A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. Such as Neopeople for Dungeon Fighter Online(Also known as Dungeon & Fighter) and Aneko Yusga for The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Note 2:
("Human/Speech")
("Thoughts")
(Attacks/Weapon names)
(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)
(Actions/POV)
(Titles/Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)
(Narration & Everything else)
('Demonic Speech')
("Demonic Thoughts")
Hero And Fighter Chapter 18
Lute Village
6/5/0000: 1300
Third Person: Omni
"Honestly, Motoyasu, I thought you would take my advice. But here you are now, costing these villagers their livelihoods if you go through these actions." Naofumi decided to be theatric in the way he spoke.
"What do you mean…?" Motoyasu asked, and Naofumi was ready to facepalm of his question.
"You all, has he ever had a conversation about money?" Naofumi decided to ask the three girls besides Motoyasu, they just shook their heads in denial. The mage like one was probably the one who handled finances, cause Myne certainly did not have a good sense of money.
"This village subsists on the mining of light metal ore, of which a regular person can only mine up to 30 silvers worth in a day's hard work. You are literally taking more money in a day than they can earn with their main profession. This does not count the costs incurred on their trips, food, water, and equipment all have their hidden costs, making the actual profit per day about 25 silvers per day."
"You are charging them four times the amount they make per day, and that is the lucky ones who work in the mines. Children do odd stuff everywhere, you would still be charging them that amount as well." The villagers all nod at the assessment.
"And in all of it, they have spent a majority of their savings on supplies to last them the winter. They do not even have spare copper right now to even leave the village to earn money." Naofumi finished the statement with Motoyasu finally getting what he was doing wrong and being horrified with the results. Despite everything, he was able to get into college so it was not like he was an idiot.
"Yeah, our livelihoods!"
"Besides, you can't just waltz into the village and call yourself lords."
"And it was the Shield Hero who helped us through the wave and even after it!"
"You dare complain about a royal decree!" Myne said while ordering her soldiers to point their spears at the crowd. Motoyasu was about to say something to defuse the situation.
"Melina, Senka, Eclair! Stand by!" Naofumi said quickly before walking to the front of the crowd, between the soldiers and the villagers. Raphitalia, besides him, was prepped for a battle that might happen between the two groups.
"Knights, as protectors of the people, you must stand down when commands such as these arrive," Naofumi stated, already seeing that a majority of the soldiers were idealists.
"You who come making unreasonable demands without caring for the people will be declared a bad lord by the people, doing more harm than good. You who lack empathy when sitting so high up can not ever rule." Naofumi stated frankly, when they are out of touch with the poor over even a generation, they become arrogant in their family a majority of the time.
Several people in black suddenly arrive in front of Myne in a kneeling posture.
"I hope you know who we are, Malty-sama." Naofumi was able to hear the headwoman easily due to the distance. Using a fake name was pretty standard all things considering. But they were probably the queen's agents, so why were they keeling to the redhead… then Naofumi realized why the king favored her so much.
"Why are you people here?" The redhead asked in surprise, her hand still up in the air to command the soldiers to attack. Seems like the word tyrant was more than fitting considering her identity.
"For you." The woman kneeling gave a scroll to Myne, no it was Malty now, wasn't it? Though to Naofumi's anger, it was much better to label her as bitch.
"Naofumi-sama, who are they?" Raphitalia asked, though if you were to look and observe one of the women kneeling and Senka, you would probably see a very similar build and appearance, or as close as you could get with today's understanding of the human body.
"Shadows." Senka just stated while staring at the group of women, though she was not glaring at them, they were of the same side now after all, though she was far more into the limelight.
"So that is what they are called, fitting." Naofumi already knew that there were some following him, and at least one following Itsuki. And the other heroes were probably the same, reporting to the queen while leading him to clean up messes probably…
"Raphtalia… who was your worst master?" Naofumi asked if it would be helpful for the request he would send to the queen later. The girl closed her eyes and shook for a second, but to anyone but Naofumi, they would see it as only fear. But Naofumi saw anger in her movements.
"Idol Rabier," Raphitalia said through gritted teeth. Naofumi nodded at Senka who immediately took note in order for the letter that would be sent to the queen.
"Shield Hero, fight us for the rule of this village!" Malty yelled out after rerolling the scroll. She pointed directly at him for the challenge. The other companions looked relieved that Naofumi would deal with this farce. Naofumi thought about the janitor analogy once more… really making him clean up these messes. Naofumi just signed for Motoyasu's other party members to speak up.
_(DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE)_
"So you want us to race for the rulership of the town… and you can't do it cause none of you can race?" Naofumi asked while petting Filo who was really leaning against him and receiving attention like a cat. All of his party members and the filolias that happened to be outside looked over in jealousy.
"Yes, we can't lose otherwise the Spear Hero will be the lord. And as the current lord even I can not accept further taxes." An older man si while sweating.
"Besides, we do not have the right to challenge a hero." Another of the villagers stated. Naofumi was already cursing his helpful nature as the issues if they lost became higher and higher.
"The letter probably said something that Myne did not like…" Naofumi said, already getting a picture of just what the letter said considering her supposed identity.
"She decided to take it out on you?" Raphtalia asked.
"She sees him as nothing more than an object, as she does every person," Melina said with a sigh, she already knew that mindset from what the 4 female slayers and the 4 dark elves in the group. Dealing with nobles was a horrible thing from their experience.
"Your filorial seems to be up for it." Naofumi looked over to his bird, she was looking directly at the dragon they had brought as a mount. Naofumi already sensed a sense of rivalry that transcended even meeting each other only a few minutes before.
"So it is true that filoirals and dragons do not get along," Raphitalia stated with a finger to her chin. Though sSenka already knew this from personal observation. That is why handlers try to never have thin in the same stable if possible, and if that doesn't work, at least having two stables between them. It was so bad that they would even not use those spaces till one of them leaves.
"Please, we beg of you. We will even give you a reward." They all bowed their heads to him.
"Alright, don't blame me if I lose." Naofumi just sighed as he responded.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
"Sorry bout all that… I have no idea what they are thinking." One of Motoyasu's party members said. She arrived in front of him with Naofumi already seeing her of noble birth… perhaps a second generation? He could tell by how she held herself with both pride and a tiny bit of humility. But Naofumi could tell that humility was going to fade if there was no interference.
"You are a noble's daughter, right? The one who usually handles the finances I see." Naofumi stated while getting Filo ready for the race. She looked a bit surprised about his deduction about her status.
"Yes…" She said with the same kind of tone.
"I can also see a shrewd businesswoman in you as well… trained by your mother perhaps?" He knew that the noble was low on the totem pole all things considered, probably a knight who recently gained fame. She looked even more surprised at his insight. It developed due to lessons from Senka and thankfully it was quick to do so, otherwise, he would be even more clueless than now.
"I am going to say this honestly since it seems that I am working as a therapist today. You know that you want a comfortable life without worry and would gladly abandon the fight against the waves. Got trained but haven't been in many real combat scenarios."
She stood there, reeling at the words that came from the hero infront of her. He was nonchalant as he spoke while prepping Filo, who was looking directly at her.
"Life is hard, especially when the waves will make it crash down around you. And to me, betrayal is one of the gravest sins, one that Myne, oh sorry, Malty has committed. So grow up and become strong, become someone your parents can't make expectations out of."
"And at the end of all of that, you genuinely like him and tolerate other girls around him. A good head wife or concubine for a lady killer like him. He may be frivolous, rash, and a horrible mix of ad traits. But he is a good man who values loyalty."
"Before he came here, much like all the other heroes besides me, he died. Do you know the circumstances behind his death?" Naofumi knew he was going into territory that should not be spoken about, but he wanted a reasonable person to rein him in and have Malty out of that driver's seat. She thought for a few moments before nodding.
"He was quite the heartthrob, and around the same time, two girls confessed to him. One was quite aggressive and the other passive. So after a while of his indecision, the aggressive one tried to stab the other girl with a knife, reasoning if she was out of the picture, he would choose her."
"Being the good guy he was, he stepped in between them and got stabbed… but not by the one who had brandished a knife first, no it was the girl he was protecting. She reasoned that if they were both to die, they could spend the rest of the time in the afterlife together. The aggressive girl quickly did the same in jealousy, proclaiming if anyone would be with him in the afterlife it would be her."
"In the end, he was stabbed multiple times by the two and died of blood loss. And probably developing a phobia of aggressive women who would be labeled as yandere by us." Naofumi finished off with a sigh, indecisive like any harem protag. The other girl looked shocked at the story behind his death.
"On another note, I have an ideal woman that you should strive to be in order to fully capture his attention," Naofumi said with a tired grin.
"What is it…?" She was definitely sympathizing with the young man.
"A wife who acts for the benefit of the family. She can be summed up in several words Loyalty, Domestic Ability, Wisdom, Maturity, and Humility." Naofumi could already see she was about to say something.
"This does not mean she is a doormat. No, she has a hint of steel under that demeanor of hers. They will redirect with words if it means harm to their family. And in a traditional sense, they know how to fight." Naofumi finished off his work with Filo, hopefully getting Motoyasu a good wife to return to. Already hoping his subtle influence was helping the man.
"You already know the way of words, now to learn how to soften it to the point where the target isn't certain on how the conversation was redirected," Naofumi stated with a grin as he hopped onto the bird. Showcasing that his conversation with her is finished and the race will happen soon. He was already thinking of introducing Kaguya to her...
_(THE RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
"The race will be 3 laps around the Lute Village's outskirts. Whoever reaches the gate first will be declared the winner." The old noble said in front of the two mounted heroes. One sat on top of a blue raptor like a dragon and the other on a large bird.
"On your marks. Get Set… Go!" The man flared his arms downwards. And we are off to the races with Filo and Naofumi quickly taking first place easily. The first lap proceeded with Filo kicking up clouds of dust behind her, and by extension, into the face of Motoyasu.
"As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and create a pit in front of me." A knight who was supposed to keep the race fair slowly stated while preparing for some magic. Naofumi had gained a substantial lead.
"Earth Hole!" The knight raised his hand out and a hole in the earth dug itself. Due to Naofumi's position as the first place racer, the hole was meant for him. Due to Naofumi's alertness born from too many of Malty's schemes, he was able to spot it easily.
"Filo, on my mark, jump… 1, 2, 3!" Naofumi yelled out the last number, easily jumping the pit without much issue. Malty looked in surprise as Naofumi quickly ran past the gathered group.
"As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the law of nature and slow my target. Speed Down!" Naofumi immediately noticed a change in Filo's speed as Motoyasu quickly started to catch up to him. He quickly understood that he was deliberately being cheated on.
"Filo, step up in gear, we need to be faster now," Naofumi stated, making sure to tighten his hold on her. She trilled in response and started to run with more strength, keeping about the same pace as Motoyasu till the effect of the spell was gone.
When they reached the gates once more with Naofumi in first, Malty was absolutely livid when she saw him come out ahead with such a large lead on Motoyasu. She quickly started to speak to the soldier beside her, not noticing Senka writing some stuff on a notepad while listening in.
"Filo, it is the final stretch and they will be getting desperate, be ready." Filo gave a determined expression as she ran.
"What are you doing! Run Faster!" Motoyasu yelled at the dragon who was already going as fast as it could. Already regretting her choice in master, if she could have had the bird's master she would be content.
"Decipher the Laws of nature and Hasten my target. Fast Speed!" Naofumi got ready for the final stretch, just waiting to see what they pull next when he hears the dragon's footsteps get faster.
"Get ready…" The hole was still there from the first run-through, and by the knight who was beside the path, he already knew that another one will be created.
"Let's win this… Filo!" Naofumi yelled out as another pit was created, already ready to use one of his skills.
"Air Strike Shield" Naofumi could feel his speed slow and Motoyasu gets faster once more. But that only got him a few steps behind the green cloaked rider. The green shield spread itself over the gap, allowing Filo to run right over it.
The crowd cheered happily as Filo once again hastened her gait. Cementing the lead that they had. Now that they could see whatever happened, she could not interfere.
Word Count: ~2700
Date Completed: 12/26/2020
Comment Cove:
FFN:
(Nothing)
AO3:
Robbie2413: Wait Eclair is in the party now? Is that who was referenced at resting in the inn? Forgive me for asking but how did they get her out? I mean it isn't even mentioned how they get her out.
Ooo Malty is in so much trouble lol. She is a tyrant, isn't she?
Response: I haven't even talked about how she got out… and will probably use that as material for later.