The Substitution of the Shield Hero

A bit after Naofumi headed upstairs to sleep, back in the kitchen downstairs.

Lia looked towards Naofumi's bedroom with an amused smile and said, "I guess Naofumi-dono solved the problem himself?"

Sylvia let out a relieved sigh and said, "Master is at least self-aware... that's good."

Daji's tails waved behind her before she hummed, glancing towards the bedroom where Bahamut had gone. Then she said, "I feel that it is more because he realized that it would be dangerous setting a poor example for the young dragon to follow than any sort of self-reflection."

Lia gave two thumbs up and said, "We'll take every win we can with Naofumi-dono!"

Sylvia gave a serious nod and said, "Master needs to take his health more seriously. Even if he might not be completely human, it's still not good to skip so much sleep."

Daji paused and said, "Not completely human?"

"Oh!" Lia perked up and said, "Naofumi-dono is probably only mostly human! Ever since we've met him, he barely eats, uses the bathroom, or sleep, but he's fine."

Daji looked intrigued and said, "Is that so? Hm... I didn't feel any spiritual energy from him though... And he does not appear to cultivate the way of heaven and earth..."

Sylvia rolled her eyes and said, "Master would just say something like 'the way of heaven and earth is inferior to the path I have seen for humanity' if you mention that to him, Mother."

Daji paused, letting out a sad smile as she looked at Sylvia. "'Mother'...?"

Sylvia blinked. And then she frowned and said, "I'm sorry. It's just... I don't remember much. A... lot happened when I was small."

Daji tilted her head. Then her eyes widened in realization at the implications before narrowing in a burning rage. But she slowly exhaled and said, "...Yan'er..."

"It's Sylvia now, Mother. But... thank you." Sylvia smiled and said, "I'm okay now. Master healed me. It's like it never happened."

Daji walked over and placed her hand on Sylvia's cheek. "You say that. And yet... my little girl. You became a grown woman so soon..."

Sylvia pursed her lips, as if not sure how to react.

But Lia clapped her hands and said, "Okay! No more sad times! It's almost morning, and everyone should be getting back! Let's see if we can organize a festival for Naofumi-dono!"

Sylvia's ears perked up and she said, "Festival? For Master?"

Daji hummed and said, "I suppose this *is* something worthy of celebration. The successful liberation of countless people from Four Bray... and the reunion of many torn families."

Lia tilted her head, processing Daji's words. Then her crimson eyes widened and she gasped. "I FORGOT! KEEL!"

"Kill?" Sylvia blinked. "You still want to kill more people?"

"No!" Lia quickly stood up. "It's my friend... Sadeena said she found her in Four Bray... I'll be back!"

After that, Lia ran out of the manor.

And that just left Sylvia with her mother, Daji.

Sylvia shifted in her seat, feeling a bit awkward as she looked at her mother.

Daji shifted as well, rubbing her arm, as if not really knowing where to start.

Lia and her upbeat energy had helped smooth things over. But since it was just them now...

Eventually, Daji decided to break the silence and said, "Tell me more about your Sifu, Yan'er? I mean, Sylvia?"

Sylvia relaxed a bit and said, "Of course. Master... Sifu, I guess. He's very kind." She paused. "Well, to the people he chooses to bring into his life. He is very NOT kind to the people who are not part of it..."

Daji laughed and said, "I could tell... Ah. Would you like some tea? I still have a few herbs stored away if you'd like."

Sylvia smiled. "I'd love that, Mother." She paused. "But before then, a question."

"Ask anything, my daughter."

"Do you have anyone you love, Mother?"

Daji blinked. "No. Your father... he was a great man, but it was more of a moment of passion instead of anything lasting. Why do you ask?"

"...Hypothetically, would you be opposed to being with someone?"

"...Are you implying that I become intimate with your Sifu? ...Or are you suggesting a three-way tryst. Because if so-"

"NO!" Sylvia paused. "...Oh. I suppose that answers that question about how I see Master. But no, I was just curious because Master is single, appears to like older woman, and it would be nice to be able to call him Father..."

Daji laughed, looking amused. "Well. Considering everything so far, I believe that is unlikely, my daughter... but the heavens move in mysterious way. We shall... how is the saying here? Play it by ear? Yes." She nodded. "We will do that. For now though... tea?"

"Ah, yes. Do you still have the winterberries? I remember those..."

"I do. Come, let's prepare some tea together like old times, my daughter."

===

S'yne sat on the roof of Naofumi's manor, staring at the rising sun. Then she stared at the sky, the crimson from the wave swiftly fading away.

"...Mister Naofumi is strong."

S'yne had felt it a bit from the fact that the Vassal Sewing Kit was able to be fully restored just from submitting to him. And she felt it more from the increased power she felt from their bond.

But the fact that he had resolved the waves not by fighting himself, but lining up pieces and individuals to handle it while he took care of personal business... and then when he showed up, defeating another world's Vassal Hero in the blink of an eye AND stealing their weapon before deconstructing it...

S'yne clenched her fists, feeling determined. "We can beat them. No, we can stop them."

The World Eaters who caused the waves. The ones who treated entire worlds as just resources and didn't care about the ones living there. The same ones who her traitorous sister had joined...

S'yne didn't know too much about it. She wasn't as strong as Mister Naofumi or anywhere near as knowledgable.

But she knew that it was only a matter of time before Mister Naofumi was able to reach the homeland of the World Eaters.

And when he did...

S'yne closed her eyes, thinking of all the friends and allies she had lost along the way. But then she let out a slow exhale and focused on the rising sunrise. "...It's okay now."

This was a new world. But it wouldn't be like the rest that S'yne had seen destroyed. Not like her homeworld or the other ones that she had fled to until she reached this world.

S'yne let out a warm smile. "Everything will work out."

Mister Naofumi was both strong and smart.

Because of that, everyone he knew became strong and smart too... or at least were put somewhere they could help the most.

And for S'yne...

In the last wave, she hadn't fought at all. And even on the way to Siltvelt, S'yne had barely fought. All she really did was just collect resources.

So...

S'yne hummed. "...Maybe I should open an atelier?"

Mister Naofumi clearly didn't need her fighting alongside him. And he had implied that he wanted her to make equipment for the children and his allies.

"...That should be fun." S'yne nodded to herself, deciding on her new goal in life. And after that, she hopped off, her violet wings unfolding behind her. "Let's see... There were empty buildings on the western front of Libertas, were there not?"

===

Back in Melromarc, a private home owned by Elena, Motoyasu's party member.

There, the Three Heroes had reconvened for a morning strategy session debrief.

And so, gathered around a round table placed in the upstairs office room, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu had gathered together to plan what they were doing in the future.

"Okay." Ren clapped his hands together and said, "First things first. We need to explain how our weapons power up to each other. Apparently, no one told us, but there's a hidden feature that lets us use the other power up methods."

Itsuki rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "It never crossed my mind, Ren. Sorry."

Motoyasu looked excited and said, "You mean I can level up my spears without having to kill monsters and steal their souls?!"

Ren nodded. "Yes. I'll explain mine first." He pulled out a piece of paper from his inventory and started writing. "The Legendary Sword has three main features: Mastery, Energy Transfer, and Rarity Up. On a basic level-"

"Oh!" Motoyasu's eyes lit up. "I just got the tutorial! ...This is just like those old idle games, right? Where you prestige the weapon and get currency to make the weapons stronger?"

Ren paused. "Idle games?"

Itsuki's eyes lit up. "You're right! It's the same thing!"

"...What's an idle game?"

Motoyasu and Itsuki stared at Ren.

Ren stared back.

Then Motoyasu tilted his head and said, "Huh. Well, I guess in a world where VR Games are a thing, you don't have phone games...?"

Ren blinked. "...Phone games?"

Motoyasu sighed. "Forget it..."

Itsuki nodded and said, "I'll go next! For the Legendary Bow, there's also three main features: Ore Equip, Item Enchantment, and Job Level-"

Ren glanced at the pop up tutorial in front of him and let out a blank stare. "NOW it pops up? After the wave's done?"

Motoyasu shrugged, tapping through the tutorial. "Maybe it got delayed? ...Oh! This is like Diablo. You have jewel slots and enchantment forging... Resetting on failure is annoying, but a +99 Spear..."

Itsuki laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. That was the best part about Dimension Wave. You could gather stacks of materials and make even a normal wooden bow into a super strong weapon."

Ren glanced at the last part and said, "What's Job Level?"

"Oh! It's weird how they call it that, but it's kind of like extra stat points?" Itsuki hummed and said, "Instead of leveling up to get stat points, you can turn drops and items into energy to add onto your stats instead."

Motoyasu nodded. "So it's like prestige stat points... makes sense."

Ren stared at Motoyasu and said, "...What the heck are prestige stat points?"

Motoyasu waved his hand. "You wouldn't get it, VR Otaku."

Itsuki nodded. "It's a proper video game thing. You wouldn't understand."

Ren gave the two a blank look. Then he sighed and said, "Whatever. How about your spear, Motoyasu?"

Motoyasu grinned and said, "It's funny. The Spear lets you +1 your weapon too, but with ores. It's called Smelting and works the same as the Bow's enchantment forging. It's not as good though since you need ores. It's more like Dark Souls."

"...Dark Souls?"

"Don't worry about it. Other than that..." Motoyasu hummed and said, "We have Spirit Enchantment and Status Enchantment. Basically, items and monster souls can be applied to give effects and stats."

Itsuki's eyes lit up as he read the tutorial. "...Doesn't this mean that we can farm monsters to get stronger?"

Ren paused, carefully reading the effects. Then he groaned. "...We're all idiots."

Itsuki tilted his head. "Why do you say that, Ren? I mean, considering how we've messed up so far, I don't disagree, but..."

Ren shook his head and said, "We still have the XP penalty for being in close proximity... but since we can use drops to get stronger, and since we can grind mastery... why haven't we just been mobbing hordes of monsters? It'll make us stronger than our levels. And since our level ups scale off our base stats, we'll be stronger later."

Dead silence.

Then Motoyasu jumped to his feet and said, "I'VE BEEN WASTING LEVEL UPS?!"

Itsuki jumped to his feet too and said, "YOU MEAN I COULD HAVE HAD LEVEL 100 STATS AT LEVEL 1?!"

Ren groaned and said, "We could have been one-shotting waves this entire time if we'd been farming together... No wonder Naofumi's so upset."

After a moment of shared silence for their wasted levels, Itsuki spoke up. "Wait. Aniki probably didn't use any of our power up methods, right?"

Motoyasu paused. "...Since he said this world is a 'story' to him, he probably never learned about the power up methods. I think? So then..." He tilted his head. "...How was he so strong?"

At that time, Welt walked into the room. "Ah. I see that you have finally begun to collaborate properly. Excellent."

Ren glanced over and nodded at Welt. "Is everything alright in Melromarc?"

Welt nodded back and said, "Indeed, Sir Ren. I patrolled the area with Farrie and we can confirm that no casualties or even injuries were inflicted... But as to Sir Motoyasu's question. It's a simple answer." Welt shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "Sir Naofumi is a genius. He reverse-engineered the underlying status magic of this world and then applied the usage of mana to reconstruct his own power system that was even more thorough than the status magic system, allowing him to simply kill his opponents."

Silence filled the room.

And then Itsuki ran his hands through his hair. "YOU'RE TELLING ME ANIKI IS JUST SO SMART THAT HE DIDN'T NEED CHEATS?!"

Motoyasu slowly sat down, covering his face. "...I sided with Mein. I called him a criminal. And the entire time he could have just killed me. Like, straight up murder..."

Ren slowly blinked. And then he quietly said, "...Doesn't that mean that everything Naofumi did up until now was just through custom-design magic, manipulating stat values, and the basic functions that all of our weapons can do? Absorption, crafting, drops, and inventory?"

More silence.

Welt paused. Then he furrowed his brow, mulling it over. "...That should be the case?"

Motoyasu's eyes widened and he said, "Wait. So... Naofumi right now. He's this strong... just from being a munchkin with the level system and crafting system. Not even from any power-up methods?"

Itsuki's eyes widened too and he said, "...What will happen when Naofumi realizes that our weapons have power up methods too? And if he reverse engineers them?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Welt cleared his throat. "...At least Sir Naofumi doesn't have any intentions of destroying or conquering the world?"

Ren let out a long suffering sigh. "...We really should grab him for a chat."