#5) Random Tate no Yuusha crossover with Puella Magi Madoka plot bunny attack~!
"Ufufu… for me to be this precious to Naofumi-sama… I… am… hap…" Her voice trails off until her charred body shudders once in my hands. She closes her eyes and smiles gently at me before becoming still, unnaturally still.
"At… las…?" I call out her name in hope that she is just resting for a moment before continuing to voice her wish. She didn't answer. I nudge her shoulder gently to wake her up. She didn't react. I begin to frantically shake her in hopes that she'll moves, that she'll do anything to show life. She didn't.
Her body stayed unnaturally still, not moving at all except to the movements of my shaking. Her expression is frozen in a kind smile. Behind me, Raphtalia says something but I didn't hear it. All I heard was a word that kept on repeating itself, each time louder and louder inside my head. A word that keeps repeating itself until it escapes my mouth in the form of a loud scream.
"ATLAAAAAAAAAAASSSS!"
I open my eyes and jolt up in my bed. My breath labored and sweat rolls down my brows. I take a few desperate gulps of air as hundreds of thoughts race through my mind. The first and foremost being the one word that repeatedly cuts off every other line of thoughts.
"Atlas..."
After several moments, my strained breaths begins to have effect as my mind slowly starts to sort itself out. A few more moments and I finally calm myself enough to take notice of my surroundings.
"I am... in a bedroom?" I notice that I am on a bed of a room I am unfamiliar with. From the sparsity of the decoration, I can guess that it's a rented room in a city. A glance to the outside of the room's window tells me that it's a major city, perhaps Melromarc? "No, that wouldn't make any sense. Why would I rent a room in Melomarc when I could just teleport home. For that matter, when did I even fall asleep?"
I push myself out of bed and grasps the side of the nearby table as I lurch forward from my first step. "What is happening? Why do I feel so...weak? A status effect? A curse effect? Status."
I call up for my status screen and blink in shock as I see what has happened. My level is now at one. I look at the floating screen with a bewildered face as a thousand more thoughts comes cascading in again. What has happened? Did I experience a level reset? Is that why I am in the city? No, skills have nothing to do with level so I could've still teleported home. Why am I here then? Why is-
BAM!
Before my mind could ask anymore questions, the door to my room is slammed open and armored soldiers with the mark of Melromarc on them starts pouring in. They charged at me and two of them took the initiative to hold me down while the others points their weapons at me. In all my weakness, I could do nothing but comply to their actions in confusion.
"Wha-"
"-Hero of the Shield! You are under arrest for charges of sexual assault!"
A memory triggers. An anger deeply buried rises from its encampment. A deep menace enters my voice as I coldly ask the soldiers holding me down "Oi, what do you think you're doing."
"...Hero of the Shield, you are hereby under arrest for the charges of sexual assault. Yield and we will bring you to the castle for judgement with no harm done." The speaker who looks like the captain of the quadrant says again in a much more subdued tone. Sweat begins to form on his neck as his throat becomes uncomfortably dry under the guilty Hero's glare. Surrounding him, his soldiers all shuffle nervously as well under the imposing presence that seems to bound the Hero.
"...Very well, lead the way." With too many questions and not nearly enough answers, I did the only thing I am able to do and give in to their request. I have a hypothesis now as to what is happening and if it's true, it's better for me to defer and observe. As I am being escorted out of the door, I cross by a mirror in the room and catch a glimpse of the thing connected to my arm; a circular silver shield that I have never seen before in my life.
"-Fiend! I wondered when you would show your true color!"
Ringed by two guards pointing their spears at me, ready to hold me back should I make any suspicious movement, I watch as the drama of the scene I so hated in my memory plays itself for me once again. In front of me, Trash continues with his biased tirade and accusations while under his throne, his daughter gives my fellow Heroes her lies in the form of a sob story. As I have guessed, I came back to this point in time.
Sliding my eyes off of the fools before me, I glance at my new shield with narrowed eyes. A moment later, a screen pops up with the name of the shield, "Homulilly's Shield". Unlike all the shields that had came before, this one is completely different. Besides the name, nothing else shows. No stats, no effects, no descriptions or upgrade/unlock requirements.
A shield whose existence is a mystery to me and whose usage is what got me into this predicament. On the slow trek between the hotel and the castle, I took my time to acquaint myself with my new shield. At first, I tried to change it back into my default shield or perhaps one of its other variants. None of the attempts worked. Next, I tried to figure out how to use it, this attempt succeeded partially. The more I try to figure out the weapon on my arm, the more I repress the urge to laugh aloud.
As I continued to delve into its usage, the shield responded by giving me a variable amount of options to choose from. Memory manipulation, time cessation, renewal of time, emotional administration, inner demons summoning and even the ability to trap someone's soul within a small metaphorical cage. At a time when the name "Devil of the Shield" would begin to circulate, it actually becomes true. I can only laugh bitterly at this fact within my head.
"-What do you have to say for yourself, Shield!"
I am knocked out of my thoughts by an angry Trash as he calls for my attention. The look of pure hatred in his eyes makes me wonder where all this energy and emotion went when he could have used it to save the world, to save Atlas. Anger wells inside me before being pushed aside by fatigue and exasperation. I feel... tired. I do not have to deal with this now. I do not want to deal with this now. I wish to mourn for Atlas. I wish to fix things now that I have a chance. This drama... is something that I do not want to handle anymore.
"Enough of this farce. I am leaving now. I will come back once Melromarc's true leader returns." Turning my back towards the king, I test a function of my new shield and freeze time around me. I was careful to avoid the touch of anyone lest they too get pulled into the zone where time still exists with me. Motion stops around me altogether as I continue walking towards the door. Once at the closed entrance, I decide to unfreeze time so that they can at least see me leaving.
"..!" Collective shuffling and clinking of clothes and armors fills my ears moments after time starts again to show that the drama viewer's and actor's noticed to my displacement. I was opening the grand entrance to leave when Trash yells aloud for me to stop. "Shield! Where do you think you're going! Guards, stop the criminal from escaping!"
"..." As expected, I became a criminal anyways. I wasn't hoping for very much by letting them see my leave. The thought that they would take it as a dismissal and accepted it was a piped dream that only occurred as a passing thought. As I take my first step out the entrance, the guards by the door hears their current ruler's decree and move into action, weapons drawn and readied for use immediately. As the nearest one takes a swing at me with the shaft of his spear, I decide to test out another function of my new shield and summon an inner demon from somewhere within my heart.
"KLACK-KLA-KLACK-KLACK" The air behind me shifts as half of a silver haired nutcracker appears from a hole that came out of nowhere. It spins its head several times in succession, letting its mane fly wildly, before putting itself between me and the attacking soldier. The soldier's spear lands inside the nutcracker's mouth and is then ripped from the soldier's hands, throwing him meters away. Slurping the spear up like it was a string of noodle, the nutcracker clacks it's mouth up and down once more. The sound it makes sounds strangely reminds me of laughter, of Atlas' laughter.
I grit my teeth as my demon continues to mock the weary soldiers. Ordering it to close the door me, I dismissed it almost immediately after and walk to the castle's entrance. I have much to do, too much to do.
"GRARRR..." I ignore the death cries of faraway monsters and swipe away the screen in front of me announcing yet another level up. I needed as much of my attention as I could muster to be put into sorting out the materials my demons brought back to me. I have found that while they are the perfect tools for doing simple tasks such as hunting down materials and killing monsters, they have absolutely no judgement of their own and needs specific details to do specific tasks. Already, I've had to stop four incidents which almost resulted in the death of two adventurers and an accident at a nearby town.
Wiping away the memories of the victims and healing their wounds was an easy task but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I therefore had to pull back into the deeper, less traveled parts of the land to collect my materials. The benefits to this is that the levels of the monsters here are higher than most of the kingdom's greatest soldiers, thereby giving me more drops and yielding better experience gain, but it came with the hindrance of me having to keep unneeded materials for a longer time.
"KLACK-KLAC..." I look up to see yet another one of my demons bring back more materials from the monster hunt. I grimace at the likeliness in shape this particular demon shared with Atlas and sends it away to continue its task almost as soon as I noticed. It nods once and marches off into a random location. I stare at its back for just a moment before returning to organizing the new batch of materials.
At first, I wanted to make headway immediately to the Slave Dealer's shop and take Raphtalia as well as any of the other slaves from my village with me. I only stopped when I realize my limits. I have no money or housing to store the any number of slaves like that. At this point in time, I have nothing. Since I never passed by the Old Man's place, I don't even have his help.
Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of. I stocked up. I will regather my materials and rework my trade routes as well as earn back everything material I had before my journey back. Only once have I achieve satisfactory safety will I go and get all of my slaves back.
"...If I remember correctly, the Yggdrasil medicine is made like this..." Having the miracle medicine is the best bet to solving most of my problems so I sent my demons to gather the materials for it. It didn't take me even a week's worth of time to procure an ample amount of material. I have enough materials, in fact, to adequately recreate any amounts I have made before, combined, and still have a surplus. Such was the fearsomeness of the demons the shield's created; the tireless and fearless creature whose only weakness was death itself.
Grounding up some ingredients, I manually tried to recreate the potion that would've just as easily been acquired if I had the proper shield. Grunting as a small puff of smoke rises from the concoction that I created accidentally, I poured the failure away and start the process anew. It took me til the midnight of the week's end before I was satisfied with the supply of medicine I have at hand.
By the time I finally made it back to Melromarc, it became the morning of a new week. Deciding, that it was still too early to start trading the leftover materials I have on me, I rented out a room at the nearest hotel that accepted me and slept until late afternoon. The first true rest I've experienced since coming back.
"Welcome to my humble shop, Hero of the Shield." Cracking a wide grin that I could never exactly bring myself to trust, Slave Dealer ushers me into his "shop" before I even got close enough to open the entrance. I allowed myself to be pulled in by him and allowed him to show me into the front of his shop, a monster store. "Now then, Shield-sama, is there anything of interest that you are looking for? A strong and powerful slave perhaps? A beautiful and demure slave perhaps? I sell all kinds and if it's not here, I will be able to procure one for your taste soon enough. So tell me Hero-sama, what is of your interest?"
"I am looking for a particular slave named Raphtalia as well as any other slaves who have lived in this village in the past." Pulling out a map from the void of infinite space within my shield, I laid it out on a nearby table and point at one particular spot. The slave trader drops his wide grin in exchange for a thoughtful expression as he study the location his newest customer pointed to.
"This spot... If I'm not mistaken, isn't this Rurorona Village, the location of the first wave of calamity?" The Slave Dealer mutters half to himself and half to me. I honestly have no idea what went through his mind but he hums for a bit before putting back on a wide smile. "If it's the people who have lived there, then they will be far spread by now Hero-sama. To find them would-"
"I trust that you can find them and bring them here." Dropping a bag of gold that I have acquired from selling my excess materials and watered down Yggdrasil Medicines, I ended any possible bargains and negotiations. The shop keeper's smile withers a bit as he looks at me with speculative eyes. He is a businessman and he understood it perfectly, I am a customer who won't take anything less than a yes for an answer. "This is all legitimate money that I have made using my own effort, if that fact was troubling you."
"...Very well, Hero of the Shield-sama. Please come this way to take your slaves."
"Oi, hurry up already you two. Quit lagging behind." Walking hurriedly through the streets, I try to usher the two newly acquired slaves behind me to go faster.
"?! Y-yes, milord!" "We're coming!"
Moving faster but still keeping care to have my cloak cover their bodies, a small girl with raccoon ears and another small girl with dog ears runs towards me to keep up with my pace. From the Slave Dealer's shop, I have managed to procure two of my previous slaves, Kiel and Raphtalia.
As the two catches up to me, I begin moving again at a fast pace to the Old Man's place. He is the only one I can trust right now to sell proper gears to Kiel and Raphtalia without the need for the shield's mental manipulation power. I would also prefer it if I was on a level of acquaintance with him; if not in life then at least in business. He's helped me far too much for me to wish otherwise.
Cling-cling-cling
"Welcome to Elhart's Smithy! How can I help... you." I wince a bit at the change in tone the man before me has when he recognized me; not for who I am but for what my charges claims me to be. It is not a tone I'd ever thought would come from his voice. I push down the feeling of sadness and look at him with deliberately blank eyes while gesturing for my slaves to come closer.
"I need some balanced gears for these two. Money is no trouble but I would prefer it if you could get some gears that lean towards higher defensive capabilities." I quickly give him my request and try not to look away from his judgmental stare. Finishing what I had to do, I push Raphtalia and Kiel forward for the Old Man to do his job.
Grunting at the request, the Old Man gives the two a stare down before going to the back rummage through his stock to find whatever he has in mind. He comes back out quickly and hands the two demi-humans some gears before telling them to change into it for fitting purposes in the changing room near the back. I paused time for a mere moment to take a good look at the gears he's handed them and undid the time stop with a small smile as I finished reading the item screens. No matter what he believes, the Old Man still does his job properly.
""..?"" The two look at me questionably while awkwardly holding the bundles of cloth and armor in their hands. I make a shooing motion with my hand to tell them to change and they took off to the changing room immediately. As the curtains rustles in front of them to show that they're changing, I turn to the Old Man and reach for the pouch of coins I carry at my waist.
"How much will the gears cos-"
"-Boy, answer me this. I have seen your eyes once when you've come here before and once now. Neither shows what the rumors say they should show. Did you or did you not assault your teammate?"
"I did not."
The answer was obvious. Why would I even bother to touch Witch. But then... wouldn't an immediate answer sound like denial? If so, then isn't it just as bad as admitting to the lie? Sighing to myself, I draw out two gold coins and put it down in front of the Old Man. The gears he gave Raphtalia and Kiel are high-tier beginner's gear so three quarter of a gold would probably be the right price for one pair, give or take.
"Come quickly, Raphtalia, Kiel. We have other matters to take care of." I turn my back on the Old Man before he could do anything else and walk out the door with a call to my slaves.
"Yes, My lord!" "Yeah, okay!"
Rushing out of the curtains with their gears on, the two runs after me with a bit more surety to their steps now that they've put on proper footwear. I open the door for them before walking out myself, not willing to look at whatever face the Old Man has on. I don't think I can take it now if it's a bad one. Not after seeing Raphtalia and Kiel acting so frailly near me, as if they don't know me. As if they're scared of what I might do to them should they disobey me.
"Can I have two kid's meal and one of the cheapest meal?" I barely give the waiter any acknowledgement as he takes my order with a scowl on his face. He in return did not say anything and walks off to the kitchen to prepare the meals. Next to me, Kiel looks around with a sparkle to her eyes as she witness the beginning of a bar fight from the drunks nearby. I chuckle at the reaction and turn my hooded head to my other companion, Raphtalia.
"Is something wrong, Raphtalia?" I ask my raccoon slave as I notice her fidget and looking around uncomfortably.
"N-no! There's nothing wrong at all, my lord!" The girl jolts and looks at me in alarm. I am reminded of what Raphtalia was like in the past and fight the scowl itching to grow on my face.
"Can you call me by my name instead? It's Naofumi." I instead request her to call me by my old title and hope for the best that it is similar enough to what she'd call me in the past -in the future-.
"Y-yes, Naofumi-sama." This time, I fought down a sad smile and ruffles her hair in lieu. I try to ignore the flinch she gave me when I touched her head.
The meal at this restaurant tasted like how I always remembered it, bland and tasteless.
"Oi, hurry up and stab this thing already!" On the way to a hunting spot full of useful materials, I allow small encounters with monsters to bypass my demons and attack our group. This is done so that I could give Kiel and Raphtalia some battle experience past the abnormal amount of growth they will get from my demons' massacre of the local monsters. Kiel took it up immediately and used her sword energetically but with absolutely no form or technique. Raphtalia on the other hand... she still hasn't bypassed her fears of canine and pulls back quickly if an attack misses or goes wrong.
"Nii-chan! I'm done here!" Kiel waves her sword in the sunlight not very far away from where I stood with Raphtalia. I yelled an affirmative towards her location and calls her to come back before I take a step in front of Raphtalia again and block another attack from the oversized monster wolf in front of me. I twist my shield and bring my palm down on its head to slam it to the dirt floor.
"Raphtalia! It's pinned down, attack!" I clicked my tongue as she just shook her head and pulls back. I picked a pack of wolves to let pass since I remembered her having canine-related trauma and since the pack was just at a low enough level to where even she and Kiel can take on alone with their gears.
"N-no! Stay away! No!" Her eyes look glazed and her shaking increased to an even higher extent. I sigh and let go of the wolf to pause time. Afterwards, I pull a sword out from my shield and decapitate the dog before putting the sword away and unfreeze time.
"...It's okay Raphtalia. Forget what just happened. The wolves are gone now..." Pulling my cloak over her, I bend down and hug her shivering form while coaxing her to calm down. It took a while and by the time she tired herself out, the sun was already setting. I pick her up and look over at a rather silent Kiel.
"Kiel, it's getting dark. we should start heading back." I nudge my head in the general direction of Melromarc castle town and start walking towards it.
"Nii-chan... did you know? The monster that killed Raphtalia's parents. It was also a dog." Following uncharacteristically silent behind me, Kiel speaks up after several terse minutes.
"I had a hunch."
"Then why did you make Raphtalia fight it? Couldn't you have just taken care of it yourself or left it to me?"
"...The Hero of the Shield is a protector and a defender. The problem is, the Hero is not omnipotent. I cannot be everywhere at once. Therefore, I want to do the next best thing. I want to defend you all until you can defend yourself. I want you all to be strong... So that what happened to your village won't happen again. This... is the first step for Raphtalia."
I hug the girl in my arm a bit closer to my body as the words sink in. Yes, I want to protect everyone. I will not fail at doing that task again. I won't let anyone experienced what happened to Atlas. I feel something touch my free hand and look down to see Kiel looking up at me with eyes I can't understand. She gives me a nod and continues holding my hand while walking by my side. I let her and pull Raphtalia closer once more when she grasps my shirt. I ignored the small sob that escaped into the night air.
I look at the two girls sleeping on the only bed in the room and I frown sadly. I lied to them. No, I didn't exactly lie. I gave them misinformation.
"...The Hero of the Shield is a protector and a defender. The problem is, the Hero is not omnipotent. I cannot be everywhere at once. Therefore, I want to do the next best thing. I want to defend you all until you can defend yourself..."
None of that was a lie. The Shield does protect and I wish to protect them. Yet, I might as well have lied to them.
In her shared bed, Raphtalia starts squirming and makes faint groaning sounds. I reach over and neutralized the emotion of fear invading her mind. This in turn causes her to cease her writhing and fall back into a nightmareless sleep.
Lowering my hand, I look at the shield strapped to its arm. I turned my arm around to look at the strap and use my other hand to loosen the band and slip the arm it's tied to out. I lift both arms up and hold it by my side while looking at the shield sitting innocently on my lap. It did nothing and my frown continued.
Restrapping the shield to my arm, I remember the first time I noticed something wrong. It was at the Old Man's place. Raphtalia and Kiel were changing into the new gears that came with their sudden growth spurt from children to young teenagers. I went in the back upon the request of the Old Man and was handed two blades to examine. He had wanted to see if I thought those types of blade might fit the style that the girls are creating through battles against monsters. I had held the blades, I had drawn the blades and I had even swung once with each blade. That was when I had first noticed.
I watch as Kiel mumbles something about grill roosted meat and turned my sad frown into a sad smile. They try and work so hard because they think that they are working for a Hero. I am no Hero.
A Hero would never be able to summon demons nor would he need to lie about the demon's existence by calling them creations from his former world. A Hero would not stand by and allow a pack of wolves to attack his teammates and expect them to fight back when he could very well fight for them. A Hero would not lie about his title and identity to his trusted ones and live that lie. I did all those things. Therefore, I am no Hero.
I wonder... would they think any less of me if they were to find out the truth?
"That's enough for today. C'mon, I'm getting you two new gears." Calling out from my large stash of carefully lain out and organized materials, I look at Raphtalia and Kiel as the two girls fend off their opponent's last hit.
"Yes, Naofumi-sama." "Kay, Nii-chan!"
It has been a week since I've bought the two girls into my service and they've already grown to their full adult form, in Raphtalia's case anyways, Kiel's always been ambiguous. Thanks to the demons that I sent out on a daily basis, the whole party leveled up far more efficiently than my previous timeline. Since the wave is going to hit in one week's time, I decided to balance their levels with their sword skills and trained the two in personal combat.
In other words, I sent one of my Atlas-shaped demons after them to tire them out and make them fight back as much as possible. Surprisingly, the two managed well as a survival unit and actually did a proper job of going toes to toe with a silver haired nutcracker since morning til now.
After seeing satisfying results, I call them back and we returned to castle town again to give the Old Man a visit.
...
...
...
Cling-cling-cling
"Welcome to Elhart's Smithy! How can I help- oh, it's just you lad." Slumped across his counter, the Old Man gives a halfhearted greeting and a wave of his hand.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean? I'm a paying customer you know." I scowl at his attitude and look at him in no little amount of exasperation while holding the door for Raphtalia and Kiel.
"Yes yes, but you come here every other day. I kind of already expect to see you coming. It would be a nice change if someone else were to walk into here." The Old Man straightens and gives me a shrug of his shoulder along with a long winded sigh. I was half tempted to threaten us leaving and finding another smithy when he beats me to it. "So what can I do for you today? Finally deciding to buy some armor for yourself? One more upgrade for the girls? A lesson in swordsmanship?"
"An upgrade for Raphtalia and Kiel... what's wrong with my armor?" I reply as the Old Man already starts moving to hand the two girls a new set of gears in trade for their old ones and take their swords for repair. I look down at my tunic and chest plate to see nothing wrong with it, aside from a few scratches here and there.
"Besides the fact that it looks like something a squire would wear for sword practice? Nothing at all. I'm surprise you haven't experienced worse wounds already. Then again, I doubt much could get past a Shield Hero's defense." The Old Man deadpans at me and goes to check the girls' sword only to whistle loudly upon first inspection. "Oh? Did you three fight a monster made out of rocks? These swords are completely blunted. No amount of sharpening and repair will ever give these blades an edge anymore."
"That's fine, they need new blades for the wave anyways. Do you have any of about the same size?" I guess it was due time for an upgrade anyways. I wonder if I should have made my demons softer. Can I even do that?
"Well lucky you lad, I just forged these two last night and they fit the girls perfectly." Reaching under his counter, the Old Man pulls out two swords of slightly different length and size. Upon inspection, I found it to be two rather powerful magic swords. "If you buy them now, I'll even give you a discount."
"Are you sure about that? These two blades are pretty strong." I furrow my brows when he offered the discount and asks him of his surety.
"The weapons itself is mostly composed of the items I traded off from you a few days back and I only pitched in for the ores. Think of it as a commissioned piece and I'll sell it as one."
"Naofumi-sama, we're done." "Nii-chan! Look! This armor is awesome!"
"...How much are the swords." I didn't want to continue having the argument with the Old Man in front of the girls so I backed off and went with his price.
"For the new armor and the swords, 600 silvers." I scowl as the man clearly discounted his price. The Old Man caught sight of it and grins widely while wiggling his eyebrow. "Just do good in the wave and advertise my shop. Bring the girls back from time to time too."
"Is something wrong Naofumi-sama?" "Nii-chan?"
Raphtalia and Kiel walks over to see my scowl and immediately becomes concerned. I heave a great sigh before taking the swords and thrust a bag of silver at the smith. Before he can take the time to count out that I had paid him a surplus of four hundred coins, I marched out the door.
"Is something the matter Naofumi-sama?" I lift my eyes up from the map that I was focusing on and catch Raphtalia's sleepy gaze staring at me. "You've been putting on a dark scowl for a while now. Is something troubling you?"
"...Nothing. I am just having trouble deciding where we should go train next for a last effort exercise before the wave." I watch as she separates herself from Kiel's hold to walk over to my bed languidly. I scoot aside to make give her some sitting space and she practically plops down on the bed with a mildly loud yawn.
"Is there a problem with the location we are training at?" Turning her drowsy eyes towards the map lying on the table, she tilts her head in confusion before asking me.
"You are both leveling at a... fast pace so it would only be detrimental to your growth if you were to stay in one location. Moving around to find stronger enemies is the best way for you two to develop your skills right now."
"Then I will follow you wherever you'll lead us." Taking in my explanation with understanding, Raphtalia nods and gives me a large smile, one filled with too much trust. One that is too similar to a certain girl I failed.
"Even if I were to lead you to fighting the monster that killed your parents? Even if I were to lead you to certain death?" I watch as she flinches back at the sudden change in tone and mentally slap myself. That was not something I should have blurted out. She's still too traumatize, I should not have said something so callous. I should apologize. "...Rap-"
"I would follow you even then." Raphtalia cuts me off before I could even start the first word. My mouth shuts with a clack as she catches my eyes with resolute ones of her own. She gulps loudly and begins to talk again. "You've taken us in, you've taken care of us, you've trained us, you've looked over us, you've made sure to keep us safe and you've promised to protect us. I might not know much because I'm young but I know one thing, I would follow you anywhere, Naofumi-sama. I will follow you to protect you while you protect us."
"...Go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." Pursing my lips as a memory of a certain white haired girl saying something similar, I order Raphtalia to get rested. She holds my gaze for another few moments before nodding to my order and returning to her own bed to sleep.
Fifteen minutes later, the room was once more filled with the sounds of soft breathing from the two sleeping girls. I sat on my bed as memories after memories play by of a certain demi-human I failed; my map sits on the table, forgotten.
"The wave's about to begin, are you two ready?"
"Yes, Naofumi-sama." "Yes, Nii-chan!"
"Kiel, do you have your potions?"
"In my pouch and secured extra tightly like you ordered, Nii-chan!"
"Good. Raphtalia, what about you?"
"Both the back up and the back up's back up are here like you've ordered, Naofumi-sama."
"Good, how about-"
"We'll be fine Naofumi-sama. You've trained us for this after all."
"Yeah! Besides, we'll be next to Nii-chan the whole time anyways!"
"...Remember to be careful, just in case."
"Yes, Naofumi-sama" "Yes, Nii-chan!"
The wave ended... better than I expected.
Just like before, we were teleported to the same local area as the village we've visited often and Ren, Motoyasu and Itsuki ran off again in a wild charge against the main hoard of monster. Just like before, I decided that we should help the village instead and went there.
What didn't happen like last time though was that we arrived at the village quite early due to being teleported a lot closer. We had enough extra time to actually build up a proper defense around the town entrance while managing to herd the town people to a slightly more secure location. It seems that the danger of the wave exceeds the hatred of my name a lot more in this time. Perhaps it's because I don't have a bad name to marketers by using Balloon threats.
The monsters came and quite honestly? Raphtalia and Kiel slaughtered them before they even got near the stationed guards. It was quite literally a massacre. I guess this is to be expected though, we were nowhere near this level when our first wave hit the first time. The only problems that occurred was when the flying monsters got past the girls to aim for where the towns people were located. That was solved when I gave the guards stationed by the gates with me the okay to back them up, seeing as the gates were secured with the girls' presence.
Though it ended up well... I didn't get to do anything. I didn't get a chance to summon a demon. All that preparations, the extra Yggdrasil Medicine that I stayed awake for nights on end to make... not even one was used. I was half tempted to just walk into the fray that the girls jumped into and start shield bashing everything around halfway through. Instead, I merely left it up to the girls and went to help the town guards. I honestly didn't want to use my portion of the Yggdrasil Medicine like this and would have preferred it if I could have saved it and sold the watered down version at a later date.
When the royal soldiers finally came, the town people were pretty much beginning to clean up the mess while I was cooking a big town meal out of sheer boredom. A few dozens of minutes later, Raphtalia and Kiel energetically returned to town with words that the wave is being pushed back by the Heroes' fight with the Boss Monster, a chimera. The captain of the royal soldiers begrudgingly gave orders for his men to start cleaning up as well before going to the town guard's captain to get an explanation of some sort to report back.
Unlike last time, my "first" wave ended rather blandly with the most interesting part being Kiel's graphic and embellished description of how she saw the other Heroes. I honestly doubt Ren can shoot "flaming dragons" with a swing of his sword just yet. I gave her an extra big portion of Wave's Bird Soup and a head pat when she stated that I was still much cooler. Raphtalia seems to have became some sort of idol since she was in charge of passing out my soup. I jokingly made notes to work on putting her up as a divinity figure if this goes on the right path. It would definitely help with plans in the future for when I regain control of the village.
"-Tonight, we feast! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest, heroes!"
If only Trash was less... trashy, I would have probably took that speech seriously. Besides me, Raphtalia looks rapturously at the scene of the ongoing party. I smile at this sight and pushes her to go and commune with others. I wish for her to at least enjoy herself for now. She did a good job at the wave and made quite a few acquaintances with the royal soldiers who are here at the party. Kiel has ran off a while ago at the sight of all the food and I haven't seen her since.
Taking a deep breath, I lean back and try my best to blend into the shadows. Since now is a good of time as any, I might as well start checking up on stats and see what I should do next. Looking at party status, I noticed that Kiel and Raphtalia have finally hit their first limit, level forty, and are now both ready for a class-up. This causes me to frown. Mostly due to the fact that I'm sure Trash has given a ban from me getting having a class up in Melromarc but also due to the lack of Firo and her advance option class-ups.
The lack of Firo can be taken care off tomorrow, when I go back to the Slave Dealer under the notion of checking up on my request. If he has found slaves who once lived in Rurorona Village, I will buy them and send them to some homes that I've built near Ryuuto Village with the permission of the town mayor. For now, Ryuuto Village will have to be my base until I can request to earn the land for my village back.
Still... what should I do about the class up? Perhaps I can go to Zeltbull for their Dragon Hour Glass. I might even be able to see Atlas and Fohl there as well. No... there's a high chance that Fohl might not even be working under Zeltbull's Slave Trader yet. I vaguely remember him mentioning moving around to find proper medicine for Atlas. It would seem suspicious if I go out of my way to find a slave there when I already have a deal with the Slave Dealer here. It might cause me to lose trust with Fohl. There's too many cons for going to Zeltbull now, I should wait until at least the events of Cal Mira passes.
"Naofumi-sama, would you not like to join us?" Rubbing away the migraine that I'm starting to get from planning the future course of actions, I hear Raphtalia's voice in front of me. I look up to see her holding a plate piled mildly high with food in one hand and two forks in her other hand. Besides her, Kiel is offering up her half eaten plate while chewing through the food she's already stuffed in her mouth using the squirrel method.
"I'm alright here, thanks. Go and enjoy yourselves. It's a rare occasion so you should make full use of it." I said with a smile and wave them off. Raphtalia returns my smile with one of her own and puts the forks onto the plate before grabbing one of my hands. Kiel swallows her food loudly, puts on a wide grin and takes my other hand. Together, they both dragged me to an open seat which they make me sit in before barring me on both sides.
"Nii-chan! Try this one, it tastes really weird!" "Here, Naofumi-sama. You should try some as well."
"Oi, why are you only giving me food if it tastes weird." Muttering more to myself than to them, I take Raphtalia's extra fork and start picking up food on the plates while making small conversations with them and watching as they make small conversations with others who seems to begrudgingly acknowledge my existence.
"-There he is! NAOFUMI!" A familiar voice calls me an unfamiliar title. I turn to see the person that I've been expecting. I see his livid face as he walks towards me and I see Witch following closely behind him. I held back a cruel smile when I remember her death. No, it wouldn't do to show such a face in front of all these people. Instead, I close my eyes and smile charmingly, an amalgam of Raphtalia's and Kiel's natural smile.
"Is there something wrong, Motoyasu?" I try to keep negativity from my voice and found that it came out sounding rather dull. Huh, does my voice usually not have any inflection other than negativity? That is a depressing thought.
"Is something wrong?! Of course there's something wrong!" Motoyasu explodes as he stands in front of me and I look up at him with what I hope are eyes of questioning and curiosity. "I've heard from Mein. Your teammates, you're forcing them to fight while being held under slavery contracts!?"
"Forcing my teammates? Are you forcing your teammates to fight for you?" I smile as he looks at me bewilderingly. It's a fresh breath of air to see him do something other than blabber about Philorials or Firo. Though, I feel that this fresh air will stale quickly. I can only continue with the events that Trash and his daughter had planned for. Honestly, skipping this party would have been quicker would it not paint me in an even more negative light to the people of Melromarc. Reputations is what I need sorely at this time and any that might be positive will do. "No? Then no, I'm not forcing Raphtalia and Kiel to do anything. I asked them to fight with me, and they willingly fight by my side."
"How can they say no even if you asked them?! Their slavery contracts denies them of even that basic right!" If you're talking about basic rights then shouldn't you be talking it out with the leaders of the nation instead? They're the ones that are allowing slavery to begin with.
"Motoyasu, how many free demi-humans have you seen on the streets of Melromarc?" Again, another look of confusion. Well, at least he's thinking about the question instead of outright denying everything and challenging me to a duel. "I'll just tell you now that there are none near here. Outside of the Capital walls? Maybe. But definitely not inside. Do you know why?"
"...Melromarc has a bad history with the demi-human race." The blonde shifts his stance and begins to actually hold a conversation. Wow, this didn't happen last time. What changed? "But, they are a Hero's companion. Slavers and other people would not want to do something bad to the one who's saving them."
"What if the Slavers and others don't care about the Hero? After all, I've been branded as the Demon Shield for no reasons of my own. They wouldn't give a second thought as to whether or not to attack me the moment I give them a chance." Not that I would anyways. Oh look at that. We've built up a crowd with this conversation. Hello Trash, I see you merrily making your way here.
"You've earned that brand by doing a bad deed and yet you still deny it?!" Motoyasu practically snarls at me, his spear softly glowing to emphasize his agitation. "Whatever you think will happen, it's still not right to put living human beings under slavery. Free them, I will give my word as the Spear Hero that they will not be harmed."
"And I have no reason to trust your words." Come on, take the bait. Trash is coming and I need to make my presence here be known. The image of a pushover demon shield is worse than an image of a powerful demon shield. At least with the second, I'll have a better appearance to built up on. "Besides, the law of this country allows for slavery. Why should I give up that right?"
"If that's the case, I challenge you to a duel for their freedom. If I win, you will allow Raphtalia-san and Kiel-san to be free from their contracts. Even if the law allows for such a thing, I won't." There we go, now to add the finishing touches of this oh so brilliant plan.
"I've heard enou-" The Trash begins to walk into the little circle that Motoyasu and I have built up in our argument, preparing to accept the duel in my steed when I cut him off.
"-And if I win, I would like for the ban on the Shield Hero from using the Dragon Hour Glass to be lifted." Motoyasu furrows his brows at the demand and I let loose what hopefully doesn't look too much like a malevolent smile. From the corners of my eyes, I can practically see Trash bristling. "You didn't know? The fact that this country's wise king decided to cripple one of his Heroes by banning my party from being able to Class Up? Well? What's it going to be, Motoyasu? I will accept this duel under that condition, it's quite beneficial to you in any case isn't it? You're helping my slaves no matter if you win or lose."
"...I accept." Motoyasu turns his narrowed eyes to the side to ask Witch for confirmation on my accusation and she pretends to be innocent by acting like she knew nothing. Perfect, now Trash is forced to accept this duel under my condition with the witness of many important guests and all the Heroes.
"Tr- King Aultcray, would you be so kind as to allow the Spear Hero and my duel here in the castle premise?" Whoops, almost called him Trash out of habits. Gotta to have to work on that. Let's give him one of my bright smiles. Oh, scary glare.
"...Very well, I shall permit a duel between the the Hero of the Spear and the Hero of the Shield to be placed in the courtyard." With a firm and neutral tone, Trash declares this before walking off and telling nearby guards to prepare the courtyard for the duel.
I start to walk out and prepare myself as Motoyasu does the same. Our eyes meet for a moment and I give him a wide out-of-character grin. He said nothing as Witch led him off. I in turn pulled Kiel and Raphtalia with me.
"...Naofumi-sama." "Nii-chan."
Under one of the entrances to the courtyard, Raphtalia, Kiel and I waited while watching the castle soldiers prepare a stage for my duel. If I squint past the darkness, I can make out the figure of Motoyasu standing on the other side doing much the same with his little group of followers. I turn to the girls as they call my name.
"Will you still help me save this world even if you're not my slave anymore?" I answered their silent question with one of my own and watch as they immediately nod their heads in response. I smile pleasantly (why did I only feel my lips twitch for a moment before returning to the usual scowl?) and pat them both on their lowered heads. "Then there you go. I'm not abandoning you two or anything, I'm just having a childish argument with one of my fellow Heroes. You two did the same thing a few days ago when I asked what you wanted for dinner."
Raphtalia blush slightly at the memory and Kiel laughs nervously. I pull my hands back from the head petting when a soldier comes by and tells me that the field is ready. I nod at him and he walks off. I wonder where Female Knight is at this moment. "Well, looks like I'm going. Wish me luck you two."
"Un. Good luck Naofumi-sama." "Kick ass, Nii-chan!"
"-A loss will occur should a competitor be forced into a corner or if he concedes victory, himself. With that explained, you may now..."
Motoyasu lowers himself in preparation for a charge with his spear pointing straight at me. Unlike last time, he did not make any banter about the strongest shield and spear dilemma. Instead, he glares at me with narrowed eyes filled with determination. Seeing this, I am reminded of what that woman teammate of his, Elenor or something like that, once said in a passing conversation. Motoyasu doesn't make his group fight much. Instead, he trains alone at night when everyone else is asleep. He trains enough to keep everyone in his group at proper levels with the other heroes' companion and considering he has party with five extra members in his group... He may have a spotty personality and is a lousy judge of character but he can be a serious threat should he wishes to be.
"-Begin!"
On Trash's signal, Motoyasu charges forward immediately and lunges his spear at me as it was halfway transforming into another. I put my shield between my chest and his spear as he got too close. The spear clangs against my shield but fails to penetrate it.
As I shift to push the spear towards the side, Motoyasu mutters undecipherable words under his breath. Something strikes me on the side and I turn to see a floating transparent spear trying to gorge pass my armor's defense. I recognize it immediately as an Air Strike series and prompted to ignore it since its power was low.
Motoyasu takes advantage of my pause in attention to put his spear under my shield and slams it upward. My arm flies up along with the shield and I turn my head once more to see Motoyasu pull back for another strike, his spear once again transforming into another.
"Iron Striking Spear!" With aloud exclamation, his spear flies forward to dig deep into my unprotected side. I furrow my brow and berate myself for my inattentiveness before activating my shield's power.
At once, time stops completely and everything around me freezes up in movement. I took my time to get out of spearpoint while thinking up of a plan. Originally, I figured that I would just pin him down quickly and not let him move until he gives up. Now in hindsight, that would raise too much questions. One being how I got so strong which would then lead to another load of trouble, especially now that the Three Heroes Church is still active.
Maybe I can tire him out in a battle of attrition. The Shield Hero is known for their high status boosting and recovery spells. If I were to use it in the most eye catching way possible while showing blatant "fairness", the Trash won't be able to overrule my victory... If only I can summon my demons, this would be so much easier. Too bad that will more likely than not give Trash and the Three Heroes Church more propaganda materials. I have enough problems as is.
"Well, let's get this problem over with." Positioning myself back to where I was before the time freeze with an extra bit of breathing space. I undo my shield's power and "stumble" back to dodge Motoyasu's lunge. With some room between us, I initiated my plan.
"I am the hero who commands the origin of power-" And it's only now that I remember the fact that I can't use anything above a Zveit level spell without raising an eyebrow or two. Leaning sideways to dodge another of Motoyasu's speedy charges, I groan internally. This duel is going to take forever.
Cling-cling-cling
"Welcome to- it's you isn't it, lad?" Without even coming out from the back of his shop to the counter, the Old Man predicted my presence with pinpoint accuracy.
"It was actually Rapthtalia who walked in first." Of course, since I'm feeling rather happy from one upping Trash, I give the Old Man some of my happiness in the form of smart assery. It came out slightly flat though and lacked the sarcasm that I was looking for.
"Well what is it going to be this time? New armors for the girls? Another weapon repair after that crusade you've made against the monsters of the wave I've heard so much about?" Great, words have passed to here already. That means I can visit some of the other shops now that they are less biased against my presence. Perhaps I should check to see if Kiel have any magical affinity this time around. None of my slaves in the past showed any interest in magic so I never checked.
"New weapons and armors for the girls like usual... and a new set of armor for myself would be nice." As much as I hate to admit it, a drawn out battle with Motoyasu really took a lot out of me, or rather, my armor. Status enhancing spells can only do so much before it reaches a limit and the blond really took his time to find that limit before conceding his victory. Really, the duel that didn't last ten minutes last time took three hours this time.
"Got it, new toys for the girls and new armor for... you? Lad, did I just hear that right?" The Old Man gives me a look of absolute incredulity as he hands Kiel and Raphtalia some pre-prepared gears. I feel like I missed something, what did I miss? As Raphtalia and Kiel goes to fit in their gears, I give the Old Man a raised eyebrow and a precariously slow nod. In return, he gives me a wide mischievous grin and says. "So the legendary Hero of the Shield finally gave in and decided to ask little old me for proper gears huh? Did your training gear not have enough defense for you preference."
"...There's nothing little about you. Old, yes. Little, no." I narrow my eyes to glare at him. He just takes it in like a compliment and glow in pride before asking me if I had any preferences. I asked him to make a Barbarian Armor and he only gives me a wide smile before telling me he'll have it by the end of the day.
"Welcome Hero-sama~ Back so soon already?" After leaving Raphtalia and Kiel to pick up some supplies for the upcoming trip around Melomarc so that I can set up connections for the village's future trading routes, I went to the Slave Dealer to (hopefully) pick up Firo's egg and possibly a few of Rurorona's previous residents. As always, the Slave Dealer found me before I could find him and ushered me into his domain without a fuss. "What do you need my service for today Hero-sama?"
"I want to check up on how the search for the people I'm looking for is going." Keeping my face carefully devoided of emotions (a sadly easy task considering I have a perma-scowl) I walk around the front of his tent with an appearance of vague interest at his wares. I honestly don't remember where he keeps his Gatcha eggs and I hope to only find the correct one with the correct egg.
"I've contacted my clan in Zeltbull and requested them to do an inventory search for any slaves with your requirements. A letter from the main branch replied that they have a few slaves who fit and will send the over to me in short order. You will have to wait for a few more days before they come Hero-sama. There will be more once the side branches in other towns send a reply but that will be a while more." Following me in my search, the Slave Dealer shows off his side business as a Monster Dealer while catching me up to speed. It sounds around the same as last time so I guess I should not be too surprise. On that note, I will have to visit Ryuuto Village once more before our trip to give instructions to the village mayor when the slaves come in.
"I see... Then that's all, the slaves will probably come in around the same time as my journey throughout the country so send them to this village. The Mayor there will take them in until I come back." Pulling out a map from my shield, I point down on where the village is and the Slave Dealer nods to the instruction. Since the money is paid in advance, he only needs to send the slaves there to compete his part of the deal.
"Hmm? Are these monster eggs on sale?" Putting the map away again, I turn to leave and "caught" something from the corners of my eyes. The Slave/Monster Dealer energetically jumps on the train to making more income and introduces me to his Monster Gatcha system.
"Thank you for coming~." In the end, I bought two eggs since I wasn't sure which one was the one I was looking for. If I remembered correctly, Firo's egg matched her Pre-Queen coloring and there was two eggs with that same exact color. I was only halfway confident that the eggs were even Philorial eggs to begin with... I should order my demons to start gathering their food shouldn't I?
"Welcome back to our humble village, Hero of the Shield-sama." As I walk towards Ryuuto village, the old mayor greets me at the entrance.
I returned his greetings and asked if the village needed any help reconstructing from the small damage that was done earlier during the wave. The old mayor waves off my offer to help and in return, asks if I needed anything from them. I told him about the slaves that were coming and asks if he could give them some jobs and meals while I was out. The old mayor agreed easily enough and didn't even attempt to look at the money I had prepared for his help.
I left the village to return to castle town half an hour after I had straighten out job opportunities the slaves could take on with the mayor. On my trudge back, I glare at my shield to will it to give me teleporting powers. It innocently did nothing and offered to use time freeze. I took up the offer out of spite and returned to town "two minutes" later.
While the shield is amazingly powerful, it still lacks in variability compare to the Legendary Shield. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.
"...Nii-chan, this place smells funny." Walking besides me, Kiel scrunches her nose in aversion to the smell of herbs and grounded powders that permeates from the alchemy shops' walls.
"Just ignore it for a bit. We'll be out of here after I'm done." I needed some funds for traveling and I've decided that it was good time to sell some of the stocks I have compiled within my shield's infinite hammer space. Even though it's only been a few days since I have decided to compound something that doesn't have the words Yggdrasil Medicine in its name, I've amassed enough herbal remedies and potions to back up an army.
"...Why do we have to go to these places?" Wiping the smell out of her nose, Kiel turns towards me as we walk through castle town's street.
"We need travel money and trading is currently our best source of income." I simply state while looking around for the magic shop which sold the shape shifting clothes Firo worn the last time around. Since I'm starting my trip through the country early, I will probably have Firo fully grown halfway through. Most likely, I will have to get a decent cart at one of the villages and come back here later to get a stronger cart from the Old Man. I will also have to give him the schematic for the cart's design later when I pick up my armor as well.
"I don't see why money's so important right now since you said we're going around the country to trade." Kiel points out a flaw in my argument as I spot the magic shop and walk towards it.
"We're not really trading as to more of building connections. If I get a good reputation at the places I'm peddling in, I'll have more willing customers the next time I come by. Once I rebuild Rurorona Village, those trade routes and connections will be our main source of income." I explain to her my plans and she simply pouts. I don't know if she understands the important of it yet but I feel like she at least understands the main point. In truth, the journey itself is more important then the destination as I now have the knowledge and skills to train my party. I will make them the strongest so that they can protect themselves. That has been my main goal from the beginning, money was only a side objective.
"...I don't get it but can we get lunch after this?" And of course, Kiel completely disregards all my subtle efforts at teaching in exchange for food. I pat her on her head and bought what I needed from the magic shop's manager. For Raphtalia, I bought some books on Light and Dark magic as well as a book on illusion usage combat tactics. For Kiel, I bought a book on beginner's earth magic since the magician shopkeeper told me of her intermediate affinity for that element along with a great affinity for beastmen magic. It was unfortunate that the shop did not hold any books on demi-human's magic.
"Can you find Raphtalia? I'll go order our meals beforehand." After ordering the shape-shifting clothes from the magician shopkeeper and handing the necessary materials over. I left the shop with yet another appointment to come back later for a pick up.
"Un! Can we get more meat this time, Nii-chan?" Agreeing immediately to the idea of food, Kiel uses her puppy dog eyes in an attempt to get me to feed her her favorite type of food, not vegetables. I give her a deadpan look before telling her that I will buy something with more meat on the side and she runs off energetically in a seemingly random direction. Checking the ally locator function on my map, I give a tiny sigh of relieve as I see Kiel making a beeline towards Raphtalia.
Checking through the supplies that Kiel gave me, I found an assorted stock of meat. Grumbling a bit to myself, I went to the marketplace to buy some vegetables before taking a trip to the plains to collect some herbs. I plan on making a large barbeque before I leave, since it would probably appease Kiel into lethargy for a good part of the first day of the journey.
"...I hope Raphtalia bought some vegetable supplies as well. Otherwise, it won't be the wave that's killing us off. It'll be our meat only diet..."
Challenge to put in the story!
*Have this version of Naofumi be as confusing as possible in characterization. At times he is happy, at others he is sad. Sometimes he is anguishing, while others her laughs like mad. Case in point, this Naofumi is suffering from guilt, a sudden missing dose of wrath (Curse of the Wrath Shield), losing all that he's built, having minor bouts of personality issues and living in a time where his arch-nemesis reign supreme. Not a happy time for the guy.
*Characters will behave slightly different since their interaction with Naofumi will be heavily modified. Basically, our Shield Hero is going to mother hen everyone and everyone his Naofumi's chick. Nothing touches Naofumi's chicks. Nothing!
*Homulilly's Shield allows for Naofumi to access all of Homerun's powers, all of it. When will he use it is the main question, if, he hasn't already used it on a certain deity like spirit. R.I.P Spirit of the Shield, you shall forever remain in our hearts... and Naofumi's shield.
*Have fun writing the story~!