by Aneko Yusagi
“Enough of this! This has gone way beyond a one-on-one fight with Fohl!” I shouted.
“Understood! Everyone, you heard the Shield Hero!” Werner cried out.
“Here I go!” Raphtalia chimed in.
She dashed toward Jaralis and attempted to unleash one of her quick-draw attacks, but the flesh of the beast he was eating formed something like a tentacle and batted her katana away.
“Ugh!”
The blade of Raphtalia’s katana sliced clean through the tentacle, but there was a bigger problem. The chomping sounds came to a halt, and Jaralis seemed to be done chewing on the flesh of the beasts. The corpses he’d chewed up began to merge with his body and form more tentacles, which gathered up more of the fallen beasts. Jaralis’s body continued to grow as it went about assimilating the corpses.
“Mwahaha . . . Mwahahahaha! Yes, that’s it! So the power can be used like this too!” Jaralis exclaimed.
Oh, man. Didn’t he know that getting power in such a horrific manner never turned out good in the end? Just what kind of dodgy drugs had he taken anyway?!
“It is I who reigns supreme now! I have become more powerful than any god! With this much power, the whole world will be mine!”
Jaralis was just a huge mass of flesh now. When he talked, it looked like a big chunk of clay being kneaded or something. And now the clay was starting to take on form. But we sure as hell had no obligation to wait around and find out what that would be.
“It’s a big clump of gooey flesh-claaay! Ewwww!” Filo cried out.
She came over and hid behind me, cowering. Ahh, I guess she had been taken prisoner by a similar abomination not too long ago, after all. It felt like we’d been facing a lot of similar enemies lately. But this one was far more grotesque than any of those.
The stench of blood filled the air. I couldn’t take much more of it.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia shouted.
“Go for it,” I replied.
“Looks like we’ll just have to deal with this thing,” Sadeena interjected.
“Mr. Naofumi gave the order to attack, and so I shall!” exclaimed Atla.
“Atla! Ugh . . . I’m helping too!” Fohl cried.
Our group seemed to be doing fine. As for the Siltvelt bunch . . .
“You guys stay back. I don’t want you getting caught in the line of fire,” I told them.
I’d have trouble sleeping if any of them got in the way and ended up dead.
“As you wish!” shouted one of the leaders.
“U-understood! May the Shield Hero protect us!” Werner cried.
“Yes, we should leave this one to the Shield Hero,” the genmu said.
The other leaders nodded. Fohl stood in front of everyone and faced Jaralis.
“Jaralis! Your life ends here! This is for my father!” he shouted.
According to Jaralis’s confession only moments earlier, he had killed Fohl’s father. To think he’d come up with such an underhanded scheme and ambushed Fohl’s father from behind. Just how low could one go? I absolutely despised bastards like him. He was no better than Trash or Witch. I’d make sure he paid the price for his actions!
“I can get on board with that. But, Fohl, considering the circumstances, I can’t ask you to defeat him by yourself. You have a bunch of people here who can lend you a hand. Don’t forget that,” I said.
I prepared to cast support magic on Fohl. Sadeena and I began reciting the incantations for Descent of the Thunder God.
“No problem. It doesn’t matter what power I use or who helps me. I have to defeat him!” Fohl shouted.
And then suddenly a new icon appeared on my screen.
Would you like to empower the target and force a beast transformation?
Yes / No
A beast transformation? Was it asking me to make the choice? The icon was hovering over Fohl. It seemed like there might normally be more options. But at the moment, Fohl was the only one I could choose. It was probably worth a try.
“Hey, Fohl,” I said.
“What?!”
“Mr. Naofumi called your name, Brother! Come now! Answer him properly! You shall obey his every command!” Atla snapped.
“Shut up for a minute, Atla! It looks like I can use an ability to give you some kind of special power, Fohl. Do you want me to try it?” I asked.
Fohl stood there trying to make up his mind for a few moments.
“Fine. More people are going to get hurt if I don’t defeat this scumbag. So for myself and for Atla, let’s try it!” he replied.
“Got it. Here I go,” I said.
I held my shield out toward Fohl and selected “Yes.” The shield began to shine brightly, and then light shot out and poured over Fohl in the form of support magic.
“Wh-what is this?! What’s happen—”
Fohl began to float up into the air as the magical light enveloped his body.
“M-Mr. Naofumi! What did you do?!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
“Just like I said, I used some ability to give Fohl more power. That’s all,” I answered.
“Th-this is . . .” Werner’s voice trailed off.
He and the other Siltvelt leaders clasped their hands together and began praying.
“This is truly a miracle of a god. It seems the legends are true after all,” the old genmu said before he began praying with the others.
I guess this power was something mentioned in their legends of the heroes.
“My body . . . It’s overflowing with power!” Fohl cried out.
The light that was surrounding him dispersed and a different creature drifted down to the ground. There, before us, now stood a huge white tiger.
“Th-this is . . . Have I turned into a white tiger?!” Fohl asked.
“It sure seems that way,” I said.
I casually pulled up Fohl’s stats. What I saw was . . . incredible! Every single one of his stats had been massively boosted!
More specifically, the equivalent of my own stats had been tacked onto the majority of Fohl’s. Filo had gotten a lot stronger too recently, but this was on a completely different level. These numbers were even higher than Raphtalia’s! Now this was offensive capability I could get excited about. But I also noticed my own magic power seemed to be falling by the second.
“There seems to be a limit to how long this will last. Get out there and finish him!” I shouted.
“Mwahahaha! The time has come! A new legend is born! It’s time to lay the old god to rest!” Jaralis roared.
He rushed toward me and began to take on a new form. It was some kind of grotesque monstrosity that resembled a chimera. And he was fast! I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to react in time anymore. But then a flash of white appeared in front of Jaralis and dug its claws into his face.
“Gah! Wh-what?!” Jaralis groaned.
“What’s with that leisurely jog? Are you fooling around?” Fohl asked.
Jaralis went flying through the air. Fohl didn’t seem to have any problems adjusting to his own new form, judging by the way he’d turned and spoke to Jaralis so casually.
“You’re just a coward who accepted a wretched blessing from the Shield Hero! I hope you don’t think that will let you win!” Jaralis roared.
“I should probably point out that you’re the last one who should be saying that,” I shot back at him with a sneer.
“First you take some fishy drugs. Then when you still can’t win, you assimilate your followers and act like you’ve suddenly become king of the mountain. Who in the world would worship such a hideous monster? Seriously, think about it,” I continued.
“Monster?! Are you saying I’m a monster?!” he growled.
“That I am. You’re repulsive! You look like some kind of chimera!” I shouted.
Jaralis must have finally come back to his senses, because he transformed the tentacles into eyeballs and then cried out in surprise.
“Impossible! I’m a monster?! I can’t believe it! It can’t be!”
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He unleashed a beastly roar and charged straight at me.
“I won’t let you!” Fohl shouted.
“Brother!”
For whatever reason, Atla jumped up onto Fohl’s head and turned toward Jaralis. She began to prepare for an attack.
“Concentrate all of your power into a single point and run him through!” she exclaimed.
“Got it! You better not fall off, Atla!” Fohl replied.
His body began to radiate light, which then formed a vortex of magic power. The magic power began to take on some kind of shape in front of them. Wasn’t this basically the same attack that the minotaur had used against Atla? The light enveloped Fohl and Atla, and they took on the form of a radiant tiger and charged forward.
“Th-this must be the ancient technique that only the hakuko can use—the legendary Assault of the Ferocious Tiger Tyrant!”
I guess that was the name of the skill. But really, the people in this world sure seemed to like offering explanatory narrative like that. Rishia and Ren too. I just kept my mouth shut and focused on maintaining my magic power. Fohl was sucking up more of it than I would have expected, and it was starting to make me lightheaded.
Fohl and Atla both unleashed long, drawn-out battle cries as they charged at Jaralis in unison. A loud slicing sound rang out as they shot right past him, and then Fohl’s transformation wore off. He and Atla landed on the ground.
“Gaaahhhh! I-impossible! That drug was supposed to make me the strongest therianthrope of them all! That bastard! I’ve been tricked! I don’t believe it! I . . . I . . .”
As soon as Fohl and Atla landed, light began to flood out of Jaralis’s body. And then it split wide open! The light was so bright it forced me to squint my eyes. It swallowed up whatever that thing was that Jaralis had become and then exploded, dissipating in all directions. Not to sound overly dramatic, but the massive impact made the whole building shake too.
“Father, I have avenged your death,” Fohl whispered.
“We did it! We exterminated the traitor!” Atla exclaimed.
Their reactions were on completely different ends of the spectrum. The siblings both turned to the rest of us and waved.
“Umm, I think this goes without saying, but we have a winner! The victory goes to the hakuko siblings who serve the Shield Hero,” Werner announced loudly.
“That means we’re free to do as we please now, right?” I asked.
“It does. You may do whatever you wish, Shield Hero. On behalf of Siltvelt, we recognize that you are the Shield Hero we have all been waiting for,” he replied.
“I didn’t expect you to submit so easily,” I said.
Then again, the fact that we’d just stamped out Jaralis’s little rebellion for them probably had a lot to do with that.
“Yes, well, that is largely due to seeing the beast transformation your power induced,” Werner replied.
“Our legends here in Siltvelt tell of such a transformation. They say that it is only the Shield Hero who can unleash the true form—the true power—of our people,” added the old genmu.
“Ah, so that’s why,” I replied.
Werner bowed his head to Atla and Fohl.
“I was wrong to insult you and call you half-breeds. More than anyone, you two are true subjects of Siltvelt,” he said.
“You’re wrong. I am Mr. Naofumi’s subject,” Atla replied without hesitation.
“I . . . I’m . . .” Fohl stammered.
He didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“You looked so cooool! I want to be able to transform like that toooo!” Filo told Fohl.
She was a beast by nature. Still, I kind of wanted to see what a half-bird, therianthrope-type Filo would look like. But then again, maybe not.
“That sure was something, little Naofumi! I wonder if you can do the same thing for me,” Sadeena said.
“Who knows?” I replied.
A sense of exhaustion suddenly took hold of me. Fohl must have felt the same, because he fell onto his back.
“What is it?!”
“Ugh . . . I feel . . . so weak,” he said.
He moaned and did everything he could to try to stand up. I was feeling pretty beat too.
“Allow me,” Atla said.
She jumped up onto Fohl’s collapsed body and held her arms up in the air victoriously. Umm, why did she feel the need to stand on her brother’s body again?
“This is your reward, Brother. You actually managed to follow through,” she said.
“Atla! S-stop that!” Fohl cried out.
Why the hell did he seem to be halfway smiling?!
“What are you doing?!” Raphtalia snapped.
“Oh my . . .” Sadeena giggled.
“Rafuuu?”
“Hm?”
And so our duel in Siltvelt came to an end. Afterward, we did some investigation into the drug that Jaralis had used and the source of his plans for revolt. We found out that some mysterious group had been involved, but they’d suddenly disappeared as soon as Jaralis was defeated.
We decided a specialist should analyze the drug, so I brought Rat back from the village to take a look. I didn’t like the fact that we hadn’t been able to figure out who the drug had come from. In the end, I could only assume it had probably been either one of S’yne’s enemies or one of Witch’s lackeys.
Chapter Ten: Assigning the Heroes
Siltvelt gave us their full support after that. We loaded up onto one of their ships and set off for Q’ten Lo. After some time had passed, we dropped anchor at the port of a small country to the east. I registered the spot as a portal location and we returned to the village temporarily.
“Oh! Welcome back, Shield Hero!” Imiya exclaimed.
She and the other villagers welcomed us back when we arrived at the village.
“Thanks. It took a while, but we’re back,” I replied.
“We were all worried,” Imiya said.
She updated me on how things had been, and I looked around at all the villagers. S’yne was there too. As far as I could tell, not much seemed to have changed.
“S’yne was a bit on edge a few days ago,” Imiya said.
“Ah, so you saw that?” I asked S’yne.
She’d probably wanted to help but resisted the urge to come since I didn’t call on her. It didn’t feel like we were in danger of losing at the time. We weren’t even really struggling.
“S’yne’s familiar gave us periodic updates on what you were doing, so we have a pretty good idea of how things went,” Imiya continued.
“I———” S’yne began and then cut out.
Hmm, I wasn’t sure whether that was convenient or if I should feel like I was being spied on. But I guess S’yne was kind of like my bodyguard, after all. It only would’ve been a problem if I got accused of a crime and S’yne served as a witness to testify against me or something. But judging from her behavior so far, it was probably safe to assume that wouldn’t be an issue.
“Were there any attacks on the village?” I asked.
“Several,” Imiya replied.
“Ah, so there were after all,” I said.
There’d even been an attempt in Siltvelt too, apparently. The guards there were really sharp, though, and they took care of the Q’ten Lo assassins before they ever reached us. Sadeena jumped in the water and started firing off lightning several times while we were on the boat earlier, so I knew the assassins were still coming. But they hadn’t made any more large-scale attempts yet. Q’ten Lo probably couldn’t risk making any big moves against a powerful country like Siltvelt.
“We were able to successfully fend them off with the help of the Sword Hero and the Bow Hero. But the attacks were smaller in scale than the first one,” Imiya explained.
“Oh yeah? Where are Ren and Itsuki?” I asked.
“They’re training in the neighboring town at the moment,” she replied.
That meant they were with the old lady.
“Mel-chaaaan!”
Filo exclaimed.
“Hey, Filo. If you’re going over to the town, let Ren and Itsuki know that I’m back,” I told her.
“Okaaaay!”
She was energetic as usual. I think she might’ve enjoyed playing with Melty a bit too much, actually. But they were good friends, so I guess it was fine.
Not long after, Ren, Itsuki, and Rishia returned to the village.
“We heard you were back, Naofumi. We came to check in,” Ren said.
“Yeah. We pretty much resolved any issues with Siltvelt,” I replied.
“I heard you got tangled up in some pretty messy stuff. Maybe we should have gone, after all.”
“Nah. It probably would’ve made things even more complicated if you guys had been there.”
I was sure the Siltvelt leadership would’ve treated us quite a bit differently if Ren and Itsuki had been there. That lion bastard would’ve most likely spouted off something about not being able to trust a Shield Hero who’d established amicable ties with the heroes of a hostile country.
“Everything went smoothly, thanks to me,” Atla said.
“. . .”
She sure chose the perfect timing to gloat about her performance. The fact that I couldn’t say she was wrong was really depressing. It really came down to that powerful attack in the end, and it was thanks to Atla’s and Fohl’s performances that the Siltvelt leaders finally gave in too. So I couldn’t really argue with her. I shrugged it off and ruffled Atla’s hair before telling her to settle down.
“Atla! Ugh . . .” Fohl moaned begrudgingly.
It was the truth, so he’d just have to shut up and deal with it. I wasn’t sure if taking them had been a good or bad decision, because now I really owed them one. I’d have to think about how to settle the score.
“I hate to admit it, but . . . I can’t deny that Atla did play a big part,” Raphtalia agreed reluctantly.
“It sounds like you had a lot to deal with. So how long until we’re able to get into Q’ten Lo?” Ren asked.
“If everything goes as planned on the water, they say we should be able to get there by the day after tomorrow,” I said.
“Oh? Is that you, kid?”
The old weapon shop guy showed up out of nowhere for some reason.
