by Aneko Yusagi
Prologue: The Funeral
“To all those brave souls who gave their lives in the great battle . . . we salute you.”
In front of the castle in the land where the Phoenix had been sealed, a grand state funeral was being held. The deceased from the fighting were being interred with great pomp and circumstance. A number of those from my village had also been killed. I’d started out believing I was simply raising them as pawns for use in battle . . . but now I so wanted them all to have made it through alive.
I was even reconsidering sending more of them into battle against the waves at all. If the alternative was going through this, however many more times, I wouldn’t be able to send anyone into battle ever again.
I stood quietly in front of Atla’s coffin. It was empty, of course. Raphtalia joined me, gently laying some flowers inside it. Fohl also did the same, wordlessly. For some reason, Trash was also placing some flowers. His expression was grim, and he said nothing to either me or Fohl.
I understood though.
When I had fallen back from the front line with Atla in my arms, I’d seen Trash standing in front of the treatment tent. He hadn’t been able to do anything then, so what was he doing here now?!
Lashing out at Trash wouldn’t achieve anything, just more pointless rage. It wasn’t like I’d been able to do anything for Atla either.
It had also been confirmed that Trash wasn’t the one responsible for her death. Numerous testimonials placed him with the queen in the moment that terrible flicker punched through the Phoenix. Not to mention that Trash had no reason to kill her in the first place, and in that position he would have been caught up in the ensuing explosion without Atla’s protection.
“I’m going to keep on fighting. Fighting the waves.” Fohl looked at me and made this declaration. “If I run away now, it could lead to more deaths among the village slaves.” Pretty much what I’d expected from Fohl.
“Good. Good for you,” I replied. If I was in his position, I’d likely have made the same decision—to continue fighting the waves, for everyone, and for Atla.
“You guys . . .” Keel also placed some flowers inside Atla’s coffin while crying her eyes out. “I’m going to fight too!”
“I’m not sure—” I started.
“You’ve told us all along!” With Raph-chan up on her shoulders, Keel’s eyes burned with decisiveness as she quickly cut me off. “That we might die in this fighting, that this isn’t playtime for kids, and we’ve chosen to fight all the same! Even if you tell us it’s too dangerous now, none of us are going to listen!”
“Raph!” Raph-chan added for emphasis.
“It sounds like they’ve made up their minds,” Fohl continued. “Everyone from the village has decided to follow you . . . brother, and fight. You can’t stop them now. Accept that responsibility.”
“Very well,” I managed to reply. Yet I still didn’t want anyone else to have to die. Each time I recalled Atla, my heart screamed out in pain. What could I do for them all to make this easier? I’d never had such a thought before, never once.
Raphtalia was still wordlessly standing in front of Atla’s coffin.
Atla had said that Raphtalia was in love with me. I had to admit, at times, I’d wondered if that was the case. But I’d simply chosen not to think about it, simply forcing myself to consider her a girl who put duty above everything else. That had been part of it, surely . . . to avoid feeling that fear that came from my distrust of women.
Atla had also talked before about how any one of us could be dead tomorrow.
In that case, for the sake of avoiding future regrets, shouldn’t I at least respond to one who says that they care for me? What had I done for Atla, after all? Saved her from her sickness, perhaps, but anything else other than that? Surely I could have made her far happier than I did . . .
Regrets filled my mind and wouldn’t leave me alone.
After the funeral, I talked with the queen.
“While suffering such great losses, Hero Iwatani, you have my deepest gratitude for bringing down the Phoenix,” she solemnly proclaimed.
“Enough preamble. Have you found the one who interfered yet?” My focus was clear.
“Regrettably not. We still have no real leads on the culprit,” the queen admitted.
“What about the seven star heroes?” I pressed her. “They seem the most suspicious to me.”
“I really am very sorry,” the queen replied. Trying to shake off the sadness was only feeding my fury at whoever had done this. That felt like the only way I could stop the sorrow from driving me insane.
“You’re no help at all!” I raged. I was getting really angry now! I knew the queen wasn’t at fault, but I just couldn’t maintain a happy mood.
“That is clearly an important issue, but I was wondering what your thoughts are on the issue concerning the next of the four benevolent animals?” the queen asked.
“Sorry, my thoughts on what?” I replied distractedly. The queen dropped a concerned “oh my” at my question.
“You haven’t heard about it from the other heroes?” she inquired. I proceeded to check the remaining time on the blue-sand hourglass in the corner of my vision.
It looked like it had changed to a red one.
“Wasn’t the Kirin meant to be next?” I checked with her.
“We have been informed that, just a few hours after you and your allies defeated the Phoenix, the Kirin appeared in the vicinity of Faubrey. It was then immediately eradicated by a number of the seven star heroes who were on the scene,” the queen reported.
“What?” That was a lot to take in. I was almost impressed they had been able to handle such a sudden turn of events. At the same time, I also faced down some fresh suspicions. There had been a long preparatory period—three whole months—between the Spirit Tortoise and the Phoenix. But now, it was just a few hours between the Phoenix and the Kirin? And wasn’t the Dragon meant to unseal after the Kirin?
If the red-sand hourglass was moving, that meant either the Dragon was still sealed or it had already been defeated.
“I’d better call over Ren and the other heroes,” I decided. I shouted for Ren to come over to me. Hearing that I was calling for him, a short while later Ren arrived.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“What do you know about the Kirin?” I inquired.
“Same as the Phoenix—a pair of monsters,” he replied. Kirin . . . an auspicious beast formed from a pair of monsters called “Ki” and “Rin.” The Kirin I knew about was said to be a beast that showed itself before benevolent rulers—perhaps that was why it was sealed in the vicinity of Faubrey. However, it sounded as though it had already been defeated . . .
“Strategies for fighting it?” I asked.
“I do have some information, but from past examples we’ve seen, I’m not sure it would be much use . . . not to mention it sounds like the Kirin has already been defeated.” Two good points from Ren.
“Hmmm . . .” I pondered.
“I like to think I have some knowledge of legends, but I don’t think I’ve heard of any kind of story from Faubrey like that. It sounds like the heroes who were there just happened to resolve the issue,” the queen suggested.
“You’ve got no more information on this?” I said, a little surprised. I got the impression that the queen’s hobby was basically investigating legends. So how couldn’t she know anything about this?
There was also the chance that Faubrey was intentionally hiding the information. That was more than possible, considering that it was a nation built on the blood of heroes such as ourselves. Not even that. Maybe people like Makina, thinking only of themselves, had hidden away t
he lore to suit themselves.
“Faubrey has been through its own period of lengthy turmoil. There’s certainly the possibility that the information was lost during that time. They are definitely looking into the four benevolent animals over there, so the large National Library may provide some information,” the queen suggested. The National Library? I vaguely seemed to recall Melty saying she had learned about the beasts from books. Maybe she had been talking about the books there?
There were apparently quite a number of seven star heroes in Faubrey, although many of them were also said to be quite hard to contact. A mysterious monster had impersonated a Siltveltian seven star hero, which should have put the world on alert. If there were seven star heroes in action out there though, there was a good chance they were the ones who caused this.
I looked at Ren and the others.
“What about the seal on the Dragon?” I asked.
“Reports say that only the Kirin was defeated. There’s no talk of the Dragon having appeared yet,” the queen replied. What was going on? I couldn’t see a pattern here.
In either case, all we had to do was punish the one who cut in on the action during our fight with the Phoenix.
“Do we have a portal to Faubrey?” I asked, pretty sure of the answer, but I had to make sure.
“Sorry. No reason for me to have one,” Ren said.
“Me neither,” Itsuki confirmed.
“Or me, I say!” Motoyasu said. So no dice from the three other heroes, and no point in asking Raphtalia either. Even with S’yne’s vassal weapon, I wasn’t going to push her too hard.
“In any case, we have to bring judgment to whoever shot down the Phoenix. And bring these seven star heroes in line, as they don’t seem inclined to ever show up!” I declared.
“All shall be as you say . . . eventually, Hero Iwatani, but first I think you should get some rest in our Melromarc base,” the queen suggested.
“Her royal highness is right, Naofumi! One of us, the other heroes, will go and get a portal,” Motoyasu chimed in.
“I can’t just sit around on my hands while the one who did this is out there!” I retorted. Someone had got in the way during the Phoenix battle. I was going to kill that someone.
Ren gripped my shoulder, and Raphtalia spoke with a sad look in her eyes.
“Mr. Naofumi, please calm down.”
“Naofumi, I’m asking you too. Go get some rest in the village,” Ren said.
“Come on!” I pleaded.
“Please. If you don’t, Naofumi . . . it’s too hard on everyone else, seeing you slipping away from us,” Ren begged. At that comment, I looked around. It felt like everyone was looking at me with such concern in their eyes. My feelings for Atla . . . stayed my hand.
“Okay,” I managed. “You win.”
We returned to the village.
“Right, Naofumi. You get some rest. Leave everything to us, for now. We’ll call for you if we make any progress on the Phoenix cleanup or if any enemies show themselves in the vicinity,” Ren assured me.
“No need to keep repeating it,” I bit back.
“About who we should send to Faubrey, I’m told representatives from each nation are going to be meeting in Melromarc. We should probably go and meet their representative,” Ren continued, smoothly ignoring me and moving on to the selection of who to send to Faubrey.
“Should I go?” Itsuki offered.
“No. You’re still under the effects of the curse. You can’t leave Rishia behind, and the long road to Faubrey will require stamina to complete,” Ren reasoned.
“I’ll go, I say!” Motoyasu quickly piped up. “With the speed of my filolials!”
Told by everyone to rest, I was heading back toward my house when Ruft, Raphtalia’s cousin, came over to me.
“Hey, Shield Hero . . .” Falteringly, he tested the waters. “Ah . . . I was wondering . . .” He must have wanted to know what had happened and how things had turned out.
“Sorry, kid . . . Shildina can probably fill you in on the details,” I said, putting him off.
“Okay . . . sorry for asking,” Ruft said.
“No need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong, Ruft,” I told him.
“I know . . . but I saw you looking sad, and I wanted to cheer you up. I guess I can’t . . . do anything for you . . .” Ruft sounded dejected.
“Don’t worry about that. Doing things for me only leads to pain, in my experience,” I replied bitterly. Hearing him saying such things was hard for me to bear. Had I really been pushing everyone into such danger for so long?
“Mr. Naofumi . . .” Raphtalia said, clearly concerned.
“Raph . . .” The same from Raph-chan.
“I’m fine. My house is right there. Raphtalia, can you let everyone in the village know what happened?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure . . .” she started.
“Tell everyone not to take any risks, but to just stay safe,” I told her.
“O-okay,” she replied.
I returned to my house and collapsed onto the bed. This felt like such a waste of time, only serving to piss me off more. Alongside that, I felt another emotion taking hold of me, and alone, I sank into depression.
Coexisting together there was the me who burned for revenge against whoever did this and the me weeping for my loss.
After I lay spaced-out on the bed for a while, there came a tapping at my door.
Filo had arrived, along with Melty.
Someone had taken the queen back to the castle and then brought Melty back with them.
“I’m back, Master!” Filo chirped.
“What’re you doing here?” It was rare for them to show up like this.
“Welcome back, Naofumi . . . I’ve heard what happened from Raphtalia and Filo,” Melty said.
“And? You’ve come to laugh at my failure?” They weren’t that twisted, of course, but in my own twisted mood, those were the only words I could find. I knew that it was a poor reply.
“Of course not! Can’t you tell the difference between things that are okay to say and things—” Melty started.
“You’re right,” I interrupted her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Naofumi, tell me you’re okay, would you?” Melty asked.
“Mel-chan. Master looks so tired,” Filo commented.
“Oh, I’m ready to go. Everyone just keeps telling me to rest, that’s all,” I grumbled. Filo didn’t seem to understand either.
The only way I was going to keep my sanity was to quickly find the identity of whoever caused this mess and put them in the ground! That was the emotion that filled me.
“Let us come in and sit with you for a while, until Raphtalia gets here,” Melty suggested.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We’re worried you might do something rash,” Melty explained.
“If whoever decided to get involved in the Phoenix battle was right here in front of me, I might show you something rash. Otherwise, I’m fine,” I told them.
“So you admit it. You’ve got rash plans! Seriously!” Melty chided. “But still, you seem to have more energy than I was expecting.” I decided to take the moment to ask Melty a question.
“Tell me, Melty, have you ever lost someone important to you, a subordinate or someone you were close with, to something big, like a war?” At my question, Melty shook her head, a serious look on her face.
“No, I haven’t. But I’m still going to bring my resolve as a member of the royal family, and as a representative of my country, into everything I do. If Filo died in battle, well, I wouldn’t know if I could accept it until it happened,” Melty said bravely.
“Hey . . . I’m not going to die,” Filo said.
“I know. I won’t allow that to happen. I’ll do whatever I can to save you, even putting my life on the line,” Melty declared. Putting her life on the line?
“If you lose your life like that . . . it will only be the one left behind
—Filo—who will suffer,” I explained.
“I know.” Melty nodded at my words. “That’s why I aim every day for the best possible method to keep us both alive. Naofumi, I’m not going to hit you with conventional attempts to cheer you up. They’ll have the opposite effect on you. Keep your head up and carry on. That’s all you can do.”
“Yeah. I know. I have to keep my final promise to Atla,” I replied with a catch in my voice. Then I looked straight into Melty’s eyes. “Melty, tell me . . . do you love me?”
“What?! Hold on! What’s brought this on?!” Melty pushed her eyebrows together, tilting her head.
“Master?” Filo quizzed.
“Filo, how about you?” I asked.
“Me? I love you lots and lots, Master!” Filo exclaimed.
“I see. And exactly how much is that?” I pressed her.
“Well . . . so much I’d almost like to pair up with you!” Filo revealed.
“Filo! You can’t say that! That’ll make Naofumi mad!” Melty stepped in.
“Okay then. Filo, come over here,” I told her. I was never going to get to sleep alone, what with all the regrets and murderous intent packed in the bed with me. Having Filo sleep alongside me would take my mind off things.
“Huh?!” Melty was suitably blindsided.
“Here I come! Yahoo!” Filo seized on the opportunity, happily leaping forward to get into the bed.
“Hold on, Filo! Hold it!” Melty pulled her back.
“Huh?” Now Filo was puzzled.
“What’s wrong, Melty? Ah, you don’t want Filo to sleep alongside me alone? Then how about you join us too?” I asked.
“W-w-why do I have to spend the night in your bed?! No way, buster!” Melty exclaimed.
“I see. If you don’t want to, fair enough,” I said. I wasn’t going to force her to do anything.
“Eh? Ah, hold on,” Melty stuttered.
“Sorry for asking,” I replied.
“Ah, that’s fine . . . Hey, and that’s not what I meant!” Melty exclaimed. She was acting really weird. What the hell had gotten into her?
“What? You don’t want to snuggle, Mel-chan?” Filo asked.
