by Aneko Yusagi
“Abandon my duty?” I asked.
“Correct. So you have been invited here to be asked whether you wish to receive your reward in advance,” Ost continued.
“Reward?” That was the first I’d heard about this.
“A reward from the legendary weapons, for safely saving the world or overcoming the waves,” Atla reported to me after listening to the voice from the floating light.
A reward for saving the world, huh? Perhaps they could have opened with all this.
“The first step is to return to your own world. In this case, your reward includes three wishes there, for almost anything you could want,” Atla continued.
“Anything?” I questioned.
“Apparently the spirits can exert some influence over the ‘causality’ that your world operates under, Master Naofumi. They can make you rich or give you a good job to ensure you’ll never want for anything in your life,” Atla explained. “No living forever though.”
“Interesting,” I murmured.
“As this would constitute leaving early, however, they wouldn’t be able to do quite that much for you. Maybe you could take a few people back with you, something like that?” she said.
“Atla. How would you feel about that?” I asked her.
“I am always at your side, Master Naofumi. I would go with you to your world,” she replied without hesitation. I mean . . . that wasn’t a bad reward.
I looked at Ost and she gave a wry smile.
“Don’t worry about me. I know we don’t have that kind of relationship.” She chuckled.
“I should just be happy we met again at all, right?” I said.
“I live on inside your shield. I am the Spirit Tortoise, after all,” she reminded me. Very humble of her . . . She did seem like a nice person.
“Is there no way I could bring you out of the shield somehow? As a familiar or something?” I wondered. For some reason, Ost looked at the image of Raph-chan II. There was definitely something going on with that cutie.
“That might be possible . . . but I’m happy where I am,” she said.
“Okay . . .” I got my thinking back on track. I did want to return to my own world and couldn’t really ask for more than that.
“The Shield Spirit proposes that you return to your own world, forget all conflict, and live in peace. Of course, he promises to make things work smoothly even if Raphtalia goes with you. However, he is also saying that the negotiations with Raphtalia’s spirit may be a bit troublesome.”
“Raphtalia?” I asked.
“The Shield Spirit is asking if he got the wrong idea about the two of you,” Atla said.
“I mean . . .” It wouldn’t be a bad choice to have Raphtalia come to my world and for us to stay together forever. Raphtalia’s feelings mattered too, of course. She had said that she liked me. There was a bit of an age gap, but she looked like an adult and the Shield Spirit was saying he could make it work.
Yeah. That seemed like a pretty good reward for all the effort I had put in.
“Let me tell you the other choices,” Ost continued. “The second is to remain in this world and live out your days here, worshipped as a hero. This is the one that many heroes from the past have chosen.” I mean, I couldn’t understand it myself, but I could see it working for those lucky enough to just have been normal heroes. If you never learned the shitty truth about this messed-up world, it would probably be pretty awesome.
“That doesn’t sound like much of a reward to me,” I sniped.
“Isn’t fighting for others, forging a place for yourself, and saving an entire world the most brilliant possible reward?” Ost responded in the words of the spirit.
“I feel like I’m being pumped by a salesman!” For being a ball of light, this shield had a silver tongue. Seriously. I wasn’t naive enough to fall for that kind of “reward.”
“The third option is to return once to your own world but retain the right to come back here again,” Ost continued.
“Any point to that?” I asked.
“Don’t ask me . . .” she said. I gave it some more thought. I guess being able to go and then come back made some sense—completing unfinished business in the other world before coming here to live out your days. I could understand it. This world was rotten to the core though, so I wouldn’t be choosing that one.
Then the faces, the smiles, of everyone from the village appeared in my mind. I wanted to go back, and yet . . .
“I’ve got lots of questions,” I said.
“Go ahead,” Ost said.
“Do I have to decide this right now?” I asked.
“Yes. It seems so. Timing this at any other point would be difficult, and your next chance would likely be when the world is finally at peace,” Ost explained. That meant I could go home right now. I might even be able to take Raphtalia with me, who was currently off in Kizuna’s world.
“Why am I being offered this now? After all this time?” I’d been tricked, suffered, almost died, and been through so much already, and this option had never come up. So I wanted to know why I was being presented with this choice now.
“To put it plainly . . . the Shield Spirit is saying that you have suffered the cruelest fate of any of the past Shield Heroes, Master Naofumi,” Atla said. The spirits the same color as the shield were rotating around close to me.
That was one honor I could have done without.
“The spirits are saying that, now that the end draws near, the legendary weapons have been worn down too much by the hand of the enemy. The coming fight might already be beyond them. In that case, at least saving the heroes who were summoned against their will to this world is one possible move,” Atla explained.
“Now, though? After everything I’ve been through?” I couldn’t let that point go yet.
“Your being close to death is also part of the reason. They intend to give the Sword, Bow, and Spear Heroes the same opportunity, if they fall close to death themselves,” Atla continued.
“If I choose to return . . . what happens to this world? To everyone in the village? To this nation?” I asked, with some trepidation.
“Most likely . . . they will be wiped out,” Atla replied. I couldn’t take them all along. I could only take Raphtalia and Atla with me to my world. I wondered what kind of face Raphtalia would make if I told her to cast this world aside and say goodbye to everyone.
I also remembered what Atla had told me before she died.
“I can’t leave yet. I’ll go back once I’ve saved this world . . . once I can accept the outcome,” I decided. I did want to go back. But I had people I needed to protect too. People I could never forgive, and people I needed to defeat. So I had to stay here until I was satisfied with everything.
Not to mention, this whole deal was pretty suspicious. If I chose to return right away, it felt like they might tell me I wasn’t a hero after all—the bad ending.
Okay, so I’d played too many video games.
As I pondered such pointless things, the place on my arm where the shield had been started to softly glow. I thought this must be the Shield Spirit acting happy for some reason.
“Are you sure about this?” Ost confirmed. “Recklessness will only get you killed. Are you sure you have no regrets?”
“I may have some. But rather than go home and regret things there, I’d rather stay and regret them here. I’ve got too much baggage to carry back . . . I’d need a car to make the trip,” I said. You could make a trip even with the heaviest baggage, if you had a car. Rather than walk home now, just dropping out, I wanted to drive off into the best possible ending.
If I was going to take Raphtalia, I wanted her to choose that for herself. I only wanted to return after seeing everyone happy in the village. I’d taken on a lot of burdens, that was true . . . but it felt good.
“The other spirits are saying the Shield Spirit made a good choice,” Atla reported.
“Whatever. Just give me more info,” I replied. I still had a bunch of
questions I wanted to hit this Shield Spirit with. There were still so many mysteries here that at times it was like this world was purposefully keeping things from me.
“First . . . back to the beginning. Why did you summon me?” I asked.
“Because, apparently, you were qualified to become a hero, Master Naofumi,” Atla relayed. “He seems happy with his choice too, citing your determination to carry on even as you spew up blood.” All of the four holy spirits were moving around rapidly, trying to tell me something. In the middle of them, it looked like the Shield Spirit was almost puffing up his chest proudly.
“Spewing up blood! Whose fault do you think that is?!” I fumed. Still, qualified to become a hero! It did feel nice to hear, but here I was, casting doubts on how legitimate this offer was; that alone seemed to put any “qualifications” I had into doubt.
“The Sword, Spear, and Bow Spirits are upset with the Shield Spirit right now. They are taking exception with him always managing to skillfully summon his first choice for hero,” Atla reported.
“What does that make the others?” I inquired. First choice? It made it sound like some kind of entrance examination.
“Hold on . . . yes . . . it sounds like they were generally around the third choices,” Atla finally relayed. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were . . . the backups. I couldn’t very well share this information with them.
Even worse, I was his spirit’s first choice—the one of the four of us who probably had the most issues. I wondered if this spirit was quite right in his glowing spherical head. Maybe he just hadn’t shot too high, just compromised with me from the start. I wouldn’t be happy with that either.
“It seems that even if they do manage to summon their first choices, they often just get killed really quickly. So sometimes the first choice doesn’t work out the best,” Atla explained. A trip to Siltvelt was likely to get you killed by some plot or another. I could attest to that.
There could also be heroes whom they didn’t expect much from but who really grew into the role. In other words, the order of candidates probably didn’t matter that much. From that perspective, Ren and the others had survived for this long, so they might not have been bad picks after all.
“Third candidates generally have high potential as a hero, but also have some serious problems they need to work through,” Atla said, providing more details.
“Okay. And?” I said.
“When they receive their rewards, their deaths are of course corrected,” Atla went on. Those three had died before they were summoned, after all, so that seemed like an absolute condition for their reward. Suffering long and hard to save this world just to go home and die again instantly didn’t seem very fair.
“By that logic, it makes it sound like I’ve got a serious problem too,” I said. At my response, the Shield Spirit started to bob up and down. What was he doing? It almost felt mocking in intent.
“He said that, it being his duty to protect others, the Shield Spirit would never make a mistake in choosing his hero. Indeed, there is no way you would ever bend before the obstruction we face,” Atla relayed. Obstruction, he said. That sounded like the spirit knew something about the cause of all this. That was something I should definitely be asking about. “You don’t seem to understand. The Shield Spirit chose you, Master Naofumi, summoned you specifically for this task. You should be proud of that fact.”
“I do understand. I just have other things I want to ask,” I said. “So tell me.”
“They don’t seem to know much about anything other than the role of the legendary weapons. Would you like to hear about that?” Atla asked.
“Yes, that sounds good. What was this ‘obstruction’ he just talked about?” I replied.
“That would be the original enemy against which the legendary weapons are intended to fight,” Atla revealed.
“Which is what? Who?” Any more information would be fantastic at this point.
“That . . . they don’t know. This isn’t an entity against which they can hope to win in a direct fight, an entity that eats worlds. It is the role of the heroes to stop that foe from getting into this world,” Atla said.
“So they are hunkering down and fending this foe off?” I asked.
“In the least, they tell me, it is an entity with more power than the four holy spirits that control this world,” Atla relayed. Hah! Mysteries on top of mysteries.
“In any case, it sounds like this foe is the one pulling the strings, seeking to destroy the worlds by fusing them using the waves,” I pondered. Sounded like “World Eater” might be a good name for now. In game terminology, this sounded like one of those awful unwinnable story battles, which meant we had to protect this world and stop the World Eater from having their way.
“Yes. That is the case . . . most likely,” Ost confirmed.
“The enemies this time are also the vanguard of this foe. There was some interference with the gauntlets, and they also jammed the part meant to tell you about the shield power-up method . . . The same goes for the user of the book vassal weapon,” Atla continued the explanation. So this is what I understood: we didn’t get help with the power-up method because of this enemy interfering. And that meant Kyo was also the vanguard of this foe. That really made sense. The personalities of the two of them were far too similar!
The Shield Spirit started floating around again, making his presence known.
“If you wish it, Master Naofumi, the Shield Spirit will respond to your brave resolve. You won’t fall to that pathetic attack again. Scum like him is no enemy of yours,” Atla said.
“Big words, but still . . .” I couldn’t be so sure. Then the other spirits swooshed around in front of the Shield Spirit and started to appeal to me as well. As though cutting off the two different colored ones, one of the eight was also trying to get my attention.
“Do you wish to fight that imposter directly, Master Naofumi? By your own hand?” Atla asked.
“Yes. If at all possible,” I responded.
“These spirits are saying that they wish to temporarily lend you their powers. If you accept, then until you summon the Shield Spirit again the restrictions on having to use a shield can be stopped,” Atla revealed.
“In other words . . . I’ll be able to fight with a weapon other than a shield?” I confirmed.
“Yes. You can call the shield anytime you like. Until that time, and with the permission of the other seven star heroes, you will be able to fight using their weapons,” Atla said. “However, in order to fully revive it, you will need to take your stolen weapon back from that scum.” As the spirit flew around me, lending me his power, I understood which weapon it was. The way to defeat that Whip Hero—no, that infiltrator from another world—was also imparted to me.
Interesting. So that was the proper way to defeat him. With that, yes, I should be able to win.
I’d lost before because losing Atla had narrowed my vision. Next time I could take him.
“The spirit asks that you correct the holder of his weapon,” Atla reported.
“I can only do my best. You’ve seen what that looks like. Don’t expect too much from me,” I cautioned.
“He isn’t one of the four heroes, and he isn’t one of the seven star heroes either. Free the five trapped vassals from him, please,” Atla responded.
“I will. I know how to do it now too. One last thing . . . Right before being summoned, I was reading The Records of the Four Holy Weapons. Just what was that?” I asked.
“A text that predicted a sliver of the future and the door to another world. It seems it greatly missed the mark,” Atla responded. Then both Atla and Ost, accompanied by the spirits, floated up into the air.
“I am with you always, Master Naofumi,” Atla said.
“Atla . . . I failed to protect you,” I managed to finally say.
“Master Naofumi,” she replied.
“What?” I almost couldn’t look at her—but then she smiled at me.
“I don’t want the
things I said upon my deathbed to chain you down in life. I want you to live as you are, Master Naofumi,” she explained.
“You mean you’ve been watching me since your death?” I asked.
“Yes. It is difficult for me to see you pushing yourself so hard,” she replied.
“That’s another difficult request . . .” Live as I am. I was a pretty arrogant and distrusting human being, even if I did say so myself. Accepting the feelings of those who cared for me while not changing how I lived would be almost impossible. This was Atla herself telling me this though, so it seemed okay to disregard her previous comments.
She was dead, and she was still lecturing me.
“Very well. You gave your life to protect me, Atla, so I’ll do my best to take your request onboard,” I replied.
“That’s the Master Naofumi I remember! If you meet someone who displays the same kind of love for you as Raphtalia or I, you should just accept it,” she said.
“I can’t imagine anyone else meeting those conditions anytime soon,” I commented. I couldn’t really imagine anyone giving Atla or Raphtalia a run for their money in loving me. Atla just had to laugh.
“There are more rivals than you think,” she said.
“You don’t seem that bothered by them,” I replied.
“That’s right. I’ve already become your shield, Master Naofumi.” I’d expect no less from Atla. It brought a smile to my face.
“Indeed,” I replied. I reached out toward her . . . and we held hands. Touching her again, I wasn’t even sad, and yet tears came to my eyes.
“Will I see you again?” I asked.
“I’m always with you,” came the reply. Then I held Ost’s hand as well.
“As you fight to save this world, we are always at your side. If you call out to us, we will respond. May mercy and the heart of the Spirit Tortoise be with you, Shield Hero,” Ost said.
“Very well,” I managed around the lump in my throat.
“One final message from the Shield Spirit,” Ost said.
“What now?” I wasn’t one for long goodbyes. The Shield Spirit was bobbing about close to Ost, trying to draw attention back to himself.
