by Aneko Yusagi
“You understand the situation, don’t you? You need to cast aside your past grievances and proceed into the future,” the queen said. Tears tumbled from Trash’s eyes. This was the same as when I made my own ardent wishes, and Fohl made his prayers. I knew without question what Trash was thinking.
“Mirellia . . . Lucia . . .” Trash said, then continued and softly said Atla’s name too.
“You were known as the Wisest King of Wisdom . . . You can surely find some hope in this situation,” the queen said.
“But the staff won’t even answer me!” Trash replied.
“That’s not right. The staff lent you its power because you had such wonderful wisdom, far greater than anyone else.” Trash remained silent. “I believe in you. Believe in your strategy, being able to bring us back from such disadvantage . . . to save Melromarc from the precipice to which it hurtles.”
“I . . . I’m not sure . . .” Trash stammered. The queen gave a gentle laugh.
“With all the powerful pieces now at your control, how will the Wisest King of Wisdom surprise the world this time?” the queen said.
“Mirellia,” Trash breathed.
“I leave the future of our nation with you. Please, alongside Hero Iwatani . . . save the world. Staff Hero . . .” The queen smiled at Trash, even as she coughed up blood. “My beloved . . . show the world once more . . . that towering intellect against which all foes . . . feared to fight . . .” In that same moment, the queen’s strength finally, fatally, gave out.
“Your majesty!” With a crash, another one of the nation’s leaders came into the treatment room. “Faubrey has declared war on the entire world! They state that we should be unified under Faubrey!” The situation seemed to demand a decision far more quickly than even the queen had considered.
It was two more days before I experienced anything else.
“Faubrey declaring war on the entire world? Ridiculous!” Ren and the others, having completed their healing, were conversing with the coalition army that had been resting in the castle, and I could hear fragments of them talking.
Everyone gathered had subdued looks on their faces. That was how massive the power of Faubrey was. Ren and the others knew their strength firsthand—strength close to three times their own levels. They wanted to stop Faubrey, of course, but also understood how difficult that was going to be.
“The nerve of them. That cowardly hero . . . We still have the waves to face, and he thinks he has the time to conquer the world?” Ren seethed.
“I think he probably does,” Itsuki intoned.
“Hurting my father-in-law, Filo, and everyone else so badly! He’ll find no forgiveness from me!” Motoyasu raged. There were sounds of general agreement from the coalition army. They had been told of everything that had happened in Faubrey. Members from Siltvelt were also in attendance. Even the old genmu guy and Werner.
“Naofumi is still in treatment, and we face a war with Faubrey?”
“That’s right. Faubrey is marching its entire force in this direction, coming directly to attack Melromarc first. Those nations along the way who will not obey the glory of Faubrey and resist . . . face troop drops and bombardments from their new airplane weapons. Any attacked in such a way will quickly raise the white flag.”
“There’s a reason they’re being defeated so easily?”
“Yes. Aerial battles using flying monsters have been attempted, but they have no way to deal with attacks from these airplanes.”
“Their pilots must have high levels.”
“Fehhh . . .” Rishia gave her normal exclamation, and Itsuki stroked her head to calm her down. Ren hammered his fist down on the table.
“It’s so bad that Naofumi’s been injured! How is he doing?” he asked.
“It isn’t good. He’s been close to death numerous times.”
“Oh, Naofumi . . .”
“Just who is this Takt, anyway? How does he have the power to steal heroes’ weapons?” Even as Ren complained, a soldier burst into the conference room.
“A new report! Shieldfreeden has announced they have formed an alliance with Faubrey!” the man said.
“What?!”
“Furthermore, the Seven Star Hero Takt Alsaholn Faubrey has declared in front of the people that he is a child of the gods, making public his possession of multiple seven star weapons!” the soldier continued. Everyone in attendance stood, their chairs rattling, surprise on their faces.
A solid move. Being able to use multiple hero weapons meant he was either feared by the gods, loved by the gods, or both. With the faith in legendary weapons so deeply rooted in this world, he would be seen as special indeed. Even if he had killed heroes.
“He has also been spreading lies in each nation that he is the true one to save this world, that those summoned as the four holy heroes are evil, and that the four heroes must be wiped out. He has also declared that he has already purified four of the evil seven star heroes!” the report continued.
“He thinks it’s okay to say such things?!”
“The Faubrey Church of the Seven Star Heroes seems to have accepted it. But other churches both inside and outside Faubrey are disputing his claims, with revolts breaking out. And those blessed by the hero are gradually using that strength to put down the uprisings,” the soldier explained. In the same moment, a shadow whispered to the old genmu man. That couldn’t be good news either.
“There’s no question . . . of which side we are on,” the man said. The situation was still heading in a terrible direction. “What are your thoughts on the matter, Gauntlets Hero?”
“Are you asking me as a single hakuko? Or as the Gauntlets Hero?” Fohl asked.
“As the Gauntlets Hero, subordinate to the Shield God himself. Or do you wish to make your declaration to our nation as the successor to the bloodline of Tyran Ga Fayon?” The old man’s tone was challenging, as though he was taunting Fohl. “Our people’s anger is already at boiling point due to the death of Atla. A representative of Siltvelt, killed by the cowardly actions of this Faubrey hero? That is unforgivable.”
At these words, Fohl shook his head. Then he gave a clear and confident statement: “I am the Gauntlets Hero, defender of the village restored by the Shield Hero. My bloodline comes a distant second to that.” The old genmu codger looked at Fohl with fire in his eyes.
“You seem to understand, Gauntlets Hero, that it is upon your own resolve that we all stand,” the old man said.
Werner followed up those words with his own: “Indeed! The Shield Hero shed tears at the loss of our people and raged in anger against the perpetrators. To bend the knee to the very ones who created this terrible situation will besmirch not only our honor, but also our very faith!” All of the demi-humans participating in the coalition nodded at the words from these two. There was no forgiveness for what had happened. No forgiveness for the evil that had killed their comrades.
Revenge against them—against him—didn’t belong solely to me.
For the sake of all who died during the battle with the Phoenix, those responsible had to pay. The room throbbed with that single intent.
Fohl just quietly watched the proceedings. The old genmu had boasted later that Fohl’s quiet, composed appearance had looked just like Fohl’s grandfather.
“What approach should we take, Wisest King of Wisdom? We already know the route they will take to reach us. How will you answer to the final words of your wise wife?” Ren said, keeping the meeting moving along.
“That begs another question. From that guy’s personal history . . . something just feels off. Is it just me? Just what level of genius are we talking about here? Airplanes and bombs? Those are more like weapons from our world.”
“There is technology that heroes have left behind in this world, so maybe a genius could realize it . . . but still . . .” Itsuki trailed off for a moment. “One possibility is that he’s using his ‘stealing’ ability to take other abilities, like in my world. There are lots of novels in my world abou
t people awakening to such powers. Also, there are stories fantasizing about becoming stronger by stealing other people’s powers. Maybe he was born with exactly that kind of power?”
“I see. That does sound possible, coming from you, Itsuki,” Ren said.
“The reason he hasn’t really made himself known before now is because, just like in the stories I know about, for some reason he was recently forced to use his powers in front of other people, even though he didn’t really want to stand out. Just like what happened to me,” Itsuki struggled to explain to Ren.
That sounded possible to me. I knew of stories myself in which a main character who obtained too much power decided to live in secret. Generally some kind of incident forced them to reveal themselves, and that was what Itsuki was talking about.
“He probably avoided going after the heroes’ weapons because that would surely get him exposed. Now the die has been cast, however. He has to go full throttle in unifying the world. But I’m only guessing,” Itsuki continued.
“Knowing all of his companions to be women, I also think he has a little of the old Motoyasu in him. Very well. That seems to make sense. I understand now.” Ren nodded, at least some of his questions seemingly resolved.
“So it sounds like his history is a bit similar to Kyo, that man from another world who controlled the Spirit Tortoise. Definitely sounds dangerous. But still, how should we handle the fighting with Faubrey?”
“The Q’ten Lo technique . . . Without Raphtalia here, how about we have Ruft place blessings and use Astral Enchant?” came the suggestion. There was a Q’ten Lo technique that allowed all the levels to be gathered in a single person. It also had the effect of weakening the holy weapons and seven star weapons. That sounded like a solid plan.
“That wouldn’t be easy. My master said it can be triggered by using the sakura stone of destiny, but it has a level cap too. We might be able to put up a good fight, but we’d fall short due to the pure difference in levels, eventually. I attacked them with the sakura stone of destiny sword and it had hardly any effect,” Ren replied.
“I don’t know why that would be. Maybe they have some tactic in place already,” someone else said. The meeting between Ren, the heroes, and the coalition army continued.
My floating feeling flew me off to the next location. This time I was in a flickering, empty space that didn’t look like anywhere at all.
“Where was I now?” I wondered.
Even as I wondered why I was able to experience these events away from my body, I felt the arrival of two who might be able to tell me. When I saw them though, I was at a loss for words.
“Atla . . . and Ost?” I finally managed.
“That’s right.” There was Atla and Ost in front of me, floating in the air, both of whom should be dead. First things first, I gave Atla a hug to confirm she was the real deal.
“Ah! This is exactly what I want, Master Naofumi!” Her reaction was just as I had expected—exactly the same, even in death, although this could just be a hallucination produced from my memories. Ost gave a grin.
“This is Ost. She has a complete understanding of how wonderful you are, Master Naofumi. Now can you please hug me again?” she asked.
“Atla, calm down! Where am I? The world beyond?” I asked. Was this some kind of out-of-body experience? From what I’d seen and heard, it did seem like I was still alive, but I thought maybe I was just braindead.
I’d taken quite a beating, but I didn’t want to die like this. I’d also thought I’d be going to hell when I died, but I couldn’t believe this was the afterlife. It couldn’t be heaven, surely.
“If you’re asking if this is the world of the dead, then the answer is no. If I had to explain it, then this is the world of the shield . . . or rather, the world of the legendary weapons,” Ost said with a smile.
“I see. Atla, are you in pain?” I asked.
“No. No pain at all,” she replied. Hearing that put me at ease. Thinking back to what I’d seen, every scene had included the other heroes: Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, Fohl, Rishia, and Trash—all people selected as heroes.
“Can I see the whip seven star hero too?” I wondered. “He stole my shield, but he has it.”
“Yes, you can. But your shield hasn’t been stolen,” Ost explained.
“What? He took it, that’s for sure,” I replied. There was no doubt about that.
“He doesn’t have the power to completely make the four holy weapons his own. It’s all just appearances, on the surface only. He won’t be able to use their full power,” Atla said.
“Indeed,” Ost chimed in. “His power can’t steal one of the officially selected four holy weapons.” Events from the past played out in front of me, via Takt’s weapon.
On the march, Takt had captured the royal families and representatives from nations opposing him and was holding a public execution.
“Raaagh!” An older man, who looked like a general of some sort, was rolling on a hot steel plate. His entire body was getting burned. “You arrogant scum! The four holy heroes will rain punishment on you!” he proclaimed, finding his feet by sheer force of will and pointing an accusing finger at his laughing audience—Takt and his gaggle of women. It looked like that man, a general, had a daughter . . . but there was something odd about her. She was gazing at Takt with a vacant look in her eyes.
“Daddy . . . thank you for approving my marriage. You’ve finally agreed to let me marry Ollie,” she said dreamily.
“I’ll make you forget this ‘Ollie’ soon enough, although his keeping you a virgin for so long is something to be thankful for!” Takt cackled. It was clear that he was using some kind of illusion to make her think he was her beloved. “Those who don’t give proper thought to their daughters’ happiness have no right to live!”
“You scum!” The general’s shout turned into another roar of pain.
“Master Takt is right! Your girl will be happy, so just rest assured in that fact and pay for your crimes!” one of the women in Takt’s retinue crowed.
“Pay with your life,” offered Witch. All of Takt’s women seemed to be enjoying the scene immensely. Executing a parent in front of their daughter . . . while telling the parent that the child was going to betray everything they stood for . . . These animals were disgusting, pure and simple!
“The crime of standing against a child of the gods is severe! Worthy of punishment!” another of the women cackled, to laughter from the others.
“There’s no value in these fools stubbornly clinging to those trashy heroes! The times desire something new, not these dusty old legends!” another woman spit out. Seriously! What were they ranting about?
“What about Raphtalia?” I asked.
“This is a little further in the past,” Atla said. The execution scene faded, to show Raphtalia being held in a cell. Takt and his women came along. He seemed to be whispering all sorts of sweet words to her for a while, but there was no sign of Raphtalia falling for his charms. Takt left, looking pretty pissed off. For a brief while, Raphtalia was left alone in the room. Just as I was starting to get worried, Raphtalia’s body—no, her katana—started to shine out, and then she vanished.
She teleported. But I didn’t know where.
I saw Raph-chan II looking in this direction and waving her paw. After Raph-chan II hid herself in the corner of the cell, Witch and the others came back. Huh? Raph-chan II’s tail swelled up. She had cast some kind of magic.
Then . . . for some reason Witch and the others tied up one of their allies, one of the other women, and started to torture her. It seemed Raph-chan II had used illusion magic to make them think their victim was Raphtalia.
“I don’t think you need to see this,” Ost said.
“Hold on. I’m worried about Raphtalia,” I said.
“Raphtalia is safe, of course,” Atla said. “If this was going to take her down, you would have been mine long ago, Master Naofumi,” Ost said. I mean . . . good point. It still made me wonder about the natur
e of the trust between them.
“So where’s Raphtalia gone?” I asked.
“Probably to the world that her weapon came from,” Atla said. She’d been summoned away to Kizuna’s world then. I wanted to know if she was okay. I really wanted to go and find her at once.
“So? What am I doing here?” I asked.
“You were called here by the Shield Spirit, the spirit who lends his powers to you,” Ost explained.
“I see . . . That cursed shield?” I inquired further.
“That’s right. That cursed shield,” Atla confirmed.
“I feel a little sympathy for the Shield Spirit, I must admit,” Ost said. A ball of light was moving up and down between Ost and Atla. This was the Shield Spirit. The ball didn’t look especially dependable. Perhaps my feelings were imparted to it, because the spirit started to make larger movements.
“He says that this was all very unexpected,” Atla said.
“I see. How about we start with a punch in his shiny face?” I sneered. Time to get some payback for being summoned here.
“I understand your feelings. But apart from the first hero, you are the only one to have ever reached this region,” Atla revealed.
“Okay. Whatever. And what does the Shield Spirit want with me?” I asked, keeping things moving along.
“He wishes for you to make a decision, Iwatani,” Ost revealed. Other balls of light started to gather around the Shield Spirit. These were likely the Weapon Spirits. I counted them . . . Why were there fourteen? There were four differently colored ones, including the Shield Spirit. Then there were eight that were all the same color, just shining at different degrees. If those were the seven star weapons, there was one more than expected. Five of them were also shining very weakly. Then there were two other balls of light, both different colors again. So I wondered what those were.
“They want me to make a decision?” I asked.
“Yes. To put it plainly, in regard to the ultimate destination of this world, the Shield Spirit is proposing that abandoning your duty is also a possible choice,” Ost said.
