Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.
Itsuki grits his teeth to stop a deep exclamation from escaping his mouth as his body dips into hot water. Two months of living, and adventuring in a fantasy world has made him crave the amenities of modern life. Running water, a functioning bath and shower is pretty close to the top of the list. He didn't expect to be able to enjoy something like an onsen again, but now he's submerged himself, he realized how much he wanted this. This warm dip feels especially good after he had his nap to recover from his seasickness.
"...And then she's like 'woosh'! Naofumi and I were on our backs on the ground before we knew what happened!" On the other side from him, Motoyasu is jumping and wildly gesturing in the hotspring as he (badly) recounts what went on.
Itsuki really doesn't understand what's going on with the out of control excitement coming from Motoyasu, or why he's acting so animated and happy after getting himself beaten again. So he leans closer to Ren and whispers to him. "Did you get what he's saying?"
"About half..." Ren sits slightly straighter in the onsen, to pull his mouth above water. He pretends to look composed and aloof, but he's clearly enjoying this onsen session as much as Itsuki himself. His eyes pull back from Motoyasu to look at Itsuki. "Some crazy nudist attacked Naofumi. And then a hero came alone and tried to kill Malty. Some crazily good martial art master was with him and stopped Naofumi and Motoyasu from killing that hero. That's all I got."
"Okay, sit down, Motoyasu. All this heat is getting into your head." Naofumi pulls Motoyasu into the hotspring. Unlike Itsuki, the Spear Hero didn't hold back the ecstatic sigh as his body leaned back against the rock barrier behind him. The Shield Hero looks much more composed, even after someone tried to kill Malty. But he still looks rightfully concerned. He stares at Ren for a few moments, his lips twitch looking like he wants to say something but stops himself at the last moment. In the end, Naofumi simply nods his head. "We aren't the only heroes around. And some of the other heroes are old. Kael'thas told me that one of them has been alive since the last Wave of Catastrophe from 60 years ago. If we got to our current power level after two months, how much stronger would they be after decades?"
"That is concerning. Especially when they show hostility." Ren fully sits up in the onsen, his eyes narrowed into a slit. "Do you have spare for that signal arrows Kael'thas give you? All of us should carry some in case of an emergency. We can talk to each other with our smartphone weapon form, but we can't fumble around them in a pinch."
"Good idea! I'll ask Kael'thas if it's possible to make them glow in the dark with different colors, maybe even make different sounds so we'll know who is in danger from the color and sound." Naofumi stands up from the hotspring and starts passing the signal arrows to everyone. After the round, he's about to sit back into his spot when his body suddenly freezes. A shade of red appears on his face briefly. For a moment, Itsuki wonders if the heat has also got to him like it did to Motoyasu, until he pulls out four pieces of what look like emerald chunks from his shield. "I completely forgot about this after everything that's happening! When I was crossing the northern mountains in Melromarc, I met this crazy bird girl..."
Chapter 9: The Obligatory Hot Spring Scene...?
"The bird girl going mentals? Having a tall ahoge on her head?" Motoyasu pulls up a strand of his own long hair, likely imitating the girl he is talking about. Naofumi gives him a sideway glance, and a nod. "Oh, yeah. She's totally mental, I tell you. Shows up whenever my new batch of children get their human forms... beat the stuff out of them, and then give them an ahoga. I mean... I don't mind them changing their hairstyle, and my children seem to like them. But could she not... you know? Beat them up?"
"Fitoria isn't thinking straight because her soul is breaking apart under the power of Alaya. The point isn't her beating your children up. She's testing them because she wants to find a successor... hey! You got me monologuing and completely led me away from what I wanted to say!" Naofumi points the index finger on his right hand up, looking like he's about to get into a long exposition. But he suddenly catches himself, gives Motoyasu an annoyed glare and slaps his head. Their spear-wielding friend looked at Naofumi like a kicked puppy, but didn't say anything more as Naofumi held the emerald chunks in his hands out towards the three of them. "These are the fruit from Yggdrasil, some kind of tree god. Metatron, a sentient doll who speaks for the tree god, calls them 'the cosmic seed'. Said something about they are the main ingredient of Yggdrasil medicine that'll heal any and all wounds and bring you back from the brink of death. They can also be made into powerful artifacts. She gave me four, so I figured each of us should get one."
"Is that so..." Ren moves closer to Naofumi and takes one from his hand. He turns the thing over in his hand. It looks more like a piece of gem with a very vibrant color, than something that would grow out of a tree. Maybe something that could be born from a dress, like amber from dried up tree resin. The only thing that indicates they are plant in origin is the thin, brown veins covering them. But after a few moments, he puts the piece of emerald chunk back in Naofumi's hand. "I'm not sure I'd make the best decisions on what to do with this. If this tree god gives them to you, maybe you should keep them all."
Ren's suggestion makes Itsuki retract his own hand. He thinks back to what he did to Stormwind... and has to begrudgingly admit that his sword-wielding friend had a point. "Yeah. Ren isn't wrong. We already made pretty big mistakes before. Who's to say we won't end up wasting this really precious magical artifact?"
"Hey, I don't really need them. I'd probably get it made into a ring for Katarina, or Bertia. Since I already made a ring for Iris. But with how much money Iris has, I doubt she'll care much about this." Motoyasu kicks back and leans into the hot spring again. "You keep them, Naofumi."
"That's not the point. You guys think I haven't made big mistakes after our summoning? Two of my companions got killed by the Three Heroes' Church. Raphtalia and Firo got enslaved by Fuckboy because I underestimated them, and didn't build up enough power." Itsuki flinches at Naofumi's recount of his own mess up. His two fellow heroes do so as well. "I'm as likely to waste these cosmic seeds for stupid reasons as any of you. That's why I think it's only fair if we divide them among us. So each of us gets one chance to do something right with them. Maybe we could even try to gather information on them, before we decided what to do. I mean... we'll have more chances to know more, if all of us look for information on our own. Right?"
"Alright, if you think that's the best." Seeing the hesitation on Ren's face, Itsuki quickly snatches one of the Cosmic Seeds away, and slaps Ren on the back of his head. His sword wielding friend gives him an annoyed glance, but takes one away afterwards. Motoyasu still doesn't move, so Naofumi grabs his hand with his left, and drops a cosmic seed onto the Spear Hero's hand. The Bow Hero turns the piece of emerald around over and over, inspecting it. Its color is very vibrant... and he can't tell anything else away from it. Naofumi said something about how this thing can be used to craft powerful artifacts... he wonders if he can make something to help the recovery of Stormwind. The ability to save someone's life from the brink and completely heal them is nice... but he ruined countless lives in the little kingdom. Maybe he should think about doing something to help the people of Stormwind as a whole.
"Well, now that we got through the boring things..." Motoyasu drops his cosmic seed into his spear. He leans towards Naofumi with a conspiring look on his face. "We need to talk about the private, and fun part. You and Princess Malty."
"Wha- what's there to talk about between Malty and I? There- there's nothing to talk about!" Naofumi suddenly starts to fidget in hot water, his face grows much redder than before. Itsuki doesn't have a lot of experience with females, but even he can tell that there is something going on between him and Malty. Besides him, Ren rolls his eyes and lets out a scoff. Why wouldn't Naofumi develop feelings towards Malty? She saved him from his false accusation, she's been with him for the longest time and no doubt been giving him advice. And she's even with him when they were stabbed in the back by the Three Heroes' Church.
"See, here's your problem. You aren't being honest enough with your feelings towards Malty." Motoyasu edges closer to Naofumi, and wraps one arm around his shoulders while swinging his free left arm towards the sky. Like he's drawing some line on an invisible canvas. "Trust me. Girls like it when the guy they like openly shows their affection towards them. You need to let her, and the world know that you like her, maybe even crazy about her. Or else they get nervous and might do something that both of you will regret."
"...didn't you get stabbed to death by two girls?" Itsuki's body slowly slides back into hot water.
"YES! That's why I know it's important to make girls happy more than any of you!" Motoyasu stands up from the hotspring, pointing his fingers around all of them. "I have actual experience!"
Ren also stands up from where he was sitting. Unlike Motoyasu, he actually turns around, throws a towel around his waist and moves out of the onsen. "I'm too old for this shit."
"Hey, before you leave, Ren. I need to talk with you about something..." Naofumi waves at Ren, he gives both Motoyasu, and Itsuki a look. Clearly, he meant to talk with Ren about something in private. Motoyasu simply shrugs at the attempt. Itsuki doesn't know what Naofumi is thinking, but he supposes he doesn't have any reason to stop his shield-using friend from having some secret. Not like he has a good reason to be nosy after Naofumi already shared a pretty powerful magical item with him. So he shrugs after Motoyasu. Besides, he has something more important to say to Ren.
The Bow Hero stares at his sword wielding friend for a few moments. "Ren. You are the youngest..."
"Exactly. I'll talk with you after the Hero Conference, Naofumi." Ren gives Itsuki a long look before he turns around. He leaves without any further comment.
As Itsuki slides further into hot water, watching Motoyasu giving Naofumi suggestions on how to publicly declare his affection towards Malty, he wonders what the woman they are talking about is doing. Surely, it'll be less silly of what's happening here. And then... he noticed something in the air. "Hey, you guys smell something?"
As the former first princess of Melromarc, Malty isn't a stranger to having hot water baths. Although the culture of Cal Mira island is... interesting. Apparently, you have to wash your body first, before you are allowed to dip in the onsen. Oh, well... when in Q'ten Lo, do as the raccoon dogs do. Besides, right now she has slightly bigger problems to worry about. She tightens the towel wrapped around her body. Feeling someone's eyes on the back of her head where her scars are. She turns around, and notices Flare quickly averting her eyes. Right... This is probably the first time the pampered little 'princess' of House Consevatie saw such a grotesque looking scar from someone of her own social status. And then, the princess turned slave feels a hand around her other side of her body tightens..
"You don't have to literally attach me to the hip, Lady Eclair. I'm sure there's no one trying to take my life in a hot spring of all places." Malty is feeling equally as annoyed as she is grateful. Eclair had been acting a bit crazy after she learned that Malty lived through another attempt at her life. And the young knight lady is obviously feeling guilty that she was not there to protect Malty again just like she didn't do much during the Three Heroes' Church's rebellion. The result ended up being her tossing all her captain duty to her lieutenant, and had been following Malty around closer than a shadow (an actual shadow, not mother's agents who are apparently good for nothing if the whole Three Heroes Church rebellion was a good indication) for the rest of the day.
"Master Malty is right, you know. Captain Eclair. Don't you have the duty of disciplining, and training Lord Shield Hero's newly recruited retinue?" On the other side, Flare squeezes her arms tighter around Malty's arm. Her eyes narrowed into a slide, but it can't filter out the glitter from her death glare. "You can leave Master Malty's safety to me. I did a perfect job keeping my teacher safe!"
"As if I can put the safety of Princess Malty in the hand of the little sister who tried to kill her." Eclair glares right back at Flare, making the usually timid Lady Consevatie release a faint growling sound. It seems like Malty influenced more than little Raphtalia. She can never expect a muscle headed lady knight like Eclair snapping at another noble lady for the fault of their family. Eclair almost sounds like... well, a normal noble lady who is used to playing The Game in this instance. As amusing as it is, Malty needs to stop this situation from deteriorating further. "What would a daughter of Lord Grima do when you are faced against an assassin? Cry him a river and drown him to death?"
"Okay... knock it off, you two. This is getting a little ridiculous. Both of you are important to me." Malty gently pushes both of them a little back from each other... and herself. Of all the happenings in her life, the princess turned slave never expected herself to be the conflict of affection between two noble ladies. Not that she didn't like the attention, or that she doesn't want more loyal allies to keep herself safe from her mother... and everyone else's machination. But it's not the good, right kind of attention when they begin to impede everyday life.
She turns to Eclair first, left hand grabbing Eclair's hand. "Lady Eclair, you did not do anything wrong when you stayed at the border before the Three Heroes' Church's rebellion. There would be only so much... or rather, so little you could have done if you were at the Third Wave. I do not wish to see you hurt, or killed by the zealots from the Three Heroes' Church like what happened to Kyubey and Farkas. It's better for you to have stayed safe, and support me now with your great house somewhat restored."
Malty turns to Flare next and reaches out with her right hand. The Consevatie lady had groomed her hair again in a valiant effort to hide her recent impromptu barbing session. "You are not your spoiled, self-serving, cowardly brother, Lady Flare. You diligently study my lessons. And when my life is threatened, your first reaction was throwing yourself on top of me to save my life."
The princess turned slave brings Eclair, Flare, and her own hands together. "I'm not asking the two of you to love each other like you are sisters. But I need help from both of you. I forced myself into slavery to avoid my betrothal with King Egbert of Faubley. My master Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero, was recently sanctified by both the Three Heroes' Church, and the Four Heroes' Church. But he still has many enemies both from within glorious Melromarc and without. We could still face ruin later down the road, just like Confessor Cromwell and his lackeys betrayed everyone. Hell, Confessor Cromwell himself is still in power, thanks to my mother's ruling. Both Lord Shield Hero, and my own doom would be reassured if our own allies and friends fight each other. Will the two of you at least learn to cooperate, and act cordial with each other?"
Eclair and Flare stare at each other for a brief moment before nodding their heads. Of course, this doesn't mean the two noble ladies from north west and north east are now huggy and kissy. Eclair is someone who was born into a martial great house, who won all of their prestige from countless battles against Siltvelt raiders. While Flare's family were lackeys of the high queen who was directly appointed to lord over the martial great houses fighting on the border. They are naturally rivals towards each other. But for now... they would likely keep a somewhat healthy rivalry against each other. Hopefully.
The three of them washes away the soap water on their body with a bucket of warm water, wraps a towel around themselves and moves back into the actual hot spring. Through the thin layer of fog, Malty notices how there is already someone in the hotspring before her. One of them started to jump up and down and furiously waved at her. After a few brief pauses of rubbing her own eyes, she realizes the person in question is Raphtalia. She's not the only one either, both the dark haired dog girl that seems to be attached to her hip, and the white tiger girl following the insane Throwing Weapon Hero are in the water, glaring daggers at her. She briefly wonders what she had done to deserve such ire, and then realizes she doesn't care about what these two common rabble think.
"Raphtalia. How are you holding up?" Malty slowly dips her feet into the hot water, as she sits down at the edge. Only letting the lower half of her legs into the water for now. Raphtalia leaps up from the water, runs over to her and sits herself right down beside Malty. She looks very happy, even if they were only apart for a few hours. The princess turned slave looks around, not seeing the old woman, or the nudist woman. "I don't see the adults from the Throwing Weapon Hero's party."
"Master Elrasla left early after preparing our lessons and enlarging Atla's ki veins. She needs some rest for tomorrow's training. As for Big Sister Sadina... she said something about taking care of important business." Malty's heart begins to drop into her stomach at the crazy nudist's words. The princess turned slave leant from Naofumi what happened to him before her arrival. And how the insane woman is now fully convinced that he is some disgusting child lover preying on Raphtalia. Worse, she's apparently now dedicated her life to keep Raphtalia safe, in the sense of trying to kill the Shield Hero.
"You didn't think about her 'important business' being the assassination of Master Naofumi, did you?" Raphtalia's excited face begins to slowly turn pale at Malty's suggestion. Well... now she feels bad about worrying her surrogate daughter. "Well, it's not your fault. And I'm sure Master Naofumi is fine. I mean... Yatsuhashi is still sleeping from his electrocution. But the other three heroes are all with him-"
The sound of running lightning, coupled with pained screams from Naofumi, Motoyasu and the crazy Bow Hero can all be heard from the other side of the bamboo fence. It made Malty realize two facts: Number One, Sadina really was that crazy. And Number Two, she's too late to stop anything. Thankfully (?), their painful yelp only remained a brief second before being covered by the sound of clashing weapons and body parts. And an unfamiliar woman's angry howling. "YOU AGAIN! I, Therese Alexandrite, will stop you from further harming the Revered Heroes!"
"NO! Master Naofumi, Big Sister Sadina!" Raphtalia ran out of the onsen house before Malty could grab her. The princess turned slave quickly follows after her. When they run over to the male side, they immediately see two blue haired women punching, kicking, and swinging their respective weapons at each other. Further away, Naofumi and Motoyasu are lying against the stone divider on the edge of the hotspring. Their hairs all standing up from their head like needled quills from an enraged porcupine monster. As for the crazy bow boy... he's currently floating in the hot spring with his face down. Malty wants to run over to Naofumi, but she dodges away from the two women fighting each other, jumps into the hot spring to fish out Itsuki first. She really doesn't want him to suffocate to death.
Malty struggles to drag the drowning Bow Hero onto solid ground. Thankfully, Eclair runs over and throws him over the rocky divider. They do the same with both Naofumi and Motoyasu while Raphtalia hammers on Itsuki's chest and stomach to push water out of his mouth. Over by the entrance, the battle between Therese and Sadina also seems to be near its conclusion. Raphtalia's former bodyguard had been tripped over by the woman wielding the two-bladed sword, and then got knocked on the head. Therese throws her over the shoulder, and exits out of the onsen house. The princess turned slave suspect that the crazy nudist woman will be spending the rest of her stay in Cal Mira Island in some kind of dungeon after her second attempt on the Shield Hero's life.
"Go get Yuki, Raphtalia. Lord Bow Hero needs some healing attention." Malty begins to check the condition of the three heroes attacked by Sadina. Thankfully, it looks like both Naofumi and Motoyasu are only temporarily paralyzed by the crazy nudist's lightning attack. As for the crazy bow boy... he got hurt the worst thanks to his low DEF rating. So he'll have to stay in bed for a day... or two. At least they still have some time till' the next Wave of Catastrophe.
People tend to get confused with the name 'Cal Mira'. It can mean both the single island that was declared the eternal neutral ground by past generations of heroes. Or the entire archipelago of the surrounding area. While the smaller island surrounding the main island doesn't enjoy the same status, most nations tend to 'respect' the will of past heroes well enough to not reach for these islands to turn them into either battlefields, or colonies. At least, they respect the unwritten rule of The Game enough to not want to give other nations a reason to declare war on them. Throughout the ages, nations that come into greater power tend to leave smaller military outposts on them as a show of force, but that's the extent for any nations' interest in them.
Right now, a single figure is walking through such an abandoned military outpost sitting atop of a mountain. Countless glowing eyes in the dark peer at him, but no ferocious monster dares to come close. Perhaps it's the perfectly relaxed posture of the young man, graceful, yet not wasting a single strand of power like an apex predator. Or perhaps it's his eyes, glowing brighter than any monsters in the dark with the color of the Wave of Catastrophe itself. He enters into a side room, looking around the dust and cobweb filled building till his sight narrows onto the altar with a small statue of the holy icon of four heroes.
The young man walks over to the small shrine. He pulls a dagger out of his boots, slashes his wrist and allows his blood to drip down onto the holy icon of four heroes. If Naofumi, Malty, or even Sir Oersted is here, they would notice how the young man's blood slowly forms into the same symbol as they discovered in the cultist hideout. Scarlet embers, arranged into the same shape of the flower petals of House Melromarc's family emblem.
As the blood emblem finishes marking the ground, watchers and sand keepers at the church who look after Dragon Hourglass suddenly find that the holy device which predicts the arrival of the wave had the last specs of sand all fallen into the bottom chamber of the hourglass. As pandemonium reigns over the churches, crimson waves split the sky all over the world, most of all... over Cal Mira Island. The young man exits the desecrated shrine, looks up into the red sky and smiles at his handiwork. "All in the service of my goddess."
"What is happening?! I thought we still have a day or two till the Fourth Wave hits?!" Malty is panicking as she runs out of the onsen house. She hasn't checked in with a Dragon Hourglass till the last time she was in the Three Heroes Cathedral, before she left the capital of Melromarc. But she's pretty sure it's not the time yet. But in the distance, the already darkened night sky is lit up in crimson red, as countless monsters pour through. There is no doubt that they are facing one of the Waves right now.
"Whatever shall we do, Princess Malty? The Fourth Wave is upon us, and three of the four Cardinal Heroes are incapacitated." Eclair's shaky voice doesn't sound any more composed than Malty is feeling right now. She might have been trained as a knight since youth, but she is still young and inexperienced. Needless to say, she isn't prepared for the current situation.
Neither is Malty herself for that matter. But the ex-princess knows that she needs to do something. At this moment, doing practically anything aside from panicking and running around like a headless filorial is better than doing nothing. "Eclair, go rally all the retinues of the heroes. If there's no one in charge right now, you take charge of everyone! I want the heroes' full retinue fully assembled and ready to battle within ten minutes! We'll go into battle following Lord Sword Hero. Raphtalia, stay with Naofumi, Motoyasu and Itsuki. Raphtalia's friend, you go fetch Lady Yuki and have her heal our wounded Cardinal Heroes. Everyone else, with me!"
"Why should I listen to- yes, right away!" The boyish looking dog girl grumbles under her breath, but Raphtalia's glare makes her shut up, and runs towards the hotel where Motoyasu's retinue reside. Eclair had already run away before Keel. In the other direction, Baldy, Blue Eyes and Mala, who had stood guard just outside of the onsen house, ran up to her. Giving them a quick nod, Malty leads them towards Menagerie Hotel where the heroes would currently be residing.
The Sword Hero is standing in front of it, fidgeting around a device with a light up screen, and a sword handle. Remembering Naofumi's 'smartphone shield', Malty quickly realizes it must be the Sword Hero's equivalent. She runs straight at the youngest hero and calls out towards him from a distance. Giving him the short version of what happened after he apparently left the hotspring. "Someone tried to assassinate the heroes. Bow Hero is hurt, Naofumi and Motoyasu are paralyzed. I'm trying to rally all the retinues around you, Lord Sword Hero."
"Damn it!" The young hero drops his hand on the device, it changes back into a normal sword in his hand. Malty apparently guessed right, he really was trying to contact his fellow heroes, obviously to no avail. He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and grabs the handle of his sword again. "Very well. Lead the way!"
"I assigned Lady Eclair to rally the retinues. They'll be waiting for us. What about your companions, Lord Sword Hero?" Malty skids to a stop in front of the Sword Hero. She looks around, not seeing the adventurers, and the veteran knight assigned to the young man. Only Wyndia, and the miniaturized Gaelion is near Ren.
"They are with my retinue. I'm more used to moving on my own." The Sword Hero didn't bother to explain much, and they didn't need to waste time either. With the basic information exchanged, they begin to double back and make their way towards the hotels where the heroes' retinue are assigned to. By the time they reached the foot of the building, the large crowd of fighters had already assembled themselves in their full arms and armor. The Sword Hero gives a quick glance towards everyone and raises his hand. "I won't waste time with the details with you all. My fellow heroes just lived through an assassination attempt, and there's a good chance they need to recover before this Wave is over. I will do my best to lead you all into battle. Anyone of you who has no faith in me, you are welcome to leave. Everyone else, let's stop this Wave!"
Not the most inspiring speech Malty ever heard, but it didn't discourage the retinues of the heroes as they all raise their weapons above and give a loud cheer. One by one, they follow behind the young Sword Hero as they march towards the direction of the red sky. The princess feels someone pulling at her sleeves, so she looks back and sees Flare making funny faces at her. "If you have something to say, say it out loud, Lady Flare."
"Shou-should we stay at the rear? Since you know... we are magic users?" Malty frowns at the Consevatie girl's suggestion. From a pure strategic point, she isn't exactly wrong. But she had fought in a couple of wave battle before (granted, she wasn't on the actual frontline during the Second Wave at Lute village), so she knows that in such a chaotic battle, even a mage need to stand at the frontline, or pick a high point so they can be aware of the overall situation to cast the most appropriate spells. Not to mention, there is a clear sense of fear in Flare's eyes that she isn't bothering to hide. "Yo-you know? Even Master Shield Hero isn't here..."
Of course, she is afraid of getting hurt during a wave battle. Honestly, Malty understands the sentiment since she went through the same phase during previous wave battles. She's on the brink of panicking right now since she realizes that she's going on a wave battle without Naofumi by her side. And that's the reason why she has to appear calm, collected, even confident... and most importantly, stand in front of everyone. By now, everyone knows that the former first princess of Melromarc is the Shield Hero's first, and most loyal companion. So with the Shield Hero indisposed of, she needs to be the one standing at the front in his place to keep the morale up. They are on an island, there's really nowhere they can run if their army gets routed. So it's a do or die situation. Not that she can explain everything to Flare without the rest of the heroes' retinue over hearing her, and a paranoid rumor starts to drag down their overall morale. "We'll be fine, Lady Flare. The assassins didn't hurt Master Shield Hero too badly, and he'll join us in battle as soon as he receives some treatment. More importantly, we are at The Hero Conference. Heroes from other nations will join us soon. This will be a battle for glory, not a battle for survival. If you are worried, you can stay at the rear to help maintain the morale of our reserve."
"I'll stay with you, Master Malty!" The Consevatie girl immediately announce intention to stay on the front. Malty isn't sure if Flare made the decision to stay with her, or if she is enticed by the promise of battlefield glory, but it's the same in the end. Hopefully, when their conversation inevitably leaks out from word of mouth gossip, it'll further boost their group's confidence. Now... they only have to survive long enough for the other, veteran heroes to step in.
By the time they reached the northern beach of Cal Mira Island, countless other warriors had already gathered. Adventurers rich enough to go on a vacation of the famous eternal neutral ground to experience the life of heroes, armies and escort important figures from various nations to attend the Hero Conference. Malty looks around, and sees even her mother is riding in front of her own retinue, no doubt trying to gain some of her lost prestige back from this wave battle. She quickly retracts her gaze, before mother notices something. Looking far towards the north where the sky split up, she tries to analyze the situation based on her military classes. The Wave opened up on water this time, which means they can't take the fight directly to the boss monster itself and have to wait for it to come over. Of course, that's the ideal situation. There is a chance that what they are facing is some kind of breeder, or doll maker that stays behind countless Wavespawn while adding their own minions into the fray. That... would be the absolute worst situation.
Malty begins to look around again. She quickly focuses on the person she is looking for. "Eclair, get ready to dispatch a runner to the Siltvelt formation. The Claw Hero will have to take charge of the boss monster if it's a breeder or doll maker."
The lady knight gives Malty a quick sideways glance, and then starts to dispatch a runner like Malty commands. The princess turned slave doesn't know what was Eclair's trepidation, but she herself does not want to beg the Claw Hero for help. From their brief confrontation, it's clear The Princess of All Dragons has the same arrogance as Fuckboy, an insane reincarnate who sees everyone in the world as nothing more than side characters in a novel. And with the recent... argument between Naofumi and herself, there's a good chance that she would flat out refuse anything Malty requests of her. Hopefully, Lung wouldn't be as petty as Fuckboy and would do the right thing when the world's survival hangs in the balance.
"They are coming!" Someone screams out at the sea in front of Malty. Before anyone in the hero's retinue does anything, a round of loud, thunder-like noise rings out from the Faubley front. King Egbert commanded his army to take the first shot at approaching wave monsters, likely to affirm his position as the leader of the world's strongest nation. But so far, only the sound of musket fire echoes around the northern beach of Cal Mira Island. It seems like the pig king of Faubley is much smarter than his reputation precedes himself. He's letting the musket wielding common soldiers take the lead, while holding back his elite troops in reserve. The steady damage capabilities of the musket is useful to gauge his enemy's toughness, while its long range keeps his soldiers safe.
"Take defense formation! Let Faubley soften our enemy first." Malty holds her arm in front of Flare's face, stopping her apprentice from tossing out the fireball gathered in her hand. The Consevatie girl gives an unsure look at Malty, but holds back her spell as she was commanded. Malty used the chance to observe the first monster wave coming out of the Fourth Wave of Catastrophe - it's very similar to the third one, with aquatic looking monsters with carapace in the front, but no strange looking fishes swimming through the sky. And more importantly, she can't see any of those floating islands in the distance that spawn exploding fish monsters that give them so much trouble near the city of Gallia. Of course, she isn't expecting the Fourth Wave to be even easier than the third one. The lead bullet of standard Faubley muskets pierced the carapace of the Wavespawn with no difficulties, killing them as they climbed up the beach. Which tells Malty that this first monster wave is only common level range (LV1-LV40) monsters, as the damage of Faubley muskets are well known to dramatically fall off for warriors above common level range with appropriate armor.
"The Faubley musket conscripts are massacring the Wavespawn, Master Malty!" As countless wave monsters turn into corpses on the beach, Flare begins to shout as she bounces on her feet. Malty isn't sure what got her more excited. The apparent valiance of the Faubley army, or the aspiration to win glory on the battlefield. "Shouldn't we do something?"
"Something doesn't feel right." Malty narrows her eyes. Everything feels too easy. Not that she wanted the first monster Wave to be impossibly hard, but the current battle feels even easier than the Third Wave. And there is also the fact that this wave came down on everyone earlier than she estimated. Granted, Malty can't be sure that she simply misremembered the date from Dragon Hourglass, but she's pretty sure it should happen after the actual Hero Conference scheduled for tomorrow. Had she simply misremembered the details and was being paranoid? As more and more monsters begin to rise up from the water, they begin to overwhelm the bullet the Faubley conscript is able to dish out. Shaking her head, Malty gives her apprentice a nod as archers and mages everywhere begin to add their own attack to hold back the advancing monster tide. "Fire at will."
As Flare begins to add her own magic spell into the barrage, Malty looks back towards the direction where Naofumi, and two of his fellow heroes are left to recover. Unfortunately, she can see nothing other than the crowd that makes up the heroes' retinue. Over a thousand men completely block her vision with her standing in the front in the attempt to lead them and maintain their morale. She has a bad feeling about this situation... but surely she is only being paranoid? The Wavespawn are nothing more than empowered animals who have no understanding of strategy.
A warm current fills Naofumi's body, and he slowly gains back the control of his body again. He gives his fingers a few test twitches, and then moves around his arms and legs before slowly standing up. About five steps away from him, Motoyasu is already stretching his body. In the other direction, Yuki is still kneeling in front of Itsuki's motionless body. He can't help but get worried for his youngest fellow hero, since like his ATK rating, the Bow Hero's DEF rating is next to non-existent. "Is Itsuki..."
"Lord Bow Hero will be okay after some rest. But he can't participate in this current wave battle. Lord Shield Hero." Yuki interrupts Naofumi's question, but the Shield Hero isn't angry or annoyed at her. He is actually glad that she knows what he wants to ask, and gives him a straight answer. Although in hindsight, it's not hard to guess what he was worried about.
"I can't believe Big Sister Sadina did this! What's she even thinking!" Raphtalia's muffled grumble can be heard a little to his back. Privately, Naofumi isn't too surprised at this. Not the 'I got electrocuted while trying to enjoy a hot spring bath' part, but the 'Raphtalia's bodyguard did something very stupid' part. Considering how she failed her one task of keeping Raphtalia safe all the way back since the First Wave. But he is smart enough not to say it to Raphtalia's face.
"Come on, do some warm up stretches like me, Naofumi. We need to get ready to go fight the wave! We have to pick up Itsuki's slack now he's down." Motoyasu's words grab Naofumi's attention. He is currently squatting.
"You are right, we- what's going on NOW?!" Naofumi barely had the chance to finish his reply to Motoyasu and start his own warm up stretching when he hears the sound of screaming people over the wall of the onsen house. Raphtalia immediately runs out of the exit, probably going out to check the situation.
Motoyasu stops his stretching, runs over to the wall and jumps up with the assist of his own spear. He grabs the ledge and pulls himself up the wall. Naofumi is about to follow his example using his rope shield when the Spear Hero begins to scream on top of his lung. "People are running towards the Menagerie Hotel. I think I saw a bunch of monsters coming up from the beach!"
"What? How?! Why isn't the army and the adventurers stopping them?!"
Raphtalia runs back into the onsen, her face is twitching with panic. "Everyone gathered in the north to fight off the Wavespawn. Because that's the direction where the wave opened up. But another group of monsters came from the east side! People are running everywhere!"
Naofumi feels his body growing cold. The wave monsters had used a simple, yet elegant military strategy: when your enemy has rallied most of their army at one choke point or formed a defensive line, find a way to go around their ironclad defense, and hit their unprotected underbelly. The principle really isn't that hard to grasp, and those who went to fight the current wave really didn't station themselves in an effective choke point as they simply assumed the monsters would bumrush them from point A to point B... but the fact that the wave monsters didn't suggest they weren't working on simple, animalistic instinct. Something of actual, sentient intelligence was guiding them behind their back, or behind their mind. The Shield Hero's mind goes back to the warning he received from Fitoria, and Metatron again. "It must have been the doing of The Burning Legion."
Motoyasu jumps down from the wall. The bladed tip of his spear changes into a giant smartphone tablet as he starts to fiddle with it. Soon after, the sound of ringing can be heard. Naofumi's mind suddenly went into overdrive. "What are you doing?"
"I'm calling Ren! We can't beat all these Wave monsters on our own and- HEY!" Motoyasu makes a sound of protest as Naofumi slaps his smartphone spear away. "What gives?!"
"Send him a private message, not an audio call! What if the fighters around them hear you, and their morale crumbles? We'll die even faster if the frontline goes kaboom and we get sandwiched from two directions!" Naofumi gives another slap on Motoyasu's head. The Spear Hero opens his mouth indignantly, looking like he wants to argue. But then his eyes blink, and leans down to do what Naofumi asks, clearly convinced by Naofumi's reasoning.
Naofumi briefly tries to think up a reason for the wave monster's split attack. Did they somehow know that Itsuki, Motoyasu, and himself were hurt by Sadina and they are trying to kill the three of them while they are vulnerable? That would suggest there is an insider around them with very up to date information, or they have some other ways to spy on them. Some kind of farsight, or future prediction? Probably not out of the question for an army of demons, although an actual spy among them is equally likely. Alternatively, this attack could have nothing to do with the three of them, and the monsters are simply trying to catch the defenders off guard, and attack them from the back with a pincer movement. Regardless, they can't stay in this small onsen house. "Have someone take Itsuki to the Menagerie Hotel, we'll have to buy everyone time for reinforcements, Motoyasu."
End Note:
Did you all think this will be another slow character interaction chapter because it start with the hot spring scene? NOPE! We are going straight into 4th wave, baby! To be honest, I was in a bit of a toss up between doing Hero Conference, or 4th Wave battle first. But since I had a few straight chapters where characters do nothing but stand around and talk (Sadeena's battle scene doesn't count!), I think some big scale action is on the menu.
Naofumi's hotspring talk with his fellow heroes are more serious here than canon's counterpart. Of course, it wouldn't quite be Motoyasu if he doesn't misdirect the conversation and have it loop back to about woman for too long.
Malty begins to act as her role of a princess and take charge with situations, both to smooth over resentment between her allies, and for large scale battle. In the prequel, Malty had mostly been acting comedic and kind of incompetent. But that's mostly because she got taken out of her elements where most of her royalty training isn't too helpful in the life of a vagabond. She did manage to show some of her competence when she was manipulating Eclair after all. And now that she is more or less in her element (even if she is technically a slave), she will finally get her chance to shine.
And of course... in case anyone want to accuse me of being a blind Motoyasu fanboy... here in this chapter we get to see his simply mindset isn't good in every situation, and Naofumi gets to correct a bit of his mistake.