After Ren had helped Raphtalia drag Naofumi to one of the bedrooms in the castle, he promptly collapsed into one of the chairs outside of the room.
Now that he looked around, it looked rather similar to the room that the four of them had stayed in during their first night here. To think that was just over a month ago…
He shook his head at that, his thoughts going back to his own world. Aultcray had promised to help him. He had fulfilled his side, and done more than he had expected, even going so far as to include other nations in his search, but… did Ren really want to go back?
The only person he really had waiting for him there was Shiawase, but even then, she felt so distant to him right now. Sure, in his final moments before he was bought here, he had thought about how much she meant to him, but looking at it now?
He couldn't say he loved her. Perhaps once he could have said he did with sincerity, but not anymore. At some point, it had shifted from romantic to familial love. Maybe it had been as they had grown up together, seeing the worst and best of each other.
He still felt bad about leaving Shiawase there on her own. Don't get him wrong about that. It's just… he truly didn't need to return, did he? Aultcray had spoken about past heroes before, about how they had simply settled down and lived the remainder of their days in this world. And personally, it didn't sound too bad to Ren.
He let out another sigh, massaging his temple, even as Raphtalia exited Naofumi's room.
"Sir Ren? I thought you would have been gone by now." She spoke curtly.
"Sorry. I intended to be, it's just… thoughts about what I want in the future." Ren spoke truthfully. He was too tired to actually lie.
"Could your party not help you out?" She asked curiously.
"I… I don't want to burden them with this." At that, he looked down at the floor.
Truthfully, he just didn't want to get any closer to them. Doing so made it feel like he was cementing his decision to not return to his world and the thought of that… It scared him. He truly wanted to get closer to his group, to become close friends with everyone who had chosen to believe in him from day one of his time in this world.
"Mr Ren… I think your party would be happy to help you out. When I spoke to them during the duel, it showed they really cared about you. They were concerned about where you had gone. And if you genuinely disappeared? I think they would search for you, regardless of what they were told happened to you."
Ren looked up to Raphtalia, who was smiling as she spoke. "I'm not lying, Mr Ren. They truly do care about you."
Ren slumped in the chair, sighing as he did. "I… I'll look for them tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight."
Raphtalia looked at him for a moment, as if thinking about saying something else before nodding.
"If you're sure…" With that reply, Raphtalia quickly turned back, heading straight into Naofumi's room.
Ren looked at the ceiling for a moment, thinking it over. If what Raphtalia had said to him was true… then just maybe he could get closer to his party.
He shut his eyes and slept the night away.
When Ren woke up, he let out a small groan. His back was stiff from falling asleep on the chair. It certainly didn't do him any favors.
He slowly stretched his arms, letting out a small yawn as he did so. He slowly stood up, rolling his shoulders. He wasn't sure if Naofumi was awake, but it didn't matter at the moment. He had other things to think about.
Namely, what Motoyasu had spoken about last night. He swiftly navigated his menu, opening up his most recent weapon form, the Chimera Dragon sword. He saw all of his strengthening methods, and yet, something unfamiliar to him was there.
Dragon Chimera Sword C (+0)
Abilities Unlocked Equip bonus: Attack +15, Dragon Buster,,Flame resistance (Minor)
Mastery Level: 0
The +0 was new to Ren. He quickly backed up, going to the help menu, and reading through it. He quickly got to the bit on strengthening methods, reading through them. He skipped through the four he knew about, landing on the method Motoyasu had said about, at the end of the night.
Smelting. Through the use of an ore, the hero can upgrade their weapon form. The ore required changes depending on the weapon being strengthened. As this method is used more and more, the chance of failure increases.
If it was here the entire time, why hadn't it shown up before? Ren thought it over. What had changed since he had last checked up on his strengthening methods? He hadn't heard a single thing about them from anyone else, and yet…
Ren slowly started moving, opening the door to leave the room as quietly as he could. He let the door shut slowly behind him, even as he wandered the castle in a trance. The few servants who were up greeted him politely, and he returned their greetings with a nod of his head.
The only thing that had changed, Ren concluded, had been Motoyasu speaking about this Smelting method. He had explained how it worked to the Sword hero, and he had believed him.
Of course, he had, what reason did Motoyasu have to lie to him? It wouldn't make sense for him to tell a lie like that.
His questions from last night flooded him, and he thought about it. If each hero did have their own strengthening methods, then what if the Spear hero hadn't been talking about Mastery, but had been talking about his own method, was Weapon Mastery its own thing? He chose to believe it, because again, why would Motoyasu lie to him about this method, but tell the truth about Smelting?
Yet, even as he thought it, nothing seemed to have changed. Nothing new appeared in Ren's help menu, and it frustrated him. What was the difference between Weapon mastery and Smelting? What had changed between the two?
Ren groaned out. It was too early for any of this. He wanted to go back to sleep, and yet he couldn't.
He continued to walk, still absorbed in his menu as he tried to figure out what had changed.
Farrie, Tersia, Bakta, and Welt moved around the castle. Whilst Tersia and Welt moved perfectly fine, both Farrie and Bakta were walking around dazed, the pair holding their heads.
"That's what you get for continuing to drink after the feast." Tersia spoke, staring back at the obviously hungover duo.
"But you said we could do what we wanted!" Farrie whined out, causing Bakta to groan as his headache was set off again.
"Yes, I did say that. But I never said I'd take responsibility for your actions, did I?"
Farrie, being as mature as she was, stuck her tongue out at Tersia.
Tersia only let out a sigh, shaking her head. "At least be like Bakta, and stay quiet please." Tersia spoke.
"The only reason he's staying quiet is because he'll be sick if he tries to speak," Welt added.
Tersia turned to face Bakta, noticing how pale his face was, and as he went to nod, he stopped himself. Tersia let out a louder sigh.
"Fine. Once we have found Sir Ren, I'll see if he has any sort of medicine from the Shield hero that may help with your hangovers."
"Thank you Tersia!" Farrie called out, still stumbling forwards behind the group.
It wasn't long before they encountered a servant, and Tersia called out to them.
"Hello? Can I ask you a question, if you wouldn't mind?"
The person in question turned around, a surprised look on her face, evidently not having expected anyone else to be around the area.
"Oh, yes of course. How may I be of assistance?" She spoke politely.
"We were wondering if you had seen the Sword Hero around here recently? We had been told that he didn't leave the castle last night."
"I'm afraid that I have not seen the Sword Hero. Though, one of the other servants may have seen him, if he is up and about." She quickly replied. "I apologize that I cannot be of more help."
"No, it's fine," Tersia responded with a smile. "What you've given us is more than enough help we should be able to find him eventually."
Seeing that no more questions were going to be asked, she got back to slowly cleaning the walls.
"Right, let's keep going then! We'll find him eventually, and the quicker we find him, the faster you two can stop acting like this."
It didn't take long before the group of four found another servant sweeping the floors. Only this time, the servant had actually seen the Sword Hero.
"The Sword Hero? Yes, I have seen him. He left that room a few minutes ago." She pointed at a door that was slightly open before continuing. "He seemed to be just wandering the castle. If you follow the hallway, you should be able to catch up to him. I am sure there has been someone else who has seen him, so do not hesitate to ask any of the other servants."
"Thank you for the information," Tersia replied with a smile.
The servant simply bowed. "I am simply doing my job. Now if you will excuse me…" She bowed once more, before moving past the group of four.
"Right! Let's get going, we don't want to lose sight of Ren!" Tersia declared. Welt nodded in agreement, whilst Farrie and Bakta continued to groan.
Both Tersia and Welt moved ahead of the still groaning duo, moving further down the hall.
"Heeeeyyyy!" Farrie called out. "Wait for us!"
Both Bakta and Farrie began to jog lightly, with Baktas face beginning to tinge green slightly. Despite that, he didn't stop, not wanting to be left on his own.
Farrie and Welt were the first to turn the corner and see the Sword hero still walking down the hallway.
"Sir Ren!" Welt called out.
The figure in front of the duo stopped moving, and Tersia and Welt continued to move forward.
Slowly, Ren turned around, just in time to see both Farrie and Bakta turn the corner.
The party of five was back together.
Ren took a breath as his party stood before him. They all wore smiles on their faces, evidently happy to find him once more, with the exception of both Farrie and Bakta, who were groaning as they covered their eyes, doing their best to shift so they weren't looking towards the window.
He looked towards Tersia, who mimed drinking, and Ren understood. They had been drinking last night then.
"Ren." Tersia began. "Would you happen to have any sort of medicine that could help them out?"
Ren looked at the two in question. They were obviously hung over from what he could see. Farrie was squinting her eyes, using one hand to hold her head whilst the other covered her eyes, stopping the sunlight from reaching them.
Bakta on the other hand, was pale. He looked like he would throw up any second.
"I don't have any medicine on me," Ren spoke slowly. "I only have the healing potions Naofumi gave me, and I'm not sure if they would work on something like that."
"They wouldn't unfortunately." Tersia chewed on her lip as if thinking of something. "Do you think Sir Naofumi would have anything to help?"
"He might," Ren admitted. "But he's currently asleep, after the entire thing last night. I'm not even sure if he's awake.
"That is an issue… I don't feel like waking him up, especially after what happened last night." Tersia tapped her foot on the floor, turning towards the two that were suffering.
"It seems like you'll have to wait for Sir Naofumi to wake up." She spoke simply, a smile on her face.
Both Farrie and Bakta let out a groan, with Farrie dramatically slumped against Bakta.
Tersia could only sigh at that, shaking her head slightly, whilst Welt struggled to hold in his laughter.
Whilst that was happening, a servant seemed to appear from the corner his party had come from, bowing nervously.
"Sir Sword hero…" he spoke nervously. "I have a request from the King for you if you would please listen to it?"
Ren looked to his party before motioning for the servant to speak.
"Sir Sword hero. The king has requested all of the heroes to meet in the throne room for your rewards for stopping the wave… so if you would please make your way there"
"Understood. Me and my party will head there now."
Ren stood outside the door to the throne room. It was still massive, towering over him, but Ren supposed it was a way to make a statement.
Ren looked to his side, seeing Naofumi and Raphtalia on his left, with Motoyasu and his party, along with Itsuki and his party on his right.
Raphtalia waved at him, and he simply nodded his head at her before speaking up.
"Naofumi, you don't happen to have any sort of regular medicine, do you?"
"It depends on who it's for." Naofumi responded.
Ren simply pointed at Farrie and Bakta, and Naofumi nodded his head.
"Got it. I'm not sure what'll work, but I have a couple of things they can try. One of them has got to work."
Naofumi took a few bottles out of his shield before chucking them to Ren, who barely managed to catch them. Before he distributed it to the pair who needed them most.
Farrie opened up one of the bottles, sniffing it slightly before gagging. "I… I don't suppose you have any that smell better?" She asked weakly.
Naofumi simply looked at her, unimpressed. "What happened to all that energy from yesterday, Gauntlets?"
She frowned at the name but lifted the bottle up. Taking one last gulp of air, she drank the medicine, gulping it down.
"Ughhh… it's disgusting!" Farrie spoke quickly, shaking her head. Yet, despite that, Ren could see some sort of color returning to her face.
The same was happening to Bakta. Though instead of gulping it all down, he was holding onto the medicine tightly as if his life depended on it. He took small sips every now and then, and much like Farrie, color was returning to his face.
Ren was so distracted by the pair, that he hadn't realized that a servant had been speaking behind him.
"-ow permitted to see his majesty."
Ren turned around, only to be shocked by the sudden movement of both Itsuki and Motoyasus' parties entering the throne room.
Making one final check to make sure everyone was with him, he walked forward, his party falling in line.
Conversations could be heard around the throne room. No definite words could be heard, but Ren could still feel eyes staring at him before flicking away, likely to focus on another hero.
Aultcray tapped his staff to the floor, the room silencing as he began to speak.
"Heroes! We thank you for defending Lute Village from the wave. There were no civilian casualties, and the injuries of the knights were kept to a minimum! For that, we are thankful to you."
He could see Motoyasu grin, and Itsuki puff up slightly, preening at the praise. When he looked over to Naofumi, he saw the Shield hero looking back at him. He broke eye contact first, looking back towards the King.
"The wave has been defeated, and it is now your time to be rewarded. I will start off with the Spear hero. Please step forward."
Motoyasu did as he was told, his spear strapped to his back.
"Sir Motoyasu, for your efforts in defeating the wave, and defending your fellow hero, I will be awarding you a total of 4000 silvers." Aultcray made a motion with his hand, and one of his advisors stepped forth.
In his hand was a total of four bags, and the biggest one, even if only by a little, was given to Motoyasu. He grinned at that, bowing to the King before stepping back.
"Next, Sir Ren. For fighting against the hordes of monsters, preventing a majority of them from reaching the village, you will be awarded 3800 silver." Ren stepped forth, taking the bag from his advisor with a nod of his head.
"Sir Itsuki, if you would?" Itsuki stepped forward, as the king spoke. "For providing support to both the Spear and Sword hero, as well as helping to take out the boss monster, you will be awarded a total of 3400 silver."
Ren couldn't see Itsukis face, but he saw how he stiffened for a moment before stepping forward, thanking the advisor quickly before rejoining his party.
"As for the… Shield hero…" Ren noted that whilst he still struggled to say Shield Hero, it wasn't as obvious as it had been on the first day.
"He will be awarded a total of 800 silver."
The people in the stands immediately broke out into conversations, most of it pointed toward Naofumi.
"Your Majesty!" Motoyasu spoke out. "Naofumi didn't even fight the wave boss! Surely he shouldn't get that much."
"Be that as it may, the Shield hero still played a vital role in the protection of the Lute Villagers. He prevented any of them from being harmed by the monsters that passed by you, and as such, he still deserves some of the rewards."
Motoyasu stepped back, an obvious frown on his face, but he didn't say anything else. Itsuki stayed back as well, but he seemed to be glaring at Ren, for reasons unknown to him.
Naofumi stepped forward, Raphtalia still at his side. He took the bag of silvers, grinning as he did. He didn't wait for anyone to say anything, simply going back to his original position.
"There is but one more announcement to give out," Aultcray spoke slowly. And Ren already had a good idea of what it was.
"As you all know previously, the Shield hero was accused of the crime of raping the adventurer, Myne Sophia. However, in the month that we have been looking over all of the information we have gathered, no new evidence has appeared."
More surprised mutters were heard from above, but Aultcray ignored them, continuing to speak.
"In fact, it could even be considered that some of the information has been retracted. Adventurer Myne came to me and said that she was not absolutely certain if it was the shield who truly did assault her that night."
The chattering exploded, with several nobles shouting down, even as Aultcray remained still for a moment.
"Silence!" The King shouted. The talking stopped, as it had before, and the king spoke once more. "Since the Shield hero cannot be confirmed to have been the one to do it, he will be treated as any of the other heroes would be. Though do not think that you are fully pardoned, Shield. You will still be kept track of, and you are not to leave this country until we have gotten to the bottom of this case. However, apart from that, you are, as of now, no longer considered a criminal."
Naofumi simply stared at the man on the throne, as if he couldn't recognize him.
"Now, Heroes. I bid you farewell, and I wish you luck on your travels. May you grow stronger for the next wave, and continue as you have been."
The heroes, even Naofumi, albeit hesitantly, bowed towards the king, slowly beginning to make their way out of the throne room.
—
Before Ren could even get a chance to speak to Motoyasu or call out his name, the Spear hero spoke out loud.
"Come, my fair maidens! Let us adventure once more!"
The group around him seemed to once again be at its original size. The companion who had been with him for the celebration the entire night seemed pained as she stood at the edge of the group.
Even as he was observing the group, Itsuki walked up to him, his party behind him.
"Ren," Itsuki spoke, looking up at the Sword hero.
"Itsuki. I just wanted to say, than-" Before Ren could thank the Bow hero for covering his and Motoyasu's back, he was interrupted.
"Why did you get more than me?"
"Huh? Well, I… I don't know? I guess it's because I was in the middle of the fighting for the majority of it?" Ren replied, confused about what Itsuki was getting at.
The bow hero looked down slightly, speaking quietly to himself, and Ren could barely make it out.
"...Saved…gave support…more…" Itsuki would have continued, if not for an armored hand touching his shoulder. The bow hero turned, and Ren looked at the person, recognizing the face of his party member who had left on the first day.
"Mald…" Ren spoke politely.
The armored man ignored the Sword hero, instead choosing to speak to the Bow hero.
"Worry not, Sir Itsuki. Justice will be on our side. Let us go forth, and show the king that we are more worthy of his praise than the Sword and Spear." He almost spat out the word Sword, as if it had offended him, and he focused on Ren.
Ren could see something he didn't like in his eyes, and as he went to speak up, Itsuki spoke.
"Yeah… let's go show the world our justice. Come on guys! Let's go." Itsuki declared, suddenly turning around.
His party followed behind him, with Mald casting one last glare at Ren and his party, before turning to follow the Bow hero.
Ren blinked, shocked for a moment before sighing.
"Was that really Mald?" Tersia asked curiously.
"Hmm? Who's Mald?" Farrie asked curiously. Bakta seemed just as confused as to who she was talking about, whilst Welt seemed to nod.
"I believe it was. Ren did say his name. And he did have that similar mustache… But it seems he has chosen to adventure with the Bow hero." Welt spoke.
"Itsuki did mention that Mald has joined him before I met up with you guys before the wave," Ren spoke. "But it seems like he's Itsukis second in command, from the looks of it."
"That does look to be true true…" Welt spoke, trailing off.
"Ren. Who's your second in command here? Is it me?" Farrie asked with a smile.
"Pfft, if it's going to be anyone, it's going to be me, right Ren?" Bakta asked, puffing out his chest.
"Hey! That's not true! I'm Ren's best friend!" Farrie declared, pouting at Bakta.
"Baah, just because you claim to be his best friend doesn't make it true!"
The pair kept arguing, with it eventually devolving into them slinging childish insults at each other, and Ren spoke up to stop it.
"If anyone's my second in command, it's going to be Tersia. She knows how to keep you all in line."
Tersia seemed to beam at that, even as the pair continued to throw insults at each other, but looking closer, Ren could tell it was friendly insults, at the very least.
He was glad that was the case, he could do without his party splitting due to some insults causing a rift between everyone.
Looking around, he noticed that at some point in his conversation with Itsuki, the Bow hero had left the hallway, leaving only Ren, his party, Naofumi, and Raphtalia.
"Ren," Naofumi spoke first, breaking the silence between the two heroes. "I wanted to say thank you. For helping Raphtalia out."
Ren nodded his head. "It's no problem. I couldn't let my…" Ren thought about it for a moment, wondering if it would be appropriate to call Naofumi his friend, as of this moment."...friend, just lay there, could I?"
Naofumi seemed to nod, saying nothing else for a moment.
"Since I've got some cash, I have a few errands to run, mainly sorting out something I promised a while ago. Would you like to come with me?"
Ren thought about it for a moment. He had nothing better to do at the moment, and he looked at his party.
"Do you all have stuff you need to do?" Ren asked them.
"Well, I was going to check in at the guild again. To check if there are any requests we want to handle." Tersia spoke.
Ren nodded at that. "I wanted to check there at some point as well, would you mind checking for one that has a dragon? There should be one floating about at this moment."
If he was remembering correctly from his game at least. It usually appeared on a timer after a month or so, and it was usually whoever grabbed it first was the only one who could do it for that month.
It had led to a lot of issues, especially in a live service VRMMO. The things he heard about it on the forums were... shocking, to say the least.
Tersia looked at him in confusion but didn't question him, simply nodding her head. "I'll have a look for one that contains a dragon, though if it doesn't exist, I'll look for one that seems like something we can do."
Ren nodded, accepting that easily before he turned to Welt and Bakta.
"I'm probably going to go to Erharts. I want to make sure my weapons are in the best shape, especially after the wave." Bakta spoke, holding out his axe.
Welt nodded in agreement. "I'll go with him. I want to make sure my daggers haven't been damaged or anything." He spoke, and Ren nodded.
"I'll go with you, Ren! I've got nothing to do!" Farrie spoke cheerfully. The medicine that Naofumi had given the pair had really done wonders.
"After I'm done with whatever Naofumi needs, I'll be heading to Erharts as well, so we might as well meet up there."
"That sounds good to me!" "Alright!" "I'll see you there then." Were the various responses from his party members that were splitting.
Once Ren saw them off, He turned to Raphtalia and Naofumi.
"So, what errands have you got to do?" He asked curiously.
"Well… the first thing on my list is to keep a promise I made, and to do that, I'll have to go somewhere I don't particularly like."
Raphtalia looked at him for a moment before speaking. "Naofumi… you don't mean…" she trailed off as she got a nod of confirmation from him.
Just where was Naofumi going to elicit this type of attitude from himself and Raphtalia?
Naofumi guided him and Farrie towards a shadier part of castle town.
The clean architecture of the main portion of the town faded away, slowly becoming dirtier and dirtier as they ventured further in.
Ren hadn't even been aware this sort of place existed in castle town, yet here he was.
"Are we almost there Naofumi?" Farrie asked questioningly, and Ren found himself thankful for her question. If she hadn't asked, he would have asked instead.
"Almost…" he spoke quietly. "I think." Naofumi added on. It's… been a while since I've been here, and last time, he kind of found me."
The person they were looking for had found Naofumi originally? Just what sort of person was he talking about?
Even as Ren thought that a voice spoke up.
"Oh? I had the feeling someone was speaking about me, yes indeed I did." A voice spoke up from the shadows.
Ren held his sword in front of him, whilst Farrie raised her fists. Naofumi simply held a hand out, motioning for them to put down their weapons, in Farrie's case, her fists.
"Oh my, to think a hero would raise their weapon against an innocent businessman like me! It sends shivers down my spine, yes it does!" The voice spoke, letting out a chuckle.
"But enough of that! May I ask what my business partner has come to me for? Is it perhaps to fulfill a promise you made?"
"I'm sure you already know why. You've probably been listening in since we came here, haven't you, Belouklas?"
"Indeed I have! Indeed I have, Sir Shield hero." The voice spoke. The owner of it stepped forward, and Ren finally got a good look at the voice's owner.
It belonged to a short man. He seemed to be wearing something that wouldn't look out of place in a traveling circus, with an ever-present grin that sent shivers down the Sword hero's back.
"Let us get to business, shall we, Shield hero?" Belouklas spoke, with no sign of his grin disappearing.
So, the slave trader is back! And with his return, comes Ren's first interaction with the man. Wonder how that'll go…
Anyways, my reasoning for Naofumi getting 800 this time, instead of the original zero in canon is as such.
It was the church that decided to instigate the duel this time, not Aultcray, who was talking to Ren throughout it. This also means that the money for the holy water is not subtracted, due to it being the church's own doing.
That, paired with the fact that Malty has retracted the part about it being specifically the Shield hero makes him just that bit more likable in the king's eyes.
Though, that does leave what Maltys plans are up in the air. I'm sure it'll all be fine for everyone involved!
Oh, also the fact that he got eye witness reports from two of Rens party members proving the Shield hero was doing his job at Lute.
Which means Naofumi gets his money from the king, although reluctantly.
Anyways… It's been like 2 months since I updated, kinda sorry about that, I was stuck on like, two scenes for absolutely ages and it was annoying me, so I took a break and ended up working more on my other fic.
I'm aware the chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones, but it should start picking up from here. (I hope)
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a good day/night wherever you are.
I'll see you next time! (Hopefully not in another two months)
