Chapter Three: The Spirit Tortoise Reawakens
“What?”
I couldn’t wrap my mind around what she was saying, but we weren’t going to get anywhere if I started out disagreeing with her. At the very least, I reasoned, I needed to hear her out.
“Alright, alright. Let me get this straight. You have time to talk, right?”
“Yes. That is the very reason I came here, but we do not have time to dally,” said the woman—the Spirit Tortoise familiar (human type)—as she gazed off to the western sky.
I wanted to open a portal and take her back to the castle with us, but the cool-down time for the Portal Shield skill was long, and it wasn’t ready for use yet.
We’d defeated the giant monster, but it would be a while before the evacuated townspeople came back.
“Let’s talk at the adventurer’s guild in town. It should be empty for a little while.”
When we got there, the guild was unbelievably quiet.
Any brave adventurers in the area had left to drive the remaining Spirit Tortoise familiars out of town, but that didn’t mean that the whole town was deserted. Someone was waiting to check us in to the guild. After making sure that the building was safe, he set himself to reopening the business. I showed him the document the queen had given me, and he quickly showed us to a small meeting room.
The woman familiar followed us in silence.
We entered the room, chose a quiet place where we could speak for a while, and sat down. Then I started talking.
“Alright, how about you tell us what the hell is going on?”
The woman removed the heavy robe to reveal a Chinese dress beneath it. Her shoulders were wrapped in a delicate shawl. Once again, I got the feeling I was looking at a fairy from Chinese mythology. Her devilish eyes only made that feeling grow stronger. I half expected her to turn into a fox.
“Very well. My original role was to gain the favor of a monarch from the sealed country, in order to bring ruin to the land and end the lives of its inhabitants. I was to collect the souls of those who fell victim to the chaos.”
“Oh, um . . .”
Was I hearing her correctly? Was she confessing to the most nefarious deeds I could imagine? I started to feel strange about our meeting.
“And? Why would you do something like that?”
“To protect the world from the waves of destruction, it is necessary that we build a defensive barrier, and we need a great deal of souls to build that barrier. Of course, it doesn’t matter if they come from humans or monsters.”
“I see.”
The conversation was starting to remind me of something that Fitoria, the queen of the filolials, had said.
“Right . . . Someone who demands sacrifice for the sake of the world . .
.”
Fitoria wasn’t the only one who had said something like that. We found a similar message scrawled on the wall of an ancient temple in the city on the back of the Spirit Tortoise. An ancient hero had written it there.
It all pointed to one thing. The Spirit Tortoise existed to kill things so that it could use their souls to create a giant barrier that would protect the world from destruction.
Whatever. To be honest, I didn’t care one bit if the people of this world died. As long as I could protect the people I cared about, it didn’t sound like a terrible option. But I wasn’t going to doom the whole world—especially considering that I’d already battled the Spirit Tortoise to prevent that very thing. Not to mention I’d spent a lot of time looking for the other heroes.
“Okay, I’ve got a question. What does the blue hourglass in my field of vision mean? It says ‘seven’ next to it.”
“It is not one of the dragon hourglasses. It indicates the amount of gathered souls. Seven refers to the power level of the waves.”
The power level? I hadn’t stopped to consider it before, but the waves had been getting more powerful each time they arrived. How many waves had I fought against? There was the first one that came after I arrived— according to everyone else, that was the second wave. Then we fought Glass in the third one. Then the fourth one came when we were in Cal Mira. Yes, thinking back on them, it was clear that they had been getting more powerful.
If it was safe to assume that they progressed in power, then the coming waves must be much more powerful than the first one, the one that had destroyed Raphtalia’s village. And that meant that the Spirit Tortoise must be much stronger than any enemy we’d faced until now, since the wave that came to Cal Mira was only the fourth.
“I am powerful enough to warrant the number seven, yet you stand against me. I believe I can help you.”
“Can you tell us more about the waves? The one in Melromarc should have been the third one, which means that the one in Cal Mira was . . .”
“I don’t know as much as you may hope. I was created to protect the world. So I cannot tell you the exact information about each wave that occurs in various countries. However, I think it is safe to assume that they could not have been above a power level of two or three.”
Damn. That meant that after we struggled so hard to overcome a level two or three disaster, we’d have to find some way to defeat a level seven?
“Some very powerful people came out of the waves and said their mission was to kill the heroes of this world. I’m guessing they are part of the waves too?” I asked, hoping that would get to the core of the mystery. If this was an opportunity to figure out what was going on with Glass and the others, then it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
“I . . . don’t think so. I do not believe that the waves have those sort of properties.”
“Damn,” I muttered. The woman was so suspicious. Was she telling the truth? “Let’s change the subject. ‘Spirit Tortoise familiar (human type)’ is a bit of a mouthful. If you were supposed to win the favor of a monarch, I’m guessing you have an easier name to say.”
“I do. My name is Ost. Ost Horai.”
Ost? I’m pretty sure that meant “east” in a language back in my world. And as for Horai, that probably referred to the name of the mountain the Spirit Tortoise had on its back—pretty simple, really.
“Okay, Ost, so why did you abandon your mission and reach out to us? The Spirit Tortoise broke his own seal and started all this mess, didn’t he?”
“There’s an explanation for that. My true body is the Spirit Tortoise itself, though the situation has become so bad that the Spirit Tortoise is no longer able to fulfill his role in the plan. That is why I have come to ask you, who holds the holy shield, for assistance.”
“And this ‘role’ you’re talking about . . . it’s the creation of a barrier to protect the world? You know we just fought the Spirit Tortoise to prevent him from doing just that?”
“Yes, but you should know that my true body has not been defeated. And since he was awakened, he hasn’t been able to make any progress towards his goal. At this rate, all of those that have been sacrificed for the sake of our goal will have died in vain.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. I was starting to get a bad feeling about where all this was heading.
The heroes couldn’t get along with each other, so Fitoria had given up on fighting the waves and instead had encouraged the Spirit Tortoise to create a barrier to protect the world. And she is saying all the sacrifices up until this point have been for nothing?
“My true body has been . . . it has been taken over by someone else.
This person only wants to use me to cause more destruction.”
“What?”
“I do not know what the enemy wants. It seems they are using me as a medium to collect energy, but they have no intention of using that energy to create the protective barrier the world needs.”
“So your seal was broken . . .”
“Yes, but the proper unsealing procedure was not followed. In the original plan, I was to slowly and secretively gather souls. If I were not successful then other familiars would be sent out to gather the souls more quickly. Only if that was unsuccessful was my true form to be revealed in an effort to forcibly gather the necessary souls.”
“So the seal doesn’t really work very well, does it?”
I was asking if past heroes had taken the knowledge of how to break the seal to their graves.
“In order to prevent a plan like that from being carried out, I have been entrusted to supply the holy heroes, and the vassal weapon heroes, with hints about how to unseal the Spirit Tortoise. I cannot allow anyone to unseal my true body if that person is not capable of defeating me in combat.”
“So you’re supposed to look for someone that can kill you?”
“Yes. I was waiting for one who holds a holy weapon to arrive and put an end to my ambitions,” she answered so simply that I was caught off guard. The look on her face made it clear she was serious.
But what was a vassal weapon? I remembered Glass and her friends had mentioned something similar, but I had no idea what it meant. I decided to ask about it later.
“So the order of events is all messed up, and someone else was able to take control of the Spirit Tortoise. Is that even possible?”
“It should have been impossible. I don’t know what power they used to do it, but it has happened. Someone has taken control of my true body.”
“Hmm . . . But we ripped the Spirit Tortoise’s head clean off.”
“That is not enough to kill the Spirit Tortoise’s true body. Unless it is killed properly, you will not be able to stop it.”
“That reminds me, Mr. Naofumi. Didn’t you read something that the ancient heroes had written on a temple wall?”
“Yeah. Well, there were parts I couldn’t read, so most of it is still a mystery.”
Ost regarded me in silence. She was pretty, and she spoke so sincerely that I wanted to take the conversation seriously. But I couldn’t ignore the possibility that she was lying to us.
“And I’m guessing that you know the proper way to kill it?”
“Actually, that is a mystery even to myself.”
Useless! Was she trying to get us killed by giving us an impossible mission? And besides, the Spirit Tortoise had stopped moving a week ago. We were deep in conversation when someone knocked on the door.
“Excuse me!” the manager of the adventurer’s guild said, ducking into the room. His face was pale.
“What is it?”
“I have an urgent report for the Shield Hero.”
It had been bothering me for a while, so at one point I asked about the system used to convey messages in this world. It was very rare, and limited to only approved organizations, but there was a magic system that made it possible to talk to people who were very far away. It was something like a telephone. But because of the magic and technology involved, it was only possible to leave messages and not have whole conversations. Back in Japan, we probably would have called it a telegraph. Still, if you could only leave messages, then it didn’t have much advantage over just using traditional letters.
“And?”
“The Spirit Tortoise has reawakened! Your immediate presence is requested!”
Damn it. Ost had been telling the truth.
“You must defeat my true body quickly. I will do all I can to assist you.”
“Can you keep the Spirit Tortoise from moving the way you did with that familiar we just fought?”
“Unfortunately no. That would be impossible. Not only am I unable to halt the motion of my true body, but I may not be able to stop any familiars in his immediate vicinity.”
“Then what can you do?” I snapped, irritated. Had she just shown up to make demands of us? I wondered if she might actually be behind all the trouble.
“I can support you with magic, and I can also interfere with the other familiars, perhaps stalling them or dulling their movement. Hero of the holy shield, please help destroy me,” Ost said, bowing deeply.
Well, we were certainly going to need all the help we could get. In truth, my party was sorely in need of someone who could really handle support magic. I wished that I could have my pick of helpers, but her offer was better than nothing.
“It’s going to be tough, but I don’t think we have a choice.”
I sent Ost an invite to join my party’s battle formation ranks, and she quickly accepted.
“So what sort of magic are you good with?”
“Earth magic and support magic, mainly. Furthermore, I can use magic that was long ago forgotten by humans.”
Forgotten magic? This world really was like a game. You always ran into “long forgotten” spells in RPGs.
“Great. But just so you know, don’t think this means I trust you.”
“I understand, but I will do all I can to assist you, the holder of the holy shield, in the coming battle,” she said and casually cast a spell on me. When the spell took effect, I was suddenly able to see all of Ost’s important stats displayed in my field of vision. I was surprised to see how impressive they were. They might have even been better than Raphtalia’s. They were a little lower than Filo’s stats, but they were balanced very well. In general, her stats seemed slightly balanced towards defensive capabilities—that was probably because she was a Spirit Tortoise familiar.
I finished reading through the numbers displayed in the air, only to realize that her current level wasn’t indicated anywhere.
“We should introduce ourselves. I’ll start. I’m Naofumi Iwatani.”
“And I am Raphtalia. Very pleased to meet you.”
“And MY name’s Filo! Nice you meetcha, turtle lady!”
“So there you have it. By the way, I know we’re only going to be fighting together for a little while, but please stop calling me ‘he who holds the holy shield.’ It’s too long and dramatic. Just call me the Shield Hero,” I said. That’s what I was used to being called, so I would respond instinctively in the middle of battle.
“Yes, very well. I suppose I will only be with you a short while, but I’m glad to have met you all, Shield Hero, Ms. Raphtalia, Ms. Filo.”
A short while . . . just until we defeated the Spirit Tortoise, right? That’s what Ost was after, so I guess we would part ways once that happened. But she was a Spirit Tortoise familiar too, so if we defeated the Tortoise, then . . .
I still didn’t completely believe everything she was saying, but I knew that we were about to head into another thorny situation. I sighed and checked through my party inventory, which now included the Spirit Tortoise familiar (human type) who called herself Ost.
“Hey, I’ve got another question.”
“What is it?”
“You’ve been calling me the holder of the ‘holy shield.’ Is that right?”
“Yes. That is what it was called by the older versions of what are now known as the four holy heroes.”
That was exactly the answer I was expecting, but then what was the vassal weapon? “And what’s a vassal weapon?”
“It is the title of someone who holds the power to assist the holy weapons.”
The power to assist? I’d never heard of anyone like that. The only thing I knew of that was even remotely similar was the seven star heroes.
“Are you talking about the people called the seven star heroes?”
“Perhaps . . .”
Maybe she was just using an ancient name for them. But if that were true, was that the connection between the four holy and the seven star legends?
“Regardless, I confess I’m not an expert on the topic.”
“Sure, right. Anyway, that’s enough talking for now. I’m going to open a portal to the place where we defeated the Spirit Tortoise.”
I concentrated on the shield in my hand and used Portal Shield. I could actually activate the skill without saying anything out loud. When the spell activated, a list of saved locations appeared, floating in the air before me. The skill was capable of storing three different locations. If you wanted to add new places to the list, you would have to delete the old locations, starting from the oldest on the list. Managing the list of locations was a bit of a pain, but I had no choice but to keep on top of it.
Anyway, I was about to choose the location of the fallen Spirit Tortoise from the list when a sandstorm appeared in my vision, obscuring that option.
“What the hell?” I yelped.
“What is it?”
“When I tried to choose the last location of the Spirit Tortoise, a cloud of dust—”
Before I could finish explaining, a message appeared over the swirling dust.
Unable to teleport
The words flashed on and off.
Damn.
“You were attempting to use a teleportation spell, yes? There is a good chance that my true body is exerting a powerful influence on that location, thereby rendering teleportation there impossible.”
I supposed I should have expected something like that. Of course we weren’t able to teleport back the Spirit Tortoise. That would be too easy! If we had to travel on foot to where the Spirit Tortoise had fallen, it was going to take a long time to get there from where we were. It might be faster to teleport back to Melromarc and go from there.
“We’re going to head back to Melromarc first. Besides, there’s no reason for us to take on the Spirit Tortoise alone.”
“Understood. This way we can ask the castle soldiers, Rishia, and Ms. Eclair for their assistance.”
“I concur,” Ost nodded. She had a strange way of speaking. She was certainly polite, but she had such an evil look in her eyes. I was never sure how best to respond to her.
She behaved so differently from how she appeared.
“What’s wrong, master?” Filo asked, looking up at me with her head cocked to the side. I turned my eyes away. Sometimes she looked like she was staring right into my soul.
“Alright. Let’s head back to Melromarc.”
I chose the castle courtyard from the displayed list of available locations, and we flew there in an instant. When we arrived, we found the queen and the soldiers, and even Rishia and Eclair, deep in frantic departure preparations.
“Ah, Mr. Iwatani! I trust that you received our correspondence?”
“Yeah, you say the Spirit Tortoise is moving again?”
“That’s correct. Hadn’t you returned from your search, we would have gone to investigate ourselves.”
“I don’t know if my luck is good or bad.”
What if the queen had been there when the Spirit Tortoise had reawakened? She could have been killed!
“What is the coalition army doing?”
“Soldiers that were patrolling the area immediately returned to base. A number of them were not able to make it, however, and we have lost contact with them.”
Things weren’t looking good.
“By the way, that individual with you, isn’t that Ost Horai? Isn’t she some king’s mistress?”
“Yes, we have met a number of times, haven’t we, your majesty?” Ost said, lowering her head to the queen.
For a second, I thought the two wicked women were going to enter a staring contest, but Ost bowed deeper to show her sincerity. She kept her head bowed and showed no sign of moving.
The queen seemed surprised by Ost’s actions. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.
What was so surprising about it? Wasn’t it normal to bow to royalty?
“And how have you come to be involved in all this? I never expected you to bow like this to someone like me.”
“You know each other?”
“I met her at the last diplomatic meeting of nations. She was with a king and his servants.”
“To dispense with the formalities, we were political enemies at the time,” Ost said simply. “Our nation is a private, isolated one, though much of the nobility wanted to participate in the talks. To be honest with you, I played the role of a nasty woman.”
Okay, so the wicked woman was actually part of wicked government too? From the way Ost had been acting with us, I never would have guessed that she was involved with such a thing.
“And how did that king’s mistress find herself traveling with Mr. Iwatani?”
“Ah, the wise queen, they call you the fox of Melromarc, you know. Listen, and I will tell you how this came to be. I tell you because you, too, are cooperating with he who holds the holy shield.”
Ost told the queen all about her status as a Spirit Tortoise familiar and about how someone had taken control of the Spirit Tortoise’s true body. And she told her about how the tortoise would no longer be able to fulfill its role. Speaking in public, Ost continued to refer to me as “he who holds the holy shield.”
The queen slapped her folding fan shut and tapped her chin with it while she thought.
“Our goal has always been to stop the Spirit Tortoise from fulfilling its designs. I cannot immediately believe all that you say, but I cannot deny the possibility of truth, either.”
“I feel the same way. So getting back to what we should do about it, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to teleport to where we defeated the Spirit Tortoise. We’re all going to have to depart together, from Melromarc.”
“Like Mr. Iwatani has said. I also believe that is our only way forward.”
“Before we leave, we should probably call a meeting and get a strategy together. Aside from that, are we all ready to leave?”
“Yes, the preparations are all complete.”
“Then let’s get going!” I shouted to the soldiers gathered in the castle courtyard. They cheered.
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