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 12
Erhard's Smithy
5/30/0000: 1200
Third Person: Omni
"Our budget is around 180 silvers." After a bit of conversation between everyone but Senka, who was also browsing daggers to use later.
"How about that." He looked over at a suit of armor sitting by a wall. Naofumi and co looked at the shining piece of metal.
"Too bulky, and the helmet would have me lack visuals," Naofumi stated after turning back to the smith. The others just nod at the reasoning, he needed good sight of the battlefield to be a good commander.
"Yeah, it would also make Naofumi-Sama's individuality suffer," Raphitalia stated. Melina was also snickering at the thought of him in the suit of plate armor and Senka just nodded in agreement.
"Well, I can make something custom if you really need it. It would only be made from materials lying around. Or anything you could provide me." Naofumi immediately remembered the Hound Leather that he had gained last week, it might be good for some kind of magic to be imbued into it. Though it would be later on the list due to his expectation that magical equipment would be expensive.
"Here." Naofumi pushed over a bag of their monster materials, placing it onto the counter so they could save a bit more money. The contents spread out on the counter, various hides, feathers, and other parts besides the meats that came from monsters in the general vicinity.
"..." Senka also brought out another bag, one that was from their mining expedition. Alongside the 30 pieces of light metal ore, there was also copper and iron in their raw states as a substantial amount of bulk in the bag. In total they had actually mined a bit more after that day with the dog, netting them 71 pieces in total, but they sold 40 and used 1 in the shield.
"Ho… Some light metal as well? And in this much amount too…" The smith had to know where his metals were coming from, and one of the few places nearby was overrun with monsters, the same town he recommended that they go to.
"We also have some Two-Headed Dog Leather, is it good for physical defense or Magical defense?" Naofumi asked while bringing up a bag with more valuable stuff. They needed to get as powerful as possible in the short amount of time left.
Now that he thought of it, he had an extra memory stick in his backpack. It might be a good idea to copy some of the character guides and have the stick with the data to be absorbed to see what happens. He wondered if the Shield would be able to read that data.
"It is very easy to imbued with magic… if you got mostly intact whole skin you could probably make a good pair of dog leather cloaks if you really needed to. But you need another person to do that despite my well-rounded ability." The smith remarks while shaking his head, Naofumi already knew that he would be unable to enchant it.
"Thanks, we'll come back tomorrow," Naofumi said while paying for the new weapons. He suddenly realized while they played with their weapons… all he and they have been doing since he arrived in this world is fighting. The Owner of the shop just waved at them as they left the store.
"You all are free for the rest of the day… I need to figure out how to read." Naofumi said after pondering for a few seconds while walking around the town. It was something incredibly restrictive when only the slaves in the group could read… He felt like he was missing a bunch of details.
"Athena then? We can pay her to teach us if need be." Melina said with a sigh, she is a fighter at heart, but she was also a mage before anything else. If she wasn't book smart then what was she doing with her life?
"Right, you two have your allowances, don't get caught doing anything dangerous. And please, be safe." Naofumi stated while looking at the two slaves who would be having a break for the rest of the day. They both nodded, though Raphitalia looked more confused than anything.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
Church Of The Three Heroes
5/30/0000: 1230
"It's her… I thought she was killed."
"Don't you think she failed a mission?"
"What? She failed? But she was the most talented of us!"
"I heard that she was going into a shadow group… but to think that…"
"Shh, don't let her hear you, even if she failed, she is still able to murder everyone in this room despite her level being rest."
The various nuns spoke in whispers as Senka walked into the church. None could decipher her gaze, not even the people who are the most knowledgeable in reading Stoic faces. She was almost an alien to them now.
"You good to talk?" One of the younger nuns spoke to the odd one out in the church, no one would usually come during lunchtime after all. A young woman with silver hair, barely discernible due to the habit. She motioned to a group of other nuns.
"Sure." Her voice now had much more infliction, she knew what faction of the church that this particular group of nuns came from, they could be trusted. The nun looked surprised at the emotion in her voice before smiling.
They moved off to an enclosed room before silence spells were used in order to keep darkened ears out of their conversation. Senka looked around, it was a fairly standard dorm room that nuns stayed in, she knew if she were to look into any of the trunks, she would find many valuables along with beautiful clothing. Though she never really had much interest in that.
"Alright spill, what are you doing back here… I never thought I would see you again…" The nun from earlier seemed to be the head of the group. She silently brought her fingers to her lips before opening the top of her armor somewhat, showing the red seal. Everyone in the room looked horrified at the mark on one of their kin.
"Dumped me into a slave merchant's hand after resetting level, my master found me on my last legs before rescuing me." Her voice is extremely calm despite the horrid thing that happened to her.
"Wait they turned you into a slave!" One of the nuns looked like she was about to throw up at the revelation. They did not interact with the darker elements of the church, despite all of them coming from different parts of it. She knew one, in particular, had come from Lute Village as well, one that Naofumi helped while he was there.
"Failure was not an option, I was supposed to plant false evidence about the supposed rape. But it wasn't used, so they discarded me. I didn't know enough to warrant killing with their own hands."
"Supposed rape case… The Shield Hero!" One of the nuns quickly realized the only real rape case in the past few days was the one about the Shield Hero. They quickly thought about everything, even if they doubted the announcement from the throne, one of their own was stating something damning about that particular accusation.
"Correct, I was starved for several days before they put me into the Slave Merchant's hands. Thankfully Master was able to save me and nurture me back to good health." No food for several days straight was something that could not be easily helped with.
"Wait for a second… who is your master?" Senka could feel that their opinions in the church were slipping, though it was not much for a bunch of outcasts like them.
"Naofumi Iwatani. The Shield Hero." She decided to drop the bomb on them… mainly cause she would get some amusement out of it. She started to find the expressions people make amusing.
"The Shield Devil…?" One of the more entrenched ones spoke with a trailing off, only for Senka to glare at her with the frost of the arctic.
"I would recommend not judging a man by the equipment he was summoned with." She stated in a very clipped tone. Even the others were scared of her as she spoke, to do any more judgment based on that would get them killed by her… and not in the swift and painless way.
"Clear…" The particular nun gasped while holding her neck, the glare was strong enough to make her stop breathing. It was almost as if she was choking her with that aura of hers. The cold aura vanished from the room, letting all of them breathe easy.
"Wait if the shield hero is your master… is he the one who helped in Lute Village's church?" The nun from that village said, remembering the young man that helped out, and the shield that she happened to take a glance at. Senka nods, confirming the statement.
"And the one who helped clear out the mine. He hasn't even left the vicinity of Lute Village and Castle Town." Senka responded, looking at the surprise at the people around her.
"But wasn't he causing trouble at Centra Village?" One of the nuns asked.
"Isn't Centra like a week away from here?" Another of the more well-traveled nuns said in surprise if he was grinding here, then how would he be in Centra of all places? The nuns started to talk about all the supposed acts that the hero had done… yet none added up. Senka was actually surprised by just how conflicting the statements were, it would seem that religious indoctrination took away higher brain functions.
"He was here the entire time. Just correcting some merchants who were giving a bad deal," Senka said after everything quieted down a little. She let them talk to each other to break faith in the church's distaste for the shield. She talked with them a bit more, before getting some sand from the dragon hourglass. She left them to their thoughts.
_(DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE)_
Castle Town: Erhard's Smithy
5/31/0000: 1200
"...I look like an idiot." Naofumi deadpanned while looking at himself, though not through a mirror. The extra light metal made it even more durable if they hadn't added it. The green cloak was reinforced as well, but with leather and fur.
"You look cool." Naofumi just looked at Melina who was trying to hold in her laughter. The shaking of Senka's shoulders was also telling him something. It seemed that Raphitalia was the only one here that thought it looked cool.
"You look like a real barbarian kid." The smith also was laughing… Naofumi could tell.
"I am supposed to be a hero…" Naofumi stated, but now that he thought about it, heroes usually wore strange stuff.
"You look great." Raphitalia stated quickly. Despite her laughing, Senka agreed with that statement.
"Well you made it for me… it is a waste not to use it." Naofumi just decided to roll with it. Getting some accessories or other materials might be able to make it into a more fitting piece of armor.
The conversation was interrupted by a neigh of a horse, causing them to look at the main street from their own back street. A line of soldiers and horses were moving down it with all the regular citizens standing to the sides as to not block their path.
"They are one edge." Raphitalia's observational ability grew leaps and bound since she was bought by him, though it was more used to read the body language of enemies than supposed allies.
"It is almost the Wave… I wish I knew when or where exactly it would happen." Naofumi stated while also watching the soldiers move. It was most likely a patrol to have a majority of people feel safer.
"Did you not know? At the church in the middle of town is where the Dragon Hourglass is located. When the final grain of sand falls the wave will start." The smith stated, though to Naofumi it was slightly strange as to why the church of all places had the majority decision that could affect everyone due to its features.
"Here, put this into your shield," Senka stated while giving the bag of sand that she received from the church into his hands. Naofumi opened it to see the fine sand. Trusting Senka, he poured the continents of the bag into the shield, unlocking the Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield with the mastery skill of Portal Shield but he was too low level to equip it right now, much like the rest of the Blessings series.
_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_
Castle Town: Church Of The Three Heroes
5/31/0000: 1230
"So this is the place," Naofumi observed the halls that they were being led through. The entire party striding a step behind him as he follows the nun from the church.
"This way." The nun stopped beside the doorway into the chamber that housed the gigantic hourglass that spelled out the next large danger. Senka nodded at the church member, receiving confirmation of them being in the same faction.
"!" Naofumi made a sound as he looked up the hourglass. Far bigger than him, it was almost as big as a small church organ in size. It is highly intricate in nature and was an extremely beautiful sight to see.
"A count down?" Naofumi's Shield shot a beam of green light into the hourglass, synchronizing it. Immediately, a timer showed itself in his vision, slowly counting down the time till the next wave.
"Is that Naofumi I see?" A familiar voice speaks out to him, causing Naofumi to turn to face the most loyal of heroes. Motoyasu stands there in some high-quality equipment. He quickly notices Myne within the other hero's party, causing a rush of rage to show itself from the thorn in his heart. She was also wearing the armor that he refused to buy her… it was probably her last purchase with the smith.
"Yo, Motoyasu." Naofumi greeted with a flat tone, trying to keep the resurfaced anger down. Cooling it down with logic, yet not snuffing it out. It was as if he was forging it into something like the heat from it tried to burn hotter. He got the vague image of a shield and a dragon…
"Naofumi-Sama, who are they?" Raphitalia was the one to ask that question, breaking the anger for a few moments to clear his head. Not allowing himself to explode in anger at the other hero who did not deserve it… yet.
"That would be the spear hero and his party… by the way Motoyasu. Did you know that if you do a special pact with a person, it shares exp?" Naofumi asked, already getting the feeling that Myne had cowed the other three girls. None but Myne looked ready to fight.
"What?" Naofumi heard another familiar voice ring out, causing the shielder to note that the Archer of the 4 had now arrived alongside the swordsman. Itsuki's party only had one other person. The young woman with blond hair that was given to them by the King.
Ren's party was practically the same as when he had left, albeit more well equipped than before. Though Naofumi didn't really have all that good of a connection with the swordsman.
"Party members can share exp?" It would seem that only Ren knew about the exp share among companions. Though Naofumi could tell that Itsuki was far more powerful than the other two heroes from a glance. Despite only having two members, they both were incredibly well equipped.
"Yeah, they had to be stated as companions during a pact creation." Naofumi had already written it down for Itsuki in case she didn't know. Naofumi made a small motion for Itsuki that they needed to talk about their exploits later. They talked a bit more about their experience… giving the impression that the Sword and the Spear users still thought it was a game. He could tell Itsuki went through a tragedy recently to come to a complete realization that it was not a game… those eyes were something Naofumi knew quite well now.
"May I know your name, madame?" Motoyasu went into a total lady killer mode. Naofumi almost laughed as he held Raphitalia's hand. Then he heard the satisfying slap to the face. It would seem that Athena and Melina taught her well.
"Please do not touch me or my party members, Sir Spear Hero…" Senka was the one that spoke, using a polite tone as they slowly walked to Naofumi's slide. Raphitalia was still annoyed at the womanizer, she could tell that he was basically a menace to women… especially from the knowledge gained around the inn.
"What…" Motoyasu and his party just looked stunned at the sudden discouragement. Itsuki also looked a bit satisfied with the situation. She is still a girl despite not acting like one most of the time.
Word Count: ~2900
Date Completed: 12/20/2020
Note: Hope you all enjoyed.