Chapter Two: Limit Break
As it turned out, Ethnobalt was with Sadeena and the others. Sadeena had not stopped trying to call me over.
“Little Naofumi, how are you doing?” she asked.
“Really not sure how to answer that one,” I responded. The Melromarc wave had been taken care of, by the way. With the four holy heroes and the staff, claws, and projectile seven star heroes all suitably powered up, wave-level enemies were not such a problem anymore. It had been over within minutes of it starting. No enemy we could consider a threat had been included in the wave.
Maybe that was just how strong the heroes had become.
One piece of bad luck, however, was that we hadn’t been matched with Kizuna’s world during the wave. I had kind of been hoping that, if we had been matched with them, Raphtalia could have made it back to this world through one of the wave cracks. As more waves were going to continue to occur in nations across the world, the heroes were going to have to split up to handle them all. Needing to go and bail out Kizuna and her gang in another world was a pretty tall order, on top of all our troubles.
Ethnobalt had explained how the holy heroes, other than Kizuna, had all been killed in her world. Control had been taken by a group who seemed to be a vanguard for the waves and also had access to the Takt-like power to steal people’s weapons.
“Tell me, Ethnobalt. Just to confirm, when do you think it would be best to cross to Kizuna’s world?” I asked. I had already returned the anchor accessory to him that he had previously given me. We could apparently use that trinket to cross over. However, there were some timing-based issues we needed to deal with first.
I had plenty of other stuff to be getting along with, of course. But I also wanted to go and save Raphtalia as quickly as possible.
“I think it will take three more days. Then I will be able to use the power of the accessory and take you across to our world,” he replied.
“Okay. In which case, I’ll use that time to make the required preparations,” I said, then shouted, “Gaelion!” He replied with a rumbling squawk, flying in at my call. I’d noticed that he was operating independently from Wyndia a lot more recently.
After claiming the dragon cores from Takt’s own Dragon Emperor, Gaelion had now ascended to the position of the greatest Dragon Emperor currently roaming the world. He had also acquired the knowledge about how to break the limit on the level cap.
In order to explain this limit-breaking knowledge, I need to first explain about this world and the levels that exist here.
To put it simply, this world has an element very much like the “levels” seen in video games. Defeating monsters awards you with experience, and that experience can raise your level. However, everyone aside from heroes has a level cap in place, the first one at 40 and the second one at 100. In order to break the 40th-level cap, you can use—with permission from the state—a facility called a “dragon hourglass” to perform a class-up ritual. The method for breaking the 100th-level cap, however, had been lost to us until now. It was no longer lost though, because Gaelion now knew how to do it.
“Considering we’re facing plenty more fighting in the future, think you could gather up everyone ready for the limit break and get it done?” I asked.
“Kwaa!” Gaelion responded affirmatively. He sounded pretty happy, perhaps pleased to be able to do something to help me out. That business with the class-ups for the monsters hadn’t really gone his way.
“You certainly have some interesting techniques here in your world, Naofumi,” Ethnobalt commented.
“What about in Kizuna’s world?” I asked.
“There’s a level cap, of course. If we could take this technique back with us, it might help us overcome our current troubles,” Ethnobalt pondered.
“I bet the system isn’t the same,” I replied. Our world and Kizuna’s world were quite different from each other. Just as they handled the seven star weapons and vassal weapons differently, the methods for limit-breaking were probably different too.
After all, when I first visited that world, I had been dropped back to level 1.
“Let’s head to the dragon hourglass in order to perform the limit-breaking class-ups. Anyone who meets the conditions, get ready to join us,” I stated. The power-up method provided by the gauntlets seven star weapon now allowed us to distribute skill points. Increasing the skill level for my Portal Shield had boosted the number of locations I could register and the number of people I could take through the portal with me.
“We’re here, we’re here! Little Shildina, get ready!” Sadeena shouted eagerly.
“I was ready before you were,” Shildina shot back. The killer whales were two of those who would be participating in the class-up experiment. Both of them were pretty strong, and both were already at the level 100 cap.
The reason for their high level was because, for whatever reason, the monsters in the sea awarded a substantial amount of experience.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan.
“Dafu!” said Raph-chan II. The pair of them looked pretty excited. I guess it’s about time these two got a class-up too. There were still plenty of lingering questions about Raph-chan II, but she wasn’t an enemy, and so it couldn’t hurt . . . right?
“Hold on!” Ruft ran up, chasing the Raph-chans.
“Hey, Ruft. Working hard on raising your own level?” I asked.
“Yeah. I should be level 40 pretty soon,” he replied.
“Good for you,” I complimented him. He had definitely gotten taller recently. His face looked more mature too.
“Once I reach 40, I’m going to take the Raph-chan class-up. I really can’t wait!” he exclaimed.
“Raph?” Raph-chan interjected. Oh boy. Had I gone wrong somewhere with raising this kid? Raphtalia hadn’t been happy about it, but I had ostensibly agreed to the Raph-chan class-up that Ruft had mentioned.
“Shildina, you’re going with the Shield Hero, aren’t you?” Ruft asked.
“That’s the plan,” she replied.
“Once you get your class-up, let me join you in leveling up,” he said. Shildina looked at me. If possible, I had wanted Ruft to remain young for a while longer and to grow up more gradually, but with everything that had happened recently, he likely had his own reasons for wanting this. He was also being trained in all sorts of fighting styles by all sorts of people. I couldn’t waste his desire to work hard.
I gave a nod, and Shildina confirmed it too.
“Just within a range that isn’t dangerous,” she said.
“Okay. Thank you,” he replied. The speed that Ruft was developing mentally really reminded me of Raphtalia. That was how swiftly he was making progress. No wonder he and Raphtalia were cousins.
“Dafu?” Then Ruft picked up Raph-chan II. I saw the perfect opportunity.
“Raph-chan II, you take good care of Ruft,” I told her. Raph-chan II was actually the past Heavenly Emperor. If anything happened here while we were gone, she could turn into the form of the past Heavenly Emperor and fight to protect Ruft. She was strong too, although the transformation appeared to have a time limit.
“. . . Dafu,” came the eventual reply.
“Heh, being with this little one really relaxes me, even more so than when I’m with Raphtalia—so much that it makes me think having a mother might be like this,” Ruft explained. I mean, she was basically his ancestor— like his however-many-greats grandma.
“Dafu . . .” Raph-chan II rubbed her cheeks a little, unsure of how to react to that, and so Ruft put her up on his shoulder and stroked her head. The words “Ruft exclusive Raph-chan” flashed through my mind.
Then I had another thought. If Raph-chan II was actually the past Heavenly Emperor, what about the original Raph-chan? Did she also have the soul of someone we don’t know about inside her?
“Raph,” she said in that moment, striking a pose to prompt us to set out. Those among my allies who could talk to monsters hadn’t mentioned any issues with her, so I guess it wasn’t a problem.
“We’ll deal with the class-ups first and then head out to level up right away,” I said. Then I proceeded to send everyone who was going to get a class-up over to the dragon hourglass. The class-up rituals started at once.
“Here we go!” I said.
“Kwaa!” Gaelion squawked, starting to incant the magic as Sadeena touched the dragon hourglass.
“Here, in this moment, the Dragon Emperor commands you. Bestow a new role upon this warrior who fights alongside the hero in defense of this world. Oh world, oh dragon vein, oh truth itself! Unlock the true power of this individual!” He was incanting using telepathy, meaning I was the only one who could hear him. The actual Gaelion was basically squawking like a parrot. As he finished the words, a beam of light emitted from the dragon hourglass and extended to my shield, which glowed as though some form of verification had been completed. Then, just like normal, a list of options appeared, showing the paths that Sadeena could take.
Wondering if there was a chance in the modifier rate for changing to a special class, I had a look at the options available to her. They were broadly divided between raising her abilities in her humanoid form and raising them when she was in her therianthrope form. It also looked like she could get some special abilities.
It felt a bit different from a normal class-up. With one of those, you could make detailed specifications about status. Of course, they did include special abilities too. This was closer to a monster class-up.
Shouldn’t it normally be the other way around? Maybe this was due to Gaelion’s protection. I went ahead and transferred the right to make the decisions over to Sadeena.
“Oh my. I’m really not sure what to pick. Which do you like, Little Naofumi?” Sadeena asked.
“You decide,” I told her.
“Please. A girl wants someone they like to make these decisions for them,” she replied.
“Is that so?” I responded. I didn’t feel all that comfortable with deciding Sadeena’s life for her.
“In that case, I’m going to choose to do fun things with you, Little Naofumi, and make lots of babies,” she responded. I made a disturbed noise. Was that even a choice? I checked again, and there were plenty of items that came pretty close.
“Sadeena. Stop toying with sweet Naofumi,” Shildina said.
“Oh please. I’m just having a little fun,” Sadeena shot back.
“I’m the one who’s going to make lots of children with him,” Shildina continued.
“Oh my!” Sadeena responded.
“Sisters, enough!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t tell if they were friendly or not, but their sexual harassment of me was identical! Seriously, at every turn they were there, making comments.
It looked like Sadeena had made her choice, anyway, as the hourglass glowed brightly and Sadeena absorbed the light.
When the light finally faded, Sadeena was smiling.
“That seems to be all of it. Little Naofumi, will you please take a look?” she asked.
“Sure thing,” I responded and proceeded to check her status.
Wow. Her stats had increased so much I almost thought it was a joke. Almost double her previous stats! Once my own protection was overlaid on this, she might have attack power to rival that of a hero.
For the level 100 class-up, the modifier looked to be displayed as a percentage. I wasn’t entirely sure what she had selected, but her previous, fairly evenly balanced stats now had a bit more of a slant to them. Of course, that might originate with the overall direction she had chosen.
“What did you choose?” I asked.
“Agility, strength, and then magic,” she responded.
“Fair enough,” I said. On top of all of this, she’d also started to learn Hengen Muso Style! She was quite the monster!
With that, we proceeded with the limit-breaking class-ups for all of the high-level individuals from the village. Apparently, it would remove the level cap completely.
The two Raph-chans, chattering away as normal, also both got class-ups. Gaelion had a bit of a sour expression on his face. I could understand it— Raph-chan could probably learn to do this himself, if he wanted.
It was decided that Gaelion would continue to aid with the class-ups for everyone whom the heroes deemed worthy of their trust. We needed all the firepower we could get. Anyone we could trust needed to be made as powerful as possible in order to prepare for future waves.
“Right then. The killer whale sisters and I are now going to lead a party to level up in the ocean. This is about raising the standard all round, so if you want to join in, be ready for what that means,” I said. Having finished the class-ups, we returned to the village at once and prepared to depart in three days’ time.
It was true, of course, that once we got to Kizuna’s world everyone who hadn’t gone there last time would probably be kicked down to level 1. Whatever. They still had to be as powerful as possible when we returned. The killer whale sisters, in particular, were both really strong and yet had been stuck at level 100 for ages. That had really been a shame and a real waste. If we could boost the levels of Ruft and the others a little too, all the better.
I was even going to get Sadeena to train Ethnobalt. The effect of crossing between worlds had left Ethnobalt as weak as a monster called an usapil, which looked a bit like a rabbit. In his world, it was apparently called a “library rabbit.”
A killer whale and a rabbit . . . for a moment that old story called “The Hare of Inaba” kinda hopped through my mind. But that was a shark, of course. Or was it a crocodile?
“Put this on, Ethnobalt, and go get really strong,” I told him, passing him a pekkul costume that served as diving gear.
“What is this? Something Chris made?” he asked. I mean, I could see why the design would make him think that. It was just a coincidence though.
“It’s based on a different model. A monster boss from a certain area dropped it,” I said.
“So it’s not order made? This design is quite something, I must say,” he commented.
“I’m more interested in you than this suit,” I responded. I had identified that Ethnobalt had the same kind of growth potential as Rishia. I’d gotten the old Hengen Muso lady involved and it had been just as I suspected. After checking Ethnobalt’s body countless times, the old lady had shouted, “You see this maybe once every hundred years! It doesn’t matter that he’s a monster! This is quite the year we’re having!” Pretty much what she had said with Rishia. Still, it meant I was right.
When I told her that there was basically a whole tribe of Ethnobalts in the other world, she had clutched her head as though she was really thinking hard about joining my little expedition. As it turned out, the old lady had been training those with potential in this world in order to help support Trash. Furthermore, after learning of the danger the old lady was in during the fight with Takt, her rather undependable son was also finally starting to take things seriously, and so she was hoping to train him too.
She was a mother, after all. Of course, her own son would be more important than some unknown but highly skilled group. However, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about the apparent age gap between mother and son.
Anyway, she’d said something about leaving the training of the library rabbits to Rishia. She’d also asked me to bring some back once my work there was done. So she wanted to raise some after all!
“I trained as hard as Rishia but still failed to achieve my true potential. I’ll make the most of this opportunity, even if just for a short period!” Ethnobalt enthused.
“Holders of vassal weapons do have trouble learning life force,” I sympathized. They could do it, but the requirement to use SP makes it hard to get a handle on, stopping them from achieving it easily. “Like you said, it’s just a short period, but go and do your best. Then keep it up once we come back.”
“That’s what I’ll do,” he said. I did shake my head though. Having an intellectual-magician type like Ethnobalt learn the same martial arts as Rishia really seemed like a waste, coming from a former geek and gamer.
It being its own world, the rules in Kizuna’s world were different. The only way to find out if application to magic was possible was to experiment with it. In either case, though, there was no harm in him being able to handle himself in close combat.
The killer whale sisters therefore led the way to leveling us up in the ocean.
“We came hunting before the war with Faubrey, didn’t we, Little Naofumi? Let’s push past even that point this time,” Sadeena suggested.
“Sure. We can handle it,” I replied. Once we arrived at the hunting ground, I started to cast All Liberation Aura. Just like when we finished off Takt, I used the X version. That meant we could definitely handle this. It was support magic so strong that the old Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu would have called it cheating for sure. Activating this turned most monsters into little more than wood to be chopped.
Living wood, though, so I still wasn’t going to risk any messing around.
“All Liberation Aura X!” I placed support magic on everyone who had come with me.
“This is . . . quite incredible. I should be a low level, having crossed from another world. Having this level of power is quite astounding,” Ethnobalt said, dressed in his costume, clearly quite impressed. “I should think using this power should allow us to easily aid Kizuna.”
“I hope so too,” I replied. I really just hoped we could hop over there, resolve their problems, and come back.
As we had this discussion, Sadeena and the others were speeding through the offing with us on their backs.
“Time to dive! Everyone hold on tight!” Sadeena said. Ethnobalt gasped as both of the sisters plunged down deeper and deeper toward the hunting grounds, with us still on their backs. They were going so fast! Multiple times faster than during our hunting trip prior to leaving for Faubrey, taking us down really deep in mere seconds. It was like being blasted into the deep by a rocket engine.
“Killer whale sisters! Stop!” I barely managed as Ethnobalt and Ruft started to writhe and moan. “Think about the water pressure—and whether we can all handle it!”
“Oh my! I’m quite surprised by this speed as well!” Sadeena replied.
“Wow . . . you guys are too light!” Shildina added. That sounded worth investigating. I deployed my Shooting Star Wall, just to be sure.
This was a skill housed in the Shield of Compassion that Atla had bequeathed to me. The effect of this high-functioning skill was to deploy Shooting Star Shield on everyone I considered allies within a certain radius around me. It was even better if they were in some sort of formation, really giving a boost to the effects of each individual shield.
It was not without its issues, of course. If the resistance threshold was crossed, then all of the shields would break. It was ultimately just a Shooting Star Shield for everyone. While offering some resistance from attacks, it also caused issues with attack range when those with the shield active tried to engage in close combat. When used with a sword or other in-your-face weapon, the barrier would push the enemy back, making it harder to close in on them.
In any case, deploying Shooting Star Wall provided some respite from the water pressure.
“I thought . . . I was about to be crushed,” Ethnobalt managed around gasps and heavy breathing.
“Me too,” Ruft added. Both of them were spitting up blood. They couldn’t hack it, as I had feared. I proceeded to cast some healing magic on them both. The rules in this world were different, and Raphtalia, S’yne, and I hadn’t really been bothered by it, but high-speed diving into the ocean clearly caused some damage at low levels. Seriously, it could have even killed them.
“I’ll keep Shooting Star Wall up, so let’s continue deeper while raising our levels,” I said.
“Oh my! All your demands, Little Naofumi, it’s making my head spin!” Sadeena jibed.
“I could use wind magic to gather some air and alleviate the pressure . . . You could also put them behind you, sweet Naofumi.” Shildina was being far more practical when compared to her sister, who was joking around.
“We also have to keep an eye on our remaining oxygen,” I reminded them. “Take care as we dive.” Something else I’d discovered on this hunt was that adding points to the underwater skill Bubble Shield not only increased the volume of oxygen it provided, but if I allocated at least three points, it created a kind of bubble membrane . . . basically creating an air bubble version of Shooting Star Shield.
As it turned out, it was a pretty convenient skill.
With that, we reached the ocean floor, and the killer whale sisters hunted down even more monsters than last time.
“Our limitations have been lifted! We are unleashed! Let’s do this, little Shildina!” Sadeena was in full flow.
“You don’t get to order me around. I can handle myself better than you!” her sister retorted.
“No fighting,” I interjected. While watching the killer whale sisters swim along, I walked the ocean floor. Ruft and Ethnobalt were with me. Perhaps thanks to his increased level while we’d been down here, Ethnobalt had started illuminating his surroundings using his own magic.
“Those two seem very strong,” Ethnobalt commented.
“They sure are. They joined me after I last saw Kizuna. They are definitely in the top five, not counting the heroes,” I explained.
“I see. You have been bolstering your fighting forces considerably. I am relieved to hear it,” Ethnobalt responded.
“I do what I can,” I replied. Looking back now, I realized it had definitely been a long road since I said farewell to Kizuna and her allies. With days so packed with stuff going on, it was hard to believe it had just been four months.
“Raph,” said Raph-chan, riding on Sadeena’s shoulder and waving at Raph-chan II, who was being held by Ruft.
“Dafu,” Raph-chan II replied.
“Two sisters, both water dragon miko priestesses, were swimming freely through the depths. It might not be long before they even surpass the water dragon himself. What do you think, Shield Hero?” Ruft asked me.
“Oh my! I think that might be going a little too far!” Shildina said. I personally wasn’t so sure he was that far off the mark. Still, it wouldn’t do for them to get too full of themselves.
We continued our hunting and continued to increase our levels.
Ethnobalt was racing up in levels even as he just continued to explore the seabed. As the main point of this was to raise Ruft’s and Ethnobalt’s levels, we hadn’t taken on any higher-ranking monsters yet. There were apparently some incredibly powerful monsters down here, if you went looking for them.
“Ah, Shield Hero! I just reached level 40!” Ruft said.
“Sounds good. Want to go back?” I asked him.
“Might be a good idea. I can’t increase any higher than this, and I don’t want to hold everyone else back,” he replied.
“Gotcha. I’ll portal you back to the village,” I told him.
“Okay. I’ll take part in the training there,” he said. Ruft really was a hard worker. So serious. “See you later!” I saw him waving, then used the portal and sent him back to the village.
“What next, then? You don’t need a level 40 class-up, right, Ethnobalt?” I confirmed with him.
“That’s right. Before I became a vassal weapon holder, I went through all sorts of training to become the library rabbit leader. The level 40 restriction seems to be an element unique to this world, and there’s no sign of me stopping at level 40,” he reported.
“Okay,” I muttered, stroking Raph-chan II with both hands. Ruft had chosen to leave her behind with us. I had to admit, quite aside from my plans for Ruft, I had been hoping to have Ethnobalt undergo a Raph-chan-type class-up. I had really been wondering about what it would do to him.
“I’m not sure how to explain this, but I sense something from you right now very much like what I feel from Kizuna when she’s planning some fresh mischief,” Ethnobalt said.
“You do?” I said innocently. Was it so easy to tell when a hero was plotting something?
“Dafu,” said Raph-chan II. As though reading my mind, she hopped up onto my head and started batting at my skull. It was cute. Okay then. I’d try to limit my evil notions, just like I did when Raphtalia was around.
“Right, Little Naofumi. You keep that little precious bundle safe. We’re going to push things a bit harder!” Sadeena said.
“Go ahead,” I told her. We followed the two sisters deeper into the ocean depths. Based on the experience we were receiving from the monsters, it looked like the recommended level for defeating them was 150, and Sadeena and Shildina were cutting through them one after the other. Ethnobalt looked pretty freaked out by the proceedings. They should have still been weaker than the Spirit Tortoise—or at least I hoped they were. I’d feel terrible for Ost if that wasn’t the case. That said, we had defeated a fake hero who had claimed to be level 350.
Through these raging battles, Ethnobalt crossed level 60 in no time.
“Hey . . . can I have a moment? I’m actually pretty hungry,” Ethnobalt said, clutching his stomach, which was definitely rumbling.
Ethnobalt was hiding in his human form, but just as Filo had been transformed by crossing to another world, Ethnobalt had been turned into a monster called a leshuant, a type of usapil, from his original form as a library rabbit. Considering his age, Ethnobalt apparently wouldn’t have a rapid growth spurt, but his body still had to be growing a bit.
“Let’s go back then. We’ve got most of the materials I was after too,” I said. We needed to quickly carve up the huge—and strange—monsters found down on the ocean floor. I’d considered just putting them into my shield and then popping them out again at the dragon hourglass, but we’d defeated some monsters so big they would probably crush a few buildings if I did that. It might be best to just put up with the drop items. Some pretty good gear had dropped.
We finished the hunt and returned to the village.
As a result of our efforts, both Sadeena and Shildina had reached level
120. Twenty levels in one day was huge, and it made me do a double take to make sure we weren’t back on the Cal Mira islands.
Once we were back in the village, I took Ruft to the dragon hourglass and performed a Raph-chan-style class-up on him. There was a puff of smoke just like with Raphtalia, but once it cleared, nothing much had changed.
“How do you feel, Ruft?” I asked him. Ruft inspected himself carefully but then tilted his head.
“I do feel stronger,” he started. “But I don’t really understand how.”
“Fair enough,” I responded.
“I was hoping to be able to transform like Shildina!” he said.
“If you keep working hard, you might be able to!” I encouraged him.
“You’re right! I’ll keep training!” he enthused.
“I wonder what kind of face little Raphtalia would pull if she saw this,” Sadeena commented. An angry one, probably, but while the cat was away, the mice could class up however they liked. It made sense, anyway. When I thought about the future, we would need Ruft to also start pulling his weight.
“Right then, Shield Hero. Should I go to Melty now?” Ruft asked.
“Yeah . . . okay. Trash is at the castle too, so you’ll learn a lot there. I’ll want you to take part in leveling up when you can, but put your studies first,” I instructed him. He nodded his agreement. I proceeded to send him to Melty, and then I returned to the village.
This was how we spent the three days prior to our departure: getting ready for the trip and mainly leveling up. The party went through a few variations, but Ethnobalt and I were a fixture. Sadeena also brought some of her own friends along.
When I looked at how Ethnobalt was coming along, his progress was a little slower than Rishia’s, but around level 95, his stats suddenly started to really grow. However, before our departure, he hit the growth cap and stopped increasing. It looked like stopping at 100 was the same for him.
He was suffering restrictions from losing the vassal weapon and had also lost his SP. So I performed a limit break on him and enhanced him further. That said, I could only make my own exclamations in surprise at him raising close to 100 levels in just three days. I had to wonder what further potential lay in this seabed level-raising as suggested by the killer whale sisters. It seemed that taking a hero along further boosted the experience received. Ethnobalt had grown a lot since his arrival in the village and was now even a similar size to his library rabbit form. As for me, I had reached 150. It was good but still a far cry from a certain fake hero and his 350.
During that time, I also checked in with the weapon shop in Melromarc.
“Hey! Good to see you, kid. I saw the coronation of the princess!” The old guy greeted me with a smile, just like always, and I immediately felt at ease.
“I just came to say thank you,” I told him. “All the gear you made us really helped during that last battle.”
“Glad to hear it,” he replied.
“Huh? Hey you, punk! You at least avenged Atla for me, right?” This question came from Motoyasu II, the old guy’s master, as he appeared from the back of the store.
“That’s right, although I didn’t do it for you. Takt and his cronies have been punished, all across the world,” I informed him.
“Surrounded by all those women, I don’t understand why he felt the need to rule the world as well. I’d be happier just putting together a harem,” he slurred back. I almost responded, because I certainly didn’t see any women around him. Booze and money were the only things he probably ever had any fun with. Still, he did have some pretty impressive skills as a blacksmith. There might have been something there, maybe even the possibility of a harem, if not for . . . what? His personality? If he was just a bit more serious about his forging, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people actually started to take a liking to him.
“All those women wouldn’t have ended up like that, either, if they’d just picked their side with a little more care,” Motoyasu II mused.
“I would have thought you’d be against the killing of women, even as enemies,” I commented. We’d executed a large number of them from Takt’s forces. I’d expected Motoyasu II to complain about that. The old coot’s eyes glazed over for a moment, and then he looked back at me.
“I understand the nature of such things,” he replied. I wondered if that was really something to boast about. “I’ve been involved with more than my fair share of horrible women. You can’t worry about the fates of them all, or there’d be no end to it.”
“You really can pick ’em,” the old guy agreed.
“Shut it,” he snapped back. “I prioritize the women I know over those I’ve never seen before. That should go without saying. Those Takt bitches took the life of sweet, courageous little Atla and brought suffering to women across the world.”
“Women across the world, huh?” I said, unable to stop myself.
“Half the world is women!” he shot back. “How many of them do you think would suffer if someone like him took power?” Still, this was hardly the place for such a conversation. I was starting to see a bit of a different side to Motoyasu II, however. His awareness of women was a little different from the old Motoyasu, at least.
“What if you had been friends with some of Takt’s women, then?” I probed, perhaps foolishly.
“What do you think? I’d have told you not to kill them,” he quickly replied. So he’d protect the women he knew—an easy-to-understand answer, and not a bad one.
“Anyway, what brings you here, wasting my time?” he barked.
“Master, can you back off a bit? If you talk with the kid for too long, it’s just gonna get you all riled up again,” the old guy countered.
“Whatever!” Motoyasu II spat back as Imiya’s uncle led him back into the depths of the shop.
“So, kid, I’d love it if you could show me some Kirin materials right about now. Any luck?” the old guy asked.
“I’m sorry to say we are still investigating what happened to them, even in Faubrey,” I responded. We were talking about the materials from the Kirin that Takt had defeated, which were currently still missing in action. I’d really wanted to secure them and have the old guy make some gear to prepare for the upcoming battles.
“The word is out to give us the lion’s share if and when they are found. So if they show up while I’m away, just get started,” I instructed him.
“Away? Where you off to?” he responded.
“Right. That’s really what I came to tell you,” I recalled. I proceeded to tell him about the upcoming trip to Kizuna’s world.
“I see. So you want me to tinker with your gear so it can still be used over there?” he asked.
“That’s the short of it. Think you can manage it so quickly?” I replied.
“The armor you are using now is pretty good with that kind of compatibility, so it shouldn’t take too long. If I swap in those parts you brought me last time . . . I reckon I can pull something off without the cursed parts,” he stated. I was glad to hear that. “Will Spirit Tortoise materials function over there?” he asked.
“I used the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield, so they should be fine,” I replied.
“Then it should all work out. When you came back last time, I checked it out, and the materials used for those parts . . . well, though not entirely legal, were similar to the demi-human materials from the four benevolent animals,” the old guy explained.
I wondered if it was connected to the four holy beasts. It corresponded to the main races of Siltvelt.
“I mean, if you asked, I’m sure the demi-humans would happily provide them,” he said.
“I would never ask, though, and never take them,” I responded. This was bad. I thought I’d worked through the stuff with Atla, but my hands started to shake. I really wanted to say that the four holy beasts and the demi-human four benevolent animals were two different things.
“Yeah, of course,” the old guy said after an awkward pause. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry, kid.”
“No need to worry about it. It’s just not something I’d do,” I responded. Maybe the one thing I definitely would never do. The old guy understood that and had apologized. We were good.
“If you need any work doing, I’m sure a blacksmith over there will be able to help you out. Once you’re all finished, come on back and bring something nice with you to show us, okay?” he said.
“That I can do,” I replied. We had him making armor for all of the heroes now. He was like our personal blacksmith.
“I wanted to have a shield from the Phoenix materials ready for you by now,” he mentioned. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m sure the Spirit Tortoise Shield can still get the job done,” I assured him. Based on what I’d seen from Ren’s sword, a shield made with Phoenix materials would probably be pretty similar to the Spirit Tortoise one anyway. Just from the numbers, the Phoenix would be better, but the modifier I received from Ost’s protection really muddied those waters.
“Kid, I know it won’t be easy, but do your best. The little lady is waiting for you,” he said.
“Raphtalia has always been there to support me. I have to do the same,” I responded. Then I waved goodbye to the old man and left the store behind.
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