The rise of the Hypocritical Hero and the Shield

by L33t Horo

Emiya Shirou is sent to another world, his only culprit is Zelrtech, now he is Partnered up with Naofumi the Shield hero, how will life be for them now?

7. Chapter 7

The rise of the Hypocritical Hero and the Shield

A crossover between The Raising of the Shield Hero and Fate/Stay Night

Author notes : Chapter 6 got revamped sorry, I uploaded an unfinished version.

Chapter 7: Prepare for voyage

We woke up early, it was due to the weather being so hot today.

Why is it so hot?!

"Ugh…"

Naofumi body's wouldn't move the way he wanted it to. What was going on?

He slowly opened his eyes to find himself surround by white. he was covered in feathers.

Snore… Snore…

The whole bed was snoring!

He finally raised his face from the feathers to find that he wasn't sleeping on the bed anymore but on Filo's massive stomach, as she had returned to her Filolial form in the night.

Apparently she had rolled from the bed and hugged me against her, using me as a pillow as she slept.

"Get up! You fat chicken!"

Who gave her permission to turn back into a bird?

Yawwwwn.

Oh? So she could talk, even though she was a bird now?

Shirou looked at her and smirked.

"This is how Sitonai would look if she were a Filolial I guess" he thought to himself.

Raphtalia woke up and was looking at the scene "What… what are you doing?"

"This stupid bird got me up there and is still asleep! I can't get out, help me… and Shirou… stop laughing man, that's not cool!" Naofumi said as he hit Filo, but his attack was too low to do any significant damage to her.

After they managed to pry Naofumi away from Filo, the bird woke up.

"What happened?"

"First things first, turn back into a human!" Naofumi said commandingly.

"Huh? But I just woke uuuuup…"

P.O.V Naofumi

Dammit! I didn't want to do it this way, but I didn't have any other choice.

I opened up my status screen, looked at Filo's settings, and checked the box that demanded she do as I say. Now she had no choice but to do as I say.

"Turn back into a human!"

I turned to Filo and shouted the order.

"But I… I want to sleep with Master a little bit more!"

But the mark of the monster trainer curse appeared on her chest and started to glow.

"Huh?"

"If you don't listen, it will hurt you."

The glowing curse seal grew to cover her whole chest then continued to expand.

Yaaaawn!

Glowing geometric patterns appeared on her wings, and began to fly towards the glowing pattern on her chest.

They collided, and with a small fizzle, the monster trainer seal faded away.

"Huh?"

I quickly reopened the status screen only to find that the boxes I'd previously checked had all been unchecked. I tried to check them again, but no matter how many times I attempted it, the boxes remained empty. What's the use of a monster that doesn't follow orders?

Dammit! The whole reason I bought a monster in the first place was so it would do what I said!

That damn slave trader. Just you wait. I'm coming to see you… You better be waiting!

slave trader tent

"Slave Trader!"

First thing in the morning, we set out for the slave trader's tent.

"What is wrong, Hero? This early in the morning? Yes sir."

"The monster seal you put on my Filolial didn't work. It was junk. Depending how you respond to my complaints, my monster and slave might make a real mess of your place here. Right?"

"I'm hungry, so I'll be back later."

"If you don't behave yourself, we'll make breakfast out of YOU."

"The seal we'd put on Filo wasn't working, and I couldn't even take it off."

"You don't say? Tell me more about it."

I explained the morning's events to the slave trader. It was pretty hard going from that point on. Eventually I calmed Filo down and convinced her to return to human form, and then we all made our way to the tent. Raphtalia was clearly on edge, worrying the whole time about keeping Filo from doing anything crazy.

"It seems that a normal monster seal is not strong enough to control a Filolial Queen. Yes sir."

"What does that mean?"

"Very powerful monsters cannot always be restrained by a normal monster seal. The Knight Dragons, for example, require a special seal."

While Shirou could not use the magic system of this world,he was able to access the status system. Fafnir was registered to him as he was released and ownership got transferred to him.

"So a normal seal isn't enough to control Filo?"

"That right."

The slave trader opened a notebook and began frantically scribbling in it, like he couldn't stand to let these new developments go unrecorded.

"So are you going to put on a special seal for me or what?"

"Unfortunately we don't offer that service for free here."

"What?"

"Well it does cost a fair amount of money to perform, therefore we are unable to offer it without compensation. There is only so much we can do. Yes sir."

So I guess he wouldn't do it for free.

"How much?"

"With how much I believe I can expect from you in the future, Hero, I'll give you a deal at only 200 pieces of silver."

Ugh… That was expensive.

"Isn't there anything…"

"Before you continue, I'll have you know that the typical market price is 800 pieces of silver. I have great respect for you, Hero, and therefore would never lie to you."

Ugh! That hit where it hurt. And honestly we aren't quite hurting on the monetary department at the moment.

I recovered from the shock and, mind still reeling, and with extreme trepidation, handed the slave trader 200 pieces of silver.

"If you're lying, I'll let my friends here rip you apart."

Shirou rolled his eyes.

"Naturally. Yes sir."

All of a sudden I noticed that Filo had returned to her Filolial Queen form. Raphtalia was holding onto one of the wings, as if it was her hand, and led Filo into the room.

"Just stay still for a minute, okay, Filo?"

Raphtalia said.

"Why?"

"If you stay still, I'll give you a present later."

"Really?" she said with a childlike manner

"Really."

Filo looked thrilled, and she went to where the slave trader was pointing and stood there silently.

Good, if there was any time for magic, this was it. I caught the slave trader's eye and signaled that he should start, and he quickly nodded. Suddenly twelve robed men appeared and formed a circle around Filo. They then emptied a jug of some type of medicine over the floor, and then turned to Filo and began chanting. The floor began to glow, and a magical square appeared.

"Wh…What?!"

Filo snapped her beak rapidly in protest, but she was unable to fight it off, and the square expanded to cover her.

"Ow! Ouch! Stop it!"

The monster control spell was hurting her, apparently, and she ran in distressed circles, snapping her beak here and there. The magic square began to shake.

The robed men all let out a gasp of astonishment.

"We've taken all precautions, using as many people as we have. I've never seen a monster be able to move under so much force. Who knows what she is capable of. Yes sir."

That reminds me, she was only at level 19. Just imagine how powerful she would be at 70 or something like that.

The slave trader's words carried great weight.

Finally the spell subsided, the monster control spell was etched into her chest, and she quieted down.

"It is finished. Yes sir."

I could see a monster icon flashing in my periphery, but it looked different than it had before, as if to imply a greater level of control. I didn't even stop to think, but quickly checked the box that detailed necessary conformity to my orders.

Huff… Huff…

Filo was nearly out of breath when she walked over to me.

"Master! That really hurt!"

I felt a little guilty about testing it so quickly, but I immediately gave her an order.

"Turn into a human."

"But it hurt so I don't wanna! Give me something yummy!"

She had immediately refused my order and demanded food, and so the curse on her chest began to shine.

"What? No! I don't like this! Make it stop!"

Filo released some type of magic that moved towards the curse, but this time it was unable to break it, and the curse itself began to react.

"Ouch! Ouch!"

Filo fell to the floor in pain.

"If you don't do as I say, it will only hurt worse."

"Ouch! Owwwww!"

She complained the whole time, but finally turned into a human. Once she did, the curse stopped glowing and disappeared.

"Heh! At least it worked this time. Nice job, Slave Trader."

"Yes, well, it is very powerful magic. It's not so easy to break, you see. Yes sir."

I went to stand before Filo, who was lying on the ground.

"It cost me 100 pieces of silver to buy you, and now it's cost me 200 pieces of silver to control you. That makes for 300 pieces of silver. I'm sure you'll pay me back."

"But… Master!"

She was reaching out her hand for me. It felt bad, talking to a little kid like this. Even still, I couldn't keep going on if my party wouldn't listen to what I told them to do.

"Do what I say."

"No!"

"Fine then. You don't want to listen to me? I'll just give you to that creepy old man over there. You want that?"

"…?!"

Filo finally seemed to understand her place, and stopped protesting. Her face twisted up with emotion.

The slave trader was looking me over. He looked somewhat distressed, but also very happy.

"How much would you buy her for?"

"Good question. She's very rare, but considering how much trouble she seems to be, I think that 30 gold pieces seems fair. Now that she has the stronger curse on her, she should be much easier to control, and there is certainly no shortage of work that I could have her do. Yes sir."

That slave-trading bastard. After all he said about not wanting her, and not being able to sell her—and here he was, already had a price in mind! I didn't know what he was really up to, but I got the impression that if gave him Filo, that would be the end of her, then and there.

"Oh? for you having said you couldn't be able to sell her, you sure had a price already thought of quite fast" Shirou said.

The slave trader smiled and shrugged.

And Filo, she was looking up at me, abject terror in her eyes.

This wasn't good. I'd thought that all the goodness in my heart was gone, and yet here it was, threatening to resurrect.

Whether it actually came back or not would depend on Filo's behavior.

I wasn't her lovable older brother—and I wasn't the type to sit around doting on a pet.

"There you have it. If you throw another fit, I'm not going to come running, you hear? I'll give you a bitter, gross medicine that'll run through all your veins and kill you."

"No! Noooooo!"

Filo was practically screaming.

"Master! Don't hate me! Don't hate me!"

She crawled over to me and held onto my legs as she shouted.

Ugh! This was miserable…

"If you listen to what I say, I won't hate you. You have to listen to me."

"O…okay!"

"Okay, good. So when we are sleeping in the inn, you can't turn back into a bird. You have to promise."

"Okay!"

She looked up at me, her face beaming. This was taking a real toll on my conscience.

But then I turned my eyes away from her pleading face, and the slave trader noticed and leaned in to watch, with excitement, how the scene developed.

"This play of heretical anger is astonishing, yes. I take my hat off to you again. You truly are the Legendary Shield Hero."

I didn't appreciate the aspects of my character he had chose to congratulate me on, but I suppose it was nothing to complain about.

"Naofumi-sama … don't you think that it's enough?"

"If I don't, she won't listen to what I say. You were the same way, remember?"

Raphtalia nodded.

"You're right. It was like that."

"There are times to let someone have their way, and times when you have to reel them in."

I didn't mention that I considered myself the judge of such matters.

"Ah yes, carrots and sticks! Carrots and sticks! Yes sir."

"I wasn't talking to you, Slave Trader."

And I wished he wasn't so presumptive.

"Sorry for all the trouble."

"If that's how you feel about it, then to make things easier in the future you should teach me how you raised this Fil…"

"Anyway, we have somewhere to be today, so we'll just be off."

"Ah, yes. I am once again impressed that you don't allow yourself to become subject to my own pace… Yes, your will is very impressive indeed, Hero. Yes sir."

So that was the end of our talks for the day, and we exited the tent.

"Naofumi-san, it's okay to be strict, but don't scare her like that, she was just born not even 2 days ago, temper yourself" Shirou said as he looked at me with stern eyes.

I… guess I may have overdone it.

But after what I went trough… can I be blamed for this?

No… I can, while it may explain WHY I do it, while may explain WHY I behave like this it certainly doesn't EXCUSE my doing it.

It wasn't fair when Shirou said stuff like that, but he was right.

Shirou had drapped her in his cloak and we went to the old-man's store.

"Ah yes, our Little-Hero!"

The owner threw his hand in the air at my approach, like he had been waiting for us to stop by.

"Did you find anything?" I asked somewhat hopefully.

"Yup. You just wait a minute."

He jogged to the door and put up a closed sign before motioning for us to come outside. He led us down the street to the magic shop we had visited a few days earlier.

"Now, now."

When the owner of the weapon shop poked his head in, the lady at the magic shop could not suppress a smile, and she ran to the door to meet him.

"Would you all come to the back of my shop for a moment?"

"Filo, don't turn into a bird without my permission, okay?"

"Okay…"

We went into the backroom, which smelled very much like someone had been living there. There was a large workspace laid out.

Apparently that was where she made her spells.

The ceiling must have been about three meters tall. There was a magic square on the ground, and some crystals placed delicately in the center of the room.

"Sorry about the clutter, I was just in the middle of some work."

"Its perfectly understandable… my own teacher of the craft was rather messy as well due to the many things she was working and researching" Shirou said with a forlorn smile.

"No problem at all. But do you sell clothes here for this girl?"

"I asked around this morning, and I heard that the lady at this magic shop knew what to do." Erhard said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, that I do." she said with a nod.

The lady took the crystals from their place on the table, and in their place sat a large machine that looked something like an antique sewing machine.

Was it a spindle, like the thing that Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on?

"Is that little girl really a monster?"

"Yes. So when she transforms back into her original form, her clothes rip. Filo, turn back."

I figured it was safe for her to do it here.

"Okay."

She nodded, removed the cape, and transformed back into a Filolial.

"Ah yes, now I see. This is the little Filolial you had with you the last time we spoke, is it not?"

The magic shop lady looked up at Filo, as a Filolial queen, and asked in shocked tones.

"Does this work?"

Filo's voice was still the same as it was when she was a little girl, so it sounded very strange coming from her giant, Filolial body. Granted, I supposed it was an accepted fantasy trope that you could hold conversations with animals like this.

I looked over at Raphtalia.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

That reminded me, Raphtalia was a demi-human. Back when I was still bright-eyed and optimistic about this world, it would have been so exciting to have her as my partner. Thinking of it that way, I could understand the way that Motoyasu had responded to seeing her back when we dueled.

Of course, that was all in the past for me.

"So shall I make some clothes for her?"

"You can make them? Clothes that won't rip when she transforms?"

"Yes, I can… Though if we are honest, I don't know if they qualify as 'clothes.'"

"What do you mean?"

"How do I appear to you, Mr. Hero?"

"A magic shop… I don't know… a witch?"

"That's right. So I do know something about transformation."

It wasn't like I was starting to understand anything about this world, and I couldn't be sure if I was even right. But in the manga and games that I have played and read I think I'd come across witches that could turn into animals.

"Having said that, turning into an animal is really more trouble than it is worth, considering the level of magic required and the risk involved. Still, I do from time to time. Trying to find new clothes every time you change is really a bother, you know?"

Okay, so it sounded like witches and wizards were able to transform if they wanted to.

The witch was fingering some wooden sewing tools when she answered.

"It's fine if you are back at your own house or something. But to transform in a place you aren't secure, it can be a real disaster."

"I would think so."

The main issue seemed to be clothes. You couldn't just go walking around naked.

"So there are very useful clothes that people wear when they transform. Clothes that survive the transformation and will still be there, no matter the form you take."

"I see."

"There are some famous examples among wizards and witches, even among the demi-humans. An example you might know of is the capes that vampires wear."

Yeah… come to think of it, I'd seen that in an old movie. They could turn into bats and wolves and things like that. I guess they existed in this world too.

"This machine here is designed to produce the thread that we make those clothes from."

"You don't say… but how does it work? How does the clothing survive the transformation?" Shirou askes.

"The power that makes it look like clothing is very exact."

Her answer confused me.

"This machine turns magical power into thread. The user can decide on their own timing to turn the thread back into magic, and vice-versa. Basicaly it uses the magic of the wearer to create the clothes and once they turn back it turns into magical energy stored until it is needed again" Shirou explained as he analyzed the spindle.

"So you're saying that when she turns into a human, she can turn her magic power into clothing?"

"Yes, that's how it works." The witch replies with a smile..

She was right… It wasn't exactly clothing in the way I understood clothing. When Filo wasn't a human, it would turn into a magical power that dwelt within her body. Then when she turned into a girl, it would materialize as clothing.

"Okay then. Now, Filo, will you slowly turn that handle for me?"

Filo got a hold on the handle and began to turn it. When she did, a thin thread began to come out of one end the machine. The old lady took it, wrapped it on a dowel, and started spinning the dowel to collect the thread.

"What's happening? I feel like I'm losing my energy!"

"We are turning some of you magical powers into thread, dear. You'll feel a little tired. But keep on turning that handle. We don't have enough yet to make you any clothes."

"Ugh… But this isn't fun!"

I guess she really was just a kid. She'd only been alive for a week, come to think of it.

Filo kept slowly turning the handle and looking absentmindedly around the room.

When she was doing so, the jewel that was on top of the machine suddenly broke.

"Oh no. My jewel broke! Without that we won't be able to make the clothing."

"What?"

That sounded like a big problem to me.

It would be near impossible to get her to change into clothes whenever she transformed, and besides, the cost of the clothes would be astronomical.

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

"Well, the material for the jewel can be found in the market… but it isn't cheap."

"Ugh…"

That was the last thing I wanted to hear.

"Is there any way we could make it?"

"Hm… Let me think."

She found a map at the back of the bookshelf and unrolled it on the tabletop.

"I believe, in Melromarc, is only place where the jewels may be found. Here in this cave."

She pointed to the mountainous area in the southwest of the kingdom, and both the guy from the weapon shop and I nodded.

"There is supposed to be a rich vein running through the basement of some ruins here. If you could find it, we'd be able to make the jewel for not much money."

"Sounds like a plan."

It would be dangerous, but we didn't have enough money to think about any other options.

"All right, I'm going with you."

"Are you sure?"

"How else will you know what is good-enough quality?"

I did have a skill that improved my resource appraisal, but it would still be best to have an actual witch chose the jewel.

If we made a good haul, we could sell the remainders for profit. That was obviously a best-case scenario.

"Okay great. Are you ready to go now?"

"Yes, no problem at all."

"All right then, let's go. And quickly."

We loaded up the carriage with our luggage and had Filo pull it. Then we all set out for the cave in the Southwest of Melromarc.

3 hours later

"Is this the cave?"

I was pointing to what looked like the intimidating entrance to a ruined temple, tucked into the crags of the mountainous region we'd been traversing.

There was a temple built into the ruddy cliffs there… and it felt like it must have contained some powerful items within… that is, if this were an RPG. I caught myself thinking that way again. I've spent too much time with games!

"No, that's not it. According to local tradition, there was once an evil alchemist who made this temple into his home base."

"You don't say…"

"There are rumors that the alchemist was deeply involved in research on a dangerous plant. Apparently that plant is still sealed inside. We will not venture in there. There should be a tunnel bored into the side of the mountain that goes under the temple. That's what we are aiming for."

We all began to scour the area for the tunnel the witch had described.

"Is this it?"

We moved further down the path to find a giant, fresh crack in the cliff. It was large enough to squeeze inside.

"It could be."

"Naofumi-sama, should we go in first and check it out?"

I nodded, and we both looked inside.

The interior appeared to be man-made. It was formed from stone, but formed into concrete and designed shapes.

What's that? There was an ornate treasure chest sitting at the back of the room. I opened it, but it was empty.

I guess if dungeons were real, this is what they would be like. Of course someone would have been there before you.

Shirou looked around "I sense some strange foreign mana in the air" he warned.

We managed to find a room that held a warning about a seed that was inside.

however there was no seed to be found.

It was not our problem so we kept going on.

Shirou stopped us, he signaled with his head at the floor.

"Monster footprints… and fresh ones, prepare for comfrontation" he warned

I took a defensive stance while Raphtalia got into an offensive one, Shirou made the two swords he had used before appear in his hands.

It was a chimera… Shirou noticed it, but different from the ones he fought.

Filo however was drooling as she sniffed the footprints.

I felt something course trought my body… something foreign.

It tried to metaphorically latch on my mind but then I heard the sound of breaking glass.

"Uh… seems like my defenses for you all proved quite resilient" Shirou said.

It was a compulsion… something to make our fears manifest and break the harmony of the team. It seems Shirou's runes kept them at bay.

When I am able I am going to look for a shield to raise my magic resistance, those things are not a joke, if we'd fell victim to this… well I dare not think about it.

"It works like a curse would, it latches upon you and uses your own magical power to feed it, so… I simply flush them by using my own magical power so the curse can't take hold by circulating my magic power" he said.

The runes he drew on us did that for us automatically for us as we where not able to do so on our own just yet.

Shirou was amazing, and someone you could truly depend on to do the right thing.

Even the witch was taken back by how easy it was for him to break free from that, and was quite taken back by his own method to do so.

We where attacked by monsters,

We eventually came upon a monster that looked something like a bat, it was called a Voice Gengar, and it had been making those voices. We fought it, and the witch supported us with magic, so it was an easy win.

Filo ran up a wall and flipped off it, swinging her leg into a powerful kick that brought the bat down. She could really fight. I let the shield absorb the Voice Gengar.

Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield: conditions met

Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield: ability locked:

sound wave endurance (small)

Special Effect: Megaphone

Special effect Megaphone? I guess I could tell what that was.

The shield itself wasn't all that great, though I suppose the monster also wasn't that strong, so I shouldn't have expected much.

And yet… why did it specify bat form?

It made me wary, and so I strained my ears against the silence of the tunnel. I could hear voices in the distance.

We had no choice but to keep going.

The tunnel had gotten very dark, so I was holding a torch in one hand. Then, suddenly, I couldn't see anything.

Another wave of magical energy passed and we heard the voices again… and just as suddenly they died. Man Runes are amazing!

I switched to the Voice Gengar (bat form) Shield, and used the special effect Megaphone.

"Hey!"

My voice boomed and echoed down the call, and I heard some strange rustling in response.

"You scared me!"

"Me too," chirped Filo.

"I am the source of all power, hear me and understand my reasons. Restore our vision."

"Fast Anti-Bind!"

In an instant, the dark hallway became suddenly bright enough to see.

I looked at my feet to see a great number of small, rat-like monsters scurrying around my feet.

Then I looked over at Raphtalia and the others, only to find them beaten up pretty badly.

They must have been attacked in the dark. Of course they'd be beat up.

I took some healing medicine from my bag and handed it to Raphtalia.

"Witch, do you know any sort of restorative, healing magic?"

"Unfortunately not. I'm not suited for restorative magic."

"Oh…"

This wasn't looking good. They had taken some real damage.

Oh hey, that reminds me. I absorbed the monster we'd just defeated, and I unlocked the Voice Gengar (rat form) Shield. Its special effect was the same as the last one, but its equip bonus was

"Blinding Endurance (small)."

Just to be safe, I switched to my Alert Shield. With it equipped, we would be alerted if a monster came within twenty meters of us. I'd wondered how useful a distance like that would be out on the fields, but I now realized that it was a pretty useful distance—if you were indoors, or in a dungeon.

We stumbled on through the tunnel for a while before eventually coming upon a vein of ore that glowed dimly in the shadowy hall.

"Kyukiiii!"

A strange voice suddenly filled the air. It was the monster that owned those footprints back at the entrance, and now it was there, guarding the vein of ore.

It was called a "Nue." It was so similar to the Chimera.

"Damn… I hate those" Shirou said "But their meat makes for good grilling"

Nues were like Chimeras in Japanese mythological settings, and they were a type of legendary mythical creature.

It was a monkey's head on a tanuki's body, with a tiger's legs and a snake for a tail.

Shirou charged in, both swords slashed at the Nue.

It screamed in pain.

Just like the monsters we fought the swords he had made more damage to monsters.

"Oh my, those weapons are quite exquisite, I am a witch so I don't use such weapons but from what I can gleam it enhances his magical defence and has anti-monsters properties"

Filo then joined Shirou and with one single kick from her,she completely destroyed the Nue's head.

"Uhmm… talk about a headshot" Shirou said.

He hasn't been take a single damage.

The witch stared at Shirou for a while.

"If I may ask… what magic is it that you use? I never seen it and thise weapons, they seem to not exist yet they are here" she asked.

Shirou explained a bit about his projection magic..

"Amazing, a skill many deemed as useless could evolve to this degree, my boy you are quite valuable, if people learn what you could do… I fear for what may happen to you, still it seems as if you could take care of yourself quite good, and you have quite a good company as well" she said looking at us.

Fafnir was eating the remains of some of the monsters with quite a lot of gusto.

The reason Fafnir did not participate was for him to get used to the group's dynamics.

Next encounter would be his debut.

We had to move quickly to salvage the damn thing as Filo was begening to eat the dead Nue.

I unlocked a good variety of shield (not at the same level of svalin) and then we looked around and found the gem we where looking for,since we found quite a lot it was decided to give a share to the witch, as she had come with us.

"Okay, let's rest up for a minute and then get that ore."

There was a vein of glowing ore right there, and it would be easy enough to pry some out with a pickax.

"Good idea. Let's take as much as we can carry.

So we took a break and then set to work prying out ore. Once we had it we set off.

Oh, of course I also let the shield absorb a little ore too.

But I hadn't filled in the tree enough to unlock anything. And I didn't know what else I needed.

We made our way back to Castle Town, and on the advice of the witch decided to stop by the apothecary to get some treatment.

Luckily the apothecary knew a place that could treat us, and luckily enough it was cheap to get some restorative magic spells cast on us.

Apparently I could use restorative magic too, so I wanted to hurry up and learn some. That was the rest of our day.

The next day we processed the ore we'd gotten into a proper jewel, which the witch installed on the top of the magical spindle. Just like she'd done the day before, Filo slowly and begrudgingly turned the handle.

"It's boring…"

"Just do it. If you finish, then I promise to uphold my end of the bargain."

Honestly, yesterday had been exhausting, and I wanted to relax that day.

"You mean food? Is it gonna be yummy?" Filo asked.

"Yeah."

I kept my word. And I had promised to feed her something delicious, so I would.

"Okay then, I'll do my best!"

She went on turning the squeaky wheel.

"Oh good! She's doing such a good job!"

"old man. I made a promise to you too. Do you have any time after this?"

"I put up a sign saying I'd be closed until afternoon, so I have that much time. You gonna get me something good?"

"Something like that. You think you could get me a big sheet of iron?"

"Huh? What do you need something like that for?"

"To cook something."

"Little-Hero's gonna cook for us? I don't know if I should look forward to that or not,I tasted Shirou's cooking but I don't know how it would come out with you."

"Oh, come on."

He looked disappointed—which annoyed me. Show some gratitude.

"Okay, Raphtalia. Head to the market and get me charcoal, some veggies, and meat. We want enough for six people, but make sure you consider Filo's appetite."

"All right."

I gave her some silver, and she left.

"Yummy food, yummy fooooood!"

Filo was excited now and started turning the spindle wheel faster than before.

That went on for a little while, and then the witch finally asked her to stop.

"That should be enough for now. You can stop."

"If I keep turning it, will I get more yummy food?"

"No. Stop turning it."

"Okaaaaay."

Filo came over to my side, in her giant-bird form.

"Master… yummy food."

"Not yet, we don't have your clothes yet."

"But…"

Filo looked very disappointed. But Raphtalia wasn't even back yet, so I couldn't have fed her had I wanted to. I didn't have the things I needed. She was so innocent and free… really just like a kid.

"When we leave the magic shop, you need to transform into a human."

"Okay."

Did she really understand? I wasn't sure. Is this what it felt like to have kids? Nah…

"I just needed to weave this into cloth, then make the clothes."

The witch held out the thread for me to see.

"I know someone that can take care of turning this into cloth for us."

"He's got an idea, so we're heading out."

"All right then, what should I tell the young lady when she returns from shopping?"

"Just tell her to wait for us at the giant gate where you exit the town."

"Okay."

The weapon shop owner led the way out, and I followed him.

"I'll accept payment later on, from the weapon shop!"

"And how much will that be?"

I really wanted to know, that's why I asked.

"For the magic thread? Well the crystals cost quite a lot, but you helped me out, and provided me with the materials, and gave me some more so this time let's just call it fair at that."

"Thanks."

She probably knew that I couldn't afford it if she had she asked for 50 pieces silver or something.

So the weapon shop owner and I went to visit a friend of his who said he could turn the thread into cloth for us.

"This is a very rare material indeed. Yes, this might take some thought. But I can probably have it ready for you by this evening. You should take the day and visit a tailor to get measured. I'll bring you the cloth once I have it."

So we went to the tailor.

I couldn't believe how much time and energy we were spending on getting a set of clothes.

"Ooh! What a cute little girl."

The tailor shop was run by a young woman who was wrapped in a scarf and constantly fingered her glasses. She was leaning on the counter.

She seemed kind of plain. I don't know how to describe her. If this were my world, I'd say she looked like the kind of girl who wrote doujinshi or something—kind of quiet and geeky.

"She's got little wings too, just like an angel. I've heard there are winged demi-humans too, but they don't look so perfect."

"You think?"

I asked the weapon shop owner what he thought, but he just shrugged.

"Yeah, the winged demi-humans also have other bird-like parts, like their arms and legs. But this girl is just a normal human girl, expect for those little wings."

"Huh?"

Filo looked up, inquisitively, at the tailor.

"Oh, yeah, she's actually a monster. She's just transformed into a human right now. When she turns back into a monster, her clothes rip, you see?"

"Ahhh…. so you've come to get some magical clothing made, is that right?"

Her glasses flashed. I was sure of it now. Had this been my world, this girl would have been a total Otaku.

I knew someone like her back home, who sold her own doujinshi at conventions.

She'd lent me some of her participation passes from time to time, and that was how I got to go to some of these conventions and see what they were like. She had been a pretty nice girl.

"She is very pretty, so I think a simple one-piece would work well. If we just add some simple accents that can survive the transformation, that should be enough!"

She unraveled a spiral of measuring tape and set to measuring Filo, who stood there wrapped in my cape.

"I'd love to see her transform!"

"Huh?"

Filo shot me a searching glance. I couldn't think of a way out of it.

"I'm not sure that this room is large enough."

The ceiling only looked to be about two meters high, in which case Filo would slam her head against it in her Filolial form.

"Can I do it while I'm sitting?"

"I guess so."

She sat down and, her eyes on the ceiling, transformed into her original form. The tailor was impressed.

"She's so different! That's even better."

If this girl wasn't shocked by seeing Filo transform, then I felt like she knew what she was doing. We could trust her.

The tailor measured around Filo's neck and started jotting notes about the design.

"Okay, we're all set! I'll just wait for the fabric to show up!"

"This one knows what she's doing." Erhard said.

"Apparently."

She was the kind of person that couldn't stop once the flame was lit. She'd have to focus on the project until it was done.

"I think I can have it done by tomorrow."

"That's fast. But how much will it cost, all together? Give me the total please."

"Well, if you are supplying the materials, then… probably 40 pieces of silver."

"Filo, are you hearing this? That's 340 pieces of silver I've spent on you now. I'm sure you'll do all you can to help make that money back."

"Okay!" she said as she smiled happily.

Did she really get it?

Filo transformed back into a human, and we left the tailor.

We had finished all of our important errands, so we went to the large gate to meet up with Raphtalia.

"Naofumi-sama, I've bought all the things you requested."

"Filo cost me 340 pieces of silver so far. Raphtalia was way cheaper."

"I wish you wouldn't speak of me as 'cheap.'" she said with a flat stare.

Sigh… well, there was nothing left to do but to get down to it.

"Old man, go get me that sheet metal. Filo, you go with him and help carry the materials back here."

"Okay!"

"Sure."

Filo set off after the old guy, and they returned quickly, carrying all the luggage.

Why did she transform into a human to lug that luggage around?

Just as I'd hoped, there was a large metal sheet included in the luggage.

"All right! Let's get out of town and head to the riverside."

We walked through the fields until we came to the riverbank.

I set to work arranging stones to hold the sheet of metal. Then I built a fire underneath it.

"Raphtalia, Old man, you two watch the fire for me, okay?"

"Um… sure."

"Okay."

Whatever he said, the guy made weapons. He should know how to watch a fire.

"What about me?" asked Filo.

"You watch to make sure that we don't get attacked by balloons."

If I'd let Filo help with the fire or cooking, her curiosity would get the better of her, and I'd have a nightmare on my hands. It was much better to give her something else to do. Otherwise I fear she might set herself on fire.

I started chopping the veggies and meat that Raphtalia had purchased. Then I skewered them on metal prongs.

"Hero-Boy, the fire is looking pretty good."

"Great."

Like he said, the metal looked good and hot, so I threw a fatty piece of meat on it to get it good and oiled up. I threw meat and vegetables on the sheet. Then I stuck the skewers around the sheet where they were warmed directly by the flames.

"You're quite the cook!" Erhard said.

"It's nothing much, Shirou's cooking is much more diverse, however, even something like this I can do"

"Don't sell yourself short, this is very good, However next time cut the meat a bit thinner and marinate it to bring the umami flavor of the meat" Shirou said.

I nodded, that was a good tip.

It was decided that we all would train a bit after eating.

"It will help with digestion" Shirou said.

I sighed as Erhard decided to watch.

"All of you come with the intent to kill"

Raphtalia rushed in, creating illusions, However they were low level and thus he spotted the trick, the real one was the one that actually moved the grass.

With a lunge she attacked only for Shirou to dodge, grab her wrist and throw her into Filo's path.

Naofumi used the dog shield but it could not get him, as he simply knocked him out of balance by swiping at his legs.

However he managed to right himself and landed with the light metal shield to defend from a kick of his, the shield sounded like a gong and was thrown back a couple of feet.

Filo dashed in her bird form and attacked with a powerful kick.

Shirou saw it coming and threw myself back, However Raphtalia was on top of her and jumped to attack me by surprise.

He simply used more force and did a backwards roll as her sword it he ground.

She left he sword and tried to attack him barehanded.

He decided to use that move from his old civics teacher who turned out to be Caster's master.

Shirou threw a punch at her, she thought she dodge it, However his hand snaked about and hit her in the nape and then held her in a choke hold.

Afterwards he let her go and with a reinforced hit send her flying away, Filo acted as an overgrown pillow, softening her fall.

The whole thing lasted an hour, a great improvement, but mostly due to Filo's attacks in bird form.

Erhard was aghast "is this how YOU guys train? are you insane?! Shirou-boy… you almost got hit with lethal attack like… 50 times, and that's on the first 9 minutes… are you sure you are not one of the heroes?"

He looked away… he was somewhat of a hero… after all he did participate in the Grand Order… or well his body did at any rate.

With today's training the group managed to level up twice, Erhard gave some maintaince to Raphtalia's sword and we broke out some drinks.

That reminds me. I've been wondering about this Curse Series Shield.

When they were about to take Raphtalia from me, the shield was absorbed by something and the Curse Series Shield was unlocked. I looked for it on my skill tree, but hadn't been able to find it.

I opened the help screen.

C̀͢u̶̢͡ŗ͘͜͏s͞e̡ ͏̀͘Sé̛͟r͟i͏̸̡es̸͢͝:̡̀ ̵̧͟s̡̀h͞o̶̡̕͠u̷ļ͢͟d ̵͘͞͠not̡́ ͏̀b̴͠͝e͜ ̕͢t̵̢͜o͏̨͢u̶ç̧͜he̶d̵̷̛͘͟͢

That's all there was written at first. But after I looked around a few times, the words vibrated as if shocked, and changed.

Cu҉̵҉r̛͢s̕͘͢e͡͏ ̢́͜Sé̕͠ŕies:͏̛ d̀͘el͢͠iv̸̛͘e͟͝r̶̕͡s e̛͘x͠t͘͟͝ŗ̷̴a̛o̴͘r͏d҉͢įn̶̶͘a̴ŕ̨y̵̡ ̷͞p̢o͘͡w͢͢͜er̵̶͢ ̶̨͝an͟͟d͟ g͏ri̶͞e̢̕f̵̨̛ ̕͢ţ͞͡ơ͘̕ ͏̷i̶t̢͢s̸͠ ̀̕҉h͞o͢ļd̡͘҉e҉r̨: s̨͝͞h̢oul͟͟͞d̵̢͝ ͠n̡͝o͢t ̀͢b̛͝e̛ t̀͝ou̶͡c̵̨͟h̶͞éd

I was still unable to find the shield, so I decide to ignore it for the time being.

It must have been the type of weapon that only appeared as an option when you really needed it. It was some kind of conditional shield.

The next day

The next morning we went to the tailor, and that Otaku girl was waiting for us at the door, a wide smile on her face.

"It took me all night, but I finished! I think you're going to like it."

She'd stayed up all night, but she was still chipper—practically bouncing off the walls. She ran back behind the counter and returned with Filo's new clothes in hand.

It was basically a white one-piece dress, but there was a large blue ribbon in the center. It was fringed here and there with blue ribbon for contrast. You could tell with one glance that it was well-made, and made full advantage of the materials.

It had a "simple is best" esthetic, the sort of clothing that chooses its wearer.

"Master! Am I supposed to wear this?"

"Yeah."

"Yay!"

She threw off the cape and stood there completely naked.

"Stop that."

"But…"

Raphtalia stopped her, and led her into the back of the shop.

"Okay, so try transforming into your monster form."

I could hear the tailor's voice echoing in the back room.

"Why?"

"If you don't the ribbon will dig into you."

"Oh no!"

That was an odd threat to make.

"Okay!"

I heard a loud thump as she transformed, and then…

"Yup… I knew it would look good."

She sounded rather self-satisfied.

"Okay, let's get going!"

"Yay!"

All the girls came out from the back room together, and I got my first look at Filo.

She was already a cute girl, so with the clothes she really did look like an angel.

She was in a white one-piece dress, with her white wings, and a large blue ribbon on her chest as an accent.

She was like a little 2D child angel heroine!

"Master!"

"Huh?"

"How do I look?"

"It suits you well."

This Otaku girl really knew what she was doing. Who else could have come up with a design that worked so well with Filo's appearance and specs.

"I see it also boosts her defense somewhat" Shirou said.

"Ah, yes, it is due to the abundant magic power that enhanced the clothes"

"That was a nice touch"

"Ehehe."

Filo looked a little embarrassed, but she played with the fringe on the skirt and spun in a little circle.

"Definetely like Illya and Sitonai"

We left the tailor shop, and decided to head back to Riyute. To do so, we had to get Filo to pull our carriage. When Filo transformed into a Filolial, the clothes would disappear, but the ribbon would remain as a collar around her neck.

The clothes were expensive, but there had clearly been a lot of thought put into them.

"Oh, Shield Hero!"

We were leaving Castle Town when we happened to come across the witch from the magic shop.

"Are you on your way to Riyute?"

"Yeah."

"I'm on my way there also. Could I trouble you for a ride?"

She was smiling.

We were going there anyway, and she had gone out of her way to help us, so it didn't seem right to turn her down.

"I can't guarantee a smooth ride, but you're welcome to come with us."

"I did ride in it two days ago."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

Raphtalia had learned to fight her motion sickness by watching the horizon.

"Thank you, Hero."

The witch climbed up into the carriage.

"All right, Filo! Let's go, but take it slow."

"Okay!"

All the pedestrians stopped to stare at Filo as we passed. They probably weren't used to seeing talking monsters. We proceeded down the street slowly, to the tapping of Filo's feet.

It felt like the last few days had been so busy. I mean, it always felt like the days were busy, but these last days had felt even more so. And to think, it was all Filo's fault.

As for the witch… Well, I wanted to learn magic, but if I had asked right then, I couldn't be sure how she would respond.

And I felt guilty for not studying as much as I should have.

The witch had given us those books, so I wanted to repay her kindness by studying from them. Yes, I'd have to devote more time to it.

I didn't know all the ins and outs of this world like the other heroes did. So I had to be learning new things all the time. Even still, I needed to give special priority to learning the writing system, and to understanding the recipes I'd gotten. If I didn't, it would be a waste.

"Huh… it's so light."

Filo was yawning as she walked, and now she started to mutter to herself.

There were three people in the carriage, and she was complaining that it was too light?

This was good. I already had an idea what I wanted to try… and I'd need Filo to do it.

Shirou decided to follow us on top of Fafnir, as he wanted to get a feel on riding a dragon.

When we arrived at Riyute, the witch gave me 25 pieces of silver.

"What's this for?"

"For the ride."

"Oh… Thanks."

Maybe we could make money off this too?

Riyute was still invested in rebuilding. I checked in at the inn, and the innkeeper gave us a friendly greeting.

"Okay, let's get started on Raphtalia's motion sickness training. Also known as: lumber transport duty."

We'd agreed to help carry lumber in exchange for meat.

"Huh?!"

Raphtalia looked upset. Then again, she was going to have to fight motion sickness all day.

"We're going to be carried around by Filo from now on, so you better get used to it."

"Pfft. Fine."

"Okay!"

"Filo, you're going to do the pulling."

"Okay!"

Apparently Filolials really did enjoy pulling carriages. Her eyes were shining she was so excited.

"Um… did you have some kind of plan?"

"Yes, I was thinking of becoming a traveling merchant. The local governor suggested it to me."

"A traveling merchant?"

"Yeah. We don't have all that many products, but I would focus on medicine and transport. We could cover a good range."

"Hm…"

Raphtalia didn't seem very interested. To be fair, it wasn't like I had confidence that we would succeed. But we were about to start traveling anyway, so it seemed like a natural idea.

"Which means, if we started transporting things, that Filo will need to run at pretty much full speed. I can't have you getting sick on me all the time."

"I understand that, but…"

"Oh c'mon. I know a good, smooth place that should be pretty easy to start with. You can get used to it there."

"You know a place like that?"

"Sure."

And so, at the start of the day's work, I put Raphtalia somewhere she wouldn't get sick… on Filo's back.

"Master, you can ride there anytime you want… but why do I have to give her a ride?"

Filo grumbled to herself as Raphtalia climbed up on her back.

"I feel the same way. This is so embarrassing."

When Filo was in her Filolial Queen form, she was like a giant owl, which made sitting on her back look a little ridiculous.

"You comfy?"

"Yup, feels good!"

Maybe because this was her "real form," Filo seemed perfectly content.

"Okay then, let's go!"

"Yay! I'll help you so much! I'll be just as useful as Raphtalia!"

"It's not a competition!"

"But I won't lose!"

Filo, with Raphtalia on her back, started to pull the carriage.

With the weight of the carriage and us passengers, it must have been pretty heavy, but not heavy enough for Filo, apparently. What did they have to fight about? I spent the time on the road with my book open, studying the writing system and trying to translate the intermediate recipe book.

…Tap, tap.

…Tap, tap.

The rhythmic sound of Filo's footsteps was excellent ambience noise for absorbing myself in the erudite and obtuse world of foreign character sets and language. But then I heard them…

"Why? Why in that form?"

"Huh? Because I want my master to be pleased!"

…Tap, tap.

"He'll just be mad. You better stop."

"But Master… Master likes people like you, doesn't he?"

Huh? I looked up to see Filo transformed back in to a human, with Raphtalia still on her back. Raphtalia looked very uncomfortable, and she was talking to Filo, trying to get her to change back.

Some adventurers passed us on the street, and they pointed in our direction and started whispering among themselves.

"Stop acting like that! People are going to start gossiping!"

I could hear the rumors now. I bought a slave and put her on the back of another little girl, and forced them to pull my luggage carriage down the street. That wouldn't reflect well on me at all.

All the while Shirou was fighting the urge to laugh, I guess if it was me in there I would also be laughing.

"Really? What's wrong?"

"Don't pull the carriage as a human." I said in a rather tired voice.

"Fiiine."

She gave a disappointed nod and turned back into a monster. It must have been boring for her or something.

I swear, I might get grayhairs at this rate.

Raphtalia wasn't sick yet, so that was good. It was time to pick up the pace a little.

"Okay, Filo! Let's speed up."

"Yay!"

Raphtalia let out a yelp then hunkered down and grabbed tight to Raphtalia's feathers.

That should get us where we were going faster.

We spent the next few hours working on Raphtalia's motion sickness prevention practice.

Fafnir, not wanting to be overcome also went to match her speed.

Shirou had reinforced himself and the googles he made helped quite a bit when going at high speeds.

Fafnir it seems did get a boost to his XP as he was part of the party and had rising to be a match to Filo.

Both of them play fight a lot and became friends. Naofumi watched as Filo played with Fafnir in her human form and Filolial.

Shirou also taught Filo a bit of hand to hand combat to use in her human form. As it would be quite ace, as many wpuld underestimate her as she looked (and is) like a small child.

P.O.V Shirou

"That's the way, use your hips more to create more power, don't forget to close your fist tight and use your knuckles"

"Haii" she said.

"Filo… you better do as Shirou says, any orders he gives counts as mine" Naofumi said as he looked at the spar.

I was teaching her many forms that I learned from other heroic spirits, such as Li Shu Wen and many others who practiced oriental martial arts… Herakles and Penthasilia with Pankreaton.

The later was scary as hell, especially if she saw Achilles.

Anyways the lessons went smoothly.

A few days and lessons and Filo was able to use many techniques I taught her to increase her striking power.

Also, the local governor gave Naofumi a brand new carriage as a present, the whole village gathered around and made a party to cheer us.

Mich food was had and even I joined in the cooking, they did not want me to do so, but after they tasted my food… they had no complains, I made sure to take Filo's hunger into account, I was used to that level of glutonity thanks to certain King of Knights that shall go unnamed.

It seems as Naofumi had decided to become a traveling merchant to raise more funds, that was a great idea, However Raphtalia did not share our enthusiasm as it meant she had to suffer movement sickness.

"It might be tough at first, but you'll get used to it." I said.

"Okay."

I looked over at Filo and looked her over carefully.

"Filo, what's your job?"

"Let's see… I'm supposed to pull the carriage and go where you tell me to go, Master."

"Right"

"And if we meet that Spear guy, I'm supposed to kick him."

"Exactly." Naofumi said with a nod

"That last part's not true!"

Raphtalia had her arms crossed, like she was going to right all the wrongs in the world.

"What? Why are you looking at me like I'm weird?" Naofumi said.

If we see Motoyasu, Filo would kick him. What was weird about that?

Oh well, I disliked him because he is stupid and a womanizer and reminds me of Shinji.

"All right! This is the official start of our traveling merchant life. I'll hide in the carriage. Raphtalia, when we get to a new town, you start selling our wares from the front." Naofumi said.

"Oh, all right…"

Our poor reputation was still alive and well out in the world beyond Riyute. If Naofumi were in charge of the sales, we'd never sell anything—who would want to negotiate with a criminal? It only made sense to put Raphtalia in charge.

Raphtalia was pretty, and she had the personality for it. She wouldn't be shy.

"Shall we be on our way?" Naofumi said.

"Oh, Hero."

"Huh? What is it?" he asked.

"Please, take this…"

The governor handed me a piece of parchment.

"What's this?"

"The commercial bill of passage that we discussed earlier."

"Oh yeah…"

With the bill of passage in hand, we'd be able to sell my things in different towns without having to pay the local governors any tariffs. It would make our life much easier. Now, whether or not these local governors should really be charging the heroes to pass through their towns… that's another story altogether.

Motoyasu clearly thought that way.

"Travel safely."

"Thanks. We'll be on our way now." I said.

"I hope we can help you out more in the future. You've done so much for us."

"Just don't push yourselves too hard." Naofumi said with a calm smile.

"Okay!"

And so we left Riyute behind and started our new lives as traveling merchants.

The first thing we tried was selling various medicines.

We didn't have a huge selection prepared, so we set our prices lower than the typical market price.

We started with healing medicine and nutritional drinks. They were both better than just your average medicines and drinks, and so I set the price a little higher than our other products.

Then we would stock up on herbs and supplies and leave for the next village—I'd use our time on the road to compound new medicines.

Filo was really fast, so we almost made it to the next town in a single the day, though there were times that we had to stay camped in the wilderness. On nights like that we would stop the carriage, build a fire, and have dinner under the stars.

"Master! There's room next to me! Come sleep with me!"

We'd finished eating, and Filo transformed back into her monster form and was tapping the spot on the ground next to her.

"It's too hot sleeping next to you…"

Filo still wanted to sleep with me every night. I'd ordered her not to turn into a monster when we were at an inn, so she took the opportunity whenever we camped out.

Granted, we were alone out there, so there was no one she could inconvenience…

"Filo, you sure do like Naofumi-sama, don't you?"

"Yeah! I like him even more than you do, Big-Sister!"

"Don't call me that!"

Her problem was with big-sister?

"Then what should I call you?"

"Hm… how about Mommy? I was there when you hatched from your egg, and I've known you the whole time! Seems fitting, doesn't it?"

"I dunno… Big-Sister!"

They kept fighting amongst themselves, like they couldn't decide whether they were friends or enemies.

Filo was just like a little kid, so she couldn't help but get too serious about things.

Actually, I guess she really was a little kid. And she acted like one, she reminded me of Illya as both were unreasonable and bullheaded.

"Okay, okay, both of you should get to bed. When my shift is up, I'm going to wake you!" Naofumi said.

"Stop treating me like a little kid!"

"Yes! Naofumi-sama, you treat me like a child!"

"Oh, whoops! I keep forgetting how grown up the both of you are!" he said rolling his eyes.

"You don't mean it!"

"Yeah, Master! You liar!"

But they really were like children. And he'd decided to be a parent to them both.

"I want to help you keep watch, Master!"

Filo picked up some rocks and started rubbing them together over random grasses in a loose approximation of my mortar and pestle.

"Ew! It smells funny!"

"Yeah, it does."

If you could make medicine from random grasses, it wouldn't be so hard, would it?

"Why isn't it working?"

"You can learn some things just by watching, but others take a little more practice."

"Is that why you can't pull a carriage?"

"Why do I have to pull a carriage?"

"Why are you and I different?"

"What's wrong with being different?"

Just like a kid… she'd attack anything she could think of.

If we just kept going back and forth with questions, then eventually she'd get confused and have to give up.

"Argh… Master is so… so stupid!"

"Who are you calling stupid!" Naofumi said as he conked her head.

We kept at it for a while, and he was able to get some work done too.

P.O.V Naofumi

Shirou helped out by using Reinforcement on our medicines and energy drinks, it enhanced it by 1.5 times, making them much more effective than the ones sold at markets and the effects were stronger than usual, my marines and energy drinks were stronger than the ones sold by shops but with Shirou it was on another level, we also sold cheap, so we garnered more costumers as our potions were much potent and cheaper than the market ones.

"Huh?"

We were on our way to the next village and had been traveling for about an hour, which I'd spent working in the back, when I noticed a strange sound.

Coming from the other side of the carriage wall came the sound of a man desperately out of breath. I poked my head out to see a flustered man running beside us, a bag in his outstretched hand.

"What are you in such a rush for?"

I figured that showing curiosity in times like this could easily lead to a sale.

We slowed the carriage down so that I could hear what the man had to say.

"I have to get to the village across the mountains…"

"You're running to the village over the mountains?"

Apparently his parents were sick and he was running to get medicine for them. Filo had just overtaken him on the road.

"Yes, and without a minute to spare!"

"Filo, if you ran as fast as you could, how long would it take to get there?" Shirou asked.

"Lemme think… Well, I could go faster if I didn't have to pull the carriage…" she said tilting her head a bit.

"Fine." I said.

I looked over to Raphtalia, and she nodded immediately, already understanding what I meant to say.

"We'll take you there for a silver piece."

"What?"

The man was shocked.

"But I was just going to buy medicine… See, I don't have enough money…"

I sighed but decided to do something better.

"You can just give us something worth a silver piece. Or just bring us medicinal herbs the next time you see us. Of course, if you don't keep your promise…"

"Oh, well, if that's okay then…"

"Great! That settles it! Filo?"

"Okay!"

I moved over onto Filo's back, and pulled the man up to sit with me.

"Woah!"

The man was surprised, but Filo covered him with her wings and took off at full speed.

Raphtalia was waving to us from the carriage, Shirou put the harness on Fafnir and followed after a bit.

"Here we go!"

"Oh!"

Filo might have been shaped like an owl now, but it had done nothing to slow her speed.

Before we knew it, we had already arrived at the man's house.

"That was so fast!"

"You better hurry up and get them their medicine. Careful now!"

"Okay!"

The man went into the house, and I followed him inside. We hadn't finished discussing my payment.

It was an average farmer's house. I could hear violent coughing coming from somewhere inside.

"Ma… It's medicine, you gotta drink it."

I followed the sound of the voices, and came across the young man giving medicine to two older people, both with pale faces.

I didn't know what kind of medicine it was, but it seemed to be more effective than the medicines I was accustomed to.

"Hey. I'll take care of administering the medicine. Why don't you go boil some water and make them something good?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting to see what happens."

I took the medicine from the man, and, supporting the weight of the old woman, gently gave her some medicine.

I hoped that the medicine efficacy skill booster I'd learned before would work.

Cough… Cough…

The old woman took the medicine and managed to swallow some of it.

The woman was suddenly enveloped in a shower of glowing light. Apparently that signified that the medicine had been effective. She even looked healthier. Some color had returned to her pale face, and she seemed to be coughing less than she had been.

"Just try and relax. Your family will be back with food soon."

She managed a weak smile and then lay back down.

"Now then…"

I left the room and went into the kitchen.

"Did they take the medicine?"

"Yes, and it seems to have worked."

He sighed deeply, as though a great weight had been removed from his shoulders.

"I'll be back later, so make sure you have my money."

"Okay."

I left the house, found Filo, and quickly road back to where we had left the carriage.

When we arrived back at the village the man was there waiting for us, looking tense.

"Um…"

"What is it?"

We talked as we unloaded the luggage from the carriage.

"My mother seems to be doing much better…but just who are you?"

"You don't need to know."

If he knew my name, he'd instantly associate me with the bad rumors that have been going around. And he would start to doubt me.

"Please just tell me your name."

"I'm not obligated to. The medicine worked, right? So bring me a piece of silver, or something worth that much."

"All right!"

He ran back to the house, flipped through some materials, and then came back out with some food.

"So that's it, huh? Fine, well, keep an eye out for us, okay?"

"Yes! Thank you very much!"

The man looked very happy.

I suppose it's a bit of a digression, but some time later on we actually did come back to this village. The old lady was very energetic, almost too much so.

I went back to my studies in the back of the carriage. I was trying to read the intermediate medicine recipe book. The recipe book seemed easier to understand than the magic book, so I was starting with that one. But after I dedicated a lot of time to translating a recipe, I found out that it was a medicine I already knew… I was disappointed.

Come to think of it, I had been pretty neglectful of my studies up until now. I'd been so busy for the last month that I hadn't had time to think about it, but if I ever made it out of here alive, I'd have to say something to my brother, who had worn himself out studying too hard.

'Naofumi-sama, I think we are pretty much done here for today."

We'd arrived just past noon, and now evening was approaching.

"Are there any parcels or letters that we could take to the next village?"

"I've already collected them."

I climbed out of the carriage and helped load up the luggage.

Granted, there were only certain kinds of people that would give their luggage to a traveling merchant they'd never met. It was mostly cheap things that people wouldn't be too upset to lose. Even still, we were able to make some good change.

We travelled this way for a while, moving from village to village and town to town.

Whenever someone wanted restorative medicine, I would give it to them myself, and that way they could take advantage of my medicine efficacy skill.

After we'd been at it for two weeks or so, we began to get a bit of a reputation as the merchants with the weird bird that sold everything.

When we had made a good name for ourselves, people became much more trusting, and more and more pedestrians came to ask us for rides. So before long our profits started to rise.

There were some really good things about the traveling merchant's lifestyle.

The first was that I could sell the medicine that I made while we were on the road. The second was that I was able to absorb any monsters that we came across on our travels. Of course, all I really ever got out of it was typical status boosts, but I couldn't complain much, I mean Shirou did enhance my attack and defense and even made me fire-proof.

One other thing I learned after we started traveling was that monsters were very different depending on the locale. Considering that I could grow stronger by absorbing a variety of different monsters, starting this traveling gig was turning out to be a really good arrangement.

The other good thing was that I was now in a position to hear all sorts of gossip.

I'd had no idea for the longest time, but now I was able to make a good guess where the other heroes, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki, had based themselves.

Motoyasu seemed to be out to the southwest of the castle, where he had apparently saved a starving village by breaking the seal on some kind of legendary crop. He must have known to go there since he knew everything about the place already. It actually reminded me a lot of the place we've been to, where we fought the Nue.

Ren had gone to the southeast of the castle, but apparently he would go anywhere that was inhabited by tough monsters. I'd heard various tales of his exploits—like that he'd defeated a violent dragon somewhere out to the East.

As for Itsuki… I wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but he had gone with some adventurers that had visited the kingdom seeking help. He went with them to a country in the North, where the government was corrupt. He fought with the resistance to overthrow an evil lord.

Having said that, Itsuki's story was missing the most details, so I couldn't really be sure of anything. I'd only heard vague references to him as "that adventurer with the strong bow" and so on.

"It seems Itsuki is trying to do a Robin Hood." Shirou said with a grimace.

He told us a bit of that Archer servant, as he was raised in the forest he had learned druid craft, making him a force to be reckoned in a forest, with the ability "Faceless King" he was able to snipe anyone and never be found.

He explained that he was actually a pretty mellow guy but due to his tactics people cursed him and tried to act as if they did not know him, all the while he would keep protecting them.

He had died near a Yew tree after betrayal from an Abbey.

All of this sounded a lot like something I'd read before coming to this world, something I'd read in the The Records of the Four Holy Weapons.

Anyway, so that's what our travels were like.

At the end of the two weeks, our stats were looking like this:

Naofumi: LV 40

Raphtalia: LV 45

Filo: LV 38

Fafnir: LV 36

Shirou: LV &$# €£¥₩

I guess it was because she was a monster, but Filo was certainly leveling up quickly.

Filo was now much stronger, physically, than she had been. While she used to use both hands (wings?) to pull the carriage, she now only used one, and yawned the whole time.

Naturally, I tried to get her to try harder, but she only protested.

"But it's so light that I lose my motivation!"

Whatever.

Afterwards, all the shields that I got while traveling only unlocked status boosters.

If there were any interesting shields… well, there was this one:

Crystal Ore Shield: ability unlocked:

equip bonus: fine crafting 1

We'd come into a booming mining town, and there was a poor-quality crystal lying there. I let the shield absorb it, and that was what I got.

It seemed like a skill that could lead to some serious money making possibilities, but I didn't have enough information to go trying it out just yet.

I tried polishing the crystal ore, but it just broke and crumbled, so it must need to be combined with something else in a recipe. Either that, or I was just doing it wrong.

Regardless, I still needed to translate that book the apothecary had given me.

Sure, if I'd spent two weeks on it, it should have been simple enough to read. And I'd had the thing for close to three weeks now, so I should have been able to glean some information from it.

Antidote, weed killer, healing salve, restorative medicine (I'd already made that), nutritional drink (I'd made that too), gunpowder, acidic water, magical water, soul healing medicine, insecticide, were the recipes I'd been able to figure out, and after I went through them all, the book was over.

Apparently you could alter the effectiveness of these basic intermediate medicines by mixing them with different additives. It was all rather vague, so I wouldn't say that I really had a handle on it. Even still—I was starting to realize that the recipes the apothecary had given me were pretty average for intermediate level.

Well, I'd been able to figure out the book, so I didn't think I'd need it anymore. I let the shield absorb it. This was the shield I unlocked:

Book Shield: ability unlocked:

equip bonus: magic power up (small)

I thought for sure the shield would unlock some intermediate medicine recipes, but I was wrong.

And on top of that, the shield's defense rating was really low!

It happened the day after I finished translating the recipe book.

We came upon a monster called Torrent, defeated it, and I absorbed it into my shield.

Torrent Shield: conditions met

Blue Torrent Shield: conditions met

Black Torrent Shield: conditions met

Torrent Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: plant classification 2

Blue Torrent Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: intermediate compounding recipe 2

Black Torrent Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: rookie compounding

Intermediate recipes? Was this some kind of joke? I just finished translating that book!

Well, at least I'd only done up until the healing salve. The last time a shield unlocked recipes it was from a Mush, so I guess plant-based monsters would yield recipes. Even still, after I'd put all that work into it all—here they were: unlocked just like that.

The antidote, weed killer, and healing salve could be made from grasses, but I didn't even know where to get the materials to make anything like gunpowder.

The apothecary's notes made it seem like you could make substitutions in the case of gunpowder. There was something called Snappy Grass that could substitute, so I did that and tried to make some gunpowder.

It was like a crumbly powder, something like ash that could burn. I gathered it into a bag and made a makeshift bomb.

I set flame to it and planned to throw it at an enemy. It started crackling, but then I dropped it at my feet!

I was scared, but fortunately it didn't produce anything you could really call an "explosion."

The acidic water needed to be stored in a glass bottle. It was a liquid that, apparently, was only slightly less acidic than sulfuric acid. It wasn't made from grasses but was made by taking different natural ores and adding them to water… or something like that. I hadn't made it yet, so I can't say for sure… but what kind of person would want such a thing, and what would they want it for? Anyway, I could make some just to absorb into the shield.

The Magic Power Water would restore your consumed magic points when you drank it. But the materials necessary to make it were pretty hard to get your hands on.

If you made it with commercially available grasses, it would cost a small fortune. If we were going to go through the effort of making it, it would be better to sell it than to use it. Just like the Magic Power Water, the Soul Healing Medicine would also replenish the user's SP. But Raphtalia and Filo didn't seem to understand what SP was, and they said it just tasted delicious, but like normal water.

The insecticide was easy. You just mixed various herbs that insects hated and either clumped them into a solid or dissolved them in water for a liquid.

So out of my new recipes, the ones that would be good for production and sales were the antidote, the healing salve, and the insecticide.

And the weed killer would be good too. You could make so much of it from so little material that all I'd need to do was give some thought as to where to sell it. I could let the shield absorb the leftovers.

Anti-Poison Shield: conditions met

Gurihosato Shield: conditions met

Medicine Shield: conditions met

Plant Fire Shield: conditions met

Killer Insect Shield Alpha: conditions met

Anti-Poison Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: defense power 5

Gurihosato Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: attack from plant enemies reduced by 5%

Medicine Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: medicine effective range expansion (small)

Plant Fire Shield: ability locked:

equip bonus: fire resistance (small)

Killer Insect Shield Alpha: ability locked:

equip bonus: attack from insect enemies reduced by 3%

I bet the original ability for the Anti-Poison Shield was Poison Resistance (medium). But I'd already learned that skill from the Chimera Viper Shield, so it must have changed to accommodate that.

The Medicine Shield would increase some kind of range, though I wasn't sure exactly what it meant.

It could have meant that the range for any particular medicine would be increased, but it could also mean the number of people it could work on, would increase.

What was Gurihosato? It seemed like the name of some kind of weed killer product. As for Killer Insect Shield Alpha, I imagined that you could produce a beta version or something by changing up the kinds of grasses that you used in the concoction.

The effect of cutting 3% from the damage of certain kinds of enemies seemed pretty useful to me.

The real problem was trying to read the magic book. It was very difficult.

Lately it seemed that Raphtalia was starting to get the hang of it. She'd produced certain effects that looked like they were on the right path. She'd been able to produce an orb of light that would float before her for a few seconds. Considering I was the Shield Hero, I didn't look so great in comparison.

Filo could use her transformation magic too, so I asked Filo about it after Raphtalia had gone to bed.

It was kind of hard to think of what she did as magic, per se, but I thought it would be good to hear what she thought anyway.

"Yeah, so I, um… I just think about my power, like way down inside, right? And I just like, think about what I want to be and, uh… then I be it!"

Right. Whatever. At least I figured out that she wasn't doing it as the result of some reasoned process.

But what if I could read the book but still found myself unable to practice the magic? I'd heard that magic can be funny like that.

And I came from a world that didn't have any magic at all, so if it turned out that I wasn't able to use it that would be… upsetting. I had to learn it. I just had to.

Not to please the witch from the magic shop… but to stay alive.

Shirou also took time to teach me, however as he explained before he was mediocre at best in his world, if this was a third rate I would hate to fight a second or first rate.

When the waves came, there wasn't much need for me to participate in the fighting. Besides, who knew how we would be treated after the enemy had been vanquished? The best job for me would be to protect the nearby villages and towns. And when I was doing that, being able to use magic or not—that might decide whether or not I made it through the day alive.

I could have bought a crystal ball… but if I could learn magic from this book for free, then that seemed like a better way to go. So lately, when we were on the road, I had the magic book in one hand, and I tried to read it.

I asked Raphtalia how she did it, and she said that she synchronized her magic power with the words on the page, and her soul reacted… Just like Filo's had been, her explanation was impossible to follow.

Granted, I could follow it better than Filo's… but what was "magic power" anyway? Did it mean they could feel it, like a sixth sense?

My head was filled with questions like that, and it was driving me crazy.

Well anyway, that's how we spent those last two weeks.

Shirou then cane with a brilliant idea

"think of your magic power as water and your body as its vessel, try hearing the magic power towards the valve that are the words of the book"

That- that is much easier to understand.

I spend the rest of the night working on it, I managed to succeed a bit.

After I made some headway Shirou came up to me.

"There is something about your shield I been meaning to tell you about"

I looked to him.

"when I analysed the other 3 weapons I saw that each one followed a different 'system' to upgrade their weapons, however that system follows the imposed logic they had of the rules of the games they had played… ergo, should you believe that all of that is possible your shield should be able to further grow and adapt their systems into yours, that way you would also be able to use weapon refinement and 'monster drop' as well… those weapons follow an eerily similar rules to my magecraft" he said.

Belief.

The power of belief.

Your own belief will become your strength.

It sounded a bit corny, like something out of a kids manga, but in a world of magic like this… would it not make sence?

And so… I dwelved further onto the shield… until I finally did it… I have unlocked new functions and paths.

"And those idiots I bet are fighting each other about who is right about it… and rather than sharing they want to one up each other… well… I guess the underdog is the one to beat you all" I said with a manic laughter.

I had never felt so good, besides when Filo kicked Motoyasu in the crotch.

But this was just small, he wanted that bitch to feel what he felt.

He wanted to see the look of despair when he finally unmasked her and her trash of a father.

Shirou excused himself and went out.

P.O.V Shirou

As I exited the room I took a deep sigh.

Without warning I threw a knife (that was a black key that I had altered into the form and shape of a knife) at a wall… I heard a gasp and walked up to the now pinned person.

"Now, I been aware of you for quite some time, but my curiosity has won over, so… who are you and who do you serve?"

"I won't talk… you will never get anything out of me degojaru"

Shirou rose an eyebrow.

"It seems you are mistaken, you see… I am not barbaric to torture someone for information… not when there are simpler ways to do so" I said with a smile.

I decided to use the weapon that I had intended to use on the princess.

In my hand was Fragarach, I pressed it to this 'ninja' and asked.

"Who do you work for"

20 minutes later

The 'shadow' was crying. No matter what he did he could not answer with a lie or half truths.

"I am sorry my queen… I am a failure of a shadow degojaru"

I felt a bit of pitty to the shadow, but I still needed answers.

"Does the queen know what those 2 are doing?"

"indeed, so, in order to correct all the wrongs she is allowing these things to happen so both father and daughter,the first princess and king, dig their own graves, while killing them would be ideal, such thing would create political chaos...it is a pitty that the king has lost the wisdom he had so long ago… I… I was not supposed to say that… stop that degojaru!" he said indignantly.

"Send a message to the queen from me 'I will not tell Naofumi, that is the Shield Hero, of your plans, and we shall assist in it, so long as she clears all the phony charges against both of us and also chastices the other heroes"

The shadow gulped.

With a yank, the knife dislodged from his shadow, freeing him.

He then vanished into the shadows… to report what had just transpired.

"I am going to get into sooo much trouble degojaru"

Chapter End