"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
...
Naofumi and Raphtalia went to bed frustrated, Filo and Leon went to bed numb, Monti and Teal went to bed upset…
But at least Keel went to be happy and full… so that's something.
...
The next day wasn't the nicest of starts.
Naofumi woke up early and didn't know how bad the alcohol would affect her today. So he left her be and worked on the item Therese commissioned. Also, he wasn't looking forward to the talk they were going to have when she woke up.
He could cut the gem, but he'd need someone else to work the metal. This [Oreikul Ore] was currently just a bit out of his league to make on his own.
"If I need someone else to shape it, then... a band. That's hard to screw up. That and the band will be big enough for me to engrave it afterwards..." Naofumi thought through the item as he began his work.
Not long after, Raphtalia began to stir. Naofumi was oddly focused and didn't notice. She sat in bed looking at the back of his head in frustration. She remembered what happened last night, or more accurately 'what didn't happen'.
"What did I do wrong? We've already... I thought he wanted..." Raphtalia huffed in annoyance.
Naofumi heard the noise and only was able to half-turn to the source as Raphtalia took a seat next to him.
"..." There was a pause.
"Not talking has really made things harder than they need to be, so I'm not going to let us stay quiet. We'd stay trapped in our own heads and our own misgivings and misunderstandings will drive us crazy. So no matter how embarrassing it is... Why did you stop me last night? ...I want to know." Raphtalia was as direct as she could be.
Naofumi couldn't find time to be embarrassed. He was thinking something else entirely. "You really aren't a kid anymore. You're even more mature than me sometimes...Then I better not act like the kid here."
"Because you were drunk... The first time we, um, y'know... We were kind of swept up in the moment and I wasn't sure if we would have done that if we were level headed. So, I didn't want the second time to be questionable... I wanted it to confirm that we didn't make a mistake the first time." Naofumi answered her as honestly as he could.
"...Do you regret that we-" Raphtalia went to ask.
"No, but if you did-" Naofumi went to clarify.
"I don't." Raphtalia answered swiftly.
"...Then um, sorry." Naofumi said after a moment.
They both had more they wanted to say, but they knew they didn't have the time now. They'd address everything else after they trained again today.
…
Enter Walter
...
Mia and Godiva were already up and were about to enter another room. They gave the man from the night before a room as a means of both apologizing and allowing Mia to speak to him.
"I can speak to him by myself. I'm sure the finer points of the discussion will be boring to listen to." Mia told Godiva, who was glued to her side.
"That guy was being way too forward last night. I'm just here to make sure he doesn't try anything stupid." Godiva told her.
They made their way down the hallway, toward his room.
"I can take care of myself. I am supposed to take care of hundreds of people soon." Mia reminded her with a huff.
"But you have zero experience with men. You don't know how to tell when they're trying to-" Godiva tried explaining.
"And you do?" Mia challenged.
They were now in front of the door.
"Damn right I do. I-" Godiva knocked on the door, but heard a strange noise.
She opened the door, which swung outward. A chair fell out into the hallway. It was posted up to keep others out, but the door opened the other way than they assumed. Mia's eyes locked with the gun owner's. He was halfway out of the window, having turned his bedsheets into a makeshift rope.
Without his hood up, they could see he was a demi-human. Black with white cat ears were now in a tucked position on his head. The man wasn't old, maybe not even 20. He wore leather armor that seemed well below the quality of armor someone who has class upgraded would wear. His panic shifted to confusion.
"..." They all stood there for a moment. All three of them thought the gun owner was going to escape.
But after a moment he climbed back inside the room and awkwardly sat on his bed.
"What can I do for you?" He asked, acting like the whole situation was completely normal.
The two entered the room, exchanging looks.
"Well, I had an interest in your weapon. I am to be doing weapons research for Melromarc soon and have never even seen a real gun. I was hoping you could tell me more about it." Mia started.
"Really? That's great!" The guy was excited that someone else would take a liking to his weapon. It didn't hurt at all that Mia was an exceedingly cute girl either.
Before he went into all his details, he had to ask.
"I'm not calling you a liar or anything..., but a demi-human with such a position in Melromarc?" He reiterated with a questioning tone.
"Hard to believe? Well, it's true. We took down Lord Averill when he turned traitor. So now we are on the rise." Godiva said, a bit full of herself.
"What she is trying to say is that most of the more powerful lords that discriminated against us demi-humans are dead and we helped. The queen is steering the country in a different direction and part of that is giving me a key position... I can't squander this chance. The better job I do, the better I can make demi-humans look in the eyes of the humans of Melromarc. So please-" Mia went to ask again.
"Hey, I never said 'no', it was just not normal. What do you want to know first?" The man was more than accommodating.
"Well, how about your name first?" Mia was trying to be polite. She wanted her answers, but she'd need to master this type of pleasantries in the future.
"Oh… I'm Walter. And you?" Walter said as smoothly as he could.
"Mia... no last name yet. Sorry, my manners are subpar." Mia introduced herself.
"And you?" Walter motioned to Godiva
Godiva could already tell... "You believe us that easily?" She asked, ignoring his question.
"Why not?" The guy asked with zero doubt.
"Well, you're definitely not the trusting sort." Godiva answered.
"How could you possibly know that?" Walter acted offended.
Godiva's response was to look at the bedsheet rope, then the chair at the door, then the still open window.
"..." There was a pause.
"That was forever ago. We've all grown since then." Walter joked.
Godiva frowned at his antics, but Mia chuckled. Godiva saw the gleam in Walter's eyes when he got Mia to laugh.
"Mia's already got the guy hooked. He isn't going anywhere." Godiva concluded.
"Well, first of all, can you walk me through the way the gun launches its projectile?" Mia asked.
The two of them went at it for an hour and Godiva found herself as bored as she was warned she would be. Godiva caught this Walter fella trying to charm Mia as best he could, but Mia was far more interested in his weapon to pay too much attention to him as a person.
Soon enough, it was time for them to meet up with Itsuki and the others.
"We have to leave now, but please, let's talk more later, okay?" Mia asked.
"Oh, um... I could come with, I actually don't have any teammates..." Walter tried to ask without sounding desperate. He failed.
"Unfortunately, we are stuck with that asshole, bow hero." Godiva admitted.
"I'm sure he'll get sick of us by day's end. When that happens, we'll have room for you in our party." Mia told him.
Walter sat stunned. "You'd have me over the bow hero? One of the four cardinal heroes?" Walter didn't know how to take that information.
"No idea if that gun can do anything, but you'd be better company than that brat." Godiva said with her usual attitude.
"Keep this room another night, we're paying. We'll likely be able to level up together tomorrow..., but even if the unfortunate happens and we have to suffer that tiny tyrant another day, I want to know more about guns." Mia offered, also throwing shade at Itsuki.
Itsuki wasn't even that difficult for their group if they answered honestly. They hated him because they were fighting on opposing sides during the battle with the church... and they both lost the person they cared for the most that day. So even the small annoyances he caused got a disproportionate amount of rise out of the two of them.
Soon enough the three departed. Mia and Godiva to meet up with the others, Walter to do as best he could by himself. He hoped that this would be the last day he suffered alone.
…
With the kids
...
The kids woke up in a less than desirable mood. Monti and Teal woke up remembering their misgivings from the night before. Neither wanted to look at the other out of shame. Leon and Filo were a little worse, still stiff from the paralyzing poison. Keel even had a stomach ache from eating too much. Monti tried to help, but pulling the items from [Inventory] seemed like a fruitless effort. He didn't know what medicine worked for what.
Teal took this moment to help her brother, selecting the right medicine for the three of them. Monti never talked last night and neither really wanted to, but Monti thought about it for a moment and a thought entered his head.
"Teal?" Monti began.
"Yeah?" Teal answered, unsure of what Monti was about to ask.
"Last night, did you set traps between the road and the bench you were waiting at?" Monti asked.
"Yeah, but you thought to fly over them, why?" Teal asked, happy that the question was not directly about what they were both upset about.
"...Did you ever disable them?" Monti asked, a sweat drop forming.
"..." Teal looked away awkwardly.
"..." Monti placed his hand to his head, sighing.
...
At the site of the traps
...
Elsewhere, the already broken 'Stormclad' had ran into a series of plant-based traps that ruined their trip even more than it already had
"What the hell!?" One exclaimed.
"Even the fucking grass is out to get us!?" The rogue called to the skies.
"I really need to ditch you losers..." The masked girl considered.
...
Back with the kids.
...
"Better off ignoring it." Filo chimed in.
The kids passed out the medicine and got ready for another day of grinding. They complained lightly amongst themselves for a bit. They were on an island and they had to spend their days fighting monsters. Of course, they enjoyed fighting monsters. They were monsters themselves (excluding keel of course). However, they really wanted to play in the ocean. They knew that the EXP they were earning was only for a limited time and the ocean was still going to be there, but they still wanted to be able to go to the beach sooner rather than later.
After a bit, they met up with their parents and they prepared for the day. They didn't see any of the other heroes at first, making Naofumi and the others assume they were late in starting their day. However, once they exited the hotel, Leon spotted Ren.
He was sitting in front of the stone that held the heroes' spells, trying to see past the magic.
But he could not.
"Even I don't expect you to read magic writing this soon." Wyndia told him.
Wyndia and the rest of his party stood nearby, waiting. Ren seemed to acknowledge Wyndia's words and stood, turning back to them.
"Did you get anywhere?" Naofumi asked, making their presence known.
"No..." Ren said, a bit sour.
"What about you, Leon? Got any cool magic?" Wyndia asked, immediately switching her attention to Leon.
"You bet! I have Drifa spells now. I've mastered the lesser magics in less than a month." Leon declared.
"What about [Dragon's Vein]?" Wyndia asked.
"...You're talking about that? ...I feel it, but I can't, yet. I feel like I'd need time to learn how to talk to the world... But I'll master it for sure!" Leon laxed his pride before flashing it again.
Naofumi and the others were curious about this [Dragon's Vein], but they knew to give Leon credit. If he hadn't begun using it, they surely weren't ready for it.
"Heading out to grind?" Ren asked Naofumi.
"Soon. I have a small stop to make first, and you?" Naofumi responded.
"Of course. We plan to stay until it's dark again. We'll kill the boss at least 5 times today." Ren declared.
"We might want to aim higher, Motoyasu cleared his boss 6 times yesterday." Naofumi told him.
"6 times!? On the first day? …We're leaving now." Ren's shock turned to resolve rather quickly.
Naofumi appreciated the drive. That would help down the road.
Wyndia sighed. "At some point. we'll have the time to talk about that. I'm sure you're a natural… Well, of course you'd be." Wyndia said to Leon, before running off after Ren with the rest of the party.
"Yeah, see ya…" Leon said, thinking about the magic she spoke of.
He knew what she was talking about. He'd known about it since he was born, on some level. Maybe he was too busy having fun with lesser magic? Maybe he liked mastering the lesser magic so quickly because it made him feel smart and talented. He wasn't intimidated by [Dragon's Vein]. Had he really been so petty?
They party found a blacksmith to drop off the [Oreikul Ore] to. Naofumi ordered the shaping of the ore in a whisper. Raphtalia and the others wondered why Naofumi was keeping it secret from them. Maybe he felt this was going to be something worth surprising as many people as possible?
Not long after that, they made it to the island they were going to explore today. They again rode Leon instead of renting a boat. Luckily nothing came from that like it did the day before.
The day was easier than the day before. Enemies they defeated in two strikes the prior day sometimes fell from just one now. Just as before, they made their way to the center of the island and found ruins. This one had some special monsters too.
[Karma Rabbit Familiar]
They had a burst of speed at times, but were overall slower than the Karma Dog Familiars from yesterday. There were still signs of them being better matched from the day prior, but not as pronounced. These enemies weren't pushovers, but that wasn't the reason. Everyone was still affected from the night before. Raphtalia still wasn't at 100% from that alcohol, Leon and Filo still felt a little stiff from their brother's venom, and Monti and Teal were distracted with their thoughts. Naofumi and Keel were the only ones without issue.
Between that and the shrinking gap in levels, Keel was proving to be far from a burden at this point. He had gained the confidence to approach his opponent first and had the energy to not stop swinging until they were done for. He tried some silly tricks, but kept it in check. He was definitely going to love learning Godiva's moves later.
A quick absorption had yielded another shield
.
[Karma Rabbit Familiar Shield]
+1 mdef, +2 spd, sense of hearing up (low)
[Ability: Usauni Status Adjustment] Increase the stat growth of an "Usauni'' by a small amount.
.
When they cleared the ruins and saw the black ball, they all took position knowingly. Before they started, Naofumi noticed that they reached the center of the island in only 2 hours. Yesterday, it took over 3 hours. Between that and not being delayed by the Earl and their arrival on the island, they had far more time to kill this boss over and over.
Without Naofumi having to say a word, everyone took up a position against what was to come. Naofumi allowed a small smile to form as he took a small rock and threw it at the black orb. The ball reacted as they expected, unleashing the island boss within.
[Karma Rabbit]
The Karma rabbit landed on the ground with a loud thud. It was quite large, heavier than the Karma Dog, though this thing lacked its muscle outside of its hind legs. It too had black fur and red eyes, looking just as angry as the last island boss. It was almost like they weren't normal monsters at all, like nothing was going on in their head. That maybe, these things were almost… soulless?
The party went to act, expecting and meeting its familiars head-on. The boss itself seemed to vanish, but they felt the truth through their feet. The rabbit had burrowed underground so fast that it made no sense. The boss attempted to drop each of them down a hole, but most of them had an answer to that tactic. Monti and Leon simply flew up slightly, not falling at all. Naofumi and Raphtalia saved themselves with [Air Strike Shield] and [Light Shield] respectively. Filo used her [Wind Walk] to step back without issue. Keel and Teal went to fall down the holes being created below them, but Keel never fell. Teal had focused on grabbing Keel and tossing him out of the way. Teal fell with a small thud of her own.
"Teal! Are you okay?" Raphtalia called out to her.
Teal gave a small look around before smiling. "Every is smooth, no claw marks… which means-"
"I got this, mom." Teal called up, already digging herself into the ground.
"I'll need to lock it all down… spread my roots further and deeper… Deeper than when I faced Monti last night. I need my roots to pierce and grapple everything… To encroach on everything and bind it completely. Like-" Teal thought of the night before.
[Sweet Lies: Full Entrenchment]
Teal's roots shot out and weaved through the dirt.
"Scceeecckkk!" The island boss was struck by the roots and exited the tunnel.
The others now saw what Teal saw. The Karma Rabbit didn't burrow with its claws. It had been using specialized earth magic to form tunnels, meaning it simply chose a direction and the tunnel took shaped before it. Teal slowly rose out of the hole she fell in, still rooted, simply lengthening her roots to grow herself back up.
The familiars were long dead, killed by the rest of the party while Teal spread her roots. Now the boss stood alone. Before anyone could make a step, the boss attempted to go underground again, but it only made it a few inches deep before it hit a snag. Teal's roots went through the area in every direction and several depths. This made moving the soil and rock a difficult task and if the Rabbit's path ran across a root directly, it would need to manually slice it to continue. Before the boss could cut through the root that stopped its path, Filo had made her way around the foe and struck it towards the others.
It cocked its head to see where it was going and saw the rest of the party readying their weapons. Its feet struck the ground. Instead of changing the direction it was going, it sped itself up further. Naofumi took point and readied his shield. Naofumi wasn't expecting the amount of force he received. The force of the collision would have toppled Naofumi, but Teal steadied her father. Like a well grown tree, she stood unbending, made stationary by her roots.
The following moment, the Boss was struck by the four others. Filo and Teal stepped up to add their own attacks when they could. The enemy was taken down rather easily when compared to the Karma Dog from the day prior. They couldn't tell how much of that was due to their levels increasing and how much was due to this monster obviously not being as direct an opponent as the last boss. Either way, they won.
They all sighed with relief. "Teal, is maintaining that a burden?" Naofumi asked.
"No. The burden is when using it. The roots are kinda just hanging around now." Teal answered, already knowing what her father was going to suggest.
"Then keep them there until we head back. If that thing can't burrow, then these fights will be pretty easy." Naofumi suggested.
The kids were happy to hear it. An easier boss fight today was just what the doctor ordered.
Naofumi absorbed the boss.
.
[Karma Rabbit Shield]
+3 mdef, +5 spd, sense of hearing up (medium)
[Ability: Usauni Status Adjustment II] Increase the stat growth of an "Usauni" by a moderate amount.
[Unique Ability: Happy Farming] After obtaining so many items, receive a bonus reward (resets counter after being reached).
.
They actually had it rather easy once they settled into a groove. They had 30 minutes between each fight, giving them plenty of time to rest. Monti even took his time between the boss to grind the other monsters. However, Raphtalia saw her bad habits in him and told him to only go out every other break. He needed to rest just like everyone else.
This was how they spent their day, but how did the others spend their day?
…
Ren tries again, Ren fails again
…
Ren and his party made their way through the island far easier than the day before. Partially because they were stronger now, but mostly because Ren was so upset that Motoyasu was that far ahead of him. He had to wonder how useful those new teammates were to Motoyasu. Now that Ren gave his party a chance, he had come to like them, but there was a clear difference in power between them and Wyndia.
Wyndia was more than 15 levels below the other party members, yet she had equal or better stats. Ren didn't know about the bonuses she was receiving. He was beginning to think that the stats of certain individuals were far higher or that maybe demi-humans were just better. That would explain why Raphtalia was able to keep up in Naofumi's party when Ren thought she shouldn't be able to. Ren had the option to lower the levels of his allies in exchange for better stat growth. He remembered what Naofumi said.
It seemed like the smart thing to do, but Ren had believed that level was the end goal for a long time. He'd change his mind on that, but giving up levels just seemed wrong. He resolved to simply buy his party members better equipment to overcome what they lack in stats.
"More money, more coin. All my issues keep coming back to that." Ren thought bitterly.
As he finished his thought, he saw Wyndia approaching an enemy with her axe. This was a good chance. He had a surprise for her. Ren began to chant.
[Fast Strength Up]
Ren had cast a basic support spell on Wyndia. She cut her target in two then turned to him in confusion.
"...How? You can't read it yet?"
"I know, but I've heard the chant for that spell a bunch and figured I'd go ahead and get in some mana manipulation practice… Being as I can recite that one…" Ren lost steam as he spoke.
Wyndia was pleased by this. He was dedicated to improving and found new ways to train every day…, but she couldn't tell him that. In her mind, his guilt and sense of needing to right his wrongs were the only thing keeping him in line.
"So what? You're the sword hero. If you fought at the front instead of practicing your mislearned spells, maybe we'd be at the ruins by now." Wyndia dismissed him, like she forced herself to every time.
"...Right." Ren said, taking point and leading the party again.
"When? When can I stop screwing up? I'm trying…" Ren's guilt was becoming something worse.
They made their way to the boss as soon as they could. Ren wasn't playing around with the boss. He had Wyndia begin casting her spell before the boss appeared to give it a heavy hit out of the gate, from there a short string of skills from him finished the boss off. The others focused on the familiars. He wanted to kill the boss at least 10 times, hoping for 15.
…
Motoyasu and L'arc continue to bro out
…
Motoyasu along with L'arc and Therese went to the island that Naofumi's group had gone to the day before. Just as the day previously, Motoyasu tried to not use any skills. Still, he had been using most of the power-up methods and it resulted in him being far stronger than what anyone could call normal. L'arc and Therese were noticing that in terms of raw stats, he dwarfed them easily… currently. The only thing that kept them from pushing the issue was that he used no magic and no skills. Had he been more generally talented instead of just powerful, the pair might have to consider that he really was a hero.
Motoyasu and L'arc tried to repeat their contest from the day prior, but Therese shot it down as soon as the words entered the air.
"No! You two are going to behave today! You Hear Me!?" Therese started.
L'arc tried to argue slightly. "But Theres-"
"No. Let's just get to the boss and not worry about the small fry today, okay? Isn't that a smarter way of doing things?" Therese appealed to logic.
"She's right." Motoyasu admitted.
L'arc deflated. "Ah man…"
Therese was glad to finally have them on track. "I'm glad you two-"
"So it's a race today!?" Motoyasu declared, already in a stance to begin.
"Hell yeah! Go!" L'arc picked up on Motoyasu's words so fast that Therese couldn't parse what was happening.
"No! Stop!" Therese's words couldn't catch them as they raced off. She swore she saw a tree fall in their wake. "When I reach you two I swear!"
The two raced their hearts out and Motoyasu won… despite running through a tree at one point. As the two fought to catch their breaths through the laughter, they realized that they left Therese behind. They turned right back around and headed towards her. Therese's day was going to be a headache, but she'd be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy the chemistry L'arc and Motoyasu had. She'd never seen someone match the odd sense of rhythm L'arc had.
After meeting back up with her and being made to apologize to her, the three went to the ruins to fight the boss. L'arc and Motoyasu performed well trying to outdo one another, but both kept Therese's safety as the top priority. Their strategy was quite simple. Have Therese begin casting a spell before the boss even spawned, kill all its familiars with her spell, then L'arc and Motoyasu would engage the dog boss from either side. They'd then take turns pinning it while the other struck. This left their enemies no options at all.
For the second day in a row, L'arc asked to take one of the downed bosses and for the second time Motoyasu failed to notice that L'arc absorbed the boss into his scythe just as the heroes do…
…
Happy Pink Slip
…
Itsuki and his current party had been running themselves ragged trying to follow Itsuki's lead. Unlike the day before, in which they leveled a bit before fighting the boss, they were now doing the opposite extreme. Ignoring as many monsters as possible to make it to the ruins as soon as possible.
"Now that we can take on the bosses, doing anything else is sub-optimal." Itsuki told them.
Mia completely agreed, but wanted to disagree just because it was Itsuki that said it. They noticed that Itsuki was using his mobility skills to not have to travel as much as they did and he also used them for Rishia's benefit. Fitts found this to be a reasonable thing at first, but he noticed that Rishia was clinging to his side far more than she did the day before. He knew that her stats were bad, but at her level-
Fitts was the first to notice. Rishia's level was at least 50 when they stopped for the day yesterday, maybe even 60, Fitts couldn't remember accurately. Either way, what Fitts was seeing now made no sense at all. Rishia's level was only 41.
"How is that possible…? Better yet, the bow hero won't stop finding fault with each of us, so I know he has noticed it too. Why isn't he angry with her?" Fitts thought.
He shared his observation secretly with Chloe before the group arrived at the ruins. Their day was also long and filled with Itsuki ordering them around. They whispered amongst themselves throughout the day, complaining about Itsuki and asking about Rishia's level. The day wasn't as bad as the day prior, mostly because Itsuki wasn't stealing other adventurer's kills like he was yesterday.
Mia was quite angry at Itsuki the day before, and wanted to get away from him, but even she had to admit that the EXP they were gaining was worth the hassle. The whole group kept a collectively high tension throughout the day, with the exception of Rishia and Mia. Rishia made an effort to try to be courteous towards the group and it somewhat worked. The pair were both ranged attackers, meaning they could talk with one another semi-regularly. Mia quickly came to realize that Rishia was very smart. She never expected someone out here to rival herself academically, if not exceed her.
But things came to a head as they slayed the boss for the last time that day. Itsuki now believed that he was strong enough to beat the island bosses without help, meaning their usefulness had ended.
"I think I won't be needing any of your services any longer…" Itsuki told them all.
He wanted to say something to end things amicably. He didn't like them, but they did help him and Rishia. Telling them that they no longer get the benefit of a holy hero would probably be quite the sour news… Is what he thought.
"Hear that? We're free! I'll invite Walter to party with us tonight!" Mia said happily.
"I'll let Naofumi know we have room for Keel now." Godiva said, the two of them already began leaving towards the boat.
Their happy tones and excited attitudes pissed Itsuki off quite a bit, but Fitts stepped towards Itsuki to speak. Itsuki tried to go around him, but Fitts cut him off and waited for Mia and Godiva to be out of ear shot.
"What?" Itsuki asked angrily.
"I know you might feel a bit humiliated, but try to look at it from their point of view." Fitts began.
"I am. They received the help of a holy hero and acted like every step of the process was torture." Itsuki said, visibly mad.
"Because, to them, it was." Fitts said bluntly.
Rishia tried defusing the situation. "Listen, maybe we shou-"
Chloe stepped in to make Fitts' point better than he could. "Disregarding the way you talk down to us and the general manner in which you conduct yourself, you ruined their lives to some degree. They have every right to be mad at you."
"Ruined their lives?" Itsuki was confused.
"She's right. Godiva loved a man who died during the battle with the three heroes church. Mia lost her best friend who freed her from slavery in that same battle." Fitts told Itsuki.
Itsuki flashed guilt for a second, but couldn't just accept the blame. "...I know they tricked me into fighting, but I only fought two people and-"
Chloe made sure to not let him wiggle out of it. "And those two people were Filo Iwatani and Sophia, Lord Blackcrown's ally. The two people with the most mobility on the right side of the battle, more than my own. Either one of them engaging the main force would have spelt an early end to Lord Averill, the man that killed those precious to them. Who knows how many people they could have saved had they been allowed to fight the lords instead of you? Not even mentioning that had you been paying attention from the start and was on the right side-"
Fitts waved her to stop, Chloe was becoming too antagonistic.
"Listen… I have no desire to blame you. I never blamed the good men who came after me because of the church's lies…, but don't belittle the lives lost this way. Even if you are only a tiny bit responsible, there were about 600 dead and that's just at the battle. Can you comprehend that? 600 people. 600 homes with a family member gone. People, now coping with their best friends being dead… Do you not feel any guilt?" Fitts asked.
Fitts wanted to know that Itsuki had the right perspective of things. Even if Itsuki hadn't found an answer yet, Fitts needed to know that he was searching for one.
"Do you?" Itsuki deflected.
Fitts answered honestly, hoping he'd do the same. "...Yes… Not in killing them, but in ever letting them catch up to me. I often think about how few people I'd have killed if only I covered my tracks better, or could have ran further without resting."
There was a short pause.
"...Then I suppose I do… What do I do about it?" Itsuki answered.
"...I haven't figured that out yet." Fitts replied.
…
With the heroes' day being far easier than the first, they felt a sense of a less demanding groove setting in. They all leveled up, but the rate was slowing down and would continue to do so. By day 5-6, leveling would likely have little results here, but by that time they'd be level 70+. Naofumi was also needing to address another issue as soon as they returned to the main island: equipment.
Raphtalia's sword, Monti's Unicorn horn, and Filo's Wyvern claws were in rough condition. Chips and cracks littered them throughout. Leon's weapon was just recently upgraded greatly and neither Teal's swords nor the holy replica had such issues. With the amount they used their weapons the last two days and the fact they were not meant to be used by people as high a level as they were currently, it seemed only right that the equipment had outlasted their usefulness. They'd need to look into alternatives.
All the heroes and their parties returned to the main island to rest and maybe more.
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[Author's Notes]
Okay, first of all, I am so sorry at how late this is. IRL issues slowed me down and even beyond that I found myself complacent. Several of you have messaged me during this delay worried I abandoned the story, but I want you to know I have character arcs and several plot deviations planned through what would be volume 15 of the LN. So I am not planning to stop any time soon.
That isn't to say that I won't take breaks. I mean, this is chapter 70 and I started in April of last year.
I didn't cover Liviccic because nothing of note occurred.
Next chapter: Hotsprings episode!
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