Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Progenitor

It was the day after working with Ren and Imiya at the forge. We put the testing of the rest of the accessories on hold and headed to the castle in Siltran for a meeting. The situation was changing again, and we needed to discuss how we were going to handle it all.

Having overcome the recent battle, Siltran really seemed to be coming back to life. I’d been making those accessories with Imiya in order to sell the ones we didn’t need to Siltran’s rich folks to make us a bit more money to help with recovery.

“How are things looking?” I asked Melty. She was the queen of Melromarc and had also been unlucky enough to get caught up in the village being transported into the past.

“We’ve received emissaries from the other nations, each trying to gauge our circumstances for themselves,” she replied.

“That’s not the issue though,” Mamoru took over, muttering to himself, head in his hands. Mamoru Shirono was apparently my predecessor as Shield Hero. He was also the one leading the nation of Siltran, which would eventually become Siltvelt. After we had been shot back here into the past, Mamoru—the Shield Hero from this time—had been the first person we met. Through that piece of good fortune, we had obtained the cooperation of the country he was leading—Siltran, which in our time would become the demi-human therianthrope nation of Siltvelt. Even here in the past there were ambitious enemies who had to be thwarted, like the massive nation of Piensa, who was leading others in the world to try and occupy Siltran. We had worked with Siltran to stop one such attempted Piensa invasion, but it had turned out that Mamoru had some secrets he couldn’t share with other people.

One of these secrets was that the four ruling races of Siltvelt in the future, which seemed to be based on the four divine beasts, had been created by Mamoru here in the past by modifying orphans under his care.

But there was more. Here in the past they had also fought the guardian beasts, just like we had in the future—beasts that sought to protect the world by creating a barrier fueled by human souls. During one of those battles, Mamoru’s girlfriend had been killed by Suzaku, a guardian beast, and her soul was partly absorbed. But he was now trying to bring her back to life.

Only some of those who had come to the past with me knew these facts. I was going to have to fill everyone in soon. Mamoru was still clutching his head, but he didn’t look worried about his secrets getting out. His issue was more likely something else.

“They’re trying to work out what we’re planning, right?” I said.

“That’s right,” Mamoru replied.

“I’ve seen that look before on the generals when I was in Q’ten Lo,” Ruft commented. He had been the Heavenly Emperor of Q’ten Lo, so I wasn’t surprised he had experience in such matters. I’d received my own reports of more outsiders visiting the village recently. Some were trying to bring us into the fold, others trying to hold us back, while they were all conducting their own surveys to see how best to act next. Luckily, we had plenty of high-level individuals in the village, and the Raph species could spot anyone trying to come in and poke around while concealed. We also had the filolials and monsters on watch, making it pretty hard to sneak around us. That was probably why they were approaching Mamoru, trying to forge some kind of connection and see what was going on inside our nation.

They also probably wanted to know where we had even come from.

These were common tactics even in the history of the Earth I came from. A missionary would visit to spread their religion but really investigate the military strength of a nation and then report back to their homeland. If a decision was made the nation could be defeated, the invasion would follow quickly. Even if our visitors didn’t have such aggressive plans, they were likely checking to make sure we weren’t a threat to their own nation. Wanting to find out the truth behind warriors capable of defeating one of those who assume the name of god or making sure their own nation wasn’t at risk . . . there were multiple reasons. It wasn’t difficult to give them the boot, after all. But either way, I wanted to avoid a situation with emissaries coming to the village at every hour of the day or night.

Another issue was that our village had arrived close to Siltran’s border. It wasn’t exactly the best location. Defeating the ones behind the waves was important, but getting back to our own time was important too. However, if we could defeat all of the ones who assume the name of god in this time period, maybe it would bring peace to the future. We could hope. There were also S’yne’s sworn enemies, the force that Bitch had aligned herself with and that had been pulling the strings of the chaos in Kizuna’s world. They seemed to be an extension of the forces of the ones who assume the name of god, and so changing history might wipe them out completely—not that I was counting on such a simple solution to our problems.

In any case, we needed to find a way back home. That was something we weren’t having much luck with, and under those circumstances, it was foolish to worry too much about keeping nosy visitors happy when we had no real idea what they wanted.

“Queen Melty is a political animal,” I said. “We should probably leave this kind of stuff to her.” Melty had spent most of her life observing the complicated political dealings of a massive nation back in our own time period, so she should be able to bring those skills to bear here. It was a stroke of luck that we had the perfect person for the job here with us.

“You know how to put me to work, Naofumi,” Melty moaned.

“We can handle any fighting that breaks out, but when it comes to political stuff, that’s your arena,” I responded.

“I guess you’re right. I don’t think we have to worry about them now, anyway. Just let them do their thing. In fact, we should probably be putting on a show of force for them—even more than we have already,” Melty suggested.

“Should we avoid revealing too much about the ongoing recovery, then?” I asked. The nation was still in tatters after the war and the Suzaku attack. The lumo we had in the village were all good with their hands, and we had them helping out with the repairs. Things were proceeding well, but the cracks still showed, if you looked hard enough.

“No need to hide that stuff. They know the extent of that already. The bigger threat at the moment are those of us from the future, Naofumi,” Melty said with a serious expression on her face. “We’re going to start facing all sorts of plans and attacks to try and steal us away. We need not only the trading parties but everyone in the village to be strong enough to defend themselves from whatever might come.”

“Sounds like some more level grinding ahead,” I said. It wasn’t a bad idea to enhance our forces. In this world, killing monsters allowed for experience points to be gained, represented as a numerical value. Once a certain amount of them were accrued, you could level up and become stronger. I recalled the battle with S’yne’s sister. Based on our struggles in that conflict, it was clear that even we heroes needed more levels.

Each of the weapons a hero held had a power-up method inside, and from among these methods there was one that allowed the basic quality—the foundation abilities that would become future strength—to be enhanced via the consumption of levels. We were making use of it ourselves. But based on what we had seen in battle with S’yne’s sister—who also possessed a hero weapon herself, as did others in the force she belonged to—she was clearly enhancing herself in the same kind of way. That meant there was a gap in our abilities that was difficult to pinpoint based purely on level number. Even if on the surface we appeared to be the same—say level 80—if the accumulated enhancement actually created a 100-level gap, then in reality we wouldn’t stand a chance.

The waves had also led to monsters rampaging across the world, causing all sorts of damage. Cleaning up some of those monsters would help keep the peace, and the enhancement received from it would also be useful once we got back home.

“Good idea. We need to show them that they’ll get a fight if they come for us. What we really need to watch for, though, is the possibility of attempts to obtain sensitive information from people other than the heroes,” Melty warned.

“I think all the villagers are on the ball when it comes to that. We should be fine,” I said, a little offhandedly. Many of the people in the village I had restored came from the same nation as Raphtalia, and almost all of them were former slaves. They were generally a lighthearted and cheerful bunch, but they had all been through the wringer in various ways and knew how harsh the world could be. That said, some of them weren’t that smart. We did need to be careful. “I guess a potential issue would be that yappy puppy, the filolials, and Keel,” I pondered.

“You just said Keel twice,” Raphtalia noted archly.

“She’s so dumb. That’s my concern. Even if it isn’t for some totally nefarious scheme, she could easily fall for some legit-looking spy and start giving stuff away,” I said.

“That’s . . . actually quite possible,” Raphtalia admitted.

“I have to question you questioning the filolials so casually. Why did you ignore that part, Raphtalia?” Melty cut in.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Raphtalia replied.

“I’m just telling the truth,” I defended myself.

“That’s right,” Ruft backed me up. “There’s nothing scarier than a flock of filolials.”

“You need to stop giving all your favors to the Raph species and start getting along with the filolials too,” Melty chided him.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he replied.

“I simply can’t believe you were once such a filolial fan,” Melty said, putting a hand to her forehead at Ruft’s response.

“Filolials are violent beasts, after all. There are still some who come after Keel and Imiya, seeing them as prey. Ruft has his head on straight in this matter,” I said. The filolials we were talking about were avian monsters large enough to pull a wagon. They developed in unique ways if they were raised by a hero. They were generally easygoing and loved to eat, but they could turn violent.

“I’m not sure how I should respond to this exchange,” Mamoru said from the sidelines, evidently unsure what expression to make. We had recently discovered that the filolials were probably creatures originally created by Holn, the Whip Hero in this time. There were all sorts of secrets concealed back here in the past, meaning we had to stay alert even though we knew the future. There could be any number of pitfalls waiting around each corner.

“What about your girlfriend? Overcome her little problem yet?” I asked him. I was talking about the self-named Filolia, the Claw Hero and seemingly the origin of the filolials. When I said “little problem,” I was actually talking about her death in battle. Mamoru was desperately trying to bring her back to life. We had been party to a recent experiment to do so, and I was subtly asking about how it was going.

“You have a girlfriend?” Melty asked, picking up on something and looking over at Mamoru.

“It’s going well. You and your friends have really helped the situation, Naofumi. But there’s no need to hide any of this here, is there?” he asked.

“I already know you’re keeping secrets. Isn’t it about time you let me in on them?” Melty asked. She was of royal blood, after all. She could pick up on someone hiding something but continue to ignore it on purpose, if it so suited the situation. It was the mark of a ruler. If she couldn’t play these kinds of games, she wouldn’t be fit to lead the largest nation in the future.

“Okay. We can let you know now,” Mamoru said. “All thanks to you, Naofumi. But . . . I would rather Natalia doesn’t hear about this,” he confessed with a wry smile. Then Mamoru started to explain to Melty all the secrets he had been keeping.

Our discovery of all this had come on the night before we defeated one of the ones who assume the name of god. Cian, one of the kids Mamoru looked after, had led us into a hidden research base located beneath Siltran castle. There we had uncovered his experiments to restore his girlfriend Filolia to life and his modification of kids into the future representative races of Siltvelt. We’d had a bit of a scuffle, but they had proven unable to match us. Cian and I managed to talk Mamoru down, and after accepting defeat, he had explained the situation. We had gone on to pretty much resolve it for him.

“I don’t think that’s especially pleasant research,” Melty admitted, “but considering what we’re facing, maybe we should accept it as a necessary evil.” After what we had seen during the last wave, it wasn’t surprising that she might think this way. We’d been lucky enough to have a weapon that proved effective in the battle; if we’d been left to our regular means, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.

We still didn’t know what path the past was going to take, but at some point after this, the filolials would be created.

“I see,” Melty finally said. “I had no idea the origin of the filolials concealed such a sad secret.”

“You can accept this, Melty? You too, Ruft?” Raphtalia asked.

“Making a fuss about it now won’t change anything. It sounds like Naofumi has already negotiated this out,” Melty replied pragmatically.

“How is this different from what happened with Mikey?” Ruft said, also totally casual about the whole thing. “The Raph species were created in a slightly different way, perhaps, but isn’t it the same kind of thing in the end?” Ruft hung out in his Raph species-like therianthrope form most of the time—Keel could even take notes. He was in his demi-human form right then, and Raphtalia gave him a strange look. I guessed it was because he looked so much like her own father. That made me wonder which of his forms caused her less mental distress. Both of them were hard on her, just in different ways.

“Of course,” Raphtalia finally said, with a twist of her mouth. “You’ve already undergone human experimentation yourself, haven’t you, Ruft? I chose the wrong place to look for sympathy.”

“I look pretty great for it too, don’t I?” Ruft said, showing off the results. Raphtalia did not reply.

“Just take a look at Naofumi’s village!” Melty chipped in. “He’s in no position to talk about any kind of moral code.”

“That’s true,” Raphtalia said. “The Raph species, and Ruft, and then Ruft again. Naofumi even said he wants me to become like Ruft.” She was still carrying that around.

“Sounds like you’re pretty much the same as me,” Mamoru said with a laugh. “That certainly makes this easier.”

“Still, this isn’t information we want our enemies to know. It’s probably better to hide it from Natalia if we can,” Melty agreed.

“I guess so,” I pondered. “The worry there is that if hiding it fails, Natalia might turn on Mamoru in anger, and our alliance with her would fall apart.”

“I’m asking you to do this with a full understanding of the high risk of failure. I won’t hold it against you if things do fail . . . and Filolia has regained consciousness now anyway, so there’s no need to even worry about it,” Mamoru revealed. His eyes went over to the doorway even as he spoke. He had been wishing for this reunion with his girlfriend for so long; he must have wanted to be with her really badly.

“Oh? She’s awake?” Melty asked.

“Yes. She should be able to come out soon,” Mamoru said happily. Things seemed to be proceeding even more smoothly than I’d imagined. “She’s awake and talking. I’ve explained everything about you and the others, Naofumi. I’d like to introduce you, if you have some time now?”

“Sure, okay. If she melts away the moment she comes out of that thing, don’t blame us,” I said.

“Why do you have to say such horrible things?” Melty chided me.

“If that did happen, I’d also be at fault. We’ve taken every step we can to make sure this will work,” Mamoru said confidently. “No need to worry on that score.” The meeting kind of fizzled out at that point, and we headed to Mamoru’s previously secret underground facility.

We headed down the stairs beneath Siltran castle. Along the way we encountered one of Mamoru’s familiars standing guard in front of the lab. It was the one called Fitoria. She raised a hand and gave us a casual greeting. At a glance she looked younger than the Fitoria we knew and seemed far less emotional. She wasn’t exactly a doll, but it did feel like she only moved according to orders.

“Hey, Naofumi,” Melty asked, tugging on my sleeve. “She looks a little younger, but is that . . . Fitoria?”

“Maybe, but I don’t yet think she’s the Fitoria that we know,” I replied.

“I understood everything you told me back there, but after seeing Fitoria, I actually believe it,” Melty mused.

“I guess we can consider her a prototype Fitoria,” I said.

“Are you trying to sound cool?” Melty asked snidely.

“Not really. She’s very different from the Fitoria we know. There’s a chance she’s a different person with the same name. Holn said she was still being worked on,” I replied. It might be this one is just the shell for now, with the contents to be added later. She did have certain aspects that were the same as the Fitoria we knew . . . but there were clearly things that were different too. This prototype Fitoria was lacking something . . . something soul-related. That much was clear to me.

“Okay then. But she really does look like her. I can feel the reality of everything you told me,” Melty stated. We headed into Mamoru’s lab as we talked. Only about half of the tanks were occupied, as the kids Mamoru took care of had already finished their treatments and were now resting around the castle. The remaining tanks contained experimental clones of Filolia . . . those that would presumably become the filolials. Further in the back there was another girl floating in a final tank, her chest more prominent than last time. She had a face that was like a mixture of Fitoria and R’yne, a girl with long hair. She had red wings on her back, which had apparently come from the application of a Suzaku gene.

“Ah, you finally decided to show up,” Holn, the Whip Hero from this time, said. She was there in the lab to greet us. She called herself an evil alchemist and was apparently Ratotille’s ancestor, the alchemist who took care of the monsters in my village. Holn was a researcher who used the power of the Whip seven star weapon to conduct all sorts of experiments. She was also Mamoru’s collaborator and was closely tied to the current incident. The one who ultimately created the filolials was more likely Holn than it was Mamoru. The filolials’ hatred of dragons was connected to Holn too.

It seemed Holn had a whole thing against dragons being the most powerful monsters. That idea seemed to have been passed down to her descendant, Rat.

“Does this mean you are finally letting little old Filolia out? Everything is ready,” Holn said.

“Thanks, Holn,” Mamoru replied.

“Where’s R’yne? Won’t she want to see this?” I asked. I was pretty sure she was training with S’yne again today.

“She was here talking with Filolia until a moment ago. But she upset her and got chased out,” Holn explained.

“Stuck her nose in the wrong place again, did she?” I said. R’yne was the Sewing Kit Hero from another world and seemed to be S’yne’s ancestor and Filolia’s sister. She never took anything especially seriously, no matter the situation. She’d met up with Mamoru and his allies when she came here looking for her own sister, who had been summoned to another world as the Claw Hero. She was also the one who had suggested to me that my inability to attack would mean sex with me wouldn’t hurt either. I hadn’t forgiven her for that, and I never would. I could use a knife when cooking and chopping things up just fine! There was no basis for her hypothesis . . . or so I liked to believe.

I started down that path for a moment—during cooking, I was actually cutting with the attack power of the knife, while sex would be considered something I did with my own bare hands—but then shook it off. She was always running her mouth. That was the point I was trying to make, and so she must have said something to piss her sister off.

“They seemed to be getting along well,” Holn said. “But then Filolia chased her off for some reason.”

“Okay, whatever,” I said. What a failure as a sister to get chased off just when her sibling was about to come out of this tank. I didn’t really care and looked idly over at the doorway to see it open and Cian peering inside.

“Ah, are you about to let Filolia out?” Cian asked us after looking around.

“Seems like it,” I replied.

“Where’s Fohl?” Cian asked.

“He’s back in the village,” I replied.

“Really? Why?” Cian inquired.

“We just ended up here after the meeting, and he’s not involved in meetings,” I explained.

“Okay,” Cian said. She was one of the orphans, a cat demi-human, and seemingly the ancestor of the hakuko, which was Fohl’s race. We’d discovered a whole bunch of ancestors, basically. Cian was very open with Fohl as a result, interacting with him with all her barriers down. She acted differently from how she did with Mamoru or me . . . like a big sister ordering her brother around. Fohl didn’t seem especially comfortable around Cian, and personally I thought we should keep them apart unless it was really required. This feeling probably stemmed from the fact Cian felt a bit like Atla.

“Filolia,” Mamoru said. There was no reply. The girl floated in the culture tank, eyes closed, saying nothing. She looked exactly as she did when I saw her before—no changes at all. We were faced with the fact that the situation might be very different from what Mamoru had been expecting. The atmosphere around us was taking a nasty turn—I had to wonder if things really were okay. “Filolia? Hey, are you okay?” Mamoru continued, checking the vital signs displayed on the terminal. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Filolia’s eyes seemed to have fluttered a little.

Mamoru seemed to be struggling a little too, sounding concerned and sighing with a furrowed brow over the text on the terminal. He continued to try to operate it, but to no noticeable avail. Concern grew on his face with each attempt, and he scratched his head and tried again. Eventually it looked like he had given up completely, and he looked despondent.

“That’s enough! Everything is ready! Return to life! The most ultimate and powerful life-form that I have ever created!” Mamoru said. I was a bit surprised by this outburst, and then he hit a button on the terminal. The liquid inside the tank started to bubble and drain away. With a hissing sound, smoke whipped up around the tank and then the sealing popped open.

“I awaken from my long slumber!” the girl from inside shouted, appearing amid the lingering smoke in a pose with her left hand covering her right eye. “Filolia returns beautifully to life!” I was left speechless. “Thank you all for participating in my awakening! Your names shall go down in the Chronicles of the Dark Hero, the Maniacal Brave, as chronicled by the great chronicler of the Crimson Evil Flicker, Red Shadow Wing! Bring all of your strength to bear!” She held the same pose, an expression of pure confidence on her face.

No one else was speaking. Silence stifled the lab for a moment.

Her real name was apparently L’yne. She had used being summoned to another world as an excuse to change her name to Filolia. That had been a bit of a red flag for me already.

“Mamoru, sorry to be the one to say this, but it seems the experiment has failed. We woke her up too quickly, and she seems to be suffering from . . . mental defects. We should dispose of this failure at once,” I suggested.

“Hey! Hold on!” Filolia said. She seemed shocked by my words.

“I warned you,” Mamoru said to her, looking exhausted by the entire thing. “Naofumi isn’t the kind of person to go for that kind of joke.”

“I’m not joking around! I’m the Dark Hero, the Maniacal Brave! I’m cool!” she retorted. Mamoru and the girl calling herself Filolia started to argue with each other.

“Filolia seems the same as always. I’m glad,” Cian commented.

“That’s a success?” I said.

“Yeah,” Cian nodded. She actually nodded. I wasn’t sure what to do with this information. “High maintenance” did not seem apt enough for what a girl like that would put you through. I suddenly had no idea about Mamoru’s tastes at all. When he told us about her, he had made her sound like she had her head in the right place. She was the one, he had told us, who said it was strange for Siltran to rely purely on the heroes to fight the waves. From the exchange I had just seen, she looked like a moron, nothing more. “She always jokes around like that,” Cian explained, “but when things get serious, you’ll want her around.”

“Okay . . . a shame she can’t be serious all the time,” I commented.

“I agree,” Cian said simply.

“I wonder if you shouldn’t have made some modifications before releasing her from the tube?” I said.

“That wouldn’t be reviving little old Filolia, now would it? It wouldn’t be the Filolia that Mamoru so wants to see again,” Holn replied.

“It would probably be better than this,” I stated.

“Just let them have their fun. She’ll be serious when we need her,” Holn responded. There were all sorts of reasons why I didn’t want to give this new nutcase the time of day.

“It sounds like everything you told me was legit,” Melty said.

“Why are you okay with this?” Raphtalia asked. Ruft and I seemed to have the same question.

“Haven’t you ever seen this, Naofumi? Raphtalia? Sometimes there are filolials who act like that,” Melty said.

“Okay. I’ve never seen that and don’t want to,” I told her. All the filolials I knew were airheaded gluttons. I’d never encountered one with an extreme case of chuunibyou.

“If the others talk with one like that for too long, the same tendencies get transferred over to them,” Melty continued. It was like some kind of sickness. I definitely didn’t want to catch that.

“Any way to fix it?” I asked.

“Filo and Chick tend to keep them under control, which stops it from getting too bad. But they can’t do anything to stop the original spreader,” Melty explained.

“Sounds hopeless,” I replied.

“Just think of it as her personality and let it go,” Raphtalia suggested.

“The only monsters we need in the village are the Raph species,” I asserted.

“You said it!” Ruft agreed.

“Please don’t reduce this issue down to that,” Raphtalia said. “Now can we please introduce ourselves?”

“Yeah, I guess we should . . .” I looked over at the two of them again. Filolia was waving her arms up and down at Mamoru, like a child, trying to convince him she wasn’t wrong. I decided to just go ahead. “I’m Naofumi Iwatani. I’m the Shield Hero from the future. Mamoru has been helping me and my friends out. Nice to meet you,” I managed. The girl calling herself Filolia turned to look at me. She did have a Filo vibe about her. I could understand if this was the progenitor of the filolials.

I held out some candy, which I’d picked up as a treat to take back for Keel and the others.

“Oh, thanks!” Filolia cried, reaching out for it at once and then starting to lick it happily. “So sweet! Delicious!” she exclaimed. It was starting to feel exactly like interacting with a filolial. I was confronted by the power of genetics.

“There, there,” I said, putting a hand on Filolia’s head and patting her.

“Naofumi?!” Mamoru exclaimed. Filolia gave a happy titter for a moment.

“Hold on!” Then she snapped back to herself. “How dare you touch the Maniacal Brave, the Claw Hero, also known as Brave Claws!” She tried to knock my hand away but was met with a solid wall of resistance, which she also started to complain about. “So hard! This guy is like a rock! I can’t move his hand at all!” I wondered how long this comedy routine was going to continue for. Maybe I could just laugh it all off, but I wasn’t sure that was the best idea. “Mamoru!” she said and proceeded to jump onto Mamoru. I was starting to worry about all the fresh crap it looked like we needed to deal with.

Mamoru, for his part, seemed nothing more than Filolia’s guardian. Right then, he was holding Filolia, stroking her head to soothe her.

“Look, you see. If you act normally with Naofumi, he’ll answer you back normally. If you joke around, then Naofumi will treat you like a child,” Mamoru explained.

“Boo . . . okay,” Filolia said. For a moment I seriously considered calling her Filo II. She felt like Melty and Filo combined together, with some of the old Ren mixed in.

“I’m Filolia, the Claw Hero and ally to Mamoru. You’ve come from the future? How lovely!” she said.

“Lovely, is it?” I muttered. I was getting more and more suspicious. I really didn’t want to get involved with her, but I continued the conversation. “And do you understand the situation you’re in?”

“Yes. Look at the forbidden arts you have dabbled with in order to revive me. I knew this was a profession that demands all forms of malevolence, but then I’m at fault for having been killed so easily . . . I’m ready to join you in working to atone for our sins and wish to bring an end to the waves alongside you,” Filolia stated. She seemed to like to say things in a roundabout way. Talking to her was wearing me out.

“Filolia. Your words, your words,” Mamoru chided her.

“I’m not enamored with everything you’ve done, but this is the situation we’re in now, so I’ll do my best,” Filolia said. It had taken all this time just to impart this simple information. This really was going to be a pain.

In any case, I seemed to have no choice but to accept her as both S’yne’s ancestor and one of the filolials.

“Okay. Then we’ll ask for your help . . . I guess. If you understand the situation, then you know what we’re trying to do, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. You’ve been helping Mamoru and my friends, so I’ll help you too. Whatever I can do to help you get back to the future, count me in,” Filolia said, giving another bow. “I can deploy these as my new optical wings. Some aspect of the Suzaku.” Filolia raised her claws as she spoke. The seven star weapons were the vassal weapons of the four holy heroes . . . the holy weapons. I wondered if the claws were a vassal of the shield. I didn’t have anyone using them in my party.