Lost Pages (Rise of the Shield Hero)

Chapter 8

Later that night, after they had all eaten Taura and Raphtalia fell asleep, Himari found herself sitting across from Naofumi as he prepared some herbs. She worked on keeping watch— in case any enemies tried to show up while people were asleep or busy. It's not like she normally got a lot of sleep when she was alive so staying up late like this was easy for her.

For the majority of the night, everything was peaceful, until Raphtalia woke up screaming and crying.

"What's wrong?" Naofumi asked, getting up and walking over to her. "Just calm down. Everything's okay." He pulled Raphtalia into a hug.

"My mother, my father, they're both gone!" Raphtalia exclaimed.

"It's okay... it's alright." Naofumi said, streaking her hair to help her calm down. Once she finally did and went back to sleep, he returned to his position by the fire.

"I would of never pegged you to be good with kids." Himari said.

"Yeah, well I have a little brother." He said simply, returning to grinding down the herbs.

This guy isn't really that good with socializing... she thought. Though in is defense he was betrayed so that might of effected how he talked to other people. Not to mention he most likely believed she was from this world.

"You know, you can go to sleep." Naofumi said. "I don't think any monsters are going to attack."

"I'm fine. I'm using to staying up because of homew- because of training." Himari said, placing a hand to the back of her head. Nice save, Himari. She thought as she internally cursed herself.

Naofumi looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, a suspicious look on his face. He definitely knew she was hiding something but he didn't say a word.

"You know, on second thought I probably should get some sleep." Himari laughed, getting up from where she stood and walking over to where Taura was sleeping. "See you in the morning!"

With that, she got under a small blanket and slowly started to drift off to sleep.

The next morning Naofumi's and Himari's parties headed back to town together. Once there, they parted ways, Himari following Taura to the chapel in the town.

"Remind me why we're going to the chapel again?" Himari asked.

"There's this thing called a Dragon Hourglass. Each hero has to register to it in order to be transported to each of the waves, it also acts as a countdown." Taura explained.

"Oh, that's pretty neat, so we'll know how much time we have left to prepare." Himari said, "Sounds like a plan!" She said, "Then we can head off and take a quest of a guild!"

Taura smiled, "Yeah!"

***

The church was almost exactly what Himari expected— it looked a bit more medieval than most grand chapels she had seen in her previous life, but overall it had most of the same structure.

She and Taura stepped inside, only to be stopped by a group of woman who Himari assumed were nuns.

"Welcome to the Church of the Three Heroes. What can we help you with?" One of the woman asked.

"I'd like to see the Dragon Hourglass." Himari said.

"I'm very sorry, but seeing the dragon hourglass is restricted to only heroes and their parties, unless you are looking to receive a class upgrade." The woman said, a snarky smile appearing on her face. "Unless you can pay the fee."

I should of expected something like this to happen. Himari thought with a sigh. "Fine. What's the fee?" She asked.

"Three gold coins." The woman said.

"Three gold- hold on, you're supposed to be a church, right?! Why the hell are you asking for that much money just to see a Hourglass?" Himari said. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to pay that. But according to Taura she had to register to the dragon hourglass in order to be transported to the waves, and if she couldn't do that... she took a deep breath, she only had one option left.

"To think I've come all this way because the queen asked me to see it on her behalf." She sighed and pulled the pin she had received from the queen and twirled it between her fingers.

"Thats the queens royal crest!" One of the nuns exclaimed upon seeing the pin. She bowed, "Please, excuse our rudeness, the hourglass is up ahead. Let me lead you there."

"Thank you." Himari said, bowing her head and walking past the nuns, pausing and looking behind her at Taura, who was staring at her with wide eyes. "What're you waiting for? We gotta see the hourglass, right?" She asked.

That took Taura out of whatever trance she was in and she nodded. "Right." She walked up and the two of them were lead through a few corridors, until they entered a room, a giant hourglass in the middle of it.

"Please, take all the time you need." The nun said, taking a few steps back and leaving the two of them in the room.

"Damn. I didn't think that would work." Himari said. "Thank god! That could of gotten bad!"

"How do ya have that pin?" Taura asked.

"This? Oh, I got it when I first arrived here. The queen gave it to me."

"The queen?!" Taura asked. "Ya mean her royal majesty gave ya that pin?"

"That's what I said?" Himari tiled her head slightly. "I can explain everything to you later, for now, what do I do to register?"

"Ah! I uh, don't know." Taura admitted. "Sorry."

"That's fine. I think it should be simple. Hm, let's see..." She turned and walked up the stairs until she was standing on a platform only two feet away from the giant hourglass. "It shouldn't be too hard." She grabbed onto her axe and changed it to her second form, raising it towards the hourglass. I really hope this works, because if it doesn't then I just look stupid. She said.

Nothing happened for a second, and Himari was just about to pull back when the gem on her axe started to glow, a beam of light shooting out from it and heading straight for the hourglass. The moment the beam hit it, a box appeared in front of her.

Battle Axe Hero: registered.
Time until next wave: 1 day and 3 hours.

Once the light died down, Himari pulled the axe away and looked back to Taura, "That wasn't too hard!" She said, heading down the steps. "But it says we only have about a day left until the next wave hits."

"That's all?" Taura asked. "What should we do?"

Himari placed a hand on her chin in thought, "Let's head to another nearby village. We can level up on the way." If this is like any games I've played then the further we get from this town the stronger the enemies will get.

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" Taura said.

"Yeah." Himari said, and the two girls left the building, finally starting on their adventure outside of the town.