by Aneko Yusagi
“However, depending on the conditions you propose, we are not opposed to sharing the Heroes. Depending on the conditions, naturally.”
“We can’t trust you!”
“Is that so? The world is in a deep crisis, and you would accuse my country of only protecting itself? Are there no other countries here that wish to pull ahead of the others?”
The accusatory speaker swallowed his response.
My mother produced a report gathered confidentially by her spies.
“King Faubrey? What do you think?”
My mother turned the conversation on the king.
To be honest, King Faubrey was a very disturbing man.
Hey was like a writhing ball of flesh. He was like a monster pig you didn’t want to be around.
“Ahahaha… Queen Melromarc, you know very well what it is I desire.”
“Yes. All I need to do is agree to your conditions?”
The delegates were all shocked by the conditions he proposed.
I know that my mother had to make a very difficult decision in order to satisfy those demands. She had walked a very difficult path to get to these negotiations.
“Very well then. All of your great nations will send envoys to Melromarc. They will meet with the Heroes, respect the wishes of the Heroes, and the Heroes will accompany them back to your lands.”
The delegates all nodded along with my mother.
All this happened a few days after Melromarc summoned the Heroes.
A week later, and the outcome surprised all of us, including me. All four of the Heroes had declined to meet with the envoys.
“That’s not what we agreed to!”
The various countries had all been making preparations for the Heroes’ visits. Now they were upset and blamed my mother.
Apparently the main problem was that the proposed treatment of the Shield Hero was too awful.
In my mother’s absence, it appeared that Melromarc had rebuked and chastised the Shield Hero, and was doing all that they could to oppress him. They were going out of their way to discriminate against him.
“It seems that the Heroes have discovered a disease within our kingdom, and they are currently making efforts to expunge it. They need a little more time.”
“You liar!”
A representative of Siltvelt jumped up on his table in anger. The demi-humans of Siltvelt worshiped the Shield Hero.
“Really? Have you heard that the Shield Hero has asked to be left alone?”
“Mmmm…”
“Ahaha… very well then. Let’s let them do as they wish. Apparently they are still dedicating their efforts to accruing strength.”
King Faubrey laughed and spoke in support of my mother.
“To the representative of Siltvelt—do you think there are no records of just how long the last Shield Hero spent within your borders?”
The Siltvelt delegate curled his fingers into a fist.
The Heroes must be treated with respect—that was how it has always been.
But the last time the Heroes had been summoned the Shield Hero remained in Siltvelt for a few months before mysteriously dying.
Whether it was an accident, or a conspiracy, or if the Shield Hero himself was simply weak—no one knows, but it was an incident that Siltvelt found difficult to ignore.
“All we can do is wait until the appropriate time. If you would like to prepare, then all I can say is that it will happen once the filth has been expunged from the kingdom.”
“Ugh…”
The delegates looked upset, they were glaring at us as we took our seats.
And so Melromarc earned the suspicion of its neighboring nations—it felt like war could break out at any moment.
My mother argued passionately and justly in an attempt to stave off the coming war. Two months passed.
I don’t know why the Shield Hero refused to meet with the envoys, when the conditions had been so favorable.
Especially considering how poorly he was being treated in Melromarc…
When my mother heard of his refusal, she looked very concerned.
“Melty, I have a job for you.”
“Okay! What is it?”
“I would like you to, very secretly now, sneak back into Melromarc, and convince Aultcray to stop this unfair treatment of the Shield Hero.”
I’d heard a little about what was happening back home.
I’d heard that Father and Sister were conspiring against the Shield Hero. That they had many plans to keep him handicapped.
The number of things they’d prevented him from doing was nearly uncountable.
Mother had already sent a number of soldiers to speak with my father, but they had all been ignored. My father listened to me and respected my opinion, and therefore she wanted to send me to reason with him.
At night, my mother found a few painted portraits of my father and burned them with magic.
If things continued this way, with my father acting crazy back home, their relationship could not bear the strain. My mother would run out of patience.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Leave it to me!”
I stood up straight and announced that I would see to it.
“Thank you, Melty.”
“Yes, Mother!”
And so I boarded a carriage bound for Melromarc.
We stopped to rest often.
We needed to let the Filolials rest, and it gave me a chance to send reports to Mother.
“Now I will deliver this report. It will only take me a little while, but while I am gone you must not move, Princess Melty.”
“Understood.”
A shadow had been provided for my protection.
The shadow was from the secret service, and they were entrusted with classified jobs like protection.
Normally a group of them takes turns being on watch, but there was so much happening these days that only one of them was available.
So I was left to my own devices while the shadow delivered my reports.
Sigh.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like traveling by carriage, but it did get a little boring.
I didn’t have anything to do while he was gone. I caught myself yawning.
I was bored and looking out the window when I spotted an interesting creature.
“Ah!”
“Wh… What’s wrong?”
I startled my attendant when I shouted.
I jumped out of the carriage and walked off into a nearby field, parting the grass as I went.
“Gah, Gah!”
There were wild Filolials there, pulling and empty carriage.
Filolials are large bird-like monsters that pull carriages. They were famous for pulling the Heroes’ carriages, and were revered as holy creatures here and there. They could still be found living in the wild like this.
I’d heard all the legends about the Heroes from my mother, but I’d always been drawn to the Filolial characters. I loved them!
Apparently all Filolials shared the desire to pull carriages. I don’t really understand it all, but apparently they feel anxious without something heavy to pull.
Over the course of my carriage trip back to Melromarc, I started to really enjoy playing with Filolials. That was when I realized that I really loved these creatures
“What kind is that one? I’ve never seen that kind before.”
I was hiding in the grass and looking at a strange Filolial.
Its wings were blue like the sky.
At a glance, you could tell it was a Filolial, but I’d never seen one colored that way.
The wings looked different too, and the body shape was strange.
The most obvious difference was a single feather that stood out from the top of its head, like a crown.
Could I make friends with it? It was must have been a very rare type.
I want to ride on the back of a rare Filolial!
Wild Filolials were quite timid around humans.
B
ut they were also very hungry things, and you could win them over with some jerky or grass.
That’s why I’d taken to carrying some jerky around in my pocket.
I pulled some from my pocket, and the Filolial stepped out of the grove.
“Gah?”
The Filolial noticed.
I didn’t want to scare it off, so I held the jerky out in front of me and slowly inched forward.
“Come on, Filolial.”
The bird was obviously still cautious, but it started to come over in my direction.
I could tell it was sniffing the air for the jerky.
But…
“Gah!”
Nonono! The Filolial ran off through the grass
“Wait!”
I really wanted to be friends with such a rare creature.
I also knew that there were kinds of Filolials that would only respect you if you ran after them (because Filolials love to run).
I ran back to the carriage and quickly told my attendant what to do.
“Follow that Filolial!”
“B… but!”
“Please!”
The attended hesitated for a moment, then nodded and gripped the reigns.
Our carriage was also pulled by a Filolial.
“Gah!”
With a lurch, we were running after the strange, blue Filolial.
“Wait!”
We were still chasing after the blue Filolial.
The road had grown steeper in the forest though, and was beginning to wind deeper into the mountains.
“Wait! Please wait!”
The blue Filolial was running its heart out. It looked like it was having fun.
It was so fast. Our own Filolial was tiring out.
“Stop.”
“Huh? Um… Okay!”
“Gah… Gah…”
I climbed down and let our Filolial drink water, and then I cast a water spell on her to cool her off.
“Are you okay?”
“Gah!”
I had pushed her too hard. I probably should have given up the chase.
I was thinking on that while I watched the blue Filolial run away.
But then it stopped and looked back at us, as if it wanted us to chase it.
I don’t know if it was a game, but it looked like it was having fun.
“You want to keep going?”
“Gah!”
She seemed chipper and eager.
“Then let’s go!”
I got back into the carriage, and the chase was back on.
The blue Filolial was running and seemed to be enjoying itself.
It was hard to keep up. It was amazing that such a rare bird would be so fast too.
“Oh no!”
I remembered something I’d forgotten. We were running down switchbacks, now. Each curve led to a steeper dip ahead.
The blue Filolial was running near the bottom of the mountain. But she was heading for a place humans should avoid. It was populated with dangerous monsters and dragons.
Filolials and dragons never got along. And the blue Filolial was running right for the dragon’s land. It was so focused on the chase that it must not have realized.
“We have to stop it!”
It was kind of cheating, but I jumped down from the carriage, went over the cliff face of the switchback, and jumped down towards the Filolial below.
It was dangerous, but I could use magic to keep myself safe.
“Ms. Melty!”
I heard the attendant call after me, but it was too late.
I fell straight down onto the blue Filolial.
“Gah?!”
“I’m sorry! But you are about to run into dragon territory!”
“Gah!”
The Filolial was agitatedly flapping its wings.
But I was too late.
“GROOOAAAAR!”
A dragon was descending on us from above.
It was much bigger than my carriage had been.
The forest was filled with the dragon’s roar and the Filolial’s cries.
The Filolial was preparing to defend itself.
Dragons are large, vicious monsters covered in hard scales. They could fly, and it was hard to hurt them with a sword. They had long claws and fangs.
They could also use magic, but it was different than the magic humans used.
One of those very powerful dragons was now right there before us.
What should I do? I didn’t want the Filolial to end up hurt. I stepped forward.
“I… I’ll fight you.”
I was only level 18, but I could use powerful water magic.
If I used my strongest spell, I might be able to scare the beast off.
The attendant was nearby too, and there was a tool in the carriage for times like these.
If I didn’t time my attack right, I’d leave myself wide open for the dragon’s counter. I had to relax then take care of the dragon.
“Wa…Wahhh!”
The attendant took off running.
Terrible. Without him there, who was going to get me the tool from the carriage?
“Gah!”
The Filolial from the carriage ran over to protect me from the dragon.
I’d become pretty close friends with that Filolial during our journey back to Melromarc. I was glad to know that I hadn’t imagined our friendship.
To think that the Filolial would protect me…
“Gah…a…”
The dragon thrust its fangs through the neck of my Filolial… no… my Filolial!
“Stop that!”
It took all my discipline to control myself, but I steadied my breathing and cast a spell.
“I am the source of all power. Hear my words and heed them! Attack him with a blade of water!”
“Zweite Aqua Slash!”
The blade of water flew from my hands and hit the dragon.
It scratched the dragon but was not a fatal blow.
All I’d done was scratch one of its scales.
Was I so powerless?
“Gah!”
The blue Filolial kicked the dragon. But because the dragon had locked its jaws onto my carriage Filolial, the blue Filolial had to hold back.
I turned to the dragon and started to cast another spell.
“I am the root of all power…”
“GRAOOOAAAR!”
“AH!”
The dragon whipped its tail and knocked me down,
“Ah!”
It had only felt like a light touch, but before I realized it, I was flying backwards and crumpled to the ground. A large blue bruise appeared where the tail had hit me.
“Ugh…U…”
I climbed to my feet but found it difficult to stand.
“Gah…”
The blue Filolial kicked the dragon again, and this time it hurt enough that the dragon stumbled, releasing its grip on the other Filolial.
“GRAOOOOAR!”
The dragon was so focused on chasing the blue Filolial that it seemed to have forgotten about me. I ran over to the Filolial the dragon had bitten. It was collapsed on the ground. The wounds were deep and serious—the poor thing could die at any moment.
We needed to get back to the carriage…
“GRAOOOAR!”
Another dragon appeared and tried to claw at the collapsed Filolial.
If this kept up any longer, the poor bird was sure to die.
All I could think of was saving the Filolial. I focused on chanting a spell.
“I won’t let you!”
I ran forward to protect the Filolial, but the dragon flapped its wings, producing so much wind that I was knocked back.
“Ahhh!”
I slammed into a tree and felt my consciousness slipping. The wind slammed into the carriage, and it flew through the air and broke. If I stayed put I might have been able to avoid the battle. If they ignored me, I could escape later. But I just couldn’t leave the Filolial there.
Ever since I w
as a child I traveled with my busy mother, and I’d spent all that time becoming friends with these Filolials. I couldn’t abandon them.
“Ug… Uh…”
My creaking body and fuzzy consciousness were straining. I reached out my hand.
“I am the… source of all… power. Hear my words and… heed them. Attack him with a… blade of water.”
“Zweite Aqua Slash!”
I focused all my magic power into the attack and sent the blade flying at the dragon.
I’d used all my remaining strength, and I fell forward, exhausted.
“Groaaar…”
From somewhere in the dim distance, I heard the dragon scream.
I hope… I hope that my last attack had managed to drive it off.
“Thank you for protecting me.”
I heard a voice, but I don’t know whose it was.
I felt something like a strong breeze… kindness blowing… and then I drifted into darkness.
“Gah!”
“Oh… Ah?”
When I opened my eyes, I saw the blue Filolial standing over me.
The hurt Filolial was resting inside of the carriage. It was alive.
I looked around, but we weren’t in the mountains anymore. We in some kind of field.
“Did you save me?”
“Gah!”
The blue Filolial nodded.
I don’t know how it did it, but the blue Filolial apparently saved both me and the other Filolial from the dragons and managed to bring us far away to safety.
“Thank you.”
“Gah!”
The blue Filolial happily chirped, then licked me.
I rubbed the bird’s head in return.
I looked my body over to see if I had any wounds.
The Filolial was squinting, and looked very comfortable.
I didn’t have any large cuts or anything. My clothes were fine too. I was a little worried that I might have some bruises… but I seemed to be okay. I looked over to see that the blue Filolial had covered the other Filolial’s wounds with her wings and was healing them.
So she could use healing magic too? Amazing.
In gratitude I gave all my jerky to the two Filolials.
Later, the blue Filolial let me ride her around a little bit. That was when I noticed…
“Oh yeah… I…”
The shadow had told me to wait for him where he’d left me.
