Sword and Shield
Civil War 1
"I will be returning post-haste to Melromarc."
In her image projected from the crystal ball, the Queen hid her expression behind her customary fan as she made that declaration.
It was now morning, the day after the villager's had revolted against the Church of the Three Heroes and burned down the local church. The entire party was sitting in a circle inside of their carriage. The only one not readily visible was Shadow, who had hidden themself away somewhere.
"It's about time," Naofumi stated drily.
Mirellia inclined her head. "It is as you say. Though the situation in Melromarc is regrettable, it makes for the perfect excuse to return home immediately. The negotiations I've been participating in have been put on hold and I can now come back. As a matter of fact, I am already on the move. If things go smoothly, I should arrive in Melromarc in little less than a week."
That explained why Mirellia's image was rocking a little. She was obviously in a carriage herself, one that was speeding towards Melromarc even as they spoke.
"The situation…" Shirou leaned back. "And what is the situation, exactly?"
"That's part of what we are here to discuss. Shadow," the Queen directed her servant.
Shadow emerged, fading into a reality beside Raphtalia. Not a single one of them reacted surprised at their sudden appearance. They had seen it too many times to be surprised anymore. As instructed, Shadow placed a map of Melromarc on the floor in front of the crystal ball.
"The Tageero, Selva and Emantla regions are in open revolt against the church," Mirellia said, as Shadow helpfully pointed out said regions on the map. "You'll be hard pressed to find a church that hasn't been burned down or isn't under siege in those regions. There are only a few hold outs."
"The church has lost control completely in those areas…that sure was quick," Melty blinked, cocking her head in surprise.
"My fellow Shadows might have aided here or there," Shadow informed them.
"As have nobles and people of authority that are of similar persuasion as ourselves," Mirellia added.
Though circumstances and the onset of the Waves of Calamity had severely weakened the pro demi-human faction in Melromarc, their presence still persisted. Moreover, the power base of the pro-demi-human faction has been seeing a resurgence, in part due to the actions of the Shield Hero and his companions. With the nobles and people of authority said faction in the Tageero, Selva and Emantla regions leading the revolt, the pro-demi-human faction were now the ones calling the shots in those regions.
"I see. This has been brewing for a while, then," Naofumi pondered.
Mirellia inclined her head again. What the Shield Hero said was true. Tensions in Melromarc have been rising ever since the anti-demi-human faction took control. A backlash at some point had been inevitable.
A civil war kicked off by a lie was a bit more extreme than she'd anticipated, but in her mind that was simply yet another reason to get rid of the Church of the Three Heroes. A religion whose mere presence brewed tensions between disparate groups was, at the end of the day, nothing more than a sword hanging over the neck of the continued existence of Melromarc.
"And what about Melromarc's own forces? The knights and such?" Raphtalia jumped in.
"More or less the same as the nobles and the peasantry," was Mirellia's ever so prompt reply. "There has been a split in both the command structure and the average soldiers. In the Tageero, Selva and Emantla regions the armed forces have by and large sided with the pro-demi-human faction. Everywhere else it's a wild mishmash with a lot of confusion who is siding with whom. As it stands there is no longer a unified army in Melromarc."
"What a mess," Fohl grumbled.
There was a unified sense of agreement on that sentiment.
"Anything else of note?" Melty asked.
"A battle took place at the castle," Mirellia said. "Aultcray was attacked. What became of him is not known at this point."
Several mouths fell open at that bit of information. Melty recoiled as if slapped.
"Church forces and the Bow Hero were the ones conducting said attack," Mirellia continued on before they could get a word in edgewise.
"The church and the Bow Hero attacked the King?" Atla cocked her head in confusion. "Why would they do that? Isn't the King allied with the church and the Bow Hero by proxy?"
"Ostensibly, yes," Mirellia allowed. "However, Aultcray is not a staunch believer of the Church of the Three Heroes. He was only allied with the church out of convenience and the fact that his goals aligned with theirs. The same was true in reverse. I can only surmise that the situation has changed in such a fashion that no longer holds true."
Shirou's brow creased in thought. "What the Queen says is probably true, but even if the church and the King are no longer in lockstep with each other, I can't imagine a situation that would justify outright attacking him. I mean, the King is still the one who superficially has the highest authority in the country, right? With a civil war going on, the King could at the very least be a useful figurehead to rally people behind."
"…Shirou's right," Raphtalia frowned. "Something isn't adding up."
"As far as I'm concerned, the trash King had this coming," Naofumi snorted.
The Shield Hero fell silent as Melty gave him a look. Though he meant what he said, he didn't want to upset Melty any further.
"What of the other Heroes?" Naofumi changed track.
"The Bow Hero and the Spear Hero are unaccounted for," Mirellia shook her head. "The same holds true for the leadership of the Church of the Three Heroes."
"Figures," was the unanimous mutter.
"I have already contacted the Sword Hero and his companions," the Queen revealed. "I have updated them on the situation. Naturally, they'll be cooperating with us."
Mirellia raised a hand to forestall anyone asking the obvious question.
"I have already dealt with the issue regarding the Sword Hero's companions. Rest assured, the cause of their compliance with my husband's threats no longer applies," she said with a slight smile. "Just like the Sword Hero, they are now on our side."
"That's good news," Naofumi folded his arms. "That just leaves the question what our next move is going to be."
"I thought that would be obvious," Mirellia's eyes narrowed. "Support the pro-demi-human faction, bring the Church of the Three Heroes to ruin and end this civil war as soon as possible."
"I'd figured as much. What I am asking for is specifics," Naofumi said drily.
After a brief moment, the Queen snapped her fan closed. "Unfortunately, it does not get much more specific than that. Civil wars are by their very nature messy. There is no specific action that we can take that would ensure a swift end to the strive in Melromarc. The only action that might lead to a quick resolution is the capture of the leadership of the Church of the Three Heroes, followed by a confession that it was the church, not the Shield Hero, who kidnapped Melty. Even then, there would still be no guarantee that it would work."
Mirellia closed her eyes and breathed deeply, obviously frustrated at the situation.
"And seeing as the leadership of the church of the Three Heroes seems to have up and disappeared, it's not a viable tactic anyhow."
"That's a problem," Shirou stated the blindingly obvious. "The next Wave will hit Melromarc in little less than two weeks. If this civil war isn't resolved by then…"
There was a collective grimace as they thought about it. In such a scenario, the Wave wouldn't only be the site of battle between man and monsters, but would also possibly be the battleground between Heroes hostile to each other. Hell, if Itsuki and Motoyasu figured out the Battle Formation function in the meantime, and they brought their own additional forces to the battle...
Messy would be and understatement. Catastrophic would be a more apt term.
Abruptly, Naofumi got up.
"It seems we have no time to waste," the Shield Hero said, an unusual fire in his eyes. "We'll be doing all that we can to end this farcical civil war as quickly as possible. By whatever means. I presume that there are no objections to that, Queen?"
"You have my full support, Shield Hero-sama, whatever course of action you choose to pursue. I hope to join you and yours on the field of battle soon," Mirellia opened her eyes. "By the time this is over, the Church of the Three Heroes will be nothing more than a bad memory."
The goal had been set: end the civil war in Melromarc post-haste. At the end of the day, however, the party of the Shield Hero were but a handful of people. Even with the ability to teleport they could only provide aid directly to a handful of places at a time.
Thankfully, since the Wave in Zeltoble, they had a little extra manpower to spare.
"Listen up!"
Naofumi thundered at the ranks of lined up Gladiator Slaves. Said Gladiator Slaves were standing at attention, giving the Shield Hero their undivided focus.
"All of you are already aware of the situation," Naofumi lowered his voice a little, but it was still quite audible for the dead silent Gladiator Slaves. "Melromarc is in a state of civil war. We are siding with the Queen and the pro-demi-human faction and as you lot are a cut above most fighters, your talents will be put to use for the pro-demi-human faction."
Shadow fazed into existence beside the Shield Hero, making all the Gladiator Slaves start in surprise.
"First order of business," Naofumi continued unabated. "Will be to consolidate control of the regions where the pro demi-human faction has the upper hand."
"I am a Shadow in employ of the Queen of Melromarc," Shadow said in their ever distorted voice. "I and my fellows will be the go-betweens for all of you and the Shield Hero, disseminating his orders and keeping everyone informed on the other's movements. Degojaru."
"For the duration of this crisis you are to treat the words of the Shadows as my own," Naofumi added helpfully.
Shadow inclined their masked head. "It's as the Shield Hero says. I look forward to working with all of you. Degojaru."
A low murmur started up as the Gladiator Slaves discussed the situation. When they'd been bought by the Shield Hero all of them had wondered what would be in store for them in the future, but none of them could have anticipated that they would be actively participating in a civil war.
At the end of the day, however, they were Gladiator Slaves bound to a contract of servitude. Their owner wanted them to lend him their strength for his purposes. And as their contract dictated, they would abide by his commands.
Besides, aiding the Shield Hero and providing the ruling monarch their services would definitely shave off quite a bit of time from the duration of their contracts. And though it would be dangerous, the task set before them would for once actually have real meaning and worth behind it.
"As you command, sir!" as one, the Gladiator Slaves saluted the Shield Hero.
"Good," Naofumi gave them one of his rare smiles. "We will set out in as soon as possible. First, we'll drop off the non-combat slaves in the next village. After that, all of us will be splitting up. But, before that…"
Naofumi placed his hand on the ground and accessed his Item Box. With a mental command, several huge boxes appeared on the ground. Said boxes were filled to the brim with Healing Potions and plain metal bands. Small rubies with a square cut were set into the metal bands, glinting in the bright sunlight.
"Don't forget to take some of these with you," Naofumi said. "Healing Potions of the highest quality, and special accessories…"
The Gladiator Slaves approached and starting dividing the resources provided amongst themselves. Every single one of them placed at the very least half a dozen Healing Potions in their bags, while also slipping the plain accessories over their wrists with befuddled expressions.
"Shield Hero," H'aanit approached, Linda slinking alongside her.
Naofumi turned towards her. "H'aanit, thanks once again for continuing to help."
H'aanit shook her head and waved away his thanks. "Thee need not thank me. Mine home is on the very border of Melromarc, and might well be in the line of fire itself. With Melromarc in chaos, it maken perfect sense to providen mine services to the winning side, in hopes that the conflict in this land is brought to a swift close, even if I willen not be aiding thee and thine directly…"
H'aanit would not be traveling with them from this point onward. Instead, she'd be staying behind at the next village, which incidentally was Elrasla's hometown, together with the slaves they'd bought from the Zeltoble Slave Trader. In other words, she would be staying behind with the non-combatant slaves to protect them, conscripting a small army of monsters to do so.
After all, the Shadows of the Queen would have their hands full in the coming days. They wouldn't be able to guard the slaves like they have been up to now.
Naofumi did not respond with words to what she said. He simply smiled and gave a snort underneath his breath, giving her an amused look that spoke volumes.
H'aanit coughed and averted her eyes, a minute blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. Beside her, Linde seemed exasperated.
None of them saw it fit to explain said reactions further.
"Naofumi! H'aanit!" they heard Shirou shout. They turned to look, and the demi-human was waving them over towards their carriage. "Everything's ready! We can set out whenever!"
It was perfect timing as the Gladiator Slaves had finished dividing the provided resources.
"Well, no reason to loiter," Naofumi said, and then raised his voice. "We're heading out, to the next village over! Get to your carriages!"
With an acuity the equal of any professional soldier, the Gladiator Slaves did as ordered.
"Home sweet home," Elrasla said as they road into her hometown. "I wonder how my boy is doing?"
"Your 'boy' is a grown ass man far older than me," Naofumi rolled his eyes.
Elrasla cackled. "He will always be just a boy to me, no matter how old or skilled he becomes. I made sure he knew that growing up!"
Unseen by either of them, Shirou deadpanned at that proclamation. This might just be a hunch on his part, but he was fairly certain that having Elrasla as a mother growing up would not have been a walk in the park. Elrasla…was all sorts of unreasonable at times.
"If you want to visit him, you better do it quickly after the negotiations," Naofumi cautioned. "We will set out again as soon as those who'll stay behind have settled in and we have hashed everything out with the Mayor," he said, then cocked his head. "What was her name again?"
"You really need to work on your ability to remember names, Holy Saint," Elrasla snorted.
"Naofumi-sama," Atla poked her head out of carriage. "How long do you think it will take before we set out again?"
Naofumi scratched his chin in thought. "Well, considering we'll need to do some negotiations with the Mayor first...An hour or two? Maybe three? It depends on how smoothly it goes."
"I see," Atla nodded. "Shirou-sama, can we use that time to do some training together?"
Shirou blinked at the sudden request. Behind him, Fohl frowned.
"Gladly. I did promise I would, after all. But…" Shirou turned to look at Naofumi.
Without turning to look back, the Shield Hero waved away his worries. "We won't need you two for this boring nonsense. The rest of us will go and talk with the Mayor after we have parked the caravan somewhere. You two go and have some fun."
More than a few of them blinked at that. It was an unusual show of consideration from the Hero of the Shield.
It's not like they will have a chance to train together often in the immediate future, Naofumi thought to all, they were about to set out on a literal campaign of sorts. Like this they can at the very least make good on that promise.
"Thank you, Naofumi-sama!" Atla bowed her head, her cat-like ears twitching happily.
"I will be coming too," Fohl suddenly declared. "I need the practice."
Hell would freeze over before he would leave Atla and Shirou alone together any time soon, if ever. The fact that Shirou had quite literallygiven his sister a ring, even if he knew that it wasn't meant in a romantic fashion, made the idea of leaving them unsupervised for any length of time a harrowing prospect for the overly protective older brother.
"Sure," Shirou responded before Atla could get a word in edgewise. She pouted.
A short while later, the caravan had been brought to a halt on the very outskirts of the village, near a thicket of trees. While Naofumi was busy instructing the slaves and having gotten permission, Shirou, Atla, and Fohl separated from the group. They didn't go far, however. They made just enough distance so that their training would not disturb anyone, but just close enough so that they remained in sight of the caravan.
"Now, what shall we practice..?" Shirou mused out loud. Neither Fohl nor Atla have had their Magic Circuits opened yet, so they could not practice magic together. Nor could he instruct them in the use of Life Force. Both of them were more naturally talented in its use then he himself was.
As he was pondering that conundrum, Atla came up with a surprising suggestion.
"Can you instruct me in the use of the bow and arrow, Shirou-sama?" Atla said with a smile.
Fohl blinked, while Shirou raised a brow. "You're interested in learning archery?"
"I think it would do me good to diversify my skillset," Atla shrugged. What she said was true, but the fact that it was a skill that Shirou could teach her (translation: spend time with her) made archery the top choice for expanding her combat abilities.
"I see. No problem. Archery it is, then," Shirou nodded. "And how about you, Fohl?"
"I'll pass," Fohl decided. "I like getting up close and personal in fights. I do think archery is a good fit for you, Atla."
The fact that it would allow her to keep some distance from frontline combat made it a grand choice as far as Fohl was concerned.
"Thanks, Onii-sama."
"So-"
"You go teach Atla," Fohl waved him off. He walked over towards a nearby boulder, though he made sure to remain close enough to keep an eye on them. "I'll just continue practicing with Life Force in the meantime."
With that said, Fohl placed the tip of his pointer finger against the boulder. He closed his eyes, focused and breathed deeply. Then-
CRUNCH!
With a motion as easy as breathing Fohl's finger sank into boulder like it was soft clay instead of hard stone. Cracks webbed out from the hole, spreading all over its surface in an eye catching display.
Shirou could only shake his head at the sight. It had taken him and Raphtalia weeks to even get a feel for Life Force, and longer still to be able to use it. But both Atla and Fohl had taken to it like fish to water. Atla had, for all intents and purposes, been born with the ability to wield Life Force, while Fohl had only needed the bare minimum of instruction to harness it.
It was blindingly obvious: both of them were meant to be Hengen Musou practitioners. No ifs and or buts about it. Though Atla and Fohl only had a few days' worth of instruction the Hakuko siblings had already surpassed what he himself could accomplish with the use of Life Force.
If he was anyone else, that might have served to aggravate him. Being who he was, however, he just felt a sense of relieve that both of them had managed to attain an ability at record speeds that would allow them to defend themselves all the better.
Shirou shook his head again to clear his thoughts, then he turned towards Atla. "Shall we?"
"Of course, Shirou-sama!" Atla smiled up at him.
Holding out his hands, Shirou Projected. In his left hand a small practice bow – an exact replica of the bow he himself had used when he first started practicing archery – manifested in a swirl of blue energy. In his right hand a fistful of arrows came into existence.
Atla cocked her head at the display. "You have been working on mastering that spell for a long time haven't you, Shirou-sama?"
"That's right," Shirou confirmed as he handed over the bow and arrows.
"It seems to me that you succeeded, Shirou-sama," Atla complimented as she experimentally pulled back the bowstring.
"More or less," Shirou shrugged. There was still one or two things he was ironing out in the process behind his improved Projections, that which he tentatively dubbed Tracing, but all that amounted to was nothing more than crossing the t's and dotting the i's. The last small steps…
Atla giggled at how modest he was being.
"Now," Shirou moved behind Atla, who's face expressed a sense of confusion. "First, we will work on the proper stance for archery and how to hold a bow."
Atla tensed a little as Shirou's hands nudged her limbs, helping her get into the proper stance. As he did so, he explained the how and why's of properly positioning one's body, and notching an arrow to the bow when taking aim at something.
The young Hakuko girl's face had developed a healthy blush. Luckily for her, Shirou, having taken up position behind her, didn't notice.
Going by the twitching in his brow, Fohl evidentially did notice his sister's cute display, and he gritted his teeth. Try anything funny, Shirou, and I'll make sure you'll regret it!
THUNK!
With a satisfying noise, the Projected arrow punched deep into the very center of the tree trunk.
"Nice shot, Atla," Shirou patted Atla on the head. "You really have a knack for this, don't you?"
They had been practicing for a little over an hour and already Atla could reliably hit a chosen target in middling ranges. After she had memorized the proper way to hold a bow and how to position her body when shooting, Atla had practiced doing so for a solid half hour. Then they had naturally moved on to actually targeting and shooting the arrow.
Another half an hour later and her arrows would hit her intended targets about 7 or 8 times out of 10. Granted, these were targets that did not move and were not all that far away, but it was a crazy amount of progress for such little time investment.
"All thanks to your instructions, Shirou-sama!" Atla smiled. As he was still standing behind her, Shirou didn't see her smile, but her happily twitching ears and swishing tail clued him in on how Atla was feeling.
"Now, let's try a few targets a bit farther away, and-"
A sudden and horrifically loud shout broke through their training session
"Get away from me! Don't touch me! And give that back!"
Shirou, Atla, and Fohl snapped around where the shout came from: the direction of the caravan.
"M-miss, please calm down! You're going to hurt yourself! You were hurting yourself!"
"Listen to my buddy, miss! We aren't going to hurt you! Promise!"
"Give that back, please!"
A cacophony of noise was coming from the direction of the caravan. Shirou's eyes widened when he recognized the loudest voice in the bunch, the only female that was screaming.
"It's Rishia!" with that realization, Shirou took off running back towards the caravan.
Atla ran after him in the blink of an eye.
"Hey! You two! Don't just leave me behind here!" Fohl kicked off against the ground and followed in their wake.
As they hadn't gone all that far away from the caravan, it didn't even take a minute to get back. Once there, they were greeted with a grim scene.
For the first time in quite a while, Rishia was awake and out of the carriage. That good news took a backseat compared to the bad news: her eyes were wild and bloodshot and her front was covered in the crimson of blood.
She was facing a Gladiator Slave, who himself was unharmed but clearly alarmed by the situation. He held a knife in his hand which had blotches of blood on it. Beside said Gladiator Slave was another of his fellows, clearly his friend. Rishia and the two Gladiator Slaves were surrounded by all the people of the caravan that had been drawn to the sound of the commotion.
However, though the situation looked damning at first glance, Shirou had the premonition that Rishia had not been attacked. Premonition was not quite the correct term, though. A horrible sinking feeling in his gut would be more apt.
"Give back that knife!" Rishia shouted, inching forwards.
The two Gladiator Slaves inched back in response.
"I won't! You suddenly came storming towards me, stole my knife before I could react and stabbed yourself in the stomach!" the lead Gladiator Slave hid his knife behind his back. "You're damn lucky I managed to snag it back before you gutted yourself!"
"You aren't well, miss," the other Gladiator Slave tried to affect calm. "I don't know what's wrong, but harming yourself isn't the answer. Let's…just calm down, treat your wound and-"
"No!" Rishia thundered. She lunged towards them. "Give me that knife!"
She did not make it to her intended target, however. In a burst of speed, Shirou was suddenly beside her. He caught her mid lung, his arms closing around Rishia's torso, taking care not to make contact with her stomach wound as he arrested her forward momentum. His hands came up to wrap around her arms, then he took her feet out from under her. Shirou pressed himself against Rishia's back as he forced her to her knees, with himself standing on the ground behind her.
With his leverage and position, Shirou managed to completely immobilize Rishia to the point that she couldn't move. All without harming her any further.
Rishia blinked her bloodshot eyes slowly. It took a moment to register what had happened, but when it did, she immediately started struggle.
"Let me go!" Rishia strained in Shirou's grip, but her position made it impossible for her to break free from him. "I said, let me go!"
SPLAT!
Though she hadn't managed to move, the sheer strain she was subjecting her own body to was on its own enough to open her stomach wound even further. A large glob of blood splashed to the ground, turning the grass crimson.
"Atla!" Shirou tightened his hold on Rishia's arms. "Healing Potion, quickly!"
"Right!" heeding his command without hesitation, Atla came marching up with quick steps. She took out Healing Potion from a small bag strapped to her side.
Rishia saw her coming, and struggled ever fiercer, but Shirou refused to let her go.
"Don't come any closer!"
Naturally, Atla ignored that command. As she came to a halt in front of the kneeling Rishia, however, she paused, clearly not quite sure how to proceed. Rishia had pressed her lips closed and didn't seem all that willing to imbibe anything any time soon.
Blind though she was, Atla seemed to make eye contact with Shirou. They held a silent conversation as they did so. After a moment, they nodded to each other. Gripping both of Rishia's wrist in one hand, something only possible because said wrists were quite thin, Shirou freed up one of his hands.
"Sorry in advance," Shirou said into Rishia's ear.
Rishia only had the time necessary to tense up before Shirou's fist hammered into her spleen. Not nearly as hard as he could have, but more than enough to hurt and bruise. The sudden pain made her open her mouth as she gasped.
"GRK!"
Without hesitation Atla stuffed the now uncorked Healing Potion into Rishia's mouth. In her surprise, she swallowed the concoction. A faint green light suffused Rishia, her stomach wound closing in one blink to the next, and the bruise that Shirou's hit would have delivered to her side didn't even get the chance to form.
"Ha…ha…"
Rishia gasped as Atla pulled out the now empty bottle of the Healing Potion from her mouth.
After a few hitching breaths, Rishia started to silently cry as all the fight seemed to leave her. She was on the ground, kneeling still as she lowered her head and allowed her tears to fall. She'd gone completely limp in Shirou's grasp.
Grim faced, Shirou got up and pulled the hollow-eyed Rishia up with him as he did so. She did not try to resist him, just continuing to silently cry, even as he carried her back towards their carriage.
The crowd watched them go, silent and clearly disturbed by what they had seen.
Atla followed behind Shirou. In her shadow, Fohl did the same. They entered the carriage together to see the scene.
Shirou and Rishia were towards the back of the carriage. Shirou had placed her back first against the wall of the carriage. He himself had sat down beside her as he rested his shoulder up against Rishia's own, hand closed around her wrist, silently providing warmth and support.
Rishia continued to stare ahead with hollow eyes that continued to drip and steady stream of silent tears.
Atla and Fohl sat down on the floor of the carriage in front of Shirou and Rishia. The siblings were just as grim faced as Shirou, and now they were silently dreading where this was going.
No one said a word. Rishia continued to cry and stare ahead for a solid fifteen minutes before she opened her mouth and said a single word.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Shirou responded.
"Why did you help!? Why didn't you let me kill myself!?" Rishia screamed.
If possible, Shirou, Atla, and Fohl grew even more grim faced. Considering her actions, it didn't take a lot of brainpower to figure out what Rishia had been trying to do, but having it brazenly confirmed like this was harrowing on its own.
"Do I need a reason to help someone?" Shirou stated.
"You do if the person you are trying to help is less than trash!"
"You are not-"
"Yes I am!" Rishia shouted hysterically.
"Can you explain to us why you think that?" Shirou murmured. Though it would be harrowing for Rishia to explain her feelings given her present state he needed to know her frame of mind if he were to have any hope of helping her.
After a long moment, Rishia started to talk.
"Itsuki-sama saved me, you know," she hiccupped through her tears. "I'm from a family of nobles, but we were poor and had very little to our name. A noble of higher standing tricked my parents into selling me to him as a slave, using leverage and threats..."
"And when you were in that hopeless situation, the Bow Hero showed up like a knight in shining armor and gave you a new lease on life," Atla surmised underneath her breath. It was easy for her to envision Itsuki suddenly barging into the scene wherever Rishia had been held and pulling her from her despair. After all, Shirou had done the same for her. And if Rishia was anything like herself, Rishia had probably decided to dedicate her life to the man that had saved her.
Rishia nodded slowly.
"After that, I'd decided that I had to help Itsuki-sama," Rishia lowered her hollow eyes to the ground, confirming Atla's thoughts. "Itsuki-same is a Holy Hero, one that pursues justice. In knew that he would face terrible things in the future as a Hero of justice, and the only thing that I could think of to repay him was to help him, in whatever small manner I could, to pursue his vision of justice."
"You joined his party," Fohl stated.
"Y-yes," Rishia's voice wavered, but she soldiered on, even as she grew more and more hysteric again with every word she spoke. "Itsuki-sama fights for justice. And he had decided that I was impediment in his pursuit of that justice! That I was an enemy! That there was something wrong with me! So he tried to convince me! But I didn't listen! Then the others tortured me! And I still didn't listen, nor could I understand why I deserved being tortured! Just because I thought that Itsuki-sama was wrong and I tried to make him see reason! So the torture went on and on and on, until I lost complete track of time!"
Shirou, Atla and Fohl listened quietly to Rishia's hysterics. All three of them were trying to remain calm and not show too much emotion to her words lest they make her even more upset, but actually doing so was an herculean task.
"I didn't make sense! Nothing makes sense anymore!" Rishia laughed a broken laugh. "The only thing that I can think of is…that I am trash. There's no way that Itsuki-sama could be wrong, right? That I had the right of it. Haha. No, that's impossible. So, I had to be wrong and I was working against Itsuki-sama's justice. And if that's true, I must be trash to have gone against Itsuki-sama and justice. That's the only way that me being tortured could be justified…So it must be true! I am trash!"
CRUNCH!
Rishia abruptly stopped her rambling as the sound of wooden floorboards being crushed suddenly echoed. Though he'd kept his face as straight as possible Shirou had not been able to repress his rage at what Rishia had suffered and what it had done to her. Instead, he had dug his nails into the floor of the carriage. With every word Rishia spoke, his grip had tightened until the wood had splintered in between his fingers.
Calmly, far more calmly then he really felt, Shirou removed his hand from the floor. He wiped the wood splinters from his hand, and took a deep, deep breath. Then he got up, only to kneel in front of the sitting Rishia. He took her hands into his own and looked her deep in the eyes.
Rishia's bloodshot eyes and tearstained face was all that he could see.
"You're wrong, Rishia," Shirou said with quiet resolution. "It isn't you who is wrong. It isn't you who is trash…it's Itsuki. He is the one who is trash, not you."
Rishia stared at him, as if she could not comprehend his words. After a very long moment, her lips ever so slowly curled up, and then…
"Ha…HAHAHAHAHA!"
She laughed in his face. A full throated belly laugh at that, as if he had just told her the greatest joke ever.
"Good one!" Rishia snickered. Actually snickered. "Itsuki-sama is wrong and trash, and I'm the one who is in the right? That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I'm just some nobody! A good for nothing girl who was nothing but a burden to everyone around her, even to her parents and the person why she owes her life to! Itsuki-sama is a Hero! A man that will save the world! A man who pursues justice with everything that he has! How could a useless girl like me be right and he, a Hero, be wrong!"
Shirou remained quiet as Rishia all but shouted in his face. She was so loud and forceful about it that, by the time she was done, she was quivering in exertion, and her shoulders were heaving as she took deep and greedy breaths.
Rishia lowered her eyes again, only to notice that Shirou was still holding her hands. She tried to yank them free, but Shirou merely tightened his grip.
"Tell me, Rishia, what is justice?" Shirou posited.
For a long moment, Rishia blinked incredulously at the apparent non-sequitur.
"…Justice is the condition of being morally fair and correct," she answered underneath her breath.
"And who gets to decide what's fair or correct?" Shirou followed up.
Rishia opened her mouth to respond, but Shirou gently overwrote her and continued.
"The individual does," he answered his own question. "At the end of the day justice is something that changes its shape depending on where you stand. Your experiences, your position, your cause, your people, your hopes, your desires. All of those things shape your perception of what justice is. There is no universally agreed upon definition of justice. Justice…is a nebulous concept that is different for everyone."
Even as he said those words, they elicited a dull ache in Shirou's chest. It was a painful realization that he'd come to on this long journey. The King, Myne, Motoyasu, Itsuki, the Slave Traders. All of them thought themselves justified in their actions, and acted accordingly.
"In this context, it would not be wrong to call justice a weapon. A weapon that gives someone the power to do however they pleased and mistreat others."
For someone that truly wished to become a Hero of Justice, it was a terrible thing to come to grips with. Justice is different for everyone. The closest one could come to absolute and true justice was to save everyone. But that was not possible. In the end, you could only save the people who you sided with.
The same applied to himself. He had chosen his side, thought himself justified and in the name of his justice he'd killed many people who believed differently from him in order to save Melty. And though he might have hardened his heart, Shirou was still trying to come to grips with that.
"Itsuki thought it to be justified when he let you be tortured," Shirou looked deeply into Rishia's eyes and tried to convey as much warmth as he could. "I don't think it's justified. None of us do. And I would hazard a guess that most people would not consider it justified either. Tell me, Rishia, do you think that Itsuki's sense of justice trumps that of everyone else? What makes him so special?"
"Itsuki-sama…is a Hero…" Rishia mumbled.
"He is not the only one," Shirou reminded her. "And though I can't vouch for the Spear Hero, I can say with certainty that both the Shield Hero and Sword Hero would not consider Itsuki's actions justified. And does one's station really make one's sense of justice have more weight than anyone else's?"
Rishia opened and closed her mouth, but she could find no words to respond with.
There was a sense of uncertainty in Rishia's eyes now, as she inwardly waged a war on herself to accept or not accept his words. Shirou knew that she needed one more push. Unfortunately, he'd already used up all the decisive cards in his deck for that. So…
"Come with us," Shirou offered. Rishia started, as did Fohl and Atla behind him.
Instead, he would go with a long term joker's wild card.
"Why?" she asked, with a bit more strength then she did before.
"To find your own sense of justice," Shirou answered. "Melromarc is in a state of civil war right now," he said, which made Rishia's eyes go wide in shock. "If you come with us, you will get to experience a great many things as we go and solve this mess. I'm sure the experience will allow you to form your own sense of justice, and realize that Itsuki was wrong. That you are not trash."
"And if I can't come to such a realization? What then? What if..?" Rishia babbled.
"Than at the very least you tried. And you would make a difference in the world regardless," Shirou smiled down at her. "Even if you can't form your own sense of justice, how can someone who helps others in their time of need be considered trash?"
Shirou and Rishia stared at each other.
In spite of herself, Rishia gently pulled one of her hands free and wiped away her tears.
"Okay," she mumbled. "I-I will try."
"Good," Shirou said, and then startled Rishia by standing up and pulling the girl to her feet with the one hand he was still holding.
"Let's go talk to Naofumi. He will want to know we have a new party member."
"Welcome to the team," Fohl was reserved, but his words were open and kind regardless.
"Let's do our best, RIshia, for everyone," Atla smiled at her.
Even through her haggard state of mind, Rishia found it in herself to smile back. "L-lets."
Sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage that was going down the forest path at a steady clip, Naofumi pondered the situation with a thoughtful look on his face. A lot had happened and he took the opportunity to take stock of it all.
They'd set out from Elrasla hometown about two hours ago. After giving some final instructions, they had parted ways with the slaves. The non-combatants, mostly children bought from the Zeltoble Slave Trader, had remained behind at Elrasla's hometown. H'aanit would stay with them, using her vaunted Beast Tamer lore to conscript an army of monsters to safeguard said children and keep them from harm.
The Gladiator Slaves, on the other hand, have been sent out in small squads to the regions where the pro-demi-human faction had the advantage. Their duty was to stamp out the dissidents on the side of the Church of the Three Heroes and ensure that the pro-demi-human faction had an iron grip on said regions. Like this, they'd always have lands from where they could retreat to and launch all sorts of offensives from.
As for the Shield Hero's party? They were going to the next region over, the Igreja Region. Said region was a large region that made up the entirety of central Melromarc. Though the capital city was not found in this region, it was still the most populace and most monetary wealthy region in the nation of Melromarc. Unfortunately, religiosity was also considerably more common in said region than most others.
Because of this, the Church of the Three Heroes still had a firm grip on the situation there. According to the reports, there was plenty of riots and fighting going on, but as things stood right now, the anti-demi-human faction would win out in the Igreja region.
In order to throw a spanner into that state of affairs, they were going there for exactly that reason.
THUNK!
Naofumi was broken from his thoughts as the carriage hit a small hole in the road. The Shield Hero rocked in his seat, but experience allowed him to ride out the sudden lurch with ease, even if it was a tad more violent than usual.
"Filo's really legging it," Shirou murmured behind him in the carriage.
After all, for Filo, a steady clip was the same as full out sprint for most other Filolials.
"We are short on time," Raphtalia responded. "Even Filo understands that."
"Aye," Elrasla nodded in agreement.
"I hope she doesn't run herself ragged," Melty fretted.
There was no getting around the fact the next Wave in Melromarc would occur in less than two weeks. In that limited time frame, they had to do their best to end the civil war as quickly as possible, otherwise things were going to get…messy.
The carriage rocked again as they hit another hole.
"Urp," in the back of the carriage, Rishia placed a hand over her mouth, looking slightly ill.
It reminded Naofumi of Raphtalia back when they first got the carriage.
Good memories.
In spite of those good memories, Naofumi found himself frowning a thoughtful frown.
Rishia's inclusion into his party was still something that baffled him. Her reason for doing so was something he did not fully understand, though he understood enough from Shirou's explanation that it was for her own good that she joined them.
That said, he wasn't quite sure what she could offer to the party.
Rishia was Level 51, but her Stats were atrocious, comparable to someone who was a mere Level 15, or there abouts. Naofumi did not know how that was possible, but it was the truth.
Another problem was her Class-Up. As the Bow Hero, Itsuki had primarily wanted short range fighters for his party, so Rishia had picked a class that suited that goal. The problem was that Rishia's talents did not lay in up and close combat, but magic instead. Rishia had the rare nature of having affinity for every form of magic.
Shirou had called her an Average One, though that term made very little sense to the Shield Hero. Having the ability to potentially learn and use all forms of magic didn't sound all that average to him.
And still Itsuki had insisted that Rishia pick a class that did not suit her. It was stupid and shortsighted in the extreme.
Not that he expected anything better from the Bow Hero at this point.
"You seem to have a lot on your mind, Holy Saint," Elrasla said as she came up to sit down beside him.
"Just thinking of our newest party member," Naofumi responded, keeping his voice low enough that those inside of the carriage would not hear them. "I'm not sure if taking her along is a good idea. She is not exactly strong, and with the situation as it is…"
"True," Elrasla allowed. "However, pure strength isn't all that there is in a fight. Sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time is enough. Besides even if Rishia's doesn't measure up to the rest of the party as she is now, she does have two things going for her."
"Such as?"
"Flexibility for one," Elrasla stated. "Rishia has a large repertoire of spells of many different varieties, up to and including the second tier. Out of every single one of us her options in battle are by far the most diverse."
Naofumi conceded that fact with a nod. "And what else does she have going for her?"
"A high natural aptitude for the Hengen Musou. Rishia has a one in a million talent for the art. Only Atla outdoes her in that regard, and not by much at that," Elrasla cackled. "Such natural aptitude you would normally only find maybe once every two decades, but at your side I've found two such gifted youths a mere couple days apart. Fortune must be smiling upon me for rendering my aid to you, Holy Saint."
"I will take your word for it," Naofumi said dubiously. Though Elrasla would obviously be better able to judge such things then him, he could not help but be skeptical. Unlike the rest of his party that all had rather forceful personalities, Rishia left a far more subdued impression. That she apparently had so much raw potential was something he would have to see to believe.
"You worry too much, Holy Saint!" Elrasla cackled and merrily slapped the Hero of the Shield on the back. "You just make sure that the lass survives the coming battles. I will work with her whenever we have got the chance going forward. If she doesn't croak prematurely, I'll ensure she'll become an excellent card in your deck."
"You might want to watch your words a little, they're kind of brutal in their own way, but sure. After all, I'm the Shield Hero. Defending is what I do," Naofumi snorted and rolled his eyes.
A hand slipped a metal armband over a slim wrist. A small ruby in a square cut was set into it, glinting a little.
"Thank you, Shirou."
"My pleasure."
Shirou nodded at a blank faced Rishia, who idly toyed with the accessory that he'd just given her. She had become fairly hard to read since she had joined their party. After he had managed to calm her down and talk her into joining them, Rishia had become quiet and withdrawn. Obviously, in response to the trauma that she had undergone, Rishia was suppressing her emotions.
To what extend he was not quite sure. Rishia did not show a lot of emotion on her face anymore, and as such, he had difficulty telling how she was really feeling at any given moment. It was a drastic change compared to the somewhat awkward, but expressive and nice girl she had been previously.
Anger at the Bow Hero, familiar and almost soothing, flared up in his breast before he repressed it on reflex. Instead, he refocused and tapped the accessory he had just given Rishia.
"This is called a Sacrificial Bracelet," Shirou explained. "It's an accessory that will intercept lethal damage one time. In other words, if a blow will kill you, this accessory will protect you and save your life. It's one time use only, though. The Enchantment will break once it's protection is used."
Rishia nodded to show that she understood. "Didn't Naofumi give all the Gladiator Slaves a bunch of these Sacrificial Bracelets?"
"Yeah, he did. I made a ton of these in my spare moments," Shirou revealed. The power of Sacrificial Bracelets is simplistic, but it promised the ability to potentially save many lives. Once he learned to make Sacrificial Bracelets, it was only natural he would make a bunch of them. It was too bad that it wasn't possible to equip more than one Sacrificial Bracelet at any given moment. The Enchantment that protected against lethal hits could not stack.
Having given Rishia the Sacrificial Bracelet, Shirou turned towards Melty.
"Much thanks," Melty accepted the Sacrificial Bracelet he handed her. She slipped it over her wrist and seemed a bit relieved as she did so.
Shirou nodded at Melty, then turned towards Fohl and Atla. He held up another two accessories, made specifically for the Hakuko siblings. For Rishia and Melty he'd not had the time to make an accessory especially suited to them, as they had only just joined them, but he did for Atla and Fohl.
Without ceremony, Fohl took the accessory obviously meant for him from Shirou's hand. He studied it for a moment.
Topaz Striking Tiger Bicep Band – Enchantment: Attack Up (High) / Defense Up (Medium) / Health Regeneration (High) / Sacrificial Protection (ingrained spell) [Blessing: Medium → High / Low → Medium]
It went without saying that he had used his ability transfer Enchantments that he had taken the ingrained spell of Sacrificial Protection from a Sacrificial Bracelet and had added it to Fohl's accessory after the fact. He'd be stupid not to. The same held true for Health Regeneration Enchantment he had derived from Avalon's essence inside of him.
The accessory was a band that had a large topaz set into it. Said bright yellow jewel had been cut into an almost lifelike tiger in mid lunge. It almost appeared as if the tiger could leap from said band attack someone.
"…I'll admit, this is a very impressive piece," Fohl said after a long moment. He then slipped the band over his wrist and secured it his left bicep. He turned his eyes towards Shirou. "Thanks."
Shirou inclined his head back. Then, he turned towards Atla.
As soon as he did so, the Hakuko girl leaned towards him and turned her head. "Can you put it in my hair, Shirou-sama?"
Immediately, Fohl's features soured with understated displeasure.
"Uh, sure," Shirou blinked and did as asked.
The accessory that he had crafted for Atla was a hairpin. He reached over and delicately slid it into place on the left side of her head, her stark white and deep black tresses easily holding the hairpin in place.
Diamond Flying Tiger Hairpin – Enchantment: Attack Up (High) / Agility Up (Medium) / Sacrificial Protection (ingrained spell) [Blessing: Medium → High / Low → Medium]
Just like with Fohl's accessory, the jewel, a pure white diamond, had been cut into the shape of a stylized tiger. It had been cut in such a fashion that, combined with the way the hairpin sat in Atla's hair, made it look like it was running at terrific speeds.
Some might think it odd that he had added the Sacrificial Protection Enchantment but hadn't done so for Health Regeneration, but it would have been a moot point. Shadow of Avalon, that was conceptualized inside of Atla already had the High Speed Health Regeneration Enchantment as a part of its set of Enchantments.
"Much thanks, Shirou-sama," Atla affectionately toyed with the hairpin set into her hair.
"…Did you even check what the accessory's Enchantments are?" Rishia asked, tilting her head.
"No. That's not necessary. It's a gift from Shirou-sama," Atla smiled and didn't elaborate further.
Rishia and Melty blinked at that response, Shirou felt awkward and happy at the same time, and Fohl's features soured even more. The older Hakuko sibling might have made an issue of it, but Melty spoke up before he could.
"Uhm, I have been meaning to ask for a little while now, but why did we all have these marks emblazoned onto our clothes and armor?" Melty asked, tapping a specific spot on the left side of her chest.
Right there, there was a strange symbol emblazoned on her blue dress. It was a stylized shield made up out of multiple colors: gold, dark red, beige and white.
Not only Melty had said mark on her. Shirou, Atla, Fohl, and Rishia did too, placed somewhere on their chest areas. The rest of the party did as well.
"These marks are so that people can easily recognize on which side of the conflict we are," Shirou explained. With Melromarc in a state of civil war, it made sense to ensure that their allies in the pro-demi-human faction could immediately see that they were on their side. It would prevent any unfortunate dustups caused by misunderstandings.
In Melromarc having a shield emblazoned on your clothes and/or armor was a clear sign of who you believed in and sided with.
Though, that also meant that the opposite side could also immediately tell on which side they were, which might lead to immediate hostilities. However, as they considered avoiding making undue enemies and conflicts more important than deceiving people hostile to them to begin with, they had still decided to proclaim their loyalties openly.
The same went for all the Gladiator Slaves. Before they left to aid the pro-demi-human faction in the regions where said factions had the upper hand, all of them had the shield mark added to their armor. The moment the Gladiator Slaves would arrive on the scene, the pro-demi-human faction would instantly be able to tell that said warriors had come to aid them. Hopefully, it would make the mission of the Gladiator Slaves easier.
"I see. That makes sense," Melty nodded. Then she cocked her head and asked yet another question. "And now? What's next?"
"Next?" Shirou raised a brow. "First, we are having a pitstop at a friend, then we'll had to the biggest and most populace city in the Igreja Region."
"A friend?" Atla questioned.
"A noble we staid with not all that long ago," Shirou added, thinking about a nice guy with a his ever present gentle smile.
Van Reichnott looked haggard, but in spite of that, he managed to maintain the curve of his lips as he went about his tasks.
"Where can I put these foodstuffs, sir?"
"Take them to the warehouse outback. Talk to Adrian. He'll direct you further."
"Here's the first shipment of lumber you requested, sir."
"Good. Mike! The lumber his here!"
"That was quick! Follow me, lads, and bring the lumber! We are going to need lots!"
"Good day, sir. Another batch of weapons ready to go!"
"Take them to the armory down the street. I'm afraid we have no more room for weapons at my estate."
"Will do!"
The lands in front of Von Reichnott's estate were bustling with activity. Many people were walking to and fro, leaving and entering the estate and surrounding grounds. Virtually all the people were carrying and delivering resources of all kinds, be that foodstuffs, building materials or even weapons, many supplies of many different kinds were being stockpiled here.
And Von Reichnott was the one at the head of and directing said activity. It was tiring work, but much like how a bear had to store up fat to make it through their hibernation in the winter, these preparations were necessary. If for no other reason than the rather unfortunate location where Von Reichnott's lands were situated.
As it stood, the hinterlands of the Igreja Region are dangerous for the pro-demi-human faction and their supporters. Though Van Reichnott had the good fortune that his people were very much unified in their believe that humans and demi-humans should be treated equally, and their disregard for the Church of the Three Heroes, strife was bound to come to his lands.
It already had. In the form of refugees fleeing from surrounding lands where the anti-demi-human faction had the upper hand. Fighting was going on all over the region, and those people that had the means and the opportunity to flee the danger zones did so. And they naturally went to areas that were not too far away, but did promise at least a modicum of safety.
The lands of Von Reichnott were on the top of that short list. At least so far as within the Igreja Region itself. He was sure that many of those that could flee to the bastions of the pro-demi-human faction, the Tageero, Selva and Emantla regions, had done so at the first opportunity.
Refugees in their thousands had already arrived. Many more were bound to show up in the coming days. With so many more mouths to feed, gathering and stockpiling foodstuffs was the top priority. The same held true for lumber and other building materials, to build temporary lodgings to house all the refugees.
In this regard, the Miracle Trees that the Shield Hero had given them were a godsend. With those extremely fast growing trees that supplied both a massive and sustainable resource of both food and lumber, they had more than enough to meet their needs.
"Another batch of weapons, sir!"
"Direct them to the armory down the street!" Von Reichnott instructed without missing a beat.
As far as resources went, the weapons they are making and stockpiling en masse were the odd ones out, but equally as necessary. To protect his people and the refugees, weapons will be needed, even if they were used for defensive…or offensive purposes.
"Eclair-sama! Another group of knights just arrived!"
"Have they been vetted?"
"They have. As far as we can tell, they are genuinely on our side."
"Good. Direct them to the east side of town, and have a few of our men keep an eye on them. Don't let them wander around aimlessly. I don't want these potential new allies to wander around on their own until I can talk to them personally."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Thankfully, in regards to military matters, Von Reichnott had capable help indeed.
A little ways away stood a knight of Melromarc, directing her fellow knights who came up to report on various things. Said knight was named Eclair Seaetto. She was statuesque beauty, tall with strawberry-blonde hair that fell all the way to her hips and a chest-length hair strand hanging on the right side of her face. She had clear blue eyes that were darting to and fro as she worked.
Eclair had arrived in his lands less than a fortnight ago under the escort of two Shadows of the Queen. No sooner had she arrived, and Eclair had taken command of all military matters in his lands, something that Von Reichnott would be eternally grateful for. Not only did it lower is workload substantially, he also felt far more at ease letting someone who knew what they were doing take the reins concerning combat out of his hands.
Von Reichnott's management skills were top notch, but his knowledge and experience regarding military matters and such were non-existent. On the other hand Eclair's management skills applied to anything else then combat related topics were subpar at best. Together, they balanced out each other's weaknesses, and ensured that they could place all of their focus on the things they were good at.
An hour later, when there was a sudden lull in the people reporting to him, Von Reichnott took the opportunity to approach Eclair.
"Miss Eclair," Von Reichnott greeted with a nod.
"Sir governor? Is there something I can do for you?" Eclair's voice was just like her appearance. Sharp and defined.
"Nothing much. I'm just curious as to the state of things."
"Hmm, well, things are quite a bit better than I had initially feared," Eclair stated, crossing her arms in confidence. "Many knights from surrounding lands have flocked here to join our own forces, much more then I had anticipated would. All told, I'd say we have about…700 knights to call on. Combine that with all the people of the civilian population who have volunteered to fight if necessary, we have around 1500 people of fighting age ready to take up arms when required."
"I see. That's indeed good news," Von Reichnott's eyes narrowed, though his ever present smile remained. "But can we trust all these knights? Or even the refugees for that matter? With so many of them streaming into my lands, the odds that they are all truly on our side…"
"I understand your concerns," Eclair acknowledged. "With the situation as it is, the chance that spies and saboteurs to mix in with the knights and refugees is significant. However, as much as it pains me to say it, there is little we can do about it other than what we have already been doing, I'm afraid."
In order to prevent any would be spies or saboteurs from acting, they had acted to keep the refugees and the knights from other lands from critical roles and information. The refugees were, by and large, being directed to an impromptu village that had been built on the outskirts of town. They would be housed there for the meantime, and hopefully by keeping them there, it would prevent any would be enemies hiding amongst them from finding out or doing anything…less than desirable.
That wasn't really an option for the knights that had swelled their ranks. There was no excuse that they could use to keep said knights separated somewhere, no excuse that would be believable at any rate. So instead, the knights native to Von Reichnott's lands were to be the 'command staff', with all the other knights placed underneath their command, preferably in roles where they couldn't uncover any critical information, or at least not quickly.
Said knights were vetted of course, and Eclair made it a point to talk to every knight personally in order to get a feel for them. But while Eclair thought herself a good judge of character, she could not guarantee that none of them were actually enemies in the guise of allies.
Von Reichnott let out an explosive breath. "I guess we can do nothing more than hope that the measures we've taken so far are sufficient to head off any would be spies or saboteurs, or at the very least make their actions a lot more difficult."
"That, and hope no spies or saboteurs are present in the first place," Eclair shrugged.
"And if they are, that our shadowy friends will be able to catch them ahead of time," Von Reichnott added under his breath.
Eclair inclined her head in agreement.
As one would be able to imagine however, the Shadows of the Queen are rather stretched thin at the moment. Most of them had been deployed to carry messages, do reconnaissance and otherwise aiding the forces of the Shield Hero, i.e. the Gladiator Slaves. A few that could be spared, about three of them, were operating in the Von Reichnott's lands. With so few covert personnel, the chances that they were to uncover and intercept any kind of enemy action or plot were…dubious at best.
Still, Von Reichnott was grateful for the presence of the Shadows. Few though they were, with them present, the likelihood of heading off spies and saboteurs was far greater than without them.
"Sir governor! Ma'am Eclair!" Von Reichnott was knocked from his musings by an excited shout.
Looking up, the knight and the governor saw a small group of knights, three of them all told, enter the grounds on a horse drawn carriage. Immediately, both felt a sense of alarm. These knights were a part of the forces making up the guard force at the western border. If Eclair remembered correctly, these men had been stationed along with over two dozen more people to guard the trade route that wound its way through Melromarc and entered Von Reichnott's lands from the west.
Of course, to the west laid the Tageero Region, a stronghold of the pro-demi-human faction. The odds that enemy forces or otherwise bad news were to approach from that direction was rather slim at best, though not impossible. The fact that these three had rushed over, however, meant that they had something critically important to report.
The horse drawn carriage came a halt in front of them. The three knights jumped out and saluted the two highest authorities present.
"Report," Eclair ordered.
"The Shield Hero and his party approach from the west, ma'am! We were sent ahead to inform you, so that they can be received appropriately!"
Von Reichnott's and Eclair's eyes widened.
Abruptly, all activity and noise in the courtyard of Von Reichnott's estate seized. Everyone turned to look at the knight who had reported that tidbit of information. The silence didn't last long, however, as excited murmurs were suddenly being thrown around willy nilly.
The reaction was warranted. The Shield Hero had ridden to their aid once before and had provided resources and help in a time of need brought on by the policies of the anti-demi-human faction. Hell, even if the Shield Hero had never shown up before, a good chunk of Von Reichnott's people were demi-humans who were by and large believers of the Shield Hero. To hear that the Hero of the Shield was once more coming to their aid…there was no way to understate what for effect that had for their already high morale.
"Susan. Antionette," Von Reichnott called out.
Two stereotypical maids that had been attending him and otherwise helping out stepped up behind him.
"Prepare the meeting hall for the Shield Hero's arrival," the governor instructed.
"Yes, sir," the two maids echoed each other and bowed their heads. They left in one breath to the next.
The Shield Hero had to be received appropriately, after all.
"One of the Heroes, huh?" Eclair mused, idly wondering what a Holy Hero was actually like.
The heavy oaken double doors of the meeting room hall slammed shut, the maids having left at the command Von Reichnott after they had seen everyone to their chairs and provided refreshments. All of them were sat a large table situated in the center of a narrow, but richly appointed room. Von Reichnott and Eclair sat on one side of the table and the Shield Hero's party on the other.
"It does my heart good to see you all again," Von Reichnott said without preamble, his ever present smile widening a tad. The governor allowed his eyes to stray over the party, which had grown quite a bit compared to last time. "I see you have made some new companions…"
"And all four of them are recent additions, too," Naofumi said. The Shield Hero then eyed the new face sitting beside Von Reichnott. "Seeing as we don't all know each other, I guess it would only be proper if we introduced ourselves again. I'm Iwatani Naofumi, the Shield Hero and the leader of this party."
"I'm Raphtalia," Raphtalia smiled.
"Shirou," Shirou nodded.
"Filo is Filo!" Filo singsonged.
"I'm Elrasla," Elrasla said with a cackle.
"Fohl," like Shirou, Fohl kept his introduction nice and short
"I'm Atla," Atla tilted her head and smiled.
"Rishia," as she was won't to do nowadays, Rishia remained expressionless as she introduced herself.
"I'm Melty. Nice to meet you, sir, miss," Melty bowed her head in greeting.
With that, the introductions from the Shield Hero's side were done.
"You can call me Von Reichnott, the governor of these lands," Von Reichnott responded in kind. He looked the entire party over, ending with Melty. "It does me good to see you in good health, Melty-sama. When the news arrived of your kidnapping, I had feared the worst…"
Melty smiled at that, and bowed her head again.
"As a knight of Melromarc, the same holds true for me, Melty-sama," Eclair concurred, then shook her head. "But first I should introduce myself. I'm Eclair Seaetto. I have been aiding the sir governor in military matters and anything else I can help with," Eclair inclined her head with practiced grace.
"Seaetto..!" Raphtalia started, eyes widening.
Naofumi raised a brow at this reaction. "You recognize the name, Raphtalia?"
"Of course I do!" Raphtalia exclaimed. "It's the name of the territory where my village used to be."
Hearing that, Eclair sat up straight in her chair and her eyes widened imperceptibly.
Without warning, Eclair's chair made scraping noise as she got up. For a brief moment, Eclair looked Raphtalia in the eyes, a deep sorrow in her expression, and then bowed her entire upper body low, breaking eye contact as she did so.
"Though my words may ring hollow to you, I still want to say this," Eclair kept her eyes trained on the table, as if she thought that she was beneath looking Raphtalia in the eyes. "For my family's mistakes, from father to daughter, please accept my misbegotten apology for our failures to protect the people of the Seaetto territory. You may hate me if you wish. I will not begrudge you those justified feelings."
Raphtalia looked taken aback by this sudden turn of events, as did everyone else except for Von Reichnott. Raphtalia placed a hand in front of her mouth as she realized what this was all about. "You are the duke's daughter!"
"That's correct," Eclair confirmed, still aiming her eyes at the table. "I'm duke Seaetto's daughter, the last remaining noble of the Seaetto territory."
The Shield Hero's party took a moment to process that, then…
"Please, raise your head," Raphtalia said. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"…Because of my family's failures and my absence during the crisis, a great tragedy was allowed to happen to you and your friends and family," Eclair said after a pause of her own. "Though I do realize that there was no way for anyone to know where the first Wave would hit, my failures to help you and the rest of your people after that sudden crises rests squarely on my shoulders. It's a failure I will atone for in the future, you have my word."
By the tone of her voice and her expression, there was no doubt that Eclair meant every word.
"Please sit down, miss Eclair," Von Reichnott said softly.
After a moment, the knight did so, eyes still cast downwards.
"I suppose a more thorough explanation is in order," Von Reichnott ventured.
"True," Naofumi agreed. "The first thing I would ask is where Eclair has been up till now?"
"Up until mere days ago, I was imprisoned," Eclair said.
"Imprisoned?" more then a few eyebrows were raised at this tidbit of information.
"Yes," Von Reichnott backed Eclair up. "Since shortly after the first Wave in Melromarc, before the Holy Heroes were summoned, miss Eclair had been locked up in the castle dungeons of Melromarc's palace."
"…Before you ask why, I will explain," Eclair said, and she did so in a concise a manner as possible.
In a nutshell, when the first Wave had struck the Seaetto territory, duke Seaetto had died fighting off the monsters. At the time, Eclair herself had been away, performing her duties as a knight somewhere else. Naturally, she had rushed back home when the news reached her of the Wave that had struck her home territory and her father's death during it.
And when she did Eclair was confronted with the fact that many of her territory's people, which were predominantly demi-humans, had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. Without even taking the time to properly mourn her father's death, she had set out to hunt down the people who'd partaken in this crime. Not only so that she could bring them to justice, but also to extract from them where and to whom they had sold the people they had kidnapped.
Much to her disgust, the ones who had committed this vile crime turned out to be a bunch of Melromarc's own knights. After the devastation of the Wave, they had seen the situation as an easy money making opportunity, and had acted quickly to kidnap as many demi-humans as possible and sell them into slavery.
"But when I tried to take them into custody…" Eclair grimaced something fierce.
She had been accused of treason, and taken into custody herself by an overwhelming force of knights and priests from the Church of the Three Heroes. After that, she had been locked up until a sham trial could be held.
"Luckily, a couple of the Queen's Shadows busted me out, and then brought me to Von Reichnott, in a territory where I could be of help," Eclair finished.
"Actually, she was meant to lay low for a while, but then this whole civil war started and it became a moot point," Von Reichnott chuckled in spite of himself.
"What a stomach churning tale," Naofumi grumbled. The fact that Eclair had been falsely accused brought up less than pleasant memories for the Shield Hero. There was no getting around one simple fact that he had already known: this world was truly rotten.
There was a pause as everyone digested everything they had just been told, then…
Raphtalia shook her head. "Miss Eclair, I stand by what I said earlier. You have nothing to apologize for."
"But…" Eclair began to protest.
"Miss Eclair, please look at me," Raphtalia said.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Eclair raised her head to look Raphtalia in the eyes.
"Like you said, once you heard that a Wave had struck the Seaetto territory, you rushed back. And then you tried to help those who had been stolen away," Raphtalia smiled at Eclair. "In our village we thought the world of the duke, your father, because he was a just ruler who treated us fairly. You are clearly cut from the same cloth. You may have not succeeded in helping us, but the fact that you are just like your father and even tried is more than enough for me."
Eclair stared back at her without saying anything. It was clear that she was not quite willing to simply let things end there.
Raphtalia saw that, and said, "I don't think it's necessary, but if you truly want to make amends, then do your best to help us out in the future. So long as you do your duty as a knight honorably, I am sure that none of us from the Seaetto territory will hold a grudge against you."
"…You have a way with words, miss Raphtalia," in spite of herself Eclair smiled. "It is as you say. From this day forward, I will do my best as a knight to support you and yours."
With that said, Eclair once again bowed her head to them.
So proper!
Was the general thought that went around the room as they all beheld Éclair's manners and virtue.
Naofumi clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "I think that we have strayed off topic a little, haven't we?"
"That we have," Eclair gathered herself and nodded. "My apologies."
Von Reichnott crossed his arms, and said, "Seeing that you have come here in the first place without being prompted by us, can I assume that you came here to help us?"
"My ultimate goal is to end this stupid civil war as soon as possible," Naofumi shrugged as if he could not help it. "And that includes helping my allies, so yes."
"Much thanks in advance," Von Reichnott inclined his head.
"What is the situation in your lands, Von Reichnott?" Melty cut in suddenly.
The governor pursed his lips and explained. The refugees arriving by the bucketload. Knights from surrounding lands streaming in and pledging their support. The uncertainty if all these people could be trusted or not. Their efforts to hoard resources to look after all these people. He left nothing out.
"I see," Melty nodded and smiled. "You have done well."
Again, Von Reichnott bowed his head in thanks at the praise.
"If there is any deficit in resources, I'd be happy to help out," Naofumi said, placing his hand on the Legendary Shield. The sheer amount of resources he had stockpiled in his Item Box were considerable, much more than he himself could ever use. It was something Von Reichnott remembered well from the last time they had been here if his relieved expression was any indication.
The group continued to talk about the situation in Von Reichnott's lands at length, and how the party of the Shield Hero could help, but eventually their talk turned towards matters in Melromarc general, or to be more precise, the state of affairs in the Igreja Region.
"Our fighting forces have been swelling since the moment that the civil war began," Von Reichnott was saying.
"The Shadows of the Queen dispersed throughout the surrounding lands have been recommending and guiding anyone trying to flee or join up with likeminded people to come here," Eclair added. "An unfortunate side effect of this is that we have very few Shadows on hand here ourselves, but-"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A rapid series of knocks on the heavy oaken double doors leading to the meeting room interrupted the discussion.
"Come in!" Von Reichnott called immediately. If someone saw the need to interrupt his meeting with the Shield Hero and princess Melty, whatever they'd have to say had to be important, one way or the other.
The heavy oaken doors swung open, and a knight came running in. Under the eyes of everyone in the room, the knight snapped a crisp salute.
"Sir, ma'am, everyone, reporting from the eastern border!"
Immediately, expressions turned grim. To the east were lands under the control of the anti-demi-human faction.
"A large force of enemy knights and mages have forced their way through the border checkpoint. We attempted to make contact and see if they might be allies, however, the enemy forces proved to be hostile immediately," the knight continued to report. "With the use of our Filolials, we'd managed to disengage without any fatalities, though quite a few of our men have been injured and won't be able to fight anymore until they have received treatment."
"What are the enemy numbers and composition?" Eclair took over the questioning.
"I'd reckon about three hundred enemy combatants, ma'am. Around a sixth of which are mages, the rest are knights wielding pike and bows," the knight said.
"How long before they reach this town?" Eclair continued.
"On foot and in a straight line? An hour, tops," the knight thought it over briefly before providing an answer.
"Three hundred men in a direct assault?" Shirou wondered aloud. "That doesn't make any sense."
"No, it doesn't," Naofumi agreed. Regardless of the presence of the Shield Hero's party, which wasn't probably known by the enemy, Von Reichnott and Eclair could call on more than double that number of knights to counter the invasion, to say nothing of the civilians that could be called on to aid in the defense of Von Reichnott's lands. "There must be something we aren't seeing yet."
"They might not be aware of the total number of opponents they will be facing," Elrasla offered. "It would not be the first time an ill advised assault was mounted because some higher-up made a faulty prediction about enemy troop totals."
"No, Shield Hero-sama is correct. Degojaru," with that brief sentence announcing their arrival, a Shadow materialized at the head of the table their discussion was being held.
Unknown to Von Reichnott, Eclair and anyone else, the fairly large group of Shadows – about a dozen or so – that had traveled with the Shield Hero's party out of sight, had joined up with the few Shadows that had already been present. As was their duty, they'd begun doing intelligence gathering work as soon as they had arrived.
"The main body of the enemy assault is but a distraction. Degojaru," Shadow stated.
"Clarify," Eclair demanded.
Shadow inclined their cloth covered head. "Several of the newly arrived knights are sleeper agents…"
As the newly gathered intelligence was shared and discussed, expressions around the room grew all the more grim.
"March!"
It was quite a sight, Naofumi had to admit, seeing ranks upon ranks of knights move in unison down the main street of the town. The fact that they were acting in concert to meet an incoming threat lend the scene a certain gravitas that even the usual mercurial Shield Hero could feel and appreciate.
Von Reichnott and Eclair had acted quickly, marshaling their forces – which had been on stand by and in a state of preparedness - in record time. Of the 700 hundred knights that they could call on, 600 would meet the invading force. 100 would stay behind to direct the civilians, the volunteer militia in other words, and defend the town and the people.
As the commanding officer of the knights, Eclair would lead the small army of 600 knights into battle.
"Let's go, Filo."
"Of course, Master!"
To the rear of said small army, Eclair followed behind on horseback after she gave the command to march. In her Filolial Queen form, Filo jogged along at a steady clip beside Eclair, Naofumi astride her back.
"Again, many thanks for the support, Shield Hero-sama," Eclair said. "With your aid I am certain that we will make it through this trial just fine."
"Don't mention it," Naofumi gave a wry grin.
Neither of them mentioned the conspicuous absence of the rest of the Shield Hero's party.
The journey to the field of battle was relatively silent. Silent in the sense that no one was talking, but the sound of 600 men in heavy plate armor marching at a steady clip was quite noisy on its own. Said march continued for well over fifteen minutes.
"Someone just crested the hill up ahead, Master," Filo announced, her sharp eyesight allowing her to see the man on horseback coming over the hill first.
Tensing up Filo's announcement, Eclair looked towards where Filo was indicating. After a moment she relaxed. "That's one of the scouts that I sent ahead earlier."
The horse mounted scout made a beeline for them. The men of the army obviously recognized the scout, as they parted like water to let the scout through. As soon as the scout passed them by, all the knights formed back up and continued marching as if nothing had changed.
"Reporting, ma'am Eclair!" the scout reached them, turning his horse about as the man joined them in their march ahead. "Enemy forces are less than a kilometer out. Once we are atop the hill they will be in plain sight."
"Good work, soldier! Arm yourself and form up with the rest," Eclair congratulated and ordered.
The man did so without a word further, dismounting from his horse – leaving it with Eclair as he did so – and disappearing into the marching army.
Less than five minutes later, their 600 knights were cresting the hill.
"Standard formation! Pikemen in front, down the hill's sloop! Archers behind, atop the hill!" Eclair thundered.
The trained soldiers followed Eclair's orders with startling acuity. In row upon row, the pike wielding knights took up position down the rather gentle sloop of the hill. Said sloop went on for quite a while before it leveled off. Their frontline didn't even reach flat ground, standing at the ready a third of the way up the hill.
Behind them, at the very top of the hill, archers were lined up, three long rows thick, with their bows already held at the ready. All told, a little over 200 archers occupied the top of the hill.
"Let's go," Eclair beckoned and made to ride for the front.
Naofumi and Filo followed beside her. As they rode down the slope of the hill, Naofumi surveyed the soon to be battlefield.
The hill was completely clear of shrubbery or trees, obviously all of that having been cleared away in the past. The same held true for the plain stretching out in front of the hill. Naofumi reckoned this was done so that the land could be used for agriculture, though he saw no crops currently growing in the land, only a long stretch of dirt road surrounded by grasslands that was eventually broken up by the tree line of the forest in the distance.
"We're just in time," the Shield Hero muttered, as he saw the enemy forces emerging from the forest ahead.
They did so in an organized and blistering march, just like they themselves had been doing moments before. The moment the enemy forces were free of the forest, they spread out without stopping their forward march, their own pikemen in front. Archers were behind said pikemen, and behind said archers were mages.
At a quick glance, Naofumi reckoned there were about 150 enemy pikemen, 100 enemy archers, and 50 enemy mages.
The Shield Hero frowned. Looking purely at the numbers and the positioning of the two opposing forces, one would assume that their side had a decisive advantage. However, the enemy had quite a few mages in their forces, something that they themselves lacked entirely.
It was an unfortunate circumstance that Von Reichnott's own forces had no mages, and that no such mages had defected to him.
When it came to open massed combat, a well-organized troop of mages were worth far more then your standard knight. Even without taking the possibility of Ceremonial Magic into account, volleys of massed spell fire could devastate an entire battlefield.
Oh, well. That was one of the main reason he had come along to this battle, after all.
To say nothing of Filo.
"Are we in range?" Naofumi asked Eclair as soon as they reached the front of their own army.
"No," Eclair responded, eyes locked onto the approaching enemy forces. "Even if they were to use wind magic to extend the range of their archers, they would still need to get a little closer. The same holds true for long range magic."
Naofumi inclined his head, deferring to Eclair's superior experience. Still, he willed the Legendary Shield to change into the Soul Eater Shield and readied all of his barrier Skills for quick deployment in the back of his mind.
On some unspoken signal, the enemy forces came to a halt, apparently just out of range from their archers. A knight emerged stepped from the enemy ranks, just enough that everyone could see him, but close enough that it would only take a few steps to return to the relative safety of his army. Said man's armor was considerably more elaborate then the other knights, obviously their commander.
Eclair dismounted from her horse and stepped ahead of Naofumi. She and the enemy commander locked eyes across the soon to be field of battle.
"Surrender!" the Enemy Commander shouted in a clear, hard tone that brokered no room for argument.
"Not even going to offer terms!?" Eclair yelled.
"There's no reason to offer terms to traitors of the state and heretics!" the Enemy Commander thundered back. "If you surrender I will let you live, but that's all that I will promise! You filth deserve no further assurances!"
"You seem quite sure of your victory, even though you are outnumber two to one!" Eclair glared at the Enemy Commander. Without looking away from the enemy, she pointed over her shoulder. "The Shield Hero has come to our aid! Fight us, and you will face him as well! Do you really think you can beat a Holy Hero!"
"Holy Hero!? Bah!" the Enemy Commander spat on the ground. He eyed Naofumi dismissively and sneered. "The Devil of the Shield is no Hero! Nor will his aid mean anything in the end! In open battle what good will he be, a weakling that can only defend and not attack! Don't make me laugh!"
"Heh," a sound of amusement escaped Naofumi in spite of himself. It has been a while since someone underestimated him purely because of the fact that he was the Shield Hero. In the past that would have annoyed him. Now, it was almost nostalgic.
"I did not kidnap princess Melty!" Naofumi shouted. If there was any chance to avoid combat, he had to at least try and talk the enemy down. "It's all a ruse by the Church of the Three Her-"
"Shut your filthy mouth, Devil of the Shield!" the Enemy Commander thundered over him. "I will not listen to your rotten lies, or run the risk of being brainwashed by you!"
His army roared in agreement with him. They all looked at Naofumi as if he was the devil himself.
Under his breath, the Shield Hero muttered, "Idiots," and gave up on trying to avoid conflict. He had tried. That's what counted in the end.
No more words were exchanged. Eclair walked backwards until she was beside Naofumi again. The two of them shared a glance and nodded. Eclair drew her sword with the hiss of steel and Naofumi's Circuits switched on as he chanted underneath his breath.
In the distance, the Enemy Commander had raised his hand towards the sky.
His pikemen remained standing. The archers in the back drew back their bowstrings and nocked their arrows, arching backwards to fire high in an arc. The mages behind the archers cast spells on the archers. Naofumi's eyes caught the every so brief/distinctive surge of red energy of a spell that raises the target's Attack Stat enveloping the block of enemy archers.
Another spell was layered onto the archers. Or, to be more precise, over their arrows. Barely visible wind swirled around the arrowheads and the wooden shafts of said arrows.
The Shield Hero's eyes narrowed as he saw this, and he completed his own spell with haste.
"All Zweite Guard X!"
Naofumi's magical energy pulsed outward, and the Defence Stat of himself, Filo, Eclair, and Eclair's army jumped massively in response.
"Fire!" the Enemy Commander threw his raised hand forwards.
In one massed volley, the enemy archers unleashed their magically enhanced arrows. The wind magic layered over the arrows not only increased their raw piercing power, but also greatly increased their range and speed. With the slipstream of visible wind surging around the arrows, it reminded Naofumi rather starkly of the Enchantment enhanced arrows Shirou was so fond of.
"Meteor Shield!" Naofumi unleashed the force field Skill without missing a beat. The protective bubble enclosed the entire army, snapping into existence from one blink to the next. A healthy chunk of his Life Force was pumped into the Skill.
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
Around a hundred magically enhanced arrows struck the Meteor Shield in a staccato of noise. But the force field barely rippled in response. Magically enhanced though they were, and even if the Attack Stat of the enemy archers had been buffed, the massed volley of arrows did not have anywhere close enough force to pierce through the Life Force enhanced Meteor Shield.
"Now!" someone yelled from behind him. At first, Naofumi thought it was a command to counter attack, however-
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
He was swiftly disabused from that notion when a series of explosions went off in their own ranks.
"Ack!" a cry of surprise left his lips as the shockwave of a nearby detonation washed over him, which was then followed by a thick obscuring cloud of smoke and debris.
Some kind of bomb had been lobbed in between him, Filo and Eclair from behind, by someone inside of the Meteor Shield. And neither was this the only one. Many explosions rocked Eclair's army, sending men flying and sowing chaos amongst the ranks.
"Fire! And charge!" the Enemy Commander grinned cruelly as he gave the command.
Another volley of magically enhanced arrows were launched. The Pikemen roared and charged, their spears lowered for the assault.
Anyone looking from outside the battle in that moment would have thought that the outcome of the conflict had already been decided. Certainly, the surprise explosions in the midst of Eclair's army would have killed many and must have thrown an equal number of the survivors around like ragdolls, completely wrecking their ability to respond to the next assault of the enemy.
The Enemy Commander certainly thought so, too. However…
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
"What?!"
The Meteor Shield was still up, whole and unmoved. The magically enhanced arrows bounced off of it like fluff against a solid steel wall.
"Filo commands the origin of power! Filo has read, deciphered and augmented a law of nature! Blow them all away with a harsh gale of wind!"
"Dritte Gust!"
A hurricane force blast of wind roared down the sloop of the hill. The enemy soldiers that had just begun to run up said hill were unceremoniously picked up and sent flying back down. As they reached the bottom of the hill, the harsh winds dragged them across the ground and all the way back from whence they came.
The Enemy Commander looked stunned. A look that grew all the more pronounced as the smoke and dust inside of the Meteor Shield dissipated.
Inside the protective barrier, dozens upon dozens of knights were slowly but surely getting back to their feet. As impossible as it seemed, and as crazy as it sounded, the dozen or so explosions seemed to have resulted in zero deaths.
"…!"
By pure happenstance the Enemy Commander made eye contact with the Shield Hero, who along with Filo hadn't even been sent flying, as the cloud of smoke that had washed over the Holy Hero fell away.
Naofumi had a satisfied and downright menacing grin on his face.
"Hehe," the Shield Hero's chuckle echoed over the suddenly silent battlefield.
There was a reason he had only buffed his allies' Defence and not their Attack, nor anything else.
Thanks to the Shadows intelligence gathering, they had known in advance that enemy elements had infiltrated their ranks. Unfortunately, with the incoming enemy assault, they did not have the time or the resources to sus out all the moles, much less do anything about the incoming backstab that had to be coming.
So, instead of apprehending the enemy before they could do anything, they had elected to catch the enemy in the act and make their efforts futile. And this was exactly what Naofumi had done when he had used the upgraded to the max Defence buffing spell.
Bombs, like everything else in this world, worked off Stats. The higher the user's Attack Stat, the more damage they did. However, if the target's Defence Stat was far higher, the resultant explosion would do exactly nothing.
Though the backstab was bit more explosive than he'd expected, by raising everyone's Defence Stat so high they'd be invulnerable to each other's Attack Stat, Naofumi had made any direct attack from within their own ranks futile.
Of course, the same held true for the enemy coming from the front. They could no longer hurt them, but Naofumi's allies could still do damage in return.
"Hehe," another menacing chuckle. The moment he had cast his spell, this battle had stopped being a battle and had become a chore, nothing more.
And now, it was time to mop up.
"Restrain! Restrain the ones who just threw those bombs!" Eclair suddenly thundered.
Normally, he'd imagine that she would order infiltrators and/or traitors killed, but restraining them was the best her knights could do at the moment. Everyone was invulnerable to each other right now but they should still be able to pin down the ones who had just attacked them in the back.
"Filo!" Naofumi directed.
Filo acted immediately. "Zweite-"
"Zweite Power X!" Naofumi quickly buffed her Attack Stat.
"-Wind Cutter!"
Filo swung her wings forwards, releasing a harsh clap of noise. Wind was blasted ahead in response, sickles of cutting wind carried forwards within said wind.
"Quick! Wall!" the Enemy Commander ordered, a panic stricken look on his face.
The mages towards the back of his army reacted with startling speed and unity, casting the Zweite Earthen Wall spell in quick succession. A long and thick stone wall rose out of the soil with a grinding noise in front of the enemy army.
It did little good, however. The sickles of cutting wind sliced through the wall like a hot knife through butter. Screams rose up from behind the wall. It took little imagination to figure out what was going on behind said bulwark.
"Filo, go!"
"Here we go, Master! High Quick!" Filo, Naofumi still astride her back, rocketed forwards.
They would let Eclair and her forces take care of the infiltrators. In the meantime, they would put an end to this battle.
With a mighty leap, Filo landed atop the wall that looked like it could collapse at any second.
"Fire!"
The scene behind the wall was a mess. Many of the pikemen behind the wall had taken Filo's cutting wind to the face, unceremoniously being cut down, just like the Enemy Commander had been, who had been at the front. The archers and mages behind them were more or less fine with but a handful of casualties, and at the command from a someone anonymous in the throng they unloaded all their ranged attacks in one massed volley.
Arrows in their dozen were launched at in an arc over the wall, with Naofumi and Filo in the line of fire as they were atop said wall. Behind said volley of arrows came a deluge of many different kinds of spells of every element and type.
"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!"
The trio of ethereal shields manifested in a line in midair, directly in the path of the volley spells. Said attacks were more dangerous than the arrows, so Naofumi prioritized blocking the spells. Moreover…
CRASH! CRASH! CHRASH! SREECH! BOOM!
The vast majority of the massed spell fire struck the row of ethereal shields, producing a truly horrible staccato of noise. The shields were subtly angled in such a way that the resulting explosions and blowback were reflected towards the army beneath the two meeting forces.
Many of the enemy forces screamed as ripples of explosive force and reflected elements crashed into them and battered them into the ground.
"Zweite Gust!"
Another mighty clap of Filo's wings, and the volley of arrows were swiped out of the air like useless toys.
Then she dug her claws into the wall and used said grip as leverage to launch herself forwards yet again, her speed still boosted by her High Quick spell.
"Return fire!" Eclair thundered from behind them.
WHISTLE! WHISTLE! WHISTLE!
The whistling noise of close to two hundred arrows coming from behind them caught both Naofumi's and Filo's attention. It seemed that Eclair's archers had finally gotten their act together. Those few arrows that struck them in the back merely bounced off, while the arrows that rained down over the stricken enemy forces like raindrops in a torrential downpour punched both through armor and flesh with ease.
And Naofumi added to their woes as he raised the Legendary Shield over his head.
"Toxic Spikes!"
A glob of noxious purple poison was launched skywards. It exploded and rained down in droplets, cursing both the land and drenching many enemy soldiers, injecting highly corrosive poison into their systems.
Just as that happened…
"Fire!" Eclair's voice resounded yet again.
WHISTLE! WHISTLE! WHISTLE!
Another volley of arrows came down, eliciting even more screams.
The scene could best be described as pandemonium.
Filo struck the soil and thundered forward, using her speed and bulk to send faltering knights flying.
"Filo, go for the mages! They are the only real threat remaining!" Naofumi directed. "Zweite Agility X!"
"Yes!" Filo agreed. Under the effects of the Shield Hero's speed buff she wasn't even a blur anymore.
The next second, Naofumi and Filo were in the midst of the enemy mages.
The last thing most of them would ever see were Filo's claws coming down on them and the Hero of the Shield's hard, unforgiving stare.
Hey, guys. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Not much else to say I'm afraid.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
