by Aneko Yusagi
“The water dragon’s secret hideaway would be my guess,” Sadeena replied.
“That certainly seems likely,” Gaelion agreed.
“The water dragon? Does that mean he brought us here by force?” I asked.
“Probably,” Sadeena replied.
“Yes, I was able to confirm that much while spinning around inside of that tornado. The water dragon indeed pulled us down here,” Gaelion confirmed.
I wondered if that meant the water dragon had hostile intentions. We would need to be extra cautious.
“Raphtalia is—” I began.
“Ugh . . .”
Raphtalia regained consciousness at almost the same moment I turned to look at her.
“Mr. Naofumi . . . Where are we?” she asked.
“Apparently the water dragon dragged us into his hideout,” I replied.
“What?! That means . . .”
Raphtalia gripped the handle of her katana and stood up, prepared to engage in combat at a moment’s notice.
“Where is this water dragon anyway, Sadeena?” I asked.
“I have no idea, unfortunately. But you should take a look at that altar over there,” she said.
“Huh?”
I looked over at the altar she was pointing to. What appeared to be a crystal ball was resting on top. I could sense some kind of force coming from its direction. It resembled magic power. Something about this crystal was different than the crystal balls used to learn magic spells, though.
“What is that?” I asked.
“I was a miko priestess, but this is the first time I’ve seen that thing,” she replied.
“That’s a dragon emperor fragment,” said Gaelion, pointing at the crystal ball.
“Why would something like that be enshrined here?” I asked.
“Who knows? Not me, at least,” Sadeena said.
Gaelion approached the crystal ball or, according to him, “the dragon emperor fragment.” It didn’t seem to be a trap.
“You remember what happened with that demon dragon. Are you sure it’s okay to mess with that thing?” I asked.
The crystal ball suddenly floated up off of the altar and shined a beam of light at Gaelion.
“Hmm . . . It appears to be safe. It’s telling me the dragon wanted to deliver a message,” he said.
The crystal ball turned into a sphere of pure light before being absorbed into Gaelion’s body.
“Now I see. The water dragon seems to have left a souvenir for me. The fragment just raised my stats and increased my water-type resistances,” he continued.
“A souvenir? Does that mean the water dragon isn’t here?” I asked.
“It seems he brought us here to give you an invitation, as the guardian of this country. He was made aware of your approach some time back. He received your signal, apparently,” Gaelion said.
Hmm, so the water dragon had his reasons for doing things this way. But what signal? Then I remembered seeing my shield’s jewel flash earlier. Maybe that was a signal.
“And what if you hadn’t been here?” I asked Gaelion.
“There was a message magically sealed within the crystal ball. It probably would have given you the same explanation,” he replied.
“So what exactly does ‘guardian’ mean?” I asked.
Gaelion paused for a moment and seemed to be struggling to find the right answer.
“I’m having trouble reading that information from the fragment, but apparently there is a barrier around Q’ten Lo. It’s meant to keep out certain . . . spirits? It only allows the entrance of spirits that are pure and innocent, it seems,” he said.
“So the water dragon monitors approaching spirits?” I asked.
“To be exact, the water dragon’s job is to maintain the barrier. What the barrier is guarding the country from, I’m not sure,” Gaelion explained.
“That’s right. I know about the water dragon maintaining the barrier. I had to participate in all kinds of ceremonies dealing with that when I was little,” Sadeena said.
She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, reminiscing about the past.
“There’s a whole town under the ocean. It’s deep down in the abyss, where the currents are strongest. You have to contact the water dragon directly to even get access, but I’ve seen it,” she continued.
“Umm, so why are we here again?” Raphtalia asked.
“Well, the barrier has been tampered with, it seems. Ships from Siltvelt are no longer ensured access to Q’ten Lo,” Gaelion explained.
“So there was no point in coming on a ship from Siltvelt?” I groaned.
That meant our trip to Siltvelt had basically been a complete waste of time.
“That’s not true. If we hadn’t come on the ship from Siltvelt, we probably wouldn’t have made it to the edge of the barrier, where the water dragon was able to summon us here,” Gaelion replied.
So we definitely wouldn’t have gotten in without the ship. I guess it was fine, in that case. But wait, didn’t that mean that the ship we were on wouldn’t make it to Q’ten Lo?
“The ship will probably be able to make its way to Q’ten Lo eventually, but it seems the government is trying to buy time. That’s why the water dragon created a distraction and brought us here,” Gaelion continued.
“So basically, the water dragon summoned us here by force, right?” I asked.
Gaelion nodded, showing no sign of protest.
“And? Does he have some kind of hidden agenda or something?” I continued.
“Why is that the first thing you think about?” Gaelion asked incredulously.
Whatever. That’s just how my mind worked.
“That’s just like Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia replied.
“Always approach with caution, right?” Sadeena said.
She stole my answer! Oh well.
“In summary, the water dragon is not happy with the situation in Q’ten Lo and he brought you here in an attempt to serve the country’s original purpose,” Gaelion said.
“Couldn’t he just have brought the whole boat?” I said, annoyed.
Gaelion looked at me like I’d asked a stupid question.
“So what? What is the country’s original purpose supposed to be?” I asked.
“Well, that’s another part of the fragment that I’m having trouble understanding, but it has something to do with the role played by your companion’s family line—the role of pacifier . . . of the spirit implements,” he explained.
“‘Pacifier of the spirit implements’?” I asked.
He was saying things that made no sense again. Going on what I knew so far, there was a good possibility that “spirit implements” referred to the heroes’ weapons. But I had no idea what “pacifier” was supposed to mean.
“You mean me?” Raphtalia asked.
“I don’t remember hearing anything about that,” Sadeena said.
She had a confused look on her face.
“Maybe it’s a concept that faded away over time since the country has been sealed off from the outside world for so long,” I suggested.
The queen and the leaders of Siltvelt mentioned that parts of the legends had been lost to war over the years. This country probably had a similar past too.
“The information we had access to differed with each division, though. It’s possible that others knew, even if I didn’t. Little Raphtalia’s father might have known something,” Sadeena said.
“My father . . .” Raphtalia whispered.
There was a sadness in her voice, probably because she had been reminded of her father. I wanted to say something that would comfort her. But I knew that looking for answers from a dead person probably wasn’t going to help anything.
“Raphtalia, are you . . .” I began.
I wondered if asking her more about her parents would bother her. Even I wasn’t so dense that I couldn’t tell she missed them.
“I’m okay. But if you want to ask whether my father ever mentioned anything, ther
e’s nothing that I recall,” she said.
Hmm, I wondered if that just meant her father was good at keeping secrets.
“That’s fine. This is only speculation, but ‘spirit implements’ probably refers to the holy weapons. That’s all I can really guess at this point,” I said.
“It would seem so,” Raphtalia replied.
“Yeah, that’s what it sounded like the assassins meant when they were babbling on the other day. I think it’s safe to assume you’re correct,” Sadeena said.
“So that leaves us with ‘pacifier.’ Judging from the word itself, along with that equipment the assassins were using, I imagine it refers to someone who is in a position to have some kind of influence on the heroes,” I continued.
It reminded me of being taunted and referred to as “Shield Demon” in Melromarc. “Shield Devil” was another one of the countless names I’d been called.
Hypothetically speaking, what if a hero were summoned to this world and just ran rampant, doing whatever they wanted? Say they got their hands on some suspicious weapon with brainwashing abilities—like the one Itsuki was using when Rishia fought him—and then set out to conquer the world. Heroes were supposedly summoned when the world was in danger. But what if one of those heroes turned evil and started trying to conquer the world because of a curse or something? And what if that evil hero defeated the other heroes that had been summoned too?
The world would be in a real dark place. Even if they summoned new heroes, the evil hero would know they were a potential threat. He wouldn’t just ignore them. If it were me, I’d kill them as soon as they were summoned, without a doubt. I wouldn’t even let them summon new heroes in the first place. But what if there were people who could intervene and pacify a hero that had gotten out of control? And what if these so-called “pacifiers” were still out there but had simply erased all records and evidence of their existence? If such people did exist and had the ability to suppress the power of the heroes’ weapons, then they might have a chance against said evil hero.
It wasn’t impossible, but it seemed pretty farfetched.
“The water dragon seems to be adamant about there being a good reason for the isolation of Q’ten Lo,” Gaelion said.
“Alright. I’m sure we’ll find out more about that later. So what’s this about not being happy with the country’s situation?” I asked.
“You’ll supposedly understand once you leave the cave and see the situation for yourself. The water dragon says he wants you to infiltrate the country with the miko priestess and weaken the barrier that is blocking the ship your companions are on,” Gaelion continued.
“The water dragon wants to cooperate with us, in other words. So he created an opening and summoned us inside of the barrier. And now he wants us to weaken the barrier so that the ship can get in?” I asked.
Gaelion nodded.
“The location of the device that maintains the barrier is recorded here. It’s telling me we should go there. What do you want to do?” he asked.
“This dragon sure is pushy, considering he won’t even show himself. Honestly, I’m inclined to refuse to do anything he says, but that’s probably not the best idea,” I replied.
The dragon had resorted to rather forceful tactics. And it wasn’t like just ignoring his message and leaving the cave wasn’t an option. We didn’t have to do what the water dragon said. But I couldn’t deny that we didn’t really have a next move without getting more information first.
“In any case, if it will get us out of this cave, then we might as well go. Whether or not we do what he wants us to when we get there is a different story, though,” I said.
“That’s just like you. But it sounds like a plan, either way,” Gaelion replied.
“Oh! It’s a signal from Raph-chan,” Raphtalia exclaimed.
Oh yeah, I always seemed to forget she and Raph-chan were connected somehow. Raphtalia had her eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating.
“Umm, I’m not really sure what she’s saying, but I think she’s trying to tell me she has a good idea of the situation here. She’s updating Filo now,” Raphtalia explained.
“I see. How are things on the ship?” I asked.
“They’re trying to enter Q’ten Lo, but something is impeding their progress. She says they should be able to break through, but it will take more time.”
Hmm, so the situation seemed to corroborate the water dragon’s information so far.
“I guess we should get going then,” said Sadeena.
“Agreed. For now, let’s just try to get to some kind of human habitation,” I said.
We began to explore the cave. Although, there was really only one path, which eventually led down into the water.
“I’ll go check it out,” Sadeena said.
“Be careful,” I told her.
“Of course!”
She changed into her therianthrope form and went ahead down into the water. I wondered if she would be alright. But she came back up out of the water before I knew it.
“Well, I’ll be! This waterway is camouflaged really well. I had no idea it was here,” she said.
“I don’t care about that. Just tell me whether we can get out of here or not,” I replied.
“Yes, we can. It’s a bit deep and getting in is complicated, since it’s concealed so well. But getting out should be simple enough.”
“Alright, let’s head out then,” I said.
“Okie dokie. Everyone hold on to me and don’t let go!” Sadeena told us.
“Okay,” said Raphtalia.
“I can hold my own in the water now. I’ll be right behind you,” Gaelion said.
I guess he could operate underwater now. He was gaining new abilities at a surprising rate.
Raphtalia and I grabbed on to Sadeena and we passed through the dark underwater passage before coming up to the surface of the water. The Pekkul Kigurumi would have been helpful, but I didn’t have it with me, unfortunately. If worse came to worst, I guess I could always use my Bubble Shield skill as a way to breathe.
I looked around us as I floated on the surface. There was land nearby. I could see trees that looked like pines and some other plants that looked like bamboo. It reminded me of Japan. But I could see mountains that looked like the ones in China too, so I knew it wasn’t actually Japan. It wasn’t quite like Kizuna’s world, either.
I saw what looked like a port town off in the distance. There seemed to be quite a few boats there too. They weren’t normal sailing ships. They looked like those single-sail merchant ships used in Japan during the Edo period. It was the kind of ship I thought of when I imagined a treasure ship. This was the first time I’d seen ships like that in any world other than my own.
“We should probably head for shore somewhere further away from the port, if we want to sneak in,” Sadeena said.
“I get that, but . . .”
I stuck my head in the water and looked around. Off in the distance, I could see aquatic therianthropes and demi-humans free diving and swimming around in the water.
“I’m not going to use my sonar since they might notice,” she continued.
“Do you think they’re our enemies?” I asked.
“They just normal civilians, as far as I can tell. But they don’t seem to be fishing, either,” she said.
Sadeena gazed in their direction with a confused look on her face. It suddenly occurred to me that I was swimming with a killer whale. That felt kind of strange.
“Ah, I see. They must be harvesting seaweed. That doesn’t make much sense when there are fish all around,” she continued.
“Who cares about that. Let’s hurry up and get to land,” I said.
Sadeena nodded.
“Good idea,” she said.
“Let’s go,” Raphtalia agreed.
Everyone nodded. We followed the shore reef to avoid being seen and eventually made it to land.
“Now then . . . Portal Shield!”
Hmph. We couldn’t use
teleportation. I had a sneaking suspicion that would be the case. That would make it difficult to bring Ren to us. Things might be different if we found a dragon hourglass somewhere.
“The first thing you do is try to go home. You’re really something, little Naofumi,” said Sadeena.
“I won’t know if I can use it unless I try it out. Whether or not we’ll be able to escape in an emergency makes a big difference,” I replied.
“That’s a good point,” Raphtalia said.
She tried using her katana’s portal skill too. I think it was called Scroll of Return.
“Mine doesn’t work either. Something is interfering with teleportation,” she said.
“I guess that would have been too easy,” I replied.
“On with the infiltration then,” said Sadeena.
I had to wonder why we ended up sneaking into places so often. When I’d thought about invading Q’ten Lo, I’d imagined using Siltvelt’s influence to charge right through the front door.
I sighed.
“There were outfits prepared for us, so we should change,” Raphtalia said.
The clothes that the water dragon left for me seemed to be made out of hemp or something like that. Raphtalia got a hakama. It didn’t look quite as good as the miko outfit, but it wasn’t a bad choice. Sadeena had a similar outfit. Gaelion got to wear a tiny version of one of those straw ropes you always saw at shrines around his neck. I guess that was his collar. It had a little glass bead-looking thing hanging from it and actually suited him surprisingly well.
“Well didn’t he just think of everything,” I said.
“What is this for?” Gaelion asked.
“It basically shows that you’re a sanctified monster. It’s imbued with the water dragon’s blessing, so it should make you seem important,” Sadeena replied.
“Oh?”
We had effectively replaced our armor with ordinary civilian clothes. Sadeena and Raphtalia each draped a thin sheet over their heads and shoulders as a kind of cloak that would hide their faces. I had a feeling that would just make them stand out.