Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Two Swords

I glared at Filo so she’d know I was serious. Romina and Alto went behind the counter to bring out more weapons.
“Huh? There’s more?
“Yeah, L’Arc had a number of requests, so I did what I could.”
“Wow!”
“Alto put a lot of work in too, so you’d better be grateful.”
I couldn’t help but notice that they didn’t bother to prepare any shields for me. I suppose it wasn’t worth complaining about though . . .
“So what do you have?”
“Naofumi and Raphtalia can just copy what we’ve made here, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then try these on for size,” Romina said, and brought out two katana. They were both stored in ornate sheathes. You could tell with a single glance that they were fantastic swords made by a master craftsman. With the appraisal ability I had, I could only see their names.

White Tiger Katana

Vermilion Bird Kodachi
“These are . . .” “I made one of them and sold it a long time ago. We have it back, on
 
loan, for now. You can see that it was made with materials from the four holy beasts, which are exceptionally rare. I was lucky to even get the chance to work on it.”
Romina mostly worked on things for Glass, Kizuna, and L’Arc. So, she probably didn’t get to work on swords very often.
“She really worked hard on it,” Alto said.
Romina picked up the White Tiger Katana and pulled it from its sheath. It slipped out with a sharp sound, and it seemed like something flew out of the blade when it whipped past us.
The blade itself was white, polished like a mirror, and the arc of the blade made it appear wider than it really was. It seemed like it was full of light. In fact, I think that it was.
“I think it’s very impressive, but what do you think?”
“I agree.”
It was the sort of blade that you’d get as special equipment in an RPG, like a M uramasa or a Masamune sword. They were normally some of the best weapons in the game.
And these had been made from materials from the four holy beasts!
Were they even able to do that back in the last world?
“The materials are really quite difficult to work with, honestly. It took a while for me to really understand how to use them.”
“How so?”

“Well, I used the skin and bones of the White Tiger. If you add some of the bone to the metal, it will add some effects. The strength of the blade ends up becoming so powerful that you can hurt yourself just swinging it, so there were all sorts of problems.”

“Wow . . .”
“This was the first sword I had managed to craft from it. I still had some materials, so I worked on weapons for Glass and the others, too.”
Did that mean that Glass’s weapons were made out of materials from the four holy beasts? They hadn’t seemed that way to me before but . . .
“They’re still very difficult to work with. I think that Glass first learned how to use Reverse Snow Moon Flower when she equipped the fan made with White Tiger materials.”
That was why she was so strong—her equipment had been better than ours.
“I think she’s using the Demon Dragon Fan these days. She says it’s simpler to use in actual battle situations.”
“Do you have any of those materials?”
“Unfortunately not. I made it from the dragon emperor materials that Kizuna got after defeating him. Only certain blacksmiths are even permitted to work with the stuff,” Romina said, then pointed at my armor, “Kizuna’s fishing rod is made out of material one level down on the quality scale.”
That sounded like a pretty convenient material to work with.
So far all the equipment she was giving us was the same color, a dark shade of black. I was starting to wonder why, but I guess it’s because they were all made out of the same stuff.

“I used it when I made that armor for you too, Naofumi. The Azure Dragon has yet to appear and its location is unknown, so I had to make that part out of the demon dragon materials. And the dragon emperor core stone too.”

“So you didn’t make a shield?”
“I would have made one if I had the time. I didn’t have much material to work with either.”
I wasn’t going to complain, considering how much time and effort she had put into making all these things for us. I was just grateful that I had such a talented blacksmith working for me at all.
I’d have to get a shield some other way. I didn’t want to rely on the Shield of Wrath.
“Of course the katana should go to Raphtalia.”
“Yes,” Romina said, sliding the White Tiger Katana back into its sheath and passing it to Raphtalia.
There was a crackle when she touched it, like static electricity shocking her fingertip, but she gripped the sword tightly and nodded to Romina. Then she changed her vassal weapon katana into the White Tiger Katana.
That was how the weapon copy system worked. Instead of building a new weapon from materials you gathered, we could copy weapons we found in shops just by touching them.
I could do it with my shield, and now Raphtalia could do it because her katana was a vassal weapon.
“So this is the White Tiger Katana. It’s remarkable. I am just leveled enough to unlock it,” she said as she drew the blade. Her hand was shaking.
 
The blade must have been very heavy. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead with the effort required to wield it.
“How is it?”
“I’ve unlocked the ability to use it, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to wield it well.”
I hadn’t really worried about it too much, but I had shields that were like that too.
Sometimes the skills you needed to unlock something weren’t the same skills you needed to use it well. I had never given too much thought to it— that gap between the ability to equip something and the ability to use it well.
Glass had mentioned a similar problem too. It was an issue you ran into more often when you got better weapons.
“I guess we’ll just have to level up a bit on the way.”
“What kind of skills does it have?”
“Hmm . . . The abilities, right? It has Double Sword.”
That was one of the better abilities.
Raphtalia released her grip on the blade, and another blade appeared floating in the air before her.
She couldn’t hold them both up at the same time, so she held them at her sides and the tips of the blades sliced easily into the ground.
“Hey, don’t go slicing up my workshop.”
“I’m sorry, but they are very heavy.”
“Can’t you switch to a different weapon, at least for now?”

“Um . . .” Raphtalia concentrated. The sword in her hand transformed into something else. Only the sword in her right hand changed to something lighter. Her left hand still held the White Tiger Katana.

Hey, hey! That was an awesome ability!
“Raphtalia, sheathe the sword in your left hand.”
“Alright,” she said, sliding the blade into its sheath. She still held the lighter blade in her right hand.
She could use two weapons at once now. Even though she didn’t always have to have both of them out, she could keep two different swords equipped and switch them out on the fly. Furthermore, she could have one sword out while the other sword charged up for a haikuikku attack in the sheath. It was heavy, and hard to wield, but it was going to make a huge difference once she learned how to use it.
 
 
“What should I do with this katana?”
So she wouldn’t accidently cut anyone down, she switched one of them into a bamboo trainer sword. But she was worried about what to do with the blade in her right hand.
“I guess I better make another sheath for that one.”
She’d have to rush and make it quickly, but it would be worth it.
“Ok, next up is the Vermilion Bird Kodachi,” Romina said, handing the next sword to Raphtalia, who quickly used weapon copy on it.
“Man, vassal weapons sure are convenient. You can get a new weapon for yourself just by touching it.”
“Yeah. If you could actually produce the weapon instead of just changing it, you could reproduce weapons endlessly.”
“Right? I’ve thought about that too!” Alto said.
Romina looked concerned, “And that would be the end of my business.”
Hm? Oh right, that was actually a good point. I sure wouldn’t like it if someone found a way to make unlimited potions and medicines. Then again, even if the price dropped, I’d be sure to sell more. So maybe it wouldn’t have that much of an impact on my business.
If it was an ability of mine that allowed it, it would actually make my job easier.
“It wouldn’t bother me. With more products come more sales.”

“I thought you might say that. You really might be better at this than Alto.”
 
“And what makes you think that?”
“Um . . . I don’t seem to be able to use this one yet.”
Hm . . . It must have been a really impressive weapon.
“At least you have it though. Just switch to something you can use for now.”
“Oh well. Regardless, it seems like I’ll have to do some leveling to make use of these.”
“Maybe, but don’t forget, we’re heading back to our world once we accomplish what we came here to do. Levels we gain here won’t be much use in the long term.”
They would disappear.
“That’s true. But do you think that I’ll be able to bring this with me?”
“. . .”
I really didn’t know.
If she couldn’t let go of the vassal weapon, after we went back to the previous world, if a wave happened in this world, she might disappear before my eyes. I didn’t want that to happen.
“Um . . . Mr. Naofumi?”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll talk to Therese and Glass and make sure we figure out a way for you to get rid of it.”
My shield worked the same way—it was like a curse.
It was great that she had this wonderful equipment, but we needed to think about what that meant in the long term.
“It’s so shiny!” Filo shouted. She tended to get excited by shiny objects.
 
“We’re just borrowing it, so I guess I can’t give it to Rishia for the battle?”
“Sorry, but I don’t think I can allow that,” Alto apologized.
I didn't care. Maybe we could steal it and get away with it.
But if Raphtalia couldn’t even use it, and couldn’t even switch to it yet, then what chance would Rishia have of making use of it? Besides, I didn’t know anyone else that fought with a sword.
“Because we’ve already chosen who will use it,” Alto said.
“What? Who?”
“A friend of Kizuna’s will use it for the coming battle.”
I guess we couldn’t steal it then. Oh well.
But would this friend of Kizuna’s even be able to use it?
It was pretty confusing. If you couldn’t power-up the way that holders of the vassal weapons did, the weapon wouldn’t be as powerful.
“As for materials, come check these out,” Romina said. She took out a collection of materials everyone had collected over time, and I absorbed them into my shield.
And it unlocked a few shields, one of which was from the White Tiger material. The collection of materials wasn’t complete, so for now, all I had was stuff like the White Tiger Pelt Shield.
If only we had the blood and flesh too.
By the way, the stats were excellent.

White Tiger Pelt Shield conditions met!
White Tiger Fang Shield conditions met!
White Tiger Bone Shield conditions met!
Etc . . .

White Tiger Pelt Shield abilities locked: equip bonus: Awareness Boost (medium) special effects: agility up (strong), impact absorption (medium), parry (medium), support nullification, Wind Pressure.

White Tiger Fang Shield abilities locked: equip bonus SP 30 special effects: agility up (strong), parry (medium), support nullification, wind pressure, White Tiger Fang.

I didn’t like the support nullification effect; it could really affect my role in battle.
As for wind pressure, it was an effect that triggered when I changed shields. It formed a wall of wind. If that wall was powerful enough to block magic and attacks, then I might have been a bit more excited—but it wasn’t. It was just a mild breeze, not good for much. On top of that, it was really loud from where I stood, and it sort of hurt my ears.
The abilities were—if I’m remembering correctly—a bit better than the Soul Eater Shield.
But that support nullification! That was a problem.
 
Still, after trying it out I have to say that the agility boost was very impressive, and the parry effect was excellent when I pulled it off properly. The shields had great effects too, but they were going to be tough to use.
The Fang Shield had a counter attack. I always liked shields with counter attacks.
But both shields had that support nullification issue.
After those shields, I also received some shields in the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise series. But I wasn’t strong enough to unlock a lot of them.
Was my level not high enough? This wasn’t a game, but did I need to level up before the boss?
“And this is just some of the material . . .” Romina said, passing me some black scales and bones and a piece of dragon core that I’d seen before.
I tried putting them into the shield. But the shield sparked and crackled. What was going on? That had never happened before.

Locked.
“It just says that it’s locked, but . . .”
Then I realized , I hadn’t tried to use dragon-type shields since I’d arrived in this world. At first, I’d thought, I couldn’t access them because of my level, but now I wasn’t sure what was going on.
“It’s not working?”
“I guess not.”
Raphtalia absorbed the same materials into her weapon, and she was able to change her katana into a dark, black blade—similar to the weapons that Glass and the others were using.
 
“Wow! This is incredible! It seems so easy to use, and it doesn’t require a very high level.”
Why? I was getting jealous!
What was the reason for this? Why can’t I do the same thing?
Hm . . . I guess I did have an idea.
My shield wasn’t a weapon from this world. So, it unlocked and produced different things than it would if it were from this world. Considering that, it wasn’t too surprising that there were shields I wouldn’t be able to unlock.
Still, I’d been able to use all sorts of shields, so why was it now suddenly locking anything related to dragons? I had no idea.
Suddenly I felt a pulse run through my shield and armor.
“What?”
My shield crackled and shook in my hand. And then . . .

Demon Dragon Shield conditions met!
A single shield unlocked.

Demon Dragon Shield abilities locked: equip bonus: skill: “Attack Support” special effect: Dragon Scale (large), C Demon Bullet, all resistances (medium), magic power consumption reduction (weak), SP consumption reduction (weak).
 

The stats were excellent, and it didn’t have any weird conditions to deal with. It would be easy to use.
And it had these reductions and increased all resistances too. Taken all together, it was probably the most well-rounded shield yet. I could switch to it whenever I was in trouble.
And it didn’t require a high level to use either. This shield was awesome!
“Erm . . .”
“What is it, Filo?”
Filo muttered to herself. She was staring at the shield. Raph-chan cocked her head in confusion, not understanding why Filo was acting the way that she was.
“I dunno, but . . . I feel kind of sick.”
“You probably have heartburn from eating like a pig all this time.”
I wondered what Attack Support was.
I said, “attack support,” and a small, pointed object appeared in my hand.
I held it and looked at it carefully.
It looked like a tiny dart—there was a triangular arrowhead at its tip. It looked like might be made for throwing.

Then it vanished. Is that what this skill did? Make a small mystery dart that vanished in a few seconds? The cool down time was a little long, taking about thirty seconds.

I had no idea what it was used for, but I’d have to try it out later.
“Looks like everyone’s weapons share a sort of unity.”
“Looks that way.”
“Thank you for putting all this together.”
“Oh it’s fine. Besides, you’re out there fighting for me and everyone else. Consider it my thanks for finding and freeing Kizuna,” Romina said, smiling,
Alto added, “If you hadn’t found her, Kizuna would probably have been lost forever. Thank you again. I’m sure that Glass and L’Arc feel more gratitude to you than they can express.”
“Well it just sort of happened by chance.”
I had fallen into the enemy’s trap and just happened to end up in the same place as Kizuna. I didn’t really deserve all this gratitude for it. Though, I guess I did help get her out of that place.
“Anyway, aren’t you about to head into a really tough battle? Leave the weapons up to me! You get out there and do what you came here to do!”
That’s right. It was nearly time for our battle with Kyo.
There was a war going on. We had find Kyo, where he hid in the shadows of the enemy nation, and make him pay for what he’d done.
We were finished with our preparations, and it was time to depart.

The next day, we were making our way to the castle, and found Kizuna and her friends, Ethnobalt, and Yomogi waiting for us.

Tsugumi was supposed to stay behind and rest, but she was there too— standing with crutches.
“Alright, let’s get going.”
“Are we taking the boat vassal weapon as far as we can?”
“Yes. Let’s board.”
“We need to talk strategy. Keep in mind that the vassal weapon holders and the holy heroes are battling together now.”
Yomogi’s hand curled into a fist when she heard that. Considering the circumstances, it was now very clear that Kyo was the true enemy, but a part of her still wanted to believe in him. Kizuna said, “After we find Kyo, maybe we can talk to him, get some answers . . . but then again, that might not work out so well. But, if he’s defeated, Naofumi will take the protective beast’s energy back, then we can put an end to this war.”
“You make it sound so simple. Is that all we need to do?”
Something bothered me.
Kyo was a coward. He was the sort to set a bunch of traps and avoid battle for as long as he could. I’m not saying that I’m like him, but I felt like I could imagine what he would do if I thought about it.
I looked over at Glass.
I couldn’t help but get the feeling that we were missing something— something we needed to defeat him.
 
I remembered when Rishia threw her sword and it had sunk deep into him—that hadn’t been enough to finish him off. He was a monster.
 
Even if we used Glass and L’Arc’s best attacks, would that be enough to take care of him?
Another thing: whenever I thought of Kyo, Trash #2 popped into my mind. They were so similar. I remembered him screaming and calling for our deaths, even after we had told him that he’d die if he moved. Why did he do that?
And why were none of Trash #2’s gaggle of women spirits, like Glass? Huh? Did I just notice something? There weren’t any Spirits in the group. Why not? I think there were some the first time we fought, but now they
were gone. “Kizuna, can we just identify all of the attackers from the last fight for
minute?” “Uh . . . Sure.” I turned to look at Trash #2’s group of women. “You all liked this guy, right? Why aren’t there any Spirits in the
group?” “There were, before, but they went missing. We looked for them, but we
never found them.” Hm. I felt like a piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place. “Glass.” “Yes?” “Spirits aren’t ghosts, right? They’re not souls, are they?” “No. There are some similarities, but we are different.”
 
“Kizuna, there are ghosts in this world, right?”
“Yes. I told you about our fight with the ghost ship, didn’t I?”
Who knows what to make of ghosts and souls? Regardless, it was clear they existed in this world too. If Kyo was the sort of person that I thought he was, he would definitely research them.
“Question: Glass, can Spirits like you see ghosts and souls?”
“Yes, certainly more easily than normal people can, but you can see them too if you use your shikigami.”
“What are you getting at?” one of the women in Trash #2’s group asked.
Glass looked just as confused as they did.
“I was thinking that, when your beloved man died, what if the Spirits that were with you went chasing after his soul?”
“Yes, well . . . there are certainly many Spirits that don’t believe life ends with the death of the body.”
I was right. I had to be right, but there was still something off.
“Can I ask what Kyo does with the people he captures? This world has its own special crimes, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. There would certainly be problems if the people you killed came back as undead zombies, or as ghosts . . .”
Glass suddenly realized what I was saying. Yomogi and Tsugumi did too.
“I think you may be correct. And there’s a good chance that Kyo got rid of the guy you loved, so you’d better prepare yourselves for that.”
Tears came into the women’s eyes, and they turned away from me.
 
“But if you are so heartbroken that you don’t care if you live or die, you are just creating a nuisance for everyone. I’m not saying he’ll be an undead zombie. But if I’m right, then . . .” I explained what sort of research I thought Kyo was carrying out.
“I heard a similar idea once, a long time ago. But could it really be?”
“I think so. And I played an action game like that before. If you don’t know when you’re going to die, it makes sense to have a line of defense ready,” Kizuna said.
“Aren’t you taking this all a bit far? You’re talking about fairytales now!” L’Arc said.
“You’ve been chosen to wield a vassal weapon, and you’re worried about fairytales? Besides, half of the stuff that happens in this world is straight out of a fairytale.”
None of this stuff could happen back in the Japan I knew, but I was in a fantasy world now.
L’Arc wasn’t convinced, but I was.
Now, we just had to break into Kyo’s laboratory to get the proof.
We had to prepare for the siege.
We boarded Ethnobalt’s boat and took off.
For the first part of the journey, we rode on the mysterious lines that linked the dragon hourglasses. Along the way we ran into occasional groups of flying monsters, and even some enemy soldiers. Thanks to the new accessories I gave to Glass and L’Arc, we were able to defeat them all easily.
 
The journey was so easy it almost made me worry.
We traveled like that for three days when we found it.
“That’s Kyo’s laboratory over there,” Yomogi said, pointing to the sky above an area of foggy, misty forest.
“Where? Maybe I just can’t see it through all the mist, but it just looks like forest to me.”
“You can’t see it from the outside.”
“We can’t take the boat much deeper into the fog. It’s too dangerous,” Ethnobalt said.
“The mist confuses all who enter. We would certainly become lost within it, if it were not for this bell,” Yomogi said, showing us a small bell.
I hadn’t heard of this special bell yet, but it sounded really important.
Then again, he had been using Yomogi this whole time—maybe her bell wouldn’t work either.
“With this bell, we should be able to see the laboratory shortly after entering the fog.”
“Then I guess we better get going.”
“Very well,” Ethnobalt said.
Yomogi rang the bell.
The boat lurched forward into the fog and mist.
“. . . ?”
Raphtalia looked concerned, but we kept pressing forward. Yomogi continued to ring the bell, and it chimed through the mist.

But then the mist cleared for a moment, and we discovered that we had returned to the place where we originally entered it.

“Weren’t we just here?”
“No, it can’t be! We must have made a mistake. Let’s just try it again,” Yomogi said.
Ethnobalt turned the boat back into the fog.
Once again, a few moments later, the fog cleared and we were right back where we started.
If I were Kyo, I would have done the same thing. I said, “I guess that bell of yours doesn’t work anymore.”
“But I . . . Kyo . . .”
We were stuck. Stuck right before the enemy’s hideout. He really did have a good place set up for himself. Even if they lost the war, he’d be safe in there, safe to go infect some other country for his purposes.
“Isn’t there something we can do to get rid of all this fog?”
“Sure there is,” I said, showing a bioplant seed to Kizuna.
“Naofumi, you can’t be serious . . .” she said, her face pale.
“I am. We set the stats to make it reproduce quickly, then seed the whole forest. The bioplants will take over in a couple of days. Then what good will this forest do him?”
“But you’ll throw the whole ecosystem off balance. What if it spreads over the whole continent?”
That was something to worry about. But we had to find some way to get to Kyo.

We needed to try something, and this was my best idea. Once we took care of Kyo, we could try using it on the war front too.

“There is a chance that it could pollute the continent, but if it looks like it’s going to be a problem, we’ll just have to use magic to burn them all up. We have weed killer too, if we need it.”
Besides, when the bioplants spread, they always had a central tree that controlled the rest of them. If we took care of the master tree, we could get rid of them all in one blow. When I chose the bioplant stats, I could program a weakness into it that we could exploit later on.
“I don’t know. I really don’t think we should use that.”
“There you go, moralizing again. So what’s your plan? I mean, if you know something I don’t, then by all means, tell us how to fix this.”
“But what about the environment?”
Kizuna and I were really snapping at each other now. Behind us Raphtalia and Raph-chan raised their hands.
“Excuse me. Can we try something?”
“You have an idea?”
“Yes. Ethnobalt, please proceed as I tell you.”
“Rafuuu!”
“Very well.”
Our flying ship turned, and once again entered the mist.
After we had flown a little way in . . .
“To the right—now to the left! Yes! Now just keep going straight,” Raphtalia explained.

Ethnobalt listened to Raphtalia and Raph-chan’s instructions, and kept the boat on the course they indicated.

“Angle it to the right. Yes, and now backwards.”
“Backwards?”
“Very well.”
He did as Raphtalia indicated and angled the ship so it would go backwards.
We slipped out of the fog again, but now we found ourselves somewhere new. The wall of fog stood imposing before us, but there was something new jutting out of it: an imposing building. We’d made it.
“Whoa! We did it!”
“The mist reminded me of the illusion magic I’ve been practicing. I suspected there might be a particular path through it, and I was able to find it,” Raphtalia told us.
So it was a maze . . .
It was sending us back to the start every time we hit one of its invisible walls.
Raphtalia and Raph-chan could find a way through because they were good with illusion magic. A lost woods gimmick wasn’t going to work with them on our side!
“Alright, we found the lab, thanks to Raphtalia! Let’s go finish this!”
“Yeah!” everyone shouted in unison.
Ethnobalt piloted the boat into the building’s courtyard, and we found ourselves facing the entrance to Kyo’s secret laboratory.