"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
...
He would do all that he could to provide for these people, now his people, now his town.
Soon enough this place would be home.
...
By the end of the first day, the home wasn't far enough along to have the people move in and Naofumi made people madder by ordering that the pregnant women got priority when it came to the little housing that was available. Naofumi would win them over later, but he would not budge on that point. Most people agreed, but there will always be disagreement.
Naofumi handed out the temperature control potions to those that complained, having found out how to make them on the days coming here. He wouldn't need to do this again, though. This second day would end with the building put together enough to solve those complaints.
This day was going to be hard work from start to finish, everyone understood that. The family had breakfast again, with Keel this time. Keel wanted more of that godly food he had before.
"I can't believe I'm level 24 in a day! That's so cool!" Keel shouted.
Keel was happy, but the level would have been way higher if Monti could have kept going. Holding the wave open, even when made small, was quite the strain. He couldn't do so for more than an hour. Still, if he kept at it today and tomorrow, it would barely not be enough. They'd need to grind at least one of the spots Ren told Naofumi about.
"We'll keep at it the same today, but we'll need to hit up one of these spots tomorrow. I know the people here might feel a certain way about us leaving once the house is done, though..." Naofumi told the group.
"You're a cardinal hero, they can't expect you to always be here. They'll understand." Raphtalia said to ease his mind.
"That's true. Even the most disagreeable among them understand that... We have to continue gaining strength in any way we can." Naofumi thought aloud.
"Oh, that reminds me, here." Monti pulled some items out of [Inventory].
Monti remembered to collect monster materials while they grinded yesterday, diligent as always. The monster materials were giving Naofumi only basic weak shields... except one. When they fed a centipede to the shield-
.
[Endless Centipede Shield]
+2 def, +2 mdef, +2 spd, + 2 poison resistance
[Ability: Boundless] Range of skills and spells increase by 10%.
.
[Endless Centipede Shield II]
+3 def, +3 mdef, +3 spd, + 3 poison resistance
[Ability: Boundless II] Range of skills and spells increase by an additional 16%.
.
[Endless Centipede Shield III]
+4 def, +4 mdef, +4 spd, + 4 poison resistance
[Ability: Boundless III] Range of skills and spells increase by an additional 24%.
.
[Mugen Carapace Shield]
+8 def, +8 mdef, +5 non-elemental resistance
.
[Myriad Poison Shield]
+1 def, +1 mdef, +9 spd, + 22 poison resistance
[Ability: Poison Detect] Can detect poison near you.
.
They were all surprised. Five shields from a single monster and they were good shields at that. Not to mention the monster that they gave Naofumi to absorb was little more than a bug. Why would something like that grant so many shields?
...
On the roads of Melromarc
...
"That bastard is pissing me off!" The wave beast yelled.
They were in the middle of walking in the middle of the day and he yelled that out of nowhere.
"What happened, Master Merodach?" Kalbur asked.
They were getting used to their master's abilities. He could split his body into more of himself, but had to divide his total EXP between them. He also was each of himselves at the same time. All information was collectively shared. So it was easy to assume that another him was facing an issue.
"That other wave boss opened another wave... I tried sending a piece of myself through again, but it died near instantly from some sort of magic. I tried sending several small pieces and the spells still hit them all..." The monster complained.
"Why not simply go there with more levels?" Mald asked.
"This wave boss stopped maintaining the wave... Even if he does it again, he has strong allies. If he won't let me speak and we come to blows, he'll win... Dammit! I could have spoken to him right then! I couldn't even catch a glimpse of what he looked like." The beast was furious.
"That can't be true. Are you saying they pose a threat to you?" Kalbur asked in disbelief.
"Yes and no... I can only bring enough of myself through to match that other beast in level, because it's his wave. So with numbers on his side, it'll be difficult. The current me right here talking to you? He'd be no match and would be forced to listen, so we continue our march." The beast determined.
Two nodded and followed their master.
...
Lurolona Village
...
"Alright, listen. Today we are working on finishing the walls." Naofumi told the family as they finished breakfast.
"So no carrying those heavy rocks?" Leon asked hopefully.
After Monti and Filo returned yesterday, Monti and Leon helped transport large rocks from the bottom of the cliffs to near the work sight. It was an incredible help that sped up the construction of the foundation of the building by days. There was still a lot left too.
"Actually, I was hoping you can both do that again after the wave grinding is done. You can take breaks if you need to, but you guys help the town out a lot by doing that. Easily 2 days of work for the entire village." Naofumi told the pair.
"Of course!" Monti replied, hungry to be useful.
"Can we take breaks? ...Okay." Leon was far less enthusiastic than his big brother, but accepted the task anyways.
Naofumi heard the tone of Leon's voice and pat his head.
"I know it's rough, but we need to help them as much as we can. We will need to start traveling again soon and that means we can't be here to help the whole time. So it's important for us to do the things that only we can do." Naofumi told him.
"Is that why you were up most of the night making potions?" Teal asked.
She didn't catch him in the act, but looking at the potion and ingredient stock shift so greatly in one night made it obvious.
"Yeah, if we aren't here, there aren't any other healers or doctor types. I'll ask the queen, but I'm just worried. What happens when one of these women gives birth and no one with any medical or healing abilities are around? ...They've had more than their share of tragedy..." Naofumi explained his reasoning.
Everyone at the table nodded, they all understood.
"I want to leave them in as good a state as possible. We also will need more security at some point. After most of the greater lords die and a new demi-human settlement starts building up... It's obvious that such a place will be a target." Naofumi warned them all.
After breakfast, they all got to work.
Monti hopped on Filo's full form and like a rocket, they were off to train as they did yesterday, hopefully the hour would fly by. Monti seemed a bit stiff, but the others chalk that up to him working too hard yesterday. They'd make him take a break or two today to correct this.
Naofumi went around gathering the workers, most of whom hadn't even woken up yet. Naofumi's patience was being tested, but he dealt with it for now. Getting all the workers to commit to a schedule wasn't working at all. The 40 knights, including Ake, were the only ones ready to go and they had to do double shifts so they were the only ones that even had an excuse. Naofumi slipped once and jokingly called them 'Leon's knights' a single time. It was a mistake. They took that as a promotion and special ranking and so they gave extra effort. That extra effort caused Naofumi not to want to correct them and so the 'Leon's knights' were unofficially officially created.
Raphtalia visited her parents' and Rifana's graves again before going to help. She told them more of her feelings and it made her very happy and light. Not only could she talk to them at any time, but it kept her refreshed and clear headed. She stood from their graves with renewed resolve to see the village greater at dusk than it was at dawn.
Teal went to continue where she left off the day before. She had most of the netting root planted properly and only had a few left to plant, then it was off to plant her own fruit trees. Teal didn't realize until that moment that she had to name that fruit. She decided to call them 'Piquney' (Picnee) trees. Combining the words piquant and honey to have both the sour and sweet in the name. She was proud of the name.
Leon had Keel follow him to a nearby tree to begin their studying. Sharing fire affinity was helpful, but their personalities were too similar in some ways and too different in others. They were both boastful and loud, but Keel was energetic while Leon was far lower energy than that. It made studying hard for both of them.
Naofumi started working on the house with the knights, not bothering to try further to gather up the others. This seemed to do the trick, as the other workers started feeling a little ashamed that they were supposed to live in the building while dragging their feet about actually building it.
...
With Monti and Filo
...
Monti and Filo went to the same spot as the day before, it looked rough with dozens of downed trees, displaced earth, it looked like a complete mess. Just as they left it yesterday. They stopped a moment for Filo to relax a bit and for Monti to prepare himself.
Opening a wave was tough, even the small one he made. He was a little sore from yesterday, not from lifting the rock, but from holding the wave open. It took an entire mind of concentration to maintain it after a short time. Forty minutes was the point of struggle and closing it and opening it again didn't help, it was like the strain accumulated over the course of the day, maybe longer. Would he even be able to reach 40 minutes today? He'd try.
"Alright, ready?" Monti asked Filo.
"..." Filo didn't respond.
"Filo?" Monti turned and asked.
Filo was sitting on a downed tree, looking like she was thinking about something. Her mouth was a flat line, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
"Um, Monti... Don't open it..." Filo suggested.
She sounded worried, which made Monti worried.
"Why? What's wrong?" Monti asked her.
"We're in trouble, so um, don't make us more in trouble." Filo warned him.
"Wha..." Monti went to ask.
Suddenly there was a rumbling. Nothing as great as an earthquake, but still very much real and it was getting louder. He was beginning to feel it.
Then he saw filolials, dozens of them running around the area. Each came to a sudden and jarring stop as Monti began to realize he was being blocked off from leaving and the obvious was about to happen.
"Filo, I'll fly us back to town, hurry!" Monti screamed in panic.
But it was too late. Monti felt something cold behind him and it was as he feared.
Fitoria.
Monti spun around from the cold sensation to find himself inches from her face. He had never seen her so mad and he could guess why. He was making waves. It was in service of a cardinal hero, so he was hoping it was fine. Actually, he was hoping she'd never find out. She was something that terrified him to his core.
She stared at him a moment, letting the fear soak in.
"You think me blind to your actions?" Fitoria asked in a voice more icy than usual.
"..." Monti did know what to say at first. "H-How?"
"I can see and hear through Filo's crown. I know that you were out here to repeat the mistake you made yesterday. Speak! Do you wish to die!?" Fitoria's voice was able to stay icy even while yelling.
"I just... We were leveling up and..." Monti was too scared to argue all that much.
She stared at him further, the silence was worse than the yelling for Monti.
"Look at you, cowering before me. What would you do if a wave boss made it through? It could have killed Filo without her father here to protect her." Fitoria ended her sentence with a swift strike to Monti's stomach.
He was sent several feet in the air and struck the ground. The air was knocked out of him, he laid there gasping. Fitoria went to approach him again, but Filo stepped between them.
"Stop it." Filo said in a low voice.
"..." Fitoria didn't want to upset Filo, she did what she could to reset her temper.
"He could have gotten you both killed." Fitoria explained.
"Big brother would have taken care of it." Filo said with confidence.
"He can't even take care of himself. Look at him." She pointed at him trying to stand.
Monti got to his feet. He did his best to catch his breath. He was mad as hell, but hid it in one of the two minds not in control of his body. He thought about what to say to de-escalate the situation.
"You're right, I wasn't thinking. We'll stop doing it...Is that enough?" Monti asked.
Monti just wanted to appease her. He didn't care how pathetic it made him look. If they weren't allowed to train this way, then they'd need to go back and change their plans quickly.
"If I only warned you, you wouldn't listen. No, I'm going to need to beat a lesson into you." Fitoria told them both.
"Filo said, stop it." Filo raised her voice a bit.
Fitoria moved around Filo and landed hit after hit on Monti, he held his hands to his face, wrapped his wings around himself, then his tail too. He'd just defend himself until it stopped.
"Stop!" Filo yelled, but Fitoria kept hitting him.
The attacks didn't stop, as a small crater was forming and Monti was beginning to think she'd kill him.
"Stop! Please! I'm sorry! We'll find a different way to gain levels!" Monti started yelling.
Hearing Monti sounding desperate made Filo come to her senses. She shot off and tried to attack Fitoria, but she leaned back to dodge and kept hitting him. Filo used [Wind Walk] to push off of the air and come back again. Fitoria dodged a few more hits and now had to stop hitting Monti to keep dodging her. Thinking it was over, Monti took a peak.
He saw that Fitoria was getting annoyed and batted Filo away. She held back a lot, just as she was doing on Monti. Monti, seeing his sister hit, changed gears in a snap. He rushed to his feet and used both [Overdrive] and [Arc Discharge], nothing held back.
"Don't touch her!" Monti yelled as his fist collided with her face.
She didn't give way at all. Her hair didn't even move that much. It was impossible, she was impossible. He screwed up again.
"I should have stayed quiet and taken the beating. Filo only stepped in because I was screaming. Now I hit her... I'm dead." Monti thought to himself.
He slowly retracted his fist to see an angered face. She took a single step towards him and stopped.
"That was roughly twice as strong as my highest expectation of your current power. I thought you'd be a burden and get Filo killed, based on the pathetic way you act..., but maybe the two of you could have managed to escape at the least, had the worst happened..." Fitoria expressed her observations.
Monti stumbled back.
"You will not do something so short-sighted as that again. You belittle the threat of the waves by doing this. Never again..." Fitoria told him.
"Y-Yes..." He acknowledged.
She walked over to Filo and patted the dirt off of her.
"Sorry, Filo. I wasn't going to kill him... probably, but had another wave boss made it through and had it the power to take over his wave as he can theirs, the two of you versus a full wave as you are now..." Fitoria glanced back at Monti.
"But stop hurting big brother!" Filo shouted.
Fitoria upset Filo more than intended. She took a moment to see the situation and didn't know how to really deal with it. She wasn't going to apologize further, but to avoid ruining any potential friendship with Filo...
"...I'm leaving." Fitoria said, as her flock began to move again.
Fitoria was ancient, but still a child in a number of ways. She was emotionally damaged and was both scared of admitting she was wrong at times and scared of Filo rejecting her. So the only way to not screw up was to leave. She'd discuss things with Filo and hopefully find a way to patch things up.
The moment they all left, Filo saw her brother was hurt and wordlessly grabbed Monti and began running back to the village.
"Some big brother I am..." Monti thought to himself
...
Back at Lurolona
...
Filo came barreling back in with Monti, clearly hurt, but not bleeding or such. Naofumi saw them and immediately dropped what he was doing and ran over to the pair, dropping his hammer, calling for Raphtalia as he did so. Everyone slowed down, wanting to know what happened. Seeing it was Monti was upsetting. Nobody knew the family all that well yet, but Monti was the one being overly nice last night and forcing others to tell him to eat himself, he left a good impression.
"What happened!?" Naofumi asked, more worried than he should be.
Raphtalia came to meet them before Monti responded.
"Fitoria found out..." Monti said in a depressed voice.
"And she did this!?" Raphtalia was the one showing anger.
"She got mad at brother and I told her to stop, but..."
"If she wanted to kill me she could have... No more wave making." Monti told them.
It was clear that everyone was more upset about this than Monti, the person that got hurt.
"...How did she even find out?" Naofumi asked aloud.
He suspected she'd be pissed, but he thought she couldn't keep track of them so well.
"Fitoria found out because of this." Filo pointed to her cowlick.
"Filo, what do you mean exactly?" Raphtalia asked.
"Um, like, sometimes Fitoria talks to me and gives Filo advice and she can hear and see from it and stuff." Filo told Raphtalia as best as she could.
"Why didn't you say something!? She must have seen you two yesterday..." Naofumi saw how it happened.
"Fi-I'm sorry... Filo didn't mean to get brother in trouble... I asked her to stop, but she wouldn't. I tried getting her to stop, b-but..." Filo was upset with herself too.
"Shh, it's okay. You're both fine, that's what matters." Naofumi said as he grabbed Filo and patted her head.
Raphtalia did the same to Monti, but he wasn't as upset. Naofumi was able to use a [Zweite Heal] and healing potion to get Monti looking better.
"Wow, that's great!" Monti commented, feeling much better. "I guess I'll get to those rocks, I-"
"No, you're on light duty. You can hand people their tools over at the building." Naofumi told him.
"But the healing was really helpful, I feel better than I did this morning." Monti argued.
Naofumi took a knee. "I'm inclined to not believe you. You push yourself too far, just like your mother does." Naofumi told him straight
"Used to." Raphtalia tried to correct him.
"Still does." Naofumi rejected.
"...Well not as much." Raphtalia argued.
"Not as much." Naofumi agreed.
"I just want to be helpful..." Monti told him.
"Monti, you just got hurt being helpful... So it's light work today. Tomorrow I'll see how hurt you really are and we'll go from there." Naofumi told him.
"What about leveling up?" Monti asked.
"We'll just have to hit a good grinding spot tomorrow, it's okay." Naofumi assured him.
After that, Monti was on light duty and hated it. Leon also had to move the rocks by himself and hated it, but he did more today than yesterday, even though today he was told he could take breaks whenever. He wanted to help make up for his big brother and maybe get a tiny bit of praise for it.
Without the option to use Monti's ability and Filo having the energy, she went out to hunt instead and took Keel with her. They needed some EXP, but the food gained was more useful.
Naofumi did just as much physical labor as he did directing, if not more. By midday, it was getting hot and Naofumi was really looking forward to the next break they had. All this hard work and sweat had Naofumi briefly wondering how rough Malty was having it, but then remembered that he didn't care.
...
Malty was having it rough
...
Malty has had the roughest time of her life since the trial. She stubbornly stayed close to the capital, just outside the gates in fact. She couldn't enter and couldn't speak for the rest of the day. She gave the guards a vicious stare and after a moment of thinking, she wrote a note and handed it to the only guard outside of the gate. The guard didn't understand the situation yet and ran off to do as the note instructed, but nothing was going her way today. The man came back empty handed, but with a few other men.
"Sorry about the wait... Malty." The guard said through a grin.
From the tone of voice and the fact he just called her 'Malty' instead of 'princess' told her he now knew the truth. Malty was pissed, but went to leave.
The guard went to block her. "Now hold on there. We actually had something we needed your help with." His tone and choice of words said everything.
Malty went to attack them, but the slave crest shocked her. Seeing she couldn't attack, Malty went to leave, but the slave crest shocked her again and dropped her to her knees.
"Oh? Already on your knees? Good." The man taunted.
Malty realized that she had to help him, just because of the way he said it. She was faced with the fact that her life was no longer hers and she rejected it, fighting the crest.
"You've treated us like shit for years, time for us to do the same." The guard said.
He leaned over and went to grab her head, but suddenly his arm was firmly behind him. He was dropped to the ground and the men that were beside him were all rather scared.
"The queen issued this punishment to make Malty something better, not drag her down further. Do you wish to go against the queen's wishes?" The shadow said, hold the man in place.
The man was scared, but actually tried to argue. "So, even as a slave, we can't do anything!? Even now, she's untouchable!?"
"Why not complain to the queen. I'll go with you and tell her what you just attempted to do. Would you accept execution to see her punished further?" The shadow asked back, calmly.
"...Dammit." The man stopped struggling.
Malty wore a face of viciousness, but she was also not going to get what she wanted. The shadow tossed the man to the others, they didn't move.
"Leave." Was all the shadow said.
Many left at the opportunity, three stayed. They felt they were screwed either way and didn't want things to end badly for them. Seeing the desperation on their faces, the shadow spoke further.
"You are free men, after all, you didn't commit any crimes, yet... Go." The shadow raised her voice only slightly, they ran.
The shadow turned to Malty, who was a mess of all kinds of ugly emotions. The shadow didn't care.
"Malty, I need your help." Malty flinched at that. The shadow pulled a letter from her pocket and handed it to Malty. "It would be a great help to me if you would deliver this letter to the lord of lute village." The shadow told her.
Malty took the letter, not wanting to be hurt further. She tried to let her face do the talking as she gave an angered look, but that shadow didn't seem to care and left right afterwards.
That was 4 days ago. It took Malty 3 days to get to Lute instead of the usual 2 because Malty lacked the discipline to make good time. Once she arrived and handed the letter to the lord she immediately demanded all sorts of things. She wanted coin, a bath, a room, a carriage, the list grew. Upon reading the letter the lord simply looked at her and said.
"We've had issues with monster attacks again, help get rid of them... then help us rebuild." He said with some hesitation.
Malty realized that the letter she delivered likely contained the information to control her and she was sent out to deal with this issue, then to help in whatever way else she could.
Her time at Lute village didn't start off too harshly. She had to deal with multiple monster issues, which were easy enough for her to handle, as a level 63 adventurer with top of the line armor and good magic. It was after that first day that things began to be made clear for her. She had to sleep in the stables in the hay, because houses were still not completely replaced from the wave, leaving all other forms of housing beyond capacity.
Today? She woke up in the smelly barn and hated everyone and everything. She didn't get to wake naturally, the lord woke her.
"Pri-Malty... Malty! You need to wake up." The lord called.
She saw it as him working her like a dog, but the fact was that it was nearly noon and he decided to give her extra rest, wrongfully assuming the monster killing quests were rough on her.
"I'm hungry and need a bath." She demanded like she was still a princess.
"I have a meal ready for you. A bath can be arranged after work is done." The lord told her.
"I'll have a bath! Having me sleep in this filth!" Malty whined.
"I understand your frustrations, this is far from what you are used to, but even some people who call this place home had to live in the stables after their homes were lost. As soon as the next home is completed, enough room at the inn should open up for you. All in all, you'll have a bed by week's end." The lord was patient with her.
"Have someone else sleep out here and give me a bed, now!" Malty yelled.
"No." The lord answered immediately.
"If you don't I wi-will... rrrrrr!" She attempted to threaten the lord and the crest shocked her.
"If you work hard and contribute, we will feed you and house you as best we can. The queen told me to keep you here until she says otherwise, so how much you are going to get is based on how much we have to give, understood? You help Lute village and we help you. We were saved by the shield hero and his slave, we have no interest in hurting or belittling slaves here." The lord told her in a serious voice.
"I'm no sl-rrrrrr! Why!?" Malty didn't understand why it shocked her.
"Because you cannot lie... and you are a slave." The lord told her.
"Dammit... dammit..." Malty was beginning to cry.
The lord gave her time, but never left. Eventually, when Malty saw this wasn't going to work, she stopped.
"To know how best you can serve the village, I must ask some questions-" Lord began.
He asked her a series of questions, of which she could not lie. She admitted that she could not cook, clean, or do much of anything. In the coming days, she'd learn all the things she was sheltered from, but today?
"Well, I'm sorry to say... I don't have anyone to teach you anything today." The lord admitted to her.
Malty tried to escape. "Then I'll just-"
"So please put those stats to good use in the mine. I know striking rocks all day isn't the nicest job, but it'd help Lute a lot." The lord told her.
"Wha...?" Malty couldn't believe it.
Tink! Tink!
"This is wrong, so wrong!" Malty complained as she struck a rock with a pickaxe a few hours later.
"It'd be a great help if you'd complain quieter." A fellow miner told her.
"How do I escape this!?" Malty thought to herself.
...
Back at Lurolona
...
"Hearg... Last nail in! We got it done." Naofumi announced.
A mixture of satisfaction and relief spread over the faces of the workers. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon, but they'd stop early. The walls and ceiling were done and the doors had been installed. It still didn't have windows, the spots for them were covered. Still, the internal walls were not done, several temporary supporting beams were used. They also needed to stack the rocks around the walls of the outside, but that'd be quick.
"Alright, everyone please stand still for a minute." Naofumi asked.
Naofumi had as many people who were willing to pose in front of the house as possible. He used his [Camera] skill to capture the moment.
"Now I'll go make us some food." Naofumi told them all.
At his announcement, a roar of affirmation was heard. Naofumi got to work early on food, again, for as many people as he could. His thanks seemed to do little to endear him to these people, but a full plate of hot food seemed to earn a smile each and every time.
"I'll help." Monti offered.
"I thought you were put on light duty?" Naofumi asked rhetorically.
"Cooking is light duty." Monti argued.
"Fine, fine. Let me teach you some cooking tips then. You get any good at this and I'm granting you my best cooking shield." Naofumi joked.
The two prepared the meals, with Naofumi taking the lead. Monti did his best to do as he was told, but he still screwed up a bit. Nothing major.
By 5pm, they were all taking it easy. Naofumi had that meeting tomorrow and that meant they would likely begin their traveling to Siltvelt afterwards. That would also mean the village would not always have them around and it'd be harder on them now than it had been the last few days. So they needed a moment of relaxation, family and village alike.
That night, everyone was able to sleep in either the new structure or the few remaining buildings. Everyone had a roof over their head as promised.
.
[Author's Notes]
If there are any artists out there who are willing to draw any or all three of the kids (or any of my OCs) I'd love to see them. I'm also wanting a cover with the whole family for those willing, thank you all.
Fitoria caught Monti in 4k and beat him like a drum for doing something dangerous. It ended before things got too awful, but this will likely damage the relationship Fitoria and Naofumi's party has, maybe it can mend with time?
The beginning of Malty's new life. She seems have been fortunate to have the opportunity
They have a roof over the heads of those that live there.
Next chapter, the heroes meeting!
Please leave a review!