Shield Ninja

by Fluffball13

Naruto always wanted to be a hero. He just never expected he would become one due to a book hit him during his thief of the Forbidden Scroll. Together with Iruka, both have to survive this new world where everything is ruled by numbers and odd rules. Yet, it seemed ninja exist in this world and their mysterious master wants to assist them after they bolted from the summoning room.

7. Chapter 7

Author Note: Thanks again HaveaLittleFeith for editing this chapter. Now onto answering some reviews:

Wow: Did you ever explain why the shield treated Kurama as a weapon? If u did I most likely skipped it. Or not s proper explanation is needed.

Have some patience. Not everything is info dumped right away when something is learned. Though if people who know the Naruto series well enough might be able to piece it together before I reveal why the Tate-chan treats the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra as a weapon.

Several Reviews: Naruto is an anti-villain?

Yes. Though, he's not like Ainz Ooal Gown in Overlord as some of you have the impression of where I am going with this. An anti-villain is basically someone with heroic goals but will be villain-like in how they try to achieve those goals or are even just the villain in name only due to consequences beyond their control. Naruto goes down the route of anti-villain instead going the route of anti-hero due to he still wants to do his job as the Shield Hero to at least save the few good people in the rotten kingdom he is in as well as help those people out and will do anything to achieve those results.

Alright, onto the chapter! And sorry for posting a bit later than I usually do. Not only did I slept in today, but my internet decided to be a troll to boot!

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It seemed King Melromarc loved throwing salt on raw wounds. We were not allowed to eat with the heroes or even the knights of the castle.

Thankfully, the kitchen staff had no Shadows hidden amongst them. Iruka-sensei and I snatched up the leftovers from last night's feast meant for the trash. We ate our leftovers in the castle garden.

I offered some of the leftovers to the flask that Kaus' ashes rested in. It was… odd not hearing Kaus' complaints and smart responses.

"Are you the Shield Hero?" A knight came upon us and I scowled at him. Couldn't he see we were offering last respects to our… fallen family member. "The King has requested an audience with the Heroes and you."

"And why would I care?" I picked up Kaus' aches and sealed the flask away. "I bet he just wants to ground me into the mud more." As if I cared about myself now. I already lost one of my family due to that man's foolishness.

"You will go or…" The knight put his hand on his blade as he looked at Raphtalia with a smirk.

"Fuck you," I snarled but we followed the knight to the throne room. The other heroes and their parties were already there.

"So you finally came, scum." Motoyasu snorted as I took my place next to the heroes.

"Look who's talking." Motoyasu gritted his teeth at the Bow Hero.

"Silence," The King Melromarc made the room go silent from its whispers. "We shall now give out the rewards." Four attendants came out, each holding a bag. "As a reward for his efforts in the Wave and fulfilling my request, Master Motoyasu will receive 4000 silvers."

4-4000?! I could easily pay back my benefactor and have plenty for new equipment and supplies!

"And young masters Itsuki and Ren will receive 3800 silvers." All three heroes received their bags of coins. I looked at the bag before me and realized it was much smaller.

"Finally, I've set aside 500 silver for the Shield Hero." I reached for the loose bag, yet the attendant yanked it back. "However, since it has been offset by setting his slaves free from their curses, he will not be receiving any funds at this time."

"Figures." I sighed and turned to leave. There was no point for us to stay here as King Melromarc had no support for us.

"Wait a second." I stopped and looked at the Bow Hero and Sword Hero. "That's not gonna fly." The Bow Hero stepped forward. "You were the one interfering in his duel. Dispelling those curses… or whatever you call them… was your doing. And you now are refusing to pay him what he deserves? He lost one of his party members due to that duel! That isn't fair play!"

"Yeah," The Sword Hero snorted. "In fact, he deserves more than 500 silvers." Motoyasu gasped at his fellow heroes. "If you followed the rules, Naruto would have been a winner early in that duel."

"What? Are you crazy?" Motoyasu gasped out. "He sacrificed his own slave's life to protect his own skin!"

"I'm afraid you are both mistaken," Malty smiled with his arms crossed. "Sir Itsuki, Sir Ren. The Shield Hero was the one to cheat. It was to be a one on one duel and he made clones of himself. That is the real reason he did not declare the Shield Hero the winner. Same with his slave interfering."

"Even so, you cheated by firing a magic spell at him." Malty gritted her teeth at the Bow Hero's words. "And that was long before that lizard man swapped places with Naruto. And he used a skill. Motoyasu was spamming skills, too, but you aren't saying he cheated."

"Besides, when the Wave hit, it was Naruto, the Shield Hero, who defended that village. Not the knights." The Sword Hero sighed. "He also healed the wounded… and that lizard man might have lived if he hadn't already expended so much of his abilities during the Wave and duel. So if you ask me, it would be the right thing to fairly compensate him. Both for his job during the Wave and the loss of his comrade." Malty looked furious, but the King let out a sigh.

"Fine. I shall only afford him the minimum agreed amount, but there will be nothing more!" The attendant held out the bag and I took it.

500 silver… Add that with my 600 silver, I have 1100. Almost to repayment!

"Well, you have it, so be gone already!" King Melromarc snarled at me and I flinched at his scalding glare at me.

"What the?" The Bow Hero and Sword Hero looked surprised by the heated look at me, but I just sighed.

"So be it." I turned around and my party followed me out of the throne room. A knight led us out of the castle and we found the streets beginning their day with people going about their business with relieved faces.

"Master Naruto, let's get the slave crests put back on." Raphtalia chimed as we walked through the streets.

"What?" I looked at her with horror. "But you are free now like I promised… Albeit in a roundabout way, but that is one promise I kept." And planned on keeping it.

"If we were in another country, then it would be fine." Matthew stepped in. "But with the… king not your ally, we are safer your slaves than free."

"I also will get one again," Iruka-sensei said in a serious tone. "Those Shadows are too strong… I need to train harder to not fail you again." Iruka-sensei gritted his teeth in anger.

"Alright," I was too tired to fight it. We change directions and went to Beloukas's tent.

"I'll gladly put the slave crests back on." Beloukas chuckled as he looked over Matthew and Raphtalia. "Amazing, Who knew you could spot diamonds in the rough. Especially the lass. I thought she was more like us. I hadn't thought she had this much potential!"

"What does that mean?" My eyebrow twitched at the slave trader. "If you properly care for a person, of course, they are gonna end up much better than how your wares are."

"Hit it right where it hurts," Beloukas said in mock pain as he pulled out his supplies needed for the slave crests. "Ah, now then, as for the appraisal… The Rabbit Man's worth 10 gold pieces as he clearly is a mage now. The raccoon type certainly has become a beauty, but if she's not a virgin, then I would say… 20 pieces of gold."

"Why are you assuming he's here to sell us? And. besides, I AM a virgin!" Beloukas jumped back at Raphtalia's shout.

"Now we're talking! How does 35 gold pieces sound."

"35 gold pieces." 45 if you added in Matthew's value. That easily paid my benefactor back several times over.

"Master Naruto!" I yelped when Raphtalia grabbed on my shoulders. "Master Naruto, if you don't stop playing around, I'll get angry." Ow! Her grip actually hurts! Her attack must be much higher than my defense.

"Sorry… Just wasn't expecting you to be worth that much." I smiled back at Raphtalia. "You're worth way more to me than money."

"Real-Really?" Raphtalia's face turned pink.

"Anyways, Beloukas-san, I'm not here to sell. Who would sell off their own family members?"

"Family… member?" Whoa. Raphtalia's face turned red. Was she getting a fever?

"Too bad, too bad." Beloukas sighed as he mixed the ink up. "Alright, let's get those slave crests on."

"Alright," Raphtalia removed her breastplate and opened her shirt to expose… Quite some cleavage.

"How… is the view?" Raphtalia asked before I realized I was staring and turned around.

"S-Sorry!" I squeaked as the memories of peeking on women at the hot springs came back to me. I didn't want Raphtalia angry at me!

"Oh…" She sounded deflated before she gritted her teeth. I saw her contract appeared and set it like Iruka-sensei's before. If their attack was higher than mine, best to set up that no attacking command to prevent accidentally hurting each other… Am I wondering if we can stretch that command to cover the whole party?

"I don't look good? Raphtalia whimpered out.

"Have you heard all the commotion at the castle?" I changed the subject. Beloukas smiled at my question.

"I've heard of it. Including one of your slaves died being a shield for you."

"Yeah," I gingerly touched my pouch. If I wasn't the Shield Hero… Would he have lived?

"That king's rash remarks are not going to rid slavery in this kingdom. No, sir."

"So he was lying about me breaking this country's customs?" I bit my lip.

"Yes, sir. The royals buy more slaves than anyone else. They find all sorts of ways to put them to use, my boy."

"That idiot!" I hissed as my fury came back. "How could he say all those things and not end up a hypocrite against the Crown?" And now Kaus was dead because of his foolishness.

"Yes, the country is not monolithic. There are many different voices to be heard. If the Crown were to speak out against it, they would be the first ones to suffer from the proclamation."

"Does that fool of a king really have that much power?" I asked with a shiver.

"Yes, the monarchy exercises absolute authority, but that doesn't mean it can do whatever it wants. If the Crown acts against the wishes of the people, there will be riots. Under such circumstances, the royal family may not be able to hold onto power for very long. His little princess wouldn't be too happy about losing her shot at the throne." Beloukas chuckled, "And there are people with more power than the king."

"My benefactor, huh?" I wondered who this person was. Not that I'm going to prod, what with seeing that the King had his own Shadows. I just had to be more careful with who I allied myself with.

"Yes, I actually can't wait to see what happens when she returns."

"Right," I rather not be around when this "she" returns. I glanced around and seen a large crate in the corner filled with eggs. It wasn't there before. "What's that?"

"Oh?" Beloukas grinned, "This is a monster egg lottery. For a 100 silver, you are guaranteed at least a Filolial. You win a monster that will double in value if you raise it properly."

"A… Filolial?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Certainly you've seen them in the town?" I turned to Raphtalia. "They are those giant bird monsters that pull people's carriages around town."

"Oh, yeah. Those fluffy ostriches." I said as I remembered seeing the huge birds in the streets.

"Once more, if you hit the jackpot," Beloukas threw his arms out in excitement. "You'll win a knight's dragon! And may I remind you that beast is worth 20 gold pieces!"

"Dragons exist here?" I said in awe. Were they like the legends? Or maybe the one he spoke of was like the giant lizards the knights rode. Still, a dragon sounded awesome!

"So, you wanna try it, my boy?" Beloukas chimed at me. "Act now and it will be a package deal. For the eggs and slave crests."

A slave crest was 50 silvers… So…

"You got yourself a deal."

"Master Naruto?!"

"Calm down," I sighed as I looked at the eggs. "We need to fill Kaus's place in our party… And I don't think I can buy another slave after what happened."

"So, you will raise a monster instead?" Matthew let out a sigh. "Don't tell me you are after the dragon?"

"Even a Usapil would be worth it." And if it was too hard to keep, we could sell the monster back… Still, getting a dragon would be cool.

"There are 250 eggs in the crate and only one of them is a dragon egg," Beloukas continued, "I've compensated for the difference in weight with a magic spell."

"A 1 in 250 chance." I sighed and looked over the eggs. They all… felt a little different from each other…"Wait, you said you made it harder to tell which egg is the dragon?"

"Why, yes!"

"Isn't this the dragon egg?" I picked up the only egg that didn't feel like a duplicate. It was near the middle.

"How… How… Let me see the number on the egg." I showed the egg to Beloukas and he flipped through a little log book he pulled from his sleeve. "I… I don't believe it. How could you tell it was the winning egg?!"

"What?!"

"He actually won the dragon?!" Matthew and Raphtalia gasped in shock while Iruka-sensei furrowed his brows.

"How could you tell, Naruto?" Iruka-sensei asked.

"I just… felt it." I scrunched my brows. "Like how I feel this weird feeling of people using chakra and mana."

"And you sensed the magic before, too."

"Yeah. I was surprised I could dodge it with sensing it. "I laughed.

"And to think… I've been failing… you." Iruka-sensei spoke in Melromarc. "Sensor-nin."

"Sensor-nin?" Beloukas asked with his glasses shining.

"A ninja… able to sense… things others can't." Iruka-sensei sighed as he closed his eyes. I felt his chakra leave his body and returned to him like an echo. He then picked up an egg from the right side of the line in the create. "This is… Filolial."

Beloukas checked the book again and dropped it. "Right again! How do you do that?!"

"Natural ability… Rare." Iruka-sensei sighed. "I should have seen… it as… I am a… Sensor-nin."

"Amazing… Iruka-sensei and Master Naruto are amazing!" Raphtalia chirped out with her hands together.

"Amazing, indeed." Beloukas wrung his hands together. "Did you chose that Filolial with sensing how strong it was?"

"Yes… Felt strongest."

"Oh! You are both giving me goosebumps!" Beloukas grin grown ear to ear. "I'll let you have the Filolial egg for free with choosing the winning egg! I can't wait to see the results of you raising monsters, my boy!"

"Well, that will at least make travel easier," I laughed at how excited Beloukas was. "You want to register yourself as the owner, Iruka-sensei? You are already training one monster." I grinned at my joke.

"No. Best you own them." Iruka-sensei handed me the Filolial egg. "You did decide to buy an egg. They are your responsibly."

"Why… do you sound so stern about it?" I laughed weakly as the Beloukas pulled out two dishes.

"Look at the symbol painted on the eggshell, and copy it onto the dish before you." I did as he said with my blood mixed ink and painted the symbol onto the dish. When I did, the symbol glowed red and both eggs appeared in my monster crest section. It had a window pop up detailing various rules of usage that I could set for the monster.

I set that the two monsters would have to obey my orders or face punishment and it was set stricter than the others. They may not understand language, so I had to have the means to tell the two right from wrong.

Beloukas wrung his hands in delight and brought over two machines that looked like some kind of incubator. I placed the eggs inside them.

"If they don't hatch, I'll be back for my money." I glared at Beloukas. There was a chance the monsters inside could die before hatching.

"I tip my hat at you, Hero! Determined to get his money's worth even with knowing which eggs he got!" Wow. Beloukas was in way too good of a mood with losing a 20 gold piece dragon for 1 gold piece. "Ah, my boy, what is your name? I am sure you will gladly advertise my lottery to others with showing off your winning dragon."

I knew it! So that was why he was so happy! Well, might as well throw the guy a bone since he helped me out a lot.

"Sure. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the Shield Hero." I bowed as I introduced myself.

"Naruto Uzumaki… Quite a splendid name." Beloukas chuckled. "Here's to a long time relationship with you, Sir Naruto."

"I guess," I took Beloukas outstretched hand and shook it. "So, just when should I expect these two to hatch?" I passed the coins to him as I asked.

"It's written on the incubator," I glanced at them and saw both should hatch some time tomorrow.

"That's fast," I said as we walked away from Beloukas.

"I'm always glad when you pay me a visit, my boy. Come back soon!"

Or not. I had Matthew carry one of the incubators while I held onto the other one. We left the tent and headed back to the streets. "Let's go to the pharmacy and then head to the weapon shop."

"Master Naruto! You shouldn't waste money like this!" Raphtalia scolded me.

"I know. I have extra medicine from the Wave. I am hoping to get enough to get Matthew a better weapon or even some plate armor for you three."

"We already got enough protection as is." Matthew sighed. "It's not like anything can stand up against the strength of a hero."

"But we may have… other problems than the heroes." I sighed as we reached the pharmacy. "I want to protect you, be it directly or indirectly."

"Naruto," Iruka-sensei whispered as we entered the pharmacy. The old man behind the counter looked at me in shock.

"Boy, you are a demi?" He asked, amazed at my growth. "No wonder you asked for tools for your own medicine, Shield Hero."

"Ack! You know?!" I flinched back from the old man.

"Not many kids with a shield on their arms around here." The old man smiled at me. Huh? He always had a sullen face, so it was weird to see him with a smile. "I have a lot of relatives in Lute Village. They asked me to help you if you came here." The old man pulled out a book from under the counter. It was old and well loved.

"A book?"

"This grimoire has recipes finer than the ones you have here for sale." He pointed at my medicines on the counter. "Use it, it's yours." I looked over the pages and went pale. It… was very word heavy and I could only read bits and pieces of it.

"There's something else," I looked up at the old man. No, I'll call him Doc. "The old hag from the magic shop was asking to see you. It's for a similar reason."

"Magic shop… Aunt's shop?" I asked with a cocked head.

"I believe so. It's on the main street." Yep. Aunt's shop. "I'll pay you fifty silvers for all your medicine."

"Sold!" I took the money with a grin. That was the best price I have gotten so far for medicine! We left the pharmacy and went to Aunt's shop.

"Oh! Shield Hero! I have to thank you for saving my grandchild in the battle at Lute!" Aunt took my hand and shook it with glee. "I must repay you. Come here." Auntie went behind her counter and pulled out some books from the bookshelf. "These are a bit old, but they cover the basics of the affinities you all have." She placed three grimoires before us. "Please take them. They can teach you up to the second tier of magic if you work hard enough!"

"That's a bit much," I said.

"I actually would have preferred to give you a crystal ball, but if I did I would put myself out of business."

"Why's that?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Aunt looked at us with surprise. "If you use a crystal ball, you can learn one of the magics sealed within it."

"First I ever heard of it," but that was probably what the masked lady tried to have us buy. Something like that had to cost a fortune.

"Odd," Aunt looked at me in confusion. "I heard the royal court had ordered a bunch of them to give to all the heroes."

"Yeah, they probably did… To every hero except me, that is." I sighed. But, that's what I got for being cautious. And I don't regret it with how King Melromarc is like. "Oh, well, I will just have to work harder then."

"That's the spirit!" Aunt hummed out. "Work hard and you will learn many spells from those grimoires."

"Thank you." I smiled at Aunt and we left her shop feeling a little better. "Guess we got a lot of studying to do."

"I'll gladly assist you, Master." Matthew hummed out. "I will do my hardest to ensure the magic potential of our party is reached.

"Oh! I forgot to buy you a new wand!" We reached Uncle's shop.

"Actually, I think Boss here will have more of what I want in a weapon."

"Really?" I asked as we entered the shop.

"Oh, welcome!" Uncle cheered when we walked into the shop. "Glad to see you… Wait, where's that-Oh." We all frowned and he changed the subject. "Guess you are here to make up for that loss. How can I help you?"

"Can you get Iruka-sensei, Raphtalia, and Matthew some metal breastplates and Matthew a new weapon."

"Do you have any staffs that are short?" Matthew asked, "I don't think I can wield a long staff."

"Why, yes I do." Uncle went around the counter and pulled a branch looking club out of a barrel. It had a gem embedded in the knot formed at the top. "Will this do?"

"Perfect." Matthew took the club into his hand and swung it around. "With this, I can cast magic and attack if I needed to."

"Good. I'll give ya a discount and throw it in for half off with the order of the three breastplates." Uncle looked around his shop and plucked the breastplates from different areas of the shop. "Here, try them on. I'll adjust them if needed."

All three took turns and changed in the changing room. Iruka-sensei's breastplate was similar to the knights' and protected his shoulders as well. Raphtalia's was rounder and had leather for most of it to keep her mobility. Matthew's looked similar to mine being just a plate to cover the chest.

"300 silver pieces should be good enough." Uncle nodded, proud of picking out breastplates that fit.

"Thanks," Down back to 700 silvers. However, it would be worth it now that my… family had better protection. "Let's head back to Lute for now." We were just beginning to move onto the swamplands near there and it should be the perfect area to work…" I shut my mouth.

We no longer had Kaus. Could we handle the swamplands without him?

"Right. And we can help the villagers rebuild a little." Raphtalia chimed and brought me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, let's do our best," I said even with deep pain in my heart.

---

I looked at the hourglass-like symbol marked with Melromarc and found we had forty-five days till the next wave. I bought some new compounding equipment and let Tate-chan absorb the old stuff I was using.

Mortar Shield conditions met.
Beaker Shield conditions met.
Druggist's Mortar Shield conditions met.
Mortar Shield:
(ability locked) equip bonus: Novice Compounding
Beaker Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Liquid Solutions Bonus
Druggist's Mortar Shield:
(ability locked) equip bonus: Gathering Skill 2

Awesome! These will greatly improve my medicines! With our supplies and a quick meal in our stomachs, we headed back to Lute. As we got closer to Lute, we found the dead enemies of the Wave laying around the fields outside of Lute.

Inter-Dimensional Locust Shield: conditions met.
Inter-Dimensional Lower Bee Shield: conditions met.
Inter-Dimensional Zombie Shield: conditions met.
Inter-Dimensional Locust Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Defense +6
Inter-Dimensional Lower Bee Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Agility +6
Inter-Dimensional Zombie Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: inventory rot resistance (small)

I butchered the enemies further to see if any of their parts would result in additions shields. Sadly, there weren't enough materials and I only unlocked one more shield at the cost of my stomach flipping.

Bee Needle Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Attack +1
Equip Effect: Needle Shield(small), Bee Poison(paralysis)

Awesome! Another attack shield! And it had a paralyzing effect? That will be useful.

We continued our way into the village when we came across a group of villagers removing the corpse of the boss monster.

"Hey!"

"Oh! The Shield Hero!" The villagers greeted us warmly. Though their looks quickly soured as they looked back at the beast.

"It's a terrible thing."

"It sure is." I flinched at the torn up corpse. Seemed the heroes and knights torn into the thing for materials and left it to rot. Damn, nausea hit me with looking at the carnage. I could take dealing with guts and such, but this poor beast was mutilated almost beyond recognition.

"Can I have a little of it?"

"Of course. We were just wondering what we should do with it. We were going to bring it back to the village and process it into equipment. Sounds good?"

"Not a bad idea, but it doesn't look like there is anything of use left." I looked at the beast and had an idea. "You may be able to use the bones, but could we have the meat?"

"The meat?"

"You're not thinking of eating it?!" Raphtalia gasped out.

"No. We have a dragon and Filolial. Best stock up on food for them."

"Oh, those can eat just about anything."

"Yeah. Better than letting it rot. Let us process it for you."

"Sure and thanks." We helped the villagers butcher the remains to make it easier to move and Tate-chan absorbed what she could.

Chimera Meat Shield: conditions met.
Chimera Bone Shield: conditions met.
Chimera Leather Shield: conditions met.
Chimera Viper Shield: conditions met.
Chimera Meat Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Cooking Skill +2
Chimera Bone Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Shadow Resistance(medium)
Chimera Leather Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Defense +10
Chimera Viper Shield
(abilities locked) equip bonus: "Change Shield" skill, Antidote Compounding Up, Poison Resistance(medium)
Equip Effect: Snake Venom Fang(medium), Hook

The last one had the best bonuses and a very high defense rating. I would be equipping it as soon as I mastered the other chimera shields to unlock it.

"So, you are going to leave us the bones?" One villager asked.

"Yeah. You could probably sell them to earn money for rebuilding." I put my hands together. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I made several clones and we helped the villagers bring the meat and bones back to the village after I absorbed the guts and anything that looked like it could rot quickly.

It was dusk when we reached the village and the governor got us settled in the inn for free. I was a bit embarrassed by the free room and board, but I took it.

"So, what are we going to do?" Matthew asked as he pulled out the magic books.

"We are going to train near here for a few days." I answered as I looked at the eggs. "We can't help too much for rebuilding, but I plan to use my clones to assist in rebuilding while we train." Plus, while the clones did the construction work, the clones could unlock shields. It would be a win-win for everyone.

"That sounds… like a good idea." Iruka-sensei smiled at me. "Let's study hard… tonight."

"Yes. I want to learn healing magic no matter what." I gripped my fists and we all jumped into studying the tomes we had acquired. We, for once, slept in as we had studied into the wee hours of the night.

When I woke up, I found both eggs with cracks in them. "Everyone! Wake up!" I rushed to wake everyone and they crowded around me as the eggs formed more cracks. The cracks spread on one egg and opened with an audible crack.

"Cheep!" A small pink chick popped out of the egg and looked at me. "Cheep!" It chirped and flew up to me and landed on my head.

"So cute!" Raphtalia chirped out. "It thinks you are its mother."

"Imprinting, hm?" Iruka-sensei said as the other egg hatched. A little lizard head popped out and it looked at me. It was… pink as well?

"A… pink dragon?" Raphtalia asked as both Matthew and Iruka-sensei snorted to stop from laughing.

"Gaugh?" I held my hand out to the dragon and it sniffed my hand. It licked it before climbing up my arm like a lizard. It stretched out its little wings before the chick fussed and tried to kick the dragon. The dragon hissed back.

"No!" Both froze up at my voice. "Do not fight each other!" I yanked them apart. They looked at me with fearful eyes. "Do that again and I'll sell you right now!"

"Master Naruto! That's just cruel!"

"But we can't have them fighting each other." I sighed as I placed the dragon and chick down.

"Cheep?" The chick went back over to the dragon and the dragon went and hid back in the incubator. It peaked out fearfully and the chick came closer and touched it's beak to the dragon's nose. The dragon licked the chick back, and it went to nuzzle up to the dragon.

"It… worked?!"

"Good… I didn't expect it to." I sheepishly laughed as both the dragon and the chick took over my shoulders. "Though you guys left quite a mess." I cleared up the egg shells, feathers, and scales left behind. My shield reacted and absorbed them.

Monster User Shield: conditions met.
Monster Egg Shield: conditions met.
Monster User Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Monster Maturation Adjustment(small)
Monster Egg Shield
(ability locked) equip bonus: Cooking Skill +3

"Another adjustment shield?" I changed my shield to the Monster User Shield. "Well… Wait, what do you feed baby monsters?" I asked with a bit of worry.

"I don't know… I think I saw a farm with Filolials, so they might know." Raphtalia said and we agreed to search out one of the farmers. We found one fixing his barn.

"A Filolial chick and a dragon?!" The farmer gasped in awe when we walked up. "You better keep those two separated. Those two species don't mix."

"I saw that." So that would be a good thing I had nipped it in the bud, if it comes up again I will need to smash that problem. "Do you know what young Filolials and dragons eat?"

"I don't know if it will work for the dragon, but Filolails you'll have to feed them warm bean paste to start with. Once they get bigger, they will eat anything. If you level it up, it'll become big that much faster."

"I see. So it's the same as Demi-humans. Let's go increase these two's levels so they can eat."

"Ah, Shield Hero!" I turned back to the farmer. "Please take these beans. You don't have anything to feed them, do you?" He held out a small sack of beans.

"Sorry. How much for those?"

"Oh, take them for free. It is fine, really." The farmer smiled at me as he held the beans out. "We villagers are truly grateful to you, Shield Hero."

"Ah… But your barn was hit bad." I looked over the place. Holes were throughout the barn.

"Yeah. I lost quite a few of my Filolials because of it." I took the bag and placed some copper coins in his hand. "Huh? I said-"

"You need funds to restore your barn." He went wide eyed at me. "It's not much for the beans, but it can help with food for your family and monsters." And… I really didn't want to take anything that he needed away from him. He probably had chicks to feed as well.

We left the barn and headed out to level.

"So, are you going to name them?" Raphtalia asked.

"Er… Do we need to name them?" I mean, if these two become a problem, the we would have to sell them back to Beloukas.

"Are you just going to call it 'chick,' 'dragon,' or 'Filolial?'" Raphtalia huffed.

True… That would make it hard to train them… So…

"How about Filo for the chick and Lial for the dragon?"

"Your creativity amazes me." Raphtalia smacked her forehead while Matthew and Iruka-sensei gave me strained smiles.

"Oh, give me a break!"

"Cheep!"

"Gaugh!"

The Filolial gave off a satisfied chirp and the dragon gave a proud little growl as if they understood me naming them. They made my head heavy as both nestled on my head.

We went to the swamplands and I still was surprised by the Big Frogs. They reached up to my waist.

"I'm going!"

"Wait! Raphtalia!" I hadn't restrained the frog yet!

"Hiya!" Raphtalia slashed at the frog and startled it. Then the Big Frog puffed up its cheeks and then shot its razor sharp tongue at Raphtalia.

"Watch out!" I ran forward and caught the brunt of the attack with my shield.

"Cheep!" Both Filo and Lial were excited and seemed to run on my head and shoulders.

"I'll hold it down, so you just calm down!"

"But I…"

"He's right," Iruka-sensei said as Matthew chanted a spell. The Big Frog shot out its tongue at me and I caught it with my hands… Eeeew. "Faust Wind Blow!" A ball of air hit the Big Frog and knocked it off balanced.

"Go!"

"Okay!" Raphtalia lunged at the frog with her sword and sliced it down with ease.

"You need to be more cautious, Raphtalia." I sighed as I let go of the tongue.

"But, we don't have much time until the next-"

"We have a month and a half," Matthew answered, "If we keep at this rate, we'll hit the limit before we can afford a class-up."

"Class-up?" Iruka-sensei, Raphtalia, and I asked.

"Ah, right. The most one can level naturally is to level 40. After that, you have to do this class-up ceremony to break past it. Not that I know how as I was just a normal shopkeeper."

"Damn. That's not good," Iruka-sensei was already almost to the limit.

"Gugeeeeh!"

What the? I turned at the sudden sound and saw something twice as big as the Big Frog and there was a Gray Salamander with it. Both ran straight at us.

"In you go!" I stuffed both Filo and Lial into my armor and rushed forward.

"Master Naruto!" I blocked the viscous, poisonous-looking liquid spat at me.

"Go!"

"Okay!" She ran at the two beasts and quickly cut them down with her sword.

I butchered the monsters and let the shield absorb the parts. The frog meat looked gross, but my cooking ability appraised it as edible. Guess that will be monster food.

"Pii!" Filo crawled out from my armor and walked over to the defeated monsters. It struck a defiant pose over their bodies as if it had killed them itself. Cute.

We continued with training in the area and by evening I felt the results.

Naruto Uzumaki Lv. 28
Raphtalia Lv. 32
Matthew Lv. 30
Iruka Umino Lv. 34
Filo Lv. 12
Lial Lv. 12

Filo and Lial didn't contribute to the battles at all but received enough experience points to level up quickly. Both of them had grown to where only one could stay on my head at a time. Filo looked like a dark pink steamed bun while Lial seemed like a plump lizard. It had turned dark pink, too. I took some feathers from Filo and fed them into my shield.

Monster User Shield II: conditions met.
Monster User Shield II
(ability locked) equip bonus: Monster Status Adjustment(small)

"Piyo."

"Groo."

Wow. They even sounded different. I let both of them down as they have gotten heavy. They both walked around authoritatively… Till their stomachs growled. We already ran out of the beans by midday, so we fed them some of the frog meat. They were still hungry and began to eat anything that looked like food, like piles of hay we'd found on the road heading back to Lute. They ate all of it and they were still hungry.

Damn. It must be proof of how fast they were growing. Do I need to feed them Nourishing Beverages to make sure they have proper nutrition?

"Are… they growing a bit too fast?" Matthew said in awe.

"I know… Monsters sure are amazing." It wouldn't be long before they could carry us!

We went back to the inn and I asked the innkeeper where we could keep Filo and Lial. He led us to the stables, which were lined with hay for Filo and Lial could make a bed.

"Huh? Why are the Chimera bones and meat in here?" The meat was hanging from the ceiling.

"We decided to hang it up here and wait for it to soften a bit. That should make further processing easier." The innkeeper said, "We also had some people came by and are interested in the meat as well."

"Oh?" So there were buyers for this meat? Probably researchers.

"Piyo!"

Grumble.

Hungry already! I sighed and unsealed some more meat and fed the Filolial and dragon.

Pikee, Pikee, Pikee.

Was that their bones creaking? Were both of them already growing?

"I can't believe how much these two grown over the day. You might be in over your head, eh?" The innkeeper looked concerned.

"They are only at level 12."

"Huh? Level 12?" The innkeeper shot a surprised glanced at Firo and Lial. "To grow this much in only a few days after it birth! Well, I'd swear they were at level 20! You're very impressive, Hero."

I guessed the maturation adjustment was to blame. Every time I checked their status, the numbers were different. So I guess they were really growing very quickly.

I rubbed Filo and Lial's heads till they fell asleep. Once both were snoring, we went back to our room for studying.

---

I woke up early and snuck out of the room to not wake up the others. We all stayed up late studying language and magic. However, I really wanted to check on Filo and Lial.

"Gah!"

"Gah!"

Two loud, wild voices greeted me when I entered the stables. When I saw Filo and Lial, I recoiled back in shock. Both had grown since last night. Filo… Where it had just been a round chick before now had its legs and neck grown out. It stood there, looking something like an ostrich.

Lial, too. The dragon now had wings to fit her large size and looked like those lizard creatures I seen in the streets, well minus the fact that Lial had wings and those didn't.

The only difference was the duo were both to my waist compared to normal Filolials and dragons. If I was still my original size, I could have ridden them… But not now.

Grumble…

I thought so. Raphtalia and I had the worst of appetites when we leveled up. I bought some food for them before coming into the stable and fed them.

"Look at you! And you just hatched yesterday!" I smiled as both… Wait, why were they making the same sound? That was odd.

Still, the possibilities before me with these two were endless. Filo could pull a cart once it was old enough and Lial could fly! That would make traveling so much easier and we could find the best areas to train faster.

"Woah. What a mess." Both Filo and Lial had shed feathers and scales. They had changed colors again. Filo was a mix of white and very light pink while Lial was a pastel-like pink with a white belly. It matched her oddly softer features she had compared to the lizards I saw.

"Clean up, clean up." Maybe I can use these feathers and scales as materials for my shield.

Monster User Shield III: conditions met.
Monster User Shield III
(ability locked) equip bonus: Maturation Adjustment(medium)

Wow! Does that mean Filo and Lial would grow even faster?! I changed Tate-chan to unlock it… Wait… Does that mean the maturation adjustment affect me as well?

"Here's hoping to not grow back into a giant." I laughed as Filo and Lial nudged me. "Right. Let's go play!" Both cheered and followed me outside. I grabbed a stick and thrown it for both to play catch. They took turns catching it and bringing it back to me.

"Good." I smiled before they started to impress me with working together to catch the stick higher and higher. "And they said Filolials and dragons didn't get along!" I laughed.

"Only you would be able to get a dragon and Filolial to work together," Kaus said as he stood next to me. I went wide-eyed before I chuckled back at him.

"Well, we… got a lot ahead of us." I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Just keep chugging along. You'll make it." I opened my eyes and Kaus was gone.

"Gah?" Filo nudged me and I focused back on the two.

"Sorry." I petted them both.

"Mmm… There you are, Master Naruto. And look at that smile! I don't think I've ever seen you so happy!"

"Really?" I asked as Raphtalia walked to me. "Don't I smile all the time?"

"Never like that." Hm? Her smile was a bit twisted. Was she still tired?

"Gah!" Filo was lightly tapping at Raphtalia with its beak. Lial followed Filo and nudged Raphtalia at the other side. Raphtalia smiled and rubbed both monsters.

"Where should we go train?" I asked.

"How about we go the plains to the south of here?" Oh! Matthew and Iruka-sensei walked up to us. "There is bound to be plenty of edible and herbal grasses there," Matthew said with a smile.

"Good idea." I put my hands together and formed several clones.

"Gah!" Filo and Lial looked at me in shock.

"Go help the villagers except one of you. That one is coming with us to gather herbs."

"Yes, sir!"

With that out of the way, we went to the fields and fought monsters until we leveled up.

Naruto Uzumaki Lv. 29
Raphtalia Lv. 33
Matthew Lv. 31
Iruka Umino Lv. 34
Filo Lv. 15
Lial Lv. 15

Did we hit Iruka-sensei's cap of growth here? Guess we can catch up to him and move on.

I was thankful for my clone as I spent most of my time picking edible grasses for Filo and Lial. Though, all the stuff I absorbed got me some small status bonuses. I needed every little one I could get. By evening, it seemed Filo and Lial reached to being full-grown.

"Sure is growing up quickly. Normally it takes them three months or more to reach this size." The innkeeper and the farmer were both surprised. "And that's a Knight's Dragon. I never thought I would see one up close." The farmer the laughed as my dragon greeted his Filolials and nuzzled against the confused birds. "It must think it's a Filolial, too!"

"Maybe," It did follow Filo around as if it was its sibling.

"Gah!"

"Huh?" Filo called out and dipped its head for me to climb onto its back. "You want me to ride you?"

"Gah!" Filo nodded as if it understood me and I got on.

"Wait! You best get a sad-"

"Gah!"

"Woah!" Filo stood up and my vantage point changed. So high-Oh, shit!

Filo took off running and I grabbed its feathers to keep from falling off.

Sooo fast! Even faster than Iruka-sensei! I could barely keep up with where we were at. Filo circled the village once before returning to the stables.

"That… was insane." I took a deep breath once Filo sat down and let me off. "I didn't expect Filo would be so fast!" And Filo didn't look tired one bit! It just went to preening its feathers.

"Gah!"

Huh? Lial nudged me and offered its back to ride.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair if Filo just got to be a ride on."

"Master Naruto, wait! Knight Dragons-"

"Gah!" Off we went, my second time around the village. There were some times where Lial would open its wings and glide, but it stuck mostly to the ground.

"Now, that's odd." The farmer said after I have gotten off Lial. "Usually a flying type dragon would want to fly right away. I never have seen one that ran before."

"Really?" I looked at Lial in shock as Filo and Lial cleaned each other.

Did I get a dud dragon?… Oh, well. Lial was still fast like Firo, so the gold piece was still worth it for both of them.

"Well, let's get to studying." I turned to Iruka-sensei. "You said you wanted to teach me a jutsu?"

"Yeah. That way you have some form of attack." Iruka-sensei grinned as I felt a tug on my collar.

"Huh?" Filo and Lial looked like they were wanting to cry. I tried to turn to leave again, yet they pulled on my cloak again.

"What is it?"

"Gaaaah!" Both dug their feet into the ground, determined to stand their ground.

"What? You want to play more?" Raphtalia asked, but both shook their heads in a "no." Could they really understand us?

"Are you… lonely?" I asked and both nodded. They flapped their wings and cried out.

"Oh, boy," I sighed. "Guess our studying is in here tonight."

"You better not think of sleeping in here tonight."

"No, no. We'll just stay till they fall asleep." But, just in case… I had my clone practice with the new herbs we found. We still couldn't read the medicine grimoire, so it was more a guessing game than true compounding.

However, even as we studied, the odd sounds of Filo and Lial's bones creaking made me constantly worry. I looked at the Chimera meat and prayed to whatever deities were listening… Please, please, please, make the two cows worth of meat last us!