Small clinks echoed through Erhard's shop as beak met steel.
"So, what's the deal, here?" asked the blacksmith of Heatwaker Armory.
"If I remember correctly, Filolials have a king or queen leading each flock," said Raphtalia. "Those kings and queens have transforming abilities and disguise themselves as normal Filolials."
"I thought that was just a myth," said Erhard. "And you're saying she can transform into a human?"
"Yes," affirmed Aris. "But-Filo, don't do it now, your clothes ripped when you transformed into a Filolial."
"Oh, okay!" chirped Filo.
"So," said Erhard, "I assume you didn't just come here to flex your Filolial Queen on me."
"No, we didn't," said Aris. "We're here to buy her some clothing. She keeps ripping them every time she transforms."
"Is there something she can wear that won't do that?" asked Loretta.
"Well, that isn't exactly my area of expertise," replied Erhard. "Try the tailor down the road. But for now, have this. Another customer left it here, it should fit her."
Erhard handed them a small pink dress.
"Oh my goodness, she's just the cutest little angel!" the tailor cooed.
Filo turned back to Aris. "Papa, am I really that cute? I wanna know!"
"Er...I suppose so?" Aris seemed a little anxious.
"Oh, come now," admonished the tailor. "Compliments are essential to little girls so that they stay just as cute when they get older!"
"Are you...really my papa?" asked Filo. "Or something else?"
"I mean...I guess I am," replied Aris.
"Okay, what about Raphtalia?"
"I can't say for sure."
"Oh, alright!"
"Anyway," said the tailor. "What can I do for you?"
"We're looking for clothes that stay intact when she transforms," Loretta explained.
"Oh, I can certainly make something like that," said the tailor. "Did you bring any magic thread with you?"
"I...have no clue what that is, nor that we needed any."
"Transformation outfits always use thread created from the wearer's own magical energy - called mana."
"So, they're always custom-made?" asked Raphtalia.
The tailor nodded. "Always! So, if you can get me some magic thread...I'll be more than happy to make this darling little angel the cutest dress you've ever set eyes upon!"
"Magic thread, you say?" The kind mage from the magic shop seemed intrigued. "You certainly could weave it here, but...now isn't really the best time. You see, the gemstone in my loom recently broke, and I'm struggling to find a new one."
"Would it be expensive for us to buy one?"
"Yes, but that's the least of my worries," replied the old mage. "They're extremely hard to find. Some people don't even believe they exist. So...I suppose I'll have to wait and see if I can obtain a new gemstone as soon as possible."
Filo's cheery young voice interrupted. "Whoa, what does this thing do?"
"Oh, this?" said the mage. "It's my crystal ball! It measures one's magical affinity. Hey, why don't we see what yours is?"
Filo nodded eagerly.
"Oooh, okay! Consider this one free, since I'm feeling generous today."
The mage looked into her crystal ball for a minute, before looking back at Filo.
"Wind!"
Filo hummed a cheerful melody as she pulled her wagon up the road with Aris, Loretta, and Raphtalia inside.
Aris took something out of his pocket: a small token with text on it. He'd received it from the elder of Lute Village as an extra reward for winning the race against Motoyasu. According to the elder, it was a merchant's pass - and it allowed him to pass though certain gates or checkpoints without paying the toll that was required of everyone else.
"Aris," said Raphtalia, "I...I remember I asked you before, and you said you didn't like to talk about it, but...what happened to your arm?
"Well..." Aris hesitated, "...I suppose you ought to know."
Loretta continued for him, "a few years ago, Brother and I were wandering our homeland after a great disaster happened. We had been in fights before, so we were equipped for battle. But the battle we faced in the Tabantha Snowfield...it changed us forever. Aris in particular."
"We had an encounter with a Silver Lynel," said Aris. "One of the most dangerous monsters there is in our homeland."
"And...you lived?" asked Raphtalia.
"I barely did so," replied Aris. "Sister miraculously emerged with minor injuries. But I lost something I knew I would never get back."
He motioned to his prosthesis.
Raphtalia gasped. "Your arm..."
Aris nodded. "Yes. My right arm was torn from my body near the end of the fight. That was the last I remember of that battle. Apparently, Loretta finished off the Lynel before carrying my unconscious body to shelter. There, she bandaged the bloody stump where my arm had once been before we traveled the rest of the way back to our home."
"After that," said Loretta, "I spent the next few months hard at work on something to hopefully replace Aris's arm. And...well, it did. I used the ancient technology left behind by a race called the Sheikah to construct a prosthesis. But there was one thing I couldn't find: a power source."
"That was when I discovered the untapped power of my soul," said Aris. "The very essence of my being...that is what allows me to control my prosthesis."
"Papa, I don't wanna interrupt your story," Filo interjected from outside, "but there's someone running up ahead of us."
Raphtalia stopped the carriage beside the running man, who slowed to a halt and bent over, panting heavily.
"Sir, is something wrong?" Raphtalia asked.
"Please...!" the man panted, "...I beg you! Give me a...Give me a lift in your carriage!"
"Huh?"
"I need to get this medicine to the village up ahead," said the man. "It's where my mother lives, and she's deathly sick! Please, it's urgent!"
Loretta turned to Aris. "How long do you think it would take Epona to get there at full speed?"
"Not long," replied Aris. He jumped out of the carriage, turning to the man. "I can take you there."
Aris held up his prosthesis, channeling Soul Energy out of it. Swirling waves of green came together in front of him, forming a familiar ghostly mare. Epona reared on her haunches with an ethereal whinny. Aris climbed into her saddle. "Get on, let's go!"
The man, shaken up a little, climbed into the saddle behind Aris.
Aris snapped the reins. "Hyah!"
Epona broke into a brisk gallop, speeding up the road toward the man's village.
"Halt, you have to pay the toll!" said a spear-carrying gatekeeper up ahead.
Aris didn't stop. He took the merchant's pass from his pocket and hurled it at the gatekeeper. "Catch! I'll pick it up on my return trip!"
Luckily, the gatekeeper caught it. Epona cleared the closed gate with a mighty leap.
"Mother...I have the medicine."
The old woman lying in bed turned over slowly, her eyes fluttering open. She coughed as though she'd pass up a lung.
"Would you mind boiling some water?" Aris asked the man. "I can administer the medicine in the meantime."
"R-Right." The man left for the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Aris noticed an unlocked skill on his status screen. "'Potion Enhance'..."
He took the bottle of medicine in one hand and used the other to gently lift the head of the sick old woman. She accepted the medicine as he decanted the bottle, allowing it to enter her mouth. She gulped it down slowly but surely.
Her eyes opened fully. "Thank you so much..."
The man had re-entered the room with a bowl of steaming soup. "M-Mother...you're okay! The medicine...it worked already?"
The old woman sat up in bed as if she had never been sick in the first place. "Yes," she said. "The pain went away instantly." She turned to Aris. "Thank you, sir."
Meanwhile, the man followed Aris outside. "Um...sir, if I might ask, what kind of magic did you use to enhance the medicine?"
"I would advise not questioning it too much," said Aris. "The more you do, the less sense it's going to make."
"Oh, before you go!" The man took a bag of supplies and materials, handing it to Aris. "You should be able to sell these for one silver. I-It's not much, I know, especially considering what you've done for me and my mother, but I'm afraid we're tight on supplies right now."
"Don't worry about it," said Aris. "You...really didn't have to give me this, you know."
"I wanted to."
"Well...if you insist. I suppose I'll be taking my leave, then."
"Thank you again, sir," said the man. "Safe travels."
From that day forth, Aris and his friends began something of a medicine delivery service, charging meager amounts of money to transport people or medicine to places that needed them.
One such endeavor had them transporting a rather eccentric merchant.
"I still can't believe I'm traveling in a wagon with the Savior of the Heavenly Fowl," said the merchant.
"The what of the what-ly what?" Aris raised a confused eyebrow.
"The Savior of the Heavenly Fowl," the merchant repeated. "You have quite the reputation, sir. Word is that the Savior and his comrades drive a carriage drawn by a god of domesticated birds to travel the lands and heal the sick."
"Um...Brother?" Loretta pointed up ahead. "I'd hate to cut your conversation short, but..."
"There's a bunch of people blocking our path," Raphtalia finished.
Aris leaned out of the front of the wagon. Sure enough, a gang of gruff-looking bandits stood between Filo's wagon and the rest of the road.
"Whoa, now!" called out their leader. "Y'all can just stop right there."
Filo slowed to a halt.
"Nice bird, stranger," one of the bandits said to Aris. "Speakin' of birds, a tiny little one told us a certain accessory merchant was hitchin' a ride with ya. Don't try an' hide 'im, we know he's in there!"
The merchant dropped lower into the wagon, cowering in fear.
"Just hand 'im over quietly, and y'all can get outta this with yer lives intact, at least," another bandit sneered.
"Meaning you'll take everything but." Aris jumped out of the wagon. Raphtalia and Loretta followed suit.
"Hah! Sharp as a tack!" a bandit laughed.
Some of them were pointing at Raphtalia and whispering. "Hey, fer a Demi-Human, that one's pretty hot."
Another whispered, "Ya think she's hot? Look at her!" He pointed at Loretta. "Seems we're in fer a good night, boys."
Aris drew the Master Sword. "If you touch my sister, I'll turn all of you into a flesh puzzle for the local morgue!"
"Don't even think about it, kid!" the bandits jeered. "We got ourselves a class-upgraded bodyguard who can beat ya to a bloody pulp!"
A black-haired man in a rather posh outfit stepped forward from the crowd of bandits, drawing his sword.
Aris felt something on the back of his left hand.
He looked. A triangular symbol composed of three smaller triangles glowed gold on the back of his hand, with the bottom right triangle shining brightest. He knew what this mark was.
Loretta had a glow on the back of her hand, too: a similar mark, though hers emphasized the bottom left triangle. She nodded at Aris.
Aris nodded back. "Timeshift!"
Around Aris, time slowed down.
Soul Energy covered his body. Aris seemingly transformed into a light green drop of water, splashing onto the ground.
Amid the slowing of time, he burst from the earth beneath the bandits, cutting them down with a rising spin slash.
Loretta leaped into action, activating her Plasma Whips. She extended them to their full length, tying up every single bandit.
The flow of time returned to normal.
Raphtalia and Filo joined the twins in surrounding the bound bandits. The former drew her sword.
"L-Look, some other trader told us to jump the guy ridin' with ya 'cause he was 'posed to have a buncha nice shit!" the leader exclaimed.
Aris ignored him. "What do we do now that they're tied up?" he asked his comrades.
One of the bandits called him out. "Hey, ya wouldn't happen to be that swordsman Shield Hero, would ya? Ya fit the description that's been goin' 'round."
"Oh, so you can tell the local militia my party and I assaulted you in cold blood, is that it?" Aris shot back.
"Bet on it!" the bandit laughed. "And ya can also bet they'll take our word over yers any day o' the week!"
Loretta gritted her teeth. She'd had enough.
She held out her hands, summoning a burst of golden light to form a bow and arrow. She drew back the bowstring. "Is there anything you'd like to say before I reduce you heathens to a pile of cinders!?"
"That, friends," said Aris to the bandits, "is the Bow of Light. A sacred weapon created by the goddesses of my homeland. Its arrows can tear through almost anything. I recall seeing one pierce a rock. So...I imagine you might have an idea as to what they could do to your flesh."
"W-Wait!" the bandit leader cried. "B-But yer that Savior of the Heavenly Fowl fella! Ya can't just go 'round murderin' people!"
"Says the rotten criminal with more blood on his hands than in his entire body," Loretta retorted. "I wager you've probably killed an entire village's worth of innocent travelers for your twisted, selfish desires. Think of our encounter as their revenge from beyond the grave."
"N-No, wait, please!" the bandit leader sobbed. "We-We'll give you all we've stolen! Just let us live, p-please!"
"Loretta, lower the Bow," Aris told her.
Loretta reluctantly dismissed the Bow of Light from her hands.
Aris turned to the bandits. "I will spare your lives," he said, "but I expect you to return everything you stole to your victims. And if you can't return something because its rightful owner is dead by your hand, I expect you to sell it and give the money to those who might need it."
"Y-Yes, sir!" the bandits cried. "Anything! Just don't hurt us!"
It had taken several hours, but the local militia finally finished taking everything the bandits had stolen and returning the items to their original owners. The bandits had been apprehended posthaste.
Raphtalia breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad we didn't kill them."
"I wasn't actually going to," said Loretta. "Though I certainly wouldn't have minded."
The accessory merchant ran up to Aris. "Thank you ever so much, sir!"
"Think nothing of it," said Aris. "I'm merely doing my job."
"Oh, but please, let me repay you," the merchant replied. "I can offer you all the knowledge and connections I possess. Just say the word and I'll help you whenever you need."
"Really?"
"But of course!" said the merchant.
Aris spent the coming days learning a plethora of skills from the merchant. He learned how to process metals, craft gems, and imbue them with magic. At the forefront of his lessons, however, was the way of the merchant. He learned how to be an effective salesman, advertising his wares to appeal to consumers alongside dealing with stubborn hagglers.
The merchant invited Aris to join a sort of club called the Trader's Grapevine, a group of merchants who would exchange wares, socialize, and share knowledge. Aris learned a lot from the more experienced merchants and taught some of them the basics of self-defense to use if they were ever robbed.
Perhaps the most surprising things Aris learned, though, were the actions of the other Cardinal Heroes.
Rumors ran amok that Motoyasu had saved an entire village from famine by introducing some kind of superfood.
Ren had moved to the southernmost reaches of Melromarc in search of monsters to slay. One merchant reported that the Sword Hero had managed to slay a powerful dragon.
As for Itsuki, however, the rumors were all over the place. Some said he had retreated to the mountains to train. A few reported that the Bow Hero had gone dungeon-crawling in search of treasure. Others said that he had traveled to a small country north of Melromarc and led their resistance against a tyrannical dictator.
The accessory merchant had become a close friend of Aris and his party and had given them a myriad of information and connections, as he had promised. But one day, Aris received one particularly important thing from the merchant - perhaps the most important of all.