The Rising of the Scythe Hero

Seeing her unexpected nighttime guest off with her eyes and waiting until the door closed, Mirellia let out a loud sigh. The conversation had left her with a headache. So many worries in the past few days, so much work, so many resolved and unresolved issues… All of it pressed down on her so heavily that, buried in paperwork, she often couldn't even immediately answer what time it was or where she was at the moment.

Let alone think about what she was wearing.

'The Queen, the Fox of Melromarc, the worthy wife of the Wise King… Ha. Right. A grown woman acting like some adolescent girl. It's just a nightgown…'

In her role, and with all that came with it, Mirellia had heard all kinds of compliments: from the most vulgar and obscene to the harmless and clumsy. Even being caught in a less than proper state of dress, while far from ideal, was hardly a catastrophe. So why had she reacted in such… a strange way?

'Although… how long has it been since I last heard something sincere?' the queen smirked.

In negotiations with more influential opponents, like during the last diplomatic meeting, she mostly had to endure lewd, filthy insinuations and blunt offers to warm the bed of yet another powerful swine. Thinking about it, the last time Mirellia had heard genuine compliments directed at her was back when she was still a young girl. That was… when she met her current husband.

'Only that incident struck Olcray far too deeply… And changed him forever.'

The last war with the demi-human nations had ended in victory for Melromarc, but Olcray himself had suffered a crushing defeat. The hero who had contributed the most to his country's triumph, the one called the Wise King, beloved by his people… had failed to protect the one and only person dearest to him.

In that war, Olcray lost his sister. A squad of white-tiger demi-humans had managed to infiltrate the castle and kidnap the king's only remaining family member, leaving behind nothing but bloody traces of the slaughter.

By that point, Melromarc's victory had already been inevitable, but Olcray himself had never been the same since.

As the years went by, Mirellia, watching day after day as her husband sank deeper into senility, lost the feelings she once had for him. Admiration for his brilliance, decisiveness, and grandeur had given way to disappointment in his foolishness, impulsiveness, and shortsightedness. The love she once felt melted away before her eyes, replaced by mere formality and the maintenance of a façade of a marriage.

In passing, Mirellia caught herself thinking that, in the current circumstances, trading one former Hero for another — the current Hero — wouldn't be such a bad outcome.

'What am I even thinking?' she shook her head and fell into thought again.

In her eyes, speaking of love at her age and in her position was pointless. The Scythe Hero, by all accounts, would make an ideal candidate for her husband — and the new king. But did Mirellia love him? Of course not. The very thought of it only drew a wry chuckle from her.

The recent incident had managed to unsettle her, but nothing more. The idea of someone wanting to drag her into bed was something she understood all too well, and it had long ceased to stir anything in her beyond a weary sigh. Perhaps a more careful and romantic approach, something she hadn't seen in quite some time, stood out a little from the rest — but it was certainly nowhere near enough to make her fall for a suitor. Not for Mirellia Q Melromarc, at least.

And… she could admit to herself that she still felt a twinge of unease toward her new ally. From the moment they first met, the impression he had made had embedded itself far too deeply in her mind. Whenever the memory of that day surfaced, it sent a wave of goosebumps down her skin — just as did the thought of how quickly, and how easily, hundreds of lives could be snuffed out.

But Mirellia was content with both the current state of affairs and the relationship they had built. The Scythe Hero was a powerful ally. At times, she even caught herself thinking that, with his help, they could resolve every single problem at hand — and the ones yet to come. The only thing that mattered was finding that fine line, the one it would be unacceptable to cross.

The only question was whether to draw that line in their personal relations — or in business.

***

Having learned everything I needed, I left the queen's chambers. Whether it was just a stroke of luck or the fact that villains tend to flock together, the aristocrat I was looking for from the original story — the one with a real, honest-to-gods tyrannosaurus buried in his yard — happened to belong to Lucas Almelle's faction. Not only that, but he was also a staunch supporter of the Church and an advocate for stirring up hatred toward demi-humans.

Mirellia herself had already taken steps toward stripping Idol Rabier of all his rights. Depending on the level of his resistance and the sanity of his actions afterward, his future would hold either prison — or the executioner's block.

And that was exactly why, by paying him a visit, I could kill three birds with one stone: take out Idol — a bad guy by default — get loot and the dragon core from the tyrannosaurus, and weaken Lucas's faction.

There was even a chance of bagging a fourth bird… or a filolial, to be exact. In the canon, Fitoria had somehow managed to get in touch with Naofumi and his party, and I had a feeling it was because of Filo's notoriety and how often they interacted with people.

By following a similar strategy, I hoped to draw the bird queen's attention to me — or rather, to Night. Too bad that clever thought only came afterward, because I hadn't even thought to ask Naofumi whether he'd ever met the filolial queen. If he had, things might get rather unpleasant. Who knows, maybe the Elder Bird would get it into her head to stage some kind of Hunger Games between Night and Filo to determine, of course, 'the most worthy'?

Although I had reason to believe that, in terms of raw strength, I might actually be stronger than Fitoria — that is, if she hadn't surpassed level 100. If she had… well, that was a complete unknown.

On top of that, I still had no idea what exactly absorbing the dragon's core had given me. Skimming through the system messages, I found nothing noteworthy — it all just ended with the line "3/3." I wasn't even sure if there had been more after that or if it had genuinely stopped there. Either way, things weren't looking particularly optimistic at the moment.

But back to the main question. As I saw it, there were only two possible ways forward. The first was similar to the canon — meaning I'd have to get into a conflict with Idol Rabier and let him summon the dinosaur buried underground. The second was to try digging up the remains myself and retrieving the core without waking the monster. The second option came with a lot of uncertainties, not least of which was whether the core would even be in usable condition without awakening the dragon.

So I was leaning more toward the first option. I even had a few ideas for how to make it work.

First, with some help from the Queen's Shadows, I found out Naofumi's current location. Then, estimating the travel time from the nearest place I could teleport to, I grabbed Night and we warped to the outskirts of one of the villages we'd visited before.

Naofumi wasn't far. If I wasn't mistaken, he should already have a cart by now and be traveling quite comfortably as a wandering merchant. The Shadows suggested he was probably on his way to the next trade stop, and I agreed — which was why I decided to get ahead of him. From here on out, no more sudden teleports, which meant I could finally put 'Spring-the-Trap Plan' back into play.

It took us about an hour and a half to catch up to the cart in question, pulled by a familiar yellow-feathered filolial, plodding along at a leisurely, almost lazy pace.

"Hm?" The moment we got close, Filo — who else could it be — sniffed the air and tilted her beak. "Sister Night?"

"What is it, Filo?" came Naofumi's voice from up ahead.

"Hey there!" I waved cheerfully as we pulled alongside the Shield Hero sitting at the front. The Shield Guy flinched and grabbed his shield.

"Nott? How did you—? Tch, you scared me."

"I'm here on business. Well, not exactly with you, to be precise."

"Naofumi-sama? Did something happen?" A cute raccoon-eared face peeked out from behind the cloth covering the cart's entrance.

"With her," I said, pointing straight at Raphtalia.

"Eh?"

…

Talking while moving wasn't the most convenient, so Night — now back in human form — and I climbed into the cart. Night's reaction to the cart, though, was… unusual, to say the least. First, she stared at it with a deep frown for a very long time. Then, for some reason, she sniffed it… and only after that, as if agreeing with some avian thought of her own, she strode inside with regal grace. And yes, regal was the word. I got the distinct impression that she was only deigning to enter such a mundane means of transportation out of sheer politeness.

"So… you want to attack the noble who tortured Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked skeptically, glancing over at the girl.

"Yup. I don't want to overcomplicate things, which is why I'm asking you to take part in it."

"You mean be bait."

"Take part," I replied with a pleasant smile.

"…What do you think, Raphtalia?"

"I… I'm not sure." The raccoon girl really didn't look confident — more like lost. "This man… he destroyed so many people from our village. He definitely deserves punishment, but revenge…"

"There are still slaves in his dungeons, Raphtalia." Yeah, I was pressing on a sore spot. But having these two — and Filo for good measure — would make things a lot easier, and it would also give Raphtalia a chance to rid herself of a burden she'd been carrying. "It's possible some of them are from your village. And right now, they might be suffering just like you did before. Or even worse."

"Hey…"

"Naofumi-sama, please don't," the girl cut off the Shield Guy before he could start complaining. "Nott-sama, you could take care of this without us, couldn't you?"

"Yes." No point in lying. I was willing to gloss over some details, but flat-out lying wasn't something I wanted to do. "But with you, it would go much smoother. And I really was thinking about you, about how it wouldn't feel… right to do this without your involvement."

"I…" Raphtalia shut her eyes, sat there for a few seconds, then suddenly opened them wide. "I think we should help those enslaved and tortured. Please, Naofumi-sama."

"Eh." The guy sighed. "Can't be helped. Guess we're changing course…"

"By the way, Naofumi!" A sudden thought struck me.

"What are you yelling for?"

"Have you already done a class upgrade for your companions?"

"Well, yeah. Why?"

"Ever met an ancient, white-haired loli? Or a giant filolial?"

"What? Nott, are you sure you're all right?" And he actually looked worried! Somewhere way in the background, behind a mountain of doubt about my sanity… but still.

"Then it's not too late yet. Don't worry, Naofumi." My voice took on a note of solemnity. "Soon, you will be granted the greatest honor — to witness an archetype such as the 'Ancient Loli.'" I patted him on the shoulder. "Cherish it. Anticipate it."

"…"

I think I'm about to cross the point of no return in his eyes, after which he'll never take me seriously again. No, Naofumi's definitely insane.

Even in the queen's eyes, I sometimes caught flickers of fear in her expression, and in her emotions. And that was despite the fact that I'd never done anything to her personally. Or to anyone in her circle. But Naofumi, having repeatedly dealt with all sorts of sides of my questionable personality — and even having gotten burned by it — was now sitting here, talking to me like nothing was wrong, without showing any real negative feelings toward me. Yeah, he's nuts. Completely. Or maybe Sponge Bob.