Chapter 43.

Bellamy

Bellamy winced with every step he took through uneven terrain, his legs were aching fiercely after trekking through the Dragon Infested region for several hours, but tried not to let it show on his face. He knew that the entire team he was travelling with was likely to be in the same condition, though the Classed Up members likely had it easier, and didn't want to drop morale.

Bellamy and fifteen other members of the Church were on the trail of Sir Adrian. It had taken them days to get a start, another couple of days to move through the forest itself and despite finding several traces of his presence they had no real idea how close or how far they were to him. Frankly, the simple fact that they knew that he had been here was more than what they had had before so he wasn't exactly unhappy about their progress but it was still frustrating to be on the trail for a moving target. Bellamy was not a hunter, he lacked the patience to simply keep following the trail when it could potentially lead to nothing. Not when Sir Adrian could be at risk.

He still felt his fury rise as he remembered just why Sir Adrian had been forced to leave and that he had been forced to just allow that piece of scum to go ahead and corrupt the Spear Hero soon after. Bellamy promised himself that one day he would ensure that the Princess was punished for her sins. Not only had she accused Sir Adrian of rape, compelling him to escape Melromarc and take unnecessary risks with his life, but she had then used that pathetic sob story to turn both the King and the Spear Hero against him. Even now it was only due to the fastidious efforts of both the Queen, the Guild and the Pope that Sir Adrian didn't have a bounty on his head. The whole situation was disgusting. Not only had they ceased to aid the Legendary Hero, but they had also actively started to act against him. The very thought was blasphemous. Though even worse was how the Pope had reacted to these events.

Bellamy tried not to glare at the kill squad around him. To be certain their main role was to track Sir Adrian down and offer their aid to him. To serve him as was right...but Father Andrew had revealed the true reason why their squad had so many people when a smaller number would move faster. If the Sword Hero was not amenable to returning then they were to kill him or capture him.

The thought made him utterly furious. His rage was only mitigated by one simple fact: The Sword Hero would kill them all if they tried to force him into anything. None of these people had seen his truly insane growth, none of them realized that while their squad had struggled to move through the Dragon Territory at a decent rate Sir Adrian had slaughtered what appeared to be tens of thousands of monsters. By now he must be at level 40 at the very least and given how disproportionate the strength of the Legendary Hero was with respect to his level Bellamy had no doubt of Sir Adrian's power.

Still, Bellamy hoped that diplomacy would prevail. Sir Adrian had not had enough time to realize that the Church was quite separate from the Royal Family and that they not the Queen were the true power in the nation. Surely, if he had but known that simple fact, Sir Adrian would have approached him when he had realized that Princess Malty planned to accuse him of rape. It was disappointing to realize that Sir Adrian had never realized just how much influence he had in the Church. Bellamy was certain that Father Andrew and Sir Adrian together could have solved all their problems with ease. Now it was his job as the only trustworthy party member of Sir Adrian to support the Hero.

"Drakon up ahead," came the call from the scouts in front, both nuns who were standing there were long-range sensors, they both followed the trail of destruction that Sir Adrian had left and ensured that they carefully avoided all the ludicrously powerful monsters in the area. Certainly, their team could defeat any individual monster, but if they got bogged down in combat, eventually even all the level 60's that they were travelling with would end up dead. Truthfully, Bellamy, as an individual who had yet to Class Up, had no place here, in an area where the recommended starting level was nearly level 50, but even the Pope had acknowledged that he was their best chance of ensuring Sir Adrian return.

Bellamy kept his breathing in order as they moved around the Drakon as carefully as possible. The sensors and the long-range attackers, Bellamy included, carefully keeping their attacks ready in case the powerful beast managed to track them down. It was a wise precaution, more than once before, they had been attacked by a monster they had assumed to have avoided. Bellamy sent a silent prayer for Atlanta, a nun, whom they had lost yesterday.

This time however they were fortunate, the Drakon ignored them entirely, and they continued their search.

It didn't take them long to reach a scene of absolute devastation. Bellamy carefully ignored the gasp from one of his fellow soldiers.

Bellamy activated his spell with a quick chant and instantly grasped everything within 300 meters that had light fall on it, this information combined with what his eyes could see allowed him to realize just how powerful an opponent Sir Adrian must have faced to cause this much damage.

Dozens of trees had been reduced to splinters, the ground had massive arcs carved into it, and Bellamy could see the area where the soil had been burnt, melted and then blasted for good measure. The whole area was saturated with the lingering remnants of Sir Adrian's power and it was eerie to note that even the monsters had avoided the area.

"What in God's name happened here?" asked Matthew, the leader of their explanation, the man turned to him in an instant before asking rudely, "Bellamy, did the Sword Hero do this?" disbelief was thick in his voice.

Bellamy kept his sneer contained, "It would seem so sir." he said politely.

"You didn't say anything about the Hero being this strong," the man accused, fear dripping of his tone. Bellamy wanted to smile at the man's realization that his target was not someone whom he could kill. The vindication was quite sweet.

"He wasn't before sir," said Bellamy, honest but feeling quite smug, "However as was noted in my report Sir Adrian reached level 32 in merely four days of activity. It is quite likely that his power has only risen since then."

It was an incredibly obvious statement. The incredible number of traces of dead monsters that they had witnessed in Dragon Territory should have hinted at the ludicrous amount of power at the Sword Hero's disposal, had none of them realized how strong he would have to be to survive alone in this area?

Sir Matthew nodded, though it was stiff. The man gazed around the massive area that had been devastated with a blank look on his face before turning to the trackers and barking, "Do you have the trail?"

At their positive response, he called for restarting their journey. It was a foolish decision but he could understand their fear of this place. Bellamy found it a comforting reminder that Sir Adrian was still alive and well and growing in strength even when he lacked any form of support but these blasphemous fools saw it as a sign of their mission's inevitable failure unless Bellamy convinced the Sword Hero to return.

Bellamy tried not to let his smile show. It was quite a satisfying feeling he had right now. Then he shook off his foolish thoughts. He still had a job to do. He could not afford to relax until he was sure that the Sword Hero was alive and well. It was his duty, he could do no less.

_______

Naofumi

They were nearly a day's worth of travel from Van Reichnott's home when they decided to take a small break. Naofumi was more than happy to relax a little bit and start cooking the meat they had harvested from the monsters that they had hunted and he could see that both Ethan and Fenral were looking forward to their meals.

For the dragon he didn't do anything very fancy, just som grilled meat with a couple of spices that he had picked up while on their travels, but for himself and Ethan he made something a little more complex carefully roasting the meat and making sure to use the bread they had received from the nearby village to add a bit of texture. It wasn't anywhere near the best he could make but it was pretty decent for food made around a campfire.

"Thank you," said the adventurer, as Naofumi handed over Ethan's share of the meal. Fenral also growled his thanks when Naofumi offered the Flying Dragon his own share. Neither of them waited long, Fenral immediately started eating while Ethan made sure that Naofumi had started to consume his food before doing the same. It was quite flattering to see them eat with such gusto.

It had been nearly two weeks since his summoning into this new world and it still amazed him just how awe-inspiring this world could be. Massive monsters that he fought, magic and even a magical superweapon that he had stuck to his arm. All of it was truly incredible. Honestly Naofumi felt a little bad for thinking ill of his Shield on the first day, sure he couldn't attack at all and it was a little annoying to realize that while he had gained some level of superhuman strength he still couldn't hurt someone even if he punched them in the face, but the incredible defensive capabilities that he gained as a trade-off was worth it. Naofumi had been unharmed no matter what he faced down.

Just recently a small village had been having some trouble with some sort of weird Chimaera. Naofumi had decided to help them out a bit while continuing his training and so he had tracked the monster down with Ethan's help. The fight had been a bit difficult, the monster had enough defence that Ethan's magic had struggled to kill it, but eventually, they had taken it down, even if it had been tedious. During that fight Naofumi had gotten hit directly numerous times but despite taking hits that would have probably killed most people in this world and would have definitely killed a bloody elephant back in his world, he hadn't been damaged at all.

And he was just level 32. Ethan had told him that his defence stat was about the same as Edgar, who was at level 90. It was kind of nuts. Naofumi had met the guild leader and he had gotten the feeling that the man had been some sort of War veteran, the fact that it had taken Naofumi two weeks to catch up to him as far as defense was concerned was a damn good demonstration of how absurdly powerful his Shield was.

Still, his lack of attack was a serious drawback even if his defense was amazing. He couldn't help but wonder if the other Heroes were even stronger than this. Their defence wasn't likely to be as strong as his, he was the Shield Hero, but if their attack was as high as his defence then he could see why this country only worshipped them. Sure as the Shield Hero he could block anything once he was fully leveled up but any of the other Heroes could actually fight properly with the same level of power directed at their attack stat, it was probably a lot more epic. Over time those epic shows of power were probably remembered a hell of a lot better than a Shield Hero not dying.

"Naofumi," said Ethan, "we should take a moment to talk about the representatives."

Naofumi frowned, that was new. Ethan had been fairly open about the facts about both Melromarc and Siltvelt. His description of both nations being extremists on opposite sides of the spectrum had probably not been what Edgar would have preferred for him to say but the adventurer was a pretty honest guy. Ethan had not been flattering about either nation but had asked him to consider staying in Melromarc simply because it had the best chance of avoiding war and would ensure that he was both free to gain strength and stay safe. And until now his predictions had come true. Sure the King had been quite annoying in the beginning but even if the guy didn't like the Shield Hero or Demi-humans the only thing that the old fool had done was stop him from getting a party member at the same time as the others. Hardly a massive crime, hell, it was nothing more than a petty annoyance at best.

Siltvelt, on the other hand, felt like it would be both paradise and hell at the same time. He would be worshipped and used by those in power and Naofumi wasn't certain that he wanted either thing to happen.

"What exactly do you mean by risky?" he asked.

"If you accept then it should be mostly fine...though you know the risks," he said and Naofumi nodded, worship from the masses at the cost of manipulation by those in power, "but if you refuse then they'll likely consider you a false Hero, a false God and that might bring in some pretty extreme factions from Siltvelt into the game. They might try to assassinate you,"

Naofumi grimaced as he considered that, "It sounds like that might happen no matter what I do," he pointed out, "I'm not a God, if I accept and screw up, they might consider me a false Hero, if I reject then they will consider me to be a false Hero. There's no winning here."

Ethan opened his mouth, then blinked and shut it again, "Shit," he muttered, "didn't think of that,"

That wasn't encouraging but Naofumi could understand Ethan's concern. Ethan took his duty seriously, he wasn't the smartest guy but he was pretty devoted to his job, and considering that his job was, in his own words, to keep him alive so that Siltvelt didn't declare war, it meant that this was a bloody big deal.

Ethan sighed in the end and said, "I'll get in touch with the Edgar," he promised, "I'm sure we can get some backup,"

Naofumi nodded, wondering if he should feel safe or not, it was kind of odd that it was the country that worshipped him that was a greater danger to him in almost any case than one that worshipped all the other heroes. Melromarc did not worship him but they weren't willing to harm him...but the disappearance of Adrian spoke of something like what could happen to him in Siltvelt.

After all, whatever risks he would face in Siltvelt, the other three faced here. Adrian had chosen to leave the support that Melromarc had provided behind because there were hidden costs. Siltvelt was probably the same for him. Though it might be worse because the Shield Hero was the only one worshipped there.