Chapter Fifty-Six: Taking Out the Trash
It'd been a few days since the trio left the town behind.
It took a while before Naofumi had fully recovered from the depression onset by the encounter with the little elf girl in the village. He couldn't recall much more than just being on autopilot and hardly speaking unless he was spoken to during that time.
For the most part, Rishia and Kizuna gave him the space he needed. He was still there to defend them from monster ambushes and the like. But… at the same time, it felt like his mind was somewhere else, surrounded by a layer of cotton. That his body was just doing its own thing while his mind drowned in sorrow.
Naofumi could recall that Rishia had spoken to him a few times. Whether in the morning, or at night, he couldn't say.
He could recall that she'd spoken of Itsuki. Of Aksel and Maya. About Rachel and their friends back home.
That she missed them a lot. That she wanted to be reunited with her friends.
Then…
"I don't want to find them just because they saved my life."
It was night, and she and him were sitting next to a cookfire. Naofumi looked up from the pot he'd been stirring to see Rishia standing there.
There wasn't a trace of the cowardly girl from before. Her green eyes reflected nothing but a determined will hidden within the small girl. "For most of my life, I thought that I was useless. That I had no purpose, and no hope of turning out into anything.
"I couldn't handle playing with the other kids my age. I messed up even the most basic chores. I could only handle cooking a few dishes. And my only friends were books. I… I hated who I was, but I couldn't bring myself to change."
"When I was imprisoned by that noble as leverage to get my parents to pay him, I thought that would be the end… my parents had no money left. So I thought that I'd no longer be allowed to live with myself and my failures…"
…
There was a long pause as Rishia struggled for her next words.
"And yet, Itsuki and the others changed that."
But when she spoke again, her words sounded even more powerful and genuine than before.
"Even when I was weak, they didn't give up on me. He didn't give up on me. When I was at my lowest when we were in Cal Mira, I tried to get him to see me how I saw me. But he didn't budge. He pushed and pushed until I changed my mind about my self-worth, and realized that I had a reason to keep trying. To keep living.
"He was right. And because he put his faith in me, I'm determined to reunite with him…
"I want to help you to do the same, Naofumi. Since we both understand what it's like for others to give meaning to our lives. So please…"
…
After saying all that and seeing Naofumi's lack of response, Rishia sighed as she walked away from the campfire to practice with her ofuda. The determined spark still lingered in her eyes though.
Naofumi's hands let go of the ladle, and fell at his sides. He had no response for what Rishia had said.
Not that he wasn't left with much time to think about it as Kizuna approached him next.
She avoided looking at him directly at first and was thoughtfully chewing on her lower lip in hesitation. Eventually though, she seemed to collect herself and spoke out.
"Tell me about them."
…
"What?" Naofumi replied. His voice small and quiet, even to him.
"Raphtalia and Filo. Tell me what they are like." Kizuna said more confidently this time.
…
"Look, Naofumi, I want to say that I know what you're feeling right now and that I get you. But that'd be a lie." Kizuna looked away again as spoke.
"I do miss my friends and I've been alone for so long, but I've never had a lover or children for that matter." The hunting hero continued. "So I can't make a claim in good faith that I understand what you must be going through right now. So... can you tell me a little about them, so I can understand your pain, if just a little bit?"
Naofumi didn't respond. He just picked up the ladle again, and began to stir the contents of the pot. Nearby, Rishia continued to practice with the ofuda.
But Kizuna stayed in her spot. Staring at him as she waited for him to speak.
…
"Raphtalia… I met her shortly after I was summoned." Naofumi quietly began.
As he stirred, he explained how bad his situation had been. How those who'd summoned him had planned to betray him. How he and Raphtalia had met in a slave salesman's tent as he was preparing to flee for his life. Some of the many things they went through together.
"For a time, I felt truly alone. I didn't think that nobody would ever try to understand me. That nobody would ever care for me because I had the back luck of having this shield attached to my arm… but she…"
Naofumi choked back a sob as tears fell down the sides of his face. "She truly did. No matter how many times I tried to keep her at arms length, no matter how many times I tried to push her away, no matter our arguments or disagreements, she always came back… she understood me to the point that she could almost always tell when something troubling was on my mind."
"And Filo, at first, I was disappointed that she hadn't been a dragon. And when she showed she could transform into a little girl who didn't follow orders, she became very annoying and I thought about selling her more than a few times… but despite how mean and cold I was to her, she continued to love me and Raphtalia unconditionally and somewhere along the line I began to see her as the daughter I never knew I wanted.
"She could still be annoying and hard to understand, but she cared about me and Raphtalia. If either of us was hurting, she was there to offer her love and affection and allowed us to share our burdens with her. She always forgave me so easily, even when I…"
Kizuna stared as Naofumi fumbled with his words for a moment, choking on them as tears fell from his eyes. "And without her, without Raphtalia, it feels like so much good is missing from me. That I've lost two pillars I could lean on whenever my pain became too great for me to bear by myself." He finally finished, his shoulders shaking from suppressed sobs.
"... they sound like amazing people, I see why you miss them so much now." Kizuna said, a hint of melancholy in her voice.
"The best." Naofumi agreed. "I value the friends I've made since meeting them. And… and I think of my fellow heroes as my brothers… But no one, no one, will ever hold as large a place in my heart as the two of them."
…
"Well, not until me and Raphtalia have more children at least." Naofumi's tears abated as he chuckled a little to himself. Seeing the simple action made Kizuna smile widely.
"Naofumi… I'm not sure if this is the right thing to say or not. I've never been good at handling others' depression. But I think you can trust them to look after themselves." Kizuna nodded her head firmly. "After all, they're amazing people even on their own. And… even though I miss L'Arc and the others, I've trusted that they'd be able to handle things without me around."
…
She smiled a bit after thinking about it for a moment. "Well, maybe not L'Arc so much, but I can trust that Glass and Therese are keeping him in line."
Naofumi smirked a little in response. "I can verify Therese does just that even to this day."
Kizuna laughed openly this time. "I do hope those two have at least gotten together since I last saw them."
"Nope. By the looks of it, Therese is still playing hard to get with him." Naofumi shrugged.
"Oof. Poor L'Arc. I can't imagine what he's had to suffer." Kizuna laughed again while still smiling genuinely.
She then looked curious. "What about Glass? Is she doing ok?"
…
"She… she definitely misses you." Naofumi said, not saying more since those were things he shouldn't be the one to share.
He remembered how, in his frustration when they'd first met, he'd mentioned how Kyo almost drove Glass to kill herself. Seeing the look in Kizuna's eyes, it was almost like he could tell she was thinking about that right now. She looked away, a troubled look on her face. And he found himself regretting that he'd told her that before.
…
Yet, despite the heavy atmosphere, he recognized the advice she'd given him. It almost exactly mirrored what Motoyasu had told him in the recording.
"Thank you," Naofumi said after a moment.
"For what?" Kizuna asked, turning to face him again.
"For reminding me of what a good friend and brother told me recently." Naofumi smiled a little.
"Hmmm…" Kizuna thought to herself for a moment. "You're welcome." She smiled back happily.
…
They sat in silence after that for a few moments. Naofumi continued to stir the pot before him.
Nearby, Rishia was smiling, happy to see that Sir Naofumi was finally feeling better again.
"By the way, thank you too, Rishia." Naofumi suddenly said.
"F-Fueh?" She turned in surprise. The Shield Hero was smiling at her.
"I appreciate your company and help too. I definitely understand what Itsuki sees in you now. But just between you and me, you really should tell him about your feelings for him already." Naofumi chuckled as he finished cooking what was in the pot.
They could really use each other. Life was so much harder when one had to go through it all alone.
"FUEHHHH!?" Rishia whimpered loudly in embarrassment.
"You already admitted out loud that you loved him, didn't you?" Kizuna asked curiously.
"B-B-But I don't know if he f-f-feels the s-s-s-s-same about me!" Rishia screamed in terror.
Naofumi sighed. The two were truly perfect for each other.
Because they were both too stupid to realize how the other felt.
"S-Sir Naofumi, I don't like the look on your face!" Rishia exclaimed.
"Is that his rude face? I think that's what I'm going to call it from now on." Kizuna laughed.
"Oi, do you two want dinner or not?" Naofumi asked in a flat voice.
"Sure, also, kind of offtopic, but it's been bugging me for a while." Kizuna said as she crossed her hands behind her head as if they hadn't just been talking about a serious subject a few minutes ago. "I felt it'd be inappropriate to ask earlier, but why did you buy gear before you leveled up with the Earth Crystals? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?"
"Well for one, we had to use the Earth Crystals outside of town since using so many so quickly inside of town would have definitely drawn suspicion to us." Naofumi began to explain. "I didn't want to leave town for even a few minutes either since it would have given the merchants a chance to recover, band together, and prepare for my return. And finally, the biggest caveat which I'm sure you're aware of: higher level armor and weapons are far more expensive than lower level stuff."
"The gear I bought for me and Rishia was worth around six and a half kinhan. A kodachi for a level forty was worth at least eight kinhan. So to get that and two different armor sets would have been at least thirty kinhan, if not more. I'm good at trading, but I barely got the money I needed for our current gear as well as crystals, ores, and everything else that I needed to buy. And I was only able to buy those items because I haggled down the price so much." The Shield Hero stated seriously.
"In other words, I would have needed at least several more days of haggling to amass the amount of money I needed for higher level gear. If the merchants hadn't fled the town in terror before that point." He finished.
Kizuna laughed uproariously at that. "You're joking. There's no way you would have…"
…
"You're not joking, are you?" Kizuna asked, her voice tinted with dread.
"Give me a week. I would have ensured that every dishonest merchant there would go bankrupt and flee the place, never to return." Naofumi smirked widely as he dished up the finished meal.
…
Once again, Kizuna was reminded of her merchant friend.
She was more sure than ever that Naofumi should never be allowed to meet them.
…
At least the dinner tasted good. Soon, they were talking about random things and having a fun time bonding with each other late into the night before retiring to bed.
The next day, the group's journey continued.
Naofumi still had to watch the recording crystal a few more times, and twice he held Filo's shed feathers in his hands while he slept. But thanks to Rishia and Kizuna, he was able to focus again somewhat on the here and now around halfway towards the Capital of this country.
That half of the journey from the town to the Capital was what he recalled down below.
Kizuna had mentioned before that Large Green Rats existed outside the infinite labyrinth. But Naofumi was surprised when, alongside the other monsters they encountered, they came across more White Cardboard Boxes and their various color variants. It was with them that Rishia noticed they were stronger than the ones in the dungeon. And as if to prove it, when they died, they gave more EXP than their dungeon brothers… sisters?
Did Cardboard Box monsters even have genders?
Naofumi shook his head. He did not want to wonder how the hell a piece of cardboard reproduced. More importantly, it was the fact that the monsters outside the dungeon were even stronger that drew his attention in the first place.
It could go a long way in explaining why Glass was so strong during Waves if she and her allies spent their time grinding monsters like these. It could also explain why the other Cardinal Heroes had given up on fighting. If they hadn't shared their methods with each other, and if all the monsters here were multiple levels of strength stronger than the ones in Naofumi's world, it'd make sense why they'd find the monsters and the Waves too tough to handle.
The Shield Hero's thoughts eventually shifted somewhere else. Kizuna, again, which was unsurprising with how much they'd been interacting lately.
The girl really was strong. She took out many of the monsters they came across with a single blow, using either a fishing rod, a bow, a spear, or a large tuna knife. And she had a wide variety of skills that she used with these weapon forms too.
One skill in particular that he found interesting was called Flying Sparrow. It would send a blade of light at the Hunting Hero's target when she used it. It was similar to Motoyasu's Air Strike Javelin attack functionality wise.
She had another skill called First Form: Pitfall. It'd seemed stupid at first since it only made a waist deep hole in front of the target, basically exactly the same as a first level earth spell from his world. But the monsters either had to stop to avoid stepping into it, or they would fall in and leave themselves open to attacks from Kizuna or Rishia.
Then there was one that was the weirdest of them all, yet also the most useful. Fishing.
No joke. That was the name of the skill. With it, Kizuna could hook any monster by the mouth with the lure of her fishing rod. She'd then send the monster flying high up into the air, and then bring them crashing down into the ground belly up. This left them vulnerable to all sorts of finishing attacks.
Thus far, Naofumi had come across no monster that was immune to this. Not even massive large-scaled crocodile-like monsters called Massive Mandibles that they encountered.
If there was any doubt left about the lolibaba's strength, seeing her lift such a monster several dozen feet into the air with just a fishing rod had dashed it to pieces. Not even Naofumi could do that at his current strength level.
On the crocodile-like things in particular he got to see her use the same skill she'd used on the kappa before. Blood Flower Strike. According to her description of it, it connected all the weak points on a monster together and cut through them.
It was an attack that instantly killed most monsters and separated their bodies into pieces, but those that survived were left with a very deep cut instead. But rare was the case when any monster was strong enough to survive that move.
Naofumi certainly didn't meet any monsters who survived it during their journey to the country's Capital city.
As the group traveled, Kizuna would occasionally retreat back over a kilometer away so that Naofumi and Rishia could deal with the monsters and get exp. But she only did it when she was sure that they could handle them. Which happened more times than Naofumi would have expected.
Despite Rishia's horrid stat growth, her confidence in battle grew at a surprising rate. And alongside that confidence came stronger moves from her Hengen Musou training and her use of ofuda in some encounters.
There was also Naofumi. Thanks to having a somewhat higher level as well as the addition of Motoyasu's methods, he was more than fairly decent at protecting only Rishia from attacks. They weren't quite as in sync as he and Raphtalia, but their battle coordination definitely saw some improvement.
At times, Kizuna would hit powerful monsters with a lure from her fishing rod before retreating at a quick pace, signaling that they were going to deal with the monsters.
It never appeared to damage the monsters. Yet when Rishia attacked them after Kizuna was out of sight, she'd almost one hit the monster hit by the lure with her attacks.
When Naofumi asked Kizuna about it later that night, he learned that it was a skill called Lure Needle. It was a skill that doubled the amount of damage of the next attack, no matter how powerful it was.
It had its drawbacks, however. For example, the effect only lasted for a short while. And you had to hit the same spot as the lure had for the double damage multiplier to take effect. Still, it was a utility skill she could use on any monster, or even other people.
Obviously, she couldn't utilize the damage multiplier in such cases herself since she couldn't damage people thanks to her weapon restriction. But she could rely on others in those circumstances to utilize the damage multiplier she placed on them.
Naofumi imagined Glass or L'Arc hitting someone in that situation, or Raphtalia and Filo when they charged up their attacks. And to think it would double even those types of damage.
That made it both a useful, and a scary skill to have.
Naofumi wanted that skill too. When the hell would he unlock it? It would be super useful for supporting his friends in the future. It'd make things so much easier.
Oh, and Naofumi found most of their campsites were made next to streams, lakes, or bodies of water in general. When he wasn't cooking breakfast or dinner, he'd find Kizuna fishing in these places. Almost completely losing track of time as she did something she enjoyed.
He appreciated the food, but it became ridiculous when he and Rishia dealt with a group of monsters on their own and had to wait an hour for Kizuna to reappear because she'd found a 'great fishing spot' she just had to try out.
Kizuna truly was obsessed with fishing.
Her weapon had chosen its candidate perfectly.
A number of days after they'd left the town, they finally arrived at the country's Capital city.
Ever since Kizuna had escaped the Labyrinth, she'd had an hourglass in the corner of her vision counting down until the next wave for a country that wasn't Sickle. It was an Hourglass she'd registered to during the war against the Demon Dragon for travel purposes, but now that was going to bite them in the butt as she'd be summoned to fight in that wave and other waves now that she'd been freed from the Labyrinth.
By the time they reached the Capital, there was nine days left on that timer.
When the Capital came into view, Naofumi was blown away once again by the Japanese influence on the city.
There were far more buildings here than at the town, obviously, but it was clearly still from the Edo Period. One of the main landmarks was the large Japanese-style castle which loomed over everything in the middle of the city. It was visible even from a distance.
When they approached the gated entrance, Naofumi thought he'd be the one to present the travel voucher since Kizuna had to stand between him and Rishia to avoid people. But, surprisingly, Rishia was the one who walked forward and presented the travel voucher at the entrance to the city and spoke to the official there.
Even more surprisingly, the man was able to understand what she was saying. Though he did visibly grimace. "Your accent is atrocious." He replied gruffly. Still, he accepted the travel voucher and allowed the three of them to enter without asking any more questions.
Naofumi looked at Rishia in surprise. "I thought you didn't have an auto-translation function? What gives?"
"I've been doing my best to learn the language at night from that book you bought me and what Kizuna was able to teach me about pronunciation before going to bed." Rishia explained. "It's still hard for me to understand when people speak too fast, but I feel like I'm able to grasp it somewhat now. I have a much easier time reading things though. It helps that some of the characters are close to what the Hero's language is."
What… who the hell learned a new language so quickly?! It'd only been what, a week?! Naofumi looked at Kizuna for an explanation, but she shook her head and showed that she was just as confused as him. "I only helped her out that first night. I didn't know more than what I told her!"
Naofumi looked at Rishia again, who began to fidget nervously. "Is… is it weird to take this long to learn a new language? I was usually fluent in other languages I encountered in our world after a week. But this one is so different from them. I'm sorry I'm taking so long to learn it! I'll try to do better!" She bowed her head in deep apology.
Naofumi nearly died inside on the spot. What kind of brain did this girl have?! Was that the reason why her stat growth was so terrible?! Could it be that she was focused on stats he couldn't see on his HUD like Intelligence?! And did she really think others had as easy a time learning a new language as her!?
What he would have given to have this skill at the start of his journey in Melromarc, or hell, even his old High School English class!
"It's nothing, stop drawing attention to yourself." Naofumi instead said flatly, deciding not to bring attention to this. Let Itsuki be the one to figure those things out.
"Fueh." Rishia whimpered as she straightened up again, looking as if she'd done something wrong.
"Which way to the Dragon Hourglass?" Naofumi asked Kizuna.
"For this country… I believe it'll be in the same building that the adventurer's guild is in." She said after thinking to herself for a moment.
Naofumi nodded to himself. "Let's find it and get out of here then."
Rishia stopped a couple passerby as they walked, asking for directions to the guild. She still spoke slowly and haltingly, but for once, it worked to her advantage. It made it easy to tell that she wasn't from around there, and her adventurer gear threw off even more suspicion, painting her as just another ronin who'd come to the capital looking for work. It wasn't long until a dwarf gave them directions to the guild, which was in a building near the castle at the center of the city.
Naofumi passed by all sorts of things he hadn't expected to see. Outdoor cafes with couples sitting at tables. Lanterns hanging from poles overhead that were magically enchanted to light up when it became dark out. There were advertisements for several different restaurants. A large marketplace showcasing various foodstuffs and items. Gambling halls akin to pachinko parlors that made Naofumi roll his eyes as he saw idiots getting fleeced of their money.
They also passed by a few temples. When Naofumi asked, Kizuna shrugged and said she learned it was basically Shintoism that the people of this world practiced. He didn't feel to press for more details to see if it was different from his Japan's version.
The Three Heroes Church had kind of killed his taste in religion.
Still, while the city wasn't modern by any standards, just a few touch ups and it would be just like walking down the sidewalk in his old city.
If his old city had no cars. And if it had medieval Japanese structures instead of modern ones. And if it had a massive castle built in the center of it.
The immersion was instantly ruined. Yet… Naofumi didn't mind it.
It'd been a long time since he'd last had the desire to go back to his old world.
"Excuse me, sir." A man in an important-looking outfit stopped Naofumi's group. Naofumi did his best to not appear surprised and stayed calm.
"Yes, can I help you?" Naofumi asked with a practiced poker face.
…
"No, it's nothing. I'm sorry, I thought I recognized someone who was walking with you. My mistake." The man gave him a short bow, and then continued on.
Naofumi looked behind him, but he only saw Rishia.
Wait, where the hell had Kizuna gone?! Had she hidden herself to evade the man, or… no, she couldn't have. She couldn't have gone on ahead to get to the dragon hourglass and leave them behind! If she had after what they'd gone through-
"Whew, that was close." Kizuna reappeared from behind an empty stall. She wiped a bead of sweat off her face. "Thank you for moving in his line of sight, Rishia. That gave me just enough time to hide."
"Feh." Rishia whimpered.
Naofumi breathed out a sigh of relief. Then he looked at her, annoyance clear to see on his face. "A little warning, next time?"
"Sorry, I saw him just before he saw me. I knew I had to disappear quickly." Kizuna replied apologetically.
"... Wait, was he one of the people who put you in that labyrinth?" Naofumi suddenly asked as he remembered what Kizuna had told him before.
"No, but he works amongst the higher-ups in this country. They're one of the few people who know what I look like because of our interactions during the war against the Demon Dragon." The Hunting Hero explained.
Naofumi frowned in response, and after that, he and Rishia had to gather around the Hunting Hero more tightly. They had to pass by other officials dressed like the first one on their way towards their destination.
There appeared to be a lot of them around the guild building too when it finally came into sight, oddly enough. Kizuna frowned to herself. "This is strange. Why are there so many of them here?"
"This isn't normal?" Naofumi asked in a whisper. They moved so Kizuna could take cover behind a parked wagon. "Do you think they're expecting us? Is this some sort of trap for you?"
"No. If they knew that I'd escaped, they'd have put wanted posters of me up all over the place and chained up the Hourglass so no one could use it." Kizuna shook her head. "I saw through the doors that the Hourglass isn't barred off, but there were a lot of people inside. Something about this smells and not in a good way."
"Maybe we should retreat back to the mountains and level up some more?" Naofumi offered.
"That won't help me out, you know?" Kizuna pouted at him. "And besides needing to pay a lot to leave the city, we can't really lose more time before the next wave comes."
Right, people. And that time crunch in particular. The Wave would summon them to another country that wasn't Sickle. Costing them precious time in locating Raphtalia, Filo, and the others.
"W-Wouldn't we meet L'Arc and Glass at the wave though?" Rishia brought up a good point. They were registered to the hourglasses too, after all.
"Possibly. Or, if they were as unlucky as you and Naofumi, they're trapped in a place where they won't get summoned to fight any Waves either." Kizuna replied. "There's also the possibility that Naofumi's wife friend and daughter, and your boyfriend and friends, aren't with them. Being summoned to a Wave could help us find everyone, or, it could cost us days or even weeks of precious time. What matters is that the sooner we find them, the sooner we can stop worrying about trying to keep Naofumi's spirits up."
"F…" Rishia crushed the whimper. "Right."
Naofumi frowned at Kizuna, who smiled innocently as she whistled.
Well, if worse came to worst, Naofumi figured his stats were high enough now that he could protect against anyone that tried to attack them.
"Let's stop standing here staring at the building. It's only going to make us look more suspicious." Naofumi murmured to Rishia. He made to move towards the building.
"Wait, I just realized, if there's this many important people here today, then they're going to screen whoever goes inside." Kizuna cursed quietly, staying behind the wagon.
"How the heck are we supposed to get you to the Dragon Hourglass then?" Naofumi angrily whispered back.
"I don't know, I wasn't expecting this many people to be here today. For all I know, the Vassal Mirror wielder could be here too and if that's the case, then we'd really be screwed." Kizuna answered in an agitated tone.
"Vassal Mirror?" Naofumi questioned. "Wait, hold on, wouldn't that be a good thing then? Wouldn't he help us as a fellow hero?"
"If only." Kizuna spat out. "The vassal wielder for this country… ugh. I don't know much about him or how he fights because he was only chosen shortly before I was imprisoned." Kizuna grit her teeth, even more visibly agitated. "I won't go into detail right now, but long story short, he's not a very nice person and I really wish that I could punch him. Multiple times."
"... he was one of the people who threw you into the Infinite Labyrinth." Naofumi realized. And for once, he was right.
"Heh. Yep. Laughed as he did so too. I don't normally hate people, but him… he's special." Kizuna said spitefully.
Naofumi was starting to wish he'd saved a location outside the Capital for his Portal Shield skill. It would have made for a good back-up plan for when things would go wrong as they always did.
"Okay, it's too risky, so let's go find an inn and-" Naofumi began to say.
"We can't do that either, remember that official from earlier?" Kizuna said, sudden steel in her tone. "The one that thought he saw me?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Naofumi asked.
"Think about it. He thought he saw me, but he didn't find me. Still, he and everyone else haven't seen the Hunting Tools Hero that they scorn for years. But then, one day, she's potentially spotted in their capital city, near where their Dragon Hourglass is on what appears to be an important day. But they're unable to find her. What would you do in that situation?" Kizuna asked with dread.
…
Naofumi swore to himself.
If the situation was bad now, it'd be a lot worse if that guy reported the rumor to the wrong people. Even if it was a false rumor, it'd taken less for the Church in his world to devote a ton of resources to an area to locate him. The government here would instead increase security on the hourglass and make it impossible to get to.
"Rishia, go to the entrance and see what info you can gather." Naofumi ordered. "At the very least, I'm not going to have us go in blind."
"Fue…" The girl started to whimper, but then forced it down. "G-Got it. Just a moment." She went on ahead towards the entrance to the building.
Naofumi moved behind the parked wagon they'd been standing by, taking a spot next to Kizuna while they waited. He tapped his foot against the ground impatiently.
They had to pay to leave the city. And there was the potential for this place to go on high alert.
Maybe it'd been a bad idea to send Rishia off ahead. But he felt so on edge that to go himself would have been a bad idea. And she seemed capable of handling herself lately. And since she could speak the local language, it was all the better.
…
A few tense minutes passed. And Naofumi nearly thought that he'd doomed the green-haired girl when she reappeared by the wagon.
"Thank goodness. How did it go? What did you learn?" Naofumi asked quickly.
"From what I can tell, there are no Vassal Heroes inside." That was good to know, at least. "As for why everyone's there… it appears that rumor you heard back in the village was no rumor, Sir Naofumi. A genius inventor from the next country over managed to replicate the Hero's Portal travel ability, and has just appeared inside with his party members."
Kizuna looked stunned by that. "No way, when I was first imprisoned, people were saying that'd never be accomplished in my lifetime!"
"Looks like it was though." Naofumi gritted his teeth. "And with perfect timing for us too."
Of course, that would explain why so many important officials were here. This was actually a momentous day for Kizuna's world.
And they'd walked right smack into the center of it.
"Alright, from the way I see it, we have two options here." Naofumi took a deep breath as he considered what to do. "A. We find a way to sneak out of the city and go to the mountains. We then wait a few days to level up and have things calm down here. Then try to go into the building when no one is around. It's probably the safest of the two options, but will cost us time that we don't have, and security could very well be as tight, or even tighter because of what happened earlier." Naofumi didn't say it, but it also possibly meant that it'd be even longer before Naofumi and Rishia could locate their friends and loved ones. Especially if the Wave hit and they were summoned alongside L'Arc and Glass to fight it… if those two did get summoned to fight the Wave in the first place.
"Or?" Kizuna asked.
"Or… B, we charge in there, and get to the Dragon Hourglass by force." Naofumi suggested with a grim tone of voice.
…
"Uh… you do remember that I can't attack people, right? Heck, you can't attack period!" Kizuna pointed out.
"I can't attack, yes. But I can defend. And I can annoy attackers." Naofumi's frown deepened. "Don't forget, I have defensive skills of my own that can cover a wide area. Even if I can't attack, I can prevent people from hitting us. I could even force apart a crowd with the right skills if I wanted to."
"I don't know, that sounds pretty crazy, even by my standards." Kizuna said to herself, sounding unsure.
"Sir Naofumi, are crazy plans the only things you can come up with?" Rishia asked hesitantly, with just a twinge of an accusatory tone in her words.
"Oi, for the last time, it's not crazy if they work!" As Naofumi said that, he looked out from around the wagon and saw the same official from earlier. It appeared he had an entourage of guards with him.
"Looks like you were right, Kizuna. Soon, they're going to seal this place tighter than a rice cooker. So, do we retreat, or do we risk it and bring you home?" Naofumi asked seriously.
…
It didn't take long for Kizuna to decide. And the smirk that appeared on her face was infectious as Naofumi soon found himself to be smirking too.
"It's been several years since I've seen everyone in Sickle. I refuse to wait another minute!"
Right after she'd shouted, that official, who'd been looking around the area, pointed in their direction. "You! I thought I recognized you earlier!"
Heh. Thank goodness they were crazy.
"Stay with me, Rishia!" Naofumi shouted as Kizuna jumped onto the wagon and used her fishing pole to propel herself towards the building.
"Got it!" The two charged from behind the wagon, running straight towards the entrance.
"What the-" "What's going-" The guards and officials up front began to shout in confusion as they heard the commotion in the square behind them.
"It's the Hunting Tools Hero! Stop her, you morons!" The first official bellowed.
Before the weight of his words could register, Naofumi was already in front of the guards outside the entrance. And while he still couldn't attack worth a damn...
"Meteor Shield!" The blue transparent ball of energy appeared around him and Rishia, pushing the guards and officials closest to them out of the way. They screamed as they tumbled in all directions like a bunch of bowling pins.
The Shield Hero was still capable of clearing a path with his skills.
Those still standing thrust at his skill with their weapons, but they bounced off as if they'd hit a solid wall. Those whose weapons' hilts were made of wood watched in shock as their weapons broke into pieces.
"Huah!" Rishia appeared in front of those soldiers, the blunt end of her kodachi slamming into their heads and knocking them out before they had a chance to retaliate.
She then turned to the guards and official behind them, throwing an ofuda from her hands that impacted the ground in front of them.
A large green tornado burst from the ground, sending the men flying around in a panic. Just as that witch had explained, Ofuda required no chant. And Rishia had amplified the spell's power with her own magic power. Very handy indeed. "That should hold them off for a moment!" She yelled.
"Ha. Well done, Rishia." Naofumi praised the smaller girl.
Feeling confident from his uncracked barrier, and seeing Kizuna fly through the air above him, Naofumi and Rishia charged past the rest of the disoriented guards and officials who were still trying to stand back up.
The Shield Hero charged through the entrance into a large open room.
He immediately noticed that it was full of people. Standing tall in the back behind some desks, tables, and other obstacles that made it look like they'd walked into a city hall and not some random guild building, was a Dragon Hourglass that looked exactly like the ones from his world. And in front of said hourglass was a guy who Naofumi assumed to be the genius mentioned earlier.
When he first learned of this, he'd briefly wondered if it'd be Kyo, but unfortunately, or perhaps thankfully, considering the Shield Hero's current power level, it wasn't.
The boy ahead looked like a character straight from a second rate shonen manga. He was dressed in samurai-like armor, but it was worn over the top of a school uniform. It was… definitely strange. His hair was worn back in a ponytail, but unlike Motoyasu's, it was pulled back and down.
There were a bunch of girls flocking around him. Naofumi assumed they were his party. There were no guys in it whatsoever. And before Naofumi had charged in and grabbed everyone's attention, they had been ogling him and praising him for his success or what not.
Blech. It was like seeing Motoyasu's old cheerleading squad all over again. Naofumi immediately disliked them.
"Stop them!" A soldier from behind shouted, drawing the attention of those in the room.
"Remember, I just have to touch the Dragon Hourglass!" Kizuna shouted.
"Don't sweat it. This isn't the first time that I've had to force my way to a protected hourglass." Naofumi smirked as he briefly recalled forcing his way through the Church before the Lute Wave.
"That's a story I'd like to hear later." Kizuna laughed.
The wave of soldiers in front of them charged forward, and Naofumi met their charge with his barrier.
Once again, most of their weapons bounced off or broke on his Meteor Shield skill. However, a few did leave small, yet noticeable cracks. He frowned upon seeing those. Some of these soldiers were more powerful than the others.
His worries were quickly forgotten though as Rishia charged forward, her kodachi flashing as she thrust forward rapidly. "Tide of Blows!"
Those guards that'd cracked the barrier were sent flying backwards into other soldiers. They collapsed, coughing up blood and looking very much in pain from the defense piercing attacks they'd just received.
"Quickly, while there's an opening!" Naofumi shouted over his shoulder at his fellow hero.
Kizuna rushed forward out of the barrier. Her line already cast and caught on a chandelier up above, she propelled herself through the air towards the Dragon Hourglass.
However, she didn't make it even halfway through the room before she was forced to twist her course and dodge a wave of arrows, spells, and ofuda sent flying at her from the various soldiers in the room as well as the manga guy and his harem of women.
"So you are the famous Hunting Tools Hero, nyeh?" Manga guy smirked as he pointed at her with his index finger. "You should have stayed in that Labyrinth where you wouldn't get in the way! Don't let her escape!"
Kizuna landed behind a desk, cursing to herself as she was forced to run and jump around as more soldiers charged after her.
These soldiers definitely weren't dumb. They'd reacted very quickly despite the changing situation. These were seasoned warriors and not some random dumb brutes randomly swinging their clubs around.
It made it frustrating, but Manga Guy in particular looked dangerous. He and his party were focusing more attacks at Kizuna, making her situation more precarious than it already was.
"Oi!" Naofumi yelled as he and Rishia continued to charge forward. His barrier continued its work in knocking away the crowd of people around him. "Pick on someone your own size, fishface!"
"Hey! My height is perfectly average!" Kizuna yelled in an offended tone from where she was at.
The discount shonen manga superstar turned to face Naofumi just as he finished charged through the last line of soldiers. As he finished his charge, Rishia turned around and began to fight with all the soldiers that dared to approach her.
Up close, Naofumi's dislike for Manga Guy grew even more. The look in his eyes was just like Kyo's. Like he was staring into the eyes of a dead, rotten fish. And his self-satisfying smirk was just as revolting.
Though, surprisingly, besides those features, he looked almost exactly like Naofumi. From his hair to his facial structure.
…
Crap, had he inadvertently insulted himself by describing the guy as a discount shonen character? This was awkward.
"Fish face? Wow. I can already tell you weren't blessed with creativity. Who are you to think you can talk like that to me?" The guy yawned into his hand.
But his voice definitely wasn't Naofumi's. It sounded a lot like Kyo's too. You know, when the male Bitch hadn't been whining about them cheating and all that. "Girls, deal with this loser for me."
"Yes!" "As you command Lord-!" An explosion from a fire ofuda behind Naofumi drowned out Manga Guy's name before he could hear it.
The harem of girls then charged towards Naofumi while Manga Guy continued to look bored. It ticked Naofumi off in a way that also reminded him of Kyo.
Naofumi didn't have much time to resent him as the girl's weapons struck his barrier, shattering it almost immediately, and Naofumi was forced to backpedal and defend himself against their blows with his shield.
Crap. He'd underestimated them. They were a lot stronger than they appeared. If the monsters of this world were so strong, it'd probably translate into the people being able to get stronger too. It didn't help that Naofumi was still pretty low level wise.
He shouldn't have let down his guard after the first guards had failed to destroy his barrier.
"Meteor Shield! Shield Prison!" Naofumi summoned the first barrier around himself again since the cooldown had expired long ago. But the second skill he summoned around the girls in the hope that it'd confuse them and give him an opening to distract Manga Guy.
It worked… brilliantly. Even more so than the Shield Hero thought possible.
"Ack! What is this?!"
"Let us out! Help us!"
"Get your armpit out of my face!"
"Get your face out of my armpit!"
Manga guy didn't look so bored now. He had an incredulous look on his face, and then he looked pissed. "How dare you hurt my women!"
"I… just trapped them." Naofumi said in a flat voice. If the guy checked his HUD, he'd find that none of them had taken any damage. "And weren't you the one that ordered them to attack me to begin with? Why are you blaming me when you were the one that ordered them to put themselves in danger? Are you an idiot?!"
However, the guy didn't appear to pay any attention to Naofumi's words, as a big ball of fire appeared in front of him and was promptly launched towards the Shield Hero. He'd had no warning, as he hadn't heard the guy chanting beforehand.
At least he had the guy's attention now.
The spell shattered his Meteor Shield skill, but… it looked like a spell he could reflect, so Naofumi hit it with his shield.
The fireball flew away from him, but it impacted against a nearby wall, blowing it out and creating a gaping hole leading outside instead of hitting Manga Guy. Naofumi grimaced. It'd been a while since he'd last done that with an attack, so he was out of practice.
"Try this one on for size!" Another fireball quickly followed behind the first one, and Naofumi reflected with his shield again into a group of soldiers on the other side of the room. Manga guy smirked as he sent a third one at the Shield Hero.
Naofumi would have questioned how the guy was using spells so quickly, but as he tried to reflect it, he missed and the spell impacted against his chest. "Gah!" The Shield Hero's Health bar dropped a little bit, and the exposed skin on his neck had light burns. He was able to remain standing though.
"Hahaha! And with this, I'll deal with you once and for all!" Manga guy laughed as he formed another fireball, bigger than the rest. And with a swing like a baseball pitcher, he launched it at Naofumi. "Burn to ashes!"
Naofumi scowled. He swung his shield again, and this time, he hit the spell back at its source.
It impacted against Manga Guy, and he screamed as he was scorched by his own flames. His girls finally escaped from the Shield Prison thanks to it disappearing just in time to witness it.
"No, Lord-" The guys' name was once again lost in the midst of the screaming going on around them.
Behind him, Naofumi was aware of Rishia taking on the soldiers, and doing a damn good job at it as she disarmed and sent various men flying with either her blade or the use of the ofuda hanging off the belt on her side. She was like an unstoppable hurricane going through their midst. No attacks could touch her. And her green braids flew around her face just like they had when they'd been facing Kyo.
Rishia was currently in her awakened form, and it was good timing too, especially since more soldiers were rushing in through the entrance and the newly opened up hole in the side of the building. The official from before, though banged up, was leading the charge.
Kizuna was still hiding and was slowly being surrounded. Unlike Rishia, she needed help.
"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!" Naofumi summoned the skills in the air above her, and Kizuna was able to bound up the makeshift platforms to another part of the room. She waved gratefully at Naofumi as the shields doubled as protection from the soldiers that tried to stab her from below.
"How dare you!? Looks like I'll have to show you my true power now!" Manga Guy stood up, looking at Naofumi with a crazed look. Despite his burns, he could still move. A circle of energy appeared around him as he drew a comically large nodachi from a sheath on his side.
Legit, it was longer than the guy was tall.
It oddly reminded Naofumi of something he'd seen in a video game. Only, Manga Guy had made it look even more stupid and edgy. And he hadn't drawn the blade from the ground either!
Man, what a disappointment.
Naofumi's Meteor Shield skill hadn't finished its short cooldown yet, and he needed to save his Dritte Shield for in case Kizuna needed it. So when Manga Guy raced forward surprisingly fast to attack with the large sword, the Shield Hero moved to block the guy's sword directly with the Legendary Shield.
"Ha, you're not even going to try and attack! Fine by me! I'll cut right through that flimsy piece of metal and gut you like a-" Manga Guy roared victoriously.
CLANGGGG!
…
…
Naofumi smirked behind his shield as the guy's eyes widened incredulously.
"Like a what? I don't think you even scratched the metal." Naofumi goaded his enemy with relish in his tone. It appeared that the speech earlier was all show, the guy's magic was stronger than his weapon.
"Rahhhhh!" Manga Guy screamed, as if doing so would increase his attack power and help him break through Naofumi's defense. Did he really think that he was in some manga where the person screaming the loudest usually won?
Each strike rang with an audible CLANG! through the room that distracted even the soldiers. "What kind of monster is he to have such defenses?" One of them exclaimed in disbelief.
"Who is that person?" "Is he a Hero?" "What's with that shield?" Other soldiers and officials muttered, looking from Kizuna and Rishia to Naofumi.
Even the women of Manga Guy's party stared in shock. This kind of sight was unheard of. Flecks of metal flew through the air around Naofumi as Manga guy continued to scream incomprehensibly.
Naofumi allowed the boy to tire himself in his rage, then sent the high school samurai wannabe flying back with a push of his shield after a particularly heavy blow that nearly made his arm shake.
The guy was definitely strong. He had power behind those blows of his. But unfortunately for him, Naofumi's shield had the higher defense.
Much higher too, as the guy's nodachi was dented, bent, and cracked from trying to hit Naofumi. He'd nearly broken it on the Shield Hero. No wonder flecks of metal had been flying around them earlier.
"You done making a fool of yourself? Or do I need to stop going easy on you?" Naofumi asked in a condescending tone that he hoped matched what the guy had used on him earlier.
"I'm not a fool! You're the fool for thinking that you can beat me!" Manga Guy screamed as he got back up.
Naofumi rolled his eyes. This guy must have been a special brand of stupid. Even Kyo had known when to cut his losses. He was just making a fool of himself in front of all these people.
Manga Guy's harem of women moved around him, casting healing magic on his wounds while simultaneously buffing him.
Oh, crap. He might actually prove to be a threat now. His entourage of women weren't for show, apparently. If they attacked the Shield Hero all at once right now, he'd surely be overwhelmed.
Naofumi glanced to the side and suddenly relaxed.
Oh, never mind, looks like they were done here for today.
"Good thing I don't need to beat you then!" Naofumi smirked as he made a wide shrugging motion. "Dritte Shield!"
"Huh?" The Manga guy and his cheerleader squad looked confused at his gesture and words, and it only helped Kizuna all the more as she exploited a gap in the crowd of soldiers that Naofumi created with the skill shield he summoned in the middle of them. She jumped forward, landing on a desk that was the closest to the dragon hourglass.
"No!" An official screamed in outrage.
Kizuna bounded again flying over the partition separating the office area from the hourglass. She landed directly in front of it, behind the genius and his harem. At the shout, they turned around in surprise.
"Many thanks for your warm hospitality, good people of the Mirror Country!" Kizuna shouted sarcastically. "I'll make sure to repay it in kind when I come back and help lead Sickle's forces and Vassal Heroes against you in a few weeks! Look forward to it, or don't! Either way, I'll make sure we repay you &^%$^%#s for throwing me into the Infinite Labyrinth all those years ago!"
It was the first time Naofumi had ever heard Kizuna swear. That was surprising. He never thought she'd be the kind of person to make threats like this.
Though oddly enough, it was rather fitting. They had essentially kidnapped her and thrown her into an inescapable prison for several years.
Anyone would be pissed off after that. Though hopefully she wouldn't try to drag him into the war.
They didn't really have time for that kind of side gig at the moment.
Kizuna extended a hand towards the Dragon Hourglass.
"Oh crap! No! Nonononono!" The manga guy charged towards her, suddenly fearful out of the blue.
"First Form: Pitfall." As if bored, Kizuna summoned a hole directly in front of the guy.
Manga Guy stepped right into it and fell flat on his face.
Ha. Utility skills. Not an attack. Just a way to hinder monsters and people.
Kizuna touched the Hourglass, and it glowed under her touch. A look of victory settled over her face as she turned and with her other hand, flipped the bird at everyone present in the room.
Oh, man, Naofumi had memories of him doing the exact same thing at the Three Heroes Church. He immediately felt a sense of nostalgia and a kindred spirit from the Hunting Tools Hero in that moment. He knew there'd been a reason they got along so well!
"Return Dragon Vein!"
A soft, glowing light appeared around Kizuna, as well as Naofumi and Rishia. It was different from the feeling that Naofumi usually got when using Portal Shield. It felt like he was wrapped in a cocoon of safety instead of being wrenched by the gut like a rag doll.
"Damn it, no!" The manga guy raged as he got himself out of the hole in the floor. "You can't escape! I won't let you!"
"Oh shut up already, you midboss. You've wasted enough of our time as it is." Naofumi snapped at him.
"No, you won't get away with this!" The guy continued to scream.
Naofumi's face hardened. "Listen closely. You've lost. And we could care less about it too because we have far more important things to deal with than an idiot wielding an oversized sword. If you know what's good for you, then you'll leave us the hell alone."
Manga Guy glared at Naofumi specifically with a look of intense hatred. It oddly reminded him of the way that Aultcray had used to look at him. The Shield Hero could already tell he'd made a new enemy. "Mark my words! I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!" Manga guy screamed.
Idiot. It was like he'd never lost a battle before and was overreacting like a drama queen because of it now.
You know what, with how little of this guy he'd seen, the fact that he hadn't caught the guy's name during the battle, and the fact that it seemed so appropriate based on what he'd seen and because he'd rather not refer to him by manga guy anymore, Naofumi made the decision on whom to bestow Aultcray's old nickname onto in that moment.
"So long, Trash."
Trash screamed as he dove through the air for Naofumi's throat. Before he or his women could reach him, however, the light around Naofumi's party brightened, and then, they disappeared from the room. Leaving a screaming boy and an entire country that hated their guts behind.
It felt like… they'd fallen into the hole of light they'd used to pass between worlds. But unlike that experience, it was somehow softer.
Perhaps that was why L'Arc, Glass, and Therese had seemed familiar with the path of light. If this was what it was like for their skills to transport them around the world…
Naofumi didn't get much time to ponder, as they appeared in a large room similar to the one they'd just been in. Only, the people here were dressed in western style clothing. And before their appearance, they'd been busy writing and perusing important documents.
"Is this Sickle?" Naofumi asked while blinking a few times.
Kizuna opened her mouth to respond. But everyone in the room was openly staring at them at this point. Or rather, they were staring at Kizuna and ignoring Naofumi entirely.
Naofumi frowned. He held his shield up in front of him, just in case…
"Miss Kizuna…"
"It's Miss Kizuna…"
"The Hunting Tools Hero…"
"It's… it's really her!"
"Kizuna!"
"Miss Kizuna!"
A surge of people surrounded the girl, who laughed happily as she hugged one person after another. "Amon, it's so great to see you again! You too Veronica! Yes, even you Gordor. Wow, you got taller while I was gone!"
"What can I say? A few years does that to you." A tall young man with his rich black hair held back in a ponytail laughed happily, tears streaming down the sides of his face as he and others embraced her. "And you don't look an inch taller than the day you left!"
"Hey, I'm not THAT short!" Kizuna complained.
Everyone around her laughed again, and she laughed along too. Many of them were crying in relief.
Naofumi and Rishia stared at the reunion unfolding before them.
"Fue… I'm happy that Kizuna is already reuniting with some of her friends." Rishia said, smiling a little in melancholy.
Naofumi sighed. "She really has a lot of them, huh." He guessed he should have expected something like this when they returned Kizuna to Sickle. He hadn't expected it to be so immediate though.
It was probably bad to think this, but he hoped this ended soon so they'd be able to move on to more important things.
Like finding Raphtalia and Filo.
Kizuna was still in the throng of people when the doors leading outside suddenly opened.
"What's with the racket? I need to… to… …"
Naofumi and Rishia turned around to look at the new arrivals.
A guy who looked like a young teenage boy stood at the entrance, on top of a small, round floating platform that hovered a couple inches above the polished marbled tiled floor. His hair was light, almost bordering on silver. Kind of like Kyo's, only richer. He was dressed in heavy robes and carried an ornate staff in his hands. His red eyes shot open widely, slowly growing wider still as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
"Pen! Pen!" A small penguin monster rushed past the silver-haired man. It was small, but Naofumi could hardly think of it as a penguin when it had a very expressive and happy look on its face. Nobody attacked it though as it wove through people's legs until it was within Kizuna's reach.
"Chris!" The girl laughed as the penguin monster jumped into her arms, looking happy as it hugged her.
However, Naofumi nor Rishia took note of that. Because there was one last individual standing beside the floating robe clad boy in the door. He barely looked taller than him, but from the battered gear to the legendary Bow on his back, there was no mistaking it.
"ITSUKI!"
The Bow Hero looked stunned, and his expression only grew more so as Rishia raced across the room and tackled him with a tight hug. Tears leaked from her green eyes as she hiccupped into his neck.
"I-I'm so happy to see you again!" She buried her face and continued to cry loudly.
Itsuki stood stone still, still looking like he was processing what was happening.
How… how was Rishia there… hadn't he and Ethnobalt agreed to come here to… to…
Tears leaked from his eyes. He embraced the girl back, shaking as he held her tightly.
"You're ok… you're really ok." The Bow Hero whispered.
"Yes! And you are too!" Rishia cried happily. The two fools both cried as they continued to embrace each other. Large smiles slowly growing on their faces at the surprise of being reunited.
Naofumi stood still in his spot, watching it all unfold.
'What… seriously, what the hell is going on here?' Why was Itsuki in Sickle? What was going on?
He finally lowered his shield. There were a lot of good feelings going on all around.
Wait, if Itsuki was here, then…!
The Shield Hero hastily fumbled with his HUD's menu, struggling to bring up the slave and monster tabs. He selected the options, and…
Out of Slave Spell Observation Range.
Out of Monster Spell Observation Range.
…
Of course not.
Naofumi retreated a distance away from everyone, pulling out Motoyasu's recording crystal out of his shield so he could see Raphtalia's smiling face again. He also pulled out Filo's feathers in an attempt to comfort himself.
But while seeing Raphtalia's smiling face helped a little… it was only an image. He could not touch her face or cradle her close. And while Filo's feathers still felt soft, there was only the warmth of his hands, and not hers to hug him with.
Away from everybody, Naofumi silently shed some tears by himself.
He was truly happy for Kizuna finally returning home, and that Rishia and Itsuki had been reunited… but damn it. It only made him feel even more alone than he'd ever been since he'd been summoned!
'Push it down, push it down, don't break again you idiot! That's not what they would want.'
It required a monumental effort, but he was eventually able to push the black debilitating thoughts to the back of his mind. But they still loomed large, like thunder clouds on the edge of his consciousness. Ready to billow in and destroy him should they get the chance.
Naofumi scowled as he clenched his fists. As much as he tried to summon his anger though, he still felt immensely sad and alone. Nothing he did could change that stark, looming fact-
"Naofumi…"
The Shield Hero turned in surprise at the voice. Itsuki was now standing behind him, with Rishia standing beside the boy from earlier.
"Oh… hey Itsuki. How are-" Naofumi began to ask, trying to keep his voice flat so it wouldn't betray how sad he was.
However, Itsuki then surprised Naofumi as he wrapped his arms around the Shield Hero and hugged him. "I… I really missed you too, Naofumi." Itsuki looked up at him and smiled genuinely. "I'm glad that you're safe."
…
The sense of loneliness faded somewhat. But that just resulted in the proverbial dam finally breaking as Naofumi nearly doubled over and started to sob uncontrollably into the Bow Hero's shoulder. Itsuki looked concerned and at a loss for words at first, but eventually relaxed and settled on patting Naofumi on the back reassuredly.
It wasn't Raphtalia. It wasn't Filo… but being reunited with his younger brother figure helped the Shield Hero somewhat.
After a moment, Naofumi forced himself to breathe in deeply, and let the Bow Hero go. They stepped back from each other. "Geez, you must have had a pretty hard time, huh?" Itsuki tried to joke as he straightened out the fabric on the thoroughly drenched sleeve of his shirt.
"It could have been better. I see that your jokes could still use some improvement." Naofumi nodded stiffly.
"Yeah, I know…" Itsuki trailed off in uncertainty.
"I'm glad to see you made it." Naofumi nodded stiffly again. He still felt a bit wobbly, but those dark stormclouds had retreated again for the moment. "Care to explain what the hell you're doing in Sickle?"
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing." Itsuki chuckled before looking to the side where Kizuna was still getting crowded. "Though I imagine, unlike me, you must have a pretty damn good excuse if that person over there is who I think they are."
Naofumi chuckled back. "It is. And let me tell you, it's one hell of a story."
Seeing as the Hunting Hero would be busy for a while yet, the two of them began to share what'd happened to them since appearing in this world.
Author's Notes:
Welp. I'm glad someone worthy of Aultcray's former nickname finally came forward. I'll probably need to have Naofumi tell Mirellia she can finally renounce that decree.
Sorry for suddenly throwing in out of no where the deal with Kizuna and her being summoned to Waves. That was a detail I found rereading LN 8 last week. I really should have put it in two chapters ago after they escaped the Labyrinth. So know that was my fault that it's finally coming up now. Still, I hope I at least put down enough to show why waiting for the Wave would be a terrible idea. It seems like it'd be advantageous, but its not. Just trust me on that and you'll learn why later on.
Anyway, here's two more omakes today. One written by me, and one written a while ago by Milarqui. I hope you enjoy them!
Hero Clips!
Trashy Midboss
As everyone was hugging it out, the Hourglass glowed brightly, signifying that someone was about to arrive.
"Oh, perhaps L'Arc made it to another Hourglass too." Itsuki said hopefully.
Naofumi frowned. He didn't appear so certain. He raised his shield up, just in case.
A figure appeared in front of the Hourglass. And Naofumi's suspicions were confirmed.
"Hahahahaha! Did you really think you'd be able to escape me so easily!?" Trash cackled madly to himself as he loudly announced his arrival. "I have managed to replicate the Hero's portal skill! You idiots never realized I'd be able to follow you with it! Hahahahaha!"
"Uh… how is he here?" Somebody asked. "He does realize that he'd still have to get registered at an hourglass in order to teleport there, right? He's never been in Sickle before, so this should be impossible."
"Shhhh," A familiar tall figure shushed the guy who'd spoken, resting a hand on the person's shoulder from behind. "Just let it happen."
The guy turned around in surprise, but nobody was there.
Had it been just his imagination?
Trash continued to cackle loudly. Naofumi kept his shield raised, frowning as he expected Trash's harem of women to follow behind him.
…
…
But no one else appeared.
…
…
Naofumi slowly realized it.
Had the idiot really come after them all by himself?!
"So, you ready to die for your insolence!?" Trash brandished his banged up, nearly unusable nodachi at Naofumi, a look of rage in his eyes.
"..." Naofumi just stared, wondering if Trash was even stupider than he'd realized. Not even Aultcray at his worst would do something this stupid.
Like, wow. Naofumi was floored. This went beyond even Kyo. This guy's brain was in a league of its own. No one could possibly come so close to being a genius yet do something this stupid under his own brainpower.
"Well, say something already!" Trash screamed at him.
"..." Naofumi merely shook his head and turned to face Itsuki. "Anyway, so then we used the Bio-Seed to escape and…"
Trash looked even more enraged as Naofumi continued his story to the Bow Hero, completely ignoring his existence. But before he could take even a step forward, he finally realized something.
He was surrounded by a LOT of people. And they looked very angry about the fact that he'd tried to murder their Hero.
A lot of them were pretty high leveled too. And those individuals had plenty of combat experience because of past events.
…
Trash didn't even have time to turn around and flee before everyone piled on him, causing the area to disappear within a very familiar cartoon smoke cloud. He started screaming in pain and crying for help as the crap was beaten out of him by everyone there.
It was kind of distracting, and Itsuki pointed it out. "Who the heck is that guy and why was he so angry at you?"
"Eh, Trash midboss there? He's not important. Anyway, so then I was blasting…" Naofumi resumed his story around the time of his Merchant Demon experience.
Trash continued to scream in rage and pain at being called a midboss. But no allies appeared to help him. He'd been a complete idiot leaving them all behind.
It really was too bad that the guy from before was right and that this situation occurring was impossible. Even though he was a non-hero, the item Trash had made still required the user to be registered at an hourglass in order to teleport there. And while he was registered to his country's hourglass and the Mirror Country's hourglass, he was DEFINITELY not registered to Sickle's hourglass. There was no logical way he should have been able to appear here.
It might make some people angry that this couldn't happen. But then again, it was a very good thing the item he'd created had this limitation. As without it, it'd allow 'anyone' to teleport to hourglasses they'd never been to, meaning entire nations could teleport their entire armies within the walls of Sickle's capital city. And then there'd be absolutely no hope for Glass's world when Sickle would be inevitably destroyed by such a continuous onslaught.
But with all that in mind, it didn't make it any less funny when Trash was eventually thrown into a garbage dump outside the castle by the people who'd beaten him within an inch of his life. They left his broken body to rot as the world's version of seagulls landed on him and pecked at his ripped up clothes.
"I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE!" Trash screamed to the heavens.
Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that Trashy midboss.
Let us know when you actually become more relevant than Kyo.
Hero Clips!
Pathfinder
Naofumi Iwatani, age twenty, had been completely thrown off by everything that'd happened in the last few hours.
He had just been in a library to check the latest they had on light novels, but for whatever reason one of them had been incomplete and all of a sudden it'd started to shine. He'd felt like he was falling into the book and he had ended up in this dark room. There, he'd found that a shield was firmly attached to his left arm.
And then, as if it couldn't get anymore ridiculous, he'd been told that he and three other guys were the last hope of some world that seemed to come straight out of medieval Europe, but with magic.
If it weren't for the fact that Naofumi was currently living through it, he would have said that this was the beginning of a light novel.
A bad one.
He was not completely discarding that theory, though.
The man in charge – the King, it seemed – was giving this speech while completely ignoring him. Just that gave him enough reason to feel disappointed. These guys took him away from his home, and then ignore his very existence? Seriously?
That sounded like trouble for him.
But then, during a pause in the speech, there was an unexpected interruption.
"Oi, oi, enough of the dreary stuff, these kids need something more fun than all this boredom!"
Everyone turned to the source of the voice, and found someone that was clearly out of place in the middle of this palace. He was tall, with short black hair with silver streaks in it framing his head. He had large eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a grin surrounded by stubble. The figure wore a black shirt that wouldn't have been out of place in the Tokyo Comic Con (what with the twenty sided die with the words CRITICAL HIT well seen on the front). The ensemble was finished off with a pair of dark blue jeans and black and white sneakers.
Oh, this guy was also clearly Western.
Also, he'd spoken in English. Somehow.
"Who are you? How dare you interrupt-"
"King Dude, I don't even understand what you're saying, the most complex thing I can say in Japanese is おはようございます, and even then I can't get the accent right, so how about you let me give the kids my present and I'll leave on my way back home, alright? Thanks!" Too bad he didn't realize that Aultcray could understand every word he'd said. Including the attrocious accent in regards to his Japanese.
"CAPTURE HIM!" The King yelled, and the soldiers charged at the stranger – only for him to have the knack of dancing around the spears and deflecting the swords with a spoon he held in one hand.
"Say, guys, any of you mind tellin' Mr 'I think I'm awesome just 'cause I have a crown' that I need a couple of minutes of peace and quiet so I can do what I came to do and then leave? Besides, it isn't as if he's got any real power, it's the wife that's the real deal. Alright, never mind, I'll do it anyway."
"SILENCE!" The King shouted again.
"黙れ, ばか! Yes, that's something else I know," the bespectacled guy fired back, as he kept approaching the heroes. Risking a glance back, Naofumi noticed that the King had turned an impressive shade of puce.
That was possibly a sign of being close to a stroke.
Just like that, the stranger had avoided the guards and walked up to the four of them, starting with the blond with the spear – Motoyasu, if Naofumi remembered right.
"Alright, boyo, here's your present," he said, handing him a small miniature spear, and then a slap to the back of the head, making Motoyasu cry in surprise and a little pain. "And that's a preemptive dope slap so you'll use this head for thinking instead of your other one."
Next in line was Itsuki, the one with the bow, who got a tiny bow pendant and an ear flick.
"Get off your high horse, pal, the world isn't black and white." Averting another spear with a complete turn-around, he handed Ren a little sword and a two-fingered hit on the head. "And you, kid, just learn to work with others, that loner wolf stuff isn't going to help you out one bit. Actually, it'll cause you some conflict in the future when you meet a certain dog girl."
Naofumi wondered what kind of advice and strike he would get while the other heroes looked to be in disbelief about what was going on. Much to his surprise, after he got a shield slapped on his hand, he got slapped twice on the shoulder.
"As for you, young man, trust the brunette, not the red. Oh, and take care. さよなら, baby!"
And then, just as the guards closed in again, the stranger twisted himself in between them and sprinted through a door, disappearing from sight as quickly as he had appeared.
...
Everybody looked towards the now closing door, unsure of how to react.
Eventually, the King decided to act as if nothing had happened and continued with his speech.
When the court wizards came around to see the presents the stranger had left behind, Naofumi held onto his small shield.
He had a feeling that it would be important.
Milarqui: Check out what I just did.
Allen: Gripping the bridge of his nose tightly. Dude, I gave you permission to get into my story... not to twist the plot into a pretzel!
Milarqui: Pretzel? I just gave the heroes an extra weapon they'd be able to use. Naofumi particularly. At best, I just turned the plot into a pair of shoelaces.
Allen: Ugh. This is the last time I'm letting you play with Hope.
Milarqui: Never say never, man.
Allen would just have to wait and see what craziness would pop up in the future, and hope that whatever had been given to the Heroes wouldn't result in his story being broken over somebody's knee.
Till Next Time
Allen