Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit! Also special thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
The dining room of Burden's Rest Inn starts to fill out as the sun dips further below the mountain, dying the room in a golden gleam. Compared to the dining room of Deidric's Inn back in the capital, what Burden's rest lacks in luxury decor, it makes up for with the sheer size. The long tables can easily fit a good five or six dozen hungry travellers, or local residents in its spacious room.
A fitting design for Crown land's last major travelling and trading hub bordering the two northern provinces. Now dinner and drinking time is fast approaching, the room is starting to fill with people. Most of them with tired and varied faces, clad in armor or travelling cloak, with a few adopting slightly fancier attire. Travellers, merchants and their escorts. No doubt, they are too scared to take their chances to leave the walled town with an angry dragon periodically flying over their heads.
Kyubey seems to pick up his old profession, as the rabbit demi-human barters with some of the better dressed merchants for the 'popsicles' Naofumi made. The exotic food is a runaway success, judging from the near-empty boxes where the popsicles used to be, and pouches of money in front of Kyubey.
Mein grabs a wooden plate for her mead, and honey water for Naofumi and Raphtalia. She sits down on their table and sets the cups down, then has a sip of the slightly sweet drink in her hand. As a well breed and educated princess of the Crownland, she always preferred wine over mead. But she has to admit, the local Honningbrew mead isn't too shabby for her taste buds.
"Aren't you forgetting about lil' old me?" Zylden looks up from his stool, noticing Mein didn't bother to get him a drink like the Shield Hero and the demi-human child.
"Do I look like your personal servant, imp?" The undercover princess scoffs at the disowned noble, the day she's forced to serve someone like Zylden is the day she concedes the throne to her little sister. Mein gives a quick glance at Naofumi, noticing the frown of disapproval on the young man's face. "Plus, you had enough drink for the day, I'm not going to bring you more poison. If you want more, go get it yourself, or have a serving wench do it for you."
Zylden looks around the room, no doubt ogling at the wenches in question. The serving girls in Burden's rest are noticeably taller and more muscular than the ones from the capital, most likely thanks to their ancient Midgardian descent. Hibernia warrior women of the old age aren't dainty flowers, but their build still pales compared to the Midgard shield maidens.
"You know, that's not a bad idea. Got to share the love around." The imp hops down his stool with a whistle. It appears the half man loves himself some strong women.
Mein turns around, noticing Naofumi has his hands covered in Raphtalia's ears. "We should get to Balafon quickly and ditch that man. He is a bad influence for Raphtalia."
The Shield Hero appears to be mumbling something under his breath. It sounds very similar to 'I don't know what I expected'. He shakes his head and uncovers Raphtalia's ears. "I'm not sure about going ahead with a dragon flying and shouting above. At least not when the sun is setting."
"True, a lot of dragons are nocturnal by nature. And they see better in the dark than most humans and demi-humans. We aren't safe traveling in the dark." Mein picks up her drink again to have a second taste, feeling the strength of the mead starting to come into effect.
Chapter 34: To Kill a Shouting Dragon
"Sir Shield Hero." Éclair's voice causes Naofumi to look at the dishonored Seatto. "may I have the permission to take some of the money we earned, and visit the smithy?"
"Did the sword we got you from Uncle Elhard not working out?"
"No, the iron sword is well crafted. I just thought now we made some extra coins with your popsicles, I should see if I can find something better. For all of us." The knight's black pot helmet turns to look outside. "We might end up fighting a dragon soon. I don't think an iron weapon will cut through its scales."
"Ah, good point. You probably know most about weapons, aside from maybe Farkas." Naofumi nods his head, and pushes all his money pouches forward to Éclair. "Be careful with them. That's all our traveling funds for this quest."
"Worry not, Sir Shield Hero. I will spill my blood and guts before I spill a single piece of your copper." The knight hammers her right fist on her chest just above her heart. She takes the pouches and leaves the dining room. Presumably to go check the smithy right beside the town gate.
"Shield Hero!" Gaston's voice brings their attention to the loud hunter. It seems the Lute man came back after feeding their birds in the stable. He's currently half guiding, half pushing the short, stocky inn keeper forward. "I want you to meet my man, LeFou!"
"Oh, hey... Master, err... Shield Hero." LeFou stutters while stealing glances at Gaston's eye patch, when the shorter man thinks the hunter isn't looking at him. It's clear his stutter isn't an ailment, but due to his fragile nerves. "It's a... an honor, to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. LeFou." Naofumi stands up and gives the innkeeper a half bow, making the man jump on his feet in surprise. He obviously didn't expect a legendary hero to actually acknowledge him, let alone act courteously. "I feel like I know you already."
"What did I tell you, LeFou? Shield Hero boy is the nicest hero you'll ever meet." The Lute hunter slaps LeFou on the shoulder. Gaston gives LeFou a hard squeeze to have the shorter man's shoulder bump tightly into his side. "Helped train our militia for the Wave, and fought with us. All of us back in Lute survived the Wave, thanks to the Shield Hero."
"Rig - right! I heard the last wave was near the capitol. Had me worried sick for you, after what happened to House Seatto and Port Harp." The shorter man looks up at Gaston, his stutter noticeably improving. "Good to know that you are ... safe?"
Gaston looks down at his old friend's face, his brow ties into a puzzled knot before relaxing. The hunter points his free hand towards his eye patch. "What, this? Yeah, one of them red squawky bastards got me good near the end. But it's not all bad. Got the scar and eye patch to show I'm a tough sonofabitch wave survivor! Plus, the chicks dig the exotic."
LeFou furiously nods his head, like he's trying to ring a bell. But from his lack of verbal response, the inn keeper of Trumpet isn't entirely convinced.
"Don't look so down, LeFou, old pal. You can take the best hunter out of old Gaston, but you can't take old Gaston out of the best hunt." The hunter slaps LeFou again as he looks up at Naofumi. "Ask the Shield Hero. He got into a pinch back in the Wave, and old Gaston pulled the hero out of danger on his dark steed. Like one of them dashing knights from a chivalric romance. And now, I'm on a quest to act as the guide and pathfinder for the Shield Hero."
LeFou's eyebrow rises into his hair, his eyes stare wide at the Shield Hero. "Is it true, err, Master Shield Hero?"
"Sure is." Naofumi nods his head. "I got tossed into a group of dimensional goblins by a big boss monster, Gaston pulled me onto his filorial and took me to safety."
"Wow, that's great!" LeFou looks back up at the Lute hunter again. "I should have known nothing can get you down, Gaston. Not after what happened with Bell- MPFH!"
"LeFou, LeFou! Old buddy, old pal. You know I love you." Gaston looks down into the shorter man's eyes, visibly more intense borderline into being a glare. "But less is more, less is more..."
LeFou's eyes locked together with the hunter for a brief few seconds. He nods his head furiously again, and Gaston slowly relaxes the hand over his mouth.
Mein and Naofumi quickly exchange looks at each other. It's clear the Lute hunter is hiding something from his past from the Shield Hero.
"So, Mr. LeFou. I was wondering if you can tell us something about that dragon." Naofumi breaks his eye contact with Malty to look at the stocky innkeeper. He obviously dismissed whatever between Gaston and LeFou as unimportant.
"Ah, please. No need for 'Mr.', Master Shield Hero. LeFou is fine." The short man turns his head to look at Naofumi, he furiously shakes his hand this time. "As for the dragon. Well, we always know there's a flight of dragons living in the mountains north of us. Our lord even has a dragon skull fitted right over his throne, and his castle is called 'Dragon Keep'."
Naofumi's face goes blank when LeFou mentions the dragon flight. Mein quickly reaches over the table and whispers at the Shield Hero. "A 'flight' is a horde of dragons, drakes and wyverns living together, usually with a dragon emperor as their alpha, Master Naofumi."
Naofumi's head slowly moves up and down, indicating he heard Mein's word.
"Anyways, the dragons have been quiet for a long time. But two weeks ago that one dragon started flying over the town, plucking monsters from the forest and screaming up a storm. Sometimes literally. It got everyone too scared to leave their home." LeFou looks down into his hand and starts to count his fingers. "Our lord put up a bounty request to the Adventurer's Guild, requesting high level adventurers to take care of the problem... something like, five days ago? The guild hasn't got around to assemble a high level enough team yet, last I heard."
"Adventurers? Doesn't the lord have his own army?" The Shield Hero looks between Gaston, LeFou and Mein. "Why is he hiring private contractors if he has an army?"
The princess in disguise doesn't know what's a 'private contractor', but she assumes the young man from another world meant adventurers. She feels the urge to flap her face once again.
"The newer recruit for any lord's army is around level 10, Master Naofumi. And the standard soldiers are around level 15 to 30, depending on how well a lord keeps their force." Mein moves over and sits on Naofumi's side. She doesn't feel like keeping her back stretched over the table for the whole explanation. "Soldiers within level forty are known as 'common range'. They will easily get burnt to ash, or mauled down by a dragon's fang and claw. It's a needless waste of manpower, especially with the Wave going on. That's why the lord needs to contact the guild, and have them assemble an elite team all in the level 41 to 100 prestige range."
"Ah, I see." Naofumi nods his head along. "So, most high level fighters don't work for the nobility? That smells fishy. Don't the lords worry about them staging an uprising, or something?"
Hmm... her Naofumi might be uneducated in the way her world works, but he certainly catches up quickly to notice this problem.
"There are high leveled fighters and mages working for the court, and local lords. The commanders who survived the Great War twenty five years ago are all above level 40. But they have their own posts, and you can't pull all the army commanders out to deal with a single rampaging dragon. That's why the lords hire prestige level adventurers to deal with high level monster problems, mostly from the free city of Zeltoble. They have their own Dragon Hourglass, and they allow anyone a class up to rise above level 40, so long as they can pay for the enormous fee."
"I see, so the level cap helps the nobility keep the populace in line." Naofumi rubs his nose while nodding along to Mein's explanation. He turns to look at LeFou again. "You mentioned the dragons have mostly been quiet, and this flying and shouting dragon is unusual? Had something happened to agitate it, or if something like this happened before?"
"Not I know of, Master Shield Hero. Haven't heard anything strange from our guests either." LeFou shakes his head. He squints his eyes together, like he suddenly remembers something. "Although there was that one night about... ten years ago? So I heard."
The princess and the hero share a quick look at each other again. Mein tries to see if anything specially happened near the edge of Crownland around that time, but she comes up empty. She wasn't that interested in court life back then, and spent most of her time with her romance novels. Whatever happened must not be important enough to inform the whole royal family.
"Right, that was ten years ago, maybe eleven? At the time I was still living in Lute and haven't met my wife yet. But this cold winter morning, a small supply caravan rolled into Lute carrying Honningbrew mead to the queen, and..." LeFou's long speech is cut short when Gaston gives him a light slap over the head.
"Don't lose Shield Hero with your life story, LeFou. Focus on the dragon."
"Right, right. Anyways, the caravan driver stopped at the inn for a quick drink..." LeFou looks up and shivers when he sees Gaston raise his arm again. "He talked about how a fortnight before his caravan's departure, people heard a loud boom of shouting over the mountain where the dragons dwell. It sounds almost like a fight, but everyone's too scared to go check out. And it was only a night, not an angry dragon flying over our head for almost two weeks."
Mein and Naofumi look at each other again, that most definitely sounds peculiar. "You know what's going on, Mein?"
"Sorry, I don't, Master Naofumi. Maybe if we ask one of those veteran adventurers when they arrive..."
"It's was a duel for dominance between two Children of Gaia. Dragon emperors, you hairless barbarians call them. Language is intrinsic to their very being, and a fight between two Children takes the form of a fierce debate that rend the sky and split the earth." A gruff voice makes Mein jump right out of her stool. She turns around, and sure enough Farkas stand behind them looking right as rain.
Has it been eight hours already since they fought with Porter's group?
The incognito princess slowly edges away from the burly werewolf. It seems like LeFou has the same idea, as he quickly runs behind Gaston's large frame.
"Is that what it was?" Naofumi seems completely unfazed by Farkas' presence. He continues to run his nose. "But it's different this time... REN?!"
Mein briefly wonders why the young highwayman came after them, when he likely still has a bounty on his head. Now that she thinks about it... how did the teen manage to catch them up on foot anyway? Wolfgang wasn't sprinting the whole way and he was pulling an ironwood cart, but a filorial still walks much faster than a human.
The princess turns around to look at the hallway, and sees a teen wearing a dark overcoat walking in. Thin lips pressed into a slight frown underneath his cold eyes. Oh, right, the Sword Hero has the same name as that teen highwayman from Porter's group.
"Iwatani." The Sword Hero gives Naofumi a nod of acknowledgement. He walks to another long table across from them with four adventurers sitting together, no doubt his party members. The boy crosses his arms in front of his party without sitting down. "Gather your things, we are leaving."
"You are leaving with a dragon flying above, and the sky is turning dark?" Naofumi raises his eyebrow at the younger hero.
"I can't very well fight the dragon sitting inside a hotel, can I?" Ren's reply makes the noisy dining room suddenly turn deathly quiet. One can probably hear the sound of a needle dropping on the floor.
Everyone, except the imp of Casterly Rock, of course. He walks up to one burly man in a suit of leather armor, and gives the man a hard slap on the hip. "Hector! Your boss was wondering where you were. Enjoying the local hospitality too much, did you?"
The man begins coughing as he tips his cup to the side, letting perfect good beer go to waste and staining the wooden floor. "Cough, I was coming back, I swear! But there's the dragon flying around and everyone's too afraid to go out..."
"...Okay?" Naofumi blinks at the younger hero a couple of times, his eyes seem to be twitching. "Did the Adventurer's Guild already send their team here?"
"There is no need to wait for other adventurers. I can take down the dragon myself." Another wave of silence follows after Ren's bold claim. Mein noticing some of the less savory types in the dining room either tighten their fists, or are unconsciously reaching for their weapons. No doubt, the boy hero's words hurt a lot of pride in this room.
Zylden whistles at Ren's declaration. He taps two fingers on his brown before resting his hand on one of the serving girls. "Live fast while you are still young, I always say. I salute your courage, but I'll be watching you here, where there's cold drink and good company."
"You are going against an entire dragon flight, by yourself and your companions?" Naofumi points his finger at Ren, and then at the table his party sits. "Isn't this a bit... no, borderline suicidal?"
"Dragon, flight? What dragon flight?" Ren blinks his eyes and turns to look at his followers. "Did the Guild say anything about a flight of dragons?"
"No, Master Sword Hero and Master Shield Hero. The quest stated it was a single renegade dragon on a possible rampage," A big man wearing a full set of steel plates replied.
Mein turns to look at Naofumi, and the Shield Hero turns to look at her as well. They seem to be doing this a lot on this not so fine evening. While she isn't an expert on how messages are passed around on the account of it being the spymaster's duty, she has to wonder how Lord Balgruuf's request for aid gets messed up so badly. Where the aggression of a Dragon Emperor with a possible flight of lesser dragons, drakes and wyverns becomes the rampage of a single wayward dragon.
Massive administrative incompetence... or possible sabotage?
Lord Balgruuf isn't exactly a widely hated man like Lord Seatto, or Count Ascart on the account of him mostly keeps to himself and stays away from the Game. But he is still a loyal defender of the royal house, so any possible usurper would aim to harm him, or remove him from power entirely.
"Well, no matter. I checked myself. There is no dragon flight." Ren shakes his head, his words now cause a wave of murmurs to ring inside the dining room. "I had my party come straight to Trumpet to gather supplies, while I followed the dragon back to its nest. Didn't see a single other dragon around."
Farkas scoffs at the Sword Hero's revelation. "Seems like they lost the battle for dominance."
"What do you mean, Farkas?" Naofumi turns around to look at the dour werewolf.
"A battle of dominance between two true-blooded children will decide who gets to lead the flight. And the thin-blooded dragons follow the winner." Farkas bars his fangs and seems to be hissing every single syllable. Mein wonders what caused this sudden act of aggression from the wolf man. "Guess this child lost the battle, and their flight followed the winner away."
"Was that what happened ten years ago?" LeFou pokes his head out from Gaston's back. He begins to scratch through his hair while looking down at the floor. "Come to think of it... Amelie's father did mention how dragon sightings were more common a dozen summers ago."
"This talk is pointless." The Sword Hero seems to run out of patience. He leads his party to walk towards the hallway of Burden's Rest.
"Wait, Ren! Don't act rash here!" Naofumi shoots up from his stool. His hand opens and reaches out towards the boy hero, even if he can't jump across the room to pull Ren back.
The boy stops right by the door and turns around. His eyes half closed, out of fatigue or annoyance."Come with me to fight the dragon, if you are worried. Otherwise, stay out of my way while I take care of the problem."
The Sword Hero promptly stomps out of his way into the hallway. They hear the sound of the inn's front door open shortly afterwards even while Naofumi runs after the boy. He nearly collides with Éclair as she turns the corner. "Whoa! Easy there, Sir Shield Hero. Did I miss something?"
"It's Ren! He's after..." Naofumi's voice is higher than his usual calm and collected tone. Not to the same pitch as when he's clearly mad at father, but with much more urgent desperation.
Mein wonders what the Sword Hero did to have her Naofumi this worked up. Sure, the boy was his usual rude and tactless self, but Naofumi tolerated Farkas just fine. And regardless of Ren's success or failure, the outcome will benefit them.
If the Sword Hero manages to kill the dragon, they can continue on their quest for Éclair's family heirloom without the worry of being roasted by a dragon emperor's fire. If he fails however... As long as the Sword Hero doesn't die from the ordeal, it'll be a good learning experience for him. Maybe by studying the impatient boy's failure, her Naofumi can be the hero who takes down the mad dragon and gains more prestige amongst both the nobility and the commoners.
The situation seems like a win-win situation for them, without any possible risk.
"Ren's here too?! Doesn't he has a... you know?" Éclair points a finger at her pot helmet. It's clear the Seatto heiress made the same mistake as Mein not too long ago. "Did we forget something important when we stopped in the forest, and he has to be a courier..."
"NO! I mean Ren the Sword Hero. I mentioned they have the same name, remember?"
"Oh, right. You did mention it." Éclair nods her head at Naofumi's correction. "Was the Sword Hero rude to you, Sir Shield Hero? I know it's common for summoned legendary heroes to bump their heads... but please bear with him. It's important for the heroes to work together to end the Wave."
"Well, he was pretty rude, but that's not important! He's going after the dragon emperor with his party!" Naofumi sidesteps Éclair and runs into the hallway. Mein, and the rest of their party quickly follow after him.
"Isn't that a good thing, Sir Shield Hero? Surely, the Sword Hero should be strong. Maybe he can take down the dragon?" Éclair asks the question on Mein's mind.
Naofumi skits to a stop, nearly tripping over himself with his armor. A quick hand pressed on Burden Rest's door frame saves him the embarrassment of face planting straight into the road. He whips his head around to look at everyone in the hallway. "His five man team is going after a dragon. A flying, fire breathing, dragon."
Mein isn't too sure where the Shield Hero is going with this caravan of thought. Even if the Sword Hero's party is in peril, it's not like they were that helpful to her Naofumi to have him worried sick for them.
"What happens, if instead of roasting them, the dragon gets mad and flies into this town and starts burning everything in sight?" Naofumi's following words makes the princess realize the grave error of her plan. Yes, it's generally assumed the wild monster will fight the offending adventurer's party to their last breath, on the account of most monsters being highly territorial.
But they aren't dealing with regular monsters here. From giving Kyubey a seizure with a mere distant shouting, to Farkas' own declaration, they are facing a dragon emperor. They are much smarter than most monsters, even most human both on the account of their natural intelligence, and practically everlasting lives.
The Sword Hero attacks the mad dragon emperor, making it mad enough to fly away from their fight and comes down to burn Trumpet is a very possible outcome. While under normal circumstances Mein wouldn't care about another one of Mother's allies getting wiped off of the chessboard, being burned together with the town isn't something she looks forward to.
DAMNATIONS!
"Oh." LeFou's single word, and wide open eyes summarizes most people's feelings.
"We, we have to stop the Sword Hero from acting rash! If that dragon flies down here, it will burn down most of this town and its people before anyone can put it down for good!" Éclair's voice is now a few pitches higher. It's clear even the former knight captain is near panic now.
While she did have an honorary captain title on the account of being an important hostage... err, foster child from House Seatto, it's clear Éclair hasn't yet been tested by a crisis like the seasoned and experienced captains surviving the Great War.
"We'll split up! Éclair, you used to be in the army so you should have a commanding presence. Go find the guard captain, or someone manning the city's defense. Have archers man the wall and be ready to receive an angry dragon." Luckily for everyone involved, Naofumi is showing his mantle for being chosen as a hero. He immediately takes command of the situation and starts to issue orders out.
"Right away!" Éclair regains her composure and hammers her chest again, she runs off afterwards.
"Gaston, you are friends with LeFou and he runs the inn. You two get the strong men, gather as many buckets of water as they can, and move the weak and young into the basement."
"Count on old Gaston!" The Lute hunter flexes his muscles as he quickly runs back into the inn with LeFou. Presumably to gather all the people inside to help spread the words.
"Everyone else, with me! We have to talk Ren down." Naofumi turns around and starts to sprint for the city gate. Mein, Raphtalia, Kyubey, and Farkas follow right after him. They reach the gate faster than when they were riding inside the carriage, but the Sword Hero is nowhere in sight. "Damn it! How did Ren disappear so fast!?"
"Two of his followers were dressed like mages. At least one of them must know how to cast [Haste]." Mein does her best to recall the looks of the Sword Hero's party, they aren't very remarkable people, on account of their hero being such an irritating pest.
"Shield Hero boy!" Gaston's voice makes everyone turn their head, as the Lute hunter hops down from his bird besides them. Firo follows right after Wolfgang. "Take Wolfgang, he still has enough pep to carry you to the Sword Hero!"
"Guah!" Wolfgang nods his head with affirmation.
"How can I find Ren? He's already gone through the gate, and could be anywhere climbing up the mountain." Naofumi throws his arm up with exasperation.
"I - I already learned how to cast [Mage Light] and [Clairvoyance] from big sister Mein." Raphtalia, who has mostly been quiet around the party suddenly holds up her arm. "I can ride on Firo, and point which way the Sword Hero is going."
"And I can lead Kyubey and Farkas to track you four with my own [Clairvoyance]." Mein widens her eyes and realizes they now have a plan to find the Sword Hero.
"Good, let's move, people." Naofumi quickly climbs atop Wolfgang as Raphtalia mimics his move to climb up Firo's back.
"You remember how to cast [Clairvoyance] correctly, right, Raphtalia?" Mein skids her way beside the raccoon girl, she rests a hand on Raphtalia's shoulder. "If you don't visualize the target clearly, the spell may latch onto the wrong target and lead you astray. I can ride on Wolfgang with Master Naofumi, if you have trouble remembering Sword Hero."
"Don't worry, big sister Mein. I got a good look on the Sword Hero." The girl shakes a little as she scrunches her face together. "He... looks a little scary, but easy to remember."
"Good girl." Mein runs her hand encouragingly through Raphtalia's hair. She steps away from the girl to avoid giving Raphtalia any distraction.
"As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and guide my steps, [Clairvoyance]." Both of them cast the same spell. A ball of white smoke immediately forms into Mein's hand and links to Raphtalia's tiny body. The girl is holding a ball of smoke in her own hand, with a trial only visible to her connecting to the Sword Hero.
"Okay, let's go." Naofumi holds onto Wolfgang's reign as both birds trot their way towards the gate.
"Hold it, where are you going..." One of the guards standing under the arch steps out of the shadow to approach Naofumi.
"Shield Hero, on urgent business!" Naofumi holds his right arm up, letting the coil of rope on his army transform back to the shield's original form. "Let us through!"
"Oh, okay. OPEN THE GATE!" The guardsman shouts at his comrades inside the gate.
"Hold on tight, Raphtalia. GIDDY UP!" With Naofumi's command, both birds break into full sprint when the gate is only half open. They practically fly out of Trumpet like two arrows.
Mein quickly follows after them with Kyubey and Farkas.
For the first time after many weeks, the leather armor Mein bought from the Smith Demon feels tight around her chest again, and she struggles with every breath. Unlike the first few days of her adventure with Naofumi, this comes from a long period of fast running, instead of the armor being ill fitting to her figure. Her hair is no doubt also all matted and tangled, judging from how much she is sweating inside her overcoat, armor, and cloth underneath.
She still presses on with both Kyubey and Farkas flanking her sides. Every precious second she doesn't see or hear Naofumi and Raphtalia is another second where her heart is beating on the edge of her throat, threatening to jump out. They could have been harmed by the stubborn Sword Hero, attacked by the dragon, or Chief God and heroes of old forbid, fallen down some cliff with their filorials in their haste to catch up to the Sword Hero.
Mein can't help but be reminded again on how the namesake of her fake identity's body was found underneath a cliff. With some dead bonedogs still latched onto her lifeless body. Neck bent the wrong way...
NOPE! STOP! NOT THINKING ABOUT IT!
"I, hear... *huff* loud argument." Kyubey's voice doesn't sound as emotionless as before. It's debatable if the traumatized rabbit man finally recovered some of his emotions, or if he's simply too tired. His good arm points towards the same direction Mein's spell is leading them. The first good sign since they started madly running towards the mountain where the sun has fallen under.
"I smell the stink of filorial too." Farkas scrunches his face. He is the only one not out of breath, probably thanks to his much higher level.
"*Huff*, less... *cough*... talking. More running!" Mein jumps right over a small bush, only recognizing it's poison ivy after she hopped through. Thankfully, they don't manage to get through her overcoat.
Let her sing the praise of the Goddess and Heroes clothes emporium seamstress again. Not only is her hooded over cloak look fine enough for royal parties, it's even practical for travelling the wild, with some basic protection against element enchantment waved in.
She will recommending this shop to all her friends when she reclaims her rightful title again... Wait a minute, she doesn't have any real friend as the first princess of glorious Melromarc. Oh well, both Raphtalia and Éclair are good starting points. They can't keep wearing their shabby commoner clothes if they'll make her future retinue.
Wait, what's she even thinking about again? Her mind is wandering all over the place, now her fatigue is catching onto. Right, less random stray thought, more running.
Mein begins to hear voices when her vision starts to go dim. For a brief moment, she wonders if she's simply hearing things. But the foliage suddenly gives way to a small clearing between trees, and sure enough the Sword Hero and his four followers are standing on one side. Her Naofumi, Raphtalia and two birds on the other. Both heroes are silent for now, but their mutual glaring makes it clear they haven't come to some kind of agreement, or even compromise.
The Sword Hero's arms are crossed in front of his chest. Naofumi's arms fall naturally on her side, but from her tense body it's clear the Shield Hero can immediately spring into a defensive stance.
Firo is picking grass with her beak, completely ignorant of the intense air between the two heroes.
"Big sister Mein!" Raphtalia quickly runs over to meet them. She slips two vials of green potions into Mein and Kyubey's hand. "You look tired - drink."
The princess hopes the girl hasn't mistaken poison for stamina potion, but she pops her vial open and downs it in one go anyway. Unpleasantness and bodily harm aside, she feels thirsty enough to down poison to quench her dry throat. She turns to look at Raphtalia. "How much did I miss?"
"Master Naofumi tried to stop the Sword Hero from fighting the dragon." The raccoon girl looks at Naofumi, and then towards Ren. "The Sword Hero isn't very happy."
Judging from the cold atmosphere between the two summoned heroes, 'The Sword Hero isn't very happy' is like saying the Siltvelt animals are pillaging raping cunts. Not incorrect, but a massive understatement.
The Sword Hero breaks the silence of their stare off. "Have you forgotten what we talked about a week ago? Nothing matters except our goal."
What is the brat talking about? Mein strongly feels like she missed some important conversation somewhere. Had her Naofumi and this arrogant boy met without her knowledge?
Naofumi's head slowly turns towards them, his voice sounds a little more distant than usual. "No, I haven't forgotten. Let's say I believe you, all of us are dead and this is some kind of afterlife. And we'll only pass on when we finally overcome our regret..."
Wait just a minute, what does her Naofumi mean, they are all dead!? Does he mean his fellow legendary heroes, or he meant everyone on Medea are all dead?
No, the second scenario is impossible. There are undead creatures roaming around normally on Medea soil and through the wave. Necromancy and Shamanic magic both have spells that let the user converse with spirits of long passed beings. The existence of the Negative Plane where the dead soul ends up is already proven, without a shadow of doubt through magical rituals and divination. It doesn't make any sense if everyone in Medea are already dead, but can still somehow become... deader.
But why would her Naofumi believe himself and his fellow heroes are dead?
Wait, on the first night when she's spying on the heroes, didn't they talk about their supposed 'death' before their summon? And the hero summoning ritual does require the energy from the dead negative plane together with life energy...
Oh, Heroes of Old...
Uncle Aldrecht mentioned in one of his lessons, on how it's much easier to transport a soul unattached from its corporeal vassal through the Endless Aether between the worlds. Is that the truth of the Hero Summoning spell!? Heroes can only travel to their world Medea as ethereal souls, therefore they need to die in their world first?
Was that her Naofumi's final, just reward for leaving behind his only friend, and soldiering through his world's Hero Academy to become the Shield Hero of their world? He mentioned something about picking up a book and next thing he knows, he's in the summoning room.
The book he mentioned on the first night after the hero summoning ritual... it was a lethal trap! No doubt prepared by the teachers he and his fellow Hero Academy students trusted. Some kind of magical device with a malicious spell that'll kill the reader, to prepare their soul for transfer to Medea.
Oh, her poor Naofumi... He'll never get to see his family, who might have abused him. Or that only friend he mentioned with warmth. She'll have to give him a hug after this current ordeal is over.
"Breathe, big sister Mein, breathe!" Raphtalia begins to shake Mein, her young voice manages to bring the distraught princess back to the present. Mein takes a few deep breaths, and tries to listen to the argument between the heroes again.
"...I never told you what I regret most before my summoning, have I?" Naofumi looks back at Ren once again.
"No, it never came up." The Sword Hero shakes his head.
"I have always been alone, only had one single friend when I started High School. Yuugo Hachiken and I promised we'll both do our best, and go to Tokyo University together."
When Naofumi mentioned his friend's name, Mein could have sworn the Sword Hero's eyebrow seems to rise up a little. But when she blinks, the boy is still wearing the same poker face. The princess dismisses it as a trick of her nerve.
"When we both failed to be admitted, Yuugo went to an Agriculture University in Hokkaido. I know he wanted me to go with him. But I was a coward, I didn't want to throw away my easy life living in the city to go to the countryside." Naofumi's hands tighten together as he takes a step forward. "This was my biggest regret in life. Being selfish and throwing people who cared for me away like they meant nothing. Because I convinced myself it's okay to be alone. Being alone means I can't be hurt."
Naofumi lets out a chuckle, making Ren's face twist into a slight frown. "I failed to see what's funny."
"Sorry, I remembered something I heard in this world." Naofumi stopped his chuckling, but the smile remains on the corner of his lips. "You remember that day before the wave, Where we met outside the Cathedral in the capital?"
"Hard to forget, after Kitamura attacked you." Ren's eyes narrows even more to leer at the bemused Shield Hero.
"When I first walked in to find Holy Water for Mein's cursed wound, I heard a sermon from one of the preachers." Naofumi's words makes Mein shudder at her weakest moment. Well, her weakest moment after her friend's death, and she took up the persona 'Mein of Samphor'. "He preached the Sword's virtue is strength, the Spear's virtue is Trust, the Bow's virtue is Justice, and the Shield's virtue is Vigilance. I think he's wrong."
The sword hero slowly undresses his arms, his hand seems to hover right above the handle of the legendary sword. "Really, do tell."
"There's a reason why I was chosen as the Shield Hero. The only hero who couldn't attack on his own. Because I'm supposed to learn this lesson myself: Trust is the Shield Hero's strength. A Shield Hero can't fight on his own, he can only stand in the front, keeping harm away from his companions while exposing his back to them." Naofumi's right arm slowly rises up, holding the legendary shield on his army over his chest.
"I trusted myself more than Yuugo, that's why I have to live... or die with my biggest regret. This is why as the Shield Hero, I choose to trust in other people. Even if I'll be laughed at, or hated by others. So long as there's still a single person in this world that trusts me, I will defend the people of this world. This is why I can't let you fight that mad dragon emperor even if you are right: We are dead, and nothing of this world is real. Because this is the regret I'll have to overcome to pass on."
"I see. That's a shame." Ren's head slowly dips down as his hand falls onto the handle of the legendary sword. He wraps his fingers around the handle, slowly pulls the sword out while he raises his head. The boy points the tip of his sword at the much older hero. "I should tell you my regret now."
"It's only fair after I listen to you, after you showed patience with me." Naofumi nods his head and locks his gaze with the younger hero. "I'm listening."
"I hated my life, because nothing matters. My parents are no one important, and I'll grow up the same as them. Become wage slaves for some exploitative, black hearted company." The Sword Hero's tone is surprisingly unemotional considering his revelation, he can even give Kyubey a run for his money. "There are only two things important in my life. My childhood friend Mikoto, and the VR game Brave Star Online. In that game, I'm one of the best players on the leaderboard, not some nobody who'll only become a nameless corporate drone."
The boy squeezes his eyes tightly shut, a first genuine show of emotion on his face. "There was one player who I could never beat. Because he exploited every loophole in the game. And before I had the chance to show skill is more important than being a cheater, he was banned by the developer team and I became the number one player. A hollow victory, because I'll never prove how a cheater can't beat an honest player who is simply skilled to be the best."
"You are my chance to prove I'm better, Naofumi Iwatani." The Sword Hero opens his eyes, a glint of mad conviction in his eyes similar to the Bow Hero in one of his justice high.
This is the moment where Mein of Samphor, no, the first princess of glorious Melromarc, put all the puzzle pieces together. The Spear Hero's tomfoolery, the Bow Hero's madness, and now the Sword Hero's obstinacy. Even the Shield Hero's sadness is a sign she's been ignoring.
There's something deeply wrong with all of the heroes.
The Sword Hero is obviously unaware of the horror rising inside the princess. He continues with his monologue. "You are right, we are all chosen by our legendary weapon for a reason. You as the Shield Hero can't attack, that's why you have to exploit every loophole to gain the power to survive. I'm the Sword Hero, I have the strength to back up my skill to finally show a cheater can't win in the end."
The boy hero slowly lowers his body and grips his sword with a two handed stance, his eyes narrow at the Shield Hero standing in his way.
"I hate you."
End Note
Well, that happened. Hope everyone look forward to the duel between Naofumi and Ren next chapter.
Jokes aside, time for my controversial opinion on Rising of the Shield Hero canon again. While Ren leaving the corpse Gaelion behind is obviously a bad thing, I think he is not at fault for what happened afterwards (fellow writer Jurodan even wrote a short story on this). Because to the best of my knowledge, leaving the corpse of a dragon behind causing huge problem isn't a common trope in pop culture, therefore he can't reasonably know it'll cause the problem canon did. And common sense would tell him leaving the corpse of an animal behind would have nature absorb it back into the ecosystem.
Even if one argue in RotSH's world, dragon emperor isn't supposed to die naturally therefore nature can't absorb it back into the ecosystem like every other animal, there is once again no reasonable way for Ren to know before hand. So he was working with incomplete knowledge and therefore shouldn't be blamed for the mess that happens afterwards.
That being said... what I CAN blame his canonical action is as this chapter shown, him going after the dragon in the first place. I mean, Gaelion was dwelling pretty close to a settlement and while he's obviously not a Skyrim dragon in canon, he can still fly and presumably breath fire. So there was a pretty good chance Ren's action of going after him with a small party would have resulted in a 'Desolation of Gaelion' situation (it almost became this chapter's title).
Obviously, I'm once again making tinfoil hat theory here. But I think the only reason canon author blamed Ren for leaving a corpse, instead of what I think would have been a more natural consequence of his action (Gaelion burn down the settlement) is because there would have been no mess for Naofumi to clean up afterwards to show how he's so much better than everyone else. And obviously, Ren would have learned his lesson of this world isn't a game and impulsive actions carry severe consequences, therefore not making Naofumi the sole lord and savior of the story.
One last minor note. I know mockingbird is one word instead of Mocking Bird, but it doesn't feel right if I simply name this chapter 'To kill a dragon'.
:P
Guest review time.
To Giuseppe:
Glad you liked Aldrecht's theory in my story, it's obviously something I came up myself in an attempt to give a bit more favor to the four element based on Aristotle philosophy. And yeah, as you suggested ether (or Aether in my story... because Call of Duty Zombie reference) is the source that powers the four prime element in his theory.
To Halo:
Well... I think it's debatable what qualify as 'character development' for the three weapon heroes in canon.
And yes, the magic system is more based on Familiar of Zero than Rising of the Shield Hero. I personally think FoZ's interpretation of the classic four element system is cleaner than RotSH.
To Guest:
I blame my ignorance on the failure of Canadian education system. Yeah, I forgot more than I remembered back in school, but I'm very positive Plasma being an actual state of matter was not mentioned once in my entire education life.
:P
Okay, jokes aside this is definitely not the first time I had a brain fart moment in this story. In fact, the current direction of my story (which was NOT how I first envisioned this story would turn out) comes from a massive brain fart all the way back in chapter 3. Maybe I'll talk about some more behind the scene trivia later. Although suffice to say, I liked the direction I'm going with now better than my original plan.
Thank you very much for the encouraging words!
To Aiko Kamano:
Glad google translation worked out for you, and also glad you enjoyed this story so far!
Your English is pretty good, honestly better than the Chinglish I'm speaking/writing.
:)
To Night:
Well... I wouldn't really blame you for thinking the three weapon heroes are irredeemable screw ups. Because I'm fairly certain that's the kind of character the author wanted them to be, at least at the point of their character's initial inception. Considering their (what can be charitably called) character arc more or less is: being arrogant, incompetent, stupid screw up till they gets served a big helping of humble pie by ̶a̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶e̶t̶ ̶h̶u̶s̶b̶a̶n̶d̶o̶ Naofumi, and then become his glorified henchmen.
I personally think the three of them being terminally incompetent makes more sense if they are suffering from some kind of depression/mental condition, than they are just that incompetent. Which is obviously the direction I'm going with, not surprised other fandom writers would go down the similar route. Since that's a good way to keep their actions similar to canon, but still leave room for character redemption arc.