Chapter 74

Around the time Rishia finally managed to mumble out some ideas, the tailor lady showed up. In her arms, dyed a nearly perfect 'Kuro black' (complete with white edging), was probably this world's first 'comfy hoodie'. And yes, it had a 'uni-pocket' on the front, long sleeves, and a string to tighten the hood.

You see, I've also know my share of shy people. Almost every shy person had this universal need for 'the comfort blanket'. Replace 'blanket' with whatever you wanted, but in the end, it was some kind of talisman against the things that bothered you. Stuffed animal, squeeze ball, pillow, favourite sweater, and of course, a literal blanket.

So, instead of fighting Rishia's urge to hide her face, or body, or whatever, we worked with it.

Now dressed in the puffy comfort sweater that almost hid the fact Rishia was a girl at all (while not being 'oversized' and thus no risk of getting tangled up in combat), the nice tailor lady sparkled at her, then shambled away again to her own store.

The next challenge was her mask. I understood her insecurities, but also didn't want her to look silly. Thankfully, with the nature of 'personal mana cloth' and its ability to transform, we could limit the need for the mascot suit to be worn all the time.

In the end?

"Well kiddo? What do you think?" Erhard asked.

Rishia's normal (without her mascot suit) outfit was the same kind of 'half leather' armour that Raphtalia liked. Mobile, good coverage, a bit of extra leather in the really soft spots (around the gut, forearms for better defence, metal backed gloves), sensible leggings that weren't too loose and made of good cloth, boots that went to mid shin.

Now, she was wearing the 'comfy hoodie'.

Aside from not changing the style of her pants and boots (she could do that on Motoyasu's coin, later), the dark hoodie completely changed her looks. The loose fit let her wear leather under the hoodie itself, and only her metal backed gloves showed she was wearing any armour at all. But we'd also changed the hoodie. Stripping the enchantments from the 'Karma Dog' mascot suit, we gave it all the cool things it had, including the wings.

Except, since this cloth could change shape with the user, we went backwards with it, allowing Rishia (the user) to change its shape.

With the hood down, and her long braided green hair behind her, the (Kuro) black hoodie had all kinds of feather patterns, under the fabric. But when she pulled the hood up, to cover her face, the hood changed shape to a filolial mask (with beak, a more friendly version of a 'plague doctor' mask), all those feathers 'under' the fabric grew out a little, and her back sprouted little wings.

And it was with this transformation, her use of the same magic that let myself and Tetsu change shape, that I finally caught the 'problem' she was having with her Ki.

Fixing it however, got me sent through Erhard's store front door (while it was still closed).

"Aha!" I said as Rishia's hoodie transformed, changing her from 'shy girl' to 'Lucha-de-filolial' (proper name pending).

Old lady Ragnarok and Erhard looked at me, while Rishia looked at herself in the mirror, (hopefully) admiring the shimmering black feathers and little (flapping!) wings on her back. "Aha?" The two old people said at the same time.

"Tetsu's passenger soul told me how what you do, and what I do, are almost identical to what monsters do when they use innate magic. They do so on reflex, where as we have to figure it out. Unlike magic, everyone has the capacity for Ki, but it's still energy, and energy always takes the path of least resistance."

"So that was the point of all this?" Old lady Ragnarok asked.

"Partially." I said, walking over to Rishia, "What do you think? See okay?" Her new mask had 'eyes' but they in no way matched up with the ones under the mask. Of course, it was another magical effect pulled from the mascot suit, letting the person wearing it see properly.

"fueee... it's a little... weird. A little wider vision than I'm used to... Filolial see like this?"

"They do." I said, "Good deduction too. Can you make sure it works the other way? Take the hood down?"

"Eh, um..." She raised both hands and put her fingers into the feathers at either cheek on the mask. With a tug, it went back, her nice long hair 'appearing' again as the hoodie went back to being just a comfy sweater.

"And back?" I gave her shoulder a little tug, the sleeve a brush, pretending I was making sure things were in order. She did as instructed, the hook coming up, her hair suddenly 'vanishing' into the transformation, feathers and wings appearing, "Right... here."

To a causal observer or passerby, it looked as if I'd just palmed the underside of the poor girl's left breast. In reality, I was nudging the flow of her Ki as it went between her Manipura (solar plexus chakra) and Anahata (heart chakra).

I accepted my punishment as Rishia screamed and pushed me away. Except now, with her inner energy now working on what amounted to a straight pipe instead of a tangled mess in the middle, I was pushed past old lady Ragnarok, rolled once, broke through the solid wood and metal bound door of Erhard's shop, and finally stopped rolling once I'd gotten to the other side of the street.

I figured out which way was up, then sat up, bits of broken wood, clay and some flowers shaking themselves off me as I moved. Risha was looking down at her hands, and while it was faint, I could see an almost heat haze of energy around her. The old lady was looking at her and saying something, while Erhard was rubbing the back of his head looking at the bits of his front door as they hung off the metal hinges.

"Ha!" I said, "Still got it!"

Poor Rishia was giving me 'the eye', even as I tried to explain what I'd done. "I know I know, I'm sorry. I'm not usually in the habit to ask forgiveness instead of permission, but you'd never have let me."

If it weren't for her actually being so shy, I'd have found it funny she was hiding behind the old lady.

"Anyhow, congratulations." I sighed, "Oh, here. Something for what I know is going to be a problem later." I took out a couple of 'soul healing' water and offered them over, "This stuff will recover your SP, and tastes kinda like watered down honey, and everyone who's tried it, who can't use SP, gets no benefit."

Rishia made a timid noise, but reached out and took the vials from me. I was still getting the glare, but at least she wasn't crying or something...

"Come on you. Now that you're not all tangled up inside, we can get back to the real training." Ragnarok gave the Comfy Hoodie's sleeve a tug, "Bet that silly bird will love the new look too."

When I made no move to follow, she looked back at me, shrugged, and kept walking, the two of them stepping around the shattered bits of door.

"So you're gonna help fix my door?" Erhard asked.

"Of course. I broke it, I fix it. But if you could warm up the forge..."

The door was fixed, the furnace warmed up, and until one of my party members figured out I was missing, I worked with Erhard in his workshop.

He was true to his word, and had made a bunch of alloyed metal for me while I'd been in Lurolona. He'd also gotten to work on some of this world's 'industrial' metal working tools. Seeing no need to stop him from working on those, I hammered out plates for my new armour. There was no way I could finish it in an evening, or without HIDA double checking my work. But with the occasional extra pair of hands, Erhard and I got a LOT of metal hammered flat and to proper thickness.

Sadly, when Usa came to get me a little after dinner time, all I had of my 'new armour' were a dozen sheets of metal, waiting for shaping, tucked into the Shield's inventory.

"See you later Fox." Erhard waved as I left with Usa, "Make sure you come back to pick this stuff up."

"Of course." I waved over my shoulder, then turned to face forward, "Did you forget about me, or am I finally getting summoned officially?"

"Ah... The... Miss Ragnarok said you were at Erhard's. So we decided to leave you be until you were needed." He replied, "Miss Rishia caused quite a stir when she got back."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Everyone liked her new look, especially Kuro. But then she... not quite flew away? Like Tetsu when she tries to fly."

"Huh, those little wings work better than I thought. Good."

"Were you trying to fix your own armour problem? We hope so."

I doubted he would ever outright accuse me of anything, but this was close. "Yeah. No hope of making what I have in mind so quickly. But I can do a little of the work in the wagon now. Any idea what's going on?"

"They ran away." The Queen said simply as I entered the dining room with Usa.

My party, Melty and the Queen were all sitting at the table with the remains of a meal in the middle, and some kind of chilled fruit dessert in front of them.

I stopped at the door, sighed, and reached into a pouch while Usa went to one of the empty seats. "Just a moment..." I said, finding Motoyasu's sound stone. "Hey! What gives!"

A moment later, filtering through the sound of rushing wind, Motoyasu spoke up, "Oh, hey. What's the problem? Something wrong?"

"Where did you go? You're not skipping out on training are you?" I replied.

"What? NO! Not a chance." He replied, "The nice lady said she wanted to pick up her other students and bring them back."

"Wait, you're heading to Lurolona? Are Ren and Itsuki with you?"

A pause, then a slow, "No? Why would they... oh..." He sighed, "They're probably skipping out on training."

I gave a look to the Queen, who nodded to me, then looked to her right. A moment later, there was a hint of a breeze coming in through a window.

"Well, when you portal back with Fohl and Atla, and maybe Keel if you can find her, bring back Gustav. Blood red filolial. Parked him by my tree. Give Rifana a hello for me too."

"Sure. And... Did you do something to upset Rishia? Hasn't said a thing about what happened this afternoon..."

"If she isn't telling, I'm not telling." I replied.

"Eh whatever. Thanks for the help with her." And the sound stone in my hand went dark.

"Suppose I'll have time to make some of my armour now." I felt myself grinning, then felt Raphtalia squinting at me, "After dinner."

"I have sent my Shadows to find them. There have been some disturbing reports of late, starting almost immediately after the Wave." The Queen said, somehow managing to look regal while nibbling on frosted fruit. "It saddens me that they would evade a chance to train with the best of my kingdom, but we cannot hope to stand the Waves without them."

I slid into a chair between Melty and Raphtalia, the two of them almost instantly getting one of my tails to visit. Of course, this meant I couldn't leave the table until after I ate. "What sort of reports?" I asked, a maid stepping out from someplace and setting down what looked like roast pekkel in gravy.

"Nothing factual, not yet, but there have been reports of missing people, and what seems to be a mountain range on the move. If it were not for the Waves, I would have dismissed the rumour out of hand."

"I suppose I'll have to make more sound stones for you." I mused after finishing a mouthful.

"If you would. They seem quite useful." Mirellia nodded, "If you require anything for their construction, please, ask. While my foolish husband threw our kingdom's resources at the other three heroes, I would like repay your efforts as well as balance the deficit his actions caused."

"Back home." I started, then continued after another bite, "We are a very practical people. Most are proud, skilled, and have very firm views about things. But above all, we are practical." Another bite, a sip of tea, "In combat, you will be hard pressed to find even the wealthiest among us with excess ornamentation. It just gets broken, so why bother?"

The Queen looked at me from behind her fan, but I could see her and Melty both glancing at my party, and their 'lack of fancy dress' past the glitter of enchanted gemstones buried deep in their protective equipment.

"When I, or anyone back home really, makes something, it is with the simplest design in mind. Unless you are creating something unique, even our best weapons are made of stuff you can pull from the ground or from basic monster materials. Yes, rare materials can make even better things. But most often? Good iron will do."

"Then, what of the things you create?" Melty asked, her voice a slightly higher pitch then her mother's.

"I'm getting to that." I nodded, "Something like the sound stones? It is literally enchanted glass. Good white sand and a few other easy to source things. Aside from some special considerations with the enchanting? That's it."

"Then what of this cage you've made for me?" Glass asked, "I hope this isn't so commonplace as those things you speak into."

"I doubt I will ever make another one of these. Not unless your friend gives me another gem like she did." I lifted the caged emerald up so I could speak to Glass properly, "Back home, when a smith, or jeweller, or even a good apothecary... When we make something, for ourselves, or others. We make it knowing that if it fails, the owner might die."

I looked away from Glass, and met the eyes of everyone at the table before looking into the Emerald again. "Even when I gave Therese those gifts, I made them to the best of my ability." I looked away, "We endure our wounds, but not poor equipment, and a blacksmith's greatest pride is seeing the owner of their work come home again."

I lowered the Emerald, then resumed eating.

"You still have not answered my question." The Queen smiled slightly.

I finished my mouthful, wished there was more of whatever it was I'd been served, and replied, "Well, if I could get another plate of this... And maybe take your time finding those two so I can work more on my own equipment..."

I could see that Mirellia was ever so slightly disappointed I wasn't asking for more. But I rather liked being that one person who was hard to find gifts for.

The next day, after making sure my party did their morning stretches, we got back to what we were doing.

Without Itsuki here, Clive got to work with his own bow again. He was quite pleased with his bow's restoration, but thankfully refrained from too much showing off. The castle's archers were universally gobsmacked at Clive being able to put holes in solid stone with the combined power of the bow and the arrows he made.

Speaking of Itsuki... I knew he'd gotten some actual training with a bow. But even if it had been while in school, the average bow here had double the draw weight at least. That said, I could have given him an even weaker bow, but he already thought I was insulting him with my very existence...

Tetsu, in an effort to make up for embarrassing Itsuki, helped Clive to recover the arrow heads. Mostly by punching the rocks that didn't split when he hit them. Speaking of that... She understood that she'd done something... Yes. Done 'something'. Not what, that was probably beyond her to really figure out. But she understood that Itsuki was upset. I did tell her though, not to mention it again. She didn't understand that either, but said she wouldn't. Headpats were given, and she went back to work.

Raphtalia and Eclair were getting along like jam and toast. While only half our level, Eclair was quite skilled, and Raphtalia understood she could learn a lot from her. It actually addressed a common problem for the adventurers in Orario. For all our power and skill, there were very few people who would 'share' what they knew. Before I had come along, alliances like the one I had at home with Hestia/Takemikazuchi/Astraea all in the same place, all learning and teaching each other, were unheard of. People would spy on others to 'steal' techniques. Another problem we had often, were people who had nothing to learn from. Ottar for example. Aside from a handful of people in the city (myself included) no one wanted to square up with him. There were always monsters, but 99 percent of those just attacked without thought.

Usa... The whip he used was unique, and even worse, almost no one used a whip for combat. So, instead of training on his own, he asked me for an idea, and I gave him the kris knife I'd bought in Zeltobe.

Of course, once I'd seen that my party was fully capable of occupying themselves for the day, I went to Erhard's.

"You know." Erhard said in one of those rare moments one of us wasn't hammering something, "Why are you so stuck on this idea you have?"

One of my ears rotated in his direction, but I kept my eyes on the colour of the metal in the furnace. "What do you mean?"

"You want armour, and that's great! But seeing some of the stuff you've finished... Why so complicated? It's like you want to make some kind of doll you can wear or something..." He was looking at the table I'd laid all my 'mostly done' bits of armour, and yes, just like how I'd built Hagane's bodies, I'd laid it on the table like some kind of weird skeleton.

"Because of my limitations with this stuck to me, I'm being forced to get extra creative." I tapped the Book Shield at my hip, then reached for the tongs.

The conversation paused as we both started to hammer again. Then resumed after we'd put our projects back in the furnace.

"Oh I get that. You want to make the best thing you possibly can. And you've obviously done this before... But you could have just taken a suit of armour from the castle, and made it to your size." He said, motioning to a couple of half finished armour projects he had going.

"I know." I sighed, "And honestly? It's what I should be doing. But if I did that, I couldn't do half of what I plan on doing. And while it's good stuff, the armour the knights use is still mass produced. Made to fit as many people as possible without needing too many adjustments."

Another pause as we bent metal over our anvils.

"Thanks to some of the tools you have, and having done this before, I might be able to have it almost done in a week." I said as I watched my metal heat up again. "But I'll stop after I finish this bit here, and work on the order the Queen asked for."

"I'm surprised you haven't done that first." He said, "I know you aren't from around here, but she's still the Queen." His tone was even, but it was clear he respected the Queen.

"She knows I have only one goal, and instead of trying to use me to her advantage, she's letting me go about things as I see fit. However, she also understands that if I say I'll do something, I will do it." I replied, "Besides, working with glass is much quieter, so late in the day is better."

"Well, thank you for not bothering my neighbours any more than I already do." He laughed, "Speaking of..." He motioned with a hand towards his chest.

"While my current place on her person makes the walls of my prison look uncomfortably damp, I am still listening, yes." Glass said, "You do understand, that when I am free, I will tell my companions everything."

Erhard looked uncomfortable, since yes, Glass was under my shirt and resting between my breasts to help with the noise. But I tugged the collar of my shirt out so I could talk into it, "Good."

I heard the shop door open, one of my ears flicking at the sudden noise, but I didn't look up from my work. For the last half hour or so, I'd been making sound stone pendants, while Erhard (committing time to his noble Queen) made fittings and little chains.

At the sound of his shop door opening, he stood and left the workshop, "Ah, you two." Then an ever so slightly more formal sounding, "Motoyasu."

"Hey old man." Motoyasu replied, his tone telling me he was smiling, "Safe and sound. They wanted to see her, but I gotta get back to the castle."

"Sure thing." Erhard said, "This way."

The shop door rang as it opened, then closed, and a moment later the workshop door opened to admit Erhard, then Atla and Fohl. "You've got guests." Erhard said as he planted his rear back on the bench and bent over the fine work of making wire chain links.

I counted to six, just long enough for the resin to bond to the glass and the little metal pip that would attach to the chain Erhard was making, and set the glass teardrop next to its partner. Then I turned to the siblings, stood, and gathered them up in a hug. "Good to see you both."

"Aunt Kodori is always so clingy." Atla said with a giggle, though her tail and return hug betrayed her happiness.

"Should we call her 'aunt'?" Fohl took a moment longer before he awkwardly pat me on the back and hugged me, but his tail followed his sister with a happy swish.

"Absolutely." I said, "I approve of this name. Glad you're both here." I let them go and sat back down on the stool I'd been using, then sent them both a party invite. "I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be doing something important in the next day or two. And since the Queen has gathered her best soldiers here to train the four heroes and their parties..."

They both appeared on my party tab, and Atla spoke what I left unsaid, "Now that we're in your party, we can train with them?"

"Exactly. Also, it seems Rishia is starting to learn Hengen Muso as well. So you'll have another person to spar with, as well as what ever weapon training you want to do."

"I..." Fohl started, found his courage, then continued, "I wanted to learn more from you." When I didn't reply he added, "Miss Ragnarok says I don't really have any talent for what she is teaching Atla."

"Hmm, maybe it's the same problem the little bird had?" Erhard mumbled as he set down another length of thin chain.

"Problem?" Atla asked.

"What the old lady is trying to teach is how to work with your internal energy. It's not magic as most know it, but so close most never notice its there. Your sister is gifted, but has also been seeing with it, despite her blindness to natural light." I mused, "Rishia has the ability, but her emotional state and anxiety was so high it tangled her energy up inside."

"So what did you... do?" Fohl asked as I put my hand on his head, then used my other to poke his forehead, then alternating to touch his throat.

"I used a bit of my own energy to force the tangle clear as she moved some of her own energy around herself. Like flooding a dam." I put a hand over his heart, then down further over his navel. "Huh."

Poor Fohl took my lacklustre comment for some kind of failure on his part, "That doesn't sound hopeful..."

"You have to understand. This isn't something you just 'figure out'. Your sister, unknowingly, has been working with this since she was born. For her to use it for things other than seeing would be only a little more complex than say, stretching to touch your toes." I put both my hands on his shoulder, "Everyone can do it, but you'll have to start from scratch."

"Everyone?" Erhard asked, "Even me?"

"Well, I can't work miracles." I replied, swatting him with a tail, "But it wouldn't be impossible, just not easy." I let Fohl's shoulders go, rubbing my chin thoughtfully, "You might have other talents. Ever get tested for magic?"

They both shook their heads.

"Tomorrow then, since she's probably sleeping. Since you're both here though..."

"Only measurements." Erhard said as I stood up again, "It's a bit late for working on the anvil."

"I know I know." I sighed, "You know Fohl, now that you aren't in the arena, you don't need to use just your fists. Sure, I can teach you, but you aren't limited like I am."

When we got back to the castle, we were told the Bow and Sword were still missing, but even with a head start, their lack of skills all but guaranteed they'd get caught.

As usual, my party welcomed the tiger siblings with smiles and waves, and they spent a bit of time catching up. Raphtalia was having a hard time containing her questions about how Lurolona was doing, but settled down after the third time Atla said everything was fine.

Then Melty asked, "How is my father?"

Silence.

"I'm curious too." I said, trying to resurrect the mood.

"He's... alive?" Fohl tried, sighing, "Everyone is following your request to leave him be. And he's built himself a little shack to sleep in..."

"But he's isolated himself." Atla said.

Melty sighed, but nodded. "I hope he comes around... I can't hope to understand his anguish, since I do not even remember my brother. But... He is still my father."

"All I know, past him being alive, is that his curse hasn't activated once." I said.

"One can hope." Melty said, "Thank you."

Fohl and Atla nodded, but remained quiet on the matter.

The next day, with everyone except Fohl and I at the castle training, I took him to see the nice old Witch. A bit of an introduction, a pat on the head, a candy for being a nice boy, and a pat of the crystal ball later, she gave him the 'verdict' on his magic.

"Fire." She said with a kindly smile, "You'll have to work on it, but I'm sure she can help you learn. You still have the book I gave you?"

"Of course." I nodded, "I'm most of the way making a copy of it too."

"A copy? Truly?" She asked.

"Either from my own heritage, or the Shield, I can use everything but fire. Past that, I can read and copy everything." I said, "And if Fohl can use fire, then he can transcribe it as practice." I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I hope you do well then dear." The Witch smiled, "Here you go." And handed him another little candy.

"Fire... Huh." Fohl said around the candy as we walked towards Erhard's shop. "You can't use fire? Everything else though?"

"A joke I'm glad the gods played on me." I shrugged, "But I think I know how to kill two birds with one stone... But for that we'll need to find someplace that isn't flammable, and get you some fire resistant equipment..."

With Fohl in the shop with us, we (Erhard and I) got a little more done than we would have without him. Sure, the tiger boy wasn't familiar with metalwork, but he could follow instructions and do simple tasks. Hold this, fetch that, lift this, turn that. The extra help with stuff that took away from the actual task of hammering metal was very useful.

In the time he wasn't helping with the little tasks of fetch and carry, he was trying to learn how to read the magic book.

By lunch, he'd figured out and actually cast the simplest of fire spells. He was quite proud of that, even more when he didn't set anything of Erhard's on fire. But that was where I told him to stop with the book. For now.

In the shop, I got a great deal of my armour worked on. Almost all the plates were shaped, leaving them blank for final shaping, sanding, enchanting, then assembly. But in the mean time, since Erhard didn't want to have either of us suffer through my entire party pouting at us, he made me a simple set of plated leather. Well aware of my high mobility fighting style, it still covered most of my soft spots while leaving my arms and legs free to move. I already had shin and forearm armour, and my own 'helmet', so he didn't bother going all out like I was.

He also helped rebuild Fohl's gauntlets. Even if old lady Ragnarok said he didn't have talent, Fohl still worked really hard. While he was at that, he made some 'random equipment' to help replace some of the well loved stuff that my party was in danger of having disintegrate the next time we hit serious battle.

Oh, he tried to deny it, passing it off as 'idle work', but I knew he cared about our party of misfits.

He had also finished making all the parts for Lurolona's blacksmith. These went into the Shield's storage, and when I went out for lunch I found one of Hickwaal's local merchants and paid to use his services to get it to Lurolona.

After lunch however, just as Fohl was trying on his 'resurfaced' gauntlets, I got a call over my party sound stone. I took the gently humming bead of glass out of my pouch and gave it a tap to 'answer' the call, "Problem?"

"Ma'am." Usa greeted, "Yes. The other two have been brought back, and the Queen asked me to call you."

"And she's busy trying to keep calm so she isn't undiplomatic with the other two?"

Fohl had to stop himself from laughing, Erhard managed to keep it down to a chuckle, and Usa replied with a simple, "Yes."

"Okay. Doing a final fitting for Fohl, then we'll be back." I replied, swatting them both with my tails. No surprise they lacked phone etiquette...

"If you haven't, please make sure we have potions? I can tell the news she has isn't very good." Usa said.

"Thank you for the reminder." I replied, "Back soon." And I made a fist around the sound stone to turn it off. "Fohl? No problems?"

He made a show of clenching his fists, doing a little shadow boxing, then shaking his hands as if to dry them off. Aside from the creak of new leather and click of metal, there was no other noise. "I know I shouldn't seek combat... But I really want to punch something with these."

Erhard laughed, "Something to be said about a good pair of gloves." He gave the boy a pat on the shoulder, "Take care you two. Let me know if you need any more custom work," He grinned, "And how much you can pay for it."

"Of course." We shook hands, then headed to the castle.

When we got there, I was given quick instructions to head to the throne room, while Fohl was told to stay outside with the others. Of course, I made a little detour just to give my party a wave, Tetsu a headpat, and show them all I actually had some kind of armour on, instead of my (I'd never admit it to Aisha, but I was getting used to it) Amazon Blacksmith outfit.

The Queen was waiting on her throne, with Melty to her left on the 'princess' seat. Itsuki, Ren and Motoyasu were already waiting for me, and almost before my introduction by the guard at the door had stopped echoing, I was standing next to Motoyasu, waiting for the Queen to speak.

"Excellent." The Queen said as I took my place. "I have seen that the four of you learn in a way that is different than what is common here." A very polite way of saying 'you don't want to attend class', "But, the fact remains that you must continue to gain power. To this end, I am sending three of you to investigate and slay a great beast to the east of here, past the Mirso mountain range."

I glanced past Motoyasu, and saw that both Ren and Itsuki, and a moment later even Motoyasu, seemed to have a clue about what this was about. Just a little smile, a thoughtful look, a scratch at a mostly nonexistent beard...

"We will gladly find and slay this beast for you." Ren said with confidence.

"I look forward to your success." She said, the Fan flicking open in her hand to cover her nose and mouth. "Kodori." She looked to me. "I have several reports from the area around Mirso, of strange monsters and inexplicable deaths." She lowered her fan, "You have shown a mind keyed more towards critical thought and have been providing medicine and aid to the sick on your travels, so I have chosen this task for you."

I nodded, "Understood." I made a slightly exaggerated act out of getting a box from the Shield. A moment later, one of the knights on guard crossed in front of the Queen, accepted the box, and brought it back to her. "The sound stones you requested. Like colour will speak with like colour." As always, a batch of sound stones would only talk with other stones of the same batch, and I coloured them just to make sure they wouldn't get mixed up.

"Excellent." She nodded, closing the box, handing it back to the knight, who then gave it to Melty. "I would ask that you all make ready and leave as swiftly as possible."

The four of us bowed, then turned, then left.

As instructed, the instant I got back to my party, I told them what was up, and we started to put things together to get going.

We were well on our way to getting things together in the wagon, mostly just some little things we might need past the usual survival supplies, when Usa turned his head to look past my shoulder as I lifted a barrel up to him. "Sir Motoyasu." He said.

Once he had the barrel in his hands, I turned to face the Spear Hero. "You know something, don't you." I accused.

"Probably. Yeah." He nodded, "With any luck? We can handle it." He grinned and stuck out his fist.

"Heh, four out of four worlds." I tapped his knuckles, "If you have problems, you know how to reach me." Me saying that reminded me of something, "Say... Did you have a mobile phone or something when you got here?"

He blinked at the odd question, "Eh? Well yeah. We were asked to hand them over by that priest guy we killed. Figured it would be dead in a day or two anyhow, so I handed it over."

"Crap." I accepted my tail's discipline for swearing, "Ah well. Anyhow, drive safe, try not to die, and if you get in trouble, head towards my tree."

"Sure. Thanks again for helping little Rishia." He grinned, "Kuro was happy too, all like... sparkling..."

"All set boss!" Fohl said from someplace in the wagon, "Ah... sure you want us along?"

"She wouldn't have asked if she didn't." Atla said, just loud enough for me to hear, "I am a little sad the bed I used is smaller now..."

"They're good kids." Motoyasu said, "Oh, right, Keel said she was helping Rifana. And thanks to you, I now believe in ghosts. Anyhow." And he turned, headed back to a waiting fluffy smart car sized Kuro and their own wagon.

I chuckled, "Good." Then turned to make sure we had everyone. Oh, everyone, and a 'plus one'.

"Try to get along?" Usa said quietly as he helped me up into the back of the wagon and caught me looking towards old lady Ragnarok as she mounted Gustav.

NOTES!

Nothing to really note here. Though I will say, ...ahem... in the books, Keel IS along for this trip. But with all the extra characters I have running around, I've had to reshuffle the people around a little. Have mercy, only so much I can keep together at once without having entire chapters full of nothing but interaction, but no story progress.

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!