To respond to a few things in reviews: Guest, that would be crackfic material if Naofumi ever tried to intimidate his own weapon to give him an ATK stat, or to use other weapons in general. Read "The Shielded Savior" if you want to see Naofumi fighting with another weapon (really good fic too by the way). I don't think that's how it works SentinelSlice. I figure it's like most MMO's where you can only equip effects from one or two accessories, with your weapon having an extra slot or two as well, and then that's it. I don't know about fan service Ander Arias. I know L'Arc would definitely be all for it. We'll just have to wait and see.
Alright, that's all I'm able to answer for now. Enjoy the chapter everyone!
Chapter Ten: Day At Sea
Naofumi's initial reaction when he realized who his bunkmates for the voyage were going to be was probably kind of rude. Actually, it was definitely rude. But unfortunately, the Shield Hero didn't care one bit about slamming the door shut in front of him and turning around to face Raphtalia.
"Let's go find a different room." He said blandly.
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Raphtalia asked in surprise at his sudden and blatant display of rude behavior.
"Don't question it, let's just go before-"
"Whoa there Kiddo, what's the matter?" L'Arc asked as he reopened the door and stuck his head out.
Naofumi closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose sharply before turning around again. "Stop calling me Kiddo, I can't be that much younger than you." Naofumi struggled to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"Sorry, I already told you that's what I call everyone that looks younger than me," L'Arc said with a shrug. "I'm surprised to see you here actually! Didn't you say that you were helping to restore that village yesterday?!"
Naofumi wondered how long it would take him to find the Captain so he could get the Shield Hero and Raphtalia a different room that wouldn't have an overgrown red-haired kindergartner armed with a scythe in it. However, two fingers pinched his ear, cutting that line of thought short.
"Stop being rude this instant, or I'll make you watch over Filo and Melty for the rest of this trip," Raphtalia said to him in a voice like ice.
… What?! That was just fighting dirty! How could she dare to threaten him into behaving like this!?
"Ooh, I didn't know you had a girlfriend Kiddo!" L'Arc said excitedly with a wide grin. "Nice pick by the way! She's quite the looker!" He added with a thumb's up that was eerily reminiscent of Motoyasu. And he'd thought he wouldn't have to deal with that simp for a week.
"Please shut-" Naofumi tried to respond but Raphtalia twisted his ear, and he nearly whined. "Alright, alright, fine! I'll behave!"
"There we go. Now was that so hard?" Raphtalia finally let him go. Naofumi rubbed at his sore ear. That really had hurt!
L'Arc stepped back so the two of them could enter the room. "I'm sorry for my boyfriend's behavior, I swear he's not like this all the time. I'm Raphtalia by the way, nice to meet you!" She said with a kind smile.
Naofumi crossed his arms and huffed.
"Hi, Raphtalia. The name's L'Arc Berg. However, I allow all the pretty ladies to call me L'Arc." He gave a small, cheeky wink to the Raccoon girl, earning him an elbow to the side from his turquoise-haired companion. "Ow, hey!"
"I'm Therese Alexanderite. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said happily, giving Raphtalia and Naofumi a genuine smile.
'Why Raphtalia? We could have just said we had the wrong room and left. I don't want to be in the same room as this weirdo.' He almost expected to hear a rebuke from Raphtalia for his thoughts.
But strangely enough, that rebuke never came.
"Um, L'Arc, was it?" Raphtalia asked, sounding confused. "Is that lady next to you from a foreign country?"
"Huh?" L'Arc looked confused at that. Even Naofumi directed a confused look at his companion.
"I couldn't understand a word she just said." His girlfriend answered honestly.
She couldn't understand her? How could she not?! He'd understood Therese perfectly, and-
Oh, yeah. His weapon automatically translated anything said to him as well as anything he said to anyone else. A privilege that Raphtalia didn't have. He'd nearly forgotten about it since, you know, it didn't help him with reading different languages at all.
'Wait, maybe if I think in Japanese, Raphtalia won't be able to read my mind? Hmmm…'
"What are you thinking about now Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked exasperatedly.
Crap, that didn't work at all. Or maybe it had and he just couldn't tell? Either way, showing he had understood and revealing that he was a Hero probably wasn't the best idea. Fortunately, he had the perfect excuse that would work here.
"Nothing. I just wasn't paying attention to what either of them said." Naofumi said, turning away while crossing his arms.
Raphtalia facepalmed. She looked to be seconds away from throwing him out the window of the room. "I thought I told you to behave!"
"I'm not running out of the room, am I?"
Raphtalia seriously wondered at times if Naofumi wasn't still mentally a kid with the way he acted at times. Was this what it was like to get out of the Honeymoon phase of the relationship? Or was this only because of the two people in front of her?
While their short exchange happened, Therese touched her hand to the scythe on L'Arc's back. Then, a red orb of light came out from it, disappearing into her throat.
"A-hem." She cleared her throat, grabbing Naofumi and Raphtalia's attention again.
"My apologies. Can you two understand me now?" The dazzling girl asked.
"Yes!" Raphtalia looked amazed.
"How did you do that?" Naofumi asked. Thank goodness he'd never acknowledged understanding Therese before this.
"It's just a bit of magic from my home country. Nothing too special." She cleared her throat. "Let me try this again. My name is Therese Alexandrite. It's a pleasure to meet you both."
"Same here!" Raphtalia and Therese shook hands, and then started giggling together as they quickly started to discuss various things.
"Wow, they really hit it off quick." L'Arc was still rubbing his side where Therese had elbowed him.
"Yeah, like a house on fire…" Naofumi sighed.
L'Arc directed a smirk at Naofumi. "So, what's your name, Kiddo?"
"It's not Kiddo, that's for sure," Naofumi said dryly.
"I won't have anything else to call you by if you don't give me something to work with." L'Arc shrugged with a playful smirk.
"..." L'Arc continued to stare at him, and Naofumi huffed in annoyance. "Fine. It's Naofumi, Naofumi Iwatani. Happy?"
…
An awkward silence filled the room.
"What?" Naofumi asked when he saw that both L'Arc and Therese staring at him. Raphtalia looked at the turquoise-haired girl curiously.
"Naofumi?" L'Arc and Therese shared a look.
Then, all at once, L'Arc started laughing while Therese giggled into her hand.
"Oi, you got a problem with my name?!" Naofumi asked irritably.
"Kiddo, if you're going to go by an alias, you should at least use a different name than the Shield Hero!" L'Arc managed to force the words through his laughter.
Naofumi would have been angry, but he blanched at what L'Arc had said. 'Oh &^%$, that's right, I forgot that my name is well known! &^%$ &&%$ *&%$ *#$% *%#$!'
"L'Arc, calm down. But seriously, you should consider using a different alias if you're going to Cal Mira to level in secret." Therese suggested.
"I'm not leveling in secret!" Naofumi yelled.
"That's what Raphtalia told me though." Therese said confusedly while the half-raccoon girl in question silently mouthed 'Just go with it' behind her.
"Seriously Kiddo, no need to be so self-conscious. Everyone has their reasons. If you don't want to say your real name then whatever." L'Arc shrugged in indifference.
"Tch." Naofumi clicked his tongue. "Fine then, I won't share my real name. What's wrong with the Shield Hero anyway?" He muttered.
"... huh? Don't you know the guy's, like, a demon?" L'Arc asked in amazement.
Naofumi felt himself cringe at that. So they thought the Shield Hero was a demon too, huh?
"From what we've heard, he's gone all around Melromarc, raping women and stealing from the poor," Therese said.
"Hmph, and to think that people still call him a Hero!" L'Arc crossed his arms. "You're much better off finding a different alias Kiddo, unless you want to paint a target on your back." He suggested.
Naofumi felt extremely annoyed at that moment. He knew he still didn't have the best reputation in Melromarc. But seriously, did people have to spread awful rumors about him to other countries?!
He was just about ready to snap when, all of a sudden, Raphtalia was hugging his arm while smiling innocently. "I'm sorry, my boyfriend here just really looks up to the Shield Hero since I'm a demi-human."
…
Huh? What was Raphtalia doing now?
"Eh? What do you mean?" L'Arc blinked in confusion while Therese focused and turned all of her attention to the demihuman.
"Us demi-humans worship the Shield Hero like a God. But the people in Melromarc don't really like him, so he feels the need to defend the Shield Hero every time someone badmouths him." Raphtalia said happily. "He even fights with a Shield so he can defend my Hero's good name."
Naofumi blinked his eyes rapidly. Was his girlfriend… lying!?
Raphtalia gently nudged his side, and he coughed into his hand. "Yes, Melromarc is very… misinformed, about the Shield Hero." He muttered awkwardly. "He's really not that bad. He just had a bad hand dealt to him by the people after his summoning."
"Oh, really? This is the first time that I've heard someone say anything positive about him." L'Arc exchanged a brief glance with Therese and she made a subtle nod of affirmation to whatever his wordless question was. "Say, since you're from the Hero's village, and all…" L'Arc continued. "Does this mean that you've met the Shield Hero?"
"Yeah, he's helping to protect my village now, actually," Raphtalia said happily. "He's saved our lives multiple times, and has been really nice. He helped to stop an evil man who wanted to exterminate our race, and stopped a war from happening during a Wave… but, even with all the good he's done, it feels like he's being weighed down by all the persecution that Melromarc has been throwing his way lately. It's really sad." She ended in a soft-spoken tone, before smiling widely again.
"That's why we're secretly going to Cal Mira to level up. We want to become strong enough so we can help shoulder his burdens."
"Wow, that's actually really kind of both of you. Way to go." L'Arc gave the two of them a thumbs up.
"We do have a similar persecution problem in our homeland," Therese said, almost to herself.
Naofumi looked at Raphtalia in disbelief. Had she seriously just lied and told some half-truths to save his butt there?! She did it so well too!
"Well, I guess the locals around here must be misinformed about what the Shield Hero is like." L'Arc shrugged. "But I'd still recommend going by a different name. You seem like a nice guy, and I wouldn't want you to get beat up because of a misunderstanding." L'Arc suggested with concern in his voice.
"We'd really hate to see you get in trouble just for defending him," Therese added as well.
"... Noted," Naofumi said dryly. At least they didn't think he was actually the Shield Hero.
Still, how couldn't they tell that they were looking at the Shield Hero?! Thank God they were apparently from some distant land. Maybe he was lucky to have been placed in their room, sad as the thought may be that this was the best he could do.
Honestly, he was debating if he should just stay behind and risking the Queen's wrath. But then the floor lurched beneath them, and, looking out through the window, he could see that the ship had set sail.
Well, so much for that idea now. Then again, Mirellia would have killed him in the most painful way imaginable, had he stayed behind. So maybe it'd be better to put up with this torture for now.
"Naofumi."
"I know. Rude thoughts." Naofumi dryly said. There was the rebuke he'd been expecting. He'd been thinking it in Japanese too, so that didn't work at all.
Raphtalia might not have an auto-translation function. But she seemed able to tell exactly what he was thinking even across multiple languages.
L'Arc and Therese looked at each other. The redhead was confused by the couple's antics, but Therese started giggling into her hand.
"Well we have some time, so I guess, we should get to know each other better," L'Arc shook his head as he smiled. "Hmmm, so you fight with a shield… I think I'll call you Shield Kiddo." His smile became a wide, crap-eating grin.
Naofumi had literally never wanted to kill someone over such a horrible nickname so much in his entire life.
"Ugh…" Naofumi groaned.
"It wasn't that bad," Raphtalia said beside him. "They seem really nice."
The two of them were on the top deck of the ship, leaning against the railing and watching the ship crest over the waves of the ocean.
"Yeah, nice," Naofumi said sarcastically. "Calling me Shield Kiddo and all that."
"The way you're acting isn't really helping your case, Naofumi," Raphtalia informed him.
"Tch." Naofumi clicked his tongue in annoyance again. That was starting to become a bad habit of his.
"We're going to have to get along with them for the rest of the voyage you know." Raphtalia pointed out. "If they're going to Cal Mira to level, chances are we'll see them there too."
"Don't remind me. How long do we have to do this again?"
…
Naofumi looked to the side, and saw that Raphtalia was pouting at him. "Didn't you tell me that we should be more open and trusting towards other people? What's gotten into you?" She asked with an accusatory look.
Naofumi frowned. "Don't use my own words against me."
"So you're saying I should go back to being mean to Dou-Lon, is that it?"
"Well, um, no, of course not…" Naofumi mumbled. "Damn it, L'Arc just rubs me the wrong way. Okay?"
"How so?" Raphtalia cocked her head to the side. Ears flicking on top of her head. He tried his best not to get distracted by that.
"He just… I don't know. He's too cheery I guess." Naofumi made a vague gesture with his hands. "I also met him outside the village yesterday, and he was just as annoyingly cheery then as he was now."
…
Raphtalia gave him a blank look. "Too cheery?"
"You've been annoyed by people being too laid back before, right?" The Shield Hero asked.
She crossed her arms. "... Naofumi…" Oh crap, she didn't sound mad, she sounded disappointed! Crap, that was even worse than being mad! Now he actually did feel sorry! Was it possible he really was overreacting to this?!
"It's just for one night. Please try to get along." She pleaded with him.
He blushed as he inevitably realized, he'd been looking forward to spending the night with Raphtalia on the voyage. He'd hoped their cabinmates would be the private type, and would stay out of their business so they could cuddle together at night. But L'Arc was the exact opposite of private. If he caught them cuddling, kissing, or maybe even, gasp, holding hands, he'd never hear the end of it.
There was one other reason that came to mind. Something that made him pout. "You only want us to get along so you can hang out with Therese."
"Yes, we made plans to go shopping together on the islands, so you better behave."
Ouch. He was surprised he'd actually been right about that. "What, when did you make those plans-"
"While we were talking together, obviously."
And just like that, his last attempt to win the argument was shot down. He sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll try to behave around Therese at least."
"Well, that's a start." Raphtalia hugged him. "Remember, it's only for tonight, and then every other night, we'll have all the time we want to spend with each other." Raphtalia leaned her head on his shoulder.
… okay. He could live with that. As long as no one else stayed in their inn room on the island, of course.
Gods, if it turned out L'Arc and Therese were actually roomed with them on the island as well, he was going to flip a table. Raphtalia didn't give him long to ponder that though, as her ear flicked his cheek. It was so soft and floofy, demi-human ears really were the best.
They would have stood there for a while longer, hugging in view of the ocean, if it wasn't for the groaning sounds that came nearby.
"Could you go be lovey-dovey somewhere else?"
"You're making me sicker than I already am."
"Huh?"
Naofumi and Raphtalia turned to the side in surprise. Ren and Itsuki were on their knees, both leaning against the railing, faces greener than seaweed. How long had they been there for?!
"Are you guys seasick?" Naofumi asked in disbelief. He could have sworn it'd only been two hours or so since they'd set out!
"How are you not?" Ren whined.
"Um, well, I don't really get any kind of motion sickness," Naofumi said honestly.
"No fair." Itsuki put a hand over his mouth. "I want that ability instead of my lame aim correction."
"It's probably because of that stupid shield of his," Ren complained.
"Oi, if you're just going to whine, why don't you go back to your rooms?!" Naofumi yelled at them.
The two made seasick noises. They'd probably be lucky if they could hobble to the middle of the deck with the shape they were in.
"Focus on the horizon. That should help." Raphtalia suggested.
The two tried to do that. And at first, it did help. But then, a large monster fish was launched out of the water in front of them. It landed on the deck behind them.
"Hey, Daddy, could you cook that for dinner!?" Filo asked, popping out from the water in her Filolial form.
"Urch!" Ren and Itsuki leaned their heads over the side and let loose.
"Ewwww! Sword Guy, Bow Guy, nobody wants to see that!" Filo whined.
Naofumi groaned, and Raphtalia looked sad that their moment had been ruined. Oh well, he didn't recognize this monster anyway, so he absorbed part of it into his shield.
Blue Shark Shield Unlocked! Equip Bonus (locked): Swimming Skill 1
Shark Bite Shield Unlocked! Equip Bonus (locked): Naval Combat Skill 1. Special Effect: Shark Tooth
Huh, he got two shields from it. One which improved his ability to swim, and another that… improved his skills at Naval Combat? Maybe that was its way of saying he'd fight in water better than before? And he had no idea what Shark Tooth was, but in all honesty, given what his other counter skills were like, it wouldn't do much damage to his enemies anyway.
Still, it'd been a while since he got a shield that improved his water-based skills. Maybe if Filo found others, he could become even better than an Olympic gold swimmer.
Ha, like that would ever happen!
"Naofumi, maybe you shouldn't do that in plain sight?" Raphtalia suggested.
Do what- Oh, crap. He'd forgotten this was also irregular. He quickly hid his shield. Luckily, it looked like no one had been looking in his direction. And he'd only absorbed a small part of the monster.
"Filo, get out before you catch a cold," Melty called down from the railing.
"But Mel, the water feels really nice. And there are so many tasty monsters!" She looked up at Naofumi happily.
"No, I'm not cooking any of them for you." The Shield Hero replied flatly.
Filo's happy face turned into a pout. "BOO!" She dove back under the water next to the ship.
Naofumi scratched his chin thoughtfully at seeing her depart. How the hell was she swimming so well anyway? She didn't have webbed feet or oil covering on her feathers. Realistically, she should have been about as buoyant as a chicken, and yet, she was circling around the ship like a freaking dolphin for who knows how long.
He eventually decided to just write it off as more Filolial Queen shenanigans before turning his attention to the two nearby Heroes again, thinking that he should give them some of the giant fish, or apparently shark, monster parts to absorb as well. However, they looked really sick, compared to before.
He sighed as he pulled out some nausea medicine from a pocket. With how often he'd been using it lately, keeping this stuff in his shield was too much of a hassle to pull out every time.
"Raphtalia, can you please go find their party members? I don't think these two will make it back to their rooms with just medicine helping them."
Raphtalia nodded, and ran off to search for them.
"Why did this part of the world have to be real too?" Itsuki whined.
Ren said nothing. If it wasn't for the up and down movement of his chest, Naofumi would have sworn that the boy was dead.
Weren't they being a touch overdramatic? It was just seasickness for crying out loud! They were taking this far too rough to be normal!
After forcing them to down the bitter medicine, Raphtalia came back with Wyndia and Rishia. She then proceeded to help both girls to lift their prospective heroes off the ground, and to lead them down to their rooms.
"Seriously, Sir Ren, am I going to have to take care of you for the rest of the voyage?" Wyndia asked angrily, her slowly wagging tail behind her being the only thing betraying her true feelings.
"Stop calling me Sir." Ren barely managed to say.
"Fueh, hang in there Itsuki!" Rishia said worriedly.
"Ugh… tell my mother I love her."
"Fuehhhhhhhhh!"
Naofumi watched them go with his arms crossed. Yep, they were definitely being overdramatic. He wouldn't be surprised to learn they'd done this on purpose just so their girls could take care of them.
The only reason he didn't give it more serious consideration was the fact that they were dense to their girl's feelings for them. Perhaps they really were weak and pathetic against seasickness? Or, if that really was how seasickness affected people, he was glad he didn't get motion sick at all.
"Hey, Shield Kiddo."
Naofumi turned to face L'Arc. Urgh, too bad he wasn't the only one who didn't get motion sickness. Couldn't he have stayed in their room?!
At least Therese was with him too so she could keep the weirdo in check. It was almost like Raphtalia was to him, only, it didn't look like these two were in a relationship.
"What?" He dryly asked.
"Therese here wanted to ask you two something." He explained before the girl in question stepped in front of him with a gleam in her eyes. Naofumi's eyebrow arched in curiosity.
"I wanted to ask Raphtalia, but she looked busy, so maybe you can answer too? Do you know who made her the locket that she's wearing?"
"Um… that would be me, actually." The Shield Hero answered while scratching the back of his head, confused at the strange line of inquiry.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "You mean, you were the one who crafted it?!"
"Yeah, it's kind of a hobby of mine-" Naofumi began to explain offhandedly when Therese suddenly pulled out a pouch from her clothes, thrusting it into his hands.
"Could you make something for me too?!"
"... Wh-what?!" Naofumi asked after a short pause for his mind to catch up.
"Raphtalia's locket just seems so happy! If you could make me an accessory too, I'd greatly appreciate it! I'll even pay and provide you with all the necessary materials for it!" Therese swooned, holding her hands over her chest, eyes sparkling with delight.
Maybe L'Arc actually was the sane one of the two?
"Hey, um, Therese," L'Arc started to say awkwardly. "Don't you think this is a little too sudden to ask-"
"Not now L'Arc! This is very important to me!" Therese snapped at him.
Holy crap! This girl was really obsessed with accessories, to a crazy degree! Maybe he should consider cutting L'Arc some more slack!
Then again, if she was paying… Motoyasu told him that there would be opportunities to make some money by using his skills, right? Perhaps he could put up with the craziness for a little bit then.
"Let me just take a look." Naofumi opened the pouch and looked inside.
…
…
He stared, his jaw nearly dropping from shock. The bag was filled with all sorts of precious gemstones. All of them were High quality or higher. He nearly cried as he saw an emerald that was Perfect Quality. He'd never seen something so beautiful, well, besides his girlfriend, in his life!
However, trying to ignore the emerald, he found a rare gemstone called a Star Jewel. It was supposedly one of the most valuable gemstones for accessory crafting. It was also High quality like most of the other gemstones inside. Maybe Raphtalia was right and getting along with them was a good idea?
"Um, is it alright if I use this?" He asked, pulling out the star jewel.
"Of course!" Therese smiled happily. "Would you want payment now, or after it's done?"
"Hmmm, I'll take this Emerald for now." Naofumi took out the Perfect Emerald as well, before reluctantly handing the pouch back. "You can pay the rest of the value after it's done. We're already going to be busy at Cal Mira, and I have another project I'm working on. But I'll try to have yours ready as soon as possible." Perhaps, maybe it wouldn't be so bad having these two around.
"Okay! Thank you so much for doing this!" Naofumi nearly yelped when Therese took the pouch and hugged him in the process. Never mind, maybe it'd be bad after all. "I can't wait to see what you'll make!"
Looking uncomfortably over her shoulder, Naofumi saw L'Arc giving him a jealous stare. Hey, he hadn't asked for this! He already had one girlfriend, and that was more than enough!
Therese let go of Naofumi and started looking around curiously. "Huh. Do you smell that L'Arc?"
"Yeah, smells like a storm is coming." He sighed, relaxing from his jealous posture. "Looks like we'll be in for a rough night."
Naofumi dusted his cloak off where Therese had hugged him. "How can you tell that?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter what sea you're on, Shield Kiddo. The smell of a storm's the same wherever ya go." L'Arc said, relaxing against his scythe.
"Okay, um… oh crap." Naofumi sighed and started walking off.
"What do you mean 'oh crap?'" L'Arc asked.
"I have two seasick idiots who'll need more medicine if they don't want to die tonight," Naofumi said sarcastically. Day One of their trip and it was already starting to go south. Hopefully, Motoyasu was having a better time in the village.
"Oh, you have other friends with you Shield Kiddo? If you need any help-"
"Nope, I'll be good. See you tonight, or whenever I'm done treating them." Naofumi disappeared belowdecks before they could say anything else.
The two looked at each other, shrugged, and then began helping the crew to prepare for the upcoming storm.
"So he's got some friends from that village with him too. Do you think we should press them for more details about the other Heroes?" L'Arc asked.
"Yes, but let's try to establish our trust with them a bit more first. We haven't even met the others yet."
"Yes, you're right, fun should always come first. Just make sure whatever lingerie you get on that island looks cute on you-"
Therese jabbed him in the side again, making the young man grunt.
But he still chuckled afterward.
Meanwhile, at the village
"Crap, how did Naofumi manage to do this every day?!"
"Quit your whining. It'll only make this worse, Sir Motoyasu." Rino said flatly.
Motoyasu was currently elbow-deep in a large cooking pot, trying to make a simple meal for the kids of their village. It didn't help that he felt drained from his latest training session with Granny. Now that he knew how to wield life force, the old lady was pushing him harder than ever to learn how to wield it in her Mengen Musou style form.
Rino was currently helping him make everything while Elena was visiting the Bio-Plants to get more food from them.
"Sir Hero, we're hungry!" Keel whined at the table.
"We need more food!" Anya whined alongside him.
"More food, more food, more food!" The other kids yelled together like a chant.
"I know, I'm getting there!" Motoyasu said back to them happily, while some smoke had begun to rise from his pot.
"Sir Motoyasu." Rino dryly pointed it out to him.
"EEP!" He quickly toned down his fire magic and tried his best to scrape out the burnt stuff.
What he eventually bowled up for everyone was… less than impressive. Not that Motoyasu was a bad cook. He'd managed to save the dish really well.
But despite his best efforts… "It doesn't taste as good as Brother Shield's cooking." Keel said sadly.
The others slowly nodded in agreement, before continuing to eat their meals with a tinge of disappointment.
Motoyasu sniffled. He'd done the best he could do! It wasn't his fault that Naofumi was a literal god of cooking!
The front door cracked open, and Elena lazily entered the house with a frown on her face. "Oh, thank goodness Elena, you're already back- where's the fruit?!" Motoyasu asked.
"Yeaaaaa, about that. We might have a little problem. The plants are like, dying." The orange-haired girl shrugged, before looking aside and pulling her hair back.
A sinking feeling filled Motoyasu's gut. And it was only confirmed when he left Rino in charge of cooking to go to the part of the village where the plants that Naofumi had left behind were being cultivated.
The grass around them was dead. The plants themselves weren't looking so good either. Only a quarter of the branches were budding fruit on them, and the fruit wasn't nearly as big or good-looking as before. Taking a bite, it didn't taste very good either.
"... oh crap. That isn't good." Motoyasu bit down on his lower lip.
"With the rate at which they were producing fruit, they must have been taking all of the nutrients from the soil around them." Elena had finally caught up to him and spoke out. "Sir Naofumi planted them too close to each other and now they're drying up. At this rate, they're going to die unless we do something."
"Um, can't we just move them to a different batch of soil…" No. Who was he kidding? The plants were big, and the dying grass was a likely indicator of how far their roots had spread out underground. Trying to pull them out would be a nightmare in and of itself. And there was no point in trying to replant it if it died from the effort of pulling it out.
"We could try to get some Dunes here to help fertilize the soil, but they're expensive and take a while to grow so..." The orange-haired woman pondered out loud while tapping her chin with her index finger thoughtfully.
"Is there anything we can do in the meantime?" Motoyasu asked in desperation.
Elena shrugged helplessly. "Try to fertilize them ourselves and hope that it helps, I guess? I only know enough about farming to turn a profit. The cultivating part of it is as much of a mystery to me as it is for you, Sir Motoyasu."
Motoyasu bit on his lower lip in frustration as he pondered on this sudden conundrum. "Okay, I guess we might as well try. Alright, alright, fertilizer, fertilizer... do you think the Queen might have some to spare?" He asked his less enthusiastic companion with a hopeful look, only to get a flat stare in return.
"Sir Motoyasu, please don't tell me that you just seriously suggested for us to use the power of your Legendary Spear to teleport to the Capital and ask the Queen of Melromarc to provide us with some $3&^?"
...
"Ah... I..." Motoyasu struggled to respond, his mind slowly catching up to what he'd just said.
"Ahhhh..." Elena rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration with a sigh. "I'm sure we can get some from one of the nearby villages if we ask, though some reimbursement for it won't hurt. We can't exactly ride on the heroes' reputation all the time. It would be better to save it for something more meaningful. How about I get some of the village funds and try to ask around?"
"W-what! Elena! Absolutely not! I can't ask a beautiful girl like you to... to go around shopping for manure!" Motoyasu exclaimed.
"Well unless you have a few villages tagged in your spear for teleportation we ain't got much of a choice now, do we?" She deadpanned and rolled her eyes. "I'll go take care of it Sir Motoyasu, try not to let the town burn up in the meantime, alright? I'm actually kind of starting to like it here."
"I- No! Elena, you can't-" He tried to protest again
"Sir Motoyasu!"
Motoyasu turned, again, as his name was called. One of the village knights was running up to him. "What is it now?" He asked, somewhat in annoyance.
It was like one problem after another was surfacing up, and it was only his first DAY of running the place! Couldn't he at least have a few days to dip his toes before being thrust into the fire like this?!
"Um… we have a Raccoon family asking to move into the village." The knight explained.
…
"A new family!? That's great! We could use more people here, and hopefully, they can help ease the burden on the caretaker, and… why don't you seem too happy about it?" Motoyasu's excitement died as he studied the man's face more closely.
The knight was giving Motoyasu a flat look. "To summarize, they're a bunch of freeloaders who want to live somewhere where they can take it easy and do nothing."
…
Motoyasu tried to smile, but it looked more like a pained grimace. "Oh come on. They can't be that bad, right?"
"Come see for yourself." The knight shrugged and turned around to walk back.
The Spear Hero hastily followed the knight back to the village.
And despite his best attempts to stay optimistic, the new arrivals turned out to be even worse than what the knight had described them as.
"Mmmm, can we have that house there?"
"That's the Church." The knight standing with them answered tersely.
"Eh, it doesn't seem like anyone's using it. Could make for a nice, cozy home."
"Sir, it is not the weekend, so of course it's not in use. There are also other homes available that'd be of better-"
"Could any of them fit a family of our size?"
The knight that came to Motoyasu had called them a Raccoon family, but… they weren't like Maya or Raphtalia at all! The father looked like a lazy country bumpkin who'd never worked a day in his life! And his wife was the opposite of hot. She was a THOT!
Not only was she morbidly obese, but she was also missing several teeth, with the rest of them tinted yellow. The kids running around all looked like their parents, which, in this case, was not a compliment.
"We have an orphanage here that could help you with taking care of your kids, so I can assure you that-" The knight began to speak, only to get rudely interrupted.
"That'd be nice. Hey, what's the tavern like around here?" The mother lazily asked.
"... We, um, don't have a tavern, ma'am." The knight answered awkwardly.
"Eh!? What kind of run-down dump doesn't have a tavern to drink away your sorrows in! Don't you know how hard it is being a mother of twelve children during the Waves of Catastrophe!?"
Twelve children?! They had twelve of these little devils running around?!
"Screw a caretaker! The thing I need is some nice, thick mead!"
Motoyasu and the knight with him sweatdropped. "You weren't kidding when you called them a group of freeloaders," Motoyasu whispered to the knight.
"I'm not one for discriminating against demi-humans… but folks like these don't exactly help with breaking apart old stereotypes." The armored man answered with barely concealed frustration in his voice.
Motoyasu put his biggest smile on his face while he said optimistically, "Well, perhaps all they need is some motivation, and then I say, they'll become valuable members of our community-"
"Hey, you can't have that inside the village! That could cause a fire and-"
"What, is it wrong if I want to take a puff or two?" The father asked rudely, letting a long wisp of smoke from his pipe trail off into the knight's face. Said knight began coughing. "Honestly, we should get our home soon. I'm not sure if my legs can stand for much longer."
"You arrived here by carriage. Cough cough. You've only been standing for the last couple of minutes!" The knight managed to say after he stopped coughing.
"Ah, my poor legs, I don't think they can take much more."
Motoyasu's smile faltered somewhat. It didn't help when one of the kids decided to throw a rock, breaking a nearby window.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" The Apothecarian inside yelled angrily.
"Ahahahaha!" The little devils started picking up more rocks and throwing them at other places.
Motoyasu's smile fell a little more.
"Do you have no shame?! No drinking, no smoking, this place is a dump! I can't believe we thought we'd be protected by the Cardinal Heroes here!" The mother ranted.
One of the kids threw a large rock at the Apothecarian as he came charging out the door, hitting him square in the head. He collapsed to the ground, and the kids laughed at him. "Haha! Take that, you stupid old man!"
The knights both blanched at the sudden chaos. They weren't sure what to do now with the quickly escalating situation.
"And don't even get me started with-"
The temperature in the area suddenly dropped by several degrees.
All the kids froze in place. Their mother and father stopped complaining, feeling chills travel down their spines.
"I'm going to keep this simple."
The knight jumped back from Motoyasu in surprise. The Spear Hero's gem was flashing a murky green as he approached the family. The top of his face was hidden in shadow, like a nightmare. All of them started to instinctively tremble in terror.
"I'm Motoyasu Kiramura, the Spear Hero. One of the four Cardinal Heroes protecting this place. I'm helping to save the world from the Waves of Calamity alongside everyone else here. If you're only here to get in the way of that goal and cause trouble... I suggest you leave." He said, his voice dripping with malice.
...
Only a few seconds later, the entire family was packed into their carriage, rushing out through the entrance of the village, eyes wide with terror.
Motoyasu quickly shook his head after they departed, pulling the cursed thoughts away from his mind. He quickly rushed over to the Apothecarian, who was struggling to sit up. A little blood was dripping from the ends of his white hair. "Ow, Sir Spear Hero."
"Here, let me take care of that." Motoyasu got on one knee next to him. "As source of thy power, I, the Spear Hero, have deciphered the laws of creation. I command this wound to heal over and to restore this man to good health. Zweite Healing Warmth."
A red glow surrounded the old man, and the wound on his head healed over. He rubbed the area with a scowl. "Thanks, Spear Hero. Those kids were…" His scowl deepened as he looked at his broken shop window.
"Yeah…" Motoyasu looked sad. He'd thought there could be a reasonable way to handle this situation. But he'd ended up threatening them to leave with his Cursed Series.
It probably wasn't the best way to handle it… at least he hadn't actually pulled the damn spear out. Then, tales of the Spear Demon might have been spread around wherever they went. If they weren't going to spread them already. Damn, was this what Naofumi had to worry about?
"I'll pay you for the window-"
"There's no need. I'll just ask someone to help me put in another one. I'm sure Jerry could use something to do." The old man sighed as he walked back into his shop to clean up the mess.
"Sorry, I handled that poorly-" The Spear Hero began to say to the pair of knights.
"No, Sir Spear Hero." The older knight shook his head. "You saw what started to happen. Having them stay would have caused us nothing but trouble."
"Is that really part of the reason why Melromarc discriminates against Demi-humans?" Motoyasu asked.
"No… but I had heard that some Raccoons were guilty of this kind of behavior." The first knight sighed.
"Not all the Raccoons living in Melromarc are descended from Siltvelt's exiled nobility, unfortunately." The second one agreed. "I'll let the others know to watch out for them if they ever try to come back."
"I really hope they don't." The first knight said.
Motoyasu rubbed his face in frustration. The stress was already getting to him, and he still had to go back and make sure that the kids were well fed. Oh, and he also had to tell them that the plants Naofumi had left for them weren't producing delicious fruit anymore.
'I say, this is even harder than I thought it'd be.'
Night came, and fortunately, no other issues had come up.
Besides the fact that Motoyasu had to go hunting in the forest so he'd have enough food to feed the kids with.
Motoyasu now laid on his back in bed, staring tiredly up at the ceiling. 'If this was Day One… I don't want to know what the other days are going to be like.'
He shivered, and hugged himself as he laid on his side.
Elena would hopefully be back by morning with the fertilizer they needed to keep the Bio-Plants alive. He really hoped it'd be that simple. He also hoped the small contingent of knights he sent with her would be enough to keep her safe. Or that the money he'd given her would be enough to pay for what was needed. Or that-
He got up and started pacing in his room. The floor below him creaked with each heavy footstep, but he was hardly aware of it.
What if Elena got lost? He had to go after her and- but then the village would be unprotected! What if the Slavers attacked while he was gone and took everyone prisoner?! But what if the slavers overpowered the knights and kidnapped Elena?!
What if he messed up running the place, and everyone left anyway!? How could he face the others when they'd trusted him to-?
A loud knocking sound on his door abruptly tugged Motoyasu out of his thoughts. "Who is it?" He asked.
"It's the middle of the night. Why are you making so much noise in there Sir Motoyasu?" Rino's voice called from the other side of the door. She sounded drowsy, and annoyed.
Motoyasu paled as he opened the door. Rino was in a nightgown, and had a bad case of bed-hair. She didn't seem to care though as she crossed her arms under her chest and gave Motoyasu a flat look.
"Oh, um, hey Rino, I didn't know you were awake," Motoyasu said nervously, trying to sound like his usual, charming self.
"I wasn't. I woke up when you started making a racket above my room."
…
Motoyasu's face fell. "I'm sorry… I just have a lot on my mind."
Rino's cold look softened somewhat. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's nothing, really. You don't need to worry-"
"Sir Motoyasu."
…
Motoyasu moved from the doorway. Rino entered the room as Motoyasu sat on the edge of his bed. "Should I have really stayed behind Rino? I feel like I'm drowning while trying to handle everything."
"It's only your first day. I know you're doing your best." Rino dragged the chair from his desk next to his bed, before sitting in it and facing the Spear Hero.
"Yeah, but my best isn't enough," Motoyasu said sadly. "It's like problems are popping up all around me, and I don't have the energy to deal with all of them."
He explained to her what'd happened that day. Besides cooking for the kids and going through harsher training with Granny, who'd seemed weirdly more inspired than usual, there was also an argument he'd had to settle between two villagers over property lines. To make matters worse, another one of the villagers had also gotten himself seriously injured while fighting monsters in the forest, and he only managed to get back safely thanks to the help of one of the Filolials that Fitoria had ordered to protect the village. He'd have to visit the rabbit demi-human again tomorrow to do another round of healing spells on him before going to train, again.
The only problem that had been somewhat amusing to handle was a case of somebody throwing their excrements out of the window and onto the street.
And Naofumi had thought that they wouldn't need a law for such a thing in place…
"I feel like if things keep going at this rate, I'm going to be royally screwed by the others when they get back from Cal Mira." He said depressingly. "How can I possibly keep this village together by myself?" He asked the light green-haired girl.
"... Sir Motoyasu. Would you forgive me for calling you an idiot?" Rino calmly asked.
"Eh?" Motoyasu looked at her confusedly. She still looked impassive despite what she'd said.
"I understand that you feel overwhelmed, but Sir Naofumi has already entrusted you with watching over this place. Whining and complaining about it won't get you anywhere. So the only thing you can do now is suck it up, buck it up, grit your teeth, and move on to tomorrow."
"B-But have you even heard how today went?! Who's to say tomorrow won't be-"
She calmly stood up and pushed Motoyasu down onto the bed. "If you keep such a foul attitude about it, tomorrow will definitely be worse."
Motoyasu grumbled. "So I'm screwed either way then, great."
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you, Sir Motoyasu," Rino said as she pulled Motoyasu's blankets over his body. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't use it in the future."
"I mean, you try running this place!" Motoyasu complained.
"I'd be fine with that."
…
"Huh?"
Rino settled the blanket up to his shoulders, and then rubbed it down. Motoyasu suddenly realized what she'd done. She'd tucked him into bed like he was a little child.
He blushed in embarrassment.
"You're not alone. If you really are feeling overwhelmed, then don't be afraid to ask for me or Elena's help." She continued, her tone a little softer than before. "That's why you sent her to get the fertilizer, is it not?"
"Well, um…" Motoyasu looked down at the blanket sadly. "I don't want to push you ladies too much is all."
"... Sir Motoyasu, I can personally tell you that you could never push me as hard as a certain somebody did." Her lips briefly twisted into a scowl. It wasn't often that she looked angry, but when she did, it was because a certain bitch came to mind.
"Trust me when I say, you could never push me harder than she did. If you need assistance, I will give it. Without hesitation." She said seriously.
"O-Okay…" He thought to himself for a moment. "Would you… would you and Elena be willing to help me run the village then?" He asked, sounding hopeful.
"Of course. What do you think I've been doing today?" Rino blinked once.
Motoyasu blushed. Was she saying today could have been even worse than it already had been if not for her and Elena? This felt so different compared to the world he was from. There, it felt more like a virtual dating simulator compared to here.
She stood up. "Now, we have another long day ahead of ourselves. It'd be best if you got your rest. The last thing anyone needs is for you to faint from exhaustion during a crisis." She said seriously.
"I, I will." Motoyasu suddenly felt very exhausted. Rino was about to leave when he spoke up again. "A-And Rino."
She turned to face him. "... thank you for talking with me. Even though I accidentally woke you up."
…
A small smile appeared on her face. "Sleep well, Motoyasu." She blew out the candle holder next to his door, and left him with the comforting light of the stars outside his window.
As Motoyasu laid there, he thought about his time at Lute again. Yeah, it'd been downright terrible.
But along with that was the thought: 'I really didn't have help back then… Naofumi's right. I have everyone supporting me here.' His fist clenched at his side. 'There's no way I can fail, I say!'
He fell asleep soon after, and, the next day, about an hour or so after the sun had risen, Elena returned with all the knights who'd accompanied her with bags of High-Quality fertilizer resting in the back of their carriage.
She'd had a stroke of luck meeting a merchant who helped supply various things for her family's business. He'd acquired some fertilizer that a group of adventurers had gathered from a monster nest, and had been looking to sell it off. After negotiations, she still had a little money left over to get some more food to help tide the kids over.
The fertilizer didn't help the plants immediately. But as the day progressed, more fruit bloomed on their various branches. The plants and the ground around them also began to look more healthy again.
It wasn't the only challenge Motoyasu had to deal with while running the village. But thanks to the help of his party members, he moved forward after that, more positive and sure in the fact that things would get better from there.
Author's Notes:
I wish I could say I haven't met people like that Raccoon family in real life. But I can say that Motoyasu definitely handled them more poorly than Naofumi did in the LN's. (He didn't use his Cursed Series on them. He only made it clear that freeloading off him wasn't an option, and that they'd have to work for their food, after which they quickly left)
Also, the omake below addresses a common misconception about the scene involving Therese and L'Arc using the auto-translation function of the Scythe. So while you can laugh, know the explanations are canon here.
Hero Clips!
Gem Magic
"So wait, I'm confused, what did you do with your magic to get the auto-translation function?"
Ren, Itsuki, and the others sat at desks in an all too familiar room. Standing near the front were Naofumi and Therese, both in teacher's outfits.
"Hubba hubba! You should wear that more often Therese, you look freaking hot-" L'Arc started to yell from the back when a burst of chalk from the girl silenced him.
"Sorry about that, random person I haven't met yet," Therese said to the Sword Hero. Not even questioning how he knew about the scenario in general. "What I used is called Gem Magic."
"Gem Magic?" Itsuki asked curiously.
"Gem Magic is similar to Dragon Vein Magic, in that it allows me to take vitality from Gemstones in order to cast spells. I can only do this with their permission of course. That's why I treat them with all the love and care in the world. I want to be their friend, and in return, they provide help when I'm in need of it." Therese answered, looking fondly at the bracelets on her wrists.
The Heroes all blinked in confusion. They hadn't really followed along with that explanation at all. "So you befriend… a stone to cast spells?"
"Oh man! I had a pet Rock when I was young too!" Motoyasu exclaimed excitedly, before his face fell. "But he died…"
...
"So um, how did you use that to get the auto-translation function?" Ren meekly asked, while everyone else stared at the Spear Hero. Most in disbelief, but L'Arc in awe. 'Have I found one of my people?!' The redheaded kindergartner wished he could have had the chance to know him better in the actual story.
"Those of us who know Gem Magic have learned how to use a Hero's gemstone in order to give us the gift of translation for a long while now. It's very useful to have. But it only works if the gemstone is part of a Hero's weapon."
…
Everyone looked back at L'Arc and his scythe confusedly. L'Arc snapped out of his awe phase. "Hey, Therese! No spoilers, remember!"
"Sorry L'Arc. It's only because of the common misconception that people think Heroes of any world are capable of bestowing auto-translation on others. The anime really left some things out explaining that. It was only because of my magic that I was able to give myself auto-translation through your weapon."
"The anime left a lot of things out from this arc," Motoyasu said with a grumble. "It didn't even include the part where I awesomely dove into the water and tried stabbing the Wave Boss repeatedly with skills from my spear! All I did in the anime was launch one attack, and that was it!"
"Your attacks hardly did anything in the book too," Naofumi said with a shrug.
"But they did do something at least!" Motoyasu whined.
"Anyway, you're staying behind this arc, so it's not like the readers are missing out on anything," Naofumi said with a shrug.
"Screw you Naofumi!"
"Um, is there a reason why you're in a teacher's uniform too?" Itsuki asked Naofumi.
"Are you going to teach us something?" Ren asked.
"Huh… oh yeah. I guess I was supposed to explain how Heroes can be surrounded by 100 people speaking different languages, and yet I'd not only understand all of them, but all of them would understand me when I spoke. Show how great auto-translation really is and all that.
"I think it was to address what might look like a plot hole or something in regards to Therese and L'Arc's introductions. But..." He shrugged.
"Eh, I don't really care, either way, I guess."
...
All the Heroes sweatdropped.
"Has Shield Kiddo always been like this?" L'Arc asked the others.
"Yes." They all said, hanging their heads in embarrassment.
"Oi, class is dismissed, now get out of my classroom!"
Till Next Time
Allen