LN Tate no Yuusha CH 11 - Epilog Vol 13 bahasa indonesia

Chapter Eleven: The Flawed Master

The next day, I rounded up my best fighters, boarded the ship, and set sail for Q’ten Lo. The ship crew was all from Siltvelt. They seemed a bit wary when Itsuki got on board, but I shot them a stern look and that shut them up.

It was around evening that day.

“Rafu!”

“Tadaaaa!”

“Stop posing like that on the ship’s bow! It’s bad luck!” I shouted.

Filo and Raph-chan must have lost their minds. They were standing at the front of the ship and holding their hands up in the air. It was the exact same pose made famous by that movie about the luxury cruise liner that ended up sinking. Where did they learn that? From Ren or Itsuki, most likely.

There was a lantern with fancy decorations hanging near the front of the ship and burning brightly. According to Werner and the old genmu, it was some kind of special item that would enable us to enter Q’ten Lo. They said something about it allowing us to navigate around the raging currents.

“That sure is a mysterious light,” Raphtalia whispered.

She approached the lantern and peered in at the flame.

“I can sense the flow of some peculiar power. We probably just need to follow that flow, but it seems to change randomly and quite often. It would be difficult to mimic the lantern’s effect on my own,” Atla said.

“Ugh . . .”

Fohl had gotten seasick and wasn’t doing too well. He’d been like this ever since getting on board. The difference between him now and when he’d won the duel in Siltvelt was like night and day. It was pitiful.

“Little Naofumi! Little Raphtalia! Look at those whirlpools,” Sadeena said.

She pointed at a whirling current near the ship. When I looked more closely, I realized we were actually sailing inside of an eddy too.

“If you watch carefully, you’ll notice that the current flows outward. Do you see it?” she asked.

“Yeah, now that you mention it,” I replied.

The whirlpools were all flowing in a set direction. It looked really creepy. But now it made sense that it would be easy to leave and tough to get in through these waters.

“So you and Raphtalia’s parents made your way through all these whirlpools?” I asked her.

“We sure did,” she replied.

It was hard to believe anyone could make it through waters filled with so many whirlpools. I was honestly impressed.

“It must be nice having such a lively bunch of friends, kid,” the old guy said after coming over to join us.

Before we left port, he’d wandered around the area buying all kinds of stuff and then asked me to transport it back for him. We had a bit of extra time, so I agreed. He said he’d make us some nice weapons after we got back, so I was looking forward to that.

Speaking of the port area, something about the countries beyond Siltvelt all reminded me of Japan. We’d seen a good mixture of humans and demi-humans of all races, but they seemed to be getting along well regardless.

“What kind of guy is your master, anyway? I remember hearing something about him being like Motoyasu,” I asked the old guy.

I couldn’t help but wonder about his past.

“Hmm . . . Well, he’s about as skilled as they come. I’m still not confident even I could match his craftsmanship,” he replied.

“And you say the weapons those assassins who attacked the village were using look like your master’s work?”

“Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. But if you asked me whether he was from Q’ten Lo, I really have no idea.”

“Oh really?”

“I guess you could say he was a bit of a vagabond. I wandered around from place to place studying blacksmithing at first too. But the moment I saw his work, I fell in love. I became his apprentice after that.”

To sum up what the old guy told me, he’d gone traveling from country to country as an adventurer when he was younger. He wanted to expand his horizons to make himself a better blacksmith. One day, he stopped in at a weapon shop that carried weapons made by local smiths. After spotting several masterfully crafted weapons there, he went and started an apprenticeship under the blacksmith who’d made them.

The masterpieces he’d seen were a katana and a sword. The old guy mentioned his own specialty had been making swords up until that point.

“Now that you mention it, I ask you for all kinds of different equipment, like it’s the norm. But now that I think about it, being able to handle all of that is really impressive,” I said.

I’d heard that even just making a sword was an incredibly complicated process. But on top of that, he was able to handle spears, bows, short swords, all kinds of other weapons, and even armor and shields. He honestly deserved the praise.

“If you say so. But yeah, I handle a little bit of everything at the shop. I do my best to fulfill custom orders too,” the old guy replied.

He acted really embarrassed.

“Master used to say that blacksmiths who specialize in a certain type of weapon always end up hitting a dead end, so we should keep an open mind and try to craft a variety of weapons and equipment,” he continued.

“That must be why you even make pajamas,” I retorted.

“That one was your fault for bringing me such a strange request in the first place, kid,” he shot back.

I guess a Filo Kigurumi wasn’t any stranger than a Pekkul Kigurumi.

“I do consult with specialists from time to time, but I always do my best to analyze materials and figure out how to make the most of them,” the old guy continued.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. So what? You became an apprentice and worked on all kinds of different stuff, then?” I asked.

“Pretty much. We traveled the world and did all kinds of things. Like getting into messes because of the master’s womanizing and me being forced to pay off his massive debts. I got all kinds of experience,” he replied.

“Umm, none of that has anything to do with blacksmithing, does it?” I said.

A bitter smile crept across the old guy’s face.

“That’s why very few of the master’s apprentices stuck with him until the end, despite how skilled he was. Aside from me and Tolly, everyone else ended up running away,” he replied.

“You mean Imiya’s uncle. But he ended up leaving before he finished too, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, right when the master was about to fully certify him, he had some family issues come up,” the old guy explained.

“I heard he was working at an ironmonger’s shop or something,” I said.

I mean, that wasn’t completely unrelated. But would a blacksmith really be content working at an ironmonger’s shop?

“Back to what I was saying. So I was still in the middle of my apprenticeship, but one day the master just left a letter on the table and disappeared. It said he had nothing left to teach me and that I should open shop wherever I wanted,” the old guy continued.

“That makes the guy sound kind of cool, but I’m guessing there’s a twist,” I replied.

I stared at the old guy suspiciously and he let out a loud, bitter laugh.

“Yeah, it was only a matter of hours before the women and debt collectors came flooding in like a tidal wave,” he said.

Yeah, his master was a complete deadbeat. If we ran into him, we should probably punish him right then and there on the spot.

“Now I understand what it is you want to do. We can settle your grudge and secure your future at the same time,” I said.

“I just realized that talking to you was a huge mistake, kid. I’ve never felt more certain of anything in my life,” the old guy replied.

He was squinting his eyes at me. What was that supposed to mean? Had I said something wrong?

“Am I wrong?” I asked.

“Well, I do wish he’d do something about his womanizing and irresponsible spending habits. I won’t deny that. But that’s not what I’m after,” he replied.

Hmm, I guess that meant the old guy had something else in mind.

“It might just be a coincidence that those assassins were using weapons he made. It’s possible we won’t find any clues to his whereabouts in Q’ten Lo,” he continued.

“That’s true,” I said.

It’s not that it would be a problem if he wasn’t in Q’ten Lo. But the old guy still had a lot of respect for his master and felt like he still had more to learn. I figured that’s what he was trying to say.

“Either way, if the master’s weapons are causing you trouble, then I need to look into it. You’re a loyal customer, so that’s my duty as your blacksmith,” he added.

So it was something the old guy felt he needed to do for my sake and ultimately for his master’s sake.

“And that’s not all. If I can follow the trail of the master’s weapons back to him, I might be able to resolve this issue I’ve been stuck on. That’s the feeling I get,” he said.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot I’d asked the old guy to make me a new shield. But the Spirit Tortoise materials were supposedly really difficult to work with and he was having trouble crafting anything worthy of actually being called a shield. Talking it over with Imiya’s uncle had given him some promising ideas, but he still wasn’t happy with the results. Addressing his concerns might mean being able to make me a better shield.

In that case, I should probably do what I could to help out. After all, the old guy was the first person to recognize the truth and offer me a helping hand after I came to this world and was framed.

“Got it. I’ll do my best to help you look for clues,” I said.

“Thanks!”

After we finished talking, I turned and gazed off into the direction of Q’ten Lo.

“Kwaaaa!”

Gaelion was circling around above the boat like a seagull. S’yne and Wyndia wanted to come with us too, but they ended up going to Siltvelt with Rat to investigate things there. S’yne in particular seemed to have picked up the enemy’s scent, so I pretty much left things to her.

Gaelion changed into his baby dragon form and landed on my shoulder.

“Hmm, the breeze feels nice here. But as soon as I leave the ship, the wind suddenly becomes so strong that it feels like I’ll be blown away,” he said.

The adult Gaelion was talking freely since neither Ren nor Wyndia was around.

“Let me know if you sense anything unsettling,” I said.

“I will. But that’s not to say I don’t already sense something out of the ordinary,” he replied.

“Oh really?”

“It’s not something that I can detect clearly. But if I had to say, it certainly seems like the distant presence of a dragon.”

“Is it the water dragon that Sadeena mentioned?”

“Most likely. My senses are telling me that he is busy maintaining the barrier and does not consider us hostiles.”

“I see.”

“But it would probably be wise to remain on constant alert and be ready for anything.”

That went without saying.

“I’ve been informed we’ll be entering Q’ten Lo waters shortly. However, it will still be some time before we arrive, so please remain patient,” Werner said after he came over and bowed to me.

My shield’s jewel suddenly flashed.

“Hm?”

I wasn’t sure what I should expect, but nothing else happened after that. Our voyage continued on without issue.

It was later that evening. We were sailing through a dense fog when the ship suddenly began rocking violently.

“Huh? What was that?” I asked.

We’d been relaxing inside of our cabin. I opened the door to look outside.

“It’s an attack! We’re under attack!” screamed a crew member.

“An attack?”

Well, I did figure this might happen. They never learned.

“The enemy has boarded the ship! We’re currently engaged in battle!” Werner shouted.

He came running over to notify us of the situation.

“Please take refuge in a safe location!” he went on.

“Why the hell would I take refuge from the enemy?” I replied.

“That’s right! We should make them pay with their lives!” Atla exclaimed.

Everything was always so extreme with her.

“Oh my . . .” Sadeena muttered.

“I guess we’re not going to be able to sneak in undetected,” Raphtalia whispered.

It sounded like she was halfway ready to give up even trying.

“What? Whaaat?” Filo asked with a sleepy, confused look on her face.

Gaelion had been lying at her feet snoring before the commotion woke him up. I was starting to think the two of them actually got along surprisingly well.

“Well, they are after Raphtalia, so it’s no surprise we’d be attacked,” I said.

“I’ve been told that the Bow Hero has already engaged the enemy on the deck,” Werner replied.

Itsuki and the others had been resting in a different cabin, but I guess they’d already joined the fight. I wanted to think they’d be able to handle it, but I figured I should go check things out.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Ugh . . .” Fohl moaned.

He was still suffering from seasickness. I wasn’t sure what to do about him.

“Brother, how long do you plan on letting yourself look so pathetic?” Atla asked.

Pathetic? That sure was a heartless thing to say to her brother when he was trying to deal with excruciating seasickness. He couldn’t help it if he had a predisposition to getting seasick. But as soon as she finished speaking, Fohl sat up abruptly and shook his head.

“I’m coming too, Atla!” he said.

I guess he’d push himself through anything to satisfy his little sister. It was pretty impressive, actually. I guess if he was fine with that, I wasn’t going to complain.

“Alright! Let’s capture the bastards this time and make them talk!” I shouted.

“Understood!” Raphtalia replied.

“That would be nice, but don’t get your hopes up,” Sadeena said.

“I’ll do my best!” Atla exclaimed.

“Me toooo!” cried Filo.

“Rafuuu!”

“Kwaaaa!”

We all headed up to the deck. I looked around. A group of several killer whale therianthropes who looked like Sadeena clones had gathered on the deck. Down in the water, I spotted some enemies that looked like merfolk and a few with turtle-like features that made them look like kappa. There were also several therianthropes that resembled albino snakes and then some goblins with bird beaks. There was actually quite a bit of variation.

The enemies were firing off magic at the ship from down in the currents and the Siltvelt mages were firing back at them.

“Kappas, huh?” I said.

“Fehhhh,” Rishia whined.

She’d been with me when I fought some kappas back in Kizuna’s world. That must have been why she was eying them so warily.

“Are kappas considered monsters in this world? Or would they be therianthropes?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” said Sadeena.

“It’s just that they were monsters in Kizuna’s world,” I explained.

I guess now wasn’t the time for a casual chat, though. I prepared to engage the killer whale therianthropes and kappas.

“Shooting Star Shield!”

I activated my Shooting Star Shield to protect any nearby party members.

“Drifa Chain Lightning!”

Sadeena cast her magic, shooting bolts of lightning at the enemies on the deck.

“Ugh . . .”

They must have been seasoned fighters, because they used their harpoons as lightning rods to divert Sadeena’s magical lightning attack.

“Don’t underestimate Siltveltians!” a member of the crew cried out.

Werner and the crew members were all on the deck fighting too. They seemed to be a pretty even match for the enemy.

“Shooting Star Bow!”

Itsuki synchronized his movements with Rishia and fired off an attack at the approaching enemies.

“Let’s do this, Brother!” Atla exclaimed.

“Okay!” Fohl shouted.

Upon Atla’s command, Fohl rushed forward and delivered a powerful kick to one of the enemies. The enemy must have been pretty tough, because it still wasn’t quite enough to incapacitate them. But Fohl seemed to have the advantage from a physical strength perspective. He was driving the enemy into a corner, if not winning.

“Stardust Blade!”

Raphtalia drew her katana and used a skill. The results of her recent training showed. Her katana moved with fluidity and grace, and she landed a direct hit.

“Gahhh!”

She cut cleanly through the therianthrope charging at her. The enemy fell flat onto the ground.

“You’ve gotten pretty good with that katana, little Raphtalia,” said Sadeena.

“Not good enough. I still need to learn how to use it better,” Raphtalia replied.

“There can be only one Heavenly Emperor! Die!” shouted an assassin while swinging a sword.

Umm, the assassin seemed to be confused as far as I could tell. What was she thinking, turning her back to Raphtalia and attacking the air?

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan squeaked and hopped up and down on the ground directly below where the enemy had attacked. Ah, so she had shown the assassin a hallucination.

“Either way . . .” I began.

The assassins all started to focus their attacks on Raphtalia. I glared at them and activated Air Strike Shield and my other skills to impede their movements.

“Their guard is airtight, so I’ll create an opening! You finish them off!” I told Raphtalia and the others.

“Understood!” Raphtalia replied.

“Here I go!” Atla exclaimed.

She charged at one of the assassins and delivered a sharp jab with her hand.

“Guh!”

That was all it took to make the assassin crumple forward onto the ground. Filo followed with a flying kick.

“Yaaaah!” she cried as she flew through the air.

She landed the kick on one of the killer whale therianthropes, who then went flying off the deck. Filo started to chase after the killer whale to deliver a follow-up attack.

“Filo! Don’t go after her! They have the advantage in the water!” I shouted.

“Okaaaay!”

“Kwaaa!”

Gaelion was fighting the crow-billed goblins in the air, but it seemed like they were both getting tossed about by the strong winds. The goblins clearly knew how to move, but Gaelion was breathing fire all over the place and quite a few scorched goblins had fallen out of the sky.

“Take this!” shouted a therianthrope assassin.

“Not so quick!” the old guy retorted.

The therianthrope had swung one of those fishy katanas at me, but the old guy jumped in and blocked the attack. They locked blades and began to struggle, but the old guy seemed to have a slight advantage.

“How did you get your hands on that katana? I’d appreciate it if you told me,” he said.

“Hmph! I have no intention of telling the enemy anything!” the assassin shouted.

“In that case, I’ll just have to force it out of you!”

The old guy gripped his sword tightly and thrust the enemy away. He then spun his blade around and drove it back up under the enemy’s katana. The katana went flying out of the enemy’s hands.

“Huh? Grrr!”

“You’re full of openings!” the old guy taunted.

With a loud thud, the katana landed blade-first and lodged itself deeply into the deck. The old guy pulled out a medium-sized war hammer and thrust it into the torso of the now-unarmed therianthrope. The powerful impact traveled through the enemy’s armor and into his body.

“Oof! Grrr . . . I won’t let you make a spectacle of me!” the therianthrope shouted.

Just before the enemy collapsed, he somehow managed to self-destruct and his body burst into smithereens.

“Jeez, he didn’t have to die . . .” the old guy mumbled.

“My thoughts exactly,” I agreed.

It wasn’t like we were going to eat them alive if they lost. We’d just torture them a bit to make them talk is all. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to feed them to Filo, though.

“I have a feeling Mr. Naofumi is imagining something even worse than death,” Raphtalia said.

“You think so?” I asked.

The enemy numbers had dwindled quite a bit. We did have some fierce warriors from Siltvelt on board, not to mention the all-star lineup I’d brought with me. There wasn’t a group of assassins we wouldn’t be able to deal with. The enemy must have realized that too, because I heard some kind of loud signal and they all started leaping off the ship into the water and fleeing.

“Wait!” called out a crew member.

“I wouldn’t recommend going after them,” Sadeena said.

Her warning made the crew hesitate to chase after the enemy. I seemed to recall someone mentioning that even the hakuko, who were unrivaled on land, were no match for those killer whale therianthropes—orcas, I think they were called—in the water.

“They might try attacking again later. All hands remain on full alert!”

“Aye!”

And just like that, the trusty Siltvelt crew members went back to business as usual. The old guy plucked the katana out of the ship’s deck and inspected the blade.

“This one was made . . . more recently than the last,” he said.

“Oh really?” I asked.

“Yeah. I thought it might have just been a coincidence that they were using one of the master’s pieces, but that doesn’t seem very likely now,” he replied.

“Hmm . . .”

Itsuki and Rishia came over to join us after making sure there were no enemies left.

“The enemies have all fled for now. Should we prepare the ballista in case they attack again?” Itsuki asked.

I’d almost forgotten that he could use the ballista. Now that he’d implemented the power-up methods, his attacks using the ballista would be on a whole different level than what Raphtalia had managed before, although the enemy was apparently using equipment specifically designed to counter the heroes.

“It’s incredible to think they would attack us in the middle of all these whirlpools. They were swimming around down there in the currents like it was completely normal,” Rishia said.

“Maybe they had some kind of special protection,” I suggested.

“It’s possible they were carrying equipment imbued with a blessing by the water dragon himself,” Sadeena whispered with a hint of concern in her voice.

“That just shows how much they don’t want us to make it to Q’ten Lo,” I said.

Making trouble for the enemy was one of the basics of war. Things were going smoothly, in other words.

“We did it!” Atla exclaimed.

“We wooon!” Filo squawked.

“I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m just being overly—”

But before Sadeena could finish speaking . . .

“Kwa?!”

Gaelion was the first to react. He turned toward us, and then it happened!

Fwoooosh!

Something shot down toward me and Raphtalia. It managed to avoid hitting anyone standing in the area and bored right through the deck of the ship, disappearing down into the water below. Immediately after, the whirlpool below us shot up like a tornado and sucked up a section of the deck that had been cut away.

“Whoa!”

Raphtalia and I quickly tried to move away, but I could feel the tornado pulling us in. I tried to cast my Air Strike Shield to give us something to stand on, but I didn’t make it in time.

“Little Naofumi! Little Raphtalia!” Sadeena cried out.

“Kwaaaaa!”

Sadeena and Gaelion leapt toward me and Raphtalia. Several seconds later, Atla came running after us too.

“Mr. Naofumi!” she screamed.

“Atla!” Fohl shouted.

“Brother?!”

He grabbed her hand immediately and held her back.

“Master?!”

“Fehhhh!”

“Naofumi!”

“Kid!”

Filo, Rishia, Itsuki, and the old guy all called out to us, but none of them could make it in time. They all went plunging down into the whirlpool below, and the tornado swallowed me and Raphtalia up. It tossed us around violently, and everything went spinning by at breakneck speeds.

“R-Raphtalia!”

“Mr. Naofumi!”

I instantly reached out and grasped Raphtalia’s hand tightly so that we wouldn’t get separated. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

“Little Naofumi! Little Raphtalia!”

Sadeena had leapt into the tornado in an attempt to protect me and Raphtalia. She was doing everything she could to swim through the swirling waters. It looked like Gaelion was clinging on to her back.

“Use . . . your portal . . .”

It took everything I had to focus my attention and call out the name of the skill.

“Portal . . . Shield!”

Teleporting back would mean having to retrace our steps, but oh well. I called out the name of the skill and a message popped up on my screen: “Unable to teleport.” The thing never worked when I needed it most! We went spinning around inside of the tornado, and I felt my consciousness begin to drift away.

Chapter Twelve: A Little Help from the Water Dragon

“Ugh . . .”

A drop of water splashed on my cheek and woke me from my half-conscious daze. I opened my eyes and realized someone had laid me on my back. I looked to my right and saw Raphtalia laid out next to me in the same fashion. I must have been holding on to her hand the whole time.

“Oh? Did you finally wake up?” Sadeena asked.

I sat up and shook my head. Sadeena stood there peering down at me and Raphtalia.

“Kwa!”

Gaelion was perched on Sadeena’s shoulder. He sounded like he’d been worried about us.

“Where are we?” I asked.

I looked around. The walls seemed to be made of rock and had a faint green glow. We must have been in a cave. I could see water flowing into the cave not far from where we were. It smelled like seawater. To the rear, there appeared to be some kind of altar and a path leading deeper into the cave.

“The water dragon’s secret hideaway would be my guess,” Sadeena replied.

“That certainly seems likely,” Gaelion agreed.

“The water dragon? Does that mean he brought us here by force?” I asked.

“Probably,” Sadeena replied.

“Yes, I was able to confirm that much while spinning around inside of that tornado. The water dragon indeed pulled us down here,” Gaelion confirmed.

I wondered if that meant the water dragon had hostile intentions. We would need to be extra cautious.

“Raphtalia is—” I began.

“Ugh . . .”

Raphtalia regained consciousness at almost the same moment I turned to look at her.

“Mr. Naofumi . . . Where are we?” she asked.

“Apparently the water dragon dragged us into his hideout,” I replied.

“What?! That means . . .”

Raphtalia gripped the handle of her katana and stood up, prepared to engage in combat at a moment’s notice.

“Where is this water dragon anyway, Sadeena?” I asked.

“I have no idea, unfortunately. But you should take a look at that altar over there,” she said.

“Huh?”

I looked over at the altar she was pointing to. What appeared to be a crystal ball was resting on top. I could sense some kind of force coming from its direction. It resembled magic power. Something about this crystal was different than the crystal balls used to learn magic spells, though.

“What is that?” I asked.

“I was a miko priestess, but this is the first time I’ve seen that thing,” she replied.

“That’s a dragon emperor fragment,” said Gaelion, pointing at the crystal ball.

“Why would something like that be enshrined here?” I asked.

“Who knows? Not me, at least,” Sadeena said.

Gaelion approached the crystal ball or, according to him, “the dragon emperor fragment.” It didn’t seem to be a trap.

“You remember what happened with that demon dragon. Are you sure it’s okay to mess with that thing?” I asked.

The crystal ball suddenly floated up off of the altar and shined a beam of light at Gaelion.

“Hmm . . . It appears to be safe. It’s telling me the dragon wanted to deliver a message,” he said.

The crystal ball turned into a sphere of pure light before being absorbed into Gaelion’s body.

“Now I see. The water dragon seems to have left a souvenir for me. The fragment just raised my stats and increased my water-type resistances,” he continued.

“A souvenir? Does that mean the water dragon isn’t here?” I asked.

“It seems he brought us here to give you an invitation, as the guardian of this country. He was made aware of your approach some time back. He received your signal, apparently,” Gaelion said.

Hmm, so the water dragon had his reasons for doing things this way. But what signal? Then I remembered seeing my shield’s jewel flash earlier. Maybe that was a signal.

“And what if you hadn’t been here?” I asked Gaelion.

“There was a message magically sealed within the crystal ball. It probably would have given you the same explanation,” he replied.

“So what exactly does ‘guardian’ mean?” I asked.

Gaelion paused for a moment and seemed to be struggling to find the right answer.

“I’m having trouble reading that information from the fragment, but apparently there is a barrier around Q’ten Lo. It’s meant to keep out certain . . . spirits? It only allows the entrance of spirits that are pure and innocent, it seems,” he said.

“So the water dragon monitors approaching spirits?” I asked.

“To be exact, the water dragon’s job is to maintain the barrier. What the barrier is guarding the country from, I’m not sure,” Gaelion explained.

“That’s right. I know about the water dragon maintaining the barrier. I had to participate in all kinds of ceremonies dealing with that when I was little,” Sadeena said.

She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, reminiscing about the past.

“There’s a whole town under the ocean. It’s deep down in the abyss, where the currents are strongest. You have to contact the water dragon directly to even get access, but I’ve seen it,” she continued.

“Umm, so why are we here again?” Raphtalia asked.

“Well, the barrier has been tampered with, it seems. Ships from Siltvelt are no longer ensured access to Q’ten Lo,” Gaelion explained.

“So there was no point in coming on a ship from Siltvelt?” I groaned.

That meant our trip to Siltvelt had basically been a complete waste of time.

“That’s not true. If we hadn’t come on the ship from Siltvelt, we probably wouldn’t have made it to the edge of the barrier, where the water dragon was able to summon us here,” Gaelion replied.

So we definitely wouldn’t have gotten in without the ship. I guess it was fine, in that case. But wait, didn’t that mean that the ship we were on wouldn’t make it to Q’ten Lo?

“The ship will probably be able to make its way to Q’ten Lo eventually, but it seems the government is trying to buy time. That’s why the water dragon created a distraction and brought us here,” Gaelion continued.

“So basically, the water dragon summoned us here by force, right?” I asked.

Gaelion nodded, showing no sign of protest.

“And? Does he have some kind of hidden agenda or something?” I continued.

“Why is that the first thing you think about?” Gaelion asked incredulously.

Whatever. That’s just how my mind worked.

“That’s just like Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia replied.

“Always approach with caution, right?” Sadeena said.

She stole my answer! Oh well.

“In summary, the water dragon is not happy with the situation in Q’ten Lo and he brought you here in an attempt to serve the country’s original purpose,” Gaelion said.

“Couldn’t he just have brought the whole boat?” I said, annoyed.

Gaelion looked at me like I’d asked a stupid question.

“So what? What is the country’s original purpose supposed to be?” I asked.

“Well, that’s another part of the fragment that I’m having trouble understanding, but it has something to do with the role played by your companion’s family line—the role of pacifier . . . of the spirit implements,” he explained.

“‘Pacifier of the spirit implements’?” I asked.

He was saying things that made no sense again. Going on what I knew so far, there was a good possibility that “spirit implements” referred to the heroes’ weapons. But I had no idea what “pacifier” was supposed to mean.

“You mean me?” Raphtalia asked.

“I don’t remember hearing anything about that,” Sadeena said.

She had a confused look on her face.

“Maybe it’s a concept that faded away over time since the country has been sealed off from the outside world for so long,” I suggested.

The queen and the leaders of Siltvelt mentioned that parts of the legends had been lost to war over the years. This country probably had a similar past too.

“The information we had access to differed with each division, though. It’s possible that others knew, even if I didn’t. Little Raphtalia’s father might have known something,” Sadeena said.

“My father . . .” Raphtalia whispered.

There was a sadness in her voice, probably because she had been reminded of her father. I wanted to say something that would comfort her. But I knew that looking for answers from a dead person probably wasn’t going to help anything.

“Raphtalia, are you . . .” I began.

I wondered if asking her more about her parents would bother her. Even I wasn’t so dense that I couldn’t tell she missed them.

“I’m okay. But if you want to ask whether my father ever mentioned anything, there’s nothing that I recall,” she said.

Hmm, I wondered if that just meant her father was good at keeping secrets.

“That’s fine. This is only speculation, but ‘spirit implements’ probably refers to the holy weapons. That’s all I can really guess at this point,” I said.

“It would seem so,” Raphtalia replied.

“Yeah, that’s what it sounded like the assassins meant when they were babbling on the other day. I think it’s safe to assume you’re correct,” Sadeena said.

“So that leaves us with ‘pacifier.’ Judging from the word itself, along with that equipment the assassins were using, I imagine it refers to someone who is in a position to have some kind of influence on the heroes,” I continued.

It reminded me of being taunted and referred to as “Shield Demon” in Melromarc. “Shield Devil” was another one of the countless names I’d been called.

Hypothetically speaking, what if a hero were summoned to this world and just ran rampant, doing whatever they wanted? Say they got their hands on some suspicious weapon with brainwashing abilities—like the one Itsuki was using when Rishia fought him—and then set out to conquer the world. Heroes were supposedly summoned when the world was in danger. But what if one of those heroes turned evil and started trying to conquer the world because of a curse or something? And what if that evil hero defeated the other heroes that had been summoned too?

The world would be in a real dark place. Even if they summoned new heroes, the evil hero would know they were a potential threat. He wouldn’t just ignore them. If it were me, I’d kill them as soon as they were summoned, without a doubt. I wouldn’t even let them summon new heroes in the first place. But what if there were people who could intervene and pacify a hero that had gotten out of control? And what if these so-called “pacifiers” were still out there but had simply erased all records and evidence of their existence? If such people did exist and had the ability to suppress the power of the heroes’ weapons, then they might have a chance against said evil hero.

It wasn’t impossible, but it seemed pretty farfetched.

“The water dragon seems to be adamant about there being a good reason for the isolation of Q’ten Lo,” Gaelion said.

“Alright. I’m sure we’ll find out more about that later. So what’s this about not being happy with the country’s situation?” I asked.

“You’ll supposedly understand once you leave the cave and see the situation for yourself. The water dragon says he wants you to infiltrate the country with the miko priestess and weaken the barrier that is blocking the ship your companions are on,” Gaelion continued.

“The water dragon wants to cooperate with us, in other words. So he created an opening and summoned us inside of the barrier. And now he wants us to weaken the barrier so that the ship can get in?” I asked.

Gaelion nodded.

“The location of the device that maintains the barrier is recorded here. It’s telling me we should go there. What do you want to do?” he asked.

“This dragon sure is pushy, considering he won’t even show himself. Honestly, I’m inclined to refuse to do anything he says, but that’s probably not the best idea,” I replied.

The dragon had resorted to rather forceful tactics. And it wasn’t like just ignoring his message and leaving the cave wasn’t an option. We didn’t have to do what the water dragon said. But I couldn’t deny that we didn’t really have a next move without getting more information first.

“In any case, if it will get us out of this cave, then we might as well go. Whether or not we do what he wants us to when we get there is a different story, though,” I said.

“That’s just like you. But it sounds like a plan, either way,” Gaelion replied.

“Oh! It’s a signal from Raph-chan,” Raphtalia exclaimed.

Oh yeah, I always seemed to forget she and Raph-chan were connected somehow. Raphtalia had her eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating.

“Umm, I’m not really sure what she’s saying, but I think she’s trying to tell me she has a good idea of the situation here. She’s updating Filo now,” Raphtalia explained.

“I see. How are things on the ship?” I asked.

“They’re trying to enter Q’ten Lo, but something is impeding their progress. She says they should be able to break through, but it will take more time.”

Hmm, so the situation seemed to corroborate the water dragon’s information so far.

“I guess we should get going then,” said Sadeena.

“Agreed. For now, let’s just try to get to some kind of human habitation,” I said.

We began to explore the cave. Although, there was really only one path, which eventually led down into the water.

“I’ll go check it out,” Sadeena said.

“Be careful,” I told her.

“Of course!”

She changed into her therianthrope form and went ahead down into the water. I wondered if she would be alright. But she came back up out of the water before I knew it.

“Well, I’ll be! This waterway is camouflaged really well. I had no idea it was here,” she said.

“I don’t care about that. Just tell me whether we can get out of here or not,” I replied.

“Yes, we can. It’s a bit deep and getting in is complicated, since it’s concealed so well. But getting out should be simple enough.”

“Alright, let’s head out then,” I said.

“Okie dokie. Everyone hold on to me and don’t let go!” Sadeena told us.

“Okay,” said Raphtalia.

“I can hold my own in the water now. I’ll be right behind you,” Gaelion said.

I guess he could operate underwater now. He was gaining new abilities at a surprising rate.

Raphtalia and I grabbed on to Sadeena and we passed through the dark underwater passage before coming up to the surface of the water. The Pekkul Kigurumi would have been helpful, but I didn’t have it with me, unfortunately. If worse came to worst, I guess I could always use my Bubble Shield skill as a way to breathe.

I looked around us as I floated on the surface. There was land nearby. I could see trees that looked like pines and some other plants that looked like bamboo. It reminded me of Japan. But I could see mountains that looked like the ones in China too, so I knew it wasn’t actually Japan. It wasn’t quite like Kizuna’s world, either.

I saw what looked like a port town off in the distance. There seemed to be quite a few boats there too. They weren’t normal sailing ships. They looked like those single-sail merchant ships used in Japan during the Edo period. It was the kind of ship I thought of when I imagined a treasure ship. This was the first time I’d seen ships like that in any world other than my own.

“We should probably head for shore somewhere further away from the port, if we want to sneak in,” Sadeena said.

“I get that, but . . .”

I stuck my head in the water and looked around. Off in the distance, I could see aquatic therianthropes and demi-humans free diving and swimming around in the water.

“I’m not going to use my sonar since they might notice,” she continued.

“Do you think they’re our enemies?” I asked.

“They just normal civilians, as far as I can tell. But they don’t seem to be fishing, either,” she said.

Sadeena gazed in their direction with a confused look on her face. It suddenly occurred to me that I was swimming with a killer whale. That felt kind of strange.

“Ah, I see. They must be harvesting seaweed. That doesn’t make much sense when there are fish all around,” she continued.

“Who cares about that. Let’s hurry up and get to land,” I said.

Sadeena nodded.

“Good idea,” she said.

“Let’s go,” Raphtalia agreed.

Everyone nodded. We followed the shore reef to avoid being seen and eventually made it to land.

“Now then . . . Portal Shield!”

Hmph. We couldn’t use teleportation. I had a sneaking suspicion that would be the case. That would make it difficult to bring Ren to us. Things might be different if we found a dragon hourglass somewhere.

“The first thing you do is try to go home. You’re really something, little Naofumi,” said Sadeena.

“I won’t know if I can use it unless I try it out. Whether or not we’ll be able to escape in an emergency makes a big difference,” I replied.

“That’s a good point,” Raphtalia said.

She tried using her katana’s portal skill too. I think it was called Scroll of Return.

“Mine doesn’t work either. Something is interfering with teleportation,” she said.

“I guess that would have been too easy,” I replied.

“On with the infiltration then,” said Sadeena.

I had to wonder why we ended up sneaking into places so often. When I’d thought about invading Q’ten Lo, I’d imagined using Siltvelt’s influence to charge right through the front door.

I sighed.

“There were outfits prepared for us, so we should change,” Raphtalia said.

The clothes that the water dragon left for me seemed to be made out of hemp or something like that. Raphtalia got a hakama. It didn’t look quite as good as the miko outfit, but it wasn’t a bad choice. Sadeena had a similar outfit. Gaelion got to wear a tiny version of one of those straw ropes you always saw at shrines around his neck. I guess that was his collar. It had a little glass bead-looking thing hanging from it and actually suited him surprisingly well.

“Well didn’t he just think of everything,” I said.

“What is this for?” Gaelion asked.

“It basically shows that you’re a sanctified monster. It’s imbued with the water dragon’s blessing, so it should make you seem important,” Sadeena replied.

“Oh?”

We had effectively replaced our armor with ordinary civilian clothes. Sadeena and Raphtalia each draped a thin sheet over their heads and shoulders as a kind of cloak that would hide their faces. I had a feeling that would just make them stand out.

“Are people going to recognize you?” I asked Sadeena.

“It’s been ten years since I left this country. I should probably be careful just in case, but there aren’t many people that know my face. But little Raphtalia definitely needs to hide her tail and ears. Those might give us away,” she replied.

“Is her race special or something?” I asked.

I wondered if her tail and ears would really give her away. People just assumed she was a racoon in Melromarc and Siltvelt. Her actual race was supposedly something else.

“Either way, you two should be careful,” I said.

“Yeah,” Sadeena replied.

“Are there humans in this country?” I asked.

Sadeena nodded.

“There are, but they’re not very highly regarded, just like in Siltvelt. That said, they don’t end up as slaves or anything like that,” she replied.

Oh? That was commendable. But I still wrapped a towel around my head to disguise my race, just in case.

“Alright, let’s do this. Where are we supposed to go?” I asked Gaelion.

“Hmm, it seems we need to head to the biggest building in the port town. It’s supposed to have a tower,” he said.

“Ah, that must be that lighthouse,” I replied.

And so we began to make our way toward the port town lighthouse.

I saw something that looked like an ancient burial mound on the way.

“Ah, so that’s where we are,” Sadeena said.

“You recognize this place?” I asked.

“Yeah, everyone knows this spot. The remains of a monster defeated by little Raphtalia’s ancestors are buried here,” she replied.

In the back of my mind, I imagined them building the burial mound because they were afraid of being cursed by some giant spider monster or something. That probably wasn’t far from the truth. And then I remembered the stone monument where the Tyrant Dragon Rex had been sealed away.

“The monster isn’t sealed away in there . . . is it?” I asked.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’m getting a really bad feeling about this,” Raphtalia said.

“Yes, I observed that fight from within your shield,” Gaelion added.

“I have no idea. Either way, I can’t recommend destroying ancient ruins,” Sadeena replied.

“I know that. Let’s hurry up and get out of here,” I said.

“Agreed. Any time Mr. Naofumi touches something, it’s like kicking the hornet’s nest, right?” Raphtalia replied.

“Where did you learn that?” I asked.

She probably heard it from the slave trader or something. That wouldn’t have surprised me. It could have been Eclair too. Or maybe it was something Ren had muttered while they were talking. I probably needed to consider reeducating her from the ground up. I could teach her that “touching Mr. Naofumi is like kicking the hornet’s nest,” for example.

“. . . ?”

Gaelion was tagging along behind me. He had his head tilted way off to the side and was staring at me with a confused look on his face. I wished he would stop that. It made me nervous.

We left the burial mound behind and made it to the port town shortly after. It definitely had an Edo period feel to it. But there were also buildings made out of bamboo-like plants that seemed out of place, but it still felt Japanese. There were trees with flowers in full bloom that looked just like the cherry blossoms in Japan. It really added to the atmosphere.

We stood still for a few moments and then Sadeena pointed to the cherry blossoms.

“That’s a sakura lumina. It’s a tree that produces this country’s energy. They serve as lighting, since they glow at night, and they provide energy for all kinds of equipment,” she said.

“Oh? They can do all of that? Sure sounds convenient,” I said.

“I’m no expert or anything, but as far as I know, the trees will only grow within Q’ten Lo. I heard they tried to plant some in Siltvelt,” she replied.

I wondered just what kind of tree it was. There might have been some kind of issue with climate or something. I figured it would be worth seeing if I could bioengineer it to make it grow elsewhere. Rat probably would have loved the thing. I had a feeling she could resolve the issues with the bioplant if she got her hands on one of them.

“Hmm . . .”

I kept spotting unique decorations that looked like tanuki all over the place. Like that! I saw one that looked just like one of those lucky cats. It reminded me of Raph-chan. There were some little tanuki stone statues that looked like the guardian lions common in Okinawa too. But these tanuki were slightly different than the ceramic tanuki figures Shigaraki was known for. I don’t know why, but even the roofs of the buildings made me think of tanuki.

“Mr. Naofumi, why are your eyes darting around so much?” Raphtalia asked.

“There are so many distractions. I feel like I’m in some kind of Japanese-themed Raphtalia Land,” I replied.

“What does that mean!?” she shouted angrily.

I held a finger to my mouth and signaled for her to keep her voice down.

“Don’t get so excited,” I said.

“But—” she began.

“He isn’t really too far off this time, little Raphtalia,” Sadeena interjected.

Ah, that was right. Her family did rule over the country, I guess.

“But don’t things seem really tense here in the town?” I asked.

“Now that you mention it . . . something does seem off,” Raphtalia replied.

It wasn’t because of our presence. It felt like the residents were all walking on eggshells or something.

“Maybe they have wanted posters up with sketches on them or something,” I said.

I saw a signboard and headed over to see what was on it. But I couldn’t read it, of course. It looked like the same writing I’d seen in Siltvelt.

“Sadeena, do you know what this says?” I asked.

“Let’s see . . .”

Sadeena looked at the writing and furrowed her brow. It was rare for her to respond like that. And then—

“Waaahhhh!”

I suddenly heard a little kid scream. I looked over to see a huge bee called an “orange needle B”—that had to be a joke—pop up from out of nowhere and attack a kid. The residents were all just cowering in fear as they watched. I immediately rushed over in front of the kid and blocked the orange needle B’s attack.

“Raph—”

Before I could give Raphtalia the order, Sadeena ran over and held her back.

“You take care of it, little Gaelion! And whatever you do, don’t use your counterattacks, little Naofumi!” she shouted.

“Huh?”

“Kwa?”

Gaelion leapt at the orange needle B. Just like Sadeena said, I focused on keeping my shield from activating any counterattack abilities. Gaelion bit into the orange needle B and it died.

“Th-thank you,” the kid said.

“No worries,” I replied.

The surrounding residents were all staring at me. They were white as a sheet.

“Y-you . . .” one began.

“Are you not afraid of the government officials?” another asked.

“Huh?” I replied.

And then several people wearing expensive-looking hakamas came running over.

“You there! We saw you kill that monster!” one of them shouted.

Sadeena stepped forward and addressed the man.

“All he did was protect a child from a monster. After that, another nearby monster just happened to eat that monster. That’s all,” she said.

“That’s absurd! Do you not know the rules of the land?!” the man shouted.

“Kwa?”

Gaelion looked at the man with a confused look on his face. What was going on? What were they talking about?

“Of course we do! We would never break them. And even I know what kind of monster this is,” Sadeena replied.

She pointed at the glass bead on the straw-rope collar that Gaelion was wearing.

“Th-this monster is a vassal of the water dragon?! Our apologies!” the man said, and the group of government officials left.

“Kwaaa?”

As soon as the officials were gone, the surrounding residents began to applaud. What in the world was going on?

“Little Naofumi and little Raphtalia, we’re drawing too much attention here. Let’s keep moving,” Sadeena said.

“Uh, okay,” I said.

“U-understood,” Raphtalia replied.

“Oof!”

Raphtalia ran into a man who had followed the government officials over. The man seemed to be a rubbernecker. He looked like he was in his late thirties. His ears looked like dog ears. But then again, something about the shape was different than Keel’s or Wyndia’s ears. It was kind of like how there were tiny differences between Raphtalia and the racoon-type demi-humans. He was probably some race unique to the country.

“Oh my! Are you alright, little miss?” the man said.

He wrapped his arms around Raphtalia and caught her before she fell.

“Oh, umm, yes. I’m fine . . . So you can let go of me!” she said.

Raphtalia forcefully freed herself from the man’s embrace.

“Pardon me. It’s just that fate brought us together like this, little miss. How about you and I go somewhere to enjoy a cup of tea or nibble on some dumplings?” the man suggested.

“What the hell . . .” I said.

This bastard was clearly trying to hit on Raphtalia. I acted extra threatening as I stepped between Raphtalia and the man. I glared at him.

“That’s my companion. If you’re trying to pick up girls, go try somewhere else. And think about your age too,” I continued.

He was clearly old enough to be her father. Even if demi-humans did initially mature rapidly, they obviously didn’t age rapidly, judging from Sadeena’s appearance. It only took one glance to know that this bastard wasn’t anywhere near Raphtalia’s age. I mean, I guess it was possible that age difference didn’t matter when getting married in this world, but still . . .

“Come, now. A man can never grow too old to enjoy the company of a female,” he said.

That bastard . . .

“Oh? Be careful about getting too feisty. You might just upset little ol’ me,” Sadeena said.

Sparks of lightning leapt from her skin and she glared at the bastard with a menacing look in her eyes.

“We’re in a bit of a hurry, so off you go,” she added and flashed him a big smile.

But he clearly had no intention of giving up. This time he grabbed Sadeena’s hand.

“My, oh, my. Aren’t you the lovely one, little miss? Today is a good day, indeed. To think I would have the chance to encounter such beautiful ladies!” he said.

We had another Motoyasu on our hands here. That’s who this bastard reminded me of. Even though Motoyasu was only obsessed with Filo now. Still, I decided to declare this guy Motoyasu #2.

“Come, ladies, let us enjoy a drink together!” he continued.

I guess his kind were always around, no matter what world you were in.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I already have feelings for someone else,” Sadeena replied.

She gripped his hand tightly and fired off her lightning magic.

“Zweite Thunderbolt!”

The bastard screamed like a little girl. He nearly folded over backward as he was fried to a crisp, and then his body crumpled to the ground.

“Y-you’re a rough one . . . Ha, ha, ha,” he muttered and then lay there completely motionless.

They were really something—Sadeena and the bastard both.

“Alright, let’s go,” Sadeena said.

“Uh, yeah . . .” I mumbled.

I guess those government officials didn’t care if we zapped some guy. They were looking on disappointedly but showed no sign of coming after us. Strange. We followed Sadeena down a road with fewer people and continued toward the lighthouse.

Chapter Thirteen: Q’ten Lo Revolutionaries

“So? What the hell is going on?” I asked.

We saved a civilian by defeating an attacking monster and they scolded us for it. What was up with that?

“Apparently the country’s ruler—the Heavenly Emperor—has issued a mandate declaring that all life must be treasured. In other words, anyone that kills a monster, or any other living thing, will be severely punished,” Sadeena explained.

“Huh? Like some kind of law against cruelty toward animals?” I said.

They tried that in the Edo period and failed. I guess this country had to deal with such a ridiculous law too. Did they not realize how foolish that was?

“Is there something like that in your world too, little Naofumi?” Sadeena asked.

“Yeah, there was a shogun—a king, basically—that supposedly tried something similar a long time ago in my world,” I said.

After hearing Sadeena’s explanation, I understood why she had Gaelion kill the monster. Basically, if one of the townspeople killed a monster, they would be punished. But Gaelion was a dragon. If a monster killed another monster, there would be no punishment.

“That ornament the water dragon left Gaelion sure saved us,” Sadeena said.

“So they can’t punish a monster that’s considered a vassal of the water dragon?” I asked.

“It was just a guess, but it worked,” she said.

“Kwaaaa!”

Gaelion jumped up on my shoulder. He seemed happy that he’d been able to help out.

“If the monster is being controlled, then normally the owner would be punished,” she continued.

“So that’s why you acted like Gaelion was a wild monster. And a vassal of the water dragon, on top of that,” I said.

I guess the water dragon was pretty important in Q’ten Lo. I’m sure the Heavenly Emperor, or whatever, was more important, but bringing the water dragon into it complicated the matter enough that the officials didn’t want to get involved. Besides, surely a law protecting all creatures would protect the water dragon too. That made it a legal gray area.

“It was a bold move, but it worked since little Gaelion is a dragon,” Sadeena said.

“Me, someone’s vassal? You insult me,” Gaelion grumbled.

Oh? The adult Gaelion was speaking again.

“Well, technically, you do belong to me and Wyndia,” I said.

He groaned. The baby Gaelion didn’t seem to mind.

“Unbelievable . . . To think they would have such a terrible law,” Raphtalia said.

“Now it makes sense why they see you as such a threat to their emperor,” I told her.

By enacting such ridiculous laws, it puts the emperor out of favor with the people. Of course the leadership would get antsy if someone from the imperial bloodline showed up wearing the royal garb when public opinion of the emperor was volatile. Considering what had happened in my case, it wasn’t hard to guess how the citizens would respond.

“I have a feeling I’m starting to really understand how you felt now, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.

“We’re misery buddies!” I told her.

I understood what she was going through so clearly it hurt. But my shield had mostly helped resolve things in my case.

“Either way, this is the perfect chance. If we play our cards well, overthrowing the current rule should be easy,” I said.

Judging from Sadeena’s reaction, this law seemed to be relatively new. And the citizens didn’t seem to be happy with it, either. Dragging their stupid shogun—emperor in this case—down from the throne would be more than doable.

“Oh? Does that mean you have a plan, little Naofumi?” Sadeena asked.

“You could say that. Regardless, we need to get Filo and the ship with Itsuki and the others here first,” I replied.

We began preparing to attack, once we got close to the lighthouse.

Sheesh . . . I’d been getting really tired of all this assassin business lately. It was time for them to see how it felt to be the ones attacked! I decided to make sure to go a bit overboard.

As we approached the lighthouse, I noticed something. The lighthouse was actually just a wooden structure built around a massively tall sakura lumina tree to help support it.

“Are we supposed to burn that thing down?” I asked.

“No. Once we defeat the guards, we’re supposed to be able to gain access to that sakura lumina, using the Way of the Dragon,” Gaelion replied.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Hmm. We were hiding in an alley and observing the lighthouse when, all of a sudden, some guy who was wearing what looked like samurai armor came running toward us. That wasn’t good. Someone must have alerted the officials or something.

“Let’s withdraw. Just act normal. But move quick. Raphtalia, you get ready to use your concealment magic,” I said.

“U-understood!” Raphtalia replied.

“Oh my . . . I suppose it does seem like forcing our way in could be difficult,” Sadeena said.

“We could always destroy the lighthouse. Then I could fly us out of here using my larger form,” Gaelion suggested.

His strategy could work too. But there was a risk of being knocked out of the air. If we were going to force our way in, it was probably best to wait until night and decide on an escape route beforehand.

We kept moving and Raphtalia continued reciting the concealment magic incantation so that we could escape from the samurai warrior.

“Okay, I’ll activate the spell once we turn that corner,” she said.

“Alright,” I replied.

We hurried around the corner and Raphtalia cast her magic.

“All Zweite Hide Mirage!”

The concealment magic embraced us softly. I assumed we’d disappeared. The samurai warrior came running around the corner and started looking all around for us. Nice! Now we just needed to leave the area without being noticed and wait for another chance to—

“I beg of ye, please show yourselves! I am no enemy of yours!” the man exclaimed.

He suddenly dropped to the ground and prostrated himself. We moved away several meters and began whispering to each other. The samurai warrior remained motionless with his forehead buried in the dirt.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Umm . . . I’m not sure what to think,” Raphtalia replied.

“Well, my intuition is telling me he doesn’t have ill intentions. He doesn’t seem to be lying, at least,” Sadeena said.

“Didn’t something like this happen to you before?” Gaelion asked me.

That reminded me. Something similar did happen when I was getting ready to go fight the second wave. It had been the young soldier from Riyute that time, but Gaelion was right. This guy did seem to be acting the same way.

“It wouldn’t hurt to hear what he has to say, would it? I’ll make quick work of him if anything goes wrong,” Sadeena said.

“I have a feeling this is going to turn into a big headache, but fine,” I said.

I knew that getting access to the lighthouse was going to be a headache anyway. “Make quick work of him” made it sound like she was planning on doing something really violent, but I guess it would be best to see what the guy had to say, regardless.

“Alright then. Cancel the concealment, Raphtalia,” I said.

“Understood.”

Raphtalia canceled her concealment magic and we reappeared in front of the prostrated samurai warrior.

“What do you want from us?” I asked.

Even though we had showed ourselves and spoke to him, the samurai warrior remained motionless. What did he want? I tried asking him, but he didn’t move. I wondered if he was waiting for me to tell him to raise his head or something.

“Get up from there and tell us what you want,” I said.

When I said that, he finally lifted his head off the ground. But what he did next was unexpected. He looked at Gaelion first, and then Raphtalia, and then placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head.

“We humbly ask for thy assistance, soon-to-be Heavenly Empress,” he said.

“Huh? What? Umm . . . uhh . . .” Raphtalia stammered.

“Explain yourself. Otherwise, I don’t know what this drunkard companion of mine here is going to do to you, but I’m sure it’s not going to be pretty,” I said.

“Oh, you!” Sadeena exclaimed.

When I pointed at her, the samurai warrior shook his head several times as a sign of submission.

“U-understood! Please accompany me to the town mansion, where it should be safe to talk. If that’s not possible, then I’ll just give you a summary here,” he replied.

“Following you could lead us to a trap. Give us the short version now. And tell us who you are too,” I said.

The samurai warrior nodded, stood up straight, and began to talk.

“My apologies. I came searching for you by order of my father, who is the mayor of this town,” he said.

He was the mayor’s son? I wondered if he could prove that. And what was with his crazy outfit, anyway? He looked like a samurai warrior on his way to the battlefield.

“I assume Her Divine Majesty, the next Heavenly Empress, and those of you who accompanied her from Siltvelt have begun to understand the situation here in Q’ten Lo,” he continued.

“Yeah, I’m guessing you mean the law against killing monsters,” I replied.

“Yes. It has garnered nothing but criticism from all throughout Q’ten Lo, and that includes from my father. But as the mandate comes from the Heavenly Emperor himself, the government continues to oppress the people. However, one of our aquatic agents delivered a message from the water dragon earlier, informing us that he had brought the next Heavenly Empress to Q’ten Lo. I was sent to receive you,” the man explained.

Ah, now I understood what their objective was.

“Is this how you found us?” I asked.

I pointed at the straw rope around Gaelion’s neck and the samurai warrior nodded.

“We understand that ye still have other companions from Siltvelt that ye wish to get into Q’ten Lo. I believe we can help you do that successfully, but we should return to the town mansion to discuss our strategy,” he said.

Hmm, I couldn’t deny he had information that we hadn’t provided. He had all the facts straight too. But there was always a possibility it could still be a trap. What to do?

“Sadeena. Gaelion. If worse comes to worst, can we just burn this town to the ground and run?” I asked.

“Why do you just assume we’ll have to burn the town down?!” Raphtalia snapped.

“This guy clearly has connections with agents. I’m just considering the possibility that this could still be a trap,” I said.

“Oh my!” Sadeena exclaimed.

“I’m sure I could burn the town down if it came to that. Is that what you want to do?” Gaelion asked.

“Only as a last resort. I’m hoping we won’t have to,” I said.

The samurai warrior started trembling.

“P-please stop thinking about such terrifying things! We’ll never get anywhere if ye don’t trust me!” he pleaded.

“Yeah, yeah, alright. But you better not forget—we wouldn’t rule out doing something like that,” I replied.

“Alas, ’tis etched into my brain!” he exclaimed.

What was with this guy’s speech? Surely my shield was translating it properly. But “ye”? He was using some strange word choices.

“Fine. But before anything else, take that helmet off and show us your face,” I said.

“As you wish!”

The samurai warrior took his helmet off and looked up at us. Hmm . . . He was a bird-type demi-human. His hair reminded me of a falcon—not quite feathers and not quite down. He was young, perhaps in his early twenties, and had a Japanese air about him. He wasn’t quite what I would have called handsome. He seemed more like the warrior type. I guess you could say something about his face made him look like a brawler. Kind of like a rough-looking samurai.

“Do you have a tail? Or would that be tail feathers?” I asked.

I circled around behind him and looked at his back. He quickly covered something with his hands.

“F-forgive me!”

The trembling samurai warrior took his hands away to reveal something that resembled tail feathers.

“Why are you worried about something like that, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.

“I was just wondering what kind of demi-human he was,” I replied.

“He’s a shoon,” Sadeena said.

I stood there thinking while looking at his tail feathers. “Shoon”? That sounded like another pronunciation for hayabusa, which was Japanese for falcon. So he was a falcon, after all.

“So if he’s a bird-type demi-human, does that mean his arms are wings?” I asked.

Surely he didn’t have a pair of wings on his back like Filo did in her human form. I remembered the shusaku demi-humans in Siltvelt having wing-like arms and hands. I bet he had strong legs too. Kicking was probably his primary mode of attack when fighting.

“Umm, how long are you going to spend analyzing his racial characteristics?” Raphtalia asked.

I snapped back to reality and suddenly realized that staring at this guy’s tail and analyzing him wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I coughed nervously.

“Uhh, yeah, I’m done. Let’s go,” I said.

We followed the faintly blushing samurai warrior and he led us to the town mansion. It was definitely a big house. It had a Japanese feel to it, like a big samurai residence with a traditional Japanese garden. I could hear the quiet thumping sound of one of those Zen fountains—the ones with a bamboo tube that fell against a rock every time it emptied itself of water. Hearing that sound in a world other than my own just felt strange. There was even a rock garden. This place felt even more Japanese than Kizuna’s world had.

We were taken to a room with tatami-mat floors. And oh yeah, the samurai warrior’s father was a therianthrope, so I guess their race could use therianthrope forms. I tried to guess how old the father would be based on the son’s appearance. Demi-humans grew at different speeds depending on their levels, so there was really no way of knowing. Still, I could tell he was getting old even when he was in his bird, or therianthrope, form.

“Welcome back to Q’ten Lo, child of the Heavenly Emperor’s rightful heir. Should I call you Miss Raphtalia?” the man asked.

He prostrated himself before Raphtalia, almost as if he were praying to her. She seemed really uncomfortable.

“My name is Raluva. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” he continued.

“I’m Naofumi Iwatani. I’m not sure it matters here, but I’m the Shield Hero. You seem to know my companion, Raphtalia. And there’s Sadeena. She’s kind of like her big sister. The dragon is Gaelion,” I said, introducing everyone.

Raluva approached Raphtalia and hesitantly tried to peer in at her face through the makeshift cloak.

“Would you mind showing me your face?” he asked in a whisper.

“Uh, umm . . .”

Raphtalia glanced over at me. I sighed and nodded. She removed the sheet and showed Raluva her face and tail. He gasped and bowed his head.

Sadeena had nodded when she heard Raluva’s name.

“I know who you are. You were close to little Raphtalia’s father and helped him escape,” she suddenly spoke up.

“You must be the water dragon’s former miko priestess. Do you not remember seeing me?” he asked.

“I remember meeting you right before we left the country,” she said.

Raluva met eyes with Sadeena and nodded. He must have originally been one of Raphtalia’s father’s followers.

“So let’s get straight to the point. What is your objective?” I asked.

Raluva raised his head and looked at me.

“Are you asking what we would like from you all? That goes without saying. We would like Miss Raphtalia to take her rightful place as the true Heavenly Empress of Q’ten Lo. The responsibility of the throne is clearly too great for the branch family to bear. These senseless laws are causing our people immense suffering,” he replied.

Hmm, from the way the conversation was going, our interests seemed to be aligned for the most part.

“My family and the people of Q’ten Lo are prepared to provide any assistance needed in order to make that happen,” he continued.

“And are you already familiar with our situation?” I asked.

Raluva shook his head. Ah, so he’d only gotten orders from the water dragon to make it clear they were willing to do what we asked.

“Let’s start by clearing that up. So you have no idea why we came here in the first place, right?” I continued.

He probably just assumed that Raphtalia—the orphaned child of the man he once knew—lamented the current state of her country and that’s why she had returned. If we didn’t make our situation clear to him, they might try to put Raphtalia on the throne. Then they might just continue on with their policy of isolation, even after we managed to overthrow the current rule.

The negotiations had begun. I had to consider the possibility that someone who was now an ally could still become an enemy once we’d won the fight.

“You may not know this, since this country is cut off from the rest of the world, but the outside world is dealing with some complicated issues right now,” I said.

“I know that much. This town does trade with Siltvelt and I am the mayor, after all,” he replied.

I guess that meant he knew about the waves too.

“I also know that you are the one known as the Shield Hero outside of Q’ten Lo,” he continued.

“Well that should make things easier. We came to this country to defeat the people who are after Raphtalia’s life. We intend to leave once we’ve accomplished that,” I said.

Raluva and his friends might not want to hear that. But giving it to him straight and risking a breakdown of negotiations now would be better than ending up fighting about it later on. Actually, leaving things in the hands of someone they favored after we’d resolved our issue was an option too.

“We are aware of that. Indeed, the Heavenly Emperor or Empress exists for the people and for the world. The rotten puppet government we have at present pushes the boundaries of foolishness. Now more than ever, I understand why Miss Raphtalia’s father felt that way,” Raluva replied.

Oh? I liked the sound of that answer. I didn’t know what his true intentions were, but it should still be easy to use him.

“The barrier around this country is our point of contact with the outside world. We wish to dispose of the government officials who have recently seized control of that barrier,” he continued.

The officials had apparently been using their authority to mess with the barrier that was blocking the entry of the Siltvelt ship. Raluva didn’t like those officials, so he was proposing Raphtalia lead a revolution. That meant that malcontent among the citizens, and this mayor who represented them, had grown unbearable and they were ready to explode.

“Mr. Naofumi, you’re smiling,” Raphtalia said.

“Look Raphtalia, your miko outfit is ready!” I exclaimed.

“Why are you so excited?!”

I’d asked them to prepare a miko outfit for Raphtalia, and Raluva’s son had just brought in the clothes.

“This miko outfit is designed to resemble the one said to have been presented to the Heavenly Emperor by the water dragon in ancient times. I hope it pleases you,” Raluva said.

I unfolded the outfit and looked it over. The colors were a bit different, but it was still a miko outfit.

Miko Outfit of the Water Dragon

impact resistance (small), slash resistance (small), water resistance (medium), dive time up, magic defense processing, parry

The stats weren’t quite as good as the White Tiger Miko Outfit from Kizuna’s world, but it was still a really nice piece of equipment, although it didn’t offer much in the way of defense. Maybe the assumption was that the user wouldn’t get hit.

“Go on, Raphtalia,” I said.

Put it on! I thought as I handed her the outfit.

“Why do I feel like I’m being tricked into something?” she replied.

“You know this is the only way, right?” I told her.

“Well . . . Yes, I guess I do.”

“Come on, little Raphtalia. I’ll help you put it on,” Sadeena said.

Raphtalia went with Sadeena to go change in another room.

“In any case, if you say you want to start a revolution, then you need to be ready to put your money where your mouth is!” I told Raluva.

“Of course! We would not be making such a proposal otherwise!” he replied.

A group of fierce-looking warriors, ready for combat, entered the room. He must have instructed them to gather at the mansion beforehand. It would be foolish not to take advantage of this! I’m sure they had other objectives in mind too, but our interests were still aligned. If they tried to cause us any trouble later on, we could just deal with them when the time came.

“Good! Listen up, men! I’ll be commanding you on behalf of Raphtalia! We’re about to go full metal jacket on this oppressive government of yours! If you’re ready to do that, then join me!” I howled.

The men all roared out affirmatively. I was confident things were starting to go our way now.

“We’ll start by bringing reinforcements to the town from Siltvelt. After that, we advance at full speed!” I continued.

The men let out another rallying cry. They were itching to go to war. Gaelion climbed up onto my shoulder.

“They really took the bait,” he said.

“Sure did,” I replied.

This kind of thing was all about momentum. The country’s leadership foolishly assumed that Raphtalia intended to seize control of Q’ten Lo just because she happened to put on a miko outfit. They stuck their noses where they didn’t belong, and they did it at a time when their current Heavenly Emperor was already losing credibility because of his own foolish actions. They’d sealed their own fate. If they wanted us to seize control so bad, then we would. I would show them that it was their own foolishness that brought about their downfall.

Driven by my determination, I was already cooking up a strategy when Raphtalia and Sadeena returned.

“We’re back,” Raphtalia said.

I looked at her miko outfit and nodded several times. Damn, that looked good on her.

“You sure do look good in a miko outfit, little Raphtalia. I guess it only makes sense that you would, though,” Sadeena said.

“Even so, I still think Mr. Naofumi likes miko outfits far too much,” Raphtalia replied.

She just had to get a complaint in. When the men I’d been rallying saw Raphtalia, their mouths dropped open and they fell to the floor and prostrated themselves before her. Huh? What were they thinking?

“Your Divine Majesty!”

“We are at your command!”

“Now I’m certain we’re doing what’s right for Q’ten Lo!”

“Risking our lives is the right decision! Yes!”

“As warriors, it is our duty to fight to the bitter end for Her Divine Majesty, Raphtalia, the Heavenly Empress!”

Things were starting to get out of hand now!

“I guess it’s your turn to be catapulted into the limelight, Raphtalia. Be sure to give Filo and Atla a run for their money,” I said.

Filo was actually pretty popular at the taverns. I wouldn’t mind seeing Raphtalia charm the audiences every now and then too.

“I don’t want to give anyone a run for their money! I know I have to do this, but why does everyone have to bow when I’m dressed like this?!” Raphtalia exclaimed.

I decided to ignore her whining.

“Come, Raphtalia, these men await your orders! They’ll happily leap headlong into the jaws of death for you!” I shouted.

“No thank you! I don’t want to bear that responsibility,” she replied.

“Warriors of Q’ten Lo, let us overthrow this rotten government of yours! In the name of God! For the people!” I roared.

I figured I’d stir them up a bit. This is exactly what I had to deal with in Siltvelt. I could totally sympathize with Raphtalia, but I felt like mimicking Atla at the moment.

“Proud citizens of Q’ten Lo! If you truly believe in the Heavenly Empress, then now is the time to prove your loyalty!” I continued.

The men all howled in unison.

“Mr. Naofumi! Stop acting like Atla! Everyone, don’t let Mr. Naofumi’s words—”

Before Raphtalia could finish her sentence, the thoroughly worked-up group of warriors sprang to their feet and rushed out of the room. Raphtalia held her head in her hands and looked on in disbelief.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure none of them get killed. I want you to be careful too, Raphtalia. The battle has only just begun,” I said.

“Now I’m really starting to get excited!” Sadeena exclaimed.

She sounded like she belonged to a tribe of warmongers or something.

“Kwaaa!”

Gaelion was fired up too. Now if either he or Sadeena could just access the sakura lumina at the lighthouse, we could disable the barrier that was keeping Siltvelt’s ships out. We had to give it a shot.

“Understood. If an obstacle can’t be avoided, then we’ll just have to smash through it,” Raphtalia said.

She sighed and followed me toward the door.

“Besides, I wouldn’t mind learning more about my father,” she added.

“I’m sure you’ll get plenty of chances to do that. Let’s just do our best to keep our losses at a minimum while maximizing damage on their side,” I replied.

If we barged in with this many people, we should be able to overwhelm them, even if these warriors weren’t that tough.

“I’m a lot stronger than I was before I left this country too. I should be able to play the part of a small army,” Sadeena said.

She spun her harpoon around cheerfully.

“I’m counting on it,” I replied.

Her origin story was still basically one big mystery, but she was strong enough that she’d been able to turn the tables on pretty much every attacker we’d faced so far. There was a lot we didn’t know about the enemy’s equipment too. But worrying about that all day wasn’t going to get us anywhere. We’d just have to round up what support we could and overthrow the government! Just like when I’d essentially conquered Melromarc!

“Heh . . . It’s never a dull moment with you,” Gaelion muttered.

The look of excitement in his eyes really stayed with me.

Chapter Fourteen: Sakura Stone of Destiny

We left the samurai residence and headed toward the lighthouse as one big group, charging through the entrance when we arrived.

“Who goes there?! This is a sacred place under governmental control by authority of the Heavenly Emperor!” announced a guard.

As soon as we entered, a group of enemy soldiers rushed over with weapons in hand. Did they really think telling a group of insurgents something like that would make any difference?

“Heavenly Emperor, you say?! Nonsense! This is the true Heavenly Empress! Your emperor is but a fraud from the branch family! Do you not understand the difference?!” Raluva shouted.

He pointed at Raphtalia as he spoke. The aura of power surrounding Raphtalia in her miko outfit—and the attractiveness of it—must have had a powerful effect, because the enemy demi-humans and therianthropes all began whispering amongst themselves.

“Do not waver! Surely the child of a false emperor, who abandoned our country, cannot be called the true Heavenly Emperor! Cut them down at once!” shouted some high-and-mighty frog therianthrope.

On our way to the lighthouse, I’d seen several rabbit-types and a whole variety of different races of demi-humans and therianthropes. And it occurred to me that this place was like a scene straight out of the Scrolls of Frolicking Animals from Kozan-ji Temple in Kyoto.

“Mr. Naofumi, please focus on the battle!” Raphtalia snapped.

She scolded me just as things were about to blow up.

“Attack! Take the rebels’ heads off! And don’t forget we have a holder of a spirit implement here! Use the proper weapons!”

There was that wording again! The people opposing us in this country definitely had anti-hero weapons!

“Permission granted to attack all hostiles! That includes the false god from a foreign land!”

“Shooting Star Shield!” I shouted.

One of the enemies charged forward and thrust his spear at us. My Shooting Star Shield barrier activated and blocked the attack, but just as I suspected, the effectiveness of my skills was reduced against these enemies—the barrier shattered instantly.

I hope they didn’t expect me to just be content with having my barrier shattered every time. I figured this might happen, so I’d spent some time making some new accessories while I was in Siltvelt. Fortunately, Rat had a good idea of how to tinker with their effects, since she was an alchemist.

As soon as Shooting Star Shield shattered, bright flashes of light began shooting out of the fragments.

“Gah!”

“Wh-what is that?!”

“Now!” I shouted.

I focused and cast Zweite Aura on Raphtalia.

“You’ve got this, little Raphtalia! Remember what we did in training!” Sadeena exclaimed.

“I will!”

Raphtalia crouched down and prepared to unleash a quick-draw attack. In a flash, she cut down the enemy standing in front of me and then charged toward the other soldiers without so much as a pause.

“Everyone! Do not falter! It doesn’t matter how many enemies there are! Only one of them is our true target!” the frog shouted.

“Come now, do you really think I’ll just let you ignore me?” I taunted.

“I can’t have you forgetting about me either!” Sadeena exclaimed.

She began casting a spell while helping protect Raphtalia.

I knew that one of the first things they did when they attacked the village was to try to size up me and Sadeena. Surely they didn’t think I wouldn’t take that into consideration. They might’ve had ways to deal with the heroes, but Sadeena was just plain strong. They would be forced to fight her like a normal enemy. Judging from the assassins we’d faced so far, they only had a handful of comparable fighters, at best. And I could tell straight away that none of them were here.

“Hyaaaa!”

Raluva’s son drew his katana and cut down an approaching enemy, determined not to be left behind. He handled himself better than I’d expected. Maybe the demi-humans and therianthropes born in Q’ten Lo were naturally strong fighters.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Raphtalia whispered.

She was observing and analyzing Raluva’s katana technique. His stance was slightly different than the one Sadeena had taught her. It was probably just a different style.

“The style I taught you is from where I grew up. It’s called Form of the Sea God,” Sadeena said.

She watched Raluva carefully for a moment as he swung his katana.

“That style is called the Blossom of Q’ten. It’s worth paying attention to,” she continued.

Raluva channeled magic power into his blade and closed in on his opponent rapidly. He swiftly passed under the opponent’s arm as he delivered his attack, ending up behind him.

“Gah . . .”

Raluva shook the blood from his blade, and the droplets transformed into cherry blossom petals and floated away on the wind. Now that was impressive. But I seemed to remember Raphtalia having a similar skill.

“That reminds me of your Powder Snow skill, Raphtalia,” I said.

“It does look similar. You’ll be pretty formidable if you learn that style along with the one I taught you, little Raphtalia,” Sadeena replied.

I guess she’d seen Raphtalia’s Powder Snow skill too. Now that I thought about it, I did seem to remember them firing off skills during their training.

“Add the Hengen Muso style to that and you’ll be unbeatable,” I said.

“According to Eclair and the master, Hengen Muso techniques are meant to be applied to other attacks, so it’s actually better to learn another style,” Raphtalia replied.

Yeah, I remembered the old lady mentioning that. She said the good thing about the Hengen Muso style was that it could be applied to any school or style of fighting.

“Umm, like this? And then . . .” Raphtalia mumbled to herself.

She was trying to mimic Raluva’s movements. He turned and bowed to her.

“If you so desire, I would be happy to teach you the style, Miss Raphtalia,” he said.

“Oh, umm . . . Please do. I’m sure it would help in future battles,” she replied.

Just then, a bear therianthrope who seemed to be the frog’s boss came out from somewhere further within the lighthouse.

“How long are you all going to fool around?! You still haven’t eliminated the false empress! And you call yourselves warriors of Q’ten Lo?!” he roared.

He launched at us with a winged spear in hand. He was fast. At the very least, he handled himself better than any of the other enemies in the room.

“Gah!”

He thrust his spear into one of our nearby men and sent him flying before I could even react. The injury didn’t seem to be fatal, though. I caught the man and then held my shield up while I cast healing magic on him.

“You pathetic god of Siltvelt with your spirit implement! You have a lot of nerve bringing the false empress here! It’s time for you to experience the power of the true Heavenly Emperor’s blessing!” the bear roared.

He thrust the winged spear into the ground and began reciting some kind of incantation. Something like a big cage formed, enclosing the lighthouse and the surrounding area. It was the same shade of pink as the cherry blossoms. It covered a rather large area—perhaps 100 meters across.

“This barrier . . . That’s a sakura stone of destiny barrier! Are they really going to use that here?!” Raluva exclaimed with a horrified look on his face.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Now that I thought about it, the assassins had mentioned those before when they attacked the village. Something about not bringing any with them. Sadeena didn’t know what they were either, apparently.

“The sakura stones of destiny are special items that weaken spirit implements while also maximally raising the abilities of anyone who has received the Heavenly Emperor’s blessing. Please be careful!” Raluva replied.

Before he’d even finished speaking, something like a pink force field sped by, combing the whole area.

“Wh-what was that?” I said.

Oh damn. My shield sparked. I felt a sensation like an electrical shock shoot from my shield into my body and radiate outward from head to toe. My body suddenly felt heavy.

“Th-this is . . .” Raphtalia’s voice trailed off.

She must have been feeling something similar, because the weight of her katana seemed to be pulling her to the side ever so slightly.

“Aww . . . It looks like the boosts you gave us have ceased functioning, little Naofumi,” said Sadeena.

“What?!”

I checked Sadeena’s stats. They were quite a bit lower than I remembered them being. That really complicated things.

“Now then, let’s do this!” the bear roared.

He deftly swung the winged spear up overhead and charged at us at an incredible speed. Shit! I was going to block the attack with my shield, but my gut reaction was to hop to the side and dodge instead. Instantly, I realized that had been the right move. First of all, the bear therianthrope was now moving about three times faster than before. Second, his attack power must have increased too, because his spear split the floor open and caused a small explosion. Just how much had his stats gone up?!

“Zweite Aura!”

I tried buffing myself to help make up for my reduced stats, but the spell didn’t activate. Did that mean those stones even prevented heroes from using magic?! Just to be sure, I tried casting Guard.

“Zweite Guard!”

That one worked without a problem. No way! I guess the barrier prevented the use of any type of magic that only heroes could use. If that were the case, it would be iffy whether I could even use cooperative magic! Not that I actually had the leeway to even try casting any at the moment.

“Hurry up and finish off these traitors!” the bear shouted.

Their objective was to kill Raphtalia. I held my shield up to protect her. The enemies unleashed a chorus of battle cries. Damnit! What was I supposed to do in a situation like this?

“Little Naofumi!” Sadeena shouted.

The bear therianthrope and his men rushed at me, brandishing their anti-hero weapons. And then Sadeena finished reciting her incantation.

“As the source of your power, I command you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Lightning! Strike down and penetrate those before me!”

“All Drifa Chain Lightning!”

A bolt of high-voltage lightning pierced through all of the enemies in front of me.

“Gahhhh!”

“What?!” growled the bear.

He diverted the lightning with his spear and leapt at Sadeena.

“I don’t care who you are! I’ll protect little Raphtalia and little Naofumi no matter what!” she exclaimed.

“I can’t have everyone forgetting about me,” Gaelion said.

While holding on to Sadeena from behind, he unleashed a breath attack that looked like a highly condensed heat-ray. The attack caught the bear off guard and hit him directly in the face.

“Gah! That was just dirty!” the bear growled.

“Dirty is my specialty. I usually just talk dirty, but I can play dirty too,” Sadeena replied with a wink.

She began transforming into her therianthrope form. The bear watched, speechless, as her body ballooned up.

“Now then, how about you and I have a little showdown? It’s been more than ten years since I left this country. I’m looking forward to seeing what its best warriors have to offer these days!” she exclaimed.

“You’re the priestess of carnage! Do you dare oppose us with those defiled hands of yours?!” the bear growled.

“Oh, but I do. And I think I’ll start by giving you a taste of that carnage,” Sadeena replied.

She glanced over at me and Raphtalia. She was trying to tell us this was our chance to figure something out. It was a bit depressing to think that I could tell what Sadeena wanted to say from a single glance now.

I tried to think of what our most effective attack in a situation like this would be. They’d put up some kind of barrier around us, our weapons weren’t functioning, and we couldn’t use our skills. In that case, we’d just have to rely on normal techniques and strategy.

“Can you keep going, Raphtalia?” I asked.

“Fighting is no problem,” she replied.

Raluva and his men, along with Sadeena and Gaelion, were managing to hold the enemy back, but that didn’t change the fact we were at a disadvantage. They were after Raphtalia’s life and my shield had completely ceased functioning. It wasn’t that I couldn’t fight, but all I could do was defend and now I couldn’t even use my skills. I couldn’t use a good portion of my magic either. There wasn’t really much that I could do in a situation like this.

“Die, false empress!” screamed one of the enemies.

“Not on my watch!” I shouted.

The enemy swung his katana and I parried it with my shield. I grabbed him by the collar and Raphtalia sliced into him instantly, as if by reflex.

My Demon Dragon Shield had a counterattack effect called “C demon bullet” and it seemed to be activating, but the effect was negligible now. Countering would be difficult, I guess. And relying on the Shield of Wrath was too dangerous. In the end, my fighting style depended almost completely on my shields.

Was there really nothing else I could do? Not being able to use my skills had suddenly exposed my own shortcomings. This was an issue I would need to address.

“Take this, false empress and holder of the evil spirit implement!” shouted the frog.

He and one of his men fired off their magic at me and Raphtalia.

“Drifa Aqua Slash!”

“Drifa Rock Blast!”

A highly condensed stream of water and mass of boulders both came flying straight at us simultaneously. I suddenly recalled the time Melty had surprised me with an unexpected magical attack. I was confident my shield wasn’t going to break, even if an attack was so powerful that it pierced the shield and managed to injure me. I tried to remember how exactly I’d parried Melty’s magic.

“Not happening!” I shouted.

I held my shield up. I then focused my attention and . . . I still didn’t completely understand life force, but I did my best to channel it into the shield. And then I swung the shield up as hard as I could. The magic hit my shield and went flying off in a different direction. I needed to adjust the angle! I intensified my concentration and managed to send the attacks flying toward the bear therianthrope, who was engaged in mortal combat with Sadeena.

“Hell yeah!” I shouted.

“What?! Damn you!” the bear growled.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Sadeena exclaimed.

The bear tried to dodge, but Sadeena held him in place and used him as a shield against the magic.

“Gahhh!”

That probably hurt at least a little bit.

“Ha! You come up with the strangest ideas, little Naofumi,” Sadeena said.

“I figured I could pull it off, and I guess I did,” I replied.

“You parried their magic and used it against me?!” the bear growled.

But he wasn’t ready to give up. He shoved Sadeena away.

“Hmph! I’m impressed that you managed to put up any fight at all. That was unexpected,” he said.

He was smiling, but I could tell he was upset. He must have been up to something.

“I wonder if you outsiders are familiar with this technique. It’s a secret technique whose use is permitted only for those who can draw power from the sakura stones of destiny,” he continued.

Raluva looked at the bear therianthrope and turned as white as a sheet.

“Impossible! Have you really been permitted to go that far?! Miss Raphtalia! Shield Hero! You must leave at once!” he exclaimed.

“It’s too late!” the bear roared.

Several of his men had been reciting incantations and as soon as he finished speaking they placed their palms together, as if praying.

“Heavenly Emperor, we act on your behalf as pacifiers! Let our whole beings become our blade! We combine our power with yours to bestow upon the foolish a fate of destruction!”

“Astral Enchant!”

I could see something flowing from their bodies into the bear’s winged spear. In return, they began to fall over limp, one after the other.

“Wh-what the . . .” I mumbled.

“Hmph! This battle is as good as over! Take this!” the bear shouted.

As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to blur as he came speeding toward us. My shield may not have been functioning like usual, but he wasn’t moving so fast that I couldn’t react! I read his movements and prepared to block the attack. Fortunately, my shield was able to block his winged spear successfully. I grabbed the shaft of his spear and gripped it as tightly as I possibly could, determined to keep hold of it no matter what.

“Is that all you’ve got?!” the bear thundered.

His strength must have increased exponentially, because he swung the spear up into the air with ease. I was jerked off the ground and went smashing into the wall, but I wasn’t going to let go! Just how powerful had this bastard become, though?! He probably could’ve defeated the Spirit Tortoise on his own now!

“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia called out.

“Don’t worry about me! Just be ready to attack!” I shouted.

“U-understood!”

Raphtalia gripped her katana and prepared to attack. I was glad she always responded so quickly.

“I don’t like being ignored!” said Sadeena.

“I can’t have you forgetting me either!” Gaelion added.

Our whole group was doing their best to restrain the bear, but they couldn’t stop him. I’d avoided any serious injuries so far, thanks to my shield, but I had no idea how long I could last like this.

“What the hell is with this guy?! Is this because of that magic they cast?” I asked.

“Yes. That was Astral Enchant. It’s specialized protective combat magic that allows one or more casters who have been blessed to imbue all of their stats upon someone who has received a high-level blessing from the Heavenly Emperor,” Raluva explained.

That was not what I wanted to hear.

“I never would have imagined he’d received such a high-level blessing,” Raluva continued.

But what he said reminded me of something. It sounded a lot like the buff I’d given Fohl just recently.

“Here I go! Hold him for me, little Naofumi!” Sadeena said.

“Got it!”

I planted my feet on the ground and crouched down low, holding the bear in place. But twenty or thirty seconds was probably my limit. After that he’d start swinging me around like a ragdoll.

“You just don’t know when to give up!” he roared.

Sadeena charged her harpoon with electricity and lunged forward powerfully, thrusting the harpoon at the bear. There was a heavy thud as it smashed directly into him—or so I thought, but it had crashed into a thin protective barrier similar to that of my Shooting Star Shield skill.

“Ugh . . . That thing sure is tough,” Sadeena said.

Just as her attack landed, blood began oozing out of the mouths of the enemy soldiers lying limp on the ground around us.

“How dare you injure my men!” the bear growled.

I guess that meant they were sharing their very life force with him. Combining the full abilities of multiple men would indeed make for an impressive soldier.

And then Raphtalia finished channeling magic power into her katana.

“Eight Trigrams . . .”

Huh? A magic circle formed around her and began sparking, as if attempting to obstruct the skill.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yes. Something is trying to interfere—probably the power of the sakura stone of destiny,” she replied.

“Are you going to be alright? Don’t overdo it,” I said.

“It’s not a problem. That won’t stop me! Watch out everyone! Blade of Destiny!”

She unsheathed her katana in quick-draw fashion and a rippling beam of light shot out of the blade, slicing through all of the enemies in the area.

“Like I’d let that hit me! You take it, spirit implement holder!” the bear thundered.

He swung his spear in an attempt to use me as a shield against Raphtalia’s attack.

“No thanks,” I said.

I let go of the spear and jumped behind the dumbfounded bear. I held him in a full nelson and forced him to take the full brunt of the attack.

“Ugh . . .”

Aside from myself, everyone else in our group crouched down and avoided the attack.

“You squirrelly little bastard!” the bear growled.

I’d managed to withstand the attack since I was behind the bear, but it definitely hurt. Taking it head-on would’ve killed me.

I was putting all of my past experience—and my training with Atla, in particular—into play now. I could dodge if the bear tried to attack me, and I could drag him down to interfere if he tried to attack Raphtalia. But how the hell was I supposed to stop this monster? The thought of there being even more powerful enemies to come made my head spin.

And then, all of a sudden, the same pattern produced by Raphtalia’s Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny attack appeared on the trunk of the sakura lumina.

“Could it be?! Little Gaelion! Touch the sakura lumina!” Sadeena shouted.

She grabbed Gaelion, who had been perched on her back providing combat support, and hurled him at the tree.

“Watch how you treat me!” he grumbled.

Gaelion flew straight to the pattern on the sakura lumina.

“Ah, now I see. Like this,” he said.

The straw rope around his neck began to glow, and whatever power had enveloped the bear therianthrope seemed to weaken.

“What?! The power of the sakura stone of destiny is dissipating?!” he said.

I guess that was one more thing the sakura lumina could do. By seizing control of the tree, we had successfully weakened the opponent.

“It looks like I managed to weaken that nifty power of theirs,” Gaelion said.

He continued to access the sakura lumina.

“I’ve just disabled the barrier to the outside world. I’ve also made it so that the tree cannot be accessed for a short period of time. All that’s left is to finish the enemy off,” he continued.

Was that supposed to be good news? We’d completed our original objective, but we still hadn’t defeated this monster. And then . . .

“Use these!”

Several objects came flying at us from behind. Without hesitation, I caught the one coming at me. And when I did, my shield sparked again.

Chapter Fifteen: Sakura Sphere of Influence

Weapon copy system activated.

Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield conditions unlocked!

Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield 0/ 100 C

equip bonus: spirit binding limited release 1, sealing resistance (weak), skill “Sakura Sphere of Influence”

special equip effect: spirit blessing, status chain, blossom blaze

mastery level: 0

The shield in my hand was the most intricate and finely crafted shield I’d ever seen. It was round, with a design that resembled the yin-yang symbol. Decorative cherry blossoms were inscribed along the edges and there was a jewel set in the center, like the one on my legendary shield. A large cherry blossom hovered faintly over the jewel like a hologram. It was strangely beautiful. I could only imagine there was something magical about the jewel and I wondered if perhaps it was one of the sakura stones of destiny.

Just holding the shield, I could already tell that its basic stats were high. How strange. I’d never felt anything like that before. From my own legendary shield, perhaps, but not from an original shield used to make a copy. When the copy completed, a list of categories appeared.

skills

magic

stat bonuses

growth adjustments

mastery level

rarity

refinement

spirit enchants

status enchants

reinforcement

item enchants

job level

remaining: 4

The categories were all grayed out. I selected “skills” and the category lit up and “remaining: 4” dropped to “3.” There was no doubt about it. This was an ability that could cancel out restrictions on the heroes’ weapons made by the sakura stones of destiny. It must have been the “spirit binding limited release 1” equip effect.

It wasn’t easy to decide, but I selected “skills,” “magic,” “stat bonuses,” and “growth adjustments” and then confirmed the selection. My shield sparked again, and I felt power flood back into my body. The only problem was that the shield’s abilities were locked, so I couldn’t switch to another shield.

I checked my status screen again and noticed that the stats of the shield itself had changed too. Maybe that had something to do with the “status chain” special equip effect. It didn’t look like I had any materials on-hand that I could use to power the shield up, but that ability was still sealed off anyway.

“You bastard!” the bear growled.

There was an expression of surprise on his face as he looked at the person who had just shown up and tossed us the weapons. It was the same bastard that tried to hit on Raphtalia! What the hell? But aside from the shield and katana he’d thrown at me and Raphtalia, he was passing out all kinds of equipment to everyone in our group.

“If you use those, your stats should get a boost even inside of the sakura stone of destiny barrier,” he said.

“I-I see!” one of the men replied.

The men gripped their new weapons and prepared to attack the bear therianthrope. Raphtalia did the same. But even if I could copy weapons, my legendary shield wouldn’t allow me to equip the original, so I threw the shield I’d caught to a nearby ally.

“I should be able to put up a bit of a fight now. Let’s try this again!” Raphtalia exclaimed.

“Oh? I’m suddenly feeling a bit feisty,” Sadeena said.

“Yes, it seems the effects of the growth adjustments have been partially restored,” Gaelion replied.

We still hadn’t defeated the enemy, but there was no doubt that our situation had taken a turn for the better. Now to use this momentum to pressure the enemy!

“Bastard! You dare betray us?!” the bear growled angrily at the skirt-chaser scumbag.

“Betray? Oh, come now. You misunderstand. It’s true that I made those weapons. I needed the money, so I accepted the order. But I’m no patriot,” he replied.

“And why are you helping this false god of another country and the false empress?! Answer carefully or face certain death!” the bear thundered.

His incredible bloodlust was palpable as he glared threateningly at the skirt chaser standing behind us. But the skirt chaser just shrugged and responded casually.

“You really don’t know? Come on, think about it,” he said.

He then stomped his foot down, clenched his hand into a fist, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“If I have to pick between a whiny little brat and a beautiful young lady to be the Heavenly Emperor or Empress I worship, you bet your ass I’m going to pick the beautiful young lady!”

His voice echoed throughout the area. An awkward silence followed, and everyone just stared at the skirt chaser. Was he really that dense? And what the hell kind of proclamation was that, anyway?

Raphtalia and I were staring at him in disbelief, when all of a sudden he turned to us with a really smug look on his face . . . Hm? That was the same face Motoyasu had made when he first met Raphtalia. The skirt chaser strolled up to Raphtalia and kissed her on the hand.

“We met earlier, didn’t we, little miss? You seemed to be in a bind, so I thought I would loan you some equipment to help out. Please use these weapons to slay that tyrannical government lapdog,” he said.

He probably thought he was acting like a gentleman, but his complete lack of refinement shined through clearly. “Please slay him”? Was that supposed to be classy?

“Umm, okay . . .” she muttered.

This bastard really pissed me off. But he had helped us in a really big way, so I couldn’t complain. Oh, hell yes, I could!

“Who do you think you are?!” I shouted.

“Oh! And you must be the other young lady from earlier. You’re just as beautiful in your therianthrope form,” he continued.

“Oh?” Sadeena replied.

Wow. He was hitting on Sadeena in her therianthrope form. Even Motoyasu hadn’t tried to flirt with Filo in her filolial form before he went nuts. They were like two models of the same product, and this one was an even more pathetic version.

After standing there flabbergasted for a few moments, the bear therianthrope began shaking with anger. His face turned a bright shade of red and he screamed out.

“You blundering fool!”

He charged straight for Raphtalia and the skirt chaser like a battle tank at full throttle. I stepped between them and held my shield up. And then I tried a little something.

“Air Strike Shield!” I shouted.

The skill hadn’t functioned before because of the sakura stone of destiny barrier. But now my Air Strike Shield appeared in front of my eyes.

“Hmph!”

The bear sliced through my Air Strike Shield like it was a toy. But it hadn’t been completely effortless like before. I knew that because sparks flew when his spear made contact. The shield had simply been destroyed because my stats were too low at the moment. In that case, there was only one thing left to do.

“Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Chain Shield! E Float Shield!”

I produced two more shields and linked them with chains to restrict the bear’s movement. Then I used E Float Shield to obstruct his vision.

“Pathetic!” he shouted.

As soon as I restricted him, he jerked on the chains and tore them to pieces. But his movements seemed too slow. I wondered if status chain had something to do with that.

“The Heavenly Empress is relying on us! Don’t waste this chance!” Raluva shouted.

He and the other men all simultaneously began firing off their magic and skills at the bear. Several of them used spells to reduce his stats and ice magic to restrict his movement. His strategy had backfired. We could all focus our attacks on a single fighter. The bear’s men had already been removed from the fight and couldn’t even provide backup.

“Raphtalia,” I said.

“What is it?” she replied.

“We know of skills and techniques that are even more effective against an enemy with increased stats, right? Can you use any of those yet?” I asked.

Those attacks were Atla’s specialty and I was still in the middle of learning how to deal with them. But Raphtalia had been sparring with Atla a lot recently, so I was sure she had at least been dabbling with such techniques.

“Yes. I can’t do anything like Atla or the master, but I can use one,” she said.

I told her to get ready and she began preparing to attack.

“Alright!” I shouted.

Now we just needed to boost her stats, pure and simple. I motioned for Sadeena to come over to me and we began casting our cooperative magic. I’d become fairly proficient with the Way of the Dragon, so I could do the incantation rather quickly now.

“You help too, Gaelion. I know you can give an extra boost,” I said.

“You do, do you? I guess I’ll just have to pitch in then,” he replied.

The straw rope that Gaelion was wearing as a collar began to glow. The magical puzzle pieces faded into sight and we all began linking them together at incredible speed. But we each still had to do a lot of the work on our own too.

“Hmph!” grunted the bear.

He overpowered the interfering magic with brute force, brandished his spear, and went charging forward at Raphtalia and the skirt chaser behind her. I finished my part of the cooperative magic incantation and jumped in front of Raphtalia to protect her. She seemed to be channeling life force into her katana.

“Die! False god, false empress, and filthy traitor—all of you!” he roared.

“Shooting Star Shield!”

“Whoa! Why me?!” the skirt chaser shrieked.

The Shooting Star Shield barrier activated and repelled him and the bear both, giving us a few more seconds to prepare. At the same time, Sadeena and Gaelion finished their incantations and our cooperative magic activated.

“Descent of the Thunder God!”

Of course I selected Raphtalia as the target.

“Here I go!” she shouted.

With the borrowed katana in hand, Raphtalia charged at the bear therianthrope, who was still rubbing his eyes and trying to recover from the bright flashes of light created by the pieces of the shattered Shooting Star Shield barrier.

“Hengen Muso Technique . . . Point of Focus!”

The attack pierced cleanly through the bear’s protective barrier and the life force she had channeled into her blade poured into his body.

“Ugh . . . It will take more than that to stop me!” he roared.

He was a tough bastard! I guess that much was to be expected of Q’ten Lo’s warrior elite. The country was practically full of Sadeena-level fighters. Blood sprayed out of the mouths of the men who had lent the bear their power.

“I can’t have you forgetting about me!” Sadeena exclaimed.

She leapt up nimbly into the air and called lightning down from the clouds that had formed from Descent of the Thunder God. The lightning jumped to the spear she’d been given by the skirt chaser.

“Lightning Strike Harpoon!”

The electrically charged spear shot forward, slithering like a snake, straight into the bear.

“Gahhh!”

But he still didn’t fall. Sparks of lightning jumped from his skin as he pointed his spear at Raphtalia.

“I’m not finished!” she shouted.

She blurred, as if using haikuikku, and swung her katana down at the bear.

“I’m going to try a new skill!” she said.

“I can’t let you have all the fun!” I shouted.

I called out the name of the new skill I’d gotten from the shield.

“Sakura Sphere of Influence!”

A magic circle shaped like a big cherry blossom appeared under my feet. Was that all? Nothing else had happened. I guess the skill was useless. Oh well.

“Attack Support!”

I supported Raphtalia by firing off my Attack Support skill, which would double the damage of her next attack. But the instant I threw the Attack Support dart, it split into five cherry blossom petals and they all smashed into the bear.

“Ugh! Wh-what?!”

Aha! So Sakura Sphere of Influence must have been a skill that formed a magic circle that would alter other skills. That made using it well a real pain!

The cherry blossom petals wrapped around the bear’s body and restricted his movement, just like Chain Shield had before he destroyed it. On top of that, the petals came together to form a single cherry blossom while continuing to restrict the bear. To think that I could use Attack Support to restrict an opponent too—now that was convenient!

“Here I go! Kagura Dance of the Sakura! First Formation! Blossom!”

Raphtalia slashed at the bear powerfully as she sped past him. The cherry blossom restricting his movements shattered and faded away. And then, with a bright flash, a flurry of cherry blossoms rose up around the bear. At the same time, a magic circle appeared below him with the same pattern as the one made by Raphtalia’s Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny attack.

“Wha—Ugh! Gahhh! No! Not yet! I will not be defeated!”

“Damn, he’s tough!” I said.

Was he really going to refuse to fall, even after a string of such fierce attacks?!

“You’re finished, false empress!” he roared.

He swung his spear down at Raphtalia.

“Not happening!” I shouted.

I leapt forward and blocked the spear. The attack wasn’t as heavy as before. I could withstand this! I was certain of it! And then a beam of light shot out of my shield.

“Gah!”

That must have been blossom blaze, one of the special equip effects of the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield. All of a sudden, I felt more energized than before.

“What is this? I suddenly feel like I have another attack in me, Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia exclaimed.

“Go for it!” I replied.

She sheathed her katana and moved into her quick-draw stance.

“Amazing. Thanks to that magic circle of yours and that light just now, I can use another finishing move immediately,” she said.

“Argh! How long do you plan on resisting?!” the bear growled.

“Hmph. It looks like these effects have managed to increase our own power while weakening yours,” I said.

I’d finally been able to subdue that immense power of his.

“You better not forget about me and Gaelion or the rest of our soldiers!” Sadeena exclaimed.

Determined not to be outdone, she and Gaelion began casting their own cooperative magic.

“Little Gaelion, you’re borrowing power from the water dragon, right? Use it well!” she said.

“Hmph. I don’t like having to work, but I suppose this is the final push. In that case, let’s do this!” he exclaimed.

“Like pure flowing waters, let our intentions wash away hatred, resentment, and the curse upon this land. Let our desire to save the world manifest as strength! Dragon Vein! Grant us a miracle!”

“I, Gaelion, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of mine! Awaken the strength to terminate the foolish adherents before me!”

Sadeena and Gaelion each completed their respective incantations and the cooperative magic activated.

“Blossomlight Maelstrom of the Water Dragon!”

Gaelion transformed into what looked like a small tornado made out of water and started spitting out highly concentrated streams of water in all directions. Sadeena jumped onto the tornado and the two of them took on the form of the water dragon as they went charging toward the bear. Of course that meant they were charging at me too, but Sadeena snatched me out of the way at the moment of impact.

“Gahhhh!”

The tornado of water swallowed up the bear and began crushing him within. Even he couldn’t withstand a powerful tornado made of such highly concentrated water.

“Here I go. This skill combines the Hengen Muso style and the style that Sadeena taught me,” Raphtalia said.

She leapt at the bear and sliced into the tornado with a powerful thrust.

“Supreme Ultimate . . . Slash of Destiny!”

Her blade slid cleanly through the tornado and into the bear. The swirling water of the tornado burst outward with a splash and dissolved into the air.

“Huh?”

The bear landed on the ground, unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief and smirked at Raphtalia.

“Such an impressive skill. To think that it would end in failure! You’ve forfeited any right to call yourself the Heavenly Empress,” he growled.

“You’re wrong,” Raphtalia replied.

She was standing still, facing away from the bear. He took aim at her back and brandished his spear.

“I cut the flow of magic that was supplying your power. Trying to muster up any more . . . would be suicide,” she continued.

“Don’t make me laugh! Take thi—”

And then, just as the bear stomped his foot down, it happened. A yin-yang symbol appeared on his chest and extended outward, wrapping around his entire body!

“Gaaaahhhh!”

“That’s the outside power clashing with your own power. They will discharge shortly,” Raphtalia said.

The effect lasted around ten seconds. When it wore off, the yin-yang symbol enveloping the bear dissolved, and the bear dropped his spear to the ground heavily before catching himself and leaning on it like a cane.

“Impossible! Astral Enchant and the sakura stone of destiny blessing are gone?!” he exclaimed.

“Yes. I could see their power flowing to you, so I wound the flows together and severed them both. The blessing you were given is no more,” Raphtalia replied.

“A-amazing. She is indeed the true Heavenly Empress,” whispered Raluva as he watched on.

“I will never accept such a thing!” the bear roared.

He was determined not to give up. He brandished his spear, but his movements completely lacked the sharpness they’d shown before.

“We’ve won this battle. The result is clear,” Raphtalia said.

“Ugh . . . It’s not over yet! Even if you do defeat me, the government will never forgive you! You’re as good as finished!” the bear roared.

“Sorry, but putting an end to a rotten lot like you and your government is kind of our thing. And since your government asked for it, crushing it is exactly what I’ll do!” I declared loudly.

With an angry look on his face, the bear therianthrope crumpled forward onto the ground. Immediately after, cheers filled the air. They were the shouts of victory from the men who’d joined us to help overthrow their government.

“We won!”

“This may be one small step for the resistance, but it’s one giant leap for us resisters!”

“We’ve finally delivered a blow to the rotten government and their foolish laws!” they cried out, filling the air with their triumphant cheers.

We’d managed to win somehow. But the enemies had been some of the most unconventional and difficult to deal with yet. They concentrated all of their power into a single fighter to boost that person’s stats, and they had the ability to seal off the power of the heroes. Talk about overpowered! I was going to cry if that bear therianthrope wasn’t some elite race, like the ones they had in Siltvelt’s leadership. It was looking like we might be in for a rough ride.

Epilogue: The Old Guy’s Master

“Congratulations on your victory, little miss.”

The skirt chaser came running over toward Raphtalia, so I activated Shooting Star Shield to obstruct his path.

“You tactless bastard! Do you have any idea what would’ve happened to you if I hadn’t loaned you those weapons?!” he shouted.

His attitude did a complete 360 depending on who he was talking to. He glared at me with an annoyed look on his face, but I couldn’t have cared less.

“If you really like women that much, I’ll loan you that fat killer whale over there. You can have all the fun you want with her,” I said.

“Mr. Naofumi, please don’t treat Sadeena like she’s a complete slut,” Raphtalia interjected.

“Oh my,” said Sadeena.

After hearing my offer, the skirt chaser gulped and glanced over at Sadeena excitedly. That bastard really would settle for anything as long as it was female, I guess.

“Hmm? I’m afraid having a bit of fun with little Naofumi is first on the list of priorities. Let’s start by enjoying a nice stiff drink!” she continued.

“Suit yourself,” I replied.

“Yay! A party to celebrate our victory! I want the best alcohol all for myself! Of course, I’ll see if I can get some rucolu fruit for you, little Naofumi,” she said.

“You like that cheap liquor? Who knew a god of a foreign land would have such bad taste,” said one of Raluva’s men playfully.

“That’s right! Believe it or not, little Naofumi can eat the rucolu fruit straight! Incredible, right?!” Sadeena exclaimed.

All the surrounding warriors began laughing at how worked up she got, bragging about such a thing, as if it were her own achievement.

“Hahaha! Surely you can’t handle that! Even if you’re a god of a foreign land!” one of the warriors shouted at me.

“Did you say he eats the actual fruit that cheap booze is made from? Now that’s something I’d like to see! That stuff would send even Dionysus running for the hills!” another warrior chimed in.

Raphtalia had a vexed look on her face.

“I can all too easily imagine what kind of shenanigans Sadeena and Mr. Naofumi might get up to at a victory celebration party,” she muttered while shaking her head.

“I’m with you 100 percent,” Gaelion agreed.

He was hovering beside Raphtalia with his arms crossed.

I didn’t know what the big deal was. Was rucolu fruit really so scary? I mean, most of the time people went pale and ran away when there was any talk of eating it straight. Being able to do that was the only reason Sadeena even liked me.

“But before any of that, we need to go meet up with the others from the ship,” Gaelion continued.

“Yeah, you’re right. That’s the whole reason we came here, isn’t it?” I replied.

“Let us raise the banner of revolution and send word to our people that the true Heavenly Empress has arrived! Then we shall welcome this ship to Q’ten Lo!” one of the men shouted.

The other men all cheered.

“Come, ladies. Let us enjoy the festivities, shall we?” said the skirt chaser.

He was still pestering Raphtalia and Sadeena and I was really getting tired of him. I figured it was time to shut him up.

“Shield Prison!”

“Wh-what are you doing?! This is—”

I trapped him inside of a prison of shields. Even Raphtalia must have been getting annoyed, because she didn’t try to stop me. Sadeena came skipping over in her killer whale form and leapt at me. Damn it!

“Little Na-o-fu-mi! I totally got hit on! Are you jealous? You’re jealous, aren’t you?” she said.

“Oh yeah. Super jealous. I was really hoping he’d hit on me instead,” I replied.

I couldn’t be bothered with coming up with a wittier answer.

“Aww, you’re cute, even when you’re being sarcastic, little Naofumi,” Sadeena said.

“Who are you calling cute?” I replied.

“Anyway, my heart belongs to you, little Naofumi. Try not to be too mean or I’ll get depressed.”

“You sure don’t sound depressed. As far as I can tell, you’re far more concerned with finding some alcohol.”

She was just itching to get drunk. I could see it written all over her face.

“Oh? Is it that obvious? Come on, then. Let’s go get the others off the ship so that they can join us! Party, party, victory party!” Sadeena exclaimed.

Raphtalia sighed.

“I’m really starting to wonder why we came all this away,” she said.

“Stop complaining, Raphtalia. You’re going to unravel the shroud of mystery surrounding your birth and seize control of your very own country,” I told her.

“I wouldn’t mind knowing what kind of place my parents grew up in, but I’m also perfectly content with just living a quiet life back at the village,” she replied.

Raphtalia sure didn’t need much to be happy. That was one of the things I liked about her, actually.

“Well, you may end up eventually serving as governor of the territory on my behalf, so proactively making some political connections now would be a smart move,” I said.

I would be going back to Japan after the threat of the waves had passed. Rebuilding the village was really something I was doing for Raphtalia’s sake, after all.

“. . .”

Raphtalia just sat there quietly for some reason, without saying anything.

“Alright, let’s get going then. We’ve captured the port town. Now all that’s left is to set up base here, gather the troops, and then seize control of the country,” I said.

I laughed diabolically and Raphtalia rolled her eyes at me.

“I won’t deny that this country has some issues that need to be sorted out. So let’s stop wasting time talking and get going,” she said.

“Alright then!” I replied.

We left the skirt chaser behind and marched triumphantly back toward the port.

Back at the port town, the signs posted by the government had been taken down by order of Raluva. We paraded down the main street behind Raphtalia, who was wearing the miko outfit. Seeing her in the miko outfit must have been reassuring for the citizens of Q’ten Lo. They all bowed their heads deeply when she passed.

Of course, there were those who opposed her influence too. But we’d just defeated the government officials that had forcefully taken over the town. Speaking out against her openly would’ve been suicide. Anyone who didn’t want to get involved in a messy conflict would leave the town. On the contrary, those who opposed the government’s authority would begin to gather there. That was just the nature of things.

But enough talk of the future. We went to meet up with the others who’d been on the ship from Siltvelt. It had finally arrived at the port.

“Ohhh! It’s Masteeerrrr!” cried Filo.

“Rafuuu!”

Raph-chan was sitting on Filo’s head. Filo waved at us from the deck of the ship before jumping off and heading our way.

It was Raph-chan! I hadn’t seen her for a while and it was starting to make me sad. I wanted the people of Q’ten Lo to see just how great Raph-chan was. They completely worshipped Raphtalia when she wore the miko outfit, so I was sure they would love it if Raph-chan wore a miko outfit too. It would’ve been nice to have others who understood how I felt.

“Umm, Mr. Naofumi? What are you thinking about?” Raphtalia asked.

“Mr. Naofumi!” Atla exclaimed.

She practically ran down the side of the ship and then leapt at me. It made her look like a stuntwoman or something.

“Atla!” Fohl shouted.

Determined not to be outdone, he tried to leap down onto the dock from the ship but just fell into the ocean instead. Poor guy.

“Fehhh! We were worried about you, Naofumi!” Rishia exclaimed.

“I suppose we were,” Itsuki agreed.

The two of them filed down off the ship in an orderly fashion and then rushed over to us. Itsuki sure didn’t look worried at all.

“I thought Raph-chan explained what had happened,” I said.

“Yes, Filo told us that you had already made it to Q’ten Lo safely,” Rishia replied.

“Was everything okay on the ship?” I asked.

“More attackers showed up every now and then. They seemed to be trying to figure out where Raphtalia had gone,” she said.

I guess they never would have imagined she’d already made it into the country.

“Itsuki, stay on your guard. We can’t use our portal skills in this country, it seems,” I said.

“I will. How are we going to bring Ren here?” he asked.

“It’ll be a real hassle, but I guess our only choice is to take a boat back and go pick him up,” I replied.

“Someone needs to guard the village. We could always do this with just the two of us,” Itsuki suggested.

That was true. But I had a feeling S’yne would be getting worried right about now too. She had probably assumed she’d be able to rush to my side immediately, so I wasn’t sure how she would deal with finding out we couldn’t use teleportation.

Still, it would be difficult for me to leave the battlefront. And getting into the country by boat was still pretty dangerous. It would probably be better to search for a dragon hourglass before going that route. Besides, now that Atla, Itsuki, and the others had joined us, we’d be able to put up a pretty good fight, even if we did end up facing more enemies like that bear.

“Hey, kid! I’m glad to see you’re still alive,” said the old weapon shop guy as he got off the ship. “So this is Q’ten Lo, huh?”

“They have all kinds of strange culture and traditions here. You might be able to learn a thing or two,” I replied.

Some of it might have been outside the realm of his expertise, but there were a lot of items and equipment in this country that I’d never seen before. I figured it would be nice if he could take a look and try to figure them out.

We were discussing that when the skirt chaser came running up. He was really upset.

“You can’t just cage people all of a sudden, you little prick!” he screamed.

“That’s what you get for trying to hit on Raphtalia. I can’t have someone like you putting their dirty hands on her and tainting her,” I replied.

“What did you say?! Are you trying to forbid me from approaching a beautiful young girl?! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

“I’m her surrogate father. I’ll say this as many times as you need to hear it. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let someone like you get their hands on my cute little girl!”

“Try saying that again!”

The skirt chaser and I glared at each other. The old guy was standing next to me with a look of surprise on his face. He pointed at the skirt chaser.

“Master!” he shouted.

“Huh?”

What? I looked back and forth between the old guy and the skirt chaser, confused.

“I knew right away that you’d made the weapons those assassins who attacked the kid’s territory were using. But as soon as I get to Q’ten Lo, you’re here with the kid! Why?” the old guy exclaimed.

“Umm . . . Oh! Now I remember! You’re Erhard! Long time no see! How have you been?” replied the skirt chaser.

He squinted and really looked the old guy over for several moments before suddenly clapping his hands like he’d just remembered who he was. Then he started acting really chummy.

“I’ve been fine, but . . . you haven’t answered my question yet, Master!”

The old guy seemed slightly annoyed as he demanded an answer.

“Hold on. You’re saying this skirt chaser is your master?” I asked.

I tried to recall what the old guy had said about his blacksmith master. What was it again?

“You mentioned him being a skilled craftsman and a frivolous, womanizing moron who ran away to escape his debts, right?”

“Come on, kid. I may have said something like that, but just don’t lay it out there like that,” the old guy replied.

“What was that?! Well, I’ll admit that I do like my women,” said the skirt chaser.

When I recalled the characteristics that the old guy had mentioned, I suddenly realized that they all applied to this bastard. He was definitely the kind of guy that I didn’t want to run across, if it could be avoided.

“This bastard started hitting on Raphtalia and Sadeena when we were trying to sneak in undetected, and then he showed up during our battle and backstabbed the country’s government,” I said.

“Yeah, that sounds like Master, alright,” the old guy replied.

The skirt chaser flashed a smug grin. Why was he suddenly acting so self-satisfied? That wasn’t something to be proud of!

“Is he really your master?” Raphtalia asked.

She sounded disappointed. Of course she would. This was not a guy either of us wanted to get involved with. Nothing good ever came from associating with philanderers.

“So? How did you end up making weapons for a bunch of assassins who attacked my village?” I asked.

“Well, I was born here, but I wanted to experience the world, so I left. I wandered around from country to country, enjoying myself and doing my blacksmith work on the side. But then my pop died and they forced me to come back. Back then, the father of that snotty little brat of an emperor was still Heavenly Emperor. He ordered me to make equipment for the country. But when daddy died, the little brat got the throne and he’s been there ever since,” complained the skirt chaser, a.k.a. the old guy’s master.

So to make a long story short, he was from a prestigious family of master blacksmiths in Q’ten Lo. And whether it was because of his own natural talent or just a characteristic of his race, it was rare to encounter a craftsman of his level. But he was a philanderer, so he ran away from home to get intimate with women around the world. And he got away with doing whatever he wanted for a while. But then his father died and he took over the family business. That’s when the country ordered him to make weapons for them.

Being chosen as the country’s blacksmith sure made him sound important.

“Oh! Little girls!” the old guy’s master squealed.

This time he was looking at Atla and Filo. This guy really had no principles. Even so, “little girls” was just going too far.

“What is it? Do you need something from me?” Atla asked.

“Hm?” said Filo, confused as always.

“How about you two come and enjoy a cup of tea with me?” the master replied.

“Sorry, but I’m not interested. I would like to enjoy a cup of tea with Mr. Naofumi, though. And then, while we were at it . . .” Atla’s voice trailed off.

“Hm? Maaasterrr, this person reminds me of the spear guy,” Filo said.

“You sure are sharp, Filo. What are you going to do?” I asked her.

“Umm, Mel-chan said to stay away from people that say things like he says,” she replied.

Melty was actually teaching Filo some pretty good stuff. But the nonsense coming out of Atla’s mouth was only making a bad situation worse.

“Umm, sorry, mister, but I already have Mel-chan and Master, so I can’t play with you. That’s what Mel-chan told meeee,” Filo said while pointing at me.

“Damn! Don’t tell me you’re building a harem!” the old guy’s master exclaimed while pointing at me with a regretful look on his face.

What the hell was he saying? Building a harem? Me? Ridiculous!

“Don’t make me vomit!” I shouted.

Did he really think I would be building a harem? He couldn’t have chosen a worse way to misunderstand. I was just taking care of Raphtalia as something of a father figure. It was a similar thing with the rest of the villagers too. Filo was basically my pet. Melty was a business associate. And Sadeena just treated me like we were in a relationship against my will. As for Atla, she’d just latched on to me against my will, kind of like Sadeena. She was just my slave. And a battle slave, at that.

“Umm . . . Please try not to mention that kind of thing around Mr. Naofumi,” said Raphtalia.

I was getting pissed off now.

“She’s right. It’s best to avoid topics like that around the kid. Otherwise, it’s just going to put him in an even worse mood,” the old guy agreed.

“Well, if you’re not building a harem, that means I can hit on your women, right?” the old guy’s master replied.

“You’ve upset Mr. Naofumi. Now pay the price,” said Atla.

She gave the old guy’s master a quick jab in the stomach.

“Gahhh! Y-you sure are violent, little miss,” he said.

Wow, he was pretty tough.

“What are you trying to do to Atla?!” Fohl shouted.

“What are you trying to do to me?!” the master retorted as he dodged Fohl’s fist by a hair’s breadth and then backed away.

If he could dodge that then why didn’t he dodge Atla’s jab?!

“I adore cute girls! Of course I’d want to enjoy their company!” he exclaimed.

“Go make some weapons, blacksmith,” I said.

“Oh, shut up! I’ll do that when I feel like it!” he replied.

What a selfish bastard.

“Hey, Master, I know how we could cheer the kid up,” the old man said.

“Huh? Why the hell would you want to cheer him up?” the master replied.

“Well, if it’s a choice between that and inflating your ego any more than it already is, then cheering the kid up is the far better option.”

“Erhard, you bastard! And you call yourself my apprentice?!”

“It’s exactly because I am your apprentice that I’m obligated to keep you under control. It won’t be any good for my business if word gets out that my master is the one making weapons for the assassins attacking a hero’s territory. This is the perfect chance. I’ll take care of all the arrangements, so why don’t you come back with us?”

That meant this bastard would be coming to Melromarc, right? I didn’t want a troublemaker like him anywhere near me. The old guy’s master crossed his arms and stood there deep in thought for a few moments. Seriously, what was with this guy?

“Well, I’ve already decided to align myself with this new Heavenly Empress. If it means being able to wander the world freely again once all the commotion dies down, then . . . it might not be a bad idea after all!” the master said.

“That’s the spirit! There were still a lot of things I was hoping to learn from you. Now you can teach me!” old guy exclaimed.

“Well, I get the feeling that being around this prick will give me the chance to meet lots of beautiful women. So sure, why not?!” the old guy’s master retorted.

The old man and his master shook on it. But as soon as they did, I noticed an almost imperceptible twinkle in the old guy’s eye that only lasted for an instant. He’d successfully managed to trick his master, in other words. I didn’t know the old guy had a side like that. Then again, with a master like this, such a thing would be inevitable.

“Oh, and Master . . . It goes without saying that you’ll pay me back for the massive debts you left me with, not to mention all of the other suffering you caused me, right?”

The old guy’s master squealed. He looked back and forth several times between the old guy’s face and their hands, which were still clasped in a handshake. It was clear he was about to try to run, so the old guy grabbed him and put him in a full nelson before eventually tying him up.

“Thanks, kid. I’ve finally managed to capture my master,” the old guy said.

“Damnit! Let me go, Erhard! I just want to be free to enjoy life and romance!”

“You can do that once you’ve worked enough to make up for causing the kid all this trouble! With your level of skill, we should be able to solve any problem, be it a financial crisis or imminent world destruction! I have faith in you!”

“Who the hell would choose saving the world from destruction over women?! Let me go! I just want to have fun!”

The old guy asked some townspeople where the local forge was and then dragged the skirt chaser off in that direction. The skirt chaser showed no signs of stopping his obnoxious belly aching. I couldn’t help but be a bit worried, but things would probably be fine if the old guy was watching him.

“What a strange guy. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of him now,” said Raphtalia.

“I’d really rather not. The old guy and Imiya’s uncle are more than adequate to take care of our blacksmith needs,” I replied.

I didn’t want to keep a weirdo like that around.

“That said, it is true that he saved us,” Raphtalia continued.

“Yeah, I can’t deny that,” I said.

The old guy’s master had given us the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield and matching katana. He knew about equipment that could be used to counteract the enemy’s ability to weaken the heroes. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to topple the Q’ten Lo government without his help. Even just considering it made my head hurt, but I guess there was no choice but to accept working with him.

“Alright, now then . . . Today we successfully took the first step in capturing Q’ten Lo, and we were reunited with everyone on the ship. I guess we should be happy with that,” I said.

“Agreed. It looks like we’re going to be facing some rough times in the days to come, but we just have to keep forging ahead,” Raphtalia replied.

“Yeah. But we also get to uncover the mysteries surrounding your birth, Raphtalia. I’m actually kind of excited,” I said.

I cherished Raphtalia like she was my own daughter. There was something strangely satisfying about the thought of discovering her roots. But I always felt bad for her when the topic of her deceased parents came up.

Raphtalia sighed.

“In that case, how about you tell me more about your family and lineage, Mr. Naofumi?” she said.

“Me? I come from a painfully ordinary Japanese household,” I replied.

But then it occurred to me. When I really thought about it, Japan was an alien world in their eyes. I’m sure they would’ve had no idea what I was talking about if I mentioned things like computers or manga.

“I’m interested! I would love nothing more than to know about your family, lineage, and everything else about you, Mr. Naofumi! I want to know about your childhood, who your first love was, what you ate growing up, what kind of friends you had, and everything else too!” Atla exclaimed.

There was no way I was going to tell Atla anything. That response just made her sound like a stalker. Filo had Motoyasu as a stalker. I guess Atla was mine. Atla kind of had a stalker too, since Fohl’s sister complex was so severe. Maybe if I gave him some attention, Atla would shift her focus to him instead of me for a while.

I gazed over at Fohl. He perked up really straight and started looking around.

“Wh-what is this? I’ve got goosebumps. Why is my heart beating so fast?” he muttered.

Hmm . . .

“Such a complicated web of romance, don’t you think, Mr. Itsuki?” said Rishia.

“I suppose so. Do you like that kind of thing, Rishia?” Itsuki replied.

“Y-yes. I’ve enjoyed books ever since I was a child, so I’ve read a lot of romance novels,” she said.

What in the world were the two of them talking about?

“Rafuuu!”

“Hm?”

Raph-chan was sitting on top of the head of a confused Filo. I petted her while looking around at the town.

“Anyway, we’ll be doing a lot of fighting in the coming days. Everyone rest up and prepare yourselves. It may seem like a completely foreign land, but this is where Raphtalia and Sadeena were born,” I said.

“It sure is. Once we’re free to explore a bit more, I’d like to show you the place where I grew up, little Naofumi,” Sadeena replied.

“That makes it sound like capturing the country is a prerequisite,” I said.

“Oh? I’m completely serious about all of this, you know,” she replied.

I sighed. I could never tell whether she was being serious or not.

Suddenly, a cherry blossom petal came floating down and landed on the ground nearby. I guess, technically, it was a sakura lumina blossom petal. I looked over at the sakura lumina in full bloom and noticed how beautiful it was.

“Those flowers are really pretty,” said Raphtalia.

“Yeah, they are. It makes me want to take some of the trees back and plant them near the village, if they would actually survive,” I replied.

Q’ten Lo was a mysterious country. Being here felt like I had slipped back in time to the Edo period. And looking at the blossoming flowers on the sakura lumina trees made me think of spring in Japan. If I ever made it back to Japan and got to see the cherry blossoms again, they would probably remind me of all this.

The remainder of the day was like a brief moment of calm in the middle of a storm. But we were almost to the goal. It wouldn’t be long before we’d finally disposed of those annoying assassins. Even if we ended up facing some unexpectedly difficult issues ahead, things would work out. I would make it work out. Just like when I’d broken free of the web of conspiracy in Melromarc.

I was more determined than ever.

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Siti Dara

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

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