"Why does this old man gotta be the one person we can't find? I swear, he better not have been killed by monsters. I didn't go through all that shit just for him to die in the woods."
It has been a few hours since the battle with the wraiths. Most of the villagers affected by the wraiths' aura were fine, but regrettably, some ran into the forest to run away. And, of course, the one villager who promised Naofumi a reward for the village's defense, which Naofumi later learned was the village governor, was one of those few people.
'Haaa. First, the swamp monsters, then the wraiths, and now I have to search for the old guy because he decided that watching the battle was a good idea. Though that shield those wraiths gave me seems pretty unique.'
Before looking for the old man, Naofumi and Raphtalia collected some of the remains from the monster attack, including the wraiths. Most of the swamp monsters' shields were average, some having nice effects, but overall, nothing too impressive. But the wraith shield was different from anything he had seen before.
[Yggdrasil Wraith Shield: Ability Locked Equip Bonus: Negative Resistance (Medium)]
[Yggdrasil Skill Unlocked: Wraith Form: Take half damage from physical attacks and double damage from magical attacks. Effect Time: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes]
What was with the Yggdrasil title? Naofumi recognized the term from Norse mythology, but how did apply to the wraiths? The skill was also completely different from what he knew. None of the skills he learned up to this point had a description, effect time, or cooldown; they only had the name of the skill.
'Does Momon know something about this? He knew about the negative energy corruption, so he might know what this 'Yggdrasil' title means. Should I try asking him about it? Hmm... No, I don't want to be more indebted to him than I already am.'
After a few more minutes of walking around, Naofumi found the old man lying unconscious under a tree.
"Ah, finally. Hey! Old man. Wake up." Naofumi gave him a slight kick in the leg. The old man groaned as he started to gain consciousness.
"Hrmm… I'm not that old! I'm only 57. Wait… Where am I?" He looked around, utterly confused at how he got into the middle of the forest.
"You're in the middle of the forest south of Riyute. After the swamp monsters stopped attacking, some wraiths came out of the swamp and had some sort of fear aura that made you and all the other nearby villagers go crazy." Naofumi crossed his arms.
"Most of them are fine, but some of you decided running into the forest was a good idea. So, I was forced to come and rescue you."
The village governor struggled to get up on his feet, but as soon as he did, he remembered what happened and shivered. He looked up to Naofumi with a mixture of thankfulness and shame.
"I-I'm so sorry, Shield Hero. You have done so much for this village, and I…"
"Yeah, yeah, you're extremely grateful and can never thank me enough. You can repay those feelings in the village, preferably in the form of silver." He pointed at the governor's chest.
"And don't forget, you still need to supply me with a month's worth of filolial feed. That monster is probably really hunger after the battle. It leveled up quite a bit." The governor's eyes widened.
"Wait, you fed the filolial before you defended us against the monsters, right?" Naofumi looked at him, confused.
"No, it hatched right before the battle, so I didn't have time. It should be fine. The little monster will be hungry, but it's nothing to worry about."
"Shield Hero, I don't think you understand. Newborn filolial chicks will try to eat anything when they're hungry, rotten meat, grass, some types of wood, practically anything. I hope you understand that if you have anything in your room that's edible, the filolial has probably tried eating it."
Naofumi just stood there absorbing what the governor had just said. He gave a small sigh as he looked at the governor.
"You know the way back, right?" The governor seemed nervous by the weird stare Naofumi was giving him but nodded.
"Y-yeah, I think I remember this clearing. I should be fine."
"Good…" After a moment, he took a deep breath and sprinted back towards the village.
"IF YOU EAT ALL THE HERBS I SPENT DAYS COLLECTING AND PROCESSING, I WILL BUTCHER YOU LIKE A PIG!" Pure rage could be seen on his face as he ran as fast as he could.
"Miss Raphtalia, could you bring over some clean rags? Thomas' wound opened again." A middle-aged woman cleaning the wound of an irritated young man called out to Raphtalia.
"Yep, on my way" She ran over and handed her some fresh rags.
"Here you are."
"Thank you so much, dear. I'm sorry for bothering you so much. Unlike some people, you're not causing trouble for others." The woman glared at the young man.
"Hey! I should be helping the others. It is my responsibility to -AHHGG!" The woman tightened the bandage on his left arm.
"And how do you intend to do that while having gashes all over your arms? You should be resting and letting it heal properly."
"I told you, I'm fine!" She smacked him in the back of the head.
"You can barely feed yourself and yet you tried to lift monster corpses, you idiot!" Raphtalia smiled at their interaction.
She knew Thomas was being reckless, but, in a way, she could relate to his desire to help the village. Raphtalia wanted to search for the other villagers in the woods with Naofumi, but he wouldn't allow her to take the unnecessary risk.
Raphtalia touched the bandages on her neck, wincing at the pain. Just like Thomas, her injury made it so she could only perform 'safe' work. She hated how much of a liability it made her. She couldn't just wait around for the injury to heal, there had to be something she could do.
'Maybe I should apply some of Mr. Naofumi's herbs on the wound. Mr. Naofumi wouldn't mind if it made my wound heal faster, right? Right. After all, I am his sword, and what good is a sword that can't fight.' She nodded internally as she focused back on the arguing pair.
"I should be heading back. Is there anything else you need me to help you with?" The woman stopped her lecturing of Thomas before smiling kindly to Raphtalia.
"No, I should be good here. Thank you so much…" Her attitude changed as she noticed the area around the bandages on Raphtalia's neck was getting worse.
"I know this is partially my fault for asking you to run errands for me, but you should really stop pushing yourself so much. I know you say you're fine, but I can tell those blisters are making it hard for you to breathe."
"Sure, you keep telling me to rest, but you've been running her ragged for the past hour. And you call yourself a caretaker." She slowly turned to Thomas with a cold rage in her eyes.
"You know. If I break your arms, then you would be forced to rest, wouldn't you." Thomas confidently smirked at her.
"As if you could, you old hag! Unlike you, I don't stand around doing nothing all day!"
Raphtalia left as the woman started to chase Thomas around with a butcher's knife as he continued to mock her.
Riyute returned to its relative peace after the wraiths died. Most of the villagers who went crazy only had minor injuries and were already back to work repairing the village from the wave. Of course, the monster corpses were a problem, but thankfully most of them were outside the village border making it a lower priority for them.
Raphtalia was glad to have helped the village but wished she could do more. With the wave, swamp monster horde, wraith attack, and the looming presence of an unknown monster still in the swamp, this village needed help more than ever.
After a short walk, she got to the inn where she and Naofumi were staying, along with, apparently, Momon.
'I'm glad to see knights still willing to sacrifice themselves for others. Ah! I never properly thanked him for saving us from the wraiths or curing me of that corruption stuff. Maybe I should see if the innkeeper knows which room he's renting?' Thinking about meeting Momon without Naofumi made her reconsider.
"N-no, I better not. I'm sure he's trying to recover from the corruption. He would probably hate it if I bothered him."
Before she could enter the building, she heard someone running towards her, fast. When she turned around, she saw a pissed-off, exhausted Naofumi running straight to her. He came to a stumbling halt and took a few seconds to catch his breath.
"Mr. Naofumi! Did you find the governor?"
"Yeah, he's fine! Have you gone into our room yet!?"
"No. I…" Naofumi immediately rushed past her into the inn, leaving her confused.
She decided to follow him to their room where she heard Naofumi start cheering. When she rushed into the room, she found Naofumi kneeling in front of his pack which she noticed had small tears and holes on the sides.
"Hahaha! Finally, I get a break!"
"Mr. Naofumi, what's going on?" Naofumi jumped at the sudden question and quickly turned around.
"Oh, Raphtalia. Haaa. I was making sure that little monster didn't eat my herb supply. The governor was spouting off about how newborn filolials will try and eat anything if they aren't fed." He looked back at the bag where a large hole was.
"It looks like it only got into a few of the herbs, but I gotta go through everything to make sure."
They looked over to Naofumi's bed where the 'little' monster was sleeping. Though calling it little wasn't exactly accurate anymore. It looked as though it doubled in size since this morning, possibly tripled. Its feathers also changed, becoming a lighter pink with strange speckles of blue.
"Umm, Mr. Naofumi. You didn't have the baby filolial join our party while we were fighting, did you?"
"Why does everyone keep worrying about that thing?! Yes, I had it join our party. But look, it's fine. It seemed to get its fill from the few herbs that it did get to." Raphtalia looked at the filolial with confusion.
In this world, demi-humans and monsters grew at their respective level. This means if a monster gains a large number of levels, it will grow that much. But if the monster is not fed or is neglected during this period it may starve or have complications trying to go through with the growing process.
This is why Raphtalia was confused. They hadn't fed the monster since it was born and yet it almost tripled in size. Sure, it ate a few herbs, but growing requires a lot more than that. While she continued to think of a reason for this, a knock came from the door.
Naofumi grumbled under his breath as he went to answer it. "Yeah, what is it?"
When he opened the door, he was surprised to see a toned elderly man at the door. The man was wearing a bland white shirt and brown pants and had white hair with streaks of gray on the sides. His face wasn't exactly handsome, but it was not bad either, having extremely sharp features with most of his wrinkles barely noticeable. He also seemed to be injured as he had bandages on one of his arms up to his elbow.
"Oh, Shield Hero. I didn't realize you were back yet." Raphtalia immediately recognized who it was before he even spoke, but Naofumi didn't seem to.
"Uhh, yeah just got back. Who are you and what do you want?" The man looked confused before nodding in understanding.
"Ah, sometimes I forget most people recognize me by my armor. It's Momon." He gave a small bow introducing himself.
"Okay. So, what are you doing here? If you're looking for payment with your help with the wraiths or Raphtalia you won't be getting anything from me." Momon smiled at his reply, shaking his head.
"No, nothing like. I was actually here to feed your newborn chick. They had been making quite the disturbance earlier and they seemed hungry, so I decided to give them some food." Momon glanced over to see the filolial sleeping on the bed.
"Though they still seem content with the last meal I gave them." Just as Naofumi was about to shoo him away he continued.
"But while I have you here, I do wish to discuss something with you. May I?" Momon gestured to come in. Naofumi sighed in defeat.
"I guess I owe you that much. Just give me a second, I gotta go through my herb supply."
"No problem." Naofumi moved out of the doorway and went back to check on their supplies. As Momon walked in, Raphtalia bowed her head, surprising him with the sudden action.
"Thank you so much for what you did for me! If you hadn't helped us when you did, I'm not so sure we would have made it. I'm sure Mr. Naofumi appreciates it as well, even if he's not willing to show it." Naofumi just grumbled at her comment as he continued checking their supply.
"There's no need to thank me. After all, helping others in need is common sense. And it is my duty to use my strength to do so."
"Even still, you went out of your way to help a demi-human like me." Raphtalia looked at his bandaged arm with concern. "You even took the corruption upon yourself… I'm sorry."
"I knew what the corruption would do to my body, and I don't care if you're a demi-human. I truly believe if you are willing to live in peace with others and abide by society's laws, then you should be free to do so, no matter your race."
"No one deserves to be persecuted without reason. No one should be forced to suffer living under another's thumb. Everyone deserves a chance to choose how they live and how they die."
This wasn't the first time Raphtalia heard this speech, she heard it plenty of times during her time as a slave. She talked with plenty of sympathetic guards or slaves dreaming of a better world, but they were too helpless, afraid, or weak to make a real change. But Momon, he was different.
His words had finality, as though he could do something about it. And Raphtalia believed he had the strength and knowledge to do so. But then why did she feel like something was off?
Naofumi finished going over the supplies and looked over to Momon.
"Alright, we get it. You're an extremely generous, kind, understanding, and good person. Congratulations. Now what did you want?" Momon coughed in his hand as he turned towards Naofumi.
"Right, I'll get straight to the point. In roughly two to four days, a large undead will be attacking the village and I want you to defeat it." Naofumi looked like he was about to say something then glanced towards Momon's arm. He sighed heavily as rubbed his eyes in frustration.
"Dammit… What the hell is wrong with this village that makes monsters want to attack it? Or does misery just follow me wherever I go?" He sighed again as he pulled a chair to sit in.
"Well? What are you offering? You should know that I'm not going to do this for free. I'm not staying here knowing the village is going to be attacked again, especially if this undead of yours is stronger than those wraiths." Momon gave a small chuckle.
"Of course. Just give me one moment." Momon briefly left the room before coming back with a sheathed short sword.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any viable currency that is accepted in this country, so I would like to pay you with this mithril short sword instead." When Momon unsheathed the sword, Raphtalia couldn't believe her eyes.
What he revealed was a beautiful blueish-white shortsword. The blade was perfectly crafted with sharp but still intricate designs flowing along the middle of the blade. Strange symbols were engraved along the bottom of the blade with what she assumed was a blacksmith's signature on the hilt.
While Raphtalia was being blown away by the amazing piece of craftsmanship, Naofumi was carefully analyzing the blade.
"Are those runes?"
"Good eye. This blade was made by the Runesmith Gondo Firebeard. One of the first blades he ever crafted after being given the title of Master Runesmith by m-my king." He tilted the sword towards them showing off the strange symbols on the blade.
"The two runes you see along the blade are the runes of sun and light. Allowing the blade to be lightweight and to be engulfed in sunlight by the wielder using mana." He re-sheathed the sword and set it aside.
"Ignoring the runesmith that created this sword, this piece would be worth around 50 gold in my kingdom. Judging by the state of this country's materials, I say it would go for significantly more here."
Naofumi held out his hand to Momon, in which he placed the sword. After a moment of looking it over, he passed it to Raphtalia. After holding it and giving it a few practice swings, she was once again blown away.
'This sword is amazing! Light and easy to swing while still maintaining a perfect balance. I thought it might've been a decoration blade or replica, but this is the real deal. How did he get a hold of this? Better yet why isn't he using it?!'
"How is it Raphtalia?"
"I-it's perfect. I've never seen or held anything like it before. This must be worth at least a small mansion if not more." Naofumi nodded to Raphtalia's answer and then studied Momon's unchanging smile before asking him a single question.
"Why did you choose me?"
"Mr. Naofumi! Why are you…?" Naofumi ignored Raphtalia's intervention and kept going.
"Why me?! You investigated each of the heroes and could have sided with any of them, but instead, you chose me. Why?" Raphtalia's tail suddenly puffed up and she shakenly looked towards Momon. His demeanor completely changed at the question, becoming cold and dark, just like when they first met.
"Why waste resources investing in a powerful stale business when a smaller up-and-coming company would appreciate it more? Those three are merely untrained spoiled children given too much power without properly understanding how to use it. If I fought their parties at their level of strength, I could crush them flawlessly. But you? With less power, fewer people, and worse equipment, you might get a hit on me."
"When I watched your duel with the Spear Hero, I saw great potential in you. My goal is to help you bring out that potential and maybe get in your good graces in the process. But trust me when I say, I wouldn't be in this god-forsaken country otherwise. I don't require your trust; I just wish to see how strong you truly are." Momon stretched out his hand to the skeptical Naofumi.
"You receive the sword and my assistance in future battles. In exchange you allow me to see your true potential. Will you accept?"
Raphtalia could see the conflict on Naofumi's face. On the one hand, the deal was extremely one-sided, the sword itself is probably worth hundreds of gold pieces. On the other, Momon clearly has his reasons for wanting to assist Naofumi that he isn't revealing. Could Naofumi allow someone who has an unknown agenda to get close to him?
"This is only temporary for now, you understand. Once this undead is dead I have no obligation or debt towards you."
"Of course." Naofumi accepted Momon's handshake, though still unnerved by the deal.
"If you betray me or sell me out, I promise will make sure you pay for it." Momon gave a good honest smile.
"If our interests ever do clash, I will fight you face-to-face and make it clear we are enemies before attacking. But that is all I can promise." Naofumi, frustrated by his honest response, just continued to analyze his face, before finally giving up.
"*Tch* I guess I'll have to take your word on it." After the handshake was over, Momon gave a lengthy sigh as he stretched.
"Well, that was quite a productive discussion. Now then!" Momon clasped his hands together and turned towards Raphtalia. "We'll begin your training tomorrow morning, so you better get that injury healed up."
"Wait what?!" Raphtalia exclaimed at the sudden invitation/order. Momon ignored her confusion and turned to Naofumi.
"Unless you have an issue with it Shield Hero?" Naofumi shrugged.
"It's fine by me. As long as you don't hurt her too much and make it so she can't fight, I don't mind. Also, stop calling me Shield Hero. Just call me Naofumi."
"Alright then, Naofumi, I hope you see both of you tomorrow." He waved goodbye as he closed the door on his way out. After making sure he was far enough away, Raphtalia glared at Naofumi.
"Mr. Naofumi! Why did you just tell him I would train with him without asking me? Don't I get a say in this?" Naofumi looked at her confused.
"What? I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought you were the one complaining about getting stronger. Isn't this the perfect opportunity to get training from a knight who's doing it for free?"
"I…" Raphtalia hesitated as she thought about the situation.
She didn't think he was a bad person. He has shown himself to be selfless, understanding, and humble, but something about him was off. Her primal instincts told her that he was dangerous and nothing she did could suppress this feeling.
"I think he's a good person, I just didn't think you would trust him that quickly." Naofumi laughed at her comment, making her pout.
"Ha! Of course, I still don't trust him. That guy made it crystal clear he has his reasons for assisting us, but right now we don't have the luxury of looking a gift horse in the mouth." He picked up the mithril sword that Momon brought and unsheathed it, showing off the beautiful blade.
"Whatever reasoning he may have for giving up equipment like this, I'm going to milk it for as long as I can. I don't care if he's planning to invade the country. Hell, if that's his reason I might actually help him."
"Mr. Naofumi! I'm being serious!" Naofumi held up his hands.
"Alright, fine. It doesn't matter anyway. Go to the training or not, I don't care. Now that the swamp is under the control of the undead Momon mentioned we can't exactly level up there. I'll just be collecting herbs in the forest or studying while we're stuck here." Before she could respond something flew on top of Naofumi's head, plopping down happily.
"Pi! Pi! Pi!" The filolial chick must've woken up during the conversation and immediately went to get Naofumi's attention. While it was bouncing happily on his hair, Naofumi grabbed the chunky little bird and faced it towards him.
"I almost forgot about you little shit! I never did yell at you for getting into my herbs! You got food from Momon and yet you still ate them you little fatty!"
"Pi. Pi. PIIIII!" The bird seemed to look over to Raphtalia for help, but she just smiled at the interaction. However, her smile quickly disappeared as she began contemplating what she was going to do.
Raphtalia wasn't worried about Momon betraying them, spying on them, or even looking to hurt them, but even so, he scared her. Every time they interacted, she felt something wrong and when he got serious, she felt helpless. Even so, he saved them from the wraiths, helped her recover from the corruption, and even offered to train her personally. Raphtalia steeled her resolve and nodded.
'I must put my feelings aside and push through! Whatever Momon has in store for me, I'll endure it! I must get stronger for Mr. Naofumi's sake!'
Author Note:
Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, halfway through my first draft I decided I hated it and restarted. It also turned out to be my longest chapter release so far. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks for all the support and I hope you enjoyed it, until next time!