Chapter 63

By the time we decided to head back for dinner, the incredible rate of XP gain was already slowing down for us. Even me!

But! And yes, Usa sighed at my evil chuckling, not only had we all gotten to just over level 60, yes, even me, I had figured out a few more things.

First, and probably foremost. I was actually starting to enjoy being a caster. I was actually having something resembling fun. The new Shield forms had made the small amounts of MP I was using for spells recover almost instantly. By the time I'd chanted a second spell, what I'd used for the last spell had recovered. If I wanted to improve, I would have to figure out a way to shorten casting times, or overcome the 'Shield imposed' limit on my combat power.

Leading from the first, was the second big thing. While probably more important to the goal of beating the waves, I had figured out Ren's style of 'mastery'.

Kinda.

While trying to improve my ability with magic, I had been attempting to do as I usually did, and using my deep mana reserves (the extra tail had actually made my MP and SP bars larger than my HP bar!) ... (Yes you are a good tail) to just push more magic through the same effect. And, since I was casting 'off the pages' of the Book Shield, and forcing magic power through it in an attempt to increase the power...

So yes, the Book Shield was now at 'Mastery Level 2'. And the tiny little magic power increase had gone from 'low' to 'small'. If the Book Shield, or any of the Shields I used often just needed more magic power to upgrade?

Challenge ac-fekking-cepted. The next time I visited one of my trees, I was going to pull so much magic power through the ground the Shield would wish it had a limit.

This of course meant I would have to thank Ren. And I would! My 'killer icicles' might actually graduate from 'mildly irritating' to 'bruising' by the end of our trip here.

Third? I'd captured a couple of the Bio Slimes. The Shield ate a dead one to give me an acid resistant shield. But past the first one we killed for that exact purpose, we had left all but the two I now had in little glass bottles alone. They were poor XP (amazing during the event I suppose but lower XP than even the 'Karma Squirrel Familiar', the weakest of the monsters from what we'd been killing all day), but like any good alchemist, having a strong acid on hand was useful. They were also keeping the beaches clean.

Also, the little eyes inside the bottles were kinda cute.

Of course, on the way back, we had to balance out our great day of progress with a little negativity.

We'd been avoiding people as best we could, occasionally stopping to kill things if they decided we looked like food, and once or twice we even did a little rescuing. Nothing serious mind you, just a little first aid. Getting a thank you. But after all the crap that happened in Melromarc kind of ruined the altruism of giving aid, but it was another warm reminder of home, and my duties as an adventurer.

We were maybe a half hour's hike from town when the... incident... happened.

"Another pack of squirrels." Usa reported, his recovering arm already going to his belt to hold the 'lightning magic up' amulet he had help make.

We turned to face in that direction, spotted them, and with a curt, "Engaging." Raphtalia and Tetsu dashed towards them as they spotted us and responded in kind.

This was more or less standard practice. Forwards engaged, magic support (Usa and I) picked off stragglers, and Clive would keep others from joining in, or if he had a clear shot, put an arrow through the larger monster heads. Past the initial 'learning' stages for fighting the local monsters, I had hardly needed to use my Shield as a shield.

But to my surprise, Usa snapped out a shout of, "Back off!"

And a shaft of energy zipped in from our left, putting itself into the throat of the 'Karma Squirrel' (the 'familiar' versions were the smaller ones).

The pack leader's sudden death put the others into a frenzy, and we all had to scramble for a moment to keep their teeth out of our kneecaps. Once we'd finished up, I walked over to the dead pack leader, and sighed as the message I had avoided ALL DAY popped up on my status screen.

Two or more Legendary weapons in close proximity will halt EXP gain!

I looked in the direction the shaft of energy had come from, and spotted Itsuki. "Ah, you were doing so well today too." Raphtalia teased, looking in that direction as well, "Only two bouts of evil laughter so far."

"Is that the Bow Guy?" Tetsu asked, leaning forward a little and using a hand to shade her eyes, "He didn't want to give me any headpats. I don't like him."

Clive attempted to cheer up Tetsu with said headpats, while he used his other hand to signal something to me.

"Sure. Find a good spot."

Raphtalia sighed, "Three evil laughs now?" She frowned at me, "Are we going to talk to him then? Maybe tell him not to shoot that thing carelessly?"

"Yes." I nodded.

Itsuki and one of his sycophants were standing there passively as we approached. He wasn't as clueless as he had been though, and after one look at our faces he said, "It's not kill stealing. You just got within range."

"Friendly fire isn't." I replied with a smile, looking around for the others in his party. To be fair, he'd chosen a good spot. Lots of good fire lanes. But that also meant it was a terrible spot. Since all the clear lanes of fire would also be paths people would walk. I spotted Rishia off in the distance, fighting with one of the giant squirrels, then a couple of his other 'bodyguards' down another path ganging up on a Pengu.

"It's how I hunt. Besides, you don't make the rules for me." He replied petulantly.

"True." I agreed, making a few hand signals above my head. "But if all you're doing is just standing here and picking off monsters, you aren't actually learning."

There was a 'THWUMP' and the distant Pengu died suddenly.

"And you must not want me to make you a bow." I smiled.

Another 'THWUMP', and a 'dog' being held off by three of his bodyguards exploded with the force of Clive's arrow. Itsuki actually noticed that one, and he looked at me accusingly. "Now who's the one kill stealing?"

My party sighed, mostly at me, "You aren't getting XP with me standing here anyhow." I replied, "But I am glad I found you. I got yours, and Ren's method of powering up to work." I made another signal, and there was a distant 'grr click' that I just barely heard.

He frowned, "You're just trying to cover up how you're already cheating." He said with a growl, "Now, if you're done stealing my kills, go away."

"Itsuki, if I wanted to steal your kills, I'd just have Clive follow you around all day. You'd never find him, and he's better with a bow than you will ever be, because you refuse to try it any other way than what you think is 'right'." I shook my head, then looked back at Raphtalia. "Bow?"

She hardly used it now, but still kept it unstrung, her arrows and bow stave in the same quiver. "What- hey! Let go!"

Silent until now, Itsuki's 'bodyguard' tried to stop me as I grabbed the wrist of his free hand. But Usa and Tetsu stepped between me and him, while Raphtalia handed me her bow. Itsuki was basically helpless as I tapped the bow stave to his hand, then let him go.

"Seriously. Learn to use a real bow. I made a bow like yours for Clive, because sometimes we just run out of arrows. But if all you ever do is roll your face over the keyboard as your skills cool down, you will never gain skill."

Itsuki glared at me, but a moment later he looked into that 'middle distance' at his status screen, "This bow is trash." He said flatly. "Why would I ever use it?"

"Your skill is trash, because you aren't using it. Just pointing and clicking." I handed the bow stave back to Raphtalia, "Clive, you can put the knife away."

From the shadow of the bodyguard who was glaring at Usa and Tetsu, there was a quiet 'grrclick'. Clive's cloak looked like the sand of the beach as he stood to his full height and put away his skinning knife.

"I won't listen to a cheater, who uses slaves and trains them as assassins." Itsuki spat.

"Clive? You want to be free?" I asked.

He shook his head 'no'.

"It's just power. And honestly? I didn't need to teach him that." I replied to Itsuki. "Let's go find some stuff in the markets before dinner." I said to the rest of my party.

About twenty steps away, Clive signalled to me. I nodded, smiled back, and replied with a signal of my own.

"What's so funny?" Tetsu asked as Clive started clicking his 'lips' together in laughter.

"Oh, Itsuki was aiming at my back." I said with a smile.

"But that's not funny at all!" Raphtalia started to turn, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"He won't shoot me." I used my other hand to point at my horns. "To him, I'm a demon. What if he misses?"

The market had all kinds of stuff. There were dozens of merchants, craftsmen, tinkers and the like, all up and down the brightly lit merchant's alley. Again, thoughts of home made me sigh at the sight of it all. But at least it was a happy sigh, not the 'the giggles are leaving me' type I'd been doing...

Far too often recently...

Sadly, Raphtalia spoiled all my fun before I could have any, and stopped me from taking over a blacksmith's workshop. She even stopped me from 'splitting the party' so they could all wander around to look for interesting things! (And let me go back to that one blacksmith who desperately needed a lesson...)

I did, however, find someone who had some leather armour I could get along with. If it survived long enough, I'd modify it. But after all the levelling we'd done, if we survived the next wave...

No. After we survived the next wave, we'd go back to Lurolona, and I would make myself some armour.

Of course, we did buy random things. It still kind of stung a little that my party still asked me if we could buy stuff. I mean, I offered to let them carry their own money! Even Tetsu! But no. Every time one of them spotted 'a cool thing', they came to me, asked, or not if they thought I would disapprove...

Did they even need the mark anymore?

Stuff stored in our room, we went downstairs for food. With all the adventurers around, it was pretty lively. Some were quiet, inhabiting a corner or a less lit spot to just drink in peace. Others were chugging... whatever it was they had in the kegs... all but dancing on the tables. Others still were arm wrestling, playing darts, cards, dice...

"Kodori!" A voice caught my attention.

My party, aside from Tetsu who was starting to gravitate towards the smell of food from the kitchen, turned to spot Motoyasu, Kuro, L'arc and Therese. They were already seated, with empty plates in front of them.

Raphtalia had the end of Tetsu's tail in hand, dragging her along as we all went over to their table. "You can order like a civilized person." Raphtalia chided.

"But..."

Raphtalia's big sister skill level was immune to Tetsu's sad dragon eyes. But seeing the distress of our poor mascot, and the new crowd of people with her, we had someone taking our orders almost as soon as we sat down.

"I see you found him." I nodded to L'arc, "And you're all still alive."

"Well of course!" He grinned, flexing an arm, "This is hardly a challenge for us."

"So how do you know the Spear Hero?" Therese asked.

"Being an adventurer lets you meet all kinds of people." I smiled, the others of my party nodding along.

"She's been a great guide." Motoyasu nodded, "And the rest of them are pretty capable! Even helped me meet my best friend." He gave my shoulder a light tap with one hand, and Kuro a careful headpat with the other.

We were interrupted by a lady in... well, if 'maid' and 'bathing suit' could be made into an outfit... Anyhow, she cruised by our table, dropping off food laden plates, then scooping up empty ones. While L'arc seemed to be a total muscle head, he kept the conversation to easy small talk while my party and I ate.

It had been a bit of a risk sending L'arc and Therese to party with Motoyasu. If he and Therese were with Glass, then they might have tried to kill him. Maybe they were going to, but saw that he wasn't an easy target? Maybe they were waiting? Maybe I was just being paranoid?

Raphtalia pulled me from my thoughts, her mug suddenly hitting the table with a perfect BAP of noise. I looked at my own wooden mug, the 'rucolu wine' was... kinda boring. I mean, I could taste the alcohol, but it was more like a smell in my nose than a taste. Like eating a cheap 'flavoured' rice cracker.

However, while I'd been contemplating how much I didn't care about the wine, Raphtalia's mug was joined by a second one. "You're on lady!" L'arc cheered, "Barkeep!"

Motoyasu moved over a little, letting me move away from Raphtalia so she had room to slam empty mugs down. I'd let her ask for hangover medicine in the morning.

A half hour later, and Motoyasu, Kuro, Tetsu and I were sitting at the bar. We were facing 'the crowd' as what seemed like three quarters of the bar were in on the drinking contest between Raphtalia and L'arc.

Of course, I couldn't just sit idle, and had my mortar and pestle out and resting on the closed Book Shield, one of those crazy rucolu fruits in it, pulped to paste and releasing a sweet smell that couldn't quite cover up the alcoholic burn as it tickled my nose.

"Wow... I think that's what... four people who joined in late, yet left early..." Motoyasu commented as a big burly sailor flopped onto his back, senseless, a mug in his hand.

Then Raphtalia laughed, pointed at the downed man with her empty mug, and said (with only a slight slurring of her words, "I might forget your name, but I'll remember you lost!" And her empty mug slammed onto the table, a fresh one in her hand before the sound stopped echoing.

"Aren't you going to stop her?" Kuro asked.

"I'll call it a life lesson against excess. When she wakes up tomorrow at least." I nodded.

Tetsu laughed, stopped, then turned towards the bar, "Thank you!" And promptly started to devour... something. Maybe I'd mix some stomach medicine too?

"Hope the Queen isn't too upset." Motoyasu said, "I see the other two aren't stupid enough to try and out drink her too." He motioned with his chin to Ren and Itsuki, the two of them brooding on either side of the room with their parties. Speaking of that... I didn't see Rishia.

"What do you plan on doing with that, Ma'am Kodori?" Kuro asked, "Isn't that dangerous on its own?"

I looked down at the fruit paste, "Given a bit of time, I could make all kinds of stuff with this." I got a small glass vial and poured the liquefied fruit into it, then a small clay pot to put in the surviving skin. "You guys are lucky I'm so tolerant. It took me about two days to find stuff that I could make into war crime level poisons."

Motoyasu tore his eyes away from Raphtalia finally drinking L'arc under the table, "Don't even joke about that!"

I looked at him, kept my face as neutral as I could, then stored the prepared fruit bits in a pouch. "What did you think?"

Poor Therese, also a tiny bit drunk by the look of it (though, it just made her cheeks glow exactly like Haruhime's after a bit of Sake), dragged L'arc away from Raphtalia's 'arena'. "He's really smooth with that thing. And her magic isn't like ours."

"Vassal weapons?"

"Just him. Saw it change forms, as well as lengths. It's how he keeps it on his belt."

"Her magic? I know it felt weird to me, but..."

"It's kinda like your spell storage gems. Except each bit of her jewellery is tuned to cast one, maybe two things. She just supplies power." He paused, "Oh... like she did, back when we fought the first time."

"Aha." I nodded, "Okay. Wonder if I should collect her now... Or just wait a little longer..." I looked around the room, and spotted Clive and Usa sitting at the same table as Rishia. There was too much noise to hear them at all, but it looked like they were playing dice. Well, I wasn't going to stop them from making friends, I just hoped the poor girl didn't get in trouble with Itsuki's mob.

I stood up, and I saw one of Clive's eyes lock onto me. I made a couple hand signals, small ones, and he nodded, his eye wandering 'away' from me. "That USL?" Motoyasu asked. "Knew a girl once..." He trailed off as Kuro's 'human' neck started to turn like an owl towards him.

"USL? Universal Sign Language?" I asked, and he nodded. "We call it 'Basic Sign Language' on my version of Earth. With little additions for combat situations. Anyhow, I'm going to find one of those hot springs. Tetsu?"

"The nice man is still letting me eat!"

The 'nice man', the bartender and owner, gave me a thumbs up, "Don't worry about it. Good to see someone who loves my cooking!" He grinned, then went wide eyed when I put two gold coins on the bar top between us, "It's already covered, you don't have to!"

"You'll see why later. Just pretend I didn't pay you extra when the Queen asks for the bill."

As I slid into the open air hot spring bath, the Shield stuck to the small of my back to hide it from sight, I said (to no one, since people were apparently more interested in a drinking contest than such an amazing quirk of nature), "Lacks bamboo grove. Temperature is perfect. Eight out of ten on the Mikoto hot spring rankings."

Of course, now that I was alone, starting to relax a little, and not planning on doing anything important until morning, one of my tails slapped me wetly across the face, while another intercepted my hand when it came up to remove said tail, and the third actually pulled the brush from the Shield's inventory, and put it into my hand instead.

I considered, for a moment longer than I should have, just shape changing a little so my tails would 'vanish'. But then I'd just have a rebellion attached to my butt when I returned to my normal form.

"Fine." I grumbled, "Get in line."

An hour later, I think, I heard the door to the changing rooms behind me (unofficially ranked nine out of ten on the Mikoto hot spring accessory scale for function, form and cleanliness), and two pairs of feet stepped out onto the field stone deck. One pair was energetic and slapped the stones with enthusiasm, the other sounded more cautious.

"Told you so!" Tetsu said, followed by a quick 'slap slap' of bare feet, a brief shadow falling over me as Tetsu sailed over my head, and a "WEEEE!" as she splashed into the hot water like an uncultured savage.

Having been mostly pacified by now, one of my tails brushed the water off of my face (leaving my hands free to continue grooming). "Tetsu? What have I said about jumping into water like that?"

"To learn how to swim first!" She said, dragon-paddling her way around the pool, "This water is so warrrrrrm!" Followed by a quick dip under the water, then raising her head and shaking her wild hair around like a dog.

"Pardon me." Therese said, lowering herself gracefully into the water carefully, "Miss Kodori." She greeted, the smile on her face not quite hiding the hangover she was going to have later. "Your Tanuki friend is quite the drinker."

"Is she still at it?" I asked, making ready to move.

"No no, your other friends, ah... Clive and Usa? They carried her away after she started to get violent." She tried to sound reassuring, but I was starting to regret not stepping in sooner.

"Tetsu? What happened?"

The little dragon paddled over to me and interrupted my tail brushing by curling up on my lap. Ah, must be food coma time. "Oh! She um... got that mean look in her eye when the bartender started giving her water instead of wine." She made a 'blah' face at the word 'wine', "But then he said 'that's your third mug of water and you haven't noticed!"

It took a moment for Tetsu to stop giggling, before she yawned, "Then?"

"Oh... um... Then big brother Usa and Clive picked her up and carried her back to our room." She yawned again, making me yawn in sympathy, "I was gonna follow them, cause food makes me sleepy... but..."

But now she was asleep in my arms.

Therese giggled behind her hand, "That charming little girl Kuro said she should let you know, so you wouldn't worry."

"That is correct." Kuro said as the door to the change room opened again. "Uncivilized lizard..."

Behind me, I heard a quiet 'puff' of noise, then a big bird foot stepped into the water beside me. Slowly, carefully, the feathery smart car of black feathers got into the water, waded slowly to the middle of the pool, and sank down. I knew the water wasn't deep enough for her, but somehow, she flattened out her body (making her even more fluffy looking) until just her beak and eyes were out of the water.

Not wanting to ask questions that might disturb someone who seemed to be almost literally melting the stress away, I instead asked, "Not a fan of salt water?"

"She was complaining about it all afternoon." Therese said. "The sand as well."

I held up one of my (finally!) relaxed tails, "I agree with the sand part." I sighed, then looked to the sleeping dragon-newt in my lap. "Well, since you aren't going to do it yourself..." And started cleaning her with the towel she should have been wearing.

"You care quite deeply for her." Therese commented, scooping up a handful of sand from the bottom of the pool and brushing it over her skin, "And have pride in your work as well."

I raised an eyebrow at her, and one of my ears twitched, trying to encourage her to elaborate.

"Ah. I hear the gemstones you use." She said, "I can hear a little of each of your party in all the little trinkets you wear." She motioned to Tetsu, the little water breathing token glittering around her neck, "None of you made those, however... But someone who cares very much for all of you."

I felt a little bit of homesickness, this time for an adorable cat-boy who adopted me as his aunt, Stonebelter. "She had other obligations, and had to stay home for this trip." I said, "An interesting gift you have."

She didn't seem to hear me, instead, she continued to speak with a far off look in her eyes, "Quiet nervous determination. A solid nature that can be any colour, or none at all. A broken crystal that has put itself back together with the heat of others." Then she focused on me, "A roaring flame held back by sheer willpower and purpose."

I suddenly felt like someone had stepped into my room in the dead of night, and stolen all but one of my socks. After all my efforts, mostly passive, mostly reflexive to keep myself shrouded in mystery, she'd looked at something I made, and had it tell her a secret.

I tried to cover the sudden discomfort with a dismissive comment, "We depend on the equipment I make, to keep us alive. So do others who might buy what we make."

"True craftsman pride." She smiled, leaning back against the side of the pool and relaxing, "Perhaps you could make something for me?"

I went back to scrubbing Tetsu's scales, carefully, since I didn't want to wake her up. (She didn't actually get mad when you woke her up, just clingy, which prevented you from doing anything until you really woke her up, or gave up and let her sleep on you). "Maybe. This event is keeping us busy. But if they leave me alone long enough to take over someone's workshop..."

Kuro spoke up, her stillness having made me forget she was there for a moment, "I've been told to make sure you do not do anything but go to sleep after your bath. I do not know why, but I have been paid already." She then wiggled a little, sighed, and said, "Please don't make me chase you? This feels amazing."

Damn you Motoyasu!

The next morning, after taking care of my daily 'care for someone' needs by giving Raphtalia some hangover medicine, and 'punishing' her by petting her ears until she was coordinated enough to flail her arms at me to stop, we got ourselves ready for the day.

If yesterday was any indication, the XP gains would become trivial after a few hours of solid hunting, and after last night's bath (and betrayal!) I decided to actually talk to Earl after breakfast.

"Ah, I was hoping you would join us for the tour yesterday. But I understand your eagerness to participate in the event." Earl said to us while bowing slightly, looking professional in his perfectly pressed uniform. (Motoyasu told me it was a Melromarc Officer's uniform.)

"I'm sure you've heard my party and I were... restricted somewhat while we were on the mainland." I tried to be diplomatic, since he was trusted by the Queen and being professional with me.

"Indeed." His passive face frowned ever so slightly, and it gave the impression he was not an expressive man. That a smile, or a frown, needed to be worked for. "Yesterday, I showed the other three heroes something left behind by a past generation. Something all lords of Cal Mira protect."

We followed him out of the big inn most of the adventurer types were staying in, and I noted that people moved out of his way as he led us back towards the docks. It seemed an almost unconscious thing, respectful. I actually felt a little envy. Back in Orario, even after all I'd done, I still got a fair share of 'fearful' looks. People got out of my way unless they had business with me, and most of those did their best to not have business with me unless absolutely necessary.

"Oh." I said as we came to 'the thing' he wanted to show us. I had given it one look, then walked past it on the way from the ship to the inn, thinking it was just some weird statue, unimportant to 'the mission' we were all on.

Apparently not.

It was a totem pole done in a not quite Native American style, with clear depictions of the four main monsters we'd been slaughtering so far. The Penguin (with a fishing pole) on the bottom, a Rabbit (with a little gardening hoe), a squirrel (with a pull saw) and a dog (with a rope) sitting on top. And while they were good renditions, if a little comical, it was made worse by each of them wearing a red Santa hat.

"Before you stands a monument made to represent the four Pioneers of the Cal Mira Islands. The Pekkul, Usanni, Risuka and Inult." He named them all off from bottom to top, and the Shield forms I got started to make a little more sense. "And while the islands no longer have the same creatures the Heroes of eons past brought with them, they left their descendants upon the islands."

"Yeah..." I mused, "We hunted heaps of them yesterday..." I took a good look at the statue, wondering about the 'previous heroes'.

"Ma'am... My name sounds similar..." Usa spoke up.

I snapped out of my speculation, "It does." I nodded, "Back where I'm from, and where the other heroes are from, 'Usagi' means 'rabbit'." I looked to Earl, then spotted the top of a stone something behind him.

He was sharp, and caught the direction of my gaze instantly. With a calm flourish, he motioned to a pillar of stone next to the statue that was just a little shorter than he was. "This was left by the heroes who first came here, to help guide heroes of future generations." He took another step to the side to let me get closer, "Sadly, the other three heroes could not read it."

The writing, though it was trying really hard not to be writing, was twisting and writhing over the stone as I looked at it. "This is magic script. Right?" I looked back to the party. "Lemme..." I took the Book Shield off my hip and cracked it open to where I'd transcribed the entirety of the nice Witch from Melromarc's basic magic book.

"Ah, you recognize it then? The other three could not." He sounded a little sad.

"It makes my eyes itch." Tetsu pouted, "I don't wanna look. It's worse than normal letters."

To put it simply, it was magical text that translated itself for you if you were able to learn about it at all. For example, in the magic book, I could read everything (eventually) except the section on fire magic. Raphtalia had no problem reading the sections on light and dark magic, Usa zipped through the air and lightning sections, and Clive managed to read (even though he couldn't speak the words to cast it) the earth magic section.

Someone would need to write the magic, and someone able to cast it had to read it. It was kinda weird, and gave me a huge appreciation for the 'magic for dummies' book the witch had given us. She couldn't have written it all. Such a collaboration of minds made that book worth far more than she let on..

"Anyone?" I asked them, getting a bunch of shaking heads (and one dragon-newt hiding her face in my side). "Huh..." I let my eyes relax, as if I were about to enter a high speed battle, looking at everything, focusing on nothing, letting my brain compute and sort on its own...

"I am the source of all power." I felt myself speaking, "The Shield Hero commands you, she has understood the inscription."

I felt the energy of the spell... untangle itself. Like a cat getting up from a nap. It unravelled itself from the stone pillar, gave me a magical cat equivalent of rubbing its face on my cheek, and I spoke the final words of the spell itself, pointing to Raphtalia.

"Zweite Aura."

It was a buff spell, and at the 'third' circle in terms of power. And as my eyes focused, I watched Rapthalia's name light up on my status screen, gain a bunch of buff icons, and a set of temporary stats appeared next to her usual ones, her number totals almost doubling.

"It looks incredible." Usa said as Raphtalia started glowing.

"I feel incredible!" Raphtalia said, her body practically vibrating with energy.

I looked at the Shield, "I feel insulted." I said to the Shield. Because, yes, once again, I'd learned to do something I could already do before this stupid scrap of magical polymorphic oxidized garbage stole it from me.

"Ma'am?" Earl looked at me, confused, "This is ancient power from heroes who once protected this world." He wasn't angry, just really confused, "It's said only another hero can read it!"

"It's..." I sighed, "No. Not getting into it. It's still a tool, and I'm going to use it. The others couldn't read it?"

He managed to recover his professionalism, "Ah, no Ma'am."

"I'll try and teach them, if they agree to try it my way. Let's go find stuff to hunt." I grumbled, carefully taking Raphtalia's arm by the elbow, "We can try it out in combat. The rest of you too."

Motoyasu, of course, was quite willing to try. "Yeah, when we get back this evening? Sure, I'll give it another try. It just looked like sparkly squiggles to me."

"See if you can get the other two to join us. I don't expect much, but try if you can. L'arc?"

"Slept in. Therese said they'd try and catch up by lunch. She was looking for you too." He said, "Anyhow, getting the glare from Kuro."

The sound stone went quiet, and I looked to the rest of the party, "Let's work hard until lunch, see how the xp is, and decide what to do from there." I said, "Let's see if we can get back to that spot from yesterday in half the time."

"Yes ma'am!"

Just under half the time actually. A combination of our higher stats and already knowing the way helped us get there quickly. But this revealed a new problem. Something I should have been expecting.

"Tetsu!" I called out, seeing one of her fingers bent backwards as she clawed apart a giant 'dog'. "Are you okay?"

She had been fighting in her 'human' form most of the time, mostly to keep her profile as small as possible for Clive, or when I tossed about magic. At me calling out, she disengaged a step, let Raphtalia take her spot in the formation, then ran back to me.

"I'm okay! Nothing hurts!" Pause, "Sand is making bits of me itchy though?"

"Your hand?" I asked, looking around to make sure it was safe (enough) to do a little battlefield inspection. "Oh..."

"Oh no! The nice gloves!" She pouted, seeing the damage I had mistaken for a broken finger, actually one of the fingers on her 'magic claws' giving out and ripping, leaving it dangling. The magic mechanisms were still intact, but the magic cloth and leather was wearing out all over it.

"I've been careless." I sighed, feeling a little pang of guilt. This kind of thing would get someone hurt back home, or killed.

"Can you fix it? I like these gloves..."

"After." I nodded, "Take them off for now, and switch forms." Then louder, "Clean up this fight! Clive! Find a spot to rest!"

Ten minutes later, we had found a secluded spot on the beach. Hidden from sight by some curved cliffs and created by what I guessed was natural erosion, it was a nice spot to take a break, so long as it wasn't high tide. I could see bits of dead sea life or the occasional barnacle higher up on the cliff face.

Tetsu, since I had already taken her gauntlets to fix, was in the water swimming around and just enjoying herself. Every so often, she would turn into her dragon form, vanish under the waves, and come up with... Well, I would be able to make shark soup for weeks at this rate.

"I'd noticed it a little while ago." Raphtalia said, handing over her sword. "It doesn't feel quite right." She flailed her hands at me, "It's not that I think something is wrong! It's still a-"

"Hush. This is what I talked about. If there is a problem, big or small, I want to know. I should have realized it myself, that this sudden push for power would wear on our equipment." The dragon-steel blade was, so far as I could tell, was 'fine'. It could have stood for a little sharpening, but it still had the exact same balance... no... not quite. Huh. "You've gotten strong enough, that the blade is slowly losing weight. You're wearing down the sides, as well as the edge."

"I've been using proper form! Why would that happen?"

"You are still cutting through bone and scales. Every time you do, no matter how clean your cut, will wear at the blade. Eventually, it will take on a flaw, and then break. Just like people, no matter how much you care for yourself, you'll wear down eventually." I took out one of my little hammers, one meant for jewellery making, and started to tap the side of the black metal/metal-like bone sword.

As expected, Usa picked up on it as soon as I did. "It sounds different now." He said, his long ears swivelling a little.

"It will last a little longer." I nodded, "But we'll call it a day a little earlier today. Usa? Clive?"

Clive set his bow across his knees, and started to sign things. "True... You might be strong enough for a heavier draw, but we have yet to fight something that needs it, and it would sacrifice your speed." Pause, "Good. I'll make a spare string tonight as well, just in case." Pause again, "Don't worry about that. I've got heaps of dragon teeth we can make into more arrowheads."

All eyes went to Usa, and he flinched slightly. But caught himself and said, "Now that I... I can use both arms. I think I want a longer whip. With both hands, I can adjust the length as needed, instead of moving around as much with my legs." He still handed over his whip though.

I nodded, "I might have some ideas for that." I paused, "Showing a little wear as well..."

We were interrupted suddenly when Tetsu dropped yet another (her forth) big blue shark on the sand next to us. But instead of putting one clawed foot down on it to keep it still so we could butcher it for meat/skin/teeth, she started dancing from one foot to the other, pointing one big dragon finger back towards the water, and said, "I found something REALLY COOL in the water! You gotta come with me!"

"Before or after we cut this up?" I asked.

"Um... After. It's really super neat! But this is food!" Tetsu said after a moment, "Oh right." And put her foot down on the weakly thrashing shark.

NOTES!

We all know what our favourite (in this world anyhow) dragon has found. :) See you next chapter.

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

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