Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, but I had writer's block and so had to do something else to wait for it to break. Which I wrote Back to the Future - A What if Story. But because I used parts of VoiceOfPikachu's work and they found out, they asked me to remove it which I did. But when I talked to him and showed him the changes that I made, he still didn't like it as to him it was too similar to his so once again I'm editing the story again. But seeing how the scene where Marty and Lorraine first meet, and the scene that I used, there aren't many ways to write that scene and not make it similar to his, so it's difficult to rewrite it and taking a long time to do so. So that has been taking my time too.
But seeing how difficult it is to rewrite these small parts, I decided to come back to this story and work on it as I think about how I can change the parts needed in the story.
Another thing, I have started a side-story to explain things that would break the flow of the main story, like introducing some of the side-characters I'm planning to use. I'm also planning to write about Melty and why she came back to the kingdom but with more detail. I'm also planning to write a few chapters about Glass's world, some world-building to show what kind of world Glass and the others come from.
Chapter Fifteen…
Things about Slavery!
"Kumiho, Raphtalia, I want you two to stay in the carriage with the slaves," ordered Naofumi, "and should I give you the order, I want you to rush to Lute Village and stay there until I come for you."
"But Master, what about you?" Raphtalia asked her Master, "As your slaves, didn't you buy us to protect and fight for you?"
"I agree with Raphtalia, didn't you get us to fight for you?" asked Kumiho, "So shouldn't we be with you when you face the Bow Hero and his group?"
"Normally yes," admitted Naofumi, "but we have to deliver these slaves safely. So seeing how we need the coins, they come first. So seeing as we have no idea what this lot wants, it's better you stay here ready to leave when I say so."
"What about you?" asked Kumiho, she understood her Master's reasoning here, the job came first, but still, had her Master had some sort of plan to escape? "How can you deal with them without us?"
"It's only been a week since we got here, so I don't think he has enough attack power to get past my defences yet." Naofumi told them thoughtfully, "And even if they have, I do have a few ways to get out of a fight if I have to. I even have my Imp Shield to cast Fireballs if I have to."
But before anything else could be said, Itsuki called out when he saw Naofumi, "Iwatani, what the hell do you think you're doing with those slaves?"
"My job," said Naofumi, seeing no point in denying anything, as he got off the carriage, "I'm protecting them until I deliver them to their new Master. What about you, why the hell did you attack us for?"
"I was hired to free some slaves from a Slave Trader, who was taking them to their Master." the Bow Hero explained, "I never thought that the Slave Trader would be you. I knew that you had slaves, but because they belonged to someone else, I couldn't say much. But to find out that you have become a Slave Trader, I couldn't believe that you could sink so low."
"Oh, back up there Itsuki, you seem to be missing a few things here." the Shield Hero told the other hero, "First off, I'm not a Slave Trader, I'm only working for one as a bodyguard and a delivery man to make sure they got to their Master without trouble. Next, whilst I might not like the idea of the job, I need the coins and seeing how the king has made it his mission to make my life hell, I'm limited to what jobs I can do. So I'll take any job wherever I can get them, be it lawful or not, as long as I can get the coins to get better armour and such. Lastly, you do know that slavery is legal in this world, so what I'm doing isn't wrong."
"First, the king had every right to make your life hell after what you did to his daughter." Itsuki told the Shield Hero with a sneer.
"Oh please, don't tell me that you still believe that crap," Naofumi defended himself once again, "why the hell would I do something as bad as that when I have something with Renka? Why the fuck would I ruin my chance with her by raping the Frist Princess? I would be nuts to do so."
"Seeing how you can work for a Slave Trader, who knows what sick reason why you would do a thing." Itsuki said darkly, "Slavery is wrong and as heroes, it is our job to change the things that are done in this world."
"Than you are a fool," Naofumi told the young boy, deciding it was a waste of time trying to change his mind about what happened with the bitch princess "slavery has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, even when past heroes were in this world, but yet they were unable to stop it or did nothing to change it, seeing how it's still around."
"Then it's our place to try and do what they couldn't, we shouldn't stop doing what is right just because those before us couldn't stop it." Itsuki told the Shield Hero with belief in justice in him.
"But who are we to say what is right and what is not?" Naofumi asked Itsuki, "We're outsiders to this world, we have no right to force our beliefs onto others because we don't agree with what is happening in this world."
"It's everyone's right who believes that it's unjust to enslave someone else." Itsuki told him with conviction, then he waved his to his companions and said, "My companions also believe that slavery is wrong and they want to stop it too."
"Then let them do it themselves, our job is to deal with the Waves of Calamity." Naofumi told the young teen, "We have to work on levelling up and getting stronger, not getting involved with the politics of this world. We don't have the time to do that. If you want to stay in this world and fight to stop slavery after we stop the Waves, then you can do whatever you want. But only then, we need to deal with what is important, and right now that's the Waves."
Naofumi wanted to make the Bow Hero see sense in this, he knew deep down if the Bow Hero went around and played with this world's politics, then the young teen wouldn't be able to become strong enough to fight the Waves over time. If that happens, well, he didn't give the fuck about the other heroes, but it would mean that they would fail and would be killed in whatever happens when the world's loss to the Waves of Calamity.
"As of now, you really need to prioritise on becoming stronger, learning new skills and such than help going about and dealing with other problems." Naofumi told the teen, trying to make him see sense. Whilst he might not like the other heroes, he knew that unless he can get stronger than the three of them together, he would need their help in the future.
"I'm able to do both," Itsuki told the Shield Hero, "as a hero, it's my belief that we should bring justice to this world, something that you seem to be willing to forsake."
"I see, so you won't let me do my job and allow me to bring these slaves to their new Master?" Naofumi asked the young teen, knowing the answer already but hoping to get out of showing some of his skills.
"You are right, in the name of justice, I can't let you send these people to become slaves." The Bow Hero told him with conviction as he raised his bow, ready to attack.
"I see." Naofumi said with a sigh as he turned his shield into the Rope Shield, seeing how he had no other option than to have the other to escape, so he called out, "Kumiho, Raphtalia, get out of here, I'll find you when I'm done here."
"Okay my lord." Kumiho called back as she followed her Master's orders and left the area with the slaves.
Here Itsuki tried to use his bow to attack the carriage so he could stop it, but before he could fire an arrow, Naofumi used his Rope Shield to pull the bow away from the carriage. The attacks missed and the arrows fired from the bow were sent elsewhere. Itsuki's companions tried to go after the carriage, but Naofumi used the Rope Shield to pull them away.
It took Itsuki and his companions to realize what just happened, that the Shield Hero, a hero that shouldn't be able to fight back, had just thought back with nothing but a rope. "What did you just do?" asked one male member of Itsuki's group. "You shouldn't be able to attack anyone."
"What are you talking about, I can fight and cause you pain. But unless I can find a way to raise my physical attack, I wouldn't be able to take any Hit Points from you." Naofumi informed the fool, then he changed the shield into his Imp Shield. "Listen, I don't want to fight with you guys, but if you force me to, I will."
"What can you do?" Itsuki asked with a sneer, "All you can do is defend and do tricks to hold us up. There's nothing you can do to hurt us, all we have to do is keep you busy as one of us gets the slaves back. So, Goro, get the slaves and take them to our client, whilst we keep Naofumi busy so he can't bother you. We'll meet up with you later."
Wanting to give his slaves more time to get to the Village of Lute, he knew that he had to delay them for a bit longer. This meant he had to show them a few skills that he had that allowed him to fight and to show them that he wasn't a pushover nor weak as they thought he was. So he fired a fireball at Goro who was making a getaway to find the slaves. The spell hit, where it caught the man on fire and started to burn.
"Ah, it burns, it burns." Goro screamed out in pain as he rolled on the floor, shocking the group, as they saw that he was injured and his Hit Points were slowly draining away. Someone who had some healing skills, the group's healer Naofumi expected, began to heal and deal with the burns that the man had.
"Iwatani you asshole, what did you do to him?" Itsuki asked angrily as he strung his bow ready to fire at Naofumi.
"What I had to stop him and you from interfering with my job," Naofumi explained with a sigh, "something I wouldn't have been forced to do if you didn't try and interfere with my job."
"Everyone, we have to deal with Iwatani quickly if we want to free those slaves before they get to their new owners." Itsuki told his companions as they began to surround Naofumi, ready to fight, "I don't know how you were able to hurt Goro, what cheats that you used to do so, but we'll make you pay and free those slaves."
With that the Bow Hero and companions tried to attack the Shield Hero, trying to put him out of action for a short while and make him pay for what he did to Goro. But Naofumi was ready for this, he pulled out a few Wolf Cores that he got before leaving town from the bag he had and summoned three wolves to defend him.
Whilst this shocked the group that the Shield Hero had them, it wasn't much of a shock that he could fight back in some way. Seeing how Itsuki was a ranged fighter, he jumped back to use his bow on the wolves, whilst his companions dealt with the Shield Hero. The problem here was that Naofumi used his martial arts to defend against them, using the moves he knew to throw them and dodge. Unlike the monsters of this world, Naofumi knew how to deal with humans thanks to his training back in his world, so it wasn't as hard to deal with like facing monsters.
Whilst Naofumi could hurt them a bit, he held back on attacking them, as he wanted to give Kumiho and Raphtalia time to get to Lute Village. As for the wolves, whilst they weren't all that powerful they were defeated with somewhat ease, but they did their job by keeping the Bow Hero busy for a bit. So in this case, Naofumi had to change the way he fought, now he used his Rope and Imp Shield to keep the group busy now that Itsuki joined the fight.
Naofumi used the Imp Shield to fire fireballs at the Bow Hero so that he couldn't easily fire arrows at him, and when he had the chance he used the Rope Shield to pull and throw Itsuki's companions. In fact, he used them to keep Itsuki from attacking him with his arrows when he couldn't use his Imp Shield. Naofumi didn't like using dirty tricks like this, but seeing how he couldn't deal much damage and limited to how much mana and SP he could use, he had to use whatever tricks he could to deal with them.
After about ten minutes of fighting, Naofumi believed that he stalled them long enough for Kumiho and Raphtalia to escape with the other slaves, so he should make his escape too. So it was time to use one of the things that he made with Atla, a smoke bomb. Sure it wasn't much, but Atla believed that for his first thing that he made as an alchemist, other than potions, he should make something to help him in fights.
Sure he could have come up with bombs and such, but something within him thought that it wasn't something he should make first. It should be something that would help him and his slaves escape in fights should things get too much, which is why he came up with smoke bombs. So taking one of the few that he was able to make work, he threw a small clear glass orb onto the ground, where it broke and let out a huge amount of smoke. It was thick enough that everyone, even him a bit, began to cough. This allowed him to escape through.
Once the smoke cleared and Naofumi was long gone, Itsuki and his companions were left shocked. They had no idea that Naofumi could fight like that, that he could hold them off even though he didn't have any attack points as they did. They didn't think that he would have summoning cores and be able to summon those wolves, sure they were weak, but still that was something that they weren't expecting either. They knew that the next time that they faced him, they should be careful not to underestimate him.
As for Itsuki, he couldn't believe it, the Shield Hero from his game wasn't able to do the things that Naofumi just did. All the Shielder could do in Dimension Wave was heal, use support magic along with buff and debuff magic. The Shielders weren't able to do much at all, which is why no one was bothered to use them, seeing how they couldn't fight back and first to fall to the higher players. To use that fireball ability and be able to fight with the rope and martial arts, the Shield Hero had to have found a way to cheat.
This made Itsuki angry, not only was Naofumi working with an evildoer and willing to let those who were unjust go, but he was a cheater too. This was something he couldn't let stand, he didn't want to believe that as a Cardinal Hero, Naofumi was the Demon of the Shield as many people said he was. But after what happened with Renka and the First Princess, and now this, Itsuki had to believe that there was some truth in what the people were saying about the Shield Hero.
Somehow, at some point in the past, the Legendary Shield had gotten cursed somehow and now whoever became the next Shield Hero would gain this curse and become evil, becoming the Demon of the Shield. It was the only reasonable reason why things turned out like this, for Naofumi to gain abilities that a Shielder shouldn't have. Now as someone who thought himself as a Hero of Justice, Itsuki knew that apart from getting stronger for the Waves and to bring those who break the law to justice, Itsuki now had to get stronger to deal with Naofumi.
Itsuki couldn't let Naofumi run about and do what he wanted. The Shield Hero couldn't go around doing evil, like it or not, the Shield was a hero and should act like one, even if they act like a criminal in their world. He believed that as the Hero of Justice, it was his job to make Naofumi act like the hero he was summoned to be, even if he had to use force to do so. The only way to do this was to get stronger, which meant doing quests for the guilds, defeating monsters and gaining new weapons.
The next time that Itsuki saw Naofumi, he hoped that the next time that he met Naofumi, he could bring him back to his senses or at the very least make him help with the Waves as he should. With that, he and his companions started to head out to return to the guild and informed them that they failed the quest that they were given.
o0OoO0o
It was a few hours since Naofumi made his getaway from Itsuki and his companions, he found that after escaping, he had only lost a few hit points. It would seem that they were slightly stronger than expected, so he would have to be careful and get stronger. He didn't want to accidentally die by one of those fools that was summoned with him.
Either way, he was now getting close to Lute Village, and it was night time thanks to him being forced to walk here. He knew it couldn't be helped, but he didn't like it anyhow. Upon entering the town, he was met up with Kumiho and Raphtalia who looked relieved at seeing him.
"M, Master, you finally came." Raphtalia said as tears came down her cheek, as she hugged her Master. She was worried that he might have died without her and Kumiho, seeing how there were powerful monsters out there. Sure he was the Shield Hero, but it didn't stop her worrying. If he wasn't caught, she feared that he was taken away and placed in a cell or something, keeping him from them. Both of these ideas frightened her, seeing that if that happened, she might be forced back to the Slave Trader where she might be sold to another master, one that wouldn't look after her like Master Naofumi had been.
"I too am glad that you have arrived, Master. If you hadn't arrived soon, we were planning to search for you." Kumiho admitted worriedly. She too was worried if her new Master was killed or caught. Because she was a slave now in a human supremacy kingdom she feared what might happen to her. If she couldn't get back to her own kingdom and report what happened, she might be sold off to another Master and treated badly. As for her Master, he might have been treated worse than any demi-human seeing how much this kingdom hated the Shield Hero.
Naofumi was a bit touched that they cared about what happened to him, seeing how up 'til now no one seemed to care for him. Although, he believed that Raphtalia was more honest at being sincere than Kumiho. Kumiho was sent here from another kingdom to be his slave, to make sure that he was kept safe. So he wasn't too sure how much of her sincereness was real or not. All he knew was that this was part of a bigger plan, as soon as she got close enough, she might have a way to betray him or single someone to do so.
As for Raphtalia, whilst she had reasons to act in such a way, so as not to be sent back to the Slave Trader, from the little he knew of her story, she was unable to pretend even if she wanted to. She feared what would happen if he learned if he did learn that she lied, so Naofumi believed that her being sincere was 100% real.
"I'm fine you two," Naofumi finally reassured them, as he patted Raphtalia's head, "I was able to get away from them easily enough once I believed that you two were far enough away. They weren't strong enough to hurt me that much, my defences are too high for that."
"That's good to hear Master," said Raphtalia, as she pulled out of the hug, "can I ask what you have planned next for us?"
As Naotfumi thought about it, seeing how late it was, what he had been through that day, along with being busy for the last few days, it would be nice to sleep in a bed. Sure camping was fun and all, to make things easier, but it would be nice to sleep in a warm bed every now and then. So with a smile, he said, "I think we'll spend the night at the inn and relax for the night, we'll sort out what to do next in the morning."
Both of the girls agreed with this and nodded happily as the three of them went looking for an inn to stay in for the night. As they were looking for one, Naofumi thought about the slaves, and so he asked, "Did you deliver the slaves?"
"We did, but there was a slight problem." The Kitsune demi-human explained, "The new owner wouldn't pay until he meets you, as we couldn't swap the Slave Crest ownership, only you could do that. So until you hand the ownership over, he won't pay."
"Understandable." Naofumi admitted to Kumiho, he too wouldn't pay for the slaves until he knew he owned them fully in case the seller tried to take the slaves from him after getting paid. "So where are they now?"
"They are in the stables," Kumiho informed her master, "we rented a space for them to sleep in and give them some food for the night. We informed them that we would be back either tonight or in the morning."
"Will they be safe in the stable until morning? No chance of them running away or someone taking them?" Naofumi asked a bit worried that they would either run away, someone tries to free them, hurt them or take them without paying for them.
"You don't have to worry about them, Master," Kumiho reassured him, "the Slave Crest prevents them from running and they'll defend themselves should someone tries to take them. You should also have a notification should something happen to them."
Naofumi was glad to hear that, seeing how if they were taken before he could finish his job, not only would he lose money that he needed, but lose free EXP that he would gain from finishing this 'Quest.' But still, he knows that until morning, he would have to keep an eye on these slaves, just in case Itsuki and his companions come to this village and try and free them or the mayor decides not to pay him and take the slaves from them. He knew that he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night, just in case something happens to them and he needed to act quickly to get to them.
"That's good to know." said Naofumi, as they continued walking. It wasn't long for them to find the inn, which was just down the street of the stables. In fact, he could view the stables with ease, so he could quickly run down to them should he need to.
The problem was that it would seem that news of what he meant to have done had already reached this village, as they were treating him a bit hostile. They didn't like that he was a rapist nor a woman beater, so they wouldn't allow him to stay at the inn. After a few harsh words about the cost of how much they wanted for him to stay at the inn, ten silver coins, ten times they would normally make someone to pay and Naofumi trying to defend himself saying that he didn't do anything and failing to make them see sense, they had to stay in the stables for the night. It wasn't something that they would have liked to happen, but there wasn't much to do about it.
o0OoO0o
It was a few hours later since Naofumi and his slaves set up in the stable for the night. Seeing how there wasn't much to do that night, other than Naofumi, it was decided that the slaves would have an early night. As for Naofumi, as planned because of his mistrust of the village, along with how they treated him earlier, he stayed up for the night. To make sure that he could see what was happening, Naofumi pulled a wooden barrel outside and sat on it. It wasn't that comfortable, but it would do for his needs for the night.
As he sat there, Naofumi's heart was becoming a bit darker with how this village was treating him, just because of a few words from the king, they seemed to hate him too. They don't seem to even want to hear his side of things. It would seem that because of Bitch's injuries, people were more intent to believe lies than to hear other peoples side of things.
Part of him had to wonder why he was going along with Atla's way and try to show people that he wasn't the demon that they thought he was. It would seem that people have already decided he was a demon and nothing he did would change that. But at the same time though, he didn't want to make things harder than he had to, not until he knew he had the strength and resources to do something.
As he thought back to his talks with Atla and Ulthane, he knew that he had to set up a base where he could plan and set things up to fight against the Waves. This was something he would have to talk to Kumiho and Raphtalia about soon, seeing how they knew this kingdom and the kingdoms around this one better than him. So they could advise him where he could set up a base, even if it is for a short while. At first, he had hoped he could set up a temporary base here seeing how the next Wave was so close, but with how they were treating him, he didn't think it would be possible so he needed to look elsewhere.
But with only about ten days until the next Wave, he believed that he would be forced to stay in this village until after the Wave. He needed to get stronger and unless Kumiho and Raphtalia knew somewhere to set up base, he would be forced to make this village as his camp unless he can find somewhere else to do so.
Now his thoughts were interrupted when someone touched his shoulders and someone said, "Master, are you unable to sleep?"
Looking around, he saw that it was Kumiho standing there, "I can if I wanted to, but until I deliver the slaves to the Mayor, I feel uneasy to sleep right now." explained Naofumi, "With Itsuki out there wanting to prevent slaves going to their new owners, it would be foolish to sleep until I handed over the slaves to the Mayor, just in case Itsuki finds us and tries to free these slaves. Not only that but with how these villagers seem to treat me, I wouldn't put it past them to try and take these slaves whilst we're sleeping and so preventing me from getting paid. So it's too risky to sleep right now."
Kumiho sighed at this, she could understand her Master's worries. It would seem that this kingdom was out to get him, to make his life as hellish as possible, preventing him from getting stronger. She just wished that he was summoned in Siltvelt, that way she wouldn't be a slave for her Master, not that she minded, but more importantly, her Master wouldn't be treated as bad as he had been. In fact, he would be treated like a god as he should be, he wouldn't have to worry about anything. He would have money, women and anything else he wanted, with no questions asked.
"Although I don't mind staying up, I have a few things on my mind." admitted Naofumi, "Mainly about where to set up my base."
"Why not come to Siltvelt?" Kumiho asked her Master, "You would want for nothing and you would be treated so much better than you have been here, they know that you wouldn't do such things."
"Don't get me wrong that thought occurred to me," Naofumi informed her, "but for now I have to stay in Melromarc."
"Why?" Kumiho asked in confusion, "Why stay in a country that hates you so much?"
"A few simple reasons," the Shield Hero told his slave, "the main one is that there's a shield that I need to get and the only place that I can get it, as far as I know, is during a Wave in Melromarc."
"How do you know this Master?" asked Kumiho.
Naofumi realized that Kumiho nor Raphtalia knew about what he could fully do, so seeing how she needed to understand why he wanted to stay in this damn kingdom he said, "Do you know what Clairvoyance is?"
"I believe that's the skill where people can see into the future in some form," Kumiho said thoughtfully, "it is said that there are a few sages in Siltvelt that has this ability."
"Well, I have this ability too," Naofumi informed Kumiho, shocking her, "but mine I have in the form of dreams. The problem is that unless I can put what I see into words or pictures when I get up, I would forget about them. But I do have feelings about them from time to time, mainly if they are important or not."
Kumiho couldn't believe that her Master had such an ability, it meant to be rare. As she said, there were a few of them in Siltvelt, but the few were only around five or so known true ones. The others were fakes, trying to cash in the ability, but it can be hard to tell, seeing it is hard to tell most of the time. But for the Shield Hero to have it, there would be many who would fall head over heels to have their daughters have a child with him in the hopes for the child to gain the ability.
"Now whilst I don't remember fully about this new shield that I meant to be getting, I feel that it's important that we stay in Melromarc until we get it." explained Naofumi, "As I feel that this shield will be very helpful against the upcoming Waves. So until we get it, we have to stay here, but once we do, we'll be out of here before you can say Shield Demon."
Whilst she would like to return to Siltvelt as her father and the others wanted, she knew better than to force this. As the sages that had Clairvoyance in Siltvelt were able to prevent things or able to warn people about dangers that couldn't be stopped. So if her Master says it is important that they stay until they get the shield, then she wasn't going to force the issue.
"I understand Master, I hope that we can find the shield soon so that we can leave this kingdom." the Kitsune demi-human told her Master.
"I hope that we find this shield soon too," Naofumi agreed with her, "as I don't know what else these damn bastards well throw at us."
Kumiho didn't say anything seeing how she agreed with him, instead, she wanted to talk to him about Raphtalia. She wanted to help the young girl before things get too much for her. "Master, would you mind if we finish the conversation that we had earlier about Raphtalia and slavery?"
"Sure, I really want to know how to deal with her, as her actions are making me feel uneasy." Naofumi explained to his slave.
"Will let me start off by explaining the types of slaves there are, to help you understand more about slavery as a whole." Kumiho told her Master, "Now there are four legal types of slavery in this world, the first is Criminal Slaves, these are slaves that have committed a crime. This is to keep the prison less crowded. Although a few of these Criminal Slaves aren't real criminals, they are framed to get them out of the way for one reason or another. In fact, from what I am able to gather, this kingdom does this a few times, but to keep a face that they don't normally do human slavery, they rarely sell them here but send them away. They would only openly sell human slaves if they want to send a message for some reason."
Naofumi only scoffed at this, it didn't really surprise him that this happened seeing how this kingdom worked, he suspected a lot of people are framed for something that they didn't do. And secretly doing human slavery didn't surprise him either. If he was honest with himself, if it didn't start a war, he suspected that he would have become one of those falsely framed for a crime he didn't commit and sold as a slave.
"The next type of slaves are Debt Slaves," Kumiho went on to explain the next type of slaves, "these slaves are those who gain a huge amount of debt to someone and are forced to become a slave to pay off a debt. The problem here is that this is one of the most basic types of slaves you might find. As there are many who would purposely raise the interest in the debt to force a person into slavery. Seeing how difficult it is to know if someone purposely raises the interest in a debt, it's hard to know who this happened to."
Once again, Naofumi wasn't that surprised about this, as this would be the easiest way to put someone into slavery. All a person had to do was raise the interest of the debt as Kumiho said or, make it so that the person had a hard time paying the debt off. Have someone steal a person's money, break things that need to be fixed and so on, so that the debt would be hard to pay and be forced into slavery. This sort of thing used to happen in his world too sadly.
"The third type of slaves is Volunteer Slaves, these types of slaves are those who volunteer to become slaves, on their own free will." Kumiho explained about their third type of slavery.
"Why would someone volunteer to become a slave?" Naofumi asked in shock, he couldn't believe that someone would be willing to become a slave without a good damn reason.
"For money mainly." Kumiho informed her Master.
'Yeap, that would do it.' Naofumi thought to himself.
"If someone is desperate enough, needing money for the family or need it for another reason, they would sell themselves into slavery so that their family would get the money to live off of." Kumiho explained to the Shield Hero, "Another reason someone would volunteer to become a slave is if the family or someone close to them is in trouble that money can't solve, so they would sell themselves to solve the problem. Some people would use this to create Volunteer Slaves, creating problems that force a person into becoming a Volunteer Slave."
"I bet they do." Naofumi said darkly.
"It isn't as bad as you might think Master," explained Kumiho, "as the plans to force someone into a Volunteer Slave takes a long time or the person finds another way to solve the problem and so don't become a Volunteer Slave. Because of this, unless they really want the slave and can't find another way to make them into a slave, people don't normally try this way."
Naofumi could understand this, why take a risky plan to make someone into a slave when it could fail when there were easier ways to make someone into a slave?
"Now the fourth type of slaves are Born Slaves." explained Kumiho.
"I can guess these types of slaves," Naofumi said suddenly, already knowing what they are, "whilst I don't think they had a name in my world, but if one or both of the parents was a slave unless the owner recognises as their child own and wants it, otherwise the child become a slave from the moment that they are born."
"That is true and other than Debt Slaves, these are the most common slaves among the demi-humans." explained Kumiho, "As they are free and easier to get."
"Why is it common among the demi-humans?" Naofumi asked in interest.
"As with certain demi-humans, they give birth to a litter of children instead of one or two." explained Kumiho, "Take the Weasel demi-human for example, they can give birth to around four to six children. Not only that, but they can sometimes give birth at least twice a year. So that means an owner can get up to twelve Weasel demi-human slaves a year for free. Add to the fact that once they get to the right age to go out and level up, there are some owners, depending what they want their slaves for, would have their slaves level up so that they become adults much sooner. This way they would have strong fighters and adult sex slaves much sooner than normal."
Naofumi could see the sense in doing this, whilst he didn't like the idea of them doing this for sex slaves, for fighters he could understand. He was doing the same thing with Raphtalia, levelling her up and making her stronger so that she could fight for him better, so he had no room to complain about that.
"Now lastly there's another way for Slave Traders to gain slaves, but this one is illegal in doing so, getting them from questionable sources." explained Kumiho, "Most call them Forced Slaves, seeing how they have no say in this."
"And the others do have a say in it?" asked Naofumi, not believing what he just heard.
"It might not seem like it, but as long as they don't commit a crime or don't run afoul of an underhanded person and pay their debts back, they do have more of a say." explained Kumiho, "As Forced Slaves are kidnapped from their homes, streets and the like and sold into slavery, so having no say at all."
Putting it like that, Naofumi realized that she was right, the others did have more say than the Forced Slaves. But still, what has this got to do Raphtalia? So he asked, "This all good and all, learning about this worlds slavery, but when are you getting to the point about Raphtalia?"
"I'm almost there Master." Kumiho said with a bow of her head, "Now once they become slaves, there are four types of jobs they could end up doing, they can become either a Battle Slave, Domestic Slave, an Industry Slave and finally Sex Slaves. Domestic Slaves are normally one of the easiest of slaves to be, as all they have to worry about is cleaning, cooking and the like. Sure they might be treated badly, but at least that's the least of their worries.
"The Industry Slaves have it a little bit harder than Domestic Slaves, as they do all the toughest of jobs, like farming, building and mining. If things don't go as well as their owner wants like the building isn't right, the food wasn't harvested on time or gets as much mining done as expected, they would be punished.
"Battle Slaves on the other hand are forced to battle, sure the Slave Crests might force them in the Battle Arena, but once in there unless they fight fully they more often die. So these slaves are forced to train to become stronger or either die or have every bone in their body broken. They don't have an easy time of it at all."
Kumiho then saw her Master fold his arms and tapping one of his fingers on his arms, showing that he was becoming impatient. "Finally we get to Sex Slaves, and the problems they face and why Raphtalia is acting the way she is. You see there are two ways that a slave becomes a Sex Slave, the first is that they are raped over and over again until the slave's mind is broken and will do whatever their Master wants. But the problem with this is that they are good for very little else, their mind is broken and is unable to do much other than sleep, walk, and eat. Some might be able to talk, but you shouldn't expect much from them."
Naofumi felt ill at the thought, how could someone do this to other people so that the slave would become a Sex Slave? Breaking a person would not be very helpful at all, they would be very limited to what they could do.
"Thankfully only a few sick and twisted people keep doing this, they do it to their slaves because they dislike them for some reason. For this kingdom, it would be because they are demi-humans and don't care if they live or die." Kumiho explained with a hint of anger, something that Naofumi couldn't blame her for.
"Now, because most people don't like their slaves to be broken, seeing as it would mean a lot of work for them and the slaves would be useless other than fucking them, a potion was created." the vixen informed her Master, "The potion was first created for weasel demi-humans, as these demi-humans when they go into heat, if they don't have sex during this time, they often die. If that doesn't happen, they either go mad or they lose the ability to have children and might die the next time they go into heat and don't have sex."
Naofumi realized that it sounded a lot like the weasels back at his world. Whilst, not demi-humans, they do have the same problem when it comes to mating seasons. If they don't have sex, they would die. "Okay, how do this potion work on the weasel demi-humans? And how does this potion have to do with Raphtalia?" asked Naofumi.
"Well the potion would force the weasel demi-humans to go into heat early," explained Kumiho, "this would force them to have sex with their owners. Some use it differently, they would give the potion to the weasel demi-humans so that they would go into heat and wait. As if these demi-humans don't have sex, they would go through great pain before dying.
"However, seeing that many owners don't want to use these potions when they want to fuck their slaves, they decided to do something different." explained Kumiho, "So when they use the Heat Potions as they call it, instead of fucking him, they leave the demi-human feeling the need to have sex, just before its too late, the owner would give them the counter option to the Heat Potion and heal them. Then they would heal the slaves and wait a short while before starting again. They would keep doing this until the weasel demi-human could think of nothing else but sex and willing to have it whenever their masters want. This means that whilst they have sex with their master whenever they aren't broke and so can do other things for their master."
"What has this potion got to do with Raphtalia?" asked Naofumi, "Are you saying that she is in consent heat that unless I have sex with her, she'll die?"
"No, as she has a different Sexual Cercle than weasel demi-humans." Kumiho informed her Master. She would have liked to lie and say yes, but because of the Slave Crest, she couldn't lie to him. The only thing she could do was not tell him certain things and that's because of the spells placed on her before she became his slave, if it wasn't for that magic, there would be nothing that she couldn't tell him. Any questions he had, she had to answer.
"No, she has another potion," explained Kumiho, "after seeing how well the Heat Potion was, alchemists thought that creating a potion to help create Sex Slaves would be useful, seeing how people wanted a pleasant sex with their slaves. Something that they couldn't get if the slaves weren't enjoying it or were trying to fight it. So taking the idea of the Heat Potion, the alchemists spent the following years creating The Sex Slave Potion.
"The alchemists made it so that The Sex Slave Potion slowly changed the slave's mindset, they would slowly think that being a Sex Slave was fine. Not only that, whilst the slave might be trained another way should they get another Master, the potion would make it so that the slave becomes like how their first Master wants them. So if the Master likes dealing out pain, whilst the slave has the potion in them, they'll enjoy the pain over time and would be happy to receive the treatment much easier in the future without complaint or fight it."
"But what has this potion got to do with how Raphtalia has been acting?" asked Naofumi, he could understand the reason behind the potion, it was better to have a willing and co-operative than to have a slave that was resentful and uncooperative, trying to fight her role as a Sex Slave whenever they could.
"From what she told me about her past, I believe that her second Master slapped a potion into her food or drink unknowing to her." Kumiho told her Master as she remembered her talks with the young girl over the last week, mainly when they were having a bath together.
"Why would her former master do that to her?" asked Naofumi.
"How else would slaves become Sex Slaves?" Kumiho asked darkly, "Unlike me, there's not many who willing become Sex Slaves. Because of this, they would slap a potion to slowly change and encourage the slaves into become a Sex Slave."
"So are you saying that she still has the potion in her system?" asked Naofumi, "I would have thought that her the master that wanted her as a Sex Slave would have gaive her a potion or something to counter The Sex Slave Potion."
"Well Master, for The Sex Slave Potion to fad from her, a Master most have sex with her, so that she would fully become a Sex Slave." explained the Kitsune slave informed her Master, "So until she has sex and the bond of becoming a Sex Slave is fully formed, she'll be very clingy and affectionate towards her Master at the time. Not only that, but they become the way their master wants them. So if she has a Master who enjoys hurting his slaves, whilst she is on this potion, although she might have nightmares about it later, she'll slowly enjoy it and will believe that this is what her Master wants from her."
"So not only are you saying that she'll like being hurt," Naofumi growled at this, if he ever meets the man who did this to her, he would make him wish for death by the time he was done with them, "but you're telling me that for her to stop acting the way she is at the moment, I have to have sex with her."
"I'm afraid so Master," Kumiho told her Master with a bow of her head, know that he didn't like the idea, "this is the only known way to stop the potion other than finding the person who created it. Seeing how we don't know who the creator of the potion is, and each alchemist makes it differently, the only other is for you to have sex with her."
That wasn't fully true, as she knew a few people who could make the potion, but unless they knew the actual person, it could take a long time to find them. The time that they don't have, seeing how they needed to get stronger for the Waves. So it would be a waste of time to start looking for them, as much as she hates it, having her Master to fuck the young girl was the only thing that he could do to help her. But if her Master asks her directly if she knew anyone, she knew that she had to answer honestly.
"So unless you want her to jump you, you'll have to fuck her so she'll claim down. She'll stop being clingy and affectionate." explained the slave.
"Is there no other way?" asked Naofumi. He had no plans on fucking the young girl, but at the same time, he wasn't sure what to do about her.
"Other than tie her down when she tries something no." joked Kumiho.
"I might just do that." Naofumi said seriously, as he thought about what to do. At the moment the only thing he can come up with is to search for an alchemist to help them, in the hopes that they would find the right one. But seeing how they could be in another kingdom, it could take them weeks even months before they could find someone who could help him. "Well it kill her if I don't have sex with her?" asked Naofumi.
"No, but she'll become even more honey and in time she will try and make a move on you if you don't do something." Kumiho informed her Master.
"Well, for now, I'll have to order her not to make a move on me." Naofumi told her, hoping that'll do it.
"That'll only work for a while Master," Kumiho warned her Master, "when she becomes too honey, Slave Crest or not, she'll make a move. Even if the crest will punish her."
"I'll deal with that when the time comes, if I have to, I'll either tie her up or send her back to the Slave Trader. As I have no plans at all to have sex with any women for a long while." the Shield Hero told her. He didn't like the idea of sending her back, but thanks to the Bitch Princess, he had lost all interest in sex and had no plans to have sex. At the very least whilst he was in this world.
"I understand Master." Kumiho bowed her head, she did understand, after what the First Princess did to him, it was no wonder what he has no interest in sex any more.
But the problem is that Raphtalia needed this too, she needed a Master who would treat her fairly and not hurt her, and Kumiho believed that her Master was the person Raphtalia needed. But her Master needed this too, he needed to get over what happened to him, as it could ruin his life should he go back to his world. She had to think of something to fix this so that he would be interested in sex once again. So she had to think about this carefully.
Seeing how it was getting late, and that her Master would need a few hours of sleep to keep his strength up, she said, "Master, why don't you get a few hours sleep and I'll keep watch for a while."
"Are you sure?" the young man asked.
"I am Master," Kumiho bowed her head, "we'll need you at full strength just in case something happens."
Naofumi had to admit that she was right, he would be no use protecting anyone if he wasn't at full strength, so he said, "Okay, but call me in at least five hours, so you can get some sleep. You too need to be at full strength."
"Understood Master." said Kumiho, as Naofumi left to get some rest. This allowed Kumiho time to think, to make a plan that could change Naofumi's view on sex. She just hopes that whatever she plans, it'll work and don't make things worse.
To be Continued!
Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END: Here ends another chapter of Rising of the Shield Demon, once again I'm sorry for the delay, as I said I had writer's block and been working on two other stories. So I hope this chapter was worth the wait and you enjoyed the chapter.
Now I would like your help, I'm trying to explain why the other three heroes didn't get stronger over time, even after seeing how strong Naofumi was even though he is considered as the weakest. Here, I have shown that Itsuki is trying to fight the unjust and fix things as well as levelling up, instead of prioritising in fighting the Waves of Calamity and getting stronger first and dealing with the injustice after the world is saved.
But what about Ren and Motoyasu, how should I write it to explain why they are weak other than only levelling up. I would like to hear your ideas and how Naofumi could find out about them. As I would like him to try and point them out to the heroes to try and make them better fighters so that they can be useful later.
Another thing I would like to ask is how should I handle the temples, how would you like them to be set up. I'm ideas for Healing and Fighting, how should Naofumi gain these abilities? Unlike Tombs, I don't want battles but some sort of challenge or something to get them. I hope that you can help me.
Now I would like your thoughts on two ideas that I have. The first is about The Three Hero Church. The idea came from a review from my side-story of this story: One thing I've been thinking about the THC (three hero church) want to take over the world when their stronghold is a small kingdom. They may have a superweapon but both version of it impractical for taking over the world and maybe the waves. They need something more like soldier pill from Injustice or clones
So I was thinking about it and thought that it would be an interesting idea, having the Pope have his own base somewhere to create a force to deal with the Shield Demon for whenever he would come about again. Not Only that, but to build a force to take over Melromarc. Not only that, but when the Pope dies, the Church doesn't disappear just like that, seeing how we see very little of them in the anime. It would be interesting to see with the idea that I have, to see more of them. But I would like your thoughts about them, would you like to see more of the Three Hero Church?
Finally, I was thinking of having Naofumi use his alchemist skills to change himself slowly into a demon. But the first thing I was thinking was that he uses his alchemist on himself to create a new arm once he loses one of his old ones. But I would like your thoughts on this.
Now I have someone helping me with this story, whilst he found the idea of Naofumi getting a mechanical arm interesting, he didn't think that the Shield would allow it, as it would just mean he's going to use that as a weapon. He believes that as the Shield Hero, he believes that Naofumi needs to focus on his defenses, his attack stat should not be the thing everyone is focusing on.
Not that he would be wrong, but seeing how he has one weapon already as a shield along with going to fight with his hands and feet, don't see the problem. Not only that, but most of Naofumi's shields will be focused on defense, any attack points will be low unless it comes from a powerful monster.
Although my friend did make out a good point how it can be impossible for Naofumi getting a mechanical arm, and his point was Glass. She was able to beat the shit out of the other heroes in one move, but he was able to take that attack multiple times and protect his team as well. So if he could defend himself against Glass that well, how would he lose his arm?
My friend also says that if he actually got an arm cut off, Naofumi would just go for cutting off the arm that has the stupid shield on it so he could actually use a weapon and not restricted by the holy weapon. Not that I think that would work, seeing how it is shown that the Legendary Weapons would reappear, so it is more than likely if he cut off the arm with the Shield on, the Shield would only appear on his other arm.
On the note of having Naofumi using alchemy to making him into a demon, I'm also going to have Lilith send demons to fight Naofumi, where once defeated well become new shields. I have a few demon ideas, the Seven Sins, a rock like Demon and two sex demons. But I would like other ideas for demonic shields, along with equipment bonuses. So if you can, I would like to hear what demons I could use as shields.