Chapter Eight: Aiming
I could see them! My Super Motoyasu Love-Seeking Eyes had locked on to the carriage that Father was in. It was swaying side to side as it rattled down the road.
“I didn’t know we would be traveling during the night. I wonder if there are monsters out there right now,” Father was saying to himself quietly.
His voice sounded relaxed and carefree. Several moments later, the carriage came to a sudden stop. It was in the middle of nowhere on a mountain road that led to the next town over.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Father peeked out from inside of the stalled carriage. The cloaked emissaries climbed down off of the carriage and began walking toward Father. One unsheathed a sword and another brandished a spear. Father must have realized what was going on, because his face turned pale.
“You bastards tricked me!” he said.
“He looked so carefree and utterly clueless! Sheesh. Why didn’t the king just let us take care of him straight away without going to all of this trouble?” one of them muttered.
“I’m sure he didn’t want to give the other heroes a reason not to trust him. It would be a real pain in the neck if they tried to run away because they were worried about getting killed, after all,” another explained.
“Huh? Wha? S-so this is what Motoyasu was talking about!” Father stuttered.
“It’s too late for you now, Shield Hero! Prepare to die!”
I had to make it in time!
“Thunder Spear!”
Sparks of electricity were leaping from my spear. I hurled it at the men who were about to attack Father. Like a flash of lightning, it went flying toward the Melromarc assassins.
“Gahhh!”
The spear turned into a crackling thunderbolt and it pierced straight through one of the enemies. But I hadn’t been able to defeat them all. I was still running toward the carriage to try to protect Father. My spear came flying back into my hand.
“I haven’t used this one in a long time,” I said.
I focused my concentration on my spear. I was going to lock on to the enemies with a skill that offered a high level of directional control in exchange for being slightly underpowered.
“Aiming Lancer X!”
My spear flashed brightly as I threw it. In the game I’d played, Aiming Lancer was a skill with a significant hit rate boost. Perhaps slightly more powerful than Air Strike Javelin. Its strength was only average. But it was basically guaranteed to hit all targets within a specified area. Of course, that didn’t mean they couldn’t parry or strike down the attack, but at my current level it was more than enough to make quick work of the riffraff trying to kill Father.
“Gahhhh!”
“Urgahh!”
After I threw the spear, it split into multiple beams of light that went flying toward every enemy in my sight! Since the skill was able to lock on to multiple targets, the beams of light pierced through them all.
There had been three enemies. I’d defeated one with Thunder Spear, and the other two with Aiming Lancer.
“Father! Are you okay?!”
I ran over to the carriage and checked on Father.
“Y-you’re . . . Motoyasu! Umm, yeah. I’m okay, but . . .” Father muttered.
Father stepped down from the carriage and gazed at the fallen enemies.
“D-did you kill them?”
“I couldn’t afford to hold back under the circumstances.”
It was true that we might have been able to make them spill the beans on who was behind all of this if we had taken them hostage. But trying to do that could have gotten Father killed too. Then we would be right back where we started, I say!
“Why would Siltvelt emissaries . . .”
“You’re mistaken. They weren’t Siltvelt emissaries. They were either Melromarc soldiers or members of the Church of the Three Heroes, I say!”
“Church of the Three Heroes?”
“It’s the official religion of Melromarc. They’re a powerful group, but you drive them to their destruction in the future.”
“O-oh, really? And you . . . saved me, didn’t you? Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me! That’s my mission!”
I was starting to feel overwhelmed with emotion upon being reunited with Father when Éclair came running up, looking exhausted.
“I finally . . . caught up . . .”
“Who are you?” Father asked.
Father looked at Éclair and blushed ever so slightly when he asked. She was a woman who wasn’t a pig, after all. That could only mean that she had excellent looks and an excellent heart. Of course, compared to Filo-tan she was just another pig.
“My name is Eclair Seaetto. I ended up accompanying Mr. Kitamura here for certain reasons. I’ve come to give you my assistance, Shield Hero.”
“Oh really?”
“Your life was in danger, Shield Hero. I’m not sure what would have happened to you if it weren’t for Mr. Kitamura.”
“Yeah, that’s been made painfully clear. I guess what you said was true after all, Motoyasu.”
Father finally trusted me! In that case, I decided it was probably best if I told him about everything that had happened. But before I could, Father began telling me everything that happened to him instead.
“Princess Malty came and told me that the Siltvelt emissaries had arrived earlier than expected and I would be departing right away. Everyone came to see me off. I never imagined it would turn out like this . . .”
Father looked heartbroken.
“I guess none of this would have happened if I had made an effort to go and talk with you. I wasn’t really sure how to deal with you, so I just kept my distance and then left without saying anything. I’m sorry,” Father went on.
“Don’t let it bother you, Father!”
I hadn’t been able to gain Father’s trust, so I was to blame too!
“Please don’t get down on yourself. Éclair and I are here for you, I say!”
“That’s right. I will fight for you too, Shield Hero,” Éclair said. “Rather than staying in this country, we should probably take you and head to either Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden, where they revere the Shield Hero.”
Oh? There was that feeling! It was the Father I remembered again!
When he finished talking, the Father I remembered disappeared.
“Yeah, that’s the cardinal rule of war. Melromarc doesn’t want me to go to either of those countries. That’s why they did this. And I sure don’t want to sit around here and let them bully me,” Father announced.
“That’s the Father I know!”
“Haha . . . I just realized you calling me ‘Father’ doesn’t even really bother me anymore. Thanks again for sticking with me.”
And just like that, we managed to successfully rescue Father!
“I think it’s best if we get across the border before anything else.”
That was what Éclair said the next morning when we woke up after sleeping out in the fields.
“I’m sure you’re right, but . . . I’m really hungry,” Father replied.
We’d ended up fighting a string of battles without really eating anything yesterday. We were supposed to have eaten in the castle dining hall, but I got caught in a trap and ended up in the dungeon and Father had gotten on a carriage and left before that happened. In other words, we hadn’t eaten a single proper meal since coming to this world! Considering that, it only made sense that Father would say something.
“But I guess I can wait to eat. What should we do now, then?” he went on.
We didn’t have any money or equipment. With my level and power-ups, I would probably be able to put up a good fight with just my spear, but we still needed to get equipment and money. I wouldn’t be able to buy any filolial eggs in our current state of financial affairs. Father and I were both wearing ordinary clothes too. I wondered if we could teleport to a village that would suit our current needs. I used my skill to check.
“Portal Spear!”
I called up my portal skill to check what locations I could teleport to. All of the locations that I had saved after the initial loop appeared to have remained intact!
“It looks like I can use my teleport skill. The only thing is, all of the portal locations I have bound right now are inside of Melromarc.”
I’d been focused on raising filolials during the last cycle and hadn’t gone to any other countries. But this was still a good thing.
“You have a teleport skill? These sure are handy weapons,” Father replied.
“We can use my portal skill to flee if they happen to catch up to us.”
“Yeah, I bet.”
“I guess there’s no other choice . . .” Éclair mumbled.
She walked over to the corpse of one of the soldiers still lying on the ground from last night and pulled his armor off. The carriage that they had used to transport Father was in pristine condition, so we were going to use that for transportation. Éclair had a bothered look on her face. Father looked at the money pouch she had taken and then asked her a question.
“Taking things from the dead bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“Stripping the dead of their belongings goes against the principles of chivalry. But under the current circumstances, we have no choice.”
I decided to try saying something that I could imagine Father saying.
“There are no rules on the battlefield! If chivalry was enough to keep us alive, then that would be fine. But right now it’s doubtful whether we’ll make it out of this alive. We need to protect ourselves. Or are you going to say that choosing death is chivalrous?”
A self-deprecating smile suddenly appeared on Éclair’s face.
“You sure hit me where it hurts. You’re right. On the battlefield, you have to keep pushing forward and never stop fighting, even if it means walking over the bodies of your fallen comrades. Not to mention, these were men that used underhanded methods in an attempt to kill Mr. Iwatani. Surely taking their things is an acceptable compromise.”
“Having an aversion to taking from your enemy . . . You sure are an earnest person, Eclair. That’s so cool.”
“C-cool? You shouldn’t tease others, Mr. Iwatani.”
“I know you’re hungry, but we can just snack on the monsters I’m sure we’ll run into on the way to the border. As for money . . . It seems we have a bit now, so we’ll just have to buy anything we need somewhere along the way,” I said.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Agreed.”
And so we departed. An official notice posted at a village we passed said a former knight of Melromarc was running around on the loose with two dangerous criminals, one carrying a shield and the other a spear. Trash and that filthy crimson swine! They had made us outlaws!
“Hmm . . .”
I gazed at the sign from a distance and thought to myself.
“What are you thinking, Motoyasu?” Father asked.
“They really piss me off. I was thinking that maybe I should just go kill Trash, the crimson swine, and the high priest of the Church of the Three Heroes. I could capture Ren and Itsuki while I was at it.”
“Huh?!”
“M-Mr. Kitamura! If you did something like that we would become wanted criminals in every country in the world! Please restrain yourself for now!”
Both of them objected, so I did my best to withstand the urge. For the time being, we would just quietly continue our journey.
Getting to Siltvelt without using filolials would probably take three or four weeks. I couldn’t help but feel like that was a bit too long. But the portal locations I’d saved were all nearby places. Alas! It was one of those moments—it really hit home just how precious filolials were!
I made quick work of any monsters that appeared along the way.
“I don’t get any experience points when you defeat those monsters,” Father said.
“That’s because of the interference when heroes fight together.”
“Ah, you mentioned that before, didn’t you? So this is what you were talking about.”
“If I kept my distance you would be able to gain experience, but I might not be able to respond in time in the event of a sudden emergency.”
Every now and then, Melromarc soldiers or adventurers would come chasing after us and attack. When they did, I had Father wait inside the carriage while I mowed them down. It had been three days since we’d set out for Siltvelt. The latest of the repeated assassination attempts that I’d squashed was still fresh in my mind.
“That would be dangerous. Mr. Iwatani is level 1. It’s too dangerous to try to level up in this country. I’m not confident I could protect him on my own.”
I sure missed my filolials! I missed their soft, fluffy feathers with their healthy shine!
“At the very least, I would feel better if we had some more companions,” Éclair continued.
“But could we trust them?” Father asked with a wary look in his eyes.
“That’s the problem.”
It was a difficult problem, indeed. We had no way of differentiating between friends and foes at the moment. That reminded me. It was about time the Siltvelt emissaries reached out to us. That said, we were considered outlaws now.
I was trying to figure out what to do when I noticed a familiar demi-human and two pigs walking toward us. Incredible. I couldn’t believe they had managed to find us. Éclair drew her sword and readied herself to attack if necessary.
“We are emissaries from Siltvelt. You must be the child who Seaetto left behind. Please, lower your sword. We have no intention of fighting.”
“Hrm . . . Very well,” Éclair conceded.
The emissaries bowed their heads deeply to Father, as if praying, and then began to speak.
“Shield Hero. Spear Hero. We would very much like you to come to Siltvelt.”
“We were already planning on going that way,” Father muttered.
He averted his eyes, as if he was uncomfortable about what he was going to say.
“I find it hard to trust these people after almost being killed by those guys pretending to be emissaries. Motoyasu, what do you think? Can we trust them?”
Father had died after I turned him over to these people last time around. I wasn’t sure what had been the cause of his death, but I couldn’t deny the possibility that they might be fakes only claiming to be emissaries.
“I told you what happened before, right?” I said.
“Yeah. So going with them would be dangerous, right?” Father replied.
I’d told Father all about the time loops while we had been traveling. I hadn’t omitted any of the details, including how he’d died after I passed him off to some people that claimed to be emissaries from Siltvelt.
“It seems your journey has been riddled with deception, Shield Hero. You have our deepest sympathies. It pains us greatly to know that you feel you cannot trust us.”
“That’s the thing. I really want to trust you, but . . .” Father replied.
It was impossible to trust them after everything that had happened. There was hardly anyone we could trust while we were still in Melromarc, at least.
“In that case, might I suggest you make us your slaves and put restrictions on what we can do?”
“Slaves? Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” I replied.
“Slaves, huh? Slaves in this world have slave curses that restrain them so that they can’t defy their owner’s wishes, right?” Father asked.
“They do, indeed!”
“It makes sense. But . . . slaves?” Éclair muttered with a troubled look on her face.
When Father noticed her expression, he seemed to become flustered.
“I’m sorry, Eclair! It’s just that I don’t think we can be too careful.”
“I understand. We must take every precaution and proceed with discretion.”
“How do you suggest we perform the slave curse ceremony? I do believe we’ll need an ink pot to apply the curses,” I said.
“We will take care of the preparations. Please give us some time to do so.”
“I would like to be registered as an owner as well, just to be safe,” I replied.
“If that’s what it takes for you to trust us, then we would be happy to comply.”
I stood guard and kept an eye on our surroundings. Several hours passed and the emissaries returned with an ink pot.
“Father, place a small amount of your blood in the pot.”
“Oh, umm, okay.”
Father used Éclair’s sword to nick the tip of his finger and let the blood drip into the pot. Then I added some of my blood to the ink pot as well.
“Now we’ll take this to our nearest associate that can complete the ceremony and then return as your slaves. Please wait here.”
We hid in the forest, where people were less likely to pass, and waited for the Siltvelt emissaries to finalize the enslavement. After some time, a slave icon popped up on my screen.
“Whoa! Is this the slave status screen? There sure are a bunch of options.”
“It is, indeed! Now you just need to check off all of the precautionary options, like restricting lying, hostility toward one’s master, and attacking. Then we’ll meet back up with the emissaries.”
I adjusted my own settings and taught Father how to do the same. I was really more familiar with the monster seal settings, but there wasn’t much of a difference between those and the slave curse settings.
Anyway, the enslavement had been successfully completed, so it was safe to assume the emissaries weren’t fakes. Or was it?
Shortly afterward, the emissaries met back up with us.
“Is that enough to earn your trust?”
“Pardon me.”
I activated the slave curse without warning. The emissaries grasped at their chests and wailed with pain. I canceled the effect immediately and nodded.
“It seems you were telling the truth.”
“Y-yes,” the emissary replied while panting.
“Now then, I have a few questions for you. If you lie, I’ll kill you on the spot,” I continued.
“T-that’s not a problem!” they replied.
I asked whether they had other companions who were going to try to kill Father, along with any other questions I could think of. But the slave curses never activated. It seemed that we could consider them true allies.
“T-testing them like that so suddenly was a bit rude, don’t you think?” Father asked.
“We can’t be too careful, I say! But this proves that they can’t betray us. That’s a fact. Please take us with you to Siltvelt!”
The emissaries bowed their heads in response. It was probably safe to trust them, judging by the loyalty and good faith they had shown. They had become our slaves to earn our trust.
If I could be made a slave, I would happily become a slave for Filo-tan! Actually, I was already not only the Love Hunter, but a love slave as well. HA! HA! HA!
“Now then, Mr. Kitamura, the question is whether or not we should try to level Mr. Iwatani now or wait until later,” Éclair said.
“Ah, we have some information that should be relevant,” the emissary offered.
He raised his hand. His animal-like ears were bouncing up and down in true demi-human fashion. It reminded me of the slaves at Father’s village.
“What might that be?” I asked.
“The queen of Melromarc has officially taken you off of the wanted list. You should be able to go into the towns and villages now.”
Oh? So this is what Father was talking about in the future when he said the queen could be trusted. She was much more reasonable than Trash. She was Fiancée’s mother, after all.
“Then we can move about freely now?” asked Father.
“I’m not so sure about that . . .” Éclair replied.
Her eyes were full of uncertainty. It was more complex than that, after all. Even if the adventurers and bounty hunters stopped coming after us, the Church of the Three Heroes would likely keep trying. A large majority of the Melromarc soldiers belonged to the church, so we would have to consider soldiers dangerous too.
“Even if we’re no longer on the wanted list, it’s still highly likely that assassins will come after us. We need to be careful,” I said.
When I really thought about it, it was a mystery how Father had managed to survive the first time, before I’d traveled back in time. He’d climbed his way to success under such adverse conditions. He really was an amazing person, after all.
I imagined part of it might have been all of the stunts I’d pulled on the first day. Because of that, the Church of the Three Heroes had viewed Father as insignificant and assumed he would just end up dead out on the streets or in the fields. Perhaps that was it.
During the first month or so, Father’s equipment had been pretty pitiful. Big sis hadn’t been all that strong either. I remember I was already over level 40 around that time. I think I was level 47. But Father was strong enough to pin me down and drive me into a corner. What level would he have been? I wanted to say around level 30, if I had to guess. But Father had spent a lot of time raising obscure stats. He might have actually been closer to level 20.
Heroes and their group members got experience point boosts. If the Church of the Three Heroes was watching Father under the assumption that things worked the same as they would for normal adventurers, he might very well have seemed like a level 10-ish nothing to them. If that were the case, maybe they just wrote him off as insignificant and ignored him. It’s possible that they were just focusing on helping the other heroes progress before dealing with Father.
“What level are you all?” I asked the emissary.
“My apologies, but we were only chosen because we happened to be staying nearby. We’re not that strong. I’m level 35, and my companions are 29 and 28.”
Their levels weren’t very reassuring. I wasn’t sure what level Éclair was, but I doubted she was any higher than 60 or so. Father was level 1, so taking him somewhere dangerous could be an issue. I would have to leave his side if we wanted to power-level him like during the last cycle. Things could get ugly if he were ambushed when I wasn’t there.
If we wanted to get away from feeling like we were playing in time attack mode, we would need to escape to a place where the Church of the Three Heroes couldn’t reach us.
“It would be nice if there were a place where we could lie low,” Éclair said.
She glanced over at the emissaries.
“Because of the waves, the best place to hide around here would probably be . . . the Seaetto territory, I believe.”
“You mean the former territory that my father was in charge of. That could be difficult.”
So lying low would be difficult. It would be possible to hide out in a mountain hut or something, but that would be rough too.
“For now, it looks like prioritizing leaving Melromarc is our best option,” I said.
“I guess so. An adventure in another world felt like a dream at first, but this has turned out to be a real nightmare,” Father grumbled.
He was complaining. I understood how he felt. When I first came to this world, pigs were the only thing on my mind. Thinking about how much of a fool I was made me want to cry bitter tears, I say! But Father thrust all of these miserable feelings aside and rose to success! This time I was here to help him, so it would probably be more bearable than before.
“Understood. Let’s take this low-traffic road then.”
And so, we continued our journey and kept Father protected.
The next day came. Father was in the middle of cooking up some meat from the monsters we had defeated the day before.
“And on it goes! Are you sure it’s okay for me to be doing the cooking? I’m really not all that great at it.”
“There’s no need to be modest, Father!”
“He’s right. It seems like you’re quite the cook,” added Éclair.
“Indeed. Just as expected of the Shield Hero,” said the emissary.
“Oink oink!”
“Oiiink!”
The demi-human and swine seemed to be enjoying the flavors as well.
“You think so?”
Father carried on the conversation while using the sword he’d borrowed from Éclair as a cleaver to cut up to the meat.
I could see it! I could see that with each nonchalant cut, he was slicing against the grain to make the meat easy to chew. I could see that he was making incisions to speed up the cooking time. He was even unconsciously draining the blood as he went. Father had a natural talent for cooking.
Not to mention, he put the leftover meat in a bag and sat it in the corner of the carriage to marinate so that it would be tender and flavorful later. He didn’t waste the bones either but used them to make soup instead. It would be impossible to say his cooking wasn’t delicious!
“Oh, if I had some herbs I could improve the flavor a bit, I’m sure. It still tastes a bit gamey,” Father mentioned.
“What? You’re saying it’s possible to make it taste better than this?” Éclair exclaimed.
She had a look of surprise on her face. The emissaries started looking all around, trying to find grasses and herbs.
“Now you’re being too easy on him. Father’s cooking was even more delicious than this in the future!”
“E-even more than this?!”
“I’m not sure what good comparing me to a different me will do . . .”
“I’m sure you’ll catch up in no time once you get used to cooking here!”
He was Father, after all! One of the power-up methods activated a stat called EP that made using life force easy. If he made good use of that, upping his game would be a breeze!
“First things first. We need to cross the border if we’re going to get to Siltvelt. We can probably assume that won’t be too much of a problem if we’re no longer on the wanted list.”
After we finished eating, Éclair opened up a map for everyone to see. But therein lay the problem. Last time, Father had died two days after I saw him off. As far as I could tell from the map, that would have been right around the time he reached the border. If something was going to happen, it would probably be around the same time. I still couldn’t ignore the possibility that the Siltvelt emissaries might have actually been the cause, so I was keeping a close eye on them too.
“We won’t be able to leave the country by boat due to rough sea, as a result of the waves of destruction. We’ll probably have to settle for going by land,” Éclair continued.
“We should be extra cautious, I say!”
“You’re right, but still . . .”
“That’s especially true for anywhere along the border! Our enemies may be gathering there.”
“Hmm . . .”
Éclair seemed to be thinking about something. I once tracked Father after being deceived by Trash, the crimson swine, and the Church of the Three Heroes. I remember a whole lot of people gathered at the checkpoint tower back then. It had only been a few days since being summoned this time, so they would only be able to gather so many people. Even so, it was highly likely that they were keeping an eye on the borders.
“We could try crossing over the mountains instead of using the checkpoint. But if they have security measures in place even in the mountains, it would be pointless. It would just slow us down, if anything,” said Éclair.
“Yeah. And it would be harder to make an escape, which could be a problem,” Father replied.
“Not really. If it’s escaping we’re talking about, I’m sure Mr. Kitamura’s teleportation ability should be able to take care of that,” she said.
“In that case, really our only option is to just go for it, don’t you think? If it doesn’t work out, we can just flee, right?” Father asked.
“We can’t be absolutely certain of that,” I replied.
“Huh? Really?”
Éclair and Father seemed to have gotten the wrong idea. There were issues with the portal skills.
“In the future, Ren and Itsuki were almost eliminated by the Church of the Three Heroes once, when it had gotten out of control. Why do you think they weren’t able to escape then?” I asked.
“No idea. Are there restrictions on the portal skills?” Father inquired.
I nodded in response to Father’s question. That was exactly it. The portal skills had several limitations. I believe Father had discovered them after doing some testing of his own. It was an odd twist of fate when you thought about it.
“First of all, you have to bind to a location to be able to teleport there. In general, any place inside of a building is a no-go. And it’s not possible to teleport from a location with a barrier in place.”
“A barrier?”
“Dragon territory, for example. Filolials and a few other select monsters sometimes use them to claim their territory as well. As for areas where humans reside, there are often barriers in place near churches. It also applies to regions affected by a wave, while the wave is occurring.”
“I see. And what does any of that have to do with getting away?” Father asked.
“Why do you think Ren and Itsuki failed to escape? There’s more, I say!”
“I’m guessing they were taken by surprise and didn’t have time to use their skills.”
“I can’t deny that possibility. But we also know that casting large-scale ceremonial magic will restrict portal usage within the area of effect.”
The truth is, I had used Portal Spear the instant the high priest attacked us. Like a fool, I had tried to protect the crimson swine and the other pigs. I was confused when it didn’t work at the time, but later we found out through testing that the portal skills couldn’t be used when affected by ceremonial magic.
“Large-scale ceremonial magic?” asked Father.
“It’s a type of magic often used during war. That makes sense. It’s only natural they would use such a thing if they were seriously trying to kill either of you,” Éclair said.
“If they use a ceremonial magic spell called Sanctuary on us, it’s safe to assume we won’t be able to run,” I said.
Sanctuary was similar to barrier magic. The spell could nullify most debuff-type attacks and remove curses. The effect continued for a short while, which would make it impossible to flee using teleportation.
“Then what should we do?” Father asked.
“Leave it to me, I say! With my power, we should be able to deal with almost anything!”
“So we’re going to resort to brute force, after all. I thought you might have a secret plan or something,” mumbled Éclair.
“Attacking the problem head-on is the most effective solution, I say!”
Éclair and Father both let out a long sigh for some reason. Before I knew it, the two of them seemed to have really hit it off. That was just like Father! He’d cultivated their friendship in such a short time!
“Alright, I guess we’ll just try going straight through for now. If anything happens, we’ll be counting on you, Motoyasu,” Father said.
“You can count on me!”
And so we continued our journey to Siltvelt.
We had finally approached the checkpoint tower at the border of Melromarc and the country that separated it from Siltvelt. We were currently checking things out from a spot in the forest that allowed us to observe the tower from a distance.
“What do you think?” I asked.
From what I could see, there was nothing more than the usual merchants passing through. Nothing felt off, but Éclair furrowed her brows and responded in a whisper.
“Everything seems normal at first glance, but there are more guards on the lookout than I would have expected. I have a feeling there are more people inside the tower than usual too. You can tell if you check the windows carefully.”
I checked all of the places Éclair had pointed out. She was right. Now that she had mentioned it, there did seem to be more people than usual. It wasn’t as many as there had been the first time around, when Father was a wanted criminal, but it was still a lot.
“R-really?” Father stuttered.
“I’d like to think it’s just my imagination, but that’s probably wishful thinking,” Éclair whispered.
The Siltvelt emissary was nodding too.
“How about switching to a wagon and hiding the Shield Hero when we pass?” he asked.
“Smuggle him out, in other words? It’s not a bad idea, but it could be quite dangerous if we got caught, considering Mr. Iwatani’s current level,” Éclair replied.
“That’s true. They’ll probably be checking cargo carefully, after all,” Father said.
“You’re right. What should we do?” the emissary wondered out loud.
Father and the others were talking it over and seemed to be stumped. This was my time to shine!
“I’ll go ahead and check things out. You all stay hidden here!”
“Huh? You’re going by yourself? Isn’t that dangerous?”
I humbly acknowledge your sincerity, Father! A waterfall of tears spontaneously began pouring down my cheeks.
“M-Motoyasu?! Why are you crying?”
“I’m fine, I say! I was just moved by your kindness is all!”
“Did I say something nice?”
Éclair sighed for some reason.
“Mr. Iwatani, I’m starting to think it’s about time we got used to Mr. Kitamura’s quirkiness.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right. I was just wondering if he would be okay going by himself.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem. As far as I can tell, Mr. Kitamura has an unfathomable amount of power. Not to mention an unfathomable personality.”
I had trouble hearing Éclair’s last comment. Father must have heard her fine, because he was nodding in agreement. Now that I thought about it, I seemed to remember Father and big sis whispering to each other a lot like that too. It made me feel uncomfortable when I’d first noticed it, but thinking back on it now, I’m sure it was an important part of their friendship.
“Rather than him going alone, wouldn’t it be better if we just all went together and blasted right through?” Father suggested.
“That’s certainly worth considering too. But from what Mr. Kitamura has said, his teleportation ability can take us to places he’s already been, right? In that case, if he made it through the checkpoint, then he could set a teleport location there and return for us.”
“I see! So even if they are on the lookout for me, it shouldn’t be a problem as long as Motoyasu can make it through.”
Indeed, that would work. It seemed like my saved portal bindings would remain even if the loop was reset again, so I might just use that plan next time if it happened.
“All we have to do is avoid being found and protect Mr. Iwatani while Mr. Kitamura goes and takes care of crossing,” Éclair told the Siltvelt emissary.
“Understood,” he replied while nodding.
It pained me to leave Father’s side, even if only for a moment, but it was time for battle! I would call it the Battle of the Melromarc Tower. I would flaunt my achievements on the battlefield to prove to Father just how loyal I was!
“I shall return! If anything should happen here, just give me a clear sign and I’ll come racing back!”
“Got it.”
“Leave it to us.”
I went walking toward the border checkpoint by myself. As I neared the tower, I could see the guards starting to make a fuss. Soldiers came pouring out from inside the tower.
“Spear Hero! Where’s the Shield Demon?!”
A representative of the soldiers called out to me loudly. I was pretty sure he was the knight commander that I had met several times in the first world I’d been summoned to. I’d stopped seeing him eventually. I wondered what he was doing in a place like this.
“That’s none of my business. I’m just here to cross the border, I say!”
“Nobody’s letting you through! Be a good boy and tell us where the Shield Demon is! If you don’t . . .”
Some magic-using soldiers at the rear began reciting the incantation for a large-scale ceremonial magic spell. I could tangibly feel a dense magical field begin to form in the surrounding area. That was something I learned how to do around the time I became able to use life force and energy boost.
“Come on! Spill the beans if you value your life!”
“Do you really think I’d tell you?”
There was no doubt that this was the riffraff that had killed Father after the first loop. The Siltvelt emissaries must have attempted to cross the border unsuspectingly, and then this bunch found them and killed them.
Father hadn’t attempted to flee to another country in the initial world. Maybe that’s why he had managed to survive. That showed just how much these bastards must have hated the idea of Father going to Siltvelt.
“I’ll say it one more time. Let me pass. Or I’ll kill you. I’m willing to let this slide if you allow me to pass!”
“Ha! You’re a fool, Spear Hero! Prepare to meet your doom!”
“Collective Ceremonial Magic! Judg — ”
While I was talking to the knight commander, I had been chanting a spell that I learned from Father in the past. As long as the opponent wasn’t an extremely skilled magic-user, the spell would be effective even against ceremonial magic.
“I, the Love Hunter, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of the Earth Vein! Merge with this magic power of mine! Merge with the power of the heroes and forge a unified force! As the source of your power, the Love Hunter commands you! Let the way of all things be revealed once more! Absorb that power which is wicked, that it may become my own!”
“All Liberation Absorb X!”
When I finished the incantation, I raised my spear up into the sky. Their ceremonial magic caused enormous rainclouds to form overhead. Then, with a loud thunderclap, a massive bolt of lightning came flashing down directly toward me.
This attack was probably what had killed Father during the last loop. I suddenly realized I was gritting my teeth hard. In that case, I would just have to avenge that Father’s death.
“Hahaha! Foolish Spear Hero!”
The knight commander was laughing loudly. I turned toward him and grinned. The lightning hit me. And in that same instant, the magic power it was made of was sucked straight into my spear.
“Hahaha . . . ha?”
I could feel the magic power flowing throughout my body. Then again, I didn’t use much magic power to start with, so restoring it was pointless.
“I-impossible! Judgment just disappeared into thin air?!” the knight commander spluttered.
The knight commander glared at me with a look of disbelief on his face. How truly foolish he was! Didn’t he know that their defeat became inevitable the moment they decided to oppose Father? If anyone, it was these incompetent fools that required judgment!
“You vastly underestimate the power of the heroes, I say! Dealing with an attack like that is child’s play!”
The magic power that I had absorbed would just dissipate eventually, so I decided I might as well take care of them with some magic instead of using a skill.
“I, the Love Hunter, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of the Earth Vein! Merge with this magic power of mine! Merge with the power of the heroes and forge a unified force! As the source of your power, the Love Hunter commands you! Let the way of all things be revealed once more! Mow down this pack of fools with a storm of flames!”
“W-what are you waiting for?! Hurry up and kill the Spear Hero!” he shouted.
The knight commander haughtily barked orders at the soldiers. They let out a war cry and began charging toward me. But it was too late, I say!
“Liberation Firestorm V!”
I switched my spear to my left hand. I let the magic materialize in my right hand, which I then held out toward the soldiers in front of me before activating the attack. A massive vortex of flames leapt out of my right hand. This was Liberation-level magic. I had learned it from Father. Only usable by heroes, it was the most powerful type of magic there was!
“W-what is that?!”
“Gaaahhhhh!”
“Urgaaaahhh!”
Their shrieks and cries echoed throughout the air as the Melromarc soldiers were swallowed up by the storm of flames. That went for the knight commander too. He tried to use the soldiers as a shield and run away, but it was too late. He was sucked up into the vortex along with the others as it quickly swept over them. Finally, the storm of flames smashed through the tower with a loud roar and then dissipated.
“I guess that should do it.”
No sign of the tower remained. Perhaps this would make those fools understand. Picking a fight with Father equaled death.
The scorched bodies of soldiers came raining down out of the sky. The state of the surrounding area was horrifying. I had no idea where the knight commander was. I was guessing most of them were still alive, since I’d held back. I buried my foot into the chest of a dying soldier lying on the ground and made an announcement.
“This is your punishment for trying to kill the Shield Hero! Give Trash and the high priest a message for me! Tell them not to stick their nose in our business unless they want to die, I say! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
I was still laughing boisterously when Éclair and the emissaries came rushing up along with the carriage carrying Father. They had bewilderment written all over their faces.
“We saw a huge vortex of flames, so we came in a hurry but . . . What in the world happened here?” Éclair asked.
“Didn’t we decide you would stay hidden until I made sure everything was safe?” I said.
“Mr. Iwatani was worried about you,” she replied.
“He was?! How deeply moving! The tears — ”
“Not right now! Did you do all of this, Motoyasu?”
“I did, indeed!”
“Heroes can become that strong?!” Father said.
Father was at a loss for words. What was he talking about? I was sure Father could manage much more impressive feats than this without even blinking. In all actuality, he’d overcome similar situations repeatedly and protected his companions each time.
That brought back fond memories of the fight against the high priest. I had been Father’s enemy at the time, and yet he protected even me! And despite that, I still spoke badly of him afterward. If I could return to the past, I would kill the me of then, I say!
“I’m guessing some of them are dead . . . obviously. Don’t you think maybe you went too far?” Father asked.
“When we were watching from a distance, I noticed the knight commander was here. That must mean they intended to kill Mr. Iwatani. And I guess that led to fighting you, Mr. Kitamura. How pitiful,” said Éclair.
“You’ve got to stomp out the embers lest you get caught in a wildfire, I say! Now then, let us continue to our next destination!”
“Y-yeah. I have a feeling you’re actually the scariest person there is, Motoyasu. You know how in manga, characters will say something like, ‘I’m glad he’s on our side’? This is the perfect time to use that line.”
What was Father talking about? These fools had most likely cast their ceremonial magic on him during the previous cycle of the time loop. There was absolutely no need to sympathize with them.
“Come! We’re off, I say!”
And just like that, we managed to successfully smash through the border unharmed.
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