Chapter Text
Today was the day.
They were as ready as they could be.
With a flash of light, they arrived at...
Riyute? Lute? Light metal mining town.
Spear, Sword, and Bow ran off up a hill towards the boss, after signaling for the knights to defend the town, and Malty was ready to join them.
But Naofumi guided them down toward the town.
"Wait, what?" Malty spoke up. "Why aren't we going to the boss?"
Naofumi responded. "Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki have the boss covered, but Riyute isn't going to be standing by the time whatever defenders get there!"
"Guue!" Ran-Fi agreed.
Malty felt she had missed something, but had to agree three heroes' presence should handle the boss just fine.
And besides, normal wave monsters were less deadly than the wave boss, so Malty wouldn't object.
Malty swiftly got astride Ran-Fi. "Forward! Let's clear out the town!" Time to put that Cavalier class to work.
Naofumi hopped on an Air Strike Shield and from there onto Lucy, careful not to fall off, not securely mounted as Malty was. Hal followed discreetly behind.
As they arrived, the town was swarming with swift-flying wasps from the wave, the first creatures to arrive. Panicked villagers were still trying to get indoors, or fend off the bugs with farming implements.
The bugs made for small, fast moving targets. Upon Ran-Fi, she was able to charge them down and strike them with her sword after a few tries (the lance couldn't swing the arcs she needed), and Hal looked to be piercing a few with well-placed pecks, but Lucy was hopeless at catching them.
"Wahahahah! WAHIHA!" she trilled in frustration, until one of Naofumi's shields cut off the escape for one, allowing her to squash it against the glowing barrier.
Not sustainable, as she understood the resource cost of making them compared to the length of the wave.
"Naofumi, save your stamina! There is a lot more wave coming! Sorry, Lucy!"
Furthermore, as they were trying to cover a whole town, they were going to need to split up; villagers were all over the town.
Malty and Ran-Fi were best suited to evacuating them, starting with picking up some of the stragglers here. Naofumi took Hal and Lucy to continue fighting.
The wasps were roughly under control, with Naofumi grabbing most of their attention, but more monsters were arriving. Shambling zombies; slow, but durable.
Ran-Fi was faster by a country mile, and could easily duck around as they looked for people.
They soon found a man in a bandana with a pitchfork, fighting off a zombie.
Malty's lance was at the ready. "Like we practiced, Ran-Fi."
"Guue!" Agreed.
Malty's feet held tight in the foot placements on Ran-Fi's jousting armor, and they charged.
Her Cavalier class ability activated, adding Ran-Fi's stats to her own. Mediocre for most, this ability scaled up very well if you had a strong mount, and Ran-Fi definitely counted.
The walking corpse never stood a chance, impaled, and then torn apart, re-slain in an instant, armor be damned.
"Get on, we're leaving!" she called to the man.
Rather than get on, as seemed obvious, he turned around and yelled, "Ann, Sybil! Come out and get on!"
A woman and a girl emerged from an adjacent house, both wearing panicked, but hopeful expressions as they saw her. Ran-Fi lowered and Malty pulled them up.
But jousting armor wasn't made for passengers; the woman and child took the last of the space.
"I'll be back!" Malty promised the man as Ran-Fi sped away.
While carrying passengers, they couldn't charge safely, but Ran-Fi was still agile enough to get through the shambling undead and insects.
She came back for the man, and back and forth through the hoards for many others. on the wave still drove, getting harsher and harsher. A zombie got through her guard and bit her arm before Ran-Fi could pry it off, and she was injured enough to drink a potion.
Even Naofumi's cooking talent couldn't make them taste anything but vile.
Worse, there were some even stronger monsters arriving. A few particular zombies were giant. After several lance charges and near miss dodges to take out one, they were both panting. "Maybe save the next one for Lucy."
"Guue," Ran-Fi agreed.
All well and good, until a few passes later, she heard screams coming from a building that another such giant was approaching, dragging along a club that looked to be part of another local house.
Malty looked around, trying to find Lucy's group, which shouldn't be that hard of a task, honestly, but the village, and wave, were expansive.
But recognizing the large hoard being pulled in one place, and the watchtower in the town center getting knocked over, she suspected Lucy, Hal, and Naofumi had their talons and hands full.
Frankly, she was now thankful to be getting relatively thin swarms where she was.
Honestly, Malty thought it was too big of a risk. She motioned for Ran-Fi to move on.
But Ran-Fi seemed to stop a moment.
"Gue?" She looked back in surprise.
"We could barely fight one before," she explained, "and we're getting more exhausted as we go."
Ran-Fi considered a moment.
They heard another voice scream from the house.
Ran-Fi stopped considering, and charged.
Malty barely had time to get ahold of her bird and her lance before they were upon the giant, striking deeply, but losing the lance in its chest.
Ran-Fi jumped back, and Malty prepared her Zweite Firebolt, hoping to take it out with less risk. "As source of thy power, I, the First Princess..."
A close swipe almost interrupted her, as the giant showed the surprising reach it got from the makeshift club, but she kept the chant going. Just as she was finishing, Ran-Fi got in a good peck, and she followed it up with her "...Zweite Firebolt!", sending the great zombie leaning back.
But still not down; this one was higher level than the last. It managed to use its momentum from being struck to start swinging around the club.
Ran-Fi didn't have the footing to spring out of the way yet. "Duck!" cried Malty.
Dutiful, obedient Ran-Fi disobeyed her for the second time in a minute.
She did not duck. She bucked.
Malty was launched out of her foothold and seat, just over the swinging club, but Ran-Fi was knocked away, breaking through a wall of the house.
"Ran-Fi!" Dammit, Naofumi, she's picking up your bad habits!
"Guue!" A... relatively healthy sound. Good, it had knocked her around, as even an armored filolial could be deceptively light, Lucy notwithstanding, but hadn't gotten much through her defense.
But that zombie had hit her daughter, and was going to fry.
Scrambling to her feet after her sudden landing on her seat, she began her chant again and directed her hands, more magic channeled and a more complete chant, strafing and keeping distance as she did so. "As source of thy power, I, the First Princess and Filolial Regent Malty Melromarc, Mother of Ranseur-Filo, Halberd, and Lucerne, command thee! Decipher the laws of nature and focus heat to incinerate my foe! Zweite Firebolt!"
The gigantic zombie was engulfed and finally reduced to dust, dropping Malty's scorched lance. She didn't have time to admire her handiwork or lament her weapon; more wave monsters were coming, and she needed to check on Ran-Fi.
Then, she heard a creaking sound. And a snapping sound. And the building began to collapse, the same racket she had heard years ago, now upon Ran-Fi.
"Gue-ee-uue." That sound, was not healthy. Why, why didn't she run to Ran-Fi when she was knocked away!?
She tried to pull up the rubble, but it was heavy. It budged, but not enough, and her baby complained loudly.
She looked around, she called out, "Naofumi, Lucy, Hal!"
But they weren't close enough to see or hear her over the rabble of monsters still present. Still closing on them. Why did they split up again!? Why were they at this house!?
Her sword at the ready, and sadly ignoring another whimpering "guue", she turned around and cut through a zombie, taking its head clean off.
But just beyond the edge of town, she saw soldiers. Melromarc's knights, finally here to defend the town!
"Help! We need help here!" she called out to them. One turned to them, having heard her, and shouted something she couldn't make out from here. They shuffled a bit and chanted something.
Wait, what were they- Multiple fireballs rose from the group, and began arcing down toward
herself
and Ran-Fi.
Naofumi wasn't near her.
Her shield wasn't there,
her Shield wasn't there,
and Ran-Fi and her were going to burn and Lucy and Hal and Naofumi would be alone and-
No.
Ran-Fi wouldn't burn.
"Stay down!" she called, and spread herself over where Ran-Fi was buried. Hoping that somehow, someway, she could block the fire from reaching Ran-Fi.
Fuck, I'm picking up his bad habits, too, aren't I?
She could feel the heat from the incoming spells now.
"I love you." ...Why didn't I say that before now?
Malty, you silly birdbrain.
"Mama!"
Ranseur-Filo screamed, metal shredded, and rubble went flying.
She was
fluffier?
than Malty remembered, and her armor strewn about in pieces.
She was immediately picked up and set on the bird's back, alongside two children she didn't recall seeing until just now, and they were off.
Looking back, she saw the fire rain down and incinerate the land they were on a moment ago.
Then, she heard Lucerne. Loudly. "WAHAHIHIHAHAHA!"
The blue and grey-black bird was further back, also near burning wreckage. She was now only describable as massive, stomping down presumably upon other wave monsters on a beeline toward a specific fiery area.
Was that where Naofumi was?
Finally, her mind started to catch up.
Her father's, mother's, country's soldiers had just tried to assassinate her and her party.
She and Ran-Fi had almost died.
Ran-Fi had just grown larger. And significantly stronger. As had Lucy. And she'd bet Father's Cane that Hal had as well, if less immediately obviously.
And she could feel an aura from Ran-Fi. The royal filolial's aura.
But, as she and Ran-Fi rode toward the evacuated villagers, one thing somehow outshone everything else in her mind.
Ran-Fi had called her "Mama".
=====
Naofumi Iwatani couldn't visualize what a "Wave of Calamity" really meant before today.
The blood red, boiling sky dropping an endless invasion deadly monsters made an unforgettable mental image.
But visuals aside, he, Lucy, and Hal had a job to do. Villagers with pitchforks tried to fend off insect and undead, but were being pushed back.
"I'll draw attention, you two clear them!" he instructed their birds, leaving himself to take the hits.
He found he really didn't like them taking hits he could've instead.
The mob of monsters was quickly on him as he barged his way through the crowd. Lucy kicked holes right through zombies, while Hal darted in and out to pick off any that slipped through.
Keeping an eye on Malty and Ran-Fi in the distance, they were doing fine.
But the wave kept coming, and soon he had no way to keep track of everything going on. It was just starting to finally clear up again when he heard Malty's firebolt going off, much louder than ever before.
And then the knights arrived.
And tried to set them on fire.
Not believing what was happening for a moment, he only a fraction of a second to decide his course of action.
"Erste Shield!" Lucy was shielded. "Hal, get back!" Hal was out of the way unlike he and Lucy who were deep in monsters, and he quickly, jumped further away.
He would have to tank it and hope for the best.
He tensed, raised his shield, and the fire was upon him. His world lit up in heat and
pain.
Keep it together! You're the shield! The tank! You can survive this!
"WAHAHIHIHAHAHA!" Lucy was out there screaming, but he couldn't see through the fire; did his Erste Shield hold?
He could feel his limbs shaking. He could see his HP dropping out of the corner of his eye.
But the barrage of flames ended, and Naofumi did not.
...In fact, most of his life remained. The big fireball barrage was... kind of weak, actually, for all that the nerves in his skin disliked it.
Finally getting his wits around him, Naofumi saw a giant blue filolial head right in front of his face.
Lucerne was unharmed.
Lucerne was even bigger.
"Papa, are you okay?" asked the filolial in a concerned voice.
"I'm alright, just a bit- wait what?"
"Pops!" called another concerned voice. Halberd was here, maybe slightly bigger than before, but... sleeker, was the term he could use.
And with some white feathers across his chest, vaguely looking like he was wearing a suit.
"I can... understand you now?" He looked down at the shield. Had it done something? Or was it the birds' evolution?
"You can!?" cried two filolials.
Naofumi slowly started to laugh. A few seconds ago, he was preparing to die. Now he had emerged from a firestorm hardly worse for the wear, and hearing birds talk to him. Maybe he really had fallen into a coma in that library; the world was certainly getting more dreamlike.
"Oh. Was someone down there?" mockingly asked a smug voice. Naofumi had almost forgotten the shitstains that had just caused this whole thing.
He looked up at a soldier in the same armor he had seen around the castle, more decorated than the others a bit behind and presumably under his command. Many of whom, incidentally, were looking very uneasy since finding out they had just been used to attack a Cardinal Hero. "We just saw a hoard of monsters and saw fit to destroy it." Like fuck he couldn't see Lucy!
So, he definitely deserved retribution, and potentially some subset of his soldiers and casters. But they weren't likely to remain an active threat without the plausible deniability of the wave swarm, and actually had turned out to be less significantly less dangerous than expected. Did the birds recognize that? He eyed Lucy.
"Lucy, hold," he commanded, then loudly enough for the soldiers, "This is Lucy; she is a filolial. And a member of my party."
"Ah, I thought we just hadn't been thorough enough with our mages' barrage," the man continued. Naofumi had had quite enough of this man before his first sentence, and each subsequent one was driving him further in the hole, but he had to maintain calm, for Lucy and Hal.
...Where was Hal, anyway?
He saw a shadow of movement in a tree near the fancy soldier.
"Hal, no! Erste Shield!" Hal's beak stopped short of striking the floating green shield.
"You saw it, the beast attacked me! Engage!" called the fancy soldier, and many, but not all, of the soldiers drew spears.
"No! Hal, get back here!"
"The Shield Devil's monster, is it!?" the fancy soldier continued. Oh, he might've actually showed off what he really was with that line. "Then kill him!"
Many, but not all, of the soldiers that drew their weapons pressed forward, though definitely with second thoughts.
"Hal, Lucy, back!" The birds had an air of anger and reluctance, but returned to his side, Hal leaping past guards starting to encircle. Naofumi ran in between the birds and soldiers; he had to get ahold of this situation, now. "One, they haven't touched you. Two, we are here defending the town from the wave. Three, we have so far succeeded in that, and are quite ready to fight more."
The fancy soldier and many, but not all, of the soldiers that were pressing forward a moment ago, stayed firm.
"Four, anyone who does not attack us further will not be harmed. Five, my party also includes First Princess Malty Melromarc." Many, but not all, of the soldiers that were firm a moment ago stood their ground despite the implied threats.
Lucy stomped once as a show of aggression, talons striking the ground with a loud THUMP, and creating a proportionate cloud of dust.
"Six," Naofumi labeled.
Many, but not all, of the soldiers standing their ground kept their nerves about them at the intimidation of the gigantic bird.
"What are you waiting for? Attack!" commanded the fancy soldier, making no move to do so himself.
Many, but not all, of the soldiers who had kept their nerves at Lucy's demonstration marched forward.
Which was just like four of them now. Naofumi and Lucy prepared for a fight, and the readying soldiers looked in fear at the feathered colossus and the legendary hero.
Hal had ducked out of sight again, though.
"Gack!" The fancy soldier slumped over. Alive or unconscious, not immediately obvious to Naofumi. Hopefully alive; this man may be proof for a wider conspiracy.
All of the soldiers stopped and stared. Hal had just pecked the back of their commanding officer's helmet in.
Finally, one soldier, one of the first to stop, came down to check. "Captain Bertolt's alive, but out cold," he reported. Then he looked around. "You all saw it, right? A monster got him from behind."
After a short time, there was a general murmuring of agreement.
Then another giant zombie showed up.
"Erste Shield!" Naofumi defended some of the soldiers who were about to be clobbered. "The wave isn't over, keep it together!"
The soldiers began fighting back, and reorganizing to defend the town and support the other parties at the boss.
Naofumi decided they had done a decent job teaching their flock restraint.
But for now, they, too, needed to get back to fighting the wave monsters, who had begun massing again after the fire.
Those poor zombies wouldn't know what hit them.
=====
Another group of soldiers was also meeting with the target of their fire spells.
"Who gave the order to fire on Ran-Fi and I?" Malty asked.
She looked back and forth across the squad of armored soldiers.
No obvious captain helmet or pauldrons. No clear leadership.
And they were apparently hard of hearing, not catching Malty's question, or Ran-Fi's un-birdly growling. Malty obligingly tried to accommodate them.
"WHO GAVE THE ORDER TO FIRE ON RAN-FI AND I!?"
She started a silent chant and her hand lit up, in case they were fully and not just partly deaf.
"C-c-c..." One of them, somewhere towards the back, was trying to give an answer.
Slowly.
"C-captain Bertolt, Your Majesty!"
"And where is this captain?" Should she try and remember the name for later?
Nah, she would just ensure she didn't need to know it. A new Dead Fucker to add.
A few hands pointed toward another group of guards, on a hill a bit above where Lucy, Hal, and Naofumi were.
"H-he ordered us to split and cast on the other concentration, Your Majesty," explained the stuttering one.
"...Did you not see or hear me, the obvious human, waving for you?" she addressed the mages of the formation.
"I was in back, Your Majesty!" called a voice from in back of the squad. "I only cast when others had started, trusting their target!"
Ran-Fi approached the mages at Malty's direction. "So, who spotted for targeting, and who started casting firsSHAH?"
Ran-Fi spun around suddenly, taking Malty's hanging interrogation along, and bit down, hard, on an arm that was extended toward them, from a now screaming mage near the front of the formation.
She spit back out a misshapen lower arm and a faintly tinted dagger.
Poison.
The armored soldiers, smart enough to at least not ignore the second assassination attempt on the kingdom's First Princess in five minutes to occur in front of them, quickly converged on the mage and held him down.
"Ran-Fi, spit! Spit everything out, NOW!" Malty, meanwhile, pulled a vial from her pack that Naofumi had prepared, while Ran-Fi spat and gagged.
Her daughter saw the vial and couldn't resist making a face. "I know, they taste terrible, but you need it to make sure that dagger's poison doesn't kill you."
Despite the faces, Ran-Fi quaffed the antidote.
In the meantime, the soldiers had bound (and tourniqueted) the still somewhat screaming Dead Fucker Who Tried to Murder Ran-Fi and Me. Look at that, they had brains and survival instincts after all. She turned to address the soldiers. "You're here now, so get into town and get clearing out the last monsters while I go talk to your captain." Potentially with the point of a lance.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Wait, no, her lance was a loss after that big zombie earlier. Point of a rapier, then.
=====
Malty found the captain to be not particularly talkative, unlike Hal and Lucy. The guards emphatically stated the captain was taken out by a monster.
With no further leads, Malty decided it was wisest to regroup with Lucy, Hal and Naofumi in case of further treachery, but ultimately, the rest of the wave defense continued smoothly, and now with accompanying, understandable chatter with her three royal filolial children.
Finally, the sky returned to normal, the other three heroes having defeated the wave boss.
Riyute or Lute was damaged, but the casualties were minimal thanks to their efforts; the worst damage was from the knights' fire magic.
As much as Malty wanted to just bask in the glory, wonder and joy of her birds, she needed desperately to contact her father or mother.
But.
One more thing she needed to do. Today. Now.
She gathered her three children, big and bigger.
"I love you!" she told them all.