“It’s so big once
you get up close.”
The enormous
tortoise was before us, advancing step by step.
When its feet hit
the ground, earthquakes occurred. I felt it rattling my bones.
“It sure is.”
“It makes me want
to run away.”
“I know how you feel.”
A little over a
month ago I was doing all I could just to try and keep up with the other
heroes. Now I was facing off against an enemy they couldn’t defeat.
It was a real test.
If we were in over our heads, we’d have to retreat.
It wouldn’t hurt
me. If it would end up saving the world in the end—not that I was on Fitoria’s
side here—that was always an option.
I hadn’t saved it
for the Spirit Tortoise, but I went ahead and switched to the strongest battle
shield that I had.
Whale Magic Core Shield
(awakened) +6 45/45 SR: abilities unlocked: equip bonus, skill “bubble shield”:
naval combat ability 2: special effects: water element, heat beam shield
(medium), magic assistance, magic recovery (small), underwater time increase:
mastery Level 65: item enchantment level 6, fire resistance up 15%: karma pengu
familiar spirit, water element equipment abilities up: status enchantment,
magic defense up 25
The abilities that
came with the Inter-Dimensional Whale type shields ended up being better than
the Soul Eater Shield.
The whale had used
a heat beam attack and had shot it from a spherical crystal type organ. So the
shield was like a semi-spherical crystal, and its counter attack was that same
heat beam.
It was also a
water-elemental type shield, so I expected it to defend well against fire and
water type attacks.
I can only really
explain that in terms of games that I’d played, but it would mean that water
attacks didn’t work well against fire-based enemies and vice versa. Some games
had elemental effects like that.
If I had a number
of shields with different elements to choose from, then I could theoretically
choose the shield with the best element for battle against each specific enemy.
The magic
assistance and recovery effects would make it easier to cast expensive spells.
And if my magic
power replenished itself, that would be much easier than trying to use soul eat
to recover lost energy.
“That is one big
turtle.”
“Fehhhhhh! Master
Itsuki!”
The turtle was
surrounded by clouds of bat-like servants.
That’s right—now
that we know the name of the real enemy, I was able to see the servant’s real
names.
“Shooting star
shield!”
I deployed the
force field and pushed Rishia behind me.
“Hate reaction!”
I used a skill that
caused all the monsters in the area to focus on me. The bat-like creatures all
responded by swarming in my direction, firing heat beams from their eyes.
There were so many
of them. When they descended on us they blocked out the sun.
I could hear the
sound of the shooting star barrier beginning to crack.
It wasn’t going to
break yet, but it was definitely taking a beating.
“Leave it to me!
Hi-yaaaa!”
The old lady jumped
out of the barrier. She was spinning like a top, kicking anything that got in
her way.
A tornado formed
around her and blew away the tortoise’s familiars.
“You can’t have all
the fun! Hya!”
Eclair held her
hand to her blade, imbuing it with magic. Then she used the point to draw an
“X” in the air.
It remained in the
air, flashed, then flew at the enemy.
But there were far too
many of them to be beaten back by the old lady’s attacks. Every monster she hit
fell, but there were many left behind.
But she quickly
used the attack again. Come to think of it, her attacks may not have had a
cool-down time like the heroes’ skills did. If they did, it must have been very
short.
It was a good
attack. I didn’t know if it had levels, but if you worked with it from level
one, it could probably end up really powerful.
If we made it out
of this battle and ended up with time on our hands, I would love to make her my
slave.
I almost couldn’t
believe my own thought process. If I found a stronger fighter, I wanted them to
be my slave.
If I said that out
loud, someone would probably slap me.
If both of them had
been with us when the wave came to Cal Mira, maybe that battle would have ended
differently.
“Hatcho!”
“Hi-ya!”
Raphtalia and Filo
left the protective barrier and started to attack the swarming familiars.
“Kiiiii!”
Each time a hit
connected, the bat-like familiars let out a squeal and fell to the ground.
I was surrounded by
excellent fighters. I could depend on them.
If everything went
well . . . But before I could finish my thought even more monsters surged into
the air.
“Ta!”
“Hyaaa!”
Raphtalia and Filo
were batting them out of the air as fast as they could.
Was it safe to
assume the fight was going in our favor?
If they weren’t
able to break through the shooting star shield barrier, they weren’t really
anything to worry about anyway.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. There are a
lot of them, but they are not very powerful. We can handle them.”
“Good.”
I heard something
like a heavy explosion and noticed that something seemed to be leaking from the
Spirit Tortoise.
I soon realized it
was hordes of monsters. They were like gorillas with shells on their backs, and
they were running straight for us.
They must have been
the yeti-like monsters we saw back in the village.
“Zweite Aura!”
I started casing
support magic on everyone.
“First Guard!”
Rishia cast a
defense-boosting spell on me.
That was a pretty
good idea. Her stats may have been low, but she wasn’t an idiot.
“I’m going!
Illusion sword!”
Raphtalia's sword
flashed black and white as she swung it at an approaching monster.
The monster she hit
was sliced clean in two, then those two pieces turned into black and white
balls before running into other monsters and destroying them.
Two birds with one
stone?
“That was great,
Raphtalia!”
Eclair thrust her
sword through a nearby familiar and shouted at Raphtalia.
“Yes, I did just as
you instructed.”
“Let’s see if I
can’t still show you a thing or two!”
“Alright!”
Raphtalia swung her
sword in time with Eclair’s attack, and their attack effects seemed to
synchronize. The monsters around them dispersed.
That was some
impressive teamwork.
“Buchikuikku!”
Filo was running
through crowds of monsters and kicking the life out of them.
“Ah-cho!”
The old lady
followed behind Filo and took out any monsters that had survived her attacks.
“Fi . . . First
Water Shot!”
Rishia, somewhat
hesitant, shot a ball of water magic from within the safety of the force field.
It didn’t kill the
monster it hit, but it did cause the monster to stop in its place.
“This isn’t so
bad!”
It wasn’t, but then
again, if we’d had trouble with just the servant monsters, then we’d have no
chance against the tortoise.
What were we going
to do about that thing? The other heroes had probably tried to battle it
directly. Since they had gone missing, there was a chance that maybe they were
still fighting inside of the giant’s body.
“Keep it up
everyone!”
“Okaaay!”
“Yes!”
“Fehhhh!”
We kept battling
the servants and advancing until we eventually found ourselves standing in
front of the Spirit Tortoise.
It seemed even
larger up close. Its face alone must have been the size of a village.
What was the next
step?
The Spirit Tortoise
looked down, directly at us.
“———!”
The tortoise roared
so loudly we had to cover our ears. It didn’t look friendly.
The shooting star
shield force field looked ready to cut out, so I used the skill again. Within
it we were safe from the familiars. I looked up at the tortoise.
It was looking
directly at us. It raised its front foot into the air.
“Dammit!”
The foot was
swinging at us. I readied my shield.
The shooting star
shield barrier broke with that same shattering sound I’d heard during the fight
with Glass. Immediately after the field broke, the foot swung straight at me. I
held up my shield.
The attack rattled
my whole body.
“Ugh.”
I was pushed back a
few steps. Sure enough, shooting star shield wasn’t going to be enough to
protect us against the tortoise.
Seeing that the
barrier was gone, the familiar monsters crowded towards us.
“Not this time!”
Raphtalia and
Eclair jumped ahead of me and beat back the encroaching horde of monsters with
a blur of techniques.
Rishia crouched
behind me, under my cape, understanding nothing of the situation and
whimpering.
“Here it comes
again.”
We’d been able to
survive a direct kick and the tortoise’s advance.
Things were looking
good.
“Hyaaaa!”
“A-cho! Holy saint,
be careful!”
“Yeah! If you get
in trouble, I’ll protect you!”
The old lady and
Eclair fought the hordes of monsters back and made attacks at the Spirit
Tortoise’s head whenever there was an opening.
I saw a spurt of
blood issue from one of their attacks, so the tortoise must have taken damage.
It didn’t seem to mind though.
The shooting star
shield force field ran out again. I deployed another.
“Everyone, get over
here!”
“Roger!”
“Understood!”
Immediately after
we moved, the sky filled with heavy clouds. Bolts of lightning fell on the
familiars as they rushed to attack us.
The smell of
burning flesh filled the air as the monsters fell to the ground, electrocuted.
The lightning
immediately killed whatever it hit, but the shock also spread out from the
target monster, causing other monsters to fall.
It was the support
magic from the queen and her troops.
If they didn't get
the timing right, the spell could have hurt Raphtalia and the others.
They must have
waited to see my shooting star shield barrier go up before casting it.
“Alright everyone!
Back on the attack!”
I shouted as the
lightning subsided.
I didn’t know if
our attacks would have any effect against the giant monster, but maybe it was
weaker than it looked.
Maybe it was
because of the queen’s magic, but there appeared to be much fewer familiar
monsters than there had been.
We decided to
ignore the servants when we could and started to direct our attacks at the
Spirit Tortoise’s face.
“Take THAT!”
Filo charged up all
her strength and kicked the tortoise hard across its giant chin.
“———?!”
The Spirit Tortoise
raised its massive head to dodge her attack.
“Oooh, it’s so
heavy!”
“My turn!”
The beast’s head
was raised high to avoid Filo’s kick. Raphtalia dashed at the exposed neck and
sliced at it with her sword.
There was a sound
like a tomato being cut, and a cut appeared at the base of the tortoise’s
throat.
Blood sprayed out.
But the tortoise
didn’t seem hurt. The wound quickly closed itself, and the furious Spirit
Tortoise turned its gaze to Raphtalia and Filo.
“I won’t be shown
up by my students! Hengen Muso Style essence! Full moon!”
The old lady began
to furiously kick in circles. Something shaped like the full moon appeared in
the trail of her kicks and flew at the Spirit Tortoise.
It slammed into the
tortoise’s face and exploded.
So that is what
everyone was trying to learn how to do when they were practicing with the
boulders.
It was too powerful
for Raphtalia and Filo alone, but it had to deal with too many attacks.
“Now!”
“Magic thrust!”
Eclair filled her
sword with power before thrusting quickly forward.
Her sword was
glowing. The end of each thrust produced an impressive concussive force that
slammed into the tortoise’s head.
The attack was
weaker than the old lady’s, but the Spirit Tortoise was hurt by it.
“Fehhh!”
Rishia was also
rushing to cast attack spells, but they were too weak to be of any use.
Still, she was
trying.
Raphtalia and the
others had become very powerful though. Thinking back on it, L’Arc and his crew
had been oddly powerful, but the monsters you encountered in a typical wave
weren’t. So even if the Spirit Tortoise was a very strong monster by
comparison, was there any reason to think we wouldn’t be able to handle it?
“———!”
A huge magic circle
appeared before the tortoise.
I didn’t like the
look of that.
A second later,
everyone outside of the force field fell flat to the ground.
“Ugh.”
“What . . . What’s
happening?”
“I feel so heavy.
It’s like I’m being crushed!”
“Control your
energy!”
Only the old lady
was still on her feet. The Hengen Muso Style must have really been powerful!
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It
feels like I’m being sucked to the ground. I can’t move.”
Damn! I didn’t know
what was going to happen, but it wasn’t good. Raphtalia and the others were in
danger!
“Fehh?”
Rishia was still
whimpering and hiding under my cape.
What was her
problem?
The force field was
shaking, which must have meant it was still protecting us from something.
I moved to try and
get everyone into the boundary of the force field.
“That feels
better.”
Once they were
within the barrier, all three of them stood up.
Had the tortoise
used some kind of gravity magic?
But the tortoise’s
magic hadn’t been able to break through my barrier.
“———!”
“Wh . . . ?!”
The tortoise opened
its mouth and howled.
Actually, no. I saw
a shining object travel from its torso and up through its throat.
That made me
nervous.
I quickly ran to
the head of the group and redeployed the shooting star shield barrier.
Crackling
electricity issued from the beast’s mouth.
Electricity?
Damn! I was using a
water element shield!
I switched to the
Soul Eater shield as fast as I could and used shield prison.
The monster’s mouth
was filled with electricity now, and it roared, sending out a cloud of lighting
in a straight line.
The stream of
electric breath caught up any servant monsters in its path as it flew towards
me.
It was like a
particle cannon from an anime!
“Ugh.”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Waaa!”
“Fehhhh?!”
The force field
collapsed immediately, and I could smell burning skin.
Pain overtook my
whole body, but I didn’t lose consciousness.
There was a second
that seemed to last an eternity. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed.
“Huff . . .
Huff...”
It was hard to keep
focused on what was going on, but I could tell that the tortoise’s attack had
ended.
I felt like my
muscles were burned.
The last time I’d
taken damage that bad was when I’d used blood sacrifice.
Actually, it felt
worse than that.
That was close. If
I’d still been using the Whale Magic Core Shield, I probably would have been
vaporized.
“Master?!”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
I wanted to cast a
healing spell on myself, but I couldn’t concentrate.
A second later a
warm, healing light fell on me.
I saw my wounds
heal themselves, but it would still be a while before they healed completely.
“Zweite Heal!”
I cast a healing
spell on myself and blocked the tortoise’s foot that was swinging at me to
finish me off.
Yes, I could think
again. I assumed that the queen had cast a spell to save me.
Someone had saved
me anyway. Apparently the Soul Eater Shield wasn’t powerful enough to block
that last breath attack.
Luckily, the
tortoise needed to recharge if it wanted to use that attack again.
I turned to survey
the damage. Everywhere aside from where I’d protected was completely uprooted
and destroyed. A mountain in the distance had been ruined. It had been reduced
to a pile of rocks.
“Filo, charge up
your magic power.”
“Okay!”
I had a bottle of
magic water prepared for times like these. I tossed it to Filo.
The Spirit Tortoise
had noticed that we were still moving. It formed another magic circle in the
air and raised a foot to crush us.
But I wouldn’t let
it!
“Shield prison!”
A cage of shields
appeared around the force field.
There was a
cacophony of clanging against the shields, but when the shield prison broke,
the force field beneath it stopped the foot.
I wasn’t sure if it
could withstand the tortoise’s bodyweight though.
The barrier started
to crack—it wouldn’t hold out much longer.
“We’re moving. Stick
with me! Whatever you do, don’t step out of the barrier.”
There was no need
to just stand there and let the monster step on us.
“Okay!”
“Okaaay!”
“Fehh . . .
Alright.”
Once all five of
them agreed, we took off running from the Spirit Tortoise’s foot.
There was a crash
and an earthquake where the foot came down. Clouds of dust billowed up around
it.
None of the dust
crossed the shooting star shield barrier.
“Well, we were able
to withstand it, for now.”
“It looks like he
can’t find us in all the dust.”
“It looks like he
thinks he already got you, doesn’t it? Is your magic already depleted?”
Maybe he could
sense our magic power to find out where we were.
You could tell just
by looking at the tortoise that it had lost us in the dust clouds.
Or I wondered if it
used the eyes of its servant monsters to figure out where things were.
“Ugh . . . But our
chance to attack...”
Familiars were
dropping heavily out of the air all around us.
The tortoise was
unsure. Maybe it was trying to check and see if we were dead.
There was no
time—what to do?
“We don’t have
another attack, do we?”
“We do, but it’s
not ready.”
“Right. Using it
once is exhausting.”
It sounded like
they had a plan.
But if they could
only attack once there could be a problem. If the attack didn’t kill the
monster, we’d have to retreat.
“Raphtalia, can you
use that thing again?”
“Yes, you mean the
special attack I do with Eclair?”
“Yeah. Do your
best!”
“Okay!”
“I’ll help the bird
god loosen up a bit!”
The old lady ran
around Filo and punched her here and there.
“Ouch! Stop that!”
“Old lady, stop
being a pain.”
The old lady seemed
to enjoy causing Filo pain. Creep.
“Huh? I kinda feel
good! Master!”
“Oh yeah? I guess
those were pressure points or something.”
She was a teacher
of an impressive school of martial arts after all. And this was a different
universe. I guess she could do things like that.
So that was good
news.
“Can I leave this
up to you two?”
We’d gotten in a
good hit at its throat before. With any luck, maybe we could finish it off.
“Leave it to us.”
“Yeah.”
Raphtalia and Filo
both crouched into position for their strongest attacks.
I recognized Filo’s
immediately.
She started to flap
her wings.
She was focusing
her magic power, and it was strong enough to see with the naked eye. A whirling
vortex of wind appeared behind her.
“I’m almost ready,
sis!”
“I need more time.”
Raphtalia’s tail
was all puffed up.
Then it grew even
puffier. A number of magic circles, like mandalas, appeared all around her. She
was condensing all of her magic power.
“———!”
The tortoise
noticed them and started to lurch in their direction.
Damn. The dust had
started to clear. He must have seen us!”
Just like last
time, the Spirit Tortoise opened its mouth wide and howled.
Its torso started
to glow, too. It was definitely about to use that electric attack again.
I thought we’d have
more time!
“He’s attacking!
Are you ready yet?!”
“We just need a
little more time!”
“Fine. I’ll block
it again. Use the extra time to charge your attacks as much as you can.”
“Okaaaay!”
“Understood.”
To survive the
attack I would need to have the shooting star shield barrier in place.
I tried to recall
what I’d learned in my week of training.
I didn’t know if I
could do it yet, but I needed to try.
I focused all my
magic into my hands.
“Shooting star
shield! Air strike shield! Second shield! Dritte shield! Shield prison!”
Before me three
shields expanded to protect us from the front. Behind that line of shields the
shield prison cage appeared. Our defenses were set.
It was the most
defensive position I’d ever taken. Last time the tortoise used this attack the
barrier and shield prison had broken. Let’s see what it could do this time.
When the skills
deployed I felt my magic power drain away.
I didn’t know what
that meant or if it would help.
I wasn’t sure that
I understood what the old woman’s energy was or if I could use it.
But I bet I could
survive one more attack from this monster!”
“———!”
A dense stream of
particles flew from the tortoise’s mouth.
The attack broke
the air strike shield, then the second shield cracked, and finally the
particles burst through the dritte shield.
It was a very
powerful attack, but it lost power each layer it went through.
It hit the shield
prison next.
It stayed put for a
few seconds before a hole appeared on one side. The stream of particles flew
into the hole.
The interior of the
prison filled with light for a moment before breaking.
I held my shield
with both hands and readied for impact.
“. . . !”
The power of the
stream as it slammed against the shooting star shield force field was amazing,
but it wasn’t as strong as last time.
A crack appeared,
and then the barrier fell.
The attack was
coming straight at me.
I moved my magic
power into my hands and gripped my shield with all my might.
“Ugh!”
The shield
conducted the charged electric particles. My whole body, inside and out,
sizzled painfully.
I grit my teeth
against the pain and pushed forward with my shield.
The attack ceased a
few seconds later. I had survived it.
My shield was
smoking in my hands.
But Raphtalia and
the others were safe behind me.
“I’m ready! Filo?”
“Yes!”
Raphtalia climbed
on Filo’s back and released her charged up magic power.
“Spiral . . .”
“Directional . . .”
Dust and light
began to swirl around them.
The light split
into eight black and white balls.
Raphtalia’s attacks
always had a somewhat eastern flair to them.
“Strike!”
“Sword of heaven!”
In a flash, they
flew straight through the tortoise’s throat. They moved like a beam of light.
The Spirit Tortoise
was shocked.
But no, its body
was already sliced apart. It didn’t even have time to react.
That’s right. The
massive head was torn clear from its neck, and it flew through the air,
showering the whole area with hot blood.
The tortoise’s
torso fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
“We did it!”
If its head was
gone, it was safe to assume we’d won.
The battle had been
easier than I’d expected.
I guess we didn’t
really have to get inside it and seal its heart away.
The army behind us
was cheering.
“Fehhh...”
Raphtalia and Filo
landed and then collapsed.
“We did it.”
“Yeah, you did it.
Good work.”
If we could come up
with attacks like that, then we weren’t going to lose.
We were definitely
much stronger than the other heroes now.
“Yes, that was amazing.
Even after all the training we did together, your power was astounding,
Raphtalia.”
“Only because you
taught me how to do it, Eclair.”
“No, your attack
was very surprising. You must be more powerful than even the Sword Hero.”
Compared to Ren?
Actually, yeah, she probably was. The other heroes were far too weak.
But he could still
power-up, if he’d only listen.
But where were
they, anyway? What were they doing?
“And the Shield
Hero, Mr. Iwatani, you were amazing. You defended against that terrible attack
not once, but twice. You truly are the Shield Hero.”
“Yeah well, that’s
all I can do.”
Glass’s attacks in
the last wave had been very powerful, but the Spirit Tortoise was no pushover
either.
How much longer
could I count on being able to defend against these attacks?
If the day came
that I couldn’t stop an attack, I wouldn’t be the only one to suffer for it.
All my friends would die, too.
I had to remember
that.
I didn’t tell
anyone, but I promised myself not to let that happened.
“I’m glad that’s
over.”
“You were amazing.”
Rishia was very
impressed.
I wanted to say
something, so I opened my mouth.
“Rishia, you can do
everything we did if you work at it.”
“Fehhhh. . . I
could never!”
“You can. You
will!”
“I could never!”
Rishia just kept
saying that she could never do it. I guess we would have to start working on
her attitude, too.
We went back and
forth for a little while, savoring our victory and the defeat of the Spirit
Tortoise.
“Mr. Iwatani, I
cannot begin to express my gratitude for your efforts in this latest battle.”
I went back to the
meeting tent of the coalition army after the battle. The queen and foreign
generals there all offered words of gratitude to me.
The crowd of soldiers
and adventurers in the camp had also shouted their thanks to me when I walked
over.
I have to say, I
didn’t hate it.
The only strange
thing was that no one had said thank you before.
There had been
times when those directly affected by the destruction of the waves had offered
their thanks, sure, but no one had ever cheered for me and meant it.
As for the wave in
Cal Mira, we hadn’t had the time to celebrate because we’d been so worried
about what was coming next.
For the time being,
I wanted to immerse myself in the joy of victory. I wanted to savor it, just
once.
Recognized as the
MVPs of the battle, Raphtalia and Filo were surrounded by enthusiastically
cheering soldiers.
“Wow! Mr. Naofumi!”
“Yay! Master! They
like us!”
Considering I was a
hero, I thought it would be best to avoid the limelight.
Then the crowd
split and bowed, forming a path for me to enter the meeting tent.
Eclair, the old
lady, and Rishia were standing off to the side, watching.
I guess I was the
only one that really needed to stand before the crowd.
“This is all well
and fine,” I said, acknowledging their cheers.
I looked through
the flap of the tent. I could see the massive body of the Spirit Tortoise where
it lay on the battlefield.
It was just lying
there, not even twitching, on the silent ground. Clearly, we had won.
“But there is still
a problem.”
“What’s that?”
The queen and the
others hadn’t noticed yet.
I guess only a hero
could really check anyway.
I looked at the
icon flashing in my field of vision. The blue hourglass was still there.
The countdown to
the waves always appeared immediately when the current wave ended.
So if the icon was
still there, what could it mean? The blue hourglass was silent but present.
“The blue hourglass
. . . It wasn’t caused by the Spirit Tortoise.”
Something else was
going on.
The Spirit Tortoise
had fallen easier than I would have expected, and the blue hourglass was still
there.
What was it trying
to say? It was saying that whatever was going on wasn’t over yet.
“But...”
The whole tent fell
silent. Everyone looked around, their faces growing pale.
We’d dealt with the
immediate problem. The Spirit Tortoise was dead. But something else was going
on.
“I want to you to
look some things up for me. There’s still something important we haven’t
figured out yet.”
“Mr. Iwatani speaks
the truth. Do not let your guards down yet. We must search out the cause of
this.”
“I’ll leave it to
you then.”
“Then I will send
word to the seven star heroes. They are currently on their way here, but I will
have them visit the land where the Spirit Tortoise slept to see what they
discover. Besides, they would be able to get there sooner than you could, Mr.
Iwatani,”
I didn’t know what
sort of people these other heroes were, but I don’t think it was the sort of
investigation that needed a crowd.
Anyway, I had other
things I wanted to look into.
“Please leave the
Spirit Tortoise investigation to us.”
“Yeah, good. We’re
going to look for the missing three heroes. And the coalition army will
probably need help assisting the areas that were damaged in the Spirit Tortoise
attack.”
“As you wish.”
The queen left to
go investigate the tortoise’s body. The land where it had been sealed away was
going to be looked into by the seven star heroes. So what was left for us to
do? We needed to backtrack, following the path the Spirit Tortoise had taken,
to try and discover what happened to the other heroes.
Still, if we helped
the damaged areas we came across along the way, people would start to think
better of the Shield Hero.
I wanted the other
heroes to understand how different I was from them.
The four heroes had
to fight together, and yet I was the only one, along with Raphtalia and the
others, who helped the coalition army in this fight. I should let them know how
different we were—I had the right to do so.
There was a feast
that went all through the night. I spent a little time there before meeting up
with Raphtalia and the others.
“It looks like we
are going to go searching for the other heroes pretty soon. We’ll assist any
communities we pass through on the way.”
I told the queen to
send word if they found anything of interest.
The investigation
of the tortoise itself was very important. I wanted to help if I could, but it
was also essential that we find and secure the other heroes as soon as
possible.
If they were just
out wandering around the countryside, I’d have to drag them back to the castle.
And if they were hurt or unable to move for some reason, I’d have to find a way
to rescue them.
Apparently they weren’t
dead—which meant I was going to have to go after them.
They had probably
just run away when they realized that they weren’t a match for the Spirit
Tortoise.
They did have bad
luck with that sort of thing, after all.
“We should check
out the back of the Spirit Tortoise, too.”
“You want to climb
up on the back of a dead monster?”
“The shell is like
a mountain, I think we can get a lay of the land and look for affected towns
from up there.”
“Understood.”
The earlier we got
started, the better.
They queen had
mentioned going inside the tortoise’s body. I hoped that we’d find the other
heroes in there.
I had no doubt they
realized they were in over their heads when they found themselves face-to-face
with the tortoise for the first time.
Maybe they would
have decided to sneak under its shell and to fight it from within.
They’d probably
come crawling out and find some way to complain about the fact that we had
defeated the Spirit Tortoise. That’s just the sort of people they were.
We started the climb
up onto the Spirit Tortoise’s shell.
I took a look
around. There was a small town nearby.
I wondered what the
residents of the town had thought when they realized their homes were actually
built on the back of a giant monster.
There was a
building that looked like a castle of some kind.
The town itself had
a Chinese aesthetic. People said that the Spirit Tortoise had Mount Penglai on
its back, so I guess that made sense.
I wondered if there
might be some mountain-dwelling ascetics up there too, but we didn’t run into
any.
The coalition army
followed us up to the tortoise’s shell.
The town we found
on the shell was completely ruined, and there were corpses scattered around the
streets. The Spirit Tortoise’s servant monsters had probably killed them.
The smell of putrid
rot stung my nose.
There were no
servant monster bodies to be found. All we found were the bodies of the
townspeople.
But the familiars
infected the people they killed. We had to be careful of the remaining bodies
while we took a look around.
After a short walk,
we came upon a building that looked like a temple.
It looked like the
sort of place that would give us an important clue. Any gamer would think the
same thing.
“Let’s check out
that building.”
“Okay.”
“Yay!”
“Oh, yes. I believe
that temple was very famous in the area.”
“You know your
stuff, Rishia.”
Eclair was saying
short prayers over the bodies we passed.
“I read about it in
an old travelogue.”
“I came here once,
many years ago. It’s like there is nothing left. This is horrible.”
We couldn’t rely on
the old lady’s knowledge about the place then.
But at least she
had been there once before. That was better than nothing.
I walked up to the
temple and looked inside. The building had been severely damaged in the Spirit
Tortoise's rampage.
I looked around the
interior, but the only thing of interest I found was a mural depicting the
Spirit Tortoise.
“What’s that?!”
There was writing
in the lower corner of the mural.
It was Japanese.
“What’s it say?”
Those summoned from Japan
. . . If you can read these words . . . Know . . . Please . . .
. . . Monster very
dangerous . . . After the seal . . . Seventh . . . Destroyed . . .
After looking into it .
. . The goal . . . Of the world . . .
Please . . . Intent . .
. Do not break the seal.
Those that sacrifice
all do so for the world.
Their sacrifice will be
rewarded.
Yet pride . . . no . .
. Can read these words . . . Then . . . You must for . . . defeat. . .
The way to defeat it is
. . .
Eight . . . Hero . . .
—Keichi
Much of the message
was too degraded to make out.
But I could fill in
some of the blanks myself.
The seventh would
break the seal.
That fit with the
number on the blue hourglass. Did the seal number count down to this?
The writing was too
faded to make out the important parts. What was the “goal” it referenced?
It mentioned
sacrifice for the sake of the world, and that lined up with what Fitoria had
said.
Hey, this wasn’t an
anime or a manga or anything—why were the important parts all missing?
If I hadn’t spoken
with Fitoria before, I wouldn't have been able to make heads of tails of most
of it.
I looked closer.
Most of the writing had faded, but the section after “the way to defeat it”
looked like it had been purposefully erased.
The scratch marks
looked too old to have been created in the recent awakening. The writing itself
looked ancient—so I couldn’t complain about its illegibility. That didn’t make
it any easier to read though.
The only other
thing I could get from it was the name at the bottom.
I didn’t know his
last name, but there must have been a hero named Keichi.
But it was all very
old. There was no way to know what sort of person he had been.
Still, I knew there
was a high likelihood that he had come from an alternate version of Japan, just
like me and the other heroes.
There was no way to
know how long ago that mural was painted. And all of our worlds might have been
on different timelines.
Ren seemed like he
was from a different time. Still, there was no point in guessing at random.
And what was this
“eight” that was mentioned at the end? That couldn’t have been referring to the
seven star heroes.
It must have said
something important, but it was too degraded to read.
Hm...
“Can you read it,
master?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow! The writing
is so strange.”
“Yeah, I guess they
don’t write like this in Melromarc.”
“Is this the kind
of writing system they use where you are from, Mr. Naofumi?”
“Yeah. Remember how
I read that other thing?”
“Oh yes, that’s
right.”
“Hero writing?”
Eclair whispered as
she ran her hand over the letters.
Hero writing? That
was the sort of thing an otaku would flip over. It did sound kind of exciting.
“Hero writing?”
“Yes. You probably
know about it already, Rishia. It’s the kind of writing that the ancient heroes
left behind. It’s from their world.”
“It’s just normal
Japanese. Nothing special.”
“The writing means
something different depending on the hero who wrote it. Deciphering the
messages can be very difficult.”
I could sort of
understand what she meant.
So Ren and I might
use the same characters to write, but there was always the chance that the
words themselves could be different.
Words and their
meanings change and evolve over time. Something that was said a long time ago
could carry a different meaning when spoken in the present.
So the writing
could mean different things, even if it was written with the same characters,
depending on who wrote it.
It was possible to
study the writing, but how would you even know if you were interpreting it
properly?
“Has this been
analyzed?”
“Um . . . Well,
this land has adhered to isolationist policies for the last hundred years or
so. It was very difficult to enter or leave it. So I don’t know.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. They wished
to protect their unique culture. Our own land was running out of resources due
to all the wars at the time.”
Did that mean this
was the only chance anyone had yet had to read the mural? And was I the only
person who could read it?
I’m sure someone
else, some studied expert, could read it too.
But could we really
be sure that all the heroes had all come from Japan?
If we found
messages in English, that would be fine too, but what if they were in another
language?
But then there were
the characters themselves.
My shield could
translate languages, so I’d been doing alright this whole time. Written
language, on the other hand . . .
“It doesn’t look
like there is much else for us to learn here.”
“No, it doesn’t
it.”
“This temple was
famous. What a shame that it was ruined by the Spirit Tortoise.”
“Feh . . . Yes,
it’s very sad.”
I turned to the two
of them and indicated it was time to move on.
“Where shall we go
next?”
“To the castle we
saw earlier? It might be filled with useful materials.”
“Wait, Mr. Iwatani.
What do you intend to do with the castle’s treasure?”
Eclair shot me a
suspicious look.
Raphtalia gave an
exasperated sigh.
“The owners are all
dead, so I thought it would make the most sense for us to take what is useful.”
“Isn’t that just
like looting a disaster area?”
She was technically
right. . .
But there were sure
to be people out there that needed those materials more than we did. They could
be used to help other towns rebuild.
“We can distribute
the materials to communities affected by the Spirit Tortoise’s rampage.”
“I suppose you are
right.”
“Or shall we surrender
it all to the coalition army? They are heading for it as we speak.”
“What?!”
Eclair gazed at the
castle. A line of coalition army soldiers was heading for the doors.
Say what you want.
Armies always behaved this way.
I hadn’t been
face-to-face with this stuff much lately, but the army was full of jerks. Not
that I was one to talk.
“We cannot permit
such barbarism! Mr. Iwatani, we must go stop them.”
“Oh, yeah, right,
right. Filo, take Eclair over there.”
“Okay! Let’s go,
lady! Your hair is like red veggies!”
“Red veggies?”
Eclair was stunned
by Filo’s “special” way of viewing things.
Granted, most of us
wouldn’t take kindly to being called vegetables.
If she’d talked to
me like that, I would have given her an earful.
“Listen up. My name
is Eclair. I expect you to remember that, Ms. Filo.”
“Um . . .
Declaria?”
“No! Did you even
listen to me?”
They both looked
crazy to me.
I decided to tell
the queen about what the coalition army was doing.
“Hey, old lady! Do
me a favor and tell the queen about this.”
“Very well. When I
return I will accompany my disciple, Eclair, and help her defend the treasure.”
She quickly ran
from the temple ruins.
That just left
Raphtalia, Rishia, and I.
“Let’s continue
looking into this.”
“Alright.”
“Fehh . . . It’s so
quiet. It’s kind of scary!”
She was
right—temples were kind of scary. They always made you feel like you were going
to run into a ghost.
I guess ghosts were
just ordinary monsters in this world.
“Hope we don’t run
into any ghosts or undead monsters!”
“Fehhh!”
The sun was
starting to set, which helped with the creepy atmosphere.
“Mr. Naofumi,
you’re scaring Rishia. Please don’t get her too excited.”
“I know, I know.
Let’s leave the town to the army. Want to go check out the mountain?”
“Yes.”
We went to the
mountain and looked around for a little while. But we didn’t find anything of
interest, so we called off the investigation.
We did find a cave,
and it seemed to lead into the inside of the tortoise’s body, just like the
legends had said. When the sun rose the next day, we went back to check the
cave out in more detail but were not able to find a passage that led to the
inside of the monster.
In the end, all we
found during our investigation of the Spirit Tortoise was an eerie, empty
mountain, and a town full of the sleeping dead.
We didn’t find the
heroes, but we eventually made our way to the town where they were last seen.
Eclair and the old
lady were off searching for the heroes on their own.
Rishia had wanted
to go with them, but she was a bookish girl, so I figured she’d be most useful
back at the Melromarc library researching the legends about the Spirit
Tortoise.
The new town we
found ourselves in had been damaged in the Spirit Tortoise’s rampage, but there
were a number of survivors, and they had already begun the rebuilding efforts.
Oh, and while we’d
killed all the ones that were hanging around the tortoise, off in other places,
the familiar monsters were still causing trouble.
We saw them from
the road sometimes. They must not have been completely dependent on their
master.
“Hey! Ren!
Motoyasu! Itsuki! If you’re around, come on out! It’s not your fault that you
lost to that thing!”
“Mr. Naofumi, you
don’t sound like you actually want to find them.”
“I’ve been yelling
their names for how many days now?”
Three days had
passed since we defeated the Spirit Tortoise.
I still had no idea
where the other heroes were wandering about, but I wanted to hurry up and find
them.
Their party members
were also still unaccounted for. All in all, we were looking for a pretty big
crowd of people. How could so many people have vanished without a trace?
“But I heard that
the only one that helped in the last battle was the Shield Hero.”
We were passing
through a damaged town center when I heard some adventurers talking about the
Spirit Tortoise.
Raphtalia and Filo
were resting in the carriage, so I decided to go visit an adventurer’s guild
and see if I couldn’t find any new information.
Considering how
major all the recent events had been, I thought there was a good chance that
someone would know something.
“Really? What about
the other three heroes? They call them the four holy heroes, so there must be
three more, right?”
“I heard they tried
to take the tortoise on by themselves and ended up disappearing.”
“Did they lose or
did they run away? Maybe it was just other people pretending to be heroes.”
I eavesdropped on
their conversation as I walked up to the reception counter of the guild and
showed the staff a portrait of Ren and the others.
In the end no one
knew anything.
Where the hell had
they gone?
“If that’s true,
then we really can’t count on the heroes for much, can we?”
“I know. Anyway,
I’m gonna get going. I guess we just met, but you look out for yourself, you
hear?”
“Yeah, thanks for
the chat.”
The adventurers
finished their conversation.
They were
complaining about the heroes, but I guess that’s just how people talked.
There was no point
in trying to correct them. I decided to just let it go.
I left the counter
and starting thinking about whether or not we should move on to the next town.
Then I heard it.
“You might be the
strongest of the four holy heroes, Shield. But this isn’t over. Next time more
people will die.”
“?!”
I turned to see who
was talking, but there was no one there.
I thought I saw a
few slips of paper fluttering to the ground, as if the speaker had just
disappeared with some kind of trick.
What was that? The
voice sounded like it might have been one of the adventurers I’d just been
eavesdropping on.
I was carrying a
shield, but I hadn’t announced to anyone in that town that I was the Shield
Hero, and no one in the area should have recognized my face.
I showed the guild
staff a paper that the queen had given me, but it didn’t indicate anywhere that
I was the Shield Hero.
So how had the
voice known who I was? Had I just imagined it?
“A hallucination?
Or maybe I was talking to myself?”
I had a bad feeling
about it. The ominous words hung over my head for a while.
It felt too
ominous, too bad to brush off as a hallucination.
The blue hourglass
was still blinking in my peripheral vision too. Something wasn’t right.
There must still be
something important about the Spirit Tortoise that we didn’t know. We’d looked
into it all we could. The queen and the army were still investigating.
I still needed to
focus on finding the missing heroes.
When I found them,
I had to find a way to make sure they understood how weak they were. That was
the only way that they would listen to what I had to say.
But if they would
listen, then maybe we could power-up enough to survive whatever was coming.
If they were alive,
I wanted them to show their faces.
“Did you find the
heroes?” Raphtalia asked as I climbed into the carriage.
“No. Nothing.”
“Oh...”
Raphtalia looked
upset.
Of course she would
be. The whole world was going crazy. It was hard to smile.
“Hey, master!”
“What is it, Filo?”
She sat there,
gripping the reins and pointing to a collection of stalls that lined the
street.
“I’ve never seen
that kind of food. I wanna eat it!”
She was the same
pig she’d always been.
“Right...”
Were they selling
local delicacies? I saw a dish that looked a lot like yakisoba
.
It was like the
Napolatta that Raphtalia had when we went to that lunch spot a long time ago.
Napolattta, to a
Japanese person, looked just like a pasta dish.
There was a griddle
where they fried pasta-like noodles in an original sauce.
“I can make that
myself. Just wait a while.”
“But—”
She really looked
like she wanted to fight me for a second. Give me a break.
The food was more
expensive than I wouldn't have expected, probably because of all the damage the
Spirit Tortoise caused.
We had so much food
in the carriage too. I thought I could make it myself, so I told her we
couldn’t buy any.
“But I want to eat
it!”
“Filo, if you calm
down, then Mr. Naofumi will make you some. Okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll make
you some for dinner. So chill out.”
“Really? You
promise?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I didn’t know what
to do about the sauce though. I’d just have to mix some stuff together and hope
for the best.
Filo finally
settled down and started pulling the carriage.
Hm...
“Mr. Naofumi,
what’s wrong?”
“Huh? What do you
mean?”
“You’ve been lost
in thought since you got back.”
“I was just
thinking how all of this has left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth.”
“I know what you
mean.”
She looked like
she’d realized something.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“What?”
She raised her face
and looked straight into my eyes.
“Whatever happens,
we can get through it. Just like we have until now. We just need to keep
training.”
“You’re right.”
We were training to
prepare for the unknown, for the unpredictable.
So we had to stay
optimistic and hopeful. We had to keep moving forward.
“Let’s stick to the
plan for now. Let’s go find those heroes.”
“Yes!”
“Okaay!”
So we left to look
for the lazy idiots, wherever they were.
But I wasn’t
looking to punish them the way they had when they’d chased after me.
I was doing it to
help them, because I wasn’t the only hero that the world needed.
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