Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Vanguard of the Waves 

“We’re facing a wave soon. It’s important to be ready for battle . . . but we also really need to somehow bring Raphtalia back to this world,” I said. Takt’s execution was complete, and we were holding a discussion about what to do next in one of the resting rooms. The heroes, Rishia, Trash, Melty, and Eclair as a guard were all present. 
It was a clear fact that, likely in order to save Raphtalia from torture, her katana vassal weapon had summoned her away to Kizuna’s world. 
“We can hope that we are matched with Kizuna’s world in the upcoming wave,” I continued. 
“Although I understand that it couldn’t be helped, this is still a bit of an issue, isn’t it, Hero Iwatani?” Trash interjected. 
“Yeah. It’s not the best news I’ve ever had. With the wave about to happen, if we get lucky she may be able to reach us of her own accord,” I replied, perhaps a little too hopefully. Glass and L’Arc should be keeping Kizuna on the straight and narrow anyway. And they had promised we would have a full discussion prior to any potential fighting. 
The scarier option was getting matched with a completely different world. 
Eventually, I suspected we were going to have to fight the force with whom S’yne was opposed. But that likely wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. We also had to collect the remaining seven star weapons that had been scattered across this world. We still had plenty of issues left to resolve. 
There was some good news. Having defeated Faubrey, we’d managed to bring most of the nations of the world under our umbrella. That was something, even if we hadn’t been exactly aiming for that result. 
But we hadn’t caught Witch yet, Itsuki’s former underlings were still in the wind, and then there were S’yne’s enemies lurking around too . . . It was all starting to make my head hurt. 
To top it all off, Raphtalia was in a different world! 
In that moment, I felt a familiar presence at my back. 
“Master Naofumi. This is where you dig in and fight back harder.” 
Well said. Even though I couldn’t see them, I had people watching over me at all times, lending me their strength. Thinking that made me feel I could make it through this after all. 
“The longest journey starts with a single step. Let’s tread carefully and carry on,” I said. 
“Then I shall succeed my dear wife and do all I can for the sake of this world,” Trash said. Then he started to read from a document left behind by the queen. 
Hmmm. With Trash and Rishia around, maybe we’d finally be able to read all the encrypted materials relating to the waves. 
“Rishia, you picked up a book in Kizuna’s world, right? Have you made any progress reading it?” I asked. 
“Ah, well . . . I’m making some headway, but everything I’ve discovered so far is pretty much things you already know, Naofumi. I’ve got about half left to read. However, I’ve learned that our enemy is related to the vanishing materials and interference with the spirits,” she continued. 
 
“I see,” I said. It seemed highly likely that folk like Makina were connected to the waves. The actions of the past Heavenly Emperor seemed to back that up too. 
“Trash, can I ask you to work with Rishia to read the writings from this world?” I requested. 
“If you order it, Hero Iwatani, then I shall do all I can to aid you. Daughter of the house of Ivyred and Projectile Hero, please lend me your aid,” Trash asked formally. 
“F-fehhhh!” That put Trash and Rishia onto focusing on the decryption of the ancient texts. 
At that point a soldier came into the resting room. 
“Shield Hero, I have a message for you from the village you command,” the man said. 
“Huh? What is it?” I asked. 
“A strange usapil with the ability to turn into a humanoid form has been discovered badly injured in your lands,” the man relayed. 
“What?” A strange usapil with the ability to turn into a humanoid form? Among the people I knew, there was Ethnobalt, a rabbit-like monster who could turn into a humanoid form. That was about the only person who came to mind. When we traveled to a different world, Filo had transformed into a different type of monster. If Ethnobalt had come to our world, then . . . maybe he would turn into an usapil. 
 
Ethnobalt was one of Kizuna’s companions, someone from a different world who we’d met there when we went to defeat Kyo. I wondered why he would be here. He should be in Kizuna’s world. The fact that he was badly injured was also a cause for concern. It might all have had something to do with the shaking of the anchor accessory I experienced prior to meeting Takt. 
“Naofumi, do you have any idea who it might be?” Ren asked. 
“Yeah. Let’s hurry back there,” I replied. We proceeded to the clinic in the village. 
Arriving at the village clinic, Ethnobalt was lying on one of the beds. He was tall for an usapil. I checked later and discovered he was a type called a leshuant. 
He was so badly injured he couldn’t even maintain his human form. 
“I thought it was you, Ethnobalt. What’s going on?” I asked. On the way here, I’d explained to my companions about whom I thought it might have been. Now they all looked a little guarded, but also worried about Ethnobalt. 

“Ah, Naofumi. I managed . . . to find you,” he said. His body was wrapped in bandages. He wasn’t as far gone as Atla had been. If healing magic was applied thoroughly to his wounds, he should recover. 
I supported him as he struggled to sit up. This seemed like some kind of curse to delay the healing of his wounds. He’d got some nasty wounds and a curse too. Holy water had already been applied as an emergency measure. His life wasn’t in any danger, but he wouldn’t be running around anytime soon. 
 
I concentrated on my shield and cast some healing magic. 
“That feels better . . .” Ethnobalt breathed. A little at a time, the curse was melting away. With my awakening as a hero again, and as a side effect of the various new power-up methods, I could now remove curses faster than before. 
“Ethnobalt, what happened? Why are you here in our world?” I asked. 
“I managed to make it here . . . thanks to the accessory I gave you, Naofumi,” he explained. “So long as someone has that accessory, the ship vassal weapon can cross to the world where the holder is, even without a wave.” 
“I see,” I said. 
“I had originally been hoping to use it to come here to aid you, Naofumi . . .” He trailed off. There was a barrier that completely closed us off from other worlds. There was no way to get to this world without a wave. 
 
 
If that was the case though, he should have turned up when Takt first kicked our asses. 
Maybe some issue had occurred that was keeping Kizuna and the others from coming to save us. 
“The ship vassal weapon sent me here to seek aid from you in my time of crisis, Naofumi,” Ethnobalt continued. 
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “What about Raphtalia?!” I pushed in closer to Ethnobalt and realized that something felt wrong. His ship vassal weapon was missing. A nasty feeling shivered up my spine. 
“Ethnobalt, did you see Raphtalia?” I asked. “She should have been summoned across to your world.” 
“I don’t know anything about that. It seems highly likely we crossed over around the same time. After I was sent here, I’ve been searching for you in my injured state for a while now . . .” he explained. 
“I see,” I said, disappointed. 
“Has something happened?” he asked. I proceeded to give him a quick rundown of the Takt situation. 
“We were lucky enough to defeat him anyway, without losing any of the heroes,” I finished. That news seemed to put him at ease momentarily, but then he gave another tense breath and continued. 
“We’re in a similar situation . . . if not a worse one, honestly,” he said. Considering the example set by Kyo, there was plenty of potential for someone else causing trouble relating to the vassal weapons. Kyo and the holder of the mirror vassal weapon had done nothing but cause issues since their selection—even if that had ultimately led to the weapons turning against them, preventing them from drawing out their powers. 
 
Takt in our world had been the same though, stealing the seven star weapons and eventually my shield. We had also already determined that Takt and Kyo were the vanguard for the one behind the waves. This might mean that a similar vanguard had appeared in Kizuna’s world. 
“A vassal weapon holder controlling his nation from behind the scenes, just like Kyo, refused to participate in negotiations for preparing for the waves and killed the four holy heroes apart from Kizuna.” That sounded bad enough, but Ethnobalt wasn’t done yet. “We formed a band from among our allies in each nation in order to defeat this evil vassal weapon holder, but one of those we recruited was a traitor with the ability to steal vassal weapons. L’Arc was caught by surprise, losing the scythe, and then Kizuna fell into the hands of the enemy.” Shit. I’d been thinking things were bad here! In the past, I might have considered just giving up on them altogether, but I didn’t want to make that choice now. 
“We executed a plan to rescue Kizuna,” Ethnobalt continued. There was more! “But we were attacked by a new, unknown force. After I was attacked and suffered these injuries, my vassal weapon was stolen, by the traitor, just like L’Arc.” 
“An unknown force?” More people with an ability like Takt’s to steal weapons. The odds continued to stack up against us. 

“I helped the others escape, and then I was sent here to you, Naofumi,” he explained. Ethnobalt proceeded to bow his head low to me. “I know this is asking a lot. But please, lend us your aid!” 

From what Ethnobalt had told me, in Kizuna’s world Kizuna herself had been captured, and the other three holy heroes had been slain. Someone with the ability like Kyo and Takt to steal weapons had also stolen L’Arc’s weapon. There was even another unknown force at work. 
“Is there any way we can get these?” I asked. 
“Yes. If I use the accessory I gave you, imbued with power prior to losing my vassal weapon, we can cross over—although it will only be a one-way trip,” Ethnobalt explained. Then he touched the anchor and transferred some magic to it. “It seems to still be connected to my world. I sense the presence of my captured vassal weapon. I think . . . everyone is still alive.” 
I looked at my shield. It sounded like I was very vaguely hearing the voices of Atla and Ost from the shield—their intent to leave everything to me. 
Very well. We were just going to have to do this. In either case, we needed to go and fetch Raphtalia. It wasn’t like Kizuna and the others were strangers to us either. Not to mention they were being attacked by a second Kyo. A second Takt, even. 
Raphtalia had faced down Takt alone in order to let me escape. Now it was my turn to go and save her, regardless of the wish the shield would grant to allow me to take Raphtalia with me to my home world. 
I pushed down my desire to set out as quickly as possible, knowing we needed to make all possible preparations. There was plenty of potential for issues to occur in this world while we were away helping Kizuna after all. I’d need to consider not just what members of the party to take, but also what weapons and gear to equip them with. 
 
“Let’s do this! We’re going to take down anyone like Takt!” I announced. 
With that, I decided to go and fetch Raphtalia and save Kizuna and the others.