The Kitsune's Cursed Hero

Chapter 22

Y/n's POV

We made it back to the royal capital after having been gone for a while, but it still felt like not enough time had passed since everything happened. Mom was steering the wagon with Filo pulling it along. I sat next to Mom, enjoying the ride and happy since we had received word that Mom and Filo could get Class upgrades finally. Filo pulled the wagon towards the church before coming to a stop. "Mind unhooking Filo?" Mom asked. I nodded, hoping down from the wagon, walking over to Filo and undoing the hooks to the collar that transformed into her normal clothes. "Master Naofumi," Mom gently said, trying to wake up Big Brother since he had fallen asleep on the ride in. Filo and I climbed up towards him in the wagon and looked at him. "We're here!" We cheered, smiling at him. 

"Alright, I'll get up." Big Brother replied. He got up as the three of us climbed down the front of the wagon while he exited the back, walking around to the front with us. We walked up to the church that had been the Three Heroes' Church until the Queen dismantled it. The four of us walked up to it before stopping just outside the front door. "Woah, look at that. They changed it. The crest has all four heroes on it now." Mom commented while pointing to something on the church. We looked up to see all four of the legendary weapons instead of just the Sword, Bow and Spear. "That looks way better than just the other three." I added, smiling at the new shield addition they made to it. 

"This country will surely be different from what it was before." Mom added. 

"Uh-huh. We can finally upgrade classes now that we're not outcasts anymore." Big Brother said, a rare smile crossing his face. Mom mentioned thanking the queen the next time we see her for allowing us to upgrade Filo and Mom's classes. We headed inside, which was now far emptier than it had been when we were last there. "Greetings. Long time no see, the queen's entrusted the Dragon Hourglass to us." I looked towards the voice, seeing Ake and one mage who was from Lute village like him. "Come on, right this way." Ake said, motioning for us to follow him. We headed up to the top of the church, where a giant hourglass stood with golden dragons around it. Ake told Big Brother and me to stay off the platform, while he asked Mom and Filo to go up with him. "We will now begin the class upgrade ritual." Ake announced. He stepped back as Mom and Filo looked at each other before nodding. They placed a hand on the Dragon Hourglass, which shone when they did, while we stood there watching them. After a moment, Mom and Filo looked at each other before glowing. Big Brother and I covered our eyes before the light faded. "That didn't take long." Big brother commented. Mom and Filo didn't move for a moment before looking over their bodies. Filo came down and hugged Big Brother before looking up at him. "Hey... what happened, Master?" Filo questioned. I noticed Mom was looking a little disappointed as well. "What do you mean?" Big Brother asked.

"It wouldn't let me pick the upgrade that I wanted." Filo complained. Mom came down from the platform before placing her hand on my head. "It's the same for me. It gave me only one option." Mom added.

"Hey. What's the deal here?" Big Brother asked, looking at Ake and the mage with him. They were just as confused as we were. After that, we headed to the castle and stopped in seeing the queen and telling her about what happened with the class upgrades. "I have been told that it's possible for certain items to affect the class upgrade process. Perhaps that's what happened to you." The queen suggested.

"I wonder if the cowlick that Fitoria gave her is the problem." Big Brother mentioned flicking Filo's cowlick. Filo let out a "hey" in complaint with Big Brother messing with her cowlick. I looked at Mom, not sure how that explained why she also only got one upgrade choice. "Fitoria? you mean the Filolial Queen?" The Queen questioned. Queen Mirellia seemed excited to know that we had met Fitoria while we were on the run. "I wish you could've been there to see her mother. She looked indescribably beautiful." Melty commented, stepping forward clearly just as excited to remember Fitoria. Queen Mirellia reached down and grabbed Melty's wrist before standing up and turning to look at Melty better. Queen Mirellia asked for more details as Melty started telling her everything about Fitoria while we just stood there watching them. "Guess we know where Melty got her love for Filolials." I commented, watching the two of them chat about Fitoria while forgetting we were there. Big Brother let out a sigh before commenting on how similar they were. After a few moments, Queen Mirellia finally realized what was going on before turning back to face us. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."