Hatching a Monster Mount

Castle of the Queen and King of Melromarc: Throne Room

Darius has never admitted to having a perfect memory, especially when there's a lot going on. Though one thing he wished he had remembered, was that there was a reward that still needed to be collected. Needless to say, with all of the excitement from the hero duel yesterday, he'd not only forgotten about the reward but also the fact that he hadn't yet officially introduced himself to the King. Which was why it made it just a bit awkward for him, Naofumi, Raphtalia and Rifana to be standing in the throne room now with the other three cardinal heroes, a collection of advisors and guards and of course his highness himself.

"I shall now present a reward to Master Motoyasu for fighting the wave and for fulfilling my request," said Aultcray Melromarc, "A total of four thousand silver. Our young masters Itsuki and Ren shall receive three thousand eight hundred silver, and finally, a small sum of five hundred silver has been set aside for the Shield Hero." Naofumi wasn't pleased by such a drastic difference in his reward, but he put up no argument as he reached out to accept the bag of coins. "However, I'm afraid the cost of freeing your slave from her curse must be offset, therefore you shall receive no funds this time."

Darius simply sighed as a portal opened up from the floor and a chain hand yanked the bag out of the servant's hand. "Your majesty I'm afraid I have to protest this decision," he said with his arms crossed and the bag of coins held out of reach above his and Naofumi's heads, "The price for placing a slave crest isn't anywhere near this much and I don't imagine removing one is so expensive either."

"You dare to interfere in our affairs yet again!" seethed the King, "Who are you to think you can demand anything of me adventurer!"

"Because I'm more than just an adventurer," said Darius as he kneeled with a hand over his heart, "My name is Darius Saxon, and I have been called to this world to serve as the latest Armory Hero. As such, my duties fall under the same responsibility as the rest of the cardinal heroes including fighting against the waves and insuring justice is dealt out fairly. And while I do apologize for all of the unpleasantness I've had to show lately your highness, it was necessary to insure that an unfair bias did not prevail, as I am doing now."

"Armory Hero," said the King with an obvious note of disbelief, "I have heard no tales of such a person or their status as a cardinal hero. What proof have you to back up such a wild claim."

"Well for starters," said Darius as he stood back up, "everything I just told you about who I am was explained to me by her highness, the Filolial Queen Fitoria. Her memory's not always the greatest but she knew for a fact that another Armory Hero existed more than two centuries ago, because she was there to see him. So feel free to check with her if you need to."

"You have spoken to the Filolial Queen?" Questioned the King, clearly not expecting to hear that explanation.

"Other aspects of his story also check out," Said Itsuki suddenly, "He told us he comes from America, a country which exists in each of our worlds. The way he describes his former life is also something I don't think anyone here would be familiar with."

"Add on to that the fact his band's Stats come up as legendary weapons," said Ren, "And the abilities he wields are like no other magic we've seen in this world. Given the relatively unknown nature of the ancient ritual used to summon all of us, it's a high likelihood he is indeed who he says he is."

"But even if he's not, he brings up a good point," said Itsuki, "You not only interfered in Naofumi's duel but you're also refusing to pay what he's owed. By my account you're being more than a little unfair."

"More to the point," said Ren, "Had Darius not raised that shield wall, Myne's interference would've cost Naofumi the duel, one he was clearly going to win anyway."

"What," said a surprised Motoyasu, clearly not expecting them to be on the Shield Hero's side, "Come on guys I could've won!"

"And you're both wrong on one account," said Myne smugly, "the duel was supposed to be one on one and the Shield Hero broke that rule by having monsters under his cape."

"Oh please," said an annoyed Rifana with her hands behind her head, "If that was the case then the duel would've been called the moment Naofumi revealed he had those balloons. But given that he can't attack normally I'd say it was more than fair, and didn't you originally declare it a win on technicality due to Darius?"

"The point still stands," said Itsuki, "You used magic in an attempt to cheat and put the duel in Motoyasu's favor."

"And even putting all of that aside," said Ren, "We found that it was Naofumi who defended the village of Lute when it was being attacked, not your knights. What's more, Darius aided us against the wave boss while his party member helped defend the village. So if you ask me, the right and fair thing to do is not only compensate Naofumi but Darius as well, given his status as a cardinal hero." The King was clearly not happy with this arrangement, but eventually lamented.

"Very well," he said, "I shall grant them both the minimal amount." Darius nodded in agreement as his chain hand dropped the pouch of coins into Naofumi's hand before shooting forward and grabbing another bag which had been sitting by the throne.

"Your generosity is appreciated your majesty," said Darius, half-sarcastically as he checked the coins before dropping them into his inventory.

"Now that you have what you want, be gone, the both of you," ordered the King in an annoyed tone. This caused Naofumi to step forward with what were likely some rather nasty words until Raphtalia stopped him.

"Don't you think this is great," she said as she flashed him a friendly smile, "We got what we came for, so we don't have to waste any more of our precious time." The Shield Hero thought about that for a moment before smiling in agreement.

"Let's get out of here Raphtalia," he said as he walked to the exit of the throne room with his companion following along happily.

"It's been great," said Rifana as she and Darius also headed out, "take care, have a nice day and don't forget to die in a hole you royal ass wipes."

"Rifana," said Darius as they exited through the large double doors, "where in the world did you learn to speak like that?"

"Only from the great Armory Hero," she said with a wink, "He's a wonderful teacher of language."

"I'm sure he taught you about speaking respectfully," said Darius, who couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"He says I should speak with the same amount of respect that someone shows me or my friends," said Rifana, "Which was little to none in this case."

"Did I say that?" Questioned the Armory Hero, "Ah well, too late now, let's just get out of this castle, the atmosphere of bull is stifling."

Slave Trader's Tent: Some Time Later

"I knew slavery was legal and all," said Darius as he stood with his arms crossed against some cabinets, "But I still find it more than a little disconcerting that this whole operation is just sitting out right here in the capital." Surprisingly, it had been Raphtalia's idea to come back here for the odd reason of getting another slave crest. Though for other, more obvious reasons Rifana didn't want any part of it and opted to wait outside the circus-sized tent.

"I can't say I necessarily like it either," said Naofumi, "But beggars can't be choosers, especially when the royals themselves are doing everything they can to sabotage me."

"It is a sad state of affairs when you can trust a slave trader more than the people who are supposed to be upholding the laws," agreed Darius as the glowing crest finished etching itself onto Raphtalia's chest.

"And there you have it, a brand new slave crest," said the slave trader, a short round man in a black suit and cape with a top hat. Though what unnerved Darius about the man was how he couldn't see his eyes under his glasses and the fact his mustached face always seemed to have a crooked smile.

"Are you really sure you're okay with this," said Naofumi, "You more than proved you're willing to fight by my side."

"I wanted it as a symbol," said Raphtalia, "of your faith in me Naofumi."

"Suit yourself I guess," said the Shield Hero as he grabbed what was left of the potion for drawing the crests.

"What do you think of it?" Asked Raphtalia. Darius gave a thumbs up, but Naofumi, well.

"Slave user's shield, now that's' interesting," said the Shield Hero as he added the slave crest potion to the jewel, "Sorry what were you saying?"

"Nothing, forget about it," said Raphtalia with a huff as the Armory Hero simply shook his head at his ally's obliviousness.

"It's amazing how much you've helped such a scrawny thing grow in such a short time," said the Slave Trader in a gravelly voice, "If she was still a virgin, you could fetch about twenty for her."

"I am a virgin though," Raphtalia shot back as her face went a bit red.

"Even better, you could get thirty five gold coins for her," said the Slave Trader happily.

"How about no egg man," said Darius as he conjured a war hammer in his right hand, "I'm already close to my tolerance limit just being in here, so let's not push it."

"Oh my," said the Slave Trader, "You must be that weapon conjurer everyone's been talking about recently. Tell me, is it true you threatened the King himself?"

"I simply tried to prevent a quickly escalating situation," said Darius dismissively, "was it the best approach, probably not, but it didn't seem like anyone was gonna listen to reason without a bit of incentive. Oh and for the record, just call me Armory Hero."

"Now that is fascinating indeed," said the Slave Trader as he twirled his mustache.

"Speaking of eggs, what are those supposed to be," said Naofumi as he indicated a purple box with numerous said eggs. The strange thing about them was they all had some type of purple eye symbol on them.

"That would be the monster egg lottery," explained the Slave Trader, "for just a hundred silver, you're guaranteed a Filolial at the very least. Take care of it properly and the chick will double in value."

"A Filolial, like the queen Darius was talking about earlier?" Questioned Naofumi.

"They're the giant birds used to carry people and pull carriages," said Raphtalia, "I imagine you've seen at least a few of them around."

"But the big prize if you're lucky is a Tyrera dragon!" exclaimed the Slave Trader gleefully, "A powerful beast who's worth twenty gold pieces as you know!"

"So the whole thing is basically a gotcha game then," said the Shield Hero with a 'go figure' look on his face.

"Uh master, what's a gotcha game?" Questioned Raphtalia with a confused tilt of her head.

"Nothing," said Naofumi, "So what do we owe you anyway?"

"Well if you're interested in the egg, I'd be willing to do a package deal," said the Slave Trader, "for the price of the egg I'll throw in the slave crest for free!"

City Street: Shortly Thereafter

"It's been a while since I've felt buyer's remorse," said Darius as he and Naofumi both walked down the street, carrying eggs in small purple carriers, "Remind me again how I let myself be convinced to buy this?"

"You said you owed it to Fitoria to try raising a Filolial," the Shield Hero reminded him, "And then you realized you might end up with something besides that."

"I just wished you'd let him cover some of the cost of your egg Master Naofumi," said Raphtalia, "Darius did offer and we shouldn't be wasting money like that."

"Well when I thought about it, I realized it was a bit unfair for me to make you do all of the fighting alone," explained the Shield Hero, "This way you'll have a monster helping you out."

"I can fight more than fine on my own," said Raphtalia.

"And given that we're all basically a group now, it seems unnecessary," said Rifana.

"We'll still need to split up for level grinding though," Darius realized, "Which means it'll be good to have a mount in case we run into more trouble than we can handle. Hmm, maybe this wasn't my worst buy after all."

"Either way we should probably tighten our purse strings just a bit," said Raphtalia as they entered an herb shop. As it turned out, Naofumi had been doing business with this particular shopkeeper ever since the rumors started to earn a bit of extra money. He'd been discreetly using a leaf shield to enhance the herbs he brought so that he'd get top dollar. Though this time around the shop keeper actually gave him a book on making even better medicines. The reason he gave it to him was he had some relatives in Lute village that Naofumi, Raphtalia and Rifana saved during the wave.

Afterwards they headed to the local magic shop, with directions from the herb shop owner, which was run by a kind old lady dressed in the trappings of a witch. As it turned out, she had a grandson in Lute village who was also saved by them during the wave. She thanked them by giving them a grimoire filled with a number of magic spells as well as reading everyone's magic affinity. Naofumi had affinities for healing and support magic, while Raphtalia had both a light and dark affinity, though the old lady did encourage her to learn illusion magic as well. Rifana had affinities for earth and fire while Darius had an affinity for enhancement and affliction magic, which was just a fancy way of saying he could inflict status damage on his enemies.

The Armory Hero also bought one of the crystal balls which allowed for communication and recording. "What in the world do you think we can do with that?" Questioned Naofumi as they walked along a forest trail.

"Just a little theory I wanted to try," said Darius as he pressed the crystal ball to the jewel on his band. A notification appeared then saying 'communication ability unlocked.' "Bingo," said the Armory Hero as he tossed the crystal ball to his comrade, "Touch that thing to your shield and see what happens." Naofumi simply shrugged and did as he was asked, pressing the crystal ball to the jewel on his cardinal weapon.

"Communication ability," he said out loud as he read some of the info from the help screen on his HUD.

"Yo, testing one, two, three and all that jazz," said Darius as a small image of him appeared in the upper right hand corner of his HUD.

"You're kidding me, we can actually communicate with our weapons," said Naofumi.

"I heard some of these crystal balls can record and send images," explained Darius, "so when the old lady mentioned you could learn magic from them I thought 'hey, why don't we see what happens if we use one on our weapons.'"

"Good thinking," said Naofumi, "though what would you have done if it didn't work?"

"I would've had to go back and buy another crystal ball," said Darius as he rubbed the back of his head, "which thankfully wasn't the case because that old lady did not exaggerate when she said they were expensive."

"Well this way we can split up and still keep in contact," said Naofumi with a hand to his chin, "We'll have to do a bit of testing for range and interference, but this does solve a couple of problems. Now we just need to figure out how to read these grimoires. You wouldn't happen to have a crystal ball for that would you?"

"Unfortunately no," said Darius, "And by the sound of it you haven't found any kind of auto-translate function for reading either. I only know what little I learned on the way up here with Rifana's and Figneria's help."

"Well then we'll all learn together," suggested Raphtalia, "Rifana and I can teach you the language while also learning the magic."

"You really think we can learn both at the same time?" Questioned Naofumi.

"If I can teach Darius then Raphtalia can definitely teach you," said Rifana with a grin.

"But just so long as you remember that we're doing this 'together,'" said Raphtalia, "Which means if you need help, don't hesitate to ask." The Shield Hero gave it a quick bit of thought before responding.

"I guess that's the plan," said Naofumi, "So let's head down to Lute village to spend the night and then get to level grinding in the morning." Everyone agreed happily to that suggestion.

Lute Village: The Next Day

The Inn the four of them stayed at had relatively nice rooms, but one problem. They were too small for all four of them. So the party split up with Raphtalia insisting that she stay with Naofumi to help him with the Grimoire while Rifana did the same with Darius after writing down a few notes so they wouldn't have to keep passing the book back and forth. Ordinarily the Armory Hero would've objected to something like that, feeling it better to give the girls their privacy, but after the recent trouble both Naofumi and Raphtalia had had recently he decided it wasn't worth mentioning for the time being. Once the rooms were settled, the four of them studied the grimoire well into the night until the raccoon girl fell asleep in the bed reading.

Rifana wasn't far behind her as she fell asleep almost the same moment she hit the bed in their room. As for Darius, he finally went to sleep after reviewing his inventory and reading up on the features granted by the communication crystal ball. He was awoken the next morning, somehow, by the sound of a loud cracking noise. "The heck," said the Armory Hero as he groggily opened his eyes to look at the source of whatever was disturbing his sleep, "No way, Rifana get up!"

"Is it morning already," said the weasel girl sleepily as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Come look at this," said Darius as he gestured for her to look at the egg they'd sat on the table for the night. It had begun cracking, or rather, whatever was in the egg had started to hatch. First a couple pieces fell away and then a small roar sounded as an azure lizard resembling a baby velociraptor with small winged arms broke free.

"No way, is that a baby flying dragon," said Rifana gleefully, "I've heard about them but I've never seen one hatch before."

"Any idea if they're frien-MMMF," the Armory Hero didn't get to finish his sentence as the newborn leapt onto his face, humming happily as it looked around the room.

"Aww, it must think you're its parent," said Rifana with a smile.

"I just hope it doesn't do this when it's full grown," said Darius as he managed to pry the reptile off of his face. At that moment, several knocks sounded on their door as Raphtalia called from the other side.

"Guys, the egg hatched, we got a Filolial!" she exclaimed happily as Rifana opened the door for them. Indeed as she and Naofumi walked in both of his companions had to stifle a laugh at the sight of a Filolial chick sitting on his head. 'I feel like I'm forgetting something,' thought Darius until the baby dragon started squirming in his hands.

"Oh crap, Naofumi take the bird out of the room!" exclaimed Darius as he was forced to tighten his grip on the struggling lizard.

"What for," questioned the Shield Hero, "You just need to get that lizard of yours under control."

"I can't because dragons and Filolials don't get along," said Darius, "and this is most definitely a dragon."

"Great, another problem to deal with," said Naofumi as he reluctantly exited the room.

"I guess we've got a bit of work to do," said Rifana with a sigh as the dragon climbed back on Darius's head. A good bit of work for the next two days as it turned out. As planned, they split up and did level grinding during the day and got supplies and studied the grimoire at night. All of this was made a bit more complicated given that they had to keep their new hatch-lings separate for most of the time because not only was the flying dragon a bit aggressive but Naofumi's Filolial was equally as aggressive.

It was made all the more difficult by how fast the both of them were growing too. Before long both of the little creatures had grown from riding on their heads or shoulders to large enough for Naofumi and Darius to actually ride them. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea to have them within sight of each other for the first attempted ride as the Shield Hero was forced to hold on for dear life when his Filolial went racing off into the distance while the Armory Hero had to hold on with a death grip to keep from being thrown off when his flying dragon took off into the air on the first running start. Neither of them returned to the village until sunset that evening.

"I honestly can't believe how much they both grew in just two days' time," said Raphtalia as the two heroes were feeding their now apparently fully grown mounts.

"It's probably thanks to the beast tamer's shield I've got equipped, and Darius copied," noted Naofumi, "Don't ya think Filo?" The large bird chirped in agreement.

"You named her Filo as in Filolial," said Rapthalia with a hesitant look on her face, "Isn't that-?"

"Way too obvious," Rifana finished for her with the same skeptical look.

"Well she seems to like it," said Naofumi as the bird once again chirped happily, "and what did you name your dragon?"

"Johann (Yo-Han)," said Darius as he rubbed his mount's snout, "Johann the flying dragon."

"Are you sure that's not being overly fancy," questioned the Shield Hero.

"Dragons are a proud species from what I understand," said Darius, "so I figured this one wouldn't agree with anything less than a good, strong name and-what in the world is going on out there?" Everyone looked outside the stable and noted that there was indeed a bit of commotion happening at the village entrance, caused by the king's knights. Though the real problem was who was leading them.

"In recognition of his exploits during the last wave," said Myne as she stood on a wooden platform with a royal decree held out in front of her, "the king has appointed Sir Motoyasu, the Spear Hero, ruling lord of this region." Said hero was sitting next to the platform on a Tyrera riding dragon, looking relatively pleased with himself about the whole situation.

"Oh joy team rocket's here," groaned Darius as the two parties stood at the back of the assembled crowd with their mounts.

"As much as I would enjoy gut-punching the princess again, maybe we should get out of here before there's trouble," suggested Rifana.

"In order to aid in reconstruction of this village," continued Malty, "a toll shall be levied. Fifty silver to enter and fifty to exit." Obviously the villagers were not happy to hear this as just paying such a toll multiple times would quickly use up all the funds of the people living there.

"Too late, troubles already started," noted Darius as the crowd grew even more restless.

"You dare to defy the order of your lord," snapped Myne at the crowd.

"You bet we do," said Naofumi, drawing all attention to the two parties.

"The Shield and Armory Heroes," said the princess with annoyance, "what are you two doing here? This domain belongs to Sir Motoyasu now, so you have no right to question his orders. Better yet, leave this instant you miserable criminal and take your accomplices with you."

"Sure thing," said Darius, "though the new lord might want to listen up real quick before we go to avoid a mess."

"Answer a question for me Motoyasu," said Naofumi, "Do you know what it costs to spend a single night at the inn here?"

"Uh, well actually," the Spear Hero started to say before sheepishly scratching his cheek.

"A single silver coin a night and that includes food," explained The Shield Hero, "So in essence you're charging a hundred nights for people just to enter and leave the village."

"He's right, you're not our lord, the Shield Hero's the one who defended this town in the first place," said one villager after another as the crowd began to denounce the decree even more.

"You dare to protest a royal decree!" exclaimed Myne as the guards pointed their spears at the protesting crowd.

"Bad move," said Darius as he summoned a number of chain hands above his head. The rest of the party got ready for a fight as Malty raised her hand to give the order, until a number of figures in black robes and silver masks covering their eyes and nose landed in front of her. For whatever reason, their presence actually caused a worried look to cross the princess's face.

"I trust you remember who we represent," said one of the figures who appeared to be a young woman based on her voice.

"But why have you come here?" Questioned Malty with her voice shaking in both anger and nervousness.

"We have something for you," said the woman as she handed a scroll to her.

"Who are these people Master Naofumi," Questioned Raphtalia as they watched the exchange.

"No idea," replied the Shield Hero, "But clearly they're important enough to make a princess nervous."

"This, this can't be," cursed Myne before pointing at them once again, "Shield Hero! You shall fight us for the right to rule this village!" If this challenge surprised anyone, then it was even more surprising when the Shield Hero replied after hearing the explanation of what he was being challenged too.

"I refuse!" responded Naofumi with a firm tone as he crossed his arms with a dismissive look.

"Now hold up there Rohan," said Darius, "I get that we're all making it a hobby to say no to people who think they're hot shit and all, I know I've been wanting too, but don't you think you're backpedaling a bit here?"

"He's got a point," said Rifana, "you can't just speak out about unfair treatment then turn away when a chance to stop it shows up on a silver platter."

"And since the challenge has been issued to you specifically, none of us have any right to challenge a cardinal hero," said the village lord, an older man with grey hair and a beard, "If you don't accept then this village will be taxed to nothing by the Spear Hero. Even I, the regional lord, can't handle any more taxation."

"But if the case is one cardinal hero challenging another, then can't Darius do it?" Questioned Naofumi, "Why do I have to ride in a dragon race? It all sounds like a pain in the ass."

"I think they call it being saddle sore," said Darius, "But back on topic, they won't accept a challenge from me because my dragon can fly and Filo is most comfortable with you as the rider. Besides, she seems up for it." Indeed the Filolial was staring at Motoyasu's ground dragon with a look of what was probably determination in her eyes.

"Oh why does she have that problem?" groaned the Shield Hero with his hands on his head.

"If you do help us, we'll grant you a huge reward, so please," said the village lord as he and the rest of the villagers bowed to Naofumi.

"Fine, I'll give it a shot," said the Shield Hero, "But I can't make any guarantees that I'll actually win."

"Only one way to find out," said Darius, "And don't worry about the bitch princess, we'll keep an eye on her."

"I guess that settles it then," said Naofumi, "We're racing Filo." The bird chirped in agreement.

The two heroes set their mounts up outside the village where a dirt track circled all the way around it. The village gate and a fence created two barriers which allowed all of the people to gather without worrying about stepping onto the track accidentally. Darius, Rifana, Raphtalia and Johann stood outside the village gate watching as Motoyasu wasted no time in trash talking Naofumi's choice of a mount.

"Man is that your lame excuse for a mount, a giant bird," said the Spear Hero smugly, "You can't possibly expect to win against my dragon with something like that." Unfortunately for him, Filo was just as proud as any dragon and he was in striking range as the large bird nailed him in the family jewels and sent him flying into a haystack right next to Darius and the rest of the group.

"Sir Motoyasu!" exclaimed Myne as she ran to the injured hero, who was going on about how his sensitive area was probably bruised. "Get someone with healing magic quick!"

"About time someone hit him down there," said Rifana, "I'm only sorry it wasn't me."

"You lousy cheaters, how dare you-AAAAAH!" The princess's tirade was cut short as she was also knocked into the haystack by a quick whip of Johann's tail.

"Oh no, what did you do Johann," said Darius, feigning worry before quickly whispering to his mount, "I'm so proud of you."

"It's their fault for getting too close," Naofumi pointed out as he and everyone else shared a laugh. 'It's good to see him laugh,' thought Raphtalia as their group went to the other side of the fence. After a few minutes, the healers were able to get Motoyasu on his mount as he and Naofumi prepared for the race.

"This shall be a three-lap race," declared the village lord, "whoever reaches the village gate first will be declared the winner. Now on your mark, set, and GO!" The two heroes shot forward on their mounts with Naofumi taking an early lead thanks to Filo's incredible speed, which was fast enough to kick up a massive dust cloud.

"I suppose this would be a bad time to mention it," said Darius as he stood next to a cheering Raphtalia, "But I seem to recall Filolials were always better in the ground speed department in comparison to dragons."

"Ha, you obviously have no idea how good of a dragon rider Sir Motoyasu is," said Myne with her trademark arrogant smirk, "He's guaranteed to win this, especially now that you can't follow along and interfere this-wait a moment, where's that demi-human girl of yours?"

"Oh Rifana," said Darius, "Johann was getting a bit antsy, so she's taking him on a walk. Though I have no idea where exactly they might be right now." He wasn't totally lying either. The Armory Hero, suspecting the princess would pull a fast one yet again, had sent her off to scout the track. But he had no idea where the interference would take place, and thus had no idea where his mount or his partner currently were.

A Third of the Way Down the Track

'There they are,' thought Rifana as she spied some of the guards who'd come in with Myne. She had hid in some foliage with Johann, who looked like he was stalking prey. "Let's see what they do first," said Rifana as she calmed the antsy dragon. Soon enough, Naofumi came around the bend with Motoyasu a short distance behind him. One of the guards chanted an incantation and caused a hole to open up in the ground. 'Nice Try.' "As source of thy power I order thee," chanted Rifana, "Decipher the laws of nature and close the pit before me."

The magic activated and resealed the ground right before Naofumi ran over it, allowing him to keep the lead without totally losing control. "Not bad for my first magic outside of practice." As for the bewildered guards, they decided to move to a different area around the track and attempted to use another spell that would slow Naofumi's speed. He got the whole incantation out just as Johann pounced on him and dragged him into the foliage, where his screams were quickly cut short with a quick knockout blow from Rifana's mace.

They weren't quite quick enough that time around, however, as the spell had already taken effect, allowing Motoyasu to take the lead on the second lap. But Filo was a determined bird and rushed forward at full throttle, overtaking and passing the Spear Hero yet again. "We need to move faster this time," said Rifana as they searched for the last guard in hiding. The two located him just as Naofumi and Motoyasu were coming around the bend at the final leg of the race.

With no time to spare, Johann ran forward and snatched the guard's belt with his jaws, preventing him from casting a speed enhancement spell as he dangled helplessly from the dragon's maw. He was also screaming at a surprisingly high pitch, saying he'd do anything so long as Rifana didn't let the dragon eat him. But she wasn't listening at the moment as she watched the race come to an end with Naofumi winning by barely a few feet. "I guess that means our work here is done," said the weasel girl as she turned to the guard, "Don't worry, he won't eat you so long as you and you're boys do a little favor for me."

Back by the village gates, the crowd was cheering as Naofumi dismounted Filo, petting her side lovingly. "Brilliant racing sir Shield Hero," praised the village lord.

"You should thank Filo, if anyone," said Naofumi as he patted his mount, who suddenly transformed into a much larger, more round version of a Filolial.

"So you cheated after all," said Myne as she stepped forward, flanked by two guards, "You never told us this mass of lard standing before us now was your mount."

"But given that it just now transformed it shouldn't have had any effect on the race," said the village lord.

"And if anyone cheated it was you," said Naofumi, "I noticed a hole suddenly appear in the road and I know someone used magic to slow me down at one point."

"A hole, why whatever do you mean?" Questioned Myne innocently, until three of her guards suddenly fell from the sky and landed in a heap in front of everyone. They were followed shortly by Johann landing with Rifana on his saddle.

"Hey guys, look who we found tampering with the race," She said happily as she hopped off Johann, "Picked these guys up in the forest outside of the track."

"What, who ordered you to tamper with the race?" Said Myne, clearly trying to cover for herself. Any other protests were cut short as the cloaked women appeared yet again.

"These guards are the personal escort the king assigned to you," said the lead woman in a silver mask, "Their assignment was to guard you and follow your orders. None of them would've interfered without a direct command from you."

"It's true," said one of the panicked guards, "we were ordered to rig the race! It was the Princess's idea so please don't let that dragon eat us!"

"Now what's all that about," said Darius as he looked at his mount, "Johann, we've discussed this before, it's rude to drool and to stare, I don't care how delicious the people look." This got another scream out of the guards as they got up and hurried away.

"I believe that confession more than proves it your highness," said the lead cloaked woman, much to Myne's mounting frustration.

"Very well," she finally said with a finger pointed at the two parties, "We'll leave this time, but we will be back."

"And just for the record," said Motoyasu to Naofumi as he came walking by, "I let you win today, but don't think it'll happen again."

"Yeah you buying that?" Darius asked Johann who responded by suddenly glowing blue and growing into an even fiercer and larger version than before with three jagged spikes coming out of each side of his head. He wasted no time in roaring at Myne, the Spear Hero, and the rest of the guards who beat a very hasty retreat at the sight of him. Though Motoyasu was a bit slower due to his injured manhood.

"This has been a weird couple of days," said Rifana with a sigh. At this point, another growth spurt from either of the mounts wasn't so surprising. Fortunately, the villagers were less intimidated by the sight of the large animals.

"We thank you again sir hero," said the village lord, "we don't know how we can repay you for all of your help."

"Just hurry up and hand me the reward," said Naofumi with an outstretched hand.

"Well, we're collecting the money now," said the village lord, "but it'll take a few days to-."

"I'm not talking about money," said the Shield Hero, much to the villager's relief, "I don't need people spreading rumors about me stealing all the rebuilding funds for a village."

"But no one here would ever say something like that," said Raphtalia.

"How should we repay you then Sir Hero?" Questioned the village lord. Naofumi gave it some thought, but ultimately his mind was made up as Filo pecked his head and indicated an old covered wagon.

"Y'all don't desperately need that for anything, do you?" Questioned Darius.

Forest Road: Some Time Later

Fixing up the wagon took no time at all with the villager's help and before long they were on the road again. Filo seemed overjoyed to be pulling something like the wagon and it was a much faster form of travel than all of them walking. It still wasn't as fast as flying, however, which is why Darius flew up above on Johann, getting a bird's or rather dragon's eye view of the surrounding area to make sure there wasn't any trouble up ahead. Though the real problem at the moment came from the passenger in the cart and the one riding in the saddle with Darius. "Looks like the cart's stopping again," Noted the cardinal hero as he directed the flying dragon to circle around.

"They've got the right idea," groaned Rifana as she held onto Darius's waist, "I need to stop too." The Armory Hero sighed as he landed Johann next to the cart, allowing Rifana to hop off at about the same time Raphtalia jumped out of the cart to lose their lunch on the side of the road.

"They really are best friends," noted Darius, "They even throw up together."

"I still find it incredible that one gets motion sick and the other gets airsick," said Naofumi.

"Wanna switch up then," said Darius, "It only seems fair that Raphtalia gets to fly in the air for a bit too."

"She'll need to get over her motion sickness sooner or later," said Naofumi, "So the more time she has to get used to the cart the better."

"Is that really the only reason?" Questioned Darius with a raised eyebrow. "Or is it weird for you to picture her riding on a dragon with me, because this is the third time you've turned the suggestion down?"

"I just think we should work on one form of sickness at a time," said Naofumi, "Besides the sun's setting so we may as well make camp."

"Can we please," said Raphtalia who was currently just barely being supported by Rifana.

"I don't think either of us is in any shape to go further," added the weasel girl.

"Guess that settles it then," said Darius as he hopped off of Johann. He and Naofumi wasted no time in getting the camp set up, each gently setting their companion down on a sleeping mat so they could rest after getting a nice fire going. By the time everything was sorted out, night had fallen.

"I'm sorry about all this," said Raphtalia, "You've had to do extra work because I've had to rest all day."

"Just try to get over your motion sickness as fast as possible, you too Rifana," said Naofumi, "By cart and by air is how we'll be travelling from now on."

"So long as Darius doesn't do any aerial acrobatics, I'll see what I can do," groaned Rifana from her sleeping mat as Johann lovingly rested next to her and said Armory Hero.

"I can't make any promises on that front," Darius said, fairly certain that someone would be firing at them at some point. "Anyway, what are your thoughts on the whole traveling merchant deal Naofumi?"

"I mean we already got the passes," said the Shield Hero as he held up a gold bar with official writing on it. The lord of Lute village had presented a pair of them to Darius and Naofumi as further thanks for their help and had suggested the idea of being traveling merchants in the first place. It would come in handy given that it exempted them from paying tolls around the country. "We can go around slaying monsters, leveling up and running a side business to make some extra money. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me."

"We'll do our best too," said Raphtalia. Rifana agreed with a nod of her own.

"Then get some sleep for now," said Naofumi, "I'm not really sleepy so I'll take the first watch."

"Just remember to wake me if you do get tired," said Darius as he leaned against Johann's tail and closed his eyes for the night.

The Next Day

'Oh, why does it feel like grass is up my nostrils,' thought Darius as he lifted his head off the ground, 'wait a sec, when did my head get on the ground?'

"Darius, Master Naofumi!" Said Raphtalia suddenly, "Everyone wake up!"

"What's the problem, sorry did I fall asleep, what smells weird," said the three of them as they all woke up to varying degrees, and realized something was definitely wrong. Johann and Filo were nowhere to be found and in their places was a blue-haired boy with dragon-like wings and a blond girl with what appeared to be angel wings, both of whom were stark naked! "AAAAAAAH!" everyone backed away from the newcomers as they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes.

"Good morning master," said the blond girl happily to Naofumi with a smile on her face.

"What's all the fuss about boss," said the blue-haired boy to Darius, "And is there anything to eat, I'm starving."

"W-who are these children?!" exclaimed Rapthalia, clearly confused by the situation. She wasn't the only one.

"How in the world would I know?!" Questioned Darius and Naofumi at the same time.

"Well they're not ours," said Rifana as she glanced back and forth between the newcomers, noting they didn't resemble anyone there.

"Don't you recognize me," said the blond girl, "It's me, Filo."

"Wait if you're Filo then that means-," Darius said as he pointed to the dragon-winged boy.

"It's me alright boss, Johann," said the boy with a toothy smirk as he pointed at himself. It had definitely been a weird few days.

And so new faces have been added to both parties, and it looks like they're gonna be quite a hassle to deal with. Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and I'd like to give a real quick shout out to all the readers who suggested a dragon emperor companion for Darius. There were a lot of ideas to sift through and this is the one I settled on, so hopefully all of you will like little Johann. In the mean time, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as our heroes try their hands at being monster hunting merchants! 'Til then.