Chapter Four: Experts Know Best
It was the day after we encountered the moles.
“All right, should we head for the dragon hourglass now?” Father asked me.
“At once, Father!”
I activated Portal Spear and sent us to Siltvelt. We set out for the dragon hourglass. It was located in a big building that looked like a church, similar to where the dragon hourglass in Melromarc was. I recalled fondly how Father had helped Yuki and the filolials class up in the previous go-around. With heroes as their companions, filolials also shed marvelous large feathers. But unfortunately, we didn’t have any feathers this time around.
We entered the church with the dragon hourglass and went up to the reception area. It didn’t appear like the people inside were particularly religious or anything.
“Excuse me,” Father said. “We’d like to perform the class-up ceremony here.”
“Letter of permission?” the receptionist demanded.
How rude. I supposed Siltvelt was known for its discrimination against humans. For showing Father such blatant disrespect, swiftly murdering this impudent receptionist was not out of the question. Disrespect toward Father is a crime punishable by death, I say.
“Uh . . .” Father paused. He pulled what the Siltvelt emissary had given us out of his pocket and handed it over to the receptionist.
At first the receptionist mechanically glanced down at the forms but then stared back up at Father with disbelieving eyes.
“L-Lord . . . Lord Shield Hero?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Need proof?”
Father held up his shield and chanted Air Strike Shield.
“Will that do?”
“Of . . . of course! Then before the class-up, please, allow me to take you to the castle—”
“Sorry, but we’re traveling here in secret. The people over there are already aware of our plans.”
“Very . . . very well then, if you so command. It’s written here as well, but it seems that you are in the midst of attempting to change Melromarc from the inside.”
“Yup. That’s why no one can find out about what we’re doing. We can only head to the Siltvelt castle after we finish things on our end. Got it?”
We were here to level up in secret, I say. Of course, the top brass in Siltvelt would want to meet us if they found out we were here, but then we might get pulled into all sorts of avoidable trouble, so Father was smart to try to evade.
“U-understood.” The receptionist bowed. “I am here to serve, oh Mighty Spear Hero.”
“Sorry about that.”
“In that case, which of you needs to class up?”
“Okay, Keel.”
“Oink!”
At Father’s direction, Keel stepped forward and raised a hand without any hint of shyness.
“Please, this way,” the receptionist said, to which Keel responded with a few nervous oinks.
“Oh, you don’t understand the Siltvelt language?” Father asked Keel. “I forgot that my shield was automatically translating everything for me. He’s saying to come with him.”
Father translated the receptionist’s explanation to Keel. They went to the hourglass and Keel touched it. The hourglass faintly glimmered, and they commenced the class-up process.
“Once you close your eyes you should start to see it,” Father said. “I can’t decide your future for you, so think carefully and decide for yourself.”
Keel oinked once in contemplation and then triumphantly.
Father did always have the policy of leaving class-up decisions up to the individual. I remember Father giving me the freedom to class up as I wished.
So Keel’s class-up ended without incident, and we completed the ceremony for the filolials as well.
“So now you can all get even stronger, right?” Father said. “We have one week left until the wave of destruction . . . We’ll need to work hard, so keep at it!”
A chime of robust agreement rang out around the room.
With his newly classed-up comrades, Father decided to level up until we had to get back to the carriage. I went to collect more materials to power up Father’s shield and sell here in Siltvelt. Since Sakura had leveled up enough to help Father, I took Yuki with me.
It was important for us to save a lot of money, I say. There are power-ups that require an investment, for one, but more importantly, once we had finished cleaning up things here in Melromarc, I had to buy filolial eggs. A lot of filolial eggs.
There was a limit to how much money Siltvelt would just give me, after all. I needed as much money as humanly possible to have the best shot at finding my precious Filo-tan.
And then there was one big problem that I had forgotten about.
The next day, Keel and Yuki watched over the carriage while Kou went out with Lazy Pig to level up. We had just four days left until the wave of destruction.
But Keel was on all four knees in the carriage, groaning and focusing intensely.
“Yeah, like that!” Sakura chirped. “When I transform, I just focus really hard and get way stronger!”
“Sakura, I’m not sure if that’s a helpful explanation,” Father said.
“But Kou feels the same way!” Sakura said.
“What about Yuki?”
“That’s simply how it works,” called Yuki, who was pulling the carriage.
“What are you talking about, I say?” I inquired. I had been busy drawing a picture of Filo-tan.
Keel squealed and groaned about something or other.
“What is she saying?”
“She’s saying she wants to be able to transform so that you can understand her,” Father said.
That would certainly be the best possible solution, I say. She should’ve been able to transform by about now, but it seems like she couldn’t yet.
“Oink oink oink!”
Father shook his head. “Motoyasu said that you could transform into a dog. But maybe you actually can’t though.”
Lazy Pig and Kou had just gotten back. Lazy Pig grumbled a few exhausted oinks, to which Keel squealed back furiously.
“Hey, don’t start a fight, Elena,” Father said.
Apparently, Elena had said that even if Keel transformed, it didn’t mean that I would necessarily see her as a boy.
“I mean, I see your point,” Father said. “I’m trying to tell him that you’re a boy, Keel, so just keep at it.”
“How do you think we can get Keel to be able to transform?” Father asked.