What has changed: Went back, changed some minor interactions/spelling mistakes first off. Second, changed the name of Gem Equip to Lapidary (Thank you Mache), Also, Gem/Lapidary slots have been removed to be more in line with Ore Equip, so it is now the 0/X next to the weapon forms name.

That's about all I can think of that I changed. Thanks for sticking around to read the changes and that, and sorry for taking a longer delay than I initially said. Life got at me, but it's fine. Now, onto the chapter I suppose.

Eorna let out a sigh as her hand rested at her side. Thankfully, it wasn't anything serious, just a minor burn which Leron had easily dealt with by using a paste which, when she asked about, he answered that it simply soothed the burned skin and sped up the healing process.

She didn't bother asking any more questions after that, assuming that it was just going to be something she didn't understand. She was just glad that it was getting treated. Osvien had also had his arm bandaged up, with a few words said about making sure that he can actually take what is being sent his way.

Sigun, surprisingly, had almost no injuries despite practically throwing himself at the wave monsters. The only thing he had to worry about was the small chunks taken out of his armor. When she had asked about them, he had said the Helots had managed to wear it down enough to actually tear into the armor.

At some point during it all, both Marissa and Tommy had found their ways into the room, with Sigun currently keeping Tommy distracted, whilst Eorna answered any questions Marissa asked.

"Is Matthias okay?" She asked quietly, making sure that Tommy could not hear.

"Yeah, he's fine. He wasn't hurt at all, as far as I could tell." Eorna spoke. That earned a sigh of relief from Marissa, with the tension visibly leaving the woman's shoulders.

"That's… That's good." She paused for a moment before speaking once more. "What about you? And the Accessory Hero, where is he?"

Eorna hesitated, and Marissa seemed to notice. "What's wrong dear?"

"...Did Matthias tell you what happened last wave? How he got injured?"

"...He did. He said it was another hero." As she spoke, she looked up to Eorna quickly. "Did another…"

Eorna simply nodded her head at that. "There was another hero. We… We took down the boss, but the hero managed to sneak up on Kurose."

"Is he alright? Why isn't he here?"

"Leron took a look at him. He should be alright." Eorna answered quickly. "Just… we aren't sure how bad the damage is yet."

Marissa nodded her head at that before speaking. "What about that hero? Where are they now?"

Eorna clenched her hand before taking a breath and speaking quietly. "I… I killed him."

Marissa took that information in, seemingly trying to figure out how to respond to it before moving her hands. She held Eornas clenched hand softly before responding.

"I see. How are you feeling about it?" She asked softly. Eorna let out a sigh.

"I feel horrible." She spoke honestly. "I didn't want to do it, I swear! I didn't want to kill him, but he said he was going to kill Kurose, and i… I couldn't let that happen!"

Marissa nodded her head. "It is going to feel horrible." She answered kindly. "It's never right to take someone's life, and if you hadn't felt bad about it, I would have been more concerned. But you know why you had to do it, don't you? You said it yourself, after all."

Eorna did not respond, except for a small nod of her head.

"Then you shouldn't dwell on it. The more you think about it, the more you are going to feel bad about it. When that hero came over here, intending to kill the Accessory Hero, he knew what could happen."

"So you just want me to forget about him? To pretend like I didn't kill him?" Eorna questioned, earning a quick shake of Marissa's head.

"No. I don't want you to forget that you killed him. That would be even worse, because the guilt would eat away at you. Just know that he chose to do this, and you did what you had to."

Eorna didn't try to refute it, instead trying to change the subject. "You sounded like Matthias, you know? When you said that you would be concerned if I didn't feel bad about it."

"Well, it seems like he's been using my words to try and help you then, doesn't it?" She spoke with a small smile. "But Matthias was right. As long as you don't grow to enjoy it, then it's fine. Knowing Matthias, he wants to shield the both of you from having to kill people as long as he possibly can."

"Well… it didn't exactly work out, did it?" Eorna responded quietly.

"No, it didn't. You can't really account for stuff like this. Has Matthias spoken to you?"

"He did, a little. He said he was sorry that he couldn't be there to help us. He didn't expect a hero to appear."

Marissa seemed to shake her head at that, sighing. "He really does take on more than he has to."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well… My husband believes he should be everywhere and anywhere, that he should help whoever he can. Its something i love about him, dont get me wrong." Marissa spoke quickly. "But its just the fact that he cant leave it to other people. He needs to be the one doing it, to prove he is still worthy of… well, everything."

Eorna bit her cheek at that. Sounds like someone else i know… She thought to herself.

Before Eorna could say anything else, Tommy ran over, gathering both of their attention as he began to talk about something that Sigun had told him.

As it turned out, the bracelets from the Occultists arms could actually be copied. They gave what he thought to be a pretty decent weapon form. It was still worse than the boss's head, but it gave a pretty interesting skill.

Interdimensional Occultists Bracelets 0/4

Rarity: Uncommon

Equip Bonus: Dual Accessories

Equip effect Persuasion increase (small)

Kurose personally didn't like the equip effect, mainly because it seemed like brainwashing to a lesser degree, but he would probably have to end up using it at some point, knowing his luck as of being transported to this world. Maybe if another hero crossed over, he could try to talk them out of doing whatever it was they were going to attempt.

Back to the skill, he hadnt tried it out yet, as he was still waiting to unlock the Occultist Head Necklace, but the bracelets would be the next weapon he unlocked. Now that he thought about it, he was getting a lot of skills pretty quick. How was he ever going to remember and use all of them?

"What's up? Seems like you are worrying about something." Matthias spoke up, seeming to notice Kuroses concern.

"Hm? Is it that easy to tell?" Kurose asked.

"Yeah, kind of. You just kind of… zone out, I guess? Like you aren't completely there. So, want to tell me what it is you are worrying about?"

"Sure, I guess." Kurose obliged. "It's just… all the skills and all that. I'm going to have to use all of them to get the best usage out of my weapon, right?"

"Eh… Not really? Some skills are purely situational." Matthias spoke, picking up the arm once again before absorbing it into his weapon. "I mean, can you imagine how many skills I have unlocked?"

"Probably a lot, considering how long you have been a hero."

"Yup. and I don't even use half of my skills. What I did before everything went down, I went through my most used skills and sorted them into categories for myself, makes it easier to know what skill to use in a situation. Plenty of enemies? Glimmer, maybe even Flare for the Dramatic if they are a bit tougher. Single enemy? Erst strike, Second Strike, Dritte Strike. Enemy buffing themselves? Snip. My suggestion is don't overthink. Just get a mental list of skills sorted for yourself. You shouldn't have that issue yet, but as you grow stronger, keep it in mind. Try and categorize them, yeah?"

Kurose nodded his head at that. It made sense that Matthias didn't use every single skill at his disposal. But he still had a few questions.

"How did you actually… y'know, decide what skills to use? I mean you have plenty of skills, so how did you decide?"

"Hmm… I would say it's just personal preference really. Nothing special and all that. It was just what I thought was the best to use. I mean, with you, you have Erst Thread which you seem to like using a lot, right?"

"Well, yeah, because it helps keep enemies restrained and all that whilst others deal with them."

"So, that's likely going to be one of your go to skills, right? I mean, Erst skills seem to stay pretty good no matter the level, and yours seems a bit more versatile than mine, considering you have got that whole 'change accessory' going on with it."

"Yeah, it probably will." Kurose answered with a nod. "Wait, do you have a Change skill?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, I do. Have to use it with my Float weapon though."

"...What?" Kurose questioned.

"Oh, forgot you wouldn't know what it was. Basically lets me have a second copy of my weapon. Ill show you. Float Jewelry Tools''

As he said that, a copy of his weapon formed in his other hand, with the only difference being that it was more translucent.

"It basically just gives me another weapon to do stuff with. Helpful, but I haven't had to use it for a while. Oh, I can also change it into a small anvil to help when I'm working on stuff." Matthias spoke with a shrug, dismissing the skill.

"You really are just like a walking cheat code or something, aren't you?" Kurose spoke out loud.

"Like a what?"

"Don't worry about it, something from my world." He answered quickly.

Honestly, Kurose was happy that Matthias was on their side. He had to admit the he had entertained the thought that he might be like any other ruler in typical fantasy worlds, in which they were just comically evil or something

"Still, I should probably get you some rope so you can unlock your rope weapon form. Ahh, there's just a ton of basic weapon forms I need to get you and Eorna to unlock still." Matthias shook his head, continuing to walk. "Right! That's what we are going to do tomorrow then. Especially since I'm not going to be letting you go out until Leron confirms you are fine."

Kurose simply nodded his head at that, sighing. "Can we at least plan what's going to happen? After I'm given the clear by Leron?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm certain I can find some spots, and with Firnen, you two should be able to move around places a lot faster. More so when you unlock your portal weapons. How close are you by the way?"

"Hm? I'm level… 41. So 9 more levels." Kurose had gone up a few levels in the wave, which had shocked him. He didn't realize just how many monsters they had defeated in general during the wave. The benefits of growing stronger and having a full party, he guessed.

"That's good. I won't keep you here before you reach level 50, obviously, but when you do start going out and about, please set a portal location here."

"Why?" Kurose asked. He would have done so regardless, but he wanted to know the reasoning for it.

"Mainly because it will give me some peace of mind, knowing that you have at the very least one safe place to return to, if you desperately need it."

"I… I see." he answered with a small nod. It meant a lot to him, if he was being honest.

The pair walked in silence for a bit more before Kurose broke the silence, unable to keep his question from earlier coming out.

"After I got…" Kurose paused for a moment, trying to think of the best way to continue. "...taken out of action, what happened?"

Matthias let out a sigh at that, but spoke anyways. "I suppose it's only right to tell you what happened, though I'll admit I am still missing a few things myself. All i know is Eorna… dealt with the person who came through the wave."

"...dealt?" Kurose tried to think of what it meant before his eyes widened. "Wait, she…"

"She did." Matthias spoke. Kurose couldn't see the Jewelry tools hero's face, but he could imagine a frown was on it. "I didn't want her to have to do something like that this early, or at all, if I'm being honest, but it couldn't be helped."

"...Wasn't there another way?" Kurose spoke quietly.

It was obviously not quiet enough, as Matthias stopped walking, causing Kurose to bump into him. After a moment, he turned around.

"...Another way? Kurose, he was intending to kill you."

"Well, yeah, but did you find out his reasons for doing so? What if he was threatened, like the Mace hero was?"

"Even he had his own standards. He only fought me, and did not attempt to go after you two. From what little i got from the others, it seemed like that person was killing for the fun of it."

"Yeah, but…"

"But nothing, Kurose. Not everyone has an excuse to do something. Some people are just evil for the sake of it."

"That can't be true though!" Kurose shouted. "What if we just didn't try hard enough to get through to him or something?"

Matthias took a step forward, putting a hand on Kurose's shoulder before he could continue.

"Kurose." he spoke kindly, yet firmly. "You aren't going to be able to get through to everyone. I can almost promise you that if you had talked to him, it would have ended in the same way. With him dying. The only difference it would have made was whose hand he died by."

Kurose bit his tongue at that, but nodded his head. He didn't exactly like it, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Matthias seemed to understand that Kurose still wasn't fully convinced, and sighed.

"Look. It's nice that you want to try and talk stuff out. God knows that our world would be much better if we could talk everything out, but sometimes, it just… breaks down. Those heroes who come from the wave? They know what they are risking by coming over, like i said before. They know that they are risking their lives, and unless they state that they don't want to fight, and instead talk, I'll go after them. It's better to get rid of them as early as possible, so that those we care about dont get hurt."

Kurose nodded his head again, and Matthias made to turn around, but before he could, Kurose spoke.

"...Then if we are going to…" Kurose struggled for a moment before speaking. "...Kill hero's who cross over, then I don't want you to be the only one who does it."

"What makes you think I would be the only one?"

"Because you think it should be you that has to do that sort of stuff. You… You said it earlier, when I asked about Eorna." Matthias let out a sigh, but Kurose continued. "It shouldn't be only you that has to bear that burden."

"Kurose, you don't know what you are saying. Do you know how difficult it is to take a human life?" Kurose went to speak, but Matthias cut him off. "Not physically, I'm talking about mentally. Do you know how taxing it can be?"

"I… no, I don't." Kurose admitted. As far as he was aware, he had never killed anyone. He didn't particularly want to either, but again, it felt unfair to leave the task of killing hero's who crossed over to Matthias when it came down to it.

"Then don't talk about it lightly." Matthias spoke. "It… it takes a lot out of you. I can speak from experience."

Kurose had forgotten that Matthias had gone through a succession war. He likely had to kill people to prove he deserved the right to live.

He bit back a swear aimed at himself. He felt horrible now, and he opened his mouth to apologize. Yet before anything could leave his mouth, the sound of something smashing into a wall could be heard.

The two heroes looked at each other for a moment before running off towards the sound, with Kurose falling behind slightly

Eorna coughed, waving her hand to try and clear the smoke as she moved Marissa towards the others, holding her dagger out in front of her. Sigun was up as well, though his sword was nowhere in sight. Instead, his fists were raised, ready to attack if it came to it.

They both waited for the smoke to clear up, and once it finally had. Eorna saw what had caused all of the noise and destruction. Some sort of vehicle.

"Who's in there?" She shouted nervously, still holding onto her dagger tightly.

She could hear someone's voice inside of the vehicle, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. After a few moments of silence, in which Sigun moved closer to Eornas side in preparation, a person stepped off the vehicle, a wide smile on their face.

"Dagger hero! It is good to see you again!" The familiar voice spoke.

It took a bit longer than she would like to admit to recognise who the person before her was, but when she did, she let out a sigh of relief.

"You… You are Kurose's Charme teacher, right?" She asked, to make sure she was correct.

"Indeed I am!" The wizard spoke cheerfully. After a few moments, Eorna realized he was not going to explain how he was here, so she decided to ask.

"How are you here? You were supposed to be in Ortensca, getting information or something, right?"

"Yup! Something like that at least. I certainly gathered a bit of information, though it put me in a difficult situation you see. I truly had nowhere to go, and the knights were closing in on me! And as much as I value my freedom, I would much rather not take one of the guards' lives. They were under a Slave Charme after all."

Eorna nodded her head at that, and the wizard continued on.

"So, imagine my surprise when an old acquaintance came smashing into my house again, asking where the heroes were!"

"Did we ever tell you where we were going?" Eorna asked in confusion.

"Nope, I just assumed you would come here, considering this is where the Jewelry tools hero is, after all."

"Well, you guessed correctly." Eorna spoke with a nod.

The wizard went to speak again, only to be cut off by another person. "Are the heroes there?" The female voice shouted out of the vehicle.

"Yes, yes they are!" The wizard called back, before catching sight of Eorna's confusion. "Ah, you remember that train wielding maniac I spoke about?"

Eorna went through her memories before her eyes widened. "Wait, is that-"

Before she could finish her sentence, two kids walked off the train, before a small flash of light revealed a woman holding what appeared to be a toy with a gem embedded in it.

"Oh, you must be one of the heroes here, right?" She spoke cheerfully, looking around the room. It took her a moment to notice Sigun's still raised fist, and Eorna's dagger in front of her.

"You don't have to worry about that, I'm not here to hurt you or anything, unless you harm my kid. So anyways, where are the other heroes? I'm assuming you are the Dagger, considering what you are holding."

Eorna nodded her head hesitantly, raising a hand to tell Sigun to stand down.

"I am. As for their locations-"

"We are right here!" Matthias shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump. Kurose and Firnen were not far behind, with Kurose waving tiredly at the occupants of the room.

"Yeah, we are here. What made that noise?" Kurose asked quickly, looking around, pausing on the wizard.

"Teacher?"

"Yes, yes. It is me, in the flesh. I'll talk with you some more in a moment, I'm not sure how much more patience Riala here has." He gestured towards the woman who Kurose could only assume was Riala, seeing her leaning on a train.

Kurose blinked at that, new additions to the room. When had four new people arrived?

"Hello! As he said, my name is Riala, and I'm the Apostle of the train."

"Apostle?" Matthias asked. His hand didn't move off his weapon, but Riala seemed to ignore it.

"Yup! Think of me as my world's version of your Lesser heroes. Oh, and before you say anything, I'm not here to hurt anyone!" She spoke, trying to calm Matthias down.

"Really?" He asked, with an air of disbelief. "My apologies if I don't believe you, considering we have been attacked during the last two waves."

"Well, I guess that's fair. But if I did want to hurt any of you, you would already be gone!" She spoke cheerfully.

Kurose and Eorna both felt a shiver down their spine at that, and even Matthias felt a bit of unease. Despite that, Riala seemed to continue on like nothing had happened.

"But like I said, that's not why I'm here! I need you to look after two people for me! Come on Neila, Isu."

The two girls who had stepped out of the train stepped in front of Riala, who continued to smile. Kurose waved at both of them, but only the one waved back.

Wait… Is that a chair on her back? He thought to himself in confusion. Surely he was just seeing stuff, right? He rubbed at his eyes, only to frown as the chair remained where it was, on the girl's back.

"So!" Riala spoke, unknowing of the thoughts in Kurose's mind. "I'm going to need you to look after these two for a bit! They can fight monsters and all that, but under no circumstances do I want them to fight in a wave, understand me?"

"Sure. It's not like we tend to take children into active disasters as it is." Matthias spoke with a nod.

"Good. I will be back to pick them up… I don't know when actually. Just don't let them get hurt, you hear me?"

The three heroes gathered all nodded, and that seemed to satisfy Riala, who simply turned around. In a flash of light, a train appeared, with Riala stepping into it.

"I'll be off then, You two, be good for them, alright?" Riala called out towards Neila and Isu.

"Okay mommy!" "Alright ma." The duo spoke, earning a nod from Riala.

She quickly got back onto her train, making sure to look at the heroes once more. "Remember, don't let them get hurt, you hear me?"

The trio nodded immediately, and Rialas smile returned. "Good. I'll be off then, have fun kids!" With that, the train set off once more, through the ruined portion of the castle.

Matthias could only stare at the ruined parts of the castle before sighing, and clapping his hands.

"Right! Before I get too annoyed about the mess that she left behind, how about we go somewhere else real quick, and get things sorted out, alright?"

Everyone in the room spoke in agreement, and Matthias was about to leave before pausing as Marissa spoke.

"Wait, where's Tommy? Tommy!?" She shouted out in panic.

"Was Tommy red haired, like you?" The backpack chair girl asked Matthias.

"He was. You are… Isu, right?"

She nodded her head at that before continuing. "If he is, then I saw him run onto the train!"

Marissa and Matthias both stared at each other for a moment, faces paling before Marissa spoke up.

"Do… Do you have a way to contact that lady?" She asked both girls.

"Nope!" The pair responded. The two stared at each other again, and Marissa let out a small laugh.

"I… Oh, okay…" And with that, promptly passed out, with Osvien catching her, his eyes wide open.

"H-huh?"

Matthias sent all of them to the dining room, staying with his wife until she woke up, so that they could figure out what to do about it. Osvien was still restricted to his bed, so he waved them off, leaving the group at a total of seven members.

They all sat down at the table, and Kurose decided to ask the first question.

"So… who's who? You are… Isu, from what Matthias said, right?" He asked, pointing towards the girl with the chair on her back.

"I am." Isu confirmed, nodding her head.

"Can I ask why you have a chair on your back?"

"Hm? Oh, it's because I'm a construct!" She declared with a smile.

Kurose went to ask what a construct was, but he kept his question to himself. He had a feeling if he asked, he would just get more confused. Instead, he turned to the other kid, who was still staring straight ahead.

"And you are… Neila, right?"

"Yup!" Was her simple answer. She still wasn't staring at him, or anyone really for that matter.

"Is there anything else I should know about you two?"

The wizard took that moment to interrupt. "Ah, the train hero wanted me to explain, maybe? She wasn't exactly the most well put together person…" He muttered to himself, and Kurose had to restrain himself from saying that the wizard was similar to her in that regard.

"Right, well, firstly, Young Neila is blind, from what I have gathered."

"Okay, that's nice to know. She wants us to look after a blind kid for who knows how long, as well as another girl who carries a chair around. How are we supposed to get stronger for the next waves if we are stuck on babysitting duty?" Kurose spoke with an annoyed tone.

"Actually, Neila is level 41." The wizard spoke, and Kurose blinked.

"But… that's the level I'm at. How is she the same level as me? I fought in two waves!" he cried out.

"Oh, that's because Mommy is strong! She said that when she and daddy went to other worlds, they took me with them, and so whenever they defeated monsters, I got the experience for it as well!"

Kurose bit his tongue at that, nodding his head slightly before sighing. "What about Isu then? Is she an equal level to me?"

"Nope. Apparently, constructs don't have levels. Not sure how her strength is determined though."

"Hm? Oh, Ma said I was around level 60." Isu spoke plainly. That revelation caused Kurose to collapse in his seat, looking up at the ceiling.

"What is up with these kids being at the same level as me…" He complained.

Beside him, Eorna simply patted his head, doing her best to comfort him. "It's fine Kurose, they will hit a level limit eventually. Plus we have methods, they don't! I don't think we will be behind them for a long while!"

Kurose nodded his head at that, a small smile on his face as Eorna spoke. Yeah, they were just regular people! Well, Neila was a regular person, maybe. He took another look at Neila before getting a small shiver down his spine. She was just a normal kid, right?

Neila let out a small yawn, stretching her arms before speaking. "Hey mister, can I go to sleep?"

"Huh? I, yeah, I guess?" He spoke in confusion. "We just need to find you a bedroom first i guess. Can't be that many occupied…"

"Great! Let's go!" With that, Neila got up, starting to move towards the door. How did she know where it was? Was Kurose's quick thoughts, only moments before she seemed to trip on her own feet.

Kurose got up as Eorna seemed to appear by the girl's side, helping her up and making sure that she wasn't hurt.

"Are you alright Neila?" Eorna asked kindly.

"Yep! I'm fine!" She spoke happily. Eorna seemed to look her over once before nodding her head.

"That's good, but you need to be more careful, alright?"

"I know, I know. Mommy says that as well."

"That's good to know, now let's go find a servant or something to help get you two settled in. are you two fine sharing the same bedroom?" Eorna asked both Isu and Neila, earning nods from both of them.

"Alright. Let's get going. I'll be back in a bit!" Eorna spoke to Kurose and the others.

"Sure, I'll speak to you later then!" Eorna spoke with a grin, with both Neila and Isu following behind her.

The three people left sitting in the room stared at each other for a moment, before Sigun stood up, excusing himself by saying that he was going to check on Osvien. Kurose accepted that, nodding as he made his way out of the room, leaving him, Firnen and the Charme teacher.

After a few moments of silence, with the two staring at each other. The Wizard broke the silence.

"So, student of mine." The wizard spoke, leaning forward. "Tell me of your travels. Ill admit, i am curious as to what has happened since you left my home."

Kurose lowered his head at that. "I'll explain as best I can to you then. Though, it might not be as thrilling as you think."

"I will be the judge of that. Now come, tell me about your travels!"