I am not the shield hero

The next phase of the plan was pretty simple. While waiting for Ann to make the clothes for the demi-humans, the party would again travel to Lurolona. This time, they would keep more leveled up party members on land. Sadeena, Dio, and JoJo would go into the sea. Sadeena would scout out a monster, then guide Dio and JoJo to assist with the kill.

With more studying, and a good amount of help from a wise witch, Dante was able to decipher part of the support spell tome, gaining a greater understanding of Faust Guard. With that, he was able to cut down the MP cost and increase the power and duration of the spell, as well as gain the All variation of it.

There was a quirk he noticed when he learned Faust Fire Shot. While the Claw seemed to increase the proficiency of the spell if it was cast normally or as an All version, the Staff treated them separately. Due to his level, he was able to keep three spells at the V level, so he simply moved the points from the standard Faust Guard to the All variant.

Something else he noticed was that the All variant could actually cost more MP than casting the spell repeatedly. It wasn't so strange, if he thought about it. It was a balance between power, time, and MP. For All Faust Guard, he could target all three of them, spreading it evenly at one-third power and it would cost about the same MP if he cast it full power on one of them. Or, he could target all three at full power, cutting the total casting time by a third than if casting it repeatedly, while more than tripling the MP cost.

Of course, this wasn't a huge concern for Dante at the moment. If his plan for spellcasting worked like it should, he'd only be casting once at the start of combat. Still, it was good to know. He cast All Faust Guard V on the trio of sea hunters and sent them on their way. Of course, he always had food prepared for them whenever they returned, and alcohol for Sadeena.

On land, the remaining five would spend more time practice fighting with each other, like they did while they traveled. Sometimes it would be the demi-humans against Dante while Eclair watched their forms. Sometimes it would be running through combat maneuvers. Sometimes they practiced their teamwork. And sometimes, they would practice combining spells with hero skills.

"Faust Fire Blast!"

"Combo Skill, Shield Explosion!"

The flames from Rifana's hand quickly enveloped the shields that formed around the giant crab on the beach. The glowing orange shields pulsed for a few seconds, red cracks spreading from the center. Then, a small, fiery explosion shattered the shields and sent the remains out about a dozen feet in all directions. The crab was reduced to ash.

"Wow…" Rifana looked at the result of their combination with a sense of amazement, and slight fear.

"That was pretty violent." Raphtalia said, looking over what was left of the monster.

"When can I do stuff like that?" Keel asked, eyes sparkling.

"I'm not sure what kind of combo skills are available with water or beast spells." Dante said. "They probably won't be as flashy, especially when paired with my shield, so don't get your hopes up."

Needless to say, their time spent near Lurolona was well used.

It wasn't all directly related to combat and levels, however. Eclair had some very specific training in mind.

"You want me to what?" Dante had to make sure he heard her right.

"I want you to hug me, Sir MacRory." Eclair said.

"Would you care to explain?"

She was pretty straightforward in her reasoning. Whenever she interacted with men, she didn't handle it well. She'd mostly gotten used to Dante, but she found herself acting too defensively with other men. If they found themselves in a situation where they were surrounded my men—something that seemed all too likely, given Dante's predictions and track record—then she needed to prepare herself.

Therefore, getting over her trauma was paramount.

"It's not like I don't understand, but are you sure this is how you want to go about it?" Dante asked.

"I must be able to act when around men, especially with the wave approaching." She reasoned.

"Well, I did promise to help however I can." Dante accepted her request.

The first time they tried it, however, didn't go well. Eclair couldn't move closer to Dante, and she continued to back away at his approach. She suggested he come at her from behind. When he did, he managed to wrap his arm around her stomach. Immediately after, she did everything in her power to remove him. Elbowing, headbutting, she even tried to bite him, not that any of it would work. He did end up releasing her, much to her relief and annoyance. They would continue to try many times throughout their stay.

Dante asked if she should start with JoJo or Keel, but she declined, saying Dante would be a stronger hurdle for combating her trauma. He wasn't particularly offended by that. Ignoring all he did before coming to this world, she did witness him devouring numerous people with his shield.

Sadeena asked why he would agree to something that looked like it might worsen her condition.

"Of course it's a bad idea." He told her. "But, it's a bad idea that I would have come up with, so of course I'll help her with it." It was similar to his own issue with his missing limb, though it was under entirely different circumstances.

They spent three days there. They trained, earned XP, lowered their levels, and earned it again. On the morning of the fourth day, they traveled back to the capital. They would complete a few tasks there, then be off to search for the seed and old martial artist.

They first went to Erhard's. With a new surplus of monster materials, they could get some nice things made. Sure, they would have a bit of a nautical theme, but that was fine. Some of the item drops were pretty good, so they only needed to get things they were lacking. Really, they were only there for estimates, given that Ann was making clothes for them. Once the others learned to transform and got their measurements , they could get outfitted.

However, the moment Dante entered the shop, an issue presented itself.

"Hey, Erhard!" Dante called to the man.

Instead of being greeted back, Erhard stepped from behind his counter and started shooing Dante and the others. "Get out." He said.

"Huh?" Dante watched as the blacksmith approached. "What are—"

"Out!" He yelled, pushing Dante. With his defense and strength, even Erhard would have some trouble, but Dante let himself get handled anyway. Once they were out of his shop, Erhard held his shoulder for a moment. "Sorry…" Was all he said before he went back inside.

Dante looked between Raphtalia, Keel, and Eclair. It was a bit strange.

Soon after, they found that others would turn them away as well.

"I can't buy from you." Simmond the apothecary told him.

"Sorry, dearie, I can't provide you any services." Agatha said.

As they walked around town, they found that none of the shops or vendors would deal with them, whether or not Dante was present.

Well, some people finally got their heads out of their asses and started messing with us. Seems like everyone here knows our faces and descriptions.

The only silver lining was that, while they didn't serve her, no one tried to apprehend Eclair. It seemed they only knew what the Shield Hero's armored companion wore, not who was underneath the armor.

When they came to the tailor's shop, Ann was working on another piece. She looked up as Dante entered, fear clearly present on her face. "You can't be here!" She quickly said.

"I see." Dante nodded and turned to leave. Quick footsteps had him glance behind himself.

"After sunset." Ann whispered. "Knock at the back door."

Dante nodded again and left the building. He was glad she would at least give them what was already paid for.

With no more reason to stay separated, Dante's whole party traveled down the road with the carriages. They stopped at the alley that led to the slaver's tent. Dante hopped off and went in with Sadeena, leaving the others to guard the carriages.

When they entered the tent, they saw Beloukas, still with his signature grin.

"Ah, Sir Shield Hero! It's good to see you." The man said, rubbing his hands together.

"Well, at least someone's happy we're here." Dante sighed. "What the hell happened? We were gone for three days."

"Why, whatever do you mean?" The slave trader asked, still grinning.

Dante groaned and pulled off his pack. He pulled a silver coin out and tossed it to the slave dealer, who grinned even further.

Beloukas pocketed the coin. "It appears that many knights went around warning various shop owners not to conduct any business with the Shield Hero. A rapist shouldn't be allowed to live decently, or so they say."

"Three heroes knights or castle knights?" Dante asked.

"I wouldn't speculate to their religion, but they all wore Melromarc's sigil, yes sir."

Dante thought about that, though he didn't need to think too deeply. This happened after I went to the church and talked to that nun. No way that's not connected.

"I suppose you received this warning as well?" Dante asked the businessman before him.

"Why, of course." Beloukas continued to grin. "But, I have little to fear. After all, my business has many patrons, including those with a fair amount of influence in the affairs of the crown."

"Good." Dante nodded. "Glad all that's cleared up. While I'm here…"

Sadly, Beloukas shook his head.

"I see."

"Are there truly no more details you can provide for the search?" Beloukas asked.

"None, but I might change that soon." They already gave as many details about the villagers as they could. Names, races, descriptions, nothing seemed to help. The only slaver they knew who could say for certain where the villagers were sold was already dead. Of course, they had other slavers and knights they could…forcefully question. Maybe they'd pay one of those people a visit.

Or, maybe not. With people on higher alert for Dante and his party, problems arising in town might lead back to them. Knights start getting picked off and vanishing, a few clever people might wonder if Idol's disappearance is related.

"Then I look forward to hearing from you." Beloukas said.

With their discussions over, Dante and Sadeena returned to the carriages.

With a lot of time to spare, they went to the demi-human inn to hopefully meet with the emissaries. When Dante and Sadeena entered, they were met with worried glances from the staff. The bartender, however, waved them over. He was also the innkeeper that went to check on them when Raphtalia had her night terrors. He was also a seven foot tall bear therianthrope. If Dante had to guess, he also functioned as a bouncer of sorts.

"Seems you're in a bit of trouble." The bear man said.

"You could say that." Dante nodded at his words. "We don't want to cause you any trouble. There should be a few travelers here. A male hakuko, a female cat demi-human, and a female dog demi-human. If you could tell them to meet us at—"

"No." The barkeep said. Before Dante could say anything, the man jabbed his thumb to the stairs. "Third door on the right."

Dante looked to the stairs before turning back. "Is that okay?"

The bear man placed his hand/paws on the counter. "Son, I've had to deal with a lot of things in this country. I'll be damned if I'm going to let some humans in metal suits tell me who I can and cannot serve."

Dante gave a short nod at the man's words and headed to the stairs with Sadeena. "We'll try to keep it short." He said.

Once on the second floor, Dante knocked on the emissaries' door. The hakuko, Tahrin, greeted them.

"Lord Shield!" The man sounded ecstatic to see him.

"Tahrin. Daila, Nero." Dante greeted him and his companions. "Seems I've caused a bit of a stir in town."

"This is all that Melromarc vixen's doing!" Tahrin proclaimed.

"You think the princess did this?" Dante asked. That wasn't necessarily the vibes he was getting. He knew the church wanted to pin things on Malty, but they weren't doing that good of a job. He was confident that was the plan, seeing how he got that information from a knight he had tortured. Well, that also depended on what exactly that knight knew.

"No, Lord Shield, it's the queen!" Tahrin clarified.

"Ah." Dante understood. They probably would see it that way. Her country did hoard all the heroes and started discriminating against their enemy's god almost immediately.

"Please, Lord Shield," Daila cut in, "allow us to take you to Siltvelt."

"I'm sorry, but I'm still looking for the villagers from Lurolona." Dante reasoned.

"Please reconsider." Nero said. "There are lords in Melromarc that have good relations with Siltvelt. Let us contact one of them. Perhaps they can take over the search."

"That's not such a good idea." Dante had thought of that before. The only lord he knew of that cared at all about demi-humans was Reichnott. Even then, Reichnott didn't seem particularly wealthy, at least for a lord. "Would any of them actually be able to keep them safe? Most of the survivors are children."

"Forgive me, Lord Shield, but where would you have them stay?" Tahrin asked. It was a fair question. After all, he was going to have them stay on Reichnott's lands for a while. The lord had agreed to it before they left. Dante would make sure to check in to make sure everything was fine. It all depended on his teleport skill.

This, among other reasons, was why Dante wasn't a diplomat: he couldn't always think of the right thing to say.

"Well, there's no real point in worrying about that now." Dante tried another approach. "We haven't found any, aside from the initial three."

"All the more reason to leave this country and expand your search." Tahrin said.

I can see why he's leading the negotiations. The man's quick with his words.

"Even if I wanted to leave, there's a problem." Dante said. "I've recently registered with Melromarc's hourglass. When the wave comes, I'll be teleported to the wave with my party." He verified that with his help menu. Dante had a look at the map with Sadeena and Eclair before. They might be able to reach Siltvelt before Melromarc's wave, but that would be without any real leveling. Assuming they got past the boarder wall without conflict—which was highly unlikely—Dante wouldn't realistically be able to get back to Siltvelt again until their wave pulled them there, whenever that was.

At least, not without meeting the level requirement for Portal Shield first. Something he couldn't do without hunting. Registering at a new hourglass may override the old one, but his help menu didn't say, and he could only really recall that happening in the web novel. It was shaky information at best.

"Once Melromarc's wave passes, I'll be in a better position to leave. I'll have abilities that let me travel quickly to where I've been." Once he could use the Teleport Shield skill, he would come and go as he pleased. He couldn't remember if the carriages could be teleported too, but that was an issue for later.

"If you think that's best, Lord Shield, we won't argue any further." Tahrin gave him a short bow.

"Good." Dante didn't really have any other arguments he could make at the moment, aside from simply refusing. "With that said, I don't want you three coming back to the city."

"What?" Tahrin had concern clearly written on his face.

"Things are getting a bit more serious here." Dante reasoned. "Regardless of who's doing this, associating with the Shield Hero is clearly dangerous. I don't want you three getting yourselves arrested—or, more likely, killed—because someone gets wise to what you're here for."

So far, Dante's party didn't have to deal with assassins from the church or anyone with any real power. Idol was the exception. The mercenaries from Ronota were still a bit of a mystery, but they were entirely incompetent. Things could change, but Dante wasn't worried, considering all the leveling they were doing. The item drops also helped quite a bit.

Tahrin sighed. "If that is your wish, Lord Shield, then we shall stay away."

"Thank you for understanding." Dante said. "The wave is in 12 days. I'd be fine with meeting with you all then."

They finished their discussions and Dante and Sadeena left the group.

They returned to the party to plan things out.

"What do you all think?" Dante asked everyone. They met in the least packed carriage to plan, with Dio and JoJo still attached to the carriages in their average filolial forms. Of course, his Humming Shield was equipped to silence their talks.

"Seems like there's no point in returning to the capital." Eclair said, shaking her head.

"Well, we still need to find that seed, right?" Raphtalia asked. "That will probably take a while anyway."

"Searching around is a given." Dante said. "I believe we're more than ready for the wave. My concern is what comes after."

"What are we looking at?" Sadeena asked. Dante knew what she meant, and figured he should divulge a bit more.

"From the knowledge I have, looking too powerful to the church causes problems." Dante said. "I thought they were keeping better tabs on me, but I suppose they weren't. That nun seemed surprised to see Sadeena."

"We did wear cloaks almost everywhere we went." Sadeena pointed out.

"Still." The amount of time it took for the guards to recognize his face was one thing, but how did the church not have better information?

Did they really just learn about me having a companion? The fuck are those church shadows doing? What's anyone doing? Or was it because I just committed to the wave? Or was it the armor I had on? Was it really that good looking?

He was starting to regret wearing that armor as much as he did. It could very well be that the church shadows were busy fighting the queen's shadows in secret, but Dante had no way to verify. It's not like Sadeena was sensing them, and she was quite confident she could. The Q'ten Lo shadows were getting easier to spot for her.

"Well, I can't see us staying in Melromarc after the wave." Dante said. "We'll need to find a way to get to Siltvelt in secret, or at least in a way the church won't notice right away. I'm thinking we go through another country and take a longer path. We can get another hourglass that way."

Of course, that other country was going to be Zeltoble. The only other hourglass country in the somewhat general direction of Siltvelt that wasn't beyond it was Faubrey, and that would be a terrible idea.

They continued trading ideas on what to do for a bit before leaving the capital. They kept a decent distance from the city to train and level until the sun began to set. Dante went back into town before they could close the gates for the night. He left his eye-catching armor with the party and had Dio in her chick form under his cloak as he made his way to the tailor's shop.

With the sun down and less traffic on the streets, he went to the back door and gave it a knock. Ann greeted him and quickly let him in.

"I'm sorry about all this." She apologized. "Guards came around the other day and—"

"It's alright." Dante said. "I got the gist of it. Vague threats if you dealt with me, right?"

"Yeah…" Ann said. "Still, it's not right to treat a hero this way."

"A hero accused and convicted of rape." Dante pointed out. "I'll be honest, it's a bit strange for you to ask such a man to come to your shop at night."

"Well, it's not as if I couldn't scream for help." She said, guiding him to the adjacent room.

"I'm pretty sure not having the chance to do so is what allows rapes to happen." Dante quipped.

"And, you don't seem the type." She said, grabbing a bag. "I'd like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character."

Dante accepted the bag. "You're a strange lady, but you have good insight." He looked inside and found the three sets of clothing. "You're sure these will work, right?" He asked.

"Of course!" Ann said proudly. "Even if I don't know exactly what their forms will be, the magic thread will help compensate for it. The clothes for the dog boy and weasel woman will shrink to fit them, and the clothes for the raccoon woman should be able to adjust to her new form."

"Excellent." Dante wondered if Keel would be annoyed for being referred to as a boy and not a man. For Raphtalia's clothes, Dante wasn't sure what her therianthrope form would look like. It was possibly like Ruft's, possibly like Raph-chan, or maybe like the other two. He was pretty sure Rifana's form would be around the same size as Keel's.

"Are you staying in the city?" Ann asked. "I don't know where it would safe for you."

"Oh, don't worry." Dante pulled the string on the bag, closing it. He slung it over his shoulder. "We'll be just fine."

"Cheep!" Dio agreed, peeking from beneath his cloak.

"Well, safe travels, Dante." She bid him farewell.

Dante left the shop and made his way down the streets. With the sun fully below the horizon, the night provided the perfect cover to leave the city. He'd thought about maybe using the sewers to escape, but that would probably be more trouble than it was worth.

Instead, he approached an unobserved part of the city wall and let Dio off. She transformed into her average filolial form and Dante climbed on, shifting his shield to another form. She steadied herself and took off running towards the wall. Once close enough, she leapt to the air and Dante activated his shield's ability.

Levitate.

It was the Cacodemon Shield he received from a very strange nostalgia trip. He played with this shield, as well as a number of others he received in their travels, and understood how it worked. At first, he thought it would allow him to slowly fly through the air, or at least let him move around. Instead, once activated, it would allow him to hang in the air, moving neither up nor down. He could still move around, provided was moving beforehand or he had a surface to move off of, but not on his own. He could climb a flat surface, provided he could brace himself in a corner, or use a pick to pull himself up slowly. He could also stop his decent in a fall, if he was able to change to the shield fast enough.

All in all, it was a shield with a very limited ability. That was probably why it was actually called levitate (minor).

For the task at hand, it was more than enough. Dio was able to jump to quite the height before the shield's ability finally slowed their ascent. Once above the wall, Dante allowed their forward momentum to keep them going until they passed over it completely. He deactivated it to quickly descend and activated it again once they neared the ground, and then stopped it entirely. They made it out with no sign of gaining attention and continued on.

"Good job, Dio." Dante scratched the side of her neck.

Dio transformed into her queen form mid-stride. "Thanks, Papa!" She said happily.

They made it back to the others some distance from the capital, camp already made for the night. Dante handed out the clothes to the three demi-humans. They made sure their designs could all be used with their current armor.

Keel's was similar to how he had his clothes before growing. An open collar white shirt with exposed midriff, and shorts that went just below his knees. JoJo was quite happy they still matched. When he was told what his therianthrope form would likely be, he did what Dante half expected and wanted it to transform into a loincloth. Dio wasn't the only one who wanted to emulate Sadeena, and who could blame them?

Raphtalia seemed fond of the colors and style of the clothes Dante first got for her, because her clothes looked pretty similar to those. It was a red and brown tunic with a slightly lighter brown undershirt. The skirt part, however, went farther down, a little above her knees. Her transformed clothes would basically be the same as they are now.

Rifana surprised Dante a little, and almost made him groan. Her clothes consisted of a dark blue shirt with a matching skirt. The shoulders were left exposed while the sleeves went all the way to her wrists. The bottom of the shirt reached mid-stomach, while the skirt went down just above her knees. The shirt also clung to her chest a bit, and combined with the exposed shoulders left a fair amount of cleavage showing. She did also have a hat similar to Agatha's, adding a nice touch to it, as well as a short, hoodless black cloak.

"W-What do you think, Mister Dante?" Rifana asked. She was clearly embarrassed wearing it. Keel and Raphtalia were a bit embarrassed looking at her, Eclair even more so. Sadeena kept on smiling like she always did, but it was clear she was highly amused. On the plus side, neither Dio nor JoJo seemed to react much.

Dante didn't think she thought out her outfit through enough, or maybe the tailor misunderstood something. Whatever the case, he wasn't about to make it worse. "It looks good on you." He said with a smile.

That perked Rifana right up. "Really?" She asked ecstatically.

"Yes, it's very cute." Dante told her. Her blush grew, but so did her smile.

After trying on their clothes, they turned in for the night, taking their shifts like normal.

~The Wrong Hero~

The next several days saw them falling into a decent pattern. Like Naofumi had, Dante opted to sell medicine as they traveled for the time being. It was a decent way to earn money, which they should still do, and it allowed Dante to use up his otherwise useless supply. The merchant pass Eclair got them worked without issue. He had been selling to Simmond in the capital, but that arrangement got squashed. He wore some decent clothes he got from his item drops and kept his shield on his back and under his cloak while dealing with customers. It was a decent way to unlock shields.

Raphtalia, having liked using the bow against the cacodemon, continued to learn from Eclair. She'd gotten the basics down before, and was more working on consistency. Plus, doing that repeatedly was going to really work out her muscles. That sort of training did improve one's stats a bit.

Rifana would keep on with her studying, continuing to impress with her quick acquisition of new spells. Like with muscle training, casting spells as practice did increase her magic stat and MP slightly.

Whenever they stopped for a moment, Dio and JoJo would 'play' with each other. That's what they called it, but they were using their magic to do so. They both learned High Quick around the same time and would zip around outside the village they stopped in, or one would throw a Tornado spell out while the other would either throw one back or counter it. Dante had to admit, it was rather fun to watch, and pretty cute how excited they were the whole time.

Keel had spent the first few days training with Sadeena, adamant to learn transformation. Finally, after much practice, he got his wish. When he transformed, his clothes compacted into a loincloth, just like he wanted. He looked down at his paws in clear excitement, eyes sparkling. Keel stood about two and a half feet tall and resembled a Siberian Husky.

"I did it!" He shouted, the smoke from his transformation already gone.

"Big bro…" JoJo looked down at the now much shorter Keel. "Little bro?"

"No! I'm still big bro!" Keel corrected that heinous error.

"How does it feel?" Sadeena asked.

"It's like I'm so much lighter now." Keel remarked. "And faster."

"And cuter~." Sadeena gave him a wink.

"No! Cooler! I look cooler now!" Keel was simply not having it.

He went up to everyone in the party, demanding to know if he looked cool. Both filolial kids thought he looked cool, but for different reasons. Dio liked how his transformed clothes slightly resembled Sadeena's, and he was still JoJo's big bro. The others, however, had less than pleasing reactions. Dropping his height by half didn't instill the coolness he wanted in Rifana or Raphtalia. Eclair gave a half-hearted acceptance to his coolness, which he recognized immediately. Sadeena had already made her position clear.

At that was left was Dante.

"I look cool, right Dante?" Keel asked.

"Yeah, really cool…" Dante responded.

"Why aren't you looking at me?"

"…No reason."

Soon after Keel transformed, Dante had turned his head away from him. Even now, he refused to look.

"Look at me!" Keel darted around him, but Dante kept swiveling around.

"I already did. You look cool." Dante said in a monotone voice.

"I don't believe you!" Keel kept circling him. "Come on!"

They kept it up, Keel trying to get in front of him while Dante continued to spin.

"Are Keel and Papa dancing?" Dio asked.

Eventually, Keel double backed and leapt up at him. He stood on Dante's chest and clung to Dante's cloak as he stared at the man.

"There!" Keel yelled, trying to get into Dante's vision. "Now, look at me!"

"I did. You're cool." Dante said plainly.

"Say it like you mean it!"

"You're cool…"

"Do I look cool or not?"

"Yes, you're cool."

Keel latched onto his face, trying to turn it. "Then why won't you look at me?!"

Finally, Dante faced Keel head on. His eyes widened as he spoke.

"Because I don't think you look cool! I think you look cute! You look adorable! The moment I saw you transform, I wanted to scoop you up! I want to pet you and scratch your ears!"

Dante huffed as he finished his tirade. Keel stayed where he was, eyes vacant as he continued holding onto Dante. No one said anything.

"Oh my~!" Except, of course, the one person who dared. Sadeena slid up next to Rifana. "It looks like we have a bit of competition, Rifana~."

"S-Shut up!" Both Keel and Dante yelled at the orca woman.

Keel jumped down while Dante turned away. So I really like animals, so what!?

Aside from their little comedy routine, their travels were peaceful. Keel did, however, bring up the question of why he didn't get a nickname. Dio told him his name was already cool, and JoJo agreed. Despite not being called cool in earnest by anyone else, he was quite happy with the answer.

They kept at it for several more days, until they reached a certain village.

~The Wrong Hero~

"Sir MacRory…" Eclair looked around the village.

"I didn't think it would be this bad." Dante said, standing next to her.

They had found the village with the bioplant. Dante wasn't even sure it was given out, but here it was, in a village they hadn't even marked on the map. The village was actually nestled near a forest that was home to some strong monsters. All the other heroes had warned him not to go there, being a shielder and all. Despite their concerns, the party was able to handle the monsters.

That, of course, was beside point. The village itself was covered in vines. Numerous plant monsters roamed the streets, plantriwe, as they were called. They were killed with little effort, but they gave no XP, much to Dante's annoyance. He prepared a decent amount of weed killer in case they needed it, but that didn't seem necessary, except for maybe the bioplant itself.

What caught Eclair's attention, however, were the things moving around that weren't plantriwes. They moved about with vines wrapped around their appendages. Gaunt faces stuck in an expression of deep hunger looked their way as the bodies lumbered forward. Their eyes were stuck open, tiny vines spilling around the eyeballs.

These were the former residents of the village.

They came up as 'plant puppets' in Dante's appraisal. The name fit them well. They moved around jaggedly, as if something else was forcing their bodies to move. When they did manage to shamble up and strike at Dante, they did no damage to him.

"Here." Dante put his arm around one that got near him, holding it down.

Sadeena came forward with one of his weed killer potions. When she poured it on the entangled man, the vines quickly broke apart and fell to the ground. The man dropped too, as if his strings were cut. Dante held his fingers to the man's throat, confirming what he thought.

"He's dead." Dante announced.

It was pretty bad. Dante only vaguely remembered the bioplant infecting people, but nothing to this extent. He was glad Eclair convinced him to search for the seed. If they waited, and the bioplant had spread, who knew how many more would have died from it?

They tried the same thing to a few more plant infested people, only to find the same result. After the fifth attempt, they no longer bothered. They cleared the way of plantriwes, mandragoras—stationary plants that spat poison—and plant puppets, making their way to the center of the infestation. Once closer to the large tree-like bioplant, they found something else disturbing: pods.

They were still far away enough that the bioplant didn't look at them, so they were able to investigate. Sadeena and Raphtalia pulled back some of the plant matter near the top of one of the pods, revealing a woman inside. Based on how she and the plant puppets looked, she appeared to be in the later stage of becoming one of them.

Dante reached in and felt her neck. She, too, was dead.

"It feels like the pod is taking her energy." Sadeena pointed out. It seemed the bioplant took nutrients from the ground and people alike.

"Well, only one thing left to do." Dante pulled out some weed killer and approached the bioplant.

An eye opened on the trunk of it and the plant let out a loud screech, but Dante continued on. Vines tried wrapping around him, but his defense was far too high to be stopped. Once he got to the roots, he poured the weed killer onto it. The bioplant screeched again and writhed around, before stopping altogether. The vines and roots quickly rotted.

All that was left was the cleanup. It took a bit of time to find all the fruits the bioplant had produced. It was a bit of a strange thing, the bioplant. While it wasn't truly a monster—giving no XP and allowing Dante to damage it like he had—the fruits and plant creatures it created could be absorbed into his shield as item and monster drops. He could go through everything he got later for their value as ingredients and monster parts for power ups.

"What should we do about the people?" Rifana asked.

"I'll absorb them into my shield." Dante said.

"Sir MacRory…" Eclair looked at him with a disapproving gaze.

"I'm not trying to be cold, just practical." Dante said.

He knew it appeared heartless, but he also knew Eclair could see the bigger picture. Most people didn't have expensive item drops, but many did have an ore on them, usually two, sometimes three. They were random, and their value seemed to depend on the level of the person. Higher level people did drop some good gear, like the knights. As a whole, for their levels, people were middle-of-the-road in terms of valuable drops compared to monsters.

Eclair sighed. "I suppose this is just another thing I'll need to overlook."

"I'm pretty sure I know who's to blame for all this. You can chastise me with him, when the time is right." It was most likely Motoyasu's doing, though Dante supposed Itsuki might have been the one. There was no telling what else was changed from what he knew.

Honestly, after everything else they've gone through, seeing this wasn't so bad. Disturbing, yes, but they were all getting used to seeing this sort of thing.

They finished cleaning up, then took a break after what they had witnessed. Afterwards, they went back into the forest they came from to hunt some more monsters, the reason they were in the area at all.

~The Wrong Hero~

It was a few days after dealing with the bioplant that the second demi-human in the party gained a therianthrope form. Dante thought it would be Rifana, but it turned out to be Raphtalia. He was a little surprised, in more than one way.

"Did you know about this?" Dante asked, observing his party's various reactions.

"No, this is…unexpected." Sadeena replied.

"Well, it's not bad, right?" Dante wanted to confirm. If he didn't know anything, he would see these circumstances as an absolute positive.

"I don't think so." Sadeena reasoned. "It's just so…"

"Counterintuitive?"

"Exactly."

"Would you two stop talking and help me?!" Raphtalia yelled, though in a somewhat deeper voice than they were expecting.

Currently, Raphtalia stood in her therianthrope form. She looked like what Dante would describe as a were-tanuki. Her feet had formed into paws, similar to Keel's. She was covered in auburn fur, her face had grown a small snout similar to a raccoon's, her tail grew twice as long and more greatly resembled a raccoon's with the stripes, and her hands grew into a set of claws.

Oh, and she was about eight feet tall.

"Dante, give me a cloak!" Raphtalia bellowed at him.

"Ah, sure." He swung his arm, ejecting a cloak from his item drops towards the giantess. Rifana and Eclair helped her.

The reason for her current duress wasn't because she didn't like her transformation. At least, not directly. Her problem was that her clothes were not equipped to handle her growth. It turned out that magic clothes needed to be treated for whatever transformations they would undergo. Keel's would compact into his loincloth once transformed. Since they became large and didn't require clothing, the filolials' clothes would shrink and change into bands and a collar. Sadeena's actually would expand, but it was designed to do so.

For Raphtalia, both Dante and Sadeena had thought she'd either stay the same size or get smaller. There was the possibility she would get a little bigger, from what Dante recalled of Ruft, but not to this extent. Needless to say, her clothes were greatly torn, close to being considered shredded.

"So much for transforming clothes." Dante said.

"As long as they aren't completely destroyed, little…big Raphtalia can repair them with her magic." Sadeena couldn't seem to help herself.

"This isn't funny!" Raphtalia called out, still trying to wrap the cloak around herself.

"It's pretty funny." Dante said. Aside from the wardrobe malfunction, it wasn't like Raphtalia had much to complain about. Dante could clearly see the muscle growth on her, and her stats complimented that greatly. Some of her other assets were enhanced as well, specifically her chest—

"Stop looking at me!" Raphtalia snapped at him.

"Sorry, sorry." Dante turned his head and held up his hand, a smile still on his face.

"Oh~?" Sadeena slid around him. "I'm surprised you aren't gushing about how cute she is~."

"Don't get me wrong, she is still quite beautiful—"

"Stop talking!" Raphtalia interrupted.

"—but I don't usually consider people who tower over me like that to be cute." Dante explained.

"Aw, not even me~?" Sadeena draped her arm over him.

"Sorry." Dante shrugged with a smirk. "Not cute while transformed."

"Does that mean you don't think I'm cute, Papa?" Dio asked.

"You and JoJo are exceptions." Dante said, patting her head.

This wasn't terrible at all. If anything, it gave Raphtalia more versatility. Her attack stat was good before, but it couldn't compare to JoJo, Dio, and Sadeena's. With her transformation, that changed. Raphtalia was higher than Sadeena in her demi-human form, roughly the same as Dio and JoJo in their royal filolial forms, but still hedged out by Sadeena in her therianthrope form. All of her other stats saw a modest boost as well, except for agility. If she wanted to sneak around or be casual, her demi-human form was the way to go. For pure combat, her therianthrope form.

Dante did vaguely remember something from one of Motoyasu's time loops from the web novel, for whatever that was worth now. He was pretty sure people of Raphtalia's race could transform into something like a tanuki. That would most definitely increase her agility, and possibly her magic as well. It also didn't hurt that she'd be a tanuki. Having another cute animal companion in the party did make him happy—

"I can see you thinking something rude over there!" Raphtalia called out.

It seems her new form increased her perception and insight. I don't think she called out any of my thoughts until today. Either that, or she's just gotten used to me.

"Just transform back." Dante pointed out.

"I don't know how! Besides, if I do, then you'll see…"

"I can see a whole lot of you right now."

"Shut up!"

With all the work they were putting in, their preparations were coming along nicely.

It wouldn't be long until the wave.

Notes:

Sorry if the style is a little off. Trying something out, more broad strokes that don't need as much detail. A little fast paced, but I didn't have a lot to say about most of it.

The more I write, the more I understand about leaving things unsaid, or skimming over things to revisit later. Aneko had the right idea there. I couldn't count the number of times something was talked about happening before (off screen) and was only brought up when something relevant was happening. It wasn't just randomly beneficial either. More like it was something that could have been implied to have been happening anyway. I digress.

I've chatted with someone about a few things my story could improve on, as well as a few oversights I've made. Thankfully, this gave me a few more ideas to work with, and how those oversights could come back on Dante, so I'm thankful for their input.

Next chapter is the wave. It's happening. Over 140k words and it's finally here. Friggin' took me long enough.

Thanks for all your reviews. Please let me know what you think.