Chapter 53.

Adrian arrived back at his base, near the hourglass using a Portal, the familiar change of environment failing to bother him. Itsuki was lying down in one of his discs, the boy was still unconscious, and while he had no open wounds, he showed no signs of waking up either. The only reason Adrian had even been able to add the Bow Hero to his party had been because of the Legendary Bow itself accepting the request.

It was remarkable, and infuriating, just how aware the Legendary Weapons seemed to be. Infuriating because it implied that his weapon must have been aware that Adrian had been desperate to help Isis...and it had chosen to ignore his concerns and stop him from travelling into the rift.

Blindsight let him grasp the area around him and Adrian stopped as he realized that Trystan and the rest of his party were having a meal inside one of the plant houses he had made. He looked at the stone floor of the ruins he was standing on and wondered how he was going to tell the kid that he had either gotten his sister killed or dimensionally displaced.

No words came to mind. There was no excuse, no reason save for his absolute incompetence. Adrian considered Isis his daughter, but what type of father got his daughter killed or thrown into an unknown dimension?

He felt like screaming at something, anything. Adrian felt like running away from the kid. From the disappointment and rage that Trystan would no doubt feel but he shook his worthless emotions off and started to walk towards the filolial. If there was anyone who had the right to blame him it was Trystan. The kid deserved to know the full truth.

Adrian tried to figure out what to say. For the first time since he had obtained Dash and his incredible speed stats, he didn't use it and instead slowly meandered towards the house his party had chosen to occupy. He had barely moved a few meters when he saw Trystan, in his human form for once, start to run towards him. It didn't take long for Adrian to see the kid with his eyes rather than through his skill and it made him realize something. Trystan had been crying.

"Big bro!" exclaimed the child, as he jumped towards Adrian. The Sword Hero caught him, knelt and held him tightly as the kid did the same. For a long moment, they said nothing more and simply held onto each other.

Then, Trystan leaned away slightly and looked at Adrian, a strange combination of happiness and sorrow, "You're okay!" he said, his voice breaking, "Fitoria said that someone attacked you and sis and that you were fighting and sis was gone with the Shield Hero but you're okay!"

The kid continued to ramble and Adrian let him, holding onto the kid while slowly stroking his wings, until he relaxed a little. Adrian felt his grief rise anew as he realized that this boy had been worried about him. Far from blaming Adrian for failing his sister the kid was concerned about him.

It was ridiculous but the Hero couldn't help the combination of guilt and love that rose up. He closed his eyes to try and stop his tears from spilling as he realized anew just how much both his children loved him...and how badly he had failed them.

"I'm sorry." said Adrian, his voice almost a whisper, "I'm sorry I lost her…"

"Big Bro…" said the child uncertainty.

Adrian continued as if Trystan hadn't spoken a word, "We'll get her back," he promised, his tone sharper, "no matter what,"

And he meant it. He would have Isis back with them. If she was in another world he would find her and bring her back...and if she was dead then he would resurrect her. He was in a world of magic, a world that had miracles. It was about time he used this place properly.

Adrian looked on as Trystan and Itsuki slept in their respective beds. The Filolial was in his more comfortable bird form while Itsuki who had been force-fed some potions was in one of the first beds he had made using his Carpentry skill. It was both reassuring and sad to see the Filolial sleep alone. He had gotten used to seeing the siblings sleep together in a pile.

It was easy to miss Isis. Everything seemed to remind Adrian of her.

"Are you okay ?" asked Raphtalia, who was observing him with a frown. Her concern easy to see.

Adrian was tempted to lie, to reassure her that he was okay, but when he spoke it was the truth that spilt from his lips, "I'm not," he admitted, "but I have a couple of plans which I need Fitoria's help with. I'll be better once she's here and I can speak to her."

The Queen had been contacted through Trystan before the child had fallen asleep and she had promised to visit in a couple of hours. That had been nearly two hours ago and Adrian was expecting here to show up soon and he could feel his impatience rise as he wondered what the hell was more important than this. Certainly, he didn't expect her to care about Isis, but Naofumi should have been a priority. After all, with a Hero in another world, her little strategy of killing the Heroes at her convenience wasn't going to work. It was the only reason why he expected her to help him.

Adrian saw Rifana and Raphtalia share a look at his answer but he didn't bother saying anything more. He felt more tired than he had ever been but he didn't dare sleep. Not when he had so much to do. Raphtalia opened her mouth to say something when they all saw a bright light wink into existence in the centre of their ruins, a couple of hundred meters from their position. A small instant of time later an ornate carriage had appeared there drawn by a Filolial who was about as large as Trystan, though with different colouration.

Adrian gave Raphtalia a weak smile, thanks for trying to help him, and focused on the one being that could make helping Isis effortless.

Fitoria looked as immaculate as ever and as she walked towards them she changed into her human form between one step and the next. It was a seamless transition unlike the slightly longer transformation that Trystan and Isis had. Another demonstration of her experience.

"Sword Hero," she greeted, her voice intense, much more so than normal.

"Fitoria," he said, and nodded to greet her, "Are you aware of the current situation?"

She nodded, "You found the Bow Hero but lost the Shield Hero and my Heir." she summarized, her voice flat.

Adrian felt a helpless sort of rage rise at the accurate summation along with some surprise as he realized that she was a little concerned for Isis. That was a genuine surprise to him, in his eyes, he had assumed that she simply wanted someone to take her place with little regard for who they were. Given that at this point she had access to two other Heroes and Trystan he had expected that she would be apathetic to Isis' loss.

He took a breath before answering. "Accurate," he said, wincing internally at his sharp tone, "can you check on the Bow Hero? I'd like to be certain that he is recovering."

Fitoria didn't bother moving even though Itsuki was fairly far away, she simply glanced in his direction for a moment before stating, "He is recovering and the Bow is functioning properly again but the Hero's soul is strained. It will take him some time to wake up."

"Some time?" he asked.

Fitoria shrugged, "Every soul is different. There is no method to make an accurate prediction about his recovery."

Adrian found that her apathy regarding Itsuki's well being was grating. Especially since it was a pretty good indication of how much she valued his life. That she didn't care about his life even when she had no access to Naofumi to reset the Hero summoning was a pretty good sign that she either had something up her sleeve or was apathetic and was just running through the motions. Then again, he had never expected her to care.

"But there is no risk of death," he said, just to be certain. She nodded before taking a good long look at him and then turning to stare at his sword.

"You fought a Vassal Hero from another world." she said, her tone matter-of-fact, "you should have won."

Adrian smiled bitterly, "I should have," he agreed, "and would have if that man couldn't draw power from ten different Legendary Heroes."

Even to his ears that sounded like an excuse. No matter the reason, the fact was that he had failed and failed catastrophically both from a personal and a general viewpoint. However, even now he didn't know what else he could have done. Certainly, he had assumed that someone reasonably powerful could have taken Itsuki but he had not assumed the skill set that the Book Hero had possessed. Even worse, the man had been able to survive his best attacks, drawn on mana from multiple sources giving him the advantage in prolonged battle and could teleport and block teleportation. Had his opponent been a more direct type of combatant there would have been a limited chance of Adrian losing. As it stood the Book Hero had been a nightmare to fight.

And Isis, Naofumi and Naofumi's party had paid the price.

Fitoria's reaction, however, was a surprise, "Nine Legendary Heroes?" she asked her tone surprised for once and Adrian was forced to wonder how much she had witnessed through Isis.

"Fitoria," he asked, "how much of the battle did you observe?"

She frowned but answered, "I saw your conversation with the Shield Hero and the Book Hero's first attack. After that, I saw him use that Spatial Distortion to create the rift."

"You missed the whole battle," he said, his tone flat. It took him no more than a second of thought to figure out how that was possible. Adrian had asked Isis to allow Fitoria to observe the conversation with Naofumi so that she could weight in if needed and see that he was trying his best to unify the Heroes she wasn't blocked which meant that, "you can only observe what Isis observed and since she was pretty far from the battle and wasn't able to tell that the bastard had Heroes you couldn't either."

Fitoria looked a little annoyed, but Adrian was not in the mood for it and simply stared at her. It took her a long moment but she nodded reluctantly and said, "I was only able to see a portion of the battle. The amount of mana you were releasing stopped Isis from sensing anything else but...it should be impossible for other Legendary Heroes to be in this world."

"Impossible?" he said, thinking of the warning he had received when he had tried to enter the rift, "then how did this guy take Naofumi into his rift? How did he drag others into this world?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again before tilting her head and closing her eyes. Adrian waited. Hoping that she would have enough insight to give him an advantage in case he ever had to face that guy or someone else like him again.

He was disappointed but not very surprised when she continued to keep information from him.

"No one should be able to bring Holy Heroes to other dimensions…" she whispered, she continued to look lost and Adrian chose to interrupt. He didn't have time to waste. Not when Isis could be in the hands of that man. Adrian was almost sure that the Book Hero was dead but that was not a guarantee and he didn't want to screw up again.

"What can you tell me about Vassal Heroes and dimensional travel Fitoria?" he asked, getting to the point, "I need to know how to get the Shield Hero and Isis back."

Fitoria looked hesitant but conceded in the end. Probably realizing that it was in her best interests to save Naofumi. Honestly, Adrian was happy that Naofumi was stuck with Isis. He didn't think the currently weak Shield Hero was good enough to protect her or anything but his mere presence in that other dimension was enough reason to get Fitoria on board.

"Vassal Weapons can travel dimensions using the rifts that are formed during the Waves," she started to explain, "they can also take people who are in their parties with them..."

Long story short, only Vassal Heroes and their party members could travel to other dimensions and it was flat out impossible for Legendary Heroes to do the same...except that it was possible. Even worse she could not open a rift herself. Adrian looked at the ancient being in the shell-shaped like a young girl and wondered about how good a liar she could be. It was hard to say, even with his senses, if this girl was being honest or lying through her teeth.

"Will you be willing to go into the dimension they are trapped in?" he asked once she was done explaining the situation, "With your power, you could save them with ease."

Adrian had to admit he was not feeling very hopeful. Fitoria was absurdly overpowered, if she chose to help then Isis was as good as saved, but that was precisely the problem. They just had to hope that she would survive long enough for the right Wave to arrive…assuming that the Waves had access to whatever world the Book Hero had accessed.

He had to stop himself from gritting his teeth when she shook her head, "I cannot go to other worlds," she said firmly, "I have to fight the Waves here,"

"Fitoria," he said, "you are the only one who can go. Leave the Waves to me, you've seen that I can deal with them, please." he begged, "you can find and save them-"

"No," she said, bluntly, "Levels are reset when people go to other worlds..."

She continued for a moment after that but Adrian wasn't able to listen past that first sentence. He felt like someone had just shoved him off a cliff. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as he realized that his daughter was in a foreign place, possibly at the mercy of the Book Hero at level 1. Even worse this ensured that sending a party without a Vassal Hero to boost their experience gain was suicidal at best.

"Are you telling me that Isis is at level 1 right now?" he asked, cutting the queen off.

Fitoria looked annoyed before her expression softened after she saw his face. He didn't know what he looked like but even this apathetic bird felt some pity for him.

"She is a Filolial Queen," said Fitoria proudly, "and a Queen candidate. She will be fine, have some faith in your daughter."

Adrian wanted to scream at the girl in front of him but resisted the impulse. He wanted to tell her to take her wisdom and tear it to shreds but crushed that impulse. She was still his best chance to find Isis and get her back. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second and then looked at the Filolial. Arguing was pointless. She was more powerful than him.

"Can you send people without going yourself and then pick them up at another Wave?" he asked, trying to find a couple of options. One was obvious, find another Vassal Hero, he even had one man in mind but the other was this one, have her send people and pray that they would be able to find Isis. It was a last ditch option but the simple reality was that he could not force Fitoria to do anything. Well, not without going to extremes.

She looked contemplative but nodded slowly afterwards, "I could...yes I could do that."

"Will you do it?" he asked, not willing to let the conversation meander.

Fitoria nodded, "Yes, but it will need to be your allies."

Adrian suppressed the impulse to ask her why she was so casual about all this. It was clear to see that his assumption about her being concerned about Naofumi was false. It had been arrogant of Adrian to assume that she wouldn't have any other options when it came to getting a new set of Heroes.

He nodded, "Then I have two requests," he said, " First, please take me to every Dragon Hourglass in the wilds. I don't want to miss the right dimension...and second, please tell me what the power-up methods for the Legendary Weapons are."

Fitoria paused and for a second she flared her aura, Adrain was certain it was deliberate and if felt suffocating. He ignored it and focused on her, she tilted her head, "Will you fight all the Waves?" she asked.

"You mean those centred in the human and demi-human populated regions?" he asked, looking for clarification, feeling a little apprehensive about so openly begging her for power but he had no choice. Even if she said no, it would tell him a lot about how much faith he could place in her.

"No, I mean all of them," she said and he hesitated for a moment before nodding. It was a bad deal..but he had little in the way of choice. She paused for a moment and observed his sword, "you already have a lot of enhancement methods...I'll give you one more." she said, and then proceeded to tell him how various things in his item storage could be used.

For a moment Adrian considered arguing with her, but he paused and then thought things through. This was proof that she had no interest in giving him power unnecessarily no matter the circumstance. As things stood now he was more than able to crush the Waves...there was no reason for her to bother powering him up further. He crushed his annoyance, rage and frustration and accepted her intructions. He was certainly not opposed to fighting the Waves...even if he hated the idea of serving Fitoria like a loyal dog.

He had slipped the leash that Melromarc had sought to place on him only to fall into the service of this being.

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