Chapter Text
Day 35, afternoon
Bismuth T. Balmus, Supreme High Priest of the Holy Three Heroes Church, contemplated the situation in his large and opulent office (rather than the false office he used to appear humble for visitors whom that appealed to).
In the span of a few days -- in the span of a single evening! -- all Melromarc had been upended and Aultcray usurped by a Holy Hero who was divinely graced to perceive falsehoods.
Without the foolish former Cane Hero on the throne giving idiotic and indulgent orders, it would be much harder for the public at large to accept the need for a theocracy, to bring the country onto a proper path.
Removing Malty from the Spear Hero's party had been inconvenient, but at the same time Balmus had known that he won either way: if she was cleared, the patsy girl would continue to indulge her whims and sow chaos as she led the Spear Hero around; if she was found guilty, then Aultcray would sinking his ship alongside hers while trying to save her.
It has to be Mirellia, he decided. Mirellia gave orders for her own Shadows to covertly evacuate Malty so that... what? So that the chit's actions would not be revealed to reflect badly on Mirellia! She will sweep in with her forces to claim she rescued her own daughter, but also uncovered the truth of Malty's crimes, and will place down her own choice of punishment rather than allowing the Cardinal Heroes to do so.
She intends for them to see her as torchbearer, and restorer of order... Does she have a way around the Sword's lie-detection abilities? I have not found any reference to such in the Church archives, nor by perusing the Status Magic of the Replica Weapon itself, but Mirellia has researched old tales and heroic accounts from even the other heretical nations, so she may have access to information that our records do not.
Whether said information is accurate... I would dearly love to see the vixen locked away when caught lying to the Sword Hero, but we shall need to see how those cards fall.
"Your Holiness," Bishop Peregrine announced, "The party of the Spear Hero has left the capital with Lady Eclair Seaetto in attendance."
"Leaving already? I thought he was waiting for his Filorial eggs to hatch, or for a sign of Princess Malty," Balmus mused.
"Lerno Village, a location the Spear Hero visited before the Second Wave to deliver relief supplies, has put out an emergency call for aid with some form of monster outbreak. The Spear Hero seems to be taking the event personally and left immediately."
"I see... He took Eclair Seaetto with him? Do we know her current level?"
"She was congratulated about returning to Level Five last night, so it should be no more than ten by now," Peregrine judged.
"Still fragile, to be on the frontlines of a foe requiring heroic intervention. Dispatch a Shadow adept with Wind Magic, to try to hurl her into the way of dangerous monsters if there's an opportunity." She shouldn't know that we were holding her as a back-up figurehead to sit on the throne once we'd brainwashed her, but if her sinful nature is anything like her damned father, she'll cause trouble as a pretty girl in the party of the Spear Hero. Why does Peregrine look uncertain? "Peregrine, are you ignoring my commandment?"
"Your Holiness, my deepest apologies," Peregrine groveled, "but I do not believe we have any Shadows capable of the stealth and wind spells required."
"What? I knew two more recently died as martyrs against Mirellia's spies, but there should still be several left in the ranks!" Balmus objected, rattled. "Explain this!"
Wind Magic, being the manipulation of air, was very easy to make nearly invisible in effect with a bit of training, and thus was second only to illusory magic in importance for Shadows' work while being significantly easier to learn.
Of the seven Shadows who'd died thus far in the underground information war to root out Mirellia's spy network in her absence, two had been capable wind magicians with the stealth skills needed to hide from a Classed Up figure like the Spear Hero -- Balmus had more spies than Mirellia, but they were of lower level in general, so they needed to gang up on her agents when eliminating the sneaks -- but even so there ought to be four or five remaining.
"Eight of the Church's Shadows are missing without explanation," Peregrine answered. "They were Shadows who had been assigned to watch the Cardinal Heroes in the month before the Second Wave, and thus they did not report in regularly enough for the discrepancy to be noticed, Your Holiness. Three of their number were accomplished wind magicians, and the remaining two in our ranks with the stealth and sorcery required are on assignment outside the Capital."
"Blades and Bow," Balmus swore, and then a realization struck. An unknown with access to a Shadow's disguise tool freed Malty- No, I already concluded that was Mirellia.
But what if there is a traitor among my own Shadows? What if one of them has gone to Mirellia, or- How do you check an anonymous shapeshifter for replacement? Could one of Mirellia's Shadows have killed and replaced a Church Shadow without our knowing?
How would I even tell?
"Blades and Bow," Balmus repeated slowly. Can I make use of the Cardinal Sword's lie detection? Is it possible for the Replica Weapon to do the same? Supreme God, please guide the devoted follower whom you have favored above all others. Show me you will. "Peregrine, bring me the files we have on all our Shadow agents. I need to set our flock to rights."
"At once, Your Holiness. But, the Spear Hero?"
"Don't send a Shadow after him this time. He'll return to the capital in a few days to wait for news, and sending the traitor by mistake could be a catastrophe," Balmus declared. "Inform the faithful guard that I want them to muster, and then gather every Shadow we have in the city and I shall interrogate them, even under a temporary Slave Seal if necessary. Prepare the appropriate magicians and ingredients."
"At once, Your Holiness."
Day 37, morning
Yumiella wasn't really prone to crying, but Farrie was sniffling enough for both of them, being currently on her second of Tersia's handkerchiefs as the service continued.
"-was so amazed when he showed me he'd made an ice sculpture with his magic, at the height of s-summer, and I-!" Welt's mother cut off her eulogy and broke down sobbing, her husband and sister both moving in to comfort her and help her back to her seat when she couldn't collect herself.
Her sister, the Countess Bluegrass, stepped up instead to take her turn by his coffin.
"What I remember most about my nephew," the sharp-faced woman began, "is undoubtedly his thirst for all kinds of knowledge, no matter how seemingly useless. He didn't learn his first spell intentionally, but instead simply because he'd been working through every book on our shelves in turn and one of them happened to be a grimoire. He promptly repurposed the offensive Wing Blow spell to spread a less destructive gust across a wider area, using it to quickly speed through his cleaning chores in the fall and summer, and on one mid-winter gathering to win a family-wide game of ghost-in-the-graveyard by obliterating his own tracks in the snow. I arranged to further his education, and on his own accord he already repaid the investment several fold by passing on what he'd learned to other members of our household, even teaching my youngest daughter her first spell by age seven. He lived and breathed sorcery in some ways, but he always valued spell craft for what it could do, not in violence but in daily use and the gentler times of our lives."
Yumiella closed her eyes and let the words wash over her as Countess Bluegrass spoke, painting in her mind a picture of one of the friends she'd made in this third world, whom she'd not known long and now would never know longer.
Was he watching from an afterlife? Had he been reincarnated himself into another world, just like her? Balshine's theology taught that souls were judged for their deeds in an afterlife, but that had not been her experience.
Up to now, Yumiella had tried not to think too much about death.
In her first life, she had not anticipated dying at her age, and thus had never much worried about it.
In her second life, she had thrown herself into level-grinding at least partly to distract from how lonely she was, missing her family and her school friends and having no one willing to be close to her due to her appearance and her powers.
In her third life, she had been doing much the same, and while the potential annihilation of a planet's worth of people was a good goal to focus on... now she was wondering.
If she died again, would she reincarnate yet again?
Had she reincarnated from some other life into being Yumi Satou, only to have forgotten it? Would she one day forget being Yumiella if she reincarnated again?
Was there some higher power to remember her, who would judge her? She thought she had lived well, but she had made mistakes and left things undone as well.
It was Welt's funeral after he'd died for trusting her to lead him well, and her thoughts were half of Patrick and Ryu. Surely that counted as a sin?
Farrie shook her, and Yumiella realized that it was her turn to speak.
A pit in her stomach, she carefully untangled her hand from carries and walked to stand before the assembly.
She thought her face wasn't showing much, but she was very glad Farrie had insisted on them both wearing veils, as the cloth gave her a layer of insulation and privacy, a layer of distance from the grimness and death and-
"Welt was my friend." Yumiella took a moment to collect herself, and then opened her Menu to check the eulogy notes she had made yesterday. This all seems so insufficient and pointless. "He was instrumental in teaching me the spells and strategies I used to kill the Wave Boss. I'd have- I'd rather lose both legs at the knee than bury him today. And I know," Yumiella declared, "that he felt much the same. Welt would rather have died a hundred times than outlive any of his team. He died- it wasn't his fault."
Yumiella cut off, reach up under her veil, and rubbed at her face. She didn't think she was crying, but her eyes were itchy and her nose was stuffed. Blowing into a handkerchief would probably be rude, though.
"As a teammate to a Cardinal Hero, Welt Bluegrass went above and beyond in his duties, directly providing me with the knowledge, resources, and services that were instrumental to my victory in this past Wave, and that will continue to be instrumental in the coming Waves," Yumiella began again. "As a person, Welt Bluegrass was inventive, considerate, diligent... Welt, if your soul is listening to me," she said instead, as her prepared notes seemed trite and stupid, "then I want you to know how grateful I am to have met you. For the past ten years of my life, I can still count my friends on one hand, Welt. Thank you for being one of them."
Hands on her thighs, Yumiella gave as deep a Japanese-style bow as she could manage, and she hoped that if he hadn't reincarnated, then he would see her.
Day 37, afternoon
"Holy shit that was a giant pain," Naofumi groaned as the vines all finally died stilled their thrashing and began to shrivel.
"Yeah man," Motoyasu agreed, leaning on the Cardinal Spear. "Thanks, I owe you one."
"One? Try three, minimum," Naofumi snarked.
"Do you have to be such a dick? People's lives were at stake!"
"Yeah, because of your mistake," Naofumi countered, which shut Motoyasu up.
"...Yeah, you're right. Thanks," he said quietly.
Ah shit, wasn't expecting that. "Well. Yeah, it is the hero's duty schtick," Naofumi agreed. I guess if he's learning and thinking more, I ought to lay off a bit. 'Positive encouragement' or whatever. "Any worthwhile drop items?"
"Would we?" Motoyasu checked. "I mean, we didn't get EXP since we were close to it- huh. Yeah, got a couple things, who knew? We'll clean up the body and head back?"
"Might as well," Naofumi sighed, and they set to absorbing all the vines, fruits, seeds, leaves, and other plant detritus remaining.
If someone had told Naofumi a week ago that Motoyasu would reach out for help from the Shield Hero, Naofumi would've laughed in their face, yet here they were.
Just before the Wave, Motoyasu's quest with his new (Bitch-free!) party had taken them to Lerno village to deliver relief supplies for a famine caused by monsters and bad weather.
Motoyasu had apparently recognized the town and scenario from Emerald Online, and had known of a dungeon near by with some SSR Magic Seed that was the MacGuffin to solve the famine in his game, so after the supplies arrived his party had gone to clear the dungeon and get the seed.
There had been some warnings, but they were vague, so Motoyasu had delivered the seed to the headman and promised to check back in a week or two to make sure the crops weren't poisonous, addictive, attracting monsters, draining the soil, etc.
Over the course of three days or so, the magic seed had sprouted, spread out fast across several fields, bloomed, fruited, and then animated its vines to attack the townspeople and spread further. They'd put out an emergency request for aid, Motoyasu had realized he'd forgotten to check back and set off at top speed, and upon seeing the problem he'd been upset enough to PM Naofumi begging for urgent help with healing potions and weedkiller to fix it ASAP.
Sure he was only cleaning up his own mess, and the guy had hung like a puppy on his teammate Rino's approval of the decision, but it was more progress than Naofumi had expected to see for most of his stay in this world in this crazy world, so the guy was moving in the right direction at least.
"Firo-chan!" Motoyasu called as Naofumi's ward-mount-bird-whatever dashed into view.
"Master! All the weird vines stopped moving so we figured you had won!" Firo chirped, shifting back into her blonde form. "Hi Spear Guy!"
"Receiving your words can make any heart melt," Motoyasu declared.
"Alright, enough with the poetry," Naofumi groused. "Let's finish up here and get back."
"You take the main eye-flower bit, you earned it. ...And I'll pay you the rest of what I owe later," Motoyasu added at Naofumi's look.
"Alright," Naofumi allowed.
When Firo got them back from the fields to the village -- they had a local legend about a cursed seed, so combined with Motoyasu's caution they had planted it in the furthest field from the down, which meant less property damage and casualties but that the crazy Bio-Plant thing took over some of the local wildlife to set up a bramble bush of death -- Naofumi was surprised to see Rino, who'd previously been terse and strict with Motoyasu, waving furiously as she ran to greet them.
"Sir- Sir Motoyasu, an egg- one of the eggs is hatching!"
Motoyasu made a sound like three different words at once and bolted off to his team's campsite.
"Can I see? Pleeeeease?"
"Go on," Naofumi allowed, dismounting so Firo could chase after the dope. Rino stayed doubled over, panting to catch her breath, and he meandered over to her side. "Rino, right?"
"Y-Yes, Sir Shield Hero."
"What you went through at the hands of Myne was awful, and I'm really impressed that you held your ground alongside Farrie when the tra- when Aultcray was leaning on you to recant," Naofumi said seriously. "If not for you two, my name would still be mud right now and she'd be out there doing damage to more people."
"Ah, thank you. You're welcome? I think the Lady Sword Hero did more than me, though."
"Yumiella's pulling MVP, but you're a normal person who isn't obliged to be out here like this, yet you chose to stay with Motoyasu and keep him on the straight and narrow anyway. Though if you ever do leave him, we've got a slot for you," he offered.
"Will I need to get a slave crest for that?" she checked as they started walking back to camp.
"No. Sadeena doesn't have one, and Raphtalia has one because she wants the stat boost it gives her, but Sadeena will murder me if I ever use it anyway."
"What about Firo?" Rino asked.
"She doesn't-?" Wait, does she? Checking status menu... party members... "Firo's a tamed monster."
"It's the same seal," Rino said.
"Really? I've got different Shield forms with different bonuses for her and Raphtalia, Slave User versus Monster Tamer."
"You do? I admit, I don't have personal knowledge of the magecraft, but they come up in several novels and I'd assume the authors know more than I do, since the details are consistent."
"Novels...? Look, I don't think master-slave smut is the best place for realistic details," Naofumi dismissed.
"Smu- MYSTERY NOVELS! They're mystery novels, where slaves are accused of crimes or a criminal has figured a way around a temporary slave crest, or someone is getting slaves to take the fall for crimes and the protagonist has to unravel it! I do not read smut," Rino insisted, cheeks red, "I read mystery novels, and the occasional escape-from-Siltvelt adventure."
"Sure. ...Escape from Siltvelt? Isn't that-,"
"Um. Yes. The demi-human nation that worships the Cardinal Shield. They have a lot of human slaves too, so there are a bunch of stories about soldiers or merchants or sailors who get enslaved by Siltvelt raiders and need to escape."
"Huh. Basically what happened to Raphtalia's village in reverse, then?" I wonder if Itsuki wants to meet this guy. I mean, if someone started publishing stories about demi-humans escaping human slavery, Melromarc and the Church would probably come down on them, but those same groups would all be cheering for humans to break free of Siltvelt slavery, so that's a socially acceptable way to get the idea out in general knowledge. "Rino?"
She'd stopped walking a few steps back. "I... nothing, just thoughts. The best of the bunch are written by Vomisa Caasi, really prolific with at least a hundred books, most of them involving slaves in some plot-relevant way. Sometimes it's masters ordering a slave to commit a crime and then ordering them to confess if they're caught, sometimes it's a human slave getting around their demi-human master's orders to outsmart them or escape, that type of thing."
"I'm still learning to read the local language, but those sound like they'd be fun to practice with and if they're too complicated I can ask someone to read them to me." That second option might be better, it can keep my ears busy while I'm doing crafting work or something. "Thanks."
"Yeah. If you don't mind...?"
"Go ahead."
"What are you going to do if Raphtalia takes a hit to her slave crest?"
Huh? "What do you mean?"
"I've never seen it in person, but in most escape-from-Siltvelt stories it's just a fact that a slave crest will immediately activate and stay active if someone tries to deface the seal itself. It wouldn't really work if a slave could neuter the crest by cutting the skin off, right? I've seen some variations where it immediately activates the lethal punishment and others where it's just incapacitating them with pain until their master can find them, but that's why you need an expensive removal potion to get rid of it properly. If the crest is damaged it'll activate to prevent removal. So if they take a hit to the crest in the middle of a Wave..."
"They could be sitting ducks," Naofumi finished. I'm going to need to talk to Raphtalia about this. And Firo, if hers works the same way. We'll need to visit Belkouas... He might have a lead on more Lulorona kids, at least. Or we've got money, so maybe another monster egg? Motoyasu got three.
"She's hatched! Rino, Naofumi! Come meet Kuro-chan, she's adorable!" Motoyasu shouted, and Naofumi left the conversation for later.
Day 37, afternoon
When Yumiella got an INCOMING CALL alert from Itsuki (they still hadn't managed to recreate a Transmission Form for the other three weapons, and Naofumi thought Itsuki had managed to do Custom Commission out of desperation,) in the middle of a meeting about infrastructure projects in light of the Waves, she selected No for the first time and then used the other officials' arguments about cost vs effort vs risk to PM him a request to PM her instead.
The series of PMs that arrived were... surprisingly verbose, even accounting for the fact that upgrading the PM system had greatly diminished the HP cost.
It seems that Itsuki tends to blather and babble when he's anxious, Yumiella noted once the meeting had ended (prioritize infrastructure like roads and walls, wait a little longer on for effort on bridges in case the Waves knock them down but get the rope, stone, and timber ready to be used near the sites because monsters won't care about those like they would people,) and she could scan the missives.
"Are we done?" she asked her aide. I think that is it, and the rest of the afternoon is for training with the kids and fun.
"Count Idol Rabier is petitioning the Crown for a team of military architects to rebuild his manor after it was burned down by assassins."
It took Yumiella a moment to recognize the name.
He would be better off as EXP...
Her hands twitched for the Sword before she caught herself.
"I see. Please, tell me more," she requested.
"Lord Rabier fought on the frontlines of the war against Siltvelt and was honored for his achievements. He's a common guest of King Aultcray's, though this also means the Count has grown used to His Highness's indulgence between friends."
"I see. Why military architects?"
"I suppose he wants it built to better standards than civilian architects, thicker walls and defended cellars, and maybe a secret passage or two that won't be leaked by commoners eager for coin," the aide answered.
underGround toRturE chambErs woulD be More accURate, beheaD him, takE his poweR...
Yumiella closed her eyes and tried not to itch, to twitch, to hunt to move to fight-!
"You said he is a friend of King Aultcray?" she said.
"Yes, and a great patron of the Three Heroes Church as well," the man added.
"Does he have rooms in the Palace?"
"Her Majesty isn't fond of him, so no."
I already checked over the suite anyway, so he's unlikely to uncover anything useful or dangerous. "Quarter him in King Aultcray's personal suite of rooms as an honored guest for the duration of his stay, attend his needs, and inform him that I will be in the training courts until supper if he wishes to petition me over a sparring match. Otherwise, I will guarantee to take a team of military architects to his domain in the next two weeks, though I cannot promise they will work on his personal dwelling. Will that work?"
"It- His Highness's personal rooms? That's a tremendous honor, Lady Hero."
"Yes." The better to have him nearby if I decide to kill him stick him in my Captivity Sword for later. "I will head to the training courts now." Her aide bowed, but Yumiella paused to skim the PMs again. "Also-," The aide paused in the hallway. "-please have someone familiar with the Ivyred, Greybrush, and Dunsilk territories ready to give me an overview about them over dinner."
"I will, Lady Sword Hero."
Glad I didn't need to come up with a reason behind it, Yumiella sighed as the aide went one way and she went out to the practice fields. Let see Itsuki... Unusually high & strict tolls, heavy taxes, impoverished people, sabotaged infrastructure in the poorer neighboring territories, unpleasant rumors...
As she neared the field where the twins were playing with Yoshi, she quickly sent off a message that she hoped would keep Itsuki from doing anything too hasty (although given what they'd accomplished last time, she wasn't going to try too hard to stop him either).
(Sadly, Idol Rabier seemed immensely please to receive Aultcray's palace suite, so he did not seek her out in the field to plead his case; on the bright side, at least that meant her kids weren't let anywhere near a man she despised enough to want to murder him, and she felt very nearly relaxed by dinner time.)
Day 39, near dawn
Yumiella woke up, checked her PMs, and sighed.
She dressed, waved off most of the servants, and went to find whichever aide or official she could leave an organizational message with.
"I need a list of candidates for the interim governor of Greybrush Territory as quickly as feasible, preferably ones who know how to make responsible economic decisions while investigating the crimes of the previous Lord," she requested.
The aide gaped, swallowed, nodded, and didn't ask any questions, for which Yumiella was grateful.
Message delivered, Yumiella went off to try squeezing in a morning workout and maybe a hunt with her kids before the sun was up, since her upgraded Restful Sword meant she could get by on 4 hours of sleep a night and her daytime hours were at a premium with governing duties.