Chapter 17: Soothing Waters

Ten Years Ago

It was a quiet night in the castle town. After a night of festivities following the princess's birthday celebration, a young deaconess waved her fellow sisters goodbye and began locking up the cathedral for the night.

That was until she heard a cry, the cries of a child in distress. Following the sound, she quickly found the source. A baby swaddled in a blanket, crying as it lay in a pile of garbage. Immediately, her maternal instincts took control, picking up the child and taking it inside the cathedral.

She didn't know what to do exactly. But there was one man who did.

"Lord Balmus. A moment, please." A sister cried out, rushing into the room.

In the pope's office were there men. Two knights and the pope himself.

"How dare you interrupt us; this is a private—"

"Relax, Trent. No need to get so worked up." The knight interrupted.

"Shut it, Heath," Trent grumbled.

"No, no. We should not turn away a sister in distress. Now, deaconess Angela. What might the issue be? The pope asked.

"Thank you, my lord." Angela bowed. "You see, I was locking up for the night when I found this little fellow." Angela showed them the baby, the boy no longer having any energy to cry.

"Ahh, a simple issue. Here, allow me to help you register him to the church orphanage." The pope smiled as he escorted the sister out of the room.

"Apologies, our talk has to be cut so short. I congratulate your promotion into the knight's order, Sir Heath and Sir Trent. I hope you go on to make the church proud."

"Thank you, my lord." The former priest bowed.

"Also Angela. You were the first to find him. Do you have a name in mind for this little one?" The pope asked.

"Uh… well… n-no. No my lord." The sister sighed.

"Then perhaps you two have an idea?"

Trent thought for a moment before slumping in his seat. Trent Jr. would most likely be rejected quickly.

Heath, on the other hand, got out of his seat. He looked over the baby, holding his small hand in his, before giving an answer.

"Ake. His name would be Ake."

/~/

Jolting awake, Ake grabbed a hand reaching for him and reached for his sword. But it wasn't there. Neither was his armor or helmet.

"Whoa, whoa, chill, chill. Just me." Sakura shook her hands in an attempt to soothe the former knight.

It worked. The second Ake heard his voice, he released her hand and looked over, only to find her without, with only some bandages covering her chest and a pair of white bloomers.

"Where are your clothes?" Ake blushed as he jerked back. He then grunted in pain as his injuries flared up.

"Chill, just calm down. You're still healing." Sakura guided Ake back down to his pillow.

Lying down, he also realized he was shirtless, with several patches and bandages over his body.

"W-what happened?"

"Oh. The church tortured you for a bit; we almost died, but we escaped." Sakura explained bluntly. "Though for whatever reason, a lot of your wounds were cursed. So it's still being treated. Brace yourself; this may sting."

"What may. Agh." Ake winced in pain as Sakura applied some holy water to his wounds."

"Okay, I see now," Ake grunted.

"Sakura is just glad we were able to find you. Who knows what would have happened if we were too late?" Sakura sighed in relief.

"...Uhh, thanks. I didn't know I was so valued. I didn't think the shield hero would do anything."

"Let's just say Naofumi is hard to read. But we got a lot of things thanks to you, so he owed you one… well, probably more than one."

"I see. But surely this wasn't without its consequences, right?"

"Oh yeah, we're so fugitives right now." Sakura chuckled as if she didn't understand how bad of a situation that was. "Oh, and you were declared dead like… two days ago. So yeah, shit happened. But the result was way worth it."

"You didn't have to do this, though. I didn't help you during the duel because I was expecting some favor."

"Okay, and we still did it." Sakura pouted. "Don't take our kindness for stupidity; we knew exactly what we were doing."

"Still—"

"No. We saved you; you're not dead. And you'll be happy about it!" Sakura demanded.

"Alright, alright. Just… thanks. It's just… hard to process everything."

"You're welcome!" Sakura puffed up her chest in pride. That only served as a reminder of Sakura's current clothing status.

"So, uh… why are you like… half naked?" Ake asked with another blush.

"Oh, that." Sakura turned around, showing Ake her back. The boy turned his eyes away for a moment but gave in to the temptation and looked anyway. When he did, however, he saw how injured the bird was. There were some obvious arrow wounds, along with some black patches. A common sign of a cursed wound.

"Yeah, Sakura took, like, a bunch of arrows to her back. Turned out, they were not only laced with acid but also cursed." Sakura rolled her eyes. "Seriously, what kind of church uses curses?"

"Oh. Sorry." After apologizing, he got a swift hit to the head from the bird.

"Sakura said it's not your fault. So stop blaming yourself."

"Right, right. Sorry."

"If you're truly sorry, you can start applying some holy water to Sakura's back. It hurts like hell."

"Um… you sure?"

"Oh stop being such a coward, you coward. You have to touch a woman someday." Sakura jabbed, completely ignoring the fact she herself was hesitant to touch Ake.

"S-shut up!" Ake said with a blush.

"By the way, where is the shield hero?" Ake asked, hoping to change the subject.

"He went to a friend of his earlier. By now, he should be at the baths. This past week has been annoying. Avoiding the authorities and whatnot."

"I see. I'll have to thank him personally."

"Good… You're not escaping your treatment, though?"

"Fine. Give me the bottle." Ake relented with a sigh.

/~/

Naofumi took a moment, doing a big stretch before sliding into the water. It had been a tough week. Surprisingly no one. Assaulting a cathedral of the most popular religion of the time has its cons. Specifically, being labeled public enemy number one by the entirety of Melromarc.

Thankfully, his face was not well known. So all the church had to work with was crappy caricatures and descriptions, both of which can easily be hidden with Raphtalia's magic. Thankfully they didn't have to use it now. The bath he was in was empty, with most people at work anyway.

With the town being as small as it is. The chances of them getting caught are zero. That was until someone entered the changing room and began getting ready for the bath himself.

Naofumi sighed, ready to conceal himself the best way that he could. But all his worries were replaced with confusion as a familiar face walked in.

Why the hell is he here? Naofumi thought as he rubbed his eyes. There was no denying it now. It was indeed Ren.

"Naofumi, aren't you supposed to be in Siltvelt?"

"I can ask you the same thing: Aren't you supposed to be killing a dragon?"

"Well, I did. Things, however, got… complicated."

/~/

"So you're a father now is what I'm hearing." Naofumi chuckled.

"Man, I don't know. "Kind of," Ren answered, still conflicted about the answer.

"I mean. I killed the girl's father. Not to mention, the city doesn't want a demi-human with them, so now I have to take care of it! I don't know how to do that! How do I do that!?" Ren exclaimed as he shook Naofumi by the shoulders.

"Alright, get off." Naofumi pushed Ren away, but the sword hero didn't stop. Despite being in the water, Ren got down on his knees and splashed his face in the water. He tried to speak, but bubbles rose up instead.

"Above water, please."

"You gotta help me, Naofumi. I can't take care of a child and her 4 dragons; I can barely take care of myself. Just yesterday I forgot my wallet, and my party members had to pay for me."

"What the hell are you asking me for?!"

"Didn't you buy a child slave once?"

"Yeah, because I had to. And you're on your own if you make your own mistakes." Naofumi scoffed.

"Bro, I killed her father. You can't expect me to raise her!"

"Then what exactly was your plan then? Don't think I don't know this is a territory that supports demi-humans."

"Don't put it like that! I didn't go through with it."

"You tried to push her onto me; is that not an attempt at abandonment?"

"Ugh." Ren groaned as he slumped into the water. "You're right. I guess I was being foolish."

"You guess?"

"Okay. I was foolish. Naofumi, you're hated. What should I do?"

"Well, first of all, fuck you. Second, the obvious first choice is apologizing to the child. Whatever you do after that is up to you."

Ren sighed. "I'll try. But she's probably going to resent me for the rest of my life."

"Oh totally. She's never going to let you live this down."

"Ughh. Why does this have to be so complicated?"

"Because this is not a game. People, and the monsters, have their own hopes, fears, and dreams. Approach this differently from now on, and maybe, just maybe, you can start doing better."

Ren sighed once again. Not only has his ego taken a blow for the worse. His delusions of a perfect game world took one as well, shattering all hopes for a new life without struggle. "Alright. I understand." Ren sighed once more.

"Now. Why are you here?"

"The pope kidnapped an acquaintance of mine. So I raided the cathedral."

"... How? It's only been a week since I left."

"Let's just say the church isn't fond of me or my party at the moment. So we're hiding out. Thankfully, demi-human territories don't like the church either. So it's easier to blend in here." Naofumi explained.

"I see. We both got ourselves in quite a mess. Anyway, I'm done with serious talk. Time to get into more manly things."

"Ren, what are you going on about?"

"Who have you done it within your party?" Ren asked, making Naofumi dumbfounded by such a question.

"...Really?"

"Come on, it's serious. You have two perfect choices; why not?"

"Because one's an idiot and the other is an adult and a half. Besides, Sakura has her little crush already." Naofumi scoffed.

"Well, that's a bit disappointing."

"If you wouldn't do it with your dragon, then obviously I wouldn't either."

"Well." Ren put his hand on his chin as he thought about the question.

"Don't tell me you're actually considering it?"

"I mean, why not? Who wouldn't want to have sex with a dragon girl?

"Okay, that's enough for me." Naofumi got out of the bath and made his way to the changing room. "If you decide to leave, try not to mess anything up again."

"Says the wanted man."

"Says the father killer."

"Low blow, man."

"And yours wasn't?"

"Fair enough," Ren surrendered as he sunk into the depths of the water.

/~/

"Oi, Sakura, are you in there? I need you to go grab some-"

Naofumi opened the door to the room, only to close it almost immediately.

For a short time, the door was open. Naofumi's eyes witnessed the scene in the room. Sakura's dress was off, and Ake, who was also shirtless, was touching her back with a rag.

Unknown to him, they were still applying holy water to each other. But the slamming door forced the two to scramble for their clothes before Naofumi opened the door once again seconds later.

"Sakura, are you in there? I need you to go grab something from the cart."

"O-on it. Right away!" Sakura exclaimed with a flushed face. She didn't even use the door; she leaped out the window in embarrassment. Ake, however, didn't have that liberty and was stuck in the room with Naofumi.

"Naofumi, you're back," Ake laughed nervously.

"Ake…" Both gave a silent stare to each other.

"So about earlier."

"Hey, I saved you; you helped me out a ton. We're pretty much even at this point. I have no shame when I say I give you my blessing."

"What? No, we didn't do anything. I was just applying holy water to her back."

"And you didn't get someone else, why?"

"Well… umm." The boy's face started to turn red before deflecting once more. "I was the only one in the room; I had no choice." Ake blushed.

"Sure. So what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I need to get across the border, and a Knight of Melromarc can do wonders with the information he has."

"Is that your way of asking me to join the party?"

"If you want to think of it that way, then yeah. It'd be annoying if I separated Sakura from her lovebird."

"We're not even dating!" Ake exclaimed.

"Sounds like denial."

"No, it's not!"

"Sure it is. Now hurry up and decide. The easy way, or the hard way."

Sakura re-entered the room, holding a vial of ink. Ake immediately knew exactly what was going to happen and tried to leave the room. But he fell to the floor before the second he stepped out of the bed.

"Perhaps we could reconsider."

"Not an option. Sakura, get 'em!"

/~/

Meanwhile with Itsuki

"You know, all these monsters seem pretty basic. I was expecting more wonderful creatures, but instead, I see a mule." Itsuki complained.

"Don't worry, Lord Bow, this is just the mundane section for the commoners. The real section is back here." Opening the curtain, a new area of the tent is revealed.

"This is my exotic section. Monsters that you won't see every day. Dragons, alligators. I even have Cetus offshore at another."

"One of those seems vastly different from the others."

"Aww yes. The dragons would usually be put in the mundane section, but they keep eating the chickens when I look away."

"...Okay? Hey, is that?"

"Aww. Have your eyes caught something desirable?"

"This is a Pegasus. I haven't seen one until now."

"Aww, the winged horse. This one was found after the wave in Siltvelt. It flew miles into Melromarc before ultimately being captured. Very unique but also very dangerous."

"But if I am to tame it, I'll be able to have a flying mount. I can see it now."

An image of himself flying on and shooting arrows comes into his mind.

"I'll take it."

"Wonderful. If someone were to be able to tame the wild beast, it would surely be a hero. It's just a small payment of 7 gold, discount included."

"The price to pay for a special mount. You better be right about this, Naofumi."

/~/

Short Story: It takes a village, Moto edition

"This is insane. I already lord the town to Ryute."

"Things tend to change. The decree from the king makes it more clear." A knight who was in the room with them handed over a document to the lord.

"Due to the brave efforts of Motoyasu Kitamura, the spear hero. The land of Ryute shall fall under his lordship!" The old man didn't even finish the decree as he balled up the paper.

"This is outrageous. Our town is small. Clearly, this has to be a mistake!"

"The king makes no mistakes, and I'm getting very impatient for you being in my office."

"But this is the lord—" The old man is hit on the head by one of the "guards" and is dragged out the back door.

"Senile old man." Changing her face, Myne walked out the front entrance and waved to Motoyasu.

"Lord Moto, Lord Moto!"

"Myne, what's up?"

"The transfer went smoothly. The lord even vacated the office so you can take command quickly."

"Wow, that's perfect. If he is still around, I could get compensation money."

"Umm, he's not here. Said he's going far to visit the grandchildren. You know old people."

"He left that quickly. Sounds irresponsible, but I get it: family first. I'll just work to make this into a proper village!" Motoyasu ran off to help a few carts. Unbeknownst to him, Myne was truly the only one calling the shots."

/~/

Meanwhile with Ake

"I was going to say yes," Ake whined with a new tattoo on his chest.