"Hey, little man! You're late!" Khana called out to me.

"There's an hour left." I replied.

We spent the week traveling toward Melromarc. All in all, I'd say we were making good time. We were on schedule to reach Melromarc in under a week. Well, a few days before that, technically. We'd reach the capital in about that time.

"Hmm. Well, I can see you've been busy." Khana said, nodding with a smirk on her face.

Fohl and Atla had grown, Fohl more than Atla. Some fields we passed through had a lot of monsters, so we were able to gather up a lot of XP without slowing down too much. A bandit group or two may have also tried something, with predictable outcomes.

As a result, Fohl had risen to level 40 with Atla at 32. I figured it'd be best for them to grow completely before lowering their levels. Consequentially, Fohl looked about 16 years old and Atla maybe 13. It was more due to their (un)natural growth. Atla looked like she would grow up to be short, possibly in part due to her cured sickness. Fohl, on the other hand…

"This one's taller than you now!" Khana laughed, patting Fohl's head. The tiger girl didn't react much.

"Thank you, Lady Hammer Hero." Fohl replied, though it as somewhat neutral.

"Hm." Khana leaned down slightly, shifting her eyes between us. "Why is Fohl glaring at you?"

"No reason." I responded.

That was enough to set Fohl off. "You were petting Atla's ears!"

Khana covered her mouth, clearly amused. "How scandalous!"

"It was one time, Fohl." Maybe I wasn't paying attention. Maybe it was a long day of riding in the carriage. Maybe Atla was sitting next to me and I mistook her ears for a regular cat's. Who could say?

"Liar! You do it all the time!" Fohl turned to fully face me.

I looked away. "…It was an accident the first time." What? They were soft.

"You even try to pet me!"

I had no retort. Her ears were cuddly, too.

"Say something!" Fohl demanded.

"Atla likes it." I responded.

That was the wrong thing to say, since Fohl devolved into gurgling grunts and growls.

"Don't be mean to Mister Dante." Atla, who was on Fohl's other side previously, slipped between us and clung to my side.

"Oh~?" Khana was very amused.

So…I may have been mistaken about being mistaken. While she hadn't made any overt advances, it was clear Atla was more than a little fond of me. I couldn't understand why…beyond healing her body and giving her a chance at a good life. Yeah, I get it, but that was it. I told them plenty of stories about my life and all the illegal and morally ambiguous—if not outright wrong—things I did. Where Fohl grew more and more wary of me, Atla seemed more interested.

"Atla, stop clinging to him!" Fohl demanded.

"Don't be jealous, Sister." Atla replied. "Just admit you like having your ears scratched."

"No!" Fohl yelled. I had to wonder if she actually did like it, and was just refusing to answer. Her body language was all over the place so it was hard to figure out. The slave seal didn't react, so the answer was ambiguous enough.

"I had no idea you liked cat-like demi-humans so much." Khana added in. "Was it difficult for you when you traveled with us?"

I looked over at the cat demi-human Khana was no doubt referencing. Omir was more than used to Khana's shenanigans and gave no reaction. Not gonna lie, there was a small part of me that was curious, but it was more than easy enough to resist when I traveled with them. The fact that he was a grown adult and a man made it a non-issue.

If Fohl was a boy instead, would I still have to fight the urge to pet her? What about when she grew more? Hm.

"I see that look in your eye!" Fohl yelled, taking a step back.

"Relax." I waved my hand at her. "If I can resist petting Omir, I can resist petting you."

Fohl looked over at him. Her eyes seemed to be studying him. "So, I just have to be stoic and you won't pet me?"

"Sure." I had no idea if that would work, but I didn't think Fohl had it in her to pull that off. She was too easily riled up.

"You think Omir doesn't get his head patted from time to time?" Khana asked with a smirk. She promptly walked over to the cat-man, who closed his eyes in resignation.

"Ah!" Fohl gasped as Khana started playing with Omir's ears one-handedly. Truly, one needed a strong resolve to be with such an eccentric hero.

"See? He likes it!" Khana said. Omir gave zero reaction.

"That…" Fohl looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown.

"Alright, enough teasing." I told Khana.

"What do you mean?" Khana asked over her shoulder, her hand still working Omir's ears.

Before I could go on, Fohl spoke up again, her eyes accusing as they stared at me. "How long can you hold back your urges?"

" Dunno. A week?" I clearly wasn't going to get past this, so I decided to lean in.

"You can go that long?" Khana asked, seemingly satisfied with Omir and walking back over. "The way you were with me and Martin, I figured three days would be your limit."

I shot her a glare. "They're kids, Khana. Don't talk like that around them."

"Oh~." She had a playful smile on her face. "The smaller one seems to—"

I drew my finger over my throat. Khana stopped talking, but there was no way she took my threat seriously. The wide smile on her face told me as much.

In any case, yes, I could go that long for that, despite whatever Khana thought of me. I wasn't some sex maniac like her. Besides, I could always take care of that behind some bushes if I absolutely had to, which I hadn't. I wasn't about to say any of this in front of two children, the oldest of which being 11 years old, older body notwithstanding.

"Can we circle back to how I was late or something?" I changed the subject.

"Right!" Khana plopped her fist onto her hand. "So, here's what I was thinking…"

We went over the plan for the Wave. Khana had the idea of bringing along a bunch of adventurers and paying them with the spoils of the Wave. What spoils? The item drops monsters gave us. It was simple enough. An adventurer brings us a monster they killed, one of us would absorb it, and then we returned it with any items it gave.

Beyond that, there wasn't much to discuss—making Khana's accusation of our lateness moot. Zeltoble didn't really have nobles, or at least ones that would lend out knights, so we weren't getting any help there. But that was fine. We had over a hundred volunteers already.

As for me, I had bigger things on my mind. With only Khana here, I was going to get a bunch of XP. Today was the day I would finally reach level 51.

Yeah…I couldn't level up beyond 50, due to deal with goddess. It was automatically reduced with the Whip method. I knew this going in. Her enemies would sense the power of her champion, and that wouldn't end well. However, this restriction would slowly be lifted. I was limited to level 50 for the first set of Waves. Now that we were in the second set, I could go up to 100, then 150 for the third set, and so on.

It wasn't perfectly aligned with the start of each batch, since it was only today that I could go above 50. Othil had its second Wave about a week ago. That was in Lloyd's area, and he likely had Conrad with him. Since I wasn't ready for a confrontation with Conrad, or dealing with any of the fallout that would naturally come from killing a Vassal Hero, we didn't even meet up so I could register there. Lloyd would be at Shieldfreeden's next Wave to meet Naofumi, so we could do it then.

~The Right Man~

Just like Shieldfreeden's Wave, Zeltoble's wasn't difficult. And just like Shieldfreeden's Wave, there was no surprise attack or invader.

My goddess didn't give me any specifics, but she said I shouldn't have to worry about any invaders until a few sets of Waves came and went. She was pretty lowkey on the cosmic scale, but this world would eventually start connecting with ones her enemies had veteran champions on. If I got too strong too quickly, they would find out and send their champions, jumping worlds a bunch and getting here much sooner. They could either go after me then, or wait until we connected to their world so their levels in both could combine. I had to make sure I was ready by then, and having a Holy Hero boost my growth would help.

The most common monster in this Wave was goblins. About as tall as Atla was now and wielding crude spears, they didn't pose much threat. The next after them were shadow kobolds—not the Japanese-style dog ones, but the small, reptilian type. Stabby little things with a pair of daggers, they also weren't strong.

This did give me another chance to play around with a new weapon. It was from the axe I picked up in Zeltoble.

Raider Axe
(abilities unlocked) Equip Bonus: attack 1
Equip Effect: Dual Axe

It made a copy of itself that I could use in my left hand, same stats as the original. Unfortunately, when I copied the effect with the Hammer method, it didn't produce a copy of the new axe; it was still dependent on the Raider Axe. The smelting ore for it was common enough, so it could still use it. Plus, I applied Returning to it, so I could throw it at enemies and still keep an axe in my hand.

The boss of the Wave was a troll. It wielded a large club that was thicker than my head. But, with two heroes and their parties, it too wasn't difficult. It was easier than the mummy from Faubrey's Wave, actually, even with its regeneration ability.

With that, I got another axe to use.

Troll Axe
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: attack 5, HP regeneration (small), skill "Great Cleave"
Equip Effect: Berserk

It had good stats and the abilities were pretty straightforward. The skill was actually a sequence skill after Cleave. It dealt a little more damage than a normal attack—already better than Cleave—and let me hit more enemies in a wider sweep. Berserk gave a good bonus to all my stats, but didn't allow me to use any spells or skills besides Cleave and Great Cleave.

Still, since it was from a Wave boss, it would upgrade pretty well. Like the Mummy Axe, I also couldn't put the effect on too many other axes with the Hammer method before I lost access to it, so I would hold off on that.

I did indeed get a lot of XP, as did my party. A few more levels all around, the most going to Fohl and Atla due to their lower levels. Pretty soon, they would finish growing and I could stop worrying about their clothes. I had spoken with a tailor in Shieldfreeden about it. He said it would be best to wait until they finished growing, or the clothes would be a constant slow drain for them. It was a bigger deal for Fohl, since I knew she could transform—probably—but both of their fighting styles revolved around fluid movement, so less armor was better. The clothing would provide some defense.

Fohl was not happy that Atla came to the Wave, but the younger sister wouldn't hear otherwise. She had levels, and she'd convinced Fohl to give her some instructions when it came to fighting. Honestly, I didn't know what Fohl expected would happen when Atla asked for that. Still, Atla wasn't that used to combat. Her body had only recently recovered enough to move around like that. Fohl stayed near her for the whole Wave, fighting with a pair of gauntlets, while Atla used her natural talent with lifeforce unarmed, if slightly sloppily. Rato was with them, and the three of them acted as the rearguard of our formation, with me and Hailey as the vanguard.

The irony of using that term wasn't lost on me.

After we completed the Wave, we went back to the city, celebrated, spent the night in beds instead of the carriage, and then continued on our way.

~The Right Man~

"I told the witch doctor, I was in love with you."

"Gweh-gweh-gweh-gweh!"

"I told the witch doctor, I was in love with you."

"Gweh-gweh-gweh-gweh!"

"And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do, he told me—"

"Why do you keep singing weird songs!?" Fohl demanded.

To be fair, I had gone through a huge selection of songs on the road here.

"Hailey likes it." I pointed out. "She really likes it."

"Filolials still like music, Sir Axe." Rato reminded me.

Hailey had taken to bobbing her head during most of my songs. In a few, like this one, she would even sing along on parts that she could.

"And Atla likes it." I added.

"That's because she has a crush on—" Fohl was interrupted with a quick jab to her side, curtesy of her sister.

Yeah. I was really mistaken about her affection before. Again, no overt moves outside of the occasional and situational arm grab, no attempts to sneak into my bedroll, but she did make it a point to be close to me. Like right now, she was directly behind me in the carriage, with Fohl sitting next to her. The only reason she wasn't next to me was because we were close to the border.

She also skillfully made physical contact in a way that didn't arose suspicion. It was usually when we were setting up camp for the night. She would walk past me and do something as simple as place her hand on my arm for a moment, as if she was making sure she didn't collide with me. I didn't think Fohl caught on, though she still didn't like any physical contact between Atla and me.

"I'm blind, not deaf, Sister." Atla told Fohl. "Mister Dante's singing is wonderous."

It took everything I had not to laugh. She had a surprisingly great sense of humor. Maybe I could maneuver her into being more of a yes-man. Fohl could be the one that always disagreed with me. It could work.

"Rato? Your opinion on my singing?" I asked the last member of our merry band.

"I think you carry a tune well enough and are capable of holding true to the original style of the song." She didn't look up from her potions.

"Oh Rato, you know just what to say to put some pep in a man's step." This change in our interactions was fun. Fohl really helped out, even if she didn't mean to. I was pretty sure Rato found some amusement in giving backhanded neutrality and Fohl's inability to find someone who agreed with her.

This was fun. Of course, it was about time for us to get serious.

Someone with two hakuko slaves was approaching the boarder wall of a country that hated demi-humans, with hakukos likely near the top of the list. There were several ways this could go, depending on the loyalty of the knights and if they received any advance warning/commands about me.

"What is that heavenly music?" Said one of the guards.

"It is as if god himself came down and blessed us with this tune." Said the other.

I couldn't actually hear what they were saying. They were too far away. They also probably couldn't hear me singing. I just liked to think that.

Just because we needed to get serious didn't mean I had to act it. I just had to be ready. Still…

"I wish I had bagpipes." I sighed.

"Bagpipes?" Atla peeked out next to me.

"Yeah. An instrument I learned to play. It's…well, what its name implies. Fill a bag with air, squeeze it, and sound comes out of a few pipes." I explained.

"I think I saw an instrument like that once." Fohl said, having recovered. "Yeah, it was being played by a sheep demi-human."

How fitting.

"Alright, get back." I told Atla. "We'll see how this goes."

"Yes, Mister Dante!" She immediately pulled back and sat next to her sister.

"Rato." I looked to the alchemist.

She nodded and chanted out a spell. "All Zweite Guard!"

The effect washed over the five of us. If things went south, at least they would have some protection.

Hailey pulled the carriage up to the gatehouse, which was closed. The torches were already lit with the sun nearing the horizon. One of the guards held up his hand, halting us.

"What business do you have here?" He asked. The butt of his spear was planted on the ground.

I couldn't see any identifying marks on him, such as a rosary for the church, so I opted for a bit of honesty. "I am Dante MacRory, the Axe Hero. I'm here to register at the hourglass and fight in the Wave."

"The Axe Hero?" The other guard scoffed. "We don't need one of the Seven Stars here. The Cardinal Heroes have already been summoned."

"I'm aware." I said plainly. "Regardless, I am registering at every hourglass I can to fulfill my duty as a hero."

"Your duty isn't here, hero. Turn your carriage around and leave." The first one commanded.

I could hear the sheer contempt in his voice. They were very likely members of the Three Heroes Church.

"No." I said.

"What?" The first one had a moment of confusion before it turned to anger.

"No. I will not turn around. You are impeding a hero's work. Now, open the gate and stand aside." I told them.

The two guards stepped back and angled their spears at us. Specifically, Hailey. "Archers!" One of them called out.

Not a moment later, eight knights on the battlements looked over, three on each side of the gatehouse and two inside. Bows were out and arrows were drawn.

"Last chance." One of the guards said. While he looked angry, the other had a smirk. "Leave now or be considered a criminal of Melromarc, hero."

It was pretty clear where their loyalties lay. I slowly stood from my seat.

"Meteor Axe V!" And in one swift motion, I pulled the Axe from my back and swung up. A large slash of energy collided with the battlements, causing stone to crumble and yells of panic. Two sets of XP entered my vision. The third knight on that side of the gatehouse must have survived. "Back, Hailey!"

"Gweh!" Hailey shoved the carriage back, causing it to lurch. I used the momentum to jump forward, landing between her and the two knights on the ground.

"Bastard!" One of the knights thrust with his spear, getting a glancing blow on my armor. I hardly felt it.

"Erst Chop V!" With a heavily improved Mummy Axe, killing him in one strike wasn't difficult. If he had a class up, he didn't progress much farther than that.

"Gweh!" Hailey's cry was accompanied with the loosing of arrows. I couldn't check just yet how many struck her.

"Faust Heal!" Rato cast her spell, healing Hailey.

"Call for he—" The second knight on the ground couldn't get his warning out fast enough.

"Second Chop V!" My axe bit into his armor, halfway down his torso. "Circle around!"

"Gweh!" Hailey heard my command and pulled the carriage, turning sharply. She began to run in a wide circle off the path.

"Hn!" At this angle, the knights above could still hit me, even if I pressed myself against the gate. One hit me in my leg, but the others were deflected by my armor.

I wanted to make sure these guys didn't report who was forcing their way through the border. It didn't look like I would be able to. Another knight leaned over the battlement I partially destroyed. More were coming.

"Cleave III! Great Cleave III! Rend V!" Instead, I opted to simply remove the gate from our path. Those three skills helped me cut through the gate, letting the cut section fall forward. We'd lose the top of the carriage, but getting them across first was a priority. Although, I had another idea.

"Hailey!" I waved her over as I shielded my body with the Axe. She started to line herself up. "Fohl! Out the back! You're going up!"

Fohl leapt out the back of the carriage and ran toward me. I quickly moved to the broken battlement. With my strength and her ability, I had no doubt she'd be able to reach the battlement. I would join her soon after.

"Rato, hide the carriage near the road and wait!" I quickly called out.

Hailey sped past a few seconds later before Fohl reached me, an alarm sounding as she cleared the gatehouse. The top of the carriage broke off after hitting what was left of the gate.

With my hands folded, Fohl hopped onto my waiting hands and was flung upwards. She easily cleared the top and immediately started fighting, giving me a little break on that side. The arrows didn't stop falling from the other side, but the spell, my armor, and my large HP pool kept it from being exceedingly dangerous.

I pulled out a potion and downed it, giving me a little relief. Then, I swapped weapons to the one I used to infiltrate that noble's manor and swung it up and over the battlement. When it was taut, I started scaling the side. Fohl had made it to the gatehouse, giving me a little more relief.

It took less than half a minute to make it over, only for reinforcements to come from the direction opposite of the gatehouse.

"Meteor Axe V!" I stepped to the edge of the battlement, switched back to the Mummy Axe, and unleashed my skill after getting a full view of the reinforcements. Another wide energy slash took care of the four incoming knights. With no more nearby, I turned around to assist Fohl.

She was handling herself well. The time she spent in the coliseum did wonders for her combat ability. Still, we didn't have time to waste. We needed to clear this place of everyone who saw us and then quickly meet up with the others.

"Erst Chop V!" I swung at one of the two knights she was facing, the one she pushed back. He died quickly. The other wasn't faring well in such close quarters with his sword.

"Glk!" A thrust to his throat forced him to his knees, and my axe's blade easily chopped off his exposed neck.

"What about down below?" I quickly asked as I charged the helpless archers just outside.

"That's where those two came from!" Fohl gestured to the two sword-wielding knights. Sure enough, the two archers were already dead near the open windows.

"Got it!" I made short work of the knights, only one having the chance to draw a sword before being cut down. This side only had two knights running at us nearby, with more much further down.

My aim wouldn't be so good at such a long range, so I switched weapons again. This one gave a decent boost to my magic stat. I then chanted out a spell.

"All Faust Fire Shot VII!"

While she didn't have a head for magic, Fohl knew multiple languages and was more than capable of helping me learn Shieldfreeden's better. Rato knew the language, too, but Fohl was better at teaching me. Figuring out the spell tomes with Rato was much easier with her help. That allowed me to add the 'all' variant to the Fire Shot spell I got from the crystal ball.

Being Faust level, it wasn't strong enough to kill the two incoming guards outright, even with the boost. A second casting, however, did the trick.

And that wasn't the only thing I learned on our way here. "All Faust Speed VII!"

I pulled a pair of cloaks from my item drops and shoved them in Fohl's hands. With that, I grabbed Fohl and jumped off the side onto the Melromarc side. My knees screamed at me when I landed, but it saved us time running down the gatehouse and I was confident I could handle it.

Fohl and I ran at full speed next to one another, putting a huge distance between us and the gatehouse. Thankfully, there were no other knights or guards on this side. And with the cloaks, they wouldn't be able to see Fohl's tail as we ran. Some of the ones on the battlements farther away might have, but if I went to kill them, I'd probably be going for a long while. At the very least, none were close enough to properly identify my flashy skills as skills and not spells of some sort.

We didn't stop running for five minutes. There were no knights on our tail, mounted or otherwise, so I figured we lost them. Still, I'd need to do a little finagling. We could torch the carriage and teleport out after I absorbed everything we couldn't carry, of which there was little. I'd buy another carriage in the next village I came to, bring everyone back, and continue on our way.

Was breaking through and killing those knights the best course of action? No. Was I instead going to spend days searching for an alternate route, possibly through some mountains like in the novels? Hell no. Was I going to suffer some consequence from this? Possibly, if we missed someone.

"Was that the first time you killed people?" I asked the only question I needed to as we caught our breath.

"Y-Yeah…" Even if I didn't have Fohl's slave seal, I could tell by looking in her eyes.

"You did nothing wrong." I put my hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but she didn't try to push me away.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I know."

"Do you regret it?" I asked, looking around once before I started carefully pulling the arrows out of me.

"No." Fohl answered immediately, then assisted me. "They fired arrows at us. They could have hurt Atla. They had it coming."

Again, no reaction from the slave seal. She knew what it meant coming to Melromarc. I made sure to tell her and Atla as much. Even so, I hadn't yet told them about their uncle. Maybe I was just putting it off, but I wasn't quite sure how to explain it to them. He hated hakukos the most out of all demi-humans, so I would need to broach the subject carefully.

I probably wouldn't be able to, but I would try.

"I think this calls for a celebratory song." For now, I would switch back to a more cheerful persona.

"No." Fohl rejected the idea. "We can't let our guards down yet."

I smiled. "Fair enough." At least she had a legitimate reason.

Once the arrows were out and I downed another potion, we started jogging. It didn't take too long for us to find the rest of the party, Hailey giving a squawk upon sighting us. When we got closer, Atla ran right toward us.

"Sister!" She called out, wrapping Fohl in a tight hug. Fohl looked completely unprepared for the assault. It took her a couple seconds until she returned the embrace.

I could only smile. I didn't doubt that Atla loved Fohl, despite all the little jabs Atla had been giving her. Though, if I still had arrows in me, Atla's attention might have shifted. Blind or not, she could probably sense my injury, or at least smell the leaking wounds. Once she was done checking on Fohl, Atla did hug me as well. For once, Fohl didn't make a face at her sister's fondness for me…much.

From there, we quickly settled on our plan.

Hailey gave me the saddest eyes I'd ever seen on her when I told her the fate of her first carriage. She refused to move it to a more secluded area, going so far as stomping her feet. I had to promise her a better carriage, one she could pick out, before she finally relented.

"Sir Axe." Rato spoke up as Hailey pulled it along. "Would it not have been better for you to scale the wall at night and find a place to set your portal skill? We would have needed a new carriage regardless, but there would be less scrutiny."

"…Oh." Yeah. That would have been a better plan. I pointedly ignored the look Fohl was giving me.

Honestly, I didn't think we would actually be turned away, let alone have to fight. That last part was partially my fault, but only partially. They pointed their weapons at Hailey. Melromarc was in enough trouble without starting a fight with a Seven Star Hero. Even if the knights were religious zealots, surely they would have seen reason and I immediately saw the flaw in that idea. I forgot just how zealous this place could be.

Oh well. Too late now.

Author's Notes:

No, I didn't just think of the alternate way into Melromarc right at the end. What are you talking about?

Anyway, now that Dante's totally justified actions have been resolved without any repercussions, we are now in Melromarc. Yay!

Next chapter will have Naofumi…with a twist!

Also, I'm thinking I'll do 2 updates every Sunday. One will be either "The Right Man for the Job" or "Forging Legends", and the other will be either "Overlord of the Shield" or "A Quiet Girl's Demonic Protector". One big (~4000 word) and one small (~1000 word) chapter shouldn't be too bad. We'll see how that goes for a bit.