To answer a couple more reviews that I didn't via PM: Rogos, that didn't happen in canon because Naofumi gave the seeds to farmers instead of planting them himself. People who were already well acquainted with farming and caring for soil. So of course that problem didn't pop up. The stats on the plant in the last chapter were also different than the stats of the plants from canon.
No, Guest, as those abilities belong to the Cursed Series and are really bad, especially Blood Sacrifice, I'm not using them. Itsuki and Ren are already there to more than make up for Attack Power. Naofumi has no reason to use the Cursed Series at all.
In regards to Attack Shields like Gunshields or Swordshields, I put an explanation on my profile. Long story short, Naofumi later copies them in canon since they are classified as shields, but he doesn't use them to attack since, just like the Lightsaber Shield from that omake in Chapter Nine, they have no attack power behind them when his Shield copies them. If you're curious why, read what I put on my profile.
Side note: I'd greatly appreciate suggestions for the other Hero's weapons in the future instead of the Shield. Their weapons aren't as fleshed out, and Itsuki and Ren are actually pretty cool earlier on in this story than they will be in canon (can't wait for S3).
Chapter Eleven: Karma Dog
"Damn, that storm last night was awful." Naofumi exhaled sharply while rubbing his head with a grimace.
"Come on Naofumi, it wasn't that bad. It could have been far worse." Raphtalia smiled.
"And thank goodness that it wasn't. I don't know if those idiots would have stayed alive if it was worse than that." Naofumi replied tiredly.
The two of them were walking off the ship onto a dock with Filo and disguised Melty following closely behind. Eclair was next in line, supporting a dazed-looking Dou-Lon who didn't take to the sea any better than the sword and Bow Heroes did. They left the boat with their parties last.
"We wouldn't have died." Itsuki complained tiredly. Rachel and Karn were helping him to walk.
"I felt like I was about to." Ren said just as tiredly. He was being supported by Bakta and Welt.
It would have been bad enough if it was only those two who were seasick, but…
"I. Hate. The. Sea."
The Shield Hero's Hakuko party member looked pretty green. "Please tell me that this is land I'm standing on."
"No, not yet. We still have around a hundred more steps to go." Eclair rolled her eyes at the Hakuko. She hadn't even had the chance to train because of the miserable furball during the entire voyage since she was put in charge of making sure that he didn't die.
"Oh, Gods, I'm going to throw up again." Dou-Lon put a hand over his mouth.
"Don't you dare!" The rose haired knight exclaimed in panic.
"Please, somebody, just kill me." Aksel groaned out. He did not escape the sea unscathed either.
"Come on Axie-Poo, you could at least enjoy me cuddling with you." Maya spoke upbeatedly from where she was supporting him under his shoulder.
"Bakta." He weakly turned his head to the other party tank. "Please fulfill your bro promise and kill me. I can't take this anymore." He looked nauseous, and it wasn't certain if it was because of the sea, or because of what was happening right now.
"Sorry man, I'd get right to it, but I'm a little busy at the moment." Bakta responded from where he was supporting Ren.
Maya pouted up at her knight. "Don't be such a baby Aksel. This isn't bad and you know it."
Naofumi rolled his eyes. They really had some unique people with them. It was honestly hard to keep track of them all. He could only hope that they would find their sea legs by the time they'd head back.
The two Heroes still looked green, but at least they were alive… and somewhat walking on their own?
"Will the world please stop spinning?" Ren moaned.
"I feel like I have nothing left to throw up at this point." Itsuki moaned. Other adventurers embarking off the ship gave their large group weird looks before continuing on to other groups of adventurers.
Naofumi tiredly rolled his eyes. As much as he appreciated their behavior driving everyone else off, it was really starting to get tiresome. "You better recover quickly, or else."
"Urgh." They all groaned back in response.
At least taking care of everyone else had kept Naofumi too busy to be around L'Arc and Therese. Though Raphtalia had already made certain that they'd meet again on the island.
"Welcome, travelers!"
A man dressed in a Melromarc style military uniform that looked like a formal business suit approached their group. He looked to be middle-aged with medium-length black/brown hair, and a beard oddly separated into a central goatee and two "brushes" at the sides. His face was quite zombie-like, as his skin outlined the skull curves of his cheeks, and his eyes were sunken with dark circles around them. If anyone could resemble exhaustion, it was likely this guy.
However, he seemed plenty energetic as he greeted their group with a friendly smile.
"Thanks?... And you are?..." Naofumi asked suspiciously.
"My name is Hadenburg. I govern the Cal Mira Archipelago for her Majesty, Queen Mirellia." The man spoke in a voice surprisingly deep for his appearance as he gave a polite bow. Two retainers stood behind him, silently observing the scene.
"Count Hadenburg. It's a pleasure to meet you." Eclair walked up in front of the group and bowed deeply with a polite hand held over her heart.
"You honor me, Miss Seaetto. But there is no need for such formalities. You are not my subjects and I am not here in an official capacity. Hadenburg will be just fine to address me by." He waved his hand dismissively. "I was simply asked by an associate of mine to give a certain group of adventurers a tour of our island. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Nothing more and nothing less."
Was this the person who'd informed Mirellia about the activation event?
"A tour?" Naofumi asked. "I was hoping we could go and grind immediately-"
"Naofumi, maybe the others could use some time to recover." Raphtalia gestured back to the pale looking Itsuki and Ren.
"Hmmm, yes, that would be wise. Taking some time to acclimate is advisable. And besides, there are certain things that all the adventurers who visit our domain should know before they go out. No matter how… special they may be." He gestured to his retainers, who nodded and went to where other groups of adventurers had gathered.
"Tch." Naofumi clicked his tongue. "Fine. Just don't waste too much of our time."
"Naofumi." Raphtalia glared at him.
"Daddy is being a really big meanie today." Filo glared at him as well.
"What are you talking about? He's always been a big meanie." Melty, still disguised, crossed her arms and huffed.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Second Princess." Naofumi said dryly in a quiet enough voice that only those closest could hear.
At the very least, Melty's glaring skills were drastically improving thanks to him. All she needed was another eight years, a little more maturing, and a handful of other things and she'd be able to beat out her mom's glare.
"I promise, wasting your time is the last thing I wish to do." The count's eyes lingered on Melty's disguised form for a moment before he turned around and began to walk down the dock. "Now, if you all will follow me. I will tell you a little bit about our lovely island."
Naofumi and the others did so. Though he still felt like Melty was trying to burn a hole through the back of his head with her glare.
Raphtalia sighed, and simply petted the Second Princess's head as they followed along.
True to the Count's word, the next hour and a half passed by with him acting as a guide for the Heroes, without really referring to them as Heroes. It was very obvious to them that he knew who they actually were, but he referred to them as adventurers as he told them all about the island's rich history involving the Heroes of legend while showing them where everything was.
It turned out to be a good thing too. Even for a port town, it was surprisingly big. The Count first showed them the route to the inn where they would be staying at, as well as some of the popular restaurants in the area along with some other landmarks. The inn itself was really fancy, almost comparable to a resort hotel from Naofumi's world. It also turned out to be where the island's Hot Springs were located.
Ren and Itsuki, who steadily recovered as time passed, were very excited to learn about that detail.
The Count was actually quite humble as he guided them around the town. He wasn't looking down on anyone he came across, and even paused to check on the status of an area with an official from time to time.
Now here was a man who was good at his job. Naofumi wished more of Mirellia's associates could be like this. It was no wonder she trusted him with information on the Heroes. He actually seemed like a fairly decent guy.
"Cal Mira is surrounded by many smaller islands. There are four main islands filled with monsters descended from the original pioneers who developed this island. The heroes of the past named them the Pekkel, the Usuani, the Risuka, and the Inult." The Count said as they walked by several weird looking totems with various representations of the different native people.
"The… Risuka?" Itsuki asked.
"The… Inult?" Ren asked in a similar tone. He gave a weird look back at Wyndia.
She pouted at him. "What are you looking at me like that for?!"
"Oh, no reason at all." Ren lied. Inult sounded a lot like Inu, the Japanese word for dog.
"Were they named by past Heroes?" Naofumi asked.
"Why, yes, they were." The Count confirmed with a smile. "It's said they named them after animals from their worlds."
Yeah, leave it to the Heroes to come up with the least creative Japanese names in existence. If these monsters were descendants of those people, it was almost too easy to figure out what the monsters would be like on the other islands.
Then again, Naofumi didn't have much to say in his defense, since he named his first Filolial Filo.
"Hehe, those names sound really lame! The Heroes of old must have been pretty dumb, huh Daddy?" Filo laughed.
Naofumi patted her on the head. "They sure were honey… they sure were." He hoped no one could see the giant sweatdrop going down his forehead.
"On a side note, I'm surprised to hear that one Hero won't be coming to the islands." The Count remarked. There was no one around them when he said it. "It is said all of the Heroes from the past have come here to train at some point."
"He had to stay behind." Naofumi explained. The man had shown he was trustworthy enough. "Seaetto would be defenseless otherwise."
"... A fair point. I do hope that he'll take the opportunity to visit in the future, however." The Count sighed. "It's a sad state that our world is in. I cannot even give the Heroes the proper treatment they deserve because of the evil influences inside of our country."
Naofumi, Itsuki, and Ren all sweatdropped, but didn't respond to that as they reentered the crowds of people once more.
"Up next is the merchant district..."
This was probably going to be Naofumi's favorite part of town during their stay. It seemed that, due to the Activation event, all kinds of blacksmiths, armorers, accessory merchants, and other people had flocked to Cal Mira months beforehand to prepare and boast their wares to the crowds of adventurers arriving by ship.
There wasn't a single open stall remaining. Each one was packed with various accessories, armor, weapons, food, and other assorted things being sold at exorbitant prices.
Naofumi smirked widely. "Oh, yes. I can make a fortune in a place like this." He could upcharge for four, maybe even five times the original value, and it'd still be cheaper than some of what was being offered here. He rubbed his hands together greedily. "Hmmm, yes, this will be perfect, good sir."
"Naofumi has that evil look on his face again." Ren sweatdropped.
"He's also starting to sound like that Slave Trader." Welt remarked next to the Sword Hero.
"I thought he wanted to get to grinding levels." Itsuki sighed.
"Sir Naofumi, you better not be thinking of cheating these good people out of their money." Eclair chided the Shield Hero.
"Is it my fault if they're willing to pay any price, hmmm?" Naofumi grinned wickedly.
"You're right, L-, um, I mean, Sir Naofumi. Yeah, Sir NaofumI!" Dou-Lon said excitedly. If Eclair could call him by Sir, then he could too! Yeah, this would totally work!
Raphtalia made a mental note to herself to not leave Naofumi and Dou-Lon alone in the merchant district while they were at Cal Mira.
After that, while getting to see some of the town's other landmarks, Count Hadenburg began to explain to them the specifics of the event.
"Due to the activation event, the life and reproduction cycles of all monsters living on the islands have accelerated drastically. All the adventurers are here to help keep their populations in check, though if you could eliminate entire groups of monsters that you come across, that'd very much be appreciated.
"There are certain rules that we ask all adventurers to follow. One, do not interfere with other adventurers battle's unless they're in danger. Two…"
"Um, guys…" Itsuki whispered to Naofumi and Ren, distracting them from what Hadenburg was saying. "Do you understand why we need to follow these rules if we're all here to grind?"
Ren looked at Itsuki confusedly. "What?"
They were then both surprised when Naofumi spoke. "Have you never heard of MMO etiquette? That's what he's asking us to follow here. As long as we're respectful to other adventurers and don't kill monsters that other adventurers are trying to grind, we should be fine."
…
"Hey, I might have never played a game similar to this, but that doesn't mean I didn't play any games in my previous life." Naofumi whispered to them when he saw the stares that he was getting. "Some of my favorites were MMO's with good trading and crafting systems."
Ren nodded. "Fair enough. I guess we can't fault Itsuki for not knowing since he's only played single player console games."
Was this what it was like to know a piece of game knowledge that another Hero didn't know? No wonder Itsuki and Ren had sounded so high and prideful on that first day. Naofumi felt pretty proud of himself for knowing something that Itsuki didn't know.
Itsuki huffed. "I could have figured it out…" He crossed his arms, but after a moment, he sighed and relaxed. "Though that might have been after I already made that mistake several times."
He took that far better than Naofumi had expected. "Ha, I actually had a piece of game knowledge you didn't know about." He still took the chance to rub it in though.
"Bite me, Naofumi."
"Now, if you'll follow me this way, I can show you a famous landmark that was left behind by the previous heroes." The Count gestured them to follow him again.
Crap, had they just missed some important information? Oh well, if they had missed anything important, they were sure that their friends would let them know later on.
"Huh. I wonder what the Heroes of the past left behind?" Tersia asked curiously.
"After reading all of those books, I'm not very optimistic." Farrie spat out, sounding absolutely bored. Could this tour end anytime soon?
"Not all of them were bad." Tersia tried to reason.
"But most of them were." Farrie promptly shut that attempt down.
She didn't get a return comment. The Three Heroes prepared for a massive letdown.
The Count led them to an area of town that had a large totem in the center of the square. Next to it was a stone tablet. "This is said to be a source of power left behind by the Heroes of the past for all of their successors." The Count proudly remarked.
"A stone… tablet?" Itsuki asked skeptically.
Naofumi walked up to it. He wasn't sure, but… was that Japanese inscribed on the top? But it looked all jumbled, and-
Wait, he could recognize that jumbled mess anywhere! That was magic text!
While trying to learn Melromarc's language through spellbooks, he'd also managed to simultaneously learn how to read magic text. The Witch had been very impressed with him when she learned that. Apparently, learning magic text through a language you didn't know was very difficult to accomplish. But learning it was what allowed you to learn spells from books, or random stone tablets left behind by previous heroes.
"Let's see…"
He rested a hand on it, and the text glowed and rearranged underneath his hand. Ha, the source of power was far simpler than anyone could have ever imagined! Thanks past Heroes for being so simple-minded!
"As source of thy power, the Shield Hero commands thee, decipher this message, and energize my target." His hand glowed green, and his HUD popped up, asking him to pick a target. His eyes eventually landed on Ren. "Zweite Aura."
The Sword Hero glowed green, and his eyes widened in astonishment. "What the…" He pulled up his HUD, and his eyes widened even further. "This boost's almost the equivalent of that one Support spell Wyndia cast on me on the ship."
"Huh?!" Wyndia looked at Naofumi, and then Ren in shock.
"But it's affecting all my stats." Ren said, sounding even more in awe. Wyndia's spell had only raised three of his stats. This, this was raising all of them! And for a longer period of time too! He felt even more powerful than ever!
"Aura… that's a support spell only the Legendary Heroes have been known to use." Rishia commented beside Itsuki.
"You mean, you already know about that spell?" The blonde kid asked in surprise.
"Fueh, um, I've read a lot of books." Rishia meekly commented. It was almost easy to forget how book smart this girl actually was.
"I see those past legends were correct after all." The Count said, smiling happily.
"Let me see! Let me see!" Naofumi stepped out of the way for an excited Itsuki who rushed up and put his hand over the text. Naofumi was surprised when the text glowed beneath his hand, and even more so when he started reading it.
"As source of thy power, the Bow Hero commands thee, decipher this message, and weaken my target. Zweite Down."
A gold glow surrounded Ren, and his happiness disappeared. "Wait, what the, did you just cast a debuff spell on me?!" He yelled at the Bow Hero. All of his stats had just dropped drastically!
"Heheh, oops." Itsuki chuckled.
"Down… that's a debuff spell from the legends about the Legendary Heroes." Rishia said in awe at her Hero.
Itsuki blushed and turned away from her.
Naofumi glared at his Shield, of all the spells he could have learned, it just had to be a Support Spell!...
Though, he really couldn't be mad about it. Looking over the description in his help guide, the spell was beyond overpowered. He could raise all the base stats of his party members with it. It saved him the trouble of having to learn at least seven other Support spells to try and capture the same effect. Was it possible for him to stack Zweite Guard and other spells with it? That was something he'd have to try later.
Wait, it said it could raise the Attack stat…
"First Aura!" He cast the spell on himself, and eagerly pulled up his HUD.
His face fell when he saw that all of his stats, except for his ATK, had gone up. "No raise to your ATK stat, huh?" Itsuki guessed.
"Nope, none at all…" Naofumi sighed.
Oh well. It was still a handy spell regardless. He also secretly admitted that he preferred the large boost that his DEF got rather than the small, few point boost that his ATK would have otherwise received. This would definitely make it easier to defend his party and help them become even better fighters than before.
It was sad that he couldn't really be disappointed about his ATK anymore. He was coming to accept that there really was no realistic way to raise his ATK stat. So instead, it was better to focus on his strengths and raise his DEF as much as possible so he could protect his friends. Having a nice, solid defense would benefit his party of glass cannons far more than anything else.
"These spells will definitely come in handy against tough opponents like Glass." Itsuki smiled gratefully at the green-haired girl from his party. "Thanks for teaching me magic text, Rishia."
"F-Fueh?!" She whimpered in surprise at him thanking her in front of everyone. The rest of Itsuki's party looked at her in surprise as well.
"When did Rishia even have the time to teach him?" Karn asked in surprise. "I thought we were constantly busy with monsters and whatever."
"W-Well, um, it's not like we had anything better to do at night, and, um, uh, fueh…" Rishia whimpered.
"So that's why Itsuki was making leaps and bounds in his magic." Rachel put an arm over the girl's shoulders. "Maybe you could help teach me a thing or two if you helped his useless ^%$ to progress so fast."
"Why not try having her teach Bakta so he can actually read." Karn joked.
"Hey!" Ren's party tank complained.
"Fuehhhhhh!" Okay, there was too much attention on her now! Please stop!
"Anyway, um, how about you try, Sir Ren," Welt suggested.
"I said not to call me, urgh, whatever…" Ren groaned, but at seeing all eyes on him, he hesitantly approached the stone tablet. He stood between Itsuki and Naofumi, who also looked at him expectantly. They'd learned some pretty handy spells. Who knew what the Sword Hero could learn here.
He put his hand over it, sweat beading on his forehead.
The text didn't glow beneath his hand.
…
…
"Um, why aren't you saying anything?" Itsuki asked.
"... um… well… um…" Ren sounded unsure.
"What is it? Spit it out." Naofumi said impatiently.
"I might, er, well…"
...
"Not have learned to read magic text... just yet," Ren admitted.
…
Itsuki and Naofumi both facepalmed. Almost everyone else there looked startled or disappointed. "Hey, I've been busy trying to learn all sorts of things, ok! And learning this world's language wasn't exactly on the top of my bucket list!" Ren yelled at them. "Could you imagine learning to read magic text on top of that?!"
"This is literally in Japanese. You only need to know how to read magic text to learn your spell." Naofumi said in annoyance.
"I've been busy too, but I was still able to find some time to study with Rishia." Itsuki added.
"Fueh!" The girl in question whimpered again.
"Well, I've been really, really busy then! Okay?!" Ren yelled at Itsuki.
"Is now a bad time to mention that I learned how to read magic text and Melromarc's language while I was busy fleeing for my life?" Naofumi commented dryly. "Have you been busier than that?"
Ren fumed at him, but a dark, ominous voice from behind made him freeze.
"Sir Ren."
He slowly turned around, a pale look covering his features. Wyndia, Tersia, and Farrie were all giving him dirty looks with their arms crossed.
"Are you saying that you've become weaker than the other Heroes because you've failed to properly learn magic?" The visible magic energy behind the three of them intensified.
"Oh, um, uh, what have I told you about calling me Sir?!" Ren desperately tried to change the topic. He'd never seen all three of them look like this at the same time before.
Their glares didn't lessen in the slightest, and the energy behind them intensified even more.
Only one word could express how terrified Ren felt at that moment.
'MEEP!'
"Now now, I'm sure Sir Ren had his reasons for-" Bakta tried to intervene.
All three magic girls glared at him, and he froze in his tracks.
"You stay out of this!"
"But, but…" He wanted to say that swordsmen didn't need to prioritize magic. But he had a feeling that suggesting to them that magic would be useless to Ren wouldn't be the brightest idea in the world.
The Count coughed awkwardly into his hand. "I guess, um, I can take my leave if there's nothing else you adventurers need?"
"We should be good now, thank you Lord Hadenburg." Raphtalia tried to reassure him while ignoring the dark looks that Ren was receiving.
It was almost like his mages had unlocked a Cursed Series or something.
"Alright, if you ever need something, just ask one of my retainers. I hope you will feel welcome during your stay in Cal Mira." The Count gave them a curt bow before walking away.
…
"Alright, finally, who's ready to start grinding?!" Naofumi suddenly asked with a rare tone of excitement in his voice.
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"Fuehhhhhh!"
Everyone quickly began to disperse. Naofumi and his party went in one direction, Itsuki and his party went in another.
Ren stayed by the stone tablet, straining to try and learn the spell that was supposed to be his. However, Wyndia grabbed Ren by the ear, and began dragging him along. Tersia and Farrie flanked their sides, keeping him from escaping.
"Ow, hey-"
"Stop wasting time. If you want to read that, you'll have to learn how to read magic text first."
"But, but we'll be busy grinding on the islands, I have to learn that now-"
"Perhaps, I didn't make myself clear." Wyndia cleared her throat. "You'll take time every evening to learn how to read magic text before we leave, or else I'll be the one grinding you into dust since I had to learn it when I joined your freaking party. And I grew up in a god damned cave." Wyndia stated in a dark, ominous tone. It was yet another reminder that Naofumi and Itsuki hadn't been the only ones forced to learn while busy with many other things.
"Ah! Ow! Ow! Okay, fine, I'll do it! I'm sorry! I'M SORRY! Just let go of my ear!" Ren cried out in pain and fear as the Tsundere dog girl pulled him along. When had her grip gotten so strong?!
Little did he know that she was blushing during the whole ordeal.
To think her precious Sword Hero had become weaker than the other three in terms of magic. She had to remedy that immediately! And she definitely wouldn't enjoy the evenings they now had slotted learning magic together either!
Nope, she wouldn't enjoy it one bit.
"You'll help me fix this, right?" The dog girl asked Tersia and Farrie. It couldn't just be her after all! No need to make people assume anything naughty was going on! As if anything naughty would ever go on!
Both girls cracked their knuckles.
"Of course." Tersia nodded determinedly.
"I'm looking forward to it." Even the playful Farrie looked oddly serious!
Bakta and Welt both sweatdropped.
The girls in their party were really scary.
Why couldn't they be surrounded by normal people for once?!
"Ha!"
A small, red slime called a Bio Red Blob was sliced in half by Raphtalia's blade.
EXP + 50 appeared in all of their HUD's.
"Even trash mobs give us a lot of EXP." Naofumi said in shock.
Filo raced by, slashing her clawed feet through several different colored slimes and large beetles. "Wheeeeeeee!" The few slimes that leaped at her bounced off like they'd hit a brick wall.
Zweite Aura was truly amazing. Filo already had high attack and agility, as well as a decent defense, but the spell made her even scarier than before.
This really would have made past events a hell of a lot easier.
Naofumi quickly absorbed the smashed carcasses, and then rushed over to where Eclair was making a small pile of her own.
"Second Form, Dawn's Thrust!" Light enveloped the rose haired girl's blade, and she thrust through the chest of a large Magenta Frog monster. The result was a huge hole that appeared in the center of it, killing it instantly and awarding the party with another 150 EXP.
Double?! Naofumi was beginning to seriously doubt that was the case. It was almost like the EXP rate was being quadrupled or something. These trash mobs were so weak that even Dou-Lon was able to participate in the free for all! He quickly absorbed the large carcass while Melty cast some magic nearby.
"As source of thy power I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature, and slash through my targets with many blades of water. All Zweite Aqua Slash!"
In front of Melty, an entire line of Bio Red Blobs, Cactus Worms, Yellow Beetles, and other monsters that had been rushing to attack were all sliced to pieces. Naofumi was almost blinded by all the various EXP notifications that he received from that.
"The Count wasn't kidding when he said that the reproduction rate of monsters went way up." Naofumi said to Raphtalia. Dou-Lon rushed to the monsters that Melty had killed, picking them up and bringing them to L- Sir Naofumi to absorb into his Shield!
"Yeah. The only problem is, these mobs are too weak." Raphtalia said boredly as she offhandedly sliced through yet another Bio Red Blob that jumped for her.
Naofumi didn't even have to defend his party. Dou-Lon had already reached LV 30, and they'd started only an hour and a half ago. After exterminating all the monsters in one area, it didn't take them long to walk and find an even bigger group of monsters to eliminate.
To help attract them all, Naofumi used a skill he'd finally reached the level cap to use. He'd unlocked it when he copied a bunch of shields from Elhart's shop way back when, but didn't take note of it because of everything else he'd unlocked.
"Hate Reaction!"
A field of red energy came from his shield, spreading out in a fifteen meter radius around him. All the monsters within that area immediately turned in his direction, growls and other sounds coming from them as they charged at Naofumi and his party.
He wasn't sure how the skill worked, but Filo commented that a bunch of nastiness came off his Shield every time he activated the skill.
"When doesn't a lot of nastiness come off him?" Melty commented haughtily.
Was it any wonder that he found the Second Princess annoying?
Besides using Hate Reaction and Zweite Aura every now and then, he focused on absorbing all the monsters that they were slaying when no adventurers were around. When any were nearby, he put the carcasses in a bag over his shoulder and continued to follow his party. This was really giving him a workout in that regard. Couldn't the damn adventurers go grind somewhere else so he could use his Shield's abilities more freely?
Then, all of a sudden, a few minutes later, the EXP notifications stopped all at once.
"Huh?!" Everyone stopped killing monsters and disengaged in confusion.
"Why aren't we getting EXP anymore?" Naofumi asked when they'd gathered together again away from all the monsters.
"I don't know, maybe we've grinded too much?" Raphtalia suggested confusedly. It looked like she wasn't sure what was going on either.
Crap, does this mean that there's a limit to how many levels they could gain in a day, or-
"Hey Naofumi, what are you doing here?!"
They turned to the side in surprise to see Itsuki and his party coming down a hill towards them.
"What do you mean what am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Naofumi replied in confusion.
"Level grinding in my part of the island, obviously! Haven't we agreed to go in separate directions for a reason?! I can't gain any EXP with you or Ren around!" Itsuki heatedly explained.
…
Something clicked in Naofumi's mind and he groaned. No wonder they'd stopped gaining EXP-
Wait! Did that mean that it was possible for him to get EXP from the Bio-Plant!? How could he have forgotten something so important!? Damn you, Ren!
"I thought you ran to the west while I ran north," Naofumi answered after a moment.
"I did, so what are you doing in the west part of the island?!" Itsuki yelled at him.
"I should be asking what you're doing in the north part of the island!" Naofumi yelled back.
"Sir Itsuki, Sir Naofumi, perhaps we should check which direction the town is in first before we make any more pointless accusations." Rachel suggested.
"But I have a really good sense of di-…" Itsuki looked at her, harrumphed, but went quiet.
She pulled out a compass from her pocket, found out where north was, and then had Filo jump really high so she could indicate which direction the town was in.
...
Both Naofumi and Itsuki sweatdropped when Rachel determined that the town was Southeast of them.
"Oh, so we both ended up heading towards each other…" Naofumi muttered.
"Um… sorry about that." Itsuki rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"It's fine. Maybe it'd be best to head to different islands so that-" Naofumi was about to suggest when the Sword Hero's voice cut him off.
"Hey, what are you guys doing in the eastern part of the island?! I thought this was where I was going to grind!"
The two turned to see Ren and his party approaching. "I can't get any EXP if we're too close together!"
Yeah, no %$# . Why couldn't you have pointed that out back when they were doing experiments on the Bio-Plant?! Of course, Naofumi didn't voice his retort. He wasn't going to let anyone else know what he was planning on trying in the future.
"You do realize that this is the northwestern part of the island, right?" The Shield Hero asked instead.
"Huh?!" Ren had been so occupied with trying to kill every monster that he came across in his grinding that he hadn't even realized how far he'd gone.
"Sir, Sir Ren, please slow down." Bakta and Welt begged as his party finally caught up. The two guys looked exhausted, but Wyndia, Farrie, and Tersia didn't look tired at all. Tersia and Farrie were smirking at the fact that all the running they'd done under Eclair actually came in handy.
"Alright, I'll take the western ferry to Risuka island." Itsuki said. "There should be ferries on the north and east to other islands. We can split up that way so this doesn't happen again."
"Sounds good to me." Naofumi shrugged.
"Oh, um, I can stay on this island then if you're both leaving-" Ren started to say.
"Come on Sir Ren. Those other islands should have stronger monsters than this one. Our grinding will go a lot better if we actually feel challenged while we fight." Tersia said.
"Stop calling me sir!"
Naofumi didn't stay to see the rest of Ren's reaction as he and his party went north. They passed several other groups of adventurers slaying monsters, including L'Arc and Therese. It looked like L'Arc knew how to use his scythe very well, while Therese backed him with her weird magic.
L'Arc tried to wave at them, but the Shield Hero kept walking, ignoring the large weirdo.
Soon, after finding the right ferryman, they ended up going to an island to the north. It turned out to be the Inult island, and it was, as Naofumi had guessed, filled with dog monsters.
The ones on the beach were as weak as the trash mobs on the main island. But as they fought towards the interior of the island, they gradually got stronger and stronger, to the point where he had to start defending his party from their attacks. But thanks to the lack of adventurers the further in they went, Naofumi was finally free to use some of his more visible skills like Air Strike Shield or Shield Prison.
The majority of the notable monsters they faced were called Karma Dog Familia.
"Are we doing okay?" Naofumi asked his party.
"Yep."
"Uh-huh."
"Wheeeeeeeee!"
It definitely looked like Filo was having more fun with the monsters here. She'd switched to fighting in her human form too.
If he'd thought the level gains had been crazy before, it was even more insane here. Each Karma Dog Familia they killed gave them 800 EXP,
He didn't even have to use Hate Reaction. They flocked to them with hatred shining in their eyes.
He'd unlocked several different shields at this point. But most of them weren't worthy of mention, besides one.
Karma Dog Familia Shield Unlocked! Equip Bonus (locked): sense of smell up (low), Inult Status Adjustment (small)
He was distracted for a brief time by the fact that he could apparently unlock shields that improved his sense of smell, then jumped back into the fray.
It was too bad that their drops sucked. But with everything that he was gathering, he was starting to build up quite a respectable stockpile for the strengthening methods that he could use now.
"Daddy, what's that?" When they finally reached the center of the island, they came across some temple ruins. A black sphere hovered in the center of them.
"I don't know." He did a quick check of their stats. Raphtalia and Filo had reached level 58, and Eclair and Melty were nearing 54. Dou-Lon was at Level 42. He was at Level 56. Just like that, and he was already almost caught up to the others.
Well, caught up to the point they were at before they all started grinding. But anyway, now there was the unknown black sphere to deal with.
"Zweite Aqua Slash!" Melty sent a slash of water at it, but besides expanding when it was hit, the sphere shrunk down to its normal size and did nothing. "Huh, I think I read about these once in the castle library." She said curiously, putting a hand to her chin in thought.
'If this was a game, I'd imagine this being a spawn point for strong monsters.' Naofumi sweatdropped at the thought. As if that'd be correct.
"If I remember correctly, they're-"
Suddenly, the black sphere trembled, and the largest dog monster they'd seen yet came out from it.
Karma Dog. LV: 70.
Melty stopped speaking in surprise. Naofumi sweatdropped. 'Well… I guess it was a spawn point after all.' The world had finally thrown him in for a loop. Was this phenomenon somehow related to the Waves of Catastrophe that spawned similar portals in the sky enmasse? This couldn't just be a coincidence. He made a mental note to research this later.
The boss monster roared, and several Karma Dog Familias came out of the portal after it.
The names made sense now. This was definitely the boss of the island.
"Alright, let's take it down! All Zweite Aura!" Naofumi cast the buff spell on all of his party members. Even with that, the fight still ended up being somewhat difficult.
"Ha!" Raphtalia ducked under the beast's snout and tore a large chunk out of one of its legs with her sword. While the giant hound howled in pain, Filo, in her human form, used the bright, glowing claws that she'd used against Fitoria on its snout like a punch. It left deep, bleeding wounds. But it still raised a paw and slashed at Filo in retaliation.
"Shield Pri-"
"High Quick!" Filo dodged its attack before Naofumi could even try to protect her, and followed it up with a massive punch to the side of its head, knocking the monster off balance.
Holy hell. Filo was getting terrifyingly good at fighting in her human form. He was only now beginning to realize that.
Raphtalia jumped back, evading another strike from its paw.
"Hide Mirage!" She then disappeared into an illusion.
Eclair and Melty were focused on the Karma Dog Familias that came out of the portal. Eclair's sword and Melty's spells were really useful on the lower leveled monsters. But then one of Melty's Zweite Aqua Slashes missed and hit the Karma Dog's back.
It hardly did anything other than leaving a small gash and angering it enough to try and attack her.
"Guh!" Naofumi stopped it in time with his own shield. He felt its large teeth bite down on his arm, and surprisingly, it hurt a little bit. This thing was strong.
"Royal Shield!" The gold barrier appeared in front of him, knocking the creature onto its back. Filo quickly took the moment to leave a large gash in its side with her magic clawed hands before it could get back up on its feet. Dou-Lon, who'd finally rushed in for an attack, was forced to quickly fall back when the beast recovered almost immediately.
"Are you alright?" The Shield Hero asked Melty as he quickly got down on one knee to look her over.
"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?!" Melty exclaimed in anger.
Naofumi nodded. "Just making sure, Second Princess. Your mom would kill me otherwise." He quickly got up and turned around. "Air Strike Shield!" The monster shattered the Shield he'd created with its attack, but its appearance caught it off guard long enough for Dou-Lon to not only safely sidestep its bite, but to also jab his lance into its eye.
"ROWWWRRRRR!" The large dog got on its back two legs, howling in pain. Even though Dou-Lon was still weaker than Melty, his attack had worked surprisingly well.
Naofumi did a quick check of the Hakuko's stats. Oh, damn, maybe it hadn't been much weaker than her attack after all. Even without a class-up, his stats were quickly catching up to the Second Princess and Eclair.
Also, thanks to his attack, the Karma Dog left its underbelly wide open.
"HUAHHHHHHHHH!" Raphtalia appeared from her illusion, leaped up and, with her sword in hand, burst right through the boss monster's soft underbelly and out of its back in a grizzly display of blood of guts.
The monster fell to its side without another sound.
...
That was sort of anticlimatic. But it wasn't like every battle had to end epically for them.
EXP: + 3500
Holy hell! That was a lot of EXP even for a boss monster! Now that was a reward he wished he could see from every boss fight!
The remaining Karma Dog Familias, seeing that their leader was dead, all turned tail and bolted back into the forest.
"Huh." Eclair sheathed her sword. "I was expecting more of a workout from these mutts."
"Hmph!" Melty was still pouting about earlier.
"Mel! I'm so glad you're okay! You weren't scared by the big monster, were you?!" Filo asked worriedly as she ran up.
"F-Filo!" Melty began to blush uncontrollably at her best friend's concern for her.
"Sir Naofumi! Did you see what I did?!" The Hakuko asked excitedly.
"Yeah, you really surprised me there. Good job, Dou-Lon." Naofumi patted the grown man between his ears. That fight would have lasted a lot longer had it not been for that attack of his giving Raphtalia the opening she needed.
Oh, OH GODS! HE WAS BEING HEADPATTED AGAIN! HE FELT UNWORTHY OF THIS ULTIMATE PRAISE! BUT IT FELT TOO GOOD FOR HIM TO COMPLAIN! AND COMPLAINING WOULD ONLY MAKE SIR NAOFUMI MAD, SO BEAR THIS HE WOULD! THIS WAS TRULY THE DREAM!
After a second, Naofumi walked over and knelt next to the monster. He got a sense of deja vu for some reason, but he couldn't tell why. As the rush of battle finally began to exit his system, he looked at the dead boss monster carefully, and then he looked at Raphtalia, who was covered in blood.
It finally clicked, and his eyes widened in horror. "Oh, gods, I'm so sorry Raphtalia!"
The girl turned to look at him curiously. "Huh?"
"I forgot." He said guiltily. "I shouldn't have dragged you onto an island filled with dog monsters. Not when… when..." He felt like the biggest POS in the world, even though the rest of the party was looking confusedly at him.
…
His sad thoughts were interrupted by a long, hearty laugh. "Oh, Naofumi." She then surprised him with a warm, caring hug. "I've been over my parent's deaths for a while now. I didn't even realize we were fighting monstrous dog monsters until you mentioned it." She told him happily.
"... H-Huh?" He pulled back and looked at her face. However, she had an honest smile, and a bright sparkle in her tea red eyes. Had his sudden spout of worry and concern been over nothing? Dog monsters had literally been like walking nightmares to her before.
"Thank you for the concern though. It makes me happy." Her smile became even more beautiful.
Holy hell, he felt like he was falling in love all over again...
"Um, what's going on, Miss Raphtalia?" Eclair asked.
The two snapped out of their moment, realizing that the others were still there. Raphtalia and Naofumi both blushed and separated from each other. "Oh, um, well, you see…"
While she gave a short summary of the very first Wave and the coal mine incident, Naofumi tried to distract himself by taking apart and absorbing the large dog monster into his Shield. With no other adventurers nearby, it was safe to take his time.
It was a good thing too. His hands were shaking a lot out of embarrassment. Raphtalia was no better either. He kept hearing her voice crack whenever she tried to describe a particularly personal moment from that time.
By the time she was almost done, he still felt embarrassed, as well as a little guilty. He decided to get Raphtalia something nice to make it up to her.
The boss monster they'd fought had dropped some good drop items. One of them was labeled Oreikul Ore. He wondered if he'd be able to use it in accessories, though it didn't look like he had a high enough skill to try and refine it yet. But perhaps one of the island blacksmiths could do that step for him?
There was also a pair of jet-black claws with the drop.
Karma Dog Claws: quality: excellent. Additional effects: Agility up, Magic Down, Attack Up, Defense Down.
Hmmm, if Filo wanted to fight in human form, these could work well for her. He'd never seen her fight with a weapon, but they looked similar to the magic claws she'd learned to wield during her duel with Fitoria.
"Wow, Mommy really cared for Daddy even back then." Filo said in awe.
Raphtalia blushed even more heavily at that. How could she ever explain to Filo that she'd only been a child at the time when this all went down?! She'd never thought it'd eventually lead to this!
"To overcome such a trauma by facing it head-on, my awe for you has only grown from your story, Miss Raphtalia." Dou-Lon said in amazement.
"Indeed. You really are a strong, young woman." Eclair complimented.
"You're so amazing!" Melty was looking up at Raphtalia with stars in her eyes.
The Tanuki girl blushed even more deeply. Her tail flicked behind her nervously. Still, it felt nice to bond with everyone there by sharing her personal story of the early days with Naofumi.
"Thank you." She said timidly.
"Okay, enough with the story time, who's ready to get back to grinding?" Naofumi's dry voice asked everyone.
Raphtalia sighed in relief. As good as it'd felt, she was glad to not be sharing her personal past anymore.
"I still have some MP left." Melty looked down at her hands in awe. "I feel like I could go for a while longer."
"Now now, you shouldn't push yourself too hard Melty." Raphtalia approached with a smile. She didn't realize it, but that whole time, she'd still been covered by blood from the Karma Dog.
Naofumi looked down at himself, realizing that he was now covered in morbid bloody stains where his girlfriend had hugged him.
'Huh. You really do get desensitized to violence.' He realized that his only emotional response to this situation was mild annoyance at being forced to wash his cloak later, because blood stains were a pain to get rid of.
Melty still had some ways to go in that department, however, as she quickly backpedaled and hid behind Filo in response to Raphtalia's friendly and nonthreatening approach.
"Huh?" She looked confused.
"Perhaps you should clean yourself off first, Miss Raphtalia," Eclair calmly suggested, taking a few steps back herself. Not out of disgust, but rather because she didn't want her custom armor stained.
Raphtalia hastily went to a nearby spring and began to do just that.
"I can still- Urgh." Dou-Lon promptly fell to the ground in exhaustion.
"Come on, weak Hakuko. Don't tell me that you're already done." Eclair rolled her eyes.
"Owwwww, my body feels like it's on fire." The big tiger man moaned in pain.
Naofumi looked his stats over more closely than before. He was still a lower level than before his deleveling, but his stats were far higher. The Slave User Series had really given a boost to his overall strength.
"He's grown over 20 levels in one day, damn." Naofumi muttered. He might hit his LV. 60 cap far sooner than he'd thought.
At hearing that, Melty paled. "Um, is that safe?" She asked Eclair.
"Yes." The knight answered with a surprising amount of confidence.
"But, but he…" Melty pointed at Dou-Lon.
"That's because he's tired from all the monster fighting. And also because he's weak." Eclair said with no sympathy in her voice whatsoever.
"Hey!" Dou-Lon whined on the ground. "I'm almost caught up to you, Miss Seaetto-"
"Your skills and stamina say otherwise."
"Urk!" Dou-Lon bit his tongue.
"Anyway, physical backlash isn't what we need to worry about. Instead, it's-" Eclair began to say.
"Um, Naofumi." Raphtalia, after jumping into the spring and cleaning some of the blood off herself; had come out with her hair, clothes, and armor soaking wet. However, she was, once again, not focused on her appearance as much as the sword in her hands. "I don't think this is going to last much longer."
Everyone looked at her weapon. "... Our equipment that we need to watch out for." The rose-haired knight finished her earlier sentence with a sigh.
Raphtalia's Magic Silver sword was covered in scratch marks, and the blade looked dull even though Naofumi had sharpened it for her using his Whetstone Shield the night before they left. When she gave it a test swing, it looked like the blade was bending.
"It seems your increase in strength is wearing through the durability of your equipment far more quickly than before, Miss Raphtalia," Eclair pointed out.
"We haven't had this issue since Raphtalia outgrew her shortsword," Naofumi muttered. That had been so long ago. It would have made him nostalgic if not for the fact that her current weapon was worth a ton.
"I'm sorry, I should have paid better attention to it." Raphtalia quickly apologized.
"It's not your fault. I should have considered this would happen again. Hmmm…"
He looked through all the drops of the monsters that he'd absorbed on his HUD. There'd been a few iron swords which he'd gotten from the Black Dog Familias here or there. But the Boss had only dropped the Claws, no sword or anything else.
He pulled out an Iron Sword and gave it to Raphtalia. Eclair's eyes widened in surprise at that. "Do you think this will work for now?"
The half-Tanuki girl gave it a few test swings. She sighed reluctantly. She couldn't use her full strength with it. "It'll have to do." She smiled before laying a thank you peck on his cheek, making him blush again.
He hoped that they would find a better sword for her soon. Actually, maybe that could be his way of making things up to her. He did notice several arms merchants in the trading district of the town earlier. He doubted that he would find anything close to Elhart's quality or price, but it was worth a shot.
Eclair recovered from her surprise. "I have a few back-up swords of my own that Miss Raphtalia can use as well should she need them." Eclair volunteered.
"That's good to know. Thank you Eclair." Naofumi got back up. However, it looked like the black sphere was beginning to tremble again.
Raphtalia hid in illusion magic to head somewhere to dry off quickly.
"We still have some time to grind. Let's make sure to get all the monsters we can get." He suggested. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long before the boss spawned again.
"But isn't it almost night-" Melty tried to speak out.
"The monsters should drop even better things at night." The Shield Hero explained. "And you said that you could still go for a little while earlier, didn't you, Second Princess?"
"... Hmph!" She pouted and didn't respond. Thanks to her illusion disguise, it really was like watching his own daughter pout at him.
That unnerved Naofumi a little more than he would have liked. If Melty was actually his daughter, he'd question if Fatherhood was actually worth it.
"Daddy, stop thinking rude things about Mel!" Filo pouted at him.
He rolled his eyes and sighed as more Karma Dog Familias came from the sphere. Followed by another large Karma Dog.
"All Zweite Aura."
And so, they resumed grinding the summoned monsters once again.
"Zweite Down!"
The large Karma Squirrel let out a loud shriek as a golden glow covered it, and it slammed a large paw into the ground. However, it was stopped by something, or rather, someone.
"Urgh! Ha!" Aksel confidently yelled as he gripped the massive monster's paw. "You're nothing without your grossly inflated stats, are you ya stupid monster!" Tanking a debuffed enemy was far easier than a normal one. It squeaked in outrage, and tried to pull its paw back, but to no avail.
"Drifa Slash of Night!" After finishing her chant, Rachel unleashed a massive dark slash.
"Fueh! Zweite Air Slash!" Rishia meekly cried out after finishing her chant.
Both attacks slashed into the large monster's gut, causing it to let out a loud shriek of pain and terror. It tried to turn around to flee, but Aksel kept a strong grip on its paw and dug his feet into the ground, causing it to stumble and fall.
"Ha!" Karn and Crystal, who'd finished dispatching the nearby Karma Squirrel Familias, quickly pounced on it, the swordsman slashing across its back, and the spearwoman jabbing her weapon into its eye.
Maya reappeared from an illusion next to its other eye, and stabbed her dagger into the monster's skull, all the way to the hilt and right through its eye socket.
The blinded monster shrieked, and began to harshly thrash around, forcing everyone to jump back. Aksel was forced to let it go as well in order to avoid being thrown around like a rag doll.
"Thanks for keeping it still, everyone!" Itsuki yelled in gratitude as his bow finished charging and glowed brightly. His friends saluted and quickly retreated a safe distance, leaving the thrashing boss in Itsuki's clear line of fire.
He quickly checked his surroundings with a scout skill, and saw that no other adventurers were in the vicinity to witness what would happen next. At the same time, more Karma Squirrel Familias came from the brown portal that the island boss had 'spawned' from. Ha, he welcomed the extra EXP they would provide with open arms and a charged up bow!
"Meteor Shot!"
A large, blue arrow was released..
KABOOM!
The large squirrel boss and its squeaking underlings were enveloped in a massive explosion.
It took a while for their ears to stop ringing after that. But when the ringing died down somewhat, no one could hear any squirrel squeaks in any direction.
"So… You think it's finally dead?" Aksel asked curiously.
EXP: + 1500
EXP: + 200
EXP: + 200
Etc.
"I think that answers your question." Karn said, smirking widely as the smoke cleared, revealing Itsuki's display of raw power. It became more impressive every time they witnessed it.
To think that they had the front row seats to the Hero with the highest ATK stat.
The smoke eventually cleared, and the boss was, to say, scattered all over the place. Rachel and Crystal crinkled their noses in disgust at the large, bloody mess left behind. Sometimes, having those front row seats wasn't the best thing in the world.
"Oops, um, maybe I should have toned it down a little." Itsuki sheepishly said, wiping some nervous sweat from his brow.
"You think?" Crystal deadpanned.
"How about you get to absorbing this before the other adventurers come running, wondering what caused the massive explosion at the center of the island." Rachel added dryly.
"I already checked. No one else should be nearby... But yeah, just in case." Itsuki began walking around, absorbing the meaty, bony parts that had formerly been the strongest boss on the island. The others began to gather them too.
"Fuehhh…" Rishia looked a little pale. This was, well… gross.
"It's okay. You don't have to help Rishia-" Itsuki started to say to her.
"No, it's fine Itsuki! Fueh, I can do this!" She tried to say determinedly to him, but she kept on whimpering even as she said it.
Maybe whimpering was just a force of habit for her? He'd found it incredibly annoying when he first met her. But now it was… kind of endearing, actually.
He wasn't saying that he was attracted to her. He just found it cute, like a canary's song. And well, even if she was smaller than others, extremely nervous, as well as anxious beyond measure, she was still willing to come out here and help out however she could. It was an admirable attitude.
Hell, she'd managed to help him learn magic text and Melromarc's written language when he'd thought it was near impossible. Not only had he learned some new spells, but he'd learned a really useful spell with Down.
And while Rishia was small, she was somehow ridiculously stacked. Not that he paid her body any special attention. He couldn't really help it since it was just something surprising to note about her.
Overall, Rishia was truly amazing.
…
He did frown though when he looked at her stats. Even though she'd finally passed level 60 with the Slave User Series and Companion Bow helping her out, her stats were still pathetic. Even Karn, who hadn't opted for the Hero Service Seal, was outshining her.
Was she just one of those people who, no matter how hard they worked, would always remain weak? The thought made him sad. He was reminded of how, back in his world, he'd thought his gift would give him the edge he needed to overcome the bullying… until he'd met others who could, with their eyes closed, face away from the target, fire their gun in the opposite direction, and still hit the bullseye.
Every, single, time.
No amount of training he did could ever make his rank E, 20% aim correction ability that good.
He was still in the middle of contemplating when Crystal interrupted his train of thought.
"Um, Itsuki, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you."
"What is it, Crystal?"
"We're here to grind for levels, right?"
"Yeah."
"Wouldn't we be more efficient as a party of six then?"
…
Itsuki did a headcount on his HUD. He did have six party members though. So why-
…
…
Oh.
Oh crap.
He hadn't been counting himself. There was seven of them.
No wonder that boss hadn't given them as much experience as he remembered. Itsuki facepalmed. Just how long had he been overlooking this detail?! There must have been thousands upon thousands of experience points that he'd missed out on over the last few weeks!
"Itsuki, don't tell me that you've only realized it just now." Crystal dryly said, crossing her arms.
"Is something going on?" Rachel asked curiously. The others stopped in their activities as well, walking over curiously.
"... Um, guys, Crystal just made me realize something." He spoke awkwardly.
It took a little while, but he did eventually manage to explain their EXP situation.
"Oh…" Rachel looked surprised that she hadn't realized it earlier either.
"Damn." Aksel muttered under his breath.
"Fuehhh…" Rishia looked down sadly.
"So basically, one of us has to form a sub-party so the main party can get as much EXP as possible." Crystal said. While they'd still be part of the Bow Hero's party system… they wouldn't get any EXP from the main party.
"So is one of us going to volunteer, or is Itsuki going to assign one of us?" Aksel asked. "Because I'm volunteering Maya."
"What?! Why me?!" The Raccoon girl exclaimed.
"Because the battlefield isn't a place for little girls." He said, crossing his arms and turning away.
"I'm not a little girl! I haven't been a little girl for months and you know it! Don't you dare ignore me Axie!..." She continued pouting while yelling at his backside, and he continued to ignore her.
"Quiet down you two. This is a decision for Itsuki to make. Not us." Rachel suddenly cut the pair's argument short.
Itsuki trembled.
Crap. He didn't want to choose which of his friends had to be left out! He wanted to help them all to get stronger as fast as possible!
But the EXP dropoff from being over the party limit was far worse than someone being left out on EXP from time to time. The more logical choice was definitely to obey the six party member limit and work to get stronger that way.
Still, he didn't want to choose! All of them were his friends!
And… "Fueh…" He looked at Rishia, seeing how crestfallen she looked.
Even if she was the weakest of them right now. Even if she didn't have much confidence in herself, that was all the more reason for her to face monsters and get stronger! If he couldn't help her, how could he call her his friend? He didn't want to abandon her or the others.
"Itsuki?" Rachel asked him.
His hands clenched at his sides. "I don't know…" He turned away.
But he had to make a choice. What could he do here-
"Hmmm, well, I guess if he doesn't want to choose." Suddenly, on the party HUD, Karn's name appeared under a sub-party.
…
Huh?
Everyone turned to look at the smirking swordsman. "Killing monsters all the time is a little boring. I could use a day or two to enjoy the Hot Springs here."
…
After a long pause, Crystal facepalmed. "You lazy bastard."
Karn continued to smirk. "Hey, if there's anything that working under nobility has taught me, it's to enjoy the breaks whenever you can get them." He gave Itsuki a mocking salute. "Permission to be dismissed?"
Rachel scoffed. "Since when have you started asking for permission?"
"Well, since it seemed like our glorious friend here was overthinking like always, I thought that it would be polite to ask," Karn responded jokingly.
"Wow, Karn being polite. The world must be ending." Crystal rolled her eyes.
The tense atmosphere that had developed over the party disappeared. Itsuki relaxed, relieved beyond measure. "Yeah. Go and do whatever, Karn. Just don't get in trouble."
"Awww, way to ruin my fun Itsuki." He gave the Bow Hero a wink and a nudge to the side. He couldn't tell, but was he pointing at Rishia while nudging him?! He didn't dare to ask, as he already felt himself blushing from embarrassment from the whole situation!
"Welp, I'll see you all later! Toodles!" Karn waved to the main party, before running towards the ferry back to the island.
"Maybe we should escort him back, just in case-" Itsuki began to suggest, when Crystal gripped his arm.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." She huffed. "We should focus on gaining levels while there's still daylight."
Itsuki looked at the setting sun on the horizon. They really didn't have much time left for today, did they?
Hopefully, Karn would take the time to level by himself. But, perhaps it made sense for him to volunteer to take some time off. He was the only one who hadn't gotten the Hero Service Seal, after all. He also had a pretty good level and stats anyway.
"Alright," He looked at everyone else. "Everyone! Let's make sure that Karn's kindness doesn't go to waste."
Aksel hefted his ax. "Aw yeah! Let's find another large squirrel to take down!"
"Do you have something against squirrels?" Maya asked him curiously.
"Nothing, I just feel like they wronged me in a past life or something." Aksel shrugged.
Still, with that enthusiasm in mind, Itsuki's party continued to grind around the spawn point for the Karma Squirrel, killing it every time it reappeared until well after the sun had set.
Without Karn in the party, the Boss started giving 4000 EXP every time it was killed, while the Familias gave a staggering 850.
Itsuki seriously wondered just how much EXP they'd missed out on the last couple of months after that.
Then again, it was probably for the best he discovered that now. Had he been a much higher level when he went berserk, that situation would have gone down very differently.
Author's Notes:
I had to read and reread sections of the LN a lot for this chapter. The anime really screwed up on some details, like how the Island Bosses are summoned. It didn't even show the other Heroes trying to learn their spells like it did in the LN's. Sheesh. I bet most of you didn't know they could also learn spells from that tablet. Hopefully Ren picks up magic text in time to learn his. It's pretty epic.
Also, I might be looking at getting a new cover for this story soon. It'll hopefully be epic.
Enjoy the omakes:
Hero Clips!
Bio-Plant Experimentation, Take Two
It was the middle of the night. All the Heroes and their parties were in their beds sleeping. Ren was snoring, and Itsuki was dreaming while picking his nose.
Naofumi, however, was out at Inult Island, a red seed grasped in his right hand.
"Ehehehehe, finally, alone at last." He stared evilly at the black sphere, the source of food for his newest pet.
"You, my friend, shall feed my rise to greatness. No more shall I have to rely on my underlings. For this day, I, Naofumi Iwatani, have found a way to get stronger on my own!"
The sphere trembled, the latest Karma Dog monster started to come out of it.
"Behold, my fist of fury, feed me your blood as you die in agony! HUAH!" Naofumi threw the unmodified Bio-Seed into the ground in front of it, and watched as the magic happened.
"What the…"
Itsuki and Ren stared around them in shock.
They'd thought it'd been ridiculous when they heard the news, but a new forest had sprouted and covered Inult Island practically overnight. No more dog monsters, or any kind of monsters could be seen except the occasional mutated plant in the vine infested forest around them.
"I can't believe Naofumi was stupid enough to actually do this!" Ren yelled angrily.
"I'm pretty certain this breaks all the rules Count Hadenburg told us about." Itsuki said.
Ren scowled. They had to find Naofumi quick before he got himself hurt, or got other people hurt, or-
All of a sudden, the forest around them died. All the plants withered away to nothing.
The island was nothing but a barren wasteland within a minute.
"WOOHOO! YES! IT WORKED! I ACTUALLY GOT EXPERIENCE FROM KILLING IT WITH WEED KILLER!"
In the distance, Naofumi could be seen at the peak of the island. His arms were raised, and he stood in front of the husk of a very large, very much dead Bio-Plant.
"Well, what do you know, his idea actually worked." Itsuki said in surprise.
"Yeah, but…" Ren took a look around. It was like every nutrient the island had to offer had been sucked dry. It was completely dead. There wasn't even a single monster nor any other plant in sight.
"I don't think the adventurers are going to be very happy about this." Ren finished.
Itsuki sweatdropped. "I imagine the Count will be even less happy than them." Such a beautiful place had been ruined, and all for-
"WAIT, I ONLY GOT 1000 EXP FROM KILLING THIS THING!? WHAT GIVES?! I LITERALLY LET IT GROW ALL NIGHT TO LEVEL 80 BEFORE I KILLED IT!" Naofumi began cursing at the heavens.
Ren had noted when he first fought it that the mutated plant didn't give a lot of Exp. In general, letting it kill things and then killing it wasn't a very lucrative investment. The cost for letting it grow out of control to even get that amount of EXP was far too high. Naofumi would likely have to turn the whole world into a barren wasteland if he wanted to reach Level 100 by himself.
But hey, he'd finally found a way to get EXP on his own. As edgy as it turned out to be…
"We're not letting him do this again." Ren said firmly.
"Agreed." Itsuki agreed.
His edginess would be the thing that killed the story in the end.
Hero Clips!
Girl Evolution
"Guys, I don't know why it's taking so long for my girl to evolve?"
Itsuki and the other Heroes were sitting at a table. The Bow Hero looked depressed as he stared down at the wood. "Am I doing something wrong since Raphtalia and Wyndia have already evolved?"
"I mean, have you tried feeding Rishia any Rare Candies?" Naofumi asked.
"Or given her a special stone, perhaps?" Ren suggested.
"I've given her every rare candy I've come across. And no stone seems to work on her for some reason." Itsuki said sadly in response.
"Hmmm…" The two tried to think.
"Ooh! I know! Don't some evolutions require "trading" with others?! If you know what I mean?" The Spear Hero wiggled his eyebrows as he suggested it.
...
After the three were finished burying Motoyasu into the sand head first, Ren spoke up again. "The highest level for evolution from my game was 64, but we all know how unreliable that info can be here."
"Yeah, Raphtalia evolved around level 25 or so. Hmmm… maybe Rishia needs to be happy in order to evolve." As Naofumi suggested that, he gave Itsuki the stink eye.
The bow hero adamantly protested. "It can't be that! I've been very nice to her ever since I nearly killed her with my Cursed Bow's execution skill!"
"You nearly what?!" Ren and Naofumi both yelled.
"It was an accident, okay?! I wasn't targeting her, and I still feel incredibly guilty about it!"
They continued to try and figure out what was possibly keeping Itsuki's girl from evolving, when suddenly, Rishia herself suddenly ran up, sounding out of breath. "Fueh! Sir Itsuki! I finally reached level 71!" She announced proudly.
Before the Bow Hero could ask what that meant, a message suddenly popped up on his HUD.
What?
Rishia is evolving!
"Fueh?" Rishia yelped in surprise before being enveloped in a bright light akin to a class-up. It also sounded like there was music going on in the background.
"What the…"
"Is she…"
When it faded away, it revealed...
"Fueehhh..." Rishia repeated her catchphrase, but it sounded deeper. More refined, and breathy... and slightly exciting.
She had grown to be almost as tall as Itsuki, with a strongly pronounced physique. Her already stacked assets had expanded from thicc to ridiculous, downright, drop-dead gorgeous proportions. Her stats were higher than what the heroes had.
Everyone stared with their jaws hanging wide open. Motoyasu finally dug himself out of his hole, looked up, and promptly exclaimed what was on all their minds:
"HOLY ^&*^!"
"Sir Itsuki...? I feel, strange." Rishia breathed out with her erotically mature voice and batted her eyes at him. "Strange, but... good."
…
Itsuki, who'd already stopped breathing at this point, promptly fell backward, twin streams of blood shooting from his nose.
"Fuehhhhh!" Rishia screamed in her regular voice while the Illusion that Raphtalia had conjured for her collapsed, revealing the whimpering girl's normal self.
"... huh?!" The Heroes looked her over in surprise. "But, but I thought she-"
"Oh no, I think I overdid it." Raphtalia nervously swallowed as she appeared from out of nowhere.
"Raphtalia?!" Ren and Motoyasu screamed in surprise.
Naofumi gave her a weird look while Rishia struggled to revive her hero. "Itsuki, please don't go towards the light!" Rishia begged as she did mouth to mouth and chest compressions to try and revive him.
Motoyasu and Ren were too busy wondering how the hell Raphtalia managed to pull off such crazy illusion magic. As for Naofumi...
'I wonder if she could do the same thing to herself.'
Hey, based on Itsuki's reaction, he could imagine no better way for him to leave this world.
Till Next Time
Allen