"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
The wave was over in a flash, it was only about 20 minutes. The family had a plan of attack and the stats to make it happen. They were finally strong enough to face the waves and that should remain the case. Not only that, but Siltvelt was at least somewhat cooperative. So now Naofumi had the backing of two major countries. Things were more than just looking up. They had a chance to really look forward to the lives they could lead, lives of peace. Soon.
.
The nobles began talking amongst themselves. Some bragging about their own deeds, some more humble, speaking of Naofumi and the others' strength. Above all though, they were thankful for the chance to even be involved.
"I'm so glad you gave me this chance, Jaralis." One man said, shaking his hand.
"We got to fight alongside our god in defense of our people. It feels like a purpose I had my whole life was finally fulfilled." Another commented.
"And to see what his part-I mean, family can do first hand is more than you could have convinced me of with words alone." A third man added.
Jaralis seemed to have mellowed out quite a bit. He was a ruthless politician, but he had no choice but to see Naofumi's party as the major assets they were. His mind was no longer thinking of how to tear them apart. Instead he thought how best to still get what he wanted and thought was best for Siltvelt without threatening them.
As Naofumi hoped, the opinions of others didn't change as much as they adapted to be more aligned with Naofumi's interests.
After things were settled, Naofumi used [Portal Shield] to take the family with him to the castle, then used [Knock Knock II] to bring everyone else back. Spirits were high and that meant the agreeability continued.
"Come, Shield Lord. Let us hold a celebration for the wave. A celebration of gaining your protection." The large mammoth council member suggested.
Naofumi hesitated for a moment. The idea sounded nice and the kids deserved it, but if they pulled the same crap from the day before, they'd leave again. The council members responded to the look Naofumi gave.
"Fret naught, Shield Lord. We've recovered from our foolishness." One said.
"...Indeed. Siltvelt is yours, and that goes for the castle as well. Who are we to tell you how you must dwell in its halls?" Jaralis said.
"Hmm, then we'll go with the arrangement from yesterday?" Naofumi suggested.
"As you wish. You may retire for a spell right away if you like. It'll take us an hour or so to prepare the city for the event." Jaralis answered.
"If we've dealt with Siltvelt's weird pursuits so easily, then there's no reason not to become as close or closer allies than we are with Melromarc." Naofumi thought.
They were escorted to their rooms by Renair. As they walked, she couldn't help but comment. "Jaralis is among my greatest opponents, but he truly looked defeated today. I haven't seen his face like that in years. It's safe to say that he is no longer dismissive of your family. I admit, I was told you all were quite strong, but my report must have been modest to the point of being misleading. They'd been so accurate about everything else." She commented.
"Accurate… Accurate! Now I remember! You remind me of Walter…, but… he's broke and drunk and you're rich and… Yeah that doesn't really fit." Leon's revelation fell apart.
"Maybe if she also used a gun, but if the only thing they have in common is cat ears…" Monti said, pointing at his own ears.
"Their name is 'Walter' you say? Uses guns of all things? There's no mistake then…" Renair muttered aloud.
Filo tilted her head and Renair reacted strangely to Leon's statement.
Renair showed them to their rooms. A large and extravagant room full of history and finery, and next to it was a room with 4 modest sized beds. Leon tried grabbing something, but Raphtalia already knew what he was going to do.
"No. We are merely staying here for the night. We are not taking any of this with us." Raphtalia told Leon.
"But everything is so expensive. Even that beat up old shield is pricey." Leon commented.
Naofumi looked at the shield hanging above a fireplace. It looked really worn out, but once quite impressive.
"That shield used to belong to one of the previous kings of Siltvelt. A truly great man." Renair explained.
"I thought Siltvelt had no king?" Raphtalia asked.
"Our society is not so rigid. We've had a few. In Siltvelt, might makes right. The rare few so strong and charismatic that they had the council bow to them have been named king. All of them were truly outstanding… Some were more successful than others…" Renair trailed off.
After an awkward pause, Renair spoke up again. "A mountain of food will be served at the celebration, but if you cannot wait, ask the maids. I am sure you have a lot to discuss." Renair sent herself away, suddenly having a lot on her mind.
Naofumi touched the shield on the wall.
.
[Beast King Shield]
[Ability: Therianthrope Ability Up (large)] Therianthrope forms of demi-humans in your party are greatly stronger and are easier to use.
[Ability: Demi-human Ability Up (large)] The stats of demi-humans in your party are increased.
[Ability: Beast Transformation Assist] Demi-humans who can use their therianthrope form can use a stronger version at the cost of the user's MP.
[Unique Ability: Power of Devotion] The user's devotion to a cause or others affects the stats of this weapon form.
.
Naofumi looked at the stats of the shield, then again, then a third time. "The stats keep changing moment to moment. I guess it has to do with that last ability." Naofumi considered.
"Anything cool?" Filo asked.
"Pretty cool actually. Two of those wave bosses gave me shields that I want to give you two." Naofumi said, pointing to Raphtalia and Monti. "I didn't get to try it before, but I want to try improving them after I unlock them first." Naofumi added.
"What do they do?" Monti asked with excitement.
"It's a surprise. You have to wait." Naofumi told him.
"And mine?" Raphtalia asked.
"Like I said, a surprise." Naofumi answered.
Raphtalia almost seemed a bit pouty about it, but not in a bad way. The family settled in a bit and spoke. During that time, Leon's new spell was brought up.
"So what was that? It was a lot stronger than any Drifa spell I've seen." Raphtalia asked Leon.
Leon held his head high and buffed out his chest. "That's [Dragon's Vein]. It was my first time trying it, but I'm so awesome it worked like I had done it a thousand times." Leon bragged.
"So the same thing Wyndia uses…? That's not right." Filo seemed to understand it too.
"What I used is called [Dragon's Vein]. It's where you use your own vitality to cast a spell, but only super strong things like dragons can do it. What Wyndia uses is called [Way of the Dragon Vein]. That's where you draw the power from your surroundings to do it for you." Leon explained.
"So what Wyndia can do is harder than what you can do." Filo pointed out.
Leon's face soured, but he continued. "It's both easier and harder than what I did."
"How is it both easier and harder?" Teal asked.
"If you use the energy around you it's not as taxing and weaker beings can use it, but because you draw from the power around you, you don't get to decide the kind of spell you can use. The element isn't for you to decide." He elaborated.
"So we could all cast spells of different elements?" Raphtalia asked.
"You should, but it's hard. You'd also need to be blessed by a being strong enough to grant you the ability." Leon finished explaining.
"I assume Gaelion blessed Wyndia, right? Then can't you just bless us?" Naofumi asked.
Leon facepalmed. That was an obvious option. He hadn't considered this. He was too focused on learning it himself. He was so dumb sometimes.
"Yeah. Gaelion just told me how to do it." Leon answered.
Leon then began blessing each of them. Blessing Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Teal. Afterwards, he stopped.
"What about us?" Monti asked on behalf of Filo and himself.
"Huh? Filo was already blessed by Fitoria, and you are stronger than me, you don't need my blessing." Leon answered.
Everyone spoke a bit longer, but they all understood that this magic was much harder than Drifa spells and it would be more about gaining the skill over time and not being strong enough. Similar to [Hengen Muso] in that regard. They spoke so long that they lost track of time and it had been over an hour. They'd have taken longer, but maids came in to offer them a change of clothes and to announce the celebration was about to commence.
They were walked through a different section of the castle, the room they needed to pass through was the largest in the castle. A throne on an area with stairs to the rest of the room meant to make the throne seem more imposing. It must have been the throne that the rare Siltveltian king sat on.
Werner saw Naofumi looking at the throne from the other end of the room. He and the other nobles were waiting to exit the castle alongside Naofumi.
"Do you wish to sit on it?" Werner asked.
"Huh? No. Something like that would be pretty disrespectful, right?" Naofumi asked.
"Normally, but if the Shield Lord declared himself king, who would argue?" Werner replied with his own question.
"Wow, selling your kingship if I choose to stay… These guys mean business." Naofumi thought.
"Let me rule?" Leon asked, walking towards the throne.
"Hell no." Naofumi grabbed Leon by the horn and lifted him up. He just lost walking privileges.
"Ugh. Then brother, let him rule." Leon asked for Monti.
"I don't want to and I doubt they'd let anyone rule them besides dad and fellow demi-human." Monti pointed out the obvious.
"But you are 'the king of beasts'." Leon joked.
Monti seemed to not like that joke at all. "Leon, stop being rude. They are throwing dad a party and you're making them rethink that decision." Monti chided him.
Leon was passed to Raphtalia to hold. If anything, it's amazing Leon behaved as well as he had until now. He was the baby after all. He also had a number of problematic traits. He was getting better. He fought less with Filo as an example. Still, he was definitely what Naofumi would call a brat.
After that little detour, they spoke briefly with the council before being shown out of the castle onto a balcony. Below, the scenery blew Naofumi away. The streets were packed full of demi-humans roaring his praises. Lights were set up like a festival. It looked nothing like this when they returned.
"Thanks to the efforts of the Shield Lord, the brave council members and a number of daring lords, the wave that came this time took not a single life! With the Shield Lord with us now, the waves will no longer threaten our lives! Please cheer and give thanks! The Shield Lord now staves off the threats to Siltvelt himself!" The large mammoth council member announced in a booming voice.
Naofumi saw what they were doing, they were co-opting his efforts to improve their own standing. Annoying, but expected. Naofumi figured they'd want him to say a few words, but they seemed to want to avoid that. Not as harshly as the day before, but maybe they expected Naofumi might tell them to cooperate with Melromarc or something else very much against their own agendas.
Naofumi was ushered to an area to sit, but he saw no place for Raphtalia and the kids to sit. Before he could voice a complaint, several attendants moved in and added another table to the arrangement, along with enough chairs for the family. Naofumi couldn't know which council members understood him and which ones still didn't, but as long as things were still working out, he'd stay calm.
As they began to eat with people throwing thanks and cheer at Naofumi, he began to think. They had already decided to stick it out in Lurolona, but Siltvelt was a lot better for them in many ways. The general people that lived here were nicer to Naofumi and unlike the leadership, the average citizen had no ill-intent toward him at all. While he didn't regret choosing to live in and rebuild the town Raphtalia grew up in, he felt a bit bad that he was giving more to Melromarc then Siltvelt, given how he was treated in both.
"Filo, after you're done eating, sing for everyone, okay?" Naofumi asked.
Filo looked around in excitement. She hadn't sung in front of so many people before. She started eating faster just so she could start sooner. Naofumi and the others noticed that their food was less gamy than the food they had just yesterday. Likely, they prepared their food with more care. They noticed they were eating different dishes than everyone else. If Naofumi lacked detection skills, he'd have been worried about being poisoned.
After Filo had enough to eat for the moment, Naofumi used [Megaphone] to address the crowd.
"You've all been a lot more welcoming than what I am used to." Naofumi began. The council members looked stressed that he was talking to the public, understandably.
"As they said, we'll be handling the waves here from now on. Me and my family." They could see a few of the council members flinch.
"We won't always be here though. We live in Lurolona village in the Seaetto territory of Melromarc. Those people also require my protection. They can't defend themselves as well as you yet." A few council members started arguing with one another in hushed whispers.
"So I want to give something a little more back as a way of saying thanks for the welcome. Filo, my daughter, will sing for you all." Naofumi finished, holding his arm out for Filo to hold and sing into the shield.
Filo sang a few of her favorites, including a new one about the fight they just dealt with. The songs were well received, with each one being cheered louder than the last. The audience was won over quickly. It helped Naofumi and the others feel more at ease. The celebration was loud and cheerful, as promised.
Jaralis sat away from the others, staying on the balcony eating a meal at a large table. He was eating the meal with a few loyal to him. They discussed business.
"You appreciate us, but we don't need you as much as they do? That's your answer? Hmm…" Jaralis asked aloud.
Jaralis didn't even seem upset. His plans had to make many changes, but Siltvelt's safety from the waves were now guaranteed. Naofumi also expressed a shared gratitude out loud. It wasn't what Jaralis wanted, but this is what he had.
"So what do we do? We need to secure more of the Shield Lord's support than the other groups. Why hasn't he slept with any of our daughters or nieces yet?" One of the nobles that directly supported Jaralis asked.
"Because he doesn't need us. He doesn't need us and he has a strong woman at his side. We have no leverage to push the issue." Jaralis answered, clarifying himself.
His supporter wasn't having it. "Listen to yourself. He is the Shield Lord, not some common man. He can have all the women he wants. We just need our daughters to have his children first. Our standing within-"
"Do not talk down to me." Jaralis roared lowly. "Indeed. If we can just secure that much, we will secure our position more and push the elite races further out of power. The issue is that… He is the Shield Lord, the proper Shield Lord. I saw that today. His strength, his tactics, his ability to command, the power of those he chooses, his loyalty… I don't want to risk a replacement when we already have a Shield Lord this competent." Jaralis revealed.
"So we roll over!?" The noblemen barked.
Jaralis sipped his drink. "We appeal to him. We make the idea of doing what we want to be something he also wants. We align common interests whenever able. We can go no further than that. We-I cannot risk more than that. If we push him directly and he rejects it, then I lose respect and trust from the Shield Lord. Which means my influence goes down the drain, which means the elite races claw back more power they have no right to." He explained his reasoning.
The noblemen stood up and began to yell. Luckily, the celebration was so loud that it didn't carry far. "Where is the Jaralis I knew!? You are acting like a scared cat! You could pass as Renair with your limp approach. I could d-"
Jaralis stood and grabbed the man by his throat, still holding a fork firmly into the meat on his plate with his free hand. "Do not compare me to a woman that lost everything. Do you not understand your position? You are asking me to piss off the Shield Lord or what? Suffer your wrath?" Jaralis asked mockingly, clenching tighter. "I'd rather kill you here with all these witnesses than risk that. Do you get it? I can recover from murdering you. Just like the Shield Lord, you have no leverage on me." Jaralis threw the man back into his seat.
The man coughed and held his throat as Jaralis spoke more. "I'll give your daughter the chance to catch his eye. I'll do as much as I can get away with, like I always have. So shut up and gather the girls. I have one idea on how to make the act his own decision and not me forcing my hand." Jaralis said. He took a parting bite of food and walked away.
The celebration lasted several hours, but Naofumi and the others left after just two hours. They found the castle a bit more inviting now that they were allowed an agreeable sleeping arrangement. Once they went back to their rooms, they relaxed a bit.
Teal would end up asking a very simple question that would have led to a major warning. If only Naofumi even knew what it was. "The next wave is Melromarc's mainland, right? When exactly?"
Naofumi looked at his timers, but scrunched his face in confusion. "I'm… not sure." Naofumi's timers were replaced by symbols that looked like blue hourglasses with "7" written beside them.
…
The Parade
…
Merodach had been struggling. A few of his bodies had made it to Zeltoble and a few other places, but Fitoria had been true to her word, killing him over 100 times. It was a greater setback than he anticipated, but a few of his bodies were able to make waves. He wanted until enough of him could make waves before doing it all at once, otherwise Fitoria would find him. He had been doing fixed tournaments in the coliseum with multiple copies of himself and his party split into multiple three man groups. He was making good money and gaining safe EXP.
All was going well.
It was Kalbur's plan. They'd stay here another month, Merodach gaining power and secretly coercing others to join his growing party. Just in Zeltoble, he had seven party members excluding himselves. He had high hopes to force Monti to agree to help him, but plans barely ever survive the conditions of reality.
He felt something. All at once, Merodach felt cold and isolated. It was an awful feeling he knew all too well. He was now truly separated from all the other versions of himself outside of this world. The versions of him outside the world could operate, just as the ones inside could, but the two sides could no longer share thoughts.
Kalbur noticed him go stiff. "What's the matter? More information from far away?" Kalbur asked.
"No… Your world is acting… wrong. It's activating defenses not meant for some time… Maybe it judged me a great enough threat to be more proactive? No… That's never happened before." Merodach answered cryptically.
"The world? What do you mean?" Maps overheard and asked.
"I mean four monsters are about to rise on behalf of the world to crush the waves." Merodach clarified.
"So more powerful monsters like that filolial queen will be after you?" Kalbur was concerned.
"No. These powerful monsters will be targeting you." Merodach clarified.
"The sum of my parts and allies could maybe fight this first one, but…It'd take everything. Then that bird bitch finishes me. If I lose, I lose. But I'm not dying to solve the enemies' problem. He'll stop it for me…" The Parade thought.
"So what do we do?" Kalbur asked.
Merodach wore a smirk. "We wait for those heroes to save everyone." He answered sarcastically.
…
Back to Naofumi
…
He explained what he saw and they collectively questioned it. They threw out theories left and right, such as the hourglass pausing while another wave happened somewhere else and Naofumi just now catching it at the right time, or that "7" was the number of hourglasses he could register to. Nothing satisfied them.
"I'll just ask Ren or Itsuki when I see them. They probably remember something similar in the games they played. I hate relying on that, and it'll most likely not be entirely accurate. Still, it's been accurate enough to be useful. Hmm. I'll think about it more. I'm heading to the bath first." Naofumi told them.
A good bath was an option they still couldn't get whenever they wanted
…
Naofumi
…
Naofumi was directed to a bath that was supposed to be private. He expected to be alone, with the rest of the family joining when they felt like it. However, he was sorely mistaken.
He removed most of his clothes and entered into the bath, attempting to decompress. The bath was an open air affair. Similar to those hotels built like a series of hallways with large areas of outside that were still surrounded by the building. The bath was large, more akin to a small pool. And it was hot. It seemed to mimic a hot spring. Heroes from the past must have influenced these things.
The day was a weird one for him. He butted heads with some of the members of the council, but since the wave, they hadn't bothered him at all. Further, the country loved and worshiped him as their god. The way complete strangers that didn't even know his name or recognize his voice were seemingly so devoted to him felt off. He saw that they meant it, but at the same time, it held its own strange sense of insincerity.
The people of Melromarc still leaned towards disliking Naofumi on the whole, but they also knew him better. Those in Melromarc that liked him were sincere in their feelings. That was one of the reasons he wouldn't abandon it. All the same, Naofumi wished he had more to give to Siltvelt, that had done far, far less to him, and been far more agreeable and glad of his presence. Even beyond obligational feelings Naofumi may feel, he felt if he did a little more, then anyone left in Siltvelt that might cause him trouble would lose their motivation for doing so.
And to top it off, this blue hourglass was just weird. Naofumi hadn't seen it before and he just kept worrying what the hell the "7" meant. As he continued pondering his feelings, actions and that weird blue hourglass…, he heard voices.
"Oho! There you are, mister hero~!" A spunky voice called to Naofumi.
"The Shield lord is here? It's our lucky day. He and I both." A mature voice said seductively.
"I didn't realize he had such broad shoulders! Oh~, those muscles~." A younger voice called.
Naofumi turned to see the source, then leapt out of the water. At least a dozen demi-human women were surrounding the bath. They ranged in type, but seemed to be mostly predators. Fitting. A few wore barely any clothes, but most wore nothing at all! Naofumi was about to trigger his fight or flight.
"Oi! Not interested. I have a woman. Leave me be." Naofumi said firmly.
He was 'the Shield Lord'. He'd send them on their way.
"We heard. To be honest, we're really jealous." One said.
"Can you really be satisfied with just one woman?" The mature one asked.
"How could you know if there was something better without sampling everything?" Another added while stepping forward.
"She doesn't have to know~." The young one said, swinging her hips.
"Oh god! They all remind me of Malty. Dumb whores that think their bodies are the key to every door in life." Naofumi thought.
The girls inched closer to him with a round of giggling.
"This is your last warning. I'm not interested. Now move out of the way, I'm not interested in spending any more time here." Naofumi tried to walk past two of them.
They tried to make a grab at him and his line was crossed. He used [Shooting Star Shield] to create a barrier around himself and keeping them at bay. Now all he had to do was walk away and-
"Clang! Clang!" Loud strikes could be heard.
"You have to be shitting me!" Naofumi thought.
Not only were there now more women, nearly twice as many, but they were now hammering the barrier with their fist. A few were in therianthrope forms, one of which was a mammoth type. Naofumi had become strong, but they weren't letting him pass and taking no for an answer.
"Playing hard to get is fine, but maybe you're doing it a bit too much?" The mature one asked.
"Shield Lord, please let us be of service to you." Another said.
"Hurry up and fuck me!" The spunky one yelled.
Naofumi was beyond any measure of discomfort and decided to pull his trigger. [Knock Knock II]!
Suddenly, Raphtalia, Filo, and Teal were there. Naofumi specifically chose not to summon either Monti or Leon with all these naked women around.
"What the-?" All three were understandably confused.
"Help me! They won't take the hint!" Naofumi told them.
After a brief moment to grasp the situation, their three faces grew a bit dark. Raphtalia unstrapped her sword's sheath from her belt and ensured the strap holding it to the blade was secure. Teal's fingers became whip-like vines, with many more whip-like vines growing out of her body. Filo transformed and readied herself like a bull.
"Huh? Where'd they come from?" The women seemed confused.
"...I will give you a single warning… Back off!" Raphtalia was furious.
"You can't have him all to yourself. He's-" The mature one went to argue, but Raphtalia swung her sheathed sword at the woman's head, breaking her nose and sending the woman's naked body skipping over the water of the bath and into the opposing bushes. The other women took a few steps back.
Raphtalia spoke in anger. "Let me make something clear to all of you. Naofumi-sama hates pushy women. He hates sexual actions with no emotional component. And…"
"He belongs to mom!" Teal said as she began whipping every woman she could reach, which was most of them.
The three began thrashing the harlots that gathered in the bath, with Filo sending one woman flying dangerously. The woman flew up high and would have violently fallen to the ground, but she managed to grab the railing of a balcony area.
"H-Help!" She called.
Unfortunately for her, it was the room for the kids. Monti left to look for the others, but Leon stayed. He heard the pleas and walked out onto the balcony. He stared at the woman in confusion. It was such a bizarre sight. Some random naked woman hanging off the edge of the balcony.
"L-Little boy, help! I'm slipping!" She shouted.
Leon starred, uninterested. "What do I get? I was about to take a nap." He asked.
She snapped. "Does it look like I have anything on me!? Help me up!" She shouted.
Leon leaned close and, without changing his expression, stomped on the woman's hand. "Perish." Leon whispered.
She fell the rest of the way to the ground. "What the hell!?" She called.
Leon returned inside, hoping no other dumb occurrences messed with his night.
Raphtalia, Filo, and Teal continued to beat the women away until they heard Werner shouting.
"What is going on here!?" Werner looked on in confusion.
"Tell these whores to take a hint! Get them out of here!"
Werner shifted his gaze to the women. They stopped their attempts, they retreated with their tail between their legs, some quite literally. Werner made sure they all left then turned to apologize. "I'm so sorry something like this happened. Had I known-"
"So this sort of thing happened? I'll have the castle halls monitored." Jaralis came from nowhere and said, making Werner look as if he was the cause of something not allowed.
"That was already your job." Werner pointed out.
"How was I to know these women would be so bold? They are all of noble birth, they all had access to the castle. Such foolishness. I can understand their reasons, but to come to blows with the Shield Lord? I'll see them punished." Jaralis seemed genuinely upset.
"Don't play dumb. I recognized some of them. They belonged to your supporters." Werner pointed out.
"Oh? I saw just as many of your supporters' daughters involved." Jaralis replied.
"Who's lying?" Naofumi asked Filo.
"They are both telling the truth, but…" Filo was having a hard time telling. Jaralis was masking his lies with truth, confusing Filo.
"Why'd you two do this?" Naofumi asked, beyond pissed.
"I… I thought it would please the Shield Lord. Previous Shield Lords were always treated in this manner…" Werner attempted to defend himself.
"That child can tell lies? Then I can say confidently that they were merely to offer themselves, nothing more. I made it very clear that your approval was paramount. So, while I can be blamed for disrupting your bath, the women went against what was told to them. The biological offspring of a hero is said to be blessed in many ways. Given that and your position, I guess there were too many reasons for them to take it too far." Jaralis answered more fully than Werner.
Naofumi turned to Filo, who nodded. He was telling the truth, the women were meant only to offer themselves and disappear if he wasn't interested. Naofumi didn't like that, but Jaralis' actions alone weren't the fault of this.
"And you, Werner? Did you give such explicit orders?" Naofumi asked.
"...No, I did not. I didn't foresee their misconduct." Werner admitted.
Naofumi's opinion of the two was switching. Still, there was always merit in a man that takes the full blame.
"There you all are. What happened?" Monti arrived and asked.
"We slapped around some naked women... Siltvelt is weird." Filo replied.
Monti didn't know how to respond, like at all.
Naofumi left back to the room after a bit and wanted to avoid any more women. However, he turned the corner to see another woman. She had on more clothes, but her exceeding beauty and eyes that looked like she devoured men was enough to tell him she was a problem. She had green hair that was a bit unusual, a fine Chinese dress of a similar color, and finely kept hair. If anything, she looked to be higher class
"You. You are the bearer of the shield implement?" She asked. She spoke in a low desperate voice.
"Um, yeah." Naofumi answered.
"Please. For the sake of the world, you must kill me." She said with a serious face.
"...What…?" Naofumi was beyond lost. This was about the opposite of what he thought she'd say.
"I can no longer perform my purpose, so all the deaths will be meaningless! You must kill me!" She begged.
"Who are you? What are you talking about?" Naofumi asked.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" An eye-piercing scream was heard by everyone throughout the castle. No. In all of Siltvelt and beyond.
Naofumi flinched and held his hands to his ears. For the briefest moment, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the woman was gone. "...What the hell was that!?"
Naofumi wouldn't receive an answer. He spoke to the family about it later and none of them heard anything. Naofumi considered that maybe someone used binding magic like those bats did months ago. That instead of assaulting him emotionally, they weaponized it as a screech. Naofumi wanted to hurry and master the two shields he planned to give so he could master the [Nindo Shield] for its [Soundproof] ability.
Naofumi and the others took some precautions that night and enjoyed proper beds for the first time in a long while. Naofumi switched to the [Golden Shogun Shield] before he went to sleep. With it mastered by morning, he'd see what it was capable of. Everyone went to sleep fairly easily in such high quality beds.
…
The following day
…
Naofumi rarely had dreams, but he was having one now. Someone cruel was laughing at him and the whole family was crying. They surrounded someone. Someone whose face Naofumi couldn't see for some reason. They went to speak, but Naofumi woke up.
Naofumi woke up only 30 minutes early. He did what he always did and worked more on medicines and more specifically [Magic-Healing Water]. He had run low and never wanted to be without. He also continued to work on another accessory. One he had put so much effort into at this point. He probably had over 10 hours of work into it and expected another 20 to go. He kept peeking back to make sure Raphtalia wasn't awake as he worked on it.
The morning was rather rushed. While Naofumi was glad to have had a great bed to sleep in for once, the politics of Siltvelt was still very much something Naofumi wanted nothing to do with. He wanted to hurry and get back to Lurolona, and more specifically Castletown. He wanted to bring Ren to Siltvelt to register while it was fresh on his mind. He might even accept Itsuki.
Naofumi didn't even wait for either Werner or Jaralis to 'make it up to him'. Better to keep those two on their toes. I'd make them more willing to comply if he ever did have a request. They decided they were going to make breakfast in Lurolona after they got back.
"So we're leaving. Ready?" Raphtalia asked.
"What about Renair?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, cat lady might have another toy for Filo?" Filo questioned.
"I'm sure she'll have something the next time we see her. Come on." Naofumi wasn't letting them delay the teleport any more than they had to.
"Fiiiiine." They both said with a sigh.
"You both have plenty to do back in the village." Naofumi chided before activation [Portal Shield].
…
Lurolona village
…
Before the light even faded, they knew something was wrong. There was smoke and blood in the air and people were crying. The light hadn't even fully left them before they heard Eclair. "Finally! Naofumi, there are many that need medical attention! Immediately!" She shouted desperately.
The light fully left their eyes and all was clear to see. The village was attacked. The village that Raphtalia wished to raise a flag on again and had fallen twice seems to have nearly been destroyed again. While they were having a feast and celebration in Siltvelt, the people they were responsible for protecting were fighting for their lives.
A quiet anger and sense of duty filled them one and all. They would fix this, whatever it was.
.
[Author's Notes]
The Spirit Tortoise arc begins. It's a personal favorite of mine. Many people like to parrot that it wasn't good, but the anime skipped so much. I can't blame anime-onlies for thinking otherwise, but this arc to me is the closest any series has ever come to doing a raid-boss correctly, narratively speaking.
Jaralis now sees Naofumi and his family as too powerful and competent to afford to lose. Leading him to adopt a very different attitude. One that might see him last much long.
My plan has been completed. For those familiar, you probably noticed that [Territorial Reform] is not on [Beast King Shield]. That's because Naofumi noted in the LNs that the shield does not give duplicate equip bonuses (Or [Abilities] as I put it), they only have duplicate special equip effects (Or [Unique Abilities] as I put it). He notes this after many poison enemies he absorbed on Gaelion's mountain gave random bonuses. He theorized that any of them would have given him [Poison Resistance (Medium)], but since he already had that, they couldn't.
This brings me to my point. I made a wave boss that could understandably give [Territorial Reform] so I could have Naofumi give it to Monti without also giving him all those demi-human bonuses. So now Naofumi can give a good shield with [Territorial Reform] to Monti without losing all those crucial bonuses.
Just as Naofumi was finally told about demi-humans and their therianthrope forms not being a separate race in the last chapter, we get an explanation of [Way of the Dragon's Vein] this time. Actually explaining stuff. Weird.
And of course they tried seducing Naofumi. Good thing he summoned the girls to save him. Leon didn't even know what was going on, but thankfully his sigma male energy led him to the correct answer.
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