One year.

Once again, I have gotten to the one year mark in a series (365/5=73). Thank you, readers, for reading, commenting, and the occasion cup of tea sent my way. Speaking of, for those who don't know already, I do have art posted for the story. You'll have to look it up, since linking is not allowed. But it's there!

Also, we're in the very super early stages of book 6. I know I mentioned it, but with the last few chapters being mostly story/life/prep, I just wanted to repeat it. :)

You're all wonderful. And here's to another year! (Maybe even two... I mean, Shield hero is 20 something books now...)

Chapter 73(!)

With the sudden influx of building supplies, Raphtalia had her hands full directing traffic. Suddenly, everyone wanted something for something.

I was very proud of her when I had heard, second hand, that she had faced down her entire village and directed that traffic. She did not give in, she did not play favourites. She stuck to 'the plan', and convinced people that their individual needs could wait in the face of long term prosperity.

Her and her iron will had everyone in line before lunch, and before dinner, nearly three quarters of the initial rebuilding plan had been marked out and started. Sewage, irrigation, farm plots, stockpiles, worksites, tool storage, food storage... She was quite firm that people could live in tents another few days so all the things they have been given to rebuild, and the food they had for the people, wouldn't spoil.

This was probably the only time she'd 'used' my name. And it wasn't even directly. Just about everyone knew where the 'investment' of materials had come from (my coin purse, and good will from people who owed my party and I a favour). And everyone important had been there when I had said Raphtalia had my full support.

Of course, this didn't stop people from coming to me (while I furiously hammered and cut and baked and did heaps of mass produced 'things' at the forge or near other heat sources, like making bricks). But not once, did anyone mention Raphtalia when they talked to me.

I did get a few complaints though, and still not about Raphtalia. Most of it was based around why the children were getting so dirty, or working at all.

That's when I sicced Keel on them. She was just as dirty as the rest, being one of the oldest children (who had not fast-grown like Raphtalia). She was my official pit-boss, when it came to what the children were up to. And while yes, it WAS work, the children didn't think so.

What was it though? Playing in the mud and sand. What else? All that clay for bricks, and all the nice sand for glass, had to come from someplace. I just had them bring the dirt to me, so I could start making it into something else.

That evening, while testing out an aqueduct that would one day feed the farms, but was now being used to clean up the children (yes, I was teaching people how to make soap), I got 'the call'.

After a little buzz from my delicate item pouch, I made sure my hands were clean (as possible, since I'd been in the mud all day too), and fetched out the Occulus, "Lady Melromarc." I greeted, stepping out of line for the 'shower' (gravity based aqueduct) and instead started walking towards the shoreline.

"Lady Kodori." She replied with a nod, her regal features clear in the sunset, "You have been working hard I see."

I didn't even bother scrubbing my forearm over my face. I knew it was dirty and didn't care. "Indeed. With the help of you, Lord Van, your knights, and a lot of motivated villagers, we are maybe two or three days from starting actual homes."

"Only now?"

"Indeed. We have the start of running water, aqueducts, and all the important communal buildings started. Now we can build on top of it all."

"I see. Excellent. I was also informed your... deep pockets were involved, and you embarrassed my poor knight captain on the way." Her tone, as always, was serious, but she was hiding her smile behind her Fan, I could tell.

"You are usually more careful with your orders. Or perhaps she just misheard you when you said which heroes needed training?" I didn't bother hiding my smile.

"Possible." Neither confirming, or denying. "Do not worry, I am not requesting your return yet. But I was unaware you knew the last practitioner of Hengen Muso."

"That explains why I haven't seen her recently." I rubbed my chin, the sound of the ocean getting a little louder as I walked down a slope towards the beach. "I saved her from the miasma that had nearly wiped out Mirso. Maybe tell her that Ren and Itsuki have led a super soft life until now, or she'll break them before the first day is out."

The Queen's eyes darkened slightly, like I'd called her out on a mistake, but she didn't comment. "My knight captain also took measure of the Hero, Ren. And it was quite obvious who the victor was, though she had lost."

"He cheated."

"Just so."

I sighed, wiggling my toes in the sand, "Motoyasu?"

"He accepted his loss with grace, but overall did much better. Sadly, I do not have a proper archery instructor."

"He'll be there in a half hour." I said, "As you said, I have a days work covering me still."

I felt my tails lash about happily. Clive was better at everything Itsuki wanted to be.

"Excellent. Be about your work then. Thank you." And the Occulus went dim.

"You are sending your archer, to train the Hero of the Bow?" Glass 'fu-fu'ed, "Considering the ease of which we dealt with them, twice now, I find this quite amusing."

I lifted the pendant up by the chain so I could look into it. "Me too. Oh..." I noticed a speck of clay on the emerald, "Pardon, lemme..."

"Quite considerate, considering I am your prisoner."

I cleaned the little speck away, gave her a smile, "A guest is a gem on the cushion of hospitality." And stuck her back into my cleavage.

Clive lacked eyebrows. So instead of raising one at my request to go teach Itsuki what end of a bow the arrows came out of, he turned his head so only one of his eyes could see me, and looked directly at me with it.

"I know I know." I sighed, "But he's supposed to help defend the world. Try to be patient. Melty knows enough sign language to help translate, and even Motoyasu knows a little."

He exaggerated a sigh, shrugged, then nodded. Then made the sign for 'ride'.

"Ah, well you get to try the portal." I drew shallow line in the dirt at my feet, motioned him to back up with me, and 'targeted' the line with the portal skill. On the other side of the weird nebulous portal frame was the church of four heroes hourglass room and a surprised looking lady in the uniform. "Your bow will be ready at Erhard's soon too. But don't let Itsuki know about it..."

He nodded, gave me a salute, and went through.

I let the skill clock out, just so I knew how long it stayed active, then headed towards the wagon for quiet time.

The next day passed with no report from the Queen. Trusting her to report a problem, I worked on without worry. Well, without too many worries.

A few little differences this time though. I flexed a little of my... yeah, suppose it would be 'mom' muscles, and held on to Raphtalia's tail until she joined Usa, Tetsu and I for morning exercise. Like I often did, it was the first thing she 'sacrificed' for a little extra time to help the villagers.

I spent some time with HIDA, Tenno and Rifana. Some of it was working to design some of the pieces for a portal amplifier. Other bits were for some help with Math-magic. What ever crazy genius made the Frisbee Shield, left the entire front surface nice and smooth, and after a little work with the original I'd bought, the copy the Shield made of it updated with every iteration of math-magic effects.

HIDA also gave me the idea, and her own theory, of using my trees as alternate travel points. While not 'magical' in nature, she had a LOT of magical information stored in her memory. Theories on why this world was so weird, the godless nature and how it effected me, the Shield, the system, she was putting together tons of theories. Sadly, the little 'world' inside my tree wasn't letting her test any of them. So also on my list of 'tools to make on the road' were some magical lenses for her cameras.

I tested out the Frisbee Shield. And yes, I was now Captain Orario. Like Motoyasu throwing his spear, the Shield appeared back on my arm almost instantly after it hit something. Just long enough to transfer what little attack power, and kinetic energy I could give it, as well as what ever spell effect I had 'charged' on the few math-magic designs I'd put on to it so far.

I baked enough bricks to get not just another clay oven made, but a pair of proper bread ovens. The highlight of my day was the happy smooch I got on the cheek from someone's grandmother after she tested them out.

I gave Sedeena some mild pain medication for alcohol withdrawal. Made her some ice too.

Average village level (thanks to Ake and his knights) went up by one, bringing it to just over twenty.

But most importantly...

"Lady Hero, Ma'am!"

I hammered a couple more times on my latest project, then put it into the furnace to heat up again. "Just Kodori, please?"

The man (dog demi-human?) looked conflicted, and bypassed the choice of being informal by saying, "We've got some sprouts."

For a moment, I didn't know what he meant. Then, "Oh! The seeds I gave you!"

He nodded enough to make his ears (husky?) flop around a little. "It isn't much, but you said 'anything'."

"Give me a few minutes, I'll be right over."

Someone behind me, one of the younger adults I think, mumbled "It's just seeds... nothing new there."

I ignored the comment, but told my tails to stop flailing around happily. Unlike the first time we had tried 'teleport' magic (and the next few times), something living had made it through without exploding. I'd ask HIDA later, and tell her it worked. But for now...

"These are seeds from my world." I explained, "They might grow a little weird in your soil, but you'll like them I think. Can anyone read?"

Most of them raised a hand.

"Good. I'll leave a list of how to treat them."

That said, I totally edited the cinnamon tree seed to grow faster, and planted it near my own tree.

Almost like she was spying on us, the Queen called me the exact instant I'd put my plate in the communal wash basin after breakfast a week later.

"Lady Melromarc." I greeted, "Ah, problem?"

Unlike every time I'd seen her, save that one time in the bath, she was not picture perfect. It was only a hair or two out of place and a slight change from a stoic to a stony expression but I noticed. "Unfortunately, yes. If you could gather your party and return, I would be thankful."

"All haste?"

"Please."

"Have them clear the area around the Hourglass, and I'll be there in an hour."

I informed Raphtalia, she got the 'village council' together, and people were told we (my party) were leaving for a while. Usa, Tetsu and I got everything else together, and with a bit of adjustment got the new harness around Tetsu.

"It's... not bad?" Tetsu tried to do a 'any dirt on me' twist in the harness, "Not itchy."

"Good. Now lets see how hard it is to get this through the portal..."

I used the Portal Shield in front of the wagon, and with that weird yawning 'pop' we could see into the hourglass room. This time, there were two knights on the other side, and as soon as they saw us they backed up and started motioning to something out of 'frame'.

"Slowly through." I said.

As we started through, the portal seemed to understand that the wagon wouldn't fit, and enlarged just enough to let it through. Once through however, we had to make a super sharp turn to get out of the hourglass room, trim some of the vines to get through an archway, and take off the nice big double doors to make it through the front of the church and onto the street.

"Zeltobe wouldn't have that problem." Raphtalia commented as we helped them get the big doors back on their hinges so someone could put the pegs back in. "Siltvelt either."

"We shouldn't try the broken temple..." Usa mumbled, "Would the wagon float?"

"A good question, but not going to test it." I said, getting a bit of oil from the Shield and applying it to the freshly mounted door hinges. "Not today at least..."

Our big wagon got more than a few waves, a cheer or two, and Tetsu was happy as always to show someone where the best luck could be scratched off her scales. But, it was obvious the Queen hadn't announced our presence. This was just... genuine thanks.

"It feels good, doesn't it?" Usa asked me as I waved to (yet another) person who had stopped what they were doing to wave.

"Considering how it was before?" I replied, "Let's hope the other heroes haven't thrown a tantrum or something..."

Sadly, there was no hope there.

Now, before I get to the obvious problems a pair of soft city boys would have training from the ground up...

The archery range (yes, Clive was there, unharmed and as amused looking as he could get with nearly immovable facial features) had evidence of recent practice. Heaps of arrows were all over the place, some of them were even close to the target! But while success seemed a little way off, it was clear Itsuki had actually tried. He even had proper gloves on!

Nearby, (huh, four of four worlds used a 'squared circle' for sparring) Ren (with the Sword in the form of a wooden blade), was helping clean up some wooden blades.

Motoyasu was sparring against Eclair, and not dead.

Kuro could be heard at the far end of the field, letting off blasts of wind magic.

And Rishia was... off to the side, working with old lady Ragnarok.

Now, the bad...

All three of them looked exhausted. Because of his head start, Motoyasu was the best off. He was putting on a good front, but even with a clear level advantage over Eclair, he was playing 'keep away' with his spear and losing ground all the same.

Ren was almost to the point of 'collapse', where all your muscles just give up and go watery. He bent like an old man, had a hard time holding broken bits of wood, and hardly lifted his feet while he walked.

And Itsuki couldn't even draw the training bow. Now, either he couldn't, or wouldn't, but he seemed to just not be able to put an arrow to the string. I'll also note in Itsuki's favour, that bow was NOT a 'modern day' training bow, but a knight's training bow. Then again, he had rejected my offer of Raphtalia's little short bow to train with.

It was also clear he didn't want to see me. The look in his eyes was almost as frosty as mine when I got angry.

Then there was old lady Ragnarok, who wasn't here helping, but off at the far end (opposite the rather concerning mini-tornado noises) helping a party member and not the heroes. To be fair, in the state these three were in, her helping would likely do more harm than good.

"Looks pretty bad." Raphtalia said quietly, "But at least they are trying."

"I'll admit... I wasn't hopeful." Usa said, even quieter than Raphtalia.

And Tetsu the Oblivious jogged over to Clive, "Hey Clive! And little Clive! Look! I got my gloves fixed!"

"My name, is Itsuki, you stupid lizard!"

I facepalmed, hoping Tetsu wouldn't beat him up or something. But she did something arguably worse.

"I'm not stupid! I'm CLEVER! See?"

With a quick motion she snatched the training bow out of Clive's hands, picked up an arrow from a little barrel, and fired it. The motion wasn't very smooth, and she nearly broke the bow with her casual use of her insane strength, but she put her first shot into the target, even if it was only the bottom corner.

It was one of those super difficult moments as a parent. Do you praise them for the surprising show of skill/luck/creativity/merit? Or punish them for making a nearly grown man fall to his knees in shame at getting out-skilled by someone whom I'd never actually seen pick up a bow.

Saving me from the choice, I heard the imperious voice of the Queen speak from behind me. "Ah, Lady Kodori. I'm pleased you have arrived."

I turned to greet the Queen, as was proper (and because I did respect her enough to observe at least a little formality), but as my vision panned from left to right, I managed to spot Melty behind and to the Queen's right, then the Queen herself as she dashed forward and attempted to poke me in the nose with the Vassal Fan.

Dressed in a nice sensible 'war dress' pants and breastplate, there was hardly a flutter from her clothing as I stepped back to avoid the initial strike. I caught her second fan on my bracer as it came up from my right, then aborted my attempt to grab her wrist to avoid a slicing sweep of the first fan.

Her attacks were swift, alternated between slash and thrust smoothly, and each attempt I made to grapple or disarm was met with a swift retreat and an even faster return.

"You may-" The Queen started, then stopped cold as I stepped in to her next strike and hit her as hard as I could in the solar plexus. The system limited my attack, but the shock of something hitting her in such a soft spot drove her back a half step with a royal and somewhat undignified 'huff' of expelled air.

I backed up out of her range, "In a duel, do not waste air on talking."

The guards around us rattled in surprise, unsure of what to do. Raphtalia and Usa backed up out of my way. Melty looked panicked. Ren and Motoyasu had stopped to watch. Clive stopped giving Tetsu her well deserved (though I didn't want to do it myself this time) headpats. Tetsu didn't notice the lack of headpats. And Itsuki was still on his knees looking defeated, but at least looking this way.

"Understood. Again." Mirellia said after taking a deep breath and opening both fans.

This time, I led the dance. I'd gotten an idea of her level of 'fitness', and relaxed myself to her level, leading the 'charge' and taking the Book Shield off my hip, its form turning into the nice Hagane red 'small shield'.

The exchange ended a little sooner this time, her attempt to slash at my face bouncing off the solid metal of the Shield and leaving her side open to a simple front kick before she could get her other Fan around to stop me.

I backed up again to let her recover, "Your weapons are light, and can be used as either a dagger, or distraction. Against a solid shield or thick armour, they are less useful."

"Understood." She nodded, ignoring the little smudge of dirt my foot had left on her skirt, "Lady Eclair. Your blade."

Pause. Then a super stiff, "YES... Yes your Majesty."

Eclair presented her sheathed blade to Mirellia. One of the Fans in her hand vanished, and with a smooth motion she pulled the nice fancy blade from its sheath with her now empty hand. "Again." She said, leading the exchange this time.

It was clear that the Queen was far better with a blade, and despite the 'hand and a half' design of Eclair's sword, she was equally adept with fencing as well as ever they called the knight's version of training here.

Predictably, she covered the initial distance with a long thrust, but the instant the blade hit the Shield, she let the tip of her blade go as it wanted, then tightened her grip and brought it down towards my shoulder. I started to step in, letting the edge of her blade spark off the Shield, but she had the Fan in mid slash already.

I evaded with a step to the side, backed away from a hip-level sweep of her sword, let a thrust from the Fan clang off the Shield, stopped a second slash of her blade on the metal of my bracer and brought the Shield across to 'punch' the sword aside with its edge.

She backed off suddenly and swept both her sword and Fan 'out of line'. Her guard relaxed, I stopped as well, putting the Shield on my hip where it returned to the Book form.

Once my guard was lowered, and the blade returned to Eclair, she looked at me and bowed, "I concede, and thank you for the lesson."

I bowed as well, "I honour the willing student."

Motion seemed to return to everyone else, and there was a polite round of applause, and a few excited mumbles. I looked around and, sighed, and was suddenly tackled by a happy mini-dragon. "That was AWESOME!"

Melty unfroze, "You... You hit the Queen!"

We four heroes were sitting in the shade for lunch. Whatever the Queen had actually wanted me here for was apparently going to wait until after we ate. This world had apparently figured out 'the picnic' (3 of 4 worlds, with 1 unknown had this), and we four were facing each other as we pulled things from a pair of big woven baskets.

"Here." I said, handing out 'extras'. "There isn't enough meat in here for what you guys are doing. And if your hands are sore..." I took out some of numbing cream as well and passed it around. "Oh come on you two..."

The sudden sparring session had brightened my mood somewhat, but Ren and Itsuki were still sulking, the Bow more than Sword, but sulking all the same.

"Oh thank you!" Motoyasu accepted the vial of ointment first, "Mine never turns out half as good... And... Oh, which flavour is this one?" He asked after accepting some nourishing beverage.

"That one... Ah, remember the 'fruit soup'?" I asked.

Ren accepted the leaf cup, "I kind of liked it." He mumbled, lifting the cup slowly, "Wish I could drink some tea though..."

Itsuki didn't actually take either the cup or little clay jar, so I set it down next to him so he could continue eating numbly. "What have you three been up to past the yard here?"

"Well, the crazy old lady..." Motoyasu paused, looking left and right to make sure he hadn't been heard by the crazy old lady, "tried to teach us a few things. It didn't go so well. After failing to learn that, she tried to get us up a mountain to meditate and stuff... but still nothing."

"Nothing past a sniffle." Ren mumbled, "Some stuff about using the energy of the world... Then we just came back here to try learning."

"Saw you were pretty sore. So I know you're trying." I complimented, "Itsuki?"

"It's not fair." He said, just above a whisper.

"Even a hero needs to learn." Motoyasu said, saving me (or Itsuki) from interaction, "It's great to get a thank you, but you gotta earn it, right? All the really popular hero stories have good character building arcs."

I saw a little bit of life come back to Itsuki's eyes, but he didn't reply. It wasn't until he'd finished the little half sandwich that I grabbed his wrist and took the lid off the clay pot of ointment. "Hey, let go!"

"Itsuki." I said seriously, "A good hero earns their power, and uses it for the people who have no power at all." I had to struggle a moment to keep him in place, but he calmed down when the numbing cream had started to work on his hands. If nothing else, no matter his success in using a real bow, he had tried enough to build up at least a little callous. "Where as, a person with power, who uses it only for themselves, is only a villain."

"With great power, comes great responsibility." He said as if on reflex.

"Spider-man?" I asked.

"Who?" The three of them asked at once.

I waved it off, and he didn't struggle when I took his other hand to start working in some ointment. "Not important. You want to be a hero, and that's fine. Admirable even. But if you don't learn to use the power you've been given, you'll end up doing more harm than good."

I was trying to keep the level of 'harsh reality' down to a minimum. And was almost thankful when he didn't instantly reject my words, and met me half way with a moody, "Yeah, whatever..."

I let his hand go, and did my best not to sound disappointed, "So I wonder why I got called back."

"Let's hope its something more exciting than training." Motoyasu said.

"Remember you said that." I pointed at him, feeling a sudden surge of attention pointed at me. "Hmm, suppose I'll have to bite the bullet here..." I stood up, stuffed the last of a sandwich in my mouth, and turned to face old lady Ragnarok.

"Suppose you would be sharp enough." She grumbled.

This time, she was dressed in something close to a Cheongsam, though under the 'dress' she was wearing baggy pants and a shirt with loose sleeves. It made me think 'Earth Kingdom', and made it three of four worlds with an oriental style someplace in it.

I didn't like her, but I wasn't rude enough to talk with my mouth full. "Problem?"

"Maybe. Come along." And she started walking off, hands behind her back.

The other three heroes were almost shivering with the tension between the old master and I, and I could even feel Glass... I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I could tell she was unnerved by the old lady's stare.

So, I followed her.

Once we were a reasonable distance from the three heroes, I asked, "What's this about?"

She glanced back at me, but took a moment to speak. "I want a second opinion on that Rishia girl, and you're the only other person who has a clue about Ki."

"Feels good to be acknowledged." I drawled, "I've nearly figured it out again, now that I'm used to this world's taste."

She stopped and turned on me, finger coming up to point at my face...

But she stopped when she found me looking down at her, my entire body going from 'relaxed' to just shy of 'mana-to-muscle' in the time she took to turn. "And it's still not even close to how strong I was before I got here." I said slowly, the jump straight into combat readiness making my horns itch, "What about her?"

I didn't expect an apology, but she lowered her hand and turned away, "Put simply, she's a genius. Once a generation kind of genius. But something is stopping her."

We stopped at the edge of the training field, where two animals were resting. One, was Kuro, her smart-car sized bird form sitting in the shade. She'd apparently been there a little while now, since there was a track of dusted ground and the occasional shed feather as she wiggled away from the sunlight.

The other, was a somewhat dirty looking dog mascot suit with little plush wings. I wondered idly if they could be cleaned with colours, or dry clean only.

"Rishia." the old lady called out, "Break time's over."

The mouth of the mascot suit turned towards her voice, then adjusted a little to look at me. "fueeee..."

"None of that. She's here to help."

Being on the wrong end of her irritation, it was odd to see her act like an actual grandmother. Slowly, Rishia got to her feet and slunk over to us. "Feeling any better?" I asked, "I hear you've been training hard."

Her hands were half way up to her mask before my comment made her pause, then pull the edges of the mascot's open mouth down. Someplace inside the mask was a "fueee..." of despair.

I tried not to sigh, but looked to old lady Ragnarok. She shrugged up to me, clearly handing the task over while being as unhelpful as possible. So, after a moment's thought, I decided something. "I think what you need, is a better mask." I looked past her to Kuro, took a mental note or two, picked up a couple of her shed feathers, then looked back to the still hiding Rishia. "Come on. My treat."

It took a bit of convincing, more sad/timid/self depreciating fueee noises, a quick message to Motoyasu and an assurance to Kuro that I wasn't taking Rishia away. But I finally got her to agree to come with me.

First stop? The friendly witch. Old Lady Ragnarok stayed outside while I introduced Rishia to the nice old witch and convinced her to make a heap of mana-thread. This not only got us the thread, but gave me a bit of a read on Rishia's actual magic capacity. How much? Lots. She'd done a lot of levelling at Cal Mira, and I could tell she had a lot of mana capacity if nothing else.

Next, the shut-in tailor lady. She had all kinds of things to say about the winged dog mascot suit, some nice, some politely 'not nice but not unkind'. And with a nice little auto-loom thing, made a 2x1 metre bolt of cloth from 'Rishia Thread'.

We nearly had Rishia run away when the hardworking tailor said she needed to take measurements. But thankfully she listened to the elder martial artist and accepted her fate. Thankfully, the tailor didn't treat her like she had Tetsu (all enthusiasm and grabby hands), and Rishia stepped out of the private room a moment later, the mascot outfit rolled up and hugged to her chest. She was dressed in that same sensible outfit as before, and it made me wonder just how much space was really in one of those things...

It was here that we left the tailor to her work, and went to Erhard's.

"Wel-oh, you brought her with you." Erhard started his usual greeting, then spotted old lady Ragnarok.

"Say that to my face, boy." Ragnarok said.

"She's watching over her student." I motioned to Rishia, ignoring the 'old person squabble'. "You figure out the weird mascot things yet?"

"Oh those? Yeah. That another one?"

Risha hugged it just a little tighter, "you can't have it."

That little spike of self assertion reminded me I owed Gasper a hug. Probably more. But I smiled, "We're not taking it. We're going to remake it."

Now that she had it off, I could feel a little more about her 'inner self'. All that magic cloth over her was like trying to look through fog when sensing her energy flow. The thread making was part of it too. I also wanted her work on her crippling shyness. And if she didn't like having her face exposed while interacting with people, or fighting, or anything at all...

"Remake it?" She asked, "But... I like it!"

"You like that it hides you. That it puts something between you and the things that make you uncomfortable." I said, "But, with two of the greatest item makers in the world here, I'm sure we can make it how you want it. We can design it however you like, keep the abilities of the original, and maybe add stuff too."

I pulled the mask, MY mask, from the Shield, and slipped it over my horns, letting it fit to my face, "Everyone wears masks. So let's make one just for you."

A little theatrical, I know, but I needed more than an hour in her presence to figure out what might be stopping her from learning to use 'Ki'.

I felt a little surge from inside her, a little 'huff' of energy as her mood went from 'defensive and shy' to 'nervous and curious'. "Okay... Um... do I draw something? Describe it?"

Erhard made a paper ruffling noise and flourished a paper wrapped charcoal stick. "Start at the top." He grinned.

NOTES

In the books, Naofumi just brute forced things. Fed her medicine and used magic. It worked, sure. But Kodori is better with 'from the ground up'. :)

Luchador Rishia anyone?

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

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