Chapter 59

I waited, there, between the two guillotines, as people left the balconies. I was sure that many people would make assumptions as to why. Was I regretting my choice to spare them? Was I reconsidering the punishments? Was I chuckling silently at the cruelty, or finally getting justice? Was I laughing at finally being able to let everyone in on the joke that I was a woman, and had fooled everyone from the peasants to the king?

No.

I was crying. Ever since meeting Haruhime, that was the single longest time I had gone without either seeing her in person, or holding her memory stone. All the anger, frustration, curse eating, monster slaying, slave rescuing... Her constant presence had started to fade, like body heat in a cold fog, slowly freezing me.

So, I was standing, waiting between the guillotines, head bowed, crying. My left hand curled into a fist, my right palm over the stone setting held in the braided iron and gold of the ring. And while they were as much tears of joy as they were anything else, I felt a little shame too. I'd told Aultcray she was my angel... no... I was hers.

"Ah... ma'am?"

It felt like I had to swim to the surface from a great depth, but I managed to open my eyes, the lingering presence of my wife clinging to my other senses while I turned towards the voice. "Ake." I replied after a moment.

"Are you well?" He asked, "The Queen asks that you follow me to the throne room. She wishes to have a meeting in a less..." He looked side to side at the two execution devices, "grim setting."

"My wedding ring is something I would burn your world for." I told him, "Now I don't need to." I looked to the sky, forcing my left hand open and my right hand down to my side, "Yeah, lead the way."

"Your party and the other heroes have a bit of a start on you. I don't think they'll mind waiting a moment or two longer." He said, "And I'm very glad you haven't burned the place down. All my belongings are here."

I gave him a sideways glance, my eyes feeling raw and salty. But I couldn't help but chuckle a little, "That was pretty funny." I admitted.

"Honest truth ma'am. Knights aren't allowed to make jokes."

His attempt to cheer me up was just as honest as he was, and I found myself feeling just a little better. "Let's get on with it then."

The Queen was now properly installed on her throne. Even with her much slimmer form, the big chair seemed exactly the right size for her. To her left sat Melty, looking a little uncomfortable, but no less proper in the smaller 'princess/prince' throne. And to Mirellia's right, was a slightly smaller throne, empty save for the former king's crown.

And in front of her, almost exactly like the second time we had an audience with the King, we four heroes and our parties were lined up. They were much reduced however. Motoyasu now had only Kuro. Ren now had only a mage and a martial artist. And Itsuki had three women. My party however had almost as many people in it as all of theirs combined, and would have, if Melty were by my side instead of beside the Queen.

But aside from us, there were a smattering of nobles around the room, and a bunch of knights, most of them from Ake's squads.

"Heroes from other worlds." The Queen started, "I understand that things have been difficult, and will continue to be so until the Waves are ended." She looked to the side and a guard stepped up from behind the throne. From him, she took a bit of paper. "Ah, excellent." This was handed back, and she looked at us again.

"Due to my foolish husband and wayward daughter's influence. It is to my understanding that the four of you are not, to be blunt, getting along. I have read the legends, and know that working together directly, does not allow proper growth. But regardless, the four of you should be working towards a common goal in parallel."

I heard Itsuki start to say something, but the Queen looked at him directly, and hero or not, he couldn't speak a word.

"The four of you require power. And for that, you must exchange information. Melromarc is large, the lands wide, but because the four of you cannot work together to gain power, you should speak to each other of the hazards you have found, so the other three can benefit from the knowledge." She looked to Motoyasu, "Sir Motoyasu?" He nodded, "Has already collaborated in a limited fashion with Lady Kodori, so Sir Ren and Sir Itsuki should as well."

This time, she looked at Ren before he could speak up.

"I will not order it. But ask as a resident of this world, to the heroes whom I hope can save it."

She relaxed her Queenly Stare, and the four of us replied, "Yes Ma'am."

Melty then leaned over just a little and mumbled something. The Queen nodded exactly once, then looked to me, no... past me. So I stepped a half pace to the side.

"Raphtalia." The Queen started, "I understand that things have been difficult for you and your former village. After the first Wave, my foolish husband and those who still hold grudges for the war of over a decade ago, allowed the atrocity that befell your village to happen." She looked to the side, and the same knight stepped up from behind her throne with a different paper. "This is the title for that land. By royal decree, it will once again be recognized as Lurolona. And while I regret the loss of Lord Seaetto, I will designate someone I deem just as worthy to hold that land as he once was."

Raphtalia stepped forward, accepted the rolled up paper, and returned to my side, looking almost like I had felt, incredibly happy, but a little sad.

"Clive. I understand you no longer have the same habits you once had, but they may still hound you until your dying day. I have spoken with the proper people, and cleared your debts."

I looked back at Clive, finally getting a little information on his past. But just how much debt was he in, to need the Queen to clear them?

His reply was a gargling, "haaaaaaannnunk grrroooooooooo."

"Usa. Step forward."

I watched the (not as timid as he used to be) rabbit man step forward, his good hand squeezing his weak arm as he walked. When he got before the Queen, he knelt.

Once again, that same knight stepped forward, and handed the Queen a sheathed sword. In a fluid motion, she stood, and drew the blade out smoothly. "For your service to me, to the land, to the hero, I name you Sir Usa, Knight of Melromarc." She tapped the flat of the blade to each of his shoulders, and sheathed the weapon again. "I hope you serve with honour, valour, and courage."

Before Usa could stand, the Queen put her free hand on his head, and said, "Well done." And applied exactly one regal headpat.

Usa stood, and the Queen herself belted the sword around his waist, giving him tiny smile before an equally tiny motion of her head to send him on his way.

"Tetsu." The Queen said as Usa returned to his place behind me. "Your gift is waiting in our kitchens. And I am told it is very tasty." I had no idea how she managed to say that with a perfectly straight face.

"Yay!" Tetsu blurted, before clapping her hands over her mouth, "Sorry... too loud."

"Kunshu."

The Empress Bee buzzed her wings for an instant in reply, then walked/floated/danced over to stand in front of the Queen. In the mean time, the Queen once again accepted something from the knight behind her.

"I have been assured that this is what you seek, and it needs only the Hero to help it along."

It was an egg. Just like hers had been, it bore the same weird 'chained circle' on it, with a little symbol in the middle.

There was a nervous rattle of armour as Kunshu leaned forward, but the Queen remained perfectly still as the giant bee's antenna touched the circlet of metal around the Queen's brow. The Queen smiled, really smiled, and also applied a single regal headpat.

Kunshu danced/floated/stepped back to me, and she stopped in front of me as well. "Please help me?" She asked.

"Of course." I replied quietly.

"Kuro." The Queen said.

And for the first time since I'd known her, the well mannered bird in angel form squeaked in a most undignified way, "Y-y-yes ma'am, m'lady!"

"I have a carriage worthy of your status waiting for you just outside the castle's main gate."

"T...thank you, Queen Melromarc." She replied with her usual dignity.

The Queen sat once more, "It has come to my attention, that a special event is happening soon at the Cal Mira archipelago. The monsters that will be spawning there will give greater experience, allowing the four of you, your parties, and anyone willing to risk the dangers to gain the power you need for the upcoming waves. As we speak, I have a ship being prepared, and it will depart from a town close to Lurolona."

Raphtalia perked up a little, and I dimly recalled a town that Usa had mentioned, but we never went to.

"Lady Kodori, I have already contacted Lord Van, and those who once inhabited Lurolona are already on their way."

"Thank you." I bowed.

"Now. I would like the four of you to retire to one of the smaller dining rooms. Food and drink will be provided while you converse and exchange information. Your parties can mingle as well, or not, as they please, but I must insist that the four heroes catch up with each other."

I wasn't sure what was worse. As 'heavily suggested', the four of us were led to the nice private dining room. Food was laid out, drinks were poured, and... Nothing. Ren and Itsuki were still giving me 'the glare', Motoyasu (while much easier to be around) didn't want to call them on it, and I ignored the three of them so I could eat.

Finally, Ren spoke up. "Aren't you being a little rude?"

Since he was still looking at me, I figured he was actually talking to me. I felt a little tingle travel over the skin of my horns as Motoyasu looked like he was going to panic. But I just finished my mouthful and replied honestly.

"A warrior's next meal is uncertain. If you have time to eat, eat."

"We're in the castle. It's safe." Itsuki said, his nearly open hostility dialing down a little towards confusion.

"Safer. Not safe." I carefully cut up some usapil meat, taking mental notes for the next time I made it. "Considering what's happened to me, here, in this castle?"

"She's right. Just relax, eat, then we can get to talking." Motoyasu tried to direct things a little, "Huh, what did they put in this?"

I had to hide a smile behind my mug of juice. He was attempting 'the topic change', a skill all parents attempt to get good at. "Dried ivy leaf... I think." I guessed, "Wonder if I can get it to work with fish..."

"I've been curious. Since when did you two start getting along so well?" Itsuki asked, getting his question in before relenting and starting to eat. "Considering what happened before, it's strange."

The Spear looked to me, and I motioned for him to answer. "Well, aside from beating some sense into me?" He thought for a moment, chewing slowly, "She showed me the slaver's tents."

"You're not going down that route too, are you?" Ren asked.

This time Motoyasu motioned to me. "This isn't a game." I said, "As much as it seems to be, as many similarities as there are between this world and the games you've played, it is not a game." I sighed, seeing that they were unconvinced, as if I were telling a low level adventurer that 'power isn't everything', and them not believing me.

We ate in silence for a minute or two, "So how'd you get captured?" Motoyasu asked, trying once again to change the topic.

The Sword and Bow looked at each other, and Itsuki spoke, "We returned to the castle, and decided to wander around. A bit of idle curiosity, matching the maps from the game to the real thing."

"Yeah, I've been doing a lot of that too, until recently." Motoyasu nodded.

"The library had a secret door, something that I knew about, but Ren did not. Past that, down a dark hallway that was..." He paused, his eyes looking to the side as he thought about how to describe it.

"Old, but not dusty." Ren said, "We found an archive of books that were far older than the ones in the library. Even some stone tablets. But we can't read the language."

"But it was clear these books were from hundreds of years ago." Itsuki said, "We were hoping to find other things there, but that's when we were caught." He looked to Motoyasu, "She was part of the group that captured us."

"I'm so glad I ran away from her." Motoyasu shook his head, "Did you recover anything? At all?"

"It wouldn't help, it's all in the local language." Ren shrugged.

"It's not that hard to learn." I said, sipping from my mug and taking a little bread roll from a basket, "What?"

"You learned the language? How?" Itsuki asked.

"A picture book, a pencil, someone to translate and sound out a few words, and a bunch of notes." I replied, lowering my hand to the Book Shield on my hip and taking the children's book out from the Inventory, "See? Though, I suppose my kanji is almost as unreadable."

A bit more silence, the two of them a little dumbstruck.

"How... just how are you so capable? The Shield is supposed to be the worst class!" Ren blurted, "Yet you're so much stronger than you should be! How are you cheating?"

"It's not cheating." I shook my head, "I'm under the same rules you are. I just know how to find the limits of them better than you three." I took the Book Shield off my hip and set it next to my (sadly) empty plate, "Here." I opened it up, my not so neat kanji scribbled over the pages, "The Book Shield gives me a boost to magic power, but also lets me write stuff in it. So, I copy the words of the spell, draw the magic circle manually, and poof. Magic I shouldn't be able to cast on my own. It's weaker than someone who has the affinity for whatever element it is, but it works."

Motoyasu spoke up, "The slave mark. Sure, it sounds abhorrent, but so long as you don't abuse the person under your control, what's the problem?" He looked at my book, "Wow... yeah your writing is terrible."

"But you could abuse them. It's wrong." Itsuki frowned.

"But I don't, because I'm not an monster." I snapped back, "Because of the slave curse, and the power boost the Shield gives, my party of level 45 or so, has the stats of someone close to level 55, and thanks to the class change, that's now hovering around 60."

"See? That's cheating!"

I rubbed my palm over my face, but Motoyasu spoke before I could, "It's part of the system. Just like how we pick up monster loot and feed it into the weapon, or risk feeding it metals to try and refine the weapon."

Silence, yes, even from me. There were other ways to power up the weapon? "Feeding it metal? Do you mean slotting refined metals or gems into it?" Itsuki asked.

"Doesn't your weapon power up the longer you use the same one?" Ren asked.

There eyes turned to me, "I just have a lot of utility..." I frowned, "Let's clear the table. It seems we have more to teach each other than I thought..."

"So." I interrupted before they got into yet another 'I'm right, you're wrong' spat. "You," I pointed to Motoyasu, "can power up various spears by risking certain quantities of processed metal. Every time you do so, and succeed, you add a 'plus one'. There is a risk of failure, and if it does fail it falls to 'plus zero'." He nodded. "Furthermore, slaying a monster occasionally traps its 'soul' and that energy can go towards spear specific power ups."

"You." I pointed to Ren, "The longer you use a weapon, the better your mastery. Once the mastery is filled, you can release that 'energy' and power up a specific stat of the weapon. If done enough, the 'rarity' of the weapon can increase, boosting stats further." Ren nodded. Thinking on it, this explained why he was still using the same sword way back when he found me digging out traps...

"And you." I pointed to Itsuki. "Rare materials used for the same bow, increase its stats overall." This made the most sense of all of us, I mean, a steel bow would be stronger than a wooden one of the same shape, so long as you could draw it... "But, the bows you can use also have a limited number of 'slots'. Ore, metals and gems can be fitted to those slots to give stats or abilities." He nodded, "You also have an independent 'enchantment' stat, that can give focused stat increases, but can also 'fail' and reset to zero."

Motoyasu motioned to me, "And you have shields that give either passive buffs, or 'use to use' skills. Like the Rope Shield, or that Black Dog Shield. And your version of weapon mastery mostly gives you personal flat stat boosts instead of boosting the weapon itself."

"It seems we all have at least one common ability, but several different unique ones." Ren said, "We all gain power by 'using' a certain weapon long enough." He frowned, "And we can all 'copy' weapons."

"But only you are missing out on the 'enchant' method." Itsuki said to me. "Though, you said you can actually enchant items? There's a crafting system?"

"Some of the items she gave me lets me craft stuff in my inventory." Motoyasu said, "Though, the items she makes are far better."

"Part of it is I actually know how. The other part is, I learned how from one of the merchants I ran in to." I frowned, wondering if I did have some kind of 'use metal/gems/enchanted items/random stuff to 'plus one' my shields. "Here." I pulled out a few items. "Medicinal herbs. Portable alchemy set. Inter- dimensional zombie flesh..."

"Huh." Ren's reaction was... lukewarm. "I'm not getting the things you claim I should get." He said, "Not all of them at least..." His eyes moved rapidly, likely looking through the status screen, "But I can make my own potions now... Normal quality?"

"The ones you gave us were excellent... why can't we do that?" Itsuki asked, sliding my alchemy set back over the table. "The Shield is all about utility I guess."

I sighed, "Because I know how to do it without the Shield." I rubbed my forehead between my horns, "Aside from the inventory, I'd be much happier without the stupid thing."

"So. What's next?" Motoyasu asked, "We've some common upgrade methods, one method that is really similar, but not quite the same as each other, and a universal ability to copy weapons. What else? Anything?"

"Speaking of that..." Ren looked at me, "Your party member... Raphtalia? She wouldn't let me copy her sword."

"It's her sword." I shrugged, "If she doesn't want you to touch it, that's her call."

"And Clive. That bow looked incredible." Itsuki said.

"I doubt you could use it." I replied, "Since I made it to fit his strength, you would need to be as strong as him to pull it. He might not look like much with a shirt on, but you could probably smooth granite flat on his pectorals."

"But it's a bow. Why would it be different?"

"You're joking, right?" I was dumbfounded... Where they both that... dense? Clueless? "I've seen you use your bow. All it does is shoot energy. No strength involved at all. The string is just made of energy and the bow itself doesn't flex."

"Well yes. It's a magic bow."

"His isn't. Well, okay, it IS magic, but is powered by actual muscle and skill." I really hoped he wasn't this... thick. I didn't think I'd have the patience to 'teach' him like I did with Motoyasu.

"How do you think she beat me up so easily?" Motoyasu said, "Big difference between 'skill' and 'skill menu'."

"There you go taking her side again." Ren frowned.

"Nothing to do with 'sides'." He replied smoothly, "If all we do is reply on our 'legendary weapons', then we'll fail. I mean, look what happened at the last Wave? Oh! That's right, we have to talk about that too."

"You lead this time." I said, my horns itching.

So, Motoyasu and I told them about 'what we knew' and 'what we guessed' about the 'vassal weapons' and 'legendary weapons'. About Glass, her 'role' in the waves, and all that other stuff. And I was hoping that some of the information would... I dunno... clue them in to how serious things were.

"But if that's the case..." Ren... I think he was getting that clue. "That would mean whomever is behind the waves is more organized. We don't have any vassal weapons."

"Well, we know where the Staff is. More or less." I said.

Itsuki on the other hand... "It doesn't make sense. It doesn't match the scenario..."

"All the same, it's what we have to go on." Motoyasu shrugged, "We know of four vassal weapons. We have four legendary weapons. But we don't know how they are sending people through, and we don't have any vassal weapons ourselves, just... information on them."

"Maybe this is what was in the hidden room?" Ren guessed. "But why would they try and hide it? Why capture us if it wasn't important?"

I felt tempted to say 'it was to kill you for being useless', but instead replied with, "Maybe it's still there?"

One brief assurance to the Queen that yes, we were getting along, and a short trip across the Castle to the library later...

"This doesn't make sense." Itsuki said.

They had been right about the secret hallway. It looked to be made of older stone than the rest of the castle, but was very clean despite that. Aside from a bit of trace evidence of a struggle at least. But, once we'd gotten to the room the two had mentioned...

Empty.

It was completely empty. Bare stone floor, empty torch holders, blank walls... It was cleaner than the hallway that we took getting here.

"Well... crap." I said, "Now it makes even less sense."

"What? You don't believe us?" Ren frowned.

"No." Motoyasu said, "We do believe you. But this is right out of a conspiracy novel. I mean, I can see where one of you got a bloody nose over there." He motioned to a slightly darker patch of dark grey stone where one of those 'traces of a struggle' had been left. "But this? Someone didn't want you to find it, but since you did..."

"Now it's gone." I said, "This smells of a black op." I growled, "But... why?" I rubbed my forehead again, "This world is so... screwed up."

"Relax." Motoyasu said, clapping a hand over my shoulder, "Gonna give yourself wrinkles or something."

"I can mix something for that." I sighed, "Okay, I'm done for now. We can talk more on the way to the coast or something. In the mean time." I pointed to Itsuki, "Pick up a real bow, with a string, and try and shoot real arrows. When you can actually hit a target, lemme know, I'll make you a bow." I pointed to Ren, "Spar against Raphtalia, without using any of the fancy weapon abilities. Just skill on skill. And if you can score a hit on her, I'll make you a sword."

Of course, the two of them looked offended, and tried to push it back on me, "What about him?"

Motoyasu laughed, "Oh, I already learned my lesson. Even know how to hold my spear right, with both hands even!" He stopped laughing in the face of the other two glaring at him, "Come on... We have to get our hands dirty, or we're going to lose. Let me remind you, she beat me, twice, with a twenty level gap and her bare hands."

"That's only because her defence is so high!" Itsuki whined. "You've probably got some auto-counter or something you aren't telling us about."

"If I had that, I would tell you about it. I want to go home, and if we fail to save the world then I won't be able to go home. Anyhow. Those are my conditions if you want me to make you a weapon. I wouldn't give my children a dagger until they learned to use the fan, so I won't give you a weapon until you prove you can actually use it without hurting yourself."

I brushed off Motoyasu's hand, not unkindly, and turned to leave.

"Where are you going? We're not done." Ren said.

"I've got my own equipment, and party, to see to. That madman melted almost all my equipment off of me, and I've got party members who can't swim."

"We can chat on the way there. Let's go see how our own parties are doing. Some of them might even be worried about you." Motoyasu said, putting his arms over each of their shoulders.

Before the 'execution', and my own sentencing of the royal scraps, I had told my party to think of something they wanted, and ask the Queen. I didn't ask what they would ask for, since I didn't want to influence it at all.

It wasn't surprising that Tetsu wanted food. That might have been my mistake, since I'd taken the 'path of least resistance' in training her, and food was the easiest way. Raphtalia's request for an... ironclad decree that her village had not only existed, but would exist again, wasn't very surprising either. She'd been more thorough than I expected, but she was pretty thoughtful for her age.

Clive... Nope, no idea where that came from. He had been in that cage for a reason, sure, but gambling debts? Explained why he was so good at cards at least.

Usa? I had no idea what he'd ask for. But damn I was proud of him. Not only was he now a very very minor noble, the Queen herself had recognized him. He had come a very long way since I'd changed his name from 'Useless' to 'Usa'. He was still kind of glowing from 'the royal headpat' too. Still perpetually nervous, but now with a tiny smile on his face.

Then there was Kunshu. Kunshu who was being very patient with me, even though the future of her species was sitting on the table next to us. Even now, she was 'tending to my needs' and trying to cheer me up, instead of asking me to put my influence on her future mate.

"upset?" She asked as I flopped onto the bed of my assigned chambers, her weirdly effeminate 'face' leaning over mine so her antenna could brush my horns.

"This world is very weird." I said, sitting up slowly and getting the comb out of the Shield and using my foot to snag a stool and dragging it over in front of me., "Sit here, I'll tell you about it."

So, I did. Not so much about the 'current situation', since she was there for most of it, and I did not leave my party in the dark about stuff like this. But 'how the hell does the world work like this?' Like the weapons all acting slightly different. Or the other two heroes still not 'getting' how serious things were. And this weird conspiracy to hide information.

I told her this while carefully combing her carapace, delicately wiping her crystalline wings down with a damp cloth and gently scrubbing some of her 'swarm' with a brush. You know, taking care of someone.

Her reply, once I had put the 'Empress's grooming kit' away, was very simple and direct. She spun about on the stool she'd been sitting on with the same grace she had with every movement, leaned forward to brush my horns again to 'talk'...

"accept it. deal with it. figure it out when safe." It was an abbreviated version of my philosophy since becoming what I am now. 'Even if you face something you can't comprehend, accept it. Calmly observe, and secure your position'. Accept, deal with it, figure it out when you have time.

"You are a treasure." I said to her, leaning forward just a tiny bit more to touch foreheads. "Now let's see what I can do here..."

As before, I 'bound' the egg to me. It was alarmingly easy to put a slave mark on someone. Now, I could have been wrong, since I hadn't asked how to make the ink involved, only bought a bunch of it. But once the new life inside the egg was bound to the Shield's animal slave system, I poked and prodded at the options carefully, mumbled to myself a little about it so Kunshu could offer advice if she wanted, and that was it.

"It will hatch sometime between... tomorrow and..." The estimate timer showing on my status screen wasn't keeping still, so I could only guess, "three days? Something like that. Take very good care of it." And yes, I had given the egg the same direct mana infusion I'd given to both Kunshu and Tetsu's eggs.

My next stop, wasn't to visit the rest of my party, but to find Melty. Oddly, it was harder than expected. The guards didn't know where she'd gone, the Queen hadn't seen her since the 'royal boon giving', and the slave mark on her chest only told me she was alive and without any status effects.

I was about to put off what I had in mind until tomorrow, but remembered something and headed to the stables.

"I am not sure I like this." Kuro (in her fluffy smart car bird form) said with confused indignity.

I thought she was talking to me as I got closer to her and her new wagon (not as impressive as mine, but it had a good foundation to improve on). But then I spotted a patch of blue dress peeking out from the feathers on her side.

"Melty?" I called out, stopping just out of arm's reach.

There was a muffled, "yes?"

"Are you bothering the nice lady?"

There was a little rustling, and Melty's face emerged from inside the fluff. She was giving Kuro's owlish face the biggest sad hopeful puppy eyes I'd ever seen as the bird herself looked down at her.

"Only for a little while longer." Kuro relented. "Most undignified..." She sighed as Melty all but vanished again, "Lady Kodori. What do you think?" She didn't move her body, but did that strange owl 180 neck turn to look at the nice big wagon behind her. "It's so... shiny."

On the one hand, I wanted to just agree and keep the nice puffy bird happy. Seeing someone sparkle with joy at something made me think of home after someone finished baking cookies. But, this nice wagon didn't have some of the things mine did, and I wanted to save her from a possible future of having the wagon get destroyed by a random pothole or something.

"Not bad not bad." I said, making a show of giving it a 'critical eye'. "But I can think of some things to improve it, if you wanted to hear them. You know, lights, better wheels, places to store things, good weather proofing, paint..."

There was a surprised royal squeak as Melty had to cling for dear life to Kuro as she all but teleported to stand beside me, "You can make it... better?"

This time it was my turn to get 'weaponized puppy eyes'.

So, with a serious nod, a subtle leaning so I could actually find her shoulder through the ultra soft feathers, I replied with, "Yes. Yes we can. We have the technology. But!" I moved my arm a little, found the scruff of a frilly dress, and gave it a little tug, "Melty? I need a hand with a couple of things."

There was a little sigh, "Yes, we do need to talk as well."

Kuro sighed in relief as Melty let go, but to show there were no hard feelings the huge bird gave the princess a pat on the had with a stubby wing (making Melty sparkle a little more at the contact, almost like static becoming visible).

"We can work on the wagon as we travel. Most of the things we can add to it can be done on the move." I said, "Don't stay up too late."

"Of course not. Hmm, I should find my dummy master to ensure he eats dinner."

"You first?" I offered as Melty and I walked down one of the many hallways, probably towards her room, but I had no idea honestly.

"I can't go with you." She said, "I have to catch up a little with," She paused to look around, "Mother. So I can't join you. I think we might be coming to pick you up after the event, but otherwise..."

I suspected this might be the case, but I could tell she cared about how I might react. "It has been a wonder having you in the party." I said, stopping so she'd turn to face me. "I understand that duty is important, and now that I don't have your father and sister trying to undermine me, and your mother has been put back on the throne, your duty to me is done."

"I... It was very strange, but I value our time together."

It was giving me sympathetic neck pain to see her looking up at me, so I knelt, formal Japanese style right there on the stone of the hallway. "You gave me hope, helped me trust, and were instrumental to many of our successes. As someone who comes from a world of people where strength and skill are prized more than money or fame, you would fit right in back home."

"Could you..." She put her fingertips just under her throat.

Since I knew the removal of the slave mark would hurt just as much (or more) than activating it, I captured her in a hug, and held her as the mark burned itself off her. "Without a second thought." I replied as I let her go.

She took a moment to catch her breath and rub the pain away, then smiled, "I will have to remember how to tell the little falsehoods again, just to be polite. But, thank you, Kodori Haruhime. Now... your turn?"

"Well, in the spirit of being ready for things if I know they are going to happen... I need the services of a water mage."

"I just happen to be a water mage of considerable skill, if the Shield Hero is to be believed." She smiled, "What is required?"

"Well... I know that at least one of my party can't swim, one of them gets motion sick easily, and salt water in the eyes sucks..."

Looking through the Shield's inventory told me I'd been a little neglectful with my book keeping, so to speak. So, before I could do any enchanting at all, or at least, enough to cover the party, I needed to replenish my metal supplies. I also needed to replace my armour. And the little anvil I had in the wagon just wasn't good enough to start on my own personal project...

No, I wasn't looking for excuses to visit Erhard! Honest!

I also had some things to experiment with, considering all the 'upgrade methods' I'd been told about.

Now, before I'd arrived in Orario, I played a lot of games. From the very first Rogue (on an 8088 PC), to hundreds of different RPGs over a dozen consoles and various computers. All of those power up methods were things I'd seen in one way shape or form. And while it was weird that all four weapons seemed to have slightly different ways to go about powering up, they all obviously worked. Now I just had to figure out how to get it to work for me.

NOTES!

A little catching up to do, a bit of Shield mechanics shenanigans, a departure, an arrival, a proper handshake, and headpats. All in the next episode. :)

Oh... This is basically the start of book five of the Light Novels, for those keeping any kind of track.

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!