Chapter Text
"Talking" for Talking
"Thinking" for Thinking
[Status Magic and Systems] for Status Magic and Systems
Outskirts of Ruins of Lerno, Melromarc
“Why, Sir Motoyasu? D-don’t you care that I lied?” Malty cradled her arm to herself as she sat on the ground, looking up at the Spear Hero. This wasn’t making any sense! How could she make plans and control the Spear Hero if he didn’t act in ways she could expect?
He stopped his work once more, turning to face her with the same tired glare he had put on her before.
“Honestly? I don’t.” The First Princess’s eyes widened in shock as he continued, striking the ground with his hoe shaped spear at each point as if to emphasize them.
“I was too lax beforehand. I was summoned here to save the world from the Waves, and I’ve done nothing but goof off. It was the same back home. I didn’t bother studying at college, just coasting along while I spent all my time at parties or on dates or playing Emerald Online. That laziness ended my life back then, but I haven’t learned a thing.”
“I didn’t want to believe my eyes and ears, that this world was real. I was too comfortable just letting things happen around me. And because of my laziness, I brought poison to this desperate village.” He stopped, his spear blade embedded in the ground, as Malty saw a tear fall from his downward pointing face.
“I killed her. Me.” He turned back up to look at her once more. “So forgive me if the revelation of your lies and gossip don’t trigger much of a reaction. Compared to the people I’ve killed, your little game of politics is just that- a little game.”
“But you’re killing me right now, Moto!” Malty shouted, raising her cursed arm at him. He had gone to continue with his incessant planting, but stopped as she spoke.
“I… I understand you feel bad about what you did or didn’t do in the past.” She started, rising unsteadily to her feet. Memories of her fights with her mother or younger brother were repeating in her head. “But… but you can’t change the past.” She took a deep breath.
“Megika and those other villagers are dead. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Motoyasu withdrew his Spear from the ground with a grunt, striding towards her angrily. “You don’t think I know that!?” Beyond the bags underneath his eyes, there were also a few tears beading up at the corners, which he rubbed away. “That’s why I altered that damn BioPlant, to provide for the survivors!”
“You’ve done enough, Moto!” Using her good arm, she gestured to the rows upon rows of the strange crops he had planted. “Do you want Lerno to feed the whole kingdom!?” The First Princess let out a shuddering breath, squeezing close her eyes. For once, she didn’t need to bring up a bad memory to manifest tears. “I’m… I’m scared, Moto. I’m dying like I do in my nightmares, a victim of the killing frost.” She wouldn’t mention who was the cause of this imaginary ice.
Malty then shivered uncontrollably, hugging her ice cold arm to herself to try and warm up the darkened flesh and fingers she could no longer feel. “And the only people who can help me are a Hero that’s ignoring my pleas, and another Hero who hates me because of the lies I told about him.”
She sniffed, her nose suddenly running in a particularly un-princess like way. “I don’t wanna die! There- there’s still so much left for me to do!” There were treats and luxuries and fun to be had, even with the Waves going on! And despite vowing to never forgive her for what she had done, Malty’s tribulations in the Voice Gengar cave had reawakened a deep rooted hope, a pain in her chest she had left buried for years. She wanted-
Motoyasu enveloped her in a warm hug, one that seemed to lessen the numbing cold in her arm somewhat, despite lacking any Holy Water. He held her there for a few moments.
Beside her ear, she heard light sobs escape the Spear Hero’s mouth.
“I… you’re right, Malty.” He said, his voice strained. “I’m sorry for not considering how you must be feeling. The spear form that I accidently hurt you with? It’s hurting me too, in a different way. It’s making it hard to feel any emotion or think about anything other than working.”
“Thank you for bringing me out of that funk.” He squeezed her tight for a moment before releasing her. They both turned to look at the long rows of crops he had already planted.
Motoyasu rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Yeah, Lerno should be able to recover with all of this.” He then fixated on her again, gingerly raising her cursed arm. “Let me get a bit more of our Holy Water on you while I talk with the village elder, and then we can leave for Naofumi’s territory.” He frowned. “I just hope he’ll listen.”
Malty just nodded, exhausted from the exertion of bringing the Spear Hero back to sanity. The chill in her bones wanted rest, and she couldn’t bring it to herself to deny that desire any more.
…
“Come on, Lesty, we need to leave!”
The Spear Hero party’s carriage with their twin tyrella was waiting in the center of Lerno once more, surrounded by the villagers on both sides. However, Motoyasu was glad to see that the tired and dirty commoners weren’t angry at him, but content. He wasn’t receiving the blind cheers of applause they had given after leaving the first time, but ones of respect as they looked up to him on their carriage.
Elena and Rino were already inside, taking care of the First Princess, who had fallen ill from the constant low temperature emanating from her cursed wound. The medicine he could craft with his Blue Mush Spear was barely holding the sickness at bay.
Motoyasu tapped his foot impatiently on the driver’s seat, waiting for their last party member. On the ground beside one of the tyrella the village elder bowed his head.
“Thank you again so much, Sir Spear Hero, for coming back to fix things. It takes a great man to admit he messed up, and an even greater one to try to undo the damage.” He sighed worriedly. “And I am sorry we do not have the Holy Water the princess needs to recover from her wound from fighting the Monster BioPlant. Our small church was one of the buildings worst affected by that abomination’s roots.” Right, they had told the village that Malty’s wound had come from the monster and not Motoyasu’s own carelessness with his Spear.
Motoyasu nodded, trying to not snap at the old man. Despite Malty bringing him out of the worst of his backlash, he was still feeling the effects. He felt like he needed to do something, anything at all; or he would die. And while he knew his life wouldn’t end if he relaxed, and that whatever he did might be pointless or even harmful; he couldn’t stop the urges. That was the ‘punishment’ for his Sloth.
“It’s… fine. The one bottle you had left has extended her time long enough to allow us to reach a larger Church with better water.” He sighed, raising his voice again. “Lesty? Are you-”
“I’m here, Sir Motoyasu! Sorry!” The pink haired acrobatic fighter emerged from between two of the watching villagers, quickly making her way to the side of their carriage. “I just had to leave the written instructions you wanted Lerno to have with their former priest’s aide.” She hopped onto the side of the vehicle, her weight causing the carriage to only sway slightly. “We can go now!”
“Alright. Recover well, village of Lerno! I’ll be back soon to make sure everything is alright! Hi-YA!” The Spear Hero cracked the reins that bridled the two tyrella, and with a pair of grumbling yips the two dragons pulled the carriage forward, the wheels creaking slightly from the sudden movement. Motoyasu brought up his [Minimap] and checked which roads he should follow to reach the home territory of the Shield Hero.
He needed to get there as soon as possible.
…
The crowd of villagers that had gathered to see off the Spear Hero and his party returned to their tasks of restoring Lerno. All but one of them, however.
At the back of the crowd, Lerno’s new priest smiled as he checked the note the woman Lesty had left him. Despite her statement on the letter’s content, the reality was far more damning to the Spear and his party than that- an explanation of the man’s idiotic actions nearly destroying the village, the evil form his Spear had taken to destroy the monster and curse the princess, the abominations he had crafted and planted, and their next location- the territory currently oppressed by the Devil of the Shield.
All he would have to do is hand the information to the contingent of Church Knights that would appear in a few short days, still following the doomed Spear, and his salvation would be ensured.
Beneath his robe his Three Heroes Church rosary brushed against his chest, and he thought a quick prayer to God.
…
Two days had passed since leaving Lerno, and they were now deep within Naofumi’s territory, not far from the capital of the county where his manor was located.
Motoyasu’s backlash had finally faded, causing all his fatigue over the last couple days to hit at once, and he had slept for another twelve hours after that. He had been worried about his Spear changing into his Curse series again, warning the rest of his party to not touch him if his weapon took on the shape of that awful black and white syringe once more. But thankfully it hadn’t- he could sleep without fear of hurting those around him.
But he could still feel the call in the back of his mind, the tempting desire to just lay down and do nothing. So he tried to keep himself busy as they traveled. He hunted monsters while the tyrella rested, obtaining both meaty corpses to feed the beasts as well as several things to improve his Spear.
Bark Spear 0
Equip Bonus(locked): Increased Woodworking (small)
Torrent Spear 0
Equip Bonus(locked): 3 Finesse, Improved Plant Appraisal
Blue Torrent Spear 0
Equip Bonus(locked): 3 Toughness, Advanced Compounding Recipes
Black Torrent Spear 0
Equip Bonus(locked): 3 Poise, Increased Compounding Quality (medium)
Torrents were strange monsters Motoyasu had found by the riverside- animated bundles of wet vines that crawled out of the water they had spawned from to hunt animal prey. But by this point the Spear Hero was well versed in killing plant monsters, and they were defeated easily.
Learning what bonuses these monsters gave his Spear made him want to hit himself, though. Improved Plant Appraisal filled in a lot of the information he had had to substitute with guesswork while working on modifying the BioPlant seeds- giving better definitions for each stat and how they related to one another, and even predicting what kind of produce an unplanted seed would create when fully grown. Had he had these unlocks in Lerno beforehand, he wouldn’t have spent-
He sighed. It didn’t matter now.
“The effects from these other two Torrent Spears would have been very helpful earlier, too.” Motoyasu thought to himself as another pained, wheezing cough rang out from inside the carriage. Malty’s health was deteriorating rapidly due to the twin causes of the Sloth Curse and the pneumonia that resulted from her lowered body temperature. She was still holding on thanks to the rest of their party constantly monitoring and healing her, giving potions and medicine as needed, but they were running out of supplies and couldn’t stop to gather more.
She would die if the upcoming town around Naofumi’s manor didn’t have what they needed.
…
Midafternoon light temporarily blinded Motoyasu as he looked at the sprawling buildings that surrounded his goal. In the middle of the rows of buildings emerged a short, flat mountain- a butte or mesa or plateau of some kind. Only a single bridge brought a stone path up to the foot of what lay on top of this unique landmark- a large manor, closer in design to a fortress or a castle than a fancy house like the name implied.
The Spear Hero gulped nervously as he led the tyrella straight through the town gate, looking around him as people began winding down their business for the day. They all seemed happy and content with their recent change in leadership- if anything, it was hard to tell that their previous lord had been killed in an honorable duel barely a month ago.
He felt himself relax slightly. If the people living around the Shield Hero’s base of operations were still prosperous, then he couldn’t be abusing them like all the rumors had said, right?
Up ahead on his left he saw a large building, a church, between two other buildings. Motoyasu almost readied the tyrellas’ reins to pull over, when he got a closer look at the building and continued on down the road.
Not only was it a Three Heroes Church, the kind that Malty had explained had blackmailed her and would refuse to give them the Holy Water she needed, but several boards were nailed up across the main entrance along with a few broken windows. It was pretty obvious what this meant for the place of worship, especially as civilians walked past the empty building without giving it a single glance. This Church had shut down, either on their own terms after their greatest enemy became the ruler of this territory, or Naofumi had ordered them to leave himself.
Again, more focusing on things that wouldn’t help him here and now.
Before reaching the narrow stone bridge that served as the only safe entrance to the Shield Hero’s manor fortress, the two tyrella that were pulling the carriage began to slow down. Frowning, he tugged on their reins to try and make them move again, but they refused his order. Motoyasu started rising to his feet to discipline the beasts of burden, but stopped himself as he saw the reason for why they had stopped.
An old woman with gray hair was standing directly before them, and had reached out to pet one of the tyrella’s muzzles.
The Spear Hero lowered himself to the cobblestone ground, stepping over to face the elderly woman. He didn’t want to be mean or hurtful, but they really didn’t have time for this right now.
“Hello, ma’am? Can you please move, my party and I are in a hurry, and-”
The old granny chuckled, interrupting. “Yes, I can tell. Your whole entourage, including this pair of cuties, reeks of the sickness you carry.” She scratched the other tyrella under the chin, eliciting a happy rumble in return.
Motoyasu narrowed his eyes. “...Yes, one of our party members is sick. That’s why we need to head up there as fast as possible.” He gestured towards the walled compound at the top of the plateau. “I know the guy who owns this place, and he can-”
“The Count Shield could heal your friend, if you could reach him and if he was willing to listen to the Spear Hero, someone he notoriously dislikes.” She gave him a knowing look as she took a step closer to him.
“Who are you? And how do you know I’m the Spear Hero?” This old granny was unsettling Motoyasu somewhat, with how authoritatively she spoke of things.
Her gray head bobbed. “Ah, forgive me. My name is Elrasla Ragnarok, though most people call me Granny.” She smirked as she shook her head. “And beyond that strange Spear on your back and your fancy armor, I can tell you’re one of the Heroes because of the irregular Life Energy I can sense flowing through you. The Count Shield was the same.”
“You’ve met Naofumi?” Despite his initial hesitation and irritation at being stopped, Elrasla Granny seemed to be someone worth listening to. Powerful too, if her presence calming the tyrella was any proof of that.
“I have. I was deathly sick with the same illness as your friend, and he brought my son back from the next village over and healed me, without even needing to use the potion my son had bought.” She smiled, turning to look up at the manor. “I was so stricken with relief and gratitude that I wanted to thank the young man personally, and offer him my services in my twilight years.” She then raised a fist, placing her other hand on her bicep. “I was quite the powerful adventurer back in my day, you know!”
Internally, Motoyasu felt a little guilty, knowing that Naofumi had helped even more people without screwing things up like he himself had. He nodded. “Okay, but why stop our carriage, then?”
“Two reasons.” She answered, holding up two fingers at him. “The first is that there’s a long line of people, both humans and demihumans, that wish to speak to or serve the Count Shield, and the guards have been instructed to turn most of them away.” She snorted unhappily. “Even I was turned away! And while I could jump my way up the steep rocky ledges to get inside, I don’t think he would appreciate that method of entrance.” Motoyasu blinked as she nonchalantly made that claim, feeling that despite her appearance she wasn’t lying about her ability.
“The other reason is that I know that a Hero such as yourself would be let through, but again given your history with him you would most likely fail to convince him to heal your friend.” She gave him a sympathetic, sad smile. “But perhaps he’ll listen if one of his former patients asks nicely.”
“So you and your carriage get me past the guards at the gate, and I make sure the Count Shield doesn’t turn you away. Does that sound like a fair deal?”
Beside them, one of the carriage doors opened, and Rino’s sweaty and strained face emerged. “Why have we stopped, Motoyasu? Aren’t we there yet?” The small mage had been putting the most work into keeping Malty well, given her lack of healing magic, by regularly washing her and keeping her clean.
Motoyasu made his decision. “No, but we’ll be there very soon.” He then turned back to Granny Elrasla. “Hop on.”
…
After being let onto the stone bridge by the guards in town, and passing through the small gate that split the causeway in half, the Spear Hero was now waiting at the fortress’s actual front gate, within which, somewhere, was Naofumi. One of the soldiers, a man named Alem that did look vaugely familiar, had greeted him before rushing off to bring his lord to the gate, to decide whether to actually let them in or not.
Motoyasu would have been more annoyed at being made to wait again, but was instead just relieved that his fellow Hero was ‘home’. If he wasn’t, then there would be no point in continuing to look for him.
Because there wouldn’t have been a Malty to heal anymore.
The poor redheaded woman had been delirious the last couple of days as her body fought both the cursed, necrotic poison that had chilled her entire right arm black, and the devastating sickness she had caught from maintaining her body in such a state. She drifted in and out of consciousness, barely drinking and never eating, as she mumbled and cried about all sorts of things- her mother, a brother she had never mentioned before, and many other things as she coughed up large chunks of bloody, yellow mucus.
Beside him, Granny Elrasla put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, lad. Count Shield is a kind man. He will heal her.” Motoyasu wished he had half of the old woman’s confidence in Naofumi’s generosity.
His mind began spiraling into another rabbit hole of worry, but was stopped as the large main gates creaked open, letting three figures walk through the gap that wasn’t yet wide enough for their carriage.
First was what appeared to be a large bipedal brown bear with a red scarf around his neck and oriental armor covering the rest of his body. He was roughly the same mass as Fianne’s friend-slash-slave Aonghus, but was shorter and denser than the black cat man. Behind the bear was the raccoon woman Raphtalia, who had a frown on her face as she looked over the parked carriage, her hand hovering over the hilt of her sword.
And finally the Count of this territory and the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani. Beneath his mop of messy black hair the man’s green eyes were narrowed as they stared at him.
“Kitamura. You look terrible.” He crossed his arms, putting on display his Shield- a snarling ogre-like face with red skin. “Why have you come here, and- wait, are you the same granny I healed a week ago!?” His tone had started hard and accusatory, but had morphed into surprise as his eye caught the woman by Motoyasu’s side.
She stepped forward, bowing with one fist held against her open palm. “Yes, Count Shield. I have recovered remarkably well thanks to your efforts.” She gestured to Motoyasu and his carriage behind them. “I have my own reason for coming to you today, to help you however I can, but I ran into the Spear Hero here in town, who wishes to ask for your help.”
Taking his queue, Motoyasu stepped forward as well. “Yes, please, I-”
“No.” Interrupted Naofumi. “I’ve already had enough headaches from helping a Hero I actually like. I’m not going to expend the energy to do the same for someone like you. Go away.”
“But Malty will die if you don’t-”
“Good. She deserves to die for all the terrible things she’s done.” By his side, Raphtalia leaned over and whispered something to him, which he rolled his eyes at.
Granny Elrasla spoke next. “Please, Count Shield, hear the Spear Hero out, if for no other reason than for me.” Motoyasu hadn’t told her the entirety of why Malty was so sick, but he had a feeling she knew from the way he acted.
Naofumi humphed, rolling his eyes again, but then he sighed. “...Fine. Say your piece, Kitamura.”
Motoyasu swallowed, taking a deep breath. He had to get this right.
“I… I’m sorry. I’ve been making mistakes and hurting people, people like you, ever since we were summoned, all because I didn’t really care about the consequences of my actions. But it all came to a head recently, in the village of Lerno.”
“The one going through the famine?” Naofumi asked.
“Yes. Or, they were before I helped them out.” He sniffed, looking down at the ground. “I was sloppy the first time I helped them, and created a giant plant monster that killed several innocent people.”
The Shield Hero let out an angry sigh. “You idiot, you have to-”
“I did. We went back, killed the monster, and I turned the plant monster into actual sustainable crops for the village- ones that couldn’t mutate and destroy them like the last one did.” He smiled slightly, then his face fell again. “But during our return to Lerno, I accidentally hurt Malty with a new Spear form.”
“Oh? What unlocked this weapon form? Bring it out so I can see it.”
Motoyasu shivered at the thought of bringing out the Spear of Sloth again. “I-I can’t bring it out, not without putting everyone else around me at risk. And I didn’t absorb anything to unlock this weapon form either.” Naofumi just hummed, so he continued. “Malty… the Spear form cursed her with a poison that will kill her without enough Holy Water, and while staving off this poison she’s also caught some terrible flu or cold as well.” He looked back up at the Shielder. “I- We can’t heal both of the things killing her- none of us have the materials or the skills to use them even if we did. Only you do, which is why Malty said we should come to you for help.”
Naofumi frowned again. “And you still haven’t given a reason why I should intervene, when I could just let her die. I know you won’t believe me, but that harlot is lying about what I did to her that first day. I never-”
“I believe you.” Motoyasu interrupted, eliciting a gasp from the Shield Hero. “I figured it out after thinking about everything that happened that day and what she had told me since then, and when I confronted her about it she confessed.” He stared into the other man’s green eyes, wide with shock. “She can’t apologize to you or clear your name if she dies, Naofumi. Please.”
The other Hero’s face shifted through a list of expressions as he thought about what Motoyasu had said, but he eventually raised an arm. “Open the gates!” He ordered, shouting behind him, and with a grinding noise the twin wooden doors continued opening, widening the gap.
Blubbering and with tears flowing liberally down his face, the Spear Hero nodded and bowed rapidly. “Thank you, thank you! I-”
“Don’t thank me yet.” He huffed as he marched towards them. “Get your tyrella to bring your carriage inside while I check up on the Princess. Judging from the stench hanging off you, you’re all going to need medicine, not just her.” He turned around behind him while holding one of the doors. “Come on, Raphtalia. You can be my nurse for all this.” Then he turned to the old woman beside the Spear Hero. “And if you want to serve me, you can start by helping me with this.”
“Yes, Master Naofumi.” The demihuman answered obediently, her tail wagging slightly.
Withdrawing several white cloths from his shield, which he changed to a form that resembled a triangular glass flask filled with ethereal blue liquid, he handed one each to both Raphtalia and Granny Elrasla, tying the third around his mouth. Motoyasu watched as the Shield Hero opened the carriage door once all three of them had covered their faces.
The carriage’s shared common room was a mess of damp strewn cloth, all centered around a motionless redheaded figure. Around her, the tired shapes of Lesty, Elena, and Rino dozed; dark circles under their closed eyes and frazzled hair. The pang of sickness hung in the warm air, and Naofumi coughed in surprise as the scent hit him.
“No wonder she’s sick, if you have her cooped up like this!” His declaration had woken up the other girls, who shifted in shock as they saw the seemingly dangerous Shielder glaring at them. Motoyasu put a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, he’s here to help.” His party members relaxed as he then turned to Naofumi. “And we had to keep Malty warm, or else her arm would be in too much pain from the freezing poison that’s cursing her.”
The First Princess was stripped down to nothing, though Motoyasu was not titillated at all at the sight of Malty’s naked body. Her entire right arm from fingertip to shoulder had withered to coal black skin over her bones, with creeping tendrils extending towards her heart. The rest of her skin, usually a soft and supple pink that Motoyasu loved running his hands along, was sallow and rough, glistening with sweat. Her torso rose and fell rapidly as her breath rattled in her chest. Above her sunken cheeks her eyelids flickered back and forth as she slept in fits and spurts.
Raphtalia gasped as she saw the state of the normally proud Princess of Melromarc, and beside her Naofumi groaned.
“Yeah, you made the right call bringing her to me. She looks like she barely has an hour left to live.” On his arm, his Shield switched to a small white and gold buckler, one that gleamed with a soft light. “Go out on top and direct the tyrella to bring us inside. I can’t move her from this spot until she recovers somewhat.” His brow furrowed as the Spear Hero nodded, turning to leave. “Once we’re all inside, get one of the guards to help you find Rifana and Yemma. We’re going to need their magic and healing abilities for this.”
“I’ll make this up to you, I swear it.” Motoyasu promised as he closed the carriage door, quickly climbing up onto the driver’s seat and grabbing the reins of the twin tyrella. With a light crack of the leather cords, the beasts pulled them all forward at a gentle, slow pace. Beside the main gate the bear man seemed unhappy, crossing his arms, but the Spear Hero just nodded thankfully in his direction as they entered the fortress’s courtyard.
Upon entering this enclosed area, Motoyasu was shocked as he saw what stood in the center of the Shield Hero’s manor. A Tyrant Dragon Rex, one of Emerald Online’s endgame minibosses, frozen in stone and standing menacingly, looking forward with unseeing, hungry eyes. The tyrella pulling the carriage seemed shocked as well at the sight, yipping and slowing to a halt, but the Spear Hero nudged them to continue moving. They were… probably safe, given that in Emerald Online the miniboss had to be actively summoned, but the sight of such a dangerous creature still put him on edge. He was nowhere near the level required to fight that thing. Did Naofumi know what he had hiding in plain sight in the middle of his home?