Chapter 40.

Adrian

Adrian wanted to run. He wanted to blast the Filolial that was casually making her way to him into oblivion. He craved to do something other than wait for her to arrive and cast judgement upon him but there was nothingthat he could think of.

Adrian had expected to meet Fitoria sooner or later. Indeed he had decided to raise his Filolials with the expectation that it would gain him some degree of positive influence over her. However, he had not anticipated meeting her so soon. In the light novels, it had taken her monthsfor her to bother meeting Naofumi and that had only been because the Heroes hadn't done anything about the Waves internationally for months and because he was raising a Filolial. Adrian had expected that he would at least be powerful enough to run away from her by the time they met.

He sighed, disposed of all his plans regarding the Filolial Queen, and took a deep breath. Adrian was seated alongside the rest of his party, there was no point in preparing to run, not from this bird. He tried to keep himself calm, he didn't know enough to worry or relax, he needed to stay calm and focused and try his best to be diplomatic. Sure Fitoria was a dangerous entity, but that didn't mean that she was a danger to him right now. He just needed to play his cards right...and hope that he didn't piss her off.

It didn't take her long to arrive.

"Greetings, Sword Hero," she said, upon reaching the clearing they were in, "I am Fitoria, Queen of all Filolials and I would like to speak to you about something very important."

Adrian stood up, his party followed his lead, he nodded at the giant bird, "I see," he said, "It's good to meet you Fitoria. I'm Adrian Black and these are my party members." he winced at how stiff he was sounding, though Fitoria didn't seem to find anything amiss. Was she just that unused to socializing...or did she simply not care?

Adrian took a moment to introduce them one by one. He noted that she almost ignored Raphtalia and Rifana, though she was fairly polite, but her eyes lingered on Isis and Trystan.

"Please take a seat," he said, indicating a chair that he had drawn out from his sword.

The bird nodded before closing her eyes and drawing her wings around herself. An instant later she had transformed into a silver-haired, white-winged girl that looked a lot like Isis. Though his daughter had slightly longer hair. Adrian quickly compared the two and found that he would believe it if someone told him that they were sisters.

"Thank you," she said politely, then her tone changed to something more serious, "Sword Hero do you intend to fight the Waves?"

Adrian raised an eyebrow at how direct she was being but nodded, "I do. I'm training right now and have already registered for the one in Melromarc and I plan to synchronize with the remaining Hourglasses over the next month or so once I'm confident that the human and demi-human governments can't get in my way."

She nodded looking a bit annoyed and Adrian was struck with the memory of his siblings trying to act like doctors and policemen in their games. Was this whole thing just a game to her? He scoffed at the image and then found himself sobering up as he imagined his siblings with the power to wreck a city...the idea of a super-powerful child was strangely terrifying.

"Good," she said and turned her attention to the two Filolials, "You have raised two Royal Filolials. I wish to test them."

Adrian found it rather refreshing that she didn't bother with small talk but it was rather jarring to just have her go from one topic to the next without explanation or reason.

"Please wait for a second," he said, "Just who are you and why are you concerned with whether or not I fight the waves?"

She tilted her head before responding without delay, "I am Fitoria and the Heroes must fight the waves so I asked you to make sure."

Adrian started to wonder if this girl was toying with him or if she was just this obtuse.

Still, she had given him an opening, "The help menu I have suggests the same, but why must the Heroes fight the waves anyway? I mean sure I'm going to so that I can reduce the damage that the Wave does but I doubt whatever system managed to create these weapons and summon me here cares about that."

Fitoria nodded, her voice turning a little bit more menacing than before, "The Heroes defend the world," she said, "if a Hero defeats the wave then it delays the next wave."

Adrian frowned at that fact, he had assumed that the Heroes had some sort of passive effect given what he had remembered from the Light Novel he had read. Something about the Waves getting worse if a Hero died. Was the Light Novel wrong? Perhaps a mistranslation or were both effects real? Best to check.

"I see," he said, "in that case why do we have four heroes? Wouldn't just one suffice to defeat the waves?"

Adrian was being a little indirect, he wanted Fitoria to spill out a few more pieces of information and really didn't want to hint that he knew that she would kill the heroes if they were incompetent. Plus, it was something he was curious about.

She shook her head, "All four heroes are needed," she said firmly, "If even one Hero dies then the waves get worse."

"So the heroes as a whole passively defend the world along with the active effects of defeating the Wave?" he asked.

"Yes," she said with a nod.

Adrian wanted to curse at this fact, Fitoria didn't seem to wish to openly threaten him at this point but the possibility loomed over his head. If the Four Heroes didn't play along she had plenty of reason to want to kill him. His plans to defeat or pacify Fitoria just went up on his priority list. At this point, Adrian was quite certain that he could deal with most countries. As long as he was on the move and had the initiative he could hold the advantage and later on once he had more time and resources he could look into other means of power projection.

"Very well," he said, flicking his head towards his filolials "and why do you wish to test them?"

For the first time since the conversation started Fitoria hesitated for a bit, "I wish to test their capabilities to succeed me." she admitted.

"Succeed you?" he repeated before asking, "what exactly is your role and what do you want from them?"

"I must protect the world," she said, "I fight the waves in places where humans and demi-humans don't stay."

He frowned, he had known about her so-called duty but the idea of her dumping her responsibilities on his children was grating. He hesitated for a little bit but choose to question her, he was scared of this woman but that didn't mean the was willing to just let do whatever she wanted.

"Are you forced to protect the world?" he asked, "will they be forced to fight as well if you approve of them?"

Adrian was pretty certain that they wouldn't be but it would be wise to see her response even if he couldn't trust her answer. Especially since he could see her hesitating at his question. Was she surprised that he wouldn't just let her fight his Filolials?

"I am not forced to fight," she said, her tone slightly puzzled at something, "I promised the Hero who raised me that I would protect the world and that's why I fight."

Adrian stared at her just admitting the fact that she was insanely old when she hadn't mentioned it before he had assumed that she didn't want to say anything about it

"Just how old are you?" he asked, "The last time the heroes were summoned was nearly two centuries in the past."

It was a little rude to ask such a question outright but Fitoria only shrugged, "I was raised a long time ago." she said, "but it was long before the last set of heroes were summoned."

"Then do you know how the waves got started?" he asked, genuinely curious, "Or what they are exactly? I find it very unlikely that they are normal natural disasters when there is a system in place to counter them that was not made by the people of the world."

"The waves started long before my time," she said and shook her head, "I don't know much about them and I have forgotten a lot but I remember that only the heroes can save the people from the Waves."

"Which is why you wanted to make sure that I would fight," he said, completing her sentence, she nodded in response. He continued, "Do you want Trystan and Isis to help you with the Waves outside of civilization?"

He was pretty sure she didn't but Adrian had never fully figured out just why she had waited until Filo to find a successor. She had been alive for generations it should have been easy for her to convince a Hero to hatch a Filolial and then raise said Filolial into a successor. Had she had successors before? And did she get them killed or kill them? It was grating to think that he would have to stand aside if she forced the issue...but refusing could be a good test of how far she would go he doubted that she would kill him. Then again there was a pretty good reason to allow her to select one or both of his Filolials as her heir as it would allow for that special Class Up.

She shook her head, "No." she said simply, "I only want to have a successor for the future."

Then she turned to his Filolials who had been silently watching their conversation, "If I consider you worthy I shall give you a power-up so that you can protect your Hero."

Adrian felt a surge of irritation as Isis sat up, focused rather than worried, and Trystan stood up and said, "Awesome, can we learn how to fly? Big Bro is always flying around…"

Fitoria smiled at his innocent question and his rambling explanation but said nothing and just turned towards the Sword Hero. Adrian frowned and reiterated his previous concern, "You haven't told me why you need a successor," he pointed out, "from what you said you've been alive for a long time I doubt that age is a problem."

"That doesn't mean that I can't die," she said simply.

"So it's just insurance?" he asked, annoyed that he couldn't figure out if she was lying and that he couldn't press her for details.

She nodded and he sighed.

"What do you two think?" he asked, "want to try it?"

Trystan's answer was immediate and positive but Isis was more contemplative.

"What sort of test?" asked Isis looking Fitoria straight in the eye.

Fitoria tilted her head before she said, "A fight. You two versus me."

"You got it!" exclaimed Trystan.

"You are much stronger than us," said Isis and silencing her brother with a glare, "we can't beat you. Even Father would struggle to beat you."

Adrian wanted to wince at her estimate. He hoped that she was overestimating him. It would not even well for her if she was underestimating Fitoria.

Fitoria smiled, "You don't have to win...but you can't lose either," she said.

Adrian frowned once he realized that she didn't care for much else. Her only goal had been to test his Filolials. Checking to make sure that he fought the wave had probably been incidental.

Isis considered Fitoria and agreed. She then looked to him for advice while Fitoria got up from her chair and moved a fair distance away after transforming into her Filolial Queen form. Her size was pretty much the same as Trystan.

"Go all out and be careful." he told them both, "And make sure to work together, it's one of the few advantages that you have."