Part 33: The Ghost of Bern or, What The Fuck, Karel

Chapter 23: The Ghost of Bern or, What The Fuck, Karel

So last time we killed the king of Bern! This should have solved a good chunk of our problems and also got us some sweet loot!



...but for some reason we can't just pick up the infinite-use 1-2 range sword because it would make Durandal feel bad only the king of Bern can use it.

Naturally, this is bullshit since by killing Zephiel we have surely absorbed his kingness and are therefore more than qualified, but the game wants to be difficult, so fuck it, let's get to chapter 23 without it.


The great war that rattled the foundations of Elibe is over.
Roy's battle, however, is not.

I'm sure this comes as a big surprise to all of you who read the last chapter.


Following the legendary weapons' light, Roy heads for the Dragon Sanctuary.


the last surviving Wyvern General of Bern. With the remaining troops of Bern at her command, she awaits Roy's approach. With a heavy heart, Roy prepares to fight the ghost of the now dead Bern...

Why are these assholes following Zephiel anyway, he more or less wants them all dead...



In addition to Roy and Wolt, here's our party, surprising absolutely no one. Though that reminds me...



...I'll sell off some of this junk while I'm at it. There's a good reason, even!



But before we can get to it, we must have



And what about you, human? What will you do now?

I will stay here. I will face the Eturian Army... and my destiny.

Read: Commit suicide by cop Roy.

Do you have sufficient troops?

The wyvern riders scattered around the continent have returned to us.

Do you have any chance of victory?

...Our chance of victory is minuscule at best. But we are the Bern Army, the strongest force in Elibe. If nothing else, we shall show them our unwavering will.

Your will...? You humans are incomprehensible to us at times. Do you expect your will alone to earn you victory? But so be it. I leave you in your irrational pursuit.

I'm glad there's someone in the game who's buying that shit as much as I am!



Yes, General Brunja. I told them they are free to leave if they so wish.

How many remain?

Nearly all of the soldiers say they still wish to fight for you.

Nearly all of them? Victory is unlikely. I'm sure many of the troops have family awaiting their return. I do not want them to feel pressured to fight today.

We are knights of Bern, milady. We have no intention of bowing our heads to Etruria.

...Dismiss the injured and those with young children or elderly parents. They are forbidden from fighting in this battle.

But General Brunja...

That is an order. Go.

I'm sure it's supposed to be very sad except this chick could have saved everyone by just accepting defeat like a sane person.



And then we have Roy.



...Did the messenger return?

Yes, but as expected, the enemy refuses to surrender.

Was it clear that their safety would be guaranteed if they surrender?

Yes, but even given that information, they apparently politely refused.

Why do they fight? Bern's king is defeated...



Princess. Guinivere... Do you understand why?

I do very well.
...Bern recognizes itself as the strongest force in Elbe. Their pride does not allow them to accept defeat without a fight.

......



...They leave us no choice. We must fight. Merlinus, send Princess Guinivere to the back lines...


That is all I can do to atone for my betrayal...

Bleh.



Anyway, here's the map.



The island exists for the sole purpose of throwing hard-to-counter ballista bolts at you through the entire fucking thing. This is a killer ballista; the other two long ones. Notably, the trees by the long ballistae are impassable on foot - it's custom built to be super annoying no matter what you do.



It makes me cranky.



Eat Bolting, fuckface.



And now it's mine.

...Wolt won't even get to use it up before we're through. It's kind of sad. Also he's going to be stuck on that island because it sure as hell isn't worth warping him back after clearing out the enemies...



He also doesn't get a single crit despite it being a "killer" ballista.



Does get a level though! Nice one, too. How in the hell is your speed higher than your defence?!



And finally we have a chance to replenish our killer lances!

...and not much left to use them on. Woo hoo. Nonetheless, we do spend some of that white gem money on replenishing the inventories of the characters who use such things so they can kill more wyverns more better.



It's actually a really nice couple of shops, with most of the really interesting weapons, just... not at a time where it's terribly useful.



Of considerably greater import: One of the remaining two uses of the Hammerne goes to restoring the Armads. I had to wear that thing down a lot to get that perfect final shot in on Zephiel with Roy, and even replaying the map, it doesn't have many uses left.



Hugh does important things, gets important numbers.



Splitting up the party since there are two paths around the lake. After the first turn...


This place will be a battlefield...

...things happen in the nearby village.

There's not a brigand on the map so there's no rush to get here, but... it's right there, we'll get to it next turn.

So I see. I thought I could be free of war in this isolated land...

What should we do?

Please don't fret. I will protect the village.

Thank you, Sir Karel! You are truly worthy of the title Sword Saint! We have nothing to fear with you protecting us.

I am just an ordinary swordsman. Stories grow with time, so don't trust all that you've heard...
...This war seems to be even greater than I realized. I wonder how my sister Karla fares...

I never knew you had a sister.

I haven't seen her in years, but she fell ill some time ago. I only hope she leads a peaceful life with her husband and daughter...

...to be honest I can't really think of more than one "husband and daughter" team that could be relevant and god damn it I sent them the other way. Time-wasting, go!



All the wyverns hanging out on the island charge straight at Wolt. I think he takes like, five points of damage through the entire map.



The ballisticians make some attempts, too.



You cannot best the Jeigan!


Please leave us in peace.

Karel is a jerk. Looks like I'll have to get the shrub up in here after all.



I have not given Fae all 30 caps, that would be silly. So she's starting to slow down a little.



Still ridiculously good, though.



I'm not showing most of this battle.



Most of it isn't any more exciting than this, see.



See?



Our wyverns >>> their wyverns. Being blue gives you super strength.



That's nice, keep getting the stats you haven't already maxed, you ludicrous flying death machine, you.



Unlike the rest of the manga cameo weapons, this one has served me well!







Cecilia gets this for dodging a ballista bolt. Our ballista >>>> their ballista.

Naturally.



All right then, let's get to that whole Karel thing.

...Fir? Is that you? What are you doing here?

I never expected to find you here, Uncle.

I've traveled enough. I decided it was time to settle down. I had hoped to train my sword without distractions in this quiet village...

Uncle... I must tell you something. Mother... She... passed on...

...She's gone?

Yes...

......
So she succumbed to her illness... I'm sorry. I wasn't there when you needed me the most.

No... It's all right.

But why are you here? Surely you haven't been searching for me just to tell me that?

Actually, I'm fighting against Bern.

You... joined the war?

I know that you dislike getting caught up in conflicts like this. All I wanted was to help the people who have suffered from this war. Uncle... Was I wrong? Was I mistaken in joining this fight? Should I have found a better way to train my sword...?

No, you've made no mistakes. A path you choose on our own is never wrong. In fact, I think I'll join you.

Really?!

Absolutely.
...You have grown so much. The last time I saw you, you couldn't even walk yet.

Uncle...

And then we had a swordmaster.


The famed Sword Saint. Known far and wide.

What he's known for, I'll never know. We're looking at Niime: Swordmaster Edition here. He's definitely useable, but he's way past the level where his stats would be really impressive and it's not as if he's going to get any str-

wait hold on this can't be right

...

Okay so

For some goddamn reason Karel's growths are HP 210, Str 130, Skl 140, Spd 140, Lck 120, Def 110, Res 100, for the one whole level he'd actually be able to gain in vanilla. If I were to use him, he'd soon turn into a monster. But... I already have Fir.



After joining up, Karel can also have a chat with Bartre.

...Bartre? What are you doing here?

I fight with the Eturian Army... What about you, Karel?

I live here. I've traveled enough. It was time to settle down.

Karel... I must tell you something.

About Karla?

...You already know?

Fir told me.

I beg your forgiveness! I could do nothing...

I don't blame you. It is I who should apologize. If only I could have been there with you...

......

You can also do the reverse and recruit him with Bartre and let him chat up Fir later, but it's basically the same conversation and I can't be arsed to type it out.



Anyway, there are still wyverns to slaughter.



The fifth and final charge of Hammerne goes to Maltet, which has been getting quite the workout over these past several maps.



Marcus, though?



Marcus doesn't need any stinkin' legendary weapons to kill a dragon.



OH SH-



-wait it was just Cecilia, never mind.

Still, that's a problem.



I keep forgetting to check enemy inventories... This guy and the one on the right have sleep staves. The one on the far left berserk, the one in the middle physic.



But two can play that kind of game.



You will never wake up again.



Jerrot isn't a Super Jeigan but he's doing his best to keep up.

His best isn't very good, mind, but he's trying.



Cecilia dodges one, falls to the next.

It's fine, I wasn't expecting much from her anyway.



It's ROY TIME.



Come on Roy, you can do better.



Hmhmhm.


One of Bern's Wyvern Generals. Led the attack on Sacae.

And since we're right up in her grill now, here's Brunja. She's... there, I guess. She does have Bolting though, so she could get troublesome if someone with bad res gets within range (though the status staves are honestly a much bigger problem). Also Fimbulvetr, the A-rank anima tome... and a guiding ring because fuck you.



Crud, the dragon moves!


Even if I fall, Bern will rise once more!



And then Noah eats a bolting on top of that. Not a good day to be Noah.



And then Marcus gets put to sleep by the last druid. Dang it, Marcus.



Let's make sure that never happens again.



With some of the mooks out of the way, Roy reaches Brunja and


Let me be... by your side again... like before...

the rest is history.



He listened to me



The final shop sells all the regular tomes, but... we don't really need any.



With all the enemies dead, I idle for a bit to wring some more words out of Karel, because he's never getting deployed again.

Ah, Fir.

Please let me stay with you so I can master the sword!

If that's what you want.

Thank you!
...But... It doesn't feel right to fight alongside you. I'm still a novice, but you're the strongest fighter in our army!





......

I kinda like Karel, though. People just keep being all Oh my god it's the ~sword saint~ I'm your biggest fan and he's just like... Please stop bringing that up.

None of them know how strong you are! Once they see the true strength of the Sword Saint, they'll...

Fir.

Y-yes?

That's inappropriate.

I... I respect you so much, so I just...

Idolizing another is pointless. One must not seek strength for admiration.

...Yes, Uncle.

Also, after watching the ending last time, we know Fir is totally stealing that title.



Bartre gets in on it too a few rounds later.

I just wish it could have been me instead of her.

Honestly, my sister's health was never particularly good. I'm just glad she lived as long as she did.

I'm sorry...

The one thing I am concerned about is Fir. She lost her mother at such a young age...

Yes... Maybe... Maybe the reason she left to train was to get her mind off her mother's death.

She left to train? Is Fir traveling across Elibe?

That she is. She said she wanted to become a great swordmaster like her mother.

Is that so...

...but this one is kind of awkward with Fir standing right there.



Anyway, since I read up on this and know I can only get so much supporting done on a single map, there's no reason to hang around any longer after that.



Almost assuredly. But... something is bothering me...

What's that?

Legends of the Scouring say the Dragon Sanctuary has the power of the dragons.

What does that mean?

The sanctuary's power is said to protect the dragons themselves.

What...? I don't understand.

I believe the dragons in the sanctuary may be more powerful than those outside.

Do you think we still have a chance against them?

Probably, but only with the legendary weapons.

...It is better to be safe than sorry. I'll take those of us who can wield legendary weapons into the sanctuary.

(Read: Stay tuned for the adventures of Allan, Lance, and Treck.)

Choose wisely. Once inside, we may be unable to leave freely...

WE ARE APPROACHING THE FINAL DUNGEON, YOU DOOFUS



Be that as it may, the chapter looks promising. I'm sure it will be educational. And full of dead dragons, but that's kind of a given, isn't it?