Alright, between a ton of schoolwork happening all at once, as well as being sick for most of last week, this chapter took some effort. There's one other reason for the delay, but I'll let you find out for yourself in the bottom Author's Note. I don't think there's anything I need to clarify after reading your guy's reviews (besides those I PM'd) so for now, please enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Fifty-Three: Expelled from the Library
"Sniffle."
Maya was currently sitting in Itsuki's lap. Her small arms were hugging her tail, and the raccoon girl was still crying despite the Bow Hero's hand rubbing the top of her head between her ears in an attempt to comfort her.
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll figure out what happened and get you back to normal in no time." Itsuki told her gently.
Maya continued to sniffle though. She buried her face into her tail, which only made her start to cry harder again since she had only been capable of doing this as a child. And the act that had brought her solace as a slave before only made her feel worse now.
Why did she have to be a child again? She'd finally found happiness and fulfillment as an adult but now…
Itsuki looked at Aksel, who was sitting far away from the two of them. The knight had been silent for a while. But he kept trembling every time Maya sobbed on Itsuki's lap. It didn't look like he was having a good time either.
Itsuki focused on Maya again, continuing his efforts to try and calm her down whilst trying to not make things worse by breaking down from thinking about Rishia and the others.
He really hoped that Rishia was ok. That she wasn't out there somewhere in the world by herself, surrounded by monsters or Kyo's henchmen or trapped in some nobleman's prison or… or…
Numbly, he continued to pet Maya's head. Trying to keep those debilitating thoughts at bay for the sake of his sanity. It didn't help that he felt so tired too. The fight against Kyo had really taken its toll on him.
Still, Rishia had proven that she wasn't weak any more countless times before this. He had to have faith that she'd be ok. That Naofumi and the others would be okay without his help.
But… with them all separated and reset to level one, with the exception of L'Arc, Glass, and Therese… would they all really be ok?
…
Eventually, Maya's sniffles died down. Itsuki wondered if she'd finally calmed down. But when he looked down he found that she'd fallen asleep. Tears were still falling from the corners of her eyes.
Even when he did something right. It still felt like he'd accomplished nothing.
"Aksel, can you set up this sleeping bag for me?" As Itsuki spoke, he pulled the item from his bow's gemstone and watched it roll out beside him.
The larger man slowly turned his head to look his way. His brown eyes looked almost dead. Slowly though, he nodded, moved over to Itsuki, and unfurled the sleeping bag.
Itsuki set Maya on it, and Aksel folded it back over the small raccoon girl. When he was done, he paused for a moment to stare down at the tears still leaking from her eyes in her sleep.
Itsuki saw a look of guilt creep across the knight's face. Aksel, however, quickly turned away and walked back to his part of the room. He sat back down, facing away.
…
Itsuki opened his mouth to speak, but then immediately closed it. He tried to do it again but no words came out this time either.
Right… he wasn't good at comforting others. Plus, what could he possibly say here?
Sorry that your girlfriend turned into a child? I hope this doesn't make the relationship awkward or anything?
...
Yeah, even he wasn't stupid enough to realize just how bad it'd be to say something like that right now. He thought of one thing after another, but nothing worked in his head.
Crap, why had he never considered a situation like this popping up?
…
Oh yeah. Because it would have been so ridiculous for his mind to consider that he would have slapped himself repeatedly for ever pondering such stupidity.
…
Thirty minutes later, Itsuki was still debating on what to say, or if there was anything he could say. Perhaps it'd be better if he tried going outside the room and seeing if he could find a path around the monsters or something. But would Aksel and Maya be okay by themselves? And what if the monsters found him and killed him while he was sneaking around?
He was still in the middle of this mental conflict when Aksel suddenly spoke up.
"You must think I'm a horrible person."
"... H-Huh?! What brought this on?" Itsuki asked in surprise.
"Just… just look at Maya." Aksel gestured back to the sleeping raccoon girl.
"She's crying in her sleep, having some terrible dream… and I can't even bring myself to garner the balls to wipe away her tears. What kind of boyfriend am I?"
Itsuki opened his mouth, but then closed it again with a grimace.
He… damn it. He wished he knew what he had to say. It'd been so much easier to relate to Rishia whenever she was feeling down… he could hardly relate to the knight's situation right now.
"Did I ever tell you that I've never had a single girlfriend before Maya?" Aksel suddenly asked.
"I don't think so?" Itsuki answered honestly.
"Well, I had crushes on different girls growing up, but they were just passing feelings. But there was this one girl I fell in love with who lived at Lurolona Village. Sweetest girl ever. She was one of my best friends. But I didn't have the balls to ask her out back then, so I decided to become a knight so I could gain the courage to do so…" The man chuckled dryly.
"Funny how life works that way. I ended up training under the Church Knights when I failed the royal knight exams. I thought they were good people. And then, during my training, the wave hit, and the officers I'd looked up to, the comrades I'd trained with, they were dispatched to Seaetto and they… … …"
…
…
The knight went silent for a while. Itsuki wondered if he should say something, but he still didn't know what to say. Even though some of this was stuff the knight had confided to him before.
"Well, I guess I never did find out if those bastards killed her… or if it was just some random monster from the Waves. I only know that her name's on the graveyard memorial at our village… and that I left the church's army after they returned, bragging about what they'd done." Aksel clenched his hands and grit his teeth.
Itsuki remained silent, deciding that if he couldn't say anything to cheer his friend up, he could at least hear him out.
"I honestly didn't know if I'd ever fall in love after that. I didn't want to go through that kind of pain again. I didn't think a relationship would be worth it. But… but I thought after a while… that maybe, I could be brave enough to give me and Maya a try. That… that maybe this would be my chance to make someone happy."
"Yeah, it took Bakta having to kick my butt into gear to realize that. And it took a while even after that for me to find the courage to dive into a relationship. But, I did it. And we were happy. We were happy even though we'd lost Bakta and Welt. I'd never felt so good even while I was so sad."
…
Aksel turned his face to look Itsuki in the eyes. His eyes were clouded over with tears, and his lower lip was quivering. "I… I don't know what to do, Itsuki." The large man trembled as he held his arms close to himself. "What are you supposed to do when the girl you care for more than anything else in the world is turned into a child? How are you supposed to come to terms with that?! How are you supposed to be brave enough to move forward after that?!"
Itsuki looked away with a frown.
Damn it! Why couldn't he think up anything to help his friend out?! Aksel clearly needed help!
"I, I just, I don't want to see her like this! But I don't know how to help her out when she's a child!" Aksel nearly screamed as he ripped some of his hair out. "I'm supposed to protect her and you and the others, but how can I do that when that Book bastard…" Aksel put his hands over his face and started sobbing.
He was a complete mess.
Itsuki felt terrible.
How could he just continue sitting there in silence? Why was now the time that he couldn't think of anything to say?
But then again, he was just as lost as the knight. And unfortunately, even now, his mind still drifted to Rishia. Wondering if she was ok... If she was safe... If she was in a situation better than theirs...
If only she could have been here. She would have been smart enough to know how to comfort the crying knight.
"How… how can I possibly help Maya to be happy now…" Aksel murmured to himself. "I'm so pathetic, I-"
"Aksel." A small hand rested on the knight's arm.
He looked up in surprise, with Itsuki following suit. She'd moved so quietly that not even the Bow Hero had heard her.
Maya was no longer in her sleeping bag. Instead, she was looking at the knight through tear-stained eyes. "Please, don't cry. Just… just listen."
Aksel breathed in deeply, choking back a sob… But, he didn't push her away this time.
"I don't know what's happened to me. But… but crying like this won't help us fix it. I know it's a shock to see me like this again. It's a shock for me too… but please, don't think you can't make me happy because I'm like this now." Maya whimpered.
Aksel shuddered. "I… I know we won't be able to do any of the things we did before… but the only thing I need to be happy right now is a hug. And a promise that everything will be ok." Maya pleaded. "Please…"
…
Aksel sniffled. He didn't offer her a full hug. But he rested an arm over her shoulders. The girl immediately hugged his side, softly crying into his undershirt.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Aksel whispered softly.
"No, this… this is fine." Maya hugged him tight. "This is enough for now."
…
The large knight sighed as he looked down at her face. It was strange. She was a kid, but… she looked like nothing from when she'd been a kid before.
Her hair was in the same style as before they'd left their world and not disheveled and dirty like when they'd first met. Her face, though young, still had that sharp piercing gaze to it. She looked nothing like the scared little kid he'd helped train alongside Rachel months ago. The adult Maya was still there in some ways.
His heart sunk in his chest. Had… had he truly not considered how things would be from her perspective? "I… I'm sorry for overreacting earlier." He looked meekly down at his lap. "I just don't know what to do…"
"I don't know either…" Maya admitted. "I'm afraid too. I don't want to be a child again. I want my body back. I want to be big enough to fight alongside Itsuki, and you, and everyone else, and… and I don't want to lose all the growth I'd achieved before now." She sighed.
…
…
The two sat in silence for a while.
Itsuki stayed silent too.
It wasn't because he still had nothing to say. Rather, it was because he'd finally realized something.
This was a personal matter between the two. It was something only they could work to resolve between each other.
It'd actually been a good thing that he'd had nothing to say. He would have probably made things worse if he'd spoken up before.
…
"Aksel?" Maya eventually asked. "If I became an adult again… would we be able to go back to before?"
"..." Aksel didn't answer at first. He still looked downcast.
"I, I guess it doesn't have to be right away. I can understand. This must be overwhelming to you, and-" Maya began to say nervously.
"Maya… if we found that this wasn't permanent… if you became an adult again and still wanted to be with me, then I would gladly kiss you as soon as that happened. And I'd hold you close and never let you go ever again." Aksel said seriously. "I'd scream for the whole world to hear how happy I felt, and, I just, I just…"
"Damn it, I find it so awkward to be saying stuff like this when you look like a freaking child!" He shouted at the ceiling. "Why do I have to be the one to go through this instead of you, Bakta, you bastard!"
Maya looked stunned. But then, she started to giggle. "You dummy. You can just picture you're saying it to me as a grown-up. I can at least tell my thoughts and feelings haven't deaged like the rest of me."
"Just because you're an adult mentally doesn't mean I should treat you like one physically! Urgh! Why do all my crushes have to be demi-humans?! I never would have had this problem if I'd fallen in love with another human!" Aksel complained.
"Because we're cuter, and we enjoy it when others floof our ears." Aksel hadn't even realized his hand had been doing it, and he paused in terror, but Maya giggled and rubbed her head against his hands so he wouldn't stop with the ear treatment.
"... I forgot, you did like it when I floofed your ears as a kid," Aksel said as a slight smile came onto his face.
"I never stopped liking it. You just stopped doing it." Maya sighed happily. "I'd love it a lot more if you floofed my ears again when I get my body back."
"... I will." Aksel's smile grew a little bigger. "You can count on it."
"... I feel better now. Thank you." She said gently.
"I feel better too. Not 100%. But better." Aksel admitted.
"I'm glad… I always hate seeing you look sad… it's so hard to be happy when you're not and… …" The raccoon girl trailed off.
It took Aksel a moment to realize that Maya had fallen asleep on his side. This time, the girl looked at peace.
"Man, just looking at you is making me feel tired." Aksel yawned as he picked the girl up. He put her back in her sleeping bag, pulling it up to her chin.
He hesitated, but then, he laid a peck on her forehead. A hand wiped a few tears that'd remained on her face off her cheek. "I… thank you, Maya. You're too good to me, you know."
Itsuki had to look away. It almost felt like he was witnessing a sacred moment that should have been kept between the two of them.
The large man was still smiling. He… really did look a lot better than before.
That was good. At least his friends would be ok… even though he hadn't been able to do anything. And even though he didn't know if Rishia was doing well, and…
Sigh. Why did he have to make things so complicated for himself?
"Alright." Aksel breathed in again and faced Itsuki. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?"
"Huh?" Itsuki looked confused.
"We're trapped in whatever the hell this place is. And even you aren't strong enough to take on the monsters waiting for us out there, Itsuki." Aksel said seriously. "But I refuse to allow any of us to die in this place. So, you got any ideas for busting us out of here?"
…
With the issue between the two lovers out of the way, it finally felt like Itsuki could talk again.
The next hour passed, with him and his tank friend discussing different ideas with each other. Most of them were thrown away as they were either impossible or too ridiculous to consider, but there were a few they lingered on that had some merit.
"I could use a stealth skill to go out and look around. But I don't think I have enough SP to be out there for more than five minutes at a time, tops." The Bow Hero admitted. "And that's if my stealth is good enough with those skills to avoid being detected by the monsters."
"Hmmm…" Aksel hummed in thought. "We could possibly boost the effectiveness if Maya could cast illusion magic on you. I don't know if she's capable of that at level one or not though." The man frowned. "Are you sure you didn't notice any low-level monsters in the horde out there that we could pick off for easy exp?"
"No. When I went out there last time, all the monsters I spotted had question marks next to their level indicators." Itsuki shook his head.
If that hadn't been a good enough sign of their power difference, his arrow Clanging off a monster had been very clear that even he was nowhere near strong enough to face one, much less, kill one.
"You know. This mess would be so much easier to get out of if we had some sort of mob to grind on." Aksel commented.
"Yeah. It would be. We could increase our levels enough that I could pull out the more powerful skills in my arsenal and blow a hole out of this place." Itsuki sighed. "Blame Kyo for holding the world's biggest grudge."
Aksel chuckled. "You did kind of blow him up and all that, so I can't say I'm surprised... Are there any other abilities your bow has that I'm not aware of?"
"Nothing I can think of to get us out of here." Itsuki had checked. He couldn't even use his portal skill. He had no saved locations to portal too.
This was what he saw on his HUD by the way.
Itsuki Kawasumi
Job Class: Otherworld Bow Hero Lv. 1
Equipment: Beginner's Small Bow Type 2
Alongside those differences, he'd found his HP bar had been renamed to "life force", which was not to be mistaken with the version Granny had taught him. His MP and SP bars had also been renamed "magic power" and "soul power" respectively. It looked like the transition to Glass's world had changed more than a few things.
He still had all the equip bonuses he'd unlocked from his other weapon forms as well as the bonuses from his power-up methods. But at level 1, he only met the level requirement for the Small Bow he'd started out with when he was first summoned.
Even the balloon bows he'd gotten at the start of his adventure needed him to level up at least once in order for him to equip them again. And he couldn't use some of his more powerful skills since he didn't have enough soul power at level one to use them.
At least he still had access to all his skills and the various bonuses he'd gotten from unlocking weapon forms. He could only imagine how much worse his position would be right now if he hadn't listened to Naofumi's advice that day and worked on unlocking the equip bonuses for a lot of junk weapons and not just his favorite ones.
Itsuki sighed. Still, their situation seemed pretty hopeless no matter how he tried to look at it. Even if he had access to all his powerful skills, they'd be no good with his current stats.
…
Though, something finally came to his mind. Albeit, it wasn't related to their current topic. "Demi-humans have the option to grow up via leveling, right?" He asked Aksel.
"Yeah... what about it?" The knight asked with a confused look.
"Perhaps, this is just a guess, but maybe Maya is a kid again because our levels dropped to 1, and it's not because of Kyo." Itsuki put forward. "If that's the case, all we'd have to do is level her up again, and we could get her back to where she was before."
…
A look of relief crossed the knight's face. "I hadn't thought of it like that… thank you, Itsuki…" His face turned serious. "If that's true, we're going to have to level her up as soon as possible. Though how we'll do that here remains to be seen."
Itsuki shrugged. "Sorry. I wish I knew."
…
"I know. How about we get some dinner cooked, then we'll sleep on it and put all our minds together to figure out a way to bust out of here." The knight suggested.
Itsuki nodded. He wasn't sure if it'd work or not, but it was worth a try.
And he was feeling pretty hungry… when was the last time he'd eaten something?
He could use the rest too. They'd been going nonstop all day.
He pulled out some monster meat he'd stored in his bow as well as some vegetables, seasonings, a pot, some water, a cutting board, and a cooking knife. Aksel stared as each item came out of Itsuki's bow.
"So… you got a whole campfire packed away in there? You wouldn't happen to also have a stove stored in there too, would you?" Aksel joked.
"It's just some stuff back from when we had to camp." Itsuki shrugged.
"Good thing you kept all that, huh. Now, I'll be able to cook us a good dinner." Aksel got to chopping the meat up for Itsuki. "Still, I wasn't joking. We could really use some fire to cook with. I'm not much of a fan of eating meat raw." He preferred his monsters well done instead of one step down from alive.
"Right, right, just give me a sec." Itsuki went around the room they were trapped in. There did seem to be holes at the top for ventilation, so at least the room wouldn't fill with smoke. And there were plenty of books he couldn't read on the shelves around him. The shelves were made of wood too.
He emptied a shelf and tore some boards out from it. The old wood gave way easily, and soon, Itsuki had a pile set up. He then tore some pages from random books that'd been resting on the shelves and began stuffing them in the wood to use as fuel.
Itsuki had a random thought as he did this. 'I hope Rachel never finds out about this, or else I'm dead.'
It wasn't like he could read the pages anyway. Just one glance and he could tell that none of the books were written in the same language as those in Melromarc or Japan. Surely, his friend could overlook him doing this to keep them alive.
"I'm almost done preparing over here. You going to get that fire going or what?" Aksel asked. He was about done cutting up the meat and seasoning it. He was in the middle of slicing the vegetables into small pieces.
"Yeah, I just barely have enough S… soul power for the right skill. Give me a sec." Itsuki pointed his bow down at the pile. It was weird to have to say soul power instead of SP. Oh well, that's what he gets from going to another world.
"Flame Shot."
The fire skill launched from his bow.
However, it dispersed before it touched the pile of kindling.
…
'Huh?' That wasn't supposed to happen. Was this another effect of going to other worlds? Did his skills no longer work properly? That was complete-
"Ack! What's with these letters appearing in front of me!" Aksel cried out in surprise. He sliced at the air with his knife to no avail.
Words appeared in front of Itsuki, making him stumble back.
First Warning: Fire is not allowed in the Ancient Library Labyrinth.
…
What? Fire wasn't allowed here? Was that why his skill had fizzled out?
What kind of place was this?
…
Just to check, Itsuki pulled some Soul Healing Water from his bow and drank a little bit of it. Then, he tried to use the same skill again, only to get the same result.
Second Warning: Fire is not allowed in the Ancient Library Labyrinth. Temporary suspension in effect.
"... Itsuki, what the hell is this?" Aksel asked in a dry voice.
"Uh..." Itsuki wasn't sure how to answer.
"Does this mean we don't have a way to cook our meat!?" First, his girlfriend had been turned into a child, and now this?!
Was this world trying to take away everything he enjoyed in life?!
"Urgh, could you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep here." The raccoon girl groaned on the floor.
"S-Sorry Maya," Aksel responded awkwardly.
"What's going on anyway?" Maya sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"We were planning on having dinner, but we aren't allowed to make a fire for some stupid reason, and-" Aksel began to complain.
"Ooh, we're having dinner?!" The girl perked up excitedly. "Where!? Is it ready yet?! I feel like I could eat a whole horse!"
"We're trying to make it!" Aksel yelled loudly. "The thing is, this place won't allow us to have a fire. So the only thing we can eat is these veggies." Aksel said angrily as he thrust the knife into the cutting board beside the vegetables he'd been chopping up.
"Whaaa!? Only veggies?! That's not dinner at all! That's just torture!" Maya complained.
"I know, right Itsuki?!" The two turned to face the Bow Hero.
However, Itsuki was staring at his weapon now as he thought hard on it.
Labyrinth… wasn't that just another word for a dungeon?
He was reminded of dungeons in his games. Ones that had special rules to them that the player wasn't allowed to break.
Yeah, it was pretty dumb to consider things from a gaming perspective. But, it wasn't like there weren't weird game-like mechanics they'd discovered already…
Itsuki began downing another Soul Healing Potion again. "Uh, Itsuki, what are you doing?" Aksel asked.
"In my world, I played games with places like this," Itsuki said as he tried to select the skill again. However, he was under a temporary suspension. He couldn't do any attacks or the like for… what appeared to be the next hour or so.
"In these types of dungeons, you get a warning for breaking the rules. If you keep on breaking the rule though, the whole party can get expulsed from the dungeon." Itsuki said.
"Meaning… we wouldn't have to fight our way through those monsters," Aksel said, his eyes slowly widening.
"We could escape then!" Maya said excitedly.
"Well, it's either that, or we get thrown into a boss or trap room and die horribly," Itsuki added. "But it's much more likely that we'll get expulsed… Probably. I'm at least 80% sure that's what'll happen."
"Y-You really want to take that risk?!" Aksel shouted in terror while clutching the sides of his head.
"Yeah, don't you?" Itsuki asked.
"Well I, uh," Aksel looked between Itsuki and Maya frantically. "What about after dinner, or a good night's rest, or-"
"A dinner with only veggies? Or a night in this creepy old cold room? If I could put us in a far better scenario in just an hour, shouldn't that be the way to go?" Itsuki asked.
"Can't you just have your weapon make the meals for us?" Maya pleaded.
"... I don't have any recipes that use monster meats unlocked," Itsuki said. "Why do you think I recommended that we cook dinner in the first place?"
The two couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not, but they didn't call him out on it.
…
The next hour slowly passed.
Aksel and Maya sat close together, staring nervously at the Bow Hero as he prepared himself.
They'd tried to think of a way, but honestly, all of them were level 1. They had no powerful individual to get them out of this mess. No easy way to sneak past a bunch of high leveled monsters or even a way out of this labyrinth Kyo had placed them deep within.
For all they knew, it could take days, or weeks to find the exit. Or to run into a friendly face that'd help them out… if it was a friendly face they met.
And unless they learned how to cook meat without fire... they were going to be in for a bad time.
Itsuki breathed in deeply. He was really hoping this was the kind of dungeon that'd expulse them out with the possibility of never being allowed back in. If it turned out that this wasn't that kind of place and he died on the spot, or, possibly worse, put the three of them in a boss room against an unkillable boss…
But if it allowed him to get out of here and find Rishia all the sooner, so be it!
"Any other ideas? Speak now, or forever hold your peace." Itsuki told the other two when the hour was up.
…
…
…
He got no response.
"Alright, here we go." Itsuki selected the skill. "Flame Shot!"
The skill fizzled out, and immediately after, the room they were in started shaking violently.
"Ahhhhh!" Maya and Aksel gripped tightly to each other. Itsuki gripped the chair in front of him as the floor shook all around. It was like the room around them would collapse at any moment.
Defiler! You have chosen to break the rules of the Ancient Library Labyrinth!
The words appeared in bold red in their vision. They looked scary and menacing.
"We're going to die!" Aksel cried out in fear.
"Be optimistic Aksel!" Maya shouted at him.
"We're going to die quickly!" Aksel screamed.
Darkness settled over their visions. They continued to scream as the room around them trembled. Jarring them around like they were trapped in a shaking box.
And then…
They suddenly fell on their butts.
"Ugh…" Aksel groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "H… Huh?"
"Please, tell me we weren't dropped in a boss room." Itsuki groaned out.
"N-No, it doesn't look like that at all!" Aksel said excitedly.
Itsuki opened his eyes. They were laying on a wooden floor at the entrance of the Labyrinth Kyo had trapped them in.
Do not ever come back.
The words appeared in red over the entrance in Itsuki's vision, before fading away entirely.
…
The Bow Hero shuddered. That… almost made the place feel alive.
Yeah. That was one warning the Bow Hero wasn't going to ignore.
But hey… they'd done it. They'd managed to get out! They'd escaped Kyo's death trap!
Ha, suck on that one bastard! With them out of that place, they could…
They could...
Looking away from the labyrinth entrance, Itsuki found a lot of rabbits standing on their hind legs, staring at their group. They were about half their height and dressed in scribe robes.
Many of them were looking at their group in confusion. Some in fear. Others with anger.
There were also some people there too. Their mix of reactions was about the same as the rabbit scribes.
"Ohhhhhhh noooooooo." Itsuki groaned to himself.
Perhaps, this was a case of being cast out of the frying pan and into the fire?
He really hoped Rishia was in a better situation than the one he'd forced themselves in right now.
"Argh!" Naofumi growled in pain as a large green rat got around his shield and bit down on his arm. "Rishia!"
"I-I'm on it!" The green-haired girl slashed into the neck of the monster with the sword that she was wielding in her left hand. The rat let go of Naofumi with a pained hiss, and then Rishia's follow-up thrust with the sword held in her right hand stabbed through its eyesocket into its skull, killing it instantly.
"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi summoned the skill just as two more rats jumped out of the foliage to attack Rishia. The skill cracked but held against the two monsters.
"Sir Naofumi, your buff spell just wore off!" Rishia warned him.
"Already on it." With the short time his skill gave, he reapplied Zweite Aura to the girl before grabbing the attention of the two rats so Rishia could attack them again.
It'd been a couple of hours since their early dinner. Naofumi and Rishia were busy grinding monsters in the forest.
Kizuna, unfortunately, was unable to come along with them. Otherwise, they wouldn't gain any experience. So instead, she was out on her daily search for a way out of this place once again.
On the bright side, Kizuna had provided them with some gear that she'd stored away in her weapon after getting it as drops from the local monsters. Naofumi was wearing a new set of leather armor with wood padding on the shoulders, arms, and thighs. Rishia had received something similar to wear, as well as a pair of twin swords she was using to fight the monsters.
Kizuna had tried to offer them to Naofumi at first. But after a reminder that he could only use the legendary weapon on his arm, she proceeded to awkwardly offer them to the fueh girl instead.
Kizuna had made it awkward at least. Naofumi thought he'd been matter of fact about the matter.
Either way, the two blades were much better than Rishia's original rapier. At least, with the state it was in now. And although she was having to adjust, it looked like she was having an easier time killing the monsters than before.
Naofumi had stored their original equipment in his shield. He'd just hold it in there until they returned to their world. No use using that crap here.
The Hunting Hero had also given them advice on what monsters would be safe to hunt for them at their current levels. The monsters they were facing now were called Large Green Rats.
That was it. That was literally their name. They were just like the White Boxes in that regard. They were big. They were green. And their teeth really hurt Naofumi despite the fact that Kizuna had said a level 15 adventurer from her world was capable of killing a monster like this.
Were all the monsters in Glass's world this uncreative? Or this strong? There was no doubt about it anymore. There was a clear power difference between these monsters and the level 15 monsters he'd faced in his world.
It made him wish that he had access to his upgraded weapon forms again so he'd stop getting hurt like this.
"Ack!" As Rishia killed one of the rats, Naofumi felt the teeth of the other break through the skin on his arm. He grabbed it by the head with his other hand and forced the beast to the ground. There, it squealed and flailed in an effort to escape.
At least his strength stat was still high enough to grapple enemies like this. Though it was hard to keep the monster held down. How ironic that he'd gone from being able to hold back a literal moving mountain range to struggling to hold down one single rat.
"Deep Thrust!" Rishia, taking the opening, unleashed a life force skill. Naofumi didn't see it, but energy extended out from the length of the blades in her hands, and she thrust both of them into the large rat, the tips bursting out from the opposite side of the monster's body.
It squealed as it flailed in its death throes for a few seconds, before finally going silent. An experience notification appeared in Naofumi's vision, signaling the end of the encounter.
With a sigh of relief, Naofumi pulled out some healing ointment from his shield and spread it over the bite marks on his arms to heal them. These rats weren't poisonous, so he didn't have to worry about that at least.
He would have used a healing spell, but with how much lower his magic power bar was now, he figured he should save it for buffing Rishia.
"These monsters were kind of tough. But nothing like the kappa we had to face." Rishia commented in a tired voice as she pulled her weapons out from the monster's body.
"Right. Almost too tough… Let's gather everything up." Naofumi shook his head tiredly.
The two began gathering the large monsters so Naofumi could absorb them into his shield. Naofumi also took the time to identify and gather the new medicinal herbs he found near the dead monsters. Some were similar or the same to what he'd found in Raphtalia's world, but some were quite new. He'd need time to experiment with them later.
He was reminded of Raphtalia again while doing this. And it saddened him that Rishia wasn't Raphtalia.
He shook his head. 'No, bad Naofumi. Keep those thoughts on the backburner.'
"F-Fueh?" The braided girl struggled to drag a carcass over to Naofumi. The whimper helped to push the Tanuki girl back from his thoughts, but he still sighed as he walked the rest of the way over to Rishia and started absorbing the monster into his shield.
Level wise, Rishia was level 27 and Naofumi was level 16. Her stats had increased a bit more than before, but her stat growth overall was still beyond terrible. She looked so weak, it was a miracle her stats had allowed her to kill those rats.
If Naofumi were to explain it in the terms of Pokemon, since that was probably the closest comparison he could make to explain the girl's stat growth, Rishia was like a Magikarp.
Her base stats were low. Each level up she underwent hardly increased said stats at all. And not all of her stats increased with each level up. It was like her attack stat was set to increase by almost one every other level up and her other stats were the same deal. Raphtalia, on the other hand, had been increasing in the double digits for almost all of her stats except defense every time she leveled up.
Then again, Raphtalia did have decent stat growth near the start, on top of having several stat growth modifiers thanks to some of Naofumi's shields. So of course, a jump like that for the Tanuki girl made sense. But Rishia's stat growth was still terrible even with the bows Itsuki had unlocked to help her out in that regard.
There was nothing the Shield Hero could personally do to fix it. All he could hope was that later on in levels when Rishia reached the metaphorical point of "evolving into a Gyarados", her stat growth would explode into the double or even the triple digits per level up to make up for her lack of growth early on.
That was a thing in games too. The late bloomer character trope. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case for Rishia.
If not, then he had no idea how the hell they'd level up later on.
"What are you thinking about now?" Rishia asked with a frown.
"Don't do that too much. I get very easily annoyed when other people read my mind all the time." Naofumi said with a touch of irritation in his voice.
The girl fuehed to herself quietly. It was weird how quickly she flipped from confident to timid. "Fine, I was just wondering why your stat growth was so terrible," Naofumi said gently as if he was talking to a kicked puppy. Maybe he should try to be less critical of her? He still wanted to see her and Itsuki get together later on if only to see how wholesome they'd be.
But it was hard to hold onto such thoughts with the way his mind was now.
The girl shook her head helplessly. "I wish I knew. I was like this even when I joined Itsuki's party. He couldn't understand it either." She admitted while helplessly rubbing her arm. Still, it didn't take long for her sad frown to turn into a thin line. "But, I haven't given much thought to it lately since the techniques Granny taught me have been enough to bridge that gap."
Even if her stats sucked, she could still use the techniques Granny had taught her to raise her stats and unleash attacks similar in power to the Heroes. It also helped that she could use defense-piercing or defense-rating attacks, which hurt no matter what level of defense a foe had.
Naofumi frowned slightly. "It still amazes me that something like that can help you do things like this."
"It's something I could teach you too, you know. I know the basics well enough to do that. There are many things you'd be able to do if you learned how to use life force." Rishia replied.
"... I'll think about it," Naofumi responded dismissively. He didn't pursue the subject any further.
He still didn't understand how this 'life force' deal worked anyway. And he didn't have the time to try and learn it right now.
Maybe after he'd dealt with the things weighing heavily on his mind, he'd consider it.
They finished absorbing the last monsters in his shield and continued on.
Something that Naofumi decided to note now was that the monsters he'd absorbed into his shield since dinner had '*Insert monster name* soul fragment' listed alongside the usual list of drops that accompanied monsters.
Because he'd learned Motoyasu's methods, any monsters he absorbed into his shield had a monster soul fragment included in its drops. As he'd discovered though, monster soul fragments could only be used for the power-up methods, just like item energy and weapon energy from Itsuki and Ren's power-up methods. He wouldn't be able to use them for some evil nefarious plan or whatever.
Probably a good thing. He'd never been much of a mad scientist anyway. Outside of that brief stint at the village with the Bio-Plant Seeds.
He used a few of the large green rat soul fragments he'd gotten from the Large Green Rats on his current Shield, the Light Metal Shield, which he'd gotten way back when in Raphtalia's world, to Spirit Enchant it.
Spirit Enchantment: Damage from Large Green Rats -10%
It was about what he'd expected. At least it was a useful damage reduction and not something stupid like a damage reduction bonus for box monsters.
It still hurt his pride a little bit to think that his defense was so low that even rats were capable of hurting him…
The two continued deeper into the forest. They battled a few more monsters along the way. They were nothing special, so Naofumi had little to note besides another level up for the two of them.
Eventually, after a brief silence, they heard the sound of the river. Upon hearing it, they immediately shook their heads and turned around to walk through another section of the forest.
They'd already made the mistake of fighting the kappa once. They were definitely not going to risk that a second time.
However, after several minutes of wandering around, they still hadn't found another monster to fight.
"Where did they all go?" Naofumi wondered out loud in annoyance.
"I'm not sure." Rishia looked equally as concerned.
Had they cleared out all the monsters in this section of the forest or something? That didn't seem likely. There was no way they'd killed that many just by themselves. And it wasn't like they'd scared them off either.
Unless they were scared of small green-haired girls and an annoyed dude with a shield.
They were still wondering why no monsters were appearing to attack them when the ground began shaking. The two stumbled, almost losing their balance. Was this an earthquake or something?! Was that why the monsters had fled?!
Kizuna suddenly appeared from the trees above them right after as if on cue. "You two need to get back to the beach, now!" She said quickly.
"Oi, what the hell is going on?!" Naofumi asked in surprise.
Kizuna didn't immediately answer. Instead, she threw a disc that'd been attached to the side of her dress near Naofumi and Rishia. Before it hit the ground, it paused in the air, then it began to spin and produce a beam of light beneath it. "There are currently two level 150+ monsters whose fight spilled out from the mountains to the other side of the river! If you don't want to get caught up in the middle of that, go through that portal to get to the beach!"
"A…" Naofumi had several questions. One, did Kizuna actually have a hand-held portal device on hand? And two: "How are two monsters that high leveled at the start of the Labyrinth?!"
"Fuee!" Even Rishia looked downright frightened. Then again, when didn't she look frightened? "H-Hey! I don't get scared all the time!" Naofumi didn't turn to address her.
"This isn't the time or place to discuss it! Go through the damn thing, now!" Kizuna said angrily.
Okay, maybe he should listen before she pulled out more big adult words. Or before that rumbling reached this spot. Naofumi finally obliged, followed by Rishia.
The two stepped out onto the beach near the portal archway to the prison. Kizuna followed soon after and pocketed the teleportation disc they'd used.
"Ah, I can see them from here!" Kizuna pointed excitedly now that the three of them were a safe distance away. The sand was only slightly rumbling beneath their feet.
Naofumi looked in the direction she was pointing.
The monsters definitely looked powerful, Both of them had bright red auras radiating off their massive bodies, which were big enough to be seen over the trees. One of them though was clearly bigger than the other. The smaller one was about the size of a small building. The other was the size of the Tyrant Rex they'd fought before, if not bigger.
The large dinosaur-like monster let out a loud roar as it brought its foot down, squashing the smaller, but still powerful monster under its clawed foot. The smaller monster, though pinned down, released a jet of fire from its mouth that scorched the monster's foot, causing it to backpedal and let out a roar of pain.
It did kind of look like a stegosaurus with all those spikes lining its back and tail. However, it was bulkier, and the horns on its head looked like a ram's. The strange monster, whatever it was, charged headfirst into the large monster's chest, further knocking it off balance and leaving holes in its skin that leaked thick drops of blood.
"Mmmm, it's not often you get front row seats to a show like this. It makes me wish I had some popcorn on hand. Did they have popcorn in the world you were summoned to? Not gonna lie, I'd be jealous if that was the case." Kizuna spoke quickly and happily.
"Do you ever have an off switch for that mouth of yours?" Naofumi deadpanned.
"F-Fueh… wh-what's popcorn?" Rishia timidly asked.
Kizuna grinned widely as she happily explained the glories of buttered popcorn to the girl next to her, ignoring Naofumi's jab. The Shield Hero frowned, saying nothing as the battle between the two large monsters raged on.
Despite the size difference, it did look like the smaller monster would win. It moved faster than its larger counterpart, and the horns on its head were leaving all sorts of marks on the beast.
However, it only took one reckless charge for it all to change.
The larger monster managed to dodge the ram-like monster's head-on collision by jumping to the side and, as it flew past it, it bit down on its neck. The beast's body flailed as the monster hit the ground, sending bursts of rock and trees flying everywhere from its impact. But with a final sharp twist of its head, the larger beast broke the neck of the smaller monster.
The beast fell limp in its grasp. "Rawrrrrrr!" The large monster set its catch down on the ground, releasing a loud roar of victory. Then, taking a moment to feast on its prey, it finally turned around and began stomping towards the other side of the island.
The battle between the two smaller class kaiju monsters was over.
"Man, what a fight!" Kizuna clapped her hands excitedly. "It's not often I get to witness this kind of action here at the start of the labyrinth! You guys are soooooo lucky!"
Naofumi let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Just from the little of it that he'd seen, those had definitely been monsters he didn't want to face at his current power level.
"Wh-What were they doing here anyway?" Rishia asked.
"I do recognize the larger monster," Kizuna commented. "It has a den in the mountains, but it sometimes comes out to hunt powerful prey. It must have chased that monster through the mountain portal all the way here before finally forcing it to fight." Kizuna commented.
"F-Fueh?!" Rishia looked shocked. "I-Is the mountain portal that big?!"
"Not much bigger than the one behind us. But the portals somehow make it work." Kizuna shrugged. "The logic of this place doesn't make sense all the time, you know. Just wait, in less than a week, it'll be like no battle had happened here."
…
Naofumi didn't even try to ask why the labyrinth worked that way. "If you've known about that monster, why haven't you killed it earlier?"
"When I first discovered it, I thought about it. But then I saw how it helped keep the populations of some of the other powerful monsters in the mountains in check, so I left it to its own devices. You know, let nature do its own thing so it doesn't come back to bite you in the butt later on or something like that." The girl chuckled. "It's also pretty rare for them to leave the areas where they hunt. So I doubt we'd see something like that again in the next few months or so."
Naofumi had a flat look on his face and opened his mouth to speak, but Kizuna continued on in her happy tone. "Oh, and if you're worried about finding powerful monsters here, I hunt this island pretty regularly, so the monsters here don't get too strong."
Naofumi continued to give her a flat look. "If powerful monsters like that can travel to this island, why haven't you killed the ones closest to that portal on the other side?" Naofumi asked, his left eye twitching in frustration.
"Oh come on, like I said it rarely happens and it makes such a great show too!" Kizuna pouted at him, before shrugging and going back to smiling again. "But that'll probably be the last show from that thing. With how big it's gotten, I doubt it'll stay here for much longer." Kizuna waved his concern off.
"... what do you mean?" Naofumi asked.
"Oh, remember how I said this labyrinth is a failed pocket dimension for a mage?" Kizuna asked. "The thing is, while things can enter but not exit, sometimes, when monsters grow too big, the Labyrinth is no longer able to hold them and they appear outside the entrance to the labyrinth in the outside world. I guess there's a limit to just how much the labyrinth can contain." The girl laughed. "Doesn't happen too often, but I'm sure that guy's time is coming up. So I think I'll just leave it be and hope that it's able to terrorize my enemies out there for me."
…
…
…
Naofumi slowly looked angrier and angrier. "What? Is it something I said?" Kizuna asked, upon noticing the look on his face.
Rishia backed away a step. She thought the Shield Hero was going to snap at Kizuna for not killing said monster anyway. Or for her laidback attitude on the whole matter. But…
"Do you not realize what you've just said?! There is a way out from this stupid place and it's been right in front of you this WHOLE &^%$ING TIME!"
…
…
"Eh?" Kizuna looked confused. Rishia was trembling in terror at Naofumi's angry face. But she was just as confused as the Hunting Hero.
"Just bring prey to one of these massive monsters and have it keep on growing in size! And then, when it becomes too big for this place, you chain yourself to it and follow it into the outside world!" Naofumi yelled at her. "It's so freaking simple, how the hell have you not tried it already!? Are you stupid or something?!"
…
"Naofumi, first things first." Kizuna crossed her arms as she glared at him. Her cheery persona disappeared in a flash. "Just how would I survive getting a monster to that thing's power and size with how long it'd take to do it?"
Naofumi opened his mouth to answer. "Also to consider, you can't tame monsters after they hatch from an egg, so you have to register monsters to you before they hatch. That would mean it'd take years for it to reach the size necessary for it to escape this place, if not for the fact that any monster you tame will become subject to a level cap and will thus be prevented from reaching the size and power necessary to escape. Meaning that way is a no-go, period.
"And because I can't tame grown monsters that are already around the necessary size for this place to eject them out, how would I be able to chain myself to such a beast without it wanting to kill me? So please tell me, which of us is the one that's actually being stupid here?"
…
Okay. So it was a pretty flawed plan. But was it Naofumi's fault that he wanted to escape as soon as possible?! Even if it was stupid, he'd risk it if it meant getting out all the sooner!
"Lastly, even if it somehow worked and we escaped, we'd have to kill the monster, otherwise, it would definitely kill us," Kizuna said. "And while I think I could possibly survive a situation like that, I'm not sure that you two would live to tell the tale."
…
Urgh…
"Does it just depend on power, or is size the factor?" Naofumi pressed on helplessly as his body deflated in disappointment.
"I don't really know. I think it's the size that matters, though the enclosure they're in may help too. I'm honestly not sure." Kizuna shrugged. "I only had one instance where I was hunting a pretty big monster in the ruins one time, but it was smaller than that thing. It squeezed itself into a small room trying to flee from me, and I thought I had it cornered. But then, the archway to the room started sparking and there was this loud rumble. When I finally took a look inside, the room was destroyed, and more than that, the freaking bugger was gone!" Kizuna rolled her eyes in annoyance. "It was so infuriating! I'd been tracking the stupid thing for days, and it escaped just like that!"
She huffed for a moment, then focused on the two of them. "Anyway, I haven't had the same luck trying to replicate that same scenario. But maybe after you guys got up to my power level we'd be able to attempt getting something like that to happen, eh?"
So... it didn't really look like it'd be a reliable option in the short term…
Damn it. So much for that brief spark of hope.
"Well anyway, great show and all, and I loved the lore dump. But I didn't really have much luck with my search today. And it's getting late." Kizuna yawned as she pointed out the fading light of dusk. Stars were beginning to appear in the night sky up above. "With those two monsters done, the night monsters are going to come out real soon. I wouldn't recommend trying to grind them at your levels. Unless you feel confident that you could take the ones in the plains on."
Naofumi was about to answer that they could risk it when Rishia yawned loudly. "I-I'm pretty tired from all the fighting we've done today." She looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry. I could really use some sleep Sir Naofumi."
Naofumi groaned. So much for having that to distract himself. "It's fine. You're not going to be very useful if I force you to fight." However, he didn't want to sleep. He almost wanted to ask Kizuna if she'd come along if only so he could gather herbs and other materials, only for her to yawn again.
He decided that going out that night was most likely not an option. "Kizuna, are all the cells unlocked? I want to set up a workstation for myself."
"Sure, take any cell you want. Just don't take mine. I've worked hard to make it livable over the last few years." Kizuna smiled.
"Whatever." Naofumi sighed. "And... I'm sorry that I called you stupid."
"Don't worry, all's forgiven!" Kizuna and Rishia tiredly walked towards the portal arch.
Naofumi followed behind them, crossing his arms and keeping any further thoughts to himself as the two girls talked.
"Hey Rishia, want to share beds tonight? It's been a while since I last slept with somebody." Kizuna asked happily.
"FUEH!?" Rishia cried out loudly in surprise and horror.
Kizuna laughed at the poor girl's expense. "Don't worry. It was a joke."
"IT DIDN'T SOUND LIKE A JOKE WHEN YOU SAID IT!" Rishia screamed.
"Hey, you have to admit, it'd be more comfortable than the hay you're lying on." Kizuna teased.
"FUEHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Several hours later, the two girls were asleep in their separate rooms.
Kizuna had taken a moment to craft a bed using her weapon for the green-haired girl to sleep on. Rishia laid on the new soft mattress, sound asleep.
It'd been an exhausting day. Starting with taking on the Spirit Tortoise's heart and ending it with the grind against all those monsters. The poor girl had been through a lot.
Kizuna was also sound asleep. Her leg hung over the side of her bed as her upper body twisted and turned in her sleep.
"Hehe, Glass, L'Arc's tickling me again. Tell him to cut it out, will you?" The girl murmured in her sleep as her head turned over, leaking drool onto her pillow.
Naofumi was in a separate room down the hall from the other two about halfway from the portal outside. He'd thrown together a crude workbench, and was busy with his mortar and pestle, as well as filling beakers and other things from his compounding set with the various crushed herbs and their juices that he'd gathered from Glass's world.
Once again, he was oddly reminded of when he'd started out in his world. Only this time, he had a wooden workbench instead of a rock to work on. As well as that, he actually had some proper equipment instead of two stupid stones and a leaf cup to work with.
Compounding Failure!
As black ooze leaked from his latest creation, Naofumi groaned.
Even with the more advanced set-up, the results were pretty much similar to when he'd first started out. He absorbed the tenth failure into his shield, cleaning out the beaker it'd been in with some well water Kizuna had told him where to acquire before trying again.
Some of the herbs from Glass's world were similar to Raphtalia's. But some were completely different. Even those that'd been similar didn't make the exact same things as in Raphtalia's world.
Compounding Success! Vitamin Pill! Quality: Average
Instead of a Nutritional Pill, Naofumi got a Vitamin Pill. The effects were similar enough. The herbs he'd used to make it had looked similar enough. But something similar to Magic Healing Water didn't appear no matter what similar ingredients Naofumi tried.
He could have set his shield to start producing the item using the herbs from his world. But he didn't want to use up his entire supply doing that. There was something calming in having such a familiar task occupy his mind, even if it did frustrate him at times. So he continued on through failure after failure and occasional success.
He really was starting over from scratch, just like…
…
Naofumi paused in his work. His mind was weighed down by a sudden overwhelming wave of nostalgia and sadness. Tears slowly leaked from his eyes. The familiarity of the situation drove away from his calm thoughts and brought his girlfriend and daughter front and center of his mind.
'Raphtalia… Filo…'
…
He hesitantly pulled out the crystal ball from his shield again. He had nothing from Filo, save the feathers he'd stored in his shield. But Motoyasu's initial recording started to play again, with Naofumi fast-forwarding the various recordings.
He paused for a minute on the moment when Raphtalia slapped Bitch. Once again, a smile overcame his face, seeing the look of shock on the former first princess.
After taking a while to enjoy that, he fast-forwarded to the moment when he and Raphtalia had been dancing together.
He played that part of the recording several times. He studied Raphtalia's face closely each time he did so. The genuine smile. The happiness and spark that made her deep tea-red eyes shine with life. He drank it all in as if his life depended on it.
'Trust her. Trust that she'll be able to take care of herself even if I'm not around to help her. And that the last thing she'd want is for me to break down because she wasn't around to help.'
It was hard. But the image of Raphtalia smiling as she danced with him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips helped him to force that wave of sadness back from his mind.
He needed to keep going for now. For her sake.
When that was over, he put the crystal ball away and focused on his task once again to help occupy himself.
The odds of him producing something that'd help them escape the labyrinth this way were extremely low. He doubted such an item existed. But it was a familiar task. One that he could occupy his mind with so he didn't excessively worry over Raphtalia or Filo or Itsuki or any of their other friends.
He continued doing it well into the night. Exhausting the supply of herbs he'd gathered from the ground or from monster drops. He went until his head leaned down over the desk…
"Raphtalia!"
"Naofumi!"
The two were separated by a long, dark expanse. A figure stood in the center, laughing in the background at their pain. It was a nasal pitch, clearly male and recognizable.
"Naofumi, I need help!" Raphtalia screamed. "Please, Naofumi!"
"Don't worry! I'll find a way to get to you! I promise! Just wait-" As Naofumi screamed back, the nothingness between them began to widen.
"Naofumi!" Raphtalia reached out towards him, her eyes shining with tears as the bright light of Glass's world appeared beside them, rushing towards the pair.
"Help each other? Please! You're never seeing her again! You're not seeing any of your friends or family again! Aha! Ahahahaha!" Kyo cackled madly as the light enveloped Naofumi, and-
"Good morning!"
"Ack!" Naofumi jumped up, breathing in and out rapidly as he held his shield out in front of him in a defensive stance.
"Whoa, jumpy much?" Kizuna tilted her head to the side curiously. "If you were worried about it yesterday, the portal to the prison here is different from the other portals. No monster is allowed to go through it."
…
At his blank stare, Kizuna helplessly shrugged. "What? As I said, the logic of this place is weird. It's not like I can explain why everything works the way it does."
Naofumi moaned as he realized it was only the annoying lolibaba. At least she hadn't realized he'd just had a bad dream. His forehead was coated with sweat and his pulse was quick. It'd been a while since he'd had a nightmare that bad.
"What do you want?" Naofumi asked tiredly.
"Well, I was just coming to see how your night went and found you asleep." Kizuna shrugged. "It didn't look to be a comfortable position really. Are you trying to throw out your back or something? Or is that something the Shield Hero doesn't have to worry about? Man, that'd be pretty cool to grow old and not have to worry about arthritis or anything like that! Is that your superpower?!"
Naofumi grimaced as he stretched out his sore back and neck. "No, my shield doesn't do that." He responded.
"Well, then maybe I could make you a bed too if you want it. It'd probably be better than what you were doing there." Kizuna pointed out.
"Whatever, I don't plan on staying here long enough to need a bed." Naofumi scowled. "Is Rishia up yet?"
"Yeah, but she's washing herself off, and then she's going to help me cook breakfast!" Kizuna said excitedly. "As I like to say, nothing ruins a good day more than starting with an empty stomach!"
Naofumi merely groaned in response. Didn't that girl realize they weren't going to get anywhere if they didn't get this grinding out of the way?!
Whatever he could just continue with keeping himself busy. Although, he didn't really have many herbs from Glass's world left to compound with.
Kizuna walked off, likely to go get breakfast started. Naofumi checked through what he had stored inside his shield. Maybe he could use this as a chance to experiment with all the herbs he'd gotten from his world. But then, wouldn't it be better to save them in case he needed to make health potions or soul healing waters and the like. He still hadn't figured out how to make them with ingredients from here.
Midway through, he decided to take inventory of what he had in his shield instead. He'd used a lot of items and stuff for various power-up methods. But you never knew what you'd miss when you basically treated it like a trash can for months on end and… and… …
His eyes slowly widened as he came across one particular item.
"Just how would I survive getting a monster to that thing's power and size with how long it'd take to do it?"
Naofumi facepalmed. He was so stupid to have not thought of this sooner!
Actually, it'd been part of his series of random thoughts just the day before. Naofumi was truly beyond stupid.
"Kizuna! Kizuna! I know how we can escape!" Naofumi bolted out of his cell, chasing after the Hunting Tools Hero.
"Eh, wh-what is it?!" Kizuna turned in surprise, seeing the tired and angry Shield Hero from before looking very much alive and excited as he rushed out of his room after her. The abrupt one-eighty turn in his mood shocked her near speechless for once.
"You asked me yesterday how we'd raise a monster quickly, right?!" Naofumi said excitedly as he was busy pulling something from his shield.
"Yeah, what about it?" Kizuna cocked her head in confusion.
"I have an answer for you, we won't raise a monster!" He raised an item into her field of vision.
Bio-Plant Seed
"We'll grow one!" Naofumi exclaimed victoriously.
Author's Notes:
You know, the frustrating part starting out this arc is that Naofumi's position is relatively the same here starting out as in canon. And after being able to write things out my own way before this due to all the changes from the butterfly effect, I now have to write this out relatively close to canon since even Naofumi's mental state here being frustrated and constantly being almost crippledly worried for Raphtalia is similar to his canon counterpart's mental state, and it sucks. I didn't realize just how much of a hardball the start of this arc would be to previous changes since I chose to put Itsuki's group in a third area. It almost makes me wish I'd put them with Naofumi instead so I'd feel more original with these parts.
Anyway, I'm going to look forward to when I get past this beginning to events that were more affected by previous stuff. I hope you all aren't bored. If you are, here's an omake to try and fix that.
Hero Clips!
Don't Mistreat Books
"So… you got a whole campfire packed away in there? You wouldn't happen to also have a stove stored in there too, would you?" Aksel joked.
"It's just some stuff back from when we had to camp." Itsuki shrugged.
"Good thing you kept all that, huh. Now, I'll be able to cook us a good dinner." Aksel got to chopping the meat up for Itsuki. "Still, I wasn't joking. We could really use some fire to cook with. I'm not much of a fan of eating meat raw." He preferred his monsters well done instead of one step down from alive.
"Right, right, just give me a sec." Itsuki went around the room they were trapped in. There did seem to be holes at the top for ventilation, so at least the room wouldn't fill with smoke. And there were plenty of books he couldn't read on the shelves around him. The shelves were made of wood too.
He emptied a shelf and tore some boards out from it. The old wood gave way easily, and soon, Itsuki had a pile set up. He then tore some pages from random books that'd been resting on the shelves and began stuffing them in the wood to use as fuel.
Where she was walking with her husband towards their home in Lurolona so they could fulfill their marital vows, Rachel suddenly froze.
"What is it?" Gar asked curiously.
"I feel a disturbance in the force," Rachel growled lowly.
"A disturbance?" Gar asked.
She didn't answer him and began to look around rapidly. The feeling was only increasing, and it was only seconds later that she realized why.
"ITSUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
And just like that, the dark-haired mage of Itsuki's party disappeared into thin air.
…
"Huh?" Her husband was left with a dumb look on his face.
"Itsuki, are you really sure that this is a good idea?" Aksel asked as the Bow Hero prepared to try and light the pile of wood and books for the third time.
"It's either this, or we eat only vegetables for dinner! Flame Shot!"
The cavern began rumbling.
Bow Hero! You have desecrated the books of the Ancient Library Labyrinth! My favorite place to study!
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Aksel and Maya screamed together in terror.
Itsuki, however, stood with a dumb look on his face. "Huh?" Was it just him, or did that voice sound oddly like Rachel's-
Thoom!
He didn't get much time to think about it, as he and his party were blasted out through the building around the labyrinth and into the sky at terminal velocity.
"AHHHHHHHHHH- wait, we can finally do that thing!" Aksel screamed excitedly.
"What thing?" Maya asked curiously.
"You know, the thing that Itsuki told us about that one time, where the people in that anime scream when they're in situations like this!"
"Ah, you're right, let's give it our all!" Itsuki said, and the three took deep breaths together.
"We're blasting off againnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" The trio screamed as they became a distant speck in the sky.
"Wo-buffet!" It was unclear who finished out the rest of that reference. But it was appreciated after Kyo's failure to do the bare minimum in a previous omake.
Down below at the labyrinth, Rachel hmphed as she opened a portal. "Don't ever mistreat books again, or else."
With that, the mage went back through the portal to her world.
Rachel appeared in front of her husband, who was still very clearly confused about how his wife had disappeared in the first place.
"Rae, where the hell did you-" She kissed Gar deeply, cutting his question off.
The catman never did get another chance to ask his questions, as such trivial matters soon became entirely irrelevant in his mind as he and his wife walked back into their home so they could fulfill their wedding vows in private.
And thus, it was learned that Rachel's love of books was so deep and strong that she could feel when Itsuki was desecrating them across worlds. Which gave her the willpower to cross worlds herself and override a living labyrinth to punish the Bow Hero herself.
If only she could utilize that same power whenever antagonists on different worlds desecrated books carrying important information on their pages…
That would certainly have come in handy for the trials ahead.
Till Next Time
Allen