Chapter Nine: Heroic Presence
Holn’s transport skill easily sent us over to the vicinity of the sanctuary. I looked around to see a river running by, swaying grass, and rolling hills.
“I’ve seen this place before,” Melty confirmed. “The sanctuary is that way,” she said with a point.
“That’s right,” Holn replied with a nod.
“My mother took me around the sites of the four holy legends when I was a kid,” Melty said. It sounded like she had been involved in researching the legends, like it or not. Eclair’s father had probably been here too.
“Let’s go say hello,” I suggested.
“Okay,” Mamoru replied. He led us off in the direction of the sanctuary. It was a lot like the filolial sanctuary in the future, a place that no one really was able to get inside. The whole place was just rubble. But in this time more structures remained and people could still go inside. It was the remnants of a country created by the first Shield Hero and Bow Hero as they took on the beginning of the waves. The world was a cycle of growth and decline, so they said, but it made me sad to see it. After we returned to our time, and restored peace to the world . . . Well, Piensa would ultimately fall anyway, even if it happened in the distant future and Mamoru’s own nation of Siltran would end up being changed to Siltvelt. I wondered when Faubrey would come into being.
I was getting distracted. While Piensa was still occupied with creating the foundations for their assault, we needed to put together some way to resist them.
As I thought about these things, we arrived in what looked like a village.
“This is V’sheel, the village that manages the sanctuary,” Mamoru explained as we stood at the entrance. I looked at the village and the people living there. There were some lizard men dressed in farmer-like outfits. They looked like bodybuilders. These bulked-up crocodile-looking therianthropes were tilling the ground with hoes. There were demi-humans with lizard tails . . . I guessed they were humans who could go therianthrope. There were also weasel-like people. They looked lean and quick. The women were doing chores, holding baskets and tubs, and children were running happily around the village.
“Ah, Master Mamoru.” It was one of the villagers, addressing Mamoru at the entryway. The villager dashed over to me, tilted his head in puzzlement, and then moved over to Mamoru. Mamoru’s allies also moved forward and started to greet the villagers. “What brings you here like this?” the villager asked.
“Some worrying news. It sounds like Piensa is going to make a move on the sanctuary again, so we came to check things out,” Mamoru said.
“I see. They’re shameless about spreading their muck on our legends, aren’t they?! You should talk with the village elder,” the villager said.
“Can you summon him?” Mamoru asked.
“Of course!”
The villager and Mamoru’s other allies went off into the village. A short while later an elderly lizard man appeared. He was walking using a cane. It looked like his eyes weren’t the best anymore. I didn’t know why, but he was looking at me.
“Well, bless me. If it isn’t Master Shield Hero Mamoru. Our village of V’sheel will never forget what you’ve done for us,” the old lizard said.
“Elder, sorry. That’s not Master Mamoru,” said someone who looked like an aide to the elder.
“What? Really? I was directing my comments toward where I felt the presence of the Shield Hero,” the crusty lizard said. “Presence,” was it? I had picked up the ability to sense such things—including murderous intent—but it seemed this old codger had a pretty vague remembrance of Mamoru.
“Over here, elder. It is nice to see you again,” Mamoru said. The elder lizard man looked over at Mamoru in surprise.
“Oh my? So who is this other individual so wreathed in the presence of the Shield Hero?” the elder asked. I wasn’t aware I gave off any such presence. This guy had the strangest senses.
“There are reasons for that. My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I’m also the Shield Hero. But the one you know is over there,” I explained.
“I see. It sounds like we do have some things to discuss,” the elder agreed. We were shown into the village and led to a large house. That said, it wasn’t large enough for everyone, so just the heroes went inside.
“So this is what his homeland was like . . .” Eclair murmured to herself as she looked around the village.
“Is this definitely the place?” Ren asked.
“Yeah, these lizard men are the same race as him, no doubt about it. They’re bigger than regular lizard men. That’s what gives it away. I’ve seen them around Mamoru in Siltran, so it’s been on my mind for a while,” Eclair admitted.
“I see,” Ren said. Eclair looked so happy, but Ren looked sad. Eclair didn’t notice at all, her eyes sparkling like they had when she met the Hengen Muso Style old lady for the first time.
“My father said it was very difficult to get his right hand away from here. He had planned to live and die here as the last of his line,” Eclair explained. Being able to visit a time when the ancestors of someone she so looked up to were alive was probably quite exciting. It looked like Ren and the others could stay outside and chat. We needed to head inside to discuss more important matters.
“How to go about explaining this?” Mamoru asked.
“Take things one step at a time, from the start,” Holn suggested.
“Okay. Let’s not say these things too loudly,” Mamoru replied. He and Holn proceeded to explain everything that had happened since we met, without hiding anything about Filolia’s rebirth or other potential crimes. Everyone in this village seemed to trust Mamoru implicitly.
“I see. From the future, you say,” the elder lizard man said, looking over at me. “I am Seidohl. I’m the elder of the tribe that received these lands from the original Shield Hero and Bow Hero, the tribe that has protected them ever since. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“I’m Naofumi Iwatani—like I said before. This is a pacifier from the future, Raphtalia,” I said. Melty, Ruft, Rat, and S’yne then introduced themselves as well.
“I’m so happy you told us your name right away,” Raphtalia said, as sensitive about names as always. “If you don’t let Mr. Naofumi know what to call you, he’ll end up giving you a funny nickname.”
“I see. And what were you calling me, might I ask? It would make me happy to know,” the elder said.
“Elder lizard man,” I replied promptly.
“A little obvious,” Mamoru jibed.
“Shut it. Can we get to the point?” I said.
“So you already have a technique that can defeat those who are causing the waves. That makes me very happy,” the elder said.
“That’s a good thing, for sure. But now that things have turned against Piensa, they’re coming to take this place. A small elite force is expected to mount an attack, so we came to check everything out,” I explained.
“The sanctuary is an important place for us and the ruins of a once great city. It’s easy to imagine what this hostile nation desires from it, but I’m not sure it will turn the tide for them,” Seidohl said, his hand on his chin as he pondered the situation. “Very well. Accompanied by one with such a powerful Shield Hero presence, I can permit your entry into the sanctuary.”
“Thank you so much,” Mamoru said. In the future, Fitoria would be managing these ruins. The Lost Woods grown up around them. It had all sorts of ways to stop people from getting inside; I wondered if that was the same in this time period.
“Allow me to show you the way,” the elder said.
“Thank you,” I said. We finished our brief discussion and headed toward the outskirts of the sanctuary proper.
As we headed toward the sanctuary, I took the opportunity to look myself over carefully.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia asked.
“Is my ‘presence’ really so obvious?” I asked. Atla had always seemed to be able to sense something, and now it extended to Cian, these lizard men, and even the weasel demi-humans. I had almost been completely mistaken for Mamoru. In fact, they had treated him like he was a cut-rate version of me!