The day dawned and I was the last one to wake up for once. That nest was just not as comfortable as I'd have liked, and I spent most of the night tossing, turning, and pounding it into shape. The others had slept…decently well, but still, we were having a late start all around, as the sun was already well above the horizon by the time the various parties split up, the Spear to go find him and Myne, Sword to go train some more, and my own to go gather the rest of our supplies.
The first stop was the magic gear dealer's place, wherein we picked up the diadem and vambraces for Strong, as well as some bits and bobs that I thought looked nice, and if I could find an artificer I could have turned into things. Until then, I had a small sack of shiny things to play with whenever I got bored, and that was never a bad thing, and might even serve us if we had to make a quick distraction.
After that we milled about, before heading to the cathedral to get the timer set, so we'd know the very moment the Wave began. As we wandered, Sword ran into us, one of his companions needing a bit of Holy Water to clean off the bite of a zombie…like it wasn't going to turn him or anything, the thing just possessed the 'cursed' trait as a wound, and needed Holy Water to clear it up. Luckily it was a minor 'curse' so it only needed low grade Holy Water, which hopefully they'd supply for free.
On entering, we asked our parties to wait in the open area outside the Hourglass, figuring this would take only a moment, only to discover that we weren't the only ones present. As if by fate, the four Legendary Weapons had found their way into the cathedral in this hour. It wasn't planned, at least, I hadn't planned it, but finding us all standing here, it was a shock, though we had only just arrived as Motoyasu and Shield began to talk.
"Is that Naofumi I see?" asked the Spear, in a tone that was just this side of…something. It made me want to smack him, though the fact that Naofumi had a look that said he felt much the same made me wonder if I was wrong.
"Wow, you're still rocking that weak-ass equipment, are you?" he said, when Shield didn't respond, and he still didn't, after a brief flash, he let his expression go slack, as a young woman walked up next to him, one with rounded ears on top of her head, a Demi-Human, one who's status sheet, glanced at out of the corner of my eye, bore the status effect 'Slave Seal'. Apparently I wasn't the only one that had visited the slave market in this town.
"Do you know these people, Master Naofumi?" she asked in a voice as sweet as could be. It was quite the scene, but the Shield Hero responded to neither question, and instead began to walk past the Spear Hero and his party, all of them pulling out of his way.
"Hey! Sir Motoyasu is talking to you, Naofumi!" said…Myne? Myne, who had been crying about this man the last time we'd seen them together, who had buried herself in a guard's arms, and later Motoyasu's...Myne who stared at him now with hate in her eyes, and not the hate of those once burned, but the kind of hate one felt when their lessers did not deign to give them a second glance.
I was just thinking about that when Shield raised his eyes up, and spotted myself and Ren standing there, looking at him. I wasn't sure what expression I was wearing, though I know that Ren was doing that broody, side eyed stare…I wasn't looking at him, that was just Ren's default. Either way, Naofumi suddenly clenched his jaw at us, obviously expecting something from us, though I was not one to give it.
"Hi there. I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, the Spear Hero. Nice to meet ya," said the blonde, having walked up to the demi-human woman, and currently had her hand in his…the Himbo was probably going to go on about 'saving' her or some such, but before either could say anything, I decided to step forward.
"And I, miss, am the Bow Hero, Bard Bowman," I said, making a show of bowing to her, and Ren, scoffing, just sort of nodded his head in her direction.
"Ren, Sword Hero," he said, which totally ruined Motoyasu's moment, and made him look at me with a glare, but he didn't say anything as he walked back towards his groupies, Myne berating him, loudly, for hitting on a demi-human of all things. Another strike against her.
"I'm…um, my name's Raphtalia, and I'm Master Naofumi's sword," she said, nervously, seemingly not used to being introduced like this. I had to wonder if she'd talked with many people outside of Naofumi. Motoyasu however, decided to be indignante on her behalf.
"Are you kidding? That's insane! If you stay with Naofumi you'll be in danger," he said, but was cut off as Naofumi walked up to him, glaring at the Spear Hero in a way that said if he had any physical attack points, he'd currently be laying into the blonde.
"Tell me I'm not right. Or don't you have the guts?" he chided with a smirk that was just asking to be knocked off his face. Myne, behind them, was smirking…she was either very brave, or an idiot, and the Wave would show me which, as Naofumi walked up, and took Raphtalia's hand, guiding her away.
"Are you telling me you haven't heard any of those rumors going around about him?" he called after, and Naofumi paused for a moment, before growling and then walking faster, moving by myself and Ren, who stared daggers at him.
"Just stay out of our way," Ren told him, probably because of his low level and bad stats. Meanwhile I walked in front of him, forcing him to pause for a moment, so he could look up at me. I then stooped down, stepping past him, and looking into the eyes of his…property. She had nice, brown, soft eyes, but there was a hard core at the center of them. Silk hiding steel, perhaps?
"Please, both of you, do your best against the Wave tomorrow. And try not to let yourselves be injured or killed. It wouldn't do for any of us to fall at this first hurdle," I said at last, rising up, and then joining Ren and Motoyasu's party, as the doors slammed, rather heavily, behind Naofumi and the demi-human.
"Being a little soft on him, aren't you old man?" asked Motoyasu the moment he was out of earshot. Ren seemed curious too, but all I could do was shrug, as I walked up to the Hourglass, and held up my weapon, a beam of yellow light shooting out of the yellow jewel in the center of it, soon causing a timer to appear in my vision, the days, already zero, then spreading out to include twenty hours, and some change.
"As I told him, it wouldn't do for any of us to falter now. We were summoned, four heroes, and regardless of his crimes, he may earn his penance on the field of battle," I said, glancing at Myne who made a face at me when she thought I couldn't see her, leaving me to wonder if this was how all women in this world dealt with what she'd gone through, or perhaps if something else were going on here.
Regardless, I soon exited the room, finding my party where I'd left them, as Ren followed after, having gotten some Holy Water from the nun. High class stuff too, which was overkill for the injury, but I suppose only the best for the Heroes and their parties. Motoyasu, as it turned out, had come here to gather his party, as this was the place to do so, and would be going out of the city for some last minute grinding.
I, meanwhile, had one last gold coin to spend, and once I had made my way from the cathedral, I spent the next few hours going from apothecary, to potion shop, to material dealer, asking around for the best in stock they had. In the back of my mind I was hoping to find a stat raising potion, something to permanently boost my stats up, and while there were some temporary boosts in the form of potions, none were permanent.
Still, it wasn't all bad. One particular out of the way shop still had some health potions for sale, where they'd been out at most of our other stops. I soon haggled a few of them away from him, and he even gave me a discount, seeing as the potions had been made by a hero, and had I asked my compatriot, the Shield Hero might have gifted me some, cutting him out of the deal entirely.
That…Naofumi could make potions? That was a skill that sounded awesome, and I quickly excused myself after buying them to spend half an hour surfing through my skill tree, finding some things that increased drop rates of some items, and even faster gathering and the like, but nothing that helped with the direct method of making potions, which said one of two things.
It was a 'learned' skill, something I couldn't just buy, which meant I'd have to apprentice under a master for a bit to learn how to make the stuff. Not the best, especially if it took more than a few days, as I wouldn't have long between Waves to learn anything.
Or, it was a skill intrinsic to the Shield. That…made sense. The Shield in Dimensional Sign was just like that. But in the game ANY class could learn ANY skill. It took more effort, sure, but it was still possible to spec yourself into any role. Buffer, DPS, Tank. Off Battle Support should be there somewhere too, but I wasn't seeing it. Perhaps another sign that someone was nerfing me, deliberately…I would need to investigate this further.
After that, I spent the day milling about mostly. The others in my party and I went around doing what we could to raise morale, promising people that they needn't be scared, and we, the Heroes and our Parties, would defend them from the monsters. I even had them perform a few 'small' tricks of combat in the middle of the square, impressive feats of strength, speed, and magic, to make the people feel just that little bit safer.
Sadly, there was no EXP for such things, but it made me feel better to see smiles on a few faces when the sun finally went down, and we proceeded back to the barracks, strangely, passing Naofumi and his Demi-Human companion, who were staying in one of the many inns in the area…probably easier to find lodging for two rather than our large groups, but it still galled a bit that he had something nicer than a hard rack to look forward to for the evening.
We returned to the barracks with smiles, however, and while the others looked exhausted, and were looking forward to a nights sleep, I had my party join me in going over various plans and techniques I wanted to try out, depending on how the battlefield shook out. One advantage of saving my own and their resources for the coming day was that we would be hitting the ground at full power, while Sword at least, would be missing a few points of SP it looked like.
Over the hours, as the sun set, my team and I discussed various things, from what we expected the boss would be like, given a cerberus had been the boss of the First Wave, to what sort of tactics would work best. We even had to talk evacuations, given we still weren't sure if there'd be civilians in the area, and I wasn't quite willing to just abandon people to their fates, at least not yet. Maybe if the cold calculations said we'd save more working as a whole party against the boss, I'd go for it, but for now, we saved as many as possible.
When my menu informed me it had reached seven hours and fifteen minutes until the Wave, I ordered the party to bed down for the evening, finding a…less restless night for myself, because I knew at least a few comfortable positions this time in my nest of blankets. I was still awake, however, long after the others had gone to sleep, their stats getting the well rested buff.
I found myself unable to join them, instead surfing my menus, trying to decide what I could best use in the coming battle, going over personal strategies, and sending my mind in circles, until, with a groan of someone far too obsessed with getting the perfect score on the coming battle, I finally passed out in exhaustion, my body collapsing into a dreamless sleep, and allowing the night to pass into the coming day.