Chapter 90

"not to interrupt the happy reunion." Ost said from under the really nice combat miko robes, "but we were running away, yes?"

Ost's voice reminded everyone else we were all very much wanted criminals here. "I'll summon Ethnobalt!" Kizuna took out an item she'd gotten from the (undeniably, though he would deny it) adorable rabbit man. "It's not working!"

I flicked my eyes over my Status screen, and the Portal Shield skill was blinking an angry grey(red). "Huh. Teleportation unavailable."

"How can you be so calm all the time?" Kizuna growled at me.

I sniffed the air, then turned to look down the street as a large patrol of people ran towards us. "Experience." I smiled, "Raphtalia? Actually..." I looked at her, blinking at the 'invite' icon, then the others.

And her name was in blue, just as the Queen's had been when I handed her the Fan.

"You think you can escape from me that easily? You'll pay for what you did! All of you! But YOU especially!" That supposed genius pointed at... Well, it could have been Raphtalia, but it was probably me.

"All you needed was water." I replied with a smile.

He stood alone, his little collection of women close, but not AS close as before. "You DARE embarrass me like that!? Do you have any idea who I am? I am the greatest genius of magic and alchemy-"

"Kodori, what did you do?" Raphtalia accused, "Wait..." She sniffed as well, "You didn't..."

"Yup, she did." Kizuna said with a sigh as the man continued to babble his introduction, "Tossed it right at him, and one of the other girls. Right in the middle of their administrative building too."

"Oh! You used the smelly smoke!" Tetsu giggled, "Oh, he's not as mad as that other dragon though!"

"Shame about all the paper... no getting the smell out of that..."

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"

"As amusing as it sounds, we do have to escape still. It will not be long before more arrive." Glass said, all of us turning towards the very angry little man with the bad odour.

Behind him, I saw two of those 'monsters' Kuro had mentioned. White tigers. About the size of a Liger-fang from the Dungeon, they reminded me of Fohl and Atla.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to listen when we catch you. You seem to be in league with the thieves." He continued.

I tilted my face to imply a raised eyebrow at Raphtalia.

"Well... I can tell you most of it later." She sighed, reaching to her hip and drawing a glittering katana, the blue gem marking it as a Vassal Weapon glowing faintly on the pommel. "I'm not sure how much we can do... we've been running for a while now."

The tigers had increased to four now, each of them looking almost insane with blood lust, but having eyes only for our party.

"That's right! We defeated the useless Tiger Guardian long ago, but have replicated it into loyal and useful slave beasts!" The 'genius' said, drawing his own blade, "You insulted me, stained me, and my honour. I will cut the tails from your back, mount your beastly head on my wall, and then cut her hands off so-"

"Uh oh..." Tetsu giggled, "You made the boss mad."

"Kizuna? Can you handle the tigers?" I said, ignoring how everyone was slowly backing up from me. "Tetsu? Help her out."

"Beasts of all kinds are my specialty." Kizuna said, her Weapon changing into a long tuna knife.

"I can support... I think?" Kuro said, changing into her child form and holding her hands in front of her, "Yes, I feel it..."

"We'll guard the rear." L'arc said, "Hate to say it, but they're just as high level as we are, and haven't been running on empty for most of a week."

"Do you really believe you stand a chance against me?!" The fool with the katana shouted, "Attack!"

I will call him Fool. Yes. The Fool and his collection of women, and the four tigers rushed forward to meet Raphtalia, Tetsu, Kizuna and myself. With a weird, surging rush, I felt (and saw the little icons!) of a buff spell working into my system from Kuro.

Kizuna and Tetsu fanned out to my left and right, a pair of tigers heading to meet them. Raphtalia and I continued up the middle, my arm reaching back for the Shield, sticking it to my arm, then sweeping it forward, the Shield of Marius forming and bracing against the ground as the Fool swung his katana at my head.

With a ringing CLANG his blade rebounded off the face of the Shield, his arm and body recoiling as Raphtalia jumped, put a foot on my shoulder, then jumped off me and over the Fool to attack him from behind.

"You can beat him." I said, shrinking the Shield, hopping left, then running right past the two of them as the Fool barely managed to recover, the two of them locking blades. The women he had brought with them gave me a little hint of nostalgia for the flock of Riser Phoenix, each of them unique in some way, with magic circles and weapons sprouting from every hand.

(Tetsu)

Tetsu, in her child form, waited until one of the tigers running towards her did that little 'coiling' of its body, its front half collapsing a little as its back legs braced and bunched hard against the ground. With a laugh that turned into a roar, Tetsu did the same, halting her run with a little jump, landing in a crouch, then springing forward, her small body seeming to uncoil into her far larger dragon form.

Even half insane, the tiger looked shocked at the sudden appearance of a dragon half again its size, with all its sharp claws and teeth already up and on their way to rip its face off.

"I'm gonna POUNCE YOU!" Tetsu roared, the sudden increase in mass without the decrease in speed hitting the first tiger like a wrecking ball hitting a truck sideways. "Then I'm gonna KILL YOU!"

There was no mistaking the sound of broken bones over the howling snarls of the first tiger, or the roaring screech as the second one joined the ball of claws, fur and scales.

"Then, when the boss says it's okay, I'm gonna EAT YOU!"

(Kizuna)

"Chris!" Kizuna called out as she rushed forward, "First form, Pitfall!"

She ran right at the lead beast, drool and fangs glistening in its mouth, and just as it jumped at her, front claws extended, she did a perfect baseball slide under it, her fishing lure left where she had been standing!

In the space she had been, a person sized pit just... opened up in the ground! The expert hunter knew her skills perfectly, and instead of crashing into her, the tiger missed, and dove head first into the pit. Normally, it would only work for a moment or two while it figured out which way was up, but Chris appeared at the lip of the pit, looked down, and with a triumphant, "PEN!" vomited a blast of ice into the pit, instantly filling it with ice. A single white claw angrily flailing around outside the otherwise solid block of ice, while Chris stood triumphant over it.

(Raphtalia)

"You will never defeat me, thief!" the Fool growled as he and Raphtalia clashed a second, third, and forth time, their blades and faces almost close enough to touch noses. "Once you are gone, I will take the Katana as is my RIGHT!"

His strength was greater than hers, and he held the level advantage as well, but Raphtalia knew and understood what to do already. She made sure to set her feet, relax her ankles, then push up with her knees. The instant of heavy resistance gave her that precious instant to back up and weave her head aside to avoid a crosswise slash.

She parried, dodged, backed up, feinted, then with a quick flick of her wrists, left a small bloody line on his upper arm.

His eyes went wide, and he turned his head to look at the little cut. "You DARE-"

"I tried giving it up, but it didn't want to leave." She said, "Now stop wasting your breath and fight me."

(Kodori)

I hit the collection of women with all the grace of a battering ram breaking apart. I parried a sword with the Shield, spun around to swat aside a blast of magic, slapped someone with the Shield while holding it by the bottom edges (yes, like a folding chair), summoned the Silver Guardian to literally fall on someone to sit on them, rolled under a lightning bolt, headbutt someone as I jumped back to my feet, then swept someone else off her feet with my leg.

Very much a 'Jackie Chan' fighting style. Constant movement, attack and dodge in every motion. I was outnumbered, out-levelled, but certainly not outclassed.

I started to firm up my style a little when I just barely managed to catch a sword on the edge of the Shield before it hit the back of my neck. And now that I was firmly stuck in the middle, it was time to fight dirty.

And my first act was to grab the wrist of the person with that sword, and pull her into the way of another lightning bolt.

(Tetsu)

The first tiger didn't really put up a real fight after the initial collision. Even so, before Tetsu could clamp her jaws on either side of its head and finish it, it had left two sets of long claw marks down one flank.

The second tiger hardly slowed down as Tetsu lashed her body around, flinging the dead tiger at it like a two hundred kilogram rug.

She had suffered a lot in the last few days. But while young and mostly driven by instinct, she was a Dragon. A Dragon who had already inherited the soul of another. With Gaelion holding back as much of the pain as he could, and talking with her during the long dark hours in the cage, she held her 'intelligence', her ability to act above instinct. To be clever.

Instead of meeting the feral giant tiger head on like she had with the first, she instead took two steps towards it, waited for it to lunge at her, then crouched really low to the ground, almost (but never willingly) on her belly.

The tiger roared as it jumped, but its dinner plate sized paws and karambit claws met nothing but air.

And then Tetsu stood up as fast and hard as she could, the massive power of all four legs, and the bone ridges on her back slamming up into the tiger's ribs and belly at best speed. Again, the howl of pain and snap of breaking bones, but Tetsu learned her lesson from the first one, and was more careful as she did a 360 spin, her long spiny tail slapping the tiger hard as just as it landed.

Sent skittering away, this time she gave in to instinct, and jumped after it. Even half insane, the tiger understood it was dead when the sky was blacked out by dark wings, and claws like stars and teeth like comets came down on it just as it struggled to its feet.

(Kizuna)

When she had seen the huge tigers, she'd been just a tiny bit worried. The legends of the guardian beasts had them sound quite powerful. And even if these were replicas...

But even so, they were still beasts.

She crouched and jumped aside as it lunged at her, her long bladed tuna knife coming up and leaving a long line down its flank. Blood spraying, the tiger didn't seem to care as it landed, spun on one paw to face her again, and gathered itself for another lunge.

But the trick to fighting any predator, was persistence. It was strong, it was fast, but it was heavy. While it gathered itself to strike again, her long blade lashed out again, taking one ear and a strip of flesh from its muzzle. Its sensitive nose wounded, even the crazed monster flinched at the pain.

But Kizuna didn't stop to let it recover. Another strike, then another, then a third, the tiger's head flying free from its stout neck as her blade clove through its pelt.

"Ware!" She heard Glass shout, "More of them!"

Kizuna turned back to her friends, and saw three more tigers and a half dozen guards running towards them. So, with a wave of her hand, ice pit the other tiger was in erupted out of the ground in bloody/meaty shards of ice, and she went to help.

(Kizuna's home team)

Glass and the others stood their ground against the half dozen guards, but had to start falling back towards the middle when the tigers arrived. Therese, using fire, ice, and defence cracking spells from her gems managed to slow the animals down while L'arc and Glass fought the people with brutality and grace.

"You're pretty handy with that thing." L'arc laughed even as he strained against three people trying to get through his swinging scythe's defence with spears.

"It is not my preferred weapon." Glass said, ducking, weaving, dancing around her opponents, but unable to properly counter attack, "I see why you praised Kodori's craftsmanship however." While a much heavier weapon, the dragon-steel katana was still a nimble weapon in her hands.

"Therese! Duck!" Kizuna called out, "Sixth form! Snaring nets!" And as she joined the battle, a net made from her fishing rod's line caught a tiger in mid pounce. With an effortless seeming swing she swept it back down the street, "Fighting retreat!"

(Raphtalia)

"You are quite adept with the blade!" the Fool sneered, the cut on his upper arm joined by several other paper thin cuts over his arms and legs. "But it's pointless!" And with a clenching of is fist and a green glow, he was covered in a healing aura. "I am such a genius, I need no words to use magic!"

A little out of breath, Raphtalia recovered while he wasted air on words. Then, he pointed at her, a half dozen little fireballs darting out from little magic circles that appeared around him.

Quickly, smoothly, she ducked and weaved, mindful of her footing even as the little fireballs kicked up dirt from the street. Overall, he had only managed to get her clothes a little dirty.

"Not bad!" He laughed, "How about this!"

Lightning, fire, a killer icicle or two, a blade of wind, a focused blast of water, a thin beam of light, one after the other, Raphtalia had to dodge and parry the attacks.

But she did this kind of thing every morning before breakfast. Reduced level or not, he was just filling the space between them with... trash.

"It's all you can do to keep me from killing you!" He laughed, "And when I do I'll-"

She had taken his measure, and even with the ability to use magic without chanting, there was still a gap in his attacks. With an upward flick of her blade to parry a killer icicle (it was really only strong enough to be called a 'bruising' icicle really...) she raised the Katana strait up, brought it back around behind her, then took a single lunging step forward with astounding speed, her blade striking cleanly against the Fool's middle.

"Powdered snow!" She said as she passed by him.

But it wasn't blood that flowed from the wound in his side, but white snowy mist.

And just like that, all those fancy magic circles winked out, "What?!" He gasped, stumbling away, one hand to the 'wound' the other holding his blade up defensively, "My magic power! What have you done?!"

Raphtalia didn't reply, but readied herself for another attack.

"No matter!" He took his hand off the wound, the mist fading and halting, and took out an Earth Crystal from his belt, "I can just-"

"Well done." Raphtalia heard Kodori say as a little paper cutout slapped against the Fool's hand, knocking the crystal to the ground, "You should know when to quit."

She didn't look towards her, only shifted her head a little so she could see a little of her approach. All the same, she smiled.

"You insult me further by throwing a defective ofuda at me?! Is there no limit to your-"

"It was supposed to be a rock missile, but once again, the Shield limits me."

The Fool had no discipline like Raphtalia, and looked away from her towards Kodori, "And what... what have you done to them?!"

"They might all live. But someone should remind them that friendly fire isn't." Kodori's smile was audible under her mask, "Raphtalia? Looks like we have a little more to deal with."

"HEY BOSS I'M GONNA POUNCE HIM TOO!"

Tetsu's dragon form stomped towards the three of them. Covered in blood, most of it not hers, she looked terrifying as she hopped into the air, spread her wings, and descended on the Fool.

(Kodori)

I had to admit, I was a bit winded. Though, with the lingering scent of Marlboro coming off most of them, I could tell they were fighting for more than just the Fool.

I still got the Shield up as Tetsu pounced at him, but I could tell that I didn't need to step in. But for all his arrogance however, he managed to get his blade up in time to strike at Tetsu as she descended on him, "Too slow!" And swing at her.

"Too high!" Tetsu replied, her big wings flapping once, "Ouch!" Her sudden stop turned a potentially fatal strike to a small cut.

"You're open!" Raphtalia challenged, rushing in on the back of the Fool's swing, his blade coming up a little awkwardly in a desperate parry, "Give up!"

"Ha! I'll never surrender! With the Guardian Beasts on my side, you'll never win, and never escape!" Slowly, he was regaining his balance, his level and stats overcoming the bad posture.

"You've already lost." I said, "There's one tiger left over there, and if she wanted you dead, you'd be dead already." I trusted Raphtalia to either call for help, or not, but made ready with my little black fox on 'speed cast' for a healing spell, while I glanced at my spell gauntlet and its one remaining spell.

"I am the true successor of the Vassal Katana! A genius able to cast without words! I unlocked a way to travel between hourglasses without a holy weapon!" I had to admit, he wasn't bad with a blade, just so arrogant...

"Raphtalia?" I asked, seeing the two on equal footing now, their blades locked together as they glared into each other's eyes.

She didn't reply, and the Fool thought it was hesitation, "You don't even know what she really is, do you?" He grinned, "Oh, yes, they can look almost like a person, but the Kitsune are monsters."

While the two were locked in their duel, Tetsu had moved over to me. At the insult, she started forward, but I put a hand on her side. "Remember." It was the tone I used when she did something selfish, like going for her forth plate of food or something. All the same, she stopped, but remained ready to jump in.

"Manipulators, spies, seducers... I thought they had been hunted to extinction, but after I kill you, I'll have her head too! Then the nation will laud me as a true genius, and hero!"

I could see the resolve harden in Raphtalia's eyes, and just as I'd taught her and seen her do it a thousand times in practice, she let him start to truly overpower her, then dashed back a half step. Her sword went level with her hip, and the blade glowed like crystal under moonlight, "Instant blade: Mist."

Had I not trained myself to catch super fast motion, I would have missed the killing strike. With a flowing step that made her form blur like an over exposed picture, she appeared behind the Fool. While her blade was raised upwards, as if to point to the sun, I had seen it pass through him three times. But, there was no blood.

Raphtalia turned, the sound of a dying tiger screeching through the air, and said, "I fight people, hunt animals, and kill monsters. No matter how smart you are, threatening to take someone as a trophy, to kill someone just to get your way, and being so prideful that you deny your shortcomings on instinct..."

"Y...you..."

"If you move, you will die. Someone must heal you, or my cuts will tear you apart." Raphtalia said, "If you can put your worthless arrogance aside, you will live."

"I... cannot... lose..."

And he fell apart. His neck, abdomen, and thighs suddenly showed the damage they had taken, the cuts so fine his body continued to live. But now, both legs, both arms, his head, and torso just fell into a pile at his feet.

With a flick of her wrist, a little sprinkle of blood joined the sudden pyramid of body parts, and Raphtalia sheathed the Katana. "Oooooo That was really messy!" Tetsu said, stomping over to Raphtalia, her big feet avoiding the corpse, "That new sword is super sharp!"

I joined her, "Whatever was blocking the teleportation skill is gone now." I put a hand on her shoulder, "Well done."

I was a little worried, just for a moment, when she didn't move. But her hand reached out and took hold of one of my tails. "Thank you." She said, "Seems like you made a new friend?"

Kizuna, being the Hunting Hero, had a cheatyface skill to break monsters down quickly into bits. It wasn't perfect, but we used it on the tigers, let our weapons soak up what they wanted, stored the rest for later, and started running again.

Her using the skill only took a moment or two, so we were on the rooftops within minutes, and lost in the myriad of the urban sprawl before the guards could recover and really lock the area down.

We had stopped in a dark alleyway, clotheslines strung across it high above, the sound of distant guards panicking and looking for us in the distance.

"I can get us back." I said, "We're done here, unless you want to burn the place down."

Everyone looked at me, but to my surprise it was L'arc who spoke up, "Eh... Ever since my old man kicked it, I've been trying to make peace with them."

I opened my mouth, paused, closed it, then said, "Wait, what?"

"He doesn't like formality, and has often called the throne uncomfortable enough to run away from. But yes, L'arc is the king of the country that summoned Kizuna." Therese giggled behind her hand.

"Then who was sitting on the throne when we were there?" I asked.

"My uncle. Nice guy, smart, throws great parties." L'arc shrugged, "Having this means I have a good excuse to not sit on that chair."

"He also has experts to do the paperwork for him." Therese said.

"You're killin' me here..." L'arc sighed.

"Well! That's politics I don't have to do." I nodded, "Let Ethnobalt know he can return?"

"Oh good idea." Kizuna took out that little ofuda from before and put it to her forehead. There was a pause, then, "Yes, we're about to return with the Shield's portal... We're all safe... Meet at the house." And she put the ofuda away.

"Portal Shield." I said.

We stepped out of my portal not at the hourglass. But big iron gate leading into Kizuna's property. If I could choose between some fancy bit of glass and metal that I really didn't like, or a place that felt like home, the choice was obvious.

"Wait... Why here?" L'arc asked, "Not the hourglass?"

"Cause she likes it here." Kizuna said with a big smile, not quite right, but certainly not wrong. "Oh, and if we ended up at the hourglass, we'd have to deal with people after a long day."

"But..." Raphtalia, despite being a guest in this world, asked the right question, "Won't they be worried if we don't arrive at the proper place?"

Kuro gave me a little squint eye, "You were planning on returning to the hourglass after you rested."

"I was." I admitted, "But you all look exhausted, I feel bruised everywhere, Tetsu, Kuro and Raphtalia all need a good bath, and I made a promise to Kizuna."

Everyone looked from me, to her, and they all (even Kotetsu) adopted the 'five degree head tilt'. Kizuna perked up, did a little dance/spin to get ahead of us, and clapped her hands together, "That's right! Oh you guys are going to love it!"

My party turned to look at me, and I took off my mask just so I could smile. Raphtalia nodded, then looked to Therese, "We must go to the market!"

Kizuna took a coin pouch from her Weapon, the same pouch she used when we did a little shopping here, not where ever we'd just been, and handed it to Therese. "Eh? Well... Okay."

"What should we get?" Raphtalia asked.

"Eggs, flour, and remember that one red fruit? How it tasted? Ask for something like that."

Of course, pasta night. While they went looking for stuff at the market, we all went about some 'after combat decompression'. Kizuna went fishing (for ingredients, honest!), Glass and L'arc were told (politely) by Kizuna to use the two bath rooms. Glass told Kizuna to (politely) jump in the lake before she started fishing.

Kuro and Tetsu went to the lake as well, but were (firmly, but still politely) told to jump in the lake 'over there' so they would scare the fish towards Kizuna.

Meanwhile, I took note of what little was in the kitchen, then the Shield's inventory, got things ready to start cooking the instant Raphtalia got back...

Then I just sat on the kitchen floor, trying not to close my eyes for too long as I watched Kotetsu dangle and curl around one hand, while my other hand teased it with bits of food for it to try.

After Raphtalia and Therese came back, I got started on dinner. I had to wait a little for things to simmer, dry, or otherwise slow cook, and trusted Kizuna to watch over that while I went to the lake so I could just scrub myself while dunking my head under the water. I could also wash my clothes, and otherwise adhere to the first commandment of the Gods of Orario. Hygiene is important!

I returned to Kizuna's house, and spotted Raphtalia, Kuro and Tetsu in the dining room looking through the doorway that led to the nice multi-couch living room. Oh, and Kotetsu was hiding in Kuro's hair, its little face hiding behind the weird 'crown feather' while the four of them looked into the living room.

"And what have you learned?" Kizuna's voice, for like... the third(?) time since I'd known her, not cheerful, but very stern, almost grumpy. Quite surprising...

Over their shoulders, I could see Kizuna standing, and the other three, with Glass in front and Therese and L'arc behind and to the left/right of her, kneeling on the floor, not sitting on the couches.

"Ah, Kodori..." Raphtalia started, but I breezed past her (though my tails did swish at her in their usual way) and I went to the kitchen quickly to make sure what looked to be an epic lecture didn't burn any food.

"Ah... But..." Glass's timid reply was surprising considering how forceful her personality was in combat.

"So when the waves started, you decided to slip across worlds to try and kill the heroes there." I could hear Kizuna's feet hitting the wooden floor as she paced angrily, "Following some legend that only sort of said anything close to that?"

(Small defeated voice), "Yes..."

"I know how you feel Kizuna but..." L'arc started, but then the stomping pacing stopped, and I heard him 'eep'. Yes, a manly squeak of surprise.

"Even though no one has come to attack us? And from what I've been told, no one even knew how to get over here!" Kizuna shot back.

"Well their heroes were mostly useless..." Glass mumbled, before she also let out the 'please don't glare at me Takemikazuchi-sama' noise.

"You said you hated the idea of peace built from bloodshed, right?"

(Even smaller defeated voice from Glass), "Yes..."

"But we tried to research it as much as we could!" L'arc tried to rescue the scary(scared) Spirit lady.

"And when you found nothing solid, you just went for 'murder innocent heroes'?"

I couldn't help but smile while I stirred pots and sniffed at the various things I had cooking. I did have to stop Kotetsu from sneaking away with some fish that was waiting to go into a sauce pot, but once I'd contained her in a pocket, I went back to listening.

"Anyhow!" The heavy pacing started up again, "Even Kodori had a chance to do what you were trying to do! But she didn't!"

I paused my multi-tasking to call out, "She bribed me with headpats! See? Just have to be nice and I'm easy to get along with!"

L'arc called back, "You're not helping Fox!"

Kizuna growled at him, getting another manly 'eep', before continuing, "I won't have my friends fighting among themselves!" A pause, "Understood?"

I felt a tiny little shiver in my tails, she was talking to me too. "Of course." I called back, then quietly, "Hey Raphtalia?"

She 'hmm'ed as her head peeked around the corner to look away from the lecture, "Oh!"

Then I heard a quiet, "Ah, I'm sorry I'm late." from the living room.

"Ethnobalt, buddy! You gotta save us!" L'arc sounded like he was pouting.

"If Lady Kizuna is giving you a lecture, then you deserve it." The gentle voice said with the finality of an axe hitting wood.

"aw man..."

"How about this." I called out, helping Raphtalia bring things to the big dining room table, "I'll save all of you by serving dinner."

Much like 'the dinner rush' back home, people started to file into the dining room with purpose. "Ah, if I had known I would have mentioned-" Ethnobalt started.

"The vegetarian sauce is over there." I said, "As well as fish, bird, and red meat there." My tails pointed to various pots of pasta sauce. "Oh, Kizuna? Go rescue the bread from the oven."

We all sat down, with Kizuna and I sitting at either end of the big rectangle table, and our parties to either side of us. Thankfully, the level reset and her constant hunger hadn't made Tetsu forget her manners, and once seated we all started passing food around. Still, even after that lecture, there was a little tension in the air. But slowly, once people started eating, the mood lightened up.

"I can't believe you know how to make this stuff..." Kizuna sighed happily, pausing her purposeful pasta devouring, "I mean, I kinda remembered how to make noodles but..."

"So here's a question." L'arc, for all his excitability, ate like someone from high society, "Why'd you do this for us, and not just... I dunno, take over my kitchen in the castle. Kizuna could have convinced me if you asked."

"Because this place feels like a home, and after the time we had getting here, I just want to eat, and sleep." I replied.

My party laughed nervously, oh, except Kotetsu, who was eating from its own little plate next to Ethnobalt. "She's like this a lot... takes everything very seriously." Raphtalia said, "Once work is done for the day."

"If you're the king, wouldn't they have had a big party or something?" Tetsu asked, "I mean... happened a few times for us kinda sorta?"

Kizuna's half of the table nodded in understanding of me putting off the 'people person' part of the job.

Therese, who also ate like a noble (though, unlike L'arc, she took small bites and dainty sips), dabbed her mouth with a napkin and asked, "I'm curious why you were so far behind us?"

Since my mouth was full, Raphtalia answered, though her first words were for me, "We were kind of busy so I didn't get a chance to tell them." At my nod, she continued, "We were exhausted, and took a day to sleep and recover."

"That is all?" Glass asked.

Raphtalia saw I was done chewing, and let me answer this time, "Yes. After all the stop and go, I decided we needed a good sleep before jumping worlds. It probably gave Kyo more time to plan, and likely why my party all ended up split apart. But we were basically dead on our feet and wearing rags for equipment."

"Ah, if I may?" Ost spoke up from under Raphtalia's not-quite-miko outfit.

Raphtalia took out the pendant prison, then slipped it off her head and set it down on an upside down mug in the middle of the table. "Here, so you can talk to all of us." She said.

"Thank you, Raphtalia." Ost replied, her tiny form in the emerald doing a slow turn to look at all of us, "When I made the exception to allow Kodori to travel to your world, we met with a little interference. Kyo appeared in a spirit form, and pushed them apart. Raphtalia managed to grab hold of me before Kyo could, but the damage was done."

"Ah, that is unfortunate..." Ethnobalt sighed, "I had hoped my Vassal Boat was mistaken."

Again the switch between Raphtalia and I, "I landed in a forest someplace near that city." She started, "Ost helped me recover a little of my wits, helped keep me calm... And I started from scratch again. Growing up hurt so much, again..."

"Kodori had just as miserable a time too." Kizuna said.

I nodded to Raphtalia, agreeing with her and the pain of 'fast growing' the second time. "Well, between killing monsters, eating, and hiding from everything for a while, I felt I just... couldn't leave that city. I stayed close for a while, until I was fully grown..."

"That's where we found her." L'arc said, "We had spent the last few days trying to get to an hourglass without bringing the country down on us. When we did find her, we backed off to a smaller town, got her a little more prepared," He paused to make a 'here's your prize' gesture at her outfit, "And tried for the city again."

"That's when she interrupted Kazuki, the one Raphtalia killed, from taking the Vassal Katana." Therese said.

Glass came to Raphtalia's defence, so to speak, "The weapon will choose one who is worthy. That arrogant fool could have held the Vassal Katana all he wished, but being in her hands is all the proof one needs to see he was unworthy." Glass, no surprise, was also a super dainty eater.

"I would like to get a proper sheath made for it." Raphtalia said, the Weapon at her side, but in the sheath made for the dragon-steel blade. The borrowed dragon-steel blade was resting on a cabinet in the living room and bare.

"Of course." I looked to Tetsu and Kuro.

They were not dainty eaters, and for a moment they had a 'who should stop eating so they can talk' look between them. Tetsu, in her infinite capacity to want to make friends, hastily swallowed her mouthful and spoke up. "We ended up... someplace near that town you found us. We kinda managed to hide from things, but the monsters were much tougher than before! I was still really big, but so weak..." She pouted, but Therese came to the rescue, "eeee headpats..."

With Tetsu now distracted by headpats, Kuro took over, "We couldn't understand them, not at first, but... It didn't take much to recognize people like the Ringmaster from back home."

"They will not bother anyone, ever, anymore." I said firmly. "Kizuna and I found them with the help of Kotetsu... What are you doing?"

Kotetsu had stopped stuffing its face and was now snaked around the mug Ost was on, and peering at the big emerald like it was the BEST THING EVER (even her tail was wagging back and forth like a happy puppy). Thus enraptured, I got no answer.

So, I let Ost get into a staring match and continued, "We found the two of them and broke them out. There were... casualties."

Everyone looked between Kizuna and I, but neither of us were saying more on the matter.

NOTES!

Not the most cheerful of chapters. But they're all back together and not trying to kill each other! Yay!

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!