After cleaning up a few of the remaining monsters from the wave, and leaving with the promise that the knights would be able to clear out the rest, they were back in Brandt's home in the village.
All of the villagers had been allowed to go back to their homes now that the wave was over. Liera wasn't present, making sure that everyone got back to their homes safely, and that any damage that may have been caused to them was noted down to be repaired.
Kurose had also realised his mistake during the wave. He had not assigned any points to the Fireball Charme, making it less effective than it should have been. Then again, he had used it sparingly, and against the boss, he felt it wouldn't have been super helpful. He had been annoyed with himself for a bit after that, but eventually let it go. Everyone had been fine, and they had no casualties. But he desperately needed to remember to assign points to spells.
A few of the knights around the city had also taken to gathering up all the monster remains from the waves, and had allowed Kurose and Eorna to dig through them, allowing them to unlock new forms. As it turned out, they had gotten a lot of them. The weapon forms were all pretty decent as well, offering decent stat boosts, or just plenty of skills and resistances. Kurose had plenty to go through.
Interdimensional Cerastes Ring 0/15
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Skill; "Acid Spray"
Equip Effect: Poison Resistance (Small)
.
Interdimensional Harpy Feather Scarf 0/10
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Skill; "Feather Volley"
.
Interdimensional Harpy Parasol 0/15
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: +5 agility
Equip Effect: Paraglide
.
Interdimensional Stymphalian Parasol 0/10
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Skill; "Exchange"
.
Interdimensional Odontotyrannos Hide Scarf 0/10
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Fire Resistance (Small)
.
interdimensional Odontotyrannos Meat Ring 0/10
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Strength Increase (Small)
.
Just these weapon forms left Kurose with plenty of new skills, giving him much more to do during battle rather than swing his parasol wildly. The equip bonuses on some of the weapon forms were also good for general use as well.
And that wasn't even getting into the best weapon form he had got from the horn of the boss.
Interdimensional Odontotyrannos Horn Amulet 0/20
(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Skill; "Horn Strike"
Equip Effect: Horn Leech, Pierce Resistance (Small)
It had the most Lapidary slots he had seen on any weapon form, and the weapons stats were great. He was definitely going to have to look into better quality gems to fully power it up. The only issue was he didn't really see how he could use an Amulet to fight, not unless he wanted to wrap it around his fist and punch with the horn between his fingers.
Thinking about it more, Kurose realised he really couldn't see himself doing that.
"Did you get anything good from the horn?" Kurose asked, turning to Eorna.
"Hm? Oh yeah! I got something called 'Horn Charge'" As she spoke that, she swapped to the Odontotyrannos Horn Dagger,
The handle of the dagger remained the same, with the blade instead being replaced by the twisting horn of the wave boss.
"Huh, any ideas what it does?" He asked, getting a shrug in return.
"Nope! But if it copies the boss, probably some sort of movement skill. Also got a few other skills, and some interesting equip effects. They might be interesting to use, but… when i have something like this," She motioned towards her currently equipped dagger before continuing. "I don't really see any point. This has a couple of interesting equip effects as well."
"Yeah, I mean, I got a poison resistance for one of my equip effects. If it was just an equip bonus, I would be happier with it." He spoke, earning a nod from Eorna.
"Exactly! If there was a way to transfer equip effects to different weapon forms, that would be pretty cool! I mean, you could make a custom weapon form for when you know you are gonna be fighting a ton of poisonous monsters!" Eorna spoke excitedly.
"Yeah, it would make that sort of stuff much easier." Kurose spoke with a nod.
They remained silent for a few more moments, with Kurose deciding to unlock the Odontyrannos Amulet first before Eorna spoke up.
"I'm still confused." She spoke slowly. "I mean, Amarita kept talking about how important heroes were, but I don't get how a Lesser Weapon is supposed to measure up to a Holy weapon, especially when you have more methods than me."
"Not really?" He began slowly. "I mean, I think you've been doing a better job than me currently. You can actually damage stuff without relying only on skills." Kurose pointed out.
"Well, yeah but that's because I have a dagger. I only have Skill and Magic Mastery. It doesn't exactly improve my own stats, does it?" She spoke quickly. "I mean, you have item enchantment, which boosts your stats by a percent whilst on that weapon form. And Lapidary just lets you improve your weapons however you want. Just how am I supposed to keep up? Am I supposed to just stack up equip bonuses and keep improving my skills?"
"That's…" Kurose didn't really have an answer to that. "I mean, I assume there are other ways to get stronger for us, other than just stacking equip bonuses. I mean, there's armor with effects, I'm sure you could probably get some sort of accessory as well to help out, plus you can keep leveling." He pointed out.
"I know, it's just, at some point it's going to take ages between levels, and you are just gonna keep improving, and I feel like I'll be left behind!"
Sera coughed at that, but didn't say anything. Neither Kurose or Eorna paid it any attention as they looked at each other.
"Well, there's got to be a way. I mean, the previous heroes obviously did something right, because I doubt that the Lesser heroes back then would have been mentioned, right?"
"...I guess you're right. It's just annoying. Why can't we just use each other's methods with each other?" Eorna whined.
"I have no idea. I mean, I would certainly love to have your method. Maybe there's some sort of way to swap methods between heroes? I'm not really sure." He spoke honestly.
Before he could continue, there was a knock on the door, and the same gray haired butler who had brought Kurose to the room previously bowed.
"Lord Brandt, heroes. I am glad to see you all well and safe." The butler began. "There is an important guest who wishes for an audience immediately, if you would accept."
"A guest? So soon after the wave?" Brandt spoke, his brow furrowing in concern. "Do you know who it is? Can they wait?"
The butler hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm afraid they cannot wait. The Jewelry Tools Hero was insistent on talking to you, and the other heroes, if possible."
"Fine. Please guide him here." Brandt spoke, lowering his head to the butler, who quickly moved away.
Kurose and Eorna paused, looking at each other. The other hero was late to the wave. Had he just arrived, or had he been present the entire time, just not taking part in it?
Brandt let out a sigh before nodding. "Accessory Hero, Dagger Hero. It is your decision if you want to meet him. I'm unsure of whether he knows about what has happened so far, so I will leave the decision to you."
Kurose already knew he was going to stay. He wanted to know where the other hero had been, but he turned to Eorna to see what her decision was.
"I'll stay. I want to know why he wasn't here for the wave!" She spoke with a frown. It seemed like they had the same thought.
"An understandable concern. I am curious about it myself." Brandt admitted with a nod,
A moment later, and the door opened behind Kurose and Eorna.
Kurose turned to look, catching sight of the person standing in the doorway. He had bright red hair, though whether it was natural or not, he couldn't tell. It was tied up into a small bun. The next thing that caught his attention was his amber coloured eyes.
"Yo." He spoke easily, waving lazily at the group. "So, to preface everything, I wanna apologize for not being at the wave."
"Didn't you register at the hourglass?" Eorna asked him with a frown.
"I did, just not the one here. I registered with the one in my country, and the one in Dajero. As it turns out, the border was pretty annoying to get through." He explained.
"What do you mean annoying to get through, Jewelry Tools Hero?" Brandt questioned him.
"No need to call me that. Just call me Matthias." He spoke with a wave of his hand. "As for what I mean, it seems like your country wants to shut itself off from everyone for some reason." He shrugged.
"Shut itself off…?" Brandt spoke to himself, shooting a quick glance at Eorna and Kurose.
"Now you," Kurose jumped as Matthias turned to face Eorna. "You must be the Dagger hero. Got the gem in your weapon, just like me, yeah?"
He raised his own weapon, a simple hammer with gold inlaid on the heads, with a cyan gem in the center.
"I am." Eorna spoke slowly, looking towards Kurose. "My name is Eorna Hurm." She introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you then Eorna. Where's the Accessory Hero?" He asked with a frown. "He's been summoned, I know that much. But I thought that they would be at the wave at least."
He looked around the room before settling on both Sera and Kurose. Kurose went to speak up, to ask how he knew he had been summoned, only for Matthias to point at him.
"Must be you huh?" He spoke to himself. "Got a… Necklace? Amulet? Whatever it is, it has a gem, can't really see any other option other than it being you." The man continued on, nodding his head.
"I am." Kurose spoke after a few moments. "My name is Kurose, Kurose Amiya." He answered slowly.
"Well, nice to meet you both, fellow heroes. Names Matthias, like I said before. I'm here to take you to both the other hourglasses, just to make sure you both go to the waves."
"That's fine." Kurose spoke immediately, nodding at that. Kurose had been concerned about actually getting to the other hourglasses, especially so with what Matthias had said about the borders, but it still left another question.
"How are you going to get us there?" She asked with a frown. "You said the borders have been shut down, so it's gonna be difficult right?"
It seemed that Eorna had the same question in her mind, but Matthias simply smiled.
"Yeah, difficult for normal people. Skills make it a bit easier for us to do that." He waved his hammer, his smile still on his face. "Mind inviting me to your party real quick? We won't go yet, as there's still some other things to talk about first."
Kurose shot Eorna a look, but she seemed just as confused as him. He also looked over to Sera, but did not expect him to know much about it, considering his surprise at their skills when he had first seen them.
He sent Matthias an invite, and he quickly joined with a nod.
"Now. What's going on?" He asked, turning towards Brandt. "Why have the borders shut down, why are there no knights helping out the heroes from King Ronald, and why haven't I been able to get into contact with him?"
Kurose grimaced at that, but it went unnoticed by Matthias, who continued to stare at Brandt. Brandt stared back for a moment before breaking eye contact.
"I would recommend sitting down then. It may take some time to explain." Was all he said, motioning for an empty seat.
Matthias looked between him and the seat before sighing and sitting down.
"Nothing good ever came from being told to sit down when talking to someone…" He grumbled.
By the end of the explanation, Matthias held a pained look on his face, but he still hasn't said anything through it all.
"So Ronald's dead, huh?" Matthias clicked his tongue at that. "Don't know how he died, but cant have been good for him regardless. He would much rather go out fighting with his weapon in his hand than however he did. My condolences for your country's loss."
Matthias sounded genuine in his condolences, enough so to surprise Kurose. He hadn't realized that the two were on good terms with each other. But then again, he didn't really know much about either of them. And with Ronald, he would never get to know more.
"From what it seems, the capital is essentially off limits to us right now, yeah?" Matthias asked with a frown. "That's fine, we can skip out on it for now. I can just party up with one of you two when it comes back to the wave. Speaking of that, how long till it comes back?"
"21 days." Eorna answered him, getting a nod in return.
"Got it. Palinfa has a wave in 3 days, and Dajero in 6. I'll get you registered to Palinfa first, then go from there. Sound good you two?" He asked Eorna and Kurose.
"Yeah?" Kurose spoke hesitantly. "I mean, as long as we register to the hourglasses, we will be fine."
"Yep. Oh, Sera! Are you coming with us?" Eorna asked, switching it up suddenly.
It made Kurose feel bad that he had completely taken Sera for granted.
"Huh? Why wouldn't I come with you?" He asked with a frown. "It's not like I have much here anyways, plus you're my friends."
"Great! Then we can get your stat adjustments sorted!" Eorna cheered before turning to Matthias. "That is fine, right?"
Matthias chuckled at that before nodding his head. "It is. I'll get some people to sort it out when we get back. Whilst he's getting his stat adjustment, there's actually some stuff I want to talk to you two about." He spoke with a nod.
Sera nodded his head towards Matthias, thanking him whilst Kurose sat there, thinking about what it could be.
"Right, I can't think of anything else we need to talk about here. Oh, actually. Do you mind if I register a portal here?" Matthias asked.
"A… what?" Brandt asked in confusion.
"My bad. Forgot you're not one of the nobles in Palinfa. They are used to me asking that. Got a skill that lets me teleport between areas i have registered. Do you mind if I set one here so that I can come back at a later date? It won't be exactly here, probably in the center of the village." He explained.
Brandt still seemed confused, but just nodded his head, deeming it to be safe enough to allow him.
"Great! I'll do just that, then I'll take these three out of your hair. Say your goodbyes and all that. I'll be in the village, near that bell in the center. See you all soon." With that said, he walked out, leaving the group alone again.
Brandt leaned back in his seat, letting out a sigh, whilst Sera just seemed confused.
"So that's a person who has been a hero for a few years? Are they all so… odd, like that?" Sera mumbled to himself.
His eyes moved towards Kurose and Eorna, and Kurose couldn't help but feel that Matthias had just brought down his reputation with Sera.
"Well then, heroes." Brandt spoke after a few moments. "I do apologize for everything that has happened to you in Ortensca during your stay, from being labeled as criminals to staying in the forest."
"None of that is your fault." Kurose spoke, waving it off. "If anything, it should be the prince who should be sorry for it. But even then, I get the feeling he's the type of guy to try and spin it on us."
"Yup, I agree. It's been super good here!"
Sera didn't say anything, but nodded, agreeing with what Eorna and Kurose had said.
"Regardless, I'm still sorry we couldn't do more to assist you. Whilst I can't promise anything big, know that you are always welcome in my land, regardless of what the current king says. If you need any help, whether it be fighting against the waves once more, or a place to stay, then we will welcome you with open arms." He spoke, bowing slightly.
"Thank you." Kurose spoke with a nod. "We appreciate it."
Eorna and Sera nodded at that, and Brandt smiled.
"Now go do your duties hero's. I'm certain you will succeed, especially so after fighting beside you. Take care of yourselves, and each other."
With that said, the group of three left the room, leaving Brandt alone.
He remained silent until he heard the front door shut before letting out a groan.
"What the hell is the king thinking?" He spoke out loud. "Shutting the borders, attempting to harm the heroes… all of it is nonsense. Let alone his attitude at the last meeting…"
He shook his head, reaching for an inkwell, quill and a stack of parchment. "It seems as if I have some letters to send out, especially so if the heroes are to effectively do their jobs…"
With another sigh, he got to writing, the room being filled with the sound of the quill scratching against the parchment.
Once they began making their way to the bell at the center of the village, they were greeted by an unexpected sight.
A small crowd had gathered in front of Matthias, primarily made of children, whilst the man was taking out items from his weapon. The items seemed to be balls and other such things. Simple things to keep the kids entertained.
Kurose was confused on where everything was coming from, but realised that the older hero had likely gathered a ton of mob drops over the years, and was simply letting go of a few.
He handed out a few more toys, waving off some of the children who were cheerfully playing with their new toys before turning around, catching sight of the group of 3.
"Yo. Ready to go then? Everyone's here?" He asked curiously, looking at the trio.
"Yeah, I'm ready!" Eorna spoke with a smile.
"Same here." Came Kurose's response.
"I'm just curious about what you are going to do." Sera asked curiously.
"You'll find out soon enough." Matthias responded to Sera. "Can be a bit disorienting at first, so be ready."
Before either of them could question Matthias about it, he raised his hammer into the air.
"Traversal Hammer!"
A bright light shone around them, and Kurose was blinded by it. He blinked rapidly, only to find that the location they were at now was completely different.
He stepped forward after a few moments, his hands resting on the balcony as it overlooked a spiralling city down below. There was a set of mountains in the distance, and Kurose realised almost immediately he had no idea where they were.
He heard Eorna gasp beside him at the sight, whilst Sera was quiet, staring at the city in shock.
"May I welcome you all to Palinfa." Matthias spoke, bowing to them with a grin.
"Palinfa!?" Eorna spoke in shock. "That's so far away! How did we get here so fast?"
"Was it something to do with that Traversal… whatever you said?" Kurose questioned, getting a nod.
"Yep, just that." Matthias answered with a nod. "I'll explain it some more, but we got a couple of things to do first. Gotta get your companion his stat adjustments done, andI wanna talk to you two for a bit about some stuff whilst that's happening."
Kurose nodded, and Sera seemed pleased to finally be getting his stat adjustments done. Kurose had to admit he was curious about the stat adjustments, mainly how they were done and all that, but it could wait. This wasn't going to be the last time that Sera did it, so he could wait.
"Unfortunately, we don't have any items to help your stat adjustments out." Matthias spoke towards Sera. "Last couple we had were used by the royal knights." He explained.
"It's fine. It's not desperately needed now, and I understand that you want to keep it to your own people." Sera spoke with a nod.
"Yeah, but you're still a hero's companion." Matthias answered back.
Kurose wasn't sure what the items Matthias was talking about were, but he decided to leave it for later.
They followed Matthias into the castle from the balcony, with Kurose taking note of the several paintings all spread along the wall. They all held one similarity, that being an older looking man in the center of it.
The difference in the picture was the person standing next to the man. In total, there were seven paintings, but the only one Kurose could figure out was the one that showed Matthias, looking younger than he currently was.
Matthias seemed to have noticed his attention was on the wall, and nodded. "Portraits of my father and his children. He always did enjoy having paintings done. Said it was a way to remember those who are gone from the world."
Matthias looked at each picture, a warm smile on his face at the two beside his own portrait. He looked at the two paintings above, his smile dropping only slightly, but it only fell fully when he looked at the bottom two paintings.
The two in those paintings looked similar, Orange coloured hair, which Kurose couldn't tell if it was natural or not, and seemingly displeased looks on their faces. Their father also seemed to hold the same displeased look, as if neither family member wanted to be close to each other.
"Ah, they must be…" Sera began to speak, but shut himself up almost immediately, though Kurose wasn't paying attention to him, instead focusing on Eorna
Eorna had a frown on her face, and Kurose remembered that she had a sister, back wherever she came from. Did she miss her? Kurose didn't know exactly how to ask her, so he left it alone for now.
"Right. Let's get going." Matthias spoke, a small smile on his face.
With that, the group of four began their journey through the castle in silence. The only interruptions they had for a while as Matthias guided them was the sound of their footsteps, and the occasional servant stepping to the side for them.
Once they were stood in front of a wide set of doors, Kurose couldn't help but feel that it felt familiar.
"Your majesty!" One of the guards at the door spoke, bowing. "I'm glad to see you return to us in good health."
Matthias gave him a smile. "Thank you for your concern. Could I trouble you to arrange a stat adjustment ceremony for one of our guests?" He asked the guard, getting a nod.
"Of course, that is perfectly fine! Would the one who is getting their stats adjusted please step forward?" The guard asked politely.
Sera stepped forward, and the guard looked him over before nodding.
"I'll have the necessary people gather the items required. May I know whether you are planning to remain here to watch, or will you be going elsewhere?"
"Elsewhere." Matthias confirmed. "If you could bring him to the meeting room in the south of the castle? I just need to do something else before we leave though, if I can come through?" He asked.
"We both know I can't stop you, even if I wanted to." The guard spoke with a shake of his head, stepping to the side.
"Still better to ask." Came Matthias' response. "Come along you two, let's get this sorted out quickly."
He motioned for Kurose and Eorna to follow him, and they did so.
"You both know how to link up to the hourglass, right?" They nodded. "Good. Same thing here, just link up then we can get to discussing some stuff."
They did just that, with both Kurose and Eorna lifting their weapons up to the hourglass, and getting the timer in the corners of their vision, just underneath the one for Ortensca.
With that done, they left the room, waving at Sera as they did. Matthias led them down several hallways, until they were eventually sat down in a room with a circular table in the center.
"Go on, take a seat. We are probably going to be here for a while. We have a few things I want to discuss with you about our weapons, as well as a few other things.
Kurose and Eorna did just that, both taking seats next to each other, whilst Matthias sat on the other side.
"Right. Well I suppose as the ruler of the country we are meeting in, and the oldest hero here, I declare this the first heroes meeting."
"Lady Marissa!" a man spoke, breathing deeply. "Lady Marissa, Master Tommy!"
"Beule! Calm down, take a moment to breathe, please." Marissa spoke, leaning down to put a hand on the man's back.
The young boy beside her stopped what he was doing, putting the wooden discs back into his bag before looking at the man curiously.
"What's wrong mister Beule? Has something happened?" He asked curiously, earning a shake of the older man's head.
"Nothing bad, I assure you Master Tommy. Thank you Lady Marissa." He stood up straight once more, straightening his uniform. "His Majesty has returned from Ortensca, and he is somewhere in the castle. A few servants came to me to announce his arrival, along with three other people who are currently unknown."
"Ah. I didn't think it was going to be so soon." Marissia murmured to herself. "No need to raise the alarms yet. If I'm correct, then two of the people with my husband should be the other heroes."
"Ah yes, he did mention that he had not received any communications from Ortensca. Then if it is the two heroes, then I assume that the third is likely a companion of theirs."
"Fathers back?" Tommy asked excitedly. That was the only thing the young boy had focused on, and Marissa nodded at him with a smile.
"Yes Tommy. Your father is back from his trip. If he's doing what he said he would, then he is likely in one of the meeting rooms in the castle."
"Can I go looking for him?" He asked, earning another smile from his mother.
"Yes dear, you can. I'll head to the eastern meeting room, Beule, would you mind checking the north meeting room?" Marissa asked him.
"Of course not, Lady Marissa." Beule spoke, bowing once more.
"And Tommy, you can search the south meeting room. You remember where that is, don't you?"
Tommy pouted at her, disliking being treated like a child, but nodded his head. "Yes I do. It's close to the hourglass!"
"That's good. If they aren't in any of those rooms, we meet outside the western meeting room, alright?"
"Okay mother." Tommy spoke respectfully.
"Go on. I know how excited you are." Marissa waved Tommy off, and he took off.
Beule and Marissa watched as he did, with Marissa shaking her head.