Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Party Selection 

The eve of our departure to Kizuna’s world finally arrived. It was decided that the heroes would gather in the village mess hall and determine the plans for the trip. The main topic of conversation was who was going to join the party to visit Kizuna’s world tomorrow and who was going to stay behind in this world. Of course, I would be going. 
“Basically, the shield has given me permission to do it, so I’m going to Kizuna’s world,” I stated. “Can you guys cross over too?” I asked Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki. 
“Don’t ask me,” Ren replied. 
“A different world from this one?” That was Motoyasu’s starting point. 
“The only answer is, we don’t know,” intoned Itsuki. The issue was that the four holy heroes were part of the fundamental support system of this world. Would it be possible, then, for them all to leave at once? When I thought about it logically, without special permission—like what had happened with Ost—they probably weren’t going anywhere. 
As the four of us bickered, the gemstone on my shield glowed a number of times. 
“What was that?” I wondered. Then the gemstones on the other heroes’ weapons also glowed. This was one of the most annoying things about our situation—no way to talk directly with the Shield Spirit. Sometimes it was like I could hear Atla, but this wasn’t one of those times. 
 
I didn’t see any other choice. I approached the matter as I would when talking to a monster. 
“Everyone other than me can’t go,” I stated. No response from the gemstone. “Is it possible for me to take at least one of the other four heroes?” Then it glowed. So it looked like that meant yes. “Can I take them all?” I continued. This time nothing. “Man, this is a pain.” 
“Naofumi, please give it a better try than that,” Ren said. 
“Okay, okay, I’m not done yet,” I retorted. “I don’t think we should all be leaving anyway. Our search for Witch hasn’t turned up any results yet, for one thing.” Witch had cast Takt aside and fled and was now hiding somewhere in this world, very likely—no, definitely—plotting some fresh evil. 
She was wanted, dead or alive, not just in Melromarc but in every nation in the world. Once she was found, it had been determined that the heroes would go and deal with her. If Raphtalia hadn’t been summoned to Kizuna’s world, I would have been out searching for Witch myself. 
To be quite honest about it, we really didn’t have the time to go off and pull Kizuna’s ass out of the fire. Yet it was still an issue that we had to take care of. 
Q’ten Lo offered a good rate of experience, but without Raphtalia, the only way there was from the port in Siltvelt. We were already having Sadeena and Shildina help us with some nice experience gains under the sea, but Ren swam like an anchor, so he couldn’t take part. He had been patrolling regions with powerful monsters and gradually raising his level that way. 
 
Itsuki had been patrolling the nearby oceans on a ship with Rishia, while Motoyasu had been racing around in the mountains with his filolials. Those who could swim should really be going under the sea! 
Even now we were ostensibly working together, but we were still all over the place. The only advantage of that, perhaps, was that materials from all sorts of different locations were coming in. 
“We still need to decide who to take along,” I said. I proceeded to take a look around the assembled faces. “Trash.” 
“Yes?” Trash replied, turning his gentle gaze from Melty, Ruft, and Fohl. 
“I’d like to refer to your opinion here,” I told him. It certainly couldn’t hurt to hear from the Wisest King of Wisdom—the one who had destroyed the Faubrey forces Takt led during the previous battle. The plan was to have Trash himself stay behind. In terms of intellect, there was no one more trustworthy than Trash right now. Even without me here, he’d be able to handle pretty much anything that came up. I almost wanted to take him along, to be honest, but that would seriously damage our defenses back here in this world. 
“Based on what you have already told me, Hero Iwatani,” Trash started, “if you go to that world, you are returned to level 1, correct?” 
“That’s right,” I confirmed. 
“But as the situation also requires a certain degree of haste, you won’t have much time to raise your levels,” Trash continued. Yes, that was a good —and painful—point. Ethnobalt had said that he should be able to bring us into a safe space after we crossed over, so hopefully we wouldn’t suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a scrap. But there was definitely going to be an issue with time. 
 
“Considering the threat apparently posed by the enemy you will be facing, it can be assumed that a hero other than just you will be required. That said, I would personally recommend forming up your party based on those you took with you last time, Hero Iwatani,” he concluded. 
“Okay. Which means . . .” I looked at Filo and Rishia. Filo was being shielded by Melty so that Motoyasu didn’t spot her. Neither of them looked especially happy to be here, but considering the circumstances, it wasn’t like they had a choice. 
“I’ll do my best!” Filo chirped. “Are you coming too, Mel-chan?” 
“Filo, I’m sorry, but I have my hands full stitching this war-torn world back together. I’d leave that to my father and come with you in a heartbeat, if I could,” Melty bemoaned. Her father just laughed, but in a cloying, doting fashion that almost made my skin crawl. Seriously, since casting aside his issues with me, Trash had taken on many aspects I’d never seen in him before. He was like a totally different person. 
“Don’t you need me to protect you, Mel-chan?” Filo asked. 
“I’ll be fine, Filo. This time you need to be with Naofumi,” Melty assured her. 
“Okay! If you say so!” Filo responded. 
“Very well. That counts Filo in—” I started. 
“If Filo-tan is going, then I’ll go too, I say!” Motoyasu interrupted, suddenly springing to his feet. 
 
“Bleh! You stay away!” Filo ran from the room. Motoyasu made to chase after her, but Melty stood in his way. 
“Cool it, Motoyasu!” I ordered. 
“Wherever Filo-tan goes, I must follow! No matter the place, no matter the danger!” he proclaimed. Filo would never manage the trip with him along, and I was keen to quickly exclude him completely. But Motoyasu also brought a lot to the table in terms of being able to fight. In either case, if I didn’t take action, Motoyasu was definitely going to be coming along. 
I considered what it might look like if we did take Motoyasu to Kizuna’s world. I immediately saw myself repeatedly having to chew him out for chasing Filo around. We would be facing all sorts of issues over there already, so just considering throwing Motoyasu into the mix, I felt like I had a stomach ulcer already. 
Then I noticed disapproving glares coming my way from the three differently colored filolials under Motoyasu’s command. If we took him, those three would be coming too, of course. Leaving them behind would put me on their bad side forever. 
“Nope, Motoyasu. You aren’t coming. It would cause all sorts of other issues, so you can just stay here. I’ll have Ren or Itsuki keep an eye on you,” I told him. 
“What?!” Ren’s brow furrowed in distress. 
“But, father-in-law! I have sworn my most unbreakable vow that I will fight for the sake of sweet Filo-tan! Wherever my feathered princess goes, I must follow!” Motoyasu babbled. That might have been useful if he had shown up during the trouble in Q’ten Lo. Unfortunately, back then he’d done absolutely nothing—although I did give him credit for having protected the village. 
 
“If you come, your three filolials will come too, correct?” I asked him. 
“That would be the case,” he replied. 
“Then just give up. In that world, they will be transformed into a different type of monster,” I explained. 
“What?!” Motoyasu exclaimed. I recalled how Filo had been transformed into a humming fairy, a monster that changed appearance many times as it developed. But there were no filolials over there. The only time she could be a filolial over there was when that world was matched with this one during a wave. 
“This isn’t settled yet! I will be fine so long as Filo-tan is there!” Motoyasu persisted. 
“Bleh! Stay away from me!” Filo retorted. 
“Just calm down, both of you,” I barked. “We’ve hardly started yet. The decisions will be made once we’ve heard from everyone. Just be ready to give up on coming along.” 
“But—” Motoyasu started again. He wasn’t going to just give up. I needed to redirect the conversation. 
“Motoyasu, is your love nothing but chasing after Filo? Defending the place that Filo will come back to—couldn’t that be called love too?” I asked him. Motoyasu snapped back to himself with a look of realization on his face. 
 
“Very well then, father-in-law! I will defend Filo-tan’s territory with my life!” he proclaimed. 
“Bleh!” Filo retorted. I waved her back, not wanting her to say anything else. She might trigger him wanting to come along again. 
“Naofumi, you’re getting better at handling Motoyasu,” Ren said. 
“I’ve had enough practice,” I replied. I wasn’t happy about that either. I almost preferred the old Motoyasu. He hadn’t been easy to handle, but as someone a bit older than the rest of us, he also had an air of being in control. It was something that almost suggested . . . reliability. However, I’d only seen that version of him on the day we were all summoned. 
Anyway, I thought, getting back on track . . . I’d consider everyone else first, and then if Motoyasu really was the only one fit for the purpose, I’d take him along. I had to do what was best for everyone, including Filo and myself. 
If he did come with us, of course, we’d probably have to drag Melty along too. 
“Naofumi, we might need to have a discussion about that look you are giving me later,” Melty said. 
“You’re hypersensitive, Melty. Has anyone ever told you that?” I glibly responded. 
“I can’t say they have,” she retorted tartly. “I’ve never thought about it myself.” Yeah, Melty could handle herself. She was as sharp as a tack, that one. 
“Kwaa . . . kwaa!” Now Gaelion piped up. 
“Gaelion, calm down!” Gaelion and Wyndia were getting into it. 
 
“Just because Filo is going is no reason to start making demands. If you go, who will perform class-ups here?” Wyndia reasoned. Gaelion immediately glared at Raph-chan, as though to say there was someone everyone seemed to prefer anyway. 
“Raph?” Raph-chan questioned. 
“Bleh to you!” Filo and Gaelion started staring each other down. 
“Filo, stop taunting the poor dragon. I’ll have Rat give you a physical,” Melty warned. 
“Yuck!” Filo protested. 
“Kwaa, kwaa!” Gaelion squawked as he flapped over to me. Then he whispered in my ear. 
“He really wants to go, but I’ll keep him under control somehow. If you are going to another world, isn’t there’s something other than this dragon that you should be taking with you?” he asked. 
“Like what?” I said. 
“Have you forgotten already? The Demon Dragon core. That dragon core from another world,” Gaelion reminded me. Right, of course, I recalled. That dragon core. It was the Dragon Emperor from Kizuna’s world, after all. We’d really brought quite a dangerous item back with us. I hadn’t been sure what to do with it since then either. Taking it back seemed like the best idea. 
After relaying this message, Gaelion fluttered back over to Wyndia. 

“Right then.” I tried to keep things moving. “Apart from Filo, the only one here who I took along last time is Rishia.” She’d made quite an impression on me too, fighting the good fight against Kyo. I’d thought of her as pretty weak up until that point, but when it came to the crunch, she’d been more like a main character than a supporting player. Her stats weren’t awakened over there, but she had already learned life force. To top it all off, she was also the projectile seven star hero. She could more than pull her weight when compared to last time, and no one here could be said to be better suited. 
 
“Fehhh . . .” Rishia looked at me and then at Itsuki. She was invested in the proceedings of the other world and was friendly with Kizuna and her allies already. That meant Rishia was up for the challenge. But she also probably didn’t want to let Itsuki out of her sight. The curse on Itsuki had to be close to breaking completely, but his personality still hadn’t come back. 
Both Filo and Rishia would bring some muscle, but they had plenty of baggage too. Itsuki was as out of it as ever. 
“If Rishia is going, I should probably go along too,” Itsuki suggested. He seemed to have read the situation, for once. 
“Ah,” S’yne piped up, raising her hand. 
“Hey, S’yne, that reminds me. While a wave is happening, this place becomes dangerous for you, right? Why didn’t you leave during the last wave?” I asked her. 
“Under those circumstances—” S’yne managed around the noise that always blocked out what she said. 
“Is there any reason you are asking this now?” her familiar asked me for her. I guessed that leaving after another wave and just saying goodbye wasn’t quite her style. “S’yne wishes to accompany you on this mission, Naofumi. It may be a world she has already passed through.” 
 
“Right, I hadn’t thought of that possibility,” I responded. S’yne was the holder of the sewing vassal weapon from another world. Her own world had already been destroyed, and now she was using the waves to pass from world to world. That meant maybe she had already increased her level in Kizuna’s world. This issue with her was that, though she tried to hide it, her vassal weapon was on the verge of breaking, meaning she wasn’t really all that strong. 
Even so, S’yne was definitely suited to the mission. The enhancement and protections she received from my trust in her were likely boosting her stats a little too. 
“Very well, S’yne. Welcome to the party,” I told her. 
“Thanks,” she managed to say. 
As the selection of party members continued, Raph-chan excitedly raised a paw. 
“Raph, raph! Raph,” she said. 
“Okay, okay. Calm down. You’re in, Raph-chan,” I said to her. Raph-chan had been born over in Kizuna’s world. Although she hadn’t been outfitted with the concept of levels back then, the items we did enhance while there would surely still be effective. Which meant Raph-chan was coming too. 
Not to mention that she could detect Raphtalia . . . and that there was no freaking way I was ever going to leave that cutie behind. 

“Dafu!” Raph-chan II was waving to Raph-chan. That suggested she planned on staying behind. 

“Based on the advice from Trash, I think that’s all the immediate combat strength we can hope for. Fohl, what about you?” I wanted to give him the option, but he shook his head. 
“I do want to go and help out . . . but Atla left me this village to protect. That comes first,” he explained. It might have worked to take him along, depending on circumstances, but if he didn’t want to go, then I wasn’t about to force the issue. Taking too many heroes away would leave things unbalanced on this side too. 
“Okay. I will feel better having you protecting things,” I told him. 
“Brother . . .” he said. I did place quite a lot of trust in Fohl. His past, risking his own life and fighting so hard for his ailing sister in Zeltoble, had made a lasting impression on me. Both due to his reliable abilities and his mentality, I had wanted to take him along. But the opposite was also true. Fohl would protect the village by pure stubbornness alone, if it came down to it. While we were off in the other world, we could safely leave things here in his hands. 
“Little Naofumi. Oh, little Naofumi! What about the two of us?” Sadeena and Shildina were looking at me with expectation in their eyes, pointing to themselves. 
“Huh? You two want to come along? I’d rather you helped raise the level of everyone in the village,” I said. The ocean was such a great place to raise levels that if they kept on raising levels even while I was away, then we’d be ready for the waves or any other unexpected circumstances. 
 
“Little Naofumi, you know what I want, right? You really think I want to be safe back here while Raphtalia is in danger?” Sadeena questioned. She had a deep connection to Raphtalia’s parents and a strong sense of wanting to protect Raphtalia. Now that Raphtalia had gone off to some other world, she didn’t want to stay behind and wait. 
“I have friends I can count on! Little Sasa and little Elmelo!” she said. Right, those two mercenaries. I’d thought I might get along with the panda. So she was planning to leave things to those two? 
“You won’t listen even if I try to stop you. Okay, Sadeena, you can come,” I said. 
“And me?” Shildina raised her own hand, looking at Sadeena in annoyance. 
“You’re staying behind. I need you to train Ruft and everyone else we can trust,” I told her. 
“Oh my! No! I don’t want just Sadeena to go!” she said. I wanted to tell her to stop being so selfish, but her appearance belied her age—Shildina wasn’t all that much older than Raphtalia and the others. She also had quite complex feelings about her sister, Sadeena, and so what she perceived as unequal treatment was bound to trigger this response. She had been raised under such pressure. It could be seen as regression to an infantile state, but maybe she was just getting accustomed to the village. 
That selfish reaction made me recall my own younger brother. Maybe he had been quite uncomfortable around me too—although when it came to pretty much anything, studying or anything else, he had generally been my superior. 
 
“Shildina . . . just calm down.” Ruft stepped in. “The shield hero is leaving the village in your care. Doesn’t that mean he trusts you more than Sadeena?” This was interesting. Ruft placed his hand on her shoulder as he talked her down. 
“Oh my . . .” It seemed to be working. Ruft was pretty good at managing her. 
“Oh my! Do you really think so?” Sadeena chimed in. Just when I needed her to shut up! 
“Dafu!” Raph-chan II moved over and climbed onto Ruft’s shoulder. Shildina immediately leapt up and moved to hide behind me. I really wished she would get over this by now. 
“Dafu, dafu, dafu!” As though berating her for being selfish, Raph-chan II was pointing at Shildina and squeaking. 
“Okay,” Shildina finally said. “I’ll help everyone here and wait for sweet Naofumi to come back.” 
“That would be perfect,” I told her. 
“But we need to have lots of fun once you return,” she confirmed. 
“Sure, sure,” I said. In that moment, some kind of light flickered around Shildina. I wondered what it was. It appeared to be some light leaking from the anchor accessory Ethnobalt held. I blinked a few times and couldn’t see it anymore, so maybe I was just imagining things. 
Whatever. We were finally getting a party together, anyway. 
“Bubba, bubba! What about me?” Keel was wagging her tail happily as she put herself forward. The last time we’d gone, we had to leave her behind because of wounds she’d sustained from one of the Spirit Tortoise’s familiars. 
 
“I don’t want to take a whole army. And like I said, we might find ourselves fighting almost right away,” I replied. If she really wanted to do it, I wasn’t going to stop her, but I also didn’t want to leave the village undefended. “Sadeena can handle herself even at a low level, right? And she gets strong really quick,” I said. 
“Yeah, that’s true. I bet Sadeena is mentally strong even at level 1!” Keel enthused. 
“But what about you, Keel? Do you have the confidence to fight at level 1?” I questioned. 
“Hmmm. Okay! I’ll stay here and support Fohl!” she said, quickly changing her mind and grabbing onto Fohl’s arm. 
“Sure, okay,” he said unsteadily. I might have given it more thought if she had said something like, “You didn’t take me last time, so this time I’m definitely going along!” But she didn’t try that line. 
I’d left peddling to Keel anyway, and it was going well. It wouldn’t hurt for her to just continue along those lines. I’d obtained considerable territory and wealth, but for the sake of the future, I wanted to maintain patrols and keep the peace while also conducting sales. 
“Just keep doing your best!” I told her. 
“I will! I’ll make so much money you’ll make a new sweet treat for me!” she yipped. So it was a sugar injection she was after? Sometimes I really thought I’d screwed up the way I raised everyone in my village. 
 
“That should be enough,” I said, keen to get this stage of the process finished. Considering the situation over there, it was probably best not to take a huge number of people along anyway. There was strength in numbers, but taking too many for the sake of it could also lead to unnecessary deaths. After all, if we ran into someone that Rishia and I couldn’t handle, most of those here wouldn’t be any additional help. I needed to keep any losses down as far as possible. 
So we were taking Filo, Rishia, Itsuki if possible, Sadeena, Raph-chan, and then S’yne. “Looks like we’ve got a party,” I concluded. Ethnobalt and I would round out the group. 
It both felt like too many and yet maybe not enough. But there were still the waves and all sorts of other issues to resolve in this world. There was little leeway other than this group. 
“Okay. From the four holy heroes, I’ll take Itsuki. Will that work?” I asked the shield. It shone again. Looked like I’d received permission. 
If possible, I really wanted to just meet up with Raphtalia, save Kizuna, deal with the vassal weapon holder who had caused the problem, and get the hell back here. 
“That settles it,” I said. “Everyone get ready to go.” 
We finally had our party for the trip.
 
The next morning, Ethnobalt focused his awareness on the anchor accessory, confirming again that everything was in order. Everyone else had made preparations and were ready to go. I’d also made enough soul-healing water for each of the heroes, so we could enhance them if we met with Glass.
 
“See you later, Bubba! Everyone!” Keel yipped. 
“I won’t be gone long, Mel-chan!” Filo said. 
“I know, Filo. Just take care,” Melty replied. Pretty much everyone from the village had come out to see us off. 
“Ah . . . hoping for your safe return, I made this accessory. If you keep it with you, it may keep you from harm,” Imiya said, handing me an accessory. 
Two Spirit Charm (four benevolent animal protection, all stats up [medium], freely imbued random effect) 
Quality: excellent 
It combined materials from the Spirit Tortoise and Phoenix around a gemstone called a pastel diamond. It also looked like it could be imbued with magic. “Freely imbued random effect” was an effect slot that could be increased via magic. Each time it was imbued, the stats would randomly change. It was quite a powerful effect. 
I was impressed. I’d been making accessories myself in order to combat status effects, but I wasn’t sure I could turn out something quite like this. It really was the result of all the hard work Imiya had put into making accessories. 
“Thank you,” I told her. I accepted the accessory from her and then ruffled her hair. I could see her cheeks flushing. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding before. I gave you totally the wrong idea.” 
 
“It’s fine. No need to worry about it. Just please come back with Raphtalia and everyone else,” she responded. 
“Yeah. It’s time to bring Raphtalia home,” I said. Everything finally ready, I gave Ethnobalt the signal. More voices called out, telling us to come back safely. There was even a “dafu” mixed in. The assembled party gave everyone a wave. 
“It was only a short visit, but thank you for everything. I will repay this kindness at a future date. Here we go,” Ethnobalt said and raised the anchor accessory. It started to glow and a gentle light surrounded those of us who were making the trip. Then the world around us changed. It felt very much like after using a portal. 
We set out for Kizuna’s world.