Erhard looked his latest customers in the eyes, just to make sure he got the story straight. "So, you're telling me, those filolial eggs you bought grew in record time… and now they can use shapeshifting magic to turn into kids?"
He sat at the head of the table in the living area of his shop. He prepared a simple lunch consisting of easy to make sandwiches. He was told that the full story needed quite a bit of an explanation.
"Yup!" said the blonde haired girl, whose name was apparently Filo. Apparently, Shield Kid liked simplistic names. And to think, she was just an egg a few days ago.
The other two, the ones owned by Spear Kid and his friend, were named Yuki and Kou, also nodded. They were apparently named after their colors, in a language that only Heroes knew.
All three of the filolials were dressed up in the old getups of the three demihumans girls Shield Kid bought when he started the journey; Filo had the tanuki's tunic, Yuki had the weasel's skirt, and Kou wore the dog's shirt and pants.
Erhard rubbed at his temples and looked to the two Heroes. "And the filolials think of you as their parents?"
"That's what they said," said the Shield Hero.
"Huh, well you kids work faster than most," Erhard mused. Honestly, it could have been worse. Some of the stories about previous Heroes had them practically rushing into parenthood.
Tama, the overgrown housecat, made an annoyed sounding growl. Apparently, he didn't like being called a pet.
Erhard shrugged. He barely understood ordinary cats, let alone whatever this thing was.
"And you decided to stop by my shop first to have lunch with me… because…"
"Because they were hungry," said Spear Kid. "And Naofumi was worried they'd try to sneak off to get food, since they have such big appetites."
"And I don't want to bankrupt myself by taking them to a restaurant until we can trust them to not eat everything," Shield Kid muttered.
Erhard just stared. Those kids were small and… he had a hard time imagining them eating so much that a guy as well organized as Shield Kid could bankrupt himself. Surely, he had to be exaggerating.
That was when the yellow haired boy, Kou, rushed towards the stew pot that was simmering over the fireplace. He turned into a gigantic yellow filolial, picked up the pot and started pouring it down his throat.
"Hey, I was saving that for dinner!" Erhard shouted, rising from his seat.
"Kou! Stop it!" Motoyasu shouted. And then he covered his mouth and looked to see if anyone else around heard him, as if worried about someone listening in. "Kou? Kou!" he said, in a much quieter tone.
Then, to make matters even worse, Yuki, the other filolial of the Spear, leapt in, transformed, and stole the pot next. Instead of putting it back, she then went to take her own turn eating it, much to the male filolial's annoyance.
"Not you too!" shouted the Spear Hero. At least as much as he could without raising his voice too much.
"They're yours, aren't they?" Erhard said, already past the point of annoyance. "Set the seal to punish them!"
Spear Kid made an uncomfortable face, but he gulped. "Alright. I don't want to do this, but you're being punished!"
Yuki continued to slurp on the stew, even as her seal lit her up. It was as if she was unaffected.
Kou stole back the stew pot, ignoring his own seal.
"And that's why I said that you need a higher rank monster crest," Shield Kid muttered. "Royal filolials are too strong for the basic seal, so you need to get a stronger seal meant for more powerful creatures."
"But I don't want to punish Kou and Yuki like that," the Spear Hero grimaced.
Erhard didn't care. He was just about to consider manhandling the uppity filolials himself when the Spear Hero stepped forward.
"Kou, if you don't stop now, you'll be grounded!" Motoyasu said.
The overgrown bird stopped what he was doing and turned to look at his apparent "Daddy". "What's grounding?" It was so weird to see that overgrown bird talking like he was still a little pipsqueak.
"It's horrible," said the Spear Hero. "It means that you'll be…stuck in your room and you can't do anything fun for the whole day! That means no playing, no games, and certainly no anime!"
"Yipe!" For some reason, that last one caused the filolial to revert to being a boy, dressed up in now freshly destroyed clothing. "I'll be good, I'll be good!" He shriveled up, anxiously nodding in compliance.
Yuki considered grabbing onto the stew pot, but Spear Kid made a preemptive threat.
"That goes for you, too, Yuki!" shouted Motoyasu.
Yuki made an agitated noise, but ultimately reverted to human form.
Erhard did his best to ignore the situation and he handed two old battered cloaks from the closet to the Spear Hero.
Spear Kid got the idea and then quickly covered the two of them up.
"Now, say thank you for the soup and the clothing." said the Spear Hero.
The boy turned to the shopkeeper with a nervous look on his face."Eh-... thank you!"
"And thank you, mister!"
Erhard let out a sigh. It was hard to blame the kids, since they were literally born a week ago. Still, they had to learn respect and manners. "Don't do it again!"
Filo giggled at the two of them, whilst her adopted father congratulated her for being more mature than the other two.
Raphtalia whispered something into Shield Kid's ear, barely restraining a laugh. This made the guy look like he was frustrated.
Erhard made a sigh. At the very least he got to eat lunch, but that stew was supposed to be for dinner. Maybe that was a sign he should go back to work.
He walked to the front of the store, guiding his guest out of his living area. "So, I guess we can go straight to business. Who goes first?"
"I think Beryl and Motoyasu should go first," said Shield Kid. "I can replace that soup if you want."
"No complaints from me." He laughed when he heard some old stories on some previous Shield Heroes. "Hey, I heard a while back that some of the Siltvelt tribes who worship the Shield Hero say that he could bless meals. Are you going to do that?"
Shield Kid made a face. "Funny thing is, that might actually be true." And then his shield was suddenly a gigantic cutting board. "I'll be right back." He then walked into the kitchen.
Erhard just stared. Somehow, that seemed even more ridiculous than the filolials and the gigantic cat.
Deciding that he needed to get a grip on himself, he turned to the customer in need of a bigger wardrobe change. "So, little fox, you look like you've grown."
Beryl smiled. "I hardly noticed," Though, it was obvious she barely fit in her clothes now. Between hand me down shorts that were at risk of tearing apart and the fact her her top was so short her belly was exposed, she needed a new wardrobe.
The Spear Hero walked up the counter and placed a sack of gold coins onto the top. "Is that armor I ordered here last time finished?"
"Sure is!" Erhard opened one of his cabinets and placed the armor on the table. During the last visit, the Spear Hero requested armor made using the materials left by Shield Kid. It was well outside of his budget at the time, but that wasn't the case right now.
The armor set consisted of a thin, yet hardened light breastplate. Tough leather from a burrowing desert lizard was used to make the gloves and boots. The underneath consisted of a chainmail shirt that completed the ensemble and filled the gaps in the armor.
Overall, Erhard was satisfied with his work, even if the chainmail was always a pain to create.
Technically, it was just an upgrade of the regular chainmail he liked to make, made of much higher quality material on top of having extra bits added on.
"Oh, wow! And…. You dyed it red. It looks pretty nice," said Spear Kid.
Spear Hero took the armor and paid for me. "Beryl, your turn now."
"Yes, Master." Beryl then made a thought. "Wait, what about Kou and Yuki? Don't they need gear, too?"
"Kou and Yuki can fight without equipment for the meanwhile, since they have filolial forms." Said the Spear Hero. "So, right now, we just have to buy you really good equipment."
Erhard nodded. That guy had really come a long way. "So, how do you fight?"
"When I fight with Master, he often takes the attention of whatever we're fighting. Because of this, I often end up catching my foes by surprise. More than once, I have the time to aim for the vugular or tear off something vital," the fox said. "Once, there was this time, I leapt onto a… giant snake and cut out its eyes."
Erhard whistled. The little fox was coming along very nicely. And it was sort of obvious what direction she would best go. "I know what you need. A good dagger allows you to make better precision cuts, but it means giving up reach and that can expose you to threats."
"Hm, I worry that if I used a dagger, it would become very difficult to fight atop one of the filolials," said the girl. "Hm, what if I had a second weapon, one with much longer range?"
"Well, if it's range you want, I might just have the thing," Erhard reached down into one of the shelves and pulled out a small crossbow. "This here gives you all the range you could need and it's very quiet, too."
"Just remember that if you get a second weapon, you're going to need to learn how to use it correctly," said Raphtalia. "And we don't have anyone with experience using one."
"It's easy to learn to use," said the smith. He took the crossbow and hefted it in his hands. The thing was very light for his size, but would have been more of a challenge for the fox. "This one's pretty basic. All you have to do is just slot in an arrow and then pull the lever back." He then demonstrated without an arrow, causing the crossbow's string to stretch down the weapon's frame.
"And when you want to hit something." He brought the weapon to his shoulders and put his finger on the trigger. "All you have to do is put pressure on the trigger and…" The crossbow's string snapped forward, making an audible click.
"Oh wow!" said the fox girl, clearly impressed.
Everyone was; the filolials even stopped their cleaning to marvel at the weapon.
Beryl's lips quivered. "Can we afford it?"
Spear Hero nodded. "We might."
"For you, I'll throw it in as part of a package deal for say six gold," said Erhard. He drew a selection of near identical daggers onto the table. "Take one of these."
The fox hovered her hands over each before selecting one. "This one looks sharp."
"Good choice," said Erhard. "As for the armor, we can finally take your measurements. Given what I know about you, I think I have a design you'll like."
The fox's tail shook, her attention focused on the smith. "You do?"
"Yes, I'll have it ready in a day or two," said the smith.
Then, the Shield Hero stepped out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Shield Kid!" the smith spoke.
"Quit calling me that if you want your soup," the Shield Hero spat back
"Whatever," the smith ignored that. "So, about those things you sent over."
"What about them?" the young man asked.
"I know I said I'd hold onto 'em, but I can't keep them forever," the smith replied. In truth, while he had been perfectly willing to hold onto the materials at the time, the fact of the matter was that it was that his storehouse was starting to fill up. Really, he had been expecting the Shield Hero to quickly make use of those materials instead of just waiting for a reason to spend it. "So, I'd like you to find ways to use it up. I can hold onto the ingots just fine, but the leather takes up more room than I'd like. The bones are also a pain to move."
"I'll make use of them then," the Shield Hero answered. "To tell you the truth, I'm looking at making a large scale bulk order of equipment very soon. That'll more or less get that stuff off your hands."
That had Erhard's attention. While he wasn't particularly greedy, he was always up for a challenge, even if it was making the same equipment over and over again. "What kind of time frame are we looking at? And how much are we talking?"
"That'll depend on other matters, but I'm planning to hit Zeltoble within a month if I can. I'll be able to give you more details then," Shield Kid answered.
"Hey, Naofumi, about those materials," said Spear Kid. "Mind if I borrow some of those?"
The Shield Hero made a mildly annoyed expression. "You know, I can't give you hand outs forever. One of those days you're going to have to pick up your own weight."
Motoyasu nodded his head. "I know. So, what if I buy what I need off of you? Or maybe I can give you something when we do our next meet up? … Actually, there are some Shields that I know about from Emerald Online that I think you might like. I can get you one of those."
Shield Kid grew a thoughtful expression. "That's very tempting. Just, try not to get yourself in trouble."
"Yes!" Spear Kid raised a fist in zeal.
"I remade the soup, so just let it simmer, and keep it away from any filolials." He turned a glance towards Filo, in particular.
The girl licked her chops and then made a grin.
"That should be fine." Erhard gave a courteous nod and made some notes. Should he call the design Outrider Armor or Hunter's Gear? Maybe something to think about when he was done.
"If you're done, we don't need to buy any new gear, but I'd like you to take a look at Tama's old armor," Shield kid then gestured outside.
Erhard followed the Hero out of the store to one of the wagons. There, Shield Kid gestured to a set of four separate crates within.
"You have no idea how long it took to pack the thing," Sea Dog muttered.
"Hey, it was either that or we carried the whole thing as a single suit," snapped Shield Kid.
Sea Dog groaned.
Erhard squinted an eye. "That's all one suit of armor?"
Shield Kid nodded his head.
Erhard shifted an eye towards the overgrown house cat, who sat patiently at the front of the store. How big was he to need an armor that had to be broken up into four crates to haul?
Everyone except for the filolials and the tiger worked together to carry the crates out of the wagon. The crates weren't especially heavy when lifted by two or three people, but Erhard knew that each crate basically felt like lifting several suits of plate mail at once.
Then, once inside, Erhard opened one of the crates and quickly reassembled some of the larger chunks of the armor, just to get a grasp of what he was dealing with.
Once a major part of the torso plates was on the floor of his shop, he couldn't help but feel small.
"Usually, when someone talks about old armor, they mean that the wearer had grown so large the old armor no longer fit them. In this case, I guess it's the other way around." Erhard let out a sigh. "So, what do you want me to do with it?"
"Tell me what you can about it. And if it's safe to use, maybe you can try resizing it?" The Shield Hero suggested.
The Spear Hero made a pained expression.
So did the tiger, too, as far as he could tell, from the way he put his tail between his legs and had that look when a dog ran into another, much larger dog.
Erhard put his hands over to the armor and could immediately tell something was wrong with it. It felt brittle against his hand, like it was slowly falling to pieces. There was no way it was suitable as armor, not without a major revamp to replace the missing pieces. It didn't seem like battle damage either, but rather it was like a pervasive rust was corroding the armor. The metal should not have been so damaged.
He took a small hammer and went to tap it against it. Using his expertise with metalworking, he quickly identified what effects the armor had with his Status magic. There was a nasty enchantment on it which was considerably more intact than the armor itself, though that wasn't saying much since its name was distorted.
C0rrupt3d Hy3bid B3astb4rd1ng
Enduring Regeneration Status Effect (Extreme), Berserk Status Effect (Eternal), Pain Immunity. Physical Damage Resistance (Medium)
And that was just what he could tell at a glance. There were some signs of… degradation, but overall, it seemed intact.
"It's got good stats, but I wouldn't recommend wearing it." Really, if it wasn't for that constant self healing, it wouldn't have been worth considering salvaging with how badly damaged it was. "There's a curse on it, one that offsets its defensive abilities by driving the wearer crazy."
The Shield Kid looked at his overgrown housecat. "That lines up with what I know. Can the curse be removed?"
Erhard slammed the armor with his hammer and chunks of it fell to pieces. "I can try, but it's looking like I'd need to salvage the armor's parts and work from there," He then thought of the kind of work needed to correct what errors the armor had. It wouldn't be cheap, just because of how unusual the materials were. "Just be aware that something like this might require a lot of work."
"If you're willing to give it a try, I'm willing to pay for it." Shield Kid frowned. "I know that I am asking you to do something very specific. So it's not going to be cheap."
Erhard grunted in affirmative. No, this was a complicated and require lots and trial and error until he figured out what the properties of the metal were. "I'm probably going to split the armor into more manageable and weaker pieces because of how big it is." Aside from resizing that pieces were intact, maybe something could be for the scraps? An idle thought crossed the smith's mind. "Hey, when you copy shields, what happens? Like, are the shields you copy exactly the same as they ones you duplicate?"
"As far as I can tell, the shields I copy have the same exact base stats as the originals." said Shield Kid. "Why do you ask?""
"Just wondering what happens if I can rip out the enchantments and put them on a shield," Erhard thought up. "I mean, making a new shield would only take a fraction of the material as a suit of armor, but they more or less rely on the same enchantments." Though, maybe that was a poor use of that ability. Maybe it was something to think about later, once he was done with the armor.
"Huh, that's something I hadn't thought about." Shield Kid muttered.
"Aw, why does Tama get fancy armor?" cried Filo, sounding so much like a kid jealous that her brother got a toy and she didn't.
"Because he's getting armor and you're getting your special dress," said the Shield Hero, "He needs things, too."
Erhard was pretty sure the tiger was rubbing it in the girl's face with the way he was growling at her, though that must have been his imagination.
Feeling hungry and interested in how to get the armor into a usable state, the blacksmith decided to tune it out for everyone else. In his own head, he wondered what his old master would say if he got presented with this kind of challenge. Probably gamble it away if he was honest.
… Man, the thing he ended up doing because of the Heroes.
Filly felt great about meeting the Witch Lady again. She liked her before, but now witches were even better in her opinion. Especially after spending time with Daddy's new magic picture box.
"Oh, it's been such a long time since I've seen you all!" said the Witch Lady as she looked over Mommy and her friends. "And to think, I only met you just long enough to learn your magic affinity and sell you your beginner grimoires and here you are, standing so tall."
Mommy and her friends all gave Witch Lady nods of approval, each saying words of thanks.
Standing behind Daddy, Filo could barely contain herself. She wanted to talk to the old Witch Lady because she had so many questions about being a witch like her favorite heroes, but Daddy promised to let her spend the rest of the day with Melty if she was well behaved. Sadly, the Melty was off in the Castle with mean Trash Guy and her ugly sister.
From nearby Filo and her friends (and her annoying brother), shuffled behind her, whispering to her. "Can we talk to her yet?" Yuki said. "I want to be a witch so we can get our pretty costumes."
"Not yet," said Filo, trying to remember how this all went. "Daddy wants to do a… transaction first."
"I must thank you for your service in Lute, Sir Hero," Witch Lady said to Daddy. "Were it not for the efforts of you and of your followers, I fear what could have happened to them."
"We did what we could," said Daddy. "I'm glad you approve."
Witch Lady then walked over to Spear Guy and squinted her eyes at him. "So, why is the… accused Spear Hero in my store, with fox ears strapped onto his hood?"
"I'd prefer no one noticing me," said Spear Guy.
"Hmph, I suppose it nearly worked on me until you got close," Witch Lady narrowed her eyes at Daddy. "Why is a convicted felon in your company?"
"I have reason to believe the accusation was falsified," said Daddy. "He is innocent, but proving that in front of the King is impossible if he isn't willing to conduct an investigation."
"That's because the mean princess makes up lies!" Filo blurted out. It had to be said, especially since she was mean to Spear Guy and Melty! Spear Guy used to be mean, too, but Filo knew that was mostly Evil Princess's fault.
"Filo!" Mommy snapped.
"But she does that all the time! And that's why Spear Guy-"
"Enough!" Daddy commanded.
Filo shut her mouth. Daddy had that look in his eyes when he was mad, but not that mad.
"I have suspected there was something odd about the trial where the key target was a Holy Hero. Though, I was surprised it was the Spear and not the Shield that was said to have been a rapist." The old Witch Lady sighed. She was clearly upset. "I have heard rumors of the elder princess being… quite ignoble, though I have never verified them myself. I suppose it does mean some rumors are real."
"Thank you," said Spear Guy, as he bowed.
"Alright, so, we need clothes for the kids-"
Filo couldn't take it anymore. She had to ask. "Witch Lady, how do you become a witch?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" said Yuki. "Filo and I want to be witches!"
"Hey, what about me?" cried Kou.
"Kou, boys can't be witches!" answered Filo.
Kou huffed, disappointed. "That's unfair! Tama, that's unfair, right?"
Tama, or Brother, made a displeased groan. "What?"
"Yuki says we can't be witches."
Brother rolled his eyes. "Familiar. Ask Master. He knows the rules."
"Oh dear," said Witch Lady. "I've never seen such enthusiasm from children wanting to learn like this before. So you want my help giving them lessons?"
Filo gasped, stars in her eyes. "Yes! Yes!"
"Not exactly," said Daddy. "We just need to get clothing that'll transform when they do."
"Yeah, the special outfits that transform!" Yuki agreed. "That way we can be pretty for Papa!"
"Oh, I see. You kids can transform?" said the Witch Lady, she sounded so surprised. "My, and you're so young, too.
Filo nodded her head vigorously, while Kou and Yuki did so as well.
"They're filolials," said Fox Girl. "And somehow they all learned the ability to transform into, well, you can see for yourself."
Filo was about to show the Witch Lady, but Daddy cut her off, "Don't demonstrate it! You're going to rip what clothes we gave you."
Oh, right. Filo forgot about that. She hadn't really thought about it too much, but she liked having her special dress Daddy got her.
Witch Lady giggled. "Oh, I see. And you need outfits that wouldn't break when they change shape. That's understandable. Are you familiar with what you need?"
"Magic thread spun from using the essence and magical power from a person," Daddy said. "It makes clothing made from it able to shape change, on top of being easier to repair."
"I see the stories of you being knowledgeable aren't a lie," Witch Lady praised Daddy.
"Yeah, Naofumi is kind of like that, always doing his research!" Spear Guy laughed. "I honestly wonder where he gets the time to learn this all."
"In any case, I have a spinning wheel with a magic stone that can extract one's magical essence and put it into thread," said Witch Lady. She then frowned, "But alas, the magic gemstone needed to power it recently broke."
Daddy seemed surprised by that. "That could be a problem. How difficult would it be to buy one?"
"These specific gemstones are quite rare and expensive in Melromarc, but they're cheaper in Siltvelt and other countries with a high demihuman population," said the Witch Lady.
"Huh, why is that Daddy?" said Filo. It seemed kind of weird how that made a gemstone cost less.
"That's probably because here, there's only a small number of people who would care about mining such a gemstone. There are very few people who can use magic to transform," said Daddy in a very factual, if boring tone. "In Siltvelt and other countries, there's more people who need such a thing, so there's also more people trying to mine them. More people mining said gemstones means there's more gemstones in the market. There's also probably more ore veins, too. All that means, it's less of an expensive novelty item and more of a very important utility."
That made some sense to Filo's mind, but that didn't matter. Daddy understood it.
"Yeah, like me!" said Dog Girl. Dog Girl was confusing because last time she was Dog Boy instead, but Filo wondered how that happened. It must have felt very weird. "Alot of demihumans and some humans care about learning to transform into other forms and I want to give that a go."
Dog Girl then made a nervous expression. "On that note, I might need help learning how to transform. I had some advice, but I'm not sure I'm there yet. I know I also need magic clothes,"
"Don't worry, I can give you some help on that. I'm skilled at the art myself," Witch Lady said. "Though, that's not going to solve our current dilemma. Fortunately, I know where we can acquire the gemstones we need."
"Oh, oh! I know where to go!" Filo cried out. She had after all done this before, she knew the way to the magic gemstones to get her magic dress. Then, all she needed was a magic hat and she could become a witch!
"You do?" said Witch Lady
"You do?" said Spear Guy.
Daddy gave her a harsh look.
Filo whimpered a little, afraid she wouldn't be allowed to spend time with Melty! She had forgotten about one of the rules Daddy told her recently. She was not supposed to say she knew something or did something before.
"I told her, because I wanted to know what I had to do to get clothes for the kids. " Daddy said, not exactly a lie. He pulled out a map and pointed at it. "So, I did my research."
They then began to discuss something that sounded very boring, so Filo tuned it out. Instead, her brother called to her.
"Hey, Little Sis," Brother said.
"I'm not little…" Filo muttered towards her strange tiger brother. He had been there when she had hatched again for a second time. And because of that, he had always said she was the younger one, when she was really much older. He was always so annoying because of that. "What do you want?"
"... How hard is it to transform? Her brother said. "Like you can?"
Filo blinked. "You just… do?" Like, she knew how to do it immediately as soon as she was old enough. So, why couldn't her brother do something like that?
That didn't seem to please Brother. And instead, he turned away.
A day later, they arrived.
As Raphtalia stepped out of the wagon, she steeled herself for the upcoming challenges. The Sun beating on her head, she looked out at the ancient stone building. It was kind of funny how a vast, ancient ruin like this was seemingly a stone's throw from Melromarc Castle.
The first time she had gone through the cave, the monsters inside gave her a mild scare as they pretended to be the people around her. While everyone had gotten over the voices very quickly the last time around, that was still an awful experience.
While Master Naofumi unhitched Filo from her wagon, the tanuki went to see her friends and told them what they'd be facing here, today. "So, remember, there's going to be these monsters that try to mimic other people's voices. So, don't listen to anything unless you can be sure who is saying it.
"Oh, yeah, they're annoying. In Emerald Online, they were tricky because they throw insults at you while spamming false messages. It was very distracting and new players sometimes ended up fighting each other if they couldn't separate what was really happening or not." Motoyasu said as he unhitched Kou from the other wagon. "You know, last time I was here, I thought I heard the girls talking about me and assumed it was those monsters playing tricks on me, but now, I'm wondering if it was really them being honest to each other when they talked about how much of a fool I was."
Last time he was here? Still, Motoyaus's story sounded horrible. Was it really that bad? Raphtalia supposed that since a certain woman was there, she removed anyone who was not as awful as her.
"That sounds awful," Rifana said.
"It could be worse," Motoyasu said back, a small smile on his face. "At least they're gone now. I'm glad I learned that lesson sooner rather than later."
"And because of that, we now have Yuki and Kou!" Beryl cheered excitedly, from atop Yuki's back.
Sooner, indeed. Raphtalia thought to herself.
"So, we just ignore the awful voices?" Rifana questioned.
Keel grimaced. "And cut them down. I'm not eager to hear them mock me."
"No one is," said Raphtalia. "But just remember that just because you hear it, doesn't mean what they say is true. The whole point is to distract you, to make you panic, or to make you fight against each other. That's when they attack you. So, try not to hit anything you can't be sure of."
"So, just keep your cool? Got it!" Keel answered back as she grabbed onto her curved blade.
"Remember, it's easier said than done," said the old witch. Like last time, she had decided to come along, though it wasn't strictly necessary. "We're going to be going through some dark and tight caves. That can be a problem, especially if you get lost."
"I won't get lost!" Keel replied back.
Raphtalia turned a glance to Rifana, and the two of them turned to look at Keel, neither of them believing.
"Hey! It was only one time!" Keel snorted.
Master Naofumi walked over, with Filo, in her human form, holding his hand, "I think in order to ensure we don't get lost, I'm going to implement a rule called the buddy system. You take a partner and you stay by their side no matter what."
"Filo calls Daddy!" Filo said immediately.
"Hey!" Raphtalia said to her. She wanted to be Master Naofumi's partner.
Filo stuck out her tongue and made a giggle. "Try better next time, Mommy!"
Raphtalia let out a sigh. In the previous timeline, she had wanted Filo to call her that when she first hatched, because she helped hatch the young filolial. She supposed that it felt a little odd since Filo had as of this morning decided to try using the word. Besides, Master Naofumi seemed happy to have Filo by his side once again, happy by his standards.
Master Naofumi had a strangely amused look as he looked at Raphtalia. "There's always next time."
The tanuki girl rolled her eyes, oh, Master could tease if he really wanted to.
She turned to her friends and decided that it wasn't a bad idea to pick one of them. "Would you want to be my partner Keel?"
"What? Me?" Keel stammered and she looked very nervous all of a sudden.
"I think Keel would rather have me," Rifana said suddenly.
"Uh yeah…" Keel replied.
That was awkward. Raphtalia was about to question who would be her partner, when suddenly Tama loped over to her. He rubbed his head against thigh and without a word staked his claim.
"Well, if Filo has Master Naofumi, I guess it makes sense I'd have you," she said. Come to think of since Filo and Tama were basically siblings, did that mean. "Am I your Mommy, too?"
Tama licked her hand by way of reply.
"I'll take that as a yes."
Beryl stayed riding atop Yuki, her crossbow at the ready.
Meanwhile, Motoyasu took Kou and led him forward.
Both were under threat of being punished by being grounded.
"It appears I don't have a partner," said the witch, though she didn't seem all too bothered by that.
"You can be our partner!" Filo declared.
"No, be ours!" cried Yuki.
"No, ours!" Kou shouted.
"You can't be a witch, Kou!" Yuki snapped.
The witch laughed. "Hm, you filolials are so eager to become witches! I honestly wonder why."
"...I may have encouraged it." Master Naofumi answered. Raphtalia could practically feel Master Naofumi's mild embarrassment radiating off of him. It was after all his fault, since he introduced them to that show on his laptop.
"Master… showed them some stories involving witches and they've been obsessed about it since then." Raphtalia answered. Then again, it might have been just like how she had been when she was very young and got interested in ideas because she read about them. Come to think of it, the tanuki was like that before the Wave… How embarrassing.
"Oh?" the witch cocked an interest. "Is that why they were so insistent on asking me on my adventurers while we were traveling? They were all very interested to learn about that time I turned into a dragon!"
"Dragons are awful! But you're still amazing!" said Filo.
Kou and Yuki both nodded vigorously.
The witch laughed. "Well, I don't know if it can help you on being witches, but I think it'd be unfair if I joined one of your groups and left out the other two. So, I'll opt to not play favorites." She walked over to Raphtalia and Tama.
"Aw, but why does Brother get you?" Filo made a whine.
Kou and Yuki made their own complaints for Motoyasu and Beryl to deal with.
Tama planted his rear and puffed out his chest, as if boasting.
"Because out of everyone here, Tama can't talk," Master Naofumi answered her. "Besides, this way, our guest doesn't have to feel too pressured with the three of you.."
"Aw!" Filo made a complaint.
Raphtalia made a small smile as he turned towards the witch.
Tama greeted the old woman by bringing himself close to her.
"Is it okay if I pet you?" the witch asked, a hand outstretched.
Tama, rubbed his head against her hand, answering without words.
"You're such a bright and intelligent cat. You're practically like those dragons and griffins, with some members of their species able to act as you do," said the witch. "You're so well behaved, too."
"That he is," Raphtalia agreed. "Watch our backs, okay?"
Tama nodded his head.
Master Naofumi led everyone to the entrance of the ruin. "Alright everyone, remember that someone in each group has to carry the light. We have torches and lanterns, so remember to wear them. And just so you know, if the light ends up being snuffed, a monster is to blame."
Everyone did so, igniting lights where possible. In Beryl and Motoyasu's case, because their weapons preferred the use of two hands, they instead attached lanterns onto Kou and Yuki's necks.
With everyone set, they moved into the old ruin.
Raphtalia put a hand onto Tama's side, both to make note of where the tiger was, but also to reassure him.
At the first part of the cave, the only threats encountered were some low leveled monsters. They posed no challenge and were only notable in that they were possibly good for materials.
Sometime in, Master Naofumi made a slight turn and the group arrived at a dead end room made of carved stone. There was a treasure chest at the back of it.
"Oh, hey, were you looking for the miracle seed?" Motoyasu called out.
With everything that happened, Raphtalia had legitimately forgotten about the seed and the damage it had done. Suddenly, Motoyasu's comment about having been here before came to mind.
"Motoyasu…" Master Naofumi's voice became very low. "... Did you take the seed?"
"Yes…" Motoyasu answered nervously. "Why is something wrong? I mean, I know it's a seed that's supposed to do all sorts of amazing things, but…" He made a pained groan. "Is this a case where my knowledge failed me?"
"The seed was intended to end famines," the witch answered as she went to read the inscription. "But something went wrong and its creator sealed it here, wishing it would never again be released into the world. I'm not surprised you didn't know that. The inscription here is in an archaic form of the Melromarc language."
"The seed needs… purification by a Holy Hero," Master Naofumi said. "Otherwise, it'll grow rampant and mutate."
"Elena…"
Raphtalia could see the man pale. His filolials and Beryl rushed in to comfort him, promising to return to the last member of their group.
"... Why is Spear Guy like this?" Filo whispered into Raphtalia's ear.
The racoon-tanuki looked at the young girl, asking her in a low tone. "What do you mean?"
"... Why does he care so much?" Filo made a grumpy expression. "He was so… mean before."
"Because, deep down, I think Sir Motoyasu was always a caring person. He just wasn't very wise about it and acted crudely," Raphtalia answered. After all, he cared. His problem was never that he thought of the people here as insects or vermin; he was happy to play the part of being a Hero because he liked people, even if they were imaginary and the world was a game. "He's wiser now."
Filo continued to frown, though she seemed hesitant. "Is that why Daddy said to not kick him again?"
"That's why."
After a moment of recollecting themselves, Motoyasu broke from his party. "Okay, Naofumi, I really hope what you say is wrong, because I had Elena watching over the village I sent the seed to. I wanted to make some extra money because it seemed like a good idea."
Master Naofumi rubbed at his temples. "I… really hope that it isn't the case, but I think we're going to need to rush over to that village as soon as we make preparations."
Motoyasu nodded his head. "I… understand."
"We can work out the details later," Master said.
"I hope Lady Haven is alright," Beryl muttered.
"We'll make sure, she is," Raphtalia promised. Though she remembered the village now, watching those poor people who had vines and plant life growing inside of them. It was horrible to think about, but Master Naofumi fixed the problem before it got out of hand.
With the matter of the seed set aside for a later day, the group moved through more caverns with seemingly no end.
Then, abruptly the lights went out. Every torch and lantern was snuffed, covering everyone in near pitch black.
Having seen this before and knowing what was going to happen. Raphtalia kept hold of Tama's mane, whilst her other hand hovered over to her sword. "Don't worry. I'm here for you."
Tama shivered.
Voices echoed into Raphtalia's ears. At the same time, unseen attackers struck at her. She didn't unsheathe her sword, because she couldn't be sure of who she would be attacking. She took the blow and braced herself, as she mentally prepared herself.
"Why did I abandon my world for you?" said a voice, imitating Master Naofumi.
"You should have died instead of me. Then, I'll have Sir Naofumi all to myself!" This voice was Rifana's.
"You're not my Mommy! I'm going to eat you!" Filo's voice called to her, before attacking her chest. The breastplate absorbed the blow.
Raphtalia began invoking a spell. "As source of thy power-"
People around her were shouting, the real people, but it was hard to make out what was being said with the voices imitating them.
Keel shouted, "You betrayed me! I loved you!" A stab went against her leg.
"You should have been my slave!" Motoyasu shouted.
"-Heed my words and-"
Beryl laughed. "You're nobody!"
"We'll eat you!" Kou and Yuki said in unison. A bite went against Raphtalia's wrist and she threw off the attacker.
"You fools! I am loyal to my creators! You gave me everything I needed to destroy you!" said an unfamiliar boy's voice. Was that Tama?
"-Illuminate my target! First Light!" Raphtalia conjured a sphere of light and cast it into the caves. The darkness was dispelled, everyone had stayed put where they were, holding onto their companions who were shaken up. Everyone was under attack by monsters, swarms of bats and rats. Everyone defended themselves, battering the attacks away.
When the light came, the monsters realized they were at a disadvantage and made a retreat.
Tama leapt onto Raphtalia and gave her a tight hug. He was clearly shaken up by the events.
"Hey!" she said, a mild laugh in her voice.
Motoyasu and Beryl were busy comforting a disturbed Yuki and Kou, both filolials crying.
"I love you Daddy!"
"Same here!"
Master Naofumi held onto Filo. She laughed. "I knew it wasn't you!"
But by far the strangest outcome was that of Raphtalia's oldest friend, Rifana.
She charged the retreating bats and rats, goading them to attack her by the presence. They obliged, swarming her.
"I'm alive!" she shouted at them and cut the closest ones down. With several reckless sweeps of her sickle, she diced through several of the bat monsters, even going as far as to rip one to shreds. They swarmed her, but all that did was make them an easy target for a spell. "First Flame!"
An explosion of fire engulfed them and within moments, it was done. With the bats gone, Rifana fell to her knees, weeping.
Shoving Tama off of her, Raphtalia rushed over to her oldest friend. "Rifana!"
Rifana sniffled slightly. She wrapped the tanuki girl in a hug.
"I'm here!" Raphtalia said. "I'll be here if you need me!"
"It's horrible…" the weasel girl managed to say. "They kept telling me how I should be dead… how I was unnatural… How I didn't deserve to live…"
"Don't listen to them," Raphtalia hushed her friend. Was this because Rifana knew she was supposed to have died? "Rifana, you're alive. Cherish that. Don't let some bats in a cave tell you otherwise. They just wanted to hurt you."
"But, what if they're right?" Rifana wept. "They spoke to me in your voice, telling me how my being here was a mistake. That I should have died because I was…supposed to be dead."
Keel walked over to them. She placed a hand over the weasel's shoulder, silencing the weasel with that action.
"Keel?" Rifana questioned.
"Rifana," Keel said her name. "If that was true, we'd still be Lord Rabier's place, waiting for our last days to come."
"But that's not…"
"Rifana," Raphtalia spoke. "We're alive, we're together. If anything, that's where were supposed to be. It was… We shouldn't have been separated the way we were."
Rifana wiped the tears from her eyes with a gloved hand. "Thank you."
The two young women got up with Keel's help.
Master Naofumi and Motoyasu salvaged what was left of the bats and put them in their weapons.
Tama tackled Filo ground, showering the girl in licks.
"Ew, Brother. Yipe, Filo missed you, too!" Filo cried.
Tama growled something at her.
"...Filo knows you're jealous, but not that jealous."
Raphtalia's attention then shifted to what was closest to her.
"Are you going to be okay?" asked the Shield Hero, as he approached.
Rifana nodded her head. "I… I just…"
"Don't worry about it," Master said. "It happens to the best of us. We all have our bad days."
Some have it worse than others, Raphtalia thought wistfully, remembering the pain and suffering her Master could endure.
"Thank you," Rifana sounded grateful.
Raphtalia led her friends away, helping them recover.
Lanterns were relit.
Keel grabbed hold of Rifana's hand as the groups began to reform.
Raphtalia rejoined Tama and the old witch.
"That's a very extreme reaction, will your friend be alright?" asked the witch
"She'll be fine," Raphalia hoped. "The bats just hit a landmine for her."
"Landmine?" the witch questioned.
Raphtalia then remembered that was something her world did not have, or at least if it did, she never heard of one. She must have started picking up some of the words her Master had been using. After all, Master Naofumi used it often enough to describe unfortunate topics. "It's a type of explosive trap from Master Naofumi's world. If you step on it, it explodes and hurts you. In this case, the bats hit a sore topic for her."
"I think I understand now," said the witch.
They eventually arrived at a cavern that was more spacious than the previous hallways. Veins of ore and crystal lined the walls of the cavern.
"Wow!" said Yuki. "They're so pretty!"
"They don't look tasty," Kou complained.
"And that's why I'll be a witch and you won't!" Yuki snapped.
"Hey, settle down, we don't know what's here!" Motoyasu spoke. "Naofumi, this is outside my knowledge. How safe is it?"
"Should be safe enough, but there might be a Nue here," Master said back.
"Are you sure? Why would a beast from that far from the east be here?" the witch said.
"We saw its footprints," said Master.
Without prompting, Raphtalia put her hand on her sword and kept watch for the monster that lurked at these parts. It was a tough fight last time around, but this time, she was both stronger and had more friends to face it with.
Tama walked by her side, sniffing the earth as he did.
"What's a Nue?" Motoyasu asked.
"You don't know?" Master Naofumi replied; he sounded a little "You could call it the Japanese version of the Chimera. It has a tanuki's body, a baboon's head, a tiger's legs, and a snake for a tail. You can't miss it."
Raphtalia blinked. She supposed she didn't give it that much thought when she fought the creature last, but she was… bothered at the idea that a hideous monster would be partially based on her in that way.
Tama let out a low growl, also disturbed.
The sound of a pickaxe striking against stone started to reverberate within the cavern. Though she did not turn her head, Raphtalia knew that was a sign that her Master was excavating the ore he needed.
If the monster were here, it would be drawn towards the noise and the lights everyone held.
"Kyukiii!" a monstrous trill filled the air.
"I did not like the sound of that!" said Keel.
Raphtalia steeled herself and drew her sword, just as the monster stepped out from behind a large stalagmite. "Kyukiiii!" it sounded from its disfigured baboon head.
Then with frightening speed it lunged at her, claws extended.
Raphtalia brought her sword up in time and batted away the creature's claws before it came crashing down on her.
Tama made a swipe, but failed to land a hit as the monster's snake tail bit his arms.
"Hate Reaction!" Master Naofumi snarled, enveloping himself in a red glow. "Come here, Ugly!"
The creature made a swipe at him, its attention taken.
Unlike last time, where Master was wounded fighting the creature, the Nue's swipes could barely penetrate his armor. But the monster knew this as well. It threw its whole body against Master, knocking him to the ground and forcing him to tumble.
Raphtalia lunged, making a swing at the monster's arms. Her sword dug through its side and down to its calf, drawing blood.
Keel took at it from the other side, her curved blade drawing blood.
Filo and the other filolials took turns kicking it and swiping at it in their natural forms.
Rifana conjured a bolt of fire and threw it at the monster, while the Witch instead threw an entire wave of it.
And yet, despite all of their best efforts, the monster refused to go down easily.
That all changed as an arrow swerved forward and shot the monster in the eye.
"Gaah!" the Nue howled, swiping its claws in every direction.
"Sonic Lance!" Motoyasu called out, his spear growing bat wings at its tip. Whatever he did, no one saw anything erupt from the Holy Spear in his hands. Instead, Raphtalia felt… her bones shaking.
Then, Nue was just flung backwards, hitting the wall. It fell slightly, but picked itself up and charged the closest fighter.
Keel narrowly got out of the way, but the monster's claws cut at her tunic, scraping her arm.
Raphtalia seeing this conjured a quick illusion, interspersing it between Keel and the monster. The Nue fell for the bait for a few seconds, allowing the tanuki to grab onto her friend's arm and pull her to safety.
"It's… really strong. Almost as strong as the Chimera!" said Motoyasu as he thrust his Spear at the monster's side. "I mean, we can kill it, for sure, but man, is it not going to go down easily! Does anyone have an easier way?"
"I do, but not without hitting someone else!" Master said as he threw himself in the way of its next attack, battling it aside with his Shield. Then at the same time, two snakes emerged from it and bit the monster's arm.
The Nue snarled in frustration.
With that distraction, Raphtalia made a swing at the monster, thrusting her blade into one of the monster's paws. Blood gushed from the open wound, spilling like a torrent.
The Nue's snake tail lunged at her and she blocked with a parry.
The Nue howled, screaming in agony, injured but still standing. Raphtalia was prepared to go and finish the job…
But then, Tama came down on the monster, falling right on top of it.
The Nue crumpled to the ground, frustrated, all of its limbs flailing in an attempt to throw off the tiger. But Tama was simply too heavy.
The tiger pinned the Nue to the ground. Though Tama was far smaller than the Nue, his positioning gave him the advantage.
The tiger brought his jaws against the monster's neck and closely closed them shut.
The Nue continued to struggle, frantically fighting for life. It seemed for a moment that it was going to succeed, to throw the tiger off and resume where it had been.
But everyone else took advantage of Tama's attack, striking it in its vital areas.
Raphtalia was aware of her driving her sword into its exposed belly, spilling its guts to the floor.
It was almost a mercy when Motoyasu thrust his spear right into its skull.
It stopped moving shortly after.
"Yay! It's dead!" cried Filo.
"And it's meal time!" said Kou.
They looked like they were both about to dig in.
Tama said something to them, which caused them to have second thoughts.
"Oh, that's right, if we eat it now, that means our Daddies can't cook it!" said Yuki.
"Huh, no experience points or drops." Motoyasu mumbled. "I guess with two Heroes being so close together…"
"Master," Beryl spoke to the Spear Hero. "Can I have your help in quartering the corpse? It's going to be too heavy to just draw out the normal way…"
Meanwhile, the Witch collected the ore.
Smiling, Raphtalia walked over her Master as he had already begun tending to Keel's wounds.
"You shouldn't have taken that risk staying that close for too long." said Master Naofumi as he applied a wrap to the injury.
"If I did that, it would have turned towards Rifana and Bery," said the dog girl. "Hey, why did it attack us? I mean, you used your skill on it!"
"Hate Reaction isn't foolproof," Master said. "It was probably lashing out at everything it could reach."
Raphtalia felt a little light headed. Probably the effects of the fight wearing off?
"Raphtalia?" Rifana questioned as she walked up to the tanuki girl. "You okay?"
"I don't know…" Raphtalia muttered, though her voice felt heavy.
Rifana grabbed hold of her and helped her sit down. The weasel girl then grabbed onto Raphtalia's arm. "Oh, that explains it. You must have got bitten in the fighting."
Raphtalia made a pained expression as she turned her attention towards the spot where Rifana was investigating. Sure enough there was a tear just under the elbow, two pinpricks of blood spilling out. She must have not noticed it during the fighting.
"Raphtalia!?" Master came over to her, as soon as he noticed. "You were poisoned?"
"Yeah, I guess it's a good thing we brought extra antidotes." The tanuki made a weak grin. Was it her or did her face start to feel like it hurt?
Master Naofumi however, did not seem to be in a laughing mood. He took a bottle from his belt and put it in Raphtalia's hand. "Drink this."
Raphtalia did so, taking the bitter tasting medicine into her mouth. Already, she started to feel better.
Tama and Filo both walked over to her, both animals looking quite worried. "Will Mommy be alright?" Filo asked for the both of them.
"I'll be fine," Raphtalia said. "A little light headed, but fine."
Filo made a pout. "Okay…"
Keel was also there, her expressions grim.
As the task completed, one final thought crossed Raphtalia's mind. Though they had managed to beat the Nue and were in the process of collecting the magical ore needed for the filolial's clothing, the seed was a problem that was going to remain at large. "What are we going to do about the seed?"
"Not here, not now," Master said. He brought his hand close to hers. "Just worry about getting better okay?"
Raphtalia nodded. She could do that.
It was later that day and they were back in Melromarc, within the living quarters of the witch's shop. Dusk had already fallen and nightfall would soon come. The shop was closed for the evening and everyone was gathered around the table as Naofumi set his laptop to play out the kids' favorite show.
At the same time, the children were taking turns sewing their magic into thread; with the recent revelations about the alchemist seed, there was limited time. It was for this reason he was mixing up a deadly weed killer at the same time.
"Aw, but it's so boring!" Filo complained as she spun the spinning wheel. "And it hurts!"
"Hey, you can watch the anime while doing this," Naofumi snapped, pointing to the screen while the three heroines of the show were fighting a skyscraper named Zeitgeist. "And you're not going to make your special dress without doing this."
"...Aw, why can't I get a magic accessory like the girls can and get my dress that way?" Filo complained once again, referencing the transformation trinkets in her favorite show.
"Technically, this is what we're doing. But you first need to make the dress to then make the accessory," said the old witch. She was also focused on the show. "Is this really what passes for entertainment for children where the Heroes come from?"
"It does," said the Shield Hero. "But, this is only one type of story. There's others that involve different rules and conventions. This one is just aimed at children, so it's bright, flashy, and full of entertaining music. And since it's for girls, well, it features things like pretty dresses and the like."
"Oh, I can see the appeal," laughed the witch. "Though, I believe I'd enjoy it more if I knew the language, I can appreciate the… creative depiction of magic. And it's a good thing to help… inspire children into learning. Though I am unsure of how much it would help the filolials."
"We wanna be witches!" said Yuki eagerly.
Tama made a low pitched growl, probably voicing approval.
Motoyasu turned to Naofumi and gave him a smirk. "Yeah, it's certainly made an impression on them."
In retrospect, Naofumi probably should have figured that showing a cartoon made to appeal to children would have made a big impact on very impressionable animal children with surprising intelligence. While having a favorite show didn't make them "Otaku" alone, the magical girl anime was definitely going to influence their desires from here on.
… Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't shown it to Raphtalia and her friends.
He supposed that as long as the children were happy, things would be fine. After all, it seemed… right. If Filo really wanted to be his child, she should get to see some of the things that he liked.
Then, just as the show started to ramp up to a fight, Keel walked into the store, with Princess Melty and a small contingent of her guards following beside her.
"Melty!" Filo shouted as she ran to meet her.
The blonde girl tackled the Princess.
"Filo!" the Crown Princess giggled.
"Are you going to play with us!?" FIlo asked eagerly.
"Maybe in a bit," she said, she turned towards the Shield Hero.
Naofumi gave Keel a thumbs up, showing without a word his approval. The Shield Hero turned to her daughter and said to her a simple command. "After you're done getting the thread we need, you can play with her."
With renewed vigor, Filo gleefully sat back down at the spinning wheel and began to spin out thread at a rapid pace.
The old witch giggled. "Careful. We don't want the thread or the machine to break." She then turned towards Melty and offered her a bow. "Welcome to my store, Princess. I hope to accommodate you."
"I appreciate the sentiment," the Princess said in a practiced tone. "Do you happen to have another room we can use, to be more… private?"
The witch pointed to a door. "Just there. It's a bit cramped, but it should do."
"It shall suffice," said the Princess.
"Motoyasu," Naofumi said.
The Spear Hero nodded. He got up from his seat. "I'm sorry kids, but I've got to do a meeting, okay?"
"Aw!" said Yuki.
Kou pouted. "But Papa!"
"I'll be back, promise!" said the Spear Hero as he left them. "Shall we?"
Naofumi nodded. "Raphtalia, you're in charge," The Shield Hero said as he walked towards the adjacent room, with the Second Princess and the Spear Hero beside him.
Raphtalia nodded, though she still looked weakened from the snake venom. Thankfully, she was recovering quickly..
When they were all inside the room, Princess Melty closed the door and made sure it was locked. "Now, then, what seems to be the problem? Keel made it sound like there was an urgent matter."
Motoyasu gulped, a look of unease obvious on his expression. "I may have… unleashed a mythical seed that was sealed away. Naofumi mentioned that it was… prone to mutating and now I am wondering if one of my companions is in danger."
"... Did my sister encourage you to do this?" Melty asked.
"No, this is my doing. I was familiar with the seed from the stories I learned from my world." Motoyasu admitted. "Naofumi tells me that in his stories, the seed grew to harm people."
Naofumi took a deep breath as he tried to hold onto the anger that bubbled inside. Motoyasu's carelessness and his trust of his knowledge nearly destroyed a village and ruined many lives. Yet at the core of it all, the reason Motoyasu did so was because he did genuinely want to help. He was going to try to remember that, especially since the man was willing to fix his mistakes as soon as he learned about them.
"I see," said the Princess. "And what do you need me to do?" She was, after all, aware of the seed and Motoyasu's actions from the last time.
"We plan to make our departure for the village in the morning to resolve the matter. As a result, certain matters will need to be addressed," said Naofumi. Previously, he had assumed that because of Bitch's accusation derailing events, the entire fiasco with the seed wouldn't have happened, but apparently, Motoyasu said that the miracle seed was essentially one of the first things he did upon arriving in this world.
"In my case," said Motoyasu. "I don't need anything, but I felt like I should inform you about what might have happened."
"It was an honest mistake," said Melty. "You couldn't have known the problem because of a lack of information. And you're at least planning on fixing the problem."
"I still feel like I should have been aware. Like, you'd think someone else would have used the seed by now, if it's been there for thousands of years," said Motoyasu. "It wasn't even that far into the dungeon."
"On the other hand, why hasn't anyone destroyed the seed before?" said Melty, playing devil's advocate.
Naofumi then handed Melty an envelope. "This letter is to be sent to a Hickwall of the Merchant's Guild. It concerns some information about his rival that he might find relevant." After all, the man had taught the Shield Hero how to make accessories in the first place; he wasn't going to let the man die to bandits just because he couldn't be taught a second time. However, he couldn't rely on events to play out exactly as they did, nor was he likely to pass by that same village on the exact same day as before. There was a chance he was elsewhere because of the Butterfly Effect.
"I will give this to my Shadows," said the Princess. "They will be able to send it to him."
That was probably the best they could do.
"Additionally, because of this change of plans, you're unlikely to see us until the next Wave," said Naofumi. "After we deal with the seed, I intend to head towards Zeltoble." Because the girls were all nearing the point where they would need Class Ups sooner or later.
Melty's expression darkened. She obviously understood this meant that she would not be seeing Filo for at least a whole month. "I… I understand. Thank you for informing me."
Seeing there were no other topics to bring up, Naofumi intended to reward the girl for being so patient. "I think that's everything. Filo and the others would be waiting."
Melty nodded. As she made a few steps to make her way out, she turned to the Shield Hero one last time. "By the way, my father and I had the most interesting discussion about you. Apparently, he somehow has it in his head that you're to be the new face of human supremacy."
What? This day just kepr getting better and better.
Melty didn't elaborate. She just walked out of the room.
As they stepped out of the room, Filo ran up to them, a bundle of white cloth in her hands. "Daddy! Daddy! Look at it!" She was so precious.
"And that means we can make your special dress!" Naofumi said back.
"Yes!" Filo cried.
"That's great Filo!" Melty replied back. "I know you'll look great in it!"
"Yup!" she said.
She then grabbed hold of the princess's hand and directed her towards the laptop, leaving the two Heroes behind.
Motoyasu laughed. "Oh, she's such a pretty angel."
"That she is," said Naofumi. "Now all we have to do is send the cloth to the tailor."
"That woman looks like she should have her own manga," said the Spear Hero with a sigh. "Like, she gives off that vibe, right?"
"You just read my mind," Naofumi muttered.
"Hey, Naofumi. Will Elena be alright?" Motoyasu questioned.
"Hopefully. It's not that far to that village," said the Shield Hero. He remembered that though the village was destroyed, the people there were mostly alive by the time he and the others arrived to clean up that mess. Theoretically, since they were planning to go to the village much earlier, there would be more of a village to save. "Come on, let's see what this weed killer does to your Spear.
It was the dead of night in Melromarc, with most of the shops having long closed down for the night. There was very little light out on the streets and that was just fine for the Spear Hero.
Motoyasu was without his usual disguise, but with practically no one on the street, he thought it was fine to not pretend to be a demihuman.
Motoyasu felt torn. On the one hand, he desperately wanted to head to that village to save Elena. On the other, he wanted to see his cute little angels given cute clothes that wouldn't be destroyed the moment they took up their real forms.
He supposed that he still needed to make some preparations before he was up to the task fo saving Elena from, if Naofumi was right, an army of rapidly growing and evolving super plants. Fortunately, his new Spear might have been up to the task.
Defoliating Dory
[Locked] Equip Bonus: Attack Increase (Small), Poison Damage Increase (Minor)
Special Equip Effect: Plant Bane (Major)
It looked like a standard spear, though it had a skull marking on its guard, its metallic sheen purple, and dried vines wrapped around it. It was unupgradd still, but he had plenty of time and materials to make it into something truly impressive if a little over specialized against plants.
"Thank you, Brother," Filo muttered as she rode atop Tama, drawing Motoyasu's attention.
"So, tired… So, hungry." said Kou from within the Spear Hero's arms.
"...I wanna be a witch!" Yuki spoke, her eyes twitching as she tried to keep pace.
"Don't worry, we're almost there!" Motoyasu said to them. If they weren't in a rush, they would gladly wait just a bit longer. As it was, they needed to get to Elena as fast as they could.
Naofumi walked towards a small shop and knocked on the door. "Hey, open up!"
It took a good minute, but eventually, a young woman opened the door. She made a yawn. "What is it that you need?" she said wearily.
"We need a rush order!" Naofumi barked. "As soon as you can make it. We're paying overtime if we have to!"
"Can't it wait til-" Then the woman's eyes lit up as she turned her attention to the angel in Motoyasu's arms. "Oh, who is that adorable precious boy? He's so sweet looking napping in your arms."
"His name's Kou!" Motoyasu said. "It means yellow."
"Oh, he's so darling!" gushed the woman. She then turned towards Motoyasu and then had a stark realization. "Uh, hello Mister Motoyasu! I uh…"
"Look, we're just here for business," Naofumi stepped in.
"And Master isn't going to harm you," Beryl spoke up.
Motoyasu was glad he had friends watching his back. That situation could have been awful, if they had been refused service for that accusation. "We've got three angels who need clothing. We have the fabric. Can you help us?"
The tailor gulped, though promptly went to back to gushing at the angels as she watched them. "Oh, they're so sweet sleeping that!" she looked like she was about to explode. "They're so cute! I'll work on outfits for them if I have to stay up til morning if I have to!"
She then started muttering something about overalls for Kou and nice dresses for Yuki and Filo, though it was hard to make out the specifics.
"Think she'll be done fast by morning?" Motoyasu muttered.
"No," Naofumi admitted. "But definitely by lunch time."
Motoyasu shrugged. "That gives us time to get Beryl's new armor."
So, Filo POV was an experiment and was actually the biggest roadblock to writing the chapter. Since well… Filo.
A dory is a type of Greek spear. It looks pretty plain.
I'm sorry that this took a very long time to post, but for the foreseeable future, I'll try updating again.