Cal Mira a lot of fun?"

"Mmhmm! I've level 93 now!" Raphtalia declared proudly.

"And I'm level 92!" Naofumi said happily.

Yet despite leveling up so much, he still hadn't gained a point in his attack stat from leveling up.

Because I don't give you attack boosts through level-ups, brat.

Hmph, whatever tsundere shield.

Stop calling me a tsundere! I am not a tsundere! I refuse to be called such a term by a child!

"Ora, kids these days. You're going to make little ol' me look bad in comparison." Sadeena sighed, yet she smiled while rubbing her hands through Raphtalia's hair.

"Ehehehe. What level are you, big Sis?" Raphtalia asked curiously.

"I'm only level 72." Sadeena sat in a chair, cuddling with Raphtalia in her lap. "Though you also have the benefit of being strengthened by his weapon. So even if I was level 100 you'd probably outmatch me in stats still. You really have become strong while I was gone."

"Even if that's true, you outmatch me in battle experience and prowess in every way!" Raphtalia countered.

Sadeena's smile turned into a grin. "True. You'll need a few years if you ever want to beat me then."

The pair continued to giggle as they exchanged pleasantries with each other. Raphtalia talked about their time in Cal Mira while Sadeena talked about the successful extraction of all the remaining children they'd rescued from Zeltoble.

As she described the tale to the two kids, they sat enraptured. Listening intently as Sadeena aggrandized how she and Itsuki's friends had worked together to get the kids out of the city without being noticed. How she'd enlisted the assistance of some of her friends as well as a few arena fighters in throwing matches or extending others to be longer than usual so the elite in Zeltoble wouldn't be paying any attention to the extractions happening right under their noses.

"It helped to have a man on the inside with the slave rings. He was able to erase the slave seals off the other children while they were entrusted to his care. We were able to save not only the rest of those who'd been taken from Lurolona and a few dozen more outside of that but also quite a few fighters who'd been stuck in the arena for years."

"That's great!" Raphtalia cheered happily. "Does that mean you won't be leaving Lurolona again anytime soon?"

Sadeena smiled softly as she ruffled her little sister's hair again. "No. Not for a while, at least, lil' one. My face has become too well known around there. Going back myself might be more trouble than it's worth."

"Hmph! When I become King, I'll go there myself and tear the slave rings apart piece by piece!" Naofumi crossed his arms and pouted.

"If only it were that simple." Sadeena chuckled. Granted, Naofumi might have had more success at that, being a Cardinal Hero, but she doubted the people in charge would give in so easily. Especially since a lot of their economy was based around slavery.

Raphtalia nodded in understanding. She then hugged her big sister around the chest. "Either way, I'm happy that you were able to save so many people! I'm proud of you, big sis!"

"Thank you, I… I know I should feel proud that I was able to do so much good… … … and yet…"

Sadeena's eyes dulled somewhat. "I just wish I could have saved your parents too…"

Her face took on a far-off look after she said the words.

Raphtalia's smile immediately saddened. Sadeena was now looking out the windows towards the cliffs, where her parents' gravestones were.

She hugged her older sister more tightly. "You did enough, Sadeena! I'm sure if they were here now, they'd be telling you the same!"

"But I wasn't at the village… if I'd only been here instead of out in the ocean on that fishing trip-" Sadeena began to counter.

"No! I won't have you blaming yourself for what happened to them!" Raphtalia repeated angrily. "They died protecting me and the other kids from that horrible dog monster! While I'm sad that they're gone, I'm happy they died helping me and many of my friends to see another day!"

"They didn't die for nothing! And I'm proud to have had them as my parents!"

…

"Heh… what happened to my little girl? I remember her being too shy to play around with everyone else her age?" Sadeena sniffled as a few tears fell despite the half-tanuki's comforting words. "Where did this side of her come from?"

Raphtalia continued to sadly smile as her eyes stared up at her with determination. "She had to grow up and become a big girl. Just like her Big Sis."

"You're no bigger than when I left…" Sadeena hugged Raphtalia gratefully as she accepted her younger sister's comfort. "But thank you. Your parents would be so proud of you too."

"They were your parents just as much as they were mine. They loved you like you were their own daughter, just like me." Raphtalia continued to comfort the older orca woman.

Sadeena said nothing, but tears continued to fall from her eyes. She would have taken the booze out of her cabinet to wash this sadness away under a drunken haze then and there.

But… this felt better, having moments like this to bond with her little sister.

Her little sister… who was becoming so big and strong in such a short amount of time.

…

"Alright, that's enough of that." Sadeena eventually pried Raphtalia off of herself, and the younger girl giggled as Sadeena laughed in her own carefree sort of way. While Raphtalia would have been tempted to stay on the topic, she could tell by the look in her eyes that Sadeena was feeling better now.

That was good enough for now. And besides, it was about time they moved on to happier waters! "So, Shield Kid, did you learn any cool skills while you were in Cal Mira? Perhaps we could use one of them to turn this into a day of fun!" And wouldn't you know, Sadeena was on the same line of thought as her younger sis!

"Hmmm…" Naofumi thought to himself as he was suddenly the center of attention again. He'd played around with his Shield's menus so as to not interrupt his best friend's moment with her older sister. "I'm not sure, I don't really remember-"

Text appeared on his HUD.

Oh for spirit's sake, do I have to help you with EVERYTHING!?

Naofumi pouted.

He would have remembered eventually!

It didn't stop his Shield from bringing up a list of skills and abilities he'd acquired while in Cal Mira. DRIFA AURA FREAKING X being at the top of said list in big bold letters.

Boo! Stupid tsundere shield!

Stupid brat who has the stupidest selective memory of any idiot I've ever been wielded by!

It's not selective! It's just growing up!

Baka!

…

Had his Shield just called him an idiot in Japanese?

Heh, that was such a tsundere thing to do.

… ANYWAY!

"I learned a really cool spell called Aura from this weird stone tablet!" Naofumi started.

He detailed how he'd learned the base version of the spell. And then how he'd learned its drifa tier, as well as its multi-target option before upgrading it with stat points so it'd give a 2.5x multiplier to all of a person's stats.

Sadeena was awestruck by that and asked if he could cast the spell on her. Naofumi did so, and Sadeena shook from how powerful she'd suddenly become.

This was greater. Far greater than any of the support magic she'd ever received participating in Zeltoble's arenas. And it was with just one spell too.

"I also got Shields that enhanced my senses. As well as Shields that gave me boosts to my agility and stamina and even one that boosts my luck with drop items!" Naofumi said excitedly.

"When did you get that one?" Raphtalia asked curiously.

"Eh? I think it was the rabbit boss or something?" Naofumi scratched the back of his head.

He was pretty sure it'd happened when he absorbed one of its feet.

"Anyway, in terms of skills, I didn't get one until I absorbed the remains of a monster Itsuki killed in the ocean. According to my Shield though, I can only use it in the water."

"What's the skill called?" Sadeena asked.

"Bubble Shield," Naofumi answered.

"Hmmm…" Sadeena began to think to herself.

"Oh yeah, and we learned from Dadcray today that we have a way to break our level 100 caps now!" Raphtalia said excitedly. "So I can become even stronker than ever before!"

"Really?!" Sadeena looked genuinely surprised by that information.

"Yeah, he didn't really go into detail. But apparently, my dragon friend Gaelion is capable of breaking people's level caps now?" Naofumi looked down at his Shield for an explanation.

…

He got nothing from the temperamental shield. Because it wasn't going to hold its wielder's hand every step of the way even if it did help a bit here and there.

Not because it wanted to or anything.

"Anyway," Naofumi rolled his eyes. "It's not like we're going to be able to get Raphtalia and the others to level 100 anytime soon if Uncle Bald Guy is anything to go by. So I haven't been thinking about it too much since we got the news."

Raphtalia and the others were now around the level Uncle Bald Guy had been at when they started adventuring together. It'd taken them several months and Cal Mira before Uncle Bald Guy finally hit 100. And since they were going to go back to lessons with Momellia in the coming days, it was likely going to take just as long to reach level 100. And that was IF they got to grind innocent(?) monsters on a scale like what they achieved in Cal Mira.

It'd help to have Portal Shield to reach areas of high-level monster grinding more easily. But it was still going to take a long time.

"... not necessarily." Sadeena was grinning again.

"I daresay, what do you have in mind?" The two kids nearly jumped as Shadow materialized by the door.

They'd nearly forgotten she was there to observe them. Yet Sadeena didn't look surprised at all.

"Nothing too troublesome. Actually, it might prove to be worth it for these kids whenever they're allowed to visit Lurolona in the future." Sadeena explained. "It's how I was able to raise my level to 72 on my own outside of the Zeltoble Arenas."

"Hmmm…" Shadow thought to herself. "Would it be alright if I saw it for myself then?"

"Certainly. We're just going to visit the beach for a moment." Sadeena said, her grin turning predatory.

Oh, man. Naofumi really liked the look on her face.

He knew that meant things were about to get really fun.

"Let's grab Amber and Melty!" Raphtalia suggested as a similar look of excitement appeared on her face.

Yep, both kids could tell that their day was about to get a whole lot better.

"WOOHOOOOOOOO!"

"WAY TO GO SADEENA!" Raphtalia cheered.

"I DARESAY, THAT THING IS HUGE!" Shadow screeched next to the kids.

"WHY ARE WE DOWN HERE AGAIN!?" Melty screeched in terror.

"WHEEEEEEEEEE!" Amber's voice sounded from outside the large air bubble, swimming around in the deep ocean alongside a tall, orca therianthrope demi-human in her Filolial Queen form.

They were currently deep underwater, so deep that no sunlight reached them from the surface. But that wasn't really a problem for them.

A large bubble from Naofumi's "Bubble Shield" surrounded the group of four. This gave them plenty of air to breathe and protected them from the pressure of the ocean. The Bubble Shield was also surrounded by a Meteor Shield, meaning it had a layer of defense between it and the monsters Sadeena and Amber slaughtered for them.

The skill didn't have a high defense stat. And its use was mainly to allow them to be underwater for an extended duration of time. But none of the monsters they encountered could so much as scratch the Meteor Shield surrounding it.

Even though their levels were in the lower 200s.

"Drifa Fire Inferno!" Amber's voice rang through the water.

Despite being so deep underwater, the fire magic spell appeared around the large monster she and Sadeena were facing off against. It began to screech in pain and terror as it'd never experienced heat like this living so deep in the ocean.

While it was flailing around, Sadeena swam through the water around the large Kraken-like creature. Avoiding its many tentacles in her large orca form while wielding a large harpoon. "Ahahaha! Take this!" She proceeded to tear off one of the Kraken's tentacles, further enraging it.

Normally, she wouldn't have been capable of taking on such powerful monsters by herself. However, with Raphtalia's light magic lighting up everything in the vicinity and blinding monsters used to complete darkness, as well as Naofumi's powerful Aura buff spell raising her stats to ridiculous proportions, this monster became nothing more than her and Amber's lil' plaything.

"Air Strike Shield!" Multiple tentacles attempted to lash at Sadeena simultaneously in retaliation, but they bounced harmlessly off the skill shield the kid Hero had summoned. Amber then swam by, slicing through each tentacle with her talons.

Sadeena saluted to Naofumi, then swam over the still-writhing tentacles. Before the monster could realize its prey had disappeared from behind the sudden barrier, Sadeena's harpoon went right through its eye.

"SCREEEEEEEEE!" The roar of pain the sea beast let out shook the surrounding seabed. But Sadeena had just finished chanting at that moment.

"Drifa Lightning Strike!" Sadeena's voice echoed under the water.

Lightning went up the shaft of her weapon, going right into the large monster.

The kids and their babysitter stared in awe as the large monster was electrocuted over and over again. Its HP bar kept dropping in their visions. The saltwater added to the light show, and the kids even began to clap at all the amazing patterns of light that appeared in the water around the monster!

Within moments, the creature's pained screeches finally came to an end as its HP bar emptied completely. And the light show ended with it as well.

Sadeena pulled her weapon out from the monster and swam back as it sagged forward. Its large corpse came to rest on the seabed.

"Wow, so cool!" Naofumi cheered happily.

"Honestly, that was pretty cool." Shadow agreed with a nod.

Melty simply stared. Her fear had turned to amazement at what she'd witnessed.

She'd never realized such powerful monsters lived so close to Melromarc's borders! Thinking about it though, it made sense. There wasn't much competition for them here so deep in the ocean, meaning they had plenty of time to feast on lesser monsters and grow to ridiculous proportions while thriving here.

But all it took was an individual like Sadeena coming down to show how they were no longer at the top of the food chain and the exp rewards were raked in by the thousands! Sadeena's job was certainly made a lot easier thanks to Naofumi and the others helping her out too.

Perhaps it'd been a good idea for Melty to let Eclair go back to her swordsmanship training after all? She definitely wouldn't have wanted to miss this.

+25000 Exp

…

Yep, she definitely wouldn't have wanted to miss out on this.

Naofumi and Raphtalia's eyes sparkled! These innocent(?) monsters really gave a lot of experience when they died! Why did they have to go to Cal Mira when they could have just been doing this for the last month and-?!

Oh, wait, Naofumi would have never unlocked the right Shield to get the skill allowing them to breathe underwater right now. Not to mention Aura could only be learned from that tablet at Cal Mira.

It'd been a nice vacation regardless. Though with just this trip underwater with a few breaks to go to the surface and refresh Bubble Shield with fresh air here and there, the level gains they'd all acquired were freaking phenomenal!

Heck, Naofumi was going to use Bubble Shield more often just so [Skill Mastery] would make it last a lot longer underwater! And thanks to that last monster…

Auntie Shadow: LV. 100

Raphtalia: LV. 100

Naofumi: LV. 101

Sadeena: LV. 95

Melty: LV. 100

Amber: LV. 100

"Sweet! Now you can go through the level cap ritual too Raphtalia!" Naofumi said excitedly.

"Not just me, but everyone else as well!" Raphtalia grinned from ear to ear. "Even… Auntie Shadow…"

They both looked up at their ninja caretaker. Shadow remained expressionless behind her mask. "Do we plan on staying down here until Miss Sadeena is level 100 as well?" Shadow finally spoke out.

"I daresay, if it is possible to get such drastic level gains here, all the Heroes and their companions could benefit from her helping them out like this."

While they pondered that, Sadeena swam up to them, dragging the giant carcass behind her. Naofumi put his Shield up to the wall of his defenses so he could start absorbing it.

Amber also swam up, sticking her large face into the Bubble Shield before taking a deep breath. "Wow, I never knew such tasty morsels could be found down here! I want to bring some home with me so Moto can cook it!"

Looking at the tentacles Amber and Sadeena had detached from the beast, the Filolial Queen had already eaten through all of them. "Amber's ready to find more seafood down here!"

"Yeah, I still have a few more minutes of Bubble Shield left! So let's see if we can find another monster!" Naofumi agreed after the entire Kraken monster had been absorbed into his Shield.

He got plenty of new shields from it, but none that raised his attack stat, again.

Even in the deep ocean, he was never going to find the right shields for it. Sigh…

"I would like to stay a bit longer myself. My stat gains are also receiving a boost being a member of your party… but this monster here was especially loud. I have no doubt some other monsters from deeper in the ocean will be here to find a free meal in a few minutes.

"And believe me, they are capable of getting far more powerful than this specimen did," Sadeena warned. "I don't think we'd be ready to take on that class of fish right now."

…

Shadow and the kids sweatdropped. Amber looked disappointed.

Sadeena gave them a smile though. "Still, once things are calm here again, we'll be able to do this whenever you kids visit Lurolona in the future!"

Naofumi grinned. "Yes! We won't have to slay innocent(?) monsters in the forest ever again!"

Gone were the months of wasting time in the forests on small fry! Here, they could really sink their teeth into some big fish and get the biggest experience gains ever to level up as quickly as possible! He could find dozens, hundreds of new shield forms and become even stronker than ever before!

…

Which would still do nothing for Kidfumi's very small attack stat.

Seriously, can you think of something else to complain about!? This is beyond old and stale at this point!

Yeah? Well, you're also old and stale, stupid-

Do you want to find out the hard way what happens when you're zapped underwater!?

…

…

Naofumi wisely kept his mouth shut as they made their way back to the surface.

Only a minute later, Naofumi's group breached the surface.

The Bubble Shield popped naturally as soon as it broke the water, but Naofumi's Meteor Shield remained active. It was simple enough for them to ride on Sadeena or Amber's back from the area they'd dived down into all the way back to the beach in front of the cliffside Lurolona Village rested on. And the sun was still high up in the afternoon sky too!

"To think I went up almost ten levels in just a few hours!" Raphtalia said excitedly. "Is it always like that Sadeena!?"

"Pretty much. Though it was certainly a lot easier with you kids helping me out." Raphtalia giggled as her older sister smiled up at her.

They really hadn't been down there for that long.

Underwater innocent(?) monster grinding was truly amazing, I say!

…

However, when they got back in sight of the beach, they found Uncle Bald Guy standing on the sand waiting for them.

He did not look very happy.

"And where the heck have you been, brat?"

"What do you mean?! I wasn't even trying to get into any trouble this time!" Naofumi complained.

He could see Shadow with them, right!? How the heck could he have gotten any chaos done with her watching his every move?!

"Oh, so while I was doing my blacksmith duties, you just happened to go up almost ten levels grinding innocent(?) monsters!" Uncle Bald Guy held himself back from poking the kid's head.

…

"Ummm… well…" Naofumi began to shuffle his feet in the sand nervously. "You see-"

"And you didn't invite me!?" Uncle Bald Guy yelled in exasperation.

…

Raphtalia couldn't help but giggle.

"I mean come on!" Uncle Bald Guy continued to whine. "I spent the last few months going from level 90 to level 100, and you two squirts managed to do it in several hours without even warning me?! Where the heck were you two grinding anyways!?"

"That's top secret! We can't tell!" Naofumi quickly declared before Sadeena or Shadow could speak up.

"Yeah, it's on a need-to-know basis!" Raphtalia quickly followed up.

"And you don't need to know right now!"

"Or ever!"

Naofumi and Raphtalia giggled together as they high-fived.

…

"Oi, you think this is funny, Shield Brat?"

The two kids suddenly paled at the shift in Uncle Bald Guy's tone of voice.

Focusing on him again, he looked large. Powerful. Intimidating. His old balded face was twisted like a monster's. "I've been dealing with your sass for far too long!

"It's about time you realized you can only push this old man so far before he breaks!"

"Um, uh…" Naofumi started sweating bullets. Even though his defense stat was really high and everything, even higher now after his ridiculous leveling-up session actually, he suddenly felt very vulnerable. "U-Uncle Bald Guy, w-we can talk things out p-p-peacefully, r-right?" Naofumi stuttered. Peacefully was one of those big boy words, right? He'd find it adorable and snap out of his rage session and… and…

…

The large blacksmith only seemed to grow in size. Naofumi and Raphtalia began to shrink in terror while Sadeena and Shadow watched what was happening with curious eyes.

"You think I can't do anything to you? But it's about time I revealed to you your one true weakness, Naofumi. Something that no defense stat will ever be able to protect you from!"

Naofumi began to shake with terror. His imagination ran wild with all the things Uncle Bald Guy could do to him. And he didn't know which one it'd be or how painful the experience was going to be and-

And then Uncle Bald Guy's fingers were running along his sides.

"Ehehehe! W-What are y-you d-d-d- ahahaha!" Naofumi began to laugh.

Uncle Bald Guy's sinister air was entirely gone. He was now grinning like a wild man. "I'm unleashing my special attack! My entirely patented just-for-annoying Shield Brats Tickle Torture Special!"

"Ahahaha! NO! STOP! MERCY! AHAHAHAHA!" Uncle Bald Guy didn't stop even after Naofumi fell onto his back in the sand, and nothing the kid did could help him escape the blacksmith's merciless assault.

Raphtalia's eyes widened in understanding. "Ohhhhhh, so this is what you developed to deal with him, Uncle Bald Guy."

"Yep! Feel free to join in anytime, Miss!" Elhart said with a wide grin.

"N-NO! U-UNCLE! UNCLE! AHAHAHAHA!" Too bad for Naofumi, Raphtalia wanted in on the fun too. And join in she did.

It was really funny seeing her kid best friend rolling in the sand to try and escape the pair. "I've got his feet!" Raphtalia announced proudly, trapping his legs in a lock and throwing his shoes off.

"N-No fair! Why do you have to be so stronk!?" Naofumi managed to briefly complain before Uncle Bald Guy began tickling the bottoms of his feet.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naofumi couldn't complain or anything after that. The next few minutes went by in a blur of fun and tickle torture.

Fortunately, when he finally showed signs of struggling to breathe, Uncle Bald Guy relented and had Raphtalia let him go. It still took him around a minute though to put his shoes on and stand up again, and even then he still had fits of giggles here and there.

"T-That wasn't, heheh, fair." He tried to pout and absolutely failed.

Uncle Bald Guy grinned. "Now you know what'll be in store for you whenever you really tick me off, brat." He then laughed after saying that.

BOO! He'd learn to tickle the bald man back someday!

"Your attacks certainly tickle a little bit!" Uncle Bald Guy then retaliated.

Wha- NO FAIR! WHY WAS HE SO EASY TO READ!? WAS THAT POKER FACE OR SOMETHING REALLY THAT IMPORTANT!?

"Anyway, it's not like you missed out on that much, Uncle Bald Guy." While Naofumi calmed down, Raphtalia explained to Uncle Bald Guy what they'd done underwater with Sadeena, Melty, Amber, and Shadow. And how all they could really do was stand in Naofumi's skill bubble while assisting Sadeena with magic here and there.

"Honestly, I could have seen you being pretty bored if you'd gone with us," Raphtalia admitted with a shrug.

"Hmmm… yeah, you're probably right about that." The bald blacksmith agreed. "Outside of this warhammer, I don't really know any magic or ranged attacks in general."

"So you mean I went through all that tickle torture for nothing?!" Naofumi whined.

"Not for nothing." Uncle Bald Guy refuted with a grin. "I certainly feel a lot better now!"

BOO!

"And seeing your pouting face makes it even more worth it!" He continued to laugh boisterously.

"Hmph!" Naofumi pouted and turned away.

"Awww, he just keeps on acting cute! I don't think my poor heart can take it!" Uncle Bald Guy mocked while Raphtalia and the others giggled/laughed.

REEEEEEEEEEE!

This was bullying! He was going to call PETA on them!

…

If he remembered what PETA was, at the very least.

It wasn't long afterward that they walked up the path back to the village.

"Heyyyyyy, Sadeena!" On their way back though, they got sidetracked by a group of people that ran up the street towards them.

"Lil' Sasa! S'yne!" Sadeena called back.

"Who are they?" Naofumi asked curiously.

"Are they friends of yours?" Raphtalia looked up at her older sister.

Running towards them was a group of four people. Well, the first two were running up, the third was trying to lead his blind sister behind him but kept on getting pushed away by her since she could tell where she was going just fine.

The woman up front had long silver hair and small round ears on top of her head. She was also dressed in some pretty cool-looking knight armor that looked custom tailored for her!

The girl behind her had a giant pair of scissors in her hands with a gemstone in them. Her outfit was strange with various whites, purples, and stitch marks in them, but it certainly looked cool! As did her snow-white hair!

The two behind them were both hakuko. The boy, who was a tall teenager, was dressed in somewhat cool clothes; his younger sister, who was just a bit taller than Naofumi and Raphtalia, was dressed in a more normal outfit. They looked like siblings.

The older brother kept on trying to coddle his younger sister, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Fohl, if you don't stop coddling me, I'm going to punch you in the stomach."

"But- Atla, you can't walk around too quickly, or else your condition could worsen again, and then-"

POW! "URK!" Fohl collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

"I was given Yggdrasil's Elixir for goodness sake, brother! I'm going to be just fine without your help from now on!" The younger sister yelled down at him. She might have been small, but that punch of hers looked like it'd really hurt.

"B… But…"

The cool-looking white-haired girl sighed as she shook her head. "He really - -."

…

Naofumi and the others looked at her curiously. For some reason, her words had turned into static there towards the end.

"Don't worry." Sadeena smiled. "These are some of my friends that escaped the arena with me. First up is Larsazusa. You can call her Larsa though. She's a panda demi-human that's really good at fighting and…"

The orca woman proceeded to introduce the four individuals to the group. The first girl, Larsa, was described as a very good friend of Sadeena's. They went way back with one another and despite being one of the highest-ranking officers in Zeltoble's military, she'd defected after helping Sadeena extract lots of slave kids from the underground arenas.

"It's a pleasure to meet ya, Shield Kid." Larsa smiled as she shook Naofumi's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too!" Naofumi and Raphtalia stared up at her happily.

The girl behind her was named S'yne Lokk. She fought with the weird weapon in her hand, which was called the Sewing Kit Weapon. It was just like Dadcray's, Big Bro L'Arc's, and Glass's weapons. Only, there seemed to be a problem with hers as her translator function kept going in and out.

However, she could still use magic to make dolls she'd made with her own hands speak for her, which was super cool!

"It's a pleasure to meet ya!" One of S'yne's dolls held an arm out to Naofumi, and he giggled as he shook its hand.

So awesome! He wasn't really into dolls, being a boy, but he'd love it if his new friend could make a doll that looked like Raphtalia! Or, even better, her animal transformation form!

"What are you thinking about now, Naofumi?" Raphtalia stared at her best friend.

"N-Nothing, I say!" Naofumi spouted nervously.

"Hmmm…" Raphtalia stared hard at her best friend. A distrusting look in her eyes. He could see her actively reading his face to try and discern what he was thinking.

Where was that poker face when he needed it, I say?!

Thankfully, Sadeena continued by introducing the last two individuals as half-Hakuko siblings, saving Naofumi from having his plans discovered by his best friend at that moment, as he was able to divert his focus onto the two.

Their names were Atla and Fohl Fayon. They were both around Keel's age, but Atla looked only a little bit older than he and Raphtalia due to a disease she was born with. Said disease was also the reason why she was blind. Yggdrasil's Elixir had finally healed her of it, saving her life, but the damage to her growth and sight was permanent.

Despite that sad part of her backstory though, she was super cool and kind! After Sadeena introduced them, Atla was facing their direction with a curious expression on her face. "This sense of warmth I'm feeling. Is that truly the Shield Hero?"

"Yep! This temperamental Shield on my arm proves it!" Naofumi declared happily while raising his weapon up.

Zap!

Yep, definitely temperamental.

"Hmph. He's just a kid though." Fohl narrowed his eyes at the young kid.

"And who is this beside him again?" Atla asked, her face turning to look at Raphtalia.

"I, um, I'm Raphtalia. I'm Naofumi's b-best friend." The half-tanuki girl stuttered nervously. How she wished she could change that title to something more… personal. "Um, Miss Atla, if you don't mind me asking, how can you tell where we are if you're, you know…"

Far from looking offended, the tiger girl smiled. "I can't exactly describe it myself. While I can't see people in general, I can see the aura a person gives off."

"Yeah, persons and not objects. Remember." Fohl scowled. "That's why I have to help you get around-"

"Quiet, brother. I'm talking to these two, not you." Atla said without even turning her head to look at him.

Fohl already looked like he'd been slapped across the face. But then, Atla continued. "Why don't you try finding that one girl and play around with her again? I believe she said her name was Keel?"

"Urk!" Even though he hadn't been physically hit this time, he still fell back all the same. "I- but- HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!"

"I didn't know. But you just confirmed it." Atla smirked. "I knew you'd fallen for her after she kicked your butt in that one match."

"SHE DIDN'T BEAT ME! I JUST LET HER WIN SO WE COULD DISTRACT THOSE IDIOTS WITH HER ANTICS AND-"

"And I thought you always claimed to have a thing for tomboys?" Atla jabbed with the same smirk still on her face.

…

…

The two kids began to giggle while the older brother sputtered. "H-How can you- that doesn't make any-"

"Come - Fohl. I'll - locate Keel." S'yne spoke, smiling at the kids as well.

"Come on, Fohl! I'll help you locate your tomboy girlfriend!" One of her dolls yelled loudly. So loudly some people nearby looked in their direction curiously.

"Ack- WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN!?" Fohl yelled at the older girl.

The otherworld Hero simply smiled and led a sputtering and fuming Fohl away.

While that'd been going on, Larsa bid farewell to Sadeena, needing to go and check up on the kids they'd rescued to make sure they were adjusting well. The two really did look like good friends. Sadeena's smile seemed a little more real at least.

"So you can't see us, but you can see our auras?" Naofumi asked Atla curiously as the others went away.

"Mmhmm. You and your friend's auras are both pretty similar, actually." Atla said with a smile. "Warm and exotic, with just a bit of chaotic motions here and there."

"Heh, definitely sounds like them, alright." Uncle Bald Guy chuckled behind the kids. "What about mine?"

"Hmmm…" Atla focused her gaze on the new arrival. The blacksmith shivered involuntarily. Even though she couldn't see him, it was as if she was looking through him.

"Your aura is strong and sturdy." Atla decided after a moment. "With just a touch of the same warmth these two possess. You must care about them very much."

"... heh, that definitely sounds like me, alright." The older man repeated his words, but he sounded humbled this time as his hands rested on Naofumi and Raphtalia's shoulders. "I think you've got a good gift there."

"That's so cool," Naofumi said, looking up at the tiger girl in awe.

"W-What about me?!" Melty asked nervously.

Oh, yeah. He'd nearly forgotten that Amber and Melty were with them. Melty was currently sitting on the Filolial Queen's back and looking down at Atla with excitement painted on her features.

"Hmmm?" Atla cocked her head curiously. It appeared that she hadn't noticed the two either. After a few seconds though, she frowned. "The creature you're sitting on is warm, like a nice campfire. But as for your aura, it's all over the place."

"It's almost like you're trying to be hot and cold at the same time." Atla finished in an unsure tone.

"Wha- That is totally not what I'm like in the slightest!" Melty yelled indignantly.

"I don't know. I feel like Tiger Girl there is kind of right about that Mel." Amber said with a pondering expression on her face.

"... Awwwww, you called me Mel," Melty said, a starstruck look appearing in her eyes.

The others sweatdropped. "Yep, hot and cold. Just like that thing on your arm." Atla said in a flat voice, pointing to Naofumi's Shield.

Melty pretended to not hear the girl's response so she could focus on petting Amber's neck again.

I am not hot and cold!

Naofumi had stars in his eyes though! He wondered if she'd be able to play dodgeball with them or something! If he ever had to face Raphtalia's illusion magic again, she might be able to help him detect the real Raphtalia in a heartbeat!

Then again, he didn't face off against Raphtalia very often. And even if she could detect other's auras, it didn't help her to see objects. So maybe dodgeball wouldn't be a suitable game for her?

Hmmm…

Well, either way, he had a really good feeling about this blind girl! And he was going to look forward to seeing her again whenever they came back to Lurolona!

"Ah, and lastly, the aura of the person hiding beneath Naofumi's aura is really dark and foreboding," Atla spoke up again, quirking an eyebrow on her face at first in curiosity, and then she took a step back in disgust. "Not to mention, creepy."

…

They all looked down at Naofumi's shadow on the ground as one.

Shadow's head was barely peaking out from it. Looking up at all of them with a visible glare behind her mask.

"That'd be Auntie Shadow." Naofumi sweatdropped. "Don't mind her. She follows us wherever we go."

"Alwwwwwwayyyyyys wattttttchinggggggg…" Shadow's head slowly melted back into Naofumi's shadow. Disappearing from view entirely.

…

Everyone there shuddered.

Yep, Atla's description was accurate. The woman could still manage to be creepy even though they'd gotten used to it at this point.

"Shall we continue on?" Sadeena suddenly asked. "I do believe there were other things you wanted to do while you were here."

"Yeah! Want to join us, Atla!?" Naofumi asked excitedly.

"Sure!" The tiger girl agreed. "If it gets me away from my overbearing idiot brother for a few hours, that's even better!"

Their group proceeded to play around in the village for the rest of the day.

Naofumi didn't keep track of everything that happened or who they interacted with. But after the vacation to Cal Mira, it just felt nice being able to watch his best friend look so happy while playing with so many of her old friends.

At one point, Cool Bro Ren rode down into the village on Gaelion's back while Raphtalia was teaching Atla how to play dodgeball. And after helping his mate off, he helped Naofumi get on in front of him before the dragon emperor took to the air once again!

"WHEEEEEEE! I'M FLYING!" Naofumi yelled out happily.

"Technically, I am the one doing the flying here," Gaelion said out loud to them.

"Do we have too much weight?" Ren asked, sounding only slightly worried as Uncle Bald Guy and Shadow were riding with them as well.

"Maybe before, but thanks to this new Dragon Emperor Fragment, I am far stronger. I could carry all of you and several more for hours on end if I so wished." Gaelion let out a deep chuckle as he said so.

"SO COOL!" Naofumi embraced Gaelion's neck, stars shining in his eyes at the coolness of this entire situation.

"Whoa, be careful brat! We don't want to fall from this height!" Uncle Bald Guy said nervously.

Why had he chosen to do this?! WHY HAD HE FREAKING CHOSEN TO DO THIS!? THEY WERE JUST UNDER THE CLOUD LAYER NOW AND THE GROUND WAS SO FAR BELOW!

Gaelion dipped forward, and the strong blacksmith felt his stomach fall into his feet as he gripped tightly to the spine in front of him. It was all he could do to keep a straight face and not throw up. What a great time to find out he wasn't a fan of heights.

And as if things couldn't get any worse, Gaelion felt to show off to the young kid and performed loop the loops and other fun tricks with all his passengers hanging on tight.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Elhart gripped the spine in front of him for dear life.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Ren and Naofumi cheered at the same time.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

No one was ever able to identify where that joyous laughter came from. Mostly because Auntie Shadow vehemently denied such a sound ever coming from her mouth.

But she made sure to take some awesome pictures of all of them with her crystal ball before they landed.

The other Shadows were going to be soooooo envious when she shared these pictures with them!

At the end of their day of fun at the village, Naofumi learned that Ren was staying behind to resume his training with the swordswoman Eclair. The Sword Hero promised though that he'd be back by the next morning to bring Gaelion and his friends with him for their level cap rituals.

Naofumi fist-bumped the Sword Hero, already unable to wait for tomorrow!

Naofumi then learned that Itsuki was also staying behind to train with Granny. He looked dead on his feet again after a long day of training, but he was still able to muster up a smile and hug his younger bro.

He definitely seemed way more warm and friendly than usual! Good! Rishia was continuing to have a great effect on the Bow Hero's personality!

Moto… was returning with Naofumi to the castle.

"Heheh, I might be doing some magic training with His Majesty tomorrow." Motoyasu chuckled nervously.

"To make up for all the times you were too busy hogging Amber's attention to focus on Dadcray's lessons?" Naofumi asked blandly.

…

"Am I ever going to be forgiven for that?" Moto asked sadly.

"As soon as you can turn your relationship with my older sister into a healthy one like what Ren and Itsuki have with their best friends," Naofumi said before pointing to the two departing Heroes and their mates/girlfriends.

The two males had soft smiles on their faces. And their arms were rested over their girls, who were cuddled against them and looking absolutely happy and adorable. Despite that, however, they were still talking to their friends as they walked away. So while they were showing affection for each other, it wasn't blinding them to everyone around them.

It was the kind of affection that was proper to have in public. It showed that they cared for each other without grossing out everyone around them or making others feel uncomfortable. And it'd help them to eventually grow into the kind of mature love that Dadcray and Momellia held for each other instead of a broken relationship down the road.

Moto sniffled loudly. "B-But how can I try that if you won't allow me to be near Amber!?" He whined.

"It's not like he isn't allowing you." Raphtalia shrugged. "You just have to get better at focusing on what other people are doing when she's around. That's all."

"I am perfectly good at that!" Moto retorted. "I am so good at that in fact, that-"

"Bye Moto! I'll be back tonight! I just want to make sure Bruno is well-adjusted to his new home before I come home!" A familiar voice yelled behind them.

The Spear Hero instantly turned his head, hearts appearing in his eyes as the warm voice of his angel wife washed over his soul. I say it was truly a wonder! It was almost criminal how she could turn his depression inside out with his words and-

"Gee, that was fast." Naofumi shook his head.

Moto was harshly jerked back down to reality. He looked at his kid bro with terror in his eyes. But Naofumi was showing him the worst look ever.

It wasn't a look of anger or jealousy or a pout or anything.

It was a look of indifference.

The Spear Hero meant nothing in his eyes.

"Let me know when your cooties stop making you obsess over my sister. I'll see if I feel like playing with you then." Naofumi waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked towards Uncle Bald Guy and Melty. "I'll be looking forward to tonight's bedtime story!" He called back to Amber.

"I'll make sure to think long and hard about it on the run over!" Amber promised.

Auntie Shadow shook her head as she materialized, but followed behind the kid. "I daresay, for a kid, he gives some pretty good relationship advice." She muttered to herself.

Raphtalia grimaced but gave an encouraging thumbs up to the Spear Hero before quickly following behind her best friend.

Only a moment later, the entire group disappeared thanks to Naofumi's Portal Shield.

…

Amber was still waving goodbye to her husband, who couldn't do more than offer up a half-hearted wave back in response.

This really hurt. Why did he have to have so much love in his soul? Why did he have to be so obsessed with angel girls before coming to this world? It was almost unfair…

…

He almost felt tempted to just stay behind. But then, Amber was going to run to the castle tonight anyways. And Naofumi probably wouldn't think better of him if he chose to try and spend time with his angel wife.

Maybe it'd be better if he came up with a bedtime story of his own and tried giving that to his younger bro. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Then again, there might have been another good reason why he wasn't staying in his home in Lurolona for the night besides wanting to study magic with Dadcray and then, hopefully, his younger bro again.

"Grrrrrrr…"

Motoyasu sweatdropped as he tried to avoid Bruno's death glare. Seriously, how could his wife not tell that the dog monster hated his guts?!

"I say, this really is the worst… Portal Spear!"

And thus Motoyasu and Naofumi returned to the castle for the night.

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!"

…

"CRAP!"

A certain raggedy-looking figure was hastily scrambling around a large, inactive crystal core. There was a large mess of different things around him.

Tools he'd discarded, empty coffee cups littering the ground, half-finished designs for different minions that he'd thrown out of his Book because he didn't have the time to make them. Which sucked, because a lot of them could have made the job of gathering souls and exp as well as establishing security inside the Spirit Tortoise even easier for him, but hey, what can you do when you're put under such a ludicrous time limit with the deadline being uncomfortably literal in this case if he failed?

In the middle of it all was a stained and warped desk he'd made in a hurry using a recipe from his weapon so he could try and set all his notes and calculations down into something that at least resembled a cohesive plan of action.

There were so many different formulas. So many different things he had to tweak to try and get things just right. He'd managed to quickly identify the energy for the Spirit Tortoise's seal, thankfully. But making the devices he needed to fine-tune the core to begin the awakening process while keeping track of all the different outputs and little adjustments he still had to do for all the different familiars already sleeping inside of the Spirit Tortoise were stretching his sanity to the absolute limit.

It didn't help that Godworld kept on communicating with him every so often. Asking him what was taking him so long.

"What is taking you so long? Are you trying to test our patience, worm?" Sun Mask asked for what felt like the millionth time.

Kyo tried to keep calm. He tried to respond every time in a hasty to please manner.

However, after one ignorant comment too many, he might have snapped a bit.

"I AM TRYING AN EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BY ANYONE BEFORE! NOT EVEN THE &^%$&^% USELESS GOOGLE SEARCH CHEAT YOU GAVE ME CAN HELP ME OUT MUCH HERE!" Kyo yelled in a fit of anger. "GET OFF MY BACK ALREADY, WILL YOU!?"

…

"Are you spitting on our gift to you?" Sun Mask said angrily on the other end. "The gift we gave out of the kindness of our hearts…"

Kyo's face immediately drained of color. He paused what he was doing to grovel on the floor. "I-I'm sorry! Please, have mercy on me-"

Kyo's voice cut off as he felt something getting yanked away from his body, causing him severe pain. His right arm went limp, and his eyes widened in terror as he saw a wisp of his own soul hovering over the appendage.

"Do remember who you're speaking to, worm." Sun Mask spat out venomously. "What was given can easily be taken away. And don't think that we'd ever keep you alive in such a scenario."

"W-Wait! I'm sorry! Really, please forgive me!" Kyo begged.

…

"Know you are still alive only because you are useful." Kyo's soul returned to his arm, which was able to function normally again. He began rubbing it, his eyes filled with sheer terror.

"Talk back to us again, or delay what you're doing any further, and we will make death by Soul Worms seem like a welcome gift after we're done with you."

"B-but I'm telling the t-truth! If I try to hurry the process any more than this, then I have no idea what'll happen or what'll-" Kyo tried to reason with who was chosen to be his 'manager' for the night, but...

"Tomorrow." Sun Mask delivered the ultimatum. "Or else."

With that, the line of communication was broken between Kyo and Godworld once again.

…

Kyo numbly went about his tasks. Still going as frantically as before, but with an air of detachment to what he was doing.

Does this go here- no wait, it's supposed to go there- no! Argh, why was this so much easier in his head?! Damn it, if only Ethnobalt was here to take some of the load off!

Time passed by as his hands continued to work in tandem with the rest of his body. It looked like he was now trying to connect a device between the core and the floor of the room.

He summoned pages from his book to try and assist him, but the pages were very weak and didn't help him much even as he put his full weight into trying to force the item into place.

This really sucked. If only he could have had time to make those minions so they'd be able to assist him with this. If he'd only had time to level up so he'd have the stats to make everything so much easier. If only a million other things were allowed to happen so he wouldn't have to struggle like this and...

Eventually though, with a loud Click!, it was in position.

"CRAP!" Kyo bent over suddenly, gasping in frantic breaths of air. "And here I thought it was going to be a long shot shortening the awakening ritual to one week! Now they want me to get it done by tomorrow?!"

The Book Hero had already been going nonstop ever since receiving the sudden orders from the members of Godworld to come over and enact his plans to hijack this world's Spirit Tortoise as soon as possible. And the threat of exploding his soul out of existence had been more than enough to convince him to at least try.

But he was only one man! Even he needed time to sit down and take a much-needed break to get the brain juices flowing! As he was now, his left eye wouldn't stop twitching from all the caffeine and fear flowing through his brain, and his left hand kept on fidgeting around like he was on the verge of having a seizure.

It was a miracle nothing had even exploded on him yet! Then again, the thought of what Godworld would do if he sabotaged himself might have also helped him to keep things together.

'Hmph, why are they so desperate for me to start things off here so quickly anyway? It's not like I'm nothing more than a pawn to them.' Kyo scowled as he crossed his arms.

Every time he'd reported to them before, they'd always stood tall, imposing, confident, whatever you wanted to use to describe a group of people that always appeared to be in control. Just like his old bosses at the business he worked with.

Though, his old bosses in his world had also been sniveling mucks who were incapable of putting two and two together on their own. Disgusting creatures who sucked up to their superiors and only kept their jobs because they pressed their feet down on those beneath them.

As much as Kyo had come to hate working with Godworld, it'd at least made sense why he had worked with them. And since they'd treated him like a pawn, they'd always seemed predictable to him.

Up till now, that is.

He didn't know how to describe it. But under his sniveling facade which he'd given them, he could tell that they'd seemed… scared. But scared of what? Of him?!

That was impossible... Unless they knew the true purpose behind his plans for how he'd use the soul power of this world. But even then, he'd been so careful to hide his true goals and plans in his journal, which was a part of his book! No one but him knew what was in it except him! He never discussed such things with anyone else!

Kyo groaned to himself.

What the hell was he doing? He should have refused their orders and planned things out a bit more. Maybe see if there was another way that he hadn't found to escape his contract with them, or… … or…

…

For once, the man's countenance fell.

His hands had been dirtied long ago when he first chose to work with Godworld. He'd thought back then that he had nothing to live for, and that he'd never care about anything besides himself ever again.

But he'd been proven wrong, for the first time in his life. And now, he'd found there was no way to escape his contract with Godworld.

No other way, besides maybe this.

If this worked, he'd be known as a murderer and a destroyer… but at least he'd be free to save their world. He'd be able to force out Godworld's other idiots on his world so there'd be a chance for the countries there to heal and recover. Maybe he could even use his knowledge to keep their world from ever being pulled into Godworld's schemes ever again?

He'd just have to become a Demon Lord in the eyes of everyone he knew to make that happen.

…

It was a long shot. But what other choice did he have now?

"Kizuna…" Kyo shook his head.

No, that was enough. He was not one to waste time reminiscing on past regrets. He had a job to do. And he wouldn't allow himself to be distracted from it any longer.

…

Even if he did wish that he'd gone on that final fishing trip with her…

Kyo continued to scramble throughout the night. Getting everything put into place.

As the dawn of morning began to appear on the edge of the horizon, one final Click! reverberated through the structure. And then, the room began to hum to life.

Heh, he'd successfully completed the first part of the Spirit Tortoise's awakening in two days. Chew on that, jerks!

"The first step is done," Kyo said out loud.

"Good. Perhaps you still have some worth after all." Sun Mask said to him in a condescending tone. "Remember, finish waking the beast by today, or else."

"Grumble Grumble, whatever," Kyo muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"... it was nothing," Kyo muttered again.

"Nothing?" Sun Mask asked.

"Nothing… sir." Kyo barely managed to spit out.

"Hmph. Good." The connection cut off once again. Allowing Kyo to focus on the screen in front of him.

The minions stored up inside the large Guardian Beast were already in the process of being released around the world en masse. Their energy outputs were fluctuating, however, and there seemed to be more than one target on their lists.

Oh well. He didn't have time to deal with these bugs in the system right now. He had to finish waking the Guardian Beast itself first. And then he could work on fixing the calculations and outputs so everything would be working adequately at least, considering the crunch that it was all done under.

Though was it right to call these issues bugs? That was the term used for games in his old world.

…

Heh, since when had he ever been stupid enough to think of this as a game anyways?

Enough. It was time for him to finish the process and wake the beast itself once and for all.

Author's Notes:

Man, this chapter really did flow well. I was worried about writing the falling action and rising action following Tact's absolute clap, but I think this chapter worked out really well in that regard.

To finish responding to reviews since it would have taken too much room at the top, I like that people agreed on modern weaponry being forced in as sucking. After the bad Gun Hero fics and other trash I've seen revolving around pulling a Gate with Shield Hero, I'd almost lost hope. Glad that isn't entirely the case.

In terms of magitech and the like working in Raphtalia's world, I guess it'd depend. From what I've seen, the Shield world wouldn't be very capable of many kinds of magitech due to the limits of its Standard Magic System. Bio-Fuel would be an option, though there'd still be the weaknesses with magic that'd be hard to address without finding the right ores like Light Metal Ore or enchants to make objects more magic resistant. Overall, I wouldn't see much use for these things in Raphtalia's world anyway, especially since the only country I can feasibly see having the logistics already set up to support the development of these items from the get-go is Faubley. You wouldn't just have to develop it but get really good at making higher-quality versions of it so that it'd have the stats to match other weapons, vehicles, and equipment in the world. And that could take years if not decades depending on where you start.

Glass's world, on the other hand, is more than capable enough of supporting all different kinds of magitech. It's far more diverse and has room for all sorts of different devices thanks to Gem Magic, Ofuda Magic, Performance Magic, etc. Most of the countries in that world also have the infrastructure and logistics to support these set-ups too. Heck, that idea of a tank absorbing magic attacks and launching them back? Jewel Magic for the win.

And besides that, it's not like you're only restricted to Raphtalia or Glass's worlds for doing this stuff. You can do what the MWP authors are all doing and design new worlds with their own heroes, countries, magic systems, monsters, etc. that would allow you to have a lot of fun with these ideas. No reason to tie yourself to the plot when you can just create your own and have a lot of fun with it, as these authors can attest to. It'll be way easier and way more fun than trying to fit stuff into Raphtalia's world.

Though when Raphtalia's world merges with Glass's, that'll mean the magic systems of Glass's world will be added to Raphtalia's. And that'll mean lots more fun with magitech in Raphtalia's world as well! And maybe I might have a chance to find a way to combine crystal balls from Raphtalia's world with Communication Ofudas from Glass's world to finally make a working cellphone in the combined world!

Anyway, before I go, I may as well shout my three favorite MWP (Many Worlds Project) fics for you all to check out: "Blooming of the Flower Hero" by Javetts, "Cooking Up Some Trouble" by Robotech, and an actual proper Gun Hero fic that doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out called "Locked And Loaded In Another World" by KampfPanzer.

I'll see you all again in two weeks hopefully!

Hero Clips!

The Circle of Protecc

"What the heck is this?!" Fohl yelled incredulously.

"Protecc." Atla was hugging Naofumi and Raphtalia close. Her arms were wrapped around the pair protectively.

"Ehehe, you really like hugging us, don't you Atla?" Naofumi asked happily.

Atla wasn't the only one there though.

"Protecc." Sadeena and Larsa were there as well. Their arms were wrapped around Atla and the two kids.

"Protecc." "-" Keel and S'yne were also there. S'yne was hugging Kidfumi's side while Keel was hugging Kidtalia's side.

"Protecc." Uncle Bald Guy and Auntie Shadow were also there, hugging the two kids as well.

"Protecc." This was followed by Ren, Itsuki, and Moto, as well as their mate/girlfriend/wife as well as their friends.

"Protecc." Even Momellia and Dadcray were in the giant circle. While there were too many people for them to be able to hug their kids directly, they were still part of the group hug protecting them.

"Protecc." Yes, even Gaelion was there, his large body wrapped around the large group as an extra layer of protection for the two pure and innocent kids. It was the most ridiculous thing ever, yet strangely enough, also entirely believable at the same time. Considering how these precious kids had impacted everyone's lives for the better.

"Y-You're all crazy! How could you all want to protect that kid when-" Fohl began to yell in astonishment.

"Whoa! Your outfit looks so cool Big Bro Fohl!" Naofumi squeezed out of the large group to look up at Fohl excitedly.

"... eh?" The cat boy tilted his head in shock.

"It looks so awesome, especially with that fierce look on your face! You look like you could tear through a thousand, no, a MILLION innocent(?) monsters with ease!" Naofumi said, visible excitement coming off his form.

"Yeah, you definitely look like a cool older bro to me!" Raphtalia agreed beside the Shield Hero. "Tell us the awesome stories about you please!"

"..."

"..."

Moments later, Fohl was in the circle next to Atla, hugging the two kids to him as well.

"Protecc." Fohl said.

"Must protecc." Atla agreed.

And thus, Fohl joined the circle of Protecc with Kidtalia and Kidfumi of his own accord. And the two kids eventually helped him to lose his sister complex so that his only flaw would be his utter infatuation with tomboys like Keel.

"Wait! T-That didn't actually happen!" Fohl yelled at the sky. "AND FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT ATTRACTED TO TOMBOYS!"

"Too bad. You know the drill at this point."

Never doubt the power of an author dedicated to making a story as crack as possible.

One way or another, the Author was determined to get his dose of Feel from his stories.

Hero Clips!

S'yne's Sewing Skills

"So you're capable of sewing a lot of things, right cool lady!?"

"- I am." S'yne's voice staticed in and out for the Shield Kid.

"Yes, I am!" The doll at her side announced proudly.

The white-haired woman proceeded to change her giant pair of scissors into a small set of needles. She then disappeared into a cloud of dust and thread as she began stitching and sewing something together.

Within seconds, the cloud dispersed, and she was shown holding up a stuffed doll version of Naofumi. With the adorable pout and cute blushing shield attached to its arm and all.

"WHOA! SO COOL!" Naofumi awed over the surprisingly good representation of himself as stars appeared all around his body.

S'yne smiled happily. "I could - - if you -"

"I could also make a life-sized version of your best friend if you wanted me to!" The Naofumi doll yelled for S'yne.

"You could do that for me?!" Naofumi shouted excitedly. Before S'yne could speak further though, the aura and stars around Naofumi intensified. "How big of a doll of her could you make?"

"... I -"

"I don't know. What is it that you have in mind?" The Naofumi doll asked.

Naofumi began to grin widely. "It's going to be big. Bigger than even Uncle Bald Guy!"

After giving her the details, S'yne quickly nodded and got to work.

It took her more than a few minutes, as it was many times larger than the Naofumi doll she'd created. And Naofumi had to pause repeatedly to point out adjustments she needed to make and the like.

But after she was done…

"Naofumi, why are you in bed already? Weren't we going to wait for Amber… so she could give us…"

The half-tanuki girl slowly trailed off, staring in shock at the part of their room where their bed had used to be.

"Hey, Raphtalia! Guess what S'yne made for me! Ehehehehe!" Naofumi laughed happily while rolling around on his new 'bed'. The old bed was pushed off to the side.

Raphtalia began to tremble. Unwanted memories were pushing into the forefront of her mind as well as a look of anger on her face. "Naofumi… where the heck did you get that?!"

"Oh, Big Sis S'yne made it for me! She's super great!" Naofumi jumped back onto his new bed happily.

The bed, for it could function as one, was basically a life-sized plushie of the creature Raphtalia had turned into back in Siltvelt. And Naofumi was absolutely in love with how soft and bouncy it was.

Raphtalia's face slowly took on another shade of red. "Really? She made this for you, behind my back!?"

"Yep! Isn't she the best?!" Naofumi giggled to himself. He was already cuddled into the plushie's neck fur. It was amazing how S'yne had even managed to make it feel as soft as the original!

His new family member was truly amazing, I say!

…

Raphtalia continued to fume in her spot. Words came to her mind that she discarded before they reached her lips as none of them seemed capable of expressing her absolute rage and discontent over this.

By the time she finally had something to say, she found that Naofumi was already fast asleep. Still cuddled with the bed-sized Raph plushie S'yne had made for him.

It felt great alongside his Pillow Shield on his arm, which was softer than ever before thanks to the sharing of power-up methods earlier. The Shield Hero was truly in paradise.

…

…

Boom!

The large plushie was thrown out into the hallway. Standing upright against the wall outside their room.

"Hmph, I'm the only one Naofumi's allowed to sleep on! Now stay out, imposter!" Raphtalia slammed the door shut, before going back inside to cuddle up against her sleeping 'best friend' in 'their' bed and not the fake one S'yne had worked so hard to make for the young Shield Hero.

The hallway was left in darkness.

…

…

"Huah…" Uncle Bald Guy let out a loud yawn as he walked down the dark hallway later that night. Holding a small candle lamp in one hand to light his way.

"Can't believe I have to go at this time of night. I was having such a nice dream too. Where the heck's that bathroom at?" He muttered tiredly to himself.

It really had been a good dream. He and Raphtalia were tickling the Shield Brat on repeat, and he was having so much fun, and-"

Elhart walked into something soft. The sudden impact made him confused, but then he stepped back and held his lamp up.

The lamp's light fell on the face of the tall and large Raph Plushie.

"AIEEEE!" Elhart immediately jumped back, holding his hands up in terror.

…

After a moment though, the jumpscare didn't move. And Elhart eventually recovered from the surprise nighttime fright and held his lamp up to examine the plushie. "What the hell?"

…

"On second thought, I don't want to know." The blacksmith shivered as he went back down the hallway.

On the bright side, he didn't have to go to the bathroom anymore!

Though that also meant he'd have to bathe and change his clothes before he went back to bed.

And that was the story of how S'yne made a new bed for Naofumi… and how it mysteriously disappeared on his first night of using it.

"Whoa, this looks like the perfect bed for Bruno! I'll need to bring it back to him immediately so he doesn't have to sleep on the hardwood floor back home!"

It was uncertain where it went. But knowing Raphtalia, it probably went somewhere Naofumi would never care to check.

But as for S'yne herself…

"Ehehehe." The cool white-haired girl went to bed that night, hugging small stuffed plushie versions of little Naofumi and Raphtalia to herself with the most wholesome smile ever on her face.

She'd be staying in Lurolona Village for now. But thanks to her attaching a needle to Naofumi's armor, she'd be able to teleport to him and Raphtalia whenever her assistance would be required. Or help them to escape with her whenever he and Raphtalia wanted to get out of Momellia's clutches and play around with her again.

She already couldn't wait to see her new younger siblings again. Her tragic life up till that point had finally taken a turn for the better. And she was going to spoil her new brother and sister with as much love and affection as she could.

And that was how Naofumi got to meet the best Big Sis ever.

Till Next Time

Allen