by Aneko Yusagi
“I’ll do my best!” Ruft enthused.
“There’s no need for that! Ah, honestly . . . this is the point where Sadeena would normally step in. She always knows what to say to convince you,” Raphtalia lamented.
“She said she was going to show Shildina the oceans around here,” I recalled. “I bet they are holed up in her secret base, wherever that is, sharing some wine.” Anyway, Sadeena didn’t “convince” me at times like this so much as “persuade” with prejudice.
“She’s going to drink Shildina under the table again, I bet,” Raphtalia predicted. I couldn’t deny the likelihood. When the two sisters were together, Shildina was always trying to prove herself and always ending up with a terrible hangover the following day. Was it time to seriously think about separating them?
As we talked, there came a knock at the door. It was a bit late for a visit from anyone who wasn’t already here.
“Naofumi, we’re coming in.” That was Melty.
“Master, I’m home!” Which meant that was Filo. The two of them came in.
“Hey, if it isn’t Melty. Been a while!” I played it light.
“It really has been. You don’t come to see me at all either, Naofumi,” Melty complained.
“I’ve been pretty busy, you know,” I explained.
“I understand that much. Still, I wasn’t especially happy with your answer to the issue I had requested the Sword Hero to ask you about.” With that, Melty looked at Ruft.
“Good . . . evening,” the boy managed in the Melromarc tongue.
“So nice to see you,” Melty replied, a bit out of character for her. “So this is the kid with the connection to Raphtalia?”
“Yeah, this is Ruft,” I explained. “He doesn’t know much about the world yet, so I brought him to the village to learn more. Hey, this is the perfect opportunity. Melty, can you teach him everything he’d need to know as a leader? Like, how to be an emperor? Stuff like that?”
“Huh?” The boy seemed surprised.
“It’s important for you to play with monsters and make lots of friends, but among everyone I know, Melty here knows the most about the duties of royalty and the stuff they need to know. Thinking about the future, having Melty teach you that stuff seems like the best idea,” I explained to him.
“That’s what you think about me, Naofumi? Honestly! Not that I mind. He’ll have to learn the language first, of course,” Melty agreed.
“Okay. I understand.” What a good kid! “Thank you for agreeing,” he managed again in the Melromarc tongue and gave a bob of his head. Melty returned a smile, suggesting she wasn’t entirely unhappy about the situation.
“Well, if there’s anything you want to ask, just come and find me. I’ll make time to help. If you know the language of the demi-human nations, you can use that for now, until you get used to things here,” Melty told him. If I recalled correctly, she could speak all sorts of languages.
Ruft nodded, looking a little surprised.
“Anyway, Melty, did you just drop by to say hello?” I asked.
“That was part of it, but not all. My mother is very busy with preparations to fight the Phoenix, and so I’ve got a message from her for you,” Melty explained. “Even that’s not the main reason though.” With that, Melty and Filo looked at each other.
“Filo,” Melty prompted.
“Okay! You see, Fitoria is really mad, wondering how much longer you’re going to keep her waiting,” Filo revealed. Before our invasion of Q’ten Lo, and immediately prior to heading to Siltvelt, Fitoria, the queen of the filolials, had made a request of me via Filo and Melty. But I’d wanted to prioritize Raphtalia’s problems at the time, so I’d put it off until later.
Still, maybe it wasn’t wise to piss off one as selfish as the queen could be. I wasn’t sure we could beat her either, if it came down to a fight.
“Yeah, of course. With the Q’ten Lo invasion and everything, it kinda slipped my mind,” I admitted. “So that’s why you’re here?”
“Yeah,” Filo responded.
“I was coming to talk about that ahead of Filo. It has become a bit of a problem in Melromarc,” Melty added.
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
“Well,” Filo started. “There have been some dangerous filolials around in your country recently, Master, who won’t do as they’re told.”
“Huh?” I was puzzled. What was she talking about? This was the request for me?
“I’ve heard similar stories myself, and so I thought maybe this is what Filo—I mean Fitoria—wanted you to solve, Naofumi,” Melty added.
“Hmmm.” I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but if our neighbors had also been hearing about this, they had to be creating quite a problem.
“To be more accurate, they are filolials who act like mountain bandits, attacking wagons carrying off goods and stuff like that,” Melty continued. “We did tell the Sword Hero to tell you about it, but it seems it just got turned into an issue with mountain bandits . . . Robbers, basically.”
“I mean, that’s the short of it, isn’t it? Robbers based in the mountains, thus mountain bandits,” I surmised. Ren was pretty straitlaced, but from this description, it had just sounded like a problem with robbers.
“It seems they are robbers that only appear at night. They prey on merchants or adventurers who are using a wagon, challenging them to a fight and then taking that wagon if they lose,” Melty explained further.
“Taking their cargo? That does sound like a problem,” I sympathized.
“That’s not what I said,” Melty corrected me. “They leave the cargo. It seems they only want the wagons.”
“What?!” That did surprise me. What could they want just with wagons? More like “mountain wagon collectors.” Quite aside from anything else, what were people doing driving wagons around at night?
It was an issue involving filolials anyway. That explained why Fitoria would make this request.
“They’ve become pretty famous at being quite odd mountain bandits,” Melty continued. “In a few rare cases, the wagons have come back all beaten up, but also packed with treasure. Needless to say, the ‘victims’ have been quite happy about that. There are even some merchants who are now purposely looking to get targeted.”
“Hold on a moment. What the hell is going on then? And—” I finished my thought in my head. If this was the issue that Fitoria wanted help with, then . . . “You’re telling me filolials fight over wagons?”
“Yes. That’s what I’ve been told,” Melty confirmed. Uwah! So she wanted me to resolve some kind of turf war? If these were wild filolials, they weren’t going to go down without a fight.
“The loser has to give their wagon to the winner,” Melty explained. “Also, if it’s the season of love, they can only find love by defeating their opponent.” What were they, hermit crabs?
Hmmm, in any case, I made the promise, so I had to go. I just couldn’t help but feel there was something else to all this. Surely Fitoria could handle some filolials herself.
Or maybe she couldn’t. Not these particular ones.
When I thought about it, maybe there were other wild filolial queens apart from Fitoria. What if a second filolial queen was giving orders in her human form, seeking to expand her territory? Maybe, like the queen of Melromarc, there would be all sorts of problems if she reproached them herself. So she was trying to send in a hero to clean up for her. I had to review the situation.
“This sounds like getting involved in a turf war between Fitoria’s faction and another filolial queen, or something like that.” My assessment made Filo’s cowlick stick up on end.
“Yes, that’s pretty much it. But she said that you and I would be able to handle this quickly, Master. So that’s what she wants us to do,” Filo explained.
“What choice do I have then?” I groaned. “I’m tired, but if they only appear at night, maybe we should go right now.”
“It’s already late, so even if we leave right now, I’m not
sure we’d encounter them tonight,” Filo said. “I should receive word soon with likely locations for them to appear too.”
“Tomorrow night then,” I replied. “Although I can’t help feeling we are going to get caught up in a whole pointless conflict.”
“Alright, alright. Filo did help out a lot in Q’ten Lo too,” Raphtalia pointed out.
“I guess,” I acquiesced. Ruft, meanwhile, was still a little scared of Filo, so he was sitting a little distance away, hugging Raph-chan while he listened to us talk.
Filo, perhaps aware of the distance he was still giving her, was looking at him with a slightly troubled expression on her face.
Maybe Melty could bridge that gap. Would the day come when the pure filolial-lover Melty finally became friends with Ruft, the boy who had pursued filolials purely in the world of books and pictures? Hah! Ruft already belonged to the clan of Raph-chan. Too late to try to convert him now, Melty!
“Mr. Naofumi, what are you thinking about? You’ve got that wicked smile on your face again,” Raphtalia commented. I ignored her.
“About this request from Fitoria,” I asked instead. “Are you coming too, Melty?”
“Huh? Well . . . it’s also a problem for Filo, so I think I’d better tag along,” she reasoned.
“Sure thing. Tomorrow, then. We’ll sort a time out later, but Melty, Filo, you two come along too,” I ordered.
“Okay,” Melty agreed.
It would probably be fine with just that many, but a bit more muscle also wouldn’t go astray. Who to take though? If I called S’yne into action, she’d probably come . . . Ren would probably want to be with Eclair. If Melty was going to leave the town tomorrow night, it would be best to have Eclair act as governor in her place. In either case, Melty would have to teach her the ropes. It was best to place Eclair close to Ren.
Itsuki, meanwhile, came as a set with Rishia. Oh, and that reminded me, I still needed to send him to read the tablets on the Cal Mira islands. Okay, I’d have them go and do that. He also had lots of memories with Rishia there. That was where they had split up.
Now that their relationship had been renewed, a trip there could also be an indicator of a second chance.
Ah whatever. I’d just take along whoever was around at the time we set out.
And with that, we called it a night and everyone else returned to their respective bedchambers.
Before I got into bed, however, I continued with my accessory-making.
A short while after I got underway, there came another knock on the door.
Raphtalia should have been asleep by now, preparing for the long night tomorrow. So who else might be knocking at this time of night?
I opened the door to find Fohl standing there.
“What?” It was a few hours past pleasantries.
“I want to talk with you a little—just the two of us,” he explained. Hmmm. This sounded like nothing more than another massive pain in my ass.
We left the house and stood together in the village square.
“So? What’s this about?” I still didn’t have the patience for this.
“I need you to stop dragging Atla into your dangerous battles!” Fohl’s resolve was firm, and he even thrust his fist at me as he spoke. “I’ve been feeling this for a long time now! These battles are just too reckless!” The shame of it was I couldn’t deny it. Thinking back on everything that had happened since coming to this other world, I’d been caught up in all sorts of trouble and had many one-sided struggles forced upon me. I’d long been expecting someone to show up with the very complaints that Fohl was now voicing.
“I have to protect Atla with my life if necessary!” Fohl exclaimed.
“Your sister seems pretty fixated on me though. Can’t you help keep her under control?” I asked.
“You have no interest in Atla?” Fohl replied after a pause.
“However I answer that, you’re going to get mad. What answer could satisfy you, really?” Heh, I really got to the heart of that one.
“Uh . . .” Fohl had no reply.
“Why do I have to keep saying this? I’m not interested in romance. Atla is like . . . If I had to classify it . . . she’s like my child.” Just like I considered Raphtalia my daughter, I was starting to feel like Atla was an adopted child who just liked to chase around after me. I’d even started feeling the same thing about the village slaves, recently.
Romantic love? Nope, I certainly wasn’t feeling anything like that at the moment.
“I mean, I feel the same about you, I guess,” I continued. “You need to just fight hard and make sure to protect her yourself. If you can even keep up with her! Hah! As the one training you to fight the waves, maybe it’s not my place to say that.”
“I don’t need you to tell me to do that!” Fohl came back, still aggressive. “I’ll defeat the waves and whatever else you want me to, if it means Atla doesn’t have to fight. That’s a promise!”
“Fine, fine. You don’t want me having Atla fight the waves, is that it? Then that’s what we’ll do,” I conceded.
“Huh?” Fohl sounded dumbstruck.
“What’s so puzzling about that? I’m not going to drag people who don’t want to fight into battle any more than I’m going to ignore a plea to spare someone from having to fight. That’s just not me right now. You don’t want Atla involved in dangerous battles, right?” Sure, I’d put her in some pretty dangerous situations, but if this was what Fohl wanted, then I could choose to keep her out of the wave battles.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“If you can cover the gap she leaves, sure. And whatever Atla says, you’re the one who’s going to have to stop her. I’m not getting involved in that,” I asserted. Fohl looked down at the ground for a moment, thinking. Then he looked back up.
“Very well,” he accepted. A little easier than I expected. “I think I understand maybe a little what Atla sees in you. Not that I like you any more for it myself.”
“Whatever. Just keep your precious sister’s rampages under control, you hear?” I commanded.
“I will,” he managed after another long pause. “I’ll become strong enough to stop her. You’ll see. Until that time, I’ll be counting on you.” Hold it! Counting on me for what? I really didn’t like the sound of that last part.
Immediately after that, Fohl hurried away into the glooming darkness.
Chapter Three: Spirit Tortoise Shell
It was the following day, just after breakfast.
After giving my orders to everyone, I decided what to do for the day. Training was going pretty well. I was making progress with life force too. S’yne knew a lot about the topic, so when she had the time, I was having her teach me and Atla.
“Naofumi.” Ren, also having finished his breakfast, came over to me.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We need me to learn some smithing, right? So I’d like to see the weapon shop guy and his master if possible,” he said. Yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I’d introduced him to them when I took him over to Q’ten Lo. It would be a good chance to request some things from the old guy too.
“Okay then, today we’ll go and see them in Q’ten Lo,” I decided. “We can’t afford to leave the Melromarc store closed for any longer.” Worst-case scenario, we’d end up bringing Imiya’s uncle back with us.
That reminded me. There had been some developments with Imiya. While I was away from the village, the accessory dealer had paid a visit, looked at some of the accessories that Imiya made, and given her some advice. If he thought she was worth teaching, that meant she had some real skill. He knew she was my underling too.
When I found a moment, I’d try and chat with her about how to make better accessories.
With that, we used Raphtalia’s Return Dragon Vein and headed to Q’ten Lo.
In the capital of Q’ten Lo, Raphtalia was the Heavenly Emperor—basically the queen—and so she couldn’t just stroll around the streets. So we had her wait in the cas
tle. Just Ren and I headed over to Motoyasu II’s workshop.
“Hey! What’re you doing here, kid?” The weapon guy came out to greet us. As for Motoyasu II . . . Hold on! He was forging away with a serious look on his face. That seemed unprecedented! Imiya’s uncle was working as his assistant too. He was carrying in what looked like a vast volume of water . . . no, holy water. Above it all, some members of the Q’ten Lo clergy were chanting away constantly in the corner. It was totally crazy, to be honest.
“How’s it going with you?” I asked.
“I’m improving a lot, thanks to my master,” the old guy replied.
“That’s great to hear,” I complimented him.
“You’ve done a lot to help me out recently. I’m sorry for all the trouble, kid. Really, I am,” he said gruffly.
“Hey, you always do so much for us,” I pointed out. “No need to worry about it. What about them?” I looked over to Imiya’s uncle and Motoyasu II.
“My master is just reforging that cursed sword for the Sword Kid. Tolly and I are in the middle of helping him out,” the old guy explained.
“Got any plans for the store in Melromarc?” I prodded gently.
“Hmmm.” The old guy crossed his arms and gave it some serious thought. The whole setup for forging was really great here in Q’ten Lo, that much was true, but I doubted that was keeping him from wanting to leave. After all, he just had to ask me and I could move everything around.
“You’re worried about letting your master off the leash again, aren’t you?” The old man nodded at this perceptive comment from Ren.
Yeah, I had already guessed as much. If I took the old guy away now, his master would probably jump for joy.
“That said, leaving things as they are probably isn’t going to be much better. He’s going to run up a tab the first chance he gets,” I surmised.
“He really is incorrigible, isn’t he,” Ren agreed.
What to do with the creepy letch once the old guy and Imiya’s uncle finished their training was definitely something I needed to think about.