by Aneko Yusagi
“It seems like she gave in,” Filo said.
“That’s good to hear,” I replied.
“She saaaid, ‘Don’t come complaining to me when you end up regretting this later.’”
Regretting what? I wasn’t going to fall for her lame attempt to provoke me. Besides, if I was going to regret something, I’d much rather regret it after I had finished cleaning up the mess with Raphtalia.
“Rafuuu!”
“You’re such a good girl. Yes you are!” I told Raph-chan.
It had been a while since I’d seen her. I spent a few moments petting her and enjoying the texture of her fur.
“So what are you doing in a place like this, other than putting off helping Fitoria?” Melty asked.
She was watching me pet Raph-chan.
“Oh yeah, that. It turns out we have to go to a little country called Q’ten Lo,” I replied.
I told Melty and Filo about the issues surrounding Raphtalia’s birth. If I didn’t address the problem, the development of the village would most likely suffer.
“We have no choice but to go, and we’re right in the middle of our journey there now,” I explained.
“Soooo in other words, it’s all because Master made big sis wear that miko — ”
“Filo, if you say one more word, I’m going to pet Gaelion,” I threatened, cutting Filo off.
“Kwa!”
“Noooo!”
When that successfully managed to shut Filo up, Melty smacked her palm against her forehead in disbelief.
“Don’t use Gaelion to harass others!” Wyndia snapped.
She sure was annoying.
“Have you told Mother about this?” Melty asked.
“Umm, no,” I replied.
I’d completely forgotten about going to tell the queen. There were diplomatic aspects to the issue as well, so I guess I probably should have.
“Alright, I’ll send you back to the village, so you go tell the queen for me, Melty. This is a good stopping point for today, anyway. Let’s all go back together,” I said.
“Wait a minute! Don’t push your problems off on me!” Melty shouted.
She looked angry, but I just ignored her and teleported everyone back to the village.
Chapter Two: Sending Word of Our Visit
“We’re baaaack!”
“Hey, it’s Filo!”
The slaves all came to welcome Filo back when we arrived at the village.
“Huh? You came back with Bubba Shield?” one of the slaves asked.
“Yuuup, we ran into Master while we were out!” Filo replied.
“I see,” the slave replied.
“Welcome back, Mr. Naofumi. I see Filo is with you for some reason,” Raphtalia said.
“Yeah, she showed up right as we were about to head back, so I brought her with us,” I replied.
“I see . . .” she muttered dubiously.
“She came back a lot stronger than when she left too,” I said.
I told Raphtalia about everything that had just happened a few moments earlier.
“Now then, we should be arriving at Siltvelt sometime tomorrow. Somebody, fetch Sadeena for me. We need to think about what kind of problems we might end up facing there. Also, if we have Filo pull a carriage, we should all be able to enter the country together,” I continued.
“Kwa, kwa, kwa!”
Gaelion starting moaning. I’m sure he was complaining about the fact that I was going to take Filo.
“Gaelion, it’s great that you can fly a small group of people around. But when it comes to large groups of people, Filo has the advantage since she can pull a carriage. You’ll just have to accept that,” I told him.
“Kwa! Kwa!”
“Umm, he says he can pull a carriage too,” Wyndia said.
“Noooo! Pulling carriages is myyyy job!” Filo shouted.
“I’ve been riding on your back for the past two days, so don’t complain about sitting this one out,” I told Gaelion.
“Kwaaa . . .”
His puppy eyes weren’t going to change my mind. Learning self-restraint was important too. And besides, it wasn’t like I’d completely forgiven him for all of the trouble he’d caused recently, although I had to give him credit for doing his best to make up for it.
“Like it or not, it’s Filo’s turn now. I can’t take a carriage using my portal, so we’ll have to get a cheap one there. Is that okay with you, Filo?” I asked.
“Yup!”
“Once we get closer to Siltvelt, we’re likely to receive just the kind of welcome I’d prefer to avoid. If that happens, the more of us there are, the better,” I continued.
Riding Gaelion wasn’t a bad way of getting around, but I’d rather have more people with me if I was going to have to deal with a whole nation. I had to be careful with Siltvelt too. The country worshipped the Shield Hero. But I couldn’t be sure there wouldn’t be extremist elements not all that different from Melromarc. I couldn’t let my guard down.
“Oooh, ooooh, Maaasteeerrrr, can Mel-chan come toooo?” Filo begged.
“It’s probably best if Melty doesn’t come. You’d never guess she was a princess based on how obstinate she is, but she’s still royalty,” I replied.
“What did you say?!” Melty yelped.
“Do you want to go, then?” I asked her.
“. . .”
We were talking about a country that might even be dangerous for the queen to visit on diplomatic business. Anyway, we needed to check with the queen first. It’s not like we actually had business with the country itself.
“Okay, I really don’t want to, but I’ll go speak with Mother. Let’s go, Filo,” Melty said.
“Okay!” Filo replied.
Melty climbed on Filo’s back after she changed into her filolial form and then Filo sprinted off into the distance. There was no time to rest for those two. They sure did get along well, though.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Atla called out.
She came strolling up with Fohl in tow.
“Welcome back,” she said.
“Thanks. We’ll be arriving at Siltvelt around tomorrow or the day after. We’re all going together once Filo gets back,” I told her.
I looked over at Fohl.
“So Fohl, you said you know some people in Siltvelt, right?” I asked him.
“One of the people who used to look after us returned to Siltvelt. That’s all I know. We’ll have to find him,” he said.
“Can we trust this person?” I asked.
Fohl crossed his arms and stood there thinking for a moment.
“I don’t know, honestly. I was just a child at the time, and our parents never told even us about our grandparents in the first place,” he said.
“I see.”
The hakuko were a hot-blooded race that had gone to war with Trash. From what I’d heard, Trash had driven them into a corner and ultimately caused their fall from power. Realistically speaking, taking the siblings might have been dangerous. Even so . . .
“At the very least, I’d like to show Atla the house we grew up in,” Fohl said quietly.
“Is that in Siltvelt?” I asked.
“No.”
Fohl asked me to show him a map and then started to look for the location. He pointed to a spot near the area we had stopped at earlier that evening, just outside of Siltvelt. Making a stop there wouldn’t be out of the question.
“By the way, I’ve been wondering about something, Fohl,” I said.
“What?” he asked.
“Can you speak the language of Siltvelt?”
Raphtalia, Ren, Itsuki, and I all had weapons that would translate for us. But the others wouldn’t be able to communicate if they didn’t know the language. Rishia was smart enough to learn a foreign language in a matter of days, but not everyone was as talented as her.
“Well, yeah . . . I learned to speak several languages during the time we were floating around, before we ended up in Zeltoble,” he said.
&nbs
p; “I did too. After all, conversation was about the only thing I could look forward to back when I was sick. I had Brother teach me several languages during that time,” Atla added.
“Oh?”
That was a skill I didn’t expect them to have. In other words, they could speak not only the language of Siltvelt, but other languages from the surrounding areas as well. That could come in handy when I decided to expand our trade routes.
“Little Fohl still makes a fair number of mistakes when speaking the official language of Melromarc,” Sadeena said.
“Yeah,” Fohl replied, nodding.
He glanced over at me with a curious look on his face.
“How’s that work? I wonder what language . . . you hear . . . when I speak,” he said.
He paused randomly several times as he spoke. He was probably switching languages each time.
“Brother, stop trying to make a fool of Mr. Naofumi by speaking in multiple languages,” Atla snapped.
She gave him a quick jab in the back and he groaned in pain. She was as quick as always.
“Ugh . . . I was just testing him, is all, Atla! I want to see what he heard — especially that last part,” Fohl said.
Apparently, “I wonder what language” had been the Siltvelt language, “you hear” had been the Melromarc language, and “when I speak” had been some different language with a really heavy accent. Atla said even she couldn’t understand the last part.
“It was ‘when I speak.’ Isn’t that right, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.
I nodded.
“Conversations get translated by heroes’ weapons. I’m guessing that goes for even the most minor languages too,” I said.
I guess the fact that the weapons couldn’t translate monster speech could’ve been considered a shortcoming. Or was it more of a saving grace? I couldn’t even imagine what a headache it would’ve been if I could communicate with normal monsters. I was much happier leaving that kind of thing to Filo, Rat, and Wyndia.
“That sure is a convenient ability,” Fohl said.
“What was the last language anyway?” I asked.
“It’s a small dialect used on the outskirts of Siltvelt. One of our servants taught it to me a long time ago,” he replied.
So the weapons even translated dialects flawlessly. Amazing. If being a hero wasn’t a job itself, maybe I could have made a living as an interpreter.
“Even the Seaetto territory has its own dialect, you know,” said Sadeena.
“Still, Fohl and Atla being multilingual is an advantage,” I replied.
Keel and the other slaves from Lurolona could generally only speak the official language of Melromarc. I wondered how many languages Raphtalia’s parents knew.
“Hey, Sadeena. What language do they speak in Q’ten Lo?” I asked.
“There are some slight differences, but it’s basically the same as the language spoken in Siltvelt. The same goes for Shieldfreeden, even though they speak it with a really thick accent there,” she explained.
This language they spoke was basically the official language of the demi-humans.
“You probably didn’t notice when you were there, but you can get by with pretty much any major language in Zeltoble. That’s one of the things that makes the country so convenient,” she continued.
“I’m sure different shops cater to different languages,” I said.
Zeltoble had been a real melting pot of different nationalities and races. There was such a mixture that there was no point even trying to discriminate.
“Faubrey has its own official language, by the way. Of the two, that one would be considered the major language,” Sadeena added.
“I see.”
Faubrey was the country of the heroes, so nobility and anyone of high birth would probably want to speak the country’s language. I’d heard that in the United Kingdom it was once possible to discern someone’s social class by the language they spoke. Perhaps the cultural landscape in Faubrey was similar. But none of that really mattered. We’d probably end up going there eventually, but it was Siltvelt that we would be visiting in the next day or two.
“So are we going to make a special stop for Fohl and Atla then, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.
“I wouldn’t mind as long as it’s a quick stop,” I said.
In fact, I was all for it if it would help motivate them. I wanted to go back to my own world, but that was impossible. I could definitely understand the desire to return to one’s home.
“I would like to, if at all possible. I want to show Atla the house,” Fohl replied.
“I’m not interested. Not to mention I’m blind,” Atla said.
The way she walked around so freely sure made it seem like she could see. According to her, it was because she could sense life force.
“. . .”
These siblings were on completely different wavelengths. I was starting to feel sorry for Fohl.
“How about we stop by on the way back, if we have time?” I suggested.
Fohl looked disappointed. I felt really bad for him, so I’d stop by later just for him.
“Awww,” Sadeena swooned.
“You have a really sympathetic look on your face, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.
“Brother! Stop trying to make Mr. Naofumi pity you, you coward!” Atla shouted.
Now Atla was scolding him. That just made me feel even sorrier for him.
“Shut up! All of you! Don’t look at me like that!” Fohl shouted.
Hopefully he would get something valuable out of going. But was Atla really that uninterested in the past?
“We can ransack the place if no one is living there,” I suggested.
“What the hell do you want from our house?!” Fohl shouted.
“There might be some good stuff in there, right?” I replied.
Hakuko royalty had lived there. Or maybe it had been a vacation home or something. But there could have been family treasures still hidden somewhere in there.
“More than likely there’s someone else living there now,” I added.
I had to admit I was interested in finding out what kind of place it was too. But we’d just have to wait and see what happened.
“I guess you’re right. There might have been something in there that could help the heroes,” Fohl said after nodding.
The next day arrived. Before heading out, I dropped by the mansion in the neighboring town where Melty and Eclair were staying. Eclair was in the courtyard. It was still morning and she already looked exhausted. Maybe it was just my imagination. She and Ren had just started practicing swinging their swords when Eclair let out a sigh of relief.
“Nothing makes me feel more at peace than practicing swings,” she said.
“This makes you feel at peace? Is that some kind of chivalry thing?” Ren asked.
Eclair always looked the most alive when she was training swordsmanship with Ren. But even he looked confused now. The whole thing was pretty surreal.
“Alright, you wait here for the others to arrive, Raphtalia. You’re in charge while I’m gone,” I said.
“Okay, understood. In that case, I guess I’ll practice swings with Eclair and Ren while I wait for you to get back,” she replied.
“I understand the desire to practice, but I think you should be doing some more advanced training. I suggest we engage in a mock battle,” Atla said.
“It’s still morning. I just want to work up a light sweat. I wouldn’t last until evening if we started going all out this early in the day,” Raphtalia replied.
“That’s your problem, Raphtalia. It’s no wonder you still can’t understand the essence of the style that these people are working so hard to grasp,” Atla said.
“Atla, you really are something,” Raphtalia replied.
The two started arguing, but I just pretended not to notice. I headed into the mansion to look for Melty. It was still early morning, but I found her in a room where she was sorting through a huge pile of paperwo
rk.
“Oh, it’s you, Naofumi,” she said.
“I heard you and Filo were here. I came to get Filo,” I replied.
“Oh, so that’s why you’re here.”
I don’t know if it was because she was worn out, but she plopped down and slouched in her chair. On the contrary, Filo was looking around like she was full of energy.
“So? Did you talk to the queen, Melty?” I asked.
“Yes, I spoke with Mother,” she replied.
After they discussed it, the queen had decided that Melty should stay behind to avoid potentially stirring up even more trouble. Melty said she planned on assisting — oh, sorry, “supervising”—Eclair in her role as the acting governor. That’s why she was only sorting the paperwork and not filling it out.
“Well, that’s probably for the best,” I said.
“Yeah. If I went it would make things a lot more complicated, I’m sure. There’s something else too. You were planning on getting a carriage after teleporting there, right?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Mother said that she notified Siltvelt of your visit and asked for a messenger to be sent to your initial location with a carriage for you to use.”
“Oh, that’ll be a big help,” I said.
Whether we bought a carriage or just rented one when we got there, I was expecting to have to spend some money. I sure didn’t want to build one, so that worked out perfectly.
“The only thing is . . . Going to Siltvelt will likely cause quite a few problems, diplomatically speaking. You need to be careful,” Melty continued.
“I know that. But do you really think we could convince them to help us if we sent any of the other heroes?” I asked.
“Probably not. In fact, it’s doubtful whether they would even consider listening to anyone other than you,” she replied.
She was probably right. To be honest, even though Siltvelt was kind of like the Shield Hero’s home field, going would mean having to deal with some really annoying political issues.
I’d been using the rebuilding of Raphtalia’s village as an excuse to avoid going, but that wouldn’t work anymore. If possible, I’d wait until the world had been saved before going there, but I had no choice but to give up on that now.
Running away wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I’d just have to smash through this annoying obstacle for Raphtalia’s sake.
