Uh, just a forewarning here because i kind of forgot to before, this chapter contains some mention of things that have happened in LN 21/22, cant remember exactly but if you have read them, you'll know what it is.
Kurose stumbled forward, his hands gripping onto the cold stone. As he lifted his head, he noticed that it was overlooking a city. He could see people moving down the street and the constant sound that came with being in a large city. It made him feel more relaxed than he had been in the forest during that first night.
Looking into the city, he could see banners hanging up, unfamiliar script on it. Wagons were stationed outside the stores, and several people were offloading cargo to the people standing in front of the shops.
Even as he continued to look around, he noticed the walls surrounding the city. Giant and grey, much like they had been in Ortenscas capital. Did they not go for any other designs in this world?
Then again… Kurose thought to himself. Why try something else if you have something that already works?
He could see small houses just beyond the walls, with fences outlining an area. His only question, however, was just where had they been taken.
"Where…" Kurose began to ask his question, only for Matthias to interrupt.
"Fellow heroes. May I be the first, to welcome you to my kingdom, the glorious Palinfa."
I guess that answers my question.
Kurose turned around, only to witness Matthias grinning at them. How were they in Palinfa!? It didn't make any sense to him! The only thing that had happened was Matthias had shouted Portal-
Realization dawned on his face. He was an idiot. He had thought about it before, how the portal skill he and Eorna had unlocked from grains of the hourglass was going to be super useful when they reached a high enough level to use it. It should have registered in his mind that Matthias would probably have access to that as well.
"Palinfa!?" Eorna responded with shock. "That's…. That's so far away!" She quickly spun to face Kurose, a smile on her face. "We don't have to worry about Ortensca anymore!" She said cheerfully.
That thought had been on Kurose's mind as well, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling at that either.
"Yeah, we don't have to worry about being on the run constantly!" Kurose spoke just as cheerfully as Eorna.
"Sorry to ruin your fun…" Matthias interrupted the two quickly before they could continue. "But we have a few things to do before any sort of relaxation or celebrations can go on."
Kurose coughed, nodding his head. "O-oh yeah. Of course." Kurose couldn't fully hide his disappointment, though if Matthias noticed, he didn't point it out. Eorna on the other hand, did nothing to mask it.
"Eh? But we just came out of a wave! Can't everything just… I don't know, wait for a moment?"
"I wish the world would wait," Matthias spoke softly. "Unfortunately, we just don't have that privilege. The world always demands more of everyone. More than it has any right to. And since we are heroes, well, more is expected of us. You will understand eventually." Matthias spoke.
"But the first thing we have to do is get you both registered to all the hourglasses. After that, we can take a break, celebrate the pair of you being here, and answer any questions you may have. That sound good to you two?" Matthias suggested as a compromise.
Eorna thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Fine…"
"Right. Now that it is sorted. The first one is in the castle. So follow me!" The Jewelry tools hero declared, clapping his hands to make sure he had their attention. Seeing that he did have their attention, he began to move towards the door, gesturing for them to follow.
And follow they did. They walked behind him, the duo taking their time to observe the hallway. Compared to the castle he had stayed in during his time at Ortensca, with paintings lining the walls, this hallway felt empty. There was nothing to distract him from the walk. Just the sound of their steps echoing down the hallway.
Once the trio had gone a decent distance into the castle, through the constant twists and turns in the corridors, Matthias spun around, facing Eorna and Kurose.
"Right. So through here…" he gestured towards the large gate-like door before resuming. "Is the dragon hourglass. I'm presuming you two already know how to link to it?"
"Yeah." "Yup!" Kurose and Eorna both answered easily.
"We just show our weapons to it, right?" Eorna asked, just to confirm.
"Yeah. Just show your weapon and it'll do the rest. Once you've done that, we can talk for a bit. Still got a good 50 minutes until we can portal again."
Eorna and Kurose both nodded and seeing that, Matthias opened the gates.
Despite already having seen one dragon hourglass, Kurose couldn't get over it. The sheer scale of the dragon hourglasses was shocking to him. Just how were they made? He knew their purpose. To countdown until the waves and grant people a way of growing stronger, but just why were they required?
It left Kurose confused. Just another question to add to the pile for Kurose to pursue later on.
This hourglass had one, distinct difference to the one stationed in Ortensca. There was more sand in the bottom of the hourglass than in the top. A sign that the wave was bound to happen soon.
Kurose and Eorna walked closer to the hourglass, Matthias following behind them. A few of the guards who motioned for them to stop paused when they saw Matthias.
"Your Majesty! Who…" They paused as Kurose stepped forward first. He lifted his arm up, the gem of his necklace shining slightly as a small beam of light from the hourglass struck it.
Underneath the Ortensca wave timer, a new one appeared.
Ortensca: 27:23:21:06
Palinfa: 05:19:29:32
The Palinfa wave time was glowing brighter than the Ortensca timer. Was it due to them being closer to thisHourglass? Did it matter where they were when the timer hit zero? A question he would have to ask Matthias, as he had been transported to two waves now.
Even as Kurose thought all of that, whispers broke out among the guards.
"Did that person…" One muttered to himself.
"I've only seen that happen to his majesty…" Another spoke out loud, staring at Kurose in awe.
Voices overlapped, rising in volume as Eorna stepped forward, raising her dagger towards the hourglass. Much like it had for Kurose, a beam of light shot from the hourglass, signifying that Eorna had linked to it.
The voices grew louder, but Matthias silenced them. Kurose and Eorna both turned, seeing the small group of guards facing them, even as Matthias began to speak.
"My loyal guards! Protectors of the hourglass, what you have seen here is not a lie. It is not an illusion. My two fellow heroes have joined us here in Palinfa. They are here to assist with the waves of catastrophe! To save our world!"
The guards began to cheer, but Matthias continued. "For now, you are relieved of your duties! Spread the message to the citizens below! Tell them the heroes are here. Give them a reason to celebrate!" Matthias shouted.
The guards cheered louder, and Matthias motioned for them to leave. About half of them did, whilst the other half stayed.
Matthias nodded in understanding, but it left Kurose confused again. He was starting to be sick and tired of being confused. Why had they stayed when Matthias had ordered them to spread the word about their arrival?
"I see. You wish to speak to the heroes, don't you." Matthias spoke clearly, earning nods from the remaining guards whilst answering Kurose's self-imposed confusion.
He had honestly forgotten how big of a deal heroes were supposed to be. Understandable really, considering how he and Eorna had been on the run.
Matthias stepped aside, and the guards formed a crowd around Eorna and Kurose. Thankfully, they were nothing like reporters from his world, with them asking questions and giving them ample time to respond.
"What was the wave like?" One particularly young guard asked.
"Well… It was kind of scary." Kurose admitted. "It was peaceful, and then suddenly, there were just monsters. There was no in-between, no transition period. We were just taken there, and immediately got to fighting." Kurose explained.
Eorna was happily chatting away with a few guards who had asked her a question, smiling the entire time.
"How did his majesty fare in the wave?" An older-looking guard asked Kurose
.
"He was fantastic. He protected me and Eo- The dagger hero." He corrected himself at the last moment. He wasn't sure if they knew Eorna's name, and he wasn't sure if she wanted her name to be known. He wasn't going to take that from her. "But Matthias, he tore through everything. He got the job done."
The older-looking guard seemed satisfied by that. "Aye. That's the Kohuandaval slayer!" He cheered. Several others cheered with him.
Yet again. Kurose was confused. He looked towards Matthias for help, but he had a strange look on his face when the Kohuandaval had been mentioned. Just what was it?
He seemed to stare down at the floor, lost in memories before sighing. Kurose wanted to call out to him and ask what was wrong, and yet before he could speak, Matthias shouted.
"Alright! It's time for a meeting between the heroes!" He spoke clearly, though there was a hint of sadness in his voice. A few of the guards looked upset, but the rest were understanding.
The older guard stood stiffly, only briefly nodding at Matthias, speaking briefly.
"My apologies, your Majesty."
Matthias shook his head at that. "No. It's… it's fine. Just please, go spread the word that the heroes are here. Once it's done, please… just return to your posts."
The remaining guards all nodded, quickly dispersing from the room.
Kurose wanted to ask what exactly this Kohuandaval was, but even as he opened his mouth to ask, a look from Eorna had him closing it again. He could always ask later, or Matthias would explain it when he felt like it… right?
Again, the trio moved through the halls in silence. However, this time the walk didn't take as much time.
Matthias stopped, opening a door. He motioned for Eorna and Kurose to step in, and they did.
Kurose paused even as Matthias stepped in behind him, closing the door.
The room was much more decorated than the hallways they had traveled through. It was almost like every single decoration that used to adorn the hallways had been pushed into this room. Kurose could see four paintings, each similar with the only difference being a young child shown at various ages, always held by two parents.
Looking closer, Kurose could see similarities between the man in the painting and the Jewelry tools hero behind him.
"Who is that, standing beside you?" Kurose began, asking Matthias the question.
Matthias looked at the picture, a soft smile appearing on his face.
"Ah, they are my wife and son." He answered softly. If everything is alright, they should be visiting us soon." Kurose nodded his head, stepping back with a smile.
Matthias stared at the picture for a while longer, a small smile on his face before he shook his head. He moved towards the sofa whilst gesturing for Eorna and Kurose to sit on the one opposite him.
The pair sat down beside each other, staring at Matthias, who stared back at them. They say in silence for a moment before Matthias began to speak.
"Alright. So, you've told me everything about what happened back in Ortensca, I know your levels, but I need to know what you've learned." Matthias spoke. "So, what can the both of you do?"
Kurose coughed before speaking up. "Well, we can both use Charmes, but it had to be forcefully opened. I've still got the debuff that comes along with it, but-"
"I haven't!" Eorna added quickly.
"But she hasn't." Kurose continued. "Both of us only have one Charme, and it makes us invisible."
"I see. It's better than nothing, but we are going to need to get you to learn the magic script of our world. What else have you learned about Charmes?" Matthias asked Kurose.
"Not much," Kurose spoke honestly. "I didn't have much time, and he was more focused on getting me to understand how they worked. but even then, I still don't fully understand it. He showed me what all the types of Charmes looked like and what they were made of, and told me the consequences of using a Charme for too long. All of that general stuff."
"...And all this was covered in one lesson?" Matthias asked slowly.
"Yes. he said he would prefer me to ask my own questions about it. Said it would be more interactive that way."
"Ah, only one. But still, to think you went over that much..." Matthias put a hand on his chin before speaking. Again.
"Well, like I said, I will look into getting you someone to teach you. It shouldn't be too difficult. plenty of people should want to teach the Accessory hero. just need to run background checks and the like... What about you Dagger Hero?" Matthias asked, turning to face Eorna.
"Stop calling me Dagger Hero! Just call me Eorna!" She shouted, pouting at Matthias.
"Alright, Alright. My apologies, Eorna. Would you like for me to call you by your title, or name?" Matthias asked, turning to Kurose.
"Just Kurose, please."
"Alright then. Now, back to you Eorna."
"I haven't been taught anything about Charmes. The only reason I have it is because we needed them to escape."
"Hmm, I see…" Matthias seemed to think about that for a moment. "I know just the person. But we won't be able to get your lessons started until after the closest wave. Not if we want to get you leveled up first. And that links to the next thing. Your methods. Have you both been using them?"
"Yup! I've been using my method as much as I can!" Eorna spoke with a grin.
Kurose nodded his head. "I've been using them when I can. Two of them are passive, whilst the other two require gems and money."
Matthias looked at Kurose for a moment in confusion. "What do you mean by that? You're talking like you have more than one method…"
"Uh… yeah, I do," Kurose admitted.
Eorna jumped in again. "Yup! It's so unfair! Apparently, the Accessory gets four methods whilst we get one!"
"Huh…" Matthias spoke to himself. "I guess that's the benefit of being a holy hero. Either way, I'll do my best to help you out. For the cash, I can give you some, but you will need to eventually start taking up requests and all that. I won't be able to supply you forever, as much as I would like to. Most of the treasury has been used to gather better equipment for my men. But don't worry, I will help you, both of you, register to the guild." Matthias spoke simply.
"The gems, however, should be fine. Do they need to be finely cut? Or will any gem do?"
"Well, any gem will do, but I'm not sure if having it be finely cut will affect it in any way. I'd still like to try just in case, but I'll accept any of them." Kurose spoke happily.
"Great! Now-"
"What's your method?" Eorna asked suddenly, interrupting the hero.
"Hm? Oh, it's called Refashion." He spoke simply.
Kurose and Eorna both looked at him curiously and upon seeing that, he explained further.
"Right. So each weapon has a number of charges and slots. I can take the core feature of that weapon, so let's say…" Matthias thought about it before snapping his fingers. "My Rope File. It's kind of useless on its own, but by expending one of the charges on that Rope File, I can transfer it to another weapon, allowing it to use that special feature. So if I wanted, I could use the Rope feature on this weapon here." He finished, raising up his bench knife.
"Oh, but if you expend all the charges, then the weapon goes back to being locked until you absorb the materials required to unlock it again!" He quickly added in.
All Kurose could say in response was a simple sentence. "You can get a rope weapon?"
Matthias let his head fall into his hands. "You haven't even done that!" He cried out.
"We have been preoccupied!" Kurose cried back.
Did the Jewelry tools hero not understand that they had been on the run in Ortensca for most of his time in this world!? They had other things to focus on, such as surviving and actually trying to grow strong enough to fight in the wave.
The mention of the wave brought Kurose down again. He still couldn't believe that despite it all, he had not been able to be of much use in the wave. Just when was he actually going to be strong enough to be helpful?
Before he could spiral into those thoughts, there was a knock on the door. Everyone paused for a moment, even as the person who knocked spoke.
"What's with all that shouting, hm?" a soft voice spoke. The door slowly began to open, and Kurose watched as Matthias lifted his head, a smile on his face.
"Marissa…" he whispered softly.
"Hello, my dear. I've bought-" Before she could finish that sentence, something ran past her legs, a blur before it crashed into Matthias, pushing him down onto the sofa.
"Papa!" The small voice called out.
"Tommy! It's good to see you again!" Matthias spoke with cheer. He lifted the small child up before continuing. "Have you been good for your mother?" He asked.
"Yes! I have, I promise!" Tommy replied quickly.
Whilst this exchange was going on, Kurose and Eorna looked at each other, whispering as they did.
"Who is that?" Eorna mouthed to him.
Kurose went to shrug but paused. Just before, Matthias had told him about his wife and kid, who had been in that picture. Looking at the child, he seemed similar to the one in the picture, so it was probably safe to assume that the person who had walked in was Matthias's wife.
He mouthed as much to Eorna, who nodded her head. And yet, before he could get any sort of response, the person in question spoke to Kurose.
"Oh, pardon me for not realizing you were here." She spoke softly. "My name is Marissa. Can I ask what business you have with my husband? I can assure you, I can answer anything for him."
The Accessory hero looked her over, nodding his head. "Ah, well. It's just we were talking about ways to get stronger." He answered sheepishly.
"Ways… to get stronger? Well, I suppose that would be through leveling. The only other thing I can think of is…" she trailed off, even as her eyes scanned over him as if looking for something.
Yet, before she could find it, Matthias spoke loudly.
"Alright, Tommy. There's a couple of special people I want you to meet, okay?" He spoke, patting the boy on the head.
"Are they Papa's friends?" He asked quickly, a smile on his face.
"Not yet. But I hope we can be. Now, the two. Very special people are in this room, okay? Once you point them out, they'll tell you who they are."
Tommy nodded eagerly, jumping up and down on the spot. His eyes immediately locked onto Eorna, pointing at her, even as a small giggle escaped his mouth.
"That's good Tommy! Now, would you mind introducing yourself?" Matthias directed it to Eorna, who was more than happy to go along with it.
"Of course! My name is Eorna Hurm! Though, I do carry something very special with me. Do you wanna see it?" She asked Tommy.
He once again nodded before looking towards his father, who motioned for him to start going. He did, quickly reaching Eorna's side.
"What is it? What is it? Show me, show me please!" Tommy spoke quickly.
"Okay, okay! Look, see?" She held her dagger in her hands, and Tommy looked at it curiously.
Tommy opened his mouth, likely to question what was so special about it, but Eorna switched weapon forms, eliciting a small gasp from Marissa, and a squeal from Tommy.
"Oh, Oh! Papa's weapon does that as well! He's a hero!" He spoke, nodding his head along with it.
"Then what does it make me, if my weapon can do that as well?" Eorna asked him.
Tommy seemed to think seriously about it for a moment before responding.
"Are… are you a hero too?" He asked quietly.
Eorna nodded her head, and before she could say anything, Tommy hugged her.
"Yay! Heroes are so cool! When I grow up, I wanna be a hero as well!"
Eorna smiled as Tommy hugged her, not pulling away from it. It wasn't until Matthias began speaking that Tommy stopped hugging her.
"Now, there's one more special person. Arguably, he's even more special than me and Eorna." Matthias spoke softly.
Kurose could have sworn he saw Tommy's eyes sparkle when he said that. Almost immediately, the child turned to face Kurose.
"Are you the extra special friend Papa was talking about?"
"...I am." Kurose spoke slowly. "Do you want to see what I can do?" He asked Tommy.
The only response he got was the rapid nodding of Tommy's head.
"Alright, focus on my amulet, okay?"
When he was sure that Tommy was focused on it, he switched the weapon form, much like Eorna had. Soon enough, there was a scarf wrapped around his neck, and Tommy smiled.
"Wow! You're a hero too? I know so many heroes!" Tommy spoke excitedly. "U-uhm… Papa is the jul… Jewl…Jewelry tools hero! Miss Eorna is um… the Dagger hero!" He exclaimed before pausing.
"Then you…" Tommy thought about it for a moment. "Oh! You're the ack- Accessory hero?" He asked in an unsure voice.
Kurose smiled at that. "I am. Kurose Amiya, hero of the Accessory, at your service." He spoke, a small smile on his face.
"Yay! I know so many heroes! Look, mama!" Tommy ran towards Marissa, a happy grin on his face, and she lifted him up easily.
"That's great!" She spoke enthusiastically before turning to face the three heroes.
"But how did they get here? Weren't they in Ortensca before this?" She directed that towards Matthias, who rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, I may have bought them here after the wave finished…" He spoke nervously.
"The wave… and you didn't get injured at all, did you?"
Matthias tried his best to hide his limp arm, coughing as he did. "N-no! Of course not. I'm strong enough to not get hurt." Matthias responded.
Marissa looked at him unimpressed, and Eorna spoke up. "Eh? But you got hurt by that guy, didn't you? You can barely move your arm!"
Matthias stared at Eorna, the sting of betrayal clear in his eyes as if he could not believe she had just said that before his wife.
Marissa simply sighed. "I'll go get Leron. He should be able to help you. But please don't hide stuff like this from me dear."
Matthias lowered his head, nodding as he did.
"Alright. I won't, I just don't want to worry you, okay?" He answered slowly.
"Dear. I will always worry about you. You should know that by now." Marissa responded with a small giggle.
"I know, I know." He spoke with a sigh, "Weren't you going to go get Leron?"
"I am. Tommy, Come on?" She spoke to the child.
The child in question nodded his head quickly. "Okay, Mama! See you soon Papa!"
Tommy hugged his father's side once more before getting up from the sofa and running towards Marissa.
Once Tommy was by her side, Marissa bowed towards Kurose and Eorna. "I will be back soon. Please make sure my husband doesn't leave before he gets treated."
"Of course" "We won't let him." were Kurose and Eornas responses respectively.
"Thank you heroes. I will see you all soon." With that said, she once again bowed before exiting the room.
Once Marissa left the room, Kurose asked a question he had been holding in for a while. "So… what is the plan, now that we are here? I know you said we were going to register for the hourglasses, but we only have this hourglass and the Ortensca one." Kurose asked.
"Well. admittedly I was supposed to take you to the Dajero hourglass and the hourglass at the Dwarven outpost."
"Eh? But don't you have two hourglasses here?" Eorna asked.
"On a technicality. The dwarves still truly have control over it, it just makes it more accessible for any heroes or anyone who wishes to class up, as not everyone can make it to the capital, especially the people who live in the north."
"So, you basically take care of the maintenance for the hourglass, and have access to it whenever you want?" Kurose confirmed.
"Yeah, pretty much. It's a good deal, and it benefits us both. We have a second hourglass in our country that is usable by anyone, whilst the dwarves don't have to waste time and manpower on dragging the hourglass deeper into the mountains."
"Just how heavy are the hourglasses?" Kurose questioned. Sure, they were massive, but there had to be a better way to move everything, right?
"Well..." Matthias began. "They are a massive pain to move. They usually require an army's worth of people to even begin the process of moving. It's why the hourglass here has not been moved in hundreds of years. Most places that hold these hourglasses prefer to remodel around the hourglass rather than expend all the effort required to move the hourglass.
"It's that bad?" Kurose spoke with shock. He hadn't realized that in the slightest. "But back on topic. what happened to taking us to the hourglasses?"
"Well, we got distracted talking about methods, then my wife and lil Tommy came in. I mean, we still have plenty of time in the day, but…" He coughed slightly, looking away. "Maybe it would be better to just relax for now. Like Eorna said. Everyone deserves a rest after all."
Eorna smirked, and Kurose deflated. He was happy he didn't have to go anywhere. He just wanted to relax.
"But as for the plan. Once I have got you two linked up to the hourglasses, I want to take you to level up. I'll have a few soldiers come with us so they can level, as well as try to find some people to fit into your parties., but I want to see what you can do. It won't be a super strong place, but it will be stuff you can deal with. Easier than the wave monsters at least."
"But wouldn't it be better to power-level us?" Kurose asked from where he had deflated.
Matthias looked at him, tilting his head at the unfamiliar term. "Powerlevel? What does that mean?"
"Term from my world. Basically, the higher-level player would take some lower-level people to a strong area, and kill the monsters themselves. The experience would get split between them, and it would help the lower level players get stronger the longer it went on until they could efficiently help out." Kurose explained.
"I mean, that is an option…" Matthias spoke slowly. "But you would be skipping a few vital steps. The first one is that you wouldn't get used to your weapons and how they work. You would also be skipping out on equip bonuses from lower-level monsters because you would be focusing on the stronger materials. Sure, you could go back and spend time hunting for those weaker monsters, but there is a higher chance they would run away from you than engage you if you were a higher level. And then you would just be wasting time hunting them."
"So it's just better for us to start with monsters above or slightly below our level, and start working our way up?" Eorna asked for clarification.
"Yup. That's about right. Need to work your way up with the equip bonuses. Once you start mastering the smaller ones, it all starts piling up. I mean, surely you have noticed from the equip bonuses you have that you are much stronger, right?"
"That is true…" Kurose muttered to himself. "I mean, I definitely feel a lot faster, that's for sure."
He guessed that was one benefit of having a legendary weapon. Just the equip bonuses alone made it worth it, and that's not even considering the skills or equip effects from the various weapon forms. Combined with the strengthening methods, it made sure that heroes would outpace regular people. Was that why heroes were relied upon in dire situations like this? Their ability to rapidly grow stronger? It made sense to Kurose at least.
Despite that, Kurose still felt like he was missing something. How were the lesser weapons supposed to stand beside the holy weapon? Sure, the lesser weapon would still let them surpass a regular person in terms of power, but the holy weapon would outpace them easily, with the ability to use four methods compared to their one. And from what he had seen, his methods were more specialized.
Matthias had Refashion, which allowed him to take effects from one weapon onto another. Eorna had Skill Rank, which allowed her to strengthen her skills. Both were good methods, but compared to the four Kurose had, they just seemed… lacking, for lack of a better term.
Kurose let out a sigh. He couldn't think of what was wrong. Yet, even as he moved to think on it some more, he was knocked out of his thoughts as someone knocked on the door.
The door opened, with Marissa walked in with a small man wearing an oversized cloak trailing behind her.
"Matthias." The person spoke in a squeaky voice. "I heard you have been injured again. What is it with you and being injured?"
Kurose had to do a double take. Was this really an adult? Matthias didn't seem bothered by his voice.
"Leron." He responded politely. "It's nothing bad, I promise! It's just something from the wave. Wasn't expecting it and all that."
What Matthias was conveniently leaving out, however, was the fact that it was not a monster that did this, but another hero.
"Still, you should know not to hide this stuff from me, or anyone, alright?" Leron spoke, oblivious to what Matthias was hiding.
Kurose certainly wasn't going to correct him. He didn't want to get on Matthias' bad side.
"I know. But it wasn't so bad. And I was going to come see you after!"
"That's what you claim every time. And yet I rarely ever see you."
"Well, it's just because I don't really have issues against many monsters, you know. Ow!" Matthias hissed as Leron hit his shoulder.
"Not so bad you say," Leron replied with a smug smile. He turned to face Kurose and Eorna, speaking politely.
"Would you mind leaving the room for a moment? I'd like some privacy whilst I tend to his injury."
"Of course!" Eorna responded simply, smiling.
She stood up, with Kurose trailing
behind her, even as they moved towards the open door, shutting it behind them.
At some point, Marissa and Tommy had left, with Marissa claiming she wanted to give them some more time to get to know her husband.
They had seen them off, with both Kurose and Eorna promising to play with Tommy at a later point.
Leron had emerged from the room soon after, bowing towards them before walking away quickly. Both Kurose and Eorna watched as he disappeared around the corner before peeking back into the room.
Matthias saw the duo peeking their heads in, gesturing for them to come back in. The duo did so, with Kurose closing the door behind him.
The Jewelry tools hero rolled his arm, hissing as he did.
"Never fun being treated by him…" He spoke with a frown, shaking his head.
"At least you can use your arm properly again." Kurose offered up.
"I guess. Still doesn't make up for your betrayal Eorna!" Matthias glared at the dagger hero, who smiled at him.
"It's better than you not being at your best." Eorna retorted.
"Pfft. I'm always at my best. But anyways. There's one more thing I want to talk about with you two." Matthias' voice grew heavy. "You heard a lot of what that other hero said, correct?"
Eorna and Kurose both nodded, with Kurose speaking up. "We did. We… We were confused about what you were talking about. You were being so vague about it."
"I understand. But I'm going to tell you now. What I say here, it does not leave this room, alright?"
"Why? Is it about something dangerous?" Eorna asked.
"It could be. But I mainly want to do this to keep panic to a minimum. As it is, with the waves going on, everyone's tense. They don't need to know this information, not if I can help it."
"Alright," Kurose spoke slowly. "Just what is it that you are keeping from everyone?"
"The reason behind the waves. I found out about it."
Kurose and Eorna stared at Matthias, the pair leaning in.
"What do you mean you found out the reason behind the waves? I thought they were just a natural disaster?" Kurose spoke. Had what he been told by Amarita a lie?
"That's what I thought as well," Matthias admitted. "In truth, this is all just a game for the people who cause this. They call themselves 'gods'. They are the cause of the waves. They do this to satisfy people in their worlds. They host game shows between worlds, where the winners get to live, whilst the losers, and consequently their worlds, die."
"That's…" Kurose couldn't finish his sentence, his face turning pale. There were people pulling the strings behind all of this? People who held enough power to do something like this, and they wanted to cause chaos? To kill millions of people?
"It's horrible…" Eorna spoke slowly. By the look on her face, she seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion as he had.
"They do this for fun, you said?"
"They do. As I said, it's to satisfy everyone in their world." Matthias reaffirmed what he said.
"When did you find this out?" Kurose questioned the elder hero.
"The very first wave. I had read up about them when the hourglasses first started counting down. I had expected it to be only monsters. So imagine my surprise when I found myself in an arena with a ton of other people." Matthias chuckled slightly at that. "They were all heroes. Heroes we will have to fight, if we want to live."
"...Not all of them," Eorna replied slowly. "That Mace hero, he said we could have a truce with their world. We wouldn't have to worry about them."
"True. but there are still other heroes. I'm not sure how many there were, but it was a few from what I could see. It could end up being the fact that we don't face all of them because they might get wiped out before even facing us."
"Lets… Let's just focus on one thing at a time." Kurose spoke, stopping Matthias. Matthias simply nodded at that.
"What did they say, to you and all the others when you were in the arena?"
"Just told us about the waves. What the plan was and the likes. They spoke about how they would give all worlds a total of 1 tiers worth of time."
"A tiers worth of time? How long is that?" Kurose asked, interrupting Matthias.
"I didn't know myself," Matthias spoke with a shrug. "Thankfully, from just scrounging around in the dwarven library, I managed to find an old heroes theory book. I could barely understand it, and a lot of it was torn apart, but the few bits I could read basically had the idea that waves worked in tiers, and each Hourglass keeps track of what tier it is at. So for example, the wave we just faced was tier one, whereas the next wave we face at Dajero will be tier two because I was there to fight it, and enough time will have passed for the tier to rise to the next."
"Wait, the wave we fought was tier one?" Eorna asked, slightly concerned. "How are me and Kurose supposed to get strong enough to fight them then? We were already under-leveled for this wave!"
"Well, to be fair to you two, you were on the run for most of your time. Plus, with me here, you will be able to level up faster and safer." Matthias explained.
"That is true…" Eorna replied, sitting back. She still seemed concerned about something, but she didn't say anything else.
"Wait, then that means we only have two more waves until we have to start participating right?" Kurose asked quickly.
"That is correct. But, let me finish what I was saying before. They said that it will be the first and last wave of each tier that a game will take place. Apparently, they will randomly choose something for the heroes to do, and select a hero at random depending on the event. So it could be any of us being dragged into that arena." Matthias said with a frown.
Kurose couldn't help the feeling that Matthias was thinking about him. He already knew that he was useless in one-on-one fights essentially. The only upside he had was his counters, but even then, what use would it be against other heroes if he had to fight them himself? He was a liability.
"Regardless. If they choose something at random, it might not always be fighting. We will just have to hope and see, and then try our hardest to grow as strong as we can between each game." Matthias declared.
Eorna nodded at that whilst Kurose thought. Just how could he become less of a liability? He needed a team to work efficiently. He couldn't just rely on counters to get the job done. He needed some other way to attack reliably. But how could he do that?
He was knocked out of his thoughts by Matthias speaking again.
"But anyways. I will show you the rooms you will be staying in for the night, and after that, I'll have someone prepare dinner for us. We can talk a bit more after that if you both want and then it will be back to business tomorrow. Going to the last two hourglasses, and then leveling you two up."
"Got it." "Sounds good." Eorna and Kurose both answered him with a nod, standing up as Matthias did.
"Come on, let's get going," Matthias spoke, gesturing for them to follow behind him.
Both did, and the day continued on.
A bit of a slower chapter, which is good every once in a while.
All the strengthening methods have been revealed. But when are they going to figure out when they can use all of them?
Kurose is trying to figure out how he can be less of a liability during the waves, plus the reveal of what the waves of this phase are.
Hopefully I can do it justice, but that will have to remain to be seen.