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.

20. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Now that we're getting to the final chapters of part one of this story, I would like to point out seeing how people think that the story is stagnant or going slow, I came to realize that you're fans of the anime version The Rising of the Shield Hero. You see, I'm writing this story based on the light novel version and not anime. Which means as you know, there's a lot of cut content and so things missing in the anime.

In the anime, the hero's first wave happened within episode three whilst the fight with the pope/high-priest didn't happen until episode nineteen. But in the light novel, the hero's first wave didn't happen until the end of chapter twenty and the start of chapter twenty-one in volume one. And the fight with the pope/high-priest didn't start until the end of chapter eight and the start of chapter nine of volume four. So I'm not going slow but ahead of the light novel lol.

Now the light novel is in the first-person point of view, so details are limited, but this story is in the third-person and expected more detail to the story, showing what is happening around Naofumi. So if you were expecting a short and sweet story like the anime version, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's not going to happen. So unless I'm altering and adding things to fit my story, seeing how this is a third-person point of view story, I'll be adding detail to the light novel work, details about the fights, more to what they saw and did and things like that.

Now if this isn't the case, oh well I can't help what you think then. Some of you might not relate to Naofumi, but there are those who do. Sure there are villains that are better written, that's because they are written by better writers than me. I know I'm no good at writing heroes or villains, but I'm writing this for fun and doing what I feel is right if you don't like how things are going why the fuck are you still reading the story? Stop reading and sending useless reviews.

I know that some of you are worried about how Naofumi is going to get the shields from the plant monster and the dragon that Naofumi faced when I'm planning to make Naofumi evil. Well like with the Village of Lute, I'm planning to make it so that he arrives there another way, like the village, the Slave Trader sent him there, so I'll be coming up with a different reason for Naofumi dealing with the problems the other heroes created.

Chapter Nineteen…

Final Preparations - Part 1!

Kingdom of Melromarc, Village of Lute, 28th of January 740:

Time to the next Wave: D2 H12 M15.

It was evening and Naofumi found himself returning to the inn at the Village of Lute after a hard day's work of levelling up, where he and his slave had been staying for the last few days. It's not like he wanted to be here, but it was better than staying at Castle Town where he could run-in with the other heroes and in turn run into Bitch. And being in the village allowed him to move around and kill monsters to level up. Not only from monsters but from random adventurers who visited the village too.

As they left the Village of Lurolona to return to Castle Town, a temple for thieves appeared. Wanting to see what a temple was like, Naofumi decided they would try it out. Turns out they were transported to an underground maze, where all they had to do was solve the maze and get back to the top, clearing any and all traps and obstacles that they ran into to get to the Skill Altar which was at the top. Thanks to Naofumi's shield, the traps weren't as difficult as they could have been without it.

The main problem was the obstacles. They had to solve how to get out of the area, finding a key to open a door or get to the top of some scaffolding to get out of the area. It wasn't easy either, as there were lots of obstacles to get in the way. It's not like they couldn't leave the area and transport out of the maze, all they had to do was to find an item that'll allow them to do so. But in doing so, they wouldn't be allowed to get to the Skill Altar and get a skill from the temple, which could be anything from what Kumiho told them.

Thankfully, whilst it took some time, the group was able to get back to the top and to the Skill Altar. But the thing was only one person was allowed to gain a skill from the group, as the first person who steps in front of the altar gets the skill. In this case, Naofumi, who got the skills called Steal and surprisingly Steal Transfer.

Now when you think of stealing, you would think pickpocketing, taking an item from another person without them knowing, but it wasn't the case. It wasn't like in games where you would use a skill named Steal and be able to steal whatever you want, no, to do something like that, you would, in fact, would have to pickpocket for real and hope not to get caught. Which as Naofumi thought about it made some sense.

Now the skill Steal was to steal EXP, MP, HP and SP from Heroes only. The thing was that he had to use SP to use, which meant if he wanted to use the skill often, he would have to use the skill on the other heroes or buy SP Potions to restore his SP. The problem is that they were rare seeing how only heroes use them, so it cost a bit. So the only way to get it cheaper was to create the potion himself, but it would take some time to find the ingredients.

Although buying them might not be as big of a problem as he feared it would be, as Steal Transfer might be some use to him. You see, he doesn't have to use the stolen EXP and such right away, instead, it is stored until he is ready to use it or himself or transfer it to one of his companions. This alone would be useful, seeing how he could steal EXP from monsters, demons and adventurers and transfer it to himself and his slaves and so they would be able to level up easier.

But that's not all, seeing how he was limited to around two thousand storage for each thing he stole, at least for now, he had to transfer MP and HP that they didn't need right then into items, to use later. So Naofumi thought that once he could design and something eye-catching, he could sell EXP, MP and HP adventurers and anyone who wanted to level up. This could be a great money earner.

Seeing how he was limited to how much he can steal and store at a time, only able to steal 10% from something and store up to two thousand of each EXP, MP, HP and SP, he would have to use the skill often as that was the only way to level it up, he couldn't place Skill Points in it like his other skills. But it was worth it if he could sell the items later on. But if he couldn't, he could use it for himself and his slaves, so nothing lost at the end of the day.

But all in all, the ability wasn't too bad and allowed Naofumi and his Slaves a bit for an easier time. Naofumi just had to be careful not to get caught for using this ability on a human. Not only that, but he gained 2000 EXP and 5 Skill Points as a reward thanks to his Quest Ability that he got. He was thankful to see that he could gain Skill Points, as this way he could put points into making his slaves stronger should he have to.

Either way, once they cleared their first temple, they headed towards Lute. They were shocked to find that the place was being attacked by Goblins, Hellhounds and Orthruses. At first, Naofumi didn't really want to do anything to help them, not after how they treated him. It was his slaves who gave him second thoughts about it, saying that helping them would show them that he wasn't the kind of person who they thought he was.

As Naofumi was considering what to do, they saw the Mayor running out of the village and when he saw them, he ran up to them and begged for help. If it was anyone else, he might be willing to help out for nothing, to prove that he was a decent person, but the Mayor who treated like scum, even after bringing the slaves to him, no chance.

Naofumi told him that he wouldn't help unless he got paid for it. The Mayor was outraged, that a so-called Cardinal Hero wouldn't be willing to help the village, a village in need unless he got paid, but the 'Hero' would be willing to let the people die. Naofumi told the Mayor that he didn't want to be a hero, that he was more or less kidnapped and forced to be one, and when it was found that he was chosen to be the wrong hero, the Shield Hero, everyone was against him. So he had no reason to help anyone if he didn't want to.

As for the village, after the way he was treated by the Mayor and the villagers after he delivered the slaves, Naofumi saw no reason to help him personally without some sort of payment first. Call it payback for treating him so badly. Now he wasn't a total asshole, at least not yet, so he wasn't going to ask for too much, just fifty silver coins and free bread and board at the inn, in return until the wave is done, he'll protect the village and should the Wave hit them, he'll help to defend the village.

This wasn't the ideal plan, but it was the best Naofumi had at the moment. He needed a place to stay until things were sorted at Lurolona and a place to sleep when he has done a hard day of levelling up, as he didn't want to stay at Castle Town if he could help it, and it would take time to find another village to stay in, so this one had to do. That and he could earn money here, something he more than likely wouldn't happen in another village.

The Mayor didn't like this idea, being forced to have to pay the damn Shield Hero to save his village, but he had no other option. His village was being attacked and he had to do something before anyone got killed, so he agreed to pay Naofumi his money. At which point Naofumi and his slaves went to defeat the monsters attacking the village.

It took a while, but they were able to defeat the monsters and Naofumi was able to get a new shield, Goblin Shield.

Goblin Shield!

Equip Bonus:

Crafting Up (small)

HP Up (small)

MP Up (small)

Traps Up (small)

Whilst the shield didn't give him any defence bonus once he mastered it, at least he got some HP and MP from it, not only that but his traps would be better too, and his crafting would become better too. So all in all not a bad shield and as an alchemist, being able to craft better is always something he should look out for. Although, crafting is a word that could describe anything and everything that connects to creating something as an alchemist, like creating potions, blacksmithing or even simple crafting to make tables and the like. He would have to experiment with this at a later date when he wasn't levelling up for the upcoming Wave.

Now he knew that he might be able to get the goblin up, but seeing how the monster seemed humanoid, Naofumi had a hard time being able to do so, even asking his slave to do it. So he left it down to one shield with these goblins, if he faced different goblins, he'd get new shields from them. He wasn't going to cut up humanoid looking monsters, that's a line he wasn't going to cross, that and harming and killing children if he could help it. He still had some standards.

The Goblin Shield wasn't the only shield that he gained that day, seeing how he had more time to dissect the Hellhounds and Orthruses, he was able to get the Fang, Claw and Fur Shields from these monsters. Now like with the Wolf Fur Shield, Naofumi got a small amount of Thermal Resistance from the Hellhounds and Orthruses Fur Shields. And like with the Wolf Fang Shield and Wolf Claw Shield he got attack points from Hellhounds and Orthruses' versions of them too. But they were slightly better, Fang Attacks give him ten points whilst Calw Attacks give him fifteen points. Alone they didn't seem much but together it was a good deal of damage should he ever use his Werewolf Form.

Sure he found no reason to use this ability yet, seeing how Raphtalia and Kumiho were able to handle most monsters without a problem, but he wanted to make sure it was ready to use if he had to. Raphtalia and Kumiho wondered why he would make his Claw and Fang attacks stronger if he wasn't planning to use them. Naofumi found this fair enough question, so he explained that in his world there was a saying, 'it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.'

When Kumiho asked what it meant, Naofumi explained there might be a day where his defence skills might not be enough to help them or he is alone without someone to fight for him or that day, they or he might need something to help them fight, which comes in this Werewolf Form. He would be able to use this form to give them extra attack points or if he was alone and couldn't escape a fight, he could have it to help him to escape or win that battle. Hearing this, the girls understood where their Master was coming from.

Life after that was somewhat decent, Naofumi and his girls would go to the mines in the moanings, to keep the Hellhounds and Orthruses from respawning too many of them and so attacking again, whilst they would go around the area of the village defeating any monsters to level up more. For the first few nights of having sex with his slaves, he did try and keep them in their own beds, but they would end up naked in his bed by the time he wakes up, either still asleep or was sucking his cock which lead to him fucking them.

When asked why they were coming to his bed, they told him that they felt cold and empty when they weren't with him in his bed. They felt whole when they were sleeping with him. As much as he hated to admit it, he too felt cold and empty when they weren't with him in his bed, it was like they became his anchor or something, he couldn't see himself without them in his bed now. So he agreed that they could stay in his bed.

Although they did face another Temple though, this one was a Healing Temple and like before they were transported to an underground maze that they had to reach to the altar at the surface, by dealing with traps and obstacles. This time seeing how the altar works, it was decided that Naofumi would take this one too, seeing how he had the affinity for healing and so this skill should help him.

The ability that he gained was Restoration, which allowed him to get three new skills, the first was Heal, this skill as the name suggests, heals the target. It wasn't much, about fifty points but seeing how this seems to be a beginner skill, Naofumi knew he should suspect much from it, but any healing skills were useful. The next skill was Cure, this allowed him to cure people who have been poisoned or paralyzed. The last skill was Barrier, this allowed Naofumi to cost a barrier around his slaves so that they would have some extra defence for a short while.

Naofumi had to admit, this was a useful skill to have, whilst it didn't have any support skills, it did have a few good skills along with a skill to defend his slaves more. He would have liked some support magic to buff them and debuff the monsters that they face, but he knew he couldn't have it all. Instead of reading on learning healing magic, he'll be able to spend his time reading magic on support magic, so he can learn buff and debuff magic.

Now like his Steal ability, he couldn't level up his Restoration ability with skill points, instead to make Restoration stronger and so the abilities in the skill better, he had to use the ability often. Noafumi hoped that in doing so, he could learn more healing skills so that he wouldn't have to spend time reading up on them. He could use that time instead of reading, doing something more useful than reading.

He also gained the same amount of EXP and Skill Points from the last time he cleared a temple. Naofumi had to admit, he really was liking this Quest Strengthening Method that he seemed to have, it was giving him Skill Points that he would need to level up his shields and abilities along with EXP for both him and his slaves.

Naofumi looked back at Raphtalia and smiled, it would seem that she changed a lot since he made love to her. Yes he knew it was wrong to do so, but right now he didn't really care, Raphtalia and Kumiho were the only bright thing in his life. Okay, Raphtalia mainly, as he was still wasn't sure about Kumiho seeing how she was sent to gain favour, he wasn't sure if there was some bigger plan in motion with her in the middle of it. But she was slowly gaining his trust.

Thinking back on that night, Nmakaofumi knew that he should feel guilty for what he did to Kumiho, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. For the first time since he got framed for raping the Bitch Princess, he felt something realized, climer than he had been. That letting his anger out this way helped him, his hate and anger that he was holding onto subsided a bit. Don't get him wrong, he still hated this world and if there was any other option he would love to leave this world to burn. But right now he had to deal with the hand he was dealt with.

When Kumiho apologized for what she did that night and how things got out of hand, Naofumi apologized too, but not out of guilt. Naofumi apologized that if he knew that if it was really her and not bitch, he would have never done what he did to her. He wasn't like that, someone who raped someone else for the hell of it. Kumiho told her master that he didn't have to apologize, as he was her fault. If she thought it through fully, she would have realized that this could have been an outcome and she would have rethought things. From that day on, neither said anything about it,

Either way, back with Raphtalia, thanks to the potions that he was giving her, she had finally been cured and the strength that she lost returned, in doing so, making her stronger. It was a good thing seeing how the Wave was not far away, having her at full strength was a good thing. Over the last few days, she had changed from a young girl to someone who looked like she was around fourteen to fifteen years old. Although, Naofumi could only see her as someone young. Sure he knew he changed, but in his mind, she was still young.

Now she had even become more protective over him, not wanting him getting hurt, she would worry and tell him off if things were getting dangerous and he wasn't taking care. Sure she was still submissive towards him, but she was also protective over him too. As long as he wasn't doing something stupid that would put himself in danger, she was more or less submissive towards him.

Not only that, but she was slowly becoming aggressive towards people too. She was starting to see that other than her master, humans couldn't be trusted, not after the way that the villagers treated her, her follow slave and her master. In fact, the day after they decided to stay in the village for a few more days, Naofumi saw the first true change in Raphtalia.

Naofumi was working on a few potions in the room he was staying in, trying to make them taste better, work better and even the one to help Raphtalia so that she wouldn't be sick when travelling in the carriage. In fact, the last one was the most important, seeing how he knew that they would have to travel to get stronger and to do this they would need to use a carriage. But if Raphtalia was always sick because she couldn't handle being in the carriage, she would be no use to him, so he had to work on this potion. As he didn't want a slave that couldn't fight because she was sick because of travelling in a carriage.

But seeing how he was making potions, and both Raphtalia and Kumiho were bored and asked if they could go out for a bit. Seeing how he was planning to stay in the room for a while and not planning to level up that afternoon, he allowed them to do whatever they wanted for the afternoon. It was better than having them getting under his feet doing nothing and wanting to do something.

Although, not long after the two went out for the afternoon, Naofumi heard Raphtalia from his room, from the open window. So he looked out to see what was happening, to see if he needed to defend her and to see if Kumiho was with her. He saw that Kumiho wasn't with her, he would later find out she was having a bath when this was happening, taking some time to relax before fighting again.

Now looking out of the window, he saw that there was a pack of children picking Raphtalia, insulting her, about how dare a demi-human play in their spot, trying to pick a fight with her. It would seem that no matter what world you went to, there was always someone like this to contend with.

In another world and time, Naofumi would more than likely have to step in to help the young girl, but not in this world. No, in this world Raphtalia wanted to prove to her master that she was strong, that she could do what was needed to be done. That her master didn't have to send her away. That was her greatest fear, that if she wasn't useful to him, able to do what was needed, he would send her back to the Slave Market, where she could die or end up with a worse master.

Just as one of the boys pushed her and took her ball, she saw red, that ball was everything to her, it was a gift from her precious master. He gave it to her for being helpful and a good slave, it was the first gift she ever got from one her masters and seeing it was taken from her, she snapped. How dire someone tries to take her precious treasure.

Raphtalia summoned her imp, who fired a fireball at the person who took it's master's ball, which set the bullies butt on fire. Although they were afraid, they ran to try and hit the imp, thinking that seeing how Raphtalia summoned it, she could not fight herself and so without the imp, she couldn't fight back. Oh, how wrong they were, seeing how Raphtalia knocked two of the bullies to their asses. Seeing how they were outmatched, the kids jumped up and ran out of the alley crying for their mothers. Both the Imp and Raphtalia didn't care, they just laughed at what happened.

Raphtalia felt strange, she knew she should feel guilty for her actions, but she didn't, she felt free. For years humans have been putting her race, demi-humans, down for nothing else but for being different. Now that she fought back and showed them that they weren't as weak as humans thought they were, she felt empowered. This was all down to Master Naofumi. If it wasn't for him, she didn't feel as if she would be like this.

As for Naofumi was proud of Raphtalia, he was going to congratulate her, but he saw the parents of the damn kids returning, So grabbing Raphtalia's sword that she left behind, he jumped out of the window and landed in front of her. When the parents arrived, they tried to force Naofumi to have Raphtalia apologize to their children, but the Shield Hero wasn't having it, saying that she did the right thing. That if she didn't do what she did, he would have done something, as her children shouldn't mistreat demi-humans no matter if they were slaves or not. That he was teaching Raphtalia to defend herself from people like them and their kids.

He warned them that if they tried to hurt her for this, he would punish them and their children. To prove his point, he summoned his own Imp and his Imp Shield where he fired a fireball into the sky. He warned them that if he was forced to use his fireball skill, he wouldn't be aiming it at the sky. Getting the point, the parents and their children left the master and slave alone, fearing what might happen if they don't.

Raphtalia told her master about how she didn't feel guilty for what she did, that she felt powerful and empowered. Naofumi said he was happy, as unlike her parents who might have taught her to be nice and kind, he didn't want her to be like that. Not fully. He needed someone who could fight and do what was needed, no matter if people thought them as good or bad. He was happy to see that Raphtalia was now able to do that without feeling guilty and hoped that she would keep doing so. As before the Waves were defeated, it is more than likely they'll be forced to do many things that neither would want to but have to, to survive whatever comes at them. So he was happy that she didn't feel guilt, as that's one less thing for him to worry about.

As he was saying all this, he was patting her head, something that she was enjoying and would do anything to have again. When she asked if there was anything she wanted as a reward for sticking up for herself like this, she said that there wasn't anything, all she wanted was to make her master happy, that was enough of a reward for her. So the two went back to their room, where they found Kumiho coming back from her bath.

That afternoon, instead of Naofumi rewarding Raphtalia, Raphtalia with the help of Kumiho rewarded him for being a kind and caring master with a blowjob and sex.

Now today, the three of them were levelling up for the last time before going back to Castle Town, as it was just under two days before the Wave meant to hit. With no idea where the Wave was going to hit, needing to get some better weapons for his slaves and needing to talk to the Slave Trader, Naofumi decided to return to Castle Town early next day.

As they were levelling up, a Zodiac Tomb appeared. The tomb altered the land, creating water and trees to appear, making the land different and make strange monsters to appear too. From the symbols that were on the tomb and the pillars around the tomb, this was the Gemini Tomb.

For this tomb, they had to face strange monsters: they had one body but had two heads, four arms and legs. They came in all different sizes and shapes, to be honest, Naofumi thought them freakiest and strange, more so than any of the monsters that he faced so far. Even so, they give a decent amount of EXP, although when they were defeated, unlike other monsters that they faced, these ones disappeared when defeated and so couldn't get anything.

Getting into the tomb was hard enough with the monsters, but once inside the tomb, not only did they have to fight monsters, but they had to search for three small keystones and one large keystone with the symbol of the tomb, in this case, the symbol of Gemini. The large Zodiac Keystone was to open a sealed door that has a boss and a casket, which the three small keystones would open. The Zodiac Casket would hold either a power-based from the zodiac of the tomb or some sort of weapon. In this case, Naofumi was able to gain, Zodiac Weapon: Gemini Shield.

Zodiac Weapon: Gemini Shield!

Equip Bonus(s):

Defense Up: +15

Replication (unmastered)

Illusion Decoy (unmastered)

Wind Generation (small) (unmastered)

Special Effect(s):

Split Shield

Duo Shield Use

Now the shield was a Heater Shield with two females kneeling facing each other, holding the symbol of Gemini in their hands. Looking at the Equip Bonus, he found that Replication Seemed to be a useful skill to have. It would allow the user to create another copy of themselves to use as they will, the great part of it is that when you cancel the skill, apart from not being able to gain the EXP from it, you would gain all the knowledge and training that it did become yours. But the problem was that it cost a lot of mana to summon one clone, so Naofumi couldn't summon many as he would have liked.

Kumiho heard that if you left it for a while to build its muscles up, and found a way to grow taller when you cancel the copy, you would also gain its muscles and heart too. But that was a story she heard, it had been a while since someone was able to gain this ability, so she wasn't sure if it was true or not.

Next was Illusion Decoy, this allowed Naofumi to cost illusions of himself so that his enemy would think they were attacking him but instead an illusion. Sure this would work on the less intelligent monsters/demons, seeing how they would more or less keep fighting the same illusion. But humans and more intelligent monsters/demons would realize what was going on and so would look for the real him.

But it would give him a few moments to think, to come up with something or catch his breath. It is said that a few moments of breathing time can normally decide if the person wins or loses a fight. So he couldn't put down this skill fully when fighting an intelligent opponent.

Next was Wind Generation, it wasn't much, but it would allow him to summon gusts of wind, but it would allow him to push his enemy back, giving his slave a chance to defeat the enemy. Who knows, if he finds a way to make his shields stronger, maybe he can make this skill stronger too.

Now onto the Special Effect(s) of the shield, it would seem that Split Shield would allow the shield to split into two, the bottom half of the shield can come apart. This would allow the Shield Hero two shields at the same time, giving him some extra protection.

Split Shield allowed the second Special Effect, Duo Shield Use, to work. Using Duo Shield Use, Naofumi would be able to summon two different shields at the same time. For example, in the past, when he needed to use another shield that has a different Special Effect that only that shield can use, he would have to change the shield to use it, but with Duo Shield Use he could summon two shields at the same time and use the Special Effects at the same time.

The problem laid in the fact most of his shields were big and so would be hard to fight, not that he wouldn't do so if he had no other option. But Naofumi had another use for this skill. He wanted to use the Mask Shield for a while now, seeing how unless he removed the shield himself, no one could remove it and so no one would know who he was. But the problem was that he couldn't use his other shields at the same time.

But thanks to the Duo Shield Use. he would be able to use the Mask Shield along with another shield at the same time. But he would have to be careful though, as most of his shields are unique only to him and so it wouldn't take long for someone to realize that he was behind the mask. So that meant that he could only use shields like Treasury Shield and Predator's Guard, or any shield that looks like a book or another item that wouldn't go out of place.

But still, it gave him options that he didn't have beforehand, options that would allow him to move about without a problem.

Now as they were returning to the village, Naofumi checked their levels, thanks to levelling up his Slave Shield, both Raphtalia and Kumiho were now level 31, but Naofumi altered their Status Card to show that they were only level 25, as he didn't want people knowing how strong they really were.

Kumiho told him that they should find a way for them to Class Up, as soon they would be level 40 which is the limit they could go to for now. The only way to break the limit was to Class Up, taking on another power so that they could continue to level up.

This reminded Naofumi of skill trees, in some games back in his world, you would start off, say a basic mage, learning basic magic. But when you get to a certain point, you would stop levelling up and unable to get stronger and so would need to start a new job so they not only get stronger but learn a new skill. Some would normally learn a more advanced magical skill, but some would decide to use some sort of melee skill tree so that they could become a Battle Mage, being able to use magic and weapons. It sounded as if Class Up was something like that.

When Naofumi asked where they could Class Up, Kumiho explained that any Church with a Dragon Hourglass. As it was the Hourglass itself that gave them Class Ups. Naofumi said that when the time comes, he could alter their Status Cards and wear masks so that they could Class Up. Kumiho admitted that it was one way to do this, but if he was planning to stay in this kingdom for a while longer as he had told them, then she would advise against this.

As many people would wonder how they had gotten so strong without even getting a Class Up, not only that but nun's at the Church might ask them to remove their mask.

So she advises that her master either leave the kingdom before they get to level 40 and need to Class Up, or find another way for them to get stronger. As Naofumi thought about it, he had a few ideas he could use to help them to get stronger if they couldn't Class Up for whatever reason, altering their weapons and armour to make them stronger when he learned how or using the Sex Slave Shield to do so, seeing it had the skill to give them more strength at the cost of Skill Points.

As for Naofumi, he was at level 25, but he used his Fake Out skill to make it look like he was level 20. Naofumi learned that although Raphtalia and Kumiho were his slaves unless he was fighting with them, he wouldn't get EXP from their kills. This was why the two slaves were at such a higher level than he was at.

He was hiding his and his slave's levels for two reasons, first is to let people underestimate them and the other was not to have people ask how they were able to level up so much. He was a Shielder with only two companions who were slaves, so many people would think that he had cheated somehow.

Sure he could tell them about the skills that he had to help him to get extra EXP, instead of thinking that he got the skills from shields and his own Status Strengthening Method, they would suspect that he stole them somehow or cheated to level up. Sure he could steal EXP if he wanted, but right now he didn't, instead, it was HP and MP, so he could store them for when he or his slaves needed them. Much easier to get than to make health and mana potions all the time.

It wasn't long before the three returned to the Village of Lute and went to the inn where they went to bed early so they could wake up before the sun rose. Naofumi was hoping to get to Castle Town before too many people got up, so he could do what he had to do and set out the rest of the time until the Wave hits.

o0OoO0o

Kingdom of Melromarc, Castle Town, 29th of January 740:

Time to the next Wave: D2 H1 M00.

It was early morning and we find Naofumi, Raphtalia and Kumiho entering Castle Town after waking up early. Whilst they were wearing masks, there weren't that many people awake yet to notice them, just a few people here and there getting ready for the day. But Naofumi knew that it wouldn't last for long though, it was only a matter of time before people leave their homes or inns to get on with their day.

So before they did anything else, Naofumi led Raphtalia and Kumiho to the Slave Trader so that he could talk to him about getting some help. Upon entering the underground warehouse, Beloukas came up to them and said, "Welcome Shield Hero, I'm glad that you're back." Then seeing the slaves that he gave to the Hero, he was shocked how well they turned out.

The Kitsune demi-human was already in a good condition, but looking at her now she was slightly older and better looking and stronger than when he gave her to the Shield Hero. Now what shocked him was the Raccoon demi-human, the last time that he saw her, she was on death's doorstep, ready to die at any moment, but now she is aged and healthy and best of all good looking. If he could buy her back from the Shield Hero, he could resell her for a good amount of gold.

Before Beloukas could say another word though, Naofumi sneered at him as he saw Beloukas's about, and said, "What did I tell you to call me when we were in front of others?"

"Don't worry Sir Hero, my employees now better than to spill any of our client secrets. None unless you would like them to know what you would prefer to be called and worry about them telling someone that name I can do that." Beloukas said with a sly smile, knowing that he had Naofumi there.

"Fine, we'll deal with how you should call me shortly, but you better hope that they don't tell anyone that I have a slave. There'll be hell to pay if someone finds out about this." Naofumi warned the Slave Trader darkly.

"Mark my word Shield Hero, if one of my employees breaks our confidentiality and tells someone about our customers business, they wish that they had never been born." Beloukas informed the Shield Hero, "I pride myself on keeping my customer's trust, and more importantly, I don't want to lose your trust as you're my ideal customer. You know what you want and not worried about getting your hands dirty to get it, and don't stand for funny business. I just wished more of my customers were like you, it would make things so much interesting."

Seeing that Naofumi was a bit relaxed by this, Beloukas asked, "So tell me Shield Hero, what brings you here today? Are you here to buy another slave or are you planning to sell the Raccoon girl? I can offer you twenty gold coins for her, more if she was a virgin."

"Hmm, twenty gold coins you say?" Naofumi asked thoughtfully, shocked that Raphtalia would sell for that much. But still, he had no pan to sell her at all, not after all the time and energy that he put into healing her and making her strong enough so that she would be a decent sword for him to use in the Waves. It would be foolish to sell her right now.

"Massster Naofumiiii." whined Raphtalia, when he didn't say anything about he wasn't going to sell her.

Beloukas just gave a knowing smirk, smiling at the fact that neither of them mentioned that she wasn't a virgin, something that he thought the Shield Hero would do. He didn't expect that the hero would have sex with any of his slaves, so had to wonder what happened to change the fact. Like he was going to ask, not if he wanted to keep working with the young hero. He sensed that great things would come to him if he worked and helped with the Shielder.

"Don't worry Raphtalia I have no plans to sell you," Naofumi reinsured his young slave, "I have spent too much time and resources so you can fight for me, just to sell you "

"So tell me, if you're not here to buy or sell, what can I do to help you?" asked the Slave Trader.

"Can we talk about this in your office?" asked Naofumi, "I don't want anyone to know about this, not even your employees. Just in case they do decide to talk, I don't want them to know what I have planned and tell someone they shouldn't."

"I have no problem with this." Beloukas said with interest, wanting to know what the young man wanted from him. He wasn't surprised that the Shield Hero didn't trust his employees, after everything that happened to the hero, it would be hard for him to trust anyone. He was just happy that he was somewhat willing to trust him with whatever the hero had planned.

"You see I need your help in creating a village -" explained the young hero once they entered Beloukas's office where he closed and locked the door behind them, before going on with what he had planned.

"I see, so you want to rent some of my slaves to help and build your own village so you can gain information to get stronger." Beloukas summarised the hero's plan, but knowing that there was more to this than just renting some of his slaves, so he said, "But there's more to this though, isn't there?"

"Yes, there is," admitted Naofumi, getting to the main point of his plan, "I was wondering if you're willing to help run the place with me. If you do, I'm willing to allow you to set up shop for free as long as you're willing to allow me to buy things for half the price you would normally have someone pay for a slave or items."

Now this got Beloukas's interest, he had been thinking of branching out and setting up shop elsewhere, but at the moment he couldn't think of where to do so. But here the Shield Hero was giving him a place to set up shop and for free, and all he wanted in return was half off buying slaves and such. He knew that when he first met the young man, he would make things interesting and be a good and interesting customer. But he never thought nor dreamed that the Shield Hero would be this interesting. But this led to one question, so he asked, "Why would you want me to help you?"

"Simply put is because of this damn kingdom." Naofumi said with a dark sneer as he thought about what troubles this damn kingdom give him since he got here, "You know how they mistrust him in almost everything, they framed me raping the Bitch Princess. I wouldn't be surprised if they frame me for something else before long."

"Well, now you mention it." Beloukas began awkwardly… he wasn't sure how to say this without making the Shield Hero angry, but seeing how he was trusting him to help with this bandit village idea. He thought that the hero should know about the latest rumour about him, before he found out by someone blaming him for it and not being ready for it. "You see since you have been away levelling up, there have been rumours of you stealing from the nobles in the town. Not only that, but it has been said that you have been beating some of these nobles if they caught you before you could escape."

"What!?" Naofumi sneered darkly as his anger was rising once again, where he was once again getting framed for something else that he didn't do. Sure he was thinking about doing something like this, but he had been holding off the idea in the hopes that he could show that he wasn't the type of person people were making him out to be. But it would seem that no matter what he does, it would seem that people were trying to put his name through the mud, either way, framing him for things he had nothing to do with.

Things like this were what was making him rethink his plans once again, for a while now he was thinking about going back to his first plan to become. He made a promise to Alta that for her help he would try and make people see that he wasn't a bad guy, but with them framing him for something he didn't do once again, was making it easier for him to rethink his plans. He only promised that he would try, which he did, so it might be time for the Shield Hero to disappear until the whenever the Waves appear and become Astaroth. He'll start off like a bandit, but if forced, he will become a demon that they all feared he was.

But getting back to the matter at hand, taking a few deep breaths Naofumi went on to say, "As you can see, be it the trash of a king or his bitch of a daughter or someone else, people are trying to make things hard for me. So what would you think would happen if they find out that I was trying to build a village?" Naofumi asked the Slaver darkly, "No normal village either, but a bandit village. Do you think that they'll stand about and do nothing?"

"No they wouldn't," admitted Beloukas, seeing where the young man in front of him was coming from, "they'll try and destroy this village before it can even start."

"Exactly," said Naofumi, "I wouldn't stand a chance. But you, on the other hand, you might have a much better chance than I do. You already run a Slave Trade in this underground market and you don't seem to have any problems with those running the kingdom. In fact, none of you in the underground market have problems with the law or the kingdom."

"That's because they can keep track of us, better to keep track of the criminals here." explained the short man.

"I understand that, but I also suspect that you lot also paid off the right people at the start." Naofumi informed the man about his suspicions, "So you would know or know people who did know how to keep the village out of trouble and keep running."

Beloukas smiled, this young man was giving him more and more reasons to like the Shield Hero, he was unlike anyone seen before. Instead of letting what happened to him to put him down, he was trying to make something of himself, make himself stronger. He didn't know many who would do this, so gave the Slave Trader more of a reason to like the young hero.

"Hmm, say I do help you, what would be my role in all this?" asked the older man, "I don't think you would want me to run the place."

"Actually, I would or in parts you would be co-leader of the village." Naofumi informed the man.

"I didn't know you trusted me that much." Beloukas said in surprise.

"I don't fully," Naofumi admitted bluntly and honestly, "but I don't have many other options. I have Raphtalia and Kumiho who I can trust because of their Slave Crests, but they would be with me fighting for me. So that leaves you and three other people, which I don't fully trust, but still, have a bit of trust in you and the others. Which is why I'm willing to ask you for your help, as I trust you enough to ask for help."

"Okay, but how would you fit into running the village?" asked the Slaver, "As you said, if people learn that you're trying to set up a village for bandits, they wouldn't let you get far."

"That's why the person who is starting the village is a new bandit known as Astaroth, not the Shield Hero." Naofumi smirked at this, which Beloukas smirked at the idea too, liking the idea too. "Astaroth would want somewhere to set up shop, somewhere to set up base. He'll start the village small at first, a basecamp with few things here and there for other bandits to come and go and over time the base would turn into a small village."

"Interesting, I like the idea, starting small and building up slowly shouldn't raise too many questions. Although we have to be careful not to run amok of the knights and such, but a few decent payments and it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The money would be a problem at first, but a few shops and making the bandit pay a price for entering the village should deal with that." Beloukas said thoughtfully, like the idea and looking at any problems that might pop up, "But what about you? People will be asking questions as to why you would be entering such a village, how are you planning to explain that away?"

"To be honest, that's still up in the air." admitted Naofumi, "I'm deciding whether the Shield Hero disappears from the public few until the next Wave, or have him appear in the village looking for work in one form or another. With how people have been treating of late, I'm thinking that the Shield Hero would disappear for a while."

"Hmm, would it be wise for the Shield Hero to just disappear?" Beloukas asked thoughtfully, wanting to make sure that Naofumi had thought this through fully. "It's not that I don't blame you for doing so, but for the Shield Hero to disappear and not be seen here and there would raise a few questions. They might expect you doing no good and blame you for something you have done."

"Aren't they doing that anyway?" Naofumi asked darkly, "So me disappearing wouldn't make much of a difference, now would it?"

"You're right Shield Hero, it wouldn't make any difference." Beloukas said with a sigh, sure he might not want the young hero fully goodie two shoes or anything like that, as that would lose him business with the young man, it didn't mean he liked what they were doing to him. This young man was one of the Legendary Heroes, and whilst their treatment meant pay do for him, he should be treated with respect and honour, not like some scumbag.

"Anyway, if you do plan to disappear Sir Hero, would it be wise to be Astaroth all the time?" asked Beloukas , who was finding it strange being a sounding board for someone, normally he would only deal with just taking a person's money and don't care about anything else. But then again, if the Shield Hero was caught, he would lose a great source of income from the young man, so it was best in his interest to make sure that this didn't happen. "If you act as a bandit all the time, people would be after you all the time, making it hard for you and your slave to level up and get stronger to defeat the waves."

"I understand that," admitted Naofumi, "which is why I'm being careful with this plan. If I do decide to disappear and become Astaroth, I know that I would have to become a different person other than Astaroth to get about and level up. But the problem is that who? Who should I become other than a bandit? I would need to become someone who can get around with ease and not raise many questions, that's something I need to think about."

"I see your point," admitted the Slave Trader, "leaving and coming into kingdoms isn't that easy, you need the right documents to do so. And seeing how the king seems to have it for you, it wouldn't be easy for you to get such documents."

"Can't you help me out there?" asked Naofumi, "You were able to sort out the Slave Licenses for me."

"The Slave Licenses were easy, seeing how you had people backing you at the time. Normally it would take much more time and money to do something like that." explained the Slave Trader, "For the documents you need, whilst time wouldn't be too bad a few days or so, the cost would be the problem, as it costs a lot so that people don't ask too many questions about who I'm getting these documents for."

"Hmm, Master, I might be able to help you here." Kumiho told her master, speaking for the first time since they got here. Both she and Raphtalia sat there not making a sound, in fact, Raphtalia was hiding behind Kumiho out of fear that her master would sell her back to the Slave Trader.

"What are you thinking of Kumiho?" Naofumi asked his vixen slave, wondering what she might have thought of.

"You could become a travelling merchant," explained Kumiho, "this way you could travel around, sell things to earn money and find information that could help you get stronger. This would help us level up, as it isn't strange for a travelling merchant to know how to fight or have slaves either. The road is dangerous no matter who you are, not only because of bandits but because of monsters too. This is one of the few reasons people don't leave their villages or towns unless they truly have to. So for a travelling merchant, it is suspected for them to know how to defend themselves or have some sort of bodyguards to protect them or both."

"Your slave has got a good idea," admitted Beloukas, "a travelling merchant can come and go without much problems. Although you still need documents and to allow you to travel across boulders for free you need a Merchant Pass, something that would be hard to come by, even for me."

"That's something I can help with," Kumiho informed the Slaver and her Master, "you see, before I was sent here, it was suspected that you might need a way to earn money and get about with ease, so I was given documents and a pass to allow you to become a travelling merchant. I hid them before coming to Lord Beloukas, just in case I was searched by the guards and so the documents and pass would have been taken from me."

"Why didn't you say something before this?" asked Naofumi.

"Because you didn't show any interest in becoming a merchant," explained Kumiho, "when asked about why we're staying in this kingdom when they hate you so much, you told us that you had to find a certain shield before we could leave. So I thought it best until you decide to leave the kingdom or show interest that you want to become a merchant, I keep quiet. As there was no need to rush such things."

"I see…" Naofumi simply said she was right. Sure before he got her and Raphtalia, he had thoughts about becoming a merchant to earn money so he could get companions and other stuff. But once he got his two slaves, his main thought was to level them up and make them strong enough to face the Waves. Sure he had thoughts about earning money, but not a merchant, not really. And he did say he needed to get a certain shield, one from his dreams. He didn't know why, but this white scary face like the shield was important and they couldn't leave without it. So he was partly to blame here.

"In that case, if Beloukas agrees to help me with building our new base, whilst we talk about a few things, you can go and get the documents and pass." Naofumi informed her, "And if Beloukas prefers not to help, we get them once we leave."

"Oh don't get me wrong Sir Hero, I'm more than interested to help you." admitted Beloukas, "I have been thinking about setting up another shop, but until now I couldn't think of where to do so, your plan has given me somewhere to do so. So I'm more than willing to help." Then a thought came to him, "Can I ask what sort of merchant you want to become?"

"What do you mean?" asked Naofumi, "You have your basic travelling merchant, who sells potions, herbs, armour and the like, then you have people like me, a Slave Merchant who sells slaves. Then you have a Night Merchant."

"What's a Night Merchant?" Naofumi asked the man, he had an idea what one might be, but he wanted to make sure.

"Same as a normal merchant, but they also deal in slaves." explained Beloukas, "But that's not all they deal with dark items and hard to get items."

"If they deal with dark items, would the guards and the rest of the kingdom do something about them?" Naofumi asked with interest.

"Normally, unless they were selling from here they would," admitted Beloukas, "however, seeing how they are able to get rare and hard to get items they let it slide. As Night Merchants would often have to fight monsters and demons to get those rare and hard to get items, so as a reward they are allowed to sell things that they wouldn't normally sell without the law interfering. This is why they would be often found wearing armour. Another thing you have to know, Night Merchants normally sell their items during the night. This is mainly why they are called Night Merchants, night only because of the dealings with dark items."

"I see, this is interesting," Naofumi said thoughtfully, "so I could say sell an item that gives people extra EXP and there wouldn't be many questions?"

"Well such items are rare, I haven't heard of such things being around for a while, but yeah you could sell them as a Night Merchant without much problems." admitted the Slave Trader, and then warned him, "But you should be ready for people asking you where you got such things, seeing how rare they are. People would want to know so that they could get more of them themselves. I have to ask, how do you know such things?"

Naofumi just gave a thoughtful look, "Just say that I came across someone who was able to create them and willing to sell them to me, and willing to do so again if need be."

Beloukas suspected that there was more to this than just someone the Shield Hero met, he suspected who it was, but to keep the hero's trust and this new business adventure, he wouldn't ask anymore. The Shield Hero would tell him when or if he feels he could trust him more.

"In that case, if you've got nothing else planned for this morning, how about we talk more about how you would like me to set this base up for you." said Beloukas, unable to wait to see what comes of this. Who knew that meeting the Shield Hero would be such a great thing for him?

"I've got an hour to spare, so sure." Naofumi said with a smile before turning to Raphtalia and Kumiho, and said, "Kumiho, why don't you take Raphtalia and get the documents and pass that you talked about."

"Of course Master." said Kumiho, who gave a knowing look. Her master could see how uneasy and frightened Raphtalia was being in this place, so he wanted her to take her away from here whilst he did his business. So with a nod, Kumiho took Raphtalia out of the place as her master talked to the Slave Trader about setting up his new base/village.

To Be Continued!

Author's Note - PLEASE READ 'TILL THE END: Here ends another chapter, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and could leave some feedback to what you think of it. Thankfully I'm near the end of the story, so if there's anything you would like to see happen during the Wave or the duel chapters, please let me know and I'll see if I can add the ideas into the story. I have to say that this chapter went out of control and had to break it into two.

I know that many of you would have loved to see the fight between Team Naofumi Vs. Team Renka in this chapter, so was I, as it was going to be one of the key points of Naofumi becoming a demon. But a friend of mine pointed out how problematic it would be, as Naofumi would be bedridden for a few days to a week or so recovering from losing his arm, which means he couldn't partake in the Wave.

This leads to another problem, how can I get Team Naofumi to fight Team Renka? It was the reason that Renka got her new sword, to fight Naofumi. I was going to have it so that Renka didn't know that Raphtalia and Kumiho were his slaves, and would try to force Naofumi to free them. But seeing how the fight Naofumi Vs. Motoyasu would show Renka that they really wanted to be with Naofumi, it just became even harder to find a reason for Renka to fight Naofumi. Which means that I can't have her cut the Shield Hero's arm off.

It would seem that this idea to put a wedge between the two of them because of this fight is getting me nowhere. As something seems to always come up and I need to rearrange things. This time when I finally got things where I want, another problem comes up and I can't think of a way around it. Before I had time to change things, but now, we're about two chapters before the end of Part 1 of this Rising of the Shield Demon. Now I have to think of something that could happen in Part 2 of the story.

So I would like your help to create another reason for Renka and Naofumi to fight, as if not, I may have to forget the losing of the arm idea. I know many of you would be happy about this, but I had a few ideas because of this that I might not be able to use now. So I hope you can help me out here.

Now I have a few reviews that said they don't like it that I have provided spoilers to what I have planned, but there's a reason for that. I'm a type of person who writes as I go and normally apart from the odd ideas that I might have beforehand, I don't know what I'm going to write or do for the next chapter until I begin writing that chapter.

So I might have a decent idea, but I might need your help to flash out the idea more, like Naofumi losing his arm, might have the idea but when it comes to the time to write it out, I might have problems writing it so having a few ideas from the readers helps. Or I might want a poll to see what you want to happen, so I would have to put a few spoilers into the story. I might need some fact-checking to make sure that I write something right seeing how I have a bad memory so it is easier to ask you instead of looking it up as I might not know where to look.

If you don't like this, I'm sorry but if I need help or ideas I'll be doing this, if you don't like that, well, you can stop reading if it's that much of a bother. I'm not going to change this. I'll try and cut it down as often, but if I need help, I'll ask for it, even if it means providing spoilers to what I need help with.

Now I would like to talk about Fitoria. There have been a few reviews that told me that she has killed many Heroes in the past, but that's true and sort of false. True as in that in the WN she is older and only has a bird body from what I remember, she didn't have a loli body in it.

Now sort of false, that's a bit more difficult, you see from the discord and the wiki, it is said that she is at least five hundred years old to one thousand and possibly older. But the problem is that in anime which is based on the LN, Filolials have a memory problem so that they can't remember much. This means she has no memories of killing heroes before or not.

Now if she was in fact about five hundred years, it would mean that this would be her third set of Waves which means she couldn't have killed anyone else unless it was during the last set. However, if she is much older than five hundred and she has killed but doesn't remember it, that would explain why the Guardian Beasts were used all the time. Either the heroes were too weak or didn't work together as they should, or Fitoria killed the heroes halfway through the Waves and because of her distrust in humans, she doesn't help the new heroes and the Guardian Beasts are forced to be used to save the world. That'll be something I'll have to think about when I write about her later on.

Now I was also informed that she has been busy with the other Waves, fighting that and keeping them at bay and so couldn't do much. Here's the thing though, she even blames the Cardinal Heroes for not doing more to help with the other Waves, but how could they though? Without her help? It is said that it takes about a month to get to Shieldfreeden from Melromarc by wagon or at least two weeks of travel by ship. So who knows how long it would take them to get to other kingdoms, so without her ability to get to the other kingdoms.

So the truth is that it's still Fitoria's fault that things were so bad to start off with, well not all but a lot of it, or at least in my mind. She knew that it was important to make sure that the Heroes work together, but she didn't do a thing to make sure they knew this or explain it to them. Whilst she moans about fighting the Waves alone, she doesn't do anything about it, getting the other Heroes to help, just moan and bitch about it. So no matter how you look at it, she has a lot to answer for. Sure she was busy dealing with the Waves, but she could have spent a few moments explaining things to the heroes, helping them out and taking them to the Waves so they could help her. But with her mistrust/hatred towards humans, she wouldn't do this and so why things are so bad.