Yep, I did say that this was going to be a long chapter, lol.
Thanks Moto. Keep giving me awesome content in the future man!
Chapter Thirty-Two: Spear Party
A group of mercenaries was traveling across the delta of the Zeltoo River, close to where it emptied out into the ocean.
This area used to be where numerous tradeships from around the world would enter Zeltoble, going up the river to the nation's Capital City before the collapse of the city's trade. Beyond that, it was a marshy land, full of froths and low hanging weeds. A den for all sorts of monsters.
Or in other words, the perfect place to hunt.
"Rowrrrr!" A dragon took to the skies, mud dripping from its claws and blood falling from wounds on its side and face.
"Don't let it escape!" A tiger man with an eye patch over his left eye roared to his compatriots.
One of them nodded, waist deep at the back of a boat with a flat and sleek bottom that curved up at the front. A ring of small round shields lined the outside of the vessel. The soldier pushed his hands out over the back as he chanted a spell.
"Drifa Gust!"
The resulting sustained powerful blast of air propelled the speeding airboat over the surface of the water. Another hakuko, holding the rudder, strained to keep them upright as they traveled at tremendous speeds, alongside a dozen other airboats, which held more of the mercenaries.
The dragon roared in frustration at being pursued by the hunting party, and a ball of fire formed in its mouth as it prepared to attack.
"Air Strike Lance!"
From the lead boat, the armor-clad Spear Hero threw an energy projection of his Spear up at the creature.
Boom! "Grah!" The dragon reeled in the air as it barely managed to avoid the skill that'd blown up next to its head, tearing up more of its face plating.
"Ahahahaha!" Despite missing his target, Motoyasu laughed in delight as he rubbed his hands together. "This is great practice for high speed combat, I say!"
The dragon's eyes narrowed in the Spear Hero's direction. With a powerful roar, it unleashed a torrent of dragon fire down at its pursuers.
"Lean left!" Hou-Lon called out.
The hakuko manning the rudder pushed hard, and the warriors all gripped the side as the airboat and the ones to the left of it veered sharply, evading the fiery attack that smashed into the ground.
"Drifa Fireball!" From another boat, a large fireball launched into the air. The dragon's eyes narrowed, as it was largely resistant to fire and so it didn't change its course in the air.
Boom! "Grah!"
Unfortunately for it, being largely resistant did not translate into full immunity and the force of the explosion still caused it to stagger heavily and dip down.
"Ahahaha!" "This beast's going down!" "Take some of this, ugly lizard!"
The large beast veered to the right, steam coming off burned scales from its chest area as it desperately searched for an area to escape to while evading further wind spells and crossbow bolts launched at it.
During that moment of distraction, several hakuko on the other boats chucked nets into the air.
Most of them missed their mark and landed in the marshland's water, but one caught around a part of the dragon's left wing.
The great beast let out another shriek as its mobility was restricted.
"Second Lance!"
Motoyasu adjusted his aim for the second skill, but unfortunately, he missed the creature entirely. Damn, just how fast were they going?! They had to at least be breaking fifty or sixty miles an hour!
Thank the Gods he had plenty of SP to practice with!
"Dritte Lance! Lightning Spear! Meteor Thrust!" What the Spear Hero lacked in terms of precision and accuracy, he made up for with the sheer volume and variety of his weapon's toolkit.
He cycled through his list of ranged attack options, throwing out everything he had. Some came close to the beast and left small scratches, while others vastly missed the mark as the fight and the beast's attempts to escape continued to drag out.
Once more, Motoyasu had to internally lament Itsuki's absence, noting how this chase would be over in less than a minute with his aid.
But despite the prey's elusive movements and Motoyasu's continued fumbles to land a decisive hit, the hakuko's excitement and attempts to ground the fleeing monster didn't lessen in the slightest. More wind spells and bolts were hurled at the creature, with the hakuko on another airboat throwing a net attached to some rope that caught on its snout.
It ended up not doing anything besides throwing out those hakuko holding onto the rope from their ride and into the muddy marshes after the dragon's strength proved far greater than their own. But it did cause the beast to roar and mash its teeth in agitation.
And almost right afterward, Motoyasu finally hit his mark.
"Second Lance!" BOOM! "GRAHHHHH!"
The skill impacted directly against the large dragon's right wing, blowing it away entirely.
The dragon began to fall from the sky, even though it's still partially trapped left wing attempted to keep it airborne.
"And blast down my target with the fury of a hammer!" Hou-Lon, standing next to Motoyasu, tall and imposing, brought his hands up with a menacing growl. "Drifa Air Burst!"
A concussive blast hit the large scaly creature in the center of its back.
Its left wing broke from the strain of trying to keep it aloft, and the crippled green scaled dragon plummeted into the thick mud below. Sending a wave of it up into the air.
"Alright! Time to slay one of the only creatures worse than griffons in the world, I say!" Motoyasu cheered.
"Blondie couldn't have said it any better!" As the airboats turned to the sides, beginning to encircle the downed, but still formidable beast between them, the Spear Hero's Filolial Companion jumped off the shields from another boat. Her wings spreading out and allowing her to glide at high speeds towards the floundering body of the lizard.
Blue hadn't yet made her a set of armor, leaving her in her flowing dress. But the teenage girl had a wide grin on her face as her hands gripped a beautiful red tinted spear she'd gotten recently.
"Fire Steps!"
She disappeared in a flash of light, and the dragon cocked its head all around in desperation.
Too bad it was already dead.
Several pinpricks of light appeared around the massive creature, who didn't stand a chance as its front legs, back legs, and neck were all subsequently pierced through at the same time.
Boom!
Its body was then covered over by smoke from an explosion.
…
When the smoke had disappeared, the carcass of the great beast sat in a dry area of land. The swamp around it had evaporated, the scales of the dead creature glistening in the sunlight, with the exposed areas only partly cooked.
"This should be good enough to be brought back, right Blondie?!" Amber shouted excitedly as she bounced in place next to the dead dragon.
"Yes, Amber! Fantastic work as always, I say!" Motoyasu jumped down next to her and began patting her head.
"Ehehehe!" Amber giggled happily to herself, her wings fluttering wildly behind her.
Many of the hakuko mercenaries in the boats cheered. And, back in the original boat Motoyasu had been standing in, the one in charge of them slammed a fist against one of the Shields lining his boat, grabbing their attention.
"My men, now that this interloper has been dealt with, the marshlands are ours to claim once again!
"There is a chance we'll have to deal with any offspring this beast managed to have with the other monster species in the area during its short time here, and I ask you to be wary of engaging such creatures by yourselves, but otherwise…
"Have at it!" Hou-Lon bellowed.
"You heard Captain Fayon!" The eyepatch mercenary from before standing in his human form bellowed. "HUNT! SLAUGHTER! KILL!"
"HUNT! SLAUGHTER! KILL!" The other hakuko bellowed in response, unleashing ecstatic war cries as each boat separated from the circle.
Trackers on each one began sniffing deeply, taking in all sorts of scents to distinguish that of other monsters they could hunt within the area. And the warriors and mages not powering the airboats began resharpening their blades and going over their spells in preparation for later encounters.
The hakuko were on the move, and the scent of blood was in the air. Their faces twisted with snarls of anticipation and eagerness to fulfill their commander's demand as the war cries continued to sound, eventually fading into background noise the further away they got.
Motoyasu stood still for a moment during that.
Fayon, huh.
For some reason, the name sounded familiar…
...
Hou-Lon stayed poised for a moment longer, seeing each party become smaller and smaller, until at last, he relaxed. Letting out a soft chuckle as his boat lazily approached the great dragon's carcass.
"Thank you again for your help, Spear Hero. This creature was causing no end of trouble for me and my hunting parties." The older scarred tiger man jumped down in front of Motoyasu.
The man wasn't in his therianthrope form, but he was still staggering tall. His thick muscular arms and legs free of fur, revealing countless scars running across them. More scars were hidden under his clothes on his back and chest. Yet his face, free of any scars, held a bright smile.
Motoyasu shook his head, smiling back as he let the earlier thought rest. "It's no problem. I'm always up for the chance to show that Filolials are the superior species over dragons!" He gave the large, fiercesome mercenary captain a fist bump.
"Yeah, we're sooooo much better!" Amber happily waved. "We're beautiful and not ugly. We're craaaaaazy strong and don't cheat by keeping to the air and the like.
"And to top it off, we're way better than them!" The young girl posed proudly.
Hou-Lon nodded in acknowledgement, but stayed looking at the Spear Hero. "I know you helped slay the beast. Would it be too much to ask if you helped us bring it back too?
"You don't even have to ask." Motoyasu laughed.
In short order, Motoyasu used his Spear to cut apart and store parts of the slain beast into his weapon. In doing so, a little bit of some of the things were absorbed directly into his weapon, unlocking several new weapon forms for the Spear Hero.
Conditions Met! Welsh Dragon Scale Spear Unlocked!
Conditions Met! Welsh Dragon Claw Spear Unlocked!
Conditions Met! Welsh Dragon Fang Spear Unlocked!
Etc.
Blech, why was he getting so many new dragon weapons from this thing?! None of these weapons were even close to being as useful as what he'd gotten in the Filolial Series, I say!
Conditions Met! Welsh Dragon Heart Spear Unlocked!
Equip Bonus: Damage to Dragons Up (medium), Stamina Up (small)
…
NEVERMIND! This turned out to be a great boon!
Anything to make killing these vile creatures easier, I say!
"Is Blondie ok? Amber's never seen Blondie smile like that before." Amber spoke up beside the Spear Hero.
"Nothing to worry about, my darling angel!" Motoyasu said happily. "I simply found a spear that'll passively increase my damage against these abominable monsters in the future!"
"Truly!?" Amber's eyes sparkled with stars. "Is it possible for Amber to wield such a spear too?!"
"Ahahaha! Maybe, let's see if Blue and Ren ever get that good…" At saying his younger brother's name, Motoyasu's joy lessened just a bit, but he eventually shook his head and smiled.
His other bro was getting better by the day. It wouldn't be long till the two of them could have arguments over whether Filolials or Dragons were superior to each other.
Though Motoyasu truly believed that Filolials were the superior species over dragons, so such arguments would be for their entertainment only.
…
Eventually, after acquiring seven weapon forms he'd never use, and one weapon form he'd definitely equip solely so he could unlock its equip bonus, Motoyasu had the entirety of the monster stored away in his weapon.
"Forward!" And after jumping back onto the boat with Amber at his side, Hou-Lon directed the hakuko mage and rudder operator at the back to take them home.
—
You know, the 'airboats' the Hakuko used for their hunting parties were pretty cool.
They kind of worked off the same logic as airboats in Motoyasu's world. Except instead of a large fan attached to the back of a boat, there was a hakuko mage standing in a slot at the back of the ship, locked in place around the waist. He or she would use magic to blow powerful sustained gusts of wind behind them, whilst another hakuko kept his hands on a simple rudder to steer.
The sleek design of the boats allowed them to work on any water surface, even if said surface wasn't even an inch deep.
"Alright boys, we're approaching the land! Are we ready?!" Hou-Lon asked the other hakuko standing in the boat with him.
"Sir yes sir!" They all shouted.
Motoyasu and Amber, the only ones sitting down, grabbed onto their seats. The Spear Hero was already grinning widely in anticipation for the next surprise of these airboats.
"Ready… steady… now!"
"Zweite Gust!"
At Hou-Lon's word, the hakuko in the back aimed his next spell diagonally down instead of straight back, launching the boat into the air and out of the river.
The other hakuko pushed down on levers on the sides of the boat. Opening compartments in the underside, which revealed four sets of wheels. The rudder stick was also pulled out, being replaced with a console that had a steering wheel attached to it.
After a few seconds, the airboat, which flew surprisingly far thanks to its sleek design, landed with a jolt on the ground. Yet it didn't lose speed as the hakuko began to whoop and holler with glee.
Motoyasu and Amber both laughed in delight as well. "Would you look at that? It appears you didn't fall out this time, Spear Hero." Hou-Lon smirked at the blonde man.
"Of course not, gramps! I didn't even fall out the first time!"
"Yeah, only because I grabbed onto that ponytail of yours!" The man broke into a large beaming grin.
Ha, Motoyasu shook his head as he admired the airboat/airvehicle the hakuko mercenaries used to get around.
He didn't know too much of the history of them. In the little he'd asked Hou-Lon about them, he'd mentioned they were the favorite war vehicle of the hakuko. Allowing them to attack by land or by sea, like a flexible type of cavalry.
Against other people, it was pretty darn effective, even frustrating some of the Wise King's plans in the past until he figured out how to properly counter them.
Against the Waves… well, not so much.
It was hard for a cavalry charge to work when your enemies were incapable of feeling fear. So these days, they were mainly used as transportation by the hakuko.
Since they were the only ones still crazy enough to use these dangerous machines.
Motoyasu didn't know why no one else wanted to use them though! It was amazing! Almost as good as a race car, I say!
…
After several more minutes, and after clearing a hill, the vehicle began to slow down near the massive gleaming fortress that'd formerly been the underground of the Capital.
The blast crater from the meteor had long since been cleaned off but the surrounding land was still a mess. Motoyasu watched as the hakuko mage in the back stopped sending bursts of wind out behind them, gradually slowing the vehicle down as it approached a ramp leading down into the fortress.
After going inside, the ramp slowly raised back into the ceiling, sealing the top again on the surface.
Motoyasu and Amber hopped off with Hou-Lon inside a hangar, and immediately after, a familiar Panda woman, marching up in her therianthrope form, appeared to greet them. "Motoyasu, Hou-Lon, I take it the subjugation of the Welsh Dragon went well?"
"No need to worry, Commander. The Welsh Dragon that was terrorizing our hunting parties these last few days is dead." The large hakuko nodded his head.
"And so that nothing goes to waste, I brought all its meat and materials back with me in my weapon!" Motoyasu grinned widely as he gave the panda woman a thumbs up.
"I… see." Larsa took in a deep breath, fighting to keep a blush from appearing on her face as she smiled back at the Spear Hero. "Thank you again for the help. The next round of drinks will be on me."
"Sure thing, Commander. I'll make sure Taiba lets the rest of my men know about your generous offer as soon as he and the other hunting parties return." Hou-Lon let out a deep guttural chuckle.
Larsa opened her mouth, wanting to say she meant specifically for her and Motoyasu. Even Amber had gotten the hint and was going to say something to Tall Fiercesome Tiger Guy about it, but at that moment, a familiar graying lion man with a turban on his head approached Hou-Lon with a tense expression on his face.
"Yes, what is it Ronemar?" Hou-Lon asked, his fierce overbearing gaze returning in an instant.
"I'm afraid another one of my contacts in the guild has gone dark."
"… let me guess, Siltvelt again?" The tiger man asked.
"I'm afraid so. It was my contact in the drug rings specifically."
"... Very well. Captain, Spear Hero, if you'll excuse me." Hou-Lon nodded his head to each figure respectfully.
He then walked away with the old lion demihuman as they quietly exchanged some words in hushed whispers to one another.
"Drug ring? Anything I should know about there?" Motoyasu asked with a sour expression.
"Something to do with Hou-Lon's homeland in Siltvelt." Larsa explained with a shrug. "There used to be drugs used by some of the therianthropes in the death pits here. Nasty stuff. The majority of the supply chain died on the surface, and the rest were located and destroyed by Hou-Lon and his friend there immediately after. I'd assume they're making sure the drug network doesn't get reestablished somehow.
"Oh, and since I can see you want to ask, Ronemar is the ambassador of Siltvelt here in Zeltoble. He was a veteran of the last Silvelt-Melromarcian war and Hou's former squadmate. He helped me find him and save him from the death pits. And the two of them had been doing a lot of work together helping out the rest of the enslaved hakuko before this mess happened."
"Okay, thanks for that…" Motoyasu nodded, but had another random thought. "If there's drug rings in Siltvelt though, shouldn't you be helping out with that?"
"I already outlawed slavery and the death pits here, what more do you want from me?" The panda women snorted but then her expression turned serious again.
"I've long since turned my back on that demi-human supremist nation.
"It's not as bad as Zeltoble used to be... but it still has its own fair share of issues, and I just can't stand the place as it is now. Not when my attention is needed with the people here.
"Besides, that's what I rely on my friends for. It's none of my business unless it somehow does become my business."
"Oh… right." The Spear Hero grimaced as he recalled how eager the country's army had been to rush down the Melromarc forces even in the middle of a wave, until Naofumi was able to halt their advance and command them to fight the wave monsters instead.
To say the nation had issues that allowed something like that to occur was an understatement. "But then, they did help out a ton with the Spirit Tortoise." The Spear Hero pointed out.
Larsa shrugged. "Like I said, unless it becomes a serious issue, I'll trust my friends to be able to handle anything from there without my intervention.
"And for Hou-Lon, that drug issue is more personal to him, since he was forced to take them when he was a fighter in the death pits."
"..." Motoyasu wanted to press more for Larsa's hidden past, but shuddered at learning such a personal bit of the past of the fiercesome tiger man. "Fair enough. Just know I'm more of a 'hear a problem and get involved trying to fix it' kind of guy, so that's why I was asking.
"It's caused its own fair share of issues, sure, but I like being able to help other people. Helps to keep things interesting, you know? I'll check with Hou-Lon about those drug rings next time I have the chance." Motoyasu smiled wide.
Larsa laughed at the Spear Hero's response. "Interesting is one way to put it... But then, I can see how you'd end up meeting so many great people doing that." The panda woman's face softened. "And I'm sure he'd really appreciate your help, Motoyasu. Even if he wouldn't ask for it himself."
The pair left the hangar area, with Amber following close behind.
The Filolial girl was looking around and acting as if she was a bodyguard for the pair. But in reality, she kept on smiling in Blondie's direction as he made light conversation with the panda woman following the serious topics they'd discussed.
Amber wasn't certain if Larsa was what she would describe as 'mate material', persay. Compared to the others, she was a little rude and very crass.
In some ways, the Filolial felt the same odd nervousness looking at her as she did from Sadeena. And it was definitely nowhere close to the joy and good feeling she got whenever S'yne was around!
Still, she'd respect whatever decision Blondie came to. Whether he took one mate, or multiple. Rather, she felt extremely happy seeing Moto happy and helping others out.
There were less and less signs of that sad, lonely Moto she'd first gotten to know after meeting him all those months ago. Each day, Amber could only pray that Moto would continue to get better, and that he'd take S'yne out on their third date soon.
Amber had been reading some romance stories lately as part of her research and desire to understand human mating rituals better, so she could be a more reliable matchmaker for Motoyasu instead of embarrassing him like with her earlier attempts.
It was supposed to be on the third date when humans would have their first kiss! She wasn't exactly sure how that'd translate over to Filolial mating rituals, but those stories always showed how much happier the couples were after that sacred first kiss! So she just wanted her Blondie to get there already so she could be sure he'd be happy all of the time!
…
After a few minutes of traversing the tunnels and streets, Motoyasu and Larsa eventually arrived at the main pantry of the Capital City. And there, Motoyasu dumped out all the chunks of meat he'd gotten from the dragon onto a large tarp on the floor.
The eyes of the butchers, when the name of the meat appeared on their HUDs, widened in shock, and then awe.
Larsa nodded her head to them after giving them a moment to take it all in. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Get to it before any of it spoils! The people are going to eat well tonight!"
Immediately after being given the order, the men and women cheered and got to work.
Afterward, Larsa turned to Motoyasu again with a relaxed smile. "Any chance of convincing you to stay for a little longer? I'm told that Welsh Dragon meat in particular is delicious."
"Sorry, as fun as that'd be, I know Sadeena would be angry if we went out drinking without her. And yes, don't think I don't realize that's what you'd end up roping me into after dinner." Motoyasu shook his head with a smile.
"Not after. During." Larsa laughed.
Motoyasu lightly laughed with her, and then he looked down at the ground in front of him. "Besides, I also promised her we'd go grinding in the sea this evening. I just passed level 90 yesterday. I'm that much closer to hitting 100 and getting access to Brionac." And that didn't include the other skills that were in reach at his current level now.
"Hmmm…" Larsa's smile briefly transformed into a frown.
By the time Motoyasu looked up, however, she was back to her usual self. "Well, the stronger you get, the better off we all are." She clapped a large paw on the blonde man's shoulder. "Just think about it next time, will ya? You're always so busy helping everyone out here, I could use a little help myself!"
"You need my help to get drunk?" Motoyasu quirked an eyebrow with a smug smile.
"Damn straight! Who else am I going to ask to be by my side when I'm plastered?!" Larsa laughed while Motoyasu just shook his head in exasperation at her carefree attitude.
"Speaking of getting plastered, Hickwaal told me that we might be brewing alcohol in the Hero's Nation soon!" Motoyasu told her happily. "I'm not sure how he convinced Naofumi to allow it, but as soon as we have the first batch of the Bio-Plant fruit wine made, I'll be sure to bring some over so we can sample it together!"
"H-" The panda woman's eyes widened in surprise. The blush she'd fought down earlier appeared again in force. "You'd, you'd really do that?"
"Well, duh." Motoyasu cocked his head in confusion. "Soldiers need their booze and I know you and your men have been forced to ration it lately.
"If the Hero Nation can supply you even partially, it'll be great. I can't promise much in the way of variety at first, but we should be able to keep your men happy soon.
"And besides, I promised we would go out for drinks again later, didn't I? Might as well get fancy and bring our own best reserve for it this time."
"... … …" Larsa was still fighting down her blush, but couldn't help the sincere smile spreading across her lips.
Poof!
In an instant, the transformed panda woman appeared, tackling the Spear Hero in her human form with a sincere hug. "I'll look forward to it!
"Thanks again for all your help, Motoyasu." Larsa then planted her lips briefly on the Spear Hero's cheek. "You're a really great guy, you know."
"Whoa! Haha, yea! That's what I try to be, I say!" Motoyasu chuckled nervously, but he hugged the current leader of Zeltoble back as he smiled.
Mmmmm, panda mammaries. They felt so good against his chest-
ACK! No, he had to remain faithful to S'yne! Back bad harem protagonist powers! Back, I say!
Larsa was a friend! A really hot friend who was surprisingly cuddly, despite possessing a tongue sharper than a sword, but a friend nonetheless!
"Hmmmm…" Amber continued to study the pair in the background.
No, not quite a first kiss as described in the books she'd read. That was supposed to be on the lips and not the cheek, right?
…
After a couple seconds, she started to smile again. Even if she didn't end up as one of Moto's mates, Larsa was a great friend for her Blondie to have, I say!
"Alright, see ya later Larsa! Portal Spear!" After letting go of each other, and after flashing the beautiful panda woman one last warm smile, Motoyasu used his portal ability to bring himself and Amber back home, before he was tempted to stay behind and get plastered with the hot panda woman.
The pair vanished together in a flash of light.
…
"Ahh…" Larsa let out a happy sigh, clasping her hands behind her back.
Yep, Motoyasu might have had his heart set on someone else, but after working alongside him for these last several weeks, the panda woman still enjoyed being around the charismatic Spear Hero.
She really hoped he would remember his offer on drinks. It'd be nice for the two of them to get drunk together… alone, without Sadeena or anyone else to interfere…
Yes, alone together, where anything could happen…
…
…
Eventually, Larsa noticed some of the butchers who'd paused in their work, looking at the human panda woman standing in their midst weirdly.
"Oi, what the &%$ are you oafs all doing standing around?!" Poof! "GET BACK TO WORK BEFORE I BUTCHER THE WHOLE LOT OF YA!" The panda woman roared the final part out after changing back to her larger, therianthrope form, holding her large blade in her hands for emphasis.
Immediately, the men and woman eyes bugged out in fear, and they turned their backs to the mercenary leader, chopping the dragon meat into smaller chunks and slices like their lives depended on it.
Larsa then huffed as she walked to the exit. Trying to look the image of the large and imposing leader of the recovering nation.
…
Too bad the red blushing cheeks didn't help the 'red' panda in the slightest.
Gods, why did Motoyasu have to be so $#%$ing hot?!
"Chaos Thrust!"
Motoyasu's weapon jabbed in front of him over and over again, tearing apart what looked like a giant jellyfish that'd tried attacking him with its venomous tentacles.
The Spear Hero stood on the seafloor, at least a few hundred feet underwater. Unlike earlier, he was now dressed in one of the Pengu Kigimuris Naofumi and co had brought back from Cal Mira.
It looked pretty ridiculous, especially since the water pressure down here was causing him to look like a deflated doll wearing a small saggy santa hat on his head. But besides the great stats it had, it also improved his swimming abilities and greatly extended the amount of time he could be underwater.
Both of which were necessary to fight in the deep sea.
Motoyasu still couldn't move nearly as well as he could on land, and one of the creature's barbed tentacles grazed the side of his penguin mascot outfit, but at least he wasn't floundering around like a fish out of water.
And even with the Venomous Jellyfish trying to flail more arms at the Spear Hero, one last strike at the center of its body emptied the rest of its hp bar.
+1500 Exp
Upon getting the notification, the blonde man shook his head and let out a low whistle in the pengu head. This was a normal mob, yet it gave so much exp! And to think he and Sadeena had been surrounded by more of these suckers just minutes before.
Speaking of the orca woman, as Motoyasu absorbed his latest kill into his weapon, along with the rest of the carcasses laying on the seafloor around him, a flash of blue lightning far to his left alerted the Spear Hero to the orca woman's current position.
+1650 Exp, +1723 Exp
Motoyasu: LV 91
Sadeena: LV 89
Oh, nice! She'd slain two of the creatures at the same time, causing them both to level up!
Looking through the dark water, only possible at this depth thanks to his current armor and weapon bonuses, Motoyasu made out the form of the orca woman in her therianthrope form over fifty feet away.
As well as the shark-like creature coming from the side.
"On your-!" Motoyasu tried to yell out of instinct, only for the water to mostly muffle his voice.
But as it turned out, it wasn't needed. The massive creature reminiscent of a great white from the Spear Hero's world tried to bite down, only to catch itself on Sadeena's twin-pronged harpoon.
She'd placed it perfectly in its mouth, keeping its jaws from closing. Sadeena then smirked, waggling a large finger in front of her before her whole body glowed blue with lightning magic.
Motoyasu then had to swim back as a massive surge of electricity came down through the water, frying the deepsea shark.
It was like a scene from an old cartoon. He swore he could see the shark's skeleton flashing underneath its skin again and again with the dazzling light show as it shook left and right like a bright beacon.
…
After ten seconds, the attack finally ended, and the monster… was left as just a skeleton. Wow.
+2500 Exp
Motoyasu approached, only lightly feeling electric currents on his arms as he came closer to the orca woman. Sadeena for her part said nothing as she dragged all the monsters she'd slain towards the Spear Hero, allowing him to absorb their remains in his weapon.
When she still said nothing, he looked at her again. Only to realize the air bubble she'd had around her face earlier had vanished sometime during the fight.
"Do we need to refresh our air again?" Motoyasu asked.
The woman floated in place, thought about it, then shook her head. She pointed down, indicating she'd be able to last a while longer… or perhaps she knew of a bubble of air further down the sea floor?
Then, still smirking, she made a clicking sound with her tongue.
Motoyasu almost wanted to facepalm. "Right, echolocation. I keep on forgetting you have that ability." Unless it had a really high stealth stat or something, nothing was sneaking up on Sadeena underwater.
The killer whale's smirk turned into a genuine smile, and she gestured again for them to go deeper. She clicked her tongue several more times, and then began swimming down. Motoyasu followed beside her, following the angle of the seafloor while keeping an eye out for more monsters.
He was pretty sure he'd last another fifteen minutes before needing air. If worse came to worst, he could always portal the both of them out of there.
While this felt kind of similar to what the Spear Hero had heard about deep sea diving in his world. It also… wasn't.
They were at least a thousand feet beneath the water at this depth, following the slanted sea floor deeper into the ocean. And because of that, water pressure was pushing them down instead of allowing their natural buoyancy to float them up.
Yet even with that fact being acknowledged, the water pressure Motoyasu felt was barely worse than at the bottom of your typical pool.
Was this another case of stats at work? Did water pressure work differently in this world? That couldn't have been the case though, after what Naofumi told him about Karn's trump card attack.
But then, thinking back even further, he remembered what he'd been told about Naofumi's underwater fight with the Whale Boss at Cal Mira.
…
After taking the moment of peace to think about it, Motoyasu came to a single conclusion. One which Naofumi had already came to long ago.
'This world just works weirdly in general.'
…
Five minutes passed as Motoyasu and Sadeena went deeper. Dealing with quite the collection of monsters on the way. The sounds of combat seemed to draw more of the deep sea monsters in towards their inevitable deaths. Though some were harder to take down than others.
It wasn't just EXP that was a difference. It felt as though these monsters were naturally stronger than those of the same level on the surface. Was that a difference between land and sea monsters, or was there something else going on here?
Motoyasu wasn't feeling lightheaded yet, but he had the feeling they should go up to refresh their air slln. And Moto, after dealing with another squid-like creature and while he was absorbing it, he was about to suggest just that when Sadeena suddenly took a defensive stance beside him.
Motoyasu quickly mirrored it, and it wasn't a moment too soon as a giant tentacle suddenly swept out of the darkness towards them.
Oomph!
Even underwater, there was weight behind the impact. The two dug their heels into the seabed as their weapons protected their bodies from the impact.
Blue lightning flashed along Sadeena's harpoon, and Motoyasu heard what sounded like a shriek as the tentacle retracted, revealing a large monster that'd surrounded itself with an inky blackness.
Most of its main body wasn't visible, but the massive purple health bar above its head definitely was.
Teenage Kraken: LV: 110
Ha! A level 110 boss monster?! And it was only classified as a teenage kraken!
One of its tentacles snatched what remained of the earlier defeated monster and threw it into its mouth underneath its giant head.
Motoyasu smirked widely, feeling his heart hammer in his chest as he only imagined how powerful the adult version of this monster would be! This was the strongest creature they'd found down here yet!
"What do you say, Sadeena?! Think we can make filet out of this one too before we head back up!?" Motoyasu yelled.
The orca woman nodded her head, a deadly smile appearing on her killer whale face. She made a hand gesture, and Motoyasu knew what she was asking.
[Grab the thing's attention.]
"Piercing Thrust!" As the creature's next tentacle rushed at them, Motoyasu stabbed into the center of its appendage.
It didn't cut it off, and surprisingly, Motoyasu felt resistance to the defense-piercing attack. Still, the creature let out another shriek of pain and anger, and two more of its tentacles came from above to slam down on him as Sadeena vanished from his peripheral vision.
Motoyasu quickly swam to the side, being sent flailing as the impact shockwaves slammed into him. He was quick to right himself, however, and aimed at the creature's body as it brought more of its tentacles to attack.
"Lightning, Spear!" Motoyasu thrust forward, and a blue line of powerful electricity shot forward, arcing across the water towards the humongous monster.
The Kraken, instead of attacking, brought its tentacles together in front of it, blocking the powerful lightning skill by crisscrossing its appendages in front of it.
Motoyasu grimaced. The attack had left burn marks on those tentacles and paralyzed the huge creature briefly, but otherwise, it only seemed to enrage the monster even further.
Those tentacles lashed out again and again, and Motoyasu swam around, dodging a couple while also striking others with his weapon, attempting to cut them off where he could.
The most worrying thing for him was that each strike that landed against his weapon dropped his HP bar slightly and strained his arms.
Naofumi definitely wouldn't have an issue with this creature, even if it kept on whacking him all day long. Moto, on the other hand, was considerably more squishy compared to the Shield Hero. And it wasn't long until his HP bar had dropped to 80%.
As several tentacles came to surround Moto who swam back to cast a healing spell on himself, a blue streak of energy came from behind the monster.
Boom! "Grahhhhhhhh!"
The Kraken let out a massive bellow as a big chunk of its HP bar suddenly disappeared, along with a good chunk of its head, from the massive lightning attack.
By the way, Motoyasu and Sadeena weren't affected by the lightning of their own or each other's attacks underwater. In case you were wondering why, stats, physics, distance, resistances, party membership, intent, all of that and more played a role.
The Kraken quickly turned around to face Sadeena, its other adversary, and Motoyasu cut off his spell, wasting no time in exploiting the opportunity as he raised his charged spear again.
"Multi-Pronged Thrust!" Thrusting forward, energy burst out in three directions from his weapon, traveling in weird patterns through the water before slicing off several of the Kraken's tentacles before they could reach Sadeena.
Another flash of energy traveled up Sadeena's weapon, and while the creature's head flailed left to right in anger, a huge lightning bolt lit up the seafloor briefly, before impacting against the center of the Kraken's head.
The entire beast became translucent, shrieking an unholy pitch as its limbs flailed or seized.
"And now, Meteor Thrust!" Motoyasu twirled his spear above his head and a ball of blue energy appeared under the monster from a portal.
Boom!
There went another large segment of its hp bar, as well as the area around its mouth and several of its tentacles.
Its remaining appendages began swinging around like crazy, digging into the seabed, hurling chunks of coral and boulder around as an even darker cloud of ink surrounded it, nearly blinding the pair who swam back to get some distance.
Haha, yeah! It was definitely pissed off now! Somehow, despite taking their heaviest attacks, the Teenage Kraken boss still had over a third of its health left!
That just really went to show the difference between land monsters and sea monsters.
Motoyasu was about to charge in again to continue with another attack when he heard a clicking sound to his right, and turned to see Sadeena gesturing wildly to him with her hands.
After several days of deep sea diving together, he knew what those hand signals meant.
[Portal us out.]
That meant one thing. They'd attracted waaaaay too much attention. More powerful monsters would be on the way shortly.
There wasn't time to swim away. They had to go. Now.
Motoyasu was about to bring up his Portal Spear skill but had to jump from the seabed, avoiding another large flailing tentacle, which inevitably brought his attention back to their target.
…
Honestly, it felt like such a waste to flee now with such an EXP rich monster in front of them.
His Meteor Thrust was still on cooldown, and it'd take at least two more of those to kill the Kraken.
Could he- wait a second, there was a new skill he had yet to try! It wasn't one from his game, but he might as well use it out now and see what it did!
Surely, he'd have time for one attack, right?!
Motoyasu's Spear flashed as it turned into a different weapon form.
Black Tortoise Shell Spear
Equip Bonus: Defense +25, Attack +10, skill: "Burst Lance"
True to form, it was a solid black spear with the tip covered by a black tortoise shell. It was very similar in appearance to the Spirit Tortoise Heart Spear. And like it, this one had come with a skill of its own!
Sadeena clicked again, looking confused. She only realized he was attacking when his new weapon form began to glow bright again.
"Burst Lance!" Motoyasu pointed his spear at the monster.
Immediately, an angry bright red ball of energy appeared on the tip of his weapon. Becoming incredibly big, and hot enough that he could feel the heat through the water.
'Uh oh.' Motoyasu realized too late that his new skill was almost exactly like Itsuki's Explosion Shot.
The angry ball of energy catapulted forward. Going right past all the Kraken's tentacles as they'd moved to strike at the Spear Hero simultaneously.
And without any resistance, it impacted against what remained of the monster's head.
KA-BOOM!
The entirety of the monster was consumed in the explosion of power that followed.
+8000 Exp
Motoyasu: LV: 92
Sadeena: LV: 90
The blast wave slammed into Motoyasu like a freight train, not even giving him a second to process the new skill's power or the level up notifications before he was sent flying backwards through the air. And no, this was not a mistake. The explosion had briefly created a massive air pocket around it.
Shrapnel from the explosion tore through parts of the Spear Hero's kigimuri, before the weight of the ocean filling in the space again slammed Motoyasu back into the scorched seabed like a sledgehammer, driving the last of his air out of his body while the bubbly rush sent his body flailing around out of control.
'$%&! $%&! $&! %#$%!'
Many different words were going through his head and none of them were appropriate for publishing. The blonde man couldn't tell up from down, or left from right. He was blinded as water filled the head of his kigumuri through the numerous small holes in the outfit.
He reflexively took in a breath, and started choking on salt water.
Crap, Portal Spear, he needed to activate it!
Whack!
At that moment, the blonde man's head hit the back of something hard.
'Urgh…'
Too bad. It appeared his luck had just ran out.
Motoyasu lost consciousness as his body drifted down to the bottom of the ocean.
…
…
…
"Urgh! Cough Cough Cough!"
The Spear Hero sat up straight, coughing water out of his lungs.
"Moto!" "Sir Motoyasu!" "Thank the Gods!" Almost immediately after, three pairs of strong arms squeezed around his body at the same time.
"A-Ack!" Moto coughed out, trying to say air but failing.
"Oops!" "Sorry!" "My apologies!" Fortunately, the three pairs of arms quickly released him, and Motoyasu put his hands to his chest. Still coughing harshly to get the last of the sea water out of his lungs.
Even after that, he coughed for another solid minute straight. Which led to him vomiting up seawater as if his body didn't already hate him enough for nearly drowning to death earlier.
"Moto!" At least as he started vomiting, a pair of gentle hands held his ponytail out of the way of his face.
Nice as that was, it took another minute for his stomach to finally settle.
"Urgh…" And Motoyasu sat there, eyes unfocused, unthinking as the arms from before wrapped around him more gently this time.
"Girls…" Motoyasu tried to speak, mouth tasting like salt and rough as sandpaper.
"Not a word, Sir Motoyasu." Atla said sternly. "Not a word."
Motoyasu coughed again as the tiger girl rested her head against his chest. And S'yne and Sadeena rested their heads on his shoulders.
The Spear Hero closed his eyes. Still lightly coughing, but accepting the hugs from all three individuals.
…
…
…
Eventually, as his coughs finally died down, Motoyasu was able to focus on where he was, which was a wooden room that looked weirdly like the hull of a ship.
Shelves lined the walls, holding nothing but bottles. There was a counter with a wooden box resting on it.
Weird, was this a bar?
Then, there was S'yne, Atla, and Sadeena. The orca woman was back in her human form. Beyond that, all three of them were hugging him and crying softly.
"I'm so glad you're okay." S'yne spoke softly. Her real voice crackled in and out. She didn't appear to have the focus to use her doll, which lay on a nearby stool.
"... what happened after I blacked out?" Motoyasu asked Sadeena in a hoarse voice.
"That's what I want to know." Atla said angrily, glaring up at Sadeena as well.
"I saved little Moto's life, young Atla." Sadeena snapped in an oddly serious tone. "Now is not the time for that kind of attitude."
…
Atla continued to glare though, and the orca woman let out a sigh. "But to answer your question, your skill killed the Kraken Moto… but it also sent me and you flying in opposite directions.
"It took me a moment to recover and find you, and when I did find you…
"You were unconscious. And your diving suit was destroyed." The orca woman sighed heavily. "Not to mention, the deepsea monsters I'd warned you about had arrived."
…
…
…
Sadeena let Motoyasu go, and picked up the Pekkul Kigimuri Motoyasu had been wearing before… or at least, what was left of it.
This also made the Spear Hero realize that he was only wearing his briefs right now, which made him feel a bit self-conscious for a moment before he dismissed the thought in favor of much more pressing concerns.
Damn, the explosion from his skill had done more damage than he'd thought. There were several gaping holes on the torso and arms of the goofy-looking diving suit. And the back of the head under the santa hat had been torn off.
It was completely unusable in its current state and would require serious repairs.
S'yne's new Atla doll floated next to her head and wiped some of the girl's remaining tears from her eyes. Though she didn't release the Spear Hero. "Sadeena brought you here and then I used the pin attached to your clothes as an anchor to teleport me and Atla here like I did when you got ambushed in Zeltoble.
"We were watching you fight monsters through it. But then everything was black for a while, and then when Sadeena brought you in here, you weren't breathing and...
"We… we were so afraid…"
…
…
Oh…
He really messed up.
"I'm sorry." Motoyasu said heavily.
"You better be." Sadeena shook her head as she let out a shaky breath. "I know our goal is to level you using the ocean monsters. But when I say we need to go."
"We need to go." Motoyasu affirmed.
…
Sadeena's hands balled into fists, but she hugged the Spear Hero close again. Her hug also including the two other girls closest to him.
"Don't ever worry us like that again." Sadeena emphasized.
"Al… Alright." Motoyasu closed his eyes.
…
…
…
There was silence from the group for a long moment. Motoyasu's voice was still scratchy and hoarse, but he didn't want to see the three girls looking so distraught, so…
"So, who did the mouth to mouth part to save me?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
"..."
"..."
"..."
All three girls turned their faces to look at him. Motoyasu did his best to force a smile despite the blush rising in his cheeks. "Now if I did nearly drown, that would have happened as a part of CPR, right?"
"..."
"..."
"... Fufufufufu." Sadeena started giggling into her hand after a moment of processing Motoyasu's comment. "Why don't you take a guess, Moto?"
S'yne's face flushed red in embarrassment. Atla's face also turned red, but she started glaring at both women above her with anger. And Sadeena, trying to look innocent, was giggling too much to make it seem like that was the case.
Motoyasu chuckled, deciding not to press the girls further as he used Healing Warmth on himself. The back of his head still stung from whatever he'd impacted against. And he had bruises from everything else.
Thank you magic for being able to erase the consequences of his careless actions so quickly.
Even after using the fire healing spell, Motoyasu's body still involuntarily shivered as the girls released him again. The Atla doll brought out a cloth to wipe away the vomit on the slanted wood floor next to him.
Looking down, Motoyasu remembered again that he was still almost naked and hastily pulled out a fresh set of clothes from his weapon.
"Hold on a sec. I was wearing regular clothes underneath the pekkul outfit. What happened to those?" Motoyasu suddenly realized and turned his head to give the three girls a confused look.
"They were drenched. S'yne stored them in her weapon. And don't give me that look, I respected you enough not to strip you completely naked, didn't I?" Sadeena then gave him a flirtatious wink. "Or would you like me to-"
"No thank you." Motoyasu refused immediately while raising his hand in front of himself with the palm facing outwards.
"Boo." The orca woman pouted.
Meanwhile, S'yne's face flushed a further shade of red while Atla gasped and glared even more harshly in Sadeena's direction. "You're not allowed to see Moto naked! Never, you big titty monster!"
"Ara?" Sadeena tilted her head to the side confusedly.
"Eh Hem," Motoyasu coughed into his hand. "Could you all please turn around for a moment?"
"I don't know," Sadeena smiled seductively again. "Can we-ow, ow, ow, ow! S'yne-Chan, that hurts!"
S'yne, having had enough of the orca woman's nonsense, harshly pulled on Sadeena's cheek again, forcing her to face away from the Spear Hero.
Atla just continued to sit in her spot unblinkingly.
Motoyasu nodded to himself, seeing no eyes looking at him, and after quickly ditching his soggy briefs he began to get dressed in fresh clothes.
"H-hey! That's not fair! Why is Atla-Chan allowed to watch?" Sadeena gasped as she tried to wrench her head around S'yne's grip on her cheek. "Are you that kind of person, Moto? Was that why you were chasing after Filo-Chan before?!"
"I'm blind." Atla declared with such an oppressive degree of dryness in her voice that it would have instantly evaporated all the water in Motoyasu's soggy clothes if they were still out, instead of being spread out across his and S'yne's inventories.
…
"Oh." Sadeena froze as she stopped struggling and blushed. "Sorry, I forgot."
"... Whatever," Atla responded, acting outwardly dismissive while quickly licking off a drop of drool from her lips to maintain her poker face.
No one knew that clothes actually did get in the way of her life force vision. And she would ensure that this would remain the case for as long as she lived.
'Hubba hubba.'
…
After the Spear Hero had finished changing, he rubbed his shoulders and sneezed. "Man, even while dressed it's still kind of cold here. Maybe we should get a fire going, or should I just portal us all back to town?"
"I wouldn't light a fire here if I were you." Sadeena chuckled. "After all, I like being able to use this place as a hidden hangout spot.
"And even if S'yne's way of getting air here using her needle observation portal is more effective than me bringing air bubbles down from the surface, I'd rather not deal with the smell of smoke in this space."
"Hmmm?" Motoyasu looked around again at her words.
No, he wasn't noticing anything in particular. Only the wood shelves, wood bar, wood stools… stained wood walls… slanted wood floors…
Weird, now that he was paying attention, the floor wasn't just slanted. It was also slightly sloped. There was only one light too, a lantern holding a light spell inside that Sadeena had hanging on the ceiling.
And on the floor further down, he could see water lapping against broken wooden boards.
…
…
WAIT A MOMENT!
"Is this one of the underwater shipwrecks you mentioned using as a shelter before?!" Motoyasu asked incredulously.
"Ehehehe! Yep, currently, we're about a thousand feet underwater." Sadeena laughed. "That's why its a bit chilly here. We're on the bottom of the ocean. After you were knocked out, I took you here to save you."
"I still don't get why you couldn't get him to the surface! We could have got a boat out to you!" Atla said angrily.
"Because we're a thousand feet underwater. And contrary to popular belief, it's a lot harder to swim up from such a depth, especially when the person you're with is unconscious and already drowning." Sadeena informed in a rather plain but serious voice.
"You're also lucky I can swim well enough in my therianthrope form, since I also had to help both of us escape all the monsters looking for an easy meal following the Kraken debacle.
"I couldn't even read their levels. They all appeared as ?'s on my HUD. Do you have any idea how frightening that is?!"
Atla bit her lip, but she didn't want to just let the big titty monster win Moto over from her! S'yne was bad enough competition as it was!
"Um, that being said." Motoyasu interrupted before an argument could break out. "I really appreciate all of you for saving me. It makes me really happy knowing you all have my back.
"Thank you so much." Motoyasu admitted in a heartfelt confession.
"... You're welcome." Sadeena smiled.
S'yne said nothing, but she also smiled warmly in his direction.
Atla started to pout, but then she sighed and tilted her head in his direction.
Obligingly, Motoyasu started to give her headpats. And the girl melted under his hand, a happy, carefree smile taking over her face.
It almost made Motoyasu forget how nail-bitingly cold he still was right now.
Damn, he was almost tempted to press and find out who'd kissed him earlier… well, not kissing really since he'd almost died… but no, he was cold and needed to find a way to handle it.
"Well, how about this? Instead of going home right away…" After noticing Motoyasu's shivering, Sadeena smiled and reached behind the counter before pulling out a crate onto it. "We share a drink from Big Sis's special stash to warm up?
"Hmmm." It was early evening, and Motoyasu could have simply teleported them to the living room of his house where they could hang out in front of the warm hearth until bedtime.
Then he pictured Granny's stern figure waiting to surprise him with another sparring session despite nearly dying (again), and Motoyasu grimaced.
Yeah, here it'd be private.
A lot more private.
"How strong are we talking here?" Motoyasu asked instead.
"Sir Motoyasu! You shouldn't be drinking with her!" Atla said angrily.
"I'm in."
The declaration came from none other than the Atla doll floating next to S'yne's head. And the tiger girl turned to face her in surprise.
"I'm curious since Sadeena said it's her special stash." S'yne shrugged. The doll then lowered to whisper into Atla's ear. "Besides, don't you think this is a great opportunity for us to continue cuddling with Moto to warm him up?"
…
"Hmph. Fine then. But I'm sitting in Sir Motoyasu's lap." Atla decided.
"Eh?" Motoyasu tilted his head at the tiger girl's words.
"Huh, I didn't take you for a drinker," Sadeena grinned as she uncorked one of the bottles. "I'll prepare a shot glass for you to start."
"I'm not, but I can handle a couple rounds, so a regular wine glass will do." S'yne's doll continued to speak as the girl's face reddened again.
Motoyasu laughed at how adorable she looked. "It'll warm us up, right?"
"Yep! And if you're still cold afterward, Big Sis can always cuddle with you to warm you up." Sadeena opened her arms wide, showcasing her massive chest, the strip of cloth covering it still wet from swimming earlier.
Motoyasu's brain nearly exploded. HOLY MOTHER OF ORCAS!
"No! Get away from Moto, you gross titty monster!" Atla screeched, trying to push into Sadeena's side with everything she could muster.
"Ara?" Sadeena tilted her head again at the weird nickname.
S'yne, saying nothing, grabbed Motoyasu around the head. Hugging herself to his back and sharing her body heat with him.
And that was how Moto was reminded that S'yne was quite stacked in the chest department as well.
Her baggy clothes were downright deceptive.
Eventually, with Atla sitting in his lap as well, after she'd been pried off the older orca woman, the three adults in the room were nursing small wine glasses filled with a bright red liquid. Sadeena and Motoyasu held theirs in one hand, while S'yne's was being held by her doll.
Atla had a similar glass too, so she wouldn't feel left out, but hers was filled with some bottled bioplant fruit juice that S'yne took out from her weapon's gem.
According to Sadeena, the reserve was a less diluted form of rucolu fruit that'd been turned into wine. It wasn't anywhere near as alcoholic as the fruit itself. But it was leagues stronger than your average beer.
Just one sip sent loads of warmth coursing through Motoyasu's body. It tasted like cherries, but really, really ripe and flavorful cherries.
There was the bitter aftertaste of alcohol as well, but Motoyasu found the combination surprisingly pleasant in his mouth.
Being sandwiched between S'yne and Atla too, he was feeling better in no time. This was way better than sitting in front of a hearth, I say.
"Hmph. It can't taste that good." Atla pouted while slowly drinking her juice.
"Maybe if you were a little older, Big Sis would allow you a sip." Sadeena winked, downing her whole glass in one go.
S'yne, looking unsure, decided to mimic what Sadeena had done. Her doll lifted her glass to her lips, and she downed the wine glass's contents in one go as well.
The girl then coughed, surprised at the burning sensation traveling down her throat. "S-So intense!"
Sadeena giggled. "What do you mean? It tastes fruity to me."
Motoyasu chuckled to his girlfriend behind him. "Trust me, you don't want to try outdrinking Sadeena. Especially with a drink as strong as this."
"Aww, come on. S'yne-Chan is already adorable sober. I'd love to see what she's like drunk." Sadeena pouted.
"I'm… good. That was stronger than what I expected." S'yne's doll floated the glass back to Sadeena, before returning to its spot nex to the seamstress Hero's head.
"Hmph. Oh well, more for me then! Unless you also want more Moto…" Sadeena winked seductively at the Spear Hero.
"This glass alone will be good enough." Motoyasu chuckled awkwardly. "This day isn't over yet and I don't want to get a hangover tomorrow.
"Besides, I'm already feeling really warm again, thanks to you all."
"Suit yourself then." Sadeena poured more from the bottle into her wine glass, and downed it all in a single gulp again.
Motoyasu took two more sips from his glass as they talked, leaving it less than half-full.
Damn, this really was some strong stuff. He could feel his brain slowing down already.
He looked back at S'yne worriedly, since she'd downed an entire glass at the start. But besides her cheeks being a little red, which could just be contributed to the fact that she was hugging herself against the Spear Hero's back, she looked fine.
…
Well, her doll was all wobbly and spinning in the air next to her, but the girl herself looked fine enough.
"Hmph! I'm not a child anymore!" All of a sudden, the wine glass in Motoyasu's hands was snatched out of his grasp, and Atla downed what remained in it before he could stop her.
"Atla!"
Atla smirked proudly in victory up at the surprised orca woman. "Ha, take that you huge, stupid… titty… orca… mon…"
And like that, the tiger girl folded forward. Snoring loudly as bright red filled her face. "Dehhhhhh…"
"Oh dear, looks like we've found an even more lightweight drinker than you, Moto." Sadeena giggled nervously into her hand.
"She'll be ok, right?" Motoyasu asked, sounding concerned.
"Eheheheheh…" Atla giggled in her drunken sleep.
…
The Spear Hero slowly took the wine glass from the tiger girl's hands, before handing it back to Sadeena. "She'll be fine, I think." The orca woman answered at last. "Might sleep through the night at worst, but in her case, that'll be a good thing."
Motoyasu quickly checked the tiger girl's status on his HUD's party screen just in case she got poisoned from this, but, thankfully, there was nothing to indicate such a thing.
The Spear Hero still let out a groan though as he rubbed his forehead. "How the hell am I going to explain this to Fohl?"
"The two are sleeping in separate rooms lately, correct?" Sadeena shrugged. "Just tell him his sister went to bed early and that'll be the end of it."
"Hmmm…" Motoyasu hummed in response, not saying a word.
…
With Atla blacked out, the time passed in relative peace. Sadeena finished the bottle, but didn't pull out another one. She left what remained in the wine glass in her hand as she twirled it around.
Behind him, Motoyasu felt S'yne rest her head against his back. And before long, she had dozed off as well.
Motoyasu still felt warm from the little he'd drank, and even more so thanks to the two girls sharing their body heat with him.
…
He looked at Sadeena, and did his best to not shake his head at how his life had once again become surrounded by so many different cute or hot girls after leaving Bitch.
Rino, Elena, Amber, Larsa, Sadeena, S'yne, Atla, Fitoria…
Some weren't with him now. Some he wouldn't see for a long while. Some were becoming like family to him, and a few, something more… still, even with everything weighing on his mind, this just felt so… so, nice. Compared to his old life.
He felt happy. Genuinely happy like this…
"Just how strong are those drinks, out of curiosity?" He asked, as a long silence had stretched between him and Sadeena, who was red in the face herself after finishing off the rest of the bottle, which the Spear Hero found surprising given how much she had to drink to make that happen before.
"Hmmm… I'm not sure how to classify it exactly." Sadeena tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "I know that Raultalia could down at least ten of them without any trouble. But I didn't last past eight before passing out the last time I drank this with him.
"Then again, that was ten years ago, when Big Sis was barely a teenager. So who knows, maybe I could drink that much now." The orca woman smiled warmly.
"... heh. And here I don't know if I'd last more than a few glasses." The Spear Hero shook his head.
"And that's fine. I didn't keep this stash here so I could make myself black out drunk. This is meant to be enjoyed with my loved ones." Sadeena said, smiling happily as she did so. "So the less we drink, the longer I'll have it."
"Is it really rare?" Motoyasu asked worriedly.
"You don't have to worry about paying me back if that's what you're implying." Sadeena shook her head. "There's plenty of it where I'm from.
"It's just one of the last things we were able to bring back with us when we left…" Sadeena trailed off, looking around for a moment, before shaking her head. "Our former home."
"... Ah, the place you don't want to talk about." Motoyasu guessed.
"Yes… It's… probably safe to talk about it here… but…
"I'm still not comfortable discussing it. Sorry." The orca woman admitted with a sigh.
…
She looked up after a moment, and Motoyasu was flashing her a bright smile. "You're not… disappointed?" She asked.
"Why would I be?" Motoyasu chuckled. "Am I curious as hell about your life? Hell yeah I am! With a friend as cool and awesome and mysterious as you, how could I not?!"
He then stopped chuckling as he went back to his sincere wide smile again. "However, I know better than to push topics you're not comfortable with. That's for you to decide, not me.
"And besides, you literally helped save my life earlier, so I think I owe you that much respect." The blonde chuckled again, throwing back her words from earlier to him.
"..." Sadeena slowly smiled, letting out another happy giggle as she did so. "What about you, Moto? Is there anything on your mind troubling you right now that you'd be comfortable sharing with Big Sis?
"You probably won't find a better place to share secrets than this."
"Hmmm, I think I already told you about how I was raised by my parents." Motoyasu smiled relaxedly.
"Which was still leagues better than what I got from my biological mom and dad." Sadeena rolled her eyes. She then frowned and shook her head. "Sorry, maybe one of these days, I'll say more. They were awful people."
"Sure thing. My parents did love me, at least. So I'm blessed in that regard.
"Oh, I know! One time, I was with a group of friends and…"
The two trailed off into conversation as Motoyasu and Sadeena told stories to each other. The first story the Spear Hero shared was of some drunken escapade Motoyasu and his friends got into, which involved blowing up mailboxes with fireworks as their senior prank.
He got to explain a bit what fireworks were to Sadeena, since she'd never seen them, though she had heard of their use in Faubley celebrations. But otherwise, after their round of giggles over imagining some security officer trying to hunt down a group school brats over something so ridiculous in the middle of the night, she told a story of her and Raultalia, after one of their drinking contests, where they'd pulled a prank on Keel's father.
Which'd involved painting something crass on the bow of his ship before it went out to sea.
"And he never noticed it?!" Motoyasu asked in shock.
"Never did." Sadeena giggled. "He lost that boat to a sea monster and had to swim all the way back. Neither of us ever told him what we did as far as I know."
"That's hilarious!" Motoyasu laughed.
They continued to talk about random tidbits from their lives, and whether because of the alcohol or something else, Motoyasu found himself smiling as he asked his next question. "Anyone you've seriously liked in the past. Like, like liked."
"Well I like you." Sadeena grinned teasingly, almost making it impossible to tell if she was telling the truth or not.
"Besides me, obviously." Motoyasu rolled his eyes. "I am flattered though."
"Fufufu. Why don't you share first, Moto. It wouldn't be fair if this poor innocent maiden had to share something so close to her heart first." Sadeena teased. "Was there someone who ever caught your eye before you met S'yne-Chan?
"Perhaps a lucky girl from your world."
Motoyasu almost laughed at the woman calling herself an innocent maiden. She might have never bedded another man, but she was far from being innocent.
"I wish, no one could even come close to how beautiful S'yne is." Motoyasu smiled wistfully.
…
Then, after a moment, he spoke again, but he wasn't smiling anymore.
"Well… during my stay in college, there were two girls I used to sort of go out with.
"I guess you could say I really liked them both."
"Oooh! More than me or S'yne?!" Sadeena teased.
"I…" Motoyasu blushed wildly as he reflexively wanted to refuse that he liked Sadeena in that way, but then he'd also have to clarify that he only liked S'yne, who was still snoozing against his back.
And then he thought of his next words, and his mood fell further.
"Well, anyway." Motoyasu sighed as he chose to ignore Sadeena's question. "I know I said I liked them, but nowadays I'm honestly not sure if I really liked them in that way or not."
Sadeena pouted at Motoyasu so obviously evading answering her. But as the Spear Hero continued speaking, her pout slowly changed to a more serious expression as the man in front of her opened up about a part of his past he hadn't discussed with her or anyone else at all since coming to this world.
"Their names were Ikuyo and Momiji. I met them in my third year of college.
"Ikuyo was a pretty social and outgoing person. Kind of like your typical gyaru if you know what that is. And Momiji, she was more of a quiet and reserved kind of person who kept to herself a lot before I moved into the apartment next to her.
"After I met them, I learned about the life issues they'd had back home before college… and I wanted to be their friend and help them out, you know.
"And like, don't get me wrong, if either of them had wanted to get in bed with me, I wouldn't have stopped them. I'm not a virgin in any sense of the word.
"I just… wanted to get to know them better. I hadn't really had much experience with forming lasting relationships with others before that point. I told you that my family used to move around a lot due to my parent's work, right?
"There was this one time with a girl in High School, and she really liked me too… but the night after she confessed to me, my parents got the call, and then, we had to move to the other side of Japan.
"After that, the two of us just… lost contact."
…
Motoyasu pondered to himself, the feeling of nervousness and anxiety in him only increasing with the pause. "It did get better after I started college. I had plenty of casual relationships then. But I couldn't really bring myself to be that, you know,
"Open or committed with others.
"After learning about their home lives, I wanted to try a little harder to be there and connect with Ikuyo and Momiji to help them out. But... against my better judgment, I let my relationships with them stay casual as I hung out with my other friends.
"And hell, me and Ikuyo almost did have sex once, now that I think about it. And we would have… except, she didn't have any protection on hand…"
"Come on, Moto! I can just take the morning after pill like all the other girls!"
"Princess, I'm really not comfortable doing it without a condom."
"Why?! Don't you love me as much as I love you, Moto!?"
A grimace appeared on the Spear Hero's face, and he shuddered at the memory that passed through his mind.
Despite the alcohol and two girls cuddled with him, he felt cold again just thinking about it.
"It really pissed her off too when I said no. And we didn't talk for a whole week after that."
"..." Sadeena frowned as the Spear Hero looked around, nervousness and anxiety being accompanied by fear. "What happened then?"
"We… got back together. She said she was sorry, I forgave her, and we started going out again…
"But she started getting more angry, more p-possessive whenever I had my other friends around.
"S-She stopped hanging out with the other friends she'd h-had, only wanting t-to be around me.
...
Motoyasu, realizing he was starting to stutter, took a moment to take a deep breath and try to calm down. Which worked... for a small moment.
"I didn't realize it back then, it's only now that I've had a bunch of time to process it with hindsight that I should have realized how her behavior was worsening.
"But I didn't w-want to hurt her even m-more than she had b-been already and…"
"It… s-she and M-Momiji are p-part of the r-reason why I w-was summoned t-to this w-world." Motoyasu, nearly hyperventilating, put a hand to his side, grimacing as a sharp surge of phantom pain traveled out from the first area Ikuyo had stabbed him in.
Funny, he felt like he'd been stabbed by plenty of other monsters and people since coming here…
Yet that spot, just below his rib cage… it was still shockingly vivid in his mind.
And so was every other stab wound in his chest from when Momiji joined in on the fun and had at him…
…
Sadeena's frown deepened. "I know little about Hero Summonings… but what do you mean they were part of the reason it happened?"
"... … …" Motoyasu breathed out deeply. No, even now, he couldn't handle his memories of them.
"I'm sorry..." He took another deep breath to steady his voice. "But I'm not comfortable sharing that with anyone else.
"You know how it is." Motoyasu ran a hand through the sleeping tiger girl's hair in front of him to distract himself from his still knotting stomach.
"I guess the long short of it is that before being summoned, I had no luck with girls.
"And after being summoned, before I met all of you…
"Well, you already know by now how well that went..."
…
He didn't need to say it. Motoyasu's past with the exiled first Princess and the rest of his party back then had been an open secret to everyone in the town long ago.
To think that he was still so readily accepted despite that was more than what he deserved.
…
…
…
…
It was as Motoyasu's anxiety, fear, and nervousness were finally abating from those memories of his being locked away again that Sadeena let out a sigh.
"Raultalia…" She admitted.
"Hmmm?" Motoyasu asked.
"Raultalia… once upon a time, I loved him." The orca woman admitted.
…
Motoyasu slowly blinked, mind moving away entirely from what they'd been talking about.
"Raphtalia's… your father?
"You loved him, in that way?" He asked in realization.
"Yes," The orca woman frowned, then cut off Motoyasu before he could say something else. "Before you ask. No, this was well before Raphtalia was born. Back when he and Natalia had first eloped."
…
Motoyasu kept his mouth shut, and Sadeena continued.
"I'm… sorry that I'm not comfortable talking about it. I said before that my life was the worst before I came here.
"I want you to know from the bottom of my heart, I absolutely mean it.
"All I did in Zeltoble, the sins and murders I committed there for those kids… that pales in comparison to what I had to do before, and what my life could have been now, if not for Raultalia saving me and taking me with him when he left our homeland with Natalia.
"At first, I thought he only wanted me along as a bodyguard. And I did protect him and Natalia from many threats before we finally got to Melromarc and settled down in Lurolona.
"But somewhere along the way, he helped to teach me what living my own life truly meant, he helped me come to terms with the &%$ life had dealt me up till that point.
"He showed no judgment for the role I'd been forced into. He didn't treat me with pity. He helped me find ways to be happy. He helped me learn I was more than what others said I was.
"And… well...
"..."
"Ehehehe, I fell for him hard." Sadeena chuckled bitterly, a sad expression coming onto her face after a pregnant pause.
"He stole my fragile maiden's heart without trying to. He became all I could think about.
"The man I'd see in my dreams at night. Cradling me in his arms. Promising me happiness beyond anything I knew."
"I... don't think I even realized how badly I'd fallen for him until I learned that Natalia was pregnant…
…
There was another pause again as Sadeena took a deep breath.
"When I first learned that… I was so… so angry.
"It felt like he'd betrayed me… that the time I'd spent with him and Natalia had meant nothing.
"And then, I realized that of course, he'd never seen me in that light. That those feelings I'd thought he had for me were only in my mind.
"That he'd only ever have his eyes on that one woman. The kindest soul in the world, who he'd given up everything he'd known before to be with her."
…
…
There was a longer pause after that, where Sadeena didn't speak. Merely looking down at her drink as tears lined her eyes from the memory she was experiencing.
"What did you do to come to terms with it?" Motoyasu asked, his voice soft and gentle.
"I left town for a while." Sadeena shrugged as she answered, wiping her tears away with her arm before she continued. "There were no more threats to protect the pair from at that point. And no one we knew from before was bothering us.
"So I ended up in Melromarc's Castle and blew off steam in a random tavern.
"I don't remember the name. Or who I beat up for that matter. I just know after the fallout of that night settled down, I was released from prison and put through a level reset as punishment for my crimes, before being kicked out of the city.
"I got off easily, all things considered, given how unkind Melromarc is to demihumans, but I guess it helped that I can easily pass as human…"
The orca woman's lips curved up sadly. "I was twelve at the time, so there was the benefit of me no longer being an adult anymore, which meant I was allowed to relive my childhood.
"And again, Raultalia and Natalia no longer needed a bodyguard, as they'd become part of the community in Lurolona, so...
"I left the town as an adult, and came back as a young teenager. Raultalia and Natalia accepted me into their family without question, and I became the best Big Sis Raphtalia could have asked for after she was born."
"And that's how it happened." Sadeena sadly smiled at the Spear Hero across from her.
...
"... Whoa…" Motoyasu smiled melancholily in response. "And did that help you to…"
"It did, in part." Sadeena chuckled. "I still acted a bit more mature than others my age- hey, don't give me that look! I'm capable of being serious and brooding when it's required of me!" Sadeena pouted as Motoyasu's smile transformed into a teasing smirk.
"I know. I know." The Spear Hero then gave her another easy smile while raising his hands in appeasement.
"Hmph!" Sadeena's pout held a second longer, before quickly turning into a giggle. "Anyway, in the end, no, a part of me never did stop loving Raultalia. And as I grew up again, I decided that if I were to fall in love with any other man, it'd have to be someone as great as, if not greater than him.
"Which I thought would be an impossible milestone since there couldn't ever be someone from our world that could be better than him."
...
Sadeena winked at the Spear Hero. "And thus, the world thought to summon an even greater man in order to prove me wrong."
"..." Motoyasu blushed deeply at her words. "Naofumi's even better than me." It was the first thing that came to his mind.
"If that's the case, then Raphtalia is extremely lucky I'm not interested in him." Sadeena giggled happily.
Luckily, for his sake, she didn't push any further. Much to Motoyasu's relief.
And the talking between them petered out after that.
Motoyasu continued to idly rub Atla's head as S'yne hugged him more tightly from behind in her sleep.
Sadeena still didn't move to open any more bottles either. She stayed twirling the remaining liquid of the initial bottle in her wine glass.
…
…
"Moto, don't break her heart."
"What?" Motoyasu asked, becoming alert again.
Sadeena was looking at him with a serious expression. "I'll hope and pray there comes a day when you have room in your heart for me as more than just a friend. But until that day comes…
"If... it ever comes…
"You better not mess with S'yne-Chan's feelings."
"... you're really something, you know." Motoyasu slowly shook his head.
"And right now, I'm serious." Sadeena said. "One of the worst things you can ever do is toy with a girl's feelings, Moto.
"We might act strong, and some of us are strong. More than we give ourselves credit for.
"But deep down, our spirits are fragile. There is nothing more precious to us than when we share ourselves, our true identities, with another person.
"I only say this because of what you've shared about your past, and because I truly do see you as a great man.
"Do not ever mess that up."
…
"I won't." Motoyasu nodded, his expression firm.
"... Good." Sadeena softly smiled again.
"Now, are you happy about that, S'yne-Chan?"
"Like… I asked you… to have him say that for me." The Atla doll laying on the floor mumbled quietly.
Motoyasu's body tensed, and he realized then that the Otherworld Hero hadn't been hugging him tighter in her sleep.
Looking back, he saw the girl's silvery blue eyes staring back at him.
Her face was still red, and showing a pouting embarrassed look.
It was… so freaking adorable, I say! If only his face didn't look very much like hers right now!
"Ehehehe." Sadeena giggled. "I'm only a little jealous of how cute you two look together right now.
"I almost wish that was me."
"Sadeena, please stop." Motoyasu said in a vulnerable voice.
"Enough." The Sewing Kit Hero agreed.
The orca woman continued to giggle as Atla, thankfully, snored in her alcohol induced sleep. Completely unaware of what was going on in the waking world.
"Ehehe…" The little girl giggled as she dreamed about cuddling with Sir Motoyasu in bed together.
"Ahhhh," Motoyasu settled back onto his bed for the night.
What a fun day it'd been. Especially after he'd finally portaled everyone back to the town.
It'd been late evening when he reappeared home, where, thankfully, no angry/crazy kung fu Granny had been waiting for him. In fact, he learned he could have portaled them all back to enjoy a warm fire at his hearth without her bothering him, as she'd been busy all day.
But then, he still enjoyed what'd happened in that shipwreck, so in the end, he didn't mind.
He'd gotten Atla settled in bed before Fohl arrived. The tiger boy, surprisingly, accepted the answer Motoyasu gave him about Atla going to bed early, before he went to his own room and started meditating…
Weird. Motoyasu never noticed him doing anything like that before.
After that, Sadeena went to hang out with Raphtalia for the evening, and S'yne, hugging his arm, thought it was about time they had their first date together.
Well, second date. But it was the first time they'd gone out as just the two of them. And Motoyasu gladly agreed to it.
It didn't end up being much of a date, as they stayed in Lurolona the whole time. They went to the park and sat on a bench together. The two had held hands while discussing some of what he and Sadeena had talked about, amongst other topics, before they grabbed dinner together, returned home, and parted ways for the night.
Motoyasu had a dopey look on his face. She'd kissed him again on the cheek outside his door before they separated.
He imagined those lips being the one to save his life earlier… had it been her or Sadeena who did it though?
He'd already worked out Atla hadn't done so, and he didn't even see the young tiger girl in a romantic light in general.
He didn't. He swore. Filo was the only exception since she was an angel, but he knew better than to ruin the girl's sudden budding trust in him with actions like that.
Especially when he had someone as great and amazing as S'yne, I say!
But then, even though he only wanted to see Sadeena as a good friend... it was becoming harder and harder to see it as just that.
…
Shifting his thoughts fully to S'yne, Moto smiled wide. He felt incredibly happy and more motivated with their relationship!
He couldn't wait for their third date, where he'd be super courageous, going for a kiss on the seamstress's soft, strawberry lips personally! No threat of death to detract from the romance in the atmosphere as he'd then bring the both of them back to his room, their lips never parting from one anothers as they fell into bed and-
Bonk! "No, bad Motoyasu! Bad, I say!"
Motoyasu chopped his forehead with his hand to drive the horny thoughts away.
It worked, thankfully, but it didn't make him feel any less happy about how good he felt.
In fact, he was feeling so good he couldn't get himself to fall asleep. How could he, I say?!
Now he had to figure out what to do for a third date with S'yne! And then their fourth date!
And then marriage! And baby names and who the godfather/mother of their kids would be and-
BONK!
The Spear Hero chopped the center of his face again.
No, very bad Motoyasu! Almost worse than just plain being horny, I say!
He couldn't plan out that far this early on! That'd be way too creepy and obsessive of him!
He had to remember to take his time. He was still getting to know the Otherworld Hero! What she liked and disliked, what her favorite color was, what her goals were, who her family was, etc.
Well, she liked him, and food, and sewing, and talking about lots of random things (she was actually really talkative despite needing to use a doll to communicate most of the time). She disliked veggies, early mornings, reincarnators, the obvious stuff.
Her favorite color was purple. Sewing dolls was one of her favorite hobbies, though she also liked drawing drafts for various cute outfits and dresses to sew.
The girl's goal was to live a happy life after avenging her world, and to raise her future family in a world safe from the Waves. Treating them with the same love her older sister had shown her before she ended up betraying her world. And beyond all that, S'yne was just a really selfless person who stayed up most nights watching the town and those she loved in case anything were to happen to them.
This made her nap a lot during the day, but in a way, seeing her sleeping on the couch with the afternoon sun on her face was a sight worth everything.
…
Huh, Motoyasu was surprised at how well he knew S'yne at this point. It made him smile goofily again while filling him with a sense of pride.
Maybe he would be able to show that he could have a healthy relationship with another person… that he'd moved on from the scars given to him by his past life.
…
Bonk.
Motoyasu chopped his face again, more lightly this time. He really couldn't sleep. He was trying to distract himself from what'd happened earlier that day anyway, so maybe it'd help if he shifted his focus onto something else that could help him to do that, I say.
What was something boring he could do that'd-
Right! He could try and finish organizing the last of his inventory!
Motoyasu sat up in his bed and pulled up his HUD. He opened his inventory and drop item menus in front of his face, and after cracking his neck, he scrolled down to where he'd been before on both menus and began manually sorting his inventory.
By this point, he had his inventory separated into different categories. Weapons, Armor, Herbs/Medicine/Potions, Gemstones/Ores, Monster Carcasses, and Miscallaneous, to name a few. Thankfully, while his weapon didn't sort stuff automatically, once he had the groups made in his inventory, it was easy for him to move everything around to their designated spot.
He swore if after all his hard work and effort he discovered a weapon form with a quality of life upgrade that did do all the sorting automatically, he was going to chuck his weapon into a volcano.
The Spear Hero had started out with tens of thousands of things to sort through, but was now down to a few hundred different things. Which were thankfully easier to move around, as he now had clearly established groups to place the stuff in.
He found he had a lot of useful items he could sell through Elena… as well as a bunch of junk and other things he could use on the power-up methods. A lot of monster carcasses, in particular, were turned into item energy. Most of them had been in Moto's inventory for so long that they were nothing but rotten decaying messes that couldn't even be used for leather.
Which was something they could have now, since the Hero's Nation had a family of tanners move in recently. Yet another thing Melty would be able to add to their list of exports.
So, as it turned out, Naofumi was wrong about these carcasses not being able to decay in this space. What was more likely was that he'd unlocked equip bonuses early on that severely slowed the rate of decay and rot while stored in his weapon.
Something that the Shield Hero hadn't paid much attention to when noting it a long time ago.
…
Motoyasu yawned as more time passed. How long had it been? An hour? Two hours?
His back felt stiff from sitting against the bed board. Motoyasu was nearing the end of his list of items. The ones he was going through now were from sometime after the Lute Wave.
Now that he thought about it, that's around when his weapon's inventory had started to become a mess. He had plenty of time and motivation to keep it organized before, but the stress of ruling Lute on his own as well as the fallout from afterward made him stop doing simple things like this up until after the events with the Spirit Tortoise.
The thought made Motoyasu pause and frown. That moment in time really had affected him… in many more ways than he'd realized.
…
The realization made him push another yawn to the side, and he focused on his inventory menu. He might regret staying up this late when Granny pulled him out of bed in the morning for one of her spars, but if it meant cleaning up the last of that old mistake of his, then…
Then…
…
…
Motoyasu stared in confusion at his HUD.
Ancient Filolial Egg (Sealed)
"What?" He said out loud.
The Spear Hero selected the item on his HUD. And then he pulled it out of his weapon.
It was a large, pure white egg. It had a seal painted on its surface like the eggs in Beloukas' egg lottery, but it looked different from them.
Motoyasu's confusion only grew. What the hell was this doing in his weapon?! It was supposed to be impossible to store living things like eggs inside of it.
And more than that, HAD HE SERIOUSLY HAD A FILOLIAL EGG ON HIS PERSON FOR SO LONG WITHOUT REALIZING IT?!
STUPID! SO FREAKING STUPID, I SAY! HE NEEDED TO BEAT HIS HEAD AGAINST A WALL, I SAY! HE COULD HAVE HAD A FILOLIAL OF HIS OWN SO LONG AGO AND YET HIS STUPID IDIOTIC SELF HAD STORED IT IN HIS WEAPON FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG, I SAY! AND-
Motoyasu suddenly gasped, and put a hand to the surface of the egg.
…
Oh, thank the Gods it was still warm. The Filolial chick resting inside was still alive.
He kept a hand pressed to it though, just in case. He had only pulled it out recently. And, to repeat what he'd thought earlier, living things couldn't normally be stored inside a Hero's Inventory.
…
…
…
The egg didn't feel cooler. But he couldn't really sense any movement from the chick inside it.
Motoyasu didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Where could he go to…
And like that, sleep was the last thing on Motoyasu's mind, and the Spear Hero got out of bed and quickly changed back into his armor.
Thankfully, Lurolona had a monster specialist he could visit.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Motoyasu tapped his gauntleted hand against a door. Standing outside as he tapped his foot impatiently. His other hand held the egg he'd discovered in his weapon against his side.
…
…
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
Motoyasu knocked again, harder this time. This wasn't something that could wait until morning!
Besides, he already knew the genius of their town hardly slept at night. It was more likely to find her napping with her head laid on some desk next to whatever she'd stayed up late working on the night before than for her to be sleeping in the wee hours of the darkness.
…
Motoyasu raised his fist to knock again, but as he did so, the door opened. An annoyed middle-eastern-looking woman appeared.
"Sir Motoyasu, do you mind?" Rat said in an irritated voice. "I am this close to figuring out how to get bread trees from that blasted seed and your incessant knocking is not helping."
"I- bread trees?" Motoyasu asked, momentarily stunned by her response.
"Obviously. Do you even realize the range of foods the Bio-Seed is capable of making Sir Spear Hero?! I've barely even scratched the surface in regard to the mutations the genes of that thing can undergo! The complexity on some of the chromosomes of that thing is simply incredible!
"I almost wish I could meet the mad alchemist who originally created it so I could punch him in the face! I hate feeling like I'm doing research on something that was discovered before! But lately, I've been starting to wonder if the guy who made it was actually a genius, or simply an idiot who had no idea what the hell he stumbled upon when he created it!
"To think the legends surrounding him had him thinking it could be used to produce only fruits and vegetables when it can be changed to produce a variety of different items or structures!
"Bah!"
The woman looked to the side in disgust. "At least I'm getting a lot of practice with genetics thanks to it. That should definitely help me with a personal project of mine. Though I wish I could have more time to do that, cause for some reason, the other monster handler who at least had an inkling of what she was doing has gone to Cal Mira for some time and won't be able to take care of the monsters in our Nation.
"eaning I now have to babysit those she was teaching and make sure they don't do anything wrong, and-
"But anyway," After rolling her eyes again, the mad scientist woman focused on the Spear Hero. "What did you need me for, Sir Spear Hero? Did you want me to meet with the Shield and Bow Heroes or something? I thought I heard word that those two had returned from the Otherworld at last.
"I'm honestly curious to learn about their trips, and see if they have any items they brought back that I could study."
"... … …"
Right, it had been a while since Motoyasu last spoke to Ratotille.
He had talked to her before this, right?
Or maybe Melty had been the one talking to her and Melty summarized what Rat said to him, because he was starting to realize this was the first time he was hearing one of her mad rants in person.
Maybe he should suggest to Melty that their resident mad scientist could use some more social interactions with the others in town… interactions that didn't involve science or monsters. If she kept this up, then it wouldn't be long before she underwent her own true mad scientist arc.
"Um, yeah, Naofumi is back, but Itsuki is still out in the world somewhere. You'll need to find Naofumi to ask about those things yourself.
"But anyway! I didn't come here for any of that! What I came here for is this." Motoyasu held the egg out in front of him before Rat could say something else off topic.
"Hmmm… A monster egg?" The woman's purple eyes examined the egg from different angles.
"Where did you acquire this? This doesn't look like any of the eggs the kids have been finding in the forest." Rat then asked after another moment of studying it and seeing the title that appeared on her HUD.
"I found it in my weapon. It's been stored in my weapon's inventory for the last few months." Motoyasu answered.
"..." Rat didn't respond at first, seeming confused as she examined the egg's surface again. "Several months, and yet the creature inside is still alive? And unhatched on top of that…"
Rat looked at the crest on top of the egg as she saw its title on her HUD again, and her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, I see! Now I understand what it means by sealed. I assumed this was a monster crest. But this must be a Sealing Crest.
"Strange, I've only heard of these crests in old history books. I didn't even know there was anybody alive who knew how to create them. And this one still has magical power in it.
"This is extremely fascinating."
…
Rat suddenly thrust the egg back into the Spear Hero's hands, and slammed the door in his face.
…
Motoyasu stood in shock for a moment, speechless at what she'd just done. But before he could think of what to do, whether knock on the door, force it open, or just go back home and give up for the night, Rat slammed the door open again, almost ripping it off its hinges in the process.
"Alright, I just need a moment!" She then took the egg from Motoyasu's hands before rushing back into her house.
She was courteous enough to leave her front door open this time at least.
"Wha- hey!" Motoyasu rushed in behind her.
Her living room was at least tidy. The only mess being all the papers and books lying around on the furniture. Rat cleared some space on a nearby coffee table, set the egg down on a pillow, and then finally grabbed a piece of paper and a quill along with an inkpot.
"What are you even doing? This isn't what I was asking about!" Motoyasu complained.
"Sir Spear Hero, we have an active and working Sealing Crest on this egg here. Do you have any idea how invaluable that is? The practice of making Sealing Crests is a lost art, and the only other working Sealing Crest in existence is under heavy guard in one of Faubley's vaults!
"With this, I could not only keep all the surplus eggs the kids have been gathering in the forest from hatching so that we don't get inundated by a bunch of monsters we're not prepared to take care of, but I can also stick it to those bastards from kicking me, the biggest genius of the Faubley Academy, out of their country in the first place! So if you don't mind, give me a moment here!"
Her response was so forceful that Motoyasu had no choice but to shut up.
…
Minutes slowly ticked by as the dark-skinned woman worked with an intense focus. Examining the top of the egg over and over again as she tried to copy the exact design drawn on its surface to the paper before her.
She ended up throwing said paper away behind her, and started drawing on a second sheet. But after a minute, she threw it behind her as well, and was about to pull out a third paper when she straightened, facepalmed, and then rushed out the room for a moment, before reappearing with a monster egg she had placed in her house.
She put it next to Motoyasu's egg, nodding to herself as she compared sizes. Then, looking satisfied, she took her next sheet of paper and flattened it over the top of the random monster egg. Drawing the crest from Motoyasu's egg onto the paper over it.
Over thirty minutes later, and after throwing one more paper away after making several more mistakes, Rat smiled victoriously as she peeled the paper off the monster egg, revealing the design of the crest as it was originally made, glowing with power.
Motoyasu only realized then that she'd used the special ink normally reserved for monster crests and the like, because it was glowing the same color as the crest on his egg.
"HAHAHA! Yes! Now I'll finally have something else to work with besides that blasted Bio-Seed in my free time! Ahahaha! This is just what I needed!" The woman laughed.
"... didn't you say earlier that you hate researching something that's already been discovered though?" Motoyasu asked.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The two stared at each other. Rat's eyes looking in confusion from the Spear Hero to the Sealing Crest she'd managed to recreate… recreate…
Recreate…
"Gods damn it." The woman sighed. "Urgh…"
"Sorry." Motoyasu apologized. And it was genuine. The female scientist just looked so… dejected after being so excitable only moments ago.
"It's fine. This'll still prove useful for the Hero's Nation. Actually, this could allow us to add monster eggs as an export, since we could put this crest on any egg, and it wouldn't hatch until a monster crest was drawn over the original crest." Rat said the latter part to herself as she looked at the monster egg she'd brought in.
"Just wish it could have been a fresh discovery…"
"Right… um, anyway, now that that's out of the way…" Motoyasu trailed off as he tried to even recall what his original question was.
"The Sealing Crest is likely the reason why the egg survived in your weapon, Sir Motoyasu." Rat went back to what her original observation from earlier was. "Its use, at least according to those history books I mentioned, was to keep valuable perishables in a state of stasis for nobility, allowing the item to be stored away long term so they could be brought out for a variety of reasons."
Rat then frowned as she held the original egg up again. "Though why it was used on a Filolial Egg of all things, I have no idea... Then again, this looks bigger than your normal Filolial Egg."
"Do you recall how you acquired it?" Rat asked.
"I've been trying to remember, but I think I would have gotten it sometime after Melromarc had the Lute Wave, and I-" The Spear Hero suddenly stopped talking.
…
…
"And you what?" Rat asked.
…
…
Motoyasu's face fell.
Right, he remembered when he'd gotten the egg now.
"Sir Motoyasu! We have someone who's refused to pay the entry tax!"
A tired Motoyasu looked up from his desk as Malty and several knights dragged in an old man, dressed in leather armor. He had a patch with the insignia of a Filolial's head on his shoulder, identifying him as a Filolial Rancher.
"I'm sorry, what?" Motoyasu tiredly rubbed at his eyes, which had been trying and failing to read one of the latest documents placed on his desk.
"This bastard entered our village without paying the entry tax and had the audacity to try and leave before our brave and loyal knights cornered his wagon by the inn! You are now to act as judge for this bloke!"
"P-Please. I genuinely didn't know such a tax had been implemented while I was gone." The old man pleaded. "I just returned from a very long trip! I just wanted to make sure my family and my ranch weren't destroyed by the recent Wave of Catastrophe!"
"I think he should be executed for not having the money to pay the tax. He must be used as an example for those who won't take the tax seriously, Sir Motoyasu!" Malty said, smiling widely as she did so. "I can do the honors for you if you wish!"
Motoyasu let out a groan. He could see her logic, but on the other hand. "Can't we just do something more simple like take something of value as tax?"
Malty scowled, but one of the knights stepped forward. "The only thing this man had in his wagon was crates of feed. Though one crate has a monster egg with a weird crest on it."
"Please! I'll offer the egg for the tax!" The old man pled. "I found it on my latest expedition! It's easily worth the full gold coin of entering and leaving guaranteed! Maybe even more!"
…
Malty's scowl turned into a look of surprise, then a greedy smile. A rare monster egg with a crest?! Perhaps that meant it was a really rare treasure, like a dragon!
"I think that'd be acceptable, wouldn't you agree, Sir Motoyasu?" Malty asked sweetly.
"Yeah, sure. As long as everyone's happy." Motoyasu shrugged, before looking back down. So long as it handled everything quick and easy.
The old man, saying thank you, immediately left the building, and then the town right after, not going back for his wagon.
Almost an hour later, Malty would come storming in, pissed off as she threw the monster egg to Motoyasu.
The Spear Hero didn't recall what she said in said rant, only remembering that she said it hadn't been a dragon egg. And as she went out to organize a search party at the tavern (which inevitably never formed as she instead took her anger out on getting drunk), a very stressed out Motoyasu simply absorbed the egg into his weapon without a second thought and moved on.
Any chance of pondering over the event itself was then completely forgotten by the rebellion that took place that very night.
"Sir Motoyasu."
The Spear Hero was shaken back to the present. An annoyed Rat was staring at his face with a frown on her lips. "What?"
"Do you remember where you got the egg?" She asked again.
"... yeah, I remembered." Motoyasu sighed. "I didn't find it, but I believe I can find the person that did."
"... alright, once you figure it out, come back and tell me. I am curious where a gem like this was hiding." Rat shrugged.
"Of course…" Motoyasu turned to go, holding the egg in his hands, but then he paused, thinking about something.
He turned back to face Rat again. "Rat, just to make sure, you're not a reincarnator, right?"
"... Are you really asking me if I'm working with the guys you've been dealing with lately… to my face?" The middle eastern woman replied in a deadpan.
He had no idea why he felt the need to ask. But it was probably because of how she referred to herself as a genius earlier. That was something Naofumi said could be used to identify someone as a reincarnator, right?
"Heheh, just checking is all." Motoyasu chuckled nervously.
But with a stormy air surrounding her, Rat closed the distance in an instant. Staring up into the Spear Hero's eyes with an intensity that shook him.
"Sir Motoyasu, I say this with all due respect," Rat stated in a calm and serious tone.
"I don't need a previous life in an advanced world to be smart."
…
"-! So you know what that means?" Motoyasu asked in surprise.
"Of course I know what it means! You think I didn't get to hear about some of it the last time I visited Melty?! I also heard about the mess with the Bow Hero's former party member and what happened there!
"I also have personal experiences with that one idiot in the Faubley Academy who I'm pretty sure now was a reincarnator since there was no way he could do the smart things he did while being so completely and utterly braindead!
"What I've learned about that group of individuals these last few weeks would line up easily to the point I said that even a little kid could understand what they are! Much less, a true genius such as myself!"
"Actually, you know what, I think I know of a different project I can work on with the Sealing Crest to help the Hero's Nation out with those &%$ clowns! If I'm right about that &%$#%, and there is no way I can ever be wrong, then I want you Heroes to be ready for when you have to deal with him and his harem down the road!
"But anyway, enough with these side tangents, I'm not going to be stupid and talk about my ideas out in the open! Not with that portal traitor still out there! I have more work to do now than ever, and you have your own things to do, Sir Spear Hero!"
Rat directed the blonde man to her doorway, closing it behind him one last time.
And Motoyasu stood in front of it like an idiot for a moment. Wondering what the hell he'd just experienced.
…
…
Motoyasu eventually shook his head. "Whatever. Now that I've remembered this, there's no way I'll be able to sleep now."
At least he'd already had the chance to go with Raphtalia to the Capital so he could register to the protected Hourglass again. He'd be able to teleport to his save spot there and be much closer to Lute. It wouldn't be a long trip like it had been when he visited Leruno…
…
Motoyasu sighed. He briefly wondered if he should wake Amber or not, but decided it was close enough anyway.
He'd spent all day with everyone else.
It was time he did something by himself.
"Portal Spear."
The Spear Hero disappeared in a flash of light.
It was still night when the knightly figure crested a hill.
Behind him in the distance, beyond the tall trees of the forest, the walls of Melromarc's Capital stood tall. To the east, the shrunken village of Lute could be seen nestled in a valley near the edge of the mountains.
Now that he was well out of sight of the people there, he took the helmet he'd taken from his weapon's inventory off of his head. He pulled out his weapon, which was in a miniature form, from under his gauntlet so he could store the helmet in its gemstone, before taking the egg out again.
"..."
A Filolial egg of his own… one he could raise from being a baby to adulthood…
…
But… it wasn't really his, was it?
Motoyasu had pondered on it his whole way here. After teleporting to the Capital, after running through the forest, after entering Lute from in disguise, and learning where the Filolial Rancher and his family lived from one of the few residents that remained.
There was also guilt from seeing a mirror of Leruno. Only it didn't appear that the village would ever recover, after most of its young men and the majority of its town guard had been banished, and had never returned, presumed to have died in the wilderness.
Those that remained were nearing the end of their lives, and many of the families of those who'd been banished had moved away for safety elsewhere.
…
Motoyasu let out another sigh as he jumped the fence in front of him, and slowly made his way towards the home in the center of the ranch.
…
…
As he approached, the front door opened. A young girl of around fourteen years of age stepped out with a brush and a bucket full of feed. She'd been ready to visit the stables and care for the Filolials before the day started.
However, she paused in surprise at the knightly figure. "An adventurer? Did you come to purchase one of our Filolials, by any chance?" She asked.
"No… not this time, at least." Motoyasu held the egg in his hands out in front of him. "I wanted to see your grandpa. I have something of his that belongs to him."
"..." The girl stared at the Spear Hero for a moment, and then, a glimmer of recognition crossed her face.
"Sir Spear Hero…" She gasped.
"... yes." Motoyasu gulped, but steeled himself for whatever verbal assault would be sent his way.
But instead:
"Please, come in! I'll wake Grandma and the others immediately!" The girl suddenly spoke excitedly.
Motoyasu went still, but the girl had already turned around. Setting the brush and bucket against the door as she ran in, shouting that one of the Heroes of Legend had graced their doorstep.
…
He didn't know how he overcame the surprise of what happened, or how he went from standing outside to sitting in an old, yet comfortable house inside a spacious living room. But Motoyasu soon found himself in front of the rest of the Filolial Rancher's family. Which consisted of his widowed wife, their son and his wife, as well as their grandson and granddaughter. The girl he'd met outside in the first place.
"H-He's dead?" Motoyasu asked.
"Yessir, Spear Hero. Passed away only a month ago in his sleep. I told the fool he was getting too old to go on those expeditions of his." The old woman opposite him rolled her eyes. "But then, even when he settled down, he never did lose his love for being an explorer."
"... I'm, sorry that I didn't come by sooner." Motoyasu dipped his head.
"But Sir Spear Hero, you don't have anything to apologize for." The granddaughter spoke in a worried voice. "Grandpa said it was thanks to you that he escaped execution by the First Princess and her men when he returned from his last trip."
"Maybe… but it was also my fault that the whole situation in Lute became as bad as it was." Motoyasu responded. "He wouldn't have had to give this valuable egg up if not for that."
"And that's why I came here, to return this to him, or I guess now, his family." Motoyasu's eyes fell. "The 50 silver entry and exit tax was a huge crime intermingled with many other crimes I helped the First Princess to commit.
"I'd at least like to return the last of the property I found in my possession back to its rightful owner to try and fix that mistake."
"..."
"..."
The family looked at one another silently. The kids looked to their parents, who looked to grandma, who looked at each one of them, before settling her gaze on the Spear Hero.
"Your generosity is appreciated, Sir Spear Hero." The old woman spoke. "But in this case, on behalf of my dead husband, and on behalf of our family,
"I refuse."
"... But-" Motoyasu raised his head as he tried to refute.
"Sir Spear Hero, my husband and I became well known for being some of the best Filolial ranchers in Melromarc, unlike his black sheep of a brother. We do not raise these creatures to become meat. Instead, we raise them to become racers. To pull heavy loads across the worst terrain. And we raise others that can be capable bodyguards for caravans.
"Hell, our stock is so good we've even sold Filolials to her Majesty, Queen Mirellia, and some of our Filolials have even become members of the great Fitoria's flock over the decades.
"Do you know how excited he was when he came home and informed us that the egg he'd discovered had ended up in the hands of one of the Great Cardinal Heroes?" The old lady asked, finally smiling as she did so.
…
…
Motoyasu looked down at the egg in his lap again, and then back up at the family.
All of them were smiling wide in happiness and delight.
"But… but still, this doesn't belong to me." Motoyasu insisted.
"Eh, then we hereby give it to you officially. We've set ourselves up as one of the best ranches in Melromarc. And that is the goal of our family going forward." The old woman shook her head with a laugh. "We'd be shooting ourselves in the foot if we took a Filolial Egg back from a Cardinal Hero!
"Wouldn't it be better for us if said Hero raised the Filolial my husband found and made it famous across the world?!"
Others in the family laughed, with the granddaughter from before giggling in delight.
…
Motoyasu felt as if all the wind in his sails had been taken away. He'd come here to rectify another issue his past self had made… only to find there hadn't ever been a problem.
At least from the perspective of those here.
"I… I don't know what to say." Motoyasu said, his voice nearly cracking.
"Then say you'll raise that Filolial on behalf of my husband. And that you'll make sure to credit our family for the Filolial's discovery so we'll be able to cement ourselves as the ultimate Filolial Ranchers hundreds of years from now!" The grandma winked mischievously.
Motoyasu laughed, the last of his earlier sadness from earlier that night vanishing like mist from his mind. "Got it, I'll definitely make sure that happens!"
He sat with the family for a while longer. With the old woman even getting up at one point and painting a high level monster crest onto the egg on Motoyasu's behalf for free, breaking the Sealing Crest that'd been put on it many, many, many years ago.
When that happened, Motoyasu felt the baby inside begin to stir and move around. The information on the egg showed it was due to hatch… in only a few hours!
As Motoyasu left the house, having made a new group of friends, he was in good spirits. He'd not only gotten to keep the egg he'd discovered, but was soon to be the Father of yet another Filolial.
LIFE COULDN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS, I SAY!
…
It could, however, get a lot, lot worse.
Motoyasu saw the light of dawn beginning to appear on the horizon as he left the peaceful home.
#&%$! He'd stayed up all night on his little endeavor. And he was probably going to have to spar with Granny as soon as he got home. And then head to Zeltoble to do more charity work there. And Gods know what else before he had the chance to nap.
Too bad he didn't have as much free time to do so as S'yne.
The Spear Hero sighed. "Where's some good ol' Mountain Lightning when you need it?
"Portal Spear."
And thus he returned home, the proud owner of a Filolial Egg.
…
And sure enough.
"Ora! Time to spar, Spear-dono! Hi-yah!"
Granny was no longer busy as she stood in front of his house, waiting for him.
It was back to hell.
"Hey Moto, where'd the egg come from? Did someone in Fitoria's flock give Moto their child to raise?" Amber asked curiously as she set the breakfast she'd cooked for him onto the table.
It was a simple meat and cheese omellete. A bit messy in terms of looks, but it tasted divine.
"Urgh, no." Motoyasu groaned as he sipped from a cup of the world's equivalent of bitter coffee.
Indeed, his spar with Granny had happened as soon as he got back.
And it'd been brutal too.
He didn't even want to describe what a nightmare that'd been. It probably didn't help that Granny was still pissed at him for not telling him about S'yne's defensive techniques in life force sooner and had been waiting near his house for him to return… for several hours as he'd learned at the start of their training session.
Gods, his teacher was insane. Did she ever sleep?!
Atla had been there at the spar too, practicing with S'yne off to the side alongside another group of individuals, but he'd been too tired to ask about how she was doing after getting drunk the previous night.
But anyway, Amber continued to study the egg curiously. "Where did you get this?"
"To make a long story short," Motoyasu sighed. "I got it a while back, stored it in my weapon, and found it while cleaning my weapon's inventory last night.
"It had something called a Sealing Crest on it, but now it'll hatch soon since it has a Monster Crest on it now."
"... a Sealing Crest?" Amber asked.
"Yeah, don't really know how they work, Rat did tell me it was a lost art from centuries ago, but that's how it even survived being put in my weapon to begin with, and-"
"Wait a sec, Moto. Fitoria's suddenly being super loud in Amber's ear.
"What are you trying to say, Fitoria?" Amber asked, focusing on her ahoge.
"Huh- oh, right, I guess I could have also gone to Fitoria about it first and-" Motoyasu started to sigh in exasperation again at the roundabout way he'd gone through things last night.
"Moto. Fitoria says that isn't just any egg you have here!" Amber suddenly interrupted, her voice becoming serious.
"... eh?" Motoyasu cocked his head in confusion.
Suddenly, a flash of light appeared outside the house, and the bird girl herself dashed in.
Fitoria's normally deadpan face was full of disbelief. She grabbed the egg from its resting spot on the pillow before her and raised it up to her eyes.
"I… I'd thought all my cousins had gone extinct… after… after the griffons…"
Motoyasu and Amber both opened their mouths to speak, but to their shock, the ancient bird girl began to cry. Hugging the pure white egg to her chest as she did so.
…
Even though she was crying, her smile was as radiant as the sun. Indeed, Motoyasu almost had a heart attack at how her adorable self became a thousand times more adorable than before!
Where was a recording crystal?! Screw that he was exhausted and bruised and ready to keel over from lack of sleep!
HE NEEDED TO CAPTURE THIS MOMENT FOREVER AND EVER IN HIS HEART, I SAY! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
"F-Fitoria! What do you mean by cousins?! Is this egg family or something?!" Amber asked in surprise. Even in the many years she'd been in Fitoria's flock, she nor the others had ever seen Fitoria take on a mate!
But if it turned out that Fitoria had siblings who had children of their own, then-
"Not family to Fitoria, no. But to Filolials as a whole, yes." Fitoria continued to cradle the egg. Her smile relaxing somewhat, but her happiness still clear to see in her face and her eyes.
"... awwww…" And here Amber had been so excited to learn if Fitoria had ever been a mother or an aunt or not."
"Is it another species of Filolial then?" Motoyasu asked.
"Yes, that is entirely correct." Fitoria answered, much to Motoyasu's surprise. It'd been purely a guess on his part, and he hadn't expected to be right.
"Many years ago, from what I can remember, there were three types of Filolials. Filolials that were proficient in magic. Filolials that were proficient in strength. And Filolials that could fly."
At the word, the two's attention had been grabbed in its entirety.
"Overtime, mage Filolials and strength Filolials ended up interbreeding. Creating a new race that was proficient in both strength and magic. They became more like me, and you Amber, and Blue and Rikka and all the others in our flock the world over.
"But, during a war with the Griffin King, those Filolials that could fly were hunted down to extinction by those vile creatures.
"Entire flocks murdered while we struggled to fight them to a standstill."
…
…
"I… could not save them, back then." Fitoria's face fell as she recalled the bits and pieces she could remember of that memory. It'd been a terrible time for the members of her race, and had been one of those open, festering wounds that made Filolials hate griffons with a burning passion all the way to the present day.
Yet now, they as Filolials had the last laugh.
"Motoyasu, Amber, Fitoria is proud to say that the Flying Filolial race will be extinct no longer." The angel girl said as she held the egg in front of her.
A surge of her power entered the egg as she spoke, and before Motoyasu's eyes, the last hour till hatching vanished, and…
Crack!
It was hatching right now.
THE EGG WAS HATCHING RIGHT NOW!
Fitoria handed the egg back to the Spear Hero, who stared in shock and wonder as the miracle of life played out before his eyes.
The egg continued to split down the middle as the creature inside began struggling to break free, infused with the energy Fitoria had provided it with.
Its beak hit at the shell surrounding it again and again, and again.
Until, at last…
Pop! "Pii!"
A white feathery creature popped its head out from the egg. Looking up with a pure, innocent, happy look at its new Father.
Freon.
Author's Notes:
Alrighttttttttttttt, time for another time when Allen brings another thing lesser known in canon up to the spotlight for readers to learn about.
Did you know that after the race in Lute, Motoyasu got a Filolial Egg from Myne, one which she got from a well known rancher who discovered said egg on one of his expeditions?
It was likely something she forced off his hands to give to the Spear Hero in order to win brownie points with him just as what happened in the flashback here, but unlike said flashback where Motoyasu just absorbed it into his weapon and forgot about it due to the stress of ruling Lute and all that, said egg hatched for him in canon and gave Motoyasu his own Filolial, whom he named Freon, for a short period of time.
Motoyasu loved it, and I believe the Filolial even reached the point where it reached its human transformation… and Bitch then secretly poisoned the child, because of how much attention Motoyasu gave it over her. And the last Flying Filolial in existence, whose egg had survived for all those centuries due to the magic crest keeping it from hatching (which I decided to name a Sealing Crest), was killed by Witch.
Who then blamed Freon's death on the Shield Hero, because of course she would.
So on top of the list of other crimes you can pin to Witch in canon, feel free to add 'Ecocide' and 'Infantcide'. And yet another horrible reason why she is on the ballot for worst person to have ever walked the face of fiction. Gods, she's actually reaching the level of some lower tier 40k Warhammer villains at this point.
Anyway, screw her, WE GOT A FLYING FILOLIAL, I SAY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
And this finishes the two week time-skip. See you again in two weeks!
Hero Clips!
Like a True Delicate Maiden
Motoyasu was feeling good.
Really good.
In fact, he was feeling so good that he couldn't get himself to fall asleep.
How could he, I say?! Now that he had to figure out what to do for a third date with S'yne! And then their fourth date!
And then marriage! And baby names and who the godfather/mother of their kids would be and where they'd retire and grow old together and-
BONK!
The Spear Hero chopped the center of his face.
No, very bad Motoyasu! Almost worse than just plain being horny, I say!
Motoyasu couldn't plan out that far this early on! That'd be way too creepy and obsessive of him, I say! But he really, really wanted to at the same time!
The Spear Hero rolled his eyes as he tried to figure out how to spend the rest of his night while his brain was being so hyper and active.
…
Meanwhile, in her room, S'yne was busy humming happily to herself as she put the finishing touches on a diorama she had covering the floor in front of her bed.
It wasn't anything special. It looked like the inside of the Church structure they had in Lurolona.
There were miniature pews filled with miniature dolls of the various residents of the town.
There were adorable glass windows that, regretfully, didn't contain accurate depictions of the art they held since they were so small in the diorama.
At the altar was a little doll of S'yne, wearing a white dress, and a veil falling from the back of her hair. While standing opposite her was a doll of Motoyasu, who was dressed in a tuxedo.
Standing behind said altar was a mini doll of Naofumi, who was wearing priest garbs and staring down at a book in his hands grumpily.
…
…
Wait. S'yne was humming 'here comes the bride' while looking it over.
This was the diorama S'yne made of her and Moto's future wedding!
The dolls placement in the pews was their seating arrangements for the wedding. Amongst the Heroes and their companions sitting in the front pews was a blonde woman with a little chain-shaped hair ornament on her head, as well as a man in distinct armor set with a gem in the middle of the chest area.
Outside the church structure, the details for the reception were also laid out. And amongst the tables, which also had dolls of the residents to identify their seating arrangements, was a mini version of the giant multi-tiered wedding cake that another Moto and S'yne doll were standing next to.
The happy couple ready to take the first slice out of the cake to feed to one another together like any other dream couple.
And next to that was a working chocolate fountain.
No, I am dead serious. S'yne had a literal working mini chocolate fountain as part of the diorama for her future plans.
What am I even witnessing right now?!
S'yne giggled while clapping her hands together happily. Oh, she was so excited for this!
It was all perfectly planned out to the tiniest detail. And the five hundred page wedding plans she'd written down dutifully, like any true delicate maiden, would ensure she and Moto never got off track in their relationship leading up to the moment they said 'I do'!
Unable to hold herself back, she picked up the doll of Moto from the altar, whose hair looked genuinely like the real thing, and she started kissing its face over and over again.
…
…
…
Yeah… to be honest, this was starting to creep the narrator out.
Long story short: Motoyasu and S'yne really did think alike.
The latter just being a 'tad' more excessive planning for the future than her future partner.
Hero Clips!
Mad Scientist Arc (Please God, Not Again!)
Motoyasu had a troublesome thought after leaving Rat's house for the first time.
Maybe he should suggest to Melty that their resident mad scientist could use some more social interactions with the others in town… interactions that didn't involve science or monsters.
If she kept this up, then it wouldn't be long before she underwent her own true mad scientist arc.
…
HA! As if! Who did the Spear Hero think she was?! WN Naofumi?!
Get real. Like there was any chance in hell she'd ever become as crazy as that bastard and-
Literally One month later
"AHAHAHAHA! I HAVE BECOME GOD!" A familiar dark-skinned woman yelled in triumph.
"Motoyasu, what the %$# is this?" Naofumi yelled, staring fearfully at the thing before them.
"What are you talking about?! I didn't do anything!" The Spear Hero screamed.
"Exactly, you did nothing!" Naofumi yelled back at the blonde man.
Rat was currently standing on the palisade of a giant castle. It had towering walls several hundreds of feet tall and as many dozens of feet thick.
And that didn't even include the main keep, in which the middle-eastern woman had all her mad scientist experiments within.
Oh, and the land it was on was raised above the ground… and walking around using roots as legs. Meaning they were chasing it right now as it crushed the land beneath it. Not as badly as what the Spirit Tortoise had done, but still pretty bad.
"Burst Lance!" "Shooting Star Blade!" Motoyasu and Raphtalia sent their current strongest attack skills at the walls of the fortress.
Boom! Boom!
They both exploded harmlessly against energy shields that appeared around the castle.
"Are you &%#ing kidding me?!" Naofumi yelled.
"Our attacks barely scratched it!" Raphtalia yelled next to him.
"FOOLS! YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP ME! I'M THE GREATEST GENIUS THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!
"AHA! AHAHAHAHA!"
"Are we sure this person isn't a reincarnator?!" Naofumi asked the Spear Hero.
"Unfortunately, unlike those saps, her brain's the real deal." The blonde man sighed.
And to think this all could have been avoided if he'd just arranged a girl's night for the middle eastern woman.
It'd take days of effort before the Heroes finally managed to wear down the shields and destroy the roots of the castle, allowing them to break through the walls… after which, they'd have to do battle against a mecha Rat had designed to stall the Heroes further while she finished her mad research deep within her laboratory.
It was a long, drawn out battle that they eventually won. Without any deaths either. Before they had to break through the main doors, which were also shielded, and then defeat Rat after a long protracted battle with her experiment.
After which she calmed down and acted as if her outburst of behavior had been entirely normal. Leading to very little change down the road, especially since her creations had been destroyed and she forgot how she modified the genetics of the seeds to get the castle and mecha.
In the end, a month and a half had passed from Moto's meeting to the end of Rat's Mad Scientist Arc. And after it was all said and done.
"This was a massive waste of time." Raphtalia said in a dry voice.
"Yes, it was." Naofumi agreed.
What do you know? It was exactly the same words used at the end of the Madfumi arc in the WN.
No wonder it never got implemented in the LN outside of a variation of it with Holn, Rat's ancestor in the past.
And no wonder it pretty much ended with almost the exact same reason: being a massive waste of bloody time. Just like writing this stupid omake.
…
Oh, and before I go, yes, the entire castle structure was made from a single seed from a Bio-Plant. As was the mecha.
Chew on that while punching the face of the mad alchemist reincarnator who made the seed that could be genetically modified in any way and didn't do anything even remotely smart with it.
Till Next Time
Allen