I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero
Once again, biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit! Also special thanks to Angel Wraith and Jurodan for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.
Special thanks to Commisar Gaunt's review for chapter 24, which became the idea that sparked most of this chapter.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
It doesn't take much time or effort to transform the area around the refugee's small encampment into a building site.
A lot of them already carry woodsman's axes as their improvised weapons, and the mercenaries have the strength the starving refugees lacked. Half the bandits help roll lumber over to their encampment, while the other half moves rocks around the new hot spring on the Shield Hero's order to create a bathing area.
"Why are we helping a bunch of criminals building their home? Are they being paid for this shit?" One of the sellswords wipes the sweet from his forehead after he falls a third tree. "They tried to rob us an hour ago!"
"Because, my wagon is still broken. And it doesn't look like that big oaf Hector will come back any time soon, if at all." Walter taps his feet impatiently on the dirt. "We'll need shelter for the night, unless you fancy sleeping under an open sky."
"Didn't they offer to repair our wagon?" The mercenary points towards the refugees from Reichnott County. "We are already missing payday. Let's just go ahead to Trumpet and stay for the night."
"Huh, I always imagined a dragon shouldn't be that forgettable. Either that, or you got dropped on the head a lot when you are a babe." Zylden tosses some chopped up mushrooms into the pestle and looks up at the complaining mercenary. "Do you want to fight the trees, or a flying, fire breathing dragon?"
As if demonstrating his point, the dark dragon flies across the northern sky again. A dead monster clearly hangs in its maw.
The mercenary stops his whining while his eyes follow the path of the dragon. He turns his gaze right back to the wood and starts to swing his arm. "I'll go chop the trees..."
"Smart man." Zylden nods his head. He takes some hot spring water to add into his pestle, and starts to grind the mushroom into a paste.
"That looks too thick to be a potion." Naofumi looks down behind Zylden's shoulder, an action that's ridiculously easy due to the halfling's diminished stature. "Are you making some healing balms? Why not make potions?"
"I see you also practice the fine art of alchemy, my boy." Zylden turns his head back to throw a quick glance at Naofumi, he turns his head right back into his pestle. "Well, to answer your question, healing potions are more potent than healing balms, but the latter has their own use. This recipe I learned from Siltvelt, for example..."
"Chopped up Fly Amanita, Mora Tapinella, and Scaly Pholiota. Grind them into a fine paste and dip them into a hot spring." The imp takes his pestle to the newly constructed hot spring. He tips the bowl over, letting the sticky gel slowly drip into the warm water. "If you distill it into a potion, it'll get dissolved into water and lose its effect too quickly. If you leave them as a paste, or balm as you put it, they'll stick around for a good few hours. Helps boost up a hot spring's natural stamina regeneration."
"Really." Naofumi's eyes follow the green goop as it slowly drifts into hot water. "Incredible. That's something I don't learn from playing fantasy games."
Chapter 32: The Casualty of War
It doesn't take too long for the refugees to move enough boulders to create two separate hot springs. While the hot air and fog makes it harder to see things, there's sadly still no wall between the designated male bath, and female bath. They'll simply have to improvise, and hope people from the other side don't try to sneak a peek.
People say honor is always the first casualty in war, but they should also add modesty to the saying.
The undercover princess takes a quick look at Éclair, who is taking off her black pot helmet. The dishonored knight holds the end of her long hair up in front of her face. Her mouth twists in grimace as she sees it splitting at the end like dried hay.
It seems even a brutish heiress like House Seatto still cares for her look. This little gossip aside, there's another problem Mein is facing.
As a glorified political hostage, Éclair has been stationed at capital for all her life. She will be able to recognize the face of the first princess for sure, even if they barely shared ten conversations throughout the years. But there is also no excuse for Mein to not take a dip into the inviting hot spring, especially after two days of travelling on the road.
Raphtalia pops open another bottle of shampoo besides the undercover princess. This was Naofumi's failed attempt number... is it twelve? To be fair, the potion works great at making their hair look radiating even after a hard day of adventure. The smell is another problem.
"That's foul." Éclair's attention is drawn towards Raphtalia. Her brows twist together as she starts to walk towards Raphtalia. "Are you playing with a stink bomb, child? You shouldn't play with poison."
"Oh, no. That's a hair caring potion from Master Naofumi's world he's trying to recreate. The bad smell is just a flaw he hasn't fixed yet." Mein holds Éclair by her shoulder. "See how Raphtalia's hair is practically twinkling even after a fight? That's all thanks to this 'Shampoo' potion Master Naofumi made. You can try for yourself."
"Really?" Éclair looks back at Raphtalia, who is rubbing the thick potion over her hair, creating a bundle of bubbles. The knight turns back to Mein, slowly unwinding the knot between her eyes. "That's incredible. If he succeeds, I can see all the female knights throwing themselves at Sir Shield Hero in gratitude."
Isn't that a depressing thought. But forget about the brutish knights and adventurers, the Shield Hero can make a fortune selling this potion to all the highborn ladies - if they somehow manage to hide the foul odor, of course.
Raphtalia jumps up from the rock she's been using for a stool. She pours some of the gooey substance out of the bottle into Éclair's hands, and starts to show the Seatto heiress how to apply it to her hair. The disgraced knight puts all her attention into imitating the demi-human child, not realizing Mein doesn't follow their lead and takes off her leather helmet.
A dozen different thoughts fly inside Mein's head, faster than the Melromarc royal wyvern corps. On the one hand, House Seatto isn't popular with the rest of the Melromarc nobility. While their emphasis on honesty and honor is at worst a subject of ridicule in feasts and banquets, their hard stance on human and demi-human equality makes them practically the most hated noble house in this nation.
But on the other hand... House Seatto's infamy doesn't exactly mean the same thing for their young heiress.
House Melromarc traced their origin back to the old kingdom of Hibernia, where both men and women are considered equal both in court, and on the battlefield. But this the culture of their nation takes more influence from Albion and Gallia, for this country was the Kingdom of Gallia less than three hundred years ago.
Men fight the wars, women rule the court. Or the saying goes, where the male heirs pursue martial careers, while the ladies prepare themselves to run state affairs. That has been the compromise made between House Melromarc's Hibernia legacy, and the existing nobility of Gallia. It has worked out well for their nation for over two centuries, until the Great War.
During Siltvelt's occupation of Melromarc, most heiresses of the great houses are taken as spoils of war, killed during the battle, or committed suicide. That's the reason why so many Melromarc great houses have lords instead of ladies as head of house. Those who managed to not only survive, but thrive are ladies who are trained since youth in martial pursuits, such as mother of Iris, Lady Mirellia Reiser Armelia nee Anderson, or her own Mother.
As a result, young heiresses who excel in martial ability like the old warrior ladies of Hibernia is considered to be the more desirable by both the nobility, and the common born. That's why amongst the two daughters of Prince Joseph, Princess Josephine is more beloved by the commoners and favored by her father compared to Princess Isabella. Even if the elder princess is the daughter of his mistress, and the younger princess is the daughter of his wife.
Gossip amongst the nobility aside, the most prominent figure of the young 'warrior ladies' of this current generation are those who not only enjoy wielding a sword, but also hold martial titles. Such as Knight Captain Tabitha, the commander of Melromarc's wyvern knights, and of course, Knight Captain Éclair Seatto.
Furthermore, House Seatto had been the staunchest ally of Mother after the Great War. And nobody can dispute Lord Uther's honesty despite his stance on supporting demi-human rights. Flipping around his daughter from Mother's faction to her own will give the rest of Melromarc nobility tangible proof of her ability as a worthy heir to the throne. Even if Mother still supports her younger sister.
Yes, now that she thinks about it, gaining the allegiance of the Seatto heiress will no doubt be another important piece of puzzle to the game. Just like gaining the support of the Shield Hero.
Raphtalia dumps a bucket of water down her head to wash away the foam. She is about to jump right into the hot spring when she stops her foot mid-air to look up at Mein. "Aren't you going into the bath, big sister Mein?"
"You go ahead, Raphtalia." Mein gives the child a gentle push on her shoulder. "Big sister Mein is going to have a little chat with our new companion... and make sure the halfling doesn't peek at us."
"NO! You aren't sneaking into a women's bath!" Naofumi's voice seems to cut through the heated fog across their newly constructed hot spring pound. "I'll put you inside a [Shield Prison], if I have to!"
"Argh! Where is your sense of youth, and adventure, Shield Hero? You are no fun." Zylden's whining follows right after.
"See what I mean?"
Raphtalia cocks her head sideways. The child is obviously still too young to understand why someone like the imp might sneak up on them. She nods her head in the end before she jumps into the hot spring with a running start.
"Is there something wrong?" Éclair dumps a bucket of water onto her head, following Raphtalia's example. The disgraced knight obviously heard what Mein said to Raphtalia. Oh, well. There's no point beating around the bushes. She'll be fine as long as Kyubey, and by extension her Naofumi doesn't overhear them.
The undercover princess slowly pulls down her mask, hood, and takes off her helmet. Éclair's narrowed eyes and pursed lips slowly opens wide as she removes the garments around her head. "Your hi-!"
"Quiet." Mein quickly covers the knight's mouth. She leans closer to whisper into Éclair's ears. "All of our lives are forfeit, if my true identity is exposed."
Éclair's eyebrow rises into her hairline, but the disgraced knight nods her head and stops struggling against Mein's hand.
The incognito princess slowly releases her grip on Éclair's face, carefully watching the knight's facial expression for any sudden movements. To her relief, the Seatto heiress doesn't try anything unwise. She takes a deep breath while putting her helmet back on, trying to use the moment to organize her thoughts and what she'll say to Éclair.
The Seatto heiress may be trained as a knight, but it doesn't mean she has no knowledge on the game being played. Her previous conversations with the Shield Hero showed Éclair not to be a brute who wildly flailed a sword.
Realizing she lacks a lot of information, the undercover princess decided to throw out a bait to gauge her opponent. "I'm hiding my true identity to assist the Shield Hero right now, after I discovered a conspiracy to harm the Shield Hero on the night of the Hero's summoning. I don't know who can be trusted in Father's court. That's why I've been living the life of a vagabond with the Shield Hero after the summoning ritual."
Éclair tried to school her expression. But her eyes grow wide again, ever so slightly when the conspiracy is mentioned. It seems like the previously imprisoned knight captain isn't living under a rock after all. Second hand information from Uncle Aldrecht, perhaps?
Regardless, it seems her gamble paid off.
The princess presses her advantage by throwing out the question in her mind, trying to judge how much the Seatto heiress knows about the situation. "You mentioned Uncle Aldrecht helped you escape the dungeon? What happened?"
"Yes... Master Aldrecht faked my death by passing me a hibernation potion masked for poisoned wine. That's how he got me out of the dungeon." The knight's lips tremble, as if she's trying to say something more but bites down on her words at the last moment. It seems like the Seatto heiress doesn't trust her.
Mein can't blame her, despite how aggravating this game of walking in circles is. As the first princess, she hasn't done anything to endear herself to the chivalrous Seatto heiress, after all. But even confirming the actions of Uncle Aldrecht is good information. Considering his absolute loyalty to Father, he'd sooner drive a blade into his own heart than betray Father.
Which means the circumstance is dire enough for Uncle Aldrecht to go behind Father's back, if he has to smuggle Éclair out of the castle dungeon by faking her own death.
Considering Éclair's request to retrieve her family heirloom, and information from Iris earlier about the Church scouring the land for powerful ancient artifacts... well, there can only be one truth. "It's the Pope of the Three Heroes' Church, isn't it? He's trying to appropriate the powerful family heirloom of House Seatto."
"You knew, your hi..." Éclair almost blurts out Mein's true identity once again, but the disgraced knight manages to compose herself. "You are highly correct. I suppose Master Aldrecht would clue you in on his plan. The two of you have always been close."
"Well, let's just say I have my source of information, and leave it at that." Mein turns around, standing side by side with Éclair instead of face to face. She's trying to present herself as an ally for the entrapped Seatto heiress, after all. "I know I haven't acted as the most proper heir to the throne. My little sister is definitely the more proper princess. But I'm your friend, when it comes to opposing the Church's influence. An overbearing religious organization, who has generous donations from the nobility and controls their own army isn't good for the stability of this nation, no matter who sits on the throne."
Éclair looks deeply into Mein's eyes for a few moment, and the princess in disguise looks right back. After a few breaths, the Seatto heiress relents and nods her head. "You are right, my lady."
"Please, no formalities needed. I'm still Mein from Samphor, the Shield Hero's first companion." The princess notices Éclair's eye twitching again when the town of Samphor is mentioned. Ah, no doubt, she picks up on the symbolic connection with the reigning Ascart family.
Ironic, since the only reason she picked Samphor as her supposed town of origin is simply because it's in the middle of nowhere. Less chance for someone to say how there has never been a 'Mein of Samphor'.
"Yes, Master Aldrecht revealed the truth of my father's passing. He suspect it was an assassination attempt from the Three Heroes' Church. To get rid of Father." Éclair walks together with Mein towards the edge of the hot spring. They keep their conversation quiet while they mind a less crowded spot in a corner away from the refugees.
Good thing there aren't as many women as there are men in their group. No doubt, not everyone in their village made it with their lives all the way south into Crownland.
Mein and Éclair's attempt to find a quiet spot is made even easier by said refugees of Reichnott County. The sickly looking refugee women quickly shuffle away from the two of them wherever they walk. No doubt, they don't trust the adventurers who were fighting their men less than half a day ago.
"So, Uncle Aldrecht thinks the Three Heroes' Church is the prime force to blame, huh? Hmm..." Mein sits down on a large boulder at the edge of the small pound, she puts her empty left hand under her chin to make a thinking pose.
"Do you accuse the royal battle mage wrong in this assumption?" Éclair whips her head around as she slowly slides herself into hot water. The knight's tone is more aggressive than before. No doubt, she has a lot of gratitude towards what uncle Aldrecht did for her.
"Not wrong, per say. Oh, I have no doubt the Three Heroes' Church is the culprit who plunged the dagger in Lord Seatto's back. A fate he didn't deserve, you have my condolence." Mein gently runs her gloved hand along Éclair's shoulder, trying to sooth the disgraced knight. "Using the Wave of Catastrophe as a guise to rid themselves of a political enemy long at their side, and clear the way to a powerful artifact? Why, the opportunity is too good for the church to pass up. But uncle Aldrecht wasn't exactly a player in the game. There are more ... subtle under the table happenings he isn't aware of."
Éclair simply stares into her eyes, as if she's trying to find any clue of falsehood. It's a reaction that's expected from the Seatto heiress, considering Mein's reputation as the first princess of Melromarc.
Good thing she's only telling the truth. Granted, it's a highly modified truth without giving the full context, but it's still the truth, nonetheless. "Did you know before her trip to Cal Mira Island, my Queen Mother intended to name Lord Seatto the regent of Melromarc in her absence?"
Éclair's eyes open wide once again, to the point her eyeballs threaten to fall out of their sockets. Good, the Seatto heiress is at least well educated in the rules of the game to know a promotion can't be taken at face value.
Jumping through the already appointed regent king, and naming the wildly unpopular Lord Seatto into office? Why, that might as well be an invitation to have him assassinated by his many political enemies.
Of course, the Seatto heiress doesn't need to know how Lord Claes managed to stop Mother from carrying through this most idiotic appointment. Using this exact reason to convince Mother to rescind her order before it went through.
Duke Luigi may not be an active, or even a passive aggressive player in the game like Lord Amelia. But he's seen enough of how the court works to know an obvious bad decision.
"Impossible... impossible. " Éclair slouches into the water. Her voice cracks up despite how quiet the tone. No doubt, the Seatto heiress has seen Mother as her personal hero growing up, like many young noble ladies in this current generation. "That's idiotic. Why would Her Majesty do that? She's... she's not that s... she's smarter than that."
"Pardon me for my lack of sensitivity, but the Game of Thrones is kind of like chess. You intentionally sacrifice powerful pieces, only when you try to gain a superior position." Mein takes off her rough leather gloves, to gently brush her hand through Éclair's pink hair. "Mother has relied a lot on Three Heroes' Church to stabilize the country after the Great War. No doubt she realized she created her strongest political enemy in doing so. My guess is she wanted to lure them, and any of her potential enemies within the nobility out by appointing Lord Seatto as the regent in her absence."
Mein takes a short pause, filling her thirst with her water skin. "I don't think she intended for Lord Seatto to lose his life over yet. But obviously she underestimated how many enemies she has within her own country, their strength, and the unfortunate coincidence of the first Wave just so happen to land inside Lord Seatto's realm, which created the worst tragedy this nation has seen since the conclusion of the Great War."
"Even then... it can't be true. The Queen, Her Majesty won't simply toss us away like some kind of pawns on a chessboard. We are her most loyal allies." Éclair's arm moves up above the hot water. She crosses her arms across her chest, letting her hands rest on her shoulder. One of the hands unconsciously clenches Mein's hand.
To be fair, Lord Seatto is at least a bishop. But Mein doesn't think an attempt at levity is the best way to work Éclair subtly in her favor. The incognito princess turns her hand around, wrapping her fingers firmly around Éclair's callous filled hand.
The lady knight's hand is much more rough than her own, likely from long hours of training with her sword. Another reason why Mein herself never favored a sword, even if she's taught the best fencing form by her coach Zellus. A princess' hand can't be as rough as a tree's bark, if she wishes to find a good betrothal.
"I'm sorry to be the one to deliver the bad news. But this is how my Queen Mother runs her court. No connection is too sacred, no ally is too loyal, when it comes to making a sacrificial play." Once again, the undercover princess finds irony in her mindless choice for her adventurer persona's choice of origin. "Do you remember Count Dan Ascart? He was Mother's aide before Duke Luigi, and he suffered a very similar fate as your father. Lord Ascart may be lucky enough to escape with his life, but his reputation was ruined thanks to Mother."
"What do you mean? Do you mean how his daughter Sofia was born with white hair, and the nobility framed his wife for having an affair with White Tiger and he himself a Siltvelt collaborator?" Éclair twist her body around in water to look at Mein once again. She slowly turns her body forward and shakes her head. "No, that's definitely not Her Majesty's fault. Nobody could have foreseen his daughter born with white hair."
"You are right, Lord Ascart having a white haired daughter isn't Mother's fault. But do you remember what happened before, and after Sofia's birth?" Mein leans closer into Éclair's ear, her voice lower into a bare whisper. "After the war, Mother was the one who worked with the Three Heroes' Church to stabilize the country. And she appointed Count Ascart to work on legislation to give demi-human equal rights to humans. That's what made Count Ascart the public enemy to the nobility, while she herself courted the church to legitimize her own rule."
It's not exactly a fair assessment to Mother, of course, since playing the game with the newly appointed Pope Balmus is a tricky affair that requires both cunning and charm in equal measure. But still, it's the obviously safer choice of the two.
The princess continues to breathe more poison into Éclair's ear to smear her mother's name. "And remember what happened after Sofia's birth? Mother threw Lord Ascart to the court full of hungry balloons. She gave Lord Ascart an ultimatum: Disown his daughter and divorce his wife, or else return to his own County and never come back to Crownland. Instead of protecting someone who gave him support for her rule, she publicly disgraced Lord Ascart to keep her fair, and just ruler's image."
"No, no... it can't be real." The knight's breath becomes ragged. It's clear her mental defenses are on the verge of collapsing. But it's stilling hanging by a thread, either out of misplaced loyalty, honor, or stubbornness to defend her childhood hero.
All it needs is one final push to completely destroy Mother's image, and hopefully pick up the pieces for herself. And Mein happens to know what ammunition to use against Mother.
The undercover princess mentally whispers a prayer of forgiveness to Raphtalia. To use a secret the girl shared with her at her weakest moment for a possible political gain by framing Mother's involvement. It's nothing short of the most despicable act.
Then again, honor is always the first casualty in any war.
"Look at Raphtalia." Mein subtly points the finger resting on Éclair's shoulder towards Raphtalia. The innocent child is having fun pedalling in the hot spring pound alongside Firo. It's hard to imagine this careless girl used to be a traumatized child only a few weeks before. "She used to be a slave Master Naofumi purchased from an underground, illegal skin trader."
"Yes, I gathered from what Lord... Emon said." The Faubley Inquisitor's name comes out like spit. Ah, Mein almost forgot how Éclair obviously had worshipped the zealous old fool as another personal hero less than a week ago.
How unfortunate - two of her idols and inspirations would crumble within the same week. Oh well, one man's stupidity, is another's opportunity.
"But you obviously don't know who her last master was." Mein can feel Éclair's head turn again, not to fully face her, but probably enough to catch her in the periphery. "It was Viscount Consevatie."
Éclair's breath seems to suddenly stop, until it starts back on just as fast. "The child loving deviant."
"I see I don't need to remind you of his infamy, as the saying goes:" Mein's whisper is joined by Éclair's murmur. "No way for a child to escape the Vulture's nest, other than through the sewer into the moat below - where centuries of mud, filth, and garbage can't mask the stench of death."
"The saying is probably exaggerated, like any gossip within the nobility circle. But I seen what little Raphtalia was like." Mein's voice becomes deeper, as she reminds herself how lost and scared the little girl was inside Beloukas' tent. "She lost the life of her best friend in captivity. When Master Naofumi picked her up, she barely had any will to continue living. Hard to imagine someone like her surviving Viscount Consevatie's 'care. Which begs the question, how did she survive? Maybe some kind of order from the Queen of Melromarc? To use a sick and traumatized child as a burden to tie the prosecuted Shield Hero within Melromarc's border, perhaps?"
Mein has to admit, out of all her smearing attempts at her mother, this last one is the most ridiculous. In fact, it is borderline on the same level as Father's attempt to vilify her Naofumi. She simply hopes Éclair's current mental state is too fragile to think everything through rationally.
Lucky for the undercover princess, that's exactly what happened to the dishonored knight. She completely slumps into the hot spring, head dropped almost right into her chest. Her hands slowly lose their grip on her shoulder, sliding down, down and down into the pound of hot spring.
Mein can hear tiny little whispers coming from Éclair, but it sounds like it comes from some lost revenant instead. "No, that means... everything we did, father did... we wasted our lives for nothing..."
The princess in disguise doesn't say anything more. She simply sits still as a statue behind the Seatto heiress, letting her deal with the despair of Mother's false image crumbling down the pedestal. After a while, she can no longer hear any sound coming from Éclair. It makes Mein briefly wonder if the knight withered away due to intense grief.
"I'm not my mother." Mein leans close to Éclair once again, whispering into the knight's ear.
"P, pardon me?" Éclair's voice cracks, but she is at least responding to Mein's words.
"You saw me around the palace. I'm not a properly raised heir to the throne, like my younger sister. But I'm not my mother either." Mein takes another pause to organize her thoughts for one last moment. Now is the most important step of her plan.
All this attempt to undermine the carefully cultivated image Mother built for herself will be ultimately pointless - self defeating, even, if she can't win Éclair's loyalty for herself. "Mother gathers as many followers as she can, with her rightful title of the High Queen. But she treats everyone as disposable pieces on a chessboard. I on the other hand... I don't have many people I keep close. But I take care of my friends. That's why I gave up my comfortable life as a princess, and traveled with the Shield Hero like a vagabond. That's why I've been taking care of little Raphtalia together with Master Naofumi."
Éclair's head turns ever so slightly, enough for the knight to look at the demi-human child still pedalling in the hot spring. "Yes... I can see that. You can't even tell the little one was in Viscount Consevatie's possession at one time. And she trusted you, almost like you are her mother."
Mein can't help but jerk backwards at Éclair's word. Herself, as a surrogate mother? No, the distraught knight doesn't know what she's saying. How can she be a mother herself, when her own mother completely lacked maternal instincts for her entire life?
But she's not going to look at a gift Filorial in the beak.
"Well... we try to give her a good life, Master Naofumi and I, after what she's been forced through." The princess in disguise leaned her head down towards Éclair once again. "The point is, I'm not my mother. And I don't want to become her. After all of this is over... you don't have to go back to Mother like a lost little puppy begging for her attention, if you don't want to."
"That's a lot to take in... I admit. I don't get to see you a lot back then." Éclair's words make Mein blush. What the Seatto heiress meant, was she doesn't have too much good words for the first princess. Considering the frequent times they would meet each other while she fostered in the palace, or trained in the yard. "I never imagined you are the type to take care of a demi-human child who needs a family. Guess I should have paid more attention, not judging a book by its cover."
"Of course. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to excuse myself for my spoiled behavior back then. But I didn't exactly know what it meant to have responsibility, like I do now." Mein gives Éclair's shoulder one last squeeze before releasing her grip. "You don't have to decide right away, of course. Actions speak louder than words, even in a court filled with honeyed gilded poison. I'll let you decide if I'm someone worth supporting, after our current adventure is over."
By all means, Mein wants to have the Seatto heiress swear fealty to her right this moment. But sometimes to completely win a target's loyalty, it's more important to give them space first.
"P - EW! I usually don't complain about freshly bathed beauties, but what happened to the three of you?" Mein quickly covers Raphtalia's ear again, protecting the child's innocence from the indecency of the Imp. "Did all of you wash yourself in zombie feces?"
"No. For your information, we used some of the shampoo Master Naofumi tried to create." Mein glares right back down at the half man.
One eyebrow quickly rises up into his hair. Zylden seems to be at a loss for words. "Well, just because the excrement doesn't come from a zombie, doesn't mean you should roll yourself in it."
"Oh, for the love of..." Naofumi is pulling at his own hair behind Zylden. "It's a hair cleaning potion!"
"Hair cleaning potion? Now that you mentioned it... their hair does seem to be twinkling." Zylden rubs his chin while looking through Mein, Raphtalia and Éclair. "Show me a sample. Let me see if I can figure out what's wrong. My expertise is with enchantments, but I dabble in alchemy too."
"Mr. Zylden wants to take a look at Master Naofumi's hair cleaning potion." Mein releases her hand around Raphtalia's ears. She gives the girl a gentle push. "Show him, Raphtalia."
"Okay!" Raphtalia takes a bottle out of her cloth and hands it to Zylden.
The imp holds the bottle back and forth in front of his comically large eyes. Giving the bottle a swirl, finally popping off the stopper to take a sniff, he immediately throws up on the ground, while he struggles to force the wooden stopper back in its place. "P-EW! As I thought, rotten Egg-Up whites! What gave you this bright idea, Shield Hero? I thought they were stink bombs!"
"One of my companions..." Words suddenly stop coming out of Naofumi's mouth. He's probably reminded of the insane Lautrec, and wondering what the lizard man is currently up to. "Smashed an Egg-Up on Raphtalia's head when it tried to eat her. After Mein washed her hair, her hair started to practically glow. That's what reminded me of sham-"
Naofumi stops himself from using the highly misleading word. "-the hair cleaning potion from my world was made with egg whites."
"And you tried to cover up the foul smell with a combination of spices... well, I think you made the smell worse. ACHOO!" The imp blows out a few loud sneezes, he rubs his nose with his free hand. "Well, at least it's a passable nasal cleanser."
"I'm open to suggestions." Naofumi shrugs his shoulders at the imp, not offended by Zylden's choice of words. "I can't sell this stuff, when the stink wakes up the dead."
"I'm assuming you used the rotten white of smashed Egg Ups. Well, don't! Slap a couple of monster seals on alive ones, and use whites from those instead." Zylden hands the bottle of failed prototype hair washing potion back to Raphtalia.
"Alive ones?" Naofumi's eyes blink a couple of times, the Shield Hero scratches his nose while he looks up at the skyline covered up by foliage. "I already have three balloons following me around. Shouldn't be too hard to keep some Egg Ups."
"Of course, even the tub of lard keep three Egg Ups with him." Zylden points his finger at Walter Hickwaal. "The white and yolk of Egg Up rot almost instantly, when their shells are destroyed. Most likely because its soul power leaves its corporeal form. But if you somehow manage to kill it by keeping its shell intact, you can keep it fresh for a good half a day. And if you happen to domesticate one of them, well... you get an near infinite supply of egg whites, so long as you keep the little buggers fed and happy."
The sound of a wagon slowly tumbling across uneven terrain can be heard in the distance. It seems the refugees manage to actually fix the broken axis of Walter's transport.
"Ah, speaking of the devil..." Walter quickly turned to give Naofumi a sheepish smile. "Sorry, hope you didn't take offense to that. Anyways, I better go check up my merchandise, and I'll bring my little treats to you."
The fat merchant runs towards the refugee's encampment, with his escort of mercenaries.
Naofumi's eyes follow Walter till he disappears through some bushes. "Okay, if getting almost unlimited egg whites is as easy as taming some Eggies and feeding them scraps, why haven't I seen some kind of Eggy farms around? Like filorial ranches."
"Egg Up aren't as hard to kill as filorials, that's why. In fact, they are too easy to kill." The imp takes a swig from his wineskin, as he sits down on a tree stump. "One hundred silver coins isn't a small number to invest on something like an Egg Up. And a child can destroy them by tossing rocks at them. You don't even have to worry about your competition, or some thugs trying to muscle you out of the business. A few annoying damn kids who have too much energy, and every rock on the open plains is all it takes to burn your entire life saving down."
Zylden takes another drink before continuing. "That's why only rich merchants, or nobles with their own keep can afford to own a couple of Egg Ups in secured rooms, to supply them for their breakfast, or as dessert for family dinners. They can actually keep those fragile little buggers locked behind a secure room."
"I see..." Naofumi nods his head along. He looks down at the three orange abominations of death bouncing and frolicking around his feet. "Maybe I can make them stronger, just like my Yuzu. The wild balloons pop when you stab them with a branch, but my Yuzu shrug away sword slashes and spear thrusts."
"That's the spirit! Well, tell me how well your experiment goes. I'm always curious to see creative mind dance circles around conventional wisdom."
That's when Walter makes his way back, holding three Egg Up with monster seals on their shells... and a big creature with thick grey wool drooping down its pointy head, and long stone slab like body.
Mein assumed Walter's wagon is also pulled by one, or maybe two filorials similar to their own ironwood cart. But now she thinks back, the merchant didn't release his filorials on the Reichnott County refugees like Wolfgang and Firo. Now she knows why this is the case, since the merchant doesn't have a filorial to begin with.
Naofumi's eyebrow rises at the creature. "What's that?"
"Why, a muffalo, of course! The best beast of burden for us traveling merchants!" Walter turns around to look at the large, but gentle creature. He places the Egg Ups in his arms down on the ground. "They can't run as fast as filorials or the knights' dragons. But in exchange, they have almost unlimited stamina to pull a large, heavy supply wagon for us. They produce milk, and you can shear their wool off once in a while, and use them to make clothes."
"It's very cute." Naofumi walks closer to the creature to pet it. The muffalo lets out a happy mooing.
Firo on the other hand is not amused at Naofumi complimenting another creature. The dumb bird quickly shoves her way into Naofumi's side and start to furiously nuzzle at the Shield Hero. "GUAH!"
"You are cute too, Firo." Naofumi smiles and scratches Firo's head and chin, making the bird coos happily. He turns around to look at the muffalo again. "You mentioned it produces milk? Milk with fruit juice is what we serve in Japanese bathhouses. We can add this to part of the service."
"Why, yes. You are in luck, Master Shield Hero. Muffalos should have some free milk available right now, and we can make some tasty treats with egg white from Eggbert, Eggbart, and Eggburg." The Egg Ups hop up and down behind Walter, making gurgling noises.
The leathery sphere of death and pain jumps right in front of Walter's Egg Ups. Both sides regard each other in what seems to be confusion as they tilt their bodies left and right, then start baring fangs at the others. Walter laughs at their display, as he gently scratches the top of Naofumi's balloons. "Haha, your balloons are pretty cute too. Never thought I'd say that."
"Are there any fruit trees around here?" Naofumi turns around to look at the raven haired boy, the one with the same name as the Sword Hero.
"No fruit trees around here. Not anything we can eat, anyways. But there are some bushes for Blackcurrent Berries close by. We've been foraging them together with some wild vegetables, when we can't hunt enough monsters for meat, or feed ourselves from other ways..." Ren's voice grows quieter near the end. It's obvious he meant robbing travellers.
"I see... well, lead the way and point me to them anyways." Naofumi waves his arm up, indicating he wants to get a good look at the berries the young gunner is talking about. "Never heard of Blackcurrent Berries back home. Let's see what they taste like."
"They are pretty common here in Crownland, you probably ate them already without realizing it, Shield Hero boy." Gaston walks over to Naofumi and rests his hand on the young man's shoulder. "It looks almost like the one you served last night. Only with black stripes running over its skin."
"They are just over that way, a few minutes' walk into the trees. Stay away from the cold trees, if you don't want a frostbite." Ren points his hand over to the other side of the hot spring. "I'll take you to them right now."
"I'm coming with you, Ren." Nora picks up her hammer and jumps up from the ground. "I'll have to watch your back."
The glare aimed at the Shield Hero makes it clear who she's watching the young highwayman's back from.
"Should I come too, Master Naofumi?" Mein turns her attention away from Walter's men, who are busy milking the muffalos and pouring out the egg whites.
"Don't worry. It's only a short walk, and I have Firo, Gaston and Wolfgang with me. You sit tight right over here, with Raphtalia." Naofumi waves his hand nonchalantly, as he starts to walk away with the hunter, the birds, and the two previous robbers.
It doesn't take long for the little group to return. In fact, they are back almost as soon as they leave. To the point the mercenaries haven't finished filling their buckets with freshly produced muffalo milk. Either the location for the Blackcurrent Berry bushes is truly close, or something bad happened to them.
A quick glance atop of Wolfgang's back explains the reason. Firo is slumped over the bigger bird's back, her peaks cluttering together while her feathers fall down due to her constant shivering. The muffled squeak shows the bird to be in some kind of pain.
"I hope you know what to do, Zylden. I think Firo is poisoned."
End Note:
So, just in case most people forgot I am writing Malty, here is a chapter where Malty does Malty stuff... and get away with it. While she is most definitely slowly become a better person, and learning how there is more to life than the Game of Throne, I still want her to be herself and not become an entirely different character.
In the Queen's Interlude, I exposed how she's no more competent than her husband. My personal opinion is she is no more competent than her husband canonically, rather than I'm going to make her dumber for my story. Because once again, I think she's the one who should be most to blame for Naofumi's initial mistreatment.
Yes, Malty is the one who metaphorically pulled the trigger, and Trash added fuel to the fire due to his bias, the country's ultimate ruler is the Queen. If she's actually a great ruler like the author intended, she should have set up precautions to ensure something as bad as canonical event never happened.
Because if we think about it, the Three Heroes Church didn't only specifically target the Shield Hero due to religious prejudice. The Pope wanted to stage a coup (and basically succeeded, if the story didn't have the typical main character intervention) and overthrow the royal family. This means the faction has been planning such a conspiracy for a long time and she either wasn't even aware of it, or didn't set up enough precaution to stop it from happening. All signs point to she failed the ONE job a ruler absolutely needed to do right, 'balance all the internal factions under your rule, and not get overthrown'.
And consider the way she solved this problem after she returned. She flat out outlawed the faith that's more or less her nation's bedrock with a snap of her finger like she's Thanos (as opposed to use the opportunity of the Pope's failed coup to slowly dismantle the Church). Yeah, it's a cathartic action from the point of the main character (and most readers, by assumption)... except if the world of RotSH actually made logical sense she just destabilized her own country and throw it into a possible religious civil war, while the rest of the world is mighty pissed off at her country, and a natural disaster is periodically happening. The only reason things didn't end up badly for Melromarc, and the entire world by extension is all thanks to the author's mighty narration magic of 'and everything worked out'.
Honestly, the more I think deeper about it as I write my story, the more I think the Queen is a complete political idiot.
Guest review time.
To Todd:
That's a very good question... which I can't say I know the canonical answer since I'm not really a RotSH canon lore buff. In fact, you probably noticed I intentionally disregard canon out of my own creative whim, mostly because I personally believe canon should always be treated as a suggestion than hard rule when it comes down to fan fiction making to not stiffen creativity. Unless the writer in question is intending to write a canon continuation.
I suppose the crest feather has some kind of limiter to stop it from self-replicating? Like for example, only the true Queen can replicate it and it would otherwise lose effect once it's plucked, or only those who pass the Queen's trial can actually unlock their effect?
To Shiranai Atsune:
Once again, thank you very much for your kind words. Hope you (and everyone else reading this story) can continue to have fun reading this story.
To Guests:
Glad you liked Katarina's presence. She's definitely my favorite out of the three villainess.
;)
I absolutely agree with you on this topic. Being good and moral should not be the easy way, or otherwise where is the stake of being a good person? Striving to be good should be difficult and full of pain especially in RotSH's jaded world, that's more Game of Throne than Lord of the Ring.
I don't want to spoil too much of my future story. But rest assured, Naofumi's optimism in being a good and moral person will come back and hurt him later in this story.