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.

15. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Before we start, I would like to ask you something, I got two reviews that bothered me and would like your thoughts about this. The first one says that I'm thinking too much about sex for this to be a decent story, I don't know why this is, seeing how there have only been two sex scenes in this story and I was making sure people would be okay with Raphtalia.

The other said that they figured that this story was going to decline, seeing how there was hardly any decent plot. Just sex and making Naofumi into an Edgelord that treats a ten-year-old demi-human as a sex tool. First off, I would like to point out that for those who actually read this story: you would know, and as I've said, there were only TWO scenes in the story. So how can the story be only about sex? Next, in this chapter, you'll see that he isn't going to make Raphtalia into a sex tool, but a fighter.

He might be what you call an Edgelord, but after what he has been though, can you blame him for it? After everything, he has been through? And have you forgotten what this story is going to be about? Naofumi will become evil and slowly becomes a demon, so he'll become edgy. Don't forget, that even in the original story, he was like an Edgelord in it.

Last, the reviewer said if I don't make the protagonist relatable in some way, then most readers that aren't horny will see through the story.

So I would like to know, honestly, do you agree, and if so, how would you fix it?

Chapter Fourteen…

"I ask you again, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Naofumi asked angrily when Raphtalia didn't answer him, at once. He was upset at what she did, it only has been a week since the damn Bitch Princess framed him for rape and since then, his life in this world is nothing but an uphill battle. He didn't even know if he would ever be interested in sex again, out of fear that next person he did it with would turn out to be like Bitch.

Feeling that the crest was building up power to punish her for not answering her Master's question, Raphtalia answered, "For... forgive me, Master, but I wanted to show you that even if I can't fight for you, that I can be some sort of use to you and you wouldn't throw me away."

"What are you talking about?" Naofumi asked confused, "Why would you even think that this would even work?"

"I fear that I'm no good at fighting and fear you might throw me away," Raphtalia tried to explain to her Master, "but I thought that if I could show you that I could do just what Kumiho can do for you, you wouldn't get rid of me."

"And why would you think that having sex with me would work?" Naofumi asked darkly, not very pleased at the answer.

Sure he felt sorry for the young girl a bit, as she had a rough night, screaming in her sleep and crying out for her father and mother. Whilst he wondered what sort of life she had, other than to hold her as she screamed out, he couldn't bring himself to ask why. It had nothing to do with him, as long as this didn't interfere with her fighting. Part of him didn't like it, but he needed a slave to fight for him.

She also reminded him of the girl in his dreams, but unless he had his book he couldn't be sure about it. She might look like her a bit, but that doesn't mean she was the same person though. Already a few things won't be the same from his dreams, like Kumiho, she never was in his dreams nor was the Makers or Crusch. So he couldn't tell if this Raphtalia would be the same one from his dreams.

Even if she was, how he felt right now about people, he didn't know if he could trust her even if she would be loyal to him. The only thing he knew right now was that for him to trust people, they had to prove to him that they can be trusted before he could trust them. Thanks to everything that happened to him, all he knew was one simple thing unless they proved that they can be trusted, the only one he could trust was himself.

Right now with what Raphtalia just did, trying to trick him into having sex with her, wasn't something he could say was trustworthy. If she talked to him about this before, he would be more understanding, but right now the only thing that was keeping him from sending her back to the Slaver was that he needed all the help he could get.

"Because of Kumiho, Master." the young girl explained, "You brought her as a Sex Slave, so I thought that if I could do just as good a job as her, you wouldn't throw me away. You would keep me as a Sex Slave instead of a fighter."

Naofumi sighed deeply at this, any frustration that he had on the matter left him. Yes, he was still pissed, but hearing this he didn't know what to think. He didn't think that buying a Sex Slave would bring him this much trouble, nor thought that a ten-year-old would think of such a thing so not to be thrown back to the Slaver. He knew that he would have to deal with this now, to make her understand.

"Listen Raphtalia, whilst I did decide to get Kumiho because she was a Sex Slave, that's only part of the reason. In fact, I may not use her for that part of her job at all." Naofumi informed the young girl.

"What do you mean, Master?" asked Raphtalia, feeling a bit confused, why would he buy a Sex Slave if he wasn't going to have sex with her. "Why would you get her if you're not going to have sex?"

"Simply put, she was free and it would give me another fighter, something that I needed if I wanted to survive in this world." explained Naofumi, "This would give us more options to get more experience when we fight, which will help us get stronger so much faster."

As Raphtalia thought about it, she thought back to a time when she heard her father teaching a group of people about fighting monsters. He explained that whilst fighting in groups would make it easier to defeat monsters, that's not why it was important to fight in groups. No, the reason that they fought in groups was to get more experience, depending on how a group works together, they would be able to get more EXP. So if people were in a group of five, they would normally be able to get more EXP than say two people working together.

Her father warned the group that that wasn't always the case as if the group were weak they might get less experience than two experienced fighters. So he told them that it was always best to stay strong, able to work well with those you're fighting with and keeping your weapons decent.

"I think I get it, Master." Raphtalia said thoughtfully, but there was still part of her, even if she didn't fully understand it herself, wanted to have sex with her Master. So wanting to see if there's any chance of it some time down the line, she asked, "M... Master, about s... sex, are you every go... going to have it, a... again."

Part of Raphtalia knew that it was foolish to be embarrassing to act like this after what she did, but to her though, it was one thing having sex, but it was another talking about it. So sure she was embarrassed about it, she just hoped her Master wouldn't be bothered about it.

Naofumi did, in fact, find it a bit strange, but then again he knew that people were fine having sex, but when it came about talking about it, some found it hard to do so. So he just put Raphtalia down to one of those people, that and she was a child.

"To be honest, no I don't think I'll ever have sex again." Naofumi admitted darkly, another thing that made him angry with this kingdom, he used to love sex, but thanks to Bitch and the kingdom, he didn't think he could ever have it again. "After what the Bitch Princess did to me and how people have been treating me since, I'm afraid to do so. As I fear that the next woman might do the same, accuse me of rape when it isn't and having people turn on me when nothing happened. So I decided that to stop the risk of it happening again, I'll not have sex again."

"Y... you do know that as a slave, you can have s... sex with Kumiho without anyone saying anything about it." the young girl pointed out, leaving out that he could do the same with her seeing how she didn't want to show that she was eager to have sex with him.

"Oh you would think so wouldn't you?" Naofumi asked darkly as he thought about it, "But I wouldn't be surprised that the kingdom would turn it around on me and say that I used the fact that you were slaves to force you to have sex with me, even though the law would be on my side. They would try and paint me in a bad light about it. That's not counting the other heroes, as if their world is anything like mine, slavery is outlawed and so they would turn against me more than they already have. They have problems that I have slaves already, even if it's the only way for me to level up, if they heard that I was having sex with one, even with a child, my life would be more difficult then it already is. The heroes might even try and kill me over it."

Raphtalia was a bit shocked that slavery was outlawed in her Master's world, here it was a way of life. Sure there are a rare few who have fought against it, but way too many had slaves and they wouldn't want to give them up. Not only that, but most of the slaves were criminals, it was one way to punish them. Instead of sending them to jail, they would serve those who they committed the crime against, it was a sort of justice. Having those who committed the crime, serve those who they wronged, or that's what her father told her once when she asked about why there was slavery. Although there was a dark side to slavery, it also brought justice to their world, so to take it away would create more problems than solutions.

Now before she could think more about this though, her Master told her, "Either way, I don't want to talk nor think about this, so get dressed, we have things to do today."

Not wanting to anger her Master any more, that's what she did, as her Master got dressed too. Little did they know at the time, Kumiho heard this conversation and was angry, herself. This kingdom had done more damage than they possibly knew, even if they did know, they wouldn't care, they would think it was a good thing. As they would think that the Shield Hero could bring more demons into this world in the form of his children.

Kumiho knew that if the Shield Hero stayed in this world, there would be many who want to marry him and have his kids, as it would be a sign of power and respect. In fact, she knew that be it one of the Cardinal Heroes or the Vassal Heroes, they are looked upon with great respect and often have many wives, slaves and concubines. This was so their name would live on and hoping that if the Vassal Weapons were ever needed, one of Cardinal Hero's descendants would be able to wield one of them.

The Kingdom of Siltvelt wanted a few women to marry the last Shield Hero, but before anything could be done about it, the Hero died. No one knew how he died, some thought it was an ambush from another kingdom, some thought that he died from some powerful monster that caught him. There was even a rumour saying that the demi-humans killed the last Shield Hero because they didn't want him to side with another kingdom, or because they couldn't control him and so they killed him.

Whilst no one knew the truth, the death of the last Shield Hero created much mistrust between the Kingdom of Siltvelt and the rest of the kingdoms. As they believed that Siltvelt was behind the death of the last Shield Hero, even if they didn't have any proof to back it up. Many in Siltvelt believed that the death of the Shield Hero just gave the other kingdoms a reason to hate and mistrust them all because of them being demi-humans.

Whatever the case, Kumiho knew that it was the leaders of Siltvelt, and was hoping that this new Shield Hero would marry a few of their daughters to gain power and respect from those in their kingdom and other kingdoms. But it would seem that thanks to the Kingdom of Melromarc, as thanks to their Princess's action along with their people's, he has no interest in women.

Whilst she was nothing more than her Master's slave, a tool to be used as her Master wants and had little power to do much against it, Kumiho wanted to help not only her former homeland but her Master too. But the thing was she didn't have any ideas on how to do so, she would have to figure something out later, for now, she had to move before he realized that she had heard anything.

o0OoO0o

It was about an hour later, and the three of them had not long since finished eating their breakfast when Atla appeared at their camp. Here he had Kumiho and Raphtalia return to the Black Market to get masks for the three of them, he even drew a mask he would like them to get for him if possible, it was something he thought about the night before. He also asked them to get him a hook of some kind, it was something he meant to get the day before, but he forgot to do so. And finally, he had them level up for the next few hours as he trained with Atla.

Once he was sure that they were gone, he set down next to Atla and asked, "Before we start my training, would it be okay if I asked you a few things?"

"I have no problem with that Shield Hero." Atla agreed.

"Well first, do you know anything about clairvoyance?" asked the young man.

"Ah, I was wondering if you were going to ask me about this, Ulthane informed me that you might ask me this." Atla explained, then seeing the betrayal in the Shield Hero's eyes, she quickly went on to say, "He didn't tell me for the hell of it, he told me because I know more about clairvoyance and believed that you might ask about it and should I know it, I would be ready to explain a thing about it."

Naofumi was unhappy about this, but at least Atla could tell him more about this ability of his, so he asked, "So what can you tell me about clairvoyance?"

"The first thing you need to know is that whilst it has a few useful abilities if you can learn them, but seeing the future is the most useless of those skills." Atla told him her thoughts about the skill to see the future.

"What do you mean?" Naofumi asked, confused, why would seeing the future be useless? "I would have thought that seeing the future would be useful."

"You would think so wouldn't you," admitted the Maker, "but the skill is the most dangerous of the skills, it is a double edge sword sort of skill. For example what if you had two dreams, one of you getting your slaves and the other is where you have a dream about the First Princess and what she did to you. Now you would try and stop what the princess did to you wouldn't you."

"Of course, I would have." the Shielder told her.

"But if you did, you wouldn't have gotten Raphtalia or Kumiho." Atla told the young man in front of her.

"Of course I would have, I still would have needed to find allies and such." Naofumi told her, thinking that he would still have ended up with them.

"Oh really? Why would you need slaves if you stopped what the princess did to you?" asked Atla, "If the First Princess didn't frame you and you still had a good standing, you wouldn't have been pushing people away. You would have money to hire people to help you, you wouldn't have been sending people away, so demi-humans from countries would have come to you to help you. You wouldn't have needed slaves to fight for you, as you would not have to take the darker route to get things done."

As Naofumi thought about it for the next few minutes, he began to realize that Atla was right. The only reason that he got Raphtalia was because of the Slave Trader came to him because people planned it that way, the same with Kumiho. Because he didn't have a hard time, he wouldn't have needed Raphtalia and she could have ended up dead, and Kumiho might not have been sent to him as whoever sent her would have come to him personally seeing how he wasn't sending people away from him.

"That's the thing with seeing the future with clairvoyance and any other ability that allows you to see the future, you don't always get the full picture." explained the Maker, "You would only get bits and pieces of it, or one of a possible future, not knowing the full story or which future would happen. As you realize, once you take action and try to prevent one future happening, you could prevent another future from happening or you could make what you were trying to prevent worse. It's the same if you saw something good, whilst you might not do anything different, you'll subconsciously do things differently, train in a different way to help out or talk to different people to get to that point sooner. In doing so, you could start a new set of events that could be better or worse than you might hope for or you might make it so that these events don't happen at all."

"Are you saying that I shouldn't use this ability to see the future?" Naofumi asked the woman, wondering what she was getting at.

"No, seeing how you have it, you should use it," Alta told the Shield Hero, "all I'm saying is that you should be careful with it. You should think about your actions, think would your actions prevent another vision you might have seen to happen or make things worse and such things. Unless you see yourself in the visions and your hub is up with the date and time on it, I would take what you see with a pinch of salt."

"What do you mean?" ask Naofumi, not too sure what the lady was getting at.

"You see, with clairvoyance not only can you see the future, but the past too." explained the Maker, "So you might see things that might have happened already, so unless you know for sure that it's connected to your present or future, you should be careful. I should say that with that clairvoyance, the only time it's useful is if you know if you can tell when a key event might happen."

"Key events?" asked the Shield Hero.

"Yeah, things that can't be changed by actions, things like the Waves, earthquakes and other natural disasters." Atla told him, "These events will happen no matter what you do to prevent them. So if someone with clairvoyance can see these events and get a date, they can plan what to do when they happen."

"What happens if I don't see the date?" asked the black haired hero.

"Then you do nothing," Atla told him simply, "as the events might have already happened or might not happen for weeks, months or even years from now. The only thing you can do in cases of seeing the Waves is to prepare so that if you face that Wave, you would be ready for it and have a plan of action. It would be a waste of time and resources to do otherwise unless you know for sure when the event will happen."

As Naofumi thought about it, it made some sense that if he didn't have the date of what meant to happen, other than plan for what might happen, there wasn't much he could do about it until if or when it happens. In a way, he could understand why the Maker saw it as a useless ability if you don't have the dates to help you.

"I should warn you though, you should be wary of those you tell about being a clairvoyant, not even joke about it around strangers." Atla warned the young man in front of her,

Depending on the level of the clairvoyant it could be the difference between everyone calling them a crackpot to everyone in the whole world trying to get a piece of them with or without their free will being involved," Atla said in a dead-serious tone.

"You can't be serious?" Naofumi asked in shock, "You're telling me that clairvoyance can be that powerful? I thought that it was useless?"

"No, I said the ability to see the future is useless, as there are too many variables out there that can alter said future. As the future is forever changing depending on one's actions." explained Atla, "Many fools don't see this, they only see a way to alter one's future, never realizing that it could make things worse instead of better. But that's not the only reason a clairvoyant is sought out, clairvoyance can find people and items as long as they got something connected to that person/item. If they have an item of the past, they can get a clear picture of the past, and if the rumours are true, sometimes the future too. But you already know my feelings about that. These are just a few things that a clairvoyant can do."

"I highly doubt I could do any of that," a sceptical Naofumi told her, "all my versions of the future come from dreams, and I have difficulties remembering them when I wake up. I have to quickly draw them down before I forget about them. The main thing that I remember is Raphtalia and a young blond haired girl by the name of Filo. But in none of the dreams do I remember seeing you, Ulthane, Crusch or Kumiho. Not only that, but I meant to work with another blacksmith, one that hates me in this world unlike in my dreams."

"I see, so you have what is known as Dream Scrying, which makes it difficult for the clairvoyant to remember, or decipher the dreams." Alta informed the Shielder, "There are methods to help you to remember your dreams, make them clearer. As for me, Ulthane, Crusch or Kumiho not being in my dreams, there's one of two reasons for this. The first is that we didn't make an impact on your dreams so that you wouldn't remember us that much."

"I find that hard to believe," Naofumi told her, "at the moment you four have been a great help for me, more so than Raphtalia I'm sorry to say. Maybe she becomes better in time, which I do hope, but right now you four have been a great help and I find it hard that you wouldn't be in my dreams."

"Which leads to my second option, you could have been dreaming of yourself from an alternate universe and timeline." explained the Maker, "This is rare to happen with a clairvoyant, but not unheard of. You do know that you and the other heroes are from an alternate universe?"

"Yes, this is something I learned the first night here in this damn world." Naofumi admitted darkly, "But what does it have to do with my dreams?"

"So seeing how there are alternate universes, don't you think it's possible for there to be other yous, in different timelines?" asked Atla, "And in these worlds and timelines, the other yous have gone through the same thing that you are, but things happened a bit differently. Where we aren't in it, only Raphtalia."

"But why would I be dreaming about them? Why not have dreams with you lot in it?" Naofumi asked Atla, unable to understand why this would happen.

"Honestly I don't know." admitted the Maker, "Clairvoyance is a subject that no one really understands, no one knows why it gives the visions that it does to people. The only thing that I suspect that no matter what happens, even though the people you work with are different, the events that you see are more or less the same in each timeline and world, so the powers might show you the future that's more helpful, show you the vision that might be more helpful to you or they are too lazy to show you your own future. Who knows. Just another reason that I don't like fortune-telling, don't always give you visions clearly enough to figure out. Just enough information for you to try and figure out for yourself."

Naofumi had to admit that seeing the future wasn't all that he thought he believed, there were so many things to think about when you see it. How by his own or someone else's actions, that future could change drastically either for the best or worse, depending on what was done. Whilst Naofumi was more than happy to stop anything bad happening to him or to the few allies he gained, knowing his luck though, any changes could be for the worse. So he knew that if he saw anything in his dreams about the future again, he would be very careful about his actions, so not to make things worse.

"Either way, let's move on," said Atla, wanting to move things along, "I know this isn't any of my business to tell you what to do, but I think that you should try and prove people wrong about how they see you."

"Why is that?" asked Naofumi, "They believe whatever lies that the king and his bitch of a daughter tells them, why would they believe me? Why should I even try?"

"Listen, I know you want to give up on them and become some sort of anti-hero or some villain who only helps during the Waves, which I can understand." Atla told him with a sigh, "But right now this world, with the demons that they already have trying to ruin things along with the Waves of Catastrophe going on, they don't need another thing making things harder."

"So what?" asked the Shielder darkly, "They are more than happy to believe any lie about me because of whatever the past Shield Hero might have done to make them believe that the Shield Hero is a demon. Why should I try?"

"Because they don't know you," explained the female Maker, "all they know are the stories and what they are told. To make them see differently, you'll have to prove them wrong, show them that you're not the demon and the stories are a lie." the Maker told the young man, part of her, was hoping that this would make him think about things before doing something he might regret later down the line.

Atla could see that Naofumi was conflicted with this, how could he not with everything that he has been though. And whilst it wasn't her race's place to interfere with the balance and what people do, she knew that at the moment they didn't need another problem with the Waves of Catastrophe going on. What happens afterwards would be up to fate, but right now she needed to do something that would make sure this world survived the Waves. Having one of the heroes going down a dark path wasn't going to help, so she had to do something to make sure that didn't happen. She didn't want to lose another Home World.

"I know what I'm asking isn't easy to do, but doing the right thing and forgiving those who wronged you isn't always easy." the Maker told the young hero, hoping to calm him down and hope he would do the right thing, at least until the Waves were dealt with. "If you find it hard to do so, think of this way, by trying to show them that you're not the person that people make you out to be, it should make things easier for you. That's what you want isn't it, an easier time whilst you're here."

As much as Naofumi hated to admit it, he knew that the Maker was right, he didn't want to have too many problems if he could help it. Sure he had plans of becoming a bandit to gain money and get things, but right now with how he and his slaves were right now, they weren't strong enough to do so. They could be easily defeated if they weren't careful. So if he wanted an easier time, it might be easier to clear things up.

But there was a part of him that wondered if it was worth it, this world has made it hard for him to trust anyone in it. He had to wonder if it was worth it, to do so. He had to wonder why he should prove himself, he didn't do a thing wrong, he wasn't to blame if these fools believe these lies instead of learning the truth for themselves.

But the image of Raphtalia popped into his head and made him think. He didn't know why it happened, seeing how she meant to be his tool. Maybe it was because of Atla being there, trying to keep him on the right path. But what was left of his innocence, he saw a small and innocent child that needed to be protected, and if it was in him to make it so that he could make things easier for her, he would. Sure he would need her to fight for him, but he would at least try and make it a little easier on her when he can, as long as she kept on fighting for him.

Sure he would try and protect the young girl, but he wasn't going to do it for free. He needed to get stronger, so he would need Raphtalia to do her fair share in helping to fight and help him level up. This world taught him more than one thing, apart from not trusting people, the other is that he should never do anything for free. So whilst he was willing to protect her, he wasn't going to do it for free.

"I'll be honest with you Atla, I don't see the point of proving that I'm the good guy here, they aren't worth it, seeing how they rather listen to lies than finding out the truth themselves. But I'll try." Naofumi told her with a deep sigh, "But I'm only doing it as a way to thank you and because I want to be able to get things without too much of a problem, not because I trust the fools in this world or anything like that. But I'll warn you now, if they push me too far they can go to hell for all I care. I'll do my job in dealing with the Waves, but during each Wave, the people can go fuck themselves for all I care."

"That's fair enough." Alta told him simply, now wanting to push it. She knew that this was as good as she was going to get it if she pushed it too much he might tell her where to go and go down a darker path much sooner. She could only hope that no one would be foolish enough to make the Shield Hero even angrier than he already was, she hoped that the king knew better than to push Naofumi too much. But deep down she knew that she only brought the world a bit more peace, as she knew and feared that the king and his foolish first daughter did something foolish and push the Shielder too far. It wasn't if, but when they did something. She could only hope that by the time it happens, the Shield Hero has had enough time to heal and wouldn't do something he might regret - although she feared it was too late for him to heal. But she could only hope.

"Anyway, the last question I have is this, do you know much about these Legendary Weapons?" Naofumi asked his final question, "I've asked Ulthane, but he said that other than knowing that other than your Elders creating them for some deity who empowered them with powers."

"Sadly no, I know just as much as that. Although this is only my guess, I believe that there are other Legendary Weapons, created by other Makers. Lost in other worlds that were destroyed because of the Waves." Atla informed Naofumi her thoughts about the Legendary Weapons.

"Why do you think there are other Legendary Weapons?" asked Naofumi.

"Think about it for a minute," the Maker told the hero, "there have been four attacks since my people have been here, each time fighting different worlds. How would the other worlds defend themselves without Legendary Weapons of their own? Each time, the same Legendary and Vassal Weapons are used to defend this world. Whilst I don't know about the Legendary Weapons themselves, Vassal Weapons are often used in times of war. So that rules out them going to other worlds to be used, so I believe it's the same for the Legendary Weapons. Meaning that there were other weapons made by different Makers from different worlds. When the worlds lost their battles, either whoever this deity/god is, either kept the weapons so as not to allow them to fall into hands of people they didn't want them to have them or left them in the dead world."

As Naofumi listened to this theory, it did make some sense, if like the two Makers believe other worlds were going through the same thing, they would need their own weapons to defend themselves. So whilst they might share some of the Legendary Weapons, they would need their own Vassal Weapons, so it would make sense there were more weapons out there somewhere.

As he was thinking about this, Atla asked, "Why did you want to know if I knew anything about them?"

"Well you see…" began Naofumi as he explained his reasoning, about how he could use Kitamura's idea of copying weapons, but couldn't use Amaki's idea for looting, crafting and inventory, whilst Kawasumi could and most likely Kitamura. "So I was wondering if one of the powers of the Legendary Weapons was something to do with the power of belief?" Naofumi finished telling his reasonings, "I was able to use Kitamura's idea as I had no reason to not to believe him, but when it was time to test Amaki's idea out, I couldn't use hers. At that, I had no reason to believe anything that she had to say, seeing how I lost all trust in what she told me. After thinking about it for a while now, I was wondering if the power of belief was needed to use the ability."

"Hmm, to be honest, I have no idea if the powers of the weapons are belief-based or not," Atla admitted thoughtfully as she thought about it, "not that it isn't possible. In fact, as I think about it, it would make a lot of sense if it was possible."

"Why do you say that?" asked Naofumi, wondering what she was thinking.

"Well you see, from what I heard about the past Heroes of Legend, they all had their own way to power up their weapons, each different to the other." Atla explained thoughtfully, "At first, I didn't take much notice of it and it didn't concern me as long as they did their job and saved this world. But now that you bring up the power of belief, I think that is the reason that each Strengthening Method was different, it was all because that's how they believed how they should power their weapons up. And because they didn't figure this out in the past, that could explain why they weren't strong enough to the Wave and the Guardian Beasts had to be used."

This was interesting to Naofumi, if it was true and belief was part of powering up the weapons, then it could be a game-changer. Because as long as he believed that he could use it to become stronger, he would have to be careful though, as he could create something that could put him into danger instead of helping him. "Do you think that if I believed there was some sort of side-effects, it would come to the Strengthening Method?"

"If you're right about the belief-based power, then if you believe that there is a side-effect, you could get it too," Atla said thoughtfully.

So with that, believing what Renka told him on that first night here, Naofumi tried to use her tips. It was hard, as each time he thought that he got past what happened with her, memories and doubt crept into the back of his mind and made it hard to believe in her idea. It took him half an hour before he finally made a breakthrough and got what he wanted.

Inventory Storage (Acquire)

Creation (Acquire)

Looting (Acquire)

Naofumi smiled at this, so the Legendary Weapons powers were based on belief, that meant that anything was possible as long as you believed it could. But as he thought before, this could lead to getting things that could hinder him instead of helping him, so he would have to be careful about this. As he wasn't sure he could get rid of a skill that didn't help him.

When Atla learned that it worked and he could have his shield create things, she told him that he should only use the creation part of the shield on things he already knew. As with alchemy, whilst making mistakes can be dangerous, it could also give them better potions too, giving them better stats than the original ones did. So she advised him that unless they needed potions in an emergency, he should always create the potions and such by hand, and use the shield when they don't have time to do so or needed it at once.

As Naofumi thought about it, it did make sense, in some games back home, should he make mistakes in creating something whilst most of the time he failed to create something, there were times he created something else. Sometimes better, and sometimes weaker, it was based on luck. So he would create potions by hand, only doing them with his shield if he was busy, needed a lot of them or needed them in an emergency.

As for looting, other than a few balloon skins, wolf fur and a few other things, when he looted the items, he didn't get much from the monsters. Mainly he got a few potions and some basic items, some that he already had, which he could sell. Now that he had this looting system, apart for the first few times to get new shields, he wouldn't have to dissect the monsters as often, which meant he would have more time to kill more of them and gain EXP.

As he got these new systems up, he noticed that he had a new shield, one that he didn't have before going to sleep: Desire Shield! The shield, like the last sex shield, was round, but instead of a picture of two people sexually intertwined with each other, this shield had a heart with flames around it.

The Desire Shield!

Equipment Bonus:

Sexual Stamina Up (Unmastered)

Body Modification (medium) (Unmastered)

Stamina Up (small) (Unmastered)

Health Regeneration (small) (Unmastered)

Special Ability:

Sexual Inducement.

Naofumi was shocked to find that this was another sex shield, he had to wonder just what Raphtalia had done to him that morning for this shield to be unlocked. Now that he had time to calm down about it, he realized that he enjoyed the feeling of Raphtalia's mouth around his cock. Whilst he knew that he should feel sick at the thought, seeing how she was a child, for some reason he couldn't, instead he felt like he enjoyed it. This made him sick, sick at the thought of not being sick. He had to wonder what was going on with him, did this world turn him into a lolicon somehow, or had he always been one, but because of the laws and such in his world, he never realized it seeing how he blocked the idea? He didn't know how to feel about this.

Whatever the case, he would sort his feelings out later, for now, as much as he was confused about his feelings, he was glad to have the shield. As it gave him some more stamina so he could fight longer, not only that but it also gave him Health Regeneration, with luck it would heal his injuries as well as his health points, only time would tell. Same with Body Modification, he had no idea what this would do to him, he hoped that it wasn't his cock though, as thanks to his last sex shield, it already has gotten bigger. He really didn't want it to become any bigger. As for Sexual Inducement, he had no idea what that skill does, he would have to test it out to find out.

Once he saw this new shield, he kept it up for the next few hours to master the abilities as Atla began to teach him a few potions and teach him some basic moves. Not only that, but they talked about how to deal with the Fake Out ability. Atla suggested that he set it so that it wouldn't raise any questions seeing how his stats seem to be different to everyone else's. So he decided he would allow his real stats to be shown with his fake identity, but his fake stats with his true self, this way no one should be able to learn the truth about the two.

It was around lunchtime when Raphtalia and Kumiho, at which point Naofumi was happy to see that they were able to go up by two levels. This was useful, they also explained that during this time, they did some training too, teaching Raphtalia how to dodge the monster's attack. The same thing that he did, whilst he might hate the Bitch, he was glad that she helped him there.

Even now he was confused as to why she would help him only to betray him, was it so that he would lower his guard so that she could betray him? Or was there another reason, something that changed during their time together? He would never know for sure, just that the Bitch betrayed him in the end and created the person he was now and becoming.

Either way, once they returned, Naofumi started to make some lunch for them. During that time, Kumiho and Raphtalia showed him what they got. They got him five masks, the first mask was as he wanted, in fact, they had gotten him two of them, they were old fashioned masks from the Venetian time, known as the plague masks, here they were known as the Alchemist Masks.

Atla explained that these masks were used by Alchemists who create their own potions, and because it was dangerous, they needed an item to allow them to breath as they make potions without dying while doing so. So an Alchemist creates these masks for them.

As Naofumi looked at them closely, he saw that the masks themselves were made of some type of greyish bone, and like from the Venetian time, they had a long long beak. Now like some of the masks back then, they had a small hole on either side of the beak. These holes were where herbs and such were stored to protect them from the plague so that they could breathe among those who had the plague - that's what they believed in anyway. The eye holes had black tinted glass in them, Atla explained to protect the wearer from explosions and bright light that sometimes comes with the explosions.

Now for most masks back in the day, it was said that there were one of two ways the plague doctors wore them. The first was to have the masks with straps on so that they could be strapped around their head. The second way, the way these masks were made, they were attached to leather hoods, so that they would go over the person's head. As there was a fear that the masks could be knocked off if they go into trouble and someone might catch the plague, so they had their masks attached to the hood to prevent this.

Looking at these masks, Naofumi decided to check their stats, which were both the same:

Alchemist Mask:

Stats:

Physical Defence: +5

Special Abilities:

Poison Immunity

Potion Immunity

Foreign Chemical Immunity

The defence wasn't much, but then again for a mask, he didn't expect much anyway, although he did think they would be better seeing how they were made of bone. Either way, he had to admit the abilities it had were useful. Something he expected if Alchemist created their own potions and such, so not get themselves killed in doing so.

Then Naofumi looked at the masks that Kumiho and Raphtalia were holding, they too had Alchemist Masks, but unlike his though, theirs had smaller beaks than his. When he looked at the stats of the masks, he saw that they won't as good as his:

Alchemist Mask:

Stats:

Physical Defence: +2

Special Abilities:

Poison Resistance (medium)

Potion Resistance (medium)

Foreign Chemical Resistance (medium)

When asked about why the masks weren't as good as his, Atla informed him that this was some standard. The mask that he got was one that Master Alchemists used to wear, whilst the ones that his slaves had been ones that apprentice uses. It was Kumiho who told them that seeing how he was their Master, they should have lower ranking masks to show this.

When asked why they got two of them for him, it was Kumiho who explained it was Raphtalia's idea. From the little they knew about his shield, anything that he absorbed he had a chance of getting a new shield, the young girl thought that because of this, he might be able to get a new shield out of the mask. So they got him two masks, one to wear like normal and the other to be used as a shielding material, in the hopes that it could become a shield. It was the same for the other mask, known as a common mask.

This mask reminded Naofumi of an old film he once watched with his parents when he was a kid, the Lone Rider. It also reminded him of what his father called old Saturday Cartoon villains masks. The mask was a strip of leather that went across the eyes, it was tied held together by a string or something. Naofumi found it hard that anyone couldn't see behind that lame trick, then again, he was from a different age, where tech and such made them see things differently.

But seeing he was in a world of magic now, this mask could have some sort of magic to prevent people seeing the truth, then again, they wouldn't really need it. From Naofumi's experience with this world so far, common sense seems to be missing from people. So this mask might be one of the easiest ways to fool people. But still, he checked his new mask stats.

Common Mask:

Stats:

Physical Defence: +2

Special Abilities:

Facial Distortion

Voice Distortion

Whilst the defence was weak, the special abilities seemed useful if they worked how they should. So putting them on, he asked the others what they saw. They told him that they had a hard time getting a clear look of his face, not only that, but his voice was funny too, sure they could understand him, but his voice was weird and hard to match to the one they knew. Both Kumiho and Raphtalia admitted that if it wasn't for the Slave Crest, they couldn't even tell who he was.

When Naofumi noticed that they didn't get themselves masks like him, he asked about it. Kumiho explained that they didn't need one, as they could wear hoods to hide who they were, seeing how most people don't take too much notice of slaves. As to them, slaves weren't important enough to take notice of, not only that but a few Masters made their slaves wear hoods for one reason or another, so they were often overlooked. So it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see a slave with a hood.

Naofumi didn't know what to say about this, but seeing how Kumiho knew more about this world than him, and Atla backing her up, he let it be. Seeing how they were eating lunch and nothing else to do, Naofumi decided to see if he could create any new shields from these masks. Sure enough, he did gain two new shields: Alchemist Mask Shield and Common Mask Shield.

Alchemist Mask Shield:

Equip Bonus:

Physical Defence: +5 (Unmastered)

Poison Resistance (small) (Unmastered)

Potion Resistance (small) (Unmastered)

Foreign Chemical Resistance (small) (Unmastered)

Special Abilities:

Poison Immunity

Potion Immunity

Foreign Chemical Immunity

Common Mask Shield:

Equip Bonus:

Physical Defence: +2 (Unmastered)

Special Abilities:

Facial Distortion

Voice Distortion

Naofumi was surprised that the shields were in fact masks themselves that appeared around his head when he summoned them. So as long as he didn't need the shield for something else, he could use one of them to hide the shield itself, so not needing to worry about people finding out he was the Shield Hero. So far he only had one shield that could hide this fact, the Treasury Shield. Sure he had book-like shields too, but Naofumi feared one day someone would try and take the book from him and discover the truth, so having more shields like the Treasury Shield and the Mask Shields would be useful to hide who he was.

Whilst he had more ways to hide who he was, he had mixed feelings about the new shields. First off, the Alchemist Mask Shield, whilst it had the same abilities as the mask and had the same amount of defence in Equip Bonus, it did seem to give him some decent abilities. Whilst he was immune to poison, potions and foreign chemicals whilst wearing the mask, the Equip Bonus made it so that once he mastered the shield that he had a small resistance to the three when he wasn't wearing it, something he found useful.

On the other hand, the Common Mask Shield was a bit of a letdown, it was just like the mask itself and only gave him two points in defence, he was hoping that he would gain a few points or some other skills to go with it. Then again, things were becoming a bit easier for him when it came to shields, so he suspected that this world was trying to remind him that he was the underdog here. At least he had a way to hide who he was and able to move around town a bit more freely now.

Although Atla did inform him that whilst wearing masks were common, people were also suspicious of those who wear one. As they believe that the person is trying to hide something, so making deals can be just as difficult if one of the shopkeepers were having a bad day or was even suspicious of the person behind the mask. So he should tread carefully with shopkeepers and try not to piss them off whilst making deals if they want a good price on something. So basically, it could be business as usual if the shopkeepers were in a bad mood or suspicious, otherwise, they could help him out a lot.

Now as he thought about the new shields, he knew that whilst what she did this morning was wrong, he believed that he had to reward Raphtalia for her idea. He had to think of a way to thank her somehow, he would look around town, later on, to see what he could find to thank here.

Either way, after getting the masks, they also give him a hook. Now he was somewhat surprised by the look of the hook, it was in the shape of a dragon's claw, a three-clawed dragon. It was something he saw on the internet back home. He wasn't sure if it was going to work for his Rope Shield, but all the shield said that it needed to continue to level the Rope Shield up was for it to have a hook, it didn't say what sort of hook to use. But when he absorbed the hook, it did its job and now the Rope Shield had a dragon hook at the end of it.

The Rope Shield now looked like it was some sort of Kusarigama weapon that the ninja of old used to have. It also gave him two points in attack because of the claw. Naofumi would have liked more, but he knew things would never be as easy as that for him in this world. As he thought about it, seeing how he is learning to fight with the rope, having this new claw attached to it, along with the other attack points he had, he could use it as another weapon when needed. Sure with twenty-nine points in attack, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and he was able to deal with low-level monsters without a problem. So he could have his slaves deal with the high-level monsters, whilst he dealt with the weaker ones.

Either way, they ate their lunch, planning what to do for the rest of the day. Atla was planning to visit Ulthane for a while, before returning for a few hours to teach Naofumi and Raphtalia more about reading the language of this world. As for Naofumi, he was planning to go into town for a bit to see if the Common Mask Shield works as it should and find Raphtalia a decent reward for coming up with the idea for the new shields. After they were done in town, they would level up a bit.

So once they finished their lunch, the group parted ways for a while.

o0OoO0o

Kingdom of Melromarc, The Forest, 19th of January 740:

Time to the next Wave: D11 H22 M30.

It has been three days since young Raphtalia give him a blowjob and tried to have sex with him, and Naofumi and his slaves were heading towards Lute Village for the Slave Trader, Beloukas. They were riding a carriage, being pulled by a creature called Trycera. It reminded Naofumi of a mix of two dinosaurs back in his world called Triceratops and Styracosaurus, but this creature's body was made of stone and had what looked like pointed scales covering its body. Behind the carriage, was another carriage, this one was a cage carriage with four demi-human slaves. Two were female dog-like demi-humans whilst the other two were male bear-like demi-humans.

Either way, over the last few days the three of them levelled up a good deal, Naofumi was level nine and his two slaves were level seven. This made Naofumi happy as it would mean he wouldn't have to worry too much about Kumiho and Raphtalia getting hurt or dying on him anytime soon. He was happy that he could level up some of his abilities. But seeing how that his first Wave was about two weeks away, he had to think carefully where to place these skill points, he had to place them where it'll be beneficial in a fight as he had at least three shields he could use to level up: Slave Trainer Shield, Rope Shield and the Dire Werewolf Shield.

He could have levelled up Appraisal Shield too, but he had no idea what monsters he could be facing. He highly doubted that he would be facing the same type of monsters that he had been so far, so it would be a waste of time placing Skill Points in a skill that couldn't do him any good during the Waves. He would level it up afterwards, for now, he had to get ready for the Wave.

The Slave Trainer Shield would allow his slaves to level up faster, where the Rope Shield would allow him to tie up the monsters, whilst finally his trump card the Dire Werewolf Shield would allow him to fight. Not only that but for all he knew he could gain new skills by levelling up these shields, making them stronger and more useful.

The Dire Werewolf Shield though would be for the last resort, if they faced a powerful monster that Kumiho and Raphtalia couldn't handle on their own. He didn't want to use it just yet, as he didn't want the other heroes nor the king to know about it. He feared that they might do something against him someday, and on that day he would need a trump card against them. Which would be the Dire Werewolf Shield. But if they knew about it beforehand, they could come up with a plan to fight against it. So he would level it up, but he would only use it as a last resort. Not only that, he remembered about the demons from Ulthane and Atla's world, but he had also faced few of them before and Crusch had to save him. He didn't want that to happen again, so he wanted something to help in a fight with them should one happen.

Either way, when Naofumi got to level eight, he levelled up his Bonus Skill Points to level nine, which would allow him one hundred and three skill points per level. Once he did that, he had fifteen Skill Points left and five Attribute Points. Naofumi decided to level his Rope Shield to another level, which left him with six Skill Points. So he left them for the next level.

When he got to level nine this morning, Naofumi decided to level up the Rope Shield two more levels, believing that it should be enough to deal with the monsters in the next Wave. He didn't want to reveal to anyone what he could do just yet, so he would need another way to deal with the Waves.

He also levelled up his Dire Werewolf Shield to level five, this allowed his transformation to have stronger claw and bite attacks. Sure he had to use sixty-five points and his attack power wasn't as high as he would like, but he didn't mind that much, as not only did his transformation become stronger, he also gained a new skill to go with it: Pack Leader. Pack Leader was a passive skill, which boosts the stats of any wolves that Naofumi might have in his party whilst he was transformed.

Because of this, Naofumi went to Ulthane to see if he could create a few Wolf Summoning Cores, thankfully though the Maker had some for sale. Naofumi was expecting that the Core would cost him the little money that he had, but it didn't, in fact, Ulthane made a deal with him. He knew that Naofumi was going to the Lute Village, so in return of giving Naofumi four Wolf Summoning Cores, as payment, he wanted him to deliver some weapons to Lute Village who ordered them. Noafumi was more than happy to do this job.

As for the last few Skill Points, Naofumi decided that seeing how much mana the Summoning Core cost to use, he would use his last eleven points in Mana Recovery and Mana Points. This way he can use more magic and recover mana faster, he suspected he would need to use magic sooner rather than later. This left him with one skill point, which he decided to leave for when he levelled up again.

As for his Attribute Points, seeing how he needs a lot of mana to use the Summoning Cores, he placed the five points into his Wisdom. Seeing how he can't really fight physically, Naofumi knew if he wanted to fight in the next Wave he had to divide his skills in an area that could help him out. Right now that would be magic, with his affinity for healing, support and alchemy, all of which needed Mana. So he would need to work on Wisdom so that he could use his magic fully and not worry about running out of it. Not only would he work on Mana, but the other stats within Wisdom like Spirit Points, Spirit Recovery and Magical Resistance. He would also have to level up his Spirit Points and Spirit Recovery seeing how his shield skills used Spirit Points, like his wolf transformation and using the rope from his Rope Shield.

To be honest, with levelling up, Naofumi was happy to leave the area, the EXP was going up and if things went the same way as the games that he played back home, sooner or later, most likely sooner, the EXP was going to go higher. Which means he would have to go to other places to level up. This wasn't the only reason why he was happy to leave the area, apart from needing to get more EXP, he had two other reasons. The first was, of course, he didn't want to be near the king or the town that broke him and made him mistrust everyone, the other was he needed to get new shields. As there were only so many monsters in the area and so far he got all he could get from this area.

Sure he got quite a few shields, mainly giving him more health, mana, stamina, stamina recovery, defence, magic than normal, along with allowing him to cook, make potions and dissect monsters better than he could before. One of the Mush monsters that his slaves gave him, made a shield that gave him an ability to appraise plants. There were two Egg Shields that gave him vision up and a few simple cooking recipes. All in all, apart from a few new skills, he gained 100 HP, 50 MP, 30 physical defence, 25 magical defence and 30 stamina.

As for loot, he mainly got meat, potions and such, a few rare items like accessories with stats added to them. He was thinking of selling these later on to gain extra money. Although, the Mush and Eggug Monsters gave him ingredients like eggs and vegetables. So with the meat from the other monsters, he didn't have to worry about being hungry at any time soon. It was something he was worried about before he gained the Loot Ability.

Although most shields were basics, he did gain three useful shields, PikyuPikyu Shield, which allowed his shields to recover from damage over time, the Pipe Shield which gave him the Shield Prison ability which would allow him to capture a monster/person in it or allow himself in it and protect him. However, the most useful shield was the Cooking Shield.

The Cooking Shield was a round shield with a few food items on it, it came about the other day when they were eating dinner after a day of levelling up. His slaves asked him if he ever thought about putting some of his food into the shield to see if any shield could come about. The equip bonus wasn't much to talk about, a few simple cooking recipes and allowing him to cook better. No, what made it special, was the special effect that came with the shield called Food Status. This ability would allow any food that he cooked whilst wearing the shield, special stats for a short while. Say resistance to fire for an hour, or gain more HP or MP for a short while.

Naofumi thought this was the best special effect he gained so far, sure it wasn't an attack skill, but it was even better in his book. If he knew he was going into a tough battle beforehand, he could cook up a few items that they could use during the battle to make things easier depending on what was happening in a battle. A fight with a fire elemental monster no problem, eat some fire resistance food and they would be good. Need more mana than they had, just eat something with an MP boost their magic wouldn't be a problem.

Although there was one slight problem though, the Food Status skill was levelled based. Meaning that the stats at the start wouldn't be the best, if he wanted better stats in his food, he would have to level up the Food Status skill. But Naofumi knew that even if he had to put a few Skill Points into this ability, it would be worth it in the long if it gave them buffs in fights. As he thought about it, if he played around with the food, he might be able to add debuff so that he could use it against his enemies or those he feared would try and hurt him.

Other than levelling up and him gaining new shields and abilities, he and Kumiho were helping young Raphtalia get better, not only with her health but teaching her to fight. Naofumi took care of her health and made her more respectable by giving her a haircut.

Kumiho helped her with fighting, with Naofumi as a training dummy. He didn't like the idea of this, but Kumiho explained that it was best to teach her certain moves on him than on something that could kill her if she messed up somehow. He was an ideal person for her to train on until she gets stronger and able to use a blade, as he had a high defence and able to move making it so Raphtalia would have to adjust to fighting things that move.

Whilst her health and her lack of ability to fight can be dealt with, which they were, the main problem was her nightmares. She had nightmares of her father dying, of her time with her last master and other nightmares, she would scream during the night, screaming for her father. Beloukas was right, she was a lot of trouble, her screams attracted Balloon Monsters. Sure they weren't too much of a problem for him, but for Raphtalia and Kumiho, they could cause them some damage. Not only that but seeing how they were in the woods, her screams could attract some tougher monsters.

Whilst it might seem heartless, but he didn't care why she was having nightmares nor that she was traumatized by whatever happened to her father. What he cared about was that she could attract something that could be dangerous to them. Nothing he could do would wake her up when she was like this. So all he or Kumiho could do to stop this was to hold her close to her, hug and comfort her until the nightmares passed. During this time she would cry and at least once wet herself.

Naofumi was at a loss as to what to do, whilst he knew that he might be able to get another slave if he sent her back, something was holding him back. A part of him believing that Raphtalia was, in fact, the girl from his dreams. Not only that, but he had spent time and effort in training her and creating medicine to make her better. He didn't want to throw all that away unless he had to.

For now, all he could do was deal with the nightmares and hope that they wouldn't last for too long if they did, he might not have any other option but to send her back. As before long, they would be facing more dangerous monsters, and he couldn't risk her attracting monsters to them during the night.

Either way, with her training, other than using him to help her train, they have been also using the Balloon, Mush and Eggug Monsters to teach the young girl seeing how they were the less dangerous to deal with. But yesterday they went from those monsters, to Usapil, which was something a bit more dangerous. If things didn't turn out the way that they did, he was more than likely to send her back to the Slaver.

Flashback Begins!

.

It was afternoon, and Naofumi with his two slaves were levelling up, they had been dealing with Mush and Eggug Monsters that were in the area so that Raphtalia could get used to fighting. Naofumi had to admit that she was slowly getting there, although he had to admit though after the first morning together, she was acting somewhat strangely. She would try and get as close as possible to him trying to feel him up. It was strange, he did tell her not to do this but yet she did, he was on the verge in ordering her to stop this.

But there were three things stopping him, the first was that he didn't want to hurt her. Sure he didn't care if she lived or died, as long as she fought for him. But he didn't want a broken slave, something he feared might happen if he gave such an order. As he felt that even if he gave the order, she would still try to do so, and with the pain that she would feel, it might break and make it so that she would be unable to fight for him.

The second was something he didn't want to admit, but it was there in his mind, making it hard to stop her fully: he was enjoying it. Yeap, as much as he hated it and something he was fighting against doing something about it, there was a part of him that enjoyed what she was doing and wanted her to continue. The only reason he was fighting so hard not to react to this was that he was brought up that it was wrong, because he felt that he was taking advantage of her, so because of this, he was fighting against what he was feeling. Fighting not to allow her to continue where they left off a few days ago.

The third reason, the most important reason was that even if he wanted to, there was a huge part of him that was sickened at the thought. Not because of her age or anything like that, but thanks to what the Bitch Princess had done. Whilst there was a part of him that wanted sex, it would be strange if he didn't, but thanks to what the bitch had done to him, he would always feel ill at the thought of having sex with anyone. He didn't know if he would ever feel that he would ever want sex again, no matter if there was a tiny bit of him wanting it. The feeling that he had wouldn't let him pass it.

It didn't help with the fact that the day before he tested out his new skill from the Desire Shield, Sexual Inducement. He had no idea what the skill was going to do, so he was shocked when he used it for the first time. He and Kumiho were fighting a pack of wolves when he decided to try out the skill, what came next, Naofumi wasn't expecting. The male wolves began to fuck the female wolves, and if a male wolf was already fucking a female wolf one of the other male wolves would attack the male wolf to get to the female.

If that wasn't bad enough, Raphtalia and Kumiho were giving him strange looks… it was the same look that Raphtalia had, but more intense. It looked like if he didn't leave them to cool down, they might jump him. So he left them alone for a short while to get over the shield's effect on them, when he returned, they were red-faced at what happened. Naofumi just told them to let it go, as nobody expected that to happen. To him though, it was a good reminder to look at what the skills were before using them, something he was foolish not to do and something he would do for new skills from now on.

To be honest, though, he didn't think he would ever be using this ability again, as it could cause him more problems than needed. However, whilst he might not use the skill itself, he was thankful for its equip bonuses, his health would now regenerate a bit faster, not as fast as he would like but still, it would help in the long run. Not only that, but with the Stamina Up, he could do things much longer than before, which would be useful as he trains to get stronger.

As for Body Modification, that was the most useful of the skills coming from the Desire Shield, as it altered his body and not his cock as he feared. He had grown an inch or so and gained muscles on his body. The muscles weren't all that noticeable unless you knew the body beforehand. Thankfully, apart from Renka, no one knew what his body looked like before today. Thankfully, Renka wasn't going to see his body again to know the difference, even if she could remember what it looked like before.

Although he didn't know if this Body Modification was finished altering his body or not, if it hadn't, he would need a way to hide his form, as he didn't want people to see how powerful he really was. He hoped that by putting Skill Points into his Fake Out ability, he would gain some sort of disguise ability to hide what he really looked like.

Either way, back to Raphtalia's training, so far they had been going easy on her, only allowing her to fight Balloon, Mush and Eggug Monsters. Not only that, but they had her fight with her Imp Summon so that she could get used to fighting with the summoned monster. They would have taught her about her Magic Affinity which they learned was Light and Darkness, something her race was known to normally have, but they didn't have much time to deal with it seeing how they were training her to fight with a sword and her summoned monster.

When training was over for the day and they fought a few monsters to earn EXP, Naofumi allowed both of his slaves to rest and play as they liked. Raphtalia was having fun with her Imp and the ball that Naofumi got her as a reward for the Mask Shield idea.

Apart from playing ball with the imp, Raphtalia was learning a few pranks from it. Raphtalia found them funny and enjoyable, Naofumi had to smile at how the young girl was enjoying her time with the imp. To him, a happy slave was a better slave to have, they would be more than happy to do more for their master. As they wouldn't think about what their master asked of them too often.

It started while Raphtalia and her imp were playing with her new ball, the Imp wasn't really into playing with such a childish game. But seeing how it was a summoned monster, it did as he was ordered. But the day after Raphtalia gained the imp, the imp played small pranks on Naofumi and Kumiho, using itching powder along with glue and feathers. Not long after, Raphtalia had done the same pranks.

At first Raphtalia feared reprimand from her master, fearing that her Master would punish her, but Lord Naofumi had done nothing. She told him that she wanted to try these pranks at least once, as they seemed fun and she would take any punishment for it. To her shock though, he didn't punish her, instead, he told her not to pull the pranks on him or Kumiho too often, but instead on villagers or those who he told her needed a good prank. Which she happily agreed to.

Naofumi didn't do this out of the goodness of his heart, sure he wanted to keep her happy as he could if he was going to force her to fight for him. He just didn't want the pranks to happen to him too often.

Not only that, but he knew a bit about imps in the stories in his world, where they use pranks to steal and hurt others. So if the imps were anything like those in the stories back in his world, he would be happy for Raphtalia to learn from the imps. In the hopes she would pick up these traits, to use pranks and such to steal and hurt others over time and without realizing it, happy to do so. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it was a start and he wanted to see where this would go.

However though, seeing how they were leaving the area tomorrow to deliver the slaves, Naofumi knew he had to step up her training. To see if she could deal with the tougher monsters, as if she couldn't no matter how Naofumi felt about her, he had to send her back to the Slaver and get a slave that could. He needed to get stronger and to do that he needed slaves that could fight, if they couldn't he had no time for them.

So as they were going deeper into the forest, Naofumi was looking for a monster for Raphtalia to fight. Something she could prove she could deal with tougher monsters.

He had It wasn't long after they entered the woods that they faced their first proper monster, a pill rabbit monster called Usapil. The critter jumped at Raphtalia, considering she was closest to it, and tried to bite her. Naofumi quickly pushed her out of the way, where the bloody rabbit bit into his arm. He was thankful that the shield prevented any damage or pain.

Now Kumiho was going to kill the monster for her Master, but one look from him stopped her. Before she could ask why, he said to the young girl, "Now Raphtalia, I want you to kill this monster, to show me that you got what is needed to fight, to deal with any monster that we might face."

"Ahh… I…" Raphtalia startered, afraid of killing the small creature

"What is it?" Naofumi asked the young girl, wondering what is wrong with her.

"It's alive… and it… it'll bleed!" Raphtalia tried to tell her Master what was wrong, why she couldn't kill this monster, but she was too afraid to say much.

Naofumi tried to figure out what she wanted to say. "Just deal with it. We're going to have to fight lots of living things."

"But… but… I'm afraid of blood." Raphtalia blurted out.

The Usapil kept biting me, over and over. Whilst he couldn't feel any pain, he could feel the pressure of its teeth, it was getting annoying.

"Just do it!" snapped Naofumi with everything that has happened in the last few weeks, he was on edge with the recent events. So right now he couldn't deal with such things such as someone's fear of blood. Seeing how she was shaking in fear, and had tears in her eyes, and the Slave Crest was now beginning to hurt her because she wasn't following his wishes, Naofumi couldn't help but to feel a bit sorry for her. "Listen Raphtalia, if you can't kill this or any other monster that bleeds, I can't continue taking care of you. I'll be forced to send you back and find someone who can do what is needed. It would be the same if Kumiho can't do what I need, I need whomever is with me to fight, otherwise I'll need to find someone who can." He said darkly. It was harsh, but it was the truth nonetheless, it was something that the young girl needed to hear.

"You should know that to me both of you are tools for me to use to fight in the Waves of Catastrophe." Naofumi explained to the young girl, "I'm the Shield Hero, as such I don't have any good attack power, so I need you to do the fighting where I cannot. So if you can't defeat a monster like this, I can't protect you, so I'll have to send you back and get a slave that'll be able to do what you seem unwilling to do. Kill monsters. As much as I hate it, it's my job to fight against the Waves of Catastrophe, but because of my limitations when it comes to fighting, I need others to do this."

Sure, the three of them spent a short time together and grew a little attached. But Naofumi still needed her and Kumiho to fight for him. If neither she or Kumiho were able to fight, he would have to return them and get a new slave, one that could fight.

Sure, in his dreams Raphtalia would grow and become strong, someone he could trust fully. But as Atla said, people from his dreams could be different to those in this world, and his actions could affect what happens. Because he couldn't remember how he acted in his dreams, this Raphtalia might hate him for the way he is acting. The problem is that this is the only way for him to survive in this world, being cold and if needed ruthless.

As he thought about it, Naofumi could pinpoint where he fully became cold and distant towards people, it was when Renka turned on him. Sure, Bitch was bad enough, but Naofumi believed that over time he might be able to get close to people again. But when Renka believed the bitch and in doing so, in his mind, betrayed him, he fully lost the ability to believe in and trust people.

He believed that it was better to be cold and distrustful of others, that way he couldn't be betrayed again, that he couldn't be hurt by another person. That he would do whatever he had to, to survive what is coming, so that at the end of the day he would live no matter what happens afterwards. Even if it meant that he would become what people feared most, a demon, he would do so so that he wouldn't die. He didn't care who he crossed to survive.

Naofumi watched as Raphtalia was in pain, trembling, scared and afraid of going back to the Slave Trader. He knew it was cruel to force her to make a choice, to have her to pick to kill or to be sent back to that hellhole. But yet this was not the time for such thinking, he needed slaves who could fight and follow his orders if he wanted to live. He could repay her and Kumiho for their effort later, for now he needed her to act.

"I understand…" Raphtalia told her Master as she realized that her Master was right, that he did need those who could fight for him and anyone who couldn't was no use to him and would be thrown away to get someone who could help him. Fearing she would be sent back to the Slave Trader, and wanting to help her Master, she took a few deep breaths through the pain she was feeling, she rushed to meet him head on, the short sword poised to stab.

It hit the Usapil dead on, making blood spill and gush, some of the splash hitting her. She looked at him with a mix of fear and surprise, but now there was something in there he couldn't recognize. Admiration, hope, longing? He didn't know and would not pretend to. "Please, I will be useful to my lord, I'll attack whoever/whatever you desire, do whatever you want, but please, don't throw me away."

"As long as you and Kumiho do your jobs and don't give me reason to throw you away, I'll keep you both by my side." Saying it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Whilst he knew that being cold and distrustful would serve him and allow him to serve in this world, there was still humanity in him to hate what he had to do to get what he wanted. He tried to relieve the guilt in his mind with the fact that what he was offering her was a thousand times better than what she would have if he returned her to the Slave Dealer.

Flashback Ends!

They got the Trycera and the carriage that morning, when they picked up the four slaves that he was meant to be delivering to the Mayor of the village that they were going to. Right now the four slaves were in the back of the carriage with Kumiho and Raphtalia, they were looking worried and uneasy. They couldn't believe that the Shield Hero was helping the Slave Trader, he was meant to be a hero not someone who would sell them off. But when asked he just told them that he had no other options, as he needed money and this was the only job he could get. They were a means to an end, a way for him to get stronger. If there was anyone to blame it was this kingdom, as if it wasn't for their actions he wouldn't be doing this.

All they could do was sit there and look displeased at how this kingdom would do such a thing to their god that he would be forced to do this. Either way, it wasn't like they could do much about their predicament, seeing the Slave Crest prevented them from running or hurting the Shield Hero if they wanted to escape.

As for Kumiho and Raphtalia, Kumiho was reading a book as well keeping an eye on the other slaves just in case they did something, whilst Raphtalia was asleep hugging her Imp Summons and the ball that he got her as a reward for her idea for the Mask Shield. She was sleeping as the carriage ride was making her ill. It would seem that even in this world, travel sickness was a thing in this world. It would seem that when he had the time, he would have to find a way to create some anti-travel sickness pills or potions.

Whilst he didn't mind Raphtalia sleeping right now, seeing how Kumiho was awake and it was a few hours to the village they were going to, he couldn't have the young raccoon girl sleeping all the time. As he knew that if they got into a fight, she wouldn't be fully ready to fight if she suddenly awoke from her sleep. That would put the three of them in danger, so he would need a way to deal with this soon.

Now seeing how they had about an hour or so before they got to Lute Village, Naofumi wondered if Kumiho knew why Raphtalia was acting as if she was going to jump him. Kumiho was not only from this world, but she was older and so might be able to tell him about this.

"Kumiho, can you come up here for a bit, I have something I want to ask you." Naofumi called out to his vixen slave.

"Coming Master…" Kumiho called out, as she put her black book away and went to sit next to her Master in the front of the carriage. "What can I do to help you Master?"

"It's about Raphtalia," explained Naofumi, "I was wondering if you knew why she looks like she, she wants to jump me and fuck me?" This Naofumi was red faced about this, he never thought he was going to ask anyone why a ten year old would jump him.

"How much do you know about slaveray in this world Master?" asked the Kitsune demi-human."

"To be honest, other than it exists and it's legal in this world, I know nothing." admitted Naofumi.

"Well in that case let me inform you about it, in the hope it'll helps you to understand about slaveay."

However, before she could begin to explain about the slaveray of this world, a hail of arrows landed around their carriage. Seeing this Naofumi could only think of one thing, 'Please, don't it be him, please.'

There was only one person Naofumi could think of that could fire so many arrows at him, in a perfect circle around his carriage: Itsuki Kawasumi. He, along with the other damn heroes, was the last person that the Shield Hero wanted to meet right now, as they would more than likely try and stop him from doing his job. He knew that whilst their attacks might not do much to him right now, they would still be a pain in a neck to deal with.

He woke Raphtalia up, telling her that they might have a problem and he needed her awake and ready to follow his orders, he jumped out of the carriage to see who attacked him. As he looked around, he saw the very person that he feared it might be, the Bow Hero and his group."

To be Continued!

Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END: Here ends another chapter of Rising of the Shield Demon, I would like to thank you for reading this chapter and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I would like to apologise for the late update but two problems stopped me from updating sooner, the first is writer's block, if you're a writer you can understand where I'm coming from. The other problem was that my plug broke and of the state of the world right now, it took about a month to get the laptop back and since then I had problems getting back to writing.

So you know, this was basically a filler chapter, something to happen before things can move along. I would like to ask do you think I'm being harsh towards Raphtalia? As my friend believes that I am, but I think I'm not, so I would like to hear your thoughts about this.

I would like your help with a few problems I have, first is how should I deal with the duel between Naofumi and Motoyasu? Whilst I could go around this and not make it happen, however, I need this for him to decide to become a demon, as this is Naofumi's breaking point. The problem is that Naofumi knows that the king doesn't have much power and knows that slaveary is legal, so I want a way for the king to force the Shield Hero to duel the Spear Hero. This is an important point, as I'll be covering this in a few chapters time.

Next I need your help with the Temple and the Gemini Tomb, for the temples, I was wondering what sort of challenges they should have? Nothing too dangerous, but something to test them before gaining a skill like healing and such. Next for the Gemini Tomb, what sort of monsters should I do for the tomb?

I won't spoil the plot to the story, but I'm planning to transform Bitch and Trash into demi-humans, I was thinking for Bitch a dog demi-human, because of her name. :P Whilst for Trash a white tiger demi-human to remind him of his past. I'm doing this as seeing how they hate demi-humans, this would be an added punishment for the two with the changing of their names.

Now I'm still after ideas for original creations for people (humans/demi-humans/demons/makers and the like,) along with new shields - still looking for another sex shield. So if you have any ideas, I would like to hear them.

Please use the following template to create new shields and OCs.

Name of Shield:

Stats: Stats that the shield has, not counting Equipment Bonus.

Requirements: What is needed for the shield to be created.

Equipment Bonus: What stats and abilities the shield has

Special Effect(s): Any special effects that that shield alone might have.

Upgrading: If the shield is able to be upgraded, is it by skill points or something else.

Name:

Age:

Birthday:

Race:

Birthplace:

Gender:

Height:

Skin Colour:

Eye Colour:

Hair Colour:

Hair Style:

Body Type:

Scars:

Piercing:

If you want ideas for races, here's some ideas: Darksiders World, demi-human world, and finally Final Fantasy World, I was planning to have a fourth one, but as of yet I haven't been able to come up with an idea for that world. Now if there's a character from an anime/cartoon you would like to see as a slave or as a character you would like to see in the story, please let me know and I'll think about adding them if I can.