Chapter Text
L’Arc was ecstatic.
He was always an excitable man and the giant, red fissures across the sky didn’t help at all. The only reason that he hasn’t yet jumped out the nearest window, scythe swinging, was a small and yet difficult obstacle. Said obstacle was currently sighing.
“Why can’t we just have a nice dinner without any interruptions?”
“Please, Naofumi?” L’Arc all but pouted at his husband.
Naofumi knew better than to entertain L’Arc while he was in this state, but at the same time he knew that this was one of the many responsibilities his red-headed husband had as both a king and a vassal weapon wielder.
“Fine, but just so you know, I won’t be here to reheat your dinner. So unless you want to eat cold food, or risk burning the kitchen down, you’ll have to make it quick.”
“Urgh, don’t remind me.” Even while complaining L’Arc was already running down the halls with a grin, almost as if he were a school boy on his last day. “Thanks for this, Naofumi!”
With a weary sigh Naofumi stood up. He may be considered a consort officially, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own responsibilities. Anyone who is even relatively familiar with the pair knows this.
While L’Arc has his duties as king and vassal wielder and Therese has her adventures she goes on, Naofumi is the one to take up most of the paperwork for the nation of Sikul, including trade deals and other, more diplomatic issues.
That isn’t to say that he is the only person doing that, but he is certainly suited for it. With many years of experience under his belt and a skill for exploitation of weaknesses and manipulation, Naofumi is a fierce opponent in diplomacy.
He knew that if the waves came there was one person who would definitely help.
The fight was well worth L’Arc’s excitement. While most of the fodder died easily to one swing of the scythe, the boss, a giant snake monster, was much more harder, and a more exhilarating experience for the middle schooler in a man’s body.
It might’ve seemed like an imposing monster to the average person, even to some of the higher level guards or soldiers, but L’Arc wasn’t scared. In fact, the now-dead monster was the least of his worries. No, L’Arc was much more scared about Naofumi finding out that he got bit by the boss... 7 times.
The monster is daunting, but an angry Naofumi dwarfs a giant snake when it comes to intimidation.
No excuse would save him now, not even the approaching fan wielder.
“How did you manage to get hit by such weak monster?” the scathing voice of the spirit woman cut deep into L’Arc’s ego.
“Come on, lady, it just got lucky.”
“Seven times? And no need to call me lady, unless you want me to refer to you as your majesty.”
“Urk... fine then, what should I call you?” it seems this vassal wielder already knows of his dislike for his royal title.
“Glass is fine.”
“Fine then, Glass. Happy?” Glass didn’t answer, instead turning to look at the surrounding area, a frown painted on her face.
“Shouldn’t the wave end once the boss dies?”
“Maybe we need to have a little slaughter fest? Come on, I'll take the west, you take the east. I’ll even bet that I will kill more of them!” L’Arc excitedly ran, killing monsters left and right.
Glass sighed. She honestly didn’t know how anyone survived dealing with this supposed king, let alone how anyone survived being married to him.
Admittedly, even though Naofumi has a sense of responsibility, he can still be angry about having his dinner interrupted by the waves, especially since this was the first dinner this week where both he and L’Arc were available. He won’t openly complain, but he will still stew about it. If nothing else, he would complain about it to Ethnobaldt.
Ethnobaldt may be a librarian rabbit, but he certainly knows how to listen to human troubles. This time though, the topic was different to Naofumi’s dilemmas.
“We have arrived to the section, if you’ll excuse me.” After a fair bit of walking, (well, floating for Ethnobaldt) they arrived at one of the many identical bookshelf’s of the library labyrinth. While Naofumi didn’t see the difference between one bookshelf and another, he knew better than to question the senses of one such rabbit, let alone their leader.
The one thing he did question were the choices of the designer of the clothes he was currently wearing.
While normally he wore a yukata, even for official meetings, Therese always forced him to wear these vestments when it came to the clan of library rabbits. However, even with his grievancrs, he wore them after one painful lesson involving the seiza position in a 6 hour time span.
While Naofumi was finishing this tangent of thought, Ethnobaldt approached holding a stack of 12 books.
“Now then, I assume all of these are on the summoning of the cardinal heroes?”
“No need to be so formal with me Naofumi, but yes these are the books on the summoning ritual. Now to inform the other countries.”
“Alright then.” Naofumi clasped his hands together in front of him.
The negotiations were rough, to say the least, but after nearly a whole week of discussions and arguments, delegates from each countries were sent.
“Now then, to confirm our intentions before we proceed. The country of Sikul will take care of the Hunting tools hero, with me the hero of the vassal scythe. Glass?” As L’Arc finished speaking Glass stepped forward.
“I am the fan hero, and we as the nation of Danseon shall work with Sikul to support the Hunting tools hero.” Glass said with a slightly forced smile.
Next was the Mikakage representative. “The country of Mikakage will summon the Jewel hero, who will be supported by the mirror vassal.” Said vassal was also absent from the meeting, but L’Arc knew one was appointed. After all, Naofumi has a wide net of connections, through which he knows just about anything from new market prices to current events, to even some countries state secrets.
That last one, L’Arc would rather not receive… too often.
As L’Arc was distracted with those the thoughts, the next representative stood up. “We will claim the Blunt instruments hero, who should pair nicely with our current katana hero.” The man from Raybul announced.
Naofumi edged towards L’Arc with an evil grin before whispering “I’m surprised that old hero hasn’t died yet, he’s lived longer than us combined!” To which L’Arc had to quietly stifle a laugh.
The last group stood up, with two representatives. The old leader spoke first. “The nation of Luvar has chosen the Ofuda hero. Said hero shall assist the current book hero, Kyo Ethnina.”
Kyo was a man with a silver mop of long hair. His fashion choice was… practical, or at least as practical as can get. With a jacket opening up to multiple belts along Kyo’s waist up to his chest, each belt containing potions of multiple shapes, sizes and colours. The thing that L’Arc didn’t understand was how an outfit could look so comfortable and uncomfortable and the same time.
After 5 more seconds of silent contemplation of others’ clothing choices, L’Arc stood up. “While our mages are in the process of summoning, we shall seal the room and prevent any outside interference. The mages shall be sent now.” As L’Arc sat down, his two consorts stood up.
Once the door to the shrine was closed Kyo spoke up.
“So then, what are we supposed to do? Just stand around here and wait?” He asked in a snide tone, ignoring the glares he got from all but one mage.
“No,” Naofumi explained, a disarming smile painted on his face “we will say the ritual chant that my husband outlined in the letter he sent a week ago. It is mostly the same until we get to summoning the heroes, with the words being altered for each of the heroes.” The letter was actually written and sent by Naofumi, but no one besides Therese and Ethnobaldt needed to know that.
“So that’s what that was for”
“Just follow along”
As all the mages got into position they formed a square, with each side dedicated to a hero. The number of mages, and therefore the amount of mana, has an impact on the summoned hero.
Since Kyo is the only one sent from Luvar, the quality of the hero may be reduced. Since the nation of Mikakage sent four mages, the Jewel is more likely to get it’s first pick.
However, all four mages have to stay in sync, which is why only Therese and Naofumi have been sent from Sikul. If more mages were sent, the chances of success were higher but the overall quality of the hero may be lower.
The couple gave each other a knowing look, before every mage started to chant.
“Powers through space and time.” Every mage in the room tried their best, besides Kyo who’s speech was delayed and half-hearted. “We call upon you to answer our call. To be our saviors from these Waves of Calamity.”
The ground hummed, and even lightly shook. Wisps of light appeared, and as much as the mages wanted to stare and watch, they had a purpose to fulfill.
The first to continue were the Mikakage mages. “We call upon the legendary gem to brighten the path ahead and forge the way to peace.”
Raybul was next. “We call upon the Legendary Blunt instrument to return the calamity to the depths of oblivion.”
Naofumi and Therese coiled their hands together as they continued. “We call upon the Legendary Hunting tools to drive back the monsters who threaten our home.”
Eventually Kyo started his chant. “I call upon the Legendary Ofuda to assist me”
Magic from around them surged, and each mage felt their magic power getting strung along, outside their body. The wisps of light grew in number, as each of the weapons appeared in front of the mages.
The wisps began gathering around the weapons, as humanoid shapes began forming from them.
The Mikakage mages were the first to have their hero fully formed, and it was a woman with red short red hair. She wore a sports jacket which opens to a white t-shirt and sweatpants. The Legendary Gem was attached with a chain around the hero's neck.
The next hero was the one Raybul summoned. This hero was also a woman but she was taller than the first hero. She also had a bigger build and muscles could be seen under her t-shirt.
In front of Kyo, a deck of cards with a gem on it appeared. The motes of light gathered around as a belt was produced from the deck, seemingly growing like vines. The hero... was unremarkable. A woman with a baggy hoodie, jeans and rather thin legs and arms.
Each of the mages received their heroes differently. The ones from Mikakage received their hero the most positively. Intorducing themselves with a hint of excitement and trying their best to calm the woman down. With how seemingly random strangers were doting on her though, it seemed to not be working.
The Raybul mages introduced themselves and then calmly tried to explain the situation to the confused, but otherwise cooperative, woman. They were having better luck than Mikakage, with the hero following behind in a brisk pace. They were the second group to leave.
The first group, or rather pair, to leave the summoning room was Kyo and the Ofuda hero. With Kyo simply telling hero to follow and the girl, as worried and confused as she may be, seeing no other choice did so quietly, keeping her head low.
Therese was looking around, seemingly lost, or rather like she was looking for something... for someone. She heard a voice below her, which startled her and broke her out of her absent-minded state.
“Is this the second life-project?” the last hero, a short brown-haired girl. The hero was REALLY short, to the point where she was around half of Therese’s, height. However, that wasn’t what was at the forefront of Therese’s mind. What she was focused on was the realisation of just WHERE the hero was standing.
Therese’s hand was empty, and to her left was not her husband, but this strange and small girl.
Her husband wasn’t there.