Chapter 40 – The Talk

The fire in the hut flickered from the soft wind outside. It wasn't particularly cold out, so this was more than enough. A few bits of meat were cooking over the flame as the party sat around it, as well as a pot with a stew cooking, all waiting for their food to finish.

They set up camp away from the village and any prying eyes, though they knew that wouldn't last too long. It was only a matter of time before someone started watching them again, if they weren't already. Since Derdir's imps could evade Vyrdrun, there really was no telling. Not that they were trying to hide from him specifically, at the moment.

To pass the time, some of them were doing equipment checks. Looking over armor and weapons, noting any battle damage, and the like. Despite taking a skill that sounded like it should have shattered his weapon, Grim's cleaver held the least damage. Baric made it, and he was apparently a legendary blacksmith, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"So, what now, Boss?" Maria asked next to her.

"The capital." Reina answered. "The king should reward us for fighting in the Wave again." Since they couldn't get a reward in Keston's Wave, the money would be greatly appreciated.

Maria nodded, tilting her head to the side slightly. "And what about…"

"I'm not sure." Reina shook her head. "I just hope that—"

"Ugh…" The noise alerted everyone in the hut, though only Reina stood up.

"Lola!" She strode over to the girl, who was sat on a pelt from Vyrdrun's pack. A light blanket was over her, keeping her covered.

Lola was the reason why they weren't in the mansion right now. They didn't want to let Lola—therefore, Derdir—know about it. Lola wasn't at any risk of dying, so there wasn't a need to put her inside. She was also the reason they were away from the village. Letting people see her…well, it would probably cause problems for Reina's group later, if word got out about her connection to the Demon Lord, however loose or one-sided it was.

"Big Sis?" She asked hesitantly, eyes slowly opening. She moved her arm, placing her clawed hand on the ground and pushing, only to wince immediately after.

"Try not to move." Reina soothed. "You're still hurt pretty badly."

"Oh…" Lola complied and settled back down. Under the blanket, her arm crossed over her. "My armor…"

"We had to take it off to see your injury." Reina told her. "Sorry. I know you're probably uncomfortable with a man nearby, but…"

It wasn't just her armor that was removed, but her shirt as well. Cleaned from blood and washed, it was being dried above the fire.

"I kept my back to you. Don't worry." Grim voiced from across the hut. His back was still toward where Lola rested.

"Mm." Lola nodded. "How long was I asleep?"

"Most of the day." Reina said. "It's almost night now."

"That's not so bad." Lola closed her eyes again.

Reina sat down next to her as the girl breathed softly. They'd done their best with the wound, but there was only so much they could do. A few HP potions helped, both gently poured down her throat and applied to the wound itself. They even treated her wing, though that did little to help. Still, Reina was concerned. It shouldn't have been that hard to heal.

"Lola," she began, "did that woman curse you?"

She didn't have that much experience with curses. The dead dragon that was polluting the lake in Gathana was the result of a cursed wound. Maria told her before that curse damage was resistant to healing, so she assumed it was something like that.

"No." Lola shook her head slightly. "That's…how my body is."

"Your body…" Reina mumbled. "Your father did that?"

"Yeah…no…sort of." Lola opened her eyes again, looking at Reina. "It's one of the costs of our transformation. Healing magic doesn't work well. Even potions are weaker."

"What? But Maria healed you before, when Grim cut you." Reina remembered that clearly.

Lola winced. "Small injuries can be healed a little, but not big ones. Sorry if you feel like I tricked you."

"No, you didn't." Reina didn't see if Meru healed on her own, or if she was even injured to begin with. Really, she was the one who tricked Reina, removing herself from the party to make it look like she died.

"It's not like we can't heal normally. Besides, Daddy made special potions to heal us if we really—oh!" She perked right up, though she stayed on her makeshift bed. "I have a potion in a pouch. Did you see it when you took off my armor?"

Reina shook her head. "There was a potion in a bag, but it was broken."

"Oh…Daddy will be upset about that." Lola murmured.

"I'm sure he'll be happy you're alive." Reina asserted, getting a nod from Lola.

"He will be." Lola agreed. "But I was still careless with it."

They shared another silent moment. Soon enough, Vyrdrun let them know the food was ready. Everyone got their portion, with the remainder of the pot being used for Kuromo to eat out of. Reina got a second bowl for Lola. She returned to sit next to the girl again, bowls in hand and a few skewers resting on top of them.

"You should eat if you can." Reina said, scooching a little closer.

"Okay. Thanks, Big Sis." Lola said. With Reina's help, she sat herself up and leaned back on a propped-up pack. Maria wandered over, sitting on the ground and keeping Reina between her and the draconic girl.

Reina helped adjust the blanket to keep Lola covered. Lola looked at the bowl absently, though a small smile appeared on her face.

"Hey, Big Sis?" Lola looked up from her food. "Thanks for not killing me."

Reina had taken a bite of her meat, only to enter a coughing fit. Maria patted her back to help it down. "W-What?" She sputtered out the word. "Why would I kill you?"

"Because we're not really friends, even if I want us to be." Lola replied.

"I'm not a murderer." Reina said evenly. She recalled the people she did kill, or the ones her party killed. The closest they came to murder were the templars outside the spirit location they teleported to after Keston's Wave. Even then, it was for their own safety, seeing how the group that went with them to the Wave turned on them. It wasn't out of hate or vengeance. That was a line she was thankful she hadn't crossed. "Why would I kill you?"

"Because even if I pretend we're not, I know you still see us as your enemies." Lola told her.

That was true. Derdir was still the biggest threat to her. But, that didn't mean he was an active threat. She did see that.

"Not all of you." Reina eventually replied. "Just your father. Maybe Maphai, too."

What Derdir did couldn't be ignored. Killing an entire city for reasons she still wasn't too clear on, even if she was one of them.

Lola let out a small laugh. "She does get angry easily, but I know she cares about us. Just be careful around her. She might—"

"Rip my head off. Yes, I know. You and Meru already told me." Reina told her.

"But you know I do what Daddy wants, right?" Lola asked. "Doesn't that make us enemies, too?"

Reina had to think about how to answer that. She didn't want to let out her plan for Lola, to help peel her away from following Derdir's orders.

"You're his daughter, right? Of course you'll do things that he asks you to, even if they're wrong." Reina began. "Though, because of that, you did save our lives by being here for the Wave. Meru did, too. In fact, she saved Ma—my life, personally."

Reina almost slipped up on that. Meru wanted her to claim that it was her life she saved, not Maria's, and still during the Wave.

"Of course she did." Lola nodded in complete understanding, though Reina doubted that. "You're important, Big Sis."

"She sure is~." Maria added in, leaning against Reina.

"Besides, didn't you protect Reina from some monsters?" Grim voiced from across the hut. "You said your father didn't want you fighting needlessly, but you did because you like her, right?"

Reina gave him what she hoped came across as a death glare, even if he couldn't see it. "Who are you and what have you done with Stoic Grim?" It did help with what she was trying to do, so she didn't comment on what he said. Still, the teasing almost made her want the Grim she first met back, before he got more comfortable around them.

"My point is, I owed a debt. Two of them." Reina continued on. "If I let you die, or even killed you after you protected us, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Lola smiled. "Thanks, Big Sis."

They settled into an easy conversation while they ate. Reina explained what happened after the Wave. After making sure Lola was okay, or at least not going to bleed out, they set about cleaning up the field.

Thanks to their efforts, there were no casualties in this Wave. A few wounded, but healing spells were enough to get them well. The damage to the village wasn't that bad either, aside from the houses crushed by falling monsters. The villagers were so thankful, they offered a cart as a gift, but Reina declined. The village would need it more than them, and she didn't think Kuromo would even consider pulling it. She could bring out a spirit to pull the cart for them, but…that just didn't seem right to her.

Reina got weapon forms from the monsters, plus the tokens that came with them.

Armored Skeleton Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: defense 6

Wraith Amulet
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: spiritual attack resistance (small)

Skeleton Dragon Crosier
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Spirit Stat Adjustment (small), Spirit Stat Allocation (small), MP recovery (medium)
Equip Effect: Bolster Undead, MP Siphon

The normal monster weapons were pretty self-explanatory, with the Armored Skeleton Totem having a high defense stat and the Wraith Amulet having a high magic stat. Reina assumed the equip bonus on the Wraith Amulet would help against attacks by incorporeal undead, like from the monster she got the weapon from.

The boss weapon had the highest magic stat yet. Following the theme of Turn Undead, she assumed undead under her control would be sturdier. She was able to verify that somewhat with her zombie spirit, which did get a stat boost. MP Siphon was discovered on accident. When Maria went to heal one of the villagers, Reina's MP increased slightly. If it didn't also ever so slightly decrease Maria's healing, it would have been a hugely beneficial ability. As it was, it was still good.

The two equip bonuses were the real prize. They both added a feature to when Reina initially forged a spirit. Spirit Stat Adjustment would allow her to rearrange some of the stats of her spirit, like a backwards-working Dragon Hourglass. There was a limit to how many stats could get moved around, but the 'small' modifier meant it could be increased later.

Spirit Stat Allocation was a bit different. At the cost of Forge Points, Reina could directly increase stats of her spirit. That meant instead of adding abilities that might be useful, she could increase its defense, attack, or any other stat. It would give her more options to work with. Since that was also 'small', the efficiency of Forge Points to stats would probably improve, since there wasn't a limit to how many points she could spend.

The armored skeleton tokens increased spirit defense and the wraith tokens increased magic. She got another boss token as well. With three of them now, the stats gained from equipping them were pretty good, especially since they increased all her stats. It still wasn't as good as a few of the tokens increasing one stat, since she had so many of those, but the total increase was nearly as high.

However, that only took into consideration one part of the stat increase. She hadn't noticed it before, but the boss tokens also increased her spirit's stats directly. As she got more, she'd be more and more inclined to use her strongest weapon form with the boss tokens, keeping other forms geared up and ready if something specific came her way.

Lastly, Reina did get a good item drop from the boss. It was another staff, one for Maria. It was…

Staff of Death
quality: good
special effects: Drain Life, MP up (medium), necromancy up (small)

…Well, it was a strong staff. Plus, it sounded like Maria would need less healing, so that was a plus.

Reina didn't discuss the specifics of her gains with Lola, but the girl did see the staff on Maria's back. She even asked to see it, which Maria agreed to.

"Hm." Lola smiled as she examined the staff in her hands. The thick wood looked rotted, but was sturdier than any spear. The top, thankfully, didn't have a skull on it, but instead of jagged piece of black onyx. "Sister Maphai would like this."

"She didn't strike me as a magic user." Reina commented as Lola gave the staff back to Maria.

"She has a few spells she likes to use in a fight, but she mostly makes undead for Daddy." Lola said. "It's what she did to all the dead people in Savia."

"Oh…" Reina tried not to let it show on her face, but inwardly she was shaken. The queen took back the capital, that much she knew. There was talk of her army fighting against a horde of monsters, though it didn't specify what. She thought it was those small dragon-dinosaur things Derdir brought with him then, not…

"She reanimated all of them?" Maria asked, no hint of amusement in her voice.

"Yeah." Lola nodded. "They were going to rot anyway, so Daddy let Sister Maphai use them.

"They were people!" Reina shouted, startling Lola, though she didn't look afraid. "They should have been buried or cremated."

Lola tilted her head to the side. "Burn the city down?"

"No, just…" Reina wanted to go on, but she quickly realized it was pointless.

It wasn't that cremation wasn't practiced here—Maria mentioned it was either that or burials, that latter more common for nobles and the like, though they used a tomb—but there would be no reason for Lola and her family to do that. They exterminated the city, not conquered it to keep. Even if they wanted to keep it, it wasn't like those monster that were there wouldn't get hungry.

"But still." Maria spoke up after Reina quieted down. "All that death, just to get Boss moving and to kill one person. I'm sure you can see how…excessive that was."

That was putting it mildly.

Lola looked away from them, a frown on her face. Surely she must have realized that as well. It wasn't just adults that lived in the capital. Children were there…

Before she could focus on the implication of that, Lola murmured something.

"Huh?" Reina leaned forward slightly to hear her better.

"…It was worth it."

Reina could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Killing thousands of people was worth it?" She certainly couldn't hide the anger in her voice.

"Boss…" The gentle hand of Maria on her shoulder did nothing to calm her.

"Tell me." Reina gritted her teeth. "Did he take more children and experiment on them, too?"

Lola answered her question with a harsh glare. "Daddy doesn't do that!"

"What about you? What about your 'brother'? What about your other 'siblings'?!" Reina started to yell. "You told me the transformation can only work on kids younger than 13! He did that to you!"

Something in her had snapped. She knew she shouldn't be getting mad at Lola, or at least not show it, but hearing what this girl said about all those people, the children that were killed, and her denial of reality, it was just too much.

"You don't know anything, Big Sis. We're stronger now, more than we could ever be on our own." Lola gave Reina a hard look.

"That doesn't make it right!" Reina yelled as she stood.

Lola jumped to her feet as well, the blanket falling from her. Neither she nor Reina cared about the sudden nudity. "It was the best thing that could have ever happened to us!"

"Being taken in to be warped into whatever he wanted, just so you could help him kill people!? To be made into killers!?" Reina shouted.

"That's not what happened!" Lola shouted back.

"Then what did happen!?" Reina demanded, yelling furiously. "He made you into this!"

"That's because I asked him to!" Lola yelled right back.

Reina's voice was caught in her throat. Lola had asked for this? No, that couldn't be right. Even if it was true, Reina remembered what Lola said back then. She was only 10 years old, not nearly old or mature enough to understand what it would mean.

Lola started to cough, then winced. Her clawed hand moved to cover her recovering wound. Reina saw a small amount of blood under her claw.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Lola said with a huff, once her breathing calmed down. She promptly plopped back onto the ground, letting out a slight groan of pain before grabbing the blanket once more.

"Lola—"

"Good night, Big Sis!" Lola turned her head away from Reina, her eyes screwed shut as she lay back down.

With their argument effectively over, Reina could see how she messed that up. She was talking to a child that was groomed to believe this was what she wanted. Yelling wouldn't accomplish anything. Lola wouldn't suddenly understand what she'd been a part of.

Both Reina and Maria silently moved back to the fire pit with Grim. The Hascain noble gave her a glance, before turning back to look over his equipment. Vyrdrun had already stood from his raised-earth seat and moved away a little, settling onto another rolled-out pelt to sleep on.

While not ideal, Reina might still be able to use her newest spirit contract. She tried using it earlier, but she couldn't will the spell/power to take effect. It seemed like it really was only when she was asleep.

"Hey, Maria?" Reina whispered to her girlfriend.

"Yeah, Boss?" She responded in kind.

"I can't really explain it right now, but I need to sleep close to Lola." Reina said.

She didn't know for sure, but Reina thought only those close to her would have their dreams seen by her spell. She only had one datapoint for that, but it was something.

Maria gave her a raised eyebrow in response. "I'll explain it later, I promise." Reina added.

Between gathering up all the monster corpses and seeing to the villagers, there wasn't really time to talk about it. No, that was a lie. There was time, but Reina didn't quite know how to begin. She let the moments where it would have been just the two of them slip by, and she didn't want to talk about what she saw with Grim and Vyrdrun nearby.

After just long enough to make Reina start to worry, Maria smiled. "Well, I'll be cold, but I think I can manage if it's just for one night. Maybe I'll sleep with Vyrdrun~."

Reina felt her eye twitch. "I know you're trying to make me jealous, and it's working."

Maria suppressed a laugh, keeping quiet. "I'm sure my big brother would be fine sleeping next to you, if you ask~."

Reina didn't respond beyond shaking her head. Maria got up and walked over to Vyrdrun, letting a hand glide across Reina's unarmored shoulders.

There was a lot to think about, the biggest being how far Derdir's brainwashing went. Perhaps any dreams or memories Reina happened to see would shed a little light on things.

Author's Notes:

This chapter is a little shorter than intentionally planned, but I think it ends at a good spot.

Trying to convince someone who's been doing something for years that they're wrong isn't easy. Reina will have to really plan that out, assuming something doesn't change.

Also, a reminder. Since FF is acting up again with email alerts, I do crosspost this on AO3.