by Aneko Yusagi
“I can’t let you have all the fun!” I shouted.
I called out the name of the new skill I’d gotten from the shield.
“Sakura Sphere of Influence!”
A magic circle shaped like a big cherry blossom appeared under my feet. Was that all? Nothing else had happened. I guess the skill was useless. Oh well.
“Attack Support!”
I supported Raphtalia by firing off my Attack Support skill, which would double the damage of her next attack. But the instant I threw the Attack Support dart, it split into five cherry blossom petals and they all smashed into the bear.
“Ugh! Wh-what?!”
Aha! So Sakura Sphere of Influence must have been a skill that formed a magic circle that would alter other skills. That made using it well a real pain!
The cherry blossom petals wrapped around the bear’s body and restricted his movement, just like Chain Shield had before he destroyed it. On top of that, the petals came together to form a single cherry blossom while continuing to restrict the bear. To think that I could use Attack Support to restrict an opponent too—now that was convenient!
“Here I go! Kagura Dance of the Sakura! First Formation! Blossom!”
Raphtalia slashed at the bear powerfully as she sped past him. The cherry blossom restricting his movements shattered and faded away. And then, with a bright flash, a flurry of cherry blossoms rose up around the bear. At the same time, a magic circle appeared below him with the same pattern as the one made by Raphtalia’s Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny attack.
“Wha—Ugh! Gahhh! No! Not yet! I will not be defeated!”
“Damn, he’s tough!” I said.
Was he really going to refuse to fall, even after a string of such fierce attacks?!
“You’re finished, false empress!” he roared.
He swung his spear down at Raphtalia.
“Not happening!” I shouted.
I leapt forward and blocked the spear. The attack wasn’t as heavy as before. I could withstand this! I was certain of it! And then a beam of light shot out of my shield.
“Gah!”
That must have been blossom blaze, one of the special equip effects of the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield. All of a sudden, I felt more energized than before.
“What is this? I suddenly feel like I have another attack in me, Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
“Go for it!” I replied.
She sheathed her katana and moved into her quick-draw stance.
“Amazing. Thanks to that magic circle of yours and that light just now, I can use another finishing move immediately,” she said.
“Argh! How long do you plan on resisting?!” the bear growled.
“Hmph. It looks like these effects have managed to increase our own power while weakening yours,” I said.
I’d finally been able to subdue that immense power of his.
“You better not forget about me and Gaelion or the rest of our soldiers!” Sadeena exclaimed.
Determined not to be outdone, she and Gaelion began casting their own cooperative magic.
“Little Gaelion, you’re borrowing power from the water dragon, right? Use it well!” she said.
“Hmph. I don’t like having to work, but I suppose this is the final push. In that case, let’s do this!” he exclaimed.
“Like pure flowing waters, let our intentions wash away hatred, resentment, and the curse upon this land. Let our desire to save the world manifest as strength! Dragon Vein! Grant us a miracle!”
“I, Gaelion, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of mine! Awaken the strength to terminate the foolish adherents before me!”
Sadeena and Gaelion each completed their respective incantations and the cooperative magic activated.
“Blossomlight Maelstrom of the Water Dragon!”
Gaelion transformed into what looked like a small tornado made out of water and started spitting out highly concentrated streams of water in all directions. Sadeena jumped onto the tornado and the two of them took on the form of the water dragon as they went charging toward the bear. Of course that meant they were charging at me too, but Sadeena snatched me out of the way at the moment of impact.
“Gahhhh!”
The tornado of water swallowed up the bear and began crushing him within. Even he couldn’t withstand a powerful tornado made of such highly concentrated water.
“Here I go. This skill combines the Hengen Muso style and the style that Sadeena taught me,” Raphtalia said.
She leapt at the bear and sliced into the tornado with a powerful thrust.
“Supreme Ultimate . . . Slash of Destiny!”
Her blade slid cleanly through the tornado and into the bear. The swirling water of the tornado burst outward with a splash and dissolved into the air.
“Huh?”
The bear landed on the ground, unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief and smirked at Raphtalia.
“Such an impressive skill. To think that it would end in failure! You’ve forfeited any right to call yourself the Heavenly Empress,” he growled.
“You’re wrong,” Raphtalia replied.
She was standing still, facing away from the bear. He took aim at her back and brandished his spear.
“I cut the flow of magic that was supplying your power. Trying to muster up any more . . . would be suicide,” she continued.
“Don’t make me laugh! Take thi—”
And then, just as the bear stomped his foot down, it happened. A yin-yang symbol appeared on his chest and extended outward, wrapping around his entire body!
“Gaaaahhhh!”
“That’s the outside power clashing with your own power. They will discharge shortly,” Raphtalia said.
The effect lasted around ten seconds. When it wore off, the yin-yang symbol enveloping the bear dissolved, and the bear dropped his spear to the ground heavily before catching himself and leaning on it like a cane.
“Impossible! Astral Enchant and the sakura stone of destiny blessing are gone?!” he exclaimed.
“Yes. I could see their power flowing to you, so I wound the flows together and severed them both. The blessing you were given is no more,” Raphtalia replied.
“A-amazing. She is indeed the true Heavenly Empress,” whispered Raluva as he watched on.
“I will never accept such a thing!” the bear roared.
He was determined not to give up. He brandished his spear, but his movements completely lacked the sharpness they’d shown before.
“We’ve won this battle. The result is clear,” Raphtalia said.
“Ugh . . . It’s not over yet! Even if you do defeat me, the government will never forgive you! You’re as good as finished!” the bear roared.
“Sorry, but putting an end to a rotten lot like you and your government is kind of our thing. And since your government asked for it, crushing it is exactly what I’ll do!” I declared loudly.
With an angry look on his face, the bear therianthrope crumpled forward onto the ground. Immediately after, cheers filled the air. They were the shouts of victory from the men who’d joined us to help overthrow their government.
“We won!”
“This may be one small step for the resistance, but it’s one giant leap for us resisters!”
“We’ve finally delivered a blow to the rotten government and their foolish laws!” they cried out, filling the air with their triumphant cheers.
We’d managed to win somehow. But the enemies had been some of the most unconventional and difficult to deal with yet. They concentrated all of their power into a single fighter to boost that person’s stats, and they had the ability to seal off the power of the heroes. Talk about overpowered! I was going to cry if that bear therianthrope wasn’t some elite race, like the ones they had in Siltvelt’s leadership. It was looking like we might be in for a rough ride.
Epilogue: The Old Guy’s Master
“Congratulatio
ns on your victory, little miss.”
The skirt chaser came running over toward Raphtalia, so I activated Shooting Star Shield to obstruct his path.
“You tactless bastard! Do you have any idea what would’ve happened to you if I hadn’t loaned you those weapons?!” he shouted.
His attitude did a complete 360 depending on who he was talking to. He glared at me with an annoyed look on his face, but I couldn’t have cared less.
“If you really like women that much, I’ll loan you that fat killer whale over there. You can have all the fun you want with her,” I said.
“Mr. Naofumi, please don’t treat Sadeena like she’s a complete slut,” Raphtalia interjected.
“Oh my,” said Sadeena.
After hearing my offer, the skirt chaser gulped and glanced over at Sadeena excitedly. That bastard really would settle for anything as long as it was female, I guess.
“Hmm? I’m afraid having a bit of fun with little Naofumi is first on the list of priorities. Let’s start by enjoying a nice stiff drink!” she continued.
“Suit yourself,” I replied.
“Yay! A party to celebrate our victory! I want the best alcohol all for myself! Of course, I’ll see if I can get some rucolu fruit for you, little Naofumi,” she said.
“You like that cheap liquor? Who knew a god of a foreign land would have such bad taste,” said one of Raluva’s men playfully.
“That’s right! Believe it or not, little Naofumi can eat the rucolu fruit straight! Incredible, right?!” Sadeena exclaimed.
All the surrounding warriors began laughing at how worked up she got, bragging about such a thing, as if it were her own achievement.
“Hahaha! Surely you can’t handle that! Even if you’re a god of a foreign land!” one of the warriors shouted at me.
“Did you say he eats the actual fruit that cheap booze is made from? Now that’s something I’d like to see! That stuff would send even Dionysus running for the hills!” another warrior chimed in.
Raphtalia had a vexed look on her face.
“I can all too easily imagine what kind of shenanigans Sadeena and Mr. Naofumi might get up to at a victory celebration party,” she muttered while shaking her head.
“I’m with you 100 percent,” Gaelion agreed.
He was hovering beside Raphtalia with his arms crossed.
I didn’t know what the big deal was. Was rucolu fruit really so scary? I mean, most of the time people went pale and ran away when there was any talk of eating it straight. Being able to do that was the only reason Sadeena even liked me.
“But before any of that, we need to go meet up with the others from the ship,” Gaelion continued.
“Yeah, you’re right. That’s the whole reason we came here, isn’t it?” I replied.
“Let us raise the banner of revolution and send word to our people that the true Heavenly Empress has arrived! Then we shall welcome this ship to Q’ten Lo!” one of the men shouted.
The other men all cheered.
“Come, ladies. Let us enjoy the festivities, shall we?” said the skirt chaser.
He was still pestering Raphtalia and Sadeena and I was really getting tired of him. I figured it was time to shut him up.
“Shield Prison!”
“Wh-what are you doing?! This is—”
I trapped him inside of a prison of shields. Even Raphtalia must have been getting annoyed, because she didn’t try to stop me. Sadeena came skipping over in her killer whale form and leapt at me. Damn it!
“Little Na-o-fu-mi! I totally got hit on! Are you jealous? You’re jealous, aren’t you?” she said.
“Oh yeah. Super jealous. I was really hoping he’d hit on me instead,” I replied.
I couldn’t be bothered with coming up with a wittier answer.
“Aww, you’re cute, even when you’re being sarcastic, little Naofumi,” Sadeena said.
“Who are you calling cute?” I replied.
“Anyway, my heart belongs to you, little Naofumi. Try not to be too mean or I’ll get depressed.”
“You sure don’t sound depressed. As far as I can tell, you’re far more concerned with finding some alcohol.”
She was just itching to get drunk. I could see it written all over her face.
“Oh? Is it that obvious? Come on, then. Let’s go get the others off the ship so that they can join us! Party, party, victory party!” Sadeena exclaimed.
Raphtalia sighed.
“I’m really starting to wonder why we came all this away,” she said.
“Stop complaining, Raphtalia. You’re going to unravel the shroud of mystery surrounding your birth and seize control of your very own country,” I told her.
“I wouldn’t mind knowing what kind of place my parents grew up in, but I’m also perfectly content with just living a quiet life back at the village,” she replied.
Raphtalia sure didn’t need much to be happy. That was one of the things I liked about her, actually.
“Well, you may end up eventually serving as governor of the territory on my behalf, so proactively making some political connections now would be a smart move,” I said.
I would be going back to Japan after the threat of the waves had passed. Rebuilding the village was really something I was doing for Raphtalia’s sake, after all.
“. . .”
Raphtalia just sat there quietly for some reason, without saying anything.
“Alright, let’s get going then. We’ve captured the port town. Now all that’s left is to set up base here, gather the troops, and then seize control of the country,” I said.
I laughed diabolically and Raphtalia rolled her eyes at me.
“I won’t deny that this country has some issues that need to be sorted out. So let’s stop wasting time talking and get going,” she said.
“Alright then!” I replied.
We left the skirt chaser behind and marched triumphantly back toward the port.
Back at the port town, the signs posted by the government had been taken down by order of Raluva. We paraded down the main street behind Raphtalia, who was wearing the miko outfit. Seeing her in the miko outfit must have been reassuring for the citizens of Q’ten Lo. They all bowed their heads deeply when she passed.
Of course, there were those who opposed her influence too. But we’d just defeated the government officials that had forcefully taken over the town. Speaking out against her openly would’ve been suicide. Anyone who didn’t want to get involved in a messy conflict would leave the town. On the contrary, those who opposed the government’s authority would begin to gather there. That was just the nature of things.
But enough talk of the future. We went to meet up with the others who’d been on the ship from Siltvelt. It had finally arrived at the port.
“Ohhh! It’s Masteeerrrr!” cried Filo.
“Rafuuu!”
Raph-chan was sitting on Filo’s head. Filo waved at us from the deck of the ship before jumping off and heading our way.
It was Raph-chan! I hadn’t seen her for a while and it was starting to make me sad. I wanted the people of Q’ten Lo to see just how great Raph-chan was. They completely worshipped Raphtalia when she wore the miko outfit, so I was sure they would love it if Raph-chan wore a miko outfit too. It would’ve been nice to have others who understood how I felt.
“Umm, Mr. Naofumi? What are you thinking about?” Raphtalia asked.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Atla exclaimed.
She practically ran down the side of the ship and then leapt at me. It made her look like a stuntwoman or something.
“Atla!” Fohl shouted.
Determined not to be outdone, he tried to leap down onto the dock from the ship but just fell into the ocean instead. Poor guy.
“Fehhh! We were worried about you, Naofumi!” Rishia exclaimed.
“I suppose we were,” Itsuki agreed.
The two of them filed down off the ship in an orderly fashion and then rushed over to us. Itsuki sure didn’t look worried at a
ll.
“I thought Raph-chan explained what had happened,” I said.
“Yes, Filo told us that you had already made it to Q’ten Lo safely,” Rishia replied.
“Was everything okay on the ship?” I asked.
“More attackers showed up every now and then. They seemed to be trying to figure out where Raphtalia had gone,” she said.
I guess they never would have imagined she’d already made it into the country.
“Itsuki, stay on your guard. We can’t use our portal skills in this country, it seems,” I said.
“I will. How are we going to bring Ren here?” he asked.
“It’ll be a real hassle, but I guess our only choice is to take a boat back and go pick him up,” I replied.
“Someone needs to guard the village. We could always do this with just the two of us,” Itsuki suggested.
That was true. But I had a feeling S’yne would be getting worried right about now too. She had probably assumed she’d be able to rush to my side immediately, so I wasn’t sure how she would deal with finding out we couldn’t use teleportation.
Still, it would be difficult for me to leave the battlefront. And getting into the country by boat was still pretty dangerous. It would probably be better to search for a dragon hourglass before going that route. Besides, now that Atla, Itsuki, and the others had joined us, we’d be able to put up a pretty good fight, even if we did end up facing more enemies like that bear.
“Hey, kid! I’m glad to see you’re still alive,” said the old weapon shop guy as he got off the ship. “So this is Q’ten Lo, huh?”
“They have all kinds of strange culture and traditions here. You might be able to learn a thing or two,” I replied.
Some of it might have been outside the realm of his expertise, but there were a lot of items and equipment in this country that I’d never seen before. I figured it would be nice if he could take a look and try to figure them out.
We were discussing that when the skirt chaser came running up. He was really upset.
“You can’t just cage people all of a sudden, you little prick!” he screamed.
“That’s what you get for trying to hit on Raphtalia. I can’t have someone like you putting their dirty hands on her and tainting her,” I replied.