Superman hadn't left Melromarc yet, as there was no large threat happening at the moment outside the country nor was he done cleaning the place, Clark was collecting remains from the wave minions like and was fixing the clearing that the three heroes created in their confrontation with the Quimera wave boss, by the time he was done a group of knights came. He was actually offered a carriage ride by these returning knights, they told him that there was to be a big banquet to honor the successful repelling of the waves. Telling Clark that the reward money for dealing with the wave was to be handed out the next morning. Clark agreed to go with them, he could use that money to reconstruct the village destroyed during the wave, but that wasn't the main he was going to attend the event as he didn't need money, however Clark had something he needed to talk with the King.
He caved and took the free ride. Doing so meant not returning to the recently destroyed Lute or the newly reinforced Lurolona until after the rewards were handed out the following morning, but he had to pay Erhard for the rest of the armor and weapons he gave for the village of Lurolona, the man accepted to help out despite the great risk which made him be one of the more friendly and open minded individuals on Melromarc, that superman has met at least. He could have just flown to the castle but he felt like the rest was good after the Wave.
This extended time to think and reflect was what Superman needed, he sat quietly staring out the window. Using his super hearing to see if there was any crisis around the world but everything seemed fine. The few knights in the carriage with him also appreciate the silence, but they had less than nice things about the shield hero in their minds. Clark wondered what happened in the wave, that goop that copied his powers was something he wasn't expecting to happen and the way it appeared was also odd, it appeared after the wave was over and seemingly in front of him on purpose but how? were the waves sentient? did they adapt to face him in specific? He lingered on thoughts like that the rest of the trip.
Once they reached the castle, Superman stepped out of the carriage and the same knights from the day of the trial were still there with looks of anger in their eyes. Clark prepared for the worst considering his reputation, but what greeted him was not all together terrible. He was welcomed by huge displays of food, many nobles in high-end garb, and generally a positive atmosphere.
He let out a smile and walked over to greet them with most dismissing him and having looks of disgust, Clark expected this but he was relieved when one of the nobles came to talk with him
Slowly the hall was filled with the heroes and some of the higher ranking Knights who assisted in the wave. More nobles showed up and with them, musicians. As the hall began to get a little cheery, the musicians started playing. It started feeling like a party as Clark recognized it. Superman was not focusing on the party though. He was focusing on his fellow heroes.
Itsuki was making nice with nobles, a number of them wishing to introduce their daughters to him. He however, seemed more interested in learning about high society things. Things like the exact nature of their duties and responsibilities as local lords in Melromarc, as well as how taxes are collected and used here. The ones just interested in throwing their daughters at him bowed out, but a number of nobles came forth to tell him of their duties. Using this to talk themselves up and show off in front of the hero. Itsuki's companions stayed quiet and seemed to know their place in this situation.
Ren was just nursing a hot cup of tea smirking while his team seemed to be having a good time. He did not join them, but he also did not impede them either. A few nobles approached him, but were either turned away by his party or by Ren himself if they were pushy. the sword hero seemed to be deep in thought about something, Clark assumed it was probably about the Wave they had just dealt with
Motoyasu and his group of girls were loud and obnoxious. Even with Princess Malty by his side, Most nobles stayed clear of them. Only a few ventured over and even so, only to greet Malty before pardoning themselves.
'Even the people who owe their everything to her family seem to barely be able to speak with her, she must not be very liked amongst them, perhaps she has done more than just sell people to slavery and abuse the matriarchal system' Superman thought as he looked at Malty, it seemed the more he knew of her the worst she seemed to get, he has fought many villains and criminals before but Malty really seemed one of kind in a way as she didn't seemed to have any sort of redeeming qualities or a reason for what she does, and her royal status made it so he couldn't arrest her without her getting away and him becoming even more of a enemy to this state.
The king appeared at the balcony overhead and raised his hand to quiet the crowd. After the musicians stopped and all attention was on him, he spoke. "We have good fortune today. By the grace of the cardinal heroes, the wave was stopped and the crisis averted. May you have your fill tonight as my gratitude!" He raised a toast, most toasted with him. Superman however didn't do it, he looked dead serious to the king and crossed his arms, the king noticed it for sure.
The king stepped back from the balcony and went out of sight. Clark figured he was just out of sight as with his X-ray vision he could see that the king was on a lower part of the balcony. The celebration began properly now and there was a positive mood throughout, but Clark wanted to see the king and discuss with him.
"Well if it isn't the rapist shielder, why are you even here you scum?" Motoyasu asked sarcastically smug as he approached superman just to be ignored as he walked past him
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Motoyasu growled at him for being ignored, as he was just about ready to start a petty fight with the man of steel
"Ignore that fiend motoyasu-sama, come have a drink" Malty said as she came and hugged Motoyasu's shoulder and pulled him away as there was no reason to mess with the shield hero...for now at least, she certainly wanted to make him suffer a lot more than he had already. Clark made his way to the door on the side of the balcony and went inside he walked a bit before facing the king
"Shield! what are you doing here?!" the king asked furious just at the sight of the shield hero, but also because the amount of problems he had to deal with recently was causing Aultcray to get steadily more angry at anything that didn't help his situation
"I would like to talk with you, privately" superman said in a calm tone of voice as he looked eye to eye with the king
"Why would I waste my time with you?" the king asked rudely, he should order the guards to take him away immediately for his audacity to try and order around the king of Melromarc
"Because this matter can't wait, either we can discuss this now or I can go talk with the Queen about this" superman said as a sort of minor threat, at the mention of his wife made the king flinch confused at how the shield hero knew of her which now made Aultcray think of what else the shield hero knew. He hadn't heard about the shield hero doing anything relevant up until learning of his synchronization with the hourglass, Aultcray wanted to know what else the shield hero knew and if it possessed a threat to him
"... Let's talk in my personal chamber" the king said as he wanted what it was that the shield hero was going to talk about to not be heard by no one close
--Melromarc castle, Aultcray chamber--
"So what do you wish to talk with me, Shield fiend?" the king asked very much annoyed by the presence of the shield hero, if Aultcray could he would punch the man of steel to the ground as he holds the level advantage in his mind while in reality it was the opposite, Aultcray had lost the ability to see others levels amongst many other abilities he used to possessed in his days as the staff hero, he had truly falled from grace even if he lived a life of luxury as he was no longer in the same level of strength he once had and in fact he was about the same strength as one of his guards despite being in such a high level that most could only dream of achieving
"The slavery of demi humans" Clark cut to the chase immediately, wanting to get this done as soon as possible to try and make the suffering this country uphold end already. Everywhere he went around the world there seemed to be slave marks in use, Siltvelt did the opposite of Melromarc and seemed to enslave humans while Shieldfreeden seemed to use the slave marks for criminals while Faubley... sex slaves
"I see... So how have you learned about it?" the king asked as he had made sure that this sort of information wouldn't be easy to get, after all the legendary heroes would probably begin to question his authority amongst other things as the heroes of the past weren't fond of the idea of slavery, although they never tried to do anything to stop it either
"Picking up details around the city, I saw many demi humans doing manual labor which at first I hadn't battled an eye but then I realized by seeing how they were treated and how that labor was forced on them against their will, after that it was easy to discover the whole story behind what was going on" Superman said as this wasn't exactly how he discovered about slavery but with how many red flags Melromarc and other countries had about the subject, it wouldn't take long either way
"You're quite perceptive, the other heroes didn't even care about it but that is because they were focused about the waves and killing monsters" The king commented as the three holy heroes had ignored the enslavement of demi humans as expected, he had given order to each heroes respective party to not tell them about slavery or to dodge the subject as quick as possible, if they didn't follow his order... the dungeons would be waiting for them
"Is that really why? Or is it because you didn't want them to know about it" superman questions Aultcray about this and the king did not respond, it was true that he didn't wish for the other three heroes to discover about the slavery of demi humans on their own, otherwise they could end up sympathizing with those foul beasts, they needed to be kept on the dark about this until they could be given a explanation by the church or himself about why those creatures deserve to be kept on a leash. Aultcray truly wanted to make the heroes see things his way
"I wish we could discuss about the slavery and how to-"
"End it?" Aultcray finished Clark's sentence before he could, it was predicable that he would say that in Aultcray's eyes as the shield heroes almost always tries to end slavery to no result
"Do you really think I can just order a decree saying that slavery is now forbidden in the country and everything will be resolved" the king said as he was baffled at just the idea of ending the well deserved punishment of those beastly creatures just because the devil of the shield wanted his pets freed
"Of course not your majesty, but I do believe that some sort of change is required if we were to end it one day in the future" superman said as he understood very clearly that it wasn't just a question of suddenly ending slavery without other factors and the changing of the public view
"You think that you have more wisdom than I?" Aultcray asked loud and angry at the shield hero, who was talking with him as if they were equals or that he actually was superior compared to Aultcray. The king wanted to put him in his place and assure his dominance in the room, he wanted to show the difference between a great war hero turned monarch compared to a evil rapist scum that shouldn't be allowed to breath the same air as he did
"Do you believe that your mind is more suitable for the crown than mine?" Aultcray asked sarcastically as he stared angrily at the man of steel as he was infuriated by his mere presence there
"Of course not yo-"
"Exactly! You should put yourself in your place criminal, I hold the power of this country and I know what I have to do for it to thrive" Aultcray said as he almost jumped from where he was seated while pointing at the shield hero, who didn't respond or changed expression by Aultcray's attempt at intimidation
"..." the king quietly returned to where he was seated, as he found the shield hero seemingly unbothered by his roaring voice and powerful status an annoyance but also showed that he was perhaps aware of the unspoken rule of any debate, whoever loses their cool first is in a disavantage
"But let's entertain this idea of yours for a moment, why do you think we should end the slavery of demi humans?" Aultcray asked, wanting to hear what captivating reason the shield hero had for his argument
"As it stands this is bringing pain and suffering for them, with no restrictions to what the owner can or can't do it leaves the demi humans to suffer from whatever cruel deed their master thinks of, I have even heard about a noble that took pleasure in torturing child demi humans" superman said as he made sure to mention Idol Rapier and what he did as it had a pretty good chance that the king knew about it or that the mention of a noble would catch his intrigue
"You're referring to Idol Rapier? How do you know of him?" Aultcray asked, Idol was the only noble in the kingdom that matched that the description, as most nobles used slaves for their intended use as work force but Idol preferred to... use them for their other purpose, Aultcray wasn't much of a fan of this type of stuff coming from someone he saw as a friend but he understood that was just the way Idol dealt with what he experienced and lost because of the war, but that wasn't something wildly known so Aultcray wondered how was it possible that the shield hero knew of this
"His reputation proceeds him, I haven't heard the best things about him" superman said as he didn't just heard bad things about the man but saw by himself his cruelty at work, even willing to unleash a terrible monster just so the man of steel and the slaves he freed were killed. Aultcray acknowledged that the shield hero might have heard that from the people in Idol's territory as after his death, many start to speak about some "evil" actions he did that they had no way to confirm were incorrect or not but they assumed those were the reason for his demise
"He was the least liked of the nobles by the people but he was a good soldier during the war and helped the country and crown many times" Aultcray said as he still saw Idol as a friend who suffered just like him from the actions of the savage war animals, and that he changed to the worst could be just blamed on demi humans existence
"Even still the way he used those people was inhuman, those were living beings that he treated like nothing more than something to use for himself to get pleasure" superman clarified, a sadistic individual like that was not only a person that held a entire territory and a lot of power but he seemly was excused for doing sickening deeds because they weren't being committed on "true" humans
"That is one of the reasons people of Melromarc have them, they are given a task to fulfill and if they obey it will give them the pleasure of living another day" Aultcray said as it was already a privilege to give those creatures the benefit of breathing the same air as their owners after everything demi humans had done to Melromarc
"You talk about them like they were nothing more than robots" superman briefly comments as the attitude the king was referring to these individuals was cold and uncaring, as if he didn't see them as living beings
"Robots?" Aultcray was confused by the word or what it meant, the heroes always had weird and mysterious dialect and words that most people in the world didn't know what it meant but different from some that had been adapted into the language, this one was completely new to the king
"A machine designed to look human most of the time, made to obey any order or function it is given" Clark gave a short explanation on what a robot was just so Aultcray could understand the comparison
"If something like that exists in your world shield devil then why are you making such a fuss-"
"Because most robots aren't alive, they are different to humans and other living beings as they are mostly considered an object more than an individual because they are built by others out of materials like metals" superman said as with the exception of a few robots that he knew like the MetalMen and Red Hurricane, almost all robots had no free will of their own and served the commands given to them without question
"I could say the same about demi humans, as it stands they aren't seen as more than whatever these robots are" Aultcray said, him comparing the demi humans to robots even after knowing that one was an actual object made to serve while the other was a living being who was forced to serve just showed more of his ignorance towards them
"Why is this allowed to be the case? Why can't they live amongst humans as equals when they are simply different in a solely physical manner?" superman argued, as far as he could see, the only thing that differentiates the two was their biology, who even then was nearly identical to that of a human except for the tails and ears
"Because they are inferior to us, an error in our god's land that has brought nothing but problems for all of the people in the world" Aultcray talked as if he was giving a sermon to his subjects, in his eyes the demi human race was what it's name said they were, lesser humans. A type of creature inferior to the human race that should either be killed for it's abominable existence or put under enslavement as so it can know the place it deserves to be
"Do you allow this just because of that? Religion?" superman asked since that was just an excuse in his eyes, there wasn't anything to prove any of the church's claims and sermons about the demi human race. Clark had spent time with the half animal people across the world and so far the only difference was physical, demi humans weren't the demonic creatures that the church of Melromarc said they were and while they did commit slavery of humans it wasn't without a reason, as far as his own personal research had showed, Melromarc was the first country to begin this circle of hate and slavery as it was Melromarc who began slavering the demi humans centuries ago. He tried to learn the history of this world from as many sources as possible, like reading history books from countries like Shieldfreeden and talking to people about their countries history on slavery
"Not only that but also tradition, slavery of demi humans has existed for centuries in Melromarc so why stop all of the sudden?" the king shot back, slavery has been a constant in Melromarc for generations now, ending such an unchanging part of his country could cause many problems for people like the lords of Melromarc and most of the industries that made Melromarc the potency it was
"It's the right thing to do, you have to d-"
"Save me your false heroism, you think that I could do that out of my own free will or kindness? Of course not, all the nobles support slavery so even if I were to be against it I would have no support from them and I would be forced to stop any futile attempt at ending it" the king responded, even in a distorted world where he somehow wanted to end slavery, as long as that decision was not approved or supported by a majority of the nobles of Melromarc, it would never come to be even with the power he held
"And you are just gonna leave it at that? Do you ever wonder about the lives you could have saved by ending this system? The kids who would be able to spend their childhood playing instead of dying out of working or mothers that could kiss their kids goodnight instead of seeing them die out of disease inside a cage? You are a father yourself, how can you let families be subject to such a thing?" Superman tried to appeal to Aultcray's parental side, he was a father of two from what he learned thanks to Eclair's experience as the royal knight of the castle. The man of steel hoped that Aultcray could see that he was making innocent families be thorn apart and destroyed by this act of allowing slavery to exist, superman knew Aultcray wasn't born evil and that he could still see the error of his current path before it was too late to turn back
"...You have no right to compare me or my family to those animals" Aultcray said coldly and much more seriously than before, his aura was that filled with grief that quickly turned into unrelenting rage as what Clark said seemed to have been the final straw for Aultcray
"All I ask is for yo-"
"I lost everything because of these monsters once, no matter where I would go they would not stop to try and destroy the ones I hold dear, I slaughtered every single one of them I could in that war to make sure that the people I loved would live and yet I failed... I will make sure that these animals are kept in check until my last breath and there is nothing you can do about it" Aultcray spoke in a assertive force and a restrained anger as he remembered the events of the war, the reason for his deep hatred for demi humans and how he was weak back then which made him unable to protect those he loved.
"Now get out of my sight or else I will be forced to make you" Aultcray ordered superman without even looking at him, the man of steel complied and left the room as he didn't see a way to end things by convincing Aultcray. The king was going to keep slavery no matter what it takes for him to do that, superman felt bad for Aultcray as hatred had consumed his heart and clearly clouded his better judgement, The only way to end slavery was either by brute force or by trying a different strategy. He could fly around the country freeing all slaves but that wouldn't solve anything in the long run, he needed to make it illegal so that this system stopped being exploited but the problem was the slave marks themselves, with no downsides to them and only upsides for whoever placed the slave mark it would be impossible to convince anyone to stop using them, especially the people that benefit from the slave marks, it was gonna be a long road ahead but he was ready to walk that journey until the very end
Superman went to the room assigned to him and used it for the night, leaving it to help around the world until morning came and he was led to meet the other heroes in the throne room, he didn't need the coin for himself but it could help in restoring the destroyed village during the wave to rebuild or he could use it to pay the debt he had with Erhard. The other three cardinal heroes were already in attendance, in fact it looked like everyone was waiting on him. The king looked at Clark in annoyance, but the man of steel never even looked in his direction. What drove the king to further frustration was the look of Naofumi. He'd been made a fool of the previous night, the argument that Superman had with him was still in Aultcray's head and it infuriated the king. But hated that the shield hero wore a faint smile and acted like there was no animosity at all.
"Now that all of you are in attendance, I'll follow through on my promise to you. You shall receive rewards for repelling the wave. Sir Motoyasu showed great strength by finishing the mighty boss of the wave. For this feat, I award you 4000 silver." the king announced with a prideful look in his face while Motoyasu struck a confident stance with a matching smug smile.
"To Sir Ren and Sir Itsuki I will award you each 3800 silver, for your part in battling the wave boss" Aultcray said with a expression of content in his face while both heroes seemed annoyed that Motoyasu was played up more and they received less money, but the two were still quite happy about the large sum that they would receive
"And to the shield hero who didn't even join the battle of the wave boss... To keep to the obligations I made, he will be given the minimum 500 Silver" The king announced and waited a moment to hear or see the shield hero complain as he would no doubt do, ready to dismiss it the moment it appeared. Something was wrong however. Clark didn't voice complaints at all, it was enough to pay Erhart for his armor and that was good enough from Clark's perspective. After all, he never wanted payment for doing what was right.
'Boy he got it the worst, but a rapist like him deserves it' Motoyasu smugly thought to himself, happy to see scum being treated the way they should, the only downside is that he couldn't kick the guy's ass and show what a true hero is
'He didn't help fighting the boss at all, I would say that he still deserves more than that but he is a criminal, he doesn't deserve anything more' Itsuki comments to himself as he saw that as fair, not only was he a criminal but he didn't help in the main fight so it only made sense he would get the lowest amount of money
'Again with the biased attitude, he didn't help fighting the boss but he still needs money to get stronger, he is still using the same gear as in the first day, this way he will never be able to catch up even to our dust' Ren thinks as while he didn't want the help of a shielder in the wave as he would only get in the way, he couldn't deny that he also needed to get stronger just to survive those waves until Ren could finish it
"...Well without further ado here are your reward heroes" The king ordered his advisor with the man in purple cloak walking forward and handing each of the heroes their awarded coin, while Clark was the last to receive his coin, he was also the first to leave. He had a lot of things to do and even more people to save.
"See you all in the next wave" the man of steel gives them a goodbye before leaving the room, the king himself left the throne room seemly angry due to the attitude of the shield hero not corresponding to what he expected
"Ugh! I hate that guy" Motoyasu immediately said after superman had just left the room, with Ren and Itsuki just rolling their eyes at the spear hero's remark
"Yeah... I gotta go, prepare myself for the next wave" Ren said as he prepared to leave to the field for a bit of grinding before departing from the capital
"What is the rush? we have a whole month until the next one" Motoyasu said somewhat sarcastically as he found Ren's wanting to prepare for a wave immediately after finishing one to be so unnecessary, the sword hero realized his slip up
"There is no problem in preparing for it earlier" Ren said, hiding the fact he had synchronize with the hourglass of Zeltobe and that waves were happening in other countries as the sword hero didn't want motoyasu or Itsuki to know that detail, at least not now anyways, once he had defeated 3 or 4 waves in Zeltobe then he could lend then in the secret since Ren would be higher level than those two, but he also had to find a way to synchronize with the hourglasses in the other countries but that proved hard to do
"Okay but I don't really care about grinding every single minute, do you know how to relax?" Motoyasu asked as a joke but he actually wondered if Ren was able to relax like a normal person
"Stop being so much of a try hard man, do you really even need the levels when the wave was so easy" Itsuki commented as the wave was so easy that Ren's worries seemed so unwarranted, but he also kind of didn't want Ren to get a bunch of levels pass them and by extension stronger than him by a large margin
"You guys do you, but I simply don't want to be underpower for when the wave hits, the world is in the line if we fail remember?" Ren said as he took his leave, not wanting to waste anymore time with these two while he had to prepare
"That guy needs a chill pill, or ten" Itsuki said as he sighed softly while looking at the departed Ren, that guy had been acting so cold and serious ever since they got here that Itsuki was beginning to think he was one of those try hards that dedicated way to much time into knowing every single aspect of the game, including the unnecessary ones like lore books or cross promotion between games, that's was Itsuki's view on people that played games for anything other than gameplay and the base narrative
"I better get going, I don't want to leave my girls waiting" Motoyasu said as he went on his way as well
--Castle Town, close to Beloukas shop--
"Can we go to the store Motoyasu-sama? I was thinking of buying a few pairs of shoes" Malty asked him as they walked through the street, she didn't need his approval to do that but the more time they spent together, the more she had her hands over the spear hero
"Maybe later, I was thinking about something... I was thinking of buying myself a ride, something like those dragon looking stead's or maybe one of those big birds" Motoyasu explains to Myne what he was planning, it would be very useful to have something like that to help out his party move around the country, sure he could get the level required to use the [dragon hourglass spear] and put all their equipment and provisions in his inventory, but having a monster ride could help out more
"I can help with that" a voice replied to the spear hero seemingly out of nowhere, Malty and Motoyasu looked at the direction it came from, being met with a short fat man in a fancy purple tuxedo that made him look like a circus ring leader
"Uhm... Who are you?" the spear hero asked the mysterious man who he never saw before, but he could tell the man was some sort of fancy salesman or a ring leader perhaps? while he tried to figure out that, Malty recognized the short man and immediately wanted him to not get close to the spear hero, she recognized him as the biggest slave seller in Melromarc and considering she has dabbled in human slavery a awful lot, Malty was a tad bit scared that this man could reveal to the spear hero of her actions regarding slavery
"Just ignore th-"
"My name is Beloukas oh great spear hero and I can help you with your problem" Beloukas introduced himself as well as grabbed Motoyasu's curiosity, cutting off Myne's attempt at talking with Motoyasu
"How?" Motoyasu asked the short man in a tuxedo, who just smiled weirdly while chuckling
"If you came to my establishment I would be more than happy to show you" Beloukas said as he pointed to his close by tent, Motoyasu was becoming more convinced that this guy was a circus owner now that he saw what Beloukas shop looked like
"Motoyasu-sama we should leave, we can't trust this guy" Malty said as she really didn't want motoyasu to go inside that tent, what if he ends up hearing a slave in the back cry for help, she knew that Motoyasu was going to be extremely hard to convince to not do anything to try and free those slaves, especially if they were women. The spear hero was a fool, but a good hearted fool that probably won't care if slavery is legal or not
"Don't worry Myne, I defeated a Wave boss, a guy like him can't harm us as long as I'm around you" Motoyasu said confidently as he followed the guy into his shop, if this guy tried to land one hand at his companion then he would stab him through his heart since this guy seemed like the type that deserved to be punished for something
"I assure you my lady, I have no intention of harming either of you, I'm just a salesman wanting to show a possible new client my merchandise" Beloukas said as he looked at Malty, a silent confrontation was happening through the stare the two were giving each other, Malty's was rude and aggressive as this could ruin her plans while Beloukas was calm and non threatening as if to say for her not to worry
"So how can you help me with getting a ride?" Motoyasu said as he stared at the many things in the entrance of the shop, there was a lot of monsters here with some being familiar to him while others were things he hadn't seen before. Motoyasu kind of wanted to kill these exotic creatures to get new spear forms, but that would probably ruin his reputation if he just killed this guy's merchandise and didn't pay him for it
"If you're willing to I can sell a fully grown one or you can gamble on raising a monster." He motioned to a crate full of ten large eggs. Motoyasu did seem interested, much to the dismay of Malty.
"So you sell monster eggs?" Motoyasu said as he picked one of the eggs and held in his hand before putting it back at the box and staring back at Beloukas
"Monster domestication is actually the face of my business. This is my leading seller, the monster egg lottery! In these crates I have all sorts of eggs, from the common filolial to a flying dragon that would be worth 20 gold on its own!" Beloukas said as he pitched the lottery to the spear hero, whose eyes seemed to spark at the thought
"Flying dragon!?" Motoyasu was now more than intrigued at this lottery as he began to think of all the cool things he could do with a pet dragon
"And how much is it per egg?" Motoyasu asked, if it was too expensive then he might reconsider but if it was cheap then he might take the chance
"Just 100 silver with the hero discount, quite the deal!" Beloukas said with his wide grim, in reality that wasn't the discounted price as it was the normal price. But by making it seem like it had a discount, it made it more likely for the hero to buy it.
"If you're not lying about this... the odds must be quite low right? To make a profit, you must gain on average... I assume it's a 1% chance or so of that flying dragon? And I imagine their rates are also all lower based on value... damn just like a gacha game." Motoyasu said as he whispered that last part under his breath, he didn't expect this place to have something similar to a gacha but that's what he gets for being silly in believing that he wouldn't encounter a luck based system in this world
"I see you understand, but it's not just filolials and flying dragons, I have more than 20 monster eggs in the lottery." Beloukas said as to not lose the spear hero's interest as the more options the lottery had, the more engaged the costumer would be
"Filolials?" Motoyasu was confused by the term, he didn't remember any monster or pet companion in Emerald Online having such a name, but he rationalized that it was just a name change as things had different names in this world compared to their video game counterpart
"You don't know what a Filolial is? they are the large birds you've no doubt seen in this very town.They are used to pulling wagons since they actually like pulling foreign weight, so domestication is very low effort." Beloukas explained the role of a filolian in society and why they were so commonly used
"Ah, those. Yes I saw them around almost everywhere so they must be common..." the spear hero began thinking about what he should do, if he should buy the grown-up thing already or just try his chances at the lottery
"If that's the case... Alright I'll get one!" he happily announced which excited Beloukas while making Malty anxious
"Motoyasu-sama our funds are limited" Malty protested in vain as Motoyasu had already decided to partake in the egg lottery, she didn't want him to spend time raising a monster instead of going on dates with her, otherwise Malty would lose some of her influence on Motoyasu
"Haha that's funny Myne, you know we have a lot of silver to spare besides think of it! What if the result is anything good? What if we get that Dragon! we can raise it so it could fly our party around and also fight with me while you girls can lay back. And even if it doesn't work out after I raise it, we can sell it back to this guy. Its own price nearly increased 100 fold!" Motoyasu explains the upsides of everything he could get by trying the lottery, if he raised a monster then he could control what type of build the creature would have and he could use it to fight for him, plus selling it back after he raised it had its own benefits
"I... I understand" Myne conceded out loud, but held reservations, she could at least see if the creature was worth something when it hatched
"Plus if we get the most common result, a filolial, We'll use it to travel around to places! It would be far easier for you and the others to travel, especially Lesty" Motoyasu said as he saw the value in having one of those birds since it could allow his girls to not hurt their feet by walking around so much
"Well...I agree a filolial would help tremendously. I just fear an aggressive species might simply be too much effort just to raise it." Malty said as a more aggressive monster if raised by Motoyasu could become too attached and possessive over him, and Malty didn't want something else hogging the spear hero besides herself
"but it might also be very useful. And also I'm strong enough for it to not be a problem." Motoyasu said as if the monster that hatched proved too hard to raise then he could simply eliminate it and absorb its body for his spear or sell it back
"Fine, fine... If it does prove too much though, please bring it here!" Malty said as she really didn't want whatever hatched from the egg to cause her trouble, especially if it was one of those birds...
"Okay! now I can either buy 10 of them to have a higher chance of getting that dragon or one egg and put fate up to decide..." Motoyasu said as he observed the eggs trying to see if there were any distinction between them but it was just some color differences and a few colored spots
"I'll take this One!" Motoyasu exclaimed as he pointed at one of the eggs and picked up and handed it to Beloukas
"Phew" Malty sighed relieved since Motoyasu decided to get one egg instead of various
"If the result isn't good, I can just come back, sell it and then buy 10 other eggs!" Motoyasu said happily, his response caused the slave trader to smile and Malty to frown
"Of course, I'll throw in an incubator for your egg. I am quite interested in seeing the results of a monster trained by a legendary hero." Beloukas said as he was intrigued as what type of change would a legendary hero's treatment of a monster could cause, Motoyasu gave the 100 silver and the slave trader placed his egg within the incubator, Motoyasu was weird out when Beloukas asked for a drop of his blood but after explaining what a monster seal is, the spear hero complied. Of course Myne didn't like that they would be getting a monster in the party but Motoyasu was happy to take the gamble as he thought of him riding whatever cool monster he got into battle
Lurolona Village
"You think he is... you know" Keel didn't want to say the word dead in front of Rifana as she would flip if he even tried to imply that the shield hero of her dreams died
"A man like him couldn't have fallen in the wave, you know that" Raphtalia commented as it seemed pretty impossible for the shield hero to have been defeated in this wave when he had already taken care of a wave in Siltvelt and fought many fierce monsters like the black tyrant dragon
"But... shouldn't he have returned already?" Rifana asked as the shield hero can move so fast that he could go from here to Shieldfreeden in probably less than a second, so why was he taking so long to come back to the village?
"You can't expect him to always come back to our village, you know he has the duty to protect the entire world, he is probably saving people as we speak" the raccoon girl comments as the shield hero had the responsibility to protect the entire world, wanting him to prioritize their village was a bit selfish of their part
"Right... I just hope my beloved shield hero is safe" Rifana said as she still worried that something bad might have happened to the shield hero, maybe he is not dead but there was still so many bad possibilities that could have occurred
"We are pretty safe as it is, with Eclair and Sardina here I don't think we have to worry about slavers" Keel was assured that with Sardina here they wouldn't have to worry about anything like bandits or slavers coming to their village. Eclair herself was helping them be more safe although not on porpoise, she has been killing so many monsters in the surrounding area in order to gain back her old levels, that she has actually diminished it most of the previous habitat of monsters in the area to barren forests safe to go in without worrying about wild monsters attacking
"How about we go back to the club and try to find something to give the shield hero when he returns? we haven't decided on anything yet" Raphtalia suggested to help distract Rifana from worrying herself for little reason
"Great idea raphtalia! let's go at once!" Rifana said as she grabbed her best friend's hand and pulled her away to the clubhouse, Keel rolled his eyes but with a small smile on his face as he followed the two
Melromarc embassy in Faubley
"Damnit!" Mirellia screamed out of pure frustration and anger, the situation she was in was terrible and it was all the fault of her trashy husband not to mention her eldest daughter that only caused problems for Mirellia
"Is everything okay mom? you seem stressed" the youngest daughter of the queen and currently the only worth heir to the throne, Melty Melromarc asked her mother as she entered the room. The young princess could see that a few ice spikes had formed in the walls of the room along with the table chair being broken in the ground
"I'm... fine Melty, is just that... your sister has made a big mess back at home" Mirellia tried to down play the situation at hand, she didn't want her young daughter to have to worry about such a thing right now as she wasn't yet fully capable of handling the politics of such large problem
"When is she not doing something like that? can't dad do something about it?" Melty asked as her sister was always causing trouble or just being an awful person in general, if she did such a big screw up then her father should be able to punish her for it and deal with the problem
"He has only made it worse..." Mirellia was holding back on telling her daughter how much the king had fucked things up, it was Malty's fault but Aultcray escalated things to a almost unfixable state
"But this is nothing for you to worry about right now, have you finished your studies?" the queen asked as she wanted to change the subject of this conversation before it got out of hand
"Yes" Melty replied, she still felt that her mother was hiding how much of a problem she really had on her hands and all she knew is that her sister has once again done something probably selfish that had terrible consequences to their family
"Good... now go in your room to play with your toys. I have some work to do" Mirellia dismissed Melty as she had work to worry about and a serious as it could mean the rise or downfall of Melromarc
"Okay..." Melty left the room, still worried that her mother had something worse to handle than she had already been, her mother seemed very stressed ever since the four heroes were summoned in their country of Melromarc and now she seemed stressed out about something just as problematic or even more. The Queen sighed as she looked at the card in her hand, an invitation to the world council meeting to talk... about the cardinal heroes.
[author's notes]
lots of things happened in this chapter and the next one will have Mirellia as the central focus, next time we will get to see the political figures of Zeltobe and Shieldfreeden that I came up with for this fanfic (as once again we never get any information on them in neither the web novel or light novel) however I'm having trouble coming up with a name for the Zeltobe country leader, so if anyone has a good suggestion then I'm all ears for it (one condition is that the Zeltobe leader is male so he can't have a female name)
So the egg Motoyasu bought is to set up his character development for the story and seeing how shield hero goes it will likely be a filolian egg, for obvious reasons this filolian can't be Filo because she would actually make him worse and so the filolian in the egg will likely be male.
to the mysterious Mr.E: thanks, I'm not going to write a fanfic about wonder woman as I don't read her comics a lot so I just know the superficial level things from cartoons and movies. I did think of making a trinity fanfic where superman, batman and wonder woman would be summoned as the spear, bow and sword heroes respectively. But I will likely never write that as I already have my plate full with my current fanfics
to TopPotChef: I do plan on him getting a party but I still have a couple of chapters before that can happen and a lot of development to do for the story in order for this to unfold
to TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r: Glass will be happy about it but probably won't find the reason for this to be good, she would be skeptical about it
to kashiramji: simply put, the fallen heroes arc wouldn't happen. She wouldn't be there to manipulate Itsuki, she wouldn't be there to trick Ren which would set him in the path of becoming the king of thieves and Motoyasu wouldn't go insane like he did in canon. Overall a lot of suffering is avoided if she is killed in the trial
to kennymadison11: he most certainly did as seen in the end of this chapter, she is in for one heck of a discussion
to Jason 4Rever: thanks, I have been doing revision on the chapters of my other fanfics like the cardinal turtles and even the motherly shield, but the superman fanfic doesn't need anything other than a couple of grammar fixes that aren't necessarily ruining the story so there is no rush in updating older chapters for this fanfic
to RavenBlu: I don't really think superman would pause the fight just to absorb some rocks from the moon
to GREAT CELESTIAL-DRAGON: they would be more jaw dropped than anything, the three heroes would probably just stay still trying to process everything and afterwards they would probably be jealous of him
to AnimeFan13579: Fitoria doesn't have to step in if Ren (and superman) is there to fight the Wave, she wouldn't be in a rush to fight the waves as much in this fanfic as Clark can cover the world faster than her and he can defeat the waves faster than her (depending on the type of boss in said wave) I plan on adding her to the story but I'm not in any rush to do so. However I do want to have her meet Ren and Motoyasu at some point, not only to help their character arcs but also to have them getting stronger
to Pikachu345: absorbing the sun would be harder than just trying to absorb a little bit of it, he would need to absorb the entire thing to gain a sun shield
to zanzara: the other world leaders have their own opinion on superman but it all boils down to wanting him to fight for them and solely them, we will see their thoughts on that matter in the next chapter
to 2zz3: the hellish copycat is only a threat if it copies someone naturally strong, if it tried copying the other three heroes then it would only have the same level and stats as them but not their Skills or weapon abilities. I have only thought of the vassal claws and vassal axe in detail, there is a hammer hero currently in Shieldfreeden but he won't come into the story until later
to 6113: great to hear, I don't plan on having superman receiving anything for his help in Lute
to Guest: he did attend it but just because he wanted to try and talk with Aultcray to convince him that slavery is wrong
to Guest 2: I put the hellish copycat in the previous chapter to give you guys a feeling of what a super wave boss is, not all of them will be like this one as I want each of them to be somewhat unique
to ZukahaniMultiColor: I don't really plan to use Hengen Muso in the story this early on, that can wait until the spirit turtle arc if I can be honest. Superman doesn't need to learn Hengen Muso to fight off the waves later on but his allies might, I just don't want to have to worry about handling so many characters in Lurolona village and there are things already planned out for the story that I don't want to take time away just to introduce the concept of Hengen Muso. The destruction of Lute village will be addressed, don't worry