Chapter 9: 1 Day Training Arc
Day 26 (One day till the wave)
"I can't tell if I made a huge mistake or God-tier investment." Naofumi pondered.
A legion of monsters all passed through the front gate of his village and were all marching in unison as they passed through. Usapil, Catapillards, Prism moths. No matter what monster Naofumi named, it was in there.
What's even worse? They're all being led by a single dog girl and her giant fucking dragon dad.
/~/
Thirty Minutes Ago
"So you're Eclair… Honestly, I was expecting something else considering the stuff I heard from others." Naofumi said bluntly, angering his new arrival almost immediately.
The girl's name was Eclair. She was a pink-haired knight of Melromarc before she was thrown into the dungeon for insubordination. With some help from the princess in conjunction with the knights who threw her into the dungeon being outed as salvers, she was released from her captivity and allowed to return to her work as a knight. That was her original plan until a messenger of the princess appeared, asking her to return to her territory to help out the new lord.
It was obviously an offer she couldn't refuse. Since it was her father's original territory being rebuilt, she had to be there to stand in for the Seaetto legacy. That, and it was also an order from the crowned princess of Melromarc. If she didn't want to be thrown in jail for a real reason this time, it'd be better to just listen to the order and not try to dispute it.
"Naofumi, she's one of the best swordsmen in the country. Can you at least show her a little respect!"
"And what stuff has been said about me?!" Melty and Eclair snapped back.
"Terius said you were a muscle brain, Ake said you were cool but a bit too strict during training, Lamyell said you were quite annoying, Axel said you're name sounds like a desert, Cayne said-"
"Enough!" Eclair roared. "I have some people to talk to later," Eclair muttered with a sinister aura. It was then, a whole garrison of knights suddenly had a feeling of dread hanging in the back of their minds.
"Okay, Eclair. Melty said that you were brought here to help train us. Huh. Guess I haven't found someone to fill that role. Just like the blacksmith… and the tailor…"
"I'll add that to the list." Melty sighed.
"Well in any case, the kids will be at the birdcage. If you're lucky you may find Ren with them. I'll make sure they know you're coming so they can be prepared."
"Thank you Lord Iwatan-
ROAR!
Bells from all over the village started to ring as the roar was heard. Everyone who wasn't a combatant ran underground to hide from the drake passing over them. Everyone else who could fight ended up spread out in the dragon's landing zone, all aiming their weapons/magic at the drake.
"We attack when I say fire! Do not miss." Dalton commanded. Spreading the troops out to avoid the dragon's fire breath was the plan. He had no idea how or if they could fight a dragon. So the best plan was to stall it until one of the other heroes come in to help.
"Steady."
The dragon stopped flying and slowly started to descend from the sky. Black smoke escaped from its mouth with every breath, seemingly trying to intimidate all the kids on the ground.
"Steady."
As it drew closer, the winds from its wings got stronger and stronger. The formation was in shambles almost immediately as the kids fought so as to not lose any ground.
"Fi-!"
"Hey, Guys!" A girlish voice shouted. Jumping down from the dragon was a dog girl wearing a blue cloak, a white shirt, and a brown mini-skirt. Along with her was a round orange and white dragon, along with 4 other dragon eggs.
"Wyndia!? Oh shit, Ceasefire, Cease fire!"
Calling out his command, everyone lowered their weapons. Except for Kuro who attacked the dragon with a tornado anyways. It did very little, however.
"What the hell Kuro!" Dalton Reprimanded as he hit Kuro on the head.
"You said attack when you said fire?"
"You know what I meant!" After shaking his bird for a bit, Naofumi arrived with Melty on Sakura, the latter of who was glaring daggers at the dragon. And by daggers, Naofumi meant swords.
"No way. It's the dragon of Mirso. What's he doing here?" Melty pondered in amazement.
"You know this thing?"
"Mother told me about a dragon that established a cave in Mirso, and claimed the mountain as its territory. Although it never attacked, so I say we're safe as long as we don't anger it." Melty whispered.
"It had a demi-human on its back though. Dalton knows who she is so maybe-"
"Shield Hero."
"Dragon." Sakura hissed. This was the first time Naofumi ever saw her angry. Every other time, she just appeared to protect him and go back to sleep. Now, however, she seemed prepared for a full-on fight.
"Heel Sakura, I'll handle it." Naofumi looked over at the dragon once again. He also wasn't sure if he could kill it, so waiting for the other heroes was the right call.
"Who are you and what do you want? We're quite busy at the moment." Naofumi replied bluntly, causing Melty to facepalm.
"I am Gaelion, a fragment of the dragon emperor. I ask you for refuge. The humans of that village have become rowdy lately, and have tried to fight me on multiple occasions. It wasn't safe for my daughter or children anymore, so I came here."
"A mighty dragon asking? How hilarious." Kuro laughed, getting another hit from Dalton soon after.
"I will tolerate you filolial for now. But the safety of Wyndia is my priority."
"Well, I don't know what to say. We don't really have room for someone of your size."
"A mountain is all I need. If it's… rent or whatever you humans call it, I have come here." Gaelion reached to his back and placed a chest full of gold on the ground. Naofumi was about to say something, but he placed another down, then another. Cut to five minutes later, and over 30 chests full of silver, copper, and other treasures were lying in front of him, making it hard to refuse the offer now.
"Father? You're really giving away your hoard?"
"If it's for you, I will do anything to make sure you're friends safe."
"Oh, Father." Wyndia and her round dragon hugged the oversized leg of the dragon.
"WAIT. THAT THING YOUR DAD? He was a human before?" Zalton exclaimed.
"Wait, you met him before?" Naofumi asked.
"Yes. That Miko of the water dragon visited before and asked for the blessing of the dragon vein to be passed on to some of her children. Since she was a friend of one of my other halves, and Wyndia enjoyed the new company, I obliged. That was also a major reason for me to choose this village in the first place." Gaelion explained.
"What Miko?"
"I never caught the thing's name. All I could say is that she was easily bribed by the suggestion of alcohol."
"Sadeena." Everyone said in unison.
Sigh. "Zalton, she's in the clear. Go find Sadeena and tell her to get here immediately."
"Okay, my lord."
Eclair who was watching all of this turned around once she suddenly heard a voice in her ear. She then jumped back as she was startled by a platypus standing directly behind her. She felt something was following her, but she could never find the presence no matter how many times she looked. At first, she thought she was going insane for being in prison for too long. She thought it must have been one of the kids playing a prank on her, not whoever this platypus was.
On the other side, Melty and Naofumi had noticed Zalton's shenanigans the second Elciar stepped into the village. They just didn't say anything since they knew he wasn't going to cause any unnecessary trouble. A scare or two absolutely. But definitely not a threat.
"Who the!-"
"Zalton the Platypus. And I mirror your movements so perfectly that you never even noticed you were being followed." Zalton Chuckled as a black hole appeared in the ground. Jumping in, the hole disappeared, leaving the shocked Eclair alone.
"What the hell was-"
"You'll get used to it."
"Yeah. Just go find Ren. I'll handle it from here." Naofumi ordered.
/~/
"[Flame Blade]!"
"[Gale Force Wall]
A tornado erupted around a purple filolial and held back a flaming sword slash from Ren.
This area was called the bird cage. As the name implies, there were birds everywhere. And contrary to the name, there was no cage in sight. The villagers called it the birdcage because it was the place all the Filolial/kids went when they wanted to spar, a place far enough away that their spells and attacks won't do any damage to the main town.
With the wave arriving tomorrow, every warrior in the village was either out grinding or training. And with many of the villagers already at the level cap, they were doing the latter with mini mock battles all across the yard. And Eclair was in between them all.
Seeing the power of the kids was impressive. Seeing the power of the Filolial was Outstanding. But seeing the power of the sword hero up close was completely out of this world.
Of course, the sword hero has his flaws. Eclair could point out many of them like his reliance on skills and little proficiency with an actual blade. But even with all of that, he still was able to contend with some of the strongest kids in the village. With the right training, Eclair was confident that she could make the Sword hero the most formidable of the 4 heroes.
"Smashing Claw!" Once the wind dissipated, the purple filolial brought a fist down toward his opponent. Ren parried the hit with his sword and went to strike, but an unseen yo-yo hit him from the side.
With the yo-yo breaking his stance, the angel hit him with a corkscrew kick, sending the sword hero to the ground.
The fighter fighting Ren was a Filolial named Tsubasa. He had purple hair and wings and wore a green shirt, brown pants, and a purple feathered cape that billowed in his self-made wind.
According to the bee next to her, he was considered the strongest bird in the village. That title would have gone to Sakura, but she was too lazy to even duel for the title, making him the best by default.
Even with the possibility of the stronger ones not wanting to fight for various reasons, Eclair can see why they consider him one. His clashes with Ren were quick and devastating. He was barely using magic and the winds were still strong enough to blow some of the unsuspecting villagers away. It was truly a marvelous sight to see.
"Meteor Slash!"
Ren gem glowed blue before passing on the color to the rest of the blade. Leaping up from the ground and into the air, Ren brings his sword down on Tsubasa.
While Ren was on the ground, Tsubasa jumped back and took a deep breath. Small orbs then appeared around Tsubasa and all converged in on him, boosting him with a power energy that matched the aura of Ren's blade.
Using his newfound power, Tsubasa jumped back and started to run, picking up a tornado around him as he flew forward with a flying kick.
"Shining Tornado Buster!"
The tornado suddenly turned purple and enclosed itself into a drill-like form.
With both destructive attacks approaching each other, Eclair thought it was best to move away so as to not get caught in the crossfire. Soon enough, she was glad she made that decision.
As soon as the attacks clashed, the wind from Tsubasa's kick blasted all over the field, blowing away almost everyone close to the fight, save for a few who watched on without issue.
Tsubasa put all the power he had into that kick, but he soon ran out of MP and had to flip out. Hoping to get one last attack off, he tossed his yo-yo at Ren who dodged easily this time.
Tsubasa anticipated this however, and kicked the string to reverse its direction, successfully wrapping itself around the sword.
"Yes. [100 Wind Fang Fu-]"
"Normal pull!" With the yo-yo trapping his sword, Ren just used his abnormal strength to pull Tsubasa's string forward. Normally this wouldn't work since Tsubasa's strength is much higher, and can easily negate the tug. This time however, Tsubasa was stuck in the air with no way to brace for the pull, and as such, got dragged out of the sky towards Ren.
"Normal Punch!"
With his sword still trapped, Ren brought his fist back and punched Tsubasa into the ground.
"Airstrike Bash!"
With his sword released. Ren leaped into the air and smacked Tsubasa deeper into the ground with the blunt end of his sword. Once the dust settled from the attack, Tsubasa was seen lying in a crater with a sword-like bruise across his face.
"Oww." Tsubasa groaned, raising his hand up in surrender.
The crowd then erupted into a cheer once they all returned, all of them still hype after watching (and almost dying) the awesome battle that took place.
"You almost got me there. Gg." Ren extended his hand as he cringed. "Why did I say gg. No one here knows what that means!" Ren thought.
"U-um… yeah, t-t-thanks." Tsubasa grabbed Rens hand while visibly shaking. It was so much that even Ren started to vibrate just by grabbing him. Once Tsubasa got up, he bowed and quickly ran over to a bee demi-human and hid behind her back.
"...Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah. He's just shy around… well everyone." The girl replied. Her name was Atorie. A bee demi-human and partner to Tsubasa. She wore a pair of black shorts along with a black shirt with a yellow line down the middle. To this day, Naofumi couldn't figure out if she did that on purpose in order to compliment her bee-like traits, or if it just being a coincidence. The tailor was a confusing woman.
"Hmm. Is she new here?" Ren commented, finally realizing Eclair's presence.
"Yeah. I just arrived."
"I see. So you're the new trainer Melty has told me about. The one that's supposed to train me?"
"That is correct. I am Eclair Seatto, knight of Melroarc." Eclair kneeled down in front of Ren as she did her introductions. "I was asked to come train you in the way of the sword."
"Ren Amaki and I don't need it. I'm level 56 already with more powerup methods to use. Once I get more levels, nothing would be able to stop me."
"That's… good and all. But you need to learn how actually use that sword. Levels do give you strength, but the sword arts are paramount to the swords hero's true strength."
"Don't worry, I have skills."
"And what if those skills aren't enough?"
"I use more."
"And what if you can't use them!?"
"Please. There's no class that can negate my skills."
/~/
"Achoo."
"Ha. Get rotated idiot!" Keel, wrapped in a bubble (courtesy of Sadeena), used Sadeena's moment of weakness to flip the killer whale underwater. He then tried to punch her but got blasted out of the water by a lightning bolt.
"Think I'm getting a cold." Saddena pondered.
/~/
"That's not the point I'm trying to make sword hero." Eclair groaned. "How about a challenge? A fight with no skills or magic. If you can beat me, then you can waive the right to train."
"You're on."
Ren then proceeds to get decimated.
Eclair's fighting style was quick and graceful, Ren's on the other hand could only be described by Eclair as angry flailing. His strikes were sloppy, no feints or switches were used, and he aimed for her sword instead of the body. He claimed it was to disarm her, but it happened too many times to know that it wasn't the case. His movement was also terrible. He constantly did flashy and long techniques that exposed each vital area of his body with no way to defend against it. Eclair couldn't have killed him 28 times in the first 10 seconds of the duel alone. And that's when she was going easy on him/
"I think that's enough for now."
"No. Again." Ren got up and attacked once more, only to be met with the same results."
"Um, sword hero."
"No. I can beat you." Ren replied, struggling to get up.
"Kids more stubborn than a filolial who just found a dragon"
As she thought that, there was a rumble in the ground that knocked everyone off their feet. Looking towards the sea, Both Fitoria and Gaelion were fighting.
"Speak of the devil." At this point, Eclair was unphased. Between the Platypus, dragon, and giant filolial, she knew that anything could happen here.
"How. Am I seriously that weak?"
"It's not weakness Sword Hero. You're strong, I can tell. But swinging your blade around isn't going to get you far."
"Whatever. I'm out of here." Ren stormed off in a rage. Eclair didn't call out to him, or even try to follow. All she did was watch as he headed into the forest.
"Wow. The sword hero is such a kid." Atorie scoffed.
"He's going to have to get past his insecurities before getting any stronger. Thankfully, it's still early enough to deal with," Eclair said with a sigh. "The sword hero is going to get a reality check sooner or later."
Eclair drove her sword into the ground and address the kids there.
"Alright. The wave is tomorrow so we have no time to waste. Tsubasa, keep doing what you're doing. Everyone else, give me 5 laps!"
"Yes, mamm!"
/~/
Present
"Okay let's our nightly report already. If we want to house all these monsters then we're going to have to brainstorm." Naofumi groaned. He had accepted Gaelion's offer (Mostly for the money) and started to search for an area in his territory to house his family. And by family, he meant the whole family, as every monster on that mountain left in order to follow their surrogate father and sister.
To say that Naofumi was stressed was an understatement. He was drowning in so much work that it would take several Sadeena's boosted with speed magic to get him out. And that's not even mentioning the waves, nobles trying to scam him, and the church getting on his ass for every little thing he did.
"Well, after we someone separate Gaelion and Fitoria, we all decided it's best to separate these two before the who territory is destroyed. Dragons and Filolial do not mix in the slightest."
"Tell me about it." Naofumi sighed once again. It was on sight with the two monsters. Being the apex of their species, it's obvious that they would hold more hatred for each other. Even if were retrained in some way, one insult can easily set them off into a rampage. This along with several other facts went onto Naofumi's new ban list that he sort of ignores half the time.
"Besides that, everyone else started to ramp up their training. Itsuki was over by the bird cage showing off his archery skills to the kids. Teba then got pissed as he lost 5 times in an archery contest and blamed Itsuki's ability for the loss. Whatever that means." Melty turned to the next page.
"Motoyasu went over with the knights to work on his spearman hip, as well as to flirt with the other females there. He was promptly rejected by each and every one of them, and was even sent flying away by Yuki for hugging her out of nowhere."
"Great job Yuki." Naofumi snickered.
"Ren is still missing. Apparently, he lost several duels to Eclair and ran away in a fit in order to prove he was stronger. Other than that, Eclair helped train the rest of the kids. Of course, since we have one day to prepare, there isn't much that could have been done."
"Well it's not like I was expecting much from her, she did just arrive."
"Naofumi."
"I know I know, be respectful and whatnot. Once I see results I'll probably do that. Until then, French Pastry is getting the attitude I give everyone else."
"French Pastry?"
"Don't worry about it. Now for Gaelion." Naofumi pulled out a map of his territory. "I'm thinking of rebuilding one of the other villages in order to house Gaelions extended family. It'll keep this region's monster in line, give us more rent, and allow us to abuse his blessings. He'll also be close enough to call upon when needed, as well as a deterrent for all the nobles on our ass."
"Wow… I never thought you can think this far ahead."
"Shut up."
"Even still. I say the plan can use some adjustments. Monsters take up a lot of space, so normal buildings won't due. We can go over the specifics with Delia later." Melty suggested.
"Go for it then."
"Also for that bet you made against Rifana. You're gonna have to pay up."
"What bet?"
"Well…"
9 hours ago
"Guys I found him! Are you alright?" Raphtalia asked with concern. His battle with Sadeena turned into a loss once he was launched out of the water. His body was pretty paralyzed after the hit, so he had to float back to shore using the waves of the ocean.
"I'm Fine. That bubble stopped most of the damage. I am soaked however." Keel took off his shirt and started to wring out all the water. Raphtalia however noticed the bandages on his chest and got even more worried. That worry then suddenly turned into confusion as she got a closer look.
"Keel?"
"What?" Keel asked before noticing what she was starting at. "Oh, the bandages? Yeah, my chest started to swell recently, so I had to wrap it. I don't know what I got bit by, but it's starting to get pretty bi-"
Keel was interrupted when her sash fell to the ground, immediately confirming Raphtalia's thoughts, and exposing her chest to the world.
"Oh… oh my God."
"What's wrong is it bad?"
"It's um… well."
"Keel you're alright. I thought you got rek-" Rifana arrived, and after taking a good look at the situation, she immediately burst into laughter.
"Oh my," Sadeena added, arriving seconds later as well.
"Oh, I'm going to be rich." Rifana laughed even more.
"What. What's going on?"
/~/
"Ugh." Naofumi slumped in his chair. "I owe Rifana so much money now."
"Well, what can I say? One of you was going broke by the end of this."
"Ugh." Naofumi sighed. "Zalton, get my gold please."
"Yes, my lord."
/~/
Meanwhile, across the sea
"Please. There's no class that can negate my skills."
"Achoo!" A young raccoon boy sneezed. "Shildina. I need a tissue!"
/~/
New Character Unlocked
Eclair: One of the best swordsmen in Melromarc. She is also the worst at anything political.
Tsubasa: Definitely not a walking beyblade reference. He found a yo-yo once and asked Naofumi to fix it. He now is a menace. Can only talk to Atorie (Partner) and Naofumi (Owner) without cowering in fear. (Social interaction hurts him)
Atorie: Bee demi-human. Her Therianthrope is definitely not a Skylanders Giants reference. Is very rude to everyone but her precious Filolial.
Ban List Updated
Motoyasu is allowed in the village under heavy surveillance. (Zalton or Melty's shadow)
Fitoria and Gaelion must be separated from each other at all times. The only exception to this rule is meetings.
Keel is now banned from the men's bath (When it's built)
Keel is now unbanned from the woman's bath (When it gets built)
/~/
Summer is done, I'm moved into my dorm, and my procrastination is now over. I will be doing my best to pump out more chapters. Filolial though is going on hiatus cuz I have no motivation for that at the moment.
In other news, I made some AI art for some of the characters. If y'all want them then I'll post them in a separate chapter. Either way, thanks for reading, and good luck with the new school year.