Chapter 35: THE COUNCIL
The Royal Conference Chamber was designed to intimidate.
Vaulted ceilings. Enormous windows. A table made from wood that probably cost more than most villages. Four chairs on one side, the Queen's throne on the other, and enough empty space between to make anyone approaching feel small.
I'd seen similar designs in corporate boardrooms. The psychology was identical — remind visitors that power resided elsewhere, that they were here at sufferance.
The other Heroes were already present when I arrived.
Ren Amaki sat with perfect posture, his Legendary Sword propped against his chair. His expression was neutral, but his eyes tracked me the moment I entered — analytical, calculating, remembering every anomaly he'd observed during the Pope's battle.
Motoyasu Kitamura looked... diminished. Without Malty whispering in his ear, without a handler to tell him what to think, he seemed uncertain. His spear lay across his knees like he wasn't sure what to do with his hands.
Itsuki Kawasumi had positioned himself near the window, bow within reach, maintaining the elevated positioning he preferred in all situations. His expression held the self-righteous certainty I remembered from the anime, but there were cracks now. Following the Shield Hero's commands during the Pope battle had complicated his worldview.
Queen Mirellia sat at the head of the table, flanked by advisors who'd been carefully screened for Church sympathies. She nodded as I took my seat.
"The Four Heroes Council is now in session." Her voice carried the same resonance I'd heard at the restoration ceremony — the weight of legitimate authority. "Our first order of business: power enhancement coordination."
The other Heroes shifted. This was why they'd come — the promise of getting stronger, faster.
"Each Cardinal Weapon has unique enhancement methods," Mirellia continued. "The Sword Hero's copy system. The Spear Hero's refinement process. The Bow Hero's trust bonuses. The Shield Hero's..." She paused, looking at me. "I'm told the Shield's methods are somewhat unique."
"Material absorption," I said. "The Shield grows by consuming monster parts, plants, minerals — anything with magical resonance."
"And do these methods work exclusively on their assigned weapons?"
This was the moment. The revelation that canon Naofumi had stumbled into accidentally, that had transformed the Heroes' capabilities in the original story.
I could play it straight — share what I "suspected" and let them test it. But that would leave questions about how I knew to suspect it in the first place.
Better to engineer the discovery organically.
"I've never tested it," I said carefully. "But the weapons are all part of the same system, aren't they? Connected to the same summoning framework, the same Dragon Hourglass calibration. It would be strange if enhancement methods were completely incompatible."
Ren's eyes narrowed. He was listening. Processing.
"Are you suggesting we share methods?" Itsuki sounded skeptical. "Just... tell each other our weapon's secrets?"
"I'm suggesting we test whether sharing helps." I looked at Motoyasu, who seemed the most likely to cooperate without overthinking. "Motoyasu, your refinement system — how does it work?"
"You combine enhancement ores with the weapon to improve base stats." He demonstrated, pulling a small crystal from his pouch. "Like this. The spear absorbs the ore and gains permanent bonus points based on material quality."
"And you've tried that on other weapons?"
"Why would I? The spear is my weapon."
"Try it on the Shield."
The other Heroes went quiet. Motoyasu looked at me, then at the crystal in his hand, then at my shield arm.
"What if it damages your weapon?"
"Then we learn something important."
He hesitated. Then, with the impulsive decisiveness that had gotten him into so many problems, he pressed the crystal against my shield.
The Legendary Shield absorbed it.
[Enhancement Ore absorbed][Shield Refinement: +2 Base Defense][Cross-Weapon Enhancement: Confirmed]
The status notification blazed across my vision. I kept my expression neutral, but I could see similar reactions from the others — their own systems reporting the same revelation.
"It worked," Motoyasu said, genuinely surprised. "Your shield... accepted my enhancement method."
"Which means the other methods probably work too." I turned to Ren. "Your copy system. Have you ever tried to copy a weapon form from another Hero's repertoire?"
Ren's analytical mind had already run the calculations. He drew his sword, focused for a moment, and then—
[Shield Form: Basic acquired][Sword Copy System: Cross-Weapon Confirmed]
His expression flickered. The closest thing to emotion I'd seen from him.
"This changes everything," he said quietly. "Combined enhancement across all four systems would multiply our growth rates dramatically."
"Exactly." I looked at each of them in turn. "We've been competing separately when we could have been compounding together. Every method we share, every technique we pool — the effect stacks. We don't just get stronger individually. We get stronger as a coordinated system."
Itsuki was already testing his trust bonuses on Motoyasu's spear, watching the stat increases with growing excitement. Motoyasu had grabbed Ren's sword and was applying refinement ores with the enthusiasm of a child discovering a new toy.
Only Ren remained still, watching me.
After the session ended — after an hour of cross-testing that left all four weapons significantly enhanced — he caught me in the corridor outside the conference chamber.
"You guided that conversation," he said flatly. "The questions you asked. The order you presented ideas. You led us to discover something you already knew."
"I suspected it was possible."
"Your 'suspicions' have a perfect track record." He produced a notebook — one I hadn't seen him carrying before the council. "The Pope's Weapon Replica. You knew about it before any of us did. The convergence beacon being a trap. You predicted the Church's tactical approach before they executed it. During the battle, you called out attack patterns before they happened."
I kept my expression neutral. "Combat experience. Pattern recognition."
"The probability of your accuracy being coincidental is approaching zero." Ren met my eyes directly. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I don't even know what I'd accuse you of. But I'm keeping count. Every correct prediction. Every 'lucky guess' that turns out to be perfect information. Eventually, the pattern will tell me something."
"And what will you do with that information?"
"That depends on what it reveals." He tucked the notebook away. "You're not my enemy, Shield Hero. You've proven that. But you're also not what you appear to be. And I don't trust things I don't understand."
He walked away, leaving me alone in the corridor with the Chronicler's warm amusement pulsing in the background.
Fascinating, the Constellation impressed. A detective and a mystery, traveling together toward mutual discovery. We look forward to that conversation.
So did I. And dreaded it in equal measure.
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