Got to rewatch the series yesterday. Had a good time doing that. The anime dropped a surprising amount of details I hadn't noticed before. Do you guys realize Rishia was nowhere close to the dangerous events going on around the Pope in either the Anime, Manga, or Light Novel?
That makes me wonder if canon Itsuki really did care for her safety early on. That's also going to make me wonder if that influenced why he decided to kick her out of his party amongst other choices he made. Too bad the LN's are only from Naofumi's perspective, and it'll probably be a couple of years before the anime reaches LN 12 so we get the full picture from Itsuki. Still, it'd be a cool thing to see that it wasn't just Itsuki's corrupt party members and his own stubbornness influencing his choices.
I'm hopeful that the Kadokawa Expo coming up on Saturday will have news for S2 of the anime. At the very least, we should be getting news on the LN's, at last. Here's to some good news!
Chapter Eight: Plant Modification and Strawberry Oranges
Thankfully, for Naofumi, the following days ended up being a lot better than the events of the previous week.
Now that the whole slavery issue was over, he didn't feel nearly as angry or frustrated as before. In fact, the gemstone on his shield hadn't turned red even once since that day. It was like a large weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
Was it because Raphtalia was no longer considered a slave? Was it because he didn't have to worry about the Slave User Series or people assuming the absolute worst from him because of it anymore?
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that the whole slavery debacle itself had been what was feeding his foul mood. All the worry and stress had piled up on his psyche, and not talking about it and avoiding the issue hadn't helped him out either. So he decided to forget about the whole mess since it would have done him no good to dwell on it.
As for what happened in that span of time…
It didn't take long after Beloukas left for things to normalize in Lurolona. If you were to take a stroll through town, it would honestly be hard to tell who did or didn't have the seal.
One of the few noticeable differences was that those with the seal took more time out of their day to level up in the nearby forest. Usually with the help of one of the Hero's party members.
There was slow growth in that area for now since EXP gains dropped after a group became larger than six, and party members like Welt or Crystal weren't all that strong, nor were they used to being put in leadership roles over groups of people.
Still, it gave Ren and Itsuki's party a reasonable excuse not to train with Eclair all the time, and it also gave them a chance to help out the townspeople. Eclair had trained Ren's party to build up their teamwork, after all, so now they had the perfect chance to put her training to good use.
Filo and Raphtalia, on the other hand, spent their time helping the kids to level up since the two of them were the strongest and the most effective at handling monsters. Filo could literally run around with five kids at a time clinging to the carriage for dear life as she ran over whatever monsters were in the way.
It didn't take long until Anya, Keel, and the others were around LV. 15. And with their level increases came a large boost in all of their appetites.
With Ren and his friends temporarily out of her hair, Eclair had chosen to continue to work on her own personal training. But as she did so, more and more of the town's knights and villagers began to approach her with requests to help them better their skills.
She gave advice and some minor tutoring where she could, but had to reluctantly decline some of them as her free time was limited and then cut shorter still, when Raphtalia had insisted for Eclair to join her and Dou-Lon in monster hunting sessions from time to time.
Dou-Lon was making steady progress level-wise. Not astounding, but he was slowly getting there. He could occasionally be caught staring at the newest symbol of his loyalty with a look of reverence in his eyes.
Much to Naofumi's irritation.
Melty continued to write out new laws as well as letters to be sent back home via Itsuki. It looked like the chess match between her and the humbled King was heating up. She had her own chess board set up in her office in the Church attic to help her keep track of the game. If she wasn't writing out laws, she was either studying magic with the Witch, spending time leveling up with Filo, or debating on what her Father's next move would be.
Thanks to her hard work, their newly-found city-state was able to define the laws of slavery in a way that didn't impede any of the Heroes. Nor did it label the Heroes as slave owners. It made it quite clear that the usual customs of slavery, all the various kinds that existed in other countries, would not be welcome in Lurolona.
Ironically, they were probably the first country in this world to outlaw slavery. Naofumi didn't know too much about the other countries yet. But given that this was a medieval world, he wouldn't have been surprised.
Lastly, there was the matter of the five children that Beloukas had gifted them.
At first, they were quiet. Almost afraid to do anything or talk to anyone.
But then, after a day had passed, and, thanks to efforts from Keel and the other kids, they began to gradually realize that they hadn't been bought by a new owner. Instead, they'd been given a new chance at life.
They were allowed to eat when they wanted.
To sleep when they wanted.
To do what they wanted.
The final realization came when all of them got summoned to Naofumi's the next evening. When they arrived, the Shield Hero cast one last round of healing magic on them to take care of any lingering bruising and aches, before inviting them to join him and the rest of the villagers to a hearty meal that he'd personally prepared for the occasion.
They slowly and quietly started to take small tender bites of their food, and soon began talking to Keel and the other children. Keel and Anya looked really happy, and talked with them about all sorts of things.
Everything looked fine for a while, but then, halfway through the dinner, they suddenly began to bawl their eyes out.
They'd finally realized that they were free.
They wouldn't have to suffer as slaves any longer.
They could finally be children again.
It might have helped that the Shield Hero's food was the best thing they'd ever eaten too.
Naofumi saw Raphtalia and Filo both tear up at the sight. And he smiled at it all.
Because the five of them were below the age of 10, after dinner was over, they were given to a temporary new caretaker. He hoped their lives would be a little easier from now on.
Still, Naofumi was glad that when they left, they left happy, healthy, and with full bellies.
He really did feel a lot better after that, as evidenced by his Shield's gem softly shifting into a light blue hue without his knowing.
With all the major issues resolved, and those last loose ends taken care of, Naofumi and the other Heroes were finally able to return to their usual schedules.
Motoyasu still left every day at the crack of dawn to train with the Hengen Musou granny until late in the evening.
Ren varied his time between training with Eclair, going out to hunt monsters, helping Naofumi with ideas, hanging out with members of his party, or spending time with Jerry, their local blacksmith. Why he was doing that, Naofumi didn't know. Nor did he feel to ask.
Itsuki helped out in the village where he could. However, the majority of the villagers were still being wary of him, despite the kids' best efforts to help him. So he left several times to assist Mirellia with tracking down the Three Heroes cultists as well as her missing Shadows so he could do something meaningful.
Unfortunately, it looked like he wasn't having much luck with that either. Itsuki came home visibly frustrated every night. Naofumi almost wished that he could go with Itsuki to mend things between them. Now that the Shield Hero wasn't so angry and frustrated anymore, he'd realized that until recently, he'd been acting like an insufferable prick to the Bow Hero. Naofumi wanted to apologize to him for it.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any time for it now since, thanks to Beloukas'es outrageous service prices, he and the other Heroes were in the hole money-wise, again. So when he wasn't doing his own training, or busy cooking for the hungry mouths of those demis that were leveling up, which was quickly shaping up to be an even bigger financial nightmare than working with the slave merchant; he spent the remainder of his defense debuff working on finding ways to either make more money, or to lower their expenses.
Which eventually led to what Ren was helping him with right now.
"Naofumi, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but, once again, are you sure that we should be messing with this?" The Sword Hero asked nervously and swallowed hard.
Naofumi looked down at the familiar red seed held in his hand. "I've had this little beauty resting in my shield for about a month now. I think it's about time that we figured out what the hell my Plant Reform can do to this thing." Naofumi replied. "It also would make our lives easier if we can tame this thing."
"Alright, alright. I get where you're coming from. But believe me when I say, taking this thing down the first time was a bitch and a half and I dread to think what might happen if you decide to go all mad scientist on it now." Ren said with a shudder. At that time, it'd required him and his party members to attack the Bio-Plant relentlessly until they outpaced its rate of regeneration and killed it.
"Do we really have to try our luck by bringing this back?"
"You mentioned that this thing also grew a lot of food. If we could get a tame version of this plant that wouldn't try to kill everything, that'd solve most of our food problems in the foreseeable future." It'd also give them more variety to eat besides fish and monster meat. "If I can figure out how to make it grow other things like herbs, it'll make our lives even better."
"... Alright, fine." Ren sighed in defeat, letting his shoulders slump. "If all else fails, and this goes out of control, we can at least count on you going crazy and burning it to cinders when it eventually starts to reach your girlfriend or daughter with its slimy tentacle vines." He concluded with a deadpan expression as he readied his sword.
"Oh, would you relax already, I have some weed killer on hand just in case." Naofumi rolled his eyes but was unable to hide a tiny manic spark in them that made the Sword Hero feel uneasy.
Ren grumbled to himself and inwardly questioned why he was going along with this while Naofumi studied the seed more closely.
Looking at the initial seed with the Plant Reform ability revealed the following on his HUD.
Special Abilities:
Propagation: 9
Production: 9
Vitality: 9
Immunity: 4
Intelligence: 1
Growth: 9
Mutation: 9
Dried Seed Growth: Mutation Range Expansion
Naofumi studied it for a few more seconds, wondering how to tweak the seed's stats. However, he soon found out that simply focusing on a stat and thinking about raising or lowering it did the job. He then set all the stats to 1, and put all the points in growth so it looked like this: Growth: 43
With that, Naofumi dropped the modified seed into the ground.
Almost instantaneously, the plant sprung up to a height of three meters. "Holy-" Ren immediately began charging up a skill. However, the plant had already dried up and died at that point. Leaving nothing but a dried-up husk in the middle of the field that they were standing in.
"Hmmm, so maxing out its growth isn't a very good idea." Naofumi took another seed from his shield. He only took a moment to reflect that he'd used some MP to reform the last seed before he began tweaking the current one. He guessed changing this seed's properties was like using magic, so it made sense in a way. "Can you check and see if that husk dropped any more seeds?" Naofumi asked.
Ren breathed in, trying to calm his frazzled nerves before he checked the dead plant. He didn't find any new seeds on it. But he absorbed the entire husk into his sword just in case. "Damn it Naofumi, this isn't a joke, could you be a little more careful?!" Ren almost yelled, making Naofumi sweatdrop.
"Hey, this is nothing but trial and error. I'm just trying to make a real miracle seed here so I don't accidentally destroy a village like a certain blonde-haired simp."
Somewhere in the world where he was training in the intricacies of life force, a certain blonde-haired simp sneezed. "I say, did somebody just insult me!?" He wondered out loud, making Rino and Elena give him weird looks.
"NO SLACKING!"
"Gah!" The Spear Hero collapsed on the ground from the force of Granny's dope slap.
Back at the village, Naofumi threw the seed that he was working on onto a patch of dry ground and waited again. This time, it took a little longer for the plant to bloom since he hadn't maxed out the Growth stat. However, Ren's eyes widened when he saw the familiar shape of the Bio-Plant monster begin to emerge from a wriggling mass of vines. "What are you doing?! It looks like you hardly changed it!"
"Don't attack it. I know what I'm doing." Naofumi said calmly. Over the course of a minute, it grew into a large tree. Vines fell from its branches. A big, gooey eye came out of the main trunk, and looked down at the two of them. An unholy screech filled the air as all the vines lifted up and flew towards them.
"Naofumi-" Ren started to say in fear.
Naofumi dropped some weed killer on the nearby root, and the unholy screech turned into an inhumane screech which was quickly cut off. The whole plant shriveled up and died almost instantaneously.
…
Ren blinked his eyes. What had just happened? It'd taken them hours to kill it… yet Naofumi had done so in seconds!
"Huh, so basically, dropping its immunity stat to 1 makes it easy to kill, and it still grows pretty quickly too…" Naofumi continued to look at his HUD, and frowned.
Ren decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. But the look on Naofumi's face worried him. "Is something wrong?"
"... I didn't get any EXP from killing it," Naofumi mumbled.
…
…
"So you almost gave me a heart attack to see if you could get EXP from killing these things!?" Ren asked angrily.
Naofumi turned his head. "Since it technically isn't a real plant monster and just an extremely mutated plant, I thought my Shield wouldn't restrict me from attacking it." Naofumi fell to his knees. "It allowed me to attack it with the weed killer... But I still don't have a way to gather EXP by myself." He moaned.
…
Ren facepalmed. "Just… whatever you do next, don't summon that freaking plant again." He began absorbing the latest experiment into his sword. This time, it'd dropped plenty of seeds. As well as various kinds of fruit from potato-like things, tomato-like things that tasted sweeter than usual, and something that looked like oranges but tasted like strawberries.
Strawberry oranges... he never thought such a combination was possible.
He and Naofumi had to gather them all up before they tried to experiment any further.
Ren hadn't been kidding about how much food these things produced. Naofumi was sure if he could find a way to tame this seed with the Plant Reform ability, food would become the least of their worries.
And Ren had to admit he… kind of liked the taste of the strawberry oranges. It wasn't like he was getting addicted to them or anything.
Yep, eating five in the span of a minute was perfectly ok and not weird at all.
"Maybe if I increase the Immunity stat and let it attack us for a little while, it'll give some EXP-"
"No. We are not doing that." Ren cut him off.
"But-"
"NO!"
"Fine, buzzkill." Naofumi huffed.
Unlike Naofumi, Ren didn't have much resistance to poison or acid, so he'd rather not deal with either of those attacks again.
Over the course of an afternoon, Naofumi continued tweaking the seeds. He didn't just have the stats to tweak. He could tweak its special ability too by sacrificing or augmenting different attributes. One ability allowed the plant to have even higher growth. Another allowed it to propagate with other plants. The one it currently had expanded the scope of the mutations it could undertake.
Obviously, Naofumi changed that before continuing on… most of the time. Experimentation and curiosity drove him on in this endeavor.
Ren had to intervene a few times when the growth outpaced what Naofumi had thought possible. At one point, they'd thought that they finally had it. However, they looked away for a minute to discuss something, and when they looked back, they found out the plant had unearthed itself and was in the process of crawling away from them towards the forest. There were also various plant monsters splitting off from the main plant.
Naofumi made sure to drop the Intelligence stat to 1 after that particular incident had been handled.
Ren couldn't help but ask in disbelief why Naofumi had tried to give a killer plant more intelligence to begin with.
He didn't appreciate it when Naofumi's answer was that he wanted to check and see if it'd be possible to get a nearly omniscient and omnipresent angry tree security force going in their village. That idea had ruined his current set of armor thanks to the acid and poison attacks of the monsters!
…
But damn, even Ren had to secretly admit how sweet it would have been if that'd worked.
By the time the sun had begun to set, Naofumi held what he hoped would be the last trial and error miracle seed. The last of his MP had been exhausted for the time being. And he'd made some of the changes based on Ren's suggestions.
Propagation: 2
Production: 18
Vitality: 5
Immunity: 4
Intelligence: 1
Growth: 15
Mutation: 1
Dried Seed Growth: Quality Improvement
The Shield Hero looked over the seed again. "Alright, here it goes." He dropped the seed into the ground. Ren got ready just in case, but he had his fingers crossed in hope.
It took a little while, but eventually, a plant quickly grew from the grass. However, it stopped growing upwards once it reached the height of Naofumi's waist. After a tense minute of the two of them staring at the small plant, fruit began to appear on its slender branches.
To Ren's complete and utter delight, the fruit in question turned out to be the strawberry oranges.
"Mmmm, urm, it's not going to turn evil or anything, right?" Ren asked as he ate two at the same time and relished the taste in his mouth. The Quality Improvement made them taste even better than before, something he hadn't thought possible. They were also bigger, about the size of his hands.
"I set it to grow quickly and produce a lot, but it shouldn't reproduce very quickly, and it shouldn't mutate into any monsters either," Naofumi said as he studied the plant. It was only bearing one kind of fruit now. He guessed that the mutation stat must have been what allowed it to bear all sorts of fruits and vegetables.
It was also what allowed it to turn into a monster. But hey, you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. That's probably what the alchemist that made this had been thinking anyway. "As long as we keep it maintained, it shouldn't grow out of control or anything."
Ren picked more of the fruit off the bush as Naofumi drank a Magic Healing Water potion. He then modified several more seeds with the same stats as the first before throwing them around on the ground randomly.
Ren was about to ask Naofumi what they should do now when he saw the Shield Hero walking away. "Wait, where are you going-"
"The villagers should know that we have another source of food now, right?" Naofumi replied. "We want to reduce our food expenses, after all."
"... Oh, um, right." Ren looked down at the plants sadly. He really hoped that they'd grow and multiply even more so that there'd be plenty of fruit to go around.
Naofumi told some of the people in the village about it. And word quickly spread from there. By the time they were walking back to their homes, several of the villagers, and many of the hungry kids had rushed towards where he'd planted the modified Bio-Plants.
Ren nearly whined and asked for another seed from Naofumi that he could plant in his backyard. But he didn't really have the time nor the patience to take care of a plant.
Even if the fruit it produced was tempting as hell.
While they walked back, Naofumi began talking about the accessory he was making for Ren. It was almost done. It just required a few touch-ups, and he'd be ready to give it to him tomorrow. He'd been delayed because he was also making an accessory for Itsuki as a way to apologize to him.
Ren was glad that Naofumi had figured out how to make them. Anything that'd make them or their weapons stronger would help greatly when Glass would eventually appear at the next Wave again.
It made him want to get even better at what he was learning as soon as possible so he'd also have a way to be useful to the other Heroes.
"By the way, do you know if Itsuki is doing okay?" Naofumi suddenly asked. "We haven't been able to talk much since he started to try and track down those cultists."
"I think so," Ren said unsurely. "I haven't talked much with him either. But Bakta's been over there a few times. He says Itsuki's doing well, besides being frustrated with being unable to locate the church remnants."
"Understandable. Those pricks from the Church really know how to get under our skin." Naofumi muttered. "I really hope they find where they're hiding soon. There's nothing I'd love more than to see them locked up in a dungeon." And if they found them, they'd be able to find Bitch too and clear his name once and for all.
Seeing her punishment would be almost as sweet as the strawberry oranges.
"Well, whatever happens, I just hope that Itsuki doesn't become cold and distant."
"You mean like me?"
"You're not as cold and distant as you were before, Naofumi."
…
The Shield Hero coughed into his hand. "Well, after what Raphtalia and Motoyasu did, I doubt he'll become like me. He also has his party helping him through this." He then said, sounding more confident before starting to chuckle. "You know, come to think of it, besides Motoyasu, we lucked out with the party members we got, didn't we?"
"Yeah…"
They continued walking for a while in silence...
"Hey, Naofumi. Is it alright if I ask you a question?" Ren asked while continuing to look straight ahead.
"Aren't you already asking one?" Naofumi smirked.
Ren nearly stumbled with his next words. "Th-that's- ugh, don't be a jerk! You know what I mean." He crossed his arms and harrumphed.
"Sorry, just practicing those dad jokes for Filo. What is it?" The Shield Hero rolled his eyes with a cocky smile.
Ren frowned. Naofumi definitely wasn't as cold and distant as he was before. It wasn't until they were on his doorstep that he finally spoke again. "Is it a bad thing that most of my party didn't want to get the Hero Service Seals?"
Naofumi stopped. "Where's this coming from?" He asked in surprise.
Ren hung his head. "I mean, it's not like I want them to have them. It's just… only one member in Itsuki's party chose not to get it. And Motoyasu obviously has none in his party. But…" He sat down on the porch of Naofumi's home. "Most of my party didn't want it." He said sadly.
"And that's a bad thing because...?" Naofumi asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat down next to him.
"I don't know. But it seems like Itsuki's party trusts and wants to help him so much, and I'm just…" He pulled his knees up and rested his head on them before sighing deeply. The young teenager looked oddly vulnerable in that moment. "Maybe I'm just not trustworthy enough. Most of the knights chose Itsuki. And many of the villagers chose you… and after what happened, I don't want my friends to be weak..."
…
"Have you considered that…" Naofumi leaned his head back to look at the orange-painted sky over the ocean. "They already feel confident in your strength and don't see the need for a boost?"
Ren didn't respond to that, so Naofumi continued. "I mean, I don't see them as much as you do. But from what I've seen, they do trust you a lot. They also seem pretty capable. If they didn't, they wouldn't have followed you into hell and the other places you've been. Just a few days ago, you and your team handled an entire wave on your own with some minor support from Fitoria. Even though none of them had the Seal on them."
The Shield Hero put a hand on Ren's shoulder. "Don't worry too much. Slave crest or not, I'm sure that you'll be able to help them become stronger either way. In fact, I suspect that the villagers and knights chose me and Itsuki because they already know how strong you are. You single-handedly carried us all through Melromarc's last wave. Everyone knows that in a battle, you can hold your own just fine."
The memory of him reflecting one of Itsuki's most powerful skills in front of everyone also came to Ren's mind. A small smile came onto his face. All the hard work and effort he'd been putting in to improve himself…
"... thank you, Naofumi," Ren mumbled. "You have no idea how much that means to me."
He stood up and looked at the evening sky as well. He then looked back at the Shield Hero with that small smile still on his face. "I'm glad that you aren't a bad person, Naofumi. I don't know what it would have been like if you were actually an evil demon like Myne claimed."
"I mean, if Fitoria was any indicator, I probably wouldn't be alive." Naofumi snorted in amusement.
The two of them shivered the next moment. They feared for any hero who had the misfortune of thinking that they could abuse their power and become a demon overlord while Fitoria was around.
None of them ever wanted to find out what'd happen in such a scenario.
"Alright, take care Naofumi, I'll see you tomo-" Ren began to say when a flustered voice interrupted him.
"Sir Ren!"
The raven-haired teen almost screamed in surprise. He managed to cut it off just in time as he turned to see Bakta come barreling out of… Itsuki's house? He looked extremely mad for some reason.
"Wh-what is it Bakta, and stop calling me Sir-" He started to say frustratingly.
"I want that slave crest, or hero crest, or whatever we're calling it now!" The tank fumed angrily.
"... what?" Ren looked so confused, it was almost adorable. "But, why?"
"Because I can't beat Aksel at arm wrestling anymore!" Bakta whined.
…
…
Ren had to hold back the urge to facepalm. "Arm… wrestling?" He hesitantly asked.
"We've been holding competitions with each other almost every day since Reichnott's Estate! And he's been kicking my &^% ever since he leveled up with that stupid crest! I can't take it anymore! I want one too!" Bakta whined.
"Sounds like somebody is a sore loser! Or should I say that somebody is going through a payneful realization?!" Aksel called from Itsuki's front porch.
"That isn't funny! I'm not done with you yet, you jerk!" Bakta barked back.
"Selling yourself into slavery just because your pride as a man was hurt. Oh Bakta, it's no wonder you can't read." Welt appeared next to Aksel with a sigh.
"SHUT UP! THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU!"
"Ooh! I'm so scared! I'm shivering in my cold metal boots just thinking about tomorrow's Payneful rematch!" Aksel bent over laughing.
"Aghhhhhhhh!" Bakta's face was red with rage. "Come on already, give me that crest or whatever so I can go over there and beat his &^$!" Bakta demanded. At least he was smart enough not to try attacking Aksel then and there.
"Idiot. Don't you realize you need to level up after it's applied?" Welt said.
"Then Sir Ren will help me level up after I get it!" Bakta yelled back at Welt.
"B-B-But I'm not the one who does it! I'd have to grab that Slave Trader and, and- Naofumi! Help me out here!" Ren begged the Shield Hero.
"I'm sorry, there are just some messes I refuse to deal with," Naofumi said boredly as he opened the door to his house. "Good luck with whatever the hell this is." Naofumi waved at the Sword Hero before slamming the door to his house shut.
"No, please, I don't want to deal with the Slave Trader by myself! NAOFUMIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Naofumi put his hands in his pockets and whistled as he walked away from yet another blooming disaster outside.
He didn't mind being nice every now and then. But he felt like he was at his limit for today.
Hopefully, he had some time left for a nap before he would have to make dinner for everyone again. If those plants didn't work, he was going to get eaten out of house and home by the time everyone was ready for the Next Wave.
"Daddy? Daddy?"
Naofumi groaned as he opened his eyes to see his daughter standing over his bed and shaking his shoulder timidly with a nervous expression on her face.
"What is it, Filo? It's the middle of the night. Go back to Second Princess or whatever." He mumbled, still half asleep and unaware of the alarming look in her features.
"Um…" Naofumi opened his eyes again to look at his daughter. She looked down at the ground nervously. "Daddy told Filo to wait a while before telling Fitoria about Bow guy, right?" She asked awkwardly.
"Why are you asking me that now? Can't this wait till the morning-" Naofumi groaned again before getting cut off by someone.
"Hello, Shield Hero."
…
Naofumi blanched. He looked past Filo at the wall, hoping that he'd heard it wrong. But a second figure was there, giving him an indifferent gaze from the shadows.
"Filo might have told Fitoria about Bow Guy." The Filolial Queen candidate looked down apologetically.
Naofumi frantically got up. "Fitoria, I can explain-"
"No. Not here. Outside." Fitoria gestured to the door.
He gulped. He looked at Raphtalia's bed, but she was fast asleep. Her ears flicked, like they normally did when she was in the middle of some dream.
Crap, he was totally dead, wasn't he? He still had a few hours left of his defense debuff too!
Damn it! This wasn't a good time at all!
"Remember, Fitoria promised not to hurt daddy." Filo turned around to face Fitoria with a defiant look.
"Of course. Fitoria has no intention of harming the Heroes." The bird queen answered gracefully. "Fitoria only wishes to talk."
… Upon hearing that, the massive weight that'd sunk into Naofumi's chest disappeared all at once.
"O-Okay." He squeaked like a meek child. "Just, let me get dressed."
"Your night attire shall be just fine, Shield Hero." Fitoria turned to the door. "Even if you wore your armor, it wouldn't be strong enough to stop one of my kicks."
Crap. She'd read his mind perfectly. "... fine," Naofumi grumbled.
"Good luck, daddy. Eheh." Filo said a little too sweetly, her smile straining under the presence of her senior in the room.
He decided he wasn't cooking his daughter dinner for a while.
"Wahhhh! But Filo loves Daddy's cooking!" Filo whined.
Had he said that out loud? Or had she read his mind?
Whatever, he had something more important to deal with.
"Boo!" And Filo's pout didn't look adorable at all as he left.
Following Fitoria outside, he was greeted by the sight of Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu. Two of them looked as pale as ghosts.
The third... looked like he was in love all over again.
Most of his body was also bound by a thick wind spell.
"Why is Motoyasu-" Naofumi started to ask.
"He tried to tackle Fitoria," Ren answered.
"Because of his angel fetish," Itsuki muttered while rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index fingers.
"I love Filolials-!" A wind gag appeared over his mouth.
"Silence. Don't make Fitoria restrain you even further, Spear Hero." Fitoria spoke calmly.
He hmphed, and pouted like a child. Naofumi almost wanted to sigh, that is, if he hadn't been fearing for their lives.
And he'd been so impressed with Motoyasu lately. So much for that.
"This is about Itsuki and his dive into the Cursed Series." Naofumi flatly stated. There was no question about it.
Fitoria slowly nodded in response. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? Why did you feel it necessary to tell Filo to hide this from Fitoria?"
"We weren't hiding it." Naofumi denied. "We just... wanted some time to recover from the experience before we told you. It's been a rough week for all of us."
"... why didn't you tell me about this then, Sword Hero?" Fitoria asked.
"M-Me?!" Ren stuttered.
"You fought alongside me at a Wave. You could have told Fitoria that the Heroes were struggling."
"W-Well, um… You're not going to kill us for this, right?" Ren asked in a squeaky voice.
Fitoria sighed. "For the fifth time, no."
"O-Okay." He huddled in on himself. "I-I didn't t-t-talk about it, b-b-because I d-didn't th-think i-it'd get th-this serious."
Hey, it was scary when the most OP person in the world woke you up in the middle of the night! He had a right to stutter! Screw how uncool it looked!
"Are… am I in trouble?" Itsuki sadly asked. "If so, don't punish the others for it, they don't deserve it-"
Fitoria raised a hand, silencing all of them.
"Would you please stop assuming that I'm here to punish the Heroes?" She calmly asked. A brief look of sadness crossed her face. "Fitoria is only disappointed that the Heroes felt that they should hide this. I'm even more disappointed that you assume Fitoria came here to punish you for it."
…
The three of them bowed their heads in shame.
"Hey, guys, out of curiosity, how do you know this lovely angel-" Motoyasu started to ask.
"She's the one who warned us about not using our Cursed Series, idiot," Naofumi said dryly.
"..." Motoyasu looked confused, and then it finally clicked in his head. "Oh…" This was the OP bird the others had told him about?
But she looked so small? And cute. And beautiful. Oh, Gods, she could possibly rival Filo with that dignified grace in which she carried herself!
Fitoria noticeably took a few steps away from Motoyasu.
"I know the Cursed Series isn't something that can be safely contained at all times." Fitoria began to speak as she paced back and forth slowly. "There is only so much that willpower alone can do in the face of overwhelming despair, Bow Hero. Filo shared her memories, allowing me to see how much you've suffered. How much you've regretted your actions. I wish to only see you get better and to prevent another incident from happening again."
Itsuki hung his head further.
"If, if you're not here to punish us, then why are you here?" Naofumi finally asked.
"First, I felt it'd be proper to finally meet the four of you, now that you're all working together," Fitoria said simply. She then approached Itsuki, and lifted his head up. "And, Fitoria was worried when she learned of what'd happened. And wanted to make sure that her Heroes were okay."
…
"You… you were worried about us?" Ren asked.
"Is it not right that Fitoria should worry for the Heroes?" She asked curiously.
…
The four of them bowed their heads in meekness. "No."
"And yet, because of your recent behavior, I'm worried because of what Filo has shown me through the cowlick I gave her. Bow Hero, you realize just how close you came to losing your way, do you not?"
"I… yes," He said sadly. "It was worse than not being in control. It was like I was… being entirely blanketed in darkness."
Naofumi felt a shudder go through his spine. He remembered several moments quite like that which he'd experienced. Once at the Sacred Duel, and once while fighting Bitch. "Fitoria shouldn't have to say it, but that is the danger of the Cursed Series. Succumbing to it is like throwing yourself into an endless abyss. The further you fall… the harder it is to come back."
"Y-You mean, if Rishia hadn't saved me then-"
"It's very likely she would have failed to draw you back out by herself by appealing to your feelings." Fitoria finished for him. "You would have been beyond even that. It would have taken nothing less than brute force to save you. And it's possible even then it wouldn't have worked. You could have been lost forever."
Despite the ominous tone in her voice, Itsuki blushed at what she'd said.
"Feelings, for Rishia? Please, she's nothing more than a friend." He stammered.
Naofumi almost wanted to facepalm. It was like he was seeing himself from two months ago.
Motoyasu actually did free an arm from his bindings and facepalmed. So he wasn't the only one seeing this after all. There was also the way Ren treated that dog member of his, even though it was obvious the girl was head over heels for him.
Was being dense a common trait amongst summoned Heroes? He'd surely believe it.
Then again, he didn't have much right to complain since he'd been just like that several months ago.
"Even if you are old and strong, my feelings shall never be squashed-!" Motoyasu was gagged again, and his arm restrained once more. He was also hit upside the head by something made of wind.
"Spear Hero, that is your final warning," Fitoria said calmly.
… huh. Maybe denseness wasn't always the same from Hero to Hero. If Fitoria ever remembered more, he'd have to ask if it was a common trait amongst summoned heroes.
"The three of you still remember what we spoke about before, correct?" Fitoria asked.
"Yes." The ones who weren't gagged answered immediately.
"Back then, I mentioned that suppressing the Curse Series would require constant vigilance on your part." She walked in front of them. The bindings around Motoyasu disappeared. "Only now do I realize that what I said wasn't enough."
"What?"
"There's something else that Fitoria remembered." She faced them again, a serious look on her face. "Besides constant vigilance, the other secret that helps is having strong connections with others. Ones of love, friendship, or camaraderie that bring people together."
…
"Why does that sound like the power of friendship?" Ren asked flatly.
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," Naofumi muttered. "I'm sorry, but that hasn't worked for me so far-"
"Fitoria also asked you to be constantly diligent, Shield Hero." She looked at him. "And I have to say, based on my observations through Filo, I'm not very impressed."
… oof.
"It is the reason why the Spear Hero was able to keep his curse under relative control several days ago, is it not?" She continued while gesturing at Motoyasu.
"H-How did you know about that?!" Motoyasu asked in astonishment. "Did you guys tell her about that moment-"
"I have been observing through Filo for quite some time," Fitoria answered.
"What do you mean by observing through Filo?!" Motoyasu asked. "That doesn't make any sense-"
"That cowlick on her head was gifted by Fitoria," Naofumi answered. "Somehow, that allows Fitoria to observe us through her."
"She hid the parts of you talking about the Bow Hero so I couldn't understand the full extent of what was going on. But I watched as you equipped that Curse Series, and watched as you stayed in control even while using it. As mad as it made me to see a Hero so casually use it, I got to thinking how you did it until I finally remembered that detail.
"I must say, it is a surprise to see the sheer amount of trust that you put in the people you care for, despite the past betrayals to you, Spear Hero. Your loyalty to them makes you completely reject the grip of despair through sheer optimism and an unyielding belief in your allies." Fitoria nodded her head. "In a way, this makes you the strongest of the four heroes."
The other three stared at Motoyasu in surprise. Motoyasu himself looked like a shining beacon with how wide his smile was. Even if this scenario didn't make much sense, he was almost tempted to tackle Fitoria and hug her out of gratitude for such kind, motivating words.
But he was able to retain just enough of his intelligence to not do that. Sadly.
It certainly would have been an amusing sight for Naofumi and the others to see.
"So, if we believe in each other…" Itsuki shook where he sat.
"It will not guarantee control of your curse weapons." Fitoria shook her head. "Nor should you think it ever necessary to depend on them to control the Cursed Series. Using them comes at too great a price... But, should you ever feel gripped by Despair, if you can trust in your friends and remember them as the Spear Hero does his, you will not fall."
Naofumi grumbled to himself. He trusted in Raphtalia and Filo plenty. But apparently, that wasn't enough for him? Ugh…
Fitoria was looking at him with a deadpan look. Maybe it'd be for the best if he didn't voice his thoughts aloud.
"There is also something else that I wish to say to the Sword Hero." Fitoria continued.
"M-Me?" Ren asked nervously.
Fitoria gave him a sad look, and he felt his stomach clench nervously in response. "My advice will be helpful to the others, but not for you."
"Huh? Why not?" He blinked in confusion.
"You have yet to experience true grief as they have." She gestured at the other three Heroes. "You have felt guilt for your actions. But guilt alone is not enough to succumb to the darkness. If what you told me before is correct, had that dragon not forgiven you on his deathbed, had he not given you a purpose in his death, you might have crossed that line. But you were stopped, keeping your Cursed Series from fully manifesting… However, that only makes your situation more dangerous than the other Heroes combined."
"They have tasted the abyss, and can feel the warning signs telling them to stop. But you are still ignorant of these things." Fitoria looked him in the eyes. "You will have to exercise the most caution going forward. Should you continue to grow in power, and then fall into Despair…" She turned her head to the side.
"Fitoria would hate to see that happen."
…
The Heroes stared at her for a moment. Of the other three, only Naofumi could really understand what Fitoria had meant about Ren's situation. His Cursed Series had unlocked at the Sacred Duel in a moment of Despair. However, thanks to Raphtalia's intervention, he was pulled out of his Despair, keeping his Cursed Series from manifesting.
It wasn't until his duel with Bitch that he hit Despair once more and his Curse finally revealed itself. So if he understood what Fitoria had just said, Ren had unlocked the Cursed Series, but he hadn't unlocked a weapon in that series yet.
That really was worrisome.
"You won't have to worry about that," Itsuki said. "Ren's my friend too. I'll be there for him so he doesn't have to suffer from this like me."
"Same." Motoyasu and Naofumi both said at the same time.
"Jinx! Hahahahaha!" Motoyasu started laughing as Naofumi rolled his eyes.
Fitoria smiled. It was truly great to finally see a batch of Heroes that got along with each other again. And so early too...
Perhaps, this was a sign that their world wasn't destined for ruin.
Still, looking at the Sword Hero… she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. The others could be considered lucky to have unlocked their Cursed Series while so undeveloped in their power. It made the scale of destruction they could cause much smaller. And now that they'd had time to study the warning signs, they were far less likely to use them as their power grew.
But Ren knew nothing of the signs. He didn't know what true Despair was like. If he unlocked his later on in his growth, the scale of destruction he'd be capable of would be enormous.
She hoped for his sake that he never unlocked it. It would make her happy if at least one Hero never got to experience what it was like to wish for an end to their suffering.
"Fitoria, thank you for this. And... we're sorry," Naofumi told her. "We'll try to do better."
"I'm sure you will, Shield Hero." She then surprised them by turning into her Filolial form. However, she didn't grow to her full size. She only grew to be just slightly bigger than Filo. "And before I go,"
She grabbed all four Heroes with her wings. And they were surprised when she embraced them all in a caring hug. "Please, don't hide something like this from Fitoria again."
"Y-Y-Yes ma'am!" The four hugged Fitoria back.
Motoyasu looked really happy. He was hugging a Filolial! They were so freaking soft! He wanted one too!
Ren was blushing at the show of care and kindness. To think he'd thought Fitoria would try to kill them. Seeing this side of her, it was no wonder she was the Queen of the Filolials.
Even if she came across as harsh, she truly cared for those under her.
Afterward, when Fitoria ran off into the night, Naofumi felt like he was being stared at, and looked down to the side to see Itsuki.
"Um, Naofumi…" The Bow Hero looked off to the side in embarrassment.
"Yeah?"
"I'm... sorry, about the way I've been acting lately." The kid gulped. "I was… a jerk."
…
"You mean an &^%$# $?" Naofumi dryly asked after a short pause.
Itsuki flushed, but he nodded. It was the truth, after all.
…
"It's ok. I was an *^%$# $ myself. I didn't help things by running away from the argument repeatedly." Naofumi shrugged.
"... We both messed up then?" Itsuki asked.
Naofumi nodded. "Yep."
"... So, are we good now?" He hesitantly asked.
…
A small smile came onto Naofumi's face. "Absolutely."
Itsuki smiled in relief. It was a simple apology, but after that, the two Heroes shook on it.
By the time they'd returned to their beds, both boys felt far better and lighthearted than before.
And with that, the strain between Naofumi and Itsuki disappeared. And the slave incident was put behind all the Heroes for good.
Author's Notes:
Finally. Next chapter, we get to dig into the good stuff. Having rewatched the anime, it's even clearer now how much the anime cut from Cal Mira. I'm going to have to fix that.
Edit: I just realized I unintentionally forgot about the Heroes don't share EXP rule. Oh, man is Naofumi in for a rude awakening.
By the way, consider the following omake helpful in regards to understanding the Bio-Plant and Plant Reformation.
Hero Clips!
Plant Modification, A How To Guide for Creating Your own Monster!
"Hello there. I guess it's my turn to explain something in canon now." Naofumi said boredly.
He was dressed in a teacher's uniform, his signature shield attached to the side of his arm. The other three Heroes sat at their desks, staring at him eagerly.
"I'm going to keep this brief. Plant Reformation is meant to be used only on the Bio-Plant Seed. It doesn't work on anything else. Trust me, I've tried." Naofumi grumbled. "Another useless ability meant for only a specific instance. Just my luck."
The other three Heroes began studiously taking notes.
"It uses MP instead of SP for some reason only the Gods know." Naofumi continued to grumble. "I can only modify one seed at a time, and without an alchemist to help out, I'm limited in what I can modify it to do through my own experimentation. The best I can hope for is food."
"An alchemist? Like someone like that will ever walk up on our front doorstep." Motoyasu rolled his eyes as he said so.
"I'm pretty sure you're going to hate LN 10 then," Itsuki muttered.
"Or was it LN 11?" Ren murmured.
"Wait, what-"
"Now, as for the stats you can modify with Plant Modification," Naofumi said over them, grabbing their attention again.
"Propagation. This determines how quickly the plant spreads. Why the hell it uses propagation and not a more familiar term like Reproduction, I don't know. That's probably the translator's fault."
"Our weapon's translators, or the people who translated the light novels?" Motoyasu whispered to the other two.
"Who knows?" Ren shrugged as they continued to listen.
"Production. This controls how much food the plant produces. Obviously. I don't see why I'd have to point this out. Anyway, yadda yadda yadda.
"Vitality. This helps the plant grow in any type of soil. Sadly, it doesn't mean you can grow a monster with more HP. That would have been cool." Naofumi sighed.
The other three looked at each other worriedly. More HP? That should have been their first warning sign of where this omake was heading.
"Immunity. This should be even more obvious than production. Do I really have to say it- alright, yeah, this helps the plant fight off disease."
"Or have a higher resistance to various attacks.
The three heroes blinked at that. "What-" Ren tried to ask.
"Intelligence. Honestly, it's funny that I can make a plant more intelligent than a person. Any ideas how high I'd need to raise the stat for it to be smarter than Bitch?"
"How is that even relevant-" Itsuki tried to ask.
"2! I'm guessing a 2 would be enough!" Motoyasu said excitedly.
"Might be a little generous there, but good answer Motoyasu," Naofumi said. "Anyway, where was I?"
"Also, what did you mean by you can make a plant more intelligent than-" Motoyasu's words were cut off. Muffled screams came from the other two Heroes, but Naofumi was already facing the board again.
"Moving on, Growth. Following the line of obvious, this determines how quickly the plant grows once planted.
"Mutation. This is probably the thing that turns the plants into monsters.
"Dried Seed Growth: Mutation Range Expansion? Or maybe this was the reason?...
"Hmmm…"
"Oh well. It's not like I'm a botanist anyway. I'm pretty certain this is what makes it produce different foods. And if we can get an alchemist's help, I might get it to produce herbs and other stuff too."
…
"Are you guys even paying attention, this could be the answer to our financial woes-" Naofumi finally acknowledged how silent the others were and turned to face them.
"Naofumiiiiiii!"
Ren finally managed to free his mouth to scream. He and the others were trapped in a thick layer of vines.
Naofumi sweatdropped. "Oh, I guess my latest attempt at making that omniscient omnipotent tree security force is also a failure."
"What?! Get us out of here!" Ren screamed in terror.
"Sorry, I gave that thing a lot of Intelligence and a high Immunity stat. It's going to take some time for me to make a weed killer that's strong enough to kill it."
"You freaking-" Ren's mouth was covered over in vines again. Oh, how he wished he could have a dragon helping him out right now!
"It'll take me just a moment. At least it's smart enough not to attack me, since it'd never be able to damage me anyway."
"Mmph! MMPH!" The others screamed through their gags. They were DEFINITELY taking damage from this! Why couldn't it have just been a normal class!?
"Hey, on the bright side, I might be able to gain EXP from this," Naofumi said with a smirk.
He did not get EXP from killing it with the upgraded weed killer, much to his disappointment.
He never really did figure out how to make that loyal plant monster. And after the incident was over, the other Heroes banned Naofumi from experimenting to make one ever again.
Oh well, it probably would have made the rest of the story uncool anyways.
Till Next Time
Allen