BRING BACK THE TRUE SHIELD-HERO! (See what I did there?)

With the long-awaited second season of The Rising of the Shield Hero now airing, it is now time for not only my comeback but also the return of my Shield-Hero Fergus Ward and his companions in the second chapter of my OC Shield-Hero series: Adventures of a True Shield-Hero!

I also want to apologise for starting and then stopping my Attack on Titan story. I fully intended to get stuck in on that but then lost the motivation to do so. So I've made the decision that my focus, for the time being, will be on my True Shield-Hero and Isekai Quintet stories. So once I've finished off this story, I'll probably move on to the second part of Isekai Quintet (which for those who haven't read it yet is based on Isekai Quartet with the addition of my OC Shield-Hero). Make no mistake, I do fully intend to write that AoT story one day, but for now, I want to put all my energy into this.

And if you haven't read my first story yet, please do so before reading this! It's called Rise of a True Shield-Hero (redux) and deals with the events of the first season of the anime.

Speaking of anime, I've added a few more titles to my watch list as well as continuing other series as well. One of which was Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 2 which I absolutely loved! My current watchlist for this season, in addition to Shield-Hero, includes Spy x Family, Skeletal Knight in Another World and the last few dubbed episodes of How A Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

But enough waffling, let's get into why we're all here! Presenting the first chapter of Adventures of a True Shield Hero. As usual, I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of its characters, locations, events or anything else related to the anime/manga/Light Novels. The only thing I own is my OC, Fergus Ward. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 - New Rurorona

What follows is an extract from the Chronicles of the Legendary Heroes, Category: Shield Heroes, Sub-Category: Fergus Ward, published year unknown, author unknown

The Shield Hero Fergus Ward has many titles to his name, but this entry will only recount his deeds as the wielder of the Legendary Shield. For details about his exploits and deeds as the Lord of New Rurorona, The Saviour of the Heavenly Fowl and his other titles, please refer to those entries that are catalogued in either the History of Melromarc or the History of Our World

Fergus Ward was summoned from another world as the Legendary Shield Hero, one of the Four Heroes that are collectively known as the Cardinal Heroes, alongside the other Heroes of their era: Motoyasu Kitamura, the Legendary Spear Hero (refer to Category: Spear Heroes for his entry), Ren Amaki, the Legendary Sword Hero (refer to Category: Sword Heroes for his entry) and Itsuki Kawasumi, the Legendary Bow Hero (refer to Category: Bow Heroes for his entry) by the kingdom of Melromarc at the orders of then King-Consort Aultcray Melromarc XXXII (refer to Category: King-Consorts of Melromarc for his entry pre his loss of royal status or Category: Notable Citizens of Melromarc, Sub-Category: Trash for his entry after his loss of royal status) in the time between the first and second Waves of Calamity of that era, in defiance of the agreements created by Queen Mirellia Melromarc (refer to Category: Queens of Melromarc for her entry) and the representatives of the world's other nations at the time.

Shortly after his arrival into the world, Fergus Ward was the victim of a scheme conceived by then-King-Consort Aultcray and then-First Princess Malty Melromarc (refer to Category: Princes and Princesses of Melromarc for her entry pre her loss of royal status or Category: Notable Citizens of Melromarc, Sub-Category: Bitch/Slut for her entry after her loss of royal status) whereby he was falsely accused of sexually assaulting the then-Princess Malty and as a result became ostracised by the majority of the population of Melromarc, including the other Three Heroes who believed the tales spun by the then-First Princess.

Despite this massive setback, the Shield-Hero still performed his duty in fighting back the Waves. Indeed, from what has been told of his deeds by those who knew him, he was the Hero who took the threat of the Waves more seriously than the others and was at the forefront of the efforts to repel the Second, Third and Fourth Waves of that era, caring not for the lack of recognition from his deeds but instead for the safety of the common people, even those who thought badly of him due to his false reputation as a rapist that had been spread around the country.

Though he was denied any form of official access to party members due to what had happened to him, Fergus still put together a party of his own to help him combat the Waves. These included the tanuki demi-human Raphtalia (refer to Category: Companions of the Shield-Hero Fergus Ward for her entry), who joined him before the second Wave, the Filolial Queen known as Filo (refer to Category: Companions of the Shield-Hero Fergus Ward or Category: Notable Filolial Queens for her entry) who joined him before the third Wave, and the wanui demi-human Keel ( refer to Category: Companions of the Shield-Hero Fergus Ward for her entry), who joined him after the Third Wave. Then-Crown Princess Melty Melromarc (refer to Category: Queens of Melromarc for her entry) also briefly joined the Shield-Hero's party in between the Third and Fourth Waves after Fergus saved her from an assassination attempt that had been organized by her then-sister Princess Malty in order to make herself the heir to the throne.

After rescuing Crown Princess Melty, Fergus and his party were forced on the run due to false reports that they had abducted the Crown Princess. They were able to escape their pursuers and were granted refuge by Van Reichnott (refer to Category: Notable Citizens of Melromarc for his entry) and later the then Queen of all the worlds Filolials, Fitoria (refer to Category: Notable Filolial Queens for her entry) until they could meet up with Queen Mirellia and get Fergus' name cleared. Unfortunately, he, his party and the other Three Heroes were subject to a murder attempt by the High Priest of the Church of Three Heroes, Biscas T. Balmus (refer to Category: Notable Citizens of Melromarc for his entry) and his followers. However, the Four Heroes were able to successfully thwart the attempt, resulting in Biscas' death, and in the aftermatch Queen Mirellia returned to Melromarc and immediately put the then-King Consort Aultcray and then-First Princess Malty on trial for their crimes against the kingdom and the Shield-Hero, where they were found guilty and suitably punished. This trial was also successful in clearing the name of Fergus Ward when the accusations against him were easily proven to be false.

Shortly after the Fourth Wave, and in recognition of his heroic deeds for keeping the kingdom of Melromarc and its citizens safe, as well as a token of apology from Queen Mirellia for the actions of her family that had resulted in all his hardships, Fergus Ward was granted the title of Lord of the new settlement of New Rurorona that was to be constructed from the ruins of the previous demi-human settlement of Rurorona Village. At this time, he added the human magic-caster Rishia Ivyred (refer to Category: Companions of the Shield-Hero Fergus Ward or Category: Companions of the Bow-Hero Itsuki Kawasumi for her entry) to his party after she was falsely accused of a crime by the Bow-Hero Itsuki, which resulted in her being expelled from his party and driving her to near-suicide. Grateful to the Shield-Hero for saving her life and for giving her a chance to prove herself to the Bow-Hero, she willingly joined his party.

(End Extract)

~AoaTSH~

A month after Fergus was named Lord of New Rurorona…

Unable to resist the glare of the first cracks of sunlight now peeping in through the window, my eyes slowly cracked open as I slowly rose back to the land of the living, silently cursing under my breath since I was pretty sure I'd been having another good dream. Although I couldn't remember it fully, I'm pretty sure it must've involved myself and Raphtalia since…well…that was pretty much the epicentre of the good things in my life right now.

And damn, even though it was early in the morning, it felt mightily good to be waking up after a full night's rest. Between the weeks (perhaps even one or two months) of sleeping rough and more often than not hardly getting any sleep and the now month I had been sleeping complete nights in a proper bed, I feel like finally, FINALLY, my sleep schedule had properly sorted itself out for the first time since I had arrived in this world.

It was slow, but my eyes eventually adjusted to the rays of light that blanketed the bedroom and opened fully. But I chose not to rise, not just yet. Instead, I was content to just simply lay there, head laid back on my pillows with my right arm currently raised above my face to shade me slightly, whilst my left arm was still wrapped around the shoulders of the other occupier of our bed. Raphtalia's head was currently resting softly atop my chest, slowly rising and falling due to the motion of my breathing, whilst her right arm was draped lazily across my waist.

Thankfully, my slight motions from waking up hadn't bothered her. She was still deeply asleep, a smile plastered on her face as she too seemed to be having a pleasant dream. Slowly, and very gently, I gently brushed my fingers against one of her ears, enjoying the feel of them under my touch and stroked them for a short while. As I did, I saw her smile deepen, as though she could feel it even in her sleep.

Now normally most days I'd have stayed in bed with her until she woke up too, but today…I felt like being elsewhere, just for even a few short moments in order to clear my head and take a stock of the craziness of the past few weeks, and so I gently lifted her arm from across my chest and, slowly and carefully, slid off my side of the bed, thus allowing her head to gently fall back against the pillows I'd been resting on. And as soon as that happened, she drew the quilt around herself and snuggled in deeply.

As it had turned out, Raphtalia was quite the quilt hogger…or maybe it was because she was more susceptible to the softness of Filo's feathers that lined the inside of our quilt. It was amusing more than anything, especially when I bought it up every once in a while which she'd vehemently deny even whilst blushing.

After a few seconds of taking in the sight, I quietly got into my usual garb that I'd chosen to keep all this time, starting with the brown vest that I wore under my armour. This was followed by my pants and ankle guards, then the breastplate, pauldrons, arm guards, gauntlets, boots, and then finally the new cloak that Tilda, our resident tailor, had crafted for me personally. Once I was suited and booted, I brought my Shield back out from where it had been in its bracelet form and, making sure to tread quietly so as not to wake Raphtalia, exited from our bedroom before proceeding to head straight out of our apartment complex, down the stairs and along the passageway that ran alongside the main room of the town hall before exiting through the doors that led outside

~AoaTSH~

Maybe it was just a coincidental occurrence, perhaps it had been a deliberate choice by the original designers/builders. Whatever the reason, at this moment in time, I was glad that the town hall was built facing south towards the sea, because it gave me a gorgeous vista of the sunrise as I exited the main doors and stepped outside. I paused just for a few seconds to take it in, enjoying the calmness of the air and the faint noises of the waves buffeting the cliffside on which the village was built, before slowly making my way through the village towards the western exit that led towards the cliffs, all the while looking around me at the progress we'd made over the past month.

And what a transformation it had been! When I'd first discovered what was then called Rurorona Village whilst we were on our way to Cal Mira…all we had found was a bunch of crumbling ruins overgrowing with plants, weeds and other vegetation. Ever since the raid by the Melromarc soldiers, during which Raphtalia, Keel and the rest of the civilians living there had been captured or killed, the former (from what I'd been told by Raphtalia) peaceful and thriving village, somewhere demi-humans had been able to call home, had been abandoned and forgotten.

But no longer. I had vowed to see the village restored, to give Raphtalia, Keel and the rest of the demi-humans their home back and see it thriving once more, and with Queen Mirellia's assistance and blessing, that's exactly what we'd started once our adventure on Cal Mira was over. And a month down the line, what had once been ruins were now homes, shops, stables, armouries, a hospital and many other buildings that were crucial to getting a village back up and running.

The position of New Rurorona was, both strategically and location-wise, perfect. We were located on the southern coast of Melromarc and were pretty much more or less in the centre of the coastline. The capital of Melromarc was to our north, not too close to be a neighbour but also not too far away to take forever to travel there, and then further off to the east was the demi-human nation of Siltvelt, one of two countries that bordered Melromarc (the other being the nation of Shieldfreeden far to the north). As for our borders, we were surrounded by cliffs and mountains to the north and east, whilst our southern and western border was the sea itself. In fact, the only way you could enter our borders, apart from by boat, was a small road right on our south-eastern border that, with a little bit of repair and work done, was wide enough to create a dual carriageway for residents, travellers, traders and anyone else to be able to arrive or depart at our village without getting in the way of those travelling the other way.

It also made the construction of a gate and walls very simple, all we'd had to do was find the point where the eastern range of mountains ended, start there and then go all the way south until it reached the sea. There was only one gate, which meant there was often some queuing on one side if there were lots of people travelling the other way, and on the walls themselves there were a few lookout towers that had a good view of the entry to our lands. These walls and towers always had a small squad of soldiers and archers manning them, and more often than not this was where Keel stationed herself if she wasn't out hunting.

Speaking of construction…when we first started the rebuilding efforts, I, my deputy Van Reichnott, who had once been the leader of a village of demi-humans before willingly choosing to permanently move down here to help me out, and Raphtalia instantly decided that the priority was to get the housing sorted first. In fact, most of the start-up capital that the Queen and I had put together was spent on the reconstruction of the homes we needed to ensure everyone had a place to live. To make things easier and save time, Raphtalia and I decided we wouldn't have our own place, and instead we'd chosen to have accommodations built on top of the town hall for convenience's sake. And for a time, Filo, Keel and Rishia all stayed with us before eventually moving into their own homes and thus giving myself and Raphtalia some privacy.

Once all the homes had been rebuilt, we then directed our efforts towards the buildings that would be useful in restarting and boosting our economy, since I had plans for making this village not only a place where humans and demi-humans could live in peace but also a prosperous trading village that would attract merchants and traders not only from all corners of Melromarc but also, in the future, traders from other nations. Thankfully, we'd already been given a jump-start on this by having some of the shop owners and merchants come over from Capital Town to make a new life here, most of whom I'd met and gotten to know from my previous adventures. These included Tilda, who I've already mentioned, Freya, who ran a magic store, and Silens, who owned and ran the apothecary.

But we knew we couldn't rely on just those people, along with the merchant and trading contacts I'd befriended during my time as a travelling merchant (speaking of which, Hickwaal, a merchant I'd gotten to know during our travels, was the main force behind us having access to many of these), and so we turned our efforts to understanding what our village could provide that nowhere else could.

The answer was obvious: Fish. After all, we were right on the coast, and the sea around us was bound to be plentiful. Add to that the high demand for fish with it being a popular food option in this world and it was a no-brainer. And so work was immediately started on building a dock as well as some fishing ships, as well as procuring and crafting the materials we'd need for all that as well as all the equipment we'd be needing. I was able to provide some of that with the materials I'd gathered, but we were fortunate in that several of the other towns and cities had generously donated materials and equipment of their own to our cause, including Capital Town, Ivyred village (which turned out, as you can imagine, to be the town led by Rishia's noble father), Van's former village and, most surprisingly of all, the island of Cal Mira. In fact, the Earl of Habenburg, the governor of Cal Mira, had personally written to me not long after the founding of our village to offer his congratulations as well as to establish a military and economic partnership, an offer I had gratefully accepted.

Given that we intended fish to be our major export, we spared no effort and considerable expense into making this dock the best it could be. One berth wasn't going to be enough, we needed several, and thankfully we had a good chunk of coastline to work with. Once we had those berths, we quickly got to work on boats, which wouldn't need to be extravagant in the slightest. As long as there was enough room for a small crew, a sail/oars and areas to store the needed equipment plus the captured fish, that'd be enough. And once the boats were completed, we turned to the next issue: a small crew for each.

Thankfully, I'd quickly gotten to know two expert fishermen who had relocated here from elsewhere: Leif, a demi-human who'd spent nearly his whole life living by the sea and a master fisherman, and Bjorn, a retired sailor who'd served both Queen Mirellia and her predecessor in the navy and whose hobbies included fishing. Between the two of them, and the volunteers who signed up to learn from them, we quickly had enough people to crew all of the ships and as a result, the fishing business had jump-started the economy. Combined with the money we were making through trading deals as well all the other experts who plied their trades here, our treasury was soon swimming in gold that, trust me, was being put to efficient use.

So lost was I in my reflections that it took me a second or two to realise that I had almost made it to the docks, my feet having automatically taken me from the town hall and down the cliffside in that direction. Normally I'd start my days off with a few minutes of cuddling with Raphtalia before getting up, eating and starting on some of the paperwork, but today, since it had nearly been a month removed from the birth of New Rurorona, I felt like I just needed just a short while of calm to reflect and take my mind off the business of running a village.

As I approached the main dock area, I saw, a little to my surprise, that Leif was already there, inspecting all of the boats as well as mending any of the equipment that had been damaged in any previous trips out onto the sea. As usual, he wasn't wearing anything from the waist up, only a pair of brown pants, but from what I'd learnt about him so far he barely felt the cold. Looking up, his raccoon-like ears having no doubt picked up my footsteps, he saw me approaching and his initial surprise was soon replaced by a warm smile.

"Morning Lord Fergus!" He called out jovially. "What brings you down here at this hour?"

"I thought I told you all to stop calling me Lord, please just call me Fergus!" I replied in exasperation. Seriously, it felt so embarrassing to have everyone call me that, it just felt…strange and somewhat wrong.

"Sorry Lord Fergus, Princess' orders," he replied with a chuckle. "You might be Lord here, but she's still the Crown Princess of Melromarc. Just doin' what she told us."

"Yeah yeah so you keep saying…I swear one day I'm going to get my revenge on that girl…" I muttered. Despite carrying the image of a prim and proper Princess, Melty could be a cheeky little minx when she wanted to be and I knew this was just one of her ways of winding me up a little. "Sorry for disturbing you though Leif, didn't think anyone else would be down here at this hour."

"No apologies necessary milord," Leif waved off. "I've always been an early riser meself, so I like to get down here and get things ready for the day in good time. But if I may ask…what brings you down here at this hour?"

"I just fancied a change of scenery in the morning before getting started on my duties for the day," I replied. "You don't mind if I do some fishing myself for a little bit, just until it gets a bit lighter?"

"Not a problem milord, use any of the berths you want. Need any equipment?" He asked

"I've got my own rod. No bait though," I responded.

"Not a problem," he said, reaching over next to him and passing me a small bucket of what I identified as worms. "Don't worry about replacing them, we've got plenty so use however much you want."

"Thanks, Leif, I'll leave you to it." With that, I took the bucket of bait along with a stool over to one of the berths and, withdrawing my fishing rod from the Inventory System, proceeded to spend the next hour or so catching some fish as well as enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning.

~AoaTSH~

"Thanks for letting me fish here Leif," I spoke up after my period of fishing whilst handing him what I'd caught.

"No need to thank me, milord, this is your village so you can fish here whenever you want," he replied casually whilst inspecting what I'd caught. "This is some good stuff you caught here…you use one of your Shields for that?"

"Y-yeah…" I admitted. "You don't mind?"

"'Course not, this is some really good stuff…folks all over the country love this," he added as he quickly skinned and washed two of the fish I'd caught before handing them over to me. "Here, have some to cook for yourself and the Lady tonight."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, as I'm sure will she," I replied as I put them in my Shield's inventory. "Speaking of which, I'd better get back before she sends out a search party."

"You came down here without letting the Lady know?" He exclaimed with an amused raise of his eyebrow. "You're either very brave or very foolish to risk upsetting or angering her like that. Y'know how scary she can be when she's mad, right?"

"Trust me, I know better than anyone," I chuckled back as I reached out to shake his hand. "Have a good day Leif, hope you catch some good stuff."

"Thanks, Lord Fergus, take it easy yourself. And make sure to bring the Lady with you next time," he replied as he gave my hand a good shake. With those parting words, I left him to his work and made my way back up the cliff-side. On my way up I passed Bjorn and the rest of the fishing crews who were on their way down to the docks and exchanged greetings with them.

As soon as I reached the top of the cliffside and back into the village proper, I saw that most of the shopkeepers were already up and about opening up their stores or getting their products ready for the day, and just like with Bjorn I made sure to exchange greetings with all of them on my way back towards the town hall, where hopefully Raphtalia would be up and about now and ready for breakfast.

Turns out I needn't have worried about that, for just as I was making my way up the main pathway towards the town hall, the double doors were flung open as Raphtalia dashed out, her clothing askew, her hair all over the place and a frantic expression on her face. But just as she was about to call out, no doubt for me, I was able to catch her gaze and wave reassuringly that I was okay.

"FERGUS!" She cried out as she dashed in my direction.

"Hey babe, everything ok-UUMPH!" My reply was cut off as she flung herself at me and proceeded to hug me tightly.

"Where were you?! When I woke up and found you weren't there I was really worried!" She cried into my chest.

"Babe it's okay," I reassured her, wrapping my arms around her comfortingly. "All I did was go down to the docks to do some fishing."

"But why didn't you tell me? I would've gladly come with you!" She asked, her voice much calmer now.

"Because you were fast asleep and I didn't want to disturb you," I replied as I stroked her hair. "Plus I needed some alone time to clear my head and take stock of what we've accomplished so far."

"And you promise that's all it was?" She asked, raising her head to look at me with her gorgeous amber-red eyes. I nodded in response. "Okay, Fergus…I understand but please…just let me know next time so I don't get so worried?"

"I promise, and thank you," I answered as I lowered my head and gently kissed her lips. "Now come on, let's get you back inside so you can get dressed properly..."

"...which I need to do because you didn't tell me where you were going," she pouted in response, linking our arms together as we made our way back inside the town hall.

"I'll make it up to you later, promise."

"And how do you intend to do that?" She responded coyly, an amused glint in her eyes as I pushed open the doors to the town hall.

"Leif let me keep some of the fish I caught this morning and pretty much ordered me to cook it up for you…will that be enough for you, milady?" I said teasingly as we made our way back up to our living area.

"Hmmm…" she considered a moment. "Okay then. If you cook me up that fish tonight AND brush my hair this morning, I'll forgive you."

"I know better than to try and bargain with you, you've got yourself a deal," I conceded.

"Good. Glad to see you're capable of being trained my love," she replied happily as we entered our apartment, where she proceeded to give me a tender kiss on the cheek before heading off to our room to change. And as she walked, she made sure to swing her rear back and forth very deliberately and seductively.

"Oh wow…" I marvelled as I enjoyed the small show before heading over to our kitchenette to start making breakfast. "Just goes to show that whilst I may be the Lord of this village, she is definitely the Lady of this house…"

~AoaTSH~

Once Raphtalia had gotten changed and we'd eaten our breakfast, we proceeded to head out of our apartment and down into the town hall itself, from which we proceeded to one of the side rooms that we'd converted into an office/library area, complete with a couple of desks for myself, Raphtalia as well as others who would pop in and do their own work here. And as we entered the study, we already saw a familiar figure laying out several sheaves of paper on both mine and Raphtalia's desks, and as we entered they looked up and smiled.

"Good morning Lord Fergus, Lady Raphtalia," she greeted us in her soft yet clipped and professional tone. This was Lynda, a female demi-human with long flowing white hair, a kindly face with piercing blue eyes, large and fluffy white bunny-like ears that marked her as a demi-human and who was wearing, as she often did, a simple light green gown that allowed her full range of movement for her work. "Only a few sheets from some of the shop owners regarding new products they wish to sell right now, and I've already given the financial statistics for the week to Deputy Reichnott and Mr Colbert which they are reviewing now. Oh, and two important letters and one new trading arrangement that are marked for your eyes only, Lord Fergus."

Lynda had been an absolute godsend from the moment we'd taken up the official running of the town. With the amount that needed to be sorted out and set up, neither I nor Van had the spare time to get everything organised and filed properly. When I brought this up to Van he only smiled and assured me he had someone who could help us with that. Enter Lynda, who Van had also employed as an assistant in his village and who'd come down south with him. Lynda was super organised and possessed a keen eye as well as great attention to detail, and within the space of a day or two she'd already organised all the paperwork into categories that would be easy to remember, and these in turn had been properly filed and stored in the shelves all around us. I'd been so impressed that I immediately offered to hire her as our personal assistant and secretary to keep doing what she had been doing, an offer which she'd happily accepted. And so now every morning she'd gather up all the paperwork and important documentation that'd arrived for us the previous day as well as write up any requests regarding new products that came in from all over the town and make sure these were on our desks right before we came down after breakfast.

As for Mr Colbert, that was another godsend, this time courtesy of the Queen and Melty. With all the money that was coming in from our various trading arrangements as well as the selling of our goods, we soon had our coffers swelling, and just like with the organisation of all our documentation I knew I had neither the time nor the skills to manage all our incomes, expenditures, balances, loans, etcetera, So I brought this up to Melty during one of our sessions where she was giving us a crash course about the duties of being a lord and lady, who with a cheeky grin replied that she and her mother had just the person in mind.

According to Melty, Hugh Colbert was highly knowledgeable in mathematics, economy and financial management despite his young age and had been recommended to other lords and nobles for employment to manage their finances. However, they'd all turned him down due to both his age and his pro-demi-human beliefs (most of these nobles had since been outed as treating demis like second-class citizens and slaves) and had currently been idle with his talents going to waste.

Apparently, when Queen Mirellia had asked him if he'd be willing to move to New Rurorona and run its finances, his eyes had lit up in excitement and he'd immediately started packing whilst the Queen was still there! Once he'd arrived and we'd gotten him acquainted with myself and the village, he, Van and I had immediately retired to my office, and within a few hours he'd gotten completely up to speed with all the financial dealings and arrangements of our village as well as all the money we had, and on top of all that he also offered a few more recommendations as to where we should primarily spending the money we had. Needless to say, just like with Lynda, I was immediately impressed and offered him immediate employment to manage all the village's finances, an offer he, like Lynda, had accepted straight away.

So with Lynda now handling organising and cataloguing documentation and Hugh handling finances, I, Van and the others were able to keep on top of everything else.

"Thanks as always Lynda," I replied with a smile and a nod as I took a seat at my desk, with Raphtalia doing the same at the desk nearby. "You okay to make a start on the new product documentation Raphtalia? Once I get through these letters I'll give you a hand."

"Sure," she replied as she took the stack and started going through them whilst I took the first of the letters and started reading through it. It was a reply from a letter that I'd written to Rishia's father, the lord of Ivyred village where I introduced myself, explained what'd happened to Rishia and that she would be in my care from now on, along with a small note to not mention anything regarding the situation between her and Itsuki to her personally. This had been sent, along with a personal note from Rishia, not long after we'd established ourselves here in New Rurorona, but with Ivyred Village located in the northern area of Melromarc, it had obviously taken a while for the letter to get there and for the reply to be returned.

The reply back from Rishia's dad was courteous and polite, thanking me for all I had done for Rishia and congratulating me on getting my name cleared and for being appointed the Lord of New Rurorona. He'd then explained how, in recent times, he, his family and the village they governed had fallen on hard times and had become reliant on another lord's help for funding. However, some of the lord's demands from Rishia's father had been intolerable and debasing, before finally taking it too far when he demanded Rishia as payment in exchange for further funding and guards to protect them from bandits. Rishia's father had of course refused, but that wasn't good enough for the lord who'd proceeded to kidnap Rishia anyway, with the bodyguards that the lord had provided in return being in on the lord's plan to steal the girl away. Thankfully, that same evening, the Bow Hero and his party had been in the area investigating the corrupt lord and, once learning of the situation, had infiltrated the lord's mansion and set the girl free, hence why she'd joined up with the Bow Hero in gratitude.

As for the recovery of the village, the Queen, after hearing Rishia's tale from the girl herself, had personally investigated the situation, and as a result had proceeded to confiscate all of the corrupt lord's property and personal funds and used it to compensate Lord Ivyred for all the troubles he, his family and his village had suffered from his demands. Lord Ivyred had proceeded to put all that money to use in getting the village back on its feet and making it a prosperous town once more. And now that it was thriving once more, Lord Ivyred was now working on restarting their old trading arrangements as well as creating new ones, and at the end of the letter, he added that he'd sent the trading arrangement separately and was eagerly awaiting my consideration and reply on it.

Nodding to myself approvingly, I picked up the envelope containing the details of the trading arrangement Lord Ivyred wanted to set up and, slitting open, gave it a thorough read. On first perusal, it looked good enough but I wanted an expert opinion.

"Hey Lynda, you got a moment?" I called over to my assistant, who dropped whatever she had been doing and instantly appeared in front of my desk. "Can you take this over to Hugh and Van and ask them to check it over?"

"Of course Lord Fergus," she answered swiftly, taking the document out of my outstretched hand. As she left, I opened the second letter and read it. And as I did, I'm sure my eyebrows must have risen out of my head and my expression must have changed dramatically…because Raphtalia definitely noticed as she dropped what she was doing and came over.

"What's wrong Fergus?" she asked concernedly.

"Oh, nothing's wrong babe, I just…wasn't expecting this," I replied.

"What does it say if I may ask?"

"It's a letter from the leader of Siltvelt, wanting to introduce themselves and inviting us to come and visit," I answered, causing her eyebrows to also rise.

"Siltvelt? Isn't that the demi-human nation to the east?" She asked after a brief moment. I nodded in response. "Don't they revere the Shield-Hero as a deity or something?"

"Yeah, that's what the Queen told me," I said as I sat back and considered what I should do. "Well if they're reaching out like this, they're either wanting something from me or just genuinely want to meet this era's Shield-Hero. Either way, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to start a dialogue."

"Agreed…let's just hope that they aren't as fanatical as Mister Erhard said," she replied, a hint of caution in her tone. "Do we have enough time before the next Wave for a visit?"

"We don't," I replied, briefly glancing at my Status Menu to make sure. "We only have a week, and from what I remember it would take us the best part of three or four to even reach the border of Siltvelt, not even counting the days we'd be spending there." I reached over for a spare bit of parchment. "I'll write back that we'll arrange a visit after the next Wave and that I'll be coming with an escort. Does that sound okay?"

"Just as long as I'm part of that escort," she replied firmly. "I'm your Sword and go where you go after all."

"Wouldn't dream of it babe," I said with a chuckle as I carried on writing. "I'll take my party as well as one of the others that we've been training here, and make sure it has an equal representation of humans and demi-humans. That should appease them for now." This seemed to satisfy her as, with a kiss on my cheek, she returned to her pile of papers whilst I finished off the letter. Once finished, I made sure to properly sign and seal it before leaving it on my 'to send' pile where Lynda would ensure it would make its way into the hands of a trader or Filolial who'd be passing the Siltvelt border. I then took a pile of the papers left on Raphtalia's desk and started to make my way through them. This would no doubt occupy us all the way until lunchtime.

~AoaTSH~

As I predicted, our paperwork did take us a few hours to complete. Once we'd finished, Raphtalia and I popped in on Van and Hugh for a quick meeting before heading back up to our apartment for a bite of lunch. After we'd eaten, we decided we'd go check on the training of our small army of volunteers whilst at the same time checking on Rishia and seeing how she was doing.

Before we left, however, Raphtalia reminded me of my promise to brush her hair, which I proceeded to do right then and there. I must've done a good job since Raphtalia was purring happily the whole way through and then rewarded me with a passionate snog when I'd finished.

As we were heading over to the area where we'd set up our barracks and training grounds, we made sure to pass through the centre of our village and stop by as many of the shop owners and vendors as we could to exchange greetings which always delighted them.

As we reached the training grounds, we could already see the potential recruits had been split up into smaller groups depending on their chosen talent and were currently undergoing further training specific to their role. Over in the sparring area, I could see Ake and one or two of the other guards working with those who used melee weapons and shields, whilst at the archery range, I could see one or two working on the range of their shots under the careful eye of another of the guards who specialised in archery. In the shadows of a shaded glen that was slightly removed from the main training area, I could see a demi-human who was our expert in both knives and illusion magic imparting his wisdom to those who desired to follow the path of the rogue. And finally, in an area that was full of training dummies that were set up to be resistant to magic, a small group of peoplewere listening carefully to Freya who looked as though she was giving them a small lecture.

And there were even one or two, including Raphtalia and Rishia when she wasn't learning from Freya, who were going through the basics of learning a fighting style called Hengen Muso that relied on manipulating and using life force for both defending and attacking. This was being taught by the Old Lady who I'd saved during the third Wave and who was currently the only person alive who used this style. She'd originally planned on taking it to the grave with her, but had changed her mind after the Wave and was now committed to passing it on and finding a suitable Heir for it the sake of the world.

When I'd first requested volunteers to help combat the Waves, I hadn't expected many volunteers. But again I was surprised by how many did choose to come forward. From their numbers, I reckon we could get at least six or seven fully trained groups of adventurers, maybe more if others chose to volunteer. But for now, we had a good mix of young and old, male and female, humans and demi-humans, all undergoing training for what was about to come. And amazingly there'd been no issues and no arguments, instead they'd all come together seamlessly from their very first session, supporting and encouraging each other and quickly forming bonds that would come in handy on the battlefield.

And not only that, we had a good mix of tanks, front-line fighters, rangers, rogues, mages and healers. And between our mages, not counting Rishia who could use them all herself, we had all of the basic schools of magic covered (Earth, Fire, Light, Lightning, Water and Wind). And from the reports that I was getting from their trainers every week, it looked like we'd have at least two full parties, plus my own, ready to go for the next wave.

For a short moment, Raphtalia and I were happy to just stand back and watch all of the recruits being pushed through their paces, but eventually we made our way over to where Freya was currently instructing one of the mages on their use of Lightning magic.

"Ah Lord Fergus, Lady Raphtalia…here for Rishia yes?" she asked without looking.

"We are indeed," I replied. "How's she doing today?"

"Not much to add from the last few days you've asked me that," she said as she moved on from the recruit and, beckoning to us, led us over to one of the tents that was nearby. "She's very good at absorbing the knowledge of any text she reads and is turning into quite the prodigy at mixing up the elements of her spells. Give me another few weeks with her, in addition to a boost in her confidence, and she'll probably be the most powerful mage in the country."

"That quickly?" Raphtalia asked, eyes wide.

"She might've gotten there already had the Bow Hero treated her properly," she muttered.

Her words reminded me of the evaluation that Freya had given Rishia upon tutoring her for the first couple of days after the establishment of the village. Raphtalia and I had just come over to check on our newest party member when all of a sudden we'd heard a litany of shouts and curses coming from Freya's store. We'd quickly rushed inside to find Rishia cowering on the floor in a small ball, a complete nervous wreck whilst Freya was stomping about the store and outwardly cursing the name of Itsuki and the other members of his party. As Raphtalia had gone over to comfort Rishia, I had stomped over to Freya and, after getting her to stop her angry mutterings, had asked her what she was so upset about.

With an annoyed grunt, Freya had taken me outside the store and explained that, due to Itsuki's deliberate choices to keep her weak, Rishia was unaware in regards to what magic she could cast as well as her potential, and on top of that her stats were all over the place due to what she'd been foisted with after the class-up ceremony. It was so bad in fact that in order to fix it and get Rishia anywhere close to her full potential, Freya had explained we'd have no choice but to start from scratch…in other words, have Rishia's level reset all the way back to 1 through the use of the Hourglass and then power-level her back up. Luckily, Freya had kept hold of some spellbooks that could speed up the process just in case something like this were to happen. Once we'd explained everything to Rishia after she'd calmed down, she consented, albeit after a brief moment of hesitation, and after getting her level reset Freya had handed over the two spellbooks she'd brought with her. Freya then proceeded to explain that these ancient books, some of the last of their kind, were made to instantly boost a person's level up by 20 levels and that she'd only need to open them up to have that happen. It had worked exactly as Freya described, instantly boosting Rishia back up to level 40 and allowing her to make the right choice this time for the class-up ceremony.

Once we'd gone through all that, Freya suggested that I take Rishia out once a day for a few hours to grind mobs, which would grant her everything she'd need to make her a fully functioning member of my party: experience points to level up, practising her spell-casting, the opportunity to gel with the rest of my party and above all else, confidence. Within the space of a couple of weeks of doing this, Rishia had gotten to almost the same level as Keel and, whilst still having her moments of shyness and clumsiness, she'd grown so much in confidence that she no longer shirked from combat like she'd been doing when she first joined our party.

"Rishia!" Freya called out as she popped her head inside the tent and thus drawing me from my musings. "Lord Fergus and Lady Raphtalia are here for your field training!"

"Oh, alright, I'm coming!" I heard Rishia respond from inside the tent, and a few seconds later she poked her head out, smiling brightly upon seeing mine and Raphtalia's faces. "Good afternoon Sir Fergus and Raphtalia!" She called out happily.

"Good afternoon Rishia," Raphtalia replied with a beaming smile. "Are you doing well today?"

"Absolutely!" She said back. "I've been going all the finer points of magic theory and I think I've almost got the hang of it! I think I'll soon be able to perform combination magic by myself!"

"That's brilliant Rishia, I'm really happy for you," I spoke up with a pleased smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"I am…oh wait, I almost forgot my rapier from Mister Erhard, give me a second!" Saying this she quickly ducked back into the tent with an embarrassed squeak as the rest of us chuckled quietly at her brief moment of forgetfulness.

The rapier she'd spoken of was a gift to Rishia from our favourite blacksmith. After sorting out Rishia's levels at the cathedral, we'd headed over to Erhard's store to see if we could get some equipment for her. After our usual and, in the case of Raphtalia and Keel, enthusiastic greetings, Erhard had asked about our newest party member, and so taking him aside I'd quietly given him the abridged version of what had happened. And just like everyone else, Erhard was none too pleased concerning what Itsuki had done to her, and even went one step further for her by going to the back of his store and returning with a rapier that he'd forged himself. He then explained to us how he'd used a combination of rare metals to not only make it extremely light but also fully enchanted with buffs to magical attack and defence before gifting the weapon to a stunned Rishia, who after regaining her composure had thanked Erhard over and over again for his generous gift. Afterwards, we'd purchased a light breastplate, bracers and one or two other pieces of equipment that would offer Rishia some protection whilst at the same time not slowing her down too much.

"Okay, I'm ready now!" She called out after a moment, snapping me out of my memories as she exited the tent once more, this time her rapier attached to her belt.

"Awesome, then let's be on our way…" I'd just started speaking when I was suddenly interrupted.

"LORD FERGUS!" "MASTER!" We all turned around as Filo dashed up to us in her Filolial form with one of the guards that manned the gate upon her back, their expressions frantic.

"Hey you two, what's the matter?" I asked swiftly.

"Master! A whole load of scary monsters just appeared at the gate! They came out of thin air and started attacking the guards there!" Filo proceeded to explain.

"Lady Keel and some of the others are holding them off for now, but she sent me to warn you," the guard added. "Luckily I ran into Filo on my way here who offered to give me a ride."

"Very well done, both of you," I praised them before turning to Freya. "Gather Ake, Old Lady and some of the others and head towards the gate just in case we need some help. Raphtalia, Rishia, you two and Filo are with me!"

"Right!" "I-I'm with you!" "Okey-dokey!" Came the replies from my companions as the guard rapidly leapt off of Filo's back, allowing me to hop on. As soon as Raphtalia and Rishia had joined me, Filo turned and headed pell-mell towards the village gates with the three of us holding on for dear life!

~AoaTSH~

Turns out Filo and the guard hadn't been exaggerating.

As we arrived at the village gates we were stunned to see a swarm of what looked like large bats attacking the guards at the gate. Those with bows, such as Keel, had been able to pick off a couple of them so far but the rest were still swarming over the others as we rolled up.

"Sir Fergus! Raphtalia! Thank goodness you guys made it!" Keel shouted as with a quick nock and release she downed another of the creatures with her bow. "These things just showed up out of nowhere and started attacking us!"

"You guys have done a great job so far, leave the rest to us!" I called out as with a cry Filo jumped up and with a flap of her wings took us over the walls to the plains outside the gate. "Keel, you're with us! The rest of you get to cover!"

"On it!" "Yes sir!" Came the response from Keel and the guards as the wanui demi-human leapt down from the wall to join the rest of us.

"Rishia, this is where you and I get off!" I exclaimed rapidly. "Raphtalia, you stay atop Filo! I'm gonna draw the rest of them to me. Once I do that, Filo and Raphtalia, you two do what you did against that plant monster and get in amongst them! As for Keel and Rishia, you two pick them off with spells and arrows whilst I keep them off you. Got it?"

With various cries of assent, Rishia and I jumped off of Filo's back. "Hate Reaction!" I bellowed, activating the skill and sending out the familiar red pulse all around me, causing the bats to abandon the walls and head straight towards me. "Change Shield! Shield of the First Avenger! Activate Skill: Springboard Shield!"

As my Shield changed its shape, I turned and knelt down whilst holding the Shield out in front of me. "Okay Filo, do it!"

"Hold on tight Raphtalia!" The Filolial called as she ran at me, and as soon as her front claw hit my Shield I stood and flung my Shield up, causing Filo to leap high into the air and into the middle of the swarm of bats whereupon she and Raphtalia started cleaving away at them with sword and beak respectively.

"Alright Keel, Rishia, you two are up! Pick your targets and trust me to keep you safe!" I instructed them.

"Got it! Multi-shot!" Multiple arrows left Keel's bow, all of them hitting their targets and causing the struck beasts to vanish.

"O-okay! Hellfire!" At Rishia's cry, several small fireballs appeared and shot rapidly towards their targets, causing the creatures to let out a cry of pain before burning to crisp. As everyone got to work I stood in the middle of it all, tanking attacks directed at everyone else on my Shield. Between the five of us, the swarm was soon defeated.

"Good job everyone!" I praised them as the last creature fell, and as they all, including the guards on the wall, let out a small cheer, I walked up to the corpse of one of the fallen beasts and, taking one of its wings, absorbed it into my Shield. A moment later, a pop-up appeared in my Status Menu notifying me that I had acquired the Familiar's Shield (Bat Type).

"A Familiar eh? Must be some kind of dimension monster…" I pondered. "But hang on…the Wave's still a week away…" As my eyes moved to the top right of my Status Menu, I noticed with alarm that the Wave timer had suddenly stopped and was also glowing blue instead of green like it normally did.

"That's not good…" But before I could inform the others, a loud, other-worldly scream suddenly filled the air around us, causing everyone to hunch over and cover their ears. It only lasted for a few seconds, but that was still enough to shake us up.

"What was that?!" Raphtalia asked once the scream had stopped.

"I have no idea, but whatever it was didn't sound good," Keel replied, ears twitching.

"It only gets worse," I spoke up. "Just before we were interrupted, I noticed that the Wave's time had suddenly stopped."

"It's stopped? But…how?" Raphtalia asked worriedly

"I don't know, but I somehow think this is all linked," I said grimly. "Those familiars, the Wave timer pausing and then that scream…I get the feeling something really bad is about to happen…"

"Then…w-what should we do?" Rishia asked nervously. But just before I could answer…

"Shield-Hero!" We all rapidly turned around to see one of the Queen's Shadows kneeling before us. "Seriously! How the heck do they keep appearing out of nowhere like that?" "I was just on my way to speak with you when those familiars attacked. I bear a message from Her Majesty."

"Hazarding a guess but…is it related to what just happened?" I asked.

The Shadow's mask gave nothing away as she responded. "This event has been happening all across the country over the past several hours. Several others, including the other Heroes, have also reported being attacked by the same swarm that attacked you just now. The Queen wishes for you and the other Heroes to meet with her at the castle to discuss the next move."

And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed it!

As you can already see, I'm planning to take things quite a bit slower than the anime currently is right now. In fact, I don't plan to be done with what was shown in Episode 1 until at least the end of Chapter 3, which was also the case in my first story. I will also be covering and slightly altering some details that the anime has, for the moment, skipped.

To note, one or two things. NO, there will not be a slave crest for Keel or Rishia. Fergus hates the idea of slavery and even more the fact that he had to use it in the first place just to be able to fight the Waves. Now he just doesn't even acknowledge their existence in the case of Raphtalia and Filo and never uses them. And no more Shield of Wrath either, not unless it's a really desperate situation. Fergus hasn't forgotten what happened the last time he used it

With those out of the way…ho boy, I've been preparing a lot for this over the past week. I've now got several documents filled with everyone's abilities, all the party compositions, every Shield (as well as upcoming ones) that Fergus has, reminders of the changes from canon that happened in my first story and a put-together map just so I have it all handy without trawling back through the wiki and such to find it again!

As for updates, I can't promise any regular schedule, but I will be working on it whether I can. I work in the afternoon from Monday to Friday for an hour or two, and then I have my main job in the evenings from Sunday to Wednesday, so adding in time to sleep, look after dogs and such, I don't have as much spare time as I used to. I'm hoping for an update every week and a half or so but we'll see how it all shakes out.

For those returning, welcome back! Thanks for sticking around all this time! For all those who have just started my series, welcome and I hope you enjoy the ride! Until next time, this is theoneandonlyedster signing out for now and I will see you in the next chapter when it drops! Happy Easter everyone!