Before I start...

I'm sure I've mentioned this before. But Naofumi is a very apathetic person. And while I love the series, having Naofumi as a narrator is a HUGE pain. For example, Kodori is very detail oriented. And I write her like that. If my heroes spend a week on the road, I'll mention anything interesting. Meanwhile, Naofumi doesn't find many things interesting, or doesn't care... And the author will write something like 'we spent four days on the road'.

So, what happens when I (the reader who is now writing a titanic fanfic) miss that little line?

Well, at this point in the story, because I've missed some of those one line week skips, we're like... six or seven days from the wave.

I know I know, fanfiction/creative licence/etc etc. But wow... I understand Naofumi has some serious trauma with women, but he really needs some snu snu or something...

Chapter 77

"Did you get your hug?" I asked Melty as we made our way to the knight's barracks to collect the rest of Eclair's squad.

Melty blushed, but nodded, while Eclair herself sputtered something about 'improper questions' or some such.

"Eclair, every child wants the affection of their parents. Many things can prevent that from happening, but when I see it, I can't help myself to complete that circle. Mirellia is very proper, very disciplined, and holds up Melromarc with iron shoulders and keen intellect. Melty is strong, and understands that her mother's duty must come before her."

Melty was hiding her blush by using my tails as cover (and getting a hug from them too). "I... I understand the burden Princess Melty carries, but-"

"No 'but'. If me leaving them alone in a room so the two of them can stop being 'Queen and Princess' for a minute or two so they can be 'mother and child', I'll do it. Of course, if it didn't work, I'd do my best to make up for it. It wasn't for very long, but Melty was a very important member of my party."

It also helped ease some of the homesickness I felt. If I couldn't get hugs from my own children, I would do my best to help someone else get them.

Melty let all but one of my tails slip away from her, keeping one as a scarf for the moment. "She is correct, Eclair. But it is also between our Queen and I. Put it out of your mind, and gather your squad." She looked up to me, "How long will it take to get there?"

"A few seconds." I said as Eclair entered the barracks and started barking orders the instant the door had closed behind her. "They miss you too."

"I am... a little disappointed that Kuro doesn't travel with you. But I will admit I miss Tetsu."

"She's gotten a little bigger, but understands that the best hugs happen when she's 'people sized'."

We waited in silence, or at least, without talking. Inside the barracks I could hear what sounded like 'morning dungeon prep' back home happening in fast forward. Clanks, clicks, swearing, rattles, occasional dropped metal object, admonishment for being clumsy...

"Thinking tails?" Melty asked, the single tail she had for a scarf tapping on her, while the other two went back to join the first.

"Reminds me of home." I said.

A few minutes after that, Eclair and a dozen knights marched out in a nice orderly fashion. Once out of the barracks, she did a quick 'down the line' inspection, stopped, nodded, then looked to me. "Will filolials be useful?"

"Yes. Plenty of food there too." I replied.

She nodded, turned smartly, "Mounts! GO!"

She joined them as the little column of knights dashed towards the adjoining stables.

Now with squawks, more rattling, and a few gentle words of greeting for hardworking birds, I commented, "I like Eclair. Knows how to run a show, and runs with them when things need doing."

Melty nodded, "It is the same as," She lowered her voice a tiny bit, "Mother does things. She leads, but if she's behind you, she's pushing, not standing still."

It took even less time for the dozen plus Eclair to saddle and run out their brightly coloured filolial. And once they had left the sables and lined up in front of Melty and I, I realized something. "Hey, where's yours?" I asked Melty.

"I had to let her go back." She said a little sadly.

Eclair would have none of that, and she pointed to one of her knights, "Saddle one more!"

Without question, he dismounted, dashed back into the stables, quickly calmed a squawking bird, and brought out the still sleepy looking raptor within two minutes. Melty stepped away from me then, and gave the bird a pat long its neck before getting into the saddle. Just that little show of love calmed the bird, though it still looked sleepy.

"We stand ready!" Eclair said, then looked at me and added with a slightly less confident voice, "How exactly are we getting there?"

"Like this." And I opened the portal to Lerno.

It was clear there had been a smaller fight in the time I'd been away. The 'garbage pile' that had been burning when I left for Lurolona was wider, but thankfully I saw no clothing in the pile of blackened limbs and wings.

Once I'd gone through, I made big 'back up' motions with my arms, "Stand clear! Knights coming through!" I pointed to Tetsu, "Shrink down please."

"Wh-oh! New friends!" Tetsu said as Eclair and her knights stomped through. Melty was last, and I closed the portal right after. "Melty!" There was a burst of iron black sparkles and Tetsu-chan was running to meet the princess.

There was a 'grr-click' from above, and I spotted Clive pulling his bow back. A moment later, a magically created blue signal light zipped into the air.

"Thank you!" I called up to him, getting a thumb's up in reply before he went stone still, back on watch.

We spent a small amount of time gathering, catching up (Melty gave Sir Usa a royal headpat, but then just hugged his head because he had knelt in the first place), and a huge information exchange on how to deal with the bats and yeti. Most of it was done before the hour long cool down for the Portal Shield was done.

With Melty here, I was sure they could hold out until... what ever it was... was dealt with.

"Your squads have what they need? Melty? Depending on what happens, I might not be able to do this," I motioned to the line I'd drawn in the dirt to mark my portal bookmark, "if you need help."

Melty didn't even react at that, "We are as ready as we can be. We will keep this place safe while you deal with the cause." Beside her Eclair was nodding.

"Excellent."

"I hope they've made space for us." Usa said as he gave Tetsu's harness one more check while using his other hand to rub that spot over her eye she liked.

"Are you staying here?" I asked old lady Ragnarok.

She considered, then nodded, "Good a place as any to keep safe."

Fohl and Atla looked at each other, and stood next to me. "Are you two sure?" I asked.

"Yes." They said. Then Atla looked to the old martial artist, "I will be back, but I can't leave my brother."

Ragnarok nodded, then turned and wandered off.

"Everyone on? Loaded? Good." I said, giving Tetsu my own pat for luck and jumping into the driver's seat.

This time, the Melromarc portal room had been cleared for us, and I only had to help put the big doors back on this time after we'd wedged our giant wagon out the door. If I had more portal 'bookmarks' I could have spared one to dump us out on the street or something sensible, but no...

"Okay. One hour, then we're going to Mirso. Clive, Usa? Go to the castle, collect whomever is waiting to help garrison Mirso. Raphtalia, Fohl? Shopping, you have the list?"

There was a little ruffle of paper.

"Atla? Come with me. Tetsu? Get a nap."

"Oh all right..." Tetsu was pouting a little, "I hope dinner time is good..."

"Of course." I hugged what I could of her head, "Okay, lets go."

Atla's reaction to her 'magic test' was... interesting. "I'm sorry dear, you just don't seem to have a talent for it."

"Is that so?" Atla took her hand off the crystal ball, "Oh, thank you." And accepted a little candy, "I think I will have to tell my brother."

"Why?" I asked, setting down a bunch of magical ingredients that I hadn't had time to punch off of the local monsters, "I'll buy these please."

The Witch smiled at me and took my coin, while Atla replied with, "He will work that much harder to learn how to use his own gift, knowing that I don't have the ability myself. And I will praise him for it, because he is my brother." She smiled at me.

The Witch and I shared a look, and I gave Atla's shoulder a pat, "Well, be sure that you do. Thank you again."

"Of course. Good luck."

"Fox. Ah, little Atla." Erhard greeted me with a huge grin, "Your friend is incredible."

"I know." I grinned, "Haven't had time, so if you have something closer to her size?"

He switched to 'all business' and looked at Atla, "Yeah, I got something close to her size, was going to be for you or little Raphtalia, before you went and grew up."

"Hey Boss! I hear you!" HIDA said from the workshop as Erhard opened the door to go fetch something, "This guy is really good! Shame about the hair, but yeah!"

"Help him as much as you can." I called back.

Erhard came through the door with 'smol suit of leather armour' bundle, a smile on his face, and tears in his eyes. "Thank you Hida..."

I accepted the bundle, "You remember all those little enchantments I wanted? Think you can pull it off?"

Erhard nodded, "I can do all but the last one. But that needs material I don't have."

"I'm almost done with that calculation Boss! We can maybe do it when you get back to me?"

"Sounds good. Back soon I hope."

Erhard and I shook hands, Atla gave him a smile in exchange for a headpat, and we headed back to the wagon.

Sadly, though understandably, we only had a half dozen knights and twice that in adventurers waiting for us back at the wagon, most of them had war bows as well since Mirso was a walled mountain town. Tetsu, was trying, and failing, to make friends with their Filolial, Fohl and Atla were working together to help figure out what I needed to change for the armour, Raphtalia was trying to keep Tetsu from getting pecked, Clive was checking arrows, and Usa arrived last, a little scroll in his hand.

"For you Ma'am." He said as I finished sorting things into the Shield to start crafting.

I accepted the message, thumbed off the little wax seal (huh, four of four worlds for this one too). "Now that's a good idea." I mumbled as I read it. "Okay..." I did a slow turn in place to see what we had ready, then called out, "Form up!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

I opened the portal to Mirso, one I had (re)made before doing all this, and led everyone through.

The instant the portal had closed, one of the local garrison came up to me, saluted, and handed me a neatly folded bit of paper. This one, folded more in the 'letter of challenge' style of Japan, had three Kanji on the side. 'Spear to Shield'.

Well that didn't bode well... "Why didn't he use the sound stone?" I mumbled as I flipped it open.

Behind me, as the knights and archers from the castle town spread out and went about being professional, I read.

"The sound stone wasn't working. Rishia burned her hand trying to do that thing that made it work before." That explained why. Look at you, Motoyasu, being all organized... "Jealous of his writing too..." I mumbled to myself, "The others started on ahead. The instant you left, they used their own portals, and came back here on flying dragons."

I looked to the person to my left, "Flying dragons?"

Clive (the person to my left) shrugged and signed something, "Rare, cost, fast."

Tetsu also added, "I'll be able to fly all over the place soon!" She stretched out her wings, "Oh, a spider."

I kept reading. "I wrote this, and started making as much finger food as I could with the Spear's crafting tools. Kuro should be able to keep up, mostly."

"I hope Kuro doesn't hurt herself running after them." Raphtalia said.

"I hope you can figure out this map. But in the game world, the enemy was called the 'spirit tortoise'. It will be roughly where I've marked."

I looked at the bottom of the letter, and yes, there was a nice map. "He cheated." I said, looking at the map.

"Cheated?" Usa asked.

"That's not his writing." I pointed to some of the notation on the map, "Rishia helped him here I'll bet." I sighed, "Okay, we have a location, and a lot of ground to cover." I rubbed my chin, "You and you!" I pointed to two of the knights. "I need your dragons."

The two knights looked at me, frowned, but reluctantly handed over the reins to Atla and Fohl. "Please take care of them?"

"Of course." I turned to the rest of my party, and the soldier who had delivered the letter to me. "I need a place to store some stuff." He nodded and darted off, "The rest of you, we're going to take a bunch of stuff out of the wagon."

We'd sacrificed some of the creature comforts of the wagon, a couple of the portable crafting stations, and a some of the supplies we kept in case I couldn't use the Shield's inventory (so they could eat while I was someplace else). But in the end, we had the two knight dragons laying inside the wagon, their tails hanging out the back, while Kuro ran at best speed towards the eastern border of Melromarc. During meal and rest times, the two spare dragons were put into the harness so Tetsu could rest, eat and get all the headpats she deserved for working so hard.

It made us a bit of a target, but to make sure we made the best time, we even travelled through the nights, with the wagon's magic lighting and extra lights made by Raphtalia over the top of the wagon, so the dragons could see the road while they ran. More than a few times, we had to stop or at least slow down to kill monsters (lots and lots and LOTS of those bat familiars, with the rare yeti or normal monster).

But after nearly three days of non-stop running, we made it within sight of the Melromarc border, and saw what I thought we would be up against.

"Stop stop!" I called out to the two dragons while giving the reins a little tug to get their attention.

The boarder, a wide swathe of rocky barren ground with a road that was just a little better than hard packed dirt that led from one side to the other, was yet another weird example of this world's 'biome construction'.

But, thanks to the hilly up down of the terrain, it gave us a clear view of what we were probably going to be facing...

"Urp... oh... we stopped... please don't move again..." Poor Raphtalia's motion sickness had returned with the breakneck pace we'd set, and she fell out of the back of the wagon.

"There there... some water..." I heard Atla say.

"We might have a problem." I said, hopping off the wagon and giving the two knight dragons something to eat while they folded up on the spot to rest. "Yes yes, good work you two..."

People started to get out of the wagon, or in Clive's case, climbed off the top. "Is..." Usa shaded his eyes from the sunlight, "Is that mountain moving?"

It was still on the far side of the sad little trade road, but yes, one of the peaks was shifting ever so sluggishly back and forth, and while it was hard to tell at this distance, I was almost positive it was getting closer. What was arguably worse, was a thin slowly rotating cloud around it. From here, it looked like a swarm of flies, but I was sure it was more of those bats. That was why I stopped in the first place...

And now that I wasn't worried about potholes in the road, my tails were tingling with nearby magic. I was almost certain that the 'soul stream' that HIDA saw was right over head. "Time to call the Queen?" Fohl asked, "That is a lot of bats."

"Thousands of them." I nodded, "Far more than we could deal with, without a lot more time to prepare."

Usa, in one of those ever so slightly less rare moments of self confidence, replied with, "Melty and I could do it... maybe..."

Clive gave him a friendly elbow in the ribs, but then a pat on the shoulder.

"Well, not from here... And we'd need..."

"You showed talent for lightning, little rabbit, but this may be far beyond even the best preparations." Glass commented from her spot around my neck. "This place makes me uncomfortable."

She hardly complained about her situation, so that only reinforced my opinion about that river of energy. "Let's see if this..." I rummaged through the Shield's inventory for 'Occulus 1', and gave it a tap.

And it promptly snapped in half, falling to the ground after rolling off my palm to either side. Tetsu, having just joined us from her nap (she could sleep through anything, including terrible roads at speeds we shouldn't have been going), made a sad noise and picked up the two halves, "Aww... The sparkly thing broke."

"Raphtalia?" I called to the back of the wagon where I'd last heard her and Atla. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly..." She mumbled, coming around to join us. "Thank you Atla."

I went through the Shield for a dose of 'all purpose recovery potion', my best attempt at the Orario 'cure all', and offered it to her. "Fruit flavoured."

"I'm not a kid..." She grumbled, but downed it all the same. Her tail did a happy swish, but no one commented. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, the Queen gave me a message before we left. In brief, she was gathering up everything she could, and would have it waiting for our signal. Since the initial report, no matter how crazy it sounded, was 'moving mountain', that's what she had been planning for." I really did like the Queen. She had a very 'adventurer' view on problems.

"But if the Occulus broke then..." Raphtalia started.

"Well, it's not moving very fast, but it's still coming this way." I motioned to the slow rhythmic left right tilt of the land mass in the distance. "I can open a portal to the castle town, send someone through, then an hour later, open it again. And again. And as many times as we need to."

"Who will go? And will we get closer?" Usa asked.

All eyes went to 'Sir' Usa, the only one here with actual authority, past my temporary title as hero.

Again, that little show of confidence, "Very well. Are there any messages I should pass along?"

I tried to think of how to manage getting things through the portal. If I went through, I'd have to change my portal bookmarks so we could get back here. Not really a problem, but might leave people stranded...

"Have her get everything to the big field outside Melromarc. In an hour, I will come through, meet them, and we'll start shovelling stuff through as fast as we can." I paused, "Oh... Let me..."

I handed Usa a rolled up map of what we could see. While difficult to tell at this distance, and how slow it was moving, I was starting to get a little worried we couldn't see what was moving that mountain. The plan (before contact with the enemy) was for us to get to one side, on the biggest hill we could find, and give whomever showed up a good place to stand, or hide behind in case of 'problems'. From the look of things, we had at least half a day, before it would cross the border. Maybe...

And with that, Usa went through the portal into the Hourglass room of Melromarc.

We then all mounted up, and got moving.

"I knew they would arrive." I was surprised to see Kuro pop her head out from behind a rock as we parked the wagon behind the hill we'd been aiming at. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I felt a single vibration through my feet, an earthquake in slow motion.

Then a quiet, sad, pitiful little 'fueeee...'

I felt a lump of ice form in my gut, "What are you two..."

While I knew Kuro wasn't unfriendly she wasn't one for hugs. However, as soon as I turned to look at her, she seemed to just appear in front of me and wrap her arms around me. Not one to refuse a good hug, I applied a headpat (avoiding the cute little feather/cowlick on her head), and waited for my answer.

"They're gone!" Rishia said as she came around the same rock Kuro had, "We..."

It took a few minutes to calm them down. Kuro's hug wasn't just because I seemed to be hug magnet for humanoid creatures, but because she was trying not to cry. Rishia wasn't any better, and her we were all (silently) surprised her filolial mask could cry.

But, between hastily handed out food, water, healing potions and various efforts to keep the occasional bat from biting one of us, we got the story.

In short, they had failed. Totally, utterly, completely. The three of them and their parties arrived on the other side of the border, had a brief chat with the local army, told them in their best heroic voice that their service was no longer needed, and they could deal with the stragglers while they and their parties charged at the mountain with the giant turtle under it.

They had fought, and while they had managed to actually get to the turtle itself, the instant they had its full attention, everything had went sideways. The only reason the two of them had survived was because Motoyasu ordered Kuro to take Rishia off the field and hide, to wait for backup.

"All I know... is that he's alive still." Kuro said when none of us asked the obvious question, "See?" Even as an emotional wreck, she was still quite modest when she lowered the collar of her frilly dress.

"Slave mark is still there..." I mumbled, "Okay. So he's alive. What about the others? No idea? You mentioned a local military?"

"It's all..." Rishia sniffed, the sound hollow from behind her mask, "There is a big border fort just over that ridge there. But the tortoise is still two days away, I think..."

I considered 'the plan' and figured yes, this was the first part we would change. "We're going to move the plan over a little." I looked at the timer, "Kuro, can you get me to that fort? Everyone else? Back in the wagon, follow as fast as you can. I'm going to reinforce that fort with Melromarc's troops, but need you to get there, and hold for an hour.

Rishia had said 'two days away'. I thought it was hours away. That only made me worry more, since even at my best I'd never had to kill a mountain before.

Kuro, her feet thump thumping under me almost fast enough to be a single sound, spoke up a little, "Please don't sound depressed? I am worried enough for my stupid master."

"If we can, we'll save him." I said, not promising anything past the effort. "I will do my best to make sure you don't become an orphan."

"Do you have a plan? He... He said he should have let the other two go and waited for you, once we saw what we were up against."

"He should have. But I see why he didn't. Hopefully, with what you know, and what ever else we can find out, we can come up with something better than 'stab it in the eye' or something..." I let go of the reins with one hand to give the back of Kuro's head a pat.

"Hero! It's the Shield Hero! We're saved!"

The border fort was built into the walls of a crevasse, through what could have been the start of a mountain range made by two tectonic plates grinding together. But it was likely more of that weird land formation this world had. The Melromarc side was open, the big double doors left wide to allow us entry, and the lookout atop the wall who spotted us, or rather, Kuro's dust cloud, had lauded our arrival with joy.

A brittle joy floating on a sea of desperation.

As soon as we'd passed through the gate, Kuro's clawed feet started sparking on the flagstone of the fort's foundations as she slowed down. As soon as she came to a stop, I hopped off, summoned some water, then turned it to a block of ice.

"ahhhhhhhh..." She sat on it like some kind of egg, and I gave her a pat before trotting towards a small group of soldiers.

"Lady Hero! We are so glad you are here! The ot-"

"Hush, please." I said, not wanting to be rude, but without time to be diplomatic. "I need to know what we are working with, and what the fort is like around the walls."

"But you-"

"Tick-tick." I said, "In about four minutes, I'm going to mark a spot, and exactly one hour after that, I'm going to start moving soldiers from Melromarc castle to here."

The soldier, clearly in charge of the fort and wearing armour not from Melromarc, started to bristle at my tone. But the mountain off in the distance chose that moment to finish taking a step, a ripple trembling through the ground under our feet. "This way." He said.

It was a big fort. Not huge, or castle sized, but clearly made for a time of war between Melromarc and where ever this place was. I didn't care enough to ask, and he never told me. That said, the walls had all kinds of space, and the cliff edges to the left and right of the fort had been made into roads. When asked, he had told me that one led to a port town, while the other led in the direction of Zeltobe and the fort between their borders.

However, what really interested me, was the giant field in front of the fort. Unlike the other side of the weird mountain range the fort was build in to, this side of the border had all kinds of tall narrow mountains. It reminded me of some of the Chinese artwork I'd seen... oh, actually, it reminded me of the Eastern Heavens... Weird finger-like mountains, almost like spires, but with enough green on them that it wasn't like a field of 'devil's peaks'.

It also gave me a clearer view of the mountain as it moved with glacial inevitability towards us. It was still far enough away, and behind part of another spire, that I couldn't see what was under the moving mass of rock... But it was clear it wasn't 'from here'. Then again, the border between that nameless triangle of land and Zeltobe had a clear 'biome' line you could jump over...

"Okay." I said, "If you want the Queen's help, you will kept that area there clear. Understood?" I said, pointing to the road that led towards Zeltobe. "And when my party gets here, please see to their needs."

"Understood Ma'am." He nodded, "Do you know how much..."

"No. Just that she is." I replied, hopping off the wall to the ground below, discarding my bookmark for Mirso for this spot here, and stepping through a portal to the hourglass in Melromarc.

The instant I stepped through, Usa seemed to appear next to me. The question on his face was clear, but I shook my head, and motioned with my chin for him to lead the way.

As instructed, the Queen was mustering everything she could into the field south of the castle town. Hundreds of soldiers, half that in knights, half that in mages, but there were also adventurers and siege engines in the mix too.

Sadly, this was maybe the size of what that bishop guy had under his command. I was not hopeful, but couldn't deny it was an honest effort.

"Ma'am." To my surprise, Usa was surprised at the voice. I turned towards the Queen's shadow, "This way please."

She led me away from the south gate where I'd stopped, and towards a little tent. Inside was the Queen and someone I might have recognized, though, mage robes looked the same on almost everyone.

"What news?" She asked as I entered, the Shadow vanishing from my awareness the instant my hand touched the tent flap.

"It's bad. I don't know exact details, since I just got there and we're in a hurry to get them," I waved a hand outside the tent, "There too."

She nodded, "I have agents there already, and they should be done gathering information by the time we start back." She looked to the mage standing next to her, "While we waited for you, we gathered every scrap of information we could on what we are up against."

I gave her a long look, then shifted my gaze to the guy in the robes. "Tell me how to kill it."

NOTES!

The most important information. :)

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