SCENE: Tavern hall in the village of Lute. Morning light streams through the windows. FILO is sprawled on a bench, absorbed in a large book. The cover of the book is beautifully decorated, with the clearly visible title stating THE ART OF DEFENSE ON FOOT in golden lettering. The writing underneath the title is not so distinct.
NAOFUMI descends down the stairs. He notices FILO, and stops dead when he realizes what she is doing.
NAOFUMI: Morning Filo. You are…reading?
FILO hums indistinctly, and licks her finger to flip over a page. NAOFUMI comes closer.
NAOFUMI: I’ve never seen you with a book before. I didn’t even know you could read.
FILO snorts.
FILO: That’s because most books are trash.
She snaps the book closed and rises from the bench, stretching, and hands the book to NAOFUMI.
FILO: Fredalia gave it to me this morning. Dunno where she got it.
NAOFUMI looks over the book, opening the first pages.
NAOFUMI: Must have been from Reibia’s library. “The art of defense on foot with broadsword and saber" You don’t even fight with a sword.
FILO: Maybe I’ll start. Besides, there's some decent footwork advice in there.
FILO claps NAOFUMI on the back.
FILO: Cmon, let’s go. Been waiting for you to get up, the others are in the mines already.
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SCENE: Mines near the Lute village. NAOFUMI and FILO approach a group of VILLAGERS arguing with RAPHTALIA, who is standing on top of a large box. Most of the VILLAGERS are young. RAPHTALIA notices their approach and waves them over. VILLAGERS split to allow them to pass into the center of the group.
RAPHTALIA: Me and Gus went around and gathered the people that wanted to help you. We are only missing a few.
NAOFUMI nods.
RAPHTALIA: We’ve been having some issues, though.
NAOFUMI frowns.
NAOFUMI: What kind of issues?
VILLAGER 1: Yeah, see, Raphtalia here isn’t making any sense. She says we have to train together with the demis, but why do we gotta do that? I mean, I don’t have issues with them if that’s gotta be your thing, but can’t we just train separately? You know like, separate but equal?
NAOFUMI rubs his forehead.
NAOFUMI: Oh, I see. That’s an excellent point. Counterpoint: Filo, punch him in the teeth.
FILO’s fist snaps out faster than the eye could follow, and VILLAGER 1 falls on the ground clutching his mouth. RAPHTALIA pinches her nose. FILO looks at her fist, then at NAOFUMI, with a bored expression.
FILO: Why?
NAOFUMI: Political education, I’ll explain later.
NAOFUMI climbs on top of the box to stand next to RAPHTALIA.
NAOFUMI: Let’s get through this as quickly as we can, I had this up to my neck with Syne yesterday. Who else here is very confused about why do you have to train together with the demihumans?
The crowd of VILLAGERS looks around uncertainly.
NAOFUMI: I promise Filo won’t punch you. Come on, show of hands?
With some hesitation, some hands are raised. NAOFUMI claps his hands.
NAOFUMI: Excellent. Let’s do a thought experiment.
NAOFUMI raises his shield, and an illusory image is projected out of its central gem. It’s the fight they had with a CHIMERA in the caves near Malatok. Some gasps spread through the crowd at the speed and violence of the fight.
NAOFUMI: We’ve been calling this thing a chimera. It’s fast, can shoot lightning, and is stupidly violent. Say we are in the middle of a Wave, and your group comes across this thing. Say that it eats most of your group, and you are the last one standing. In the distance, you can see a second group we’ve trained, who might - might! - come to your aid and save you from being eaten.
NAOFUMI looks around the crowd.
NAOFUMI: Now you’ve got two choices. That group can be either made up entirely of demihumans because you trained separately, or it can be a mixed group. Which one do you want?
NAOFUMI points to VILLAGER 1.
NAOFUMI: You. Which group do you want to see there?
VILLAGER 1 looks around.
VILLAGER 1: I…don’t know? If they got weapons, what does it matter?
NAOFUMI’s eyebrows rise in mock surprise.
NAOFUMI: What does it matter? Well I’ll tell you what does it matter. If you saw your brother - or your mother, or someone else from your family - being attacked by this thing, would you help them?
VILLAGER 1: Well yeah, of course.
NAOFUMI: And if it was some guy you’ve never met?
VILLAGER hesitates, and doesn’t answer. NAOFUMI continues unabated.
NAOFUMI: Yeah, I thought so. But if that guy saved your life minutes before, maybe you’d think differently. Now tell me, why the fuck would an all-demihuman group come to your aid? They know you wouldn’t help them if your positions were swapped. You can’t even stomach training with them! If I was in their place, I’d leave you to die. I can’t accept this kind of division when it matters most. This is a life and death fight, and even the smallest weakness can kill us all.
VILLAGER 1: Come on, you are exaggerating!
NAOFUMI: Exaggerating? Filo was eaten alive just days ago.
A wave of disbelief spreads through the crowd. FILO squints, still a bit sore from her mistake.
FILO: Eh. Could have happened to anyone.
NAOFUMI fiddles with his shield. An image of FILO soaring into the sky in a shower of blood and bone appears above the shield. Her face is stretched in a mad grin. VILLAGERS step away from her in fear. FILO doesn’t seem to notice. NAOFUMI looks over the crowd and turns off the projection.
NAOFUMI: I will not deal with this bullshit during the wave. Everyone will help everyone else, regardless of anything. Otherwise we’ll all die. You will eat together, sleep together, train together, until you can fight together, or you will not go anywhere. This is the last time I will talk about this: if you can’t deal, then go back to the village. Those who know where they stand, find me near the mine entrance in a moment.
NAOFUMI hops off the crate, and FILO and RAPHTALIA follow him out of the crowd. RAPTHALIA leans over to NAOFUMI and whispers in his ear.
RAPHTALIA: Fredalia very explicitly told me not to be aggressive. She said it’d make relations worse in the future.
NAOFUMI sighs.
NAOFUMI: She’s almost certainly right, but I am getting real fucking tired, and we have other things to do.
RAPHTALIA sighs.
RAPHTALIA: You could have at least let me punch him.
NAOFUMI shrugs.
NAOFUMI: Carrot and stick, good socialist and bad socialist. Better for you to be the carrot than for nobody to be.
They wait near the mine entrance. Soon, the group of VILLAGERS approaches them. It is a bit smaller, but not by much. NAOFUMI nods to them.
NAOFUMI: Good. First priority is to get you all up in levels. After that, we’ll split you up into mixed groups. Here is what we will do…
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SCENE: Lute tavern, late evening. NAOFUMI, CONSTANCE, RAPHTALIA and FILO are gathered around a table, eating stew. FILO has several books open in front of her, and is writing down notes into a small notebook, flipping between pages of the different books.
CONSTANCE: To summarize, the organization is going surprisingly well on all fronts - gathering herbs, hunting, construction, and even human relations aren’t as bad as I feared. After another day, I’d be pretty confident in leaving them on their own.
NAOFUMI nods.
NAOFUMI: That’s good. We’ll need another day to catch the human villagers up on their leveling anyways.
CONSTANCE: After that, I would suggest we head to Malatok.
NAOFUMI frowns.
NAOFUMI: Not straight for Shieldfrieden? Why?
CONSTANCE leans back.
CONSTANCE: Several reasons. First of all, with this operation I have been largely out of contact with my own organization, barring short times when we were directly visiting specific safehouses. Of course, it can operate independently for months at a time - but I prefer to do regular check-ins. Secondly, it would be best if I was seen in my human persona, even for a short while - there is a great deal of information and influence I can only access that way, and the charade of me pretending to be sick can only hold up for so long. With a day in Malatok, I could construct a much better, long-term excuse for my absence. Finally, if we are to be rid of this curse your shield put on us, we would need information - and Malatok, with its extensive magical libraries, is the place to be for that.
RAPHTALIA: I’ll stay here to coordinate people, I think.
NAOFUMI nods.
NAOFUMI: It’s a good point. If Itsuki is still there, I will ask him. There are lots of topics to discuss - the curse, the monster, and even this new class selection menu the shield showed me.
CONSTANCE raises her eyebrows.
CONSTANCE: You don’t have any classes already?
NAOFUMI blinks.
NAOFUMI: You know something about this?
CONSTANCE steeples her fingers.
CONSTANCE: It isn’t much of a secret. The Church has a set of rituals performed near the dragon hourglass that allow a person to pick a “class”. This grants them various abilities depending on their level. I would have figured you would have had them picked from the start.
NAOFUMI purses his lips.
NAOFUMI: I suppose that is yet another thing they “forgot” to tell me about. Nonetheless, it seems that after I got to the forty fifth level, I gained an ability to pick classes for people in my party, as long as they are above level twenty. That fight with The Beast gave us a lot of experience points, and training the villagers today got me over the threshold.
NAOFUMI rubs his forehead.
NAOFUMI: So what class are you then?
CONSTANCE: You can’t see it yourself?
NAOFUMI frowns, then focuses on his shield for a bit.
NAOFUMI: Not without adding you to the party, it seems.
CONSTANCE: That’s good. It means the other heroes will not know this.
CONSTANCE looks at the others.
CONSTANCE: I am Courtly Shadow, though the church records will have me down as a Courtier Ascendant. I had to go all the way to Shieldfrieden’s dragon hourglass for it, and then pretend to get a different one here. The church keeps a pretty tight grip on the process, so except for nobility, the clergy, and their guards, most people will not have any class at all.
CONSTANCE leans back.
CONSTANCE: The abilities are mostly minor, though the combat classes do get some good things out of it. I wouldn’t worry too much about missing out until now.
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SCENE: NAOFUMI and FILO are heading down the street in Malatok. Despite the sun shining bright in the sky, the street is relatively deserted. Here and there, heavy patrols of guards pass by, but none of them approach NAOFUMI and FILO. As they walk, NAOFUMI is looking around cautiously.
Soon enough, they come to Itsuki’s club, and slip inside. There are fewer STUDENTS in the hall this time, but SEFI is still there. She recognises NAOFUMI and comes to greet him.
NAOFUMI: I am here for…
NAOFUMI snaps his fingers a couple times, trying to remember ITSUKI’s false identity.
NAOFUMI: …your boss.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
SEFI: He isn’t here. For real this time.
NAOFUMI clacks his tongue.
NAOFUMI: Tell him I stopped by. I’ll be back in the evening, there are some things I’d like to talk about.
NAOFUMI and FILO head back to the entrance, and come face to face with ITSUKI, followed by his entire party. There are bags under ITSUKI’s eyes. His party looks a bit better, but not by much. ITSUKI grabs NAOFUMI by the arm and walks towards his office.
ITSUKI: Need to talk to you, right now.
ITSUKI motions for his party to stand guard in the hall. FILO tags along with NAOFUMI. ITSUKI closes the door to his office, then looks under the table, behind the shelves and in various cupboards, as if looking for bugs. NAOFUMI watches the process, then snaps his fingers, reaches into his bag and takes out some manuscripts.
NAOFUMI: This reminds me. Here are the writings for the Spark - you promised to publish them.
ITSUKI: What? Oh, yeah, put them on that table.
NAOFUMI puts the papers down and starts making tea while ITSUKI is busy. Finally, ITSUKI collapses in one of the chairs, exhausted.
ITSUKI: Be honest. Did you do it?
NAOFUMI: Did I do what?
ITSUKI sighs.
ITSUKI: Three days ago, the estate of a local marquis by the name of Idoru Reibia was attacked by a giant monster. We here in Malatok heard of it a day after that - a messenger rode pretty much without stopping all the way from a town right next to the estate, using the fastest filofials around. As soon as I heard of it, I took my entire party there to look at the damage. We haven’t slept in two days, but it was worth it. The entire place is destroyed. There is a giant fracture in the earth where the manor used to be and half the buildings around it have been reduced to rubble. The marquis himself is missing - I assume buried beneath one of the buildings. The monster itself, miraculously, is dead - with a massive hole in it’s spine, and its skull shattered, gods know how.
FILO grins at the compliment. ITSUKI is facing away from her and doesn’t notice.
ITSUKI: A good thing too, because without a Hero on the scene, I doubt there would have been any survivors for miles. Even while dead, that thing is terrifying. On top of that, over six hundred demihuman slaves they apparently kept on the estate have, best as anyone could tell, vanished into thin air. This is absolutely unprecedented - no such monster has ever been seen in any of the Waves up to date, and no Wave was happening there at the time.
NAOFUMI finishes making tea, and pours himself and ITSUKI a cup. ITSUKI looks up at NAOFUMI.
ITSUKI: Current theory around Malatok is that demihumans have conjured the monster using some kind of secret sacrificial demihuman blood magic, which is why they all vanished. That didn’t sound right to me. So I asked myself, who do I know who is involved with local nobility, slaves, and unprecedented bullshit? Your name came up.
NAOFUMI: That so?
ITSUKI: Well, if you wanted to cause a ruckus, you got it. Everyone is freaking out, the whole city - province, even - is pretty much on lockdown. So I’ll ask again: did you do it?
NAOFUMI scratches his chin.
NAOFUMI: Have you heard of the Glomar response?
ITSUKI scowls.
ITSUKI: Oh don’t give me this bullshit. You think I care that some noble got offed? As far as I am concerned, the fewer of them the better. If the slaves got out of bondage, and didn’t get sacrificed in a blood magic ritual - amazing. What I need to know is how the fuck you did it, could I do the same thing, and should I expect a repeat incident any time soon. And if you didn’t do it, then I need to start worrying that someone is running around both creating and murdering giant monsters.
NAOFUMI: And if you testify against me later on? If I did kill a noble, that’d cause me massive problems.
ITSUKI crosses his arms.
ITSUKI: If I wanted to do that, I’d just lie. They would believe me over you, and you know it.
NAOFUMI takes a sip of his tea, considering his answer.
NAOFUMI: Yeah, fair enough, I guess. We didn’t release the monster - that was Reibia’s doing. We don’t know how he did it exactly, but we think it was a spell - he said something in a language none of us speak right before it went down. There was an obelisk in the middle of his manor that glowed brightly, and a similar glow came from a symbol on his pendant, but that’s about it.
ITSUKI: What kind of symbol?
NAOFUMI takes a piece of paper and draws the symbol from Reibia’s pendant. Itsuki takes it and looks at it.
ITSUKI: Church sigil with an eye?
NAOFUMI: Yeah. A similar symbol was carried by several assassins that tried to kill me off once.
ITSUKI: Assassins, huh. Interesting life you are living.
NAOFUMI: Keep talking about wanting to kill nobles and you’d get there too.
ITSUKI stares at the picture a bit longer, then folds it up and puts it in his pocket.
ITSUKI: Thanks for the information. I’ve never seen it either, but I’ll tell you if I find out anything. What happened to Reibia afterwards?
NAOFUMI: What do you think? He died. The specifics are not important.
ITSUKI nods at NAOFUMI’s vague statement.
ITSUKI: How did you kill the monster?
NAOFUMI: Filo punched it to death.
NAOFUMI motions to her. FILO grins at ITSUKI and flexes her biceps. ITSUKI frowns.
ITSUKI: What, alone?
FILO: I punch really hard.
NAOFUMI: She and Raph, but I think Filo was the main source of damage there by far.
ITSUKI looks between them.
ITSUKI: Bullshit. Both of you are only level forty five. I cut off a part of that beast and fed it to my bow, like you said, and I still can’t use the weapon it unlocked despite being ten levels ahead of you. That thing must have been seriously high level, no way you took it down alone.
FILO crosses her arms.
FILO: Levels aren’t everything, mate.
ITSUKI: No, but they are damn important. Fess up, what happened?
NAOFUMI shrugs.
NAOFUMI: I wanted to ask your advice about it in any case. I unlocked something called a “Curse Shield”, with a powerful party buffing ability. Have you heard anything about that?
ITSUKI frowns.
ITSUKI: What kind of ability?
NAOFUMI: It prevents the death of party members, and increases their attack and movement speed inversely proportional to the percentage of health left.
ITSUKI’s eyebrows fly up, and he leans forwards.
ITSUKI: Inversely proportional? Are you shitting me?
NAOFUMI: That’s what it says.
ITSUKI: Is there a cap?
NAOFUMI: It didn’t mention any. We couldn’t measure it, obviously, but Filo was on one hit point and she managed to punch her way out of the thing’s stomach.
ITSUKI leans back in his chair, ruffling his hair.
ITSUKI: This is ridiculous. A buff that would increase your attack speed by hundreds of times? Is there a drawback of some kind?
NAOFUMI: It puts a curse debuff on you.
ITSUKI: And that’s it?
NAOFUMI leans forwards.
NAOFUMI: Do you know what that is? We don’t know how to remove it.
ITSUKI sighs.
ITSUKI: Yeah, some creatures put a curse on you, though it’s pretty rare. There are different levels of the debuff, but in the worst case you just go into the cathedral in Melromarc and get it removed by the Pope. It costs some, but it’s basically nothing. If that is the only drawback…
ITSUKI ruffles his hair again.
ITSUKI: There was nothing like this in the game.
NAOFUMI: Are you sure?
ITSUKI: I am certain. Cardinal Heroes was famous for being janky but this is beyond jank - I’d have heard of it if it was a thing. If you want to be even more sure, you’d have to ask Ren - he is somewhere in the capital, trying to do politics in the court.
NAOFUMI: Why him?
ITSUKI: He was apparently pretty big in the game - wrote guides for it, analyzed leaks and what not. If he doesn’t know about it, it doesn’t exist.
NAOFUMI nods.
NAOFUMI: Thank you. I sure am glad I came to you.
ITSUKI: How did you unlock this shield though?
NAOFUMI opens his mouth to speak, then pauses.
NAOFUMI: I don’t think I should tell you.
ITSUKI: Oh come the fuck on. I need my own curse weapon - even if it has different abilities, it is bound to be equally busted.
NAOFUMI: No. It’s a bad idea.
ITSUKI throws his hands in the air.
ITSUKI: Asshole, what am I supposed to do if someone pulls a freaking dinosaur on me? Is this about the worker councils again?
ITSUKI looks around the room.
ITSUKI: Gods, where did you leave Raphtalia? She’d have set you straight.
NAOFUMI sighs.
NAOFUMI: It’s not about that.
ITSUKI leans forward.
ITSUKI: Well what the hell else is it? You just told me about a stupidly strong ability and you are refusing to tell me where you got it.
NAOFUMI: That’s because using it is not worth it.
ITSUKI: You did it!
NAOFUMI: Well maybe I shouldn’t have!
NAOFUMI bites his lip. Finally, he speaks.
NAOFUMI: When I unlocked the curse shield, there was some kind of… evil me, I don’t know. I think using the curse shield gives it - he - more power, and he is bad news.
ITSUKI looks at NAOFUMI with a flat expression.
ITSUKI: An evil clone. You seriously expect me to buy this.
NAOFUMI throws his hands in the air.
NAOFUMI: It’s what happened!
ITSUKI: And did anyone else see this clone?
NAOFUMI scowls at ITSUKI.
NAOFUMI: It is a mental construct, of course nobody else saw it.
ITSUKI: Is this evil clone…in the room with us right now?
NAOFUMI: Oh fuck you.
ITSUKI looks at NAOFUMI and sighs.
ITSUKI: Alright, I guess you aren’t budging on this. I’ll make sure to write in my will that if I get eaten by a giant dinosaur they should mail my corpse straight to your address.
NAOFUMI leans forwards and looks ITSUKI straight in the eyes.
NAOFUMI: I am being one hundred percent serious, Itsuki. If I ever go insane and start advocating for genocide, you shoot me, you got it?
ITSUKI looks at NAOFUMI.
ITSUKI: Well, either you are great at lying, or at least you believe it. An anarchist asking to be shot by a leninist, truly the mysteries never cease.
NAOFUMI ignores the jab and looks at FILO.
NAOFUMI: This goes for you too.
FILO frowns.
FILO: How am I supposed to know when that happens? I don’t listen to your speeches.
NAOFUMI pauses, and curses.
NAOFUMI: Well, I still have to talk to Raphtalia about this, so I suppose you’d have to follow her lead.
ITSUKI: Alright, enough of this. I need sleep.
ITSUKI picks up a piece of paper. He writes for a while, then signs it, and hands it to NAOFUMI.
ITSUKI: Here, give this to Ren when you see him. It explains what I found at the estate. Obviously don’t tell him about your involvement - he’d have an aneurism at the thought of someone killing a member of the ruling class.
NAOFUMI crosses his arms.
NAOFUMI: I am not a moron.
ITSUKI: Right, an anarchist, I keep confusing the two.
NAOFUMI: Will he also tell me about combat classes?
ITSUKI: Classes?
NAOFUMI: Yeah, the game thing. You didn’t mention them the last time we talked.
ITSUKI stares at him for a while, then slaps his forehead.
ITSUKI: Right, it slipped my mind. Like I said, he is the real expert at this stuff. Yeah, he’d also help you pick those out. If you need anything else, find me tomorrow.
ITSUKI gets up, and pauses with his hand on the doorknob.
ITSUKI: Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about anything we discussed. Even if you are lying about the clone thing, at least you are killing landowners with it, so I guess I can’t complain.
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SCENE: NAOFUMI and FILO are in the cathedral in Melromarc, talking to a couple PRIESTESSES and THE POPE. PRIESTESSES and NAOFUMI look annoyed, FILO is bored, while THE POPE seems pleasantly upbeat.
THE POPE: I am truly sorry, sir Shield Hero, what you are asking for is not possible.
NAOFUMI: Why not? It is just a curse. You said you can remove them.
THE POPE chuckles grandfatherly.
THE POPE: Oh no, you have misunderstood. I cannot remove a curse, only our God can do that. I merely ask for their miracle.
NAOFUMI frowns.
NAOFUMI: What’s the difference?
THE POPE: Well, as the Pope of the Church of the Three Heroes, I am afraid that our God cannot perform miracles on the Shield Hero or their party.
NAOFUMI scowls, and THE POPE raises his hand in a placating gesture.
THE POPE: I know that you have had problems with some of my congregation, but this is entirely different. It is not about the rules of our Church, but is instead theological in nature. You see, there is a difference between the person of the Shield Hero, the spirit of the Shield Hero, and the Devil of the Shield. They are separate, but also all the same person: you, sir Naofumi. As a person, I believe that you are an honorable and just person, and I have nothing against you. But because you hold the Shield, you are also linked with the Devil of the Shield, and are their representation on earth. Our God cannot help the Devil of the Shield - it is simply against their nature, and so they cannot help you. My opinion about you doesn’t even come into this.
NAOFUMI purses his lips.
NAOFUMI: I see.
THE POPE: Of course, your party members are an entirely different case. They have sinned in the eyes of our God by joining your party, but if they reject you, then they could be helped.
NAOFUMI taps his cheek.
NAOFUMI: What would that entail?
THE POPE: There is no universal path to atonement. Prayer, service in favor of the Church, and other acts of Good are usually involved.
NAOFUMI: And if they want to rejoin my party afterwards?
THE POPE shrugs, and smiles slightly.
THE POPE: We all have free will in the eyes of God. If that is their path, then that is their path.
NAOFUMI: I see. We’ll talk to you later.
NAOFUMI and FILO turn to leave. THE POPE makes a complex blessing gesture in the air.
THE POPE: The doors of my church are always open, sir Shield. Even to those who have sunk deep into Sin.
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
NAOFUMI IWATANI, THE SHIELD HERO. One of the socialists. Protagonist. Claims chances of dinosaur attack are exaggerated.
RAPHTALIA. One of the socialists. Trying to be less confrontational.
CONSTANCE VON MARUKIEVICH / FREDALIA. Secretly demihuman. Maintains a secret freedman organisation.
FILO. Would punch you if asked politely. Not afraid of any dinosaurs.
THE POPE. Leader of the Church of the Three Heroes. Supports the King/Myne coup. Grandfatherly.
SEFI THE STUDENT. Guards the doors for ITSUKI.
KAWASUMI ITSUKI, THE BOW HERO. One of the socialists. Amateur detective. Afraid of being eaten by a dinosaur.