Woo! Final chapter, it's been a fun journey. There's been several of scenes I've been musing about throughout the process of writing this story, and now I can finally get around to them now that that silly dungeon subplot is out of the way. Character interactions yay!

Enjoy.

Chapter 11: One More for the Road

S&DS&DS&DS&D

The chamber beyond the final boss room was as simplistic as any of the rooms they'd seen so far. A plain stone dais sat in the center and as they approached, Ragna appeared over it.

"Congratulations heroes, upon completing this trial." The magical construct chimed.

"Uh huh, sure." Ren answered irritably. "Where's our reward?"

"Playing trial completion message."

The ball of light flashed and suddenly there was a man sitting on the dais. Or, at least, an image of a man. His body was translucent, like a hologram and he wasn't looking directly at them, instead staring somewhere over their heads. Naofumi's eyes were immediately drawn to the figure's hands, which were clutching a very familiar looking bow. A past Bow Hero?

"Hello." The man said, still not looking at any of them. "If you are seeing this, that means you have completed my little trial. Hopefully, all three of you made it through in one piece."

"Three of you?" Naofumi echoed.

"Now I bet I know what the three of you are thinking," the figure went on. "Hálfviti, you bastard, why the hell did you put us through this? And the answer has three parts." The man lazily held up a hand. "One; Your teamwork is garbage. You may not see it, being in the thick of things, but as the Bow Hero, I'm in the back lines and have been a personal witness to how often you three chucklefucks get in each other's way, almost always nearly getting yourselves killed in the process."

"Is this message actually for us?" Kýla asked. "I feel like he's talking to someone else."

` The figure scowled. "Do you lot understand that the fate of this world is, quite literally, in our hands? If we screw up, everyone here will die. More to the point, if we fail, all four of us will die. You think we're gonna be sent back to our worlds if we die? I doubt it. Two," he stuck up another finger. "You lot are a bunch of hormonal idiots and need to learn to keep it in your pants."

"What is this nonsense?" Ren demanded.

"Hopefully, my trials forced you to work together, giving you a chance to see eye to eye and work out your issues. Truth be told, I don't care how you resolve your drama. Break up, decide to each see other people, have a series wild threesome and get it out of your systems, as long you get your crap together during the waves, I couldn't give a shit."

"Yeah, this isn't about us." Naofumi sighed. This was clearly about some kind of interpersonal drama between past heroes. It seemed that his group of cardinal heroes weren't the only dysfunctional group of idiots this world had been saddled with. How was it still in one piece?

"Three," the Bow hero stuck up a third finger. "And I'm going to need you to listen on this one, okay?" He paused and took a deep breath. "Frankly, I just don't like any of you." He shrugged. "I'm a spiteful asshole."

Well. That was certainly something Naofumi could empathize with, even if he been on the receiving end of it. The frustration in the man's voice struck a chord within him. If he could have made the other three heroes go through any kind of trial, what would he have thrown at them? Nothing pleasant, that's for sure.

"But," the man went on. "I'm also a spiteful asshole who wants to survive and go home. So, on that note, your reward for completing my trial. On one of the quests I took abroad to get away from you lot, I found a relic that provides a blessing to those who fight during the waves. I could have kept it for myself, lord knows I would make better use of it. But in the spirit of jolly cooperation and practicing what I preach, I've decided to split it up amongst us. You're welcome, you ungrateful pieces of shit." The man paused, sighed and looked up… "Alright. Ragna, I think I've got it out of my system. We can start recording the actual message I'll leave the others…" There was a long pause. The man frowned. "…already locked in? I thought you said I could do multiple recordings?... No?" The man was silent for a long moment. "Well…Shit." He sighed. "Maybe they'll join forces in order to come after me. Whatever works," He waved his hand wearily. "You can stop recording now, Ragna."

The projection flickered and the man disappeared.

"Message ends." Ragna said. "That was the creator of this dungeon and myself. I hope you'll take his words of wisdom to heart."

"It's certainly given me something to think about," Naofumi said dryly. Maybe it was the exhaustion from the events of the past few hours, but he couldn't help the smirk crossing his face . "Ren," he said lightly. "I think our friend from the past is right. We should see other people."

The swordsman shot him an unamused look that suggested he wanted Naofumi to go off and do something anatomically unlikely.

"And now, it is time for your reward." Ragna glowed and several balls of light appeared and floated above their heads.

Naofumi saw a status screen pop into existence.

Blessing Bestowed: Light of the Lost Heroes—You and your party will receive a 10% buff to all stats during Wave Events.

Well, that certainly got straight to the point.

"Trial complete, returning Heroes to the entrance." Ragna chimed, and everything lit up with a brilliant light. By the time the glare faded and vison returned, Naofumi saw they were all standing in the first chamber once more. The floor was back and the door was opening, revealing the dim light of the evening sky beyond.

"Farewell Heroes, and good luck." Ragna began to fade, sinking back toward the stone bell before disappearing completely.

"Well that's that, I guess." Naofumi shrugged, making for the exit and stepping out into the open air. It was good to see the sky again.

"It's getting late, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia pointed out. "By the time we reached the city, it'd be morning."

"No need to rush." Naofumi shrugged. "Let's just set up camp off the road and spend the night here."

"Of course." Raphtalia nodded, moving toward the wagon. "I will set up a campfire and start making preparations for dinner."

"Thanks," Naofumi nodded. "I'll join you in a minute."

"You could just teleport to the castle." Ren pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him. "It's faster, and they would provide you with food and beds."

"Could, don't want to." Naofumi yawned. "I like traveling by wagon, it gives me time to plan out what I want to do next. Also, I don't like sleeping in the castle. I keep expecting to wake up to Bitch trying to put a knife in me." He snorted. "Not that she'd have the attack stat to pull it off. You lot want to join us for the night?"

Ren stared at him. "…Why would I do that?"

Naofumi scowled. "Okay man, I was just offering. No need to be a dick about it."

"Lord Ren," Kýla said. "I'd actually like to take the Shield Hero up on his offer." She yawned. "Spending a night in the countryside sounds nice."

"Yeah," Naofumi smirked. "Didn't you ever go camping? We can make friendship bracelets."

"I have been camping." Ren said sourly. "And I didn't care for it. But seriously, why do you want us to? I thought you'd be eager for us to be gone."

"Well, actually, there is something else I wanted to discuss with you before you went running off." Naofumi admitted.

"And what's in it for me?"

Naofumi rolled his eyes. "How about… I'll give you a list of things for you to absorb with your shield. It'll save you time."

Ren scoffed. "I'm fully capable of figuring that out for myself."

"Is that a fact?" Naofumi said mildly, glancing at the ground. The side of the road was overgrown with plants. He moved toward a cluster of familiar looking stems, crouched and plucked one of them from the bunch. He turned and held it out to Ren. "Here, absorb this."

"…That's a weed." Ren answered, unimpressed.

"Actually, it's balmleaf. A staple ingredient for most healing potions. If your sword is like my shield it'll unlock a sword of basic herbology."

"And I would want that because...?"

Naofumi gave him an unimpressed look. "Because…" he said slowly, as if talking to a hyperactive toddler. "It will give you a minor stat boost, and then unlock the access to more advanced forms in the herbology tree. All of which will give you more stat boosts. I had to figure all this out through trial and error, but if you spend just twenty minutes of your time listening to me, it'll save you days of work."

Ren scowled at him for a long moment, then snatched the plant and held it in front of his sword. There was a brief glow and then his sword turned green, the blade widening slightly until it was shaped like a large palm tree leaf.

Ren took a moment to glance over his screen. "It doesn't say it's a herbology sword." He said at length. "It's says it's an herbicide blade that gives bonus damage against plant monsters."

"Okay, obviously the Sword would focus more on giving damaging skill then the shield." Naofumi shrugged, rolling his eyes. "I was wrong, does it really matter?"

Ren sighed, as though everything was just being so troublesome. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

Naofumi's stomach rumbled. "Eh, Dinner first, talk after."

Filo put her hands on the edge of the wagon and hauled herself up. Everyone else had settled around the fire and Master was busy preparing something to eat—her mouth was already watering at the thought.

But Master had told her many times that he didn't want her hanging over him while he cooked, saying something about how she kept sneaking stuff out of the pot before it was done. But that was okay, because she had something else she wanted to take care of before she forgot.

She glanced around the interior of the wagon, frowning at all the boxes and crates piled up along sides. She loved her wagon, but now that she thought about it, she didn't really spend a lot of time inside it. She knew what she was looking for was in here somewhere, but she didn't know where.

Oh well, she'd find it. It would be like a scavenger hunt!

The first crate was a bust, just a bunch of bottles full of icky smelling potions, the second had some rocks and pieces of shiny metal master used for crafting. The third was a barrel and oooh! so that's where master kept her feedbag for the road, she'd need to remember that one!

While she munched on a handful of feed, she reached for a chest near the front of the wagon. Undoing the latch, she threw open the chest and saw a bunch of cloth. This was it! She pulled rifled through the chest and found what she was looking for near the bottom.

Hugging the cloth to her chest she hopped out of the wagon and zipped back toward the others.

"Hey, Wizard Guy!"

The man looked up as she stopped before him, hands behind her back. "Yes, Miss Filo?"

"Here, Filo want you to have this!" She shoved the bundle of cloth into his lap. He blinked, and held up the object.

"Is this… a new cloak?"

Filo nodded. "Uh huh, cause your other one got all torn up."

"Oh." The wizard smiled. "How thoughtful…" he paused examining the cloth, his eyes went wide. "Is this…" he swallowed "Is this phoenix silk?"

"I dunno." Filo said. "Master got it after a skeleton wizard. But none of us are wizards so we can't use it. Filo thinks he was going to sell it, but she wants to give it to you instead."

"B-but this has to be worth at least ten times what my cloak…was—" he trailed off under the weight of her blank stare. "Er… are you sure the Shield Hero will be okay with you giving this to me?"

Filo shrugged. She hadn't asked. But if master had a problem with it, she'd just tell him it was fine. "Filo wants you to have it because she's sorry for…" she looked down, biting her lip. "What she did."

"I…see." Wizard Guy nodded. "Well…" he smiled, "I accept your apology, I understand you didn't mean to… destroy my cloak."

Filo smiled, a weight in her stomach she hadn't really been aware of easing. "You know, Filo," Wizard Guy went on thoughtfully. "I noticed that you were capable of rudimentary wind magic."

Filo blinked, but nodded. She could blow her enemies away if she didn't feel like beating them to death with her talons. But it wasn't quite as fun.

"Well, if you desired, I believe I could teach you a few advanced spells in that elemental field that you might find helpful, if you were interested."

Filo tilted her head to one side. "Like what?"

"Well, wind magic has never been my strongest element, but I do know the theory behind an advanced wind magic known as Storm Cage. Essentially, it creates a whirlwind that traps the target within and slices them with blades of air. I've never been able to perform it, but I imagine with the magical power of a filolial queen such as yourself behind it, the results will be quite impressive.

Filo stared at him with wide eyes.

That. Sounded. AMAZING!

"Yeah! Filo wants to learn that!"

Wizard Guy smiled, "Then have a seat." He said, patting the ground beside him. "I'll tell you how it works, and then you can find a monster or two to try it on. While I observe…" then, after a thoughtful pause, he added. "From a safe distance."

"Hmm. We're don't have any meat left." Naofumi commented, eyeing the stew pot that Raphtalia had set up for him.

"Leave that to me, Master." Raphtalia answered, drawing her sword. "I saw a den of dire rabbits a little way down the road when we arrived. I should be able to catch one without issue."

"Hmmm. Alright." He nodded. "I'll start boiling the water and get some spices ready."

"I'll be back soon." She slipped away, leaving him alone at the fire with that monk girl.

"She's a sweet kid." Kýla commented, watching the swordswoman made her way down the road.

Naofumi nodded glancing around. Filo and Galdur were some distance away, the wizard pointing at a page in a book and holding it out for Filo to see. Which made him blink; as far as he was aware, Filo had never touched a book in her life. Did she even know how to read? He hadn't taught her. Maybe the shield passed on the knowledge to her?

As for Ren, after the swordsman had been told that dinner wouldn't be ready for an hour or so, he'd gone off, saying that he would hunt down some nearby monsters to feed to his sword. Naofumi wished him luck with that, hopefully the guy wouldn't get lost.

"She's plenty strong too, hard to believe she's only been fighting for a few months." Kýla went on. He glanced at her, wondering what she wanted. He'd talked with Raphtalia for a few minutes after they'd left the cave. Apparently, the monk had left a good impression on her.

"I know," he commented. "I'm lucky to have her."

"And from what I hear, she'd lucky to have you as well…" Kýla said. "Hard to believe she's only ten years old."

"I'm aware." He nodded. "She looked it when I met her, but she leveled up fast once she was in my party. Took me by surprise."

"I can imagine. I've often thought that's why people get so nervous around them; they can grow strong so much faster than humans." She paused for a moment. "Of course, just cause they get stronger, doesn't mean they learn everything that comes with age. Sometimes they can miss out on…" she hesitated. "Important information if nobody tells them.

Naofumi looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. Was she implying that she thought Raphtalia was ignorant or something? "I suppose that's true…" he said neutrally, searching the monk's expression for any ill intent. If she had approached him just to badmouth his companion, then they were going to have a problem.

The monk hesitated, then shrugged. "Alright, I'll just come out and say it. I think someone needs to give Raph the Talk."

…What?

"…The talk?" Naofumi echoed, squinting at her.

"You know." Kýla nodded, "The balloons and the bees?"

Naofumi blinked, feeling that this conversation had suddenly gone off the rails. "Why is this important to you?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes on her. "Are you planning on making a move on her or something? Is that what this is? You're asking me for permission or some crap?"

"Uh…" Now Kýla was staring at him blankly.

"Seriously," Naofumi grumbled. "Half the merchants in the kingdom bend over backwards when she smiles at them, and now I've got to deal with adventurers—"

"Yeah, I'm going to interrupt your fantasies right there. I'm not into girls." Kýla said firmly. "That's not what this is."

"…Oh." Naofumi paused, suddenly feeling like an idiot. "Then what's this about?" he demanded. "She hardly needs to know any of that to fight off the waves. She can learn all about it when she's older."

Kýla pursed her lips, looking away. "You know what? Never mind." She sighed. "Now that I really think about, I suppose it would be rather cruel for Raph to have to get The Talk from you of all people."

Naofumi narrowed his eyes at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kýla's gaze snapped back to his and she stared at him for long, long moment. "You really don't know?" she asked flatly.

"No." Naofumi grit his teeth slightly. "if you've got something to say to me, just spit it out."

"No, no," Kýla shook her head, raising her hands in a sign of surrender. "I've got nothing that it's my place to say." She smiled disarmingly, "Don't worry about it, Shield Hero. I didn't mean any offense."

"Master Naofumi, I managed to secure some meat for…the…" Raphtalia trailed off as they both looked at her. "Er…" she looked back and forth between them. "What were you talking about?"

"You." Kýla said brightly, strolling over to her. "He was just telling me about how lucky he is to have you in his life."

"O-oh." Raphtalia blinked, looking at him with wide eyes. He nodded; he had said that, and he certainly wasn't going to bring up what they'd just been discussing, not with Raphtalia. "I…uh…" Raphtalia swallowed, staring at him with a strange look on her face. "I'm…quite grateful to have you in my life as well, master."

"Yeah, you tell him, Raph." Kýla said, throwing one arm around Raphtalia's shoulders and plucking the dire rabbit from her hand. She tossed the meat to Naofumi, forcing him to catch it awkwardly. "There you go, Shield Hero. Now, we'll leave you to your work. As it is, Raph and I need to go off and have a little chat."

"But," Raphtalia began. "I was going to help Naofumi prepare dinner."

"I'm sure he can handle it." Kýla answer, waving away the demi-human's concerns. "Besides, I think that us having this chat will be much more helpful to the two of you than preparing one meal."

Raphtalia's eyes met his, looking confused. But he shrugged. He didn't really get a sense of malice from Kýla, and if she wanted to take it on herself to tell Raphtalia about that stuff then it wasn't really a big deal. She'd learn about it eventually anyway.

"Okay…" she said reluctantly letting herself be led away. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't want to talk to you about this," he heard Kýla say as they moved away. "It's more of an… obligation. A personal favor from me to you."

Naofumi stood over the stew pot, clutching the dead rabbit and watching them move away, suddenly feeling very unsure about the situation. But… he shook his head. This probably wasn't his concern. Although maybe he'd need to check after the fact to make sure the monk didn't put any weird ideas in Raphtalia's head…

"Naofumi."

Naofumi glanced up from the cooking pot at the sound of his name. Ren was standing behind him, arms crossed and looking less than pleased. Must not have had much luck tracking down monsters for his sword. Hopefully he wasn't about to start bitching about how he didn't like stew or something.

"Yeah?"

"What is you wished to talk to me about?"

Naofumi frowned at the swordsman, well he supposed he could appreciate how to-the-point Ren was. "Two things, actually." Naofumi said at least. "But they tie together." He took a sip of the food and then pulled a vial of salt out of the crate and sprinkling it into the pot. "Let's start with the queen."

"What about her?"

"As you know, she lured us both here on false pretenses. Why she did it was obvious."

"She wanted us to cooperate." Ren spoke the last word like it was something squishy he'd accidently stepped in. Naofumi understood what he meant. It made sense that the heroes were supposed to work together. There shouldn't have been any reasonable objections to the concept.

It was just that the other heroes were entitled little pricks and he always got left cleaning up their messes. Naofumi stirred the pot a little more vigorously, trying to push down those thoughts. They may be true, but they also weren't helpful.

He didn't appreciate the queen's methods—he'd had more than his fill of deceitful royalty. But he also couldn't deny that this trial dungeon had given them some results. He was having a serious conversation with Ren and neither of them were on the verge of blowing up. Not to mention, the fact that Ren knew about how to enhance his sword now meant he'd likely soon be strong enough to pick up his slack on the future waves.

He didn't like it, but he also didn't want to be the broody teenager complaining about something that was objectively beneficial. That stunk far too much of the way the other Heroes behaved. But…

He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard. He was going to have a chat with the queen after this. He'd probably have been willing to go along with this if she'd just explained. But she'd chosen to lie to him instead. He intended to let her know in no uncertain terms that if she did this again…

Well. He'd heard there was a country of Demi-humans who worshipped the Shield Hero. Maybe it would finally be time for him to go visit other places. There was more to the world than Melomarc after all.

Still, he probably shouldn't tell Ren about that. It wouldn't help the current conversation.

"She's not wrong to want that." He said at length. "But I get what you mean."

"I wish she would stop sticking her nose in our business." Ren muttered. "We're already fighting the waves for her, what more does she want?"

Probably for them to be strong enough to succeed but saying that out loud wouldn't improve Ren's mood.

"That's another reason I wanted you to stick around for a little bit." Naofumi said. "If we want her to let us get on with it, we need to convince her we're up to the challenge."

"What?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "And us sharing a meal in the middle of nowhere is supposed to accomplish that?"

"Yes, actually." Naofumi answered. "Think about it, Ren. How much you wanna bet that some of her shadows are watching us right now to report what we're doing to her?"

Ren started with a scowl, looking around as though he expected to see someone dressed in black to peering out at them from behind a tree. "Spying on us?"

"Basically, yeah." Naofumi shrugged. She was the queen. Surrounded by nobles who lied at the drop of a hat, it was small wonder that she had spies everywhere to tell her what was actually going on. He'd do the same. "So, since our actions are being directly reported back to her. How do you think it will look to her if we spent the evening sharing food and a campfire instead of immediately parting ways?"

"…Like we're on better terms." Ren admitted, not looking at him.

"Yep." Naofumi nodded. "Actions speak louder than words. If she sees us cooperating, she probably won't feel the need to send us to another friendship dungeon."

He fell silent for a few minutes, letting Ren mull it over while he put the finishing touches on the food. Now it just needed to simmer.

"You've got quite the devious mind." Ren said at last.

"Have to." Naofumi answered. "Otherwise Bitch and Trash would have thrown me in a dungeon."

"Alright." Ren sighed. "I'll play along, but I'm teleporting back to the castle first thing in the morning."

"Sure." Naofumi nodded. "But there was one other thing…" he hesitated. "The other heroes."

"What about them?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They should probably be told about the weapon enhancement thing. I was wondering if you could help with that because, you know, you're at least on speaking terms with them."

"And why would I do that?" Ren demanded. "You're the one who owes them the information."

"Because otherwise they'll probably eat shit and die in the future waves, and then you and I will have to do all the work." Naofumi said. "Also, I'm pretty sure they won't believe it coming from me. They're…" Naofumi took care to keep his expression neutral. "Not as reasonable as you."

"…That's true." Ren sighed.

Don't say anything. Don't look at him. You won't be able to keep a straight face.

"I suppose I'd be willing to pass the information on to one of them. Whenever I next see them."

…Well, Naofumi supposed that was the best he was going to get. "Thanks. Anyway, dinner's ready."

Raphtalia's face was on fire.

Maybe not literally, but she wouldn't have been surprised if it was smoking with how red she knew her face had turned.

"So," Kýla said thoughtfully. "Actually, I think that about covers all the stuff you'll need to know about." Raphtalia stood stock still, staring at the monk. She'd thought Kýla was her friend. Why had she put her through this?

"Raph?" Kýla waved a hand in front of her face. "You alright there? Did you have any questions? Or did you need me to go over it again?"

"No!" Raphtalia blurted. "No. I got it the first time. I… why?"

Kýla raised an eyebrow. "Really? You can't think of a single reason this information might be important for you to know?"

"No!"

Kýla grinned. "Okay Raph, the whole blockhead thing is kind of endearing coming from the Shield Hero. But you're cute enough that you don't need it."

"W-what does Master Naofumi have to do with any of this?" Raphtalia demanded, her head swirling with new thoughts and concepts she wasn't totally sure she was comfortable with.

"…What do you think he has to do with it?" Kýla asked. "Are you sure I don't need to go back to the 'when a man and a woman…' bit?"

"What!?"

Kýla's grin, somehow, got bigger. It should have been against the law for anyone to show that much teeth. "Well," she said lightly. "You probably aren't aware of it, but when you're talking or thinking about him, you get this certain kind of look on your face…"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore!" Raphtalia covered her ears, trying to block out whatever it was Kýla thought she knew.

"Alright, alright." Kýla held up her hands and leaned back. "If that's how you feel about it Raph, that's fine. I just thought this information would be something you'd like to have."

"Why would I have wanted to know this!?" she demanded. How was she supposed to look Master Naofumi in the face now? Every time she tried, she just knew she was going to be picturing Kýla's grinning face and hearing the… things she'd described.

"Well, look at it this way." Kýla said reasonably. "Now you know that you can kiss the Shield Hero as much as you want and not have to worry about getting preg…Raph? Raphtalia? Oh wow. You actually fainted. That is adorable."

Naofumi yawned and waved as the morning sun climbed into the sky. He gave a lazy wave as Ren drew his sword, his companions beside him.

"See ya, around Raph." Kýla waved.

"Farewell, Kýla." Raphtalia nodded back.

The monk grinned. "And good luck with what we talked about."

Naofumi glanced at his companion. Raphtalia hadn't said much to him last night, she wasn't avoiding him, but she didn't seem to be willing to meet his eyes. He made a note to get her to tell him exactly what the monk had spoken to her about, just to make sure she was alright.

"Goodbye Miss Filo." Galdur said.

"Bye Wizard Guy!" Filo waved. "Thanks for the windy spell. I'm gonna use it on the next dragon I see."

"You…do that." Galdur grinned, just a touch nervously. "Try not to cause too much collateral damage."

"What's collateral damage?" Filo asked.

"…Oh." The wizard met Naofumi's gave and grinned sheepishly.

"I'll keep an eye on her." He sighed. He met Ren's gaze. The swordsman gave him a brief nod, before raising his sword. There was a flash of light and the Sword Hero and his companions disappeared.

"Well, that's that." Naofumi yawned again. "Glad that's over."

"It could have been worse, Master Naofumi."

"I suppose." He shrugged. He could have been trapped in that place with Motoyasu. "Come on guys. Let's get out of here."

"Yes Master." They chorused at him, Filo running back to take up her place in front of the wagon. Naofumi hauled himself onto the driver's seat. And settled down with a relieved sigh. "Let's head back to the castle." He said, prompting Filo to jerk the wagon into motion. They could have teleported back themselves, of course. But Naofumi had grown attached to traveling by wagon, and he wanted time to think over what he was going to do next.

The dungeon had actually strengthened them substantially. Perhaps it was time to start looking around for new party members… Naofumi glanced toward Raphtalia. She was sitting beside him on the driver's seat, although she still wasn't quite looking at him. Her armor was still beaten up, so was his. They'd need to visit Erhard to get that fixed.

But… meh. That could all wait.

Naofumi smiled to himself as he leaned back. Such thoughts could wait. They had time for the next wave. For the next few hours, he had nothing to look forward to except the open road, the absence of courtly politics, and the presence of the two people who mattered most to him in this entire world.

He intended to enjoy it.

S&DS&DS&DS&D

And… that's a wrap.

I think that's a good place to end this story. I got all the remaining scenes I wanted to do out of my system. Huzzah!

I think it came out fine, except for the fact that Naofumi came out way more chill than he probably should have been. I didn't capture his simmering anger or resentment that's always below the surface…

Oh well. Maybe he smoked, like, a crap-ton of weed before my story began. It mellowed him out. Yeah. Let's go with that.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my story!