Prologue: Believing Sloth Will Save the World
“So, Naofumi, you’re planning on making a trip back to the world you’re responsible for, huh?” Kizuna asked me.
“That’s right,” I replied with a nod. “After the warning from S’yne’s sister, it seems pretty prudent.” We were currently in the council chamber in L’Arc’s castle, holding an emergency meeting. The cause was simple—the night before, S’yne’s sister had made a sudden surprise visit right here, to our main base of operations and the heart of her enemy, and had a very revealing chat with me. I was now sharing the content of my encounter with everyone else—however, I had also learned that S’yne believed in a peculiar jinx that she thought applied to her, and so she hadn’t shared all of the pertinent details with us.
S’yne was a hero and the holder of the sewing kit vassal weapon, hailing from a world that had already been destroyed by the waves. She always seemed intently focused on protecting me and was a sworn enemy of her sister, who was currently fighting for the other side—the same sister who had been causing so much trouble for us recently.
“We are pushing back pretty nicely at the moment, so there is perhaps leeway for you to leave for a while,” Glass pondered. “But I would also like to just push through and end this.” I could see where she was going—wanting to bring the whole world together, take down the stubborn enemy nations who continued to deny the truth, and then all work together to end the waves. She was right—those villains who sought to seize the opportunity provided by this chaos to try and take over the world using the holy and vassal weapons did need to be eradicated. When put another way, of course, we were trying to take over the world ourselves—but we weren’t plotting to invade other worlds, and the holy and vassal weapons were lending us their power of their own volition. So we were objectively better than the guys forcing the weapons to comply. Those guys were also the ones who started using them for warfare in the first place. Kizuna, Glass, and L’Arc never would have used them to fight other people. Our allies were working to protect this world. They certainly weren’t going around invading left and right.
“It would be nice if S’yne’s sister is just making all this up. But the only way to confirm that is to go see for ourselves,” I concluded.
“She is a tricky one . . .” muttered Lyno. Lyno was a resident of the world to which I’d been summoned and was a member of a special forces unit that had been operating under orders from the queen of Melromarc. Her unit was comprised of like-minded people—possessed of a deep hatred for Bitch. Lyno had been acting as a spy, pursuing Bitch’s actions.
Yesterday, when the one holding the harpoon vassal weapon and one of the vanguards of the waves—or as I was now calling them, the resurrected—launched an assault on the Demon Dragon’s castle, Lyno had appeared alongside Bitch. Then Lyno seized the perfect opportunity to fatally injure Bitch while also taking back the whip seven star weapon in the process. This certainly made her the MVP among my allies at the moment—even more so because Bitch had been provided with an enhanced accessory that was intended to prevent her vassal weapon from being stolen. But prior to the battle Lyno had switched it out, allowing the whip to be taken. This was a woman who got shit done.
We both also shared a common goal: to cause as much pain to Bitch as possible prior to killing her. I took a moment to consider if any of my allies had ever been quite on the same wavelength as me before. Raphtalia was willing to help out but she certainly wasn’t as into the whole revenge thing as hard as I was.
Raphtalia had told me that she saw Lyno as “Ruft II.” I wasn’t sure what that meant.
For a moment it had looked like that goal had been achieved, but Bitch was under a protection from our enemies that allowed her to be revived so long as her soul remained intact. So actually, she still managed to get away with her life even after the physical death of her body. Based on the pattern so far, I was pretty sure she would show up again at some point.
“What can you tell us about S’yne’s sister?” I asked Lyno.
“She loves the sound of her own voice. But now that I reflect on it, she never uses that voice to talk about herself. My investigation didn’t turn up much useful information in that regard,” Lyno admitted.
“I see . . .” I muttered. Yesterday we had also defeated the resurrected who had been using the harpoon vassal weapon, successfully recovering the ofuda and harpoon vassal weapons and the whip seven star weapon. That meant the only holy weapons remaining in the hands of the enemy in Kizuna’s world were the jewels and blunt instrument, and the only vassal weapon was the ship. The issue was they were held by the sworn enemies of S’yne, who had now holed themselves up in the castle of the kingdom of the resurrected who had held the harpoon vassal weapon.
“Also, I really hate her name and so I don’t want to say it ever again,” Lyno said.
“She never seems to want to share it with us and I hate using people’s names anyway,” I replied.
“You should use people’s names,” Raphtalia chided, but I was happy to ignore her. I had my nickname system and it worked for me. If I said “S’yne’s sister,” everyone knew who I was talking about, and that’s all that mattered.
“In all fairness, she was very kind to me. I can’t stand her name, but she seemed to be quite a decent person. The rest of them over there are like some kind of cult, either totally obsessed with a hero and trusting them implicitly or looking for an axe to grind,” Lyno reported, sounding sick of the lot of them. To me, it sounded like confirmation of another one of the resurrected and his harem.
“Like Takt and his allies?” I asked.
“Yes, you can consider them to be something like that but on a much larger scale. Regrettably, I was unable to ever meet with the one who is actually in charge . . .” Lyno’s spy activities had placed her as an ally of Bitch, restricting her access to information outside of that circle. This was easier to understand when cross-referenced with the style of harem Kyo used. He and Takt were likely the first vanguards of the waves that we fought.
“Yomogi and Tsugumi, you were also responsible for managing their female allies . . . and exchanging information, right? So should we just consider this a larger version of that system?” I asked. The celebrations of our victory yesterday had brought together most of Kizuna’s allies, making them available to attend this meeting today. Her allies from her adventuring days were here too and sharing their own information with Kizuna and her current party—of which Yomogi and Tsugumi were already members.
“I don’t really want to talk about that . . .” Yomogi said.
“Indeed. I think we can tell what kind of organization they are running,” Tsugumi concurred. With these two, it wasn’t quite a case of the brainwashing coming to an end after the resurrected they were infatuated with were defeated. Yomogi had taken issue with Kyo’s way of doing things from the start, and once she found out the extent of the truth about him, she had rejected him completely. Tsugumi was now on our side because the resurrected she had been infatuated with, Trash II, had foolishly attacked us and been killed. In her case, Kyo had been abusing her and almost got her killed, a death from which Kizuna had saved her. That was also a large part of it. While becoming friendly with Kizuna, Tsugumi had started to notice all the problematic things Trash II was doing. Now she had expanded her point of view enough to be able to tell when others were being as stubborn as she once had been. Their other allies had moved on to join the forces of other resurrected, and apparently in the end these two had been forced to take them out.
“Bitch was placed in a unit testing prototypes for new technology, right?” I confirmed with Lyno.
“That was definitely a large part of it,” she asserted. “They were seeking successful experiments in order to enhance the overall fighting strength of their forces.” That sounded like what Rat did for us back in my village. A group like that would likely be working autonomously rather than receiving directions from the big-bad resurrected who ran the whole show. That was pretty much how I ran things, after all. I didn’t have the time or inclination to follow everything that Rat and her nerds got up to. I just let them do whatever they wanted and then skimmed over the reports.
Rat was managing the monsters that had invaded my village, which was something. But I honestly hadn’t seen many more results from her than that. Developing the camping plant was about the only thing that came to mind.
“So what position did Bitch hold?” I asked.
“She was a newcomer to their organization, who got lucky and managed to save their world,” Lyno said.
“That’s pretty much what S’yne’s sister said,” I replied. Something about Bitch saving one of their captured holy weapon heroes during a wave.
“That was enough to get her a meeting with their boss. She spread the lies on so thick it makes me sick to think about it,” Lyno said. That made sense, anyway—she’d exploited a piece of luck to make an impression on their leader and boost her own standing. I wondered how their boss would handle all her failures . . . but if she was going to keep coming, we’d just keep on sending her packing.
First and foremost, however, we needed to think about how we were going to become stronger. Now that we knew the power-up method for the whip, the true extent of the strength of S’yne’s sister had been made painfully plain to us. If S’yne’s sister’s forces had indeed been exploiting the whip’s power-up method—the ability to enhance stats by spending levels—then even at the same level they could be many times stronger than us, and that didn’t even account for them being able to make full use of the abilities of the holy and vassal weapons.
“I also got this.” Lyno took out multiple notebooks and accessories from her pockets and presented them to me. “I’ve got copies here of the plans for their various inventions and also for the accessories that bind the seven star weapons.”
“I should be able to make some sense of these myself,” I said, taking one of the books and casually looking through it. I quickly realized I didn’t have a clue what any of it meant and so gave up on that idea.
“The accessories were rigged to destroy themselves if they fell into enemy hands, but I managed to disable that function before it was triggered,” Lyno continued.
“Well done,” I said with feeling. “Examining the accessories themselves might be the fastest approach, but it will still take some time.” That analysis could be entrusted to a specialist in the field. Since I was a hero, it was perhaps more fitting for me to be working on raising my level in order to overcome our future battles. I could let Kizuna’s people analyze them here, but it felt like it would ultimately be more efficient to do that on my world too. My hope was this analysis could lead to the creation of an accessory capable of destroying their own impervious accessories. A typical game of technological one-upmanship. During our last encounter, things had worked out because Lyno had made the switch before the fighting even started, but next time we could be sure they would be using the real deal. The only thing we had that looked like it might be effective against even their impervious state was Kizuna’s Hunting Tool 0. That was a pretty special weapon, and it had high stats too. This enemy we were facing would likely wheel out some defense against that too. So the one-upmanship would continue. But it was a game worth playing, because if we could get the upper hand, then it would greatly increase our chances of taking back the holy and vassal weapons that our enemies held.
One issue to consider was S’yne’s sister. The chain vassal weapon that she used had remained with her even after she broke the accessory on it. Each world had its own rules. There might well be a vassal weapon spirit who was invested in the destruction of other worlds for some reason. Working to break the accessories on weapons possessed of such a spirit would ultimately be meaningless . . . but so long as there was potential for it to work out, we had to try.
“We are getting off track. Getting all of this gear checked out is another reason why I’m thinking of going back. If it’s all a bluff on their part, so be it,” I said.
“Fair enough, but do you even have a way to get back?” Kizuna asked. At this question, I looked over at Rishia, who was already buried in the materials that Lyno had just provided.
“Rishia?” Itsuki called out to her for me.
“Fehhh?” she replied.
“I still can’t use my shield, nor Itsuki his bow. Rishia, can you use the seven star weapon teleportation function to move us back in accordance with a wave summons?” I asked her. We had crossed over to Kizuna’s world using the power of an anchor accessory, provided by the ship vassal weapon back when Ethnobalt was its holder. I had originally been hoping to use the wave-triggered teleportation function of the shield or bow to get back. I hadn’t counted on our original weapons being rendered useless. The next-fastest way seemed to be Rishia and her projectile seven star weapon.
“Ah, of course. Give me a moment,” Rishia responded. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she checked the remaining time before the next wave. “It looks like that will be possible. Fehhh? The time seems to keep shifting back and forth though, so it’s a bit hard to know when it will happen.”
“The flow of time is different in each world,” I reminded her. “I saw the same thing when I came here the first time.” Time here had been a display of the length of time I had left in this world, but the numbers kept changing. After I finally returned from Kizuna’s world, the length of time that passed in each world had clearly been different too.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to participate in a wave in our world within the next few days,” she finally confirmed.
“That’s our chance to head home,” I replied.
“Okay! Sounds like a plan!” L’Arc boomed, for some unknown reason, punching the air with his fist. He seemed pretty excited about the prospect, even though he was a denizen of this world.
“What’re you so worked up about?” I asked him.
“Huh? What do you think, kiddo! We’re friends, right? Buddies, no?” came his vague reply.
“Sure, we’re friends, but that still doesn’t explain it,” I responded.
“Don’t you get it?” he shot back. “I’m not going to stop you all from leaving, of course, but what if this is exactly what our enemies want? To split us up?” He was likely thinking that S’yne’s sister saw us as a threat and wanted to remove us from the board and then attack Kizuna and her allies in our absence. I was pretty sure we could leave things with them—they could handle it—but it also didn’t sit right with me, as an ally. The enemy could produce one of the still-missing seven star weapons for all we knew. And yet, I still didn’t see that as an argument to all go off to my world together. I understood why he might want to keep us all together, but it would definitely leave this world exposed.
“I hate to point it out, kiddo, but you guys have got most of our weapons. I’d like to beef myself up a bit in your world too, just in case,” L’Arc explained.
“True . . . if you guys increase your levels in our world now, it might be useful in a future crisis,” I pondered out loud. At the moment, a technique to seal the holy weapons was preventing the shield and bow from being used here in Kizuna’s world. The mirror and instrument vassal weapons had therefore come to our aid instead.
“He does have a point,” Raphtalia agreed.
“Oh my!” said Sadeena.
“Oh dear!” added Shildina. She casually made it her own, but Raphtalia’s katana was actually a vassal weapon from this world, and now Sadeena had also obtained her harpoon vassal weapon by taking it during the battle yesterday. Sadeena had used her expert harpoon skills to free the weapon from its bonds to the resurrected who had been wielding it. This had led to her being appointed as the harpoon hero. Even crazier than that, though, Shildina had gone one rank above vassal weapons. She had been summoned to this world, after all. Having saved the corrupted ofuda holy weapon, she had become one of the four heroes of this world, now an equal to Kizuna. Combine those three weapons with my mirror and Itsuki’s instrument and it totaled five weapons that we’d be taking home with us.
“Hah! That only lays plain how worthless and unqualified the pond scum of this world are. Pathetic humans!” the Demon Dragon spat boldly, choosing this moment to mock Kizuna and her allies. She really was one offensive reptile.
“What was that?!” Kizuna and the Demon Dragon started to stare each other down, but I just ignored them.
“Raphtalia and Sadeena being vassal weapon holders is one thing, but the main issue here is Shildina,” I mused.
“Oh dear!” Shildina exclaimed. “I’m the problem?”
“Have you forgotten the conversation we had prior to our departure? A holy weapon hero has a much harder time leaving the world they are assigned to,” I reminded her.
“Oh my! Does this mean little Shildina is stuck here until she completes her duty as a hero? Good luck with that!” Sadeena laughed.
“Oh dear . . .” Shildina’s eyebrows furrowed together at these comments from Sadeena and me. Then she started shaking around the ofuda box in her hands as though she was trying to throw it away. The box did not cooperate, sticking to her hand like glue. It was a pretty cute sight to watch though—almost like Filo having a cute little child’s tantrum. She looked a lot like Filo did when someone grabbed her cowlick. “It won’t go away! It won’t go! I don’t want this!”
“If that worked, I doubt any of us would be here,” I said wistfully. When I was starting out, I’d wished to be rid of the shield countless times, unable to see a way to survive with a “weapon” that couldn’t even attack. Of course, after Takt had taken the shield, I’d been able to fight for a while. The staff had proven pretty useful too . . . and that had been followed by a mirror! I did wonder why the staff had been treated as a weapon exception, but the mirror was handled as though my shield had just been transformed into it.
“Oh dear! I don’t want this! I’m going back!” Shildina continued.
“Sorry, but Shildina seems pretty panicked. What can we do?” Raphtalia asked with a concerned expression on her face.
“Talk to the holy weapon,” I advised her.
“I’m going home!” Shildina proceeded to shout as loudly as she could at the ofuda weapon—which proceeded to give off a flash of light.
“Oh dear! An exception, just like that?” Shildina exclaimed.
“That was pretty easy,” I responded. The weapon must have sensed the situation with the shield and bow and given permission accordingly. The ofuda owed Shildina a lot, which also made it more likely to agree to this. “If you’ll fight as the hero here when needed, you’ll be free the rest of the time.”
“What about you, sweet Naofumi?” Shildina asked.
“Let’s see,” I said. In my case, I was the one relying on the mirror, and it was highly likely that once I got the shield back the mirror would move on. I’d actually be happy with that—pass on the mirror to a capable new holder and let Kizuna and her friends show them the ropes or whatever. Perhaps it was due to the effects of the shield, but the skills I could use seemed different from normal for the mirror anyway.
“Oh dear!” Shildina had swung around the ofuda for a while, still trying to shake them off, but then she gave up and was now shuffling them. She had always loved card games.
“Don’t worry, little Shildina. I’ve got my harpoon too,” Sadeena said.
“Why would that stop me from worrying?” Shildina asked back.
“Oh my,” Sadeena responded. I still wasn’t quite sure about the relationship between the killer whale sisters.
“What about me? Can I go to Naofumi’s world too?” Kizuna asked her own weapon, but the hunting tool made no response at all.
“Looks like you’re not getting permission,” I told her.
“What’s the difference between Shildina and me?!” Kizuna exclaimed.
“Maybe all four holy heroes can’t leave their world at the same time,” I reasoned. Things were getting back on track here, but if Kizuna was killed by a wave during Shildina’s absence, then this world would surely be wiped out. That’s how important Kizuna was. “Shildina just happened to arrive here as a candidate, and the ofuda have a debt to her, so that’s why it gave her permission. You’re one of the pillars of this world, Kizuna, so it can’t let you leave so easily,” I explained.
“Bah! Unknown fishing spots across the worlds are calling to me, but I can’t go to them?” Kizuna moaned. I should have known that’s where her mind was at. Seriously, if we were fighting a wave on the beach, she’d probably throw a fishing line into the water. Never underestimate the mind of a fishing addict.
“And L’Arc . . . you’re a vassal weapon holder, so no permission needed,” I said.
“That’s right!” he replied. I still hadn’t received sufficient explanation for this level of excitement. “We owe you so much, kiddo, and we’re allies. That means we should meet with the king of the nation you belong to at least once.”
“You think?” I said. I was acting as a direct agent of our ruler, so I didn’t think it was really necessary. If that was all he wanted though, he should have gone over to see Melty and Trash the last time a wave occurred with our world. L’Arc had recently been taking the lead in all sorts of meetings between the nations of this world. In that respect, the selfish actions of these resurrected had actually helped in bringing the other nations together. The enemy of my enemy . . . something like that.
“No problem! Glass is a much more efficient leader than I am anyway, so I can afford to step away for a while!” he exclaimed.
“Don’t you feel a little bit bad, admitting that?” I asked him. I looked over at Glass to see her giving an incredibly deep sigh.
“When Kizuna was missing, I often acted in her stead. The people we’re dealing with have sufficient trust in me,” Glass admitted. I could imagine she stood in for L’Arc a lot too. When I thought about it now, the first time I met L’Arc had been back in our world—meaning it wouldn’t be the first time their king had been away. I guessed a hero was qualified to act as a stand-in, anyway, and Glass had probably handled all sorts of civic duties for L’Arc in her time.
“I guess it would make sense for you to say hello,” I said. “Kizuna and the others will be here, and once a wave occurs with this world, you’ll be able to come back.”
“Sure thing! It’ll all come down to which world something happens in, then!” L’Arc enthused. I still wasn’t sure why he was so hyped up, but I didn’t have the energy to keep pointing it out. His intent to introduce himself to Melty and Trash, with whom he was indeed in an alliance now, also actually did make sense.
“So Glass and Kizuna will be staying here,” I concluded.
“It sounds that way,” Glass agreed. “We should keep some strength on this side, and if this lets you all take a trip home, then that’s for the best.”
“I’m still not sure why L’Arc is so keen to go to Naofumi’s world,” Kizuna commented. I agreed with that.
“What about you, Ethnobalt?” I asked the library rabbit. He had previously been the holder of the ship vassal weapon and had recently become the book vassal weapon hero. Power-ups for the book depended on the rarity of the weapons themselves. It was a little like the rarity boost featured in the sword and ofuda power-ups, but the rarity value of the weapon itself having an effect was more like the bow power-up. It wasn’t anything flashy, but just keeping an awareness of it would really boost the abilities of a weapon. The difference was that when a weapon was copied, a kind of serial number was provided. Better-quality weapons meant better enhancements to abilities. Copying a better-quality duplicate would overwrite the previous effect too. As we were dealing with books here, rare elements such as being a first edition might come into play. In the case of weapons from monsters or materials, the quality of the materials themselves would have some effect. It almost felt like a combination of the sword and bow power-up methods but also carried the annoyance of not being able to enhance the weapon directly. It was the kind of thing that was easy to forget about but that you also couldn’t underestimate the effects of.
“I’ll stay here and protect this world with Kizuna,” Ethnobalt replied. I had expected as much. He had learned to use life force and really opened up his latent abilities, making him much stronger than before. I wondered for a moment why all the magical types around me were slowly turning into muscle-heads—Rishia was another good example.
In light of this, anyway, I took a moment to consider the two sides. If I took just holy and vassal weapons into account, Kizuna, Glass, and Ethnobalt would be remaining here. The departing party would include me, Itsuki, Raphtalia, Sadeena, Shildina, Rishia, and L’Arc. Those numbers did give me pause.
“L’Arc, I’m fine with you coming along to show your face, but get back here as quickly as you can,” I told him.
“No need to be like that, kiddo! Show me some love!” he replied.
“Quit it,” I shot back.
“They’ve got the Demon Dragon here too; they’ll be fine. Right? She’s not going to turn down a request from you, kiddo,” L’Arc said archly.
“That’s true,” the Demon Dragon agreed. “I will do whatever the Shield Hero needs of me. I fail to understand why the Scythe Hero is the one pointing this out, however.” The Demon Dragon certainly was stronger than a hero on a bad day, that was for sure. Things had gone a lot better yesterday thanks to her presence. “One thing though. If you are returning to your own world, Shield Hero, the connection between us will be severed. That will almost make it impossible for me to provide the same kind of status boost that I did yesterday.”
“I’m sure Kizuna can help fill the hole left by Naofumi,” L’Arc said brightly. “They’re both holy weapon heroes. How difficult can it be?”
“Hah! Scythe Hero, and king. How simple you make things sound,” the Demon Dragon replied, a big vein popping out on her head.
“Hold on!” Kizuna exclaimed, also starting to complain. “What’s the Demon Dragon going to do to me? L’Arc, what are you expecting her to do to me?” L’Arc really was in a crazy mood ever since crossing over to my world had come up. I wondered what reason he could have to want to cross so badly.
“Answer her, L’Arc!” Glass commanded. “Just what do you expect Kizuna to do?”
“I was just thinking that maybe the dragon could do the same kind of thing as with kiddo here, that’s all,” L’Arc replied.
“You mean account-hacking,” I said.
“Account-hacking?! No way! Keep your scaly paws off my fishing rod!” Kizuna quickly exclaimed. The fact that she called it her “fishing rod” and not the hunting tool said pretty much everything you needed to know.
“Huh!” The Demon Dragon looked over at Kizuna and gave a snort of laughter.
“Hey. That laugh really makes me kind of angry,” Kizuna replied.
“If that’s the best rage you can manage, Kizuna, that’s not going to work. How about giving sloth a try, then? Think you can become the ultimate dragon emperor by feeding on Kizuna’s sloth?” I asked. When Kizuna had been under the sloth curse, she had shown no will to do anything at all, a pure blob of laziness. That had likely been an expression of her basic nature to blow things off and go have fun instead. If she could dig down into the laziness, it might allow her to access power equal to that of my own rage. The curse power of a holy weapon hero becoming a power source for the Demon Dragon seemed to make the most sense.
“My Shield Hero! What terrible orders do you place upon me?!” the Demon Dragon exclaimed.
“I am not lazy!” Kizuna added.
“If you truly believe that, try bringing out a cursed weapon that the Demon Dragon might take a liking to,” I told her. She pondered for a moment and then turned her weapon into Hunting Tool 0.
“No . . . not that one. I cannot handle the power of that particular weapon,” the Demon Dragon said, uncharacteristically backing down.
“It does work most effectively on corrupt power,” I commented.
“That is one aspect of it, but the source of its power is . . . Hmmm, I can’t actually remember. In any case, it’s a weapon very effective against dragons. I can have no part of it,” the Demon Dragon explained.
“Is that even a cursed weapon?” I asked.
“No, not really,” Kizuna conceded. “Not that I have much else to choose from—that one forbidden weapon, maybe?” Kizuna did have one weapon she could use to hurt people. The cost for using it was paid in experience—in levels. If possible, she didn’t want to use it, which made it a lot like my own wrath.
“That also isn’t suited to being used as a power source for me,” the Demon Dragon said. “If I were to attempt it during battle, I fear both I, myself, and the Hunting Tool Hero would become so weak we would be unable to keep fighting.” I guessed it was a cursed weapon, the only effect of which was to allow Kizuna to fight people. The Demon Dragon crossed her paws, giving Kizuna a bit of a perplexed look, her eyes narrowed. She went on. “That seems to leave us with no other choice. Dragons have the capacity to feed on idleness. I will attempt to draw all the sloth power from the Hunting Tool Hero that I can. You will need to be as lazy as possible!”
“Wow. It’s actually really annoying, being told to do it,” Kizuna replied.
“You may consider this punishment for the way you normally handle yourself,” Glass chided her. The whole incident that brought us here might have been prevented if Kizuna had taken action more swiftly, after all. She really was lazy at heart. Or at least, she only did the things she wanted to.
“Hey, I’ve been trying pretty hard recently! I can cook almost as well as Naofumi now!” Kizuna fought back.
“Mainly with fish,” I added. Due to her love of fishing, Kizuna had been drawn to fish-based dishes, it was true. She’d been great at gutting fish already and had some skills with cooking as a whole. So with a bit of instruction, she had scrubbed up quite nicely.
“Just keep on having her practice ways to get over her laziness,” I suggested. “If it looks like it might swallow her completely, send her out in a boat and have her fish the water of the four heavenly kings—that should sort her out.”
“Some good ideas!” the Demon Dragon enthused. “Well done, Shield Hero! You really do know everything, even about the laziness of the Hunting Tool Hero!”
“Am I really that simple?!” Kizuna shouted. I refrained from replying, but that was pretty much the exact method we used to overcome her sloth curse the first time.
“It’s in her true nature to be lazy . . . however sad it makes me to admit that,” Glass said—and she did sound very sad.
“Fear not, Shield Hero. If she becomes so far gone, her mind cannot be salvaged, I will absorb the Hunting Tool Hero and draw from her energy that way,” the dragon explained, completely matter-of-factly. That was the trick she tried to pull on me when we first met. “You’ll be able to laze around as much as you like inside me, right up until you die. Well, until I die . . . and seeing as I’m practically immortal, that should be a long time.” Living inside the Demon Dragon for almost an eternity . . . hell, a living hell.
“That sounds pretty frightening to me!” Glass exclaimed.
“I will master my sloth, you’ll see!” Kizuna shouted, her determination firm—for now. If she let it overtake her, the Demon Dragon would swallow her . . . It sounded like some kind of sick horror movie. The sad thing was Kizuna couldn’t attack people directly, so becoming one with the dragon might actually make her more useful in battle.
“Yeah, good luck,” I said, pretty listlessly.
“All the best with that,” the Demon Dragon added, clearly hoping it wouldn’t work out. Was Kizuna’s laziness going to become the power to save the world? I felt a headache coming on.
That settled that rather unsettling matter, anyway, forcing me to wonder again about L’Arc and his excitement to cross over.
“Whatever the reason,” I said, almost to myself, “I’ve been wanting to enhance the abilities of these heroes.” I gave a nod. “Just as an experiment, then, we’ll take L’Arc with us. We have the killer whale sisters, who are experts at helping people level up.”
“Bring it on!” L’Arc enthused, a bit too energetically for me. Something about his attitude still bothered me, but I just had to consider this a proactive choice and move on. “Your world is calling to me, kiddo!” It really was bothering me.
“That decides what’s happening with your people, Kizuna, but what about our side?” I asked. Raphtalia would be coming back, of course. Shildina clearly wanted to make the trip, and Sadeena would go where Raphtalia went. Filo wasn’t even in the room because of the Demon Dragon being here, and she definitely wouldn’t want to be left behind.
“We need to obtain more information from our captive, Mald,” Itsuki mentioned. “I still need to work him over a little more, so we should take him back with us to make sure he doesn’t escape.”
“Fehhh . . . Itsuki!” Rishia said, unsettled by his casual mention of torture. Itsuki was the Bow Hero, so he’d be coming back, and that meant Rishia too. S’yne was sure to go wherever I went.
“I think the Hengen Muso teacher is going to stay behind,” Raphtalia said. “She is getting along very well with Glass’s master.”
“Okay, I guessed as much.” She was pretty strong, making her a good candidate for experiments with our new enhancements. It would be interesting to see if she could come to match a hero in strength.
Anyway, that meant that almost everyone would be making the trip back with us. This had proven to be quite a long visit, so I wasn’t surprised everyone wanted to see home again. The situation here had moved back in our favor, so things should be okay for a while.
“Sounds like it’s all decided,” I said. Having made the decision to travel back as soon as possible, we set about passing the days until we got our chance.
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