by Aneko Yusagi
“I don’t know. I mean, it looks likely that Raph-chan got involved in the class-up somehow,” I ventured.
“That part is obvious! I want to know why things turned out like this though,” Raphtalia raged.
“I mean . . . monster class-ups can be pretty involved, with massive changes in appearance or even reverting to their ancestors. But even I couldn’t have seen this one coming. Seriously, Count, spending time with you brings one surprise after another,” Rat said. With that, she started her examination of the former-caterpilland.
The other soldiers responsible for the hourglass all looked pretty stunned too. What had just happened was pretty stunning, after all!
“Hmmm,” Rat pondered and plucked a hair from the former-caterpilland, took out a device, and started to test it. “Now grow big.”
“Raaph!” As ordered by Rat, the former-caterpilland turned again into its large Raph-chan form.
I had to admit, that form was really something.
After multiple tests and examinations, Rat turned back to me. Raphtalia was still yet to really calm down. She kept looking back and forth between me and Raph-chan. Finally, perhaps looking to just escape from reality, she grabbed her head in her hands and shook it, practically hysterical.
“I don’t have the facilities here to make a more thorough analysis, but I can tell you that Raph-chan’s characteristics are on full display here,” Rat reported. “The ability to transform like that . . . Transformation properties have been seen in filolials and dragons too. It must have an ability of that type.”
“So you don’t know the exact reason, but it’s safe to say that in the same way as Filo and Gaelion, Raph-chan had some effect on the class-up transformation pattern?” I asked.
“Raph!” Raph-chan nodded at my question.
“And this means she did it regardless of the consent of the former-caterpilland?” There was an edge to my question. I’d have to caution Raph-chan quite strictly if that was the case. It wasn’t fair to decide something so important against the will of the one experiencing it.
“Raph, Raaph!” The former-caterpilland waved its hands, making clear the answer to my question was negative.
“You chose this?” I asked the former-caterpilland. “You could have had a dragon class-up and you chose the Raph-chan one?”
“Raaph!” The former-caterpilland nodded at my question.
“I see,” I acquiesced. “If that’s the case, so be it.”
“No! So be nothing!” Raphtalia was still trying to caution Raph-chan, but the pair of them looked pleased as punch and just ignored her.
“Raaph!”
“Stop that! This is nothing to be so proud of!” Raphtalia chided.
“Raaph . . .” Ah, they did look a little depressed by Raphtalia’s anger.
“Just look what’s happened to it!” Wyndia clutched her own head, stunned, and looked down at the ground. I could understand her point of view. She had doted on that caterpilland, and look what it had turned into now.
That said . . . I couldn’t help myself . . .
“Wonderful!” I exclaimed. I mean, simply put, this meant there were now more Raph-chans, right? The newcomer couldn’t beat the original, of course, but I still saw this as a victory.
“Amazing!” Ruft seemed just as happy as I was. Heh, it seemed we agreed on this. We were definitely going to get along.
“There’s nothing wonderful about this either. Please, somehow, can’t you heal it?” Ah, Raphtalia had quickly recovered and now came at Rat and me with this.
“You say ‘heal,’ but this isn’t a sickness. The monster seems to have accepted—indeed, chosen—this outcome. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do,” Rat explained.
“I still don’t see a problem with it. It’s like having a second Raph-chan,” I said. And that was my take.
“I don’t like it. I’m still resistant to having one Raph-chan around. Now there are two of them!” Hmmm. Raphtalia seemed pretty stubborn on this issue. I mean, maybe I could kind of understand. It was like a creature that was already a replica of her was now replicating itself. A bit weird.
The roars and growls from the remaining monsters were starting to become more pronounced. They were getting tired of waiting, clearly. Realizing something, Raphtalia gave a start, turning even paler as she looked first at the other monsters, then at Raph-chan, and finally at me.
“Hold it,” she said, her voice quivering. “You’re not telling me that all of these monsters want the exact same class-up, are you? You can’t be?!”
“What do you say, guys?” I asked, pointing alternately at Raph-chan and then the now nearby Gaelion to see which of them they wanted to pick.
All of them as one turned in the direction of Raph-chan.
It looked like, if it were possible, they had a preference for Raph-chan.
“No way! Stop this! I’m not allowing this, not at all! Mr. Naofumi!”
“I mean, we have to respect the individual rights of the monsters, right? I reckon if they can’t do the Raph-chan class-up, some of them won’t even do it at all,” I reasoned. At this cunning piece of leading, many of the monsters voiced their agreement.
“You should just choose for them, Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia insisted.
“That’s not fair. Look, it’s already happened once—” To be quite honest about it, I didn’t mind this turn of events. It was like having more Raph-chans. “You’ve said it yourself in the past, haven’t you, Raphtalia? You’d like more Raph-chans around with all her convenient skills.”
“I might have said that,” Raphtalia admitted. “But actually seeing it happen, I’ve realized I don’t like it!”
“Why not?” Ruft backed me up. Good boy!
“Raph?” The original Raph-chan also tilted her head.
“Don’t you understand?” Raphtalia rounded on Ruft.
“Hmmm, well, I like how lively things are getting. It makes me feel less sad,” Ruft admitted.
“Just think for a moment what it would be like to see a horde of monsters that look just like us. You see what I mean, right?” Raphtalia pressed.
“Yeah, I do,” Ruft agreed. “It sounds like loads of fun.”
Raphtalia proceeded to slap her hand to her forehead and look to the sky. She clearly thought she didn’t have a single ally.
“I can’t believe this,” she moaned. “Mr. Naofumi won’t listen. Ruft won’t listen. There’s no one here to take heed of my words.”
But hold on. I could be pretty flexible when I needed to, and I wasn’t doing this to Raphtalia on purpose.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Naofumi!” With that apology, Raphtalia snatched up Raph-chan and touched the dragon hourglass.
“Ah, Raphtalia!” I shouted. Where was she going?!
“Mr. Naofumi, this alone—this one thing—I simply have to prevent!” she announced. She was so worked up. “Return Dragon Vein!”
“H-hey, hold on. You can’t just—” Before I even finished, Raphtalia was gone. Taking Raph-chan with her, she’d gone off to heaven-knew-where. Hmmm . . .
Even as I thought that, however, an icon floated into my view.
It was an icon like a Raph-chan face from the expanded items for the Shikigami.
The text read “C’mon Raph.”
“C’mon Raph.” Couldn’t hurt to try it.
“Raph!” With a pop, Raph-chan appeared in front of me. It was a skill that allowed me to summon Raph-chan anywhere!
“Raph!” Raph-chan started posing, clearly happy to have made her escape. Then she touched the dragon hourglass. The sand inside it glowed slightly in response.
Raphtalia, meanwhile, having now lost Raph-chan, didn’t come back.
Had Raph-chan just done something to prevent Raphtalia from returning?
Both the Scroll of Return and the Return Dragon Vein were performed using a dragon hourglass. Therefore, making adjustments to the dragon hourglass could prevent them from being used. Where had Raphtalia gone off to though? An
d then the monsters started to make noise again! They were looking at us intently.
“They want to class up quickly. They want to become stronger. That’s what they are all saying. What do you think?” Wyndia asked, holding onto the sleeve of my shirt.
Rat, for her part, just put her hands in the air and gave a bemused “don’t look at me” look.
Ruft’s eyes were sparkling as he clearly wanted to class up them all into Raph-chans.
Personally, I still had issues with rejecting their wishes and forcing them to take a normal class-up. I also felt really bad about doing this to Raphtalia, but . . . there seemed no other way out of it.
I also loved the idea of having loads of Raph-chans around!
“Right, you rabble!” I commanded. “You need to persuade Raphtalia once she gets back, understand?” The monsters all provided agreement with whatever noises they could.
With that, we completed the class-ups for all the monsters before Raphtalia made it back. Gaelion? He just slumped dejectedly in the corner. After all that explanation he gave, in the end none of them had wanted his own class-up.
“Raph.”
“Raaph.”
“Tali.”
“Lia.”
“W-what’s happening here?” Having finished the class-ups, Raph-chan touched the dragon hourglass again and Raphtalia came back. Then all the Raph-chan-like monsters crowded around her and started to make noises that I presumed were intended as “persuasion.”
Since she was surrounded by Raph-chans on all sides, I did want to try and throw her a bone, but I also didn’t want to throw myself onto that particular grenade. So all I could do was silently watch.
“Ignoring for now the fact that they all seem to have cries based on my own name . . . seriously, Mr. Naofumi?!” Raphtalia was near breaking.
“I know you don’t like it, but what choice did we have?” I countered.
“I’m not accepting that! This is all your fault, Mr. Naofumi! Seriously, I’m even thinking of running off to Kizuna’s world.” It was that bad? I knew she hated it, but I needed her to put up with it for the sake of my greater ambitions.
“So, Count, how are we going to handle these monsters?” Rat asked.
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“The name for the race of this monster,” Rat clarified.
“Rat! Is that all you’re really worried about?” Raphtalia cut in. She really was steaming mad. It was too late to back down now though. This was our reality. We just had to get her to compromise somewhere.
“What I mean is that there’s enough monsters here to be considered a new species. If we don’t decide on at least a provisional name, things are going to get confusing.” Rat raised a good point.
“Okay, based on their calls, let’s go with Raph species, Raaph species, Tali species, and Lia species. How about that?” Simple was best, I decided.
“You can’t just ignore me, Mr. Naofumi! We’re not finished here!”
“Raph.”
“Raaph.”
“Tali.”
“Lia.”
All the monsters that were now like Raph-chan turned moist-looking eyes on Raphtalia.
“Uwah.” Raphtalia backed down.
“Nothing is confirmed yet, so we don’t have to divide them up so specifically,” Rat added.
“Okay, in that case, the first one was Raph-chan, so ‘Raph species’ will be fine,” I declared.
“Very well,” Rat concurred.
“So many Raph-chans! Say, Shield Hero, could I have one?” Ruft asked.
“Yeah, we’ve got so many, so why not? But not Raph-chan!” I replied.
“Thanks!” the kid said.
“Please stop ignoring the real issues here!” Raphtalia was still having problems.
“How did it all come to this . . .” Wyndia wondered.
“Kwaa . . .” was Gaelion’s only contribution. In the end, Raphtalia grudgingly accepted the situation at the supplication of the monsters who had all become the Raph species. Ignoring the complaints of Wyndia and Gaelion, we all returned to the village—and further chaos.
Chapter Two: Territory Reform
“If we’re going to be counting monsters as combat strength, this monster stable is going to start getting a bit cramped,” I announced. Having arrived back at the village, I checked over the monster stable.
“You’re going to add even more monsters? No more turning them into Raph species!” Raphtalia was adamant.
“I’ve discussed that with Wyndia already. If we did turn all monsters in the village into Raph species, it would definitely cause some diversification issues,” I explained.
“That’s the only problem?” Raphtalia asked, pointing. In one corner of the monster stable, the filolial, Filo’s Underling Filolial #1, was trembling in terror. On the other side, Gaelion was adopting the same pose. The entire village monster stable had been completely taken over by the Raph species. They weren’t unfamiliar with the Raphs, but those two still stood out.
Add Filo, and that made three, although Filo did have a room in my house in which she slept and ate—actually, she spent most of her time at Melty’s place.
Enough about Filo anyway. This was a problem with monsters.
After this, Wyndia had proposed keeping other types of monsters in the village for the sake of diversity. It seemed Rat was of a similar opinion. While the Raph species was an interesting subject to study, just that species alone wasn’t going to further her research.
Then, having discussed the cause of this turn of events, we decided it was apparently rooted in me caring for the monsters, although I’d only been doing that in the mornings . . . In any case, they had started to look jealous due to me doting on Raph-chan. And they all started wanting to become like her.
They’d also had sufficient latent strength, so it was two birds with one stone.
The dragon power-up, meanwhile, only had a weak effect unless the monster was already pretty strong. And just like the Raph species, in the case of monsters it could often lead to blending in some dragon elements. It was a bit like turning them into a vassal, I guessed.
“With that in mind, we’re going to have Ren, and maybe Itsuki, start caring for some monsters—registering monster crests,” I explained.
“Hmmm.” Raphtalia still didn’t sound completely onboard.
“We should also make a filolial monster stable,” I added. The stress from all these Raphs was going to drive the poor creature into the ground.
It was scared, right? That was what that meant.
At that moment, a soil maintenance worm-like monster called a dune popped up from the ground. It hadn’t taken part in the class-up bonanza so it was still just a normal dune.
Now it seemed like it was conversing with the Raph species.
“That’s not going to happen,” Raphtalia snapped, quick to shut that down too. She glared at the dune and it went back into the ground.
Then it headed over to Gaelion.
I asked Wyndia about it afterward and was told that dune types preferred dragons.
“Right now,” I said as I got things straight in my head. “I guess we’ll build a temporary monster stable at the bioplant.” The sun was starting to set, but we had to make the most of the time we had. There was no time to be managing materials. Then I had another thought. “Hold on . . .”
“What now? You’re not planning on using Raph-chan for something else weird, are you?” Raphtalia immediately turned suspicious eyes on me again. I was really going to have to cut back on the Raph-chan joking around for a while, or she might explode.
I was a jerk, sure, but I wasn’t a complete jerk.
I really wanted to explain that the reason I liked Raph-chan was that it was an expression of my feelings for treasuring Raphtalia like my own daughter.
“The Shield of the Beast King that I picked up in Siltvelt not only has beast transformation support, but it also has a skill called Territory Reform. I tried it out and a
map appeared with the area around the village glowing. Is that strange?” I asked.
“Hmmm,” Raphtalia pondered as she took a moment to think about my question. This was totally different from the Raph-chan issues, after all.
“In either case, I guess the best thing we can do is just give it a try,” I suggested.
“I mean, sure. But what’s brought this on now?” Raphtalia inquired.
“I forgot about it, okay? We only dropped in on the village when we brought Ren back. After that, we went right back out to Siltvelt and then Q’ten Lo,” I reminded her.
“You’re right. There wasn’t really time to test it, was there?” she agreed.
“Of course I’m right. So let’s test it right now,” I proclaimed. In the instant I thought of it, my viewpoint was shifted up into the air. But I could still see normally too. It was like . . . double vision.
I reckon this could really bring on a case of motion sickness. It had never happened to me, but some people started feeling really ill while playing games that displayed images like this.
“I have what looks like an aerial view of the village,” I explained.
“Like what you’d see when riding on Gaelion, correct?” Raphtalia clarified.
“Yeah, like that,” I affirmed.
“The Bow Hero mentioned that he has a skill which allows him to scout out the surrounding area from a higher vantage point,” Raphtalia recalled. Itsuki said that? I mean, he was the Bow Hero. It wouldn’t be strange for him to have a skill that allowed him to search for distant targets. That sounded like quite a convenient skill too.
Maybe I’d have him make us a map.
“This is something else—a skill called Territory Reform,” I reminded her.
“That does sound different, doesn’t it?” she agreed.
“Yeah. This is coming from a shield found in the single nicest room in all of Siltvelt too, remember? Taking the shield power-up method into account, maybe it is influenced by faith too?” I pondered.
“I guess that’s a possibility . . .” Raphtalia didn’t sound entirely convinced. Anyway, I checked the items in my field of vision.
Move, Place, Remove, Create, Combine.