Duel of Queens
Silence. It's the only thing Erhard has experienced for the last 2 hours. After a slow opening morning in his shop and every task being already complete, the most the blacksmith can do is just sit at his desk and wait for the next patron to waltz in.
Lucky for him, yelling can be heard from the outside, followed by an angel and raccoon woman coming through the door, holding the Shield Hero by his ear.
When Erhard looked at the hero, his shoulder was bandaged up, and the shirt he was wearing had several badly made stitch marks through the middle. He then noticed the raccoon girl at the party, he first thought she was new but after a better look, notices something familiar about the girl.
"Damn it Sakura, let me go!"
"Sakura is not letting this chance slip by! Raphtalia and Sakura agreed on it, so we're getting you some armor."
"You didn't have to drag me by the ear to tell me that!"
"Oh, Sakura didn't. It's just more fun this way." Sakura snicked.
Naofumi kicked Sakura away once she released her grip and went up to the front desk where Erhard was sitting
"You're back already? You've only been gone for a week."
"Yeah. Lute was kind of boring but that mine really did well on delivering a profit." Naofumi opened his pouch full of 7 gold coins and silvers. "Especially since we didn't say the mine was cleared out"
"He also forgot to say he got bit by an oversized dog. So Sakura and Talia decided to get him some armor?"
"That's not the only reason we're here though, remember the dagger, and what about your armor!"
"Sakura has magic clothes for that. You only have a lame cloak." Sakura gestures to the Raccoon teen who places a snapped dagger on the tale.
He got a better look at the woman who walked in with Sakura. Erhard can confidently confirm it Raphtalia. Due to the new height difference and the haircut, it took a good minute for the blacksmith to piece the identity together.
"Huh, looks like you've grown a lot in a week. Can't say much about your weapon though, I can't fix something that's snapped in half."
"I'm still wondering how that happened," Naofumi commented.
"Probably the blood. If you don't clean your blade properly then it'll degrade faster. Though I told Sakura to tell y'all that."
"Oh really?" Naofumi stares at Sakura who is focusing her attention on another sword in the room.
"Yeah… Sakura just forgot."
"You idiot." Naofumi shakes Sakura by the shoulder. "We could have saved ourselves a dagger."
"Alright sorry. I was occupied by the shiny weapons so I forgot."
"Ughhh. How much for a new sword."
"235 Silvers."
"Geez, why does your stuff have to be so expensive."
"Materials aren't cheap you know. And what do you plan on doing with the armor situation as well?"
"Just anything that gives defense with a good mobility."
"Custom order?"
"I can do that?"
"Yeah, if you bring materials I can make you something useful?"
"Hmm. Would dog material work?"
"Probably. Just bring whatever you have, I'll bill you then."
"Then we'll see you in an hour or so." Grabbing a random sword from the wall. The party exits the room and heads for the forest to grab their belongings.
/~/
In the forest, Naofumi heads toward the area they parked the cart and move through the bushes to reach their camp. As they exit the bush, they return to a ransacking, as all the food they had has been pouring out through the camp.
"Noo Our food! what monster would do this!?"
"I have a few theories. The most logical out of all of them would be a boar."
"I'LL EXTERMINATE THEM!" Sakura exclaimed with a fiery passion.
"It's kind of our fault though, we did leave the cart out."
"Sakura told you we should have parked it in a safer area."
"I assumed this would be decent enough for human standards, but I forgot about the monsters."
As Naofumi thought about the possible creature who ransacked them. A Russell in the bush interrupted them and put the whole party on guard.
"Perpetrator or not, someone is getting stabbed!" Sakura hopped into the bush and a loud tussle is heard inside. Sakura is later declared the victor as she kicked a creature out of the bush and into the camp area.
"I caught the monstrous… oh it's just a Filolial."
"You think it's the one that raided our camp?" Raphtlia asked.
"It's possible. But we can't really know."
"Well if it did, I know what we can have for dinner tonight." Sakura slowly draws her blade from its sheath, scarring the Filolial and causing it to yammer.
"Gua Gua Gua Gua Gua Gua Gua-."
As the bird kept yapping on nonsense, Sakura soon got annoyed and grab the bird by its beak to shut it up.
"Oi, I don't have time to hear about any excuses."
"Hold it, you can talk to that thing?"
"Yeah, Learning human speech doesn't mean losing my monster speech Talia."
"Then do you know if it said anything about our camp?"
"No, although he did mention something about a queen coming about 100 times."
"The queen of Melromarc?" Naofumi asked looking at the Filolial. Along with a gua, the bird answers with a shake of its head. Giving Naofumi the answer he needed.
"He says the queen of Filolial wants to see us."
"What did you challenge her for the throne or something."
"No, at least not intentionally."
"Well if you did, then you're on your own. I'm not trying to get into monster politics or whatever you guys have."
"It's called the law of monsters."
"Whatever." Naofumi walked around the camp and started to pick up all the scattered food items to scavenge for later. Raphtalia and Sakura both joined in until they saw a large gathering Filolial made a line formation around their campsite. And after lining up and dropping a red carpet they had, the Filolial all started to squawk as a cart appears from nowhere.
Naofumi and Raphtalia are stunned and confused about how a carriage came out of nowhere. While Sakura is focused on the dazzling carriage coming her way.
When the cart finally reached the party, it floated up in the air and turn to its side. And as its door opens, it revealed a child in a white and red gothic lolita dress descending to the floor.
"Greetings Shield Hero. I am Fitoria, the Queen of all Filolial."
"You're the Queen?" Naofumi looks over to Sakura who's all over the fabulous cart and then stares back at the Queen. "But you look so tiny."
Raphtalia hits Naofumion in the head, causing a bit of damage in the process.
"Agh, why!?"
"Can you not be rude for once!"
"What, it's not my fault she looks like a child on her way to the ball."
'Even the entrance reminded me of that one princess story from America' Naofumi thought as he addressed the queen.
The queen who was already getting annoyed dragged Sakura off her cart and tosses her back to Naofumi's side. "Insults aside, I've been looking for an audience with you regarding the waves, and later her," Fitoria said, pointing towards Sakura.
"Is this a situation where the last one standing has got to be queen?"
"No Shield Hero, I'm not talking about crowning another queen just yet."
"Oh, then what do you want with her?"
"That'll be answered in time, but as for you. I here to question you about the waves." Fitoria waves her hand and calls in a weird mist that slowly flows into the area.
"That should keep away any unwanted visitors."
"What the hell did you just do," Naofumi asked, visibly concerned.
"Do not fret Shield Hero, it's just a countermeasure for monsters"
"Sure." Naofumi lowered his shield a bit and sat down on his cart to listen to the child.
"So what is this all about," Naofumi asked.
"It's just a simple question. Do you plan on fighting the waves?" Fitoria asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"It's the hero's duty to protect the world. And it's Fitoria's duty to make sure they do that. Through one way or another."
The last line made Naofumi uneasy, as the Filolial Queen continues to develop her menacing aura around her. Naofumi is able to regain his composure after a couple of seconds, but he is still pretty weary of the Queen.
"Well, I can say I'm planning on fighting the waves like the others. Melromarc just hasn't had another wave yet."
"Then what about the other areas with the waves?" Fitoria asked.
"What do you mean?"
"The other countries that have a dragon hourglass, what about them."
"Are you telling me the waves are happening in other areas other than Melromarc?"
"Precisely."
"Huh. If that's true, then the King is truly hiding a lot more than I thought. Just another reason to trust this place.
"If you were unaware of this information, then what of the other heroes?"
"I'm unsure. I lost contact with them a while back after the trial."
"Then that's an issue. You need to inform them."
"No thanks, I'm not going to be willing anywhere near them. Why can't you do it."
"Fitoria handles all the waves in the area the humans can't get to. And even some areas where the humans live. What I'm asking of you is the bare minimum of protecting your major settlements and passing this information to the heroes."
"Even still, they probably won't even listen to me after the "Rape" trial. It's just not going to happen."
"The Heroes need to work together if you want to save the world. If you all are letting some petty squabble over a trail that's not even finished keep you from working together, then you aren't going to make it far. Fitoria isn't even saying you have to become friends with them, all I ask is to just pass on this info so that you all have an easier time repelling the waves. If you can't do that, then maybe the next set of heroes will."
The menacing aura around Fitoria is in full force. Even Naofumi can't help but cower at the Queen's presence, but he is able to compose himself once more to answer.
"Fine, I'll pass it on. Just don't expect much coming from it."
"The heroes are meant to work together Shield Hero, keep it in mind."
"Sure," Naofumi replied, Not wanting to anger the child.
"Now for the second point of my visit." Fitoria points her finger over to Sakura who was polishing her sword.
"What?'
"I challenge your Filolial to a duel."
/~/
Sakura stops her polishing and looks at the queen for a second.
"What?"
"As I said. I want to test your strength. If you do well I can arrange a gift that'll be useful."
"Hmm, Sakura doesn't want to, but if a prize is involved… what do you think Naofumi?"
"I want to say no, but I don't know what she'll do if we disagree," Naofumi whispered.
"I say just play it out," Raphtalia added.
"Yeah, I'll bail you out if things go bad."
"Fight it is." Sakura gets up and points her sword at the Queen.
"Alright then, good luck." Without warning, Fitoria grabs Sakura by the wing. Picking her up with ease, Fitoria spins around and throws Sakura deep into the forest. She waited for a second until she heard the sound of a tree falling, and she immediately ran off to the area the sound went off at.
Naofumi and Raphtalia were just as stunned at the attack, but the bird queen ran away before they could say anything.
"I made a huge mistake," Naofumi said as he ran after the Queen.
/~/
Flying through the forest, Sakura crashes through a tree and skids across the ground. Getting back up, she sees Fitoria dash into the area and directs a flying kick at her. Sakura dodges the hit by rolling out of the way and swings her sword at the queen, but the bird jumps back to dodge the blade.
"A nice area isn't it? This will do nicely for our battleground."
"You didn't have to throw Sakura to get me here you know."
"It wasn't. But Fitoria isn't playing any games. Fight like your life depends on it."
"Then Sakura won't feel sorry for this."
Sakura dashes at the queen and slashes her blade in a quick flurry of strikes. Fitoria sidesteps the first swing and ducks under the second horizontal slice. Sakura then tried to sweep the queen's feet and thrust her blade at the bird, but Fitoria backflips away and catches her sword with her finger as she landed.
"If this is truly the best you can do, then you won't stand a chance."
Fitoria twists and kicks Sakura in the gut. The strike can be heard for miles as all the wind escapes from Sakura's gut. Sakura is sent spinning into the air and landed onto the ground, sliding across the dirt and crashing into a tree. Getting back up, Sakura narrowly ducks under Fitoria using her sword to slash at her. After dodging the hit, Sakura kicks the blade out of Fitoria's hand and aims a roundhouse kick at her nose.
Fitoria catches the kick and uses her own kick to knock Sakura into the air. But Sakua quickly recovers, grabbing the blade out the sky and quickly chanting a spell.
"As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and allow me to ride the wind. [First wind step!]"
Jumping off the air itself. Sakura dives down at Fitoria and swung her blade. As it is about to connect, Fitoria raised her hand toward the blade and clashes with it, shattering the blade on contact, and releasing a pressure of wind that blows Sakura back and delivers several sizeable cuts across her clothes and body.
"Your attacks are easy to predict and lack any real power. At this rate, you won't even be able to hurt Fitoria."
"Well since you broke Sakura's favorite and only sword, I guess all mercy can be thrown out the window then. [Haikuikku]!"
"Pitiful." Both disappear in a flash.
On the other side of the field, Naofumi and Raphtalia arrive at the battle only to witness a pink and blue blur bouncing off everything. Knocking down trees and making craters in the ground with every surface they bounce off of.
"Naofumi?"
"What are we supposed to do against that?"
"I don't know, but we can't just let Sakura get beaten down like this."
"I'll try then. [Shield pro-]!"
Warning: Interference is prohibited. weapon forms can not be changed.
"What?"
Fitoria appeared in front of Naofumi while holding Sakura up by the head.
"I ask you don't interfere with this battle Shield Hero. Any more attempts and I'll be forced to stop you intervene next time."
"Shit… sorry Sakura, you're on your own."
"Well thank you for the assistance."
After getting out her words, Sakura is thrown back into the sky. She attempts to chant a spell to jump back down, but Fitoria appears above her and grabs her by the face. She crafts a wind and crashes Sakura into the ground.
"Well this fight was disappointing, maybe in a millennia you'll be able to step up to me." Fitoria Taunted.
"Don't… underestimate… Sakura." Getting out of the crater, Sakura dashed towards Fitoria and unleashed a flurry of attacks. Fitoria was able to dodge all of them and block the last kick, she then swiftly punch Sakura in the gut. Fitoria then unleashed her string of attacks that put Sakura on the defensive.
Sakura figuring out she can't escape by just blocking decides to throw a punch at the queen. The punch was deflected, but it gave her enough time to jump out of the attack.
"Dang it Sakura, stop attacking so haphazardly and use your head for once."
"Sakura doesn't know if that'll work but okay." Recognizing Fitoria's pattern, Sakura moved in and successfully hit Fitoria with a head butt. But that only dealt more damage to her than it did Fitoria.
"I mean use your brain stupid!"
"Ohh, yeah that'll make more sense." Sakura conjures and throws several wind blades at once and runs back Fitoria easily deflects the blades and prepared for Sakura's next move as chanting can be heard from the bird.
The obvious use of magic becomes even more evident as an aura of wind flows around her foot. Flipping into the air and bringing down her leg onto the queen, Fitoria decides to dodge the hit and jump back, but as Sakura's foot hit the ground, a tornado appears from it and heads straight toward the queen.
"[Zweite Tornado!]"
"[Zweite reverse wind blades!]
"Two?"
The queen notices the attack she blocked earlier was coming back around. Fitoria turned around and caught the blades of wind, she then did a quick chant and tossed the blades at the tornado.
[Anti Zweite Tornado.]
The blades she threw exploded into it's own tornado, and dispersed Sakura's immediately. As Sakura watches on as both her plans fail, Fitoria appears in front of her and throws a punch at Sakura's face. Sakura is quick to dodge the punch and directs a punch of her own at Fitoria who also dodges.
Throughout the fight, Naofumi has been noticing something up. Fitoria was basically slower herself down by a significant margin just so Sakura can keep up. And even still she blocked and dodged her attacks just so she can criticize Sakura. "Could she be teaching Sakura at this moment?"
Connecting one final jab to Sakura's gut. The pink Filolial falls to the ground exhausted. Fitoria squads down a bit and touches Sakura on the shoulder, and was surprised as she saw her attempting to get back up. "Despite being slow, that last attack did have a creative usage to them, and your resolve in battle is really impressive. It may be a while, but one day you can rise to the rank of queen."
"D-d-don't c-count Sakura... out now." Sakura who is almost out of breath falls to her knees as the fatigue and injury of the battle start to get to her.
"So you still have some fight in you, alright then. Let's see how long you can last.
Fitoria walks back a fair distance from Sakura and covers herself in an orb. Around the battlefield, hundreds of small glowing orbs appear around as they all start to converge on the queen.
"Sakura! She charging something!" Raphtalia shouted.
"I know!"
"Then do something, you idiot!"
"I'm trying."
Looking at Fitoria. Sakura uses all her strength to get up and prepare one last attack. Copying the queen, Sakura also starts to glow as some of the orbs in the area start to converge towards her, but it was a minuscule amount due to the amount Fitoria grabbed.
"It's already too late to absorb anything. This battle is already decided." Fitoria raises her hand into the air as a whirlwind forms in her hand.
"I the filolial queen commands the heavens and earth, remove the laws of the universe, recreate the and and spit out it's pus. Power of the dragon vein, combine the power of both the hero and my magical might! I filolial queen commands you once more, solve everything in this universe once again, and create a grand storm!"
[Liberation Typhoon!]" Tossing the swirl of wind. It gets bigger and bigger as it travels. It exerted so much force that's Filolial that were spectating were quickly blown away.
"It may not be a lot. But it's enough. Sorry rabbit man, but I'll be taking this from you." Sakura backflips into the air and quickly casted [First Wind Step] to create one last platform to step on, and gathers all the energy she can muster up for a final attack.
Jumping off the platform of air, Sakura jumps into the typhoon and dived right at Fitoria. "Now, [Deifach wind absorb!]
Gathering enough energy from the typhoon to escape it's pull. Sakura spins faster and faster as the wind she absorb all starts to gather around her. And with one last chant, she brings her foot down on Fitoria. "[Dreifach wild wind kick!]"
Seeing this attack. Fitoria quickly called the wind around her to form a barrier that clashes with Sakura's kick. Both aren't letting up as they try to break through the other technique.
Sakura is starting to lose ground as the wind around her starts dissipating. Thinking of everything she could, she quickly transfers all the wind to her finger tip, and strike at a cracked area of the barrier, shattering it.
Fitoria is able to dodge the first hit as the barrier shatters, but Sakura immediately comes back around. "[Spiral Strike!]"
Moving faster than she ever has before. Sakura moves and blinding speeds and finally gets a punch across her face. The ground around them started to crack, as the power of the punch was overwhelming for it, but Fitoria didn't budge one bit. With her last attempt at winning the fight becoming a failure, she closed her eyes and awaited the next strike that was about to come. But it didn't. Instead, she felt the wounds she received during the fight slowly start to heal.
Opening her eyes, she sees that Fitoria didn't strike her, but was actually healing her with her magic.
"Nicely done, looks like you are able to handle yourself."
"D-does… that means."
"Yes Sakura, you win."
"Ha Ha!" Sakura let out a cheer before collapsing to the ground.
Naofumi immediately ran up to the unconscious Filolial and cast every form of healing magic he had on the bird.
"That isn't necessary. She has already been healed of injuries. Using dreifach level magic at her level would be very taxing. Especially since she did it twice."
"WHEN I AGREED TO A BATTLE, I DID NOT MEAN TRY AND KILL HER!"
"There were some close calls, but Fitoria would have stopped any major injuries. She also did say fight like your life depended on it right?"
All the filolial who were there at the start of the nod their heads at Fitoria's question.
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE THINGS ANY BETTER! Raph, punch her!"
"Umm… I'll pass," Raphtalia replied, still scared of the Queen.
"If it makes it better, this wasn't all for nothing. For now, I am able to declare her worthy for this."
A couple of rush to Fitoria's cart and return a minute later with a crown that Naofumi can only assume was made of silver. The Filolial place is on Sakura's unconscious head and a few minutes later, the crown explodes into a puff of sparkles that grows an ahoge on her head.
"Sakura almost died for a cowlick!?"
"I can assure you it'll be greatly useful for later, as she has received the blessing of the Queen."
"It better be as worthwhile as you said it is, or… I'll figure a threat out later," Naofumi replied.
"One last thing Shield Hero. I suggest you register for an hourglass soon. Melromarcs waves start in three days. And Siltvelts wave is rumored to start in three weeks after Melromarcs."
"Umm, thank I guess!?"
"I'm counting on you Shield Hero. Save the world."
Walking to a random tree. Fitoria's cart appears in front of her, and she gets inside. A few seconds later, the cart disappears and all the Filolial in the area start to scatter into the forest until nothing else is seen.
"That was a very strange child?"
"Tell me about it." Naofumi picks up Sakura and carries her over his shoulder.
"What should we do now."
"I say get Sakura to a place so she can rest, then find one of the heroes too I guess."
"Alright, I'll grab the cart."
"You sure you can pull it."I'm a lot stronger than you think, I'll have it inside by sundown."
Raphtalia ran in the direction of the cart while Naofumi carried an unconscious Sakura into the city.
Mini Story
"WHAT, NOO!"
"Why are you yelling!."
"How can I be calm about this Naofumi? She ruined Sakura's perfect style." Sakura points to the cowlick on her head. "Sakura was supposed to have the whole lotus style going on, but now it looks like a weed is starting to grow."
"It's just a cowlick, you'll be fine."
"No, Sakura won't! Aww, she wishes she could have kept the tiara."
Silence falls in the room as Sakura looks up into the air.
"Shut up, and you're going to pay for doing this!"
"Sakura… have you gone mad?"
"Quiet, using telepathy. And I"ll find you for breaking my sword!"