Part 27: A Spy in Our Midst

Futch: OK, Black. Wait right here.



Yes, for an incredibly brief period of time, we control someone other than the main character. For all of two seconds.



Futch: Hm, this one looks like the one Liukan described.





Futch: Y-you're the E-Emperor...

Barbarossa: I never thought I'd run into a flower thief on this sleepless night. Judging from your outfit, you must be a Dragon Knight.

Futch: Yes, your Highness. I'm Futch, Dragon Knight 9th Class.

Barbarossa: An apprentice, and what might you be doing here?



Futch: I really need this orchid. To wake up the other dragons.

Barbarossa: Dragons? It must be Windy again. Young man, you must leave immediately.



I love mistranslations.



Futch: But he sure was different from those rumors. He let me go, and... oh well, now that I have the black dragon orchid, I can hurry home. Isn't that right, Black? Let's go.



Windy gets magical plot magic thanks to her Front Gate Rune.





Of course, Futch doesn't give a shit and flies off.









Windy, of course, doesn't like being ignored.



Thankfully, he somehow made it back to the Dragon Knights' Fortress. Somehow.

Futch: Huh? What?? Where am I? The black dragon orchid...

Milia: Don't worry, when we found you unconscious in the forest, you had it in your hand. We had a hard time prying it loose.

Futch: I see, then the dragons...

Liukan: Yes, I made the antidote from the three ingredients and gave them to the dragons. They should be awakening soon.





Futch: N-not my... Black...

Milia: I'm afraid that when we found him, Black was already dead.

Joshua: Hate me if you want, but we had no choice.



Humphrey: Let's go to Joshua's quarters and draw up an alliance pact between the Liberation Army and the Dragon Knights.



Joshua: It looks like we'll be fighting together again, Humphrey, side by side. But against a different enemy this time. Commander Miles, the Dragon Knights will join you. To defeat the Empire.





However, Joshua has a request. Since Futch has lost his dragon, he is no longer a dragon knight. He wants Humphrey to take Futch with him. This little plot detail will be explored in much greater depth in the next game.





Milia offers a dragon ride back to the castle, and you can choose to ignore it if you want. It's either you go instantly back to the castle or stay behind in case you missed either Kreutz or Fuma. And even if you ignore Milia, Thrash will be outside anyway, for whenever you want to return to Seek Valley. Which you will, because there's an oft-missed recruit there.



This line only has significance in Suikoden III, where Futch actually stops using a spear.



There's a bit of a tiff between Kasumi and Krin.



Kasumi: Thanks to your instincts we almost got captured by the Imperials, remember?

Krin: Hee hee, I wasn't quite myself that time.

Flik: What's the problem here?

Krin: I'm saying that I have a hunch. He's a spy for sure. That's why he won't talk.



Kasumi: Oh! Hi Mr. Flik, and, err... M-Master Miles!

I wonder who they're talking about.



Krin: But for you it's a lost cause.

Someone's got a crush on Miles! I mean me! I mean McDohl!



moving along



Humphrey: Uh huh.

Mathiu: … Did you manage to secure an alliance?

Flik: Don't worry, Medical Officer (?! what?!). It's just that Humphrey could be a little friendlier to others.

Humphrey: Uh huh.

Flik: By the way, who is this silent fellow here?



Mathiu: He refuses to say anything, so we were waiting for you to come back and decide what to do with him.



Taggart: Thank goodness. Now I can complete my mission for Master Warren. I kept silent because I was under strict orders not to speak to anyone until I met you face to face. Kasim Hazil, who took over the northern defenses after Teo McDohl, has recently begun to apply extreme pressure on rebel factions.



Taggart: My master Warren is a famous man of wealth in the north, long respected by even the Imperials. But as a man of honor and generosity, he harbored many fugitives in his mansion. As a result his home was surrounded by Kasim Hazil and his troops. Master Warren and Sir Viktor, who just happened to drop by, fought hard against the Imperials, but they were eventually captured and taken prisoner. This is what Master Warren told me to tell you.



Mathiu: Warren, despite his wealth, is an honorable man with a large following. We must go and rescue them.



Flik: And they're a trained army, whereas we're just a bunch of ragtag recruits.

Mathiu: Commander Miles, despite its name, the Liberation Army is not a unified army. To continue fighting in the future, we need to give some troops proper military training.



I mean, that's kind of what you do when you go into war.





This is the perfect moment to go get our mystery recruit in Seek Valley. This is one of the very, very rare times where you'll have an open party in this game, and it's worthwhile to use it because we might not have four open slots in our party like this ever again (except for one other instance, and it's a small window). The key to getting this recruit is to have Maas, Meese, Mose, and Moose in your party.



For shits and giggles, we'll put in Grenseal, one of the two former Imperial knights. Both of them are just as good as Flik, although not as fast, as the Buddy Knights are a trope in the Suikoden series of always being really competent fighters. Grenseal comes with a Thunder Rune (which you can't remove), the parent of Flik's Lightning Rune, and it's awesome. His weapon is also the Lightning Sword, which shows you just how much he loves lightning.



It just has ridiculously powerful spells, and I'm sure Flik could use one later on.



If you take the blacksmiths with you, they won't be around to sharpen your weapons. Just a nice pro-tip. This problem is rectified in the next game and for the rest of the series.



By the way, since Ted died we acquired Judgment, one of the most powerful Rune spells in the entire series. It does between 1200 and 2000 damage depending on the hero's Magic stat and the magic defense of the enemy. However, it's pretty much more powerful than anything else in the game.



Because our team is full of Average McAverageasses, I usually just breeze through the harder fights in the valley by spamming Hell.





That's Blacksmith attack. At max weapon level on all your blacksmiths, it's the strongest Unite in the game. However, it also requires five people who are average as fuck so it's really up to you.



Meet Mace, the master blacksmith in the game.

Meese: Here you are!

Moose: You disappeared without warning.

Mose: Master Mace, we are now members of the Liberation Army. We have not yet forgotten what you taught us. That is why we chose the path we deemed correct. Master Mace, please give us your support.



Mace: Master Miles, I'm at your service.

With the acquisition of Mace, we can sharpen all our weapons to level 16 (except his own, because you can't have him in the party and have him sharpen weapons at the same time). Doesn't he kind of look like a captain of some ship, instead of a blacksmith?



I'm going to end this update by taking a bath with an all male party that includes Milich and Fuma. As you can see, being the awesome ninja that Fuma is, all you can see is a snorkel, because he's hiding underwater you see because he's a fucking ninja!!

Also, Milich the homo erectus is over on the female side because why do you think? My party's all dudes.



Yeah, peeing boy statue. Piss ALL over Meese's head.



I seriously can't stop watching the peeing boy statue piss on his head.

Artwork:



Futch – Chibi Star



Joshua Levenheit – Chikyou Star



Taggart – Chima Star



Mace – Chiko Star