Chapter Forty: First Meeting of the Three Holy Heroes
"The first Meeting of the Three Holy Heroes will now begin," Van said happily.
The three Cardinal Heroes of legend sat at a long rectangular table. Ren and Itsuki sat on one side, with a chair between them. Naofumi sat on the other side by himself. None of them had their party members in the room.
It was the first time since their first night in this new world that they had all sat down together to discuss things.
Ren had several large red slap marks on one side of his face. Itsuki looked uncomfortable where he sat. And Naofumi was trying not to think about what had happened earlier. 'To think I almost had to give Raphtalia, "The Talk."'
He shuddered just thinking about how that mess would have gone down.
He wasn't exactly an expert on girls. Yeah, he knew what sex was. He was a twenty-year-old otaku who had introduced his younger brother to a hentai dating simulator game back home… but as an otaku, it was very embarrassing to think about giving someone "The Talk". Especially when the person he almost had to give it to was his new girlfriend.
'Come to think of it, have I lost all rights to accuse anyone else of being a lolicon?' He thought about the interesting question to himself for a moment and then shook his head.
'Nah. Raphtalia isn't a loli. It's ridiculous to think that.'
Yes, she was born ten years ago. But her race didn't mature at the same rate as a human. For all intents and purposes, she was now nineteen years old, both physically and mentally. And to believe otherwise by this point would be beyond stupid of him to do.
'... maybe it was a little rude of me to just bolt out like that… I'll make it up to her later. I don't want her to feel bad about it. But I'm double-checking with her next time to make sure she talked to a demi-human about… stuff.'
Whatever he felt about it, he did not want to get trapped in that situation again…
…
'Is it weird to be thinking about this at the start of an important meeting? Probably.'
Naofumi tuned out his thoughts and finally noticed he and the other Heroes had been silent for over a minute. Van was looking over the table expectantly. The two teenagers were just sitting in their spots awkwardly. Glancing at Naofumi, and then looking off to the side again.
The silence was likely because of him. He'd done plenty of things beforehand to make this awkward. Making Ren assume he and Raphtalia were about to have sex and then later dragging Itsuki out of the room at the speed of sound without explaining why. Naofumi sighed, realizing it'd fall upon him to get the ball rolling. But what should they even start with?...
"... How about we get each other up to speed about what's been happening to us," Naofumi finally suggested. That felt like the safe path for now.
...
Ren and Itsuki looked at each other and nodded. "Okay... you go ahead and start Naofumi," Itsuki suggested.
Naofumi sat back in his chair. He proceeded to give a short summary of his travels. How he got a trading certificate from the Lord of Lute Village. The places he'd traveled to as a Night Merchant helping people out. How he'd learned to craft accessories and potions. Got ambushed by Church Shadows a time or two. General things like that.
There wasn't much of note that'd happened during that last month. And some of what did happen… he'd rather keep it personal than share it with anyone else. Including his experience down in the dungeon with Raphtalia and their adopted daughter.
Itsuki asked a couple of questions. Like why Naofumi crafted by hand instead of using his weapon. This led to Naofumi learning you could use your weapons to craft items for you. A discovery that honestly surprised him. But there weren't any other particular questions Itsuki asked that stuck out to Naofumi.
Ren sat in silence all the while, listening attentively while sometimes rubbing at the side of his face where the slap marks gradually disappeared.
After a few minutes, he got to the point when he'd been captured. "I was traveling to Mirso Village to meet a blacksmith friend of mine to see if I could find a way out of the country. On the way, I took a side trip to a village to heal someone. While I was gone, Motoyasu recognized and ambushed Raphtalia with a group of Knights and Shadows, injuring her. Filo and I got back in time and tried to protect her, but Motoyasu blew me off a cliff with a Skill while Filo was taking Raphtalia away. I was captured shortly after that and taken to the Capital." Naofumi explained simply.
"... Do you know how Motoyasu found out where you were?" Ren finally asked. "When I'd checked before Leruno. He was living in self-inflicted exile in the mountains."
"I don't know. I made sure to wear my Mask Shield at all times… well, actually, there were times I stopped wearing it when we stopped for breaks." Naofumi thought about it more. "I don't remember any travelers seeing me without it on though. So I honestly don't know."
Ren and Itsuki thought it over. The awkwardness from earlier had finally passed. "I guess we'll have to force it out of Motoyasu next time we see him," Ren said seriously.
"Alright. I told you what happened to me. How about you two? What have you both been doing? And how did you both know I'd need your help in the Capital?" Naofumi said.
"... Do you want to start Itsuki, or should I?" Ren asked.
Itsuki looked somberly down at the ground. "I guess I can start."
"What? Did something happen?" Naofumi asked, noticing Itsuki's mood change. And then he remembered what Ren's party member had told him the day before. 'Oh... ' He wanted to mentally facepalm for his insensitive comment.
Way to go, Naofumi.
...
When Itsuki didn't speak, Ren sighed and spoke on his behalf. "To summarize what Itsuki's already told me. His acts of vigilantism got him labeled as a fugitive and a false hero by the Church. And they tried to kill him and his party."
"... Yeah, I figured it might be that," Naofumi said. Itsuki had literally been killing nobility in the name of Justice for demi-humans. It would have been shocking if the Church hadn't attempted to kill him by this point.
Both of them looked at Itsuki. The blonde boy sighed but proceeded to explain what had happened. Including how a noble had been excessively cruel to his slaves just to draw Itsuki out.
The Church had set a trap for him and his party, and they walked right into it. He managed to kill the bastard noble thanks to the help of that one demi-girl Naofumi had helped. Maya.
Naofumi was glad to hear that Maya was doing well, and hoped Raphtalia met up with her while they were here.
But after that had happened, they hadn't realized it was a trap until it was too late.
Itsuki briefly explained what happened in the tavern leading up to the fight. "They said it was because I've been murdering nobles left and right. But the real reason is that I chose to protect and help demihumans escape their masters instead of helping out humanity." Itsuki explained.
"So to cover their &^%$#, they tried to have you and your party killed off... no wonder the Church hates you," Naofumi said.
"That's only part of it…" Itsuki said somberly. "They also know about this place because I tried to use Transport Bow while they had the skill locked. It didn't let me portal. But because I tried to use it, they somehow saw where I was trying to transport my party and figured that's where I'd been transporting the demi-humans I rescued."
Naofumi frowned. "... Okay. Continue."
"I killed all of them in the tavern, but one of my party members died. The Shadows outside the tavern got away. I didn't try to pursue them since... I'd accidentally hurt one of my own party members really badly…" Itsuki looked sad for a moment, but then looked up again. "After that, I tried to get in contact with Ren secretly through the Guild in Van's town to distract myself from what happened. But he was MIA. Thanks to the Guild, I learned about Motoyasu capturing you. And soon after when I was preparing to leave, Ren and his party stumbled onto Van's Estate. Tired, injured, but alive."
"Which leads to what happened to me… but before that." Ren suddenly set his sword on the table, keeping his hand on it. "I owe you an apology Naofumi. I didn't believe what you told me before back in the Capital. But you were right... This isn't a game." He looked Naofumi in the eyes as he said it.
Naofumi looked surprised at hearing that from the loner boy. And was even more surprised when Itsuki nodded his head in agreement. "I was stupid. We both were… a lot of what happened could have been prevented if we'd taken our roles more seriously... can you accept our apologies, Naofumi?" Ren asked sadly.
…
Naofumi sighed. "I didn't come here looking for apologies." He said dryly. Much to their chagrin. "Besides, apologizing will get us nowhere. I've made mistakes too. It's better to just leave them behind and figure out a solution to our problems now." Naofumi then said.
"And it's not like you two have been complete jerks like Motoyasu. If we want to get past all this, it'd be better to work together than apart."
Ren sighed in relief. "I agree... Which is why I'm doing this." After saying that, Ren activated the blue gem on his Legendary Sword, and then a slew of different monster materials came bursting out. Much to Itsuki and Naofumi's surprise.
Van had been silent, observing the Heroes up till this point. At Ren's action though, he started to smile. "I see why you asked to have the table cleared beforehand, Sir Ren," Van commented from the head of the table where he sat. "You have a lot of interesting things to display here."
Naofumi looked down in shock. The table was absolutely covered in all sorts of different monster materials. Ent monster materials. Frog monster materials. Chimera Monster materials. Even DRAGON monster materials! And those were only the ones he recognized!
'How the hell did he do that?!' He had no doubt Ren had been killing and killing since becoming the Sword Hero. What he was wondering was how he'd ejected all these different monster parts out of his Sword!
His Shield was like an endless recycle bin for these stupid things! He'd never seen them again after disposing of them with his Shield.
"Ren, what is this?" Itsuki asked in shock.
"You two have been busy. So I've been doing a fair amount of monster-hunting around Melromarc." Ren said calmly. But he looked pleased with their reactions.
"Why though?" Naofumi asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ren asked. "This is to help you two unlock more Bows and Shields."
...
Naofumi stared down in more shock at the different monster materials. Ren was actually doing something this direct to help both him and Itsuki out?
"Don't a lot of these parts belong to the same monster though?" Itsuki asked, pointing out the dragon materials specifically as they were the most numerous. Bones, scales, fangs/claws, etc.
"My party and I were cutting a dragon up to bury it. And I stored most of what I could in my sword out of respect for the dragon and so I could put the parts to good use." Ren said, folding his arms. "My plan was to use a lot of it to make armor and weapons. However, I discovered that you could unlock multiple swords by absorbing the different dragon parts. I tried it on a lot of the larger monsters I faced after that. And got the same results."
"A lot of the swords are useless so I haven't touched them, but a few of them provide some good skills or abilities. Since you two have been busy with other things, I figured this could be a step in the right direction in helping us to work together."
"You mean, you didn't know about the monster parts-" Naofumi had been relying on absorbing multiple parts of monsters to unlock more shields ever since he'd bought Raphtalia. However, he realized what Ren was doing. And inwardly, his respect for the guy increased tenfold, so he decided not to finish his sentence since it would have been very rude. "Alright. That'll work with me."
Without saying anything else, Naofumi went along the table. Absorbing unfamiliar parts of different monsters. Soon after, Itsuki started doing the same thing. The two only absorbed enough to unlock different weapon forms for them both.
Naofumi unlocked a crap ton of different shields. His Chimera Series got completed. He got a few unfamiliar shields among the Ent and Frog Families. There were a few unfamiliar monster shields he didn't know. For the most part, the equip bonuses from each shield were either Defense stat boosts, Stamina boosts, Agility boosts, SP boosts, MP regeneration boosts, random resistance boosts, and, surprisingly, boosts that improved his senses. Including how well he could see in the dark.
He briefly wondered if he could get a shield that'd increase his swimming abilities and then chuckled. It seemed stupid to even think such a Shield could exist.
Sadly, there weren't any new skills that he learned from the horde of monster materials. And only one shield increased his attack stat... by one. The Dragon Fang Shield.
That was the biggest ripoff of his &^%$$%^ life.
He equipped the Dragon Fang Shield and harrumphed as he sat down in his seat. It looked like he was wearing an over-glorified black shield with a symbol of a dragon's fang etched onto it. He'd spite his shield by unlocking the Shield that increased his attack stat first. Then he'd see how his jealous Yandere Shield liked it when he punched a balloon again with his increased attack stat! 'Take that you stupid Shield!'
...
"Thanks, Ren." Itsuki was looking in disbelief at his HUD. Seeing the list of row upon row of new Bows he'd unlocked. A few on the list were very rare. Which meant, to Itsuki, they would be very powerful. A couple also had new skills, all of which Itsuki remembered from his game.
"Yeah, thank you, Ren," Naofumi said.
On a more serious note. None of the unlocked Shields were stronger than his Chimera Viper Shield. Which was the safest shield he could have equipped outside the Cursed and Blessed Series. But completing the Chimera series had given his Chimera Viper Shield a small boost in its overall stats. His defense stat had just taken a drop. But the small boost to his Chimera Viper Shield would help close that temporary gap.
And if he actually spent time equipping some of these other shields that gave him defense boosts once unlocked, then he'd have a somewhat higher defense than before once his debuff ended.
"It's no problem. I realized that if we're going to beat the Waves of Catastrophe, we're going to have to help each other out like this. So, once I realized this wasn't a game anymore, I started preparing all of this for when we were going to meet at the Wave of Catastrophe." He said. "That was, up until the Pope tried to kill me off."
There was one dragon part specifically that Ren hadn't taken out. But it was something he refused to share or use.
Wyndia had extracted it with care from Gaelion's carcass. Even more so than what she'd shown with the fangs.
He'd give it back to her one day. Full, and intact.
Seeing Itsuki and Naofumi done, Ren used his sword to absorb the remaining monster materials again off the table.
"Alright, so what's happened to you that made you realize I was right?" Naofumi asked. He didn't want to just know now about how Ren knew he was in the Capital. Or why the Pope had tried to kill him. He wanted to know what had caused the loner boy to wake up to reality.
"It was that job request," Ren answered. "The quest to kill an evil warmongering dragon I knew from my game turned out differently… I learned the dragon wasn't evil, nor was he planning on doing any harm to the village. But I didn't learn the truth until after I'd fatally wounded it, and the girl it was protecting ran out to cry over his dying body."
...
Naofumi stayed silent, watching as Ren relived the memory in his mind.
"That girl was carried away by her parents years ago from their former master. But slavers ended up killing her parents, with her Father sacrificing himself so she would be safe... It…" Ren gulped. Remembering the moment where he'd screwed up terribly as vividly as the day it happened. "Let's just say after I learned all that, and after the dragon was dead, a group of slavers arrived to take her… ..." Ren paused, reflecting for a few more seconds. "And, I, I... and I didn't appreciate being used." He said, his voice hard.
"I beat the living hell out of all of them for tricking me and sent them packing. I then took Wyndia into my party and have been her new protector ever since."
He was leaving out parts because of how personal it was. But Naofumi could tell Ren was serious when he said it wasn't a game to him anymore. "That's... messed up." That was all Naofumi could think to say.
Ren hadn't learned about someone planning on accusing him of rape. But a group of evil people had tried to use him as a means to fulfill their sinister ends.
"If you think that's messed up, I also learned that Wyndia's former master was Pope Balamus," Ren added. "No idea why he cared so much about getting her back though."
"... and the leader of the Three Heroes Church that hates demi-humans also owns them as slaves?" Naofumi said sarcastically. "I didn't see that coming."
"It's not just the nobility of this country that's rotten," Itsuki muttered. "Their religion is corrupt to the core too."
At least Naofumi knew the name of Ren's demi-human party member now. He'd been close to just coming up with his own nickname for her. Maybe something like "Valley Girl".
She seemed like a Valley Girl to him. Would she get mad at him if he called her that? Probably. But if people didn't give him their name, it was a natural part of Naofumi to supply them with a nickname to remember them by. Something simple and easy to remember.
"Back to my story. After I took Wyndia in, I portaled my party back to the Capital for their class ups-" Ren was saying.
"Alright, hold up, before you continue, how can you both teleport?!" Naofumi yelled. He'd already seen it happen back in the Capital. But now that it was on the table, he had to ask.
"Well. Can't you portal around Naofumi?" Itsuki asked as if it was a normal everyday thing for people to know.
He wished! That would have made being on the run so much easier! If Itsuki could teleport. Ren could do it too! Which likely meant it was a skill Motoyasu also had! Which could explain how Motoyasu got to him so quickly from across the country!
Was it supposed to be something specific to the Cardinal Heroes?! If so, how come he was the only one that didn't know about it?!
"He hasn't absorbed any sand from the Dragon Hourglass. And I doubt he's level 50 since his party can't class up. So he wouldn't be able to portal anyways." Ren answered.
"... Yeah, I guess you're right," Itsuki said with a shrug. "Do you have any extra sand?"
"Unfortunately, I do not," Ren said.
"That's too bad."
"Stop talking as if I don't know what's going on!" Naofumi said angrily.
"I'll explain more later Naofumi. It's knowledge that's useless for now because of your level anyway." Ren went back to explaining his story, and Naofumi could only sit and fume while listening. "I went to the Dragon Hourglass for my party's class ups. I had a chat with Pope Balamus while I was there. I think he suspected what I'd done to those slavers, but he didn't bring it up."
Ren continued from there. Giving a summary of his experiences after that. From taking down bandit leaders on the way to Leruno. Taking down the Bio-Plant with his party multiple times because of failing to get all the seeds. Naofumi noted he had actually absorbed a few of those seeds to unlock something called the Bio-Plant Shield. It had a weird ability with it that allowed him to modify the Bio-Plant Seeds. He'd placed a few of them into his inventory.
He'd tinker with them in his free time… if he remembered about them with everything else he had to do that is.
Finally, Ren got to the part of being down in the Church Archives. "We found a couple of books down there that we managed to extract. But Wyndia found one that revealed a hidden history with the waves." He gave a brief explanation of what he remembered from it.
"So... You're saying, demi-humans really didn't come from humans breeding with monsters?" Naofumi asked.
"No, from the sounds of it. They came because of the waves... along with the first Bow and Shield Hero…" Ren answered.
"Came from the waves…" Itsuki looked baffled.
Ren shrugged helplessly. "I don't understand that part either. It's what I can remember."
Naofumi thought hard about it. It'd be great news to tell Raphtalia. But... 'If people are loyal to the Three Heroes Church now despite the Church encouraging the nobles to treat their slaves inhumanely and kill them… how many would leave if they learned the Church had been lying to them for decades, no, centuries about the nature of their enemy...?'
It seemed like the persecution of demi-humans was centered around the Church. But if it turned out the same Church had been lying to the people for centuries about what had really happened… he filed that into his brain. It was possible it'd be far more important later on.
"Unfortunately, we didn't get to learn more because of the Pope." Ren chuckled dryly. "That guy ambushed us, destroyed the book with a fire spell, and tried to have us killed. I tried to use my strongest skill against him, but he was wielding a weird weapon that used one of my own Sword Skills to reflect it... I honestly thought we were going to die down there."
"Hmmm." Van finally leaned forward in his chair. "Pardon me, Heroes. I will be back in just a moment." Van stood up from his chair and walked out of the room. "There is something I have to check."
"During the fight." Ren continued. "Wyndia used her Dragon Vein Magic to blow a hole in the wall to the sewers. We escaped, and during the confusion, one of my party members decided to kidnap one of the knocked-out Knights that attacked us."
…
...
...
"YOU WHAT?!" Itsuki and Naofumi both yelled.
"You didn't tell me that yesterday!" Itsuki yelled.
"Why would you kidnap someone?!" Naofumi asked incredulously.
"Well, it was one of my party members that kidnapped the guy. Not me. I didn't even realize it until we'd stopped to take a break since I was carrying Wyndia-" The Sword Hero cut off, a blush forming on his face.
...
Naofumi and Itsuki were still looking at him weirdly. "LOOK! I already said I wasn't the one to kidnap him! And I swear all we did was ask some questions!
"Maybe we threatened him a time or two, and maybe I hit him over the head once or twice when he refused to talk, but we learned a lot of useful information. Including the plans to capture Naofumi and to assassinate him while he was awaiting trial!"
"... I can never look at you the same again," Itsuki said.
"Me neither." Naofumi agreed. "That's just messed up."
Ren sighed. He refused to try and argue it any further. "After that, we left the Knight behind, followed the sewer system out of the Capital, and we fled all night and the next day to get here. That should cover everything between me and Itsuki."
Now Naofumi was caught up with them. And they were caught up with him. He'd learned he could craft items with his Shield. He and Itsuki had unlocked dozens of new shields and bows thanks to Ren. He knew how they'd known to come to the Capital to help him. And now he wasn't the source of awkwardness in the room any longer. What with Ren admitting to kidnapping and beating the person he'd kidnapped.
This meeting was off to a very good start. Unfortunately, Van had left them alone for the time being. So they couldn't move on to the main topic of discussion yet...
"So… What are we talking about next?" Naofumi asked.
"I want to ask about your Cursed Series," Itsuki said.
Naofumi looked at Itsuki. Ren was about to ask Itsuki if that was a good idea, but Naofumi nodded and began to talk.
He explained how he'd first unlocked it way back after his first duel with Motoyasu. But the morning after, he couldn't find it in his Shield menu. He still wasn't sure what had set it off. But it hadn't made an appearance again until his duel with Myne. When she had defeated him and had whispered in his ears what she was going to do to his party.
When he was done with his explanation, Ren and Itsuki looked disgusted. "She wanted to torture your party members and her sister to death?" Ren asked.
"Using Idol Rabier… That damn…" Itsuki clenched his fist. Their already low opinion of the First Princess fell even lower than before.
"After hearing that, well, I guess you could say something in me broke," Naofumi said dryly.
They could understand. It was bad enough to be beaten unfairly. But to have those you loved and cared for be promised such a horrid death... that was a whole new level of depravity.
"I had no control over what I was doing after that. I was attacking everyone that came close because they looked like that damn bitch. I didn't just want to kill her. I wanted to kill her in the worst ways imaginable. I wanted to torture her in ways she'd never dreamed of." He folded his arms.
The memory still hurt somewhat, but not like before. Still, he didn't want to dwell on it. "I take it since you asked that you both have Cursed Series too?"
"I do," Itsuki admitted. "I'm not sure about Ren."
They both looked to Ren, who shook his head. "Not as far as I've seen." He sounded calm, but his eyes looked unsure. He really didn't know if he had unlocked one or not.
"Well, I know for a fact Motoyasu has one," Naofumi commented. "He was wielding this strange spear with a sinister aura on it when I fought him on that cliffside road and at the Capital. His eyes were a different color, and he was behaving more erratically than usual. That spear was also much more powerful than the other spears he was using." He said.
"Motoyasu has one too…" Itsuki said, looking behind him at his Legendary Bow. He didn't dare equip the Cursed Series to show if it had the same results or not. "On my HUD, it calls itself, Bow of Justice II."
"Mine says it's the Shield of Rage II," Naofumi said. "I know I was very angry while I had it equipped… so based on the way Motoyasu acted while he used the spear, I'd guess he has Envy or something similar to it." Naofumi guessed. "He honestly sounded very jealous while he was using it."
"Maybe…" Ren looked at his own Sword Menu. He had dozens upon dozens of different swords… but he saw none under a Cursed Series. He would have taken solace in that if Naofumi hadn't said he'd unlocked it after the Sacred Duel but couldn't see it until during the duel with Bitch.
Which meant it was possible he could have one too, and he just didn't know it. "I'm guessing that since you two have tiers for your Cursed Series that they're meant to get even stronger," Ren commented. He didn't want to consider the possibility of him also having access to the series. And he'd been thinking it ever since Itsuki told him about his experience with the Cursed Bow yesterday.
How he'd been using it for weeks before that every time he encountered a noble without even realizing he was using it. Like it was natural to use it, and then move on to something else when the job was done.
"I definitely noticed a difference in strength after I unlocked the second Tier of Rage," Naofumi commented. "But I was already out of control after equipping the first tier. The second one almost consumed me entirely." Naofumi said.
"When I unlocked the second tier… I almost didn't want to unequip the bow. I wanted to continue on. To dispense my Justice on everyone in the town for being in on the trap. To dispense Justice on the Church and the rulers of this kingdom until the roads were red with their blood."
It was a dark moment in Itsuki's mind. It had only been through intense strength of will that he'd pulled out just after dispensing Justice on only their ambushers in the tavern.
And that still hadn't been enough to prevent himself from hurting Rishia.
"So we know that they're strong and that us Cardinal Heroes can somehow unlock them… but at the same time, they're very dangerous. And can possibly get even stronger and more out of control with each tier." Ren summarized what they knew.
Naofumi thought about it. But even after hearing Itsuki explain what had happened to him before, he couldn't connect more dots. "Yeah... I'd hope you don't ever unlock it, Ren. It takes a large toll. Physically, and mentally."
"I can agree with that." Itsuki sounded somber as he said it. He'd seen for himself what his Bow could do. He didn't want to risk hurting Rishia or any of his other party members ever again. "What about that other series you use Naofumi? The one with the really bright shield."
"You mean the Shield of Hope?" Naofumi asked.
"Yes, is that what it's called? Is that one safe to use?"
"It categorizes it under the title of Blessed Series. But besides that, I don't know much about it." Naofumi said. Honestly feeling sorry that he didn't have much info for them. "I think Raphtalia somehow unlocked it for me… but I still don't understand how she did it."
"It's positive, but at the same time, I feel like it can be really bad if I don't use it right or something." It was weird to explain it.
"Still, I managed to beat Motoyasu with it in the duel. And I almost beat Bitch using it against her back in the Capital. And besides those two instances, I managed to cleanse Raphtalia and one of your party member's curses with it." He said to Itsuki. "But now I have a 20% debuff applied to my defense stat for using it. And while the skill Hope Asunder is useful, it doesn't raise my attack when I use it. And the target's defense goes back to normal within a few minutes."
"So what you're saying is that for now, it's not a safe bet to use either series if we unlock them?" Ren asked.
Naofumi nodded. "Not until we know more about them at least. Who knows, your guys' Blessed Series might be better than mine since you can attack."
At that moment, Van Reichnott came back in again. "Hey Van, do you know what the Cursed or Blessed Series are?" Naofumi asked.
"... I'm sorry, what are those?" Van asked.
…
"I thought you knew about them!" Naofumi said angrily.
"Why would I know about them? I just walked in here." Van said, smiling brightly.
"You gave me advice related to them yesterday!" Naofumi said in frustration.
Van thought about it. "Ah, I remember now!" He said, smiling brightly. "I just told you to have Faith in yourself and gave you a saying about the Cardinal Heroes from the Queen. Who was I to know the results?" He said while still smiling. "I just said what I felt was wise to say."
…
Naofumi facepalmed. "Great. So we're nowhere closer to understanding them."
"It would appear not, Sir Shield Hero," Van said happily.
"... You two have attack stats." Naofumi turned to Ren and Itsuki. "Maybe you could help jostle his memory a little more-"
"Nope."
"Absolutely not."
Naofumi sighed at their reactions. "Didn't you beat a guy for info Ren?"
"He deserved it!" Ren defended himself.
"Ugh, whatever." Naofumi rolled his eyes.
"Anyways, Sir Shield Hero, would you happen to know where the Second Princess is? There's something I want to ask her about." Van asked politely.
"I'm pretty sure wherever she is, she's with Filo," Naofumi said. "Outside of that, I have no clue."
"Ah, thank you. I will be back in a moment then." Van left the room once more.
"Fine, let's just move on. I'd rather learn about the problems we're about to deal with than talk about something we have no clue about-" Naofumi was saying. Whether Van was there or not, he just wanted to move on to something else.
"One last thing before that," Itsuki said.
"And what is that?" Naofumi sarcastically asked.
"You say you almost beat Myne during that duel. I talked to the Second Princess last night after you healed Raphtalia and Rishia. And she told me more about your duel with her sister. How you weren't just holding your own, but you were managing to beat her even before you used your... Blessed Series. So I discussed it over with Itsuki after he was done making sure Rishia was okay." The blonde boy blushed slightly at his words. "And we both wanted to ask you this... how were you able to fight toe to toe with Myne despite being vastly under-leveled?"
…
"You're not asking if I was cheating, are you?" Naofumi asked.
"If I still thought this was a game. I would have asked how you met God." Itsuki said. "But since the two of us know this isn't a game, we concluded that you found a way to get strong. And we want to know your secrets so we can get stronger too."
"I also shared my monster materials so you wouldn't feel like we were cheating you in asking for your secrets," Ren admitted.
...
That made a lot of sense to Naofumi. But it was also confusing as hell since he thought he'd been doing everything normally. Had he really been doing anything special to give himself a strength boost? Or was a level 66 Bitch with decent magic, armor, and a sword not supposed to be more overpowered compared to a level 42 Cardinal Hero?
"Is it because your Shield is different from what was in our games?" Itsuki asked.
"Well, obviously," Naofumi said as if he was offended. "I don't know what you all were talking about that first night. My defense has almost always been enough to keep me from taking damage from any monster I meet. When I had the right shield equipped, that stupid Bitch did little to no damage against me." Most of what they'd said about the Shielder class that first night had turned out to be a lie.
Except for the fact that he couldn't do any damage.
He really wished that had been a lie.
"And I don't know about any secret to getting stronger. I've only put in a lot of hard work and training to get where I'm at now."
…
…
Ren and Itsuki looked at each other, then back to Naofumi. "Hard work?" They both asked incredulously.
If that was how it worked, then it really was nowhere close to what their games had been like.
"Yeah. I mean, I obviously can't kill the monsters myself. There aren't many ways for me to attack. I had no support from Melromarc. I had little game knowledge thanks to you Cardinal Dumb&^%$#." Ren and Itsuki flinched at that part. Mainly because it was true.
"Everyone didn't like me. I was a wanted fugitive. And to top things off, I wasn't used to using a shield before being isekaied to this world. So I had to learn the hard way how to get used to fighting with a Shield, how to cast magic, craft accessories, compound medicines, etc. Hell, if I didn't have Raphtalia and Filo, I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere! I would have died at the First Wave! I might not have even been there if it wasn't for Itsuki mentioning that you needed to register at the Dragon Hourglass beforehand!" He finished his rant.
Ren and Itsuki both thought it best to shift gears. "Speaking of your party members, I noticed they're more powerful than what they should be for Level 40s without a class-up,"
"Well, that's simple to explain. They've trained a lot too. And they both have stat and growth boosts thanks to my Slave User Shields and Monster Tamer Shields." Naofumi answered. "That has been very helpful for them."
...
...
...
The two were silent. Naofumi looked from one to the other. "Let me pull up my HUD… yeah, I also have a Raccoon Shield that gives Raphtalia a passive boost to her overall stats. And the Filolial Shield Series does a similar thing for Filo."
...
...
...
Ren and Itsuki were still silent. Naofumi began to wonder if he'd done something wrong.
...
...
...
"... How did you get these Shields?" Ren finally asked.
"Well... the Raccoon Shield was because I absorbed some of Raphtalia's hair from a haircut. The Slave User Shields involved me absorbing slave ink along with some blood from Raphtalia. The Monster Tamer Shields and Filolial Series of Shields were because of me absorbing some of Filo's feathers and her egg. And… yeah, one time she got hurt and some of her blood dribbled into my shield while I was bandaging her up. That unlocked another shield in the Monster Tamer Shield Series that made her even stronger."
…
Itsuki looked shocked. Ren nodded his head to himself. "So it isn't just the individual parts of monsters that unlock certain shields." He muttered to himself. That sounded really handy.
"How does that even work?" Itsuki asked incredulously. Game or not, that sounded more broken than some of the cheats other players showed on UTube to quickly level and strengthen the player party on Dimension Wave!
Naofumi shrugged. "I just discovered them as I went along. I didn't know if they'd unlock anything or not. But absorbing everything I came across into my Shield seemed better than leaving a mess behind to track me with. And I found out some of those messes and materials unlocked shields." He frowned, remembering the Chef Shield he'd unlocked by absorbing leftovers made from a chef. 'What a dumb series to unlock.'
He was just waiting for the day when a new subset titled: "The Butler Series" appeared in his Shield Menu.
"Okay, so you've found unique shields that boost your party member's effectiveness." Ren was already thinking to himself. If a Raccoon Shield existed, maybe he could absorb some hair from Wyndia or his other party members and see if a Dog Sword or something else unlocked or not…
Then again, Wyndia had already slapped him several times today. So asking her for hair after the meeting might not be a good idea...
"Are you actually thinking about trying that?!" Itsuki asked Ren incredulously.
"It's either that or get pounded by strong enemies down the road," Ren replied almost sadly. "I promised Wyndia and the others I'd help them grow stronger. So if it works for Naofumi, we might as well give it a shot.
"Besides, I'd rather not watch my party members die because I chose not to try something that could help them grow-" He flinched, realizing what he'd just said.
Gods, Ren really was horrible with other people!
Itsuki didn't know how to respond at first... Then he sighed sadly. "I'll... give it a try too."
The poor boy looked like he needed a hug. If it meant not having any more of his party members, no, his friends dying, he'd try anything.
"So, um, Naofumi. We know how your party is strong. But how have you been strengthening your weapon?" Ren asked. Wanting desperately to move the subject away from its current spot so he wouldn't look like a bigger jerk.
"Like I said. All I've been doing is working hard and training." Naofumi said.
"There has to be more to it than just that," Ren said desperately. "Don't you have a way of making your Shield stronger or something?!"
"Well, I have been unlocking the stat bonuses from every Shield I get," Naofumi said. "All I have to do is have them equipped for a certain period of time, and then I unlock the bonus and move on to the next one. That's seriously all I've been doing to make my weapon stronger. Hell, I'm doing that now by equipping this stupid shield." He said, indicating the Dragon Fang Shield he had equipped.
...
"But..." Ren asked incredulously. "Aren't all those bonuses only one or two stat points?!"
"Well, yeah. But for me, all those small boosts add up after a while. I have at least two hundred different shields from absorbing monster materials and other random objects. I'd say a quarter to a third of them give me defense boosts. Unlocking the rest has given me boosts to my speed, MP, SP, and stamina, along with passive resistances to poison, paralysis, elemental attacks, slash attacks, and other types of attacks. Some even improve my compounding, crafting, cooking, or other skills.
"If it was only a couple dozen, it wouldn't amount to much. But I found unlocking every shield I came across was better than only relying on a few. And it gives this stupid thing something to do at night when I'm asleep." Naofumi growled as he glared down at his shield.
It gave no reaction.
…
Ren and Itsuki stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Hey, I know a lot of those stat boosts are only +1 or +2 or whatever. But I didn't have a choice!" Naofumi said defensively. "I don't know any other way besides leveling to improve my weapon!"
"There's no way that's the only way," Itsuki mumbled.
"There has to be more to it than that." Ren also mumbled.
"It doesn't explain how he could beat a level 66 at his current level." Itsuki continued. "Unless her stats were just horrid or something."
"Well, I'm not aware that I'm doing anything else," Naofumi said.
"So…" Itsuki and Ren spoke at the same time. Expecting to say the same thing.
"You're saying you don't transfer energy from Shield to Shield to help them grow stronger?"
"You don't look for the rarest weapons or ores to increase your Shield's stats?"
…
Both of them looked at each other confusedly. "What are you talking about? That isn't how it works!" They yelled at each other at the same time.
Naofumi looked between them confusedly. "Energy transfer? Rare weapons?" He asked them both.
He definitely didn't recognize either of those things.
"The more you use a weapon. The more you master it." Ren said seriously. "Then when you get a stronger weapon. You can reset the mastery of one of your previous weapons to obtain energy to awaken the new weapon so it's stronger and gains new abilities!"
"That isn't how it works! You're supposed to find weapons made from rare materials! Meteor iron weapons will be stronger than regular iron weapons because of how rare meteor iron is!" Itsuki said angrily.
"Don't lie to Naofumi! Rarity is determined by how much energy you use from resetting weapon mastery levels to upgrade a weapon's rarity!"
"What kind of BS is that?!" Itsuki demanded angrily. "That isn't how you get energy at all! You get it from converting items in your inventory to energy!"
"Liar! I'm trying to help Naofumi here!" Ren yelled furiously.
"You're the one that's lying to Naofumi!" Itsuki yelled just as furiously as the two Heroes got in each other's faces.
Naofumi looked between the two confusedly as they argued back and forth.
They sounded like they were saying the truth. But neither of them believed the other.
'This is reminding me of something… what is it…'
They argued for a moment more when Naofumi finally remembered. Ren had told him about the class-up system and weapon copy system after the Duel. He hadn't heard of either of those things before. Neither of them had been in his help guide... But... all it'd taken was for him to trust that Ren was telling the truth, and then they appeared in his menu and help guide for him to look over.
So... 'Maybe they're both telling the truth. But... I won't know for sure unless I decide to trust them...' He thought it over to himself. 'I don't have any reason at this point not to trust them. It was only because of them that me, Raphtalia, and the rest of my party got out of the Church's trap safely.'
At that thought, his HUD beeped notifications at him. He pulled it up, and he learned his help guide had been updated. He looked it over, and, to his complete amazement, both methods that Itsuki and Ren were arguing over were now detailed in his help guide.
"Hey, Ren, Itsuki-" He tried to get their attention. But the two were still arguing.
"I already said that isn't how it works! By inserting rare ores into weapons, you can upgrade certain stats!" Itsuki yelled. "That's how you're supposed to do it!"
"No! Only leveling up and resetting weapons for energy allows you to-" Ren was yelling.
"WILL YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP ALREADY!?"
Ren and Itsuki looked to Naofumi in shock at his outburst. "I've been trying to tell you that you're both right." The Shield Hero said more calmly.
"Both of your sets of strengthening methods just appeared in my help guide." Naofumi was reading them over on his HUD screen. He was shocked he hadn't discovered this before. It titled them as Weapon Strengthening Methods.
Ren's was listed under the Holy Sword. And Itsuki's was listed under the Holy Bow. All of Ren's methods mentioned so far were listed. But there was one spot that had ?'s on it under Itsuki's weapon. It appeared Itsuki had made reference to it, but not enough for a full description to be given. "Itsuki, what's the energy-strengthening method you were arguing with Ren about that involved items?"
"How do you know I have an energy-" Itsuki was asking.
"Spill it," Naofumi said blandly.
"Okay. It's called [Item Enchantment]." Itsuki said defensively. "All I have to do is convert an item or monster drop into energy, and I can use that energy to enchant a weapon. The more I enchant a weapon, the stronger the weapon gets. But it has the chance of failing and resetting the weapon's enchantment level back to 0. I don't normally try to go past 6 or 7 because of that since the risk becomes greater than the potential payoff."
After Itsuki explained it, the ?'s disappeared from the slot. Being replaced with [Item Enchantment] along with the description for how it was used. "He's not lying," Naofumi said seriously.
"What are you saying Naofumi?" Ren asked confusedly. He'd never heard of anything as ridiculous as that before from his game.
"Somehow, both of your strengthening methods are correct," Naofumi said blandly. "I haven't heard of either of them before. But I can use both sets now." To make certain, he looked over his Shield Menu.
Light Metal Shield (0/30) C, Mastery 100.
Its base stats had all gone up too because of mastery and because of Light Metal's rarity. Even though he hadn't known the methods existed, his Shield had kept track of its use. And now that he knew, it had raised all its stats for him. There were different options he could use. Including an option to insert ore from his inventory into ore slots to upgrade stats on the Shield.
There was also an option to reset the mastery level of his shield, so he chose yes.
Light Metal Shield (0/30) C, Mastery 0. Energy acquired!
The stats became lower without the mastery boost. But the stat increases from the other methods still applied. Leaving its defense higher than before.
Excited, Naofumi started to reset the Mastery level for other shields he'd equipped in the past. Balloon Shields he'd equipped only to unlock. The Pipe Shield. The Rope Shield, and other past Shields he'd used for combat at one time or another. Then, when he found that he had more than enough energy, he equipped the Chimera Viper Shield and selected an option on his HUD to Awaken it.
His Shield glowed in front of Ren and Itsuki, and one of the greatest things he'd ever witnessed appeared before his eyes.
Chimera Viper Shield (Awakened) 0/30 C
Ability Unlocked:
Equip Bonus: Skill [Change Shield]; "Antidote Compounding Up"; Poison Resistance (Medium)
Special Effect: Snake Venom Fang (Large); "Long Hook"
His eyes widened at the all-around increase. Not only had the Shield's equip stats increased, but Snake Venom Fang received an improvement from Medium to Large, and the Hook ability looked like it'd stretch farther than before to wrap victims.
"No way…" Ren recognized the glow. It was what happened to his weapons when he awoke them.
"Hey Itsuki, is it any item you use to enchant your weapons? Or-" Naofumi was asking.
"I normally use monster drops since a lot of them are trash," Itsuki said.
"... And, um, where do you find those?" Naofumi asked.
...
"..." Itsuki looked like he wanted to facepalm. Or poke fun at Naofumi for not knowing something as simple as that. But the weight of Naofumi's discovery was too great. And Naofumi had already brought up a good point earlier about it being his and Ren's fault that he didn't have much gaming knowledge about this world.
If anyone was to blame for that, it was himself. "In your inventory menu. There's a special box to the right of your main inventory that lists the drops of all the monsters you've absorbed with your weapon." He said.
"There's an inventory menu?" Naofumi asked.
Itsuki sputtered in shock. "H-HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! THAT'S BASIC GAME MECHANICS!"
Naofumi would have complained, if not for said menu finally appearing on his HUD.
At first, it didn't look like anything was in his Shield's inventory. But then the desired inventory monster drop box appeared to the side.
He opened it, and his eyes boggled at the slew of monster drops he had to search through. There were herbs, gemstones, ores, weapons, armor, and a slew of other things too!
It wasn't just the monster drops either. The parts of every monster he'd absorbed in the past were in there too. Selecting an option to filter them out, these monster parts moved into his Shield's inventory menu.
Every single balloon up to the monster parts he'd absorbed from Ren were listed there.
'HOW THE HELL DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS SOONER!?'
Sure, there were a lot of trash drops. But there was a lot of useful stuff too. He suddenly had a slew of materials he needed to make Soul Healing Waters, Accessories, and other rare stuff!
And there was still more to look through!
He could have been making a killing with all of this selling it to the market! He wouldn't have had to waste so much time mining or gathering herbs either!
'Had I known about this, I would have put a higher priority on absorbing monsters instead of throwing them to Filo to eat! How many stupid monsters has my daughter gobbled up before I could absorb a part of them?! She probably ate a whole fortune's worth of drops!'
Naofumi chose a trash drop from a balloon monster and chose the option to use it for an [Item Enchantment] on his current Shield. It was converted to energy inside his shield, and the random enchantment was applied to the Awakened Chimera Viper Shield.
A slight glow that Itsuki recognized came off from it. 'Heh, maybe this is how I'll finally increase my attack.' The thought cheered him up. He'd looked at the Bee Needle Shields and the two other shields he had that gave him an attack bonus of +1. But none of them had increased beyond that even with the addition of the other strengthening methods. So if this did increase his attack, then he'd have a brand new, favorite strengthening method that he'd love to use on every single one of his shie-
Cooking Efficacy: +2%
…
…
...
"DAMN IT!" Naofumi yelled at his shield. "DAMN DAMN DAMN IT!"
"What is it?!" Ren and Itsuki yelled in shock.
"Do you want me to become a butler!? Huh?! Should I just stop being the Shield Hero and become the Shield Butler if you're going to keep on giving me bonuses to my cooking stat you damn Shield!?" Naofumi yelled furiously.
Ren and Itsuki looked at each other again while Naofumi threw a tantrum at his shield.
"So, um, weirdness aside, do you think Naofumi's lying to us?" Itsuki asked.
"Were you lying earlier about your way of getting strong?" Ren asked sadly.
"No, of course not," Itsuki said.
"I wasn't lying either…" Ren looked down at his lap.
It was strange to consider. Actually, it went against every tenant of game knowledge that he had.
It was hard to believe, especially since it wasn't supposed to be possible in his game, but...
"I'm going to trust Naofumi on this." As he said that, Ren received notifications from his help guide. He checked, and information similar to what Naofumi had on his help guide appeared under his own known strengthening methods.
"He... he's right! It shows I can use your strengthening methods on my swords too, Itsuki!" Ren said excitedly.
Itsuki looked surprised. Then he looked at his Bow and seriously considered the possibility of Ren not lying about his strengthening method.
Ren was going through, using Itsuki's methods on his favorite swords. He nearly cried as he equipped an ore to his favorite sword and got a cool attack increase and a fire damage buff.
Itsuki had been relying on his strengthening method for so long from Dimension Wave… was it actually possible it wasn't the only one in this world that was like his game but wasn't a game…
...
He considered it and made a choice. After what they'd talked about with one another, he could not think that Ren and Naofumi would pull a joke like this on him now. So he trusted that they were right.
Immediately after, his help guide pinged with updates. It was the same thing Ren had.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Itsuki looked shocked.
"That's what I'm thinking." Ren had just used Itsuki's Item Enchantment method on one of his swords and got Fire Damage: +4%. Because the sword was also made from rare dragon materials, its base stats had all shot up. And he still had the rarity option that came from his strengthening method on the side that could be upgraded from C (Common) to UR (Ultra-Rare) and higher. The bonuses didn't contradict each other but lined up side by side. One being the natural rarity of the weapon, and the other being something that could be upgraded with energy.
"With all this, we might actually stand a chance," Itsuki said incredulously.
He'd just reset the mastery levels of some of his previous bows and awakened one of his favorite bows. Not only was it stronger, but it had upgraded one of its special effects. Allowing him to see more clearly in the dark.
He was also using the leftover energy he had from resetting some of his earlier weapons to upgrade the bow's rarity level from C to a higher rarity level. Each increase from C to UC to R to UR and up increased the weapon stats and sometimes unlocked other cool abilities that either further improved his enhanced aim or dealt more damage to a certain type of monster. The bonus depended on the bow he was upgrading.
Ren had shared all his monster parts. Naofumi shared his knowledge about how to strengthen his party members. Naofumi had received the strengthening methods, along with the knowledge about the inventory menu. And Itsuki and Ren had learned each other's strengthening methods inadvertently through Naofumi. They were not only caught up on what had been happening with each other now, but they had gained access to a means that would make them much stronger than before.
Maybe with all this, they wouldn't have to even rely on their Cursed Series! They'd be able to get by on their own strength! And if Naofumi was right and they could unlock weapons that increased the strength of their party members...
"Naofumi, thank you," Ren said, interrupting Naofumi during his rant at his shield.
"What for?" Naofumi asked confusedly.
"Your help here might have just given us the edge we need to protect the demi-humans I rescued," Itsuki said seriously.
Naofumi looked confused. "Um... What exactly did I do?" He asked.
...
Ren and Itsuki looked at each other... and then they laughed. "To think our biggest help is coming from a noob," Ren said.
"Such an ignorant noob." Itsuki agreed while laughing.
"Hey, I'm right here!" Naofumi yelled angrily.
They both continued to laugh at Naofumi's expense. 'No wonder the other two treated this as a game! Had I had all this stuff at the start, I probably would have never gotten past seeing this as a game! Damn it!'
Oh well, at least he knew about it now. Once his defense debuff ended, and once he had time to properly go through their strengthening methods for his best shields, he'd really become a force to be reckoned with.
Though he did frown looking at the Help Guide. Now that all of the other's methods were on his help guide, he couldn't help but notice one last addition.
Shield's Strengthening Methods
?
?
?
?
They were all question marks...
"How did you guys learn your strengthening methods?" Naofumi asked.
"How did we learn them?" Ren asked confusedly. "What are you talking about? They were in our Help Guides from the start."
"You do know about the Help Guide, right?" Itsuki asked to make sure.
"Of course I do!" Naofumi bristled at the comment. He wasn't THAT ignorant! "But none of my methods are here!"
...
...
"None of them?" Itsuki asked in surprise.
"Not one. I have four question marks where they're supposed to be." Naofumi reiterated. "So seriously, how did you guys learn about your strengthening methods?!"
...
"Naofumi, all four of mine were in my help guide from the start," Ren said nervously. "You... yours are really missing?"
"Yes!" Naofumi said in frustration. "That makes no sense! Why did you two have these easy ways of getting stronger while I have nothing?!"
"Naofumi..." Ren looked even more nervous than before. "If you didn't even have one strengthening method helping you out, how the heck were you able to get this strong by yourself?"
Naofumi opened his mouth to respond, but realization seemed to dawn on him.
His stats had all gotten a decent-sized increase just from what he'd been able to use from the other's methods thus far. If the two of them had been using their four methods since the start... how the hell had he managed to get by up till now?
"Sir Heroes."
The three Heroes looked to Van, who walked in for the third time. Filo and Melty followed right behind him.
Filo waved happily at Daddy, and he somewhat cheered up and waved back at her. "It sounds like this has been an informative session for you three. But there are other matters we must attend to now." He said while smiling. "Like the plans for defending my estate from Idol Rabier's likely imminent attack amongst other things."
…
The three nodded. "Right. But um, did you need to find Second Princess to discuss that?" Naofumi asked.
"My name's not Second Princess!" Melty stamped her foot angrily. "It's Melty! How many times do I have to say it?!"
"Or Mel!" Filo said cheerfully, hugging the blue-haired girl close. "Filo loves Mel!"
"F-Filo, not now!" Melty said childishly to the cute blonde girl. "I'm trying to be angry with your Father here!"
Itsuki and Ren sobered up and nodded. "I guess we couldn't avoid the subject forever," Itsuki said.
"At least we're all caught up now… and we've all gained something valuable from this," Naofumi said seriously. "Maybe after we're done here, we can make preparations for fighting off the next Wave."
"Trust me, Heroes, after this, there is something far more important we need to deal with than the Waves of Catastrophe. I'll have Princess Melty explain the weapon you saw, Sir Ren. After we decide on the details for the defense of my lands and the rescued demi-humans."
Ren and the others looked surprised. "How important is a single weapon when the next Wave is 8 days away?" Ren asked.
"It…" Melty thought for a second how to best respond. "If what Van told me is correct… the weapon you told him about might be the one I learned about from legends on Melromarc's past." She admitted. "One that'd be very dangerous if left in the Pope's hands."
"I was afraid that might be the case." Van Reichnott said. This time frowning seriously.
The Three Heroes all looked stunned. "So, since this is going to take a while and we have much to talk about, would any of you like some tea?" Van asked nicely.
The meeting progressed with all three Heroes actively listening to Van and Melty while drinking tea.
Hero Clips!
OOF!
"What are we doing here again?" Naofumi asked the others.
"I think we're going over the list of biggest OOF! moments we've seen in our story so far." Itsuki said. The OOF came out sounding like the Roblox death sound.
"... And why are we doing that?" Naofumi asked.
"I'm pretty sure it's because the Author is running out of omake ideas for us," Ren said calmly.
"OOF!" Motoyasu said with an exaggerated face. "Al's going to feel that one in the morning."
"Fine, I guess first up on the list, we have the Knight Commander not realizing his pants were gone until he was bowing before King Trash," Naofumi said dryly.
"OOF!" The other heroes all said at the same time.
"After that, we have the moment when the Church Shadow was pathetically killed in the mine cavern after he realized the Church's foolish plot fell to pieces." Naofumi continued.
"OOF!"
"Then we have the moment when Naofumi had to break into the Three Heroes Church so he could register to fight in the Wave of Catastrophe," Itsuki said next.
"MAJOR OOF! Corrupt religion or what?!"
"And then there was the time when Motoyasu being an idiot for challenging Naofumi to a duel," Ren said after that.
"OOF!"
"Double OOF!" Naofumi said. "He never stood a chance."
"Hey, that wasn't that big an OOF!" Motoyasu said angrily.
"Honestly, it kind of was." Ren and Itsuki both agreed with Naofumi.
"Well, it wasn't as big an OOF! as Naofumi forgetting to give his girl; The Talk!" Motoyasu said in his defense.
All three heroes looked at Naofumi, who blushed heavily. "How was I supposed to know?! Demi-humans age physically and mentally with their levels!" Naofumi yelled.
"Yeah, but how is she supposed to learn about sex if nobody is around to give her the talk on "The Birds and the Bees". Last I checked, there isn't any Internet here to learn from." Motoyasu countered.
"Do you really think hentai teaches anything realistic about sex?" Naofumi asked blandly.
...
All four of the Heroes sweatdropped and chuckled nervously together. "Fair point." Motoyasu conceded.
As much as that was true, the other Heroes had to agree on one thing. "Forgetting about "The Talk" has been the biggest OOF! yet in this story." They said at the same time.
Naofumi scowled. "At least I didn't unlock my Cursed Series through something as lame as not being able to trust my friends." He said.
"OOOOOOOOF!" Ren and Itsuki both yelled long and loud. Much to Motoyasu's chagrin.
Because that was, in all honesty, the biggest OOF! in the history of OOF!'s.
Seriously, how pathetic is that to lose the will to live because you can't trust one person?
Till Next Time
Allen