Part 31: Heliord Sidequesting Tour

Skit: Becoming Estelle
Estelle, there's something I want to ask you.
Yes, what is it?
...Wait!
What's the matter?
Could you repeat what you just said?
I said, there's something I want to ask you.
No, before that!
Es...telle?
Yes! You finally called me Estelle! I've got to go tell everyone!
...Oh, well...heh heh...


There's a couple sidequest events we can activate in and around Heliord, now that our party's full again. But first, shopping!


Guard Impact: According to the description it stuns enemies and reflects attacks when performing a successful Critical Guard, but I've never seen that actually happen. Probably because I never use Critical Guard.
Guard Plus 2: Decreases amount of damage taken when hit from the side or behind.
EXP Share: Get Bonus EXP even when not in the active battle party.

This is our first non-default sub-weapon, I believe. Sub-weapons are an equipment category that behaves mostly like a second set of weapons: They increase your stats, you can learn skills from them, and they are shown on your character model. Yuri has Gauntlets, Estelle has Shields as seen here, Karol's is his bag, Rita's is her book, and Repede's got collars.


Item Thrower: Allows usage of single-target items on other party members.
Stun Magic: Increases chance of stunning an enemy with a spell.
Auto Medicine: Occasionally casts healing spells upon receiving damage.


Mighty Charge: Allows charging of a physical attack to deal increased damage by holding the Attack button.
Cross Counter: Increases power of an attack when it hits an enemy that is currently attacking.
Raynard: Increases strength when a hammer is equipped. The name is a reference to Will's last name in Tales of Legendia, as he uses Hammers in battle.


Half Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to half.
Quarter Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to a quarter.
Minimum Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to 1 HP per hit.

You might be wondering what the point of these is. Basically, it's for Fatal Strikes. Since you get bonuses for killing enemies with Fatal Strikes, you might want to reduce your damage output to make it easier to drain the Fatal Strike bars on the enemies, since that is based on number of attacks rather than amount of damage dealt. Minimum Damage is essential to have on Rita for a lategame Grade farming technique, so try not to sell or otherwise get rid of all your Sashes, since those become unavailable after a certain point.

Note that all three of those skills take 1 SP to equip, and since skills auto-equip upon learning when there's enough SP available, it's possible to get them equipped without realizing it.

Also, if you run into a boss battle with everyone on Minimum Damage, you're more or less fucked. So don't do that.


Half Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to half.
Quarter Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to a quarter.
Minimum Damage: Reduces damage dealt to enemies to 1 HP per hit.


Alright. First off, we can find this guy in the middle of town:






...There's something I have to talk to Flynn about, so...
I heard about you slipping out of the castle.
Um, um, ummm...
Who's this...?



He was the previous emperor's swordmaster, and is also my teacher.
Ah...the knightly patriot, Drake...
The knightly patriot?
Master Drake has served the empire with his sweat and tears for decades.
In the Imperial Knights, Drake Dropwart is thought of as a model for all knights to follow.
He's now an advisor to the Imperial Knights, you know.
Wow, really?
I'm really an advisor in name only. These days I'm pretty much retired. My only real duty of late is teaching the Princess swordsmanship.
But didn't you come here with the Commandant as an advisor?
Yes...I've heard everything that's happened so far. How was it, setting foot into the outside world for the first time?
Well, we've had a lot of bad things happen to us, but all of it's been a fantastic experience.
A fantastic experience, you say? I see...
...Ummm... Is something wrong...?

At that moment, Leblanc comes running from the right.



What do you want, Leblanc?
Sir. His Excellency the Commandant is calling for you, sir.
All right. Well then, Princess, I must take my leave. Try to avoid doing anything too rash, won't you?
Yes, of course. Take care of yourself, Master...



I'm surprised that a princess would know how to use a sword at all, really.
Estelle, what made you learn how to use a sword?
That's a good question... It might take a while to tell the whole story. The next time I get a chance...
Yeah, I'd like to hear about it too, once things have calmed down a little.
Sure!


Skit: Rita's Change
...Honestly, that girl...
Huh?
Estelle. She rushes off regardless of danger... She doesn't listen when you tell her to stop...
So Estellise has finally become Estelle, huh?
I...I've been calling her that for a while... What's with you, anyway?
Hey, you know...
Your tone of voice was different, just then... Maybe it's just my imagination...
You're damn right, it is!
Ahh, there's the Rita we all know and love.
Ha!
Ow!
How about you just shut up? Who cares what I say or how I sound?!
Not me. Here's to you being you, Rita.
Humph...!




Next stop is the local knight headquarter, where Yuri finds one of his old friends.



Huh? Who're you?
Hachette: You don't remember me? I sure as heck-fire remember you! It's Hachette!
Not that it's easy to recognize someone when they've got a mask on.
Oh, wow! You look different from how I remember. I didn't realize it was you. Haven't you gained weight?
Hachette: Ouch! It's nice to see you too, Yuri...
Looks like the mask had nothing to do with it!
Is this a friend of yours, Yuri?



That armor color is the same as Leblanc's knights, isn't it?
Hachette: Yep! I'm in the Schwann Brigade! To tell you the truth, I'm pretty glad they didn't assign me to the Flynn Brigade.
You didn't want to work with Flynn?
Hachette: Well, it would be tough working under him, since we started off training to be soldiers together.
That doesn't seem like the sort of thing Flynn would care about.
You've got that right, Rita.
Flynn's all about advancing in his career, isn't he?
Hachette: It's pretty crazy for a non-noble to make captain at such a young age. Me on the other hand...thanks to all the goofing off I did with you, Yuri, I'm still nothing but a lowly peon.
What sort of things did you two do?



Yeah, and then we'd sneak into the warehouse to switch bodhi blastia for nicer ones...
Sounds like a whole lot of sneaking!
Hachette: It's true. We had our fair share of youthful indiscretions.
Yuri's still up to his old tricks, though.
Hachette: Ha ha, I've heard as much. Go easy on Flynn, would ya?
Yeah, yeah. Don't goof off too much on the job!
Hachette: Oh yeah, Yuri, you've been traveling around, right? You think you might be able to stop by Capua Nor and tell my folks that I'm doing well? They live in the inn, so you can't miss 'em.
Sure, I'd be happy to. See ya later, Hachette.



Oh yeah?
I mean, it seemed to me like you didn't enjoy your time as a knight very much.
Joining them was a decision I made myself. It's not all bad memories. Practice wasn't so bad, and I had all sorts of fun with my fellow knights-in-training.
From the way that knight was talking, it sounds like you acted like a crazy and rambunctious kid.
Rita, if there's one person who doesn't need to be scolding me for a little youthful indiscretion, it's you.


Another event can be found by resting at the Inn.






Yuri?



I couldn't sleep. I kept hearing noise from outside...
Even at this late hour, everyone's still hard at work.
Well, I don't think they're doing it because they enjoy it. But if they don't keep working, they won't be able to make a living. And even with all this work, they're hardly able to get by.
...That's terrible...




Are you all right?



Oh...
They've just learned to distrust nobles and the empire. It's nothing personal against you, Estelle. Try not to let it bother you too much.
I wonder if it's something that can be changed...



...
Let's go back and get some rest.


A minor thing, we can find the Wonder Reporter to the right outside of the Inn.




Wonder Reporter: Blastia goes out of control, and more! Yes, some serious events have taken place in the world recently! I'd better write an article about it, post haste! Day and night, I run around chasing after the newest scoops... I'm the Wonder Reporter! I'm not stalking you or anything, I promise! Well then, adieu!
...Is he following me...?


And for the last event, we have to leave Heliord to the east and backtrack to Caer Bocram, which isn't too far away.




During the trip, Estelle and Rita get a new spell each.




Estelle gets Nurse, a nice party-wide healing spell.




And Rita learns Stalagmite, an earth-elemental spell where spikes rise out of the floor.

But anyway, we're actually here because of this:



Watch the cutscene!

...Someone's here...



But where is it flowing...?
That monster sucked all of it up.



Yeah, that big, rough, spiky, huuuuge monster...
So... He was here after all...
He? You mean the monster?
"Monster"... ...It matters not what humans call them, but...





Just what makes something a monster, anyway?
We call any creature that viciously attacks humans a monster...
So that would mean that thing's a monster, right?
...Huh... But the kid just gave us the human point of view.



...What do you think that guy was up to...?
We met him earlier at Deidon Hold, didn't we Yuri?
I can't figure him out.
Well, whatever, he's got nothing to do with us, anyway.
Y-yeah, I guess...


And that's it in terms of sidequests. Let's get back to Heliord.



To get to Dahngrest, we have to exit to the west instead.



The walk there is fairly uneventful, I don't even run into a single enemy.






Next time, we'll enter Dahngrest.