Chapter 88

I considered the items in my hand, and thought of something, "How many can someone have?"

"While their origin is founded in the ofuda, they are for all intents living beings." Ethnobalt said calmly, "I do not know how many a hero, especially one from another world, can sustain, but they are not created often."

I nodded, then looked at my hand again, "You can't let it die." Kizuna said, almost fiercely.

I returned the feather and Raphtalia's fur to the Shield, and held up the scales. "If I were more skilled, I could have made a compass of this." I placed the scales into Ethnobalt's hand.

He hovered backwards a little, his back to the hourglass, and everyone but he and I backed away. Under his feet, a complex geometric circle appeared. With a tap of his staff on the floor, and a musical jingle from the rings on his staff, he continued.

"Ah, do not be alarmed, though I suppose we share a similar ability." He smiled that gentle smile, and suddenly, in place of his almost sad face, was the head of a white rabbit.

"He doesn't like being called cute... but he is." Kizuna said quietly from behind me. "He's descended from a race of monsters, worshipped even!"

"That time has long past." Ethnobalt said quietly, "Though now I am curious..." His rabbit ears flopped around as he shook away the topic, "Later, if you would be so kind."

"Of course." I nodded, "What else is needed?"

"To bind it to you, a little of your blood, and to serve as its core, a suitable medium." He replied.

I thought for a moment, my eyes looking down the inventory list in the Shield. Of course, if I were to create some kind of Familiar with a dragon scale as a base, using a shard of a dragon's soul would make the most sense. It was obvious!

But then I thought of something, and I couldn't help but feel a little petty at the idea.

So I took Kuro's feather back out of the inventory, as well as one of the little purified shards of dragon crystal. "Kizuna? Cut the very tip off this?"

"I thought you weren't going to use the feather?" She said, her Weapon turning into a little skinning knife and taking the point off of Kuro's long feather.

I said nothing, but nodded thanks as someone came towards me with a small knife and a cup. I shook my head at him, and reached up to poke my thumb with one of my horns. I then filled the newly nipped 'quill' with my own blood, and handed the two items over.

"Very well." Ethnobalt nodded, tapping his staff on the floor again, a bit of magic making the three items float off of his hand and hover in the middle of the circle.

Under him, the platform glowed, what I had thought was reflective paint revealing itself to be crystal. A vassal weapon? I put the thought aside, instead focusing on how he was doing things. The three items hovered and danced around each other tightly, and his hand closed, then opened again, a handful of magic dust resting on his palm.

With a careful flick of his wrist, the sparkling dust joined the three items, making the entire room glow and sparkle with constellations and rainbows.

Then it started to get too bright to look at. The diffuse light around the room suddenly being pulled in, gathering, compressing, "Ethnobalt?" I said, putting on my mask to save my eyes.

"It's forming faster than normal!" He said, "I'm losing control! Back off! Run!"

I changed the Shield to the Shield of Marius and held my ground to protect Kizuna, then with a blink, I turned on the Starlight Shield to protect everyone else. With the protection of my mask over my eyes, I saw the light take on form, changing from an amorphous blob of blinding potential, and then suddenly start fading, like white hot metal being pulled from the forge into a cold room.

Shikigami Shield Conditions met!

Shikigami Shield: abilities locked: shikigami servant: shikigami power-up

The cooling star of light in front of me seemed to throw off all its brightness at once, a burst of sparkly smoke, light, and a near comical sounding 'PON' noise happening all at once. I was able to look at it all until the end, and saw a form float down to the floor in front of me.

There was silence in the room as I let the Starlight Shield effect vanish, and the smoke contained within made its way upwards. "cough." Kizuna said behind me, "What did you even use?"

I took off my mask and knelt, the Shield changing to the nice Hagane red small shield before I put it on my back. "A fragment of a dragon's soul, a feather from a guardian beast princess, scales from a dragon empress, and blood of a demon fox." I said quietly, the smoke clearing and revealing what I hoped was my new friend.

About as long as my arm, it was a a mix of a Lung dragon and Quetzalcoatl or Feathered Serpent. At full size, it would have a truly fierce maned face, long snout and teeth, feathery fur down its back, four stout legs, and a spade of feathers on the end of its tail. Kind of like, say, Yu-Long. Though, this one's scales were a glistening oil slick black with red highlights, while its claws and teeth were silver.

But at the moment... It was an arm length feathery 'danger noodle'. It was curled into a defensive ball (like the aptly named 'ball python'), its four little legs and mouth all 'pointed' in my direction as it looked at me with eyes a tiny mirror of my own. "Gr!" It said up at me.

"Welcome to the world." I said, trying to think up a name as all kinds of little tabbed windows opened up on my status screen. "Kotetsu." Yes, I know, naming it 'little iron' wasn't very imaginative.

I offered it my hand, and it uncoiled, gripped my hand, and with a weird whip-like flick of its body, it curled around my forearm, leaving its head resting on my palm, its neck flopped over the space between my thumb and index finger. "Gr." It said, looking... hopeful?

"Wow..." Kizuna said, coming closer and peering over my shoulder, "Aw, it just wants headpats."

Of course I was giving it headpats. It was adorable! Though, its tiny little claws had no trouble gripping the smooth metal of my armour. "I thought that it might fail, but..." Ethnobalt hovered closer cautiously, "Such a strange and beautiful creature." He said, crouching down as well, but hesitant to get closer.

"Friend." I said, extending my hand towards the shy rabbit.

And a moment later, even he could not resist scrubbing a fingertip under Kotetsu's chin.

"Pen!"

"Gr?"

And suddenly my arm was free of the feathered danger noodle, and Chris had it wrapped around one of his flippers. After a moment of a tense seeming staring match, they nodded to each other and parted again.

"Huh, they have an understanding already." I said, watching Kizuna pick up my new friend, letting it coil around her hand and wrist. "I'm guessing you also have the laundry list of stuff in your status menu?" I asked her.

"Yeah. You can use all kinds of items to power it up. It's like..." She paused, rubbing noses with Kotetsu, then holding it out to me, "An item crafting, pet, and companion system in one."

"Huh, well, I look forward to working with you." I said seriously... then totally ruining that seriousness with headpats. "So..."

"Ah, well, now that you both have something to link you to your companions. Chris for Glass, and you for..."

"Tetsu and maybe Kuro."

He nodded, "Simply ask, and if they can sense them, then they will know the way."

I looked down at Kotetsu, its scary little face pouting as I stopped the chin scratches, "Do you think you can find them for me?"

Beside me, Kizuna was kneeling next to the penguin. "Can you find Glass?"

"Pen! Gr!" They both pointed in the exact same direction.

"Ah, bring a map!" Ethnobalt perked up, "Quickly!"

Seconds later, one of the official types came over, while one of the guards cleared off a nearby desk. Ethnobalt motioned us over to the table, his free hand orienting the map, likely to match its orientation for the world it represented.

"Can you point to it on this map?" He asked.

I held Kotetsu over the map, and Kizuna picked up Chris. And again, the two of them pointed to the exact same spot. "Ah... I was afraid of that." Kizuna sighed, "Not quite, but close to where we left. Enemy territory again." Chris gave her head a pat, "That's where that guy we met came from I think."

"Hmm..." I looked to the hourglass.

"Not a good idea. They'll have it super duper guarded." Kizuna shook her head, "But..." She looked to Ethnobalt, "Do you think..."

"I would be willing to get you close, but you know..."

"I know, you're not a fighter. I would never ask you to fight! But..." She looked to me, "He's the holder of the Vassal Boat."

"Aha." I nodded, looking down, "Makes perfect sense now. And... oddly, on my side we have the Vassal Carriage. Though, I like you better than her."

"Ah... well..."

"Aww, he's blushing." Kizuna teased.

"Ma'am Kizuna! I am not... not... much... at least..." Ethnobalt sighed, "I suppose... It would take too long to gather any soldiers, or find your other party members..."

"L'arc and Therese would be with Glass." I said.

"And she says she can't fight, but I think we'll be fine if we're careful." Kizuna gave my shoulder a light punch.

"Very well. Perhaps you should at least eat first, before we depart." He bowed slightly, his face returning to the soft, slightly sad looking young man, "I will be in the gardens."

After a moment to collect ourselves, collect our new/old friends (Kotetsu was currently perched on my head, her two front 'hands' holding my horns as if steering me, while her body dangled down the back of my head like a ponytail), we headed to the gardens.

On the way, Kizuna collected a bit of good will from 'the people' and got us a bit of free food from the market. Again, I felt a little bit jealous. Even after being away for two years, the people still remembered her. Meanwhile, I had to rely on trauma, saving people from it, or causing it to them, to be remembered at all...

But, between bites of finger food and sharing it with our 'pets', Kizuna filled me in on a couple more things.

"Due to politics," She was learning from me already... so proud... "The others might all be in enemy hands already."

While I had reduced Glass's power, L'arc and Therese weren't pushovers. Since we didn't travel together, I had no idea if they had managed to link up with Raphtalia, Kuro and Tetsu. But if they had, they were likely evading 'the law', or all in a cell together...

"Hmm..." I frowned, "I..." I stopped, checked, double checked, then...

"What's wrong?" Kizuna stopped, turned, and put her hand on my shoulder, "Holy- cold!"

"She's gone." I said, feeling... "Raphtalia isn't on my list anymore." I felt every muscle in my body flood with adrenaline, "I..."

Kizuna shook my shoulder again, "We've been super busy." She tugged at my arm, "You said she was a slave, right? Maybe someone took over her mark? Or removed it? She might not be dead!"

I pulled, dragged, clawed back the fury I was feeling, "If she is, I will win this war you have with whatever nation it is that put you in prison."

"She's that important to you..."

I felt my fury slip, my body relaxing just enough so I could start walking again, "No... She's..." I shook my head, making Kotetsu "Gr!" at me, "Family." I said finally.

The gardens were close to the castle. Expansive, colourful, well kept, it was a place of understated grandeur. Even with the unfamiliar mix of emotions seething through my mind, I couldn't help but notice and appreciate just how much effort went into the neat rows of colourful flowers, trimmed hedges, trees, and artfully twisted vines.

In the middle, as you would see in every world I'd visited so far (6 now?) a fountain dominated the centre of the grand display of flora. Standing in front of it was Ethnobalt, his gentle/sad human face quietly admiring a bird that had landed on his finger as it chirped at him. As we entered the spacious fountain square, he and the bird turned to look at us, and with a distressed chirp the bird flew away.

"Oh my... Is something amiss?" He asked, hovering a little closer to meet us half way.

"As a way to gain power, I put a Slave Curse on my party. Their only command now is to never lie, but otherwise it allows the Shield to give them more power as they grow." I explained, the near harmless presence of Ethnobalt calming me, "But when I looked a moment ago, her name was gone from my list."

He frowned, and for a moment the gentle/sad face became tragic. "Then we must hurry."

He stepped off the floating platform, and I got a good look at it. Out from under his robes, it was just a small circular platform that looked a little like a toy top. White metal(?) trim and black curved underside, with the little blue gem at it's 'prow'.

"Step back just a little please." He asked, waited until we had, then turned to face the strange device...

And with a warping twisting effect that was mostly hidden by a bright glow, the Vassal Boat changed. Moments later, it had become...

Well honestly? It looked like a gravy boat. With a curving underside that tapered at the front like something you would pour liquid from. The top deck was out of sight, but the sides had huge delicate looking dragonfly wings extending from it. The white 'trim' had gained some gold highlights, while the blue gem had enlarged a little to rest at the point of the prow.

"Take my hand." He said, offering it to Kizuna.

She held my hand, then took his, and with a tiny little wobble of motion we were ten metres off the ground and standing on a nice solid deck of pale wood looking out over the gardens.

"Welcome aboard." He said, though it sounded more like reflex than a formality.

"How long will it take?" I asked, letting my senses adjust to the feeling of 'ship' under my feet. Even if it was an 'air ship' it felt like an actual boat all the same.

"Not long. While we could actually fly..." Kizuna smiled, a little nostalgia creeping into her voice, "This time I think the other option would be better?"

"Yes." Ethnobalt said with a nod, "By using the lines between the Hourglasses, I can use the Vassal Boat to teleport... Of a sort at least. Even so-"

I latched on to the new topic of interest like a life preserver, "This uses the dragon veins of the world to travel?"

He blinked at me, surprised, then slipped back into that calm/sad smile of his, "Yes, that is almost exactly what it does. Though, as you can see, elevation isn't limited."

And we started to move. It was, overall, slower than the near instant teleport between hourglasses, or the actually instant gate made by the Portal Shield. But it still only took about ten seconds to move between Kizuna's home kingdom to where ever it was we were going. Being aware, or at least, more aware than most, of the method we were using, let me feel a little more of how we were doing it.

Yes... I might be able to do this here... If only I had-

"I dare not get closer, but this is a close as I can get without risking detection." Ethnobalt interrupted my internal musings of world traversal. "I hope you understand..."

I stood, but Kizuna beat me to a reply, "I know. We will rely on you to escape, not attack. We'll be careful and not cause a ruckus unless we have to." She said, again giving him that same palm touch, "Thank you Ethnobalt, really."

I bowed to him, and he replied, "I hope we can adventure again, in better times." Then, "Kodori?"

When I stood straight again, I saw he had his hand out towards me, "We can have a talk later, O-Usa." Like Kizuna, we touched palms, but Kizuna ruined the moment with a burst of giggles.

"I am... not familiar with the term?"

"King rabbit." Kizuna laughed.

"Unlike the one from my world with the Vassal Carriage, you helped us without so much as a 'please'." I said, "And you, stop laughing, I'm trying to honour your friend here."

"Ah... well..."

"Now he's blushing again!"

"Please be safe, Ethnobalt." I said, before picking up Kizuna, "Just for that, we're jumping off the side." And I slung her over my shoulder.

"Ah! No! Save me Chris!"

"Pen." Chris shook his head, hopping over the side of the flying boat without hesitation.

"So mean." Kizuna pouted as Ethnobalt and the weird looking flying ship seemed to 'slip' away from us instantly. "So... Where to?" She looked to Chris, "You little traitor." She added without heat, ruffling the penguin's head feathers.

"Kotetsu?" I looked up, the little scary face of my new dragon leaning down to look back at me.

They both pointed in the same direction, one with an affirmative, "Pen!" the other holding one of my horns and leaning way out like my head was the prow of a ship, and pointing with the other clawed limb, "Gr!"

Of course, Ethnobalt had 'landed' at the edge of a forest, near, or as near as was safe, to a town. So we had a little hiking to do.

"Let's start walking I guess?" Kizuna said, "You might want to actually disguise yourself this time..."

I nodded, taking my mask off (getting a little 'Gr!' as I had to move Kotetsu) then summoning a fur cloak to hide my armour under. "Adventurer types might be common, but this is a totally different style..."

"Maybe use the walk to poke at the Shikigami menu?" Kizuna suggested, "I'll handle any monsters we come across."

Like I often did when something was really bothering me, and didn't just set me into action, I buried my worries over Raphtalia under something 'complex'. Running the numbers through my head, before committing to pressing any of the 'are you sure' buttons that popped up, Kotetsu would never be stronger than a 'real' person.

Even if I had all the weird drop items, monster bits and processed materials in the world, I was sure there was some kind of hard cap, or a point where the diminishing returns I would get for overloading items into the little dragon would make it pointless to continue.

But...

"Why did we stop?" Kizuna said as I froze in my tracks and knelt.

"I just had an interesting idea." I replied, taking out a little bit of salted fish from the Shield and offering it to Kotetsu, "It's also lunch time."

The strip of dried fish was devoured with a noise akin to a happy chainsaw. And since Chris was now giving Kizuna sad penguin eyes, she fed him too.

"What's the idea? I can see the outskirts of town, so no fires." She said.

"In the other world, there was an island that had weird monsters on it. One of them looked almost exactly like Chris." I started taking out other little items, like an ink dish, the slave ink, and a fine brush.

"Almost? What was different?" She asked, kneeling next to me and taking some bread and cheese from her Weapon, "Writing a letter?"

In reply, I took out a slightly battered Santa hat from Cal Mira, and plunked it on Chris's head. He looked shocked! Astonished! And more than a little confused. But then he struck a pose, his flippers bending at the 'elbows' his hands on his hips, and declared, "Pen!" proudly.

"That." I said, "I dunno why, but there have been so many weird similarities between worlds, and not just the architecture. However... Kotetsu? Stand here please? Be very still..."

I put a drop of my blood into the dish as Kotetsu curled up a little then 'perked up' its upper half, puffing its chest out at me. "What are you doing?"

"If it works? Cheating." I said, carefully drawing the slave mark on Kotetsu's chest. "It's going to sting a little, be strong."

If a previous generation of heroes had their own personal animals, non-native to this world, it suggested there was some weirdness that brought them in. Of course, that would make something like a Shikigami, an artificial animal, well, an animal...

"Seeing you smile like that makes me worry." She said.

There was a bit of static over my 'owned monsters' list, (of which Tetsu was still on), but after a bit of... it almost seemed like hesitation, Kotetsu appeared on the list as well. "What ever insane mind made this system, didn't expect another programmer."

"What did you just..." Kizuna was holding a finger to her temple, while Kotetsu got some comforting chin scratches from me for enduring the slave mark activation. "Wait, so, since it's classed as 'Shikigami' with the 'animal' sub tag..."

"Exactly. Now, I can..." I started to manipulate stat curves and testing with items it needed to power up as a Shikigami, "For every two points of attack, gain one... But since it doesn't say 'with every level', I can force the issue with loot items..."

"Oh wow... Hey! Can I..." She looked to Chris.

"You can, but you won't get as much out of it since you've powered him up a bunch already." I said, getting a little more ink out of the Shield anyhow, "It is also a slave mark, just in case that mattered to you."

"If it's anything like the Shikigami options..." She gave Chris's new hat a little tug to make it flop over just so. "Heehee. Okay so what do I do?"

Going by raw numbers, Kotetsu would still never be as strong as a properly levelled up person or animal. But if anyone dared to underestimate the half metre long feathered serpent, they would learn the true meaning of 'danger noodle'.

Being a dragon, even a 'fake' one, that was created with an actual dragon 'heart', also gave it other abilities to go along with all the exotic items I had laying about in storage...

"Okay." Kizuna said, "I know you two just figured out magic..." She looked how I felt right after finishing a big project, all self satisfied and smug. "But we're trying to keep a low profile."

"Gr?" Kotetsu looked up at me with expressive little eyebrows.

"Only if you must, or I tell you to." I said, letting Kotetsu onto my shoulder, then wiggling my cape a little as it crawled under it to peek out from under the collar. Yes, like a danger noodle.

Now done with lunch and a number crunching session that only two game nuts could have, we stepped out of the forest and onto the nearest path into the town.

"Yeah... This place is a bit weird." Kizuna said as we got closer. "Kind of like, not sure you have the same time period names..."

As we topped a small hill, the last one before the town, I could see what she meant. Like Maki, Japanese history was not a strong point for me. But it looked like that time between the end of the Samurai era, and the start of Japan's industrialization. There were brick and mortar buildings side by side with old wood and rice paper ones. There were streetlamps with magic fires in them. The market squares, yes two of them, consisted of brightly painted shops on one, and a bunch of open market stalls in the other.

With the Shield's sight amplification, I got a look at the people too. Adventurers were there, of course, a mix of Japanese styled armour and martial arts uniforms all over the place. I saw a couple patrols of... well it wasn't the blue of the Shinsengumi, but the cut of the uniforms was basically identical. A noble riding on a palanquin who was wearing an elaborate head dress done in 'imperial' style. People avoiding the guards in the poorer looking area of town...

"Huh." I said, "Kotetsu? Where?"

A little clawed hand took hold of my chin and moved my head. "Gr." Next to me, Chris was pointing in the same direction.

"I only see buildings there." Kizuna sighed, "But if I remember from my last visit, there," She pointed to a building just to the right of where the two Familiars were pointing, "is the Nobility's building. So that big building there would be 'administration'. Past that, I dunno... I was kind of a prisoner at the time..."

I put a hand on her shoulder, "If they send you there again, you can just leave." I smiled, "We'll take the outskirts of town, stay out of the way, and let our friends point the way."

Getting into town was easy. The guards were both bored, and accepted our 'pass' (bribe) get into the city without even looking at us. Chris didn't even get a second look, silly hat and all, but I could see many other adventurers had them as well.

After that, we took a sharp left turn and walked near the town wall. Every so often, we'd stop, look around, maybe buy something (this world had apparently figured out 'confetti' candy!) and just act like nothing was wrong.

But then we found the first hint at 'a problem', but also a bit of hope too.

"Huh." I said as we stopped in front of a big, standard issue billboard. Same in every world, the 'quest board' as it was called in Orario had all kinds of things on it, most of them with a reward listed at the bottom.

Kizuna frowned next to me, nodded, and walked away.

Why?

Well, Glass, L'arc and Therese were on some of those wanted posters. "My escape is listed on there too, but my picture isn't up yet." Kizuna mumbled to me as we walked away. "The Hourglass will be under super heavy guard..."

"We don't need that with me here." I said quietly, "Kotetsu?"

"Gr." The little claw took hold of my chin again, and this time I found myself looking down a street, instead of looking at a house or something.

"I know you need to find them... But..." Kizuna said quietly.

"I agree. Stealth will do better here."

I had to put a hand on my shoulder to stop Kotetsu from wiggling around frantically. Chris was using the weird little claws on the end of his flippers tug at Kizuna's pant leg, but now, our paths were going in different directions.

I could guess why though...

"Step right up!" We had arrived at the back of a crowd of onlookers, most dressed in the 'working class' style. "And come see the most unique creature you've ever seen! Come see the little dark angel!"

"Ah damn! Wait up!" I heard Kizuna as I started to walk a little faster.

"There aren't any races like that here, right?" I said, forcing myself to slow down, and walking beside her again.

"No... Never heard of anything like that..."

"For only 40 doumon! Come and join us as she performs feats of agility and dazzles you with her exotic form!"

Then I heard the whip, and a child's cry of pain.

(Kizuna)

Kizuna couldn't stop Kodori this time, and the taller woman was wading her way through the crowd just fast enough to make people start to, then reconsider, calling her out for being rude.

"Sorry, pardon, coming through..." Kizuna said to try and mitigate the potential anger for being so rude.

"Here." Kizuna was a couple layers of people behind Kodori now, when she heard her put a few coins in the buskers hand.

"Right this way!" Kizuna saw Kodori vanish into the gloom of the big tent, a wash of animal stink and fear breathing out of the sudden gap. "Ah ah! 40 doumon for entry!" The Busker used a riding crop to get in Kizuna's way, but smiled as she quickly, desperately looked for the right coins, then gave up and handed over a tamagin, "Thank you kindly!"

She didn't bother trying to get her change, and slipped past the heavy canvas tent flap. She took a quick moment to look through the gloom of the tent, failed to spot her companion, but instead saw who and what was in the centre ring.

The ringmaster, a tall man with a big hat, a whip, and all kinds of fancy clothing done in red and purple, was looking upwards a pair of platforms. On one, was the cowering form of a black haired girl in a tattered frilly dress, with little black wings on her back. A rope had been strung between the two platforms, and under that was a trench of smouldering coal.

"Come on! Walk the rope!" The ringmaster cracked his whip, the length just long enough smack into the wood of the platform. "Obey me!" He shouted, his second lash cutting through the edge of the dress, making the girl jump and cry in pain again.

"No! Master! Where are you!"

"Excuse me." Kizuna had just enough time to really 'hear' the otherworldly language the girl was speaking, when she heard Kodori's voice.

The hunting hero took a step forward and spotted Kodori standing behind the ringmaster in the stands at floor level. "Oh no..."

"One kinhan if you can get her to do something." Kodori said, getting the man's attention with a gold coin held up to him.

The angel girl looked down at the exchange, her eyes wide, while the ringmaster stopped tormenting her and took a couple steps towards Kodori. "Oh, a generous donation!" He said happily, taking the coin from Kodori and turning around. "Alright you! No more playing around!"

By now, Kizuna was trying to push through the crowd, and got there just as Kodori got her hands on either side of the ringmaster's head, pulled him back towards her, and snapped his neck like a twig.

There was a moment of confused silence as the jeering crowd watched the ringmaster slump forward, his eyes still blinking even though his ear was touching his shoulder, his neck and head at a near 90 degree angle.

Kodori looked up to the angel winged girl, her fox ears and quartet of tails appearing as she put on her mask, "Sorry I'm late. Have you seen Tetsu?"

NOTES!

Yes, in the books, Naofumi finds Filo first. But unlike Naofumi, Kodori has buttons.

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

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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!

Speaking of, Kotetsu's art is just a tiny bit late for this one, but soon!