The Wrong Hero

Chapter 72 - End of an Era

It was unanimously agreed that nothing they just learned would be told to anyone outside the party. JoJo was a bit confused by it, but agreed nonetheless. While her words couldn't be taken as indisputable truth, they were food for thought.

If the Axe was meant to be his, he could understand why nearly everyone else went crazy when they touched it. Shildina seemed to be the exception, though she was a very special case. The whole thing also made Dante think about what those behind the Waves were doing, what their roles were, and how many there actually were. Unless this woman liked to do voices, there were at least two people he's had to deal with in some way or another, possibly three.

The first was Pahadron, the one who recruited Reiko. As far as Dante could tell, that move was strictly for entertainment, given Reiko was 10 and the wave happened at her home. It wasn't that farfetched of an idea, if his memory of the Past Arc was any indication. That being, the Waves were a source of entertainment, amongst other possible things. He'd forgotten that part for a while.

The second was the one who was giving visions to people, like Idol and the knight who led the attack on Korokan, not to mention Conrad learning where Elvira was. There were others as well, including the raccoon emperor. That god-pretender was clearly antagonistic to Dante.

Then there was this woman. Dante thought she and the last one might be the same person, but something felt off. Iaoth and Duke Chance worked for her, presumably, but both of them only came for Dante. In Iaoth's case, there were four heroes and their parties, so single combat wasn't an option. Besides, Iaoth nearly killed Conrad, so they weren't exactly on the same side.

Unless, of course, this was some big 4D chess move Dante couldn't understand. Since Conrad was working with Takt, he doubted that. There was also the voice Dante heard when he first used Liberation Firestorm, and again when confronting Malty for the first time. If this woman was capable of speaking to him like that, she probably would have done so earlier.

Takt was another unknown that Dante had about the same amount of information on. What's worse, he had no real way of gaining more information about any of it outside of doing what this woman said. Reiko knew next to nothing about Pahadron, and everyone else who got visions were either dead or unknown to them.

There were only two people who might have some information. The first was Fitoria, and she had a pretty bad memory. Dante also didn't have a means of communicating with her. The second was Ost, the human familiar of the Spirit Tortoise. Dante didn't know if he could find her to talk, or if she even existed at all. He told the other heroes she might approach them about defeating the Spirit Tortoise. Dante already exhausted Gaelion's knowledge on the subject, so the dragon was out.

I'm pretty tired of not knowing what the hell's going on.

With Shildina now recovered from the ordeal, the party plus the two set out. The first stop was Siltvelt castle with Rifana's skill to inform Werner of what was going on. Aultcray was to have messages sent out once Motoyasu brought him back to Melromarc, but it was better to have Dante give the shusaku a heads up. With the army having disbanded not that long ago, it'd be easier to get things prepared here. Despite not wanting to participate in Cal Mira, Rhubaldt would be called in as well.

Next, the group went back to the village with Raphtalia's skill.

"Lord Dante!" Fiadia spotted them immediately and rushed over.

"Fiadia." Dante greeted her as he looked around. "Is something going on here?"

"No, no, everything's fine!" She said quickly. "Just some visitors."

That was an understatement. There were a number of unfamiliar carriages parked off to the side. One of the camping plants blocked his view, so he knew there were more than what he was seeing.