Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter, and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.
The night passes in a blink of closing one's eyes, and the new day dawns soon enough. It's time for the heroes to bring back all the major leaders who went to fight the war against Astaroth the Mirror Demon and the Spirit Tortoise. They achieved victory in the battle thanks to the help from other nations and Alaya, but the war is far from over. In a way, the Mirror Demon's last act of spite against them in creating a permanent breach from their world to the world of Malach left them with a hollow victory. Needless to say, new plans need to be made to prepare for the eventual clash against whoever might want to set foot in the world of Medea to harm or conquer it. But for the moment, Melromarc needs to figure out their own internal plan and strategies onward before sharing it with their foreign allies.
"Did you get any news from Fitoria, or Metatron?" Naofumi asks when he sees his friend Motoyasu, the spear user shakes his head. "Damn. I thought you might know more than me, because you raised so many more filorial birds. Hope nothing bad happened to them. The help they gave us was pretty important in our battle against that Astaroth guy. I don't want to think what we'll do if we have to fight against his mass teleportation without being able to go through that tree to hide our army away from him."
"My children haven't said anything to me yet. So I think it's a good sign. I'm sure they would ask for our help if something bad happened." Motoyasu gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go ferry the big leaders to the capital. I'm sure they couldn't wait to get all of this boring talking stuff over with."
"I'm not looking forward to it either." Naofumi mumbles underneath his breath. He understands the need for all of these self-important people (who probably have a lot of conflicting interests) to talk over their differences, and make sure they are mostly staying on one page. But he still prefers to do the part where he's just working for a goal, preferably with the more down to earth common people, or soldiers who are there to do their job than talking over gains and losses. So maybe Motoyasu's attitude is right after all - just get the talk over with. He can already picture some variation of 'I told you so' from the queen once she brings up what a hard time they had when fighting Astaroth and the Spirit Tortoise.
Chapter 60: New Challenges
"So, I guess Tia and I will just have to wait here till you finish the talk with the queen and her court, huh?" Katarina jumps out of the door to Motoyasu's room, and gives him an almost forlorn look. Normally, she's attached to the hip with Naofumi's friend. But with the limit to the number they can bring through their teleporting skill, they are already hard pressed to bring all the major leaders back to the capital. Out of all the companions, Naofumi is only taking Malty with him. And that's only because he needs her to spot any possible pitfalls and traps with all the political things. Katarina buries her face in Motoyasu's chest and gives him a hug before letting him go. "Don't worry. I'll look after Tia, and your children for you. Say hi to Iris, and Melty for me."
"Yeah. I'll make sure they are okay. Don't worry. I'll be back for you and Tia as soon as we finish this boring talk stuff. You probably don't want to sit through it anyway." Motoyasu turns his gaze over to Katarina's adopted brother Keith, who is standing right behind her. He raises his fist at the other young man, prompting him to have a fist bump together. "I'll leave Katarina, Bertia, and all my children in your care, Keith. Make sure they are well-taken care of, okay?"
"I don't need you to tell me that. I bet I can protect my sister better than you." The young man quickly turns his face away from Motoyasu, but he's still looking at Katarina from the corner of his eyes. Wasn't this version of the Claes from the 'original game' timeline, without the modern day's 'monkey girl' mind taken over? Keith is acting towards her more like the version from the Bakarina timeline. Then again, even the 'original' Katarina acts more like the 'monkey girl', probably because she looks up to her ancestor Goku and tries to be more like him than the proper noble lady. He should probably mention it to Motoyasu to make sure he is aware, but obviously not in front of them.
"I'm sure you can. Even if I want to have more time for Iris, Katarina, Bertia and now Melty, there's a lot of things for me to do as the Spear Hero. Not to mention all of my children I now raised with them. Katarina is very lucky to have a brother like you, and I'm really grateful for you too." Motoyasu doesn't seem to notice the slight sense of animosity (likely fueled by jealousy) Keith has towards him. He takes a step up, and places hands on both Katarina and Keith's shoulder. "Having a trusting, loving family is better than anything else in the world. My parents were never around even when I was young. So I'm really happy to see your family stick so close. Please, continue to protect Katarina when I can't. I'm counting on you. But let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
Keith is clearly taken by surprise, maybe even taken aback by Motoyasu's more encouraging response. His body tenses like a deer caught in the headlight, seemingly unable to move, or say anything. Katarina reaches out, and wraps her arms around both of them, looking as dense about the relationship as her Bakarina counterpart. "YEAH! As long as I have my boys, I'm not afraid of anything! If that Mirror Demon wants to come back, let him! We'll kick his butt again. Properly, this time! And if that Katana Hero dares to mess with us, we'll send him packing too! You go take care of what you need to do, Master Motoyasu! I'm not some dainty flower that only grows in the sun. I can hold down the fort with Keith, and our children by my side."
Motoyasu gives a few light pat on Katarina's head, and then tightens his fingers around Keith's shoulder for one last time before he turns away from them, and walks with Naofumi towards the stairs. Seeing they have dropped out of the hearing range for the Claes, Naofumi whispers to Motoyasu. "Your world has that novel, or some variation for Katarina too, right?"
"Yeah. But didn't you tell us, and then told that Sato guy not to 100% believe what happened in the story we read when we see a similar situation or character? This Katarina is clearly different from the one from all the versions of the novels." Motoyasu's head cocks to the side, making him look like a confused filorial bird, especially with the goofy smile he always has.
"Yes, I did. It's a good thing you are taking it to heart." Naofumi nods his head, genuinely happy that Motoyasu seems to be learning and getting better in his own way. "But there are also situations where you can reference from the story we knew. Doesn't this version of Keith act more like the one from the novel's 'Bakarina' timeline where he's very attached to Katarina? I think he sees her more than a sister, and more like a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Well... I have a lot of fun with Katarina, just like I do with Iris, Bertia, and all the other girls I was with back on my earth. But I don't want to tie them down to me, you know? It's not fair to them if they no longer have a happy time when they are with me. Plus there's also what happened to Ikuyo and Momiji. I don't think Katarina would try to stab one of her friends, or me to death because she wants me all to herself like the two of them did. But I'll also be happy if Katarina finds another guy she'll be happier, safer around. Especially if she has him all to herself." Motoyasu scratches his hair while he rambles on. Seemingly not comfortable talking about the topic judging by the way his body twitches, and his eyes seem to be avoiding contact. "What I'm saying is... I think if that had happened to Ikuyo and Momiji, they wouldn't have done that. So I'm sure Katarina would be happier if she had a good guy all to herself. And her adopted brother Keith is a really good guy who clearly cares for her. I think she would be very happy with him. If she wants to, of course."
"I think I get what you mean... even if I think your head is still more than a bit messed up." Naofumi stares at Motoyasu, more than a bit dumbfounded by his complete misunderstanding of a relationship that's clearly meant to be romantic. But he's also very surprised at how willing Motoyasu is at letting someone go. Would he himself be willing to give Malty up without a fight if some charming prince who is head over heels for her wants to ask her hand? He doesn't think so. Well... he's not going to get into multiple relationships at the same time to begin with unlike Motoyasu (probably, although the way Sato keeps pointing to female fighters as his 'trustworthy future companions' feels wrong), so it's not the exact same thing. But he can't imagine that he would act as gracefully as his friend if their situations were reversed. He supposed that's not the important thing to think about now that there are more pressing matters. So he taps Motoyasu on the arm to get his attention. "Come on, let's get that political talk over with, so we can come back to our companions."
"Oh, yeah! Totally. I hope Itsuki is feeling better now too. It's just the three of us now." Motoyasu's off hand comment reminds Naofumi again of the precarious situation they are left with even after defeating Astaroth's invasion and the kaiju turtle. The two of them leave the mountain village inn not long after, and see all of the people waiting for them on the open field.
"You two amateurs have some nerve to make a veteran genius like me waiting for you." Kyo's mouth twists into a mix between a smirk and a hiss. He pushes his glasses up his nose. "What took so long? You're all too busy making out with each other?"
"Yeah, yeah. We all know you are jealous of how popular Naofumi is. Maybe try to be more kind and genuine to other people. You'll get a hero telling you he's your biggest fan too." Naofumi was more than a bit surprised by the childish remark from Kyo, or the fairly mature response from Motoyasu. He half expected his friend to rebuke with some playground insults too, since it's easy to forget he's also going to university. Maybe the more mature talk the two of them just had about his relationships temporarily increased his mental age? Or maybe even Motoyasu has grown in his own way since his summoning, even if his mind is still not normal.
"You were talking about that Throwing Weapon Hero? Bah, I don't need an insane fool like him following me around, just like I don't have time wasting on the likes of him. In case you forgot..." Kyo rolls his eyes. He points a finger at himself, seemingly trying to flaunt his own charm or something. And to be fair, he is a good looking man who could easily become a popular idol singer, or actor if he's in Naofumi's world. Too bad he also has the ego to match, and any charisma he is trying to show off is being dragged down by the plain clothes he is currently wearing. "I used to be a king. Had my own kingdom to rule. I was never short of admirers. Especially competent ones, unlike that useless amateur."
"In that case, I am sure my queen will appreciate your kingly presence, Your Grace. Come on, let's go decide on a plan on how we shall proceed with the defense against this new threat of dimensional breaches." Malty's father steps in, stopping the argument from further devolving.
Naofumi turns to look at Yatsuhashi, and his large bodyguard quickly responds before he is asked. "I shall look after Miss Raphtalia while you are away to make sure she's safe, and don't get into any trouble. Do not worry for her, my thane."
The base is slowly taking shape after a full night's construction. Gerard the Golden might have been beached, but it still provided adequate rooms for shelter. General Ironwood and his many lieutenant commanders were able to have two shifts of the Faubley soldiers slowly build up a temporary camp from the beach to the foot of the mountain in the meantime with the help from earth mages led by Fouquet. Saito thought it was pretty ironic that for a former thief that's more well known for taking down walls and fortifications, now she's serving her time building them up after her forced conscription.
"I'm guessing you are going back to Faubley, love?" He turns to look at his lady Louise, who is having a short moment with her husband Lord Warde. The commander of Faubley's griffin corps technically never got the permission from high command to take the entire griffin corps to reinforce Melromarc in the battle against the Mirror Demon, and it could be taken as an act of aggression. Thankfully, Melromarc is in a much weaker position compared to Faubley, so his act didn't start an even bigger incident compared to that time when former king Aultcray used their air cavalry to transport the cure for the Wailing Death plague.
"Yes. I'm probably going to get suspended from my duty, if not demoted for this act of insubordination. I would say it's totally worth it if we actually played a major part in the battle. But-" The much older Lord Warde tries to smile, but the way his brown twitches gives a very despondent impression. Before he has the chance to finish his words, Lady Louise covers his mouth with her own hand.
"You did the right thing, that's the most important part. And even if the entire griffin corps didn't play a vital role against the Spirit Tortoise during the battle, your quick and decisive action allowed me to arrive in the battle on time to save their high command from the Mirror Demon's magic attack. You did a lot, and the entire Melromarc would consider themselves in your debt so long as they are led by a half decent ruler." Louise slowly pulls her hand away, and Lord Warde's face visibly looks more cheerful thanks to her words. "If King Egbert wants to release you from active duty, that is his own loss. But I don't think he would. He is a lecherous pig, not a foolish pig. Even if what you did was not in the best political interest for him, he would be stupid to let go of a righteous man who does things for the true greater good, not whatever that old goat Dumbledore claims."
"Speaking of our wise and venerated lord regent and headmaster of the Hero Academy... I'm guessing he's all too happy that you are taking a long leave from your teaching position, huh?" Lord Warde reaches his hand over and drapes his arm over Lady Louise's shoulders. His act of affection towards his younger wife made the other Faubley soldiers except Saito avert their gaze. "I'd say it's his loss too. But I'm sure the faculty members and students who belong to the Order of Shield would disagree. They probably enjoyed finally having an Order of Sword professor who is fair, and willing to work with them."
"This whole order division of hero academy is the epitome of idiocy, and has lived way beyond its purpose. I'm sure the original founders' ideal was to breed excellence through healthy competition. But now, it has become a tool for pointless, and self-defeating office politics, and has bleed outside of the academy and right into all the bureau of Faubley court. I have no doubt that you, and General Ironwood both would have gotten a proper signed order from King Egbert to join the battle against the Mirror Demon if Dumbledore hadn't released his attack dogs belonging to the Order of the Sword." Lady Louise rolls her eyes and lets out a derisive huff from her nose. She gives an encouraging pat on Warde's shoulder. "Don't let those fools who graduated from the Order of the Sword get to you, no matter what they say. Alright? You did the right thing coming to fight the Mirror Demon. I'm sure Lady Tasmaria would agree with me. Lord Potter doesn't call the shots among Order of Sword nobles as long as she's around, no matter how much he says otherwise."
"Don't worry. Your husband may be old, but he's not so frail yet to let some perpetual school boys bully him around." Lord Warde leans down closer to Lady Louise, and plants a quick kiss on her head before turning to Saito. "Once again, I leave my wife's well being in your capable hand, Sir Hiraga. I'm sure I don't need to say it, but I want to: Please guard her with your own life."
"You have nothing to worry about, my lord. No harm shall come to my lady, so long as I still draw breath." Saito gives a Faubley salute to Lord Warde with a grim serious face, but then he steals a glance at his lady. "Well... except when she inevitably goes over her casting limit, and hurts herself once again."
"SAITO! Do you have to embarrass me in front of everyone like this?" Louise covers her face with her hands. All of the Faubley fighters around them have a face that clearly shows them trying very hard to suppress their laughter, a few younger griffin knights didn't manage and let a few sniggers go through. It is a well known fact that Lady Louise the Zero is the strongest even among the very few meta mages in the world: Someone who has mana, the essence of magic itself as their prime affinity. But it has also become a running joke that she doesn't fully know, and has even less control of her own limits due to her bad education and guidance in her youth, that she often ends up overcasting and exhausting herself out. Well... at least she's no longer ridiculed like in her youth about exploding everything when she tries to cast any spell. "I know we grew up together, so you see me more like family than your lady. But at least try to help me preserve my dignity in public."
"Apologies, my lady. But I have to let my lord know the limit of my protection. Or else I might be forced into committing ritual suicide for no fault of my own." Saito could barely contain the smile on his face. No doubt, his two elder brothers would treat such a situation with 100% grim seriousness, and would take upon themselves to make sure their own master to not overextend and exhaust themselves. But then again, he's not his two brothers, and he had never been the totally obedient type in spite of how he was taught.
"Worry not, Sir Saito. I would ask you to do your best, not the impossible." Lord Warde's reply makes Lady Louise hide her face behind her hands once again. He gets on his royal griffin steed, as does the rest of the Faubley griffin corp. As he slowly rises up into the air above his steed, he gives one last well wish to Lady Louise. "Everyone knows the achievement you earned through hard work in spite of the bad guidance you were given. Don't be too hard on yourself, love. Regardless of what happens to me after this, I'll fly right back to you."
"You two are impossible. Why are all of the boys around me children? Even that idiot Guiche would have acted more mature in your situation." Lady Louise shakes her head as she watches her husband slowly fly away with the rest of the Faubley griffin corp. "Times like this make me think Mother was actually onto something about the whole 'rule of iron'. I knew Father, and her subordinates would never dare to make fun of her like that."
"You love us the way we are. Because we treat you like family we can be relaxed around and trust, not a commanding officer from the army." Saito sees right through the complaint of his Lady. He was forced to quickly follow in her footsteps as she turned towards climbing the mountain, towards that village named Nibelheim. "My lady. Are you going to see the two meta mages of Melromarc, Prince Joseph and Vicar Vitorrio? Or perhaps investigate the rumor about Princess Malty being the fifth one? I saw the porting beam of both emerald and ruby color. All three of them would have followed the Shield and Spear Hero back to Melromarc capital now."
"True. I want to talk to the two other meta mages. I doubt whatever they say would help me improve my own magic control at this stage now, but I'm still curious to see how a traditional mage, and a priest independently developed their own use of magic. Should make the research paper interesting, at the very least. And I do want to investigate the rumor of the first princess of Melromarc supposedly using something similar to void magic earlier at one of the smaller villages when a young outer god appeared. But that's the main goal now." Saito settles into his habit of taking steps in between Louise striding her own feet as he listens to his lady explaining her goal. "I felt something when they were using that ritual spell to destroy the body of the turtle. Someone truly used void magic."
"Wouldn't that be evidence proving that the first princess of Melromarc being the fifth meta mage? There has never been more than four meta mages alive in the world, and those arcane researchers already said if there'll be a fifth one, he or she could only be the Founder Brimir reborn. Now you are worrying about there being a sixth?" Saito gives a puzzled look to his lady. In spite of all his teasing (occasionally joined by Lord Warde himself), he knew his lady was no longer the fragile, insecure little girl who hides all of her fear behind her anger anymore. Her reputation as 'the strongest meta mage alive' had given her enough self-assurance in spite of the occasional joke about her lack of control. So if she is truly worried about something, it's not about her own reputation, but the well-being of those around her. "Do you believe what the Shield Hero, or that rebel commander said about someone behind this Wave? Those armies of demons, or void metal squids?"
"Arcane researchers say a lot of things that have been proven wrong over the millenia. That's what people call 'enlightenment', or 'progress'. They say a new Wave of Catastrophe would not occur after at least a century has passed, and our current one proved all of them wrong. I would not write anything off the table, and don't you dare to think Dumbledore did it himself in spite of what he said during the Hero Conference. He shot down both the Shield Hero, and the Hammer Hero for political reasons. Nothing more, nothing less." His lady didn't immediately answer back, but she still makes her stance very clear. And the spiteful tone in her voice reminds Saito that she is no longer the bright-eyed hero academy student who blindly looks up to Albus 'Too Many Names' Dumbledore for his reputation as one of the greatest mages alive. "I intend to do my own part regardless of what Dumbledore thinks and says. And following this current lead would probably be interesting. If all the arcane researchers were right about the number of meta mages a world can have, I would either find evidence of someone whose origin is not of our world, or I would find a promising meta mage I can help train, and would in term help us protect our world."
"Or you would find nothing, and this ends up being a complete waste of time." His lady abruptly stops dead in her tracks, turns back and glares at him. He puts his hands up, and gives Lady Louise an appeasing smile. At least she no longer threatens to have him starve, or whip him up. "Hey, just saying. I didn't want you to get your expectations too high."
"We'll see about that..." Lady Louise lets out a huff, turns around and starts to climb the mountain again. But Saito sees the exact change he wanted with his quip. Louise's steps are now much lighter, and every step she takes no longer has the heavy burden as if her feet are hammers and the earth she steps on is an anvil. As they climb the mountain, they begin to see signs of destruction like uprooted trees, and trenches dug into the earth and even the side of the mountain like scars. At first, Saito wonders who, and how did someone manage to get through their camp to cause this damage to the mountain forest. But then he remembered that the heroes apparently raised a lot of filorial monarchs. Did they manage to do all of this damage while playing around? He didn't pay that much attention while he was standing guard behind his lady. But he's pretty sure these signs of fighting weren't there when they came down the mountain in the morning for his lady to send away her husband. The sound of furious fighting in the distance seems to answer his question. A piece of log still with branches attached to it (likely a section of a tree's trunk), flies towards them, so Saito instantly pulls out his sword and cuts it in half to make sure the two sections sails harmlessly away from Lady Louise and himself.
"GEEZ! Give me a heads up before waking me from my beauty sleep, will you? Partner?!" The spirit of his sword, Derflinger lets out a loud complaint as Saito returns him back into his sheath. Saito didn't pay his partner any mind, knowing that he would stop his act of over exaggeration if left alone. Instead, he focuses his mind on the pair of Melromarc warriors running down the mountain trail. Both of them wear armor that mimic a well-toned muscular physique, which instantly tells him that they are officers from the old theocracy of Romalia.
"Man, these birdies raised by the heroes sure are lovely. We barely had enough time to break our fast before they went at it again." The man with blue hair elbows his red-haired companion on the side. "I'm not getting in between them. Hey, Bright. Do you want to get your girls to stop them, or do you want me to do it?"
"You know Erina isn't 'my girl', Set. But yes. I better go get her before someone gets seriously hurt." The red haired officer turns his attention to Saito and his lady Louise. "Apologies for the attack, my lady. But as you can see, the 'children' raised by the heroes have gotten into another fight among them. And they don't quite know their strength."
"Worry not, Melromarc warriors. I am unharmed thanks to the timely intervention of my personal bodyguard. I would offer to help you contain them, but I might hurt them by accident. So I shall leave you to your task." Lady Louise nods back to the two Romalian warriors. The blue-haired man stays near the fight, while the red haired man quickly runs up the mountain trail. Saito and his lady follow him, not exactly breaking into a run, but still walking faster than their previous leisurely pace. As they get closer to the edge of the mountain village, they see the companion of the Shield Hero, the young girl with the fluffy ears running out of the village palisade. Saito can feel his own ears trying to stand underneath his helmet. Someone might mistake her for a raccoon, but he can tell she is a tanuki, someone descended from noble Kyutenrou bloodlines. And the instinct of his body tells him to kneel, which he has to expend some effort to stop. As much as he is a disruptor of traditions, he still can't fully rid himself of the customs that've been drilled into his body for hundreds of generations.
"Miss Raphtalia, please stop!" A tall man wearing green armor charges out, and grabs the small noble girl on the shoulder. It was the one who called himself 'housecarl of the Shield Hero', who fought alongside Saito the night before. "It could be very dangerous if Miss Firo is starting another fight again with Rial, Lori, or one of Master Spear Hero's filorial children. I don't want you to get hurt, as does my thane, the Shield Hero."
"I know, but... Firo was my 'little sister'. If I had been a better sister to her back then, and wasn't fighting for Naofumi and Malty's attention, maybe none of this would have happened. She wouldn't have murdered the son of that big name noble, and she wouldn't be exiled from this land and be forced away from her father." The little noble looks down at her feet. Looking very ashamed for some reason. She doesn't have a traditional Kyutenrou name, and the face she is making right now doesn't fit Saito's impression of an always self-important Kyutenrou noble. Maybe he hasn't seen one himself, but he can imagine. After all, he descends from a very minor samurai house, and even his father would always put on a dignified, and grimly serious face at home as well as in public. Perhaps she was a fallen noble who never had the teaching of one?
"I understand you want to be responsible. And you probably feel compelled to be the responsible one as my thane's 'eldest sibling', Miss Raphtalia. But you can only be responsible for someone else's action for so long. Firo killed someone. But more importantly, she didn't feel a shred of remorse for it, even going on to threaten killing his remaining family in public. That's not something you should, or could take the burden for her." The Shield Hero's Housecarl kneels down in front of the little noble girl. Even with one of his knees crouched on the ground, he's still easily as tall as, maybe even higher than Saito standing at his own height. "I understand you still care for this wayward 'sister' of yours. But don't feel like you have to do something, maybe even hurt yourself to get her back. Sometimes when your family has truly gone astray, the responsible thing to do is to... stop them from hurting other people."
The little noble's eyes shoot up at the large man with tanned skin. She looks terrified at what he suggested. After a few moments, she finally speaks through her teeth. "I hope we don't get to that point."
"So do I. All I had was my father, so I imagine it's never easy to see a family get lost." The Shield Hero's housecarl slowly stands back up to his full height. And now Saito's mind isn't focused on holding down a powerful foe, he can feel the sheer feeling of intimidation from man's size alone. This is far from the first time Saito has stared down a giant. One would be hard pressed to find a Faubley warrior that's shorter than him. But the man's bulging muscles underneath his heavy armor, and the curved heavy blade he carries on his back all exert a strong pressure even before any battle. "We'll follow along whoever is going to break the fight. But let's not get in their way, and make my thane worry."
"They are at it again after I just broke their fight yesterday? These little birdies sure are lively." The red-haired Romalian man comes out of the village with a slightly younger looking woman with her hair tied into a pair of tails. Her eyes flashing with an impish glimmer. "Oh well, more fun for me."
There are barely any pedestrians on the street, and the few ones they pass through all have their head hanging low, and their steps quick yet light. Malty never got a true look at Melromarc Castle during the days of Three Heroes Church's rebellion, but she thinks it's probably very similar to that trying time. The air of the castle palace also feels different to her. Like someone has thrown a thick blanket that's wet with cold water.
"My lords, Her Grace is waiting for all of you now." A blue armored royal guard with the full helmet hiding his face walks out of the castle entrance. He didn't bend his body down for anyone, since he is acting with the high queen's authority.
"There's no need to waste time when we are fighting for our collective survival, Sir Locke. Lead the way." If the royal guard intended to give a long-winded speech, it's stopped by Malty's father. The royal guard didn't show any sign of annoyance. He nods back to Father, and immediately leads everyone into the castle till they reach the meeting room. It's not as impressive as the Four Corners' Room of Cal Mira island, but it's still large enough to have all the major players of their nation, in addition to the summoned heroes to all sit down. Of course, there wouldn't be a seat reserved for Malty herself. She is still here as the slave of the Shield Hero, not as the next Wand Hero. No doubt, it's meant to be another snub from Mother to her, but it's also something no one can fault her for. Especially since Malty was the one who openly announced her new identity as the Shield Hero's slave. Before Malty has any chance to react, Naofumi already looks a bit indignant as he fidget near the single seat between them, looking ready to say something. But Malty's mother speaks up before him.
Mother's eyes scan through everyone as they enter, and take their seat near the table. Even the Book Hero Kyo, whose identity somewhat waves between being their prisoner, and their guest. She speaks. "It seems like the Bow Hero still hasn't arrived yet. I suppose the wound he suffered on his shoulder was more serious than previously thought. We shall wait till everyone is here before we officially start our planning. But before that, we shall bring out the prisoner who the heroes took from the battlefield, and has since been interrogated so we would better know our enemy.
There is some sound of chains clanking together mixed with heavy steps as the officer left behind by Astaroth is dragged into the meeting room by other royal guards. There are some signs of bruises, as well as dried blood in addition to dirt covering his skin. His armor is also stripped away, replaced by a simple burlap prisoner rag. Before Mother has a chance to say anything more, Kyo whistles from his mouth. "Well, would you look at that? Fenji of the Brain. Guess Astaroth didn't treasure you any more than that brute Katana Hero, huh?"
"Ah, Lord Kyo... Master Book Hero." The prisoner takes a few laboured breaths as he tries to open his eyes wider. This usually simple task is made harder with how much his eyes have swollen up. "Please! Tell them I speak the truth! I truly did wish to turn to our side, and I'm not hiding anything!"
"Sorry, I'm also one of those prisoners even if I don't have a slave seal attached to my body. Can't help you even if I want to. Which I don't." Kyo leans his body towards the front. His eyes glaring behind the lens of his spectacles, shooting much more light than the glass reflects off the lantern on the wall. "Your new master had as much a hand in my kingdom's destruction as your old master. What makes you think I would help a selfish coward like you?"
"If you want to show off your authority by beating up a prisoner we captured for you, do it after the important thing. Get Malty a seat and let her sit down first. Or is the Queen of Glorious Melromarc so petty that she thinks not giving her daughter a chair is a sign of authority and not the sort of thing a petty child would do?" Naofumi didn't pay much attention to the clearly abused prisoner, he turns to Malty's mother, and voices out the displeasure he has been showing since walking into the room. Not realizing his demand, especially the way he words it, makes himself sound immature to the attending nobles.
"As you wish, Lord Shield Hero. Bring a seat out for his attendant." Mother turns to one of her knights standing besides her before anyone, Malty included, has a chance to react. Once again, she is using all the proper language, but it's clearly intended to remind Malty (or more likely, any noble who wants to put their support behind her for future political gain) of her place, as someone who is below the Shield Hero, therefore below the rank of nobility as well. She supposed she should be grateful that Mother didn't waste time trying to keep her figuratively on the ground.
Naofumi turns his head to the Book Hero while Malty is sitting down on the new seat provided for her. His annoyance at Malty's mother seems temporarily forgotten over his curiosity."You knew this guy before you came over to visit?"
"He started out as some minor henchman of the Katana Hero. I remember because unlike most of the usual muscleheads following that guy, he loves to boast about his head being superior. And I don't mean that he likes to use his head to hit people. Although that would probably get him into that brute's grace more." Kyo replies with a derisive snort. From the way he makes fun of the Katana Hero, it's clear that their possible new enemy is someone who favors strength over intelligence. "Needless to say. He never got in as the Katana Hero's inner circle. So he passed some messages to my men about wanting to switch to my side. That was before the two-faced coward Astaroth invaded our world. Guess he found his new master to wag his tail to. Although clearly, Astaroth didn't value him any more than that Katana Hero."
"Sorry I'm late, everyone. The healers in the church went into the night to make sure there's nothing wrong with my bones before casting their healing magic, and had me sleep through my eight hours. What did I miss?" The door of the meeting room opens again as the Bow Hero finally enters. His eyes quickly scanned through the room, and he noticed the beaten-up prisoner in rags. The young boy's face twisted into a frown. "Wasn't this the guy who surrendered to us? Is it the right thing to beat him to a pulp?"
"Under normal circumstances, we should treat our prisoners with care and dignity. But we aren't going through a normal situation, Lord Bow Hero." Mother slowly raises her hand, as if the folding fan in her hand is holding the entire weight of the nation. She slowly points at the shivering prisoner, and passes her judgement. "This is someone who openly serves a demon who invaded his world, and then played a part in invading our world. He is a heretic. And he only surrendered to us after he was left behind by his demonic master and had no other way to survive. Clemency should not be given to a scum like this, and we have no luxury to give any consideration for him either, unlike the Tome Hero. Because Lord Tome Hero did help us by both providing information of our enemy, and taking the battle on our side. The only thing he can be faulted for was his pride in not providing us with full information. That is why he will be treated as a guest until the moment he commits a crime or makes a sufficiently severe mistake. But this heretic will be treated as a criminal with no mercy."
"Good to know you are smart enough to know the difference between a genius like me, and a sniveling coward who thinks he's way smarter than he really was like him." Kyo's back leans further into the seat as he crosses his arms in front of his chest. His ego clearly satisfied thanks to the somewhat flattering words from Malty's mother. He turns to her next. "Well. You were going to announce whatever information you found from this dog of the Mirror Demon, didn't it? Go on. Say it out loud and let me hear it. If you get something wrong, it'll give me more reasons to laugh at you."
"Of course. After interrogating this imprisoned heretic, we did find some useful information about the Katana Hero. If the heretic was speaking the truth, of course..." Mother gives one last contempt-filled stare to the prisoner before continuing. "Lord Shield Hero's Siltvelt ally has mentioned that he encountered some kind of armor-covered flying beast during your battle. According to this heretic prisoner, before he defected to the side of the Mirror Demon, the Katana Hero has had one of his top arcane researchers develop a way to take a human soul, and implanting them into golems to give those magical constructs the same sentence as a human."
"Brains, Lord-, no that scum Long had his top scientist, Skynet, develop ways to take someone's brain out, and keep it inside biomechanical creatures. That's a creature that was specially engineered to be half flesh, half metal." The prisoner quickly cuts into Mother's words, as his sight wanders all around the knights that stand around him, almost as if he expected to get beaten up. "They haven't succeeded when I made the mistake of siding with that faithless bastard Astaroth.But they must have had some breakthrough and managed to create those creatures! And I heard talk when I was working under him, about him wanting to create air cavalry units made by these creatures, so they can wave magic spells with their flying patterns. I don't know if he managed to get these creatures out en masse, or if only his top men have access to them. But they must have had some major breakthrough if someone rode it through the portal into this new world!"
End Note:
Not going to lie, been wanting to write some scene between this version of Louise and Saito for a pretty long time. And I'm probably one of the few people who don't ship Louise and Saito together (other than... you know. FoZ fanfictions where Louise summons whatever else other than Saito) because I honestly don't think their personality go well together. Their relationship is 'cute' (for those who don't see it as flat out abusive anyway... because it absolutely is by modern standard) when you turn off your brain and read everything through Japanese romantic comedy logic, but it's pretty (BEEP)ed up if treated with any degree of seriousness. But this version of Louise and Saito actually has a more stable and platonic relationship, since their backstory was Saito comes from a (pretty low rank) samurai family, and he was Louise's bodyguard since youth. So they had the time to build a trusting boss and subordinate relationship. This version of Warde obviously didn't get involved with Reconquesta since it doesn't exist, although he might or might not gotten involved with Voldemort's Death Eaters. But it's like they are magical Yazis in this version like HP canon in the first place.
And to avoid confusion, Skynet mentioned at the end of this chapter isn't the same Skynet from The Terminator series. He (yes, male and human) is actually a reference to a character from Hong Kong comic [Sea Tiger 2] and [Sea Tiger 3] (introduced in 2, played a much bigger role in 3) where he is a genius inventor who specializes in biomechanic, and created multiple biomechanical creatures that could fight on par with the super powered beings in the series. His original name would actually 天网 (spelled Tian Wang), which is Chinese for Skynet so likely a reference to The Terminator.