"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
...
"That's better. You see, I'm new in town and wanted to know more about the neighborhood before I decide how to act next... You will tell me everything and serve me until I have no need of you. After that, you can run off to do as you like... Now, I want to know about the heroes of this world, the powers in play, and most importantly... Who on this side opened that wave?" Large centipedes came from the man's sleeves and wrapped around Kalbur many times, there seemed to be no end to them.
...
Naofumi and his family wasted little time in getting things in order. They decided to teleport to the capital ahead of everyone else for a number of reasons. Convincing Leon to not guard Ren was a bit of a hassle, but he relented. They decided to take Mia and Godiva with them to treat them. It took some effort to wake Mia enough for her to agree to join the party while in a daze. Naofumi stored, but did not absorb the bodies of Mia's fallen party members. Filo didn't want to leave Melty's side, but she knew she'd see her soon.
Before they left, though, there were a lot of conversations to have. Naofumi wanted to hurry this along. He wanted to be some place alone with the family. Before that, he checked his shields.
"That's bullshit!" Naofumi yelled out of nowhere.
"Language." Raphtalia responded without knowing the context.
"Well, it's unfair." Naofumi corrected himself.
"What's bullshit?" Teal asked.
Raphtalia gave Naofumi a look for leading Teal to curse.
"All the shields I offered, when they returned to me after the skill died, they became unmastered. Now it'll take me 20 days to get them mastered again. That wasn't in the warning." Naofumi grumbled.
"The family shields come first, right?" Raphtalia asked.
"Of course. Speaking of, I have the ability to grant shield abilities... I've only determined the best shields to give you and Filo." Naofumi said to Teal. "I can't just choose an 'Okay' option for the rest, there's no taking it back. So, the rest of you will have to wait until I find just the right shield." Naofumi said to Raphtalia.
"Granting Filo power and not Leon at the same time? That's asking for trouble." Teal commented.
"Well, I have to master it first anyways. Also [Love] will keep them from hurting each other." Naofumi responded.
"So... What do I get?" Teal asked in excitement.
"I was thinking the [Bioplant Shield]. You'd be able to adjust anything you like with it, any plant you command or even yourself."
"Hmm, That sounds great, but I don't have your [Inspect] with bonuses." Teal thought aloud.
"You can feel your way through the options and besides, I can help you get comfortable with it." Naofumi offered.
"But then you'd need me to do anything plant related." Teal pointed out.
"What's wrong with that? Needing others isn't a bad thing." Naofumi answered naturally.
Raphtalia and Teal noticed Naofumi's improved attitude and shared a look. He loved them and he admitted it to himself at last. When the chance presented itself, he'd let them know. They deserved to know.
"Anyways... please keep making ingredients for now. That Godiva looked like it'd take a while to treat." Naofumi asked Teal, while he and Raphtalia got up to leave the cart.
"Where are you going?" Teal asked.
"We are getting all the talks done now, I want to be back in the capital and away from all this as soon as possible." Naofumi answered with a wave.
...
Speaking with Van
...
"Ah, shield hero. I'm glad that this nastiness is behind us. I was hoping to speak with you." Van greeted.
"To convince me to stay?" Naofumi asked.
"...Among other things." Van admitted.
"Then other things first, if you don't mind." Naofumi asked.
"Oh well, I thought that you both would like to know that Keel and the other former slaves are safe." Van informed them.
"Where is he?" Raphtalia asked.
"In what remains of Lurolona Village. It was decided that all the non-combatants would go there instead of the northern wilderness. Once we were fully aware of their numbers, we figured they would have the men to properly sweep the area. It was a risk that I wasn't willing to take. Lurolona Village had no inhabitants before they moved there, so they'd not check there for some time." Van told them.
"Is there... Is there anything left there? Do they have shelter?" Raphtalia asked with a mixture of worry and pain.
"I was told that they mostly had to use tents, but that some houses remained standing." Van told her.
"..." She had a lot of feelings now.
"How long do they plan to remain there?" Naofumi asked.
"Only until my message reaches them. A few showed interest in living by the sea and Keel seemed adamant about not abandoning the village. They lack the manpower and resources, but in a few years Lurolona Village may return in one form or another." Van offered.
"Thank you for such wonderful news..." Raphtalia settled on happy.
"As to the other topic..." Van tried to pivot the conversation clumsily.
"Yes?" Naofumi gave the man a break.
"I know you are aware of the changes that are about to take place, it'll take years. If that isn't enough to dissuade you then know that I will assist you in any way I can, if you stay." Van offered.
"I already have a few ideas, but I'll be honest, I can't stay completely. Even if it is the case that everything works out and I somehow am convinced to stay, I have promises I can't go back on. I will have to travel the world and register to the many hourglasses. I can base myself out of anywhere, using the teleporting functions to return whenever, but I made a promise to a being that could have killed everyone in today's battle on both sides in less than an hour tops... I can't afford to piss her off." Naofumi was more honest with him than he'd be with most.
"That would probably be for the best in many ways. I would never attempt to make you feel guilty about wanting to help people. It is my own desire to be of help to you that wants you to stay. I want the opportunity to help you and your family." Van said earnestly.
"...I'll consider it." Naofumi liked Van's approach.
After leaving Van's cart, Raphtalia made her desire to travel to Lurolona Village known to Naofumi. Something he already guessed. He'd head there before they traveled in search of other hourglasses.
...
Speaking with Mirellia
...
Next was the queen. She had invited Naofumi to her cart to discuss things, just Naofumi. He pretended like he misunderstood and brought Raphtalia along.
"And this is...?" The queen asked.
"Raphtalia... You said you needed to speak to us?" Naofumi brushed past it, forcing the queen to let it go.
The queen was not happy with that, she wanted to speak with him one on one, but he seemed aware enough to deny her the chance, at least at this point.
"Ah, Raphtalia? If I remember correctly, you were the one who defeated lord Rabier, correct?" The queen began by acknowledging her instead of ignoring her, maybe Naofumi would appreciate that.
"Yes, I did." Raphtalia answered promptly.
"Then I thank you for that. You've done Melromarc a great service." The queen needed to be nice to her, according to Eclair.
"It needed to be done. I was among the slaves he tortured, I had to insure there wouldn't be anymore." Raphtalia commented.
"...Melty told me the details. I was unaware that something like that was happening in my kingdom. Lord Wymarc left to handle a similar situation in Crowood. Things are about to take a turn for the better soon." The queen vaguely promised.
"I know we are trying to play nice, but I'm calling bullshit on that. Even ignoring the fact that you allowed slavery in this country, I think I have a pretty good way to prove that you don't care." Naofumi broke in. Raphtalia didn't try to stop his rudeness
"You do not understand the many moving parts tha-" The queen went to explain more or less the things that Eclair had already explained to him.
"I know why there was slavery. I'm aware that many of those reasons no longer remain and things may be changing, even if I have to wait for Melty to be the one that does it... To my point though, I have a question; are you or were you aware of what happened in Raphtalia's village." Naofumi cut to the chase.
"That is one of the things I wanted to discuss. I was made aware of it. By the time it happened I was just being informed of lord Seaetto's death. I hadn't the time to protect them, they were already attacked." The queen explained.
"I can appreciate that, I really can..., but was it not the king who-" Naofumi went to accuse the king.
"I know what you may believe, but he did not order that, he had no hand in it. You may not believe me, but the worst my husband did was not offer help. He didn't proactively protect the place after the wave, but he didn't have anything to do with the attack." The queen was both commanding and iron in those words.
"...I don't believe that, though, we have no evidence to the contrary." Raphtalia affirmed.
"We'll get an answer out of him on the matter then... Here's the question that'll tell me how much you care... Where are the other villagers? The one's that weren't killed, the ones that became slaves. Where are they? You have an entire spy network, they are your subjects. Surely you kept track of them." Naofumi asked.
The queen was quiet a moment.
"Contrary to what you may believe, I do not have infinite resources. I had to keep track of my enemies and protect myself from assassination during this time, as well as keep track of the heroes and my enemies here. I do not know where they went." The queen answered honestly.
Raphtalia's eyes lit up and Naofumi smiled knowing the queen fell into his trap.
"But now that those are no longer a problem, you have spies freed up to search for them?" Raphtalia asked it in a hopeful manner. She was forcing the queen to agree and the queen could tell that it was not Raphtalia's intent.
"Yes. I swear to begin to track them down. I will do what I can to make things right, including the wrongs against you, shield hero. So, please give me the chance to keep that promise." The queen was pushed into promising.
Naofumi was not interested in telling the queen off. He was interested in protecting his family and making them happy. Doing all that he can to see Raphtalia happy was his goal in this talk, he had little interest of his own.
"Then we will do so. We'll put a pin in that for now and give you time..." Naofumi dropped it easy enough. He knew he had the leverage to be a real cunt in these talks, but he'd prefer if that didn't have to happen.
"On that note though... Lurolona Village already has residents returning to it. I'm not going to play at this, please send some form of aid and protection. What happened when you weren't here can't be excused, but I get it. If the place suffers again while you are in Melromarc..." Naofumi spoke again.
"I will do so of course. You can watch to make sure that I do so, if you are willing, then please stay in Melromarc. I can offer you a lot, justice for your troubles being the first thing. And as mentioned, you can stay and make sure I keep my word." The queen offered.
"...You know, I'm not going to play at this either... I could go back and forth with you, go through offer and counter offer, but it would do us both some good to just avoid that. I'm not keen on staying. A lot would need to happen to change that..., but it isn't impossible, that'll depend on you, mostly." Naofumi once again did his best to cut through the shit.
"Leaving Melromarc seems to make little since... unless this family of yours is all pretend." The queen mentioned offhandedly.
"Oh, really? Why's that?" Naofumi was immediately pissed off.
"Because this is the only major nation that wouldn't want to steal your children away. Zeltoble would want to buy your children, not unlike lord Wagner did. Just like lord Wagner, saying 'no' only delays them. They would do whatever they could to get a hold of monsters as powerful as them and have them fight for the amusement of others in the Colosseum, having them fight, suffer, and die to make coin. As a parent, I assume you wouldn't want that?" Mirellia informed him softly.
Naofumi and Raphtalia froze at that.
"Faubrey is a beacon of marvelous inventions that add convenience and luxury to the lives of even the commoners. If you want the comforts of your old world, that'd be the place to go. Once again, the children wouldn't fair well there. As I said, it has the best technology around and that's because of their experimentation and lack of ethics. They would want to get their hands on them for a series of experiments... The good news is if they survive all the torture, they may give them back to you when they are done with them." The Queen said, now hiding her smile behind her fan
They both squirmed at that.
"Siltvelt would also go after your children, but you would be surrounded in pleasure. They would want you for breeding stock, so even Raphtalia would need to 'have an accident'. You'd get your pick of the litter as it were, or more accurately, as many as you can manage. Siltvelt believes the biological children of the shield hero is of great importance and having you claim children that aren't yours biologically will be seen as making you want less biological children." The queen said slowly.
They both had disgusted looks at that.
"You could settle with a smaller nation, but they lack the resources to focus on your growth and, of course, lack the power to protect your family from all the previously mentioned groups. Melromarc is the only nation that you can safely have the family that you want... However, would this not make more sense to discuss all this after the trial? In truth, I just wished to speak to you today to understand your character." The queen responded. They were both stunned and trying to recover from those thoughts.
"...Fine, then I'd like to talk about the trials. I'd like both that trash king and that bitch to have a slave crest during the trial. I want them honest." Naofumi felt that he lost all momentum in this conversation and wanted it back.
"I planned to place a crest on Malty, but I can't do so to my husband. He is immune." The queen answered.
"He won't be." Naofumi responded quickly.
"...Explain." The queen wasn't getting it.
"You say that because heroes can't be slaves, but that trash won't be a hero after I see him next." Naofumi alluded.
"...What are you talking about? How would one of the seven star heroes just stop being a hero?" The queen was equal parts curious and concerned.
"Fitoria, the queen of all filolials the world over, told me some bits of ancient knowledge. Among them was a way to revoke his staff. So, yes, I want a crest on him. I have a specific question that has honestly kept me up at night and I want to get some sleep." Naofumi divulged.
"Stripping him of his staff, though... That may be best... for many reasons... If it is true and you can do so, then I will..., but what happens to the staff? We need all the heroes we can get." The queen moved on easily.
"I plan to give it to Liviccic. Fitoria told me that normally they can find new masters on their own, but that it may be possible to grant it to someone of my choosing as long as the weapon isn't opposed to it. So, assuming the staff agrees, it'll be him." Naofumi answered.
"...Lord Blackcrown? Are you sure? He has a large amount of power already, too much if you ask me. Granting him the staff too... Even excluding that, there are a number of reasons to pick someone else. He is too young, he has many duties as a lord to perform while also needing to learn those duties as he goes, and he frankly doesn't seem to need it." The queen pointed out.
"I'm willing to hear out alternatives, but Liviccic is my ally, so he's going to be hard to top, for me." Naofumi told her.
"Any other demands for the trial?" The queen asked coldly.
"The heroes will be put on trial, correct?" Naofumi matched her eye, not backing down.
"I'd like to avoid that if possible." She blankly stated.
"Motoyasu tried kidnapping our daughter, fought me in two illegal duels then tried to kill our other daughter." Naofumi started.
The queen knew this was going to happen.
"Ren killed Gaelion, in doing so he caused a large number of deaths in Mirso Village and it led to Wymarc's youngest dying. It also left Gaelion's adoptive demi-human daughter to be sold into slavery." Naofumi continued.
She might have to spite the other heroes...
"Itsuki tried to kill our oldest and according to Liviccic, he broke into his house, stole from the local shop and then tried to kill him in front of all of his men." Naofumi finished.
Somethings needed to be made clear on her end.
"I will not spite the other heroes if I can't keep you. You've shown yourself to be more important than the other three combined. So, of the two groups, I'd choose you. So if you promise to stay here for the safety of both of us then they stand trial." The queen explained.
"Even though public shame is the only punishment they'll receive, the same as me?" Naofumi was annoyed.
The queen understood him, but felt he didn't understand her. "I can't lose all four heroes, Melromarc would never recover. So promise me that you we stay and I'll-"
"You will avoid justice if it suits you?" Raphtalia asked in a disappointing tone.
"I will do whatever I need to, if it keeps the people safe." The queen shut Raphtalia down.
"...That's fair, but so is my request. I make no promises to you and you do what you think is the best for your country." Naofumi let it fall for now.
"Then I suppose there is no point in discussing this further at this point." The queen also dropped it.
"We do have one request, one unrelated to the trial, the heroes, or any of that." Raphtalia started.
"What would that be?" The queen asked.
The queen was becoming frustrated. They can't expect her to give in to their demands if they won't even promise to stay.
"You have spied on us for a while, so you are aware of our kids, all of them?" Raphtalia questioned. Naofumi understood.
"...Yes." The queen eventually answered.
"We'd like you to keep anything related to Monti from as many people as possible. We'll kill anyone who threatens our children, but it'd be better that it never come to that in the first place." Raphtalia requested.
"Monti? That's the wave beast? I'll be honest, I have minor concerns myself, but from the reports I've heard, he seems to be of no threat unless provoked. I was already planning on keeping that under wraps, consider it done." The queen obliged.
"Is there anything else?" Naofumi asked.
"Like I said, I want to know your character." The queen reminded him.
"What do you want to know?" Raphtalia asked.
"How about we discuss the towns in my nation you have visited. It'd be nice to hear your opinion on them. After all, you are both new to this world and were acting as a merchant at the time." The queen explained to Naofumi, even though Raphtalia was the one that asked.
They spoke for some time in a more relaxed manner. The queen used the details he remembered and in what order to roughly get a sense of him. He remembered the bad and those who wronged him prominently, but somehow the conversation looped back to the kids every time. This told her that revenge would certainly please Naofumi, but as Eclair told her, that the safety of their family was paramount to the both of them. She even managed some good will when they discussed Melty and how she played well with the kids.
It wasn't very productive for the queen overall. She was made aware of their concerns, but she would not receive an answer until the trials were over. She would do what she could to secure Naofumi, but not without assurances.
...
Talking with the others
...
Specifically Liviccic, Sophia, Silvius, Fitts and Chloe.
They and the other upper staff of Briarhaven were discussing things. When they saw Naofumi and Raphtalia approaching, they broke their talk to wave them over.
"What's with the gathering?" Raphtalia asked.
"Just giving Fitts advice for the trial." Sophia answered.
"What!? But he didn't do it!" Naofumi yelled.
"Well duh, but the queen still has to make his innocence official. We were just discussing what happens afterwards." Chloe explained.
"Can he not return to being a knight?" Raphtalia asked.
"Even if I would like to, which I don't, I still killed a dozen or so knights in self-defense, they had friends and family who will hate me." Fitts lamented.
"Hmm, demand a lordship." Naofumi blurted out.
"W-What!?" The group exclaimed.
"You heard me. You helped take down a greater lord, the queen allowed you to remain guilty for like two months. Demand a lordship." Naofumi said calmly.
"H-He can't just demand something of the queen like that... Besides she only allowed that lie to persist because challenging it would reveal that she knew their plan." Silvius defended.
"That doesn't make it right. That was a living hell and I killed just as many good people as I did bad to survive it, all while she did nothing..." Fitts said, thinking the idea over.
"If she's concerned about power, I have you covered. You three are level forty, right?" Naofumi pointed at Silvius, Fitts and Chloe. "Then when you get back to the capital, I'll have Filo double your stats." He offered.
The Briarhaven upper staff lost it at such an offer, but they knew it was true through Liviccic and Sophia.
"Are you sure?" Fitts asked.
"Of course. Besides, it helps me out. I'm going to stack the deck against her. She will replace those racist lords with tolerant ones and I'm going to see how many of my allies I can slip in. See her ignore me when I have all this influence." Naofumi schemed so openly that it made a few of them uncomfortable.
"Are you not leaving Melromarc?" Liviccic asked.
"...New information has us reconsidering..." Raphtalia answered.
"Then I will try. If it fails, then I-We are probably going to Zeltoble. No offense, but I am quite upset that I was thrown to the wolves and not helped at all by the queen. If she doesn't at least try to atone for it or appease me, I'm out." Fitts decided.
"I'm right there with you." Naofumi joked.
"I'm sure the queen understands her position well. She currently doesn't have a lot of moves, not that I'm looking to check her. I also want something from her." Liviccic admitted.
"She returns and everyone starts bullying her, sad." Sophia joked.
"Of course, play with her too roughly and she'd get her pound of flesh at some point." Silvius warned. Everyone nodded.
"Maybe from you two. Mine is a very small request. She'll likely agree on the spot, after which I'll swear fealty." Liviccic explained.
"You aren't dreaming big enough then." Naofumi joked.
"...I have too much power now. I don't want to be seen as a huge threat, especially to those that would be my allies. It happened quickly, but I'm now pretty important. I have to tread lightly." Liviccic expressed.
They all spoke a bit longer before Naofumi started to get ready to leave.
"Heading out?" Liviccic asked.
"Yeah. Going to see a few more people then grab the extended party and warp to the capital." Naofumi answered.
"Extended party?" Sophia asked, looking at the party in her menu.
"Ah, those two... Good luck." Sophia offered in a sad tone.
"Yeah..." They waved goodbye and went to their last group before leaving.
...
Talking with Melty
...
They found Melty, Eclair and luckily enough, Ake.
"Good, I needed to speak to you three before we leave." Naofumi spoke.
Eclair immediately stood. "Please don't leave Melromarc yet. I'm sure w-"
"Relax. We are going to the capital ahead of you." Naofumi corrected her.
"Then take me with you... and these two... and a few other knights. I can remove the lock-down on the castle and try and restore some amount of order before my mother arrives." Melty asked.
"If she is okay with it..., but you're doing it for two other reasons." Naofumi told her.
"A-And they are?" Melty acted as if he couldn't know.
"You want to clean up your room, so to speak, before your mother returns to the castle. To show her you can do things on your own..." Naofumi guessed the first one.
"...Yeah." Melty admitted.
"And you want to get a little more playing in with Filo and the kids before your mother returns and you have to go back to being boring." Raphtalia guessed the second one.
"I'm not boring! That's rude." Melty denied.
They shared a laugh at Melty's expense.
"Before we forget, Ake?" Raphtalia reminded Naofumi.
"Yes?" Ake answered nervously.
"Ah, yeah, when the hourglass is up and running again, come find us. We'll let you receive the double stat class upgrade too." Naofumi offered.
"It truly is a powerful ability... Like no other." Eclair said in a low voice.
"Don't say that in front of Leon. Telling him that Filo has a better ability than him is asking for an argument." Melty joked.
"I plan on handing it out whenever we feel like. It's honestly the most powerful thing in our arsenal. Being able to grant such a huge power up to our allies keeps us so far ahead of the curve." Naofumi revealed.
"The family series sounds like it'll be better." Raphtalia argued.
"Family series?" Melty asked.
"Heh, yeah, get a load of this-" Naofumi explained the shields to the three.
"So the shield accepts it? That is comforting to know." Melty expressed.
"We thought so too." Raphtalia responded with a smile and nod.
"...Well, go get your permission slip for this field trip." Naofumi told Melty.
She stood there in confusion.
"Dammit, it m-" Naofumi wen to explain.
"Language." Raphtalia said automatically.
"...It means go ask your mother, it was something from my old world, forget it." Naofumi grumbled.
Raphtalia flinched. Naofumi said 'my old world' instead of just 'my world'. Was she to take that to mean that this world was now 'my new world' in his mind? Melty and the others didn't catch that and they left to gather some men and speak to the queen.
...
Back to the kids
...
They returned to the kids, holding each other's hand.
"When did we start doing that? ...If anyone gives us shit, I'll give it right back... Unless it's Teal." Naofumi thought.
They were gathered quietly, as the still unconscious Godiva and a dazed Mia was making the trip as well. Naofumi whispered to the group.
"We'll wait a bit for Melty, but either way... When we get back I want a talk with all of you, ignore the others for a bit, okay?" Naofumi asked and they all nodded.
Roughly seven minutes later, Melty came back with 10 knights, two of them being Eclair and Ake. Naofumi motioned for everyone to be quiet as they communicated silently a moment. After Melty and Naofumi got into some kind of weird hand motion argument, they both gave up.
[Portal Shield]
[An error has occurred]
[Portal Shield is currently limited to 6 targets]
Naofumi sighed heavily. "Limit of six, five besides myself. I'll teleport right back here in 50 minutes." Naofumi explained.
"I'll just have these two come with me then." Melty said, dismissing the other eight of her knights.
Naofumi left Filo and Teal there, taking Mia and Godiva with them.
[Portal Shield]
They teleported to the hourglass... that was in the three heroes church... At the sight of the shield hero, the few remaining church members that occupied the church scattered. None escaped with Naofumi blocking the exits with [Air Strike Shield]. Monti slowly made his way around the large room, paralyzing everyone. They'd remain that way long enough for long enough for Melty to have them arrested when she arrived.
They quickly exited the church. It was late at this point, tomorrow they'd go to the shops and give the good news. They got two rooms as always, but needed an extra bed for Mia and Godiva. They moved them into their bed and waited there for a time. Needing Naofumi to make to more trips. While waiting, Naofumi stole a glance at the holy replica still on Monti's arm in shield form. He placed a hand on it.
.
[Copy Successful]
[Ancient Shield]
+3 def, +7 mdef
[Ability: Magic Rend] Increases the effectiveness of counter magic.
[Unique Ability: Magic Blocker] Passively attempt to counter spells on impact with self.
.
"...Just need Raphtalia's and Monti's then..." Naofumi thought to himself.
Soon enough, Naofumi told them he'd be back and returned to the others, adding them to his next jump in 50 minutes. Naofumi was still a swirl of emotions and wanted to have the chance to set everything straight with Raphtalia and the kids, but being separated from some of them was more than a little annoying at the moment. Naofumi told them of the downed church followers, but otherwise didn't talk much, wanting time to pass quickly. The others picked up on this and left him alone for the most part.
An eternity later, they teleported back. They were still in the room with two unconscious people, so they couldn't be too loud. They all gave each other some parting words and left. After that, Naofumi locked the kids' door, taking the family to the other room. They were curious as to what Naofumi wanted to talk about. They couldn't really celebrate while also avoiding being loud.
And there was much to celebrate, they reached level 51 from today. It would have been much higher, but they avoided killing people. Naofumi gained two levels too, but that was less important. They won, their enemies lost and they could focus on being happy. They'll rebuild their cart, this time just the family working on it. They'd make it as good a home as they can and... everything would be better.
Before he spoke, he paused, gathering his thoughts. They waited, feeling it was important.
"There's something I have to tell you all, something I should have said before, but I just wasn't brave enough... When your mother and I were inside that dome, I couldn't see any of you in my menus. I couldn't call you or summon you... I had that option since the day any of you were born, but I didn't today and I was terrified." Naofumi began to shake.
"I sent you off to battles I didn't know if you were going to win. I could have sent you to your deaths and I had no way to know or save you. I felt so helpless and stupid in that moment... And that's because... I love all of you! I know I never said it before, but I've loved you long before I was brave enough to say it, please believe me... So, don't risk yourselves like that again. I'd rather we fail than lose any one of you." Naofumi said hugging them, Raphtalia doing the same from behind.
"Me too, I was also sick with worry and I love each of you. Nothing is more important." Raphtalia added.
"Things will be different now. I want us to succeed, but I want us to be happy... The shield already agrees, this feeling, this family, it's real." Naofumi was tearing up a bit.
The kids were too. None of them had noticed that their parents never used that word. They felt that word through their actions, but actually hearing it was something they all craved, even though they didn't know that until right in this instance.
They held each other for a time, before they remembered there was a world outside of their embrace. Slowly, they backed up and grew quiet.
"...Your mother and I talked with the queen and it seems that the rest of the world is even worse than here... We'll check with others to confirm, but we might stay here..." Naofumi told them.
Filo was happy to not leave Melty, Teal and Leon had no opinion, Monti didn't like it.
"If..." The beginning of a thought escaped Monti's mouth.
"If what?" Raphtalia encouraged him to finish.
"If there isn't a place for us, then we have to make one..." Monti said.
They agreed, they had the power and resources now. At his words, Naofumi and Raphtalia got an idea. They thought of how to start making such a place.
They all spoke for a time, but it was late and Filo and Leon were already partially asleep. They'd talk more in the morning. They gave them all a hug and wished them a good night. The kids slowly marched out of their parent's room, Teal seeming very eager to leave. After that, Naofumi shut the door behind them and paused a moment.
The real bravery begins now.
He turned around to feel Raphtalia running into him, half crying. They placed their arms around each other as Raphtalia tried to calm down enough to speak.
"Naofumi-sama... I love you too. I also wasn't brave enough to say it, but it's true. You've been the source of every good thing that has happened to me in some time and likely the source of every good thing I'll ever have. I want nothing more than to live with you and the kids, traveling like we did, what we have right now is more than I could ever hope to have. This... You... is all that I ever wanted." Raphtalia said, jumping between thoughts.
"...I know... you weren't exactly subtle... You're right. This is all that matters. Us... and the kids, nothing else matters. I kept on wanting to take things slow... I tried to be less than honest with myself and my feelings. I acted like after some kind of arbitrary amount of time, it'd be the right time, but now, after almost dying... It feels so damn stupid. No more hesitation, no more second guessing. ...So, I'm not letting go." Naofumi responded.
Raphtalia all but attacked Naofumi as he did his best to match her. The kids heard the noises up against the door and went to check on them.
"Don't. Even. Dare." Teal warned.
"I just want to make sure that they're okay. I'll ju-" Monti went to move past Teal.
Teal grew to nearly nine feet tall and grew a lot of arms, grabbing them all and began to drag them into their own room.
"Monti, you're in charge, but in this one exact case, I am vetoing you." Teal said as she forced the door to their room closed.
She had never smelled such strong pheromones. It made it difficult to sleep, but she did. Filo and Leon crashed quickly enough. Monti was the last to sleep, looking at the replica that he had snatched. It made him feel all the more officially Naofumi and Raphtalia's son, not that he needed any more confirmation. Just before he slipped off to sleep, he thought of the voice that warned him in time to save himself.
It felt like the voices that told him to kill during his first wave...
.
[Author's Notes]
Still no trial. I know, I'm a monster.
The queen explains how screwed Naofumi's family would be anywhere else. Even if they stay, they have to travel to these places and deal with their bullshi-I mean their issues.
Naofumi is still making plays, if he's stuck here, he's "stacking the deck" as he said.
Ake, Fitts, Chloe, and Silvius have all been approved for their unfair boost by Naofumi.
I'm obviously not going into detail as to the actives that are occurring in Naofumi and Raphtalia's room. Imagine it if you want. Perverts.
A few more things are to happen before the trial. Melty removing the lock-down and meeting with her father in the dungeon, dealing with Mia and Godiva, saying hello to the Erhart, the magic shop keeper, seeing if Beloukas has received Wyndia yet.
So you will likely not get the trails until after that. I plan to make the trials one long chapter.
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