by Aneko Yusagi
Actually, Filo was smart. She learned to speak our human language, and it only took her three days! I hadn’t given it much thought until now, but it was actually pretty amazing.
Both of them seemed to have picked up most of the language in this world. There were two geniuses here that could learn languages really quickly, even without legendary weapons to translate for them!
“Rafu?”
“You don’t have to talk, Raph-chan.”
I had my hands full with Filo. I didn’t need two talking pets.
“Boooo! Master is thinking mean things!”
Whatever.
Anyway, I figured it was safe to assume that Rishia’s stats had been allocated to categories that weren’t listed in the stats menu. I’d known she had an excellent memory ever since I spoke with her back on the Cal Mira islands.
Back when Itsuki saved her from a nasty situation, she was immediately able to remember that Filo and I had happened to walk by them on that same day.
Viewed from that perspective, she was really impressive.
“Hey, Rishia.”
“What?”
“What did you study back in your world?”
Her family had been swindled out of all their money, so she must have done all her studying on her own.
“Until the waves came, I studied at a school in Faubrey.”
“Oh really?”
Hm? That reminded me. I think the queen had said that Bitch studied at a school in Faubrey, too. Rishia and Bitch were probably within a few years of each other, too.
“How were your grades?”
“Aside from gym, they were pretty good. I worried so much I was never able to pick a major, though...”
I don’t think I had ever seen Rishia respond to a question with so much confidence, so I assumed that her grades must have actually been fantastic. She looked like the kind of girl that would whine about how they hadn’t studied at all, only to get perfect scores on all the tests.
She wasn’t that great with magic, or with a sword, but if she was as smart as she seemed to be, then she would probably make a great scholar. Had she been born at the right place and time, she could have gotten a really good job. Poor Rishia.
Still, she was so indecisive that she hadn’t managed to choose a major. That didn’t bode well for her.
“Hey, Rishia,” Kizuna said. “Will you teach me, too? I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up, but I’ll try!”
“Of course, I’ll try.”
Kizuna quickly turned around.
What was wrong?
“Ah, so she’s so smart that she’ll ‘try’ to teach me? Did you hear that?”
“Fehhhhhhhh!” Rishia whimpered, caught in Kizuna’s trap.
“She must really be something?”
“Yeah, but it’s not who she wants to be. She wants to be a champion of justice, fierce on the battlefield.”
“That’s totally not where she should be spending her energy!”
“I feel the same way. But she made a promise—a promise to get stronger.”
“Naofumi-san...”
Kizuna and I went back and forth commenting on Rishia’s qualities for a little while longer.
Chapter Fourteen: Return Dragon Vein
“This just in! Come have a look!” a man shouted in the streets, waving what appeared to be a newspaper.
The townsfolk shuffled passed him, snapped up papers, and stared at them wide-eyed.
I grabbed one, too, and showed it to Kizuna.
“Can you read this?”
“Let’s see... It says that the holder of the katana of the vassal weapons was found but was able to escape. Now the whole country is searching for them.”
“There’s a katana vassal weapon here?”
A katana? Hm... Katana are pretty cool. I’d seen plenty of them in shonen manga over the years. They were probably one of the top three weapons used by protagonists.
Back in the world I came from, one of the holy weapons was a sword, but Ren used it, which kind of ruined the category’s appeal for me.
Anyone from this world that used a katana would probably be really condescending and boastful. I’m not sure why I pictured them that way, but I did.
We’d better keep an eye out to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
“I’d always heard that no one had been chosen to wield the katana of the vassal weapons. It’s stored under heavy security in an official government building in the capital. People can look at it, but apparently it’s very difficult to even be considered for selection to wield it.”
Considering how important the vassal weapons were, it only made sense that it would be carefully protected.
I didn’t know how Glass or L’Arc ended up getting their vassal weapons, but I imagined it was a pretty difficult process. I kept picturing it like the sword in the stone—only capable of being drawn by certain special people.
. . . ?
Weren’t the seven star heroes supposed to be just like the holders of the vassal weapons of this world? If there was an equivalent of the vassal weapons in our world, it was looking even more likely that it was the seven star heroes, especially because only chosen people were capable of wielding them.
Ost had said something about that.
It wasn’t like anyone could just walk up and use the weapons, but still, if someone on bad terms with the government got their hands on a vassal weapon, they could probably do a lot of damage. That was why the government had to protect them.
“The katana is also a symbol of national strength here. It sounds like they are hot on the trail of whoever has it.”
“Hm...”
Whoever it was, they must have been chosen to wield the weapon, so why would they run?
“Sounds strange to me.”
“How so?”
“It almost sounds like all the specific information about the person with the vassal weapon has been intentionally omitted. It doesn’t say if this person is alone or accompanied, if it’s a man or a women... It doesn’t say anything. Are there two men? Two women?”
What could explain the chase? Maybe the person who took the katana wasn’t from this country at all, so they were trying to bring it across the border to another country. It was the sort of incident that could trigger a war.
I remembered the queen of Melromarc saying how much international tension was caused by the summoning and management of the holy heroes. Any country that could manage to control the heroes, or get them on their side in a conflict, would be much more powerful as a result.
If anyone with nefarious or political intentions were to be chosen by the vassal weapon, it was only natural that they would try to escape with it.
“Hm?” Rishia and Filo both cocked their heads.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I was holding Raph-chan, and she was constantly pointing in the direction we should go. She was so quiet and cute. We continued in the direction she indicated, and we came across a checkpoint.
“Stop right there! There are wanted criminals past this point. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please take a detour,” barked a samurai-like man who blocked the road with a spear.
I was taken aback for a second, but realizing that it would be best to avoid any unnecessary conflict, we did as we were told and took a detour. But when we did, Raph-chan started pointing in a different direction. That settled it—we must have been circling around the area where Raphtalia and the others were.
I was immediately relieved, but I started to worry just as quickly, because it sounded like they were stuck in a place with criminals—like they were caught in the eye of a storm. Worse, there was the possibility that Glass and her friends were caught up in conflict with the wielder of the katana of the vassal weapons.
My heart thumping in my chest, I turned to Kizuna and asked, “What should we do?”
“Do we have a choice? We sneak in over the rooftops.”
“Wait. There are other options.”
“Like what?”
/> “Filo.”
“What?”
Filo was a humming falcon now—that meant she could fly. Could there be a better way to scope out the situation?
She was riding on my shoulder at the moment, which was her new favorite place to sit. She seemed to prefer staying in monster form these days, probably because of the trauma she’d suffered while in human form.
When we went to a new town, she stayed in monster form and tried to never leave my shoulder. Between her on my shoulder and Raph-chan in my arms, I looked more like a monster trainer than a Shield Hero.
“Go fly around for a bit and see if you can’t find Raphtalia in there.”
“But... But what if they catch me?” she said, clearly scared.
Considering she looked like a normal bird, she probably did have reason to be worried. A hunter might just shoot her out of the sky with an arrow.
“You’ll be fine. You just look like any other bird in the sky. Besides, we left the country that captured you a while ago.”
“Promise? Promise I’ll be okay? If someone attacks me, you’ll save me?”
“Of course I will. Have I ever lied to you?”
“Um... Yup!”
“Okay, I guess I did. But I’m not lying now. Will you do it for me?”
She didn’t even have to go far. She could stay within sight of us. I just wanted her to fly up and look from a higher vantage point. There shouldn’t be any trouble.
Even if she were to be attacked, we’d know immediately.
“Okay!”
Before I sent her into the air, I decided to check on the slave spell one more time. I opened the menu, and I could hardly believe my eyes.
Raphtalia was no longer listed there.
What the hell was happening?
I broke out into a cold sweat, and a shiver ran up my spine. Something was wrong.
What if she... What if she was dead?
“Rafu?”
I hugged Raph-chan close and tried to calm my pounding heart.
No... I knew it wasn’t true. I could feel it. She was alive, and she was somewhere close by.
“Rafuuu...” Raph-chan put her paws on her cheeks as if she were embarrassed.
I patted her on the head.
“Master, what are you doing?”
“Nothing, it’s fine. Go on up and check things out. Raph-chan, you keep pointing us toward Raphtalia.”
“Rafu!” she barked, and pointed again in the same direction she had been before.
That meant... Right—Raphtalia was still alive. There had to be a different explanation for why she’d vanished from the slave spell menu. The spell must have been removed somehow.
Right. That’s the explanation I decided to stick with until I heard differently.
“Okay, Filo, head on up.”
“Okay!” she said, flapping her wings and soaring up into the sky above us. I watched her grow smaller as she pulled away from the ground.
She seemed safe. There were no arrows flying at her yet.
Eventually, she came fluttering back down to us.
“Um... It looks like some people are being chased!”
“Who? Who’s being chased?”
“They were wearing hoods, so I couldn’t see. I was going to get closer, but they were being chased by scary monsters, so I flew back here.”
“Scary monsters?”
What was going on? Were there monsters in this town? It was unlikely that they were wild. They were probably like Filo—serving at someone’s bidding.
“Then I guess we better get in there, at least to check that our friends aren’t the ones being chased.”
Kizuna flung her fishing lure and hooked it onto a nearby rooftop and then used the reel to pull herself up. It was a very quick process.
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
As for myself, I used my skills to form a makeshift set of stairs and climbed on them to reach the rooftop.
“Come on, Rishia.”
“Feh...”
Once we were all up on the roof, we quickly and quietly moved away from the guards that blocked the way into town. As we made our way over the rooftops, Raph-chan and Chris slowly began pointing in a different direction. Finally, we came to an empty lot, where there was a fair distance we’d have to cross to get to the next roof over.
We decided to climb down first and then make our way back up the other side.
We jumped down to the ground and prepared to cross the lot, but there was a group of people in robes waiting for us.
“Damn...”
We were supposed to be finding Raphtalia! We didn’t have time to deal with these people. I didn’t want to end up meeting whoever was chasing these guys. At least we had covered our faces with masks before entering the town.
Maybe we should run away with Portal Shield until we could figure out a better plan.
I readied my shield and prepared for a fight, but then...
“Rafu!” Raph-chan chirped, pointing energetically to one of the people before us.
Chris was doing the same thing, thrusting his wing at the group of robed people.
“Naofumi, you don’t think...”
What?”
“Could it be?”
I slowly removed my mask to let them see my face. Kizuna and Rishia did the same things.
Then, as if the robed people had completely lost the will to fight, they lowered their weapons and stepped forward.
“Kiddo! Is that Kizuna with you?!” the tall man at the front of the group shouted as he removed his hood.
It was L’Arc.
Then he pulled off his robe to reveal clothes that looked like the Shinsengumi. He must have been trying to blend in with the rest of the people in this country.
Apparently the simple fabric clothes around here still had decent defense stats. The light-blue patterns on the haori actually suited him pretty well. He could get away with any fashion he wanted.
To think it was L’Arc and the others that were being chased! I mean, I knew it was a possibility, but I had tried not to think about it.
And we just ran into them in the street! What a coincidence!
A person behind L’Arc came running over to Kizuna and shouted, “Kizuna! Where have you been this whole time?! And what are you doing with Naofumi?!”
It was Glass. She pulled off her hood and robes to reveal tears in her eyes. Then she hugged Kizuna close.
It was unbelievable. Glass had always been so stern and cold. I’d never even imagined her making such an emotional display. Of course, everyone had someone or something they cared about, but it still felt weird to see such a cool person look so happy.
“I’m very glad to see you again, but our pursuers will be here soon. Be on the lookout!” Therese said, removing her robe. She was wearing a hakama covered in a pattern suggestive of gemstones.
Had it been made with aizome? Maybe not...
Whenever she moved, the pattern itself seemed to move as well. Was I just imagining it?
There was still one person wearing their hood. Was it Raphtalia?
The person came running toward me—and Raph-chan was pointing.
“Ra... Raphtalia?”
“Yes.”
She pulled off her robe to show me her face. It was her—Raphtalia.
She had rounded, fuzzy ears, long soft hair, deep eyes that you could lose yourself in, and a puffy tail that swayed beautifully.
I hadn’t seen her in so long—she was more beautiful than I remembered.
She must have been happy to see me, too, because she came running over with a big smile on her face. She was dressed like a miko, in red and white robes.
I felt something unexpected when I looked at her—something like an electric shock.
I looked at her again. The miko clothes were very simple. There was a white cloth around her shoulders, embroidered with red thread that almost seemed to form a bow. But the red didn’t interfere with the white cloth at all�
�it was so delicate that it somehow emphasized how white the white really was.
Below that she wore a deep red hakama. The outfit suited her very well.
It also seemed to have been specially made to accommodate her bushy tail.
She wore white socks and straw Japanese-style sandals.
Yeah... She looked really, really good in that outfit.
When we defeated Kyo and went back to our own world, I hoped she would still wear it.
I could hardly believe the way I was reacting. I didn’t like miko any more than your average otaku, but I could hardly take my eyes off of her.
“You’re finally here, Mr. Naofumi!”
“Sorry it took so long.”
“No... I know how hard it must have been... Were you alright? Was everything okay?”
“Mostly. A lot happened.”
We were thrown into an inescapable labyrinth. We got out to find ourselves behind enemy lines. Then we made our way to the capital, charged the security guards...
Yeah... a lot had happened.
“That outfit looks great on you.”
“A compliment? From you? It feels a little strange.”
Did I really not compliment her?
“You should keep dressing like that when we get back to where we came from.”
“Do you like it that much?”
“I think it looks good on you.”
She blushed. She must have been embarrassed.
I guess she was still a kid.
“Doesn’t it? I thought so, too!” L’Arc shouted. I wondered if he was the one that picked out her outfit. He clearly knew what he was doing—his perverted peeping had served him well.
We were so caught up in our reunion that it took the howl of an approaching beast to remind me where we were.
We’d relaxed for too long.
“Kizuna, use the ofuda.”
“Hold on,” she said, slapping an ofuda to her forehead and concentrating.
But...
“It won’t work. Something is blocking the signal. We’ll have to get out of here to call for him. And it doesn’t look like L’Arc and the others will be able to use Return Transcript, either.”
“Should we use Portal Shield?”
“Can we?”
“There might be too many people.”
I had never checked to see how many people could use Portal Shield at once. But this wasn’t the time to start worrying about it.
