Chapter 255

Chapter 255, A Bad Omen

“Like this? It’s somewhat difficult to get right…”

“You’re getting better quickly enough, considering how primitive this magecraft is.”

“Oh? I was wondering what you two were doing… So, teaching each other some arcane arts, eh?”

Giorno showed up and tapped me and Lylia on our shoulders.

“W-well, I’ve noticed how she’s been observing my spell invocations lately… And then she just said she wanted to learn some tricks. Hahaha…”

“Huh, did she? Lylia’s an Elf who’s quite well-versed in magic and magecraft, though… so you must have some deep understanding of the subject, hmm, Poer?”

As Giorno ran his mouth, Lylia stood up, turned his back on him, and walked away without a single word.

Huh… Isn’t she supposed to be good friends with Giorno? She’s never struck me as the kind to just stand up and leave.

“Hahahaha, looks like I got her blushing a little there. That’s a rare sight.”

“…Wait, she was blushing?”

“Hmm? You didn’t see that?”

Hmm, was that what Giorno saw it as?

I can’t consider that expression as a ‘blush’ in any way, shape, or form, though…?

“Ahahaha, you have much to learn about women’s hearts, Master!”

“Where’d you come from, Shiro?”

“You’ve always been too dense to notice all the goodwill the other people have toward you, sir!”

Now she’s being strict with me. AND Giorno is chucking dryly… great.

Pochi’s said that to me frequently before, too, but it’s not like I can easily understand people’s emotions — it’s not like reading arcane energy fluctuations, after all.

“By the way, Giorno, how are you liking that new armor?”

Feeling that Pochi’s rambling is going to get tediously long, I changed the conversation’s topic while I could.

“Pretty much perfect, I’d say. It doesn’t hinder my movements — well, I barely even feel its weight. A skilled craftsman really makes all the difference!”

Giorno answered as he knocked on his shiny new Drynium Steel armor.

He looks pretty happy — and rightfully so. It’s definitely a great feeling to finally get some armor that matches one’s power level.

I came to understand that all too well when the Torrent Dragon Staff I got from Gaston got destroyed.

In this day and age, there’s a big difference in power output between those who wield staves and those who don’t. Not that I was overly reliant on Swift Magic, but now I feel that, depending on whether or not I have it, I have different motivation levels when it comes to magic spell invocations. Maybe it’s because of my mage fighting habits, and it’s become clearer and clearer to me with each passing day these past few years.

“It can even block my breath attacks, sir!”

“I swear, doggo, you and your dangerous games…”

I nervously turned to look at Giorno.

“Hahahahaha!”

Giorno brushed it off with a childlike grin, like he usually does in non-serious situations.

Man, this hero can act so much like a manchild sometimes.

“Anyway… there hasn’t been much change ever since the Devil King resurrected, has there? Patrols have been easier thanks to your trap magic, but we can’t make our next move not knowing where the Devil King actually is…”

Giorno said, putting his hand on his chin.

He’s right about patrols being easier, though — I only needed to set up the fixed-position trap Spell Circles once, and repair them whenever they broke. That really helped out the people of Sodom a great deal, if I were to say so myself.

I’d initially slapped together that setup so that everyone could get together and help think up a name for Weldhun, but it ended up working out, and was totally well worth the effort.

Come to think about it, that was the first time I’d exhausted my arcane energy stock in quite a while, too.

“We’ve got to quickly find him! And you’ve got to blow him away, Giorno!”

Man, this Familiar of mine never forgets to try and leave herself out of the action, huh?

But Giorno IS the Hero — of course he’s got to be the one to finish the Devil King off.

Not like we’d have the room to think about that when we’re in the middle of a fight, though.

“Right! To finish him off, the Hero has to blow a hole through his chest!”

Giorno drummed on his chest and hyped the mood up with some a cliched heroic line, and Pochi looked on with her eyes sparkling.

“Ohh! Look, Master! Now THIS is how a hero should act!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the mage, so that doesn’t matter anyway…”

“Mm-hm, BUT I don’t think we’ll win if we don’t combine all our powers… So all of you better come along and help out as well, hmm?”

Seeing Giorno’s abrupt shift of expression from confidence to awkward honesty, Pochi and I promptly turned to look at each other.

Today’s sure a day of rare gestures — from Lylia earlier, and Giorno just now. What’s with all this change in how they express themselves lately?

Well, maybe it’s not actually a short-term expression change, but a result of the gradual change in our relationship dynamics… yeah, maybe.

“Hmm–! HNG–!!”

Hmm? What’s that voice?

“MOOOOOOOOO!!”

Huh, what is… that? It’s tearing the dirt path apart as its coming at us!

“GEHAHAHAHAHA! Check THIS out, Giorno, Shiro… and Poer! My magnificent new clothes!”

“…Wait, is that you, Weldhun?”

“Well, well… That IS quite an unexpected appearance…”

It’s no wonder that both Pochi and Giorno are surprised.

…Because Weldhun’s whole red body has been reinforced with Drynium Stell, like a full suit of armor.

The metallic silver and Drynium Steel mottled-patterned red are… actually a bit creepy when seen covering his whole gigantic body like this. And by whole, I mean WHOLE — other than his horns, eyes, and hooves, of course. Isn’t that a tad excessive?

“Garm Kisaragi’s Full Body… yeah, that’s what he called it. He’s damn good at this! GEHAHAHAHAHA!”

Weldhun stomped the ground with his hind legs.

I get that he’s happy, but this is reminding me of the Devil King’s resurrection’s earthquake… Man, I wish he’d stop.

Well, no need to say it out loud, I guess.

“One day… I will show off this magnificent form to the lovely heifer! Gehahahahaha!”

Pochi, apparently feeling a chill run through her back, instantly got away from Weldhun and hid behind me.

…Which is to be expected from fellow Heavenly Beasts, I suppose. Pochi’s tolerable personality makes it so that there are no real issues with them getting along, but by nature, I don’t see the different Heavenly Beasts being all that friendly to one another.

“–Wait, I actually came here for something else… Gah, how’d I forget that? I swear, this armor is making me too excited…”

“For something else? Did you detect an airborne monster or something of the sort?”

Giorno promptly asked Weldhun, and brought up the most likely scenario. There aren’t many monsters that can go up against Weldhun on equal footing.

Apostle-fied SS-ranked monsters might be able to take him, sure, but he’s strong enough to swat all normal grounded monsters out of the way.

That’s why it’s most likely to be an airborne monster — it won’t kill him, but he won’t be able to kill it either. It’s understandable that he’d rush over to tell us.

“Yeah, that’s right!”

There, called it. I can go shoot it down with the right long-ranged attack–

“–But it’s not a monster.”

Oh?

“I saw it. It’s definitely that nasty thing I know very well.”

“It’s rare for you to be this antagonistic toward something, Weldhun. Is this a fated connection I’m seeing, hmm?”

“That thing always comes from the sky and looks down on me… I’m getting pissed just thinking about it!”

“W-what could that terrible-sounding creature even be!?”

Pochi, losing her patience, asked and looked at Weldhun… while still staying behind my legs. C’mon, doggo, get out of hiding already…

“It’s that annoying purple bird… Yeah, you know the one…”

……Oh, I see.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Now wait a second! Why is it specifically ME who has to go!?”

Pochi complained openly as she let me ride on her to our destination.

“It’s US, not just you! The Hero’s thought this plan out, so we gotta help him!”

We’re heading northwest, where Giorno predicted that the Violet Phoenix would be going to next.

I do appreciate how the townspeople of Sodom said they’d put in the extra effort to keep things running in my absence, but is it really okay for me to go out of town like this?

…On second thought, it’ll probably be fine. It was also me and Pochi who went to mine the Drynium ore, after all. It’s easy to travel around when it’s just us, but… man, I’m still worried.

“What, because he said ‘seeing a Violet Phoenix’ is a bad omen!? Some Hero he is, being so superstitious like that!”

“Well, his ‘Hero’ role also comes from a similar superstition, so he’s not necessarily wrong to believe that.”

“Bah, you and your excuses! You do know that I want to avoid that bird if I can, right!?”

“I want to avoid it, too! I still remember it almost killing me in the future era, dammit!”

That time, Shi’shichou did end up sparing me on a whim, but I don’t want to experience that kind of humiliating defeat again… or remember that it even happened, for that matter.

And in Pochi’s case, she’s probably got another reason to want to avoid that thing.

I can only hope that we pass each other by or something…

“Hmm!? That mountain’s summit looks suspicious, sir!!”

“Ohh! You could tell!?”

“Nope, pure instinct, sir!”

What did I even expect?

…Huh, she might not be so far off the mark. I can feel an arcane energy trace in that direction. Let’s go check that out for now.

[“–lo!”]

…Hmm? Did I hear something just now?

[“–tor!”]

“–! Pochi! Wait!”

“Agh–! W-what is it, sir!?”

Ignoring Pochi’s question, I quietly and calmly adjusted my arcane energy wavelength.

And then–

[“–llo!? Hello!? Instructor!?”]

I wouldn’t be able to forget this voice even if I want to… This iconic, adorable voice, with a villainous undertone…

[“–Master Bright!?”]