Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading and picked out something I forgotten to include in the omake.
Special mention goes to DJman248 about the Sword Wand comment, which inspired me for a scene in this chapter. And Commissar Gaunt for suggesting Balmus leaving some contingency instruction to Jaune's father.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
"What the? Why is a rock wall screaming?" The young knight previously complaining about their situation looks left and right. His confusion is easy to see. He is also promptly slapped on the head by that old knight Mein never managed (and never bothered, to be honest) to learn the name of.
"You idiot! It's clearly The Bed of Chaos we've been looking for! It gained some ability to mimic, or camouflage!" The old knight pulls his hand away, a golden [Lightning Spear] forms in his hand as he raises his arm, ready to toss it towards Mein's direction. "Hit the wall and flush it out! And let loose the flare arrow, Jackson! We need to summon our reinforcements!"
The mind of the disgraced princess drew a complete blank while the scream echoed beside her. Was it Yukari, or Nora? It could even be Oersted or Ren despite its high pitch. It wouldn't have mattered in the end as the screamer definitely gave their position away to the church goons. Her body tenses up, but she can't make up her mind. Should she command The Bed of Chaos to release her so she may defend herself. Or should she tell the dryad tree monster to run? Would the monster even understand, or listen to her?
Thankfully, the monster is much more decisive than she was. As the next moment when her eyes begin to register the scene between the gap of its coiling vines is the rapidly shifting foliage and ground. She also feels the force of her body moving despite being immobile. The Bed of Chaos has chosen flight away from its pursuers rather than stand up and fight. And judging from the sound of sizzling lightning bolts tearing through air, the members of the Three Heroes' Church are definitely hot on their tails.
Chapter 109: To Boldly Flee
"AAAHHH! I've been EATEN~!" The high pitched voice didn't stop screaming, but this time their panicked scream is at least mixed with some words that are intelligible. Whoever it was trying to puke out their lungs had definitely misinterpreted the situation like Mein feared.
"Shut up you fool! We were safe, and you gave our positions away!" Mein can't help but spit at the disembodied voice. She can understand, even sympathize with the owner of the voice for the sudden predicament they suddenly found themselves in. She'd have done worse if she's the one knocked out, and then woke up to find herself restrained and trapped. But it still doesn't change how they now found themselves in a precarious situation.
"Wha- what's going on here?!" Voice finally stopped its incessant screaming, and now sounds confused. "Is that you, Miss Mein? I don't know what's going on. I think I tripped, and fell on my head or something? Why can't I see anything? And I can't move my arms and legs. Did I paralyze myself?!"
"NO! And be quiet! We are being chased by the Three Heroes' Church!" The princess screeches as she actually sees a lightning bolt hit one of the branches this time. The rapid ramble definitely gives away the identity of the screamer as Yukari. Thankfully, her screaming seems to convince Yukari how dire their situation is, as the raccoon girl stays quiet. More lightning miracles fly over her head, and the princess feels like she needs to do something. She screams to the dryad tree monster next, hoping it can understand her. "Turn me around and release my upper body! I can return fire to them with my magic!"
The princess can feel her being pivoted around to face the back, as the vines did come loose around her head and body. She sees the group of their Three Heroes' Church pursuers on the ground, doing their best to keep up with The Bed of Chaos on their feet. The old knight among them tosses [Lightning Spear] at them, and forms new ones in his hand. Forcing The Bed of Chaos to wave around and dodge his attack rather than focusing on escaping them.
Mein quickly switches the form of her wand into the fire snake wand again to enhance her element. Holding the serpent-like staff at them, she pushes her magic into the hero weapon, releasing a torrent of snake-like fire at their pursuers. "Have a taste of your own medicine!"
Just like on the outskirts south of Gallia city, her volatile element sets the thick vegetation alight as it goes. A wave of curses escapes the lips of her pursuers, forcing them into dodging the wild fire more than chasing down the fleeing plant monster, and the party of the Shield Hero. A sense of relief hits Mein. The Bed of Chaos' is capable of quickly crossing over rough terrain as shown earlier when it climbed down the mountain. It wouldn't be hard for them to lose their pursuers now they aren't focusing on giving chase.
A sudden wave of jumbled sounding shriek assaults Mein's mind once again. It's followed by a sudden sense of weightlessness, and the pain extending around her body as she roughly collides against something rough and hard on her side. Both the splitting headache, and the pain of her body makes her mind blanked out for a brief moment. When she managed to recollect herself, she found The Bed of Chaos lying about ten or so paces away from her, its many limbs sprawled motionlessly against the land. A good chunk of its body had been blown into splinters, almost as if hit by a powerful spell. Red embers can be seen on the side of its twisting trunk-like body where it's hit, black smoke slowly raises up. The other members of their misfit group scattered all over. She looks to the side, and sees another group of people made entirely of women coming from the other side of the treeline.
Of course! She remembered how the old knight who commanded the Three Heroes' Church's pursuing squad ordered Jackson to fire off a flare arrow. Everyone who is searching for The Bed of Chaos must be making their way towards them.
"Good work, Lady Ebonheart! Your assistance came right on time!" The old knight behaved like someone casted some kind of enchantment that whipped him into an euphoric frenzy. He raised his sword, spits flying out of his opened mouth as he charged at Mein. "Pay for assisting the demon, witch! DIE!"
The princess raises her arm, desperately trying to use her wand to block the holy fire coated longsword in the knight's hand. Their escape attempt stopped by this new group, the only thing left to do is to fight for their survival. Either by killing their pursuers before more reinforcements arrive, or to push them back enough for another attempt at fleeing them. She didn't even have the time to switch the form of her hero weapon into a more melee appropriate sword wand before her attacker was upon her.
Her body was still numb from the pain, legs shaking from her fast and hard colliding against the ground. She manages to block three strikes from her opponent before she's sent tumbling down on her back again. The knight raises his weapon high above his head, but catches a lightning bolt in the face before he can bring his blade down on Mein, courtesy of the Shield Hero, without a doubt. People really shouldn't underestimate him, simply because he no longer has his shield.
The princess rolls away, finally managing to get her moment of reprieve to switch the form of her Star Wand into the sword wand again. She wipes her head around to look back where The Bed of Chaos has fallen. Sure enough, Naofumi has managed to crawl out from her vine tentacles, and is tossing out miracles to knock away, or stun their attackers. Mein turns her head back to regard their pursuers, and sees a second group of another dozen of people from their right side. This group is made entirely of women, wearing the lean, tight cloth and light cloak of northern rangers. Apparently, they were the one who brought down the giant dryad while Mein stopped the group of Three Heroes' Church with her magic.
"Get the Shield Demon!" A red haired woman screams on top of her lungs. The hatred she aimed at Naofumi makes Mein wonder when he found the chance to personally cause this woman some grievance. One of the older members of her group immediately knocks an arrow onto her composite bow, and fires the arrow at Yukari. The poor raccoon girl lets out a terrified shriek as she falls onto her behind. She would surely have been killed if not for a bundle of twisted branches suddenly raising up and letting the arrow bury into its bark instead. "I said the Shield Demon, not his demi-human pet! What are you doing, Paulina?"
"I shoot animals, they die." The now named Paulina gives an answer that's so dry and emotionless, she could be mistaken for a half-sentient golem. Her face might have been beautiful once, but time has not been kind to her. Other than the lines of age curving up her face, there is a sign of bitterness left by bone deep anger and grudge, leaving only a twisted face that seems to be frozen in perpetual suffering. The older woman releases more arrows at Yukari. Thankfully, the young girl got the message this time, as she rolled around onto her hands and legs, as she half crawled and half ran her way behind the hardened body of the giant tree monster. The Bed of Chaos doesn't seem to mind acting as her personal wall. The dryad slowly climbs up from the ground she sprawled on, and actually moves her body and her limbs in front of Yukari in an active effort to shield her.
"Damn it!" The younger woman from earlier stops her feet on the ground a couple of times. She bares her teeth, her eyes glaring at the much older sharpshooter, but unable to do anything about Paulina's insubordination. "Everyone, forget about her! Focus on the Shield Demon! Don't let him get away!"
This time, the female captain got a wave of affirmative replies. The group of female rangers throw their grappling hooks forward, catching the end onto the branches of trees and swinging themselves forward. Their wide arc cuts through the air, making most of Naofumi's miracle spells go wide. Mein would have tried to help him fend off the northern rangers, if the group of Three Heroes' Church goons came upon her once again.
Three of the church members leap their ways through the wall of fire she lights in the forest, going at them with their swords and spears drawn. Now that the princess has a better look at her opponent, she can clearly see that they aren't the elite knights who wear the white tabard marked by the red triangle. No, these are the more common cleric knights from church. Not any different than the ones that made up of that Faubley inquisitor's retinue.
Unfortunately for Mein, even these common Three Heroes' Church knights are a threat to her when they have her out sworded and out speared. The one with the sword and shield charges her at the front, while his two compatriots hang slightly back and pokes her with their longer weapon from his two sides. The fighter with the shield protects his two companions, while the spear wielders protect him in return by restricting Mein's movement with their spears.
Her current weapon is also a problem. A sword wand is a versatile weapon for mage knights and spell blades, as it enhances one's casting ability but still functions as a deadly melee weapon. Unfortunately for Mein, the one she has access to with her Star Wand is a generic model rather than tailor fit for her fighting style. The blade is too heavy in her hand, and it slows her movement down, leaving her unable to take advantage of her opponent's opening like she was trained in Aldorian style fencing. All the princess could do in the situation is to keep beating their weapons away from her body, while being pushed back herself.
As she is busy fending off her own attackers, Mein hears the sound of weapons clanking against something. Not the crisp chime of metal against metal, but something much duller. She can only assume that's the sound of metal against wood… or bones. Which means that group of crazy women is either doing their best cutting through The Bed of Chaos to get at Naofumi, or they have already surrounded him and given him a beat down. Yet she isn't in a position to render aid. She can't even spare a single glance back to make sure. Not while she is desperately fighting to stay alive herself.
A dark shadow suddenly charges from the side, pushing the church people away from Mein. The princess briefly wonders if one of their own finally awoke and gained enough sense to help her. But she chooses to use this brief moment of reprieve to break away from her attack. She instantly turns on her heels, and her back at the church goons to run in the direction of The Bed of Chaos where Naofumi (and Yukari) are no doubt also trying their best to stay alive. Sure enough, she sees the dozen or so female rangers going at the giant dryad, trying to get through her branches and vines to attack Naofumi and Yukari. The Tree of Chaos is no longer missing a good chunk of its 'torso', and it seemed to have somehow hardened its wooden body as their weapons, even weapon arts bounces harmlessly off her barks. Leaving a few lighter shaded lime colored marks on the dryad at most.
"No you don't! [Hydro Sphere]!" Mein waves her sword wand in her right hand, conjuring a ball of water the size of a grinder like a child blowing a bubble. She would have used her strongest affinity, but she didn't want to set The Bed of Chaos on fire, and hurt Naofumi by accident. With a point of her star sword wand, she sends the attack shooting towards the largest group of three rangers. They were too busy hacking at one of the 'legs' of the giant dryad to notice Mein's attack, and all of them were enveloped in the prison of water. If the sudden loss of their ability to breath and choking on liquid wasn't enough to knock them out, being subsequently thrown into the thing they were attacking a moment with the force of a battering ram sent them all crumbling on the ground.
"What's the meaning of this, Jackson!?" The enraged roar of the old knight reaches Mein's ear while she's running to rejoin the rest of her group. Jackson? That two-faced little who sold them out to Consevatie The Younger (maybe, she wasn't too sure what exactly happened) and got betrayed by the arrogant fop in return? "Why are you attacking your own men!? Have you turned into a traitor!? After I put my own family name on the line and vouched for you outside the capital?!"
"You backstabbing bastards betrayed me first!" A much younger voice bites back. He sounds as whiny as ever, even if he turned his feud against his own people and is now apparently helping the Shield Hero, and Mein by extension. "I joined the Three Heroes' Church, because I thought you'd protect us common folks from being used by those summoned heroes! But all you faithless backstabbers have done since the Third Wave has hurt us common folks!"
Mein stops paying attention to the spat between the Three Heroes' Church. Not that she doesn't find this sudden schism between their different classes interesting, but because the group of female northern rangers finally noticed her presence after she took down three of them. The princess lets a few embers of fire and a mix of brightly colored water fly towards her opponent, more to distract than to cause harm. As expected, her opponent is startled and the balance of her stance shifts, letting Mein press on the offense, trying to kill or at least knock down this interceptor so she can join up with her entire group.
The leader of female rangers, 'Lady Ebonheart' as the old knight called her, is busy beating down on Naofumi. Her fighting style isn't elegant, more relying on the brutal strength to pressure on her opponent than dazzling them with fancy foot and sword works. That's not saying she lacks skill, as she is clearly overwhelming Naofumi especially with him forced to defend himself with his bare hands. There are already multiple much lighter marks on the gauntlet of his dark bone armor where Ebonheart left her mark. "Help us, Bed-Chan!"
The Shield Hero's desperate cry for help is answered. The Bed of Chaos raises her two branch limbs up. The vines on her back twisting, and coiling around her two limbs till each one is as thick as a tree trunk that requires multiple people linking their arms to embrace. She slams both of her limbs down on the ground next, the tremor knocking everyone, Mein included onto the ground. The Bed of Chaos sweeps her giant branch limbs in a circular motion around, brushing their pursuers away like dust. This finally gives the princess enough time to get on her feet again, and runs her way over to the Shield Hero.
"Agh, my head. Who's making all this fuss- WHAT THE HELL?!" A voice that's only slightly less annoying than Jackson catches Mein's attention. She turns around, and sees Nora's half sit up body frozen while she looks up at the towering dryad monster with a mix of confusion and horror. Her body suddenly lets out a shiver, as the former refugee turned bandit picks up her hammer, and charges at The Bed of Chaos. "You aren't taking me ALIVE!"
"NO! Bed-Chan is with us!" Naofumi's attempt at defusing the situation was no help. Nora clearly has no idea he's even talking to her, or who 'Bed-Chan' is.
"NORA!" The princess screams out at the hellion, making the lateral jump on her feet. Her face looks equally confused and annoyed. Mein didn't want to call the ex-bandit by her name either. The two of them really aren't anywhere near such friendly terms yet. But using Nora's name is the best way to let her know who Mein is addressing to. "That giant dryad is our ally! Fight the church goons, or those northern rangers surrounding us!"
"WHA-? How did that happen? How long was I out?" The hellion looks around, suddenly realizing there are a lot more people around her than when she was last conscious. With a loud and angry yelp, she heaves her hammer over her shoulder, and charges at the nearest female ranger who got up to her feet. Which happens to be Lady Ebonheart. "I'm going to smash your head like a gourd! You fat, arrogant noble!"
"Come and meet your fate then, rapist slave!" Lady Ebonheart narrows her eyes as she sneers down at Nora. Her sword and Nora's warhammer soon started clashing together. It would probably take a while for the clash to resolve between the two strength-based fighters, but the noble lady would be fighting at a disadvantage with the hellion holding the heavier weapon.
"Get Oersted and Ren up, Master Naofumi. I'll keep them back from you if they get through Bed-Chan." Mein waves to the Shield Hero while she tosses more water spells between The Bed of Chaos' wild thrashing. She would have once again preferred the more destructive fire spells of her strongest affinity. But with her inside the dryad's range, she didn't want to risk setting her most powerful ally on fire. Naofumi looks rather relieved at nobody trying to hack him to pieces, and quickly runs over to the two still forms of their allies to resuscitate them.
The princess has another chance to observe the entire scene of the combat area with most of their pursuers kept busy with the towering tree monster. The Bed of Chaos is doing a good job keeping most of their assailants back thanks to her large size and heavy weight. The tree monster should be rather weak and vulnerable, considering she's a newborn by her own admission and Mein doubted that it had the time to kill a lot of monsters (or worse, people) to level itself up. But it also has little difficulties in knocking the fighters of Three Heroes' Church, or the northern rangers around. Sure, she isn't killing anyone so far, and more of their pursuers are surely on their way. But at least she's keeping them off their back for now.
It either inherited some miniscule of power from the much stronger newborn outer god grown from the seed, or siphoned enough power from the Chief God thanks Consevatie The Younger's stupidly insane attempt at god crafting. The princess can't decide which case would have been worse.
"Come on, Logan! You are a farm boy like me." Among the group of church cleric knights, Jackson is wrestling around with another man around their age. Neither of them have their weapons drawn, and they are simply grappling with each other, largely ignoring the fight going around them. "Do you want to stay with these oppressors who enslave us, or run us common folks down like slaves? Do you want all of our family to end like the people from Lute village?! A slave seal burnt on your mother's chest by these fucks?!"
"I don't! But what am I going to do? If I don't fight the Shield Demon like they told me to, they'll kill me, or slap one of those slave seals on me! And then they'll also move onto my mother!" The other man is bigger than Jackson's more standard body build. He's a head taller than most men, with muscles built more like a boulder. Yet despite his height and weight advantage, he's not gaining any ground on Jackson. The poor man clearly realizes too late that he is with the wrong people, and now can't see a way out. The princess could almost feel sympathy for his predicament, almost.
"We shouldn't be listening to Cromwell, or Consevatie's yolk! I thought the Shield Hero was our enemy too, but I saw what they did in Lute! They are just using the Shield Hero as an excuse to oppress us common folks." Jackson's voice slowly grows more calm as he talks to Logan, clearly seeing the result of him getting to the larger man.
The sound of a gunshot rings over the forest among all other noises, and Lady Ebonheart falters on her steps. She lets out a pained cry while pressing a hand on her right shoulder, her sword dropping on the floor. That would have been the end of her, if one of her fellow rangers didn't catch Nora on the shin with their grappling hook and trip her on the ground as well. The hellion reaches one her hands towards her shin, letting out a pained grunt as her hand touches her wound. The sharp hooks of the northern rangers are meant to dig into trees or rock surfaces, even if they aren't meant to cut clear through. It goes without saying that such a tool for navigation would also do considerable damage to a man's flesh. Neither the noble lady, nor the ex-bandit got up as a female ranger, and Ren ran towards them respectively.
"I got you, Nora." Ren quickly cuts the rope connecting to the grapple claw with his dagger. He picks up the downed hellion in his arms with the hook still attached to Nora's leg, and starts sprinting back. He's a very visible target despite his attempt to run in a zigzag pattern, and could have been shot down. Thankfully, that crazy Paulina woman is still obsessed with shooting at Yukari (who is hiding behind The Bed of Chaos' massive body) than hitting someone she would have a much easier time aiming at. "We need to run, Master Shield Hero."
"Yeah! Come on, Bed-Chan!" Naofumi slings Oersted's army over his shoulder as he picks up the Gallian knight. He gives a quick pat on The Bed of Chaos' bark, still calling the giant dryad with that ridiculous sounding nickname. "let's get out of here before their friends show up!"
The Bed of Chaos clearly agreed with Naofumi's suggestion. She uncoils her vines from her limbs to return to her previously lanky form and uses them to pick their little group up. This time, both Mein and Naofumi fire their magics at their pursuers to cover the tree monster's retreat. The Shield Hero made sure to include a few extra concussion blasts from his [Force] Miracle at the obsessively crazy female sharpshooter. There's not much the church goons, or the group of Lady Ebonheart's northern rangers could do except roar in anger as The Bed of Chaos managed to pick up her speed and disappear from their views. Before the dryad managed to lose them in the lines of trees, Mein gave one last look at the direction where Jackson and Logan were pushing and throwing each other around. Sure enough, there is only an empty patch of messy foliage over twisted dirt. The two of them also managed to get away while everyone else was focused on the Shield Hero and the Bed of Chaos' retreat.
"AAAHHH! That hurt. That REALLY hurts!" Nora's body squirms underneath Oersted's vice grip as Ren hovers around her legs.
"Please, try to keep it down. You'll call everyone over to us." Mein squirms too, although for an entirely different reason. She tries to distract herself by giving some stern, but totally unhelpful advice to keep their group safe.
"YEAH?! I'd like to see you hold it in when that metal thing is sticking out of your leg!" As expected, Nora throws Mein's warning right back into her face. A vine helpfully extends over Nora's mouth, and the hellion bites down on it. Mein turns her face around to look at the dryad. If she felt pain from Nora's biting, she didn't do anything to indicate it.
"Try to hold still while I remove it Nora. You might tear your leg apart if you twitch or kick around." Ren's hands are slightly shaking as he places one hand over Nora's legs, the other on the metal grapple sticking out of her leg. The hellion already lets out a shiver from that simple action.
More vines quickly wrap around her legs, providing extra stability in addition to Oersted's assistant. Ren shuts his eyes close forcefully and lets out a deep breath. His hands are no longer shaking as he opens his eyelids. The highwayman wraps his hands firmly around the claw, and pulls it out of Nora's leg with careful but quick motion. The hook comes out with a squelch too wet sounding for Mein's liking. The hellion lets out a muffled cry, and drops of tears actually leave the corner of her eyes.
Mein feels her own stomach churn as Naofumi casts healing spells on the hellion while his eyes and mouth twitch. The Shield Hero looks one breath away from recoiling, or vomiting from the rather gruesome sight. The princess doesn't envy his current role as their group's healer. She had her share of using her fire to stop an immediate bleeding wound after their defense of Lute village, and she wasn't eager to do something like that again.
Their group finally stopped at a small grove of trees after the Bed of Chaos had run for what felt like half a day. Rationally, Mein knows that they can't have run that long since Nora obviously needed her leg treated as soon as possible. And according to Yukari, they barely made any distance from Balafon due to them having to avoid their pursuers and more annoyingly, larger nests of beak things around the land. Gutterbeaks eat meat, but they are still fiercely territorial and would fiercely attack anything running into their nesting area even if said thing is a boulder. Their sharp and strong beaks are supposedly hard enough to crack boulders too, so she can understand why Yukari instructed the Bed of Chaos to stay far away from those common level adventurer career (if not life) enders.
Speaking of Yukari herself. She is now sprawled on the ground. Completely ignoring the dirt, the dead foliage, or whatever other unspeakable horror getting close to her face. Their demi-human guide has remained this way after she's finally released from the grasp of the dryad monster's vines. Mein can't tell what traumatized the apprentice necromancer more. Being abducted by a tree monster and thinking she's being eaten alive, or being viciously attacked repeatedly by an insane sharpshooter right afterwards.
"Are we safe here?" The princess leans down, and places her hand on Yukari's head and gently brushes her fingers through Yukari's hair. Nowhere near as smooth and silky as Raphtalia's, after the other raccoon girl (and a lost princess, no less) spent so much time testing Naofumi's failed hair potion. The princess made sure to stay clear away from her raccoon ears to not make the gesture come off as possessive or intimidating. But she needs her question answered. Unfortunately for them, the little patch of trees they are currently staying in is not anywhere large, or thick enough to cover their presence if the Three Heroes' Church comes at them in force.
"I'm sorry, Miss Mein. But I… I don't have the focus to connect with my undead familiars. I don't even know where they are." Yukari shivers under Mein's touch, and the princess hopes it's not her presence that's making the raccoon girl uncomfortable.
A mild headache assaults Mein's ears, making her realize that The Bed of Chaos is speaking to Naofumi. She turns her head around to look at the dryad in question. She found it looking much shorter and smaller in general than before. Its body used to be large enough for Yukari to hide behind like a makeshift rampart. Yet now it only stands slightly over a head taller than them.
"Bed-chan says we are fine. She had burrowed most of her roots and vines underground, and spread them out to sense movement. She's not detecting big groups approaching us." Naofumi opens his mouth after nodding along the Dryad's tumor like 'head' for a while. He unknowingly answered both of Mein's questions. So The Bed of Chaos can spread most of its body in the ground to make itself look smaller. That's admittedly handy if their opponents are only looking for a large, towering arboreal monstrosity.
"Really." Mein lets her eyes be fixed on the dryad monster for a few moments, before turning back to look at Naofumi once again. This time, she made sure to cover her ears. "What else can she do?"
The Shield Hero turns his face around to look at The Bed of Chaos once again. The dryad's tumor-like 'head' bobs up and down a little, almost like it's imitating the movement of a rather air headed person thinking. Not too long after, it holds its arm made of twigs and branches twisted together over Naofumi's hand. Mein wonders where the dryad monster is going with this gesture, before a fruit slowly begins to sprout, and then grows larger under its branch till it falls off and lands on Naofumi's hand.
The fruit itself is slightly smaller than a full grown citrus cabbage, with a red skin that bears a remarkable resemblance to the fruit bared by the Life Root, or the dryad trees of the non-sentient variety that Zeldan had the farmers grew outside Balafon's palisade. In retrospect, this ability from The Bed of Chaos shouldn't have been a surprise to the princess, considering what it came from. But then, it began to sprout other fruits under its branch too, which nearly made the eyes of the princess fall out of their sockets.
"Well… this would certainly have solved Balafon's food shortage. I wish I have Zeldan's device to measure their magic concentration." The Shield Hero begins to put the fruits into his mouth, and begins to chew them before Mein can shake free of her own stupor to stop him. "They taste really fresh too! Whoever has Bed-chan around would have to worry about not having good produce."
"That's… nice." Mein nods her head with her mind absent. Well, at least The Bed of Chaos isn't the worst example of what an attempt at God Crafting could have produced. Unless these fruits suddenly make Naofumi's body explode from the inside out. "Are you sure they are safe to eat, Master Naofumi? I mean… we don't know what this Bed of Chaos is fully capable of. What if she accidently turned one of them into a magic bomb?"
"Oh." Naofumi's stuffed face freezes up as he is midway through chewing. His eyes slowly look down at the piece of half-eaten apple in his hand. The dryad, who had been hovering over Naofumi's shoulder, pulled away. Either she's suddenly feeling very shy about Mein's hypothetical suggestion, or she's trying to look innocent in the face of an assassination attempt.
The three of them continue to remain still as statues for another few minutes. After a while, Naofumi simply shrugs his shoulders and resumes his chewing. "I'd probably already be dead if Bed-chan wanted to kill me. I mean, she could have just squeezed me to death when carrying us down that mountain."
The princess shakes her head at how easy going Naofumi is with his own life. Then again, they already died once in the hand of Consevatie The Younger, and they only survived thanks to Lord Noches' quick intervention and the sacrifices of all the resistance fighters under him. The princess moves over to the group who were treating Nora earlier. "How is she?"
"Nora got lucky. It didn't break her bone." Oersted replies back to Mein. He gives a look over at the pair of former refugees turned bandits. Nora isn't making much of a sound as she is lying on a cot of vines created by The Bed of Chaos, Ren wordlessly sitting beside her while holding her hand. "But she'll still need a day, maybe two to recover. Healing spell only does so much for injuries heavy enough to cause trauma in your head."
"Of course." The princess nods her head along. She walks back to where Naofumi is still eating the fruits grown by The Bed of Chaos and sits down beside him. "Raphtalia would be only half a day from us, you know."
The Shield Hero stops chewing once again. His previously aloof looking face now takes a much more solemn expression. After a few moments of silence, he lets out a single sound. "...Yeah."
Both Mein and Naofumi let total silence take them as they sit together. This isn't the time they got closest to the little raccoon princess after Raphtalia were taken away from them by Consevatie the young after the Third Wave. They did briefly reunite with her face to face outside the walls of the capital, although it was a sordid affair nobody wanted to remember.
She still remembered the sadistic glee of Consevatie the young when he revealed to them how he forced Raphtalia to create that illusion of Vicar Vittorio in the Four Heroes Church camp to lure them into the trap. Firo's vicious attack on Raphtalia right after no doubt tore Naofumi's heart apart more than when Consevatie the young pressed the burning iron on Mein's chest. The princess herself didn't care about Firo, but the Shield Hero saw both Raphtalia and the gluttonous devil bird as his children.
She briefly entertained the thought of them somehow rescuing Raphtalia from the clutch of Consevatie the young. Maybe every innocent soul in Balafon, just to be extra spiteful to the smug scion of House Consevatie. But even with the help from The Bed of Chaos, it doesn't feel practical.
Their moment of silence is suddenly broken when Mein feels like a slight tremor underneath. Not exactly something that split earth, more like a shake that catches her attention. She looks down, and sees two vines sprouting out of the dirt, and wiggle their tip towards west.
"Bed-Chan felt two people coming from the west." The Shield Hero's explanation makes everyone suddenly tense again. Mein immediately changes the star wand into its sword wand form, and Sir Oersted pulls his arming sword out of its sheath.
"The number is a bit low." Ren makes a note on the potential enemy pursuers. "It's either a pair of scouts, or someone got lost."
"How is Nora?" The Shield Hero turns his head to look at the highwayman's friend.
"She needs rest." The ex-bandit's reply is short and to the point. Letting everyone know that they can't flee like they did from earlier, or even hide very well in the small grove without enough cover.
"We'll see who came to us. If they mean business, we aren't going to let them leave." The princess' suggestion seemed to sum up what most people were thinking. Oersted and Ren both nod their heads in grime determination. Naofumi doesn't look as eager, but also quietly resigned.
With their decisions made, everyone gets into position ready to receive their unwanted guests. The Bed of Chaos sprouts more shrubberies from the ground, providing everyone with slightly better cover than before. Naofumi and Oersted stayed in the open, while Mein and Ren hid in the bushes. Nora and Yukari are also pulled into the dryad's verdant domain to better protect them.
Two figures show up at the end edge of the grove just as everyone gets into position. Judging from their silhouettes, they are cautious but not hostile. They have their weapons in their hands, but they are held in a more casual manner, pointing towards ground rather than upright in a stance ready to receive enemies. The bigger of the figure also takes much less sure steps than their smaller companion, seemingly taking a pause before taking a new step.
"You sure they won't kill us when we show ourselves?" The bigger man nervously asks.
"We are more likely to get killed if we go back to Conservative's cronies." This second voice is much easily recognized by Mein, even if it lost its impulsive arrogance. It's Jackson. "I know why you are unsure, Logan. But the churches aren't friends to us common folks. We'll all be turned to their glorified slaves if they kill the Shield Hero. So we'll help the Shield Hero, and see if he's willing to help us in return."
Omake: Dread of the Young Vicar Part 5
Vicar Vittorio of Romalia's Four Heroes' Church walks through the Cathedral of Three Heroes with the dignity of a prisoner on death's row walking towards his own execution. This might not have been the literal situation he found himself in. Lucky for him, the worst case scenario didn't happen. The Three Heroes' Church didn't seize the opportunity of mutiny amongst his own retinue to try and kill him, no doubt thanks to Pope Balmus actually putting some order and reigning the zealots of his faith back in place. But metaphorically, everyone in Melromarc is now living on borrowed time.
With his failure to bring justice to the arch traitor Roger of Ajax, there is nothing he can do to convince the Shield Hero of his benevolence even if he somehow managed to find the wayward cardinal hero. And without his explicit clemency and support, it'll give all the power players from every other nation in the world the perfect excuse to invade, and take apart Melromarc. Taking individual pieces to strengthen their own interest. Sure, the land might still be 'Melromarc' in name, but it'll be a hollow shell after the hypothetical crusade.
"Please tell me you aren't going to allow those lunatics to run the show, Your Eminence." He hears the voice of Archduke Wales Arc before he pushes open the door to Balmus' sitting room. He still kept his words respectful, but there is a clear sign of frustration in the man's voice. "I'm about to reach my breaking point holding back my bannermen from going to war with your church. And frankly, I'm not sure I want to stop at this point. From what I saw with my own eyes, the way your church treated the people of Lute is absolutely inexcusable. It reminded me some of the worst atrocities those Siltvelt cunts did during The Great War to our own people."
"I agree with you, Wales. What Cromwell did when I was indisposed was not only heinous, but completely insane." Vittorio pushes open the door, and he sees Balmus deep in thought sitting in his chair. The impeccably dressed and groomed duke and lord paramount of Defiant Bay sitting right across from him. "But I suppose that's what that charlatan was betting on."
"What do you mean? Was Cromwell trying to achieve something by putting the Three Heroes' Church against everyone?"
"He's trying to force my hand by relying on the zealots under him." The pope picks up a small glass cup in one hand, and rubs his temple with the other. Balmus takes a sip to seemingly stave back a headache. "He all but told me that he knew our nobility would be more willing to make concessions during a crisis like we are currently in. A Wave of Catastrophe raging on, possibly the worst of its kind in the last millennium if we already encountered an invading Outer God in the Third Wave. And the very real threat of a crusade declared against us from the rest of the world. By going as far as the nobility is willing to tolerate, he is forcing me to play his game, or risk seeing the faith I had taken hold of since the end of The Great War fall apart right underneath my feet as my legacy."
"He's willing to risk everything, and everyone's lives just so he gets a chance at more power?! That faithless son of-" The usually well mannered Archduke nearly slammed his fist on the table in front of him. But he manages to catch his hand, and the profanity that's about to explode out of his mouth at the last moment. "But you aren't going to play his game, right? Biscas? I know having the organization you helped shape crumble before you is a withering thought. But surely it's not worth it to have everything, and everyone else burns to cinders alongside you."
The pope of the Three Heroes' Church, one of the most powerful men in the world, let alone Melromarc, doesn't immediately answer. He leans his body into the back of his chair, seemingly pondering over Archduke Wale's question. Vittorio uses the moment to make his own way over to the chairs, the duke gives him a nod of acknowledgement as he sits down himself.
"Perhaps that's for the best." Balmus' belated reply makes both the duke, and the vicar look at him again. "This faith had grown stronger since the end of The Great War. People's fear, and anger of Siltvelt's brutal conquest and occupation had acted as a fuel for my church's growth. But I'm afraid we have also grown both corrupt, and bloated in our complacency. We are no longer a group of cleric knights willing to brave our lives at monsters, both otherworldly or mundane, to protect the livelihood of our countryman anymore. People like High Confessor Cromwell, or the son of Marquis Consevatie are simply the worst of them. But the Three Heroes' Church has a problem at large, not just the two of them."
Neither the duke, nor the vicar spoke after Balmus' declaration. Three of the nation's most powerful men simply sit in the sobering silence for the time being. After a while, Balmus finally breaks it himself. "Ah, Vicar Vittorio. Terribly sorry for not welcoming you back. I was lost in my own musings. I hope whatever happened earlier is no longer troubling you?"
"I'm afraid I only bear bad news, Your Eminence. The mutiny I had amongst my own men proved the suspicion of my worst fear. One of the most significant figures in my faith was in the conspiracy to capture, and kill the Shield Hero." The Vicar bows his head low in shame as he recounts the event that happened outside the capital's wall. Archduke Wales makes a gurgling sound beside him. "Former Blessed Battle Master Roger of Ajax helped the son of Marquis Consevatie at capturing the Shield Hero. I took back his title, and denounced him as an archtraitor and heretic. But he managed to get away with his life. Our plan to have my church bring the Shield Hero back to the fold is no longer viable."
"So it is as we feared. No point crying about it now." The face of Balmus somehow becomes even more solemn than when he was recounting the failure of the Three Heroes' Church. "I do have one idea left on what to do."
"Will it work?"
"I'm sure it will work. But I will need help pulling it off. I want you to stay in the capital while I go track down the Shield Hero before he escapes the border. I already changed the setting on my children's seals so that only I may give them commands, or change their punishment setting. I will ask them to help you maintain peace, making sure Cromwell doesn't do anything particularly unwise while I'm away." The pope turns to Archduke Wales next. "Have you had a moment with your son Jaune, Wales? He is still safe after I pardoned him from that farce of a trial, but he's very shaken after Logarius, and so many moderate and revisionist faction members of this faith got thrown into the dungeon. I think he needs the comfort of his family."
"Yes, I have seen him. Biscas. Jaune may look soft to a thug, but he is tougher than he looks. Us Arcs need our nerves if we are to brave the stormy sea. Even if half of us get knocked out with a smooth carriage ride." The duke and the pope shared a chuckle together.
"Good. The time will be tough from now on. I want him to leave my church and return to his family." The pope's next sentence makes Wales stop his laughter. The duke stares back at Balmus with burning intensity.
"Is that what Jaune wants, Your Eminence?" Vicar pointedly noted how the duke is no longer on the first name basis with the Pope of Three Heroes' Church.
"No, but it's for his own safety. Jaune is a good boy. One of our best just like you was back in his age. But he is too inexperienced, and too noble for his own good in this pit of vipers. I fear something bad will happen to him if I'm allowed to stay around me."
"I will not support it, if it's against his own will. Your Eminence. Biscas." The duke's tone becomes softer again near the end. "Don't get me wrong. I appreciate you are looking out for my son just like you saved my own life back in The Great War. But he is an Arc. We may not be the direct descendents of the old Albion royalty, but we always brave against the worst enemies alongside our men. It is simply not right to have him take less risks just because he is my son."
"If that's truly what you want, old friend." Pope Balmus hangs his head slightly lower, as he pours some more wine into the waiting glass cup of all three of them. He raises his own cup, ready for a toast. "May the Chief God watch over us all."
"Before we drink, what do you plan to do with the son of Marquis Consevatie?" Vittorio is ready to follow Balmus' example till he suddenly remembers one loose end they haven't accounted for. Roger of Ajax was the traitor that might have doomed them all, but that man isn't a very creative thinker. He was the muscle of the operation, but not the mind behind it. "If he was bold enough to make a move to capture Lord Shield Hero, who knows what he would do next?"
"That boy did what?!" The glass cup slips out of Archduke Wales' hand. The fragile material shatters when it hits the floor. "How did that sniveling worm Grima Consevatie give birth to a maniac of a son?"
"If you look at the situation without personal bias or sentiments, it wasn't a bad move strategically. He gained a lot of prestige amongst my church, and the nobility who despises the summoned heroes. And he would have a lot more leverage on his hand, had he managed to keep the Shield Hero in his 'care'." Pope Balmus puts down his own cup, takes out another and fills it up for the duke of Defiant Bay once again.
"You can't be serious, Biscas." The duke takes the cup, and sets it in front of him. He no longer holds it in his hand like the last time. "Please tell me you are going to punish that insolent boy for his action, or at least make sure he doesn't make the situation worse. Our nation is in enough peril already without an inexperienced boy galavanting around thinking he's better than a summoned hero."
"Unfortunately I can't publicly punish him without causing even more problems. As I said, him capturing the Shield Hero… and subsequently luring out Lord Noches' resistance using the Shield Hero as a bait gained him a lot of prestige." The pope holds his hand up to stop Archduke Wales from interrupting him. "I know what you are going to say, Wales. I don't agree with his actions, but we have to admit the reality that a substantial number of people in our nation despise the summoned heroes. Both for their power, and for their influence. Furthermore, his father is one of the queen's creatures. Openly punishing the boy would blow all the hidden conflict wide open and light up a bigger explosion than when Lord Isshin's men lit up Faubley army's firearms supply back in The Great War."
"Yeah. The only reason Grima got appointed as the Lord Paramount of Northeast is because our queen wanted one of her own to reign back Arvis' influence. A lot of good that did..." Archduke Wales sits back into his chair while muttering under his breath.
"So you are going to 'promote' him to the rank of an Overseer, but send him away from the central power?" Vittorio looks at Balmus from the corner of his eyes. Exile through promotion is a common tactic in dealing with this kind of person.
"Yes. I will have young Consevatie oversee the agricultural production of Balafon village. The village is doing fine on its own after the Shield and Spear Hero's intervention. And I doubt he can cause too much trouble when he's only running a farming village. And even in the worst case scenario, he wouldn't do too much damage even if he somehow wiped that village off the map."
"Chief God has mercy on us all indeed." Vittorio finishes Balmus' earlier toast for him. The liquor is some of the best imported from Siltvelt, yet it tastes as bitter as it is sour in Vittorio's mouth.
End Note:
It's been a while in this story with no action scene (unless you count what's happening in the Omake), so I decided to write a more action focused chapter here. Originally, my plan was they dispatches the church people pretty quick with Bed-Chan's help because... well, she's a giant tree boss monster, even if she's only level 1. She's still stronger than a lot of things. Then, I decided to turn this more into an escape sequence (as opposed to the pursue sequence with Zilla) with the church getting reinforcements midway.
Plus, Lady Ebonheart deserves a bit more spotlight in this story for being such a psycho. Not as much as 'I shoot Yazis, they die' Paulina though.
XD
Also decided to have Nora suffer a pretty major injury when she gets a grappling hook biting into her leg. Since this kind of thing gets glossed over in fantasy/isekai writing all the time with healing magic. I wanted to emphasis the trauma of getting a good chunk of your body torn into, even with magic there to fix it up.
And of course, the omake finally brings us to the point where Balmus explains why SIOC went to Balafon. Which was originally the reason on why I started this omake to begin with... which I forgotten to include into my first draft because I was busy writing everything else. Till Angel Wraith made the suggestion to explain it without me telling him in the first place.
Yes. If you guys can't tell, I'm as annoyed at my own incompetence as I am at Alenko's.
XDDD