Author: Well, hello there, everyone. Long time no see. I hope everyone had a great Halloween Christmas, and New Year's. All of the above school was a pain, so I was sick through most of it. But hey, I'm back for this one chapter. You're probably not going to get another one in the next 5 years because my name is Cory. Anyway, all jokes aside Time to start
Naofumi, Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu all seem to be waiting on Nori and Myne outside the tavern, as Naofumi seemed to be wondering if Nori was actually going to make her pay or not.
Motoyasu:What's taking those two so long?" he asked, getting slightly nervous about what's happening for the wrong reasons.
Ren: Would you be patient and quiet down?"He looks towards Motoyasu with an irritated expression as he leans up against a wall.
Itsuki:Yeah, Motoyasu, it's probably not as bad as you think it is. They're probably just catching up. I mean, they were in a party before, plus she did seem really depressed a few days after the incident that turned out to not be true. So they probably were decently close, am I right, Naofumi?" *He looks towards Naofumi, wanting confirmation.*
Naofumi:Huh, why are you dragging me into this?"
Itsuki: Because you were with them, and also, can you help me since Motoyasu looks like that drunk old man down the road when you say no more alcohol?"
*Motoyasu would be biting his nails*
Naofumi: [Yeah, no kidding, I wonder why Nori gets him like that]. "Hmm, well, I wouldn't say close in the way you're thinking, but I will say they were close enough to feel like an actual party of friends at first." *He said, remembering the time when Myne showed it up as a party member and actually started helping them fight instead of standing there, which made both him and Nori drop their guards, thinking they didn't have to worry about being betrayed.*
Motoyasu: *He calms down, sighing a bit* "Thanks, Naofumi. I thought it was something else, remembering her reaction to what happened in the incident."
Naofumi:Why would you think that she's a princess? Is she not? So going with a monster shouldn't really be allowed."[Not only that, it's stupid to think that, but their personalities don't match at all. Well, maybe when it comes down to turning a situation of words into their favor. And also, I don't even want to imagine that scenario in any world.] *Soon a little cloud would appear above his head as it showed a Chibi Nori and Myne, which caused him to swipe it away.* [Yeah, no]
Meanwhile, back with Nori and Myne, the chains would seem to still be heading towards her as Myne would close her eyes, getting ready to die with her life flashing before her eyes and tears streaming down her face, only to not feel anything as the sound of footsteps with her head towards her And then she would get karate chopped on the head.
Myne:Ow, what the hell?" *She would open her eyes to see Nori looking at her with a warm smile on his face.*
Nori:What's wrong? Did you really think I was going to kill you?" *soon he would repeatedly karate chop her head* "Nope, I wasn't but scared you didn't I" *He said laughing so much so that he eventually fell to the ground* "You should have seen her look on your face. Had tears and everything."
Myne: *would now have bumps on her head due to Nori hitting it as she looked at him a bit pissed* "Why you stupid monster!"
Nori: "Stupid yet still smarter than you, isn't that pretty funny?" *He would eventually get up and sit down on a chair.*
Myne:You are not smarter than me!"
Nori: Trust me, Myne or Malty S. Melromarc, I am smarter than you, or have you forgotten who has the high ground in this situation both physically and mentally, and if I truly want it politically?"
Myne: The high ground you say don't be so full of yourself; my father outclasses you in those aspects."
Nori:"Who? Yeah, the king guy Sorry, I don't remember his name. You're right, and you're wrong. The only thing you have going against me is who I am, because you can just simply call me a demon and call Naofumi a demon tamer, I think, since I'm his party member. But that's really it, and that's kind of rude to threaten someone with a kingdom who saved your status for the time being. Logically speaking, the nobles are the ones who know I'm alive. That doesn't really help my case much, but what if I told the majority of the population that I'm alive? What if I start to spread information, but unlike you, I'm spreading the truth. How bad would that hurt you, your father, and your kingdom? What if someone tries to overthrow you because of your lies?"*He would lean forward, smiling maliciously.* "What if I tried overthrowing your father?"
Myne:As if you can and as if we will let you, do you not know how big those words are? You would be fighting a kingdom, not some undead corpses. You will lose."
Nori:Same kingdom that needs the heroes help to survive. I'm pretty sure it's not that hard, especially when I still have some things up my sleeves that you guys don't even know about. The only people who know is well, the shield hero group. So nah, I'd win." *His malicious smile would soon turn normal* "I'm just joking with you again. I don't really believe in killing so many people to have some peace since I'm mainly here to do the opposite as a part of the new four heroes guild." *He said excitedly*
Myne: Four Heroes Guild? We never made a guild. At all, what are you talking about?" *Her eyes would widen a bit, remembering what Nori said to the four years about working together: "You're trying to make one big party, aren't you? That's not going to work. You of all people should know that the heroes can't farm levels together. You would just be making them weaker. Are you trying to get them all killed?"
Nori:The four great heroes are supposed to band together and fight off the waves of catastrophe; didn't the king not say that when we first came here?"
Myne:"Yes, he did."
Nori:" Great So that's what we're going to do, or that's what I'm going to do. I will not have people die because the heroes can't get along. So my mission now is to create the Four Heroes Guild. I'll think of a better name later." *Soon he'll get up*
Myne:All right, suppose we do make this party since I am mostly against it, and my father will be too. How are they going to get stronger?"
Nori:I have something for that; call it a bit of a major coincidence, and also, you're not going to be against it, but the king will be.*He said it in an ordering tone kind of like a captain to a soldier.*
Myne:And what do you mean by that? Of course I'm going to be against it!" *She yelled, now being in a more pissed-off expression*
Nori:You act like you have a choice in the matter news flash; you really don't." *He would walk towards her.*
Myne:And what makes you say that?!" *she would continue to look towards him, irritated, but she was also subconsciously backing up.*
Nori:Well, think about it like this: Why would you go against your m..? [I am not saying that word] "Your leader." *He said, lifting his hand up and placing it on her head* "Your dad's racist to Demi humans, right?" *he said as a symbol would appear below her*
Myne:What does that have to do with anything?*Before she could finish, she would pass out seemingly lifeless.*
Nori: [So that does work, huh? Interesting. Well, I should hurry before Motoyasu realizes that Myne's health bar is missing.] *He said taking out an egg and pulling out some pieces of what looks to be a different monster* [Turns out merging the chimera with myself does nothing but put it in a storage that's slowly dissolves the monster for exp crazy right It turns out that wasn't the only crazy thing that I found out that day.]
*flash back*
Nori:"Alright, merge!" *he pressed the button as the status window screen would start to glitch out and distort while the chimera would be surrounded by purple smoke, which later entered Nori after the status window disappeared, leaving Nori confused* "What the hell just happened? And that purple smoke reminded me of what I did to those skeletons awhile back." *He would try to open a status window again, and after a brief period of time, he did, though it was not as smooth as the heroes; it's all glitchy and broken.*
"Why is it so distorted? Is it because I'm not a hero? Never mind that I'll get to the bottom of it later, but I should capitalize on this time to look over my skill tree."
*He thought to himself as he then went to the skill list and saw two different skills, which surprised them because he thought he had one.*
"That's odd I thought it would just be one, but it turns out there are two: origin change and advanced necromancy, and it seems the one that came first was origin change. How did I obtain advanced necromancy?" *He then clicks on advanced necromancy to see if you can learn more, and to his surprise, a text would appear in front of him telling him exactly how he got it. It was from the skeleton he pulled out randomly. [So it wasn't a coincidence. I always thought it was weird. I pulled out two random skeletons. I guess that was the dungeon's influence on me trying to give me my reward before I left the dungeon, which explains how recent this ability is, which kind of stinks now because I thought I had the ability to absorb creatures and get their abilities. I mean, Naofumi has it, so it wouldn't be bad to assume that I had.] *He started to tear up a bit comedically.* [Just imagine having that ability and absorbing a giant dragon that was sealed off for centuries—the amount of power that I would have at my disposal. It's such a shame.]
"Calm down, Nori. This ability is amazing as well. Looking through it or trying to, at least there's some aspects I didn't even consider, like how my servants can also obtain their own skills through adventures or by what I want them to have. Then there's them getting stronger during the night and a recruitment process I can do on the living to convert them over to my side. All of this is pretty interesting. Oh here merging aspect of it " [He would continue to look until he realized that merging the chimera with himself does nothing but give him a storage that destroys the body for less exp than killing it.]
"Really, that's it, plus this crap takes three days to complete!" *He started to get a bit irritated but calmed himself down. * "I swear, looking at all these things, it's like giving me puzzle pieces but not the complete set." *He then exited it out of the advanced necromancy section as he then pressed on his first skill, Origin Change. * "What the This one's more confusing than the other one. At least the other one gives you a detailed explanation. This is just riddles," he said as he began to read out loud.
"Memories that are not yours"
"Voices that are not yours"
"Life is not yours."
"Yet you take their purpose, their pain, and their identity all for your own. A greedy desire to be selfless will lead you down a path of self-sacrifice."
*As he finished reading, he could start to feel a bit different before he could think further about what the skill description says. His mind started to flash with the memories, different ones than the time he was stuck in the dungeon, showing a man with a large katana about to fight a giant monster with other people, but before the battle could start, the flash of memories ended, leaving Nori confused and somewhat worried. Not just because of the new memories he was receiving; it was because of that monster. It was the biggest thing he has ever seen. The environment around him was completely foreign, and the sheer power of its presence was just abnormal.
"What the hell is going on? What was that? And why the hell does that exist? And the environment around it was completely different from anything I've seen in the kingdom. I mean, I knew there were more kingdoms, but I didn't know they were that advanced unless that was an entirely different world. It has to be the case. I mean, the four heroes are from different worlds that seem to be way more advanced, but not one of them talks about a monster like that, memories that are not mine, or a life that is not mine. Is this skill referring to what I think it is? Agh, too much to unpack here. I can't think about all of this. It's making my head hurt, and that might just be a side effect of this glitchy system I'm looking at. I need to tell the other heroes about this. Maybe we can think of a strategy just in case a monster like that appears, but each hero has no connection with one another at all. The three heroes have some background, but adding Naofumi to the list makes everything scrambled. How am I supposed to get all four together, and how am I supposed to get them all connected and trustworthy with each other as comrades if they can't even fight with each other in the first place? There has to be some way or otherwise that the ways of catastrophe might bring something upon us that we are all just not ready for."
*He would continue to look through his skills to find anything that he could use at his disposal to see if he could figure out a way that he could bring the heroes together, fortunately. There was a way.*
"interesting"
*Flash back end*
Nori: [ Yeah, shocker, right This is the main reason why I even want the four heroes to form a guild in the first place, as much as it is a hassle that but our survival depends on it. Man, why am I saying it like I'm trying to explain it to invisible people watching me? It feels so creepy. *Suddenly, the egg would glow along with the Chimera parts as they entered Myne's lifeless body.* [The egg is filolial, or a dragon egg, which Naofumi let me buy from the slave shop before we went into the castle to collect our money. Honestly, I don't know if I hope that it will be a dragon or not. This part is purely for a placeholder; I didn't want to use all of my chimera parts to revive her. That's just a waste.]
*Myne's body began to change; something started to appear on her shoulders, and her hair was getting longer.*
Nori: [I should really limit the change.]. As much as I dislike her, I shouldn't really change her identity like this. It's just not right, or do I just let this play out? What am I saying? Even if I hate her, letting this play out like it's going to be is probably just wrong, so I'll just do this.] *His hand would glow a bit as it seemed the changes would reverse, but the items he used are still gone. Myne would get up and look at Nori." "Man, you have got to be one of the luckiest people I have ever come across."
Myne: "Did you kill me but revive me right after? How is this possible? Another thing While I was being revived, there were two other people that were coming with me. I need time to process."
Nori: [Oh yeah, I forgot the souls. Come together as one to form the body as well. I'm glad I changed how She worked last second, or otherwise I'll be getting a completely different person from Myne ]"Yeah, it's a lot to process when you go through the revival phase, but now you're reborn." [I sound like a messed-up priest.] "As a subordinate of mine."
Myne:"So this is your mana. I'm feeling angry about you doing this, but I'm so much in a daze I can't hold on to it."
Nori:"Yeah, that makes sense. But if it's to ease your mind a bit, you might think I'm doing this out of pier pettiness, but there is a method to my madness on top of just me being petty. I need one party member from each of the heroes so I can get them to level up with each other."
Myne:"So you chose me for it? I guess that makes sense given the facts of what I did. I'm surprised you even hold remorse for me not changing everything. I should thank you for that."
Nori: [What the heck did I mess up? She's using logic. That's not possible.] *He looks at her wide-eyed. Surprised by the gratitude* "Don't sweat it, though it's not like I didn't change you; I just changed how it worked instead of you just showing everything all at once. You transform into it, kind of like how I can go from humanoid to orb."
Myne: "Interesting, so I turn into some sort of monster at will or by your will?"
Nori: "By mine, I mean we don't want you to transform randomly, though. Do you want to try it? We have time before the heroes try and check up on you."
Myne:"I might as well get used to it."
Nori: "Alright, though you might want to take off your armor since I don't think you can transform with your armor in tact."
Myne:"Yeah, I would assume that." *She began to take off her armor.* "Luckily, after this, I can ask my father to supply me with a magic thread."
Nori:"A perk of being a princess is that I'm happy because now you won't have to hold yourself back trying to keep yourself clothed." *He said he was waiting for her to get ready.* "Alright, ready?"
Myne:"Yeah, I'm ready."
Nori: "Invade." *He said as Myne's body, you can change her hair, growing longer with the color of the changing blonde along with two monster heads on her shoulders and feathery wings. * "That's completely interesting. I thought one would overtake the other, but no, it's a mix, and the egg was a Filolial, okay then."
Myne:" I feel so much more relieved. I guess that's the side effect of what you did, which is odd. It feels like my old self is just the disguise I wear now."
Nori:"That pretty much sums it up." *He crossed his arms.* "Are you ready to turn back now?"
Myne:"Yeah, I am, but turn around."
Nori:"Nah, don't worry, I'm going to walk out so you can change comfortably," he said as he walked out of the tavern to be met with the heroes waiting for him. "Yo."
Ren:"You sure took your time. Motoyasu was panicking the entire time."
Itsuki:"Yeah, so much so, he went into a stage of shock because he was hallucinating that Myne's health was gone."
Nori: [So he did notice, luckily it was laughed off as a hallucination] *He then looked towards Naofumi, who seemed to be keeping quiet* [Well, at least to most people] *He thought to himself, smiling*
*soon Myne walks out as Motoyasu would go back to normal almost instantly*
Motoyasu:Yo, did you have a nice conversation?"
Myne:It was very unexpected, but it was good." (She said, smiling.)
Motoyasu:Ah yes, a catch-up between friends is always a good experience, so now Nori is all you need us for."
Nori:No, actually, I want all of us to meet up tomorrow to start a quest together, so you have a whole day to prepare."
The heroes would look confused but nod since Nori had already said something about working together.
Nori: Great, that's it for the day; see you guys later."He smiled and waved at them as the three heroes walked away. Myne would just look at Nori for a bit before following them, and once they were gone, he would sigh and look towards Naofumi. "Alright, then are you ready to go?"
Naofumi:Yeah, though, while we're heading back to check on the others, I'm going to need you to answer some questions of mine."
Nori: I'd figured you would have some questions. Alright, I'll answer a few." *He said, walking forward with Naofumi walking with him.*
Naofumi:"Alright, I'll get the big questions out of the way. What's with wanting the four heroes to group up into one?"
Nori:"Well, that's because it's a mandatory thing you guys need to do. Even if it's mandatory, I don't care if it means I have to chain you all together. Your role as heroes won't allow you to not be comrades." *He then remembers the large monster he saw.*
Naofumi:"I guess that makes sense, but how are we going to form a party if we can't level up together?"
Nori:"By using a different method, which is why I needed Myne to turn her into a subordinate so she could help Motoyasu level up like how I would help you, this works because we kind of leak out energy, which in turn makes most monsters attracted to us, but the upside is that the energy can be absorbed and turned into experience points for you."
Naofumi:"That explains all the monsters that attacked us." He mumbled, "Ok, two more questions: one, how are you going to get the members from the other two, and two, what are you trying to make with all of us together?"
Nori:"I always find the Three Heroes Church dumb because not only is it a religion about viewing people who have flaws as flawless, but it also doesn't include the Sheild Hero, so I'm going to make something that people can look at in a greater light than the church. I'm going to make the Four Grand Nations, aka the Four Heroes Guild."
Naofumi:Grand Nations sounds way too high of a name for a guild."
Nori: "Trust me, it's better to be high than bee basic." *They continued to walk forward until they got to the inn.* "Also, to answer that first question, I'm going to find the ones I find that don't seem compatible with their group."
Naofumi:"I guess it'll make convincing them way easier."
Nori:"Yep, now it's time to explain everything to the others.He said, opening the door, and to both him and Naofumi, it looked like a fight broke out between Ratel and Atoria."
Naofumi:"What the hell happened when we were gone?"
Ratel:*Would send a barrage of slashes forward towards Atoria*
Atoria: *uses her helberd to block and avoid the slashes as she swings it towards her side.*
Ratel: *Blocks smiling a bit* "Was that all you got? Don't tell me being proper makes you weak."
Atoria:"How does eating hold any value when it comes to fighting?" *She then shoulder-bashes her into the wall.*
Nori: *He looks towards Pitou, who seemed to be just watching and eating fish while Raphtalia was trying to calm them down. * "Pitou, what happened?"
Pitou:"Well, let's say it was a fight over food. It started with them eating and stealing each other's food, then it turned into insults, then to a full-blown fight." *She continued to eat her fish, smiling to herself.*
Nori:"And where's Mark?"
Pitou:"Mark went off somewhere looking for someone he thought he saw."
Nori:"Man, I'm too tired to try and peacefully do it." *He said, taking out his chains.* "Alright, Naofumi, this might take a long time. I'm going to need your help."
Naofumi:"Alright, then I'll try."
*The two would then walk forward to try to stop them from fighting.*
*short time skip as it seemed that Mark would come back with a large, familiar woman with an axe*
Mark:"So Petra, this is where the others are."
Petra: "Interesting; I can't wait to meet them." *She would say, opening the door to see the inn roughly fixed up, but Ratel and Atoria would seem to be looking at each other from across the room as Nori and Naofumi would be tired and laying down.* "It seemed like we missed something."
Mark:"Maybe yeah"
Petra:*Would you then look towards Nori as her eyes widen* "Wait a second, you're."
To be continued
Yeah, sorry, I'm ending it off like this. I would've added more, but I feel like this is the right amount for a chapter that's purely for information purposes anyway. I'll see you guys in the next chapter, and I hope you all have an amazing day!//