Chapter Five: An Underestimation
As our carriage halted in front of the building where the dragon hourglass was located, Lazy Pig grumbled about something or other to Father.
“Huh? You want to stay to watch the carriage? Again?”
Just how lazy could this pig truly be?
Lazy Pig oinked in response.
“You think they’ll know who you are and it might give us unnecessary trouble?”
It appeared that this time she was using the excuse that because she was from a noble family, the Church of the Three Heroes or other nobles might find out if she showed up at an important site like the dragon hourglass. Another excuse to be lazy, of course. Most pigs are only concerned for themselves, I say.
“Okay, well, I don’t think it will take us very long, so we’ll be back soon. Thanks, Elena.”
“Oiiiink.”
“I wanna come!” Sakura chirped.
“Me too!” said Kou.
“It’s not going to be any different from the one in Siltvelt,” I told the filolials.
“Aw, man!” said Kou. “Then I’ll wait out here.”
“In that case, I shall accompany you,” Yuki announced.
So Yuki and Sakura were coming with us. Sakura came, of course, because it was her duty to protect Father. She seemed to be getting along well with Keel too. Sakura was giving puppy Keel a big hug.
“Let’s go!” barked Keel, wagging her tail in excitement. Father watched the scene with a bright smile.
Finally, we were off to the dragon hourglass!
When we entered the building, a pig came to greet us. She had a strict, unfriendly expression. I had to stop myself from impulsively grabbing my spear. I wanted to turn this pig into half-burnt charcoal as soon as I had the opportunity.
“We come because the wave of destruction is supposed to arrive tomorrow,” Father explained to the pig.
The pig led us to the dragon hourglass. Since Father had seen the dragon hourglass in Siltvelt as well, he didn’t seem particularly surprised.
Suddenly, I remembered something—in the first go-around, I had originally gained my Portal Spear skill from the dragon hourglass on my first visit there. Getting sand from the hourglass let me acquire the skill. This same pig had brought it to me after Father and Big Sis left in a terrible mood. I had requested to use the sand as an ingredient, after all. But that was the reason why Father never got to use the sand as an ingredient himself, because the pig made him angry and he ended up leaving! Father hadn’t even realized that was how we got the portal skill until I explained it to him after defeating the High Priest much later.
The memory sparked an idea.
“Father, I must inform you of something,” I declared.
“Huh? What is it?”
I whispered into his ear a potential plan.
“Really? Okay, got it.”
Father nodded and stood in front of the dragon hourglass. A light shone out of the dragon hourglass and hit Father’s shield. It informed Father of exactly when the wave of destruction would arrive.
Father nodded and turned to us. “Just as expected, it’s coming tomorrow.”
Since this would be the very first wave, I wasn’t expecting it to be much of an issue. Once we handled the wave of destruction tomorrow, we could return our undivided attention to peddling and quickly wrap things up.
“I know it’s your first wave, but don’t be too afraid. I want you to fling yourself at it, headfirst, no fear,” I told Father.
“No problem,” Father said. “I think we’re as ready as we can be.”
“I’ll protect you, Naofumi,” Sakura said.
“And I’ll kick some monster butt!” Keel barked.
And at that moment, just as we had been expecting, Itsuki called out to us from behind.
“Oh? If it isn’t Motoyasu and Naofumi.”
We turned around and saw Itsuki and Ren walking toward us.
Of course, if we hadn’t thought that Itsuki and Ren were coming here today, then we wouldn’t have needed to come in the first place. Father and everyone else turned around to face them.
Oho? I noticed that the Crimson Swine wasn’t with them. Wherever could she be? I had wanted intel on her movements, too. I glanced around the room, but all I could see were Ren and his companions.
“What are you all doing here?” Ren asked. “Some sort of meetup?”
“No, not exactly,” Father said.
“We haven’t seen you at all since then.” Ren glanced at Sakura and Keel. “It looks like you got some companions. That’s good.” As always, Ren’s tone was completely cold and indifferent. Still, I suspected that Ren had been a little concerned about Father. He knew to mistrust Trash and the Crimson Swine this time around, so the concern was to be expected.
“Yeah, more or less,” Father said.
“I don’t like your tone,” Itsuki said, casting an angry glare at Father. “Have you got something to hide?”
His accusation suggested we had no right to even speak in his presence. But really, it was Itsuki who had no right to talk down to us, I say! Itsuki and his damned messiah complex! He was a fool who could be swayed by nothing more than a few pig tears. Yes—just like my past self!
Pigs, those demonic beings capable of shedding fake tears for their own scheming purposes . . . They should all be eradicated from this world, I say! When the right time came, I would utterly destroy that Crimson Swine.
A long silence ensued. An ugly atmosphere, as Father would say.
But there was no need for silence! In the first go-around, once Father ended up leaving, all that happened was Ren and Itsuki classing up. So I decided to take the first step forward and begin to execute my ingenious plan.
“Did you two come to class up your companions?” I inquired.
“Well, yes,” Itsuki said.
“What about you?” Ren asked.
“Uh . . .” Father hesitated. We had already classed up, but if we revealed to them that we had been acting outside of Melromarc, then it would ruin all of our carefully cultivated plans. So we couldn’t tell them that we had classed up before coming here. I could sense that the pig that had greeted and led us here was sneering in the background. Perhaps she assumed that our levels were too low to even class up.
In response to that pig’s vile arrogance, it was all that I, Motoyasu Kitamura, could do to suppress booming laughter! The sheer idiocy!
But this was all just a part of Father’s scheme. If our enemy underestimated us, then they would become just that much easier to fight. And his scheme was working marvelously.
“We just wanted to find out how much time there was until the wave of destruction,” Father said.
“Does it really matter?” Ren asked. “If you’re that weak, you shouldn’t bother dealing with the wave.”
“Yeah, good point.”
I could tell that Father didn’t like getting looked down on by Ren. But he shut down the feeling and put on a smile.
“So do you think we can class up here as well?” I inquired.
“I’m not sure if you guys would be able to anytime soon,” Ren responded.
“Perhaps not,” I agreed.
For a moment, I saw Father’s shoulder twitch and the shadow of a scornful expression cross his face. I mean, we were much more powerful than Ren and Itsuki from all of our training in Siltvelt. But please, Ren and Itsuki, go ahead—feel superior to us for the time being.
“What are you talking about?!” Keel growled, snapping forward from behind Father to bite at Ren and Itsuki. “Big Bro is—” But Father held her back and calmed her down.
“There’s no need. Right?” Father smiled. “Sakura, you need to calm down too.”
Father had noticed that Sakura’s hands were drifting toward the hilts of her two swords. If he hadn’t, then both Ren and Itsuki would’ve ended up dead. They probably wouldn’t stand a chance against either Sakura or Keel.
But they were heroes after all. There was no way they were that weak. Just based on my impression, they were about equal in strength, maybe.