Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Street Racer 

What? Huh? What was this moron blabbing about now? 
A street racer? That wasn’t even a hero anymore. And yet he had an incredible smile plastered across his face. 
“W-what the hell is that?” 
“My wagon!” Filo shouted. 
“It’s the height of poor taste! What’s the big idea?” Melty jabbed. 
“Hold on, Filo.” I cut through the noise. “You’re saying that’s the wagon we used to use?!” The last time we’d encountered Motoyasu, I’d chased after him, wanting to get the wagon back, but it definitely hadn’t been in this state then. 
“Yeah. I can see the marks I made on it! Waaah!” she bawled. Seriously? We might not have used it all that much after buying it, with so much other stuff going on, but it had still been Filo’s prized wagon. During any free time she had, I remember her always polishing it. 
That same wagon was now turned into this monstrosity. I hardly had words for it. 
“I can hardly see any trace of it,” Raphtalia said. “Is this really the wagon that we used?” 
“Raph, raph.” Raph-chan moved onto Filo’s crying shoulder and attempted to console her. I understood her sympathy. I really did. 
“What do you think, Filo-tan? I’ve tuned up the wagon you left me with all the love I could muster,” Motoyasu explained. 

Oh God! I hated this guy. Man, did I hate this guy! “Tuned up?” More like “messed up!” 
I just wanted to punch him in the face, so hard. However, I also wanted nothing more to do with him. Fitoria! Gah! She’d set us up! 
Yes, it was safe and would also be over quickly, just as had been described. But having to take on this guy? A battle over wagons like hermit crabs changed their shells! And even if we won, who’d want that wagon? 
God, it was our wagon in the first place! 
What about the stolen wagons that Melty had mentioned? She also failed to mention that it was Motoyasu we were dealing with! I mean, the signs had been there. I was just a moron for not noticing them! 
There was no way I was playing around with the broken Motoyasu! I hated his overpowering manner at the best of times. Even if he’d realized the truth and decided to aid us, his basic nature as a perving womanizer was unchanged. 
Shit, he was probably only helping because he knew I was Filo’s master! 
During the whole Ren episode, he’d helped out and then up and vanished, the result of which was rolling back around with these monstrous modifications! 
Without thinking, I lifted my shield. “Portal—” 
“Hold on, hold on. We’re leaving?!” Melty interjected. 
“What other choice do we have after seeing that thing?” I proclaimed. I would have loved for someone, anyone, to provide me with some choices. 

“I do understand how you feel, but . . .” Raphtalia offered. 
“But this is a request from Fitoria, isn’t it?” Melty reminded me. 
“That’s right! I owe her a piece of my mind for foisting this off onto us!” I was actually seething mad. It meant dealing with this absolute moron. I was amazed Fitoria had put up with it, although maybe she hadn’t had any trouble with that. 
Not to mention, Motoyasu had said that he’d rush to our aid if we needed him. And yet, after actually seeing nothing of him at all, now here he was, messing about as a street racer! Are you freaking kidding me?! 
“Right, Filo! Take Motoyasu out!” I commanded. Filo would be able to handle this. I was sure of it. Not that my faith in her would have any effect on things. 
“No!” she replied. 
“You can’t leave everything to Filo!” Melty raged, clearly preparing to lay into me. I just wanted to tell them both to shut up. I really wanted nothing to do with any of this. “That said, while I’d heard a bit about this from Filo, it’s all a bit more problematic when confronted by it firsthand,” Melty admitted. 
“I’d heard he was broken, but this is something else,” Raphtalia agreed. 
“He is very strange,” Atla added. “I sense a strange love from him, close to insanity. This is certainly not something to be underestimated. That depth of feeling for someone, that’s something I can certainly understand—and won’t be outdone for.” 
“What are you rambling about, Atla?” Raphtalia asked. 

“That guy is weird,” was Ruft’s opinion. 
“You’ve got his number, Ruft,” I congratulated him. The kid definitely had a good eye. 
“Why’s he so weird?” Ruft asked. 
“Her sister broke him, and then Filo destroyed whatever was left,” I briskly explained. When I pointed at Melty, she gave a scream into the sky. 
“Sister!” 
“If only we could bring him back somehow, like the Sword Hero and Bow Hero,” Raphtalia said. 
“That’s what he wants, I’m afraid,” I replied. 
“But tell me, Naofumi. Who’s this ‘father-in-law’ he’s talking about?” Melty inquired. 
“Me, apparently,” I was barely able to admit. 
“But why?!” Melty asked. 
“It has a nice ring to it,” Ruft said. 
“Ruft, listen. You must never call Mr. Naofumi ‘father-in-law.’ Ever.” Raphtalia was quick on the uptake. 
“Why not?” Ruft asked. 
“The better question is, why would you want to?” Raphtalia countered. 
“Because he’s so reliable and teaches me so many things,” Ruft explained. 
“That is like a father, I’ll admit. But please, for my sake, don’t call him that.” What was Raphtalia going on about? 

Gah, anyway, explaining all of this was a pain. I just wanted to run away. This really was a mess we didn’t need. 

“I want to go home,” Filo said. 
“Yes . . . me too,” Ruft agreed. 
“Raph,” added Raph-chan. 
Filo didn’t like Motoyasu much either, after all. I stroked Raph-chan in an attempt to alleviate my stress. 
“Just leaving isn’t going to resolve this issue, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia advised. 
“He would be too much to subdue physically. That’s how strong he is. In order to win, you would need strength such as Master Naofumi, or the Sword or Bow Hero. Even then, he would not back down,” Atla announced, providing an accurate analysis. Motoyasu was surely that strong, at the moment. That was how strong cursed weapons were, after all. He likely still had it. 
If we could talk him down, we wouldn’t even have to fight. 
From that perspective, this was a simple job. Motoyasu harbored no ill will toward us either. 
“Look . . . Motoyasu, what are you playing at?” I started. 
“I’m a street racer,” he returned. 
“That’s not an answer!” I was losing my calm already. So much was missing from his reply I almost didn’t know where to go next. 
“Why have you become a street racer?” I ventured. 

“These girls said they wanted to do it, and so I’m letting them be free,” he explained. 

“I see. I think you’re the one suffering from excess freedom,” I sniped. 
Filolials wanted wagons. They had a hermit-crab-like habit of stealing them from each other, and yet he spoke of freedom? I didn’t understand it at all. 
Seriously, the moment the word “filolial” had been mentioned, I should have seen this coming. I was distracted by other words, like “Fitoria” and “mountain bandits.” Or to put it more accurately, I’d driven all thoughts of Motoyasu from my head altogether. 
“Can someone tell me, why does he call you father-in-law!?” Melty asked, still stuck on that. 
“Because I’m the one who raised Filo, apparently,” I explained. So “owner” meant “father,” did it? Filo might be under my command, but she certainly wasn’t my child. 
Even if I was her parent, Motoyasu was older than me. So why did I have to suffer being called “father-in-law” by someone older than I was? 
“Now, dear Filo-tan, allow me to introduce our darling children!” Motoyasu proclaimed. 
“These are your kids? Together?!” When she dumped him in the mountains, had she given him a pity lay and literally laid eggs before making a run for it? 
“No! He’s lying, Master. I’d never do such a thing!” Filo was quick to defend herself. 
“She most certainly would not,” Melty backed her up. “Stop making up such lies!” Motoyasu, however, just gleefully started in on a story none of us wanted to hear. 

“The red one is Crimmy. Her name comes from ‘crimson.’ Next is the blue one. Her name is Marine, which comes from ‘aquamarine.’ Finally, we have Green. Her name comes from ‘green!’ Yeah, you guessed it!” 
“We’re not his kids, but nice to meet you!” All three of them gave a slightly out-of-sorts bow. 
So they weren’t his kids after all! 
Oh, these rascals! There had been three women in Motoyasu’s party before, including Witch. Even after his mental break, he still wanted to be surrounded by women, although, at least this time they all seemed to like him. 
In any case, these were his followers now. He looked totally broken and yet was still exactly the same. 
“But I must say, there are a lot of pigs around you, father-in-law,” Motoyasu commented. 
“Just you listen to me! Hold on. What do you mean, pigs?” Melty raged. 
“Pigs? What are you talking about?” I also asked. 
“Exactly what it sounds like. Pigs. Do you have a fondness for swine?” he inquired with a straight face. Right, right, hold on. Back in the inn once, Motoyasu had gone on about women being pigs. He’d called Raphtalia a raccoon-pig too, or something like that. 
Could it be? 
“Hey, Motoyasu. What do you see here?” I ask, pointing at Melty. 
“A blue piglet. All that oinking must get annoying, right? Ugh, I really dislike it,” he replied. 

“You’re kidding! ‘Pig’? He’s talking about me?! I’m going to rip his head off!” Melty was incensed. 
“Give it up. This is all your sister’s fault,” I said. 
“My freaking sister!” Melty exclaimed. I mean, I could understand not being able to put up with being called a pig. 
Still, it was as I expected. Motoyasu had been taken completely by the curse series and now saw all women as pigs. The fact he didn’t respond to anything Melty had asked him meant he couldn’t even hear what they were saying. Dammit, I just wished he’d stop saying bizarre stuff to confuse us! 
Where, then, did he obtain his three filolials? If I had to make a guess . . . Yes, just before encountering Motoyasu again, the slave trader had been acting a bit odd. He’d definitely been avoiding meeting my eyes. Damn slave trader! I’d make him pay for this! 
“Well then, father-in-law. Time for us to race, I say!” Motoyasu proclaimed. 
“Why?!” I shouted. 
“There’s a goal in the pass up ahead that will act as our destination,” Motoyasu continued, oblivious. “The one who reaches it first will get to steal away an angel from the other racer. Are we agreed?” 
“No, we’re not. You don’t get to decide that!” I raged. 
“Motty, are we going yet?” the red one asked. 

“Soon, soon, I say,” Motoyasu replied. Motty? Is that what they called him?! 

Those three colors too—red, blue, and green. They reminded me of the starters from a monster-raising game. All he needed was a yellow one and he’d have the full set . . . Ah, and Filo was golden in her human form, which I guessed counted as yellow. 
“Let the race begin, I say!” Motoyasu enthused. 
“H-hey! Listen to me for a moment!” Before my words even reached him though, Motoyasu was heading back the way he came. Those three young girls trotting along and sounding so happy was like something scraping at the surface of my eyes. 
If this was happening in my world, he’d already be in jail. 
Still, at least he was consistent. I remembered him racing before. Back then he’d been riding a knight’s dragon. Hadn’t Witch made him do it? 
In any case, this looked like the rematch. Was Filo really going to have to race Motoyasu? 
“W-what should we do?” Melty asked. 
“Ignore him and leave?” I asked hopefully. 
“Which would mean we lose the race, wouldn’t it? What about the request?” Melty pressed me. 
“I don’t know. I don’t care either. Just talking to him was enough. Time to claim the reward,” I stubbornly insisted. That Fitoria! Making Filo and Melty a little stronger wasn’t going to make us even for all this. I was going to have to ask for a bigger reward. We didn’t have the strength to handle this. 
A tactical retreat was in order to come back with Ren and Itsuki. 
“Huh? What’s the meaning of all this?” Filo asked. 
 
“The thing is, Filo, if you lose to that Spear Hero, you will become his,” Melty gently explained. 
“That’s the short of it. Thanks for everything, Filo,” Atla cut in. 
“Atla, that really wasn’t called for . . .” Raphtalia chided. 
“This is all a bit scary,” Ruft ventured, watching the others squabble while he clung onto Raph-chan. There was no need to be so scared. 
“What?!” she exclaimed. It sounded like Filo had finally realized what the details were of this proposed race. “No way!” 
“Uwah!” Melty yelped. 
Filo, suddenly desperate not to lose, took off on her running rampage. The next moment, Melty’s screams echoed out and it seemed that Filo had accepted the race. 
However, considering how far behind we now were, we were also losing. Badly. 
What course was this race even taking? Motoyasu had all the advantages. These mountains were his home turf, right? 
I brought up the map . . . As we rattled along though, it was so hard to read! Anyway, when I spread the map out . . . there was just a twisting mountain path, which looked completely unsuited to any kind of “race.” Much of the path was created along the contours of the mountains, creating what we would call a “trail” in my world. 
Filo looked like she wanted to do this, so I decided to give her some support. It wasn’t like he’d said we couldn’t use magic. 

Still, would Zweite Aura be enough to catch up? Ah crap. Without Sadeena, I couldn’t use Descent of the Thunder God. Was there anyone in my current party who could stand in? 

Melty was water-based, so maybe she could use similar magic. Raphtalia and Raph-chan were totally different, so I’d have no luck with them. But hold on. When I most recently tried to cast Aura, I’d sensed the same kind of feeling as when I’d done it with Ost. 
I took a deep breath and started to incant the magic. I felt like I was finally capable of pulling off the stuff that Ost had taught me. I reviewed everything I knew, turning it over in my mind. Way of the Dragon Vein involved incanting by receiving power from the media that provided it. In this case, that was external life force. Along with that, I also drew out some SP— the power of my shield. 
The magic, meanwhile, was internal magic. I stocked that in a separate vessel. I drew out the life force and then, following the lead of the power, called up the puzzle pieces. At the same time, I imagined the magic incantation. 
Three puzzle pieces that I had to connect appeared close to me. 
This was the feeling! More, more, I wanted more magical knowledge. 
“Mr. Naofumi? I sense a powerful flow of energy from you at the moment. Could it be . . .” Raphtalia had noticed that something was going on, at least. 
“I sense warm power flowing out from you, Master Naofumi! Something incredible is about to happen!” Atla enthused. 

“I don’t care about that! Can someone stop all this shaking!” Melty yelled. 

“W-w-waaah!” That sounded like Ruft. 
“Raph!” Raph-chan responded. I opened my eyes a little and looked at the two of them. Ruft had clearly tumbled out of the wagon, and the now large-sized Raph-chan had safely grabbed him. 
“I, the Shield Hero, order heaven and order earth. Cut free the bonds of truth, reconnect them, and spout forth pus. Power of the Dragon Vein, I, the one formed of magic and the power of the hero, the source of your power, the Shield Hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and provide my intended target with everything.” 
I reflected all of my past experience with the spell. I was starting to understand the differences between using Way of the Dragon Vein and regular magic. 
While they were rooted in a very similar place, the level of difficulty was completely different because magic that involved inscribing the magic lettering onto your own power to trigger it placed its focus on ease of activation. Learning more advanced forms of magic meant having to register it to yourself first. While it was simple to use, on the flipside of that, it could take a long time to read magic intended to interrupt that of an enemy. 
On the other hand, the Way of the Dragon Vein involved conducting power from close by, and so you needed to calculate the forms for yourself. That was why you couldn’t just use the same form. You weren’t incanting the same elements each time, and so the pieces you were combining the magic from kept changing. 
 
A good analogy, perhaps, was the difference between languages and mathematics. 
If you were incanting magic to unleash a blazing fire, for a regular spell you just had to simply read the word for “blazing fire.” But if you wanted a small fire or a complete conflagration, those were different words. So you had to learn those too. 
However, when using Way of the Dragon Vein, you just had to produce a formula with a product that equaled fire. The calculation could be “fire” + “oil,” or they could be “conflagration” plus “water.” 
Maybe that was why blocking it was pretty easy too. All you needed to do was guess ahead in the magic they were trying to read and force the answer first. 
That also explained why it was useful in cooperative magic, because it meant you could still complete the spell even if you didn’t solve all the puzzles alone. 
However, I had also just discovered that you couldn’t mix these two together and incant them at the same time. While magic and the Way of the Dragon Vein were in principle incredibly close to each other, they were as incompatible as water and oil and couldn’t be mixed together. 
However, SP and life force . . . EP was capable of mixing these two oil-and-water types of magic. 
In other words, this was magic that only a hero could use. 
Right. I completed the power and activated it. 
“Liberation Aura!” Ost, my friend! I’d finally reached the point of using this magic for myself! Your efforts were not in vain! 
 
That said, Ost might not have been too pleased to see me using it on Filo in order to defeat Motoyasu. 
“Go! Filo!” I shouted, designating her the recipient of the Liberation Aura. With this, I could now use this power without having to pay any significant cost! 
“Here I go!” Filo started to run at multiple times her previous speed! 
“Filo! Use the center of gravity of the wagon to take the curves while maintaining this speed,” I ordered her. 
“Sure thing!” she replied. That suggestion from me was all it took for Filo to start drifting the wagon! 
Just how was she doing that? I was extremely worried that the axles were going to break. 
That said, Motoyasu was doing the same thing. He was tearing along ahead of us and was so far away that flight was still probably the only way to catch him. Motoyasu was also cornering while drifting his wagon. 
It looked like Filo was actually faster, but her opponents knew the course well, and with our delay in starting, it was still unlikely we’d be able to catch them. 
“Right! Left! The right fork is faster there!” I gave instructions, map in one hand. It wasn’t easy to do since we were still bouncing along. Our wagon was made of wood too and had quite a few people aboard it. 

If we needed more speed, maybe I shouldn’t have brought so many people with me. 
 
“Hey, Filo,” I began. 
“What?” she replied, even as she ran. In the back of the clattering wagon, everyone else was just clinging on for dear life, desperate not to be thrown out. 
“You think maybe we could leave the cart and chase them without it?” I suggested. 
“No way!” she quickly shot back. 
“Why not?” I inquired. 
“This is my race! I can’t leave the cart behind during my race!” she explained. 
“Hmmm.” What was this, some kind of instinctive battle between filolials? 
When I gave it some more thought, maybe we should lose to Motoyasu on purpose, and then Filo would become his . . . but since she had sworn loyalty to me, that wouldn’t work. So instead I should somehow get an exemption from that rule. Then I could dangle Filo like a carrot in front of a horse and lead him along into whatever I wanted! 
“Master, you’re thinking something naughty, aren’t you!” Filo shouted. What, did Filo have eyes in the back of her head? 
“Naofumi, for the sake of all that’s holy, will you stop making that face when you’re brewing up some kind of scheme?!” Melty added. Gah, it looked like they were all on to me. 

“Mr. Naofumi! Filo, you too. Just try to stay calm!” Raphtalia’s voice was more panicked than either of us; I was the picture of composure. 
 
Now we were coming up to a rope bridge made of vines. 
“H-hold on, Naofumi! That looks like a rope bridge!” Melty had spotted it too. 
“Yeah. I reckon Filo can handle it,” I replied, still calm. Liberation had given her an unholy boost in speed; it was quite incredible. She had her skills too. Nothing to worry about. 
Even if she did screw up and we fell, we could just use a portal to fly back to safety. The wagon . . . would have to fend for itself. 
“Raaaaaagh!” Filo headed out onto the bridge without a moment’s hesitation. We immediately started to hear the popping sounds of vines breaking along the bottom of the bridge. Melty let out a scream that almost popped my eardrums. Even more amazing was that Raphtalia screamed as well—my name—long and loud. 
At their screams, Atla darted her head around and took hold of my sleeve. 
“E-everything is okay, isn’t it, Master Naofumi?” she tentatively asked. 
“Yeah,” I replied with confidence. 
“G-good. What’s gotten into those two?” she inquired. 
“I don’t rightly know. Maybe they should have more trust in Filo?” I prompted. But they just kept screaming. Indeed, perhaps now also enraged by my comment, Melty grabbed me and started shaking even as she screamed. 
“This is impossible! We’ll fall! We have to get out of here!” she managed. 

“Raaaaaagh!” Filo plowed onward. With a definite snapping noise, the thickest vine supporting the bridge gave way. 

“It’s broken!” Raphtalia screamed. Honestly, I thought she’d hold up better in a crisis than this. 
Filo accelerated away even faster, and for a moment I thought she was leaving the cart behind. Then she grabbed a vine supporting the bridge at high speed and kicked out at the wagon catching up behind her, knocking it over to the other side. 
“Guwaaah!” Everyone inside the cart was slammed into the wall, suffering various bumps and bruises as a result. 
“Yaah!” Having released the vine, Filo gave a cry as she used her mighty legs to propel herself after the wagon, catching up and then setting off once again. 
“Uwah. I don’t think one life will be enough for this race,” Raphtalia bemoaned. 
“What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing,” I confided in her. 
“If you think that, pay more attention to the course!” she raged. 
“If we hadn’t just done that, we wouldn’t have a hope of winning!” I shot back. In actual fact, it had proven to be quite the shortcut. We were really catching up now. 
Bumped along by the clattering wagon, I checked the map again. I only had the light of the torches to go by, but Motoyasu looked to still be plenty far ahead. Just how much of a lead had he got on us? 

I guess there was a reason he called himself “street racer.” Shit, maybe he was even using his own secret shortcuts. 
 
“We’ve got a nightmare five-curve hairpin coming up. Watch out for that,” I warned. Just the image on the map was terrifying; one wrong step and we’d be taking a new shortcut straight down the mountain. 
I certainly had no recollection of arriving in a race game world. 
“I’m on it!” Filo proceeded to use jumps to leap over each of the curves of each hairpin. The wagon sounded like it didn’t agree with that decision. In fact, it felt like a blender that was about to break apart, with Raphtalia and the others getting blended inside. 
“Waah, aaah!” Ruft was having the hardest time of it, and Raph-chan had grown large in order to hold onto and try to stabilize him. 
“Aaagh . . . Raph!” Raphtalia shouted as she herself risked tipping over the side. 
“Raph?” Luckily, the oversized Raph-chan used her tail to grab Raphtalia. The thing that caught my attention most, however, was what Raphtalia had just said. Could it be that, in moments of crisis, she also made a “raph” sound? 
Nah, probably not. She’d likely just been calling to Raph-chan for aid. 
Raph-chan also looked over at Melty, bouncing around in the wagon, perhaps thinking about helping her. But she was bouncing so hard there was probably little she could do. I decided to try and hold her in place using two Float Shields, but— 
“Owww!” Ah, I hit her with one of them. Well, so long as she held onto it! 

“This is quite thrilling,” Atla exclaimed. For some reason, she wasn’t being shaken around at all, riding the bumps as though she was carved out of the wood of the wagon. 

Being in the driver’s seat, I had a much better time of things. 
Maybe it was thanks to her magic and life force. But no, that should mean Raphtalia would be okay too. 
I would have liked to help them all, but if I let go of the reins, I risked getting thrown out myself. If that happened, with my high defenses I’d probably survive . . . but we’d also probably lose the race. Raph-chan was helping Raphtalia, so it looked like she’d be okay for now. 
“I never dreamed that Raph-chan would be saving me,” Raphtalia commented. 
“Raph,” Raph-chan offered, hugging Ruft to her tummy and giving Raphtalia a peace sign. 
“Uhh . . . I’m gonna die. I’m seriously gonna die,” Melty moaned, clinging to the Float Shields and offering up some uncharacteristic childlike whining. I wanted to say: You were the one who started this! Put up with it! 
She should be grateful to the world in which she was born and the blessings of Fitoria that she could take a beating like this without dying, honestly. 
“If you don’t like it, you’ll just have to send Filo to Motoyasu,” I reminded her. 
“No!” Melty adamantly replied. 

“Choosing to prioritize friendship? See, you’ll make a great queen,” I remarked. 
 
“Hearing that doesn’t make me happy at all. In this situation, not at all!” she sullenly replied. The back of the wagon was starting to look like nothing more than a pile of corpses though. It might have been better to bring Wyndia and Gaelion along after all. 
I could at least let these guys out . . . 
“Wouldn’t it be better if you guys got out?” I suggested. 
“How are we meant to do that?!” Melty retorted. 
“Use magic!” Seemed simple enough to me. 
“I can’t use magic under these conditions!” Melty shouted back. 
“Sure you can. I know. Shoot some water magic and use the reaction to push you out. How about that?” Seemed like a valid idea to me. 
“You’ve got to be kidding!” she replied. 
“Not at all. I’m being totally serious here,” I told her. That seemed like a pretty basic escape method that Melty could possibly use. 
“That look in your eye . . . you really are serious! I really have to do this? To save the world?” Melty was incredulous. 
“I mean, if you’re asking if you really have to do it, I’ve got nothing for you,” I admitted. I was simply postulating one way she might escape the wagon without dying. 
“Mr. Naofumi! That’s quite enough messing—” Raphtalia started. Whatever. 
We really were catching up anyway, but the goal was also drawing closer. We were going to lose at this rate. 

Ah! From beyond the cliff, I saw the light of Motoyasu’s speeding wagon. We still had to go all the way around to reach that point. If we could just jump across to there, we could win with ease, but it was too much to expect that. 

“Filo, you can see the light on the cliff over there, right?” I asked her. “Just below that is the goal. At the moment, we’re going to lose!” 
“Don’t want to!” That was her almost petulant reply. Filo proceeded to leave the course . . . over the cliff! 
“That’s a cliff! A cliff! Filo, we can’t fly! We’re going to faaaaaaaaaaaaaall!” Melty screamed. The timing here was key. Could Filo make it? 
“Yah!” With a cry, she grabbed the roof of the cart and flapped her wings. An incredible wind whipped up around us, with an accompanying incredible whooshing sound! Was Filo really going to fly? I did recall her hopping about a little when bickering with Gaelion. 
Man, in Kizuna’s world, she’d actually flown. 
Oh? She was successfully hovering in the air. 
“Waooooh!” She was doing more of a penguin than an eagle though. Was her plan just to make a gradual shortcut across like this? 
It was a real gamble as to whether it would work or not. The chances of it failing seemed far higher. She was gradually losing height. Filo’s body just wasn’t made for flight. 
Was it her weight? But Gaelion could fly and look at him. Messed up. That was other-worldly physics for you. And yet filolials couldn’t fly! 

Shildina had been flying around, hadn’t she? And Sadeena in beast transformation too. Boy, these poor filolials really had got the short end of the stick. 

I decided to help her out. 
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!” I sent out the two shields, one after the other, right at the limit of their range. The goal was beyond the cliff ahead. 
And then— 
“Change Shield!” I selected the Rope Shield. It had a hook as its special effect. That was added when it awakened. The hook could be used to launch a rope from the shield and pull things in. I also had the Chimera Viper Shield, but the range on that hook was shorter. 
What this all meant was that I could use the Rope Shield to make hooks appear on the distant shields and then draw the wagon toward them. Then, using the principle of a pendulum, we could swing over to the Second Shield. 
“Shield Prison!” Furthermore, I created a Shield Prison below the wagon. 
“Filo!” I commanded. 
“Got you!” she replied. Filo kicked the wagon and we reached the distant cliff. Using the Prison as fresh footing, she started running again. 
“One life . . . really is not enough for this race.” Melty was rolling listlessly on the wagon bed. Honestly, I felt almost the same. I certainly wasn’t going to take Filo racing again any time soon. 

If there ever was another race, I’d leave Filo behind completely and just use Portal Shield. 
 
“We’re going to die! Mr. Naofumi. Seriously, this is going to get us killed! One hundred percent!” Raphtalia shouted. 
“No way! We’ve handled fated battles with the high priest, the Spirit Tortoise, and Kyo! A mere race isn’t going to take us down!” I went hard with my reply. 
“Yes, it is! We’re going to die. This is too dangerous!” Raphtalia was on the verge of tears. Maybe it was actually pretty dangerous. I’d been rattling along thinking of it as just playing a race game. Maybe I needed a little more self-awareness. 
Below the cliff was pitch black, anyway. It wasn’t like you could see anything down there. 
“Don’t worry. We’re almost there,” I reassured her. 
“That was quite the thrilling attraction,” Atla offered. 
“This isn’t some traveling circus!” Raphtalia sniped back. I guessed they wouldn’t call it a “theme park” here. I’d have to ask what this “circus” entailed later. 
In any case, with this massive shortcut, Motoyasu should now be far behind us. We passed through torches intended to indicate the goal and came to a stop. 
“We won,” I said, sounding pleased. It had seemed impossible after all the time we lost at the start, but Filo had pulled out all the stops. The downward curve of our bad luck had finally taken an uptick.
 
The three filolials with Motoyasu had been in human form, meaning they could also turn into filolial queens, although they hadn’t had any of the cowlicks.
 
“Uhh . . .” Melty moaned. 
“W-we survived. That was the most thrilling experience of my life,” Raphtalia offered. 
“Really?” I asked. 
“Your mental fortifications are lacking, Raphtalia,” Atla chided. 
“And I’m fine with that. If you can just sit there without reacting to that, something is wrong with you on a fundamental level,” Raphtalia replied. It sounded pretty convincing, coming from her. 
“I won!” Filo was up on the roof of the wagon, dancing around and singing. What was it, some kind of official ceremony? 
In any case, the wagon itself was pretty much scrap. It was a broken-down cart now, little more. We did pretty well to win in this thing, I reflected. 
I was going to have to order a new one. It was made of wood, so it should be pretty cheap. I could see if Rat could make one at the bioplant or maybe get a ship out of Siltvelt to pick one up for us. 
“I won! I won! A win for Filo! I’m the fastest! I won’t lose to Gaelion!” Filo’s singing was ongoing. 
“Don’t get too excited,” I told her. 
“I won’t! But I won!” She wasn’t stopping anytime soon. She really didn’t like Gaelion either, did she? 
It wasn’t long before Motoyasu and his own yapping threesome tore into view. 

“I . . . I lost, you say?” he lamented. Having confirmed that we arrived first, he slumped down to the ground.