A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. Such as Neopeople for Dungeon Fighter Online(Also known as Dungeon & Fighter) and Aneko Yusga for The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Note 2:
("Human/Speech")
("Thoughts")
(Attacks/Weapon names)
(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)
(Actions/POV)
(Titles/Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)
(Narration & Everything else)
('Demonic Speech')
("Demonic Thoughts")
Hero And Fighter Chapter 8
Beloukas's Market: Castle Town
5/20/0000: 1950
Third Person: Omni
"Ho? Not even going to look at my recommendation and instead of going for a Half Racoon and a stoic?" The trader grinned in interest while walking back to the stopped hero. He left the wolfman inside the cage behind him in order to speak.
"I know that he is by far many times more expensive than your other slaves. I would rather go for cheap and obedient." Though Naofumi knew that they would be good companions after remembering the backstories of his creations… always with a tragedy that brought them up to some of the strongest beings.
"So you already understand that Demi-Humans would be good for that purpose… but what about the human?" He asked while looking at the second pick of Naofumi, a young woman with dark brown hair and black eyes. Like he had stated earlier, she did not show any expression on her face.
"Her health, she is diseased after all, and visibly malnourished. I wouldn't be surprised if she were to die in a few more hours from now, especially in these conditions." He knew both of them were not in good condition… but he has dealt with having bad health in his characters, and learned how to deal with malnutrition from Des.
"Ho, you have a good eye." He remarked simply, the unsettling grin on his face growing even more interested as the hero spoke.
"The raccoon is diseased, physically, and mentally. Her former owner liked torture you see. And the young woman is a disgraced nobleman's daughter, sold to take care of debt. Due to her emotionless demeanor not sitting well with others, she was left here and dropped in price as her body deteriorated."
"I have decided on them, what are their prices," Naofumi stated as both of them coughed severely. The raccoon girl was visibly scared at the notice of his interest in her. And from the eyes of the other, he could tell she was resigned to her fate as his slave.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
After a bit of negotiation between the two, it was settled that 90 silver for the both of them, 20 for the demi-human, and 70 for the barely alive former noble. Naofumi cut his thumb, allowing the blood to run off the knife and into the pool of ink that the Merchant was using.
"Your names," Naofumi stated while looking over at the two. The younger of them was still scared of the young man who was putting on a cold act. He could tell the other was slightly broken… as if someone betrayed her.
"Ra-Raphitalia." The younger spoke first, interrupting her own name due to the sudden coughing fit that she had. It made all the instincts of the protector scream at him to help her, to keep her safe from all harm.
"This one has no name." The stoic voice of the other spoke all the truth that he needed, there were no signs of pain from the seal that was placed on them with his blood.
"Alright then… how about Senka?" She nods at the new name given to her, not showing any real preference at the moment. If he were to believe the story, it would be a true separation of her past life to gain a new name.
"Just remember, that you can come back any time, dear customer." Naofumi almost felt disgusted at that line and voice from the man… if it were a shady woman on the other hand it would be far more palpable to any person.
"Alright then, here are the coins. And another two silvers for the slaves' seals that you were probably going to charge later." Naofumi quickly put the money into his hands. His expressionless eyes motioning for the two to follow him outside of this place.
_(DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE)_
"To Amatartusu Herself, that was exhausting to act like that." After reaching out of the sight of the common people, Naofumi stretched his body to the surprise of the two. Naofumi went through the conversation with the slave merchant once more in his mind, if he weren't a slave merchant, he would be a great guy to be around him. But at least he is a fair person.
"Master…" Raphitalia asked with a bit of will in her voice now but ended up almost coughing her lungs out. The other slave quickly held the young girl… making sure to steady the person of a race she thought was beneath her before.
"Oh yeah, medicine…" Naofumi quickly said while rubbing his head, though he did not have any on him at the moment, nor the materials to make some. It would seem that his next stop is the pharmacy or a magic shop to get the equipment to do so.
"I need to go get some equipment, both for compounding and for you two." He mumbles while counting in his mind about expenses that would be caused by this… he did care about them, and he knew that they would be accompanying him for a long time.
"Alright you two, follow me, I need to talk to the pharmacist before having you two equipped for combat." He states with a warm tone, making sure that it is soft enough to not scare them too much. With trauma… psychologically it was best to expose them to their fears in a comfortable environment.
"Melina is out doing stuff and earning money for the next two days or so… I got to train them at least enough for them to function well." He said to himself, they both looked surprised at the new name that came up.
"Before I forget… Blue Mush Shield." The small shield that gave away his appearance as the shield hero swiftly changed it into another small shield that covered his forearm, this one was a shield that was based on a mushroom… like the Leaf Shield before.
"Shield Hero…" Both of them were stunned at the sudden change of shield, only remembering a single shield that would have been able to do so. They respectively went into their own thoughts as Naofumi led the way to the Apothecary in order to get the medical equipment.
"What are you waiting on? We don't have much time tonight to get things done." His words were quick to snap them out of their thoughts. Raphatalia quickly ran to behind him, not as scared as she once was… but the trauma that she faced earlier in her life forced her mind into being fearful. The newly named slave was last, staring blankly at the back of the young man after looking into the shadows… and all the agents that hid among it. She walked with him now.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
Erhard's Smithy: Castle Town
5/20/0000: 2020
"You still up?" Naofumi knocked on the door of the smith's shop. The lights were dark but he still heard the sounds of a smith at his work just a bit earlier.
"Who is it no-. Oh, it's you. Come in then, I am guessing you need something?" The smith opened the door about to yell at whoever was dumb enough to come this late at night. He found a trio of people, one the young man who came to his store before, and the other two new faces.
"Basic equipment for them, keep it under 9 silvers each please." He remarked with a tired expression, something the Smith had seen far before today and remembered quite well.
"Right, it will take a minute." He states with a sigh as the three came into the store. He quickly went to the back in order to get the things, already noting the slave crests that he could only take a glance at.
"You know, the merchants are fairly scared of you now." When he returned with the two sets of clothes and a pair of knives, he decided to remark on the reputation that Naofumi built up.
"I needed to build up that reputation to have the more orderly dark side of society to reveal itself… It should be better now that I know a guy who deals in slaves and monsters." Naofumi remarked while leaning on the counter with a tired grin, making sure to keep the bag of fragile equipment by his side in a manner that would not move it too much.
"If you know what you are doing… So how is the girl?" He asked while remembering the other of the original party.
"She is out doing info reconnaissance, I have not idea about what this country is like, such as the religion or major events that happened. I wish that I could have gotten books before the betrayal… but the equipment was more critical."
"H-hello." Raphitalia came out of the dressing room that Naofumi once used. Her regular unarmored clothing was simple and did not have much protection by itself. Hopefully, he would be able to protect them enough.
"Draw your knife," Naofumi stated while she looked at him with a bit of confusion at the command. She looked cute like that in Naofumi's personal opinion.
"Kill this," Naofumi stated while revealing what was under the left side of his coat, an orange balloon that was comping on his body. Her face quickly changed into a panicked expression as she flinched backward in fear.
"By stabbing it. It will be the first step to your recovery." He already knew that she had trauma in the past with monsters… it would be the starting point to where she can defeat them calmly.
"No!." She quickly stated as the slave seal started to lightly glow… with only a single word he could have her on the ground in pain is what the thing was signaling to him. But Naofumi ignored it.
"You are in fear… It is good to feel fear, it is the first step to understanding something is stronger than you. It is the signal that something can happen at any moment. It is good to have fear. But right now it is holding you back, that trauma of yours will accompany you for the rest of your life, haunting you forever as nightmares plague your world if you don't confront it now. So take the first step, I know that you can do it. Stab it!"
He held the ballon in his hands, another way to mitigate the fear of hitting him. She was shaking on the ground as she stared at the ballon, probably warped due to her fear… She was close to having a panic attack. But he kept saying words, both of warm encouragement and harsh talk to try and get her to do it.
After another minute of the conversation, she gained enough courage to fight through the fear. She drew the knife with trembling hands and charged at it with the knife. All she did was have it bite the implement before forcing her back, but she was still able to stand.
"Not enough, put more strength behind it and kill it!" Naofumi said in an urgent manner as she picked herself up again to attack once more. She dashed forward with a scream and thrust her knife out, popping the monster and making her fall back to the floor.
"Experience huh, how did I even get that..." Naofumi remarked while looking at the sudden popup, both atop the raccoon girl's head and one infront of his UI.
"Probably due to setting her as a companion in the pact. Wait, you didn't do it with the ladies before?" The smith spoke when he heard the surprise of the younger man.
"Damn it Myne… No, I didn't know. Melina wouldn't have known either as she never has been in any parties before." He states with an annoyed manner… that would make sense as to another thing that should have alerted him to her betrayal.
"Another thing to figure out then… Do you know how to make that option work between non-slave members of the party?" Naofumi asked while letting the raccoon girl sit on the ground as they waited for the last one to come out of the dressing room.
"It should be an automatic thing after verbal confirmation… I am guessing you never did a formal party agreement?" Naofumi nodded at the guess.
"It goes something along the lines of asking whether a person wants to be in your party directly along with the terms and them accepting." He stated with a calm manner, lecturing the young man on the information that he had never known. Naofumi revealed a grateful expression to the ally of his.
"Any other critical information I am missing, like the country's religion revolving around the shared hatred of me?" Naofumi asked while seriously hoping it was not true… but he knew it was quite possible if everything was happening like this.
"Funny you should say that… The main religion of this country revolves around demonizing the Shield Hero and Praising the other three heroes. Though the country where she is from warships the Shield Hero." The shop owner remarked with a slightly sheepish expression… in all honesty, Naofumi could already feel politics at work.
"Let me guess, they are human supremacists?" Naofumi asked with a cold tone… one that Raphitalia could not even compare to the one that she knew at the slave merchant's tent. The weapons supplier could only nod in confirmation.
"Just great… Is the queen part of it?" Naofumi made sure to ask while also thinking to himself that the other slave was taking a fairly long time.
"No, she is part of the Four Heros Church despite the Church Of Three Heros being the national religion. It actually helps her in diplomatic missions." He remarked while giving the hero a respite.
"So if the church were to do anything deemed endangering of the world, they would be snuffed out?" Naofumi already knew that the church would be after him from the get-go… it would seem that he needed to get all the needed materials from the church such as blessed water and maybe some sands from the dragon glass.
"Right on the money. Everything will be 18 silvers." He quickly confirmed the respite of bad news that he was getting today. After noting the slave coming out of the dressing room, he quickly said the total of the equipment. Despite the materials needed to make the larger outfit, it was cheaper due to the lesser demand for armor for those with a smaller stature.
"Right, thanks for everything," Naofumi stated while walking to the door, the slaves quickly following him now that he paid.
"Why didn't you give the same trial to her?" The smith asked, noting the difference in treatment of the two.
"Besides the obvious of not wanting to waste any more of your time? She doesn't have the same trauma as Raphitalia. It is actually a trauma that I am all too familiar with." The man already knew what he was talking about, before the false accusation he was like pure snow, now it was like he became slightly salty due to impurities.
"All I can do is show her that she has someone to trust never to turn on her… she doesn't have the support of a party member during that betrayal, so it is far worse," Naofumi stated to the surprise of everyone in the room. Though Raphitalia was slowly falling asleep due to her condition and physical age.
"Right, have a good night kid." The smith nodded as they waved to the shop owner, quickly leaving the store to rough it in the fields for a night. It is far better to get the medical plants now rather than later to heal them.
Word Count: ~2700 Words
Date Completed: 12/15/2020
Notes: Thank you for reading the chapter.
Review Cove:
Dcraus: Naofumi meet two demi-humans looking forward to the next chapter
Reply: Surprise Surprise, she is not a demi-human… You can probably guess part of her identity if you read Shall I show you a True Shield? By Ryujin Maou (which I do recommend reading). But she is similar yet different, considering I want a scout/assassin, it felt fitting.
(Forgot to reply last time)
Guest: If Malty decides to accuse someone of rape, then it's mandatory for her to get a doctor to check to see if she was raped or not. Hopefully, you can have Motoyasu agree with the idea just to make sure she doesn't have any diseases and because he wouldn't have any choice since he genuinely cares about his partner's wellbeing. If she refuses to get checked, then it makes the audience suspicious of her.
Reply: Sadly it wouldn't have worked all that much. She was never raped, it was only attempted sexual assault. Even then, she was not a virgin before the events. And it is known adventurers get to doing things to relieve stress.
AO3:
Robbie2413: Oh you have my interest peaked as to what you have planned.
Reply: And I hope to please.