Part 45: Chapter 31 – A Traitors reappearence

Chapter 31 – A Traitors reappearence



Welcome back. After last time’s dire news it is time for Holmes to go back to Salia and fix what needs to be fixed. I left the teams mostly alone, trading only Sierra over to Runans team so he got access to a warper as well. Haven’t used any stat ups either so far but that’s going to change (if I remember to use them). Most importantly it is finally time to grab all our favourite brutal weapons we amassed, mainly brave swords in this case.





On the way to Salia Holmes begins to reminiscene about his days with Katri so let me cut this short with a completely horrible but nevertheless accurate paint version of what is happening



I regret nothing.







The translation took a nosedive here so I’m trying to make it as understandable as possible so please excuse any grammer mishaps on my part.

: I dare say that whoever tries to revive the Evil God by means of sacrifice, would need Katri. I had a bad feeling but wrongfully thought the isolated village of Salia would be safe. I was careless. Forgive me.

: The Evil God’s revival huh? I also know a little about that but thought that all of it was just a myth. Is such a thing really possible?

: Whether it’s possible or not the cursed words of the Evil God Garzel were writing down in scriptures. However since they were destroyed we only know the outlines of them: “ Once Utna is sacrifice, I will revive and the rain of darkness will fall”. That’s all we were able to read.

: With only that how am I supposed to understand a single thing? Can you explain it to me?

: Utna, of course, stands for the Goddess herself. Since the priestresses succeeded her blood, sacrificing them should reawaken the Evil God.

: But what about the “black rain”?

: The former Evil God Emperor let a Black Rain fall onto all who opposed him. This “Black Rain” took away a hundred thousand lives in nothing more than an instant.

: So that’s the black rain huh? He already had an immortal body… how was he able to amass that kind of magic power for such a spell?

: Once he became the Dark Dragon the power of Emperor Karubazan could only be opposed by the wielders of the Holy Swords of Utna.

I was fully seriously when I described it as a FE clone down to the core e.g. even the endboss and the “sword of seals”

: So if he awakes we would be incapable of doing anything against him… but will he really revive if he only got his hands on the fire priestress?

: Of course, having only Katri is not enough. He needs all four priestresses.

: Hmm.. outside of Katri I have no idea about the rest of them although… no way that means Princess Tia of Leda is also…

: Yes as the Earth Priestress of Leda she has the necessary qualification. In addition there is also the Water Priestress of Lieve andd the Wind Priestress of Canaan.

: So everyone was born at almost the exact time…

Don’t break the fourth wall it’s already weak as it is.

: Yes the girls wearing the stigmata of Utna were all born at the same time by chance. This kind of thing hasn’t happened ever since the Crusade of Utna.

: Priest Law… what is going on?

The “plot” of a JRPG…




Time for more exposition…





: Correct.

: Alright. You are a wise sage after all. Though I don’t know how much power you have

: … then I will excuse myself.

: …

No idea what just happened







: Lord Holmes, do you know the legend about the revival of the Evil God?

: Yeah I heard the outline from a priest named Law so as I thought so the kidnapping of Katri is really because…

: Yes. it seems that Gwenchaos kidnapped Katri and took her to Garzel’s Temple as a sacrifice for the revival ceremony.

: Foolish… Something like that is absolutely insane.. what is he thinking? Head Priestresss Claris I promise I will go and rescue Katri so please tell me the location of the temple.

: The Temple of Fire is the closest of from here. You can get to the Evil Altar through an underground cavern which is located inside the temple.

: Wasn’t the entrance to the Temple of Fire sealed up till now?

: Yes and the bridge leading to the temple was destroyed by demonic beasts. However I ordered everyone to repair it. Lord Holmes.. could you take me with you to the Temple of Fire?

: You don’t need to ask. Let’s head out immediately. I’m worried about Katri so we have to hurry!







: I understand. She is also a very important treasure to me.

: A very important treasure… you should say that to her directly.

: Wha… What was that, Shigen? You heard all that?

: I’m just making sure about the preparations to go to the Temple of Fire. The Bridge of Seals ahead is a remote area. Once we set foot there I don’t think we can return. This is the last time you can buy weapons in this village.





So once wes et foot on the sealed bridge we’re past the point of no return for Holmes team. Every map will immediately follow upon each other so we bought the stuff we needed and headed there. As you can see it’s just a random encounter so let’s go through the “interesting” things that happened.







Oh look we get Maerhen back





So yeah, even Maerhen realizes that it was a stupid idea. He will be clinging the bottom end of the screen for his reappearence.



Billford gets his promotion and looks rather solid all around. Nothing great but not too shabby either. Let's go over the levels we got from this encounter.











With the exception of Sasha who has capped her best stat ages ago (Speed), we get some fantastic ones.



: However in the war between Leda and Salia, both the Temple of Fire and Earth were completely ruined and the seals lost their power.

: I think we even broke into the Temple of Fire a while ago… back then nobody knew of the importance of temples…

: It is said that the mosnters born from the altar beneath Mt. Shiero started to appear above ground through the Temples of Earth and Fire.

: I see. Their spread is particulary bad along Leda’s borders though. Why’s that?

: The Kingdom of Leda fell fourty years ago and although Salia is in decay too, it still stands today. We recruited volunteers and defended the bridge effectively sealing the monsters. Together with everyone but Duke Ahab we prevented them from advancing past the border. We thought it was the best for mankind.



After all those we finally arrive at the map for the chapter.



We got some soldiers to mow down including a very familiar face…









Well seems the enemy recruited Piccolo/the Skrull Empire.

: Nebka, what do you mean?

: Because you are a newcomer, you likely wouldn’t know. The soldiers of Garzel were filled with a lot of incompetents who couldn’t become priests. They are equal to slaves in the teaching countries.



: I’m not a priest so why am I of the same position of you? The pontiff said that there was no discrimination in a teaching country like Garzel. You are a preist and I’m a soldier I’m a man of Zoa and I can’t change that. If you discriminate that, aren’t you the same as those pagan countries?

: Kukuku… what a greenhorn. Considering that you are Karla’s sweet little brother… Oh whatever. There is no point discussing these things with you. You have a talent for babbling but do that after the pagans are annihilated.

: You don’t have to tell me that. This is my game, don’t you dare to interfere.

: Ha don’t worry I will watch you at ease. Your struggle is a waste though.







: Do not let your guard down. They are fanatics who don’t hold anything dear. There won’t be a chance to argue with them. Let’s divide and kill them all.

: hmph… since when have you become a stategist? Anyway all of this has nothing to do with me. Let’s hunt them down one by one! That’s the only thing that matters.

: You are just enjoying yourself and forgetting what’s important











So the enemies continue to suck statwise but have some decent weaponry to make up for it. Still they shouldn’t be a problem to you.



Nebka will literally do nothing and just stand there. Might be good since he could pack quite a punch.



Zieg however is the real problem. He has the exact same stats he had when he left you so you can cheese it by never using him. On top of that he god great shields and healing items not to mention he got Nihil as a skill (awareness in this game) and negates the possibility of cheesing him with skills. Your best bet is just overpowering him in one round with range attacks and not give him time to act.





Anyway the first few turns of the map are boring as you just approach each other and murder the single witch porting in courtesy of Yoda in this case.



After a couple of turns we finally arrived and their vanguard and the fighting can begin for real.











The end results are predictably a whole lot of dead Garzel soldier (with Yoda again hitting the damage cap) and a bad level for Sasha.











Some reinforcements later (including a much needed defense level up for Shigen) Zieg starts to make his move as another wave of reinforcements spawns.



And so we start Operation throw everything at Zieg with Raquel.






Plum and Holmes pitch in as well bringing Zieg to the brink of defeat.



Since I’m out of range attackers (barring Rishel but he still go his magic shield) I’m forced to attack Zieg in melee to finish him off and decide to go with Yoda to make sure. Unfortunately this wastes quite a bit of experience.



At least Yoda delivers like always.



: Capture him and I’ll put him through the wringer! Tie him up and throw him over there!



No you don’t… what do you think you are doing dammit…Love only gets in the way especially if I can’t get super powered units out of it…



: When lords do their selfish fighting, the powerless folk are the ones worse off.



: Princess Katri has a gentle heart, but as a woman she cannot protect a country. We think of giving the title of king to you Lord Holmes and entrust you together with Katri with the kingdom’s future.

: G-Gimme a break! That’s just not for me-

Baka!



: Rather than that I have some bad news.

: Bad news? What happened this time?

: Kate has freed Zieg and fled…

goddammit Kate…

: What the ?! That woman betrayed us?! Damn and she is Sasha’s guardian too… that woman! If I find her she is going to pay with her life!



: Ah, nothing nothing… I just sent her to do some recon. She should be back before the night falls, so no need to worry.

: I see, that’s good then. Lately she seemed really down. I’m so worried about her. Holmes, please if you find her don’t be too hard on her.

: Ah.. ok.. Got it.



Next time we are heading straight for the next map and hopefully have fewer words to cover.