"Trust is hard to find these days; it's like once you begin to trust someone, they eventually show you why you shouldn't have."
-Unknown
-To War by Jingo-
-Away Down South: Chapter 2-
The land around the City of Maria was undeniably beautiful. Forests full of lush greenery, colorful flora, and long rocky country roads that seemed to stretch on for miles.
The outlier in this story was a relatively small piece of land a little to the west of the city, it was only about a fifth the size of the city, but it stood out like a sore thumb for its complete lack of everything listed above.
Forests? Completely chopped down.
Flora? Nothing unless you counted grass.
Roads? There were never any here to begin with.
Another thing that caused it to stand out, was all the commotion that was happening. Easily over half a hundred people were running about, preparing for what could only be a war. Soldiers were sharpening their blades, putting on their armor, and checking their equipment for any problems. Civilian volunteers, who had signed up to help the Hero in his noble duty, were hauling supply crates, and doing inventory checks.
Horses and Filolial were being tended to, supply wagons were being set up, and walking straight through the middle of all this, with his head held high, was the hero of the bow.
"Sir, we're right on schedule, at this rate, we should be completely prepared within the hour!"
"How's our supply situation?" He asked Weiss, without even turning to address him.
"Green across the board."
"I didn't ask for a color, I asked for a report. Specifics! Give me numbers."
"The volunteers that were put in charge merely reported that we had more than the number you had as a minimum."
"Count them again, give me a number! Healing potions, Stamina potions, Recovery potions, Arrows, Everything!" Will stomped past Weiss as the newly appointed First Lieutenant snapped a salute and branched off to order a recount, "We've got two and half hours to prepare, but we've only got ONE damn shot at the wave! Let's make it count folks!"
-To War by Jingo-
Naofumi and Raphtalia sat at a table at the bottom floor of the inn they were staying at. Raphtalia had managed to convince Naofumi to get one last meal in. so they wouldn't be fighting on an empty stomach during the wave. Some people stared at the hero, eyes focused on his shield.
Raphtalia glared at them.
Naofumi kept his head straight and chewed his food, he really didn't give a fuck.
Now that wasn't to say he focused on his food because he liked it, quite the opposite in fact.
'Not a lick of flavor,' He thought to himself. '...man this world sucks ass'
"Naofumi-sama, I'm not a child anymore, why'd you order me a kid's meal?" Raphtalia complained with exasperation and a blush.
"Yeah, yeah, stop complaining and enjoy the food," He responded with a nonchalant tone. "Just last week you were bugging me about wanting to eat it again." The girl's ears flickered, and she opened her mouth to say something, before thinking twice and shutting it, a blush setting over her face.
"...That was me from a week ago." She eventually said "Could you please not treat me as a child?"
The shield raised an eyebrow in response and pointed past her, to her swishing tail with his fork. "It's obvious you want to eat it, why are you complaining?"
Raphtalia blushed even harder and tucked her tail between her legs to stop it from moving, but didn't say anything else, and ate her food in an embarrassed silence.
…
..
.
After finishing their meal they headed towards the church. It wasn't hard to find it, considering the obnoxiously gaudy white white marble which the church was built out of, lined with pure fucking gold, just to add an extra layer of 'Fuck You'. It almost made Naofumi break off a chunk of the obviously expensive rock and feed it to his shield, just to see if he would unlock anything new.
He suppressed the desire.
Barely.
As they entered the church, some nuns in robes passed by, their chattering going quiet when they saw the shield on his arm. As Naofumi and Raphtalia approached the center of the room, two robed men who looked high ranking-ish (Sue him, he didn't know anything about church ranks), looked him over and began whispering to each other once they saw his shield. One ran off, and a few seconds later, an old nun, easily in her 70's, approached him.
"Sir Shield?" She said, her words betraying the sneer she was trying to supress "To what does the Church of Three Heroes owe the presence of the fourth?" It was obvious that said 'presence of the fourth' wasn't really welcome, but she wasn't going to throw him out without a reason.
"I heard about the stupid Hourglass that you guys seem to love, and decided it was time to pay it a visit." He spoke in a forced calm tone, trying to not get pissed off. He needed to get to the glass, he couldn't let some minor inconveniences ruin his chances.
The nun nodded and guided the duo towards the monument. As soon as they entered the room, Naofumi could feel something change; the mere presence of the giant hourglass seemed to loom over him. Shaking off the ominous feeling, he approached the hourglass on his own. The gem in his shield shone, synchronizing with the hourglass, and a beam of light shot from the golden structure striking the green gem.
Once the light died down, a new display appeared at the corner of his vision.
2:43:53…
2:43:52…
2:43:51…
'Less than a full day? Man this world sucks. Guess we can stock up on potions and supplies at least'
"Raphtalia, let's get going." Naofumi turned, and began walking out, when the gates leading to the room suddenly opened and revealed a smug face Naofumi had never wanted to see again.
Covered in shiny, lustrous armor and toting a spear that just seemed to keep getting longer, definitely overcompensating for something at this point, Motoyasu and his party arrived just to make the shield's already bad mood even worse.
'Great, this asshole! I should really invest in some earplugs, he hasn't even started spouting his bullshit yet, and I'm already getting a headache!'
"Naofumi…" Motoyasu sneered in disgust at the sight of the 'rapist' "What a rugged looking getup, I see you've finally decided to let out your true colors!" The blonde exclaimed in his ever so boisterous tone.
Naofumi grit his teeth and stared straight ahead. If he looked directly at the spear bastard, they'd have to put him on trial for a real crime this time. He tried to walk away, but the voice that haunted his nightmares spoke out. "Motoyasu, the great spear hero, is talking to you!" The red headed bitch stepped in front of him, cutting off his escape.
The Shield Hero took a deep breath, hoping that this group of bastards would just leave. But before the spear hero's group could further harass Naofumi, or Naofumi himself could snap, Raphtalia put herself between the two, trying to defuse the situation.
Unfortunately, it was Motoyasu she was dealing with.
Motoyasu slipped from his group before Myne could stop him, and knelled in front of the raccoon girl, cutting off her plea for civility.
"Hello sweet, beautiful maiden. My name is Motoyasu, the grand Hero of the Spear. I'm the one destined to save the world, so," He smiled at her, sparkles appearing around him seemingly out of nowhere "Would you grant me the eternal pleasure of saving the world by my side?"
The tanuki girl just stared at him with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Myne looked like she was about to have a stroke.
And Naofumi wondered to himself why he was the one they accused of rape.
"S-Sir Spear," Raphtalia regained her voice "That's truly a… generous offer, but I'm afraid I must decline. I've already sworn loyalty to Mr Naofumi."
"Naofumi?" Motoyasu laughed in his unnaturally charming way, his hair blowing in some unseen wind. "Fair Maiden, you must not listen to his lies! You are in definite danger, staying so close to a ra-"
"Raphtalia! We are leaving!" The playboy's sentence was cut off as Naofumi shoved his way past him with heavy stomps.
Said raccoon slave did a quick bow to the Spear's party, and muttered a soft "sorry!" before she ran after her master.
They exited the church, Naofumi looking utterly furious and Raphtalia following close behind. He led them through the city, keeping anyone who would approach away with his terrifyingly livid expression. Raphtalia followed him out the city gates, past the fields, and to the edge of the woods, with many balloon monsters already hopping out to face them.
"Mr Naofumi, what are we doing all the way out here?" Raphtalia asked, worried at the wrathful face her master had. She pulled out her sword when a balloon hopped forwards, and instinctively put herself in front of her master, but the hero extended his arm to stop her.
"Don't worry, I just want to vent out a bit." He growled as the balloon jumped at him, grabbing the demon midair and slamming it to the ground. Two good stomps and it popped with a pained screech, as it was ripped apart by the air inside it. It's fellows didn't care, they were too dumb to understand they were outmatched. More balloons came, Naofumi met them with a roar.
Thirty minutes.
Raphtalia stood, and watched on with a worried face, as her lord violently crushed balloons under his fists for thirty minutes.
"I-I'm going to pick some herbs and fruits," Nofumi said between pants, once they were alone in the clearing. "Ten minutes tops, we've got to go back to the city and check in with the old man."
As he split away from Raphtalia, leaving her behind as he began his simple but boring task, Naofumi was left alone to think. He had managed to let off some steam, but he could still feel dark thoughts creeping through the corners of his mind. He shook his head and concentrated; he could brood later, there was work to be done.
Getting the feeling that someone was watching him, he turned his head to see Raphtalia looking at him with an unreadable expression, her ears drooped, and tail lagging.
'The only reason she's by my side is because she's my slave.' He huffed as turned back to his work 'Otherwise, she would probably be all over Motoyasu! Just like that Bitch! This world… I fucking hate this shitty world...'
-To War by Jingo-
The duo returned to the city under a heavy silence, making their way towards Erhart's blacksmith shop. The city was beginning to close up now that the wave was so close, adventurers and soldiers were seen all over the place, and the stall owners were desperately trying to pawn off the last of their wares.
They entered the shop and waited for the smith, the sound of metal being hammered was akin to a crude music. Naofumi dropped his bag and sat on the ground, opening his bag and equipped his alchemy shield. He began working on new potions, hoping to sell them off once the wave was over.
When the rhythmic sound of metal on metal stopped, Naofumi stood up and stretched, moving to meet Erhart as he exited his smithy. The blacksmith wiping off the sweat and soot covering his hands with a towel, before returning the shield's handshake.
"Sorry about the wait Kid, you're back a bit earlier than what I was expecting." The tanned man leaned on his counter.
"You done with my gear?"
"Yeah, just need to let the metal cool off, and we should be good to go. I need to thank you though," The blacksmith let out a hearty laugh "Those materials you left for me were top notch! This will be one of my best works for sure, Kid!"
"Ha ha, very funny." The Shield hero sighed as he let tension leave his shoulders, and placed some coins, along with his latest batch of potions on the counter.
"Why exactly are you giving me these? I'm not gonna lower the price of your gear any more." Erhart said with arms crossed over his chest, trying to disguise his genuine curiosity with a bit of a cheeky smile.
"They're a gift. You helped me out back in the beginning, I'm just returning the favor." Naofumi simply said, settling the three more potions on the counter "You helped me out more than you know. Take them… besides, I hate being in debt."
"Well, if the mighty shield hero is giving me such amazing gifts, then I'll gladly take them! Fair warning though, I won't give them back even if you beg!" Erhart chuckled good naturedly. He picked one of the bottles and opened, giving it a sniff before breaking out into a cough "I recognize the smell of the herbs, but man is that strong! Geeze, how long did you have this fermenting Kid?"
"Too much talking about me, and not enough about my gear." Naofumi waved away the question. The tanned man sighed, but went inside his smithy, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
Soon he returned with a bundle of steel wrapped in thick green cloth.
[Barbarian Lord Armor]
-Increase in defense 20
Physical Strengthening buff (Small)
Increased Magic Resistance (Medium)
Naofumi whistled, impressed by the status of the armor Erhart managed to finish up, and excused himself to the changing room to try it on.
When he returned, Raphtalia immediately started gushing over him, eyes bright and lit with admiration of her lord. Erhart was looking over his finished product with a sense of pride. Naofumi was the only one with a somewhat sour face.
"Master Naofumi! It suits you very well! It is so dashing!" Raphtalis swooned with her hands together.
"Yeah, yeah, look!" Naofumi pushed himself away from the Deimi girl "The stats are great, absolutely amazing, but I feel like people will think I'm some kinda thug!"
"I know, right! With your eyes, your angry expression, you just scream burglar!" The smith gave him a thumbs up, failing to ease any of Naofumi's concerns.
"Well, you made it for me, and as I said before, the stats aren't half bad, it would be a shame not to use it." Naofumi released an annoyed sigh, but his face soon turned into a mean grin as he picked up the second part of his order.
He had spent the better part of a week down south where his XP gain had been horrendously pitiful because Will had men systematically running every major monster hotspot and dungeon. Now he was even further behind in levels than he was before, he needed something to help him catch up.
Luckily his trip south hadn't been totally useless.
While he had been in town to do some trading for basic supplies, with his shield arm hidden beneath his cloak of course, somebody had told him that William had commissioned a custom weapon from the blacksmith to copy into his bow.
The one and only shield he had managed to unlock that gave him any attack at all, was his Animal Spike Shield, from porcupine spikes. And even that only gave him a jaw dropping one bonus attack damage, the equivalent of a single level gain. He'd tried to unlock similar shields to but everything he'd fed to his shield didn't trigger anything and was just deposited into his inventory, be it iron nails, needles, jagged rocks, wooden stakes, or just about every damn 'looks like it might hurt' thing in between,
But what if he did what William was trying to do, and just fed another shield to the shield?
The amalgamation in front of him was the result of that question. It was a normal steel shield, relatively thick but nothing too special, but he had requested that three giant ass metal spikes be welded onto the front.
But as he lifted up the shield to feed it to his gem, something unexpected happened. The gem in his shield flashed, a blue light ran over his new shield, and the legendary weapon suddenly was engulfed in a white light.
[Steel Tri-Spike Shield- Legendary Weapon]
Defense: up 10
Physical Attack: up 10
Skill: Thorns (Unmastered)
Equip Effect: Intimidation (Small)
Equip Effect: Pointy (Small)
As Naofumi was registering what just happened, a notification popped up in front of him with a soft ping.
Clicking on the thing for an explanation, he found that the help menu he had read through on the first day suddenly had a new tab that wasn't there before, one that talked about the "Weapon Copy" ability.
Unfortunately it seemed that the original spiked shield had been absorbed to unlock the ability, and that it hadn't stayed around like weapons usually did when you copied them. But it was probably for the better, if Erhard learnt that the Heroes could copy weapons without having to buy them, the poor guy would have a heart attack.
Speaking of the old man-
"How much do I owe you?" Naofumi asked, quickly cutting off the blacksmith before he could say anything about his work being eaten.
"Come on kid, you really think I'm going to rip you off? You're my number one customer, and you even gave me the materials to make it, so I'll settle for about 200 silver." It was cheap, extraordinarily cheap. Both the shield, and barbarian armor for only a bit above the price he had paid for his first armor.
"Go out there and do your best, Kid. I trust what my eyes see, and I see that you aren't what people say you are," The old man smiled "So go save the world for me alright?"
Naofumi turned away for a few seconds, and Raphtalia smiled as she saw the lowered face of her master. Naofumi was smiling. A real, genuine smile, not a fake or forced one, or one of his devilish ones he used to intimidate people, but an honest, genuine smile.
Those were rare, and she treasured them.
"Thank you!" He said to the man, his eyes lacking the hardness they had held since the day of his trial. The tanned man smiled back.
"Don't get all sappy on me kid, you still have a wave to fight off!"
-To War by Jingo-
*Two Minutes Until the Wave*
Naofumi and Raphtalia stood on the corner of a rundown street, checking out their equipment silently. The mood was serious, but not uncomfortable or oppressive like it had been after their incident at the hourglass.
The shield finished checking the various pouches around his waist and hidden in his green cape. Potions were ok, water was fine, and he had a full stash of nutrition pills. So he moved on and did another check over his armor. Obviously there wouldn't be any damages to it, it was fresh off the anvil, but he was making sure he had the damn thing on right. Strangely, despite the large and heavy metal plates, he didn't feel over encumbered.
Raphtalia also finished her preparations, checking over the new sword strapped to her waist, two daggers on her belt, and a large knife; mainly for skinning things, but a decent emergency weapon. Her master had bought them for her before leaving Erhard's shop, as well as a new set of armor, custom made for her. Padded leather armor that wouldn't be able to take heavy hits, but was mainly focused on providing mobility and flexibility, which was what her focus was on.
Besides, the armor was more of a formality anyway, her Naofumi always protected her from attacks. He was her shield, and she was his sword.
She could fight beside him stark naked, showing off everything, and still not get hurt.
'N-Not that I would!' Raphtalia shook her head, trying to clear away the indecent thoughts and hoping that her Naof- Mr Naofumi hadn't seen her blush.
"Mr Naofumi!" She called out to him, standing straight and as dignified as she could. "I- um, I need to say something before we head out to fight the waves!"
Naofumi raised an eyebrow at her, but gestured for her to continue, keeping his thoughts to himself.
'Last minute hero speech right before a boss fight? Raphtalia, please, if this world actually were a game, well, talk about red flags… I'll have to watch her just to be safe.'
"It's just that… thinking about the wave again, remembering things... has made me a bit emotional… We talked about it before, remember? My life before?"
It was awful. To sum it up in one word: H E L L
Everyday, someone would be bought, and then returned. It happened to Raphtalia, too. In the beginning, they'd probably planned to make her a servant. She'd been picked up by a wealthy family, planning on teaching her all kinds of things.
Then she would cry in the night, cry out at her nightmares. And she'd get returned, just like that. Like a broken item you swapped out for a new one.
Her next owner was the same. He started to teach her all these different jobs, but when she started to cry he'd sold her off.
The last owner, the one before him, was the worst.
He bought her, beat her to pieces with a rod, and took out all his twisted, sadistic pleasures on her. This continued for a long time, and she was brought to the brink of death multiple times, but he never actually killed her. Though whether it was on purpose, or just luck, even she admitted she didn't know.
Then she started to cough, and prepared herself for death, thinking it wasn't far off.
Her owner returned her shortly after, she had stopped caring, stopped screaming. What was the fun of a victim who had accepted death?
She had told him that just as she was sinking into sickness, just as her nightmares had torn her heart to shreds, just as she had no idea how many more times she'd be bought, that's when Naofumi showed up.
"I'm… I feel really lucky to have met you, Mr. Naofumi! You gave me a new life! You taught me how to live! I'm just so grateful to have met you! And you gave me a chance, a chance to face my fears, and overcome them!"
"I'm your sword, Mr Naofumi. No matter the time or place, I'll fight for you! I'll stand with you until the end of the world!" Raphtalia finished, putting one hand over her heart and holding her head high.
Naofumi nodded at her, honestly touched, but not really sure how to respond. "Don't die out there. I'll do my best to protect us both, but don't grow too reliant on me, I can't be everywhere at once. Always be on the move, always be on the lookout, and never let yourself get encircled or trapped."
Unknown to Raphtalia, he had the exact opposite mindset of her as he gave out what he thought was the best advice. Yes, he was the Shield Hero, and defense was his strong suit, but he was also playing in a world he knew nothing about compared to the other three. He was also under-leveled, both from his initial lag behind, and the low XP of the last week. And even if the previous things weren't true, his defense was only so strong! It had been pierced once, back with that stupid black dog, it was bound to happen again eventually.
"Understood Mr Naofumi!"
"Good. Take that to heart and prepare yourself…" He trailed off as he stared off into space, eyes focused on the dwindling seconds. "It's starting."
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
And his vision went white.
-End Chapter-
Alright, I lied, next chapter we get to wave shit, but I wanted to touch base with Naofumi's group before we head into that.
We can't just ignore the main character of the story!
Also, I cracked open my copy of the light novel, because I wanted to get Raphtalia's speech right, and oh boy do I remember why that episode caught me so off guard.
The anime changed so much of the scene!
And we're just going to go with the anime's version of events for this fic, where Naofumi is 'sympathetic, but untrusting' rather than the LN's version!
Here is the full, word-for-word scene of Raphtalia's heartfelt speech in Volume 1, Chapter 20:
What was she getting at? Is she afraid of death or something? Of course I'd be in trouble if she died, so I needed to protect her, but… Geez, maybe I'd read too much manga.
This place wasn't a game, and it wasn't a book. It was real.
More than anything else, the other heroes had such good equipment. I didn't even know if I'd be able to stand up to the destruction with the equipment I had.
I might end up hurt.
If I got out of it with just injuries, I suppose that was something to be grateful for. But I might end up dead.
If I did, the people of this world would, no doubt, look at my body and think:
"He got what he deserved."
I needed to stop thinking about it. I wasn't fighting for anyone but myself. I was fighting to stay alive for another month.
"We talked about it before, remember? What happened to me before you bought me?"
It was awful. To sum it up in a word: h.e.l.l.
Everyday, someone would be bought, and then returned. It happened to Raphtalia, too.
In the beginning, they'd probably planned to make her a servant. She'd been picked up by a wealthy family. They were probably planning on teaching her all kinds of things.
Then she would cry in the night, cry out at her nightmares. And she'd get returned, just like that.
Her next owner was the same. He started to teach her all these different jobs, but when she started to cry he'd sold her off.
The last owner, the one before me, was the worst.
He bought her, beat her to pieces with a rod, and then sold her off.
Then she started to cough, and prepared herself for death, thinking it wasn't far off.
I wasn't at all surprised to hear that there were so many abusive creeps in this world.
She said that just as she was sinking into sickness, just as her nightmares had torn her heart to shreds, just as she had no idea how many more times she'd be bought, that's when I showed up.
"I'm… I feel really lucky to have met you, Mr. Naofumi."
"… Okay."
"Because you taught me how to live."
"… Okay."
I was tolerating her speech, thinking of it, halfway at least, as a job.
Because I didn't care.
All I cared about was staying alive.
"And you gave me a chance, a chance to face the wave."
"… Okay."
"So I'll do all I can, for you. I am your sword, and I will stay by your side."
"Okay… Do your best."
Afterwards, I realized how rude I'd been. But, at the moment, it was all I was capable of.
-Rising of the Shield Hero: Volume 1, Chapter 20
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