Chapter Fifteen: Defense of the Port
“Death Dancing!”
We arrived in the port, left Kizuna’s house, and rushed to where the fighting seemed the harshest to find L’Arc happily swinging his scythe through a horde of enemy soldiers.
“Hey! Kiddo! You took your time,” L’Arc shouted gleefully.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan, leaping down from L’Arc’s back and rushing over to us.
“Your shikigami kept me informed of what was happening with you, but things were bad here too,” L’Arc said. These guys showed up with what looked like unknown vassal weapons. It was crazy.
“Looks a lot less crazy now,” I commented.
“Yeah. They got the order to retreat just before you showed up, and they all just started running away. The ones left are those I decided should . . . hang around for a bit,” L’Arc joked. Maybe kicking the crap out of Bitch—thanks again to Lyno—and making the ship vassal weapon holder retreat had caused them to retreat here too. Realizing their plan had failed, they made a run for it. “Just need to take care of this . . .” L’Arc made a signal with his thumb toward the back—or more like the edge—of the battlefield. A ring of people appeared there with Therese standing in the center. She had what looked like a shining halo over her head. The entire circle was comprised of jewels, and they seemed to be praying to Therese, almost . . .
“The jewels involved in the attack saw Therese and were captivated at once. They started praying to her and then attacked their former allies . . . it all caused quite a confusion,” L’Arc explained.
“Ah! Over there we have the Master Craftsman himself, the one who’s divine talents forged this accessory!” Therese said. Her ring of onlookers all erupted into cries of wonder and joy. Some of them immediately started begging me to make something similar for them. I popped out Stardust Mirror without a second thought, at a full ten, making sure none of them could get close.
“Filo, fly!” I ordered. “Keep them away from me!”
“Okay!” Filo turned into her monster form. I climbed onto her back and we quickly got some distance from the horde of jewels trampling toward me. Raphtalia and some others tagged along with me, while Kizuna and Glass would stay with L’Arc’s party to operate with him for a while.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Glass commented.
“Incredible, isn’t it? It just seems like a joke to me,” Kizuna replied.
“Jewels are pretty intense too . . .” Glass agreed. Both of them had exasperated looks on their faces.
“Dammit! This is the guy I’m up against?!” L’Arc raged. It was not the time for comments like that!
Then I felt a massive vibration in the direction of the port.
“Filo, get going,” I ordered.
“Okay!” she replied.
“Kizuna, you handle things here,” I told her.
“I don’t like the responsibility, but no problem!” she replied. Then we headed off for the port. From up in the sky, it was easy to see what was going on. The violence had ended in our victory, and the mysterious vassal weapon holders had all completed their escape.
“Acho! Bring it on!” the old lady shouted.
“You’re good! Haah!” the old man shouted too. The area they defended, their students, and the library rabbits seemed not to have taken much damage at all. There were plenty of fallen enemies scattered around though.
“Who’s that up there . . . hey!” Yomogi shouted.
“Everything is okay here now!” Tsugumi added, both of them waving up at us. There were what looked like hostile women tied up around them, likely their former comrades. It was as they had expected, then.
“You fed us something horrible, but it actually really helped out. Thank you,” Yomogi added.
“We would have been in trouble without it. That’s the only concession I will make!” Tsugumi said. It sounded like they were going to hold the Demon Dragon blood pudding against me for a while longer.
The other three heavenly kings spotted us flying with the Demon Dragon and each gave a salute.
“Good. They seem to have been pulling their weight. Shield Hero, when I was transformed by your power, the Four Heavenly Kings were also powered up through me,” the Demon Dragon commented.
“You got stronger too, didn’t you, Filo?” I said.
“Boo!” she replied.
“I think this battle has truly displayed to the Four Heavenly Kings and my other minions just how important you are to our forces, Shield Hero,” the Demon Dragon said.
“You come out with that after basically stealing Mr. Naofumi’s power from him!” Raphtalia said.
“And look how well things worked out for us. You should be grateful,” the Demon Dragon said. I just gave a sigh—it was all far too exhausting to deal with right now.
“Musical Vulcan! Shock Music!” I heard Itsuki’s voice—accompanied by screams from his target—and looked in that direction next to see Itsuki landing the finishing blow on Armor. The big suit of metal was down on the floor, perhaps paralyzed. Itsuki had one foot on him, like a big-game hunter, and his violin musical instrument was pointed at his armored face. It looked like Armor’s axe had been completely shattered. So it hadn’t been the seven star weapon this time.
“That settles this. You lose, Mald,” Itsuki said.
“Bah! You infidel from another world! My axe! If I had my seven star weapon, then this would never have happened! Giving me that hunk of junk! It’s all their fault, and now my justice is in the dust—” Armor complained, until Itsuki stamped down hard on him.
“So it was your weapon’s fault. And if you had a better weapon, what would you blame it on then? I’m sick of hearing it,” Itsuki said.
“Fehhh,” said Rishia. I wasn’t sure why, but I rarely was.
“It sounds like you lost the weapon because of your own misdeeds. I’m not sure you have anyone to blame but yourself,” Ethnobalt said, a troubled expression on his face. It looked like they had everything under control here too, anyway. Some damage had been caused, but nothing catastrophic.
“Someone save me! If no one appears to save me now, what is the meaning of my justice?!” Armor shouted.
“It means your justice is meaningless, of course, Mald,” Itsuki said, his voice cold and quiet but filled with raw anger. Then he noticed me closing in.
“Hey, Naofumi. You missed all the fun,” he said.
“We bumped into the harpoon vassal weapon holder and Bitch,” I told him.
“Mald let their plans slip already . . . It seems you were able to handle things on your side,” Itsuki said.
“Lyno! What are you doing here? Quick, save us!” Armor suddenly cried. Of course, he knew her.
“Whatever are you talking about?” Lyno replied, a smile of victory spreading across her face. “I am your enemy. It was I who crushed Bitch’s plans.”
“Boy . . . that face Bitch made, that was a real sight! I want to see that face again!” I started laughing along with Lyno. The Demon Dragon joined in too, but I just ignored her.
“That laughter sounds so evil,” Raphtalia said, worried, but I paid her no mind.
“What! You monster! You were evil all along?!” Armor exclaimed.
“You’re making a nice face right now too,” Lyno continued. “I’ve always hated you, Bitch, and all of you. So this feels so good.”
“You traitor! You’ll pay for this! All of you, you’ll all pay dearly for this!” Armor raged.
“I’m not paying you anything,” I said. It looked like Armor had lost the axe seven star weapon and been forced to take part in this operation. He was a man, after all, so he didn’t have access to the same wiles as Bitch. After the incident last time, it was no surprise he had been demoted.
“One thing has been bothering me, Mald, so let me ask it here,” Itsuki said, trampling down on armor again. “Back before Naofumi’s name was cleared, someone stole the reward for a quest that I completed. That thief . . . was you, wasn’t it?” I recalled the incident in question myself. He had accused me of the crime. Itsuki was really going back into the past now.
“No!” Armor said immediately, to which Itsuki fired a musical note from his musical instrument right past Armor’s cheek.
“The next one goes into your brainpan. Answer me,” I said.
“Justice will not bend to any form of torture!” Armor answered.
“I see. Deadly Poison Music,” Itsuki said quietly. This time the note struck Armor on the shoulder. His face turned red and started to swell up, and he screamed.
“It hurts! It’s like my body is burning!” His screaming intensified.
“I have caused the status effect deadly poison. If you don’t wish to die, admit the truth. You were the thief!” Itsuki said, not backing down.
“Fehhh! Itsuki, enough, please!” Rishia said, trying to stop him—but he was having none of it.
“Yes, yes!” Armor managed between screams. “We took the reward and drank it away in the tavern! Please, just save me!” That didn’t take long after all. Rather than fear death, he seemed to just dislike pain. He wasn’t going to last under torture.
“Oh my . . .” Even Rishia was surprised at how quickly he gave up. That was the sum total of his justice.
“I knew it. Detox Rondo!” Just as promised—but still somewhat grudgingly—Itsuki played a new note and removed the poison from Armor. “You are still our prisoner, of course.”
“Hah! Don’t get too pleased with yourselves just because you captured me! Justice cannot lose! Rojeel will come to save me! When that happens, our justice will prevail!” Oh no, I thought. Even when we removed Armor from play, there were still others out there. What a pain.
“Mald, you seem to have the wrong idea. I was trained in torture by the executioners of Zeltoble, and I’m just getting started on you. You’re going to sing to my music like a songbird when I’m finished. If Rojeel does show up . . . we’ll be ready for him, I promise.”
“Wh—” Armor started, then froze in terror at the shaded look on Itsuki’s face. It was partly this guy’s fault that Itsuki had gotten so broken. Now he just had to pay the price.
Rishia looked pretty terrified too.
“That said, I don’t have the time to deal with you today. Just get some sleep,” Itsuki continued, smashing his musical instrument into Armor’s stomach and knocking him out. I could only hope that Itsuki wasn’t going to awaken to some kind of curse.
“That seems like the end of the battle,” I said.
The fighting had died down, and everyone gathered to check on the damage and report the results of their efforts. It wasn’t a case of all’s well that ends well, not really. But we had managed to take out the harpoon guy and his goons without any major losses. And we had acquired a reasonable amount of fresh intel along the way, so it seemed like a win to me.
“What’s the next move? Attack the harpoon vassal weapon holder’s country right away?” L’Arc asked cheerfully.
“No. I think S’yne’s sister and her lot are probably still there. We’ll need to prepare more before we attack,” I replied.
“You bet!” the king replied.
We spent the rest of the day helping put the port town back into order. Once night fell, we threw our classic victory celebration. Everyone shared the joy in how much easier things looked going forward. However, I was also reminded starkly of the need for further training, due to the latent ability’s power-up method.
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