Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
If Jackson's previous recount of Consevatie The Younger's action wasn't enough to convince the princess of said pounce's insanity, the brutal execution of one of his own men certainly does the trick. Sure, that particular templar who brutalizes the village elder for no reason other than being petty towards Raphtalia was a fool, and needed discipline. Possibly even a trial and execution because of how badly his action reflects the Three Heroes' Church's entire faith. But to explode his head without even a proper trial? It's not a disciplined action, it's just an even bigger fool showing his own bloodlust and stupidity.
Coming to Balafon under the guise of delivering a message from Mark Consevatie to his cousin, she knew there's a chance she'll have a close encounter with the faithless reincarnate. But she didn't expect to meet with the little shit almost as soon as she arrived. Within ten paces away from him, no less. She can only hope that the dirt and mud she splattered over her face did its job of hiding her scars.
"Was that execution necessary, my lord?" Sister Amelia hovers not too far behind Consevatie The Younger's back, as she casts a glance down at the dead templar with remorseful eyes. It's probably not a coincidence that the one she showed most compassion towards is a fanatical thug. "He was a good templar. And what example are we setting for our own man that you would execute those under your own command over your own pet slave?"
The princess would debate on the part about the dead fool 'being a good templar' part, but she's surprised someone like Sister Amelia is actually showing some good sense for once. Then again, maybe she shouldn't. While obviously not on the same level as Iris, Sister Amelia is still the cousin to the genius of the Golden Coast. And she was able to give correct counseling to Consevatie The Younger back outside the walls of the capital. It's just a shame that said incarnate seems to be the embodiment of good sense.
Chapter 113: The Enslaved Village
"Raphtalia may be a slave, but she's MY slave. Any disrespect shown to her, is disrespect towards me. And I will tolerate none of it." Consevatie The Younger turns his body around. He shoots Amelia a seering sneer from the corner of his eyes, the malice as clear as it is intentional. As much a mad jester as he was, it seems even the delusional incarnate knows the grudge many hold towards Raphtalia and Firo. "Let this be a lesson to all of you. I will not hesitate to split the head of anyone who mistreats my girls just because they aren't human. Anyone disagree, you better hope you can beat me in battle. And I would not give any of you a second chance like I did to that little shit Bartfort. Have I made myself clear?"
"Ye- yes. Of course, my lord." Amelia, as well as the other templars standing around the scene instantly goes down on their knees. Thoroughly having their will subserviced to Consevatie The Younger... for now. The princess is willing to bet all the insane incarnate did was breed more resentment of his men towards both Raphtalia and Firo.
"Consevatie... my lord." Among a sea of bootlickers, Jackson calls out to the arrogant incarnate. He plays a rather perfect act of a resentful commoner forced into obedience by his noble commander, instantly bowing his head low when Consevatie's annoyed glance cast his way. "I bring news of your men chasing after the Bed of Chaos."
"Oh, good. Has my useless cousin finally brought my precious Bed-Chan back home yet?" Consevatie The Younger fully turns his body to face Jackson. The way he slowly shakes his torso somehow makes such a simple act look smug. But among his usual arrogant boast, Mein noticed how he's calling the Bed of Chaos the same nickname as the Shield Hero. It definitely further confirms his suspicion (as in Naofumi is 100% certain, but he doesn't have any proof other than circumstantial evidence to back it up in a court of law) that Consevatie was someone from his world.
"Well, no. But there is a development-"
"Then why are you back here? You lazy, traitorous little shit?! You want me to burn the slave seal on you like I did to that backstabbing little shit Bartfort? I can still do that!" Jackson is instantly silenced as Consevatie The Younger goes off on him.
"Maybe we should hear what this filthy little commoner has to say, my lord?" Sister Amelia steps behind the incarnate, and whispers into his ears. "We did hear that loud rumble far away. And look at his companions, they look like they dug themselves out of a fresh grave. Perhaps there really was a significant development with the Bed of Chaos."
"Very well. You have one chance to impress. Commoner." Consevatie cranks his back further behind, sneering at Jackson while laying down his ultimatum.
"Commander Mark managed to corner the Bed of Chaos with our forces after Lady Ebonheart's rangers located it. To escape, she caused a great landslide. Many of our brothers and sisters got buried alive. You can see the result from those unlucky ones in them." Jackson turns around, pointing his finger at Sir Oersted, Ren, and Mein herself. "Lord Mark asked you to request more reinforcements from the Church, and your father."
They talked about what message they'll 'deliver' to Consevatie The Younger while on the way, riding atop of the Bed of Chaos. Something that sounds plausible, while not giving too much away despite the rumble of a mountain coming down half a day away. They decided it was best to not reveal Mark's death, or most of his forces for that matter. Letting this particular truth known to Consevatie might make him panic and run away, but it could also cause him to execute all the villagers to not leave them for Naofumi out of pettiness. So the idea of Mark suffering a setback after cornering the Bed of Chaos and letting the dryad escape, but not lose too much of their forces sounds like the best option for them.
"NO! There will be no asking for reinforcements. If Lacus' little lap dog is too incompetent to do his job, it's on him. He'll be the one answering for his failure." There is a sense of deep rooted disdain, and possibly even resentment in the voice of Consevatie The Younger. More evidence of mutual grudge between the reincarnate, and his younger sister. Regardless, it seems like the delusional incarnate had taken their bait, and bought the lie Jackson spun.
"You said the Bed of Chaos caused a landslide? Something doesn't seem right here." Once again, the one that seems to have trepidation to the whole thing is Sister Amelia. The princess has to admit that she underestimated this harpy simply due to her fanaticism just like Katarina. "If our forces suffered as much as you said, why didn't Lady Yesold send her ranger as the messengers to us? They can reach us much faster swinging on their grappling hooks than your legs can."
"Do you have to ask me? Ebonheart and her rangers aren't directly taking orders from us, Commander Mark, or even Lord Consevatie." Jackson gives a sideways glance to the incarnate, who is most definitely snorting in derision. "That northern cunt is just working with us on her own terms. Because she has bones to pick with the summoned heroes. She went after the Bed of Chaos as soon as it escaped us again."
"Bah. Typical Norks. Have no discipline, or sense of duty." Sister Amelia spats under her breath. Her prejudice against her countrymen of Midgardian descent quickly gave way to her suspicion once again. "How did a creature like the Bed of Chaos come up with the idea of collapsing a mountain on top of you anyway? Shouldn't it be a common monster, or at most, have the intelligence of a young child?"
"My superior intelligence clearly rubbed off on my child." Consevatie The Younger answered Sister Amelia rather than Jackson. The princess can't tell if he's being serious, or if his delusion has truly reached terminal level. Regardless, she's not sure how to feel about it if the current personality of the Bed of Chaos was in some way influenced by this incarnate from the hero's world. "It's good to know my stuck up tool of a cousin got his behind kicked by my child. He's been an annoying little shit at my side long enough just because he thought my scheming slut of a little sister offered him protection. He finally gets shown what he's really made of and gets put in his place. By my child, no less."
The princess has to pause for a double take, even knowing what Consevatie The Younger was like from before. Was he honestly celebrating the defeat of his own force (or at least his allies) just because he personally doesn't like them? Granted, he doesn't know the full extent of the loss his force suffered, or else he'd probably be singing a very different tune. But still, Mein almost has to respect him for his completely pointless, and self-defeating amount of pettiness. At least it's going to make their job a bit easier.
"And are we supposed to simply believe that Lady Ebonheart had a sudden change of her mind, and decided to go above and beyond for what we commanded her to do?" Sister Amelia lets out a long huff at this statement. Something tells the princess that she doesn't look eye to eye with the lady of Midgardian descent. "She is only ever motivated to do something when summoned heroes are concerned. Because she thinks they are the same kind of rapists as some of the king's Free Fighters. You know what I think? I think the Shield Demon is involved in some way. Maybe he's the one who came up with the idea of collapsing a mountain to escape our men. Ebonheart saw the Shield Demon, and gave chase afterwards."
"So what if he did? I already owned his sorry ass good back in capital. The loser hero is no threat to us anymore, and he wouldn't even have escaped with his life if it weren't for those rebels saving them." Consevatie simply smirks at Amelia's suggestion rather than taking the hypothetical situation (that's very close to the truth) seriously. "At any rate, I wouldn't worry about him. He's nothing more than a boy toy for Slut-Chan. And once she realizes he's dead in the water, she'll throw him away and maybe try to stick to another one of those lower heroes after she bleeds him dry for all his worth. She's a sadistic, selfish bitch like that, and she'll only ever hurt other people for her own gains."
The words from the fop hurt, despite his idiocy and delusion. Mostly because it's actually true. Just like Uncle Aldrecht said, once she knew what the Shield Hero truly was like, she had a chance to tell her father the truth and try to get the two of them to see eye to eye. Naofumi was at least sympathetic towards what he went through, judging from the way he acted when Uncle Aldrecht explained her father's past in the ruin of Flute. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway, due to Father's near paranoia level of distrust towards anyone associated with Siltvelt... (Miss Mala seemed to be a rebuke to this line of thought... but Mein told herself it's different with Mala because clearly some trust was built through all the years they spent together) but she didn't even try it in the first place. She simply assumed that she has enough intelligence and charm to play everyone for her own benefits, and in the end she hurt everyone involved.
So Mein does what she does best in this situation: goes into self denial by distracting herself with something else. Thankfully, ignoring Consevatie's scorn towards her is easy, because she found something more interesting to focusing on. Not too far away from where they gathered, Raphtalia is doing her best to feed potion to the elder of Balafon to save his life. Her body twitches at the mention of Naofumi. With how badly the elder was injured and him being unconscious, most of the potion ends up spilling out of his mouth anyway.
This gives the princess an idea, so she takes it. While Consevatie is having his conversation with his sycophant and Jackson, she takes a small step to the side, towards Raphtalia. And speaks out in a lowered, husky voice. "Have you tried to feed him potion with your mouth? I saw some of the young peasant scouts practice with each other in Lute."
Raphtalia's body freezes in a brief moment, hopefully not noticed by the others as she looks up unsurely at her. She pops the stopper off another vial of health potion, takes it into her mouth and presses her lips on the elder's mouth. After the deed is done, only a thin line of red runs down the side of the elder's chin. His breath becomes a bit more even. "Yes. I was shown this too. It helped save my 'mother' a while back. Thank you for reminding me."
Mein gives Raphtalia a nod, hopefully convincing her that she indeed knows what she's talking about. Before Raphtalia (or herself, for that matter) had managed to come up with some hidden way to pass more messages, Consevatie's loud complaints drew their attention away from their awkward attempt at establishing communication. "Eew! You did NOT just have a kiss with an old geezer, Raphtalia! Amelia! You step in next time when Raphtalia wants to save the worthless life of one of these NPC mooks, you hear me?! I will NOT have someone else get a kiss from her before I do!"
"Yes. As you wish, my lord." The arrogant fop of an incarnate managed to draw ire out of Sister Amelia, his most devoted follower. Or maybe she's just showing more contempt at Raphtalia, the demi-human slave who stole her lord's affection away from her. Actually, judging by her blazing glare towards Raphtalia, the second case is most likely correct. "But let's hear what Brother Jackson has to say about the situation first. I believe that is the most important even if we consider the threat of the Shield Demon already neutralized. If anything, Siltvelt getting their hands on him would have been highly detrimental to our plan."
"Without his Shield? HA! Those animals and fake elves will probably just turn him into a breeding stock. Maybe he'll actually like it." Despite Consevatie's nonchalance, he did turn fully towards Jackson, clearly expecting some answer from the renegade. "Well, spit it out! Don't keep me waiting!"
"I wouldn't know. I was in the backline with Logan. All we saw was a mountain coming down on the frontline. That's why our uniforms aren't covered in dirt, like them!" Jackson raises one of his arms, showing his comparatively clean church shirt. It's not immaculately white, like those priests who only give services in cathedrals. There are tainted spots of grim and dirt mixed with sweat on him. But it's clearly nowhere near as soiled as the ones Mein is wearing.
So the traitorous commoner decided to leave the call to her rather than take it himself. She honestly can't even fault him for this time. With his comparatively pristine clothing, it would look suspicious if he gives a more committed answer either way. She can feel the eyes of both Oersted, and Ren on her. Both are following her leads, just like she ordered them from before.
This is the moment of truth. A scion like Consevatie The Younger (and Amelia, before she was disowned by her family) is trained to ignore servants unless he is directly addressing them. So there's a good chance they wouldn't have paid any attention to her before, despite her being about five paces away from them. But now, both would be looking at her. If there is a time when her disguise falters, this would be it. But she can do nothing other than step up to the challenge. So she does, but keeping her head slightly bowed down to give a sense of respect driven by fear. "I didn't get a good look, my lord. But there does seem to be someone riding in the leaf covered crown of the Bed of Chaos. So she's clearly working for someone. It might as well be the Shield He- Demon."
"I knew it! I just knew it! It all lines up perfectly! The Shield Demon, and his traitorous witch are trying to flee the nation north through Griffin's Spine. They knew it was their only chance for survival after we defeated them near the capital." The loud harpy turns towards Consevatie, a quick glance up from Mein sees a different kind of fire burns in her eyes compared to before when she was glaring daggers at Raphtalia. It seems like neither Amelia nor Consevatie The Younger realized who she was. "We can't let the Shield Demon escape our grasp again, Lord Consevatie! Listening to Bartfort was a bad idea, and he was trying to lead you astray! You need to pen a letter to the cathedral and to your father immediately, inform them of the Shield Hero's discovery to request more men, or a specialized task force to hunt him down. We need to ensure the Shield Demon is killed this time so he can't turn more people against us with his treachery!"
The princess nearly cringes at Sister Amelia's response. Not because of her blind zealotry, or the incandescent malice she has towards the Shield Hero (or herself). But rather, because she knew the priestess made a fatal mistake that has caused her argument to sway an arrogant fool like Consevatie.
"I was the one who agreed with Bartfort's suggestion. It was my final saying to keep the shield loser alive, not the little shit. Are you implying I made a mistake, Amelia?" Consevatie turns his head to glare at Amelia, making the priestess sputter and takes a few trembling steps back.
"Wha- what? Of course not, my lord! In a million years or two, I would never dare to second question you." Iris' cousin can barely string together a cohesive thought into her stuttering words. It's hard to tell if she truly is that devoted to an idiot like Consevatie The Younger, or if she noticed the way his fingers tighten around the handle of his axe. "But the fact remains that the Shield Demon did escape our grasp again because of that filthy traitor Notches! And he traveled north before the Third Wave. Who knows if there are more traitors, heretics and Shield Demon sympathizers like Balgruuf hiding among the true faithful!?"
"The Shield Loser is a small fry. A mere pebble for me to kick to the side before I stop the Wave of Catastrophe and have this entire world grovel before my feet. I'll be glad to put him, and anyone who dares to help him in their place: under my feet, if they show their faces again. Why tell everyone else where the shield loser is, and risk the chance for someone else taking the glory of taking down that absolute tool?" Once again, Consevatie's words make the princess shudder. Not because she believes he actually has the chance, or the means to do it. But did the insane fool just announced his intention to be the second coming of the King of Rape? She hopes the case of megalomania isn't a common trait among the summoned hero people. "As for you, you worthless little commoner. What are you standing around for? Just because I don't worry about the shield loser doesn't mean I want him to just get away. Tell Mark to step up his game, and don't try to come back to me until the shield loser dies, or he dies! Or I'll take his head off myself!"
It seems like the reincarnate had let the success of defeating Naofumi outside Melromarc Castle go to his head. Because Mein honestly can't see this being the same person who listened to other people's plan to lay the carefully constructed trap that checks and mated the Shield Hero.
"Could we at least rest to refresh ourselves, maybe have a change of shirts, my lord? We are all exhausted, running all the way back to inform you of the latest happening. Not to mention dirty. we could catch a bad disease or two if we go back like this to continue our campaign." Jackson takes a step back, his arms held up in front of his chest and face in an act of genuine looking fear. It seems like the commoner is a natural born turncoat.
"Bah, lazy, ungrateful commoners! FINE! Go back and get your dirty shirt changed. Get some water to drink and rest before you go back to my stuck up cousin! Not like I care either way!" Consevatie turns on his heels and snaps his fingers and Amelia didn't say anything to rebuke him. Good, his apathy alongside Sister Amelia made sure Mein's disguise held up in front of them. "Come with me, Raphtalia. We are done with these useless NPCs. It's time for me to give you some personal training!"
"Ye- yes, Master Consevatie." Raphtalia gives another quick glance at Mein from the corner of her eyes, and she quickly runs after the fool.
"This way." Jackson gives a low whisper to them, and they also quickly fall into steps with the renegade as he leads them into the palisade of Balafon village. The village itself had definitely seen better days, even compared to her first visit when they were suffering famine from their massive 'drought'. Then again, the Spear Hero were already on the job, and were hunting some monsters down for them to eat, so it's not like they were dying of starvation.
In contrast, the dirt street of the village is now entirely empty save for a few templars lazily strolling across the street. More like they are taking a leisure walk rather than doing a serious patrol. It's not like they have much to worry about from a community of thoroughly culled farming people anyway. The people of Balafon are probably forced to work in the field to gather the war ration for the Three Heroes' Church and their allies. Too tired, on top of being too low leveled to cause any trouble. Hopefully, the hubris of these 'elites' of the Three Heroes' Church will be their undoing, just like their master.
Jackson led them to the rebuilt inn of Balafon, which had apparently been commandeered by the combined the Three Heroes' Church and House Consevatie host as their main quarter of operation. It makes sense, since it's one of the more spacious buildings of the farming village. The renegade pushes open the door, and leads them in. A blue haired man with bulging muscles, and a scythe-like blade of fringe hanging over his face is dozing off on a chair with his arms behind his head. What the princess notices was how he's not wearing the white of the church, or even House Consevatie color. Now, he wears a set of short sleeved green shirts, and a pair of baggy black pants with a red tie around the waist. An adventurer who got caught up in the mess, perhaps? The current keeper of the inn (who most definitely is NOT an innkeeper, judging by his muscles) shakes awake, and looks up at the group with half awake eyes. "Jackson? You in the dog house with Consevatie again?"
"Stuff it, Set."
Jackson shakes his fist at the now named Set, who simply laughs at Jackson's curse. He tosses a key over towards Jackson, and waves his hand to the back. "Third room to the right, if you want some change out those shirts. They are filthy! And I think there's still some bread and pickled vegetables in the cellar. Make yourself comfortable."
Jackson snatches the key off the air, and wordlessly leads Mein's group over to the room indicated by Set. Sure enough, equipment and clothes are stacked, almost to the brim in the former bedroom. Oersted and Ren quickly begin to help themselves, while the princess hesitates. Not that she's a virtuous person in the first place, but she wonders if she should expose her body to all the young men of their group. Once again, trying to take her mind off the topic, she turns to Jackson. "What's the story of that guy sitting behind the counter? He doesn't look like a cleric knight, or House Consevatie's men."
"Hell if I know. Never seen him before till I got to Balafon." Jackson shrugs his shoulders as he throws his dirty shirt onto the floor as he reaches for another. "Let's just focus on our tasks, okay? We can worry about every other odd person we met after we take down Consevatie."
"Actually, I know Set from before. I was in his group, under the command of Centurian Bright." Logan fumbles with the shirt, trying to find one that matches his larger size. His words make the princess raise her eyebrow. Centurian... that's what the Theocracy of Romalia call their hundred-men captain. So the guy, or at least his commander, was a Romalian? Judging by Logan's words, clearly something happened to this 'Centurian Bright'. "Set was a free fighter attachment to Centurion Bright... Leopold, I think. He supposedly came from some noble family that got whipped out during the Great War, since he used to talk about how he wanted to rebuild House Leopold. But anyways, he works for House Amelia. And he got tossed into the dungeon shortly after Cromwell returned to the capital and laid siege to House Amelia's manor. So Set and I got reassigned to Consevatie."
Leopold... they used to be a martial noble house under House Seaetto before their lord and heir were both killed during The Great War. The Leopold supposedly even have some minor House Melromarc's blood, shown in their fiery red hair (not that every redhead in the world is related to her family, she's fairly sure they have no relationship to Zebest at least for the past ten generations). So a spare actually managed to survive? She might look into it... if she survives the Three Heroes' Church's onslaught herself, and this Bright still hasn't been killed yet. Someone like him could be an investment just like Eclair. And she'll need as many of them if she's to stand up against her mother... and her uncle, the pig king of Faubley.
The princess shakes her head, quickly begins undressing herself now all the boys are either finished changing their clothes, or have their back turned against her. She quickly finished changing into her own set of fresh cloth herself, and hoped it doesn't make her dirty face stand out too much. She could get her face washed, but it's detrimental for its own self-explained reason. "Okay, let's go grab some food like Set told us. And we'll split up, going around the village looking like we are trying to find a good place to quietly eat our meal. But we'll find some hidden corner to leave those seeds we have on us."
Her group nods, and they quickly make their way down the ladder this time. After grabbing their food, they cut down those stale breads and put pickled vegetables in between, and make their way out of the repurposed Balafon Inn. Set didn't even bother to acknowledge them this time. They immediately split, and begin to run around the village looking for dark corners with the least amount of the Three Heroes' Church templar presence. Not a very hard task, considering they are stretched thin inside the village and outside in the fields and orchards, monitoring the enslaved Balafon villagers.
The princess keeps her head down, and head straight towards the edge of the village where she knew there were some abandoned shacks not properly fixed up during the Life Root's rampage. The people of Balafon used them to store some junk, her feet suddenly stopping when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. "Did my ear deceive me after so long, or has someone finally remembered that nobody returned to take my orders? I'd like a platter of your finest brioche and a bottle of Siltvelt Gobbie-Red wine. I will NOT be recommending this place to my family and friends."
"Imp?" A sudden silence follows Mein's words like a thick blanket. The twice disguised princess gives a gentle push to the wooden door. To her surprise, it's not locked like she assumed. So she quickly steps inside the storage house, looking for Zylden.
The imp of Casterly Rock has clearly seen better days just like the village he's in. His golden, curly hair is now dirty and ruffled, more like a badly kept bird nest than a bundle of the precious metal thread. His high cheek bones look even more pronounced, and looks like it's about to poke right through his skin. There's bruises, and discolored patches of skin on his face, and he's being tied up by an excessive amount of ropes. It's a wonder he somehow managed to both still jest in his current condition, and howling as loud as he did a moment ago.
"Well, fancy meeting you here, my dear old acquaintance." The imp chuckles at Mein, his smile doesn't fully reach his eyes. It's hard to give a genuine smile when you are brutally beaten, and left to starve to death. At least that's what the princess hoped, and not because the imp suspects she's an enemy now. The way he addressed her without specifically saying who she is gives Mein some hope that's not the case. He's probably trying to keep it vague, not telling anyone who might eavesdrop on them. "I'd stand up and show you courtesy, but I'm afraid I'm all tied up at the moment."
"You clearly went through hell imp. Your jokes are worse than ever." Once again, Zylden lets out a chuckle at Mein's response. She moves her pickled veggie sandwich over to the imp's mouth, letting him chew at the food. With her other hand, she unties the waterskin from her waist and gives Zylden some water in between his bites. "It's not brioche washed down Siltvelt Gobbie-Red. But at least it'll keep you alive and sustained for now."
"Well. I still won't recommend this place to my family and friends. The service is two days delayed, and the food is terrible. But at least the wench is out of this world." The imp's smile given between his feeding is much more genuine. "With the way you are dressed, I'm a little worried about our dear shield boy. The part of my brain those well dressed thugs didn't rattle tells me one thing, but my heart and more importantly... my guts tells me something else."
"Don't push it, imp." The princess in disguise lets Zylden devour the last bit of morse. She cocked the waterskin back after letting the imp get one last drink, and then gave him a light slap on the face without any force behind it. She leans closer to his ears, and whispers to him. "We already took care of Consevatie's main host, that's what that rumble sound you heard earlier was. We are trying to plan a break out for all you guys, tonight, or tomorrow night at last. Just hang in there and behave, don't make yourself the practice targets of these church thugs."
"Are you crazy? Look, I don't have a death wish and I'm not against being rescued. But it's Game Over for everyone if shield boy dies. He could still be killed by a lucky shot from one of Consevatie's elite goons!" Zylden's voice is actually serious, and spoken in haste as opposed to his usual slow, comedic draws. As much a jest as the imp was, he truly does care for the Shield Hero. "Tell that crazy boy to save himself before it's too late."
"I'm offended for you to imply I haven't told him this already. But honestly, do you expect him to save his own skin if he has a chance to rescue you guys? Raphtalia and Firo, his children are right here in Consevatie's clutches, for Chief God's sake." Zylden falls into silence. Despite the deformity of being a mal-born, lower mental capacity was clearly NOT one of the quirks he was given. He knows the truth of Mein's statement as soon as the Shield Hero's children are mentioned. "Look, we got help from the Bed of Chaos with us. She gave us a bunch of seeds we'll plant all around the village. It'll help tie those thugs down, and all you guys have to do afterwards is run like the Wave is chasing you. The Shield Hero wouldn't even be in any danger."
"You know what they say, no plan survives contact with the enemies." The imp's words make Mein nod her head along. She knew the phrase from long ago, and got a first hand experience with how fast, and how badly things deteriorate at Graile. "But I suppose it's for the best considering the circumstances. Try to pass the words to someone else in the village. The last thing you want is for the villagers to panic when they see another tree attack, and start running all over the place."
"I know. I'll see how I'll pass the message over. Stay safe, okay?" With one last poke on the Imp's loose cheek, the princess carefully creeps away from the interior of the storage house. She gives a few looks around, before pushing the door open and quickly finds the dark corner to bury the seeds into. Hopefully it'll work exactly as Naofumi explained.
With her task done, she walks towards the northern gate of the village to wait for the rest of her group before they'll head out and link up with Naofumi once again. Before she reaches her destination, she hears the sound of scuffles from the side. Curious, she deviates away from the main path and goes to the side. Her eyes open wide when she sees Consevatie is chasing after Raphtalia with his axe in a small clearing blocked off by wooden fences.
From both Jackson's testimony and previous interaction between Consevatie The Younger and others, it's clear he cares about Raphtalia, even if he shows it in a rather disturbing way. So it's unlikely that he's trying to kill her. So, this is some kind of badly set up training session?
"Come back and fight me, Raphtalia. I know you have what it takes." The mad reincarnate laughs with a smirk on his face, waving around his enchanted axe. At least he's enjoying their session, even when the raccoon girl looks absolutely terrified. "You have what it takes, and you have the weapon to match my own. You just have to stand, and fight me."
"I don't even know how to use this!" Raphtalia skids to a stop and holds her arm up. In her hand, the blade of Mein's previously commissioned sword 'Hidden Purple' flopped around more like a whip than a sword. A Siltvelt Midland 'soft sword' has characteristics of both, since they were supposed to be a concealed weapon used by Midland nobles. Usually taking the form of a belt over their waist till they are pulled out to surprise their enemies. Needless to say, the unwieldy 'blade' of such a weapon is more of a danger to the user than their enemies unless one receives special training. Thankfully, her Coach Zellus is an expert on all sorts of swords, Midland soft sword included. And Mein could certainly utilize it even if she's far from an expert. When she commissioned this sword, she intended it more as a backup concealed weapon to surprise her enemies, rather than the primary weapon she wanted to fight with. Unfortunately, Raphtalia herself clearly never received such training despite being the rightful heir to the (now destroyed) 'Judge of the Heroes'.
"Nonsense! You have more potential to easily grow stronger than those summoned losers. You just have to stop running, and let your natural talent out." The delirious reincarnate drawls, and he goes back to waving his axe in Raphtalia's face once again. This immediately prompts the poor raccoon girl to let out a scared squeak, and goes back to running around the training ring with her hands covering her head. "Shield loser and Slut-Chan clearly did something wrong with you for your sword fighting talent to not come out. But don't worry. I'll make sure you grow to your full potential."
"Should I shoot at her to stop her from moving so much, Lord Consevatie?" Sister Amelia draws her bow open on the outside of the wooden fence. Her face looks carefully blank, probably because she realized openly showing scorn towards Raphtalia in front of the made reincarnate is counter to her own health. "It'll at least help train her ability to dodge."
"You know what? Let's try it." Consevatie looks at Sister Amelia from the corner of his eyes. "But don't hit her with actual arrows. I don't want Raphtalia to get hurt."
"As you wish, my lord. [Air Shot]." Sister Amelia starts to release her pulled back strings without knocking any arrow, firing waves of compressed air at Raphtalia instead. Her task of running from Consevatie becomes significantly harder now the raccoon princess has to also dodge the priestess' attack. Mein fights back her instinct to walk behind Sister Amelia, and then runs her through with the sword wand. She'll have to let this continue, if she want the best chance at freeing Raphtalia from Consevatie.
The raccoon girl lets out a scream of surprise when her left feet get clipped by Sister Amelia's attack. She tumbles onto the ground, holding her ankles even as Consevatie's axe falls right besides her face. "My feet! You made me twist my ankle, you jerk!"
"This wouldn't have happened, if you just learned to stand your ground and fight." Consevatie shakes his head, bends down and picks up his weapon. The delusional reincarnate actually has the mind to blame Raphtalia, a ten years old girl (in an adult's body, yes. But still a ten years old girl in mind) from running from danger rather than standing her ground? She can't tell if he's an idiot, or a complete monster. "I bet it's Slut-Chan wanting to keep you weak, so she can make herself look dear and useful to the shield loser. Surprised she didn't sell you back to slavery like she did to those stupid cheerleaders of the Spear Hero."
The princess actually does take affront to Consevatie's accusation this time. Because she was never with the Spear Hero, and she definitely did not sell anyone of his companions into slavery illegally. Not saying she wouldn't be open to getting rid of some competitions if she finds the opportunity. But she definitely won't be taking the fall for something she might hypothetically do, but didn't.
Maybe she'll take a page out of the gluttonous devil bird's playbook, and kick the fop in the crotch when she has the chance. She doesn't expect herself to do as much damage as Firo did to the Spear Hero, since she's not a giant bird made of pure muscles and bones. But seeing the pounce's usually smug face twist in pain would do wonders to her health.
"Someone gives Raphtalia a hand, and helps her sit on the side. I'll go a few rounds with Firo next." Consevatie calls out to the side, where a few templars linger around. Seeing the opportunity, Mein immediately steps in to help Raphtalia up. The raccoon girl clearly recognizes her again, as she obediently leans towards the (twice) disguised princess after an initial moment of tensing up. "Come over here, Firo. Time for a training session with you."
"Finally!" Firo jumps over the fence, and lands in the middle of the ring right beside Mein and Raphtalia. She gives a disdain filled sideway glare to them both, obviously not recognizing who Mein is. The princess is all too grateful for that. "Don't expect Firo to go easy on you! Firo isn't weak, or scared like that bad raccoon girl."
"Haha, well said, Firo. Never change." Consevatie The Younger laughs at Firo's attempt at intimidate him. The angel-faced devil bird lets out a snarl that sounds more beastly than a little girl, clearly taking Consevatie's attitude as a taunt. She immediately shoots forwards, kicking at Consevatie which he blocks with the flat side of his ax like a makeshift shield.
The princess quickly guides Raphtalia out of the ring now that the devil bird is in a full clash with the mad reincarnate. She doesn't want anywhere near these two crazies when they fight it out. While doing that, she silently wrote the word 'imp' on Raphtalia's arm with her finger. The raccoon girl gives her another glance, before giving a faint nod that's hopefully ignored by everyone else.
Hopefully Raphtalia gets her message, and would find a way to sneak to Zylden and help spread what he knows. It's probably not responsible for Mein to put such a burden on Raphtalia, but she'll have an easier time skulking around than the disguised princess. She'll try to make some contact with the Balafon villagers on her way out of the village back to Naofumi. But if she can't do it without raising the suspicion of the templars... Well, it's never a bad thing to have a backup plan.
End Note:
This morning, my long time reader/consultant Commissar Gaunt actually left me a pm, saying that death would have caused all the dead bodies Mein got her costumes from to empty their bowel and bladder and soiled up the clothes they got. And it could have actually been a source where their disguise gets exposed, when some member from SIOC's group asks and offer help to clean Mein's little group up. Really good suggestion! It's just a shame that this chapter had long been written, and edited last week (I'm banking on a chapter now to make sure I have a chapter to release in case my chief editor Ace-Triad was busy and can't edit my chapter within one week. Which was what happend the last time I missed my self-imposed update deadline).
So yeah... needless to say completely revamping the entire chapter after it's long written and edited is kind of unfeasible. So all I did was adding one small mention where SIOC, and his posses doesn't really cared about the well being of their men. Which kind of fit with their characterization.
Anyways, Malty managed to get Raphtalia's attention by doing a little call back from what happened with them earlier. Funny enough, that scene where Raki seems to be stealing a kiss from Raphtalia and give Malty the 'excuse' he was teaching Raphtalia emergency potion delivery method? He was speaking the truth. While Raki certainly has feeling for Raphtalia in this story, the trope of feeding medicine to an unconscious (always the other gender) person to save their life is a very common Chinese kungfu novel trope. Obviously, it's not as well known in English community, so everyone assumed Raki was lying to Malty's face when he was being truthful.
So now I'm taking every opportunity to call back to that moment to remind everyone. Raki was a good, honest boy who was NOT making excuses to kiss Raphtalia behind her (surrogate) parents' back.
XDDD
And speaking of Raphtalia... this chapter shows that she is most definitely, NOT destined to become some powerhouse fighter because of some natural talent. At least not in the way she went through the story, where she mostly just ran away from danger and be crafty rather than meeting them heads on.
Malty shares another small scene with Peter Dinklage from A Song of Ice and Fire played by Tyrion Lannister... I mean Comrade Broseph (Press 'F' to show him respect). That's definitely another pair who shared a deeper connection than I originally intended. So I hope the connection they made through the story feels as natural as it did in my head.