Naofumi and Motoyasu had settled into a schedule whilst they stayed in Lurolona.

They would wake up early to prepare breakfast for the people of the village, ensuring everyone got fed before heading out to hunt some monsters.

The pair had ended up taking both the Tyrella and Filolial, alternating between them each day. Both of the tamed monsters seemed more than happy to assist the heroes, so it made things easier for them.

Whilst Motoyasu, Naofumi and on some occasions, some of the village kids who wanted to help them bring monsters back, did their thing, the residents of the village got to work, attempting to repair some of the homes.

Motoyasu came in more helpful there, with him accidentally copying a hammer from one of the villagers, and unlocking a carpentry bonus. It had led to Motoyasu remaining in the village more often than not, leaving Naofumi with some of the village kids and a filolial or Tyrella depending on the day.

"Come on! Come on! We gotta make sure we have enough!" Came the voice of The dog demi-human, Keel.

"Keel…" Rifana whined, "You're the one who eats the most! Even the adults are shocked by how much you eat!"

"Yeah? Well maybe if Gauntlet guy and Hammer bro didn't make such good food, I wouldn't eat so much! Though we could do with some fish…"

Rifana nodded her head at that, seeming to agree with Keel. "I know, but you know what the adults said. We can't go fishing until everything's sorted, and Sadeena comes back."

The third child, perked up at the person's name, and Naofumi found himself curious about just who this Sadeena was, to get a reaction from the girl. It was the most animated he had seen her.

"Who's Sadeena?" He decided to ask, as he threw yet another monster into the wagon. It was almost enough, they just needed a couple more before they could head back.

He didn't get an answer for a moment, until the quietest girl, Raphtalia, he mentally reminded himself, began to speak.

"Sadeena is my big sister!" She spoke, becoming more animated once again.

"Hey! She's not your actual sister, don't confuse him like that!" Rifana said quickly, earning a small giggle from Raphtalia.

"Sadeena is the best!" Keel answered excitedly, "She's like the big sister to everyone in the village!"

"Yep! Big sis Sadeena is super strong!" Rifana agreed. "If she was here, we wouldn't have had to worry about the wave at all!"

"Nope! And those slavers wouldn't have dared come here!" Keel added.

That gave Naofumi a thought. Just how strong was this Sadeena they were mentioning? Were they some sort of retired adventurer who lived in the village? Or just a local who was strong enough to give them the sense that she would always win?

Naofumi shook his head. Either this Sadeena would show up when she found out what had happened, or she wouldn't. It was as simple as that. Whilst he had been thinking about it, the conversation had shifted to something else between the kids.

"...summoned here?" Keel asked, getting a shrug from Rifana.

"No idea, but I hope it's the Shield Hero!" Rifana spoke, letting out a sigh. "Maybe then I could get started on winning them over."

"Huh? What do you mean by that? I just wanna fight by their side! I wanna show them just how manly I can be!" Keel declared, getting a laugh from Raphtalia.

"Sorry to dash your dreams," Naofumi started apologetically, "But from what I've heard, they are planning on summoning the Spear Hero to Melromarc."

He watched as each of their faces dropped, but it didn't last long before Rifana spoke up.

"Well, if they are summoning the Spear Hero, then he will meet up with the Shield Hero at some point, right?" She asked Naofumi for confirmation, who nodded hesitantly.

He wasn't sure where she was going with this, but he was willing to humour her for now.

"Well, that's easy then! I'll just go with the Spear Hero until we meet the Shield Hero!" The girl declared, a wide grin on her face. "It's as easy as that!"

Naofumi stared at her for a moment, and Rifana stared back, still grinning.

"...And what is this Spear Hero going to think when you leave him after adventuring with him for however long?" Naofumi asked kindly. "Not to mention, he likely isn't going to choose a kid as an adventuring companion."

Rifanas smile dropped at that. "But I mean… I wouldn't get that close to them!" she started, a frown still on her face. "Plus, if I level up enough, then I'll be fine!"

"What does leveling up have to do with it?" Naofumi asked, confusion evident in his voice.

"Huh? You don't know?" Keel asked the Gauntlet hero, tilting his head. "Demihumans grow with levels!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Naofumi was completely confused now, and as such, Keel, Rifana and Raphtalia explained to him that demi-humans grew up as they levelled.

Naofumi kept the thought in his mind, thinking that it may have been some sort of prank the trio of kids had pulled on him. But upon returning to the village and asking an adult, he found it to be true.

"Hey Naofumi! How did it go?" Motoyasu asked later that day, as they rested in their temporary shared room.

Naofumi didn't answer for a moment, thinking of how to word it.

"...This world is weird." He spoke to his fellow summoned hero.

Motoyasu let out a confused noise at that, and looked at Naofumi, likely expecting him to expand on what he said. Except the Gauntlet hero didn't, leaving Motoyasu wondering what he had meant by that.

And as such, a week passed in that manner.

Naofumi and Motoyasu had gotten back to the village a little bit later, having gone a bit further out than usual as they looked for newer monsters, but had found nothing.

When they had returned, they had noticed a new person standing at the entrance to the village, which was strange. They had gotten to know the residents of Lurolona fairly well, and seeing new people arrive was a rare thing, so the duo were naturally curious.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Motoyasu asked the person, who jolted upright, seemingly having not noticed Motoyasu.

"O-Oh! Hello there, good sirs. Would you happen to know where the Gauntlet and Hammer Heroes are? The residents of the village said they would be back soon, but I'm afraid it's been an hour since then."

Naofumi and Motoyasu looked between each other, and with a nervous laugh, Motoyasu spoke up.

"Ah, that would be us. Sorry, we went a little further out looking for newer monsters. We didn't really intend to be out much longer."

The man's eyes widened, and his eyes darted to them, catching sight of Motoyasus hammer, and Naofumis gauntlets.

"My apologies, sir heroes! I did not intend any disrespect by not recognising you!" He spoke quickly, obviously panicked.

"It's all good. You're not to blame. Why were you looking for us anyways?" Naofumi questioned him, trying to lead the conversation back onto the right path.

"Oh, yes of course. Just let me…" He dug around in his bag for a moment before producing a rolled up piece of parchment, which he held out for one of the two to take.

Naofumi leaned down to take it, and began unrolling the parchment. He looked it over, frowning, and Motoyasu moved his head to look before sighing.

"Man… We really need to find some sort of weapon form to help us understand the written language." He complained, shaking his head.

"Yeah, it would be super convenient if a weapon form like that existed." Naofumi spoke with a nod.

Motoyasu had been insistent on there being a weapon form to help with it, and Naofumi was inclined to believe him for the moment.

"Is…Is there an issue heroes?" The person asked after a few more moments.

"Yeah, we can't understand what's written on here." Motoyasu explained to the man, whose eyes seemed to light up in understanding.

"I see. My apologies, would you like me to read it?" He offered politely.

Motoyasu quickly gave him the letter, and the man read it out to them.

It was a letter from the Queen, asking for their presence when they summoned the Spear hero. She was still a couple days out from the capital, and the summoning of the Spear Hero, which they had gotten permission for, wouldn't take place until the day after she had arrived. Despite that, she still wished for them to be there prior to her arrival

"I see." Naofumi spoke with a nod. "I think we can definitely make some time to head there. The village should be all good, right?" He asked, turning to Motoyasu.

He seemed to consider it for a moment before answering. "Well, it's probably best to check with Eclair first, see if she thinks it will be fine for us to leave."

Naofumi nodded his head. If it came to it, one of them could stay here at the village if Eclair was sure it was unsafe, and the other could go to the capital.

"Thanks for bringing us the message. Either we will both be there, or only one of us will turn up." Naofumi spoke to the man. "If it's only one, whoever goes will explain it to the queen."

The messenger nodded his head in understanding. "Understood. I'm sure the queen will find that acceptable. Thank you for your time Heroes, but I must be going."

With that, the man bowed, and the two heroes watched him walk off in confusion.

"Did… Did he walk all the way from the capital to here?" Motoyasu asked as the man disappeared.

"I guess so?" Naofumi asked, his confusion equal to Motoyasus. "Maybe when we get the go ahead to head back to the capital, we can pick him up if he's still walking?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Motoyasu agreed.

And after that short delay, the two made their way into the village.

To the duo's surprise, Eclair had easily accepted that they were going to leave, even more so when it was revealed it was by the queen's request.

"Of course. You shouldn't even have to ask me about that. You are Heroes after all, it would be presumptuous of me to try and tell you what you can and cannot do. Especially so after how much you have assisted us." She had stated, getting the two heroes to look between each other.

"But are you sure it's going to be fine? I mean, we don't even know whether more slavers or anything else might happen." Motoyasu asked, concern evident in his voice.

Eclair shook her head, waving off their concerns. "We will be more than prepared enough, I can promise you that. But you can't stay here forever out of concern for everyone."

Naofumi let out a sigh. She had a good point, he just wished they had an easier way to go back and forth from Lurolona and the capital.

"I would recommend taking the Filolial and carriage to the capital however. You would rather be there sooner rather than later, after all."

Naofumi and Motoyasu accepted that with a nod. It would certainly make the trip easier for them. The Filolial had levelled up quite a bit whilst out hunting, so it was considerably faster than it had been.

"Thank you for that. We'll make sure to be back as soon as possible. Maybe with the Spear Hero behind us." Motoyasu spoke with a grin.

"Then I look forward to your return heroes. Have a safe journey."

With that, Naofumi and Motoyasu left Eclair to her business, which was despairing at the amount of paperwork she had left to do. Being a lord of a village was not an easy job after all.

Once the duo were outside, they looked at each other, and spoke simultaneously.

"There's some stuff I want to go check on before we leave" "I'm going to check on a few people before we head out."

They stared at each other for a moment before smiling.

"I'll meet you at the entrance of the village, yeah?" Motoyasu spoke cheerfully.

"Sounds good to me. See you in a bit." Came Naofumis response, a hand raised to wave him off.

Once Motoyasu disappeared behind a building, Naofumi began making his way through the village. He only had a few people to look out for. The first were Keel, Rifana and Raphtalia,

It wouldn't do for him to just disappear without an explanation, especially since the kids, specifically Raphtalia, had begun opening up to him. She had told him what had happened during the wave, and the fate that had met her parents over some food.

Keel was the more straightforward one to deal with, in his books. It was simply a matter of telling the dog demi-human that Naofumi wouldn't be cooking for the next few days, so it would probably be best to keep an eye on the meals.

The only other person he had to speak to was the chef girl. He didn't exactly want her in the kitchen, but considering it was his only choice due to everyone else being busy, the village would have to deal with it.

"Gauntlet bro!" Keel shouted, barrelling into Naofumi from the side. "What are you doing? Are you gonna go out again? Can I come with you?"

"Keel! You know we aren't allowed out of the village yet. Lady Eclair said it, all the adults have said it, and I'm sure he will say the same!" Rifana spoke, smacking her friend on the back of the head.

Keel let out a small whine, holding the back of his head, before looking up to Naofumi.

"Sorry Keel. Not this time. Me and Motoyasu are headed back to the capital. They are summoning the Spear Hero soon and they want us to be present."

Keel seemed dejected at that, so Naofumi sought to cheer him up. "If it's any help, we are gonna try and bring him back here. Wouldn't you like to meet another hero?"

"Oh? Bringing him here already?" Rifana spoke with a grin, getting an eye roll from Naofumi. "I'll be able to put my plan into action sooner than later!"

"I won't stop you, but don't be surprised when he turns you down." Naofumi responded with a sigh.

"Wait, if you aren't gonna be here, who's going to be cooking all the food?" Keel asked suddenly, getting a small giggle from Raphtalia due to his panicked expression.

"Ah, sorry about that. It's going to be the other chef for now, so word of advice? Keep an eye on the food, make sure it's actually edible before inhaling it, yeah?"

"Ill make sure Keel doesn't hurt himself by eating anything gone bad." Raphtalia spoke up, getting a smile from Naofumi.

"Sounds good to me. You three will be good for everyone, yeah?" He spoke to the trio, earning a gasp from Rifana.

"What? I'm always good!" She spoke, seemingly offended by the accusation.

Naofumi simply looked at her, and she shrunk under his stare.

"Be good for everyone." He repeated blandly before waving them off. "Me and Motoyasu will be back soon, so see you later, yeah? I'll make sure to cook something good up for you if you keep them behaved, Keel."

Keel seemed to perk up at that, and nodded his head eagerly. "Got it! I'll definitely make sure to keep Rifana from doing anything!"

Rifana mumbled under her breath, seemingly lamenting the fact that she was the only one being targeted but Naofumi did not respond to her, walking off with another wave of his hand, with the goal of looking for the failed chef.

It didn't take him long to find her. It was a simple matter of following the smell of something burning and he found her, this time in the kitchen attempting to make something. Though what that something was, Naofumi had no idea, considering its current state.

"The heat is too high." Naofumi pointed out, eliciting a noise of surprise from the girl.

"H-Huh?" She turned to look at it, seeing the black, charred piece of what Naofumi could only assume was formerly meat.

She let out a cry as she moved the pan away from the heat, her face set in a frown.

"You know, you don't exactly have to do it on your own. You can always ask the other villagers to help out if it's needed. Hell, you could even just ask people for lessons on how to make stuff." He pointed out.

"It doesn't matter though, since you took over the kitchen…" She spoke dejectedly.

"Well, that's why I came here. I have business outside the village to attend to, so you'll be in charge of the kitchen for a few days."

She stared at Naofumi for a moment, seeming to freeze in place as she took a moment to understand what he had said.

"E-Eh? But… You see what I do to anything I cook!" She cried out. "You can't expect me to do this on my own!"

"I don't, that's why it's up to you to ask for help." He spoke plainly. "If you end up doing a decent job, I'll teach you some stuff, got it?"

She seemed to shrink in on herself at that, but she still nodded. Naofumi considered that good enough for him.

"Keep the village in one piece, yeah?" He called out behind him, letting the door shut before the girl could say anything.

He set off towards where they had placed the Filolial and the carriage attached to it, with Naofumi petting it for a moment before speaking.

"Come on, we're going to the capital, yeah? Shouldn't take you too long, huh?"

The filolial answered with a "Gweh!", seeming to puff out its chest as it bobbed its head.

"Glad you're up for it. Let's go wait for Motoyasu at the gate, alright?"

Naofumi had barely gotten the Filolial and its carriage to the village's entrance as Motoyasu turned up, a smile on his face.

"Naofumi! Got told something interesting by one of the villagers that I wanna check out in the capital!" He called out, continuing to move closer to the carriage.

"What is it?" He asked his fellow hero curiously.

"Well, they told me there's a monster seller around the capital. They don't know where exactly, but apparently you can buy an egg from him, and it's guaranteed to hatch into something!"

Naofumi thought about it for a moment. It would be nice to have another party member, if he was being honest. Even if they couldn't speak, It would help them grow stronger. Sure, they were two heroes, but there were limits to what even they could do right now.

"Who knows, we might even get a filolial!" He spoke with a grin.

"Or a Balloon." Naofumi added.

Motoyasu stared at him for a moment. "If we got a balloon, it would be a scam! I mean, surely they have gotta have better lower tier monsters than balloons, right?"

"Who knows. We will have to look into it more and see what happens, right?" Naofumi answered with a shrug.

"Guess that's true. Let's get going then!" Motoyasu grabbed hold of the reins, and the filolial began to move, taking the two heroes back to the capital.

The trip didn't take as long as it did before, on account of them not having to stay with the slavers' relatively slow carriages.

It was turning to night as they arrived at the capital, and after being passed through the gate, Naofumi spoke up.

"Hope that messenger is somewhere safe. It's a bit odd we didn't see him on the way here at all."

Motoyasu shrugged his shoulders at that. "He's probably fine. Doubt anything would have attacked him anyways, important characters tend to be exempt from that."

Before Naofumi could ask Motoyasu what he meant by that statement, the Hammer hero spoke up.

"Lets go stop by Erharts real quick, I wanna see how he's doing, and see if he's got any new weapon forms to copy." Motoyasu spoke with a smile.

"That sounds like a good idea, but not right now. We could get him to prepare some stuff for the Spear Hero to copy in the morning, but it's pretty late, you know?." Naofumi pointed out.

"Ah yeah, good call." Motoyasu responded with a laugh.. "Wouldn't want to disturb him. Anyways, now that I think about it, we never actually discussed a plan for the Spear Hero, or any other hero, did we?"

Naofumi was silent for a moment, racking his thoughts. He knew they had not discussed anything with Ren and Itsuki other than sharing methods, as well as looking for other heroes. But beyond that, in the time he and Motoyasu had spent together, they hadn't really discussed it much.

"We haven't." Naofumi confirmed after thinking it over. "I mean, I guess we just talk with the Spear Hero, and explain methods can be shared?" He suggested.

"I mean, yeah. But I mean do we want to give them our methods first, or wait for them to give us theirs?"

"Ah, I see."

It was a good question. One that Naofumi wasn't sure how to answer, if he was being honest.

"If i had to say, we should probably get their method first before sharing ours. I know they probably won't be able to get much use out of it off the bat, but it would still be the best decision in my opinion." Naofumi decided on.

Motoyasu seemed to have thought it over as well, and had seemingly arrived at the same conclusion as Naofumi if his nodding was anything to go by.

"Yeah. Seems good, though now I'm wondering what sort of method they have for the spear."

"I have no idea." Naofumi answered honestly. "Though if it belongs to one of the four cardinal weapons, then its gotta be something strong I imagine."

"Exactly. I mean, if I'm thinking in terms of Emerald Online, something super strong would have to be Spirit Enchantment!" He spoke excitedly.

Naofumi couldn't say he heard Motoyasu talk about his game much. Maybe he had with the kids at Lurolona, but not with him.

"You never did say what your game was like." Naofumi spoke slowly. "I mean, you said stuff looks similar and all that, but nothing beyond that point. How similar are we speaking?"

The hammer hero lit up at the question, and began to explain.

"Oh it's super similar! Most of the menu is the same, even the intro was the same! It's just like we're taking the place of the player character in it!" He exclaimed.

Naofumi nodded, continuing to listen as Motoyasu led the filolial through the capital city.

The duo would eventually find a place to stay for the night, but not before Motoyasu had thoroughly explained to the Gauntlet hero what emerald online was like for new players..

Back at Lurolona

Keel, Raphtalia and Rifana were on the beach, the trio chasing each other and not focusing on their surroundings.

"Keel! Get back here!" Rifana shouted at her friend, getting a shout from the dog demi-human..

"No way! You're gonna pour sand all over my head!" Keel shouted back at her.

The Weasel Demi-human let out an offended noise, her hands, still full of sand, immediately moved behind her back.

"I would never! You're my friend, I wouldn't do that to a friend!"

Keel seemed to find it convincing enough to move closer, not noticing Raphtalia stifling her laughter from behind.

Once Keel was close enough, Raphtalia let her laughter loose, and Keel spun to look at her in confusion, but it didn't last long.

"Ah! Rifana!" He shouted, attempting to brush off all the sand she had just poured onto him.

Rifana stepped back, laughing as well and the noise distracted Raphtalia.

"Oh my, what do we have here?" Spoke a voice from behind the girl.

Raphtalia spun around, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of the person now before her.

"Big sis Sadeena!" Raphtalia cried out, launching herself towards her.

Sadeena caught her in her arms, a soft smile on her face as she hugged Raphtalia, with Keel and Rifana running over towards her.

"Big sis!" "Sadeena!" Came the shouts from Keel and Rifana respectively, earning a bigger smile from her.

"Hello to you two as well. You look excited to see me, did something big happen?" She asked the two.

They froze up at that, and Sadeena felt herself worry slightly. A look around revealed none of the usual adults who would watch them whilst they were on the beach, which only caused her to further worry.

"Did you three sneak down here?" She asked with a light, playful tone, but it soon disappeared as Rifana shook her head, looking down at the floor.

"...Why don't you tell me everything that's happened since I've been gone, alright?" She spoke softly, attempting to hide her concern from the trio, who all nodded.

Stuff is actually progressing, I swear.

Apologies for the delay, turns out this chapter had hands I was not prepared for. It's done, but it really didn't want to be finished. That plus Project moon having a grasp on my soul right now is what led to the delay.

I have no idea when the next chapter will be out, so my apologies for when it inevitably takes over a month once more.

Hope it's somewhat enjoyable, Until next time I suppose.