Rising of the Shield Demon - Part 1

by The Dark Dragen

AU Story: A young man named Naofumi is unwillingly summoned to another world to become one of the four Cardinal Heroes, the problem was the hero he became was hated by the kingdom that summoned him and was considered weak. Read as he overcomes this and the events surrounding this, where he slowly become a darker version of himself. This is a slow and dark story, not for children.

11. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Just want to make a comment about a review that I got from a Guest Reviewer, yes most of the chapters are boring, but that's because they are mainly world-building chapters. But if you read my other works, you would know that I do a lot of world-building before I get to the main work, not only that, but I also use a lot of details to explain things. Especially, when there's new info that I'm adding, like new characters, things that weren't covered in the original story and making this an AU story. And seeing how I've got a new Strengthening Method for Naofumi, there are extra details to add.

The reviewer also said that he didn't like how parrying with an attack with a shield is not some advanced manoeuvre, that even an idiot like Naofumi would know about. The person who is someone who is a LARP, live-action role-playing, informs me that parrying isn't as easy as one thinks and believes that me adding some training was a good idea for someone who hasn't got combat training. Another thing, I'm not really good with battles, in fact, my friend wrote the last one and he too isn't good writing them, but he did his best and done what I wanted.

One last thing before we start the chapter, some are saying that Naofumi is more angst than the original Naofumi - I don't think so. You have to remember something, until this chapter, it has only been a few days since he was summoned to this world and he had been betrayed even more than the original Naofumi, so yes he'll be angst, as more has happened to him and it'll take more than a few days to deal with it. I'm hoping that in the next few chapters, he'll become less angst as time passes by.

Now, onto the story:

Chapter Ten…

Raphtalia!

Kingdom of Melromarc, Castle Town, Tavern, 15th of January 740:

Time to the next Wave: D16 H17 M45.

It has been over a week since Naofumi entered the world where most things were like a game, but instead of having fun and enjoying what the world had to offer, we find him in a dark corner of a tavern, eating a tasteless lunch. He was in a foul mood, he had dark thoughts about how no one apart for Crusch and Ulthane was the only ones who are on his side. All hope that he had for this world and that someone who would help him was killed off a week ago.

After returning to the town and parted ways with Crusch, he went searching for a guild to join as Crusch suggested. But the problem was none of them wanted anything to do with him, not even so far going to a Thief Guild, seeing how they do shady work, but they didn't want him either. Not only that, but some of the guild members would physically through him out, some even tried to kick and beat him.

When he informed about this to Crusch and Ulthane, it was Ulthane un suggested that this is because the guilds don't want to anger the nobles, which in turn upset the king. Whilst the king didn't have much say in what happens with the guilds, most of their jobs come from the nobles where most were friendly with the king. So Ulthane believed that if the king said something, called in any favours from the nobles that he had to stop giving the guilds jobs which meant lose of work. Something the guilds couldn't afford doing, as they needed the work and feared that they might lose other work too if the citizens stop giving them work out of fear what the king might do.

Because of this and that he heard rumours that people outside of this kingdom heard what he might have done, not only that, but it sounded as they won't happy with him either. It would seem that even if he left the area, things wouldn't be any easier for him than it was here. He had to wonder if there was anything the bitch and her bastard of a father wouldn't do to ruin his life. So because of this, he wasn't sure who to trust. At least he had Crusch and Ulthane.

Naofumi would like nothing more but see this world burn, but that would mean that he would die here and have no way home. Because he had to save this world so that he could go home, he knew that he had to become stronger so he could live and return to his homeworld one day. This lead to what happened during the last week:

The first thing that happened, Crusch give him one of the cores of the Imps that they killed for his shield. The core allowed his shield to become an Imp Shield, which looked like the head of an imp.

Imp Shield…

Equipment Bonus:

+5 Magical Attack (Unmastered)

+5 Magical Defense (Unmastered)

Fire Resistance (small) (Unmastered)

Special Effect(s):

Fireball (Effect - Small chance of Burning.)

Seeing what the new shield give him, he was happy to get it, although he wished that one of the skills were to summon some imps. As it would give him spies and someone to help him to fight with, but without that, he had a decent shield which gave him his first magical attack. A spell that he didn't need to learn. Naofumi was grateful for this, as now he had a small way to attack now. It wasn't much, but it was something. But the problem was that it cost him 10 MP to use the Fireball ability, so he could only use it four times before he had to wait to recover his mana.

Because of this, Naofumi decided to put a few Skill Points into Magic Attack and Mana Points. With Magic Attack, he levelled it up twice, the first time was for one point, the second time cost him two Skill Points, in total he gained 10 points into Magic Attack.

After levelling up Magic Attack, he then went to Wisdom to level up Mana Points and Mana Recovery, because he now only had 5 Skill Points left he had to decide where to place them. He put an Attribute Point into Wisdom before he put one point into Mana Points so that he can do another two Fireball attacks, then he levelled Magic Recovery twice for the cost of three Skill Points. In return, the recovery time was cut down by ten seconds. It wasn't as much as Naofumi hoped for, but he saw it better than a kick in the teeth. Naofumi decided to hold off on using his last Skill and Attribute

As he thought about it, to level up his Bonus Skill Points cost more Skill Points than any other of his stat skills. He had to wonder if it was because the system was trying to limit him on how many skill points he could have, it wouldn't surprise him, seeing how this world loved to make his life hard.

Anyway, over the last week, he had gotten to level seven. Naofumi had hoped that he could have levelled up more, but the problem is that he was stuck around Castle Town where the max EXP was twenty. Right now, to get to Level 8, he needed 1440 EXP in which he only had 445 EXP, he needed just under a thousand more EXP before he could level up again. But with low-level monsters around here and only Crusch, who had other jobs to do, who was helping him to level up and train, there was only so much levelling he could do.

Right now, when he levels next, he would have 65 Skill Points to use, but it would cost him 23 points to level the Bonus Skill Points.

When he levelled up, not only did he place his points into Bonus Skill Points as he has been doing, but in other skills too. He also used the six Attribute Points in Intelligence, Wisdom and Agility. He levelled up Agility to level three so that he could level up Accuracy to level three so that his aim with his Fireball would become better. With Wisdom, he levelled it up to level five so that he could have more mana and recover more mana a bit faster. Sure twenty-five seconds off wasn't that much, but from five minutes per one mana regen to four minutes thirty-five seconds, it was better than nothing. And with having more mana, he now could use the Fireball ability nine times before he had to wait for the mana to recover. As for Intelligence, Naofumi levelled it up to level nine as he felt he would be using that a lot more than the other stats right now. Here, apart from levelling up his Bonus Skill Points, he levelled up his Magic Attack so that his Fireballs could do more damage.

When he finished levelling up, he found that he had two skill points left, so he used them to level up Reflect and Shield Bash. He did this so that he could have a small chance to reflect attacks and stun/knockback his enemy. It wasn't much, but he wasn't sure what else to do with the extra points, but in the long run, it would help him when fighting.

Naofumi didn't put all his skill points into his normal stats or in his Bonus Skill Points, he put some into his Rope Shield as well. The reason was because of Crusch, she told him that the five metres of rope that he could make with his shield, wouldn't be enough. As there were many huge beasts out there, so the more rope he could get the better. So he levelled it up to level five, with each level up he got another two metres of rope, so right now he had twelve metres. Normally he would need to use 10 SP to use the Rope Shield, but at level five, he got a discount in SP, so instead of 10 SP, he only needed 8 SP to use the shield. One strange thing is, to level it up to level six, not only did he need nine skill points, but he needed some sort of hook before he could do so, of course, that requirement was quite easy to fulfil thanks to him being near a blacksmith.

It would seem that not only does it cost more to level up his shields, something Naofumi could understand, but at some point, he was required to get something else before being able to level up a shield. This was something he wasn't expecting, sure in some of the games that he played before there was some sort of requirement before he could level up, like an elemental stone, or some other sort of item. But that was normally only when you were adding a class or evolving your character. It would seem that some of his shields would be able to transform as he levelled them, this would be useful depending on the shields.

Anyway, apart from levelling up, when he wasn't hunting monsters, he was training with Crusch or by himself. With himself, he was doing running and other exercises to get stronger and faster. In fact, by doing this he was able to level his strength four times over the last week without the need of attribute points and with his agility and constitution, he was able to level them up four times, again without attribute points. This was something that he was pleased about, as he wouldn't have to spend too many attribute points than he had to.

Not only was he able to level up his attributes, but he was able to do the same with his skills in his attributes. With the lifting he was doing, he was able to level his might at least once whilst with his speed and leap, he was able to level them up twice. He was able to level up his Stamina twice as well.

As for training with Crusch, she taught him how to redirect a weapon off his shield, so that he could give counter with a punch. This was something he wanted to learn since he saw Crusch do it with the demons. Either way, this wasn't the only thing the lizardwoman taught him, she taught him how to best use the counter from the Spiked Iron Shield, how to use the Imp Shield's Fireball ability and the Pipe Shield's Shield Prison ability and the Rope's Shield's Air Strike Shield ability, properly and how to throw and catch the Freedom Shield (one of the shields that he copied on his second day in this world.)

Freedom Shield.

Equipment Bonus:

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Magical Defence: 5 (Unmastered)

Defence: 5 (Unmastered)

Special Bonus:

Shield Boomerang

Chance of Stun (small)

Chance of Knockback (small)

Naofumi was happily surprised to see that this was his first shield that gave him attribute points, not only that, but a way to use the shield offensively - sort of. Sure it didn't have any attack points, but it could stun or knock them back, even distract them too. But as he found out whilst fighting a dire wolf, if he put enough force into slamming the shield into their face, he could know the wolf out.

The reason that he was fighting them was that they were dealing with a few packs that were creating problems around town, normally they would be captured and trained to become mounts. But these packs were getting into farms and killing the life stock, so as a favour to one of the farmers who Crusch's master dealt with. Out of it though he got a new shield series, the Wolf Series. The first of this series was called the Wolf Shield:

Wolf Shield.

Equipment Bonus:

Predator Instinct (Unmastered)

Night Vision (small) (Unmastered)

Enhanced Body (small) (Unmastered)

Naofumi had to thank this shield, as not only did his senses began to become a bit better, but some of his attributes and skills within them got better without the need of altering the attributes and skills. He also found himself a bit more aggressive in his fights and his anger was able to surface easier and it took more to control it. After a week, whilst he was able to master all his other shield's Equipment Bonuses, there was one bonus that he was unable to master, the Predator Instinct. For some unknown reason, he wasn't able to master this one skill and so for him to use its powers, he had to equip the shield.

Naofumi hoped that one day he'll find a way to master Predator Instinct, so that he could use other shields with its power he could use along with Predator Instinct, like Fireball. With Predator Instinct, his senses were sharper than normal and he had slightly better accuracy, if he could master Predator Instinct, his Fireballs and any other magic attacks he might learn would hit their target much better.

Either way, Crusch wouldn't really allow Naofumi to leave the area of Castle Town to train, whilst the monsters won't that powerful, she wanted to make sure that the Shield Hero could fully defend himself first. One of the things that she had him do was learn about his surroundings, to be aware of what is going on around him. So when not levelling up or doing some other training exercise, she blindfolded him and began to hit him until he could sense her attacks and dodge them.

His training was mainly in defence seeing how he didn't have much in ways of attack points. Because of this, his Defence Attribute got to level six and he levelled up his Constitution and Wisdom twice. As for his skills, his Physical Defence, Magical Defence and Evading went up three levels, whilst his Accuracy, Reflect, Shield Bash and Magic Attack level up twice, as his Mana Points and Might went up only once.

Naofumi had to admit the training helped, as he believed that he was better off because of it. The only thing he had problems with, not problems as such, but questioned, was how his skills and attributes got levelled up. As some seemed to level up easier than others. But as he thought about it though, he realized it was the same in some of the game, as far as he knew, the system levelled up different and only the makers really knew how it worked.

Either way, the training helped him get better with using the shield and kept his mind off things he didn't want to think about. Not only that, but it was thanks to his training that he found out what the ability Body Modification (small) from his Tantric Shield did, during his first training session, he was having a bath where he discovered that his dick was bigger than it used to be. He was shocked that the shield could do such a thing to his body. He had to wonder what else it might be able to if he got different shields which had the same ability, he was excited and worried, as all he knew one day his shield could turn him into some sort of ugly monster or something. He knew there wasn't much he could do about it, but he hoped nothing like that would happen to him.

Other than training and levelling up, he was able to create a few new shields, the first was the Fish Shield that helped him better at fishing. He got this shield when he was teaching himself to fish seeing how he knew he would be leaving this town soon so that he could get stronger. He also got the Small Medicine Shield, Small Poison Shield, Energy Shield and the Potential Energy Shield, he got these shields when he was trying to create potions.

He knew that when he was out there, he might not be near any shops to buy medicine or it could be too costly to do so. In which case Naofumi realized he should learn how to make his own, he might even be able to sell some too if he was lucky. Either way, all these shields were connected to his Alchemy Shield. The Small Medicine Shield, allowed him to make any potions he had better, be it bought or homemade ones. The Small Poison Shield gave him a small resistance to poison, whilst his Energy Shield gave him a small incase in SP, whilst the last shield the Potential Energy Shield, allowed him to slightly use less stamina, which allowed him to do slightly more work.

Whilst Naofumi believed he was more or less ready to leave the town, the main problem was money. He wasn't able to sell or but much, as stores wouldn't sell and buy anything from him and those who would, they would try and undercut him in one way or another. Because of this, Ulthane had Crusch buy or sell things for Naofumi. Whilst a normal demi-human would have a hard time in the town doing such things, a slave demi-human wouldn't have such a hard time.

Sure they would still be looked down upon or sneered at, but because they were buying and selling things for their master, they would be allowed to do so. As most of the slaves belonged to the nobles and the merchants wouldn't want to upset them, so wouldn't undercut them, otherwise, the nobles could make the merchant's life difficult. This started a few days ago and so far he was able to get at least fifty silver coins for his things.

To the present day, Naofumi had the day off from training seeing how Crusch was working with her master on a special order that they had to do, so he could do whatever he wanted to do. To be honest, he didn't know what to do seeing how the town hated him, there was little he could do.

So after some thoughts, Naofumi decided to design his own carriage. He knew that to get around he would need to get his own monster and carriage, the best ones to get was the bird race the Filolial. As they were fast, able to pull heavy things that normally takes a powerful and huge monster to do so and able to swim, not only that but they were able to attack monsters too with their claws.

But there were a few things Naofumi was told to remember about Filolials, first off they were a proud race and grow attachments quite easily. When a Filolial gets older, they'll seek out carriages to pull, they prefer heavier and sturdy carriages with lots of shinies on them. He was told that unless he had no other option, he should never rent a carriage for them, as they see the carriage that they draw as their home where they put their nest in this way they can travel with their belongings and chicks if necessary.

But tamed Filolials can become depressed and upset if they have to pull a carriage that wasn't theirs, it was known that in rare cases unless they are returned to their carriage or get a new carriage should they old one gets destroyed somehow, they could die. Wild Filolials don't seem to have this problem, as they don't grow attached to them, but there were strange rumours going about Wild Filolials stealing carriages. But no one knew if this was true or a story people told for losing their carriage but wouldn't tell the truth for some reason.

Naofumi was also told that Filolials has this strong hatred towards dragons, no one really knew why they have this hatred towards each other, all they knew was that the two don't get along. Last and most important thing he was told to remember about them was that they were Bottomless Pits, they were willing to eat anything that they were given, even their own kind or even eat humans if hungry enough unless they are raised properly and fed with certain foods to fill them up quickly.

So here Naofumi decided to design his very own carriage, something that would be useful to get around in, a carriage that he could live in. As if he was going around the kingdom, he wasn't sure when he would get to a village or town next, not only that, if he did get to one he wasn't sure if the people there would allow him to sleep in their inns. So it was best to create a carriage that was like a small house or something.

He spent most of the morning doing this and by lunchtime, he was getting hungry, but seeing that Crusch and Ulthane were busy and they didn't have any food at the moment, Naofumi decided to go to the nearby tavern. It was one of the few places that would serve him, but at a heavy cost though. But right now he didn't care, he needed something to eat. As he got there, he ordered his food and drink and seat in the dark corner of the place so as not to be disturbed or to be stared at.

As he was finishing his meal, three adventurers came up to where he was sitting, they looked stupid and out to get to him. But before he could say anything though, a slam man with messy brown hair and looked like the leader of these fools said, "Oh Great Shield Hero, I'm so grateful that we were able to find you, we would like to join your party."

"Thank your lucky stars." said a fat man with a smirk, as he placed his hand on the Shield Hero's shoulder.

The look in their eyes and the way they were acting remind Naofumi the day that Bitch came into his life, how she began to play him for a fool. It would seem that these guys were trying to do the same, but their problem was that they didn't seem to be as smart as the Bitch, at least she was able to pull it off. Thinking about it just made him angry once again, so he began to take a few deep breaths so as not to lose control.

But to see if they really out to play him or to see if they were just stupid, Naofumi said, "Fine. But first let's go over the employment conditions, as I want to make sure we all know how things are."

"M'kay."

'Stay calm Naofumi, stay calm.' Naofumi told himself, 'If these guys really are out to play you, these guys will follow you everywhere you go. But if they really do want to help you, you don't want to lose any help they are willing to give you.'

"All right, let's get out of here so we won't get bothered and we can talk about you joining my party." Naofumi told them as they left the tavern, "Now if you join my party, any rewards that we get will be based on your performance. Do you understand?"

"Nah-uh."

'Jeez, I could punch the crap out of these guys.' Naofumi thought to himself, come on, don't they have such a system in this world? Where you get paid on the work that they do or were these guys just that stupid?

"It means that if we are out adventuring and we get some decent amount of loot and we sell it for say 150 silver coins, I will take a percentile of it seeing how I'll be the team leader." Naofumi informed the guys as they got to the alley next to the tavern, which made them really unhappy to hear this, "Which means that I'll get 40% of the profits whilst the rest will be divided up among the rest of you, all depends on your performance. So if you help out all equally, then we'll divide the rest between the four of us. But if one or all of you do fuck all for the day, either one or all of you get nothing and I'll have it all. So at the end of the day, the amount you receive depends on my judgment of the matter and your action."

"What the hell!" the leader cried in outrage, "That means you can just take however much you want, right?"

"Not if you do your part, if you pull your weight you'll get paid. Get it?" Naofumi asked the fools "I'm not going to have people in my party do fuck all whilst I do all the work, everyone in my party have to do their part."

"All right, fine then." grumbled the leader, before he smirked and went on to say, "That's all good. Let's go buy some equipment."

"You buy your own equipment." Naofumi told them flatly, "I don't see why I need to take care of you all that much. I've done that once already and got fucked over for it, I'm not going to be doing that again. You'll need to take care of yourselves, I'm not going to be helping you out with gear and such. You're on your own there."

"Pfft."

This was exactly what Naofumi expected to happen. He betted that even if he did buy them equipment, they would probably just slack off the whole time and they would run off and leave him in a tight spot, where later on they would sell their equipment for a profit. The gall of these dirty men. They were just like her.

"Fine then." the fat man huffed, a bit put off that their plan didn't work, but he wasn't going to leave empty-handed, with that he pulls out a knife and said darkly, "Just give us your money and you won't get hurt."

"Figures you would show your true self, show me that you are like the rest of the people here, scum." Naofumi said darkly, "Just go fuck yourselves, you're not getting a coin from me." And with that Naofumi just walked away, leaving these assholes behind him.

This made the men angry and so the other two pulled out their knives and were about to attack Naofumi, but the fat man was first, which was a mistake. As thanks to his training and suspecting this to happen, Naofumi felt the attack coming, but instead of blocking the attack, he caught the blade between his index and middle fingers.

Naofumi couldn't help but smirk as the three men looked at him in shock and fear, he said, "Do you really think I wasn't expecting you to do this? Not only that, but do you think you low-level bastards could hurt someone who, more than likely, got more defence than you three put together? Just leave me alone scum." Here he pulled the knife from the fat bastard and threw it at their feet and walked away.

But the fools weren't having any of it, they didn't like that they were shown up by the weakest of the Heroes that were summoned to their world, so they did the only thing that came to mind, they attacked the Shield Hero.

Naofumi sighed as he sensed the fools about to attack him again, it would seem that he would have to show them that whilst he can't do any damage to them at the moment, he wasn't a pushover as they thought he was. So using his shield to defend himself of the knives, he countered their moves and punched each of them a few times before they were knocked out.

Naofumi sighed at their unconscious forms, and said darkly, "People like you just keep proving to me that this world has nothing but sheep and scum in this world, I can't wait to leave this damn world." Now Naofumi was about to walk away when an idea came to him, it was thanks to people like them that he couldn't get much coins, so why shouldn't they pay for it in some way.

Over the last week, Naofumi and Ulthane talked about many things, but one of the things they talked about was how the Shield Hero could get some money. The first idea was to become some kind of travelling merchant, selling the potions he made along with anything else. The other was to become a bandit if the kingdom was going to treat him like some sort of criminal than he should become one.

At first, Naofumi was against the idea, as he didn't want to give himself more bad rep than he already had. He wanted to show people that he wasn't like how the damn king and his bitch daughter betrayed him. But after the long week, he had where he was treated worse than scum and now with this, Naofumi was seeing the light on the idea, it wasn't like he could keep on relying on Ulthane and Crusch with help in getting coins, he would have to leave town soon and they won't be there for him. He wasn't sure how being a travelling merchant would work seeing how people hated him, so it only left him with one option, becoming a bandit. Not only that but if people were going to try and use him, other than Ulthane and Crusch, the only ones who truly helped him, he should do the same and use the ones that show him disrespect before they can try and take advantage of him. To do whatever it took to get back home.

With this new mindset, he decided to start with these three guys, so he bent down and searched their bodies to see what they have got.

"I have to say, you dealt with those better than I expected you to." Naofumi heard a man's voice called out to him, he could hear whoever it was clapping at what was done, "Not only that, but you're looting them as they would you if they had half a chance to do so.

As the Shield Hero looked around, he saw a strange small man walking out of the shadows, where he was hiding behind some stacked boxes. The man was wearing a silk hat and coattails. He was a strange gentleman by any measure, absurdly obese and furnished with obese sunglasses. He didn't seem to fit the world, which was much more like the Middle Ages.

So he stuck out dramatically from his surroundings.

Deciding it wise to ignore him, Naofumi kept searching the bodies for loot. Not wanting to deal with anyone else that afternoon. So far he found the men's money bags.

"I know what you want the most, young man," the strange short man informed the Shield Hero, "you need those who you can trust and not betray you. As without help, you're unable to level up and get stronger."

Hearing this, Naofumi stopped searching the bodies for now and looked at the older man. There was something strange and annoying about him, he seemed to know more about him than the man let on, but yet, Naofumi had the feeling that this man didn't mean any harm to him, or at least for now.

"I'm not sure what that has anything to do with you." sneered the Shield Hero, standing up and got into a small defensive stance, ready if the man tried anything funny.

"What if I could say that I can help you with recruitment so that you might stand a chance against the upcoming Waves?" the strange little man asked the Shield Hero.

"If you're talking about party members, after what you saw me do to these guys, I don't think I want any right now." Naofumi sneered at this, not only that, but right now he didn't have the funds nor the desire to hire a greedy capitalist. Someone who might turn their backs on him if he got a better offer.

"Party members? Ahaha, please." scoffed the little man, "Oh no, I'm not offering you party members, no, what I'm offering you is something far more reliable and useful."

"For example?"

The man slid over in the Shield Hero's direction.

"Interested?"

"Don't stand so close, you creep."

"Ahaha. I like your eyes kid. Fine then, I'll tell you."

The gentleman puffed out his chest, looking very important-like, spun his walking stick, and pontificated, "A SLAVE!"

"A slave?"

"Yes, a slave."

Naofumi was shocked, sure he knew about slaves seeing as Crusch was one, but he was informed by Ulthane that slaves were sold by Slave Traders. Slave Traders came in two forms, the first one was from the legal way, where you get slaves from the auction houses, where you would need to be registered otherwise you wouldn't be allowed to get one. The other way was the illegal way, going to the black market to get them. Which Naofumi had no idea how to get, as his reputation was shit, and those in the black market wouldn't even think about helping him.

So he had to wonder one thing, who was this man and why was he willing to help him in getting a slave for? By the feeling that the suspected Slave Trader was giving off, Naofumi believed that the strange man was from the black market, he gave off an eerie aura of mischief and sleaziness but not danger. Naofumi had thought about getting a slave for a bit, but because he had such a bad rep that no one would be willing to sell him one, he gave up on the idea for now.

Because he hesitated, the strange man thought that the Shield Hero wasn't interested, so he went on to explain, "They do not lie, and they do not betray their masters. Slaves are under a powerful curse. If they contradict or betray their masters, they must pay with their very lives."

"I already know this," Naofumi informed the strange man, "I know someone who has a slave."

"I see, interesting," the little man said thoughtfully, as if he was putting new information together, "so how about it? Do you want a slave?"

"I do, but why are you willing to help me?" asked Naofumi, "I bet you know who I am and the rumours surrounding me, so why would you help me if it puts you at risk in losing your business in town?"

"For now, just say I have my reasons." the man said simply, not willing to say more about this, "So do you want a slave or not?"

"If you know who I am, you know what my stats are like, so of course I want one." Naofumi told the man darkly, it wasn't like he had much choice about it all, he needed one to fight for him seeing how he was limited to Fireball magic at the moment, something he knew he couldn't rely on fully. But the idea of someone who couldn't betray you or it could lead to their death was coming more and more applying, at least he knew that he wouldn't be betrayed or used by his 'companion.'

The strange little man smiled as he said, "In that case, right this way, sir."

o0OoO0o

The strange little man lead the Shield Hero across town until they got to a dark alleyway, where they went down until they came to a dead end. Before Naofumi could ask what was going on, the strange man opened a doorway in the wall in front of them, the doorway had stairs leading down and so once again Naofumi followed the strange man. But this time he pulled up his hood so that no one would know who he was. He did this as he suspected that wherever the man was leading him, it was somewhere full of people. He also changed his shield into the Imp Shield so that he could defend himself.

As they arrived at the end of the stairs, they came to a small entrance like room, with a huge metal door blocking their way in. Naofumi wondered why this was here, when they had the magical boulder at the top. Naofumi suspected this was a second defence, just in case someone unwanted was able to find their way into the place, this was a way to stop them getting any further.

So he watched the strange little man carefully, to see how he was going to get them here, he was hoping to see something amazing, some sort of spell or something. Sadly he was disappointed as the man just knocked on the door and whispered, "Monkey butts!"

Naofumi felt let down, with all the magic and creatures this world seems to have, he was hoping to see something more to enter an underworld base. Either way though, as the strange little man whispered these words, Naofumi immediately heard different locks being unlocked from behind the giant door, by Naofumi's count, he heard about ten different locks being unlocked.

Soon the doors were unlocked and they entered the next room. Naofumi had once again, he had to admit that he wasn't really impressed, seeing how it was a huge room with a door on the other side looking like it was made from the same metal as the last door. But as he looked around more, Naofumi realized that this wasn't the end of their journey. First he saw two huge doors on the side of the room, where he could smell food and hear many different sounds. This was their next part of their journey and this room was just the reception area. It would seem that there was a side room with beds in, people slept here too.

Now as Naofumi looked around the room again, he found himself staring at four of the most biggest and well-armed guards he had seen so far, he had to wonder if they were some sort of humanoid kind of monsters, they had massive blade weapons. He didn't really have much time to stare at this place, as the strange little man just walked by, completely ignoring the guards, until they got to the other side of the room. Here, one of the guards grab the handle to the doors and opened them.

Naofumi could swear that this door must have weighed a ton given how heavy it looked and how slow it opened, even with this muscular man opening them.

What was on the other side shocked Naofumi, he saw wasn't a normal underground cavern, but a cavern with miles among miles of open space. If he had to guess, he would say this place could hold the town and still have some space to spare. It was filled with multiple fluorescent lights Illuminating this underground place. If he had to guess, this was either a banded location or the black market that Ulthane was talking about.

There were tons of weird items, ranging from food stands that cooked all kinds of different varieties of food, to a more forbidden type of food. He also saw some demi-humans hung up on racks, where he saw people using different types of weapons on them for a price. He could tell that this place was not somewhere he would normally want to be without either an escort, or he was at a higher level. He could smell many different odours in the air, but the two what stuck out the most was the scent of sex and blood.

Now as he looked around, he could tell that there were many many different types of stores down here, ranging from ones that were just plain tents, others were built into the wall, even some that were built by the looks of magic. There was a marketplace here too. This place was like an underground city, with roads and buildings. In fact, on the roads he thought he saw what he thought looked like triceratops, whilst the creature had skin, most of it was protected by what looked like dragon scale made of hard rock. These monsters were pulling carriages.

The Slave Trader lead the young Shield Hero to a huge warehouse district, there were many buildings here, but there was a huge road leading to a huge cave entrance going up. It would seem that this was where they got their things in or out, or at least one of the entrances. As if it was him, he would have a few just in case one was found and had to be closed.

Either way, the Slave Trader lead him to one of the biggest warehouses in the area. Whereupon entering the warehouse, Naofumi was immediately met with the sounds and smells he would have expected if there were actually a bunch of animals and people held here. He also heard hissing, snarling, growling, scratching and the scent of death! There was an abundance of cages with thick metal bars, cases top of cages, some empty, some covered, others portraying their content. Countless eyes seemed to be watching his every move.

Naofumi saw many men going about the warehouse, they were muscular and were wearing masks with what looked like some kind of welding goggles. They were bare-chested and wearing grey trousers and black aprons. They were taking care of the slaves, mainly feeding them than anything else. There were a few who were fighting with a monster, trying to put it into a cage, some were moving slaves to one area to another. The place was very busy.

Naofumi couldn't help but feel that the place a bit ominous and frightening, but regardless, he had to push on. He wasn't about to let this place push him away from getting a slave. To be honest, whilst the place had a dark theme to it, for a black-market slave house, he was expecting much worse. Sure the cages won't ideal for them to live in, but they were slaves and he expected the Slave Trader didn't think they needed anything extra other than food and somewhere to sleep. No need for beds, wash area and such, just a floor to sleep on and someone to bring them some food, no sense to spend too much money on them.

Now once in the warehouse, the little man talked to one of the men before he said with a bow, "Now let's start again, my name is Beloukas and I'm a Travelling Slave Trader."

"I'm Naofumi, the Shield Hero or as people better know me, the Shield Demon." Naofumi introduced himself darkly, with a dark look in his eyes. He was giving an aura off to let Beloukas know that he wasn't going to be played a fool.

"Nice to meet you Lord Naofumi." Beloukas said with a smile as if he wasn't even bothered by this, "Now, let me tell you, whilst I deal with demons, angels, humans and monsters, my main focus is on demi-humans. Although, if you want a human slave, it'll cost you." the Slave Trader warned Naofumi, "Whilst I might sell them, human slavery can be very troublesome especially in a human-supremacy country such as Melromarc or countries where humans are treated a bit better. Don't get me wrong, I can get them if that's what you want, but unless they've committed a crime or the country is trying to make certain people disappear, getting a human slave can be hard and costly."

"I don't care what race the slave is, just as long as they are useful." Naofumi told Beloukas.

"I see," said Beloukas, "in that case, please follow me, I might have what you are looking for." And with that the Slave Trader led Naofumi deeper into the warehouse, the smell becoming more nauseating as time passed. Within a few moments, they approached one of the bigger cages, the slave owner lifting the curtains to reveal a Beastman, a Werewolf.

The beast looked truly frightening with glowing red eyes, a muscled body that was covered in thick, dirty fur, and giant claws that grasped tightly at the bars of the cage.

"My personal recommendation, his status is wonderful, the best of the best." Beloukas informed Naofumi, as the Shield Hero focused on the werewolf, simple information was displayed above the creature's head. "He used to fight in the Coliseum, where he never lost a fight. But during one of his training sessions, he damaged his leg though and because it limited what he was able to do, they were going to dispose of him seeing how he injuries would affect his fighting. But instead, I stepped in and bought him, and whilst he can't fight in the Coliseum, doesn't mean he that he isn't as deadly as he was in the arena."

Slave Werewolf.

Level:

75

Race:

Beastman

As Naofumi was looking of the stats, he thought to himself, 'Well fuck, this damn beast's level is way over mine, if I'm not careful one bite and I would be done. But I have to admit that a beast like this would allow me to level up quickly.' As he thought this, the best men tried and reach out to attack him.

The Slave Trader snapped his fingers at this. As he did, a magical circle much like Crusch had appeared on his right arm, while a similar circle implanted into the werewolf's chest began to glow, it wasn't even a second later as the two of them saw the werewolf retracting his arm and whining in pain back in his cage. "I'm awfully sorry about that, whilst he is my beast slave, unless you're his master, he isn't that friendly."

'Damn it, so he's just a feral beast.' Naofumi thought darkly. He had no use for a mindless beast, as it would create trouble, trouble that Naofumi wanted to avoid if possible. His name was already mud and if he had a feral beast who would attack anyone without a second thought, well his name would get dragged through the mud even more than it already had been. No, he needed someone that at least somewhat looked human. Someone who he could control with ease and without the fear that they would kill him during his sleep.

Ulthane told him about slaves that were sold for housekeeping, bed warmers, unsavoury activities and even like Crusch, to help run the shops or go out and get things for their masters. Those slaves were most likely owned by wealthy people - the nobles of this land. But that's not what Naofumi wanted, no, he needed a fighter, someone who could fight monsters when he could not.

"Now this Beastman will set you back by at least twenty gold coins." Beloukas informed the Shield Hero.

'The hell?' thought Naofumi, wondering why the man would show him something so expensive when he was new to the world and wouldn't have that amount of coin. But as he thought about it, he realized that this was a ploy. It was like back when he first started economically, his teachers told their students that some merchants would show them their best products first before showing the rest of their products.

"Very clever, showing me something that I can't possibly afford," Naofumi said with a smile, "now that you have shown me your best product, can we get to the products that I actually can afford."

"Oh you sure are a clever one, I would love you as a customer, you just have the very best eyes for this." Beloukas told the Shield Hero, creeping Naofumi out a bit. "Now if you don't mind following me, I'll show you wares more suitable for your… needs."

Naofumi simply ignores that remark as he followed the short man, not wanting to reply to an obvious remark about what happened to him with the bitch Malty. Now the two walked down one of the warehouse aisles, it was lined on both sides with long rows of cages, full of different races of slaves within them. Beloukas lectured Naofumi on slaves, demi-humans, beastmen, monsters, demons and even an angel or two that the Slave Trader was able to get hold of. Every now and then, Beloukas pointed out an odd specimen here and there that he thought Naofumi would like Most of the information he already knew thanks to Ulthane.

Now as they were walking, Beloukas suddenly asked, "So tell me, My Lord, what kind of product are you looking for?"

"A cheap one, nothing more than fifty to sixty silver coins." Naofumi informed the Slave Trader, not wanting to give away how much coins he already had, he had over one hundred and fifty silver coins, but he didn't want to spend that much for a slave.

"We have slaves specialized for battle or for physical labour. Or, if my intuition proves correct…" began Beloukas, but Naofumi interrupted him, "I didn't do it!"

"Heh, heh, heh, yes, well… I'm not concerned one way or the other to be honest, seeing how in my line business I deal with all sorts of people who use their slaves for all sorts of reasons. But which type is your preference?"

"I was informed that I should look into getting a Sex Slave to help with keeping my emotions in check." Naofumi informed Beloukas, who give him a raised eyebrow. Seeing this, Naofumi told him darkly, "… I didn't do it. But because of the damn princess, my emotions have been all over the place and been told that I should get a Sex Slave to help me. But I don't have the money for one at the moment, what I need is a slave that is cheap but not too broken already and that is capable of fighting. I need something that can attack the monsters that I cannot."

"A battle-oriented slave than? Do you have a preferred gender?"

"As long as they are able to fight, I don't really care."

The Slave Trader scratched at his chin. "I know of a few, skills are weak though, but we do have some in stock. Not only that, but some won't be so good for your… personal pleasures. Would that be alright?"

"I don't give a damn about personal pleasures." Naofumi informed the Slave Trader darkly, as he formed a Fireball within his shield as a warning not to push him. "All I care about is that they are able to fight."

"Okay, okay, I get it." Beloukas said with his hand up in defence, showing the Shield Hero that he didn't mean any harm. It looked like that the information that he gained about the Shield Hero was missing a few important parts, like how dangerous he could be if upset. Not that he minded so people, in fact, he liked them like that as they were more fun, but he would have liked to be warned beforehand so that he could prepare and not upset them. He didn't want to end up dead because he said the wrong thing.

"I have to warn you though, these slaves that I have in mind, they haven't got high levels, in fact, I believe a few are level one." the Slave Trader warned Naofumi.

"If they can fight, we'll level up together." Naofumi admitted thoughtfully, "In fact, if I find a slave that's level one, I can have them level up the way that'll be most beneficial for me."

"Good answer... even though you don't trust people." Beloukas admitted, liking the kid even more, as the Shield Hero says the benefits of having a slave as an adventurer.

"It's no different than levelling up my shield, slaves are just tools to be used the same way." Naofumi said, "I can raise them so they won't betray me." While he might not like thinking a person like this, it helped him feel a bit better if he did, as he'll be treating them as a weapon to attack monsters that he could not. If he treated them like a person, he didn't think he could go along with his plans.

"You got me there." said Beloukas, suppressing a giggle. "Anyway, right this way then."

With that, they continued to walk through the warehouse, where eventually the shouts and smells died down before they entered a quieter area of the shop.

... Or so Naofumi thought. Soon the room was filled with the sound of whimpering children.

Naofumi looked around and saw cages filled with children and older demi-humans. They looked miserable. The Slave Trader continued to lead Naofumi through the room until he suddenly came to a stop.

"This is the cheapest slave I can offer you today, sir."

Beloukas informed the Shield Hero as he pointed to a group of three cages, in front of them.

The first had a man inside, though he also had the ears of a rabbit, and one of his arms was twisted in an odd direction. He looked to be somewhere around twenty years old.

He looked like the dictionary definition of a slave.

The next held a girl of around ten. She was unbelievably skinny, and her eyes looked terrified. She was coughing. She also had dog-like ears that were tied up around her head. She appeared to have a large, round tail as well.

The third cage held a lizardman whose eyes darted about the room violently as if he was just looking for someone to kill. He did seem more like a man than a lizard though.

"From the right, they are a rabbit-type with a genetic disorder, a raccoon-type suffering from panic attacks, and a mixed breed, the lizard man." The Slave Trader informed Naofumi.

'So the last one was a mixed breed.' thought Naofumi, 'That would explain why he looks more human than a lizard, where Crusch looked more like what I thought a lizard person would look like.'

"They all seem to have severe issues." Naofumi pointed out.

"These are all I can offer you in your range. If we lower the bar even more then… well…" The slave trader glanced quickly to the back wall. Here Naofumi followed the man's gaze.

You could tell, even from far away, the smell of death. That smell in the air at a funeral, it was strong, and it was coming from that direction. It also smelled like rot. Naofumi felt like he would get sick just looking in the direction.

"How much are we talking and what are their levels?" asked Naofumi.

"From the right, the rabbit is level 5 and he cost twenty-five silver coins," Beloukas explained, "next the raccoon girl, she's level 1 and cost thirty silver coins and last the lizardman, he's level 8 and cost forty silver coins."

If Naofumi hadn't meet Crusch and Ulthane, he would have thought that the prices were fine, but Ulthane informed him that a starting price for a slave is around eighty silver coins fifty minimum if the Slave Trader was trying to get rid of the slave for some reason. So why were these slaves so cheap? Sure they all had problems, but with the way Ulthane explain it, they would be more around fifty silver coins.

Something was off, for a black market Slave Trader, he would have thought that Beloukas would scam him for every coin that he could from him. More so seeing how people have portrayed him, who would he tell if Beloukas did this. Something didn't add up, so before he even thought about getting a slave, he had to find out what was going on. As he feared that if he didn't, it could return to bite him in the ass later on.

"Why are you offering these slaves so cheap?" Naofumi asked suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Beloukas asked confused, "I'm selling you these slaves so cheap because they all have problems, problems I fear I can't resell them."

"Don't take me as a fool Beloukas," sneered Naofumi, as he resummoned a Fireball, "remember, I know someone who has a slave and he told me that the cheapest slave I would get would be around eighty silver coins, fifty if the Slave Trader was trying to get rid of them for some reason. So why are they so cheap? In fact, why would you come to me in the first place, from what I've been told no one from the black market district would even think about coming to my aid, as they fear the king's wrath and closing this district down. So tell me, what is going on here?" Naofumi wasn't angry, no he was worried he was walking into a trap of some kind and that worried him a lot.

"You're much smarter than I was led to be believed." Beloukas sighed, he wasn't expecting this much of a problem, "To be honest I first came to you as there were those that wanted a Hero, like yourself, as a slave for themselves. For what reason I don't know, but I had originally approached you with that goal in mind, but since then I've had a change of heart."

"Excuse me?" Naofumi asked in shock, "If a Hero could be enslaved, wouldn't the king do so already, he would have me under his control and punish me for my so-called crime."

"Normally no, the king wouldn't be able to enslave a Cardinal Hero, as they're meant to be a protection to stop the enslavement of one being enslaved." explained the Slave Trader.

"Than how would you be able to capture and enslave me?" asked the Shield Hero.

"Do you know why slaves wear collars when we have the Slave Crest?" asked Beloukas.

"Honestly?" Naofumi asked thoughtfully, "I thought they were there to show that the person was a slave, seeing how the Crest would be hidden. Not only that, but it was a way to find them should they escape, get stolen or someone rescue them for whatever reason."

"That's part of the reason for the collars, although the master can make the collar invisible if they wanted, but there's another reason for the collars." the strange little man informed the hero. "You see the collars were designed to enslave demons and angels, as the Slave Crests don't work on them so the collars were designed. But over the years all slaves were meant to wear them, just in case they had some demon or angel in them and so prevent them from being enslaved."

"So does that mean that collars can enslave heroes too?" Naofumi asked in concern, "But if that's the case, why didn't this damn kingdom's king enslave me?"

"Because the normal collars are unable to do so, from what I've been able to find out about the collars, when the Wave appeared hundreds of years, they tried and failed to enslave the heroes by using the collars." explained the Slave Trader.

"So seeing that you were after me to enslave, does that mean you found a way to do so?" asked Naofumi.

"I believe so, but I have no idea if it would work or not." admitted Beloukas, then he gave creepy smile before saying, "Although, not that it matters now seeing that I have a change of heart about enslaving you."

"And why would you have a change of heart about enslaving me?" asked Naofumi, "It would have been a big payday for you if you were able to sell a Cardinal Hero."

"Well, you have all the qualifications of an excellent client. ALL the qualifications: both good and bad."

"What do you mean?"

"I wonder. What DO I mean?"

'This guy is slippery as an eel. What did he want from me?' Naofumi wondered to himself. But he doubted he would get a straight answer from the strange little man, so instead he asked, "Hum… but that still doesn't explain why you're trying to sell me these slaves so cheaply?"

"Whilst there are a few interested parties that want to keep you weak, there are others who want to help you." explained the Slave Trader, "They asked me to extend an olive branch and made a deal with me to help you if I can."

"If these people want to help me, why don't they come to me personally?"

"That I can't answer, either because it was part of the deal that we made, or I just don't know why, they have reasons of their own for not coming to you personally." Beloukas told Naofumi, "But regardless of what they wanted, I admit that I'm more interested in you and your eyes they look like the eyes of a villain and someone who knows a good opportunity when he sees it."

"Ooookay." Naofumi said slowly, unsure how to react to that, this man was freaking him out and wasn't sure how to deal with him. But still, he had to wonder who these people who came to Beloukas to get him to help him, whoever they were, they must be powerful if they were able to get Beloukas to go against this damn kingdom's king. Whoever they were, he was somewhat worried as to what they want from him, but at the same time thankful that they got Beloukas to help, seeing how he now able to get a slave.

Now he had to wonder which slave to get, sure he could get them all if he wanted, but he didn't wait to waste all his coins on more than one slave when he hadn't yet found a consent way of getting money. If he wanted a strong fighter, the lizard man was the best option. But the problem was the way demi-human was acting, it looked like he would just kill anyone and didn't look trustworthy enough that he went to attack him. Sure the Slave Crest would stop him from hurting those he didn't want to. But depending on his will power, the lizardman could attack and kill someone before he could order him not to and before the seal could activate.

So that left the rabbit man and the girl, sure he had a genetic disease, but seeing how he was looking into making potions and his Affinity for Healing and Alchemy, he believed that he might be able to heal the rabbit demi-human. As for his useless arm, sure it looked bad, but again with his Affinity with Healing and Alchemy, he might actually be able to fix that too. If he wasn't able to heal his arm, with training, this demi-human could overcome the problem, like those in his world, those with a missing arm or have some kind of problem with it could overcome the problem and be someone with great power.

Whatever the case, both looked miserable… but so did all the other slaves in the room by the looks of things. Naofumi expected that the Slave Trader placed them in here to die, not wanting to spend too much money to heal them. As it might cost more to heal them than to sell them in the long run, in a business sense, it made sense not to heal them. As it would be throwing money away that they couldn't regain, so it was better off letting them die unless someone like him was willing to deal with them and use they own money to treat the slaves.

"Why are they all so quiet?" Naofumi asked the Slave Trader.

"Because they are punished when they become too noisy." Beloukas explained to the young man.

"Makes sense." acknowledge Naofumi, whilst he might not like it, he could see why they would be punished. Being noisy might risk possible owners to leave if they hear screams and such, so it was best to keep the slaves quiet unless were ordered to talk.

Naofumi had to wonder if the Slave Trader was showing him slaves that were well trained or slaves that couldn't be trained? The lizard man looked like he might be good in a fight, but the other ones probably wouldn't be.

"Why's the female so cheap?" asked Naofumi. While she might be skinny and scared, but she looked like a relatively normal little girl. Her face wasn't good or bad, just normal. With a good diet and makeup, Naofumi believed she could become good looking. "For a female, she would be worth more to you."

"That's normally true, but sadly raccoon-types aren't popular with humans." explained the Slave Trader, "Now, if she were a fox-type or even a weasel-type I'd be able to get a good price for her."

"Huh…"

Raccoons were, if you translate it, like tanuki. Even at that, she looked so human you'd think they could get a good price for her. But if raccoons weren't popular, then she probably wouldn't be worth much as a slave.

"You see, raccoon-types are known to be lazy or unmotivated and are prone to have some kind of ailment much easier than other demi-humans." Beloukas informed Naofumi, "For this raccoon-type, she has some sort of cold and she has panic attacks in the night. She's a lot of trouble… I would say most of her problems came from her last Master, from what I have been told, he loves to torture his slaves. I fear that this one might not have much longer left."

"And this is the best you have in stock? Something that's not damaged somehow?" asked Naofumi, a bit confused as to why he hadn't got more to show if he had made a deal to help him. And although he felt a bit sad about the young girl, he didn't really care right now. All he wanted was something to help him to level up.

"You really hit where it hurts."

"Well you did say you made a deal with a few people, so I thought you would have a few more slaves for me to look at. Slaves that aren't damaged at all." Naofumi explained to the man.

"Well you got me there," Beloukas admitted to the hero, laughed as he found himself getting caught in one of his schemes, "but the thing is these are the last of the slaves that I'm trying to get rid of. As if I don't sell them soon, I don't think I would be able to and I would be losing out on what I bought for them. So I was hoping that you would want one of them before I show the others to you."

Naofumi knew this trick all too well, it was the same back in his world, selling of any of the old stock anyway possible before selling you the new stock. As if they didn't, they would lose out on the money that they used to buy what they did. So Naofumi decided he would at least give her a once over to see what she was like. Sure with her low level she might be hard to train her in time for the next Wave. If he had more time he might have picked her.

But as Naofumi was debating if he should buy her or not, or go for one of the higher level slaves, he caught the eye of the raccoon-girl. Than something awakened in him, something darker than anything he felt before. Whilst he was with Crusch he never felt anything, maybe because she belonged to another person, but now though something dark had awakened.

This thing was a woman, the same gender as that one that betrayed Naofumi. He looked into her scared eyes and immediately thought that he wanted to control her. He thought that if he could just pretend that he could turn Myne into a slave, he could make her pay for everything that he had done to her. And if she died somehow, it might make him feel better.

"I'd like to take a closer look at the raccoon-girl please."

"Certainly." Beloukas opened the cage.

The slave trader produced a key and opened her cage. As the young girl stepped out of the cage, the Slave Trader placed a collar around her neck. She let out a yelp.

Naofumi just looked at her, quivering in fear, where he felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. He began to imagine that she was the bitch that began his hellish life in this world, quivering in fear, just like this and as much as he hated to admit it, it made him feel great.

Upon seeing the girl who now bowing at him in fear, Naofumi approached carefully. Upon a closer look at her ears and tail, Naofumi thought that they looked more like tanuki than raccoon to him. Although her eyes might reminded him of the bitch, there was something familiar about her, something deep within him telling him that he should know who she was. He felt some irritation as he tried to remember where he knew her from and why he felt she was important to him. He wasn't sure, with most of his memories were still messed up from being summoned here, but he believed that he had dreamt about her before and drew her. This made Naofumi even more pissed at the bitch princess, as if she didn't steal his things, he could look at the picture to try and find out why this raccoon-girl was so familiar.

But as he looked at the fearful girl, he remembered what Ulthane told him about demi-humans, how most of them saw him as some kind of god. So if he treated her somewhat nicely, he might be able to mould her into the perfect weapon and make her do what he needed. Maybe if he was lucky, get her to help him get his vengeance against bitch and her father and anyone else who dares to cross him. As he once heard before somewhere, a well-treated slave will do whatever their master wants from them.

"Hey," Naofumi said, keeling a little away from her, remaining a safe distance away, hoping to show that he wasn't going to hurt her.

Slowly, she lifted her head, the chains around her throat and hands rattling as she moved, and aimed her red, lifeless eyes at him. They were a shade lighter than the bitch's hair, a little pink. This made him want to hurt her, having this kind of remind of what the bitch did to him. This made him more determined to use her. She coughed and shrank back, looking at her hands again.

"As you can see -" began the Slave Trader, but Naofumi silenced the Slave Trader with a hand gesture. He slowly reached out with his right arm toward the girl, putting the Shield in her field of view. When he was sure that she'd spotted it, he asked gently, "Do you know what this is?"

Her eyes flicked briefly toward his face, then fixated on the Shield again.

"It's the Legendary Shield," Naofumi said gently. "I'm the Shield Hero. Do you know what that means?"

She coughed and gave a shaky, barely discernible nod. Her body shifted a little and she looked like wanted to do something but was too afraid.

"You can touch it. It's alright."

With tentative, shaky, small fingers she reached out toward the Shield. Right before she touched it, she looked toward Naofumi with uncertainty, and he tried to put the most encouraging smile he could muster, successfully urging her to continue.

"Y-You're t-the Shield… Hero. are-aren't you?" she said in a frail voice in-between coughs, both hands on the Shield. When she looked up, there was a sense of awe in her still fearful eyes.

"In a sense, yes, I'm the Shield Hero." He smiled at her warmly, "And if you want it, I'm here to get you out of this place if that's what you want."

As an answer, she abruptly threw herself at him, and Naofumi readily engulfed her with his arms. She was terribly thin against him, trembling and coughing.

"It really… is the… Shield Hero," she mumbled into his chest while Naofumi ran a gentle hand through her hair. She coughed. "I… always knew you'd… save me."

"Yes, you're safe now." he comforted the young girl, "But I should warn you though, if you come with me, you'll do things that you might not like. As whilst I'm the summoned Cardinal Hero to defeat the Waves of Catastrophe, it doesn't mean I'll be the hero you might want me to be." He was warning the young girl this now, as he didn't want a slave that would hesitate in the middle of something that could lead to his death. It was better for her to find out now, so that if she wasn't willing to do whatever was needed, he would find someone who would.

"Wh-what do… you mean… Shield Hero?" asked a concerned and worried raccoon-girl.

"Whilst I'll defeat the Waves of Catastrophe seeing how they are connected to my survival in this world," Naofumi informed the young girl, "until the next Wave appears, I'll do whatever I have to, to survive in this world. Be it good or bad."

"Wh-why would… y-you do… su-such things?" the raccoon-girl asked as she coughed.

"Just say that this kingdom has deemed me as a criminal and made it hard for me to get things done." explained the Shield Hero, "So it means that I'm forced to do things that I wouldn't normally do. So if you're willing to do the same, to help to protect me and this world, I'm willing to take you from here. But know this though, I'm willing to help and protect anyway possible, but that's as long as you do whatever it takes too. Be warned, if you don't pull your weight, slow me down or get in the way to what is needed to be done, I won't hesitate to sell you back to this Slave Trader and buy someone who'll be able to do what you can't."

The young slave girl was shocked at what she just heard, that her ideal and one she and the other demi-humans look up to the most would do whatever it took to survive, be it good or bad, because this kingdom branded him as a criminal for some reason. She couldn't believe it. Her parents told her stories of the Shield Hero, he was someone who would protect and help anyone that he could, he wouldn't hurt anyone unless he had to and only to protect others. So for this new Shield Hero to branded a criminal, she wouldn't believe it. It must be this kingdom's way to ruin the name of the Shield Hero, seeing how from what she heard, they don't trust Shield Hero and hated him for some reason. For him to do bad things, he must have no other option but to do so and become a real criminal.

Part of her wondered if she could really help him, to be at his side and do what is needed. She was taught to be a good girl and do what she was told. But helping her Hero, it would mean becoming a bad girl and she wasn't sure if she could do that. But at the same time though, she too knew she had no other option. As if she stayed at this Slave Wearhouse, she would die here soon. So she knew that to survive, she too had to do whatever it took to do so, if it meant becoming a bad girl or using her skills that she gained from her second Master, she would do so.

In fact, there was a warm feeling inside her thinking about using the skills she gained from her second Master, she was excited at the idea of using them on her new Master. Especially if it meant that he would keep her around if she couldn't become the bad girl he needed her to be. And if she was honest with herself, she wanted to use these skills for a long time, but never been able to use them. Maybe now she would be able to.

Finally deciding what to do, she said, "I understand Shield Hero, please make me your slave, mould me into what you need of me."

"Good girl, in that case, you're safe now." Naofumi comforted the young slave girl as he came to realize that she must have had it rough for her to agree so easily, if it only took her a few minutes to agree to be his and telling him that he could mould her as he liked. Having a look at her again and seeing how skinny she was, he knew that she hadn't eaten a good meal in a long time, so with a warm smile he went on to say, "Wanna get out of here and get something to eat? I bet you're hungry."

She withdrew and smiled shyly up at him, her eyes not quite meeting his. "Eat?"

"Yes, and I'll get you something for your illness, I can't have you ill now can I? And at some point get some new clothes and a bath." Naofumi told her with a warm smile, he went on to say, "By the way, I'm Naofumi, Naofumi Iwatani. What's your name? Don't want to keep calling you Slave now can I?"

"Ra… Raphtalia."

Naofumi smiled, as he thought to himself, 'Perfect, just one step closer to being able to leave this damn town, now I need to figure out what to do from here.'

Clapping sounded from behind. "What a heartwarming display... I see you've made your choice."

Naofumi would have asked the Slave Trader for the key to remove the restraints that she had on, but he had to admit though they made her somewhat cute. It was strange, he couldn't explain it, but he thought that she looked good in them. He wasn't too worried about people asking about them, as whilst he could hide the collar that she would wear, he could tell people who ask about them that it was something that Raphtalia wanted to wear and so he allowed her to do so.

Whilst he wasn't too ashamed about having a slave, seeing that he had no other option but to have one to fight for him, he knew he needed to come up with a story for her. As he wouldn't put it past bitch and her bastard father to do something about taking her away should they learn that she was his slave.

Keeping her chained up for now, Beloukas pulled Raphtalia out of the room and down a few aisles, with Naofumi following them. As Naofumi followed Beloukas, he saw that whilst Raphtalia was coughing, she was sending him curious glances from time to time. It wasn't long before they got to the place that Beloukas was taking them, as he went through a door into another room.

o0OoO0o

Upon entering the room, Naofumi saw that there were a few people already in the room, three people that were dressed like the men he saw early in the warehouse, one of them was holding a jar that appeared to be full of ink. They won't alone, with them was a female red fox-like demi-human who had two tails, where they had white top at the end of the tails. She also had a white muzzle, which went down her throat and chest. In fact, there were white parts down her inner thigh and pitches of white on her back. She had long hers with black tips. She had black hair with white tips, her hair was in a ponytail. She had violet-like eyes.

She looked like she was around fifteen years old, whose breasts were a good size, not too big but not too small.

She was wearing a sexy dark red ao dai like outfit, with yellow and orange trimmings, she also had yellow and orange pauldrons and a slit side. She was also wearing a violet obi sash with a yellow trimming, it had some kind of flower symbol on it. She was also wearing a pair of black leg stockings going all the way down to her feet, which she was wearing toeless tabi boots, she was also wearing a pair of long pair of black gloves. Underneath the ao dai, she was wearing a very short pair of Bikini Shorts.

From what he remembered from his mythical books, she looked like a two-tailed Kitsune. From what he remembered about them, more tails that they had more powerful they were. So this one was a weak Kitsune.

Either way, when Naofumi saw this female, he had to ask, "Do you have another client here for this slave?"

"No, she is for you," Beloukas informed the new Slave Master, "as I told you earlier, there are those who want to help you, but for one reason or another can't do so publicly. So one of the groups sent you this young lady to serve you, to use in anyway you want."

"It is true My Lord," the female Kitsune told Naofumi, "I have been sent to help you in anyway possible. I have been trained in most areas, like being a maid, a fighter, a sex toy and assassin, just naming a few things. I was trained in these areas so that I could get what I had to without too much of a problem."

'So, she's some sort of spy than.' Naofumi thought to himself, only them would train in these sorts of areas, this worried him though, 'If she's a spy, can she be loyal to me though?'

So he had to ask her, "Tell me, who are you loyal to?"

"For now, I'm loyal to my country, which is why I'm here, because they want me to protect you from harm." the vixen admitted honestly, "But once I gain the Slave Crest and Slave Collar, my loyalty will be with you only you, as the magic won't allow me to do otherwise. I'll only serve you in anyway possible if it means going against my own country so be it. If you have me, I'll serve you and only you."

"What country would send you to become my personal plaything?" asked Naofumi. He knew it wasn't the nicest of things to call her, although part of him liked the idea of her being his plaything, that's what the country sent her as. They had no idea how he would treat her, all they knew he could use her in ways that could make people have nightmares.

"I'm sorry to say I am unable to inform you," the vixen informed her possible new Master, "they placed magic to stop me from tell you things until magic removes itself from me, which can be weeks, even months away. They sent me here to show support for you, to make sure you don't come to any harm."

'A funny way to show support, to send a slave to someone.' Naofumi thought to himself, unable to believe this, 'Then again, I believe that people in my world had done such things before, sending slaves to be it for sex or to work on the land to show support. But now of them hid who they were though.'

Naofumi sighed, if there was no way to ask her where she came from because of the magic on her, there wasn't going to get far with her. Then as he looked at Raphtalia, he could see that she was shaking in fear and worry, afraid that he was going to pick the older girl over her. Something deep within him felt sorry for her. So with a small smile, he reassured her, "Don't worry Raphtalia, I'm not going to leave you here, you'll be coming with me today." What she didn't know was that she was too important to him. Whilst she might remind him of the bitch, he knew that she could be trusted and would work hard for him, if he remembered the notes from his drawings correctly. 'Damn, I wish I still have them, they sure would help me here.'

"Th-thank you My… My Lord." Raphtalia thanked her new master, little less worried that he would leave her here to die.

"Now my little vixen, seeing that you can't tell me much as to who or why they really sent you here other than to support me, I would like to know your name, level and any abilities that could be useful to me." Naofumi told the vixen.

"You can call me whatever you like if you have me, in fact, I like how you call me vixen." the Kitsune demi-human told the Shield Hero with a blush, normally she hated being called that, but when the Shield Hero called her that, she felt a warmth of belonging to him and liked it. "But if you want my given me it's Kumiho and my level has been reset to level 1 so that you can level me up the way you want. I'm skilled in most combat, but I'm better at close combat than ranged. As for my abilities, like most Kitsune, I can shape change into anyone I need to, to get my mission done. As for my magical affinity, I have three skills, Healing, Summon and some Fire Magic which I mainly use on my swords. I have to inform you though, because of my levels being reset to level 1, I might have a few issues. However though, as I level up, I should be able to gain my former strength and be of some use to you, My Lord." she says with a sorry expression.

Naofumi had to admit that the skills that she had were very useful, her main class would be a Summoner/Healer. Whilst at level one she would be weak, as he knew that Summoners and Healers had weak attack up, as they level up, they can become quite powerful. Once she had some decent mana and magical attack points, she could heal and attack whilst he defends the group.

More he thought about this, the more he thought about getting her. Not only does she have some decent abilities that can be useful, she knows how to fight, so she could teach young Raphtalia how to use a blade too, which would make things so much easier. But something was bothering him though, "How did, whoever sent Kumiho here, knew I would come to get a slave, That they would need to send one here? What would have happened to her if I never came?"

"For your first question, they didn't know if you would come, but from what they heard of what happened to you, they guessed that you would come sooner or later need one. So they were one of the groups that sent me in search for you." the Slave Trader informed the hero. "Now if you never come, I was to send her back to her people a week after the next Wave."

Naofumi nodded at this seeing some sense in this, it would seem that whoever was helping him in the shadows have been keeping an eye on him since he got here if they knew what had happened to him. But still, another thing came to mind, "So why didn't you start her off in the first place?"

"Three reasons," Beloukas told Naofumi, " the first two were personal reason, although I have a deal with these people, I'm still a businessman, so it would be foolish of me not to try and sell you something before giving you something for free." Now this was something Naofumi could understand, no businessman would give anything away for free without getting something first and even then they would get as much as possible out of it. "The second reason was because of the deal I made with one of the groups, the people who sent Kumiho to me, wanted to make sure that you really wanted a slave on your own free will, not forced to have one because they sent one to you. So I was told that unless you asked for one or brought one yourself, I wasn't allowed to tell you about her until I knew you really wanted one."

Naofumi was somewhat glad to hear this, whoever these people were, they weren't forcing him to have Kumiho at all. So even if he turned her down now, he suspected that she would be sent back to wherever she came from. So after a few moments of thought, Naofumi realized that at the moment, more slaves he had the better, he would become stronger much faster this way. It helped that one of these slaves were, in fact, free.

So with a smile, Naofumi said, "Well, seeing how Kumiho here is indeed free for me to have and the fact remains I need as much help as I can get to get stronger, I would be a fool to turn this offer down. So I'll take her. But please tell these people that give her to me, although they sent her to help me, it doesn't mean I'll help them. I won't be used. I'll only help if it's in my best interest to do so."

"That I can fully understand Sir Naofumi." Beloukas said with a smile. He was more or less the same, he wouldn't do something unless it fits his own needs or benefits him somehow, as he looked out for number one, himself.

Kumiho would like to say that no one from her Kingdom wouldn't try and use the Shield Hero, as some would, in fact, try and control him for their own needs. Even the person who sent would too, some would use the fact that she was sent to him as leverage if needed. They would do this as a way to get back at Melromarc and the other kingdoms who would try and make their lives hell, all because they think that demi-humans were nothing animals/monsters and so should be treated as such. Most don't want to use the Shield Hero, but some would only so that they could get a better life.

Either way, her future was about to be decided as the Slave Trader asked, "So what do you say? Do you want her as your slave or not? And if so, what kind of slave do you want her, a fighter or a sex slave?"

"I'll admit that I really would like her as my slave, as her skills and abilities are well worth it." Naofumi informed the Slave Trader, making both Beloukas and Kumiho smile, although Kumiho's smile wasn't a full smile, although she agreed to the mission, she didn't really like the idea of being a Sex Slave, she would prefer to be a fight for the Shield Hero as a fight and not a Sex Slave. But if it was her leaders will, she would do whatever was needed, not like she hadn't done such mission before, using her body to get what she needed. But this is the first time that she became a real Sex Slave, sure a plaything and a sex toy, seeing how she enjoys sex, but never a real Sex Slave. But for this mission it would be her last one for her country, that's unless the Shield Hero release her later on, otherwise, she could become a fulltime Sex Slave for the Shield Hero - something she wasn't too sure about.

She didn't know what her future held, but she knew she would find out within the next few minutes. So she listened as the Sheild Hero asked, "But what's the difference between a normal slave and a sex slave?"

"Not much to be honest, but a Sex Slave gains an extra crest, one that'll stop them being used by anyone other than their Master or those the Master wants to them to have sex with. It also adds a few other functions to the slave crest options, like making them fertile or making them bear. Also, the crest makes it so that the slave will want to have sex when the master wants it, even if the slave doesn't want it or not." The Slave Trader informed the Shield Hero, "The crest would be placed on the pelvis."

"I see." Naofumi hummed thoughtfully, this was useful, he didn't have to worry about Kumiho falling pregnant. Whilst he had no plans to start a family in this damn world, he was more worried about her becoming pregnant and preventing her from fighting. As whilst he was planning to fuck her, he was going to have her fight for him too, so her getting pregnant would be problematic. He had no plans of using the crest to force her to have sex with him, that give him bad memories about the bitch and her calling him a rapist.

"WIll, I was advised to get a Sex Slave, who am I say no to a free one when it is being offered." Naofumi smirked, sure he wasn't going to use her too often, but the Slave Trader and whoever sent her didn't know that. It was an act, to make people this, to make them think that they could control him through sex. At the moment the thought of sex didn't agree with him too much, not after what happened with the bitch, but if he got too angry and needed someway to control himself, he would have something to occupy his time and mind.

Then a thought occurred to him, there were many sick assholes out there, and those who would use what was his to get to him, meaning his slaves. There might be assholes who might kidnap what was his and rape them, to get to him. He didn't like the idea, but he wouldn't put it past the bastard of this world to do, to make him pay for what he did to the damn First Princess. So if it helped to protect Raphtalia too, he might have her have one too, so he asked, "About this second crest, does it make it so that only the slave be unable to sleep with other people or does it stop other people sleeping with the slaves."

"It stops people from sleeping with the slave of course," Beloukas said in a matter of fact tone of voice, "as the master could order the slave not to have sex with someone."

Naofumi just scoffed at this, sure he expected that, but he didn't know how the Slave Crest work, so he had to ask these sorts of questions. So he just listened to the Slave Trader as he went on to say, "The crests gives the offender a nasty shock if he tries to have sex with the slave without the Master's permission, but if they keep on trying they could end up dying or losing something important to them." Beloukas give a dark knowing smirk at this, a smirk that Naofumi copied after he winched at the thought.

"Is it possible for you to place it on Raphtalia too?" asked Naofumi, where Beloukas smirked knowingly, here the Shield Hero give the man a dark look at this, and said, "It's not like that you perverted man, no, it's a way to protect her. I fear that someone might kidnap her and use her against me, either for the hell of it or just to get back at me."

"Ah I see." the Slave Trader hummed in agreement, he could see the reason why the Shield Hero wanted this for his new slave. He knew a few bandits who often have sex with their hostages, or rape the women from the carriages that they were robbing.

"So would it be possible to place one on Raphtalia and if so how much?" Naofumi asked with interest.

"Yes it is possible and normally for a non-slave, it would cost you another five silver coins." explained the Slave Trader, "However, seeing that you're getting the Sex Slave for free, I can use the remaining ink to create the second crest for free."

"Ink?" Naofumi asked, he thought that magic would be used to create the Slave Crest, "I thought that magic would be used to create the crest."

"And you would be correct, but for the crest to be on the body, I'll need to use ink to draw it onto the slave." the short man explained with a smile, "Normally for a normal crest, you just need some ink with a bit of your blood and bit of magic, but with the extra crest, not only would I your blood, but the slaves blood along with a few extra ingredients."

"I see," said Naofumi, "in that case, let's get on with this, I have things to do today."

"I understand Sir Hero, as they say, time is money." Beloukas told the Shield Hero with a smile, happy to get down to business. With that, he had the slaves undress, something that he admitted he wouldn't do normally, but with the extra crests he had to, as he had to link them together

At first, Naofumi wanted to look away to give the girls some decency, but in the end, he decided not to. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a naked female before, but he also wanted to see how the seals worked.

For the first crest, it seemed to be simple enough, all that happened was that Naufumi had to do was stab his thumb and allow a few drops of his blood into the ink. Here, the Slave Trader drew the crests onto his new slaves and connected it to Naofumi somehow. There were no chants, spells cost, nothing, all that happened was that the slave's stats and such appeared in his HUB.

For the second crest, with the reminding ink, Beloukas took a few drops of the slave's blood into the ink. Not only that, but he placed a few other unknown liquids into the ink, before he placed the crest onto them. He then printed an extra symbol onto the first crest to connect the two.

As the crests were put on them though, the two screamed out in pain, as the magic connected them to their new master. When asked about this, Beloukas explained it was part of the crest magic, as it was forcing the slave under the control of another person. He never once has seen an enslavement not being painful for the slave. But sadly, because the two had to go through two different Crest spells, they were knocked out from the pain.

Worried that his new slaves were hurt and no longer useful to him, he had to ask, "Is this normal? I don't want products that are hurt and useless."

"Don't worry, this is normal." Beloukas informed the Shield Hero, "Every so often the pain of going through of getting the crest is too much for a slave, especially if they get the second crest, so they sometimes blackout from the pain. Give them a while and they should be fine."

"I see." Naofumi hummed, as he said, "Seeing how they'll be unconscious for a bit, let's finish business here."

"That's good, let's go to my office, as there's some paperwork that needs to be done." Beloukas informed the Shield Hero, and with that, the Slave Trader lead Naofumi to his office, whilst Beloukas's men looked after Naofumi's new slaves.

To Be Continued!

Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END: Here ends another chapter, I hope that you have enjoyed the story and if you did, I hope you leave your thoughts about this chapter. I'm sorry for the long chapter, but this chapter got away from me as I wrote it and I just couldn't find a good place to end it like the other chapters. But at long last thought, we got to the part of the story where we finally get Raphtalia, I know you guys have been waiting for this for a long time and to be honest, so have I.

The thing is, with all the new ideas that I have and my habit to go into detail, things keep getting away from me and until now I wasn't able to find the perfect time to add our favourite demi-human into the story. So you know, I have tried a few times to get her soon, but the chapters keep getting too big and new ideas kept coming to me. Either way, I'm finally happy to have her in my story.

Next I hope you like the new slave that I got for Naofumi, Kumiho. Now before you bitch and moan about her being a Sex Slave, if you haven't skim read the past chapters, as I know some of the readers have done, you would have seen the hints that I was planning for Naofumi to have one and Kumiho is it. So don't say I didn't hint about him not getting one as I did.

I'm still after your thoughts about the notes from past chapters and shields and OCs ideas, so if you got some time, before leaving a review, please look back at the notes and give me your thoughts. Not only that, but please if possible think about some shield ideas. The main shields that I'm looking for at the moment are still the ones that can level up by Skill Points and gain new abilities through levelling up the shields. I ask for these short of shields as whilst I got a few ideas for shields, I don't have enough, so I would like your help to have more in this story.

In fact, so you know, one of the shields that I'm going to use to be level up is the Slave Shield, which will give Naofumi more benefits and new abilities. But that's where things get tricky, whilst I have a few ideas for abilities that Naofumi gets as he levels up the shield, I only have a handful and I would like some more. So, if you got ideas for abilities that a Slave Shield can have, please let me know, as I would love to hear them. My friend Raven thought that one of the abilities would be alerted that his slaves were being attacked, this is something I'm not sure about and would like your thoughts on this subject.

So you know, I'm only after a transformation core ideas for Renka, as for Motoyasu, he won't have one. I'm going to have it so that he thinks he doesn't need one, as he is good looking and strong enough without one. Don't get me wrong, he'll still use core, but not to transform into another being, so if you got ideas for cores he can use, I would like to hear them.

A quick poll, for her first time, should Naofumi have sex with Raphtalia in her young form or her older form? Depending on the results, it'll help me decide how I should write their first time happens. You can vote in the review, on my profile page or both if you want to get your vote to win.

Now you got until I post the Omake I said I would be working on for Dragon Overlord to vote, which should be a few days to a week. It all depends on my muse and if it allows me to write or not.

As for the poll for the Lust Shield, here are the results:

Yes, give Naofumi the Lust Shield. 42

No, don't give Naofumi the Lust Shield. 17

Now I would like to thank you all for voting, if you didn't get the results that you wanted, then it wasn't done to me so please don't be upset with me about them. Next, I would like your help, now that we know that he'll be having the Lust Shield, I would like ideas as to how he could gain it and what powers he should have. Not only that, but I would like a side-effect he has to overcome before he could use it fully without the drawbacks getting in his way.