"So, that last sounds like we're getting no silver this month…not like we need it. I've got a thousand and some change left over from all the Guild jobs I've been doing, along with what they sent. You guys?" he asked, and I scratched my cheek in embarrassment as, all things considered, a few thousand silver was nothing compared to what I had apparently. But luckily, rather than having to say that, Naofumi decided to pull out a sack from his belt, and pour some of the contents out.
"Well that…is rather substantial," said Ren, staring at the pile of gold coins. He had the equivalent of ten gold left from all his work with the Guild. Which seemed light until I remembered he was probably spending it on gear and such, if the bonuses he sported were any indication. Naofumi, meanwhile, had at least a hundred or so gold in the pile before him, and Motoyasu stared at it slack jawed.
"How?!" was his demand as he stared at it, gesturing with both hands open palmed towards it, turning to us, and then back to Naofumi, who threw back his head and laughed as he scooped the coins back into his pouch, done showing off for the moment.
"My potions. I keep a lot for myself, but the best ones can go for a gold apiece in some places, and even the lesser ones are twenty silver a pop," he said with a smirk, and I remembered the cart load of potions he still had despite that, thinking about that, I pulled the three books out, and as Motoyasu began to gripe about not having any savings, thanks to Myne and some of the other girls' expensive tastes in recreation, I looked through them.
The three texts were, as it turned out, quite different, not just because of who they covered, but who wrote them. Ren's, as I'd seen before was all about the flow of combat, detailing how the combatants moved from one move to another, with the occasional bit of commentary where he thought they could improve, or pointing out one move would have been better than another in that situation, giving a good overview of the fight itself, and the styles of the two fighting.
Motoyasu's, shockingly, didn't have nearly as many words in it, but included mostly pictures along with names and numbers. It took me a moment to realize that he'd sketched out some of the weapons the other two had used in their match, detailing the bonuses they got from them, and what sort of attacks each favored. There was less about the fight itself, save a few bits of commentary that were probably written in a stream of consciousness style as he wrote, which only broke when he called Ren by a swear word, while commenting on his victory over Naofumi.
Turned out that Ren WAS able to win against the Shield Hero…mostly thanks to Waltz though, who's crystal rod was a unique class magical item, which allowed the man to alter the 'firing type' of his spells on a whim. Turning a fireball spell into a trap type thing, which, a glance at my new spell customization menu said I could do too, though it was greyed out as I hadn't learned a spell with that type yet. Regardless, he'd spent as much time setting mines as firing fireballs, eventually using them to box the Shield Hero's party in, while Ren kept hitting one at a time, focusing on burning them down until all three were on the floor.
Regardless of the outcome, Motoyasu's descriptions gave me a good bit of information on what tools the other two had to bring to the table. Both texts were helpful in their own way, which made the pair together quite useful. I was already able to see some things I could have all three do in the middle of a bigger fight as I reached towards the one Naofumi had written, so I could get his perspective on the other two. Of course, the moment I flipped it open, I let out a…not quite a gasp but a noise anyway, in shock, which drew the discussion to a close for a moment.
"Eh, what's up Bard?" asked Motoyasu, as I flipped through a few pages, filled with text. Very neat stuff, written with a steady hand, where both the other two, without the typical guides of lined paper, had sort of scrawled all over the pages. Here, it was very tidy. Also, the thing that had shocked me was the language.
"You speak English, Naofumi?" I asked, flipping the book around so the other two could see it as well, and the other two scratched their heads a bit, looking at the text. Naofumi, meanwhile, had a well earned smug look on his face, as he smirked at me.
"Yep. You said you were from America, and I just so happen to be a wiz with languages. It's how I learned the local one in a month well enough to read magical books and stuff," he said, as Motoyasu and Ren just sort of whistled, sounding impressed.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean…I flunked my English as a second language courses in school. You?" he asked, turning to Ren, who shrugged.
"It wasn't something I was interested in deeply. I did enough to get by, but no more," he offered with a shrug, and the three went back to talking money, as I turned the book back to me and read through it. Naofumi's, since his was written in a language I understood, didn't just load itself into my brain, which was interesting. It was also excellently written, with no obvious grammar or spelling mistakes that I could see, which spoke of two things.
One, Naofumi wasn't wrong. English was, even for natives, a tongue that defied you sometimes, and the fact that this was obviously all written quickly, as the battle went on, and was still neat and legible made me wonder if Naofumi had considered going into education or the like, as he'd all but admitted to being a NEET when we'd spoken of our lives before being summoned.
The second point was the most interesting on a thought provoking level though. The English language in his world was close enough to my own that I wasn't seeing any differences. Not even the usual stuff from traditional to American English, like a few extra letters, or changes in words. That had implications for how our worlds operated, and made me wonder, like with the Squirrels and Penguins on the islands, just what else was the same between our games, this world, and our own worlds.
Regardless of that, I read through what Naofumi had written, finding that Motoyasu had been the victor of the second match. Rather than allowing Waltz to box them in, Motoyasu and Rishia had gone immediately on the attack, driving themselves right into the defenses of the two. And given Waltz was a caster type of guy, he'd had little in the way of defenses, especially since it had been Motoyasu hammering him, while Rishia, with her agile build, had taken to distracting Ren.
The Spear Hero's strategy, even with all the bonuses the other two got from some top quality gear, had won them the day, as first Waltz had been taken out by the Spear Hero, constantly adjusting his stats. Then Motoyasu and Rishia had hammered against Ren himself, forcing the Sword Hero back more and more, literally pounding him into the ground at one point, before finally, he'd gone flying, and lost enough HP to be out. I even glanced up and saw the impression he'd left in the wall thanks to the final hit of that one, wincing in sympathy for how much that must have stung.
Still, three fights, three different victors, it was almost like some fate was forcing the issue, telling the three that neither was better than the others. Mind, the fact that my group hadn't gotten to fight was disappointing…but given I was the weak link there, by my own admission, meant we'd have probably lost all three, since the other Heroes weren't fools, and would have it out for me, even if I had two Hands to their single Champions. They'd find a way to separate us, and that would be that.
Still, it was a good mix of skills. We had a Tank, a DPS, and a Fill In, able to shift his stats around to be useful in any major role. Beyond the stat spread, each one had abilities, and even magic, to make for a useful healer, buffer, and debuffer. Not to the same level as I had been for the middle one, but my SP would be better spent on my Hands, so they could spend some MP on those, especially with the Spear Hero's ability to make complex spells. We'd have to start loading that one up with every magic orb we could find.
Beyond that, we had a magic knight in Raphtalia, good melee and magic, mostly focused on illusion and healing. Basically a low-budget version of a paladin. Rishia gave us close range melee, as I didn't see anything in her skill list that went beyond hand to hand, but the damage numbers thanks to Motoyasu's skill made her better than either of the others. And of course, Waltz was a good mage. Ranged fire and support casting with trap runes. A good mixture.
Filo was…well she was good, no doubt about that, but the Champions left her behind statwise, even with the buff Queen Fitoria had given her. She'd take some time to go up with that. Even with her class upgrade that Naofumi had finally gotten her and Raphtalia, with her turning into a Filolial Princess. A class which came with some great growth rate according to the chart, but one that would take some time for her to get there, and the Heroes, thanks to Motoyasu's system, would eventually pass them all naturally…me too, if I was ever allowed near the action again.
It was still a good mix of skills in all respects. We'd have to keep divided to level ourselves, but with this info, I could totally come up with some strategies for fighting together against the boss level monsters we'd been finding. I could even, hopefully, suggest some party strategies for each of them individually, so they'd maximize gains. Of course, I was so caught up in my thoughts that I only realized the others had stopped talking when I realized everything was quiet, and looked up to find everyone, Heroes and their parties, looking at me.
"I…was there a question?" I asked, and Motoyasu shook his head with a sigh that was just this side of aggravated. Naofumi, meanwhile, laughed in a very good natured way, and Ren just scoffed and shook his head.
"We were wondering, since the Queen said it could be as much as a week before the EXP event starts, if you and your two companions would like to spend it at the resort, or going around to get some more grinding in. The vote stands with Motoyasu in favor of a break, Ren wanting to go Level Grinding, and I…abstained for now, but really leaning towards the vacation I'll admit. Still, if you want, we can just go out into the fields around the castle hunting," he offered.
I blunk a bit, wondering why I was going to be the deciding vote, only to realize it was probably Naofumi making up for the whole 'kidnapping' thing. He probably thought I'd been put out by it, especially given all the things we'd had to deal with over the week. Much as I'd treated it as a break, for him, it had probably been a nerve wracking thing, and he likely thought, despite how I'd been acting, it was the same for me.
At the same time, he was willing to acknowledge, we'd all lost a week of grinding time. Even with a double EXP event on the island, we'd probably fallen behind the curve we were on…okay Motoyasu and Ren had. The Shield Hero's party and myself, thanks to killing the Bonus Boss, had leveled many times since the last Wave already, so a break wouldn't affect us too badly.
Of course, we also had to consider the conditions everyone had been in. While not leveling, since they weren't against monsters, the others HAD been fighting a lot, and helping to root out corruption in this country's nobility. A necessary thing, to be fair, but it likely drained them, and we still had to really try out our new party formations with the Follower system in place, though it was the others with the headstart there, given their PvP battles this morning.
"I would normally be all for grinding some more, but all things considered, with the pursuit, the chase, and all the things everyone else has been through this last week. A day or two off sounds like a lovely time to me," I said at last, and while Ren looked a bit dour for a moment, Waltz put his hand on the young man's shoulder, and the pair shared a moment, before he nodded, and we got down to the task of planning out a beach holiday.
(A/N: Just so anyone who was, like me, under the wrong impression because the Anime scene is badly written, Filo and Raphtalia DID get a class up from the Hourglass scene. They were complaining because their choices of Class were made FOR them, thanks in part to Filo's thing(Which forced her on the Royal Filolial path), and for Raphtalia because of her connection to Naofumi, whose skills linking them forced her down a path as well. This scene is WAY better in the Manga where we get some commentary about it afterwards to explain both their new classes and why they were forced into them.)
