Chapter 70

"I see." Was all the Queen said when she noticed (no surprise at all that she did) Glass.

To be fair, I wore almost no ornamentation past that of equipment, and the square cut emerald in a rainbow coloured metal cage was VERY ornamental.

"So you are this land's Queen? At least you have the bearing for it." Glass said.

Of course, the Queen couldn't understand her, but when she gave the rudely toned comment an eyebrow raise, I sent her a party request. A moment later, her name popped up on my party list and I added her to the auto-translate function.

"What do you plan on doing with her now? And her weapon? A vassal weapon?" She asked me.

"Honestly, I do not know what I am ultimately going to do with her. As she is, under my care, she is mostly harmless." I replied, carefully lifting the pendant up and placing it over my palm.

"Mostly?" Glass hissed, her tiny body inside the green gem turning to glare at me.

"Perhaps you could grow another tree? They are made to hold dangerous artifacts, are they not?" Mirellia mused. "A certain irony there that I find pleasing."

An idea occurred to me. I lowered the pendant, then offered the Queen the Vassal Fan. "None of my party have gotten it to work for them. Though I will say it's the only thing other than the Shield I've been able to use as a weapon."

"Only someone of exceptional character and eleg-" Glass's voice failed as the gem on the fan glowed a gentle blue.

And on my status screen, under the party tab, the Queen's name turned blue.

With a careful, well practised flick of her hand, the Vassal Fan opened up and Mirellia replied to Glass, "I have been told by many I am exceptional and elegant. But I have spared no effort to become so." She looked at me, "Thank you, Lady Kodori, for this fine gift, and burden."

"I know you will keep it safe, and I hope it keeps you safe." I bowed to her, "If that is all?"

"Your plans upon making landfall?" She asked.

"I must see to a little business at Lurolona. But I have gained the ability to use the Portal Shield, and can be in Melromarc..." I held up 'the finger of conversation pausing', "More or less any time." I lowered my finger, "I could even get you there now, if you wished?"

"No." She said, "It would be unseemly of me to abandon those who fought along side me just because I wished to get away from the salty air."

I smiled, "Then?"

"I will use the Occulus when I have returned to organize what should be done from here." She said.

"Very well. I am..." I paused, "I am going to make sure Tetsu didn't get lost chasing sharks...

For the record, Tetsu didn't get lost. Quite the contrary, she had been swimming around the vessels for fun, and not once lost sight of them. Such responsible thinking earned her all kinds of hugs, headpats, and a fleet wide celebratory dinner of shark soup.

"It is the same in both worlds it seems." Glass commented as I stood by the big cauldron ladling out bowls of soup for people.

"It's one of the reasons I learned to be such a good cook." I replied quietly, "I saved a city with cookies once. If I wasn't too busy trying to save a mother from being ritually sacrificed, I'd have found it fun. Food brings people together."

That night, I decided to put Glass in the quiet box (so she wouldn't suffer through our party snoring, or that of the sailors on board). But, instead of using a hammock in the crew bunks, I decided to sit under the stars.

My party, for the most part, left me be. But Tetsu had decided her favourite pillow needed occupying, and she wandered out to find me. "I wanna sleep on you." She mumbled, "weird string bed things don't like my tail or scales."

"Sure." I said, wedging myself a little better against a solid bit of railing and a big water barrel. "Having fun in the water all day should make even you tired."

Tetsu's 'humanoid' form looked to be about ten years old or so, and it wasn't just because she was well deserving of sleeping on me that I let her. I would take any tangible reminder of home I could. So I hugged her close, let her wiggle about a bit to settle, and summoned a blanket from the Shield to cover us.

"Not just swimming." She said, "eee headpats..."

"No?"

"It's him... Gaelion..." She didn't often mention the soul of the elder dragon she'd eaten, but she always called him by name. "Teaching me to fly, until my wings are big and strong enough to do it in air."

She yawned wide enough to make my jaw hurt in sympathy, then wiggled against me again. Moments later, she was making little growling noises as she snored.

"LAND HO!"

Huh, three of four worlds, the last being unknown, used the same call.

It was just after lunch, and we were already in sight of land. It would be another hour or so at least before we could depart, but that was okay. Poor Raphtalia was reaching her limit again, Clive was really bored since he couldn't practise his archery and no one wanted to play him at dice, Tetsu had been punished (karate chop of justice) for getting tangled in a fishing net...

And Usa had spent every second he could trying to get better with his whip. It was good to see, but I was keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't overwork himself. But, he wasn't angry. Frustrated? Maybe. But the slave mark on his chest hadn't activated when I took a little time to spar with him.

And even now, as I watched him fight his own shadow up on the forecastle (while I stood a little to the side of the wheel on the other end of the big ship), occasionally hitting a target when someone dared to set one up, he was just... being super diligent.

"He doesn't like losing, does he?" The Queen commented as she approached me.

"I hope..." I pitched my voice low, "I hope it isn't because I asked him to hold off an enemy, and he couldn't." I watched him do a complicated series of attacks, his elbows catching the chain as it whirled about, the sudden shortening of the swing speeding it up before the end of the whip lanced through the air. "He did really well, but that L'arc guy beat the stuffing out of him."

From around my neck, Glass put in her two coppers, "His martial skill is quite solid. But he has yet to best me."

"This brings up a point." Mirellia said, hiding her lower face with the Fan, "The other heroes are... a disappointment." She chose her word carefully, but it was clear she was on the very edge of being undiplomatic. "While I see your party has learned a plethora of technique, so much so that even the short time my daughter spent with you has made her an equal to nearly everyone among my knights, and far more capable than any of my mages..."

"They need proper training." I said, "I've been trying to encourage them to stop swinging their weapons around like they were all that mattered..."

"You've had some success with Sir Motoyasu."

"I had to beat the bricks out of him twice. And I think the only reason why it worked at all, is because he is an actual adult where he is from." I sighed, "The other two... Ren, I might be able to convince, but Itsuki..."

"Actual adult?"

"It's..." I paused, "Their worlds are much softer. If nothing goes wrong, children stay with their parents until their late teens, sometimes longer, before they strike out on their own. Motoyasu, I think, has been away from home for a couple of years, while the other two still had several years left."

"This explains much." She said, "What would you suggest then? I've an idea in mind, but this is too important to leave to a single opinion."

"Find someone other than me to train them. Give them incentives to do well. And remind them my offer for a personalized weapon stands, should they prove to me they can fight without relying so much on the weapon itself."

She nodded, a tiny smile behind her fan. "We are of like minds then." A pause, "Is it my imagination, or is that whip Sir Usa is using... different?"

"Of course it is." I smiled, pulling out a coconut from the Shield and setting it on the rail in front of me. "It's the same kinda thing the Shield of Marius and Clive's bow use, making 'something' from magic. Except, having a whip that never went back to its normal size, and only ever got bigger, would be... a problem."

I switched to the Shield of Marius, stood behind the coconut, and used a tail to swish at the Queen so she stood behind me.

"Usa? Hit this." I said at normal volume.

I watched as his ears turned to focus on his name being called, then his head turn so I was 'in sight'. Then with a long wind up, a half dozen spins, a 'short turn' around an elbow for a burst of velocity, the topaz cored, blade finned, weight on the end of his whip zipped across the deck, extended as each link seemed to double and twist into linked 'infinity' signs, and with a wet crack, the coconut in front of me exploded.

I angled the Shield so the weight would glance upwards, and with a weird rubber band effect, the 'infinity' chain links untwisted and contracted as the rabbit-man yanked backwards to return the 'business' end back to him.

Of course, the clinking rattle of chain, the explosion of coconut, and the noise of its return to him drew every eye on the ship, and everyone clapped at the display. Usa then gave me another reminder of home, as he scratched the back of his head, blushed, and said, "Thank you." To everyone cheering him on.

I turned to the Queen, the Shield returning to the Book Shield, "Remind them about my offer to make them something. I'm gonna go tell Usa he did a good job in person."

"Well deserving. I will introduce you to the trainer when you arrive in Melromarc." She said, her eyes smiling, even if her face was still mostly hidden by the Fan.

"I am... so glad.. we are off that boat." Raphtalia said as we walked towards our nice wagon. "Oh... Fohl and Atla."

Having said our goodbyes while the ship had been drifting into dock and getting lashed to the shore, my party and I got off the boat as fast as possible and started towards the edge of town. Thanks to the Occulus, our 'ride' was waiting already, along with the two tiger kids.

Someplace deep down, I felt that little warm and fuzzy feeling as the two of them stopped chatting with each other, turned to look our way, and started towards us. It wasn't because Atla bore almost no signs of her life long sickness, or that the two of them were smiling as they approached. But the event itself was so close to what happened almost every time I'd come home from the dungeon. Different people, different world, but the 'family moving to welcome family home' feeling really hit home.

Of course, when the two of them stopped to bow, "Welcome back everyone." Fohl started, his sister bowing a half second after he had.

"Thank you for taking care of the Wave." Atla added.

"eep?" The two of them said as I took another two steps and captured them both, one in each arm.

"None of that. We did our job." I said, "Everything okay?"

I didn't hold them long, much like back home, and after the moment of welcome I let them go so they could turn around and walk with us towards the wagon.

"No one hurt? Has the rebuilding started? Is everyone okay? Do we need to bring food back? We can-" Raphtalia couldn't contain herself.

"Yes yes Miss Raphtalia." Atla said with a slightly off target 'look' at the anxious raccoon girl. "Past the alarm of having monsters fall from the sky and walk onto shore, we managed to defend our home. There were little problems, but with the supply of healing items Lady Kodori left behind, and Ake's mages teaching some of us healing magic, our recovery will be swift."

A pause.

"Fohl?" Usa asked, "something wrong?"

The young man had kept his expression calm, but we all knew Usa could hear heartbeats. "Uncle showed up." He said with an almost unheard hidden growl. "Why are you smiling?" He asked me.

"I was wondering if he might show up. Or get eaten by monsters." I replied. "Is he behaving? Have you talked to him?"

The two were quiet.

"I know I told Ake to make sure no one bothered him." I added, "So what's wrong?"

They all looked at me like I was crazy. Oh, except Tetsu, she was counting quietly as she hopped along beside us all, playing hopscotch in her head.

"He... did... kind of try and have you killed, imprisoned and enslaved." Raphtalia said. "Not to mention his hand in letting some of the knights run wild and..."

It wasn't like I'd forgotten. But Orario was the only place so far that had a very clear 'justice-mercy' line. In my mind, reducing the former King to nothing but what he could carry, and only if someone had given it to him or he himself made it, was justice.

But now came 'mercy'.

"I've already punished him." I said firmly, "Justice has been done. But now those he has wronged must show mercy so he can recover. If he commits more crime, then we punish him again. But the moment I passed judgment, was the moment his past crimes were cleared."

Again, the look. "Even after all he did? And to you personally? You'd forgive him?" Atla asked.

"Forgive him? No. But I won't keep punishing him for something that's been addressed." I put a hand on Raphtalia's shoulder, "Should I keep bothering Raphtalia for breaking a sword? Whine and moan and belittle her with every swing of my hammer while I make a new one? No. I have told her to be more careful, gave her ears a little tug for punishment, and replaced her sword. Now it's on her to improve."

Again, another bit of silence, though Raphtalia gave my hand a pat.

"Give him a chance. If he earns another punishment, then we deal with it. But don't kick him when he's down, and maybe even trying to be a good person." I felt a little embarrassed, preaching like this.

"Does it always work?" Fohl asked, "I mean, it must work if you can talk like that..."

I caught Usa looking at me as I rubbed one of my wrists, his attention bringing MY attention to what I was doing. "No. It doesn't always work." I said as soon as I remembered I'd been asked a question. "It's good to harden your heart a little. To be cautious around people and things that have done harm to you or others. But if you keep asking yourself 'what if', you'll never get to 'what now'."

"Ah! That's where it comes from!" Usa said, "Your saying."

"Indeed." I nodded, "Tetsu?"

We all stopped next to the wagon and looked at the dragon girl as she ignored the ongoing lesson. She paused, one foot still in the air, and realized where we were. "Oh! Um, stand back just a little... yeah." And with a puff of smoke she turned into her dragon form. "Um..." She looked at the wagon, then down at us, "I think I might have grown a little."

She had! It wasn't as apparent until we had he beside the wagon again, but she was too big for the harness we'd made for her. Not so big we couldn't adjust it (yes, we planned for her to grow when we made the thing), but if she got even a little bigger, we'd have to make a new harness again.

Still just as eager for headpats though. "Let me help." Atla said, reaching up for those headpats while taking one of Tetsu's 'hands' and tugging her towards the harness. "It's a good thing we already returned the filolial."

"Yeah... wow." Fohl said, helping with the harness on the other side of Tetsu, while also rubbing a hand over her long neck.

I watched the siblings toss the bits of harness over and under Tetsu in perfect sync until Tetsu herself made the last little adjustments with her big clawed (yet surprisingly nimble) hands.

The first thing we all spotted on the path to Lurolona, was my Tree. For the last few hours, my party and I were telling the story of what went on during our trip. From seasickness, monster hunting, relics of the past, the hourglass, everything. Glass made herself known once or twice, mostly to 'humph' at our description of the fight, or how she'd been caught by surprise.

Fohl's reaction to a talking emerald was one of surprise and a little wonder. Atla however did one of those adorable 'fist taps palm' gestures, "Aha! I had been wondering why this gem was gleaming so brightly. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Glass."

"Is there something amiss with your eyes, little tiger?" Oddly enough, there was a little respect in her voice.

"Of a sort, but I don't think there is anything wrong with my eyes." She looked to the giant tree as we got closer and closer, "Some things just... shine brighter, and I have to wonder why. Like the tree."

Glass got quiet, and we all took a moment to admire the weird tree in all it's randomly flowering glory.

"No Glass, that one is already occupied." I said with a smile.

"I was not thinking of it." She replied with a huff.

"Did you want to visit now, or later?" Raphtalia asked.

"There's actually something new for that too..." Atla said carefully, "Though I'm sure you expected something when Kunshu stayed behind."

Tenno had changed. My 'direct' involvement here was minimal. I had the Shield adjust a few things so he'd turn out like Kunshu in regards to stats and size. But otherwise, I trusted Kunshu and anyone else (Rifana was probably the only one brave enough to try) to teach him and 'socialize' him to people that were different then himself.

Something four of four worlds seemed to have far too much trouble doing...

But I was still surprised.

At a distance, you could have mistaken Tenno for Kunshu. But up close, it was a little more apparent in how he was different. The general 'slender' figure was almost exactly the same, but his shoulders were set just a little differently. His abdomen and stinger were a little less prominent. His 'gut' or at least, his 'lower torso' was a little bulkier. He had more of those pollen gathering hairs all over his arms and legs. And lastly, his head was angled a little differently. A little more elongated.

"See?" Rifana said as we all looked at Tenno, the Emperor Bee standing there silently, a spear in hand and one of his shoulders coated in Kunshu's 'swarm' armour. "He grew up!"

Rifana giggled and did a 'here's your prize' hand wave at the bipedal bee, and in return she got a cautious headpat from his nearest middle arm.

"Where is..." I paused, the answer to my question appearing in my awareness all on its own, my kitsune nature stirring a little and 'connecting' with this tiny bit of territory. "Oh..." I looked up.

Tenno took a half step forward, then another when I didn't do anything, and I leaned forward, his antenna touching my horns, his wings humming as his 'voice' spoke through direct vibration through my skull.

"We made the tree our home. Carefully made the tree hollow. Heavy soul." he paused and gave Rifana another careful headpat. "Changed home tree. Allowed passage, made open, made closed, helped."

"Come see!" Rifana said, "I worked super hard with them!"

So, carefully, we all moved into the hollow under the weird tree. Before we left, it was... kind of a tree cave. A bit taller than my raised hand, nice and wide, and shelter for the three graves. The only thing that had changed here, was that the grass that had been here was gone, and there was a black box about the size of a shoe-box resting in the exact middle of the three tombstones.

I knew what it was, but I held one of my tails to distract me from it, and instead looked up.

Have you ever looked down a fallen hollowed out log? It was kind of like that, except straight up. There were many little internal 'branches', like shelves made out of vines. There was also light coming in from a few places. The three of them seemed to have convinced my sacred tree into becoming the perfect home space for them to fill in.

"I hope you don't mind..." Rifana started as my silence stretched on for a minute or two.

"Mind? Hardly. I am a Kitsune of Hestia. And like Her, hearth home and family are super important." I paused, trying, but unable to get an angle that let me see all the way up the tree.

Tenno leaned over a little to touch my horn with an antenna. "my queen is up. Resting, building."

"Is she allowing visitors?" I asked.

Then most of my party made a surprised noise as Tenno put his spear into the dirt at our feet, and carried me upwards with a heavy buzz of wings.

Up and up we went. Tenno, like Kunshu, couldn't fly large distances with something that weighed so much more than he did. But it occurred to me that this was one of the reasons for the 'shelves' built into the new interior of the tree. Not just for structure, but rest stops too.

Unsurprising, there was no hint of dirt anywhere. Kunshu, and likely Tenno, were very neat creatures.

And the 'windows' opened up in the sides of the tree not only let in light and air, but were also sized just right for a giant bee. I will also note, that I saw many of the mosses I used for medicine, as well as the start of a little mushroom colony or two, growing near the openings.

But, a dozen platforms, half that many rests to get me up there, and we were finally where I needed to be.

Kunshu was... different.

It wasn't incredibly drastic, like say a termite suddenly growing a titanic egg sac/factory. But the Empress Bee had become a little bit bigger in ALL dimensions with her wings the only exclusion. Head and torso were the same 'shape' just a little bigger. Her abdomen (the bit on her rear, not her lower torso) was a bit larger. Arms and legs were thicker.

It was essentially Kunshu scaled up another twenty percent. Not quite hulking but not quite as effeminate.

Set into the wall behind her, in the tree's inner wall itself, was a 'honeycomb' pattered shelf with 19 chambers. With how they had altered the rest of the tree, it made sense not to bother wasting material if you could just have it pre-made.

Now just a little taller than I was, she had to lean down just a tiny bit so we could touch foreheads and 'talk'.

"Mother." She greeted me, her upper and middle arms hugging me a little awkwardly.

The word, here, in this place, my place, gave me all kinds of warm feelings. "Daughter." I couldn't just call her Kunshu after that, and of course, I carefully hugged her back. Despite the warm feelings, it was like hugging a suit of plate armour covered in peach fuzz. "Soon?"

"Yes. Home is ready, tree is bountiful, we will grow and share with your people."

"Thank you." I said, letting the hug go, but holding her upper arm biceps and keeping our foreheads touching, "Would you like to hear about what happened?"

She went very still, until all I could feel was the beat of her heart against the inside of her chitin. But after a moment she said, "Leave little ball. Cannot leave here. But miss story time. Tenno will want to join."

Behind me, there was an affirmative bzz from the Emperor Bee.

"Very well." I nodded, thinking I would have to make a few more Occulus pairs as I went into the Shield's inventory. "And since I'm here..." I pulled out some of the stored shark meat, as well as some clay jars of shark soup. "Try this while I warm this up." I couldn't help myself, "Have to make sure the grandchildren have enough too."

I left the two of them to eat the soup and made my way down by hand. I loved it when people enjoyed my cooking. But the two of them were absolute horror shows when it came to eating.

"Interesting creatures. Though, listening to them talk to you was quite hard on my ears." Glass said, "I've not seen the like before."

"It is my opinion that almost everything in this world is wrong." I said as I descended hand over hand easily. "Some works as it should. Water boils, rain falls, rivers flow, objects fall. But then..." I sighed, "Kunshu and Tenno, even Tetsu. Because of the Shield, I've taken them out of the natural order."

"You say these things with such distaste, yet you seem to have gone through considerable effort for these 'unnatural' creatures."

"No one deserves to be alone. Kunshu was made by mistake, Tenno was made on purpose to correct it. And hopefully, the unnatural will become natural. I will not make an orphan out of someone if I can help it."

"Humph. How large do those insects get normally?"

"The egg was about as large as your head. And before the Shield really took hold of her, she was about as large as your thigh."

A pause, "You are breeding monsters, you realize."

I paused in mid motion, gripping the inner wall of my tree, and sighed. "Just for that, I am going to spend the rest of my trip down the tree teaching you about what 'civilization' means."

"I do not-"

"And if you interrupt, I will put the emerald in my mouth, and talk around it." I added.

When I got to the ground floor, only Rifana was there waiting for me. Had I been that long?

To answer my unasked question, my little tree spirit said, "You made the entire tree smell like food, so they all went to eat and roam the village."

I felt a tiny bit bad for that. But shrugged it off. "I'll say sorry later."

I looked to the black box resting in the middle of the three tombstones.

"It was very odd." Rifana said, jump/floating towards me. I caught her on instinct, and she settled onto one arm, sitting in the crook of my elbow and putting a ghostly arm around the back of my neck. "I did as you asked, and held your ring," She paused and held out her hand, my wedding ring just appearing in her palm as if it were hiding in her body, not held in a physical sense. "And... there is so much there..."

I took a moment to put my ring on, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, letting the presence in the ring settle in my mind like a blanket over my body. Thankfully, it didn't bring me to tears like before, when recovered it from the King.

Rifana let me have my moment of... reverence... before speaking again, her hands reaching up to play with my ears. "Then there was this weird... bubble. I don't know how to describe it. A little bubble appeared in front of me, really black and cold, but then there was a pop, and the box fell to the ground right where it is now."

I stepped around the tombstones respectfully and knelt next to the box. There was a little crease in the dirt where a corner had hit the ground. But otherwise, it was a seamless black box. I put my free hand on it, the metal... yes, this was Ko-steel. A gift from my wife.

"Want me to get down?" Rifana asked but sounding like she didn't want to.

I replied by grabbing her with my tails and holding her against my back so I could use both hands. "Of course, they would add a little security." I said, "Comfortable?"

It was strange. Rifana had almost no physical weight, but her spiritual presence seemed to have the exact weight of one of my children. "Yes." She replied simply. "Raphtalia is very lucky..."

"Don't tell her that. We grew up at the same time so she never got to do this." I chuckled, "Let's see..." My fingers roamed over the box, the smooth surface etched with repeating 'hilfa' patterns, like the box I'd made for the phoenix and such when I sent them back from Kuoh. But, that box had been plain steel.

"Can you open it?" Rifana asked, "I only poked it once, and it felt all tingly."

My fingers felt nothing out of the ordinary, but with modern machining you could make micron thick cuts... Of course, a passive defence against 'all things of detriment'... So like anything made of Ko-steel, I gave it a little of my personal energy.

Click

Rifana clapped quietly as the box unfolded. Perfectly angled and smooth hinges let the outside fall away into a flat surface, revealing a bunch of little objects and wires. Most prominent wasn't the cellphone itself (which was probably the latest military model), but the inside of the box itself.

"Wow... Solar panel, converter, battery, ultra-lite metal stand for the panel, pouch of..." shake shake "seeds? Small silk flower, bit of..." sniff sniff "Cinnamon! Wow..."

The technology was important. Very much so. But all the little reminders from home, from the people I cared about... "It's all so... shiny!" Rifana said, accepting the solid silk flower and somehow getting it to stick her spiritual hair.

"And there isn't a speck of magic on it." Finally, I picked up the phone. The outer case was one of those impact resistant things made of rubber and plastic, and the screen had a thin scratch resistant film on it, but aside from the weighty feeling in my hand, it looked like any other modern cellphone. But like most things, it was what was inside that counted.

"Hida? Wake up please."

The phone vibrated for a quarter second, and the familiar logo of a serpent coiled around an apple (all done in cheerful colours) popped up on screen. That wasn't all, not this time. The serpent (a harmless Hog-nose with a simple brown/white tiger stripe pattern) seemed to look directly at me, its gaze moving ever so slightly towards my left and right eyes, then up a little to my ears.

And with a poof of digital sparkles (that had Rifana suddenly hide behind my shoulder) the little Delly lookalike HIDA appeared on screen. "I'm awake!" She declared, "Confirming identity past visual confirmation!" The avatar pointed a little finger at me, "WHO! Is your paper hero?"

"Alita." I replied. Sneaky... Must have been Kiba.

"WHAT! Is your quest?"

"To return home." Rule number one of the dungeon.

"WHAT! Is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

"Seriously HIDA?" I gave the screen a look.

"Well no, but it's supposed to be three questions!" The pixel avatar pouted, "Oh oh! WHO! Is that spirit on your shoulder?"

"Hida, this is Rifana. The guardian of one of my sacred trees."

"Hello pretty lady!"

Hida and Rifana waved at each other, then, "And... who's that around your neck?"

"This is Glass. A prisoner of war, so to speak." I replied, hooking a thumb under the chain around me neck to bring Glass's prison into clearer view.

"Only due to your underhanded and cruel attack." She huffed.

"Oh! My first translation task!" Hida said excitedly, "Lemme just... and... sound bite goes here... Inflection... probably upset..." Then, "Hello Glass! My name is HIDA!"

There was a beat, then, "You have a collection of spirits then? Trophies from your home?"

"No no! I'm not a spirit, or a prisoner! Maybe a trophy to someone... someday..." Hida's little avatar did a little blush and wiggle, complete with pink mist, just like Issei. "I'm most commonly called an Artificial Intelligence. Instead of biological parents, I was created with pure artifice."

"A thinking box?"

"Close enough." Hida said with a shrug. "Um... If you need instructions on setting up the solar panel? But I was sent over with a half charge, just in case there were heat or cold issues with the transfer."

"I should be okay for that." I nodded, "Suppose I'll get started with the situation..."

So, for the next couple hours, until sundown, I told 'the story' so far. HIDA, in an effort to save power, only had a little blue LED on in the corner of the phone to indicate she was 'on', but would occasionally ask single word questions about stuff. Glass only needed to be threatened once with 'the quiet box', but otherwise she listened in silence.

Things that happened came first. Then it went to 'rules'. The weird magic system. The Legendary Weapons. Vassal Weapons. 'Status' magic. Everything that didn't conform to 'the usual physics based existence'.

It was here, that HIDA gave the Shield a closer look, the screen popping on again, though her avatar was now in 16-bit. "Huh." She said as I held up the phone so she could 'look' at it. "Well, I can tell you exactly two things for sure, without risking anything."

"Risking anything? But it's a Legendary weapon, what risk could there be?" Rifana asked, still clinging to my back like it was the best place ever.

"Poking at unknown magic can be dangerous." HIDA said, "May I?"

"Please." I replied, eager to maybe get an answer or two about this silly plank of metal.

"Well, the crystal on the front is super special. Similar, but maybe a little to the left of say... Ddraig."

If my hands weren't occupied, I'd have facepalmed, "And second?"

"Manufactured. There is almost nothing natural about this thing's construction, magic or otherwise." She said, her little pixel avatar looking up at me, "Past that, you'll have to build tools for me to look closer. I have all kinds of files for that too! You would not... well actually, you might believe how many files I have in here! Since you've been gone, physical storage media has like... doubled!"

"Put it on hold then." I sighed, sticking the Shield to my back and out of the way, "Speaking of files?" I asked hopefully.

HIDA's avatar went to 'full 3d', just so she could look at me seriously. "Of course they sent something! But I am obligated, and instructed, to make sure you eat first, oh... and that you don't watch it more than twice, until I have been fully charged once!"

I looked at the top corner of her screen, and saw the battery icon at 80 percent. "I will eat first then."

"While you do that, I will do a little backup of myself, just in case..."

NOTES!

There we go. Book 6 officially starts with a little recovery and slice of life stuff.

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!