"Naofumi-sama ?"
The door to said hero's chambers creaked open. Slowly, the lovely 'tanuki' girl peeked inside to look for the man she chose to follow. It had been nice of the Queen to provide them living spaces in the castle but saddens Raphtalia that she's unable to see Naofumi as often as she used to. She still strives for him to acknowledge her as a grown adult but he always kept her by his side as a partner either way. And she strives the same, to always stay by him no matter what. Filo probably wanted that too.
No reply.
That's odd, Naofumi would usually be up at this time in the morning. Just to be sure, she called for him again. Alas, the second time... still no answer. Walking in, the first thing she saw aside from the decorations the room was set with, were the thick layers of blankets that had fallen off the bed. The bed that Naofumi had curled up in a ball on, shivering in his sleep. Seeing this, Raphatlia swiftly rushed to his side. "Naofumi?" Softly she said, to avoid unnecessary panic from her Master. The deep breathing she heard was enough to collect him in her arms as he fought off his own nightmares.
Gently, she rocked him as if he were a new born child that had startled in their sleep. 'There, there' she would usher. "It's going to be alright Naofumi-sama. I'm here" she'd whisper that multiple times in her softest voice until the young man in her arms finally stopped trembling.
Once those emerald eyes would open, he would keep clinging to her until he felt safe. Until all the pain of these memories finally fade away... for the day.
'I'm sorry Raphtalia, I'm so sorry. Don't' .Concealing his eyes on her shoulders he uttered those words repeatedly. Raphtalia wasn't quite sure what or why he apologise to her for but again this just made her hold him tighter. At these moments, only she would see her master at his most vulnerable. Holding to dear life as if it would've slipped away easily from his grasp. Sometimes he'd sob until all his tears had dried. Some days, it seems best to just stay in bed but... duty calls. And there was nothing Naofumi, Raptalia, the Queen nor anybody could do about that. The waves don't stop for anyone.
It's these times, she realise that she had to be there for him. Like the many times he'd been there for her. So help the world, she wouldn't leave his side for anything!
Yet that had never extinguished her curiosity.
Why was this happening to Naofumi?
Was it Myne?
What could she do to stop it?
Was it that hopeless?
A bitterness had crept onto her face at the thought of their own haplessness. There had to be something that could help Naofumi with this heart wrenching pain. She just hasn't found it yet.
"Raphtalia?"
Her stern and worried expression melted into a soft and gentle one. As she held the man to lean against her, whispering sweet nothings into his ears to calm him down. "Thank you". The soft voice was almost breaking, tearing if anybody else would have heard it. "It's okay Naofumi-sama. I won't let anybody hurt you ever again."
'Even if... I have to put aside my own feelings first'
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A blazing blue sky poured down torrents of light through those decorative windows, casting multiple colours upon the heroes inside. A gathering was held in the throne room and the Queen had requested (literally had to call them) an audience with the four Cardinal Heroes. Fortunately, everyone was able to present themselves this fine morning... everyone but The Shield Hero.
Lined up horizontally in front of the queen, they waited for Naofumi's arrival. The oldest blonde turned to his left where the other two stood still, almost falling from boredom. "Has any of you seen Naofumi yet today?" He whispered, hoping not to attract the queen's attention.
"Not since last night" answered Ren, voice as quiet too.
"Why are you both whispering?!" Blurted Itsuki, annoyed by the quiet talk these two were making in front of her highness.
Thus, of course, this caught her attention and a short glare from the two. Sighing, she leaned her head on her rested hand. "Do any of you know where the shield hero is-"
The entrance to the throne room had opened and the last guest of honour made his appearance. Slightly embarrassed by the gazing eyes on him, he scratched the none existing itch behind his head and lowered himself... a bit. "Forgive me for being late." He didn't explain anything further. The other heroes stood dumbstruck from how the shield hero presented himself.
Even Merillia couldn't quite find her own words for as much as she wanted to scold the young adult for his tardiness after getting proper look at him. "Shield Hero... Are you well? You don't-" the worry in her voice was most obvious that the other heroes also noticed. Their faces turned before a worried look, something wasn't right.
Naofumi was in his usual attire... maybe a bit lighter than his usual heavy armour with the subtractions of a few articles. As uneven as his hair usually is, this time was a tad messier.
"Did you wake up at the wrong side of the bed or something?" Perked the spear hero as they all noticed the dark, puffy lines under his eyes on his stone tired face.
"No, I'm fine. Can we just carry on with the meeting?"
And so they did. Despite their worries for one another, the world would still be at risk of danger and times were wasted. The waves had been leaving many sorts of effects that caused worse calamity than the waves itself. Random draughts, flooding, avalanches anything that could've happened in their previous world were occurring here. 'Not a good sign'.
Sooner or later this will cause more problems they might not be able to handle with the waves. So this was more of an investigation than dealing with monsters all the time. So it was appropriate for them to all work together to accomplish this task.
"This is part of saving our people from the climate the waves brought along. I trust you are all capable of gathering the evidence that will help us overcome this issue." Her explanation was, how the youngsters would put it, long and boring. But nonetheless, they got the information they needed and scattered to assemble their party members.
All that was going on in Naofumi's head was; waves brought climatic changes, people are suffering, heroes do your job. 'What do they take us for? Geologists?' Running his train of thought, he was brought back by gloved hand placed on his shoulder. "Naofumi, you don't look too good." The hand and voice belonged to Ren.
"I told you, I'm fine." He noted, briefly.
Ren wouldn't have it, 'that hardly explains anything!' Now that he's gotten a closer look, Naofumi's eyes were a bit red and puffy as well. "Have you been sleeping at all?" He voiced his concern, it showed in his voice and his eyes how much he worried. The others probably thought the same. The hand he had on his taller friend took a bit of a hold, a grip of hope he had that eventually, everything will work out.
At this, Naofumi had gotten a bit defensive, shrugging away the comforting hand on his shoulders. "I-I have, don't worry." He put up a bit of a stern face, walking away as fast as he can from the Sword Hero.
'Don't get attached, don't get attached!' He chanted repeatedly in his own dark tired thoughts. It was easier this way.
Ren who had been left in the corridors found himself stuck in place, " We are all worried about you, Naofumi "
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"Weren't we just supposed to just be investigating?!"
It hadn't been unexpected, the path to salvation would never be a smooth on. There was bound to be bumps here and there. Oh well, those bumps just so happen to be mobs of merciless monsters standing in their way. Luckily, it wasn't anything the heroes couldn't handle.
"Itsuki! Twelve o' clock" Motoyasu shouted as he hauled the werewolf biting at his spear towards their Bow hero.
"Clock? What clock?" Despite being almost half alert or ready for the monster thrown at him, he managed to direct a few hits before it reached him. He sighed, relieved before going back in action being more alert for his party members.
"Good job!" He received a supportive thumbs up from said Spear Hero.
A loud bark caught his attention and he noticed Naofumi struggling to hold off a few wolves on his own. Raptalia was somewhere fending off other packs of mobs with Filo.
Without wasting a minute, he pulled his bow and aimed towards his new targets.
Eyes sharp, aim
Breathe in and release
The powerful shot sent the wolves blasting away from their prey, flying towards another edge of the battlefield. Saved from the mobs, he received a grateful smile, " Thanks, Itsuki!" Naofumi said briefly before locking onto other mobs coming his way before Raptalia slashed them into two.
'Guess he's alright for now.'
The battle continued until no other mobs were in sight. Either they had fled or had been taken care of by the heroes and their groups, the area was cleared and safe for now. "We really didn't gain anything from that fight?" The Bow Hero was replied with a simple shook of the head from his party members. He was right though, whenever they fought together there wouldn't be any exp, drop or gains as a result.
"We've at least cleared the area for now." Naofumi said, looking beyond the valleys where the village they were supposed to be investigating remained inert. "I think we should just get a move on. That village looks too... quiet."
They journeyed to said small town and found it dusted in silence. Not a soul in sight. "Man, this place looks abandoned." Itsuki decided to look around for any other clues other than the haunted scene.
"The land here." Motoyasu bent down feeling the dry soil that stuck between his fingers. "I have a bad feeling-"
"Guys! I think you'd wanna check this out." Ren called them towards the back of the church he'd looked through and some of their answers were solved but more questions were brought to light.
"Naofumi-sama, here too!"
"Here! Here!"
Behind the church, the farms and buildings were the static figures of the villagers turned to stone. Dead still and unmoving. "What caused this?" Questioned Ren as he examined the stone figures of the men, women and children.
"Could it be a curse or some sort of monster cause this?" Naofumi wondered, arms crossed as the air had gotten thinner than when they first got here.
"What monster turns a whole village into stone?" Motoyasu poked the solid figure for any type of response. Nothing
"Beats me. Never read anything about this before."
Buuuuuuuuaaaaaa
That sound, it sounded like a ship coming from the near shores-
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
No time to waste as at that terrifying scream, they rushed to the source.
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They were met with a one eye cyclops flying greenish goblin-like ball, threatening a woman fending a child in her arms. Just as the monster was about to blast some kind of beam from it's eye, Naofumi was in time to block it before it hit the two. "Yosh! Leave it to us!" The short range attackers went head on towards the beast before it could shot another beam of light.
"Careful! The light it's shooting will turn you to stone!" Naofumi warned, turning to lend a hand to the distressed mother and her child. "Thank you, Shield Hero-sama." Before she ran with her child for safety.
'That's odd, that kid wasn't cry-'
His thoughts had to be put to a halt as once the other heroes defeat one cyclops, multiple others took its place. In due time, they supported each other, defended one another from turning to stone. More were coming!
"Where the hell are they coming from?!" He cried before cutting one in half with his sword.
They had each other back to back along with their party members holding their own ground.
Slash! Slash! Spatter!
"My, my."
That voice, it couldn't be. It can't-
'Red and blue'
"Isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Resting on his shoulder was a weapon that brought grief, brought death. A shiver of terror ran down each of their spines at the sight of it. A scythe set to cut through any soul in its way. Along with a diamond shining next to him bringing the light of day. Knowing the harm the both of them were capable of, their guards went up.
"Yo kiddo, it's been awhile, hasn't it?"
"It's nice to see you've been doing well-... or have you?"
It was hard to miss the dark lines under his eyes. Anybody with two eyes could see that- Naofumi was pushing himself-.
The flying cyclops around them were sliced and diced the moment L'Arc brought down his scythe. Incinerated by the time Therese casted her crystals. "It seems that... it still wishes to not fight you, Shield hero." She looked down and switched the bracelet that Naofumi handcrafted with another one. "It has helped me in many occasions but it should rest for now." Oh how sweet her smile was compared to the abilities she had. Big whoop.
The heroes and their companions stood there, dumbstruck by their presence and capabilities to handle mob after mob. Each and every one of their party members took on first defence in front of the newly arrived enemies .
'Enemies, that's right. That's what L'Arc and Therese were.' Naofumi reminded himself, they were after their -his- life. He needed to stay more alert to their every movement.
"You're looking scary as ever. Woke up at the wrong side of the bed or something?" He moved towards, closer to them. Guard up, they knew they weren't dealing with your every day average adventurer.
"What the hell are you even doing here?!" The raven finally urged, angrily as he moved to go front toward his enemies. Emotions in uncontrolled, he was barely held back by Raphtalia who guarded her sword in front of them. "We cannot afford to act recklessly, Naofumi-sama." She reasoned with a small voice.
"Oh us? We were just passing by until we heard 'that'" his fingers pointed behind them, where a monster was found ready to bite their heads off before Motoyasu quickly acted and defeated it.
"Well, it's at least nice to see that... the other three aren't as pathetic since we last saw them, ain't that right Therese?" She nodded, agreeing that the other heroes were capable of improvement since they last met. "Kinda makes me wanna test them out."
"You picking a fight, you prick?!" Shouted Itsuki as he aimed and fired several arrows at once at them. Ren too, was well prepared to send a dash of hits towards his enemies. Their party waited for the right time to step in. As Ren had Therese blocking him with reflection magic that stopped his hits. "You're right. At this rate, the plan should commence fairly."
Within a snap of the moment, Ren was blown back just in time for Naofumi to catch him before he fell.
"Well kiddo, looks like you managed with these fools. More than I'd like to admit ."
Those words made his blood boil, "You haven't answered me L'Arc! Why are you here?!"
The scythe wielder grimaced that such tone, made him wonder as well wether or not he should keep up the act or drop his facade. "Oh don't look so hurt, kiddo. There wouldn't be any other reason for us to be here if it isn't for you." Arms wide and proudly as if he was stating the obvious. "You're not easy to find with all that traveling, right Naofumi?" His eyes struck a deep stare at a distance towards the shield hero.
'He knew what he wanted'
"I'm only after him for now and if you others value your lives I'd say you step aside." From the way he held his scythe, he was about ready for battle and Naofumi thought the same.
"Oh no! We aren't going anywhere!"
"I will always act as your sword, Naofumi-sama."
"You're not getting my Master!"
"You're not alone, Naofumi."
From just one look at each of their faces, they weren't backing off that easily. "L'Arc, this might be a problem. We can't just-"
"They're the four legendary heroes, aren't they?" Voice flat and plain. Yet the smirk he had tell Therese everything she needed to know. "I assume, we move on to plan B then." Her partner nodded. "We need him, alive this time." He told her, which she immediately understood.
Not another moments wasted on chitchat, their fights commenced. It was two against four parties and yet, it managed to still seem like a fair fight. One moment, light was their greatest enemy, the other was trying to avoid their souls to be taken.
They casted, fought, launched every ability they had and it still seemed not enough! "The other three's gotten stronger but you seem stuck in place, kiddo."
Slash! Block! Slash! Block!
"Is there something I could do to help?"
"Shut up! You talk too much! Air shield!"
"Well you have gotten a tad crankier."
Fighting until there was almost no forest around them, moving towards the rocky and edgy hills that were right above the ocean. Where L'Arc and Therese stood right above, cornered. "You've lost! Surrender your weapons!" Motoyasu ordered, voice stern for awhile.
"I don't think so, Mr. Spear Hero wannabe."
Raising his scythe, he struck the ground with the tip right under them that created a rumbling noise. The ground they were on shook and half of them were already running from the breaking earth beneath them. "Everyone, gather on safer grounds."
Naofumi sensed something wasn't right. This black and white feelings were-. He looked at their faces -L'Arc looked calm as a river as he stood cooly on the rumbling ground. And before he knew it, he couldn't move, he was already falling, he heard his name being called multiple times, multiple ways.
"Naofumi-sama!"
"Naofumi!"
"Master!"
"Shield hero-sama!"
Splash!
But
He had already fallen, surrounded by a cool air yet for a moment felt like a hard surface before he was immersed in the salty taste of the ocean yet-
"Sleep tight, kiddo"
Yet, none of his companions were fast enough to catch him this time.
🛡⚔️🛡
Laying there, wet, cold and unconscious, he shuddered as the cold air mercilessly froze the surface of his already pale skin. Brought back to the surface, they had removed the soaked thicker parts of his armour to dry near the fire. Leaving him in a thin black shirt he wore under it all. "L'Arc, he's freezing." Therese told him as he was busy gathering their items. "Bring him near to the fire." His speech came off a bit irritated with their current issue. The sun had set awhile ago and they had managed to get away with the shield hero as fast as they could with Therese's teleportation abilities. Yet they couldn't have gotten far with the amount of mana she initially had left.
"Is he coming down with a fever?" He sounded genuine at this, looking from Therese to Naofumi's unconscious figure. "Not if we warm him up before he does but he does seem..."
"Seem what? Unfit for a fight? They insisted it anyways"
"Well we aren't exactly on good terms with the other heroes but what's gotten you so irked?"
She cradled the sleeping man in her arms as he slept unmoving until he began to stir but not awoken. L'Arc moved closer to brush of the wet strands of black hair out of Naofumi's face. "Do you think he's having a nightmare?"
She nodded, "One that he's to battle by himself."
"He can't fight, you know that."
He paused, giving his own sympathetic look down on to his captive. "We're gonna have to force him to cooperate once he wakes up."
Therese understood, they both did as for this mission required a bit help from said hero. "Damned Hero, don't go fighting battles you can't win." From there, he held the sleeping figure in his arms... for the sake of keeping him warm of course. All the while caressing his drying hair and rocking away the struggles the didn't know Naofumi had.
"Put out that fire, we need to move before the other heroes catch up to us."
He gathered the figure in his arms as stood up, carefully carrying him so he doesn't stir awake. "His body is sleep deprived so I gave him something that'll keep him unconscious for at least until the time we arrive to our destination." She informed him as she readied to open a portal to another area, looking back she saw the face L'Arc made as he stared at Naofumi's sleeping face. "You wouldn't mind carrying him, don't you?"
"Of course not." He looks so peaceful and-
"Should we just leave the rest of his armour here?"
"Where we're going, he won't need it. What he's currently wearing is sufficient enough."
"Whatever you say, your majesty."
She playfully waved and all three of them went through the portal.
🛡⚔️🛡
"Everybody! Scatter around and look for any signs of the shield hero!"
"I-I'm so sorry, Naofumi-sama." Filo tried her hardest to console Raphtalia.
"We'll find him. I'm sure we will"
Later on, they found articles of his armour around the deeper parts of the woods. A fire that was estimated to be put out after a long time ago the last few days.
Naofumi went missing
Suspected to have been taken or held captive by the enemies
The word spread and Siltvelt demanded answers
Everything was a mess
"The search hasn't been called off!" The spear hero claimed.
"We're still searching for him! Calm down." Ren tried to reason with the heavy panic.
"Naofumi, wherever you are, please be safe." The last one prayed.
She couldn't feel him. There was absolutely no range of communication and she felt so disconnected. "Naofumi-sama."
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