Written by Oblivon2991
Proofread: The usual drunken gang of misfits
Thank you for reading my fanfiction and for giving me a chance.
My mother tongue isn't English, so please be patient about the grammatical issues.
I don't own One Punch Man anime/manga/webcomic, it belongs to ONE.
I don't own The Rising of the Shield Hero (Japanese: 盾の勇者の成り上がり, Hepburn: Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari), it is written by Aneko Yusagi.
If you have anything to add or have questions, or remark, please review, or send a PM.
Thank you!
Now let's start the story!
Chapter 8: King of Resonance!
The next day passed rather uneventfully, aside from the usual schedule of going out to hunt monsters for EXP and materials, as well as visiting the blacksmith every now and then to repair their equipment, nothing unusual happened.
A regular day's schedule went like this; Wake up, leave the city to hunt monsters to farm EXP, collecting ingredients, and making potions. Do that for almost the entire day, then return to the city to sell their inventory for the day, then go to an inn to get dinner, then go to sleep. On top of that, they were also selling monster parts and leftover potions that King made after subtracting a portion of the potions for their own use — which they put more emphasis on, as they were running low on actual money.
"Man… we could've really used that monthly allowance…"
Unfortunately, King and Raphtalia had already left the palace before the rewards for ending the wave were handed out, and after what happened at the palace, he didn't have the mood to go back. He had too many negative experiences with that place and the people there.
If he did, that crazy old king might just snap and outright order the other heroes to detain him!
He wasn't an idiot. His high stats made it so that the various guards there would be nothing but annoyances to him, but his fellow heroes were probably just as, if not higher-leveled than he was! The only reason he was able to walk out of there was that the other heroes didn't want to attack him — out of his false reputation, and the absurd sequence of events that made the Spear Hero lose unfairly, which only added to his 'fearsome' reputation.
"Raphtalia recalled it too vividly, even..." Hell, she kept talking about it all day after they left the palace — even during dinner — painting him like some kind of unbeatable monster!
"It's starting to get boring, just listening to her constantly singing my praises. I wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly expected me to have super strength, start flying and shoot lasers out of my eyes."
Still, if she thought that the entire sequence of events was something he planned, then he could understand where she was coming from. Shame he didn't change at all, he was still the cowardly, antisocial otaku that is in a position beyond his standing.
"Sigh..."
"Lord King, are you alright?"
"I'm fine…" King answered half-heartedly.
"Hum... Oh, hey, Lord King, those people were really nice, giving us so many things for free, weren't they?"
"Huh? Oh, right. They were."
Surprisingly, many shop owners showed their appreciation for saving those villagers during the wave — unlike the nobles in the palace that were only there for food and socializing with other nobles.
In fact, most of them even gave them discounts and outright free items — saying that they had relatives in the village that King and Raphtalia defended, and it was the least they could do.
"Well, that book about advanced potion making and the magic guide came in handy, at least…"
It even came to light which affinity he had with magic!
"Illusion and support..."
It meant that he could use magic. How cool was that?! It opened up a bunch of possibilities for an Otaku like him!
"Though, some affinity to offensive magic would've been better…"
But King couldn't complain. It was better than nothing, really. Both Illusion and Support had a bunch of tactical uses. In the hands of a smart player, these two skills combined could be game-changing! Not to mention... with his luck, he was surprised that the shield didn't outright just say 'Legendary Weapon users can't use magic unless it's used with the Shield! Because screw you that's why!'
"The problem is… I need to learn the spells manually." Unfortunately, those crystal balls that could instantly teach you different spells were out of his price range.
That granny in that magic shop, although she was glad they saved her grandkid during the wave, her purse was too thin to give them one of those crystal balls for free. Not to mention, they were more of an attraction than something to sell. They were so incredibly pricey that unless they were either this world's equivalent of millionaires or they were backed by the crown, you could kiss the idea of buying them goodbye.
"Ah, well, better than nothing, I guess…" This at least opened an excellent opportunity for him to attempt to learn the local written language. True, learning a language he couldn't read was of itself should be a motivation — especially in this world where everything else was basically alien to him. It's a shame that while his shield could translate all spoken languages to something he could understand, written language couldn't be translated with his shield.
Still, some additional motivation never hurt.
"I tried to learn the written language myself during the passing month… but without any help, it's hopeless!"
He was never a genius. In fact, he was only slightly above-average in school. All he was ever good for was playing games and coming up with plots for said games; if they didn't have any plot.
If he was given the task to learn a foreign written language in a short time, he would probably fail — maybe even with help.
"Should I ask Raphtalia? She's around ten, so she could probably read…"
At least, the kids of his world are able to read and write at the age of ten. Here? Considering the primitive social structures of this world… It was likely that only nobles or the upper-middle-class know how to read and write. Peasants and slaves? It was highly unlikely. Especially in this kingdom where literal racism was apparent, denying demihumans and beastmen simple services, even more so.
"Is something bothering you, Lord King? Is the food not for your liking?"
"Hmm…" Right now, the two of them were seated in a restaurant, eating their modest meal.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yes, of course!"
"Do you know how to read and write?"
"Well…" The girl looked at the side, slightly blushing. "I know a little, but I'm not good at it."
Just his luck... but then again, he should've expected this. Not to mention, it was his fault, really.
Pushing an important matter such as this to the back of his mind for so long was a grave mistake.
"...Then again, survival and farming levels for the past month was more important to me than reading, so it can't be helped." Besides, he was fine without the ability to read the written language last month — spending most of his time outside the city to gain levels.
"Life in this world is really acclimatized for uneducated people. Most signs have a large picture on them, and you can recognize most things — even without the ability to read." For example, taverns had a large beer mug on the sign outside the door, apothecaries having the picture of a potion, and the blacksmith had a hammer and anvil on their signs.
In that case, life here was a lot simpler for the illiterate than back home.
In his original world, if you couldn't read, you wouldn't even be able to recognize the most basic things, not even being able to tell what different shops offer. Some of them have minor images, but if you couldn't read, then you were only able to live in rural, underdeveloped areas. And with the threat of monsters lurking around? It would basically be a death sentence since heroes would have a hard time even getting there, and even getting the report of a monster attack so far out was more of a pipe dream.
As far as he knew, rural villages like that were protected by militias that worked together with the police, which can handle Wolf-level threats and hold Tiger-level threats long enough for professional heroes to arrive on-scene. Some Heroes were actually stationed there, either due to being paid by the villagers or because they lived in those villages themselves.
"My Lord?"
Oh, right. He was thinking so much about his home that he was staring into the aether for a while now. It would've looked weird for Raphtalia, for sure. That didn't subtract from the fact that he needed to learn to read and write- from a 10-year old, no less.
"…" King closed his eyes, resigned. "Sigh... It's embarrassing, but can you teach me the language?"
He had no other choice. If he wanted to read those books, he needed to learn how to read! And who else could he ask to teach him? Basically no one!
"This must seem really pathetic…" Asking a little girl no less?
It should be him who teaches children things, not the reverse. He'd think he'd fail as an adult, but since he was summoned from a completely different world that has an entirely different language, he felt slightly better. Chances were, the other three heroes didn't know how to read and write, either. Still, it didn't make it any less pitiful that he needed to count on this 10-year old to learn how to read and write.
"The language? But you're speaking it fine, aren't you?" Raphtalia asked.
"My Legendary Shield only translates spoken languages for me. When it comes to the written language, I'm clueless."
"Oh... Fufufufufu…!" Raphtalia chuckled gently, covering her mouth. "Oh, my Lord!"
"…" Just as he had suspected, she was laughing at him. But it was understandable, from her viewpoint.
An adult asking a kid to teach him how to read and write must have looked really pathetic (for the adult).
"Of course I help!" Suddenly, she placed her hand on his. "Even now, you show me an example. I'm not very good at reading or writing either, so let's learn together, shall we?"
"Of course." He nodded. Although he didn't quite expect this answer, he was glad the girl didn't refuse his request. Not only would he be stuck with the embarrassment of asking her how to read and write; he'd still need to learn the language himself.
"Well... it's one step in the right direction, I guess…"
Scene Change: Not in Melromarc: Night:
"This…!?" Mirellia Q Melromarc bit her finger hard enough to draw blood.
"How many letters have I written to him!? Is he simply ignoring them?!" Even she couldn't keep count of how many letters she had written to her husband to treat the heroes equally — especially to give the Shield Hero proper care due to their tense political situation with Siltvelt.
And what did he do!? Treat him like crap after a flimsy accusation attempt by their lousy daughter and threaten him with assassins!? Is he out of his mind!?
"Sigh… I can't take this anymore." Slumping in her seat, she poured some wine into her goblet.
She had recently been brought low to this point more often as the piles of reports grew on her table day by day — almost wholly taken up by reports of what her 'dear' husband and eldest daughter get up to again, and messing up royally!
"At least, they managed to defeat this round of the waves…"
Of course, it wasn't thanks to the other three heroes. It sounded impossible, but it was all thanks to the Shield Hero alone that the waves were defeated — with a surprisingly low amount of casualties on top of this.
Her Shadows had never disappointed her before, but the reports they provided about the event were quite unbelievable and vivid — almost as if it was directly plucked from a fantasy book.
It was even more unbelievable than the report that stated that the Shield Hero had destroyed the part of the forest and a lesser army of monsters with a single, well-calculated hit.
"A rolling ball of death… A terrifying echo that confused the monsters and drew them closer to him so he could finish them off as efficiently as possible...?" It sounded ridiculous, but that's what her Shadows described — and what the crystal ball's recording showed.
And for obvious reasons; when she watched the recording of the event, she couldn't help her unease growing even larger.
The Shield Hero — who called himself 'King' — had not only killed those monsters, but he had utterly decimated them with a rolling ball that was formed from shields as he rolled down from a nearby hill, calculating the trajectory and impact each bounce had to have in order to trigger the loose boulders by the mountainside which also rolled down the hill, utterly decimating almost the entire first batch of monsters that were in the village at the time!
He and his demi-human companion were even able to evacuate the entire village after he arrived — drawing all the attention to himself as the girl helped the villagers escape before returning to assist him. When the Shield Hero arrived, there wasn't a single casualty after the fact!
"Not to mention saving those knights that intended to kill him…" It was such a heroic feat that it was unheard of!
"They clearly wanted to kill him and yet, he saved them! Moreover…" Through mere charisma, that man managed to forge the panicking group into a well-oiled machine, a group that easily held their ground against overwhelming odds with his lead!
A feat even her best generals could hardly repeat, a feat that befits a true leader! A… "A 'King'…" she muttered with an utterly pale face as realization finally dawned upon her.
It couldn't be otherwise! Only true leaders, true kings possess such leadership skills! Only a true warlord with many years of battlefield experience formed from endless bloodshed could forge a panicking group into a regiment of troops with near-perfect coordination in the heat of the battle!
She had suspected this for a while, but now, she was utterly certain of this fact! The Shield Hero was a king of another nation! And they kidnapped him with their hero summoning!? What kind of political mess did they dig themselves into?! If the Shield Hero returned to his original world, and returned here with the full force of his own army, Melromarc was doomed!
"And those idiots are picking on him!?"
She couldn't help but head-butt her table with full force! 'Thud!' Her forehead started to bleed after contact since she was wearing a crown, and the mark it left on her forehead wasn't a minor one. Though this was an act unbefitting of a queen, she could be forgiven — when faced with this utter garbage-fire of a mess her husband and daughter left for her to deal with — as they added more fuel to the flames!
Not only did that man possess an impossible level of charm — turning his enemies into his allies,
Not only was he intelligent enough to see through even the most complicated and well-placed schemes and break them down with just a few well-placed words and simple actions,
He was strong enough to go against their whole nation and even repelled the calamity they were struggling with! SINGLE-HANDEDLY! Granted, he did have a companion, but he was the one that did the heavy lifting, that much was certain!
"A perfect leader…" Mirellia muttered as she slumped back in her seat, horrified and pale, her blood slowly dripping across her face.
He proved this many times!
In the forest — where he single-handedly decimated by just a hit!
When Malty tried to frame him — and he deflected said attempt with undeniable logic and irrefutable evidence!
When Malty tried to poison him — and with mere intimidation, the attempt backfired and affected her instead!
During the wave — which he single-handedly conquered and forged mishmash of panicking recruits into a single, perfect unit!
"Even I pity that poor creature that started to chase him…"
Unfortunately, due to the chaos, her Shadows lost the man when that three-headed beast started to chase him, and with that, she only received recordings of what happened to that monster AFTER the Shield Hero was done with it — a scene that was so brutal even she was horrified by it. Such gore and brutality... and the Shield Hero simply stood there, unmoved! There wasn't even disgust nor annoyance towards it, it was nothing, NOTHING! Not even a fly, it was like he simply wiped away a smudge on his armor. It wasn't even something to fight, just something to wipe away and remove from his sight!
And the final nail in the coffin of her nation happened during the banquet...
Her 'dear' husband and daughter tried to frame him once more and kidnap his companion — Of course, he not only freed his companion in seconds with a stare, he won the rigged duel that came after, too. It was as if the duel was rigged- for him! In a single, swift, and fluid motion, he completely incapacitated the Spear Hero, and deflected her daughter's magic with but the smallest movements of his arm!
But at this point, the queen wasn't even surprised. Now, she could only laugh in her nervousness.
"Hahahahaha…"
She feared the breaking point — the moment when the Shield Hero finally decides: "You know what, this fly's been buzzing around for way too long!" and simply ended the royal line and her whole country like he would swat a fly!
"Yet at that time, he could have taken his revenge on my husband and daughter, but he even didn't do so… why?" Even she could only speculate.
What was his real goal? Was this mere petty revenge nothing compared to the hell he was carefully crafting for them? Or were they, the country of Melromarc... simply worth less than the time he'd spend polishing his armor?
With all honestly, the unknown possibilities and questions that were connected to this mysterious hero simply terrified her.
Most would have abused their great power like a brute and took revenge on her vulnerable husband and daughter — even the nation's people simply out of boredom and the fact that they could!
The people who tried to harm and even kill him many times over! The people who treated him like a criminal and a discardable rag!
But instead of taking his revenge, this man did the unthinkable!
He dissolved the situation with sheer intelligence and charisma! Convincing even the most stubborn noble to consider his opinion and possibly take his side after brushing off the Spear Hero's meager attempt to defeat him!
With just a few well-placed words, that man planted the seed of doubt in the nobles, making them doubt their king and the first princess' aptitude and capability to lead the nation in her absence!
That man hinted at the possibility they were no longer fit to govern the country! Just like that, he broke the trust of the nobles in her husband and daughter — and possibly in her!
"What an outrageous monster…!"
She bit her lower lip, drawing blood.
Not only was he strong, but intelligent and charismatic beyond all reason! The most dangerous combination of all in leaders that she rarely — if ever — seen before!
But they brought this onto themselves! Her stupid husband and daughter started this game, and her nation would suffer the consequences alongside them!
She needed to do something, fast! Otherwise, before she returned... there might not even be a country to return to at all!
Or most likely… the Shield Hero would take the throne for himself, to expand the influence of his own empire!
"What do I do…?" Her gaze slid to the fireplace, wondering how she could possibly even begin to solve the issue.
The two portraits she threw in the fire slowly burned unrecognizably. The picture of her husband and her firstborn daughter… Malty.
She couldn't help it! She was just so angry and stressed! Especially after reading about what happened at the banquet that intended to celebrate their victory over the waves — yet, it turned out as just another failed attempt to frame the Shield Hero. That was the breaking point. Burning those pictures just made her feel a little better. She would imagine the flames of the Shield Hero's wrath affecting only her husband and daughter, her country unscathed. If he could leave her country out of this, she would prostrate before him in gratitude. Though if that were to occur, she'd have to restrain herself. She was the ruling queen of her country, after all.
"I don't know if my husband just grew senile, stupid, or did Malty just manage to manipulate him that well?"
If she had to guess, it was all three. Even before she left for this conference, Aultcray wasn't his old 'heroic' self anymore. Being king really did him no good. It made him sluggish, lazy, and a little bit too permissive — especially towards his daughters… Especially towards Malty, who was manipulative by nature. He'd sooner tear his heart out than choose who to spoil more between his daughters, but that meant that he'd do anything in his power to spoil their children. And Malty... Malty took full advantage of that.
"Loving them is one thing… but spoiling them? That only makes children rot." She muttered, concerned. It was a good thing that she took charge of her second daughter before she became like her first daughter.
'Knock! Knock!'
"Who is that?" Immediately, she perked up, tidying her appearance as much as she could.
A queen should look prim and proper no matter the time of the day! Even during the middle of the night! The only time she permitted herself to look 'unkempt' was when she was in bed. But that was only because she gave up trying to fix her bed hair. No matter what she did, her hair was an absolute mess that would be similar to a bird's nest the moment she woke up. At least it was easier to work with once she woke up and took only a few minutes to tame.
"Mother, it's me. Did something happen?"
"Ah, come in, Melty. It's nothing…"
The door slowly opened, and the queen's expression immediately softened. A cute little girl in a well-made royal nightgown appeared at the doorframe.
She had blue eyes and blue hair, tied in two curly pigtails with two blue ribbons.
"Did something happen? I heard a loud noise." She looked around, confused, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"As I said, it's nothing. I just… dozed off."
"Y-You are bleeding!" The small girl's eyes widened immediately as she recognized the blood still flowing from her mother's forehead. The queen's movements hastened, recovering a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe up the blood she didn't even register.
"It's nothing… I was just…" What excuse could she come up with? Her second daughter may only be ten, but she had a lot more smarts than her first daughter — by a lot, the queen might add. The only thing Malty could beat Melty in was her ability to manipulate others.
"As I said before… I just dozed off for a moment, that's all…" The queen said. "I accidentally fell asleep and my head hit the table."
"…" Melty raised her brow for a moment, then lowered her head slightly. It was almost as though she knew her mother had lied to her.
"Mother, you should rest a bit. It does no good doing these all-nighters. Especially when you need to be fresh to deal with those people tomorrow…"
"I know. Unfortunately, it just can't be helped. It is for the sake of our country..." Mirellia said, shaking her head. Suddenly, an idea hit her like a pot that fell from the fifth floor onto a poor passerby. "...Melty, I have a request for you…" She knelt before her, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders.
"!" The young girl blinked, surprised at first, but then nodded confidently. She immediately understood what her mother was about to ask of her. The way her mother's eyes met hers implied that it was an important task!
"Whatever it is, I will gladly fulfill it."
And thus, Mirellia stated her request, doing so with a heavy heart.
She only hoped her daughter's wits would be effective in this situation. As of right now, leaving the conference behind risked a complete war against her nation. But not solving this issue wouldn't leave a nation behind for her.
Scene Change: Melromarc: The next day:
Adventuring was fine, really! King was actually starting to enjoy walking around and exploring new places. Not that he had a choice, but he'd take anything he could get at this point.
Since he arrived in this world, he felt his physique continuously improving — due to the constant challenges he had to face day after day, no longer allowing himself to just run away from the threats. If he was to be directly teleported to the waves, the best he could do was ensure his survivability during said waves!
Day after day, he can do more and more physically straining activities without getting exhausted.
Day after day, he was more confident when facing monsters.
Day after day he was learning more and more about this world and his Legendary Shield.
Of course, not everything was rainbows and sunshine. He had to deal with problems too… several of them, in fact, which bothered him greatly.
His first problem — or rather problems: Monsters! No one needed to encounter them — Not here, nor in his original world!
Walking was fine. Fighting monsters was not!
Well, weak ones were fine, but not all monsters were weak! Not to mention, his terrible luck always ensured that he had to deal with some of the stronger monsters, so he had to bear with them.
Though now as he was getting stronger — thanks to this game-like system which increased his stats after each level up — he could actually deal with the weaker ones that they would occasionally come across.
Still, he would probably never get over his nervousness and fear of encountering a monster — no matter how strong he became or how weak the monster seemed at first glance. After all, he was no stranger to overwhelmingly strong beings that were underwhelming in appearance back in his world. Tatsumaki, Child Emperor, and Saitama were on the top of that list, followed by other beings that didn't seem all that strong compared to their actual strength.
Who knows; the next slime he met might end up being a demon lord or some other kind of bullcrap!
"Wonder how Saitama does it…" He would probably never become like Saitama, being able to simply ignore a monster then kill them with a single punch — No matter how long and hard he ended up training. He didn't know how his friend got to that point, but to get so strong that all enemies, presumably even Dragon-level threats would be blown away with a single punch. Actually, no. He probably could, already did, and will continue doing so. He effortlessly killed large Dragon-level threats in a single blow before, anyway.
Even if he did get to that level of strength, the other thing holding him back from becoming like his friend was his cowardice! If for even a second he thought he was relatively strong, the images of Tatsumaki annihilating a Dragon-level threat in the blink of an eye and Saitama punching a monster would come to his mind, instantly extinguishing the ideas of being strong enough to contend with beings like that. And in this fantasy world where anything was possible... who knows, there might be a tiny frog that has enough power to destroy mountains or something, or a penguin that could freeze the entire world, or something equally ridiculous.
The second thing that really bothered him: the Waves!
True, they survived the first wave — or rather the second wave, according to his knowledge — somehow even stopping it — according to many. Even so, he had no idea how that happened. And it was proven, both by logic, experience, and written records that the waves got stronger after each one! How were they going to deal with those!? That fact started to burden him more and more as the days passed...
The only thing he could possibly do was level up faster than the wave could get stronger, but that was just an extravagant dream. Unless the waves grew stronger at a much slower rate than he expected, the best he could do was match the wave in growth, but chances were the waves would just get stronger than he could possibly level himself up. At the rate that he was currently going, anyway.
"I barely did anything but run around and panic…"
Yet, most of the people they met were glad for their rescue and stopping the wave — usually giving him all the credit — like back in his world.
"The same thing is happening like back then! I can't bear this!" What happened to him with the Hero Association, was repeating again!
He did nothing of note and was simply at a bad place at the worst possible time. Yet, people ended up giving him all the credit, instead of the heroes that were truly responsible for dealing with those threats, like Saitama!
After all this time, King didn't know if it was a curse or a blessing — though, feeling the constant nervousness and experiencing all the dangerous situations the world usually threw at him thanks to his fame — or rather, infamy — he'd consider it a curse.
"Raphtalia and some other citizens said that it was due to my 'heroic' accomplishments that the wave was stopped…" But if you asked him, he'd say he had barely any idea of what really happened. Most of anything he could recall was the result of sheer, dumb luck. It was as though parts of his luck turned for the better; but if it hadn't during those critical moments, he wouldn't have been able to stand here.
He just did what he's always been doing, running around and panicking, sometimes trying to look confident and bluff his way out. But that was it!
If he had to call himself something, he would call himself a cowardly swindler instead of a hero.
"I don't understand people sometimes…"
Naturally, the next wave was still far away according to the timer… so, his current greatest issue was his nervousness about that mentally unstable woman and her senile, aged father.
What if they ended up actually send assassins or bounty hunters after them just like that king threatened to? What if they poisoned or backstabbed him when he least expected it!?
"I've been having this bad feeling that someone was following us since we left the palace…"
Maybe he was just paranoid because of the threat? Surely it couldn't be that bad. Though was anything really below what the two of them could do? It was a mentally deranged princess and her senile father with the power of the entire kingdom behind them.
But King would rather be safe than sorry about it later — though it wasn't as though he could detect ninjas, hidden presences, or anything of the sort. Something like that sounded like the forte of a hunter class, most likely a part of what that Bow Hero kid could do. He was kind of jealous... all the Bow Hero had to do was shoot monsters from afar. Why couldn't he be equipped with that instead? The bow seemed to suit his cowardly nature better than that of the shield. The shield needed to be on the frontlines, whereas the bow could hang back and avoid most of the danger.
He would most likely end up dead before he could even realize what happened if an assassin or ninja tried to off him. The only thing he could hope for was that it was some low-leveled assassin, and his DEF-stat could save his hide if they attempted to attack him. But that was probably an idiotic hope. He was the Shield Hero with 'legendary' accomplishments! Assassins that came after him would need to be completely sure of being able to kill someone that 'strong'.
If an assassin were to attempt to come for his life, then they would be pleasantly surprised to find out that their target was a lot weaker than they expected.
'Creak…'
Suddenly, King heard as something moved behind him, as he stopped in his tracks, turning his head towards the noise. "Hmm?"
"Lord King?"
"No, it was probably just the wind…"
There were ninjas in his world, like Flashy Flash. They were crazy strong and insanely fast, as far as he was concerned! He once watched a video someone took of Flashy Flash fighting a monster. It didn't even take a second for the monster's head to be sliced clean off! Going frame by frame, it took just three frames! THREE! It was a crappy 30 FPS camera on an outdated phone, but three frames in a 30 FPS camera meant that it only took Flashy Flash 0.1 seconds to decapitate the monster! And it looked like he didn't even bother exerting much effort! He could kill a monster in a tenth of a second, without being serious!
Not to mention all the possible 'cool' ninja techniques they could have! Those techniques would be cool to watch happen... but being the target of said technique makes it slightly less cool. If a ninja on that level came after his life, he would probably be dead long before he noticed what happened!
"Ninjas are cool and all, but I stand no chance if I have to fight against them. Not to mention… Ninjas like that are creepy…"
The mysterious aura around Flashy Flash would seem cool to a fan of his, but to King, it was slightly creepy. Like a bad cosplayer who's never willing to break character, even if his acting was completely terrible. Problem was, Flashy Flash wasn't acting. He was an actual ninja with the skills to kill anything and everything he needed to kill.
"I wonder if all ninjas are as serious as that…"
Besides ninjas, there were also people like that. King had met several of those kinds of serious cosplayers during big sales and event premiers, and he could confidently say that he really didn't like those kinds of people — especially the ones who were trying to cosplay as him. It would've been a simple affair, as well. All they had to do was put on a blond slicked-back wig, a temporary triple-scar tattoo, and literally any other piece of clothing would do to complete their 'cosplay'.
Somehow, there were people that could screw up something as simple as that. The only thing they 'nailed' was how they thought he acted.
"How annoying…"
Shaking his head frustrated, he kicked a pebble out of his way. Even as he attempted to distract himself, the only thing hanging in his mind was that there was a chance that there were dozens of assassins just chomping at the bit to claim his life!
Unknown to King, the pebble he had kicked ricocheted from the tree on the side of the road, speeding towards another tree behind them, making a small flock of birds panic as the rock flew through the branches.
'Thud!' It was like something had plummeted to the ground in the next moment.
"Hm? Weird…" King glanced back again, hearing a noise akin to something — or someone —falling to the ground. Was he right, was there an assassin after his life?!
Closely examining the disturbed foliage, he determined that it was nothing after all. Maybe he was starting to get paranoid, imagining things that weren't there.
"Lord King? Is something the matter?"
"It's... nothing. Let's move on." If this were to continue, he might end up actually paranoid. He really needed a break of some kind, or he might become like that unstable princess and her father!
Unknown to him, that 'thing' or rather, that person who plummeted to the ground was muffling her breath, hiding behind the rock not far behind the disturbed foliage.
"H-He knows! He knows about us!"
The Shadow's heart was in her throat, trying desperately to muffle her haphazard breathing! She had panicked, leading to her almost being spotted!
...No! She was spotted way before this! That man knew that they were following him since the beginning!
Their orders were clear! No one — especially not the Shield Hero — was allowed to spot them!
Yet, she had almost blown her cover entirely!
That stone that rebounded from that tree hit the branch above her head, at just the right angle to make the bird's nest fall on her, breaking all the eggs — spilling its contents all over her.
This, of course, incited the nearby birds to attack her and take their revenge on the being they suspected to have destroyed their unborn fledglings.
And if that wasn't enough, thanks to the gooey contents of the eggs and her attempts to chase them away, she even slipped and fell from her vantage point!
The Shield Hero knew about them! He knew about them from the beginning! It was his way to let them know: Don't follow me. You're annoying.
In fact, he had even voiced out 'How annoying..' before kicking that pebble! There was no way that it was just a mere coincidence!
Before, they were only suspecting this — seeing him glance behind his back from time to time and sometimes outright glaring in their direction. Most often, directly at the hiding spots of the Shadows that were following him!
Now, this calculated hit had confirmed their worst fears!
This man was more than he looked! He was not only strong, charismatic, and intelligent, but his perception and precision were terrifyingly accurate!
Shadows like her were trained since their childhood to serve the queen as her unseen agents. Yet, this man had easily seen through their deception and more than a decade of training!
Just what kind of monster was capable of that!? Was he even human?!
"I-I need to report this!"
The Shadow disappeared, leaving the area to compile her report.
Scene Change: Slave Traders Den:
"Hmmm… hmmm!" A stocky figure hummed his favorite tune in a dark corner of the royal capital, inhabiting a strange circus tent, checking out the inventory once more before the rush hour started.
Though slavery was not abolished in Melromarc, it was still shunned by several people who thought themselves 'morally superior' to the buyers of his wares.
Because of this, most of his customers came during the midnight hours, so that no other passerby would leer at them for buying a slave.
"Hmm, check! That's everything!" The stocky man in the ringmaster's attire grinned in satisfaction as he ticked the last square on his to-do list. Now, all he had to do was wait for the customers, and count the coin that rolled in!
Those 'superior' people didn't bother him, not one bit. His business was booming like never before! No matter what those people say, sooner or later, everyone would end up buying a slave — even those stuck up 'morally superior' people that would outwardly display disgust at the concept of a slave. The only exceptions were summoned heroes, which usually were in worlds so different from this one that most of the time, slavery didn't exist anymore.
What a ridiculous notion! Slaves were quite handy to have around.
They can never rebel. They would usually show their worth and make back the money used to buy them in a short time. They could even be taught to do different tasks. From providing 'private services' to serving as bodyguards who could even forfeit their lives for their owner's safety!
Not to mention... They couldn't even deny any order given to them! The only way something like that would ever happen was if the slave was high-leveled enough to the point they could resist low-leveled slave seals, or ignore the effects entirely. But before something like that would ever happen, the buyers would usually come back to him so that they could put a stronger seal on them.
What more would a person need? What's there not to like?
If you asked him, a slave was a much better investment than a paid employee or servant. Such 'free' people could deny any order if it was against their morals — or change sides if other parties offered more. Slaves were the best wares around for any physical labor!
The only exception to that rule is if someone had the ability to create golems or an ancient construct. Golems were made from whatever material the caster used as the base and ran on the caster's mana. But even then, only those wizards of exceptional power and high standing would use golems. Golems were hard to construct, as well as high-maintenance, as keeping even the most basic golem active for an hour would be extremely taxing to the average mage. The only reason they were used at all would be if the caster had ample mana to supply the golems, and had to keep their image up for public purposes. For example, a grand wizard of a prestigious magic academy.
Ancient constructs were rarer to come across than a blue moon. Created by heroes of old to mimic the 'robots' and 'machinery' of their world, such magical tools in a sense that they were, in theory, less magical than golems. A golem would require a constant supply of mana, either by a magical core from a powerful magic beast or with a direct connection to the caster. Ancient constructs had the ability to absorb the background mana of the surroundings, which meant that once an ancient construct was built, it would run for an indefinite period of time, or until the construct was rendered unusable. Though they were slightly worse-off than golems in a sense than they were more built off the physical than the magical.
Golems could repair themselves if they had enough of the base material and enough mana to undergo the repairing process. It was as simple as adding more clay onto a sculpture. Ancient constructs on the other hand were almost human in the sense that once a part was gone, it would be gone forever. Originally, the heroes of old could fashion more parts to replace broken sections of the constructs with, but as time passed, the knowledge of how to maintain an ancient construct was lost, making any intact ancient construct incredibly valuable.
But those were incredibly rare circumstances. Not everyone had the ability to command fleets of golems with an immense reserve of mana, nor the luck to stumble upon a perfectly intact ancient construct, with an intact controller. For the common worker like he, slaves were the best choice!
Unfortunately, not all people were of the same opinion as him…
"Wonder what happened to that scary hero…" He muttered, remembering the Shield Hero.
He didn't come near his establishment for about three weeks, almost like he was intentionally avoiding him. The only time he even came in here was to buy that demi-human slave.
He thought he made a good impression on him, but it seems that he failed despite all his charms. Perhaps he was one of those 'morally superior' people after all. Well, he couldn't blame him. Most heroes would turn their nose up in disgust at the concept of slaves, and despite being targeted by almost everyone since the moment he was summoned, he seemed to retain that idealistic concept of his.
"What a waste…" The man with the top hat shook his head.
It couldn't be helped. Maybe he should've shown him his other wares aside from his slaves, that might've gotten him to come back for his other wares. That, or he should've come off as more 'caring' in front of him. He could always put up an act when necessary, but oh well. No need to cry over spilled milk. Perhaps the Shield Hero would change his mind later.
"Hey, old man!"
"Ah! There you are!" Grinning, the short, stocky man turned to the newcomer. "How're you feeling, boy?"
"Better, I guess…" The young man with the gangsterish look and sharp eyes scratched his neck, just above the ugly-looking scar that remained after that 'incident'.
His hair was messy black, his eyes as grey as steel, his body scrawny yet slightly muscled.
"Also, I already said, just call me-"
"I'm not calling you by that name, boy. You look nothing like a rock. More like a sweet dessert. I may as well call you pie, or cookie."
"Hey! I'm not that soft-looking!"
"Shush, boy. Now, you said that you're feeling better. How much better? Completely fine, or still a little bit dizzy? The fact that you even recovered that fast is a surprise to me, considering how terrible your condition was when you came into my shop."
"Hmph. I still feel a little trembling in my hand…"
"Hmm… It's probably nerve damage. It would most likely never heal…" At least, without proper treatment. "That old dagger you used left a nasty infection. Not to mention how many types of poison it was soaked in beforehand. Give or take 20 minutes later, and you would have died. Where did you find that thing?"
"I found it in an alleyway. Why do you ask?"
"Hmm, it's not important." Grinned the stocky man. "What will you do now? Your debt's finally been paid. You don't need to work for me anymore."
"I don't know…" Shrugged the street rat, turning his head away.
"Hmm… in that case, why not seek out the man who saved you? You owe him. After all, he saved your life."
"Tch! And it was also because of him I was in a coma for a whole week! Thanks, but no thanks."
"But it was you who tried to mug him, was it not?"
"Keh! Don't even make me remember! Who knew that bastard's shield was that hard?"
"You must be an idiot if you thought a rusty dagger like that would do any damage to a shield. Even a hide shield would be able to withstand blows from a well-made sword, much less a rusty old dagger you found on the street against the Shield Hero's legendary shield. You should have expected this much. But really? What did you think of accomplishing when you attacked him with that old, rusty dagger?" Even by just looking at the Shield Hero, it was clear he was way out of the boy's league.
"Shut up, old man! That bastard started it by looking down on us, mocking us! Next time we meet, it'll be him who ends up on the ground!" The young man clenched his fist, swearing he would have his revenge.
"Fufufufufu…" The merchant just grinned, chuckling in a low tone as he leaned on his walking cane.
"What's so funny!?" The young ruffian, already in a bad mood, shouted at the merchant.
"Haven't you heard what happened during the wave?"
"What? A bunch of people died, and after great sacrifices, blah blah blah, those cocky heroes defeated the wave boss. What else? I don't even need to ask about what happened, or we wouldn't even be here to talk right now." Frowned Rock. What more was there that happened? That's how the waves went, that's how every wave went. If the heroes lost to the waves... well, they wouldn't even have time to worry about that, and at that point, it wouldn't be a problem for them anymore, considering they would be dead soon enough.
"Ah, so you didn't hear…?" The slave merchant chuckled, pulling his hat over his eyes. "Heh…"
It was strange considering everyone was talking about it in the town, talking about the 'monster' who single-handedly decimated the wave. But then again, this boy was really not perceptive, or he wouldn't have attacked the Shield Hero in the first place. Still? How come he didn't hear a word of the news? He was sure he had sent him out on errands outside before. Was he just selectively deaf?
"Don't be coy with me, old man! Or I'll-"
"Or you'll what, boy?" The trader tapped his walking cane once, and Rock saw many glowing eyes light up in the darkness, watching him with primal hunger.
"You aren't free yet, boy. As of this moment, you are still mine, and I take no backtalk from my products. You are in my domain. It takes only one, just one command, or but a single inkling that I want you gone, and my slave bodyguards will tear you apart before you'll even realize whatever's happening to you. They are efficient, I assure you."
'Gulp!'
Rock felt the gazes of the slaves piercing him, a beastly rage that was only held at bay by the slave crests binding the demi-humans and beastmen.
"F-Fine! I won't do anything, alright?" He made a few steps back, sweating nervously as he glanced around.
"That's better…" Beloukas tapped his walking cane twice, and immediately, the beastly intent retreated.
"Then I'll tell you. If you still haven't heard, that man defeated the wave single-handedly." Though it was more like decimating the entire wave of monsters, then leaving the wave boss in a state even he wouldn't want to detail — or so he heard from his sources.
But still, no matter how bloody the battle and how gruesome the fight, a battle won was glory earned. One couldn't deny said glory from the Shield Hero.
"What?! You must be joking! There's no way that-"
"Think what you want. My intel is accurate. After all, I'm not only a peddler of wares, but an information broker too. It's my profession." Boasted the short man. "Besides, why would I lie to a sniveling, pathetic street rat?"
Rock wanted to protest, but upon remembering what happened barely 30 seconds ago, he held back. He already paid his debts and could go free, he didn't want to end up as a red stain in this stupid tent after all that effort.
"Hmm... fine, I won't go trying to fight him again. What do you think I should do, then?" Rock bit his lip. He hated feeling so vulnerable, but he had little choice in the matter. He had nowhere to go, not after his so-called 'friends' had left him to bleed out on that street, not after they cut ties with him after his return — fearing the trouble he would bring after his encounter with the Shield Hero. Which was stupid, to say the least! They all decided to mug the Shield Hero, and he was the one sticking up for them after he mocked them! What nerves they had to cut ties with him!
"Well, you can continue staying here, become my assistant. You have a knack for handling merchandise. In time, maybe you can even open your own business." Beloukas smiled a creepy smile.
"Tch! Thanks, but I'd rather not! Working for you for however long that was is more than enough!" Rock almost spat.
This man was a slavedriver, literally — and also a sadist, considering he used him as an errand boy even when he felt like crap, working him to the brink of death!
"Well, in that case. You can go back to that criminal band. Though, seeing how they left you at the first sign of danger, and how no one came looking for you almost for a whole month, I wouldn't expect their help. You are alone, boy. And we all know that street rats on their lonesome die a painful death, especially in the dark streets of the capital."
As Beloukas raised his head, his eyes were visible for a moment through his glasses. Only for a moment before the glint of dim light covered them again.
"...I'll take my chances…" Rock muttered, clenching his fist angrily. His former posse left him the instant he was in trouble, and he would pay them tenfold for this. But at this moment... he was well and truly, alone.
"Alternatively, you can always follow my advice..."
"What?" The boy's head perked up, squinting his eyes.
"Just as I said before… even if it's a silly little thing that has a sliver of a chance of success, but I think it is worth a shot to seek the Shield Hero out to repay his kindness with your service. After all, he didn't just pay for the medication to save your life, he didn't even make me brand you as his slave, despite the low, low price I gave him. Quite an interesting man…"
"How nice of him…" Spat the boy. "Yet, you put that stupid brand on me, anyway…"
"Well, it took time to nurture you back to a usable state. It also cost a fair bit of money..." Beloukas rubbed his index and thumb. "It's only natural that I secure my investment and not to let him escape before he repays my kindness."
"What's in this for you? Why are you even telling me this?"
"Nothing, really. I just thought it would be interesting, nothing else." Grinned the merchant as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.
"The street rat joins the group of the mighty Shield Hero that decimated the wave, helping him along his journey! In time, the street rat also grows to be a hero!" The slave merchant posed like a bard, aggrandizing the possible tale. Though as far as Beloukas knew, the Shield Hero needed no help in combat. He alone faced the brunt of the waves while his demihuman companion that he bought from him mostly assisted the villagers in evacuating. Despite that, it would still be an interesting prospect he could profit greatly from if everything went well.
"What an entertaining tale… What a nice prospect!" Chuckled the merchant, twirling his mustache.
"Bah, I've had enough of this! Just remove this brand, and let me on my way!"
"Hmm, a shame you didn't take my offer." It wasn't. " You might've been a successful merchant like myself, had you been under my wing. Very well then, follow me, boy. Your debt has been paid, and I have no reason to keep you any longer." Twisting his walking cane, the slave merchant turned around and headed towards his office, the young man following behind him.
Where would the boy's way lead? One could hardly know.
Scene Change: Meanwhile with King and Raphtalia:
"Are you tired?"
"I can still walk, Lord King, don't worry about me."
"Alright."
King gritted his teeth. Though Raphtalia said she was fine, he wasn't. Walking around and fighting monsters for the entire day in his armor was tiring, not to mention how hot it was today! He was already partially drenched in his own sweat from this long trip!
Wearing the cloak and hood on his head to avoid suspicious gazes and assassins to recognize him just made the heat that much worse!
"Jeez, I don't know how much longer I can walk for..."
He wanted to stop, but how would it look if a ten-year-old girl could bear more than an adult like him?
Granted, she was wearing light, airy leather armor and he was wearing heavy plate armor and a cloak with a hood, but still, he was higher-leveled! He should've been able to handle more!
"Oh, the road is blocked." The duo stopped, Raphtalia recognizing the smoke and what seemed to be remnants of a recent battle.
Several carriages were blocking the road, positioned like they were ambushed on their way through the pass, which was a short battle, judging from their position and state.
"I don't like this…" King thought, his gamer instincts kicking in.
For most, it looked like a scene of a recent battle, but for King, who had seen many similar tropes in different media, it looked more like a trap — similar to scenes where the main character was ambushed after investigating the scene of battle, hoping to save some survivors.
They were halfway through this long canyon already. There were steep stone walls on both sides surrounding them. The entrance of this place was too far behind them to escape if anyone was attempting to ambush them.
It was the perfect place for an ambush or an assassination!
Still, if they had to set up an ambush, then maybe they weren't so highly skilled that they could immediately kill him the second he let his guard down. If they were just a group of people that would attempt to surround them with greater numbers, then he could at least get him and Raphtalia to safety with the skills he obtained from his shields.
But getting back on topic, there was an almost 99% chance that this was an ambush, just waiting for him to get near so they could spring the trap on him. The chances of happening across an unrelated accident in the most conveniently placed pathway to the village were slim to none, especially since there was probably a price on his head.
"Damn… we should have returned to the town earlier…" But of course not. Why wouldn't they have made a detour to hunt some boar for dinner? Why wouldn't they have had to pass through this canyon before stopping at the next town for lodgings and food — the place which, according to the locals, could be found almost directly in front of the other side of this canyon— the city where the quest-giver was waiting for them.
The Adventurer's Guild offered a hefty amount of gold for adventurers to complete quests posted on their bounty boards. And as he needed every coin he could scrape together, he decided to accept a bunch of quests, leveling up by clearing out some monsters, as well as receiving money for services rendered — almost like a mercenary.
He would not have come this way if he could, but the other pass was blocked due to a small landslide, and going around would take too long.
Trying to climb up onto the steep walls was also inadvisable — considering he once tried to climb a similarly steep wall and almost fell down due to a loose foothold. If he really wanted to, he could've asked Raphtalia to climb the walls while holding a rope from his Rope Shield which could pull him up along the way, he decided against it in the end. Chances were Raphtalia would just fall off the walls while attempting to pull him up. The walls did NOT look stable, at all.
"The walls of this place look like they could crumble at any moment…" Considering that the other pass had collapsed due to a landslide, and this pass looked more treacherous than the other... there was no way to delude himself. If there wasn't an ambush waiting for him on the other side, then another landslide like the one that collapsed the other pass was probably the worst possible scenario.
Despite all that, their only real option was to go forward and seek out that person who placed the request for the Adventurer's Guild, then complete his quest— and receiving the rewards.
"Almost like in a game…" Except that in most games, there were quest hubs where you can pick up most of the quests and complete them all at once.
And this place... wherever this place was, it was not in a game world. And things were a lot more complicated in real life than in the video game.
"Not to mention, the contractor mentioned wanting to meet the quest taker before telling them anything substantial about the quest itself. It makes sense; it might be a quest with sensitive information; just posting it up for anyone to look at it might be an issue." King thought.
"We should investigate it, maybe a monster-" Raphtalia muttered concernedly, already worried about the people that were in the caravan group.
"It's a trap." King raised his hand, stopping Raphtalia in her tracks before she could head towards the wreckage.
"A trap?" Blinked the girl, confused. "But…"
"It's more than obvious…" He hummed. "I've seen many similar circumstances before. I'm almost certain it's a trap."
"Then... what should we do?"
"We'll just avoid it." Many reckless heroes would walk into it despite knowing there was a 100% chance that it was one, even risking their lives to see if anyone required assistance.
But, He wasn't one of those reckless heroes. He was neither stupid nor reckless enough to walk into such a blatant trap!
"Maybe you're right…" Muttered Raphtalia. Taking a closer look, it did seem too... neatly arranged for it to just be the aftermath of a monster attack. The carts were piled in such a way that it blocked all view from the other side of the wreckage. Surely no monster would pile up the caravans in such a neat, orderly manner.
"H-Help…!"
"Lord King!"
Suddenly, from the wreckage, a dirty kid crawled out, attempting to get closer to King and Raphtalia. Her leg was bleeding and injured, as she ran with a limp.
"Lord King! There's still someone-"
"Wait." King raised his arm, stopping Raphtalia before she could rush forth.
"Wh-What happened?" The hero's companion was confused, just what did her Lord spot?
"H-Help!" The dirty and beaten-looking demi-human girl fell before their legs, raising her head with tearful eyes. Her clothes were ragged and dirty, with signs of a beating still visible on her. The bruising had barely begun to turn bluish.
"The-The others…"
"Others?" King raised his brow. Something about that 'others' bugged him a little.
[ド Rumble! ド Rumble! ド Rumble! ド Rumble! ド]
"Y-Yeah… the others…" The dirty girl hesitated, trembling slightly as she heard that strange rumbling sound.
"L-Lord King! We need to help them!"
"How many are there?" King asked. There were two options here.
One: She hid while the others in the caravan were taken. Seeing as she survived and said something about 'the others', it meant that it wasn't a monster attack after all, and they were attacked by bandits, that promptly took most of the people prisoner. If it had been something like a monster attack, she would've been too distraught after witnessing the monster, well... In any case, she seemed far too mentally healthy to have witnessed something as brutal as a monster attack, so it was most likely a bandit attack, that aimed to capture most of the people from the caravan.
Two: She was bait for an ambush, and she was either working with them to deceive them or that she was someone from the caravan group, forced to act as bait to attract passersby before they promptly filled them with arrows once they were distracted enough. If it was the latter, the 'others' she was referring to might be her captors, and she was attempting to tell them that.
"W-Well…" The wolf girl looked away, remaining silent for a moment, even lowering her head. She visibly trembled, as if she was intimidated.
"I see." King's deep hum made the girl look up and hesitate for a moment. "So that's how it is…"
"P-Please… we…"
"Hmmm..." As of right now, she wasn't giving enough information to tell what was the case. Maybe, just maybe there was a slim chance that this was all just a coincidence, and she was actually just the survivor of a recent monster attack. Even so, King readied himself to cast his protective abilities whenever necessary.
"Look." King knelt before her. "Just tell us what happened so we can help you."
[ド Rumble! ド]
"You can believe Lord King's words." Raphtalia smiled, giving off a friendly aura to calm her down. She, too, knelt near the girl and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Lord King is the Shield Hero, he can protect you from anything. Just tell us what happened, so we can help you."
"T-The Shield Hero?" The wolf girl's eyes suddenly widened, as she realized the scary man was actually the legendary Shield Hero!
"Yes, the legendary Shield Hero himself!"
King must admit, Raphtalia had some talent for this. Not only was she confident and shrewd when it came to business, but she could also handle people quite well.
He was sure that without her, some braver merchants would probably have ripped him off on quite a few deals. Not to mention, her ability to calm others down and exude a friendly aura to make others trust her made her a force to be reckoned with, if she ever decided to go into business.
"I-I…" The girl started to tremble, her eyes moistening. "THEY CAPTURED US! THEY LAID A TRAP TO CAPTURE ANYONE THAT PASSED THROUGH HERE! SAVE US!" The girl burst out in tears, trembling.
Yep, that was the signal.
As soon as she shouted that out, a hail of arrows rained towards them from all directions.
"[Pipe Shield]. [Shield Prison]." King reacted instantly, activating his defensive skills. Harmlessly, the arrows bounced off the shell of shields that surrounded them.
After a few moments, no arrows were fired again. King then dispelled the skill. If they ended up firing more arrows, he could just activate the skill again, making their attackers waste more arrows.
"Well, well, well! What a skill! I commend you, stranger!" A clapping sound came from the direction of the carriages, and a well-clothed, thin-bodied man revealed himself, wearing a uniform similar to the stocky slave trader he had met previously.
"Sigh… how cliché." Muttered King. And to his expectations, it was a trap. The moment he even had the slimmest of hopes that it wasn't a trap and this girl was just a survivor of a monster attack, of course, it ends up being the trap he expected it to be!
'Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!'
Immediately after, the sound of ropes and people landing behind them sounded.
From behind the blockade, further bandits were gathered.
If you asked King, it was evident upon first glance; they were not simple bandits. They were too organized to be simple bandits. Then again, the fact that their supposed 'leader' looked similar to that slave trader he met before was probably enough to tell that they weren't bandits, but mercenaries hired by the slaver.
"Tsk."
In a moment, the three of them were completely surrounded.
Just what he had suspected. Today was strangely uneventful, even the monster-hunting went too smoothly. It was obvious that something would happen. Every day was the same thing. Ambushed by a pack of wolves after finishing a gathering quest, coming across a large bear that could shoot blades of wind when they were on an escort mission, and stumbling into a massive cave network that was directly behind another, smaller cave network of bats that they were supposed to take care of. What was in that larger cave network? A massive hive of Giant. Fucking. WASPS. They were the size of small dogs, and they could shoot acid from their stingers.
"I'm not even surprised anymore…" His curse pursued him wherever he went. There was no question.
"You've not only survived, but you've also saved the girl too. Truly, a skillful display. I commend you, and your efforts!" Clapped the thin man again, ever grinning.
The sound of laughter came from all around them, even up from above. This, of course, made King glance upwards. Of course, they were also in the trees.
"It's an ambush, just as expected," King muttered. At least they just seemed to be a group of lower-leveled mercenaries. He half-expected them to have been assassins that were after the bounty on his head. Still, slavers weren't exactly that much better compared to assassins.
Thanks to the acoustic nature of the canyon, it increased the clarity of the voice transferred across it like a mouthpiece, making both sides hear each other quite clearly even from a hundred meters away.
"Hmm, you're a perceptive one, aren't you? Indeed, we have you surrounded. I request that you stand down. We don't want to deal with more trouble than necessary. Let us proceed with our business, shall we?"
"Did you think we'll just surrender to you so easily without a fight?" King said, readying his shield. He saw how slaves were treated in that short, stocky trader's tent. He'd rather die fighting if that was the other option!
...Well, there was running away like a coward, but if backed into a corner, he'd rather die trying to get out than spend his entire life miserably. There would be no chance to get back to his original world if he was turned into a slave. Then again; his shield made him immune to the effects of slave crests, but if he was captured and sent to that senile old coot, he'd probably be executed on the spot.
"Ah, no, no, you misunderstand me." The slave trader said. "While that was indeed the plan, you happened to have the skill to completely block our arrows no matter which direction we fire from, and taking a closer look, the both of you look armed and ready for a fight. There's no point in wasting arrows and manpower to capture the two of you. Not to mention, with your scary expression, it seems like you'd rather die fighting than surrendering to us. My men and I hate needing to do unnecessarily difficult tasks, so we'll just leave you be, and you'll leave us be."
"Hmm," King said, lowering his shield, yet still not dropping his guard. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Ah! How crass of me, I forgot to introduce myself." The elegant, scrawny man twirled his long and curly-ended mustache, pushing his top hat above his eye level. His curly hair was as red as a carrot.
"…Let me correct this mistake. I am a slave merchant and the leader of this esteemed group of gentlemen, the great Adolphman Barthoff, at your service! It is nice to meet you, Sir…" The man bowed, raising his head, and looked at King expectantly.
"King," King said, adding no further titles. If he just up and told them he was the Shield Hero, and there was a bounty on his head, these people would surely attack them. It was bad enough he forgot to use the alias he came up with, he even used his S-Class hero title, which in this world was the name of the Shield Hero! If his infamy spread this far, then...
"Sigh…Could this day get any worse?!"
The man stopped for a moment before straightening himself in a funny but twisted way, seemingly pondering on something.
"Ah! I see! What a splendid name! Sir King. What a magnificent title! Indeed, it fits a robust man like you. And the esteemed beauty on your side? May I know her name? Hmmm?"
"What do you want?" King asked without any hesitation, raising his arm before Raphtalia could say anything, as he glimpsed at her angered expression and her hand moved over her sword.
If she did something stupid now, they would probably just skip the pleasantries and attack them outright. Though he was, for now, confident that he was higher-leveled than them, the lesser army of mercenaries that surrounded them had the numbers advantage, which wasn't good for him. Not to mention, their leader, Ad...Adolph... Whatever his face, he didn't know his strong he really was. What if he was higher-leveled than him? Though they were no strangers to fighting enemies that were higher-leveled than he was, they used traps, tricks, and various abilities to have the upper hand. In this scenario, the other party had every advantage there could possibly be! They could've laid more traps, there could be assassins among them, biding their time to strike, there could be-
Shaking the various thoughts out of his head, King concentrated on their leader once more. Worrying about what could happen wasn't the right thing to do now. What he had to do was ensure that they either left without conflicts. If a conflict was inevitable, then he had to make sure that both of them had the highest chance of survival.
"Ah! I see you get straight to the point. I like that. You, Sir, and your beautiful companion just stumbled upon our operation! The noble goal to recover free, unclaimed 'assets' and place them into rightful custody."
"I see... so you attacked these people." He glanced at the beaten-up wolf girl behind him, the girl who already found cover behind his cloak.
"Lord King, just give me the order, and I'll-!"
King glanced at Raphtalia and shook his head. "No, not now."
"Hmm, it's more like claiming stray resources roaming the wild. Nothing else, I assure you. But, let's get on to business."
"You! How could you-!?"
"Raphtalia." Despite the hatred that she felt towards the slave merchants, a glance from the Shield Hero and a single warning was enough to bring her to her senses. As he said before, now was not the time. She'd keep it in for now. But once Lord King gave the order...
"I'd suggest keeping your beast on a leash, Sir King. Otherwise, I might be forced to reeducate her…" Adolphman snapped his fingers, and arrows whistled towards them, King wordlessly summoning the protective skills once more, the arrows bouncing off the shields.
"...Well, I attempted to have them land by your feet, but I suppose you're not too amused by that." A stoic visage staring back at him gave Adolphman the answer he needed.
"Well, never mind that! I have a business proposition. As a humble merchant myself, I aim to grasp every opportunity to earn some gold. So, what do you think-"
"Lord King will never accept anything you propose, filthy slaver!"
King wanted to groan. Why was this girl making things harder? Couldn't she tell that they were surrounded right now? The last thing they needed to do was anger them! If it came down to it, they could probably run away and save themselves, but getting to know Raphtalia after a while, he knew that she'd just stay here and try to defeat them all to free the slaves. Granted, he'd do the same if he could as it was the moral thing to do. But in this case, what came first was their survival.
"Oh, how fiery! How fierce! Precious things like you sell well on the market. Wealthy customers especially like breaking people like you. What do you say, Sir King? Fifteen gold coins? If she's still a virgin, I'll offer you twenty gold coins!"
"You bastard! I-"
"She's not for sale." King's cold voice cut through what she wanted to say. "She is my companion."
"!" Raphtalia's eyes widened as her Lord gave his answer, then, she lowered her head, a warm smile appearing on her face, a strange feeling resurfacing in her stomach.
"Ah! What a shame! I know a few customers who would have loved a passionate specimen like her. But, oh well. A no is a no." The man playfully pushed his hat over his eyes with a finger.
"In that case, I have other wares that may interest you, great Sir. You can even choose from the ones I captured just now. For combat? Labor? Or even for other, more intimate services? I can offer you all kinds of living wares."
"Not interested," King responded.
"Oh, what a quick answer! I do beseech you to think again, great Sir. My recent catch has quite the variety! You might come across one that you like!"
"My answer is the same, no." What's wrong with this guy? A no was a no! He- he even said it himself earlier, barely 30 seconds ago!
This slave merchant made King remember those telemarketers who called him from time to time — trying to sell him some worthless stuff, quite forcefully sometimes. Calling the same number, again and again, it was only after they realized that he was the 'legendary' King himself, did they immediately apologize for wasting his time and hang up immediately.
"Hmm, disappointing, but that's fine. In that case, please hand over that stray wolf, then you two can go. My men and I have much to do before we return to my warehouse."
The demi-human girl hid behind King, grabbing his cloak. It was obvious that she didn't want to go back.
"She doesn't seem like she wants to go back."
"Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what she wants. The moment I captured her, she became my property." The slave trader said playfully, twirling his mustache.
"And what gives you the right!? She was free before, which means she's still free!" Raphtalia shouted angrily as she tried to protect the wolf girl's freedom — a freedom that she herself lost after the first wave.
"By the right given to me by his royal majesty, Aultcray Melromarc XXXII!" The merchant pulled out a scroll, unfolding it and pointing at the royal seal with his intricate walking cane.
"Hm, a moment." King recovered his phone, using the camera to zoom in on the document.
Thanks to the advanced technology integrated into this small device, the camera could even display the document clearly, allowing him to read it — that is if he could read it in the first place. He still wasn't too well-versed with the written language of this world, yet.
"What does it say?" King asked Raphtalia.
"It states that the owner of this document is authorized to capture 'stray' demi-humans and beastmen, unlawful people and the enemies of the crown, and enslave them freely!" Raphtalia immediately turned pale upon further reading the contents of the document. "I-It indeed bears the royal seal…!"
"Well, that makes things complicated…" King said, processing the information. Forget the contents of the document, how the hell was something like that even made officially!?
"What the hell is that bullcrap!? This guy has a permit to freely enslave people!?" Forget wondering if that was even lawful, the premise of the ability to freely enslave people was entirely stupid! What if they ended up trying to enslave someone else from another country? And if that person was someone important from the aforementioned country... Well, a war would be basically inevitable at that point.
"Indeed, his majesty is generous with those who serve him well." The merchant folded together once again the official document, smirking.
"You bastard! I will-!"
"Now, now, girl! Think twice about what you will do. Interfering with my work means you rise against the will of the crown. You wouldn't want to become the enemy of the nation, do you?"
"Tch!" Raphtalia growled, annoyed that the crown was supporting this vile man.
"Wait," King said suddenly.
"Is there a problem? If you think that this document is forged, I assure you that it was handed to me by the royal ministry. If you still don't trust me, then we can have a little chat with-"
"I'm not talking about the legitimacy of the document." King interrupted. "I wanted to ask; the people the document allows you to enslave; is it limited by the earlier wording, or are you simply allowed to enslave anyone you deem fit?"
"Anyone I deem fit? What nonsense," Adolphman said, the words as light as a feather on his tongue. "If I could freely enslave anyone with this document, I could just waltz into a village and enslave everyone in it, wouldn't I? Of course, I can only enslave the people mentioned on this document, otherwise-"
"Then you are unlawfully enslaving these people, are you not?" King interrupted again.
"...A battle of semantics, eh? Come, then. I'll engage you in this duel." Adolphman smiled, the edges of his lips not quite reaching his eyes. "You say that I am unlawfully enslaving these people. How so?"
"The people you are allowed to enslave are, 'unlawful people', 'enemies of the crown', and..." King looked back at Raphtalia and the wolf child. "... 'stray' demi-humans and beastmen."
"That is correct, yes," Adolphman said, smiling while supporting his weight on his cane.
"Then I ask you. Are they enemies of the crown?"
"Nope." Adolphman grinned.
"Are they unlawful people?"
"Well, they haven't quite broken any laws, so... nope." Adolphman said, accentuating the 'P' in nope.
"So... they are 'stray' demi-humans? Is that what you are enslaving them under?" King asked.
"Yes!" Adolphman said, extending his arms in a Y-shape. "Such free assets that could be put to work, is it not a pity to let them roam free?"
"Why, you-" Raphtalia wanted to interject, but her Lord raised his arm.
"Tell me, then. What constitutes as a 'stray' demi-human?" King asked.
"Is it not obvious? Demi-humans that roam the land without masters, the same as stray animals! Without an owner, they're considered strays." Adolphman said.
"Is that so? So any demi-human that hasn't been enslaved is considered a 'stray', then by that account, all free demi-humans are 'stray' demi-humans?" King asked.
"Of course! Who knows what they do without proper training out in the wilds! They're basically animals that take the shape of humans, are they not?" Adolphman grinned, pointing at the wolf demi-human behind King. "Like her father; he tried to bite me! Are you telling me that a civilized human would do that?"
"If you're under threat of slavery, biting is the least she could do," King replied. "And you say that demi-humans without a master are untrained, then I ask you something. Are humans inherently more civilized than a demi-human? If I took a demi-human that was raised by humans and a human that was raised by demi-humans, which is considered as 'less civilized'?" King asked.
"Ah- Huh, hmm..." Adolphman opened his mouth, but shut it, seeming to be actually thinking about the question.
After a while, he responded; "That is a good question. A human, while inherently more intelligent and civilized, if raised among animals, would live like animals unless re-educated afterward. And a demi-human that is trained by civilized, intelligent humans since birth would be easily trained well, and might even be able to live and act like a human."
"While you pose a good point, that-" Adolphman pointed at the wolf demi-human. "-is a demi-human, raised by demi-humans. My point still stands- her family and everyone else I captured are 'stray' demi-humans."
"Is that so? Then I'll pose another, more direct question." King said. "If a human raised like an animal will act like an animal, and a demi-human raised by humans will be a 'trained', 'civilized' demi-human that can live like a human, then I ask you; What is the difference between a human and a demi-human? If not for their animalistic features and heightened senses, what difference between an infant human and an infant demi-human?"
"If you ask me, humans and demi-humans, while they have their differences, are more or less the same. Prejudice against one race for being slightly different is stupidity and arrogance at a great height." King said. "If you were to look at a pigeon and a crow, you can indeed tell that they are different kinds of birds. But do you say that a crow is superior to a pigeon, or vice-versa?"
"To me, a crow thinking he is superior to a pigeon is laughable. Yes, the crow is smarter, but the pigeon flies faster. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Why would one think it is superior to the other? In the end, are they not birds that can fly in the sky?"
Raphtalia and the wolf-girl looked at the Shield Hero with incredible respect in their eyes. Such a direct, righteous speech of the equality between humans and demi-humans, his words were flawless in every way! They could find no words to refute them, not only because it was what they believed in themselves, but it was in the truest sense- right! It was the truth! It was a fact! It was justice! The Shield Hero's wisdom was unmatched!
Though it could not be further from the truth.
"I pulled this all out of my own ass, and cannibalized parts of manga quotes to support it, as well. Then again, it made sense to me, so I guess it sounds right?" King thought, looking at the two demi-humans behind him. Both of them essentially had stars in their eyes. Once again, he spewed a bunch of words that weren't his and stitched them together with words from the various manga that he read before, but they seemed to eat it up readily. However...
"Heh, who does this guy think he is?" Someone from Adolphman's side said. "He thinks we're being stupid by calling animals different than humans! Ain't that a riot, boss?"
"Boss?"
Though King and Raphtalia could not see it, Adolphman was... sweating.
"What he said... no one else seems to have caught on to it," Adolphman said, looking around at the mercenaries and workers he hired. But he... he was more perceptive than that.
"'To me', he says. Comparing a demi-human with a human is no different from comparing a crow to a pigeon?" Adolphman thought. "What foolishness. Like how a human is superior to demi-humans due to their intellect, a crow is indeed better than a pigeon as it is more intelligent!"
"But... he says that humans comparing themselves to demi-humans are essentially the same to him, and he speaks of humans as if he isn't even one of them..."
"Is this person... not human?"
"Boss?" The calling of his underling shook him from his thoughts. He had no time to worry about this person. If all went well, they'd go their separate ways, and he can forget they ever met this man in the first place. Still, seeing this man in a new light, his subconsciousness telling him to not underestimate the man before him. Also, with how he spoke, how apathetic he was towards being surrounded, his sharp senses, telling him that it was an ambush despite their perfect cover... he had an idea of who this person was, but he wasn't going to jump to conclusions just yet.
"Ah, *clears throat* Forgive me, I was deep in thought. While what you say does indeed make sense, that to a higher being like us humans, the squabble between a crow and a pigeon does indeed seem foolish. But to the crow, it is trying to prove that it is better than the pigeon. In this case, a human is undeniably better than a mere demi-human, as us humans have such great intellect, that animals like them attempted to copy us, becoming the demi-humans."
"Do you really believe that humans came before demi-humans?" King said. "What proof do you have?"
"From the fact that somewhere throughout human history did demi-humans appear out of nowhere after humans made their mark on the world. When humans first came into existence and formed kingdoms, demi-humans didn't exist back then. A few thousand years later, when humans were widespread, then and only then did demi-humans appear throughout the world, naked and wild, like the animals they came from." Adolphman said. "It's part of the scriptures from the Church of the Three Heroes."
"Is that true?" King said, surprised. If that was the truth, then Adolphman was... well, he hated to say it, but he was right, but only technically. The fact that demi-humans didn't appear until human civilization became widespread and were found wild and naked, like, well, animals, would be leading the theory that demi-humans were, well, animals that evolved to be humanlike in order to survive. That, or they were the byproduct of some experiment and eventually became a new species. Though he did say that it came from scriptures of a church, and a church wasn't exactly known for keeping history... accurate.
"Still, that doesn't matter to me. In the end, there is not much of a difference between humans and demi-humans that I would say makes one better than the other." King said, shaking his head.
"Even so, you are merely describing your opinion on the matter. While sensible, it doesn't change the fact that I have captured 'stray' demi-humans, and this document here allows me to do so." Adolphman said, waving the scroll in his hand again.
"What a coward! Despite Lord King having the higher ground, you immediately fall back on the fact that you're only allowed to do what you do because of that scroll in your hand!" Raphtalia said.
"Business is business, girl. I have to make my money to feed myself. Gourmet and haute cuisine doesn't come cheap, you know?" Adolphman said, twirling his mustache.
"So that's it? You're simply enslaving demi-humans based on the fact that you're allowed you capture 'stray' demi-humans? And you're allowed to make up what defines them as stray, is that right?" King said.
Adolphman smiled. "Well, it's not like that. If they have homes and live in a village with other humans, then I can't in good faith capture demi-humans that have the capability to integrate into human society, now can I?"
"However, if their village happens to be ransacked by bandits, set on fire and destroyed, and then they wander around without homes, well..." Adolphman smiled sadistically, as his mercenaries cackled loudly.
"You scoundrel! You're the reason why they lost their homes in the first place, aren't you?!"
"Now, now, I never said anything of the sort, and that's a heavy accusation you're throwing. I'm hurt you think I'm as barbaric as that!" Adolphman said, in a faux-dismal pose. "I'm just kind enough to take them in after some other people ransacked their homes. Aren't I generous?"
"Why you-" Raphtalia wanted to continue hurling insults at the man, but her Lord stopped her from doing so.
"Lord King, why-" She wanted to ask why he was giving up, but a glare from him brooked no room for argument. Why was her lord doing this? Was he not on the side of justice? The side of righteousness?
"Now then, as fun as our little verbal duel was, I hate to cut it short, but I'm already woefully behind schedule. I have places to be, and things to do. Return my property, and we'll leave each other be." Adolphman Barthoff raised his wrist and lazily waved away King and Raphtalia.
"…" King glanced at the girl behind him, who looked up at him with tearful eyes. "Please…" she sniffed. "Save mommy and the others, great Shield Hero…"
"Sigh…" Of all the infinite possibilities of the universe, of course, something like this would happen. Of course, a choose-a-side event would occur when all he wanted was a simple, boring, eventless farming routine! All these responsibilities adding more burden on him, protecting villages from the waves, fighting on the frontlines to prevent the monsters that appeared from the crack in the sky from causing further casualties, and now he had to choose between the highest chance of survival or upholding his moral standards? Being a hero really was tough.
"So, what is your answer? You are most definitely a sensible man, please, don't make a foolish decision."
"Sigh… how bothersome," King said. "I am most definitely a sensible person."
With those words, Raphtalia and the wolf-girl looked at King in horror. Was the Shield Hero... giving in?
"However..." King then removed his hood and threw it behind him with a smooth movement, cracking his neck, rubbing at his nape. "The sensible thing to do right now... is protecting her." The King Engine revved up, already knowing that a fight was inevitable. If he left her to these cruel slavers, what made him different from the monsters that attacked the villagers during the wave?
[ドドドRumble! Rumble! Rumble! ドドド]
"My Lord!"
Happiness filled Raphtalia and the wolf girl's heart. Yes! She was right all along! Her Lord would make the right decision, just as expected!
But what was this strange but mighty rumbling? The wolf girl was confused.
"...Must we do this?" Adolphman asked, no longer smiling.
"Just as you see an asset to be claimed, I see a child in need of protection. No matter how you put it, we have a conflict of interest." King said, 'glaring' at Adolphman. "And I am not backing down."
Adolphman looked to his sides, looking at his mercenaries, waiting expectantly for him to give the order to attack them.
"Unfortunate, but understandable. While I think a small thing like that isn't worth coming to blows over, I can't let you do that. Otherwise, any Ross-Derrick-and-Stanley can just demand I release my assets. In that case, you leave me no other option…"
'Knock!' 'Knock!' The merchant knocked his elegant walking cane on the ground. "Release the dogs! Let these people learn not to interfere with official business."
"Sigh… Here we go." King raised his shield, prepared for the worst.
'Awoooooo!' Immediately, at least two dozen large dogs started to charge out from behind the messily positioned carriages, charging towards King and his group.
These hounds slightly resembled the two-headed monster they fought in the cavern — albeit slightly smaller, and only with one head. Their eyes were glowing red, their mouth foaming with bestial rage.
"They're smaller than that two-headed dog in that mine that one time... but these numbers might be a problem."
Still, he made his choice, and despite what survival instincts told him, he would've chosen the same thing again, if given the choice. Now, he had to get himself out of this mess.
[ドドド Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ドドド]
He had his armor, and as it could withstand a blow from a large weapon from an equally large undead five levels higher than the large two-headed dog they fought in that mine, these dogs would probably break their teeth before biting through his armor. And seeing as his DEF stat actually increased the durability and toughness of his armor, he was somewhat confident his armor would hold.
Then again, the golden rule of a fight, the one thing one must never forget if one wanted to ensure the highest possible chance of victory and surviving;
Never, ever, EVER underestimate an opponent. These dogs may look smaller, but what if their bites were much stronger and more dangerous than the two-headed dog? What if their defense was higher than the two-headed dog's, making them tougher to kill? What if-
No, it was long past the time for worrying. What he had to do was come up with a plan to ensure the absolute highest possible chance of winning against them.
[ドドド Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ドドド]
"Lord King! You can do it! I believe in you! Just do what you did during the wave!"
Raphtalia's encouraging words didn't quite help boost his confidence due to his natural cowardice, but it gave him an idea. He could cast the [Shield Prison] on him and Raphtalia plus the wolf demi-human, and start 'rolling' again.
But giving it extra thought, he'd rather not. It was bad enough he needed to experience it in the first place; he didn't want to do it again, ever, full stop. Even thinking of it made him nauseous. Still, he might not have a choice.
It wasn't likely he could fight off all of these war hounds at the same time. Even if his defense made it so that they couldn't do anything to him, Raphtalia and the kid was another thing entirely. They didn't have a lot of defense, they'd get ripped to shreds if he let the other dogs get to them. Plus, that was just dealing with the war hounds.
Getting rid of the archers and other hired thugs — and saving the captured slaves on top of that...
Needless to say, it was a tall task.
His most sensible option was to form a shell around him and then Raphtalia with the girl, and then start running like a hamster in the wheel — his larger, sturdier shield ball paving the way for Raphtalia and the wolf kid's smaller ball to roll behind.
Still, that would be his last option. He'd rather come up with something less... nauseating.
They were currently facing a large pack of dogs, a few companies of archer squads atop the trees as well as the higher ground of the pass they were in, and other mercenaries and thugs with weapons. Behind them, their forces were the thinnest, yet they seemed to have better, as well as different gear than the other thugs ahead of them, having armor with greater coverage and larger shields, but smaller shortswords. It was probably to goad entrapped targets into attacking the rear, who were geared for prolonging the fight, while the larger mass of mercenaries and thugs came from the front.
Whirring at maximum speed, King's brain worked as fast as it could to form a strategy. After a few seconds, King came up with one.
"Raphtalia, girl, I'll need your help." He said, raising his shield towards them. "[Voice Gengar Shield]."
His Shield then transformed, sprouting bat wings on both sides.
"I need you two to scream as loudly as you can into the shield when I tell you to, and cover your ears before you scream."
"Huh? But why-" The wolf girl wanted to ask, but Raphtalia placed her hands on her shoulders.
"If Lord King tells us to do something, all we have to do is do it without hesitation! My Lord always has a plan! Always!"
Well, usually, he'd be tired of Raphtalia praising him to the heavens while he was still the same old unlucky fraud, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing whatever he had to do to survive the fallout.
But this time, he was thankful for it. Also, this time, he actually had a plan.
"Hold it," King said, looking at the approaching war hounds. "Not yet."
'Awoooooo!' The war hounds got ever closer, their teeth glistening with saliva.
"Prepare yourselves. Breathe in, and hold." King was as stoic as a statue. Emboldened by the Shield Hero's confidence, the wolf girl covered her ears, breathed in, and prepared to shriek as loudly as she could.
The war hounds were almost upon them.
(0.1 seconds) ...25 meters.
(0.4 seconds) ...19 meters.
(0.7 seconds) ...15 meters.
"Now!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Raphtalia and the wolf girl screamed like no tomorrow, giving it their all, doing so with everything their lungs and vocal cords could muster.
Despite the loudness of the shriek, King was only mildly discomforted, due to the effect of his Shield.
The Shield he just equipped had the ability to increase his resistance towards loud sounds, and to serve as a megaphone, greatly amplifying the degree of sound from behind it.
Facing those rapidly closing dogs, King remembered an education video he once saw a few years ago.
"A dog's hearing is several times better than a human's…" Not to mention, the increased frequency range and distance at which they could pick up different sounds was a lot greater than that of an average human.
Now, he wasn't sure if a more sensitive eardrum meant a weaker eardrum, but it led him to an idea. If he had his amplifier shield out, and they were within extremely close proximity to the source of the sound...
As the shrieks echoed throughout the canyon, it completely incapacitated the war hounds, as they fell down, their ears bleeding from ruptured eardrums. All of them were completely incapacitated, and even the mercenaries around them were clearly affected, caught off guard by the loud shrieks.
The whole canyon shook from the sheer volume of Raphtalia and the wolf girl's voice, shaking even the walls of the pass.
"Sssss! That's quite the scream!" The slave merchant said, managing to cover his ears in time as he figured out what their plan was when he noticed the two demi-humans covering their ears, and breathing in. He would've warned his subordinates if he could, but there was too little time, thus he could only shield his own ears. Despite that, there was still some ringing in his ears. Looking around him, some of his mercenaries were completely discombobulated, some of them faring no better than the war hounds, their ears and nose bleeding. With that shriek, the three of them managed to temporarily incapacitate half of his mercenary force. "Ah, how bothersome."
As the shrieks died down, King put his shield down, already swapping it with another shield.
"Huff, puff, Was that enough, Lord King?" Raphtalia said, coughing. Due to screaming as loudly as she could, her throat was rather sore.
"That was good. Take this." King took out a pouch of water from his inventory. "Focus on protecting the kid. I'll deal with the rest."
With that, King turned to look at the slightly recovering dogs. They were still alive, and though that would usually be a bad thing, what he needed now were living, but incapacitated war hounds. With the mercenaries still partially incapacitated, he had to continue the next part of the plan... which, if they got out alive, would require him taking a very, very long bath.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.
Okay, he had to do this. No matter how cowardly he was, he was currently the Shield Hero, and now... now was the time he could protect Raphtalia and the wolf kid.
"[Intimidation Roar...]"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" With an immense roar that shook the ground and further disoriented the war hounds, King rushed forth, crashing into the first dog to recover from the effects of Raphtalia and the wolf girl's shrieking with his [Greater Warthog] Shield, which dramatically increased his damage from charging attacks compared to the smaller [Warthog] Shield. Essentially liquefying the dog, King continued charging through the pack of dogs, killing a large dog every few seconds with the exponentially growing charging attack damage.
As the dogs regained their footing, they proceeded to pounce onto the Shield Hero, which only served to evaporate their jaws. It was equivalent a starved jackal attempting to bite a charging buffalo, There was no other outcome than breaking their jaw and probably killing them- if not outright, then by shock and blood loss.
"What are you doing?! Shoot him!" Adolphman ordered his mercenaries, attempting to stop King in his tracks. At this rate, his attack dogs wouldn't last 2 minutes.
"Y-yes, sir!" The mercenaries that recovered first took up their bows and crossbows, shooting at King.
"[Shield Prison]!" Upon noticing the arrows raining down on him, King stopped his charge at another poor dog that had its midsection erased, cast his skill, making the arrows bounce off the shield prison that appeared.
Perfect, everything was going according to plan, so far.
"Disorienting everyone with Raphtalia and the wolf girl's shriek and charging straight into the pack of dogs worked great! Also, they're as weak as they seem; they're about half as strong as that two-headed dog in the mines." King thought, starting up his charge once more. "They're all focused on me, so not a lot of them should focus on Raphtalia and the girl."
Turning on a dime to continue the charge at the dwindling amount of attack dogs, King looked further ahead to see that Raphtalia was indeed dealing with a very small number of mercenaries, only about two to three actually attempting to fight her, which she easily took down herself while protecting the wolf girl. The rest of the thugs and mercenaries jumped off the top side of the pass and from behind the stack of carriages, charging straight at him.
[ドドドRumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ドドド]
Ignoring how he was basically a human trailer running through the mercenaries (that were a lot weaker than he expected), King was noting that everything was going rather smoothly. That was a bad sign; something was going to happen, he could feel it. He was about to slow his charge, but then he noticed something moving towards Raphtalia. A strange patch of air was distorted, almost like...
"A cloaking spell!"
Without even thinking, King used all of the power he had to speed up, to get closer to Raphtalia. Despite that, the cloaked figure was getting closer and closer to Raphtalia, and it'd reach her before he would.
"RAPHTALIA!" King shouted out, in hopes that it'd notify her of the impending sneak attack.
"Eh? Lord King?" Raphtalia saw her Lord charge towards her, but what was he-
Barely noticing it at the last second, Raphtalia used her sword to guard her neck, parrying the dagger strike that aimed at her carotid artery.
"Tsk, that Shield Demon noticed me." The cloaking spell wore off, as a hooded figure wearing completely black was revealed, holding a dagger in a reverse grip that was dripping with poison. "No matter. I, Chelber Zeros, Nightmare of the Night, will-"
With a terrible crunching sound, the face of King's Shield impacted the assassin, very audibly breaking bones and maybe even rupturing organs.
"Raphtalia, are you alright?!" King said, managing to stop his charge.
"I-I'm fine, Lord King! If not for your warning, I might not have seen him coming!"
"That's good, that's good," King said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What about the wolf kid?"
Upon hearing herself being mentioned, the wolf demi-human perked her head out to see King- drenched from head to toe in blood.
"L-L-Lord Shield H-Hero...?" The wolf demihuman stuttered out, the blood draining from her face. Below her, a puddle of yellow formed, the liquid streaming down her legs.
"O-Oh! Don't worry about that! Lord King was simply chasing off the bad doggies just now! He was protecting us!" Raphtalia said, attempting to comfort the frightened girl.
"Phew... The both of you are safe." Relaxing a tad, King raised his arm to bash the face of a charging mercenary. "Raphtalia, be more careful."
"Don't worry, I won't let something like that happen again, Lord King!" Raphtalia said, gripping her sword tighter.
Now that the danger (for Raphtalia, at least) was mostly over, King looked over the other side of the pass. The previously large pack of dogs was reduced down to only six or seven, and judging from the amount of unconscious or bleeding bodies on the ground, he had taken out at least 30 of the mercenaries. Despite that, there was still a sizable amount of mercenaries left that recovered from the earlier sound attack, though they were understandably reluctant to get close to him, the fates of their other forces as clear as day.
If anything, at least the psychological attack was working.
"Tsk. Dorian, Junos, you two can go earn your keep, now." From atop the messily-stacked carriages, Adolphman motioned to the two, more well-equipped mercenaries beside him.
"Heh, my pleasure, boss." "Gladly, Mr. Adolphman."
With that, the two of them jumped off the wreck of carriages.
"Excuse me, Mr. Adolphman. Is that person..." One of the mercenaries walked up to Adolphman.
"Yes, that's the rumored Shield Hero himself. With how mercilessly he's slaughtering my war hounds and how easily he's dispatching the main body of my mercenaries, not to mention the skills he cast earlier..." Adolphman trailed off. "I suppose it's a good thing the majority of my mercenaries are idiots and are none the wiser."
"Sir, I'd like to ask for permission for me, Ledia, and Rista to back up Dorian and Junos." The mercenary wearing armor that was similar to ancient Roman armor asked.
"Why, concerned that your colleagues can't take him on themselves?" Adolphman grinned.
"Yes. If the rumors about him are true... then the Shield Hero is holding back. If he got serious... even if all six of us were to work together, we'd only be able to stall him for 5 minutes." The mercenary said.
"Ah, well. Fine, then. I may have hired you and your buddies, but you're the de-facto leader of this bunch. Do what you do best, Walzer." Adolphman said, nonchalantly waving him away.
"Alright. Ledia, come with me. Rista, hide in the trees above the Shield Hero and shoot him when you see an opening."
"The Shield Hero won't know what hit him." "Tsk, I was hoping we didn't need to do anything..."
With that, another two of the mercenaries were following behind the first two, with the fifth up climbing up the pass walls to support her fellows.
"Does Walzer think I'm not needed? They're facing the Shield Hero!" The last remaining mercenary said to herself, looking at the mercenary wearing Roman armor, their de-facto leader.
"No, those five should be enough to keep the Shield Hero busy for at least a few minutes. Once the other idiots get the point, they'll surround his demi-human girl and the other kid, and we can use them both as hostages." Adolphman responded. "As you're a magic caster, the Shield Hero would immediately target you if he had the chance. He's a smart man; he won't let you have enough time to cast your spells. A mage given time to cast his spells is worth ten common soldiers, after all. While you being there would be beneficial to your team, they'll have to guard you the whole time while the Shield Hero targets you."
"...Fair enough."
With King, the mercenaries seemed to be more reluctant to get closer to King, as reasoned by the unconscious, broken bodies of 8 other mercenaries beside him. Even when they all jumped him at once, he broke free with sheer strength and destroyed the other mercenaries with his brutish strength.
"Oi! You've sure been taking care of the other mercenaries, but we won't fall so easily!" A large man over 2 meters tall with different gear from everyone else called out to King.
"It's Dorian!" "Dorian the Wall!" "It's a shield versus shield battle!" "Are the Six Sentinels moving?"
"Remember, Dorian. Don't underestimate him. He took down almost all of Adolphman's war hounds alone in less than a few minutes." A thin, lightly armored man said, unsheathing his dual longswords.
"Dorian the Wall. A shame I have to fight you like this, but a job's a job." Dorian said, grabbing two giant tower shields that hung on his back.
"Junos the Fleet. While we aren't allowed to kill you, I hope you understand that our orders are to neutralize the threat you pose." Junos said, one of his longswords pointed towards King.
"Well then, shall we-" Junos didn't even finish his sentence before King appeared in front of him, his Shield literally in front of his face. Jumping into the air and backflipping off of King's shield to avoid the blow, King didn't let up as he charged towards him, his [Greater Warthog] shield increasing his charging attack damage.
"Not so fast!" From his left, the proverbial wall rushed towards him. Turning to face him, the bonus from the charging attack was transferred into a shield bash at the last second, negating the damage that would've been caused had it hit him without his shield blocking it.
"Hoh... I managed to land a direct hit on you, yet it's as if I was the one that rushed into a wall." Dorian said, both his arms that held his tower shield trembling. "Looks like my own shields are nothing compared to the Legendary Shield itself. Well, I'm not exactly surprised-"
King didn't even let him finish that sentence, as he equipped his [Wrecking Kangaroo] Shield and jumped up to perform a dropkick on him. Barely closing both tower shields in time, King's dropkick managed to send him skidding back a few dozen meters. Not letting up, King switched back to his [Greater Warthog] shield and charged straight at Dorian.
As it collided with him, denting Dorian's tower shields, King kept pushing him back until they collided with the pass wall. Turning around to block one of Junos's longswords, King had to keep his guard up as Junos spun around like a danseur*, not letting up. Every time one of his longswords was blocked, he'd spin and use his other longsword to strike him again, while his first longsword was poised to repeat the same pattern, making him move like a tornado of blades.
[Editor's Note: Danseur is not a misspelling. It refers to a high-ranking male ballet dancer in French.]
Though it seemed as though he left no room for a counterattack, King saw a method to get him to reveal one. King swept at the legs that kept his pirouette constant, Junos jumping lightly to avoid the sweep.
"[Air Strike Shield]!" Using it to push Junos back, King was given more breathing room, as Junos landed a few meters away from him, Dorian just only getting out of the small crater that was formed when he was pushed into the pass wall.
"Dorian! Junos! Don't get too far ahead! I want a piece of him too, you know?!" A loud voice of a woman came from behind them.
"Don't break formation. Stalling the Shield Hero is all we need to do." The man wearing heavy armor with a design reminiscent of an ancient Roman warrior's armor said.
"Stalling him? So Adolphman's doing 'that', in the end?" Junos asked the man wearing the Roman armor.
"We're up against the Shield Hero. This is basically our only chance at neutralizing him before we get taken out ourselves." The man responded.
"Man, Adolphman's such a killjoy. Should've just told him to shove it, Walzer. We could've taken him on!" Dorian said, grinning.
"You know that I'm the Shield Hero?" King asked.
"Of course. With the skills you cast, and the fact that your shield was seen to have been changing shape multiple times, only an idiot or an unobservant, blundering fool would remain oblivious to that fact." Junos said.
"Shit! I knew casting those skills would eventually reveal my identity! If I actually have a price on my head, I'm screwed!" King looked at the mercenaries surrounding him. They were in perfect formation; he'd know, he organized quite a few raids and parties for bosses in the games he played. The one with two tower shields was the tank, while the one with two longswords, the one in Roman-looking armor, and the woman with a greatsword were definitely the DPS. They were decently spaced far enough so that either one would have ample space to chip away at the target while leaving room for the tank to take control once the boss aggroed on one of the squishier DPS.
Not to mention; by complete coincidence, he managed to catch a glimpse of a woman wearing light armor with a bow, jumping from branch to branch atop the trees that were above them. If he was right; that would either be their fourth DPS, or their support, shooting arrows coated in various poisons to give him various debuffs and the like.
Gah! What was he doing; praising the enemy? There wasn't any time to do that! He needed a way to get out! Hold on; they knew his identity! And while it didn't exactly give him any bonuses or buffs, the one thing his identity was good for against other people, was...
"So, you know my identity..." King said, his King Engine beating loudly. Throughout the 'battle', his King Engine was audible due to the adrenaline from running around and fighting mercenaries, yet at this moment in time, his King Engine was actually roaring with more vigor than earlier.
"You know that I am King, the Shield Hero... Do you still want to fight me?!" King said, mustering his most intimidating visage, his King Engine thundering.
For a brief moment, the mercenaries could see a dark crimson aura emanating from the Shield Hero, his bloodlust reeking out of him. For an even briefer moment, the mercenaries all had thoughts of surrendering; if the Shield Hero was merciful, they might be spared.
"Please let the bluff work, please let the bluff work, please let the bluff work!"
"...Well, you're definitely one we'd rather never fight, but we were paid quite the handsome sum to work under that fellow, and we'd be disgracing the name of the Six Sentinels if we took our employer's money and ran," Junos said, though his knuckles were white, as he grasped his swords tighter.
"Even if you're the renowned Shield Hero, we'd still be able to stall you long enough for the other thugs to go get your companion," Walzer said. "Sorry to fight you with dirty tactics, but this is what we've been ordered."
"My companion?" King said, before turning around in realization. "Raphtalia!"
True to their words, the other mercenaries were surrounding Raphtalia. While she was higher-leveled than the mercenaries, with so many numbers against her, she was bound to fall eventually.
"Tsk..." Although he betrayed no other emotion than annoyance outwardly, King was panicking. If they got to Raphtalia, then they could use her as a hostage to get him to surrender! Not to mention, although that Legendary Shield of his made it so that they couldn't enslave him, Raphtalia was free; they could just enslave her again!
He needed to get out of this pin- and fast! But how would he do that? All he had as a weapon was this stupid shield! If only he could equip some other weapon. Something- anything would do!
At this point, something made him look down at his feet. There were a lot of dead- and partially alive war hounds by his feet. Suddenly, something struck him as he heard the whimpering of the war hound that he stepped on.
"I mean... not even the stupid system would shock me for that, right?" With that crazy idea, King then steeled himself to experiment with this gruesome — if not outlandish possibility. Still, there was no other option...
"Still, feels bad that we have to stall the Shield Hero just so we can take his companion hostage. I'd much rather-" Dorian didn't even finish his sentence, as he was suddenly thrown backward with an immense amount of force, feeling as though someone had turned off gravity for him. His tower shields in front of him didn't even make a difference. Seconds later, gravity was turned back on, as he smashed headfirst into the ground. Helmet or not; he was out cold.
"What the-" Junos didn't react in time as he was smashed into the ground with an immensely large mass. He didn't even know what hit him.
"Dorian! Junos!" Walzer put his shield up, before realizing that it was futile. Of all the things they could expect, this wasn't one of them.
"Why you-" Ledia didn't even get to raise her greatsword before she was thrown backward, facing the same fate as Dorian.
Using the black mass to block an arrow that came from above him, King threw the mass into the trees above him. Seconds later, a 'Kyaaa!' could be heard, the woman with a bow fell out of it.
"...Hmm, well, I guess it works, then," King said, before turning to look at the last remaining mercenary.
Walzer didn't even have time to think of what to do before the Shield Hero picked up his 'weapon' and moved to smash him into the ground with it.
Before he fell unconscious, however, Walzer had one thought in his mind.
"What a monster, that Shield Hero... who would've thought of using the bodies of Adolphman's war hounds as a weapon? Shield Hero my ass, he dealt more damage to us with a dog than his blasted Shield..."
From atop the carriages, Adolphman was at a loss for words; the Shield Hero was using the bodies of his war hounds — some of them were probably still alive — to have utterly destroyed five of the Six Sentinels!
"Well... I did not expect that at all." Was all he could comment on the matter. Despite five of six of them having cornered him with their formation, the Shield Hero managed to take them out in just the span of 7 seconds!
"What the hell was that?! I'm going down there." The last remaining mercenary said, planning to jump down the stacked carriages.
"Are you insane? Have you seen what he's doing right now?" Adolphman said, pointing at King, who was utterly kicking the shit out of his mercenaries with the bodies of his war hounds. He was even throwing them into the clumped mass of mercenaries that were surrounding his demi-human!
"I don't care! If we just sit on our asses over here, the Shield Hero'll just mop up the rest of your forces! You can keep your damn money, I'm getting my team and I out of-"
-THWACK-
Due to looking at Adolphman at the time, the last mercenary didn't even see the body of one of Adolphman's war hounds sparking with lightning flying towards her at high speeds. In no time at all, she was already out of the fight, landing on some tree branches.
Adolphman turned to look at King nervously. Could he hear them from this distance? He couldn't even hear that thing coming towards them!
A bead of sweat started to roll down Adolphman's forehead.
Things... weren't going as planned at all.
King shook his left hand as the numbness went away. What happened? He was using the war hounds fine just earlier, why did the system decide to shock him now?!
A moment later, the system decided to grace him with another notification.
[While previously undocumented, the use of living things as a makeshift weapon now counts as a violation of the Legendary Weapons Convention. We apologize for the inconvenience, and have a nice day~]
"...FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
For once! ONCE! He just wanted to have an edge in the battle! He hadn't even used them for more than 30 seconds, and the system decided to take away his loophole so quickly?! WHY?!
Sigh. Now wasn't the time for righteous indignation. Now, he had to deal with the other mercenaries that were surrounding him.
"T-that monster took down the Six Sentinels!"
"No way! They managed to take down a dragon with their teamwork before; he took care of them in less than 3 minutes! We're screwed!"
Though they were surrounding him, the mercenaries were much further away from him than before.
"If anything, I've managed to draw their attention towards me. Raphtalia should be safe, for now." King thought.
"Uhhhhh..." From behind him, one of the mercenaries started to stir.
Turning around to roundhouse-kick the individual, King stopped himself when he saw the mercenary holding one hand up.
"W-wait! We're just mercenaries hired by Adolphman. J-just let us go, okay? You won't see us again, promise." The man wearing Roman armor said.
"Hmm, is that so?"
"I-I'm telling the truth! I'm their leader, I'll get everyone to stand down. We'll go quietly, okay?"
"Fine," King said, turning his back against him. "But if you try to backstab me..."
"I won't! I won't! Still, I feel bad for those other mercenaries. They're total idiots that don't even know who you are." Walzer said, helping up the woman with a greatsword.
"Huh... wait, they don't?" King turned around at that bit.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised at how stupid they are, Shield Hero," Walzer said, waking up Junos to carry the woman with a bow away. "Heck, they'd turn into wooden chickens if you told them you were the Shield Hero."
"Is that so..."
As the five mercenaries limped away, King had an idea. If what that mercenary said was true, then... he might have a way out of this mess after all.
Switching his Shield back to the [Voice Gengar Shield], King breathed in, then shouted his words.
"LISTEN UP! I AM KING, THE SHIELD HERO! SURRENDER NOW!"
"Lord King?" Raphtalia turned around to see her Lord yelling his words through the Shield he used earlier to amplify her and the wolf girl's voice.
"SOME OF YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT I AM THE SHIELD HERO! NOW, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE! I'LL GIVE YOU A CHANCE! LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER, OR RUN AWAY! I CARE NOT WHAT YOU CHOOSE, KNOW THAT IF YOU CHOOSE TO FIGHT, I'LL GIVE YOU NO MERCY!"
"Lord King? Why are you bothering with this? " Raphtalia said to herself. Couldn't they tell that he was already the Shield Hero? The skills he cast and the fact that his shield could change into different forms would be enough for any idiot to tell-
"T-T-The Shield Hero?!" "Holy crap! I wasn't paid enough for this!" "Screw that! I'm running!" "I knew that shield was special for a reason! Run!"
"...EH?!" Raphtalia tsukkomi-ed, as some of the mercenaries turned tail and ran, other, more courageous mercenaries standing their ground, albeit shaking in their boots. Were they really idiots?!
"Tsk, he figured out that most of them don't know who he is... Only some of the mercenaries I hired are willing to stay and fight him." Adolphman said to himself. "I suppose going against the Shield Hero with just a ragtag bunch of mercenaries was foolish, but I had no choice in the matter. If word got out I let the Shield Hero go after simply taking one of my slaves without a fight, it'd be seen as weakness."
The remaining mercenaries stood their ground, but some of them were clearly afraid, and some were just clueless about their predicament. All of the archers on the pass walls were still there, as they were contracted by Adolphman himself. After all, with how high the pass walls were, no matter how unimaginably strong the Shield Hero was, he couldn't possibly get them from up here, right?
"...Those that stand their ground, you've made your choice," King said through his shield once more. The remaining mercenaries were a much more manageable number compared to earlier. Where there were a few hundred mercenaries, there only remained a few dozen of them, though the archers didn't seem to decrease in number. That'd be a problem...
Getting into a simple fighting stance, King prepared to fight his way out. Still, the archers would be an issue... how would he get to them?
Unknown to King, he had forgotten to switch his shield, and it remained as his [Voice Gengar Shield]. It also happened to be right above...
His heart.
[ドドドRumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ドドド]
"W-what is that?" "It's coming from the Shield Hero!"
Seconds later, the acoustic nature of the canyon amplified the sound and power of the King Engine, as the pass itself started shaking.
[ドドド RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! ドドド]
"What is he... Ah, I see! How clever!" The shrewd slave-trader recognized what the Hero was aiming for.
"Archers! Jump off the pass walls! Now!" Adolphman gave the order to the archers on both sides of the cliffs.
A few smart archers that caught on had already jumped off via their ropes before Adolphman gave the order, but by the time the majority of the archers heard Adolphman's order and noticed something was wrong, it was already too late!
The entire pass trembled as the echoes intensified to incredible heights!
A few archers had already lost their balance, falling from the edge of the pass. Most of them simply broke a few bones upon landing, but the boulders that served as their foothold and cover fell on them, squashing a few unfortunate archers like bugs!
"Arghhhhh!"
"Dammit…" Adolphman was inwardly panicking, the worst-case scenario was already happening! "Jump off! Quickly!"
"What the... Oh. Uh, oh." King didn't even need a second to register what was happening, as he ran towards Raphtalia and the wolf-girl.
The walls started to crumble, the rocks that made up the pass walls rolling down from the two narrow sides of the pass.
The Rank-7 S-Class Hero was right; The walls contained many loose rocks and boulders — small rocks, which were simply displaced from their original positions via the resonance from the King Engine, starting a chain reaction!
Without these smaller rocks supporting them, the bigger boulders also started to roll, collapsing the pass walls' unstable surfaces, falling on the remaining mercenaries around them.
"Arghhhhh!"
The entire pass was filled with chaos as the mercenaries tried to get out of the way of the rolling boulders- some luckily escaping, some not so lucky.
"Idiots…" The merchant clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Don't run around like headless chickens! Stay in the middle, you have the highest chance of survival that way!"
"Lord King! What's happening?" Raphtalia and the wolf girl covered their sensitive ears in fear, as they looked around, seeing the walls of the pass around them collapsing and quaking.
"There's no time. Make yourselves as small as possible, and huddle up!" King said. Raphtalia and the wolf-girl complied, and King breathed out, before concentrating to expend almost all of his SP reserves.
[PIPE SHIELD!] [SHIELD PRISON!]
King cast multiple layers of pipe shields and shield prisons, with the strength of the shields increasing towards the center. The idea was to let the weaker pipe shields and shield prisons dampen the impact from the boulders rolling towards, or landing on them. Raphtalia and the wolf girl balling up near him made it so that he could make the shield ball around them smaller, thus denser; when using almost all of his SP.
Not a moment too soon, as in the next, several heavy boulders crashed into the shield ball.
After moments that seemed like an eternity had passed, the quaking eventually ceased. After five seconds of complete silence, King finally decided to remove the shield ball around them.
"I-Is it over…?" The wolf girl asked, thoroughly scared as she looked around.
Her ears were still ringing, it was only thanks to the Legendary Shield ability that dampened the negative effects of loud sounds — originating from his [Voice Gengar Shield] that he still didn't swap out — why she could still hear and not go deaf.
"I-I think…" Raphtalia muttered in the same shaky voice.
Instead of saying anything, King just looked around.
Around them, about 75% of the pass walls had collapsed. The mercenaries were either buried underneath the rubble, too injured to fight, or still too confused to do anything. The mercenaries that surrendered and ran away... King wondered if they got out alive.
[A few hundred meters away...]
"W-what was that?!" Junos turned around to the source of the loud noise.
"It came from the pass! What's happening over there!?" Walzer looked at the pass where they were fighting the Shield Hero earlier. Despite the distance they were at from the pass, they could very clearly hear the immensely loud sounds that came from that direction. Looking up, Walzer noticed a dust cloud towering 50 meters high.
"The Shield Hero... he must've finally gotten serious!" Walzer said, sweat rolling down his face. "If we hadn't left sooner... Sssssss... Ow! Rista, could you be any gentler?!"
"I don't know first aid very well! Sheila's out coldd. You'll have to make do with bandages and healing potions!" Rista said, tightening the bandages on Walzer's arm.
"Still, the Shield Hero... what a monster!" Walzer said, looking at the settling dust pillar from the canyon they were in earlier.
[In the canyon...]
"H-he collapsed half of the canyon with that noise!?"
"W-What a monster!"
The entire canyon pass was devastated. One wouldn't be able to tell that it was the same place a few minutes prior, had one not witnessed the crumbling of the walls themselves.
Strangely, the carriages that made up the blockade remained mostly intact. A few cages broke, releasing a few captured demi-humans, but that was the extent of the damage.
"B-Boss! Should we run?"
"It seems that we have no chance of winning this battle… The Shield Hero's together with his companions already, so we can't use them as hostages..." The slave merchant muttered, loosening his bowtie slightly. "We should've just let him take that stupid Demi-human…"
"Splendid work, Lord King! Just as expected!" Raphtalia happily cheered as she misattributed the earlier rockslide for a part of King's plan.
"It went all according to plan…" King said with a stoic visage, though he knew he was bullshitting again. He just automatically claimed credit for the rockslide without thinking — what he wanted to do was just scare away those mercenaries! NOT COLLAPSE THE ENTIRE FUCKING PASS!
Still, he didn't know that his 'King Engine' amplified via his [Voice Gengar Shield] would be such a terrifying combination... It completely collapsed the canyon walls! Still, it didn't actually shake the entire pass apart. The rocks were probably already loose — his amplified King Engine probably just kicked the stone down the well. If there ever was a situation like this again...
...Yeah, no. This was a worse strategy than rolling around in the [Shield Prison] ball last time. At least the worst that could happen with the first one was losing his lunch. Using this tactic again was a Hail Mary plan if anything else. If he hadn't put up his [Shield Prison] and [Pipe Shield] again and expended almost every bit of his remaining SP, they'd have become unrecognizable red splotches of blood under the boulders. Unless they were surrounded and cornered in another pass with unstable walls and outnumbered 50-to-1 again...
He'd rather run away.
"Your orders, Lord King?" It seems that despite the extreme turn of events, Raphtalia was ready for action.
Well, at least she was prepared if anything unexpected happened — as it was, King was too stressed right now to detect if there were any survivors or assassins targeting him right now. He needed a brief breather before getting back to the action.
"Hmm?" Looking behind him, the few mercenaries that survived were visibly nervous, clutching onto their weapons with trembling hands. Many were bleeding and full of scratches and scars from the debris and rock shrapnel.
King turned around and knelt before the still-trembling wolf girl. "Are you alright?"
"I-I think…" She checked herself, but aside from the traces of abuse she received from her captors before she got to them, she was basically untouched the entire time.
"Good…" King said, breathing a sigh of relief. Now, the fighting should be mostly over. Barely any of the remaining mercenaries could actually fight, and while his SP reserves are basically dry right now, he was still slowly regaining some, and if forced to, he could put up a [Shield Prison] or [Pipe Shield] if he needed to. The only one that seemed completely unharmed right now was that slave merchant standing on the pile of carriages, and he didn't seem too strong...
"Now, your parents were captured with everyone else, right? Where are they?"
"T-They were with me in those carriages." Muttered the girl meekly.
"I see," King said, looking at the five to six people still on the blockade. "Those people are still there."
"They don't seem like they can fight. Let's bring them to justice, Lord King!" Raphtalia pumped her fist in the air.
Meanwhile, with the slave merchant, their previously small army of mercenaries was nearly completely eradicated, the only people left were his assistants and grunt workers that helped move things around. Anyone that could fight was already neutralized by the Shield Hero... and he'd rather not fight the Shield Hero.
"Boss! The cages are mostly intact. Only a few of them broke open. We contained the merchandise trying to flee…"
"At least the stock is fine…" Muttered the redhead slave merchant, twirling his mustache. "Oh, who am I kidding, the Shield Hero isn't exactly going to be distracted by those minnows while we haul away our stock."
At this point, it would be better to just retreat — dealing with the Shield Hero turned out to be even more problematic than he would ever expect it to be.
"So the rumors weren't exaggerations at all…" Adolphman started to think that his worst mistake was challenging this King figure.
Who knew he would be ballsy enough to collapse the whole canyon on him and his men? At the time, more than 60% of his forces were already in retreat, with only his archers left on the pass walls. Don't tell him that was his way to deal with the archers? Not to mention, he seemingly didn't care about the captives in the carriages below him, collapsing the pass either way...
Then again, they were completely unharmed, save for the shockwaves breaking open a few cages. Perhaps the Shield Hero even planned out how the landslide would occur?
"Most of my men were already taken down by the Shield Hero, a good bit of them ran away when he revealed who he was, and the landslide cut down the rest of my forces..."
In fact, their chances of victory were effectively lowered to zero. To avoid further damage and make the best of his current situation, it would be best to retreat.
"Well, I'll need to leave behind these wares. Sad that we've already started putting slave crests on some of them, But, oh well. Better a few gold coins than dying to the Shield Hero."
He could always hire more mercenaries. He could always ask the king for compensation for his lost wares and men.
He'd only need to say that the Shield Hero attacked him, and he would be compensated.
In fact, for standing his ground against the Shield Hero and managing to get away, he'd actually get a better reputation than before. Sure, he ran away. But the main point was that he survived when over two hundred more perished. The king might even reward him for 'bravery' to stand against the 'tyrannical' Shield Hero.
"Oh well, we'll just have to retreat," Adolphman said, shrugging. "No point fighting a losing battle."
"But what about the wares?" One of his assistants asked. "Some of our grunt workers are still busy moving them on our carriages!"
"Leave them. They were also just cheap slaves, anyway." Adolphman said.
"But..."
"Would you rather face the Shield Hero and die?" Shrugged Adolphman, cleaning his hands with a handkerchief. "I'd rather attempt to enslave a dragon than go against that man."
With that, Adolphman's assistant nodded. "I-I suppose you're right…" Yep, better they leave now before this 'monster' caught up and ended them.
"T-They're getting away!" Raphtalia shouted as she saw the man with the top hat bowing towards them and turning around to leave.
"I won't let them escape! I'll go after the leader, Lord King! You did most of the work earlier, let me be useful now!" Raphtalia said, unsheathing her sword to chase after them.
"Wait, Raphtalia!"
King wanted to tell her to just drop it; since they were basically done already, but the girl was already far enough away that his words wouldn't reach her.
Hmm, this wasn't good. On one hand, they had no idea of how strong their leader was. After all; it wouldn't be too unrealistic to think that he might actually be level 75 or higher. Like that battle slave that cost some gold coins at the other slave trader he met; if he didn't know from checking it himself and the slave trader telling him, he would've assumed it was just level 30 to 40, maybe 50 at best. If Raphtalia got there alone, that slave trader might use her as a hostage.
On the other hand; there was literally no one that would try to get in her way- they were all too busy running away. Thus, she wouldn't have any problems getting there. Also, he was much higher-leveled than she was, which meant he had quite the chunk of stats. Despite how quickly she was running, King was confident that he could catch up to her before anything terrible happened-
"L-Lord Shield Hero…?" The girl behind him looked at him expectantly. Ah, right. The girl was still here. Well, that complicates things. He couldn't just drop everything to chase after Raphtalia, he had to make sure the wolf girl was safe. Despite there being close to no one left willing to fight, if he left her alone, they might see an opportunity to grab her as a hostage.
On one hand, Raphtalia could get reckless and attack the leader. If he was very high-leveled — or had a bodyguard that was that high-leveled, she could get captured and used as leverage against him. On the other, the wolf-girl was easier to capture, and a mercenary that was somewhat unscathed by the rockslide would be able to easily capture her. In both cases, he'd have a hostage situation on his hands.
"Tsk. What to do? If I remain here to protect the girl, Raphtalia could possibly get injured, captured- or even killed, with her recklessness. If I go after her, the girl would remain here, alone. I may as well hand her to the nearest mercenary, in that case."
Oh, right. There was the option to choose both.
"Stay close behind me," King said to the wolf kid.
With that, King started to advance, the kid closely following behind him. They had a few hundred meters before reaching the blockade of carriages, so they would probably get there within a minute or two. Hopefully, their leader wasn't all that high-leveled, and Raphtalia would be able to hold her own for the time being. The best-case scenario was if their leader wasn't good at fighting at all, and Raphtalia manages to capture him.
Actually, capturing him wouldn't serve any purpose at all. What he was doing was allowed by the crown; attacking him would technically be going against a royal decree...
Eh, whatever. He already put himself on the bad side of two royal family members already; what's attacking someone that was only somewhat connected to them?
Meanwhile, Raphtalia jumped down from the blockade of carriages and shouted a warning at the fleeing group.
"Stop right there! If you run away, I won't hesitate to cut you down! If you give up right now, I'll spare you; but the Shield Hero will judge you himself!"
Adolphman stopped his brisk walk, turning around to see Raphtalia... and no Shield Hero.
Adolphman grinned, cracking his neck. "You lot, run away and make sure you aren't captured. If you're captured, bite the poison pellet in your mouths. If you even reveal anything about our operations, I'll make sure everyone you're connected to suffers dearly."
"Y-Yes, sir!" Adolphman's many assistants said, running in separate directions.
"Fine, if you're not giving up, then I'll just cut you down!" Raphtalia said, moving to chase after the assistants that ran away.
Though as she passed the man with the top-hat that she decided to spare since he wasn't running away-
"Wha-!?"
At the very last second, Raphtalia raised her blade to block a strike from the slave merchant. Though he was only using his walking cane to strike against the sharp edge of her blade... it was heavy! Not to mention, he was managing to push her back!
'Clang!'
Barely blocking the second strike, Raphtalia was sent backward from the sheer weight of the attack.
This person... was strong!
"You know, contrary to one's usual expectations, I'm actually getting out of this better than before. Even so, I'm slightly annoyed at the fact that I lost quite a few men... and wares to the Shield Hero. " The slave merchant said, only adding the wares as an afterthought. "While I wouldn't usually care, since you're the Shield Hero's pet... do entertain me in place of the profits your owner cost me." The slave merchant grinned. Behind his shades, his piercing green eyes that had a yellow outline around his slightly slit pupils gleamed evilly.
"He's really strong... stronger than me! In times like these, I should wait for Lord King to arrive, or just run away if he seems too strong..." Raphtalia said, remembering what her Lord told her every day; it's okay to run and hide if you're facing a stronger opponent. Do not think of it as running away, but as a strategic retreat!
Like how her Lord would sometimes run away whenever they met a very strong foe — but that was always to bait them into a trap that her Lord had masterfully set up! Sometimes, she never even saw him setting it up in the first place!
"Yeah... I should run away! I'll just have to bait this person into Lord King's range, and then-"
"Huh? Don't tell me you're thinking of running away, little raccoon?" Adolphman said, his eyebrow raised. "Come now, even if you're just his pet, at least entertain me until your master gets here!"
"I'm not a pet!" Raphtalia said angrily. "Don't fall for it, Raphtalia! He's just trying to bait you, instead! Just wait for Lord King! Then we'll see if he can still be so smug!"
"Does it matter? Come now; in the earlier battle, you barely did anything to my forces. By my count, you only took down twelve of my mercenaries, when the Shield Hero took down everyone and everything by himself. In fact, aside from protecting that child, you were just a hindrance to the Shield Hero. In fact, he even had to warn you about an assassin coming your way."
"!"
Raphtalai tensed, her shoulders slightly trembling in rage.
"Face it, girl. You are nothing without the Shield Hero. You're just a tag-along, a pet that the Shield Hero has to take care of." Adolphman mocked. "But, oh well. If you run away now, I'm sure you can reach the Shield Hero. I won't chase after you; promise!"
Raphtalia's face darkened as she glared at Adolphman. She knew very well that he was just egging her on so she would rush in blindly, but every word of what he said was true. To the Shield Hero... to Lord King... she was just a hindrance. Something that he had to take care of. Even in the earlier battle, he did all the work, when all she did was protect the girl that they used as bait.
"I know that I'm nothing compared to my Lord. I know how he did most of the work in the earlier battle. I know that I'm still just a hindrance to Lord King. But still..." Raphtalia suddenly raised her sword and charged at Adolphman.
Blocking her strike, Adolphman grinned evilly at Raphtalia.
"Even so... I STILL WANT TO BE USEFUL TO LORD KING!"
Jumping back from that strike, Raphtalia breathed out, as she focused on Adolphman. Her back was as straight as her sword, as she remembered the swordsmanship lessons that Erhard taught her.
"Oh, you've reigned in your anger. That's good, fighting a wild animal gives me no joy. Well then... show me what you've got." Adolphman twirled his mustache, as he playfully waved his cane around.
'Clang!' 'Clang!' 'Clang!' 'Clang!' 'Clang!' 'Clang!'
After a short moment of stillness, a rapid exchange of blows followed. Blade clashed against a simple metal walking cane, as sparks rained down and created shockwaves around the two as their very movements were blurred to the outside observer.
This slave merchant was powerful; more so than the slave merchant she was bought from. His movements were fluid, fast, and his techniques were befit that of a sword saint. It was obvious he was just playing around with the girl!
But that was fine. All she had to do was to go along with this person, and stall for her Lord to show up! And once he was distracted with that, all she needed to do was launch a strike with everything she had to distract him for a moment longer so that her Lord could execute his strategy!
Meanwhile, King moved to the carriage at a brisk pace, though he needed to slow himself so that the wolf-girl could keep up. Some mercenaries tried their luck; but like how he dealt with them earlier when there were over a hundred of them, he sent them flying with a single bash- or punch.
Was this how Saitama felt when dealing with everyday monsters? He didn't get why he was complaining — sending annoyances away with just one punch was an amazing convenience! Then again, he was a coward that didn't like fighting, whereas Saitama became a hero for the sake of fighting.
But even so, he still kept his guard up. Like how there was an invisible assassin that aimed for Raphtalia earlier, there could still be someone of that caliber nearby, waiting for him to show an opening. Being faster and stronger than before didn't mean he would be equally resistant to poisons. While yes; some of his shields do have the ability to decrease the effectiveness of poisons against him, not getting hit in the first place would be better.
And on the topic of resistances, while his DEF was immensely increased compared to when he first started out, being hit by an arrow or a sword still hurt. And if they hit his vitals like his eyes or carotid artery, no amount of DEF could possibly offset that damage dealt.
Still, as he got closer, he heard the sounds of fighting, metal clashing against metal. That was probably Raphtalia fighting against either the slave merchant or a hidden bodyguard. That at least meant that Raphtalia was fighting, and not being utterly dominated, as that would mean the fighting would subside by now, and they'd use her as a hostage already.
...Still, he sped up his pace. The girl could still keep up, and there were only twenty or so meters left until he got to the carriage blockade and made it through.
On another note, he did wonder why Raphtalia had to jump up the pile and jump back down the other side. There was literally a path right through the carriage pile. He could even see the other side from it.
With Raphtalia and Adolphman, even though Raphtalia was attacking with all her might, the slave merchant didn't even seem fazed! He was still just using one hand to parry away all her sword strikes!
"You're good, little girl." Adolphman used his cane to cross Raphtalia's blade, still holding it with one hand.
As he grinned, his pearly-white teeth were clearly visible. "Above-average swordsmanship, a fiery temper, yet disciplined enough to not be goaded into reckless fury! Indeed, you are a fine specimen! I can already think of twenty different buyers that would pay a king's ransom for someone like you!"
"Grrr... shut up!" The tanuki girl said. Despite her trying her best to keep her cool, this person was getting on her nerves! He reminded her of all the slavers she changed hands with — greedy, cruel, selfish people that sold people like wares for money! Gritting her teeth, she slid Adolphman's cane to the side to attack him while he was vulnerable — but he raised his cane to block it seemingly effortlessly!
"I wonder, who taught you how to wield a sword? I doubt the Shield Hero did — if I remember correctly, the heroes aren't allowed to use any weapons besides their own Legendary Weapon. Otherwise, he'd have a weapon of his own, instead of relying on his Shield alone." Adolphman asked.
Ignoring Adolphman's question, Raphtalia raised her leg to kick him, but Adolphman simply positioned his cane to block her kick, while still keeping her sword occupied.
"Now, now. It's rude to ignore someone's question." Adolphman said, pulling his cane back suddenly, making Raphtalia jerk forward.
Suddenly jumping forward due to a sharp pain on her rear, Raphtalia turned to look at Adolphman with his cane in his hands.
"I will be taking the liberty of educating you in place of your parents. Now, tell me; who taught you swordsmanship?"
"Grr... die!" Not answering, Raphtalia responded with another sword strike that was blocked by Adolphman's metal cane.
"Tsk, you don't learn, it seems. Oh well, nothing a spanking can't fix." Adolphman dodged the next swipe, hitting Raphtalia on her rear with his metal cane as she left herself open.
"Stop that!" Raphtalia raised her sword, her cheeks red. As a slave, she experienced plenty of beatings before. But it was years since she was last spanked! Not since... not since her parents...
"No, stop that, Raphtalia! Now's not the time! Focus!" Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Raphtalia focused on the slave trader once more.
"Well, children that don't learn manners will eventually be taught, after all," Adolphman said. "You aren't older than 10, right?"
"Wha- how do you know that?!"
"Experience. I've handled wares for longer than you've lived. I can tell when a demi-human is actually as old as they look, or if they're just a higher level. You're clearly the latter. And since I doubt the Shield Hero would've allowed someone as young as you to just adventure with him, It's just a logical conclusion to come to the fact that you're a slave that he bought from someone."
"I'm not a slave anymore! Lord King bought me and set me free!"
"Oh, so you're a free asset?!" Adolphman's eyes glinted, as he looked at Raphtalia once more. "Yes... yes! You'll definitely sell for more than 20 gold coins! 30, maybe even 40! But oh…!"
The rumbling sound of someone rapidly closing made the slaver turn his head, while still keeping the girl occupied.
"Tsk. Ah, it seems the Shield Hero is already here. I doubt he'd take too kindly to me capturing his pet." Adolphman turned to look behind him, as King was well within 30 meters of them. "Such a shame, I would've made back my profits if I just captured you. Sadly, I know my limits. I'm probably no match for the Shield Hero if he gets serious. And well... I hate fighting if there's a chance for me to lose."
This was it! This was her chance! He was distracted!
Breathing in, Raphtalia launched a strike with everything she had! She would distract the slave merchant so her Lord could take him down while he-
"Ah, striking while I am distracted. A good plan." Adolphman said, twirling his mustache as his walking cane effortlessly blocked Raphtalia's sword strike. Even though she put all of her weight and power behind it... it made no difference to this man!
"Too bad I already anticipated this." Adolphman suddenly disappeared from Raphtalia's field of vision.
"[First Twisted Wind Blast]…" Turning around from the sudden whisper in her left ear, Raphtalia only realizing her fatal mistake at the very last moment.
A blast of powerful wind blew Raphtalia away from Adolphman, the shockwaves rattling her body. Though it was primarily a blast of wind, there were still blades of wind that shallowly cut into her flesh, as she flew towards the Shield Hero.
"Gah!" Blood spilled from the tanuki girl's mouth, the shockwave straining her body immensely. It was as though someone struck her with a hammer — all over her body!
"Raphtalia!"
King caught her mid-air, though it only served to further impact her body, as the armor he wore didn't exactly soften the impact in any way.
"Urgh..." The girl coughed up blood, her whole body numb from the pain, her hands trembling as she dropped her cracked sword.
"Are you alright?!"
"I-I am fine, Lord King. Thank you..." 'Cough!' 'Cough!' After coughing up blood, the girl closed her eyes, as she breathed heavily. Not knowing whether that was a good sign or not, King didn't bother thinking about it; instead opting to take out a potion and making her drink it, instead. Better safe than sorry, after all.
"Shield Hero, it was an honor!" Looking up, Adolphman floated in the air, bowing elegantly with his hand over his chest — hovering over the ground, the wind around him making his elegant scarf wildly wave around.
"You can keep the wares I left behind — no point fighting a losing battle for mere profits. Not to mention, witnessing your legendary power was a reward of its own. I'd rather not face you again, if possible."
"...You'd better keep that promise, slaver." A chill went down Adolphman's spine as he saw the Shield Hero's piercing gaze. Something told him he wouldn't want to find himself at the mercy of the Shield Hero any time soon.
"Don't worry, Shield Hero King! If we ever see each other again, I won't hesitate to turn tail and run! Adieu, and may we never see each other again in the first place!" With that, Adolphman sped off into the distance like a bullet.
"Tch!" King was pissed. Though he should be beyond ecstatic that he managed to get himself out of this mess without anyone dying — Raphtalia getting this hurt gave him the sour taste of frustration in his mouth. It was like managing to clear a level that by all means, he shouldn't have cleared, but having to sacrifice a character for a few levels and/or chapters due to getting too wounded...
Actually, that was pretty much the same feeling, except in real life, and a hundred times worse. After all, in a game, the character wouldn't die unless the game planned for that to happen, after chapters of buildup and foreshadowing. Whereas now, they were in real life. Death could come at any moment, without any warning. Right now, Raphtalia thankfully wasn't dead. But he sure as hell wasn't gonna let her get dragged through River Styx while he could do something about it.
"L-Lord King…" Raphtalia muttered weakly, still being held in a princess carry by King. The potion seemed to be taking effect, as she could open her eyes, and she wasn't breathing as heavily as before.
"Drink this," King said, taking out another potion.
"Th-Thank you…" Laying Raphtalia on the ground, he handed her the other healing potion, as the girl started to slowly recover.
"Ah, it's a lot better, now…" Slowly, the girl pushed herself up to a sitting position, still grabbing her stomach painfully. "I feel a lot better now, my Lord. Thank you."
"Just lay there for a while. You were hit pretty hard." King doubted she healed up THAT fast. Even when using a healing potion, it took some time for someone to recover from such serious physical trauma. It looked like she was hit point-blank with something that hit as hard as a grenade — if not for the fact that he was essentially power-leveling her for the last few weeks after the previous wave, she might've died on the spot.
"I hope she doesn't have any internal bleeding… it seemed pretty serious."
"I-I'm sure! Look! I can still- ouch!" Raphtalia grasped her shoulder and stomach with her other hand painfully when she tried moving her arm. It was obvious, a few of her ribs and even her arm were broken.
According to King's professional opinion... she wasn't in any condition to do anything strenuous. At all. Like, 'laze-in-bed-and-play-videogames-until-you-fall-asleep' levels of not strenuous.
But what should he do? He knew Raphtalia well. She would just over-exert herself trying to prove that she could do more than she should be doing, only defeatedly accepting that she needed more rest after further hurting herself. "Drink this after that potion." Rather than letting that happen and extending her rest period later, King handed her another healing potion — a higher graded one he bought that was rather pricey. It could immediately heal most wounds to sustainability, but complete recovery would only occur after a day of rest.
While it was an expensive potion, her life was worth more in the end. After all, money could be obtained anytime down the line. Someone that died won't come back, no matter how much money you had in the end.
Unless resurrection magic existed, but he doubted this world had something that miraculous.
"Sigh... it's over…" King started rubbing his nape, exhausted. Though there were many possibilities that could occur, he tired himself out of his usual paranoia. He'd rather just say they were done, and deal with the rest afterward.
[Level up!]
[Congratulations! You've reached level 41!]
[You've earned the title: Overcomer Of The Impossible!]
Huh, he finally got another level-up. Well, he wouldn't disagree with the title. He somehow eked out a victory against a small army of mercenaries, and a group of five well-trained; or at least, well-equipped mercenaries that might've been able to force him into a stalemate, had he not thought about using the bodies of the war hounds as a weapon. At least it worked for a solid 30 seconds before the system decided to screw him over.
Still, at least those 30 seconds made a difference between Raphtalia being taken hostage, and their current situation.
"What now, Lord King?"
"I'll go ahead and free the captives… rounding up any remaining mercenaries would also be good." That was the most they could do in this situation. "You stay here and rest for a while, let the potion do the healing. If you move around too much now, it'll just waste the effects of the potion, and you'll need to rest longer to get back to peak condition."
Although she was disappointed, Raphtalia nodded.
[1 hour later...]
Although King was exhausted, Raphtalia was in no state to move around much. Thus, he freed the captives and dragged the unconscious, injured, and intimidated mercenaries in one place, and tied them together to ensure they didn't escape.
They didn't resist, either. Most of them saw what happened to their fellows, and their gruesome fates under the rockslide. The ones that escaped earlier when he revealed his identity as the Shield Hero would've been considered the luckiest of the mercenaries.
"Mama!"
"Mikumi!" The small wolf girl also managed to find her mother after everything was said and done. All in all, it was a happy ending — for most at least. Some of them already had slave crests planted on them, so it would cost a sum of money to remove them. Otherwise, if Adolphman came across them again, he could just ask them to follow him, and they wouldn't be able to resist.
"What about these men, Lord King?" Raphtalia asked, pointing towards the captured mercenaries.
"W-We give up! Please, don't hurt us!" Pleaded one of the mercenaries, his fellows nodding vigorously, trembling as King's imposing form loomed over them.
"We were only following orders!"
"Only twenty-one remaining…" King made a quick count as the mercenaries knelt before him — some of the unconscious but surviving ones in the far back. Some of them were also just the grunt workers that he captured trying to flee. Well, 'captured', but it was more of him noticing them, and them immediately surrendering without attempting to run away at all. They didn't even try to continue running away.
These people could be considered lucky, as they weren't crushed under the massive rockslide that occurred an hour ago. When the dust settled, the blockade that made up the temporary placement of the slaves and grunt workers was almost completely untouched.
"Yes, Lord King. Unfortunately, many others escaped." The remainder was crushed by the landside.
"What should we do about them, Lord King?" Raphtalia said, her other hand resting on her blade. Once her lord gave the order...
"Justice!"
"Kill them!" The freed captives announced their opinion, wanting the death of these mercenaries.
"Yeah, that should be expected. Bringing them to the authorities at the nearest village is obviously the most sensible option… eh?"
"Death to those scum!"
"Let me kill them myself!"
"For my husband- no, for everyone that died when you raided us... we'll send your souls after them so they can rest in peace!"
"W-what the hell?! Why are they so bloodthirsty?!" King thought, shocked that so many of them wanted the mercenaries dead.
It was one thing to kill in self-defense. It was another thing entirely to kill defenseless people that have already surrendered!
Only psychopaths and warmongers killed defenseless people that have already surrendered. Chances are, they were just acting on emotion. Some of them probably lost people dear to them, as well.
He didn't like to go against the crowd, but he already went against that giant mercenary force over his moral standards. Trying to calm down emotional people didn't seem too hard in comparison.
"No," King said in finality, making the demi-humans gasp, and Raphtalia turn to look at him in surprise. "We will hand them over to the authorities."
"They killed my husband!"
"They tortured us!"
"Lord King, are you sure?" Raphtalia asked.
"Yes," King said, brooking no room for discussion. "Killing the defenseless, as well as those that have already surrendered, is wrong."
Raphtalia seemed as though she wanted to say something, but seeing her Lord's resolute face... she decided against it.
"Why are you on their side, Shield Hero?!" One of them demanded, but as King glared at him, he backed down immediately.
"...Do you think I'm on their side?" King asked. "Do you think that I would've gone against their forces, facing them down to save you... if I was on their side?"
No one responded. That sentence itself would've invited ridicule.
"No. I am not on their side. This is why I am handing them to the authorities." King said.
"But they killed-"
"Point out one of them." King interrupted the person speaking. "Point out one of them that have actually killed one of you. Aside from the fact that they were on the other side, show me which one of them was responsible for the one that killed your loved ones."
As the demi-humans looked over the small group of mercenaries, they couldn't point out any of them that actually did anything they blamed them for.
"The one most responsible for all of your suffering... is that slave merchant. He hired the mercenaries, he enslaved some of you. But he escaped, so now you take your anger out on people that only happen to be on the wrong side. I'm not saying what they did was right. The fact of the matter is that they were part of an operation that ransacked your homes, forcing you to flee, before capturing you and enslaving some of you."
"Let me ask you. Look at them once more. Tell me. Do they look like the monsters you described them as?" King motioned at the captive mercenaries and grunt workers.
Raphtalia said nothing, but her head lowered in shame. Just moments prior, if her Lord had commanded it, she wouldn't have hesitated to kill them. Now? It was shameful to even consider the fact that she wanted to kill them without a second thought.
"The ones that were responsible for your condition, the mercenaries that did the pillaging and killing, they're down there. Take revenge against them if you'd like. I won't stop you." King pointed at the remains of the rockslide. Some of the body parts of the dead mercenaries were visible under the rocks. "But look at them, and tell me they're responsible." King waved his hand at the group of surviving mercenaries and grunt workers.
"All I see are people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They were hired by someone to be part of something terrible, but for their own reasons, they joined up anyway. Is that enough reason to kill them?"
"If you are still unconvinced..." King bent down to pick up a sword, and with great force and exploding lightning, stabbed it into the ground, cracking it in the process.
"Ah, fuck... I forgot about that. That still freaking stings!" Shaking his arm off, King went back to the topic at hand. Hopefully, this bluff would work.
"If you're really that eager to kill them, then pick up this sword. Kill them yourself."
At that, the mercenaries paled. Wasn't the Shield Hero supposed to save them?!
"But when you pick up this sword, look them in the eye. Look them in the eye, and see if you still want to kill them." King said, looking at the intimidated demi-humans. "I want to see... who of you is willing to get blood on their hands."
"If you allow them to do it themselves, they usually won't do it anyway. Also, I'm fairly certain I stabbed the sword into the ground hard enough that anyone aside from Raphtalia shouldn't be strong enough to pull it out of the ground in the first place."
Ten seconds... thirty seconds... a minute... Nothing happened. Not even Raphtalia dared to even look at the sword.
"Clearly, none of you are willing to do the deed yourselves. What happened to that bravado? That determination to kill them?" King said. "You wanted to use me to kill them, so none of that blood got on you, so you can appease your own anger, is that it?"
"T-That's not it, Shield Hero!"
"O-Of course not! We were just..."
"I don't care for your reasons." King's voice cut through the mutters of the demihumans. "What you previously thought no longer matters. What matters now, is what you think right now. The mercenaries that ransacked your village and attacked you are dead under those rocks. These people happened to be in the same mercenary group as them, and they are now at your mercy. Will you be like those mercenaries that attacked your village — to kill these men in cold blood, or are you better than this?!"
"…"
"So let me ask you all once more! Do you still want them dead?!"
The silence was deafening, and even King was worried that they might've changed their minds. But then...
"W-what heroism!"
"I can't believe we were that blinded by anger..."
"Truly! He is the Shield Hero!"
"Just like in the stories!"
"Hurray!" The people cheered for their savior, and the surviving mercenaries burst out in tears of joy as they were spared.
The demihumans hugged each other and cried in happiness and relief!
On that day, the Shield Hero's fame was spread further, earning him the title of the 'Merciful Shield', the man who single-handedly defeated the force of over three hundred!
Yet, despite all the cheering and celebration, only one thing went through King's head at that moment:
"Damn… I can't wait to get to an inn! I need a long bath! When will this all be over?"
Where would the Shield Hero's path lead next time? Read further and find out for yourself!
A/N
Well, that's for now!
Hopefully, it was enjoyable!
This is the second part of the double chapter. The next batch comes when it is ready! :P
Wait patiently, or Flashy Flash will steal your sweet roll! (and Genos will delay the chapter with his meddling XD)
In the next chapter:
What a strange egg!
New companion?
The Shield Hero adventure continues!
RnR!
Read and Review!
Stay safe! Sail safe! Good day! Good night! Stay away from Korona-chan!
Until next time!
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