More Mounts, More Bouts

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! A new face joins the village in this chapter but will they be a boon or a headache? I'd also like to take a moment to give a shoutout to my newest $3 dollar patron: Mudit Chadha! Congratulations, now you'll get a heads up on all my plans for the week in my newsletter! You all can too, just stop by my Pat reon and see about becoming a patron! Now then I think that's all the announcements I have for the time being and with no guest review questions this week, its on to the story!

Rurorona Village: Rat's Laboratory

"Well, this isn't quite what I was expecting," Naofumi commented as he gently pulled the newly hatched dragon out of the remains of its egg and set it on the table.

"It's actually bigger than Johann was when he hatched," Darius put a hand to his chin while examining the monster, noting its small wings were on its back instead of being part of its arms, "guess that's what happens when they come from an actual dragon egg instead of the monster egg lottery."

"It's a lot cuter than I expected," Raphtalia beamed, "is it healthy?"

"Quite healthy," Rat confirmed, "Johann did a good job keeping it warm." Naturally this compliment received a toothy smile from the dragon boy who was smugly crossing his arms. "Also, this appears to be a male Wyr dragon. You got lucky with this one, they're one of the most loyal types of dragons."

Naofumi nodded while taking a piece of the dragon's egg and absorbing it into his shield. Strangely, there was flash of green electricity this time as opposed to the usual green glow when he absorbed something into his cardinal weapon. But any concern about that was quickly forgotten as Wyndia spoke up. "Your name…...is Gaelion," she declared while gazing happily at the dragon.

The dragon pup chirped in response to this. "He likes it!" Wyndia cheered while picking up the newly named Gaelion and holding him in the air.

"Are you sure you don't want to name it, count," Rat asked the Shield Hero, "the egg was technically sent to you, after all."

"He seems to like it, so I don't have a problem with it," Naofumi shrugged.

"Of course he does!" Johann exclaimed with his fist in the air, "Gaelion is a great name for a dragon, nearly as great as mine! And shield guy sucks at naming things anyway."

"I'm not that bad," he defended, "the name's I've picked out have worked great so far."

"Filo's name is literally short for 'Filolial'," Darius reminded, "you're not winning any awards for creative naming any time soon."

"Whatever," Naofumi rubbed the back of his head before turning his attention to Wyndia, "since you're the one who named him and one of the only dragon experts we've got in the village it'll be your job to take care of Gaelion."

"I will," she nodded in understanding.

"Johann, help her when you've got the time," the Armory Hero instructed, "but do not encourage our new dragon friend to pick a fight with Filo and the other Filolial in the village. We don't need an interspecies turf war."

"Ugh, fine," the dragon boy sighed, "but I'm still gonna teach 'em how to fight and fly and all kinds of other stuff!"

"I hope manners is in there somewhere," Rifana commented before petting Gaelion on the head, "welcome to our little village. Let's try and get along."

A Few Days Later

The other villagers, especially the children, welcomed Gaelion warmly. On the first day Johann tried teaching him how to fly and breathe fire, with varying degrees of success. Thankfully, Wyndia was able to temper his occasional impatience with teaching by reminding him that he was a dragon emperor who developed much more quickly than regular dragons and that he shouldn't expect the same speed of development from the dragon pup. While it was an admitted stroking of Johann's ego Darius let it slide for the time being so long as his mount didn't shirk his responsibilities in helping the demi-human girl.

The next day many of the villagers celebrated as Gaelion succeeded in not only being able to fly with his little wings but produced a stream of passable fire. Wyndia was so excited that she would've taken the dragon pup with her on a ride with Johann if Rat hadn't stopped her at the last second and pointed out that he wasn't strong enough to stop his fall from a great height yet. An argument broke out after that which Darius had to mediate, finally getting everyone to settle down once Wyndia agreed to tie Gaelion to herself while flying with Johann to prevent a fall. A couple other issues also cropped up.

The main one being that for one reason or another Gaelion also wanted to play with Naofumi from time to time. Unfortunately for the both of them, not only was the Shield Hero busy, but he also had another problem he was dealing with: Atla. "A little longer! Please! That's all I'm asking!" The White Tiger girl exclaimed while being drug out of Naofumi's house by Raphtalia.

"You'll have the chance to spend time with Master Naofumi later in the day," the raccoon girl shot back while continuing to pull her along, "Fohl, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Yeah I can take it from here," he assured before taking a pouting Atla's hand and leading her away.

"What are we going to do with her," Raphtalia sighed with her hands on her hips once they were out of earshot.

"Oh my," Sadeena cooed as she, Rifana and Izumi came walking up, "did little Atla sneak into your house again?"

"This is the fourth time," the Katana Hero confirmed with a hand resting on her weapon, "I honestly don't know what we're going to do about her. Fohl's supposed to be keeping an eye on her, but she knows how to get around him and surprise him. I really don't want to have to ask Darius to put a guard on her."

"Forgive me for not being entirely aware of the situation," Izumi spoke up, "but shouldn't it be impossible for Atla to sneak into a bed of the Shield Hero's size?"

"Naofumi has the same size bed as all the other adults," Raphtalia explained, "there's plenty of room for someone of Atla's stature to crawl in."

"Even when you're sleeping with him," the horned girl tilted her head questioningly.

"Ah, well, you see," the raccoon girl instantly turned red as a tomato, "Master Naofumi and I don't sleep together."

"Oh my, that's unfortunate to hear," Sadeena noted with a smile, "perhaps you wouldn't mind if I shared the bed with him."

"SADEENA!" Raphtalia and Rifana yelled before recomposing themselves.

"Didn't you and Naofumi used to share a bed when you first started adventuring together," the weasel girl recalled.

"We did," she nodded sadly, "but back then I was having more night terrors and we usually only had one bed available. But even putting that aside, I'm a woman now and sharing a bed with Naofumi, it, it'd be a really big step to take for our relationship right now."

"Sir Shield Hero seems to prefer taking things slow," Izumi noted, "perhaps these moments of peace in the village have dulled his sense of urgency."

"Urgency," this time it was Raphtalia's turn to tilt her head in confusion.

"For consummating his love with you," the Yama Clan girl clarified, "surely he has no reason to hold back and putting it off seems ill-advised."

"It's not that simple!" The raccoon girl insisted, "Naofumi isn't like Darius, he could react very badly if I push him to do something he isn't comfortable with yet!"

"Then don't go all the way," Sadeena suggested, "there are other ways the two of you can get a little dirty. Oh, or maybe that's your problem."

"What is it?" Raphtalia was almost certain she'd regret asking.

"My little Raphtalia hasn't learned about foreplay yet," the whale woman smirked mischievously, "don't worry, big sis can teach the both of you."

"No doubt you'll want to participate while you're at it," Rifana deadpanned while her friend had miraculously gotten even redder.

"Isn't that how it went for you, Rifana," the smile did not leave Sadeena's face, "Figneria and I had such a wonderful discussion about it. No doubt Naofumi and Raphtalia are just as inexperienced as you and Darius were. So why not let big sis show the two of them how to get frisky."

"NO THAT'S ALRIGHT!" The embarrassed Katana Hero turned and hurried away, "we'll figure it out Sadeena, don't worry!"

"Oh my, I may have gone a bit overboard with the teasing," Sadeena put a hand to her mouth.

"One of the things I'm not sure I like about growing up is your lack of restraint with topics like that now," Rifana sighed, "maybe a lot of what you were saying went over our heads at the time, but I still felt like you knew when to reel it in."

"You'll have to forgive your big sis," Sadeena put an arm around the weasel girl's shoulders, "you've both grown up and learned so many things, I just feel like I can talk to you about anything."

"Then help us brainstorm a way to keep Atla out of Naofumi and Raphtalia's house," the blond girl requested, "we can only scold her so many times before having to carry out a punishment."

"I believe the earlier mentioned solution would be the best," Izumi commented, "but I will also help think up alternatives." Unfortunately, this wasn't their biggest problem right now.

A Few Hours Later

"CHARGE!" Filo and Johann yelled as heated claws met electrified talons. They broke apart before engaging again, exchanging a series of incredibly fast blows. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones.

"RAAAAAARGH!" Gaelion and the village's resident red Filolial were also fighting. Mainly the Filolial was dodging around the dragon pup's fire breath while trying to dropkick him in the head. So far neither of them had landed a blow but it was unlikely such good fortune would continue.

"Wait!" Wyndia came running over, "what are you all doing?!"

"Master is busy!" Filo declared as she and Johann clashed again, "don't bother him!"

"Gaelion said he wants to play with Shield Guy!" The dragon boy countered in between blows, "so let us through!"

"Do you even know if he's in the house right now?!" Wyndia tried raising her voice over the noise as the mounts regrouped on either side of the lawn in front of the Shield Hero's home. Once again, they charged at each other, ignoring the dog girl's pleas to stop. But just as they were about to collide again, a mass of threads sprang out from seemingly nowhere, catching all of the monsters and suspending them in the air.

"What did I say," Darius growled while walking into view with S'yne next to him. Both were manipulating the threads currently holding Filo and the others. "What did I explicitly tell you we didn't want, can either of you remember?"

"Uh, something about a war with a turf," Johann responded sheepishly. He would've been rubbing the back of his head if the threads weren't restraining him.

"We told you no dragon/filolial turf wars," the Armory Hero reminded sternly with his hands on his hips, "and yet, here S'yne and I are being called away from training to deal with exactly that."

"But Filo doesn't care about this turf thingy," she insisted, "Filo was trying to keep little dummy dragon from bothering master."

"Naofumi isn't here right now," S'yne revealed, "he said he had business with Erhard at his shop. He left a short while ago."

"He's not here," Filo and Johann said at the same time with embarrassed looks crossing their features.

"Whether he's here or not isn't the issue," Darius waved dismissively, "you started a fight on the lawn in front of his house, you were throwing around special attacks and fire breath. This place was only rebuilt fully last month, what if you'd busted out a wall or set it ablaze?"

"We're sorry," the four monsters hung their heads in shame.

"You're certainly going to be," He pointed at his mount first, "Johann, since you decided to be irresponsible with Gaelion you're not allowed to play with him the rest of the day. Filo, you can't talk with your fellow filolial either for the rest of the day."

"WHAT?!" They both exclaimed but immediately stopped when Darius held up his hand.

"Furthermore," the Armory Hero continued, "you'll help the kitchen crew wash dishes tonight. Know this, for every plate or bowl you break it'll be another hour that you're not allowed to see your fellow hatchlings tomorrow, so the less bickering you do while washing the better off you'll be. Do you both understand?"

"Yes sir," they pouted in response.

"Good," Darius and S'yne readied to release them, "Wyndia, grab Gaelion. It goes without saying the only thing he's going to be doing is apologizing for making trouble when Naofumi gets back."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on him," she promised, grabbing hold of the little dragon as the mounts were all released. They walked off with somewhat dejected looks while the three of them let out a sigh.

"Wyndia," S'yne spoke up, "I believe it will be more beneficial if you don't leave Gaelion and Johann alone together for the time being."

"I know, I had just wanted to tidy some things up for a minute," she explained, "Johann had been really good up to that point, so I didn't think there'd be a problem. I still don't know why Gaelion's so set on spending time with Mister Naofumi."

"I talked that over with Rat and she's come up with a couple theories," Darius rubbed the back of his head, "Naofumi wore a fragment of the dragon emperor in his armor for a while and he's probably absorbed more dragon material than me, if you can believe that. It never affected Johann because he hatched before we ran into any of the stuff and he's a future dragon emperor already. Of course, Naofumi's also got a real affinity with animals, same with many of the shield heroes before him, so it could just be that."

"Still, it's no excuse for you to be causing trouble, Gaelion," Wyndia chided the dragon pup, "now come on. We'll practice flying for a bit and if you're good I might sneak some extra food for you." She continued talking to the little reptile as she walked away. Darius just shook his head before heading back with S'yne in tow.

"You've had to do that sort of thing a lot, haven't you," the vassal weapon wielder observed.

"It was actually worse when he and Filo were first born," the Armory Hero recalled, "I don't know how it was in your world but dragons and filolials are naturally antagonistic towards each other here since they often compete for food and territory in the wild. I had to restrain them so many times to prevent their fights from getting bad. What made it bearable during those first few weeks was the fact that me and Naofumi had to keep our parties away from each other when we did our level grinding. They're actually a lot better now than they used to be, but I was probably being overly optimistic giving Johann that level of responsibility."

"He has to learn at some point," S'yne reminded, "if he was out in the wild developing by himself it'd be different, but he's a member of a party and now a community. A day may come when he'll have to take the reins when you can't be around for one reason or another."

"I'd give it to one of the other village kids before I gave it to him, but I see what you're saying," Darius acknowledged, "I guess it's the same as always, we'll keep at it until he and Filo get it. Hope you don't mind helping us out with that from time to time?"

"I don't mind," she assured, "I owe you, Naofumi and the others a lot. Even if I am paying for it, you've given me a place to stay, food, and have even extended the life of my weapon, giving me a voice once again."

"I do got to ask, since we're on the subject," the Armory Hero had thought of this before but had never broached the subject, "you gonna hang around when all's said and done and you accomplish your goal?"

"I hadn't really planned that far ahead," the vassal hero admitted with her head slightly down, "I intended to do as much damage to my enemies as I could before my weapon disappeared and then continue the campaign with whatever means I had left. Even at my most optimistic, I didn't see myself surviving in the end. Would you want me to remain here after all is said and done?"

"Up to you on that one," Darius shrugged, "it's a big world out there with lots to explore. I don't know how much you've been able to experience since coming here so I won't stop you if you want to go traveling and exploring. That being said, I should also point out that the kids like having you around and even Naofumi can't deny how useful your skills are. He also likes having that extra bit of coin you bring in but that's something you can make on the road if you do it right and not just at the coliseum."

"True, I can always teleport back here, and I can leave a needle so that I know when there's trouble," S'yne mused, "it wouldn't be difficult for me to travel and still show up when you need me. Perhaps this place….no, that may still be thinking too far ahead."

"Take your time," the cardinal hero urged, "unfortunately our battle won't be ending anytime soon. For now, is it safe to say we can count on you being here for the duration?"

"I like it here better than living in Zeltoble," she smiled lightly, "it's nice to have people I look forward to seeing again, and who look forward to seeing me." Darius might've said something about that but instead their attention was diverted by Rishia waving at them.

"Hey you two!" She called, running up to the both of them with a wolf pup in her arms? "You're not going to believe this! Look!" She held up the wolf pup who for some reason had blue cloth wrap underwear on. "Isn't she adorable?!"

"She is," the Armory Hero admitted, "but you know Naofumi won't see it that way if you're trying to adopt another animal to take care of."

"Hey, I'm not a random stray dog!" The pup declared in, a familiar voice. "It's me! Keel!"

"The fuck," a look of disbelief crossed Darius's face, "what did you do? Don't tell me this is one of Rat's experiments."

"No, it turns out Keel has the power of a therianthrope," Rishia explained, "and she's not the only one. Fohl also has the power along with a few others, so Sadeena's been teaching them."

"Oh, so that's what they were doing earlier," S'yne mused aloud as she recalled catching a glimpse of the whale woman shifting back and forth between her human and animal forms in front of a few of the kids.

"I take it they're supposed to get bigger at some point," Darius inquired while rubbing his chin. 'Because this definitely ain't the most intimidating transformation I've ever seen,' he thought to himself.

"Straight up," Keel raised her little paw in the air, "I'm gonna get bigger and stronger! I'll be so scary no monster will ever want to come messing with this village!"

"Don't grow up too fast," Rishia started rubbing her face against the wolf girl's, "we all want to appreciate how adorable you are for a bit!"

"Haha, hey, wait, that tickles!" She laughed. The two heroes couldn't help but smile at their antics.

That Night: The Home of the Shield Hero

"Another full day," Naofumi breathed out while plopping down on his bed, "remind me to assign an extra person to monster care tomorrow since the usual one will be attending therianthrope training."

"I will," Raphtalia assured him while also walking into his room. Both of them were currently clad in their night clothes which, while not super revealing, still made at least the raccoon girl's body proportions more noticeable than usual. A fact which was currently not helping her broach another subject as she tried to look her party leader in the eye.

"Something wrong," he raised an eyebrow, noticing she was doing the stereotypical arms behind her back while looking at her feet. The staple nervous girl pose, one might say.

"I was just thinking," Raphtalia began, "Atla's snuck into your room four times now. A good way to prevent that might be…well…it's not just about keeping Atla of here."

"I'm not sure I follow," Naofumi patted the spot next to him, "sit down and take a breath. Whatever it is I'm sure it's not as a big a deal as you think."

"It might actually be," the raccoon girl sighed as she sat down next to the shield hero, "you remember when we first started out, how we had to make the best of each situation?"

"I try not to think too much about the reasons why we had to do that," he answered with a slight frown that was, thankfully, not directed at her.

"I won't deny it wasn't great," Raphtalia nodded, "so much happened in just a few weeks. But one thing I remember we used to do; is how we'd sleep together sometimes. Mostly to stave off my night terrors."

"I do remember that," Naofumi's features softened, "what does that have to do with now?"

"The others pointed this out to me today," his companion put her hand over his, "that it'd be easy to keep Atla away if you and I…. slept together."

"That's what has you so nervous," the shield hero smiled, "we stopped sleeping together because you grew up and stopped having as bad night terrors. If you want to start spending the night in the same bed again, I don't think there'll be a huge problem."

"So you will," Raphtalia smiled in relief before practically tackle-hugging him, "Oh thank you!" It was at this moment Naofumi realized he'd made a grave error. While he had hugged and had other forms of physical contact with his companion, those were often when the two of them were wearing armor or something that prevented full on skin contact. Now, however, all that really separated them were thin garments, making it impossible for him not to notice Raphtalia's curvaceous figure.

Adding on to that, the effects of his Wrath's series had been lessening in relation to her in a similar way that Motoyasu's curse series excluded Filo from being seen as a pig. Her actions now were degrading the effect even further as it finally dawned on him that his party member was not only beautiful but hot as well. And he was about to spend all night sleeping with said hot girl. This realization set his body into overdrive as he became truly aroused for the first time in ages, before collapsing from a massive nosebleed.

"Huh, Master Naofumi, are you okay," his sleeping companion asked before noticing his body going limp, "AAAAAAAHH! MASTER NAOFUMI!" Needless to say, it took a little longer to get the sleeping arrangement going than either of them expected.

The Morning

'The results of the first night of this approach were…interesting,' Naofumi thought as he opened his eyes. Most assuredly it had been nice once he'd gotten over the fact that he was indeed more physically attracted to Raphtalia than ever, and they'd found appropriate sizes to change their weapons too so they could sleep comfortably. It would be in the very late hours of the night, possibly even very early morning that this approach was put to the test when Atla made her move. Needless to say, she was not pleased to find another woman sleeping with the shield hero.

A short confrontation followed which ended with an unconscious Atla being sent back to the house where she and several of the other children slept courtesy of one of the Yama Clan guards. Naofumi would need to remember to thank them for their and the other guard's willingness to patrol the village throughout the night. What followed after that was whatever amount of sleep he and Raphtalia were able to get until the sun started rising. "Mm," speaking of said raccoon girl, she was waking up now, too, "good morning, Master Naofumi."

"Hey," he responded with a light smile, "did you sleep alright?"

"I should be asking you that," she smiled back, "this was all to help you deal with a small issue, after all."

"I'd say I slept-CRASH!" Naofumi was interrupted by the sound of something going off.

"What was that," Raphtalia asked while sitting up and transforming her katana back to its default state.

"Don't worry, I think I know what it is," he assured before getting out of bed and quickly putting on his regular outfit, minus the armor. Raphtalia did the same and they both went to investigate the disturbance. Turns out it was Naofumi's shield prison ability that had activated at the front door inside the house. "Yep, someone triggered the trap I laid."

It was a more recent ability he'd picked up. He was able to designate spots for some of his abilities to activate when someone else tripped them. Not the greatest thing in the heat of battle but definitely useful with some prep time. "You don't think it was Atla again, do you?" His companion asked.

"We're about to find out," Naofumi deactivated the trap then, revealing the intruder. It was not who either of them expected. It was also around this time that Darius and his party were escorting Wyndia.

"So you're saying this isn't the first time he's done this," the Armory Hero asked.

"It's not the first time I've found him out and wandering around," Wyndia answered, "but he's never been gone this long before."

"You don't have to worry," Johann assured, "I've memorized his scent. He'd have to get pretty crafty to hide from me in this village."

"I doubt he's hiding," Darius pointed out as they approached Naofumi's home, "more than likely he's just annoyed that Naofumi won't-BOOOOM!" The sound of an explosion caused everyone who had a weapon to ready it before hurrying towards the noise. As feared, a hole had been blasted open where Naofumi's room was in the house.

"Shit, how'd a monster get in there," Rifana asked as a red shape came lumbering out of the house. It turned towards them, revealing itself to be a crimson-colored dragon, albeit one smaller than Johann's dragon form. The monster settled its gaze on them, flames beginning to form in its mouth.

"Gaelion," Wyndia cried, giving everyone pause as she recognized the beast before them. The dragon responded to her voice, seeming recognition appearing in its eyes. Then the monster roared, a low shrieking sound that forced everyone to cover their ears. Gaelion spread his now much larger wings after that and took to the skies, quickly leaving the village behind and heading towards the mountains beyond, leaving everyone to wonder what had become of the once gentle pup.

They grow dangerous so fast. But what has caused this sudden growth and why has it made Gaelion seemingly more vicious? We'll find out more about that in the next chapter so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! Also, be sure to check out my Pat reon for news about this and other upcoming projects along with scene samples and commissions! Be sure to stop in next time as our heroes embark on a journey to a place that's quite familiar to more than a couple of them. 'Til then!