" ": You talking

' ': You thinking

* *: Narrator/Voice-off

Naofumi: I see. So it has already been taken care of.

"Naofumi !! What's the situation ?"

Villager: Not much damages, but one of your companion has...

Naofumi: Keel ! You were reckless, huh ?!

Keel: No I wasn't !!

Villager: please don't get angry at him. Because of him, all of the villagers were safe.

Keel: Hehehehe !

Naofumi: Geez. Show us your wounds.

Keel: It's not a big deal.

"Another reason to deal with it fast then. You really went wild, didn't you ?

Keel: Hehe. You know, I defeated all of them !

Naofumi: Ah, I see. Good work.

'Looking closer, these bats are certainly weak enough so even Keel can defeat them... But then that bear-thing back there... What exactly killed it... ?'

"Turn around now. Where did you get stabbed by that, seriously ?"

*UOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH*

"THE HELL WAS THAT ?!! FILO, REPORT NOW !!"

Filo: It's all right, master.

Filo: See ?

"I see, I see... I'm beholding right now."

*

"Still no new information, huh ?"

Naofumi: The same as the bat...

Raphtalia: Naofumi, we should get rid of all the monster corpses around this area.

Naofumi: Why ?

Rap: This "Came to life" from the other monsters' corpse... We've seen quite a few monster corpses around here. Frankly speaking, it's quite strange. The bats must have done something to the bats around here, and at this rate, monsters like that will appear one after the...

"Wait a minute, the bats... !!"

Naofumi: COME, KEEL !!!

Raphtalia: N- Naofumi ?!

"We're borrowing a bed !!"

Keel: Wh- What ?!

"I'm finishing your treatment, lie on your belly ! Naofumi, Raphtalia, hold him down while I do the extraction !!"

"It will hurt, but bear with it !

"Slowly, steadily... Free the shard, and then... Pull it off in one go !!

Keel: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH !!!!!

Raphtalia: Keel...

"You endured it well... We really narrowly avoided a catastrophe here..."

Naofumi: Assemble everyone, please. Damn, this village must have some kind of fate with us. For these things to happen one after another...

Naofumi: This is probably something like an egg. The familiars implant these into monsters then weaken them until death.

"If anyone has ever been injured, even just once before, step forward. The others, help in getting rid of all the remaining corpses, please."

Elrasla: This has become quite a big deal... It'll probably be impossible for the people here to take care of all the corpses by themselves.

"And if they appeared here, then there's a good chance it happened in other places too..."

Eclair: And these are stronger than normal monsters as well. Beating them without a class advancement would be quite perilous.

"We better report that to the castle immediately... Rishia ?"

Rishia: Ye- yes ?

"You've been staring at that for quite some time now. Something's on your mind ?"

Rishia: Th- This monster... I- I think, I've seen it somewhere before...

Naofumi: WHAT ?!! You saw it in a book or something ?!

Rishia: A s- story, I think...

"Very well. You come with me to the castle, and we'll check the library for clues. No need to pack your things, we're leaving immediately."

Soldier: Your majesty-

Mirellia: Were they caught ?!

Soldier: Ah, no. The Staff hero wants to see you.

Mirellia: ... Ah, Y/n sir...

"?"

"THE OTHER HEROES HAVE DISAPPEARED ?!!"

Mirellia: ...They fled from the country. There were reports that they forcefully broke the border.

"Abandoning their job... Can't they do anything without causing trouble wherever they go... ? Anything else to know on that matter ?"

Mirellia: ... According to the soldiers stationed there, "We haven't broke our promise with her majesty. We are only going there to resolve this situation..." Is what they said.

Mirellia: It looks like the three heroes are all heading towards the same place. On their way, their rode filolial and flying dragons and advanced without resting, so that they even shook off the shadows...

"... Those guys are a lot of things, that's for sure, but 'cowards' isn't what I'd call them... It's more likely that they discovered something, even more if they headed all at the same place and at the same time..."

Mirellia: It's my blunder. The conditions that I'd given them has changed their hearts... It would be alright if they were able to resolve the problem by themselves, but, if something were to happen to them... In this situation where even chasing them is impossible, I couldn't even send help to them... Even though there are only 4 days until the wave here in the country of Melromarc !

'... the teleport skill can only be used to visit places I've already visited...'

"Your majesty, I may have an idea. Rishia, you'll stay here and search for that story, while I return to the village."

Rishia: I- I understand.

Mirellia: Y/n sir, what do you intend to do ?

"As things are right now, we have no way to contact them, but I know someone who may be able to. We need to contact the filolial queen Fitoria !"

Filo: Ah. Fitoria ?

Naofumi: Did you connect ?!

"That's good. Fitoria, the heroes have gone somewhere east. We wanted to know if there was any way to contact them, or to know precisely where they are."

Filo: ... ...

"Are you even listening... ?"

Filo: ... ... Master. She says it's impossible. "If possible I want to help, but if the Five heroes' relationship is this bad, then.."

Filo: She says, just give up...

Fitoria: Someday, the time will come when every life is forced to make a sacrifice by the world. At that moment, the heroes will be compelled to make such a choice. "For life's sake" or "For the world's sake".

Fitoria: If they choose 'For the World's sake', a lot of lives will be sacrificed, but they'll be able to fulfill their role. And if everything goes well, another "Wave" will never come. That's why, give up on the three heroes.

Filo: Is what she said !

Raphtalia: The wave... Will never come again ?!

"... What does that mean ?"

Fitoria: Either way, I won't be able to catch up with the three heroes. Because that place is out of my jurisdiction...

"Could've started with that, you know..."

Fitoria: The three heroes chose "For Life's sake", and as a result... They'll forfeit their own lives.

Naofumi: Hey, wait !! Do you know what they're trying to do ?!

Fitoria: And what of it ? After catching up with the three heroes, questioning them about what they did... Will that make the five of you come together ? Will you be able to understand each other and cooperate as heroes ? It's regretful, but there is nothing that you can do. Give up.

Filo: ... master, Fitoria's voice has been cut off...

Eclair: There is nothing that we can do... The safety of the three heroes is of concern, but does she mean that we must forget the matter of the familiars too ?!

Raphtalia: Eclair...

Elrasla: The filolial queen has probably run out of love for the humans...

"Maybe..."

Mirellia: The situation is becoming dangerous enough to rival even the wave.

Shadow: No, it could be greater than that. It is already causing disorder in the eastern countries. Not only because of the corpses but the public order is also deteriorating which in turn are causing riots. Because of that, we have currently lost contact with the shadows in some areas.

Shadow: Some small countries are already on the verge of destruction. At this rate, even our country will...

Shadow: Unless we find the root of the problem, we have no choice but to wait for the three heroes to quieten things down.

Mirellia: East... Shell... The holy heroes...

Rishia: FOUND IT !! THE FOUR HOLY HERO'S HEROIC TALE !!

"Spirit turtle ?"

Rishia: Yes. It comes up in the story which depicts the legends of the past heroes. It's a turtle that is big enough to carry mountains on its back. In the story, there is a depiction of the familiars being used.

"Wasn't there a similar legend back in our world ? Something about a turtle carrying an entire country ?"

Naofumi: Chinese mythology...

Mirellia: I remember. According to legends, the turtle was sealed away by the heroes of the past, and on that land, a country was born taking on the name of the mythical beast. Reiki. It is located East from our country.

Elrasla: So it connects.

Mirellia: Yes. It is quite possible, the three heroes went there.

Naofumi: To get killed... On purpose ? At least, that's what Fitoria thinks.

Rishia: BU- BUT, IN THE STORY, THE HEROES SEALED IT, RIGHT ?! THEY CAN ENTER INSIDE THE TURTLE AND CAST SOME SPELL...

"..."

Raphtalia: Now that I think about it, Fitoria said something curious... "For life's sake" or "For the World's sake", that if everything goes well, another wave will never come...

Mirellia: The hourglass of the dragon's era still shows the time until the next wave. We still don't know how to stop it...

Mirellia: We haven't received confirmation of the main body of the turtle yet. That land probably is covered in chaos though...

Elrasla: We would have known even if a single mountain moved.

"... Rishia, what's next in that book ?"

Rishia: I- In the story, it says that the heroes took the way to unseal the turtle to their graves... Maybe it won't be able to revive that easily...

Fitoria: Give up already.

"..."

Naofumi: Y/n ? Where are you going ?

"What do you think ? East, after them."

Naofumi: But Fitoria-

"Fitoria's speech was up to interpretation. And I translated as such: 'It's too dangerous to chase after them, you must focus on countering the next wave.'."

Naofumi: What about that "choice" thing then ?

"Simple. Do we choose their 'Lives', at the risk of letting the wave surge, or do we choose the 'world', at the risk of losing them ?"

Naofumi: And you chose to go after them... ? Despite the menace of the wave ?

"This will sound really egoist, but this is a risk, that I'm willing to take. Those three may be the most useless, gullible and whiny morons I know, but they're still heroes like us. We all still need them."

Filo: You know... Fitoria's voice before... Didn't sound that well...

Naofumi: ... And here I though that the old you was lost forever after what bitch made us go through. Let's chase after them. Nothing will happen if we stay here anyway, we can only hope they aren't dead yet.

Mirellia: ... Yes. We don't have any other choice. Please request anything you need through the shadows that lie in the frontier. I'll make them report to you as much information about the turtle and the movement of those three heroes. Let good fortune guide you.

"Alright Filo, we're counting on you this time ! Show us that this carriage deserves its name !"

Filo: Yup ! LEAVE IT TO ME !!

Raphtalia: How much time will it take to catch up with them at this speed ?!

"Don't know, but even if we want to go through the night, Filo has to get some rest too."

Naofumi: And if the wave comes then we'll be teleported there and everything will have been for nothing...

Raphtalia: The wave...

"Only if we're able to return without problems... Sounds ridiculous, though."

Naofumi: Damn those heroes... next time I meet them, I'll beat them until I'm satisfied !

Raphtalia: As expected, even Filo has started to get fatigued.

Naofumi: And Y/n's at it again... He's been doing that meditation thing a lot lately...

Elrasla: We're still in the mountains after all.

'Feel the magic all around. Blowing in the wind, flowing withing the earth. Every single living being out there... become one with the flux... ... ... ..."

???: Didn't thought you'd actually find a way to come back. At least not so soon.

"Life is full of surprises, I think we both experienced that beforehand."

???: True. So, why are you here this time ? More power ? Sorry to disappoint, but I've got nothing more for yo-

"Are you the First Hero ?"

???: ... Well, talk about being straightforward... The first hero died thousands of years ago, genius. Of course i'm not him.

"Then who are you ? And don't think you can escape with 'It's still too soon' or 'You're not ready just yet'."

???: To be completely honest... Even I am not really sure of who I truly am... I guess you could call me the spirit of the Staff...

"So... Seigosen ?"

(

Sei: Why not, call me Sei. Anything else ?

"You've been around for quite a long time, right ? Anything you know about that turtle ? The World beyond the fissure ? Or even that prophecy stuff ?"

Sei: I'm afraid I won't be of much help here. I've been around, yes, but it's your arrival here that awakened me from my slumber, don't you dare make that joke.

"Meh. I'm your master anyway."

Sei: But as I said, I don't know much more than you on that matter. i'm sorry.

"I see... Sorry fo-"

"Ugh... What just happened ?"

Naofumi: It's the wave ! Be careful ! Look around...

Raphtalia: Naofumi ? Please take hold of yourself. There is no wave here !!

"The hell are you talking about... ?"

Naofumi: But then, just now... Didn't anyone feel anything ?

"The wave ? Didn't we had like, two days left before the wave ?"

Naofumi: Yeah, that should be the case, but... It has stopped...

Raphtalia: What ?

Naofumi: The countdown for the next wave has stopped...

"And, what is this number beside the counter ? 7 ? Another hourglass... Filo, could you stop for a while ?"

Filo: Eh ? Can Filo sleep for a while ?

"Go ahead. You need it."

Raphtalia: Naofumi !

"I don't see any changes outside..."

Naofumi: Something has awoken, that's why I felt it.

"... Please, don't tell me... Reiki has awoken ?