AN: I am so sorry for how long that it has taken me to work on this chapter, but I hope that it is worth the wait and you all enjoy this little flashback and then catching up. The next chapter is the Second Wave, where all of the preparations will come together. Look forward to it!Oh, and as usual, I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero, nor Final Fantasy XIV, I am just playing around in their playgrounds.
"Tonight, then, as soon as Larissa returns and dinner is finished."
Valina sighed softly to herself as she sat in the living room of the house that she and her party had bought for use as a base of operations while they were working with the Kingdom. One hand was sitting atop Yokai's head, applying scritches to the vulpine Demi-Human that was purring and napping as the Spear Hero thought back on that fateful day that had led to so many changes in her life. It was hard to believe that the great circus-like tent was somehow able to be hidden within those back alleys of the city, but when Beloukas had shown her, the rest of her party, and Naofumi where he conducted his trade, the young woman had found herself quite stunned and shocked. But it was when she saw inside that Valina's visage darkened, seeing that just about the entire tent was taken up by row after row of darkened cages containing a wide variety of different beings. It was a shock to her very core with the sheer number of slaves on hand to choose from, and the wide variety that she was just barely able to make out in the darkness.
But still she had followed the squat little man deeper into the tent, deeper into the depths of the underworld that had her sick to her stomach and cursing at the darkness that allowed the slave market to thrive and build. Her eyes flashed for a moment with as she activated one of the minor abilities that she had picked up from one of the recent materials absorbed into her spear; darkvision. This allowed Valina to see the wide variety of beasts and creatures that were contained within the cages, many of the of very clear non-human and monstrous nature that made her wonder if they would have any luck in filling the last spot of her party, let alone finding a suitable companion for Naofumi, but she was willing to give it a chance. Beloukas finally came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the stack of cages near a desk that held many of the different tools that he used with the slaves that he tended to, things that Valina did not want to know the full uses of if she could help it.
"So, then," the slave trader began with that ever present smirk of his, making the Spear Hero think of many a dark figure from various anime that she had seen, "Two of the Cardinal Heroes are here looking for slaves! Oh, how I never thought that I would live to see this day, and yet, here we are! So… what is it that you are looking for?"
Valina sighed and took a step back and away from where Naofumi and Rojeel were taking the lead in negotiations and explaining the needs that each of them had for their situation, deciding to instead focus on the different beings that resided in the various cages. It disgusted her to see it all, and the way that there were some Demi-Humans that were surrounded on just about all sides by literal monsters that had them staying in the center of their cage lest they end up torn apart by sharp fangs or vicious claws. Larissa stood beside her and seemed to be shaking just as much, a look of pain and sympathy on her face as the young healer shook with the same frustration that Valina felt and the fact that there was nothing that they could do for them all.
"Inari-Sama, these poor souls," Valina said softly, watching as Larissa subtly sent a few of her Nouliths about the various cages to start casting various diagnostic and healing spells to ease the Demi-Humans of the worst of their pains.
Then there was a sight that caught Valina's eyes, a very small girl that couldn't be older than seven or eight curled up in a tight ball, the pair of vulpine ears on her head twitching at every sound and her tail being cuddled tight to her chest. It stabbed at the young woman's heart as she kneeled down in front of the cage containing her, dark glares sent to either direction being enough to keep the monsters there at bay from the sheer amount of bloodlust that was pouring off of her. Her gaze returned once more to this delicate little fox girl that had right away captured her heart and attention as she heard Naofumi turning down multiple vicious beasts that the slave peddler was offering him, and instead was taking a small Demi-Human girl of his own. And that cemented the Spear Hero's decision.
"Roji, could you come over here for a moment, please?" Valina asked of her frontline warrior.
"Yeah, what's up?" Rojeel asked as he walked over from the Shield Hero and slave trader.
"How strong are you?" she asked quietly, eyeing the bars of the cage around the girl.
Rojeel just smirked as he caught on to what was being asked of him, stepping up to the cage and began to flex. His muscles bulged as the two women watched on, one of them with a fair bit more awe in her eyes than the other as the bars slowly bent with a quiet groan. Once it was wide enough Valina stepped through the gap and without pause bent down to scoop up the young girl into her arms, cradling the child much like a mother would her own, and carried her out and away from the beasts that had been surrounding her. The quiet whimpers of the fox-girl had Valina's anger rising and about to boil over as she approached Beloukas, her heels clicking quite loudly and grabbing the attention of the two men that had just finished their transaction.
"Momma, are you okay?" came a small voice that shook the Spear Hero out of her momentary trance of a flashback and brought her back to the present, watching as the royal troops began escorting the Princess away from the shop, peace having returned with the resounding laughter of her friends and allies.
"I'm good, sweetheart," Valina said, bending down to kiss the Yokai atop her head, "Momma was just thinking back to when I adopted you."
That brought a small frown to the girl's face for just the briefest of moments, as she too thought back to that same day before brightening up and hugging her mother once more. This brought bright smiles to everyone's faces as they watched the wholesome moment between the two, all of them enjoying this brief moment of peace before they would be forced into a fight for their lives. It was a sobering thought that before too long the second Wave would come and threaten the land, and had Valina's gaze returning once more to her intricate set of armor that had been forged for her. And that cemented her determination, to make sure that not only were they all ready for the fight that was to come but to also make sure that they would get all of the equipment that they would need in the long run.
"Erhard, friend, do you still have the design for the spear that I drew up?" the Spear Hero asked, looking over to the blacksmith.
"Aye, that I do," he responded with a nod, arms crossed, "But I do not know how long that it will take for me to forge that for you, as I am not sure if the metal that I currently have access to will be able to handle such an elegant weapon."
This had the young woman releasing a small sigh with a shake of her head, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. This was going to end up very expensive and time consuming, but would in the end be worth every last bit of effort, especially if she could get it enchanted properly to replicate the actual weapon from Eorzea. Especially if she could find a Dragon willing to give her one of their eyes.
"Right, I'll… let you know when I find what is needed," Valina said with a small sigh, nodding.
A couple days passed since Valina and her team had picked up their new equipment, and what had transpired with the Princess managed to spread to not just the other Cardinal Heroes but also the entirety of Castle Town. And though at first most people seemed to side with the Princess and sent dark looks and glared towards Valina's party, their tune soon changed when they heard about her trying that with the other Cardinal Heroes to the same responses to various degrees. Though none of them had stripped the Princess, even if Naofumi's little girlfriend had apparently been tempted to do so. And with the true character of the Princess revealed to the people no one criticized her anymore, and many actually began looking at the Shield Hero in a better light than they had before.
But that was the farthest thing from Valina's mind as she did a quick jump up into the trees, the heels of her greaves extending to give a bit of bite into the limb that she landed on while escaping the jaws of death. Almost literally, considering that Rojeel was currently working on trying to get both heads of the large canine focusing on him once more, clanging his large axe against the small buckler on his arm while calling out to the beast.
"Fuck," the Spear Hero growled, twirling her spear before shifting it to one of the various forms she had picked up recently, "Air Javelin!"
With that exclamation a literal lance of pink energy launched itself from her spear towards its maws in the hopes of pinning at least one shut, but its attention wasn't focused enough upon her tank to not notice as it managed to dodge at the last moment. This drew a curse and couple of swears from the Spear Hero as she adjusted her position once more, launching from the tree she had landed on as her weapon shifted once more, this time to a more elegant piece with a longer blade that resembled a naginata of Japan, that she would use to slash out at the oversized canine. Her blade managed to cut deep into flesh and muscle of one of the beast's rear legs, nearly getting stuck for a moment until she sliced it in deeper still in the process of removing her weapon before rounding for a second strike in the same exact spot, followed by another jump that would have her landing a couple of yalms back with a call of, "Yokai, you're up!"
At that the young Demi-Human dropped down onto the great beast from a treetop that she had been hiding within the branches of, a pair of gleaming blades clutched in her hands finding themselves driven into the large canine's flesh. A loud, pained roar erupted from it suddenly found its front knees were sliced from behind by Valina's deft movements in that split opening, using a small jump to launch herself underneath its belly while Rojeel continued to hold the beast's attention. But then a pained scream ripped through the air as Yokai suddenly found herself being ripped off the two-headed dog's back and tossed through the air, and Valina's eyes went wide with worry for her daughter.
"Focus, Val!" Rojeel exclaimed as he slammed his axe into the front of one knee, finishing the job of severing the leg clean off, "Larissa will take good care of her, you know this."
That reminder of the party's healer had the Spear Hero's attention returning to the fight, as a pair of Nouliths zipped in to begin working their healing Magics on the young Demi-Human. But the rage had already set in at seeing her precious daughter hurt. Valina spun her spear thrice, the form shifting slowly into something more vicious and dark with energy crackling around it for just the briefest of moments before settling into its original form, and finding itself impaled into one of the heads of the two-headed dog. Another jump had her landing atop the other head, spear twirling once more with that worrying flicker of form just as be blade was thrust clean through the maw with enough force to pin it to the ground, allowing Rojeel to get the killing blow by severing the entire head from the neck.
"Fuck," Valina groaned, collapsing to the ground in her exhaustion and running a blood soaked hand through her hair, "Larissa, please tell me-"
"Momma!" interrupted a ballistic Yokai, tackling into the Spear Hero with a tight hug that had them both sprawled out on the ground. The two held each other tightly as Rojeel began to look over Larissa to make sure that their healer, and his girlfriend, was unharmed, the feeling of comradery and family having just gotten stronger with everything that they had been through these past couple of days. But a few minutes later and they began working to take apart the great two-headed dog, Valina adding a fang to the gem in her spear to see what kind of new form that would give her. It was a little odd seeing the spear twist and contort into a twin-headed weapon, each end now sporting a very canine head resembling those of the beast that they had just slain and growling until Yokai started petting one and giving it scritches.
"We are not getting you one as a pet," Valina said, anticipating the coming question when her daughter looked up at her with pleading eyes, "Don't even think about it. Don't even ask. You know that it would be quite literally impossible."
"But Momma, they would be perfect for fighting the Waves!" Yokai countered, and everyone stiffened a bit at the reminder of what they were all preparing for. Of what it was that was yet to come.
"As amazing as that would be, training any of the mindless beasts that we have encountered is just impossible," Rojeel said with a deep and heavy sigh, shaking his head, "Not unless you are somehow able to pick up some kind of Magic that allows you to control such beasts."
"But I promise you, sweetheart, that we will be as ready as we can be," Valina said, her expression settling quite sternly. She was not going to let anyone in her party die if she could help it. She would see that everyone made it through until the Waves were stopped for good, and she could return home.
Closing Note: So, chapter five has been wrapped up. I hope that it is well received and that you all enjoyed it. Please let me know how I did, and look forward to the next chapter, hopefully within a month or two. I promise not to take so long, this time, now that I have my muse back!