On a large open field, Marius sat under a lone tree. On his hand he held a white feather as he stroked it with other hand. Being all by himself, he started humming the lullaby his mother used to sang to him. He then remembered how he too sang it to Filo to help her sleep.
But his humming stopped when he saw Leandros running towards him on the corner of his eyes. He quickly hid the feather into his satchel.
"Marius. We have a problem."
Marius arrived at the camp and saw Rino tending to a fainted young man.
"What happened to him?" said Marius.
"I don't know. He came to our camp and just fainted." said Rino.
"Is he injured?"
"No. But he's not doing too well."
Marius took a closer look and saw how skinny the man looked.
"Help me bring him inside my tent."
"Gotcha'." said Leandros.
The two men started carrying the young man and put him inside Marius's tent.
The young man had woken up and started eating the food Marius offered him.
"I haven't eat this much in days!" said the young man.
"Now tell us what happened." said Marius.
"Drought hit my village weeks ago. All our crops have dried up and our livestock dying. Even worse, our soils can no longer grow anything."
"And the rations?"
"We only have two days worth of it. If we cut it down even more I'm afraid something terrible might happen."
Marius then got up on his feet, "Take us to your village."
"Y-You'll help?!"
Marius nodded.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh, I though I'll have to travel further for help!"
Marius then got up and looked at his party, " Pack up. Time to move."
After a long journey, they reached the village that was struck by famine. As they trotted pass the buildings, they noticed how starved the villagers were as they looked at them with hope.
"I thought the royals would have noticed this crisis by now." said Elena.
"Not when the king is incharge." said Leandros.
"Our village chief should be there." said the young man, pointing at a building at the center.
Marius then drove his horse faster towards the village chief's office and the others followed.
Once they've reached the office, the young man jumped out of Marius's horse and ran into the building. While they waited, they were approached by a woman.
"Do you have food with you?" said the woman, "Please. My children have not been eaten in days."
Marius saw the woman's hands tremoring from severe hunger. Then, more villagers came for their mercy.
"Our food." Marius said to his party, "Give it to them."
All three of them nodded. They got up their horse, took the sack of their food supply and started giving them away to the hungry villagers.
"The Spear Hero? You really came to help us?" said a voice of an old man.
Marius turned his head, "Are you the village chief?"
"Yes. I am. It's an honor to meet you, Spear Hero."
Marius dismounted and approached the village chied, "Your farm. Show it to me."
The village chief led Marius into the village farm. There, he saw a dried barren land with hardly anything growing on it.
"We have tried everything we can but still nothing grow." said the village chief.
"And your livestock?" said Marius.
"Just last night, our last cow died of starvation."
Marius got on his knee and grabbed a handful of the dried soil, "Do you have seed reserves?"
"We do. But it won't grow on this land anymore."
After inspecting the soil, he dropped the soil down and got up while wiping his hands. He took out his spear and plunged it on the dried dirt.
"The soil is dead and it must be fertilized. We will return with what we need." Marius turned around and walked away.
"But sir. Your spear."
"I will not need it."
"Collect enough that will last the village months." said Marius to his two female companions, "But only food that will last in storage."
"Got it!" said Rino.
"And where are you two going?" said Elena.
"We will buy them new livestock... And dung." said Marius.
Leandros quickly turned his head, "Excuse me?"
"I thought we were feeding the villagers?" said Elena.
"We are. But we must also fertilize their land." said Marius, "No more questions. Go."
And with that, Elena and Rino rode their horse and went off. Marius and Leandros then got on their horse and went the other way.
"You seem uncomfortable." said Marius.
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm about to smell something far worse then the princess's perfume." said Leandros.
Marius let out a small chuckle.
"Was that a chuckle I hear?"
"Enough. Focus on the task."
On the road, the two made their way through a valley.
"I don't think we're going the right way." said Leandros.
"There is something I need to do." said Marius.
Soon they reached an ancient ruins built on the valley. They trotted through the ruins until Marius found the tunnel he was looking for.
"I don't smell any dung." said Leandros.
"No." said Marius.
"Then why are we here?"
"I have heard about this place. And I want see what it has."
"I thought you say focus on the task."
"It will not take long."
Marius started lighting his torch and began entering the tunnel.
"Don't you need help?"
"No. Stay here and guard the horses. I need to do this alone."
"Okay. But if I'm hearing trouble I'm going in."
"No. No matter what you heard inside, do not go in."
And Marius ventured deep into the tunnel, leaving Leandros with the horses. Inside, he saw a large chest placed on top of an altar. Marius walked towards the chest, yet felt as if something was watching him.
When he got closed to the chest, Marius was about to open the chest when the whole tunnel suddenly shook. He heard the sound of rubble coming down on him and he quickly jumped away to avoid getting crushed to death.
The shaking stopped and Marius saw the pile of rubble as the dust settled. Suddenly, the rubble started to move to each other and started to formed into a rock monster.
Piece by piece, the monster grew in size till it dwarved the spear hero. Once it was fully formed, the rock monster brought its fist together above its head to crush Marius.
Marius quickly dodged the attack and unleashed the Flames of Ares as his only chance against his opponent. The rock monster brought its arm up to swap the fiery warrior away but Marius quickly duck as he charged towards the monster and landed a devastating punch on the monster's waist, taking away large chunk of it.
The furious rock monster kicked Marius away, sending him crashing to the hard bricked wall. The rock monster roared at Marius before charging at him with each thunderous footsteps from the monster shook the temple walls.
Marius quickly got up and charge at the monster. Both raised their fist and when the got closed enough, they both delivered a powerful blow with their fist colliding. But the rock monster's strenght was no match as its fist broke into pieces.
Marius punched the monster's legs as each blow destroyed every pieces that formed the monster's legs until it fell on its knees. The rock monster tried to grabbed Marius with its other hand but Marius quickly caught it with both his hands.
Marius pulled the monster's arm with his foot on the its torso, pushing the monster away until the arm was seperated from it stump. With the monster now at his mercy, Marius started beating the rock monster with its own arm until it too broke into pieces.
And with his strength still imbued with the flames, Marius continued to pummelled the monster with his fist until all was left was rubble.
The temple once again became silent. And the flames dissipated, surrounding Marius in darkness save for the light from the torch that he dropped.
"Like I let you join my party again."
"After what you did to master Naofumi, you think I will ever see you as family?"
Marius ignored the voices and went straight for his torch.
"Filo don't know who spear guy is. So why should Filo fell in love with spear guy."
"You promised me that I will see mother. But you let me die, father."
Marius tried to suppressed his anger as he went for his torch while the voices taunted him. When he was about to reach for his torch, something flew across it and extinguishes the flames.
The voices became louder and more cruel towards him as he quickly tried to ignited his torch. Once his torch was lit, he turned around and flayed the torch wildly.
"Quite!" Marius roared.
The voices disappeared and everything was silent again save for Marius's heavy breathing. He took a long deep breath before going back towards the chest. When he grabbed the lid of the chest, he realized his gauntlet was severely damaged, exposing his bloodied fist.
He placed his torch on the pedestal then took out some bandages. Marius began bandaging his wounded hands. Then, he took out a large old fabric from his satchel. He returned to the chest and opened the lid.
Inside, he saw a large dormant seed. He took the seed then wrapped it with the old fabric before closing the lid. Now with the cursed seed in his hands, make his way to the exit through the darkness.
But those voices still lingered in his mind.
On the road leading to the village, Marius and Leandros led a large herd of farm animals while pulling a cart carrying dung.
Marius looked to his side and saw Leandros with his nose covered.
"You know..." said Leandros, "It's not as bad as the princess's perfume."
Marius grunted.
Marius wiped the sweat off his forehead as he admired the village farm he helped fertilized with the villagers planting the reserved seeds to the newly fertile ground. And not far from there, he saw the livestock being tended by the farmers.
"Sir Spear Hero." said the village chief approaching Marius, "We appreciate the great help but with all due respect, we don't think the food you brought will last till the seed sprouts."
"I know. " Marius reached for his satchel and took out the wrapped seed, "That is why I have this."
"What is it?"
"It is a cursed seed. Keep it hidden and never let it touch soil. But when the Shield Hero came, give the seed to him. He may know what to do with it."
"The Shield Hero?"
"I can only help with what I can. But he will help this village more."
The Spear Hero party packed up and readied their mount while the villagers watched their saviors as they are about to leave.
"Have you sent the message?" said Marius.
"Should be on its way." said Rino.
"We couldn't just wait here till they arrive?" said Leandros.
"There is much to do in our journey. We must not delay ." said Marius.
"Hey!" said Elena, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Marius grunted and summoned the spear back to his hand before sheathing it on his back.
The villagers started waving their hands, saying their goodbyes and gratitude as the heroes began their journey.
"This is bothersome!" said Naofumi, "Why even try to help the villagers when you're gonna ask me to finish the job for you!"
Then, he noticed Filo was humming some sort of lullaby while she pulled the carriage.
"I've never heard that one before." said Raphtalia, "Is she making her own song?"
"Filo don't know why Filo know this song. Filo just started humming." said Filo.
"You probably heard it somewhere. Just focus on the road so we can get to the village faster." said Naofumi.
"Then Filo will go faster!"
