The Lineage of the Hakukos
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! This chapter is admittedly a little short, but, I got some good news for you this week. For those wondering about 'I'm Too Sober For This' we've finally been able to get the draft written down and the beta readers are hard at work editing it, so look forward to that coming out very soon! Also, for those who haven't heard, I've posted a new story: Star Wars: Path of Kan Taro! That's right, I finally posted a Star Wars story which I hope you'll all enjoy. Now then, that's it for the announcements and with no guest review questions to answer, let's get to the story!
The Home of Lord Reichnott
"I could certainly use some high-quality medicine," Reichnott admitted while reading off the list of items Rurorona Village was selling, "it'll help my workers out in the long run if we can use less medicine and achieve the same result. If nothing else the expenses I'm currently paying won't increase and we might even have room for other items."
"Your farmers will also have less work with these bio-plants," Darius added while holding up one of the seeds, "Naofumi altered them to survive in all kinds of weather and soil and the growing phase is rather quick. He's naturally willing to come down here and speed along the growth if it's not fast enough for you, but of course, that'll cost a little extra."
"That is what I'd expect from him," the noble acknowledged, "still I must ask if I'll be offered a discount on at least this first batch?"
"We can lower it a bit, but not as much as we'd like," Rifana rubbed the back of her head with a regretful smile on her face, "the entire village owes you to one degree or another. If it were up to me, we wouldn't charge you for the first batch at all."
"There's no need to apologize," Reichnott assured with his usual closed-eye smile, "we're both simply trying to support our friends. Isn't that right, Whittaker?"
"Speak for yourself," the white-haired man remarked, "it took a few days to repair the damage done by that tyrant dragon."
"But if not for the two heroes and their parties," his bespectacled friend reminded, "you might've been overrun by the Spirit Tortoise and its familiars. I recall you lost a few people to those monsters."
"I owe the heroes for that and for fighting against the Waves," Whittaker acknowledged, "we all do. I'm not opposed to the idea of doing business with them, just a little wary that it might bring some unexpected trouble like it did with the three hero's church."
"I doubt most people would think to target our business partners," Darius pointed out, "if we're being real technical the Accessories Merchant is already doing business with us and he's just one of a number of connections we have. If you want, we could put in a good word for you with him or even mention your circumstances to the royalty of Melromarc, Koteraan, and Siltvelt. Personally, I'd like to avoid that last one, if possible, but we'll do it if it convinces you."
"It has been some time since I've spoken with Princess Melty," Whittaker admitted, "if you really are willing to take this matter all the way to royalty just for a bit of business then I can't say you're not serious about looking out for your own. Very well, we'll draw up a couple of contracts and see what we can set up."
"And the same goes for me," Reichnott added as they all shook hands. "It was also a pleasure to meet your fiancé."
"Likewise, Lord Reichnott," Izumi bowed respectfully while Rifana rolled her eyes. They'd naturally explained the whole situation to their friend, but he wasn't above a playful jab here and there. With their business wrapped up they proceeded outside and away from the mansion grounds.
"That went well enough," Rifana commented while going over a checklist of discussion topics they'd been given by Naofumi, "we've got one new trade partner for sure, and Whittaker should be ready once he gets those contracts prepared."
"Fingers crossed it's as lucrative as we hope," the Armory Hero responded, not looking back currently because he was flagging a flying Johann down. The dragon boy landed soon enough and switched to his human form.
"Wow, you guys were in there for a while," he remarked, "I had time to fly over the woods and eat a few monsters."
"Anything to worry about," Darius asked in mild concern. He, Rifana and Figneria had done a pretty thorough job of dealing with the monsters around the property a while back. Had more finally moved in?
"Nah, just a small group of mole monsters," Johann waved off, "it looked like they haven't been here very long. I had to leave one carcass because I overcooked it."
"The normal temperature of your fire probably isn't great for cooking small monsters," Rifana sighed, "but you cleaned up the rest, right?"
"*BURP*," was the dragon boy's reply, "yep, nothing but bones left."
"Well, maybe you'll actually be able to go a couple hours without eating something for a change," Darius commented before readying his bands, "alright, everyone set?" His three party members nodded. Then, in a flash of light, they were headed back to the village.
Just After Sunset: Rurorona Village
The group materialized just outside of the village and began heading in, strolling casually at first. Unfortunately, a plume of smoke alerted them to a potential problem. "Weapons out everyone," the Armory Hero ordered while summoning a halberd to his hands and rushing in. What they found was a mess.
Some of the buildings had been damaged by fire while a couple others had damage from blunt force impacts. Yet despite this the damage didn't extend as far as they feared. Only one building had suffered the brunt of the fire damage and most of the rest of the damage was confined to only a few areas. The reason why became obvious when they arrived at the village center and found all of their fighters along with most of the village children standing around a group of men who looked very much like bandits or raiders.
"What in the shit happened here," Darius asked as his party approached, lowering their weapons for the time being.
"Just some troublemakers," Keel assured while flexing his arm before wincing in pain, "we took care of them."
"Forget them, what about you," Rifana asked as she knelt down next to the log Keel was using for a chair, "you got beat up." It was no joke, either. He had a few bandages on his arms and face and, naturally, looked like he'd just gotten out of a fight.
"This is nothing," the dog girl assured, "they look worse than I do." As he said this, Naofumi and his group suddenly came rushing in from around the corner.
"Everyone okay," he asked, his eyes taking in the scene before him.
"All fine and accounted for," Darius answered for the group, "we were just about to find out what happened."
"There's no need for an explanation," Raphtalia growled once her eyes fell upon the village's attackers. She stalked forward and drew the vassal katana, holding the blade to the apparent leader's throat, a man with messy hair, a mustache, and a beard. Naturally he jumped a little bit at the sudden threat. "I'd never forget this face, the face of the one who kidnapped us all back then!"
"You're right," Rifana's eyes narrowed before she drew her mace and slammed it on the ground right next to the attackers, causing them all to jump a bit as the ground cracked, "I recognize him too now that I see these bastard's faces. You all came back here to take us for slaves again! Well guess what, that's not happening now or ever again!" She and Raphtalia raised their weapons upwards, ready to finish them all in one fell swoop.
"WAIT!" Éclair yelled, stopping them in mid swing, "the situation's more complicated than you think."
"What do you mean," Raphtalia asked, the both of them taking a deep breath to calm down slightly. Éclair answered by holding up a piece of armor that she'd taken off of the slave hunter leader.
"This family crest, it belongs to a noble family from a region that were especially devout followers of the three heroes church," she explained.
"So what," Naofumi questioned in annoyance, "are you saying we can't execute this guy because the nobles of that region will get upset?"
"That's right," the raid leader confirmed with a smug smile on his face, "if you kill me, this village is finished." His smile disappeared just as quickly when Rifana slammed her foot on the ground, cracking it as her body radiated earth magic.
"That's hilarious," the weasel girl smirked, "in case you didn't notice, there's a carcass belonging to a mountain-sized monster sitting outside of Melromarc right now. You know who helped put it there? And who's been fighting off the Waves that would've turned this whole kingdom into rubble by now? That'd be us, and do you know what that means?"
Magical energy continued to expel from Rifana's body, further cracking the ground beneath her feet. Raphtalia's body also began radiating a surprising amount of magic, her illusion abilities summoning terrifying monsters that only the raiders could see, causing them to cower in fear. "It means unless your little noble friends can pull something out of their asses scarier than that, THEY CAN'T DO SHIT TO US!" The ground turned into quicksand beneath the slave hunters who all started screaming as they slowly sank into the soil.
"Rifana, Raphtalia," Keel spoke up suddenly, halting the sinking of the raiders, "you're right, we're all way stronger than before, strong enough that these guys can't hurt us ever again. But we do have something to worry about."
"What's that," Darius asked, his curiosity admittedly piqued. Keel had just as much reason to hate the slave hunters as Raphtalia or Rifana, so it was odd that he was stopping them literally being put in the ground.
"The village we've been working hard to rebuild has gotten a little torn up again and needs to be fixed," she pointed out, "what if we can punish them and get money for the repairs at the same time?"
"Go on," Naofumi encouraged, his ears definitely open now that money had been mentioned.
"Let's sell them into slavery," Keel suggested, "I know we can deal with upset nobles, but if he just needs to be alive then we can avoid trouble altogether and make money for the repairs."
"Ha, that'll never happen," the slave hunter leader laughed, "no one in Melromarc would dare make me a slave."
"Darius," the shield hero called to his friend, "you told me you saw human slaves in Siltvelt, right?"
"Only a few but that's because I've never gotten to explore the city," he recalled, "of course, even if they weren't big on slavery Siltvelt still worships the shield hero like a practical deity. I'm certain they'd pay handsomely for a gift from you, especially if it means they get to kick the shit out of a few of the assholes who're religiously opposed to you."
"Slavery, in Siltvelt," the mustached leader's eyes widened, "wait, if it's just money you need for repairs, I'll pay you as much as you want!"
"Oh you'll pay alright," Naofumi smirked evilly, "you'll pay by regretting your decision to attack this village every day for the rest of your life!"
"No, please, I don't want to be a slave!" They all yelled in one unintelligible way or another.
"Good news my Yama clan friends," Darius remarked, "it looks like you get to visit home sooner than you thought."
A Couple Days Later: The Royal Castle of Melromarc
As expected, the slave merchant in Zeltoble was more than happy to arrange a meeting and sale in Siltvelt, after taking a finder's fee, and with Darius teleporting there to deliver them personally the venture wound up making them a decent amount of money. It more than covered all of the repair costs for the village and even served as a good way to spread the word around about what could happen to people who messed with the village of the Shield and Armory Hero, be they noble or otherwise. Suffice it to say, the likelihood of them being attacked by slave hunters again was miniscule. After that it was back to business as usual with work and training.
And the first thing to do for that was to venture to the capital and reset Fohl and Sadeena's levels so that they could take advantage of Naofumi's hero buffs. Atla didn't need didn't technically need a reset but came along anyway because she wanted to be with her brother and the shield hero. All of that went off without a hitch. But it was when they were traversing the castle grounds looking for an audience with the queen that something a little odd happened. "Oh my," Sadeena cooed, "so Izumi's already leveled up this much after getting her own status reset?"
"I've simply had longer to level up," the horned girl explained, "Darius reset my level shortly after returning from Glass's world and I've been building it back up ever since. It honestly feels amazing how much stronger being a member of a hero's party makes one."
"Then big sis should show you some of her favorite fishing spots for leveling up," she grabbed onto Naofumi's arm for the next part, "all except for a secret romantic spot I found a while back."
"It better not be the same spot that Naofumi and I went on a date," Raphtalia warned while pulling her friend off of her boyfriend.
"Oh my, so you and Naofumi have been on a date," Sadeena quirked her eyebrows, "you weren't lying when you told me how far you've gone with him, have you?"
"I mean we've kissed," Raphtalia put her fingers together shyly.
"Can we please discuss this later," the shield hero sighed while rubbing his head.
"That'd be best," Darius indicated the person approaching their two parties, "because here comes another potential headache now." A realistic concern given that it was none other than king Trash coming towards them. The old man seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, lost in thought. He was almost hard to recognize now that he wasn't wearing anything other than a brown gray robe with a grey underrobe.
"Maybe if we ignore him he'll leave us alone," Rifana whispered. Alas, it was not to be. They were going opposite directions along the same walkway, so once they got close enough the disgraced king finally noticed them.
"You two," he seethed upon catching sight of them. Darius was prepared to just keep on walking until, surprisingly, Atla spoke up.
"Brother," she looked up towards Trash. He stopped then, his features twisting into an odd combination of shock and surprise. The king crouched down in front of Atla to get a better look at her.
"Your eyes," Trash observed, "you can't see, can you?"
"We were told it was a genetic disease," Darius decided to explain.
"Not that it's any of your business," Fohl barked, "if you have business with my sister get on with it already."
"Tell me," the king asked, not seeming to care about the Hakuko boy's tone, "what are your names?"
"Fohl," he answered simply.
"I'm Atla," the currently wheelchair bound girl informed, "please, could you tell me why you feel so similar to my brother?" Trash was about to answer until he noticed the Queen approaching from behind him with a few guards. A scowl crossed his face before he quickly moved past them and back into the castle.
"Atla," Naofumi decided to ask, "what do you mean he feels like your brother?"
"It's hard to explain," she responded, "my eyes don't work but I can see the things around me by feeling the energy they radiate. Does that make sense?"
"Quite a bit, actually," Darius answered while glancing at his friend, "you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think the old hag will be pretty happy if that turns out to be the case," the shield hero nodded, "we'll see about it once we get back to the village." Right now they needed to see the queen, who'd just happened to walk up to them at that moment. Interestingly, she had a similar reaction to seeing Atla but instead of saying anything she led them to the throne room. It was there the discussion began.
"It really is uncanny," the queen began with a saddened look on her face.
"What is," Naofumi asked, his curiosity finally being piqued by all of this strangeness.
"That girl's resemblance…..to Trash's younger sister," Mirellia answered.
"He had a sister," Darius raised an eyebrow before putting the pieces together, "I take it she's not around anymore?"
"Her whereabouts are unknown," the queen revealed, "nor is it known whether or not she's alive. The scene of her kidnapping was a bloodbath and all suspicions fell on the Hakuko of Siltvelt who we were hostile with at the time."
"I take it that was back during the time of the war between Melromarc and Siltvelt," Naofumi guessed.
"It was," Mirellia confirmed, "at the time Siltvelt had sought to conquer the world."
"That true, Izumi," Darius glanced at the Yama Clan girl.
"I don't know if world domination was the eventual goal," she shrugged, "but our country was undeniably the aggressor at the war's beginning."
"And Siltvelt would've proven victorious if not for the Staff Hero," the queen continued, "with his martial skills and unparalleled wisdom, Melromarc and several other countries emerged victorious against them. It was these feats which eventually earned him the nickname 'The Wisest King of Wisdom'. His name at the time was Luge Lansarz Faubley when we met, though he'd abandoned his last name before eventually taking the name of Aultcray."
"Wisdom must mean something else here because that dumbass hasn't made a single wise decision since we were summoned," the shield hero commented with his arms crossed.
"Indeed, he's never been the same since he lost his sister," Mirellia sighed sadly, "not a single trace of his past glory can be found. Now all that remains is the man you know as Trash."
"But why does his presence feel like my brother's," Atla asked, "like a member of our family?" No one spoke for several seconds as the implications dawned on them.
"There's no way," Rifana put her arms up in an 'x' shape, "there's absolutely no way."
"But there are so many coincidences," Raphtalia pointed out, "your majesty, was Trash's sister blind?"
"She was," Mirellia confirmed, "it's a genetic disease that even the best of healing elixirs couldn't cure."
"And Atla's disease is supposed to be genetic," Naofumi rubbed his head in annoyance, "I take it she was kidnapped between ten to fifteen years ago?" The queen again confirmed with a nod.
"I don't get it, what's everyone talking about?" Fohl asked, the only one in the group who didn't understand what they were getting at.
"We're trying to figure out if you two are half human and half demi-human," the cardinal hero blunty stated. Naturally, Fohl's eyes widened while Atla developed an intrigued expression on her face. "So, are you?"
"I…don't know," Fohl admitted while looking down, "all I know about my parents is that they died in a war, or at least that's what everyone told us. We had caretakers so I'm pretty sure we were in a well-off household.
"How'd you wind up in slavery if that was the case," Darius cocked his head in confusion.
"Atla's medication is really expensive," the Hakuko boy explained, "in the end we left the house after dividing everything equally. The only other thing I know about my family is that our grandfather was supposed to be a great man."
"Your grandfather," a thought occurred to the queen, "could your last names possibly be Fayon?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Fohl asked with a curious tilt of his head. Instead of answering right away, Mirellia got up from her throne and hurried forward as fast as her large dress would allow before embracing both Atla and Fohl.
"I'm….so glad you two survived," she exclaimed while holding them. Naturally the two siblings were confused at this turn of events along with everyone else.
"Now what's going on?!" The Hakuko boy yelled in confusion.
"Forgive me," the queen released them and recomposed herself, "it seems I forgot myself for a moment. Fayon was the name of the Siltveltean royal family that Melromarc fought against in the war. You two are all that remains of it." She looked like she had more to say but decided against it and returned to sitting on her throne.
"So we have Siltveltean royalty with us," Darius rubbed his head, "your clan is gonna love to hear about this."
"It will be interesting news," Izumi admitted, "but I feel we've gotten completey off track. Did her majesty have something she needed to tell us?"
"Ah yes, the reason I called you all here," Mirellia smiled, "I've received word that we've located the Spear Hero."
And so this short transition ends with a few revelations about Naofumi's newest party members. But is this queen holding something back? We'll find out later so until then feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And be sure to check out my new Star Wars story and my Pat reon for updates on the progress of it and other stories! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes finally track down some very unwilling associates! 'Til then.