The Wrong Hero

Chapter 32 - Arising Problems

It wasn't difficult to persuade the tribe heads not to engage with Melromarc. His little match with Raphtalia actually ended up helping his case. She was able to pin down that retainer so quickly, but she couldn't bring down Dante, who only had one arm. While the retainer wasn't the best of the best, he was well known enough to give the tribe heads pause, since Melromarc had three heroes that might measure up to their own. Dante, of course, had seen no reason to correct their assumptions.

He was a little surprised about the whole situation. He knew that Idol's former knights were causing some issues, since he helped put down a few in Reichnott's territory. The situation had quieted down a bit since then, so he thought there weren't any other big issues. Of course, 'quiet' didn't mean the nearby nobles weren't plotting to seize their dead neighbor's land or kill each other in the power vacuum. That seemed to be Jaralis's interpretation, and Dante couldn't really disagree with that assessment, but the results were the same. He thought it best not to inform everyone that he was the reason Idol was dead. If that got out, war would likely be unavoidable. He already swore the priests and alchemists to secrecy about the cursed whip, so hopefully that was the end of it.

After that, it became business as usual—preparing for the waves. Dante didn't know of many areas around Siltvelt that were good for leveling, but he did get some suggestions. The mountains seemed to be the consensus. Many griffins could be found there. It seemed griffins and filolials had some bad blood between them, so it worked out quite well. Of course, they didn't go before getting some new gear.

With their weapons in bad order and their armor in half-decent shape, they received equipment before their journey. The gear was actually given to them by a member of Jaralis's house, and most of it fit quite well with the party's chosen weapons. Raphtalia ended up with another shortsword, as well as a bow. Ever since their first battle with Reiko's monsters, Raphtalia found that she enjoyed using one. Eclair trained her in both weapons. The Seaetto heiress also received a new blade, having her hands fully healed. JoJo got a sturdier mallet while Dio got a set of claws. As for Keel, Dante had noted that an axe didn't seem to work that well with his stats and physique. When he brought that up...

"I want two swords!" Was the response.

Eclair had been training him too, and he seemed to pick up dual-wielding fairly easily. Keel did do that a little with the axes before. Rifana kept the rod Erhard made her, since the material was resilient to wear. Likewise, Sadeena kept her current harpoon. It was a drop from a monster a while back and it was still in good shape.

Incidentally, Dante and Eclair sparred after her hands were healed. He wanted to see what the swordswoman was truly capable of. Her movements were sharp and her strikes were precise. His stats were superior to hers, as he could see both hers and his in his status. However, he was unable to land a single strike on her. The weapon she received was good, but it wasn't top tier. If it was, he wouldn't be able to withstand her attacks like he did, and he certainly wouldn't be able to concentrate on any attack spells. With her skills and a top tier weapon, there was a decent chance he'd lose a real one-on-one fight with her.

The weapons were, in fact, the second boon from Jaralis's tribe. The first was presented to Dante the evening of the conference. Without Dante knowing, Jaralis had someone find out his kids' preferences and styles and had commissioned carriages built based on those findings. Dante was as disturbed as he was impressed by that information. He had to admit, the carriages they used weren't in the best of shape. They weren't designed with royal filolials in mind, like the new ones were. Both Dio and JoJo seemed to love the carriages the moment they set eyes on them. Needless to say, Dante slept with a lioness that night.

The morning after the conference, they set out for grinding with their new gear. When up in the mountains, there wasn't much to be concerned about. The griffins were strong and fast, but they couldn't get past Dante's defenses. Other monsters that made their home there didn't fare much better. The item drops were good, also giving a number of ingredients he didn't have before, as well as rarer ores for smelting and slotting. He heard griffin parts were good for equipment making, so he'd need to figure out what they could have made with them.