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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 8




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Chapter Eight: The Third Hero Conference 

It was a few days later in the evening and I’d come with Raphtalia and Filo to bathe in the hot springs on the Cal Mira islands. Raphtalia said that she couldn’t relax in Q’ten Lo. Itsuki and Rishia had returned too. So I’d brought them along as well. 
After taking a bath, I checked the state of my own curse. 
“The curse has lifted,” I said. 
“Great,” Ren replied, who had bathed with me. 
“I’m making good progress myself,” Itsuki commented. He’d be fine in combat at least. But he still didn’t talk much and was often just completely zoned out. 
“I hear you, father-in-law!” Motoyasu arrived in the changing room. He had his retinue—just the main three, thank God—along with him. 
“What do you want, Motoyasu?” I asked. 
“Shall I wash your back for you?” he replied. 
“No need. We’re just getting out anyway,” I told him, blowing off his suggestion. I just wanted to avoid him as much as possible. 
“So, Ren, have you read the inscriptions yet?” I asked. 
“About that. We need to have a serious discussion about the future and collate all of our information. After we get out of here, how about holding a hero conference?” he suggested. Not something we could discuss in the bath, was it? 
 
“Hmmm . . . okay,” I agreed. “Motoyasu, you hurry up with your bathing too.” 
“Understood, I say, father-in-law. I might mention that I have read the inscriptions too,” he added. 
“What? You can read the language in this world now, Motoyasu?” I asked. As far as I knew, Motoyasu had been unable to read it. 
“Yes, father-in-law. Your commands are absolute, I say! So I spent many days working hard, learning the language from the chart you left in Filo’s wagon,” he explained. Ah, right. I had made something like that a long time ago. He’d learned the language from that? That wasn’t really why I’d left it behind, but . . . putting him right would just give me a headache, I was sure. Best to just leave well enough alone. 
“Everything I do, I do for Filo,” he stated proudly. 
“Yeah, whatever,” I replied. It was the best I could manage. So he’d learned it so quickly because it was the language of Filo’s world. What wonders a fool with conviction might achieve. He had the drive, I’d give him that. “You just hurry up and join us,” I told him. 
“Understood, I say!” he responded. 
“Yahoo!” cried his three followers. Obeying my orders, they dashed off toward the hot springs. I decided not to bring up those three. Ren and Itsuki looked like they wanted to avoid the topic too. 
“Now, I would like to bring to order the Third Hero Conference,” Ren declared, raising his hand. It had been a little while as we’d finished our bathing and we had gathered in the same room that we’d used for discussions back when we visited the islands before. 
 
The others from the village, including Atla and Filo, were taking a break. Raphtalia was watching them in another room. I hoped Atla would maintain control of herself. I really needed Fohl to get back quickly. 
“As we don’t have a moderator, I’ll handle the proceedings,” Ren stated. 
“Sure,” I agreed. Ren had been pretty full of energy recently—burning with the desire to fulfill his duty and fight the waves. 
I was just prioritizing making it out alive. I didn’t expect to get quite as serious as him about everything. I guess being so self-absorbed was just like Ren. Still, he was headed in a much better direction than he had been in the past. 
“So? What do you want to talk about?” I prodded. 
“We’re going to be taking on the Phoenix soon, right? I thought all the heroes should have a bit of a chat and discuss things like power-up methods and the progress we’ve been making,” Ren explained. 
“Sure, I guess. But I explained all that already, didn’t I?” I asked. I had already explained to everyone, including Motoyasu, the things we had discovered in Q’ten Lo, such as sharing of power-up methods, all of which had been proven to work. 
“That’s not all. We need to discuss any new weapons and skills we have obtained,” Ren went on. 

“Hmmm. You might be right,” I acquiesced. No harm could come from it. 
 
“First, just to confirm, you have already achieved the power-up, correct?” Ren asked. 
“Yes,” Itsuki confirmed. 
“Me too!” Motoyasu added. Then they actually used energy boost. 
“I can also use a bit of life force now,” Itsuki added vaguely. He then used a little of it, showing how it differed from energy boost. 
“Like this, I say!” Motoyasu seemed to have a better handle on it than Itsuki. He’d been the last one to come to the village but could already use it. What was going on with him? 
“Your orders are absolute, father-in-law. You told me to master life force, so of course that’s what I have done,” Motoyasu explained intently, flexing his fist as he did so. “All I do, I do for you, father-in-law.” 
“We’re getting off topic again, but if you’ve got good enough control of life force, that only leaves learning the Way of the Dragon Vein—Liberation¬class magic,” I concluded. 
“We’re all still working on that. It is going well though, thanks to you, Naofumi. We’ll get it soon,” Ren said. Our evening training recently had all been me teaching them magic. 
The battle with the Phoenix was getting close. 
It was still fresh in my memory how Motoyasu had really been opposed to Gaelion placing the blessing of the Way of the Dragon Vein on him. His attitude had been that the enemy of the filolials was also his enemy, and he would rather die than receive any blessings from them. 

For the sake of our future operations, I ordered him to put up with it and he was blessed in the end. 

“Indeed. I’m sure it will help in our future battles,” Ren said. 
“I concur!” Motoyasu agreed. Everything was proceeding unbelievably smoothly, to be honest. I could barely hide my surprise. 
“So are we finished?” I attempted to wrap things up. Much easier than expected! But then Ren shook his head. 
“Not yet,” he stopped me. 
“What? Still something to talk about?” I asked. In response, Ren changed his sword and showed it to me. 
It was a strange-looking weapon, like a bunch of strings connected together. Honestly, it looked pretty weak. 
“What’s that thing?” I asked him. 
“It’s a sword called the Comradery Blade. It’s got a skill that it can teach you called ally growth adjustment (small),” he explained. 
“What are the conditions for it?” I asked. I wanted to know. 
“No idea. It was unlocked by the time I noticed it,” Ren replied apologetically. 
“Hmmm.” That wasn’t much help, but ally growth adjustment (small) sounded like the same type of skill as the slave growth adjustment I’d used. “Approaching it from a video game kind of thinking, the conditions are probably something like trusting your allies with all your heart.” I went on. That sounded like the easiest starting point. Ren nodded in agreement. 
“Yeah, that’s probably it,” he said. With a bitter expression, he then muttered, “Which means I didn’t trust my allies before. If I’d obtained this sword sooner, they might not have had to die.” 
 
“Maybe not. But that doesn’t mean the experience was meaningless,” I said. 
“A very Naofumi-like take on the situation. Anyway, if I have further discoveries like this, I’ll share them with you,” Ren said. 
“Hey, I know. Ren, try putting some of Eclair’s hair into it,” I suggested. “If you’ve achieved the Comradery Blade already, that might score you the Comradery Blade II or something like that.” 
“I’m not sure what Eclair would say about that . . .” He hesitated. Yeah, she probably would have a complaint or two. But hold on . . . What if Ren made a familiar using Eclair’s hair? Yeah, that was something to think about. 
“Father-in-law. I’ll try putting feathers from everyone into my spear too,” Motoyasu said. 
“I’ve already completed the filolial line,” I replied. 
“I’d expect no less, father-in-law! How did you collect them? Please, share your wisdom with me!” he said. 
“Shut up, Motoyasu.” I shot him down. “Work it out for yourself.” Maybe I should tell him, just to piss Fitoria off. But no, I should keep the information to hold over her in the future. If she gave us another weird request, I could threaten to unleash Motoyasu on her. That could be his reward. 
“That reminds me, I’ve learned a new skill—well, a powerful skill that you all already know about actually,” Motoyasu recalled. 

“Oh yeah? Like what?” I asked, maybe foolishly. Motoyasu proceeded to change his spear. 

Hold on. It looked like the very spear that Sadeena had been boasting about nabbing from her childhood home. What had it been called? The Water Dragon’s Harpoon? 
“Filo-tan’s big sister lent it to me to copy, father-in-law,” Motoyasu explained. What? Had Sadeena been back to the village and given Motoyasu a weapon already? Had she heard from Raphtalia? 
“So what skill did you learn?” I kept things moving along. 
“Brionac, I say!” he revealed with a flourish. That was the skill that the high priest of the Church of the Three Heroes had tried to unleash using copies of the four holy weapons, right? That had been a copy. Was this the real deal? 
“I’ve also discovered that applying things like life force and energy boost at the same time can greatly reduce the charge time,” Motoyasu revealed. 
“Wow,” I managed. 
“That’s amazing, Motoyasu.” Ren was a little more forthcoming with his praise. Itsuki was just kind of staring vacantly on. 
In any case, it meant Motoyasu had acquired a pretty powerful skill. 
“What about you, Ren?” I asked. “You’ve got the weapon that Motoyasu II is reforging for you in Q’ten Lo, right?” 
“What kind of love hunter is this fellow who bears my name?” Motoyasu asked. 

“You just stay quiet,” I told him bluntly. It would be more trouble than it was worth to try and explain. He wasn’t a “love hunter,” anyway. He was an old perv.
 
“It’s still being purified. He said it should only take a little longer,” Ren reported. 
“Okay, good,” I replied. 
“However, it’s not like the Spirit Tortoise Sword or Spirit Tortoise Katana that I’m currently using. It’s a much more powerful weapon. I’m not even sure whether I’ll be able to handle it at the moment,” Ren explained. It had a pretty powerful curse on it. We just had to hope we could get our hands on it quickly. “The old guy’s master said he’d need to make some adjustments to let me use it, so I’ll just wait a little longer.” 
“Understood. If you can master it, it’s going to make things a lot easier going forward. We’ll just have to look forward to that day and wait,” I said. Once the purification was finished, would the stone that formed the core have to be fed to Gaelion? There weren’t many other ways to use it outside of enhancing Gaelion and letting a sword-wielder other than Ren use it. Did we even have anyone who used a longsword? 
Eclair used a dagger. Raphtalia, a katana. Maybe Shildina would be able to use it? It seemed that the healing of the hole in her soul perhaps had caused her oracle powers to decline somewhat. It was now impossible for her to become anyone else at least, but she could likely still copy their skills. 
“Thinking about the Phoenix battle, it seems most practical if I defend while chanting support magic,” I suggested. These would be called “buffs” in a video game. Because I was the one who could use Liberation Aura—which provided a boost to all stats—it was most efficient for me to be the one who cast support magic. 
 
Of course, dropping beast transformation support would be even more efficient, but that was never a sure thing. 
“I can use rucolu fruit to recover magic,” I continued. 
“Ah, the rucolu fruit. They always seem to come up when anyone in this world is talking about you, don’t they, Naofumi?” Ren jibed. 
“They do taste really nice,” I replied, a little defensively. I also remembered how they knocked Motoyasu right out. It seemed anyone other than me eating them was a pretty bad idea. “If you guys could also recover using them, you wouldn’t have to waste time drinking magic potions and stuff like that,” I pondered. When a battle drew out, the need arose to replenish things like magic and SP. With its high healing potential, the rucolu fruit was a real effective item when it came to cost-performance. 
“Sure, but they also make us collapse if we eat them,” Ren countered. 
“You might be able to build up some resistance if you level up a bit,” I replied. 
“No way. Just smelling the stuff makes my head spin,” Ren stated stubbornly. Even Motoyasu had a dry smile on his face concerning this topic. 
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, Naofumi. Now I finally see the truth of it. You have the special ability to nullify intoxication,” Itsuki said, not making a lick of sense. Hold on. What did he just say? 
“Special ability? Is that some kind of system I don’t know about?” I asked. There were skills that increased resistances to status effects. Maybe that was what he meant. If so, however, I could report that I unfortunately had learned no such skill. 
 
“No, I mean it’s an ability you had prior to coming to this world,” Itsuki explained. 
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I replied. What was he talking about? 
For a moment there, anyway, I had flashbacks to when I first chatted with Ren and the others like this. It had been like fanboys discussing some online game. Back then, Ren had said that normal MMOs were outdated, causing confusion among the rest of us. Now I felt something similar from Itsuki and his comments. 
Ren seemed to be feeling something similar too, because he was looking at Itsuki with his eyebrows drawn together. 
“Hey, Ren, do you have any idea what Itsuki is talking about?” I asked him. 
“No, sorry. There’s all sorts of possibilities, so I can’t really say,” he replied. 
“Hmmm,” I pondered. Ren was like me, quite capable of extrapolating information, but seeing as Itsuki probably couldn’t lie at the moment anyway, just asking him outright seemed like the best approach. He responded quite openly to questions at the moment. He’d surely regale us with stories of these “abilities.” 
“Tell us, Itsuki, what are these abilities you are talking about? Do you mean the power of the legendary weapons?” I asked. 

“No. The legendary weapons may very well have such abilities, but I’m clearly talking about something completely different,” he explained. 

“Hmmm. I don’t recall anything like that.” Even Motoyasu didn’t seem to have a clue. So this was clearly knowledge unique to Itsuki’s world. 
“Itsuki, tell us more. Back in your world, just what are these ‘abilities’?” I pressed him. 
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Why don’t you understand them, Naofumi? Did you live so far out in the sticks that ability management hadn’t even reached you yet?” Itsuki asked casually with no expression on his face. It looked like these “abilities” were just an everyday part of life for him. Even his curse-infested thinking wasn’t puzzled about concepts like “do you breathe air?” 
Perhaps this was very much the kind of response that you would get if you asked someone else how to breathe. 
“Right, so tell us all about them from the beginning,” I asked. 
“Very well. These abilities were discovered in my world about twenty-five years ago through research into individuals who were causing all sorts of disasters and incidents. It is the name given to certain powers possessed by each individual. They are also called things like ‘psi’ and ‘supernatural powers,’” Itsuki revealed. Right, so hold on. So in Itsuki’s world— 
“Ren, do you understand all this? Hey, you’ve got VRMMOs in your world, right? So you’ve probably got something like this too?” I asked him. 
“You think we’re all mind wizards or something? Are you joking?” he replied. Hmmm, as the resident of what to me was basically a sci-fi novel, I would have thought Ren could understand. 
 
So this meant Itsuki’s world was a near-future setting with crazy mind powers? I would probably have been pretty into the idea of crazy psychic battles before I came to this world. 
The issue now was, in this world with these newly revealed abilities, what kind of standing Itsuki had held and what kind of abilities he brought to the table. 
“Okay. So in the world you come from, how are these abilities handled?” I asked. 
“First, every prefecture has at least one school where those with abilities are taught. I mean, there are generally a lot more than just one,” he continued. 
“Okay,” I prompted. 
“Abilities are divided into ranks, with S at the top, then A through F. Classes at these schools are divided up into those ranks,” Itsuki explained further. 
“So everyone in your world can use abilities?” I asked. 
“No, not at all. In fact, there are many more people who can’t,” he replied. 
“What about you personally?” I pressed on to the heart of the matter. 
“I have an ability called ‘Accuracy,’ and I’m E class.” Accuracy, huh? I guess that finally explained, after all this time, why Itsuki generally never missed when he fired an arrow. 
“What is this accuracy ability, then?” I asked for clarification. “Just so we’re clear.” 

“It’s a skill that lets me use ranged weapons with far greater precision than a normal person. I could even be a pretty mean sniper, if I wanted to,” he explained. That also explained why during the suspected kidnapping incident he had fired toward me even though Melty had also been there. No one would have taken that shot if they weren’t completely confident in the result. 

So he wasn’t just a moron who loved justice. This definitely changed how I felt about his actions back then. Indeed, although his comments had seemed completely natural, they might also have alluded to this new truth we had just learned. 
Still, “Accuracy?” From what I’d heard about it so far, it seemed like a pretty potent ability. If there was S down to F, then why was it closer to the bottom of the pile? 
“That sounds like a quality ability, so why’s it ranked so low?” I probed. 
“I’m E class because I’m not compatible with the higher ability ‘Ultra Accuracy,’” he explained. 
“It has an ‘ultra’ on it, so I presume that’s pretty good,” I said. 
“Anything you fire never misses,” he replied. 
“Wow.” That sounded broken. 
“Even if you turned away from the target, the arrow would surely fly around to it,” Itsuki added. Homing capabilities?! Ultra-broken, for sure! “Lots of baseball players have that ability. Of course, its use is carefully controlled.” 
“In other words, Itsuki, you have a low-ranking ability, so at your little school for the gifted, you were seen as low-ranking?” I laid it all out. 
“Naofumi, that’s not a nice way to put it,” Ren cut in. 
 
“That’s right though,” Itsuki answered honestly. If I’d been trying to be mean, he hadn’t picked up on it. “So I played games to get away from my horrible reality. When my ability was detected at elementary school, making it seem like I was special, I let it go to my head. Once I actually reached junior high and started the special school, I learnt that there’s always a bigger fish. It almost wiped me out. Nothing changed in high school.” 
So while most people were just normal, Itsuki had been born with special powers, and that had given him confidence during his younger years. Once he went to a school for people with similar gifts though, he had been slammed with the reality that his own ability actually wasn’t all that great and had started to play games as a result. 
Sure, comics and games with a main character with such abilities normally featured someone who was, well, actually powerful. But when it came to actual abilities in real life, there was good and bad ones. Not having one at all might be less hellish than getting stuck with a crappy one. 
His focus on justice then had come from the heroes of comics, cartoons, and games who worked with the abilities they had been given to defeat evil. 
“I understand now. Do you think I have an ability that prevents me from getting motion sickness or drunk?” I asked. 
“Yes. I am estimating it as the ability ‘Nullify Sickness.’ There’s a lower version called ‘Resist Sickness,’ which would be an F rank ability,” Itsuki revealed. 
“What about mine then?” Couldn’t hurt to ask. 
“Its prospects are a C or D rank, but it’s a conditional S rank when fighting supervillains with gravity-based powers,” Itsuki explained. 
 
“Hmmm. And what do you mean by ‘prospects’?” When we fought Kyo, I’d been unable to move when he used that gravity attack on me, so it didn’t sound quite right to me. 
“Think about it. Not getting motion sickness means you are resilient to the effects of gravity, with exceptional semicircular canals. A vital skill for astronauts, for one. Some people were advocating for the name to be changed to ‘Nullify Gravitational Load,’ but research was still being conducted,” Itsuki revealed. 
It sounded like this skill could do quite a lot of stuff! 
But no, come on. I was just lucky enough to not get motion sickness . . . At least, that was what I’d been thinking. But maybe I was starting to feel otherwise. I could scoff down the same rucolu fruit that had made Motoyasu pass out, and I felt nothing when riding Filo even at top speed. The others might have gotten used to that, but they still said it was hard. So it had to be pretty rough. 
Nullify gravity though? I’d definitely been pressed down by the gravity attack that Kyo unleashed, so that side of this was more suspicious. 
“Of course, there are various branches of the ability, so I can’t say for sure. But maybe in your case the emphasis is just placed on not getting sick, rather than the gravity side of things,” Itsuki clarified. So the same kind of ability, but with subtle differences. Like not getting sick at all, or just not getting motion sickness, maybe. “I also think,” he went on, “that you might have double abilities.” 
 
“You mean two of them?” I asked. 
“Yes,” he confirmed. 
“Like what?” I asked. 
Itsuki’s world from my perspective was the near future where everyone was getting supernatural abilities. If you considered then that the reason Itsuki had always quietly mocked Ren, Motoyasu, and me was because he’d thought we didn’t have said abilities, that might also explain quite a lot. 
Still, Ren had a world with VR and Itsuki had superpowers. What about Motoyasu? Maybe it was a world where choices appeared at critical points during conversations with pretty girls, or something like that. 
Whatever. I didn’t care about Motoyasu. He was a mess. He wouldn’t give me a proper answer even if I pressed him for one. 
“I think your other ability may well be called ‘Animal Friends.’ It means animals just take a natural liking to you. You’d be a great veterinarian,” Itsuki went on. 
“Indeed. From what I’ve seen of you recently, Naofumi, I could agree with that. Look at the filolials and the Raph species,” Ren added. 
“Uhh . . .” My trauma of being trampled came back to me again. 
Still, Ethnobalt had been pretty friendly with me. Demi-humans and therianthropes were the same. I was starting to see something in Itsuki’s explanation. 
Animals had always taken a liking to me, since I was small. When I would walk in the mountains, wild birds would land on my shoulder. I’d encountered a bear once and escaped by playing dead. 
 
However, it did lick my face. I’d learned afterward that there were better ways to deal with bears. 
A big dog in the neighborhood had let me ride it too. It had sat in front of me, offering its back. I’d sat on it just as a joke, and it had run off with me aboard. 
I’d even swung a stick around, playing as the Ainu chick from that fighting game. 
“Yeah, maybe in your world, Itsuki,” I conceded. I was starting to see what had warped the poor guy too. “Let’s put aside the abilities I may have and talk about the magic you’ve learnt for the upcoming battle.” 
“Okay,” Ren said. 
“Very well,” Itsuki said. 
“I’ll show off the magic I’ve learned, I say!” Motoyasu said. I understood this might bring out the tendency to brag. 
I was also interested in what each of them had learned from the inscriptions on the Cal Mira islands. If they had learned Aura, for example, someone other than me could also help out with support. 
“Ren, I’ll start with you,” I said. “What did you learn here on the Cal Mira islands?” 
“Zweite Magic Enchant,” Ren replied. 
“Magic Enchant, you say. What’s the effect?” I asked. 
“Magic for swords. It allows further magic to then be applied to your sword, after which you can cut down enemies for as long as the magic lasts,” Ren explained. 
 
“It’s not a combo skill?” I checked. Those allowed a hero’s skill and ally’s magic to be combined together to create a special skill. 
“No, it’s different from that. You can get a pure power increase from it, and it’s not applied with the aid of an ally,” he said. 
“Which means what?” I asked. 
“Even enemy magic can be applied to the sword. It can even nullify weak magic attacks and use them to attack,” he answered. 
“Interesting,” I commented. Pretty convenient magic. You could deal with incoming enemy attacks and look for an opening to counter. 
“The only issue,” Ren went on, “is that I could only learn up to Zweite. I tried to get Drifa, but I couldn’t do it.” 
“Fair enough.” I moved on. “Motoyasu, what about you?” 
“I learned Zweite Absorb, father-in-law,” he proclaimed. 
“Sounds good. What does it do?” I asked. From the name, it sounded like it could absorb magic. 
“It can nullify and absorb Zweite-class magic. However, I can’t move while I’m casting it,” Motoyasu explained. That was definitely an issue, considering what he brought to the table in terms of combat strength. I guess the point was to cast it first and preemptively stop opponents from using magic at all. 
“What’s its range like?” I inquired. 
“Looks like a diameter of around five meters, from what I saw,” Motoyasu said. 

“I see,” I pondered. Sounded like a pretty strange piece of magic, but not without some potential. Looked like the inscription was dealing with support-type magic. 

They had both said just up to Zweite, but if they used the Liberation method, they might be able to get up to the next level. There were lots of applications for that, so with some adjustments maybe they could use Drifa too. 
I could only use that for healing and support, but what about Ren and the others? 
“What are your magic aptitudes?” I asked. 
“Yeah, we never talked about that,” Ren realized. “You are healing and support, right, Naofumi?” 
“That’s right,” I confirmed. 
“I’m water and support,” he replied. “Although there’s some water magic that can heal, so it isn’t quite so cut and dried.” 
“Father-in-law, I’m fire and healing,” Motoyasu chimed in. “Although I can also use fire for some support.” 
“And I’m wind and earth. Just like you guys though, I can use some healing and support too,” Itsuki said. So Ren was water and support, Motoyasu fire and healing, and Itsuki wind and earth. A pretty good split. And they also had access to some healing and support within those categories. 
“I can’t use healing and magic as effectively as you, Naofumi,” Ren clarified. 
“My fire healing is strong, I say!” Motoyasu boasted. 
 
“That goes without saying,” I shot back. Motoyasu could use healing magic too. 
Anyway, this meant, as expected, I didn’t have any attack abilities. The old woman at the magic shop had said something about that. The basic nature of a person has some influence when casting magic, and even a simple healing spell is affected by that nature. 
That meant a little fire would get mixed in with Motoyasu’s healing. 
And then, if someone cast magic that didn’t suit their nature, such as Motoyasu using support, the effects would be dramatically reduced. 
That reminded me. There was an attack spell classified under healing. What had it been called? Decay? 
I’d tried casting it myself, but it had failed. 
The magic shop lady had said it was rare to find someone quite so completely unsuited to attack magic. 
“The spells from the inscriptions seem pretty special,” I commented. Aura boosted all stats. Magic Enchant gave magic to weapons, including enemy magic. Absorb nullified magic. 
“Itsuki, what about you?” I knew I was forgetting someone. 
“Zweite Down. The exact opposite of yours, Naofumi. It reduces all stats,” he replied. 
“Hmmm.” So I made allies stronger, and Itsuki made enemies weaker. That could be powerful, if used well. 
Ren could absorb enemy magic and turn it to attack. Motoyasu could absorb and nullify it. So as long as we used them effectively, these could all be quite strong, although it wasn’t clear whether S’yne’s foes and the forces from the other world could even nullify magic. 
 
“In that case, until the Phoenix battle, we’re going to work on getting you all to learn the Liberation class.” 
“Understood, I say!” Motoyasu gave an energetic reply. Did he understand what that meant? Was he just agreeing for the sake of it? “I’m next, then,” he continued. 
“Huh?” I said. What did he have to talk about? 
“It’s time for me to tell you about the work I was doing prior to coming to your village,” Motoyasu said. 
“You were raising filolials and being a street racer, right?” I retorted. Just remembering all that made me angry. After all the trouble we dealt with helping Raphtalia, and look what this moron was off doing! 
“That’s part of it, but I was also quietly protecting your village, father-in-law!” Motoyasu revealed with a flourish. 
“Huh?” Again, I had no idea what he was talking about. 
“There were quite a few suspicious-looking characters heading for your village, father-in-law. But I totally cleaned them away. Don’t worry,” Motoyasu explained. 
“Hold on. What are you talking about?” I said. He was cleaning up people heading for the village? 
“Y-you think this is okay, Naofumi? It sounds like Motoyasu has been up to no good?” Ren asked. 
“We need to hear more, to find that out. Motoyasu, spill it,” I told him. 
 
Depending on how things had gone, it might turn out he’d killed some of our allies. 
“First, guys like those who attacked us when we fought Ren attacked me numerous times. I defeated them. Of course, I use the soul weapons, just like you instructed. That let me defeat them with ease,” Motoyasu said. Had S’yne’s enemies been close to the village? If Motoyasu had been defeating them without anyone else knowing, no wonder we hadn’t experienced any attacks! 
Of course, we didn’t know how many had come. 
“There were others approaching the village with murderous intent too. I also defeated demi-humans and therianthropes. They were using some very strange weapons. After a while, those ones stopped coming,” Motoyasu continued. I had nothing to say to that. He’d been defeating the assassins from Q’ten Lo too? That sounded suspicious, but if I asked for proof, he’d probably bring me a skull or something. It was best to stay quiet. 
Motoyasu wouldn’t lie about something like this. Not at the moment. 
“There were also people in robes of some kind lurking around. I took them out too,” he said. Remnants of the Church of the Three Heroes perhaps? 
So without anyone else knowing, had he been protecting the village all this time? 
“I see,” I said. 
“What do you think?” Motoyasu asked. 

“Ah well, I think you’ve done pretty well. But I’m still not giving you Filo,” I said. 
 
“I’ll do my best until you approve of me as her fiancé, father-in-law!” Motoyasu stated. 
“Hey, Naofumi,” Ren said. “I mean . . . is Motoyasu all there?” 
“He’s a totally different person,” Itsuki added. They were both looking at me with concern in their eyes. As if these two could talk! 
“I want to think he’s fine,” I managed. 
“He’s basically Motoyasu, but something’s broken about him. It’s scary. I hope the curse is broken soon,” Ren said. 
“Me too. Just what kind of curse is it?” Itsuki wondered. 
“Good question. Motoyasu, what is the cost of your curse?” I asked. He’d unleashed quite the variety of curse skills. He had to be paying something. 
“Cost? What do you mean?” he asked back. 
“You used Temptation and Ressentiment on us, right?” I reminded him. 
“I don’t recall paying anything,” he returned. His face made it clear he really had no idea. No stat reduction? Nothing like that? 
Hold on. Maybe the cost was his current disposition, although Witch certainly had done a number on him. 
“O-okay then. Just do your best to be ready to fight the Phoenix,” I said. 
“Understood!” he replied. I’d have to check thoroughly and make a decision later. 
“That covers the effects of our magic.” I moved on. “We’re going to be taking on the Phoenix as our next enemy, but what about after that?” The four heroes other than me all had a certain degree of understanding, although we’d all kind of come to think that the others couldn’t be relied on too. 
 
“After the Phoenix, it’s Kirin and then Dragon,” Ren said. 
“That’s the way!” Motoyasu was clearly up for it. 
“Do you think enemies from another world are going to attack again, like with the Spirit Tortoise?” Ren asked. 
“No sign of it at the moment. We’ve got eyes out for that kind of thing happening, not just in Melromarc, but everywhere. Anything relating to the four benevolent animals in particular, we’ve really got locked down. If something was happening, word should have come to the village, but nothing has happened yet,” I told them. Even if something like that did happen, someone like Ost would surely show up to ask for our help. If possible, I’d like to resolve the situation just by talking, but those like Ost coming from the side of the four benevolent animals also wanted to protect the world and wanted to complete their duty of blocking the heroes. It would be a pointless spilling of blood, but if that was the only way they knew to live, then we could only consider it the role of the heroes to give them a worthy battle. 
“There’s a very strong possibility that those with a connection to S’yne back in the village are going to get involved somehow, so we need to keep security tight,” I said. Who knows what kind of shit they might try to pull and how it might aggravate the Phoenix? There was no harm in being prepared for anything. 
“Understood,” Ren replied. 
“The Phoenix is apparently sealed in the west. If we can send one of the heroes ahead, that’ll save the rest of us some movement time,” I posited. I’d heard about the location from the queen and others from this country. If someone could get a portal there before the deadline, everyone else in the village would be able to keep training. 
 
“I’ll go and get a portal position!” Motoyasu thrust his arm into the air. Keeping him in the village was going to generate so much noise anyway, and he’d probably do nothing but play with his filolials, so best to just let him go. 
“It sounds like there may be notes there on how to defeat it, but I also want to prepare thoroughly before the battle. Right. Anyone got anything else to add?” I was keen to get this over with. 
“Actually, about that . . .” Ren started. 
“Yeah?” I asked. He looked away from my gaze. Maybe it was something difficult to say. He certainly didn’t seem very good at making requests of people. 
From his standing, I guess I could understand that. 
“I want you to lead the operation, Naofumi,” he finally said. 
“I’m likely to stand at the head of the party and give orders from there,” I replied. When fighting the Spirit Tortoise, I’d been right there on the front lines, after all. 
Of course, actual operational orders would be aided by the queen and other leaders of each nation. But with my experience of raising my own force, I’d likely handle most of the heavy lifting. 
“Well, that’s not exactly what I mean. I want you to give us orders too. You said it before, right? You’ve got experience with a guild,” Ren recalled. 
“I guess I might have mentioned that,” I confirmed. Upon defeating the high priest and learning that power-up methods could be shared, we’d had a hero conference then too. 
 
“When we first met, Naofumi, I did think you looked a bit like someone I know,” Ren admitted. 
“A friend of yours? That guy you mentioned a few times?” I vaguely recalled something. Ren gave a distant stare for a moment, as though he was about to slip into a flashback, and then looked at me again. 
“That’s right,” he finally continued. “He was like a mixture of you from the past and you now. He just wanted to look after everyone, and people were just naturally drawn to him.” Me from the past, huh? Back then I had the confidence to talk to anyone. Rather than worry about maybe being tricked or abused, I’d just wanted everyone to get along and have fun. 
“He ran a big guild. I know you did too. But that’s why I want to leave this to you,” Ren explained. 
“Still, I can’t beat out experts in this stuff. Large-scale battles and raids running on a fixed set of rules, however complex, isn’t much help here,” I cautioned. 
It was one of the major aspects of an Internet game. It was a way to proclaim your strength within the server you played on, including access to dungeons that only the higher-ranking guilds could enter and rare items that only they could obtain. Among the vast array of these events, guilds and teams allowed for the kind of experience you could never obtain while playing solo. 

That said, it was a little hasty to compare the waves to that. It was impossible to tell what was going to happen during them, demanding everyone be ready for anything at all times. 

“What scale of guild did you run in that game? I was just thinking you never told us the details,” Ren asked. 
“Of multiple servers, there was one . . . I was part of the leadership of perhaps the third-largest allied guild, but we weren’t big enough to appear in world tournaments,” I explained, realizing I’d never told them this. I’d held quite a lot of authority within the alliance, but not the most. My character hadn’t been the highest level, and I’d really just put my emphasis on making money and building connections with people. Part of the reason for that had been because expensive gear and healing items had been very important in the game. 
“So you’ve got a lot more experience than us, clearly,” Ren said. 
“I mean, I guess so. But it’s rarely helped out. Maybe when ordering people about to get away from the waves,” I replied. During the first wave, it had been all I could do to protect the villagers, and things had been no different in the second wave or the third. During the fight with the Spirit Tortoise, the queen and the coalition army actually gave the orders. All I did was hold the Spirit Tortoise in place alongside Ost. 
I mean, okay, maybe I had the most experience with this kind of stuff among the four holy heroes. Ren had only helped some others who also played solo get their game into shape. Motoyasu had run a smaller guild. Itsuki just played console games, right? They might have been strategy games, but I wouldn’t put money on it after seeing him fighting the waves. 
 
All he could probably do was help form a plan to fight the Phoenix during the next wave. We’d start by checking the site and looking for information, then research ways to defeat it. 
“What’s this Quest for the Phoenix game like, then?” I asked. 
“In the game story, after the damage from the Spirit Tortoise, each country starts seriously investigating what’s going on. But they still fail to seal the Phoenix away, and it ends up reviving,” Ren told me. 
“I see,” I replied. Back with the Spirit Tortoise they acted like they could just defeat everything with game knowledge. I guess this showed how the relationships between the four of us had progressed. 
“After this . . . before the battle, we’re going to have the heroes all make accessories,” I told them. 
“You mentioned being able to add powerful effects to skills and attacks, right?” Ren recalled. 
“You don’t have any game wisdom to share?” I prodded. Ren tilted his head and thought for a moment, then replied. 
“There are accessories that can increase certain skills or abilities when equipped, so . . . I guess I do.” Yeah, good point. I’d experienced some things like that myself. Games had things like that quite often, although it could hardly be called much of a new discovery. 
“Anyway, equipping accessories can enhance skills or provide unique ones. Accessories are developed by discussing them with me, a therianthrope called Imiya in the village, and the alchemist Rat. You guys can help us start looking into all that,” I said. 
 
“If that’s what you want,” Ren said. His strangely detached reply was a bit like Itsuki, which I didn’t need more of, but it was better than him launching into another rampage. 
Anyway, the plan was the re-creation of the scabbard that Raphtalia had used in Kizuna’s world—to get as close to that as possible. The accessory dealer had also reported that work was advancing on the mass production of a prototype of an accessory that allowed drop items to be obtained from monsters, just like a hero, via use of a dragon hourglass. There were lots of orders for those already. 
We’d use those as funds for our forces, creating a foundation to further enhance our strength. 
All the heroes were now aware of the item creation, and so this looked to have been a pretty productive gathering. Nothing like the train wrecks of the past. 
“The only other thing to do is raise our levels as much as possible,” I concluded. Ren raised his hand and commented on that. 
“I personally feel that Q’ten Lo is the best for efficient experience gains.” 
“Hmmm,” I pondered. He had a point. Experience acquisition in Q’ten Lo, which was the homeland of Raphtalia’s parents, had been mysteriously efficient. 
“About that . . .” Itsuki also raised his hand, almost looking apologetic. “Rishia said that, since you grew those sakura-like trees in the village, the monsters lurking nearby have also seen an increase in experience.” 
 
“What?” First I was hearing of this. Some kind of secondary effect? No, but the sakura lumina trees came originally from Q’ten Lo. Maybe they had the effect of boosting experience. 
“Searching for better hunting grounds . . . Sadeena did mention that the sea regions do give good experience,” Ren said, his voice shaking a little. He couldn’t swim, although apparently he’d made some progress with that. 
Getting Sadeena and Shildina to show us the best oceanic spots might make a good hunting trip too. In terms of underwater gear, we did have that Pekkul Costume . . . but there was only one left after all that other stuff went down. 
“All we have to do is keep on training until the day of the battle. That’s our role here,” I said. All sorts of stuff had happened since I was summoned to this other world, but that simple truth remained unbreakable. There weren’t many days left until the Phoenix would revive, but that didn’t change what we had to do. 
“We also need to select the allies to fight with us against the Phoenix. Do you have any picks in mind, Naofumi?” Ren asked. 
“Anyone who wants to try it, I’m going to let them—aside from the ones who clearly wouldn’t stand a chance, of course,” I replied. 
“I see. You’ve got some pretty tough allies on your side, what with Raphtalia, Rishia, and Sadeena, to name but a few,” Ren commented. Indeed, those were some of the strongest in the village. Raphtalia in particular was a key combatant, taking the fight to our foes in my place. 
“You’re going to take Atla too, then?” Ren asked. 
 
“Huh?” What was this? Ren asking about Atla by name? “Why her in particular? I mean, sure, she’s strong,” I asked. She trained with me and Raphtalia, as well as fighting some pretty blazing battles with Raphtalia every night. 
“If I’m honest, I think Atla is the one from the village who’s made the most progress,” Ren admitted. 
“I agree,” Itsuki offered with a nod. 
“I thought it would be going too far to attack her at full strength with a powerful hero weapon, so I hold back against her. But on a technical level she overtook me real quick. That’s how good she is. She’s a genius, really,” Ren explained. He was right. Atla was developing quickly. She’d started off with some skills, and different from the richly experienced Sadeena, but Atla had the ability to learn stuff just by seeing it—even though she couldn’t see. 
There had been more times recently when, even backed by the Raph species, Raphtalia hadn’t been able to contain her. That had to be due to the defensive life force that S’yne had taught her. 
Atla and I, with help from S’yne, had both learned defensive life force. Having Raphtalia focusing on the mastery of the techniques she acquired in Q’ten Lo was keeping her behind in terms of other progress. 
The techniques had names, and I took a moment to recall them. 
First there was Gather. 

This was a technique that could use the power of life force to bend the trajectory of magical attacks, such as fire magic, and draw them to the user. Useful when bearing the brunt of a magical onslaught. The range had a diameter of about ten feet. Of course, that could be extended further with further deployment of life force. 

Next was Wall. 
This allowed an invisible wall to be created in the air for a few seconds, impeding the movements of opponents. It was a bit like using Air Strike Shield. It could stop normal attacks and magic attacks too. The strengths of this technique were its versatility and being able to cover a pretty wide area if you wanted. The weaknesses were the actual defensive power it offered and the length of time it lasted. 
Finally there was Bead. 
This was a counterattack. It allowed magical attacks to be collected together using life force, concentrated, and then thrown at the enemy. Of course, there was some magic that simply couldn’t be thrown back, and so it wasn’t all-powerful. It operated much on the same principles as reflecting magic with my shield. 
And Atla could use all of these. 
Of course, these techniques had been created around me and my specialization in defense, and Atla was adapting them to her own purposes. 
“I can’t read her movements, and she’s fast,” Ren continued, oblivious to my musings. “Just when I think an attack has gone in, she immediately redirects it and takes no damage at all.” 
“At the same time, she comes at you with defense-ignoring attacks like they are nothing. She’s very difficult to handle,” Itsuki added. 

“But you manage it somehow, right?” I asked. She wasn’t that strong yet, surely.
 
“Yeah, sure. But if we fought one on one, I’m sure I’d have to get pretty serious,” Ren admitted. 
“It would be hard to stop her without hurting her badly,” Itsuki agreed. Fully enhanced heroes would have to fight her seriously or lose? Just how strong was she becoming? 
Of course, we didn’t want to kill anyone in the village by mistake, so we had to hold back quite a bit. That wasn’t easy either. 
“It sounds like Fohl has finished his training and is coming back . . . but I’m not sure if we can hold her back until then. She may break through Raphtalia’s defensive line before he reappears,” Itsuki analyzed. 
“Why does she want to sleep close to me so badly?” I asked, exasperated. I’d saved her life, that much was true, but I still had my limits . . . 
Things had been getting a bit easier recently, but I still had no plans to have a family. I was no Motoyasu, but was this what being attractive to the opposite sex was like? 
No, no, with Atla, it was more a racial thing, combined with feelings of affection due to me saving her life. I mean, consider her age. Because I was acting like a parent to Raphtalia, I treated Atla in much the same way. 
“Fohl and Atla are both so strong. I think the Phoenix battle is going to be pretty easy,” Ren said. 
“Well, for one thing, I don’t think Atla will be joining us,” I replied. 
“Why not?” Ren asked, puzzled. 
 
“I made a promise to Fohl that I wouldn’t involve her in any more dangerous battles. So I’ll respect the wishes of anyone in the village who wants to fight, but I’m taking Atla out,” I explained. I was not a monster. Not a complete one. There was also a reason why I always kept Atla with Fohl. When it came to a Phoenix-class battle, there was no telling what might happen. Fohl had some mercenary experience and was working for me for the money. But Atla was just a slave I’d purchased as part of a package deal. 
I’d thought she’d probably be okay if Fohl was along too, but he’d never go for that now. She’d made it alive through numerous dangerous battles. That much was true. But in many cases she’d also really just got caught up in them rather than choosing to be there. 
Seeing as we knew beforehand just how dangerous this was going to be, Fohl would surely ask me to leave her behind. 
It was just as I’d explained all of this that I heard the click of the door behind me. 
I turned around to see Atla standing there, gripping the doorknob, trembling as she turned her face toward me. Shit, bad timing. 
“What’s up, Atla?” I asked, playing it low-key. 
“Master Naofumi . . . you’re not going to allow me to join you in an important battle?” she said. The shock was clear on her face—she had suddenly been benched after coming along so many times already. 
“That’s the short of it. I made a promise to your brother,” I confirmed. 
“Master Naofumi, I made a declaration that I would become your shield. That means I must always be close to you in battle!” she stated, indicating a burning desire to come along. I understood how she felt, I really did, but it was going to be just too dangerous. I understood how Fohl felt too. 
 
“It’s a little too late for that now, I’m afraid. I’ve already made the promise. I never break a promise, ever. And I made this promise—it’s a real thing.” Even if Atla wanted it, Fohl would never allow it. 
“My brother . . . made you promise . . .” Atla walked away, unsteady on her feet. I didn’t like the way she was moving. 
“Naofumi, do you think she’ll be okay?” Ren asked. 
“Can’t say I’m not concerned, but going after her now would be playing right into her hands . . .” I muttered. Atla could come on too strongly even for me sometimes. She said things like “A god can’t be wrong!” which made her a bit of a liability if I pushed her too far. 
I could understand why Fohl just wanted her somewhere safe, although I was also impressed by her desire to protect me. As the Shield Hero, it was nice to have someone standing up for me for once . . . but I also didn’t want her to actually become a shield either. 
“Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia knocked on the door and then poked her head around it. “Atla just walked past me, looking more dejected than I’ve ever seen her before. What happened in here?” 
“Well, I made a promise with Fohl about not letting Atla join us in the Phoenix battle. I was just talking about that . . .” 
“I see. She heard you,” Raphtalia said, looking back behind her. “I’ll be taking part, just so you know.” 

“Yeah, I know. I’m counting on it,” I said. However, I did also have feelings of wanting her to stay behind too. That was why I could understand Fohl’s request. 

“Whatever happens, I will fight for you, father-in-law!” Motoyasu shouted eagerly, but it was easy enough to ignore him. 
“There’s going to be trouble when Fohl comes back,” Ren commented. 
“Oh, Fohl . . . time for you to show your mettle,” was Raphtalia’s take. That wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. Would Fohl really be able to stop Atla? 
With that, the conversation between the heroes came to an end and we started our preparations to take on the Phoenix. 
 





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