The Rising of the Scythe Hero

The next day, all we had left to do was pick up the finished clothes for our birdies. As soon as we stepped into the tailor's shop, a girl with a half-crazed look and decent-sized bags under her eyes rushed straight at us.

"Finally!" She threw her hands up dramatically. "I've been waiting forever! Had to work up quite a sweat, but I finished the dresses by morning. Quick, hurry up and try them on!" She instantly dragged Filo and Night into the fitting rooms.

"...What was that?" Naofumi asked, understandably confused.

"Pretty eccentric person. But honestly? That's even better!"

Naofumi rolled his eyes and sent Raphtalia to help the birdies with their clothes. After about ten minutes of muttering, a few gasps and squeaks, they finally stepped out and… well…

"…"

Yeah… we were speechless. It was literally Light and Darkness personified. Filo's outfit was a smooth, light dress with wide sleeves that flared out toward the wrists, filled inside with flowing fabric. The chest area was tied with a big blue bow, and the bottom hem had blue waves and ornate patterns. The whole thing practically radiated light. And with her pure white wings on her back…

Night's look was the complete opposite. First off – the base was a black dress with lace trimming along the edges and frills on the skirt. The top resembled a corset, leaving her collarbones exposed. A ribbon with a bow was tied around her neck. The sleeves were long too, but tightened at the wrists to keep them from dangling, and at the shoulders. Her legs were covered in black thigh-high stockings with patterns near the tops, starting right after the skirt. Black boots reached almost to her knees. And her head was adorned with a matching frilly headband and two ribbons tying her hair into long twin ponytails, leaving two small curls falling to either side of her forehead.

"Speechless, huh?!" The seamstress declared proudly. "My masterpiece after soooo long!"

"Does Master… like it?" Night spun around on the spot.

"Yeah, birdie. I love it. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing." I aimed that last part at the seamstress.

"Hmph!" She snorted, sticking her nose in the air. "I don't work any other way!"

…

"So… that's everything, right?" Naofumi asked, giving me a strange look.

"Yep. We'll probably run into each other again. But most likely only during a Wave."

"I see…" We stood there for a few more moments. "Well… good luck, I guess."

"Yeah. Same to you." I smirked slightly. "And good luck to you too, Raphtalia. Especially you." I shot her a sympathetic glance.

"Thank you so much, Nott-sama." She returned my gaze with an understanding, slightly melancholic look.

"…What are you even talking about?"

"Don't overthink it, or your head'll start hurting."

With that, Naofumi waved me off and commanded Filo, now hitched to the wagon, to move forward. Within a few minutes, the wagon disappeared around the bend, completely vanishing from sight.

"You don't think you should've gone with them?"

"Nope." I shook my head. "It's better for him to go on his own journey. I can't, and honestly, don't want to babysit him. He's a grown kiddo, he'll manage."

"Hmph… You're not exactly older than him yourself. You even look younger, to be honest."

"Age isn't about the body, Elhart. It's about the mind." I put on a mock-philosophical expression. "And I trust my own wisdom."

"Ugh!" The old guy nearly choked at my words. "Yeah, sure…" He shook his head in disbelief. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about again?"

"Wanted to ask you for a custom job. Here." I handed him a few sheets with rough sketches of what I wanted. "Think you can manage?"

"Hmm." The blacksmith gave the drawings a thorough look. "Strange requests you've got, kiddo. But yeah, I think I can pull it off. Nothing too complicated, really. The only question's time. This'll take a while."

"That's fine. Don't worry about time. Instead, tell me…"

Elhart and I ended up talking for over an hour. We covered pretty much everything – from optimizing weapon construction to the materials used. He explained what monsters and resources I should be paying special attention to, and what would work best for specific weapons or armor. He also pointed out what materials I absolutely had to get my hands on if I wanted truly high-quality gear that would serve me for a very, very long time.

Yeah… owning such a specific weapon was honestly kind of inconvenient. And not even so much in terms of combat effectiveness, but rather when it came to finding replacements.

Even so, I'd be paying money and resources for weapons I wouldn't actually use. I only needed to copy them. There was no point in wielding the originals – my weapon was always with me, and I couldn't get rid of it or swap it. Copying was the only option.

Well, maybe someday Elhart would manage to sell the scythes he made and recoup some of the costs. We already talked about that.

Sorting out the order details was the last thing keeping me in Melromarc, which meant it was time for Night and me to finally leave. I didn't want to linger here. Who knew what nonsense the Church or that snake Malty might pull next.

So, after restocking supplies, we hit the road. I also got the latest gossip from Elhart – news and rumors about recent events. That's how I learned the three Heroes had already performed their so-called "feats."

Itsuki, the Bow Hero, had apparently joined a resistance movement in a neighboring country and overthrown some tyrant ruler. Noble, sure… but nothing's ever that black and white. If I remember right, the original story mentioned a hidden side to that tale too.

Motoyasu was rampaging somewhere out west and had already handed the starving villagers a ticking time bomb in the form of a mutant plant.

Ren, meanwhile, made headlines for slaying a dragon somewhere in the east.

And so, after thinking it over, I decided to follow Ren's trail.

At first, I was going to handle the mutant plant situation instead of Naofumi. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized – absorbing a dragon's core would be way more practical than messing with some overgrown weed. Plus… I couldn't be bothered to whip up herbicide.

And honestly? Seeing a dragon sounded way cooler than dealing with a stupid plant.

On the way east, I kept running into monsters I hadn't seen before. Sure, they didn't give me any powerful new scythes or skills, but I still earned some stat points whenever I mastered a new scythe form. All the low-level ones were pretty easy to master, so quantity made up for quality.

I was riding on Night's back – which definitely deserved a mention. Compared to walking everywhere… it was night and day. What used to take me four days on foot now took two at most. Maybe even one, if we really pushed it. Though, of course, the one doing all the pushing was Night, and I didn't want to overwork her. Besides, I wasn't exactly thrilled about moving at breakneck speeds myself.

To avoid wasting time, I also started studying that ice magic book. Reading had gotten way easier thanks to my upgraded "Language Comprehension" skill, so the learning process sped up. Plus, ice magic just seemed way cooler than illusion magic, which definitely helped my motivation.

At the same time, I worked on my sensory abilities. I'd gotten way too cocky with those new skills… and nearly paid for it. I thought I could sense any monster approaching me now, but… yeah, I was dead wrong.

You should've seen my face when that mangy rabbit-bat hybrid jumped out right in front of me. I'd been so sure there wasn't a single monster nearby. But when that thing popped up… I just froze, like an idiot, my worldview shattering before my eyes.

Since then, I made myself a promise – always underestimate my own strength just a little. Never get too confident in my abilities.

"Master… can I?" Night poked her finger at a small pile of monster corpses.

"Hmm…" I thought for a moment, trying to remember if I'd already gotten a scythe from each of those candidates for bird food. "Well… yeah. Go ahead. They're all yours."

It had kinda become our routine – Night devoured anything that wasn't useful for my scythe. She got a tasty meal, and the environment stayed nice and tidy. No rotting corpses cluttering up the place. Screw decomposition.

It's been about a week and a half since we started making our way east. During that time, I managed to level up a few more times, finally hitting level 59. Night, on the other hand, was basically standing at the threshold that, for now, we couldn't cross. She was sitting at level 39, just one step away from a class upgrade at 40. There were a few reasons why I couldn't do that upgrade just yet.

First, the efficiency would be way lower than what it could be. From the original story, I knew that the ancient legendary filolial Fitoria had given Filo a strand of hair, what the Japanese liked to call "ahoge." That thing contained some sort of power that granted Naofumi's party a massive stat boost during their class upgrades. So doing it without that boost? Kinda pointless.

Second, we simply wouldn't be allowed near the hourglass right now. Yeah, I could try to scheme something, but any plan I could come up with would run headfirst into problem number one. It just wouldn't be worth it.

That's why meeting Fitoria was one of my key goals. That bird was probably off dealing with a Wave somewhere. Though… I wasn't entirely sure if the Waves appeared all over the world at once or if they popped up randomly.

There was definitely logic behind the original design – each country summoning one Hero. After all, the Waves didn't just hit Melromarc, they hit the whole world. But thanks to King Altcray's stupidity, every other country lost their top defense against the Waves, and now his wife Mirellia had to work overtime using 120% of her brain and political cunning just to avoid a full-scale war. Honestly… I didn't even want to imagine her face when she heard reports about her husband's latest antics. Poor woman.

During our travels, I also kept unlocking new crafting skills and improving the ones I already had. Like this one time, after feeding my scythe a weird-looking lump of ore, I unlocked "Blacksmithing Lv. 3."

I wasn't entirely sure, but I had a hunch that if I fed my scythe a gemstone, I might unlock an enchanting skill too…

The only question was how much money I'd have to burn before I finally found the right stone. And whether I'd even find it at all. I remembered my own promise to stay cautious and not blindly trust my gut feelings. If there was anyone I shouldn't blindly trust… it was me.

My hands were practically itching to try crafting or enchanting something myself. Or better yet – both. But how? The Legendary Weapon system only let me create small consumables, and blacksmithing projects definitely didn't fall under that category.

Sure, I could ask Elhart to teach me the basics of smithing, but… I didn't want to overcomplicate our relationship. I actually liked the dynamic we had right now. No need to mess with that.

Which meant… I needed to find a different blacksmithing mentor. I doubted there was anyone more skilled than Elhart in Melromarc, but still. Anyone could probably show me the basics… the scythe would handle the rest.

And just like that, my ever-growing to-do list got another item – find a blacksmithing teacher.

At the same time, I noticed that list was getting a little ridiculous. Tasks kept piling up, pushing the whole "level grind" thing further and further down the priority ladder. Monsters weren't giving nearly as much EXP as before, and Night was nearly at her level cap. Meaning… it was probably time for me to start trying my hand at something else.

Just had to finally decide what that "something else" was gonna be.