Chapter 56

With him so high up, only Itsuki and any magic we could use would really reach. But would they listen if I ordered them? We needed to get out of this crater! I almost regretted not taking at least one of my spell gauntlets...

"I'm gonna bite you!" Tetsu declared with her usual zeal. She charged forward, and with a mighty leap and flap of wings, almost made it to the rim of the pit.

Only to be slapped in the back by... I wasn't sure at first, it looked like a big arrow made of glowing light. "Brionac!" The Priest chanted, the staff losing the 'bow' and 'sword' and becoming more like a spear.

Tetsu crashed to the ground with a squawk of pain.

"Lightning Bow!" "Starlight Sword!" Itsuki and Ren called out, energy lashing from their weapons.

In response, the Priest laughed. He positioned the spear so it was straight up and down in front of him, and both the incoming attacks were absorbed into some kind of barrier, but instead of fading out, the barrier got brighter.

"Behind me!" I shouted, dashing over to put myself in front of the two, an air strike shield layering itself in front of me.

I'd guessed right, and both of their attacks came back towards them, crashing into my spectral shield, but only cracking it. "What was that?!" Ren shouted, my barrier fading as the Priest started showering the area with hundreds of little energy arrows.

"A counter? That's not fair!" Itsuki growled.

"YES! Run about like the Vermin you are!"

We all had to dodge, block or otherwise find cover behind things (like me) or the stray boulders that had fallen in with us. But the attack ceased, and we all grouped up with me in front, the others behind me. Oh, except Tetsu. She was moving, but out of the Priest's sight at the base of the crater directly under him.

"Ha! Even now your incompetence shows! Needing to hide behind the Shield Demon!" And the relic weapon in his hands changed, shortening somewhat and becoming a sword.

"We need a plan." Motoyasu said, "Overwhelm?"

"Can you survive that?" Ren asked me, watching the parody of his own weapon light up with blazing fire, the Priest holding it high over his head.

I glanced back at him, "I can block it. Raphtalia, Kuro, get to Tetsu, dig into the wall a little, wait in cover there."

"Bu-" The slave mark started to glow, and she settled down with a frown. I'd hear about it later for sure.

"It's just fire, and I need you there." I said, "Give me time to start buff casting. Do your best to keep out of each other's way.

"PHEONIX BLADE!" We were out of time to plan.

I put the 'Second Shield' above us, and it lasted all of a half second as a titanic wave of fire slapped into it. It cracked, the fire flared outwards like water, blocking sight between us and the Priest, then shattered, letting the blaze continue its fall towards us.

But Raphtalia and Kuro were already gone.

I used my newest Shield spell, the 'starlight shield', casting a sparkly barrier dome over the four of us, then set my Shield into the mud and activated the growth crystals over its face. "I am the source of all power!" And started casting.

My words were drown out by the furnace heat and cracking of stone as the fire splashed all around us, but the four of us started to shimmer with the first of my boosting spells.

"GO!" Motoyasu shouted as the fires faded around us, and the air cleared enough to see again.

(Melty, Usa, Clive, and now, Sadeena)

In a narrow space, maybe wide enough for Kodori's wagon (though it was certainly a work in progress to widen now that the Tree was there), Sadeena had almost all the advantages. With Clive shooting a continuous stream of arrows overhead, Usa supporting as best he could with defence, and Melty healing the occasional hit that got through the Orca's defences.

But as strong as she was, it was just a fighting retreat and they all knew it. The enemy had healers, they had mages, and they outnumbered the four of them almost a hundred to one.

It was around the time when Sadeena only just managed to stop herself from getting her head cut off after stumbling on fallen soldier, that Clive made a silent executive decision. He had been using his bow's magic arrows for a while now, and only three real arrows were left in his quiver.

"Stop him!" Someone far back in the ranks of soldiers called out.

Of course, most people wouldn't have heard him over all the noise, but Usa did hear him, and knew exactly who 'him' was. "Melty! Ice wall over Clive!"

She didn't question the order, and a pillar of ice sprung up just in time to catch a magical shard of hurled stone.

Then Clive fired two arrows, hoping that Van was just as smart as he looked, first blue, then red.

(Van)

Van was indeed quite an intelligent man. Smart enough to know almost every language of the world, manage the finances of his territory without the help of a scribe, and teach children without them getting bored.

But when he saw first a blue signal, then a red on dart into the air from the Valley side of the keep, he didn't assume or guess, he looked to Frost's mercenary, "Signal fro m the valley. Fight from the walls and retreat to the valley?"

"I'll bet anyone who's not out there," He motioned to the distant hill where the pillar of lightning, then a fist of just 'light' had hit the ground, "Is in the valley fighting. I'd say round up the archers from your villagers here and look down at the valley from the side gate. The front gate is held, we can't help the Hero from here, but you're actually in command here."

He was right. The frightening old lady and Ake's knights were holding the front gate, and with all the magic flying about where the leader had set up their pavilion, there was no point in sending the demi-humans there. The top of the valley would be mostly safe...

"Very well." Van nodded, "KEEL!" He didn't raise his voice often, but that didn't mean he couldn't.

From the bottom of the wall, the tomboy from Raphtalia's village called up, "Yes Sir!"

"Message!" Van looked down at her, "Gather up half the archers! I'll be at the valley side gate with Sir Ake's other squad. We have trouble in the valley."

"Oh? Gonna go yourself?" The Mercenary teased. "What about us?"

"Keep an eye on the fighting out there. The more I look the more worried I get." Van replied, "But I don't want to be idle either."

"I can see why everyone likes you. We'll call out if something changes."

(Kodori)

It was not going well.

The three of them lashed out with attack after attack. Energy from their weapons bounced off. The cheaty-face magic they were gifted from the King was blocked by instantly grown stone walls. And the Priest just kept raining down magic attacks from the polymorphic weapon. I was keeping up, protecting the three of them either directly or with various defence skills.

Then Motoyasu said something, "How the hell is he keeping up with the magic drain?"

"He keeps changing the weapon around, it helps me keep track of his cool-downs!" Ren replied, rolling to dodge a lance of energy, but stumbling as he tried to stand. "I'm starting to feel it." It sounded like a complaint, "He's not using potions either, and I'm almost out!"

I was no stranger to the 'MMO'. But hearing them say it brought it to my attention. I had been rotating my own skills (SP), casting magic to keep up healing and buffs (MP) and outright tanking when I had to (HP). But the Priest, laughing and taunting us all the while, was only paying attention to cool-downs.

Speaking of, "YES! This power has been granted unto me, by the gods of the holy Spear, Sword and Bow!" The 'bow' changed again to the 'sword', and he started charging up for another Phoenix strike. "I can see it on your faces! You are growing weaker! Getting tired! I suffer no such effects so long as my holy choir sings!"

As before, the three of them gathered behind me and I made ready to defend again. But then I saw Raphtalia signalling me from a small newly formed cave almost directly under the Priest's vantage point.

"All those people behind him? Are they sharing magic with him?" Itsuki guessed.

"Probably." I nodded, "When the fire hits, I'm going to try and bring him down here, keep him distracted."

Motoyasu saw my plan, glancing at Kuro, Tetsu and Raphtalia then up at the 'phoenix' growing from the sword, "That's got a long wind up... If your plan doesn't work, I got an idea."

"BURN HERETICS!"

I took a jumping step forward, turned, and for a moment saw a look of betrayal on Ren and Itsuki's faces. But Motoyasu stepped between them and gave them both what looked like 'the big brother' arm over shoulder hug.

And I trapped them in a Shield Prison, slapping an Air Strike Shield over the ball of interlocked Marius Shields, then fed it some of my dwindling mana supply to make them all grow the ablative armour crystal. "Out of the way!" I yelled over the roar of the descending phoenix.

Raphtalia looked across at me in horror, but she still called the other two out of the cave. The instant they were clear, I used my 'Second Shield' at the mouth of the cave, sealing it up as best I could. "Change! Acid worm!"

Then the fire landed. But it was just fire.

Even as every bit of leather and cloth burned off of me, right down to my (thankfully) self healing house kimono, I focused on the task at hand, watching my SP go nearly flat as the double door sized spectral shield vomited very real acid into the dirt and clay under the Priest's feet.

When the flames cleared, the Priest looked down at us with a sneer, "Oh? Still alive? And your abominations and demi-human filth came out of hiding? Was the fire too much for your cobbled together armour?" He laughed, "You will never defeat me! I control the power of our God! NO! I am the God of the Three Heroes!"

It didn't quite work.

But that meant I needed to give Motoyasu a moment to talk to the other two for what ever plan he had. "I told you, you insane, half witted, magic draining, tyrant of a zealot! Your crappy world has no gods! And if you think some cheap replica of your 'so called' legendary weapons makes you one, then you are going senile!"

I had hoped to taunt him, but instead of lashing out, he started to monologue. "Magic draining? HA! The Gods take offerings from their worshippers, do they not? It is no different than that! It only further proves my divinity!" The weapon changed again, this time to the bow, "BEHOLD!"

Then he pulled out something new, and started to divide. Mirror images of himself formed around him, each holding a bow, each drawing back and firing at me. I only ducked behind the Shield enough to cover myself, but something caught my eye. With his 'body' spread out like that, I could actually see the mana being pulled in from behind him. It was almost like a heat shimmer.

I stepped out from behind the Shield, "Is that it?" I asked, "You talk of incompetence, but all I've seen is some narcissistic fool who can't even kill a half dozen people in a crater! You call that trinket a 'holy relic', except I could probably make one myself! You aren't even worshipping a false idol! You might as well be bowing down before a block of salt that wild animals lick! You know nothing about divinity! Let alone becoming divine!"

I had to admit, seeing his face go various shades of red and purple with anger, seeing the ripple of magic behind him intensify, watching him twitch with barely contained rage...

It felt good. Really good. But it felt even better when I heard Motoyasu say, "Lightning spear!"

This was, of course, blocked by one of those instant stone walls (that was very similar to my Air Strike Shield, just... stone walls instead of a big shield). But the blink of an eye was all Raphtalia needed to vanish from sight, and with a heave, her invisible self was thrown out of the pit by Kuro and Tetsu.

That 'eye blink' over, the Priest switched to the Sword form again, and started slashing it through the air, showering us with crescents of energy. Powerful, strong enough to chip away at my actual health now that my armour had all but been destroyed. But I endured while protecting the others with the usual combination of defensive skills and physical presence.

The barrage ended, and this time everyone but me got together to just... throw crap at him. Kuro lashed out with mini tornadoes from her wings. Motoyasu and Ren used their 'starlight' energy attacks, Itsuki called out, "Chaos arrows!" and did a version of the Priest's multi body arrow barrage.

Since I wasn't in on the actual plan, I took a moment to drink one of the few 'cure all' potions I had. I nearly threw them back up as soon as they hit my stomach, but I held it down long enough to feel the heat of it working through my body.

Above, the Priest was laughing at their attempts to harm him. He deflected many of the attacks, forcing the other three to dodge or use their weapons to slash through the returned power. What wasn't reflected, was blocked by the 'stone walls'.

But, even as I recovered and the others did their best to give me time to do so, Tetsu took advantage of another 'eye blink' moment. Motoyasu threw his spear! But with a laugh, one of those stone walls fizzed into existence between the Priest and the oncoming spear, the weapon slamming into it, then zipping back to Motoyasu's hand an eye blink later.

Then Tetsu threw one of those boulders that had fallen in with us. The biggest one she could find. She had actually been digging under it while the rest of us ran around with our hair on fire trying not to die. With a heavy, wet 'SPACK' noise, it slammed into the softened clay dirt under the Priest, who, in his infinite arrogance, had yet to actually move from that same spot.

"HAHAHA! All your greatest attacks, your unnatural beasts, magic, even your weapon! Nothing can harm me! SEE! The one who has been keeping you alive until now is on his knees! You all bleed because of the Shield's failure!"

"What about gravity?" Motoyasu asked, looking to be out of energy himself, leaning on his spear like a staff.

"Wha-"

The boulder fell through the mush I'd made with the acid from earlier, and that was enough to make a bit of a slide under the Priest's feet. He looked reasonably in shape for someone of his years, but he couldn't quite jump back in time. With a comical yelp he slipped down into the pit with us.

With everyone but me hurt (I was covered in blood, sure, but the potion healed me, while the regrowing fabric of my kimono hid my lack of wounds) no one could really jump at him to attack. So, now it was my turn.

"Round two." I said, lunging forward to get my hands on him.

(The valley)

Sadeena, Clive, Usa and Melty were running out of steam. There were just too many of them to hold back. Every metre of ground retreated left wounded soldiers on the path, but it wasn't long before healers brought them back to their feet.

The sun was just starting to rise, lightening up the valley from the direction of the tree far in the background, when a booming war horn sounded.

"Van?" Melty asked, "Please tell me that was Van? Does he even have a horn?"

Usa shook his head, electricity crawling down his whip as he lashed out a lightning bolt with a double 'crack' of noise. "Not a horn! That was a roar!"

Then the back ranks of the army they were facing lit up with a conflagration of fire and noise. Soldiers screamed, but even that couldn't drown out the sudden multi voiced synchronized chant, "We are the source of all power. We call forth Tiamat's wrath!"

Magic circles filled the air over the soldiers, dropping a rain of lightning, icicles, fire, acid sprays and noxious clouds of gas. Instantly, the organized ranks of magic users, archers, healers and soldiers was reduced to a chaotic howl of agonized chaos.

As quickly as the effect started, it stopped, and from above, someone called out, "Archers aim!"

The opposition now reduced to nearly nothing, the four defenders could see a handful, not even a dozen, dragons and their riders. Robed in various colours, looking more like holy men than soldiers, they stood there as if it were any other day.

Aside from the groan of magically afflicted survivors, there was silence. One of the dragons, a rust red beast who was pawing at the ground with one of its powerful legs, twisted its neck so it could look at the rider. There was a little huff of flame from the corners of its mouth, but the rider gave it a bap on the nose, "No no." Then louder, "Many pardons, but we were told there was a holy tree here!"

Van looked down with wide eyes and replied, "Ah, yes, just down the valley here."

"It is every pilgrim's duty to aid who they can." The Aotatsu representative said, "This is not my land, so I cannot say what sort of aid we will give these poor souls." The implication was obvious, medical aid, or a quick death.

Van caught on, and cleared his throat meaningfully. "Invading army from the Church of Three heroes! Surrender, and aid will be given." He didn't need to add 'or else', it was quite clear what the alternative would be.

Those who could still stand, dropped their weapons and took off their helmets. Melty, Usa and Clive let out a sigh (or wet grumble) of relief and exhaustion, while Sadeena kicked a fallen solder in the gut (only hard enough to make him grunt) and hobbled back to the other three, "Someone better buy me a drink after this." She grumbled, "Can I get some of those bandages? After all that I'm practically indecent!" No practically about it really, but for once, Usa was too tired to do more than avert his eyes.

(Kodori)

I'll admit, the old man had some moves. He knew enough about hand to hand, and had seen me in action, that he fought an almost purely defensive battle with me. It didn't help that he let out the occasional lash of energy, spray of energy arrows, or changed which end 'the pointy bit' was on that polymorphic stick of his.

But then, with a giant leap backwards, he got away from me.

"HA! This is nothing! With the power from my worshippers, I can do this forever!"

I had to parry another wave of those annoying energy attacks, each one of them hurting me little by little, more thin cuts appearing over my arms and legs as the Shield, even the one I'd made, couldn't quite cover against all of it, and my lack of armour costing me the stats I needed to soak the damage numbers.

"Then let me take over!" Ren jumped in, and while the sudden switch in style gave the old man pause, it wasn't nearly enough. He lasted about ten seconds past the initial surprise before the Priest lashed out with his own flaming sword.

But as Ren was sent back, Itsuki opened up on him. The only counter that was needed though was that stone barricade of his. But in that instant of distraction, Motoyasu jumped in, attacked with a flurry of normal strikes, then the instant before the Priest countered with another energy wave, Motoyasu jumped back to be replaced by Kuro.

Wave after wave of mini tornadoes, well timed clawed feet, and even an attempt at a peck or two!

Tetsu jumped in next, and finally, first blood had been struck. Well... Kind of.

With a flurry of claws, a kick or two, an attempt at a tail sweep that actually managed to shatter that instant stone wall of his, Tetsu curled back on herself and tried to bite his head off.

God complex or not, he wanted nothing to do with that and jumped back to avoid it.

"You know, the Gods I know generally aren't balding." I taunted, helping Ren to his feet. "But you look much better without that stupid hat."

He looked at me with hate, then reached up with his free hand to pat his hat bereft head. That look of hate turned to Tetsu, who used one of her big clawed hands to shred the hat out from between her teeth. "Bleh, tastes like salt and crushed flowers."

"You... DARE!" He yelled, all composure lost, veins bulging on his now visible forehead. "What would you know of Gods!?" He lashed out with a wide sweeping wave of light, catching Tetsu and Kuro before I could bring up both Air Strike Shields and cover Ren and myself with the Shield. "I am done playing around! I WILL BURN YOU ALL TO ASH!"

He started to gather power. I could see the haze of magical heat being pulled in.

Then I heard someone above scream. A wet gurgling noise that my ears could only just pick up.

I charged in, the Shield shrinking down to its Hagane Red small shield, and my hand going over the front to pull something out.

He was grinning at me all the while, "You are so eager to die first? Fine then!" Once again, the Phoenix Sword or what ever he called the attack, started to gather radiance, fire and light started to arc up the shaft of the polymorphic weapon, and he raised it above his head with the usual dramatic flair.

Then I jumped, my free hand slapping the metal cap that had suppressed my Shield when I had been captured, over the gem of his fancy replica.

And all the light and fire winked out, but instead of radiating out of the weapon's blade like it had all the other times he'd used the attack, the weapon itself started to glow with an inner heat.

"DUCK AND COVER!" I yelled as my feet touched the ground, every single defensive skill and even a hastily cast defence spell getting between the overloading weapon, and the rest of us.

The three other heroes were wrapped up in the Shield Prison again, the outside bursting with blue crystal growths. Tetsu and Kuro got behind that, and I stood in front, both air strike shields, the starlight barrier dome, and my own overloaded Shield of Marius barrier cracking into existence over its front.

(Front gate, Old Lady Ragnarok, Ake)

"Something about pillars of light today. Maybe it's something in the water?" Lady Ragnarok mumbled, nudging a fallen soldier with her toe, "Suppose that will do for exercise today."

Ake, out of breath from all the fighting and yelling orders, just focused on staying on his feet.

(Kodori)

It had been a very long time since I had felt 'crispy'. Like a mix of sunburn and being covered in cuts. Everything hurt, everything stung every time I moved or took in a breath, and I was pretty sure my hair had once again been burned off. Though, as much as it hurt to check, it was still there.

All my defence skills timed out, and behind me, the heroes and our animal companions groaned themselves to the ground in what sounded like a mirror of how I felt.

The Priest, even after all that, was still alive. He was in much worse condition, laying flat on his back, the arm that had been holding the relic weapon burned off just below the shoulder, his nice robes burned to almost nothing but ash...

Oddly enough, I saw that his glasses were still on his face, though both lenses were cracked. As I got closer, he groaned and tried to move, "heathen... blasphemer... god will strike you down for this insult..." He croaked.

I stood over him, checked to see if he had anything at all within reach of his remaining hand, and knelt, my hand closing over his throat and pulling him off the ground so I didn't have to lower myself further.

"You wouldn't know a goddess... if she was choking the life out of you." I whispered into his ear, my hand clenching slowly, his attempt to talk, to breathe, halted. "I know your world has no gods, because when I got here, I had no power. You call me demon, and you're right, but what your ritual summoned wasn't some helpless child, but a goddess, who until now, just wanted to stay home with her wife and children."

I moved my mouth away from his ear, and looked into his eyes. Slowly, just a little faster than the death I was giving him, I saw realization creep over his straining face, just before the light in his eyes started to fade.

Then my fingers and thumb met, and I put my other hand to his forehead and wrenched my hand backwards to finish pulling his throat out.

The others were mostly silent as we used various methods to get ourselves out of that stupid crater. And while the others were shocked at what I had done, I myself finally felt my horns stop itching and a pleasingly icy calm settle over me...

What we saw when we got to the top shocked us all again.

A short distance away, surrounded by broken and burning tents, was a small field of corpses. Between us, Raphtalia was kneeling, and between her and the middle of the encampment was a trail of bodies in various states of...

She had killed them. All of them.

I don't remember crossing the distance, but I was kneeling next to her, my arm over her shoulder as we faced the total devastation she had wrought. At the contact, I felt her tail swish at me, then my own tails curled around hers.

She sniffled, the tear tracks on her bloody cheeks telling me she had been trying to hold back. "I... had to." She started, "I started knocking them out. The guards, the choir, but they got up again. And again... and again... they were like the zombies... I was about to get pulled down, just by the weight of their bodies and grabbing hands..." She sniffled again, not resisting as I pulled her away from looking at the pile of bodies. "I had to kill them." She sobbed into my chest.

"It worked." I said into her ear quietly, "The cost was high, but your people... They are free now."

The others kept a respectful silence while I tried to pull Raphtalia away from the blood she had to shed for the cause. "What... the others?" I almost didn't hear her ask.

She gripped me tighter in the silence, as I took a moment to eyeball my way through the status screens to the party tab. "They're exhausted." I said honestly, seeing their HP at something above zero, but their MP at almost nothing, "But alive." I even went through all the other 'sub parties' and 'slave rosters', "There are wounded. But no one on my lists are dead. We've done it."

"What about..."

It was my turn to hug her tighter, "Shh. We have done our job. Worry about the Queen and everyone else later." I let my grip slacken, "Signal Fohl?" I looked to Tetsu, "Come here you. I need you to get the wagon." I stood and pulled out some food from the Shield, then a clay pot of fruit juice. Dragon sized portions for the best dragon in this world.

"You keep food in there?" Itsuki asked, "Aren't you afraid of it going bad?"

"When we get a chance, I'll do what I did for Motoyasu." I said, holding a slab of meat in one hand, and applying headpats while Tetsu tried not to bite my hand while eating it.

"Ready." Raphtalia said, "Don't look at the light."

And with a burst of light and illusion, Raphtalia sent a single green firework high into the sky, overpowering the early dawn light.

Cleanup... was epic.

And thankfully, I didn't have to do any of it. I mean, aside from cleaning myself, and making sure my party was taken care of. Ake, his knights, and volunteers, went about corpse sorting and burial. Those not dealing with the corpses directly, gathered possessions to return to families. Wounded were treated and made comfortable. Healers did everything they could, and Motoyasu and I gave out as much of our 'weapon produced' healing potions as we could.

Someplace near the beginning of all that cleanup, Fohl, Atla and Tetsu returned. The two young tigers were astounded at the carnage that had happened. And while only Fohl could 'see' the physical picture, Atla saw more of the 'spiritual' side of it. This resulted in her telling her brother to wheel her over to Raphtalia, to try and comfort her. Being mostly checked out at that point, I only heard a few words, like 'mind control' and 'mental slavery'.

I should have pulled that bastards heart out first. But shattering his entire world view before mostly decapitating him would have to do.

After my bath (and rescue by Kunshu, who stopped me from sleeping in the nice warm water), I was surprised to see the old dragon man. Tetsu had already made friends with the ten of them, and their specially bred knight dragons. All of them fire breathers. She was still the best dragon, but after getting permission to take the rest of the day off (or the next time we ate what ever was sooner), she went to the stables to join the communal nap pile they had made.

The old Aotatsu Priest was pleased to have been of service. I already knew why he'd be here, but hadn't expected him so soon. "Well, I'm old, so why wait?" Was his reply.

Usa and Clive were both bone tired, and I had to help Clive bandage his fingers. He'd fired a lifetime of arrows in a day after all. Usa, while not as literally 'worn down', got part of 'the backrub' for his shoulder.

Then I had to make sure I hadn't lied to Raphtalia, and visited Melty. Thankfully, the Queen had been waiting to talk to her, and me, and with the usual time efficient briskness, reported that things were quite firmly 'in hand', and she awaited the Heroes return. She was at least understanding of just how wrecked we all were, and didn't make any demands we come back 'right now'. Just 'with all reasonable speed'.

A side note, I gave Melty a hug. It surprised her almost as much as it did me, but I just couldn't help myself. Maybe it was the 'I'll never admit I like this' look?

The mercenaries Frost had sent to escort and protect the former demi-human slaves were... really chill. They acted like this was something that happened every other week, and when I asked if they needed anything, the reply was, "We've already been paid. But if you could ask the nice lady with the spear to save some of the booze for us?"

I did ask the nice lady with the spear to save some of the booze, and when she replied by basically brushing me off, I said, "Go give Raphtalia a hug. She's had a rough day and needs a friend who isn't me." When Sadeena saw that I was quite willing to fight her over the jug of wine she was carrying in exchange for seeing the distraught raccoon girl, she handed the jug over and went to find her.

The other three Heroes were... mostly absent. I spotted Ren at one point, trying, and failing, to sulk in a corner. Instead, he had a few demi-human children admiring him. Poor boy looked looked lost in the face of such innocent admiration. Itsuki, I was told, had found a place to sleep, and did so. He was the smartest of the four of us, at least, by this point, it felt like it. Motoyasu had actually gotten a nap already, right after the 'clean up' and 'throwing every potion we had at the wounded'. Considering his party consisted of Kuro (who was being a dignified sleeping smart car next to my wagon), he didn't have the other duties I did. It was the weirdest, yet second most comforting thing I did that day to share a fist bump with him.

When I finally did get to sleep, with Kunshu being the best therapy not-cat ever, it was around noon. Not a long sleep, not nearly long enough. But we had things to do.

"Feeling better, Sir Kodori?" Van greeted me as I zombie shuffled my way down the hall towards the kitchen. "Yes, you did well." He then said to Kunshu, exchanging finger/antenna wiggles with her, then just rubbing the top of her head carefully. "I know it hasn't been very long, and everyone is still quite tired. But what is the plan from here?"

"I..." I held up a finger as I yawned wide enough to crack my jaw. "Ow... First, food. Next, wake up my party, make sure they eat too." I paused, trying to think past my immediate needs, then those of my closest companions.

"tree." Kunshu's antenna brushed one of my horns.

"Thank you." I replied as my tails swished over her abdomen. "I have to visit my tree and try and extract some sap from it."

"Ah, I hope you don't mind, but the Aotatsu delegation is likely already there. I didn't want to refuse them, but..."

"I invited them. They're on a pilgrimage, and know not to leave a mess on my property." I assured him, "The Queen expects us back at the castle soon, but wasn't demanding anything. So I hope to take at least the rest of today to rest, and get a good night's sleep before leaving in the morning."

"Understandable. What of your citizens? With the help you've given, there is no issue on keeping them here longer, but some are beginning to wonder. Not to mention my own people. Most get along, but some still harbour resentment." Van asked.

Right, Idol was bound to have supporters who weren't brave enough, or stupid enough, to cause real trouble. "A few days longer. Maybe a week. Two on the outside. Any longer, and they'll have to stay until after the next Wave."

He nodded, "Do you know where they will be going?"

"Home. There will be some rebuilding to do, but they already have a place to return to." I smiled, thinking of my own home, and how rebuilding it felt almost as good as living in it again. "Oh, could I bother you for a few wagons?"

"Already waiting for you, or rather, the other heroes, since you have your own."

"If you didn't look so dignified, I'd hug you. But I'll settle for raiding your kitchen."

NOTES!

A bit of clean up, a return to Melromarc to clean up a little more, then onto the next arc!

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!