Chapter 93

This.

This world had the right attitude for the Waves. I would have put money on it, that if the Dungeon existed here, this world would have been fine.

After a little less than two solid days of training, item making (if I had detected a speck of interest from Romina, I'd have asked her out to dinner or something), and (just because) learning to read a little, the Wave timer ticked down, the sky went insane, and...

No one panicked. No one raised an alarm. Nothing.

Kizuna and her party (Glass, Raphtalia and Therese) were taken away as usual for a Holy Hero. I wasn't, but with L'arc, Kuro and Tetsu by my side, we used one of the Gem people's special crystals to appear near the Wave Boss.

There were other parties arriving too! Helping the Hunting Hero by letting her deal with the boss without needing to worry about swarms of monsters supporting it. L'arc assured me that all over the place, adventurers and guards were all dealing with the monster spawn increase.

I hoped my prayer to Hestia would reach Her, and that the feeling of a hand on my back wasn't imagined.

I ducked under a length of oversized prayer beads being swung by a 'inter-dimensional Ganesha Shadow'. Looking more like the 'traditional' version from Hindu lore, this monster was an elephant headed man with big muscles and flashy clothes. Well, as flashy as being mostly made of shadowy stuff would let it.

I came up under the swing, driving the Shield of Marius under its armpit, lifting it half off the ground, then shoving it off me to push it over onto its back. "Gonna POUNCE YA!" And right on cue, Tetsu landed on the downed monster and applied lethal amounts of claws to it.

"Ready little Songbird?" L'arc called out from someplace behind me.

"It's Kuro!" Kuro replied, before yelling something that I couldn't hear over a sudden blast of magical razor filled wind.

A moment later, a collection of monster parts hit the ground as L'arc and the deadly wind ripped apart another Ganesha Shadow. The training they had gone through the past couple days had shown huge improvement for them.

Momentarily out of enemies, we regrouped, "Wow, you said your level was reduced by you wouldn't know it to look." L'arc grinned at me.

"I never really... wait a second..." I actually looked at my level. "This explains everything." I pointed at L'arc, "You were nearly twice my level when we fought last!"

My level was saying 82 75.

"Oh... Yeah suppose you would be getting that too." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Though, as a Holy Hero, you'd normally never get that bonus."

"Boss! I just looked! I have more numbers too!" Tetsu said, her clawed hands shaking a little to get bits of monster off them, "You too right!?"

Kuro nodded, "It is... strange." She said, "The wave has given me back some of my other skills from when I was a filolial." She suddenly changed into the Humming Falcon body, "But." And changed back, "Well... at least I can fly?"

"I dunno, I kinda like you better like this." L'arc ruffled her hair just long enough to make Kuro glare at him.

"Motoyasu will still care for you, no matter what you look like." I said, "As someone who occasionally wants to scratch their ear with a foot, I understand your problem." I joined in on the 'glare at L'arc' before he could say anything.

"Hey boss! I wanna fight more!" Tetsu did a little hop from foot to foot, "Though, I kinda wish I had those claws again... They were super comfy."

I made a point to grab Tetsu's big dragon head with one arm and give her a hug, "I'll make you another set as soon as possible. It's not your fault you lost them." I looked around, "Yeah, let's go find more monsters."

The entire wave was made up of 'India' themed monsters. They were pretty tough in groups, but with our levels boosted as they were, it wasn't that difficult. Every so often, I'd look to the distance where I knew Kizuna was fighting the Boss (I didn't know what it was, but was sure they could handle it). With Raphtalia there, as well as Glass and Therese, I was sure the four of them could handle just about anything.

But just in case, I'd asked Raphtalia to swap with L'arc, so she could use our standard signal flares in case of a problem.

No flares (lots of magic explosions all over the place, since other adventurers were here too) so no problems. And after about a half hour or so of hard fighting, the sky stopped going mad, and everything went back to normal.

"Now it's just a bit of cleanup." L'arc's scythe changed shape to something smaller, and he hung it on his belt, "Think the others had a hard time?"

"Big sister can beat up anything!" Tetsu cheered, "Even the Boss! But... only when she skips meals or sleep." Tetsu stomped a few paces away, "Gonna shake off!"

We all backed away, and the big dragon did a full body shake to shed bits of monster and debris gathered from her style of fighting (pounce and kill). I had a bit of time since 'the party' to make her new tiger striped armour (more like 'saddle/wagon harness') stain resistant, so she was almost clean when she had finished shaking off.

"Anyone wanna ride there?" Tetsu's big dragon face got nose to nose with L'arc, "How about you? Wanna lift?"

Full points for bravery, L'arc didn't even flinch. Kuro on the other hand, administered a Karate Chop of Justice (she had to jump to deliver it), "You look like you're going to eat him! Don't get so close!"

Tetsu held the top of her head with 'hands' of her big dragon wings, "Ow... why so mean..."

"Now now, none of that." L'arc stepped in before I could, "Tetsu is just friendly." He gave Tetsu headpats, "We can jog over if you want." And he hopped onto Tetsu's back and they took off.

I looked down to Kuro, "Wanna?"

I beat Tetsu there, with Kuro sitting on my armoured fox back and making a :P face as we passed them. Kizuna and her party were waiting for us, the four of them showing a bit of 'battle damage', but it was hardly more than dirty clothing.

Upon seeing us, she stopped carving up a monster for drop items, turned, and gave us all a happy V sign. "It was pretty tough! But we had it handled!"

"I don't think I can even say the name I saw on my status." Raphtalia sighed, "Girimememela...something?"

I did a quick spin on my mental Rolodex, "Girimekhala?" I said slowly, "Really big, looks like a big man with an elephant's head, big ears, and one eye?" That lazy jerk Azazel mentioned they were going to talk to the India Pantheon at some point, but I'd left before that ever happened.

Azazel sneezed suddenly, and for the first time he could remember, he felt guilty about something. He, of course, passed it off as something he ate. Not a devil, but certainly unrepentant.

"Wow! Yeah, that's almost exactly what it was. But after we kicked it around a bit, it changed into a massive white elephant that threw around a bunch of lightning and sound magic." Kizuna sighed, "Can you help patch this up again?" She asked me, tugging the sleeve of her well loved black haori.

"Six tusks?" She nodded, "Airavata?"

"Wow, you're good."

"It's like they're in their own world..." Raphtalia said to Glass, leaning over with a stage whisper.

"From another world, you mean." Therese smiled.

"This place is really weird." I sighed, "But yeah, sure. Got lots of stuff I want to make before we hunt down Kyo. Therese, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I want to watch you work." She sparlked.

"Ever since that Cal Mira place, she hasn't stopped mentioning the gems you gave her." L'arc sighed, "Oh, Ethnobalt is coming down."

A slow shadow passed overhead as a flying boat lazily passed over us. The gentle (I wondered if I should hug him or something, just to see if he was as soft as he looked) owner of the Vassal Boat didn't like fighting, but he was certainly willing to carry adventurers on his ship, who were willing to do what ever needed to be done from the air. It was through his help that many of the flying monsters never bothered us.

"You're thinking something naughty." Kizuna leaned over and looked up at me.

"Naughty?" Raphtalia asked.

"Every time you look at Ethnobalt, you get this look." Kizuna teased.

"I have a soft spot for rabbits." I defended myself, "Lets get to cleaning up. I hope Romira and Ost are getting along."

We returned from the wave as if nothing had happened. The people in town were doing what ever it was they did without the world ending sky craziness going on, the guards were standing around as if bored (though they were showing a bit of battle damage on their equipment)...

It wasn't until Kizuna stepped off the airship that the people cheered. It wasn't a big thing, just 'hail the hero' and... back to normal.

And there was that little tingle of jealousy again. It wasn't until after I'd saved the Queen that people openly gave a damn about me and my efforts. I mean, aside from those who directly helped me before hand. Even when I got a little cheer from 'the people' of L'arc's kingdom, it felt... lacking somehow.

"Ah good, you're back!" Romina greeted me as I an most of the rest entered the shop, "Little L'arc stuck with paperwork then?"

"Were he not a Vassal Weapon holder, he would always be stuck with paperwork. It would drive him insane." Glass said with a thin smile, "Ah?"

The smile flickered to shock as Kotetsu zipped up her outfit, up her back, down one arm and curled up on her hand like some kind of weird scarf.

"Aw, looks like Kotetsu wants a headpat." Kizuna laughed, taking Glass's now occupied hand to give Kotetsu attention.

Oh, and make Glass blush just enough to notice. Sneaky matchmaking dragon-noodle...

"So!" I clapped my hands to divert attention away from Glass's embarrassment, "Romina? Did the delivery make it?"

"Yup! I'm kinda wondering if you can pull it off. Oh, here." She took Ost's pendant from a little hook on the wall, a good place to keep out of the way, and watch from. "You have no idea how long it took to get her away from the little critter, but she's been a great help. Still can't figure out how you made that though..."

"Good." I nodded, "Ost?"

"I didn't think I could learn as much as I have in the past day. I might not be able to do as you wish though..."

"Oh, I'm sure you can." I smiled.

Raphtalia took my party away shortly after to find things for dinner, while Kizuna and her lot stuck around to watch me work. I didn't mind the spectators, though, Therese was close enough that my tails kept trying to beg for attention.

First order of business, was what I had planned for Ost. In short, a compass. We had Ost, and Kyo had the souls she was supposed to have gathered. Aside from her near total isolation from 'the world' while she was inside the Emerald Prison, it was only slightly more complex than my very first enchantments when I made a little tracking collar for Weine, after copying the design from the Ganesha collar that Chime had to wear as a 'tamed monster'.

An hour or so later, with Romina and I hammering out simple rings of metal, a few pins, and drilling a hole or two, the Emerald Prison now rested in something that looked a little like a science store gyroscope.

"I... am still not sure." Ost said, "I do not doubt your method, just..."

"Part of magic, is to believe it will work." I said, setting the Emerald into the little device. "I'm sorry Kotetsu, you have to wait."

Yes, Kotetsu was giving me the BIGGEST sad dragon eyes it could, while flicking its gaze between Ost and me.

"Of course, since I put you in, I have to give you permission. To be fair, you weren't going to live very long if I hadn't put you in there, so I have to be careful with how much you can influence the world out here." I picked up the device, made sure it spun and tilted freely with a few gentle pokes and prods, then said, "Ost Horai, for the purpose of activating this device attached to your prison, I give you permission to exert your presence on the world again."

Spoken like a contract, I could feel... it was almost like a very slow leak had sprung from the Emerald. But it wasn't air, but magic... no... it was soul.

"I feel..." Ost started, her little form inside the prison twisting in place, then going still. "This way." She said, pointing, the Soul Compass turning on its axis. "Yes. I feel it from this direction."

Everyone did a little clap of appreciation. "Wow!" Kizuna said, "That's..."

"Oh my..." Therese said, "I think... I think I see why I couldn't free Glass when I tried to stop you."

Romina knew the story of what went on. She was the same as Therese, one of the Jewel people, and I couldn't just... not tell her. "I'm starting to think I'm an amateur again. Anyhow, so you know where Kyo is."

"Not where, just what direction. He could be anywhere from outside, to the opposite side of the world." I shook my head, "Sadly, if I gave Ost any more freedom than that, she might just vanish."

"I was almost nothing before being put in here." Ost said, "But, don't look at me with pity!" She added with... well, it was the first time I'd heard her raise her voice since I planted a tree in the Tortoise's heart. "This was the first true choice I'd ever made for myself. One that had nothing to do with my purpose as a guardian beast."

There was a moment of silence, until Kotetsu gave my finger a headbutt. "Gr?"

"Yes you may." I said, Kotetsu wrapping up Ost and the compass before I could finish saying 'you'.

Now wrapped up in a ball of happy dragon-noodle, Ost laughed quietly as I put the two of them back on the shelf for the moment, "So what are you going to make next?!" Therese sparkled at me.

I spent the next hour or so just... enchanting random things. To be fair, only one of those things wasn't meant for combat. But Kizuna was sparkling at me so brightly when she asked for it, then even brighter when I gave it to her.

A fishing lure. With the Shield's ability of 'Hate Reaction', a little 'transfer enchantment' learned from Hickwaal, and a bit of observation from my occasional fishing trip with Ottar (I'd have to tell him when I got back, might even get a smile from him!) I made Kizuna a super durable fishing lure that looked like one of those shiny fish around Cal Mira (that Tetsu said tasted like sparkles). All she would have to do to catch anything with it, was send a little magic down the line of her Weapon. The Hate Reaction would all but guarantee the biggest fish in the water would attack it.

Of course, after she sparkled the sparkle of a thousand suns, she all but ran towards the nearest fishing spot she knew of (Glass followed a moment later, sighing that she knew ALL the fishing spots, near and far).

Therese and Romina got to watch me put a 'Item Storage' gem, and 'Drop Item Retrieval' gem together, though, I used the same 'transfer enchantment' method, while I melted down a quartz crystal. While the quartz cooled and recrystallized, I merged the enchantments, much like how I worked with Sacred Gear stuff back in Kuoh.

I was just getting to re-making some claw weapons for Tetsu, when to my (Romina and Therese too!) surprise, Kizuna returned. It must have been important, since she had left to go fishing!

"Hey Kodori!" Kizuna barged in, all but dragging a second person (or third, since Glass was trailing behind the two). "This is Alto!"

"Altorese." He said, taking off his beret and bowing a little, "But Alto for short."

Fairly tall, handsome, blond hair with a ponytail just long enough to hang over his shoulder, and smartly dressed. He reminded me a little of Motoyasu before I 'corrected' him. But, the easy confidence Alto had was more... genuine. The same sort of easygoing aura that Hickwaal had, that of a true 'people person'.

So, I made sure nothing around me would explode or melt, set my tools aside, and stood. "Kodori Haruhime." I bowed, "This must be the merchant L'arc mentioned."

"Huh, so you can tell right away?" Glass said, "Be careful, he looks harmless, but if you compared my skill with combat, to his skill with money, we'd come up even."

"Glass, you wound me." Alto mock-pouted.

"That's okay." I smiled, Glass looking over Alto's shoulder at me with a smirk.

I mean, I beat her in combat... "I've been chasing down all kinds of rumours, and suddenly, my good friend L'arc says to come back!" Alto smiled, putting a hand on Kizuna's shoulder. "I'd already heard Kizuna had been freed, so I deduced she had returned here."

Kizuna gave Alto's hand a pat, then slipped out from under the hand to stand in front of me, "And you are looking at the one who freed me!" She said happily, "I hope you two get along, and can do some business together!"

Alto raised an eyebrow, then went wide eyed, "Those ears! The tails! No... I had heard rumours of a Kitsune selling mysterious medicine made for the Spirits, but..."

"A kitsune pretending to be human, pretending to be a kitsune." I said, taking my mask off my belt and putting it on, "Like so?"

"Yes! Exactly like the wanted posters!" He gasped and pointed, "But... wait... Tell me you can make more of that medicine!"

"I can. Even sold a bottle for three kinhan." I shook my head though, "Considering how volatile politics are here though, I won't make it to sell."

"But... Think of-"

"How powerful it could make a single race, and then kick off a war when there is already one going on?" I interrupted.

"Kodori is a hero like me. But from another world." Kizuna said proudly, "She takes her job super seriously!"

"Ah, if only the other heroes were so..." Alto stopped, Glass looked like she'd just swallowed a bit of her namesake, and Kizuna froze.

"Others? Where are they?!" Kizuna demanded.

Glass couldn't look at her, so Alto bit the bullet so to speak, "They were summoned after you vanished. But essentially refused to do the job. They kept talking about..." He paused, using actual Japanese, "dates? Upping?"

Both Kizuna and I facepalmed, my poor nose compressing under my mask. "Ow."

"They sound like the three you told me about." Kizuna said as I took off my mask.

"Yeah. A bit. Though it seems yours wandered off, instead of sticking around for the hero treatment..." I sighed, "You've heard about Kyo?"

Alto blinked, clearly knowing the name, but then shook his head, "No?"

"You two tell him. I've got to make sure this enchants properly." I put my mask back on and went back to the forge.

"That is... grim." Alto said after we'd told 'the short version' of what had happened during the Spirit Tortoise incident. A side effect of the story, is he also got to meet Ost, his words being spoken into the green gem while Kotetsu put a 'hand' to his chin to keep him from getting closer.

"I agree, but now you understand why I am breaking the rules for this."

"I am also trying to figure out how this works." Alto said, pretending not to notice Kotetsu's little paw, "But alas." He then looked back to me, letting the little dragon-noodle zip away to hide behind something on Romina's desk. "So what were you looking for?" He asked, smiling almost exactly how Hickwaal would when we talked business.

"Earth Crystals." I said simply. "Lots of them. Market crashing amounts of them."

He blinked at me, dumbfounded, "But those are reasonably easy to get, so long as you don't mind a little travel..."

Kizuna smiled, "It's for a good cause, and you'd know best where to get the most in the least time."

"If little Kizuna is saying so, it must be true. Perhaps if you could convince Ethnobalt to help me?" He looked to me again, "And of course, nothing is-"

I took out the pouch of left over money from our trip to... where ever that place was, and let it hit the table between us with a pleasing jingle. "Oh wait." I opened it up, squinted into it, and took out a little copper coin that had bite marks on it, "Not this one." I held it out, and with a lightning fast squiggle Kotetsu took it from my palm and vanished again.

"Small, but truly a dragon." Glass said.

"I might also be convinced to sell some of my alchemy recipes. Alternatives to the common healing items you use, hangover cures, antidotes, that kind of thing." I said, "And thanks to Glass, I can even write them down."

"I would hardly call what you put on paper 'writing'." Glass said dryly, making Kizuna laugh.

"And. If you do a very good job. I will teach Romina exactly how to make a true 'inventory crystal'." I smiled.

That cracked him, "Impossible." But not how I expected. "Even her people can't make such a thing!"

Romina looked at me, got a nod, and held up the newly polished double terminated quartz rod. "She's not joking." She poked a dagger she had on display, making it vanish with the usual 'fizz', then turned the crystal around and plucked the dagger out of the air as it 'fizzed' back into reality exactly three cm from the crystal.

"I will mark the calendar. Alto has been rendered speechless." Glass mused.

"Don't be mean." Kizuna laughed behind her hand.

"I will do my absolute best." Alto said, and I could see his merchant soul BURNING behind his eyes. "Kizuna? Could you?"

"Sure!" She nodded, "Then I really will go fishing! Oh! Maybe I can get-"

Glass applied a (five of five worlds!) Karate Chop of Justice to the Hunting Hero's head, "We cannot be late to dinner."

"Aw..."

The three of them left, leaving me with Romina and Therese again, (oh, and Kotetsu who was only now peeking out to make sure the mean merchant was gone!), "And you didn't even tell him about these." Therese said, holding up one half of the communication sapphire I'd made for her. "Maybe if he comes through, I'll mention it?"

"Maybe." I shook my head, "Now, I think we have time for a couple more little things..."

After dinner, I spent my 'quiet time' training in the front yard. I'd gained some new skills, shaken some rust off my enchanting abilities, re-tuned them to this world's energy (it wasn't difficult, almost exactly the same as Raphtalia's world), and I needed to warm up to them out of combat.

Kuro had joined me, though it was more to find her new limits. She had complained about being 'weaker', but it wasn't just levels. Her new form just wasn't built to do the same things as her filolial body.

Oddly, though, we were both thankful, she had regained some of her magic abilities during the Wave. Some wind based magic attacks, self buff spells for speed, that kind of thing. But she still had the new abilities from her current form.

The last Wave... Something was weird. For a world without Gods...

"Kodori?" I looked up into Kuro's face, "Are you okay?"

I sat up, accepted her little hand, and let her help me to my feet, "I suddenly realized something. It's okay." I carefully gave her head a pat, noticed she was still kind of...

I knew, under the proper and prim personality she had, she started as an animal. That her overall mental state leaned a little closer to instinct than most. I could tell she was missing Motoyasu more and more with every hour she was awake. "Kuro... I just had an idea." I smiled, "I think I know how to find him."

I rarely used any of the 'slave' abilities, but I used one now, "Kotetsu, come here." Of course, the punishment for disobeying was the lightest I could make it (equivalent of getting a little tug from a collar which was more 'attention grabbing' than anything).

From inside the house, I heard a little 'hey!' a clatter of something, then a little 'poof' of soot came out of one of the chimneys. Seconds later, Kotetsu was shaking itself off in front of me, Ost's Prison (and its new compass accessory) held in one little hand.

"Sorry for calling." I said, "Please?" I held my hand out to the slightly soot covered compass.

I had to bribe Kotetsu with chin scratches, but I was given the compass and its occupant. "Ah, my glass house is clean once more." Ost said as I thumbed away the soot. "I am leaning what that smile means. Something new?"

"Indeed. Just need to do a little something... Lemme see..." I fished through the Shield's inventory, and took out a tiny bit of onyx, just as black as Kuro's feathers. "Now, for this... no, you have to wait." I gave Kotetsu's nose a boop. "I need a drop of blood from your slave mark. Kotetsu?"

"But... why?" Kuro asked, though she carefully lowered the collar of her frilly dress. "You're not going to take it off me... are you?"

"No." I shook my head, "The mark holds a little of Motoyasu's blood, binding you to him."

I watched Kotetsu very, super, duper, ultra carefully poke Kuro. Then collect that single drop of blood on the end of a claw-tip. "Oh, very clever." Ost said, "But if I am seeking the power of my soul..."

I held the little pip of onyx out, as the drop of blood touched it, I enforced my will into the mix. It was such a tiny power, but a moment later, the onyx was dry, as if it had never happened. "You are still on a compass. Except if she holds it, it will point to Motoyasu."

I took out a tiny speck of balloon glue, and attached the onyx to the rim of the compass. Then I let my will wrap around the object as a whole, binding the enchantments together. Thinking on it, I could make this thing seek all kinds of stuff... But I had other ideas for Ost... later.

While I did that, Kotetsu was trying to say sorry to Kuro for hurting her. She, at odds with her old instinct, was giving the dragon-noodle little headpats to try and stop it from giving her sad eyes, eventually just bringing Kotetsu up to her cheek so they could rub against each other's face.

Of course, that was one of the reasons I used a feather AND a dragon scale. I wanted them to get along.

"There. We can look for them both now." I said, interrupting sad animal face time. "We can try it in the morning if you want?"

"Okay." She said, "I'm really tired now..." That was another thing she'd lost, that near endless stamina common to filolial, and what I'd basically programmed into Tetsu stats. "Can I..."

"Kotetsu can sleep where ever they want." I handed the dragon-noodle the compass again. "Thank you."

I sat on the roof of Kizuna's home, drinking super tiny sips from a stone cup. I'd forgotten where I'd gotten this particular bottle of alcohol, but I needed to relax.

No Gods. None in Raphtalia's world. None in this one either. I'd been without my 'blessing' from Hestia for so long now, I hadn't realized I still didn't have it when I crossed worlds.

Now, I was still, even now, a person of science. I had since made room for thoughts of 'a wizard did it', and 'Gods are silly', but this was starting to push against 'coincidence'. The monsters from the Wave... named after Gods, and very specific legends. I could forgive names like 'dragon' and 'chimera', or 'orcs' and 'zombies'. But names like Airavata? A name like that, matching exactly to India's lore?

I once thought, before I knew what had really happened back on Earth, that I should name it Bizzaro world. But no, this was easily weirder than what had happened after God had died.

I mean, this world didn't even have cats to make videos of! Well... giant tigers, but they weren't very fun. Hmm, maybe I could try and find a tiger cub, put it under the monster curse, and only have it grow to like... house cat size...

Maybe do that to dragons. Hee hee... an army of ankle biting, fire breathing, flying cat dragons with filolial feathers...

NOTES!

Maybe a little too much alcohol?

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

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