Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Home of the Phoenix 

The queen was joining us as the head of the coalition army. She seemed to have some idea of what had gone down in Siltvelt and Q’ten Lo. I was thankful for her reconnaissance abilities. 
The castle would be left in Melty’s care. The town would be handled by a skilled noble, a man who had looked after Keel in Melromarc. Eclair would be handling Melty’s protection. We couldn’t afford to take the nation’s entire fighting force with us, and she’d make an effective guard. 
She’d still looked upset at not being able to fight the wave. She was pretty strong, that much was true, so I could understand that feeling. Still, she’d shaken Raphtalia by the hand and entrusted us to her. 
The queen also had Trash along with her too, sitting in the wagon. He looked even older than the last time I saw him. He’d been like that since seeing Atla, apparently. He hated me, but having her—who was apparently the spitting image of his own sister—now placed under my command was probably keeping him in check. He still glared at me, but when Atla was by my side, that glare softened. 
With all that going on, we arrived at where the Phoenix was sealed. 
Motoyasu getting a portal for us meant the trip over was a smooth one. There was also a dragon hourglass at our destination, so Raphtalia was put to work using Return Dragon Vein to bring in some of the forces from places like Melromarc and Siltvelt. 
 
“So this is where the Phoenix is sealed,” I said to no one in particular. The country we had arrived in was, well, barely large enough to be called a country, a real tiny backwater. There were people in the castle town dressed in what looked like Chinese clothing. It was a China-like nation but with differing tastes from Siltvelt. Exactly how it was different I couldn’t really express well in words. 
It was like a regional thing, looking the same at a glance but having subtle differences. In terms of Japanese history, it was like the difference between the Muromachi and Edo periods. 
“First let’s head to the castle,” said the queen, walking ahead and leading the way through the castle town. She didn’t really seem to know the way, so I wasn’t sure she had to go to the trouble of guiding us. 
“There aren’t many people here, are there?” I noted. It was almost odd. There were so few people around we almost had the streets to ourselves. The town really looked to have fallen on hard times. 
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of being told there was a castle here. 
“After all the trouble with the Spirit Tortoise, talk of the Phoenix that slumbers here also awakening caused a bit of a panic, and most of the people fled,” the queen explained. 
“I mean, fair enough . . .” The Spirit Tortoise had done its fair share of damage. I could see people choosing to run from that. I guess the rumors of the damage that had been caused were enough to scare most people away. 
“So? Are we going to talk with the leaders of this nation?” 
“That’s right. We are to have an audience with a representative,” the queen stated. 
 
“Hmmm.” I wasn’t convinced. 
Rightly so. The chamber the queen finally led us into had only one single, young-looking kid sitting on the throne. 
This was their representative? Another kid ruler, like Ruft? 
But no, he wasn’t quite that young. More like Melty, maybe. 
“You are most welcome, the four holy heroes and the queen of Melromarc. I am the king of this nation,” the boy said. 
“The king? You’re not the ruler I know. Whatever has happened here?” the queen asked. 
“Our previous monarch cleaned out the treasure room and departed our lands, along with his minions,” the new king informed us. I gave a deep and lingering sigh. Fleeing his own kingdom to avoid being caught up in the Phoenix battle—just how rotten could you get? 
“Very well,” the queen continued. “So you are now the representative of this land.” 
“That is how things currently stand,” the boy agreed. 
“Hey, queen,” I said. 
“What is it?” she asked. 
“Are all the royal families in this world so extreme?” I couldn’t help but ask. 
“He should be of the most capable bloodline of Faubrey, so I can’t fathom why he would run away when faced with crisis,” she explained. Hold on. Was it the very Faubrey bloodline of Trash? The Seven Star Heroes hadn’t come to see us either. They seemed pretty suspicious overall anyway. Who knew how far they could even be trusted? 
 
“That reminds me. You ordered the Seven Star Heroes in Faubrey to come see me, right? What’s happening with that?” I asked the queen. 
“I’ve made contact with them three times, but nothing has happened yet. Then there’s the incident with the one claiming to be a Seven Star Hero who you encountered in Siltvelt. Everything is still being confirmed,” she explained. We needed to stay on guard, is what it sounded like. 
There’d been some pretty crazy people amongst the vassal weapon holders in Kizuna’s world. It was starting to look like that problem wasn’t exclusive to that world. 
“We welcome the four holy heroes and those of the coalition army. As requested in advance, we have also prepared the materials for you concerning the Phoenix. Please take a look at them,” the king told us. Then he clapped his hands and a Shadow and a scholar came forward to show us the way. 
“We’ll have the coalition army remain in the castle town and its environs, if that would be acceptable,” the queen said. 

“Of course . . .” The boy’s expression was grim. The harvest around here had been poor, I’d been told. The remaining people I had seen had looked pretty thin. 
Right, of course. There was something of a global famine going on. 
I had the bioplants, so it hadn’t really bothered me . . . but these people looked like they could hardly get any food at all. 
“Shadow,” I said. 
 
“Whatever iz it?” he asked. I beckoned him over, took some bioplant seeds from my pocket, and scattered them into his hands. “We’re going to be staying here a while. Plant those somewhere to secure some food for us. You can fill your own food stores up too,” I told him. 
“Very well,” came the reply. Then the queen also gave a deep bow at my actions, and the child-king joined her. 
“Our gratitude for your mercy, Hero,” he offered. 
“Letting people starve is only going to blow back on us in the end,” I told him. Damn. The food issues were pretty serious around here. I was starting to worry about how long the supplies we had carried in were going to last. 
“Is there a familiar in this nation? Something like Ost?” I asked. Ost had been difficult to face as an assassin, but she’d been very impressive as the Spirit Tortoise. Whomever we had to fight here, I’d like to at least say hello before the fun started. 
“We haven’t confirmed the presence of any such individual here . . .” the queen answered. 
“Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu, you got any game-based knowledge on this subject?” I asked the three of them. 
“Not really. In the game I played, the whole world came together to fight. Anyone like that would stick out right away,” Ren said. 
“That’s right,” Itsuki confirmed. 
“So say I too!” Motoyasu added. I guess Ost had been the familiar of the Spirit Tortoise, transforming herself into a human simply because the tortoise had been the first of the four benevolent animals. 
 
Hmmm. This might even make things easier in the end. 
“Let’s take a look at these materials you’ve collected,” I said. 
“Of courze. Thiz way,” said the Shadow. We finished our simple audience with the king and were shown through to where the Phoenix materials had been gathered. 
Before that though . . . 
“Raphtalia, Fohl, Atla, go and see how the coalition army is doing,” I ordered them. 
“They should know what to do already, right?” Raphtalia said. 
“But we’ve got more coming in too. I need you to bring them all up to speed. If anything happens, report to me at once,” I explained. 
“Ah, very well. Understood,” Raphtalia replied. She and the others would have no part to play in looking through the Phoenix materials. 
I’d told Filo to secure a spot for her wagon and survey the surrounding terrain, so she was already gone. 
Ah, having her sing for everyone might be a good way to increase morale. It sounded like she was quite a popular singer. Before meeting with us in Siltvelt, she’d been singing in each location she visited with Melty while raising her level and becoming quite famous for it. So I was told, anyway. 
I’d seen anime in which singing boosted morale. Maybe it really worked. 

Then I noticed S’yne, who had really been on edge, constantly looking around since we got here. 

“No need to be quite so tense,” I told her. 
“But—” 
“She says that it is just at times like this, prior to a large battle or during the fighting, that her foes are likely to appear,” her familiar, the Keel doll, said for her. 
“Can I go and—” 
“Now she is asking if she may go and check the vicinity, just to be sure,” the doll continued. 
“If you feel you must. But don’t overdo things beforehand and then fall asleep in the battle,” I warned her. S’yne nodded in response and then headed out. 
She made a good point though. We needed to keep security tight right now. 
“Master Naofumi,” Atla called out with her hand raised. 
“What?” I asked, somewhat distracted. 
“If you need anything, just let me know,” she said. 
“I will. S’yne said pretty much the same thing,” I replied to Atla and then headed to look at the Phoenix materials.