Chapter 69 ( ;) nice)
The cleanup... this time, it was tragic. Not with loss of life, though there was some. But with the amount of damage done to the poor armada, moral, equipment, and just... how exhausting it all was.
For example, Ren and Itsuki, more Itsuki than Ren, were sitting at different places on what was left of the deck and sulking. Ren was more... it seemed he was more brooding. Yes, he was thinking. Hopefully, it was 'where he went wrong' and not 'why is everyone so mean'. Itsuki however, he was just acting like a blind hedgehog and being prickly. If we weren't in the middle of the water, he probably would have lashed out and run away.
Motoyasu... He wasn't mad, or even really upset. I think 'resigned' would have best describe it. However, even after getting thrown off deck and swept away by the summon-a-whirlpool that Therese made, he just shrugged his shoulders at trying the 'impossible' and started to rescue people. His initial efforts at pulling people out of the water after the whirlpool happened, was apparently key in the near zero death toll we had.
The Queen and Melty? Once people were out of the water, they continued to direct traffic. Melty, being (apparently) a more versatile water mage than even her mother, (they didn't know I'd seen it, but Melty got a royal headpat out of sight of almost everyone) made small ice flows for people to climb up on, and block what few monsters were left in the water from snapping people up.
The rest of my party... Tetsu was sad she couldn't help me directly. Clive was downcast about his bow breaking. Raphtalia was proud of getting the last strike on the whale, upset she couldn't help me, and... maybe a little jealous of Usa. Not only did Usa get to help me directly, and against the strongest opponents we'd ever faced, I was now giving him a lap pillow while I sat down (under orders from the Queen to, and I quote: sit down before I have you chained down) and rested. The poor rabbit-man was now processing all of the buried anxiety he ignored while in combat, as well as recovering from an epic beating from L'arc.
So, while those who had energy worked to limp what was left of the armada to shore, I sat with my party in the shade of the jib sail (that little triangle sail at the bow of the ship).
"I demand you release me." Glass said from the emerald cage I'd put her in.
"Ohhhh it's the pretty lady from before!" Tetsu said, "how did you get her in the little stone?"
She leaned in as I held the emerald on my palm. "Back! You are too close!" Glass growled as she (probably) had her entire view blotted out by a curious dragon eye.
"She's not very happy, is she?" Tetsu pouted, moving back.
"It this what you tried to do before?" Raphtalia asked, "With the tree?"
"It is. I was better prepared this time." I nodded.
"Don't ignore me!"
Clive made a gesture, 'words?'
"Tetsu? You can understand her?" I asked.
"Can't you?"
Raphtalia and Clive shook their heads, while Usa mumbled from my lap, "She speaks a little like you did, before you started learning and started to speak our language for your disguise." He then curled up just a little tighter, hiding just that little bit more into my stomach.
"It must be because I'm clever!" Tetsu said proudly, then leaned into Clive's hands for the requisite headpats. "eee yes, I'm clever."
It made me wonder. So I took the Vassal Fan from my belt and handed it to Raphtalia.
"Passing my treasured Fan around like a toy..." Glass sighed.
Raphtalia handed the fan back to me with a shake of her head. Okay, so unless it liked you, it did nothing for you. I stowed it carefully again at my belt. "Maybe... Oh..." I looked at each of my party members and got them back into my party again. "And..." Options? Oh come on... what kind of useless party system is this if you can't share languages... aha!
The sudden usefulness of the Shield made me a little suspicious, but just this once, I gave it a pat with my free hand, "Part of why we caught on to L'arc and Therese, is because we've learned to listen." I held the emerald up a little so I wasn't talking 'down' at its occupant. "Therese couldn't be understood by anyone but me until she did something with L'arc's scythe. L'arc had either a vassal or legendary weapon, but the four legendary weapons are accounted for here. Motoyasu further confirmed things, since L'arc and Therese were using a totally different style of magic."
"Humph." Glass replied, the tiny image of her in the emerald crossing her arms and looking away from me.
"As for releasing you. No." I said, "But aside from the limited accommodations, I'll try and take care of you."
"I will not speak of my allies." Glass said, "No matter what you might do to me."
"The worst I might do to you, is leave you in the dark." I shrugged, "And to be honest, I don't think I can actually kill you."
"Ma'am hero?" One of the 'navy' knights stopped a few paces away and called out.
I closed my fist around the emerald (getting an indignant noise from its occupant) while my party (minus Usa) looked at him (and yes, I resumed rabbit headpats).
"We've got the whale's head hauled over. Her majesty said you would want to look at it?"
The Queen, in her near infinite ability to understand what was needed to be done, and having the respect of the people around her to get it done when she asks the first time, had ordered a bit of scaffolding to be built around the bits of whale that hadn't washed away or sunk. There were also teams of water-born demi-humans doing what they could to carve things off the slowly sinking carcass for recovery (because yes, whale fat was used in 3 of 4 worlds for all kinds of stuff)
Most notably, the head. It had a huge amount of interesting things on it, past the usual 'skin' 'meat' and 'bones' that were common for the Shield (and other weapons) to absorb. The sailors had actually strung ropes under it and tied it between two of the remaining larger ships so it wouldn't get waterlogged and sink.
Sadly, it wasn't just the three other heroes down there.
"Boys." I greeted the three heroes, "Ladies, gentlemen." I nodded to their parties, giving Kuro a very careful headpat. "Wondering where to start?" I coiled up the Rope Shield again, since it seemed the easiest way to get down here without just jumping into the water.
Motoyasu shrugged and shook his head, while Ren and Itsuki glared at me. Aha.
"Why did you kick us from the party?" Ren asked with a frown.
"Trying to get all the XP for yourself?" Itsuki accused.
I gave them both a patient look, "I can't get XP with any of you nearby. But our party members can. So, I kicked all of you, handed leadership to Raphtalia, and left the party myself."
Kuro, still under my hand, ducked away from my attention to stand next to Motoyasu, "I even went up two levels."
I was still getting 'the glare' but I just brushed it off, "So, giant whale. Why hasn't anyone started cutting into it?"
"We were deciding who got what." Ren said.
"Speak for yourself, I was waiting for the expert." Motoyasu motioned to me.
"Cutting up something isn't a hero's job." Itsuki shrugged.
"No reason why we can't get a bit of everything. I mean, it's huge!" I tried to lighten the mood with a bit of arm waving. "But a hero who doesn't get his hands dirty isn't a hero." I said to Itsuki, taking out my all purpose knife and looking at the vast wall of the whale's face.
There was a rattle of armour and a hand clamped on my shoulder, "You dare accuse Master Itsuki of not being a hero and draw a weapon on hiiiiiii-"
I hooked my arm up and around the arm of the hand's owner, leaned back a little, turned on my heel and struck his chest plate with my open palm. Even though he was in armour, he didn't actually sink. But he certainly flailed around as if he were going to.
"I warned you." I said, "And if this were a weapon, I couldn't use it." I motioned with my knife.
Motoyasu sighed, while Ren and Itsuki looked on, confused, "How do you hold that without it being rejected?" Ren asked.
"It's all in your mind. Literally. See?" I poked the whale, sinking the knife in almost to the hilt, "Tool." Then I withdrew the dagger, and pointed it at Motoyasu. "Still a tool." Then I changed my grip a little, and thought about stabbing him with it.
Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Holding non-assigned weapon. The hero may not hold with intent to fight, any weapon other than their assigned legendary weapon
The dagger popped out of my hand with a numbing shock, but before it could get anywhere I caught it with my other hand.
"And here I thought you forgave me." Motoyasu sighed, though he was smiling. "Yeah, it's like holding a knife and fork. I mean, by that logic, only Ren here could cut up his food!"
The guy in armour was fished out by nearby sailors, but also dragged away from me. "So, you want us to... carve up our own materials?" Ren went a little pale.
"It's not too bad." Motoyasu said, "I'm really interested in one of those horns..." He looked up at the weird bi-horn spiralling out of the thing's forehead. "You'd probably want one of those weird lens things..." He motioned to one of the crystal growths that had been throwing magic around while I'd been riding it.
"Again, no reason we can't get a bit of everything." I said, "Come on you two, I can show you a bit if you want?"
Ren, being a mostly solo player looked curious. Itsuki however still had that look on his face. "Have a spare dagger?" Ren asked.
"Remember. You're just cutting up wood or something. And if you point it at someone, it will probably violate the rule." I offered him my dagger, "And please don't just smash the edge on stuff like you did with the coconut..."
It was no surprise the 'inter-dimensional Whale' had all kinds of neat stuff. Oddly, because of my insistence to give everyone a little of everything, I also got a 'set' shield.
Whale Skin Shield Unlocked
Whale Meat Shield Unlocked
Whale Bone Shield Unlocked
Whale Eye Shield Unlocked
Whale Magic Core Shield Unlocked
Whale Horn Shield Unlocked
Whale Shield Unlocked
Having all the other bits unlocked the last part. It actually made me wonder if there was some kind of special Shield for having a little of everything from the Chimera from the second wave... Maybe I'd ask later.
It was no surprise that the Whale series had a lot of water based buffs attached to it. Naval Combat 2, for the off chance I might... I dunno... steal the captain's spot on a ship. Undersea battle ability 3, for the far more likely chance I'd be underwater fighting something.
But there were three real prizes here. Having all those other bits, and unlocking the overall 'Whale Shield (that looked kinda silly, like the bald forehead of a whale, though it was pretty wide and tough), had given me a third Air Strike Shield or 'Dritte Shield'. Second, was the Whale Magic Core Shield. It was an actual functional size, and provided almost as good a magic stat increase as the Book Shield. And the newest ability, 'bubble shield'.
In essence, I could cover someone else in a 'shield prison' they could see through. It also had its own air supply, making it proof against gas attacks, and yes, floated in water. I tested it on Kuro, who looked adorable in her own hamster ball on the water.
Then we got to the next topic of 'contention'...
"Huh." Motoyasu was obviously looking through his status screen, "This is pretty neat. But what really has me wondering, is what you're going to make from it." He looked at me as I used the Rope Shield to pull Kuro back towards makeshift flotilla around the (rather gruesome looking now that we'd carved chunks out of it) whale head.
"You still have to let me see Raphtalia's sword." Ren said.
"And that lizard man's bow." Itsuki said.
"Their weapons won't work for you." I said, "I built in a kind of self destruct on them if anyone but they use them. And the weapon copy ability will copy that too."
"That's not fair!" Itsuki growled, "You made super powerful weapons, trying to copy us and you won't let us use them?"
"I told you my conditions for me making you weapons." I growled back, "The three of you got to start on easy difficulty, and after this last fight, it should be clear, even to you, just how bad it is."
"Hey! I've gotten better!" Motoyasu said.
"You have." I nodded, "But you two? All I saw was a bunch of button mashing, and point-clicking!" I leaned forward a little, "If you want to use something I make, prove to me you can handle it, because I do not want you cutting off your own leg because you got careless, or for you to go assassinating people without even an attempt at taking responsibility!"
"But we're the heroes! And the only reason we didn't lose this fight was be-"
I looked Itsuki directly in the eyes, "If you say 'because I cheated', I'm going to be monumentally upset. We won because my party and I, as well as Motoyasu and Kuro, all helped and put in actual effort. We discovered the threat, we scouted them out, we built tools and put plans in place, and in the end? We still almost lost!"
I took a step forward, and Itsuki backed up, his back squelching into the bone bare side of the whale head, "The Queen was here because I made a tool to call her and let her know. The water amulets you are still wearing? I taught Melty how to enchant, and worked with her so she could make them for us. You keep saying you're a hero, but all you're doing is pushing the fire button," I looked to Ren, "And staring moodily out the window!"
"You think you could take us on then?!" Ren glared back.
"Hey now!" Motoyasu perked up, "Hold it right there!"
But I was done for the moment. I shook my head, took a long, deep breath through my nose, and let it out through my mouth. "See?" I said quietly, "You know I'm a martial artist, yet you just challenged me on a thin walkway of wobbly wood. You have no concept of even the basics." I looked to Motoyasu, "I know, I remember. Maybe explain it to them. I'm going to join my party on the island, and get some sleep."
"Gr?" Clive was the chosen victim for my angry tails. After taking a little swim to clean dead whale off me, I got back up on deck, sat back down under the shade of the jib-sail, faced the oncoming shore, and sulked. Clive came to investigate, and was now wondering why he was sitting behind me with my tails angry-tapping over him.
"I'm trying to figure out how to get the other two to take this seriously." I said, "Without losing my temper. It's getting harder Clive."
He struggled a little behind me, then his scaly hand gave me a headpat. There was a pause, then his arm reached around and put the grip of his bow and one of the arms on my lap.
"Trying to cheer me up with a project huh?"
"click."
"Well, might have some extras to add."
His hand returned, and it was holding one of my Occulus. I hadn't even felt him take it from my pouch.
"Sneaky." I took it, gently slapped his hand for pick pocketing me, "But yes, I've been kind of... I just don't want bad news. Not until after a nap or something."
Once again, his hand returned, bent a little awkwardly, and gave me a finger waggle.
"Yeah." I nodded, willing my tails to let him go.
He clicked his mouth a couple times in his version of a chuckle, stood, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and wandered off. We had maybe a half hour until we got back to Cal Mira... So, I looked into the Occulus and gave it a couple taps. "Ake?"
There was a pause, a sudden darkening of the Occulus in my palm, then it brightened again, and for a moment I was looking at a compressed finger pad as it pressed into the 'screen' on his side, then I was looking into the face of Ake. Or rather, his closed helmet. "Ah, Lady Kodori." He paused, pushed up the beak of his helmet, and looked back at me with his slightly sweaty youthful face. "Lady Kodori." He greeted again.
"Sir Ake. Still out in the field?"
"Yes'm. The wave was a little rough for us. But with my knights, Lady Ragnarok, Fohl and..." He lowered his voice, "Lady Sadeena..." He looked nervously left and right, relaxed a little, "As well as a few of the more capable of your town, we pulled through with minimal damage. My squad is patrolling the perimeter for stragglers while work crews patch up the holes in the temporary wall."
"Why so nervous?" I asked.
"She was in a bit of a mood after the main bulk of the fighting was done, and we've run out of alcohol..."
I nodded, "Well, I'll bring some back. Anyhow... Did anything happen to the tree?"
"Ah... Well, Queen Kunshu and Lord Tenno didn't let anything, or anyone, get close to it during the Wave. It was honestly a little frightening."
"Defending their home I think." I nodded, "Okay. We'll be back in a few days. A bit of cleanup to be done, and we are... very tired."
"Understood. I will spread the good news then."
"Please do. I will call tomorrow morning. Give the Occlus to Atla, and tell her to visit Kunshu."
"Understood." He saluted, I nodded in reply, and his side of the Occlus went dark.
Something was bothering me at dinner time.
The ships got to dock. Things were unloaded. Injured were taken to actual beds to get looked at. The Queen gave everyone royal waves and thank yous for doing their best. People cheered. And it was around there that my party and I said 'thank you' and vanished into the nice inn to have a nap.
After such a heavy day of fighting, it was only after I'd finished eating with the others that I noticed what. Someone, or rather, a bunch of someones, were missing. Itsuki and most of his sycophants weren't in the dining room of the inn. Neither were Ren and his 'solos'. At first, I thought they didn't want to eat among the celebrating heap of sailors and soldiers who'd come in for 'happy hour' in the same place the heroes were staying.
But then I caught a semi-familiar bob of braided green hair sulking into a barely touched plate of food. Rishia? For a moment, I wondered what she was doing there. Considering she seemed to be glued to Itsuki. But that's when I noticed the other two not being here, and their parties absences.
"Ma'am?" Usa said over the latest bawdy tavern song (that Raphtalia was singing as well).
"Itsuki left Rishia behind." I said, "That stupid..." I sighed again, but Usa put a hand on my shoulder to keep me seated. "Usa?"
"We'll go talk to her. She's... not very fond of you."
I gave his hand a pat, and watched as he stood, wove through the crowd, and 'initiated' a conversation with her. He put that same hand on her shoulder, said something, waited, then sat down.
There was a sudden thump on the bench opposite me, and Motoyasu gave me his usual smile from the other side of the table. "You look frustrated again." He said, rubbing his hands together while looking down at the wooden bowl of stew in front of him.
"I'm pretty sure Itsuki and Ren left already, and that Itsuki left Rishia behind." I said, rubbing at the space between my horns with my palm.
He looked at me, shocked, then turned his head to look where I was. Usa was now sitting across from her, leaning forward a bit so he didn't have to speak too loud over the celebratory noises in the room. Motoyasu turned away from the pair, and started to rub his forehead as well. "They probably used their portal skills to get off the island faster."
"Yeah, thinking that too." I nodded, "Save them a bit of time, and lets them skip trying to get over their sea sickness... Another shortcut..." I shook my head, "But why leave her behind? She was actually useful!"
Motoyasu chewed for a moment, thoughtful, then took a sip of whatever what in his mug, "Maybe that was the problem? I mean, if I wanted to play at being some masked superhero, and the people around me kept showing me up..." He motioned to me, "Can't all be old and wise like you, right?"
The irritating itch in my horns turned into a pleased tingling for a moment, and I couldn't help but laugh, "Is it really so simple?"
"Maybe. I mean, he is the youngest of us, after you, technically..." He paused, realized what he had said, and looked liked he might panic.
But I waved it away, "And he's trying to hold on to the power fantasy... Still, leaving someone behind like that..."
"She was pretty handy to have around when I was trying to rescue people. As silly as it looked, she was wearing one of those mascot outfits, and could really move in the water." He said, "reminds me of this one..."
I looked at him with one eye between the fingers of myhand. "Let me guess, shy, didn't like facing you?"
He froze like a deer in the headlights, but he thawed out when he noticed the smile on my face. "Yeah. Kinda like that. Rishia is like an entirely different person while wearing that... thing."
"We all wear masks." I shrugged, "Where's Kuro?"
"Doing her best to take up as much of the hot spring as she can." He laughed, "So what's your plan from here?"
"Might poke at the event tomorrow, just because it's still on. But I've got a lot of equipment repair to do, and Raphtalia's village to visit. Oh, and if I don't get a proper sleep tonight, the Queen might actually put me in chains until I do."
"Well don't let me stop you. Actually, I encourage you to get some rest. Unlike the other two, I think I will try to get over my sea sickness. Maybe go swimming some more. The Queen will probably want to do something similar to what the King did, and have a little party for us. So even if the other two went back first, they are likely hanging around Melromarc."
"Makes sense... Oh, I got your version of powering up to work... kinda. I have some 'soul energy' stored in the Shield."
"Oh? Awesome. You were really something with that book. Maybe put points into that?"
"Maybe. Anyhow."
Before I went to enjoy the baths, and I fully intended to enjoy them, I had to do something about Glass. First and foremost, this world, or the system running it, had no idea what to do with a 'soul box'. Every time the system screen tried to focus on the emerald cube, an error message popped up. So, like my wedding ring, I didn't try to put it into the Shield's inventory. Not only that, now that there was an actual soul in the emerald...
As interested in the experiment might be, to put a living person in the item box of a mysterious artifact, I couldn't bring myself to attempt it.
Of course, I couldn't really do much with the emerald, without having it out in the open. So, I worked on something while sitting at the little desk in the room the Inn had provided for me.
"What do you intend to do with me, Demon Fox?" Glass asked as I carefully measured out wire made from one of the item drops, the oreikul ore. It was tough stuff, but really pretty. Not meant for armour or weapons though.
"Well, I don't intend on putting you in the Shield's inventory. Who knows what might happen..." A little twist, a curve... "And I don't want to torture you..."
"Humph. You have already put me in this green tinted room, with naught but emptiness and what little light enters the pouch you put it in. And this is after bringing me near dissolution with that foul trick of yours!"
"I wasn't going to just let you kill me." I replied, eyeballing a measurement, nodding, then putting a kink in the wire, "The abilities you demonstrated to me meant I had almost no chance of getting my hands around your throat an breaking it. And the rest of my party was busy or unable to fight."
"You make my defeat sound insultingly simple!"
I paused my work, turned to look at her, and replied, "It makes me sad you think so little of yourself." I looked away, "Almost everything I've done, from the third wave to this one, was to get strong enough, to plan, and to make tools, to beat you."
There was a long moment of silence as I used my jeweller's tools to bend and twist the wire into a nice cage to hold the emerald.
"Truly?" She asked.
"I know you were listening to us when I talked with the other three heroes." I said, carefully twisting the top of the 'cage' so it would make a loop for a chain to attach to. "The Spear has finally pulled his head out his backside, but the other two are still..." I paused, setting one of my tools down so I could just scrub at my face to ease the itching in my horns.
"Pathetically weak. All but you it seems." There was respect there, grudging, but there.
"They have been pulled from their world, which has only the barest hint of what this world has. They have no monsters, they have no magic, no kings or queens, no quests. They were peasants elevated to importance, without a clue about how to act." I started to make the actual chain for the pendant, this time out of dragon-steel, since I didn't want it breaking.
"Ho? And you do it seems?"
"I do. But the problem with the other three, is they were given everything. The King gave them everything he could, had the best talent join them, and essentially did nothing to temper the sudden elevation to being a hero, or impress any real responsibility on them. Didn't tell them what was at stake, didn't tell them about other worlds, vassal weapons, history... nothing."
"Spoiled children, spared the rod." She laughed, "It explains much!"
"Well, after applying the rod to one, I've gotten him to start taking things seriously." I said, "Sit down, if that's a thing you can do in there."
"Wha-ah!" To me, Glass was just a tiny figure in the square cut emerald. Almost like an Occulus image. "Be gentle you brute!" She had her tiny palms braced on the inside of the gemstone as I manipulated it.
"Sorry." I said, carefully fitting the emerald into the wire cage I'd made. Coloured a little like niobium, it was rather pretty to look at. Once fitted, I clasped it tight with a clever little twist of the two ends, then 'locked' it with the first dragon-steel chain link I'd made. "There. Now then." And I went back to making little chain links.
"You will not win." She said after I'd made a couple of links, "No matter what measures you take, no matter if you are strong enough to beat me, the heroes of my world will defeat you."
There was no arrogance there, just confidence. Prisoner or not, she considered her words as truth. "Well, hopefully, if you do win, I'll have found my way off this world and back home."
"You would flee? Abandon your duty here?" She sighed, "Again, I feel shame at being bested. Have you no resolve to win?"
"My only 'resolve' is to return home. This war of yours took me away from my children, my wife, and all the other things a person might value. My duty is like yours. That of a prisoner." I said tiredly.
She had nothing to say to that, so I worked in silence until I was done.
"There. Now..." I linked the chain to the loop on top of the little cage holding the emerald, then carefully put the chain around my neck. "Now, you can watch from there. If you don't behave, I will put you in a small padded box with no light."
"Aha, the threats have come, as expected."
"Would you rather the small dark box? I mean, it will be very quiet, very dark, and probably very boring."
Pause. "No, this is acceptable."
"Good. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself. If the Queen orders me to give you up, I'll obey, and then you'll end up in the small dark box anyhow."
"Noted."
As legends went, the hot springs of the island were supposed to help with all kinds of ailments. This included curses. Sadly, all the water seemed to do to my horns, was make me feel feverish. I tired a few things to get the water to soak into them. Like holding my breath and sinking under the water for as long as I could. Or leaning back until I was floating with only my nose out of the water (well, nose and breasts. The night air did not help my comfort levels here either...)
Scrubbing with a cloth? Just sounded like someone was sanding stone directly in my ears. The fine sand on the bottom of the spring? Same as the cloth, just louder and a little painful. Soaking the cloth and hanging it on my horns? Just made me look silly. Leaning left or right to soak one horn at a time?
This last one made me worry I might make one smaller than the other, so I didn't. I wasn't usually one for vanity, but... nah, not going to risk looking silly.
So, I gave up, reminded Kuro she couldn't sleep in here, threatened her with a hug if she didn't get out with me, gave her a hug, threatened to get Tetsu to give her a hug, and finally got her out of the water so she could sleep in a proper bed.
The next morning, I woke only a tiny bit later than usual, gave Tetsu and Raphtalia a headpat (since I was pretty sure Tetsu dragged Raphtalia back to our room after the raccoon girl drank the place dry, and the dragon-newt ate everything in the kitchen), and got to my usual stretching.
"You all snore." Glass said a moment later.
"Would you like me to put you in the little box when we all go to sleep then?" I asked quietly.
"So long as you remove me from it when you wake."
"Deal." I said.
"I still will not talk about my party."
"Good. I admire someone who resists adversity."
A few minutes of silence followed, my muscles and joints loosening up, warming up, and working through the pain of all the bruises that healing and potions couldn't quite get rid of.
"You are quite diligent with personal care. Aside from your tails it seems."
"Four of four worlds agree, I do not brush my tails often enough." I said, fishing through the Shield's inventory for my brush, "Hmm... Suppose I could go back to wearing that..."
"I thought you immodest, but I doubted you would leave your room nude."
"Wouldn't be the first time. But no, not today." I put on my 'amazon blacksmith' outfit again, making sure the binding around my breasts was just so, before sitting back down and brushing my tails.
"So." I said, "Glass will be joining us. Not quite as a party member, but an observer."
Motoyasu, Kuro, my party, myself, and a very gloomy Rishia were all at the biggest table of the inn, a cheerful collection of bikini-maids bringing out stuff for us to eat.
Motoyasu leaned forward to look at the Emerald, or my cleavage... probably using one to excuse the other... But before anyone could do more than lift a fork threateningly, he backed off, "Is that a good idea? I mean, she's the enemy."
"Your eyes betray your intent, ruffian." Glass grumbled.
"Well, I don't want to put her in a little padded box." I shrugged.
My party shivered a little, likely recalling 'small boxes'.
"So, this brings us to the second part of today's meeting. Do we return to the mainland now, or on the last ship?" I asked, letting everyone else puzzle that out while I ate some kind of scrambled egg. Probably 'pekkel' egg.
"I'd... like to go back as soon as possible." Raphtalia said.
Usa nodded, Clive shrugged, Tetsu didn't vote at all (since food was occupying nearly all of her attention). Motoyasu looked at Kuro, "What do you think kiddo?" He asked her.
Kuro was at least better mannered than Tetsu, and paused eating to answer, "We could stay here just a little longer? I'm sure we could gain a little more strength from the event?"
Motoyasu nodded, "Sure."
Then all eyes went to Rishia. The poor girl was poking at her food with that all too familiar listless apathy of someone who'd been abandoned. I was about to do what I always did, and extend a hand, but Usa beat me to it, in the most unusual way.
"Sir Motoyasu? If you are going to stay, why not have Miss Rishia join your party?" Usa said.
Motoyasu and I both dropped our forks, looked at each other, and had a silent rock-paper-scissors match.
"I could." He said after he won the match. "What do you think?"
Listless and depressed didn't mean she was ignoring us, "I'm not very strong. I'd really just pull you down." She said quietly, "None of my stats stand out, my magic is poor, I can't-"
"Hey now." Motoyasu said smoothly, "Don't worry about that. I know I'm not Itsuki, but I'm only asking you try."
Oh no... he was going to treat her like a rebound? What have I done...
But then I saw Kuro looking past Motoyasu with the biggest most sparkly eyes ever. And it seemed that not even poor Rishia could ignore the waves of hopeful sparkles sleeting off the little angel winged girl.
"Well... maybe..." She started, "But I don't have a we-"
I put down a pair of the clawed gloves we'd gotten at a monster drop. "If they suit you, I'll make you better ones later." I offered, "Or you can use this..." I set down that weird dark element sword as well.
Motoyasu nodded thanks to me, "I've been told a proper captain figures out the best places for their party members. And since I'm trying to be a proper captain now, we can work on that. What do you say?"
If nothing else, he was all smiles and encouragement.
She looked at the weapons, then me, then Motoyasu, then the still SUPER DUPER sparkling Kuro. "Okay..." pause, "um, do you have a-"
"Dog, squirrel, penguin or rabbit?" I asked.
She looked at me again, then Kuro and her happily flapping wings. "Dog please."
With a flutter of cloth, I pulled the 'dog mascot' suit out of the Shield, rolled it up, and handed it to her.
"Very well. So my party and I will get on the boat that leaves in... a half hour? And I'm guessing you'll portal over to Melromarc in a day or two?" I said.
"Sounds good. Good luck at your new village."
"Now hurry up and finish that." Raphtalia said to Tetsu.
We were doing our last minute check to be sure we had everything, when my pouch made a little noise.
I took the Occulus out of it, "Ah, sorry, I'd forgotten." I said as Atla's face looked back at me.
"I was starting to worry just a little." She admitted, her smile making her dull blue eyes light up a little. "Is everything alright? Are you returning soon?"
"We're getting on the ship in a few minutes, and should be there in two days provided no bad weather." I said, "Did..."
There was a giggle, and Rifana walked out from behind Atla, "Master, your gift from afar awaits you."
I felt... it was something close to dizzy, with a side of weak knees. But I did my best to hide it with a deep breath and a smile, "What arrived?"
"Many things. Though, only one object. It is being protected by Kunshu and Tenno." Rifana said with a smile, her little hands reaching towards the Occulus and adjusting Atla's grip on is so she was a little more in the picture, "But you have also received messages from Hestia, and someone named Sachiko."
That told me a couple of things, one of which being they used 'my' shrine as a the teleport site. "What did my daughter say?"
"Yip." Rifana chirped, "Just that. Though I could feel some very excited tail wagging."
"And Goddess Hestia?"
Rifana scrunched up her youthful face as much as she could, "You better bring them here to visit! And you better come home so you can bring them here to visit!" Rifana relaxed her face, giggled, then added, "She wasn't angry. Just... elderly."
"Alta? Please give my guardian a hug for me? We'll be back in a couple days."
Notes!
There we go. :)
Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!
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