"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
"Thank you for saving us." the older one said.
"And thanks for being there for our little brother... to the end." The younger one said.
Naofumi acted like he didn't care and turned to exit the keep, but he was just hiding his tears from them. The feeling he felt as that little boy died in his arms was going to stay with him for some time, possibly the rest of his life.
...
Naofumi and the others returned to their cart and made as fast an exit from the town as they could without looking suspicious. The day was spent going easy. They felt they needed some more comfort, Naofumi especially.
But Naofumi and Teal were already discussing that they needed more than intermediate medicine and mid-level ingredients. This experience showed them that despite the many advantages they possess, it wasn't enough. Even once they have advanced medicines, made from high-end ingredients coupled with far better healing magic... Something like this could still happen again.
Naofumi couldn't help, but think of the words he heard from that old woman he healed, "There's never a point in your life that you can't do better or be more."
With that in mind, he began to scrutinize himself and the rest of the party more.
Raphtalia, Monti and Filo were level 40, but seemed to not move passed that, while he was currently level 46. He'd need to figure out why. Teal was still not level 40 herself, they had been stopping for fewer monsters lately...
Then he thought of the unhatched dragon. With the growth rate increase, it should hatch much sooner. Once it does, they'd need to prioritize leveling the little one up. They'll be notably weaker than the rest of the party by the time the next wave hit... which was closer than he liked.
He'd also need to return to the capital early. He had clothes that needed to be made, grimoires to be purchased, studying in those grimoires to be done, he needed to talk to Beloukas to start tracking down Gaelion's adoptive child, He needed to buy a new sword for Raphtalia and maybe armor, see if his transforming metal idea worked, and make his gift for the kids.
He'd need three days before the wave to just do that much... Which means they'll have to return to the capital in a week's time...
Naofumi pulled out his [Map Shield] and used [World Map]
"Then we'll head north. Haven't really went there. From there I can use a well established road to... no, Hickwaal has a a mine about there and I've yet to use that pass he gave me... I have the metal and gems needed to make what I plan, but if I could get by without dipping into Gaelion's hoard, the better... Though for the dragon, I'll use the hoard. Neither Gaelion nor his other child should mind that."
There was a lot to do and that wasn't even counting the upgrade items Naofumi and Teal were working on. Though that was even more difficult, but because it required making and killing plant monsters over and over again for certain drops, he wanted to wait until the dragon hatched. It'd be a fast and safe way to gain it levels.
After much consideration he let the party know his change in plans. They headed north.
...
Windingbrook's Keep
...
All the servants and the two noble sons positioned themselves to welcome the lord back. As they went to bow as the door opened, the door slammed and the lord ran in.
"Where are my sons!? Are they doing better!?" He shouted.
It filled his sons' hearts to know he'd drop formality for them, they knew how formal he usually was.
The maid spoke, "My lord... Both Eldreick and Dedrerick have made a full recovery thanks to the healer known as the savior of the heavenly fowl."
The Lord relaxed a bit. He saw his sons and rested his hands on their heads as if to check if they were real.
"Ah, thank heavens. We've heard a lot about that healer in the capital. At this rate he might earn a lordship himself... Where is my youngest? Where's Frederick"
Every servant's head fell, the eldest son spoke.
"He... He's gone father. I'm sorry. I was suppose to be watching him-"
The lord stopped listen and ran towards Fredrick's room. On the way there he spotted the open door to his eldest son's room. In it lay his youngest son, wrapped in a blanket the boy's mother made for him, years prior.
He slowly stumbled into the room and fell to his knees as he took hold of his son, he wept.
Several minutes later the maid entered the room and grabbed the spherical crystal from the corner.
"I know how you must feel my lord. When your wife passed, you were not there and now one of your sons too... This recording crystal recorded his last few hours and his final words. I wouldn't want you to experience them, but I believe there's a truth in it that you need to know..."
She handed it him and with a moment of hesitation, he began showing the recording, still holding his child's body.
The maid closed the door and left him alone. She and the rest of the servants resumed their duties. The sons didn't know what to do. They decided to await their father.
The lord watched as Naofumi and Teal were brought in and began administrating medicine to his sons. His shock became fascination as he saw just how hard and intricate the shield heroes attempts at saving the children became.
Then the other three arrived and he watched as he crystal showed all of them working together to save his sons. The lord was becoming deeply moved, seeing all the effort and large amount of medicine they were using to save his sons. He imagined that his wife would of absolutely made it, had she a healer as talented as the shield hero tending to her.
And finally near the recordings end, it showed him his sons last words. Him talking about how much pain he was in and how he knew he was about to die. His only relief was the shield hero, who held him in his final moments and did all that he could.
The lord was obviously very sad, but equal fury now dwelled within him.
He picked up his son and made his way to his two remaining sons. He showed them select parts of the recording. He made sure to show his eldest the part where the youngest blamed themselves for what happened, hoping it would absolved him a bit.
He sat there with what remained of his family for a time. He let his son's say some parting words to their brother's body. It was sad, but also the first moment they had as a family in nearly a year.
The lord resolved himself of a few drastic decisions he was making, then spoke to his sons.
"The man who healed you two. He is called the savior of the heavenly fowl. Under that name his has saved a number of lives and I'm sure many more I haven't heard of yet..., but his real identity is the shield hero..."
"Wha...? But I thought the shield hero was a criminal, that's what everyone says." his middle child (now youngest child) said.
"That must be why he used this identity of savior... Listen the both of you... The king has been far from fair to the shield hero. I've witness foolish actions one after another. The king seems to want the shield hero to fail. Past grudges blind him to the gift this man has been to the people..."
He looked them in the eyes.
"Now how do deal with this...?"
"I will be leaving one more time in a few weeks or so, I don't really know an exact time. After that, I'm stepping down as advisor. I want to be here to protect my family. The duties of a father come before the duties of a lord. Remember that, both of you."
"Can't you quit from here? I don't want you to leave again" the eldest asked.
"I wont be leaving until the actions of other parties are made more clear... So until then I'll prepare and spend as much time with you two as I can... I know this isn't fair, but I must."
The boys nodded, understanding some of what he said, but not all.
"I was throwing away perfectly good words of wisdom at a king no longer worthy of the crown while my children suffered and one died. I'd be all alone in this world with no family left if not for the shield hero... I'd be pleased if Balmus's plan rid us of what remains of our 'wise king', but his actions will also threaten the man that saved all I still have. I'd like it if the king died and the shield hero lived... I may only be allowed one of those."
He looked down again at the recording. At Naofumi holding the child and rocking him back and forth, speaking to him softly. Filling his last moments with as much comfort as he could. All while crying himself. In that, he found his answer.
He wrote two letters, sealed in wax and gave each to a different rider, with instructions to leave right away.
"Please let me return alive. Not for myself, but my sons. They've lost so much already."
...
The following day
...
The Party/Family was more or less back to a normal routine, aside from Monti having to read his grimoire over again while watching the egg.
Naofumi and Raphtalia had already seen how much Monti has recovered, but based on the rate of recovery, he'd be flightless during the next wave. They needed to think of how to tell him. The problem was that his wings would be close to full recovery by that time. They knew how badly Monti wanted to preform well in the next wave, he wanted to take out the wave boss. If he pushed himself though, he'd only extend his overall recovery time.
They decided having the conversation sooner would be better, but before they could strike up that conversation the saw a town ahead.
According to their maps, there would only be one more town after this in their travel plans. So they had few chances to make money before the wave.
As always, they entered and set up shop. Some came when they saw the bird, many more came when Filo turned into her human form.
Back into normal medicine sales, things seemed smooth. The village also wasn't as big either. So they weren't that busy.
"...Monti, how are you feeling?" Naofumi seemed to ask out of nowhere.
"Um, fine I guess. My wing is still damaged..." Monti assumed this was about telling him some bad new he already expected.
"Good. Take Filo and Teal and go play some, okay? Kids should be out playing."
Raphtalia smiled in approval, handing them her ball.
Teal seemed to not mind manning the shop, she might even prefer it. However, The iron grip of Filo was not something to escape. As she drug Teal away with a hum, Monti followed just happy it wasn't him.
...
Roughly an hour later
...
Naofumi spoke to Raphtalia between customers, "Do you see them?"
"Those three? Yes."
"Should we approach them first? or maybe we should let them follow us out of town first?"
"Not sure..."
There was a commotion coming from one of the gates. A lady came up to Naofumi and Raphtalia in a near full run.
"S-savior, there seems to be a problem with your um, party members."
Without exchanging looks Raphtalia took to her feet and passed him the egg, "I'll go".
Naofumi made no attempt to stop her. He just kept selling his medicine, but he tried to keep one eye in the direction of the party.
Now alone, the three cloaked people who had been watching them approached. Naofumi wasn't liking this.
"We are very honored to meet you... Might we be able to speak in private?" the leading one said.
Naofumi felt like everyone around him must be stupid. He could tell by the two points on their hoods that something beneath them were holding those points up. Either animal ears or horns. So they were demi-humans...
"I guess this is a good stopping point. I'll hear you out while I break for lunch."
He said it in a casual way and they took that to mean that they hadn't gotten on his bad side. They were feeling pretty optimistic. Naofumi was wary of them however. He'd had no bad interactions with demi humans, but they could have approach when Raphtalia was still there, but they did not.
...
With the kids
...
Raphtalia made her way to the kids. She saw Monti, Filo and Teal to one side, five children and a few adults to the other. Her kids were calm. Of course some random town wouldn't have anything to threaten them. Meaning the stakes were rather low.
"Monti, what's going on?" Raphtalia simply asked.
Before Monti could speak, one of the other adults shouted.
"And now a damned demi too!? All you little freaks need to leave and give my child back that ball!"
Raphtalia ignored him, when he stopped talking Monti spoke. "We were playing. These kids wanted to play with us. We were fine for a while, but they tried to leave with your ball, so we took it back. We didn't touch them, honest."
"I said hand us the ball and scram!" The man added.
Raphtalia took a few more steps to stand between the growing crowd and the kids.
"That ball belongs to me, I let my children borrow it. It belongs to no one else."
Raphtalia spoke concisely, she could of probably tucked her tail made some platitudes and still left with her ball with everyone else happy, but her... However she wasn't just a person in this situation. She was trying to be a mother to these three. She wasn't completely use to it, but like Naofumi it brought a sense of joy to her to have lost her family and made a new one.
Indeed, she needed to show more backbone in front of the kids.
"Shut the hell up demi! The hell you talking back for? Do we need to beat your kind every time? Unable to learn otherwise?"
She decided to take the bait in a way.
"If you insist on trying to steal my property, then I will simply treat you as the thief you are."
The man was livid. He and two of his buddies started walking towards her. She made no movement.
They kept approaching her and she didn't move an inch.
Once the loudmouth was close enough he attempted to swing at her with his buddies planning to follow up on it. She stopped the mans arm with ease. After all, he was likely not higher than level five. She pushed him back with a force that caused him to fly into his buddies and land several feet away.
The crowd was stunned.
Raphtalia slowly walked up to the man as he was attempting to pick himself up and placed her foot on his back and forced him to stay down. Then she drew her sword and brought it's edge near his right hand.
"I believe it's common practice to sever the hands of a thief. Are you a thief?" Her voice was decidedly less warm than normal, but she couldn't quite make it cold.
The man realized just how badly he screwed up. She was an adventurer and a damned strong one too. He wouldn't buckle though, not to a damned demi...
He looked to his son who was paralyzed in fear. Watching his father in this situation. Guilt clear on his face.
"Come to think it... didn't he lose his ball a few days ago... I don't remembering him saying he found it... So it really wasn't his?" the man thought
"Ai, I'm no thief." The man sounded as defeated as he looked.
No sooner did the words leave his mouth, did Raphtalia remove her foot and began sheathing her sword as she made it back over to the kids.
Monti and Teal looked stunned. They truly didn't think their mother capable of acting like that. Filo on the other hand was barely paying attention. To her, this was always going to happen.
When she reached them, Filo asked, "If we were allow to just throw them around, why didn't we already."
Raphtalia bent down, meeting her eye to eye, "Because you should leave that kind of solution until you have no other choice."
She felt like a full adult mother in that moment.
"But you threw the guy withing 30 seconds of being here?" Filo chirped
"Um, well, y-you see... It's like I warned him, right?"
Somehow Filo accepted that answer.
She now felt like a kid no older than Filo in that moment.
...
Back at the cart at the same time.
...
Behind the cart, Naofumi (with the dragon egg securely in his pouch) started setting out the pots as the three men sat across from him. For a moment no one spoke, so Naofumi decided to seize the initiative.
"I understand the hoods, traveling as demi humans around here must be quite the pain."
The three stiffened, then they each removed their hoods to reveal themselves to him. Nothing outside expectations. two with large ears, one with small horns.
"We are sorry to intrude lord shield. We've come-"
"Wait. You know who I am?" Naofumi was less casual after that.
"Indeed. Fear not though. We have been searching all over for you, to invite you to our country of Siltvelt. We worship the shield hero, unlike this idiotic country that hates and demonizes you! We wanted to be at your side sooner, but you've been quite elusive!"
The man realized he may have been a bit too loud and lowers his voice some.
"I'm aware you come from another world, that you only know what they deem to tell you."
The next one spoke.
"Yes, we have vital information. Information you must be made aware of."
They proceeded to tell him about the worldwide waves, which he already knew. Then the three heroes church, which he knew. Lastly they spoke of their country and how the shield hero is worshiped as a literal god there.
"I knew most of that, but Siltvelt sounds nice. That'll probably be the first place we visit when I begin traveling to register to other dragon hourglasses."
That apparently wasn't good enough for them as the third one spoke
"I'd recommend you travel there immediately. If you simply load up your cart, the four of us-"
"Well, even if I wanted to, I'd have to wait for my family to return to the cart..., but you knew I wasn't traveling alone. Let me simply ask, why did you wait until I was alone to speak with me?"
The three flinched at the word 'Family'. They were a bit confused, but the middle one spoke.
"...I'm sorry if we did something to offend you, that wasn't our intentions. We-"
Naofumi was having none of it, "Then what were your intentions?"
"...Well um, lord shield. We merely can't trust anyone in this country, even a fellow demi human. This place... it's just awful, don't you agree?"
Naofumi ignored the obvious bullshit, "Of course. This place is the worst."
The man snatched at the chance, "R-right!? It's such a terrible place. So please consider leaving."
"Well..." Naofumi thought about how he wanted to go at this. He decided to be more honest than they were being.
"It's because this place is so awful, that I want to stay here. The royalty and nobles are terrible and the people suffer."
"That makes no sense!" The third shouted
"I'm a hero, the shield hero. I want to help the people... and in this shitty country, they need a lot of saving. I will continue staying here... If something happens and I can find no way to stay here, then Siltvelt is currently at the top of the list."
"I guess that's about all we're going to get, eh?" the second said to no one in particular
The other two stood, defeated. "It would seem..."
"Please remember, Siltvelt would go to war for you lord shield."
They began to leave, but Naofumi had one last jab.
"Well it was nice to meet you three. Hopefully the next time we meet, you guys will be a little less dishonest with me."
They flinched again, but kept going.
"It was more than just not trusting them, those three wanted to separate me from the others and take me alone to Siltvelt... I can't know who all they represent, but if I go there at some point... I'd hate to make another country hate me, things are already less than ideal."
...
Just a bit later Raphtalia and the kids returned. They both explained what happened to them. Filo and Teal had to add the details that Raphtalia 'forgot' to add. Naofumi didn't seem angry though. He was happy that Raphtalia was standing up for the kids. As long as they stood up for one another, everything would work out.
...
After they had a meal as a family they went to reopen the shop, but a few guards came to stop them.
"Savior. Are you aware that your companion assaulted a citizen of the village?"
Naofumi looked at the out-of-towners that eagerly awaited for the shop to reopen. Maybe he'd avoid butting heads for their sake.
"She told me. Did you arrest the man for trying to steal from my kids?"
"No. The theft of a toy worth five or so copper is hardly something for us to get involved in."
Naofumi really wanted to ask him how small a crime has to be from him to overlook it, but he was playing nice right now.
"Look, she held back. A lot. The only part of that guy that's still hurting is his pride. We plan to behave for the rest of our stay."
"We understand and appreciate her restraint. This isn't about that directly, but related to it... Some of the townsfolk believe this wouldn't of happened in the first place if you placed your monsters on a leash. It's common etiquette."
Those words definitely hit him the wrong way. He was tempted to use [Baleful Presence], but it seemed his natural anger and his armor bonuses did it for him.
The guards took two steps back and awaited what Naofumi would do. For his part, Naofumi tried to calm down. He knew what might happen if he got too angry.
"Either you bastards leave me and my family alone, right now... Or we are leaving."
The guards saw the people forming a line. They turned to each other.
"Just um, please ignore us savior." the guards retreated.
In his mind the deciding factor on where he wanted to put down roots at, came down to where he and his new family could just be free of all this ignorance and bigotry. He'd have to research the surrounding countries a bit.
For the remainder of their stay, there weren't any issues. They left that night, just to get away from any 'bullshit that was brewing' as Naofumi said.
...
Melromarc Embassy in Faubrey
...
The queen was just about to retire for the evening when the all too familiar breeze crept into the room.
"This late? How diligent. Can it not wait until morning?" Now setting on her bed.
he shadow appeared before her and took a knee.
"It's about the shield hero. If you want to wait until-"
The queen sighed, "No, no, proceed."
"Similar to the Lerno Village incident, Mirso Village was devastated by a sickness. The shield hero cured everyone there and-"
"Casualties?"
"... at least 100. It could be as high as 131 deaths, but we can't know how many people fled before it spread too badly instead of dying from the illness."
The queen was stunned. Over 100 of her subjects dead while she sat here in ignorance of it all.
"As I was saying though, the shield hero saved every person he treated and even removed the source of the sickness."
"... and what was the source?"
"The corpse of the dragon Gaelion, it-"
"Gaelion is dead!?"
This was devastating news. He was one of the strongest things in their realm and was quite reasonable. If the waves became bad enough there existed a very real possibility that Gaelion would aid them. This was beyond a disaster.
"How did Gaelion die!?"
The shadow had rarely seen the queen this upset. The news they were to give would probably do her no good.
"The sword hero had slain him as part of a quest."
The queen shook in anger.
"Who would dare!?"
"We are investigating. Early signs point to the Mirso Village lord. The shield hero had a rather heated exchange with him near the end of their visit. The lord gave the shield hero a large sum of coin though."
The queen wasn't sure she was getting any sleep tonight. This news was the worst. First the spear hero, now the sword hero. "Is the only decent hero the one we keep screwing over!?"
"Other... other news?" She was still a bit stunned.
"The shield hero returned from Gaelion's rest with a new egg, it's a habit at this point. Besides that, the shield hero left in a speed we simply couldn't keep up with. We've lost track of him, but he was heading down towards Windingbrook. We should catch up shortly if we haven't already."
"Of all the companions he's gathered... Gaelion's own flesh and blood is the closest thing to good he's received. I chalk that up as the rare good news... I don't have to tell you how important it is that you catch up to the shield hero, correct? I've already sent Melty. If this shield hero truly has a soft spot for kids as I suspect, then she is our best chance to make him see us in a favorable light. None of that matters if we can't locate him though."
"It will be done."
"Dismissed"
after the shadow left, the queen felt all the more tired. against her better judgement she decided to still retire. As she laid in bed, her mind wondered.
"Gaelion... He was well known during my grandmother reign and far longer before that... and he's gone. This powerful force that dwelled in the land I rule has been slain... If I-If we keep losing such resources, we are doomed..."
...
The following day.
...
Naofumi and Raphtalia were a little concerned that those comments from yesterday might of hurt the children's feelings badly, however neither Filo nor Teal really took the 'leash' comment that seriously. Monti however was thinking about something pretty deeply since then.
"Someone has something against each of us...Where could we go to be rid of this treatment?"
Seeing this, Naofumi decided to divide his attention.
"By the way Monti... Your mother and I have discussed it and you are not allowed to fly during the next wave. You'll need just a bit past that to fully heal."
Now that certainly pulled him out of whatever he was thinking about.
"I'm sure it'll be fine! We could increase the healing or-"
"Nope. This egg should of honestly already hatched, the growth bonuses and all that... When we face the next wave, I want you protecting them. Family comes first."
"But.. Y-yes dad..." Monti tucked his ears and his tail died by his side. Naofumi couldn't help, but think how similar Monti's mannerisms are to Raphtalia's.
Naofumi placed a hand on his head. He hated seeing that look.
"I know how much you want to do well in the wave, but your mother and I worry. Please don't hurt yourself. You're more important than that."
A nice father son moment was interrupted by a small movement. The egg was twitching.
"Oi, Filo stop the cart. The egg is hatching."
She did so, but really didn't see the big deal. Even though she took her time getting into the cart herself to watch the egg hatch with the family, the darn thing was still not done hatching.
"Stupid slow dragons, I hatched in like three seconds..."
The shell began to be punctured by tiny claws and teeth as the small creature inside alternated between opening the shell and peering outside it's shell.
As it shifted around and the number of holes increased it finally broke free what they were sure was a mighty roar in its head, but sounded like a cute attempt at a growl or hiss.
It had a slender body with small thin limbs, tail and wings included. It tried to pose itself in an intimidating manner. It's scales were a brooding deep dark blue paired with it's piercingly bright yellow eyes. It looked warily at the party, backing up a hair and hissing at Filo.
Of course, any attempt to act tough or dignified died the moment Naofumi offered it a piece of cooked meat from his [Inventory]. It took the meat right away and went to town on it. Raphtalia reached down to pick it up. It stopped a moment while she did so. It seemed a little annoyed by that, but after being handed a second piece of meat, all seemed forgiven.
"...Yeah I guess it's going to need a lot of protecting during that wave." Monti gave in at the sight of his newest sibling.
"Right? Looks super weak." Filo chirped
"Hmm, what is our newest sibling to be called?" Teal asked
While Naofumi used [Inspect] of it, Raphtalia was already trying to keep him from calling it something awful like 'Draco' or 'Drake'.
Naofumi saw it was a boy. He smiled as he made up his mind rather quickly. Raphtalia braced for something awful.
"How about... 'Leon' in honor of Gaelion...?"
Raphtalia flinched. "Did Naofumi actually offer a good choice?"
Monti and Teal seemed to agree to the name too.
Filo had no opinion on the name, but she was thinking. "Okay 'Leon'... Now to create the most annoying nicknames to torture- I mean to endure my yo...younger... brother."
It wasn't until this moment that Filo began to fully understand. This dragon was to be just as much a brother to her as Monti was and she was to be just as much a sister to him as Teal was.
"..." She was now thinking, unaware of her surroundings.
The dragon tilted it's head a bit, not sure how it felt about the name.
"Your name comes from the great dragon that sired you. A great dragon named Gaelion who fought to his dying breath to protect his family. You are not only our family now, but his living legacy... We're please to meet you."
Naofumi told Leon, who seemed to like the name quite a bit more, but maybe not as much as he'd like another piece of meat.
.
[Author's Notes]
Naofumi has his head in the game of improving himself and his family even more than before.
The lord made a decision and sent two letters as his opening act.
Raphtalia tried her best to be a mother to the kids, but she's not well suited to the role yet. It'll take more time.
Naofumi has now been officially offered a place in Siltvelt. How seriously will he consider the offer?
I felt Gaelion should be more well known. A pure dragon with an emperor shard that lived peacefully alongside the people of Melromarc for a very long time, why wouldn't he be well known?
The shadows temporarily lost Naofumi's trail. I wonder what events may happen that the queen may not learn of.
Leon is born, dark blue scales, bright yellow eyes, and I'm going with long black hair in human form.
Next chapter: Itsuki's fuck up and maybe some spooky scary skeletons if I can fit it in.
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